I Like the Remix

Raelyn smiled at Zacky who had been nice enough to walk her to her door. “Thank you again for dinner… I’d invite you in, but I don’t want to disturb Tori if she’s sleeping… Plus I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She admitted as she realized that she felt more than the slight haze she did earlier in the evening.

“I understand. Thanks for going out with me again. We’re going on tour again soon… So I should be able to hook you up with some concert tickets.” He smiled at her. She nodded, and he grinned. “I should get going. Have a good night, I can’t wait to go out again.”

Maybe it was the liquor, maybe it was the way he was shyly grinning at her, but Raelyn acted on the first urge she had and leaned up to kiss him on the lips. He pulled her up against him as he deepened the kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck to hold him in place for a moment before she pulled away to breathe. “See you around.” She whispered as she took a step back, slipping out of his grip. He nodded and watched speechlessly as she slipped into her apartment. Her fingers found their way to her lips. “What did I just do?” She mumbled to herself as she slid down the back of the door.

After sitting for a few minutes, she pushed herself up and headed towards her room to change. As nice as it was to look all dressed up and go out… The best feeling in the world was coming home and changing into pajamas. She changed into a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt, she headed for the bathroom to brush her teeth and take her contacts out and frowned at the abandoned bath and the blood in the sink. “Tori?” She called out as she headed towards her best friend’s bedroom.

Before she could get to the door, Tori had it opened and shut behind her as she met Raelyn in the hallway. “Hey, Rae… You’re home early!” She looked flustered.

Raelyn raised an eyebrow at her. “I left like four hours ago… What do you mean early? How long do you think dinner is supposed to last?”

“Well obviously he wasn’t at all romantic if you’re home this early…” She tried to reason until Raelyn shook her head. “And your cheeks are flushed… You close to drunk?”

Raelyn rolled her eyes. “I’m over twenty-one and I’m not driving a car… I’m allowed to be intoxicated. Why are you trying to keep the topic on me?” She asked with a suspicious frown. “Why is there a bath drawn? And what happened in the sink… There’s blood in it.”

“I drew a bath for you…” Tori stated with a forced smile. Raelyn raised an eyebrow at her before walking back into the bathroom and dipping her fingers into the water. Tori walked in and turned on the faucet in the sink to clean up the blood.

“So why did you think I would want to take a cold bath?” She watched at Tori fidgeted. “Come on, just let me know what’s up. You’re acting weird.”

Tori sighed as she leaned back against the sink after turning it off. “I was about to take a bath and Brian showed up. He was bleeding. Michelle basically kicked him out of his own house. I took him to get stitches when I realized she cut him pretty bad. He’s sleeping on my bed right now…” She admitted with a sigh. “I know what you’re gonna say…”

Raelyn closed her eyes and waited for a moment before speaking. “Just be careful. He’s hurt you before, he may unintentionally do it again.” She warned her best friend warily. She reached over and pulled the plug out of the drain in the tub before turning back to the sink to brush her teeth.

“No worries, nothing is going on.” She promised with a smile, relieved that Raelyn wasn’t demanding him out of the apartment. “How’d your date go?”

After Raelyn finished brushing her teeth, she looked back at Tori and shrugged. “Good besides the fact that I felt like I told him too much after having some wine. The restaurant was so expensive… The cheapest alcoholic drink that wasn’t a beer was a couple of different wines for twelve dollars a glass.” She shook her head. “I get that he’s trying to impress…. But it just made me more self conscious about what I was ordering…”

Tori laughed at her complete honesty. “How much did you have?”

Raelyn’s eyes widened at Tori’s question. “Why, do you think he thinks I’m an alcoholic?” She asked in horror.

Tori scoffed at the brunette. “Rae, if anything he and his friends are alcoholics… Have you seen how much they drink? You’re overthinking it because you’ve had enough to drink that you feel drunk, right?” Raelyn nodded and bit her lip. “You aren’t acting nearly as bad as you could be. And if he’s the one who goaded you into drinking,” She paused and waited for Raelyn to give some sort of tell, and continued after Raelyn nodded once. “Then you have no reason to feel bad. The only thing to be concerned about is whether or not he was trying to get you drunk and why. But don’t think about that tonight, figure it out after work tomorrow.”

Raelyn nodded as different thoughts swirled through her mind. “Night.” She mumbled before slowly making her way back to her room. Tori let out a quiet sigh… Had Raelyn been sober… She would have wanted to talk more about Brian being in their apartment. Tori knew it was a bad idea to have him stay here, but she couldn’t help it. No matter how hard she tried to deny it… She still cared about Brian. She stared at her reflection and glared… Why couldn’t she just hate him like any normal girl would after what he’d done? Deep down she knew the answer and wasn’t willing to put it into words. After brushing her teeth and turning out the light, she slowly made it back to her room where Brian was still sleeping. Without giving it a second thought, she crawled into bed next to him and closed her eyes.

---

Tori woke up to find herself curled up to Brian. She let out a soft sigh as she traced one of the monster tattoos on his arm. She didn’t want to move and wake him… Likewise, she didn’t want to face Raelyn. She glanced over at her alarm clock when she heard Raelyn walk into the bathroom and let out a quiet sigh when she heard the shower go on. She felt Brian move and debated pretending she was still asleep. She found herself surprised when he wrapped his arm around her and held her close to him. “I know you’re awake.” He spoke softly into her ear.

“Maybe I wish I was sleeping…” She retorted, keeping her eyes on the wall. She bit her lip as she realized that she was comfortable laying there with him. “How’s your head?”

He stayed silent a moment before choosing his words carefully. “Could be worse. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m surprised you chose to sleep in the same bed as me. And shocked that you haven’t found an excuse to move away from me yet.”

Tori sighed softly. “I really didn’t want to sleep on the couch… And I lucked out last night when Raelyn came home… She didn’t really question me that much. But today, she is bound to ask more about it… And I’m not sure what I’m going to say.” She managed to roll over so she was looking into his eyes and found herself lost for a moment.

Brian’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Say about what?”

“Why I didn’t just find somewhere else for you to go after taking you to the ER… Or why you didn’t end up on the couch.” Tori whispered softly.

Brian frowned as his confusion grew. “Actually… That is a good question. Why didn’t I end up on the couch?” Tori closed her eyes to avoid looking at him and to take a moment to think. “Victoria?” He asked quietly.

“I… I don’t know…” She answered, finally opening her eyes. “I didn’t really give it much thought.” She shrugged slightly. “Would you rather have slept on the couch?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

He shook his head almost immediately. “I hate couches.” The corners of his mouth twitched up in a smirk. “Besides, I like the view here much better.” He laughed as she smacked him in the chest. “What? I’m being honest here.”

“You just served your wife divorce papers, and you’re already flirting?” Tori shook her head as she started to smile.

“You don’t seem too put off by it.”

Tori chuckled, “No, not really.” She heard the bathroom door open and waited until she heard the door to the apartment close before slowly freeing herself from Brian’s arms. She laughed as he went from smiling to pouting within a second. “Sorry, I’m hungry. Maybe if you’re nice… I’ll make you breakfast.” She glanced towards the clock again. “Well… Brunch.”

---

By the time Raelyn finished her shoot and had made it home, Brian had left in an attempt to reclaim his home or at least pick up some clothes. Raelyn walked into her room to change and walked back out to find Tori sitting on the living room couch with a magazine in hand. She put the magazine down the second she felt Raelyn take a seat. “So, you want to know more about why I let Brian stay.”

Raelyn shrugged as she debated whether that was true or not. To be honest, she had meant what she had said last night. Tori was a grown woman… And if she wanted to make the same mistake over and over again, that was her choice. “No. I don’t need to know more about why he stayed. If you’re happy, I’m happy.” She gave a small smile to show her she meant it and then leaned back against the couch to think about the previous night.

“Really? That’s… Thank you, Raelyn.” Tori grinned at her. “So what about you? How was your night?” After seeming so resigned about talking about Brian being in the apartment, she had suddenly perked up and seemed to be all ears now. Raelyn rolled her eyes at how Tori was leaning in waiting for an answer. “Well, I’m waiting!”

Raelyn sighed before speaking up. “Well I already told you about the restaurant. I think he realized I was nervous and felt out of place because he asked if I wanted a drink.” She ran her fingers through her hair as she thought. “He kept letting them refill my glass.” Raelyn shook her head at the thought.

Tori shrugged, “You’re more open after you’ve had a few. What? It’s true.” Tori had thrown her hands up in defense when Raelyn shot her a dirty look. “And you didn’t get plastered so you’re okay.”

Raelyn nodded in thought. “Other than the drinking, it was a nice date. Good food… Good conversation for the most part. And I wasn’t drunk enough to invite him in…” She laughed softly with Tori. “He told me he was going to hook me up with concert tickets soon.”

“Do you know any of their music?” Tori asked with a raised eyebrow. Raelyn blushed as she shook her head. “Come on.” She grabbed Raelyn’s hand and headed towards her bedroom.