Casual Encounters (Durarara!!) *Izaya/OC*

10. Wound Up

For the next week Ritchie's mood seemed to be at an all-time high. Sei wasn't mad at her, she now had a coat (albeit on loan) to battle the cold in and, best of all, she felt free for the first time in months. Not having to answer to Izaya was doing wonders for her mood.

Or so she thought.

She kept expecting Izaya to text or call her... Or even show up on her doorstep. The freedom had just seemed too good to be true... But he hadn't. And after the first week she'd started to realise that she'd been waiting for him to get in touch - constantly checking her phone and always making sure to survey the area outside her work.

She'd genuinely believed that some freedom from Izaya was what she'd really wanted. But after a week of not seeing or hearing from him she'd discovered just how much she craved his company. That realisation irritated her beyond belief.

And what was even worse was that she'd found herself extremely frustrated in a sexual sense too. Something that had never happened to her before. She'd always had the freedom to pick and choose her night-time partners when needed.

But she couldn't do that now seeing as, technically, her relationship with Izaya was still intact. They were just on a break of sorts. And she'd also happened to realise that none of the guys she saw in clubs seemed to do it for her anymore. She wouldn't have wanted them anyway.

Izaya may have drove her crazy a lot of the time but the truth was that he actually tended to push her buttons in all the right ways. And she missed that. It was annoyingly ironic for her to discover this now and it only frustrated her further.

The only reassurance she had was that she now had Sei to complain to. Even though her friend still strongly disapproved of Izaya, she'd very nobly accepted that it was Ritchie's choice and that she couldn't hold it against her.

Best of all, though disapproving, she was still very intrigued by Ritchie's unusual relationship and was more than happy for Ritchie to tell her everything. Sei sympathised with her friend's current situation but she couldn't offer a solution either, short of Ritchie returning to Izaya's side.

As tempting as the idea sounded it was one thing Ritchie was refusing to do. She was unwilling to sacrifice her pride. She wondered if Izaya had been feeling the same way and would maybe eventually seek her out himself... She had to admit that the likelihood of that was very slim but she didn't want to be the one to give in. Whoever did first would be the loser. Ritchie didn't want to lose. But it all depended on how long she could hold out.

Another two weeks down the line she was definitely struggling to remember why her pride was so important. She tried to avoid spending any time alone - socialising with whomever she could - and seemed to be indulging herself in alcohol even more than she usually did. She spent a lot more time at work after her shifts ended. And when Kosuke was on bartending duty the bar became her new best friend.

Sure enough, the next time he was working he seemed quite amused to see Ritchie appear at the bar. "Now how did I know you'd be coming to spend more time with me and the bar?"

"Because I just can't stay away," said Ritchie, pulling up a stool.

Kosuke shook his head. "Sometimes I think you're only here for the alcohol; not just to see me."

Ritchie smiled. She generally didn't seem to like 'good' guys but she liked Kosuke. Since he was married with two kids it gave him even more of a protective attitude, but he knew that Ritchie didn't like to be coddled by people and only ever told her to slow down on her alcohol when she got to the legless stage. She appreciated that.

Since she could generally hold her drink better than most people it didn't happen too often anyway. And as long as she was being good Kosuke was usually happy to fuel her addiction.