a/n: hi all,
We're in for some angst this term. And don't worry, I won't leave you hanging with just this for the weekend. Like I said last upload: these next chapters will be fast and loose.
Cheers,
EQT.95
"You 21?" the guy at the door said, peering at her through the dim lighting.
"Yea," Kate lied.
"Any ID to prove that?"
"She's with us," came a voice from behind Kate. She turned around to see Tim Bradley walking toward the entrance with his roommate, Alex, and a number of other fourth year cadets.
The bouncer glanced behind the group and gave a nod of familiarity before waving them all in. Kate hesitated. She hadn't come out to socialize, and didn't want to feel the obligation of making small talk with this group. Before she could make up her mind though, she felt Tim's arm wrap around her in friendly greeting and pull her toward the entrance.
"You didn't have to do that," Kate muttered to Tim when they were through the doors and into the dimly lit bar. It wasn't anything special, but it was the closest bar from campus, and Kate hadn't been much in the mood to find anything more exotic. It was sprinkled with locals and cadets from the Academy. Most were fourth years who she recognized from running the course. The ones who in turn recognized her eyed her with amused grins, as though happy to share in the secret of her being underage. It hadn't occurred to her the bar would be so popular with the students, but now that she was here it made sense: it was a grown up version of Wilfred hall. She imagined this was the natural course of events: everyone under 21 spent their nights within the confines of a school dormitory, but once the gates of aging opened up, they flooded here.
'Here' was a dimly but decently lit hodge podge of spaces under one roof: the bar ran the full length of the space. Dart boards lined the far walls while three pool tables created a buffer between that and a zone of traditional table and chair seating. Closer to the front was a lounge space of found furniture; all of the pieces were well-worn and had clearly seen better days. They were rotated to quarter off smaller spaces for groups of 2-4 within the whole zone, but Kate watched as the group of eight made quick work to collage them into a larger sitting area.
Tim simply smiled at Kate before turning toward the group in full. "First round's on me," he said before pointing to each member for their respective orders. A couple went for beers while others called out adolescent classics like cranberry vodka or rum and coke. When he turned toward Kate her eyes narrowed somewhat in surprise.
"Thanks, but I'll get my own."
"Suit yourself," Tim shrugged, and they both made their way to the bar.
It took a moment for Tim to rattle off the order, but once he did, the bartender left the two of them standing in silence. The sound of 90s alternative music played softly in the background, drowned out by the rowdy shouts of comradery coming from the group of fourth years.
"We don't normally see your kind out here," Tim said lightly.
"My kind?"
"Second years," he grinned. "What with that stringent school policy about underage drinking…"
"Oh, right, because they're so strict about that," Kate replied dryly, thinking of the unsanctioned drinking going on in Wilfred at that very moment.
The bartender returned with Kate's beer and Tim's batch of orders. He waved Alex over to help him.
"You coming?" he asked, nodding toward the crowd of laughter.
"I'm fine here, thanks."
"We don't bite. We're all actually pretty helpless."
"Oh, I know. I've seen you lot run the course," Kate smirked.
"Ouch," he grinned back lightly. "Well, even after that, consider it a standing invitation. We'll save an armchair for you."
Kate downed the final sip of her first beer just as the bartender arrived with a refill. She nodded in thanks, staring at the foamy head fading into the rest of the golden liquid.
It was the first night she'd done anything that wasn't coursework or drill related since the beginning of term which was unusual. Her partying days had been at its peak in high school followed by a slow deterioration over the last three semesters at Point Rock. When it became clear she enjoyed evenings in with Sophie more than a night out getting a buzz, it had become a natural decline. Now the controlling factor was her schedule. She'd been working nonstop for weeks that an evening off seemed like an impossibility, and it was only when she found herself veering off campus toward 'town' that she made up her mind to take the night off.
"You didn't seem like the lone wolf type," came an unfamiliar voice. Kate turned to see a familiar face but, like most of the fourth years, she didn't know her name. For having spent the better part of her Saturday's with them last term, she was beginning to realize they knew more about her than she did collectively about them. It had never occurred to her to strike up conversations in the wee hours of the morning; her focus had always been on serving her time and proving Reyes wrong.
"Well you don't know me very well."
"Aren't you training all those cadets?" the familiar, unfamiliar continued casually, waiting for the bartender to finish up someone else's order.
Kate nodded simply.
"Doesn't seem very 'lone wolf' to me. You've got your own little pack."
"You're really into this metaphor."
The girl shrugged as the bartender came over and took her beer order. When he left she glanced back toward Kate.
"So what is tonight? You getting drunk then howling at the moon?"
"You know there is such a thing as too much metaphor?"
"At least it's not about boats," she shot back, and Kate felt the edge of her lips break into a smirk. "So?"
"I was going to stop at 'tipsy', but otherwise, yea," Kate replied nonchalantly, lifting the glass to her lips.
"But it's only a half moon," the girl observed.
"I didn't say it was going to be satisfying."
"You also don't look like the beer drinking type."
"You're actually not wrong there."
"Let me guess… bourbon."
"Close. A cousin."
"A whiskey then," the girl pondered, "with an 'e' or without?"
"Without," Kate said, impressed by her distinction.
"So obviously it's a Scotch, but which type… now that I think about it, bourbon is too sweet for you. You've got a stoic badass quality about you, which makes me want to say you like something young or something obscure."
"Why not both?"
"Because obscurity shows taste and young suggests alcoholism. I'd lean towards the former over the latter given the slothful way you've nursed your first beer."
"You've been watching me for a while."
"Oh, shucks. And here I was trying to be so coy and shy about that," the girl replied dryly.
"Do you have a name?"
"No."
Kate glanced back in surprise.
"I have a letter: V."
"That was really cheesy," Kate observed with a small chuckle.
"You're gay, right?" V asked, after taking the beer offered from the bartender.
"Is that how I'm identified by you all?"
"No, not by all of us. It is a defining feature to some more than others."
"Is that right? I like to think there are more interesting things about me than that."
"Such as?"
"I once saved a cat from a tree."
"Is that right," V replied, mocking Kate's words from moments earlier while trying to hide the amusement on her face with forced seriousness.
"And won first prize in my third grade spelling bee."
"You should let others tell you what's interesting," V suggested.
"But then what would my ego spend all it's time doing?"
V laughed. Kate noted it was a nice laugh; authentic but not too over the top. It was one that suggested a life that didn't take things too seriously. She also had a confidence about her that made her immediately easy to talk to. She wasn't about to share her darkest secrets with this stranger, but there was a passable friendliness that surprised her.
"Got room for one more?" V asked, glancing toward the stool next to Kate.
"As long as you don't expect much by way of conversation," Kate replied.
"I'll take my chances," V replied easily, slipping onto the seat.
They sat in silence for a handful of minutes, both nursing their beers in the company of white noise that came from the groups behind them.
"You play pool?"
"No."
"You won't last long around here then."
"Do they execute anyone who doesn't?" Kate asked.
"Yea, didn't you see the sacrificial slab next to the bathroom?"
"I figured it was just a diaper-changing tray, but the blood splatter was an obvious giveaway now that you mention it."
"Yea, the janitor does a right shit job of keeping it presentable," V added.
Kate smiled. It had been a while since she'd felt one come naturally, and she wasn't the only one who noticed.
"Oh good, I was worried your face was paralyzed or something," V remarked, giving Kate a sideways glance as she brought her beer to her lips.
"Ok, let's go," V said, slapping the bar and standing with an eager enthusiasm.
"What?"
"It's our turn. We're up."
"It's our turn? For what?" Kate asked.
"I see you're going to be dead weight in more ways than one," she remarked, walking toward the empty pool table.
"No, no, I said I don't play," Kate said resolutely, staying seated.
"Don't worry, it's doubles," Tim called as he began racking the set of balls.
"Come on lone wolf. If you win I'll let you spend the rest of the night as alone as you want," V teased.
"Is that your official bet?" Tim asked.
"Oh, hell no," V said. "This is a side bet."
"You're playing Peyton and Alex," Tim explained as Kate cautiously slipped from her stool and joined the group.
"But only because Sarah is late," the girl who Kate concluded was Peyton said in annoyance.
"Who?" Tim asked with a smirk.
"We don't hang out with a Sarah," Alex said, shaking his head in feigned confusion.
"Do you mean Sarah?" V asked, emphasizing the traditionally silent 'h'.
"That joke has gotten really old," another girl called from one of the tables.
"Why are you pronouncing the h?" Kate asked V when the group got distracted by arguing the merits of a long joke.
"Her mom is Iranian, dad is American," V said lightly. "And in Farsi they pronounce their h's. When Sarah's birth certificate was filled out, the nurse included the h by accident and since her mom was passed from, well, birthing her and her dad is a white boy from Kansas, no one caught it until it was too late-"
"So now her family pronounces the -h."
"At least her mom's side of the family... And us," V grinned.
"All right, place your bets," Tim shouted, ending the multiple conversations that had branched off.
"Bets?" Kate asked.
"Don't worry about it, noob, I've got this," she said, scribbling something on a napkin and handing it to Tim. "Besides, even if you're the worst pool player imaginable, we'll still win by a mile."
"Humble and subtle," Kate smirked. "What a charming combination."
"Shut up and break," V retorted, handing her a stick.
Kate watched and grew impressed by the way V masterfully controlled the table. She was even a bit disappointed when Alex ended the round prematurely with a poor shot that landed the eight ball in a pocket early. Cries of disqualification filled the bar as V made a victory lap of the table, high-fiving friends and strangers alike.
What happened after confused Kate, and she spent half a moment trying to decipher it before stepping away from the ensuing chaos.
"You have to do it!" the girl from earlier shouted from across the bar. There was some bet that had been lost as a result of the game, and now arguments were being had about who had to do what.
She could already imagine herself staying till close with this group. It wasn't how she'd planned to spend the night, but the distraction of this tightly knit group had been just what she was looking for. With it though came a small pang of sadness as she realized she'd not hung out with anyone from her year for weeks.
She glanced at her phone for the time and felt the pang of responsibility guide her toward her jacket. It was one thing to let off some steam, but it was entirely something else to over drink and shut down the bar. The latter was not an option. Being Saturday night, she had the following day off from any cadet-training related responsibilities, but she knew from experience that toiling the day away and avoiding her studies would come back to bite her by Tuesday.
After finding her coat draped over the stool she'd left at the bar and slipping it on, she made eye contact with Tim just long enough to wave goodbye. He offered a sad face but nodded in farewell.
"Next weekend?" he called over the unresolved arguing.
"We'll see," Kate called back with a half grin.
She stepped into the night and heard silence engulf her as the door slipped shut behind her. She was half a block down the street when the sound of music and shouts spilled back into the street. Kate didn't look back but heard her name called and found herself slowing. The sound of approaching steps compelled her to turn and found V behind her.
"You did not just make me chase after you," she said with feigned annoyance.
"Is that what you call chasing? My grandmother walks faster than that."
"Yea, well, black ice is a thing," V insisted, and Kate realized she'd haphazardly thrown on her jacket in her haste to join Kate in the cold.
"Have you ever seen black ice? Because this," Kate said, gesturing to the dry sidewalk, "is not it."
"Are you always like this?"
"Which part?"
"You just lurk off into the night without so much as a goodbye?" V challenged, causing Kate to hesitate.
"Is that a problem?"
"It's not the best trait, but I'm willing to overlook it on account of the rest of you."
"The rest of me?"
"Are you fishing for a compliment?"
"Are you offering one?"
"You know you're hot, right?" V asked rhetorically.
"I'm still waiting on the test results to come back."
"Sardonic as hell, too," V said with an eyeroll.
"Now that is something I did know-"
Kate barely finished her words because at that moment V's lips were pressed against hers.
A flood of feelings, reactions, and thoughts rushed through Kate's mind. All of them were shouting at her to stop, but she forced them aside. It took only a second for her to let them fade and to hungrily reciprocate, diving into the escape that this stranger's warm and inviting lips provided.
Kate barely remembered the steps that led them to the alley next to the bar or the way V pressed her against the cool brick wall or how their hands slipped within the folds of their jackets. All she remembered was the disconnect from reality she felt. The weight of every doubt and concern that had controlled her the last few weeks, months, year lightened to nothing as this body filled her with temporary pleasure. It was a breath of fresh air. She yearned for this momentary interruption and was falling fast for its fleeting carefreeness, driven by its embrace. It was this feeling that she clung to that left her gasping for breath when V finally pulled back.
"Well that was unexpected," V remarked happily. She remained pressed against Kate, her own breathing labored by the kiss. Kate felt a grip of want against her waist, noting V's hands had maneuvered their way under the layers of Kate's winter clothes and rested against skin.
Kate could only nod, trying to tame the desire to recapture V's lips.
"Do you want to get a room?" V asked, reading the want in Kate's eyes.
The words were simple, but Kate's gaze was pulled from V's lips to her face as she did a double take.
"What?"
"There's a motel down the street."
Kate felt the pull of responsibility tell her to say no, but the grip from V's hands was a remarkable counterargument to stay.
"You want to… are you serious?" Kate said, unable to hide her surprise and struggling with the internal debate waging a war with the proposition.
"Yes."
V said it so casually. It held the same no-strings attached tone she'd used in so many similar situations with so many other women: Kate could walk away and this stranger wouldn't hold it against her. It was a free pass.
"Really?" Kate questioned again.
"Do you not?"
There was nothing personal in the way V asked the question, but it wasn't entirely impersonal either. It was a genuine curiosity; one that challenged the tone of the night and the subtle cues given off but not one meant to make her feel guilty if the answer was one of rejection.
The cloud of emotions Kate had stomped down was beginning to loom back over her as she negotiated her answer. She fought with them a moment longer before pressing mute and doing the one thing her instincts wanted but her heart didn't: she closed the distance between her lips and V's.
