If No One Else

ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ⁵

５.  a l a r m b e l l s
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"Can I ask you something?"

I turn to look at her, almost instantly wiping away the visible lines of irritation screwing up my face as I watch her wipe at her red eyes.

"Depends on what you're asking, miss Donovan?" I respond back truthfully; not giving her a clear no, but the answer would probably end up being just that.

"Will you ever stop calling me that?" She asks as her eyes roll and her lips turn down into a deep frown.

"It's the professional thing to do."

"You're an as-" she releases an exhale, seemingly blowing off whatever crude words she were just about to utter. "That wasn't what I wanted to ask you." She finishes instead.

"You didn't include multiple questions when you first asked, Chandler," I turn away from her and set my eyes on the turned off television, gritting my teeth at the use of her actual name on my tongue.

"That wasn't even a legit question. Don't be a dickhole about it..." the words slip out faster than I'm sure she could catch them. "I'm sorry," she stops, casting her gaze to the same place mine had landed on as a silence fills the room around us.

A few minutes pass by shrouded in nothing but pure silence. I normally would enjoy the lack of noise, but something about Chandler's mute presence seemed to be more deafening than when she speaks.

She had no filter.

She said want she thought, and there was never any room to explore the meaning behind her words because she had already plainly voiced it.

But when she was silent- those thoughts locked away, to never be brought up again- that's when the fear of the unknown came bubbling up.

"Wanna watch a movie?" she speaks up after a while, and I can't help but to release a small sigh in relief at the sound of her voice.

She brushes off her last comment as if it were nothing, and moves to the next thing like she hadn't said anything.

Fortunately for her, tonight I felt like doing the same thing.

"Sure." I hate movies, but again, tonight wasn't about me. It wasn't like I planned on staying for much longer anyway.

She throws her blanket off of her as she searches around for the remote to the TV. "You seem like an action type of guy, am I right?" She asks, but it feels like more of a statement than a question.

She does that a lot.

She thinks she knows my type- everyone's type truthfully- but she couldn't be farther from the the truth, but I had no commitment in correcting people when it came to what they thought about me. Especially when I'd probably never see them again, and I didn't plan on coming in contact with Chandler ever again after this night.

"I'm fine with anything, really. I'm not picky."

"Action it is!" She exclaims, picking up the remote and flicking on the expensive looking flat-screen.

I watch as she scrolls through the TV catalog until she finds Netflix. She focuses on the screen as she quickly searches through the hundreds of movies, and she continues to do so for a couple of long minutes before she gives up and clicks on a cheesy looking series instead.

She turns to me with a coy smile as the intro of the show begins to play, and clearly this isn't any action movie I'd ever seen or heard of before. "Sorry... Dynasty is one of my favorite shows. It's good drama though, so you shouldn't mind, Officer."