2007-03-30: Maybe Someday

Starring:

Cass_icon.gif Lachlan_icon.gif

Summary: Lachlan climbs the fire escape again, this time to engage in some good old-fashioned serenading. Apologies and explanations are made and Cass cries.

Date It Happened: March 30, 2007

Maybe Someday


Cass' Apartment, Brooklyn

Despite plans to inventory the store, that kind of got put on hold after the excitement and attempted robbery from the night before. Cass stayed at the store until she sobered up and then came home to try and forget the events of the previous night. As well as stave off a headache. Dressed more for comfort than anything else, she's wearing cut off jeans and an old band t-shirt that she just pulled on to get out of her bar clothes. Now comfortable, she's made herself some tea, and settled down on her couch with the blanket draped over her eyes to keep out the light. What a day.

And it's about to get a whole lot better. It's a lot easier to scurry up a fire escape when one is sober (though in true Lachlan-fashion, the Scotsman's tipped back one or two drinks before coming here), but thankfully his intentions are not to break in this time. Nope. Lachlan Deatley has a Mission, and it involves a guitar. Once he's scrambled up to the window he knows belongs to Cass, he settles down cross-legged in front of it, draws his guitar around from behind his back, and settles in. A few quiet plucks at the strings orients himself and, glancing above and below to make sure there aren't any evil neighbors lying in wait to attack him, he starts strumming out the introduction to The Cure's "Maybe Someday".

With her mug of tea warming on her stomach and a blanket over her face, Cass is really enjoying her spot on the couch. It's nice and comfortable right there and it's not like she has anything to do. In fact, she may just stay there all day like that. Only getting up to make more tea. If she decides that tea is really necessary to existence. And then, the sound of music comes from nearby. Must be the neighbors. Though she never knew the neighbors to like The Cure. Nor play the guitar. As the intro continues and she picks up on the tune, she starts to hum along. Oh well, she can at least enjoy one the acoustic version of one of her favorite bands.

It's a good lengthy introduction which isn't /really/ as impressive as it could be on electric guitar with drums and a bass to back him up, but Lachlan's pretty good at learning by ear and he's not bad at all. Once he reaches the start of the verse, he cocks back his head and starts to sing: "No I won't do it again, I don't want to pretend. If it can't be like before I've got to let it end. I don't want what I was, I had a change of head, but maybe someday … yeah maybe someday." He's got a good baritone voice, though the song is in the higher part of his range.

It's true. The acoustic version of the song is not quite as powerful as the full out electric one. But it's played well enough and Cass has to get props to her neighbor for learning the guitar so fast since she never heard her play before. Of course, now that she thinks about it, the sound isn't coming so much from the hallway and the wall as it's coming from the window. Which is weird. By the time that Lachlan's voice kicks in, she's decided that it might not be her neighbor. But if it's not, then who is it? And, then, she has her answer. It only takes a line or two before Cass recognizes Lachlan's voice and she sits up quite suddenly, the blanket sliding to the floor and her tea spilling all over her. Swearing, she turns toward the window - still blocked by the curtains. Yes. It's definitely coming from behind those curtains. Oh dear. Putting her mug down on the coffee table, she stares at the fabric as if trying to decide whether she really wants to walk over there.

Unaware of the tea incident he's caused within the apartment, Lachlan continues on after a brief musical interlude: "I've got to let it go and leave it gone. Just walk away, stop it going on. Get too scared to jump if I wait too long, but maybe someday, yeah, I'll see you smile as you call my name. Start to feel, and it feels the same, and I know that maybe someday's come, maybe someday's come again." He doesn't seem perturbed that the window hasn't opened yet. Nope. He's got a /whole/ repertoire of songs; he'll be here all night if he has to.

Frowning, Cass almost /glares/ at the curtains. Damn him. Damn him and his guitar and his singing. It's one of her /weaknesses/. Standing up, she grabs her mug to go put in the sink. Then, she goes for another shirt since the one she has on is soaked and will probably stain if she leaves it. She will try to block out this display. Grabbing a tank top, she quickly changes before coming back out of the room and looking moodily back toward the window.

"So tell me someday's come, tell me someday's come again." There's another interlude and the music picks up in intensity before segueing into the next verse: "No I won't do it some more, doesn't make any sense. If it can't be like it was, I've got to let it rest. I don't want what I did, I had a change of tense, but maybe some— "

"HEY BUDDY, GIVE IT A REST!"

A voice from above is apparently not enjoying the performance much, and Lachlan pauses to rock back on his buttocks to holler back: "OY, shut yer bloody PIEHOLE, 'M TRYIN' ta get m'GIRL BACK!" Grumblegrumble.

Almost as if she can't help it, Cass finds herself drawn to the window, leaning up against the wall right next to it as she listens to Lachlan's song. Her neighbor yelling at him actually makes her laugh and just then, she realizes that she can't just ignore him sitting out there singing. Her neighbors will kill her for one thing. It only takes a repositioning of herself and she's right in front of the window. Scooping the fabric to the side, there she stands staring at Lachlan sitting on her fire escape.

"WELL MAYBE SHE TOSSED YOU OUT BECAUSE YOU'RE ANNOYING."

"PISS OFF!"

More grumbling ensues and Lachlan glares down at his guitar to pick up where he left off: "I don't want what I did, I had a change of tense, but m— " And oh, hey, there's a Cass staring at him through the window. He beams at her with a winning grin and keeps right on trucking: "— but maybe someday, yeah. I'll see you smile as you call my name. Start to feel, and it feels the same, and I know that maybe someday's come, maybe someday's come."

Cass raises an eyebrow at Lachlan when he continues with his song and yells at her neighbors. It even makes her give him a chuckle…something she hasn't since that night at the bar. Flipping open the lock on the top of the window, she pulls it open. She's not /supposed/ to be smiling at Lachlan, so she lets it fade and goes back to her trusty raised eyebrow expression. That one will work. "Lachlan, you're upsetting my neighbors."

"If I could do it again maybe just once more, think I could make it work like I did it before. If I could try it out, if I could just be sure that maybe someday is the last time …" Lachlan tapers off into just acoustics as he continues to grin broadly back at Cass. "Tha's b'cause they're bloody daft gits tha' dunna know good music when they hear it," he remarks chipperly. Hee hee, he got her to open the window! And she was /smiling/. He /saw/ it. "'Course, I'd no' be botherin' 'em s'much if ye'd lemme in."

For the record, Cass only opened the window because it's less productive to yell through glass. And there was no smiling. None. He saw nothing! The raised eyebrow turns into a full out frown. "I don't think that's a good idea." Last time he was in her apartment, he was so drunk and then so hungover that he couldn't pick himself up from the carpet.

/Pout/. "Why no'? 'Ve got somethin' ta tell ye." It would be a lie to say that he hasn't been drinking, but it was only a few drinks and he's hardly drunk — indeed, he's not even classifiable as 'tipsy', really. Lachlan glances upward in the direction of the disgruntled neighbor before adding, "'F ye wanna see me get hauled away b'cause yer neighbors called the cops on me …" he trails off meaningfully. Somehow, letting him into the apartment strikes him as a better idea than leaving him out here to get arrested for disturbing the peace.

"Is it like the last time you had something to tell me?" Cass retorts a little bitterly. She's unable to tell if he's been drinking. It's probable that the thought hasn't even occurred to her. "That's not being fair," she grimaces at him. As much as she's angry at him, she doesn't want him arrested. Not right now. As satisfying as that would be for her. Such conflicting emotion. "Gah!" Throwing her hands up at him, she turns away from the window huffily, but she doesn't shut it behind her. It's not really in an invitation, but it's not her telling him to get lost completely.

Lachlan frowns a little more at the bitter retort, but he perks up again almost immediately when Cass appears to give in. He swings the guitar over his back and moves to open the window a little wider so that he might crawl in. "Ye'll love it," he promises as he slides into the apartment, then pauses to consider the window before closing it decisively. Hmm. Yes. He'll leave by the front door again if he has to. Then, beaming, he turns to face Cass … 's back. "Was down atta pub, a'righ'? An' I was knockin' back a few when a girl came up an' started comin' onta me, y'know?" You know how those /pub girls/ are. The more he tells of this story, the broader his grin grows. "An' she was /really/ interested, I tell ye. Bough' 'er a drink an' started talkin' ta 'er … but then I stopped an' I though' o' ye, an' I tol' 'er, 'Canna do this, I've already got a girl'. An' then I walked out!" At the end of the tale, he's positively /beaming/. Oh, Lachlan is so proud of hisself.

"Right," Cass replies to the statement of 'she'll love it'. There's only so far she can walk in her small apartment before she has to turn around again. When she does so, she's in the kitchen and with her arms folded in front of her. It's much like how she was standing when he came in to apologize that first morning of damage control. The story doesn't seem to impress Cass all that much. "Wow. That's great Lachlan." Her voice is dry and just a tad sarcastic. "You managed to accomplish what people are /supposed/ to do when you date someone. In fact, most of the time it's /required/. After the fact." She can't understand why he looks so happy about this.

Huh. See, in his mind, this is the part where Cass smiled and was so proud of him for Just Saying No. Being met with such coldness didn't factor into Lachlan's idea of How This Would Work, and so his grin turns into a somewhat hurt, somewhat confused frown. This is a Big Thing for him; normally, he doesn't /say/ "canna do this, I've already got a girl" (obviously). "Though' ye'd be happy," he mumbles, crossing his arms over his chest and slouching just a bit. "S'no' somethin' I'm used ta doin'." Yeesh. She gets mad when he /doesn't/ say "no", she gets grumbly when he /does/. There's no pleasing Cass.

Poor Lachlan and his fantasy world. Cass sighs at the sad puppy dog face that he does so well. The one that makes her want to just wrap him up in a big hug and kiss it away. "Happy?" There is still this disconnect there. While she can guess now that he may have some problem saying no to pretty girls, that doesn't really make her feel that much better. "I don't understand you /at all/. I can /see/ that it's something you're not used to saying no to. I /really/ liked you and you were just sleeping with other girls without a care in the world. How am I supposed to take that?"

Well, uh. Hmm. Lachlan falls silent for a few moments as he contemplates this question. It's one of those questions that often breaks his brain because it requires /empathy/, and he doesn't usually /feel/ empathy. So. Just how /is/ Cass supposed to take that? After some consideration, he decides that the question is too hard and, as he often did in school, he skips it entirely and rolls his shoulders in an uncomfortable manner. "Look," he grunts, "I already said tha' wha' I did was stupid, a'righ'? Wasna thinkin'. 'M no' … /used/ ta havin' a girl. When ye found out in the Den, I'd already figured tha' wha' I was doin' was wrong an' I was gonna stop." He spreads his hands out to the sides. "An' I've stopped. 'M no' gonna do it again." His arms cross once more and he sighs. "Dinna wanna hurt ye, Cass, I really dinna wanna hurt ye. An' I really like ye. A lot."

All this talk and the apologies and everything is really starting to crack Cass' armor. She hasn't talked to anyone about what happened. The closest she came was with Nima and Lee at their apartment when they were talking about Ramon. "Well, you did," she says softly. And then, without any sort of warning, she's crying. It's not sobbing or gasping or anything of the like, it's simply tears falling quietly down her cheeks. Quickly, she starts to rub them away with the back of her arm in an angry sort of way. This is not what she wanted to do. She /doesn't/ cry. Especially in front of the men that hurt her. "Dammit."

The last time Lachlan made someone cry, it was a druggy who discovered that he didn't possess enough money to cover the cost of a few soma pills. This was last week. This? This is about five thousand times worse, because it's /Cass/. The Scotsman swallows hard and seems to wither a bit in the face of such emotion. "'M sorry," he responds in a small voice. Wow. If he didn't feel like something stuck to the bottom of someone's boot /before/, he's got more than enough reason /now/. After a moment's pause, he starts forward as though to embrace her, hesitates, fidgets a bit uncertainly, then decides to complete the journey and settles for placing a hand on her shoulder. There's a hug there if she wants it, but he's not sure if she /does/. "Can we try again, mebbe?"

When Lachlan puts a hand on her shoulder, Cass just automatically leans forward for that hug. It's not even something she planned. It's like her body rebelling against rational thought. Oh, she desperately wants this whole thing to go away and go back to the way it was, but she's not sure she can. The tears continue to fall, but she doesn't actively try to rub them away any more. No no, they'll just wet Lachlan's shirt as she presses her cheek against it. She has no answer for him yet. "I don't know," she replies honestly. But she's not letting go yet, either.

Oh, okay, so she wanted a hug. Sorta. So Cass gets a firm, snug embrace that's fumbled a bit when the guitar decides to swing around toward Lachlan's front and he has to elbow it back into place. Stupid instrument. He ducks his head to bury his face into her hair and sighs. "'M really sorry," he reiterates. Maybe he can't apologize enough, or maybe he figures it'll help speed along a decision. He doesn't know. It just seemed the thing to say.

It's not apologies that's going to speed up Cass' decision. It's not something she can come to in the span of a few minutes. Especially with Lachlan there confusing her so much. Closing her eyes, she remains with her arms wrapped around him and her cheek smooshed up against his chest. "I know," she sighs. Because she does know that he's sorry. He's proved that, at least. As for the other stuff…well, that's going to take some working through to see if she'll be able to see past it.

Clunk. Clank. Clunk. The guitar will not stop being a nuisance. Lachlan does his very best to ignore it for several long, silent seconds, but the strap is somehow twisted wrong thanks to the embrace, and the thing keeps insisting on attempting to be a part of the sobby, huggy, emotional event. When it becomes too unbearable for his elbow, he grumbles out a complaint — "Bloody— !" — and draws away from Cass long enough to completely strip the guitar off and toss it on the couch. Stupid thing. Then he goes back to hugging, if that's allowed, but he says nothing more. He can't think of anything else.

The guitar is really what snaps Cass out of this huggy emotional event. As soon as Lachlan pulls away to put it down and comes to rejoin her, she's a bit more closed off. The crying has stopped and she's rubbed off the salty residue off of her cheeks, but she doesn't go back to hugging quite yet. There's a bit of a smile, though, for the whole situation dealing with the guitar and that she's no longer quite so bitter about the past events. "I should really get back to dealing with my hangover."

Stupid guitar, ruining everything. Well, except the part where it got him /into/ the apartment; he didn't actually have to force the window open this time. Lachlan nods and clears his throat, scrubbing over his nose, chin, and mouth before placing his hands on his hips with a sharp exhale of air. "Righ'." A pause as his usual brain starts to peek through and he smirks. "Y'know, I could help with tha'," he chuckles suggestively, grinning — but it's a joking sort of expression. He doesn't really /mean/ it — for once. He's just full of firsts tonight, isn't he? In a more serious tone, he adds, "Can I get ye anythin'? Rub yer feet? Rub yer back?"

The joke is actually well received. Cass gives a weak laugh and shakes her head to the offers. "No. Thank you." However, they're all pretty thoughtful and once again, her body overrides her mind and she leans forward to give him an awkward kiss. It's really just a brushing of lips and she's still got her arms crossed in front of her. As soon as she's back on her flat feet, she shakes her head and gives him a stern look. "That doesn't mean anything."

Yeah, right. This is Lachlan — the man who believes that anything but a strict 'no' is some sort of invitation. He really doesn't believe Cass' last statement and blinks once or twice before smirking and shaking his head. "Sure, fine, wha'ever." Yeah, no. Totally doesn't buy it. But he won't press it either. Instead, he turns to pick up his guitar and slings it over his shoulder. "'Ll see ye later, then, ba— Cass." And with that, he starts for the door.

But it was an awkward almost kiss! Not even a real one! Cass frowns at the smirk. She doesn't like it. It means he doesn't believe her. When it really was just a moment of weakness. "Maybe you will," she replies, letting him open the door for himself. "Thanks for the song."

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