After a fulfilling lunch at the local Mexican restaurant, the girls and Klaus found themselves at Odessa's, Allison's place of work, with a couple of bottles of liquor and beers as the beautician went about cutting Elaina's hair. Elaina was currently in the chair as Allison finished up, Klaus was sitting nearby smoking his joint and Vanya was play-shooting the bottles of beers she finished. They all went around explaining what they've been doing since they landed in Dallas: Klaus with his smothering cult and finding the younger closeted Dave who punched him, Vanya's accident, her job as a nanny and falling for the mother of the child, and Elaina with her time and singing gig at Birdie's along with the awkward status of her relationship with Tony due to his crush on her and Five's obvious disdain for the guy. Right now, it was Allison's turn.
"The nerve of that man. I mean, one thing goes wrong, and he's on a warpath," vented Allison as she finished evening out the last few snips to Elaina's haircut. "I mean, doesn't he know who I am?"
"He knows exactly who you are, sis!" enabled Elaina, her fifth glass of whiskey nearly finished in her grasp and clearly starting to have an effect on her.
"Exactly! Ray just can't handle it," snapped Allison as she brought out her brush to dust off any straggling pieces of hair off of Elaina. "I'm protecting him,"
"Men," commented Elaina, taking off the cutting cape from herself. "They just don't know," she said as she talked to her sister through the mirror's reflection. "But wait, what are you protecting him from again?" she asked, admiring her new cut from her mid-back to now her collar bone, about a good two inches below her shoulders.
"The end of the world, for one" she said, helping Elaina out of the chair, as the girl nodded in understanding.
"Is the world really gonna end in six days?" asked Vanya from the other side of the beauty parlor.
This made Elaina freeze in place as she and Allison shared a look.
Elaina took a sip from her glass as Allsion explained. "Well, it did last time, and we did everything Five could think of to stop it,"
"Hey," exclaimed Klaus from his chair as he turned around to look at his sisters. "Wouldn't it be weird if Five grew up all hot?" he asked randomly. "Wouldn't that be weird?"
"What?" said Vanya.
"Eww!" exclaimed Allison.
"Hey, hey!" shouted Elaina over the two women as she plopped down in one of the vacant chairs. "Have you seen that bone structure? He will be gorgeous, so back off, bitches." slightly slurred Elaina as she pointed between the two.
Klaus laughed in amusement at Elaina's comment before turning to Allison. "And please, Miss 'Luther was my lover', you have no room to talk!"
Allison put her hand up in defense as Klaus started making kissing sounds. "We have never even kissed," she then looked over to Elaina. "Unlike her! Don't think I forgot about that kiss you guys had before the world blew up,"
Elaina shrugged casually as she took another sip from her glass. "Okay, and? If I initiate something, I follow through with it, unlike a certain tease I know," Elaina feigned a cough, making Allison narrow her eyes at her.
"Uh huh!" confirmed Klaus. "You and Luther were making little sick moon-dog eyes at each other all through puberty and breakfasts and all that," he said, taking a swig from his flask.
"See, Five and I never did that," nodded Elaina, pointing her drink in Allison's direction.
"But, you two did give each other these weird little longing looks at each other every once in a while," recalled Klaus. "So, maybe not so different?" he shrugged.
"Whose side are you on?" asked a betrayed Elaina, making Klaus put his hands up.
"I'm just relaying the facts here, okay? I mean, it's not like you slept with Five or anything," he threw out with a wave of his hand. He looked over to the guilty look on Elaina's face as she cleared her throat and finished the rest of her drink. "Oh, my God, you little whore, you so did!" he stated with an ecstatic grin. "About time you cleared out those cobwebs,"
She gave him a dirty look. "Oh, shut up."
Allison made a look of disgust as she started to groan. "Eww, that's gross."
Elaina pointed a finger to the woman. "Girl, you have no room to speak,"
"I never slept with Luther!"
Vanya looked between the three before asking, "Aren't we all brother and sisters, or...?"
Klaus snorted at the question as Elaina and Allison tried to explain their individual situations.
"Well... technically, it--" started off Allison.
"'Technically'? If you have to word... use the word 'technically', you're already in trouble." laughed Klaus.
"Okay, how about this," said Elaina as she got up from her seat and walked over to Klaus, grabbing the half-full bottle of whiskey. "We're all adopted, not related by blood in the slightest. We all literally could've just been classified as roomies. God, I feel like a broken record each time I explain this," stated Elaina before looking to Klaus. "And if anyone is the original slut, it's you Klaus."
Klaus pointed to himself. "Me?" he asked innocently before shrugging. "Yeah, you're right. Hey, but did you tell Five that you lost it to some guy that looked like him?"
"I don't think he needs to know that information," said Elaina after refilling her cup.
Allison made a face as her and Vanya exchanged a look. "Was that on purpose?"
Elaina shook her head. "Complete coincidence, I swear," she stated before turning her sights back to Klaus. "And I told you that in confidence!" she said, smacking him lightly on the arm.
"Sorry!" chuckled Klaus as he looked at his sister. "But on a serious note -- was he good?" he asked, wiggling his brows.
Elaina was about to respond before she shut her mouth instantly, a smirk forming at the memory. "Shockingly--"
"Okay, on the list of disturbing things I don't want to hear, that's one of them," chimed in Allison. "Okay, okay, can we focus? I mean, clearly we're not saving the word tonight, but maybe, maybe, we could at least try to save my marriage."
Klaus was attempting to overfill his flask with the remainder of the whiskey before it started to overflow, making Elaina give him an exasperated look. "No! No, because that's like... that's like asking a nun how to hump someone's leg," he said, earning a confused look from the girls. "I mean, who in this room knows shit about relationships?" he asked, shoving a pointer finger to Elaina lips before she tried to speak. "And no, we're not counting your current relationship with the old man." he said, making roll her eyes, uttering a 'whatever' before taking a swig from her cup. "This one?" he pointed to Vanya. "In secret love with some farm Frau,"
"Her name is Sissy," she innocently informed the group.
"Which is an improvement on her previous love interest, the serial killer," he said, gaining a feverish shake of the head from both Allison and Elaina.
"What?" exclaimed Vanya as she looked between the two females.
"Later," whispered Allison, Elaina nodded in agreement.
"Meanwhile, I'm carrying a torch... for a soldier I haven't technically met yet and Luther is in love with his sister, Five banged his sister--"
"Hey! Once again, we are not biological!"
"Face it, the healthiest long-term relationship in this family was when Five was banging that mannequin."
"Her name was Delores!" responded Elaina, making Vanya scrunch up her face in confusion. "And that was circumstantial,"
"The only thing the Umbrella Academy knows about love... ," said Klaus as he raised his flask up to the air. "Is how to screw it up."
Allison, Vanya and Elaina shrugged at Klaus's words, deeming them true as they lifted whatever liquor or beer they had available.
"Yeah, well, I'm really trying not to mess up anything," mumbled Elaina as they clinked their drinks together.
"Cheers." they all said.
"How do you guys deal with it?" asked Vanya suddenly.
"What?" asked Allison, taking a chug out of her bottle.
"I mean, all of it. The time travel, seeing the dead, the end of the world."
"Well," started off Klaus. "I get really high, Elaina drinks like a fish--"
"Here, here," cheered Elaina, toasting her glass of whiskey.
"--Allison... Allison... lies to herself," whispered Klaus loudly, making Allison angrily kick the rolling stool in front of her in Klaus's direction.
"And you," said Klaus to Vanya. "Supress all your emotions deep, deep down until you... blow shit up," he said, taking a puff of his joint.
"Yeah," said Vanya from her chair. "I'd really like to not do that anymore,"
"Well, you got six days, missy," pointed out Klaus.
"What the hell are we supposed to do with six days?" asked Allison as she looked at herself in the mirror, fixing her hair.
Elaina scoffed. "Wish I knew the answer to that one,"
"Party?" shrugged Klaus. "I don't know,"
Vanya nodded to herself as a thought crossed her mind. "I'm gonna tell Sissy that I love her," she said confidently. "I don't want any secrets."
"Yeah?" said Klaus.
"Yeah," agreed Allison. "Yeah, yeah, you're right," she told Vanya as she clumsily stood from her chair, bottle in her hand. "Yes, cause, you know, if... if it's all gonna go tits-up, the least I could do is be honest with my husband."
"You guys may be on to something," nodded Elaina before slamming her hands on the arms of her chair as she stood as well. "Five's not here right now, so I should take the opportunity to have that talk with Tony." she stated, bringing the bottle of whiskey and chugging the last bit left.
"Oh... does that mean I have to face my cult?" sighed Klaus. "I just hate group break ups. It's why I stopped dating twins," he whined.
Elaina made a face at the memory. "They weren't the happiest when that happened." she recalled.
Vanya threw her hands up. "This family's amazing,"
Klaus cackled as Allison and Elaina followed suit and laughed in agreement at Vanya's ironic words. The trio met up in the center of the salon in an off-balanced embrace. They turned to Vanya and held their arms open to her.
"Come on, Vanya! Get over here." they called out to her with drunken smiles as the woman returned it, jumping up and returning the hug.
"I love you, guys," said Klaus as he held his sisters, groaning slightly at the tightness of the embrace as Allison threw her head back in laughter.
Sam Cooke's Twistin' the Night Away started playing on the radio, making Allison gasp. "Oh! You guys! I love this song!" she exclaimed as she released herself from the group hug to turn up the music on the radio.
The group then broke out into a lively dance party of just the four of them. They twisted around each other, fooled around with the hair-dryer chairs, and rolled around the bin with rollers as they joked around. Elaina found herself imitating the Jack Rabbit Slim's dance from Pulp Fiction with Klaus as her siblings shimmied and danced. These past few days has been nothing but none stop stress and running around, it was nice to have a moment of nothing but pure fun. It made Elaina grateful to have spent this time with her sisters and Klaus.
~.~
Elaina looked up at the sign of the bar and took a deep breath in before walking in. It was already closing time, so there was no one inside of the bar when she stepped inside except the one person she came here to see. Tony was busing down the corner booth of its last few glass cups. It wasn't until he heard the bell chime above Elaina that he spoke.
"Sorry, we're closed. You can come by--" he said before looking up, but ended his sentence when he saw Elaina standing there in her red outfit with a lazy smile.
"Hi Tony," she said lamely, waving with her fingers.
He wiped his hands with the rag that was thrown over his shoulder. "Els? What a surprise seeing you this late," he said, grabbing the cups as he walked over to her.
"Is Birdie here?"
Tony nudged his chin to the swinging door in the back. "Probably sleeping. She has an early meeting with the club tomorrow," he said, stopping in front of her. "You cut your hair," he noticed, grabbing the blunt tip of her ends.
Elaina looked down at it. "I did, well, my sister did it for me,"
Tony hummed before letting go and walking past her to the other side of the bar's counter. "It looks nice, she did a great job," he complimented, placing the cups in the small metallic sink.
"Thank you, but I didn't come here to talk about my hair," she walked over to the bar, staggering a bit as she plopped herself in one of the stools, making Tony raise an amused brow at her. "I came here to talk to you,"
"Me? About what?" he asked, leaning over the counter to look at her directly.
Elaina bit her bottom lip, her currently tipsy state wasn't helping her filter her thoughts in the way that she wanted. "We're good friends, right?"
He shrugged. "I think so, estrellita."
She just looked at him. "Do you really?"
Tony sighed as he stood straight, his eyes remained trained on her. "You come in here drunk--"
"I'm not drunk," she argued with a slight slur.
"--And ask if we're 'good friends'?" Tony crossed his arms. "What's going on?" a sly smirk started to form on his face. "Got tired of that little arrogant pendejo, huh?"
"Don't call him that, first off, and, second, I was asking because... I get the feeling that maybe that's not the only way you think of me..." she tried her best to get out her thoughts without making it awkward, but even at that sentence she scrunched up her face. "Maybe I'm not drunk enough for this..." she mumbled under her breath.
Tony remained quiet for a moment, a moment too long for Elaina, before he nodded. "Maybe you're right," he answered, making her look at him with a dejected face. "Maybe, after a while, I hoped that our friendship would grow into something else," he shrugged nonchalantly. "And, maybe, I still think that's a possibility." Tony said without a hint of hesitation as he looked at her evenly.
"That's what I feared," she whispered, looking away from the teen in front of her, tapping her finger anxiously on the back of her wrist. "Look, Tony, I don't want to hurt you, but--"
"I know," he cut her off, slowly walking around the counter to the side she sat on. "I know you're with Starboy--"
"Five,"
"Whatever number that kid goes by," snapped Tony as he made his way back in front of her. "I'll wait for you. I really like you, Elaina," he confessed as he stared down at her. "I was denying it at first, especially when my mom kept pushing for it, but I won't deny it now."
Elaina shook her head. "Tony, you can't like me. I'm not right for you. At all. For so many different reasons that have nothing to do with Five," she explained as she took the headband out her hair clumsily, just so she could run her hand through her shortened locks. "And besides all those reasons, the fact of the matter is, I love Five in a way I could never love you or anyone," she sighed, trying to remain solid even though she had the urge to just abandon this conversation and go back to Elliot's.
The teen shook his head. "You're still young, you have a whole lifetime ahead of you," he argued. "You could change your mind."
"And so could you," she said firmly. "I'm just a phase for you, Tony."
"And you don't think he is?" scoffed Tony. "Since you got here, all you've told me about this kid is that he gave you that bracelet when you felt your world was ending and he just disappeared. He left you, Els, and you let him back in like nothing happened. I was the one that was here for you this past year, not him. Each time you woke up in the middle of the night to cry and look at the stars, I was there. Whenever you needed to laugh, it was me that put that smile back on your face," Tony could see that she tried to avoid his gaze at his words and brought his hands up and cupped her face within them. "And I would do it all a million times over for you,"
"Oh, shit, Tony, I'm so sorry," she said softly with a sad expression. "Thank you for being there for me, but I promise you, him not being there wasn't his fault. And I care for you too, this is why telling you all of this is so hard,"
He started at her intently. "I'll prove it to you,"
She began to shake her head in his hands. "No, you don't get it--"
Elaina started but was cut off by Tony slamming his lips into hers in a desperate kiss. The girl was taken aback at the sudden action and it took her inebriated mind a moment to process it all before it started to sober up. Elaina's eyes widened immensely as her hands shot for Tony's chest and shoved him off of her. She brought her hand up and smacked him hard against the face.
"Mierda!" cried out Tony as he brought his hand up to his burning cheek, the imprint of Elaina's small hand already starting to form.
"Tony, what the hell was that!" exclaimed Elaina with furious eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry--"
"You had no right!"
"I know, I'm sorry, I had to do it--"
"I know your mother raised you better!" she huffed, any drop of alcohol that was in her system instantly disappeared as she jumped off the stool. "You know what, forget it, okay? Long story short, I'm with Five, I love Five, I will remain with Five, and I'm getting out of here." she exclaimed, grabbing her headband from the counter and marching towards the door.
"Estrellita, wait--" started off Tony as he grabbed her arm.
Elaina turned around, her eyes glowing a light purple which made the teen immediately let go of her arm as he looked at her wide eyed. "Don't touch me," she warned, her lips turned downwards in a hard frown.
"Els, your eyes..." he breathed out.
"I'll be gone for a while. You should reflect on your actions." was all she said before yanking open the front entrance and storming out. She leaned her back against the door for a moment, and shut her eyes. "That went well..." she grumbled sarcastically, completely shocked that Tony would even think about trying to kiss her, let alone going through with it. "How the hell am I going to explain that one to Five?" she clicked her tongue before opening her eyes as they landed on a white envelope that was sticking out of the bar's mailbox.
She wouldn't have paid it any mind if it wasn't for her name staring back at her. This made the girl narrow her eyes as she pulled it from the box. In all her time in the 60s, she's never gotten any type of correspondence. Curiosity got the better of her as she looked back at the bar's door and started to walk away, tearing open the letter as she did. She unfolded the crisp white paper in her hands as her eyes skimmed the letter with an agitated huff.
To my Pursuers:
I, Reginald Hargreeves, request the pleasure of your company for a light supper on the 20th of November, 1963, at half past seven o'clock.
1624 Magnolia Street, Dallas, Texas
"This night gets better and better," said Elaina as she rolled her eyes and tucked the letter in her pocket, making her way back home.
As she walked down the road, Tony watched her from the bar's window with an unreadable expression.
"You got what you wanted, Mom," he murmured to himself as he saw the girl's figure disappear into the night. "Phase two complete,"
~.~
Omg Tony 😮
Lol this was a relatively quick chapter by my standards, hope you guys still enjoyed! Watch out for the next chapter, it's going to be a dozy!