Garrison and Adrienne - At Zeitgeist

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Garrison and Adrienne experience loss of control while out for drinks, culminating in Garrison's suggestion that they sleep together and Adrienne buying herself a little insurance against further awkwardness and tension she's feeling.

"...I think I would be a duck," Adrienne was saying, draining yet another beer at their table at Zeitgeist and leaning back in the booth as her vision swam. "Yeah, I really think, if I could be any animal, I'd be a duck. Ducks can fly. And yet they can also swim. It's like, the best of both worlds. And all they do is laze around all day every day. That would be the life," she nodded emphatically, catching the bartender's attention and signaling for another round. This last one hadn't done it- hadn't made things less awkward between her and Garrison- so maybe the next one would.

It was a familiar feeling, this awkwardness. Adrienne recognized it as the same thing she'd been feeling with Vanessa years ago... that tension, the feeling of things being strained between them, not being easy anymore. They'd solved it by sleeping together. Adrienne wasn't sure that the same problem with Garrison could be solved in the same way, so she was trying to drink it away.

But so far it wasn't working, and she was just getting really drunk. "What animal would you be?"

"Not a duck. People hunt ducks." Garrison nodded, taking another sip from his beer. He wasn't as far gone as Adrienne appeared to be, but what had started as just a friendly get-together at Harry's was turning into a marathon session. Drinking to cover the awkward pauses. Ordering a round to break up the interplay between them. He was trying to just be her friend, but every so often, a jolt of resentment would bubble up, flashing with anger for a moment. Or worse, it would be one of desire, watching her lips and remembering them on him. You weren't supposed to walk a tightrope with a friend between wanting to throttle them or fuck them, but that was where he found himself.

"I think I'd want to be one of those little dogs rich women get. Carried around half the time, always in the warm, doggy massage at the rich weirdo's animal spas..."

"But dogs can't fly," Adrienne said informatively, pointing a finger at him. "And getting carried around means you can't go where you want to go. You always have to go where the rich bitch takes you. That's no fun. And I wouldn't be a duck people hunt. I'd be like, one of those Canada geese that hang out in the city in peoples' backyards where people can't hunt them."

"Yes, but then you're fighting with other geese for scraps of stale bread out in the rain. I'd perfer something a lot more hedonistic." Kane replied, putting out the tipping point for his argument.

"Hmm, that's true, except... flying," Adrienne countered, eyes wide as she nodded enthusiastically. That was really her only argument. "I think I could forego hedonism for flying," she mused as she sipped at her new beer. "And hey, going south for the winter there'd be no rain. Just a lush tropical paradise. That could be hedonistic if you wanted it to be." And that made her think of going to Florida with him which made her feel awkward again, so she buried herself in her glass.

"Nah. I think it's been pretty clearly determined that I'm not good at hedonism. I'll settle for drunken rambling instead. A lot more my speed." He said off-handedly, unknowing that his thoughts had drifted to the same place her's had; a Super 8 motel and a broken bed frame.

"I wouldn't worry about it; you have other strengths," Adrienne responded automatically with a waggle of her eyebrows, completely forgetting for that moment everything that had happened between them. That they weren't together anymore. When she remembered, she could only clear her throat and stare into her glass, trying frantically to think of something else to say, which was extremely frustrating. She wasn't supposed to have to vet her conversations with Garrison in her head first, she was just supposed to be herself!

"So, uh... how's classes going? Kids making you wish you were back in Boston yet?" Kane tried to cover for the slip. The innuendo had pulled him back to when they were together, and with that, a fresh roil of conflicting emotions had surged up.

"Umm, yeah, they're good. I mean, no, the kids aren't making me wish I was back in Boston. Classes are good. I love it. History's so different from math, and sometimes that's frustrating but it's a new challenge, I love that about it. Sorry, I'm just gonna head to the powder room, be right back." Christ, she had to get out of here. This was brutal. The alcohol was just making everything worse!

The Zeitgeist washroom was pretty disgusting-looking, but at least it was bright and relatively quiet. Adrienne sidled up next to a woman in extremely tight clothes sitting on the sink with her back against a mirror, handbag on her lap, doing a poor job of pretending to touch up her makeup. Adrienne splashed water on her face and took a few deep breaths. Another woman came in to do the same, and Adrienne headed into one of the stalls. While there, she thought she recognized the signs of a cocaine purchase taking place. Fuck, now wouldn't that make things a hell of a lot easier right now?

While washing her hands, she read the counter to confirm what she thought she'd heard happening. Yes indeed, the woman on the counter was selling eight-balls out of her purse. Damn. That was exactly what she needed to stop feeling this way with Garrison. To just turn all the awkwardness off for a while. To feel confident and happy instead of... this. Wouldn't that be nice?

When she returned to Garrison, she was mentally calculating how much cash she had left, how many meals she had left until payday, and whether she could put tonight's bar tab on her credit card. "Hope you didn't get too lonely without me," she quipped, and mentally kicked herself again. "Uhh, so how's your work going?"

"Intensely weird. And irritating, now that I have Ms Abigail Brand riding my ass. I'm not sure if she wants to geld me, fuck me or have me fired. Maybe all three, to be honest." He said sourly, taking another deep swallow. "Too bad she hadn't come around when we were still together, eh? You could have had a Frost showdown at the Field Office or something.`

Well, that was one of the stupidest comments I`ve made tonight, he considered, wincing mentally.

"Ms Abigail Brand," Adrienne repeated, to cover up another awkward pause as she scrambled for the right thing to say in response to that. If she'd just bought the damn coke she could have come up with something incredibly witty and not odd, she was sure. Damn! "I could still have a showdown with her if you really wanted, as your... friend," she offered, and as soon as it came out of her mouth she decided that was most definitely not the right thing to say. "I mean, not that you need me fighting your battles for you. That was not what I meant at all. Except I will if you want me too." Oh, fuuuuuuuuck!

Okay, you know what? she told herself, fuck it. "Is it just me or is there something incredibly awkward about... this?" she finally asked as she pointed between the two of them, figuring that, like in the case with Vanessa, maybe just being direct would help. Maybe she could just come out and propose that they slept together to try and get rid of this... weight between them.

"Yeah, but- well, we're adjusting, right? It's supposed to be awkward at the start, I guess." Kane replied, trying not to seem overly concerned. "We're friends, right? Just because we had a thing and it all blew up doesn't mean we can't hang out and just be friends." He was starting to think that maybe because they had a thing, it did mean they couldn't just be friends. The alcohol had settled the nerves a bit, but it didn't stop the images in his mind's eye every time she moved or shifted, bringing up a memory of her naked, when they'd been together. Physically, he still wanted her and his body was reacting to that.

Adrienne leaned back in the booth, taking her beer with her. It made her feel slightly better to know that he recognized things were awkward between them but at the same time he seemed to believe that they would get past this. "I'll take your word on that," she said with a smile. "I've never tried to hang out and be friends with someone I've had a 'thing' with." It had been different with Vanessa, she realized that now. What she and Garrison had had had been different. She hadn't had a 'thing' with anyone before Garrison. She squirmed a little in her seat thinking about it. "I've especially never tried to hang out with someone when I still want to sleep with them. Oh shit." Did she just say that out loud? Where was her purse? She definitely needed to go to the washroom so she could stop this, stop acting like this, stop feeling like this.

Except she'd just come back from the washroom, he'd know something was up, and he was a damn cop, she couldn't do a bump of coke in the washroom and carry on their conversation like nothing had happened, he'd know!

She drained the rest of her beer instead of fleeing the scene, hoping at least that in a couple more minutes it would be believable that she go back to the washroom.

Kane waved for another round, not willing to face this sudden question without more alcohol. Could this possibly get any more fucked up? He knew that he wasn't thinking straight, with enough booze in his system that drunk was looking like too mild an explanation. Suddenly, it all made sense. Obviously that was the problem.

"You know, I know what the problem is. No, I do." Kane said, pushing back for a moment as the new beers arrived. "The problem is the physical side. It's got us all - what - wossomes in the head. Because when you left, it was like... it. For both of us. There was no closure, and that's why this is weird." he was sure it sounded right in his head. "Easy solution. We go home and do it. That way, in the morning, it's not all 'oh, there's still unresolved physical issues' or something. Awkwardness solved."

"Exactly!" Adrienne agreed, stabbing a finger in the air triumphantly. Just like between her and Vanessa. "Then it's out of our systems and we can move on, be friends." And then the fact that he was actually suggesting they 'go home and do it' sunk in and she nearly choked on her beer. "Wait, you mean, go home... like... right now?" Because you couldn't just make a suggestion like that but imply that you were both just supposed to sit at your booth continuing to drink as you had that hanging over your head, right? You couldn't just draw something like that out! A proposal like that required immediate action, didn't it?

"I'll be right back." It made sense that she'd have to use the washroom before they headed back up to Westchester, right? Because sure, right now she thought sleeping together was the best idea in the world, but a lot could happen in the time it took to get back to the mansion. She might need something- not more alcohol- to ensure that she continued feeling confident and smart and happy and sexy, so that she could sleep with Garrison and things would be okay between them again.

It was easy to remember the pretexts of going about buying an illegal substance, even in her state of advanced drunkenness. And apparently she didn't raise any red flags with the seller, who didn't hesitate to take the last four twenty-dollar bills of her grocery money Adrienne handed over. Well, now wasn't that something? She'd been clean for fifteen years, was a teacher, had dated an FBI agent, but apparently she still appeared to be someone who would buy an eight-ball of blow in a dirty club bathroom.

That thought was fleeting, mercifully, in her drunken state. She shoved the baggie into her purse and returned to the booth. "So what's the plan?" she asked Garrison with a smirk.

"Already called a cab and settled the bill." Kane said, a touch wobbly as he got up from the seat and shrugged into his coat. "I didn't figure that you wanted to wait."

"You settled the bill?" Adrienne asked happily. "My hero! Thanks!" Being poor sucked. Any time someone paid for something for her she felt a twinge of guilt, but tried to fight it by telling herself it was nice that she had people in her life who would do things like that for her.

She headed to the door, stuck her face out, and popped back inside. "Christ, it's nasty out there. Rain or snow or something in-between. And winds." And here she was talking about the weather because she didn't want to comment on his quip about her not wanting to wait.

"Good thing that we're heading somewhere warm, eh?" He smiled at her, obviously drunk but not insensible. After only a few minutes, the cab pulled up, and they bundled in. It was odd in the cab, heading back to the mansion with the goal to sleep together, and yet, unsure whether to talk or kiss or anything else riding in the back of the cab. They tried to settle into companionable silence, occasionally trading small smiles as the cab navigated the cold streets before finally pulling up to the mansion.

After a moment's confusion, they headed for Kane's room. He opened the door to let them in, and pulled it shut behind them, finally making them alone together.

When he pulled the door shut Adrienne jumped him, pinning him to the door as she fused her mouth to his.

They kissed for a long moment, before Kane finally finally, reluctantly broke the kiss. "Just friends, right? Get this all out of our systems and then we can hang out and stuff..."

Adrienne dropped her zipped purse beside the door and started tugging at his shirt. "That's right, we're gonna get it out of our systems and then we can be friends." After pulling his shirt off she started on his belt.

"Absolutely." Before she could undo his belt, he picked her up and tossed her on to the bed. With a grin he crawled in after, prowling up her body until he found her lips again. She squirmed under him, and her chest pressed against his. It was exactly what he'd imagined for the last 18 months.

Until the internal mansion alarm started to blare an intruder alert.

Blinking in surprise, it took drunk!Adrienne a moment to realize that the alarm was going off. "Uhh... what's that?" she asked, and gave a wry laugh as she figured out what it was. Her head fell back on the pillow. "I don't suppose you can just ignore it?"

"You have got to be-" Kane rolled off and grabbed the phone to call down to comms. "What's going on? What? There's no intruder in my room! I'm in my- oh, for the love of-" He slammed the phone down. "Something set off the alarms in here. I've got to go down and clear it up."

"Uhhhhhhh... how... how long do you think... something like that's going to... uhh, should I stick around?" Adrienne asked, sitting up. She suddenly felt very tired and a little bit more sober.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be back in a second." Kane said, before leaving down the hall.

"Uhh, sure. I'll wait right here," Adrienne answered, curling up in the bed.

Twenty minutes later, Kane came back through the door, after listening to a long explanation from Forge about a million to one feedback loop that happened to set off the alarm. He finally was able to get the alarm cancelled and get back to his room.

"Hey, turns out it was all a big-" Kane stopped at the sight of Adrienne fast asleep in his bed. He nudged her foot twice, but all the response it got was a light snore. The drunken fog cleared a little, and with a sigh, he gathered her up to take her back to her room. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea after all, he thought, as he collected her purse and lifted her easily.

Just bad luck is all.