xp_logs | Angelo, Jono, Paige and the Red Thing

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Friday night at the club. Jono and Angelo convince Paige to have "just one drink". Things go a little crazy from there. In which a lot of things are said, but nothing is solved.

This was getting to be a familiar scene. A club, something fantastically leathery to wear, and Jono's hand resting lightly on Angelo's wrist. But this time Jono's attention was turned away, and focused on Paige, who looked supremely uncomfortable in the noisy surroundings, blue and violet lights flashing off her hair.

Angelo was also focusing on Paige, regardless of how much he'd had to drink, and seemed barely aware of Jono's presence.

There was a dull throbbing in Paige's ribs, consequence of the music that was much too loud for Paige's liking. There was loud, very loud, and this, which could only be described as ear drum breaking and had ceased being actual music several decibel levels ago and more meaningless sound. "So this is what you two call fun, huh?" She shook her head as if trying to clear it and smiled a little, not expecting an esepecially articulate answer.

"Sometimes it also involves dancing," Jono said at length. He didn't like the music very much, either, too little guitar and too much electronica.

Angelo glanced up, at that. "I think it's fun, yeah. Used t' do this all the time."

"You dance?" Paige asked, a cross between very amused and equally surprised. "I'm sorry, I just never considered dancing moody enough for you." Her teasing words were calmed a little with a playful smile that she directed over at Angelo in turn, as if his doing this all the time explained a whole lot of things.

Angelo frowned faintly. "I wasn't always, y'know. Before."

"Should I just go stand in the corner and look broody?" Jono rolled his eyes at both of them, tapping his fingers against Angelo's hand as if trying to remind him to drink more.

Paige gently kicked Angelo under the table. "Not what I meant. You are clearly not drinking enough." She didn't bother to respond to Jono's comment, but did let her ankle rest against his.

Angelo raised an eyebrow, eyes still dark, but picked up his glass and drained it without a word.

"There's a good boy. Remember, you're drinking for three." Paige pushed back her hair, trying to coax a smile out of him.

Angelo blinked, looking up at her. "For three?"

Jono looked at Paige as well, eyebrows quizzically raised. "I count two of us, but you're the genius."

"Jono are you sober enough to do math either?" She didn't pause to let him answer. "No? Okay. Well, there's you," she said, ticking off on her fingers, "And then Jono. And then me, because I don't drink and ain't that a shame. So you get to make up for it."

Angelo nodded and managed a faint grin, understanding. "Ah, I get it. Fair enough." He pulled out his cigarettes and set about lighting one, almost automatically.

Jono's hand was left on the table and he blinked, the fuzz of alcohol clearing away. "Well, now I'm sober enough." He made a show of counting the three of them and nodding at Paige. "You're right, sunshine."

"If only it was that easy for the rest of us," Paige said with a gentle tone, foot testing to see how tall of boots Jono was wearing at the moment. On a silent cue, another set of drinks appeared on the table, each baring a napkin with name and number. Paige dished the napkins out to their new owners and chucked her own pile onto the floor with the rest. "This is getting embarrassing."

Angelo blinked. "Where'd that lot come from?" He studied the napkin, fuzzily. "Oh. Think it's them over there, this time."

The boots went only to midcalf, and Jono's foot twitched. "Why don't you drink?" he asked Paige, twirling his drink out of habit before pushing it towards Angelo.

"It's a good thing I'm not the jealous type or I'd have to create a bit of a scene," Paige said in a voice much too calm to be natural. She poked at one of the bright pink drinks that had been sent to her with a wrinkled nose. "I'm not a very good drinker."

Angelo blinked. "You know I'd not take anythin' from them but their drinks, right?" he asked anxiously.

"You know they'd not want anything from me if they saw me?" Jono said almost at the same time.

Paige kicked Jono then, hard, rolling her eyes. "Of course, puppy. But a girl can't help but worry when she has two lovely intoxicated boys on her hands."

Jono drew his foot back at that, looking like he might be pouting if he was able to. Then his eyes widened and he turned to Angelo. "Puppy?"

Angelo just looked confused. "What? You have nicknames."

"But puppy? I just don't see it," Jono shook his head and his hand crawled next to Angelo's again.

"Maybe I go for the ironic, heart," Paige replied dryly, easing the words by coaxing his ankle back.

Jono closed his eyes for the few moments it took for his mental state to alter again. It had to be somehow unhealthy to bounce back and forth between being drunk and being sober, but right now he couldn't figure out why. "Think it's ironic the two people who'd stab each other to death over you are holding hands at the moment?"

"Terribly. In fact, with the amount of irony that's going on tonight I don't think we're ever going to be able to leave." Paige watched the two of them and smiled a little, pleased. "The irony police are waiting outside you see. They're just not stupid enough to come into this racket."

"Police. Handcuffs," Jono said and shuddered, showing off his amazing drunken deduction abilities. He toed a line up Paige's calf, then back down again. "You know, that's almost as good as the metal husk," he commented at her, nudging Angelo at the same time.

Angelo groaned. "No, no handcuffs. Not after last time. An'... what's almost as good?"

"The leather on her," Jono explained. "It clings nicely."

Angelo nodded. "Yes. Never seen the metal husk, though."

"Right, I forgot that," Jono frowned thoughtfully. "All right. Let's try this." He lifted his hands on both sides of Angelo's face and leaned closer so their foreheads touched. Then, ever so slowly, he started to reconstruct his memory of the firelit metallic Paige and sharing it with Angelo.

Paige stared wide-eyed at them for a long moment before blushing even more furiously than she had been moments earlier under their heavy stares and looked away. Picking up one of the "lighter" looking drinks, Paige sniffed at it distastefully and poured a hefty amount of it down her throat, sputtering slightly.

Angelo's eyes widened as the memory formed in his head, and he fought against the urge to flinch away from the fire images, wanting to see what Jono was really trying to show him. When he'd got a look at Paige's metal form, he pulled away. "Yeah, you were right. 's impressive."

Resisting the urge to mention how he was always right, Jono settled back into his chair, only to have his eyes land on Paige having a go at the drinking business. "Yeah," he glanced at Angelo again. "There you go." He nudged at Paige's leg. "I knew we'd corrupt you."

"This stuff is foul," was her reply as she pushed it over to Angelo, still making slightly off faces. She opened her eyes long enough to look over at the two of them. "You're a horrible influence. Just don't tell, I'm rather enjoying it."

"You get used to it", Angelo told her seriously. "I probably did way too young - not sure I can even remember the first time."

Paige had finally finished attempting to scrape her mouth out with her tongue and shook her head. "Nono. There will be no getting used to drinking lighter fluid, thanks."

"There are sweeter drinks too," Jono offered.

"Are they pink?" Paige asked suspiciously. "I don't drink pink. Oh! Rhyming."

Angelo laughed. "They're not all pink, no. Some of them are green."

"Or blue," Jono pointed out. "Or orange."

Paige nodded seriously. "I like green. Or orange. I really like blue. It's pretty." She had circled Jono's ankle and was now working her own toes up his inner calf.

"Blue is nice. So's purple," Jono said, leaning his cheek on his palm. Somewhere along the line the music had turned to something slightly darker.

Angelo held out his drink towards Paige. "Here - try it again. Or we could get somethin' else for you?"

"I am not drinking lighter fluid again," Paige said stubbornly, batting the drink away.

Angelo shrugged and drank it himself. "Fair enough. You wanna try somethin' else?"

Paige looked away, her profile lit up by the lights. "I shouldn't..."

"Why not?" he asked lightly. "Go on, just one isn't gonna hurt you, an' it's not like any of us has to drive."

"If we promise there'll be a paper umbrella?" Jono caught Paige's foot between his, trapping it there.

"Meanie," Paige said to Jono with a visible pout. "You two are terribly tempting but I'm supposed to be the responsible one of this group and... Supervising. Yes. Although, I must admit, umbrellas sound terribly fascinating."

Angelo grinned at her unrepentantly. "Who said supervisin' meant you couldn't drink anythin' at all?"

Paige relented, holding up a finger. "One. Only one! And something that won't make me slide off this chair. No taking advantage of me, okay? Or at least, minimal advantage taking. Limit it to the legal kind."

"That's not a problem," Jono promised. "I mean, the advantage taking."

Angelo nodded. "Promise."

Not thinking too hard on how Jono had phrased that, Paige nodded warily. "Okay. I'll let you order."

"All right," Jono stood up, amused, straightening his skull and crossbones shirt. "I'll go get you something. Be back in a minute."

Jono's dropping of her ankle caused it to bump into Angelo's, lucky for him. She smiled and let it rest there. "Well, this is certainly interesting. Although, is it hot in here?"

Angelo blinked at the contact of her ankle, then smiled and wound his foot around hers. "Maybe a little bit. Small club, lots of people. You havin' fun?"

The point of the toe of her boot idly slipped under his trouser hem, drawing it up a little. "Yes, I suppose so. The people on the floor must be sweltering, though." She looked back over at him from where she had been glancing over at the dancers. "Yeah, I am. Oddly enough. Just don't tell Jono, he'll make a habit of dragging me out and you're too drunk right now to remember later."

Angelo grinned at her slyly. "You sure about that? Might not get memory blanks at all."

"Oh, I'll be sure your memory has other things to focus on," Paige answered smoothly, surprising even herself.

Angelo raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" Glancing around to check where Jono was, and seeing he was still hidden by the mass of people at the bar, he leaned across the table to kiss her.

Practice, secret practice or not, had certainly made perfect. Paige held herself up on the table and pushed forward a little, returning the kiss. He tasted more dangerous than she was used to, the mixture of drinks and smoke, but was really not complaining. "A promise, even."

Angelo reached up to tangle a hand in her hair. "I'll hold you to that", he all but whispered, with another quick kiss.

Paige pulled away with a little bit of tease in her grin. She spotted Jono out of the corner of her eye, approaching, and tried to make out what he had brought back in all the glitz around them. "Do," she countered to Angelo, before turning her gaze firmly to the other young man.

Jono wrapped his arms around Paige's shoulders from behind. "Guess who?" Jono asked, pressing his cheek against hers, and set a bright blue drink in front of her on the table. It was decorated with an even brighter red cherry. It also had a blue umbrella.

"Johnny De- oh it's you. Luckily you're not old enough to be my father, closer by and get me very pretty blue drinks. Therefore, you win." Paige turned her head to kiss his cheek. "Thank you."

"Johnny Depp? Oh, haha," Jono muttered and nuzzled her before returning to his own seat. "Try it, then," he encouraged, gesturing at the drink.

Paige put her finger in it and licked the drink of that first, testing something. "Well, it's not lighter fluid this time!" Carefully, she took a sip of it, bracing herself and paused a moment. "And it's not juice either, but it's pretty good."

Angelo nodded. "See? Told you we'd find somethin' you liked."

"I would never bring you lighter fluid," Jono seemed pleased with himself as he leaned back on his chair.

Paige inched her boot a little higher along Angelo's leg. "What can I say? You boys know what I like."

Angelo shivered only very slightly, not drunk enough to forget Jono's presence. "Glad you approve."

Jono was trying to decide whether he would have more fun sober than drunk, and came to the conclusion that life was too short and he should definitely be drunk. He glanced at Angelo, then touched the back of his hand again. "Where would we be without your approval?"

Eyes dancing over her glass, Paige continued her not especially slow pace at finishing her drink. "In a back alley I suspect."

"What? Both of us?" Jono wondered, not feeling so bright anymore.

Angelo blinked, confused. "What?"

"Nevermind," Paige answered, with a little bit more of a drawl that she would have liked. Her tone of voice spoke that they were being twits but in reality she just couldn't remember what at the moment.

"I just don't know what I would be doing with him in a back alley," Jono pointed at Angelo with his free hand. He was frowning.

Paige looked, very confused, at her nearly empty drink. "I suppose it's nothing I couldn't give a demonstration for. Unless we're talking about death, I'd rather not demonstrate that."

Jono looked around the crowded club. "A demonstration? Here?"

"Probably not here. Maybe the bathroom. Or the alley." Paige nodded thoughtfully and then thought better of it, moving her boot a little higher up Angelo's leg, having just passed his inner knee.

Angelo's eyes widened, and he concentrated very hard on not actually whimpering, taking a swig of his drink to help.

Jono's attention focused back on them as if someone had pulled his head around. He looked at Angelo, then at Paige, then he said, always eloquent, "Hey."

"Straw?" Paige replied innocently, her head slightly to one side.

"No," Jono shook his head. "You weren't touching me just now, were you?"

Paige blinked. "No. I could change that if you'd like, though."

"I don't.." Jono hesitated, staring at his and Angelo's hands for a second, then looking up at Angelo's face. His thoughts were an annoying buzz. "Why didn't I think of that before?" he finally thought out loud.

Angelo stared back at him, confused. "Think of what?"

"No one knows, heart," Paige answered simply. "Then again, no one knows what you're talking about either." Her toes had stopped, making lazy circle motions.

Angelo suddenly found it very hard to concentrate on what Jono had said, or, indeed, to care.

"Well, that!" Jono squeezed at Angelo's hand out of reflex.

"Pardon?" Paige asked, proud at her retention of manners.

"What you're doing to his leg?" Jono gestured at Angelo with his head, thinking that he was being extremely patient in explaining this.

Paige paused for a moment, eyebrows shooting up. "Oh! You can feel this?" Her toes pushed forward, just a little, and ran back.

Angelo, in the middle of taking another drink, choked on it, and turned to stare at Jono. "Can you?"

"You're projecting like a bonfire, how couldn't I?" Jono rolled his shoulders helplessly, not knowing if he was supposed to let go now or not. It was a nice feeling, but on the other hand, Paige was doing it to Angelo, and he didn't know if he liked that or not.

Paige made a noise that could only be described as a purr as she dropped her foot from Angelo's lap. The pleasurably stricken look on Jono's face was priceless, too much so to pass up this opportunity. Not to mention, her judgement of the situation was a little bit fuzzy at best. "Well then. This one is for both of you." Shifting herself in her chair she leaned over to Angelo, grabbing hold of his hair to keep herself steady as she quite firmly kissed him.

Angelo's eyes went wide for a moment, then closed slowly as he relaxed into the kiss and returned it, hand sliding up her arm to her shoulder.

At first Jono only felt the familiar stirrings of jealousy and anger, then something else, and he closed his eyes, bonelessly sprawling on his seat. His hold on Angelo's hand was so tight there would undoubtedly be little marks left from his nails.

Angelo would notice the tightness of Jono's grip, when he had more brainspace available to think about it, but for the moment his drink-hazy mind was only occupied with one thing - which probably made the sharing easier.

Paige made the kiss last -- not that Angelo seemed to be complaining overly much -- biting down on his lower lip until he let her swipe her tongue along the back of his top teeth. When she finally pulled away it was a quick rip, like pulling off a band-aid, and she couldn't help but gasp.

Angelo also gasped a little, eyes flying open to look into hers as she pulled away.

That made Jono jump a little, and his eyes opened to little slits, taking in the scene before just settling for staring at Paige greedily. He leaned across the table, swiping his thumb across her lower lip.

Paige tried to catch her breath; something about knowing she was essentially kissing both of them at once, combined with the drink that was making her stupider by the second and the heat of the room was making it hard to breathe. Her eyes met Jono's steadily, hands unwilling to let go of Angelo just yet.

Angelo was obviously not complaining, brain still hazed with drink and want, his free hand still clamped on her shoulder.

Jono cupped Paige's cheek slowly, wanting to draw her closer, but knowing, albeit very vaguely, that it wouldn't amount to anything. Then he let his hand drop, and uncurled his fingers from around Angelo's wrist, needing to think about this alone. He crossed his arms, lowering his eyes to the tabletop.

"Jono, I..." Something in Paige had clicked, recognising Jono's hurt expression. "I'm sorry, I didn't think. I didn't mean to hurt you. I..." The words wouldn't come, but her eyes, gone dark already, were worried.

"No, it's.. it's all right," Jono refused to look up. "No one was hurt. The opposite in fact."

Paige kissed Angelo's ear, begging him to understand, and slid from her chair, less than gracefully sitting on Jono's knee. "No, it's not all right. I didn't even ask and I'm sorry."

Angelo slouched back in his seat, eyes downcast. He wasn't going to object to Paige comforting Jono, not when he'd seen the look in her eyes, but that didn't mean he liked it.

"I could've let go," Jono shrugged, not being able to keep his arms crossed with Paige in his lap so he set them loosely around her. "Didn't. Doesn't matter. That's the closest I'll ever get to kissing you, right?"

"Shut up," Paige said suddenly, jabbing him. It seemed her only answer for Jono's rudeness was beating him up. "You're not giving up. I won't let you. Consider this a... tide over of sorts."

"I am shut up," Jono flicked a finger at his own face, half encased in black, then he caught Paige's hand, to stop her from poking at him again.

Paige sighed and rested her forehead against Jono's, holding tight to his hand. "You obviously can't see my thoughts yet. If you could, you would see how much I don't care. How much I never have cared nor will I care so the only thing I care about right now are these two fantastic people I have in my life and how much I keep hurting them." She stood up, wobbly, and pulled off her jacket, throwing it across the back of her chair. "I'm going to go make a public fool of myself now."

Angelo shifted, hearing that, and reached for her hand. "You're not hurtin' me", he told her, low, not entirely truthfully but willing to say anything to make her feel better.

"Don't bullshit me, pup. I hurt you more every day." She raised his hand and kissed it. "Thanks for saying so, though."

Jono stood up then, glowering at Paige and trying to tower over her. "It was not your fault. Which part of that sentence don't understand?"

Angelo shrugged, stubbornly, and answered in a low voice, meant for her ears only, "So what if you do? I don't care. I love you."

Paige stared back up at Jono relentlessly, squeezing Angelo's hand. "How was it not my fault? How is this not my fault?" Her voice had risen, trembling much like her limbs were, and spoke for a couple more things than the kiss, like, perhaps, the other young man she was clinging to.

Angelo didn't let go of her hand, murmuring almost inaudibly, "It's not. It's not. It's mine."

"It's not your fault we both apparently chose to fall in love with you. It's not your fault he has a mouth and I don't. It's not- ah, fuck it." Jono dropped back on his chair, arms crossed defensively.

"Who's leading you on, Jono? Angelo? Whoever's fault it is, who is leading you both on?" Paige let go of Angelo's hand, wrapping her arms around herself as if holding herself in. "Isn't that what you said Jono? I'll never choose? This has nothing to do with mouths or lack there of."

Angelo winced, hearing her words, and shot Jono a death glare. "No one's leadin' anyone on", he tried to reassure her.

Jono caught that glare and acknowledged it with one of his own. "Yeah, no one's leading anyone on. We all know what's going on. The problem is just that it isn't working."

Paige's knees gave up and she sat very suddenly on the ground, hands pressed against the cement flooring. "So what do you want me to do? I don't want to hurt you anymore."

Angelo, being nearest, dropped to the ground beside her, tentatively wrapping his arms around her. "I think..." he said hesitantly. "I think, for me, endin' this now'd hurt more. 'Cause then I'd've lost you."

"God," Jono shot up from his chair again and stalked around the table to stand over them rather protectively, eying other clubgoers unkindly if they expressed too much curiosity in their little moment. "I think Espinosa here has a point."

"And that," Paige said quietly, gently resting her temple against Angelo and her hand at the back of Jono's knee, "Brings us back to exactly where we began."