(no subject)

[butterflyfactor]

It was the first time since her arrival that Layla had been in a crowded place and not had anyone ask about or comment on her tattoo. The lace and feather butterfly mask she wore covered it completely. It added to her general feeling of well being- not the anonymity, because no one there knew or cared who she was regardless of her garb- because she did, she felt good. A pleasant buzz ran through her. She hadn't been drinking. She didn't dare, because she wasn't prepared for the sort of lack of control that came with booze, but not just observing the crowd but being part of it was pleasantly novel.

Potentially overwhelming, as well. She slipped out of it and down the hall, finding a few strands of silver and blue beads pushed into her hands by other party goers, and absently wound them around her fingers as she stepped outside the compound doors. The party had already spilled outside- Mardi Gras wasn't the sort of even that contained itself easily or well- and she watched the dancing and drinking from her place leaning against the wall, a little farther out of the light than anyone else.

Comments

[howmanylives]

"Most people are idiots," he said with a grim little smile.

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"There's something appealing to people about the road not taken," she countered, not smiling, dancing closer to him than she had been, and knowing it.

"Or having the option to take it, at least. Everyone who isn't you doesn't know what that's like. But the grass is always greener, right?"

[howmanylives]

"The grass is always greener," he agreed, one eyebrow arched. At some point they'd slipped into a serious conversation, and though he took a moment's pause to run over their past few exchanges, he was unsure as to when that had happened, or whether or not he even minded.

Uncertainty isn't anything new. It's something I fight against every day, not knowing whether another option would've been better when I could have easily found out back home. Of course, I say easy like it wouldn't have cost me anything, but that's not the case -- no, it's just the explanation for why most people are idiots. Something's always gotta give, but without the experience to know that firsthand, a life like mine seems like a godsend when, in reality, it's anything but.

"Does it appeal to you?"

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"No," she answered simply. If she looked for a moment like she was going to elaborate, maybe it was just the light from the tiki torches flickering. She glanced off, casually, easily, somewhere over his shoulder.

"No point."

[howmanylives]

"Why not?" he asked, trying to catch her gaze. "Even though you're obviously not most people, you must've wondered what it was like. Everyone does."

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"No, Jamie," she said, looking back at him evenly, letting him catch her gaze, steady as it was.

"I never wondered. Not once since I was thirteen. Not for a second."

[howmanylives]

"Right, because you know stuff," he said, though there was an obvious tone of disbelief to his voice. It wasn't a satisfactory answer, but that -- just like uncertainty -- was nothing new to him. They'd tread this territory long before, and while he was normally willing to shrug it off, he wanted something different that night.

"What about now?"

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"What about now?" she asked, eyebrows lifting slightly.

[howmanylives]

"The road not taken," he clarified. "Do you wonder about it now?"

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"Here? Not really. I haven't not taken that many roads. As for back home, no," Layla said, shaking her head a little and shrugging, barely.

"Being here doesn't make anything there any different."

[howmanylives]

That we know of. And considering how little we do, I wouldn't be so quick to say that being here doesn't make anything there any different.

He nodded, then said, "Fair enough."

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"That was easy," she said wryly, lips sliding up on one side.

[howmanylives]

"I have no reason not to believe you," he replied, guiding them through the tempo change to a slower song. "I ask you the same question a year from now, and you give me the same answer? Then I might."

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"So ask me in a year," Layla said, slowing with him, swaying languidly whichever way he moved them.

[howmanylives]

"If I remember," he said with a smirk. He wasn't so far gone for that to be a legitimate concern, but the night was still young.

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

That's probably the most optimistic 'if' we could ask for.

"Well, if you remember, I'll answer."

[howmanylives]

Never one to be entirely comfortable with silence, Jamie nevertheless stopped talking for the moment, the conversation having reached a natural lull. Withdrawing his hand from hers, he encircled her waist with his arms, letting his hands settle low against her back -- nothing too inappropriate, but perhaps a little more presumptuous than how he'd been holding her before.

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

Layla let her arms fold between them, fanning her fingers out across his chest. Forget that middle school arms around the neck business. She liked to think they were at least one step beyond that.

[howmanylives]

"Not that it doesn't add to the whole mystique, but I'm glad we never wore masks," Jamie said thoughtfully, casting a quick glance down to her hands before returning his attention to her face. "Literal ones, I mean."

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

"Why?" she asked, smiling a little.

"Too retro?"

[howmanylives]

"Nah, too unwieldy," he replied, shaking his head. "Y'see... I'd kinda like to kiss you right now, but I'd probably just end up with a feather in my eye for all my efforts."

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

She nodded a little in a commiserating way.

"Hmmn. Well, there's only one way to know for sure."

[howmanylives]

"Layla, please," he scoffed, rolling his eyes in feigned disbelief. Without stepping away, he lifted his hands from her back, gently prying the mask from her face, before letting it fall to the ground. Smoothing a few stray hairs back behind her ears, he watched her intently, gauging her reaction.

"There's always more than one way."

[butterflyfactor.livejournal.com]

She had closed her eyes, briefly, as he'd lifted the mask away, and she blinked twice up at him once it was gone. Without thought, one of her hands crept higher, fingertips brushing the side of his neck- a kneejerk reaction to his fingers in her hair.

While she could have argued against his point, she didn't really want to.

She very deliberately lifted her hand further to curl her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck, lashes lower briefly as she glanced from his mouth to his eyes again. Her expression was expectant, but not necessarily of a specific act. She could wait.

Layla was good at waiting.

[howmanylives]

Bolstered by liquid courage -- or, at the very least, far too buzzed to bother with his customary internal debate -- he pressed his mouth to hers after only the shortest of pauses, long by anyone else's standards, but bordering on warp speed for someone like him. Somewhere, in the deep recesses of his mind, it occurred to him that this was far from the best idea he'd ever had -- that the last time he'd gotten drunk and started kissing teammates had been nothing short of life-ruining -- but everyone around him had apparently moved on, and he was tired of denying himself the same opportunity.

Maybe he would regret it in the morning, or maybe he wouldn't. The future suddenly didn't seem all that important.