Disclaimer: Weiss Kruez and all related paraphernalia belong to their
rightful owners. I am not one of these owners. I never will be… unless I
become really rich and then I will buy Koyasu Takahito's soul. Until then,
I borrowed them.
Comments: Bleh. I'm on a roll, people. Hold tight. No actually you don't have to. My rollercoaster of love doesn't move that fast. Anyway, here it is… the ill fated honky-tonk trip. Hope it lives up to those expectations. It probably won't cause it's kinda short in all actuality. But still, it should amuse. Poor Kenken… poor Aya. Oh well. I actually already wrote the next chapter… (before I wrote the second and third… weird) but it needs some adjustments. Shouldn't take me long to get it up. Have a good one. Enjoy. R&R! If you don't I'll send rabid howler monkey to your house. And I will too. I have the Darkside with me!!
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I stare out the window. Feels like I've been doing a lot of that lately. It's just about dusk, the vile looking street lights are beginning to flicker on. The mood is sour. It's pretty much been confirmed that the only one of us looking forward to this little evening out is Youji. Aya, Omi, and I are quite content to grumble and pout.
"Would you three –try- to stop moping around for five seconds so that the three young ladies who are about to pick us up aren't thrown into a spontaneous depression as soon as they open the door?" he asks peevishly, adjusting his cowboy hat. "And I still think that we should have gone and bought you guys some boots. Aya can pull it off in those little side zip pimp boots he's got, but you tow are going to look like idiots trying to line dance in cross trainers and converse."
"Thanks, Youji, you're making this seem like more and more of a good idea every second," I say under my breath.
Omi fidgets nervously on the bed. "Well, I didn't think we were going to be making this mission a social event. Awwww… do I have to go along?"
I look over at him from the window and narrow my eyes. "If we have to go, Omittchi, we –all- have to go. We're a team after all."
He sticks out his bottom lip and starts to pout. "And these jeans are really tight. Why do I have to wear these again, Yotan?"
"Because I bought them for you, and Wrangler jeans are what everybody in Texas wears. They're supposed to be tight. See, mine are tight," Youji sing songs as he bends over to flash both of us a view of his second skin jeans as they stretch over his ass. He smacks himself. "Like a rock!"
"Ugh," is all I can manage. Repulsed and annoyed I turn back to the window.
"Why didn't you buy the jeans for Ken?" Omi whines.
"Because, Omittchi, attempting to change Ken's… er… unique fashion sense is a loosing battle. For you, my dear bishounen, there is always hope. Besides, Ken already has a bitch, so he doesn't actually –have- to look good tonight."
"And this shirt… I just don't feel right. Why are the lapels so big?" Omi continues.
Youji rolls his eyes and crosses to where Omi is sitting on the bed. He then proceeds to slap Omi's hands away from the collar of his shirt, fold it down correctly, and generally straighten the poor kid brutally. "Just because," he snaps.
"Ah! Yotan!"
I stare resolutely out into the cracked parking lot and let my forehead whack once against the window. I hear the bathroom door creak open and turn my head to watch Aya emerge in a waft of steam. Damn… he looks good. And it smells good in here too. Ah, Aya how do I love thee? Let me jump you right now and show you. But then I'd muss up his designer linen shirt and artfully pressed second skin jeans. Am I the only one –not- wearing second skin pants tonight?
I glance down at myself. Same old pants, same old shoes, same old shirt, but hey… at least it's freshly washed.
Youji and Omi are too busy trying to make Omi look correct to notice that Aya has emerged from his cocoon, so I wander over to him smiling lazily. I put my hands on his hips, looping my fingers through the belt loops. I tug once. "You look nice," I murmur.
He looks down at me, "I know. One of us had to," he smirks.
I give him the I'm-so-disgusted look and roll my eyes. "What exactly are you saying, koi?"
"Nothing," he says, covering my curled lip with his own. I tug his hips up against mine and purr softly. "I like you to dress the way you do. It means the only one looking will be me."
I giggle and push his hips away, turning to go back to the window. "Oh please. Can we go over the mission plan once more as long as we're waiting?"
"The plan," Aya begins, "is this: tomorrow we are taking a car and visiting as many Global Oil sites as we can. Youji, seeing as he has the best English skills, will speak with the management under the pretense that he is looking for a job using papers that will be supplied by Omi. Youji's job is to find out anything and everything he can from the various site managers about the targets' whereabouts and any other useful information. Meanwhile Ken and I will scout out the buildings themselves, setting charge flags at key locations. This way when we come back to actually set the charges we will be able to locate them in the dark using handheld tracking devices. Repeat as necessary until all facilities are tagged with charges. In the mean time Omi will be here at the computer working to link all the charge sites together so that when they go… they all go at once. Then we can skip town before the authorities even know to get nosey."
I sigh. "Sounds great. I love well planned missions."
"Don't we all?" Aya grumbles.
Omi gets up off the bed, shoving Youji out of his personal space. "Aya- kun? Do I look alright? I don't trust Yotan anymore."
Aya looks over at him and his eyebrow twitches once. "Hn."
"That is so not helping, Aya," Omi snaps. "Can't I please just stay here?"
"No!" we all cry. Just then there is a knock at the door.
Without a word Youji prances across the room and opens the motel room door with a flourish. "Buenos noches, bonitas!" he drawls.
There is a mini fit of giggles. Great looks like girls in Texas are just as annoying as girls in the Koneko. Some things never change. I look over at the door as Youji ushers the young ladies into the room.
"Girls I would like you to meet my traveling companions. This is Omi, I know he looks young, but I swear he's perfectly legal, Aya, it would be folly to actually try to talk to him, and Ken, sweet and unassuming but be wary Aya is rather protective of that one." Of course all of this is rattled off rather rapidly in English, so I don't actually catch most of it. I wonder vaguely why the girls are giving each other rather strange looks.
"And guys," he says, reverting to Japanese, "this is Blaire, Brandy, and Charlotte. Perfectly obnoxious names, I know, but what are you going to do this is Texas."
We all kinda wave at each other half heartedly. I don't think I'm going to like these girls. Number one the first two are way too tall. I'm five foot nine which is doing well in my country, and they are as tall as I am if not a bit taller. Good thing the Brandy girl is only about five foot four or else Omi might start having inferiority issues. Second of all they are dressed, all three of them, as the female equivalents of Youji. Cowboy boots all around, tight jeans, one is wearing some kind of blue grass swing skirt, and one even sports a bolo. This is going to be a long night.
Youji looks around at us expectantly. "Ok, then. Let's go."
And go we do. The girls have a truck and we have our rented station wagon thing. POS car, if you know what I mean. It's definitely on it's last legs. "We'll follow you," Youji calls to the girls who giggle and nod.
Ten minutes later we're clambering out of the rusted out car and into the parking lot of what appears to be some sort of … night club? No that's not right. It's just a big, ugly, square building with a slat shingle roof and a huge neon sign of a dancing cowboy that reads 'Le_ty'_'. Of course it's suppose to read 'Lefty's' but all the f and s manage to do are stutter and spark weakly. The cowboy's highest kick doesn't illuminate either. Oh great, this looks sooo promising. Great idea, Youji.
We go inside, we order drinks (mine smuggled to me by Youji), we sit, we chat, we order food, and listen to what is passing itself off as a band. I figure my disdain for the music must be a personal problem since everyone around us seems to be having a good time in spite of it… even because of it.
Early in the evening I am glomped onto by the one called Charlotte. She cozies up, right into my personal space. I watch, helpless, as Aya's eye twitches. He does nothing else to relieve me.
"So, what is it that y'all do, ezactly?" she asks batting her big blue, green eye-shadowed eyes at me. I smile weakly.
"Um… we are… florists," I say slowly, nodding when I figure I've got the right word.
She pauses. "Oh, really? That's an interesting profession for four young guys like yourselves to have…."
"We have… shop," I explain, "in Kyoto."
"Oh, so y'all are private business owners. I get it. Well that's cool. You know you have the prettiest eyes," she drawls, coming dangerously close to touching my face.
I translate what she just said twice just to make sure I got it right. I blink. Hawduyuhawses! I have the prettiest eyes? I just met this chick. I look over at Aya a bit frantically. He rubs his temples and takes a sip of his beer.
I smile strangely. "Er… thank you." I think.
For the next few minutes I am assaulted non stop by the feminine hormonal system thrown into overdrive. There's a lot of giggling, touching, knee grabbing, and 'Oh, Ken'ing going on. It disturbs me greatly, and I think my awkwardness is only egging her on. I'm pretty sure that despite my efforts to the contrary I am blushing rather badly.
Suddenly the music stops and over the loudspeaker comes a fuzzy, loud, crackling voice. I have no idea what it says. The accent is too thick and the static is too disturbing. Lucky for me we have Blaise, Brandy, and Charlotte with us.
Charlotte grabs my hand and yanks me up out of the seat. "They're gonna start a new line! Let's go y'all."
Youji and Omi meet the same fate and are dragged towards what appears to be a large wooden dance floor covered in wood chips. I suppress a squeal of terror and manage to yank Charlotte back just enough to latch onto Aya's arm. "If I'm falling your going down with me," I growl. "Help me, koi!"
I pull him after us towards the dance floor. The girls arrange us in the middle of the line and then take their places in front of us.
"Just watch us, and do what we do, 'k?" Blaise chirps. I can just see the little ♥ at the end of her sentence.
I have to admit that all in all it was a lot of fun, especially since Omi and I had absolutely no idea what we were doing and ended up bumping into each other as much as actually getting the steps correct. But once we got it down, we got it down. Youji and Aya were really starting to cook. A rendition of 'Cotton Eyed Joe' comes on and the place goes wild. I can't help but whoop along with the rest of the crazies and I kick up wood chips. I manage to punch some guy in the face mid chorus… it isn't pretty. I want to stop and apologize profusely, but there something about the music that won't let me. I know that if I get out of step now… I'll never get back in. So I just scream "So sorry!" at the top of my lungs as I go into another do-se-do.
We must have been out there for at least four songs before the girls dragged us back to our seats so that we could eat our food which was rapidly getting cold.
The dancing rather lightened the mood. There's a lot of nonsensical laughter going on at the table now, and Youji just keeps ordering more drinks, which he casually scoots to me across the table. Aya eyes me warily. He remembers what happened the last time I got really drunk…. Yeah, let's not talk about that. Of course there is still the Charlotte problem to contend with. She won't stop talking to me and poking at me and touching my arm. I make it a point to be as friendly with Aya as I can, hoping to get the point across without having to resort to sucking his face in public.
The man with the microphone comes on again.
"Hey, it's starting up again, you guys wanna go? It's square dancing this time around. Groups of four," Blaise pipes up, squeezing Youji's arm. Yeah, Youji's not sleeping alone tonight. He know it too because he smile indulgently and then stands up.
"Why not? Omittchi, are you and Brandy up for it?"
Omi and Brandy, who have been engrossed in deep conversation both look up, rather startled. "Sure… I guess," Omi says slowly.
The four of them hurry off to do their thing. Now it's just me and Aya and the creepy girl who won't let go of my arm. She giggles and bumps against me. "You wanna go up and see if we can find partners?" she asks sweetly.
"Uhhh… no… er… bathroom," I say hurriedly, scooting away from the table and making a b-line for the back of the establishment.
I push through the swinging door and into the dimly lit interior of a predominately brown bathroom. Not appealing… and it has that 'hey, I'm a public bathroom' smell. To my utter relief Aya pushes into the room moments later. I gasp in relief and throw myself into his arms. "Koibito! Make her stop!"
He pats my back and then dislodges me. "It's ok, Ken. She's just an annoying, clingy girl. We deal with them all the time at home."
"Yeah, but this one's out for blood. I can tell!"
"What do you want me to do?" he asks, going to wash his hands.
"I don't know! Fix her with the glare of death, make it obvious that I'm your bitch! Something… anything!" I cry.
"How much have you had to drink," he asks, completely changing the subject.
"Oh… I'm a little tipsy," I answer. "But that's not the point!"
"No more for you. Finish your drink and then drink water."
"Why? I'm doing fine!" I argue, just to argue.
"Look, Ken, the last thing I need is you getting into a bar fight in a foreign country," he growls.
I think about this. "That's true. Fine, I won't drink anymore after this last one, but do something about that annoying baka!"
He just rolls his eyes and leads me out of the bathroom. Back at the table he plops down into his chair and before I have a chance to sit down he grabs my wrist and pulls my down into his lap. This isn't quite what I meant….
He puts one hand on my thigh and takes his drink in the other. "So, Charlotte, what is it that you and your friends do?" he asks, arching one thin eyebrow.
She stares at us for a moment. We look back at her passively. "Well… we… we just kinda travel around from place to place, working here and there and then traveling some more. It's pretty great actually. We're all originally from Texas so we come back here more often than to other places."
"That's interesting," Aya answers taking a sip of his drink. He makes a small coughing sound and clears his throat.
Charlotte stares at us for a moment more. "You know I just think that is so great."
"What's that?"
"You know, American culture is so homophobic these days, but I just think it is great that in y'all's culture y'all feel completely comfortable being so close to each other physically as friends and still not feel that your manhood is threatened. You know probably 95% of the people in this place assume that y'all're gay. Isn't that just so sad?"
Isn't it just. This girl is thicker than the basement walls of Fort Knox. She leans a little closer to us and hands me my drink. "Don't let it get warm."
I smile at her blandly and take it between my fingers. I glance over at Aya and take a sip. Something tickles my throat and I clear it without thinking. Charlotte stares at us and we stare at her. There really isn't much to say so we just finish our drinks.
After a while I start feeling kinda fun. The music sounds really good all of a sudden. Charlotte smiles at us wolfishly. "How do you boys feel? They're startin' another line… wanna dance?"
"Yeah!" we both say simultaneously. Weird.
We follow Charlotte out onto the wooden floor. I feel kinda fuzzy. I lurch a bit and look around to try and find Youji and Omi, but they aren't in the line. I shake my head. I don't think I've ever had that much fun dancing in my life. All the people around us seem to be swirling and twirling at a million miles a minute. I can't stop the floor from whipping around under my feet as the lights become brighter and brighter. Ugh… I don't feel so good. I look over at Aya and he seems to be suspended in time or something, but he looks about how I feel.
"Are you boys feeling ok?" Charlotte asks innocently… a little too innocently. "Maybe we should go get some air…."
Sounds like a good idea to me, but even if it didn't I don't think that I'd have much say in the matter at this point. My muscles are starting to ache and feel a bit like jelly.
The fresh night air does a little something to revive me, but as I stumble towards what I think is Charlotte's truck my legs give just after Aya's do and we meet the gravel in quick succession. I look over at Aya who looks extremely pissed. My vision implodes inward on itself and the last thing I hear is.
"Nighty night, boys."
Next thing I know… I'm hogtied to Aya in the desert.
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After thoughts: I wouldn't mind being hogtied to Aya in the desert. I hope Charlotte was sufficiently creepy. I tried but… she didn't live up to my own expectations. Hope you liked it. Still love to hear those thoughts from all y'all!
Comments: Bleh. I'm on a roll, people. Hold tight. No actually you don't have to. My rollercoaster of love doesn't move that fast. Anyway, here it is… the ill fated honky-tonk trip. Hope it lives up to those expectations. It probably won't cause it's kinda short in all actuality. But still, it should amuse. Poor Kenken… poor Aya. Oh well. I actually already wrote the next chapter… (before I wrote the second and third… weird) but it needs some adjustments. Shouldn't take me long to get it up. Have a good one. Enjoy. R&R! If you don't I'll send rabid howler monkey to your house. And I will too. I have the Darkside with me!!
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I stare out the window. Feels like I've been doing a lot of that lately. It's just about dusk, the vile looking street lights are beginning to flicker on. The mood is sour. It's pretty much been confirmed that the only one of us looking forward to this little evening out is Youji. Aya, Omi, and I are quite content to grumble and pout.
"Would you three –try- to stop moping around for five seconds so that the three young ladies who are about to pick us up aren't thrown into a spontaneous depression as soon as they open the door?" he asks peevishly, adjusting his cowboy hat. "And I still think that we should have gone and bought you guys some boots. Aya can pull it off in those little side zip pimp boots he's got, but you tow are going to look like idiots trying to line dance in cross trainers and converse."
"Thanks, Youji, you're making this seem like more and more of a good idea every second," I say under my breath.
Omi fidgets nervously on the bed. "Well, I didn't think we were going to be making this mission a social event. Awwww… do I have to go along?"
I look over at him from the window and narrow my eyes. "If we have to go, Omittchi, we –all- have to go. We're a team after all."
He sticks out his bottom lip and starts to pout. "And these jeans are really tight. Why do I have to wear these again, Yotan?"
"Because I bought them for you, and Wrangler jeans are what everybody in Texas wears. They're supposed to be tight. See, mine are tight," Youji sing songs as he bends over to flash both of us a view of his second skin jeans as they stretch over his ass. He smacks himself. "Like a rock!"
"Ugh," is all I can manage. Repulsed and annoyed I turn back to the window.
"Why didn't you buy the jeans for Ken?" Omi whines.
"Because, Omittchi, attempting to change Ken's… er… unique fashion sense is a loosing battle. For you, my dear bishounen, there is always hope. Besides, Ken already has a bitch, so he doesn't actually –have- to look good tonight."
"And this shirt… I just don't feel right. Why are the lapels so big?" Omi continues.
Youji rolls his eyes and crosses to where Omi is sitting on the bed. He then proceeds to slap Omi's hands away from the collar of his shirt, fold it down correctly, and generally straighten the poor kid brutally. "Just because," he snaps.
"Ah! Yotan!"
I stare resolutely out into the cracked parking lot and let my forehead whack once against the window. I hear the bathroom door creak open and turn my head to watch Aya emerge in a waft of steam. Damn… he looks good. And it smells good in here too. Ah, Aya how do I love thee? Let me jump you right now and show you. But then I'd muss up his designer linen shirt and artfully pressed second skin jeans. Am I the only one –not- wearing second skin pants tonight?
I glance down at myself. Same old pants, same old shoes, same old shirt, but hey… at least it's freshly washed.
Youji and Omi are too busy trying to make Omi look correct to notice that Aya has emerged from his cocoon, so I wander over to him smiling lazily. I put my hands on his hips, looping my fingers through the belt loops. I tug once. "You look nice," I murmur.
He looks down at me, "I know. One of us had to," he smirks.
I give him the I'm-so-disgusted look and roll my eyes. "What exactly are you saying, koi?"
"Nothing," he says, covering my curled lip with his own. I tug his hips up against mine and purr softly. "I like you to dress the way you do. It means the only one looking will be me."
I giggle and push his hips away, turning to go back to the window. "Oh please. Can we go over the mission plan once more as long as we're waiting?"
"The plan," Aya begins, "is this: tomorrow we are taking a car and visiting as many Global Oil sites as we can. Youji, seeing as he has the best English skills, will speak with the management under the pretense that he is looking for a job using papers that will be supplied by Omi. Youji's job is to find out anything and everything he can from the various site managers about the targets' whereabouts and any other useful information. Meanwhile Ken and I will scout out the buildings themselves, setting charge flags at key locations. This way when we come back to actually set the charges we will be able to locate them in the dark using handheld tracking devices. Repeat as necessary until all facilities are tagged with charges. In the mean time Omi will be here at the computer working to link all the charge sites together so that when they go… they all go at once. Then we can skip town before the authorities even know to get nosey."
I sigh. "Sounds great. I love well planned missions."
"Don't we all?" Aya grumbles.
Omi gets up off the bed, shoving Youji out of his personal space. "Aya- kun? Do I look alright? I don't trust Yotan anymore."
Aya looks over at him and his eyebrow twitches once. "Hn."
"That is so not helping, Aya," Omi snaps. "Can't I please just stay here?"
"No!" we all cry. Just then there is a knock at the door.
Without a word Youji prances across the room and opens the motel room door with a flourish. "Buenos noches, bonitas!" he drawls.
There is a mini fit of giggles. Great looks like girls in Texas are just as annoying as girls in the Koneko. Some things never change. I look over at the door as Youji ushers the young ladies into the room.
"Girls I would like you to meet my traveling companions. This is Omi, I know he looks young, but I swear he's perfectly legal, Aya, it would be folly to actually try to talk to him, and Ken, sweet and unassuming but be wary Aya is rather protective of that one." Of course all of this is rattled off rather rapidly in English, so I don't actually catch most of it. I wonder vaguely why the girls are giving each other rather strange looks.
"And guys," he says, reverting to Japanese, "this is Blaire, Brandy, and Charlotte. Perfectly obnoxious names, I know, but what are you going to do this is Texas."
We all kinda wave at each other half heartedly. I don't think I'm going to like these girls. Number one the first two are way too tall. I'm five foot nine which is doing well in my country, and they are as tall as I am if not a bit taller. Good thing the Brandy girl is only about five foot four or else Omi might start having inferiority issues. Second of all they are dressed, all three of them, as the female equivalents of Youji. Cowboy boots all around, tight jeans, one is wearing some kind of blue grass swing skirt, and one even sports a bolo. This is going to be a long night.
Youji looks around at us expectantly. "Ok, then. Let's go."
And go we do. The girls have a truck and we have our rented station wagon thing. POS car, if you know what I mean. It's definitely on it's last legs. "We'll follow you," Youji calls to the girls who giggle and nod.
Ten minutes later we're clambering out of the rusted out car and into the parking lot of what appears to be some sort of … night club? No that's not right. It's just a big, ugly, square building with a slat shingle roof and a huge neon sign of a dancing cowboy that reads 'Le_ty'_'. Of course it's suppose to read 'Lefty's' but all the f and s manage to do are stutter and spark weakly. The cowboy's highest kick doesn't illuminate either. Oh great, this looks sooo promising. Great idea, Youji.
We go inside, we order drinks (mine smuggled to me by Youji), we sit, we chat, we order food, and listen to what is passing itself off as a band. I figure my disdain for the music must be a personal problem since everyone around us seems to be having a good time in spite of it… even because of it.
Early in the evening I am glomped onto by the one called Charlotte. She cozies up, right into my personal space. I watch, helpless, as Aya's eye twitches. He does nothing else to relieve me.
"So, what is it that y'all do, ezactly?" she asks batting her big blue, green eye-shadowed eyes at me. I smile weakly.
"Um… we are… florists," I say slowly, nodding when I figure I've got the right word.
She pauses. "Oh, really? That's an interesting profession for four young guys like yourselves to have…."
"We have… shop," I explain, "in Kyoto."
"Oh, so y'all are private business owners. I get it. Well that's cool. You know you have the prettiest eyes," she drawls, coming dangerously close to touching my face.
I translate what she just said twice just to make sure I got it right. I blink. Hawduyuhawses! I have the prettiest eyes? I just met this chick. I look over at Aya a bit frantically. He rubs his temples and takes a sip of his beer.
I smile strangely. "Er… thank you." I think.
For the next few minutes I am assaulted non stop by the feminine hormonal system thrown into overdrive. There's a lot of giggling, touching, knee grabbing, and 'Oh, Ken'ing going on. It disturbs me greatly, and I think my awkwardness is only egging her on. I'm pretty sure that despite my efforts to the contrary I am blushing rather badly.
Suddenly the music stops and over the loudspeaker comes a fuzzy, loud, crackling voice. I have no idea what it says. The accent is too thick and the static is too disturbing. Lucky for me we have Blaise, Brandy, and Charlotte with us.
Charlotte grabs my hand and yanks me up out of the seat. "They're gonna start a new line! Let's go y'all."
Youji and Omi meet the same fate and are dragged towards what appears to be a large wooden dance floor covered in wood chips. I suppress a squeal of terror and manage to yank Charlotte back just enough to latch onto Aya's arm. "If I'm falling your going down with me," I growl. "Help me, koi!"
I pull him after us towards the dance floor. The girls arrange us in the middle of the line and then take their places in front of us.
"Just watch us, and do what we do, 'k?" Blaise chirps. I can just see the little ♥ at the end of her sentence.
I have to admit that all in all it was a lot of fun, especially since Omi and I had absolutely no idea what we were doing and ended up bumping into each other as much as actually getting the steps correct. But once we got it down, we got it down. Youji and Aya were really starting to cook. A rendition of 'Cotton Eyed Joe' comes on and the place goes wild. I can't help but whoop along with the rest of the crazies and I kick up wood chips. I manage to punch some guy in the face mid chorus… it isn't pretty. I want to stop and apologize profusely, but there something about the music that won't let me. I know that if I get out of step now… I'll never get back in. So I just scream "So sorry!" at the top of my lungs as I go into another do-se-do.
We must have been out there for at least four songs before the girls dragged us back to our seats so that we could eat our food which was rapidly getting cold.
The dancing rather lightened the mood. There's a lot of nonsensical laughter going on at the table now, and Youji just keeps ordering more drinks, which he casually scoots to me across the table. Aya eyes me warily. He remembers what happened the last time I got really drunk…. Yeah, let's not talk about that. Of course there is still the Charlotte problem to contend with. She won't stop talking to me and poking at me and touching my arm. I make it a point to be as friendly with Aya as I can, hoping to get the point across without having to resort to sucking his face in public.
The man with the microphone comes on again.
"Hey, it's starting up again, you guys wanna go? It's square dancing this time around. Groups of four," Blaise pipes up, squeezing Youji's arm. Yeah, Youji's not sleeping alone tonight. He know it too because he smile indulgently and then stands up.
"Why not? Omittchi, are you and Brandy up for it?"
Omi and Brandy, who have been engrossed in deep conversation both look up, rather startled. "Sure… I guess," Omi says slowly.
The four of them hurry off to do their thing. Now it's just me and Aya and the creepy girl who won't let go of my arm. She giggles and bumps against me. "You wanna go up and see if we can find partners?" she asks sweetly.
"Uhhh… no… er… bathroom," I say hurriedly, scooting away from the table and making a b-line for the back of the establishment.
I push through the swinging door and into the dimly lit interior of a predominately brown bathroom. Not appealing… and it has that 'hey, I'm a public bathroom' smell. To my utter relief Aya pushes into the room moments later. I gasp in relief and throw myself into his arms. "Koibito! Make her stop!"
He pats my back and then dislodges me. "It's ok, Ken. She's just an annoying, clingy girl. We deal with them all the time at home."
"Yeah, but this one's out for blood. I can tell!"
"What do you want me to do?" he asks, going to wash his hands.
"I don't know! Fix her with the glare of death, make it obvious that I'm your bitch! Something… anything!" I cry.
"How much have you had to drink," he asks, completely changing the subject.
"Oh… I'm a little tipsy," I answer. "But that's not the point!"
"No more for you. Finish your drink and then drink water."
"Why? I'm doing fine!" I argue, just to argue.
"Look, Ken, the last thing I need is you getting into a bar fight in a foreign country," he growls.
I think about this. "That's true. Fine, I won't drink anymore after this last one, but do something about that annoying baka!"
He just rolls his eyes and leads me out of the bathroom. Back at the table he plops down into his chair and before I have a chance to sit down he grabs my wrist and pulls my down into his lap. This isn't quite what I meant….
He puts one hand on my thigh and takes his drink in the other. "So, Charlotte, what is it that you and your friends do?" he asks, arching one thin eyebrow.
She stares at us for a moment. We look back at her passively. "Well… we… we just kinda travel around from place to place, working here and there and then traveling some more. It's pretty great actually. We're all originally from Texas so we come back here more often than to other places."
"That's interesting," Aya answers taking a sip of his drink. He makes a small coughing sound and clears his throat.
Charlotte stares at us for a moment more. "You know I just think that is so great."
"What's that?"
"You know, American culture is so homophobic these days, but I just think it is great that in y'all's culture y'all feel completely comfortable being so close to each other physically as friends and still not feel that your manhood is threatened. You know probably 95% of the people in this place assume that y'all're gay. Isn't that just so sad?"
Isn't it just. This girl is thicker than the basement walls of Fort Knox. She leans a little closer to us and hands me my drink. "Don't let it get warm."
I smile at her blandly and take it between my fingers. I glance over at Aya and take a sip. Something tickles my throat and I clear it without thinking. Charlotte stares at us and we stare at her. There really isn't much to say so we just finish our drinks.
After a while I start feeling kinda fun. The music sounds really good all of a sudden. Charlotte smiles at us wolfishly. "How do you boys feel? They're startin' another line… wanna dance?"
"Yeah!" we both say simultaneously. Weird.
We follow Charlotte out onto the wooden floor. I feel kinda fuzzy. I lurch a bit and look around to try and find Youji and Omi, but they aren't in the line. I shake my head. I don't think I've ever had that much fun dancing in my life. All the people around us seem to be swirling and twirling at a million miles a minute. I can't stop the floor from whipping around under my feet as the lights become brighter and brighter. Ugh… I don't feel so good. I look over at Aya and he seems to be suspended in time or something, but he looks about how I feel.
"Are you boys feeling ok?" Charlotte asks innocently… a little too innocently. "Maybe we should go get some air…."
Sounds like a good idea to me, but even if it didn't I don't think that I'd have much say in the matter at this point. My muscles are starting to ache and feel a bit like jelly.
The fresh night air does a little something to revive me, but as I stumble towards what I think is Charlotte's truck my legs give just after Aya's do and we meet the gravel in quick succession. I look over at Aya who looks extremely pissed. My vision implodes inward on itself and the last thing I hear is.
"Nighty night, boys."
Next thing I know… I'm hogtied to Aya in the desert.
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After thoughts: I wouldn't mind being hogtied to Aya in the desert. I hope Charlotte was sufficiently creepy. I tried but… she didn't live up to my own expectations. Hope you liked it. Still love to hear those thoughts from all y'all!