"Do you like the Hatter?" Mad March said.
"Yeah, he seems pretty cool." Lane said.
"No, I meant are you interested in him the way you seem to be interested in me, once upon a time." He said.
"No, I barely know the guy. I care about you." She said grabbing his hand.
Mad March looked down at Lane's hand holding his.
"I want to believe that, but I know it's just a lie. You always lie!" He said, before violently yanking his hand out of her grasp.
'What in the hell was that about?' She thought, surprised by Mad March's sudden outburst.
"You know what? Be paranoid. I honestly don't give a fuck." She said before turning her back on him and sifting through the wardrobe for clothes she could use as pajamas.
Mad March was ready to leave but felt conflicted. He didn't want to go to sleep knowing that he'd upset 'Ace' after just getting back. Though he hated her at times for toying with his emotions, he still found himself caring like she would maybe one day go back to the way she used to be.
"Maybe I'll just sleep here tonight." He said.
"Uh uh. Nope. No thank you. You gotta' get the hell up out of here. I need to get dressed and go to sleep." She said, trying to keep her body, and back, to herself.
Mad March started to take his jacket off and started to unbutton his shirt.
"What are you doing?" She said growing more nervous by the second.
"I'm getting ready for bed." He said, having undone all of the buttons on his shirt before getting to the zipper on his slacks, never fully removing the shirt.
She stared slack jawed at what stood before her.
'You've got to be fucking kidding me. It looks like I could wash clothes on his stomach. And that V shape so close to his-.' Lane thought before she caught herself actually drooling. She shook it off the best she could.
She fast walked over to where the light switch was before turning it off.
"What was that for? You can't tell me that you weren't enjoying the show." He said the cockiness heard far too clearly in his voice.
"Give me a break, man. I just ate." She said sarcastically.
"Oh really now? Where are you, you little brat?" He said playfully, trying to find her in the dark.
Lane did her best to avoid Mad March before she ended up backing up into a wall. He cornered her before picking her up and caring her the bed with him.
"Bed time, angel face." He said.
"I still haven't changed." She said, feeling his exposed stomach against her arm. His body ran hot which made her face start to do the same.
"Alright, alright." He said letting her get up.
Lane went back over to the wardrobe and used the moonlight to help her find a par of red, silk pajamas. The top was button up and the bottoms were shorts; very short shorts. She felt Mad March come up beside her and grab a pair of pajama pants for himself.
"You keep clothes in my wardrobe?" She said.
"You know it's only mostly pajamas; for when I don't feel like leaving." He cooed at her.
Lane made her way to the bed and lied down on the left side; the left side was always her side besides the middle of the bed. Not too long after she felt Mad March lie down beside her before wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer.
"The next time you decide to disappear could you let me know?" He said.
"I can't make any promises about that. I'm a free spirit, man." She said.
"Yeah, a free spirit. A little too free at time if you ask me" He said.
"We're not doing this again, goodnight, bitch." She said.
"Hey, you should be kissing me with that dirty little mouth of yours, not insulting me with it." He said giving her a quick and semi painful smack on the butt.
"Careful." She said while rubbing the slight sting away.
When Lane woke up the next morning Mad March was gone. She was slightly disappointed that she couldn't wake up beside him before remembering about her back. She prayed that her shirt hadn't ridden up while she was sleeping during the night.
She put on what looked like a coral summer dress with slight synching designs at the waist; she put on a pair of white flats and another one of Ace's necklaces. She chose the one that looked similar to the one from the party but this one was all gold and had a chain to hold it instead of a ribbon.
When she arrived at the Hatter's tea shop she wasn't quite sure which manner she should enter it in.
'Should I knock on the door or do I just go in?' Lane thought feeling as lost as she did, if not more, than when she arrived yesterday.
"Looking for someone?" a familiar voice said.
Lane turned to see Hatter standing to the side behind her. He was wearing the same hat from the night before but he was dressed less formal; he was dressed semi-casual.
"Hey. What's up?" She said, smiling.
Hatter looked up a bit confused.
"Um, the sky and clouds?" He said before smiling and shrugging.
"Forget I said anything." She said feeling out of her element.
"Alright then, come this way." He said motioning for her to follow him.
Hatter led Lane through the front door of his tea shop. They were a royal purple color and had chrome colored door knobs.
'Oh, you fancy huh?' She thought cornily while passing through the doors.
"What are those?" She said, pointing to a vast collection of vials adorning both walls.
They were all filled with different colored liquids that were labeled under different emotions.
"Those are the different kind of teas that we sell here." He said.
"I've never seen teas like that before. Why are they labeled under emotions instead of flavors?" She said, stopping to examine the vials herself.
"Come now, you mustn't stare at the merchandise like that." He said while leading her away.
Her interest in the vials was starting to catch the attention of those bidding on them.
Hatter handed Lane a cup of what she recognized to be 'regular' tea. She took it before thanking him. He had asked her what flavor she preferred, she told him she wanted mint; mint was always the right choice for her.
"What's the difference between the tea you just served me, and the tea out there?" She said.
"The tea in here is made with herbs while the tea out there is made from key ingredients we collected from our Oysters." He said
"What type of Oysters can you make tea with? I didn't even know that was possible. In all honesty it sounds terrible." She said.
"Don't worry about it then, it's not really that important. It's just tea after all." He said sitting down in the chair behind his desk.
"I like your office." She said looking at her surroundings.
Hatter's office looked like they were outside. The carpet was made of grass, his desk was white as well was his chair; it looked like half an egg shell and it swiveled quite easily. He had a pair of comfortable looking headphones set on top of the back of his chair.
"Thank you." He said.
"So, how well did you know, Ace?" She said catching him off guard.
"What?" He said.
"You guys must have been pretty close for you to have known about the tattoo." She said staring straight at him.
"Oh yeah. We go way back." He said.
"How back is 'way back'?" She said.
"To uh… the back room of my office?" He said grinning sheepishly.
Lane choked at her tea. She wasn't sure how to take the sudden news.
"Was this before or after Mad March?" She said surprised.
"It was somewhat during… before after?" He said sheepish grin still displayed on his face.
"What the hell does that even mean?" She said.
"Anyone with eyes could see that they were having problems. No one would really be surprised if they found out about us. She came to me because we were already friends, one thing lead to another, and here you are." He said talking with his hands.
"I feel like I'm impersonating a slight whore." She said.
"I wouldn't call her a whore; she's more of a 'free spirit' nowadays." He said.
"You don't say?" She said sipping at her mint tea.
"I think you should stay here with me." He said
"What do mean by that?" She said looking up from her cup.
"Technically you and, Mad March aren't together. So I feel that you should, only if you wanted to of course, maybe come live with me." He said.
"Are you mad?" She said.
"Haha. Very funny." He said sarcastically.
Lane thought about what she said before realizing the irony of her words. She had a good laugh about it as well.
"Sorry. That was no pun intended. I don't really think I'm in a position to up and leave like that again though." She said.
"Again?" He said.
"You know what I mean, bitch." She said rolling her eyes.
"Ace, is bound to turn up sooner or later." He said, getting out of his chair.
"Yeah, but how long is sooner or later? Because that's different to certain people, like my mom; my mom's sooner is always most people's version of later. That's why when she says I'll have something soon I know not to expect it until I'm on my death bed." She said.
Hatter got out of his chair and went over to where Lane was before crouching down in front of her.
"Don't you worry your sweet little head about those details; I'll take care of what needs taking care of." He said taking the tea cup out of her hands before giving the back a kiss.