Along Came Awkward

Laura showed up to the club the next day wearing a simple navy blue tube dress. She shot the young Sykes a quick text before finding her way into the club and heading straight for the bar. "Evening," she smiled politely to the bartender.

"Evening, huh? Yeh sound too polite to be 'ere alone little miss," the guy chuckled. "What do yeh want?"

"Some Jack sounds good."

"Whiskey lady? Nevah would 'ave guessed. Just one shot?"

"The bottle," she winked placing the money on the counter.

He eyed her before handing over the jug. "Don't make bad decisions tonigh'."

"Well I can't guarantee that," she chuckled.

Tom threw his hand over Laura's shoulder just as he arrived at the bar. "There yeh are!"

"Ah," Laura grinned. "Here's one of my decisions now."

The bartender chuckled and wiped the counter. Tom looked confused between the two before focusing his attention back on the bar. "Jack please. The bottle."

The guy laughed, "yeh little lady beat yeh too it. Maybe yeh shouldn't let her get here first next time."

Tom looked at Laura and she grinned holding up the bottle of Jack. "Well at least we have the same taste in poison."

Tom nodded and held Laura's elbow, escorting her to a table not too far away. "The lad is supposed to pay fo' the date, isn't he?"

"Is this a date?" She inquired.

He eyed her and sat down. "Well the lad is supposed to pay regardless if it is or not, right?"

"You supplied the bowl yesterday and I have the drinks today. No big deal. Do you want the first shot?"

"Your bottle, your shot," he grinned, mimicking her words from the day prior. She nodded and took a chug from the bottle before placing it on the table for him.

"What is on tonight's agenda, sire?"

Tom shrugged taking a sip, letting the whiskey burn. He paused and took another before passing it. "Drink, dance and sleep. Sound good?"

"Too vague," she shook her head. "Specify, Sykes. I like good stories."

He nodded, looking at the whiskey before drinking more. "Well, Miss Sunshine, I figured we could drink a shit load for some liquid confidence and ask too in-depth questions, dance very awkwardly in the middle of the room, walk back to my place trying to remembah where I live or how to walk and then maybe we'd fall asleep after getting to like second base. Sound bettah?"

She laughed and stole the bottle from his hands. "Not a bad story. We'll see where this chapter goes."

"Why do they call yeh sunshine?" he asked.

Laura nodded slowly, reminiscing in the past. "Old nickname from an old friend. We died."

"He passed away?" Tom frowned. "I'm sorreh."

"No, he didn't die. We did. He was one of those friends that you have for years, do everything for each other, know everything about each other, scream at each other, love each other, can never leave each other. As much as neither of us wanted for it to happen, our relationship died. We never thought it would but it did. He used to call me Sunshine. It just kind of stuck."

After a moment, Tom took the bottle and swigged. "I'm still sorreh. Tha' sounds terrible."

Laura nodded, "it felt like going through a divorce with your shadow, you know? Like it felt impossible and unreal. I never really got over it."

Tom looked at Laura's eyes. Not glanced, but looked, really looked into them. He wanted to see everything she felt. He wanted to mention to her how beautiful her eyes looked in the crappy bar lighting or how she still managed to capture his attention when he walked in the room for the first time. He wanted to touch her hand like she touched his yesterday. He wanted to be high and laugh with her and not feel self-conscious about it.

So Tom did the next best thing. He ignored his feelings and grabbed the bottle to down more alcohol which he began doubting was giving him any confidence at all.

"Well, Tommy, since we are on the subject of nicknames, do you have any?"

He slid the bottle over to her and chuckled as the name came to his head. "Tommeh Syko."

"Sounds like a perfect fit," Laura winked before drinking some. "And how did you come about this nickname, Mister Syko?"

"Well, Sunshine," he chuckled, "I was a bit of a devil child growing up. My brothah and a mate of ours are in a metal group togethah and they thought it'd be brill if we made a lame rap group thing called Womb 2 da tomb-"

"wait, what!" she laughed.

"Hey!" Tom chuckled. "Let me finish! So yeah, we recorded a few lame tracks and we all had stupid nicknames and mine was Tommeh Syko." He grinned, "okay now I'm done."

"You guys are so lame!" She laughed, drinking some of the whisky. The bottle drew empty now, only a few sips left to be shared.

"Don't make fun of me!" He grinned, snatching the bottle from her. She pouted and Tom eyed her before laughing and handing back the bottle.

"Finish it so we could dance, lady."

"Trying to intoxicate me, Mr. Sykes?"

"I fink yeh did that jus' fine by yehself."

Laura nodded and took a large gulp before passing it one last time. "Chug it, Syko! I'm going to go request a song. I'll see you out there!" She winked before getting out of the booth and heading towards the dj.

He watched her walk away taking a quick glance at her waist. She was quite the looker, he wouldn't deny that. Tom finished the bottle before sliding it to the side for whomever to clean up. He scanned the crowd before getting the courage to get up and head towards the dance floor alone.

Laura thanked the DJ for agreeing to play the song next before she snuck up behind Tom, wrapping her arms around his waist. He jumped a bit and turned around before smiling and putting his arms around her. "I thought yeh high-tailed it out of 'ere."

"Yeah and then I realized I didn't want to miss you dancing because you're probably dreadful!"

"Hey!" He chuckled. "Tommy Syko is dance master champion!"

"I bet your dancing skills are just as good as your cooking skills!"

"Hush!" He rolled his eyes. "What song did yeh request?"

Just as Tom spoke that, the current song ended and the new song began playing. Tom's eyes widened as the all too familiar beat came to his head. "WHY?" He shouted, laughing as Call Me Maybe began blaring through the speakers.

Laura laughed and grabbed his hands. "To see your reaction. It was definitely worth it."

Tom rolled his eyes, "I might want to skedaddle earlier now! I'd rather listen to... I don't even know, Justin Timberlake o' somefin'."

"Are you dissin' my man?" Laura gasped, before laughing. "Nah, you're right. Let's bounce."

Tom smiled and took her hand, leading her out of the club and down the sidewalk towards his house. "Are yeh down fo' stayin' the night?"

"Yeah, I think I'm too drunk to get a cab home."

"What?" He laughed. "That doesn't even make sense."

"I get that a lot," she smiled up at him.

Tom gazed down at her, his mind in a fog. As far as he could focus on that moment, he knew Laura was what he needed in his life. She distracted him from himself and his thoughts. There was one thing about her that he didn't understand though. She seemed to never be direct with answers. Not that she dodged them, but he just was never satisfied with them. Tom wanted to know more about the other Tom, how she got her name Sunshine and who was it that gave it to her. He only knew an old friend gave it to her, but why?

He was thirsty for more and it was that which continued him being drawn to her.

Laura chuckled as Tom stumbled a bit on the sidewalk. He blushed and looked down at the concrete, concentrating more as their steps led them closer and closer to his house.

Laura knew that Tom wasn't completely serious about doing anything with her. She knew he was shy. She was actually shocked he had the courage to say something like that at all. He didn't seem ballsy.

For a short moment, her thoughts went back home to the Tom she had waiting. He was on a business trip for some architecture thing. She didn't really care or pay attention to it when he told her. Her mind and heart fell from him a long time ago.

"Home," Tom grinned upon seeing the site of his house. The walk felt much shorter than it actually was but it was probably due to the floating feeling he got when he drank. "What would yeh like to do?"

"Aquarium tomorrow. Sleep now." She spoke softly, leaning on his shoulder.

"Aquarium?"

She nodded and he chuckled before opening the door. "Come on, love. Yeh know the way. I'll meet yeh upstairs, okay?"

Laura nodded and slowly made her way up the stairs. Tom took a long, deep breath before turning around and locking the door. He checked the house real quick to make sure everything was okay before entering the bathroom downstairs. Tom took a quick piss before washing his hands and looking in the mirror. His eyes squinted at the man staring back at him. Quickly, he climbed the stairs and entered his bedroom.

Laura laid already sprawled on the bed, the blankets only covering her waist. He chuckled at the discarded heels on the floor before he took his shoes off and laid next to her. "Good night, Laura."

"Night fishy fish," she mumbled into the pillow.