Pictures on Silence

~Ryan~

Although we'd originally started out watching a German movie called "Run Lola Run", which she for some reason had in her bag, Angie discovered my copy of Chuck Palahniuk's Diary and lost interest in everything else for reading it. That was okay, because the movie took all of my attention to figure out what the hell was happening.

After an hour and a half, she was already more than half finished, and had only stopped reading to take hold of my chin and look for something in my face. Mildly amused, I watched her eyes rove slowly; with anyone else, I probably would have felt like a horse on the block, but with her, it was more like an artist observing a work.

"I guess he's right about women," she mused, turning back to the book.

Since Rhi wasn't providing any entertainment aside from company, I stopped staring at the ceiling and went downstairs. My laptop sat on the arm of the couch, and in a moment of curiosity, I sat down with it. I stared at the icon in the dock for a moment before opening the instant messenger and logging on to Angie's screen name.

Almost instantly, a window popped up.

innocentsubterfuge: Hey babycakes.

Frowning, I blinked at it before typing back a reply. Who would call Angie babycakes? I didn't even call her that.

PenelopeDreadful: Who is this?
innocentsubterfuge:...You should know who I am by now
PenelopeDreadful: Not Angie.
innocentsubterfuge: OH! HER CHEW TOY?!

My eyes widened. I think my mouth actually fell open. "Chew toy?" I repeated aloud. I was almost outraged. Almost, but not really.

PenelopeDreadful: Is that what she calls me?
innocentsubterfuge: No, no, that's what I call any tall, skinny, angular man who'd be fun to chew on. Incidentally-William Beckett wins over you any day of the week. No offence.

I blinked at the screen incredulously. It was more the audacity of her frankness than the statement itself than took me aback.

PenelopeDreadful: Who ARE you?
innocentsubterfuge: Someone that you'll never be lucky enough to meet so I see no reason why names are important-after all; a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet

Dumbfounded, I shook my head. No wonder Angie talked like a dictionary, if this is the conversation she had every day. I'd noticed several Shakespeare references made before, as well.

innocentsubterfuge: Beth. Hello, Ryan.
PenelopeDreadful: Oh, so you're the one she talks about. Nice reference, by the way
innocentsubterfuge: ...You might use formaldehyde (By the way-seen Hannibal Rising?) but I've got a classic lit class.
innocentsubterfuge: 'Be wise as thou art cruel, do not press my tongue tied patience with too much disdain-lest sorrow lend me words; and words express the manner of my pity-wanting pain', et cetera.

I had to admit I was impressed. As I began to type back, Angie came up behind the couch and leaned her chin on my shoulder. "What're you doing?" she enquired.

"Talking to a sociopath?" I half-asked, not looking away from the screen.

After a second, she squeaked and literally leapt over the couch. "Beth!" she exclaimed. "Give me that computer!" Yanking it off my lap, she deleted the beginning of my comment and quickly typed her own.

PenelopeDreadful: I'm sorry, sugar. He must have untied the knots somehow. I'll have to go fix that.
PenelopeDreadful: Back in a while.

With that Rhi quit the chat and shut the computer's top. While I laughed, she fixed me with narrow, suspicious eyes. "What did you do?"

I blinked innocently and smiled. "I did absolutely nothing," I insisted. "You should be asking what she did."

She rolled her eyes, but still smiled, which told me I was in the clear. I went to kiss her, but in that instant, her phone blasted The Academy Is. She smiled slightly and flipped it open, putting it on speakerphone. The voice that screeched out of the receiver made her hold it at arm's length.

"Okay, I KNOW HE'S ATTRCTIVE, ANGIE, BUT REALLY. BECKETT'S HIPBONES ARE MORE IRRISISTABLE. STOP HAVING SEX WHEN... I can think of what you're doing."

We both laughed. This, I assumed, was Beth. I noticed that Rhi's cheeks turned a little pink and her laugh was somewhat sheepish. "Her imagination probably would think of something far worse," she whispered. I gave her a short passionate kiss.

"Okay, this is cruel," Beth continued in the silence. "I'm sex deprived. Scratch that, I'm MAN DEPRIVED. And I'm in Chicago for god's sake."

Angie laughed slightly. "I wish I was in Chicago so I could entertain you."

"Ooh! Then we could have fun again!"

I blinked at the girl beside me. When she caught my eye, her blush deepened and she looked away embarrassed. "That came out wrong," she declared. I blinked and fought down a smirk.

"Someone needs to ship testosterone my way," Beth sighed. "Really."

"We could always stuff Brendon into a box and mail him to you," Angie suggested, not looking at me. I grinned, knowing she knew what conclusion I'd jumped to.

"... I said testosterone, not puberty-ridden hormonally imbalanced teenagers. Really. There has to be some tall, attractive man who's annoyed you enough that you'd package him here."

I laughed loudly, shutting my eyes. "Oh, man. I want this girl to meet him!"

A laugh pealed from Rhi's lips. "Darling, I love both you and Bren too much to do that to either of you." She stood up and placed her phone in my hand. "Now if you'll both excuse me, I'm going to have a short shower."

Beth sighed on the other end of the phone. "I suppose that means you'll both be going then."

I grinned and eyed Rhi, who crossed her arms stubbornly. "Don't even think about it, Slim. You're staying here and entertaining the Chicagoan." She turned on a heel and swiftly removed herself from the room.

With a sigh, I settled into the couch and turned the phone off speaker. "You're not really going to give up that easily, are you?" Beth asked, scoffing. "It's a challenge, you pushover."

Although most of my brain argued that it was a terrible idea and would not end well, I decided to shut the phone with a goodbye and darted up the stairs.

"What, did you get lonely?" Rhi joked when I open the door.

"Maybe," I replied simply, pulling off my shirt.

Her head poke out from the shower door. "I said no," she declared warningly. I stuck out my lower lip, but she merely rolled her eyes mildly and shut the glass door. "Go amuse yourself for another five or ten minutes. Then we'll think of something fun to do that doesn't make this shower a waste of time."

I decided to call Beth back and talk to her; I put the phone back on speaker because I got too lazy to hold it up. At once point, the doorbell rang three times in rapid succession before the door opened. "Come on in, Brendon," I called wryly. "Not that anything could stop you."

"Are both of you decent?" he yelled, not having heard me. "Where are you?"

"Not that anything could stop whom?" I lifted my head and stared at my girlfriend, standing at the end of the couch, holding a towel around her. She tilted her head curiously at me while Beth kept talking.

"Why is Ryan talking to the air?" Brendon shouted before entering the room. He stopped short, eyes fixed on Rhi, who blushed and held her towel tighter. Bren made a noise far too excited for comfort and yelled, "Why is Angie not dressed?!"

From the phone, Beth's voice rang out clear. "Woah. Not dressed." She paused. "WERE YOU TWO HAVING HOT SEX?"

Brendon yelped, looking around. "Disembodied voice!"

It sounded like Beth snorted. "At least it's not a disembodied head, circa "Pride and Prejudice"."

Angie rolled her eyes. "You might want to ease up on the references to 19th century English literature," she advised. "Brendon doesn't know how to read."

Brendon gasped, offended, while Beth exclaimed incredulously, "It was made into a film series! AND A MOVIE. Honestly, even if he didn't see the A&E special, he might've at least bothered to see the one with Kiera Knightly--stick though she is."

"Hot," he put in.

"I don't care how wealthy she is, or how famous she'll be," she retorted. "At the end of the day, I've still got the ability to have more fun with men than she ever will."

The exchange was hilarious up until that point. "Which means what?" I asked no one in particular.

Rhi reached over and flicked my ear. "You aren't supposed to ask that."

Brendon glanced between us and looked at the phone on the table. "Okay, now I'm curious!" he declared.

There was silence for a moment. "...Did anyone ever tell you your voice cracks at the most inopportune moments?" Brendon then snatched up the phone and began arguing with Beth about... something.

Both watching him wave his hands and pace, Rhi sauntered over to me, and I wrapped an arm around her towelled waist. "Things that never should be mixed: add Bren and Beth to the list." She shook her head. "I don't want to think about what would happen if we ever left them in a room together alone," she said seriously. "There'd either be a lot of blood or a lot of really raunchy sex."