Shapeshifters

[002]

Alex sighed, taking a swig from the bottle of red wine that he had borrowed from the party earlier on. They left sort of early, because Alex got a tad bit too drunk and had almost attacked the pirate that he'd seen his ex with. Evie had to pull him back before they saw him, and since she didn't know where his friends were - or who his friends were - she just opted to take him out for a drive to nowhere, to get him to sober up a little.

Evie hadn't drank any alcohol so she was completely sober, but since Alex was a stubborn little shit head, he refused to give her his address so that she could take him home. Granted, he was probably making a shit first (or second?) impression of himself to her but he really couldn't care less. If she didn't want to be friends with him while he was drunk then she didn't need to be friends with him.

He suspected that he would be getting drunk more often, anyway. The whole girlfriend-less and freedom sort of thing coming into play.

"Where'd you get that?" Evie asked suddenly, narrowing her red eyes over at him.

"Saw it behind the counter." He shrugged nonchalantly, making her let out a small chuckle as she shook her head. Alex grinned, offering it over to her. "Want some?"

"No thanks."

"Just a sip?" He tried to tempt.

"I don't drink."

Alex's brows flew on his forehead. "How come?"

"That, my dear Joker, is a story for another time." She smiled.

"Promise?" He pouted, blinking his big, brown eyes.

"Yeah, sure."

"Why are we in a church?" He asked, as though his mind had finally registered they fact that they were, in fact, in a church; sat in the row of seats.

Evie shrugged her shoulders. "I just drove and took turns whenever I felt like."

"Did you turn when I asked you to turn, too?"

"Yup." She nodded. "Then we ended up here."

"I'm not a very religious person." Alex admitted quietly, like he was afraid someone would pop out from behind a row of the empty seats and yell at him for saying as such.

"Me neither." Evie shrugged a shoulder lightly. "Did you know that they say the walls of a hospital has heard more prayers than the walls of a church?"

Alex nodded, shutting his eyes after he manoeuvred himself so that his head was laying in Evie's lap. "Airports see more sincere kisses than wedding halls, too."

"Funny, innit?"

"What is?"

"That one would assume the kisses exchanged during weddings would be more sincere than ones at the airport, or wherever, and that the walls of a church would hear more prayers than the walls of some other place?"

"The irony of it, right?"

Evie nodded. "Guess so."

"It's 'cause when you get married, you know that you're both gonna be okay, that you're together. But when you're sending your other half on a piece of metal that's able to take flight, you're afraid that you'll lose them. Something might happen during the flight, something might happen before or after, something might happen the moment they land and step foot in that other country. And in hospitals... People come to church to pray. Just, pray. But people in hospitals, they pray for the safety of their loved ones. They pray that their loved ones will be fine. They pray that... That everything will be okay."

Evie was silent for a moment and Alex's eyes remained closed. He was tempted to open them to make sure that she was still there - his mind was foggy and couldn't really link the fact that he was laying on her lap so she'd obviously still be there - but he was too tired to do so.

"You know..." She started, making him hum in question. "For being quite drunk, you're pretty clever."

"I'm pretty."

"Yeah, that too." Evie laughed. "Let's get you home."

Alex whined, shaking his head stubbornly. "Can we stay here?"

"In the church?" She asked, humour laced in her tone.

Alex popped open his eyes, frowning. "We can go somewhere else, but I don't wanna go home."

Evie looked at him for a moment, before she sighed, nodding. "Sure. Where do you wanna go?"

Alex shrugged his shoulders, not really making an attempt to get up from his relaxed position on Evie's lap. "I dunno. Just, not home."

Evie blinked at him, cocking her head to the side. "Are you... Okay?"

That made him think. His drunken mind, anyway. Was he okay? Was he okay with the fact that the 'longest' relationship he'd ever had, ended, with her moving on so quickly? Was he okay with the fact that she probably never properly loved him and was just stringing him along? Was he okay accepting that another person had just left his life - also by choice?

"No." Alex shook his head. "I'm not okay."


Alex awoke to the sound of birds chirping and the unbearable itch on his face. He let out a groan, rolling onto his side and burying his face into his pillow that smelt like perfume and alcohol.

Wait, what?

Alex popped open his eyes, widening them drastically as he realised that he was spooning a female with black hair. He didn't know any females with black hair that he was comfortable enough to have a sleep over with, anyway. Upon further inspection, he realised that they weren't even in a house. They were laying down on the grass, both of them still decked out in their Halloween costumes from the night before, making him cringe. So that was the thing that was making his face itch.

Note to self: never fall asleep with face-paint on. Ever.

The female next to him groaned, nudging him gently aside with the back of her rather bony elbow. He made a small sound of discomfort but moved off of her, positioning himself so that he was on his back and staring at the way too bright sky that was lighted up with the glow of the sun. He groaned, using his forearm to cover his eyes, uncaring about the fact that he was probably getting face paint on his blazer.

"How's the hangover?" She asked, amusement laced in her groggy tone.

"My head is killing me." He moaned in discontent, turning so that he could fold his arms and bury his face in them.

Alex thought back to the night before, trying to recall if he'd done anything stupid. The only stupid thing he could think of was stealing a bottle of wine from the party they were at. Okay, firstly, why the fuck was there wine at a party in a club? And secondly, the wine tasted pretty damn good, from what he remembered.

Alex half-heartedly raised his head so that he could look at the black-haired female who was blinking her eyes repeatedly. "Evie, right?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He laughed lightly before dropping his head back into his arms.

"I think my contacts are on the wrong side of my eyeballs."

"Shit." He murmured, sitting up. "Lemme see." He beckoned, gesturing for her to open her eyes and look at him.

One was still blood-red, while the other was a greenish hazel colour. Alex frowned. "Shit. It's at the back of your head."

"So this is why people don't sleep with contacts in." She mused, smiling lopsidedly.

Alex laughed. "Close your eyes and, like, rub your eyeball. I've seen my best friend fall asleep in contacts one too many times."

She closed her eyes but furrowed her eyebrows together. "Never thought I'd ever hear someone say that to me."

"Say what?"

"Rub your eyeball." She quoted, making him chuckle, though she did as he'd asked. "How's your head?"

Alex, as though suddenly reminded of the throbbing pain in his skull, groaned again, using his hands to rub at his temples. "In need of painkillers and some greasy, greasy food."

Evie laughed, finally re-opening her eyes to reveal the blood red colour of them both. "Am I back to normal?"

"Depends. Are red eyes normal for you?"

"For the time being."

"Then yes, you're back to normal." He smiled, earning a small laugh from the lady. Alex got to his feet, offering a hand to her afterwards, both of them brushing off their bums and each other's backs to get rid of the grass that stuck to their clothing. "So, uh, wanna go get, um, breakfast, or something?"

She raised a brow, glancing down at her outfit and then letting her eyes run down his body. "Dressed like this? While you've a hangover? Are you sure?" She laughed.

"Touché." He allowed, smiling a bit. "I really want some breakfast though, and I want to buy you said breakfast as a token of appreciation - for taking care of me last night."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just," she shook her head, smiling. "You're the first person who's ever admitted to having someone take care of them the night before. Most of my friends that get drunk would just thank me for making sure they didn't do anything reckless and/or stupid."

Alex shrugged. "Yeah, well. Drunk people are like babies."

"That, my friend, is very true."

"So... Breakfast?"

"Sure." Evie shrugged a shoulder.

Alex offered her an arm, grinning charmingly. "Shall we, Belle?"

Evie hooked her arm through Alex's, smiling back at him. "We shall, Joker."