Living In Entropy – L.I.E. – 02.02 – Rooms

            “She is most absolutely cute.”  Shane said, tossing back a drink as she sat with Tina, Dana, Alice, and Tonya at a local strip club for women.  The room was pounding with music and Tina was sitting in her chair, her arms crossed and she was miserable.

            “Guys, can we go home?”  Tina asked she’d been vegging on Alice‘s couch for two weeks now, watching soap opera’s and eating cheese curls.  She was in no mood for this, she wanted to go home curl up on the couch, and see if Maggie finally told Bianca that she was in love with her.  Then she saw her, the tall dark skinned woman from the other side of the room, Bette.  Then Tina shook her head and cleared her alcohol-tainted vision no not Bette, but she did look a ***** of a lot like her.

            “Did you guys see the new bartender at Radar?  Her name is Vanessa, blonde, blue eyes, tattoos, eyebrow ring I think I saw a tongue ring in there too….”  Whistled Shane with a glint in her eyes, and they laughed at her face that roguish grin on her lips as she thought of the fresh meat at the Planet and Radar.  She was very much on the prowl as of late, even forgoing work for a good *****. 

            Shane saw Tina staring at the Bette look like and she got up and went over to the woman, slipping her a few bucks and motioning to Tina.  Tina‘s heart sank to her knees as she saw the woman she even moved like Bette.

            The dark woman walked over sexily to Tina her hips swaying back and forth as she approached her and Tina waved her hand and shook her head.

            “No.”  She said and crossed her arms again the woman leaned down and whispered something in her ear.  The table laughing and Tina relented she knew if she didn’t go into the back room with this woman, that she’d never hear the end of it.

*****

            Alice stared at Dana and Tonya, her mind filled with some sort of turmoil.  It wasn’t just about the kiss either it was what the kiss had stirred inside of her.  Tina had been right, this plan had been dumb and after having retrieved Shane from the police station, Dana had said one sentence to her.

            “It never happened.”  Therefore Alice had pretended that it hadn’t happened, but she was still getting married to the cat killer.  She had to get her to realize it was wrong, just darn right wrong.  This woman was no good for her, she was poison she’d killed Mr. P.

            “Al, Al?  Where are you man you are spacing on me.”  Shane said as Alice‘s eyes were fixated on Tonya kissing Dana.  Alice snapped back to reality and looked at Shane, blinking her dark eyes and meeting Shane‘s.  “Al come outside with me man.”  Shane said and she stood, pulling Alice with her, wrapping her long fingers around Alice‘s wrist.  She led Alice outside into the cool air, and Alice wondered what Shane‘s problem was.

            Other than the fact that Shane was now always tweaked, if she wasn’t high, she was drunk.  If she wasn’t drunk, she was ***** someone who was.  Shane had moved in with Jenny about a week before, and had been on a mission to ***** everyone and anyone she could.  Then every night at Milk, or Radar she would look around for the mysterious cop that had bailed her out.  She’d learned that the cop had paid 2 thousand dollars worth of her parking tickets.  Then to top it off the desk sergeant hadn’t given her the woman’s name.  All she knew was Pez. 

            “Look, Al I know the last two weeks have been kinna rough on you with Tina living with you and all.  There is something is bugging you man so tell me what’s up?”  Shane asked and Alice looked at the girl she’d found on the streets a few years ago, she’d been beaten and the jaded LA born and bread Alice had felt something when she’d seen Shane. 

            Alice had taken in Shane helped her get on her feet and off the drugs at least the constant drugs.  Now here she was tweaking and snorting like the days of old.

            “I am trying to figure out a way to make Dana not marry Tonya you know kick her to the curb man.  Like you all made me do with Gabby, Tonya is HER Gabby!  I kissed her on the night you got arrested, and she ignored it like it hadn’t happened.”  Alice said simply and Shane groaned, she shuffled from foot to foot and said in her most tender of voices.

            “Alice, you are going to have to let Dana make her own mistakes, you can’t always protect everyone you know.”

            “Then what the ***** good is having a best friend if no one listens to me?”  Alice asked throwing her hands up and watching as two very attractive women walked by them and looked them over like they were a piece of meat.  Alice scoffed and turned to Shane, who was shrugging.

            “Man, I’m telling you she’s gonna hate you if you do something outrageous Al.”

            “I’d rather she hate me than marry the Cat Killer!”

*****

            Bette was slowly packing a bag she was off to New York for the CAC, and they were after a new artist.  Her name was Crystal, no last name, simply Crystal.  Bette remembered her from a few years ago, before 9/11 had turned their worlds up side down.  Now she’d reemerged, and she was hotter than ever and the word on the art street was she was looking for a museum to show all of her art.  A full show of Crystal, and it was worth the fight.  Mocca and everyone else on the planet was opting after her, but this was the first meeting that she’d taken. 

            Bette looked over to the picture of Tina that sat on the bedside table and she sighed.  They hadn’t talked yet, Alice having been playing the middleman, poor Alice.  Bette had gotten papers served yesterday that Tina wanted to dissolve their civil union, and she was fighting for half the house. 

            Bette wasn’t putting up much a fight either way; she had lost her will to fight.  A shadow of the driven Bette Porter that everyone once knew.  She just wanted to succeed at work, and then she’d work on something else, something more.  She heard the car she’d booked pull into the driveway and she headed out, leaving the memories behind.  This trip was going to do her some good, she was sure of it.

*****

            Jenny heard the knock on the door she didn’t look up from what she was doing she was zoning on what she was writing; Abraxis had once again invaded her mind.  It was no longer about lies; Abraxis sang to her, it was about choosing, about who she truly wanted. 

            “Come in.”  She said absently she didn’t turn, she presumed it was Tim or Robin.  She’d seen little of Gene in the last few weeks she assumed that he figured it wasn’t worth it.  She heard the footsteps and she knew it wasn’t either of them.

            “Hello Jenny.”  Marina‘s thickly accented voice came drifting like sweet honey to her ears and she turned quickly seeing Marina standing in the shed.  She looked a bit haggard, tired but she smiled as Jenny turned to her.

            “Hello Marina.”  Was all that Jenny could muster out of her, she was suddenly in chaos.  Marina could always undo her so masterfully with just the timbre of her voice.

            “How have you been?”  Marina asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down close enough for Jenny to smell her alluring perfume.  Jenny blinked, perhaps she was dreaming.  “You are not dreaming Jenny I got tired of waiting for you, and so I came to you instead.”  Marina stated and Jenny blinked again, she was to taken back to say a word, so she didn’t.  “I came by to tell you Jenny that I’m leaving, I have to leave to take care of my father who is ill.  Kit is going to buy out the Planet, I won’t be coming back.  Unless of course there is something to come back too.”  Marina said simply and she lay a card down, it had numerous numbers written on it, and an email.

            “When you figure out what you want Jenny, you call or write and tell me exactly what that is.”  Marina stated, and she walked out of the shed and out of Jenny‘s life.

*****

            Two nights later, they were all gathered at Radar, Kit had a band playing, and they were all in high spirits.  Kit was comfortable with this new part of her life she and Ivan were still seeing one another, even though they were all wondering just what their future held.

            “So the lawyer I hired said I should move back into the house, because possession is 9/10ths of the law.  How the ***** can I live in the same house as Bette.  That is totally insane.”  Tina was saying as Shane got up and said.

            “I think it’s crazy, but if you want to punish her, it’s the best way to do it.  Let her watch you move on with your life and if you feel the need to be that petty…”  Shane said she shrugged and walked over to the bar, leaving them with the hanging statement.

            “She’s in a ***** mood.”  Alice said and Dana laughed, she was looking everywhere for Tonya and she hadn’t shown up yet.  Alice was saying a silent prayer that she never did show up.  That she just disappeared from their lives, poof gone.  Like some sort of magic trick that all those Vegas magicians did.

            “Carmen got all cold on her well I think Shane did the cold thing first.  Carmen wants a relationship, and you know Shane….”  Dana said rolling her eyes as Alice snorted at the comment.  Yes they all knew Shane some more than others.

            “Yeah well Carmen fucked Jenny at the party the other night, so I don’t know what is going on just that Shane is in a ***** wicked mood as of late.”  Alice chimed in, just as Jenny sat down with them they welcomed her, and her new look.  Shane was molding her into a vixen, she’d cut her hair and she’d dressed her too.  Jenny actually looked hot.

            “Hi Jenny.”  Tina said she was in a good mood, she’d met Helena Peabody today, and she was hatching a plan to make Bette jealous with envy.  They’d met at the sperm bank of all places.  Tina had wanted to withdraw Marcus‘ sperm, but Bette had put a stop to it with a court order *****.  Helena had spoken with her for a while and had given her, her number.  She’d made Tina promise to call her she might have a way for her to get pregnant after all.

            “Hello Tina.”  Jenny said with a smile as she surveyed the crowd, looking very much like Marina when she’d been on the hunt.

*****

            “Hi Vanessa.”  Shane said the empty bar loomed in front of Vanessa, as she wiped it down almost done her shift for the night.  She was rather glad her feet were killing her.  She smiled in Shane‘s direction and went over to her.

            “What can I get Shane tonight?”  Vanessa asked laying on the charm, her New York accent virtually gone now having been in LA for three years.  She loved it here New York had lost its charm when she’d turned 18.

            “You if you are on the menu.”  Shane said cutting to the chase and Vanessa smiled impishly and she leaned over the bar, doing what she’d seen her sister do once to someone, she’d liked.  She whispered softly into their ear, letting her lower lip caress the outer edge of her ear lobe and she said.

            “Shane, I’m straight.”  Shane shot back, grabbing the edge of the bar and looked her over she made a comical face and then said.

            “Man I have to get that looked at.”  Vanessa didn’t understand then Shane laughed, winking at her.  “My *****-dar, must be in the fritz.  You had me fooled, from the get go, fooled I tell you.”  Shane quipped and Vanessa laughed hard, she grabbed two shot glasses and poured two shots of tequila and said.

“          You have to keep my secret I get more tips if I’m *****.”  Vanessa explained and Shane nodded, raising her glass and toasting the petite blonde and they both tossed the glasses back and Shane said.

            “To being *****.”

            “To being a *****.”

*****

            “Hello?”  Bette said, entering the dark brownstone the door having been opened, just like she’d said it would be.  It had been a mysterious way to set up a meeting, but then Bette was willing to do anything, ANYTHING to nail down this account.  “Crystal?”  Bette asked the dark room and then she heard a soft chuckle and the woman whom she’d only spoken on the phone with came from the shadows.

            “Evening.”  She said her voice tainted with a Bronx accent and Bette saw her eyes first, they seemed to glow in the darkness, the palest blue she’d ever seen in her life.  The woman stepped forward she was taller than Bette by at least 2 inches.  She wore a perfectly cut suit, tailor made she was sure.  She had pale skin, and the blue eyes off set that in a way Bette couldn’t explain she was hypnotized by her and she couldn’t talk.

            “Bette Porter I assume.”  She said and Bette finally snapped out of the fog she was in, and she reached out and shook her hands, they were warm to the touch and the skin was utterly baby smooth.  An easy smile came to Bette‘s lips as she stepped closer to her.  A scent drifted to her nose, and Bette had no idea what it was, but she never wanted to stop smelling it.

            “Y-y-y-yes.”  Bette stammered she was completely demolished by this woman, and she’d only met her 25 seconds ago.  Bette took a deep breath and the woman smiled at her.

            “Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly.”  Crystal said and she took Bette‘s hand again leading her to a set of stairs into her studio.  She wasted not a moment, not a movement as she walked down the stairs flipping on a few lights as she led Bette along the wide staircase.

            “Oh my god.”  Bette said she was deluged with paintings at every flicker of the eye and the woman nodded knowing how breathtaking it must have been to see it all for the first time.

            “You never stopped painting did you?  You just went into hiding, literally.”  Bette said, forgetting her manners just overwhelmed by the vibrant colors and hues that mesmerized her.  The woman smiled her full lips pulling back to show the white of her teeth and Bette blinked, forcing herself not to stare.  The woman was ***** and Bette was taken with her, and with her artwork.  Bette slowly started to make her way around the room, looking at every single painting as if it were a child, something to be revered. 

            An hour later Crystal was serving Bette freshly backed raspberry pie and tea in the far corner of the studio.  There was a cot in the corner, and a small stove and refrigerator also.  It was almost as if she’d been living there instead of just working in the basement.

            “I have to ask what is that perfume?”  Bette asked and the woman laughed very softly.  She added some sugar to her tea and then said with the smallest of smiles.

            “Something my lover bought me it is called Xuvia.  Very expensive and on what she makes or made it was something extravagant and I’ve worn it ever since.  Over 5 thousand dollars for a little over an ounce.”  Crystal explained and Bette whistled she took a fork full of the pie and smiled at the sweet taste.

            “I haven’t had this in so long, it is my favorite, but the raspberries in California are just not east coast raspberries.”  She said and Crystal stared at her a luscious creature.  She’d waited a long time to contact a museum about her work and when she’d heard about how Bette had handled the Provocations series she’d known she’d found her place, and the woman she wanted to direct her ‘coming’ out party.

            “Are you going to tell me why you dropped out of existence?”  Bette asked quietly, hoping she wasn’t pushing her luck with the elusive Crystal.  The woman said nothing at first, sizing up Bette Porter with a practiced eye.

            “Only if you tell me something about yourself.”  The blue-eyed woman said and Bette nodded quickly, and then she almost regretted it.  “You first.”  Crystal said, leaning back and sipping the tea from the large dark crimson cup and Bette shrugged.

            “All right, I’ll ask a direct question.  How did you get into this, the art world?”  Crystal asked, and Bette leaned back, thinking that was an easy question.

            “I love the way each person is different, and descriptive in their art.  They have this bubbling passion that cannot and will not be contained.  They trudge through the world, looking at it differently, and always seeking out that one thing that will inspire them and force them to see the world in yet a dissimilar light as before.”  Bette said her own passion for art shining through and Crystal nodded.

            “My lover was hurt in an unfortunate accident and she had to leave or so she said.  There was no one on this green and blue earth that could replace her.  She was not only my muse, she was my life breath, and when she left she took it away from me.  I have only recently begun to work again what you saw is 6 months worth of work.  I rarely sleep I’ve thrown myself into this work, this world of reality.”  Crystal watched as Bette‘s eyes fogged over, and then a tear appeared on her dark perfectly smooth skin and Crystal quickly reached for it, taking it on her finger and putting it to her mouth.  She tasted the salty sorrow in them.

            “I’m sorry.  I, my, my wife and I recently split up.”  Bette said instantly thinking of Tina, how she missed her body next to hers.  Her words of support she was the dumbest woman that walked the earth, Bette thought for having betrayed her that way.

            “I do know that feeling.  Tell me what happened?”  Crystal asked, she now had her hooked, Bette Porter was hooked and she was going to slowly and methodically reel her in.

*****

            Shane walked back to the table leaving Vanessa to clean up and Tonya, who’d finally made her appearance, asked in a sugary voice that must have tasted bitter Shane thought.

            “Did the stud get turned down?”  Shane narrowed her eyes and then glanced at Dana, then to Alice whose eyes were glued to Dana.  Oh man Alice, stop it.  She’s going to marry Tonya you’ll never changer her mind.

            “Yeah she’s attached.”  Shane lied and the lie sounded totally natural as Shane sat down.  Leaning back in the chair and smiling, smiling at the thought of a straight woman working at Radar.  One night alone wasn’t going to kill her, was it?

            Alex Pezinni walked into the bar she held her helmet in her hand and the old worn leather jacket fit her perfectly as she walked to the bar with easy long strides.  She smiled as she sat on a stool letting the helmet sit on the bar.

            “Hello there stranger, I missed you this morning.”  Alex said to Vanessa and Vanessa turned around and leaned over the bar and kissed her cheek.  She was so happy to see Alex smiling it had been over two years that Alex had smiled like that.

            “How is the newest CS detective?”  Vanessa asked and Alex shrugged, having been stuck in the lab most of the day.  She hadn’t cared it had been better than playing dress up for Vice.

            “Reconstructing a scene all day but was fun.  I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it until I did it again.  You ready to head home kiddo?”  Alex asked and Vanessa nodded throwing the rag in the sink and waving good night to Kit.

            “See you tomorrow Kit.”  Vanessa yelled and Kit waved smiling at the blonde and they walked out the door.  Shane looked up to see Pez opening the door for Vanessa and she stood up quickly, almost knocking the chair over as she did.

            “Holy *****!”  She got up and slammed right into a woman who was crossing the dance floor and Shane muttered an excuse and ran to the door.  Shaking off the hard blow and getting her footing as she ran to catch the cop.

            “What was that about?”  Alice asked and they all shrugged Tonya thought that Shane was just a crazy *****, a crazy high *****.

            “Who knows, with the amount of women she ***** it could be just about anything or anyone.”  Tonya stated and Alice almost threw a drink at her, she just pushed every button that Alice owned.  Tina got up and followed Shane outside, she as curious as to what was going on.

            Shane hit the door as she ran out and she saw the taillights of the motorcycle disappearing down the street.  She was sure that it had been Pez she’d been carrying a helmet.

            “*****!”  Shane yelled she kicked the dirt and cursed again.  When was her luck going to change, if ever?

            “Baby girl, what is wrong?”  Tina asked and Shane turned to her and said in a tired voice.  She ran a hand through her hair, messing it up as she did.

            “That was Pez!  The cop that bailed me out the one that knew that Jaffe had set me up!”  She almost yelled and Tina threw up her hands,

            “We need to find out who this Pez is!”

            “No *****!”  Shane agreed, and they went back into Radar, hand in hand.  Both wondering who the ***** Pez was.

*****
Rooms
8/21/04
JG Marie

The room sounds empty
As my voice echoes against the walls
This is my confessional
The place where I lay bare my soul

You were my muse
The one that inspired me
Sparked a fire I never knew was there
Stoked the fire of my desire
Feed the fame with just a gaze

Suddenly you were gone
Lost without my muse
I contemplate my life
Reevaluate my hope
Utterly lost without you

From a distance I can feel you
See you and hear you
Confession is good for the soul
I speak to deaf ears
You are nonchalant

Now I watch the sky
Ebony night
Transcends to crimson day
A candle flickers in the window
Hoping if lures you home

Still you’ve heard all I’ve said
Ignored it all
Stayed away
The house is empty without you
As empty and barren as my world alone