Tripping Over Themselves

[brian_campo]

The moment the final note of music faded from the sound system, Brian tugged his earphones off his head and dropped them carelessly on the synthesizer. For once, he was grateful that his band wasn’t popular enough for an encore. On many nights, he had gotten the short end of the stick when one of his band mates ditched after the show and left Brian to pack up their gear. Time to turn the tables. In fact, it was long overdue. “Mads...” He pulled a mic off its stand, swung it by the cord, and sent it sailing in an arc toward the brunette’s personal space.

She caught it. “Watch it!”

“Later, I’m out.”

‘Wait, what--?’

Too late, Brian thought. He shouldered past Seth like a shoplifter making a break for it and hit the ramp at a jog. Thump, thump, thump. He nudged through a throng of other musicians and regulars to creep up behind the petite blonde with the incredible body. He snaked his arms around her waist and raised her off the ground. “Hey, beautiful,” was muffled against her neck, and they were turning, turning, the room going ‘round and ‘round, the lights streaking purple and blue and neon orange. Brian’s shirt was drenched in sweat. He felt as rubbery and loose as a piece of stretched taffy.

Comments

[brian_campo]

It wasn’t a lot of information. It was too much information, thrown down at his feet like a verbal gauntlet. What was he supposed to respond to first? The idea that his girlfriend was likely to be killed in the next couple of years? The fact that she’d rather die than give up her calling a few years down the line and build a normal life, if not with him, then with someone like him? Or the realization that a redheaded vampire might be on the lookout for him, even as they spoke, just because he waved at Valerie in public?

He sat down on a low wall, his back to the city. The beer, he placed between his feet.

Brian rubbed his face. He snorted. “Trust me. The last thing you need to worry about is whether I can keep a secret. Withholding information is kind of a specialty.” He dropped his hands between his knees. His shoulders seemed to weigh a ton.

So what was he supposed to do? Leave because they probably wouldn’t last? That was every relationship he knew of. Give up because Valerie was destined to die? Nobody got out of things alive, anyway. The bad part, the thing Valerie was really getting at, was dread. A knot in his guts every night.

“Who needs convincing here, me or you?” he finally asked. The music downstairs had stopped, he didn’t know when, but it changed the atmosphere on the roof. Brian picked up the beer. He twisted the cap and took a sip.

[valerie_vause]

Trust him. Didn’t he realise she already did? That had been the entire point of telling him everything. Valerie took a moment, finished the beer, and set the bottle down as she looked over the City behind him. When his question hit the blonde looked directly at him, suppressed the frown, and lifted her chin slightly. If he didn’t get it then he didn’t get it, there was nothing she could do about that.

“That’s what you took from that. That I might need convincing.”

One hand lifted to rub her thumb against the corner of her mouth then she shook her head. Honesty felt entirely over-rated in that moment, and with nothing else to add she shrugged and cast her gaze towards the ruined door. “I’m hungry, so I’m going to find somewhere to eat.”

[brian_campo]

So she wanted to leave the roof.

Okay, he couldn't blame her for wanting to get out of an uncomfortable moment. It was a lot to take in, from his declaration of love to all the new information Valerie had put the table. He couldn't pretend to understand where the slayer was coming from, hers being an insanely unique situation, but she also needed time to understand where he was coming from in wanting to be with her anyway, no matter the odds.

Brian knew it was an atypical response. Most guys Brian's age didn't want the responsibility of a girl with a stomach flu, forget about an early expiration date. But he had been through that kind of grief already, and he had never regretted spending that time with his dad before he died. Grief didn't work like that. He just wished he could go back and spend more.

"There's this thing my dad used to say," he offered, still sitting in his spot on the roof. "It was relationship advice, so it didn't make sense to me before, but it's starting to now. He said one day I would find myself in a tough conversation or an argument, but no matter what, I should never, ever offer my girlfriend an easy way out unless I meant it. Never point at the door. Because once I put that in the air, it started to be an option, and sooner or later, somebody would to get mad enough to walk through it."

Brian scratched the back of his head and stood up.

"So you don't have to tell me where the door is, or say how hard things might get for me if I stay here with you, even if you think it's for my own good. As far as I'm concerned, there is no door, not unless you put it there. And you're probably thinking, what the hell is this guy talking about? That's not what I meant." Brian laughed dryly, although it wasn't all that funny. "But that's what it sounded like... Like you were giving me a list of reasons why you're not the right girl. But you are."

[valerie_vause]

Valerie held more secrets inside than she did memories of a normal life. It didn’t bother her, it was simply a fact. She could count on one hand the people she loved. The people that touched her life and remained a part of her. The intent hadn’t been to push Brian away. It was the blonde’s way of trying to let him into her life fully. That could never happen if he didn’t know everything about what she was. Any kind of love they could have would crumble if the relationship had been formed from deceit, no matter how innocent, or how much she wanted to protect him from the dark side of her life. Shield him so he wouldn’t become tainted by it the way she was. Numb perhaps to the horror that she’d felt all those years ago. Valerie was just wired that way.

So she stood, and she listened, albeit mildly confused at first but by the end she’d got the gist of it. The blonde took in a deep slow breath through her nose and threw her head back to exhale up at the stars. They twinkled back, bright ever changing colours thanks to the chemicals that flowed through her system. Why did it have to fall on her, down the line, about pointing at the door? No pressure. She thought, somewhat sarcastically, but not in a mean way. Obviously it was meant to come across as something sweet, because there was stating she was the right girl for him.

“I wasn’t listing reasons to make you leave.” Valerie said softly, directing her gaze back to him. “If we’re really going to give our relationship a shot you needed to know who you were getting involved with. Truly know, because anything less would be like a lie, and I don’t want that. I want to be able to tell you my day without cutting chunks out, or show up tussled and know you’re not worrying that I’ve been off with someone else when really I’ve just been patrolling. I don’t want to have to hide parts of me from you. It wouldn’t feel right.”

Valerie tilted her head, looked off to the side then shrugged haphazardly. “While I’m being honest I want to teach you proper self defense and knowledge of what’s out there because… It’s important.”

[brian_campo]

“Okay.”

So maybe this was going to be the real challenge for the two of them: Valerie looking vulnerable, and Brian actually being it. How had he gone from avoiding commitment like the plague to being the guy who said things like ‘there is no door’? He sounded like he was about to get on his knee and present her with a ring, which wasn’t what he meant. He just meant he didn’t usually cop out of things once he signed on.

Maybe he ought to apologize and blame being high. Or being a Pisces. Or a dude who played the piano. Whatever worked.

At any rate, he was glad she told him, even if there were parts of it he didn’t understand, and things about her psyche that he couldn’t figure out.

He swallowed. Don’t backtrack. Just keep going. “We can do that. The self-defense. I don’t want to be a liability, and if you’re right about that vampire, I need to know anyway.” He nudged the base of his beer bottle with his shoe. “C’mon, let’s get some food. If you want, you can start filling me in. Or we can just talk about whatever.”