Behind the Silk Curtain

"Are you calling me fat?" I retorted, unimpressed by his words.

"No," he said. "You're…"

Seeing him struggling with his words, I moved back into a position beside Yvette and said, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied, raising his eyebrow as he noticed Yvette beside me, looking him up and down with much interest. "A friend?"

I looked between the quickly before taking it upon myself to introduce them. Yvette extended her hand towards him, shook it and feeling his hand while she had it in her. Noticing the interaction, and Thomas trying to pull his hand away from hers, I pulled Yvette back from Thomas.

"Not necessary, Yvette," I whispered harshly into her ear.

She eyed me off, turning her obvious attraction back to Thomas, saying, "So how do you guys know each other?"

"We go to RADA together," he said politely. "How do you know our lovely friend here?"

Giggling, she said, "Work."

"Which of her many jobs?" he questioned, the train leaving the station and cutting off any conversation we could've had.

With a smile, Thomas placed his hand upon her back and ushers me off the platform, leaving Yvette behind. She stared after us a moment before hurrying along. Thomas took this time to fire me a few questions without Yvette hearing. He glanced back to Yvette hurrying after us before asking.

"What's with your friend?" he asked.

"Yvette? She's just protective," I said, gaining a strange look from Thomas. "And can't control her desires."

"Unlike some people who keep them so in check that no one knows who or what she's interested in," he said as we moved through the station and scanned out tickets to get out.

"Yvette certainly thinks that I'm interested in someone," I said, glancing over to him.

"Are you?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I'm not really interested," I said wryly.

"What do you mean you're interested?" Thomas said, raising his arms and motioning towards himself. "Am I really that unattractive?"

I laughed as we continued out of the train station and out onto the street. We hovered closer and closer together as we moved down the street, our covered arms bumping against each other.

"No, you're fine," I said, trying to hide my smile.

"I spy with my little eye," Thomas said, moving out in front of me and catch my eye. "A little smile upon Lizzie's face."

My smile widened as he ran his hand over my hair and held the back of my head still. His eyes sparkled in the dim lighting -- a sparkling hazel that would catch any girl off guard. His young features didn't hold a single blemish and his hair holding tightly against his head in small ringlets.

I reached up and pulled at one of the ringlets, smiling at how it sprung back around his features. After a moment, he slipped his hand around my shoulders as we continued down the street. Our heights were close but that didn't stop him from leaning down on my shoulders.

"You're a good leaning post, you know," he said playfully.

"I know, thank you very much," I said, glancing up to him. "I'm not as tall as I hoped I'd be, though."

"Any taller and I wouldn't have such a good post as you," he replied, bumping into me playfully.

Behind us Yvette ran out of the train station and looked up and down the street, eventually finding us further down the street then she hoped so she made her way quickly down the street so that she caught up with us.

"Way to go with leaving me behind guys," she said with a huff, moving in time just behind us despite her efforts to break in between Thomas and I. When she saw that neither of us even noticed her presence, she tried to push in again. "Guys?"

"Yes, we know you're there," I said, briefly glancing over my shoulder.

Thomas and I smiled at each other as we made our way down to the club in which security was about to start work, holding back an already forming line outside of the building. I removed myself from Thomas and waved at the security guards who held up a hand in recognition.

"Whose your friend, Lizzie?" one of the security guards asked, a muscled African set on protecting those within the club.

"Oh, this is Thomas from uni," I said, motioning towards him. "Let him in early?"

"Only for you," he replied with a smile as he pushed the door open for us and we hurried through.

There was a long hallway into the club that looked less appealing then it would to all those outside waiting to get in. The house lights were on and it lacked all the smoke that Yvette and I were used to. There was a DJ setting up in the corner with various waitresses hovering above the upper levels and setting up for that night.

There was already the other bartender that would be working with us that night. Yvette and I joined him with Thomas leaning against the bar in front of us. I stripped off my jacket and slipped it underneath the bench in front of me.

"What can I get you, Thomas?" I asked, picking out one of the clean glasses that the bartender just cleaned.

"A glass of wine would be nice," he replied. "Something from France."

"Seriously?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Fine, lets test how good your bar tending skills are," he said, leaning across the bar. "How about…a Kamikaze."

"That's hardly sounds as bad it is," I said, beginning to make his drink.

"Really?" he said. "I've heard its quite deadly."

"Not really," I said.

He laughed, clearly something that I wasn't understanding what he was trying to get. I rolled my eyes and gave him the drink he ordered. He took it off me, never taking his eyes off mine as he ooh a long swig from his drink. Setting it down with a grunt that I never would have expected to hear from him.

"Wow, okay," he said, taking a moment to compose himself. "What did you put in that?"

I took his glass from him and took a swig for myself, unaffected by the drink. I set the drink back down on the bar and smiled, saying, "I made the drink a little stronger. I think the drink that you're thinking of doesn't have the kick this one does."

"Very funny," he said. "At least I have the night to dance it off."

"That will be a sight," I laughed.

Thomas reached into his pockets and pulled out a very worn wallet as he said, "How much do I owe you?"

I waved my hand in between us, ushering his hand full of cash away, saying, "All drinks are on me, tonight."

"You can barely afford to live let alone shout me drinks," he said, waving his cash in front of me where I continued to ignore. "At least accept it as a tip."

"Fine," I groaned, taking the cash from him and slipping it into my bra. I could see him smirking as I did so. I quickly made myself a drink of rum and coke and held my drink in between us. "To tonight."

Thomas picked up his drink and clinked our glasses, saying, "Tonight."

And with that, the night passed quicker then I expected. Yvette stopped harassing me about me drifting off, because really, with Thomas watching, I was on my game. She stopped harassing me about him as well…for now at least. Thomas stayed near by, watching me work and interact with the customers.

I cast a smile towards him as I looked up and down the bar for another customer to serve. The next person at my service came quicker then I hoped and it wasn't a person I hoped to see, either. The "Royals" crowded around the bar and ordered the weakest drinks upon the menu. Thinking of the interaction that I had with Thomas earlier, I slipped a little more alcohol into their drinks and handed it over to them.

They looked at me harshly as they turned from me without pay. Unimpressed, I reached over the bench and tapped the one from this morning on the arm but when she didn't turn around, I pulled at her hair, which only resulted in receiving a harsh look.

"What?" she spat, eying me over her drink.

"That's 25 pounds," I said, motioning for the money she owed me.

"I don't owe you anything," she replied about to turn away from me when the other bartender I worked with approached, seeing what was going on and the lack of funds that was being paid.

"25 pounds, thanks," the bartender said.

When the girl heard his voice, she turned back around and eyed him up and down. With that, she gladly gave him the money with a hefty tip to go along with it. The bartender split up the tip and handed me half of the money that he had received from the girl.

"To help pay the rent," he said.

When I refused to take it, he shoved it down my bra and winked at me before going back to serve his section of the bar. Giving a short laugh, I went back to service when Yvette stumbled down to me and motioning towards a clock up on the wall behind us.

It was later then I thought…getting close to one in the morning and I finished in two hours. Yvette said something about me being let off early and going out on the dance floor to have fun. Fun? I had no idea what that was. All I knew was how to work hard but before I could refuse her, Thomas on the other side of the bar and dragging me out onto the dance floor.

I looked back to Yvette, knowing this was her plan to get me and Thomas closer then I would have liked despite how she was already getting a liking for him. I relented to his pullings and fell against him amongst the throng of people that filled the club.

I was pushed closer and closer towards him, feeling more and more uncomfortable as time passed. I eventually couldn't take it and stood firm, looking up at the flashing colourful lights above me.

I felt Thomas firmly pressed against me but not in the way that Yvette would have liked. Above the sounds of the music, he said, "Do you want to get some air?"

I nodded quickly as he took my hand and lead me out of the club and a little down the stereo from the entrance where the security guards watched me carefully. I leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath of the cold London air. It was then that I remembered my jacket and was about to go back and retrieve it when Thomas pulled me back, saying that Yvette would get it for me.

"For someone who works in a club, its surprising that you freaked out like that on the dance floor," Thomas said. "Want me to take you home?"

"That would be nice," I said, joining him as we walked down the road towards the nearest train station. "And at least behind he bar I have some space to myself. I don't like having my personal space infiltrated like that."

"What about now?" he asked, closing the gap between us just as I stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

He picked me up swiftly as he slipped his arm around my waist and helped me down the street. Slowly, I placed my arm underneath his and used him as a support as I said, "At least I know you a little now. All those people out there, however, I just felt…uncomfortable."

"I rushed you out there when I shouldn't have," he said with sympathy. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," I replied, glancing up to him.

"Yes I do," he said as we reached the train station and waited for the next train. "You're also exhausted from the amount of hours you have been working straight for today."

"And I'm mean to be at the manufacturing company from seven am tomorrow morning," I sighed as our train arrived and we boarded.

He sat next to me as the train pulled out of the station and we headed towards my housing estate. His arm never left my side, even when we sat down. I had to pull my arm from him, though, because it would have hurt from the position we were in.

Unconsciously, I leaned my head against his chest and relaxed against his breathing. I felt his thumb begin to stroke my arm after he shifted it slightly so that he could hold me more comfortably.

"You work too hard for your own good," he said.

"You've known me only a day, how do you know that?" I said, glancing up to him.

"I thought you would have known me a little better then that, Lizzie," he said. "I know everything about everyone."

"And I think I would have to disagree with your sister on that one," I said as he looked down to me with a questioning glance. "You could have been a better James Bond."

He laughed shortly, kissing me upon more head as we got up from our seats and left the train when it came to my station. We stayed glued to each other as we walked through the backstreets to my flat.

All the gangs were out at this time of night and became interested in the passers by. Usually they would ignore me but now that I had Thomas with me, it was new bait they had to check out.

I managed to fend them off when they got to close with my words but I knew that if Thomas was going to head back to the station alone tonight, they would pounce. I reminded myself to ask him to stay the night when we reached my flat, which was sooner then I expected.

We reached my housing estate building and went to my floor. I pulled out my keys from my pocket with fumbling fingers and opened the door to my flat. I pulled Thomas in despite his best efforts to leave the moment I reached the flat.

"If you go home now, those gang members will be on you in an instant," I said, locking the door behind him. "Feel free to take the couch for tonight."

He gave me a look of disgust. I remembered him touching the couch from earlier and how much he didn't like the sound that it made.

"Fine, I'll take the couch," I sighed entering my bedroom and using my mobile phone as a light to find what I needed in the dark flat. "And you can take the bed."

"Can't we just share?" Thomas asked as he closed the distance between us behind my back.

"No, Thomas," I said. "I just met you this morning and--"

I let out a soft scream as he pressed me against the wall of my bedroom. His pelvis kept me firmly in place as my body began to react in ways that I really hoped it wouldn't. A burning sensation came from deep within me but that wasn't the only thing I felt.

His long, toughened fingers took hold of my face roughly as he stared into my eyes. I dropped my phone to the ground, its light shining up at his and highlighting the angles of his face.

"What are you doing?" I asked breathlessly.

Realising what he had done, he moved away and let me fall back against the wall. He disappeared into the darkness of the room, the only thing that was highlighted my the light now was me and he could see every emotion that coursed through me in that moment.

"Wh…why did you move away?" I said, reaching out to him but he moved further and further away from me.

"I'll take the couch," he said and disappeared from the room leaving me run dry of the emotions that I thought I had hidden away forever.