capeandcowllogs | But now you're hard not to notice, right here in my town

Current Music: Sorry or Please - Kings of Convenience

But now you're hard not to notice, right here in my town

WHO: Joey and Mary
WHERE: Mary and Kitty's Apartment
WHEN: Friday Afternoon, June 4th
WARNINGS: derp and awkwardness
SUMMARY: Joey tries to convince Mary that he's not a creepy deviant.
FORMAT: Paratastic!

Joey shifted the bundle of flowers and the envelope in his hands, still eyeing up the daffodils and hyacinth as i uncertain about them. Maybe adding the flowers was laying it on too thick? But the letter alone seemed so plain and maybe she would just ignore it by itself?

He'd been standing outside the door to Mary and Kitty's apartment for ten minutes now mulling this over, after spending an hour on the note and another hour grumbling to himself in the flower shop, all of which was nothing compared to the mortified face-down-in-pillow brooding time he'd taken to himself for most of Thursday night and all of Friday morning.

Since the 'incident' at the club on Thursday he'd been up to his neck in embarassment and awkward explainations. First to Raven, then to Donna and Kory and then oh GOD there had been Mary and their completely awkward exchange; him on stage half-covered in green paint and her rather tipsy and clearly completely gobsmacked at seeing him there.

Her confusion and instinctive distaste had been all over her face and all he could think of was that he had torn all his clothes off and dropped himself in front of this sweet and proper lady like a complete idiot. He couldn't imagine what she must think of him now, how her understanding of the job he'd taken on had probably completely recoloured her idea of him and of their time together...

Joey had NEEDED to write something to try to explain himself. Handing it to her though, that was another matter entirely. He wasn't sure he could FACE her right now without wanting to be swallowed up by the earth. Raven and Donna and Kory he had long friendships with. They had been - were - his teammates and he had a solid repoir with them. They knew him well enough to shrug off the job as just a job.

Mary was still new to him, Mary didn't know him well enough to just brush this discovery off. And his gut twisted up at the thought of their friendship slipping through his grasp over this kind of misunderstanding.

Maybe if he just...

Setting the flowers and the envelope with the letter down on the welcome mat he rang the buzzer outside the apartment, then dashed off down the hall, hiding around the corner by the bank of elevators. He wouldn't leave totally, he wanted to make sure she actually GOT the letter and not Kitty or something, but peeking around the corner was about all he could handle.

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He shook his head and held out his arm to her politely, sweeping a hand toward the door for her to lead the way.

She took his arm and walked with him down to the street, leading the way to a small coffee shop (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Arlington-VA/Northside-Social/193365216012?v=photos) fairly close to the apartment. Mary loved this place over many of the others, simply because the atmosphere was so very bright and welcoming. Good food and good coffee helped, too. After waiting in line and picking up their food, Mary lead them to a cozy corner around the side of the building, and, thankfully, it was fairly empty. She chose a spot by one of the big windows. She did love light.

The window seat was a nice choice. Lots to see outside, plenty of light, but still enjoying the air conditioning inside and spared from bugs on the patio that would no doubt be after their coffee and sandwiches.

Picking up the pad and pen as Mary laid it out on the table Joey flipped to a blank page and scribbled out a quick message.

This place is really nice, thank you. Excited for the wedding tomorrow?

"Of course I am! I know I don't have to do much more than just stand there, but it's going to be so wonderful. I'm a bit nervous, I have to admit! I've never been a bridesmaid before. But I know that Raven is just going to look so beautiful. What about you? Did you finish the painting?"

Aww, look, they had drawn a heart in the foam of her latte. She didn't want to drink it now and ruin it!

Almost done, finishing touches tonight. Raven is all antsy.

He picked up his cappuchino, then paused seeing the pretty star shape laid out in the foam. He was going to have to learn to DO this coffee art thing one of these days because it looked like a lot of fun. Digging into his pocket he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the top of the cup for reference.

She laughed at that. "If you figure out how to do these, you'll have to teach me how. I have no clue, but they always look so pretty!"

After taking a bite of her sandwich, she continued, "Poor Raven, I should call her later today and just remind her to take a few deep breaths. Sometimes we all just need one of those little reminders. I can't wait for this, I really can't. It's going to be so beautiful! Oh, and I have to remember to take my camera!"

Something occurred to her then. "Uhm. Speaking of cameras, do you think anyone has any photos from last night? Because I really, really don't want to get in trouble."

Joey shook his head, reaching over to pat her hand reassuringly and writing with the other.

Club has a photography ban to protect the staff. No pictures, I promise.

Part of him wanted to ask how on earth she'd gotten in OR gotten drinks being still under 21, but the simple answer was that she just looked older than that and he figured it would be nosy of him to ask, although.

No hangover I hope?

She let out a sigh of relief at that. "Oh, good. If I had known what kind of a place it really was, I don't think I would have gone in at all! But the man at the door didn't even ask to see any I.D., and Raven said that I look much older than I actually am, which is why she gave me those pink strawberry things. I don't think I'm going to drink like that ever again!"

Mary wrinkled her nose a bit. "Well, I think I did, a bit. But it wasn't the way they show it on television or movies; I just had a bit of a headache and a slightly upset stomach so I took some aspirin, ate some toast, and that was that! Do people actually become hyper-sensitive to light and sound and things like that?"

Joey made a 'so-so' wiggle with the hand not over hers, then wrote down 'it take A LOT of drinks' before taking another sip of his coffee. He was glad she hadn't been too plastered. He'd been well and truly drunk only a few times in his life but the follow mornings were some of the most unpleasant he could remember.

Picking the pen back up he wrote down Are you brining anyone to the wedding? then finally turned some attention to eating his sandwhich.

Edited 2010-05-31 21:20 (UTC)

"Bleh," Mary replied, making a face. "I think I'd rather not experience that."

At his query, she looked a bit panicked. "Oh, oh, gosh, was I supposed to? Almost all of my friends are already going, and the people that I know that aren't going wouldn't really be interested in this sort of thing anyway. I never really understood why you'd want to bring someone to this sort of celebration that doesn't want to go. I mean, it kind of defeats the purpose of the "celebrate" part, doesn't it?"

Joey shook his head, holding up his hands for her to calm down and picking up the pen again.

You don't HAVE to, just some people like to. I thought I might find a date but I've been too busy.

"Who were you thinking of asking?" she queried, finally taking a sip of her latte and trying not to destroy the design.

He hesitated a second before quickly signing 'you' and picking up his sandwich - the asl equivilant of someone taking a drink to avoid having to talk.

"But I'm already going to the wedding, and--oh!" Mary blinks as what he's saying registers. A smile warms her face and she reaches over to lay a hand on his arm. "I'd like that. Do I need to do anything extra now because we're going together?"

Wait... did she just...? Well, that was far easier than he had anticipated.

Turning his hand over under hers to thread their fingers together he scribbled out on the paper. Save me a dance?

Oh. Gosh. She couldn't remember a time when she had ever felt so giddy around someone. Making friends was easy for her; she liked talking to people and genuinely helping out, but Joey was different. Being around him made her feel giggly, and pleased to her toes, and often caused her heart to speed up and her stomach to flop. Especially when he did casual little things like this. "S-sure. As many as you like," she said, a blush staining her cheeks.

Lost for what else to say but with a smile stuck on that was fit to leave his face sore for days Joey haltingly went about finishing his lunch one handed, gently keeping his fingers knit with hers. Sure being down to one hand complicated having a sandwhich just a little bit but it was very much worth it in his opinion...

"Silly, you can let go to eat. It's not like I'm going anywhere," Mary said with a laugh. Still, she didn't quite tug her hand out of his. Holding hands... it was nice. So simple a gesture, but she could see why people placed so much value on it.

He blushed a bit being called out on that but likewise didn't pull his hand away, moving on to his drink with a light shrug, emphasizing the effortlessness of drinking coffee with only one hand as much as possible.

After a moment he picked up the pen again.

Want to learn a few more signs while we're here?

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But now you're hard not to notice, right here in my town

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your attention to detail is adorkable. <3

Whatevs, this is one of my favorite places to hang. It's incredibly cool

The point is you make me feel less derpy for researching the layout of the Met yesterday

<3 Anything to help, then! :D

<33

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