OOC: Log! George & Usopp PART ONE
Who: George and Usopp
What: Forts, red velvet cupcakes, blue stuff, a touch of angst, and the long-awaited reunion. Sort of. >.>
Where: in town on an island, then Usopp's Factory
When: the evening and night of January 24/25th.
Rating: PG for this part
Usopp slid his spoon over the ice cream dish before him, picking up the last of the hot fudge from the brownie sundae he'd had for dessert. The restaurant he and George had decided on for dinner wasn't fancy--more of a diner, really, but that suited them just fine. Sometimes something simple like burgers and fries were best, and besides, neither of them really had a lot of money. He stuck the spoon in his mouth and sucked it, giving a small contented sigh. "How was yours?"
George ate one last bite of chocolate ice cream. "Delicious," she said, flopping back in her chair and patting her stomach. "I couldn't eat another bite."
Usopp grinned, finally giving up on his sundae dish and pushing it away from him. "Today was fun, right? We haven't had a chance to do this for a while. I mean, with me being stuck in bed for so long, and I guess none of the islands we've been to lately have really had much to do..." He put his right elbow on the table and leaned into his hand. He still had to be careful with his left side, but it didn't even hurt anymore, if he wasn't careless.
"Yeah," George said, taking another bite of ice cream even though she'd just said she couldn't eat anymore. "We haven't gotten to hang out in a long time."
Noticing the way she went back to the ice cream, Usopp chuckled a little, slightly envious. He wouldn't mind a little more dessert either, but his sundae was completely finished. "Yep," he said. "Hanging out in the infirmary doesn't really count. I mean. It wasn't the same. Anyway..." He looked up at her and smiled. "I missed you. A lot."
George tried to smile back but it was a little strained, probably with guilt. "I missed you too," she said, taking another bite of ice cream.
Usopp noticed something was a little off about the smile, and debated whether or not he should mention it. Probably she still felt bad that she hadn't made a decision yet, but...Sanji had said he thought Usopp should try talking to her about that again soon. Which...he probably should. He just didn't like the way it seemed to make her feel more guilty and upset, and then he felt like he was the cause of it. Still, as hard as he tried, it wasn't easy to just ignore the elephant in the room. Then again, he felt like it might be a bad note to end this day on, so he decided to push it off for now. They had plenty of time, and this was the first time they'd properly hung out outside of Sunny for a while. "Oh. Hey, why don't we make that fort after we're done here? I've still got all the pillows and stuff..."
George's smile became just a little more genuine. "Yeah, that sounds like fun," she said.
Usopp noted the change in the quality of her smile, and his own grew a bit. That was more like it. "Awesome," he said, looking up as the waiter appeared with their check.
George slid some money across the table. "For my half," she said. "And we should stop by a liquor store or something on the way back.
Usopp picked up the beli she'd slid over to him; he'd been expecting to pay, but if she wanted to pay her share, he certainly wasn't going to complain. He looked up at her and blinked slightly, a little surprised by her second statement. "O-oh. Yeah, I guess that we could. I think I saw one on the corner." He grinned. "Maybe they have blue stuff."
George stood up, smiling. "Blue stuff would be fun," she said, wrapping her scarf around her neck.
After counting out his bills and leaving enough for a tip, Usopp placed the money on the table and stood as well, carefully slinging the strap of his bag over his right shoulder. He glanced over his remaining beli: definitely enough to buy a bottle or two of something to drink, and George probably had a bit more cash as well. He let his left arm settle back into the sling Chopper still had him wearing; he didn't think he really needed it anymore, but it did keep his arm nice and still while he walked, so he decided to bear with it a little longer.
George walked out of the restaurant with Usopp, heading straight for the liquor store she'd seen while out on a reap earlier in the day. "Do you remember at all what that blue stuff was called?" she asked as they perused the shelves.
"No clue." Usopp shook his head, trying to remember, but so much of that night was just a drunken blur. "I...think it had a dolphin on the label," he finally said. "...or maybe that was a shark."
George picked up a bottle of something blue with some kind of aquatic animal on the label. "Does this look like it?" she asked, holding it up for him to see.
Usopp grinned and nodded. "That's totally it! How much is it? Is it expensive? We should get two!"
George inspected the price. "It's not cheap," she said, "but I think we can swing two."
"Let's go for it, then!" Usopp gave George a thumbs up. "Then we can even save a little and make sure Lucci actually gets to try some this time, too. ...I wonder if he still has that straw I gave him." Usopp inspected the shelves nearby, not seeing anything that piqued his interest. "Want anything else?"
George shrugged. "I'm good with just this." she brought the bottles up to the cash register.
Usopp mentally calculated how much money he'd have leftover after buying a bottle of blue stuff, and grabbed a small four-pack of orange stuff that looked a little promising, too, then hurried after George to the register. He set the pack down on the counter and started fishing through his jeans pockets for the rest of his beli. "How much?" he asked George, meanwhile leaning over to see the total on the cash register anyway.
George didn't bother telling him as he handed over his money. "What's that orange stuff?" she asked, handing over her money as well.
Usopp shrugged. "I dunno. Orange stuff? It looked kind of good. And it's not that much, so why not?" The cashier bagged up their bottles and Usopp took the bag, cradling it in the crook of his right arm as they walked back out into town, starting back toward the place Sunny was docked.
"Do you need me to carry any of that?" George asked, concern knitting her brow. "It looks heavy..."
Usopp shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. It's not really heavy, George. Anyway, I'm practically all healed up." He gave her a fond smile. "Thanks, though."
George shrugged. "No problem. I just. Can carry at least some of it if it's too heavy."
He laughed a little. "Okay, well. If it starts to get heavy I'll tell you and you can carry some of it, how about that?" He moved a little closer to her as they walked, wishing he had an arm free so he could...take her hand, maybe? Link arms? Something like that would be nice. Oh well. He wasn't one hundred percent sure she wouldn't object to something like that anyway, though he thought probably not.
George nodded, and they walked together in silence for a little while, making their way back to the ship. "Do you remember if we mixed the blue stuff with anything last time?" George asked, suddenly.
Usopp's brow furrowed a little as he thought. Remembering much of anything from that night was a bit challenging, but he didn't remember mixing it at all. He mostly just remembered that it was blue, and that they'd decided it was amazing. "...I don't think so," he said carefully. He was fairly sure he remembered drinking it straight with a silly straw, and he remembered giving a straw to Lucci later on in the evening. "You probably would remember better than me, though," he admitted. There was a lot about that night that he could hardly remember at all, including...well. Something he really should have remembered.
"I didn't think we did," George said, shrugging back. "But I could've been remembering wrong." They climbed the plank that led them back onto the ship.
Usopp headed straight for the stairs that lead below deck and down to his Factory. "You wanna go grab some glasses, maybe? Do we want any snacks?"
George smiled at how familiar this scene was. "Sure, I'll grab some ice too. and I think Sanji might've made some cupcakes earlier."
Usopp grinned, his chest aching a little at George's smile, but not in a way that had anything to do with his gunshot wounds. Besides, it wasn't a bad hurt. "Awesome. You can handle that, right? Or do you need me to help carry anything? Otherwise I'll just bring this down there and pull out the pillows and blankets and stuff."
George nodded, falling back into the easy rhythm that was being with Usopp. "I got it," she said, heading for the galley.
Usopp gave her a thumbs-up with his left hand, still balancing their liquor bag in his right, and headed down the stairs, going into his factory. He set the bag down carefully on his work bench and went to the corner of his Factory, where he'd piled most of the extra blankets and pillows and covered them with a tarp to keep them clean. He grabbed a small armload of them, hampered a little by his sling, and brought the to the center of the room, then debated for a moment if he should pull down his and George's bed from where it was still tucked up into the wall. She said she didn't think she should sleep here tonight, so maybe it wouldn't be necessary, though it would probably still make for a more comfortable fort. Undecided, he went back for another armload of pillows.
George came down to the factory a few minutes later, glasses, ice, and cupcakes balanced in hand. "They're red velvet cupcakes!" George said, grinning.
"Oh, awesome!" Usopp dropped the last load of blankets on the pile. "What do you think, should we pull down the bed, or not?"
George paused for a moment. She was really trying to see if it was possible to just be friends with Usopp, but at every turn she was reminded of being with him. Her heart gave a small painful tug. "No," she said, shaking her head quickly. "Don't pull it down."
"Okay. Oh! I have an idea, actually! We could tuck some blankets into the corner and--" Usopp bent and picked up a comforter, pulling out their bed just enough to stick it behind the mattress where it fit into the wall, then doing the same on the other side before letting it fall back into place. "Now we just have to hold it up with something on the other end, but look! Instant canopy!"
George smiled despite herself. "Yeah. That works," she said, nodding. She moved to set down the things she was carrying on Usopp's work table and glanced around the room for the shopping bag. "You want some blue stuff, on ice?" she asked, unscrewing the lid of the bottle.
Usopp nodded emphatically. "Definitely." He cast his eyes around the small room, looking for what would be most helpful in their fort-building. "Actually, can you slide that chair over here?" He picked up two lengths of bamboo that were meant for fishing poles and propped up the other end of their make-shift canopy. This could easily be their most elaborate fort ever. He waited for George before doing anything else, since it wasn't the same if she didn't take part in the process.
George poured them each a large glass of the blue liquid, on ice. She took a large swig of hers, refilled her glass, and then turned back to Usopp to hand him his drink. "So," she said, pausing to take another sip of her drink. "We've got the foundation. Where do we go from here?"
"Thanks." Usopp reached up to take his glass, taking a quick drink before setting it aside to regard their beginnings of a fort. "I guess we should lay a bunch of pillows down here in the middle, so it's more comfortable. And then...hm. We can use the chair and drape some blankets on it, and--what do you think?" He took another longer drink of his blue stuff, licking his lips afterward. "This tastes as good as I remember."
George threw back the rest of her glass while Usopp was explaining. "That sounds great," she said, setting her glass down. "And it is, isn't it?" She slid the chair into place where Usopp had indicated.
Usopp began placing the pillows down, arranging them so there wasn't space between them, then finally spread a plush comforter over the top of them, giving the illusion of a thickly quilted--though somewhat uneven--mattress. He stood to tuck the ends of another comforter into the sides of their bed, lower this time, and draped the other end over the back of the chair. Usopp looked up at George where she was draping a thinner blanket over the top canopy and grinned. "Looks good so far?" When they were together like this, doing the things they used to do, it felt almost like the whole mess with Lucci had never even happened. He couldn't forget it completely, though; it was always there, hovering in the background, no matter how much he tried not to dwell on it.
George finished placing the blanket she was draping and went back to Usopp's table to refill her glass. "Looks great," she said, bringing the bottle back and setting it on the chair. "What's next?" she asked.
Usopp shrugged. George had probably been able to get a better "big picture" view of it, since he was sitting in the middle of it. "What do you think? Does it need anything?" He noticed she was already on her second glass and took another drink of his own.
"I kind of like it the way it is," George said, shrugging and glancing around the room.
"Yeah?" Usopp carefully crawled to the edge of the fort, heavily favoring his left side, then stood and made for his worktable, where the cupcakes and the bag of alcohol sat. "Let's just have this in there, okay?" He turned and regarded the fort. "I bet it's cool in the very middle of it. Since it's like...double-blankets."
George grabbed the already open bottle and her glass and crawled into the nest in the middle of the fort. "Ooh," she said settling down. "Comfy."
"Good." Usopp handed the rest of the stuff to her so he could crawl back inside, heading for the middle part where George was. It was pretty comfortable, and also a little darker than he was expected. He groped for his glass, his eyes not adjusted to the dim light quite yet. He smiled. "Just like old times, huh." Usopp gave a small sigh, but not an unhappy one. "I missed this."
George sighed too, a little guiltily. This was wrong. Couldn't do this without telling him...
She took another large gulp of her drink. "Yeah," she said, pouring herself more. "Me too."
Usopp scooted a little closer to her, holding out his glass for George to refill. "Hey, you're already way ahead of me! ...want to try a bottle of this orange stuff?"
George refilled his glass too. "I have a much higher tolerance for alcohol than you do," she pointed out. "Seriously, what is the orange stuff?"
Usopp looked a little offended, as he always did when someone questioned his alcohol tolerance level. "I'm not a lightweight," he muttered, reaching for the bottles of orange stuff and pulling two. He twisted off the bottle cap of one and handed it to George. "It's just orange stuff," he said with a shrug. "I wanted to try it." He opened his own bottle and took an experimental swig. "...oh. It's really sweet." Not bad, though. And he almost couldn't taste the alcohol at all, which suited him, quite frankly. He usually drank without complaining about it, since to do otherwise seemed unmanly, but he'd never cared for the taste of alcohol.
"You're not a lightweight, I just have an inhuman tolerance for alcohol," George pointed out, taking a sip of the orange stuff. "Pretty good," she said, shrugging and pouring some into her half-empty glass of blue stuff.
"Oh. Right." Usopp took back the glass of blue stuff she'd filled for him and began alternating drinks of it and the bottle or orange stuff. Sitting like this with both hands full was a little uncomfortable, though, and so he finally took an big long drink from his bottle and set it on the chair, adjusting his position a bit and bracing himself up with his right arm. "Want a cupcake?" he asked. He wasn't sure how long George planned to stay, since she'd said she didn't think she should sleep over yet, but he hoped there was no rush.
"Yes," George said, "a cupcake would be lovely." She held out her hand for a cupcake, taking a long swig of her drink, which was now the color of cola.
Usopp obliged, setting his own glass down carefully on a flat gap of floor between pillows, so he wouldn't accidentally knock it over, and leaning forward again and grabbing two cupcakes. He started to hand one to George, and chuckled, moving it at the last minute before she began to reach for it, getting a little bit of frosting on the tip of her nose. ...okay, possibly he was already starting to feel a little tipsy.
George gasped in mock shock. "How dare you?" she asked, wiping the frosting off her nose and licking it off her finger. "How rude."
"Sorry," he said, though he didn't look contrite at all. Rather, he was grinning and laughing just a little. "My hand must've slipped."
"Well you be careful," George insisted. "No wasting frosting." She took another large gulp of her drink. "These taste pretty good mixed together," she noted.
"No, no, of course not. That would be a tragedy." Usopp blinked at her cola-colored concoction. "The blue stuff and the orange stuff?" He took a large bite of his own cupcake, turning back for his glass and washing it down with a large drink. Then he took another, trying to get the level of his glass down enough so he could try mixing the rest of his orange stuff in. Both his hands full with cupcake and glass, he held out his blue drink towards George. "Can you?" he asked, indicating his bottle of orange stuff with a slight incline of his head.
George laughed, balancing her cupcake on one knee so she could pour Usopp's drink for him. "There. Swirl it around to mix it," she said, setting his bottle down on the chair.
He nodded, swirling his glass like she'd said. "Thanks, George," he said, his affection for her growing just a little overwhelming at that point, even though it was so simple a thing. He just missed being with her like normal. He'd been doing his best to pretend he was fine with things right now, since when he didn't hide his feelings, it seemed to make her feel more guilty, but he couldn't help it. He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
George paused and lifted her hand to touch her cheek, guilt bubbling up in her chest. "Usopp..." she said shaking her head a little. She reached for her glass and downed the rest of the contents. She should probably tell him. This was as good a time as any to tell him, right?
"...sorry," Usopp sighed, seeing an uncertain look pass over her face. He looked down at his glass. "I know, we're...on a break. I just...I love you so much. And it's been so hard, not being able to just kiss you whenever we want, like normal." He gave another, smaller sigh. "D-do you think you'll need much more time? I just. I really miss you."
George's guilt caught in her throat and she swallowed heavily. She had to know if things would work out with Lucci, but she couldn't tell him about that now. She didn't say anything else, moving closer to him to rest her head on his shoulder.
"George?" Usopp was somewhat taken by surprise the way she suddenly leaned in close to him. He finished off his cupcake so he could put his arm around her, hugging her a little.
George still didn't say anything, just breathing him in, eyes closed. How the hell was she going to fix this?
Usopp set his drink aside, almost spilling it when he set it on a pillow at first. "Hey," he said softly, reaching to place his thumb under her chin, trying to tip her face up a little so he could see what was going on.
George pulled back and turned away quickly, reaching for the bottle of blue stuff and refilling her glass. "I forgot how good this blue stuff is," she said, voice sounding hollow.
"...yeah," Usopp agreed softly, unsure of what else to say. He let his now-empty arm drop to his side, and turned to pick up his own drink again, sloshing it a tiny bit. Everything was so confusing. He stared into his glass at the cola-colored liquid, finally lifting it for another long drink. In a way, he thought maybe this would be a good time to try broaching the subject of...them. What they were and where they stood. As confused as he felt right now, clarification would be something of an anchor, yet...it really seemed like George was trying to close herself off again, so he doubted it would even go anywhere. Besides, he hated to make her feel bad. Anyway, this day had been so great so far, he would rather keep it happy. He looked up, smiling as he reached for the bottle. "I guess I'll have some more."
George handed him the bottle. "You really deserve someone better than me, Usopp," George blurted, staring into her own glass.
Usopp blinked at her in surprise, the bottle in his hand forgotten. "...don't say stuff like that." He furrowed his brow, trying to get a better look at her face. "It's not like that anyway," he said, choosing his words carefully. "We love each other, it's not about...deserving or anything like that. It's not a contest." He wished he were better at expressing himself more eloquently, or that he would know the exact right thing to say to fix everything. Frankly, he was floundering; how could he be expected to comfort George when he was so unsure of so much himself? ...it probably didn't help that he was also starting to feel more than a little drunk.
"Usopp," George said, shaking her head. She just. Needed to tell him. "It's not a contest but I have been...Lucci..." George paused and chugged her full glass of blue liquid. "Usopp..." she tried again.
He finally managed to fill his glass again, and set the bottle back on the chair. Usopp took another big drink himself, suddenly feeling a little numb. He had a bad feeling about this. "What about Lucci."
"I slept with him," George blurted, avoiding eye contact. Okay, so that wasn't the whole truth yet but...baby steps.
Usopp opened his mouth to speak, and no sound came out. Okay, he hadn't been expected it to be good, but that was a little worse than he'd braced himself for. Suddenly, a lot things made sense, though. Sanji must have known, that was why he seemed so upset about-- He wet his lips, and tried again. "Wh-when? Does this mean you--?" His voice was small and cut off with a crack. Usopp quickly took a large swig of his no-longer-blue stuff, because the idea of thinking about this while sort of mostly sober was the exact opposite of appealing.
George shook her head and poured herself another drink, not knowing what else to say right now. Usopp was clearly already upset and she really couldn't imagine telling him the full truth at the moment. So she drank.
Usopp didn't know what she was responding to with that head shake. He took another drink, nearly emptying his glass, and gave a small, bitter laugh. "...I'm an idiot."
George held out the bottle for him. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I'm sorry."
Usopp ignored the proffered bottle, drawing his knees up to his chest and staring down at the floor of their fort.
George stared at the bottle for a moment before bringing it to her lips and chugging for several long moments. This really sucked.
Usopp was silent as the moments dragged on. Did this mean she'd actually made a decision, or was it just-- He scowled, feeling a tear trickle down his cheek, and reached up to angrily scrub it away with the heel of his hand.
George set the bottle down and moved a little closer to him, noticing the tear. "Usopp..." she said, sounding helpless. "Please don't cry..."
Usopp turned away a little, trying to hide his face. "...I'm not crying," he said, bringing his glass back to his lips to finish off the rest of it.
George wrapped her arms around herself protectively. "I don't know what to say, Usopp."
He sighed deeply, reaching silently for the bottle and refilling his glass. He took another drink, a small one this time, and sighed again. "...what does this mean for us? I--was it just a..." He trailed off, not even sure how to ask what he wanted to know. He realized she must not have made any kind of actual decision yet, and...maybe it was his fault for assuming that even if they were taking that break right now, they were still together, but... This hurt. There was no way around it. He felt betrayed and angry--at George, yes, but mostly at himself.
George bit her lip, already regretting opening this Pandora's box. "I still...care about you, Usopp..." she said carefully, trying to take a step back before things got worse. She was at a complete loss for something to say to comfort him. Maybe there was nothing she could say.
"...care about," he repeated numbly. Just a little while ago she was saying she loved him. Maybe it was just a matter of semantics, but he couldn't ignore how much less strong the other word seemed in comparison.
"...you're my best friend," George said softly, taking the bottle back and pouring herself another glass.
Usopp nodded slowly, tipping back his glass and draining half of it. Then when he was done with that, he took a deep breath and drank the rest, finally flopping onto his back when he finished. He blinking for a moment, staring up at the canopied ceiling of their fort. "But do you still love me?"
George took a long swig of her drink and set the glass down. "I do. I'm...just not sure if I'm still in love with you," she said honestly. "I haven't even barely spent any time with you at all recently and..." she sighed. "Today has been...if felt just like old times. And I miss the way we used to be..." George trailed off, really not sure of where she was going with this.
Usopp winced a little at the first, then focused on the rest of what she'd said, nodding where he lay. "Me too. I miss you so much George. It hurts how much I miss you. A-anyway, since I'm not stuck in the infirmary anymore, and you're back now, maybe we can...fix stuff." He turned his head slightly to look over at her, reaching out to drop his hand somewhat clumsily on top of hers. He was definitely feeling the alcohol now.
"...what if we can't fix it?" George said, shaking her head. She drank the rest of her glass, also definitely feeling the effects of the blue stuff.
Usopp swallowed hard, uncertainty rising up again for a moment. Then he set his jaw, thinking about everything George had told him in the past, when this whole mess first started. She'd told him then how important he was to her and how much she loved him, and he knew that it had been the truth. And if they both felt that strongly, then... "W-we can. We love each other and... I believe in you. So. So..." He trailed off, feeling a little stupid that he didn't have the words to match his feelings. "...so we can fix it. I know we can," he finished lamely, squeezing her hand a little.
"Usopp," George said, shaking her head sadly. "I love someone else too. I slept with someone else. Why aren't you angry?"
He winced at the reminder that she'd slept with Lucci. He'd been trying to ignore that for now. "George..." Usopp began, and trailed off when he didn't know what else to say. He was angry, was the thing, but he was trying not to dwell on that right now. Anyway, much of it was directed at himself. Maybe he really should have forced her to talk about this sooner. Probably. It just meant he'd messed up again. Par for the course. He brought his other hand up and covered his face with it.
George shook her head. "I'm a terrible person," she said, sighing.
"You're not." Usopp said, surprising himself a little with the firmness of his voice.
George laughed humorlessly. "How do you figure?" she asked.
Usopp scowled. "Cut it out," he said. He began to sit up again, struggling a little; between his healing injuries and his balance being sabotaged by the alcohol, it was more difficult than it should have been. Reluctantly, he removed his hand from George's and used it to help prop himself up.
"Usopp," George said, pausing to take another big swig from the bottle. "I've left you hanging for like a month and a half, and now I just told you that I slept with Lucci. That's a pretty fucking shitty thing to do to somebody."
His scowl deepened. Why did she have to keep bringing that up? "...yeah, well. It's definitely not good. ...ha. I guess maybe I'm not really your boyfriend anymore right now, am I?" He gave another bitter laugh, and tried to remember why he'd bothered sitting up again. The floor had been so comfortable...
George sighed heavily. "I wouldn't want to still be my boyfriend if I were you," she said, pouring the rest of her orange stuff into her glass with some more blue stuff. She downed the whole thing in a few large gulps.
"Well. It's not like it hasn't been really hard lately," Usopp admitted, reaching to take the bottle of blue stuff from her, and deflating a little when he saw it was as good as empty. "But. I told you I'd wait. I'm--I can wait. ...it doesn't really matter anyway," he continued in a murmur. "It's not like I can stop loving you."
"We have another bottle," George murmured, distractedly. "You feel exactly the same as you did two months ago?" she asked incredulously.
"Oh, right." He'd forgotten they bought more. There was also more orange stuff. Usopp leaned over for the bag of liquor and took out the bottle of blue stuff--he squinted at the label; there was a dolphin on it, and the name "Bleu de la Mer"--oh well, "blue stuff" was just easier anyway. "Why wouldn't I?" he asked, a little preoccupied as he tried to get the bottle top unscrewed. It was proving more difficult than it probably should. Maybe that was a sign he should stop drinking--how much had he even had already?--but...one more glass probably couldn't hurt. He still felt a little too sober for all of this.
George downed the rest of the first bottle, hiccuping as she set it down. "I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "It's been over a month. That much time is supposed to give you perspective and shit. I love you and. That's why I meant it when I said you'd be better off with someone else."
"Yeah, well. That's wrong." He finally got the top unscrewed and gave a small sigh of relief, pouring himself another glass, then lifting it in George's direction, silently asking if she wanted him to pour her some more, too.
George was pretty sure she shouldn't drink anymore, but...she held out her glass anyway. "You really are, Usopp," George said, hiccuping again.
Usopp leaned forward to fill her glass, taking extra care not to spill. "I really am what?" Belatedly, he realized what she meant, and frowned. "Maybe I already have perspective. Anyway, I'm not that...fickle, or whatever. Actually," he said, giving a slightly-exasperated sigh, "I'm getting a little sick of people acting like I'm supposed to just...stop loving you. My mom waited for my dad for years you know. Years. And she never stopped loving him, not at all."
George pouted. "I don't want that for you, Usopp. That's not fair. To either of us."
He couldn't help rolling his eyes a bit. "It's only been like a month, George. I can handle it."
"I'm not worth all this," George said, shaking her head. She took another large gulp of her blue stuff. "I'm really not.
"Stop saying stuff like that!" Usopp reached over and grabbed her hand again. "If that's what you think, you're just--you're wrong, okay?" He scowled, continuing reluctantly, "...and. Lucci would probably tell you the same thing." His face softened a little, and he looked down. "A-anyway. I love you, and don't tell me I shouldn't, or that you're not worth it, or anything like that, because it's not true. Okay?"
"Why?" George asked, sitting back against the pillows. She took another gulp of her drink before setting it on the chair. She'd completely forgotten about her cupcake and took a bite out of it.
Usopp sighed. "Is it really that hard to believe that someone loves you?" In a way, he knew exactly how she felt. After all, he'd wondered the same thing a million times over the course of their relationship, and still did. Recent events hadn't exactly done a lot for his confidence, after all. It just seemed so wrong that George would feel like that, too.
George shook her head. "No one ever did before."
Usopp gave her hand another small squeeze. He didn't know how else to reassure her, and once again, he felt like everything he was saying was coming out wrong or having the opposite effect he'd intended. He was silent for a long moment, then brought his glass to his lips and drank, taking his time. There was a definite alcohol taste to the blue stuff, but though it was not nearly as sweet as the orange stuff, the flavor of it blended well and cut through the worst of the taste. He wondered absently if he still had any silly straws left, still having that association of them from the last time he and George had sat in a fort and drank blue stuff. Most of that night was a blur, really.
George sighed, letting the silence stretch out. Sitting back up to grab her cupcake and take another bite, she began to realize just how drunk she was. I may have gone slightly overboard, she thought to herself, absently wondering if the cupcake would do anything at all to sober her up at this point.
Usopp had forgotten the cupcakes, too; even though he'd already finished his first one, George had brought two for each of them. He couldn't decide if the idea of eating another one was appealing or not, though. His stomach felt kind of sloshy and weird right now, but...red velvet cupcake. He took another long, slow drink as he tried to decide.
George ate the bottom off her second cupcake and set it back down. "These cupcakes are really good," she said, finally breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Usopp said a little absently, but that was enough for him to make up his mind. He lifted his hand from hers and grabbed for the remaining cupcake, almost overbalancing and tipping forward a bit since he'd apparently misjudged the distance. He managed not to spill any of his drink, though. He felt a little accomplished about that.
CONTINUE TO PART TWO
What: Forts, red velvet cupcakes, blue stuff, a touch of angst, and the long-awaited reunion. Sort of. >.>
Where: in town on an island, then Usopp's Factory
When: the evening and night of January 24/25th.
Rating: PG for this part
Usopp slid his spoon over the ice cream dish before him, picking up the last of the hot fudge from the brownie sundae he'd had for dessert. The restaurant he and George had decided on for dinner wasn't fancy--more of a diner, really, but that suited them just fine. Sometimes something simple like burgers and fries were best, and besides, neither of them really had a lot of money. He stuck the spoon in his mouth and sucked it, giving a small contented sigh. "How was yours?"
George ate one last bite of chocolate ice cream. "Delicious," she said, flopping back in her chair and patting her stomach. "I couldn't eat another bite."
Usopp grinned, finally giving up on his sundae dish and pushing it away from him. "Today was fun, right? We haven't had a chance to do this for a while. I mean, with me being stuck in bed for so long, and I guess none of the islands we've been to lately have really had much to do..." He put his right elbow on the table and leaned into his hand. He still had to be careful with his left side, but it didn't even hurt anymore, if he wasn't careless.
"Yeah," George said, taking another bite of ice cream even though she'd just said she couldn't eat anymore. "We haven't gotten to hang out in a long time."
Noticing the way she went back to the ice cream, Usopp chuckled a little, slightly envious. He wouldn't mind a little more dessert either, but his sundae was completely finished. "Yep," he said. "Hanging out in the infirmary doesn't really count. I mean. It wasn't the same. Anyway..." He looked up at her and smiled. "I missed you. A lot."
George tried to smile back but it was a little strained, probably with guilt. "I missed you too," she said, taking another bite of ice cream.
Usopp noticed something was a little off about the smile, and debated whether or not he should mention it. Probably she still felt bad that she hadn't made a decision yet, but...Sanji had said he thought Usopp should try talking to her about that again soon. Which...he probably should. He just didn't like the way it seemed to make her feel more guilty and upset, and then he felt like he was the cause of it. Still, as hard as he tried, it wasn't easy to just ignore the elephant in the room. Then again, he felt like it might be a bad note to end this day on, so he decided to push it off for now. They had plenty of time, and this was the first time they'd properly hung out outside of Sunny for a while. "Oh. Hey, why don't we make that fort after we're done here? I've still got all the pillows and stuff..."
George's smile became just a little more genuine. "Yeah, that sounds like fun," she said.
Usopp noted the change in the quality of her smile, and his own grew a bit. That was more like it. "Awesome," he said, looking up as the waiter appeared with their check.
George slid some money across the table. "For my half," she said. "And we should stop by a liquor store or something on the way back.
Usopp picked up the beli she'd slid over to him; he'd been expecting to pay, but if she wanted to pay her share, he certainly wasn't going to complain. He looked up at her and blinked slightly, a little surprised by her second statement. "O-oh. Yeah, I guess that we could. I think I saw one on the corner." He grinned. "Maybe they have blue stuff."
George stood up, smiling. "Blue stuff would be fun," she said, wrapping her scarf around her neck.
After counting out his bills and leaving enough for a tip, Usopp placed the money on the table and stood as well, carefully slinging the strap of his bag over his right shoulder. He glanced over his remaining beli: definitely enough to buy a bottle or two of something to drink, and George probably had a bit more cash as well. He let his left arm settle back into the sling Chopper still had him wearing; he didn't think he really needed it anymore, but it did keep his arm nice and still while he walked, so he decided to bear with it a little longer.
George walked out of the restaurant with Usopp, heading straight for the liquor store she'd seen while out on a reap earlier in the day. "Do you remember at all what that blue stuff was called?" she asked as they perused the shelves.
"No clue." Usopp shook his head, trying to remember, but so much of that night was just a drunken blur. "I...think it had a dolphin on the label," he finally said. "...or maybe that was a shark."
George picked up a bottle of something blue with some kind of aquatic animal on the label. "Does this look like it?" she asked, holding it up for him to see.
Usopp grinned and nodded. "That's totally it! How much is it? Is it expensive? We should get two!"
George inspected the price. "It's not cheap," she said, "but I think we can swing two."
"Let's go for it, then!" Usopp gave George a thumbs up. "Then we can even save a little and make sure Lucci actually gets to try some this time, too. ...I wonder if he still has that straw I gave him." Usopp inspected the shelves nearby, not seeing anything that piqued his interest. "Want anything else?"
George shrugged. "I'm good with just this." she brought the bottles up to the cash register.
Usopp mentally calculated how much money he'd have leftover after buying a bottle of blue stuff, and grabbed a small four-pack of orange stuff that looked a little promising, too, then hurried after George to the register. He set the pack down on the counter and started fishing through his jeans pockets for the rest of his beli. "How much?" he asked George, meanwhile leaning over to see the total on the cash register anyway.
George didn't bother telling him as he handed over his money. "What's that orange stuff?" she asked, handing over her money as well.
Usopp shrugged. "I dunno. Orange stuff? It looked kind of good. And it's not that much, so why not?" The cashier bagged up their bottles and Usopp took the bag, cradling it in the crook of his right arm as they walked back out into town, starting back toward the place Sunny was docked.
"Do you need me to carry any of that?" George asked, concern knitting her brow. "It looks heavy..."
Usopp shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. It's not really heavy, George. Anyway, I'm practically all healed up." He gave her a fond smile. "Thanks, though."
George shrugged. "No problem. I just. Can carry at least some of it if it's too heavy."
He laughed a little. "Okay, well. If it starts to get heavy I'll tell you and you can carry some of it, how about that?" He moved a little closer to her as they walked, wishing he had an arm free so he could...take her hand, maybe? Link arms? Something like that would be nice. Oh well. He wasn't one hundred percent sure she wouldn't object to something like that anyway, though he thought probably not.
George nodded, and they walked together in silence for a little while, making their way back to the ship. "Do you remember if we mixed the blue stuff with anything last time?" George asked, suddenly.
Usopp's brow furrowed a little as he thought. Remembering much of anything from that night was a bit challenging, but he didn't remember mixing it at all. He mostly just remembered that it was blue, and that they'd decided it was amazing. "...I don't think so," he said carefully. He was fairly sure he remembered drinking it straight with a silly straw, and he remembered giving a straw to Lucci later on in the evening. "You probably would remember better than me, though," he admitted. There was a lot about that night that he could hardly remember at all, including...well. Something he really should have remembered.
"I didn't think we did," George said, shrugging back. "But I could've been remembering wrong." They climbed the plank that led them back onto the ship.
Usopp headed straight for the stairs that lead below deck and down to his Factory. "You wanna go grab some glasses, maybe? Do we want any snacks?"
George smiled at how familiar this scene was. "Sure, I'll grab some ice too. and I think Sanji might've made some cupcakes earlier."
Usopp grinned, his chest aching a little at George's smile, but not in a way that had anything to do with his gunshot wounds. Besides, it wasn't a bad hurt. "Awesome. You can handle that, right? Or do you need me to help carry anything? Otherwise I'll just bring this down there and pull out the pillows and blankets and stuff."
George nodded, falling back into the easy rhythm that was being with Usopp. "I got it," she said, heading for the galley.
Usopp gave her a thumbs-up with his left hand, still balancing their liquor bag in his right, and headed down the stairs, going into his factory. He set the bag down carefully on his work bench and went to the corner of his Factory, where he'd piled most of the extra blankets and pillows and covered them with a tarp to keep them clean. He grabbed a small armload of them, hampered a little by his sling, and brought the to the center of the room, then debated for a moment if he should pull down his and George's bed from where it was still tucked up into the wall. She said she didn't think she should sleep here tonight, so maybe it wouldn't be necessary, though it would probably still make for a more comfortable fort. Undecided, he went back for another armload of pillows.
George came down to the factory a few minutes later, glasses, ice, and cupcakes balanced in hand. "They're red velvet cupcakes!" George said, grinning.
"Oh, awesome!" Usopp dropped the last load of blankets on the pile. "What do you think, should we pull down the bed, or not?"
George paused for a moment. She was really trying to see if it was possible to just be friends with Usopp, but at every turn she was reminded of being with him. Her heart gave a small painful tug. "No," she said, shaking her head quickly. "Don't pull it down."
"Okay. Oh! I have an idea, actually! We could tuck some blankets into the corner and--" Usopp bent and picked up a comforter, pulling out their bed just enough to stick it behind the mattress where it fit into the wall, then doing the same on the other side before letting it fall back into place. "Now we just have to hold it up with something on the other end, but look! Instant canopy!"
George smiled despite herself. "Yeah. That works," she said, nodding. She moved to set down the things she was carrying on Usopp's work table and glanced around the room for the shopping bag. "You want some blue stuff, on ice?" she asked, unscrewing the lid of the bottle.
Usopp nodded emphatically. "Definitely." He cast his eyes around the small room, looking for what would be most helpful in their fort-building. "Actually, can you slide that chair over here?" He picked up two lengths of bamboo that were meant for fishing poles and propped up the other end of their make-shift canopy. This could easily be their most elaborate fort ever. He waited for George before doing anything else, since it wasn't the same if she didn't take part in the process.
George poured them each a large glass of the blue liquid, on ice. She took a large swig of hers, refilled her glass, and then turned back to Usopp to hand him his drink. "So," she said, pausing to take another sip of her drink. "We've got the foundation. Where do we go from here?"
"Thanks." Usopp reached up to take his glass, taking a quick drink before setting it aside to regard their beginnings of a fort. "I guess we should lay a bunch of pillows down here in the middle, so it's more comfortable. And then...hm. We can use the chair and drape some blankets on it, and--what do you think?" He took another longer drink of his blue stuff, licking his lips afterward. "This tastes as good as I remember."
George threw back the rest of her glass while Usopp was explaining. "That sounds great," she said, setting her glass down. "And it is, isn't it?" She slid the chair into place where Usopp had indicated.
Usopp began placing the pillows down, arranging them so there wasn't space between them, then finally spread a plush comforter over the top of them, giving the illusion of a thickly quilted--though somewhat uneven--mattress. He stood to tuck the ends of another comforter into the sides of their bed, lower this time, and draped the other end over the back of the chair. Usopp looked up at George where she was draping a thinner blanket over the top canopy and grinned. "Looks good so far?" When they were together like this, doing the things they used to do, it felt almost like the whole mess with Lucci had never even happened. He couldn't forget it completely, though; it was always there, hovering in the background, no matter how much he tried not to dwell on it.
George finished placing the blanket she was draping and went back to Usopp's table to refill her glass. "Looks great," she said, bringing the bottle back and setting it on the chair. "What's next?" she asked.
Usopp shrugged. George had probably been able to get a better "big picture" view of it, since he was sitting in the middle of it. "What do you think? Does it need anything?" He noticed she was already on her second glass and took another drink of his own.
"I kind of like it the way it is," George said, shrugging and glancing around the room.
"Yeah?" Usopp carefully crawled to the edge of the fort, heavily favoring his left side, then stood and made for his worktable, where the cupcakes and the bag of alcohol sat. "Let's just have this in there, okay?" He turned and regarded the fort. "I bet it's cool in the very middle of it. Since it's like...double-blankets."
George grabbed the already open bottle and her glass and crawled into the nest in the middle of the fort. "Ooh," she said settling down. "Comfy."
"Good." Usopp handed the rest of the stuff to her so he could crawl back inside, heading for the middle part where George was. It was pretty comfortable, and also a little darker than he was expected. He groped for his glass, his eyes not adjusted to the dim light quite yet. He smiled. "Just like old times, huh." Usopp gave a small sigh, but not an unhappy one. "I missed this."
George sighed too, a little guiltily. This was wrong. Couldn't do this without telling him...
She took another large gulp of her drink. "Yeah," she said, pouring herself more. "Me too."
Usopp scooted a little closer to her, holding out his glass for George to refill. "Hey, you're already way ahead of me! ...want to try a bottle of this orange stuff?"
George refilled his glass too. "I have a much higher tolerance for alcohol than you do," she pointed out. "Seriously, what is the orange stuff?"
Usopp looked a little offended, as he always did when someone questioned his alcohol tolerance level. "I'm not a lightweight," he muttered, reaching for the bottles of orange stuff and pulling two. He twisted off the bottle cap of one and handed it to George. "It's just orange stuff," he said with a shrug. "I wanted to try it." He opened his own bottle and took an experimental swig. "...oh. It's really sweet." Not bad, though. And he almost couldn't taste the alcohol at all, which suited him, quite frankly. He usually drank without complaining about it, since to do otherwise seemed unmanly, but he'd never cared for the taste of alcohol.
"You're not a lightweight, I just have an inhuman tolerance for alcohol," George pointed out, taking a sip of the orange stuff. "Pretty good," she said, shrugging and pouring some into her half-empty glass of blue stuff.
"Oh. Right." Usopp took back the glass of blue stuff she'd filled for him and began alternating drinks of it and the bottle or orange stuff. Sitting like this with both hands full was a little uncomfortable, though, and so he finally took an big long drink from his bottle and set it on the chair, adjusting his position a bit and bracing himself up with his right arm. "Want a cupcake?" he asked. He wasn't sure how long George planned to stay, since she'd said she didn't think she should sleep over yet, but he hoped there was no rush.
"Yes," George said, "a cupcake would be lovely." She held out her hand for a cupcake, taking a long swig of her drink, which was now the color of cola.
Usopp obliged, setting his own glass down carefully on a flat gap of floor between pillows, so he wouldn't accidentally knock it over, and leaning forward again and grabbing two cupcakes. He started to hand one to George, and chuckled, moving it at the last minute before she began to reach for it, getting a little bit of frosting on the tip of her nose. ...okay, possibly he was already starting to feel a little tipsy.
George gasped in mock shock. "How dare you?" she asked, wiping the frosting off her nose and licking it off her finger. "How rude."
"Sorry," he said, though he didn't look contrite at all. Rather, he was grinning and laughing just a little. "My hand must've slipped."
"Well you be careful," George insisted. "No wasting frosting." She took another large gulp of her drink. "These taste pretty good mixed together," she noted.
"No, no, of course not. That would be a tragedy." Usopp blinked at her cola-colored concoction. "The blue stuff and the orange stuff?" He took a large bite of his own cupcake, turning back for his glass and washing it down with a large drink. Then he took another, trying to get the level of his glass down enough so he could try mixing the rest of his orange stuff in. Both his hands full with cupcake and glass, he held out his blue drink towards George. "Can you?" he asked, indicating his bottle of orange stuff with a slight incline of his head.
George laughed, balancing her cupcake on one knee so she could pour Usopp's drink for him. "There. Swirl it around to mix it," she said, setting his bottle down on the chair.
He nodded, swirling his glass like she'd said. "Thanks, George," he said, his affection for her growing just a little overwhelming at that point, even though it was so simple a thing. He just missed being with her like normal. He'd been doing his best to pretend he was fine with things right now, since when he didn't hide his feelings, it seemed to make her feel more guilty, but he couldn't help it. He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
George paused and lifted her hand to touch her cheek, guilt bubbling up in her chest. "Usopp..." she said shaking her head a little. She reached for her glass and downed the rest of the contents. She should probably tell him. This was as good a time as any to tell him, right?
"...sorry," Usopp sighed, seeing an uncertain look pass over her face. He looked down at his glass. "I know, we're...on a break. I just...I love you so much. And it's been so hard, not being able to just kiss you whenever we want, like normal." He gave another, smaller sigh. "D-do you think you'll need much more time? I just. I really miss you."
George's guilt caught in her throat and she swallowed heavily. She had to know if things would work out with Lucci, but she couldn't tell him about that now. She didn't say anything else, moving closer to him to rest her head on his shoulder.
"George?" Usopp was somewhat taken by surprise the way she suddenly leaned in close to him. He finished off his cupcake so he could put his arm around her, hugging her a little.
George still didn't say anything, just breathing him in, eyes closed. How the hell was she going to fix this?
Usopp set his drink aside, almost spilling it when he set it on a pillow at first. "Hey," he said softly, reaching to place his thumb under her chin, trying to tip her face up a little so he could see what was going on.
George pulled back and turned away quickly, reaching for the bottle of blue stuff and refilling her glass. "I forgot how good this blue stuff is," she said, voice sounding hollow.
"...yeah," Usopp agreed softly, unsure of what else to say. He let his now-empty arm drop to his side, and turned to pick up his own drink again, sloshing it a tiny bit. Everything was so confusing. He stared into his glass at the cola-colored liquid, finally lifting it for another long drink. In a way, he thought maybe this would be a good time to try broaching the subject of...them. What they were and where they stood. As confused as he felt right now, clarification would be something of an anchor, yet...it really seemed like George was trying to close herself off again, so he doubted it would even go anywhere. Besides, he hated to make her feel bad. Anyway, this day had been so great so far, he would rather keep it happy. He looked up, smiling as he reached for the bottle. "I guess I'll have some more."
George handed him the bottle. "You really deserve someone better than me, Usopp," George blurted, staring into her own glass.
Usopp blinked at her in surprise, the bottle in his hand forgotten. "...don't say stuff like that." He furrowed his brow, trying to get a better look at her face. "It's not like that anyway," he said, choosing his words carefully. "We love each other, it's not about...deserving or anything like that. It's not a contest." He wished he were better at expressing himself more eloquently, or that he would know the exact right thing to say to fix everything. Frankly, he was floundering; how could he be expected to comfort George when he was so unsure of so much himself? ...it probably didn't help that he was also starting to feel more than a little drunk.
"Usopp," George said, shaking her head. She just. Needed to tell him. "It's not a contest but I have been...Lucci..." George paused and chugged her full glass of blue liquid. "Usopp..." she tried again.
He finally managed to fill his glass again, and set the bottle back on the chair. Usopp took another big drink himself, suddenly feeling a little numb. He had a bad feeling about this. "What about Lucci."
"I slept with him," George blurted, avoiding eye contact. Okay, so that wasn't the whole truth yet but...baby steps.
Usopp opened his mouth to speak, and no sound came out. Okay, he hadn't been expected it to be good, but that was a little worse than he'd braced himself for. Suddenly, a lot things made sense, though. Sanji must have known, that was why he seemed so upset about-- He wet his lips, and tried again. "Wh-when? Does this mean you--?" His voice was small and cut off with a crack. Usopp quickly took a large swig of his no-longer-blue stuff, because the idea of thinking about this while sort of mostly sober was the exact opposite of appealing.
George shook her head and poured herself another drink, not knowing what else to say right now. Usopp was clearly already upset and she really couldn't imagine telling him the full truth at the moment. So she drank.
Usopp didn't know what she was responding to with that head shake. He took another drink, nearly emptying his glass, and gave a small, bitter laugh. "...I'm an idiot."
George held out the bottle for him. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I'm sorry."
Usopp ignored the proffered bottle, drawing his knees up to his chest and staring down at the floor of their fort.
George stared at the bottle for a moment before bringing it to her lips and chugging for several long moments. This really sucked.
Usopp was silent as the moments dragged on. Did this mean she'd actually made a decision, or was it just-- He scowled, feeling a tear trickle down his cheek, and reached up to angrily scrub it away with the heel of his hand.
George set the bottle down and moved a little closer to him, noticing the tear. "Usopp..." she said, sounding helpless. "Please don't cry..."
Usopp turned away a little, trying to hide his face. "...I'm not crying," he said, bringing his glass back to his lips to finish off the rest of it.
George wrapped her arms around herself protectively. "I don't know what to say, Usopp."
He sighed deeply, reaching silently for the bottle and refilling his glass. He took another drink, a small one this time, and sighed again. "...what does this mean for us? I--was it just a..." He trailed off, not even sure how to ask what he wanted to know. He realized she must not have made any kind of actual decision yet, and...maybe it was his fault for assuming that even if they were taking that break right now, they were still together, but... This hurt. There was no way around it. He felt betrayed and angry--at George, yes, but mostly at himself.
George bit her lip, already regretting opening this Pandora's box. "I still...care about you, Usopp..." she said carefully, trying to take a step back before things got worse. She was at a complete loss for something to say to comfort him. Maybe there was nothing she could say.
"...care about," he repeated numbly. Just a little while ago she was saying she loved him. Maybe it was just a matter of semantics, but he couldn't ignore how much less strong the other word seemed in comparison.
"...you're my best friend," George said softly, taking the bottle back and pouring herself another glass.
Usopp nodded slowly, tipping back his glass and draining half of it. Then when he was done with that, he took a deep breath and drank the rest, finally flopping onto his back when he finished. He blinking for a moment, staring up at the canopied ceiling of their fort. "But do you still love me?"
George took a long swig of her drink and set the glass down. "I do. I'm...just not sure if I'm still in love with you," she said honestly. "I haven't even barely spent any time with you at all recently and..." she sighed. "Today has been...if felt just like old times. And I miss the way we used to be..." George trailed off, really not sure of where she was going with this.
Usopp winced a little at the first, then focused on the rest of what she'd said, nodding where he lay. "Me too. I miss you so much George. It hurts how much I miss you. A-anyway, since I'm not stuck in the infirmary anymore, and you're back now, maybe we can...fix stuff." He turned his head slightly to look over at her, reaching out to drop his hand somewhat clumsily on top of hers. He was definitely feeling the alcohol now.
"...what if we can't fix it?" George said, shaking her head. She drank the rest of her glass, also definitely feeling the effects of the blue stuff.
Usopp swallowed hard, uncertainty rising up again for a moment. Then he set his jaw, thinking about everything George had told him in the past, when this whole mess first started. She'd told him then how important he was to her and how much she loved him, and he knew that it had been the truth. And if they both felt that strongly, then... "W-we can. We love each other and... I believe in you. So. So..." He trailed off, feeling a little stupid that he didn't have the words to match his feelings. "...so we can fix it. I know we can," he finished lamely, squeezing her hand a little.
"Usopp," George said, shaking her head sadly. "I love someone else too. I slept with someone else. Why aren't you angry?"
He winced at the reminder that she'd slept with Lucci. He'd been trying to ignore that for now. "George..." Usopp began, and trailed off when he didn't know what else to say. He was angry, was the thing, but he was trying not to dwell on that right now. Anyway, much of it was directed at himself. Maybe he really should have forced her to talk about this sooner. Probably. It just meant he'd messed up again. Par for the course. He brought his other hand up and covered his face with it.
George shook her head. "I'm a terrible person," she said, sighing.
"You're not." Usopp said, surprising himself a little with the firmness of his voice.
George laughed humorlessly. "How do you figure?" she asked.
Usopp scowled. "Cut it out," he said. He began to sit up again, struggling a little; between his healing injuries and his balance being sabotaged by the alcohol, it was more difficult than it should have been. Reluctantly, he removed his hand from George's and used it to help prop himself up.
"Usopp," George said, pausing to take another big swig from the bottle. "I've left you hanging for like a month and a half, and now I just told you that I slept with Lucci. That's a pretty fucking shitty thing to do to somebody."
His scowl deepened. Why did she have to keep bringing that up? "...yeah, well. It's definitely not good. ...ha. I guess maybe I'm not really your boyfriend anymore right now, am I?" He gave another bitter laugh, and tried to remember why he'd bothered sitting up again. The floor had been so comfortable...
George sighed heavily. "I wouldn't want to still be my boyfriend if I were you," she said, pouring the rest of her orange stuff into her glass with some more blue stuff. She downed the whole thing in a few large gulps.
"Well. It's not like it hasn't been really hard lately," Usopp admitted, reaching to take the bottle of blue stuff from her, and deflating a little when he saw it was as good as empty. "But. I told you I'd wait. I'm--I can wait. ...it doesn't really matter anyway," he continued in a murmur. "It's not like I can stop loving you."
"We have another bottle," George murmured, distractedly. "You feel exactly the same as you did two months ago?" she asked incredulously.
"Oh, right." He'd forgotten they bought more. There was also more orange stuff. Usopp leaned over for the bag of liquor and took out the bottle of blue stuff--he squinted at the label; there was a dolphin on it, and the name "Bleu de la Mer"--oh well, "blue stuff" was just easier anyway. "Why wouldn't I?" he asked, a little preoccupied as he tried to get the bottle top unscrewed. It was proving more difficult than it probably should. Maybe that was a sign he should stop drinking--how much had he even had already?--but...one more glass probably couldn't hurt. He still felt a little too sober for all of this.
George downed the rest of the first bottle, hiccuping as she set it down. "I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "It's been over a month. That much time is supposed to give you perspective and shit. I love you and. That's why I meant it when I said you'd be better off with someone else."
"Yeah, well. That's wrong." He finally got the top unscrewed and gave a small sigh of relief, pouring himself another glass, then lifting it in George's direction, silently asking if she wanted him to pour her some more, too.
George was pretty sure she shouldn't drink anymore, but...she held out her glass anyway. "You really are, Usopp," George said, hiccuping again.
Usopp leaned forward to fill her glass, taking extra care not to spill. "I really am what?" Belatedly, he realized what she meant, and frowned. "Maybe I already have perspective. Anyway, I'm not that...fickle, or whatever. Actually," he said, giving a slightly-exasperated sigh, "I'm getting a little sick of people acting like I'm supposed to just...stop loving you. My mom waited for my dad for years you know. Years. And she never stopped loving him, not at all."
George pouted. "I don't want that for you, Usopp. That's not fair. To either of us."
He couldn't help rolling his eyes a bit. "It's only been like a month, George. I can handle it."
"I'm not worth all this," George said, shaking her head. She took another large gulp of her blue stuff. "I'm really not.
"Stop saying stuff like that!" Usopp reached over and grabbed her hand again. "If that's what you think, you're just--you're wrong, okay?" He scowled, continuing reluctantly, "...and. Lucci would probably tell you the same thing." His face softened a little, and he looked down. "A-anyway. I love you, and don't tell me I shouldn't, or that you're not worth it, or anything like that, because it's not true. Okay?"
"Why?" George asked, sitting back against the pillows. She took another gulp of her drink before setting it on the chair. She'd completely forgotten about her cupcake and took a bite out of it.
Usopp sighed. "Is it really that hard to believe that someone loves you?" In a way, he knew exactly how she felt. After all, he'd wondered the same thing a million times over the course of their relationship, and still did. Recent events hadn't exactly done a lot for his confidence, after all. It just seemed so wrong that George would feel like that, too.
George shook her head. "No one ever did before."
Usopp gave her hand another small squeeze. He didn't know how else to reassure her, and once again, he felt like everything he was saying was coming out wrong or having the opposite effect he'd intended. He was silent for a long moment, then brought his glass to his lips and drank, taking his time. There was a definite alcohol taste to the blue stuff, but though it was not nearly as sweet as the orange stuff, the flavor of it blended well and cut through the worst of the taste. He wondered absently if he still had any silly straws left, still having that association of them from the last time he and George had sat in a fort and drank blue stuff. Most of that night was a blur, really.
George sighed, letting the silence stretch out. Sitting back up to grab her cupcake and take another bite, she began to realize just how drunk she was. I may have gone slightly overboard, she thought to herself, absently wondering if the cupcake would do anything at all to sober her up at this point.
Usopp had forgotten the cupcakes, too; even though he'd already finished his first one, George had brought two for each of them. He couldn't decide if the idea of eating another one was appealing or not, though. His stomach felt kind of sloshy and weird right now, but...red velvet cupcake. He took another long, slow drink as he tried to decide.
George ate the bottom off her second cupcake and set it back down. "These cupcakes are really good," she said, finally breaking the silence.
"Yeah," Usopp said a little absently, but that was enough for him to make up his mind. He lifted his hand from hers and grabbed for the remaining cupcake, almost overbalancing and tipping forward a bit since he'd apparently misjudged the distance. He managed not to spill any of his drink, though. He felt a little accomplished about that.
CONTINUE TO PART TWO