'Not a Morning Person' Doesn't Begin to Cover It

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

It was just shy of four in the morning when James Ford stumbled into the Lobby. The flashbulbs of the paparazzi’s cameras outside had him seeing spots and left him even more disoriented than the many glasses of liquor he had consumed over the course of the night. While the front desk clerks and doormen kept their eyes on him as he passed, nobody tried to approach him. To avoid a scene, it was better to just let him go his own way.

At least he’d managed to accomplish his task of getting piss loaded and made it back to the hotel before the media had rushed him. He’d love to shove those microphones and cameras down their throats after all they’d done. One particular article had laid his entire life out, or at least everything they could discover, for the whole world to see; painting him as some damaged soul who had lost his way after a tragedy in his childhood. They didn’t know the details behind it, behind any of it, but they knew enough. And now, so did everyone else.

Stepping unsteadily into the lift, he squinted at the buttons for the many floors of the building, before pressing the one that most closely resembled his and leaned back against the wall. The trip up was quick and it made his head spin. It felt like he was weightless, floating, until it stopped and he crashed. Stumbling out into the hall, the drunken conman made his way down it before he stopped at the door to his room. Pulling the small card out of his pocket, he missed several times before finally managing to swipe the key. He was met with an angry red light.

“Sonuffabitch,” he slurred, rattling the door handle and kicking at the door.


((Made the title too long so couldn't fit the tag in. Whoops. Tags: Leandra!))

[leandra]

Lea was not having a good night. She didn't know why, but since she had tried to settle at 11pm that night, she had constantly kept tossing and turning. Every time she settled into a sleep, she had the same recurring nightmare. The flight crash landing onto an Island. It would wake her up in a sweat. She hadn't had nightmares for a very long time, but since returning to Los Angeles, it's all she seemed to be having. She couldn't remember the last time she had a peaceful full nights sleep. In fact it was probably on the Island.

It was now almost 3.45am and Lea tried settling for the final time, she thought to herself, if she didn't get into sleep this time, or she was awakened by another nightmare, she'd give up on sleep and just get up and read or something similar. Just getting into another nice sleep, Lea realized she could hear her room handle being messed around with and the door being kicked. In fact she was pretty certain she heard the familiar not so happy and probably very drunk sounds of Sawyer. But she could have been mistaken.

She got out of bed and slipped on her black silk dressing gown over her silky negligee nightie she was wearing and pulled her hair up into a messy pony tail and slowly wandered to the door. She looked through the peep hole in the door and found her assumptions about it being Sawyer correct. She had to silently laugh to herself, he looked so very pissed. Then again a pissed Sawyer could be awkward, but she thought 'what the hell' and opened the door anyway.

In a very sleepy voice, but with a very bright smile on her face she looked at Sawyer...."If you were that desperate to see me, you could have just knocked, I don't think management will see breaking down the door as the best way to see me"

She wasn't sure how Sawyer would take what she said, it's not that she didn't like him, she did. Sawyer was a tough nut to crack on the Island, but he could be a softy at heart, and well if Lea was honest, she had has much respect for Sawyer as she had for Jack. But she also knew Sawyer had been having a tough time since being back in Los Angeles, and it wasn't difficult to know the main reason for the way he had been feeling, in one word Kate! But Lea couldn't resist making a joke out of what she could only assume was a very drunk Sawyer trying to get into what he thought was his own room, since he had his room card in his hand.

With her dressing gown open and her negligee on show, she stood against the side of the door with a cute smile on her face waiting for Sawyer's reaction.

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

Why wasn’t this damn thing working? Trying the card again, Sawyer let out a frustrated growled and banged his fist on the door when again the red light flashed. What was wrong with a real key, anyway? They never lost their ever loving minds like these plastic pieces of garbage.

Before he could contemplate further on traditional versus hightech, a taxing thing to contemplate considering his current state of inebriation, just as he delivered another solid kick to the door it suddenly opened, but not due to anything he had done. For standing in his doorway there was a very beautiful and very scantily clad woman. She may have been wearing a cute smile, but it was what she wasn’t wearing that caught his eye, and that was not much. Missing her face and her words completely, Sawyer’s eyes travelled lazily down her body, a low whistle escaping his lips. A woman like that, waiting in his room, dressed the way she was?

“Mus’ be m’ birthday,” he muttered, a crooked grin on his face. Taking a step forward he brought his body very close to hers as he attempted to step past her into his room.

[leandra]

It really took Lea all her time not to go into fits of laughter at the continual kicks and mutterings from the person outside her door. And it was even more difficult not to go into fits of laughter at the look on Sawyer's face when he saw her standing in the door way. Looking very drunk and very puzzled as to why his door card wasn't working.

Lea watched as he looked her up and down and obviously hadn't heard a thing she said, or purposefully ignored the words, he seemed only interested in looking at her. The low whistle he gave just made her want to laugh all the more. It was so funny. She was even beginning to wonder if he remembered who she was. At his words, she really did go into fits of laughter, she couldn't contain herself any longer. Heaven help all the others in the adjoining rooms. The two of them would be sure to wake them up if they weren't too careful.

Mus’ be m’ birthday....Lea stopped laughing long enough to take a breath and then composed herself, before grinning stupidly like a Cheshire cat. "Is it?" she asked...and then for clarification she added, "Your birthday?" maybe she was teasing him, just a little, after all Lea was a lovely girl, but she was no angel.

As Sawyer came very close to her she almost tingled at the pending touch, but she snapped herself back to reality. Yes, she had some sort of crush if that's what you could call it at their ages, on Sawyer, but she knew deep down in her heart of hearts, there was only one girl for him, and she knew it wasn't her and would never be her. Maybe a bit of fun when he can't have the woman he truly wants, but for now she had to settle for the friendship they had started back on the Island.

As he tried to push past her into her room, obviously still very much in the frame of mind that it was his room, she could only grin, but she did put her hand on his arm as if to make to stop him. Well not stop him as such, but to at least try to explain to a very drunk Sawyer, which she thought would be a very difficult task, that it was actually her room he was about to step into and not his own, and that was why the card had not worked for him.

"Sawyer this isn't your room, it's mines. Lea?" she said gently with a straight face doing all she could to hide her laughter. "You do know who I am right? Leandra your once good time buddie" she cajoled. She was going to add 'on the Island' but thought it better to miss that part out. She didn't think Sawyer would need reminding about that, not at this moment anyway. It was obvious to her that Sawyer had been doing what he had been doing best since getting off the Island, drinking his sorrows.

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

Hell, he hadn’t thought it was that funny, but who was he to argue? Wasn’t like he saw much laughter lately. When she asked honestly, though, if it was his birthday Sawyer grinned at her, his dimples suddenly his most prominent feature.

“Nope,” was all he answered before turning his attention to shrugging off his leather coat and dropping it to the floor. Feeling her hand on his arm he looked over at it curiously before turning his gaze... somewhere below her eyes. Birthday or not, this was a nice gift, though it would be better if she would let him lay down first.

But what was she going on about, not his room? Why would he be trying to get into her room? And who the hell was Leandra? Forcing his eyes upward to her face, he squinted slightly before recognition dawned. Ah, the other blonde princess from the Island. She was probably one who was glad to be back to all the modern conveniences and available pampering of the real world. Island life hadn’t suited her; it was too tough, too dirty. But... ‘good time buddy’? He wasn’t even sure what that meant. Sawyer didn’t have good buddies, except the ones that liked to call themselves that while they blackmailed and threatened him. And if he did, they wouldn’t be women. And if they were, they wouldn’t be women like her because, hoo boy, she was far from the body type. Er, buddy type. Unless she meant something completely different by ‘good time’ which, considering how she was dressed to greet him, seemed a distinct possibility.

“’course, princess,” he slurred slightly. Heh, Princess Leah. Attempting to balance on one foot, he tried pull off one boot. Swaying dangerously he lay a hand on her shoulder to steady himself as he continued to wrench off the footwear. “I ain’ lost m’ mind. Jus’ had a bit ta drink.”

[leandra]

God those dimples Leandra thought when Sawyer answered 'nope' to her questioning if it really was his birthday. She loved his smile the most. That's what she always liked about him. Not that she got to see his smile that often to be honest. Not that she was saying he didn't smile that much, just that she like most of the others wasn't around Sawyer much. He was more a keep himself to himself if not with the lads apart from Kate kinda guy.

In fact from the puzzled look on his face when she was trying to tell him it was her room and not his and that she was once his good time buddie probably wasn't the best choice of words, because it was pretty apparent he didn't think like that, once recognition dawned on him. She really ought to think about what she is going to say before she speaks the words.

When he called her princess she just blushed slightly, his smile and voice were what drove her insane, in fact she thought Kate was mad to give him up for Jack. Sure Jack was a great guy and quite a good friend to herself, with all the support on the Island, but given the choice of love with Jack or Sawyer, she'd have chosen Sawyer.

She removed her hand from his arm, as she didn't want to give out the wrong signals anyway. She knew Sawyer would never go for her, she knew she wasn't his type, she was too pretty, too materialistic. And he was probably right about the materialistic, although deep down all Leah wanted was to be loved and to love back.

I ain’ lost m’ mind. Jus’ had a bit ta drink...Leah giggled again slightly, she wasn't about to chase him out, she wasn't the nasty type, if he wanted to believe this was his room she wouldn't try any more to sway him otherwise. But she'd curl up and sleep on the chair and let him have the bed. That's how sweet Leah could be.

"Course you haven't lost your mind Sawyer, you've just had way too much to drink, I can tell that" she said with a smile on her face. She closed the door to her room and sat on the chair, given some time when he could focus more properly he'd start to see all the feminine things around the room and realise he was indeed in the wrong room.

"Would you like me to make you a coffee?" she asked politely, thinking that it might sober him up somewhat, "Or" she continued with a grin and a wink and in a very teasing tone, "Would you like something else?"

[ooc: sorry about the "good time buddie" line, after reading through my post, I thought to change the line to something more suitable and forgot, sorry didn't mean to cause any confusion, hopefully I've recovered it with Leah's own thoughts]

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

Dropping his other boot on the floor, Sawyer almost stumbled over them before catching himself against the wall. Watching Leandra walk away and find herself a seat, he scowled slightly at her choice of wording. Way too much to drink? He didn’t think that was possible anymore. There wasn’t enough alcohol in the world to make him forget everything he wanted to forget, and to numb all the feelings, the pain, that he didn’t want to feel.

The offer of coffee was also met with a disagreeable expression, but the next suggestion brought a smile back to his face.

“Somethin’ else?” he repeated, leaning comfortably against the wall. “An’ jus’ what ya got in mind?”

What he really wanted to do right now was lay down, but there was a lot of fun to be had for them in that position.

((No worries, darlin’. Just roll with it. ;D ))

[leandra]

Leandra watched as he kicked his other boot off and then proceeded to stumble over them. Watching him closely from where she now sat she could tell her words weren't met with much approval, especially the coffee part. But the smile across his face meant that he liked the latter suggestion. She quivered slightly, but she didn't want to push things. Because Sawyer really only had feelings for Kate. But she couldn't hide the fact that she wanted him. Even if it was only for fun, she no longer cared. She didn't necessarily want a proper relationship, not right now anyway.

If someone was to sweep her off her feet and love her like she felt she deserved to be loved, then maybe this unrequited crush thing could get knocked on the head. But until that happened, she didn't think a little bit of fun would do any harm, not if Sawyer was up to it. Yes it probably would result in her being used while he was on his self destruction path, but she couldn't be upset by it, because she would be using him just as much in many ways.

Somethin’ else?....An’ jus’ what ya got in mind....She wasn't even sure how to reply, because she knew in her heart who he really wanted, but he was messed up, and maybe fun would be the best tonic. In her opinion anyway. She licked her lips rather provocatively and then bit down on her bottom lip before speaking again.

"Well maybe" she began, struggling to find the right words. "You could lie on the bed and I could give you a massage" she offered, "You look rather tense" she continued with a teasing smile.

Maybe a massage wasn't what he thought she would offer, but one thing about Leah, she could tease, but she would never make the first move, not even on someone she adored, and especially not on someone she had an unrequited crush on. However that isn't to say she wouldn't suggest or offer something, but she wouldn't just jump in and make herself look like a fool. She stood up from the chair and walked toward him and gently started to squeeze his shoulders in soft circular motions.

"Might this help you make your decision" she teased gently.

[ooc: cool I'm rollin with it alright ]

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

Sawyer raised an eyebrow at the suggestion of a massage. Tense? The last thing he felt was tense for once. It would be pretty hard to feel so with so much alcohol in his blood, or perhaps so little blood in his alcohol. At this point he didn’t know.

His eyes followed her as she stood up and approached him until he lost her behind him. Almost immediately he felt her hands on his shoulders and his eyes drifted shut. Oh yeah, he could handle a little bit of that. His head slowly dropping forward, he caught it just before his chin hit his chest, snapping back to attention.

“Mmm, lead tha way,” he mumbled back.

[leandra]

So...Leah thought, she'd hit a soft spot with the massaging then. At least he certainly seemed to be enjoying it. She really didn't want to come across as a bitch or a tart out to get what she wants, but the truth was, she wanted Sawyer. She wouldn't say she loved him, because she could never get close enough for those kinds of emotions to form, but she definitely wanted him. Whether he could tell that now or not, well she would just have to wait and see how it would unfold. Maybe she could become one of those friends with benefits. She'd heard people talk of those kind of relationships. Once she would have turned her nose up at it, but not anymore. When you are feeling unwanted and unloved, you'll do anything to get a bit of attention and care if that was indeed a correct word to use.

When her hands touched his shoulders she tingled herself, it was good to finally have her hands on him, even if it was just a gentle massage. But on touching him, he didn't actually feel tense at all, but massages were usually quite welcoming whether you were tense or not.

Mmm, lead tha way....Well there was an open line if ever she'd heard one. Lead the way to where and what she wondered. But she wasn't about to stop and ask questions, Sawyer was in the right frame of mind for fun it would seem, and she wasn't about to waste her opportunity, probably her only opportunity at that, unless he happened to enjoy it. She stopped massaging him for a second to slip of his shirt and gently pushed him toward the bed and pushed him into a lying position. She slipped off her satin gown and then straddled him and continued to gently massage him.

"Am I doing alright?" she asked teasingly, "Or is there something else you can think of I could add?" she smiled, she was enjoying this, she had to say. Maybe being unable to sleep and Sawyer turning up at the wrong room was a blessing after all.

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

Before Sawyer even knew what was happening his shirt was being pulled over his head and he was being pushed down onto the bed. This chick sure didn’t mess around. Turning his head to the side he folded his arms under his cheek and closed his eyes. He could feel the bare skin of her legs against his sides and as her hands began to gently kneed his shoulders he felt his whole body relax.

The next question was a loaded one for sure, and a million thoughts passed through his mind. Opening his mouth to answer, though, the words came out as a unintelligible mumble. It was at that point that everything faded to black and he drifted off into drunken unconsciousness.

[leandra]

She was enjoying massaging him. Okay so it wasn't anything sexual, and yes she was desperate for something sexual to happen, but as the thoughts kept running through her head, she was kidding herself for anything sexual to happen with him. He only had sexual thoughts for one person. She knew that deep down. In fact maybe she shouldn't have teased him quite so much, because thinking about it, a lot of guys didn't like that.

She didn't get a reply when she asked her question, well she did, but it wasn't possible to understand the garbled mumble which came from his mouth. She carried on massaging anyway, and then peeked down to look and noticed he'd fallen asleep. Typical she thought, but then it just had to prove her fingers and hands had the magical touch.

Well she was hardly going to sleep on the chair now, she was too comfortable. So she slipped off and curled herself up at the other side of the bed with all sorts of thoughts going through her mind. Wondering what the hell Sawyer would be thinking when he woke up in what he thought was his room with her lying in what he thought was his bed.

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

He was back on the island in his little house, the sun warming his skin as it started to filter in through the window. He could hear Kate’s soft breathing beside him and the corner of his lips curled upward slightly.

Soon the warmth began to fade, as did the morning sun, but the warm body beside him remained. He felt her shift beside him.

“Mmm, mornin’ Freckles,” Sawyer muttered, somewhere between a dream and wakefulness.

[leandra]

Leandra felt Sawyer stirring beside her, so he must have been finally waking up. She hadn't slept much at all once Sawyer had drifted into sleep, she had too many thoughts running through her head. Worrying thoughts if she was honest. She was scared at how Sawyer's reaction would be when he woke up and saw her.

Mmm, mornin’ Freckles....

Leah blanched at the words that came from Sawyer's mouth. She knew she might not get the reaction she wanted from him when he woke up, but hadn't banked on him calling her his nickname for Kate. She sat up, not sure whether to stay in bed sitting up, or jump up and throw on her satin gown and tie it around her waist. One thing she wouldn't do would be to ignore him, she wasn't like that.

"Good morning Sawyer" she began softly with a smile, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Kate" she continued and then stood guarded to see what would happen next. She wasn't sure she wanted to be faced with a hungover Sawyer who was pining for Kate. Drunk Sawyer was fun, hungover Sawyer, well that could be a totally different story.

[James "Sawyer" Ford]

There was something off about the voice that reached his ears. In fact, there was something off about all of this, like why was his head starting to hurt so much? And then she said it, that she wasn’t Kate, and reality began to set in. He wasn’t in his house, he wasn’t on the Island, and he wasn’t with Kate.

His blue eyes snapping open wide, Sawyer was met with a beautiful blonde instead of the mysterious brunette he had been dreaming of. He didn’t have long to dwell on the face that greeted him, though, as he just as quickly shut his eyes, pressing the heels of his hands against them as the headache hit, full force. Groaning, he rolled over onto his side, pulling the pillow from the other side of the bed and covering his head with it.

“What’re you doin’ here?” he asked, his voice muffled by the feather pillow. He couldn’t remember a damn thing about last night.