“Excuse me? Come with you?” the man said, not even flinching as Eve pressed the gun against his temple. He was a handsome man, golden hair glistening in its, now, chlorinated glory. In this weather he must have been extremely uncomfortable, being so wet. “Of course, I suppose I can. But we just met, and I don‘t even know your name...” he trailed off and smiled and Eve, using his head to push the gun aside to look at her. Instead of Eve, though, he found himself looking down the barrel of her gun. He didn’t blink, eyes which reminded of the sea, focused. “I’m Dante.”
Marena felt a shiver run down her spine. She recognized the man immediately, as they had met only moments earlier inside the hotel. She was, however, unsure if he had noticed her yet. She felt a twinge of guilt; assuming he was the Dante she figured he was (the picture in the wallet had been blurry), she had stolen his car, adding onto everything else that had happened to him. To top it off, she was using his jacket to keep herself warm, as he had left it behind when he’d raced off; the small red dress, along with leaving very little to the imagination, also provided little to no protection from the elements. The right arm was bloodstained, and she could feel the dampness against her arm. The air was frigid, though, and she was more glad than guilty.
“Clever.” Eve said, in response to Dante’s bold move. She shifted the large duffel bag in her hand which, hopefully, carried everything from the room they would need, including their weapons. She expected a big “thank you” from Marena and Kaori. She hated being the luggage lady.
He laughed. “Clever...nice name.” He then stopped looking at Eve and looked at Kaori. The girl had her arms wrapped around herself, any heavy clothing she had safely tucked away in Eve’s duffel bag. He turned his eyes then over to Marena. He stopped and stared at her, thinking, then smirked. He recognized her now. “Thanks for bringing my jacket.”
Marena smiled slightly and, despite the cold air, started to take off the coat.
“Keep it.” he interrupted, and Marena stalled. “Not to sound rude, but you don’t have much clothing on, I think you need it more than me.” He winked. Marena pulled the jacket closer around herself.
Eve decided to change the subject. “What the HELL was going on in there?” she paused, then turned to the side to look at Kaori, who was shivering, but focused on Marena, the gun still pointed squarely at Dante’s head. “And what were you doing, Marena? You first.”
Marena hesitated for a moment, trying to keep her teeth from chattering in the chill London air. “I was protecting her, and myself. I couldn’t tell what was going on, and I was trying to get out of there. It was a mess, why the hell wouldn’t I arm myself?”
Eve sighed. “They weren’t shooting at you. You should...”
“They could have been.” Marena interjected, but failed in stopping the lecture.
“...have not even stopped. Now they think you’re with him.” she waved her gun in Dante’s face. “I heard the police descriptions, and one sounded a lot like you, Marena. I don‘t know when they saw you together -- or why you were together -- but they did.”
“I ran into her. Literally.” Dante interjected. “It wasn’t exactly a planned meeting, so let’s try and be civil.”
Marena ran her hands down her dress, then looked back at Eve. “I’m sorry, Mom,” she hissed, “But you can’t tell me you wouldn’t have done the same.”
Eve didn’t disagree. She instead looked over to Dante again, still in the same place despite not being monitored. “Now you.”
“It wasn’t my fault.” he said defensively, but changed tones. “Well, actually it was.”
“What did you do?” Eve demanded.
“Adrienne.” he replied.
“What?” Eve asked.
“That’s what I did.” he said, bitterness lacing his voice. He shifted the briefcase to his other hand, clenching the now free hand. The light grey shoulder of Dante’s shirt had a considerably large bloodstain now, which must have caused him some sort of pain; at times he made a face of discomfort, moving his shoulder.
Marena gave a small laugh and crossed her arms across her chest, pulling the jacket tighter. “You must have done something pretty bad...” Marena trailed off, staring at Dante.
He gave her a sarcastic smile. “We‘re not going into that mess.”
“Well, that may be fine for you, but now WE’RE in on your little mess. Well, she is.” Eve butted in, eyes narrowing at Marena.
Marena shot Eve a look of disbelief and became defensive. “Then you are too!”
Kaori had been silent so far. Throughout the entire ordeal she had been unusually cooperative and quiet, so when she spoke it surprised the rest of them. “What about me?”
Marena was quiet for a moment. She didn’t think it was fair to force the girl to come with them, but she also had to realize that by following all them way to London that she had to know whatever happened she would have to suffer the consequences, if she wanted to stay with them. Marena decided to give her the choice. “Well, are you with us or not?”
Kaori nodded, with barely any hesitation.
“There you go.” Marena smiled. “You‘d better run too.”
Kaori nodded once again and looked down the street before looking back up at the group. “What about that?” she said coldly, gesturing to Dante.
Dante sighed heavily and shifted his eyes to the side. Eve shot him a look. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do with him. She knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to let him go. He was rich, she could tell. She had a feeling he could help them, and as long as he thought he was a hostage they could get what they wanted. For a little while, anyways.
“Well, maybe he can help us out, because we obviously can’t stay in the hotel anymore.” Marena said, as if reading Eve’s mind.
Eve pulled back the hammer of the gun.
“Seeing as I have no choice...” he muttered, looking once again at the gun pointed at his head. In defeat, he made a small grin. “What do you require?”
The three were silent; Eve unsure if she could trust him, Marena unsure if she should talk before Eve, and Kaori nearly frozen solid.
Surprisingly, Kaori was the one to speak up. “Somewhere inside.”
The other two nodded, Eve finally succumbing the extraordinary cold.
“Let’s move first.” Dante said, then walked calmly away with Kaori and Marena in tow. Eve, sensing that the gun was no longer pointing at anything, followed him as well. Dante walked quickly over to the side of the building he had jumped from and kicked a door in which, conveniently, led to the parking garage. The group ducked inside, relieved to be out off the street, even if the garage wasn’t heated on this level.
“So, where to?” Kaori asked, still shivering.
Dante began, “Well, we can’t exactly go anywhere private, of course --”
“Don’t you have any friends that can hide us?” Eve asked, irritation in her voice.
“Don’t you?” Dante said angrily. “If you want my help, then be quiet. I don’t have to help you, but I will, because I‘m a nice guy, see? And it’s my fault that your friend here is wanted as well.”
Marena looked over at Dante when she heard herself mentioned, but turned away again. This trip to London had been nothing but trouble. She’d barely had any fun yet, and she felt a twinge of regret as she remembered that at least in Prague she always had somewhere to go after her shitty day. It almost made her wish she had never left. Almost.
“Why don’t we just go to somewhere busy? What’s open this late?” Marena asked, her voice lethargic. She wasn’t sleepy, necessarily; just exhausted. In her book, they were two entirely different things. She could be exhausted but couldn’t sleep a wink.
Dante laughed. “Everything in London is open this late. Depends on what kind of place you want to be at.”
“Somewhere very busy, so we can‘t be pointed out.” Marena said simply, repeating what she had before. “I don’t really care after that.”
“You can’t think of one place we can go? Why can’t we just sneak into a dance club? I bet you know plenty of those; but please, somewhere halfway decent.” Kaori said, aggravation in her voice. As the weather got cooler her mood got fouler.
“You’re not very nice. At all.” Dante said, staring at Kaori. She smiled, putting her hands on her hips. “However, it isn’t a bad idea. I might know a place where we can stay at, depends on the management...” he trailed off, in thought.
Eve crossed her arms and started tapping her foot. “A nightclub? I was planning on sleeping a little.”
“Like I said...doesn’t matter for me.” Marena chimed in again, now leaning against the wall.
Dante began mumbling names and counting them off on his fingers before he stopped, waving his hand. “I’ve got it. As long as who I think owns the place still owns it, we may be in luck.”
“Then what?” Eve said, impatiently. “We can’t stay there forever, you know.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.” Dante said, slightly aggravated by Eve. “We’ll go there, stay there for however long it takes for this to cool down. Then we can all go our separate ways. That is, if I’m not still your hostage.” he grumbled.
“Let’s just go, okay? We can figure out what we’re gonna do from there.” Kaori said to no one in particular, as she was staring over everyone‘s shoulders. She sighed heavily.
“Okay, fine. Where is it?” Dante asked, looking at Eve.
Eve made a puzzled look. “Where is what?”
“Whatever you got here in. My car only has two seats.” Dante explained, his voice hardly above a mumble.
“Oh.” Eve said. “We came in on motorcycle, Marena and I. It’s on the top floor. I’m not sure about Kaori.”
Kaori shrugged. “I did too but...I lost it.” It wasn’t exactly true; it could have still been there, but she didn’t want to risk looking and it not being there; she would definitely get left behind. She could sense that Eve did not want her around, and Marena often seemed more concerned with herself than anyone else.
“Okay...” Dante said, putting his hand on his neck. “Well, two on the motorcycle, two in the car. Does that work?”
Kaori and Marena exchanged glances. Kaori raised her hand. “I call the car.” she said simply.
Marena looked over at her. “ I’m wearing a dress.” she said, in a way that suggested that her word was the law; a futile attempt to not get stuck with Eve on the motorcycle. It was too cold to go on the motorcycle. Ever.
“But...” Kaori began. “I don’t...” she wasn’t exactly sure how to word “I don’t like Eve” without sounding rude or getting killed. “I don’t really...” she finally just stopped and crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Marena.
“Fine.” Kaori said. “I’ll go with Eve.” she turned to Eve, and with a hint of malice in her voice, asked, “If that’s okay with you.”
Eve shrugged. “Whatever. We‘ll wait outside until we see you go by. Honk twice.”
“Alright.” Dante said.
Eve, barely acknowledging him, turned towards Marena and shoved the heavy bag, full of their things, at her. “You carry this, it’ll be easier for you.” she said, then opened the bag partially to show one of Marena’s Jerichos sitting on the top. “And if he does something stupid, shoot him.” she whispered, then headed over towards the elevators. Kaori, resigned, followed the temperamental woman, grumbling the whole way.
Dante sighed and looked back over at Marena, who was struggling for a comfortable grip on the awkwardly heavy bag, while at the same time trying to zip it again. “Well, the ride there should be slightly more pleasant. You are friends?”
Marena looked over to the side. “Well...sort of.”
Dante nodded. “Right. Well, shall we?” he said, motioning towards the elevator, now closed; Eve hadn’t even bothered to hold it for them.
Marena sighed. “Actually, we’re going to have to make a slight detour across the street.”
Dante was puzzled. “Why?”
“Dante Lamoroch, right?” Marena said, hoping he would say another last name; she could hope the pictures were coincidentally identical. Instead, he nodded. “Well, Dante Lamoroch, I stole your car.” she said, simple and straightforward. There was no point in beating around the bush, she couldn’t avoid the situation forever.
Dante’s eye’s narrowed and he tightened his grip on the briefcase. He looked down, then gave out a strained sigh. He looked back up at Marena. It seemed he should be angry, but all Marena saw in his eyes was exhaustion.
“Where is it...?” he said, his voice tired.
“Across the street, at the Discotheque.” Marena answered, slightly embarrassed. “There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s --”
“Let’s just go.” he said, coldly.
“I can’t believe you stole my fucking car.” Dante said through clenched teeth as they sped out of the parking garage. As they merged into traffic, Dante honked twice. Immediately, Marena could hear the sound of a motorcycle starting and, upon looking in the rearview mirror, saw the familiar shape of a particularly uncomfortable black motorcycle following them.
“Look,” Marena said. “I opened the glove compartment and saw your picture. Seeing as this was your car, I figured you were a rich little bastard living off daddy’s money, and that I deserved this car more than you did. Am I really that far off?”
Dante was silent for a moment. “Not really.” he said, then looked over at her and winked.
Marena smiled slightly and shrunk down in the seat, suddenly very exhausted. She realized she still had his coat on now, as her face was practically buried in it. It smelled like copper. “Where are we going, exactly?” she asked, drowsily, resting her hands on the top of the bag in her lap. She could feel the sensation of something sharp pressing against her leg through the fabric.
“My friend’s place, like I said. Where that is, it really doesn’t matter.” he replied.
Marena nodded, not in the mood to argue. She looked over her left shoulder to actually look at Dante, who was focused on weaving through the insane London traffic. Marena was only marginally concerned about Eve being able to follow Dante’s driving; she felt more sorry for Kaori. She really cared less about Eve at the moment, as Eve seemed to take every possible opportunity to piss her off or demean her in some way. She needed a little quiet time away from Eve, and considering that they had known each other for only a couple days, Marena was afraid she had made the wrong decision in coming to London with her.
Dante turned and looked over at Marena. “I heard what Eve said. You won’t have to worry about that, I’m not in the business of going back on offers of help.”
“That‘s good. If you were...” she answered quietly. “I’d shoot you.” .
Dante nodded. “Well, like I said, don’t worry about it. I’m not generally the type to pass up this kind of opportunity.” he said, his voice hinting at things Marena didn’t care to acknowledge.
She sighed but did not answer, drumming her fingernails on the side of the door. She looked out of the window at the streaming city life flying by at 80 miles an hour. The lights from the buildings were streaks in the sky, the floating electronic billboards, selling everything from cereal to sex, were only blurs in the sky. As they slowed at a red light, the world came into focus and she could see people walking by, technology dripping off of them like gems. Their rings, cameras; their earrings, telephones. Every building had shining lights and glittering advertisements. Marena couldn’t find a place that wasn’t illuminated; it was as if it was daylight outside. Marena was mesmerized by the city life she had failed to notice coming in with Eve; amazing what an increase of in temperature will do to someone’s awareness. Soon, though, Dante sped the car up to a fast speed, blurring the electronic wonderland back into a steady stream of light and decadence.
Marena sat back up in the seat, her drowsiness dissipating. “Where are you from, Dante?” she asked.
Dante, startled by the break in silence, jerked his head over quickly in Marena’s direction. He then looked back towards the road. “Washington D.C., in the Remnants.” he answered simply.
“Oh. That’s nice.” she said, taking the caustic way he said the name to be a sign not to press the issue further; not now, anyways.
“Sure.” he replied to comment, sarcastically.
A few minutes passed, in silence. Dante’s face was impassive the rest of the way, and Marena, caring not to initiate conversation, sat in mute thought as they slowed down and pulled into a parking lot. Dante waved his hand, gesturing towards the building. “Here it is.”
Marena looked out the window to find herself staring at a massive building, though not as large as the Wonderland. It was oddly shaped, as if someone had taken a cylinder and half way up the cylinder decided to cut it diagonally up. A beam of light came from the roof and pierced through the sky all the way up to the perpetually cloudy layer. Outside were droves of people, women dressed in short skirts and low tops, accompanied by men in all sorts of clothing, ranging from suits to general attire. It looked like every other club around here, that she had seen. By the amount of people in lines, however, it looked highly exclusive.
Dante pulled his car around to the front, near the entrance to the club. Marena heard Eve drive up behind the car and idle; she had not gotten lost. Dante honked three times, in a rhythm, and they waited as an usher gave them a of signal before running inside the club. A few moments later, a well dressed man came out and walked around to the driver’s side of the car. The man was very stern in face and large in size; he looked like a bouncer. Dante rolled down his window, and almost immediately the demeanor of the large man changed and he laughed heartily.
“Dante Lamoroch!” he said, his hand resting in the edge of the open window. His voice had an Irish lilt to it, but had the quality of someone who had lived in London for quite a while as well. “How long has it been?”
“Long enough, Steven.” Dante said, his voice more lighthearted than it had been all evening. “Listen, my f--” he paused, before correcting himself. “Some people and I need a place to stay for a little while, where we wont be easily spotted. Say, perhaps, a club you happen to own.”
The man, Steven, continued laughing. “I won’t even ask, I know you too well.” He looked around over his shoulder before inquiring any further; every time he did a favor for Dante something bad happened, it seemed. “How many friends you have with you?”
“Three.” Dante said. He leaned back in his seat and motioned to Marena. “Here’s one of them. The other two are on the motorcycle”
Steven looked inside the car. Upon seeing Marena, he smiled once again. “How did you get messed up with this punk?” he said, his voice having a tone that was far too serious to be joking around.
“Didn’t mean to...” Marena said, trailing off. She looked away from Steven and stared back at the impressive building. As the night went on she got angrier and angrier at the situation. She didn’t feel like yelling at anyone, though, so she tried to focus her thoughts on other things.
“Alright then, alright then.” Steven answered, standing back up. “Okay, Dante, but if you guys do anything here that causes a ruckus I will throw you out on your asses, and it’s fucking cold out here. So don’t be a jerk, alright?”
Dante nodded. “Of course.”
“You know,” Steven sighed. “I don’t even known why I help you.”
“I’m a nice guy, Steven. Besides, I pay too goddamn well for you to turn me down.” Dante said, flashing him an award winning smile.
“Right, right.” Steven said, and he waved for Dante to pull around to the side of the building. He drove around, the puttering of the motorcycle close behind them. On the side of the building was a fairly nondescript door at the top of a set of stairs and not much else, save a dumpster. Dante pulled his car up between the dumpster and the stairs, and a garage door opened; a clever chameleon effect. Dante pulled in the garage and parked in the only available spot of four spots. Eve drove in and parked right beside Dante’s car, nearly blocking the door. Marena heard the engine shut off for the car and at nearly the same time heard the motorcycle switch off as well.
Dante got out of his car smoothly and effortlessly, and Marena couldn’t help but notice that his fine leather seat was covered in a layer of water, smelling faintly of chemicals. She opened the door slowly and, grabbing the heavy bag by the strap, got out of the very low lying car. She slung the bag over her shoulder, and for some reason it seemed a lot lighter than it had before.
Within moments, Steven walked through a door at the top of another staircase and motioned the quartet in. The group walked slowly and apathetically up the stairs; no one was in a good mood, it seemed. They all walked single file through the door which, despite being dull a grey, led to somewhere very different.
The group walked into a large room, painted in reds and golds. Large, overstuffed couches and leather chairs were spread around the room, as well as a bed of sorts; more like a futon than anything.
“Well, this is the VIP lounge. I’m usually in here with clients, but I’ll make an exception for Dante Lamoroch and treat the clients to my private lounge, I suppose.” Steven laughed lightly, before reverting his tone to a passive, tour guide type. “It’s not actually bedroom, but there’s plenty of chairs and couches. No one will bother you unless you want them to. At any rate, have a nice time and feel free to stay for...well, not as long as you want. We’ll see. But do feel free to enjoy my club.” he said, before waving to the group and exiting through another door across the room, into the club. The moment he opened the door, a blast of sound and bass rang throughout the room, making everything in the room vibrate with every jolt. The room was quiet again, however, when he slammed the door shut.
In fact, quiet was an understatement. The room was completely silent as the four strangers stood in the room, unsure of what to do next. Marena dropped the bag and it landed with a thud on the carpet, weapons jangling about inside. She sat down on the chair next to the bag and unzipped it, rummaging through the contents until she found her weapons. Without thinking, she pulled out the dual katars and sat them on her lap, using a sweater she had also pulled to wipe them off, regardless of if the sweater was hers. In fact, she was pretty sure it wasn‘t.
Dante had been fairly distant and quiet towards the group since they had gotten to the hotel, but his expression immediately changed as he looked over at Marena polishing two very intimidating pieces of weaponry. “Whoa, whoa.” he said, walking over to her. “What are those?”
“Katars.” she paused, then continued. “They’re melee weapons.” she added, in the voice one would use talking to a six year old.
Dante was not amused. “I know what they are. But you shouldn’t have them out, Steven will get pissed if he sees any weaponry from you guys.” he said, running his hands through his hair, which was still wet from the night’s excursions. He shook his hand back and forth separating the strands, making his hair a matted, golden, mess.
Marena sighed, then poured all of the clothing out of the bag. She dutifully placed all of the weapons strewn across the floor back in the bag, zipping it up and placing it behind the couch. It irritated her being ordered around, but regardless, she and the others were guests. She took his orders with quiet compliance, not saying a word.
“Thanks.” he said. He walked over to a large closet across the room and swung the doors open roughly. He pushed clothing every which way, some of it falling off of the hangers and he ripped through it. Eventually he stopped, pulling out a suit similarly colored to the one he had on now, but a lot drier. “Old.... Good shape though, and should still fit.” he said, talking to himself. He walked over to the bathroom -- or at least, what was assumed to be a bathroom -- and walked in, shutting the door behind him. Moments later the sound of running water, presumably a shower, could be heard.
The rest of the group stared on at the sight in bewilderment, before Eve broke the silence by falling down on one of the couches, staring up at the ceiling. Kaori continued to stand there, as if she hadn’t heard a word since they had left the Wonderland, or didn‘t care to. She eventually migrated over and sat on the futon, before falling back on it.
“I’m bored.” Kaori declared, out of nowhere. She started kicking her legs back and forth against the bed, and put her hands behind her head.
Marena looked away from her task at hand at over at Kaori, though it really didn’t matter since Kaori couldn’t see her anyways. “Well, we are in a dance club. Go inside it.” Marena said.
“Oh, I don’t know. I don’t dance much, really.” Kaori said.
“Well, it’s not really dancing. I’m sure you’d be very popular, at any rate.” Marena replied, then turned to focus on her pile of clothing and things.
“Go out there, Kaori. There‘s nothing better to do.” Eve said.
“Then why don’t you go out too?” Kaori replied, still not actually looking at anyone as she spoke to them.
Eve shook her head. “No, I don’t dance.”
Kaori sat up. “I said I didn’t either, but you still insisted I do it. Is your word the only law?” she sighed. “I’m glad I didn’t ride all the way here with you.” Kaori said, her voice low but vindictive.
Eve bit her lip and looked away. “Well, alright. I can see what the general consensus of this room is.” she said, the stood up abruptly. She walked over to the door and flung it open, causing a wave of trance to flow through the room before she slammed it shut, once again causing an eerie, awkward silence in the room.
Marena looked over at Kaori. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“You feel the same!” she said defensively, crossing her arms across her chest. She then sighed heavily. “Oh, I know. I’m just...I don’t know. I should go apologize.” she said, her voice changing tones almost instantaneously.
“If you can; it’s a mess out there.” Marena said, looking out the window and the writhing mass of people, sticky and covered in sweat. As disgusting as it looked, Marena was contemplating joining them; she had always enjoyed dancing, even if what was going on out there usually wasn’t considered dancing.
Kaori wrung her hands nervously. “Oh, I know. But...ah, I’m gonna go.” she said quickly, before exiting and entering the room in same fashion everyone else had.
And so it was that Marena was alone. Seeing as she was the only person in the room, she took this time to change into a pair of dark colored jeans and a black tank top. She was thankful to be out of the dress, which had become more annoying than attractive. She was insistent to herself never to wear those shoes again; it would never happen, but she knew tonight she would not wear them. She slipped on the black boots, the ones she had taken from Eve, and reached into the bag once again, searching for something to tie her hair back with. She was successful, and soon had put her hair in a low bun, small pieces of coffee colored hair falling out from the elastic band.
She walked over to the door and without hesitation flung the door open. A rush of air flowed over her as the door opened, and the music began pounding in her ears. She stepped down the stairs that lead up to the door she was at, immediately bombarded by dancers not caring who or what they danced with.
As Marena walked through the mass of people towards the bar, she felt someone grab her arm and pull her back into the mass of people. Whoever it was -- some man, slightly drunk -- decided to dance with her, placing his arms around her waist and pulling her against his as he moved along with the beat, in tempo despite his obvious intoxication. At first she tried to pull away, but seeing as no one seemed to care about anyone else, she decided to keep dancing with the man. Soon, she found herself so immersed in the sound that she didn’t even realize who she was dancing with, and by the end of the song was with a completely different person. She realized that perhaps the people were more intoxicated by the music than anything else.
After what seemed like an eternity, the DJ came over to the microphone, and the loss of beat brought her out of her trance. She wasn’t sure who she was with or where she was, but a quick glance around the room showed her that she wasn’t too far from the bar, which had been her original destination. She thanked whoever she was with at the time, and he replied with an “Anytime,” as he slung his arm around another girl’s waist, inviting her to dance as well.
Marena pushed her way through the mass and eventually found herself at the bar. She balanced herself on the counter, and the very attentive bartender asked her if she would like anything to drink. Unsure, she replied with, “Give me what you like,” defeated by the mass of people she had been a part of just a few short minutes ago.
The bartender sat a brightly colored drink in front of her and she took a sip, unsure of what to expect. It was better than she had expected, however, and she soon found herself with an empty glass, ordering “one more for the road.” A couple drinks later, Marena could feel a decent buzz, but it was alright with her; she wanted to feel happier, as her trip so far had been a complete and utter failure.
Suddenly, Marena felt someone come up and stand behind her, just off to the right. She felt the person deliberately rub against her, but was still behind her enough to not get a look at her face. Even if he had tried to see her face, Marena had turned her head the other way, avoiding his gaze and instead looking down the bar at the bartender. She’d been through all of this a hundred times before, and right now she just wanted another drink.
No sooner than she had thought it, the bartender sat another drink in front of her. It was lavishly decorated with orange zest and all of the other lovely things to try and hide the fact that she’d might as well just be taking shots, it’d be the same thing. But didn’t this look far more classy?
“Let me get that one for you.” the man behind her said, though the music was so loud she could barely hear him. And so it began.
She decided, however, to simply cut to the chase. Perhaps her drinks had a little more alcohol than she had originally assumed. She was afraid she might have to stop soon to avoid anything embarrassing. At any rate, the alcohol had made her feel like she should be far more direct.
She looked out of the corner of her eye, but could not see him. She could, however, feel him standing closer and closer with every beat of the music. He was practically on top of her already, and they had yet to even see each other’s faces. She began to turn around to face him, talking exasperatedly along the way, “Why don’t you just ask ‘Want to fuck?’ and get it over w--”
As she completed her turn, she found herself face to face with none other than Dante Lamoroch. Her blood boiled and she felt her arms cover in goose bumps, contradicting.
Dante looked at Marena, his face masking surprise a lot better than Marena’s. “Well, hello.” he said, his voice nearly swallowed by the pounding bass. “I must say you like quite different out of your little red dress.” he said, then nonchalantly tugged at a belt loop in her jeans.
Marena narrowed her eyes. “Well, you look the same. A little drier.” she said, the end of her sentence only slightly slurred.
Dante stared for a moment, then a smile crept across his face. “Are you drunk?”
Arrogant bastard. “Not quite drunk enough.” she said. She smiled an irritated smile at him and he rolled his eyes.
“You’re the one bringing it up.” he said, then leaned over the bar to summon the bartender. He ordered something, but the combination of elements and sounds in the room had caused Marena to practically go deaf.
She instead leaned against the bar as well, her hand resting lightly around a drink she wasn’t sure she wanted to finish.
“Enjoying yourself?” Dante asked, looking over in her direction.
She kept her focus ahead of her. “I suppose this trip has only been slightly less than depressing.” She looked down at her hands. “But only slightly.”
“Is it better than where you came from?” Dante asked.
Marena hazily answered, more pieces of chocolate colored hair spilling from her ponytail as she turned to face him. “The more and more I think about it, the less inclined I am to say yes. At least in Prague I had somewhere to go.”
Dante focused his attention on his drink when she said this, then turned back. “Prague.” he said the name as if he had never said it before. “Isn’t Prague just a wasteland?”
“It’s...” she trailed, unsure of how to answer. To most people it seemed so, and to someone of his affluence it most certainly was. Even sometimes to her it was. The problem was the uneasiness she felt about saying a place she called home only days ago a wasteland. She turned her gaze away once again.
“It’s okay,” he said, apologetically. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
She didn’t answer, not directly, but motioned that she had heard his apology with a simple nod of the head.
“You’re more interested in that drink than anything else here.” Dante said, and he edged closer to her. “There are plenty of things -- and people -- to do here. Everyone comes to these places for the same reason. Why don’t you go enjoy yourself?” he said, his voice casual and low.
Marena turned away from her drink and towards him. “What exactly are you suggesting, Mr. Lamoroch?” she said, her voice smooth.
“Doesn’t matter.” he said “Despite the circumstances, you should try and have a little fun.” he paused, running his hand through his hair and smiling. “Of course, last time you had ‘fun,’ you stole my car.”
“I said I was sorry.” she said, not taking her gaze off of him. He needed to get the point, then get over it.
He stared right back. “I know you said you were sorry.” he leaned in closer, too close. “But I had a strange feeling you were more sorry you had to give back the car than you were sorry you’d taken it in the first place.”
Marena didn’t answer at first, but slowly a smile crept across her face. She hated to admit he was right, but it was fairly obvious. The car was damn hot.
“I figured as much.” he said. He stood for a moment, then stood to walk away. He started back out onto the dance floor, but doubled back and stood by Marena again. He leaned over next to her again, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. It was almost obscene. “Do you want to have a good time or not?”
She didn’t speak, but instead nodded silently, staring ahead at the dancers on the other side of the bar; all the while rocking back and forth, uneasily, to the beat.
-------
THERE
-------
It should have been called "In Da Club."
Like...duh. Lamers. ;)
(I'm...I'm kidding. ^^ Please don't kill me, Liz.)
Posted by Sylpheel @ 10/21/2003 03:55 AM CST
You're such a lamer Liz. Fix it.
Posted by Link @ 10/18/2003 10:48 PM CST
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