Chapter 2: Roommates


It had been three weeks since she had gained a roommate. She hardly ever saw him, and supposed that was for the best. They had reached some sort of understanding. During the day, both of them slept, and during the night, she went to work, and he went off and did his mysterious Reno things. At least he had been giving her money every week so far, and she decided she didn't even WANT to know just where the money had come from. He also had the annoying habit of stopping by the bar she worked at begging for free drinks.

"So what's the deal with you and that guy?" One of the other barmaids, named Mia, asked her as they both carried dirty dishes to the kitchen.

"There is no deal. He's just kinda here." She stated simply. That pretty much WAS the situation.

"I see. So you and him aren't hooked up? I got the impression that you were." The other girl said with a shrug and dumped a load of glasses into the sink.

Elena's mouth opened and closed a few times, finally she sputtered, "ABSOLUTELY NOT! Who would want such a... such a disgusting, drunken, lazy excuse for a man?!" She turned on her heels and stalked from the kitchen. The other girl followed with a sly grin on her face.

They both leaned against the bar as her coworker said casually, "Well if that's the case, I'm glad to hear it. He's pretty cute. And he seems like he's just my type: not looking for anything other than sex."

Elena said nothing, but her coworker noted how she was slamming the glasses she was filling on the counter, slopping alcohol over the rims of the glasses.

"So where'd he get those scars on his face? They give him that dangerous, sexy look." The other girl grinned. Elena grabbed one of the drinks she was filling for a customer and downed it.

"How should I know? He's had them as long as I've known him." She said airily and gulped another shot of whiskey.

"I remember that time he stumbled in here without his shirt on. I was so drooling..." the other barmaid said dreamily. It instantly reminded Elena of an awkward situation that had occurred the week before that involved her walking in on him changing clothes. He, of course, wasn't the least bit fazed. She on the other hand screamed and bolted for her room. That entire situation hadn't been her fault in the least. It was HIS fault for walking around the living room half naked. Still, she blushed and refilled her drink.

"Hey, you OK? You shouldn't drink that much on the job..." the other barmaid suddenly asked and pulled her to her feet. When had she slumped to the floor? She pulled away from the other girl and let herself fall back to the floor. She was too dizzy to stand anyway.

"Oi, where's Elena?" A familiar voice suddenly cut into her rather confuzzled thoughts.

"On the floor behind the counter." Another voice replied. There was more talking back and forth, but she paid it no heed. Something about Reno wanting free drinks suddenly caught her attention, and she jumped up. Reno and Mia stared at her in surprise. She leaned on the counter for support and pointed a finger at Reno.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING ANYTHING FOR FREE!" She shrieked, knowing she was extremely irritated at him, though for the life of her, she couldn't remember why.

"How much has she had?" Reno asked and glanced at Mia. The other girl held up a nearly empty whiskey bottle.

He whistled and took the whiskey bottle. After downing the rest of it's contents, he said, "Well, I guess I better get you home. You're liable to pass out in the street and die if I don't help ya."

"You let go of me!" She snapped when he grabbed her wrist and dragged her towards the door.

"Shaddup." he muttered and kicked the door open.

After they begun walking, she was too dizzy to complain and let Reno carry her home. They reached her apartment, and he set her on the couch, before plopping down next to her and lighting a cigarette.

"You're heavier than you look." He commented and turned on the TV.

"Well, you're just... just..." She couldn't remember what insult she had been meaning to say, so she stopped talking.

They sat in silence, the TV was muted as usual. Reno threw the remote on the floor and leaned back.

"My head hurts." She suddenly stated and rubbed her forehead. Reno sighed and put his hand behind her neck and guided her towards the cushions on the couch. She lay limply on the couch, beginning to regret her little drinking binge.

"You'll feel better if ya just sleep it off." He said, in a tone of voice that spoke of years of experience in dealing with the results of getting sloshed. She sighed and closed her eyes. The top of her head was leaning against something warm and she pulled herself further up the couch so she could rest her whole head on what she dazedly realized was Reno's lap. As she drifted off to sleep, she could feel calloused fingers slowly run through her hair.

She woke up on the couch the next morning with a killer headache, a horrible taste in her mouth and a deep aversion to the sunlight that streamed in from an open window.

She pulled a couch cushion over her head and groaned. Suddenly, she jerked up, realizing she was about to empty the contents of her stomach and ran to the bathroom. She sprinted to the bathroom and vomited. Wonderful. It took all her energy to rinse her mouth out with mint mouthwash and crawl to her bed. She pulled the covers over her head and snuggled deep underneath them, deciding it would be a perfectly fine place to remain for the entire day.

After a moment, she realized she was snuggled up not only to the covers, but something else. Arms wrapped themselves around her and drew her closer. She gasped and tried to pull away.

"Reno!" She hissed. His response was to continue snoring. She took a deep breath and screamed,

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BED?!"

Which was a terrible idea, and only served to really give her a headache. One of Reno's eyes cracked open and he let go of her to roll over and face the other side of the bed.

"You were hogging the couch. Hadda sleep somewhere. If ya don't like it, go back to the couch." He mumbled. If the room wasn't spinning and her head wasn't killing her, she would have thrown him out of her home right then and there. As it was, she felt too tired to do anything about the situation, so instead she scooted as far away from Reno as she could without falling off the bed and promptly fell asleep.

Several hours later she awoke to the sound of voices coming from the living room. She crept to the door and put her ear to it. One voice was definitely Reno, and the other was some unknown, feminine voice. Who was giggling over some stupid thing Reno said. She pulled open the door and stopped abruptly.

Reno and some girl. On her couch. Reno brought home some floozy to make out with on HER couch. She slammed the door as hard as she could. Reno and said floozy looked up at her questioningly. She ignored them and stalked to the kitchen.

"Who was that?" the girl asked.

"Just my roommate." Reno replied. At that, Elena forced herself to ignore their conversation. She grabbed a can of diet soda from the refrigerator and gulped it down. As soon as she finished drinking the contents, she smashed the can with her fist and flung it at the wall facing the living room. She realized that she did have to go to work in an hour, but that meant she'd have to walk through the living room again. After a few moments of contemplation of her options, she stalked back towards her room, trying her hardest not to look at the happy little couple making out on HER furniture.

"You're in a pleasant mood today." Mia noted as she watched Elena slam a shotglass onto the counter with enough force to crack it.

"I'm FINE. There's NOTHING wrong with me." She snapped and threw the broken shotglass in a nearby trash can.

"Does this have anything to do with Reno leaving the bar earlier with that young, pretty, little slip of a girl does it?" Mia asked with a raised eyebrow. Elena glared daggers at her and said nothing.

"She just started working here today." Mia continued and grabbed the shotglass Elena held to prevent any more assaults on the poor, defenseless glassware.

"She works here." Elena said flatly. Mia nodded. As if on cue, the door swung open and Reno strolled in with the little floozy attached to his arm. The floozy giggled in a high pitched voice all the while and batted her eyelashes at him.

"I'm back from my lunch break, Mia! Oh... aren't you...?" The girl stopped and looked at Elena. Elena ignored her.

"You're Ren-chan's roommate!" She said proudly, as if she expected some sort of medal for remembering someone she had seen less than an hour before. "I'm Bambi! You must be Elena, right?" Bambi continued on in a perky, high pitched voice that made Elena want to crush her windpipe. Her name was 'Bambi'. Somehow, she wasn't surprised.

It was looking to be a very long, stressful night.


Chapter 3   |   Fanfiction