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There was no denying she should have stayed at home that day. Her pounding headache was the main indication of this. Not to mention her snappy attitude. It was her own fault really. The one beer she had downed upon returning home from her shift behind the bar had been completely her own idea, she had after all, been craving it since the argument with Alisha. She wouldn't have been feeling this way if she'd remembered to eat. Her hangovers were strange. If she had only had the one or two drinks, she would be regretting it for the majority of the next day, hardly able to stand without the pain in her head getting worse. But if she had drunk to the point where she was sliding off the settee, wobbling and stumbling along, she would feel absolutely fine the next day. So fine in fact, that she felt as if she could run a marathon.
With her elbows leaning against the bar, head resting in the palm of her hands, she wished she was having one of those days now.
Her spirits had been lifted slightly by the fact that it had been a rather quiet day, with hardly any patrons dropping in for a drink. There had been one rather rowdy group of guys that had made a beeline for her upon arrival, but Curtis had stopped them in their tracks, taken their orders and somehow without even saying a word to them had managed to get them to keep the noise down.
At that moment, Elsie was more than grateful for their friendship. All afternoon he had been telling her to go home, sleep it off. But she had resisted informing him that she wanted out of Wertham eventually, and leaving Wertham meant she needed money. Money wasn't just going to raise itself.
So there she was. Behind the bar, after what had felt like the longest afternoon of her life. Her eyes were shut seeing as no one was around. Curtis had gone for his break and Elsie found herself wondering why life couldn't always be this quiet. Maybe when she had enough money, she could move to the countryside, or even better, to the middle of nowhere, no one to bother her, no one to judge her, no one to tease her, no one to hide her power from. But even better, no dead bodies to bury. No crazy killer probation workers, no one else with a power.
A place in the middle of nowhere would be her goal, her reason to leave the flat and come to work. She could just imagine all the things she would d-
"Someone had a late night I see." Slowly, she opened her eyes, the images of a quiet future disappearing with the voice she easily recognized, though she had only been in it's presence a total of three times. There he was; leaning against the bar in a way that made him the same height as her, suggestive smile firmly in place.
"I had one beer." She stated, not bothering to raise her head from her hands, as she spotted the pretty brunette.
"I believe yer." His wink suggested otherwise.
"One beer makes me like this, but get me paralytic and I'm as right as rain." She stood up to her full height and regretted it straight away. "What can I get you?" But it seemed he wasn't desperate for a drink. He leaned in closer to her to whisper.
"You didn't tell anyone about…. You know…." He tapped his chest a couple of times. "….Did yer?"
"You asked me not to, so why should I? Besides, it's none of their business." She shrugged.
"Thanks."
"So, it's both of you then?"
"Oh yer, he hasn't popped out since yer visit yesterday." She pointedly looked around him to the brunette waiting a little impatiently at the table behind him.
"Hot date?"
He instantly picked up on what she was hinting. "Guess you could say that." He answered with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
"Did you actually want to get her a drink then or just stand there all night and talk to me?"
"Oh, yer." He answered as if the notion of buying a drink was completely new and amazing to him. "Two of those please." He pointed to the fridge behind her, to which she turned quickly, too quickly. She stopped instantly as the pain intensified, squeezed her eyes closed and placed a cool hand on her forehead. "Seriously, just one beer?"
"Yes, just one beer." She snapped as Curtis entered the room again. "Sorry." She sighed. "Curtis, can you take over? I need a break."
"Sure." He made his way past her as she left, sending her a smile when he noticed her worried frown, reassuring her he didn't mind just this one day.
Out in the evening light, she crouched on the floor, her back against the wall, tucking her knees up under her chin as she took some deep breaths. She cursed herself for not remembering to eat something with her beer. Perhaps if she had, she wouldn't be feeling this way, or at least, not this awful.
She didn't dare close her eyes again in case she fell asleep, but she did allow herself to stare into the distance and get lost in her thoughts again. Climbing into bed would be a blessing that night. But her shoulders slumped when she remembered she needed to visit her Great Aunt Rita who hadn't texted her back the day before. Elsie knew it was probably nothing serious. The woman had probably not seen the text. Either that or she couldn't remember how to text. The thing might have even turned off without the old woman's knowledge. Elsie could just imagine her Great Aunt sitting in her favourite chair talking into a phone that wasn't even switched on. She chuckled to herself when the image of the last time that had happened entered her mind.
Feeling a little better, she decided to head back inside, hoping that Kelly had shown up with some paracetamol for her. She had sent a begging text to her friend over an hour ago, and she still had yet to receive a reply.
But it wasn't just Kelly that had arrived. Simon was there too, taking up his favourite stool in front of the bar. She paused in the doorway as she laid her eyes on him, uncertain if he would actually talk to her after the incident in the Bellamy Cave. But the soft yet, wide smile he sent her as soon as his gaze landed on her face told her that he wasn't mad at her. Or at least not absolutely fuming with her.
She took her place behind the bar again, looking at the girl in front of her expectantly. For the first time that day, she allowed a grin, albeit a fake and extremely cheesy grin, to take over her lips. With a roll of her eyes, Kelly dug into her pocket and handed over the thing Elsie needed most at that moment. Without even turning to grab a drink of water, she swallowed two, and looked at Simon again.
"Not mad with me are you?" He took a sip of his drink before answering.
"No." She was a little surprised and it must have shown. "You sort of had a point. She had no reason to get angry. But you shouldn't have said those things."
She tugged on one of her earrings as she sent him a sheepish smile. "I know. Not like I can take them back though." She received a nod from him that was cut short when he did a double take to the only other people in the room. Instead of looking for herself, Elsie turned back to Kelly."
"Thanks for those." She nodded her head to the empty packet that now lay abandoned between them. But she was fully aware that before the pounding behind her skull got better, it would more than likely get worse. "Did you speak to Seth?"
Kelly half slammed her bottle on the counter in anger. "Yer. 'e's a selfish prick. Asked 'im to 'elp with the other girl right? But he just sat there and took the piss. Wanker." She mumbled and took another sip of her drink.
Elsie had been correct in thinking her head would get worse before it got better. Her ears were beginning to become more sensitive, causing every noise around her to seem ten times louder.
She hadn't noticed their activities before. Hadn't particularly wanted to, but know, with the sound of the powerful smooches coming from the corner, she didn't think ignoring them was possible. She wondered just how long they had been playing tonsil tennis. It had to have been a fair while seeing as it appeared Rudy's hand was up the girls dress. Or maybe the girl was just that easy.
She racked her brain for something, anything to talk about; she didn't care what, anything to drown out the sound of slurping kisses and heavy breathing.
"Is 'e fingerin' 'er?" At Kelly's words, Elsie looked at her three friends. Apparently it hadn't gone unnoticed by them either. Something else she was thankful for. She had nothing against sexual acts in public, just not that public. She had no desire to witness this particular act of intimacy. No one did. Yet, there they both were, practically making a show of it as their kisses only seemed to get louder the longer it went on for.
"I think he might be." Simon supplied. Gently, so as not to cause herself more pain, Elsie looked over at Curtis beside her.
"If she squirts all over that seat…." He looked down at her. "I ain't clearing it up." The four continued to watch, each one displaying their own version of mildly disgusted, as Rudy managed to free his hand, mumble something to his date, and left the seat to approach the bar. Three pretended they had not seen anything. But Simon kept his sight on Rudy who now stood in front of Curtis.
Kelly attempted to nonchalantly lean away from the arm that reached right in front of her face for a napkin. Rudy caught Elsie's gaze as he flicked the napkin out and began to wipe his finger. "That's some thirsty work that." He spoke as if he knew from experience. With a wink and a thorough swab, he threw the dirtied thing onto the counter. "Same again, please." Curtis moved to get the man a drink, but not before shooting him a displeased look. "So you're with Alisha aren't yer?" He had moved closer to Simon to talk quietly to him. "That's great, man. I'm with that beautiful, innocent-lookin' girl down there." Here, he actually felt the need to point as if they hadn't just witnessed him fingering her. "Yeah. She absolutely loves it up the arse!" She didn't understand why this fact would make him so proud of himself. "I know!" He continued as if they all shared the same amount of enthusiasm for such an act." I know, we're all just pussyin' around aren't we? 'Should I slip it up there?'" Here he began to do something that resembled a demonstration, "'No, you can't. That's where she makes toilet.' Turns outs…." He crooked his finger at Simon and beckoned him to come closer, yet he was the one that moved to whisper next to Simon's face. "Turns out it's also the way to a woman's heart." He swiveled his whole body round to face Kelly as he spoke. Elsie wondered if he believed this to be a secret that was actually worth knowing.
"You stick anyfin' up my arse and I will break your face." The girl interrupted him, causing Elsie to smirk.
"It's just the posh ones. It's just the posh ones." Rudy insisted as he straightened and met Elsie's gaze again. He now placed his hands on his hips, giving her a scrutinizing look from head to toe. Or what he could see of her from the other side of the bar and due to the fact her baggy jumper was hiding anything worth seeing. She raised an eyebrow at him when his gaze landed on her face again. But the only answer she received was him wiggling his eyebrows again, as they had last night, in suggestion.
"That goes for 'er an' all!" Kelly spoke up again when she realized the thought of the guy next to her.
"Definitely just the posh ones," He added on with a final nod of his head. "Listen, just so you know, you don't 'ave to worry about that girl who screwed with us, cos your Uncle Rudy's all over that shit like a motherfuckerrrrrr." But his cheerful tone slipped as he finished his twirl. Alisha had entered the bar; tentatively taking a few steps forward as soon as she spotted him. "Oh!" The bottles fell to the floor with a loud smash as Rudy grabbed his stomach in discomfort. "Argh!" Elsie straightened up again, headache forgotten now as a suspicion of what was going on entered her mind.
"Rudy?" The pretty brunette had got up from her spot to make sure her date was alright.
"Is 'e 'avin' a fit or somefin?" Kelly questioned. But Elsie's suspicions only grew. He had informed her he could not control the other Rudy, like people couldn't control their emotions. Perhaps the second Rudy was attempting to break free.
"I'm fine." But he seemed anything but fine. He was practically doubled over in pain and the quick glance he shot to Elsie confirmed her thoughts. "Nothin' to see 'ere." But within seconds of his words escaping, the second Rudy appeared, flinging himself feet away from the original. A loud gasp fell from the mouth of the brunette as Rudy one sat down on the bench, Rudy two fiddled with his shirt, uneasy in his surroundings.
"Right, just so you know, this doesn't change how I feel about you, or the thing with the thing…." Rudy one demonstrated exactly what he was talking about, finishing his sentence with a nasty look towards his counter-part.
"Um, what the fuck is going on? I can't believe there's two of you!" Elsie rolled her eyes and leant against the bar again. It hadn't escaped her notice that the second Rudy was staring fixatedly at Alisha. "It's like he came out of inside of you!"
"Way to state the obvious." Elise mumbled to herself.
"What?" She caught Alisha softly snapping to the other Rudy.
"You know what you did." His tone was equally soft.
"What did she do?" Simon had taken a step forward, more out of curiosity than ready to defend his girlfriend it appeared.
"Let's just go. Come on!" Rudy one clapped his hands together. "Let's go. Wagons roll!" He had taken hold of the brunettes hand and had started walking with her to the exit. "See you later Elsie." The fact that he had actually used her name prevented her from replying; a sign of how serious he thought the situation was becoming.
"We 'ad sex together." Elsie hadn't seen that one coming. Her eyes must have been the size of saucepans by this point. Rudy one had instantly dropped the hand of his date, coming to a halt by his other self.
"You had sex with her?" The pretty brunette questioned with a disbelieving laugh.
"Not….! Not recently." Original Rudy turned to her to try to reason with her. "I don't even remember it. So many fannies, right? Big ones. Small ones. Hairy ones. Floppy, great, big, flappy fannies…." It was as if he was purposely trying to make the situation worse. Now, he felt the need to actually clap like a seal that ended with him sniggering.
"That's not helping." Elsie shook her head at him and watched as the grin disappeared from his face as he took in her words.
"We were at a party." The other Rudy continued as if he had had no interruption. "I'd fancied you for two years." The other Rudy looked up and looked at everyone in turn. "She took my virginity. It was the happiest moment of me life."
"For me, it was getting an hand job on the vortex at Thorpe Park." She knew it was not the time, but she couldn't help the slightly impressed eyebrow that raised itself. Unfortunately for her, the original Rudy noticed and nodded with a slight smirk. Luckily he was the only one that had noticed.
"Can we just go?" Alisha spun on her heel to speak to her boyfriend. Her tone deflated and unimpressed.
"I told all my friends I was seein' you, you know." Rudy two continued. "Then the next day, you looked right through me. I loved you, and you wouldn't even look at me." An uncomfortable silence fell that no one knew how to fill, apart from of course, the original Rudy.
"This is piss under the bridge."
"I 'ad to watch you going with all them other boys."
"Why are you doing this?" Alisha finally addressed him properly.
"It's drugs. He's on drugs." Rudy one told them.
"Do you know what they used to call yer?" If it wasn't for the music playing softly in the background, Elsie was certain that a pin dropping to the floor could be heard. "The Co….The Cock Monster."
"Just leave it, yeah? Just fock off!" Kelly tried to break the conversation, but Simon continued it.
"Why did they call you The Cock Monster?"
"You have to ask?" Curtis spoke up now. Elsie shot him a look letting him know that it was him that was no longer helping the situation. Though she looked away as soon as she realized he had a point.
"I tried to kill myself!" This was enough for the original Rudy.
"Oi! You shut your fuckin' mouth!" But Rudy didn't listen.
"I wanted to die because of you."
"Ohhh…." The original Rudy looked at Elsie. A look in his eyes as if he was silently begging her to help. She opened her mouth to speak, to try to break up the situation, but Alisha got there first.
"It's not my fault you're so messed up that you tried to kill yourself." Elsie became even more annoyed at her for the disgusted tone she was taking with him. "Fuck you and your sad little fantasies! This is bullshit!" She had turned to the group behind her, raised her hands in the air as if she was innocent and looked pointedly at Elsie. "Now do you see why I didn't want him there yesterday?" With that said she spun on her heel once more and headed back to the door.
"Your denyin' it happened, you're doin' it again." The second Rudy called out to her back as she vanished from sight. Simon placed his hand on his chest to keep him back. But after a moment, he followed.
The original Rudy stood, hands on hips looking down at the floor, not bothering to meet the concerned gaze that Elsie was sending him.
The second Rudy was busy wiping his eyes and sniffling, still fiddling with the bottom of his shirt.
"Last orders." Curtis filled the awkward silence. He didn't exactly seem impressed with what had just occurred. But a sudden thought popped into Elsie's mind.
"Does this mean I get two bacon sandwiches?" She flicked her eyes between the two Rudy's, but looked at everyone else when she felt them looking at her. "I was just trying to diffuse the tension." She sighed and made her way back to the room that stored the cleaning equipment, picking up the dustpan and brush to clear away the shattered bottles Rudy had dropped moments before.
"Why is there two of you?" The pretty brunette was asking what Elsie guessed was the original Rudy. The other sat on the stool abandoned by Simon, face glum as he stared at the counter top.
"It's…it's a long story." He supplied. "One that we don't have time for now. It's getting late, aren't you closing the bar?" He turned to face Curtis as Elsie knelt amongst the remains of the glass and liquid and began to sweep.
"Yeah, just gotta clean up." As if to indicate his point, he began to wipe the counter with a tea towel.
"Right, you 'eard the man. It's closin' time. Let's go!" He claimed her hand in his once more and headed towards the exit.
"We'll have time as we walk, explain." The brunette insisted, but didn't let her hand fall away from his as they carefully climbed over Elsie.
With a reluctant bounce of his head, he turned at the door, held it open for his companion, sending everyone else a final nod. But when his sight landed on the other Rudy, he hovered, opened his mouth as if to speak but thought better of it. Within seconds, he was gone, and only four were left.
Curtis looked down at her then flicked his eyes to the other Rudy as if in question. Elsie knew just what to do.
"You two can go if you want. I can lock up." The relief was apparent as soon as she had spoken, for Kelly quickly downed the rest of her drink and Curtis made to throw the dirty tea towel away. Murderous situations, they could deal with, but apparently the awkward ones that lasted longer than a few minutes were beyond them. The notion made Elsie smirk as she finished sweeping the shards into the pan.
"You sure?" Curtis asked, even though he was half way to the door, Kelly by his side, looking anxious to leave.
"Curtis." She sighed. "Just go." He nodded to her in appreciation.
"See you tomorrow yer?" Kelly questioned before she followed.
"Like you could ever get rid of me." Elsie repeated her statement from the day before, throwing the glass into the bin behind the bar. The music finally stopped as the door closed behind her friends.
Tucking the lose strands of hair behind her ear, she crossed her arms across the bar and leant her chin on top of them, waiting for the other Rudy to glance up at her. Eventually he did, but his mood had not become lighter with the departure of her friends.
"Stupid question, but, are you alright?" He matched her position so their faces were only a few inches apart.
"Not really."
"Is that the reason original Rudy ran from Simon's? The reason you popped out?" He nodded. "What are you gonna do now?"
"What d'ya mean?" He began to fiddle with a clean napkin.
"Well, you can't stay here all night. It's depressing here." He stayed silent for a moment as he thought. She followed his lead and allowed him to think.
"Suppose I'll 'ave to go alk to 'im. Though I don't fink e'll be very happy to see me now."
"To be fair, you could have waited until you had a bit more privacy."
"I couldn't help it, it needed to be said." His voice had risen.
"I never said you shouldn't have said it." She moved away to the back room, grabbing the mop and bucket, filling it with hot and soapy water to clean away the sticky substance that was still left on the floor. Sods law said if she didn't clean it up now, she would slip and break her ankle on the way out. "I'm just saying it could have waited until a better time." She shrugged and began to mop. She could feel the gaze of the other Rudy on her back, but she didn't turn to meet it. She simply allowed him to let the words sink in. It suddenly occurred to her that her headache hadn't returned. The matter of whatever was going on around her sometimes caused her to forget her pains. Apparently, this had been serious enough for her to forget her hangover.
She mentally shook her head at that thought. Of course it had been serious enough for her to forget, the other Rudy, a part of Rudy, had just admitted to everyone in the room that he had tried to commit suicide and all because a girl he loved didn't speak to him after one night together.
Elsie knew how he felt. Not about the whole committing suicide thing. But she herself had loved someone who barely knew of her existence, someone who toyed with her. It had hurt, and to this day, it still did.
He still continued to watch her as she left the room to dump the dirty water down the sink, returning with a bottle of spray to wipe down the tables.
Only when the last table had been wiped, and after she had carefully avoided the seat where Rudy had been intimate with the pretty brunette, did the other Rudy speak. "What would you suggest I do?"
As she locked the back rooms, grabbing her things as she went, she thought. "If it were me, I'd try talking to him. But you're not me so…." She began to rummage around in her bag for a piece of paper and a pen. She had been meaning to empty the thing for a few weeks now, and could never find what she wanted. Pushing aside a few photographs without really seeing them, (why they were in there she had no idea) she eventually bought out an old shopping list her Great Uncle Richard had given her weeks ago and began to write on the other side. "This is my address. If you want you're more than welcome to stay over if you don't want to be on your own." She slipped the pen in her pocket as she handed him the paper. "I really hate to rush you, but I need to lock up. I want out of here, need to check a relative of mine is alright." Still studying the paper as if he couldn't understand why she had given it to him, he followed, patiently waiting behind her as she turned the lights out and locked the door.
"I wouldn't want to wake yer." He protested, trying to give her the paper back. But she gently pushed it back into his chest.
"It's fine, really." He took another moment to study her, before giving her the hint of a smile and tucking the note into his back pocket. "Do you need me to walk you 'ome? Or wherever it is yer goin'?" His offer made her smile. He hadn't been joking around when he had told her he was a more kind and caring doppelganger.
"I only live a few minutes away. But thanks for the offer." He gave no indication he was going to move. Only looked down at the ground and fiddled with his shirt again. She squeezed his arm, causing him to look up at her quickly. "You'll be fine. Trust me." The corner of his lips twitched as she let him go. "I'll see you soon?" She had begun to walk backwards so she could look at him as she spoke.
He nodded as he watched her. "Yer. Yer alright." For the first time in her life, she shot a wink at a guy, but not in a flirty kind of way. She could only thank whoever was listening that she hadn't just done that to the original Rudy. She could only imagine what he would have done if it had been him.