Don’t You Forget About Me || Ladi & Tromp

footlooseandcollarfree:

Tramp’s shortcuts brought him right where he was sure Elaine would be. To his credit, he was right, but unfortunately she had stumbled on one of the gangs that had been keeping Tramp away from her. He bristled, knowing this wasn’t going to end well. He knew he had two options, either act tough and scare them away or go in swinging and hope that scares them away. 

Either option he had was a toss up as to what would work. He decided to try the first and strode out confidently next to Elaine.

“Are these kids bothering you?” he asked her as he slide an arm around her shoulders, clearly indicating that she was with him.  

Elaine jumped slightly at Tramp’s touch but once she realized it was him, she quickly calmed down and decided to play along.

“A little bit, yes actually,” she said with a challenging look at her assailants.  The hoodlums merely laughed in response, though.

“Well lookie who it is,” laughed the oldest one, who was clearly the leader of their little gang.  ”Our old buddy Trash is back.”

“You ready for another beatdown, pretty boy?” snarled the one with the shaved head.

“Yeah, we’ll bust his brains in AND take his girl,” said the rat-faced one.  ”How do you like that, TRASH?”

And before Tramp could respond, that last goon was grabbing Elaine’s arm and jerking her away from him.

(Source: shelteredlittlelady)

bee-jayne:

Hot.. and funny.. Daymn

Don’t You Forget About Me || Ladi & Tromp

footlooseandcollarfree:

Tramp watched her leave. Did she really not understand? He shook his head. Of course she didn’t, he was foolish to think she would. She thought that the best option for people like him was to find a shelter to stay at. She had no idea about the abuse that happened behind those doors. 

Still, even if she was clueless about how it was to live like he did, that was no reason to let her get away. Couldn’t she see that she hadn’t been forgotten and that he was trying to reconnect with her? If he didn’t care he would have let her keep walking down the street. 

He followed where she had walked off, but with the busy streets, when she turned down the side street he lost sight of her. He slumped against a building trying to think of what he should do next. He sat up when he realized he had a good idea which route she would take to the shelter, a route he could get to first with shortcuts. He knew doing so would risk being caught by one of the cops that patrolled that area. Now that he had seen her again though, he knew he had to risk it.

Elaine didn’t enjoy walking down the little side streets in this part of town, as there were frequently shady characters around and she didn’t exactly fit the type that belonged here.  But her mixture of emotions from the run in with Tramp was overwhelming and covering up any feelings of trepidation or concern.  Her heart was racing, her eyes were burning, and there was a pretty distinct lump in her throat, but all she could do was focus on walking away as fast as possible.

This single-minded focus prevented her from noticing the several rough looking youths that practically stepped out of the shadows and came to surround her.

“Hey Lady, where you goin’ so fast?”
“Yeah Princess, what’s in the bags, huh?”

Elaine tried to get around them with a simple “Excuse me” but they sidestepped to block off her escape.

“Why don’t you stay and chat a while, eh Baby?”

(Source: shelteredlittlelady)

Don’t You Forget About Me || Ladi & Tromp

footlooseandcollarfree:

“Look Pidge,” he said trying to figure out how she could be so unhappy. Yes, it had been two months but she worked with people like him. Didn’t she know how difficult it could be to get anywhere if a rival group or cops take over an area? “I don’t really have many options for getting somewhere if someone unfriendly has claimed that as their ‘turf’. It’s not like I have a phone or anything either.”

“Don’t you ‘Look Pidge’ me!” shouted Elaine, now drawing a few stares from passersby.  ”You could have found me if you really wanted to.  You don’t have to make excuses now.  Whatever your reasons were, I don’t care about them now.”

And with that, she turned on her heel and started to speed-walk away, darting down a side street as soon as she could.

(Source: shelteredlittlelady)

Don’t You Forget About Me || Ladi & Tromp

footlooseandcollarfree:

“I had to find new haunts… I couldn’t even come back to the shelter…” he told her, not explaining how he had been chased off by cops. 

“You look… well,” he offered, unsure now that he had her attention what he was supposed to say. 

“Right, so that’s it?  That’s all you have to say for yourself?”  Elaine wasn’t sure she was buying any of it.  There had been so many chances to come find her.  Hell, she’d even gone back to that zoo looking for him.  She’d fold her arms sassily if not for the bags.

(Source: shelteredlittlelady)

Don’t You Forget About Me || Ladi & Tromp

footlooseandcollarfree:

Tramp hesitated as she turned and then kept walking. He tried to tell himself it was really busy and she probably didn’t see him. But, there was the distinct chance that she did see him and chose to ignore him. He took a deep breath and followed her. Once he was much closer he called out her name again. 

This time she would be sure to see him and then he would know if she was ignoring him or not. 

Okay this time she definitely heard her name.  Elaine quickly spun around… and came face to face with none other than Tramp.  She stared at him in silence for a long moment, unable to believe it was actually him.  Unable to say anything, actually.  Finally her tongue unglued itself and she was able to speak.

“What are you doing here?”

UH DERP DERP.  He’s homeless, he’s probably scrounging for food.

She’d spent those two months thinking up witty and biting things to say when she finally saw him again, but that was all that could come out now.

(Source: shelteredlittlelady)

Don’t You Forget About Me || Ladi & Tromp

footlooseandcollarfree:

After the afternoon he had spent with Elaine that was full of date activities, everything basically went to shit for Tramp. Jim’s accident has caused him to be increasingly bullied by dick cops. They had left him alone during the short time Jim was around to protect him and befriend him. Now he had to change up his routine, he couldn’t even get to the shelter without being stopped. 

Frustrated, he tried to think of some way to see Elaine again, but no opportunity presented itself. He was sure she had long forgotten about him now, or thought he had died or something. She was always going on about how dangerous sleeping in parks was. 

When he saw her walking down the street with bags near one of his new haunts, he had to look twice. He had been fooled by girls with red-hair out of hope before. As she turned, he realized that it was her, and stood frozen in the spot. He shook his head, even if she had moved on or whatever, he still needed some sort of closure. This was the perfect opportunity and hadn’t he been waiting for that?

“Elaine!” he called out to her back before she could disappear from his sight. 

Elaine stopped dead in her tracks.  She knew that voice.  But then it couldn’t be— it was probably someone else shouting for someone named Elaine or maybe that wasn’t even the name they’d said.  It wasn’t possible.  What she had originally instinctually thought, it just couldn’t be.  Every rational thought in her head pointed against it.  And yet…

And yet she couldn’t help her curiosity.  She turned around slowly to see who it was.  She couldn’t see him, only the thick crowd of tourists and locals milling about.  She sighed and started to turn back and head off again.

“Don’t be silly,” she muttered.

(Source: shelteredlittlelady)

thelittleblacksubmarines:

Song of the day: Simple Minds - Don’t You Forget About Me