All Guys Have Their Jerk Moments

Who: Olivia and Jules
When: Evening
Where: Jules's house

Olivia had spent a lot of her week at Judiel's apartment. She cleaned everything, waited... cleaned some more and waited. She read most of the book Dorian had given her on Muses and found there was a lot about Judiel's people that she didn't know. Some of it she wasn't sure she liked. His phone rang a few times, but she hadn't wanted to answer and risk hearing his mother on the other end. Olivia didn't want to explain what had happened until she was absolutely sure Judiel wasn't coming back. And she wasn't ready to accept that yet. More so, Olivia hadn't been able to figure out where any gates were for the Dreaming. Exhausted and having to go to work, Olivia left Judiel's apartment and returned to Jules's house to change for Babylon.

Once she got there, she used her key to get inside. She walked into the living room and set down her book on the table before pulling off her jacket. "Jules?"

Jules was upstairs, looking up at the mirror once again in it's place above her bed. She silently said a prayer that the shadows wouldn't show up again and force her to take the damn thing down. Even if they did, maybe they'd wait til after tonight and she'd at least get one go at Aiden with that reflective surface giving her a litte bit better view of him. She heard the familiar sound of Olivia's voice. She'd not expected her and wondered if she had to work tonight or not. At least she hadn't put on anything special yet. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt when she headed down the stairs and gave the girl a smile. "Hey you. Didn't expect to see you. Any word on Judiel?"

Olivia returned Jules's smile with a small one of her own. "Hey. Sorry I've been sort of MIA. Between work and checking on Judiel's apartment..." And sleeping in his bed and generally not wanting to leave in case he came home. "But... no, nothing yet. I'm trying to keep hope, you know?" She flopped onto the couch with a sigh. She looked up at Jules and tried for another smile. "What have you been up to?"

"Finding out odd things that I never knew I never knew." she said, shaking her head and heading over to the couch to sit down beside the girl. "Hanging out with Aiden, working, went out and got a book today. Other than that, not much." she shrugged. "I'm sure he'll come back eventually. Or something. I mean he can't just disappear forever, right?"

"I hope not," Olivia murmured. "Don't know what I would do." Though if Judiel came back, she wasn't sure what she could do then either. If the book was accurate, there was a chance Judiel could be disowned by his own people for simply being with her. He had never told her that part. "So what odd things were you finding out?" She didn't comment on the Irish bastard. No need to get snippy when Jules had nothing to do with it.

"Well apparently I'm not as normal I thought I was." she admitted. "Some stuff happened at Babylon and it was all really confusing and I talked to Eris there and she told me to go to Dorian. I went to Aiden first and he told me to go to Dorian, so... I did and we talked and I got a book. And I'm an elemental. Apparently." Olivia would understand, right? Her boyfriend disappeared into some alternate universe, of course she would.

"Are you?" Olivia looked surprised, but it was brief. It was Marquette and everyone in Olivia's life was something other than normal. "Which element?" Elementals had always been fascinating to her. "Dorian seems to be the popular place to go lately for help." Especially with the ghosts.

"Well Dorian and I had met before, like once, but we didn't really hit it off. I was kinda wary of going to see him, but this time wasn't nearly as bad as the last time. We kinda... buried the hatchet and started over. He's not so bad. And air." she told the girl. "Found out by accident, just never knew it before and then all of a sudden I'm 'different'. It's weird. Really weird."

"Air... so you can change weather patterns and everything? Well, eventually, if you can't do it just now. I know it feels weird, but it's not bad weird. Elementals are actually really cool, I think. And I'm glad Dorian was able to help you. And no, he's not so bad." Much, much better than Aiden, in Olivia's opinion. She gave Jules a knowing smile. "Starting over is good. He's cute, isn't he?"

Jules blushed a little. "Yeah, he's cute, but I'm totally not his type and... I wouldn't do that to Aiden." she admitted. "They're friends and even if Aiden can be a total dick and probably wouldn't admit it... if I ever did anything with Dorian, I can almost guarantee it'd hurt him. At least make him feel bad or something." she shrugged. "But yeah, Dorian's supposed to help me out with it, teach me stuff, what he can and all that. He'll be coming here sometime to show me some stuff."

"You actually care about Aiden?" Olivia asked, not really sure she could understand that. "I don't think Aiden cares if he hurt other people. He's all about himself, at least in my opinion." She lifted her hands to push her hair behind her ears and then grimaced in Jules's direction. "Sorry... if you like Aiden, that's fine. I mean, he's cute so..." She really couldn't bring herself to saying anything nice about him, so she figured she ought to say nothing at all. "That's nice that Dorian's willing to help you out."

She frowned slightly when Olivia said Aiden didn't care if he hurt people. She wondered for a moment if he cared if he hurt her. Part of her believed that maybe Olivia was right. Maybe he didn't care. At least he was upfront about it. About being an asshole. "Yeah. I care about him." she said with a little nod. "Can't really help it I guess. Just do. It's probably stupid and totally something I shouldn't be doing, but tell that to my heart when it stops beating when he's around..." she sighed, shaking her head and moving off that topic. "Yeah, it is nice of Dorian. I really didn't expect it with how we acted towards each other the last time we'd talked."

Olivia arched a dark eyebrow in Jules's direction. That sounded like a little bit more than 'caring' about someone, but she didn't want to say that. "You can't always decide who to care about," Olivia agreed, relaxing her head back against the couch. "How did you guys act toward each other last time? It wasn't a good conversation, I'm guessing?"

"He told me I was a slut. Or something like that. And it just went downhill from there. I don't know it's complicated and confusing and it's crap, but it's in the past and we're okay now. He apologized and I apologized and we're okay. Fresh start." Now if they could continue that whole fresh start into a friendship, that would be lovely, but Jules wasn't going to hold her breath.

Her eyes widened at that. "He actually called you a slut? Ass! Good looking compliment totally reneged. But yay for frest start, I guess," Olivia said. She wasn't sure she would appreciate being called a slut. Then again, one needed to have sex - lots of sex - to be a slut, so Olivia knew she didn't fit that description. "You would think being Aiden's friend, he would have been nicer to you."

She shrugged. "I dunno. It was a big mess is all. But yeah, fresh start. And I can't be pissed at me for calling me a slut when I did have sex a lot..." she said softly. "I don't know, I guess it just bothered me because he was kinda hitting the nail on the head and made me feel shitty about myself. I don't know."

Olivia snorted and shook her head. "Guys can have as much sex as they want and not be a slut... I wish I were a slut," Olivia muttered and then realized how that sounded. She managed a faint smile. "That sounded bad. I'd like to just be able to have sex." Not that she was terribly worried about that at the moment. "I'm glad he apologized to you. Most guys who are dicks won't say they're sorry when they should be, so at least you know he's not a total jerk."

"I probably deserved it. Hell I don't know. Maybe he doesn't like being hit on or something." she shrugged. "But yeah, doesn't matter now." she smiled. "All's well that ends well. And yeah, he's not a total jerk. He did offer to help me out, so he's at least a decent guy. I'll give him that."

Olivia shot Jules a look before laughing. "Okay, you hit on him? And then he called you a slut... but he apologized, and you apologized... I guess I should have been there to understand the conversation. If he knew you and Aiden were... doing whatever you and Aiden are doing, then I guess I could understand him being wary, although name calling is a bit much. I know his brother pretty well," Olivia explained, thinking of Mathias. "He's a good guy too so maybe it's in the genes or something."

"I don't know what all Aiden said about me but yeah..." she chuckled. "So... why don't you like Aiden?" she questioned, raising a brow. "Because, um... if you don't want to be here when he's here, he's coming over tonight."

She wasn't sure she needed the entire story on Jules, Aiden and Dorian. Sounded confusing and complicated. "Hmm?" She heard Jules's question just fine, but was delaying in actually having to answer. She didn't want to cause any issues or problems. It seemed Jules liked Aiden quite a bit, and she and Jules were still getting to know one another. She didn't want to be thrown out because she didn't like the woman's boyfriend. "That's okay that he's coming over. I have to work at Babylon here shortly." She stretched out her legs, still hesitant to answer. "Has he told you anything about what he does for a living?"

Jules nodded. "Yeah. He told me." she said. "Is it something about that? I mean, if there's something bad I should know then... I'd like to know..." Jules said, though really she didn't want a reason to not like Aiden. She doubted that anything Olivia said could change her mind about him. Hell, she fought with him constantly, but that didn't change her mind either.

Olivia didn't think her telling Jules about Aiden would really change her feelings for him. Olivia's feelings for Mathias hadn't changed after she figured out he was half demon. You couldn't force yourself to feel for someone, or to stop. That was the frustrating part of life. "It's not something bad... I mean, if you know what he does for a living. I don't have an issue with hunters," Olivia began cautiously. "My dad was one. He was the same kind of hunter Aiden is... in it for the money, although my dad only took on jobs that took down evil things. Aiden... hunts anything. Anyway, it's a long story, but the jist of it is, I ran away from home when I turned eighteen for... reasons I won't get into now. After awhile, my dad called Aiden to track me down and bring me home. He found me, I wouldn't go... er, things transpired. He's not my biggest fan, and I'm not his." Olivia smiled at Jules. "If you see a couple scars at his neck just above his hairline... I did that." And she was damn proud of it.

"Oh, wow." Jules said, listening closely to the story. "Well here I thought it was some big horrible worse than that type thing. So he was just a dick and wanted you to go home, but you didn't wanna go, basically? And he does it for the money. He got mad at me yesterday because like... well before I told him, I asked him if he hunted elementals and stuff like that and then kinda mentioned that I was hoping he wouldn't kill me or whatever... he didn't seem to happy that I'd think that, though I do kind of wonder if someone paid him enough if he would..."

"Sort of. It's not really fun to be more or less kidnapped at gunpoint just because your dad wants you to come home," Olivia said wryly. "But yeah, he was a dick. Don't think he wanted me to go home as much as he just wanted to get paid, regardless of what I wanted. He's persistent. I don't know, maybe he's changed. He's been in town for awhile. I imagine if he cares about you enough, he wouldn't wake anyone's money to hunt you down. But like I said, it all depends on a hunter's mindset. If you have even the slightest inkling that he would hunt you? Then I think that kind of says you don't trust him the way you should, given you care about him." She didn't want to offend Jules, or upset her, but it seemed like the logical thing to Olivia.

"Well it's not that I really think he would, I was just I don't know, trying to understand hunters I guess. I mean I didn't know if caring about someone was enough to keep from hunting them. If he does it for the money... usually everyone has their price. I'd just really like to believe that I'm important enough to him that he wouldn't. He seemed pretty adamant that I believe he wouldn't. I don't really think he would so much now, but there's always going to be that tiny little voice in the back of my head wondering I guess." Jules shrugged a little and brushed her hand through her hair, glancing back over at Olivia. "I trust him, probably a lot more than I should. Mostly because he told me from the beginning he's a total asshole, pretty much only cares about himself and fucks everyone over. That's the kind of honesty you just don't get anymore... has to say something about him, ya know?"

Olivia laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Isn't it strange, that a guy can be totally honest with you about what he is, what he does and how things are... and even if it's not something you want to hear, you still want him anyway? And even sort of respect him more for it? It seems twisted in a way." She rubbed at her eyes and sighed. "If you trust him enough, and believe him enough, to think he won't hurt you, then you've got to trust your instinct. If he does care about you, I don't think he's that much of a bastard that he would ignore those feelings for money."

"Exactly." she muttered. "He practically tells me from the start that he's the last person I should fall for, and then what do I go and do? Fall for the fucker." She sighed and leaned back against the couch. And that was the first time it really hit her. She'd fallen for Aiden Quinlan. Total dick. Hunter. Asshole. Aiden Quinlan. A guy that no smart girl in her right mind would ever fall for. And she'd done it. Like an idiot. "I don't think he's that much of a bastard either." she agreed. "I think at least he's non-bastardly enough to not kill someone he cares about."

"I think guys who say that know damn well the girl's going to fall for them anyway. That's why they're such jerks. Because then when they turn into a jerk, and you get upset, they can say 'well, I told you so'." Olivia rolled her eyes and then smiled. "I don't think it's the worst thing in the world that you've fallen for him. You're a smart girl, Jules, I don't think you would fall for anyone you knew deep in your heart was a bad person. I don't like him, or agree with what he does, but I don't think he has it in him to kill someone he really cares about. Most hunters try to keep those people safe and away from that part of their life as much as they can."

"Well, as much as I've freaked out on him and gone totally crazy girlfriend, when I'm not his girlfriend, and have him still stick around... still come when I'm scared or freaked out by something... I think he thinks he's a lot worse than he really is." Jules told the woman. "He builds himself up to be this total fucker and when I need him, I call him, and he's here. He can't be that bad."

"Then I guess that must mean he cares." Personally Olivia thought Jules could do much better than Aiden Quinlan, but hell... to each their own. If he made her happy, then that was enough. "But just be careful, okay? The guy does have his prick-ish moments and since he's so willing to admit he's a jerk, he'll probably use that as an excuse to be a jerk. Or something."

"Probably." Jules agreed easily. "But then again, most guys have their jerk moments." she smiled. "Can't have the perfect man with the perfect personality, can you? And have him be as hot as Aiden Quinlan at the same time."

"Very true," Olivia said. "And I guess there's something about hot guys with personality issues." Even though they were probably so wrong to chase for the hopes of a normal relationship. But then again, Olivia had never been one for a normal relationship. She was dating an immortal Muse after all. Who was missing in the Dreaming. Ugh. "I think I should get ready for work. I won't be home until really late," she told Jules before standing up. Double shifts were necessary since she came back from California completely broke. She stretched and then smiled. "So enjoy your alone time with the jerk."

"Oh I plan to." she smiled. "At least a couple times before you get back. And he's always gone before the night's over, so you don't have to worry about him being here when you come home." she smiled. "Have fun at work, Liv."

"Oh god," Olivia groaned and then laughed. "I'll make sure to stretch out my shift as long as possible." She shook her head and headed for her bedroom to change. The last thing she wanted was to see Aiden. The very last thing she wanted was to hear Aiden in the bedroom upstairs. No thank you.