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 Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 6:30 pm
Paris smoothed his hands down the length of his short pale blue and green dress, turning to the side to check his appearance from all angles. His light blue heels matched the dress perfectly, and the silver bracelets at his wrists went quite nicely with the bejeweled bow tied in the front of his waist. The outfit showed just the right amount of leg without being too revealing -- flirty but modest, and not something he had the chance to wear very often. With his usually curly hair straightened and some light make up brushed onto his face, he thought the image staring back at him was quite pleasing to the eyes.
He was alone in the house, preparing for his dinner date with Chris. After being informed that the other young man would be picking him up, Paris had done what was needed to get his father out of the house, wary of the two of them crossing paths while he was in the process of playing his little game with the college boy. He'd wedged himself behind the old, scuffed and heavy entertainment center to unplug the television before his father had gotten home from work, and then pretended as if it had somehow been broken and was incapable of turning on. Any attempts his father might have made to figure out the problem were thwarted when Paris had shoved his mother's credit card into his hands and told him to head to the bar down the street.
His father hadn't argued. There was beer to be had and a game to watch, and Paris knew he would relish the opportunity to do it all at his ex-wife's expense.
Paris looked at the clock on his bedside table to check the time. He was expecting Chris at any moment now. The anticipation wasn't horrible. He did look forward to the evening -- it gave him something new and different and potentially exciting to do -- but he wasn't nervous about it. Not anymore. He'd had a few moments during their lunch together in which he'd questioned what was going on and how far he felt comfortable allowing this is go, but now that the game had begun, he had few worries.
He was going to enjoy this immensely.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 9:13 pm
He certainly hoped she was going to enjoy their dinner together. He wanted to take her out someplace nice since neither of them were going to prom, so he was dressed up nicer than usual, dress shoes, nice slacks and a dinner jacket over a blue button down shirt, with a tie to top it all off. Chris had given Paris a heads up about where they were going, so she wouldn't be surprised...
But as he pulled up the driveway of the address she'd given him, he couldn't help but wonder if it had been a bad idea to go to such a nice place.
The house was tiny — he was sure it could fit comfortably inside his pool house... or even his apartment — with old paint peeling from the walls and a sad looking little yard out front with a rusting chain-linked fence. Chris frowned to himself, glancing down at the address again to make sure it was right, before figuring any more hesitation would be rude. Paris had told him she was on a scholarship... he just hadn't realized how badly she must need it in order to go to Crystal. It made him feel guilty, even, having her go with him to places she probably wasn't used to... but he did stop to remind himself that it wasn't right for him to just assume things about her. Maybe she had a really rough life and ended up in the house before him because her parents lost their jobs or something. There wasn't another car in the driveway, so had he not seen the lights in the windows, he might have wondered if anyone was even home.
He turned the car off and got out, shutting the door behind him as he awkwardly adjusted his tie. He wasn't nervous, exactly, just concerned about making a good impression. He didn't want to somehow insult her, so... he would just have to be careful. He didn't want to seem like he was pitying her, definitely.
Chris pushed his way through the incredibly squeaky gate, cringing a little at the noise it made. A hand lifted to ring the doorbell as he stepped on the front porch, before taking a step back to wait, tugging awkwardly at the cuff of his sleeve, fiddling a little with the gold link his father had bought him for his birthday years ago.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2011 9:34 pm
He heard the shrieking of the gate before the doorbell. Grabbing a purse containing his essentials -- cell phone, cell phone, pen, and money -- Paris left his room and out into the small hallway, through the living room before opening the front door with a smile. He wasn't all that concerned about Chris seeing his house, even though he was sure Chris was much more well-off than he was. He liked his house, peeling paint and all, and even though he didn't always pick the weeds out of the flower beds, he at least kept the porch swept and the inside tidy. It might look like a hovel from the outside, but it was relatively comfortable on the inside, and he'd never known much else.
"Hi, handsome," he greeted Chris, pushing some of his straightened hair back behind one of his ears as he stood in the doorway and looked the other young man over. Paris liked wearing heels because they added a few inches to his minuscule height, but even with a good three inches extra Chris towered above him by nearly half a foot, and his broadness made Paris feel decidedly skinny.
"You're right on time," he said, stepping out onto the porch to join him, turning to shut and lock the door. "You didn't run into any trouble on the way here, did you? This isn't really the best part of town." And Chris, as an outsider, was bound to draw some unwanted attention. Paris wouldn't be surprised if some of the neighbors were eying his car right now.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:49 am
Chris waited at the door until it was opened, laughing lightly at Paris's greeting, before leaning down to give her a quick kiss on her cheek. "You look really nice," he said as he looked her over, impressed with himself that he didn't stutter like an idiot. The last time he'd been on a nice dinner date with someone had been... well over a year ago, and he was doing all he could to try and block those memories from his thoughts. "Like... really nice. You straightened your hair," he lamely pointed out, before coughing lightly and almost stepping backwards off the porch, although he'd managed to grab onto the railing to stop himself.
"No trouble at all," he said, offering her an arm as he stepped down onto the tiny sidewalk out of the yard. "Careful, it's slippery." Yeah, he'll go with that... He didn't claim to be all that graceful in the first place... maybe while pitching, but other than that he didn't really pay all that much attention to things like walking. As for his car... it was hardly new, and he doubted anyone could hijack it from him... but he liked thinking he was more awesome than he really was, sometimes.
"Are your parents not home...?" he wondered, glancing back over her shoulder towards the door. He had kind of been hoping to meet them, but if they were gone, then there wasn't much he could do about it. He held open the squeaky gate for her, before holding open the passenger side door, allowing her to climb in before shutting it and getting in on the driver side.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:38 am
Paris accepted the compliments with a smile and a soft “thank you,” choosing not to mention Chris’s brief stumble but instead allowing him to believe he hadn’t noticed and saving him the embarrassment. He could be nice when he wanted to be, and in any case he was more interested in the arm that was presented to him. He took it lightly, tempted to squeeze and see how firm it was beneath the layers of Chris’s clothes, but he stopped himself before he could do so, determined to be on his best behavior—at least for now.
He allowed himself to be guided to the car, feeling quite glamorous and lady-like—shock of shocks; he considered taking pictures as proof for his more straight-laced best friend, but decided that was something that could be done later. Paris gracefully took his seat and waited for Chris to climb in on the other side before answering his question.
“Dad’s out tonight,” he said, making sure his seat-belt was on. Something told him Chris was one of those people who’d refuse to start driving until everyone was buckled in safely. As he did so, he didn’t bother mentioning his mother. The situation wasn’t worth the time to explain. “I’m home alone a lot anyway, so it’s not really a big deal. He’ll be back later.” Hopefully not until after he got home himself. Even if this was more a game to him than the real thing, he thought it was much too soon for Chris to be meeting either of his parents.
“And now there’s a car,” he observed, glancing around the front and running a hand over the armrest between them. “Every time I see you it seems like there’s one more thing to add to the list of universally attractive qualities. Guitar, dog, nice body, and now a car. Careful,” he teased and batted his lashes, “I might decide I like you.”
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 9:42 am
Yeah, thanks for not mentioning that... Talk about embarrassing.
Chris nodded in understanding when Paris told him how her father wasn't home, and although he was curious about her mother, he didn't say anything. If Paris wanted to tell him, then she would. But he wasn't going to start digging in to things like that, especially since she'd had a bad reaction to the topic of Mother's Day... Oh right... He'd actually forgotten about that. Oops.
He did indeed wait until she was buckled up before putting the car into reverse and backing out to start heading to the restaurant, snorting at her comment of him having a car. "Well, hopefully my personality will end up on that list of yours, one day," he half-joked. He didn't think he was all that bad, himself, but he couldn't help but get nervous when his best qualities were the objects he owned. If she liked him, that was great, but he was hoping it wouldn't just be because he had things.
The restaurant wasn't too far into the city, at least. Chris pulled up to the front under the awning, and got out so he could help Paris out of the car as well, letting the valet take care of the car. "Do you have a specific time you were hoping to get home, tonight?" he asked, stepping out of the way as a young woman in a ball gown made her way out with her date... and then three other couples all similarly dressed scuttled out after the first two.
"Oh, right... prom night," he said, holding back a grimace. He was fine with other people going... he just didn't want anything to do with high school at this point in his life.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 3:06 pm
He wouldn't say Chris's possessions were his best qualities, but as they knew so little about one another they had, at the very least, gained Paris's interest -- the guitar because he wouldn't mind learning to play, the dog because he happened to like the idea of having a pet, the car because it got tiring walking around the city or dealing with public transportation, and the body because... well, who didn't like a handsome man?
That didn't necessarily mean he had a s**t personality -- though Paris wondered when the other shoe would drop and some form of imperfection reared its ugly head. He simply didn't know him enough to base an attraction off of something so... sentimental.
He wasn't one for sentimentality in the first place.
He smiled sweetly as Chris helped him from the car, impressed by the valet service but doing his best not to show it. He'd rather act cool and natural than gawk at the suited drivers and glittery decor. The prom-goers who exited were a decent enough distraction, and he released a tiny laugh at Chris's grimace. "Don't sound so enthusiastic about it," he said sarcastically.
Not that he was all that excited by it himself. Covertly, he glanced around to make sure there wasn't anyone here that might recognize him, though to his knowledge no one had ever seen him this dolled up before.
"It's okay. They'll all be leaving soon anyway," he reassured him. "What do you have against prom anyway? You seem like the exact type of guy who'd go."
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 8:33 am
Paris was waiting for some form of imperfection to appear? If he knew that, he would have tried even harder to hide anything about himself that would paint himself in a bad light. Not that he thought "perfection" was perfect when it came to humans, but... whatever. He would understand not wanting the sentimentality, at least... He was trying to cut back on that, at least.
Chris forced a pained smile as they waited for the prom-goers to clear out of the doorway, before allowing Paris to head inside before he went in, himself. "Do I not sound enthusiastic?" he wondered, although there was a bit of sarcasm in his voice. "Why would I not be enthusiastic?"
He didn't answer Paris's other question right away, but instead went up to the hostess and gave his last name, letting Paris go in front of him as they were led past some more lingering prom-goers on the way to their booth.
"I have nothing against prom," he said once they were seated and handed menus and he hostess went about her business. "Prom is great. It's an opportunity for high schoolers to get together and celebrate their youth. A right of passage, or something like that," he said with a small shrug, flipping open the first page to look at the appetizers. "Prom is supposed to be one of those unforgettable nights of high school... I just don't feel like adding more memories to a time in my life that has already passed. I'm almost done with my first year at DCU. So going back to a high school event, uh... would be like pouring salt into a wound," he finished with an awkward half-smile grimace, before nodding to Paris.
"What about you? Why aren't you going to prom? I thought everyone from Crystal would be there."
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:04 am
Paris took his seat, sliding into the booth on the side that had the most view of the restaurant, allowing Chris to keep his back to the groups of prom go-ers that remained. After looking around and not seeing anyone he recognized, he felt a bit more confident. Besides, he happened to like looking at the glamorous dresses and shoes.
“I told you before. Prom is for people who can’t find a better party elsewhere,” Paris responded, not bothering to keep his voice low as he made the comment. A group of formally dressed high school girls near them ‘tsk’ed and gave him a look. Paris pretended as if he didn’t notice.
“I don’t have a lot of connections with people at school, so there’s not really any point in going,” he elaborated. “I mean, there are a few people I’ve talked to. I had a couple of acquaintances at Meadowview before I got the scholarship to Crystal, but its not enough to make me feel the need to go. High school is just one big popularity contest anyway. I don’t want or need their approval,” he said, staring across the table at Chris instead of immediately flipping through the menu.
“For such a charming guy, you seem really bitter about it,” he observed, a little confused by the anti-high school attitude. He shared it, of course, but he didn’t expect it from someone like Chris. “You’re a jock. Don’t jocks rule the school? You seem as if you’d have been pretty popular.”
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:10 am
Chris snorted lightly at Paris's comment about prom, even though he wasn't really into looking for other, better parties to go to... He really didn't care if other people went. More power to them. He just didn't want to go...
He watched the blonde curiously as she continued. "You went to Meadowview?" he asked, having thought she'd only gone to Crystal. Er, goes to Crystal, since she was still there. Huh... Well, it wasn't like he went to Meadowview, so it wasn't like he would know many people who would know her.
"Jocks?" Chris almost laughed, "At Azure?" Jocks might rule normal schools, but at Azure it was a little different. Jocks were more of the rare sort in a population of intelligent nerds. He wouldn't put himself in the list of popular kids... Well... not until his junior and senior years when he actually looked like a jock instead of a jock-wannabe. But at that point he'd been too focused on taking care of himself and his friends he'd had prior to his growth spurt.
"I'm not just a jock," he said with a small shrug, not thinking it was much of a title of status or whatever. "But no... I'm not really trying to remember high school for the social interactions it offered." Hence no prom.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 1:02 pm
Paris nodded. "I went there before I got my scholarship," he clarified. The more he made up, the easier it got to do so. And really, the scholarship and the circumstances of his education were the only things he was fudging.
"I should have taken you for an Azure boy," he said, which was lucky for him. If Chris had gone to Meadowview before, too, it could have potentially stalled out this game before he'd even really gotten into it. His name could have been familiar if mentioned to the right people. "I figure I would have seen you before if you went to Meadowview, and you don't exactly fit the bill for a place like Hillworth."
It seemed an odd combination -- a jock going to Azure -- but then Chris seemed at least moderately intelligent, so perhaps he shouldn't be too surprised.
"You're pretty vague with the high school thing," he continued. He never stopped smiling and made sure to seem interested -- he was on some level. It was hard not to be. If Chris was so hesitant to talk about, Paris wondered if there were some sordid details he was missing out on. "But that's fine. We don't have to talk about it. Subject change," he decided, wracking his brain for something else to discuss. He found he wasn't very creative when it came to normal conversation. "Tell me about baseball. Are you going to go pro? Could the paparazzi be lurking somewhere in your future?" he joked.
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:00 am
Well, that made sense. That she went there before her scholarship. He'd been thinking that she was at Crystal the entire time, but that's what he got for assuming things.
Chris forced an awkward smile, although he didn't think that Meadowview would have been a bad school. The uniform looked much more comfortable than the ones they made them wear at Azure Valley. Being a 'Valley Boy' wasn't something he liked to go around advertising anyway...
He certainly hoped he came off as at least moderately intelligent! He worked hard for his good grades. It probably didn't help that he had the undying need to do his best in every class...
When the subject was changed, he could have sighed in relief. High school was not the most memorable times in his life, so not talking about it was probably for the best. He was being vague for a reason, anyway... One because he didn't want to talk about it, and two because he really didn't have much to talk about...
"I want to go pro," he told her, trying his hardest to hold back a grin. He wasn't the best, but he had a good arm and good control. The paparazzi comment made him hesitate, though, sincerely hoping that people wouldn't be following him around with cameras... especially not after... just two nights ago. Finding out that he had another identity was strange, to say the least... and it would be horrible if that secret got out and somehow put Zia in danger.
"I hope not," he finally said, pretending to be distracted when the waiter came by to take their drink and appetizer orders. Chris ordered sweet tea and Saganaki, a Greek dish consisting of breaded or floured cheese fried in butter, hoping that Paris knew she could order whatever she wanted.
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:55 am
Paris brought his eyes back to the menu at the first sign of their waiter, letting Chris order first since he hadn’t gotten around to deciding what he wanted. Sweet tea? No, too predictable. He’d gotten that last time. Soda, maybe? No, no, too boring. A margarita? Unlikely, now that Chris knew he wasn’t old enough to drink. Perhaps he should have lied about that, too, and pretended to be in college.
Oh, well. Too late for that now.
“A Shirley Temple, please,” he eventually said, smiling sweetly as the waiter wrote it down and ambled off to see to their drinks and appetizer. Paris kept his menu at hand—he supposed he should look through it and figure out what he wanted—but looked over the top of it to gaze across the table at Chris.
“Not in a talkative mood?” he asked, suspicious that something was off. He didn’t think it was anything important—or anything that would compromise their evening or his efforts to string Chris along and have him firmly in the palm of his hand—but there was a change in the young man as the subject was altered, and Paris wondered what the reason for it was. “Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”
He didn’t think so. Nothing he said had been offensive. He’d just been teasing. He put an innocent expression on his face to make that clear, feeling completely in control.
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 11:15 am
Chris snorted lightly when Paris orded a Shirley Temple. "I haven't had one of those since I was in grade school," he told her, obviously amused with her choice of drink, although he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. It was cute, really. As for himself, he was just used to sweet tea... maybe it was boring, but he wasn't in the mood for anything carbonated, and he was obviously too young to get anything more 'interesting'.
Glancing up at her from over the menu, he blinked curiously, before awkwardly glancing down at the words again, not really reading what they were and just... looking for something he saw that could potentially be good like... lamb or chicken... or maybe pork...
"It's not that. There's just a lot of stuff on my mind," he said, pausing for a moment before realizing that she might ask about it, and quickly continued. "Just... end of the year... school stuff," he lied, but what was he supposed to say? Oh, hey, I found out a couple days ago that my other name is Valhalla and I'm apparently supposed to be fighting monsters and bad people that attack the city and the people that live there? Ha, sure, like that wouldn't make him seem absolutely crazy.
"How have you been?" he asked, instead, hoping it was enough to keep her interested and not bored out of her mind. "Have you been getting ready for exams and such? Or does Crystal work differently than other high schools?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:32 pm
"I change the subject from school and you go right back to it," Paris teasingly observed. "Having trouble coming up with something else? I didn't think I was that boring."
How to play this? He could prod more and see if Chris would tell him what it was that had caused his sudden but short-lived change in mood. There was a possibility that it was nothing at all, but there was also the chance that it was something intriguing. Chris didn't seem like the sort of guy who had a lot to worry about. He went to a good school, seemed to make good grades, played a sport he loved, had some sort of a plan for the future... What could possibly throw a wrench into his perfect life?
Then again, if he prodded too much, Chris might not take a liking to it.
"If there's something on your mind, you can tell me," he said, aiming for the right sort of balance between curious and concerned without seeming overly nosy and nagging. He didn't need Chris to think he was some sort of pest. "Was this a bad night to come out? You could have canceled if you needed to. I promise I wouldn't have been insulted. A bit disappointed, though, but not offended or anything like that."
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