Casual Encounters (Durarara!!) *Izaya/OC*

13. Hitting The Rocks

When Ritchie woke up she found she was surprisingly warm and content. She shifted slightly - her neck felt a little stiff... And when she opened her eyes she saw why. Instead of the pillow she usually slept on, she was lying on Izaya instead. That wasn't a good sign. She was never normally so comfortable with him...

She pulled away and propped herself up on one elbow. Izaya was still asleep and didn't stir in the slightest. She studied his face for a while. A slight frown creased his forehead, making him look irritated even whilst sleeping.

Ritchie sighed. Damn... When had she gotten in so deep? She wasn't the kind of girl who liked to snuggle. And she wasn't the kind of girl who took pleasure in watching somebody sleep. She was starting to get confused about what she wanted and that was dangerous.

Though after a minute or so of deliberation she eventually curled back up on Izaya's chest. Where was the fun in taking the safe option?

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By the night-time Ritchie had completely forgotten about her morning confusion. She was out with Sei and some of her friends again so right now she was more interested in drinking, dancing and having a good time.

So far she hadn't done much drinking or dancing. She'd forgotten how much fun she could have simply being around other party people like herself. Or even just people who weren't sick and twisted like a certain somebody she knew.

After a while Reita turned up with a group of his friends. Sei disappeared off with him and Arisa and Mena soon followed in an attempt to hit it off with some of Reita's friends. Ritchie was left at the bar with a girl with long honey-coloured hair and glasses, who she was sure hadn't been out with them before.

"Are you not gonna go on the pull with them?" the girl asked her, seemingly surprised that she wasn't the only one still left at the bar.

Ritchie shook her head. "Boyfriend," she said casually. "Plus none of the guys here really do it for me."

"Amen to that," agreed the girl ruefully.

Ritchie smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Ritchie."

"Lexi," replied the girl, giving her hand a good shake.

"I haven't seen you before. You weren't on either of the last bar crawls, were you?" asked Ritchie.

"Nah, this is the first time I've been out with Sei in a while," said Lexi. "I've been doing too many morning shifts to get away with going out much."

"Oh, so you don't go to university with her?" That was what Ritchie had actually assumed.

Lexi shook her head. "We used to work together. How do you guys know each other?"

"From online," said Ritchie hesitantly. She knew that a lot of people thought meeting up with strangers from over the internet was a bad idea. Hell, Izaya had pretty much proved that theory to be right.

Lexi didn't seem to think so though. "That's cool! So are you part of the Dollars like Sei?"

Ritchie nodded. The Dollars were a fairly new gang in Ikebukuro that were completely run online. It had seemed quite an exciting idea, so her and Sei had both joined up straightaway after Ritchie had been sent an anonymous email with the password for the site. So far though not much seemed to have come of it.

"Me too," said Lexi happily. "Do you go in the chatroom much?"

"I haven't for ages," replied Ritchie. "I haven't really been around a computer a whole lot lately... And when I do it's not normally my own." Plus it was too reminiscent of her lifestyle back in Nerima.