An Unfortunate Habit (Open for one Female)

Rouge was half dozing, his eyelids feeling heavy - closing over his eyes every now and again, his head dropping only to be awoken by the sudden lurch forward as he blinked back into focus to look at the fuzzy tv before him. He turned his head and glanced at the empty bottle of Jack Daniels he'd just made his way through - tonight had not been a good night, he couldn't believe how easily Jill had played him and made him look like an absolute fool, and she'd even had the gaul to reveal her little 'extra-curicular activities' outside of their marriage on the night of their first anniversary.

"Bitch.." Rouge murmured to himself as he dropped the bottle to the ground, it landed with a dull thud on the red carpet, just laying on it's side as afew remaining drops of alcohol dripped onto the red material. He sighed as he ran a rough hand though his hair, getting it away from his face as he looked up at the roof, "I get all the luck," a smirk came to his face - it was his defence mechanism at times like this; simply to laugh it off - but it would always come around and bite him in the ass when eventually he had to come to terms with something real. She'd said that had been one of the reasons she'd cheated - he couldn't deal with anything serious.

Fumbling around on the one side of the sofa Rouge managed to land his palm upon his blessed packet of cigarettes which he'd pushed from the arm by accident afew minutes before he'd dozed off, taking them he flicked open the lid with care and tapped the bottom of the carton so a single cigarette raised up. Gripping the filter he placed it between his lips and pulled his zippo lighter from the front pocket of his jeans, flicking it into life to ignite the end of the white length. Closing the lid to extinguish the flame Rouge dropped the Zippo onto the ground, along with the bottle - and settled back into the sofa he was sitting upon, taking the occassional draw of smoke, at least his hit of Nicotine would make things seem a little brighter; for a minute or two.

Rouge glanced at the tv once more, moving the cigarette and placing the back of his free hand to his mouth as he stifled a yawm, opening his mouth widely - he was so tired.

He could so easily just... His eyes blinked out of focus once again.
He could so easily just... sleep. And with that his eyes were fully shut and his head lolled back upon the couch, his hand slipping from his mouth to drop the still lit fag, only for it to roll across the floor and settle next to one of the curtains of the window.

...

Rouge awoke with a start, coughing and spluttering a little as he took his first conscious breath after his sleep, he turned his head from left to right only to realise that the haze before his eyes wasn't just the result of his sleep deprivation of late but was infact smoke, and it wasn't long before his gaze drifted to the source of the smoke - his curtains - which were now burning fiercely and it would be less than a minute before his whole front room would be covered in flames. He paniced for a moment, taking rushed breathes which only filled his lungs with the poisonous smoke - his head spinning from doing so, but he soon gained his bearings and stood up, pulling his mobile from the sofa and running outdoors to call the fire service.

Standing in his front garden Rouge could only watch, with the slightest hint of moisture in his eyes, as the house infront of him glowed a beautiful red through the front windows, which was barely a strong enough sign to show how fiercely the fire within raged - burning the house which held so many memories for him. It wasn't long before the blare of sirens disturbed the peace of the street, it wasn't too late, only 11:30pm, but most people were indoors and some would've been trying to sleep.

(Closed)

Kaelyn sat in front of her computer screen, a soft sigh leaving her lips as she tried to find the best way to word the next part of the essay she was working on. A sound tugged at the edge of her attentions, and at first she simply brushed it off, but finally it was too incessant to continue ignoring for very long. A glance at the baby monitor told her that Jayden, or Jay for short, was still asleep in his crib. Jayden was the unexpected blessing that had come from a very bad relationship almost exactly a year prior, and he was her heart and soul, as far as Kaelyn was concerned.

She was snapped out of her reverie over the circumstances of how her son came to be by the sounds of sirens, and realized shortly thereafter that that must have been what she'd been hearing in the first place. This was normally a rather quiet neighborhood. Granted, they'd only been living there since shortly before Jayden's birth three month's earlier, but there hadn't been a single disturbance until now.

Raising from her chair, she left the den/office area she'd set up for herself and made her way to the front windows in time to see a man standing on the lawn of the house just next door. Craning her neck, she came to find out that his house was up in flames and smoke. Eyes widening, she grabbed the portable baby monitor off of her desk and shoved it in her pocket, turning the sound up so she'd still be able to hear if Jay started to cry. A moment later and she was out the front door in her bare feet, tugging on her denim jacket.

It wasn't all that chilly, to be honest, but the jacket was a sort of habit that she'd always been unable to break. Moving across the lawn, she kept sending wary glances up at the house as it continued to burn, making her way to her neighbor. She'd never met him before, and doubted now would be the best circumstance to introduce herself, but she saw no other way of really going about it.

"There wasn't anyone else inside, was there?" she asked, sounding concerned. She could have sworn she'd seen another woman coming and going from the house before, but that could have been anyone... Finally, she turned a pair of striking emerald eyes on him. Her hair seemed to be accentuated by the flames, the light dancing through the deep sultry red silk curls that hung from her head.

Holding her hand out, she tried to offer a small smile, hoping it would be some kind of comfort to him. "I'm Kaelyn, I live next door..."

Rouge's eyes were fixated on the burning edifice infront of him - that house had meant so much to him, he and Jill had been first time buyers and gone into this purchase with one another, it was a symbol of how trusting they'd been of one another, so trusting that they would invest in something like a house, no not just bricks and mortar, this had been a home. And what had come of that trust?

Fuck all Rouge thought to himself, with an internal sneer - there was little he felt for Jill now but contempt, she was a snake, in his eyes; a devious cow and a liar to boot, and perhaps part of him felt a twinge of happiness at seeing this final object which was a bridge between the two of them go up in flames.

His stupor was broken when he heard a feminine voice from beside him and he was suprised that he hadn't noticed her come up on him - as she was standing only a pace to his left now. His eyes traced around the red curled locks which cascaded down the side of her face, acsentuating it against the flames which now burned so brightly in the dark black sky, which twinkled dully with the occassional star. But it was her eyes that really caught him, so green, a rarity. His silence was bordering on rudeness and he realised this as he shook his head.

"My apologies, I'm in abit of shock.." He spoke as he nodded his head towards the building, which was basically a towering pillar of flame now - firemen working frantically with their hoses to douse the inferno, jets of water evaporating with a hiss and drifting away as a white mist as they hit against the forked tongues of fire.


"There wasn't anyone else inside, was there?"

Rouge shook his head in answer to her question,
"No, there was nobody there.." and he suddenly thought that she had probably seen his wife coming in and out and he couldn't help but let a quiet, "more's the pitty.." escape from between his lips with more than a touch of venom, but it was quiet so he assumed his new acquaintance had not heard him.

He took her hand with a firm grip, but made sure that he was gentle aswell, shaking it lightly with a small nod of the head of introduction.
"My name's Rouge, and I 'used to' be your next door neighbour." He said, returning her smile, the corners of his lips curling flippently. Those emerald orbs met his, of a sad blue for a moment, and his gaze hung there - before he remembered himself and averted his gaze to the moist grass which felt so strange against his bare feet.

Kaelyn offered him another soft smile, though it wasn't one of pity. It seemed to hold more understanding than anything, almost as if she somehow knew what he was going through. In a way, she did... but at the same time she was sure there was more to why his eyes were so sad than simply the loss of his house. Surely there had to be more. Her tiny hand gave his a firm, reassuring squeeze as he shook it, her gaze seeming to search his for a long moment before she finally dropped his hand, moving her own to shove them into the pockets of her dark blue pajama pants.

A white tank-top clung to the supple curves of her torso, and thanks to the jacket, covered the casual, cross-over style nursing bra she wore beneath it. It hadn't occurred to her until just then that he was possibly getting a rather good show from her outfit, but she decided to simply not say anything. If he wanted to make a big deal out of it, he would do so on his own. She was certainly not going to invite it.

"You're OK, right? No burns or anything?" she finally asked, her eyes sweeping over him. In honesty, she was sure he'd have gone to the ambulance that had pulled up with the fire trucks had something been wrong, but it never hurt to ask. When in shock, people did have a tendency to overlook and/or not realize things, after all.

"Do you uhm... have a place to stay for the night?" Why was she asking him that? He was a complete stranger, she'd never met him... and it was doubtful that he'd show the same courtesy to her and her son if the situations were reversed. "I mean... well... I imagine you're probably gonna be pretty exhausted after all this..." she said with a wave of her hand at the building. "If you want, I can drive you into town to a hotel or something... Or I have a spare room if you'd like..."

Rouge's eyes had been drawn, inextricably, back to the house once more but he'd stopped himself from losing himself in the memories once again and he turned away from the burning wood and brick so that he would properly meet her gaze; even though those haunting eyes seemed to pierce him with every look. He flashed her a second smile as she did the same, a little tooth showing - he wanted her to know that he appreciated her small attempts to keep him on an even keel after such a traumatic event; and to be honest he wasn't feeling as terrible, or stressed, as he thought he would in this sort of a situation.

The two had been neighbours, ever since she'd moved to the neighbourhood after months back - she had a son, if his memory was serving him correctly, although he could be wrong. Although he'd never seen a man going in and out of her house so he assumed that the father was elsewhere; although he could be reading too much into the situation: he'd always had a tendancy for doing exactly that. Though the two had never actually spoken to each other - apart from the polite 'Good morning', or 'Good afternoon' ritual that seemed to be compulsory in any sort of polite community. Although he'd only adhered to being nice to some of the residents of this place on the commend of his wife - perhaps this kind of suburban life wasn't for him after all? He had so many things to think about.

He couldn't help but pick up on the curvacious form of the woman infront of him - the jacket concealed her body well but the white-tank top hugged her form, and showed it off - which in his opinion was perfectly justified, if you've got it, flaunt it? But he didn't really let her become aware of any passing attention to his body - he didn't exactly want her first impression of him to be that of a letch.

He asked her two questions in quick succession and he answered just as quickly. "No, I'm fine," he glanced down at his hands to infact check that there were no marks - but no, he'd gotten out before anything 'damaging' could happen to him. "And as for accomidation - I suppose I'll have to rent a hotel room for the night or something like that."
Her mention of the spare room in her house suprised him, he may aswell of been complete stranger to her but she seemed to be offering to put him up for the night - it seemed that, however cynical he was - there were infact afew good people left, but still, he would do the polite thing.

"I can't ask you to put me up, it's too much hassle, honestly - I don't want you going out of your way." It wasn't really a definitive 'no', more of a probing of whether this was genuine charity or just a feeling of obligation to offer sanctuary for the - now homeless - man.

Kaelyn had seen her fair share of bad things in the world, and lived through more than one circle of hell, in her opinion. It had all left her with an unusually wary, jaded outlook on people and life in general. But then again, she had to hope that there were some people in the world who were like her... and thus she decided that even though the man could be a serial killer for all she knew, that she should show him the kindness she was compelled to.

"Its no trouble, really, I promise," she was quick to assure him, offering him another smile, this one a bit brighter than the others. "It's already all made up for company, and honestly, I'm sure you'd rather be sleeping in a real bed in a real house than on some lumpy mattress in a dingy hotel. Besides, any decent hotels are more than an hour's drive from here."

She glanced up at his house... the flames were slowly receeding, but it was obvious there would be nothing left. "I work from home, so it's not like you'll have to be out by a certain time or anything," she added, eyes returning to his own. His were blue... and quite pleasant to look at, in reality. She found herself unusually drawn to them. Maybe it was because she could see a little bit of herself in them? That pain that radiated from them seemed so familiar, and she was sure she'd been through something similar to what he had. It wasn't a loss for the material in his eyes...

No, indeed it seemed something much deeper to her. She shook her head quickly, mentally cursing herself for the way she was trying to read him. Such was the curse of wanting to be a writer... you find yourself always studying the people around you, trying to put words to the actions and emotions they seem to be going through at the time.

"Its no trouble, really, I promise,"

Nope, Rouge's gut feeling had been right - she was a genuinely nice person, although she could have some sort of alterior motive for wanting him in her house. He chided himself for being so suspicious for a moment before their gazes met again - she seemed to be staring into his eyes, and therefore, he had no choice but to stare back into her daunting green eyes - that seemed to be tinged with such pain, but he couldn't place his finger on what'd happened to her - he'd only just met her after all. When she turned her head away Rouge followed suit, coughing out of embaressment at the moment they'd just shared.

Once he'd regained his composition he looked up at her and flashed another smile, a reward for her generosity perhaps - but also happiness at having met someone who'd distracted him from the bad situation he was currently in. "Well.. thankyou very much," he nodded his head with another smile, "You're really too kind." He glanced over at her house - it wasn't as big as his but it was by no means small, quite a nice home - he thought to himself, she must be quite happy there.

Biting his lip for a moment Rouge thought, glancing back at his house before turning back to Kaelyn. "I'll follow you in in a minute and you can help me find my bearings?" he asked with a melocholy tone, "I've just got to go sort some things out with the firemen," who had finally tamed the flames which had consumed his house - which was now little more than a smouldering pile of ash and brick. He bowed his head curtley at Kaelyn before turning on his heel to stride off in the direction of the red fire engine, but stopped in his tracks to take the packet of cigarettes from his front trouser pocket, shaking his head as he tossed them into the wreckage of what once was his house - he'd been planning on giving up eventually anyway.

After a quick word with the fire men they'd talked to him about accomidation for the foreseeable future (he'd told them he was staying with a 'friend') and told him to contact his insurance company to reclaim for the damages - and with a pat on the shoulder that was the last time he'd see the men. Looking back it seems that Kaelyn was in the doorway of her house, leaning against one of the doorframes looking elsewhere - perhaps daydreaming - and that flippant smile returned to the corners of his lips as he looked her over in secret, she really was quite stunning. But he would have to shake these thoughts from his head, he was a guest in her home and he would act accordingly.

Kaelyn had turned and headed back up to the house, hands still shoved in her pockets as she thought over what she had just done... offered a total stranger a bed in her home for the night. Knowing that she was the only line of defense she and her son had. The thought of anyone hurting Jayden made her maternal instinct flare up and she had to remind herself that the man was the victim here, not the other way around. He wouldn't hurt a harmless three month old baby.

When she reached her house, she took just long enough to look in on her son, reassuring herself that he was sleeping well and still breathing. She'd paused long enough to run her fingers over the soft hairs covering his head, eyes shining with a pride and love that was bright. "I love you, little one," she whispered, before tiptoeing out of the room again and moving back to the front door, where she stood waiting for him.

He was busy with the firemen, so she simply stood there, shoulder against the door frame, moonlight shining down and highlighting her body and her curls. Her emerald eyes gazed off into the distance even as she found herself thinking over her life as of late. A single mother working for two companies and putting herself through college... all the while finding the money to pay for a house and a car and plan for her son's future.

The look on her face was sad, almost melancholy. The look was fleeting however, as soon her attention was caught by a movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head, looking over at him with those intense green eyes for a long moment before smiling softly. "Come in... it's cold out," she said gently, turning and leading the way into the house, turning on lights as she went. "Did you want something to drink, or would you rather go straight to bed?"

A questioning look danced over Rouge's expression as he saw a hint of sadness in Kaelyn's, he could see hurt there - but he didn't know what kind of hurt. With an internal shrug he let it go, for the moment, as she ushered him inside out of the cold air of the night, and asked him whether he would prefer to go straight to bed or whether he would like a drink. Rouge pondered the idea of sleep for afew moments, thinking about how great it would be just to curl up, shut his eyes and drift off to a place in his head where none of this trauma had ever happened; his wife hadn't cheated on him, his house hadn't burned down and he wasn't now a homeless man being taken in by a stranger through pity - for the few hours before he would awake. But in all honesty he didn't feel like sleeping, he knew if it came to that moment before sleep: when you lie in your bed staring at the ceiling in the dark, listening to all the thoughts that bombard your mind - he wouldn't be able to deal with it, so a postponement would be in order.

"I'd like a drink, if you don't mind," he said with a courteous smile, "I don't suppose you've got anything a little stronger than juice?" He didn't want to get drunk, of course, he knew she had a young child and in his eyes that means he would have to show the upmost respect - but the quick hit to the body that a strong drink would give him seemed like the best idea at the moment.

"But if not I understand, of course" he quickly added, he didn't want to appear demanding - he was her guest after all. In the silence before her reply Rouge allowed his eyes to drift around the front hallway of her house - it was simply, and tastefully, decorated - with simple whitewash walls and matching doors, not extravogent but then again he'd never had much of a taste for things with too much flare.

Kaelyn looked at him as he asked for something stronger than juice, a small amused smile on her face, though her eyes were soft, showing that she likely understood the feeling he was going through. "Not a problem," she said softly, making her way through the kitchen to the back wall, where a liquor cabinet with a built in counter was situated. After a few minutes of rumaging in the locked upper cabinet, she pulled out a bottle.

A few seconds later, she had a glass half full of some dark liquid. After pouring some coke into it and giving it a quick stir with a spoon, she handed it to him. "I hope you like rum... I don't have much since I moved, but its one of the few things I couldn't bring myself to leave behind. A friend of mine imported it."

Hopping up, she sat herself on the counter. Now, without her jacket on, the white tank top gave a full, gracious view of her curvy body. She didn't seem to notice though, crossing her legs at the ankle and leaning on one hand, the other lifting to run through the locks of her hair as she stared at the floor. "The spare bedroom is already all made up, and theres a guest bathroom just across the hall if you want a shower. There should already be towels and soap in there... I have some shampoo if you need it as well."

After chewing on her lip for a moment, she lifted her eyes to look at him. "Tomorrow if you want I can take you into town if you need to get to the store or bank or anything. I have to take Jayden in to his doctor's appointment anyway."

Rouge just glanced around for a moment as she strode off into a different room from the hallway and he just shrugged and paced off after her, finding himself pausing in the doorway of what appeared to be her kitchen. The floor was a traditional white and black tiled brick, which brought a small smile to his face as he'd always found it quite quaint when kitchens were decorated so - and she had a small table and chair set in the corner of the room, and of course all the necessary facilities of fridge, cooker, and so on and so forth.

He settled quietly as he watched her routing through a cupboard above her head in order to fulfil her earlier request of a stronger drink, his gaze once again unable to help but wander down the length of her body, taking in the tasteful curves of her form. But he shook his head once more to snap himself out of the lusty daze: he really needed to stop this, however attracted he seemed to be to the physique of this woman.

"I hope you like rum... I don't have much since I moved, but its one of the few things I couldn't bring myself to leave behind. A friend of mine imported it."
Rouge nodded gratefully as he grasped the glass and took it from her delicate hands, placing the rim of the glass to his lips and taking a small sip - she'd made a nice mix, the sharp, bitter taste of the alcohol had been well masked by the coke she'd poured in.

After afew moments of silence, aswell as afew more sips on his drink, she said something about the guest bathroom being across the hall from where he would sleep and he just nodded along with a simple 'mhmm', he seemed distracted, a perhaps a little dispondant - tonight really had taken it's toll, he thought to himself.

But he would have to continue to deal with reality as he flashed her a smile as his focus returned to her, "Thankyou, again, so much..." he paused for thought, "I don't know how I can repay you?" And he honestly didn't, this kindness was so out of the blue and sincere, he had nothing he could give her in return.

She shook her head slightly as he spoke of repaying her, a small smile on her face. "Just remember this the next time someone seems like they need help, and I'll be happy. Might be me one day, might be someone else." She hopped from the counter and gave a little shrug. "Who knows?" she said, a small smile on her lips.

Almost as soon as she finished saying that though, it would seem her pants began to cry. Blinking, she pulled the baby monitor from her pocket and set it on the counter. "I'll be right back," she said, and disappeared into a deeper part of the house, returning about five minutes later with a tiny baby in her arms, though his upper half was hidden by a blanket which was draped over her shoulder for propriety's sake. He didn't need to see Jayden eating, after all.

Not that she could say she'd have a problem with him looking at her breasts, but she doubted he'd be interested in such things anyway. The hand that was hooked under the child's body had a slow rhythmic pat to the child's diapered bottom, and she swayed slightly, humming under her breath as she moved, keeping the baby calm while he ate. Looking up at her guest, she blushed slightly. "Sorry... we don't normally have guests at feeding times," she said with a chuckle, her blush deepening still.

"I uhm... I can show you where the spare bedroom is if you want... I'm sure you're probably tired..."

"Yeah... I'll have to remember your kindness if I ever see someone in need." He said, and he would honestly have to consider that - before this incident he wasn't exactly the generous, helpful kind - but hell, people change.

Rouge blinked with suprise as it appeared her pants started to wail but he nodded in realisation when Kaelyn produced a baby monitor from said pants, her child must be craving some attention, he thought, nodding to her as she asked for a moment and walked out - obviously to attend to him.

He took his drink up once more for afew choice sips before placing it down again to drum his fingertips atop the wooden surface of the table, closing his eyes as he allowed himself a satisfying moment of relaxation.

When she re-entered the room he realised that she was feeding her baby, he quickly averted his eyes to the floor in order that he didn't appear to be some form of letch or didn't come off rude, as could be done so easily.
"So.. I'm guessing that's Jayden?" he said, trying to make conversation to avoid the awkwardness of the situation.

"Sorry... we don't normally have guests at feeding times," she said with a chuckle, her blush deepening still.

"I uhm... I can show you where the spare bedroom is if you want... I'm sure you're probably tired..."

"I can tell," Rouge joked with a light chuckle, canting his head as he watched her blushing cheeks with a mild interest. "But yeah... I think I could do with having a lie down at the moment, not sure I'll get much sleep - too much going on in my head right now, but just relaxing will probably help." he said with an appreciative tone, rising from the table - taking his now empty cup and placing it on the sideboard next to the sink.

Still holding her son, Kaelyn nodded and smiled. "This is him... I'm sure you will have a better opportunity to meet him once you've both calmed down a bit," she said, her tone still apologetic. She glanced beneath the blanket for a moment, a soft smile and a change that one could only truly describe as a "warm glow" crossing over her features. For a moment she just watched her son, but finally lowered the blanket back to her shoulder and turned to lead him down the hall and up the four steps that lead into the "second level" of the house. Stopping by the first door on the right, she flipped on the lightswitch inside the door.

The room was well decorated, though not overly fancy or lavish, sporting a simple pale blue bedspread, white walls, and slightly darker blue trim around the doors and floor. A dresser with a TV on top of it was across from the foot of the bed, and a pair of matching lamps on the nightstands. "It's nothing fancy, but it should do for now," she said with a small smile, pulling her son from her breast after a moment and shifting him so he was leaning against her shoulder, his tiny dark haired head resting against her as her free hand snaked inside her shirt to adjust herself back to a proper position again so she didn't risk flashing him.