Disaster • Arctic Monkeys Fanfiction

[fifty six]

Alex's POV

I woke up to an empty apartment, one of my headphones still lodged in my ear blaring a Strokes song.  

I sat up, rubbing my eyes.  My back ached from the stiff couch and for a moment I was utterly confused as to where the fuck I was.

And then I remembered last night.  The club.  The mugging.  The fight with Indi.  The awful things I'd said to her.

My head hurt.  I needed a cig.

I got up and rummaged through my bag until I found one and headed out onto the balcony.  The morning air felt great, but the smoke filling my lungs felt even better.  

I'd almost smoked the whole thing when I heard the front door open and then close.  

I leaned my elbow on the railing and set my chin in my hand.  

Here we go.

A few moments later I heard her fumbling with the half-open balcony door.  I mentally prepared myself for what was to come and turned around to face her.

She came barging out, her cheeks flushed a bright red and her hair tangled all over her head.  It didn't look like she'd even washed her face, because her eyes were still smudged with black makeup from the night before.  

We were both still for a moment, neither of us moving or breathing. 

I was about to ask her what she wanted when she held something out for me.  And when I realized what it was, I had to look twice to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. 

Coffee.  She was giving me coffee. 

"I ran out of coffee on my way home and stopped at the cafe down the street," she said, her voice quiet. "I thought you might want some."

What?  Was she joking?

I searched her face for any sign of sarcasm, but I couldn't find any.  

"Are you being serious?" I asked her.

She narrowed her eyes a fraction and opened her mouth, almost like she was about to say something, but then she stopped.  She then nodded and extended the coffee further toward me.

But I was still apprehensive.  I'd gone to sleep last night thinking of all the ways she could possibly murder me, and here she was less than 12 hours later, giving me coffee? 

It didn't make sense.

"Did you poison it?" I asked, almost positive that's what she had done.

"No," she answered.  "But if I did, do you think I would tell you?"

I just stood there, absolutely puzzled.  

"Are you going to take?  Or are you just going to stand there?" she asked, obviously growing a little impatient.  "I'll drink it if you don't want it."

"No," I said, noticing how her hand was shaking slightly.  "Seems like you've had enough."

I took it from her and tipped it back into my mouth, letting the hot liquid burn my throat.  We looked away from each other and both went silent for a moment.

I was about to ask her what all of this was about, but she spoke before I could.

"Look," she said.  "We need to talk about last night."

I waited for her to go on, not really sure what to expect. 

She drew in a deep breath. 

"We were both jerks," she said quickly.  "And I know that deep, deep down, we truly hate each other.  But we're stuck in the same boat here, Turner.  So we might as well try and get along."

"Did... did you just call me Turner?"

"And let's just forget about Colorado," she said, ignoring me.  "What happened there is irrelevant now.  We were both younger then and it's unfair of me to keep bringing it up."

I was stunned.  Disaster girl was trying to make amends.

"Why do you look so shocked?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.  "What, did you not think I was a good enough person to apologize?"

"Er," I said.  "Honestly....no."

"Well I am," she declared.  "So now it's your turn."

"Alright," I said, realizing as she scanned me up and down that I was still in my boxers and t-shirt.  "I'm sorry for last night.  I was a proper arse to you and I shouldn't have been."

She nodded, satisfied.

"Even though you deserved it."

She rolled her eyes at the last part and turned to go back inside.

"Get dressed," she said over her shoulder.  "We're going shopping."

"Shopping?"

"You think I'm going to let you eat all my food?"

I followed after her.  "I don't have any money."

"Pay me back later."

"With interest, I presume."

"Heavy interest," she said.  "But I'm sure you can manage that.  Now get dressed and throw some oil in you hair.  We have shit to get done, Turner."