Who: Ro and Ronnie When: Friday Nov 13 Where: Random bar, then the Artisan Hotel What: Drinks and a sleepover Warnings: Adult language
Hey! Out front. Little early. Heading inside.
Ronnie finished his text, sent it off, and then waited a second. Since it was a warm eighty one degrees, he was dressed appropriately for whatever was ahead. Mikey also got a text to check in and also to assure him that there wasn’t any trouble (hopefully) ahead.
It was nice just to have time with his friend alone after the things that had happened. His phone disappeared and Ronnie opened the door to Le Breeze. This was one of the few places he had not visited during his trips to Vegas, but once he saw the inside he wondered how he hadn’t been there before just then.
For one, the place smelled fantastic. He felt instantly under dressed, but he smiled anyway and looked around to see if he could spot his friend.
The pastry case caught his eye and he wandered over, hoping it was okay to just be moving around.
Within the case, he felt he was looking at what Ro created. It was almost as if peering into the soul of a baker or pastry chef when you looked at what they brought to life.
Although Ro had texted Ronnie to let him know when she was off, it always took a little longer than expected to leave for the day. Either there was a last minute question, something to finish prepping, or a check in with Chef. She also had to get out of her uniform.
"Sorry," she said when she finally walked up to Ronnie. "Had to get out of my whites." Ro grinned at him and then followed his gaze to the case. "You want a bite?"
“Hey!” Ronnie turned to look at Ro with excitement. “No worries, I know how that goes.” He could recall the process, he did that still at Terrible’s. Sort of. It wasn’t nearly as fun there as it had been in places like this.
And when the offer came for a bite of one of the treats, he lit up like a child in a candy store. “For real? Hell yeah I do.” He turned back to the case and pointed at a pink eclair. “Oh, that one. I guess I’m just into pink lately, I have no idea why. I ate that pink poop donut you brought over. So good. I’m pretty sure Mikey ate at least three.”
"Nice," Ro said with a smile. "I had the unicorn which was clearly the best." Ro ordered for Ronnie and the pastry was offered across the counter in a to go container. "That's the pomegranate, everything's made in house." She didn't order for herself. Ro ate her own food all day. "Shall we go out on the town? Big blonde's not waiting for you?"
“What? Nice! I bet it’s delicious.” He took the pastry when it was offered. “Unicorn always wins,” he assured his friend before taking a bite from the treat. An explosion of flavor danced across his mouth and he offered a soft ‘’Mmm’ of approval.
Ronnie licked his lips, nodded, and then shook his head at Ro. “Nah. Texted him. He’s cool. Let’s go!” The rest of the eclair would be demolished without an ounce of shame.
They wound up at a bar. One of those strip mall places away from the hustle of the casinos. The kind of place locals went. They'd been there long enough for Ro to clock at least one set of eyes on her and the bartender had been incredibly responsive when she'd ordered.
"How you doing, Scrunchie?" Ro asked over her glass. "What's been happening?"
Thankfully by then all of the pink crumbs had been brushed out of his facial hair. The bar had a good vibe; people were having a good time, the sounds of laughter, the click of glass against wood. Plus the service was good but he didn’t really think much of it.
“So far so good,” he laughed. “You? Work good? That’s a nice place, by the way. Real nice. I don’t think I’ve ever been there before.” Le Breeze was a place he wanted to come back to and explore more. “Nothing crazy has happened since last time I saw you.”
Honestly, he and Mikey had been working so much lately they hadn’t had time to do much than have some food and crash. “We’re still looking for a place to move, but I dunno if it’s just easier to stay and renovate. Been thinking about it off and on.”
"Work's good. It's a great place." She had been kind of a wreck coming into work lately but she was getting that back under control.
"I don't really own property but good luck with yours." She sipped from her drink.
“Thanks. Ain’t a bad place, you know. I just...it’s hers, Mama’s, and trying to change stuff around just doesn’t feel right.” Throwing her furniture away, taking the pictures down. Just the idea felt wrong. She had been gone a few years by now but it didn’t sit right to move anything. He wasn’t getting rid of the place, maybe he’d rent it and then at that point decide what to do with the stuff in it. “But I think it’s time for a fresh start.” Something they could build together.
“What about you, though? I know you’ve been through some stuff lately,” he didn’t press, it was more of a vague question.
Ro winced. Honestly she didn't know much about how people dealt with that sort of thing. To Ro it was just stuff to be changed or replaced as needed. "Sorry," she told him. "I hope it gets easier for you. And...I have? Have I?"
She would get a casual shrug and a smile as a reply, “It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize. You seemed to be, anyway. Not a big deal, you don’t have to tell me anything.” That was the honest truth. He knew better to ask or push if someone wasn’t ready to talk.
“Your drink empty? Mines getting empty..” he stated, looking at the drink in a playfully serious way. “Excuse me,” Ronnie said, leaning over to the bartender, “my friend and I would love another round and…” he held up a finger, before pointing at a large green bottle on a shelf, “three shots a piece of whatever that stuff back there is.”
"Oh it's not that. It's just..I'm different with people? Than people usually are? But yeah I had to cut ties with a couple of my regulars I thought were friends."
Speaking of friends, the bartender perked up at Ronnie's use of the word. "You're friends? Out for a drink after work or something?" He asked as he poured the shots. "You live around here?"
Ronnie looked at Ro. He nodded. “You have to do what you have to do. Toxic people are not good. Positive vibes only,” he added, offering her a grin before turning back to the bartender.
“Is that cool? We can be friends, right?” Ronnie just laughed, “One of my best friends, honestly.” The shots went to Ro first out of politeness. “Are you asking if I live here? Cause if so, then nah. Haven’t in a long time. Like to visit though.”
"That's cool," said the man behind the bar and then looked at Ro as he laid out the rest of the shots. "Here with a friend so no boyfriend? You have to have a boyfriend, you're gorgeous."
Ro kept her face carefully blank. "Him?" she asked, keeping up the game that this was all towards Ronnie. "He does have a boyfriend actually. And I'm good, thanks for the drinks." If she didn't want the bartender to take up too much of her time, she needed to show her focus was on Ronnie.
"We'll have to make plans. I still say it's my turn to make dinner."
“Yup, the coolest,” Ronnie replied.
He picked up on where this was going and turned to Ro, “Oh yeah, that sounds awesome. I have no doubt it’ll be good. You’ll have to make sure Penny is there with us, so we can double date.” Ronnie knew they weren’t together but in an effort to help with the game, and divert the attention from the bartender, he was happy to go along with the ruse.
“I have no idea what this is but here’s to nothing,” Ronnie said, picking up one of the little glasses with green liquid. He took the shot and made a face, sticking his tongue out, “Ew,” he laughed, “that’s awful. It’ll do the trick.”
The bartender got the hint at the suggestion of a double date with a woman and rapidly found business at the other end of the bar.
"The worse it is, the more it fucks you up," Ro said approvingly tossing hers back. It was awful and Ro shook her head. "And hey thanks," she said lightly. She jerked her head at the bartender. "For that. Helpful."
“Touché,” Ronnie replied. He swept up the second little glass and drained that one too, making another face. Then he nodded at Ro, offering a grin, “Hey, it’s cool. That was super rude, totally against bro code, and also, it’s what friends do.” He wouldn’t be surprised at all if she got that all the time, it sounded exhausting.
Ro shrugged lightly. It did happen to her a lot. She didn't always mind but that wasn’t what Ro was looking for her tonight. She'd have to eat sometime soon, she hadn’t since her last night with Noah, but Ro could wait a little while longer. "Looks like we're getting fucked up." She raised a shot glass to Ronnie. "Cheers."
Fucked up they were getting. Or, at least he was.
Ronnie finished those shots, and three more, plus a beer or two. He didn’t feel bad, on the contrary. By now, since he hadn’t really eaten much, he was swimming in the pool of happy drunk. The bar spun a little bit and the sounds began to blend together, but he felt good. “You know…” he began, slurring his words a bit. “I really...really love Mikey...like so much, man. He’s the coolest…” Ronnie shifted a bit in his chair. “...like I’m so lucky, he’s super smart and…” he lost his thought but laugh and smiled instead. “You get it, right?”
Ro was in better shape than Ronnie on account of not being human, but not by much. "You're an 'I love you, man!'" she hooted, waving a finger at him. "Of course you are. That makes so much sense. So adorable." She laughed at him.
"But no? I don't? I mean, I'm happy for you and everything, I'm glad you have that. That's awesome for you. But I don’t get it, get it. Nice for you though."
“What?” He laughed, expression turning confused for a moment. “What’s that?” Wasn’t it a movie or something? He didn’t mind, and laughed again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
When the next part of her answer came, Ronnie nodded. He shrugged, “Cool, cool. That s’ok. S’ok,” he waved a hand at her and then swept up the rest of the drink he’d been consuming.
Ro laughed at him. She wasn't sure Ronnie had understood anything she said. "You are so drunk right now. How are we going to get you home?" Her eyes widened. "Is blig bland..blig…big blonde going to be mad? Is he going to be mad at me?"
He giggled at Ro. “Me? Drink..wait, drunk..? Yeah,” Ronnie laughed again. He was drunk. And not driving home, not like this. “Nah, nobody ever could be mad at you, Ro. Like, ever.” But he did consider her other question. “Guess I’ll just sleep here.” He moved to lay down on folded arms on the bar, as if pretending to take a nap.
"No!" Ro reached out to prod him, caught herself at the last moment and then carefully poked one finger into the back of Ronnie's shoulder where it was safely covered by his shirt. "Hey, I have the best idea. Let's get a hotel room. Get double beds, have a sleepover."
“Sleepover?” He lifted his head up sleepily, taking a moment to blink and be coherent. “Hell yeah. Sleepovers are awesome.” A moment would be taken to fumble through his pockets. He pulled out some cash, more than enough for their drinks and some for the staff, slapped it down on the counter and pointed up at the ceiling for dramatic purpose. “Onward!”
And then he struggled not to fall over as he descended from the barstool. “Nope, fine. I’m fine. Really.”
Ro watched Ronnie struggle, waiting to see if he was going to make it. "You have to be fine, I can't help you. Remember?"
“I am always fine,” he laughed, trying his best to offer a wink. He managed a double blink like always and then began to wander to the door. “Sleepover!” He sang loudly. A couple of rounds of finger guns would be offered to someone sitting by the door coupled with a pew pew, and he headed through the doorway.
“Cool, okay. Which one of these places looks good enough?” He may have been talking to himself but not on purpose. Ronnie had a singular focus, find hotel.
"I know where to go." Ro was already tapping on her phone, requesting an Uber and booking a hotel room. She was reminded of Roman's splurges on hotel rooms. Ro couldn’t be that extravagant but she could treat her friend.
The car deposited them at the Artisan Hotel. Inside, the lobby was a moody black with reproductions of famous paintings set at odd angles all over, including on the ceiling. Ro liked it immediately. Although the art styles was different, it reminded her of tattooing.
They were led to a room with two double beds. Ro flopped onto the one nearest the window, leaving the bed closest to the bathroom for Ronnie. He probably was going to need it. "You good? Still with me?"
Ronnie nodded, trusting Ro to get them where they were going. Twice, along the way, he stopped to talk to someone on the street who was doing something he thought looked interesting - he couldn’t help himself when he was this drunk - bring a social butterfly by nature. And then the Uber showed up and he piled in.
The Hotel was not disappointing. If the stricken look of awe was any indication, anyway. “Woah, this is sooo nice,” he commented, doing a three sixty in a slow motion to see everything. He only nearly fell over once.
And then he trekked with Ro to the room.
“Still with ya,” he managed, also flopping onto the plush mattress. It was comfortable, soft, beneath him and he kicked out of his shoes as legs dangled over the side of the bed. He managed to remember to text Mikey, sending something quick he felt was coherent to suffice for a check in, and his phone took a swan dive after the text was sent, smacking him in the face.
“Ouch. ‘m ok.”
Ro laughed. She was glad Ronnie never actually fell. It would be easier if she could take his arm to steady him on the way up. That was impossible. "You are ridiculous. You're a wreck," she told him with a big grin.
"Here." Ro threw the room service menu at him and then set about pulling off her shoes. A trickier operation than anticipated. Ronnie wasn’t the only one drunk. "Food. You need it. Food.."
“The best damned wreck there ever was,” Ronnie chimed back, grinning. He made to grab for the menu though he didn’t quite manage to catch it - he saw two of them and clearly there was only the one - but thankfully it didn’t land too far.
He grabbed the menu and browsed, holding the thing up in the air as he lay there on his back. A leg would kick with impatience. “Man. Deciding is hard. Why can’t we get everything?” Everything sounded perfect, impractical, but perfect.
“Oh man, they got french toast.”
Ro followed the menu by chucking one of her pillows at Ronnie purely out of the delight of messing with him. "Get whatever you want, I'm starved." Not just for food but the satisfaction of a good meal would help take the edge off.
“Hey no fair,” he murmured as the pillow sailed by but his attention stayed on the menu. “I need three French...wait, what are you getting?”
Fumbling for his cell he had been mid dial of the number when he realized he had no idea what she wanted. And then he dialed anyway. “Hi. I have no idea what room I’m in but I’m hungry….nope….no…..yes. Okay, three French toasts and I’m going to throw my phone at my friend so she can tell you what she wants. Kay? Okay hold on…”
And the phone launched into the air.
She didn't catch it but thankfully it landed safely on her bed, cushioned against the blankets. Ro snatched it up. "Sorry for my friend," she told the voice on the other end. "He's very drunk." She ordered a meal and a couple desserts and gave the room number. Finished, she kept hold of Ronnie's phone.
"There's not a picture of big blonde's dick on this thing, is there?" she asked, tapping buttons. Ro opened the camera app and began taking selfies.
“Nah, that’s impolite,” Ronnie murmured, then giggled. The photos he still had were mostly of food, his old cat, some of his Mama, Derek. Of course there were pictures of Mikey, and them together, but nothing racy.
He had nothing to hide from anyone. Not that he could do much of anything in the current state anyway.
"Oh we're polite? Well then." Without warning Ro pulled on the front of her T-shirt with hand, yanking down the collar and snapping a selfish with not only her face but her cleavage and the top of fuchsia bra cups in view.
“Polite is the way the world works, my friend,” Ronnie laughed. Even if the world wasn’t always polite to you, back. He didn’t catch her racy selfie, still looking at the menu even though they’d ordered.
He threw the booklet into the air. It landed on the floor somewhere with a soft thud.
“You findin’ anything good in there?”
"Nah." Ro left her photos in the gallery and threw Ronnie back the phone. Surprise for later. Hopefully he laughed when he found them. And Mikey didn't kill her. "You're very well behaved."
The phone landed somewhere. He heard it bounce on the sheet and a hand would fly out after it landed, Daria-style, and flail around until it was recovered. Into a pocket it would go because if it didn’t land in a pocket now he was apt to forget it in a second and it was doomed to drown in sheets.
“What’re you talkin’ about? Well behaved?” He scrunched up his nose, twisting around on the bed so his top half was hanging off slightly and the bottom half was laying sprawled on the sheets. His shoes were still on. Ronnie looked at Ro upside down.
Ro mimicked Ronnie's posture to an extent except she rolled onto her belly. "Well behaved. Nary a dick pic to be found."
He laughed, nodding. “Nah, I’m not really into that anymore.” He liked those things but he also wasn’t good at keeping up with his phone, plus it was rarely locked and anyone he was close to knew how to get into the thing in case of an emergency. Hence why there were typically a ton of Derek selfies if they’d hung out recently.
Ronnie rolled over and groaned, before shuffling backward on the bed to get comfortable. “Where is my toast? I need toast.”
"It's coming!" Ro threw another pillow at him. She hadn’t retrieved the other one, leaving her with only two. "Kids today, honestly," she joked. "Oh, I'm not into that, where is my toast? You have a phone in your pocket that can bring you whatever you want. It's amazing."
He laughed as the other pillow flew and managed to smack him in the face. “Mine now,” he murmured. And then an idea struck him. “Holy bananas, Ro. Why aren’t we making a fort with this shit?” He now has four pillows and a bunch of blankets.
“Fort!” The exclamation would be coupled with Ronnie rolling off of his bed onto the floor with all of the pillows.
"Fort!" Ro agreed. She got up and dragged the chair from the desk closer to Ronnie's bed. A big yank on Ronnie's comforter brought it down towards the end of the bed and Ro threw the now free and dangling edge over the back of the chair to create a tent-like space.
Ronnie set the pillows inside the fort after it was created, making them both a space using her forfeit pillows and his own from the bed. Scrambling out, he nearly fell over but caught himself and then presented Ro with the product. “A fort for m’lady.”
"Thank you good sir." Ro brought the remaining pillows from her bed and when she settled against the pillow nest Ronnie made, she stuck one lengthwise next to her to provide a barrier between her and Ronnie and avoid accidental touches.
Before he could get into the fort there was a knock on the door. “Food!” Thank goodness. Ronnie scrambled to the door, let the person with the cart in, and then closed the door once the guy was gone (after tipping the man of course). And then he unpacked and brought Ro her food first. “Food for m’lady,” he murmured. Even as drunk as he was, he did his best not to touch her.
And then he went back to the cart for his first plate of French toast, taking it back to the fort. He sat down and tucked in. “Oh man….this is the best food.”
Ro tucked into her fries with enthusiasm and a small groan. There wasn't a lot of vertical space under the blanket and it settled on top of her head as she ate. "Mmm, good. Y'know, this might be the first time I went to a hotel with another person just for the fun of it. Not bad, Scrunchie."
“It is pretty fun, yeah? And I’m sure it’s my first time like this, too.” Then again, he didn’t crash in hotels usually. And he wasn’t really the hookup type, but he got where she was going with it. One of the plates of French toast was consumed. He felt a little better and went to get the second plate. This time, instead of going back to the fort he ate right there next to the cart.
Ronnie got up and didn't come back. Ro couldn’t see him from under the blanket. "Hey!" she called. "Hey! Where did you go? Are you dead?"
“No,” he murmured, cheeks filled with French toast. The word came out more or less a mo instead of a no, but it got the point across. “I don’t think so?” Was he dead? Was this a dream?
Ronnie poked himself in the chest with a finger, realizing he was still alive. Whew.
Licking syrup from his lips, he carried his plate back to the fort and sat down, holding it out to her, “Want some?”
If this had been a different kind of hotel encounter Ro would have suggested Ronnie feed it to her. It was hard to turn off those habits. She really needed a feed.
Ro plucked a slice of French toast off his plate and ate with her hands, lucking syrup off her fingers. "Thanks."
Everything about the hotel food was perfect, down to the fluffy bread and the powdered sugar garnish. When she got her slice, he pulled the plate back and finished another slice. “Still a whole plate over there if you’re still hungry,” he murmured. French toast was so chill.
"I'm gonna have dessert. In a minute." She looked at Ronnie. "How you doing? Food helping?"
“Yup yup,” he chimed, hiccuping. The exhaustion was beginning to set in and soon he knew he would pass out. Ronnie yawned, then ate another bite or so of the French toast.
"I might when I get dessert. Maybe eat that in bed." Tempting. "You sleeping down here? I'd stay and snuggle except no touching so I have to sleep in my bed like a big girl."
“Get the bed all syrupy,” Ronnie murmured. He set the plate outside the fort, grabbed up the pillow that was acting as a barrier between them, and he curled up on the ground in a fetal position. “Gonna crash here. Comfy. Night night.”
It wouldn’t take long to spiral into a sleep that would result later in a relocation to the bathroom and getting familiar with the bathroom rug near the toilet.