A faint haze of cigarette smoke colored the air, mixed with the pungent scent of something stronger. The faint glow of afternoon sun fought through the thin curtains only to choke to death on the haze. In one corner, surrounded by a moat of bottles and other detritus lay a worn mattress, upon which laid two figures sprawled against each other in a naked tangle of limbs and sweaty sheets. The smaller one stirred, leg twitching, and knocking something to the floor with a clatter.
"Damn,” Limestone said past a groggy yawn, “that was some good fuck,"
"Mm," her partner grunted noncommittally, staring up at the ceiling. While Limestone had dozed off quickly, and slept like a contented rock, for Aria the afterglow faded quickly and left her with a familiar pit in her stomach. Her forehead glistened with sweat, and not just from the frantic intimacy the two had shared the last several hours. She felt hot and woozy, and the ceiling was dancing a slow waltz in the gloom above her. Numbly, she tipped a bottle to her lips, barely noticing as warm beer escaped the corner of her mouth.
Limestone propped herself up, fixing her eyes on her listless lover. “Shit, babe, you look like hell. You feeling out of it or what?”
Aria rolled her eyes, mechanically socking the other girl on the shoulder. "Bite me.”
Limestone smirked and rolled over, straddling Aria with her muscular arms and playfully sinking her teeth into her shoulder.
"Ah! Fuck, Lime!" Aria squealed, smacking the larger woman’s head.
“There you are,” Limestone chuckled, easily catching Aria’s skinny wrists and pinning her to the mattress before mashing their mouths together. Aria struggled under her weight, writhing violently and even driving her knee into Limestone's side before giving in and returning the kiss, passionately. They wrestled for control, tongue dominating tongue and pulling at each other's lips with their teeth. Aria's fingernails drew angry lines across Limestone's arms and back, and Limestone drove the breath from Aria's lungs.
They separated, panting, Limestone hanging over Aria's lithe form. She smiled affectionately, placing a relatively chaste kiss on her lover's forehead. "Love you, babe."
Aria recoiled, staring back at Limestone, aghast. Her eyes narrowed, and her lips turned white with tension. "What?" She asked hoarsely, breaking the awkward silence.
Limestone laughed and flicked her forehead. "I said I love you, you fuckin dork!"
Aria's expression twisted as a look of pain crossing her features, followed by a hard anger. "Get out," she said coldly.
Limestone blinked, recoiling. "Excuse me?"
"I said get the fuck out, you whore!" Aria screamed, bunching her hand into a fist. Her blow cracked across Limestone's face with the sound of splitting granite. Limestone jerked back, overcorrecting in her tipsy state and tumbling off the mattress.
"The fuck is wrong with you?" she demanded, cupping her jaw in pain.
Aria pushed herself to her feet, tipsy and unsteady but full of wrath. "You heard me," she spat, her face twisted into a hateful sneer. "I told you at the start. You're a casual fuck, nothing more. You mean nothing to me."
Limestone stared up at the woman, confusion and nausea roiling in her stomach. Both were choked out by the roiling fury building in her chest. "Fine," she said acidly, pushing herself to her feet. Even with the difference of the mattress she still had height on the crazy bitch. "You want me out? Fine. Fuck you. I won't be around again." She turned, kicking through the cans and debris on the floor until she found her jeans. Her shirt landed next to her in a dismissive heap.
She dressed quickly, shooting Aria a cold glare that she refused to meet. Her hands ached from holding back her own fists, and her lungs burned with the urge to scream and curse. But she didn’t. Her head swam with anger, the feeling of betrayal, of being used. But underneath it all, her heart was shattered. She really did love her, despite her best intentions.
It was a tense, silent parting, neither one having anything more to say, or both too proud to say it. Limestone stalked out without another glance. The slam of the front door had the last word.
Aria stared at the wall for several long minutes. She hadn't moved, hadn't even turned her head when Limestone left. She was shaking.
"Nnnngg-AAH!" She screamed, a twisted, painful scream, as she hurled a bottle into the wall. Her fist followed, punching a hole through the cheap plaster. She fell to her knees, ignoring her throbbing hand as her stomach twisted itself in violent knots. Urgently she cast about, finding a half buried waste bin and clutching it to her chest.
The vomit came soon after. A massive, agonizing heaving of her stomach as she expelled everything she'd eaten and then some. Her head throbbed a torturous rhythm as she sat curled around the waste bin, black bile dribbling down her chin.
A whisper of footsteps on carpet tore her attention from her misery, and she turned a baleful, reddened glare toward the door. Her sister Adagio stood in the frame, studying her with an unreadable expression. “What do you want?” Aria hissed.
“I don’t understand you,” Adagio shook her head, grabbing a discarded bottle off the floor and eyeing it critically. “You have to know the outcome, and yet you still do things you know will hurt you.”
Aria’s face twisted with hate, hands shaking as they threatened to shatter the cheap plastic container in a white knuckled grip. “I didn’t ask for your opinion,” she croaked.
“We are sirens!” Adagio shot back, an edge of frustration in her voice. “You know what that means for us! Love is not for our kind.”
“Get out,” Aria growled, a dangerous edge to her voice. Adagio fixed her with a look, and Aria couldn’t tell if it was disdain, or pity. “Get out!” The empty glass sailed through the air, missing the elder siren by inches. Adagio flinched, then sighed, turning away looking deflated. Aria didn’t bother to watch her go.
She sat in the corner, hugging the fragile bucket sloshing with the remains of her world. Her head throbbed. The spot where Limestone’s lips had touched her burned, like a cigar had been stubbed out on her forehead. Her eyes screwed shut, rogue tears running down her cheeks to splash into the vile tar that used to be her heart.
"I- I love you too, you idiot.”
Her fire was gone. The fury had left her with those who cared. All that was left was a weak, sniffing cry and a soft, pitiful melody.
Author's Note
I love you, though you hurt me so
Now, I'm gonna pack my things and go