Storms End

Chapter 2: Bill

Corrigan had rolled into the tavern about fifteen minutes before Mikey had begun his little show and he was wearing a trench coat in an attempt at personal ambiguity and mystery, in short, he wanted to look cool, like a modern day Sherlock Holmes.

Bill stood taller than Mike at a mighty six-two and he had a clean mop of brown hair on his head and a pair of inviting sea-green eyes that was useful in his line of work. Him and Mike weren't a pair of people youd usually expect to see together.

He turned up the collar on his coat, tipped his hat down to cover his eyes and stood in a darker corner of the bar, much too smoothly and coolly for someone who probably never did this before and he observed.

Billy saw his friend leaning against the bars table top trying to look like he had better things to do, considering himself above and beyond the squalor that frequented this establishment and truth was, he could've been had he directed himself in the right ways.

He leaned there, bored, he probably didn't even consider this place a bar, the thought passing through corrigans head, for the lack of scotch of course. His friend was one prissy princess.

He watched as the bar keep hobbled in on his thick legs with a cheap bottle of grocery store scotch, for someone who considered his standards too high, his taste in scotch was questionable.

He watched as Mike scanned the crowd like a bloodhound looking for his prey, watched him close in on the girl and go for the kill, he knew his friend would never go too far but he liked to keep things in check.

He saw him charm her into buying the drinks and the entire pub celebrating him, he decided for the sake of mystery to exit the pub and re-enter in a more conspicuous way in order to not arouse suspicion, leaving the hat on a stand and turning down his coats collars, he re-entered and proceeded to toss a water balloon at his friend.

A Water Balloon.

He had bought one from a peddler who was inexplicable selling them outside the pub and he seized the opportunity, after all, what did the romans say? Carpe Diem.

He took the balloon and lunged at his companions face, the surprise jolting him awake.

He wasn't exactly asleep to be awoken, but it was a good thing he woke him up anyways.

As the balloon hit his face you could see the grin on his face like a child when his mothers just given them their favorite toy.

The night had just begun.

Corrigan observed Mike enjoy his glory for a few more minutes before the crowd let him down, almost oblivious of the balloon and he sauntered up to Corrigan.

'What a prick' was the initial thought that passed through Corrigans head on seeing Mike, but that was almost always the first thought he had when he saw mike.

Mike said with an almost eerie glee "Lets get this party started"

Corrigan would never really understand Mikes thought process, nobody really would but he was the closest to figuring it out, he would probably never be able to confirm it though but that didn't bother him, he'd know what he'd need to know.

Corrigan picked up off his hat put in on his head with a twisted motion and he noticed a look that looked like he was annoyed by how much cooler Corrigan was compared to him flash across his face.

Corrigan trusted Mike, but the smiles he flashed sometimes made Corrigan question his faith, this was an unpredictable, insuppressible, cocky man that he dealt with and you could never be too careful, but he had learned some patterns that someone as unpredictable as mike still followed and those were his keys.

Mike may have been Mike, but he was no slouch either, he steeled his nerves for whatever Mike planned on inflicting on the both of them for that night and no matter how much he dreaded it, he had this crazy sensation of excitement.