Attachment Theory - Bucky BarnesxOC

Part 5: the passenger

After the night in the VIP room, Bucky disappears again. This time for much longer than just a few weeks. She hasn't seen him in at least two months. She's a little less heartbroken about it. At least now her brain can come up with more reasonable explanations for his sudden and long absences that involve things like medical testing, therapy, or maybe a meditation retreat - rather than him being a mysterious Russian hitman.

She's still considering that possibility, though.

She wanted to ask him about the Russian he spoke when they were in the VIP room, but she was afraid that too many questions might upset him, so she kept her mouth shut. They talked a little more. He asked her what her favorite movie was. When she told him it was the Lord of the Rings trilogy, he seemed confused.

His favorite movie is Casablanca.

She thought it would be something with a lot more explosions.

He paid her $800. Cash. The VIP room rate is $200 an hour.

"Thank you. I like talking to you."

He didn't say "it was nice to talk to someone" - he said, "I like talking to you."

That means something.

When she told the other girls, they groaned, knowing she had officially secured him as a regular, and thus a somewhat reliable source of income.

The club is getting busier lately. It's wedding season (technically, every season is wedding season in Vegas), so there are more and more bachelor parties being booked. Alice and Sapphire pick up a few extra shifts just to make enough cash to go out and blow it all on the weekend. She still keeps her eye out for Bucky at the club. Every so often, she catches a red or blue shirt and her heart skips a beat, only to deflate when her eyes don't find a curtain of long dark hair or baby blue eyes.

Tonight, her and Sapphire are off and planning to go drinking and dancing. Jeff is meeting them after work. He's their ride home. As they dance in the bathroom to one of Sapphire's playlists, Alice's phone buzzes.

32557038 started following you.

"What the fuck?" She whispers.

"What?"

"Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but I had this private account follow me on instagram the other day, and then it disappeared and now it's back."

"Is it Neil?"

"Maybe?" Alice replies. "I threatened him with a restraining order if he didn't stop trying to get a hold of me. It seems to have scared him off."

"Maybe it's a rando who saw you at the club."

"But why delete your account? Why not just be like a normal weirdo, like all of my pictures, and then try to DM me a picture of your weiner? That's the kind of harassment I'm used to."

"Maybe they blocked and unblocked."

"But why?"

Sapphire shrugs as she teases her hair.

"Why is the sky blue? What's the meaning of life? Why do men think we want to see their dick first thing on a Sunday morning while we're trying to nurse our hangovers and enjoy brunch?"

"That last complaint sounds very specific," Alice chuckles. "It is jarring though."

"It is!" Sapphire shouts. "I don't wanna see that shit!"

"Why do they always assume we want to see it?"

"Because they think it's really important. They all look the same, anyway. You know those weird underground monster worms in that Kevin Bacon movie?" Alice starts laughing so hard she can barely hold her phone in her hand. It just adds more fuel to the fire for Sapphire. She's one of those people who always has to be 'on'. "You know the one I'm talking about, from the 90s? We watched it last week."