AN: ok so I know this is short and kind of crappy. I'm out of the habit of writing DA fiction. I haven't even read it in like forever. I actually had to get out my CD with "Pollo Loco" on it and watch it. Ben's such a fascinating character. Other then Alec he was the singularly most fascinating character on the entire show. He leaves Max behind in the dust. But yes. So once again I'm out of practice and I apologize.
Jondy got fan mail…I didn't Jondy did. Which I have to say I thought was possibly one of the niftiest things. It gave me a warm glow and then the chick sent me a birthday card. I was all tingly. Thank you, very very much for that, Sil. You made me happy.
Oh by the way. I'm 21 now. Yay! I can like drink, go me.
Review. I know we're all out of practice on that but it's the only polite thing to do.
Ben's Song
Chapter 2: Watching you
~*~
Haven't we met?
You're some kind of beautiful stranger
You could be good for me
I've had the taste for danger
If I'm smart then I'll run away
But I'm not so I guess I'll stay
~ Madonna, "Beautiful Stranger"
~*~
She watched Zack drive off with one last wave. The sound of "be good" still echoing in her ears.
"Be good," she muttered to herself making faces at his retreating back, "I'll show you being good you little…person-type thing."
She went back inside to clean up the mess of her kitchen from making breakfast that morning. "Good would have been sticking around long enough to clean up after yourself. But no, you have an important errand to run." She picked up the plates off the table and took them to the sink. "I'll bet you didn't have anything to do at all. You little sneak. Its convenient how often you have to go riding off into the sunset…" she stopped to think for a second, "well in the general direction of the sun at least, every time we make a mess." She ran a sponge over pancake batter on the counter then glanced up at the clock.
"Fruit cake." She was going to be late for work if she wasn't quick. Had she been anything but an X5 she would have been. There's something you can say for being genetically engineered.
She was out the door in ten minutes and on the streets of New York without any delay.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Something about the bar during the day was just plain depressing, she thought with a sigh as she shouldered her backpack and made her way through the empty parking lot. Maybe it was the peeling paint that wasn't obscured by the dark of night and made exotic with red lights or it was just the plain fact that it was deserted of all but Jeff's car. Whatever it was Jondy preferred not coming into work until the sun had already set. It was…lonely. It's purpose for being momentarily forgotten in the bright glare of the summer sun.
It also made her feel like eyes were on her back.
The thought made her spin around, hair whipping around her in a gold whirlwind. Her eyes narrowed as they swept across the parking lot resting for a long moment at a sad patch of trees across the street, casting shadows onto the pavement. Nothing moved. Jondy rolled her eyes and let out a laugh. "Someone's losin' it, and I think it might be me."
She hurried into the bar, her boot heels making soft clomping sounds on the pavement. The front door shut with a click behind her and she let out a soft sigh, the feeling of eyes still making her back itch uncomfortably.
There was a crash from behind the bar and Jondy hurried to lean over it and see what had happened. Jeff kneeling on the floor fighting a loosing battle with a box of bourbon and was trying to check the bottles for any damages. "Need some help there, chief?"
Jeff jumped and clutched at his chest, dropping a bottle with a thunk, thankfully it didn't break. He was glaring at her, "You do realize that if you give me a heart attack you're going to have to find a new job, right?"
"What? You're not leaving all this splendor to me in your will?" She batted her eyelashes and did her best simper, a lethal combination when dealing with just about anyone…except for Jeff. Who'd have thought that there was anyone in the world who could resist?
"Sorry to break it to ya, kiddo, but no." His face split into a grin as he nodded towards the storeroom, "you get to take inventory. Won't that be fun?"
She started for the back with a, "I don't love you no more," tossed over her shoulder.
Inventory. Bleah. But on the plus side, money. Jondy could handle the bleahness of doing inventory work with the reminder that it meant food in her refrigerator. Seeing as how she was usually hungry that was a very important thing for her.
By the time she was done with inventory the world outside was darkening, the sun disappearing below the horizon, when she stuck her head out the door she could just imagine a hiss as it touched the ocean. She couldn't really see it but she could remember with great clarity the times that she had.
With the sun going down the neon lights of the bar came on with a soft buzzing noise, and she was setting up tables and chairs for the first customers. They trickled in at first, the regulars waving at Jondy as they told Jeff their orders. She smiled and waved back and soaked in the quiet to sustain herself against the roar that she knew would be coming with the tide of customers.
Her watch told her it was ten o'clock when the rush started. She wove through tables, her tray full of orders until it was her turn behind the bar. She liked it better back there, less people tried to touch her and she had personal space. Personal space was a good thing in Jondy land.
It was a Saturday night and the customers were everywhere so she didn't notice the man who came sliding up to the bar. She had the vague sense of that she was being watched but that wasn't unusual. Most men watched her, eyes hungry and hands twitching, she had gotten good at ignoring it.
After a while though she shot a glance out the corner of her eye. Dark blonde hair, tousled from restless hands always running through it, with skin tanned and smooth. He was lanky and elegant, like a tiger lounging before the hunt. She couldn't see the color of his eyes from here but something; something was so familiar about him. As she worked her way through the other customers over to him she tried desperately to figure it out.
Finally she was in front of him, she plastered on her most devastating smile and looked up with a, "what can I getcha?" Or at least that was how it was supposed to happen.
She got the devastating smile part down without a hitch but when she looked up and met his eyes, all that she managed to get out was, "what can—"
Jade. The color was milky and soft, fracturing around the pupil like broken glass and he watched her with unchecked fascination. But that wasn't what stopped her voice; it was the spark that nestled in the depths of the stare that got her. Wild. Untamed. He was like a lion she had seen once at the zoo, it paced back and forth peering through the bars of its cage and you knew that it remembered the long grass of its birthplace, swaying softly in the wind. It remembered the feel of running, the power of teeth and claws as it took down its prey.
This was a man who knew what it meant to be a predator, someone who knew what it was to be like her.
A smile curved the edges of his full pink lips, and his tongue darted out leaving his bottom lip shiny and soft. She blinked and shook herself, dragging her eyes away from the sight. "—I get for you?" she finally finished, as she returned his smile, somewhat shakier.
"Do you recognize me?" He asked softly, his voice a deep husky thing; she had to lean in to hear it over the din of the crowd.
She looked into those eyes, remembering her own in the mirror that morning. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it with a snap. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over him one more time and then "Ben?"