As the weeks passed it became normal for Julia to come to the club almost nightly. She would sit at the same table, just sitting quietly sipping her drink as the band played. After they stopped she would order a drink for Spike and after they finished their drinks the pair would disappear, wandering off into the night.
Faye never asked him where they went; she told herself that she didn't want to know. Spike seemed to almost act as if nothing had changed but it would take a blind fool to not notice the difference in him. For the first time since Jet had met the green haired man he seemed passionate about something…or someone.
The only other time Jet had witnessed Spike so animated was during an especially heated fight with Faye. If he was remembering correctly it was the time Spike had been arguing with her about dating. She had been seeing a guy named Gren who had just moved into town. He had been in the war on Titan and there were rumors that he had been a guinea pig for some weird experimental drugs.
Of course, when Spike voiced his objections that just reinforced Faye's determination to do the exact opposite of what Spike said she should do. Spike really should have anticipated that reaction, in Jet's opinion. But when Faye had turned up at the bar late one night after a date with Gren sobbing and flustered, Spike had become almost a different person. The normally stoic and collected man had lost control, losing his temper at Faye for not listening and promising revenge on Gren for anything the long haired man might have done. Faye had quickly left the bar, leaving Spike behind to pace and rant alone. Jet had worried for a while after that fight that the two of them would be unable to work out their fight and that he would have to replace one or both of them in the band. Both of them disappeared for a few days and neither mentioned the incident when they returned to the bar.
To Jet's knowledge, Faye had never revealed what had happened between her and Gren and Spike never mentioned his explosion of temper. The two of them acted as if the incident had never happened. And, to Jet's surprise, they seemed to be better friends than they had been before. Everything had quickly settled back into its normal cycle and life had gone on very much the same as it always had for the little bar and its band; until the arrival of a beautiful blonde woman had changed everything.
Since Julia had become such a regular at The Bebop Jet had gotten used to seeing her around the bar every night. So he took notice one night when she failed to turn up in time for the band's opening number…or the second song…or the third. When she finally showed up around midnight, she stayed close to the back of the bar, not moving toward the stage to take her normal table near the front.
The bar was so crowded that Jet was fairly sure that Spike couldn't see Julia from his position on the stage. Jet's spot behind the bar left her directly in his line of sight. The blonde woman was just leaning against the wall, looking up at the stage but making no move to get any closer to it than she already was. Throughout the night Jet kept an eye on Julia whenever he could, wanting to see what she was doing. She didn't seem to be doing much of anything, just standing by the wall and casually watching the band play. Various men would approach her occasionally but she was quick to send them on their way.
An upsurge in patrons at the bar caused Jet to forget about Julia and pay more attention to his job. When he had finally served the mob he turned his eyes back to the spot where Julia had been hovering all night and was surprised to see that she was gone. Raking the crowd with his eyes for the blonde haired woman, he discovered that she didn't appear to be anywhere inside the bar. When his eyes reached the stage they met Faye's, her green eyes echoing his own feeling of surprise.
As the last notes of the final song of the night faded the crowd erupted into cheers and, waving their thanks, Spike and Faye moved backstage. Jet quickly served the customers at the bar and went to join his friends. Spike was repacking his saxophone, looking distracted. Faye was watching him out of the corner of her eye when Jet came in. She turned her gaze to Jet, her eyes telling him immediately that she too had seen Julia in the club.
Nodding his head toward a corner of the room, away from Spike, Jet signaled Faye to join him. The purple haired woman did so, glancing over her shoulder at Spike as she did so.
"Did you see Julia?" Jet asked in a whisper, keeping an eye on Spike over Faye's shoulder.
Faye nodded with a grimace. "She left with some guy," she affirmed tonelessly.
Jet frowned as he looked down at Faye. "Are you sure?" he questioned her.
She nodded again. "They were both blonde. It was pretty easy to spot them in the crowd."
"And you're sure you saw them leave together?" Jet repeated himself. Faye sighed impatiently and rolled her eyes without speaking.
"Well shit," Jet said, glancing at Spike again.
Faye turned her head to glare at the green haired man and said acidly, "Yes Jet, that describes the situation fairly well."
Julia glanced back over her shoulder once as she allowed the blonde man, who called himself Vicious, to pull her away by the hand.
"Where are we going?" she asked him, wondering but finding herself not really caring what his answer was, just as long as he took her with him.
The man in front of her turned briefly to look at her over his shoulder before he replied. "Just away," he said simply, before turning away and continuing on their way.
Julia was surprised that she felt no guilt about leaving Spike. It was just for tonight and he hadn't even seen her ever come in the bar so he wouldn't even notice that she had left. With another man. She felt a heady rush whenever she thought about what she was doing. She had just left her boyfriend waiting on her while she explored the Mars night with a stranger.
A very intriguing stranger. Her interest in him stemmed not from his looks, which were gorgeous, or his clothes, which were nice, but from the intriguing look that resided in his eyes. It was the same sort of look that Spike had. Vaguely, in the back of her mind, she wondered what else Spike and this stranger might have in common.
The man before her slowed his walk and Julia took the time to look around, trying to get a bearing on where she might be. The atmosphere of the street before her was quiet, calm, completely separated from the boisterous energy that could be felt in the air down by the waterfront.
Vicious led her into a dark coffee shop. They were led to a table in the corner and left to themselves. There was quiet music playing in the background but most of the patrons seemed not to notice; nothing like at The Bebop where the music and the smooth, silky atmosphere were why people came. This place was frequented by people who wanted privacy instead of the very public feeling of most other places.
"So, why did we come here?" she asked, leaning forward onto her hands.
The man at the table with her just stared at her for a long moment and Julia found herself not really caring what his answer might be. The longer she looked into his eyes, the less she found herself caring about anything.
As the night deepened, so did the feeling that she was sinking into a dream that she didn't want to wake up from.
AN: Alrighty - for anyone who's reading this, this chapter really begins the plot now that the characters are all introduced (I tried to think of something for Ed to do but the best I could do was a waitress in the Bebop or something but I don't really think her part is necessary for the story... sorry). Hope everybody likes it...