Chapter 36
Steff slid in the door as a lady was leaving, smiling at her as he held the door open for her. As he stepped into the store he was arrested by the sound of Blane's voice, asking Duckie if he was still in contact with Andie. Steff halted in his tracks, his nostrils flaring in anger as he inhaled deeply, as though identifying some unwary prey who was about to get torn limb from limb. A murderous red haze descended over his vision, momentarily blocking out everything except one relentlessly hammering notion.
You are a dead man.
All of Blane's treacherous lies and machinations came roaring back to the forefront of Steff's brain, and he flashed back to the horrifying sensations he experienced each time he contemplated the success of any of Blane's objectives, all of which culminated in the end game of Steff losing Andie. Never gonna happen, Buddy. She's mine now. I'll see you dead first.
Steff took two deep breaths, allowing a menacing calm to fall upon him as the red haze of rage lifted, leaving in its place a much more dangerous resolve. He walked soundlessly up to the counter and listened as Blane asked Duckie if Andie ever talked about him. Steff slid Duckie's cappuccino across to him, glancing at him as he did so, and then placed a mountain of sugar packets down next to the cup. Steff took note of how Duckie appeared to be about to burst with suppressed glee, watching Blane unsuspectingly tighten the noose around his own neck.
Duckie winked at Steff. I got your back, buddy.
Duckie answered Blane, "Well, not to me, of course, but she might have mentioned you to Steff. Why don't you ask him yourself" he replied, grinning, and nodding behind Blane to where his doom stood waiting.
Blane's shoulders stiffened and the hair rose on the back of his neck. Oh fuck. Blane slowly turned, wide eyed, to look up into Steff's hooded gaze, which was burning into him with an unholy frozen glow.
"Well, hello Buddy" Steff said softly, an ominous threat evident in every syllable, as he took a step forward and clapped a hard hand on Blane's shoulder, squeezing him firmly.
"Ow!" squeaked Blane, before he could stop himself. Trying to recover, and backing up a step, seeking to evade Steff's grasp, he breathily exclaimed, "Oh hey, Steff. Didn't see you there… How's it going, man?" as he glanced around wildly, seeking escape, refuge, rescue – didn't matter, he would grab ahold of whatever presented itself first. Blane looked at Duckie for assistance, but Duckie just stood there sipping his coffee, an avid gleam in his aspect, his eyes ping-ponging back and forth between them as though he had a ringside seat for the most riveting movie ever made – clearly he was going to be of no help whatsoever.
Steff continued to advance on Blane, not releasing his hand from his shoulder. "Everything is going really well, thanks" he answered smoothly, the implied promise of threat being a clear and present danger. Steff reached out, grabbing the lapels of Blane's coat in both hands, halting his retreat. At his panicked expression, Steff softly smiled, then straightened the collar of Blane's coat and brushed off his shoulders and lapels, neatening him up a bit. A man should look nice when he goes to meet his Maker, Steff thought. He then stood motionless, examining Blane for an unnerving amount of time, saying nothing, allowing Blane to squirm a bit, wondering what was coming next.
Steff then abruptly shifted gears, throwing Blane mentally off balance. "How's that creative writing class you're taking, coming along there, Buddy?" Steff asked, patting Blane on the back, the old, bored sounding, insolent, "high school Steff" reappearing for a command performance. And even though he hadn't acted like this in months, it was astonishingly easy to slide back into that persona, like easing into a well-worn pair of Levi's.
Blane blinked uncomprehendingly.
"Was that a class assignment or something – that letter you wrote to Andie?" Steff nodded, smiling faintly in recollection, his voice dripping with that jaded and impudent tone Blane remembered so well. "We figured it must have been. Like a group project – 'Imbecilic Letters To Ex-Girlfriends'. We sure got a huge kick out of it." Steff then paused, cocking his head and regarding Blane for a moment, a faux look of bewilderment dawning in his eyes.
"Oh no" he chuckled, as though an amusing thought were just occurring to him, "you weren't serious about any of that, were you?" he asked as he threw his head back and roared laughter.
Blane inhaled sharply, his fists clenching as his eyes narrowing in anger, his tiny mouth pursed in fury. "That letter was the truth" he vehemently insisted, blinking rapidly, his eyes beginning to sting from humiliation. She let him read my letter? They were laughing at me?
This only made Steff laugh harder, a few tears leaking from the corners of his eyes.
Duckie wished mightily for some popcorn to go with this show. Steff my brother, you are an evil fucking genius.
As Steff's laughter quieted, he slowly shook his head and narrowed his eyes at Blane. "Since you were clearly operating under some kind of delusional mental illness, allow me to set you straight" Steff began, all traces of levity vanishing at once, as though they had never been there at all. The effect was eerily terrifying; the steady, emotionless calm with which Steff spoke was somehow more threatening than if he had been blatantly angry. The "old" Steff persona fell away and in his place instantly appeared this new, threatening and unfamiliar Steff; one who was quiet, lethal and in deadly earnest. His eyes blazed with that ungodly blue fire; he looked crazy in a calm and rational way; as though he might suddenly go psycho on your ass and you would never see it coming. Blane's nuts drew up into tight little nuggets as they tried to ascend back from whence they came, and an icy chill ran down his spine.
Steff continued in that composed, reasonable tone that was imbued with a palpable sense of threat, "Andie is with me now. She's happy." Steff paused to let that sink in for a moment. He raised his right eyebrow, staring Blane down. "You will not contact her again. Are we clear about that, Buddy?"
Blane squared his shoulders and looked up into Steff's eyes. "No, we are not 'clear about that, Buddy'" Blane swallowed and inhaled deeply, continuing, "I don't take orders from you, and I'm not leaving here until Andie hears the truth about you."
Duckie winced, shaking his head. Shoulda beat feet while you had the chance, asshole. Duckie abruptly turned and walked over to the turntable to change the record.
"Andie already knows the truth about me" Steff said quietly, shaking his head. "And she loves me anyway. And there's not a goddamn thing you can say or do to change that."
"We'll see about that. We'll see what she has to say when I tell her all the things you used to say about her" Blane retorted defiantly.
Steff said nothing, just raised his eyebrow and ran his tongue over his teeth, thinking. "When you hear from her own lips how she feels, will you agree to go away and leave us alone then?"
Blane scoffed, "Sure thing, Steff, although once she gets a load of what I have to say, I think you're gonna be the one who's going away." Blane's chest puffed up, thinking he had Steff on the ropes.
Blane was evidently unfamiliar with the truism that pride go-eth before a fall.
"Forgive me if I beg to differ, Buddy" Steff said, lazily examining his fingernails, "I think you're shortly gonna be singing a very different tune."
Like this one, Duckie smirked, returning to ring-side, just as the Everly Brothers began to blare over the store's stereo system.
Bye-bye love, Bye-bye happiness
Hello loneliness, I think I'm a-gonna cry
Bye-bye love, bye-bye sweet caress
Hello emptiness, I feel like I could die
Bye-bye my love, goodbye
As Phil and Don Everly continued to bemoan how their girl sure looked happy with her new guy, Steff began to chuckle, turning to look at Duckie with an amused, knowing gleam in his eyes. Duckie stood with his arms folded across his chest and jutted his jaw at Steff in acknowledgment, winking at him with brotherly affection. That sealed it for Steff; from this day forward, for now and ever more, he would die for Duckie. As soon as I get done kicking Blane's ass, I'm asking Duckie to be my best man.
Blane looked up at the ceiling, listening to the lyrics of the song, growing angrier as the song progressed.
"And just so we're all on the same page, Buddy, and regardless of Andie's reaction to your revelations, you're not leaving here until I kick your ass for lying to Andie about me saying you couldn't bring her to my graduation party" Steff said flatly, regaining Blane's undivided attention.
All the color drained from Blane's face as his eyes widened in shock. Fuck! He hadn't counted on Andie telling Steff that he had said that. It was such a 'Steff' thing to say, he figured he'd never get caught in that lie. Why did I ever fucking tell her that? It had been a stupid thing to say, and had ended up back-firing on him hugely. The real reason he had even said it was because he didn't want to take her to Steff's party and have to introduce her to his parents, and his parent's friends, who would all be in attendance. Then it would just run rampant through the WASP grapevine, about how Blane had brought some underprivileged stray to Steff's party; his parents would be mortified, and he'd have to listen to a never-ending ration of shit about it. It totally wasn't worth it. It would be so much easier to just blame it on Steff and let him take the fall. And it really wasn't even like he was telling that much of a lie – all the people there would think she was trash. And besides, Andie hated Steff's guts, she'd never find out the truth. Or so he'd thought.
"You trying to kick my ass isn't gonna change Andie finding out the truth about you, Steff" Blane shrugged, trying to appear unconcerned, "And when she does, you're gonna be the one singing 'Bye-Bye Love'"
At that moment, Iona and Andie entered the store from the back, giggling and talking, both heavily laden with bags, both from shopping, and from the Chinese take-out joint a few blocks down. All three guys turned at the outburst, their attention riveted on the new arrivals. Iona came in first, and immediately spied Blane standing next to Steff. She made eye contact with Steff and smiled reassuringly at him, although inwardly she was thinking, Oh boy, this ain't gonna be good.
Iona asked loudly over her shoulder as they made their way to the front of the store, "Andie, hon, are you sure you don't want to stay and have some dinner?"
Andie had not looked up since entering the store, concentrating on watching where she was going and balancing the bags she was holding as well as the drink holder full of Iona and Duckie's drinks, and trying not to spill any of it. "No thanks, Iona" she replied as she reached the front counter and set her load down. "I just want to get home to Steff."
Iona smiled. That's my girl. "Well, speaking of Mr. Wonderful, here he is now!" Iona exclaimed, a genuine note of joy in her voice.
Andie looked up, and saw only Steff. Never even noticed Blane. "Hi Baby!" she exclaimed, as she smiled a dazzling smile and fairly flew to his embrace, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him soundly. At last she pulled back from the kiss and hugged him tight, whispering in his ear "I missed you so much, Baby. I want to go home now." Steff held her tight, letting her love wash over him, his heart swelling with love for her.
"I missed you too, Kitten" he whispered, kissing the side of her head as he stroked her back, staring daggers at Blane.
After a moment, a voice in the background tentatively interrupted "Uh, hey Andie."
Andie pulled back minutely from Steff's embrace, looking into Steff's eyes, bafflement clouding her gaze. She turned, sliding under Steff's arm, his arm possessively riding across her shoulders, as she slid her arm across and around his back, remaining under the protection of his embrace. Her gaze landed on Blane and her spine involuntarily stiffened and her eyes widened slightly in surprise. She felt Steff's hold on her shoulders harden marginally before relaxing again, and in reflex she took half a step behind him, moving to allow Steff to take his place as a greater barrier between her and Blane. And she never ever released her hold on him.
Steff's chest swelled with pride. Whether Andie realized it or not, she had just sent him and everyone else the clear non-verbal signal that he was her mate, and she expected him to protect and defend her.
"Blane" Andie remarked flatly. "What are you doing here?" She shook her head, "Never mind. I know why you're here. Save it, I don't care."
Blane smiled, trying to soften her up a little. "You look great, Andie. How have you been? How is school?"
Andie gave Blane a look, a perplexed look, Are you nuts? She then turned her face up to Steff's, looking at him in bewilderment, is this weird, or is it just me? Steff raised his right eyebrow and nodded at her slowly, yep Kitten, this is weird. Steff was inwardly elated that he and Andie were so close that they could carry on an entire conversation with each other without once opening their mouths.
Blane could see that his attempt at softening Andie up was falling flat. Time to switch to Plan B, and just cut right to the chase. "Andie, could we go somewhere and talk for just a minute?"
Andie looked at him like he was crazy. "No, Blane. I'm not going anywhere with you, and I'm certainly not a bit interested in anything you have to say."
Time to quit wasting time and pull out the big guns. "Andie, I need to talk to you about Steff. There are some things you should know. Things you should know about the way he is. And about the way he talks about you." Blane paused and took a deep breath, "He's scum, Andie, and deep down, he thinks you're nothing but trash."
Andie's spine stiffened and her jaw clenched in rage, as her eyes blazed with ferocity. She inhaled deeply, her nostrils flaring in fury. No one talked about her man like that. Duckie winced, being intimately familiar with that expression, and he took a step back in precaution for the eruption he knew was coming. You done gone and pissed off the Redhead now, buddy. Stand by for obliteration.
"You don't know a thing Blane. And you're not worth the time it would take to explain it to you. Suffice it to say that there's nothing you can tell me about Steff that I don't already know, and I'm not interested in listening to another goddamn word that comes out of your mouth." Andie was building up a head of steam, ready to explode. "Steff has never once lied to me, or been too much of a coward to stand up for me. He's a man." Andie's eyes burned straight through Blane, scorching him with her contempt, "You are a pussy. Now get the hell out of here and don't ever come back."
Steff was alternately honored by how vehemently his woman was defending him and a tad worried that in another minute or two he was going to have another Benny situation on his hands. Andie had a temper, and while she had never unleashed it on him, he had witnessed it first-hand. Steff locked eyes with Duckie, who winced, shaking his head. It's not gonna be pretty man, save yourself.
Blane's eyes widened in shock at the way Andie was speaking to him, and then narrowed in anger. "What are you even doing with him anyway, Andie? Do you owe him for something?" His voice dripped with derision, "What'd he do, get your old man a job?" Blane snorted, "You're both trash. You deserve each other."
Andie's eyes gleamed in fury, as Steff's spine stiffened, his hands clenched in rage. Andie quickly stepped out from the shelter of Steff's embrace and turned, facing him, placing her hand on his chest where she could feel his heart pounding as though it were about to burst out of his chest. Steff inhaled deeply, trying to get his urge to kill Blane under control, and looked down into Andie's eyes.
"I'm going to go get my purse, and then I'm going to be ready to go home" she began. "But while I'm gone…" she paused, her eyes blazing.
"Kill him."
"You got it, Kitten"
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A/N: Please leave me a note and let me know what you think!