Lifespan Deathwatch

[Damien McEwan]

Alia can see Nivek across the room on the couch and waits for his invite, but when it doesn't come, she lets herself in anyway, asking, "It's just me. Didn't you hear me knocking?"

He finally looks up towards her and mutters a distant and distracted apology and gestures that she can have a seat on the chair by the coffee table.

She ignores that and plops down right next to him on the sofa, allowing gravity on the cushions to smoosh them together, allowing absolutely no space between them.

She stays silent for a few moments, gazing at his profile, waiting for some kind of response. Any kind of response, and when it doesn't come, she thumps him hard with her finger in the tender spot under his earlobe, right next to the hinge of his jaw.

"OWww! Jeezus!"

"Oh! There you are!" she said to him innocently.

-----

Alia didn't really like Nivek at first. She was friendly to him when he came into town, but she soured on him for a while after she heard him tell Her, Joaquin and Keighley the story of how he made his way to Los Angeles after leaving his girlfriend. It was cold, and it really pissed her off.

She thinks back to about nine months ago when she was at the Spiderbabies show on Freeport 6. Her & Jaina walking behind Joaquin & Keighley, all making their way towards the western bio-dome entrance with the rest of the crowd. Jaina going on and on about how great the band was going to be, about serendipity this, and inevitability that, intense deja'vu, and how convinced she was that this was going to be the night that she meets "the guy"

It was cute and everything, but it was all starting to get a little insufferable for Alia to bear.

As they passed one of the entrance gates, she saw an attractive guy coming through the turnstile, and put her leg out, tripping Jaina, forcing her friend to stumble and slam into the unexpecting guy, and thinking: 'Pleeease, let that shut her up for a while.'

She kept walking on with Joaquin and Keighley while Jaina stayed behind apologizing to the man while helping him back onto his feet. The moments peace was only just that though: a moment. Jaina came running up from behind shortly after, happily crowing "It's him! just like the dream! It's him!"

Jaina separated herself from her friends at the concession stand with a couple of beers in her hand, announcing to them that she was going off to find "the guy" again, and Alia finally got the peace she was looking for.

----

Nivek still doesn't know that through Jaina, they are all connected. Alia gets tempted to tell him sometimes, but Joaquin keeps warning against it, so she grudgingly continues to keep it a secret.

At first, before she got to know him as she does now, and back when she soured on him during the three weeks when Nivek was broke and homeless, playing musical couches between her and Keighley every night, She was absolutely convinced that Jaina was far too good for him, and, right or wrong, Alia made the decision to protect her friend in the most efficient way she knew how and decided to make it her mission to seduce him and expose him for the unworthy dog he is. She, of course had no intention of actually letting Nivek have her when she succeeded, because it would be absolutely unthinkable to betray one of her best friends like that.

Sisters before Misters...Always.

On the nights he stayed in her apartment, Alia would pour on her charm as they spent the hours alone together. As time progressed, so did her efforts. To her frustration however, his rebuffs of her became stronger as she became more provocative. More assertive.

He was playing her. She was absolutely convinced of that. Not once in their time alone did he ever express any discomfort around her. Not once did he ever comment when she would leave her bedroom door open and position her dressing mirror so that he could watch her change into her lingerie for him. She knew he stole some glances in some of those moments, though, but not once did he ever complement her body.

When she began greeting him with a warm kiss on the lips the nights when he knocked on her door, not once did he ever kiss her back.

Not once in her adult life has Alia ever experienced such resistance from a man, and it infuriated her.

She's not the kind of woman that knows how to deal with that.

On the night of her final attempt, determined to prove (to herself?) once and for all what a piece of s**t this guy really was, she came into her living room stark naked, and slid up against Nivek on the couch while he slept. slowly and seductively rubbing up against him, breathing low and hot in his ear.

Although his mind was asleep, she could feel his body begin to awaken against her, and she whispered to him, "say my name." and Nivek whispered back in a dreamlike tone, "Jaina."

Alia was broken in that moment and immediately stopped...she very carefully and quietly separated herself off the couch away from his sleeping form, and tiptoed back into her bedroom, feeling somewhat ashamed of herself for going too far.

She curled up alone that night understanding now that she wasn't being played at all. The true reality is, she just couldn't compare to the woman of his dreams, and she remained awake for the rest of the wee hours, feeling a true respect for "the guy" that she has unfairly misjudged.

----

Nivek Finally turned to look at her, rubbing the bottom crook of his ear.

"What the f**k did you do that for?!"

"Do you remember letting me in?" she asked.

Nivek refused to answer the question because he didn't want to admit the answer was 'no.'

"That's why." Alia answered for him.

"I hate it when you get like this," she continued, "so you and I are going to spend the day together."

She ignored his protests.

She stood up, pulled him off the couch, shoved him out of his own door, closed it behind her, and led him by the hand down the stairs and outside to the street.

---