Chapter Text
Beth opens her eyes to the hazy morning light seeping through the bedroom window. Then immediately closes them. Her head is pounding, and her mouth is so, so dry. She rolls over and is about to groan dramatically when she realizes the sheets she just pushed her face into are definitely not hers. They’re charcoal gray and too soft and they smell like him.
Her mind races backwards to the night before but can’t recall the details of falling asleep. She attempts to dig back further and is flooded with rage at the memory of finding Dean’s credit card bills. Tries to fast forward before the urge to destroy something overtakes her again.
She remembers getting ready for work and packing her bags in a hurry, mildly irritated but mostly elated at the realization that everything she had there fit in two bags. She’d given Annie all the furniture from her old apartment when they moved in together. And, really, besides her clothing, a few kitchen accessories and her grandmother’s cookbook, how had she not realized nothing else in their home was hers?
She’d written him a note with a string of curses and insults and ‘how could you?’s before she realized she wasn’t actually upset about it being over. It was more the embarrassment and disrespect, the commonplaceness of it all. She’d shoved the half-written note in her purse and instead grabbed a red pen, circled the lingerie charges on the bills going back the last six months and slammed her engagement ring on top of it, right next to her key to the house.
She remembers blocking his number in the backseat of the uber and forcibly pushing him from her mind before walking into the bar.
It had been a busy Friday night. Some college rivalry game on, everyone packed around the bar to watch the big screen above the liquor shelves. Beth hated that crowd. They were loud and obnoxious and horrible tippers. She preferred to work the high-top tables towards the back on game nights. She found the mostly older crowd infinitely kinder, and it was much more lucrative.
She remembers she was chatting with a few regulars when he walked in. Rio looked surprised to see her, which made sense since she asked Andy for his shift at the last minute. Knew she was going to have to start picking up more night shifts if she was going to get off Annie’s couch any time soon.
Beth was nervous about talking to him but didn’t have time to think about why. She just knew she didn’t want to explain to him what happened. But then he heard Carrie ask her about the breakup while they were waiting on drinks, her having to yell to be heard over the crowd, and the stunned look on his face was enough to have her almost laughing, wondering why she’d been worried in the first place.
She threw a hand towel towards his face to get him to snap out of it. Except he caught it midair and tossed it casually over his shoulder, shooting Beth a look that sarcastically said nice try, before he passed Carrie her drinks. He set Beth’s down on the bar in front of her but didn’t make any move to leave, even though there were at least ten people obviously waiting to order.
Instead, his dark eyes searched her face when he asked if she wanted to ‘chill after work’ and ‘blow off some steam’.
He seemed.. serious in a way she didn’t recall ever seeing before. She nodded without even really thinking about it.
They closed up early, the crowd having dwindled to almost no one a little after midnight once the game ended in a loss.
Beth rolls over onto her back and rubs her fingertips in small circles on her temples, trying to settle the pounding, trying to focus.
Then she remembers the tequila and the park and the – wait – did she smoke last night? Beth does groan then. Maybe that’s why her mouth is so dry.
She remembers she expected him to suggest another bar, but they wound up at a park a few blocks from work. They passed a liquor store on the way and he went in while she stood outside, texting Annie she’d be back later than expected. He came out with a plastic bag full of mini tequila bottles, which had her laughing and calling him cheap, but he insisted they’d be easier to hide in the park.
And that’s where it starts to get fuzzy. Beth closes her eyes and tries to follow the memory.
He looked so mysterious in his dark jacket and gray beanie, pulled low across his eyebrows, sitting casually in the swing next to her. And she remembers thinking just how ridiculous that was because he wasn’t mysterious, at least not to her.
His nose stud kept catching the light from the streetlamp and she’s certain he caught her staring once, but she’s pretty sure she managed to play it off like she was watching the lights of the plane in the distance.
He reached down to the bag from the liquor store and pulled out two tiny bottles, opened both and handed her one.
“Cheers,” she said.
“And congratulations,” he agreed.
The silence lingered awhile but it wasn’t uncomfortable. By the second bottle they were recapping the night, and the third, arguing over which section of the bar had better tippers on which nights.
At some point, she filled him in on the details of her afternoon and he got quiet again. Then he leaned back in his swing to look at her, feet planted firmly on the ground and his hands held high on the chains – and just picturing the way he looked in that moment, some mix between angry and happy and disbelief – the rest of the night seemed to reappear in her memory in an instant.
“Haven’t you been living there like a year?”
Beth turns to face the playground, so she makes her eye roll evident in her tone, “More like eight months.”
“And you had, legit, two bags?” Rio chuckles. “That’s just sad, darlin’.”
“Hey!” She reaches out to push his swing away from her, but only his upper body sways. “Say what you want but it made for a quick getaway, alright?”
“Ain’t nobody complaining about that.”
And she wonders what he means by that. Wishes she could see his face more clearly.
He clears his throat.
“So what, just some clothes and toiletries?”
“Pretty much.”
“Hmm.”
“What?”
“Just – nothing.”
“C’mon, tell me.” The ‘please’ evident by the fluttering of her eyelashes.
Rio looks down at his sneakers and shakes his head. “A'ight, let’s play a game, yeah?”
“Like what?” she hedges.
“Twenty questions. I guess what was in your bags. If I’m right, you drink. I guess wrong and I’ll drink.”
And it’s not a good idea. They both have work tomorrow and she picked up a double shift. But he just looks so damn cocky and there’s not much Beth likes more than a challenge, especially one from him.
“Alright,” she shrugs.
And Beth almost instantly regrets that decision.
Rio turns to stare right at her, eyes bright with confidence, and starts counting with his fingers, “A book, a picture,” he pauses a second before adding, “your makeup, alarm clock, slippers.”
“Drink two – no alarm clock, no slippers,” she says primly as she lifts her drink to take a few sips.
He tosses his back easily. “Okay, uh.. that cast iron pan you always sayin’ is the ‘best thing ever’.”
She shakes her head, and he looks like he doesn’t believe her so she elaborates, “Brought it to Annie’s a few weeks ago for a family dinner and hadn’t brought it back yet sooo… no need to pack it.”
Rio smiles and takes another sip, then tosses the empty container back in the bag. She thinks he’s grabbing another for himself, but he passes it to her.
“I still have some left,” she says as she shakes her almost empty bottle.
“Yeah, you about to need another though.”
And whatever he reads on her face makes him laugh. There’s still a lightness in his voice when he starts counting again, “That red dress with the little polka dots all over it,” and he nods like he knows he got that one right, “that green, velvet scrunchie you always wearin’ on your wrist instead of in your hair. Uhh… some of those old records you like, a phone charger, and that purple nail polish.”
He looks so smug, she wishes she had more to offer than a muttered, “Not enough room for the records.”
Rio smiles big and motions towards the drinks she’s holding.
She opens the full bottle, tips her head back and drinks half in one shot, figures that counts as two sips.
“You gonna drink?” she asks as she lifts the last of the bottle to her lips and finishes it off.
“We’re out.”
“Oh, here,” and hands him the bottle with one sip left. He eyes it like he might not want to share. “Unless you don’t want..” she trails off as she wipes a bit of tequila from her bottom lip.
Rio grunts and snatches it from her fingers before drinking the last bit. His voice sounds rough as he asks, “You wanna keep going?”
“No point I guess, if there’s nothing else to gamble. Right?”
He hums and shoots her a quick look she can’t read in the dark. Digs his feet into the dirt to push back on his swing. Then reaches into the pocket of his jacket and pulls out a joint.
“Got this though.” He lifts his feet and the momentum carries him past her and then back, like a pendulum, his arm outstretched towards her, joint still in his fingers.
That has her laughing. “Seriously? You just carry that around with you?”
“Hey now, this is a perfectly legitimate way to unwind after work. You oughta try it sometime.”
“I’ve smoked before,” she scoffs.
He looks her over and shoots her a disbelieving look. “When, high school?”
And that has her forcing back a blush. “I mean it’s been awhile, but not that long.” Beth tosses her hair back and adds, “I’m game if you are.”
He smiles and thinks for a moment before he continues, “Alright, uhh.. your pillow?”
“Oh my – shit. Shit! How did I not think of that?” Beth moans as she draws a pattern in the dirt with the toe of her shoe, “Annie’s couch pillows are so uncomfortable.”
She up looks at him, misery plainly written all over her face. And he looks like he wants to say something but then snaps his gaze to the playground and pulls a lighter from his pocket.
Rio lights the joint and something about the flame flickering across his face has her holding her breath. He’s just so – gorgeous. It’s infuriating.
He passes it to her as the smoke falls from his lips and she takes it between her fingers but, “Aren’t you supposed to guess something right first?”
“Nah, I got this one,” he says, trying to hold back his cocky smile.
“That’s not how this –”
“Somethin’ your sister left there,” he interrupts.
And fuck. Yeah. Beth had been walking out, bags in hand, when she spotted Annie’s jacket laying across the back of the couch. Had slung it over her shoulder as she walked out.
“I mean, technically not.. in.. my bag so…”
“Elizabeth.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay,” she agrees at his overly serious tone, waiving the joint in the air.
She brings it to her lips but finds it’s gone out while they were talking. He pushes his swing closer, arm with the lighter extended towards her.
Her fingers graze his in the transaction and he feels unfairly warm considering how cold it is outside.
Beth lights it and takes a small puff, barely holding back a cough but managing at the last second.
She doesn’t feel anything at first, just passes it to Rio. She pushes back in her swing and waits, looks up at the stars as she sways back and forth. It only takes a minute and then everything seems just a little bit brighter, almost pulsing. She angles her head so she can see him and finds him watching her swing, a small smile on his face.
“Another? What was that, fourteen?”
“Thirteen,” he answers quickly. “Not sure we makin’ it to twenty though.”
And she wants to giggle but he just looks so serious. And that thought does have her giggling. And then he’s laughing at her and things just feel so light and comfortable she says, “I think I really needed this.. thank you.” Beth gives him her most genuine smile. The one that usually makes her feel a little vulnerable, but somehow doesn’t right now.
And he has that look again. The one she can’t place. Is about to ask what he’s thinking when he stutters out a laugh.
“What?!” she asks a little too loudly.
Rio looks around mid-laugh, confirming no one is around, but it’s well past one in the morning now.
“Nah, I just.. thought of something. To guess. Definitely shouldn’t though.”
She glares at him, feeling overly irritated that he wouldn’t share with her at this point in the night.
“Oh, c’mon.”
He stares at her a beat, and she can tell his competitive streak is going to outweigh whatever was holding him back.
“A'ight – your vibrator,” he says, so sure of himself.
And she just – dies. Like, she literally thinks she might be having a heart attack. She’s definitely still breathing though, and then the laughter hits and she just can’t stop. That word coming out of his mouth might be the funniest thing she’s ever heard. It takes multiple deep breaths, with a few close relapses, before she calms down enough to shake her head ‘no’.
And he looks surprised but she can tell he doesn’t want to pry.
“No, I just.. I mean I used to have one,” she says, defensively for some reason. “I threw it away when we moved in.. guess I just figured I wouldn’t need it anymore, you know?”
And he nods but says, “How long it take you to regret that?”, which has her laughing all over again. And then he’s taking another puff and handing it to her, and she’s taking one too even though he didn’t guess anything else.
And..
That’s it. That’s the last thing she remembers.
Beth peeks one eye open and sees a long arm stretched towards her, like he’d reached for her at some point in the night.
Rio’s sleeping on his stomach, head buried in his pillow, but she knows it’s him by the bar tattoos climbing the back of his arm, disappearing under the sleeves of his black shirt. And, god, the smell of him is overwhelming.
She has the ridiculous thought that he must wash his sheets in his body wash before realizing – it’s her. Her hands fly to her hair and – still damp – she must’ve showered before bed and – fuck. One hand sweeps between her legs, finds herself dry, which means they didn’t. Or she just cleaned up well in the shower. Although she’s still mostly clothed, still wearing last night’s purple sweater and underwear, which seems like a weird step if they’d just finished –.
Beth feels the embarrassment heat her cheeks and run down her chest as she forces herself up and out of bed to start looking for her things. That they might’ve hooked up and she has no memory of it feels like some cruel sort of punishment.
She’s had a crush on him since basically the moment they met, and that’s fine, because they’re both adults and mild physical attraction didn’t have to mean anything. But that they might have acted on it and she wouldn’t be able to remember it, especially now that she was actually single? It’s enough to make her want to cry. Or scream. Or run.
Running wins out.
It’s the only option really. Because the others – Wait for him to wake up and what? Pretend she remembers? Play along and try to get it out of him, the details of what happened last night? She doesn’t have the energy for games.
She’d probably just blurt out that she doesn’t remember and wishes she did and she’s really not sure she can handle hearing the details. Or, god, what if he didn’t remember either? Beth can’t decide which would be worse.
After pulling her pants back on as quietly as possible, she finds her shoes and her bags by the front door. Grabbing the first shirt she can find, she quickly changes in his kitchen, eyes sweeping around the room, trying to recall any details from the night before but it’s all just nothing after the park.
She thinks about leaving a note but runs into all the same issues with staying, namely – what would she even say? So she leaves.
It’s cold outside, the sun still making it’s way far enough above the buildings to heat things up as she walks the four blocks to the bar. A few breaths of fresh air and she starts to feel better, a little more settled.
She doesn’t even know why she panicked. Rio’s her best friend besides Ruby. They’d met at the bar a couple years ago and hit it off right away, always joking and arguing, borderline flirting with each other. Then with Ruby and Stan having a baby last year, she and Rio had gotten even closer.
He introduced her to his siblings when one of them stopped by the bar, and he’d always confided in her – even about his illegal business dealings, occasionally asking her advice when he needed a second opinion. Beth wasn’t one to make new friends easily, but something about him trusting her so openly had always made her feel safe, and so she shared everything back, and without even meaning to they’d fallen into a really great friendship.
She probably shouldn’t have been so nervous to talk to him this morning.
But the thought of listening to him explain it was just a hookup has her feeling nauseous. Maybe if she plays it like she’s cool with that, he’ll let it breeze over without them having to really talk about it.
Because Beth knows that’s all it was, if it even happened, she reminds herself.
In all the time she’s known Rio, she’s never seen him in anything more than a casual relationship. The kind with no strings attached that ended amicably the moment one of them decided it was time. No drama, which means they must have that talk ahead of time. And she just can’t bear the thought of him laying it all out for her, that they could be more than friends but less than – anything else. And she doesn’t even want to be anything else, it’s just something about him saying it fills her with dread.
Beth enjoys the walk, happy to have a few minutes to herself even if she is still lugging her bags around, which feel a lot heavier hungover and rage-less. God, was it really only a day ago she ended things with Dean? And why is it that her stomach rumbling has her feeling more than her decimated romantic life?
She pauses in the doorway to the bar to shoot Annie a text saying she’s still alive and she’ll come by this afternoon to drop her bags off. Then she lifts her head to an empty building and groans in frustration.
Archie, the owner, turns the corner of the back office just in time to catch her making a face.
“Why do we even open this early on the weekends when it’s always dead until noon?” she calls to him as she adjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder, but Archie just laughs.
“So much for making extra money,” she mutters under her breath.
“What was that?” he yells back a bit too loudly. His hearing had started to fade over the last year so that was a common phrase these days.
“Oh, do you mind if I stash these in your office again until my first shift is over?”
“That’s fine, but – actually, you’re looking for a new place right?” She barely manages to suppress an eye roll at the thought of how quickly gossip spreads around this place.
“Yeah, I am.”
“I’m looking to lease the apartment above the bar. Want someone I can trust to look after the place while I’m out of town and would offer you a great deal. You interested?”
And Beth smiles for the first time that morning, thinking this day might just turn around after all.