When Jayde rolled over the next morning, her first thought was not about how Joker was 'recovering' or if he was already awake, but rather how empty and hungry her stomach was feeling. It growled angrily at her as she sat up, tying her impossibly frizzy hair up into a bun at the top of her head before climbing out of her bed. Wondering wildly what she ought to make for breakfast, Jayde decided against changing her clothes, realizing that she was really comfortable and warm in the pajamas she had slept in. So after brushing her teeth, she headed out onto the second story landing, only to stop at the railing, smirking.
Just below her, on the couch, still wearing his clothes and smeared makeup from the night before, lay the Joker, sprawled out and dead asleep on his back. At some point, his shoes had come off, now one of his brightly-colored socked feet rested on the far end of the couch, the other on the floor next to it. His hands nearly mimicked his feet, one rested lightly on his chest, the other dangled off of the edge with his fingers just barely gracing the carpet. It was times like this when Jayde really wished she had a camera.
As she walked down the stairs, Jayde thought back to the night before and the way he had come undone so thoroughly and could not help but feel rather proud and accomplished that she had made him feel so exhausted that he could not even make it up the stairs to his bed. She patted herself on the back mentally. Standing at the back of the couch now, Jayde looked down at him, only to let her eyes widen when she noticed that his pants were still unbuttoned and unzipped. He wasn't…exposed or anything, but Jayde was sure the other two roommates had heard some of the noises Joker was making the night before. So when they came out and saw him with his pants undone, they would certainly put two and two together…But then again, maybe she shouldn't care?…At least no one was awake yet…
Jayde jumped when a soft tapping noise met her ears a second later, and she whipped around, only to find Dotcom standing on the other side of the glass door, grinning stupidly at her as he framed his face with his hands, trying to see inside. She arched an eyebrow, grinning back until he beckoned her over, holding a finger to his lips to tell her silently to be quiet. It was obvious he wanted to keep the Joker asleep for as long as possible. As quietly as she could, Jayde slid open the glass door, stepping out lightly to close it behind her.
Dotcom glanced inside again as he slid his pack of cigarettes across the table to her. "I'm kinda surprised he's on the couch," he commented, arching an eyebrow at her. "I definitely would have expected you guys to be either in his room or yours. Did you fight or something?" Jayde snorted out smoke as she lit her cigarette and tried to hold in a laugh at the same time. Her eyes shifted over to his. "Oh, wait, no…You…" he was leaned forward slightly, staring at her as if trying to read her mind although Jayde's somewhat guilty grin was starting to give her away. "You guys had sex on the couch?" he nearly yelled a second later but quieted his voice immediately after, glancing inside to make sure Joker was still asleep. "That's so gross…I don't even wanna…"
"No, we didn't have sex there. I just kinda…ya know…did a little something for him…on the couch…" she stammered her way through a vague explanation, only to feel herself blushing when Dotcom gasped.
"Girl, seriously?" he asked incredulously after a few seconds. He paused again but then nodded, a somewhat proud look on his face. "Good for you, baby. Then you just left him there?" When Jayde nodded guiltily, they both laughed loudly, glancing inside again after a few seconds; the neon green tip of Joker's sock was still visible at the end of the couch.
Once finished with their cigarettes, both of them stood up, stepping back inside as quietly as possible. Without speaking, Dotcom seemed to understand that Jayde was ready to wake him up and would like to be alone to do it, so he nodded understandingly, trotting up the carpeted stairs to disappear into his bedroom. With him gone, Jayde felt a little more comfortable walking over to kneel in front of the couch, tilting her head to the side as she watched his peaceful features, bereft of that scowl he usually slept with. He was not snoring nor growling but merely breathing, deeply and evenly, his head turned toward the cushions of the couch. However, the longer she sat there and watched him, the more she began to realize that it was still fairly early and that he had only gotten a couple hours of sleep before that night so as quietly as she could, Jayde stood up and went into the kitchen to start making breakfast for everyone.
After putting a pot of coffee on and locating some bacon, bread for toast and oranges, Jayde started putting things together, being infinitely careful not to make noise, although the smell of crackling bacon and coffee was really more of a wakeup call than if she were to take two pots and start banging them together. Luckily, Jayde's favorite mug was freshly washed in the dishwasher so after pulling it out, she poured a cup of brand new coffee and was about to reach up into the cabinet for the sugar when a warm body came up behind hers, two large, rough hands sliding onto her waist to pull her back only an inch until her back met his chest. Jayde jumped slightly at his touch; she had not even heard him approaching. She relaxed a moment later, grinning stupidly down at her cup of coffee as Joker took a deep, sleepy breath in with his chest against her back, reaching up into the cabinet for the box of sugar, only to bring it down to the counter in front of her. His chin rested on her shoulder.
"You…did something naughty to me last night…" he growled in that deep, raspy morning voice, watching his movements as he dipped a spoon into the sugar, only to bring out a spoonful to dump into Jayde's coffee and start stirring it for her from around either side of her body. She giggled, shying away from the new scratchy whiskers on his jaw as he purposefully tickled her.
"I think you liked it though…Is that why you slept on the couch?" she asked, turning to face him finally as he handed her the mug of coffee and rested his hands on the counter on either side of her. He looked sleepy and yet strangely adorable, if that word is even allowed to be used to describe the Joker.
"No, I slept on the couch because I couldn't walk." He answered honestly, grinning when Jayde giggled. "So yeah, I kinda liked it."
After several minutes of Joker doing nothing but purposefully getting in her way while she tried to cook, Jayde made him leave, insisting that he go take a shower and change his clothes while she finished. He had agreed reluctantly, walking toward the stairs, only to pause every few steps to turn and pout at her as if she had hurt his feelings by joking that he smelled bad. She grinned to herself once he had gone in his room, knowing how good he was about to smell when he came back down.
Surprisingly, over the next fifteen minutes, neither Dotcom nor Tre came to the kitchen, even though the smell of bacon and coffee was somewhat overwhelming at this point. Jayde was about to go ahead and eat a piece of toast as her stomach threatened to claw its way out of her body when she heard Joker's door open upstairs and a moment later, he emerged on the second story, trotting down the stairs wearing jeans and that thin, gray cotton hoodie sweatshirt of his. She looked over but back down at the counter as he approached, bringing with him that familiar scent and that alone made her grin. He had just walked over to her when she looked up, smiling.
"Wanna have breakfast with me?" she asked brightly, taking in everything about his clean, bare face as he stood in the sunlight. It felt like it had been a while since she had seen him like this and was suddenly reminded of their 'vacation' to Montana when she had gotten used to him without makeup on for nearly two weeks; he really was so handsome. He was smirking, letting his brown eyes bounce back and forth between hers, squinting slightly as he wondered if she would be mad if he said no and wasn't joking. At the moment, he just honestly wanted to be alone and it had absolutely nothing to do with Jayde, or anybody else for that matter. He wasn't mad or…upset, he just wanted to go and think somewhere. Then again, Jayde was staring up at him so hopefully, her perfectly symmetrical, almond-shaped eyes practically begging him to say yes. A second later, Joker figured that he could spare fifteen minutes or so to sit there and blah blah blah, about this and that, just until her attention was drawn elsewhere and he could slip away.
"Sure." He agreed, following her over to the table, but paused when she instead walked to the glass door carrying both of their plates, a mug of coffee and a glass of orange juice. Joker was staring at her as she started setting everything down, not even spilling a drop of coffee in the process. "Wow, you uh-…sure know how to carry shit." He commented 'politely', smirking at her as she sat down, setting the glass of orange juice in front him.
"How kind of you to notice." She replied sarcastically, taking a sip of her coffee. "You think people in Gotham are freaking out right now?" she then asked, glancing over at him as he grunted a laugh.
"Oh yeah." He answered, nodding his head. "Gotham has a tendency to blow things way out of proportion and uh-…lose its mind collectively." He paused, shrugging his shoulders as he stared off into the back yard with narrowed eyes, munching slowly on a piece of toast. "…Pretty funny actually."
By the time they finished eating, Dotcom had come back downstairs and was inside helping himself to the coffee with a phone between his ear and shoulder when Joker turned to the window, knocking on it loudly. Jayde laughed when Dotcom jumped, dropping his phone as he looked over toward the glass doors, just in time for Joker to wave him over, turning back around to face the patio, trusting that his nerd was walking over. Dotcom rolled his eyes at Jayde behind his back as he approached, shaking his head when she grinned sympathetically.
"Yeah, Boss," he responded, stepping out halfway through a crack in the glass door. Joker glanced over but then frowned, motioning toward a chair at the table as though offended Dotcom wasn't planning on joining them.
"Ah, c'mon, have a seat, wont you?" Joker offered in a falsely bright, raspy voice. A second later, Jayde's lips tightened to fight off a grin when she noticed the 'so not in the mood' expression on Dotcom's face as he walked around the edge of the table to plop down into a chair. She stood up the moment he sat down, picking up she and Joker's plates to take them inside, along with her empty mug. Luckily, she knew how Dotcom took his coffee so she made a note of it to finish pouring the cup that Joker had so rudely interrupted.
She returned to the table a few moments later, setting the steaming cup of black coffee in front of Dotcom who breathed a highly grateful 'thank you' as he picked it up and took a sip.
"Jayde, I'm having Dotcom go and stay in the city at your apartment tomorrow night so he can run a few errands for me." Joker told her frankly, squinting over at her as she sat down as if assessing how she would react to hearing a plan up-front for once. Jayde seemed to understand immediately that he was testing her and nodded, shrugging her shoulders. Joker smirked; he really liked how smart she was. A second later, she glanced over at Dotcom.
"Wait…" she looked back to Joker with her eyebrows raised. "Can I go with him?"
Joker seemed slightly stuck as he leaned forward, folding his arms on the table to glance from Jayde to Dotcom and back a few times, wondering if they really had just asked him if they could have a 'girl's night' when Dotcom was supposed to be on official business. Then again, Dotcom was incredibly good at hiding his sexual preference and when Joker really thought about it, he probably loved her company more than anything because he could really be himself around her, not have to act a certain way or be a certain thing…Honestly, Joker understood where he was coming from on that.
"Fine." He finally said, his voice raspy and flat, squinting suspiciously when Jayde grinned.
Several minutes later, after Joker had dismissed Dotcom, he stood up, stretching his arms and back with a groan, immediately noticing that need to get away starting to creep up on him again. Jayde had stood up from the table a half-second after he had, apparently assuming that he was preparing to go inside and as she reached the glass door, she paused, turning to look back at him.
"Don't you wanna watch the news?" she asked, motioning inside with her head while Joker frowned, glancing at his watch. "C'mon, its almost ten. I wanna see what they're saying."
As Joker followed her to the couch, he could not help but feel slightly ashamed of himself for not being totally obsessed with what the news was saying. He could safely assume that everyone in Gotham was losing their minds and that all the reporters could possibly have to say was 'don't drink the water'. Officials had probably set up some emergency water supply, and the lines at the stores rumored to have untainted water were probably blocks long. All Joker wanted to do was be alone and do some serious thinking about his plans and about the last couple of days, things he could have done differently. Unfortunately, Jayde seemed hell-bent on keeping him near her. He had to slip away.
She switched on the tv once he had sat down next to her, the image coming into view immediately, showing a long line of anxious people outside a convenience store he recognized on 68th. A small snort of a laugh escaped through his nose as he folded his hands over his stomach; maybe he did want to see this a little.
"City officials urge residents to keep their water shut off over the next few days until testing can be completed. This includes washing clothes and dishes. Emergency water supplies have been brought in from outside the city and a list of relief stations can be found online at 'Gotham News 9 dot com."
"Hey! They said your name!" Joker suddenly exclaimed at Dotcom on the other side of the couch, pointing at the tv in mock excitement. A second later, he squinted with a glare when Dotcom fought hard not to roll his eyes.
"Sources have confirmed that the contamination in the water is in fact blood, although it has not been determined yet if it is human or animal."
At this, both Jayde and Dotcom turned to look at Joker curiously, who glanced back and forth between them a few times before he shrugged. "It's a healthy mix of both…plus a little detective, but she doesn't count as either."
"Again, the Gotham police department is urging everyone to stay in their homes at night, take a friend if you have to go somewhere after dark and any sightings of the Joker or any of the people working with him need to be reported immediately. No one in Gotham needs reminding, but the police are asking residents to remember that The Joker is to be considered heavily armed and very dangerous."
Joker let out a highly audible, satisfied sigh as he leaned back, reaching up to fold his arms across his chest, crossing his ankles on the coffee table in front of the couch. "That never gets old."
Over the next ten minutes, it began to grow obvious that the news didn't really have much else to say, other than what the three of them had just heard and merely repeated itself over and over with the same information, only worded differently. It seemed that Joker had predicted this sort of thing and was now reaching forward to shut it off and turn his head to peer down at Jayde. His mouth opened as if he were about to say something but he closed it again a second later, his forehead wrinkling slightly in his scowl.
"Come with me." he then suddenly went on to say, grabbing her wrist to pull her up from the couch, leading her over toward the glass doors. Immediately, Jayde thought of about three or four different questions to ask him but she had a strong feeling that this would only irritate him and it was clear he was about to show her where he was taking her, so she kept her mouth shut and resigned to silence, following him obediently.
At first, Jayde paused at the table on the patio, but stumbled a bit when Joker pulled her past it and over to the screen door, unhinging the latch to let them out into the vast stretch of grass and trees behind the house. The grass was somewhat cold and wet with mid-morning dew and Jayde wrinkled her nose slightly at the slimy feeling of it under her bare feet.
"You know I'm not wearing shoes, right?" she asked crossly, partially annoyed with the fact that the bottoms of her over-long pajama pants were getting soaked now. Joker shrugged from a step ahead of her, glancing both ways as they walked out into the taller grass.
"I'm not either." He answered, still pulling her along by the hand as they made it to the tree line, tightening his grip every time she tried to pull her hand away. Jayde groaned.
"Yeah, but you're wearing socks!" she cried, now trotting as lightly as possible through the dirt and fallen branches and leaves, picturing herself stepping on a snake any second now. Joker's strides lengthened as if he knew how hard she was struggling to keep up with him through the trees. "I'm making you carry me when we go-…" she had just reached the end of her patience and was about to really start bitching when Joker suddenly stopped, just as the trees had opened up on the other side, revealing a wide, vast expanse of hilly, green land, dotted here and there with white dandelions. A breeze blew past them at the perfect moment, rippling the tall grass across the field. "Wow…" she breathed.
Beside her, Joker had just taken a deep breath only to exhale heavily a moment later, his shoulders relaxing as his hands slid into his pockets. "I'm not really one for silence," he began, glancing up at the bright blue sky over head. "But when I need it, this is where I go."
Several feet from them, Jayde noticed a brown wicker bench, tucked against the line of trees, right where the field began; she wondered if Joker had put it there for those times when he needed to get away from things and clear his head. He must have noticed her looking at it as a second later, he turned and walked toward it, pulling his hands from his pockets to sit on the left side, looking back over to Jayde as he patted the space next to him. Her scar twitched slightly in a tiny, pleased smirk, clearly trying to hide the fact that she was relieved he had invited her to sit with him.
At first, Jayde sat on the other end, leaving a foot of space between them, unsure of whether it would be pushing her luck to lean against him so quickly. A second later, he seemed to have noticed her mental debate and brought his arm up, resting it along the back of the bench, exposing the comfortable looking curve of his side as he slouched. Again, she took this as an invitation and scooted along the wood toward him, turning slightly to rest her back against his side with the back of her head against his shoulder. A warm, content sensation spread through her from her head to her toes when Joker's arm moved from the back of the bench to rest across her chest, gripping her shoulder.
A slow, steady sigh moved Jayde slightly when Joker's chest rose and fell behind her. It was obvious that he was finally at ease, as he had seemed a little on edge that morning after his shower. Jayde had recognized it as the mood he fell into when he wanted her to leave him alone, but she had fought through it, knowing that he had come to respect her enough not to flat out tell her to fuck off. Luckily, Joker could not see the huge goofy smile that spread across her face when his cheek rested against her curls.
Joker closed his eyes, relishing in the near silence, blocking out the sound of the random chirping of birds and crickets from behind them in the trees. Finally, he could let his mind wander as far and wide as he wanted and it was fortunate that Jayde was staying quiet for him. Clearly, she was perfectly content to just sit there comfortably, admiring the peacefulness with him, and for that, Joker could never express how much it meant to him…Literally, he had no idea how to say it. Perhaps she had grown to understand him so well at this point that she knew he wanted quiet and had only brought her along so he wouldn't have to risk hurting her feelings and having to deal with her attitude later. His eyebrows started to tighten and furrow when he realized how uncommonly perfect that was. Normally, the thought of someone truly understanding him made him feel vulnerable and weak, not in control…but with Jayde, it felt different. Honestly, he was relieved that they had made it to the stage of friendship where they could sit together in one place for an extended period of time, not say a word and yet feel completely comfortable in each other's presence. He sighed again, smirking to himself against her hair. He had finally found himself another Tre.
The following afternoon, Jayde had just finished packing one of the small black duffle bags with a set of pajamas and clean clothes, along with her toothbrush and other toiletries when Joker appeared in her doorway, scowling with his arms crossed. He leaned against the frame when Jayde glanced over, only to smirk and go back to what she was doing, waiting for him to say something first. A moment later, he cleared his throat, stepping into the room to sit on the end of her bed Indian-style, resting his chin in his hand and his elbow on his knee.
"So what's the real reason you're going with him…" he asked in a growl, arching an eyebrow when Jayde sighed exasperatedly.
"I told you…" she paused, closing the zipper on the bag. "I left a couple of things there that I want to get." It seemed he was prepared for this answer.
"Like what?" Joker asked a split second later, raising both of his eyebrows as she glanced at him, only to look away again quickly.
"You know, like…a couple pairs of shoes, my straightener…" The more she talked, the smaller Joker's eyes grew until she just barely see the amber brown color there. She sighed, tossing her hands slightly when he remained completely unconvinced. "I just wanted to…hang out with him. I feel like I never really get to be around him when he gets to act all…gay." She paused to laugh, watching Joker's face for any sign of a grin, but he remained passive, his expression flat and somewhat bored. She went on, shaking her head. "I hate to tell you this, but he's a friend to me now. He might just be your 'employee," her fingers made quote signs in the air. "…but he's my friend. And it's nice to hang around him when he gets to be himself." Finally, she abandoned all pretense and climbed onto the bed toward him, resting her hands on his knees to lean forward and kiss him lightly on the cheek. "I'm sure you understand…"
She pulled back from his cheek only to quickly catch his lips before he could ask another question or say something else and at first, he responded, kissing her gently in return, but it was not long before he grunted, pulling away.
"You two are not to go anywhere else, you understand me? You don't leave that apartment unless I say-…" he said, but Jayde cut him off, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to catch his lips again. At first he growled, but eventually responded again, dropping his hands to frame her ribcage as she inched her way into his lap. A lock of his hair had just twisted around her finger when she pulled away, leaving him with one last quick peck on the lips.
"All we wanna do is watch a couple girl movies, cook some amazing food and talk…preferably over glasses of wine…outside on my patio…" she explained to him, but laughed when Joker groaned, rolling his eyes as he fell back onto the bed in exasperation.
An hour later, Jayde was practically skipping down the steps with her bag in hand, trying really hard not to giggle when she noticed Dotcom looking gayer than ever in a pair of white slacks and a black polo, his hips cocked to one side as he looked down at his phone. He must have heard her approaching as he turned to look over a second later, immediately grinning excitedly. That former grin slid quickly from view when Jayde noticed his eyes flicker up to where Joker was trotting down the stairs and he cleared his throat, pointing at her bag.
"All ready to go?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, but did not wait for her response. "Wonderful." He breathed, bending down to grab her bag and make a quick exit through the garage door, out to the waiting Escalade. Jayde rolled her eyes as Joker walked up beside her, scowling after Dotcom until she spoke.
"He still thinks you don't know he's gay." She explained, casting him a look of contempt, only to shake her head when Joker nodded, raising his eyebrows.
"I know. I like it that way. Don't tell him."
Jayde felt her heart sink slightly a second later when she heard the glass door slide open and Tre stepped inside, ruining all hope of her getting a proper goodbye from Joker. He seemed to notice the disappointment in her eyes as he smirked somewhat sympathetically down at her, reaching up to tuck a bit of her hair behind her ear.
"Don't do anything stupid, ya hear me?" he asked quietly, leaning down slightly to get a good long look at her eyes as he raised his eyebrows. Jayde rolled her eyes but in the process noticed that Tre had chosen to sit down on the fourth to bottom stair just across from them, watching shamelessly as if studying his best friend for a project; either Joker did not notice or did not care. A second later, he leaned down a tiny bit further, pressing his lips to hers, though only for a moment or two before he pulled away and nodded at the garage door.
"Now go, before your faggot has a heart attack."
Finally, Jayde walked to the door as Joker slid his hands into his pockets, watching her go until she had disappeared beyond it. Two comedic seconds went by before Tre piped up from the stairs, "Don't do anything stupid, ya hear me?" Joker spun, frowning at him. "Man, you got it bad for that girl!"
"Hey!" he barked, turning to walk into the kitchen. "That kinda sappy shit makes her happy." He went on to explain, reaching up into the cabinet for a glass. "And Jayde happy means I get head on the couch…which makes me happy…" Joker looked up from filling his glass with water out of the fridge, nodding his head with a slight frown. "I'm sure you see my logic."
"Welcome to being in a relationship, bro." Tre replied after a pause, leaning back against the stair behind him, only to laugh when Joker stopped mid-sip, turning slowly to set the glass of water down on the counter beside him.
"What?" he asked, his voice gravely and clowny as he glared at Tre for an explanation.
"Yeah, you sacrifice to make her happy 'cause it makes you happy. That's called being in relationship, Ki." Tre smirked, holding up a fist. "You finally made it, bro. Con-grats." He then added sarcastically. Joker cringed, wiping his hands on his shirt as if there was something nasty on them.
"Gross…"
After a short ride into Gotham, full of girly conversation and laughter, Jayde and Dotcom now found themselves stepping into her old apartment, immediately setting their bags down at the door. Even though she had not been there since she and Joker had kidnapped the detective, there was something so relaxing and comforting about being there. This had and always would be her safe-haven. Dotcom was making himself feel right at home by walking across her living room to the double balcony doors, throwing back the drapes to let the late afternoon sunlight in. He took a deep breath in, only to sigh as he turned around, placing his hands on his hips.
"Feels so good to be away from there." He commented, stepping over to the couch to drop down onto it, tucking one of his ankles underneath his other leg. "I almost kissed him when he told me I had to stay here overnight." Jayde laughed out loud from the kitchen as she imagined the expression that would have formed on Joker's face if Dotcom had up and kissed him on the mouth.
"I'm sure," she answered, walking over to join him. "That's why I asked if I could come with you! I wanted to just hang out, and I'm sure he needed some time away from me too." Jayde frowned when Dotcom arched an eyebrow.
"You think so?" he asked, but then shook his head. "I dunno, he seemed a little reluctant to let you come with me. He talked to me this morning and made sure I understood that my life was at stake if I let anything happen to you. I think he's a little protective lately." He paused, shrugging. "But that's a good thing, at least he's learning to show that he actually does give a fuck…even if he does threaten my life in doing so…"
After running through a whole list of possibilities, Jayde and Dotcom finally decided on mussels and pasta with white wine sauce and a cherry clafoutis for dessert and were currently stepping back into her apartment after a quick run to the grocers across the street. Normally, Jayde would never have attempted a meal of this caliber on her own, but since she had never really gotten to watch Dotcom do what he truly did best, she was really excited to watch and learn. As he dumped out the mussels into a colander to clean them, Jayde hopped up onto the counter next to the sink.
"So, Andrew…" she began, peering at him interestedly. "It feels weird calling you that." He laughed, rolling his eyes.
"It feels weird being called that, trust me. I almost forgot that's what it was." he answered, but Jayde's brain was already onto something else and she was currently fighting herself on how to ask.
"What are you doing for Joker tomorrow?" she asked, hoping the abruptness of her question would startle him into an answer.
"He told me not to-…"
"Pleeeease, Dotcom? I swear I wont tell him you told me!" she nearly begged, poking her bottom lip out as he sighed, reaching up to push his glasses up his nose with the knuckle of his pinky.
"You swear?" When Jayde nodded hastily, he rolled his eyes. "He wants me to go and meet with this guy about getting a job at a restaurant on 43rd…" Dotcom paused, glancing up at her from the mussel he was de-bearding. "He's planning on giving everyone severe food poisoning so he can back up the hospitals." At this, Jayde's eyebrows arched in a confused frown.
"But I thought he said he was doing the-…" she went to say but Dotcom shook his head gravely.
"He was going to but I think he realized some of the plagues were kinda impossible…you know with all the frogs and locusts n' stuff…So he's made up his own plagues and…well, they're definitely more intense than the ones in the Bible, that's for sure…"
By now, Dotcom had finally finished picking out all the little fibers that clung to the mussels and had just reached out to turn on the water to rinse them, only for both of them to cringe when nothing but brownish, blood-polluted water poured from the faucet. They looked to each other in disbelief before cursing simultaneously, "Shit!"
So after a half hour of calling through nearly every take-out place in Gotham, getting shut down by almost every single one, claiming that their water was still bad and could not serve food, they finally found one that had somehow managed to bring in clean water from another city. But then, seeing as to how this was one of the few places that was open for business, the wait time on their delivery was quoted at an hour and a half. But luckily, even though the rest of the food they had bought was useless, the white wine, however, was not, so after setting the bottle in the freezer to chill, they stepped out onto her balcony for a cigarette.
Two hours and a half of a bottle of wine later, their Chinese finally arrived, along with the gallon of clean water Dotcom had bribed the man to bring for a crisp fifty dollar bill. Jayde had laughed at him when he bargained with the man on the phone and was laughing now as he took it into the kitchen, shaking his head as he went.
"I cannot go to a job interview without brushing my teeth, girl…"
The food was mediocre but at that point, both of them were pretty hungry and the company made it better, so after eating, they set the dishes in the sink to rinse sparingly later with their limited supply of water. They had just decided on a chick flick when Dotcom's phone started ringing over on the kitchen counter. With a gay little squeal, Dotcom took off toward it at a trot.
"Oooh, I've been talking to this guy I met and-…" he was saying as he reached the phone but stopped when he glanced at the caller ID. His eyes rolled as he tossed the phone at Jayde. She caught it, grinning when she saw that 'Boss' was calling. She pressed the green button, holding it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"What are you wearing…?" came Joker's raspy voice through the other end. "Oh, wait…is this Jayde?" She laughed, leaning back in her couch to roll her eyes at Dotcom. "Hi, Jayde…" he then growled.
"Hi," she answered, trying unsuccessfully not to grin as she fidgeted with a stray denim fiber on her jeans.
"How is…'ladies night' going? Is it as…gay as you could have ever dreamed?"
"Yeah, except when we went to make dinner and turned on the water and blood came out." she answered, grinning when Joker burst out laughing in that genuine laugh of his and she could just picture him doubling slightly as his nose wrinkled.
"Oh, that's just wonderful, really great." He went on, laughing. "Look, I need to talk to Dotcom, can ya put him on for me, sugar?"
"Sure, hold on."
"Thanks, you're a doll…"
Jayde handed over the phone to Dotcom, who placed it between his ear and shoulder to carry their empty wine glasses into the kitchen and set them in the sink. "Uh-huh?…Yeah, well I was going to do that anyway-…Right, I'll just say I'm looking for Albert…Right…Right…Ok…Ok, I'll tell her." With that, Dotcom hung up, setting the phone down on the counter as he walked back over to the couch, flipping off the light as he went. "He asked me to tell you goodnight…" Jayde grinned. "-And that he's planning on falling asleep in your bed with his hand in warm water." Her grin disappeared completely as she rolled her eyes and Dotcom laughed.
After the movie and after brushing their teeth with some of the clean water from the gallon jug, they were both crawling into her bed, yawning deeply as Dotcom set an alarm for seven in the morning.
"I wonder if Joker would be mad if he found out I was sleeping with another guy." She commented sleepily, grinning when Dotcom laughed, turning off the lamp on his side of her king bed.
"It is so not even like that, girl." He answered, turning onto his side facing away from her, taking a deep breath as he yawned again. "But yeah, I'm pretty sure he would be a little mad if he found that out."
For some reason, Jayde found this thought the slightest bit comforting and for only a second, she let her mind wander back to the mansion and miss him, just for a moment or two as she tried to imagine what he was doing. She wondered if he too was thinking about her at that very second. And with that thought floating around her mind, she drifted off to sleep, smirking contentedly to herself.
It seemed that after only five minutes of restful sleep, Jayde was being woken by the feeling of the bed moving and at first, upon opening her eyes, it took her a few moments to realize where she was, but once she had, she noticed Dotcom stumbling blindly around the end of the bed toward her bathroom where he had left his glasses. Jayde groaned, squeezing her eyes shut against the sunlight pouring into the room.
"What are you doing?" she asked sleepily, turning onto her side to face the far wall and get comfortable again.
"I gotta go meet that guy before the restaurant opens. Apparently their prep for brunch service is pretty intense so they handle all the interviews n' stuff early. Go back to sleep. I'll wake you up when I get back so we can go home. Boss-…Joker said to come straight back when I'm done."
When Dotcom was waking her up again an hour later, Jayde could just vaguely remember waving her hand at him as he left, telling him good luck through the thick haze of overpowering sleepiness, but apparently, she had sounded pretty funny and was now pouting groggily as she stumbled into the bathroom while he laughed at her.
"Whatever," she grumbled, smirking to herself as she applied toothpaste to her toothbrush. "Let's just hurry and get home so I can go back to sleep." She then said, thinking to herself how lucky she would be if Joker was not awake yet when they got back to the house; truly nothing made her feel more girly and stupid than watching him wake up in the morning. Then again, the longer she thought about it, the more she realized that Joker had probably already been up for an hour or so, probably already talked to Dotcom for updates on what was happening. She sighed, trying not to roll her eyes as she picked up her bag and followed Dotcom to the door to lock it behind them after making sure everything was off.
Luckily, the hallway was clear so they proceeded down it and into the stairwell, down the stairs and out into the garage. It was fortunate that it was still fairly early on a Saturday morning, meaning most of her building was probably still asleep and Jayde was just about to comment on this when she heard her name called.
"Jayde? Is that you, honey?"
Immediately, Jayde's hand reached out for Dotcom's to pull him around to stand next to her, keeping their hands linked together. "Hi!" she returned the friendly greeting, taking a few steps forward toward the woman and her dog. The tiny rat-looking thing bounded up, straining against it's leash as Ms. McCarthy trotted over after it, smiling broadly.
"I haven't seen you in ages, dear! How are you? Who is this?" she demanded all of these questions at once, glancing from Jayde to Dotcom and back once or twice excitedly.
"Oh, this is my boyfriend, Andrew. Andrew this is Ms. McCarthy, she lives next door to me." Jayde introduced them as naturally as she could, smiling warmly as Dotcom extended his hand cordially.
"It's a pleasure!" he said enthusiastically, taking back his hand from the woman's to place it between Jayde's shoulder blades.
"Yeah, we're just heading out to his parent's house. They live in the next city and have clean water so we're going to stay with them until they figure this whole mess out with the blood."
Lying was becoming far too easy.
A few minutes later, Dotcom and Jayde managed to get away and were now laughing as they pulled out of the parking garage in the Escalade. "I'm telling you, that woman is so gullible. Either that, or just really dumb." Jayde commented, shaking her head as Dotcom laughed, nodding in agreement.
"Anyone that looks at you and I together and thinks we're boyfriend and girlfriend has got to be retarded or something. I mean if I don't scream 'fabulous', I'm doing something wrong." Dotcom replied and both burst out laughing a second later.
Two full conversations later, Jayde was starting grow excited as they approached the entrance to the long gravel driveway and could feel miniature butterflies start to flutter around inside of her. She wanted to feel ashamed at herself for being so blatantly anxious to see him when it had only been one night away but there was no point in trying to feel an emotion that wasn't there; fuck it, she missed him. With the Escalade now pulled safely into the garage with the door closing behind them, Jayde and Dotcom jumped out, grabbing their bags to head inside. The door leading from garage to the house squeaked lightly like it always did, but the moment the two of them had stepped inside, they both stopped, mouths ajar at what they saw.
Over at the far side of the kitchen, stood a girl with her back to them, opening a cabinet, her head tilted back as she searched for something. She swayed slightly when she dropped down from being up on her toes but instantly went on to the next cabinet, opening it wide to keep looking. She rose onto her tip toes again, raising the bottom of the familiar, white, men's Oxford dress shirt she was wearing high enough to show the bottoms of her ass cheeks and a pair of hot pink underwear. Jayde felt a wave of sickening anger and hurt flow over her when the girl turned to face them, giggling girlishly. Dotcom seemed to notice that Jayde had seemingly locked up in shock so he put his arm around her.
"Um…Who are you?" he asked rudely, but as the girl giggled with a slight hiccup, he rolled his eyes. She was still drunk and apparently high.
"Can I get some water?"
As Dotcom walked toward the blonde, Jayde took a step over toward the bathroom, feeling dizzy and sick and she was just about to rush in and quickly splash water on her face to try and wake herself up from this nightmare when she noticed a long, lean shadow up on the second story landing. She turned, her eyes narrowing onto the Joker as he stood leaned against the wall, looking sleepy yet comfortable in his long cotton pajama pants and he folded his arms over his bare chest. Even from where she was standing, Jayde could see the malicious smirk on his face and tears immediately began to well up in her eyes. Through her increasingly cloudy vision, she could clearly see Joker take a step or two forward, leaning his hands on the railing to glare down at her, lowering his head to peer at her from under the ridge of his eyebrows. Jayde tried to move or even start screaming at him, but found herself practically paralyzed on the spot. One of Joker's hands disappeared, only to reemerge a moment later as he leaned down further, resting his forearms on the railing…a small, black handgun dangled from his middle finger.
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-QoM