"What the hell am I doing?" She sighed and slowly walked home. "Why should I even care what Reno does?" For some reason, she thought of Tseng. She had tried so hard to measure up to the other Turks and make Tseng proud of her. And then he had died...
None of them had taken his death well. Rude had disappeared for a day after they got the news. She had cried her eyes out in a particularly undignified manor. And Reno...
Her feet had taken her straight to Tseng's office. Numbly, she walked inside and curled up in the chair behind his desk. She had cried herself to sleep, not caring what anyone else may think. She had loved Tseng, and now he was dead.
She had awoken in her apartment laying on her own bed. She had no idea who had carried her home. The next day, when she reported to Rufus' office for a mission debriefing, Reno had given her a sympathetic look. For some reason, it had always stuck in the back of her mind.
It suddenly occurred to her. Reno had taken her home that day. She could vaguely remember him slipping into Tseng's office and carrying her to Rude's car.
"Why the hell am I thinking of this now? What point is there in thinking of something that happened over five years ago?" She sighed and unlocked her door to let herself in.
She found Reno passed out on the couch, one hand holding an empty bottle of... something. His usual wrinkled white shirt was in even more disarray than normal and was practically falling off him. One leg was falling off the couch and the other was draped over the couch's back, with a cover twisted around it.
She pulled his shirt down and unwrapped the cover from his leg and spread it over his whole body. He was such a useless slob. Nothing at all like Tseng. But she supposed he could occasionally be nice when he wanted to. She grabbed the empty bottle and pulled. He had a tight grip on it and it didn't budge.
"Reno. Let go of the bottle!" she whispered and pulled again. Finally, he relaxed his grip and the bottle went flying across the room. She cringed at the sound of glass breaking against the wall. Oh well. She'd clean it up in the morning. Just as she started to get up, his arm snapped out and grabbed her wrist.
"What are you doing?!" She struggled to get free. His eyes opened a little and he grinned at her drunkenly. His other arm wrapped around her and pulled her towards him. To her utter shock, he kissed her soundly on the lips, before letting her go and falling back asleep.
"Reno... you... you..." She gasped and scooted away from the couch. She spent most of the night staring at him as he slept on peacefully. She finally went to her own room and laid on the bed. The kiss replayed over and over in her mind.
Needless to say, she didn't get a wink of sleep that night.
Reno apparently didn't remember what happened, and she was somewhat glad. She was sure he was disoriented and probably thought he was kissing his precious Bambi. She seethed at the thought. She got cleaned up for the day and went to the kitchen to make something for breakfast. As she expected, Reno was in his usual position after a night of heavy drinking: his head rested face down on the kitchen table, with a mug of coffee setting beside his head. She mentally cursed at his decision to parade around wearing nothing but his pants and forced herself to ignore him.
"Oi. What's with you?" He said and eyed her as she slammed around pots and pans.
"Nothing." She snapped and then added, "How was your date with that... girl?"
He looked up. "Bambi. Ya work with her and don't remember her name?"
She sniffed and sat in the chair across from his. She sipped her coffee and decided she was NOT going to offer him any of her food like she usually did.
"She's really fuckin' hot. Young too. And very bendy." He grinned. She nearly choked on her coffee.
"How nice for her." She muttered in an icy tone. Reno watched her and finally said,
"You're jealous aren't you?" She dropped the piece of toast she was preparing to bite into and stared at him.
"I am not!" She finally managed to snap and glared.
He stretched and grinned smugly at her, "I'm just too resistible, eh? Every woman wants me."
"Every sixteen year old little girl maybe, but as for the rest of us... well we prefer men who can get through at least one day sober." She shot back and smirked at him, mentally applauding her attack.
"Ouch. You're cold." He whined dramatically. He got up and walked past her, stopping to tousle her hair. She swatted him away and stuck her tongue out at him. She smiled to herself as soon as he left the room.
Just as she opened the door to leave for work, Reno stopped her.
"Hey, Elena, I almost forgot!" He ran from the bathroom clad in only a towel and sopping wet. She fought back a blush and managed a calm,
"What did you forget?"
"Well, I got these tickets to some opera thing. And - "
"Got or stole?" She interjected suspiciously.
"Shaddup. Anyway, I got these tickets cause Bambi said she liked opera - "
"BAMBI likes opera? You must be joking." Elena raised and eyebrow.
"Don't interrupt! And yeah, she said she does. Anyway, I ended up getting four tickets, and I so I thought 'what the hell, Elena seems like one of those people who goes for double dates, so I'll ask her'. So you wanna go?" Reno shrugged and waited for her answer.
A double date. Watching Reno and Bambi make out for a whole evening. She didn't even LIKE opera. But it would mean Reno would have to get cleaned up. He'd look good in a tux... no, no, no, you don't even have a date to go with! She thought frantically, as she opened her mouth to decline his offer, she somehow found herself saying,
"Sure."
What the HELL had she just gotten herself into?