Chapter 392) Blame It On The Boogie

“First we feel. Then we fall.”

– James Joyes

Brindleton Bay
The Elysium

Stryker couldn’t help but laugh, watching Sophie go all out dancing and singing at the top of her lungs along with Hailey and Maddie during another party at the Elysium, this time to celebrate the birth of Maddie and Colton’s baby boy Jasper. The residents of the Elysium were party people, any excuse to throw some bash was always welcome. Their parties were frequent, yet still legendary each time. And while baby Jasper was just a couple weeks old now, his mom being a Vampire meant Maddie was fully recovered and ready for it all.

“Don’t blame it on the sunshine
Don’t blame it on the moonlight
Don’t blame it on the good times
Blame it on the boogie – woooo-hoooo!”

Sophie was visibly having fun and it was contagious. Stryker chuckled, when he felt Alycia’s hands on him, trying to turn his head to face her.

“Don’t stare at that train wreck! How ridiculous! A brewery horse with hoof rot would be more graceful.” Alycia said, and Stryker felt his good mood crash immediately, while a disgruntled groan escaped him. Alycia already went onto the next toxic rant, while Stryker kept pulling her hands off himself to continue watching the dancing women, who seemed to be having the time of their lives giggling, laughing and squealing in between blurting out the well-known lyrics.

“I don’t get how someone can publicly make such a fool of themselves. I mean Hailey and Maddie, … fine, it’s their party and their home. But our chubby chef has no rhythm. I know you are kinda a little mixed up in all that with the fat cow now since she was too stupid – or too conniving – to use birth control, but that’s just pitiful and ridiculous and … what the …hey, watch it!” Alycia was surprised when into the middle of her verbiage, Stryker shoved the still 3/4 full beer bottle he was holding against her, some of it spilling on her black dress on impact, busying her with wiping around on herself frantically, complaining, while he headed over to the dancers, lining up next to Sophie and started going along, cheered on by those party guests standing around watching the funky dance, while Sophie just giggled.

“Hey there, welcome to the nuthouse crew!” she beamed at him, cheeks and eyes glowing. Instantly Stryker couldn’t help but grin as he moved along to the music.

For some reason, this weird made-up line-dance was so comical and hilarious, completely out of sync and the singing was even worse, but even after it ended, Stryker couldn’t recall the last time he had so much fun and laughed so much without being intoxicated.

“That was awesome!” he said into the crowd, when Alycia pulled him with her.

“We need to go now. Come on …” she demanded; Stryker stopped short, shaking his head.

“No. I am not leaving. I am finally having fun. You wanna go, go. Not keeping you.”

“Fun? You call this fun? You look like a deranged moron bouncing next to the Octomom whale!”

“Alycia!” Stryker’s tone turned to a growl and a warning.

“Oh, I am sorry, I forgot I am supposed to act nice to the cheap SLUT who seduced MY man so she can have that anchor baby to get a piece of the fame pie.” Alycia hissed. That’s when Stryker’s face turned bright red, his lips became thin lines, until it just burst out of him.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP! SHUT UUUUPP! SHUT UP! I AM DONE! SO DONE! DONE DONE DONE! DONE WITH YOU, ALYCIA! Go home and pack your shit, get out of my apartment. MY apartment, not yours, so get the fuck out and stay gone! We are DONE! It’s OVER. DONE! I am so fucking done! You toxic cuuuuuunt!” Stryker now screamed at a totally surprised and shocked Alycia.

All the attention was on them, including Chase’s who had been walking past, but immediately grabbed Stryker to prevent thing from turning potentially worse.

“Whoa buddy, that escalated quickly. Let’s take you and your meltdown outside, there are kids around. Let’s get you some fresh air and take a few breathers together, come on friend. Can someone take care of Alycia?” Chase grabbed Stryker, who didn’t have a prayer against a Vampire dragging him outside.

“Stryker!” Alycia exclaimed trying to go after Chase and him heading out the back door, when someone grabbed her and pulled her hard against their body. When she noticed it was Blaine, she relaxed and smiled.

“Oh, hello Blaine …” she purred.

“Yah hello. And good-the fuck-bye! I have been watching and listening to your bullshit all night, time to meet your king of assholes, me. You upset my daughter-in-law Hailey AGAIN and you upset someone as innocent and sweet as Sophie, both ladies are pregnant and don’t need to be aggravated, so yo shit didn’t spark joy with this dickhead in front of you. Means time for you to leave ASAP. I saw you arrive on Stryker’s bike, he won’t be driving you home, so I want you to go THAT way towards the-fuck-away-from-my-son’s-home, and stay gone, if you come back or if I look outside in 10 minutes from now and still see yo skinny ass loitering anywhere on the property, I won’t be THIS nice anymore, recommend you don’t try me. Normally, I wouldn’t just put a young woman out like this, but frankly, I don’t give a shit what happens to you.”

“Huh?” she was confused, until she realized he had ported outside the gates with her and was already on his way back inside. This time on foot.

“Hey wait – my coat! It’s cold! And my purse! My phone and keys are in there!”

Within seconds, the garment landed on her, draping over her head, her clutch landed near her feet and the door was slammed shut. Right after she had put on her coat and picked up the purse, she stood around wondering what to do, when the outdoor lighting was turned off, the twilight was light enough to still see, but dark enough to be unwelcoming – then the sprinklers went on, obviously someone had redirected their aim. With a startled screech, an instantly soaking wet Alycia teetered down the long tree-lined driveway on her heels that were not made for walking, towards the main road while calling an Uber.

At the same time Stryker stood alone in the backyard, looking over the cliffs onto the ocean, the crashing of the waves and the cool late afternoon breeze calming his roweled-up nerves when Sophie appeared next to him.

“Hey you. Are you okay? That girl just always seems to manage to suck the fun out of everything for everyone. How you have dealt with that for so long is totally beyond me. You must have endless patience and nerves of steel.” she wondered.

“More like I must have been one desperate son of a bitch. I told you, not many decent girls would bother with a guy like me. I do have to admit I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off me, which is ironic considering how skinny Alycia is. And yeah, I’ll be okay, although that term is relative in my case.”

“Proud of you though. Pretty dramatic and very public break-up but who cares, right? Maybe you can write that into some break-up song for your album. Title it ‘Bye Alycia!'” she giggled, he smirked.

“Tempting, but I’d want a more intense title. Not sure something called ‘Fuck Off Alycia You Dumb, Toxic, Manipulative Bitch-whore’ would hit any download records, but willing to give it a try.”

“I’d totally download it.” she giggled, making him chuckle too.

“Ah, what a shitshow. Welcome to my life, Sophie.” Stryker said.

“At least that Alycia-chapter is over. Unless you are dumb enough to take her back. I sure hope you are not, or I’d lose every bit of respect for you.”

“You still have respect for me?” he huffed a laughing sound.

“A little. You’re not half bad. Just stupid if it comes to her. Maybe there is hope for you after all.”

“Yeah. Except I guarantee you it’s not over for me just yet. Round 2 is in my future later. She’s gonna be waiting for me like a spider in the web at the apartment, I predict this night will end in a huge, loud, vicious fight that goes for hours until one of the neighbors calls the cops. My night might end with me in a jail cell waiting for Drake to bail me out, again, so I can sleep on his couch for a few days. Goddamn, I am fucked ten ways till Sunday and back again.”

“Or … you could circumvent all that by coming home with me.”

Stryker’s head snapped around to her, mouth agape.

“NO! Not THAT! The guestroom! OMG! I wasn’t soliciting you, especially not immediately after a breakup!” Sophie blushed deep crimson.

“Oh, right, for a second you really shocked me there, girl, after you made very clear to me how many shades of disgusted you felt about the idea of going on a simple date with me.”

“That is taken out of context. I never said that. I actually explained what I meant. I said that I don’t want to be a rebound chick or second choice. Still do not. I am not disgusted by you but was appalled by the idea of you asking me on a date when you still had a girlfriend, which I know is hypocritical seeing how I also got pregnant by you while you had that same girlfriend. Anyway, I offered you my guest room, not my bed or my body and I didn’t ask you out. Purely platonic.”

“Right. For what it’s worth, you being a rebound or second choice never even occurred to me. Admit my timing sucked, but it was real.”

“Yeah, well, let’s not get into that again. You don’t need to be dating anyone for a while and I definitely do not need to be dating you. But seriously Stryker, stay with me. The guestroom worked well the first time you stayed with me; I don’t see why we can’t make that work again, and I am not using it for anything. You need a break from that girl, you deserve it, you could stay a few days so she may actually have left by the time you get home. Plus, I wouldn’t mind helping keep her guessing where you may be. Let her imagine the nastiest, raunchiest things.” Sophie laughed a brief, gleeful sound.

Stryker turned to Sophie, grinning.

“Well look at you. Are you trying to make my ex jealous? Atta girl. Hehehe, I am in.”

“I love the way that sounds. Ex. Miserable bitch. Oh, sorry.” Sophie blushed deeply again.

Stryker burst into loud laughter.

“You are even adorable when you curse. How is that even possible?” he said, still laughing.

“We shouldn’t be cursing in front of the baby. They can hear us, you know?” Sophie said.

“Nothing says my dad is in a rock band more than baby’s first word being ‘fuck’. Ha ha ha” Stryker was still amused.

“Well, depending on how much Uncle Blaine will be around the baby, that may be unavoidable. Hey Stryker?”

“Hm?”

“Wanna go dance again?”

“I can’t dance worth a shit, Soph. I thought you realized that earlier. I look like a monkey with its finger stuck in an electric outlet.”

“So do I. That’s part of what makes it so much fun. Never heard it said that we’re supposed to dance like nobody’s watching. The famous people in my family tree are singers or actors, not dancers, we all dance like a bunch of jumping beans on LSD. Come on. I hear them playing ‘Locomotion’ I LOVE that song, so fun, we need to get in on that. Totally up your alley, you know how to move those hips. And besides, don’t you know, Stryker?”

Sophie breathed in and started singing

“Wooooooooooo!
My little baby sister can do it with ease
It’s easier than learning your ABC’s
So come on, come on do the locomotion with me” she sing-sanged, swaying her hips in the rhythm of the song, walking backwards towards the party pavilion where the music originated, wiggling her index finger at Stryker. Shaking his head, he grabbed her around the waist and they both ran to the pavilion and started dancing along with everyone already there.

Stryker followed her to the dancefloor of the outdoor party pavilion and within moments both were having fun, just like everyone else.

When the party started to slowly near its end, they went to her place, in her brother’s car, leaving Stryker’s bike at the Elysium.

A little later, as both lay smiling in their respective beds that night, Sophie with her two dogs in her room, Stryker alone in the guest room, both thinking about the entire evening and about the strange but comfortable friendship that seemed to have developed between them until each of them drifted off to sleep.