Pleasantries - Chapter 5 - Faking It - Part 6
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I ndex Chapter 4
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Part 3 Chapter 5
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
interlude
Part 6
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Continued from Part 5 (with a relatively important side trip through the interlude " Baby" which you may want to read first if you haven't)
Advisories are in Part 1. Major feature this time around Adult Situations containing those who shouldn't be in adult situations and alcohol consumption.
It's been forever, I know, and because of that I was a little rusty on posing some of these. Forgive me just this once, k?
Pleasantries - Chapter 5 - Faking It - Part 6
9:45 PM Friday, May 16
“Ha!” Damon announced triumphantly, “The bar is open.”
“Your dad is gonna be so pissed when he finds out, man,” Dirk shook his head chuckling.
“That’s why we are going to blame you, Dreamer,” Tybalt smirked at him.
“What? But …” Dirk started to protest.
“It was completely you,” Fen cut him off.
Rein nodded, “It was you.”
“Lil!” Dirk whined, “Help me out here!”
“Sorry, Dirk,” Lilith grinned at him, “I saw you do it.”
“Some fucking friends,” Dirk sulked, “You just better hope you can get that replaced before your dad notices.”
“Ripp? You want a drink?” Damon asked as he filled the glasses held out toward him. When there was no response he looked toward the back couch, “Ripp? Tel?”
All eyes scanned the room looking for their missing friends.
One by one their gazes settled on the now closed guestroom door.
“No fucking way!” Damon’s startled exclamation broke the stunned silence that had settled over the room.
“Cheers,” Fen murmured under his breath.
Tybalt echoed the motion, raising his glass in a silent toast.
Had either of them noticed the scowl Dirk wore as he drained his glass in one gulp, they may not have been so quick to celebrate on their friends’ behalf.
“Pour me another one,” Dirk held out his glass to a still stunned Damon, “I’m gonna need it to forget what’s going on in there.”
* * *
11:15 PM Friday, May 16
Several glasses and a new bottle later, the lights had been dimmed in the main room.
“I don’t get it, Lil,” Dirk sighed from his position leaning against her shoulder as they sat against the edge of the pool table, “What’s wrong with us?”
She swung her head around to look at him, the light headed feeling making it difficult to focus, “We’re wrong?”
“We are,” he nodded, propping his chin on her shoulder, “I’m a guy, right? And you’re a girl.”
“I am!” she agreed almost as if it were an exciting new discovery.
“So how come with that going on over there,” he paused pointing to the couches their friends were occupying.
“And God only knows what in there!” he gestured with the bottle in his hand toward the guestroom, “We are just sitting here on the floor getting drunk?”
Lilith frowned thoughtfully for a moment attempting to grab hold of the bottle waving around in front of her. It wasn’t working.
It took her a moment to work out if she half closed one eye thinking was a bit easier. Catching the bottle was still proving difficult though. “Because whatever this slightly brown stuff is in this new bottle is a lot stronger than the first one?”
Dirk slowly shook his head, letting go of the bottle as Lilith managed to get hold of it at last, “Not what I meant.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t like me enough to kiss me,” he murmured.
“So?” she countered, “You don’t like me enough to kiss me.”
Dirk’s eyes widened, “That’s true.”
“Hey, Dirk?” Lilith fumbled with the bottle attempting to set it down.
“Yeah?”
“I have a secret.”
“What’s that?”
“I like Winston enough to kiss him.”
“Lil,” he sighed flopping back against the table, “Everyone knows that”
“Everyone knows what?” Tybalt asked joining them on the floor.
“She likes Winston.”
“Oh, yeah. That’s not news, Lil.”
Lilith frowned, “So how come no one told me?”
“Because,” Damon snapped as he stomped past behind Tybalt, “Unless you are a fucking camera you don’t matter.”
Lilith and Dirk stared after him with matching stunned expressions.
Tybalt scowled, retrieving the bottle from the floor between them.
“What’s his problem?” Dirk asked as he and Lilith slowly pivoted their heads back to look at Tybalt.
Tybalt snorted, “He’s not paying me.”
“What?!”
“Just don’t ask.”
* * *
12:20 AM Saturday, May 17
“I can’t feel my teeth.” Lilith announced.
Dirk shot her a crooked glance, “You can usually feel your teeth?”
“Nah,” she grinned at him, “But now they are all tingly and numb feeling so I can feel that I can’t feel them.”
“Really?”
“Uh huh!”
“Weird,” He shook his head, “Lots and lots of weird.”
Lilith squinted at him, “It’s just teeth.”
“What?” He frowned, “Oh, no, yeah, the teeth thing is weird, but I was talking about Ripp and Tel.”
“My teeth remind you of Ripp and Tel?” Lilith was only getting more confused.
Dirk laughed, “Oh gods. How gross would that be if your teeth …” He trailed off, shaking his head, “Never mind. I mean it’s weird. That’s Tel!”
Lilith cocked her head, “Tel is Tel?”
“Well … yeah,” Dirk hesitated a moment sorting through his own growing confusion, “But that is Tel! Before he was always just sort of there and you didn’t have to think about him if you didn’t want to and could tell him to go away and ...”
“Oh!” Lilith’s eyes widened in sudden understanding, her head swinging around to stare at the closed guestroom door, “Oh.”
“I mean he’s okay but he’s …”
“Damon’s little brother,” she finished for him, “and Ripp is …”
“One of us,” Dirk nodded.
“Tel is one of us,” Lilith argued.
Dirk laughed, “No, he’s not. He’s the dork, the whiny baby and more recently an accessory to Jules and Jules isn’t even one of us.”
Lilith stared down at the floor. He was right. She really wanted to blame it on having way too much of whatever the slightly brown stuff in that new bottle had been, but she couldn’t. She had had way too much of the slightly brown stuff in the new bottle but he was still right. It had always been the four of them. Her, Damon, Ripp and Dirk. Sure Rein joined them sometimes and later Juliette and Tybalt in their “attached to” roles, but at the core of it all it was the four of them. Tel had always been there wanting to play too, but he was then, and in a lot of ways still was, just Damon’s baby brother. At best he had been Damon’s baby brother attached to Jules who kind of tagged along with Rein when neither of them had anything else to do.
“My head hurts,” she sighed slumping back against the table.
“Sorry,” Dirk shifted himself around leaning his head against her shoulder, “I didn’t mean to make you think.”
She hooked an arm around his shoulders, “S’okay. Relationships are hard I guess, maybe sometimes even when they aren’t your relationship.”
“That is as weird as I think though, right?”
She was quiet for a long time before she spoke again, “Maybe, or maybe we are just too drunk to be thinking about it.”
“You think?” Dirk asked leaning over to pillow his head in her lap.
Lilith nodded, “Yeah. I’m pretty sure that’s it.”
* * *
1:25 AM Saturday, May 17
The mouse was watching him. Beady little button eyes, staring, mocking. Ripp could almost hear the voice behind that lifeless, accusing gaze.
“You don’t deserve this.”
He frowned pulling Telesto closer. Fucking stuffed animals, what did they know anyway?
He buried his face in Telesto’s hair trying to block out the sight of the stuffed blue mouse staring at him from the top of the bureau across the room.
Telesto let out a soft murmur of contentment, snuggling tighter against Ripp’s shoulder.
Ripp felt his chest tighten.
The mouse stared harder.
Fuck.
Telesto whined in protest as Ripp sat up.
Reaching out, Ripp ran a soothing hand over the alien’s hip, waiting until Telesto settled once more into a deep sleep. He needed to leave, needed to think, needed to get away from that damn mouse and its stupid, accusing stare.
A quick search of the room later he pulled on his clothes and tiptoed quietly out the door.
Tybalt’s head lifted groggily as Ripp entered the room, “Fuck,” he murmured, “What time is it?”
Ripp froze, “Not sure,” he replied, pleased his voice sounded normal, “After one probably.”
“Shit! I have work!”
Ripp frowned watching Tybalt stagger to his feet, an empty bottle toppling to the floor when Tybalt jostled it out of Damon’s hand, “What? Now?”
Teetering in place for a moment, Tybalt shook his head, “Morning. Needa go sleep off.”
Ripp’s brows furled, “You need help getting home?”
Tybalt shook his head weaving toward the door, fumbling his phone out of his pocket, “Gonna call a cab.”
“Okay,” Ripp nodded, watching him go, “Sure you don’t want me to walk out with you?”
Tybalt waved him off, “I’m good. Just tired.”
Ripp shook his head glancing around the room. There were going to be a lot of headaches going around tomorrow.
“Ripp?”
Snapping his head around, Ripp located the source of the voice, “Lil? What are you doing under the pool table?”
Lilith’s face contorted in thought for several moments. At last she shrugged, smiling up at him cheerfully, “Dunno. S’comfy.”
“Right,” Ripp sank down on the floor beside her, picking up the empty bottle from the floor, “Bit much?”
She nodded, “It’s possible.”
She stared at him intently for several moments.
“What?” he asked when the scrutiny became more than he could deal with.
“You don’t look any different,” she commented frowning thoughtfully.
“Why would I look different?”
Rolling her eyes, Lilith waved her arms emphatically, “Because, doofus, you are different.”
“I am?”
“Uh huh. For weeks now, not so … you. Well you are you, but it is a better you. Happier.”
He ducked his head. Happier? Yes, definitely happier. Mostly. Except when evil blue mice with condemning stares stuck their demented, pointy noses into things.
“I think I like him,” Lilith went on.
Ripp looked up, “Like who?”
“Tel. He does good things for you. He’s good. You’re good together.”
Ripp stared down at the floor. They weren’t good. Good didn’t hide things. The mouse was not wrong.
“And you,” Lilith continued, “are good for him.”
He shook his head, “I’m not.’
Lilith leaned forward, resting her forehead against his, “You are. I know it. Dirk made me think about it and he was wrong, it isn’t weird, it is just going to take the rest of us a long time to adjust because we didn’t get it then.”
Ripp furled his brows. She wasn’t making a lot of sense.
Lilith smiled at him, “We should have. I’m sorry we didn’t.”
“Lil, what are you talking about?”
“You fucking hated it when Tel cried.”
She leaned back against the table leg again smiling happily at him, “Everything is exactly the way it should be.”
Ripp smiled back, uncertain. Was it? Was this how things were supposed to go?
“Why,” Lilith tilted her head, “are you still here?”
Ripp cocked his head, questioning.
“You should be in there,” she gestured toward the guestroom.
Ripp chuckled and got to his feet, “Night, Lil.”
She stifled a yawn, “Night.”
Making his way back to the guestroom Ripp sank down on the edge of the bed. The mouse was right, he really didn’t deserve this, but maybe there was a chance Lilith was right too?
Telesto stirred, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Hey,” he smiled sleepily, “What are you doing up?”
Ripp returned the smile half heartedly, “Thinking.”
“Mmmm,” Telesto murmured, sitting up, “I told you, you do that way too much.”
Ripp shrugged, “Maybe.”
“What are you thinking about?” Telesto asked shifting to his knees, wrapping his arms around Ripp’s waist.
“Was thinking about …” Ripp hesitated. Was he ready to tell anyone? What if the mouse was wrong and Lilith was right? What if, for now, this was the way things were supposed to be?
Telesto nuzzled his lips against Ripp’s neck, “Come back to bed. You can tell me later.”
With a nod, Ripp turned to face Telesto, his eyes catching on something across the room as he did. He scowled, “One sec”
Making his way over to the bureau he picked up the mouse, “I think I have heard enough from you for one night,” he murmured.
His lips curling into a satisfied smile, he turned the mouse around and set it back down.
* * *
2:10 AM Saturday, May 17
Tybalt leaned against the wall outside Juliette’s room. He needed all of his wits about him for this and right now he wasn’t sure he had half of them.
Lifting his hand he knocked lightly on the door.
“Come in, Tybalt,” he heard her voice from inside the room immediately.
Great. She’d waited up.
He opened the door leaning heavily against the frame.
Juliette looked up at him, “You’re drunk.” She stated simply.
“Very,” he saw no reason to lie to her about it.
“Should I take that to mean the party went well?” she asked, “Fen had a good birthday?”
“The party was okay,” He couldn’t bring himself to say it was good, he couldn’t remember enough to say it was good, “Everyone sends their condolences for you not feeling well. I think Fen had a good time.”
Juliette nodded, “Thanks for covering for me. I just couldn’t …”
He nodded as her voice trailed off without finishing the sentence.
She hadn’t asked the question she really wanted to ask yet. Even in his current state he knew what she wanted to know. She wanted to know about the reason she hadn’t been at the party herself. He’d told them she wasn’t feeling well. It was almost the truth.
“Just ask me,” he sighed running a hand through his hair, “We both know you want to.”
She stared down at the bed, “Is he happy?”
That was not the question he had been expecting. ‘Was he there?’ ‘Did they do anything?’ Those were the questions he had been expecting. Not ‘Is he happy?’
“I think so.”
Juliette smiled a sad little smile, “And Ripp? Is he happy?”
Tybalt blanched. How to answer that question? Happy was possibly the most inadequate word going.
“Ripp is …” Tybalt trailed off.
Crossing the room he sank down on the bed beside her, “Jules, what do you want me to tell you here?”
She looked up at him, “The truth.”
He sighed, “Yeah. He’s happy.”
She fidgeted with the hem of her nightgown for a moment before speaking again, “You know I did this, right? I started it. Tel still wouldn’t have seen it if only I’d kept my big mouth shut.”
“Ju-Ju, don’t,” He reached a hand out smoothing her hair back.
“You haven’t called me that in forever,” she smiled at him.
“Yeah,” he smiled back, “I know.”
“It’s true though,” she went on; “If I hadn’t pointed it out to him he wouldn’t have seen it.”
“Some day he would have. Some people take years, but he would have figured it out sooner or later.”
“Yeah, I guess. Doesn’t really help me feeling all that great about myself though, you know?” she leaned back against the headboard, “Go get some sleep you are going to need it.”
He stood on unsteady legs and turned toward the door, “Goodnight, Jules.”
“Night, Tybalt.”
He made his way down the hall and into his bathroom.
His celebratory smile for making the trip without incident morphed to a scowl when his knee collided with the counter as he reached for one of the bottles. This wasn’t fun anymore.
This, he thought as he fought with the child proof cap on the bottle, was why they didn’t drink often.
Finally managing to get the bottle open and a couple of pills out he ran a glass of water. Six hours. He had to be at work in just over six hours. No way was that long enough to sleep this off.
Wonderful. Leaning back against the sink he sipped at his water. An entire day dealing with a hang-over and the other annoying little shit. He had too many annoying little shits in his life. One had been more than enough. Now he had two. If he kept this up soon he would have a whole annoying little shit collection. That was a terrifying thought. The first one was already difficult enough, upsetting Jules and now, apparently, screwing Ripp which had Damon and Dirk acting weird too.
He could sort of understand where they were coming from. Ripp was one of them, one of the gang, an equal while Telesto was just Damon’s tag-along little brother. They’d included him when he started going out with Juliette, sure, but it had probably been awkward then too and he was always more of an accessory to Juliette than he was part of the group.
This was different. This was change.
He turned back to place the glass on the counter beside the sink catching a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror.
You should lose the mask, Caelen’s voice echoed in his mind, You’d look better without it.
He scowled. Now that annoying little shit was haunting his thoughts. That annoying little shit with his smirk and his too long lashes and that damn little dusting of freckles across his nose.
Those fucking freckles. How could he still be so sure of himself, so confident, so … whatever the hell else he was with those fucking freckles? Didn’t they bother him? Didn’t he see them for the flaw they were? Only on Caelen they weren’t a flaw. On Caelen they fit. They suited him.
He stared hard into the mirror. The mask he had worn for so long stared back. Such a simple little thing and so silly, so trivial. What did he have to hide when compared to everyone else? Next to Juliette, trying so hard to look strong and capable and pretend everything was okay? Ripp and Tel who were never really free to be themselves? Even Lilith who was the rock they all leaned on? Who did she lean on?
Things were changing. The people around him were changing. Maybe it was time he changed too.
Reaching up he took hold of the edges of the mask.
Maybe if he stopped hiding everyone else would stop hiding too?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 6 is up, though currently without images (info here, pics will be back!)
Right, I realize the "mouse" is probably supposed to be a bear. There was a whole debate on mouse vs. bear ... To me it looked like a mouse and, honestly, "Evil, demented, stuffed bear" just doesn't sound the same.