OOM: Room 6620, #3

[the_gene_genie]

 
The evening did pass smoothly, and it's been a long time since he's been so grateful for anything. OK, there was the inevitable drifting of his thoughts back to recent - and not so recent - events, but it helped to have a distraction. He forced himself to concentrate on what happened with her today, and it gave him some respite. In hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have picked up The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - he's seen it too many times to get fully lost in it.

Still. As things stand, he's got no complaints. But now it's over, and they do have to make an attempt at sleeping again. So he's in the bathroom, freshly out of the shower, newly shaved, and telling himself firmly that restraint is the order of the day, here.

Definitely a tad nervous when he emerges into the room, though.

Comments

[the_gene_genie]

He raises an eyebrow right back. Love. Interesting word choice.

'It's not about stuff bein' ugly, Bols.'

It's about stuff that hurts.

And honesty, he would think, comes when you can trust. Trust would have been nice, these last few months. But neither honesty nor trust would have got them a result, most likely.

[lady_bols]

'Ugly, painful, confusing, traumatic.'

She meets his gaze, her expression soft and open.

'Things you can't talk about to anyone else.'

He's already told her he trusts her. And she trusts him. She doesn't know how to prove that to him, but she does.

[the_gene_genie]

He looks down. He hates the idea of being that dependant. At the same time, being able to have that sort of relationship with her...well. He's wanted to. Maybe not so much with the talking, but with the unspoken bond they used to share. He'd like that back.

'Maybe,' he mutters.

'We'll have to see how it goes, I 'spect.'

After a pause, he turns his head and smiles, undeniably cheeky.

'Or we could hold the talking an' just shag all the time.'

Another option.

[lady_bols]

Alex's lips twitch, and the smirk beneath is both amused and mock-exasperated.

'Who says we can't do both?'

She doesn't think he would fancy her if there wasn't a part of him just as attracted to intellectual stimulation as she is. But she knows better than to come right out and say that.

[the_gene_genie]

There's intellectual stimulation, and there's talking about emotions and suchlike. Big difference.

'You think there's room outside a twenty-two year old's libido for anythin' but sleep, food an' beer?'

Work, perhaps. Other than that, he reckons his schedule's going to be pretty full.

[lady_bols]

'Perhaps.' She has a high opinion of him.

'Depends on whether or not his libido can keep up with his thirty-nine year old girlfriend's multi-orgasmic tendencies.' Well, if they're being honest...

[the_gene_genie]

Annnnnd that will be a pair of eyebrows shooting up, and a head swivelling 'round so fast, his neck twinges.

'...that's just mean, tellin' me that.'

[lady_bols]

'What? I thought we were being honest with one another.'

She may be trying on her best innocent face right now.

'Did I spoil the surprise?'

[the_gene_genie]

'Were we?'

He doesn't remember agreeing to that, but that's OK. His mouth opens, then shuts again.

'...actually yeah, a bit. Now I'll be stressed in case I don' make you...y'know.'

How's that for honesty? He's already wishing be hadn't said it, so it must have hit the target.

'Although, y'know. S'never been a problem before, so I'm not worried.'

Not even a little bit. At all.

>_>

[lady_bols]

She smiles, and chuckles under her breath.

'We'll sort it out, one way or another. All things considered, that is the least of my worries.'

[the_gene_genie]

'...yeah.'

She's right, of course. His amusement dies away, and he goes back to playing with his lighter.

'Anythin' I can do?'

[lady_bols]

'Well,' she takes a deep breath, obviously giving the question some thought.

'Tonight, you could take something to help you sleep. I'm sure the Bar will have something exotic that would fit the bill. Or you could try talking to me about it.'

[the_gene_genie]

'...how's that going to help you.'

Though as he says it, it seems an obvious question. And he sighs, and wonders which the lesser of two evils would be.

[lady_bols]

'What, help me sleep?' The question stumps her. 'I don't know. It's been like this so long....'

So long she'd given up even trying to sleep in the bed, because she always ended up on the sofa in front of the television. She snuggles against him, resting her head on his chest.

'Should try something new,' she murmurs, half to herself.

[the_gene_genie]

'I wasn'...'

He breaks off, and tries to tamp down the irritation that's flared.

'Don' matter. What d'you wanna talk about?'

Because he wouldn't even know where to begin, and he's not touching drugs if he can help it.

[lady_bols]

Alex has spent the last three years surviving by reading the subtle shifts in his moods.

She lifts her head, frowning at her miscommunication. 'I'm sorry, what did I miss?'

[the_gene_genie]

He considers not answering. But the fact is, he does want to be with her. And he gets the impression that a constant 'don't want to talk about it' isn't going to go down very well. It hasn't for the last three years, come to that.

Again with the lighter.

'Jus'...stop telling me to get sleeping pills from the bar. Please. My brother died from drugs. I don' take anythin' that isn't medicinal for a hangover.'

[lady_bols]

That is a significant amount of new information for such a simple sentence.

She opens her mouth and then closes it again, hesitating while it sinks in.

'I'm sorry, I didn't know.'

She remembers the room she stayed in when they spent Christmas in Manchester. She remembers the other face in the pictures on the mantle, and she searches her memory for his name.

Stuart. This explains why he wasn't around or even mentioned. Her face falls at the thought of Betty losing a child.

'I... I won't suggest it again.'

[the_gene_genie]

'He told me it wasn' my fault.'

He is resolutely not looking at her, his jaw fixed, gaze steady on the wall behind the beds.

'I don' think he's right.'

[lady_bols]

More revelations.

'Why?'

Her question is quiet, her palm flat over his heart.

[the_gene_genie]

'He started usin' in...oh, I dunno. Fifty-one? Hard to say. He was pretty good at hidin' it at first. Probably before that.'

He picks his smokes up, but puts them straight back down again. And now he can't sit still. He always thinks better moving about anyway, and it's just...easier.

'I last saw him in 'sixty-three, when I identified his body.'

He paces, and then does light up, not looking at her, anywhere but at her.

'If stuff...where I live now, mirrors the real world - well, you tell me, Bols. You're the expert. What would turn a lad who does it for a bit of fun on weekends into a skeleton on a slab, a hundred miles from home?'

[lady_bols]

She watches as he gets up, uncrossing her long legs and reaching to pour him a glass of Scotch as he talks. He's blaming his own death for his brother's decline.

'Here.'

She holds the glass up for him, not rising from her place on the couch, knowing that the answer she's going to give him is not the one he wants to hear.

'It's not your fault. Anymore than it would be my fault if something were to happen to Molly ten years after...' Her mouth goes dry, because she would feel responsible, nonetheless. 'It's not your fault, Gene.'

[the_gene_genie]

He's shaking his head long before she finishes talking. He takes the drink though. It lasts about two seconds, and he goes to get himself a refill.

'Our old man had died, thankfully. Just him an' our mam, and he was already on drugs. Me in some...bloody field, somewhere.'

He's choking up a bit now, and doesn't care.

'An' they never knew. You're tellin' me that wouldn't...'

He takes a breath, and drags on his cigarette fiercely.

'We were always close. It was me an' him. He looked after me, an'...'

He looks down. If he thinks about his mother left on her own, never knowing what happened to either one of her boys...it's just not fair.

None of it is fair.

[lady_bols]

She sits, silent, watching him, her heart in her throat. There's nothing more she wants to do than to wrap him up in her arms, to ease his suffering.

But it's the truth, and the truth deserves to be honored.

So she gives him his space, waiting for him to come back to her.

[the_gene_genie]

He puts his hand over his eyes, and wills himself to have control. Falling apart is not going to help anything. It'll just make him feel weak, and he is done with feeling weak.

So, eventually, he takes a deep breath and has another drink. Stubs his fag out.

'That the sort of thing you want me to talk about? What good's it goin' to do, Alex? I can't change any of it. It's too late to fix it for any of us. Only the people who come after, an' - well, they fix it for themselves if they want to.'

They do it for themselves. He does it for himself. That's what he's used to. This, here, this is abnormal. Unnatural, even, for him.