Back to reality

[Bradley Rockford]

So. The poor, stupid twink he'd bashed had finally recovered enough to leave his apartment. He hadn't been angry with him, he hadn't even seemed scared, despite what he'd done to him. He'd simply gotten up, thanked him for his help (thanked him?!), and been on his way. The fuck was wrong with that kid? Had he no self respect whatsoever? At least Brad could comfort himself with the fact that he'd never have to see his ugly face again. No matter, after half an hour of being left alone in his apartment, he found himself incapable of doing much other than thinking the past fews days over in his head over and over again. It pissed him off, much like everything else. The more he thought of it, the less bad he felt; the guy asked for it, manipulating him into taking another man home with him, as if he was into that kind of stuff. As if he was into him. A nasty, male stripper. The arrogance of it all. He'd deserved a beating. No, the problem of it was, what if the guy talked? He didn't seem like he would, but one could never be sure. If he reported him to the cops, he'd be out on his ass from school. On the other hand, it seemed out of his hands at this point, regardless. Stupid, ugly little boytoy for forcing himself into his life like that, sticking around in his head even after he'd left, as if to fuck everything up for him even more. Shit.



Nevertheless, it was time to get back to reality. He hadn't spoken to Ariel since that night, nor had he answered any attempts she'd made to contact him. He did have a tendency to act like that, so he didn't think it'd be too suspicious. Still, he needed her to distract him now, and remind him of who he really was. He'd make sure to make his silence up to her somehow, he always did. At least, that's what he told himself as he send her the first text for almost a week.



Hey girl! Dinner tonight? On me !



He didn't have to be at work until later at night, anyway, and if he'd spend any more time brooding about this alone, he'd go crazy. 

[Serafina 'Ariel' Gray]

Classes had been driving Ariel absolutely insane. It seemed as if she had to study at least for two hours every night, just to make sense of the random, squiggly notes that she took in class. Broken sentences and random symbols to replace words didn’t help anything in her task of translation. Other than classes, there was that nagging suspicion in the back of her mind that Brad had still yet to call, text, or email her. It wasn’t as if he didn’t do this. As a matter of fact, it was the man's usual thing, and no matter how much Ariel seemed to love him, it drove her bananas. He acted like he cared one week, and the next, poof. And all throughout that week of his silence, all she could ever do was worry about him. Oh, the vicious cycle of Brad.

Sitting at the dining room table doing re-writing her notes, ear-buds in, of course, Ariel would be writing away. About three pages in, she felt the vibration of the phone on her table. She decided to ignore it, but couldn’t help to have her eyes shift from her notes, to the phone, and back again. It had been almost a week… Breaking through her concentrative barrier, the girl would snatch up her phone, and see the notification that it was, indeed, a text from Brad. She couldn’t help but let a small smile come across her face. She quickly typed a reply back.

Sure. Time, place?

Now it was time for her to feel like a giggly little school girl; the way that she always acted when he finally decided to come back to Earth.

[Bradley Rockford]

He smiled, already halfway out the door when she replied, as if he'd just assumed she'd say yes. Which, of course, he had.

Osteria Mozza in an hour?

It was fancy enough, he thought. Bouncer wasn't the most well-paying job ever, but he couldn't think of a better way to spend his money. Especially not now that he hadn't been spending his time very well, which seemed to be the only other thing he could offer her. Of course, it wouldn't take him an hour to get there, but he could wait. Might have to bribe them to get a table, anyway.

[Serafina 'Ariel' Gray]

She had already been putting her homework back into her bookbag, just about as fast as she could. Stuffing the last book back into her bag, Ariel would feel her phone buzz in her hand once more. Reading his reply, she typed a quick one herself, sending it back.

Definitely. See you there.

Luckily her father wasn’t at home, so she didn’t have to answer to him for her actions. She ran over options of what to wear in her mind. She and Brad had been dating a few months now, so there was no reason to go all out, right? But she couldn’t just go in jeans and call it a day, either. Silently thinking about the fact that she had yet to ask him where the hell he had been the last week, she sighed, heading up the stairs and into her room. She chose a strapless, simple black dress that came to about her kness. She supposed she’d be there earlier than needed, even though she went ahead and started driving that way. All in all, it would take her forty-five minutes tops to arrive.

[Bradley Rockford]

Well, it'd have been a better plan to call ahead and book a table. Unfortunately, he hadn't exactly had time to do that, given the circumstances. Instead, he was 15 dollars short by the time he'd convinced the waiter of the importance of this evening. Could have been worse. After having gotten everything set up, he walked out of the resturant, placing himself just outside to wait for Ariel. For some reason, he was nervous, although he didn't take note of it himself. Of course, according to himself, nothing made him nervous. The only thing he could take note of was a slight frustration he couldn't exactly place the cause of, but it didn't take him long to simply decide it was somehow related to the stupid queer he'd just said his goodbyes to. He quickly shook the thought out of his mind as decisively as he could. He didn't matter, the only think that mattered was making tonight great for Ariel. In fact, the past week had already been rewritten in his mind and memory, anyway.