Crystal had sneaked back to retrieve the TSX about an hour or so after she'd been camping out in some random person's back yard. She was hot and irritated and covered in soot, so she was in a pretty foul mood. The sun was clear in the sky when she arrived, pulling the car skillfully around her Cobra and back into her mother's parking spot in the garage. She walked into the stupidily massive house and threw her purse down on the counter, frowning at the burn marks on one of the straps.
She decided not to just call Jack right off, and sent him a brief text message that simply said, "Hey, I'm home fine. Thanks again." She was aching to get this dirty smell off of her, and so didn't feel like pounding out an editorial about how cute she thought he was. She was a little to emotionally unstable right now for that.
She took the liberty of a long, warm shower, complete with eyebrow management and total skin exfoliation. It felt nice to just soak in her little 'afterbath' of warm water and rose and lavendar extract. She inhaled deeply, willing herself to mellow out a little bit. At times like this, she wondered how she could have ever even contemplated suicide.
She dressed in a pair of glitter-sprinkled Sevens and a Juicy Couture logo T, then flopped down on the oversized couch in the equally gigantic living room and turned on the TV. She snuggled down against a velour throw and fell asleep watching reruns of Clueless.
She awoke with a start about two hours later. The sun had already set, and the house was quiet, though due to her compulsive light-turning-on well, it also remained well-lit. She sat up and blinked, trying to determine how long she'd been asleep, or what had awoken her. She felt scared again, for some reason, and as she came back to consciousness the feeling that someone was in the house, or had just been there, became like a weight pressing on the back of her neck.
She froze on the couch for a few minutes, trying to decide what the best way to approach this was. She was absolutely terrified on one hand, but on the other hand, she was a little angry at the possibility that her day was about to get even worse. She stood slowly, and began creeping through the house, turning off lights. She knew it like the back of her hand, so if there was a burgler in the house, he sure wouldn't.
It only occured to her after she pushed her bedroom door open and saw a rose sitting on her pillow that a burgler could just as easily have been there to take more than just money and jewelry, and perhaps also could have been supernatural at that. Griffon grabbed her from behind, but to his surprise Crystal swung her legs up and kicked off her door frame, sending the both of them stumbling back as he maintained his bear hug around her midsection. The impact was hard enough to push him off balance, and she kicked out again, causing him to fall backwards down the stairs.
They hit with a loud thud, and despite the pain, Crystal was up and running, with the vampire not far behind. Why Griffon didn't just use his power on her was anyone's guess - perhaps he was having too much fun with the thrill of the chase, knowing that he could have just killed her any moment he wanted to. Crystal didn't know this, though, and so thought she perhaps had a shred of a fighting chance.
She dove across the couch in the living room, pulling it over on top of her by accident, and heard her cell phone hit the floor with a crash. As she crawled towards it, Griffon pulled the couch off of her and ran past her, kicking it into the kitchen. She heard it skitter to a stop as it smacked a cabinet, and pulled herself up, half-crawling, half-running, trying to make a slide into the kitchen across the tile after it.
She wasn't fast enough, though, even for Griffon without abusing his power - the vampire as a human had been athletic enough that given the right time, he'd have caught Crystal anyways. He tackled her just as she crossed the doorway of the kitchen, and she slid on her stomach with him on top of her. Freshly waxed floors were making her life more difficult than it needed to be, and offhandedly the thought entered her mind to beg her mom to have the house re-carpeted... if she could make it that far.
Griffon rocked back and shifted his weight, flipping Crystal onto her back and had a moment's amusement as he pretended to actually fight away her hits and slaps. She was trying to mantain some degree of calmness, and it made him laugh aloud, which in turn got him a slap in the mouth. It didn't matter, there was little she could do to physically hurt him. She was his, and that was all that there was to that.
He started speaking to her, saying awful things to her about how much he'd missed her, how he didn't know why she fought him, that she was just denying herself the truth - that she'd enjoyed the bite, the... everything. Crystal managed to snake a hand away from his grasp long enough to grab her cell phone, and dialed out to the first number that had left her phone - Jack's. She slid it away so that Griffon couldn't smash it, and as soon as she heard noise on the other line, she began shouting.
"THERE'S SOMEONE IN THE HOUSE, PLEASE COME QUICK! THIS IS CRYSTAL DEBOIR, I'M AT 2434 PINE RIDGE WAY!" she screamed. She then let out a resounding "NO!" as Griffon jumped off of her and went for the phone. She crawled after him and grabbed his leg, unexpectedly enough that she pulled it out from under him, sending him on top of her at an awkward angle. The phone didn't last though, and he smashed it against the floor as he fell, crushing it literally into about 6 different pieces.
Crystal bit Griffon in the arm, hard enough to draw blood, and he yelled in surprise, giving her a swift forearm to the face. She fell backwards and wiggled out from underneath him, scrambling to her feet and broke into a run down the hall again. Griffon growled. The game was getting old. He let her get about 3/4 of the way up the stairs and then used his power to accelerate behind her, throwing her down on them.
She rolled onto her back and started kicking at him, trying to breathe since the wind had been knocked out of her, but he had her by her hair, and slammed her head into the ground before she could land any meaningful self defense motions in. He stopped suddenly as the sound of a police siren was heard close by, and bent down to Crystal's dazed form.
"Until later, sweetheart," he promised, giving her a peck on the cheek. As an afterthought he kissed her lips, revelling in the blood he'd drawn when he'd yanked her down face-first into the stairs. She literally slid down each step until she reached the bottom, not confident enough to trust her legs. The former cheerleader opened the front door and went outside to await the authorities.
When the police arrived, Crystal was sitting on her front porch, signs of getting into a scuffle evident. The house had been destroyed enough that the cops, despite finding no evidence of another person, definitely believed that she had indeed been the victim of a breaking and entering. She was studying her hands, wondering why, for the second time in less than 24 hours, she was surrounded by police and EMTs. A familiar voice broke through the commotion and she looked up, squinting against the bright lights of the flashlights and police lightbars.
Jack had been expecting a phone call from Crystal for a little while, knowing the whole time that she was most likely never going to call or talk to him again. She'd probably been nice just because he rescued her, and wanting to get as far away from him as possible, but he could still hope.
The LAST thing he was expecting was the call he got.
"THERE'S SOMEONE IN THE HOUSE, PLEASE COME QUICK! THIS IS CRYSTAL DEBOIR, I'M AT 2434 PINE RIDGE WAY!" screamed through the receiver with no warning, followed by a number of shouts and cries on her end that made him hesitant to hang up, but he knew better. Chances were that she wouldn't get the chance to say anything else to him, and she was lucky she'd gotten as much out as she had. He promptly dialed 911 on his cell as he shot out to his car, deciding to answer questions while he was on the way.
He got there at about the same time as the cops, not long after the call at all, but he had to fight his way through to get to the front stoop where Crystal was. "Crystal?! Oh, my God, are you okay?" he asked, pushing past someone else to get close to her, and he winced when he looked at her injuries.
"Holy hell, you are NOT having a good day. Someone broke in?" he asked, his tone surprisingly gentle despite his words. He didn't want to upset her, but he couldn't believe she'd been in a fire AND a victim of a break-in all in the same day.
Crystal jumped off of the porch and onto Jack, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Even if he wasn't very familiar, he was better than the other people investigating the scene right now. She wasn't crying, but she felt herself start to shake as she hugged him, and willed her nerves back down.
"Guess he didn't think anyone was home. I don't know how, but... my parents go out of town fairly often. I don't imagine the guy thought I would be as much trouble as I was. The cops said he split, though..." she trailed off. "And as soon as they let me back inside, I'm packing my shit and I'm staying somewhere else."
She folded her arms tightly. Crystal needed to get into the city or... somewhere away. She looked up at Jack. "Thanks for coming. I guess that must've been you I dialed. My phone is in about a bazillion pieces right now, so. Sorry." She frowned and looked back as the police seemed to be wrapping it up.
"I promise, I am not really as bad luck as I seem." She smiled a little, trying to seem upbeat. It didn't work.
Really, having her LAUNCH herself at him like that was worth being scared half to death when he got that call and speeding over there, and he held onto her while she shook and tried to calm down.
"Do you have anywhere to stay?" he asked, obviously concerned and NOT just trying to pick her up. He behaved himself on occasion, and this was definitely one of those occasions. That call had scared the hell out of him. "Yes, it was definitely me you called. I thought you were being murdered, you know."
He smiled some at her promise, which was fine with him since he hadn't been thinking she was bad luck. He just figured it was a really bad day to be Crystal. "Don't worry. Even if you are, you just need to keep a gun handy or something, just in case," he teased back. "A big dog might help. Sucks to be the burglar who busts in on that."
She snorted. "No, no. Parents took the dog with them. Believe me, PenPen isn't scaring anyone. He's a mid-sized American Eskie.. all he does is jump. A lot." She reluctantly slid from his grasp and took to leaning against him as one of the police officers approached her.
"Alrighty Miss Deboir, everything seems to be fine. You might want to talk to your parents about setting up a more effective alarm, but I don't think this guy will be back tonight. Still, if you don't feel comfortable, you shouldn't feel obligated to stay. We can post an officer in the neighborhood for the next few nights to see if this guy is up to anything." The officer gave her a questioning look as she leaned on Jack for support, physically as well as somewhat mentally, but said nothing.
"Okay. Thanks. I'm just going to pack some things and leave for the night, if it's all the same," she said. He nodded and walked away from them, leaving her alone with Jack again.
"I'm thinking of slumming it in the Hilton or something. I know, right? But... I think I deserve it after this shit," she said malevolently, folding her arms again. She was mentally making a check list of things she needed to get, and glanced up to Jack. "Walk inside with me while I pack?"
"Big dog," he repeated with a grin. The 'big' part mattered.
"My family had one of those dogs growing up. He was a spiteful little thing," he commented once the officer had left, not wanting to interrupt what the man had to say and instead thinking back to that little dog. Someone had named the dog 'Rhett', like from Gone with the Wind. His sister had been 'Scarlett', which made Jack wonder what the hell was wrong with that story that the main couple were siblings.
"Absolutely," he agreed to accompanying her inside to pack, and he glanced around as they entered. It looked like it was a nice place, when it wasn't a victim of a burglar. "Uh, not that you don't seriously deserve to be pampered as only the Hilton can, but if you'd like, you can stay at my place so you're not alone. I'm supposed to be off the next two days, anyway."
He didn't really think she'd accept, but he wanted to at least make the offer, just in case.
Crystal was full of surprises. "Okay," she said absently as she pulled down a pink backpack. She whipped out a little notepad and flipped back a few pages, and then began checking things off of it as she found them and folded them neatly. Obviously Crystal had a habit of forgetting things - she'd made a check list so she couldn't.
As she wandered around the room and picked up various items, she smiled at Jack, who leaned against her doorframe. "Sorry for the girlish overload of the room. I'm a fan of pink, I guess it shoes." She smiled a little. "You sure you don't mind some random terribly confused girl bunking with you?"
Crystal had almost said 'teenage'. That would have been so bad.
Yeah, her liking for pink definitely showed, and he was rather surprised by the girlish look of the bedroom, but he supposed that even older girls sometimes kept their rooms like this, and some of them even just because they hadn't bothered to change the decor since they were teenagers. He knew she wasn't a teenager because she'd told him, but other than that, he was going on assumptions. Besides, she was entitled to like the color.
He happened to miss the strangeness of her near slip, and merely shrugged. "It's not a problem. I snore, but I doubt you'll notice 'cause I don't think I'm THAT loud. Oh, and you're not allergic to cats, are you?" he asked, actually worrying about that. Arson had the run of the apartment all the time, so if Crystal was allergic or anything, that would be a problem. Otherwise, he was fine.
She laughed when he said he'd snored. Crystal'd had a boyfriend once who snored quite a bit. She elbowed him so hard once that she almost cracked one of his ribs. They broke up not too long after, so it wasn't a terribly big loss on her part anyways.
"No, not allergic to anything that I know of," she said. She gave her bag a steady shake and then wrapped her phone charger around her wrist and stuffed it into a small pocket towards the top.
"Okay, got everything. You sure you don't mind this?" she asked again, brows raised.
He grinned when she laughed, taking that as a good sign and rolling with it. He always liked hearing people laugh. "Good, because I have a cat who will probably love you, but the apartment is hers, so I'm sure she's got cat cooties all over the place. So long as you don't mind, neither do I," he returned, stepping out of the room to get out of her way.
"You don't need anything else? Other than a maid, of course." Just looking around, it was obvious cleaning up after that guy, whoever he was, would be a pain. "I'm not bad at fixing things, though. If you end up needing help getting this place together, you can let me know. You have time to worry about that, though. Come on, I'm parked a block down because I couldn't get past the police in the car. I'll carry your bag."
He wasn't going to make her carry it after all that she'd been through that day, especially since they had to walk. He'd have gone and driven it around to the front of the house, but he wasn't going to leave her alone.
She wanted to protest, but she handed it out to him instead. She felt just like a break right about now, and why not if he offered. She even managed a small smile. He was really a nice guy, she decided. She felt bad on the inside for lying to him about her age, but... what harm could it do? It isn't like anything would ever happen, right? Crystal was damaged goods; nobody wanted her around.
She thought briefly of Alex, and just got angry all over again. Stupid.. boys. Promising things they couldn't deliver. She didn't feel any better about Jack, though. He was a human as far as she could see. What if...
She smiled at him again as he held a door open for her.
"So, how far is it? And should I grab some DVDs or something? I mean, I know I won't be able to sleep. Unless you need it to be quiet. Can I sleep with the cat, or does he not like people?" Annnd there came the Crystal-like questions. Her personality seemed to fade in and out, like she couldn't decide who she wanted to be anymore. She just kept changing her mind, her moods, trying to find something that would work for her again.
Oh, where was she? When would she come back? She didn't quite know. She missed herself.
"I have a few movies at the apartment, but if there are some you like, bring them along," he told her with a shrug. He didn't need quiet or anything. He wasn't exactly a deep sleeper, but he wouldn't wake up over a little TV. Fortunately, he didn't know what she was thinking about her age, or about how stupid boys were. If he had, he'd have been sure to remind her that he wasn't a boy.
"Arson loves people, especially people who give her attention. If you want to cuddle and love her, she'll be your best friend until someone wants to pay more attention to her than you do. Not the most loyal of animals," he pointed out as he waited for her to grab anything else she needed and led her out to the car. Arson would be good for making Crystal feel better, though. Or at least, he thought so. "It's not far, just barely into the city."
"Sweet," she said. She needed a cat right about now. She just walked past him to the front door and into the walkway that lead down to the yard. She didn't need anything else that she could think of, except for some Tylenol and a Sprite. She was pretty sore, actually, from fending off Griffon. She felt out of shape, and then reminded herself that she was only a human against a big supernatural bad guy. Which was funny, because if you think about it, Griffon was small peanuts in the grand scheme of things. She could have had any number of Midnight vampires kick the crap out of her that would make Griffon beating her ass feel like a walk in the park.
"Whoa, yeah, three ring circus out here. I see why you had to park so far down. I'd say this is a nice neighborhood and not to worry about your car, but, uh, yeah, kind of killed that idea about an hour ago." She frowned. At least she could still retain some of the teenage sarcasm she'd learned to rely on. As she ducked past a few officers who were wrapping it up, she tried to stay close to Jack. She wasn't really in the mood for any more questions.
He made no move to leave her stranded in the see of people outside, and actually fell back to step up again between her and the majority of the people. He knew how cops worked from having worked alongside them so often, and he didn't think she wanted anymore questions.
"Yeah, I would have just barreled right through, but the police kind of frown upon that," he returned with a smirk. "At least they also frown upon stealing cars, so the beast was safe just outside of their area. You know, I heard there were a couple of car jackings out here, though."
Not the smoothest change of subject, but at least it was something.
She welcomed the subject change. "Mm, never been car jacked. Did have some crazy bitch refuse to get out of my car once, though. Let me tell you, if I ever see her again I'll beat her black and blue." Of course, Crystal had no idea that the girl had been in the very Guild Houses she might've wanted to try registering up for some time. Crystal wasn't above dropping the remnants of her pretty girl image if it meant Griffon never touching her again. And never having to rely on someone - ANYONE - to protect her.
She listened to Jack as they walked and talked, making a few comments when she managed to get him to the subject of movies. He was nice. He didn't deserve the trouble that she would bring. She felt bad, instantly, but she put that guilt away to deal with later. Now was not the time for emotion. Now was the time for flirting and faking happiness like she knew she could.
As she climbed into his car and pulled her seatbelt on, she leaned over and gave him a little peck on the cheek. "Thanks, for everything. I know I seem like a real bad luck charm, but I promise, I just seem to be having a bad week. I think it'll be getting better now." She smiled at him.
"She refused to get OUT of your car? That's...odd," he remarked, only to be plunged into talk of movies. For a girl who'd nearly died in a house fire and just been attacked in her own home, she was surprisingly normal. He had to wonder if she was perhaps in a minor state of shock and just functioning on habit, but it didn't seem like that. Still, she might turn hysterical once she had time to relax, so he'd try to pay attention. Just in case.
The peck on the cheek was entirely unexpected, but not unwanted. He smiled in return, actually pleased. A kiss, even on the cheek, from a hot girl was always wanted. "I hope it'll be getting better, since I can't really imagine what could be worse at this point," he teased. A car crash would, but he was going to be careful just in case she WAS some sort of bad luck charm. "I mean, burning building, attacked, now you have to stay the night with me? Damn, it's GOT to get better."
Yep, he could rock on the self-deprecating humor if the situation called for it.
"Shut up. You're probably the best part of my evening. And I'm sorry again for the freakish phone call. I just pressed send and the phone went sailing through the kitchen." She looked at him and smiled a little, though she did feel guilty for that. She'd directly involved him, now, she was sure of it. What if Griffon came after her at Jack's? Would she have been better off with Alex? She couldn't figure out what decision was right and what was wrong.
She wanted to rip her hair out. Instead, she dug through her purse and found some gum, and stuck it in her mouth before she said anything crazy. She wanted to see a therapist sometimes, but who would believe her? She didn't know, she honestly didn't.
"Can we stop on the way there for food? I hate to be a nag, but I haven't eaten in a while. I'm kind of hungry," she said, a frown on her face. She didn't even know what she wanted, she guessed she'd take the first thing they saw. She just needed some soda and a chicken sandwich so bad she could taste it.
Jack had no idea who Griffon was, or how dangerous, but he could promise that anyone breaking into his place was getting axed. He had one for decorative purposes over his fireplace, but it was in no way harmless or for decorative purposes only. It was a real fire ax, one that had been used many times and presented to him by his father, and it was sharp. He'd use it if he had to.
Of course, a vampire might pose a threat, but he'd try. He'd promised Crystal a safe, comfortable place to stay. He'd do everything in his power to give her that.
"Don't worry about the phone call. I like getting the piss scared out of me routinely. Keeps me alert," he told her with a grin, not about to complain about it. She'd needed help, and that call may have saved her life. "We can stop wherever you want. I told you, I'm off, so my time is yours."
"Okay," she said absently, not really listening to him for the moment. Crystal had a habit of fading in and out. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the doctors called it. She did a lot of weird things sometimes, and they chalked most of it up to that. Crystal wished she was faking her ADD so she could just be normal, just like everything else. She wished she'd made it all up.
"Ooh, Wendy's!" she exclaimed, pointing up ahead on the right. "Can we stop there? They have floats now!" The idea of chicken nuggets and a float really was a lot nicer than it should have been. It was pathetic that she'd cling to something so trivial to try and ignore the bigger shit going wrong around her. But hey, whatever worked.
He was actually alright with her starting to tune him out, especially considering the day she'd had. He wasn't about to begrudge her a little quiet time, even if it was only staring out the car window. Especially if it landed them at Wendy's.
"Of course. Those floats are awesome," he returned, having already become a fan from his own late night stops at the fast food drive thru for a cheeseburger and a float. Great stuff, that. "You can order whatever you want, my treat."
"WELCOME TO WENDY'S, CAN I TAKE YOUR ORDER?"
Ahh, the wonders of fast food.
She leaned across Jack to the little squawk box and shouted into it, "TWO FIVE PIECE NUGGETS AND A LARGE COKE!"
"BAKED POTATO?" the voice said back.
"NUGGETS!" she screamed. She was practically in Jack's lap as one hand supported herself on the door sill of his window. There was another break of silence, and the voice came back.
"TWO FIVE PIECE NUGGETS AND A MEDIUM DIET COKE?"
Crystal lowered her head and sighed. "YEAH. THAT'S FINE."
She crawled back across Jack to the seat and stared at him. "You know. I don't think these places have any employment screening whatsoever."
One thing needs to be made clear from the start of this situation. Jack may have been trying to be the Good Samaritan by offering Crystal a safe place to stay, food and company, but he was still a guy. Having her leaning so close to him and then practically in his lap didn't escape his attention, and actually made his mind wander just a little.
He couldn't help it.
He behaved himself though, and grinned when she mentioned employment screening. "It's Wendy's, what did you expect?" he asked, right before the voice on the box started squawking again.
"WILL THAT BE ALL?"
"NO. I NEED A BACONATOR, A LARGE FRY AND A ROOT BEER FLOAT."
He'd been meaning to try the Bacon sandwich, and root beer floats were always good. He was assuming she'd help with the fries, but if not, he'd somehow manage to force them down.
"BACONATOR, LARGE FRY AND A FLOAT?"
"YEP!"
"DRIVE AROUND TO THE FIRST WINDOW."
He just smiled at Crystal. "No employment screening, and you know it's always dorks and lowlifes that work at these places. He was probably so frazzled that a girl was talking to him that he couldn't remember your order," he told her teasingly, winking and taking the car around to the first window, which was where he pulled his wallet out. He'd said he'd treat.
She grumbled. "I thought I got to have it my way at Wendy's. Or is that Burger King? Ah, I knew I made the wrong choice," she hissed. "Those assholes are lucky I like Diet Coke." She sank back into her seat. When she saw him take out his wallet, she made to protest, but he shushed her.
"Okay, fine. Thanks. I appreciate it," she said. She really meant it, anyways. It was nice for someone else to pay. Crystal had money, she came from money, but she was always suckered into paying for shit somehow.
"Seems that at Wendy's, you get it whatever way the acne'd teenager behind the counter wants it," he said, and then hesitated, looking kind of grossed out. "That's actually kind of disturbing, forget I said anything."
He paid for the meal, drove to the next window, and found himself waiting while some girl laughed at something one of the nerds had said. Classic stereotypical drive-thru. It amazed him. "I said I'd treat. It's really not a big deal, so don't worry about it. Tonight's your night to just chillax, got it?" he asked, grinning at her for an instant before he had to grab their food and ended up handing it to her.
"Half of those fries are yours, by the way."
"Yeeeahh..." she said slowly, staring at him as he said something about the creepy guy 'giving it to her'. "I'll pass."
When he shook the fries at her, her eyes widened. "Oh, damn, I forgot to order fries. I guess it's a good thing you're so generous, or we'd have to go back around for another game of 'what'd she say' on the intercom."
She took some of the fries after she'd piled her nuggets into one of the little holders, and put them in the other holder. "Sweet," she said to herself. "Do you mind if I eat in the car or do I need to wait til we get to the house? I would say I don't spill, but that's a lie."
"I don't blame you. I'd pass, too, and probably run screaming in the opposite direction," he informed her lightly, grinning and faking a shudder. He was glad he'd done the right thing and ordered the large fry, too. He could be a bit of a people pleaser. "As fun as that game is, I'd rather limit your interactions with the loser on the other end of that thing, unless he makes me look more appealing."
He was, of course, teasing her. He assumed that guy made him look more appealing, but he didn't want her thinking he was inviting her over for any reason other than to be nice. He didn't want her to feel pressured or anything because of a few lame jokes. "Go ahead and eat in the car, I don't mind. I do it often enough, so a spill won't be anything new."
Really, he was lying a little. He was a clean guy, even if his car smelled of smoke because of himself and his stuff smelling of smoke when it was all in the car, but he wasn't messy. His friends were, so he didn't care if she spilled, but he didn't usually. That was splitting hairs on his statement, though.
She ate, and didn't spill, except on the napkin she'd set out, which was good. She even made a noise and pointed at it. "See?" she asked, gulping down Diet Coke. "I came prepared!" she said proudly. Little victories like this she needed desperately right now, and so she was happy when Jack laughed a real laugh. She knew he was genuine then, laughing at her stupid jokes.
When they got to the house, she grabbed her bag and tossed it over her shoulder. "Last chance, Jack. You can drop me off at a hotel any time before I get to your doorstep, but once that door is open and I'm inside, I'm yours for the night." She paused. "I mean, your responsibility. Er...yeah. Are you sure I can stay?"
She didn't think she could be alone, and she crossed her fingers silently. It was such a childish thing to do, but she did it anyways.
Of course he laughed. She was cute, and funny, and pretty. She had horrible luck, but he thought she was just in a rut, and he'd help her out of it by letting her take it easy at his place for the night. With some sleep and relaxation, he was certain she'd be okay.
He'd been wrong before.
"I'm proud of you. Honest, I am. That touches me right here," he told her as he pulled up to his place, patting right over where his heart was. He continued right after she'd asked him if he was sure about her staying. "And that. That hurt me right there. Come on, I said you could stay, and I'm not going to just drop you off at a hotel now. Maybe if you'd spilled something in my car..."
He let the sentence hang for a moment, then grinned again. "Relax. As long as you're okay with staying, you can." It had taken an effort not to gutter her being 'all his' out loud, but he'd managed it. He was proud of himself for that.
"Okay," Crystal said. Her heart did a somersault. She followed him to the door, shrugging her bag off of her shoulder the minute she got a chance. She still felt that tug in her stomach, the one that felt bad for lying. She needed to find out how old he was. She walked over to the fridge and glanced at some stuff on it, listening halfway as he gave her a quick tour. She dropped her things on the floor of his bedroom by the door, and smiled a little.
"Do you mind if I get into my jammies? I'm worn out. I just want to lay down and watch a movie," she said. She hadn't seen the cat yet. She wondered if it was hiding from her. Crystal smelled like Griffon, and she'd found that animals didn't like him so much.
Griffon. She felt so strange without him. She would lay down and sleep, and he could not find her - not tonight. Would she still wake up, feeling like he'd been there? Like he'd... She closed her eyes for a moment, and exhaled slowly. No. He's not here.. She needed a distraction. Needed to forget.
Jack actually found him wondering where Arson was from the moment he walked in the door, but he assumed she was making herself scarce because of a new person entering the apartment. It was odd because she'd never been shy before, yelling her displeasure at guests that might steal his attention away from her, but he supposed there was a first time for everything, even if it was strange.
He gave here a quick tour, which really wasn't much because his apartment wasn't huge. He was just a single guy with a cat, so he didn't need a big place, and he didn't come from money. He worked hard for his pay. Worrying about the state of his apartment (which was clean) was shoved out of his brain when she mentioned 'jammies'. How cute, jammies. He was intrigued already.
"Sure! Do you want a shower first? You've had a rough day, so I wouldn't blame you if you did," he told her, already reaching into the linen closet that was opposite his room and grabbing her a set of towels. Most people couldn't stand the smell of smoke, which he assumed included her, and she'd had it rough even after that. A shower would probably make her feel better.
Crystal looked around as he got the towels for her, and her eyes finally settled on an old graduation photo. Crikey! He had to be late twenties, early thirties. Crystal could have slapped herself. He didn't look over 25! She jerked her head back as he spoke, and just nodded absently. "Yeah, that's fine. A shower sounds nice," she said with a smile. She was glad she'd brought some of her smellygood soapy stuff with her. She knew how to pack quickly and in order of necessity, that was for sure.
She showered as quickly as she could, given the circumstances, and blow-dried her hair afterwards. When she got into her pajamas, which consisted of pink plaid flannel boxer shorts and a light pink camisole, she felt slightly uncovered. She snatched a throw that was on Jack's bed and wrapped it around herself, then pushed open the door from the bedroom and nosed into the living room, where she found he and the cat settled on the couch.
"All done," she said with a small smile. "What movie did you want to watch?"
He settled her the best he could with a shower, then left her to her own devices while he headed out to the living room, completely oblivious of her realization about his age. He hadn't even thought about that graduation photo, and why should he? He thought she was older.
Fortunately, he found his cat, or she found him, by the time he got to the couch. Arson had a habit of showing up when it was most convenient for her, purring and rubbing up on him. "Hey there, baby, where've you been? You'll have to meet Crystal when she gets back out."
Arson didn't have too much to say, but she meowed loudly at him, staring and then butting her head against his hand. She didn't mind taking an active stance on getting attention, and they stayed just about like that right up until Crystal returned from showerland.
"Whatever you want to watch is fine with me. This is Arson, by the way," he told her, gesturing to the black cat that had settled herself on top of him. "She's a weirdo, but she'll warm up to you once she realizes you'll give her attention." Obviously, this was a guy who cared a lot about his cat. He spent way too much time with the animal.
"Well, hey kitty kitty," she said, sitting down on the couch next to Jack. She didn't sit too closely, though. She didn't need that cat freaking out. PenPen wouldn't come NEAR her now that Griffon had been dropping in, and it didn't matter how hard she'd scrubbed, she couldn't get whatever scent he'd left on her off. The dog would come close enough for her to think she was going to be able to pet him, and then he'd take off again. He certainly wouldn't take any food from her, and that pissed her off twice as much as the rest of it. Her parents had to feed him, or he'd starve.
She looked at the TV, and sighed a little. "Want to watch Troy?" she asked. It was long enough that she could watch a lot of it, fall asleep, and not feel guilty about it. She planned to do exactly that, too.
Jack didn't notice anything regarding Crystal and the cat, since Crystal had settled herself further away. Inevitably, Arson would notice Crystal, realize there was something she didn't like, and leave without making it obvious to Jack why she was leaving, or she'd surprise Crystal and not be weird. It was all up in the air. Jack had said she was a weirdo, and an attention whore.
"Troy sounds fine with me. I haven't seen it since it was in theaters," he remarked, thinking about it once she'd mentioned it. He'd liked it, if he remembered correctly, despite the infamous 'Brad Pitt's ass' scene that girls liked to bring up every time the movie was mentioned. He could tolerate the scene for the rest of the movie. It was good.
He had to oust the cat to go put the movie in, which meant that Arson was alone with Crystal on the couch. Maybe they'd do some bonding.
When Jack got up to put in the movie, Crystal reached over to try and pet Arson experimentally. She hadn't tried her luck with cats yet - dogs, birds, and even fish seemed to already be a bad route. This wasn't any different. She got about an inch from the cat's head before a low growl-meow harvested deep in the animal's throat. The cat hissed, and then removed herself from the couch in favour of a chair in the dining room, where she could see, but not be seen.
"O-kay," Crystal said, thankful her hand hadn't been scratched off. She adjusted the throw, and snuggled down under the blanket, enjoying how it smelled like Jack and his cologne, along with the faintest scent of smoke. She supposed that wouldn't ever go away, not really.
"Guess she doesn't like me, either. I'm bad with animals," she offered as an explanation, moving so he could sit back down. She leaned against him lightly, innocently.
It actually startled Jack when Arson reacted as she had, since he'd never seen her do that before. As he'd said, the animal was crazy for attention, and to turn down loving from anyone was beyond weird. He stared after the cat like he was worried something was wrong with it. "What's your problem, brat?" he called out, leaving the suggestion hanging in the air that perhaps he talked to her rather often. Naturally, she didn't answer.
"Sorry about that. I've never seen her do that before," he told Crystal as he reclaimed his seat on the couch. Crystal saying she was bad with animals seemed like a bit of an understatement, but he couldn't imagine why. There was nothing about her that he thought should set someone off. "Don't worry about it, she's probably just jealous that I have a girl over who's not her. Not that it's like that with you, but..."
Yeah, smooth move.
"I'm sure she'll get over it." He was already willing to get over it, having Crystal lean on him. She looked damn good, all snuggled in that throw blanket off of his bed, and he was liking the situation already, even if it wasn't 'like that'.
Crystal regarded the cat briefly, and then looked at Jack. "I told you I was bad with animals. I dunno, they just never take to me. I wouldn't worry about it," she shrugged, but her insides twisted into a knot and she felt that fluttery, bad feeling in her stomach that she did when bad things were afoot. Griffon. He did this to her. He took her... everything. He took everything, and he wouldn't give it back.
She sank into Jack, closing her eyes briefly, pushing the bad thoughts from her mind. I am here, I am with Jack, and Griffon won't find me, at least not for now. I just need to focus on the good things. She was awash with several emotions, but she put those to bed, and sighed. "I love this movie," was all she said simply, smiling a little.
She got maybe twenty minutes into it before she fell asleep. She was exhausted, and she visibly struggled to stay awake, but her body just gave out on her. She slept, for the moment.
Jack shrugged her issues with Arson off just as easily as she explained it, just assuming it was some weird cat thing that had the animal upset. He naturally had no idea what the real cause was, and Arson couldn't tell him. He'd be best kept out of shapeshifter presences for awhile, or at least, the ones that were just a little more animal than most. It was doubtful that one of those shifters would like her much.
Considering he was just a stupid, ignorant human, he had no idea that there was even a problem, and so her making herself comfortable against him was a good thing. He liked that she'd relax there with him, and just her proclamation about loving the movie made it that much better. He could tolerate the Brad Pitt ass scene without a problem for her.
He found he had mixed emotions when she fell asleep. First, he didn't dare move for fear of waking her, but he was a little disappointed that she'd passed out so fast. On the other hand, she'd fallen asleep on him, which had to say that she trusted him, right? And really, she'd had a long, rough day, so he wasn't too surprised. He was just going to have to make the attempt not to fall asleep himself, since it WAS a long movie, and her deep, rhythmic breathing just might do the trick.
Crystal woke up about halfway through the movie, and found that Jack had succumbed to the evening as well. She sat up slowly, and looked around. The cat was nowhere to be found, at least. That was good for her. She wasn't interested in loosing limbs because that animal could smell Griffon all over her. She stood, tugging the blanket around herself, and shook Jack lightly.
"Hey," she whispered. "Come on, let's go lay down."
When she finally managed to wake him up, he seemed as disoriented as she was, and she dutifully dragged him into his bedroom, laying on top of the covers with the blanket still wrapped around her. Really, her intentions were mostly innocent still - she'd sleep with this blanket, he could have the actual blankets on the bed. Then he laid down in his groggy state and wrapped an arm around her, and she was very still, debating on what to do.
On one hand, Jack was the exact opposite of Griffon. On the other hand, she knew that right now she couldn't trust herself to make any sort of decision without thinking about it for at least a week, given her state of mind.
Oh, screw it. She rolled over, nose to nose with Jack, who appeared to be asleep, and gave him the lightest kiss on the lips that she could. To.. thank him.
Jack had actually, in his defense, been asleep when she woke up. It took her actively trying to wake him up to get him to stir, and then he only got up because she was just about dragging him into his room. He managed to, with her prodding, get into bed without making himself too aware of his surroundings, but the damage to his sleep had already been done. His mind was slowly coming around, taking in what was going on, and...
And she'd just kissed him.
His eyes didn't open for about 5 seconds while he figured out if he'd really felt that, and then when he opened his eyes to look at her, he hesitated another few seconds. She'd kissed him. Yes, she had. He also had an arm around her, which he thought he'd done when they laid down, but he couldn't be sure. He was sure of what was going on right then, though, and he was very slow and deliberate about giving her another soft kiss in return.
Nothing like moving too fast on a poor girl who'd been victimized twice in the same day.
Crystal was traumatized, yes, and that might have had a lot to do with the outpour of emotions she was feeling, but she wasn't really focused on the 'why' so much anymore as the 'who' and the 'what'. She accepted his kiss, because at first she thought she was dreaming - she realized, though, as she opened her eyes and became more comprehensive to the situation around her, that she was wide awake. That seemed to go over well.
She kissed him back, a little more aggressively, something more founded. She sat up slightly, resting on one arm to try and stabilize herself, considering she was still swathed in a mass of blankets. One arm snaked across him, planting itself firmly on the bed, so she was effectively hovering over him, at least on the upper portion of her body, resting almost against his chest.
She leaned back suddenly, unsure of what she wanted. She felt like she needed to say something, and at the same time, she didn't. She was a little shocked of her own behaviour, though, and let it hang in the air for a minute.
Aggressive was good. Jack could handle aggressive, and though he really wanted to flip right over and see what the limits were, he behaved himself as she settled into a position somewhat hovering over him. Yep, this he could handle, or so he thought right up until she leaned up and hesitated.
Uh oh.
Too fast!
Something was wrong, probably something he'd done, and he froze while she sat there undecided, not really sure what to do. If he'd been absolutely certain of his abilities with women, he wouldn't still be single, so he knew better than to just DO something and hope for the best. They couldn't just sit there and stare at each other, could they?
"Are...you okay?"
She stared at him for a minute, and in that instant, a lump thoughts rushed through her head.
He's too old for you, Crystal. He won't even remember your name tomorrow, much less want you around. And Griffon, well. There's not going to be even a chance to explain anything - he always seems to know when other people have been near me, I can't even imagine what he's going to say when - but Griff isn't here now. Nobody's here now, nobody except us. Just Jack, and me. Yeah... sounds kind of nice...
She smiled at him. "Yeah," she said softly. She leaned in and gave him a little kiss on the lips, and the nuzzled his nose, something more affectionate than intimate. "Yeah, I am." There was another half-second before she leaned in again, this time continuing her kissing from earlier - the aggressive kind.
To be totally and completely honest, he'd thought they were done when she backed off, then went for a kiss that was much less aggressive and much more friendly and affectionate. That sounded to him like she'd changed her mind, and maybe he should be sleeping on the couch.
He was about to offer, but she seemed to change her mind back.
Aggressive. Yes, he could handle that, hadn't he already said it? Yes, he had, and he could. Fiiiiiiiine with him. He rose to the occasion, rather literally considering how she was hovering over him, pressing his mouth to hers and positively invading her mouth. There was really no other word for it, since that wasn't even quite a kiss anymore, but as long as she didn't mind, he wasn't going to worry about it. He'd set one hand up on her back, right at the edge of her pants, and was rubbing at the skin just at the waist, while the other was tangling itself in her hair as he kissed her.
Hopefully, he wouldn't embarrass himself and REALLY get it tangled. That would SUCK.
Crystal was fairly involved with the kissing for a few more minutes, before she started to feel like it wasn't enough. She'd been hard to satisfy lately, her attention always wandering to more and more things, ideas, designs... "Hold on," she said. She sat up for a brief second, and just whipped off her shirt, tossing it into the darkness. It could be heard landing with that soft sound that fabric always made. "There."
Wow. Go Crystal.
She grabbed Jack, and directed him to the right, situating herself so that he was mostly on top of her. Basically, she was making it clear that she was expecting him to conduct himself accordingly. Inwardly, something inside of her just curled up and died, but Crystal had found that the only way to avoid the thoughts of suicide or grief and memories of pain was to just swallow it up with other emotions, and this was the only outlet she had at the moment, so she was taking it. Screw the consequences, basically.
The LAST thing he wanted to do was 'hold on', but he didn't say anything, just watched her.
It was well worth it.
Watching her pull her top off made it CLEAR to him exactly what she was thinking, and he was fine with that. More than fine, he was ecstatic. He wasn't about to play hard to get, or pretend to be all aloof or anything. He hadn't been laid in awhile, even if he didn't want to tell HER that, and he was more than willing to do whatever he could to help make her feel comfortable or appease her. Expecting him to 'conduct himself accordingly' was enough for him, and he played along marvelously, shifting to make the whole situation easier as his hands wander and he completely invaded her mouth.
Fortunately for him, at least, he had no idea as to what she was going through inside, what with the 'thoughts of suicide' and the grief. He would have wanted to help, and done everything in his power for her simply because that was who he was, but his life would never be the same.
Crystal made the decision then not to tell Jack anything about what was going on. She didn't know what sparked it, but she really did kind of like him, obviously, or she wouldn't be in this situation. She just knew that she couldn't drag him into this world she'd been thrown into, not without feeling guilty for it - and guilt was something Crystal had been feeling a lot of lately. She didn't like it.
She pushed all those thoughts away one last time, and concentrated on Jack. Suffice to say, Crystal was going to make the most out of the evening one way or the other.
All potential opinions on her problems aside, Jack was more than willing to make the most out of the evening, as well. He didn't need to be told twice, and was certainly up for rising to the occasion. She wanted a distraction from her problems in the form of a night with him?
He was totally there.
Within the next few moments, events transpired that neither of these writers really feels the need to delve into, considering most readers understand the concept approaching. In other words, FADE TO BLACK.