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 Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:50 pm
Well, damn... he did go right back to that topic, didn't he.
"Ah, well..." he sputtered, fumbling with the silverware from the napkin he had just been trying to open and put into his lap. "Sorry... No! You're not boring at all! Sorry, that was my fault. I guess I'm the boring one, not knowing what to talk about," he explained, wishing he could just... stop being such an idiot. Way to go, Chris...
"No, it wasn't a bad night to come out. I don't mind, I promise. I knew it was prom night when I asked you," he told her, pushing the not unwrapped utensils carefully into place on the table, taking particular care making sure the forks were lined up, before forcing his hands into his lap to stop himself. He hadn't done this in a while and he knew he was making a fool of himself... The tiny bit of self-consciousness he'd discovered about their little date seemed to be quickly eating away at his confidence.
Talk about crummy luck.
"You've heard of those monsters that show up in the city, right...?" he started slowly, hoping he wasn't going to make himself sound even more crazy than he probably already was...
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:59 pm
Well, that wasn't what he expected to hear.
Why was it always monsters? Why couldn't it have been something normal, like he got into a fight with his parents? Or a family member was dying? Or he was having friend drama? Or his dog was sick? Actually, that would be really sad. Paris definitely didn't want that, but he didn't want to deal with monster business when he was out on a date either. Although, at least there wasn't one here. He'd have been pissed if one came up to ruin his evening.
"Yeah," he said, not sure how much else he wanted to get into on that topic. He knew he wasn't going to tell Chris about that part of himself. He hadn't even told Ladon; there was no way he was going to tell some guy he was just getting to know when he hadn't even said a word about it to his best friend. It wasn't something he was comfortable sharing with people. As of that point, no one knew who he was, and he'd prefer to keep it that way.
Still, some commiserating wouldn't hurt.
"I've heard about them. Seen one, too," he revealed. He made sure to seem as if it wasn't anything more than that. "There was one on Christmas Eve. I got caught up with it all. Not the best night of my life, that's for sure. I'll be happy never to have to deal with all that again."
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 4:47 pm
Oh, sorry, was that the wrong thing to say, too?? Jeez, he wasn't doing very well tonight, was he?
Christopher frowned, thinking back to the winter that seemed to completely drown Destiny City in white. He was glad he hadn't been there for the Christmass Eve bit of chaos, but he had heard of what had happened once he got back to the city. Snow dancers and an Ice Queen or something like that? He wasn't sure if he wanted to believe it, or if it was just some overly complicated hoax... but after running into monsters recently, he was more inclined to believe that everything was real about that night and every other incident that occurred.
"I heard about that one," he shared, waiting for the waiter to leave after refilling their drinks and giving them their appetizer to eat. "I'm always in D.C. for Christmas, so I didn't see it, myself. There was one... outside my apartment the other day..." he said, before trailing off, not knowing how much he should share. As of that moment, no one but Zia knew he wasn't all he seemed to be...
Letting his date know might be... much too fast for the pace she was interested in...
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:01 pm
"Oh..."
Seeing one wasn't so bad. Okay, so it was, but he'd have been more worried if Chris had said anything about fighting one. He wasn't sure he wanted to deal with that kind of complication when this whole "dating" thing was supposed to be for fun. Then again, with everything else that had happened, he wouldn't be surprised anymore. He wondered how many other people he passed on the street had the same sort of secret life he did.
"But you're okay, though. I mean, you not hurt," he observed.
He quieted when the waiter came over, choosing to examine their appetizer, which had been flambeed in front of them before the fire was doused with lemon juice. Picking up one of the pita wedges that were provided, Paris used it to grab some of the cheese and took a healthy bite.
Cheese should not be so delicious. It really shouldn't be.
"So... I'm assuming the monster was taken care of," he continued, finishing off his first helping of pita and cheese before reaching for another one. "There were plenty of people at the Christmas thing, though I wouldn't say they did a very good job of it. Then again, it was kind of hard to see. I'd have left sooner if I could have."
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:33 pm
Paris must be hungry... The way she was shoveling food into her mouth. Okay, so she wasn't shoveling, but still. And it didn't help that the cheese really was delicious.
Chris picked up a piece of the pita bread for himself, waiting until Paris had taken what she wanted, before getting some for himself. He shrugged lightly, lifting up his left hand to show her the bandage along the bottom of his palm. It wasn't so bad any more. It was still tender, but he didn't really expect it not to be.
"Fell on some glass, trying to get away from it. But after hitting it with a two by four, it burst into dust," he lied, thinking that would probably be better for him than explaining how a cat had shot it with some kind of laser beam from its forehead... or that he found a magical compass that turned him into a knight.
"I'm surprised people are still hanging around, actually. With all the disappearances and strange things happening around the city... I sometimes wonder why people still live here. If I didn't have my scholarship, and if my family didn't live here, I don't know if I would stay here..."
Well, he was staying because he wanted to make sure that Zia and his other friends were okay, but other than that...
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:49 pm
Just because he was posing as a girl didn't mean he was going to eat like one, picking at his food and depriving himself of a full helping for the sake of seeming demure and ladylike. That wasn't to say he was eating like a slob, he was just... being healthy. If he had the opportunity to eat good food, he was going to take it, and he wasn't going to hold himself back either.
When the waiter returned once again, this time to take their dinner orders, Paris gave his menu one more quick scan before settling on the Chicken Nostimon and a bowl of Avgolemeno soup. Chris hadn't said so, but he was sure the other young man would be paying. It seemed to have become a habit of theirs, even after only two dates, and it was a habit Paris had no problem with, so long as Chris had the necessary funds.
He continued the conversation only when their waiter had gone again, taking their menus with him. Paris took a peak at Chris's bandaged hand. It didn't look so bad, but he was sure it had been worse when he'd first gotten it.
"Some people have left. My mom keeps bugging me about going to live in New York with her," he shared. He didn't especially enjoy bringing up the topic of his mother, but he figured that was innocent enough to say without getting too far into that drama. "And my best friend had to move out because his mom tried sending him away, so people definitely notice. Maybe most of them are just too attached to the area, or they have other reasons for staying."
He didn't specify what those other reasons could possibly be.
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 9:17 am
It was a good thing, though. That Paris wasn't eating like a girl. He didn't ask her out to dinner so they could just look at the food. He wanted for them to actually enjoy it.
Paris got the chicken, and Chris picked the first thing he saw on the menu when the waiter came over. Something with lamb in it. They were in a Greek-Italian restaurant, so it was expected to have at least one dish with lamb, right? Er, but that didn't really have his attention at the moment. He was much more curious about what Paris was telling him.
"So people are leaving? I only just found out that these things were real... You would think there would be more wide spread panic than there is, wouldn't you?" he asked, reaching out to take some more of the pita bread and cheese to nibble on as just... something to do.
"I mean, even the media isn't making that big of a deal about it. But there really are monsters and people really are getting hurt..." he said, although he was sure that Paris already knew that. He was just saying it for himself, mostly. "My dad hasn't been able to tell me much about it, and I don't want to put him on the spot by asking... Er... he works in the government," he explained with a small wave of his hand to dismiss it from being important. Of course, now that he thought about it, it might have been nice to know that monsters really did exist in the city. Maybe his dad was hoping he'd never run into one?
"What about you...? Why aren't you leaving?" he wondered, watching her from across the table. He was sure they had a lot of better dancing opportunities in New York than in Destiny City...
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2011 10:59 am
Paris didn't know about the media. He didn't watch the news all that often, or even bother reading any section in the paper aside from the Arts & Entertainment section, and he only skimmed through that for any interesting dance related articles and performance reviews. If anyone was making a fuss about the monsters lurking around, he wouldn't know about it, but he thought most people were at least in agreement that some pretty strange things happened in Destiny City.
He spared a brief thought for Chris's father, and wondered how much Chris could potentially know about things through someone who worked in the government, unless the government was as in the dark about all this as the media was. Eventually, he shrugged in response to Chris's question, continuing to work on their appetizer. "I don't know. It's never really been anything that I've seriously considered. I mean, I think about it from time to time, but I know I'll never do it."
As nice as it would be to go somewhere else, he felt obligated to remain here, and given that Destiny City was all he'd ever known, he felt a level of comfort here despite the bizarre happenings. Aside from that, if he did happen to leave, it would be just his luck that the trouble would follow him there.
"Besides, my best friend is here, and my mom and I..." He paused to decide what he wanted to say about that issue. "We don't always get along. I don't think living with her would be any better than living here, honestly, and I don't really have any other relatives to stay with. If I left, I'd be on my own, and I guess I'm just not very comfortable with that idea."
He liked the familiarity of a place he'd known since birth, a place he'd never left. He had connections here, he had Ladon and his father, and he had other responsibilities that he wasn't yet comfortable with, but that he was slowly trying to get a hang of.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:00 am
Chris nodded slowly in understanding, wondering if he should just leave the mention of Paris's mother out of the rest of their conversation since... it was apparently a touchy subject with her. It must suck not getting along with a parent. Sure, he didn't always agree with his mother, but he felt bad for her that his father was always away for business stuff and she only had Peter at the house now... How his younger brother didn't drive her insane, he would never know.
"Yeah... I have friends here, too... I can't leave," he confessed, at least knowing the desire to stay in a dangerous place. He had Zia and Daniel to worry about, after all. Hopefully Daniel would keep his nose out of trouble, and Zia wouldn't let her parasitic other half harass her so much... and stay out of trouble, too. Chris didn't know if he should tell anyone or not... Only one other person knew, but he'd known her for almost half his life, so that wasn't much of a problem. But what about others...? Would it put him in danger? Or them in danger?
The conversation fell a bit after that, but luckily their food came out and they went back to talking about mundane things. Things that didn't involve monsters or potentially revealing magical powers, anyway. It stayed away from things like the weather, but they did comment on each other's food choices, and then commenting on how some of the prom goers looked more like fairies out of a Disney movie, rather than dressed for a ball, since their dresses were so short and tutu-like.
And once they'd had their fill, they decided to order dessert, as well. They both got some kind of chocolate cake, topped with strawberries and whipped cream, and coffee for Chris, just because he happened to like coffee with his desserts.
Once they had finished as much as they could of that, Chris took up the bill, of course, since Paris decided to assume that from the start. Just kidding... Chris would have gotten offended if Paris tried paying for herself. Now it was all a matter of driving her home, and as he pulled up into her driveway and got out to walk her to the door, he couldn't help but feel as though he's done something similar with her, before... But he could easily blame that on stress and nerves, so he pushed it to the side for now.
"Did you have a good time?" he wondered, hopeful that she had at least had fun, despite their conversation moving dangerously over to uncomfortable territory.
"I'd... like to see you again sometime, if you wanted." He'd at least had fun... More fun than he'd expected from trying to date someone, so... why not?
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:34 am
Paris walked slowly with Chris up the worn and cracked pathway that led from the squeaky front gate up to the door, happy to note that his father still seemed to be out for the evening. He turned to face Chris once they arrived at the door, smiling lightly. He was pretty sure this was the first time anyone had ever walked him up to his own house. Any sort of date-like situation he had with other people usually ended with him making the Walk of Shame, not being escorted to the front door like he was worth the time and effort of making sure he got home safely.
"I did have a good time. Thank you," he said. It wasn't untrue. Sure, the evening had been spent doing nothing more than talking and eating, but despite some of the tense or uncomfortable topics that had come up for discussion, it had been peaceful and relaxing, and quietly making amusing comments about some of the other restaurant patrons' prom outfits had been mildly entertaining.
"I'm free whenever you want to do something again," Paris offered, leaning back against the front door and looking up at Chris with a welcoming -- and somewhat encouraging -- smile on his face. "I don't do much else aside from school and dance nowadays," he explained, deciding not to mention that he did more dancing than schooling, "so I have plenty of time. We could go out to dinner again, or do something else if you wanted."
Paris was liking this. A lot. Stringing Chris along was easy when he was so enthusiastic about seeing him. He didn't even have to try all that hard -- just let Chris come to him.
He pushed himself off of the door to lean up and place a kiss along Chris's cheek, making sure not to hit it dead center, but instead planting his lips a little closer to the corner of Chris's mouth this time, almost teasing. "Just let me know," he said. "Or I'll give you a call if there's something I want to do before then. How's that?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:17 am
He was glad she had a good time, especially since he knew he could make things awkward with his topics of discussion. And no, he probably wouldn't have liked it very much if he'd learned that she didn't do school things as much as she did dancing, but at least she was doing something, right...? It was better than wasting away, not knowing what to do.
Paris definitely wasn't the last girl he dated, and although he didn't think he'd end up dating another girl from Crystal, she at least had a lot going for her. A scholarship for one, and she actually had passion for something other than partying and using fake IDs to get drunk and get with guys they weren't currently dating... But that aside...
"That sounds fine to me," Chris agreed, smiling as Paris leaned up to kiss him. Well, his cheek, but still. It had been a while since anyone kissed him, other than his mother, of course, so... it was kind of nice. "I'll let you know when I think of something," he told her, taking a step back, making sure to clear the step of the front porch and not fall and kill himself, instead.
He would wait until Paris was inside before leaving, of course. It wouldn't be right if he drove off and Paris suddenly realized she didn't have her key with her or something like that. He might be new to re-exploring the dating field, but it was just proper etiquette for him.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:14 am
"Okay. Good night, Chris. Thanks again for dinner."
Paris waited for Chris to at least step off of the porch and begin making his way back down the walkway, for no other reason aside from that fact that he didn’t want it to seem as if he were in a rush to get inside. This game was all about timing; if it went too quickly or slowly then Chris might back off, either because he felt pressured or because he grew bored. Paris wasn’t too concerned about it tipping either way just yet; he felt he had things at a pretty good balance so far.
He smiled and waved before finally digging into his purse to find his keys, unlocking the front door and heading in, peaking out to watch Chris make it too his car before closing the door and turning on the lights. He bent over with a sigh and pulled off his heels, already considering what he and Chris could do next, or where else they could go. Eating out seemed pretty natural, but if they did it too often there was that risk of things growing uninteresting. He had to keep Chris entertained.
He eventually figured it was something that could be considered and decided upon later. With a slight skip in his step, Paris hummed to himself contentedly as he headed back toward his bedroom.
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