{ ny party / 1st January, 2005 / with Lizzy }
Now I don’t know where I am, I don’t know where I’ve been but I know where I want to go
Rudy didn’t say anything at first.
He just stood there with his hands in jacket pockets while Katie was slumped sideways in Lizzy’s grip and Lizzy… looked like she’d rather be anywhere else than standing across from him right now. And that was kind of hilarious. Not in a cruel way, of course. Rudy didn’t think she had anything against him…hell, he couldn’t even remember if they’d ever properly spoken before. It was just… the way she kept repeating how fine everything was. They were fine, she didn’t need help, she had it under control. The more she insisted, the less convincing it sounded. And honestly, he didn’t take it personally, he just found it kind of funny, in that way things are when someone’s trying so hard to keep it together that it almost becomes endearing.
So Rudy just watched the whole scene unfold with the patience of someone who didn’t entirely belong to the moment but didn’t mind being tethered to it either. Just listened to the way she spoke like everything was fine while her eyes flickered with low level panic and that sort of determination people had when they were just trying to get through something. We’re fine. Like the opposite of spiraling. That one made him smile, to himself more, like he didn’t want her to see it and think he was making fun of her because he wasn’t. He could just see it. How hard she was trying and how not fine this situation actually was. So he tilted his head slightly, one eyebrow raised in a lazy sort of amusement. His tongue pressed against the inside of his cheek, not exactly a smirk, not quite a laugh, just enough to keep him from interrupting because there was something oddly charming about how determined the girl was.
He was just about to say something, maybe offer a joke, a hand, anything to make her ease u but she beat him to it. She stepped back, gave him the most painfully polite and awkward wave he’d ever seen, followed by the words that made him physically blink: Have a good night, sir.
A beat.
Two.
Then…
Rudy laughed. Not a big, dramatic laugh, but a real one, deep in his chest, low and full and almost grateful because this night just kept getting better. She was turning away already, trying to steer the situation and the girl anywhere but toward him. But he didn’t let her leave with that, no way.” Okay, I would love to argue with you about the fact that you’re ‘totally fine’,“ he said, that same easy humor in his voice, ” but… did you just call me sir?“ Rudy caught up to her in a few slow steps. Not in a rushing, saving kind of way but like it was just the most natural thing for him to do. He didn’t reach for Katie right away just kind of appeared on the other side of her and gently, wordlessly slipped his arm under her shoulder without needing permission. ”I’m not letting you drag your jellyfish friend across the town all alone,“ he said, almost conversational, ”But… sir? Do I look like I pay my own truck insurance? Do- Okay, you know what, we’re gonna circle back to the ‘sir’ thing. Just not now, not here. But just know that I’ve clocked it. It’s on the record.“
That’s when Katie mumbled something that sounded like grape soda and swayed against both of them. Rudy didn’t flinch, just steadied her instinctively but glanced at her with confusion and amusement. ”Right… Okay… Well, grapes have never been known for their navigational skills so that’s not helpful.“ He looked at Lizzy again then. Her hair was falling into her face now, cheeks flushed from effort or embarrassment… or both. His voice, when he spoke next, softened just a little. Not so much that it broke the tone, but enough to signal that this part wasn’t a joke. ”Are you okay, really? And… do you really don’t know where she lives?“ On that last part he kept his voice low, like they were sharing a secret, like if he said it gently enough, maybe it wouldn’t rattle the drunk girl between them.