*Author's Note*
Thank you for the faves, follows, and reviews.
October 15th, 2009
Gem POV:
My freshman year at Culver seemed to fly by in a whirl. I bonded with Darcy, especially after her mom took a drunken tumble down the stairs and died during the fall semester. Billy got emergency leave on grounds of his soulmate having a death in the family and was able to be attend the funeral, but I was the one that had to help Darcy actually set up her mom's funeral arrangements. That started us on the path of sisterhood. The death of her mom made her alone in the world, just like me being in Willowdale made me alone. We formed a sisterhood since we were all each other had. Yes, we had our soulmates, but they weren't around much, or in my case never around.
Darcy asked me if I wanted her to find out where Brock lived or worked so I could just drop in on him; stop the cat and mouse game we were playing, since she was a hacker, but I said no. I respected his wish of not wanting me to google him. My sister from another mister was very upset that I said no. She even pouted for a good month about it too.
We made a new friend one day in the library too. A study group was held every Tuesday and Thursday night in the library for Poli Sci majors. Darcy wanted to check it out, so we went one night and happened to meet Foggy Nelson. He was a couple of years older than us, but was very nice. He had a warm, big brother bear quality to him.
Both Brock and Billy were happy that we made a friend that would be able to help us with our homework and be able to watch out for us when we went out to bars and parties. Not like there were that many places to go drink at in Willowdale that didn't know Darcy was still underage. Yea, a downfall of growing up in a small Southern college town. So, in order to go drinking we either had to go to this bar where the owner was a sleaze that didn't care about serving underaged people, as long as he got paid for his beer pitchers, or we had to travel to either Norfolk or DC. Yea, that's were Foggy came in. We never went to DC, cause I didn't feel comfortable with it, so when we did go out of town for a bar night with the fake, but surprising top notch quality, fake IDs Darcy made us we went to Norfolk. There was a Navy bar on the outskirts that Darcy liked, but I think she only liked it cause of the loud bawdy atmosphere paired with the fact that her own soulmate was a military man. Well, my soulmate was ex-military, but that didn't mean I loved going to a Navy bar cause of it.
Currently, we were Sophomores and it was smack dap in the middle of the fall semester. My 20th birthday was also today too. Yea, that meant we were going out to a club or bar to celebrate. Hopefully somewhere other then Grady's Pub or the Navy dive bar in Norfolk.
I was walking out of my last class of the day whenever I felt my soulmate bond thrumming. Over the last year we've taken a more friendly approach to our bond since he didn't want a relationship and I didn't want to wait around forever for him while missing out on having somebody. Unfortunately, dating wasn't going too well for me. I never asked him about his sex life, I wasn't stupid and figured he was having his fair share of hookups. Since we weren't romantically acting on our soulmate bond, it just thrummed fuzzily whenever he opened it to talk to me. I think it must've felt similar for him whenever I talked to him too.
"Happy Birthday, baby girl." Brock warmly told me thru our bond. Before I could even say thank you, he went on to say, "Check your mailbox at the student union, baby. I sent you something."
"What? You got me a birthday present?"
"It's nothing really. I just say something when I was in Thailand last week and thought maybe you'd like a gift."
"Oh…"
"So, got any plans tonight?"
"Billy's in town on leave so he's joining me, Darcy, and Foggy tonight. We're going out to celebrate my birthday, but I don't know where to yet."
"Remember, don't leave your drink unattended and don't leave Billy's sightline. He's a Marine, he'll be able to keep you safe if any creep gets fresh with you."
"What about Foggy? You don't think he can keep me safe?" I asked, feeling a bit defensive and protective of Foggy. He was a good guy; had my back.
"Foggy's the DD, baby. I know he'll keep you and Darcy in line. Shit, he's been doing that for the last year already." Brock chuckled thru our bond.
"You act like I'm some wild party girl going to keggers every night, Brock. Going out on a Friday or Saturday night's normal, you know."
"I know, Gem. I just worry sometimes cause you tend to over do it with the shots and then I'm experiencing phantom drunkenness and hangovers."
"It's not that bad, Brock."
"You twisted your ankle drunkenly in heels once and I ended up having twisted ankle before I even landed on the ground for my mission." Brock deadpanned.
My instant reply was, "It's not my fault you were on a mission that night."
"My job's not 9-5 with weekends off, Gem. You know that so don't be a wiseass."
"I'm not being a wiseass." I countered, not paying attention to where I was going on the outside walkway and colliding with a hard chest.
My breath was shaken out of me as I began my descent to the ground. I would've fell on my ass, except a strong sweater covered arm held me up; keeping me from falling backwards. In my head I heard Brock ask me if I was alright, but all I could do was stare into the stunning ocean blue eyes of the man that had stopped my fall. "You okay there, gorgeous?"
"Uh, yea…yea, I'm okay." I stuttered, taken aback by the handsome blonde man in front of me. Recovering from my embarrassing moment, I told him a bit more evenly, "I'm sorry I bumped into you. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
"That's okay. I don't mind catching you when you fall, like the beautiful star you are."
I blushed at his flattery, all the while Brock was asking, "What's going on, baby? Are you okay, Gem? You're feeling weird; it's freaking me out."
"I'm fine. It's nothing, but I gotta go." I quickly told Brock while the man that had looked at the books in my arms and simply concluded, "Poli Sci major."
"Yea." I nodded, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the handsome stranger that was standing inches away from me.
"Me too." He grinned before introducing himself with, "Name's Blaine. Blaine Erling."
"Gemma Rizzo-Schulze, but I go by Gem." I smiled.
"Gem. Lovely name for a lovely girl."
"Well, you're name's not to shabby either." I said since Blaine Erling had a bit of a ring to it.
"You headed to class or…?" He asked, trailing off in a way that let me interject with what I was doing.
"I'm done with class. I was just going to stop by the mailroom to pick up a birthday present." I explained to the blonde, whose sweater was a perfect match to his ocean blue eyes. Eyes that were too pretty to be real, too blue.
"Oh, so today's you're birthday?" Blaine asked, snapping me out of getting lost in his eyes.
"Yea, it is." I nodded.
"Happy Birthday then." He smiled. "So, you have anything special planned?"
"No, just going to go out for drinks with some friends."
"And your soulmate?"
"Not in the picture." I curtly told him. "Thanks for the help, but I really need to get to the mail room." I told him before making to leave.
Blaine's hand gently wrapped around my elbow, causing me to stop and look at him from over my shoulder. Flashing me a smile, he said, "I'll be in DC later having drinks with somebody that could help me out with some internships, but if you're on U Street in DC I'll find you tonight."
"And if I'm not in a U Street bar in DC tonight?" I countered.
"Then I'll just have to hang around here every Friday at noon, hoping to run into you again."
"Bye, Blaine." I waved at the helpful blonde man before walking off into the direction of Henderson Hall, which was a long walk across campus since I was currently near Bristol Hall, which was the government building. My last class was PS 104: Intro To American Politics & Government. Darcy had the class too, but skipped it today in order to spent time with Billy, meaning that I had to let her copy my notes on today's lecture.
"Your soulmate got you an authentic Thai Buddha statue? Shit, that's cute." Billy said while picking up the tiny brass Buddha statue that was on my desk, right next to my laptop. "I just get Darcy tazers, mace, shit like that." Billy said nonchalantly, placing the statue back onto my desk before picking up the birthday card that was also from the orient and reading it.
"What?" I quirked up my brow, taken aback that my roomie had a mini arsenal of sorts hidden somewhere in our room. After a year of being her roomie and sister, I still didn't know her as well as I thought I did.
"He's the best, isn't he?" Darcy asked, her voice a bit dreamy. Before I could say a word, she stated in a factual tone, "Billy always wants to make sure I'm safe."
"Hey, babe, you got them DD's, of course I'm gonna gift you with tazers and shit." Billy told my best friend while closing my birthday vard from Brock and putting it back on my desk. "Some Mr. Grabby Hands tries something-BAM!-taze the fucker." He smirked devilishly, picking up the card sent by my family (Uncle Rocco, Auntie Connie, Gramps, and Nonna) and reading it.
"Your gifts are great, my Boo-tiful Butthead." Darcy cooed as her soulmate placed my birthday card back with an amused look on his face. Oh, I'm sure he found the line of 'If I get a call from a precinct that you got caught underage drinking, I'm disowning you' from my Gramps hilarious. Funny thing was Gramps was serious about that too. He was looking at me as the one in the family to never do time or get hassled by a cop.
"Oh god, when is Foggy getting here? You two are gonna make me sick with your cuteness." I whined dramatically, playing off on my best friends' overly cute soulmate jibber jabber and mushiness being disgusting. It was something I tended to do a lot.
"Somebody's just jelly that her jack-booted thug ain't here." Darcy stuck her tongue out at me as Billy continued to circle out tiny room, picking up tings and looking at them.
"I'm not jelly." I denied, even tho we all knew I secretly was-just a tiny bit-jelly.
"Sis, you're a jar of strawberry Smuckers right now." Billy chuckled right as a knock sounded at the door. "Fogster's here." Billy announced. Walking over to the door, he simply said, "I'll get it."
"Foghorn Leghorn, she's totally being jelly of me and Billy's cute soulmatey-ness right now." Darcy told our dirty blonde friend, who had locks that'd made Michael Bolton sob in a jealous rage, while dramatically pointing at me.
"Gem stop stewing in secret jealousy about them being a cute soulmate couple while your other half's being stubborn about getting together." Foggy reprimanded me, from the doorway, in a brotherly tone while titling his head at me.
"Fine, I'll stop stewing." I relented in an exaggerated sigh. "So, where are we going for my birthday?" I asked Foggy, since he was the driver, as he and Darcy rose from our seats and made our way over to the door.
"U Street in DC. It's got some good bars." Foggy answered while sidestepping away from the door to let Darcy and Billy out into the hallway.
"Really, we have to go to DC?" I asked, following Darcy and Billy out of the door.
"Just cause your man's in DC, but won't meet you, doesn't mean you can't go there to have fun, Gem." Billy told me, his arm slung around Darcy, as our group walked down the hall.
"He's right, you know." Foggy told me with a 'don't shot the messenger' type of look in his eye as he walked next to me.
"Fine, we'll go to U Street."
"Yay! We're finally gonna go bar hopping in a real city!" Darcy clapped excitedly, making me giggle at her antics.
*About An Hour Later*
U Street was hustling and bustling with nightlife whenever we arrived. Foggy found an open spot at a parking meter, which was a feat in itself, and then we began to stroll down the street looking for a bar or a club that struck our fancy. People loudly walked by us, laughing half drunkenly. The atmosphere was just larger than life. It was clear that U Street was the place for night life.
We were passing by a bar, that gave off a stuffy business vibe, whenever I felt th urge to stop and the pull to go inside. I stopped and looked into the large bar window, only to see people, mostly men, in suits and some in all black t-shirts and pants, gathered in the bar drinking at various tables and the bar. At the bar I saw the backside of a man, he seemed to have broad shoulders, a muscular frame, and short dark hair that was a bit longer on the top, but slicked back in a undercut style. For some reason, I felt an urge to walk inside and go up to the bar. It was a bit frightening since I was never so forward with men.
My friends, stopping mid-sentence when they realized I wasn't with them, turned around only to find me staring into the bar window. "Gem, what're you doing? The Red Snake's a political bar."
"Oh, so senators and shit are in there?" Billy asked, alluding to the fact that it wouldn't be a fun place to drink in.
"Yea, I just said it's a DC political bar."
"We're Poli Sci majors, we could just go in and annoy the politicans with a shit ton of questions and theories." Darcy suggested, standing by my side and scoping out the bar thru the window.
"Really? It's her birthday and you want to annoy senators and shit in a stuffy old man bar?"
"He has a point, Darce. We should just keep going til we find a club or a fun look bar."
Looking between the window and me, my best friend asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yea, I'm sure." I nodded before walking down the sideway and saying, "Come on, let's go slip into the next bar we see and have fun."
Brock POV:
As I sat at the bar inside of The Red Snake (A HYDRA bar) waiting for Rollins, my second in command in the STRIKE Alpha unit, to come out of the bathroom so we could leave and report back to Pierce about the blonde little shit that one of Senator Newman's staff wanted to offer an 'internship' too. I didn't like the blonde weasel dick, but I imagine that he's the sort of smooth talking sly shitfucker that Pierce would want in a political role inside of HYDRA. The shitfucker was still sitting at the table with the Senator's staffer, but me and Rollins got the intel we needed, so we opted to leave. Of course, we got a drink at the bar and briefly discussed what we'd tell Pierce about the Erling fuck. Then, he had to take a piss, which is why I'm just sitting alone, sipping on some Scotch.
As I nursed my drink, I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck. I got the feeling that somebody was watching me. Goosebumps prickled my skin and I had the urge to turn around and find who was watching me. So, I turned around subtly only to see a group walking by the bar. For some reason, I felt the primal need to walk outside and talk to the petite brunette that was leading the group in a carefree stroll. I can't even explain why I wanted to chase after her, but I did. I know, I know, I have a soulmate that I, for a lack of a better word, love, but I just felt a magnetic pull towards that brunette that was strolling up the street happily.
Right as I was about to abandon my drink and go after the girl, Rollins strode over. "Ready to report to Pierce?" He asked.
I mulled over whether or not to tell him about the brunette, but I decided to keep it to myself. I was on the job and my undercover work was important. "Yea, I'm ready." I told Rollins, downing the rest of my drink. "Just put it on my tab." I instructed the bar tender before getting down from my bar stool.
While walking over to the door, I noticed that the shitfucker, Erling, wasn't at the staffer's table anymore. Hmm, he must've left. I expected him to bullshit the Senator's staffer for a while, but I guess he had other things he wanted to do today.
Gem POV:
We ended up in basement bar. It was very spacious; had a large dance floor with tables all around. The large bar took up an entire wall and had a few bar tenders manning it. Also, a few couches were set up against the walls too. A carefree atmosphere was in the air as people danced, drank, laughed, and mingled. Smoke lightly hung in the air in a haze as multicolored lights bolted to the basement pillars lit up the room just enough. Also, a local indie band was playing up on the stage in the back of the bar.
I was dancing with Darcy and Billy while Foggy looked on from his seat at a nearby table, which had an excellent sightline due to Billy picking it out. Since he was Special Forces, he had a knack for security things. The indie music floated loudly in the air through the amps and speakers set up on stage, creating the perfect atmosphere to twirl and sway hips to. I was holding hands with Darcy, swaying to the music while Billy was right behind her, hands on her hips and swaying, whenever a voice loudly cut thru the music right next to me, calling my name. I turned my attention towards the sound of my name, only to see Blaine, the handsome blonde I bumped into earlier today, standing a couple of feet away.
"Hi." I lamely said while Darcy gave Blaine a funny look. Billy was giving him a cutting look, studying him with his deep, brown eyes.
"Gem, looks like I found you enjoying your birthday." Blaine smiled, causing me to nod and lamely say, "Yea, you did."
"Who the fuck are you?" Billy bluntly asked, eying the towering and muscular blonde cynically.
"Blaine Erling, I meet Gem earlier." Blaine told Billy as Darcy's brow rose up.
Darcy gave Blaine an arch look while telling him, "She didn't tell me about you and my sister from another mister tells me about everything." Her blue eyes turned into tiny slits behind her large framed glasses as she hissed, "And I mean everything." She put extra emphasis on the word everything too.
"I accidently bumped into him; it wasn't anything worth telling." I told Darcy right as Foggy came up to us.
"Everything okay?" Foggy asked, looking between Blaine, me, and the soulmate couple right next to me.
"Everything's fine." I quickly told Foggy, causing him to nod with an unconvinced look in his eyes.
"Can I buy you a birthday drink gorgeous?" Blaine asked with a sparkle in his mesmerizing ocean blue eyes.
"Okay." I told him with a small, shy smile.
"We'll be at the bar, bodyguards." Blaine told my friends, souding a but snide, before ushering me thru the crowded dance floor and over to the bar.
Darcy POV:
Me, Billy, and Foggy were dumbfounded as we watched Gem let some charming man slut get her a drink at the bar. "He's got a total man slut vibe going on. Trust me, I was raised in Culver's faculty houses so I totally know these things." I informed Billy and Foggy as we made our way back over to our table, never taking our eyes off of Gem and her new 'friend'
"I'm surprised she's letting him buy her a drink since he's not her soulmate." Foggy confessed as we watched Gem smile and giggle at something Blaine (man slut) said to her as she sipped on a Cosmo while he was holding what looked like a Manhattan. Ooo, he likes his whiskey in a fancy cocktail. Yep, total snobby man slut.
"I say we make him disappear before he wiggles his way into her good graces." Billy said, his tone dead serious, as we reach ed our table.
Foggy's eyes widened. "Billy, you're not suggesting…?" He trailed off as we all took a seat at the table.
"Hey, I know a few ways to hide a body. Doubt anybody'll miss him." Billy shrugged, a small smirk on his lip, before waving his hand in the air to flag down a waitress.
"Holy shitballs, he's using his man slut charms to whisper in her ear and make her blush." I pointed out to the men flanking me at the table. "Shit, he's programming her number into his phone!" I exclaimed, balking at the sight of Gem just handing out her number to some slutty dude that was so blonde and chiseled that he looked like he was carved out of cream cheese.
"I can always tail him when we get back to Culver; make him disappear before I have to report for duty." Billy offered right as a waitress headed our way.
"No, we're not doing that." Foggy told Billy right as the waitress appeared at our table.
Billy just put on a smile and ordered us some drinks, even tho he was still watching Gem and man slut out of the corner of his eye.
Gem POV:
"I'll give you a call sometime; we can do dinner and I'll help you study. I might even have some old notes that might be useful too." Blaine told me, putting his phone back into his pocket only to pick up his drink and take a sip of it.
"You still have your notes from your Sophomore year even tho you're, what, a Senior?" I asked before bringing the rim of my cocktail glass up to my pink tinted lips.
"Yes, I'm a senior and I kept all of my notes in case they might be useful." Blaine took another sip of his drink and smiled, "Turns out, they might be useful after all."
"So, what're you doing after you graduate in the spring? You said something about meeting with an intern contact tonight." I asked, shifting the conversation since his flirty felt overwhelming.
Holding his glass and leaning his elbow on the bar in a way that made him inch closer to me, he answered my question with, "I'm enrolling into Culver's MBA program, but hopefully this summer I'll get a spot as an intern for Senator Newman."
"Oh, so you want to go into politics." I concluded, causing him to nod.
"You figure out what you want to do with Poli Sci yet?" Blaine asked, bringing his highball glass up to his lips.
"No, I haven't. But I know I've got a lot of options when the time comes tho."
"Yea, you do." HE agreed with a nod. "Gorgeous and a Poli Sci major, talk about the perfect girl for me."
I couldn't say anything. I felt so flatter that all I could do was giggle and smile bashfully. God, even Brock never commented me like this. This form of compliments and flirtation felt surreal; in a way I liked it. It was refreshing to feel special; to have somebody have an interest in you when the universe didn't force them to like you.
Brock POV:
It's been a few weeks since Gem's birthday and it seemed like she was pulling away from me. She claimed that she was just busy with schoolwork and I never pressed her, but I couldn't help, but feel like it was more then being busy with school. It felt like, in a way, she was avoiding me. So, I did the only thing I could do, I threw myself headfirst into my undercover SHIELDRA work. I mean the sooner I gather enough intel for Fury to bring down Pierce and HYDRA the sooner I can have a real life with my soulmate.
I was sitting at my desk, doing the mundane chore of checking my emails whenever I say I had an email from an address I didn't recognize, TazerDoodles starkmail. Really, Stark had an email platform now? Did it work like gmail? Anyways, the subject read: Open ASAP Jack-Booted Thug!
Curious, I clicked on the subject and opened the email.
Once again, I read the subject. Then I went on to read the message.
Brock Rumlow, you don't know who I am, but I sure as shitballs know who you are. You're my best friend, my sister from another mister, Gem's soulmate. Yep, I found you motherfucker! It wasn't too hard to find you in the SHIELD database either considering I knew your name, cause, you know, Gem told me all about you. You're the only Brock in SHIELD. Ha! Anyways, you're probably wondering what this email's about and why I tracked you down on the web. I would be if I was you, which is why I'm telling you that you HAVE TO SEE GEM AND CONVINCE HER TO DUMP MAN SLUT! MAN SLUT'S RUINING EVERYTHING! And before you scratch your head in confussion, I'm just gonna give you the important cliff notes of:
Gem ran into man slut on her birthday
He saw us in a bar on her birthday and used his slut charms to buy her a drink
Billy wanted to make him disappear for you but Foggy talked him down (which was stupid)
Man Slut wooed Gem with poli sci notes and eastern European baked goods (What a charming, slimy slutty man thing to do)
Now she spends way too much time with him and his all blah blah blah Blaine this and blah blah blah Blaine that
SO GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR AND STEAL YOUR SOULMATE BACK FROM THAT MAN SLUT WHO LOOKS LIKE HE WAS CARVED OUT OF CREAM CHEESE! ME AND MY SISTER FROM ANOTHER MISTER HAVE JACKED-BOOT THUGS AS SOULMATES AND MAN SLUT'S RUINING EVERYTHING WITH HIS SLUTTY SOULLESS ASS! I WOULD TAZE HIM, BUT I'M AFRAID HE'D REPORT ME TO CAMPUS POLICE CAUSE HE SEEMS LIKE A TOTAL KAREN TYPE. SO TAKE CARE OF THIS AND TELL GEM YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT HER SLUTTY BOYFRIEND, ASAP!
Much Love Bro,
Darcy Lewis
What the fuck? Darcy, Gem's roommate, hacked me in cyberspace to tell me about Gem dating some man slut. FUCK! Gem's dating somebody, that's why she's been offish and avoiding me.
MOTHERFUCKER!
"GEM! GEM! WHO THE FUCK'S YOUR NEW BOYFRIEND?!"
"His name's Blaine and he's a Poli Sci major. He's nice, don't worry about it."
"Gem-" I began only for her to cut me off with, "I don't worry about who you hookup with, so you've got no right to worry about who I'm seeing since we're not romantically involved." Her tone turned both bitter and vindictive as she reminded me, "You're the one that refuses to meet and be together, not me." Her voice was steeled as she told me, "Don't interfere with me and Blaine. I like him, Brock."
Before I could utter a word in protest, she closed off the bond. Metaphorically slamming a door shut in my face.
Fuck…Fuck, fuck, FUCK!
I might've just lost my soulmate to a soulless man all because I was worried about her safety and refused to meet her.
MOTHERFUCKER!
I grabbed the penholder off of my desk and thru it in a blind rage. It clattered against the wall before falling to the floor. Pens were scattered everywhere, but I didn't care. Right now I was burning with a red hot rage. I was fucking angry that I had a soulmate who I couldn't have all because of my covert mission.
AN:
And that folks is how Gem met Blaine aka Man Slut. Poor Brock…Don't worry, in a couple more chapters they (Brock and Gem) should be meeting. Oh and to think that they were so so so close to meeting too on U Street...
Oh, have fun watching the Superbowl tonight if that's your thing.