Attachment Theory - Bucky BarnesxOC

Part 4: the wolves are out tonight and i am one of them, it's true

She hasn't seen him for three weeks.

Three miserable goddamn weeks.

It's starting to get to her, and everyone takes notice.

Her work nights just don't feel the same without Bucky making her feel like she's the most important person in the room. Empire has lost a little bit of its sparkle and Alice finds herself checking the clock more and more often so that she can drown her sorrows in a bottle of champagne on her couch. She's pissed off. At him. For making her workplace the place she wants to be the most and the least in the world.

She wonders if she scared him when she asked him about his military career. It's a fairly harmless question, but then again, those dog tags were barely visible. He was hiding them and she went looking for something to talk to him about. Anything to keep the conversation going. Anything to hear that gentle gravelly voice.

Maybe his last decent act before finding another strip club to go to was helping her start her car.

He might have been hiding those tags for a reason. Most vets who come in show their military ID at the bar to get discounts. Bucky isn't even asked for ID and Jeff says he always pays in cash.

The 32557038 instagram account is gone; disappeared within a matter of days. Alice almost messaged it once and then decided against it.

Such a chickenshit.

She's quiet as she does her makeup. Sapphire douses her dark hair in extra hold hairspray, creating a fog around her. It looks like she set off a smoke bomb.

A few dancers are already halfway through their shifts, so Sapphire and Alice will be doing the last dances of the night before they start to work the floor.

Alice opts for her natural hair tonight - sort of - clipping in extensions and curling it until it falls in loose waves down her shoulders. She gets Sapphire to help her put half of it into victory rolls and pops on a bright, poppy red lipstick to compliment her thick winged eyeliner and massive fake lashes. She's in a blue bikini covered in opalescent glitter, so she went with a patriotic theme to her makeup.

Alice looks at Sapphire who is currently trying to shove one tit back into her bra while swearing at it softly.

"How do I look?"

Sapphire lifts her head up.

"Like some kind of alternate reality version of Rosie the Riveter who would give a soldier head in the trenches just because she loves America that much," Sapphire replies. "You know what I mean? A real slutty patriot."

Alice throws her head back and laughs until her cheeks turn pink. She doesn't know where Sapphire got her sense of humor from. She's met Sapphire's mother (unfortunately). Her dad is slightly more relaxed but her mom is a straight-laced uptight fundamentalist who made up ridiculous names for genitalia just to avoid saying "sinful" words. It seems like as soon as Sapphire got away from that house, she became George fucking Carlin.

"Perfect. That's exactly what I was aiming for."

They saunter out onto the floor and walk toward the stage. Alice glances out at the crowd and spots Tom, who waves at her. She smiles and waves back.

"What's the deal with him again?" Sapphire asks as they head backstage.

"Works in finance, his wife died last year. He mostly just books a private room to have someone to talk to."

"Poor guy," Sapphire mutters.

"He's sweet," Alice whispers, blowing him a kiss. "He's trying to get back out there, but he's just having a rough time."