It's Not Like it's Love, Chapter 5

[Crystaltear]

It's Not like It's Love
By Crystaltear
Chapter 5
Warning: Duo's personality reminds me of Sano from RK in this chapter. It's humorous, yet frightening at the same time.


8:45 pm, Same day (refer back to Ch 4, I know it's been awhile.)

After twenty minutes of persuasion, swearing he wouldn't cause any trouble, and cutting a deal that cost him twenty extra dollars, Duo was finally able to convince Louis to have his driver bring him to the same place Kimberly had been dropped off weeks before.

So he finally found himself standing in front of 361 Randall, ready to take his first step toward revenge. The house was average for that side of town, with gray-blue aluminum siding and white shutters. The lawn was newly cut and separated into two large sections by a stone walkway. The oldest asset on the property had to be the car, an 82 Toyota Cressida that sat in the smoothly paved driveway.

Duo quickly made his way up the stone path and stepped up to the door. It was a lightly tanned oak door of good, heavy quality with a frosted glass oval in the center. He peered in through the glass to see what he could make of the interior, but the only things visible were the paneling of the wall, which was the same color as the door, a closet door, and an alarm system directly ahead, its bright red light gleaming at him in warning. 'Smart move,' he thought to himself and nodded. Although the house rested in a better part of town than his own, unless you lived in the ritzy part of Wabasso that blended into Miami, it was best to own an alarm system.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Duo jumped at the sudden intrusion of another person, and then cringed when he matched the voice with that of the ill-tempered woman that had made a fool of him. This time, however, he had no one but himself to blame for making him look idiotic. He had to look utterly ridiculous, and more than a little suspicious, peering into her door when she didn't know anything about him beyond what her cousin had supplied. And he was sure that an honest individual was not among the compliments she has mentioned to the older woman.

"I was wondering if anyone was home."
Ah yes, perfect; now she has even more reason to think he was trying to break into her house. She was glaring at him so coldly that he was certain he would freeze up at any given moment. Her appearance was different from that of the other night; she was dressed in frayed jean shorts and a light green t-shirt that was tied at the bottom in a knot, showing off an inch of her flat stomach. Her hair was missing the clips from the other night, letting it fall around her face freely, and his sight caught tiny highlights of auburn in her dark hair, enhanced by the sun setting behind her. The orange glow that illuminated around her body made her look like a goddess; all that was missing was a gorgeous smile that he knew she had to possess, but had yet to been graced with seeing it.

"I thought I made it perfectly clear that you are to stay away from my cousin," she scolded, a heated glint in her eye. "And how did you get my address anyway?"

"I didn't come to see your cousin; I wanted to talk to you."

She looked taken back at his reply and he used that slight advantage to skim over her second question. However, she was quick to recover.
"I can't imagine what you would have to discuss with me, Maxwell; I made it known that I want nothing to do with you. Now, if I find you near my home again, I'm going to call the police."

Duo then knew the direct approach he had planned on going for was not going to fair well at all. He would have to take a different route, since it seemed that paying Hilde a visit would result in spending time in a jail cell.
"All right, relax. I won't come by your house anymore, okay?" he relented.

"You better not." With that final warning, she turned away from him, and went to return to wherever she had been before the interruption. Meanwhile, Duo began to descend the stone walkway. He had almost made it to the curb when it dawned on him; it was a long walk home?
"Hold up."

She turned back to him, looking very annoyed. He continued anyway, and hoped that she would at least take a little pity on him. "I...listen, can I just use your phone to call a cab? I live on the other side of town, and it's a bit of a walk."

Hilde let her arms drop to her side to show her exasperation. "You're really pushing it kid." Nonetheless, she h back to the front door of the house and stepped inside, motioning for him to follow. He followed her through the living room and to the dining room where a cordless phone was sitting on the place setting of the wood table.
"You're one of those ritzy chics, aren't you?" Duo remarked as he took in how nicely decorated and furnished his surroundings were.

"No, not exactly," she corrected him. "I was just the only child in my family that made something decent of myself, so when I moved out on my own, my parents were quite generous in helping with the d?cor of my new place." She handed him the phone, and he dialed the number he knew as though it were his own.

"Checker."

"Hey Louis, it's Duo. Can you get a guy to pick me up on Randall?"

"Sure thing?You done already? That was quick; I would've had the guy stay outside if you would've said you were so gonna be finished there so soon."

"Uh?heh?yeah," Duo laughed half-heartedly, slipping a glance at Hilde. She was leaning against the doorframe of the room, patiently waiting for him to finish. He quickly completed the call with Checker, and handed the phone back.
"Thanks."

"No problem, now out," she demanded, flicking her wrist and pointing at the door for emphasis.

"All right, I'm going." He paused. "But just one more favor."

"You want another favor?!"

"Let me borrow some money for the cab? I blew most of mine for the ride here."

Hilde could not even comprehend how one young man could contain such audacity. First he shows up at her doorstep knowing he was unwelcome, then she finds him peering into the house like some sort of thief. He asks to use the phone, and after she was kind enough to oblige, he has the nerve to request money from her for the ride home?! What kind of jerkoff was he?
"You have got to be kidding me," she deadpanned.

"I'll pay you back, I promise. It's just a loan."

"No. I want you to go away." Shoving her hand in her pocket, she pulled out a crumpled twenty dollar bill and practically threw it at him. "Keep it, I just want you to leave."

"Why are you suddenly freaking out? I just?"

"That's it, just go. Out," Her statement was supposed to be firm enough so that he knew it was final. And he obeyed, stepping outside the house to wait for his cab, but Hilde's relief vanished when she say that he was following her to the side of the house to see what she was doing.

There was no fear involved in her desire for him to leave; something told her not to be afraid of him. She also knew that he wasn't looking to ransack or rob her home, though she did not have any confirmation of his innocence beyond her own intuition. Somehow, she just knew. But she still wanted him to leave as soon as possible, not due to fear of anything from him, but more that she could sense him becoming a hindrance if allowed to come around.
'And that's the last thing I need at this point,' she reminded herself. So it was necessary that his unnerving presence left immediately.



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Duo followed Hilde to the side of the house despite her insistence that he leave at once (he did have to wait for the cab, after all), and gawked when she suddenly situated herself onto the creeper that was lying beside her old Cressida, and rolled herself under the front of the car.
"What the hell are you doing?"

"Fixing my car, what does it look like?" came a muffled response came from beneath the vehicle, accompanied by the distinct clanging of a tool against metal. "My starter has been acting up, so I'm replacing it with a new one. While you're there, could you pass me the new one? It should be on the ground to your left."

Duo glanced over to his side, and lying beside the house was the new starter piece. He picked it up carefully and began to examine it, making sure there were no glitches to the item. Once satisfied with his inspection, he crouched down beside the car and a few centimeters away from where Hilde's lower body was "Do you know how to put the piece in?"

"I watched my father work on his car a few times; I'm sure I could figure it out," Hilde replied. She then emerged from the darkness under the Cressida, rolling herself out with the old starter piece in hand. She exchanged the worn piece with the one Duo held out in his palm. She returned to the creeper, situated herself so not to fall off, and was about to go back under the car to finish the job when her intruder halted her process.

"Here, let me take a look at it, I'm good at this sort of thing. You don't want to put the piece in incorrectly because it will screw up the whole car," he offered.

Hilde smirked. "Oh, I bet you are," she retorted, but gladly pulled herself off of the creeper to allow Duo to do the job.

"Ya know, because I like you, I'll pretend that I didn't pick up that you just implied I'm a car thief. And for your information I work at a deli, so I make enough for any expenses I have for my age." He pulled himself under the car and began to work, continuing to speak as he worked. "My town's not big on robbery anyway; I don't expect you to know that though since you don't live there. Everyone talks about how it's such a bad place and all, but they don't know it firsthand like I do."

I have to agree; since I was little the south district was the one area you were told to avoid at all costs. Personally, I heeded the warning pretty well and haven't been in the area at all. So what is your town big on, if not robbery?"

"I'm not saying we don't have thieves; we do, but I don't think we have any more than the average town does. What gives Wabasso such a bad reputation are all the whores and drug dealers we have running around our streets. My town's all about deals; they'll sell anything they can just to get by. I really can't blame most of them though, if you're in a situation like theirs, you do whatever you can."

"That's so sad."

"Yeah, well, that's how people survive." There was an expected click as Duo placed the small rod of the piece into place, signaling that that he was almost through with his task. He grasped the wrench in his grasp and began to secure the two bolts on either side of the center, making sure they were as tight as possible.
"That should do it," Duo grinned as he pulled himself off of the creeper and handed the wrench to Hilde. The cab pulled up a few minutes later, and Duo figured he couldn't stall any longer than he had.
Reluctantly he left the petite girl standing beside her car, hoping he had mad a better impression that time around. He didn't bother to glance back once he was situated inside the cab; he merely gave the cabby his address and began to ponder on how he could work out his plan from what he currently had. He wouldn't go back to the house as promised-he didn't want to frighten her, after all. But what did that leave him with?
Null.

He was three quarters of the way home when he saw Hilde's cousin, Kimberly, walking with a group on the side of the road. A new idea sprung into his mind at the sight of her, one that would be more beneficial to him if successful. If he could only get her to cooperate?

"Pull over for a second," he instructed the driver. The man obeyed, pulling to the curb and parking.
"You're paying for my sitting time," the man warned Duo before he hopped out of the taxi.
"Yeah, I know."

She noticed him almost immediately, and detached from her group of friends to hurry over to him. Duo felt a groan rising from the depths of his chest as he watched a grin streak across the girl's face as she neared him-no, he did not like clingy girls one bit. She probably wouldn't aid him in this mission of his willingly, or at least not without some sort of payment in return.
'Anything but the boyfriend thing,' he pleaded within his mind, then forced a smile at her and began his conversation.

"Hey, Kim, it's been awhile! How have you been?"

"Good, I haven't seen you at the club since that stupid mess with my cousin. Everyone's been asking about you, you plan on stopping

"You're still going to the club?"

Kimberly scoffed. "Do you really think that one of my cousin's heated rants is going to stop me from having fun? No friggin' way, I do whatever I want. Besides, she's always to busy with either work or studying to keep good track of me anyway."

Duo cut off her explanation, finding his opening. "Speaking of Hilde?I was kind of wondering if you could help me out a little. I sort of need someone on the inside."

"So, you're interested in my cousin, huh? I thought so. You were looking at her kind of strangely that night," Kim remarked smugly.

"It's not like that, " Duo protested, than realized that he would have to put on the fa?ade of being interested, or she might not help him out. Arguing or not, family was family, and you always watched each others back; he knew that well enough.

"Yeah, I guess it's something like that."

"Sure, I'll help you out. The only thing I ask is that you don't tell my cousin that I was out with my friends; she thinks I was just staying over a friend's house for the night."

"You're really going to help me? I thought--" he paused, not wanted to embarrass her, or himself but making such an assumption out loud.

"You thought because I slept with you that I liked you, right? Yeah, well, you're a great guy and all, and you have a great body, but you're too detached emotionally for my taste. I knew that I annoyed you most of that night, and to be honest, your attitude pissed me off too. But if Hilde wants you, that's not my business. Besides, getting her involved with someone may get her off my back for awhile. She can be totally unbearable at times?you'll see what I mean."

Duo scowled, causing the little ebony-haired girl to giggle. 'This had better work,' he thought to himself. He hoped himself and Kimberly would come up with a game plan as soon as possible, because he wasn't sure how much more of the Schbeiker cousins he would be able to take before they drove him to the brink.

[PeRiDoTs13]

well well. well. yeah. well. i'm gonna kill duo maxwell if he hurts hilde. i will, u'll see. *evil grin*