carry on

“Hum.”, Natalia took a sip of her coffee, looking at Lucien with her eyes narrowed. “So what are you gonna do now? Walk around like this all day next to me? I’m not opposed to it but I feel like you’d freeze your ass off and we want people to take us seriously, you need at least…”, she scanned his torso. “Two more sets of abs for that, a six pack is not enough.”

“No, I was not planning on walking around like this for the rest of the day. It is far too cold for that. The only reason I took the shirt off was because I didn’t want to keep on a wet shirt when it’s cold outside. I’d get sick if I did that and I just can’t afford that right now.” There was way too much on their plates for him to catch a cold or anything at this point in time. Maybe before everything happened, he had time to take sick days. But that wasn’t the case nowadays. He looked down as she looked down. “So you want me to have an eighteen pack? You do realize that’s impossible, right?” Lucien shook his head as he headed in the direction of his car. “I’m pretty sure this is good enough though. Thank you for pretending that you don’t think I’m a good looking guy, Gallegos. Helps my ego.”

“Maybe it was holy water? They could just be trying to keep you safe,” Magdalene hypothesized, though she somewhat doubted it.

Lucien could only raise a brow at the statement. Holy water. That surely had not been a thought in his head because it was highly impossible. “Do you honestly believe it was holy water?”

“Ugh, Lucio. Put on a shirt, Jesus Christ.” Jules turned to look at Jacob who was currently admiring her brother. “Oh for fuck’s sake, Jacob. Go get my brother an extra shirt. You’re his size.” Jules tapped her foot as she waited for her partner to jog off before she chuckled, arms crossing over her chest. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only detective in this town that’s got any kind of muscle. And yet here you are, big brother. Still single.”

It was in this singular moment that Lucas Anderson, for just a few fleeting seconds of his life, questioned his sexuality. The man before him was jacked and–Nope, nah he still liked women. Welp. There that went. “Hey man, are you good? Those super-soakers are never something to mess with.”

Slipping the kids a five Calli smirked, “We were aiming for the face guys, but I guess this will do.” Watching them scatter she gave a little wave of mocking greeting. Dark sunglasses shielding half of the smart ass look on her face. “Thought you’d need a pick me up after last night.” Though she hadn’t imagined it would get him out of his shirt, that was her bad. 

“Oh. So this was your doing? You put these kids up to this?” He nodded his head slowly, eyes narrowing towards her. Then a smirk lifted onto his face. Lucien slowly moved towards her, his arms held out. “Hey, you want a hug, Calli?” Before she could even answer the question, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug, letting his wet hair brush her face. “I just thought you needed a hug.”

Jules bristled at the mention of Britney. “She’s avoiding me. Which is probably for the best. If I’m gonna bet anything, she’s mad at me because of Andrew. Don’t really deserve it but I understand being protective of a sibling.” Sighing, she moved to hug Lucien before grimacing. “You look like a tool, you know that right? Or were you trying to have Natalia all up on you. Because she will be.”

Turning around to find her brother there was a lot nicer than seeing a certain someone. When she saw his outfit, she shook her head. “You know, I was going to hug you but on second thought.. Nope. I will take that whiskey though.” Grabbing it from him, she smirked and took a drink. “Thank you!”

Maybe a week ago, Andrew would’ve gotten nervous at those words. He’d always wanted the Novaks to like him, maybe not like him to the point where they had family dinners together but at least somewhat approve of him. He didn’t have to worry about that now and even though it still stung, it was way better for him mentally, not having to worry about something so trivial as being accepted by his girlfriend’s family when there were far more serious things to worry about in this town. Maybe the Detective could take a hint. 

“We’re doing threats now?”, he did turn to look at the man for a second before looking away again. “Maybe channel all that anger and use it for good. I get it, you’re standing up for your sister, I’d do the same for mine.”, he was being honest there. “But there’s a fine line between being a complete asshole, like you used to be when we were dating, and standing up for your loved ones. And let me just point out that if I was dead, I wouldn’t be able to examine myself so, that makes no sense, Detective.”

“Yes, we’re doing threats now.” More like he was doing threats. If Andrew even thought about threatening him, Lucien would probably punch him on the spot. And he didn’t need that paperwork on his hands right now. So he was hoping that wouldn’t be the case. “Used to be? Oh, buddy, you’ve got no idea how bad it’s gonna be now. Especially with how the two of you broke up.” He let out a sigh. “For someone so fucking smart, you really don’t use your damn brain sometimes. You’re a doctor, are you not? You don’t have to be dead to examine yourself. I’ll just be beating the shit out of you.” Where was a drink when he needed one? “Let me just point out something, doctor. Juliana is my world. The fact that you had the audacity to say you deserved to know anything about her life after dating her for three months is fucking stupid. And especially something as bad as what she told you. You know what you should’ve done? Apologize and be there for her. But it seems you could only think of yourself, huh? That’s not how relationships go, champ.”

“Yes, yes. I am here as Kelly Kapowski and yes my big brother is here as A.C. Slater and NO we did not plan our outfits. Nor is there some weird-ass incest going on. Clearly we were both heavily influenced by Saved by the Bell as kids.” Jules called out to the already walking away person, sighing as she put her hands on her hips before spotting Andrew across the dance floor. Her gaze went soft for a moment before steeling once again. “I need another drink.” She muttered to herself, although a bit loudly.

Liquor streaming through her veins, and No Doubt blaring through the sound system, singing about the trials of being a girl. It wasn’t hard to see how she ended up on the dancefloor, between a wannabe Ash and one of the Backstreet Boys. Mouthing along with the words as she danced with them, and wondering if she could get Aly to bend the rules just a little to play her other highschool anthem. She was dressed as Britney afterall, how could she deny a girls desire to Oops I did it again?

She’d lost Dominic in the crowd somewhere, and would have been more worried if she didn’t know how far ahead of him she was drink wise. Still between the hands on her hips and the hands in the air. She did peak around to see if she could spot anyone she knew. 

Seeing Calli on the dance floor definitely caught his attention. From afar, he couldn’t tell who she was dressed as. So he simply walked closer to where she was on the dance floor. Leaning forward so that he wouldn’t have to yell too loud over the music, he tried to catch her attention. “I knew I liked you for a reason,” he said as he looked down at her outfit. It was clear to him who she was. He had to admit that he did watch Buffy when he was younger. Faith had been one of his favorite characters. “I was hoping someone dressed as Faith tonight. Well, actually I was hoping for Jessie Spano, but Faith is like a close second.”

“My balls were always here, Detective. I just decided it was best to keep quiet out of respect. Something you seem not so inclined to do, never were.”, he gave a quick nod of the head. “Each to their own though.”

“Kid, you better watch what the fuck you say before you end up having to examine yourself at work by the end of the night. I don’t want Jules having to bring you to the hospital in her ambo. For her sake.” Maybe he shouldn’t have threatened someone, but he was honestly too tired to care. He always was.

It was busier than she had ever anticipated it being but Aly was still grinning, serving drinks with a speed that she didn’t even know she possessed. It meant she didn’t even have time to feel slightly uncomfortable about the costume she was wearing. It was just a touch more skin than she was used to but it was such an easy look, she had all the pieces in her wardrobe. For the next few hours, she was Britney, bitch. Although she really didn’t have that attitude yet. 

She had just finished putting another round on a table before she turned and almost ran into someone. “Sorry! Didn’t see you there. Although, I have no idea how I didn’t, that’s a great costume choice, 10 out of 10.” She was in awe, holding the person at arms length so she could get a good look. “Anyway, what can I get you? We do have drink specials. Cosmos, because Sex and The City was iconic, couple of Pokemon and Rugrats named ones because you can’t doubt childhood and something that involves Pop Rocks that I’ve been told is delicious.”

Lucien had basically been wandering around keeping an eye on things. It seemed he could never truly leave his job. Nevertheless, he was still trying to enjoy the party. That was when he just so happened to bump into a familiar face in a very interesting outfit. “Oh, Britney, you shouldn’t have.” He looked down at her outfit again. “And you mentioned my nice jeans and you were hiding all of this. I’m so disappointed that this is the first time I’ve been blessed like this.” He finished off the whiskey in his hand as she listed off the drink specials. “I’m feeling the Pop Rocks one though. Or whatever one you’d suggest.”

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion.”, his smile didn’t fade though his words didn’t match it.·“But sure, go ahead, Detective.”

“Oh, so now you got balls, huh? Since when have I given a fuck about your opinion.” It wasn’t phrased as a question at all. It was simply a fact.·“Yeah, I was planning on it, buddy old pal.”

Boy, he thought this costume was so funny while he was putting it together. There was literally nothing funnier than wearing your underwear on the outside, right? But now that he was here, he was second guessing himself. Literally everyone else looked cute as hell and he had a belt on his head. 

So, he tucked himself into the nearest corner and nursed his beer, at least bopping along to the music. The Spice Girls made everything just a little bit better. 

“Hey, how’s it going?” he asked when someone joined him in the middle of his wallflowering. He did his best not to look as uncomfortable as he felt. “You should be out there dancing.” 

“Nah, I’m good. I really rather do anything other than dancing.” It was also very cold in this damn bar. Maybe it was because of his lack of clothing. That was probably the main problem. Lucien knew he should’ve at least brought a jacket or something. But the alcohol would do its job eventually. “What are you doing over here? Shouldn’t you be dancing?”