I smiled as Carly kissed me on the cheek, Julia grabbing at me as she did so. Being greeted by happy baby squeals never gets old. What can I say? I'm in love with little Julia. I can't think of anyone who isn't. She's a very loveable baby. Most are, but I think I'm a sucker for babies in general. Julia's got a lot of charm for such a little lady.
"Hey there," I told Carly, returning the gesture and kissing her on the opposite cheek. I quickly took hold of Julia as Carly passed her to me, grinning as she planted a sloppy baby kiss on me and grabbed at my collar.
Seriously, that's totally cute.
"I guess I'm not good enough for her."
"It's not your fault. The ladies love me," I teased, poking Julia's tummy before giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Nice to know I still have the magic touch."
"Thanks for coming so soon. How've you been?"
"Hey, no problem. You know I don't mind helping you out. Thanks for having me." Especially since I'm sure Sam threw a few dozen shit-fits about the whole thing. "I've been alright. Busy with work, mostly. How about you?" I started to make my way towards the couch with Julia still clinging to me.
"It's not your fault. The ladies love me. Nice to know I still have the magic touch."
He has a point. As long as they're female, even babies find him attractive. Okay, so it's innocent baby love, but we can joke about it. Julia should love her godfather; it makes me happy that she does. Sam on the other hand, gets insecure about it. Julia isn't allowed to adore any man who isn't him--which I would understand if we were talking about a stepdad or something. Jake isn't someone who would ever try to take his place. She's glued to his side when he visits, but he's Uncle Jake. It's supposed to be this way, and damnit, it's a good thing.
"What are you talking about? Good looking guys like you can't get rid of it."
Is this what Sam was worried about? Compliments and friendly communication? What a turn on. The only girl in this room flirting with Jake is Julia, and I plan to keep it that way.
"Hey, no problem. You know I don't mind helping you out. Thanks for having me."
"You're thanking me? That's not right Jake, you know you're my Savior for agreeing to this. But for the record, you're always welcome here."
As long as I'm home, anyway. And Sam knows better than to give Jake any issues if I'm not. I've never kicked his ass, but if push came to shove...I wouldn't, but he'd get the silent treatement for a month, and I'd stop sleeping with him for about two.
I think he'd explode. Or mentally shut down. One or the other.
"I've been alright. Busy with work, mostly. How about you?"
He doesn't really want to know, he can't. If I was entirely honest, I'd dish about how nervous I am that Sam's in the Bahamas. Jake doesn't want to hear that, I don't want to think about it either. But for the past few days, that's been one of the only thoughts on my mind. That, and the thing with Alex and Madsen.
I'm trying really hard not to think about that one until Sam gets back. I can't kill him yet.
"Busy with...life." I sat on the couch, crossing my legs as I did so. As much as I love wearing skirts on my day off, I still have to remind myself to sit like a lady and not a slut.
That never used to be an issue before we bought the house and started living together. That big spend seemed to soldify my relationship with Sam. You shell out that kind of money on an investment, and then you have added financial reasons to tough it out. Personally, I think we could have managed in my old apartment, but Sam insisted that it wasn't big enough, and that it wasn't fair to Alex. I think he just wanted to start over so that he didn't have to worry about where I'd had sex with who. He's weird like that. My tattoo still bothers him because I told him that Jake picked it out.
He doesn't say that it annoys him, but I've been with him long enough to pick up on it. That's just how Sam works.
I hate that. I really do.
"Julia has been extra energetic lately. If she's not crawling she's throwing stuffed animals at me."
"Busy with...life. Julia has been extra energetic lately. If she's not crawling she's throwing stuffed animals at me."
Busy with life. I wish I had that problem. For me, work doesn't exactly amount to life. It's been this way for awhile now... I get up, I shower, I eat, I dick around the house until it's time to go to work, I work all night, come home, and sleep all day. That's about all there is to it. For the first time in a long time, I don't have a girlfriend -- not even some kind of fling to indulge in. I just haven't felt like it.
Everyone else around me is busy moving on with their lives. Carly and Sam are happy together and have Julia, with Sam himself looking at a career in photography. Dan is doing the college thing, and seems like he's having better luck with it than I ever did. My Business degree might as well be scrap paper at this point. My sister is finishing school and already working almost full-time at a bonafide adult job. Hell, even Madsen might have more on the ball than me.
... well, maybe not Madsen.
Everyone else is moving on and I feel left behind. I'm 28 years old and tending bar. It feels like I'm going to be tending bar forever. Sometimes I think that wouldn't be so bad. I love my job, I love my workplace -- but I'd much rather own it and try to put some of those six years of college I suffered through to good use.
"Stuffed animals, huh? I hear those are deadly."
I smiled and looked down at the squirming baby in my lap.
"Are you giving your poor mommy a hard time, kid?"
I can complain about stuffed animals if I want to. It's better than complaining about vampire slaying, or blood stains, or worst of all, Sam. I could do a lot of bitching about him if I wanted to. But I wouldn't do that to Jake, especially in front of Julia. She might not be able to understand what I'm saying, but I do think that she senses when something's wrong. And I know for sure that she understands that Sam is "Da da".
She shouldn't have to hear me going off about him. When my parents were alive enough to argue, it was bad enough to hear them throwing insults around, and I was five years old than Julia. Besides, one of these days, someone is going to screw things up by thinking I mean it when I talk about what a jackass he is.
"Are you giving your poor mommy a hard time, kid?"
"Nah, she only gives me a hard time when I get more attention than her."
I laughed when Julia finally settled down in Jake's lap, resting her head back against him. She never naps for me unless I get her completely worn out. With other people, she gets comfortable and falls asleep. With Sam? He lays down with her and they both take a nap.
I only get to stick around for her amusement, I swear.
"Nah, she only gives me a hard time when I get more attention than her."
"Yeah, she sure likes attention, doesn't she?" I smirked at that. Who else do we know like that?
"She gets it from you." Carly wouldn't take that as an insult. In fact, I'm fairly sure it was a compliment. She used to pride herself on her ability to draw the attention of every man in the room away from his date and directly onto herself.
"I think she missed you."
"Yeah? I missed her, too. Didn't really realize how long it's been since I've given you guys a proper visit." That was a lie. I knew exactly how long it had been. I would spend a lot more time with my goddaughter if her father didn't, you know, hate me with the fire of a thousand suns and want me dead.
But hey, I'm not bitter.
Letting Julia stay in my lap, I finally turned my undivided attention to Carly herself. "So, any exciting plans? I hope you're planning a couple of nights to yourself so you're not stuck inside all week."
Wonder if she was still thinking about that slumber party idea she'd come up with at the bar...
"Yeah, she sure likes attention, doesn't she? She gets it from you."
"Thanks."
Guilty as charged. Although I hope that Julia doesn't turn out like me. I'd have to consider myself a failure as a mother if that happened. She can have my love of theater, music, performance art...just not my slutty side. It's not that I regret any of the 'fun' that I used to have, I don't. I just don't want that for Julia; no parent would hope for their child to turn out exactly like they were.
Luckily, I think that little bit of Arianna in her personality will keep her from growing up to be like me. And I can't even get started on the Sam part. I can't help but worry that she's going to grow up to be completely paranoid. But she's just a toddler now, and we have plenty of time to make sure that she doesn't inherit our bad qualities. I just jump the gun a little everytime I hear her get compared to me; it happens more frequently than I ever thought that it would.
"Yeah? I missed her, too. Didn't really realize how long it's been since I've given you guys a proper visit."
Really? I could have sworn that my idiot boyfriend was the reason he prefered staying away. Sam gets...weird around Jake. I know why, and I understand it, but it's not fair. Two out of three of us love Jake; Sam is going to learn to accept that someday, no matter who it kills.
"You're here now. I'm sure she forgives you."
"So, any exciting plans? I hope you're planning a couple of nights to yourself so you're not stuck inside all week."
Normally, I don't have to worry about having any nights to myself. Most of the time that I spend alone, I spend slaying vampires and killing demons. It gets boring after a while; I like having people around.
"Honestly, I haven't thought about it. What does your schedule look like?"
"Honestly, I haven't thought about it. What does your schedule look like?"
Should I tell her I begged to take a few nights off this week just so I could help her out? Probably not.
"Pretty clear," I told her honestly. "My boss was feeling kind of generous and gave me most of the week off, since he knew I had some stuff I had to get done. I just have to be in on Thursday and Friday night to give Kip a hand, he can't handle the end of the week by himself yet."
Honesty. Total honesty. I'm just casually omitting the fact that I wrestled wits with said boss to get those nights off so I could spend more time with her.
Wow. It's really starting to sink in just how pathetic I've gotten. I can never have this. I can't have what I really want but I still waste my time hoping for it and praying people like Sam or even my own sister don't take that one little shred of hope away from me.
It's my shred, dammit.
"So... you know. If you have anything you need or want to go out and do, I can handle Julia no problem."
"So... you know. If you have anything you need or want to go out and do, I can handle Julia no problem."
This is sad. Not too long ago, I would have jumped at the chance to go out on my own and find some trouble. I've since lost interest. I spend enough time away from Julia while I'm at work. Then there's the obligatory daily trip to the gym, and slaying, but I usually wait until we put her to sleep for that one. I'll skip it on Thursday and Friday, or see if I can get Arianna to pull double duty.
She'll love that. Really.
"All I have to do is go out and kill things."
Please don't remind me how pathetic I am. I know I was alot more fun when we were dating, and this is bad, but I'm aware. I figure I can be alright with being boring as long as I'm self aware.
"We could rent a bunch of movies." Oh god, why can't I shut up? I've never heard of anything so lame, and I just keep going!
"Junk food, sci fi movies, and cookies."
Because cookies are superior to junk food. And because I am boring, and stupid, and lame.
I think I'm starting to suck as a human being.
"Unless you want to go out."
Who wants to hang out with a big dork like me? I'd be running for the door if I thought I could escape my own stupidity.
I'm not kidding when I say that actually sounds like fun. Carly and Alex both come back with stories about slaying all the time. More often than not, they're a whole lot more than just interesting. I should go along for the ride sometime if they'll let me. I'm curious. I'd like to see just how they operate.
"We could rent a bunch of movies. Junk food, sci fi movies, and cookies. Unless you want to go out."
I grinned. Staying in would be nice, actually. Carly and I went out all the time when we were dating, but sometimes I liked staying in even better.
And not just because of the great sex that usually came with quiet nights like that.
"Staying in sounds great to me," I said honestly. "We have to have at least one Alien move on the rental list, though. Anything else is your call."
"Staying in sounds great to me. We have to have at least one Alien move on the rental list, though. Anything else is your call."
I can handle that. He's always loved those movies. It's not like I'm going to force him to sit through Moulin Rouge or something. It used to be nice when we did watch romantic movies, but it, well, caused a lot more fun between us than we're supposed to be having. Movie romance puts you in a state of mind.
So, Alien. Works for me.
"Why am I not surprised?" I laughed. "And I want...Momento. I haven't seen it in a while."
My favorite backwards movie. If that doesn't get a "WTF?" out of him, no other movie will.
"This'll be nice."
I just hope it doesn't get too nice. Sam would kill me, and burn Jake. Or possibly the other way around, I don't know. I'll make sure that it's not a possibility.
"Why am I not surprised? And I want...Momento. I haven't seen it in a while."
She's right, Alien is an old standby. What can I say, it's a classic. My sister used to watch that series all the time, you'd think I'd be sick of it by now -- but I'm not.
The Last Unicorn, on the other hand... yeah, I don't care if I never see that one again.
"Memento it is. I can deal with that." I bounced Julia on my lap a little bit, since she was starting to get fussy. Just like her mom: she hates being ignored.
"This'll be nice."
"Yeah... it will, won't it?" I almost said 'Yeah, just like old times.' Old times would be nice, but it's not a possibility anymore. That's alright. This will be nice. I'll just have to take it at face value and enjoy it for what it is.
I should be mad at Sam. For multiple reasons, but I'm only dwelling on one at the moment. He doesn't like Jake; he's made no secret of his dislike for him. Hell, he was ready to cancel his photo shoot so that he could stay home with me and Julia and not have to worry about Jake being around.
But what is so wrong about this? Our relationship ended a long time ago. We watch movies and talk now. It's different in the good way, and really nice.
And Sam keeps trying to take it away from me. I just don't have the energy to be mad at more than four people at once if I can't do anything about it. When my idiot boyfriend gets back, I'll do something about it.
"I'll make sure it is. I have to be on my best behavior this week. I'm not talking to anyone who I could potentially kill until Sam gets home to play referee."
"I'll make sure it is. I have to be on my best behavior this week. I'm not talking to anyone who I could potentially kill until Sam gets home to play referee."
Potentially kill? That doesn't sound good to me. Somehow, deep down, I have a sick feeling about who it might be that Carly wants to annihilate. I can cross my fingers and hope I'm wrong, but I think my gut is probably right on this one.
Doesn't mean I'm not going to ask anyway.
"Kill? So you're considering murder one? Why?" I hate being out of the loop. From my own observations, I can make a few educated guesses, but I want to hear details. I'm weird that way. Call me a glutton for punishment.
Jake didn't hear about this? No, he has to know what's going on. He's just humoring me so that I tell him the whole story and get it out of my system. Except I can't get it out of my system because I can't beat Madsen's lights out. I also can't be mad at Sam since he said he was sorry and told me he loved me and did all of the things that he normally does when we're trying to make up after a fight.
He's a traitor though, a real Benedict Arnold.
"Madsen. You know what he did." Not a question, a statement. I figured it out, and unlike me, Jake was sober at the party. I understand his policy of keeping out of Alex's business, but this is different. I've had to deal with Madsen and his lovesick victims before; I'm not about to let Alex set herself up to feel as bad as Daphne did when Madsen was done with her.
"He hurt a friend of mine before, I'm not gonna let him do the same to Alex. Don't even try saying anything in their defense."
I've already made up my mind. Madsen crossed a line this time, I'm going to make sure that he pays for it.
"I'm holding off on doing anything until Sam gets back, since he's his best friend. It's only fair."
"Yeah. I know." Or rather, I assumed. Considering the situation, it's as good as knowing. There wasn't much margin for error on that guess.
I generally try to stay out of my sister's business, particularly the guys she hangs around with -- unless I think something is seriously wrong. Then I step in, whether she wants me to or not. Her boyfriend from highschool? Yeah, he was a whole world of 'something wrong.' Part of that was probably because he was a Fuerte demon, but for the most part? He was just scum. I got sick and tired of that real quick, and played the part of big brother to a T. Then this last guy, AJ? He seemed nice enough, although he turned out to be a slimeball in the end. He hid it well. I don't think even Alex knew until they broke up. If I'd known, I would have stepped in there, too.
If Madsen does anything to hurt my sister? Sure, I've got a few hexes I could throw his way that would make him useless to a woman for awhile. But I'm not about to tell my sister who she can and can't see. She can make those decisions for herself.
"He hurt a friend of mine before, I'm not gonna let him do the same to Alex. Don't even try saying anything in their defense. I'm holding off on doing anything until Sam gets back, since he's his best friend. It's only fair."
I see why Carly is angry. She's known Madsen a long time. She's seen him hurt someone she cared about. Alex is stronger than most people give her credit for, and she can handle herself for the most part, but I know that in the end, this is really about Carly and Madsen.
"So what exactly are you planning to do?"
I love Carly. She's probably my best friend -- first and foremost. But if she's seriously planning on killing this guy? She's really gone off the deep end.
It would be easier for me to try and figure out what I haven't planned on doing to Madsen. He deserves a serious smackdown for all of the trouble that he's going to cause with Alex. She deserves so much better than him, even if it was only for a night.
And yet? I'm thinking it was more than that. If it had only happened once, Alex would have come to me with it. That's what best friends do. I mean, you mess up a little sometimes, but if it's only one mistake, you don't think very much of it. Anything more than that creates avoidance, and we're definitely experiencing that right now, although my avoidance with her is out of the goodness of my heart.
She wouldn't want to hear about the bloodshed.
"Fu--" I caught myself on a word I didn't want Julia to learn, and rephrased. "Mess him up. Break his kneecaps."
I could too, easily. That's one good thing about the slayer gig; I've always known that I could handle myself in a fight. I don't care if I'm going to be the only one doing the fighting this time, someone needs to knock some sense into that moron.
He isn't allowed to hurt Alex. I'll make sure that he knows it.
"He doesn't respond well to verbal communication. Big words make him think too much."
"Jay Jay!"
I smiled as Carly kissed me on the cheek, Julia grabbing at me as she did so. Being greeted by happy baby squeals never gets old. What can I say? I'm in love with little Julia. I can't think of anyone who isn't. She's a very loveable baby. Most are, but I think I'm a sucker for babies in general. Julia's got a lot of charm for such a little lady.
"Hey there," I told Carly, returning the gesture and kissing her on the opposite cheek. I quickly took hold of Julia as Carly passed her to me, grinning as she planted a sloppy baby kiss on me and grabbed at my collar.
Seriously, that's totally cute.
"I guess I'm not good enough for her."
"It's not your fault. The ladies love me," I teased, poking Julia's tummy before giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Nice to know I still have the magic touch."
"Thanks for coming so soon. How've you been?"
"Hey, no problem. You know I don't mind helping you out. Thanks for having me." Especially since I'm sure Sam threw a few dozen shit-fits about the whole thing. "I've been alright. Busy with work, mostly. How about you?" I started to make my way towards the couch with Julia still clinging to me.
Reply
He has a point. As long as they're female, even babies find him attractive. Okay, so it's innocent baby love, but we can joke about it. Julia should love her godfather; it makes me happy that she does. Sam on the other hand, gets insecure about it. Julia isn't allowed to adore any man who isn't him--which I would understand if we were talking about a stepdad or something. Jake isn't someone who would ever try to take his place. She's glued to his side when he visits, but he's Uncle Jake. It's supposed to be this way, and damnit, it's a good thing.
"What are you talking about? Good looking guys like you can't get rid of it."
Is this what Sam was worried about? Compliments and friendly communication? What a turn on. The only girl in this room flirting with Jake is Julia, and I plan to keep it that way.
"Hey, no problem. You know I don't mind helping you out. Thanks for having me."
"You're thanking me? That's not right Jake, you know you're my Savior for agreeing to this. But for the record, you're always welcome here."
As long as I'm home, anyway. And Sam knows better than to give Jake any issues if I'm not. I've never kicked his ass, but if push came to shove...I wouldn't, but he'd get the silent treatement for a month, and I'd stop sleeping with him for about two.
I think he'd explode. Or mentally shut down. One or the other.
"I've been alright. Busy with work, mostly. How about you?"
He doesn't really want to know, he can't. If I was entirely honest, I'd dish about how nervous I am that Sam's in the Bahamas. Jake doesn't want to hear that, I don't want to think about it either. But for the past few days, that's been one of the only thoughts on my mind. That, and the thing with Alex and Madsen.
I'm trying really hard not to think about that one until Sam gets back. I can't kill him yet.
"Busy with...life." I sat on the couch, crossing my legs as I did so. As much as I love wearing skirts on my day off, I still have to remind myself to sit like a lady and not a slut.
That never used to be an issue before we bought the house and started living together. That big spend seemed to soldify my relationship with Sam. You shell out that kind of money on an investment, and then you have added financial reasons to tough it out. Personally, I think we could have managed in my old apartment, but Sam insisted that it wasn't big enough, and that it wasn't fair to Alex. I think he just wanted to start over so that he didn't have to worry about where I'd had sex with who. He's weird like that. My tattoo still bothers him because I told him that Jake picked it out.
He doesn't say that it annoys him, but I've been with him long enough to pick up on it. That's just how Sam works.
I hate that. I really do.
"Julia has been extra energetic lately. If she's not crawling she's throwing stuffed animals at me."
Reply
Busy with life. I wish I had that problem. For me, work doesn't exactly amount to life. It's been this way for awhile now... I get up, I shower, I eat, I dick around the house until it's time to go to work, I work all night, come home, and sleep all day. That's about all there is to it. For the first time in a long time, I don't have a girlfriend -- not even some kind of fling to indulge in. I just haven't felt like it.
Everyone else around me is busy moving on with their lives. Carly and Sam are happy together and have Julia, with Sam himself looking at a career in photography. Dan is doing the college thing, and seems like he's having better luck with it than I ever did. My Business degree might as well be scrap paper at this point. My sister is finishing school and already working almost full-time at a bonafide adult job. Hell, even Madsen might have more on the ball than me.
... well, maybe not Madsen.
Everyone else is moving on and I feel left behind. I'm 28 years old and tending bar. It feels like I'm going to be tending bar forever. Sometimes I think that wouldn't be so bad. I love my job, I love my workplace -- but I'd much rather own it and try to put some of those six years of college I suffered through to good use.
"Stuffed animals, huh? I hear those are deadly."
I smiled and looked down at the squirming baby in my lap.
"Are you giving your poor mommy a hard time, kid?"
Reply
I can complain about stuffed animals if I want to. It's better than complaining about vampire slaying, or blood stains, or worst of all, Sam. I could do a lot of bitching about him if I wanted to. But I wouldn't do that to Jake, especially in front of Julia. She might not be able to understand what I'm saying, but I do think that she senses when something's wrong. And I know for sure that she understands that Sam is "Da da".
She shouldn't have to hear me going off about him. When my parents were alive enough to argue, it was bad enough to hear them throwing insults around, and I was five years old than Julia. Besides, one of these days, someone is going to screw things up by thinking I mean it when I talk about what a jackass he is.
"Are you giving your poor mommy a hard time, kid?"
"Nah, she only gives me a hard time when I get more attention than her."
I laughed when Julia finally settled down in Jake's lap, resting her head back against him. She never naps for me unless I get her completely worn out. With other people, she gets comfortable and falls asleep. With Sam? He lays down with her and they both take a nap.
I only get to stick around for her amusement, I swear.
"I think she missed you."
Reply
"Yeah, she sure likes attention, doesn't she?" I smirked at that. Who else do we know like that?
"She gets it from you." Carly wouldn't take that as an insult. In fact, I'm fairly sure it was a compliment. She used to pride herself on her ability to draw the attention of every man in the room away from his date and directly onto herself.
"I think she missed you."
"Yeah? I missed her, too. Didn't really realize how long it's been since I've given you guys a proper visit." That was a lie. I knew exactly how long it had been. I would spend a lot more time with my goddaughter if her father didn't, you know, hate me with the fire of a thousand suns and want me dead.
But hey, I'm not bitter.
Letting Julia stay in my lap, I finally turned my undivided attention to Carly herself. "So, any exciting plans? I hope you're planning a couple of nights to yourself so you're not stuck inside all week."
Wonder if she was still thinking about that slumber party idea she'd come up with at the bar...
Reply
"Thanks."
Guilty as charged. Although I hope that Julia doesn't turn out like me. I'd have to consider myself a failure as a mother if that happened. She can have my love of theater, music, performance art...just not my slutty side. It's not that I regret any of the 'fun' that I used to have, I don't. I just don't want that for Julia; no parent would hope for their child to turn out exactly like they were.
Luckily, I think that little bit of Arianna in her personality will keep her from growing up to be like me. And I can't even get started on the Sam part. I can't help but worry that she's going to grow up to be completely paranoid. But she's just a toddler now, and we have plenty of time to make sure that she doesn't inherit our bad qualities. I just jump the gun a little everytime I hear her get compared to me; it happens more frequently than I ever thought that it would.
"Yeah? I missed her, too. Didn't really realize how long it's been since I've given you guys a proper visit."
Really? I could have sworn that my idiot boyfriend was the reason he prefered staying away. Sam gets...weird around Jake. I know why, and I understand it, but it's not fair. Two out of three of us love Jake; Sam is going to learn to accept that someday, no matter who it kills.
"You're here now. I'm sure she forgives you."
"So, any exciting plans? I hope you're planning a couple of nights to yourself so you're not stuck inside all week."
Normally, I don't have to worry about having any nights to myself. Most of the time that I spend alone, I spend slaying vampires and killing demons. It gets boring after a while; I like having people around.
"Honestly, I haven't thought about it. What does your schedule look like?"
Reply
Should I tell her I begged to take a few nights off this week just so I could help her out? Probably not.
"Pretty clear," I told her honestly. "My boss was feeling kind of generous and gave me most of the week off, since he knew I had some stuff I had to get done. I just have to be in on Thursday and Friday night to give Kip a hand, he can't handle the end of the week by himself yet."
Honesty. Total honesty. I'm just casually omitting the fact that I wrestled wits with said boss to get those nights off so I could spend more time with her.
Wow. It's really starting to sink in just how pathetic I've gotten. I can never have this. I can't have what I really want but I still waste my time hoping for it and praying people like Sam or even my own sister don't take that one little shred of hope away from me.
It's my shred, dammit.
"So... you know. If you have anything you need or want to go out and do, I can handle Julia no problem."
Reply
This is sad. Not too long ago, I would have jumped at the chance to go out on my own and find some trouble. I've since lost interest. I spend enough time away from Julia while I'm at work. Then there's the obligatory daily trip to the gym, and slaying, but I usually wait until we put her to sleep for that one. I'll skip it on Thursday and Friday, or see if I can get Arianna to pull double duty.
She'll love that. Really.
"All I have to do is go out and kill things."
Please don't remind me how pathetic I am. I know I was alot more fun when we were dating, and this is bad, but I'm aware. I figure I can be alright with being boring as long as I'm self aware.
"We could rent a bunch of movies." Oh god, why can't I shut up? I've never heard of anything so lame, and I just keep going!
"Junk food, sci fi movies, and cookies."
Because cookies are superior to junk food. And because I am boring, and stupid, and lame.
I think I'm starting to suck as a human being.
"Unless you want to go out."
Who wants to hang out with a big dork like me? I'd be running for the door if I thought I could escape my own stupidity.
Reply
I'm not kidding when I say that actually sounds like fun. Carly and Alex both come back with stories about slaying all the time. More often than not, they're a whole lot more than just interesting. I should go along for the ride sometime if they'll let me. I'm curious. I'd like to see just how they operate.
"We could rent a bunch of movies. Junk food, sci fi movies, and cookies. Unless you want to go out."
I grinned. Staying in would be nice, actually. Carly and I went out all the time when we were dating, but sometimes I liked staying in even better.
And not just because of the great sex that usually came with quiet nights like that.
"Staying in sounds great to me," I said honestly. "We have to have at least one Alien move on the rental list, though. Anything else is your call."
Reply
I can handle that. He's always loved those movies. It's not like I'm going to force him to sit through Moulin Rouge or something. It used to be nice when we did watch romantic movies, but it, well, caused a lot more fun between us than we're supposed to be having. Movie romance puts you in a state of mind.
So, Alien. Works for me.
"Why am I not surprised?" I laughed. "And I want...Momento. I haven't seen it in a while."
My favorite backwards movie. If that doesn't get a "WTF?" out of him, no other movie will.
"This'll be nice."
I just hope it doesn't get too nice. Sam would kill me, and burn Jake. Or possibly the other way around, I don't know. I'll make sure that it's not a possibility.
Reply
She's right, Alien is an old standby. What can I say, it's a classic. My sister used to watch that series all the time, you'd think I'd be sick of it by now -- but I'm not.
The Last Unicorn, on the other hand... yeah, I don't care if I never see that one again.
"Memento it is. I can deal with that." I bounced Julia on my lap a little bit, since she was starting to get fussy. Just like her mom: she hates being ignored.
"This'll be nice."
"Yeah... it will, won't it?" I almost said 'Yeah, just like old times.' Old times would be nice, but it's not a possibility anymore. That's alright. This will be nice. I'll just have to take it at face value and enjoy it for what it is.
Reply
I should be mad at Sam. For multiple reasons, but I'm only dwelling on one at the moment. He doesn't like Jake; he's made no secret of his dislike for him. Hell, he was ready to cancel his photo shoot so that he could stay home with me and Julia and not have to worry about Jake being around.
But what is so wrong about this? Our relationship ended a long time ago. We watch movies and talk now. It's different in the good way, and really nice.
And Sam keeps trying to take it away from me. I just don't have the energy to be mad at more than four people at once if I can't do anything about it. When my idiot boyfriend gets back, I'll do something about it.
"I'll make sure it is. I have to be on my best behavior this week. I'm not talking to anyone who I could potentially kill until Sam gets home to play referee."
Reply
Potentially kill? That doesn't sound good to me. Somehow, deep down, I have a sick feeling about who it might be that Carly wants to annihilate. I can cross my fingers and hope I'm wrong, but I think my gut is probably right on this one.
Doesn't mean I'm not going to ask anyway.
"Kill? So you're considering murder one? Why?" I hate being out of the loop. From my own observations, I can make a few educated guesses, but I want to hear details. I'm weird that way. Call me a glutton for punishment.
Reply
Jake didn't hear about this? No, he has to know what's going on. He's just humoring me so that I tell him the whole story and get it out of my system. Except I can't get it out of my system because I can't beat Madsen's lights out. I also can't be mad at Sam since he said he was sorry and told me he loved me and did all of the things that he normally does when we're trying to make up after a fight.
He's a traitor though, a real Benedict Arnold.
"Madsen. You know what he did." Not a question, a statement. I figured it out, and unlike me, Jake was sober at the party. I understand his policy of keeping out of Alex's business, but this is different. I've had to deal with Madsen and his lovesick victims before; I'm not about to let Alex set herself up to feel as bad as Daphne did when Madsen was done with her.
"He hurt a friend of mine before, I'm not gonna let him do the same to Alex. Don't even try saying anything in their defense."
I've already made up my mind. Madsen crossed a line this time, I'm going to make sure that he pays for it.
"I'm holding off on doing anything until Sam gets back, since he's his best friend. It's only fair."
Reply
"Yeah. I know." Or rather, I assumed. Considering the situation, it's as good as knowing. There wasn't much margin for error on that guess.
I generally try to stay out of my sister's business, particularly the guys she hangs around with -- unless I think something is seriously wrong. Then I step in, whether she wants me to or not. Her boyfriend from highschool? Yeah, he was a whole world of 'something wrong.' Part of that was probably because he was a Fuerte demon, but for the most part? He was just scum. I got sick and tired of that real quick, and played the part of big brother to a T. Then this last guy, AJ? He seemed nice enough, although he turned out to be a slimeball in the end. He hid it well. I don't think even Alex knew until they broke up. If I'd known, I would have stepped in there, too.
If Madsen does anything to hurt my sister? Sure, I've got a few hexes I could throw his way that would make him useless to a woman for awhile. But I'm not about to tell my sister who she can and can't see. She can make those decisions for herself.
"He hurt a friend of mine before, I'm not gonna let him do the same to Alex. Don't even try saying anything in their defense. I'm holding off on doing anything until Sam gets back, since he's his best friend. It's only fair."
I see why Carly is angry. She's known Madsen a long time. She's seen him hurt someone she cared about. Alex is stronger than most people give her credit for, and she can handle herself for the most part, but I know that in the end, this is really about Carly and Madsen.
"So what exactly are you planning to do?"
I love Carly. She's probably my best friend -- first and foremost. But if she's seriously planning on killing this guy? She's really gone off the deep end.
Reply
It would be easier for me to try and figure out what I haven't planned on doing to Madsen. He deserves a serious smackdown for all of the trouble that he's going to cause with Alex. She deserves so much better than him, even if it was only for a night.
And yet? I'm thinking it was more than that. If it had only happened once, Alex would have come to me with it. That's what best friends do. I mean, you mess up a little sometimes, but if it's only one mistake, you don't think very much of it. Anything more than that creates avoidance, and we're definitely experiencing that right now, although my avoidance with her is out of the goodness of my heart.
She wouldn't want to hear about the bloodshed.
"Fu--" I caught myself on a word I didn't want Julia to learn, and rephrased. "Mess him up. Break his kneecaps."
I could too, easily. That's one good thing about the slayer gig; I've always known that I could handle myself in a fight. I don't care if I'm going to be the only one doing the fighting this time, someone needs to knock some sense into that moron.
He isn't allowed to hurt Alex. I'll make sure that he knows it.
"He doesn't respond well to verbal communication. Big words make him think too much."
Reply
Leave a comment