The Run

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

Wes shrugged.

If she didn't care why should he? Slowly he floated around the pool, taking in a breath and dunking his head underwater just to float there for a few moments. He tried to center himself, almost meditating. He thought about what they would have to do, how they would run, even what he would try when they got there.

His skills were such that he could apply them almost everywhere, and in his addled state of mind he began to imagine all sorts of things.

Copying not just paintings, but far more.

Datacrons, Holocrons, all sorts of famous items that could easily see him be made richer beyond his wildest dreams. It was an appealing prospect, a very appealing one.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

World spun a little still but the water cradled her securely enough. Eventually she found herself at the shallow end of the pool. Face dipped so only her eyes were peeking above the surface of the water. She watched Wes for a moment. He seemed a little dreamy. But most like that was just the drugs, taking off those harsh edges and making her more than a little loopy.

Girl sigh ensues.

Blinking, her face slowly sinks beneath the surface entirely.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

Eventually Wes managed to find his way to one of the stone benches that rimmed the pool, his back pressing against the cool marble as he let his head tip towards the sky.

As Alexia had done just moments before he focused on the stars above.

It was difficult, mostly because his vision was still playing tricks on him and everything seemed to be swirling about, but a part of him was still able to make out most of the shapes. With his mind he traced lines through the stars, painting the constellations that were familiar enough to him. Empress Teta wasn't too far from Coruscant, but the latter was so bright that you could hardly make out any of the stars anyway.

Still, Wes tried.

He glanced towards Alexia once or twice, peering towards her near naked form.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

Arms expanded and pulled her through the water. She saw Wes' dangling ankles beneath the surface. A giggle beneath the surface as she swam closer and closer, thinking she was being extremely stealthy.

Drugs did that to a person, warped their perception.

HA.

With one more push beneath the surface, her fingers latched around Wes' ankles and she tugged, hoping to pull him off that bench.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

She did succeed, though perhaps not in the way she wanted to.

The surface of the bench was quite slippery, so when Alexia pulled at him he couldn't help but 'fall' towards her in a way, but the issue was that Wes hadn't been wearing pants, or underwear, since he'd gotten in the pool a few minutes ago.

So when Alexia pulled him beneath the surface of the water, she would of course come directly face to face with...

Yeah.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She got a face full of...wow. Whoopsies. She quickly resurfaced. And sputtered. And blinked. And sputtered some more.

"Holy feth. Feth." She hadn't really been looking before. Plus Wes had been mostly covered by the water. And it was dark. And she was drugged and drunk. But really, there was no escaping THAT.

"Feth," she repeated, staring at Wes' face this time.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

His face held a blank expression.

"Yeah." Wes said simply. "Yeah."

He repeated.

The Forger was trying really hard to hide the smirk that was growing on his face, but with every single passing second that was getting harder and harder. It didn't help that her reaction was objectively quite hilarious, and he couldn't help but think that she was maybe, just maybe, going a little bit over the top.

"Pretty stars though, right?" He asked with a grin.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

Hand went through the water, splashing him lightly in the face. "Yeah. Nice stars," voice was dry as she tried to keep back laughter. She went to splash him again.

"Wes. Wes. Wes," she was clearly drunk and high. "Can we be friends? I mean for real. So for real. Please. Pleasepleaseplease?"

She looked up at him with puppy dog blue drunk eyes.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

"Errr." Wes didn't really have any friends. There were a few folk back on Nar Shaddaa, but he wouldn't really call any of them friends. Jarba was there, but the Hutt was more of a father figure in an odd way than anything else.

Nar Shaddaa wasn't the best place for friendship.

"I guess." Just what that meant? He had no idea. "I'm not a good friend though."

Mostly because he had no idea what it even entailed.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She frowned.

"I guess???" Hands came down on his shoulders as she floated in front of him. They were about on the same level in the water since she pulled him from his perch. "WesWesWesWeb," she broke into a fit of giggles for a second before her face grew serious again. "Wes. I am being serious. Sosososososo serious. I haven't had friends in forEVER. Not since the circus," apparently she had loose lips when she was drunk and high too. Also, she never would've asked him this question sober. NEVER.

Whoopsies.

"We'll be good friends. Kay? We'll never lie to each other. We'll have each other's backs. What else?" Fingers tapped against his shoulders as her face crinkled in thought. "What else?"

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

Wes still wasn't really one for friends, or not lying. Lying was what he did. He'd lied to his mother, he'd lied to Jarba, he'd lied to...well pretty much everyone he'd ever met. In the short time that they had known one another Wes had told more lies to Alexia that she had ever told that Senator she'd ripped off.

He frowned. "Sure."

In all honesty he wasn't really sure what else to say, mostly because...well what the hell was he supposed to say? They were going to be spending a lot time together regardless, and unlike Alexia Wes didn't become a barrel full of truth after a few drinks and some spice.

He was even more paranoid than usually in fact.

Probably not a good sign.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

Lower lips puffed out into a pout. "Sure? That's it? No more conditions for what you want a friend ship to mean?" Fingers tapped against his shoulders before she pushed away from him.

"Okaaaaay."


"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay."

She began back-stroking to the steps.

"Going once...."

Head popped up to look at him as she found the steps and began climbing out.

"Going twice? Sure you don't want to add anything?"

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

He glanced down. "Well."

The water rippled a bit, but what lay beneath was still more than a little obvious. The Forger was already rather forward in his normal state, but with the combination of drugs and half a dozen other things he hardly cared about repeating things once more, not now anyway.

"I can think of one thing." He told her, reaching out and catching her. "Maybe a few more."

Water splashed between them.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She squealed as he reached out and slammed into his chest. She was already halfway out of the water as he dragged her and pulled her back in. Woooooh, a little headspin. Arms looped around the back of his neck.

"Yeah?" Dark-brows lofted. "What's that? And Wes Spalding," she chided gently. "You have to like me a little bit to be my friend. You know that, right?"

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

His hand came between them, settling on her belly before slowly sliding higher.

"I like you." That wasn't exactly a lie. Such things were beyond ordinarily difficult for Wes. When it came to certain people, he simply tended not to have an opinion about them at all. For most he held outright disdain, but for some? Well for some it wasn't there. "More than most."

He added the disclaimer.

As far as people went, Alexia most definitely wasn't the worst he'd ever met, and he certainly didn't want to screw her over.

If he did he would've left her behind already.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She stared at his hand for a moment as if she wasn't even there. It was more of the drugs, making her feel loopy and numb more than normal. But the thing was? Wes' touch left goosebumps wherever it trailed. She'd blame it on the water if he made a comment about it later.

She might not even remember it later.

Legs wrapped around his torso, wet hair drifted down and stuck to and covered her chest. "You'd better," finger tapped lightly against his nose. "Because I don't think this is what friends do." And there it was. Even drunk and drugged, she wanted to believe in something more. She wanted a friend. No, needed it. She just hoped, Wes didn't screw this up and hurt her more than she'd already been hurt by men like him before.

"Promise you won't treat me like those other girls? Those ones that came to your bed even though they were married and left. Or the ones that came because they were enamored by your painting and you chased them away. Promise? And don't lie. Please don't lie."

Woooo. Head was still spinning a little.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

That last part was almost impossible for him.

Lying to Wes was second nature. It was as much of a communication method as normal conversation was. He had grown up lying, and...it was the only thing he knew how to do. There wasn't really a way around it, no one would ever receive the whole truth from him. Even if his mother returned from the grave, even if she asked him for the whole truth, she would not receive it.

He had no way of telling Alexia this, not in his drug addled mind.

So instead, he just kissed her, his hand floating to the curves of her chest as his other arm pulled her close.

He might have promised her, had he thought himself capable of keeping his word.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She kissed him back and held him close. There was a vulnerability and longing in her kisses, nothing she would've been so careless to let go if she'd been in her right mind. It was sloppy too. But she became lost in his breath, lips, and touch. The warm water lapped between them and she felt like she'd never get enough. Couldn't get enough.

Until there was a blinding light. Head jerked back and she squinted into the white, though hugging close to Wes because she was becoming more aware that she was nude from the waist up.

"Oy. You two! Get outta there right now. Pool is closed. RIGHT NOW!" The maintenance man swore something about bloody tourists.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Alexia Santiago"]

"Listen." Wes half turned, noticeably taking Alexia with him since she was clinging to him.

His gaze fell on the light, one hand coming up to block against it while the other lingered on the curve of Alexia's chest.

"I need some alone time wif my wife." Wes slurred. The maintenance man was about to say something, but then Wes pointed towards his pant which had been deposited on the floor a little earlier, at the same time his fingers flexed against Alexia's chest.

He couldn't help himself.

"Why don't you take some credits..." The Forger offered. "And we'll be out of here in an hour."

For a moment the Maintenance man hesitated...then wandered over to where Wes pointed. He picked up his pants, and the stolen wallet, then took out two hundred credits before slowly walking away.

 

[Alexia Santiago]

[member="Wes Spalding"]

She barely kept the snort in before the maintenance man left. Face leaned forward, burying into the crook of Wes' neck. Shoulders trembled as she laughed. Lips pressed against the forger's neck. The man would definitely have a hicky there when she was through. Would probably have to wear a hipster scarf to cover it if he didn't want it showing.

"Well, my DEAR husband," she snorted at the joke and pulled back to look at Wes' glazed eyes, much like her own. And yet, she was starting to think clearer now. "We should go. Before we really get in trouble."

She went to smack his hand away from her chest.