"Angelfaced With Regrets" (2/3) (L&S Fic) (R-ish)
(Same disclaimers as before, except that this chapter has a different rating; it's more R-ish, for some violent content.)
"Hey, Lady!"
Laverne barely registered the trucker's salutation through the fog of sleep she had been enshrouded in. She nibbled her lower lip in an attempt to wake all of the way up.
A hand encircled her lower arm and yanked her back against the bar. Her fist was primed to sock him, but the sight of his dark haired, perfectly toned form made her back off and smile coquettishly.
"Hey," He flashed her a grin that contained nothing but perfect, white, straight teeth, "Can I get a beer?"
Laverne smiled flirtatiously, "Would you like a date with that?" Slipped out almost beyond her will.
What are you doin'?! She asked herself. You're gonna hurt Len. But then again, she realized that she had made no promises to Lenny. Even if he did make her heart beat way faster than it should.
"What time do you get off?"
Laverne's expression became more mischievous; "I can ask Carla to cover for me for awhile. You wanna go see what's playing at the New View?"
She failed to notice the dark gleam in his eye, "We're gonna do something that's groovier than any movie."
"Groovy, eh?" She asked, mopping up the bar, "Carla!" She shouted to her blond co-worker, "Cover for me for an hour."
"OK," Carla said duly, jealousy glowing in her sunken features.
Laverne tucked her apron under the bar and plucked her coat from the floor, coming around the other side of the bar and meeting this cutie with a big grin. He wrapped a possessive arm around her and led her out of the Tavern.
His car was nice; an aging bug. Laverne was unafraid of the man; she even remained unperturbed when he turned off into an alley way.
I get it, she smirked confidently, He wants to make out.
Laverne smiled prettily, tilting her head, closing her eyes and opening her mouth.
That's when she felt the knife at her throat.
"Take off your clothes."
"Wah...whaddya...." Her eyes fell open and then bugged out as she felt the cool pressure of a switchblade pressing against her. Panic immediately set in. "No!"
"You don't have any bargaining chips," The man snarled, nicking her chin with the knife. "Take. Off. Your. Clothes."
What ensued was the struggle of Laverne's life. Never had she fought so hard. Years of toughness were a virtue now; and resulted in her attacker receiving a black eye.
She lunged for the door, tearing it open, and then ran, fled down ten city blocks in high heels before she reached her's and Shirley's building. She collapsed in the elevator, for the first time in her life a mound of shell-shocked jelly.
"Stupid!" She hissed to herself. New York was not Milwaukee, and it wasn't '58 anymore. Now she knew that simply picking a man up in New York was not an easy and safe proposition.
On one level, he was just another jerk who treated her cruelly. But this was the ultimate attempt against her self, her person. And she didn't know what to do.
Blindly she stumbled out of the elevator, not even watching where she was going. A shoulder collided with her nose and she staggered backwards.
"Laverne?" She recognized his voice. "Laverne, you're bleedin'!"
"Len," She said, in a small, plain voice, then slipped into his arms in a faint.
***
She came to consciousness to the sting of a cool, damp towel being pressed against her throat. The world surfaced through a milky haze, and the first thing she saw was a pair of kind, blue eyes.
"Lenny..."
He met her gaze, his expression anxious, "Vernie? Ya can hear me?"
"Yeah...what happened?"
But he was shouting, "Shirl! Shirl, she woke up!"
Shirley burst into the bedroom, her eyes wide. The tiny brunette threw herself onto the bed and grabbed Laverne's (admittedly whitened) hand.
"Laverne? Laverne, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand..."
"Shirl, I didn't go into a coma here," Laverne complained, sitting up.
"You were bleeding all over the place when Lenny dragged you into here. What happened to you?"
Laverne's eyes welled up, "It was horrible, Shirl. This guy...he...he tried to..."
"Did he rape you, Laverne?" Lenny's teary eyes spilled over at Shirley's words.
"He didn't; I wasn't going to let him." She fell back on the pillow with a groan, "How am I gonna go back to work now?"
"You're not because you're quitting that dump."
"Shirl! I can't!"
Shirley shook her head in dismay. Veenie was asleep in the other room, and she couldn't afford to have an argument with Laverne this late at night, "Fine, I'm not willing to argue with you tonight. Now do you need anything?"
Laverne thought, rotating her shoulders and neck. She winced at a pain in her shoulder, then pulled one one side of her sweater to reveal a strawberry-colored bruise on her left shoulder, "I think I need some ice."
"Ice! I'll go to the ice machine..." Shirley reached down, groping instinctively for a pocket that wasn't there. She flushed, having forgotten that she stood clad in her nightclothes and robe. "Do you have a dime on you, Len?" He picked one out of his pocket. "Thank you." She paused before going to retrieve some ice, "Ya know, Len, you really have matured. Not too long ago you would have seen me in this robe and done that disgusting," She bit the palm of her hand "you always do."
"That's kinda hard to do, considerin' that you crushed my hand trying to grab Laverne out of my arms."
"I don't know my own strength," She said sheepishly. Then, noticing the unmistakable look in Lenny's eyes, she backed out of the room, "Sorry," She whispered, leaving.
Laverne sighed, relaxing on the bed. Lenny continued to dab the towel at nicks that knife had left behind.
"Shirl wanted to call the police."
"You didn't let her, did ya? I couldn't identify him."
Lenny sighed sadly, "I know." His expression was disgusted, "This just ain't right, Vernie."
Laverne stroked his fingers as they drummed on the bed, "Sometimes things just happen, Len. I don't know why."
"Not to you. I don't wanna lose you, too." He laughed anxiously, "I mean, I lost my mom, and then I lost Squig. But If I lost ya..."
She shook her head, "Len..." She said warningly.
"But see, I could...I..." He reached into his pocket, "I didn't wanna do this yet. When I saw ya in the hall, I was going to go get some candles and do it right..." He knelt down bedside the bed, "I know that I've done this twice, and you said no both times, but I really love you Laverne. I REALLY love you. And we have a lot in common, and I can't stop thinking about you, and I'd like it if you'd marry me."
The world stopped. Laverne couldn't breathe. She stared at Lenny for a few minutes. He looked away from her.
"Len? What are you doing?"
"I don't wanna see your face when you turn me down."
Laverne sat up, frowning, "Who said I'm gonna turn you down?"
His face lit up, "You're not?!"
She smiled gently, "I'm gonna need some time to think about things though."
"Really?"
"Yeah..." She heaved a sigh, "I heard Shirl talking on the phone to Walter last night. He's comin' back, Len. If I'm here when he comes, I'll be in the way. So I'm goin' back to California for awhile."
His face fell, "Fer how long?"
"Just to think things out." She stroked his fingers. "You'll get an answer. I promise." And then she kissed his cheek.
"Take this," He urged her, holding out the glittering diamond in it's box.
Her eyes widened at the bright glow the stone gave off. She pressed it closed, narrowly missing his fingers, "I wouldn't feel right keeping it, Len." She stood up and walked to the closet, "Tell Shirl that I'm gonna leave her a note...I don't wanna be here when she gets back."
****
When Shirley returned with the ice, she found Lenny sitting out in the hallway.
"Imagine, having to go down two floors for a cup of ice..." She saw Lenny and his hangdog expression, "Len, what happened?"
Lenny sighed heavily, "Laverne's gone."
"Gone?! What did you do to her?!"
"Easy there!" He dodged Shirley's charge, "She said she had to go to California to think about things."
"What things?!"
Lenny hesitated for a moment. Then he admitted, "I popped the question to her tonight. And before you start screamin' at me that she's crazy, she said she had to go and think about things."
But Shirley was smiling by the end of Lenny's explanation, "It's about time you asked her to marry you."
"What?! She told me that the idea of me marrying her made you laugh!"
"It did. Years ago," She tilted her head and looked into his eyes, "Now I think it's sweet." Her eyes glowed with their old, dreamy, romantic haze, "Can I see the ring?"
He took it out of his back pocket and flipped the lid open.
Shirley's eyes bugged out. "How did you ever afford that?! It's GORGEOUS!" She made a move to try it on.
"I had to sell somethin'. And I'm not gonna tell you what...Waitaminute, this is Vernie's!" He admonished lightly, holding the ring to his chest, "You already got one!"
Shirley sighed, "Not any more. Walter hocked it to buy our third TV Set."
Lenny shook his head, refraining from commenting. "Shirl...You mind if I sit here for awhile?"
"Nah."
Shirley left Lenny in the hallway, wondering to herself if her opinion, indeed, had changed that much about the boy. She would have to think about things further when she had time. A smile crept across her lips; Walter would be back the very next day. When he got used to being settled, she would have plenty of time to think about Laverne and Lenny.
****
Two Days Later
Flags flowed in the breeze by the airport, but there wasn't a single smile to be found. No screaming, cheering throngs were here to greet the veterans of Vietnam as they returned home. Pro-Hippie sentimentality still ran rampant.
Shirley jostled through the crowd, pulling Veenie to the front of the crowd.
"Mamma! Mamma I see him!" Veenie cried, leaping up and down.
Shirley picked her husband's handsome visage from the disembarking soldiers.
Her heart nearly fell silent from the shock.
Walter Meeny, fifty pounds lighter, with a thick beard, was not alone. A tiny, Vietnamese woman clung to his side. She couldn't have been more than nineteen.
And she looked very, very pregnant.
Walter's face was apologetic as he found his wife in the masses, and his daughter. "Mommy, who's that?"
"I don't know, Veenie." Shirley said. Her voice was oddly flat and lifeless.
"Shirley," He began, "Before you say anything.."
"Who is this woman, Walter?"
"I met her in Vietnam...And if you understood how things were, you'd know.."
"She's pregnant with your child, isn't she?"
"Yes, she is."
Shirley began to cry. The world was shaking apart around her, "No."
"Shirley, be reasonable. This has never been a marriage..."
"You're saying this in front of your own daughter!" She snapped. Veenie was wide-eyed with shock as she stood between them.
"This has NEVER been a marriage, Shirley. Carmine Ragusa has stood between us from day one. DAY ONE."
"You want a divorce, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Then you won't be seeing your daughter for a very long time." At that, Shirley turned and walked away from five years of what she thought were wedded bliss. Years that had proved, in one simple moment, to be a lie.
It was painfully clear that she should have never married Walter Meeny. All she could do was repair the damaged she'd left behind.
She asked the cabbie to take them to Carmine's apartment.