Here is chapter two, please enjoy! (Author's notes at end.)
* * * Ch. 2 – NOTHING TO SAY (Soundgarden) * * *
I can't get Ed's arms pried off from around me. As soon as I had stepped through the entrance of the Bebop, she had come running towards me and latched herself onto my waist. Faye is standing nearby. She's silently leaning against the wall, her arms slightly crossed, holding a cigarette in her hand. I stare at her hoping she'll get Ed to go with her or something. But she doesn't do anything at all.
Jet had stayed behind to check on some rusting sheets on the upper deck, so I stand there, just barely inside the door, waiting for him to come in and pry Ed off. As soon as the door opens I say, "You know how I feel about children." But Jet seems amused by the sight.
"That's enough," he says to Ed, but not at all demandingly.
"Okay!" she responds while simultaneously taking her arms away from me. Ed grins at me really big and says, "Spike-person's okay now?"
"Yeah," I say, relieved to have her off, "Everything is fine." I thought I'd feel bad for lying. But she seems satisfied by my answer so I feel no guilt at all.
"C'mon," Faye finally says, shifting her weight away from the wall, "let's go finish my nails."
Ed follows her like a loyal puppy. As soon as Faye turns to leave, Ed is right beside her. Ein is there too. He's staring at me. But when Faye and Ed are out of sight, he dashes away behind them.
Jet and I go to the living room. It seems nothing has changed. The yellow couch is still waiting for me and there's this odd sense of tranquility. Jet and I just sit without saying a word.
I don't mind this. However, I wish Jet and Faye would act a bit more like Ed sometimes. I'm back. And yet, they treat me indifferently. This I expect from Jet. But not from Faye too. I don't know what exactly she's trying to get out of acting like that. And it's not a bad thing necessarily. It's just that it makes me feel like they've got me completely figured out. That's the issue.
At some point I fall asleep. I don't know how much time passes, but by two-something, I'm woken up by Faye's voice. Jet's sitting across from me halfway reading and halfway nodding away. He shakes his head a bit and turns to her. I'd lain down on the couch, but as she approaches, I sit up. The first thing I notice is the soft smell of perfume. Then, I see she's all dressed up.
"Jet," Faye says holding a compact mirror closely to her face as she fixes her lipstick.
"What is it?" Jet says, shaking his head awake.
"Tyler. He just called me."
"The banker?" Jet asks.
"No," she says closing the mirror, "that's Taylor. Tyler's the stockbroker…He asked me to stay with him a while longer for some last minute thing. It's only one more day, but that throws off the plans we had for Friday."
Jet stretches his arms as he yawns, "Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out."
"I'm leaving then," she says turning away.
I feel completely lost. I try not to let it bother me; I figure that I'll eventually get the hang of what's going on around here. Though it's easier to think that than uphold it, I still won't ask.
Jet glances at me and sets the magazine down on the table. He says, "Well, I guess the best thing to do would be to stay here a week longer." I don't say anything but Jet continues, "We've been trying to catch this one bounty, John Tarbell. He goes around in cycles. Every Friday he'll go to the same bar to meet up with one of his men and catch up on what's going on in his district…that's the easiest place to catch him. But since Faye won't be back by then..."
"Can't I take care of it?" I say.
Jet stares at me with this odd look on his face. "You've just gotten out of the hospital. Besides, this guy is promiscuous as hell...If you're really up for it, you can help out when Faye's back."
And so I wait.
The next time I see Faye, a week has already passed. I'm sitting in the same spot as before and she's taken Jet's seat. Ed had been working on the coffee table, but after a few minutes, she passes out and falls asleep on the floor.
Faye doesn't say anything. And I don't either. I don't know whether we're trying to be quiet so as not to wake Ed up, or if we honestly don't have anything to say to each other.
Faye is filing her nails. Sometimes, I glance over at her and watch her slide the file monotonously. I don't think she likes it, so I keep doing it just to piss her off. After a while though, I'm the one who begins feeling irritated. For some reason, I can't elicit anything from her. Instead of putting myself in a worse mood, I close my eyes and lean back on the couch.
By the time Friday comes, I've figured out that Faye's giving me the silent treatment. Sometimes it's funny because I can tell she really wants to tell me something and she'll have to force herself not to. It's not so hard to figure out. She'll look at me, but then she'll blink and turn away just slightly biting her bottom lip.
Yeah, it annoys the shit out of me.
But I know it won't last. Not today. I know that today she'll have to communicate with me sooner or later. Or otherwise, there's a chance that we'll lose the bounty. It's a good deal, so I know she won't keep up with this juvenile scam.
After we're all ready to go, we head to the bar. It's a pretty underground place in the outskirts of the city. It's falling down in places and it's not really much of a bar as it is a motel. The red neon of the sign makes the walls look sickly. The windows are all closed, but even then, the curtains are so sheer that the yellow light of the rooms escapes through. There's quite a bit of people around, so none of us will stand out.
It doesn't take us long to get in place. Jet stays outside near the back exit in case our original plan doesn't work and Tarbell tries to get away. Since people like Tarbell rarely use the front entrance, we don't have anyone guarding the area. The place has no visual security so Ed's hacked into the cameras from the building across and she'll let us know if for some reason he changes his pattern. From there it's simple.
Faye and I actually have to get inside. We stand in line several feet away from each other and wait. Faye get's into the place quickly. But with the clothes she's wearing, I didn't expect anything less. To her disadvantage, she can't hide any weapon and has to rely on me to take care of her. However, since I'm supposed to be one of those customers with no life dragged into the place by lustful fantasies, I have to stand in line several minutes after Faye's already inside before they let me in.
As soon as I'm allowed into the place, I walk around the premises to get a better idea of what the situation really is like. There are more people than we had expected. The rooms and halls are hot and humid with breath. The smoke is thick and it's hard to breathe. Walking is difficult and I have to force my way around the building. It feels like hours of digging through the crowd until I finally find Faye. My job is to keep a close eye on her, but I can't get too close because all the tables near her and Tarbell, whom I'm surprised she's already with, are taken up. Instead, I stand as close as I can and pretend to be waiting for someone.
Faye and Tarbell are not alone at the table. He has two men, probably twice my size, standing around them. I can only see Faye once in a while, so whatever signals we'd used in the past have become entirely futile. But while I can't see Faye, I can see Tarbell clearly enough, so I decide to read him instead. He's slouching back on his chair, his left arm barely resting on the table. He's got chin length and wavy, dark brown hair that covers most of his face, but from time to time I can see his gaze. He's got this piercing look and his eyes are continuously shifting. From what I can see, it's not hard to tell he wants to tear off Faye's clothes.
When I see him standing up, I move back a little, so as to make sure they don't see me. I watch them head out of the bar and onto the lobby. I don't see Faye's face, but she's latched onto the arm of Tarbell, pressing her body closely against his. He's a bit shorter than I am. I can tell because their shoulders almost match like hers and mine do when we stand next to each other.
I don't follow them into the lobby immediately, but I do see them heading upstairs while the two big guys are left behind in the bar. I have to wait, but eventually I also enter the lobby. I keep a close eye on the clock hanging above the front desk while waiting for the ten planned minutes to pass. It's odd to just stand there, so I light up a smoke. By the time the clock is marking the last minute, I stare at the changing digits while finishing up the rest of my second cigarette.
I wait for the time to change before going upstairs. The motel only has three floors, with about twenty rooms each. I walk through the halls quickly trying to identify the room where Faye and Tarbell are, hoping Faye was smart enough to leave some sort of sign. Meanwhile, Ed is hacking the system to see if she can figure out the room before I do by searching through the room log.
Fortunately, when I reach the second floor, I know I've found them. One of the doors near the end of the hall has a red lipstick mark on the frame. It's a slightly s-shaped smudge and it's exactly the color of Faye's lipstick. Clever, I have to admit. A second later, Ed sends me a message with the number, confirming that I've found the right room.
I stand there for a little while and look around. I watch as a couple enters a nearby room and then I'm the only person standing in the hallway. If I hear past the bodily sounds emanating from the rooms. It's quiet.
A woman screams at the end of the hall and I become aware of how loud it really is. I shake the noises out of my head and pull out my gun. I grab the doorknob and as I lean closer to force the door open, I can hear all the noises again. The shaking legs of the bed, the rustling of sheets, the heaving breaths. I force myself to ignore everything and shove my body against the door. The lock breaks easily and I instinctively point the gun at the bed.
I see dull white sheets and flushed skin; bodies covered in sweat and tightly pressed together. Faye and Tarbell moving forcefully. His hands are aggressively grasping her arms and he's trying hard to push her back firmly onto the mattress. It takes just a second for me to realize that Faye's arms are wrapped around Tarbell's neck. She's choking him. I know this because her arms are too tight and positioned around him very tactically for it to be a gesture of passion.
"What the hell are you waiting for!" Faye tells me through her gritted teeth and short breath.
I close the door without turning around. It's the most inconvenient of places, but I smirk, noticing she's broken her vow of silence. Realizing this, she glares at me and tightens her arms around Tarbell. I feel bumps spreading over my back; it feels as if it's me she's choking. A second after, Tarbell's body goes limp.
His head falls on the nape of Faye's neck and his body collapses directly onto her. She grunts at the sudden imposition of his weight. The shaking of the bed stops. Faye breathes deeply. I notice her blushed arms still around Tarbell's neck. I walk closer to the bed and move one of her wrists away from him. Her skin is hot. She jerks her hand away from me and lifts the other away from Tarbell. I stare at my hand; it's moist and warm with sweat. I hesitate but wipe the sensation away by drying my palm against one of the pillows.
"Get him off," Faye orders me quietly. She's grabbed a hold of one of the sheets, moving it in between her and Tarbell. I pick the guy up by the shoulders and grimace at the feel of his skin.
"This was some great idea," I say languidly.
"He's worth more if he's not injured," Faye responds nonchalantly.
As I move Tarbell further away from her, Faye continues to carefully fix the sheet around her. The fabric is thin and she's covered in sweat. Regardless of her intentions, there is still enough of her left exposed.
"You two were in a hurry, weren't you? You should have said five instead of ten minutes," I say, curious to see if she would continue speaking to me.
Faye doesn't respond. She gets out of the bed and collects her clothes before shutting herself in the bathroom.
"Hurry up." I tell her…Nothing.
I'm left with the unpleasant duty of dressing Tarbell. I rush through it and don't even bother to button up his shirt. I open one of his eyelids to make sure he's unconscious. Sure enough, his eyes are rolled back. I hear the click of a door and turn quickly. But it's only Faye who'd stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed, though her clothes cling to her skin even more now that her body is damp.
"Let's go," she tells me, not so much as an order but as a comment.
I swing Tarbell's arm over my shoulder and lift him off from the bed. He's still warm and sweaty. It feels disgusting. Faye goes to the door and looks outside; after another couple enters their room, she waves me to go on ahead.
The halls are empty and it's not until we step into the elevator that I begin to worry. I ask Faye where the two guards are and she says that she doesn't know but that Tarbell ordered them to go away for twenty minutes. Given that, we have about five minutes, give-or-take, before the guards start looking for their boss.
The elevator door opens and, to move faster, Faye mimics me and places one of Tarbell's arms over her shoulders, the other around his waist just underneath mine. When we step out, other than a few more couples asking for keys to the upstairs rooms, the lobby is pretty much covered in loiterers. Some of the people are passed out on the chairs or the corners of the room; others talk for a while before returning to the bar. Even though Tarbell is completely unconscious, no one really takes notice of us. I suppose given the amount of drinking that went around in the place, Tarbell just seems to be another one of those poor drunken bastards who's happened to pass out. Everything goes fine, but as we're digging our way toward the exit, our fortune runs out.
"Faye," I say quickly, shifting my glance towards the guards who, while searching, still haven't spotted us.
Faye doesn't say anything, but she pick up more of Tarbell's weight. We struggle to reach the door and manage to make it out. Faye holds the door open, while still helping me with Tarbell's weight. We continue to walk away and hasten our pace. From the last window, I see the guards are forcing their way outside as well.
Faye pulls out her communicator and calls Jet. "We got him…No, they just figured it out…Okay." She hangs up and then says, "This way."
I follow her as we walk to the first alley away from the bar. I look back a few times. We sneak into the alley and the guards haven't made it outside yet. Jet's already there, and I can see that Faye's ship is parked just on the other side of the street on the parking lot of an out-of-business Laundromat.
"Hand him to me," he says, "and distract those two while I get him away from here."
We don't answer him, but do as we're told. After Jet takes the guy away from us, we walk out into the main street again, finally seeing the guards on the street. We turn in the opposite direction of the alley to get some distance from Jet.
Faye sighs. I look at her. She tells herself more than me, "And I just fixed my nails."
I say carelessly, "What? You think you can take care of them just by talking." What I mean to be sarcasm doesn't sound quite that way; and a fraction too late, I realize that I've just dared her instead.
"I guess," she says with this mischievous smile on her face.
I nearly flinch when she reaches out for me. She innocently takes me by the arm and places it around her shoulders, actually, it's like she'd held Tarbell moments before. I honestly can't understand what's with her today. She'll talk to me, and then she won't. She doesn't let me touch her, but here she is touching me. If I think about it too much, I'm sure that I'll realize I'm at a disadvantage.
It's not the first time my arm is around Faye like this, and even though it feels momentarily awkward because of what happened months before, I don't tell her anything about it and the feeling fades away quickly. Strangely enough, in all of this, I realize that I'm right; Tarbell really is just a bit shorter than I am.
We continue walking, even when the guards are only a block away. When we've reached the end of the block, Faye and I stop under the light of the street corner. While we wait for the guards to catch up, I let some of my weight fall on Faye's shoulders just to see how she'll react. She looks at me casually and doesn't say anything. Since it doesn't seem to bother her, I don't move. It's more comfortable to wait this way anyway.
The steps of the guards are very close, but even before reaching us, the taller of the guards yells, "Where's Tarbell you bitch!"
"I think he's asking you," Faye whispers to me.
I don't get a chance to retort because, as we turn to face them, the guard has reached us and has thrown his right fist in our direction. I jerk myself away from Faye, pushing her away from the man's range. However, it isn't necessary. Before the man is able to get close enough, the second guard has taken a hold of his arm.
"Where's Tarbell?" the same guy asks again as his comrade releases him.
"I don't know," Faye says. "I've been with this guy." And as if to make her point, she moves close to me again.
I hear the clicking of a gun.
"Where is he?" asks the first guard more demandingly, I presume feeling more secure wielding a gun.
"I don't know," Faye repeats sounding annoyed. "Look, he must have been in a hurry to get somewhere or really was just too quick. Either way, we barely lasted five minutes in the room."
One of the two must have been true because the second guard says to his comrade, "Shit. You sure he wasn't getting the cargo from Felicia already?"
The first says, "I told you, I saw this bitch carrying him out."
"Do you see him here!" The second says slapping the other's back. "All you saw was these two clinging to each other."
The two continue to argue, until they become completely distracted from Faye and me. I give her a quick glance and she steps away to give me room. I haven't fought with anyone in a while but I'm reckless enough not to care. I give a swift kick to the guard's hand holding the gun. It's tight on his grip, but the kick is strong enough to make him drop it. The guard besides him has no time to react. Faye, apparently forgetting her manicured nails, lounges at him. Even before my foot lands completely, I've already twisted my torso and built up the force for my second kick. I hit the guard's abdomen the second time around and knock enough air out of him to make him stumble. It gives me just enough time to think: I need to protect Faye.
I pull my gun and prepare to shoot the guard who is attacking her. But they're both light on their feet and I can't get a clear shot. The guard I had kicked finally gets enough force in his legs and speeds towards me. I barely have enough time to jump out of his way. But I do. And as he moves past, I shove him forward as hard as I can. But I'm not looking at him anymore. As I push him, I see an opening to shoot and I don't think about it.
My hold is firm on the trigger. The gun's blast gives my ears a familiar pain. I can't see Faye's face. I want her to turn around. I force myself to loosen my grip on the trigger and face my opponent. The guard is scrambling to get on his feet. Running away. Since he did, I pull back the trigger one more time and he falls to the floor again. He grips his left leg. Rolling on the floor. Smearing his clothes with blood. Screaming with pain.
Suddenly, I notice my heart beat running wildly. "Faye," I say.
I turn to find her on her knees next to the body of the guard who'd attacked her. He's curled into the fetal position, clutching his shoulder and moaning. She's looking at him and he's staring right back with wide eyes. It annoys me that she doesn't move. I walk closer to her and say her name again.
"Hey, say something," I tell her.
She turns around and looks at me with the second-worst expression I've seen on her face. "What do you want me to say? Thanks for nearly blowing my head off," she does this weird face revealing her displeasure and then says, "I knew you'd fire, but I didn't expect it then."
"I didn't feel like wasting time," I say. But she's right. There really wasn't any need for me to shoot just yet. Not both of them either. "Let's go, someone is sure to show up soon."
I put my hand out to help her up. She pretends not to notice my gesture and stands up by herself. She stretches her legs to give a step and the heel of her foot lands awkwardly on the ground. I look down hearing the odd noise and notice the heel of her right shoe is broken off, barely dangling from the sole.
"Great…" she says aggravated, "Either you or Jet are paying for these." She walks over to the curb of the street and kicks the heels completely off of both her shoes. She takes a deep breath and turns to me. When her eyes lock mine, we begin to run away.
We run for a long time, but then, Faye begins to lag behind. I should have expected it. I bet she's tired and just wants to stop now. But she doesn't. A few minutes later, and since we're running downhill, I can see part of the Bebop. It's parked just about three blocks away. I can keep running, but I slow down and eventually walk. Faye doesn't stop until she's right there besides me.
A police car goes by, closely followed by an ambulance. Faye and I continue to walk. When we reach the second block, we see clothes being flung out a window. And then people shouting.
"Let me explain Darlene!" says a man.
"There's no explaining left for you to do! So just fuck off!" A woman, her voice slightly breaking.
"It was just one slip babe. I promise it won't happen again. You know I only have eyes for you, baby! C'mon baby. You're the most important one for me!"
"Save it, Josh! You might as well just go fuck her again!"
Faye and I stop. We glance at each other and continue to walk as slow as possible, hesitant to do much since now we can see the couple's faces. Though they still haven't noticed us, it's still very awkward. As we get nearer, I'm unsure of whether I want to stop before reaching them or if I should rush past instead.
"But baby," Josh pleads, "We have plans. Remember. We're gonna have two kids and buy a two-story home that we don't have to share with some other family. Baby, please remember all our dreams!"
Somehow, I feel my heart weighing down. And I can't hear anything. I swallow hard and the motion manages to unplugs my ears.
"That's just it," Darlene says calmly. "They're called dreams for a fucking reason."
"No, baby," Josh insists, his voice low, "don't be that way."
Then, Darlene glances at us for the first time; Josh sees this and turns to us as well. I avert their eyes and Faye and I step down from the sidewalk, walking quickly past them over the road. It's become uncomfortably quiet. However, a few feet after Faye and I step onto the sidewalk again, Darlene and Josh pick up their quarrel.
"I can't do this anymore," Darlene says pleasantly. "Josh, what we had was only a dream. It was good while it lasted. But neither of us can keep living off of fucking dreams."
I hate it.
I can't hear anything again. My thoughts are running wildly in my mind, seeking for a way to escape. I glance at Faye who is apparently unaffected. There are all these words that want to spill out of my mouth. And I think. I feel like telling her everything. I don't know why, but I want to talk to her like months ago, tell her what's on my mind and not give a damn of what comes from it. I want to tell her everything because I've already broken that barrier between us once.
She stares blankly back at me. "What?" She says completely devoid of emotion. And somehow that's the only thing I can hear.
Then, I remember her face before I left that once. The words continue to thicken in my throat and I can feel them filling my mouth. I try to swallow, but can't. I'm being an idiot. I can't tell her anything. I shake my head no and she turns away. But the words are still there and I have to bite my lips to keep them from spilling.
I'm being foolish. I know it. I'm acting just like Faye. I hate it. I had been wrong—am wrong. She was never giving me the silent treatment. There may be things to be said, but that doesn't matter. None of that matters. The fact is…Faye and I simply don't have anything to say to each other.
* * * Ch. 2 End, Continued on Ch. 3 * * *
Updates: The next chapter should be up by next Friday at around the same time.
About the titles: This one was a hard title to find. Initially, it was going to be Silent Treatment (Bangles) but I didn't think the song fit.
Interesting fact: I had a problem trying to figure out what amount of cursing would be appropriate for the whole story, but I began to realize how much of an issue it would be in this chapter. Anytime there was a curse word, I kind of had a debate with myself, so it's not like I was just writing curse words to write them. Some may argue that there is too much cursing, but I seriously thought about it and decided to use curse words only as I saw fit. In any case, it's rated M for more than one reason…
Please review and keep an eye out for the next chapter.