User blog:SodaCat/Drunken Words

After some conversation with Lucky, I decided to fluffen up this mini-excerpt in which Derby and Alexis talk about their home lives. It was originally for the old version of Alexis' story, but I edited it so that it would fit her current character reboot. I'm still not even sure if they'll meet in the new version of Style... xD

After a couple of rounds of Derby’s good scotch, it was safe to say that Alexis and he were both completely, utterly wasted.

It’d been a turn of fate, really—neither of them had really desired to attend the party, but Derby had been forced to, being the president of the fraternity. Alexis, on the other hand, had had to be present for Piper’s sake.

The fact that the two of them were now slumped out on the Harrington House balcony, getting dirt all over their Calvin Klein and Vera Wang formalwear respectively, had been entirely the work of the scotch.

“And then o’my firsht night there, I wake up to ‘er boyfriend tryin’ t’climb int’bed with me,” Alexis hiccupped, gripping the bottle by the neck and finishing it off before tossing it away from them.

Derby watched with heavy, bloodshot eyes as the bottle rolled over by his leather loafers, and he nudged it with his right foot, admiring the strange, crinkly sound it made as it rolled along the brilliantly white, shining concrete and reflected the moonlight into his coffee colored eyes. Hearing about Alexis’ home life had been pretty terrible, but really, he was completely unfazed by it. His life could top it any day.

“Y’think tha’s rough?” Derby challenged, his voice slurred, making his English accent sound rather silly. “Lemme show y’somethin’,” he said, shrugging off his suit jacket and tossing it over by the bottle before rolling up his white button up and showing her his wrist, “these are all the work o’ my father.”

Alexis turned her body so that she could get a better look, and took Derby’s muscular arm in her delicate, small hands. She traced the fading, thin scars from the razor gently, touched each scar from what was undoubtedly burns from a cigar. He watched her emerald green eyes as they grazed over his wrist lightly, waiting for her to admit he unquestionably had it tougher.

After a moment, she threw his arm down into his lap and burst out into a fit of giggles. “Tha’s nuthin, Harrington!”

Derby raised an eyebrow at her before breaking out into laughter himself, despite the fact that he’d just revealed one of his most personal, vulnerable secrets to a grease monkey. “Think ya can top that, grease?”

She nodded, shrugging off the stupid cardigan Piper had insisted she wore over the black strapless dress, and turned so that her back was facing Derby. “Unzip it, and I’ll show y’ what real shcars loo’ like.”

Derby did not hesitate for a minute, and unzipped the dress as if it were nothing. He was utterly impassive as Alexis slipped the dress down until it was around her waist, not caring the fact that all she wore over the top half of her body as a strapless bra. Instead, he paid mind to the scars she was gesturing to all over her ribcage.

“These,” Alexis introduced, sounding almost proud of herself, “are th’work o’ my lovin’ mum, Lilian Monroe, and one o’ my chil’hood best friends, Johnny Vincent.”

Derby reached out tentatively and ran his thumb over one of the scars—the longest, by the looks of it. So the kids on the other side of the wealth spectrum hurt themselves too, huh? Maybe it was just the scotch reasoning with him, but for some reason, it didn’t really surprise him.

“I can understand your mother’s cause in this,” Derby agreed, nodding as he withdrew his hand, “but wha does that failure Vincent have t’do w’any o’ it?”

Alexis scoffed, pulling the dress back up but not bothering with the zipper. “I’d be able t’explain it t’y if yoooooou actually ever loved anyone, Harrington,”

Derby considered this for a moment, nodding. He’d confided in the Monroe girl a couple drinks ago that he didn’t love his fiancé, Pinky, at all; and that honestly he held no feelings for anyone. Alexis, on the other hand, had been very clear that she held feelings for the grease monkey, Johnny—strong feelings.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Tha’s a fair point,” he agreed, though he still thought it was stupid, “but I shtill think it’s stuuuuupid.”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh, Derby,” Alexis giggled, laying down so that her head rested in his lap, “yer suuuch a fucking loser.”

<p class="MsoNormal">He rolled his eyes, unoffended by her insult. “And you aren’t? You chose those greashers over yer real kind.”

<p class="MsoNormal">She tried to scoff, but instead ended up choking on her own spit. “Whatever, daddy issues,” she giggled, running one hand through her messy blonde hair.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Mummy issues,” Derby shot back, smiling up at the night sky.