New Beginnings

Keira looked up and saw John standing there.

"I'll give you two guesses," Keira said taking the icepack off of her head.

"Is there anything that I can do for you?" John asked sitting down beside her.

"There is one thing," Keira said to him. "It involves a gun, my mouth and someone else to pull the trigger."

John laughed and looked out at the busy street. "Do you drink?"

"It's the only way I get through life," Keira said.

"Well I can see someone didn't love her sense of humor," John said laughing. "C'mon, I'll take you to the bar and buy you a drink."

"I think that you owe me a little more than one drink," Keira standing up.

"Okay, I'll take you to the bar and buy you as many drinks as you please," John said.

"It's a deal then," Keira said looking towards the hotel. "Just give me a couple seconds, I have to go and leave a note for Trish or she'll be in a frenzy, she's worse than my mother."

John laughed. "That she is."

˜˜˜

John waited patiently as Keira wrote the note.

"Alright, let's get going," Keira said. "Where exactly are we going?"

"There's this awesome bar/restaurant downtown," John said opening the passenger door for Keira.

"I see," Keira said looking out the window.

"Hey, I don't know if I said this already but I really appreciate what you did," John said pulling out of the parking lot.

"You better, it's not everyday that I allow someone else to hit me in the head with a sledge hammer," Keira said laughing.

"Little Ms. Giggles here tonight," John said pulling into a parking lot.

They went into the bar together and it was beautiful.

"I am so going to hurt your wallet," Keira said smiling. "And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."

"Can I help you?" The waiter asked.

"I'll have a whiskey sour," Keira replied.

"Just bring me a beer," John said and then he looked back at Keira. So tell me something about yourself."

"What's there to tell?" Keira asked.

"Where do you live?" John asked trying to get some type of information out of her.

"Jackson, New Hampshire," Keira said as she received her drink. "Not Intervale."

"So why do they say Intervale?" John asked confused.

"Well think about it," Keira said. "Jackson's a small town, not too hard to find a person, I don't want some flippy fans at my door all the time."

"True enough," John said agreeing.

John and Keira continued to talk like what seemed to be minutes but turned out to be over four hours.

"Holy shit," Keira said laughing loudly. "We've been here a long ass time!"

"Yeah," John said looking around. There were quite a few people in the place and neither of them had noticed until a few minutes ago.

"You know what?" Keira asked suddenly very serious.

"What?" John asked.

"I don't think that my father truly ever appreciated me," Keira said. "I think he had more feelings for the dog."

"Umm…alright," John said shocked by her sudden mood swing.

"He was a good dog though," Keira said slouching in her chair. "Very handsome."

"Ah," John said.

"Do you like your father?" Keira asked.

"Yeah, he's alright," John said getting another beer.

"Or maybe you're just in denial," Keira said to him.

"What would I have to be in denial about?" John asked.

"Maybe you were mad at your dad so you took it out on Randy," Keira suggested.

"Yeah, the thing with that is that I didn't hurt Randy, it was the other way around," John said trying hard not to laugh.

"Don't you go using your reverse psychology on me mister," Keira said pointing a shaky finger at him. "I know what you're trying to do."

John couldn't hold it in any longer he started to laugh.

"Oh yeah, you pretend like you don't know what's going on," Keira said to him. Then she looked around. "I think I need another drink."

"I think that you need the exact opposite of that," John said to her. "Why don't we leave now and call it a night?"

"Because you just know everything right?" Keira asked getting a little angry.

"Just making suggestions," he said raising his hands defensively.

"Make em to yourself then," Keira said finding a waiter. "I'll have a Rum Runner."

"You're going to regret this in the morning," John said taking a swig of his drink.

"Hows about you mind your business and I'll mind mine," Keira said taking a shot of vodka that was left on the table.

"Sounds good to me," John said to her.

A couple hours later John looked at his watch.

"Alright, I gotta get going," he said standing up.

"Well I'm not staying here alone, these people scare the hell outta me," Keira said loudly.

Are you trying to get beaten up this evening?" John asked her as he helped her with her jacket.

"Trying, not succeeding," Keira pointed out. "Can I get one more beer?"

The bartender handed her a beer and John paid off the tab. Keira cracked the beer and walked outside only to find that it was raining.

"Does this smell funny to you?" Keira asked.

John smelt the beer. "Nope."

"Take a sip," she said.

John took some. "Tastes alright too."

"Good," Keira said dumped the entire thing on her head.

"What the hell are you doing?" John asked.

"Beer's good for your hair," Keira said giving him a look.

John rolled his eyes. "What street are you staying on?"

"Are you implying that I live on the street?" Keira asked.

"I'll rephrase that question," John said thinking about it. "What hotel are you staying at?"

"Why would I stay at a hotel?" Keira asked annoyed. "Do I look like a prostitute to you?"

"Never mind," John said trying to figure out a way to get them both back to their hotels.

John called a taxi over and they both got in it.

"Where to?" The driver asked.

"Wherever it is that I'm staying," Keira said to the man.

"That doesn't help much ma'am," the taxi driver said.

John was laughing hard. "Just go to 134 Hilton," John said once he stopped laughing.

"Why the hell are you here?" Keira asked John.

"I'm not going to put you in a cab, alone, when you don't know where you're going and you're as drunk as you could possibly be," John said to her.

"So where exactly are we going?" Keira asked.

"We're going to my hotel," John said. "You can stay with me tonight."

"I don't wanna go to your hotel," Keira said and pouted.

"Well do you remember where yours is?" John asked.

"No," Keira said.

"Then you're coming with me," John said as the cab stopped.

"Thirty-four sixty," the taxi driver said.

John handed him the money and then helped Keira out. It took quite a while to get upstairs because Keira found it particularly amusing to ride the elevator. When they did get inside the room Keira seemed to have regained some of her sobriety.

"Is it okay if I take a shower?" Keira asked. "I smell like beer."

"I wonder why," John said. "Yeah, sure, go have a shower."

"Thanks," Keira said walking into the bathroom.

When Keira was in the shower John phoned Trish and told her that Keira was fine and then he started getting ready to go to sleep.

"Weirdest shower ever," Keira said when she walked out of the bathroom.

John was about to ask her why when he looked at her. His first impression was to choke of the food that he was eating and then he burst out laughing. Keira was still fully clothed and dripping with water.

"Maybe that's because you're supposed to take off your clothes before you get into the shower," John said to her.

"You're smarter than you let on," Keira said.

"You're crazy girl," John said shaking his head and laughing. "I'll go get you something else to wear."

"You do that then," Keira said sitting down on the floor.

When John returned to the room he found Keira asleep on the floor.

"Keira," John said in her ear and softly shook her arm. "You gotta wake up."

Despite John's attempts Keira didn't wake up. John looked around for a few seconds and even thought about calling Trish back. He decided against it and lifted her up onto the bed. He gently took her shirt off and put on of his onto her body. Then he slowly pulled her pants off, the shirt was long enough to cover her almost down to her knees. He continued to undress her until she was wearing only the T-shirt that he had given to her. When he was finished undressing her, he pulled the covers back on the bed and laid her under them. She quickly rolled over onto her right side and got herself comfortable.

John watched her for a little while and then went and fell asleep on the couch.

˜˜˜

Keira woke up and looked around, she had no idea as to where she was. Then she looked down and didn't even recognize the clothes that she was wearing. She slowly got out of the bed and looked around. She was used to seeing Trish first thing when she woke up in the morning but this morning she didn't even see a sign that Trish was there.

"About time you woke up," someone said from the sitting room of the hotel.

"Who are you?" Keira asked scared.

"It's just me," John said standing up.

"Why am I sharing a hotel room with you?" Keira asked. "We didn't do anything, did we?"

"Oh yeah," John said with a smile on his lips. "You were awesome."

"I was afraid of that," Keira said sitting down on the couch and putting her head in her hands.

"I don't know about you but my favorite time was in the hot tub," John said winking at her.

"Shut up," Keira said running her fingers through her hair. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Over there," John said pointing down the short hallway. "On the right."

Keira walking over to the bathroom and looked herself in the mirror. She started cleaning herself up when she looked around. Then she stormed out of the bathroom, walked over to John, and punched him in the arm.

"You're a bastard!" Keira yelled.

"Ow…" John said rubbing his arm. "What'd I do?"

"There's not a hot tub in this hotel room!" Keira screamed.

"It was just a joke," John said laughing as she slapped his arm a few more times.

"Not funny," Keira said. "Where are my clothes and why the hell don't I have them on?"

"You were soaking wet," John explained. "I wasn't going to let you sleep in those clothes."

Keira looked at the floor. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," John said to her. "They're beside the bed. I got the hotel maid to wash and dry them."

"You're not expecting me to say thank you twice, are you?" Keira asked.

"It's alright," John said laughing. "I know how you feel inside."

Keira smiled. "I'm gonna go wash up," she said picking up her clothes.

"Don't forget to undress this time," John yelled after her.

"Go to hell," Keira said laughing.

˜˜˜

When Keira got out of the shower her stomach was making noises that not even she could believe. She quickly brushed her hair and put the clothes she was wearing the day before back on. It was a pink shirt that had a white dress shirt underneath it and it opened up at the top and bottom then she slipped her dark blue jeans on that had studs on the side.

Keira stepped out of the bathroom and received a whistle from John which made blood rush to her face in a blush.

"Hungry?" John asked trying to make the situation more comfortable.

"Yeah," Keira said as her stomach made another sound.

˜˜˜

John and Keira spent the entire day together and ended up back at John's hotel room late that evening.

"Do you wanna stay here again tonight?" John asked her.

"Would you mind?" Keira asked. "Trish gets a little annoying playing the role of my mother."

"No problem," John said.

"Are you tired yet?" Keira asked him.

"Not really," John answered. "What'd you have in mind?"

"Tell me something," Keira said sitting on the couch.

"Like what?" John asked sitting down beside her.

"Like…about your family," Keira said. "Do you have any siblings?"

"I have three brothers," John said. "What about you?"

"I only have one half sister," Keira said. "But we're not close."

"Ah," John said thinking. "So your parents are separated?"

"I guess you could say that," Keira said. "My father just picked up and left. He was an asshole anyways. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," John said.

"What'd you do to get you 'suspended' for so long?" Keira asked.

"You don't wanna know," John said.

"Yes, I do," Keira said. "I wouldn't be asking if I didn't wanna know."

"Do we really have to talk about it?" John asked.

"Yep," Keira said.

John rolled his eyes. "It was just a stupid drunken moment, that revolved around a girl, got out of hand and ended up as a fight."

"Who was it over?" Keira asked.

John mouthed the word no and Keira started to throw a tantrum.

"Alright," John said laughing a little bit. "But you have to promise to not tell anyone."

"I promise, I promise," Keira said getting excited.

"It was over Trish," John said to her.

Keira sat back stunned, she didn't expect that. "Do you like her?" Keira asked quietly.

"Only as a friend," John said to her. "I've never liked Trish as anything more than a friend."

"Who was it with?" Keira asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" John asked.

"You can't do that," Keira said jumping on him.

They play fought for a little while until Keira pushed John off of the couch.

"I win," Keira said standing up on the couch. "Now you have to tell me who it was with."

"I don't have to tell you anything," John said and stuck his tongue out at her.

"That's a little rude," Keira said stepping down off of the couch.

Keira started to tickle John but he quickly caught both of her wrists.

"Whatcha gonna do now?" John asked.

Keira re-evaluated the situation that she was in. John was laying on his back on the floor and Keira was sitting on his pelvis, his hands were around both of her wrists. Keira looked back at John who was staring at her. Keira started to lean in, and so did John, but then the phone started to ring. Keira quickly pulled away, got off of John and went to the bathroom. John let his head fall back against the floor and listened to the phone ring for a few more seconds before he finally got up to answer it. It was only a non important phone call which could've waited until the next morning.

"I'm going to go for a short walk," Keira said once John was off the phone.

"Yeah," he said with his back to her. "Take the keys with you."

"Thanks," Keira said and quickly left the hotel room.

˜˜˜

Keira returned over a half an hour later to a quiet hotel room. The only sound was John's deep, even breathing. He was sleeping on the couch and there was a note on the counter.

You can take the bed,
there's another shirt for you to wear
to sleep in the bathroom.

Keira smiled when she read the note. He was so sweet.

So Keira got ready to go to bed but when she left the bathroom she looked at John.

Keira shook his arm and woke him a little. "John…"

˜˜˜