Scraps - Trouble in Paradise

“Sometimes she just drives me up a damn wall, you know?” I muttered and ran my thumb around the rim of the long neck bottle in my hand. “And what makes it worse is that everyone loves her! It's not like I can say a negative thing about Alex at all. She's miss fucking sunshine, right?”

I sighed and ran a hand through my long, auburn locks before letting my head fall back against the cool, marble of Lilah’s tombstone. To be honest, I had no idea where else to go after the fight Alex and I had. As I had mentioned to the ghost of my ex-lover, Alex was rarely ever seen as the villain, therefore whatever happened must have been my fault and that meant no one would listen to my plight. Or so I assumed. 

“God forbid she actually and authentically fucks up for once,” I muttered and brought the bottle to my lips for a long, slow sip. “I know that I can be moody and confrontational and, yeah, a little petty sometimes. That doesn't mean I don't have a leg to stand on though!”

The lack of response from Lilah only fueled the irritation I had for my girlfriend. It was almost as if Lilah was silently siding with Alex, even in death. Shouldn't expect much more from her. They were besties after all. It's not like I could ever get Lilah against Alex in life, what made me think I could do it now? I scoffed at this absolutely ridiculous response and drank a little more from the microbrew in my hand. 

“Mm,” I hummed as my lips popped from the bottle. “You know what's really ridiculous?” I asked Lilah with a look over my shoulder, as if I were looking at her and not just the chunk of stone that represented her now. “That I thought drinking in a cemetery would be a good idea. After nightfall, mind you,” I reminded her and lifted the beer to my lips before quickly adding, “and in the middle of a fight with my girlfriend, to boot. Yeah. I'm real smart, Lilah, my dear.”

After another swig I sat there and thought to myself quietly. I really am a ridiculous person, aren't I? What am I even doing here? I groaned and looked up at the twinkling stars dotting across the sky. After a long moment I let out a defeated sigh and hung my head. Guess I'll have to just go back and duke it out with her already. Won't get over any quicker by sitting here… 

With one more exasperated sigh, I set the bottle next to Lilah’s headstone and stood up with a slap to my thighs. This whole relationship dispute thing wasn't going to solve itself, after all. Knowing Alex she would wanna go three or four rounds before settling anything too. It was best to just jump into that and get it over with already. 

“I guess I'll let you know how it goes if I survive.” I uttered a humorless laugh, shook my head, and ran a frustrated hand through my hair again. “Who knows. Maybe she is right…”

The chill of the night air slipped under the back of my shirt, leaving a crawling sensation up my spine. It got me shivering with an uncomfortable yelp just before I shot Lilah a nasty look. I knew that was her, she couldn't fool me. 

“Okay, maybe not,” I growled and tugged my shirt down past my jeans hard. “But you don't need to be like that. I can take a hint.”

“Can you?”

I whipped around at the sound of Alex's voice to see her trudging up the hill toward me with her hands in her pockets. That cocky grin Alex wore was enough for me to cross my arms and turn my face away with a quick, petulant hum off my lips. If she thinks she's gonna come up here with that cute smile and those eyes to try and get on my good side, she has another thing coming. I nodded in agreement to my own thoughts and set my jaw, just waiting for Alex to say something that I could disagree with. 

“Look, I'll just skip the bullshit,” Alex began with a heavy sigh. “I owe you an apology.”

“You can say that again,” I muttered in a cold voice and refused to meet her eyes. 

Alex let out a defeated sigh. “Marley, I'm trying here. Will you let me, please?”

The rigid steel in my posture gave at this plea. I let my arms drop slowly before letting out my own sigh in response. It wasn't like I even wanted to fight with Alex, really. I just didn't know what else you were supposed to do when you disagreed with someone you were dating. 

“I know I said some things that weren't very nice and I'm sorry.” From the corner of my eye I could see Alex shake her head and kick the grass lightly. “I shouldn't have said any of that to you.”

I shrugged lamely and looked over at her before speaking very quietly. “I mean… me neither.”

“That may be true,” Alex replied with a tiny smile, “but it's my time to grovel. You can wait your turn.”

“Fair enough,” I said with another shrug off my shoulders. 

Alex bit her lip and stared right into my eyes. She had this intense way of staring at me that made me feel like she was really looking through me. I always believed it was impossible to hide anything from Alex when she looked at me like that. As a long term liar, that gaze always had me shuffling uncomfortably. 

“I'm sure some people wouldn't really care that much, but I do.” Alex rubbed the back of her neck and averted her eyes from me suddenly. As if she were ashamed of something. “I never want anyone to talk to you like that. Never want anyone to treat you like that. It doesn't matter if it's a house fire or,” Alex laughed and shook her head before meeting my gaze again, “you know, throwing out the spoiled milk.”

I laughed and shook my head with a quick, “Yeah,” under my breath. 

“I don't want to hold myself to a lower standard. That's all I'm saying,” Alex said and pushed the hair out of my face, her soft smile resurfacing. “You're the love of my life, Marley. You deserve the absolute best and nothing less. And I'm gonna do my best to be that from now on.”

I searched Alex's eyes and bit my lip, feeling myself give in to her intense gaze even if my stubborn pride didn’t want me to. “Okay.”

Alex breathed out a sigh of relief and finished tucking the strand of my hair between her fingers behind my ear. “Okay.”

“So, um, what happens now?” I asked in a subdued voice before looking up at her from under my lashes.

“First things first,” Alex said and leaned down to pluck my empty bottle out of the grass. “Fucking litter bug.”

“What?” I asked, outrage boiling up in me at Alex’s accusation. “She wanted some!” 

Alex waved the bottle in my face so I could hear the few drops left smacking against the sides. “I doubt Lilah wanted your empty bottle of beer, Marley. Besides, the girl preferred craft ciders. You know that.”

“Yeah, well, fair,” I remarked with a frown and crossed my arms again, instantly going on the defensive. “But I forgot. I've been in an emotional state.”

“Is that what we're calling it?” Alex asked with a quirk of her brow, a fresh grin unfurling on her lips as she spoke. 

“It's better than saying I was pissed off at you,” I shot back with a hard stare.

Alex seemed to consider this for a moment before she nodded her head, completely unfazed by my glaring eyes. “The former does have a much better ring to it.”

“It does,” I agreed with my own nod and gave up the mean girl attitude.

“Well,” Alex drawled and threw her free arm around my shoulders before pulling me flush to her side. “You do have a way with your words, Marley Denning,” she said in a low husk, that infectious smile devilish now. 

I hummed and watched her lips move as she spoke, really feeling disarmed from my previously bitchy demeanor. Damn her. Distracting woman. Has to use flattery on me. And that voice. And, fuck… I covertly rubbed my thighs together so that Alex wouldn't notice and let out a wistful sigh. 

Alex, seeming to sense my shift in mood, chuckled lightly and kissed the top of my head before muttering into my hair. “Ready to head home?”

“God,” I breathed out. “I thought you would never ask.”

I hate fighting with her so much. It fucking sucks. I stole one more glance at my sexy girlfriend and grinned. Make up sex is so gonna be worth it though. 

*****

Okay, so that was a random idea that turned out much better than I expected, if I'm being completely honest. I've been thinking more about these scraps lately and how much I love them to cleanse my palette for my bigger projects but honestly I can get pretty drained for inspiration on it sometimes. Between that and having a couple conversations on Twitter, I want to give you the opportunity to give me some ideas for scraps you want to see; basically any idea that could be turned into a 3-7 page scene involving any of my pre-existing characters. If I really like it, I'll write it and give you a shout out when it's posted. Pretty win, win if you ask me. So either leave a comment here, send me a message on Patreon or hit me up on Twitter (@colrite) with all your amazing ideas!