Just So You Know

[brian_campo]

Nimble fingers popped quarters into a payphone. The segmented cord creaked as Maddy propped the receiver against her cheek. She leaned as far into the stall as possible, plugging her open ear. The club was crowded and noisy; she could barely hear the dial tone or the voice on the other end, a distracted ‘hello?’

“Brian! It’s Maddy!” she shouted.

His eardrum vibrated under the sonic assault and he asked, “Yeah, where the fuck are you?”

“The Funhouse.” She touched a piece of chewed gum and recoiled, wiping her palm on her jeans.

Brian frowned. “Really? Why?” It didn’t seem like her kind of place; Maddy was into the kind of punk-rock dump where a girl could take off her top and nobody got arrested. “Is it dollar shots or something?”

“No, I’m meeting Melody. We just got off work. This is probably the only place on the planet where her vocal talents can be appreciated. Listen, I just saw Valerie. I thought you might wanna know. Didn't you say you tanked your phone message?” Maddy craned her neck and saw the blonde was still near the bar. The silence has stretched on too long, so she said, “Brian?”

He was pacing his cramped living room. There was a potato chip on the floor and he crushed it under his shoe by accident. Shit. “Did you talk to her?”

Maddy snorted. “No, she’d probably punch me.”

“What? Why?” Brian had that feeling he often got with Maddy, like there was an inside joke he was too dense to get.

“Nothing, never mind. Just come out, okay?” Maddy turned back into the pay phone, her fingers tracing the buttons. “You know you want to. So sack up.” Maybe it was concern for Brian making her push the issue, or maybe it was guilt: in her opinion, that relationship was a casualty of the domino effect. If she’d handled the conversation with Valerie better, then maybe the blonde wouldn’t have been so upset when she landed on Brian’s doorstep, and maybe Brian would’ve seen the situation more clearly.

“Yeah, okay.” He was already stalking the room in search of a clean shirt.

“Atta boy, little bro.” Maddy hung up. The quarter plunked into the depths and she squeezed into the crowd, hoping to find Melody before she got felt up by a body builder or propositioned by a sleazy investment banker.

Brian frowned and hung up. Little brother, another of those inside jokes he didn’t get. He tore through his apartment looking for keys, his wallet, a folded piece of paper, cursing under his breath when he tripped on an extension cord. He was out the door in three minutes.

[Thread]

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[valerie_vause]

Perhaps it was for the best that Valerie had no idea that Maddy had seen her, or called Brian. While she had headed into the club with good intentions of seeking out the undead she had soon succumbed to alcohol and her priorities had shifted considerably. Yes, she could still protect people, if she so desired. The thing was she didn’t particularly care as she bought another drink and finished it quickly just to turn her attention back to the dance floor.

The blonde didn’t particularly care that people were attempting to chat her up. In all honesty she didn’t realise that was their intentions, but what she did know was that she felt kind of fuzzy. And oddly thirsty. Maybe she should slow down with her consumption but why should she? It wasn’t like she was out of control and she had enough sense to brush off anyone that got to close.

With a heavy sigh she pushed through the crowd and found herself in the middle of the dance floor, moving in time with the music. If anyone joined her she didn’t mind, providing they weren’t feeling her up. The last guy that tried that ended up with broken fingers but the music was so loud nobody had heard his cries as he made his exit. Valerie tuned everyone else out and let the music move through her frame. Nothing else seemed to matter right then.

[valerie_vause]

“Warning duly noted.” Came the soft reply she said into his ear before Valerie shifted to look at him again. Her graze traced his features. The dark lines of his eyebrows, the bridge of his nose, the shape of his lips as he spoke. There was something quite enticing in how confident he sounded. The way he stated his intentions and then claimed her lips before she could say anything. The soft moan it elicited gave more encouragement than any words she had to offer anyway. Brian’s lips tasted faintly sweet from the soda in his drinks, his hands felt glorious as they gripped her tighter. With the noise level so high inside the club she felt no shame at the sounds he inspired from her throat. The fact that he leaned back only gave her an excuse and really, with the way she let him deepen the kiss it would have been some sort of miracle if she had stayed still.

Valerie’s body undulated against him, locked around Brian as she was it caused a delicious friction that felt equally enough and not enough at once. If she were thinking straight she might have reconsidered capturing his tongue between her lips to suck lightly on but she was lost in the moment. Brian filled her senses and she couldn’t help but indulge in him. Restless hands trailed along his strong shoulders, squeezed at his biceps, and splayed against his shoulder blades.

Lungs screamed for oxygen and the blonde pulled back just enough to gulp at air and then dove straight back in to resume the kiss. Eyes closed and hips rocking, it was as if they weren’t even surrounded by people. They could have been standing in a park underneath the stars instead of strobe-lights. She tried to pour everything she felt into it. Every apology, her wildest dreams, everything she couldn’t properly say yet so desperately felt for him.

[valerie_vause]

The second she stepped inside the hotel lobby Valerie felt different. Exhilarated yet anxious, as if she were at the top of a roller-coaster, mere moments from plummeting. She didn’t want to escape the ride but there was a terrifying second where she wondered if she’d enjoy it as much as she had thought she would. Then Brian’s hands were around her waist like the safety bar. Lips on her neck tingled like the wind caressing her skin and his whispered words made her stomach flip like the cart had just begun it’s speedy descent. She had the ridiculous urge to throw her hands in the air. Scream if you want to go faster. The breath in her lungs was released slowly as she leaned back against him. One small hand splayed across his in consent, her thumb lightly tracing patterns of nothing, while her other hand slipped into her pocket to retrieve her wallet.

Valerie smiled at the woman behind the desk, exchanged pleasantries, and ignored her knowing look by wiping away her smirk as she slid her bank card across with a happy little, “We want a room with a wonderful view of the city.” The blonde might not look like she had any sort of wealth but even she knew those sort of rooms came with a hefty fee. Then she paused, glanced up at Brian with a cheeky smile and bit her lip. “Better make it two nights.” She said to the receptionist, yet kept his gaze. When the key card and her bank card were slid across the counter she slipped one back into it’s place in her wallet and the other into Brian’s hand with a soft murmur of, “Let’s go find our room.”

She might have danced towards the elevator had she not preferred to keep his arms around her. The blonde had had enough space between them to last a lifetime, she didn’t want anymore. Not even for a few minutes. Though she did manage to keep her hands mostly to herself as other people walked in and out on various floors, and then they reached theirs. Valerie slipped her hand back into Brian’s and waited until he had the door open before practically running inside to spin around, taking it all in. “Holy crap!” She exclaimed, mouth open, “This room is huge!” And damn, it was decadent. Art hung on the walls, the bed had been dipped in luxury and the bathroom was the size of her dorm room. Valerie took it all in as she ran from place to place like an excited puppy allowed in a park for the first time. There was a table and chairs with what she assumed was an ice bucket containing a bottle of complimentary champagne and it made her laugh, there was an actual couch in front of a television that she was sure they had no use for and a fridge probably stocked with things that cost a fortune but all of that paled in comparison to the floor to ceiling windows that took up an entire wall.

“Brian...” His name was a breathy sigh as she held her hand out to him, “Look.” She whispered, drawing them close enough to press her hand against the cool glass. Vegas was alive before them. The streets filled with cars that looked small enough to be toys, the sky line stretched for miles and the stars… They were so close to stars that Valerie felt like she twinkled.

The only thing missing, she realised belatedly, was a camera.

“When you hold me…” Finger tips traced the cool glass as Valerie tried to burn the image into her mind. “This is how you make me feel.” On top of the world. Untouchable. Free. She turned then to gaze up at him. Valerie’s hands gently found his waist to clutch while her finger tips hooked around his waistband to tug him closer. "Tell me what you're thinking?" She requested softly, as if knowing his thoughts were the oxygen her blood needed.