I don't own any of the power rangers. Just the story.
She should tell Louis to change the channel. Why in the hell would a bar play a news channel all the time? Especially considering it was live coverage of yet another freaking monster terrorizing the city of Reefside. Oh. Reefside was different. She had a fleeting thought that maybe she should be somewhere a little safer than this hole in wall bar, but someone set another shot in front of her, so she was good.
The reporter was saying something about injuries, but she wasn't sure if he was talking about the rangers or the monster. Looking around the bar, she noticed that everyone seemed pretty calm. Maybe it was the constant threat of intergalactic space beasts that gave you some kind of weird inner peace. She finished of the shot. Maybe she could ask one of them how they found that peace. She sure as hell could use some.
"You know who keeps buying these for you, right?" Louis set another shot glass of whiskey in front of her.
"Nope." She finished it.
Louis pointed behind him to a group of men that looked somewhat familiar. "That's the guy you put on the ground the other night."
"Okay." Kim shrugged.
"I think he thinks you'll be more cooperative drunk."
She laughed, "Maybe you should tell him that I definitely will not be." She shrugged again, "So he's paying for all my drinks?"
"That's what he said."
She smiled, "So give me top shelf, and keep them coming."
"I always said you were good for business." He grabbed a bottle and poured her a third shot.
"To your recent monetary gain," she held up the glass before swallowing the drink. "And can you give me something that'll last a few sips?"
"Coming up," Louis said with a laugh.
Kimberly sat by herself until the end of the live broadcast. No one had died, so that was good. Maybe she should call Trini and make sure everyone was okay. "Why would I do that?" She asked herself out loud. She stood up from the bar stool and had to steady herself against the wooden bar. Okay, so she was a little drunk. Whatever. Slowly and carefully making her way to the restroom, she debated texting Trini. That was less personal than calling. So maybe she cared, and maybe she didn't.
The bathroom was small and dingy, just like every other bar, and Kimberly could barely make out her face in the gritty mirror, but she could see enough to know she looked like crap. Her hair was officially straight, no hint of curl. Her dress was mussed and wrinkled from sitting and from… not sitting. Freaking Tommy. Just like him to mess something up and go. Her makeup looked a little smudged, so she splashed some water on her face to clean up. It was all okay. Everything was totally fine.
As she made her way back to her seat, the same man from the previous night walked up beside her.
"I will break your arm this time," she warned.
He held up his hands. "I know it probably looks like I'm trying something, but I learned my lesson last time."
"Then what are you doing right now?"
"Making amends."
She laughed under her breath. "Of course you are."
"No, really." He sat down next to her. "I'm Alex. I'm sure you don't remember."
"I didn't."
"And you are?"
She took a deep breath. Was he a jerk, or was he genuinely trying to make up for acting like one? "Kimberly." Either way, she could hold her own.
"Kimberly."
She didn't really like how her name sounded in his mouth, but she decided to overlook it.
"Let me buy you a drink?"
"You've been buying them all night from what I understand.
"Right," he smiled, "so drink the next one with me?"
"Sure. Okay."
He wasn't all bad. Alex was pretty funny and somewhat interesting, and he was a great distraction. Plus, he had probably bought her over a hundred dollars in whiskey, so she probably shouldn't complain too much.
"Okay, okay." Alex signaled for anther shot.
Kimberly laughed, "Okay, what?"
"Time to be serious."
"Probably. Your jokes really suck."
"Hey!" He held up his glass. "Those were grade A jokes. Quality stuff!"
"Whatever." She held up her own glass. "How many hours of detention did you get for the egg prank?"
He clinked his glass with hers and they both finished the drink. "Not enough. My mom knew the principal."
"That's unfair."
"Completely." He took a sip of his beer. "So what about your high school career?"
"What about it?" Louis set a glass of water in front of her. She ignored it and took a sip of her whiskey and coke. Maybe he had bought her around two hundred dollars worth of liquor. It was hard to keep track at this point.
"I told you all of my nefarious tails. Your turn."
She giggled, "big word."
"I'm not as drunk as you."
"You should catch up." She smiled at him. He smiled back. "High school was pretty standard for me. I was a good kid. No trouble."
"Come on. You've got to have something." He leaned closer to her. "Hanging out under the bleachers, detention for smoking in the bathroom?" he whispered conspiratorially.
"Nothing," she leaned in and whispered back. Laughing, she straightened back up. Suddenly, she felt her head start to swim. "Whoa," she said, putting a hand to her forehead.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." She smiled. "I think I should probably head home."
"Oh." He frowned. "Are you going to be okay? Do you need a cab or anything?"
"No." She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. He was cute. And she was having fun. He was very distracting. "You could walk me home? I'm not too far from here."
He smiled again. "You sure?"
Tommy popped into her head for a split second, but she pushed the thought away. "Yeah."
.
.
.
"Okay," Kimberly clutched the stair rail, chuckling, "Steps shouldn't be this difficult."
"It's the heels," Alex put an arm around her waist and practically lifted her up the final few steps, "And the whiskey."
"Thanks to you!" she laughed and leaned against him. "The heels will come off as soon as I get in my apartment."
"And the dress?" he smirked.
"I don't know if you're that lucky."
He grinned and tightened his grip on her, "I'm very lucky."
"Maybe you-" Kimberly was more than a little surprised to see the tall, spikey haired man leaning against her wall. "Tommy?"
"Kimberly."
"Is he really there?" she whispered loudly to Alex.
"Yes," he muttered in response. He immediately let go of her.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, stumbling a bit without the extra support.
"Who's your friend?" Alex asked crossing his arms.
"Tommy. Alex." She pointed at each man in turn. "This is hilarious," she said breaking into a fit of giggles. "Like. If you two only knew. "
"Maybe you should go inside, Kimberly." Tommy didn't even look at her, too busy sizing up the man who had walked her up.
"I absolutely should go in my apartment. I am way too drunk to deal with this." Chuckling, she reached in her bag for her key and unlocked the door. "To the death, boys," she said, still laughing. She shut the door behind her and turned on the lights. "This is ridiculous," she spoke out loud to herself. "Fucking green ranger. White ranger. Black ranger. Damn ranger!" She slammed her keys on the countertop. "I don't like this!" she yelled and then laughed. Who knew what she did and didn't like these days. She didn't like being pushed out of the way, but she did like how macho Tommy got when he saw Alex. And he got that 'kill it' look in his eyes that she had fallen hard for when she was younger. She liked Tommy. But, wait, she wasn't supposed to. It was all very confusing. " And it's your fault!" she yelled again. Damn ranger showing up where he wasn't supposed to be. Breaking things like her hopes and dreams. And her heart. But he sure looked good when he was doing it.
She reached down and unbuckled the straps of her shoes to slide them off. As she was standing up, the door opened. Tommy walked in, closing and locking it behind him.
"What did you do to Alex?" She suddenly wished she had kept the shoes on. It would be a lot easier to intimidate him if she weren't so short. And to kiss him again, if she was being honest.
"I didn't do anything to him. I asked him to leave. He left."
"You threatened to cut him to shreds with your sword of justice or whatever the hell you have now, didn't you?"
Tommy raised an eyebrow. "You're worried about him? Who is he?"
"Just a nice person."
"Why was he talking about your dress coming off?"
"Why do you care?" He could take her dress off. She started to walk towards him, but stumbled and caught herself on the counter.
"How much did you drink tonight?" He walked to the sink and filled a glass with water.
"Why do you keep asking stupid questions? I am an adult. If I want to drink too much and talk to a nice boy about taking my dress off, I am allowed." She took a sip of the water he handed her.
"Just surprising after the restaurant."
"You mean the one where you kissed me and then left me to go fight some alien reject? Super surprising." Maybe she should kiss him this time. Maybe then he wouldn't leave.
Tommy frowned, "You walked away from me."
"No, no, no." Kim held up her hands. "That's wrong. And I am too drunk to talk about this." She started walking down the hall toward her bedroom, unzipping the side of her dress as she went.
"Kimberly, what are you doing?" She heard his steps move down the hall.
"Changing clothes." She turned and glared at him. "What are you doing?" She asked as he followed her farther in.
"I don't know." He ran a hand through his hair. "I came to see you?"
"Really? Out of the goodness of your heart? Or did Trini tell you to come check up on poor, little me?" She rolled her eyes and rummaged through a pile of clothes, looking for the oversized t-shirt she normally slept in. "She says my drinking is an unhealthy coping mechanism. Whatever. Gotcha." Her hand closed around the blue fabric. She turned to face him. "I'm about to get naked for a minute. You can wait in the living room." Or maybe he could stay.
"Um. Right." He quickly turned and walked out of the room.
Kim changed into the old shirt, taking a second to calm down. Okay. He was in her apartment. Okay. He wanted to talk. Okay. He was insanely hot and she really wanted to take advantage of that. No. That was the alcohol talking. Okay. She needed to make him leave. She could do that. Easy.
"Okay," she said, coming out of her bedroom, "we've got to schedule this conversation for another time because it won't end well right now."
"That's my shirt." Tommy smiled.
"What?" She looked down. Sure enough, it was an old Angel Grove football t-shirt. "Well, damn." She took a deep breath, "It's just really soft. I mean, you don't find things like this anymore." She looked back up, "I just like it," she said softly.
He laughed quietly and walked over to her. "It is a good shirt," he said, touching her sleeve.
His hand was hot against her arm. She could practically feel the left over energy crackle against her skin.
He slowly moved his hand from her sleeve, to her shoulder, and then to the side of her neck. "I came here to talk to you. Get everything straightened out. You've always been bad at sleeping. I thought you'd still be awake."
"I'm awake." She was, right? This was real, right? She remembered the last time she had been this close to him. Before the restaurant, before she had cut off most contact with everyone, he had saved her from Maligore, and he had looked at her like his problems were solved. Like he had it all figured out. He was looking at her like that now.
"I didn't come here for anything other than to talk. I swear." His other hand reached around to rest on her lower back, pulling her closer.
"I believe you." She was doing her best to stay coherent, but between the alcohol and him it was almost impossible. She tried to keep breathing. She was supposed to be making him leave.
"I don't want to take advantage of you." He pushed back a little. "That's not why I came here."
"Are you saying that for your benefit or mine?" She curled her arms around his waist to stop him from moving away. "You're not taking advantage of me." She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Tommy kissed her back in an almost desperate way. His lips were hot. His hands were hot. Heat practically radiated from him, and she remembered how much she loved that feeling. She reached her hands under his shirt and heard him inhale sharply.
His arm tightened around her middle, and his other hand closed around the hem of her shirt as he pulled back from her. "You can tell me to stop. I will."
"You can stop threatening me with that, for damn sure." She closed her hand around his and urged him to lift up her shirt.
He may have not come for this reason, but he obviously wanted it as much as she did, drunk or sober.
There was no making him leave now.