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 Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:08 pm
Tallulah glanced towards the stage and laughed - Paul’s friend seemed like she had a good sense of humor, even if it was currently at their expense. “Yeah, tuesday at four sounds great,” she agreed , and tried to put the breathy Disney cover currently filling the air out of mind but the lyrics were certainly… well, they were making Tallulah a little apprehensive, to be honest, but in a good way. That whole butterflies in your stomach thing she’d always imagined to be some sort of gross hyperbole.
She scooted her barstool a little closer to Paul’s and leaned her head towards him, as if the bar was loud and she wanted to have a private conversation. “Your friend is giving you some, uh, insistent advice,” she said, and this was by far the most bold thing Tallulah Cowden had ever done in her short life, she was sure of it. “I think it’s good advice. You’d be smart to take her up on it.” Well, she thought. Time to see if this was going to pay off or blow up in her face. Either way would be spectacular.
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:08 pm
“I’m probably going to axe murder her,” said Paul, his tone anything but serious. He smiled at Tallulah and turned his back on Jude quite pointedly. Even if he was considering her... advice... she didn’t have to know. Tallulah had given what he could definitely read as consent, and she couldn’t be that drunk, but--was he taking advantage? Probably not, because he hadn’t done anything to make this coercive… that he could think of…
Well, he thought he had enough of a handle on Tallulah’s personality to be pretty sure she’d say something if she thought he was being an a** or taking advantage. “It is seeming pretty solid right now,” he said, and he tipped Tallulah’s chin up and kissed her, carefully.
She tasted like blueberries. It was… pretty nice, actually.
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:09 pm
Surprisingly, Tallulah thought, slipping her eyes shut, that had worked. She could taste fruit and, well, it was brandy, except she didn’t know to call it that, on his lips, and this kissing thing was rather like riding a bicycle in that it was pretty easy to pick back up, even if you were out of practice.
Not that they got very far past “chaste,” or anything like that. No grandmothers were scandalized in the making of this hallmark moment. “Definitely good advice,” Tallulah laughed as she eased her face away from his. “It might be premature to say so, but I think twenty-one is going to be a good year for me.”
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:09 pm
Paul ignored the applause Jude directed at their expense and, when she was off stage for a break, casually flipped her off. She waved jauntily as she drew her boyfriend with her out the back door for a bit--later he’d have to text and tease her. Turnabout being fair play and all. “Sure,” he said. “We should do it again sometime.” And they probably would, he realized. Which was pretty damn cool, if he thought about it. “I certainly hope it’ll be a good year,” he mused. “I’m twenty-five in eight days, so we’ll see if it’s lucky all around.”
Later that night, when he rang the doorbell at Tallulah’s home and tried to keep her from listing happily off the stoop, he considered that it was probably going to be hard to explain to her father exactly what he’d thought he was doing. “Next time,” he said, “you are going to pace yourself, Miss Cowden, or I will stop taking you out to all the fun places.”
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:09 pm
“You mean there are more fun places?” Tallulah asked, laughing as she looked through her clutch for her housekey. “Seriously, you don’t have to hand me off to my dad personally if you don’t want to.” She sort of wished he hadn’t rung the doorbell, because that meant she could have possibly gotten a goodnight kiss without the looming threat of her father opening the door, but what was done was done.
“I’ll see you Tuesday,” she promised, pulling out her keyring. “And we’ll figure out something to do for your birthday.” Pausing for a second, she listened for movement inside the house - it sounded like her father was still somewhere upstairs, and it would make sense for her parents to have already gone to bed.
She stuck her key into the lock and turned it, but didn’t go as far as to open the door. Instead she paused and smiled up at Paul, feeling a blush spread across her cheeks again. “Good night, Paul,” she said. “I had a lovely time.”
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Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2013 12:09 pm
He scoffed. “Of course there are more fun places,” he told her, “You know, like the library.” With a grin--of course he was teasing--he leaned down to kiss her goodnight. “Good night, Tallulah. I’ll see you on Tuesday.” That said, he flipped up the hood on his coat and headed back down to the sidewalk. He waited until she went inside and locked the door; then he turned in the direction of the metro, feeling a great deal more cheerful than he had the day before.
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