Beautiful Nightmare (Simplicity and Victoria)

[adrian]

"Blyds," he responded when the woman introduced herself. When she'd left he found his jeans and pulled them on before switching on the light. Adrian groaned and pulled the covers over his head when the light came on. Blyds laughed. He picked up the plate of food and walked over to the bed. He sat down on the side and pulled the blanket down so Adrian's face was once again exposed to the light. "You've slept too long," he said when Adrian's bloodshot eyes stared at him. "Here, lighten up." Blyds held out the plate of food.

Adrian levered himself into a sitting position and took a plate of food with a wry expression. "Food's not your thing Blyds. Getting soft on me?" Adrian's voice was hoarse and he kept making a disgusted face. He had to imagine that Adrian had the same bad taste in his mouth that Blyds had. It was one of the reasons he'd declined the food.

"Your girlfriend brought it Romeo. Next time you invite me to a hotel room at least make sure none of your exes are around, Especially sweet ones that bring you breakfast in bed when you have a hang over. Makes me feel all guilty." Blyds joked in good humor.Adrian looked up at him.

"Who brought this?" It wasn't often that Blyds saw Adrian bothered by something.

"A girl. Simplicity. Here," Blyds handed Adrian his clothing and took the plate of food away. "Get yourself cleaned up and go say thank you. I'm gonna get out of here. Since I will not be here when you get out of the shower, as always, it's been fun. Catch you around another time."

"Yeah man, thanks," Adrian said as he climbed out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. "We'll have to do Vegas next time," he mentioned before stepping into the bathroom and getting in the shower. When he got out Blyds had kept his word and was gone. So was the food Sim had bought so he went downstairs looking for more.

He spotted some people over at the bar including Simplicity. He tried very hard to ignore the disturbed feeling in his stomach that was not caused by alcohol as he walked over. "Hey," he said as he pulled up a stool, "thanks for breakfast. Anymore where that came from?"

[Simplicity]

Simplicity looked up when Blyds walked downstairs. He didn’t stay to talk, just exchanged niceties before heading back out to the world. It was probably for the best. One less awkward conversation for the day avoided. Instead she sat and watched the brothers banter for a bit, occasionally putting her two cents in.

The next person to come down was Adrian. She turned briefly to see who was making their way down but once she could identify him she turned back to her plate. Instead she watched walk into the room through the hug mirror behind the bars.

“You’re welcome,” Sim said with a small smile not looking up from her plate, “But you should be thanking our host here. He’s the one who made it. There’s more in the kitchen.” She tilted her head in the direction of the door.

[adrian]

"Well then," Adrian looked over at the bartender and owner of the Wesson, "thanks for the chow," Adrian said with an odd feeling of disappointment.. Sim was usually more talkative. In fact she should have found five ways to make fun of him by now. "I'll uh, just get-yeah." Adrian got up and headed toward the kitchen. On the way he tried to shake off his expectations since they would only get him in trouble.

When he got back out to the bar he had reestablished his layer of detachment that allowed him to be the fun loving, easy going guy he'd always aspired to be. He put his plate of food down at the end of the bar, a couple of seats away from Sim, and proceeded to gulp down the food. "So how's business usually?" he asked Deacon in between bites. "I wouldn't mind running a place like this. How'd you get into it?"

[Simplicity]

Simplicity watched Deacon shrug at the other man. He picked up another glass from the sink and dry it. “No problem,” he said without looking up, “It was that or have everyone here grumbling and screwing up my kitchen.”

“What do you mean?” Simplicity smiled playfully, “think that I’m a bad cook or something.”

Art actually glanced up for a second before directing the stare at his brother. Deacon was shaking his head again, “Not you exactly, but nine times out of ten someone tries to light it on fire if they aren’t someone I know personally.”

He turned away from Simplicity when Adrian walked in and leaned back against the bar. “Well, “ Deacon scratched at his chin, “Business depends on the season. Summer’s good, but come winter, fall the only support you have is the local population. Also having a bunch of bat crazy hunters running around isn’t good for business. Half of them never end up paying and if they do it’s with a credit card claiming to be Bon Jovi. As for me getting into it, I inherited this place when my boss decided to have an early retirement in a warmer climate. Just packed up and left. I wanted to keep my job so I kept it running.”

Simplicity looked down at her plate and pushed around the last of her scrambled eggs. She was caught between making an escape or staying to listen to the men talk. The debate wasn’t exactly being productive.

[adrian]

Adrian nodded, looking around at the hotel in the daylight. He remembered how the bar had looked with all the lights off and the edges dimmed by alcohol. Now it looked...nice. He liked it. It was a shame really. He didn't really. He couldn't stay and it wouldn't last. Then again, nothing really lasted that long which was why he liked to enjoy things while they did.

He glanced in Simplicity's direction, he couldn't help it. He didn't really like this situation. He didn't like being in emotional limbo or being confused about anything. He'd rather know where he stood or resolve it somehow. He knew he wouldn't be able to enjoy anything fully until he did. Feelings could be distracting that way.

He looked down at his plate and slowly chewed on eggs trying to figure out what he was going to do. He had a problem, he could admit that. Now he had to fix it. Common wisdom said talk but common sense told him that didn't always work. Still, he couldn't see any other option, at least not as an opening move. Talking always had to come first. Any other actions taken could then be justified by the, "I tried going through legitimate channels first," argument. So when he finished his breakfast he picked up his plate and walked over to Simplicity.

"Done with that?" he asked, motioning to her plate. "I'll do the dishes if you dry?"

[Simplicity]

Simplicity clasped her hands under her chin. She stared down at the nearly empty plate with her fork dangling in her right hand. Her head was still slowly processing the morning’s events, playing clips on repeat than jumping back or forward to another scene. Another cup of coffee, she decided, would get her brain to function properly and figured she wasn’t as awake as she had thought.

She jerked upward in surprise when Adrian spoke. The fork slipped from her loose grip but she was able to catch it with her left hand before it hit the plate. Sim turned toward her friend and blinked before saying, “What?” on impulse.

Another blink and her mind caught up with ears. She thought that maybe she should have let the fork fall. The sound of metal hitting china was right up there with coffee in methods of waking yourself up.

“Sure,” she hopped off the stool and picked up her dishes. She walked over the door and pressed her back to it, stepping carefully. Sim kept her back to the door as she made space for Adrian pass.

“Since when do you clean without threat of death?” She smiled but there was confusion in her eyes.

[adrian]

"I often clean but I just don't let anyone know. I don't want people to expect it of me," he said with a smile as he slipped past her. It felt good. There was still a slight air of awkwardness but it wasn't silence. For a moment he questioned his decision to bring up uncomfortable topics. If he just kept his mouth shut maybe things would blow over. But they wouldn't, and not because that had never happened, but he knew his own feelings wouldn't change until he had taken some action to change them.

He walked over to the industrial sink and placed the dishes in them. There were already a few in there from others who had eaten earlier. He turned on the water and found a harsh scrubbing tool. He made sure to wash the dishes in the side of the sink with the garbage disposal as Simplicity walked up behind him.

"So," he began lightly, "I heard you met Blyds."

[Simplicity]

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time you try and get out of chores,” Simplicity poked at his ribs as he went passed her. She paused for a beat before letting go of the door and following Adrian into the kitchen. The shift in mood was almost as awkward as breakfast had been. If she had to guess whatever was going to happen next will determine how they’re relationship would be from here on out. She was really surprised that he actually brought up the mystery man from the morning.

“Well,” she carefully set down her plate next to the sink, “Met is a bit of strong term. We exchanged some words and names. Don’t really know much about him or how he knows you.”

Simplicity picked up a towel that was on the counter. She smelled it, and decided it was clean enough for the job. Besides, she figured it was a bar and not a five star restaurant no one expected it to be one either. They could handle a little grime.

[adrian]

Adrian shrugged as he began handing washed dishes to Simplicity. He was buried up to his elbows in soapy water. The water usage was a bit unnecessary and his green conscious twinged a bit but he enjoyed the feeling of warm water and he always felt it was easier to get food off of dishes when they were submerged in water.

"Blyds is a cool guy. He's been my friend since I moved to the States. He was my first off campus room mate when I was doing my third year at U of I. He travels around a lot but he'll always let me know when he's in an area near me. Dude's a bit of a Facebook stalker actually," Adrian said with a smile. "Then again, I keep my current city updated so that there is something for him to stalk. He txt me when he got into Keystone last night and I was at a bar." Adrian shrugged as if the gesture told the rest of the story.

[Simplicity]

Simplicity tilted her head as Adrian explained how he met Blyds. She looked off and blinked hard before glancing back. She exhaled slowly.

“You went to college?” She fought to keep the disbelief out of her voice, “Don’t remember you mentioning that before. What did you study?”

She laughed at the part about facebook stalking. Sim had plenty of experience with people popping up in cities she just moved too, and last she heard they were in another country or something. Now that she knew about the supernatural she wondered if that was how they got where they wanted. Would also mean they didn’t have to pay gas or a plane ticket. Since half o.f them had no source of income, it make more sense. Well, Georgie claimed to make jewelry, but there was no way she paid for anything with her collection of strung beads.

“I know a few people like that. Then there are the ones that only exist on the net. It’s good to have friends like that, you meet the collection I had. One half are too scared to talk to me, half are dead. Only half of them have an excuse in my opinion,” She tried to laugh but the end.,

“So, when did you guys become more than friends?”

[adrian]

"Hmmm. Which question to answer first," Adrian said as he washed dishes, tactfully avoiding what may be the sensitive subject of Simplicity's lost friends. "I did go to college and I majored in chemistry. That's how I'm here actually. My student visa expired a while back but a few more years of living here and I can apply for citizenship. I'm originally from Cairo." He wasn't sure if he'd ever mentioned that but he hoped she wouldn't catch on it because he was honestly more interested in her second question, or at least where it could lead.

"As for Blyds," Adrian shrugged. "Most of my friends are more than friends." He looked over at Simplicity when he said it but couldn't quite manage to go further than that. He just held out the latest dish instead.

[Simplicity]

“Chemisty? That’s cool,” Simplicity smiled slightly, “have any plans for that? I wanted to try and go to school but it was never really ever my thing. I don’t even know what I would have studied. My mom always joked that I was going to have to marry well. Don’t even think that plans going to end up working, it’s a good thing Jeff showed us how to make fake credit cards.”

“Cairo? Cool, and it explains why you talk a bit funny when you’re drunk. It’s kinda cute,” She stuck out her tongue before sobering at his next statement.

Simplicity handed him the last dish slowly. She held it a bit high before letting weight drop carefully into his hand. All she had now was wait for him to finish and dry the dishes. Until then she worked one of the plates he’d set out.

“Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to elaborate slightly on that one. Most of my friends were more than friends too, counted them as family. “

[adrian]

"That must be nice." He was a little disappointed that she hadn't gone in the direction he'd wanted. Then again, he really should know by now that people didn't follow the scripts you wrote for them, no matter how many times you practiced them in your head. He washed the dishes slowly, his hands swirling around soapy water with only the smallest direction from his mind as he thought of other things, other nights, other women and the occasional men.

Most of his friends were more than friends but none of them were family were they? And Simplicity was actually close to that but he wanted to give it up for what? A warm bed and another night he could remember later after she was gone?

"I didn't really know what I wanted to do with chemistry. That's why I left," he said, switching topics and deciding he didn't really want to talk about anything more sensitive after all.