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Cupid's Last
Of Stories and Suspicions
November.I
It was when the crows scattered from his feet that Old Man Hino knew that his sweet (hell-raising), kind (slightly abusive), and most of all gentle (...) granddaughter was afoot. Sure enough, within seconds, Raye Harrington came around the side of the building with a broom, her chosen weapon of combat, in her hand and a hellfire determination encasing her aura. When she narrowed her mother's violet eyes in her grandfather's direction, Ryu Hino could've sworn that somewhere on the spiritual plane, whatever guardians he had were just singed to death.
He smiled. Raye scowled.
"Where. is. he?" She hissed, approaching him.
"Well, hello to you too, my darling granddaughter." Ryu called out jovially with a spastic wave of his arm. He wiggled his eyebrows conspiratorially. "Hehehe. Looking for your darling lover boy, eh eh?"
A harisen magically appeared in his lovely granddaughter's hand and promptly proceeded to reduce his brain cell population.
"Honestly gramps," Raye Harrington said exasperatedly as the old man rubbed the sore spot on his balding head. "Quit that dumb joke. It's disgusting."
"Hehehe." Ryu laughed. "I can't help it Raye." He mock-complained. "After seeing you two in the bath-tub together the other day, I just figured perhaps you both had come right out and admitted your dying attraction to each other. HeheheheOWWW!"
Ryu was still laughing despite Raye's inflictions as her face turned beet red at the 'incident' a few days ago when Jason 'accidentally' fell into the window of the bathhouse...where Raye was conveniently enjoying a previously relaxing bath.
"That was humiliating Gramps!" Raye declared at the man who swung the door open just after Jason fell into the tub with her, yelling something about people finally leaving the temple.
"Calm down Raye!" Ryu insisted, still smiling.
"No!" Yelled Raye. "He's an absolute nuisance to this place! No discipline! Always running his mouth and all he does is check out every girl that comes to the temple."
"Hmm." Ryu stroked his little beard thoughtfully then suddenly shrugged. "Well, it's always worked well for me, hehehe ok ok!" He shouted with a laugh as Raye raised the harisen once more.
"Ugh." Raye rolled her eyes, trying so hard to remember that she loved this man. "Grandpa, just tell me where the idiot is so I can beat him up instead of you. The pipes in the basement need to be checked on."
"Haha. I'm sure he's off somewhere avoiding you." Ryu remarked before tossing back seeds to the crows that had returned to his feet. Raye glowered but stopped short as she saw her grandfather's calming disposition. He closed his eyes before casting them to the sky. "He's not so bad, you know." He said suddenly to Raye, not looking directly at her.
Raye scoffed. "Somehow, I sincerely doubt that."
Ryu chuckled in that old grandfatherly way that reminded Raye that he was, indeed, the kind and understanding man that raised her with his own two hands. "Don't be so quick to judge, Raye," He admonished lightly with a small smile on his wrinkled features. "There's a lot more to him than meets the eye."
Raye couldn't help herself. She smirked. "Like what?"
Her grandfather paused, eyes gazing beyond the blue November sky that descended upon them. He turned to his granddaughter, an enigmatic smile on his face. "You'll see soon enough."
Raye frowned in confusion as, with another smile and a pat on her hand, Ryu turned to leave, heading back towards his room. "He's at the front of the temple." He called out behind him. "Jason, I mean. I asked him to trim some of the trees at the entrance that I couldn't reach."
Raye's eyes immediately softened. "Grandpa! You know we hired him so that you wouldn't have to do any of the work that strains you."
"Haha. I know." Ryu said in reply, waving off her concern. "But I'll be fine. If you want to see him, he should be at the front." He called out just before turning the corner of the patio.
Raye stood there for a while, contemplating her grandfather's words before she went off to the front of the temple, a bit of her fiery anger dissipating slightly…
"OW!"
…that is, until she turned a corner, slammed into Jason Exuro, making him promptly drop his hedge-trimmer on her toes.
"You jackass!"
The accusation hit Jason from two different directions and yet both had that same, screeching sound quality that haunted his dreams…and apparently his waking hours as well. A hand came down on his shoulder and made him do an about-face, making him come face-to-face with a pair of glinting hazel eyes that bore through his very soul. "Where the hell do you think you're going!" The young woman with red hair screamed into his face. "I wasn't finished."
"All the more reason for me to walk away." Raye looked up from rubbing her foot at the icy sneer she almost couldn't believe was coming out to his mouth. She caught sight of his profile from her point of view. Baby blue eyes that she often saw ogling the young women that came to the temple had hardened to steel as they bore themselves against the woman in front of him. Jason's face had grown taut in barely-repressed annoyance and…was that anger Raye saw? The air crackled with tension ready to pop as Jason continued, voice laced with resentment, "You ought to recognize the gesture, right Anne?" Nope, Raye wasn't mistaken. Jason Exuro, handyman extraordinaire, was pissed.
The woman named Anne blushed a red that matched her hair and pursed her lips together before saying, hesitatingly, "Jase-"
"Get out of here, Anne." Jason said, disgust uncontained as he visibly sneered down at the woman. "I don't want to have anything to do with you, least of all the rest of the assholes you're reminding me of, so get the fuck out of here."
Raye's eyes widened as her mouth visibly opened, agape at the cursing that Jason had not exerted since his arrival at the temple, let alone the intensity that he said it with against the stranger. Anne, the woman Jason was speaking so harshly to, apparently shared her feelings, raising her hurt eyes to him…and then to beyond him – at Raye. Almost immediately, Raye felt herself stiffen as she saw the suspicion aimed at her until Jason's back came into her view. Raye blinked. Jason had just moved to cover her from Anne's gaze. For what reason, she didn't know, but it gave her the oddest sensation of being…protected?
"I said get out of here Anne." Jason was repeating now, shoulders tight. "I don't want to have anything to do with you and you can report that to them verbatim, too." With that, he did a turnabout, his back to Anne and faced Raye squarely. Raye wondered haphazardly if this man was the same idiot who her grandfather hired months ago. His face was the same in some aspects, but his eyes were harder than the happy azure ones that appraised beautiful female bodies, his posture was like that of a soldier from battle than the laid-back style of the stumbling moron she chased after with a broom regularly. Her eyes met his before a beat passed, and they continued to hold each other's gaze even as Anne's voice carried,
"I'll leave now, Jason." She said in a manner that made Raye think she was crying. "I'm sorry for everything." She paused. "I hope you'll believe me one day...even if you don't forgive me."
Raye felt hypnotized in place as a pair of arms encircled Jason's waist from behind him. She would later realize dumbly that Anne was hugging him even as Jason stood in place, his form as rigid as she'd ever seen. At the moment it happened, though, Raye didn't process the action as much as the details of the moment: Like how a flash of pain so intense flashed across Jason's face in that passing moment that Anne's arms tried to pull her closer to him, like the sun's rays flashing prisms of light his and Raye's faces from the ring that sparkled on Anne's left ring finger…And how one of Jason's hands hovered over one of hers on his chest before she abruptly pulled away just before he could touch her, his hand just catching the imprint left on his shirt by her fingers as she walked back to the chauffeured car at the foot of the temple…
…Yet…his gaze never left hers.
"Anne and I dated for four years." Jason suddenly said, never missing a beat as he grabbed another wrench and went back to the pipes at hand. If he saw the shocked expression on Raye's face, he didn't show it, instead going on with his story, "I'm twenty-two, in case you forgot." He chirped matter-of-factly.
Raye's eyes widened against for probably the tenth time today, this time at the fact that his man wasn't as great of a womanizer or asshole as she had perceived. Between the completely new and strange side of Jason she witnessed only half an hour ago and now in the basement of the temple in the presence of some very rusty pipes as Jason unfurled his story to Raye for some god-forsaken reason, all Raye could think about were her grandfather's words: "There's a lot more to him than meets the eye." How strange to think that he had only uttered those words mere minutes before Jason proved them true. Raye's eyes narrowed. Strangely coincidental indeed…
"…boring you that much, huh?" Raye snapped up at Jason's teasing voice. His face was back to that joviality that rivaled her grandfather's, even if his eyes were struggling to catch up.
"Uh, no!" Raye quickly protested, realizing with a degree of shame that she had just been diving into her own thoughts as Jason was opening himself to her for the first time since he was hired in July. He only smiled a small smile that didn't quite reach past his cheeks and Raye felt compelled to defend herself. "I'm sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts for a moment."
Jason laughed a little. "It's fine." He shrugged exaggeratedly. "I'm just trying to share a bit of my life with someone who's passed a bad judgment on me just because she doesn't know me very well." He smirked jokingly. "That's all."
Raye narrowed her eyes at the sarcasm but couldn't help smiling either. "My judgment on you isn't that bad."
"Oh, really?" Jason said in mock-shock. "So you always refer to people you like as 'asinine perverts?'" He said the words with meticulous accuracy. "Man, I'd hate to hear what you say about people you don't like."
Raye's jaw dropped as she pointed an accusing finger at him. "You were eavesdropping!"
"It's not really eavesdropping," Jason said wryly, turning his wrench once more. "If you're proclaiming it loudly and angrily to the world." Raye winced with slight embarrassment and Jason only laughed again, a happy sound that she wouldn't have been able to easily associate with the angry man that stood at the front of the temple earlier.
"It's fine," He assured her with a lopsided grin. "My reports on you haven't been very positive either, which," He hastened to add, wondering how she managed to hide that broom on her person or if she always had them strategically located throughout the temple just in case she needed to bash someone. "Is why one of my friends suggested that I try talking to you instead of running away from you."
"Smart friend." Raye muttered and Jason beamed.
"Yeah, he is." He agreed with a snicker. "Even if he hasn't gotten laid in a while."
Raye scoffed in slight disgust and threw a rag at his face to emphasize her feelings. "Your maturity never ceases to amaze me." She declared scornfully.
"Thanks." He quipped. "I figure if I keep it up, I'll still be cracking fart jokes like your gramps at his age."
Raye shuddered as she sat at the steps of the basement and propped an elbow at her knee and cupped her face in her hand. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that and just ask you to continue your story."
"What is it about girls and their need for drama?"
"Other people's dramas make ours seem more tolerable." Raye stated bluntly. "And as riveting as the prospect of hearing your fart jokes is, I'd prefer an explanation of what just took place." Jason laughed and Raye prodded him, "What happened between you and Anne?"
Jason stopped laughing and Raye watched as the tension crept back to his shoulders at the mention of her name. "Well," He began tentatively, "A while ago, I finally got it into my head that, after years of dating and caring for another person, why shouldn't I propose?"
"…"
Outside, crows scattered to the four winds as a shrieking, "WHAT?" emanated from the depths of the temple basement. Serena smiled and accepted the offered sandwich Darien held out for her as she crouched by a small basement window at the side of the temple that was propped open, allowing her and her partner in matchmaking to listen in to the exchange between the only undeveloped couple, which was actually developing quite nicely now.
"Talking instead of running away." Serena smiled.
Darien smirked
"Nice advice."
"I try."
"It worked." She grinned wickedly suddenly. "Now about this lack of getting laid trait of yours…"
Jason thought he heard someone shriek somewhere on the outside, but it might've been just an echo from Raye's outburst. The girl was still sitting there, mouth wide open in shock, violet eyes a big as saucers.
"Do I really not look like the settling-down type?" He asked.
"NO!" Was the reply at burst from Raye's mouth.
"Your confidence in my skills as a spouse is overwhelming." He said dryly at her, showing that the insult wasn't as hurtful as his words may have implied. "And, for your information, she said yes, naturally." Jason said flippantly, continuing as though this wasn't the greatest revelation that Raye had ever come across. He shifted his position and Raye caught sight of the face, a faraway smile loaded with nostalgia on his face. She suddenly thought of Anne and the way the air had crackled in the exchange she had managed to witness. She wondered how long Jason and Anne were arguing as Raye and her grandfather were discussing their live-in handyman. Her eyes narrowed again in thought…"You'll see soon enough." What…?
"She was wearing a ring." Raye found herself blurting randomly, away from her own train of thought abruptly. Jason had turned around to face her, surprised.
"I didn't think you had noticed it."
Raye nodded that she, had, in fact noticed it. Her eyes softened a little before her head titled one way as she peered at him. "It's not the one you gave her, is it?"
Jason's eyebrows lifted in shock, his lips turned up in amusement. "And how would you figure that?"
"Well," Raye said thoughtfully and slowly. "For one thing, you guys definitely don't look like you're together anymore," Jason snorted that the fact was pretty obvious. "And…it wasn't your style."
"My style?"
"The ring." Raye prompted. "It was too gaudy. A minimalist guy like you wouldn't have gotten something so extravagant."
"That's a pretty presumptuous declaration coming from a girl who's screamed nothing but obscenities at me for the last months." Jason smirked and Raye had the decency to blush a little.
"Touché." She acquiesced. "But you haven't corrected me, have you?" Raye pointed out.
Jason nodded, and then turned his gaze to the rest of the pipes and a couple of gauges, eyes looking for anything wrong. "True." He said finally, turning back to look at her and leaning against the wall behind him. "She took off my ring right when she put on someone else's."
There was another pause in the conversation before Raye mustered up the courage to ask, "…Who's is it?"
"My brother's." He caught the look on her face and grinned in a valiant attempt to not seem bitter. "Enough drama to make your life look better yet?"
Darien leaned back on the wall as he listened in on the conversation, pride welling up in him at how Jason was recounting the situation that occurred months ago that had brought his blonde friend so much trouble and pain.
"…He's come a long way." He turned to the source of the whispered statement and found Serena smiling with the same amount of pride he felt towards his best friend. He nodded, thinking of the vision of drunkenness that was Jason who Nevan and Keith had hauled into his apartment months ago...and remembering that it was Serena who stood in his doorway, Zeke's arm around her shoulder as she watched Nev and Keith lay Jason's hammered body on Darien's couch, eyes red-rimmed, biting her bottom lip in an effort to not cry in their presence…
Then he found himself thinking of all of his friends, and realized, then said aloud,
"We all have."
"…Life got really shitty afterwards." Jason went on, surprising himself by how much he was sharing with the girl beside him. He had moved from the pipes to her side, realizing that this was the closest he had ever gotten to her without her trashing his brain. It made him smile a little. "I went through all the fun stages of grief even though no one had died; only walked away from me hand-in-hand with my brother Alan. No one else seemed to mind, though." He added as an afterthought. Raye looked at him like he was crazy.
"No one minded that your brother had stolen your fiancé?"
Jason shook his head. "Aside from me and my friends, who were obviously biased, no one saw anything wrong with it. Our families didn't see the problem with things since it was still an Exuro-Trenton wedding, even if the groom had been changed."
Raye didn't bite back her repulsion. "That's disgusting."
He shrugged, his nonchalance, like his flippant attitude, not quite reaching his eyes. "It was business. Of course," He went on, a slight grimace forming on his features. "The aftermath wasn't very pretty. I got-" He suddenly laughed. "In the words of my friend's aunt, 'disgracefully bloody drunk,'" He continued in a British accent, making Raye raise her eyebrow and smile nonetheless. "And then I went on one of those sprees that just basically ask for you to get kicked out on the streets. So, my family finally did, kick me out, I mean," He clarified. "And, now, four months later, I'm here, with you, in a basement with a lot of leaky pipes that I just fixed, telling you my life story."
He smiled at the end of it as he watched her take things in, as the facts arranged themselves in her pretty little head. With a grin he leaned in and she turned to look at him, still dazed.
"Guess you'll think twice before smacking me next time, huh?" He teased. As if by reflex, Raye raised a hand, ready to strike, but found herself suddenly holding back, surprising herself but obviously not Jason, who stared forward at her with a knowing smile that made her…
SNAP. SNAP.
Jason blinked. Raye blinked. Two pairs of eyes looked up the stairs just in time to see Old Man Hino in all his glory, tapping at a digital camera in his hands as he reviewed the new pictures he had just taken. His wrinkled mouth turned into a wide, semi-evil grin.
"How cute!" He guffawed. "Something to share with the great-grandkids! HAHAHAHAH-"
"Old man…" Jason began warningly, hearing a growling noise somewhere next to him. He had a feeling it was Raye, despite, or maybe because of the ferocity of the sound.
"-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-"
"…RUN!" With a cloud of dust behind him, Ryu Hino took off, just in time for his red-faced granddaughter to come bounding up the basement stairs, still laughing his crazy little head off as she chased him around the temple in a blind rage.
"Well," Serena said happily. "I believe our work here is done." She cast a glance at Darien. "Although, I'm still in shock that Jason was that willing to tell things to a complete stranger-"
"Albeit the one he's been living with for the past couple of months?" Darien retorted. He then smiled and shrugged, holding out a helmet for Serena to take. "It's a therapeutic thing."
Serena looked at him dumbly. "Say what?"
Darien grinned and hopped on his motorcycle, parked at the bottom of the steps. "Sometimes," He explained. "It's easier to let things out to someone who's a stranger to you, who's just willing to listen instead of talking back to, or talking with." He paused, eyes thoughtful. "It's like therapy." Darien suddenly smirked. "Although, I'm sure it helped that his therapist was Raye."
"Bleh." Darien laughed at the face Serena made as she adjusted the helmet. "Sounds like something straight out of one of his fantasies."
Darien laughed uproariously and threw up the kickstand with his foot, revving the engine to life.
Jason laughed as he emerged from the basement, watching the two run around the front of the temple. His tentative smile faded, however, as his eyes settled on a familiar motorcycle that was revving up at the foot of the temple. Jason's memory recalled that not only had he seen that bike before several times in fact, but also that it had been parked at the front of the temple at the same time Anne's chauffeured car was. Baby blue eyes narrowed in definite suspicion as a pair of blonde pigtails blew in the wind like a tell-tale flag from back of the motorcycle owned by his best friend that had encouraged him to share his life with Raye Harrington in the first place…
"…the hell?
chickay: Whew! Would you believe that I had part of this story written up from like six months ago? Seriously, no lie. I get like small bits and pieces of the scenes I want to write and then...it takes about another four months at least for me to figure out how the hell it fits into the story. but FEAR NOT, my dear readers, with your support, and my new living space (I've had to move to the middle of nowhere) I will be shipping out a new chapter of CL and probably MAMC soon...that is, if I can ever get someone to hook up their computer so I can get out Chapter 23 of MAMC out of their harddrive and finish it. ::twitch::
posted: 6/19/07
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edited: 8/17/09
edited: 10/24/09
