Second Fate

5

Exhausted, I pushed against the door with my whole upper body. It was an old thing, warped by time, temperature and a dozen different residents pulling on it.

"I have to warn you, I'm drunk. If you have anything super serious to say, this is so not the moment." I couldn't resist a quick gaze over my shoulder to where he was standing in the middle of my living room. He wasn't sitting down on the couch. "If you want to make any more offensive deals, then I need a nap beforehand."

"I'm not here for a deal. Promise."

"Okay then."

Without asking him, I decided to get us some water. More precisely, I needed some water, and he wouldn't mind me being a good hostess.

While I locked the door and passed through the living room, I couldn't stop wondering. What the hell was he doing here? There was nothing that Vine would need from me. We hadn't been very close before the promise and after ... well, we'd really never talked to or looked at each other after it.

Perhaps there was an emergency with the pack, something related to Caitlyn. While I didn't hope for her to be in trouble, it would be the only explanation for his sudden appearance.

I could feel him watching me, while I was walking into the open kitchen. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up, but outwardly I tried to keep my calm.

"It's late", I commented without any other goal than to fill the heavy silence in the room. The tension was unbearable, even though a part of me was strangely excited by knowing him in my apartment, on my couch. In my space.

I stretched to get us two glasses from the cupboard and for a moment, dizziness took a hold of me. Too much movement for the amount of gin I'd had. Darkness washed over me and for a few seconds I could see nothing but piercing lights.

Somehow, I wasn't surprised to find Vine standing behind me when my vision returned. His hands weren't touching me, but they were in place to catch me if I'd lost balance.

"Thanks", I croaked.

He nodded but his hands stayed up. "Are you alright?"

A small laugh escaped my throat. "It's okay now. You almost sound worried."

"I am."

"Yeah, right", I said with a little sneer. He might've saved me from breaking my neck but that was probably more due to reflex than actual desire to keep Jamie alive. "Go sit down on the couch, I'm fine."

Letting go immediately, he took a step back. He put his back against the fridge before he said: "You look tired."

"I look drunk."

"That too", he admitted, and one corner of his mouth twitched. "Why are you drunk?"

"Well, you know, when a person goes and drinks something with alcohol in it, then –"

He waved his hand as if to say that I'd misinterpreted his question. "Not what I meant. Why did you want to get drunk? You haven't been drinking like this in a long time."

"Are you trying to shame me?", I asked defensively.

"Not at all."

"Because you have no right, appearing at my door like this and making me feel bad about having a completely normal night out when you're the –"

"When I'm the ...?"

"Stop that", I hissed, while putting one of the glasses in the sink and turning on the water. He'd have to be incredibly thick in the head to not know what I'd meant by that. Trying to make me say it was simply cruel. "You're being an ass."