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punkscowardschampions · 6 years

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Edie, Buster & Rio

Edie: *It had been a while since club nights had done anything for her. Felt like years and years, but she'd not been going out underage for that long, had she? They always got chucked out before anything could happen, because they were trying to make something, anything, fucking happen in this shitty town. Scrapping, or using the toilets for one of two (or both) unapproved activities, it was always early doors for Edie and Kai. She was pouting into her double (or was it triple?) Eyes only moving away from him to give 'don't fucking try it' looks to any girl that came within a seven-mile radius. As she sent another bitch flying, she let her gaze follow for slightly too long to see her running into another cunt's arms, literally. Oh shit. Nah? It couldn't be, could it? Fucking hell. Looks like it would be time to go Home sooner than she'd even anticipated. Kai was already jonesing and it wasn't the first time she'd use that to her advantage if needed. The blonde shrank further into her oversized clothing, making herself more invisible, at least let her finish her drink, like. Her cousin had enough female attention to not look her way, didn't he?* Buster: *He couldn't make it up, this girl coming at him how she did 'cause it was exactly the kind of brag one of his bros would hit him with on a slow night, unable to compete. She was a 7 in what she had on and the way he'd clocked her moving before this, for some other try hard cunt. His eyebrow had raised, not the attention she'd wanted but all she'd earned. It wasn't her that had him 'shook'. The other blonde, proper hunted for whenever he found himself in Dublin, but he'd not found her yet. Until now. He was sure enough that this version of Edie was there, solid enough, being only a couple in himself, owing to barstaff that'd rather flirt than serve, so likewise. No blurring or swaying. And no need for a humble brag. One of the boys was all 'isn't that...?' as if he didn't have his phone in hand sending out where he was (and more importantly THEY were) and the quickest explanation that he could use for something this unexpected like. Time wasn't on his side, 'course if she'd let herself be seen she didn't know he was here, but the cunts he was with were less subtle. Liable to shout her name or some shit once they were done grabbing each other in triumph. Fuck's sake. Drink it in idiots, he thought with a sigh, daring to glance at his phone clock just once before draining what was left in his cup. At least let him finish that before she was done with this shithole. He'd need the courage when Rio showed up and to him empty handed in every sense. Shit. Edie: *Edie watched Buster now, Kai hunched up 'round his own drink, close to her side but barely there, no matter how hard she squeezed his hand, his thigh, hung on his neck, nuzzling and biting like their pup, screaming in his ear over the shit tunes that washed over with no effect, just like shit gear. She would always pale in comparison to that need, wouldn't she? She hated him when he was like this. Hated him 'cos she loved him so fucking much and he was giving her nothing in return. Those daddy issues would always be too raw, thanks a lot dickhead. At least Kai had a valid, chemical reason. What was your excuse, Dad? More interested in Rio than you were me. Wasn't that always the way? She couldn't compete with any of her siblings, not even Indie. Ha, fucking Indie. How had they not seen that? So obvious now, in retrospect. So fucking obvious. Couldn't have possibly raised her but just a few short months later, daddy's little girl. Even gave her a similar name. A slap in the face. Edie's blood boiled, seething barely under the surface, mood only souring further as her cousin pretended like he wasn't looking at her though he so clearly was, phone in hand. Fuck you. She made a big show of waving, ridiculously animated with a stupid 'OMG fancy seeing you here!' smile on her face, before sticking her tongue out and putting up both middle fingers.* Buster: *Buster couldn't ignore her after the display made it clear he wasn't as slick as he played it every other night. Fuck it. That was what had got the family in this mess in the first place. Pretending. Seeing only what they wanted. Worked out really fucking stellar hadn't it? He moved soundlessly closer to the space she still occupied while she still did, not bridging the gap properly 'cause backing her into a corner wouldn't mean her back to the wall. He wasn't that stupid, and hadn't be that green as a kid first putting on the gloves. All the same he had to reach out, reckon against her immediately biting back since he'd stood so ready and so unprotected. Unprepared when their eyes met. Blue on blue but the similarities ended there. His anger couldn't touch hers then, and it'd be laughable to call it a contest now. His only challenge began and ended with what happened after the stare off. Buster smirked. Standard. Why would he be fazed by any of this?* What you drinking? * He was stalling harder than he had the night before Nancy caught the plane away from him that first time, knowing that rich as they were were he couldn't buy as much time as he craved. The same desperation caught in his throat trying to choke him out. * I'll get you one, yeah? Rio: *It had been a quiet night in, becoming more and more standard for two girls who were once so rarely Home, especially not on a fucking Friday night, are you having a laugh? Attempts at normalcy made, although for the younger of the two, 15, too damn young, a quick bowl of pasta and watching shitty telly wasn't all that standard either. A stabbing reminder, another blonde little girl they'd all let down. It hurt Rio to see her when she hadn't seen Edie in, how long now? Too long, any amount of time apart from her siblings was, but really this time. But it was all she could do, keep this little sister safe, best she could. The text from Buster, his name no longer that shocking to see popping up on her screen, but the content was. She was jolted into action, action without much conscious thought behind it, just that she needed to get there, now. She gently placed a blanket over Indie, her dark brows furrowed with bad dreams, Rio kissed her lightly there, as if to kiss away the thoughts too. Auto-pilot saw her throwing a coat over her short-shorts and tank top comfies, lacing up trainers and locking their door behind her, now sprinting fast enough to rival Janis. Luckily the flat was central, and she'd been treading the path to the clubs and pubs long enough to do it blinded by the fear as she was now. It was a dull kick in the guts, knowing in her heart of hearts she was about the last person Edie wanted to see, knowing she was likely going to flee before anything could be said. And what could be said, anyway? All she wanted to do was wrap her little sister in her arms and never let go again. Take her Home and make everything okay. But how could she? Who did she think she was? She'd been the one to uncover the wound, to open her own flesh and blood up to all this anguish and rotting and...death. It had always been there, but it was benign, lurking under the layers of love and family they all thought would hold back, keep out, the bad they all knew was there but pretended to be blind too. Didn't feel a thing, they were untouchable, safe, them, family. But she'd inadvertently, (keep telling yourself that, slut), let the bad guy in. Pretend you didn't see through his 'family friend' disguise one more fucking time, bitch. Feet pounded the cobbled streets almost in time to how her heart was punching out of her useless chest. The pain radiated, feet bloody from blisters, heartache made physical from never having moved so fast. Good. It was so far from being close to what she deserved anyway. It was a start. She flew past the bouncers, no doubt offended 'cos she knew them all by name, knew their fucking wives and kids too, why hadn't she taken that time to know her sister? Maybe then she could have saved Edie. Ha, dream on, the dread that was constantly within her now, mocked nastily, as she spotted her, at the bar. She barely registered Buster expect to note that her sister, (had she always been that small? oh my God), was mocking him herself, shaking her head no to something their cousin had said, offered. Rio felt frozen to the spot, giving literally no shits that she was in everyone's way, looking an absolute mess, feeling every inch of it. She didn't know what to do. And that was the problem. What could any of them do? When sorry's didn't cut it, when too much had passed, when they'd failed her. Shame and sorrow burned through her, thawing her statue impression, pushing her bloody feet forward to beg at her little sister's. Please come Home. Please. Please. Please.* Edie- *It was said like a spell, one of Billie's incantations, to make her be real, to keep her here, with her now, as if putting a name to the face she saw everywhere she went, but never got to really see anymore, would make her sister be happy to see her. Of course she wasn't. Why would she be? Too much to ask didn't begin to cover it now. But their eyes did meet. Rio: They locked, and for one perfect second, she saw her sister mirror her, freezing them both in this moment, together, like they had been from the start; because you can't just erase 16 years worth of memories, and love and themness you just can't, fuck you Drew Goldsmith, you aren't worth it. He wasn't worth it. And that was what killed the other girl the most, she knew it, she knew it so intrinsically that it fucking killed her too. She'd give anything to have her 'real' Dad be a noble Prince, like the stories she'd weaved when they were both little, unable to be with her because he was off saving the world. But that wasn't the truth. The truth was shit. The truth was killing Edie. But just like that, the moment was gone, and so was she. A flash of blonde hair, by the time Rio was out the door, the street was empty, just drunken revelers and other stupid, waste of space people who just weren't her sister. She could feel the tears falling, pathetic, all her reactions, her body, her mind, every fucking thing 'cos she was breaking, were again out of her control, propelling her away, out of sight of the bouncer's and their 'you alright rio?'s', to the river's edge.* Buster: *He followed her instinctively 'cause it was all he could do, they'd let him down up to the point of bursting out of the club doors into the night and there was less of a guarantee again that they'd lead him any closer to where Rio was than they done with Edie at the bar. He couldn't make anyone stay, not his little sister or his other, the twin who was meant to be bound tighter to him than anyone else. Who the fuck did he think he was? He'd need to be a better man than this not to fuck his kid over just like Edie's cunt of a bio dad the way things were going with Chlo, but here he was squaring off and ready to swear down he could save his cousin from something none of them could properly fight. Fucking hell. He should turn back, queue up for his coat and piss off out of all this, but he was stubborn enough despite the every failing to still take being a cocky cunt over a coward. To believe himself important enough to not only keep up with the girl's mad dash but to overtake, stop her from whatever it was she was about to do before she managed it. He wasn't dealing with Nancy or Edie now. This was Rio and each bouncer nodding the way, laughing him on, made it sound like she was about to chuck herself in the river. Normally he'd never believe such bullshit but tonight couldn't be less standard. He'd already seen his missing cousin drinking a few punters down with his own eyes like she hadn't been months gone and every step he took closer to where the other, who wanted to vanish, was added to how fucking surreal the night had become. His arms were bare and goosebumped past his t-shirt sleeves but he didn't feel it or much of anything else. No wonder he loomed up beside the water as a ghost in expensive jeans. What was there to say or do? He was grabbing chances he wasn't owed after fucking up the first so hard and fast, burning through luck and bravado even quicker by getting here and standing useless once he had. None of this is about you, pussy. He shook his head against the dark. Going one further and calling himself a limp dick snapped himself out of it for a second. All he needed to take a shot.* Let me take you home. Rio: *She was on the rails, literally. Precarious though she weren't close to being pissed, all too unbearably sober, numbing more than the drink or narcotics ever could, feet dangling above the Liffey. She weren't usually the type of silly melodramatic bitch to note, much less run towards, parallels; but wobbling between the 'safety' of the old familiar street and the freezing relative danger of the water below, well, it felt apt. Rio groaned out loud, shaking her head with no room for self-pity, forcing a bitter laugh at herself between her hiccoughing sobs. As if she wasn't showing herself up enough (but who gave a fuck about point-scoring with Buster McKenna at this point?) she snorted, turning round to look at him, incredulous.* Where?! *She laughed again, shaking her head over and over, really going in for the hysterical fucking bitch bit, Christ. Rio jumped off the rails, faltering on a loose cobble before righting herself, at least having enough dignity left to not look like a total suicide case in front of him.* No, nah, no. I don't want to go Home. I can't. Any better offers, McKenna? *She raised a challenging brow, standing up straight, hand on hip and a seductive smirk, lips quivering as she tried not to shiver and show how freezing she was. This was about all she was good for, everyone knew that.* Buster: *Buster knew it was a piss poor offer as he made it. Fucked to be honest that he was the one making it, though yeah, (Cocky cunt alert number 2) he was near glad when she spoke up herself. There was no challenge in offering her somewhere else to go. It was what he was good for. One of the only things on a night playing out this way like. He always had cash to splash and the amount of euros his wallet held opened doors in the city that didn't have skeletons stuffed into the corners of them. Enough of all this spooky shit. Jump scares were for little kids and neither of them had the luxury of that now. He was about to be a dad and Rio had been mothering everyone for years past. He was basically the only one she didn't try and pull that shit with, even Nance got it. Doing his job for him, wasn't she? He didn't take the bait from the inner voice, too busy trying not to rise to hers. It would've been easy to fall in line, wear a smirk and use it too, keeping it big enough to push everything else aside. Talk shit loud enough to smother what he didn't know how to say, or if it was even on him to say it. Buster lied to himself for that second, all he could manage as he got closer and finally stepped up right. Let her think it was about Chlo if she wanted, he'd happily pretend that far. He wasn't going to brag about knowing better this time, she definitely didn't need to hear that now. He took a deep breath, ready for this fight, but what proved to be easy was what he did next, acting on what he felt instead, giving her what warm he had as he wrapped his arms around her. Maybe she'd take her turn at running away from it herself, that was a chance he had no choice but to take.* Rio: *For one moment, Rio truly thought Buster was going to go there, at last. The place they'd been circling around for a while now, enjoying the flickering heat of the flames licking at their heels, dancing on the line without letting themselves ever be consumed by the sin, playing a deadly game of chicken, knowing if either lost, they both were. And there would be no coming back. Given over to whatever this was. And she was ready. In that same moment, where everything else in life felt fucked or lost forever too, why not? Why the fuck not. Do it. A final childish game before things got real, a dare in the form of pushing herself hard against him as he enveloped her. But nothing. As if he was telling her in no certain terms that all she was good for was another warm body, something to hold just to take heat from, in the most basal sense, not heat as in fucking passion or anything else worthwhile. A surrogate coat on a cold night. Fuck you. 'As if I have anything left to give now! And to you of all people, you've got enough, fuck you!' She wanted to scream at him 'til he understood but she knew he still wouldn't. No one did. The only thing she was good for, taking 'care' of people, (in whatever sense you fancied, that was the other's prerogative always, of course), she'd failed at so catastrophically that she couldn't ever be that person again. For better AND worse. She had wanted him to give her the chance, to at least try in THAT way, but no, couldn't even do that right, could he? Could they? No. It was sick and she was alone in the sickness. She pushed away, as hard as she could, giving him a look that conveyed a tiny fraction of what she felt, dignified stalking off being out of the question when he knew she had nowhere to go.* Buster: Fuck's sake. *It's muttered at himself as much as it is her. More. This whole night's been a failed mission from the start, lost to him long before he'd sent the text that dragged her into it. Why the hell did he ever reckon he could change any of this? There wasn't no running from his baby mama bullshit and it didn't edge anywhere near to the PAIN she was feeling. He wasn't his sister he couldn't mold any of this blackness into an artsy print ready to be hung onto the wall in triumph of beating it. He couldn't even make it something Rio'd be able to bear looking at. Beaten down, he breathed out. The absence of coat pockets to dig into for another temporary distraction stung worse than the cold. The absence of her close by. Being in the same city again, for once, meaning fuck all in how far away she'd become to him. His side. There'd never been a bigger division between him and his cousin. He'd lost a sister too, yeah but the only years between them had been time she was gone, dulling the fact he'd ever been anything other than just a twin. There'd never even been minutes. Goodbyes coming after. He told himself that's why he'd kept it that way with Nance too, that it was how he knew dealing with what wasn't golden, but it wasn't that. He'd been too pussy to try, knowing there was nothing he could give the girl that she was after. Same as now. Everything offered came too late and that caused him shame he wanted fuck all to do with and less of a clue how regardless. He shrugged, that pretense happening before it could be stopped, a bitter taste rising up in the same moment as the lie. Poetic. Maybe his sister could have lived for this, trapping Rio's look in her mind's eye, captured in a kind of mental gilt frame, where it deserved to be, but all he had the option to do was push it aside, break away. Buster started walking, slow enough that it was clear she was meant to follow. (She had to know he'd had more distance tonight than he could swallow, engulfed as she was, didn't she?) He couldn't chance a luck back if he didn't want to stumble harder than he already had, so he lets the words drag her along. If she's coming.* Lost society it is then. *It's a joke that barely is but fuck it, it's all he's got.* Rio: *The temptation to stay behind just as another fuck you to him, was easily overridden by how much she didn't fancy standing around on a Dublin street corner on her own, barely dressed, mostly cloaked in the shadows of the ominous dark. Known as she was in this town, she wasn't known for being a fucking fool, at least. Lets both pretend that's the only reason, she thought; meeting his shrug with hers to attempt to say as much without the need for words she didn't have energy for right now; catching up to him easily enough, despite the height working in his favour, this night had clearly floored him enough too to keep them on a more level pegging. She tried to meet his gaze, as if, if she could, she'd be able to work out why. Why he cared. She knew they were family, a relatively close one at that but Buster... Hadn't he attempted to distance himself from them almost as much as Edie was now? Hmm. A simple and sure 'no' sounded somewhere deep within her; instinct. He'd been playing at it, sure, but it seemed as if he was faltering under the pressure tonight, slipping, as unsure of every step and word as she was. Edie could have that effect. Vaguely endearing but also, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Somehow, she still had room for that. What a mess. And not his. She should let him go and drink about it, 'til he had enough bravado back in him to 'forget' about it, get his mask back up. The shit club coming into view, Rio hung back, just out of the doorway.* I won't get in any way... *She opened up her coat enough to show him, and only him (hopefully), her tiny PJs underneath. She waved him away, some attempt at a polite small smile fading before it began, pondering what she could do now. Hope Indie was still asleep and she could drink, a lot, 'home' all alone. Sounded pathetic and apt as anything could be right now.* Enjoy yourself with the other lost souls, like, McKenna. Buster: *For a minute he was set to smirk, near genuine 'cause he'd seen girls hitting the club in less and worse both, but it didn't come. Or the shock of seeing Edie, and dealing with it, hadn't hit him hard enough still to let it. He was a lot of things, all bad when he was on that hype, but still not fool enough to wholeheartedly reckon it was anything to do with the clothes on Rio's back. There was a wad of cash in his back pocket saying different, but as soon as he thought that he turned away from it, refusing to buy the girl's way into somewhere she didn't want to be. Not lost enough yet, clearly. Buster could've frozen out there waiting for her to admit it, and might've on a different night, but almost immediately had a better idea. He shook his head, forming it in the rejection of taking his cousin back to his. Fuck that. His parents weren't the sort to head to bed early, all slippers and hot cocoa, they could still be up and in the home office for all he knew. It was just as likely they'd flown off somewhere, doing something that hadn't registered to him when they'd announced it like, but he wasn't up for taking that risk. It was a big of a no to him as it would be to Rio. * New plan. *He turned on his heel, pulling her along by her coat sleeve before she could decide she wasn't down for that either. A hotel was on the cards, like it or not, twin beds or separate suites, and whatever else it'd take to get her over that threshold to stay. The mini bar was calling his name and no amount of denials would have had him believing otherwise about her. It was in her eyes, so apparent in that brief glimpse that it would've hurt a weaker man to look at her. Meanwhile his eyes and eyebrows rise in the challenge, daring her to bullshit him with a no, however she found it. * Rio: *She didn't shout out the obligatory 'Oi!' when pulling back her sleeve sharpish, instead settling for another look that could/was intended to kill. As much as she didn't appreciate his gesture, she'd appreciate a have-a-go-hero getting involved less. The night was already on a downer, like, no need to be owing favours to a self-proclaimed 'nice guy' and apologies to her Auntie and Uncle for fucking up their golden boy's face. She'd have to sate herself with that mental image of black eyes and bloody nose outta joint for now. It was just one of those nights. Full of 'what ifs' and 'imagines'. Nothing real, nothing worthwhile. Wasn't exactly McKenna's fault, he'd got her out here on a false promise, yeah, but it was a call she would have answered from anyone, any time and anywhere, so- Hey ho. Back to scanning every crowd, going down every alley and talking to all the wrong people, in the vain hope it'd somehow mean she'd come back. Truth was, the truth they were all struggling to keep down, Edie didn't want to come back, didn't want to be with them anymore, or be Edie McKenna. And no amount of searching, hoping and praying was gonna change that. It had to be her that called it, part of Rio, a big part, wanted to respect that, it made sense after all but...It was so fucking hard to let her go. Again, she'd console herself by saying at least her sister knew they cared, that they still wanted her, needed her. She couldn't bring herself to give her any more space than Edie had already put between them, sorry, but no more baby girl. Realizing she'd been following, so lamely and obedient, in complete silence, for too long, Rio tried to be present, force herself into the here and now 'cos there was no going back, and no way forward as of yet so- here they were. Like it or not, (and they'd pretend the jury was still out on that for old time's sake), they were spending the night together one way or another. On a normal night, she'd have at least told him to fuck off but as silently agreed, it was not a normal night. She settled for shaking her head, letting out an exaggerated sigh.* Need to get you a better girlfriend, McKenna. Get you off my dick, like. You're obsessed. *She blew a kiss, fake it 'til you make it always, making a point to stride out ahead of him.

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