Rent's Due

[maddy_ricks]

When she finished a shift waiting tables at Cool Beans but it was too early to go home, Maddy sometimes curled up on a couch and read a used book. Those days generally corresponded to that time of the month when her landlord was hanging around looking for rent money, and she didn’t quite have it. Today, she was curled up with a copy of Stephen King’s novel Pet Sematary. She had slipped her shoes off and tucked her feet under herself. Her toes flexed in a pair of socks with black cats on them, and her fingers sifted through the ends of her hair.

“Hey Malcolm, bring me another coffee,” she called.

“Get it yourself,” grumbled her coworker, who was drying a load of dishes and stacking them on a shelf.

“I’m not working.” She flipped to the end of a chapter and skimmed a page.

“Are you paying?”

“No.”

“Then get it yourself.”

Maddy sighed and dragged herself off the couch. The novel, which she set upside down on the fat, upholstered arm, slipped to the floor and lost her page. She crammed her feet half in her shoes and stumbled to the counter, where she dangled her empty cup by the handle. “Meet me halfway.”

He scowled and took the mug.

Comments

[tiny_dancer81]

The streaks in Theresa's hair were a bright blue, standing out against the regular dark-brown shade. The stylist had told her she looked fabulous, but for thirty dollars she'd damned well better look fabulous. She'd even given a decent tip, but he'd deserved that for not commenting about the lack of a reflection in the mirror.

The vampire was loitering just outside of Cool Beans, picking imaginary lint off of her matador jacket and wondering if she was being weird. She'd thought about waiting until the place was closing, but that would have been too stalkery. The plate glass window of the coffee shop was freshly washed, the lack of smudges and fingerprints making the interior look even more brightly lit. It was just past dark.

She finally pushed the door open, listened to the merry jingling of the bell as she stepped inside. The smell of brewing coffee competed with the odor of old floor wax. Theresa saw Maddy passing off a cup to a cranky-looking dude, touched her hair self-consciously.

"Maddy, hey."

[maddy_ricks]

Maddy, who was leaning half-over the counter, cranked her head around and spotted the girl from the gas station parking lot. “Oh, hey… Theresa. How’s it hanging?” She snapped her fingers at Malcolm until he gave her what she wanted – a spoon to stir milk and sugar into her coffee. The metal spoon clanged inside the porcelain mug, drifting in the current once she let go. “I’m just getting a refill. You want anything?”

Malcolm dropped a bowl in the sink.

“Relax,” Maddy whispered. “I’ll tip.” Sometimes she swore the guy was on his period. She stuffed a couple of bills in the tip cup and he visibly relaxed, the right wheels having been greased.

[tiny_dancer81]

"Just a double espresso, thanks."

She should probably put a buck or two in the tip jar too. Cranky Pants looked like he'd just discovered his boxers were in a knot. Theresa folded her arms on the countertop, inhaling the scent of strong coffee and separating the sound of one heartbeat from another. If they brewed it right, she'd actually be able to taste it.

"What's up with you tonight? How's the coffee-slinging business?"

[maddy_ricks]

"You'll have to ask Malcolm, because I am off work." She crinkled her nose at the man, who rolled his eyes, but seemed to have let go of his annoyance with her. Maddy leaned around Theresa with a curious expression and then smiled at the streaks. "Ah, lookin' good, there, Blue." She grabbed her cup of coffee and began to make her way back to the couch, motioning for Theresa to follow with her espresso.

[tiny_dancer81]

The vampire picked up the small cup and saucer, then trailed after Maddy to take a seat on the sofa. The book was still on the floor, and she looked at the title as she took that first sip of the espresso. Good, the flavor of it actually translated on her muted taste buds.

"I saw you guys on stage the other night," she said. She would forgo mentioning what else she'd been up to, because she was embarrassed by her backsliding and didn't want to talk about it. "You had a really good set."

[maddy_ricks]

“Oh yeah?” She flopped on a loose cushion and curled up, the old couch so well-loved by its customers that it sank around her slight frame. Maddy sipped to keep her coffee from spilling. “Why didn’t you say hi?”

She set the mug on a table and stretched over the couch arm to grab her paperback. She had lost her page, which meant she would have to flip until something looked familiar, and it would be her luck that she’d cast her eyes upon that part where Gage the toddler got mowed down by a semi again. She didn’t have a weak stomach, but damn, that was just disturbing.

[tiny_dancer81]

"I tried to get backstage after your set, but some idiot spilled a cup of beer all over me. I didn't want you to think less of me because I smelled like a brewery."

Theresa said it with a slight smile, but it was partially true. She was taking baby steps towards adapting her unlifestyle, but those steps were tiny and hesitant. Sometimes the truth really was worse than a lie.

"I did talk to Mike, the manager, about the job booking gigs. Is he always that grumpy?"

[maddy_ricks]

"Seriously? I'm in a band, Theresa," came the deadpan response. "Everyone smells like a brewery. And actually, brewery would be an upgrade compared to what our drummer smells like." She flipped her book right-side up, studied the pages for a moment, and dogeared one. The book got tossed aside.

"And Mike's not so bad. You've just got to learn how to handle him." No doubt the vet would take offense and this idea of him being managed by a woman who weighed a buck ten soaking wet, but he wasn't around to hear it.

[tiny_dancer81]

Theresa giggled semi-girlishly, tucked one streak of blue behind her ear. "Then next time I come around I'll make sure to soak up the aroma of eau de Budweiser so you'll feel at home."

She took another drink of her beverage, settled on a fresh topic of conversation. "So what's new with you besides rocking out?"

[maddy_ricks]

"Halloween." Maddy stretched her arms overhead and cracked her neck. "I met this guy at Gore Fest last month and we're supposed to hang out. I need to put together a costume, but I really want to find something cool, because... okay, because he's a horror writer and I don't want to look like a punk." She laughed.

"Do you do Halloween?"

[tiny_dancer81]

"Like you wouldn't believe."

Halloween on the Boulevard had always been an occasion, with the drag queens and trannies making a mini-parade of it in their best feather boas and rhinestone-studded tiaras. The previous year, Theresa had dressed up as Magenta. She'd almost talked Dane into being Frank N. Furter, but when he turned out to not have the legs for fishnets he settled on Riff Raff instead. The memory of it made the vampire smile wistfully.

"I had to miss Gore Fest because I caught some kind of weird bug. Hopefully there'll be some kind of public event for Halloween." This one without an elevator for her to get trapped in.

[maddy_ricks]

"I'm just glad I've got plans. Nothing's worse than spending Halloween on your couch with a VHS tape."

She picked at a loose thread on the arm of the couch.

"Last year I worked in a haunted house. I got to pretend my throat was slashed. Chhhht! Ahhh!" She clutched her throat. "Fake blood squirting everywhere. It was awesome. One kid actually passed out."

[tiny_dancer81]

"Haunted houses can be pretty cool, just as long as they don't try to add vampires. They never get it right."

Whoops.

Theresa tried to cover for the verbal slip by adding, "I mean, horror's a pretty broad genre, and there's always crappy interpretations of the classics. Your book-writing friend probably knows that for a fact."

[maddy_ricks]

Maddy’s eyebrows went up.Nice save, she thought, the only real clue to it being Theresa’s mild scramble to clarify her sentiment. “Yeah,” she said. “I especially hate how they make the vampires sleep in coffins. Everyone knows they only climb out of those once.”

So Theresa believed in the undead. She wondered what else her new friend believed in… Mummies? Wolfman? Alien invasions? An ancient key that opened mystical portals, hidden in plain sight around a skinny girl’s neck?

[tiny_dancer81]

"Heh."

Well, that was nice and awkward. Change the subject. "Mike actually did say that he was going to give me a trial run at the club. I have six weeks to prove myself, try and bring in more business and book even more cool bands."

[maddy_ricks]

As she gathered her coffee cup back into her palms. Maddy lowered her chin. "Hey. Listen. There may be more bands, but there are no cooler bands. Got it?" She smiled and sipped.

[tiny_dancer81]

"I meant..." Jesus, that was adorable. "What I said was not what I meant. You guys rock. Maybe you can get a record deal if the club gets more well known."

Theresa took another drink of espresso, noting that the little cup was getting close to empty. If she asked for a refill, would Malcolm get pissy? She could at least offer to pay this time. She needed new shoes.

"You wanna do something sometime? After Halloween, I mean. We could catch a movie, maybe grab a burger." And I'll try not to think about how easy it'd be to pin you down and take a bite out of your throat.

[maddy_ricks]

“Sure.” Maddy shrugged.

A record deal. Fat chance, she thought. Who would ever discover a band like theirs in Las Vegas? People didn’t come to this city to discover talent; they came to pimp it out. But she said nothing because the sentiment really was appreciated. It was a hell of a lot better than being beaned in the head with a beer can while some asshole yelled, ‘You suck!’ and grabbed his dick.

“Pizza, though.” She twisted a hank of hair around her fingers and gave it a testing tug. “So where are you gonna start? Looking for bands, I mean.”

[tiny_dancer81]

"I;m gonna check out a couple of local record stores first," Theresa answered, because her brain had already been spinning plans to make this work. She could be business-minded when she felt like it, that and motivated. "The only people who know music better than DJs is folks who have to set up in-store gigs."

She also might swing by WNLV, see if anyone there knew about decent local music. There could be some stuff going on at the campus of UNLV too. She didn't know if she didn't look.

If nothing else, this would keep her off the streets, and off her back.

"What do you like on your pizza?" she asked Maddy. "You don't have, like, any weird allergies or anything, do you?"

[maddy_ricks]

"Yeah, tomatoes," she answered, dropping the lock, which rapidly untwisted itself. "And cheese." A ridiculous answer for what she considered a kind of off-the-wall question.

Maddy shifted her legs off the couch and let her socked feet rest on the floor. "Change of subject. I've been thinking just now, and the way I interpret the situation, you owe me a favor. I mean... one could say that your new-found employment is a direct result of my referral, am I right?"

[tiny_dancer81]

"Sure, one could say that."

Theresa drained her cup, held it by the little handle. Caffeine didn't affect her one way or the other anymore, so another espresso wouldn't hurt her. "Gimme one second," she told Maddy, then levered her weight off of the couch and made her way over to the counter. Malcolm squinted at her suspiciously, but when she dragged out her wallet his brow smoothed out.

She brought back the newly-full cup, sat back down. "So. A favor. Anything specific?"

[maddy_ricks]

"There's a big show at the Dive on New Year's, but there's only room for four bands. The past three years, we squeaked into the line-up, but we got stuck in the opening spot. I want us later in the line-up, preferably after The Kills. Those guys are the biggest a-holes in Vegas. Let them warm up the room for us for a change."

Maddy pulled out a fresh pack of cigarettes and began to tap them into her palm.

"This has zilch to do with the fact that I boned their bassist a few times last year and he stole one of our riffs. Scout's honor."

[tiny_dancer81]

Theresa actually laughed, a sound filled with good humor. The scent of the espresso wafted up to her nose.

"And Scout's honor, I believe you," she told Maddy as she took a sip from her fresh cup. "The a-holes of the world should not always get to the front of the line. Or line-up. You know what I mean."

[maddy_ricks]

"Yes. Unless they're bent over upon arrival," Maddy reconsidered. She slipped a smoke into her lips and fired up, because if there was one thing that went perfectly with coffee, it was nicotine. The flare bathed her face in orange.

The waif-like brunette propped herself against the arm of the couch with all the confidence of local royalty. As the darkness increased outside and Malcolm turned up the interior lights, their reflections sharpened on the window pane. If Maddy noticed that Theresa didn't have one, she kept her trap shut about it.

[tiny_dancer81]

Was she approaching a possible friendship under false pretenses? Rhiannon had said that she usually didn't make the attempt with people because there was to much to explain, and Theresa wasn't a big fan of unnecessary bullshit. It didn't help that every time Maddy tilted her head in a certain way her neck looked really biteable. If that was significant, she wasn't ready to examine it yet.

"When does this place shut down for the night?" she asked the mortal. "You gonna be okay getting home by yourself? If you think Vegas is a pit in the daytime, it's really dangerous at night."

[maddy_ricks]

"I know. I keep telling you. I've lived here for years," Maddy said with an exaggerated sigh. "Plus, I work here, so I'm pretty used to getting myself home."

She took a drag of her cigarette. Did she have a sign on her back that said 'tourist' or something? If Theresa kept implying she was a newbie, she was going to get her feelings hurt. She flicked her fingers at a porcelain ashtray.

"We close at midnight."

[tiny_dancer81]

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to...um."

Uncharacteristically abashed, the vampire looked down into the thick dark liquid that filled her cup, played with the ends of her streaked hair. "I know self-defense stuff," she said after a short silence. "I know I don't look dangerous, but usually two people are more likely to avoid bad situations than one."

Fuck, she wasn't angling for a bite, was she? Yeah, Maddy looked pretty edible, but she wasn't usually in the habit of being actually friendly with her dinner. Nothing would sour the mood faster than for the mortal brunette to see her other face. It was severely unlikely that Maddy would be as accepting - or as fucked up - as Holly.

"But I totally respect the fact that you can take care of yourself."

[maddy_ricks]

"It's okay." Maddy shook her head. There were worse things than being mistaken for a tourist in a town full of them, and worse things than somebody being concerned for her well-being.

"I overreact to everything. I did get mugged once, but all he got off me was ten bucks and a coupon for a free happy meal."

She stubbed out her cigarette.

"What kind of self-defense? You know, karate, kung fu, what?"

[tiny_dancer81]

"Nothing as formal as karate, but I do know some street fighting," Theresa replied. "A punch to the throat or a kick to the balls can disable a mugger pretty good, even if they are a foot taller than you are."

She play-flexed her slender arms, offered Maddy a smile. "I'm probably gonna get some flyers printed up for the club," she added. "If I take a few over to the campus, that should help with word of mouth. When I was still in California, UCLA had some bands who played shows in local places. Maybe it's the same here."

[maddy_ricks]

"The nice part of me wants to suggest places to go. However, the competitive part of me says fuck those bands, and that side's winning out." Maddy picked up her paperback novel and began to spin it between her index fingers. It was nearing time for her landlord to crash for the night, which meant that Maddy could return to the cramped apartment she shared with Mikey, and the leftover pizza in the fridge, and the taped episode of the A-team she'd yet to watch.

"Buuut... if you were to host a battle of the bands, and say, advertise it on the campus radio station, you might net the same people."

She bent down to properly lace up her pair of red Converse high-tops.

[tiny_dancer81]

Before Theresa could control it, her eyes flashed a molten yellow as she took in the way Maddy's neck arched as she ducked her head towards her shoes. She lifted the cup of espresso to her mouth and drank it down in several quick gulps while she roped in the demon. It would be the party foul to end all party fouls if the human caught her staring at her jugular vein.

"So if you give me your number, I can call you at some point about that movie," she said once she felt she could maintain her poise. "I haven't gotten a phone installed yet, but there's a booth just around the corner from where I live. Then we can split a pizza."

[maddy_ricks]

“Sure. Hang on a sec.” She got up and trudged the counter, where she borrowed a pen from Malcolm and used the counter to bear down on a napkin. Following a giant scribble mark, she wrote her name and phone number, and then tossed the pen back to her coworker. She returned to Theresa’s side and dangled the napkin. “If a guy answers, it’s my roommate. He won’t remember to give me the message, so just call back.”

Maddy stuck her arms and head inside a Yankees sweatshirt and pulled it into place on her small frame. It was two sizes too large, something she had borrowed without asking from Mikey’s closet. She pulled a necklace out of the collar.

[tiny_dancer81]

Theresa plucked the napkin from Maddy's fingers, glanced at the number, then tucked the little object into her pocket. She needed to get the hell out of here. Suddenly, she really wanted a nibble.

The vampire levered her weight off of the couch, slapped her pockets. "So. I'll call you in a few days, as soon as I get some more of my shit together. Have a good night."