Chapter 6: Breakfast and Alcohol

Song: "As Lovers Go" by Dashboard Confessional

Deep breath… ok. Here goes. Sorry this took so long. Writer's block took over for a while.

She didn't have any money. What was she doing? She wasn't able to pay for breakfast. But I guess he had, a credit card? What kind of homeless person has a credit card? Someone who chose to be homeless.

Sitting in a booth at the diner, Gypsy sipped her orange juice and looked out the window at the train station across the street. Sacha handed the waiter his credit card and sat back in the red-cushioned vinyl seat, his eyes watching her. Gypsy could feel his eyes on her and she turned to look at him.

"Thanks for breakfast. I haven't eaten in days." She said, offering him a genuine smile. He liked that smile.

"No problem. Can't have you starving now, can we?" he smiled back.

The waiter walked back with a nervous look on his face.

"Excuse me, sir. Your credit card has been declined." The waiter placed the shards of the credit card in from of Sacha on the table and waited for Sacha to respond.

"Dammit," Sacha muttered under his breath. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a weathered, leather, three-fold wallet. Taking another credit card out of it he handed it to the waiter.

"Here, try this."

"Thank you, sir." The waiter hurried off.

"Well, that was embarrassing." Sacha scratched the back of his head and stared down at the table.

"No… not really," Gypsy tried to reason. Sacha looked up at her, eyebrows raised.

"Ok, yeah it is." She replied. They both started laughing.

she said "i've gotta be honest,
you're wasting your time if you're fishing round here."
and i said "you must be mistaken,
cause i'm not fooling...this feeling is real"
she said...she said "you gotta be crazy,
What do you take me for? Some kind of easy mark?
"No, you've got wits, you've got looks,
you've got passion, but I swear that you've got me all wrong."

"Did I mention how sorry I am?"

"Several times."

"Man, I didn't know they actually made people do this. I thought it was just in movies."

"Well, apparently they do. Look out, you're dripping on the floor." Gypsy rubbed the back of her wrist across her forehead, and continued washing dishes. Her hand itched under the bright yellow rubber gloves and her back hurt. The other card, didn't work.

"I guess I was over my balance. This is incredibly embarrassing." Sacha rinsed and dried every dish she handed him. Washing dishes, this was not how he wanted to spend his morning. Sacha ran through the reasons that his cards wouldn't work. Maybe his "father" finally got tired of supporting someone who wasn't around. But why'd he have to cancel them today? Why'd this have to happen in front of her? Now, Sacha expected, he probably looked like a trust fund kid who hated his parents and decided it would be fun to be homeless for a while; or something stupid like that.

Eight hours after they walked into the diner for breakfast, Gypsy and Sacha trudged out of the back entrance and out onto the broken sidewalk. Gypsy slid her backpack over both her shoulders, pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head, and shivered slightly as the cold wind picked up, blowing her hair. It was starting to get dark now.

The two kept walking, silently into the darkening city. They both knew they should find some place to stop and spend the night, yet neither one wanted to stop. Gypsy's eyes followed the street she was walking beside, watching the pavement slide past under her feet. She looked up when she felt something warm brush up against her. Sacha was walking closer to her than he was before. His piercing blue eyes were pointed straight out in front of him, as if expecting something to appear. There was something about this man that intrigued Gypsy. The sun finally set, hiding itself behind a red horizon. The air became unpleasantly cold and Gypsy got the weird feeling someone was following her. She stopped and slowly turned around, but no one was there.

"What's wrong?" Sacha had stopped too and was now looking at her with questioning eyes.

"I don't know, just get the feeling we're not alone." She found herself sniffing the air. When did she start doing that?

"Let's just keep walking." Sacha whispered in her ear, his hand on her arm.

all wrong.
all wrong.
but you got me...

The blow came out of nowhere. Sacha went down, hitting his jaw on the edge of the sidewalk. Everything went black.

Gypsy tried to cry out Sacha's name but a rough, callused hand grabbed her mouth; and an arm wrapped itself firmly around her abdomen.

"Shall we, Gyps?" Horribly chapped lips brushed up against her ear, making her blood run cold. She was escorted down the abandoned street and shoved into a burrow, her face pressed up against the brick wall.

"Ye're not going to do any yellin' are ye darlin'?" He whispered into her ear, his breath strangely cold against her skin. Gypsy shook her head as much as she could. The hand over her mouth moved away slowly. Keeping her mouth shut, Gypsy felt the hand snake around her neck to her back. Gradually, the hand made it's way down her back, moving from side to side, all the way down to her hip, there it was joined by the other hand. Now both hands slid their way down each of her legs. Gypsy shut her eyes as tight as she could, hearing a slight snicker coming from the man. The unwelcome hands made this way back up to her hips, now checking her sides, and around her front on her stomach; stopping just below her breasts. Another snicker made its way to her ears as his hands now went for her neck and shoulders. In one swift motion, the mystery man turned her around to face him, and slammed her back up against the wall, making her wince.

"So it's true 'den. Daddy's little girl has left ze convent. Well, dere's no nuns to help you now, darlin'" The man smiled, showing a mouth full of golden teeth. He had red eyes and a long, clean-shaven face. His hair was as white as snow. Gypsy watched as slowly the man's canine teeth began to grow longer that normal. The golden points were soon protruding out of his toxic smile. Gypsy gasped as he moved in closer pressing his nose up against his neck.

"Trust me, 'dis will hurt quite a bit."

Gypsy shut her eyes. She felt hot tears on the tops of her cheekbones as a searing pain filled her neck. A loud penetrating cry made her ears prick up. She wondered where it was coming from, then she realized it was coming from her own throat. She suddenly grabbed the man's neck, jerking him upward, his fangs leaving her neck, his feet leaving the ground. She held him a foot off the ground and watched his eyes grow large. She saw her blood dripping from his lips and this angered her more she threw him against the wall, hitting his head and making a deep gash. He got to his feet and came after her again, blood seeping out of his temple. She felt his hard fists punch into her stomach again and again, each time making her double over it more pain than before. He slammed his body into her, pushing her to the ground and following after her. He held her down, his knees straddling her hips, his hands holding her wrists to the cold pavement.

"I was planning on doing 'dis after, darlin'. But if you'd rather do it before…" Once again the man snickered. He bent his head down towards her and licked his lips. Gypsy struggled as he pushed his body down upon her, leaning in to kiss her. His lips felt cold against hers. She turned her head away from him and screamed out again. His cold, wet lips made their way down her neck as she screamed. She turned her angry gaze upon him when she felt his hands unzipping her sweatshirt.

"Get off me!" she screamed struggling under him as much as she could. She felt weak. She felt like giving up.

A dark figure made its way into Gypsy's peripheral vision. It slammed into the attacker's body, pushing it off of her and onto the road. She sat up as much as she could, which wasn't much, and tried to crawl away. She watched the attacker struggle under his new foe. Sacha. He sat on top of him, holding him down as he punched him over and over again, bloodying his nose and mouth. Then he reached around his back and pulled out from underneath his coat a sharp pointed stick. Gypsy, still backing away, hit the wall behind her and stared as Sacha plunged the stick into the man's heart. The attacker's eyes bulged and his body looked smaller. It was almost as if he was shriveling up, and turning into ash. Sacha stood up, a bitter wind blew past Gypsy and ran itself over the ash that lay under Sacha's feet, forcing it to disperse into nothing. Gypsy felt her heart racing as her gaze threw itself to Sacha. He turned to her, his blue eyes focusing in on her green ones.

"You alright?" He asked, standing still for a moment.

Gypsy didn't answer. She couldn't

"I said, you alright?" He asked, now walking over to her. He knelt beside her on the pavement. She nodded her answer and he let out a relieved sigh. she watched as he lifted his hand to her cheek, rubbing his thumb across it, that's when she realized she was crying. Sobs softly rose in her chest and she felt him pull her into a soothing hug. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders tightly and buried her face into his chest. He held her, his body warm, his touch gentle. He whispered in her ear.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?" she asked, her sobs quieting now.

"For not being there fast enough."

i'll be true, i'll be useful...
i'll be cavalier...i'll be yours my dear.
and i'll belong to you...
if you'll just let me through.
this is easy as lovers go;
so don't complicate it by hesitating.
and this is wonderful as loving goes;
this is tailor-made, what's the sense in waiting?

"Sit still, you baby. It's only alcohol." She gently ran the gauze pad over his jaw once more.

"It stings." He winced.

The two companions had relocated. To a nice open park. Sitting there, his back up against a tree, his legs straight out in front of him, Sacha was getting "tended to". If asked, he probably would admit that he really enjoyed her straddling his legs and leaning in towards him, even if she was causing more pain. She had traded a few batteries for some alcohol with a man that was now fast asleep on a park bench a hundred feet away. Where she got the gauze and the band-aids, he wasn't quite sure.

"You sure hit that sidewalk hard."

"Don't remind me." He replied, looking into her intense eyes. She was focused in on her task.

"There." She stated after she had applied the bandage. "All better."

"Still stings." He retorted, which received him a glare.

"Well then," Gypsy leaned in and gently pressed her lips against the freshly bandaged wound. Sacha was surprised how much that made his heart race. She sat back, almost in his lap, a smile on her face.

"Is that better?" she asked, half-kidding. All Sacha could do was nod. She smiled and worked on cleaning up the supplies. She was about to get up, but his hand grabbed her wrist.

"What…" she started to ask but silenced herself when she caught his gaze. Sacha's arm wrapped around her waist, and he moved in closer to her till their noses were almost touching. Gypsy's heart seemed to catch in her throat.

"Sacha…"

She was cut off when he leaned up and closed the gap between their lips.

Her lips were soft and warm against his. Sacha's head began to spin and he felt her kissing him back.

and i said "i've gotta be honest
i've been waiting for you all my life."
for so long i thought i was asylum bound,
but just seeing you makes me think twice.
and being with you here makes me sane;
i fear i'll go crazy if you leave my side.
you've got wits...you've got looks,
you've got passion but are you brave enough to leave with me tonight?
tonight, tonight, you've got me

there ya'll go. hope you like it, cuz now, i have no idea what to write next. :-P