Chapter 8: Drag Into the Night
It was just past midnight and the whole senior partner's cabin was asleep, all except for Robert Goren.
Quietly he got up out of his bed which was easy because it was the bottom bunk, went over to his jacket slung over an armchair in the corner and took something out of his pocket.
He stepped outside onto the back porch and sat on the bench they had out there. It was still raining, softly but with thunder echoing around him still.
He opened the pack in his hand and took out a cigarette. He played with it in his hand for a few moments then put it in his mouth.
He took out his one last match and lit his cigarette and took a long drag.
Inside Alex woke to the gentle sounds of thunder around her and also to the not so gentle sound of Milton and James snoring. She didn't hear Goren snoring so she wondered does he not snore or is he not here?
Slowly she climbed down the ladder and only made a small sound when her feet made contact with the wood floor. Luckily it wasn't that cold but the rainy weather made it slightly drafty.
Even in the dark she could tell that no one occupied her partners bunk. She sighed and saw that screen door that led to the back porch was slightly ajar. Without a second thought she went to the back porch to find him.
He heard someone coming and figured it was Milton or James coming to take a leak outside. He was pleasantly surprised to see his favorite little lady strolling outside instead. Her hair was fluffed up on one side, her eyes still sleepy; she shuffled over to the bench and sat down beside him.
"Did I wake you?" he turned slightly but turned back and blew the smoke up away from her face.
"Nah…the thunder and the snoring woke me up."
They sat in silence for a few moments.
"So I guess you really did need that cigarette huh?"
"Hmm…yeah I guess I did. Is the smoke bothering you?" he waved his hand in the air trying to clear it.
"Nope, actually, can I bum one off of you?"
He looked dumfounded. "Eames I didn't know you smoked."
She was lying through her teeth, "There are a lot of things you don't know about me Robert Goren. Now hand me one, please."
He was a profiler after all and he could tell she wasn't being honest. Had he ever smelled smoke on her? Had he ever seen her smoke? Had she ever asked before? No, no, and no again.
"Ok, if you insist, but I'm out of matches." He knew what she would do as soon as she took a drag.
He handed her the cigarette and she placed it in her mouth, she the leaned in close to him, really close.
"What are you doing?" he spoke out of the side of his mouth.
"Lighting it…" she got close enough that the ends of their cigarettes were touching. The heat on the end of his started to ignite her end, for a moment they just stared into each others eyes enjoying the proximity, and then it happened. The thing he was waiting for, she inhaled and then her eyes widened.
She sputtered and drew back away from him immediately. He reached over and took the cigarette out of her mouth, threw his on the ground since he was done with it anyway and put hers in his mouth.
The taste of her still lingered on the cigarette and now it lingered on his lips. He started to pat her on the pat to help her.
"You little liar…I guess you'll learn now huh?" he took another drag; the taste of her had already worn off. He threw that one on the ground too and watched it as its burning ceased.
She finally choked out, "How," cough,"could you tell?"
He just started to laugh then quieted down once he saw the look on her face. She looked like she had just swallowed a bag of charcoal.
"Are you ok?" he put his hand on her back and left it there. He selfishly enjoyed the feeling of her breathing against his hand.
"I'll be fine, I think." She looked to him and gave him a reassuring smile.
"But if I ever ask for a cigarette again, hit me or something, I promise I won't file a complaint."
"Hit you? I think if you ask I will just go with the 'something' instead."
"How thoughtful of you Bobby, thanks. You should really stop smoking, you know those things will kill you."
He scoffed at that, "A lot of things can kill me Eames."
They sat for a few more moments in comfortable silence.
Then he leaned over and pecked her on the cheek. Her eyebrows shot up but he couldn't see, but he swore he felt her expression change to surprise. At least she doesn't seem angry or disgusted. He thought to himself.
He scooted back over to his side of the bench.
"Yeah, I might just kill you." She was joking and he could hear it in her voice.
She ran her hand through his hair caringly, "Goodnight Bobby, get some sleep."
With that she went back inside, crawled back into bed and put her hand on her cheek where he had kissed her.
He sat on the porch for a little longer and finally went in to go back to sleep.
Before he got into his bunk he caught himself staring at Alex. He saw her hand on her cheek where he had kissed her, he smiled to himself, sighed and got back into bed.