This is probably my favourite chapter in the whole of this story just because it has Don in it.
Don't worry. This isn't the only time you'll see him. Ha. We meet Don again.. (and again. and again... and again i think. Mwuhaha)
You'll love him and you'll love his friends when we get to them. (I hope so anyway)
Anyhoo On with the chapter!
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Café et fraises
Chapter Nine
Pulling Part 2
'Please, please, please, please, please?!' begged Libby, literally on her knees, hands clasped together. 'We never do anything girly!'
'Libby, we went pulling three days again.'
'I wanna go again!'
'No, I can't,' Lucy replied, sprinkling fish food in for Henry. 'Not when me and Bovver might have something. Come on, get off the floor.' She pulled Libby to her feet. 'I'm sure you'll find someone else to go with you.'
Libby nodded, before flicking Henry's tank with her finger. 'You know,' she said thoughtfully. 'I think he's getting better. Look, he's well perkier.' Lucy laughed. Henry did in fact look perkier; he was floating the right way up at least. Libby straightened up, combing her fingers through her hair before moving towards the door. 'Well, I'm off to find someone to go out with. There's one hour until the bars open and if I'm not there I'll scream.'
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'Pulling?' frowned Swill.
'Yeah!' replied Libby, face shining with excitement. 'Lucy won't come because she's boring, Pete won't come because he too has inherited the boring gene and Dave won't come because he's flying planes!'
'Well…' he mused. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be there, watching Libby flirt with some guy.
'Please,' she begged. 'For me?'
'All right,' he sighed, giving a smile. 'Let me grab some cash.'
'No need. I'm paying,' she said, grabbing his hand. 'There's a taxi waiting outside.'
'How'd you know I'd say yes?' he asked, as she dragged him out the Abbey.
'I didn't. If you had said no, I would have gone pulling with the cab driver.'
London at night was beautiful; the whole city lit up with sparkling lights, music beating from each club they passed. Libby still had hold of Swill's hand, dragging him from one club to another, only staying five minutes at each one.
'You know,' he said, as they left another club and headed down the road. 'This is the weirdest way of pulling I've ever done; usually, you stay in a club and find people there.'
'Here we are,' she smiled as they entered another club. 'Perfect.'
'If it's a fucking gay bar, I'm off.' Libby laughed, shaking her head as she led him towards the bar.
'What're you having?' asked the bartender, his black hair slicked back, grey eyes on hers.
'Martini,' she replied. 'Swill?'
'Fosters.' The music beat through them as the man served their drinks and Libby paid. She leaned with her back against the counter, sipping her Martini, eyes scouring the nightclub. There were a few lookers, but no one that really caught her eye. She unzipped her jacket, revealing a loose fitted gold top which showed off her cleavage, the material falling to her bellybutton, revealing a flat stomach.
'You'll catch flies,' warned Libby with a laugh, putting her jacket behind her. Swill nodded, trying to look away but failing. 'Seen anyone you like?' she asked over the noise. Swill wanted to say 'Yeah, you!' but he held his tongue and shook his head. 'Well, I'll see you in a bit, yeah? Some guy's just caught my eye, so I'm going to check him out.' Swill nodded, watching her walk off, hips swaying rhythmically.
'Hey,' she smiled up at the tall man, whose hair was so blonde it was almost white, pale blue eyes on hers.
'What's your name?' he asked, leaning forward so they could hear each other.
'Kate,' she replied, eyes sparkling. She loved pretending, going out just to live someone else life for a couple of hours.
'I'm Don,' he replied, holding out his hand. She took it and he twirled her gently, before pulling her close to him with her back pressed against his front. Swill watched on in dismay. He knew it was a mistake to come. He turned so he was facing away from them, leaning against the bar, sipping his beer miserably.
'Are you alone?' asked a pleasant voice in his ear. Swill looked up to see a blonde woman staring back at him, blue eyes round. She had a long nose but generally pretty looks, hair in ringlets around her face.
'Erm… at the moment, yeah,' he replied. 'My friend left me.'
'Do you want some company?' the woman asked, sliding onto the bar stool beside him without waiting for an answer. 'I'm Sadie,' she murmured in his ear.
'Swill,' he replied, swallowing the dregs of his beer. 'What are you drinking?'
'Just lemonade. I'm driving home.' Swill nodded, reaching in his pocket to get his money but sighing when he realized he had nothing; Libby was supposed to be paying. 'Its fine,' smiled Sadie, putting her small handbag on the bar and rifling through it before pulling out a fiver. The bartender came towards them, getting their order and serving up their drinks. 'So,' said Sadie, sipping her lemonade through a straw. 'Who's your friend?'
'Libby… over there,' he pointed behind him and Sadie looked.
'The short one?'
'Yeah, with the blonde.' Sadie laughed, shaking her head.
'You should go and save her; Don Carwood's a womanizer.'
'No, trust me; it's him who should be worried.' The two fell into laugher. 'What do you do for a living?' he asked, sucking the froth off the top of his drink.
'I work with children,' she replied. 'Special needs, you know. They're good kids.'
'How long?' he asked.
She frowned. 'What do you mean?'
'How long have you worked with them?'
'Oh, the best part of five years. What do you do?'
'Nothing at the moment,' he muttered. 'I just got fired from the Co-op for getting into a fight with this spotty twat who thought he knew everything.' Sadie burst out laughing, knocking her head back. She almost split her drink.
'You got fired… from the Co-op?!'
'Yeah,' Swill replied, defensively.
'Sorry,' she giggled, covering her mouth. 'That's just the funniest thing I've heard all day.' She tried hard to stop laughing but she just couldn't. It had been a long day and it felt nice to laugh. Swill found himself grinning too. 'So, did you give him a good beating?'
'Nothing A+E couldn't sort out,' he reassured. Sadie smiled, making slurping sounds with her straw when she finished her lemonade. She pushed her glass aside.
Don was a very… gropey person. He spent much of his time with his hand on Libs backside. But she didn't mind. She gyrated against him, teasing as she pulled away when he went to kiss her lips, neck or jaw.
This was just making Don wanting more, determined to have her at the end of the night. Women usually fell at Don's feet, swooning if he even looked in their direction; not Kate. It was like she was in on his game while playing her own at the same time. If there was such thing as a manizer, Kate was one.
She was here for fun. So was Don. Hell, they made a great team. Again he let his lips trail down her neck, savouring her taste. And then she giggled and ducked away, hand touching his thigh for a moment. He stifled a groan, grabbing her hips and pulling her back to him.
'Tease,' he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear.
'You love it,' she replied, a smile still on her lips.
'When did you get married?' asked Swill, on his fifth beer.
'1996. December the 3rd; you know, when the winters actually had snow.'
'I remember them; me and my brother used to go up to the park where there was this pretty big hill and sled our way down.'
'I grew up in the country,' she replied. 'The snow was awesome. I love London when it's draped in snow. It's a shame my kids won't get the same sort of experience.'
'You could go to Alaska,' he shrugged. Sadie rolled her eyes.
'Which costs money we don't have,' she reminded him, taking a drink.
'What movies do you like?' Swill asked Sadie.
'Horrors,' she replied, eyes full of laughter. 'I love a good zombie-eats-someone's-guts kinda film, but romance aint that bad.'
'Really? Most of the girls I know squeal or get faint when they see things like that.'
'Or get nightmares,' Sadie agreed. 'My mum's like that. She got a nightmare from watching Shaun of the Dead.'
The two burst out into laughter again and Libby stopped short of returning to him. They were leaning close, heads together as they laughed. Something twisted inside Libby's stomach and she realized it was jealousy. Jealous? Of Swill and some blonde? She shook her head as Don squeezed her hand.
'Are you okay?' he asked, with a frown. Libby smiled up at him with a nod.
'I'm going now, if I can drag my friend away.' Don's eyes swept Swill's back before he rested them on Libby again. She went to move off.
'Kate!' She turned back to him, an eyebrow raised. 'Can I get your number?'
'Sure,' she replied, moving towards him and pulling out her mobile. They exchanged numbers and just as she was about to walk off, she turned back to him. 'Oh, and Don?' He looked up. 'My name's Libby,' she smirked.
And Don laughed and pulled out his phone to change the name he'd entered into his address book.
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Libby had a plan. It was obvious that she felt something for Swill or it wouldn't have kept her up all night. And now she had decided that she was going to do something about it. She woke around mid-day, had a wash, got dressed and ate her brunch. Then, she told her plan to the one person who would listen to her seeing as they had no choice.
'So, what do you think?' she asked. Henry merely glugged at her, sinking to the bottom of the tank. 'You're right,' she sighed. 'I should change my shirt.'
So she did and then she locked up Pete's apartment and walked down the road, scuffing her trainers on the ground. There were two places Swill would be; the Abbey or his house. She decided to try the latter. With some unknown luck, he was in and suddenly she felt shy and embarrassed like some schoolgirl when he opened his front door, hair tousled.
'Oh, hi,' he said, stepping aside to let her in. 'What're you doing 'ere?'
'Can't I come and see how my hung-over friends are?' she asked, moving into the living room and kicking aside an empty beer can.
'Wanna coffee?' he asked, slouching into the kitchen with Libby on his tail.
'I'll make it,' she said, putting on the kettle and looking around for mugs.
'Top cupboard,' he smiled at the frown on her face. After a minute of pulling out all the drawers to find what she needed, she turned to smile at Swill, walking forward to lean against him.
'Are you okay?' she asked, her thumb brushing against the back of his hand. 'Hang overs suck.'
'You're telling me,' he replied, glancing sideways to find her face scarily close to his. And then she did it. She bounced forward, pressing her lips against his. Swill pulled away, eyes wide.
'What are you doing?' he asked. 'Wait… this can't happen.'
'Sorry, what?' frowned Libby, eyes widening ever so slightly, her bottom lip trembling.
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A review would be nice by now :) Thank you and goodnight..
Oh and.. OMFG SWILL YOU CRAZY ASS, WHAT CHOO PLAYIN' AT?!