The Call |TAG: Mel|

[Drew Richardson]

Melisande's friend Aimee was totally on the money when she said that the redhead the girl had given her number to WOULD call.  There was no way he wouldn't.  He was just nervous about doing it.  His usual experiences with women involved a quick night after a lot of drinking.  This wasn't one of those, starting with the fact that he hadn't had much to drink at all.

Unlike Josh, who passed out within moments of getting settled into the passenger seat.  Moron.  Didn't he know that Drew wasn't to be trusted with this?

He probably did, but it was too late now.  He'd said nothing involving dolls, and Drew had agreed.  That didn't mean he wouldn't do ANYTHING, though.  He proved that even as he drove, slowly picking up one pen at a time and easing them into Josh's mouth.  He had to be slow about it, just in case the guy woke up, but after he got a few in there, he decided to count himself lucky and pull out his camera phone.  A few shots later (just for fun and plenty to work with), he was satisfied, and continued to drive the last few minutes to Josh's place as he texted one of the pictures to Melisande.  Good ice-breaker.  That was when he flicked the radio on.

Full-blast.

It was so loud, he couldn't even tell what was playing, but that didn't matter.  What mattered was waking Josh up, and having his cell in his pocket and out of sight (and Josh's reach, just in case).

[Joshua Silvera]

Ah, blissful drunk sleep. It's the best kind of sleep there is, until, of course, one of your ASSHOLE FRIENDS decides to wake you up by doing one of three things: turning on the lights, slamming on the brakes and screaming, or making a lot of noise. Drew had gone for option c, and Josh awoke with a start, nearly swallowing about seven or eight pens that had been carefully placed in his mouth (and one shoved up his nose, for good measure). He actually bit one of them, and it had to be a Bic ballpoint, because blue ink dribbled down his mouth as he turned and just glared at Drew, the one pen still hanging from his nose.

"I fucking hate you."


---

Melisande walked slowly with Nikki to her apartment, enjoying the way he always put his arm around her protectively. "Do you think he'll call?" she asked, for about the fifty billionth time.

Nikolas glared at her for a moment. "Seriously, do you have cotton in those ears of yours, doll? He's going to call, don't worry about it. And if not," he said with a shrug, "I'll chew his leg off." He offered her a catty grin, and opened the door of her apartment building main entrance. "After you, my lady," he said with an overly-ornate sweeping bow.


---

Slam!

Josh didn't even hear Drew trying to gasp out 'See you tomorrow' between his hyena laughter. He wanted to kick a dent in his car, because the ink tasted nasty and it was all over his face. He looked like he'd attacked and eaten a colony of Smurfs, for fucksake. He stormed up to his apartment and slammed that door, too.

---

"Night," she called to Nikolas as he turned from her door. She shut it and locked all four locks, and then headed towards her bathroom for a quick shower. She was thankful that New York had banned smoking indoors; she hated coming home smelling like smoke. Now she just smelled like perfume - lots and lots of it. While she took a quick shower, she heard her phone making 'ding-dong' sounds, alerting her to text messages.

She toweled off and put on her lazy clothing (pink plaid boxer shorts and a matching pink t-shirt) and headed down the hall in giant pink bunny slippers, wet hair carefully brushed and in a braid behind her. She flipped open the phone as she flopped down on her bed, and burst out into laughter after the initial confusion of not knowing whose number it was.

[Drew Richardson]

The pen in Josh's nose had truly been the star on top of the tree, the icing on the cake, the pure genius of the whole experiment, though the pen Josh BIT DOWN ON AND EXPLODED was pretty damn awesome itself.  When Josh looked at him, one pen hanging from his nose and other still in his mouth and dribbling ink down his chin like some smurfed out vampire, Drew LOST it.

He couldn't help himself.  That was pure fucking GOLD, and he actually HAD to snatch his phone out and snap another quick picture before 'accidentally' dropping it on his left side, between the seat and the door.  Josh wasn't getting it.  He'd be lucky if the picture wasn't too blurry to see properly, what with the way he'd been laughing when he took it, but damn.

Smurfzilla!

"See you tomorrow!" he tried to gasp out between laughing, but he wasn't so sure that Josh even heard it.  Oh, well.  He'd get it, and be mad for awhile.  Maybe he'd even pass out again due to drunkenness instead of washing his face.  That'd be even better.

Eventually, all of these pranks were going to result in someone getting hurt, but for now?  It's all fun until someone loses and eye, or a tooth (in Wes' case), and then it's even more hilarious.  Drew waited until he got to his own place to call Melisande, when his laughter had calmed down some.  Now, he still felt nervous, but significantly loosened up.  Amazing how laughing at someone else's expense could do that.

"Hey, Melisande?  It's Drew," he told her when she answered, just in case she didn't recognize the number from the text.

[Melisande Theroux]

She was trying to text him back a response to the photos when the phone rang, and she blinked rapidly a few times before she answered it. That always happened to her. Evidently she was too slow with her phone to get any text messages out in a timely fashion - Tawny could send her seven texts when she hadn't even replied to one yet, come to think of it. She supposed she just wasn't as good with her thumbs on the phone as she was on the controller.

"Oh, hey!" she said, standing to go get a bottle of water from her kitchen. She paused in front of an open and somewhat barren fridge before reaching passed the water to a Jones Orange Cream soda. She'd just have to brush her teeth again before she went to bed, which wouldn't be a big deal, since she wasn't tired anyways.

"I guess you got home okay?" she said unscrewing the bottle cap and taking a sip while he answered. "I didn't think you were going to call," she confessed with a laugh.

[Drew Richardson]

Drew actually wasn't much of a texter himself, so he wouldn't have had anything to say to Melisande about being slow, but it didn't come up, so he didn't even know she'd been planning on sending him a response.  He assumed she'd either laughed or given the picture of Josh a funny look, and then gone on with her evening.

"Oh, yeah, got home fine.  Thought Josh might kill me with the way he was glarin' when I woke him up with all those pens hanging outta his mouth an' nose, but I survived," he joked, laughing a little just from the image that inspired all over again. 

He couldn't wait to show Wes.  He was going to have to email the pictures to himself so he could print them out and hang them all over the office at work.  "You shouldn'a been worryin'.  'Course I was plannin' on callin'!  I can't say I don't do anythin' stupid, but I wasn't gonna blow you off."

[Melisande Theroux]

"Yeah, that's what I heard," she laughed at his response. She realized she was going to sound like an idiot, but she continued. "My friend had to listen to me for the rest of the night - I kept asking her if she thought you were going to call. I meant it when I said I never do that. I don't know what made me decide too, though." She shrugged a little, frowning when she realized that he couldn't rightly see her, anyways.

"But, I'm glad you did. And I saw the photos!" she exclaimed, sitting down on the couch and pulling the pink blanket over her. "I'm pretty sure he's going to dislike you when he realizes you've probably been distributing them, but then again, something tells me this has happened before." She laughed a little again, wondering how it is that men had that psychic link to themselves.

"How far away do you live from the club, anyways? I'm within walking distance." She set her soda down on her coffee table and kicked her legs out, snuggling down on her ridiculously comfortable and large couch. It may as well have been a small bed for all intents and purposes.

[Drew Richardson]

It was actually somewhat flattering to hear that she was so worried about whether or not he would call, since he didn't exactly experience making women nervous when he talked to them.  Really, he knew he wasn't fugly, but he wasn't one of those male models or anything.  He'd been more worried about calling and getting the wrong number or something because she'd just wanted to get rid of him.  That had happened before.  Some women could be bitches.

"I'm glad you decided to," he told her honestly, snagging a beer from his fridge before plopping down on the couch and kicking his shoes off.  There was a spot on his ceiling, perfect for staring at and pondering while leaning back and talking on the phone (not one of his more common past times), and that seemed like the best possible place to be right then.  "We do that kind of shit all the time.  Josh's afraid of dolls, an' another guy we work with hates the dentist.  Josh an' I carried an old dentist chair into the SWAT office one mornin' for him to walk in on, an' Josh ends up with dolls in his locker all the time."

He deliberately didn't mention his fear of dogs.  It was harder to get him on, but when it happened, they laughed their asses off at him.  "It's like a fifteen minute drive, I guess, when I don't havta drop Josh's ass off first."

[Melisande Theroux]

"Your friends sound very interesting. Maybe I can meet them, sometime." She laughed a little. "So what are you afraid of, then?" she inquired, twisting a strand of hair around on her finger a little, much like a teenage girl would. She sank back into the couch and closed her eyes a moment, listening to his silly laugh. It made her heart flutter a little, and she realized that she actually really liked him. It was almost a scary thought; Mel hadn't ever really liked someone before. She was always watching and waiting for something to happen that she'd never had time to sit and....socialize. Maybe she'd been waiting for him? But he was human; and he definitely didn't strike her as the figment in her dreams...

"You don't sound that far from me. I've got about a thirty minute walk, but I don't have to stop for traffic lights, either," she said with a laugh.

[Drew Richardson]

Actually, he wasn't so sure he wanted her to meet Josh (in a more sober state) and Wes (in any state) anytime soon.  He trusted Josh not to mess this up for him, but Wes had a habit of talking without thinking about what it might do, and frankly, Melisande was hot.  If he continued to have any chance here, he wasn't doing anything to risk it. 

"Maybe I can get promises of good behavior outta them after Josh is done bein' mad over those pictures," he told her, and he meant promises with threats of violence for breaking them. 

Then, she had to ask what he was afraid of.  Did she notice the hesitation?  Everything he knew told him that you didn't tell anyone what you're afraid of, but he somehow doubted that this girl was going to start throwing dogs at him.  It just seemed somehow...unlikely.  "Uh, dogs kinda get to me.  Big ones, when they're bein' all mean an' barkin' their heads off.  A neighbor had a big doberman when I was a kid, an' I lost rock, paper scissors over gettin' our football from the yard," he explained.  He hadn't been mauled or anything, but the damn animal had bit him and scared the hell out of him.  He was officially not into dogs from that moment on.

[Melisande Theroux]

Melisande couldn't fathom why his friends wouldn't behave, but then again, she knew the sort of mentality guys had, so she laughed a little at his response and gave him a definite, "Well, we'll see," to that one. On the subject of the dogs, however, she sat up a little bit. "Wow, that sucks. I think I remember having that happen in our neighborhood growing up, but for the most part, my life was pretty phobia-free." She chuckled again. "At least in New York the only thing anyone ever owns are like, poodles and chihuahuas. I guess as long as you aren't K-9 unit, you're okay."

She leaned back a little and sipped her soda again. "You know, I'm not tired at all, and I have off the next two days. We should do something. You want to come play Super Smash Brothers?" She nearly surprised herself with that request, and her hand shook a little as she switched the phone to her other ear. Did she really just invite him over?

[Drew Richardson]

If she couldn't fathom why they wouldn't behave, all she really would have needed to do was look at the picture he'd sent her.  When they got up to THAT with each other, who could really be surprised if they had to promise not to be retards?  Of course, knowing each others' fears didn't help, either.  That only meant they could mess with each other worse, which dropped the level of maturity further.

"You'd think that, but it ain't the rich folks who require the SWAT team.  It's the ones with German Shepherds an' Rottweilers who wanna bite my face off," he informed her, though he laughed over it.  It was funny until he was staring at one of them.  Then, it wasn't so funny anymore.  "Phobia-free is a good thang, believe me."

Wait.  Did he hear that right?  He must not have, probably from thinking about all the dogs.  Had he really just heard her invite him over?  "You want me to come over?" he asked, sounding disbelieving and then realizing that wasn't a good thing.  "I mean, sure!  I'd jus' need directions."

Don't screw this up, don't screw this up, don'tscrewthisup...

[Melisande Theroux]

"Sure!" she chirped before she lost her nerve. She quickly told him the directions, and then excused herself to 'clean up'. "See you in a bit!"

She threw the phone down at her feet, listening to the soft thud as it disappeared in the blanket. She sat silent for a moment, and then squealed at the top of her lungs, before jumping up and jumping up and down a few times. She then realized how trashed her apartment was (it wasn't, really, but when you have important company, nothing is in its place), and began cleaning it frantically, shoving random things in the closet. She folded the blanket neatly and laid it on top of the couch before running into her room to change into something more 'appropriate'.

Yoga pants and a hot pink tanktop - leisurely, but not really pajamas. She ran to the mirror and fussed with her makeup, before deciding that she'd just be better off without it. She didn't wear a lot anyways, but she swiped the mascara wand through her eyes a few times, for good measure. She grabbed her Bert's Beeswax and ran it across her lips, and then tossed the small tube onto her dresser and flew around the corner.

It didn't take long for her buzzer to ring, and Drew would hear the long chain of locks being opened before she swung the door open. Something about having a police officer there made her feel better, and the fact that it was Drew, well...

"Hey!" she breathed. She opened the door for him to come in. "Guess you found it okay?"

She still had her massively fuzzy slippers on.

[Drew Richardson]

Once he had directions and had hung up, Drew went off to do his own version of 'cleaning up', which basically meant that he brushed his teeth and put more deodorant on.  He thought about changing his shirt, but why dirty another for just a few hours?  He could go an extra day on that shirt if he didn't dirty it now.  Considering how much he hated doing laundry, that mattered.  Besides, she might notice if he changed clothes, and he didn't want to look like he was desperate or trying too hard.  Sometimes, that blew up in a guy's face.  Women could be funny that way.

So, within a moment or two, he'd grabbed his coat and keys, locked the door's one lock, and had started walking in the direction Melisande had told him.  Normally, he might have driven, but she wasn't kidding when she said that her place wasn't far.  Definitely close enough to walk, and it was a nice night. 

He'd have had to admit that he was surprised to hear so many locks being opened when he reached the door, but he couldn't fault her for being cautious.  Guys didn't get jumped or attacked as often as women did.  That was why he didn't mind walking over.  He'd have come pick her up rather than make her walk to his place.

"Looks that way," he answered simply, grinning as she let him in, then taking in his surroundings quickly.  He tried to make it seem more curiosity than anything, since that was what most of it was.  The rest was just a trained professional taking note of his surroundings, just in case.  Then, he saw the slippers, and his grin widened.  "I like your slippers.  Classy."

[Melisande Theroux]

"Huh? Er--- oh!" she exclaimed, turning red as she laughed loudly at his observation. "Yeah, sorry. I need to do laundry, so I'm lacking in socks - this was the next best thing. They are pretty classy, though," she said, turning to model them. She locked the door behind him, breathing a little happy sigh as she turned back around. "So, let me give you the tour."

It was a nice apartment - decently sized, but because she was the only person living there, it wasn't too large. Kitchen, living room, hall, one bathroom, bedroom, and another bathroom. She didn't really give him the grand tour of her bedroom, but she at least showed him where the hall bathroom was.

Once she'd brought him back around to the living room, she picked up a Wii controller and held it out menacingly. "Ready to get your ass kicked with Pikachu?" she asked, a deliciously evil smile on her cherubic face. Oh, yes. Melisande had been playing Pikachu since day one; she knew all the little secrets.

[Drew Richardson]

Personally, he thought she was incredibly cute when she blushed like that, but he didn't push it.  Seconds later, it was obvious that he didn't have to, since she struck a few poses to show them off.  He liked them, but he refrained from being too vocal about that, since he really didn't want to make her uncomfortable.  He laughed and applauded her little show, and turned his attention to her locks, but didn't mention it.  He'd ask later if she was just cautious, or if there was a reason for the locks.

It was true, the apartment was pretty nice.  His was about the same size, maybe a little smaller, but hers was put together much better.  Of course, that was the natural way of things.  His was functional, hers was aesthetically pleasing.  He wasn't all that surprised that she glossed over the bedroom, and took that bit in stride.  He'd known better than to make assumptions.

She'd invited him over to get his ass kicked at Mario Kart.  That's what he expected.

Actually, he knew it was going to happen.  He'd never touched a Wii before, and just one look at her as she offered the controller to him made it clear to him that she knew what she was doing.  She was smashing his ego into the ground, that's what.  "Ready as I'm gonna be.  Take it easy on me, it's my firs' time," he joked, pulling his coat off and draping it over the couch.  This was going to be painful to his pride, so he might as well start with the jokes now.