Who: Cadence and Kurt When: Her birthday (Jan 15) Where: Parking lot to start What: Cadence is smashed, Kurt comes to save her? Rating: Light Status: Complete!
It was late. Cadence wasn’t sure how late it was, actually, because she couldn’t read the numbers on her phone anymore. It was one of those huge smart phones with the pictures, so she was able to still make a call, even if she couldn’t read the numbers. They were too blurry and numbery.
Tonight had been a really amazing birthday. Or, would have been, had she not been in mourning. Her nephew had died only three days before, and sent Cadence’s world into complete and total chaos. It was terrible to try and be the cornerstone for the family when everything was falling apart. The kids were in shambles, the parents were paranoid, and Cadence was stuck somewhere in the middle. Her father was trying his best to run his business, though that was falling apart without a steady income. Too many people were sick and weren’t going to eat at his taco trucks.
The girls from Cadence’s House had come to pick her up, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. There was an underground party at a warehouse where they dragged her to celebrate her twenty-first birthday. Bars were pretty much off-limits, due to the quarantine, but the “rave” scene was still going strong. With blue lights and black lights, they were playing up the “blue” theme.
Cadence wasn’t quite drunk after a couple of drinks, but she was well on the way when her girlfriends met up with some guys from a local fraternity. Cadence was passed to a friend from that house, who took responsibility for her. The girls’ night broke apart, and the girls all went their separate ways. Cadence continued to drink, though with the guys from the frat it was less fun. She started to wallow in her sadness, and the drinking became more desperate, and the guys all started to wander off, too, finding other girls (and guys) to occupy them. Cadence was known as being a ‘prude’--and there was a strong protection over her by her big brothers--so she was eventually left on her own.
Now she was very, very drunk, and stumbling away from the warehouse. She pulled her phone from her pocket and blinked down at it. It was spinning. She unlocked the screen and touched the one face she wanted to see the most. Then she lifted it to her ear as it rang. She felt like she might vomit. But not really in a bad way, just in a very, very drunk way.
Kurt had been feeling up and down the past day or so. mostly down, and he rubbed his chest as he settled into a tv dinner and a night of watching the news. He didn't feel right enjoying himself right now, not when mothers were greiving for their children.
His phone rang, and he picked it up. "Ja?"
"Kurt!" Cadence said, sounding a little surprised at the sound of his voice. She'd almost forgotten who she was trying to call. She swallowed, another wave of nausea hitting her. "Kurt, hi. Hi. I um, I was... thinking about you." It was obvious she was highly intoxicated.
“Cadence!” Kurt sounded pleased to hear her voice. He’d been having trouble getting his thoughts away from her. He furrowed his brow, then laughed. “Happy birthday, liebchen. You’re going to regret tomorrow.”
“I already regret.” She said, slumping down onto the ground. She was alone, and it was cold, and she felt like she was about to throw up. Not to mention the deep, dark, rotten hole inside her heart, festering with feelings of sadness and despair. But she was trying not to think about that. “...I don’t want to be here right now.”
Kurt chuckled. He remembered his first serious bender. He’d been 19, and on his own for the first time. It had been...depressing. There were extenuating, Amanda related circumstances. He darted his eyes. “Vhere is here? Are you alone? You shouldn’t be alone right now.”
He sounded worried, and pushed his dinner aside.
“The girls took me to a party at a warehouse, and...” Cadence glanced around where she was seated, leaning against the wall of the store. “I’m in a parking lot. Outside a Walgreens.” She turned away from her phone and vomited on the ground. It made a terrible retching sound, and a splatter, but thankfully she was mostly clean.
But hey, she felt better. A little. “And I just threw up.” She said into the phone.
"Warehouse?" What kind of party happens at a warehouse? Kurt wasn't sure, but it reminded him of this one time in Amsterdam. He got around. He grimaced at the sound. "Valgreens? Can you get a street name?"
Cadence looked up and around, wishing she could read a bit better. And maybe get the taste of sick or of her mouth. "Watkins? Watson? Waters?" She frowned. "Waterson. And Smith." She said. "I've never been here before."
"Verdammt," Kurt muttered, pulling over his computer to try to find where that was. "Stay put, I'll come and get you. Stay vhere there's light and people can see you."
Cadence nodded, though he couldn’t see her nod. She climbed up to her feet, nearly falling a couple of times. “I’ll -- oh, there’s someone over there. He has a shopping cart.” She said. “You’d think there’d be more c-cars.” She added, finally making it to her feet.
Kurt pulled his jacket on, picking up the room phone and calling a taxi. Then he rushed out, cell phone in hand and Cadence in his ear still. “Keep talking, Liebe. I’ll be there soon.”
The cab seemed to take an eternity to arrive, but he got in and gave the location to the cabbie.
"Okay," Cadence said, moving to lean against a lamp post. She lost her balance, though, and went tumbling to the ground. Her phone fell out of her hand and clattered to the cement, the battery popping out. The call was disconnected.
"Cadence? Cadence!" Kurt dialed back, but it went to voicemail. He groaned, flopping back against his seat as his worry grew. What sort of friends left a woman alone and that drunk?
Bad friends, obviously. Cadence was okay, just startled and winded. She'd made some really bad choices tonight. Really bad ones. She laid on the ground near the lamp pole where she'd fallen, and stared up at the sky. Luis was gone. She shouldn't be celebrating anything. She felt guilty, ashamed, very drunk, and very tired. Her eyes fell closed.
Several minutes later, the cab pulled up. Kurt got out and jogged over to her. He knelt and brushed hair from her face. Gently, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the cab.
Cadence woke when he lifted her, murmured, "Kurt?" and gently wrapped her arms up and around him, then settled down into the back of the taxi. Her phone was laying on the sidewalk, in pieces, but she wasn't thinking about that now. She broke into a drunken, sleepy smile as she looked at him. "My hero."
“Ja.” He settled her inside the cab and told the driver to go back to his hotel. He hadn’t wanted Cadence to see it, but he wasn’t sure she wanted to face her family like this. It would be embarrassing, especially if the kids saw her. Besides, he couldn’t watch over her if he did that.
Cadence sat for a moment in silence as the taxi started up and sped along. “I don’t have any money for the cab,” she mumbled, teetering back and forth in her seat. “I don’t... I don’t have anything.” No wallet, no keys, no phone. It was liberating, actually.
“Nothing?” Kurt looked at her. “Vhere is your purse?” He was more concerned about the phone, keys and any ID and credit cards. That would be a huge hassle to deal with, but it was probably too late now to get them back.
"I didn't bring it with me," Cadence said. Underground, illegal rave? Wasn’t like they were checking id. Cash only, but everyone wanted to buy the birthday girl a drink. Or three. It probably was a good thing she got rid of some of it earlier. It was undoubtedly took much alcohol for her inexperienced and tiny system. "Girls came and kidnapped me, I didn't need anything." It was supposed to be a birthday celebration, though now Cadence felt more guilty and sad than ever.
"Ah. Then that is gutt. The only thing you lost was your dignity." And her phone, but phones could be replaced. He put his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder and kissing the top of her head. "It's gutt to find something to distance yourself vith."
Cadence leaned in against him. She closed her eyes again, filling with regret about the night. "I didn't get enough distance," she admitted. "I..." her voice cut out. "I feel like every time I forget and stop thinking about it, about him, I'm not giving him the proper respect. Then when I remember. .. It just hurts." Her words were slow, slurred and confused.
“Liebchen, that you feel so guilty about this is a good thing. You’re conflicted. But death is not the end of life. Believe me, I have been through the guilt, and the lows and the tears. Honor his memory by living, not by suffering.”
“I don’t...” Cadence’s voice caught in a drunken sob. She wasn’t expecting to burst into tears in the back of a taxi cab with Kurt on her birthday. She wasn’t expecting to be so drunk. She definitely hadn’t been expecting for Luis to lose his life so early. So young.
Cadence lifted her hand and covered her mouth. She was struggling to keep control, the tears coming now as she somehow managed to choke out some words. “I don’t know how God could do something like this. I know he has a plan, I just... I don’t know why his plan has to hurt so many of us.”
"I don't...I don't know." Kurt's lips turned into a thin, thin line. He'd struggled with his faith when Amanda had died, and that had been just one person, one senseless accident. This was an epidemic, and a child. It was just as senseless, if not more so. It had sent him into the wilderness for many years. He was still lost. "I vish I had the vords for you."
“It... It hurts.” Cadence said. She drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, finally giving in and letting herself cry. Really cry. She was drunk, exhausted, cold, and in so much pain. It felt like the whole world was broken around her. She felt like her God had abandoned her. Either he was being spiteful, or he didn’t care. She wasn’t sure which would hurt more.
Kurt paid the cabbie, and helped Cadence out of the cab. He picked her up and carried her to his room. It took some jiggling, but he got the door open, and Cadence inside. One of his hands rubbed at her back as he got her onto the couch. He started to disentangle himself so he could make her some tea.
Cadence paid absolutely no attention to the state of the building, the state of the room. She merely wrapped her arms around him and clung tightly. When she was settled on the sofa and he moved to pull away, she resisted. Her arms tightened around him, pulling him back against her again. “No, please, stay with me,” she begged him. One of her hands came to his neck, drawing his face in near hers, and she planted a kiss against his cheek. “Please.”
A flush ran down his face, and a jolt down his spine at the cheek kiss, but Kurt ignored it. He also ignored the urge to turn it into a real kiss, not wanting her to get sick. He sighed softly, settling in besides her and pulling her close. His hands rubbed in great big circles on Cadence’s back and he kissed near her ear. “I’ll stay.”
In her drunkenness, she either forgot about his illness or didn't care. She pulled him in, turned her head, and kissed him soundly on his mouth.
Kurt kissed her back on instinct, before the taste and smell of beer reminded him of her state. He broke the kiss, panting, and not from illness. “Nien..nien, you’re drunk.”
"So?" Cadence said, leaning in to kiss him again. She didn't care about that. She'd been thinking about kissing him pretty much nonstop since new years. She wasn't thinking about how bad she must taste or smell. She wasn't thinking about the dirty in her hair or the ruffled State of her clothes. She just wanted to feel good. If only for a moment.
"It means.." Kurt tried to say, between kisses. He was half on top of her by now. Except for the excess from her partying, she smelled wonderful, and felt wonderful, and warm. “It means that you’ll be angry vith yourself in the morning. If you even remember. And I vould rather...it isn’t right.”
"I won't," Cadence insisted, though she'd never been drunk like this before. She'd never known a hangover like the one she was bound to have tomorrow morning.
His lips pressed against Cadence’s throat, and he sighed heavily. “You vill. You’re a lady who deserves to be treated like one. It’s too tempting.”
Her eyes fell closed at the kiss to her throat. She sighed, softly. Tomorrow morning she would probably be thankful that she had someone like Kurt to turn to. Someone who wouldn't take advantage. But right now it felt like a dismissal. She felt rejected. The sorrow she'd been trying to bury came bubbling up inside her, and her arms tightened around him once more, one hand tangling in his hair. "Please," she begged, one final attempt. Though it was a meager one. "I don't want to feel this anymore. I want to feel you instead."
Kurt's mouth went dry, and he shifted his hips as her words sunk straight down to his toes, so he didn’t jab her. He muttered something in German, asking for strength. “If..you vant to feel me after the hangover, you can.” He kissed her then, tenderly.
He was jabbing her. Not that she really knew what that was. Even sober she'd barely ever felt it. Her return kiss started just as tenderly, though she was still so desperate, so needy. Her hand buried in his hair tightened slightly, and her hand around his back on his shoulder blade moved along his side to feel his warmth through his shirt. He was a lot more firm than her last boyfriend. She'd never felt want or need this powerfully before.
“Gott.” Kurt pushed himself up, breaking the kiss and the body contact. He didn’t want to hurt her, or reject her, but he was being eaten up by guilt for even doing this much. If she was sober, there’d be no question. Her need and want and aggression were incredibly hot, considering how much of a sweetheart she was. But she wasn’t. She was drunk, and grieving, and he’d already taken too much advantage of, thank you very much.
Cadence whimpered at the loss of contact. She was still stretched out, arms lifted up as if he was still in them. Her breath was coming in labored gasps, and she opened her eyes to look up into his. A gentle pout was sitting on her features.
He laughed, staring at her, and getting lost in her eyes. Cadence was exceptionally beautiful, with a touch of the exotic, and he was all too tempting to fall back into her arms. “Let me put you to bed.”
“Bed?” She asked, blinking her eyes up to him. He was moving. Why was he moving? Oh, no, wait, she was dizzy. Cadence closed her eyes, her arms finally falling down to her sides. “Okay. Bed sounds.... good.”
Feeling relieved, Kurt leaned down and picked Cadence up. "Come on. Lets get your shoes off and you can sleep in my bed, ja? I'll crash on the couch."
Cadence wrapped her arms up and around his shoulders as he carried her. She gave him a smile. “You should cuddle with me. It’s your bed, I feel bad kicking you out of it.”
“If I cuddle vith you, vhat is to stop you from taking advantage of me?” He said, grinning down at her.
“Nothing.” Cadence responded. Her fingers found his hair again, her thumb trailing along his neck as he carried her to the bedroom. “Nothing at all.”
His eyes closed as she found a spot on his neck that was just irresistible. He got to the bedroom and set her down, then knelt in front of her to take her shoes off. He tossed those aside, then stood and stroked his hands into Cadence’s hair. “Okay, now lay down, and try to rest.”
Cadence closed her eyes at the feel of his hands in her hair. “Lay down with me.” She said, lifting her hands to take hold of his wrists. “Just for a moment or two. Just until I fall asleep. Please?”
He nodded his head. “Okay.” He didn’t dare try to make either of them more comfortable, instead laying her out and laying next to her. He held her close.
Cadence turned and curled against him, letting herself get wrapped up in his arms. She yawned, closed her eyes, and nuzzled in against him, her nose in his neck. It only took her seconds to fall fast asleep.
Kurt watched her sleep. He didn’t sleep, he really couldn’t. So he just stroked her hair, and her back, and let his mind drift to other places and other times.