Chapter Text
Beth ran out into the back yard, fell to her knees on the fresh grass, her cookie falling out of her hand, and vomited all her guts into some flowers. She felt a hand gently grab her hair and hold it back for her.
"Go ahead and throw up. That should make you feel better." The stranger's husky, low voice reassured and soothed her.
After she finished emptying herself, feeling better, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, breathed in a big bowl of fresh air from that soft spring night and slowly sat up.
The stranger, who had let go of her hair, addressed her again. "Feeling better?"
Beth turned to him and was immediately taken in by his beauty. He was tall, with long legs and ringed gigantic hands. He had close-cropped, raven hair, prominent eyebrows, and a long, thin nose. And as eyes he had two big balls, brown, almost black, in which the soft glow of the moon was reflected, as if the light was attracted by his irises. He had a luscious mouth, with a hanging lower lip, eager to be crunched by naughty teeth. The whole thing covered a golden skin, which contrasted with her own, almost pale. He had, in spite of his young age, which had to be similar to hers, 18 years; he had an enormous tattoo of bird which decorated his neck. His body, lanky was covered by a pair of slightly loose black jeans, white and black converse, and a black bomber.
"Yes." She gave him a shy smile and tucked a lock of hair back behind her ear. "Thanks."
"Have you been drinking?"
She was a little taken aback by his candor, but maybe it was just goodwill.
"No." Not a drop of alcohol. She wasn't really interested in that.
The young boy bit his lower lip and frowned slightly. "Did you take anything?"
In turn she frowned, not understanding the question, until after a few seconds her brain clicked. "Oh no, of course not." She definitely wasn't touching the drug. "I don't know, all of a sudden my head started spinning and I felt like throwing up."
"Did you eat anything?"
"Uh...A girl kindly gave me a cookie, but that's it."
"I see. You're not used to this kind of party."
Beth wanted to defend herself and not come off as the uptight one. "Of course I am."
He looked at her, but not with pity, just curiosity. "They were special cookies."
"Special?"
"There was weed in them."
Beth widened her eyes. "Oh." It was horrible, but at least she knew why she felt bad. It was a good thing she'd only taken one bite.
"Can you walk?"
Beth took one step, hesitating, then two, testing her balance, until she stopped next to him. "Yes it's okay."
The dark-haired man let out a small laugh and snapped his head to the side. "Follow me."
Beth obeyed and followed him. When he reached her level he put a hand in the curve of her back, to guide her, and maybe just to make sure she didn't fall, but that didn't stop her body from shivering under his touch. Once inside, he asked her. "Show me the girl who gave you that famous cookie."
Beth immediately spotted the girl with long brown hair. She pointed at her. "That's her."
They walked towards her with a determined step, or rather, he was determined, and she followed him as best she could.
"Hey!"
The brunette turned and handed them a plate. "A little cookie?"
"No. Are you warning people what's in it?" The girl looked up at the skies and turned away from them, not interested in this discussion, or this moral lesson. But the young man took her arm, without hurting her. "Hey! Look at me when I talk to you."
"What?"
"Answer the question."
"Are you a cop?" The boy crossed his arms over his chest and squinted. "Everyone comes here for that. People aren't naive."
Beth crossed her arms in turn and tapped her foot. "I'm not naive, but I didn't know."
The girl laughed mockingly. "Yeah." She glared at Beth. "I'm not surprised. You got lost Goldilocks."
Beth lowered her head in shame. She knew she didn't belong here, she didn't need to be reminded.
"What would you have done if something had happened to her?"
"She seems fine."
"What if she'd been driving and had an accident."
The girl sighed. "Okay, I get it. I'm sorry."
Beth nodded slowly and watched the girl drive away, looking dejected. She almost felt sorry for her...Almost.
"Thank you. I...I should get home."
"You drove here?"
"Yes."
"I don't want to sound old-fashioned or annoying, but...Even if you're feeling better, you shouldn't be driving."
Beth chuckled. He was very considerate, it was cute. "I wasn't planning on it."
"Good. Do you need a ride?" He raised his hands in the air before she could answer. "I promise, I'm not a psycho."
"Oh, so you don't take advantage of girls' distress?"
"Just really pretty ones." Beth blushed and tucked an invisible strand of hair back behind her ear. "So about the trick?"
Beth lowered her head, remembering that she hadn't come alone. "That's nice, but..." She nibbled her lip. "I...I came with my...boyfriend." Yeah, Dean, her boyfriend of three years. She hadn't forgotten him but...
The tall dark-haired man looked almost disappointed. "Oh. Where is he?"
Beth pursed her lips. "I don't really know. He went to meet some friends half an hour ago but he'll be back."
Yeah, she'd agreed to come to this party with Dean, only to please him. But barely five minutes after their arrival, he had ditched her, claiming to have seen some of his friends, whom he hadn't introduced to her.
"Bethie!" The two acquaintances turned their heads from the voice at the top of the stairs.
"Dean." Beth glared at him. He was finally deigning to show his face, as if his ears had been ringing. "Where have you been?"
Dean tugged at the collar of his shirt and blushed from head to toe. "Ah, uh...I told you Beth. I was upstairs with some friends. We played some video games and drank a little. I didn't see the time go by." He moved closer to Beth and put a possessive arm around her waist.
Beth pulled away from his touch, which was much less gentle than the other boy's. "I want to go home."
"But Bethie, we just got here." Dean looked at her with beaten dog eyes, making the other boy sniffle.
"I'm tired, plus someone tried to drug me with a cookie."
"Oh...Beth. Everyone knows that at parties like this, people find a way to have fun. You shouldn't have accepted a cookie from a stranger. We can stay for another half hour, or an hour, until..." Again he tugged at the collar of his shirt. "I'll have time to sober up and walk you home."
Beth stamped her foot furiously. Not only did he not care about her, but he had been drinking when he had told her he wouldn't, precisely so he could drive the car. She pulled away from him completely and moved closer to the other boy, not realizing it. "All right." Dean looked relieved. "You can stay, I'm leaving."
"Uh...What?" His shoulders slumped.
"Yeah, man, I'll walk her home."
Dean finally looked at the other boy, and his expression went from dumb, to scared, to disgusted. He stared at his tattoo with disdain.
"No need, I can handle my girlfriend."
The gangster, because Dean was sure it was one, snorted, "Yeah, I can see that." He slowly walked over to the sandy-haired boy, and even though he was shorter than him, Dean flinched. "You're in no shape to bring your...little Bethie, so I'll do it."
Beth placed her hand on Rio's bicep and smiled at him. "Thanks."
"Beth!"
"What, Dean? Would you rather I walk home by myself in the dark?"
"No but..." He lowered his head, defeated, and sighed. "Fine." He moved closer to Beth to kiss her, but the girl turned her head away, offering him her cheek instead. He turned and walked back up the stairs, finishing his evening.
Rio turned to the blonde. "Ready?"
Beth bit her lip. "You don't have to."
"I offered before this. I don't mind." Beth offered him an umpteenth smile. "Let's go...Elizabeth." Beth looked at him, surprised, but didn't correct him, just nodded. "All right." He moved his hands to his side. "After you."
Beth let out a small laugh and walked to the front door, the boy on her heels. Once outside, she let him walk past so he could lead her to his car, which he unlocked with a click of the key box.
"Wow." Beth widened her eyes at the shiny black Cadillac with tinted windows. This car was imposing, like its driver.
"Yeah, but unfortunately it's not mine...Not yet, I'm working on it."
As he opened the passenger side door, and invited her to sit down, she asked. "Oh yeah, and how?"
Rio raised his index finger, closed the door, and ran to the other side. He settled comfortably against the leather seat behind the wheel. The interior was just as beautiful as the exterior, very fancy.
"I have to help one of my uncles at his garage all summer. He doesn't pay me, but instead he gives me this big baby." He stroked the steering wheel and gently tapped the dashboard.
Beth tried to hide her laughter behind her hand. "Does she start with the voice command?"
"Nah, she's cool..." He leaned in close to Beth, put a hand to the side of his mouth and whispered. "But not that cool."
Beth burst out laughing, so hard she held her stomach. She was almost ashamed to be so open and relaxed with a stranger, but he was kind and funny. And then he had saved her the evening, which she had been bored to death.
She imitated him by whispering in turn. "I see, it would be better not to offend her."
The boy gave her a brilliant smile, his white teeth perfectly aligned, on which the light came to reflect, almost hypnotizing her. He winked at her. "Exactly. But it has a built-in GPS. Do you live far away?"
"I live at 2086 mountside."
He turned the ignition on, making the engine roar, then entered the address into the GPS. He checked that the doors were locked from the outside, that they were both buckled in, and the position of his mirrors, then started the car.
The drive lasted about fifteen minutes, where they teased each other and made fun of each other's taste in music, until Beth pointed to a house, which he parked in front of.
"Here we are, mami."
"Thanks." Beth looked at him and smiled. She needed to get out of the car and into the house, but she didn't feel like it, not yet. "How did you guess my first name?" He shrugged. "It could have been Bethany, or Beth-Anne."
He looked at her, his ear pressed to the seat. "Nah. I was sure you had a queen's name."
Beth blushed. He had a knack for paying compliments. "What about you?"
"You have to keep some mystery."
"Hey, that's not fair, you know mine."
The boy bit the inside of his cheek. "Rio."
"Rio." She said it softly, testing it on her tongue. She was sure it was a nickname, but at least she had something.
Rio didn't think his name, spoken by this goddess, would have that effect on him. And yet he imagined her, on his lap, sighing his name, as she rode him, right here, in the seat of his Cadillac. He swallowed hard and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans, in which he was starting to feel tight.
He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "You shouldn't trust your boyfriend."
Beth raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. She didn't look happy at the mention of this, Dan...Dick...Dean, whatever.
"Why do you say that?"
Rio sighed. "Just a hunch. It's nothing, never mind."
"Okay, I..." She pointed to the house. "I should go." Rio nodded slowly. Beth unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door to get out but changed her mind. Instead she leaned over to Rio and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, for everything." This time she got out of the car, slamming the door behind her and giving him one last look.
Rio watched as Elizabeth walked up the steps leading to the front door. He waited until she got in and turned on the lights, to start up again.
If he had known that by going to this stupid party he was going to meet this mermaid, with her jeans, her flowery blouse and her big blue eyes, he would have gone sooner. Shit he had only known her for half an hour and she was already turning his head.
He shook his head and sighed. He was going to have to forget about her, not only because she already had a stupid, cheating boyfriend, he hadn't asked her for her phone number and he was probably never going to see her again. But mostly because he didn't deserve her either.
She looked so innocent, even if, he was sure, she was hiding a darker side, which was sleeping in her and which was waiting to wake up...But still.
He...He had just come out of prison, after having spent a year there. He didn't have an uncle, strictly speaking, who had a garage. He only had a grandmother, who had raised him, and a cousin who had betrayed him. The Cadillac was his. He had been able to afford it, thanks to drugs. That's why he was at that party. Because that's what he was...a gangster...a rookie.
Elizabeth was and would forever be, for him, an unattainable dream. Yes, that's right. She would be in his dreams, that much he was sure of, but she would stay there.