Post by Kolin Daire on Apr 19, 2015 16:21:37 GMT -5
“....Another round...”
Laila slams an empty glass on the bar, adding it to the five other shot glasses that sit between her and her co-worker Kolin Daire. Laila looks unaffected by the shots of pure liquor. She looks over at the bigger man to check on his progress.
“Are you going to tap out big guy?”
Kolin looks at the glass in front of him and downs it quickly.
“Not a chance. I’m Irish, and nobody out drinks an Irish man. Still, I would have preferred a good proper whiskey to vodka.”
Laila catches the attention of the bartender.
“Make it Whiskey.”
She looks back at Daire and actually gives him a grin, something that nobody had seen since she had come to town.
“I never turn down a challenge.”
“You’re gonna regret that.”
Kolin grabs two large glasses and pours the whiskey when Tracy gets back with the bottle.
“Tracy always brings the good stuff for me, so you don’t just gulp this straight down.”
Kolin slides Laila’s glass over to her before lifting his and taking a nice long sip. If Laila is affected by the bitterness she does a good job of not letting it show. She offers him a smirk after drinking as much as he had.
“I’m a lady, even when I do shots I don’t ‘gulp’.”
She gives a curt chuckle.
“All right.”
Kolin takes another sip, finishing off what’s in his glass. He pours another one and looks over to Laila to see if she’ll follow suit, but she takes the next sip a little bit slower.
“All right, I know what I’m still doing here after hours, and why I’m drinking, but what’s your deal?”
Kolin took another sip as he kept his eyes locked on her, still trying to get some kind of real read on her. Most people were easy to figure out, especially in a place like the lollipop lounge, but Laila was different. She had one hell of a poker face, and had proven to be tough as nails. Laila stares straight ahead for a few minutes, as if choosing her words carefully but it was really that she was starting to feel the effects of so much so fast and didn’t want it to show.
“Just enjoying a drink, Mate.”
And without intending to, her childhood accent slips out. She silently chided herself for showing any sort of weakness even to someone she had no real issues with. In her mind anybody could eventually turn on you, as it was proven with her one and only Ex.
“Fair enough.”
Kolin could tell there was more to the story, but he wasn’t exactly an open book himself, so what gave him the right to pry into someone else’s life.
“Well, I appreciate the company, and someone who can actually hold their liquor.”
Kolin noticed Laila’s glass was empty and poured her a double before taking a sip from his glass and then topping his off. She immediately takes a long gulp of it, realizing that she was doing what she claimed never to do and that was let emotions take hold of her actions. As her inhibitions grew less controlled she was overwhelmed with the memories of her past.
“You know, the people in this town don’t know shit about pain and suffering.”
She says randomly after a few moments of quiet reflection.
“Claim to understand but they don’t know anything!”
Her words are slurring, traces of the British accent becoming apparent. Kolin didn’t say anything, just took another sip from his glass and nodded his head in silent agreement. A calm slightly eerie silence began to creep through the bar as the pair continued to drink.
“Not always easy for people to really understand hard times.”
“I’m not a robot. I’m not a dominatrix barbie, I have no idea where in the flying fuck that came from anyway. Curly Sue has some really strange ideas in that head of his. I don’t wear tight leather and I don’t get sexual gratification from using weapons. I just have my ways of dealing. Doesn’t everybody? If I choose to...
She hiccups but it’s more than a hiccup and she has to stop for a minute, a hand over her mouth.
“Where was I? Oh right, If I choose to react without getting emotional then why can’t that just be accepted? Why does it have to be wrong? Bloody hypocrite. If he saw how I left him after the way he treated me for all those years... he wouldn’t be laughing and underestimating what I can do...no! He’d be shitting his pants.”
She finishes off the glass and puts it down on the counter and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. Kolin took another sip and sat his glass down before looking back up at Laila.
“You kind of lost me there at the end, but I take it that whole rant was about this Shields guy? He’s just trying to get into your head most likely. Kind of seems like it might have done the trick.”
Kolin gave a smirk as he took another sip, not sure what Lai’s reaction that would be, but expecting a possible backhand, simply based on what he had seen out of her.
“Fuck him.”
He raised his glass and Laila toasted to that.
“At least you don’t have a drug addicted sister detoxing in your apartment. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been called a fucker. Lamps aren’t cheap either. I think I need to get me one of those ceiling fan things, or at least a big lamp that I can anchor to the ground.”
Kolin shook his head slightly and downed the rest of his drink, then poured another. He looked to Laila and raised the bottle up.
“You good, or you want to admit defeat?”
She nods her head toward the glass, too headstrong to admit anything even if she was going to be passed out if she continued.
“So, ya sorry about the sister thing. I’m an only child. Kinda glad for that. Would hate to think what barbaric traditions my parents would have forced any sister or brother to do like they did me.”
“I at least lucked out on the parents front. Good hard working people. My dad was a hard ass, well with me at least. He’d kick my ass for letting my baby sister become…”
Kolin didn’t finish the sentence, he didn’t want to ever say what had happened again. he just took another long sip and sat his glass back down.
“So, I get Shields has you kind of pissed or whatever now, but why attack him in the first place? It wasn’t just for that shiny ass belt, was it? No way it could have been for that crazy Echo bastard. I guess I kind of owe him for figuring out a nice way for me to teach that bastard Kendrick a lesson, but who keeps a cage with them?”
Kolin shook his head once more and finished another drink. He poured more and grinned as he saw that Laila had slowed down significantly. She gets a look in her eyes, it’s hard to describe as anything other than a kind of psychotic calm.
“There doesn’t always have to be a reason. Sometimes you just want to take out a bat and hear that sickening sound of it hitting bone.”
She looks straight ahead before shaking herself free of the dangerous thinking.
“When you need money, sometimes you will do whatever it takes to get it. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way Echo’s lap dog. I answer only to myself but if someone pays me enough I’d take out my own mother. Helps that my mother is a brainwashed dipshit who believes that women are not good for anything other than serving their husbands.”
She takes another large gulp of the liquid, she can’t hide the cringe this time. The cringe draws another smirk from Kolin, and another sip as he’s still going strong, or at least giving the illusion that he is. Truth is, while he’s not quite seeing double, he’s certainly seeing one and a half of everything.
“I certainly understand the money thing. I myself have done some… things that I’m not proud of for that very reason. As for your mother, well I won’t express my thoughts on that matter out of respect.”
“Fuck respect. No one here respects anything.”
She finishes the glass but puts a hand over the top of the glass when he lifts the bottle to pour more.
“No... I tap. Only time I’ll ever admit it. Don’t go telling anybody or I’ll gut you.”
Her serious expression suddenly changes to a full out grin and she laughs.
“Nobody beats the Irish.”
Kolin downs the rest of his whiskey and gives a slight cheer before turning over his own glass.
“And thank fuck you tapped out, because that was all I could do.”
He gave Laila a grin back and laughed a little bit.
“Us Asian women are not exactly known for being good drinkers so you just got lucky... haha... luck of the Irish right?”
She tries to stand but stumbles and falls into the bar, laughing hysterically. Kolin somehow manages to help her to her feet, almost falling over himself in the process.
“Something like that. Well looks like we’ve got a choice to make. Beg Tracy to drive our drunk asses home, or go sleep on the couches in the VIP area?”
Laila takes off her leather jacket, showing off her impressive arms for a fairly petite woman. She puts it over one arm and points toward the lounge.
“Those couches are probably more comfortable than that piece of cardboard I sleep on at the motel.”
She starts to stagger back toward the roped off section at the back of the bar.
“Probably more comfortable than the crap couch I’ve been sleeping on for the last two weeks.”
Kolin looks back towards the lounge area, then grabs the bottle from off the bar and follows Laila back there. She turns, stopping suddenly in front of him. She puts a finger on his chest, wobbling a little bit.
“you know what sucks about trying to be tough...”
She closes her eyes for a minute, weaving a little. She finally opens her eyes.
“What was I saying?”
“What sucks about trying to be tough.”
Those were the words that Kolin thought he said, and that only the equally drunk Laila could understand. To normal sober human beings it was probably more like whatsicksabovetryingtough. He stumbled a little as well, but finally got to the back and plopped down on the nearest couch.
“So what sucks about it?”
“All the guys are intimidated by you. I mean, this doesn’t go beyond this room...but... you know... if the right one was good to me... maybe I’d change... but so far... nothing.”
She sits down beside him, throwing her jacket over the ropes and leaning back against the soft leather of the couch.
“I get it. Not exactly easy for a guy fresh out of jail for supposedly being a mafia enforcer, to meet a nice lady. I could have probably hooked up with Cindy a few weeks ago, but that would have been all awkward and stuff.”
She rolls her head only to look at him.
“You mean you didn’t? Everyone assumes you did you know. The other bouncers, most of the girls. Ya and the way she looks at you when you aren’t looking. I don’t even get that.”
She rolls her head back to looking straight ahead.
“I… I mean I wanted to, but it would have been a bad idea in the long run. I gotta see her all the time… wait, way she looks at me?”
Kolin grabbed the bottle, popped off the lid and just took a long sip. Laila’s grin gets wider. She slides closer.
“Ya you know... that whole doey eyed thing. Like look at him... he’s a dream boat.”
She snorts.
“Or whatever. I don’t know how those kinds of girls get. If I even considered anything more than just a fling thing then it would be partnership not just some stupid degrading situation where a girl calls her man ‘daddy’ and whatever.”
“Yea, I didn’t really want that either. No one night stands for this drunk Irish bastard.”
Kolin laughs a little, takes another long sip from the bottle and then falls backwards onto the couch, bottle hanging from his hand, but luckily almost empty enough that none of it spills out onto the floor. Laila feels her eyes drooping and she starts to slide forward. Kolin manages to shoot out an arm, stopping her and making her fall backward as well. Her mouth falls open and she starts to snore loudly.
Laila slams an empty glass on the bar, adding it to the five other shot glasses that sit between her and her co-worker Kolin Daire. Laila looks unaffected by the shots of pure liquor. She looks over at the bigger man to check on his progress.
“Are you going to tap out big guy?”
Kolin looks at the glass in front of him and downs it quickly.
“Not a chance. I’m Irish, and nobody out drinks an Irish man. Still, I would have preferred a good proper whiskey to vodka.”
Laila catches the attention of the bartender.
“Make it Whiskey.”
She looks back at Daire and actually gives him a grin, something that nobody had seen since she had come to town.
“I never turn down a challenge.”
“You’re gonna regret that.”
Kolin grabs two large glasses and pours the whiskey when Tracy gets back with the bottle.
“Tracy always brings the good stuff for me, so you don’t just gulp this straight down.”
Kolin slides Laila’s glass over to her before lifting his and taking a nice long sip. If Laila is affected by the bitterness she does a good job of not letting it show. She offers him a smirk after drinking as much as he had.
“I’m a lady, even when I do shots I don’t ‘gulp’.”
She gives a curt chuckle.
“All right.”
Kolin takes another sip, finishing off what’s in his glass. He pours another one and looks over to Laila to see if she’ll follow suit, but she takes the next sip a little bit slower.
“All right, I know what I’m still doing here after hours, and why I’m drinking, but what’s your deal?”
Kolin took another sip as he kept his eyes locked on her, still trying to get some kind of real read on her. Most people were easy to figure out, especially in a place like the lollipop lounge, but Laila was different. She had one hell of a poker face, and had proven to be tough as nails. Laila stares straight ahead for a few minutes, as if choosing her words carefully but it was really that she was starting to feel the effects of so much so fast and didn’t want it to show.
“Just enjoying a drink, Mate.”
And without intending to, her childhood accent slips out. She silently chided herself for showing any sort of weakness even to someone she had no real issues with. In her mind anybody could eventually turn on you, as it was proven with her one and only Ex.
“Fair enough.”
Kolin could tell there was more to the story, but he wasn’t exactly an open book himself, so what gave him the right to pry into someone else’s life.
“Well, I appreciate the company, and someone who can actually hold their liquor.”
Kolin noticed Laila’s glass was empty and poured her a double before taking a sip from his glass and then topping his off. She immediately takes a long gulp of it, realizing that she was doing what she claimed never to do and that was let emotions take hold of her actions. As her inhibitions grew less controlled she was overwhelmed with the memories of her past.
“You know, the people in this town don’t know shit about pain and suffering.”
She says randomly after a few moments of quiet reflection.
“Claim to understand but they don’t know anything!”
Her words are slurring, traces of the British accent becoming apparent. Kolin didn’t say anything, just took another sip from his glass and nodded his head in silent agreement. A calm slightly eerie silence began to creep through the bar as the pair continued to drink.
“Not always easy for people to really understand hard times.”
“I’m not a robot. I’m not a dominatrix barbie, I have no idea where in the flying fuck that came from anyway. Curly Sue has some really strange ideas in that head of his. I don’t wear tight leather and I don’t get sexual gratification from using weapons. I just have my ways of dealing. Doesn’t everybody? If I choose to...
She hiccups but it’s more than a hiccup and she has to stop for a minute, a hand over her mouth.
“Where was I? Oh right, If I choose to react without getting emotional then why can’t that just be accepted? Why does it have to be wrong? Bloody hypocrite. If he saw how I left him after the way he treated me for all those years... he wouldn’t be laughing and underestimating what I can do...no! He’d be shitting his pants.”
She finishes off the glass and puts it down on the counter and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. Kolin took another sip and sat his glass down before looking back up at Laila.
“You kind of lost me there at the end, but I take it that whole rant was about this Shields guy? He’s just trying to get into your head most likely. Kind of seems like it might have done the trick.”
Kolin gave a smirk as he took another sip, not sure what Lai’s reaction that would be, but expecting a possible backhand, simply based on what he had seen out of her.
“Fuck him.”
He raised his glass and Laila toasted to that.
“At least you don’t have a drug addicted sister detoxing in your apartment. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been called a fucker. Lamps aren’t cheap either. I think I need to get me one of those ceiling fan things, or at least a big lamp that I can anchor to the ground.”
Kolin shook his head slightly and downed the rest of his drink, then poured another. He looked to Laila and raised the bottle up.
“You good, or you want to admit defeat?”
She nods her head toward the glass, too headstrong to admit anything even if she was going to be passed out if she continued.
“So, ya sorry about the sister thing. I’m an only child. Kinda glad for that. Would hate to think what barbaric traditions my parents would have forced any sister or brother to do like they did me.”
“I at least lucked out on the parents front. Good hard working people. My dad was a hard ass, well with me at least. He’d kick my ass for letting my baby sister become…”
Kolin didn’t finish the sentence, he didn’t want to ever say what had happened again. he just took another long sip and sat his glass back down.
“So, I get Shields has you kind of pissed or whatever now, but why attack him in the first place? It wasn’t just for that shiny ass belt, was it? No way it could have been for that crazy Echo bastard. I guess I kind of owe him for figuring out a nice way for me to teach that bastard Kendrick a lesson, but who keeps a cage with them?”
Kolin shook his head once more and finished another drink. He poured more and grinned as he saw that Laila had slowed down significantly. She gets a look in her eyes, it’s hard to describe as anything other than a kind of psychotic calm.
“There doesn’t always have to be a reason. Sometimes you just want to take out a bat and hear that sickening sound of it hitting bone.”
She looks straight ahead before shaking herself free of the dangerous thinking.
“When you need money, sometimes you will do whatever it takes to get it. Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way Echo’s lap dog. I answer only to myself but if someone pays me enough I’d take out my own mother. Helps that my mother is a brainwashed dipshit who believes that women are not good for anything other than serving their husbands.”
She takes another large gulp of the liquid, she can’t hide the cringe this time. The cringe draws another smirk from Kolin, and another sip as he’s still going strong, or at least giving the illusion that he is. Truth is, while he’s not quite seeing double, he’s certainly seeing one and a half of everything.
“I certainly understand the money thing. I myself have done some… things that I’m not proud of for that very reason. As for your mother, well I won’t express my thoughts on that matter out of respect.”
“Fuck respect. No one here respects anything.”
She finishes the glass but puts a hand over the top of the glass when he lifts the bottle to pour more.
“No... I tap. Only time I’ll ever admit it. Don’t go telling anybody or I’ll gut you.”
Her serious expression suddenly changes to a full out grin and she laughs.
“Nobody beats the Irish.”
Kolin downs the rest of his whiskey and gives a slight cheer before turning over his own glass.
“And thank fuck you tapped out, because that was all I could do.”
He gave Laila a grin back and laughed a little bit.
“Us Asian women are not exactly known for being good drinkers so you just got lucky... haha... luck of the Irish right?”
She tries to stand but stumbles and falls into the bar, laughing hysterically. Kolin somehow manages to help her to her feet, almost falling over himself in the process.
“Something like that. Well looks like we’ve got a choice to make. Beg Tracy to drive our drunk asses home, or go sleep on the couches in the VIP area?”
Laila takes off her leather jacket, showing off her impressive arms for a fairly petite woman. She puts it over one arm and points toward the lounge.
“Those couches are probably more comfortable than that piece of cardboard I sleep on at the motel.”
She starts to stagger back toward the roped off section at the back of the bar.
“Probably more comfortable than the crap couch I’ve been sleeping on for the last two weeks.”
Kolin looks back towards the lounge area, then grabs the bottle from off the bar and follows Laila back there. She turns, stopping suddenly in front of him. She puts a finger on his chest, wobbling a little bit.
“you know what sucks about trying to be tough...”
She closes her eyes for a minute, weaving a little. She finally opens her eyes.
“What was I saying?”
“What sucks about trying to be tough.”
Those were the words that Kolin thought he said, and that only the equally drunk Laila could understand. To normal sober human beings it was probably more like whatsicksabovetryingtough. He stumbled a little as well, but finally got to the back and plopped down on the nearest couch.
“So what sucks about it?”
“All the guys are intimidated by you. I mean, this doesn’t go beyond this room...but... you know... if the right one was good to me... maybe I’d change... but so far... nothing.”
She sits down beside him, throwing her jacket over the ropes and leaning back against the soft leather of the couch.
“I get it. Not exactly easy for a guy fresh out of jail for supposedly being a mafia enforcer, to meet a nice lady. I could have probably hooked up with Cindy a few weeks ago, but that would have been all awkward and stuff.”
She rolls her head only to look at him.
“You mean you didn’t? Everyone assumes you did you know. The other bouncers, most of the girls. Ya and the way she looks at you when you aren’t looking. I don’t even get that.”
She rolls her head back to looking straight ahead.
“I… I mean I wanted to, but it would have been a bad idea in the long run. I gotta see her all the time… wait, way she looks at me?”
Kolin grabbed the bottle, popped off the lid and just took a long sip. Laila’s grin gets wider. She slides closer.
“Ya you know... that whole doey eyed thing. Like look at him... he’s a dream boat.”
She snorts.
“Or whatever. I don’t know how those kinds of girls get. If I even considered anything more than just a fling thing then it would be partnership not just some stupid degrading situation where a girl calls her man ‘daddy’ and whatever.”
“Yea, I didn’t really want that either. No one night stands for this drunk Irish bastard.”
Kolin laughs a little, takes another long sip from the bottle and then falls backwards onto the couch, bottle hanging from his hand, but luckily almost empty enough that none of it spills out onto the floor. Laila feels her eyes drooping and she starts to slide forward. Kolin manages to shoot out an arm, stopping her and making her fall backward as well. Her mouth falls open and she starts to snore loudly.
