Drinking Contest [ReD]

"Yeah, you're right," she said. "In my defense, I do enjoy chocolates. But my favorite type of food is the spicy one. Spicy ramen, or kimchi, or..." she chuckled, "spicy meatball spaghetti. That one's the best."

"I don't know how I feel about spicy food," Lochlann said, taking another swig of the whiskey. "I don't like to feel like I'm being punished for eating. I don't dislike it, though."

That's not to say that he didn't like it when his food put up a fight, though.

. "No one else really knows about my nightmares yet. They're... not really scary, but when I fall asleep, every now and then, images from the past flash before me... reminding me how much death I caused by trying to run away from Seth. I can't let him have my powers, he was going to use it to destroy people... But he's always on my tail wherever I go, and he'd kill people just to make me give up. Went as far as burning down a whole village. I killed those people, technically."

If she thought that was killing people, Lochlann had to be certain she never, ever found out about what he did to people.

He also realized that, though he knew Addy was good with weapons, he wasn't exactly sure what her powers were. They were both students at the academy so it was sort of implied that they were different somehow, but it'd been so nice pretending they were just normal kids that he never thought much beyond it.

She closed her eyes and Lochlann reached out and touched her knee, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"As for my amnesia, let's just say I have no memories from before I was eight. No biggie. My first memory was of a huge car accident. SUVs burning below a cliff, and I was stuck in one. Then my adoptive parents found me."

A car accident was the easiest way to get a snack. She had no idea how many people where just thinking about driving their car off a bridge at any given time. When he was eight, Lochlann was the monster under the bridge. He was good at convincing people to drive their cars over bridges and into the river below and when their mangled body was pulled from the wreck, the wounds were always assumed to be result of impact. No one ever checked.

He hoped they checked for her.

"I'm sorry we have so much in common," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He didn't realized he'd said it, and he didn't realize he'd gotten up until he was on the floor behind her, pulling her into a hug much like the day they were in the shack in the rain. He apologized like he'd done these things to her personally, but it was only because he knew what it was like to have hurts that cut like that. "I'm sorry."

He wanted her to know he understood and the words came tumbling out of his mouth before he had a chance to consider them.

"I don't hear the screaming," he said. He couldn't hear the screaming, because they were underwater, his his mouth was usually on hers, taking her last breath, and it felt so horrifyingly right that he couldn't believe it was wrong. But he could in his dreams. "But I hear them say my name."

He picked up his bottle and took a drink, then looked at it and started to laugh. "The whiskey helps, except for when I find myself dwelling on things, like now. Wow that game got dark fast."

"Well... I'm sorry too." "I'm sorry because I'll take half your whiskey after tonight. Let me replace them with friendly love, okay?"

Lochlann shook his head. "Nuh uh, no way. Because I'm pretty sure I'm going be kicking your butt tonight and then checkin' it out when it's in a cute dress."

His comment might have been flirting, but his tone and posture suggested just general teasing. This was good whiskey. He wasn't at a point where he felt drunk or like making a bad decision, just relaxed,

"Okay, does this mean I need to get another bottle of beer? Oh, uh, your turn."

"Yes it does!" Lochlann grinned, reaching over her to hand her a bottle. He didn't move from his position behind her yet because he liked when she was this close.

"Hmmm. I've never jumped out of a window. I have never kissed a girl under fireworks. I have never driven a car before."

"Perv."

He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Considering you hated the taxi... I think you really haven't driven a car before," "The kiss... is the lie," she decided, hesitantly.

"Grab another one of those beers Addy baby, because the lie is that I've never jumped out of a window," he said, grinning. "I've jumped out at least three since I've gotten to this stupid island. Sometimes they're the only escape route available."

He thought about it and then said, "You're right about the car. I'd really like to learn how to drive, though, but I've only been in a car once and it did not end well."

"As for the kissing under the fireworks? Well..." Lochlann looked up at the ceiling, and then rested his chin on her head. "I've always wanted to do that. It seems romantic I guess."

He shook his head.

'You're up."

"Ugh." She groaned. "I haven't even finished this one yet. Dammit."

Loch laughed, but then felt a little guilty and said, "Addy, I really do have an unfair advantage. I really don't think you can beat me."

"Yeah, it's romantic. Maybe I'd want to try it once, too. My only memory of fireworks is a little dark, I want something... different. Loch, maybe I'd want to try it with y--"

Loch noticed the slip-up, but misinterpreted to mean she didn't want to talk about the dark incident with the fireworks. He let her change the subject, but he did give her a gentle squeeze.

"M-My turn, right? Uhh... Let's see... I've never been shot by a gun, I've been stabbed in the shoulder once, I tried falling from the top of a small building once."

"Well this one is hard," Lochlann said, and he had another worried frown. "You work with guns so it makes sense that you'd be shot at least once, I don't think I've ever seen your shoulders but it's surprisingly easy to get stabbed....I guess the building one. I don't think you're that clumsy."

He laughed as she glared into his eyes and kissed her on the bridge of his nose.

"I was sure that one was pretty hard. How could you guess right? Uuuuggghhh..." "At least I'm sure you haven't seen my shoulders yet. So you really didn't peek back then in the small shed?"

"Hardest moment of my life," Lochlann said, blushing a little. "But no. I didn't peak, I swear."

. "I have four small scars on my right shoulder. Weren't from knives exactly... They're from... a mechanical tiger claw. Okay, your turn. List the number of bottles I owe, I need to... slow down a bit. So unfair that you're not drinking any beer."

"A mechanical tiger claw that's...ahh...kinky?" he said, wrinkling his nose, trying to picture such a thing. He shook his head and laughed. "Nuh uh, no slowing down. I'm going to see you drink and then in a pretty pink dress."

His turn again? He chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking.

"I once slept with a girl named stacey's mom. I once punched a shark on the nose. I broke into someone's apartment three times once."