Title: I've
Seen You Before
Author: TWBasketcase
Rated:
T
Chapter: Three
A/N: Well it has been quite
awhile, hasn't it? In all honestly I am ashamed…bows head and
ducks flying objects…To make a long story short I broke up with my
boyfriend of four years, moved back home with my parents, got stuck
in my last semester (of this program anyways) of college, was working
full time…and I am now getting prepared for the fire fighting
diploma I am going for; which means loads of working out, driving,
acquiring rescue certificates, all the while still maintaining my
job…AND my new hobby of reptiles. So all in all I have been
extremely busy and extremely stressed out. BUT I do want to finish
this fic – as well as all of my others – and then start working
on the two new plot bunnies I have swirling through my head. So here
is chapter 3, I hope you all enjoy! (Those of you who still exist
anyways, lol.)
Chapter 3 – Got No Where to Run
"Will you two assholes stop doing that?"
Bender snorted and tossed another handful of ice onto the ground; which was conveniently landing in front of the young gentleman trying to sweep up the floor…which in turn got his broom all wet and smeared his dust pile everywhere.
He reached his hand back inside the open ice compartment only to get the lid slammed onto his hand. He jerked back in shock and eyed up the person responsible, "Lloyd? What the hell did ya do that for?"
Lloyd eyed the annoyed Bender gingerly, "You and your lady friend here are fucking up my bar – again. Not only have you guys been throwing stuff at people, stealing, yelling, and standing on your chairs…but now you are pissing off my staff." He paused and tossed his white towel over his shoulder, "Haven't you noticed that your band is long gone and there isn't anyone else here except a couple of drunks passed out in the booths?"
Bender folded his hands in front of him and shrugged his hair back, "Um…I'm not too sure that I did Lloyd..." He reached into his pocket and absently pulled out a one dollar bill and pushed it towards him. Lloyd eyed the lowly bill unimpressed, "What the hell is that?"
Bender looked at the girl next to him – whom he still hadn't gathered her name – and smirked, "its hush money, Lloyd."
Lloyd glanced down at the bill and back up at Bender, "Hush money for what Johnny?"
"You lettin' me stay in yer bar after hours so I can have a round of shots on the house?"
Lloyd snorted, "For one kid, that is a one dollar bill…that'll get ya no where with me," He glared at Bender's supposed 'shock' and placed both hands firmly down on the counter, "For two, I tell ya every time that there are no free rounds…and three, your wasted." Bender scoffed and Lloyd smirked, "You don't need anymore."
Bender narrowed his eyes and eyed the older man suspiciously, "Are ya cuttin' me off here Lloyd?"
"Yeah I am cuttin' ya off Johnny…now get the hell outta here will ya?"
Bender nodded his head and grumbled. He turned his stool seat ever so slightly so that he was facing the dark haired girl next to him. She didn't seem very eager to be going anywhere…in fact John was pretty sure she wasn't up for conversing at all.
"Hey…girl," He slurred as he shook her shoulder. Unfortunately for her she wasn't even able to take the shaking and fell straight off of her stool and onto the hard wooden floor below them.
"Shit!" John exclaimed as he stumbled off of the chair, "Dude…are you okay?"
The girl opened her eyes groggily and seemed to take a few moments to focus on him, "Who the hell are you?"
John contorted his mouth in disgust as he reached towards her and peeled a soggy and ketchup covered French fry from her hair. She must have had her head slumped on the bar for a while and forgotten about the food she had been eating…or something. "Ronald Reagan."
She regarded him mutely for a few moments as if to make sense of what he said. "I'm sorry."
Bender furrowed his eyebrows and laughed a bit, "For what?"
"For falling down in front of you Mr. President."
Bender laughed out loud and pulled the fallen girl up by the hands, "Well in that case, perhaps I shouldn't have drunk with someone who can't even handle her booze."
The girl steadied herself by hanging on to the bar and shook her head – brown hair flying around in a heap, "Oh please…I must have had a five drink head start on you. You played it easy…I manhandled you."
Bender raised an amused eyebrow, "Well not yet you haven't…ya wanna get on that soon or what?"
The girl's face fell from that of a playful and teasing look to one of a hurt and suspicious one, "Excuse me?"
John chuckled at his own antics and the look on her face, "You heard me, let's put all this extra energy to use already," when she still looked pissed as hell, he smiled devilishly, "Your place or mine?"
She said nothing and just gathered her purse, pushed past him and left. He sat there for a few moments wondering if he had said something wrong in the midst of their playful joking. He jammed his hands in his pockets and looked back at Lloyd, "Keep this shit hole chuggin', eh? By the way you can keep that tip I gave ya."
Lloyd rolled his eyes and groaned, "Yeah…thanks Johnny…I'll keep your buck."
Bender smirked, "You're a good man, Lloyd." With that he spun on his heel and headed towards the door to find his pissed off companion.
… … …
Allison stormed through the parking lot. The evening had gone through nicely; in fact she was pretty fond of her new friend up until now. They had their little pick pocket contest – which she still stood her ground that she had won – with her later finding out that the larger man who had caught her had in fact been one of Bender's friends. Luckily for her there were no hard feelings. They continued to drink and got up a few times to scare some of the new kids on the dance floor. Afterwards, she had showed him some of her favorite drink combinations, and while he had no desire to try any of said combinations, he was intrigued none the less. They had laughed and cracked jokes all night…getting away from the reality that was her everyday miserable life.
It only figured he had turned out to be a fucking asshole like everyone else she came in contact with.
She pulled her jacket closer to her form and she walked briskly through the wet slush that blanketed the west end side walks. This side of Shermer was no beauty of a place in her opinion; sewers swelled with steam into the cold air, curbs and sidewalks were cracked and falling apart, while most of the houses – or apartments for that matter – still had their lights on with loud music and heavy, booming voices carrying on through the buildings and out into the streets. It wasn't really a walk in the park for a sixteen year old girl, but Allison had always told herself that she had more 'street smarts' than the average young person.
She stumbled a bit and caught herself on a nearby brick wall. The alcohol was definitely having it's affect on her; she could not even recall just how much she had had, let alone what she actually drank.
"Hey you! Wait up will ya?"
She rolled her eyes and brought her hand up to her head; the oncoming headache was inevitable…but hopefully she could shake the oncoming ditch pig as well. She quickened her pace – although shaky – and turned a corner onto a dimly lit side street lined with run down apartment complexes and town homes.
Luck wasn't on her side however as she heard approaching footsteps, "You listenin' weirdo?"
She grumbled and hid behind a tree.
"You know, I saw you go behind that tree!"
She rolled her eyes and continued walking as though John Bender was not jogging to catch up to her.
"Why did you take off like that?"
She spun around on her heel and glared at him with her chin jutted forward. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrows expectantly.
He stood there completely confused, "What?"
She rolled her eyes and kept walking. He cursed and caught up with her, "What the hell was that?" He flailed his arms for emphasis, "I asked you a question and you stood there acting like your telepathic messages were actually getting through to me," when she didn't respond he cursed, "I'm not some psychic alien like you, ya know."
She rolled her eyes and continued walking, "No…you're just a pervert."
John scoffed and raised his eyebrows, "How's that?"
She shook her head and just kept walking, coming to a stop at a busier street, looked both ways and began to cross.
John dodged an oncoming car and jogged to her side, "Why because I asked for a manhandlin'?"
She stopped in the middle of the road and faced him; this seemed to freak him out a bit as an oncoming car stopped just inches away from her back and honked its horn very loudly, and swerved around them. She didn't seem to care though and kept her icy gaze on him, "No you just give the impression that you were actually having fun with me tonight and then you turn around and ask me for a 'manhandlin'."
John grabbed her by the elbow and pushed towards the sidewalk and out of the way of any impending late night drivers, "What the fuck are ya talkin' about? I was havin' a swell time…I was fuckin' around with ya."
Allison regarded him skeptically, "Well it sure didn't sound like it."
John rolled his eyes, "Get the cork outta yer ass and calm down! What do I have to do, huh?"
Before she could answer his boot hit a skid of ice and sent him feet up in the air and hard on his back, "Fuck!"
Allison burst out laughing at the sight, "I knew karma would come for you."
Bender looked up at her from the ground, "You are a bitch."
Allison shrugged and held a hand out for him. He glared at the outstretched hand and proceeded to help himself up, "That sure didn't help the head much."
Allison laughed, "Well maybe you should watch your footin'," she shook her head at his antics and stumbled a bit herself.
He scoffed, "You're one to talk, ya drunk."
"Well at least I didn't land on my ass."
He rolled his eyes and brushed off the back of his cargo pants with a gloved hand. She noticed that he didn't seem to be hurt, even though he had formed a small hole in the elbow of the denim jacket he had been wearing. Maybe it was the alcohol or something, but he still had the grin of the Cheshire cat spread across his face.
"So where ya headed anyhow?" Bender asked casually.
Allison adjusted her purse strap and shrugged, "No where in particular."
He scratched the side of his head and nodded, "So you a street kid or somethin'?"
She shrugged, "Somethin' like that."
"You know you still haven't told me your name…"
She regarded him with an amused look, "You still haven't necessarily asked me for my name you know…" she blew her bangs out of her eyes and looked forward once more with her hands shoved in the pockets of her black coat, "Its not like I randomly tell every stranger I meet all of my personal information."
He scoffed at that, "Yeah you only steal other people's from them," She let out a snort so he continued in a sarcastic tone, "And it's not like…you know…your name is all that personal anyhow."
They crossed another street and set of train tracks and entered what were Shermer's nicer neighborhoods. The apartment complexes and town homes had disappeared and were replaced with medium sized elm and birch trees lining the road, chain linked fences and houses fronted with nice wooden porches and canopy roofs. Allison had passed her house quite away back; in fact she hadn't even walked in the right direction when she left the club…either way it was a neighborhood unfamiliar to her.
"This where you come from or somethin'?" Bender asked, breaking the girl from her thoughts.
Allison shook her head quietly, "No not really. I just like to look at the houses…they have nice gardens."
Bender shot her an incredulous look, "Why you like to look at a bunch of richie houses? They're not spectacular…they burn just as fast as regular houses."
She rolled her eyes at that, "Probably faster with all the nice stuff they have in there."
"So what is so great about some lame ass house then?"
She shrugged her shoulders and sighed loudly, "I don't know…I just find it interesting that they have all these nice houses and nice looking yards and such…"
"…yet they don't really give a shit about any of it and just do it so their house is nicer looking than Mr. and Mrs. Jones' next door?"
"Yeah something like that."
Bender said nothing and just kept his eyes straight ahead. Allison picked up quite a bitter vibe from him, but didn't push on the topic. She could easily guess why Bender may have sounded bitter or annoyed about said 'richies'; it wasn't like they treated people like them like equals or anything. Whether she was at school or in the grocery store lifting tampons she was still sneered and glared at…still looked at like she was the filth of society.
However, the artist in her couldn't help but admire the nice lawns with their creepy little garden gnomes and bright colored flowers. Even though it was winter, it still seemed to her as though these people took care of their property. Maybe it was the fact that it wasn't something her own family did…and maybe that was what intrigued her…change, difference…care.
"Bulls eye, basket case!" Bender hollered and smacked her arm.
She rubbed her arm subconsciously and waited for him to continue. He looked like a fucking kid in a candy store, "What?"
He smiled devilishly and pointed down the road to a large brown and white brick home with all the lights on. The garage door was wide open and there must have been dozens of cars parked around the house; Porsches, Chevy's, Mercedes', and mustangs…beautiful cars. It was when she heard the distinct tune of the damned Culture Club (god she hated them) blaring through the windows that she caught his drift.
"You ready for some richie party crashin'?"
Allison stopped on the sidewalk and watched the house for a few moments as if it was going to get up and chase her or something. Bender instantly picked up on this and gave her a playful nudge, "Oh come on, it isn't gonna kill ya."
"No there are just a lot of people over there and I don't think we are welcome…"
Bender sulked, "Who the fuck cares? They're just a bunch of assholes anyways…hell it's like one in the morning. They're all gonna be trashed and they won't even notice us there," He paused when she still looked unconvinced and raked a hand through his hair, "Well I'm goin' in there whether you join me or not…and you can stay out here yourself."
Allison stood with her chin out and her arms crossed, "Fine…but not because I care or not if you leave me here. But we go in and then we leave…we aren't staying."
He gave her a smug smile, "Oh, I promise…we won't be long."
TBC
A/N 2: Hey if anyone out there reading is still interesting in reading some Bender and Allison stuff I recommend that you read Aikido Chick's "Another Brick in the Wall." I was reading it and loving it and maybe if you guys drop her a line we could get her writing again. Just look under rated M stories and you will find it. Jess that is me telling you to get your ass back in gear! I did!
