Strictly Hetero Part II
Trish sees her leave and is utterly confused. This isn't how it was supposed to go.
She met Simpson last week and he proved to be a good distraction... Nothing more, nothing less. She doesn't even know how he got her address. Just because he's a cop doesn't mean he has the right to just dig into her files to get her personal information. This clearly has some stalkerish vibes. Being the polite lady that she is, she didn't have the heart to tell him off in front of Jessica but now that he basically made her leave, it's a totally different story.
"What are you doing here?"
Simpson frowns as he genuinely thought that Trish would be happy to see him. "Don't you want to see me?"
Trish raises an eyebrow, completely unimpressed. She's not some damsel in distress that needs to be looked after. Well, not unless Jessica is the one that does but she isn't about to say that to him. Nor her. Even thinking about it proves to be too much and she sighs loudly at her internal dialogue.
"Simpson, how did you get my address?" Trish calmly asks. She secretly hopes that Jessica stuck around in case this goes south but knows she didn't.
"You gave it to me," he says confidently. He runs his thumb over the tip of his fingers a few times.
"Are you really going to stand there and lie? Do I need to call the co-," Trish stops midsentence because, well, the cops are technically already here, right? She pinches her nose with her thumb and forefinger. What did she get herself into?
"Look, Simpson, I don't know what the deal is.. But I think you should leave."
He looks at her like a wounded deer and she momentarily feels sorry for him. "We aren't in a relationship, Simpson. Just to be clear, alright?"
He nods his head at Trish but refuses to meet her gaze. He gives her the flowers he bought her and which Trish completely missed until he presented it to her. "Thank you, but -"
"I know, no strings attached, don't worry. I won't come over here unannounced again. Plus something tells me I interrupted something. I know when I'm unwanted. Bye, Trish."
And just like that, they go from three people to only one person standing in the hallway. As she opens her front door, she wonders what he meant with that something he seemingly interrupted?
What did he interrupt?
**
Jessica is pissed off. She's positively sure that Trish is just leading her on or playing with her.
"Trish is only using me for my strength," Jessica whispers to herself, "Bodyguard, nothing more. Get it together, Jones."
She decides to go to a bar and get shitfaced drunk. She doesn't care about anything anymore, anyway. A bar she doesn't know would be the way to go as most of her 'usual places' know to call Trish whenever she acted on the impulse that the bar - or another patron - needed a redesign.
After wandering for a while, she sees a bar on the corner of some street that she never heard the name of before. It will have to do.
She opens the door and is pleasantly surprised that no bell rings and no one turns to look at who just came in.
The bar, however, is almost completely vacant. Not that she cares because all she wants is a few drinks and to be left alone.
"You know what I want," she absentmindedly tells the bartender, completely forgetting he would have no clue what she could possibly want.
Jessica puts her head on the surprisingly clean countertop and starts playing with the beermat. She's unaware that the bartender is studying her carefully.
He notices the redness in her eyes, probably from unshed tears and takes in her appearance. Biker boots, leather jacket, fingerless gloves, clearly unwashed jeans, yet hair that isn't completely terrible and a face that's rather cute in his opinion.
The bartender puts down a bottle of beer and goes to put something away under the bar. When he resurfaces, the beer bottle is empty.
"Hmh," he thoughtfully remarks, "another one?"
"Ugh, something stronger, dude."
He scoffs. "Dude, huh? Well, I reckon I've been called worse. Luke's the name. What's your poison?"
"People that try to make small talk. Whiskey. Neat." She says that last part staring him dead in the eyes. Her eyes trail downward but she can't see more than his torso. He seems to be very muscular, but that shirt is definitely not working for him, she thinks. Who the hell wears a yellow shirt in this kind of gloomy weather?!
"Nice shirt," she says as thanks for the Macallan he put down for her. She knows that staying here for too long is going to cost her a fortune now that he started with the good stuff.
"Thanks." He genuinely smiles up at her and she cannot help but roll her eyes.
"I was being sarcastic," she drawls.
He looks hurt for a split second before scoffing lightly and smirking back. "At least, I'm not wearing questionable pants."
"Touché," Jessica says while mockingly saluting him with her glass before chugging it down in one swift motion.
"Refill?"
"Got anything cheaper?"
He's about to say something but decides against it when he catches her with a raised eyebrow.
He starts to pull out some Teacher's but leaves it on the counter as some patrons start to argue loudly with each other. Luke rushes over to the pair but is too late as one already slammed the others' head down onto the table. A full on fight starts between the two while a group of four cheer them on.
Luke grabs both of them with each hand and pretends to have the strength to lift them both off the ground. "I said, no fighting in my bar. What part of that don't you understand?"
A sigh of awe sounds in the bar and Luke puts less force into the hold he has over the men. He lets them go before telling them all to leave. It was more like an order and they all got the message loud and clear.
When the last man wants to leave as well and almost reaches the threshold, Luke comes up and blocks the way with his figure.
"R-right," the man stammers. He pats down his pockets, fishes out a 20 dollar bill and tries to side step him.
"Really?" Luke says before releasing a deep breath.
"The guy fishes out another three 20 dollar bills and questioningly looks up at Luke.
Luke offers him one back, but the guy frantically shakes his head at him. Luke politely thanks him and lets him go by sidestepping and freeing the passage to the door.
It's only when he turns back that he sees that only one patron is left now. The raven-haired woman with an empty whiskey glass in front of her. Luke goes and puts the table back in its spot and picks up the chairs from the floor.
"That was interesting," Jessica says out loud.
Luke shakes his head. "I hate customers like that. Don't destroy what isn't yours and be kind to one another. Is that so hard?"
"Yes," is the one syllable answer that Luke gets.
He shakes his head and walks back behind the bar. After putting the cash into the registry, he refills Jessica's glass and tells her it's on the house, or better said, the men that just left.
**
How they ended up in his apartment right above the bar, Jessica doesn't know. Well, she does, but she positively doesn't care.
She does, however, notice that he seems to be much rougher than she's used to, but damn, that makes everything all the more interesting.
It turns out to be a good night.
In true Jessica fashion, she leaves long before he wakes up. She doesn't do awkward morning situations.
**
It's when she doesn't wake up from either her last resort alarm clock or some random person calling, she knows that she's fucked.
Well, she already was last night - but this is different.
Jessica left her phone at Luke's place. It must've fallen out of her pocket when she discarded her pants in favor of a more natural look.
It was never her intention to go back. She doesn't do casual hookups or God forbid, something more than that. It's just a one night stand. No drama, no problem.
Grumbling to herself about how stupid she is, she gets out of bed, tries to find another pair of pants and a somewhat fresh shirt. Just as she's about to exit her apartment she runs into... Luke of all people.
Luke. At her doorstep.
It catches her off guard until she sees her phone in his hand along with some kind of paper bag in his other hand.
"Hey," he says with a smirk plastered on his face. "Forget something?"
"Yea," Jessica replies a little bit weary, because how does he know where she lives?
He seems to follow her train of thoughts and clears his throat. He gives her back her phone and wipes the sweat from his hands on his shirt. "I looked through your contacts to see if I could locate you. There was only one number saved but I decided against calling it. Went through the settings and found your name alongside it. I didn't look at anything else, I promise. "However," he chuckles, "You might wanna consider putting a lock on it."
As an afterthought, he adds that she received a text message as well and that he didn't open it. The notification at the upper left corner confirms the fact that she indeed has a new message, but she decides against opening it right away.
"Thank you for bringing it back," Jessica says and hopes that Luke will leave or something. This is kind of awkward.
After a tense few seconds of neither of them speaking, he cuts through the silence.
"Do you want me to go? I got us breakfast if, if you want?"
Well, Jessica has never been the person to turn down free food so he lets him into her apartment.
**
"So, you found my name in my phone.. But how did you find my address?" Jessica asks with her mouth stuffed with a BLT-sandwich.
"Oh! Sorry. I Googled your name and well, you're in the yellow pages."
"Right." Seems legit enough.
**
How they ended up in Jessica's bedroom, she doesn't know. Well, she does. But doesn't care. Luke is currently kissing her neck and has his hands kneading her breasts. And while she likes it, her mind is preoccupied with other things.
She sneaks a peek at the message at her phone and all sorts of emotion rush back. Of fucking course, it's Trish who texted me.
She sighs loudly and Luke immediately thinks that he screwed something up. "-well, we don't have to of course, I mean, it was just an idea."
Huh, what? How were you even talking with your mouth all over me?
"Sorry, what were you saying?"
"Dinner. I asked if you wanted to have dinner with me?"
Confusion flickers through her mind. No. What? "Something important came up, Luke. I need to go." She wiggles her phone for emphasis.
"Right. OK."
He gets up slightly frustrated and straightens out his shirt. He takes one last look at a topless Jessica (who is currently wondering when that happened) and full on smirks. Sudden confidence back in his demeanor.
"So, I guess that's a no for dinner? Let me know when you change your mind."
He winks at her and takes his leave.
**
Trish is about to knock on Jessica's door when a guy walks out. Smugness radiating off of him. Trish observes that he's tall, dark and handsome and especially very fit. Her stomach flips and she thinks she's going to throw up on the spot. She doesn't understand why but doesn't analyze it either.
Luke nods his head toward Trish in acknowledgment but doesn't say a word as he walks off toward the elevator.
"Who was that?!" Trish asks bewildered while she ventures into Jessica's apartment after the guy left the door unlocked.
It takes a second for Jessica to register the voice and the question. "Ehm, Luke. The uh, my uh. Some guy."
"Right..."
It says more than enough. Trish has no control over her feelings at the moment. She feels jealousy, anger, hatred, betrayal.
She feels sad.
She has no idea what she came here for anymore and just wants to wallow in self-pity in some corner by herself.
"I uh, gotta go," Trish says while looking intently at her phone. Not that it matters, because Jessica is still in her bedroom while Trish is standing in the office. "Studio emergency."
Jessica doesn't buy it but isn't in any position to question her right now, so she doesn't.
"OK, see you later?"
Trish doesn't answer as she slams the door closed with a little more force than necessary.
**
She has no idea how she ended up with a bucket of B&J's in her bed. Her curtains are closed and she's watching Titanic on her laptop. If Jessica was here, she'd say that - no.
No more Jessica.
Trish knows she needs to stop this. Jessica doesn't like her. She knew that already and today only reconfirmed that. Thank God, tomorrow is Saturday and she doesn't have to be at the studio. It's perfectly normal for someone to be sad about something like this for two days, right?
Two episodes in of Sex and the City and Trish has the best idea ever. Pick someone up, or better said let someone pick her up. It's the best idea ever, right? So she puts extra effort into putting on her makeup and a nice dress. She calls her driver to meet her outside in an hour with club Indigo as her destination.
As she opens her front door, she's sure some force of nature is messing with her right now. It must be.
Because what are the odds that Jessica is standing outside her door?