Janie Anne Bradberry (doomydoomydoom) wrote in _fracture_, @ 2014-03-16 18:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | chapter 2, kennedy, kyle, lavel |
slap fight with words
who: kennedy and kyle
where: the party
when: night
Kennedy had been wandering around the party, sort of doing her own thing. She'd been talking to people here and there, messing with a few heads, all that noise. She'd spotted Adam, and had been going to talk to him, but while she'd seen him, she noticed someone else paying pretty close attention to him. So, she scoped that out for a while, and yeppers, that guy was totally watching Adam like a crazy stalker. Or like, a lovesick puppy, or something. Whatever. Either way, she sidled up beside him, watching Adam too. “Might wanna watch that gaze, guy. In this day and age, they were pretty fucked up when it came to shit like that.”
Kyle looked at the woman, who was now standing next to him, sideways. He figured from the way she talked that she was someone from the hotel, but she wasn’t someone he had seen before. That alone made him a little cautious. “I work for him,” he said, short and sweet and to the point. “Making sure he has everything he needs is kinda my job for the night.”
“Uh huh,” Kennedy said flatly. “You go with that,” she said with a nod. “And your name is...?” she asked, since Adam had been talking about some dude, so she wanted to see if this dude was the same dude or if there was someone else out there who wanted to eye bang Adam a bunch. Or something. Really, maybe this guy hadn't been eye banging him but wasn't it a fine line? It was.
Kyle turned to her. “I intend to go with that,” he told her, with an edge of bitch to his tone. He was more than a little on edge tonight, and he really could do without some woman picking holes in the act. “Kyle, I’m Kyle - and you are?” he asked her.
“Kinda sensitive, huh?” Kennedy observed. Then she nodded. “Ah. Kyle. Thought so. I'm Kennedy,” she introduced herself, wondering if she would see any signs of recognition, or if Adam just hadn't mentioned her. She didn't care either way, but it was always interesting to know whether or not people talked about her. It wasn't often that she actually got to find out.
Kyle lifted his head, setting his jaw as she said her name. He took on a haughty, superior posture and expression, practically looking down his nose at her. “Oh, so you’re Kennedy,” he said, sounding incredibly unimpressed. Total act, but he was aware that this was the girl who had come onto Adam and Kyle was a naturally jealous person.
“So you've heard of me!” Kennedy said brightly, utterly ignoring Kyle's tone and look. Which she found amusing as damn hell. “Hi,” she waved. “So, how about that local sports team?”
"Around here? Sports team? Hmm, Yes... And yes. I've heard of you. The girl who survived a jump down an elevator shaft," he said, ignoring her friendly tone in the same way she was ignoring his unfriendly one.
“It was actually kind of fun, though I wouldn't recommend it, and there was a sign at the bottom asking people not to try that,” Kennedy said with a smile. “That could have gone badly in a bunch of ways,” she said conversationally, still not caring. “So, having a good time here in fucked up fantasy land?”
"Did you want anything in particular?" Kyle asked her, vaguely aware that he was being unfairly hostile toward Kennedy, but unable to get over that hot spike of jealousy that this girl was attracted to his... his... To Adam.
“Conversation, perhaps,” Kennedy said, shrugging. “Also, should I ask what your deal is? Because there's that part where I innocently walked up and all that, possibly just looking out for your welfare, and you're treating me like Ozzy Osbourne at a PETA convention. Are you one of those gays? The ones who don’t like anyone with opposite parts? Do the girls offend you?”
“No, girls don’t offend me. I don’t have any problems with girls at all. You, you - you want to sleep with him,” Kyle snapped. “He told me. You came onto him.” And you can’t have him. He’s mine. Kyle managed to keep that part to himself. So, not only jealous, but possessive as well. At times, Kyle really wasn’t very proud of himself.
Kennedy arched a brow. “...and?” she asked. “What, you married or something? I know you aren't. And you've seen the guy, right? He's hot. And cute in that kind of broken way, or whatever, but he's a good looking guy, plus he seems like he'd be really fun in bed. You realize that you're never going to be the only person in the world to be attracted to him, right? And that it's wildly out of line to both assume as much and be a pissy little bitch to anyone else who happens to like him,” Kennedy said. “...also? I'm sure you've noticed this too, but the guy needs an ego boost. Hey, wanna have a little slap fight over him? I bet he'd love that. Y'know, way deep down.”
Kyle glared at her, though other emotions flashed across his expression. “I know,” he said. “I know all of that” Including the fact that he was wildly out of line right now. “Except, no - I don’t think that I’d be the only person to find him attractive. But I’m going assume that since you recognised my name, he mentioned me. Did he say that we were… involved? Do you make a habit of coming on to people who have someone else already?” he challenged, because he refused to allow himself to be made out as the guy who was entirely in the wrong here. If he was going to be out of line, then he wasn’t going to be the only one.
“He said something like 'there's this guy',” Kennedy said, thinking back. They hadn't talked that much about Kyle, she didn't think. Mostly she'd been trying to get Adam to get interested in something and they talked about sex and other shit. “I make a habit of going for what I want. Really, if you were confident in Adam and yours 'thing', then you wouldn't be all bent out of shape, you'd be telling my ass to have fun tilting at those windmills. You aren't married, and I don't think he ever said he was actually 'with' you. Which, for the record, I don't care. If it's solid, it is. If it isn't, well...”
“It’s solid,” Kyle said, with a confidence he didn’t quite feel. He wanted it to be solid. Then again, they hadn’t put any labels on what they were, and Kyle hadn’t pushed for that. They’d only been together for a few days, and Kyle had only just exited a very intense relationship before that. Kyle liked Adam. A lot. He just had no idea what he wanted from all of this, and the situation they were in simply encouraged Kyle all the more not to stop and think about the realities of it all. Strangely, maybe, Kyle’s lack of confidence was all focused on himself. On how he might screw this up. He had far more faith in Adam. As long as Kyle could keep from screwing up, as long as he could be good, he knew Adam liked him and he couldn’t imagine the other man straying. “He’s not gonna be interested.”
Kennedy nodded. “Sure,” she said, with a big, knowing smile. “Then you've got nothing to worry about,” she added. “Even if he did say something about...oh nevermind.” She shook her head. “Well, this has been fun and all, but I think there was some paint drying elsewhere and that shit was off the hook,” she said. “You have a good night now,” she added with a wink.
“Wait,” Kyle said, falling for the hook instantly and reaching out to lightly grasp Kennedy’s arm, intending to stop her from leaving. “He said something about what?”
She stopped, and looked down at the hand on her arm for a long moment. “It was probably nothing. He seemed confused anyway. I dunno. Thought you were all not worried and Adam isn't interested in me anyway?”
Letting her go Kyle all but wrung his hands together, betraying his inner lack of confidence for the first time. “I’m… Adam’s a good guy, okay?” he said, because he knew what he was thinking. My last boyfriend cheated on me. A lot. And I let him, even if it hurt and I hated it. Only, Adam was a good guy. Adam wouldn’t do that. He didn’t think. He hated that he even had those thoughts. He could feel the guilt bubbling up from his stomach, sour and cold.
Kennedy nodded. “Agreed, I think he is,” she said. “Cute, sweet, completely in need of a huge ego overhaul, and y'know, independent thinking and a lot of shit, but he's a good guy.” She watched Kyle. “Question – not for you to answer to me, mind. It's just a question for you to consider,” she added, all traces of any false cheer or mocking gone from her voice. “What do you want most? Adam to be your little caged good guy bird? Or Adam to open his eyes up and see that life is actually a thing he can be part of? Are all things Adam exclusive to just you?” She looked over at the man in question. “I've never seen someone in such desperate need to spread his wings and fly.” Then she looked back at Kyle. “Have a good night, man.” She knocked off a little salute.
This time, Kyle let her go. He didn’t try and answer her, couldn’t have done even if she had wanted an answer. The question, though, reverberated in his head. Round and round until he mentally caught it and walled it away. Pushed it right down, along with the horrible feelings it had brought up in him. He knew it wasn’t a permanent fix. That, sooner or later, it would all surface again, and would have to be dealt with. Not tonight, though. Not tonight.