What happened after the taco's?

 

I'm so in love with White and Ooooorange... 

These are my speculations on what might have happened in between scenes, seeing as you never really can be sure of the exact moment White told Orange his name, and they seem to be way too close for partners in crime in general. <3

 

***

 

What happened after the taco's?

 

 

 

He had said so many things Freddy would have frowned at if it hadn't been him, if he hadn't told him all these things as if he was one of them, as natural as a conversation between two life-long friends. He became more and more convinced that he was only trying to help him, and was genuinely wishing the best for him. And even though he had all the reason to be arrested by him, he knew he would never hurt him as long as he didn't find out what he really was, and all that mattered to Freddy was staying in his role. The more he and Mr White talked, the more comfortable he felt around him, and he realized that could be dangerous. He had to remain on guard, always. And when White suggested they should go and eat a taco, he was torn between wanting to leave him and go home as fast as possible, and the exact opposite. But he probably couldn't refuse, so he didn't say anything.

 

They sat down in the end corner of a small local taco shop. They were the only costumers at this hour, but they still didn't want to take any chances.

 

'So, you think you're ready for this?'

Freddy shrugged, hoping he was looking flawlessly cool in his leather jacket.

'If you still have any questions, you should ask. With things like this, we don't need any doubters. Doubters are fatal.'

'Oh, I'm not a doubter.'

Mr White smiled at him. In any other situation, Freddy would have felt reassured by a smile like this one. Now, it was nothing but confusing. 'I thought so. You don't look like one.'

Freddy lit a cigarette and started turning his box of lights around and around on the small, cheap plastic table. He noticed the other man's stare was on him still, and looked back at him. For some reason they started to laugh quietly at the same moment, maybe because they had both realized how crazy this situation was. At least, that was the case with Freddy.

 

'You know, Orange, we could have a great life,' White said after a few minutes of silence in which Freddy slowly smoked his cigarette, enjoying every inhalation.

'A great life?' he repeated.

'After this job.'

Not knowing where he was going, he gave him a puzzled look.

'I've been thinking of leaving the state for some time now. Maybe even leaving the country altogether. There are too many people looking for me, and I've had enough of that. I need the money, so I'm doing this job, but...' He made a helpless gesture. 'I'm getting too old for this shit, Orange.'

Freddy nodded. 'That's a good thought.' But I'll have to take you in before you leave this place, Mr White, he thought to himself.

 

'Would you want to join me?' White said after their food had been brought to their table by a bored-looking girl in her twenties.

'They must be after you, as well. After all I've heard.'

Freddy tried to remember, as quick as possible, the list his colleagues had made of the crimes he had committed before he said: 'Well, yeah, but what did you have in mind?'

Mr White leaned back on his chair, as if he had been looking forward to answering that question.

 

'A free life. No more working for others. Get a job, start a business. And if we can't, just drive around the highways until we can. Doing a robbery, steal something every now and then if we see no other way to survive, but that's all we'll be doing. I've had it with guns, you know? It's over. I held my first gun at seventeen, but the age for using one ends someday.'

White shook his head. 'I've seen too many dumbasses bleed and beg for their lives. I'm ready for retirement, honestly.'

 

Fascinated by White's words, Freddy looked at him with big, surprised eyes, while he was drinking his soda through a red and white straw.

 

'Do we have a deal, Orange? Or will we have to think about it?'

 

'It sounds good,' Freddy answered slowly. 'It sounds like the right thing to do.'

White was waiting patiently for his reply. Freddy didn't know what to say. Of course, he couldn't go with him. He would be back in the force after this undercover assignment. But the truth was that he wanted to go with him more than doing what he was supposed to do. Everything was better than the lonely life he was leading right now, regardless of it following society's rules. What good was the law, when it had never brought him happiness? Besides, when White was telling the truth, it meant that he would at least make a serious effort to renounce violence altogether. And somehow, that meant everything to Freddy. It told him White was, in essence, not a bad guy. It kind of changed everything, and he needed a moment to rethink it.

 

'Why are you asking me? Why not someone else?'

White laughed. 'There is no one else. Many people I could have asked are either dead or far away. And you... Well, Orange, I like you. I feel I can trust you.'

His face became red instantly, but he only realized it a few seconds later. He almost choked on his soda and coughed a few times. White was amused by him.

'Don't be surprised, did you really think I could take that fucker Pink along? Or that psycho Blonde? No. You're my only option.'

Freddy nodded understandingly. 'Well, I am flattered,' he said with a grin.

'And you should be!' White's face looked dead serious, but Freddy knew he was half joking. 'I'm not making this kind of offer every day!'

'I can see that.'

White leaned over the table and looked Freddy in his eyes from a small distance. 'Will you do it?' He reached out and took Freddy's left hand, that had been resting on the table. Freddy was a bit confused, and couldn't think of something else to do but look from his hand to White's face, and back again. But before he would have had to formulate some kind of an answer, White saw something in the mirror on the wall right beside them, that was cut in triangular shapes to make the diner look trendy. Freddy immediately got from the look in his eyes that it meant danger.

 

'Don't look. Keep still,' White whispered, reaching in the pocket of his coat where Freddy knew his gun was. He watched him analyze the situation, as he couldn't do so himself, and felt his heart beating in his throat. Could the men who were undoubtedly standing at the bar see him? Were they watching him? But he couldn't look... He waited as his entire world became the plain grey plastic table they were sitting at.

 

'Okay Orange, you must do exactly as I say, alright? We're gonna make a run for it. They're still making an order, so we should be quiet at first and then fast. We run outta here, we turn left, stay close to the buildings, and after a while there is an alleyway. Just follow me from there. Promise?'

Freddy had the feeling he could hardly breathe, and running at full speed was the most difficult thing he could imagine. He swallowed. 'Promise.'

'Let's do it.'

 

They got out of their chairs slowly, trying not to be heard. They had put a few five dollar bills on the table, enough to pay for their taco's and to tip the waitress. White had somehow thrown his stress right off his shoulders, and was walking in front of Freddy as if he owned the entire diner, just as he had done before. Freddy tried to copy him, but it proved much harder than he had thought. He almost tripped over his own feet when he saw the men at the bar staring at them, staring at them for too long, as if they were trying to see who they were. They walked past them, they were past them, and White pushed the door open, walked out on the streets where the sunlight was bright. It was so bright that Freddy's fear doubled. He felt incredibly exposed, and had to force himself not to run out of sight.

 

'Stay cool,' White whispered. Freddy panicked as he saw the men exit the diner, looking at them, not exchanging a single word.

'Stay cool...'

 

Freddy knew this was trouble, massive, humongous trouble, and he could be a cop all he wanted, if they wanted to get rid of Mr White, they'd take him along, too, and if they didn't, and they were cops, maybe White would find out, and both scenarios were an absolute disaster. White looked over his shoulder. Freddy followed without thinking, and saw the men- they looked like normal people, really, but they had absolutely nothing of a cop- reaching in the pockets of their jackets, just as White had done, and on that moment, White started running. Freddy switched gears immediately, ran after him, even faster than him, and everything was a blur. He heard a gunshot and thought he wasn't going to make it. He had forgotten about the alleyway White had told him about, and he would've run right past it like a fucking idiot, if White hadn't grabbed his arm and pulled him the other way. Head over heels, trying his best not to fall, they ran through the alleyway, taking sudden turns, going straight through peoples' backyards, but Freddy could hardly see where they were going. He had to rely on White's arm for directions. He was still being pulled forward by him. If he hadn't done so, Freddy had no idea what might have happened.

 

A minute later, when Freddy had the feeling they had been running like this for hours straight, White stopped, and looked around a corner carefully. Freddy was holding his arm now, in a spastic death grip. He didn't want to let go until it was one hundred percent sure they were safe.

'Are they gone?' he whispered, gasping for breath. White didn't answer, but because he kept on looking, he was guessing they were still hidden.

'They just got in their car. I can see it from over here, it's on the other side of the street.'

'Are they coming this way?'

White shook his head, and Freddy finally let go of White's arm. 'They're turning. They're still going slowly, but... ha! completely the wrong way!' He grinned, fixing his shirt. 'I haven't lost my tricks.'

His eyes fell on Freddy, exhausted, hands trembling, knees shaking.

 

'Hey, what's up with you?'

'Who were they?' was all Freddy could say.

Mr White shrugged. 'Couple of guys I knew. Weren't satisfied with me at the time, so we got into trouble. Well, it's another reason to leave this state as soon as we can.'

'They had guns.' Freddy thought he was being rather nonchalant about the whole matter, while he was panting in fear.

'Yeah, I know! But so do we, right?' White moved closer, trying to get a closer look at him. 'Hey, Orange,' he said, gently lifting his head by holding his chin.

 

Suddenly, the engine of a car was audible, and soon afterwards, footsteps on the pavement. White reacted immediately by turning round another corner, pulling Freddy with him. To make sure they were invisible in the narrow passage, he pressed Freddy close to his body. He was so close that White could feel his accelerated heartbeat. The footsteps came closer, but gradually faded. When they couldn't hear their voices anymore, Freddy breathed out the air he had been holding in his lungs all the time, and felt drained of all his energy.

 

'Must've made a check-up of the whole fucking place,' White mumbled. 'Hey, Orange, I should've shot them, don't you think?'

Startled by the thought of White shooting anyone, Freddy looked up to him and said 'No!'

White bursted into laughing. 'I was joking, Orange! Hey, you can stop shaking now! They're gone!'

Freddy chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. 'I thought we were gonna die. Seriously.'

'Yes, I could see that.' White stroked Freddy's blonde hair out of his face with an unexpected tenderness, as if he was touching the most valuable thing in the world. 'But you should know that I would have never let them get near you.'

 

Freddy was confused, being pulled from one emotion to the other. He wasn't sure why his heart was pounding in his chest anymore, why his breath wasn't back to normal yet. It was warm outside, but here in the shadows, he was shivering.

'It's alright,' Mr White said to him, his voice seemed to be distant somehow.

'I know,' he answered, almost irritated, trying to get his act together again. White would think he wasn't used to anything. Maybe he'd suspect something. He had fucked up and he had to get his act together...

 

Of course, Mr White didn't hold any suspicions against him. He poked him in his side, and Freddy flinched. 'Relax!' And it worked, Freddy really did relax, the moment White pulled him closer to his chest, and he was in his arms. He was so relaxed he closed his eyes automatically. Knowing it was White's arms around him, and his cheek against his, was the most comforting thing Freddy had ever felt. He never wanted him to leave him, never. That's why he put his arms around him as well.

 

'Come with me,' White said, 'and I'll keep you safe.'

'Yes,' Freddy whispered, feeling as if he were dreaming. And he wasn't lying. There was nothing he wanted more but to go with him, disappear, and leave everything behind.

'Look at me. Are you serious?'

Freddy opened his eyes. 'Yes.'

And White kissed him. It felt like his breath was cut from him, it felt like they were getting closer and closer together. They took their time. Freddy held on to White, and suddenly realized it was bothering him he could only call him 'White'. It was all so clear to him. If he knew his real name, he would never tell. He knew what that meant, but that didn't change anything.

 

White noticed the way he was looking at him, and smiled, asking him what was on his mind without words.

'What's your...' Freddy asked hesitantly.

'Larry,' White whispered in his ear.

 

 

 

Friday the 13th of May

2.42 AM