And I Don't Know What I'm Doing``Ade;;INACTIVE

[rocky]

"It's not over yet," Ade said diplomatically, and bit a fry in half, shooting him a saucy look across the top of the panda's head. They'd spent the afternoon becoming increasingly competitive with one another. Coconut shy had become a battlefield, they had both spent far too much money at a shooting gallery, the ring-toss had nearly ended in tears (for the attendant), and Reed had spent ten dollars insisting on hitting the bell on the strong man test.

That was where the panda had come from, but not before he'd broken a sweat. She was at a complete loss for what to think now. He had shaken her preconceptions of him thoroughly, although his obvious competitive streak was hardly unexpected. She was surprised to find he had such a childlike, playful side to him. It had been a good day. The sort of wonderful distraction that didn't come along very often, and when she had pause to think about it she felt out of sorts and confused. They were two very separate things in her mind -- having a fuck-buddy and this.

She hadn't expected him to take her anywhere but to his apartment. A hotel, maybe, if he was feeling extravagant.

"So what's your angle, Armstrong?" she asked him. "I admit it, I'm lost."

[mabs]

"The day is, my dear. Now the night begins," Reed commented thoughtfully. It was true. The rides and games were still going in full form thought, the switch from day to night seamless and making the whole experience a little more surreal. Reed did frown at her next comment. Angle. Everyone had one, so he wasn't about to say he didn't. But what it was, exactly, he was unsure.

"My angle always is to show a pretty woman a good time," he spoke with a shrug and a lazy lick of his ice cream. "You just happen to be particularly interesting, Heart." Reed sighed softly and looked at her across the bear as he finished his cone and tossed the rest of it out to the birds. Reed looked thoughtful for a long moment, and he moved the bear from between them and scooted closer to her, but not touching her really. He didn't want to think about what they were. Complicated was the right term for it. Complicated, but not exclusive. Reed had his freedom, and he was okay with whatever else came with it.

"What's your angle, babe?" he asked with a look to her. "Everyone has one. Is yours to sell more copies of that column of yours? Or something else?"

[rocky]

"My angle?" Adrienne laughed, and gestured at him with the ketchup covered end of another French-fry. "I don't have to have an angle, Mr Armstrong. You showed up in my office, then you sent me nearly fifteen-hundred roses, and then you brought me to Coney Island. Never mind the rest."

She didn't bother to express in words what had happened the night they'd been at Rocky Horror. It had been him who had followed her that night, too, though. As far as Adrienne was concerned he was the one taking enormous efforts to capture her affections, and she just didn't trust that he wasn't doing it expressly just to teach her a lesson.

She held the box of fries up for him to finish, if he wanted, and watched him. She didn't want to let him know how much it was eating at her that he was traditionally seen out with prissy looking, leggy blondes. She would have to visit the hall of mirrors to be remotely as tall and slender, and she'd be lying if she said it didn't bother her immensely that he was slumming it with her until something better came along. Maybe he thought she ought to be grateful for his attention.

Maybe he thought he was being charitable. Oh, he was driving her nuts -- he had to want something. She was reminded vaguely of Frank, who had wanted her because she was young, and wild, and a more adventurous fuck than his wife. He'd used her to make himself feel good and she'd been hurt badly in the fall out from it. Adrienne wasn't good at relationships of any kind, she was swiftly realising. She could do a one-night stand (which traditionally she got over about two weeks later) and that was about the stretch of it.

Only she wasn't that young any more, and Frank had gone off her completely. Adrienne nudged up so that her hip was sitting flush against Reed's. Whenever she felt this insecure she went hunting for validation from physical affection, even if it made absolutely no sense when regard was given to her suspicions about him. She didn't need to make sense. It wasn't a rational worry. It wasn't a rational way to think, and even if she was aware of that she was still swept up by it.

"I'm just along for the ride," she told him coyly, and pouted sweetly at him. What she ought to have said, had she been more honest, was I can't help myself when it comes to shit like this.

[mabs]

"Everyone has an angle, Heart," Reed reiterated. "Don't forget I'm a lawyer. I make money off of people's angles." Off of the angles his clients took, the angles that other exploited in them. His entire life was built of angles. And deep down, Reed wanted one relationship that didn't have an angle. His life was a battlefield of exploitation, business, angles, money, sex, and consequences. He selfishly submersed himself in it, but even the great Reed Armstrong met his match on occassion.

His relationship with his father had been entirely angles. Armstrong Senior had been so focused on combing his son into the perfect son to take over the family's name and firm, and yet he never stopped to wonder what would happen if Reed decided he wanted something different. Reed often wondered what would have happened if he never got into law. Being a lawyer had become his identity, his tool for war on others. And he knew nothing else.

Reed's marriage was based off angles. Franny had an angle to become a popular, rich wife, heading the blueblood New York society and being liked and wanted for once. Reed wanted to make his father shut the hell up. And Reed's father wanted grandchildren, heirs to carry on the name, as Reed was his only child. And it seemed that none of them got what they wanted.

A distant part of Reed knew that he was attracted to Adrienne largely in part by the fact that she was everything he shouldn't have wanted. She was rude and obnoxious sometimes, and she was elcectic and nontraditional. She was beautiful, but in a weird way, and she was no definition of conventional. The elder Armstrong would have died if he saw his son now.

Regardless of Reed's own thoughts, he wanted to know what Adrienne wanted from him. Women like her were an enigma to Reed, but it was like he was drawn to her regardless. Like a warrior to the thrill of battle, or a lawyer to the thrill of a tough case. Reed was drawn to the thrill of an interesting woman,and so far, Adrienne had proven thus.

He felt her scoot closer and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder impulsively, reaching for the fries to finish them off. He squeezed her shoulder and sighed, his mind drawn to what else was to come. He had watched her all day, through the playful competition, and the infuriatingly shrouded fashion that she took made him want her all the more. He would see the silhouette of her curvaceous body in the turtleneck and he knew what was under that skirt (which had almost flown up during one of the rides, but she had unfortunately tugged it down). The anticipation killed Reed.

"So tell me Miss Heart, is there anything else you want to do before I take you home?" And fuck you senseless again because it's all I've thought about for a week and a half, Reed thought. He was getting restless at just the thought of it.

[rocky]

Adrienne ran her hand over the curve of her ribs and hip as if to demonstrate her complete lack of angles, giving him a wide-eyed look as she pretended not to understand what he meant.

"No angle, Mr Armstrong," she said mildly, and shook her head. Perhaps he was accustomed to gold-diggers. Adrienne didn't want anything from him. She especially didn't want enormous, lavish displays of grotesque affection from him -- he could keep his roses, and his jewellery! She'd told him what she wanted, when they were stuck in that elevator. She'd told him precisely -- and oh God, he'd delivered.

"So tell me Miss Heart, is there anything else you want to do before I take you home?"

"Mmm. Ferris wheel," she purred, knitting her brow persuasively. She knew already he didn't want to do it, and she leaned up to kiss him on the mouth in a manner that indicated fully that she knew he didn't want to do it, and she was asking him anyway. "Please?"

[mabs]

Reed chuckled and shook his head at her as she ran her hand along her curves. She was a clever one, Vivien had been right. And she was dangerous, if only for that particular reason.

Reed heard her question and before he could protest, he felt her kissing him fully and persuasively. She knew he didn't want to go up there, and she was still asking him. And dammit all if he wasn't considering agreeing.

"What's in it for me?" he countered with a look at her, raising a brow. "I won't go up on a Ferris Wheel without proper compensation, you see." Like a new car. Or a house. Or a good fuck. She could probably convince him with one of those....and she probably knew it.

Reed refused to believe he was weak in a tranditional sense, but he had a weakness for women. And that was that.

[rocky]

"Well. If you're too scared...."

Adrienne shifted away from him, then stood up and paced in front of him, hips swaying in a rather knowing, seductive way. She picked an imaginary piece of fluff from her breast and pretended to brush herself off a little, before continuing in a detached, distant, but throaty tone of voice:

"I was hoping you'd fuck me up there, that's all."

[mabs]

Reed paled.

It was not a smooth move that brought him to his feet, but more of an eager scrambling, Pandy under his arm in tow. He thought that perhaps that would make up for the awkward way he had stood by her. Reed slipped over to her and pulled her into a turbulent kiss, a passionate one that left him grasping for more once he pulled away, his free hand at her waist.

"You would have made a fabulous lawyer you know," Reed commented as he walked them over toward the Ferris wheel. The same nasty looking mohawk boy was working this ride now, and Reed pulled Adrienne in a little more, naturally and subconsciously to him. He helped Adrienne into the box of the Ferris wheel, and climbed in with her, putting Pandy on the opposite bench, setting him up like a spectator to them.

Reed did tense a little when he felt the ride begin to move and he clenched is jaw and his hand on Adrienne's, raising a brow as he looked at her, determined not to look outside for anything.

"I've never been on a Ferris wheel," he mused, as though they didn't have a dirty agenda.

[rocky]

Adrienne rolled her eyes as he kissed her precisely the way she had told him not to, and pulled back a little.

"Ah ah, slowly," she reminded him, as if she was correcting an unruly school pupil, but inwardly she found his eagerness comforting, this time. She was testing him thoroughly. I know you want me, but just how badly? She was a terrible person, she was realising. But it didn't change anything -- she knew he was terrified of heights properly, now, and she intended to make him weigh his phobia against his desires.

"You would have made a fabulous lawyer you know."


"I hope you meant that to be complimentary," Adrienne said, and followed him to the Ferris wheel, amused that he would take the lead. She gave the mohawk-boy a sort of apologetic shrug, attached as she was to Reed's arm. She let him grip at her, and took the ticket from the sullen attendant, who showed them into one of the rocking carriages.

Adrienne was unconcerned. Had they been in the other type, they would be rocking it anyway.

"I've never been on a Ferris wheel."

"Well. Let's make it the ride of your life," she murmured suggestively, as the wheel began to turn. The carriage slid back and forth along its track, and soon they were a quarter of the way up.

She leaned over and turned the panda around, so it was facing in the opposite direction, and then gave him an arch look.

"Impress me."

[mabs]

Reed felt the rocking motion of the Ferris wheel and eh felt a surge of adrenaline grip at his stomach, at the fear of it all. He was a mix of animalistic fear and then masculine intentions as he felt his heart pound a little. Reed had always loved...expeditions like these. They made his heart race and his blood flow, to the more interesting parts of his anatomy as he reached for Adrienne.

He pulled her into his lap and pushed up her skirt, his hands running all over her underneath, teasing and playful in his movements. Reed paid attention to very little as he pulled her into one of those achingly slow kisses that she seemed to love, though he couldn't help him. He wanted fast right then. And He began kissing her harder and touching her in a less resigned way. He ran his hands uner her turtle neck and teased at her curves, and then he reached between them, undoing the barriers between them.

"Baby, I'll impress you alright," he crooned into her ear as he pressed his hips against hers. This was not altogether new, at least in terms of adrenaline for Reed. But there was something about the combined fear and the passion that just pushed Reed over the edge. He was warring two very different reactions to the situation, and it seemed to make him stronger and more masculine, and more passionate. As Adrienne would soon obviously find out.

[rocky]

Adrienne had no objections to his urgency, this time. There was only a short amount of time before they would be back in the gate, and she certainly wanted to have her underwear back on by the time that happened.

She went willingly into his lap, encouraging him to put his hands on her; it wasn't a comfortable way to operate, but never the less she kissed him back hungrily, her hands roaming inside his shirt. Before long she was tugging suggestively at his belt.

***

It wasn't until they were finished that Adrienne noticed they hadn't moved at all from the top of the wheel. In fact, they had been up there for entirely too long. Adrienne finished adjusting herself and moved over to the edge to peer down at the ground below.

"Does it usually stop for this long?"

[mabs]

Reed was stuck in a little bit of post sex bliss. It wasn't until Adrienne mentioned the fact that the Ferris wheel was still stopped that he thought of it. He finished buttoning his pants and frowned, though he refused to look over. The whole scene didn't really gel in his groggy mind though. And he refused to let it. Reed was starting to enjoy all of the rather...unconventional sex Adrienne came at him with. The stocking had been sexy as hell, and now...that damnable granny knee-length skirt was looking sexier too.

Reed had the itch bad.

"I don't know. I've never been on one, remember," he countered her. "Though if it does, I'm sure we could fit another round in." His voice was teasing, though he was slouched in his seat slightly so that he couldn't see just how high off the ground they were. As long as he didn't think about it....

Reed looked up Adrienne, and he sighed, reaching to pull down the edge of her turtleneck that had gotten caught in her skirt, undoubtedly from when she was tugging her clothes back into place and she just got it caught. He did take to propping his feet up on the bench were the panda bear sat, sighing and looking at the ceiling.

"Dammit Adrienne, talk about something else. I swear if we're stuck..." Reed almost shiver at the thought. "Holy fuck." He breathed out a shaky sigh. Stuck. 200 feet in the air.

[rocky]

"We're not stuck," Adrienne said at once. "I think that little shit left us up here."

She looked over at him, and sighed. She had meant for this to be a sort of affirmation for her, but not to leave him rooted to the seat and shaking. The carriage had lost its momentum and settled in the middle of the track, and she moved back over to sit beside him. The rush of adrenalin was beginning to wear off, and she rested her hands on his shoulder, setting her chin there, a moment later.

"This thing has been here since 1912," she told him. "I read a plaque. It's solid."

She didn't really know how to comfort him. She had the sense he didn't want her to make note of his obvious phobia, but she liked it. It was a flaw that was honest, and human and -- endearing, really. It was easier to take than his most obvious flaw, which was his ego. It made him vulnerable, and stupidly it made Adrienne feel more content to be vulnerable, which she always was, she thought vaguely.

"And we're completely caged in. Unless you object to being stuck here with me, that is."

[mabs]

"1912?" Reed breathed out uncomfortably. "Oh great. An old rickety fucker too." Reed closed his eyes, still tense as Adrienne touched his shoulder and leaned into him. She was trying to comfort him, though Reed had never needed comfort before. He didn't need it now either, he determined. But he still wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side, a little more surely than he would have liked to have done.

"Caged in with you? I can hardly bear it," he teased half-heartedly. By God he hated heights, but he was trying not to think of the pure air beneath their box at that point in time. It was better that his feet weren't dangling or the front wasn't open. Then he would have surely shit himself. Reed finally opened his eyes again and gave Adrienne a haughty look, raising a brow.

How the hell did one react to a woman like this? Not rationally, of course. She was a firecracker, but a lady as well, and a weird ass eclectic to boot. Reed was dangling.

"So you liked it though? The whole...coming to the amusement park?" Reed chucked in a musing manner stroking her arm gently. "Not that I'm trying to impress you or anything." And he wasn't. If she was, well that was a side benefit. But an impressed woman was easier to coax into bed than a woman who doubted your skills at the game of love. Though after that last tryst, he was certain Adrienne could hardly doubt him.

[rocky]

"C'mere." Ade uncrossed her legs and gestured for him to lie back on the seat, and put his head in her lap. There was no way to see down if he was lying down, facing up. She didn't really know why she wasn't calling the park to complain, but she also didn't imagine the attendant would be foolish enough to leave them there all night. In fact, she had the idea that he had noticed Reed's behaviour on the roller coaster and decided to try to ruin their fun a little; she didn't intend to let him.

"I did like it," she told him honestly, and bit the inside of her cheek, looking down at him. She always felt guilty after sex. Especially if she hadn't even made it to a first date before having it, and double especially if she'd had it half way through the first date. If she didn't find it so objectionable to be compared to a cow she would have been inwardly muttering that old adage about buying the cow when the milk was free or -- however it went.

Cows were stupid. And so were farmers who gave away free milk. Whoever came up with that comparison was a moron, and probably a virgin.

"You surprised me, Armstrong. I've been scanning the horizon for the four horsemen all day."