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 Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:05 pm
It had been a little over a week since the disaster with Vanessa and the rendezvous after hours with Sailor Vulcan and though the night was both bad and good, Kam was doing his best to forget the majority of it. No matter how he had treated Vanessa, he did.. miss her. Just in his own way that he didn't think she'd ever understand.
But the easiest way to forget a girl? With another girl.
Kam had picked a random restaurant and a random girl, not too concerned with the specifics of either, just that the combination would get him ultimately where he wanted to be. She was a tall, slinky blond that hung all over his arm and babbled about things he didn't give a s**t to understand. He just asked for a table and led her along behind the hostess.
"Your waitress' name is Vanessa, and she will be with you shortly."
Kam was busy leaning across the table and saying something under his breath to his date. By the time he heard the name their hostess was gone and he was just left staring blankly for a second. No, Vanessa didn't work here, he was pretty sure. Maybe she hadn't even said Vanessa and it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.
He just shrugged and turned back to his date, letting her take his hand and hold it in the center of the table. It made her happy, why not? He was busy looking over the menu himself, actually interested in putting a good meal in his belly, when his date started getting anxious.
"When is our waitress going to be here? She is taking forever." He heard the whine in her voice without having to look at her face, and it only made him sigh. Impatient girls were always so damn annoying.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 10:55 pm
A year of actually paying attention in class had paid off, at last, and Vanessa was a proud graduate of Meadowview High School. School was over, and summer had come. This was Vanessa's first day at a new job and, while the kitchen staff had already learned it was in their best interest to keep her away from the really sharp knives, things were going well.
She had a fancy new name tag. She was meeting new people.
It was sort of awesome.
Serving patrons in a restaurant was wildly different from attending to customers in Big Willy's record store. Vanessa thrilled to the change, and was incredibly satisfied with this job because she'd landed it on her own. With the resume that she'd gotten John Jr to help her make.
It made her feel very adult.
She was late attending to Kam's table because she'd tripped over somebody's foot and spilled a pitcher of water. It was not much of a disaster, all things considered, and most of the damage was done to herself.
"I'm so sorry," Vanessa glanced at Kam's table on her way back to the kitchen, clutching the empty pitcher to her chest, "I'll be right with…"
She stopped dead, golden eyes shining on Kam's face, and then to the pale hand that held his on the table.
"…you."
Vanessa shook her head, cheeks glowing a soft red, and then managed a smile, "I'll be right with you."
She left them.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:05 pm
Kam realized what was happening too late.
He had glanced up just in time to see Vanessa clutching a pitcher to her chest and looking at him like he was the Grim Reaper waiting at her table. He didn't trust that forced smile, not when he could see the flush rising to her cheeks. <********, but he hadn't known.
As she excused herself and slipped away, Kam untangled his hand from his date. He began to slide out of the chair just as his date reached out and grabbed his wrist in protest. Right, he had to make sure she didn't get offended either. ******** girls.
"I'm just going to the bathroom, why don't you order an appetizer?" Except, if he had his way, the waitress wouldn't be getting back to the table before he did. He gave her a smile and squeezed her hand just to make her feel special, then disappeared the moment her attention was on the menu in front of her. She had a decision to make and, from what he gathered, thoughtful decisions probably took her a while - which he needed.
He wound through the tables and down the aisle, just in time to catch up to Vanessa as she tried to slip into employee only territory. He reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder, not rough, but he pulled enough to try and make her stop if not also turn around to face him.
"C'mon, just stop, okay?" He sounded guilty, but he really hadn't meant to parade another girl around in front of her. This was a really unfortunate coincidence. "I didn't know you worked here or I wouldn't have come. You know that, right?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:35 pm
It was strange.
A little under three minutes ago Vanessa had been under the impression that her day couldn't get any better. Sure, she'd tripped and spilled water all over herself. Sure, she'd accidentally served somebody ordinary coke instead of diet. But these were just insignificant mistakes, and Vanessa, who was used to screwing up in much bigger ways, had been feeling pretty good about herself.
But now.
But now Kam was there. She was his waitress. And he had a date.
Vanessa wished a youma had sat down at his table instead. At least she would have known how to deal with that.
She'd had every intention of returning to do her job, once she'd changed into something dry, and was beyond surprised when a strong hand suddenly seized her around the shoulder.
"Kam," she blinked up at him, flushed even darker than before, and took half a step back. "I don't…"
Vanessa suspected that this was a sort of apology. Somehow, impossibly, the things he said made everything both better and worse. Little more than a week had passed since the last time they'd spoken, and she'd missed him very much. This wasn't how she'd imagined their reunion would go.
"It's okay," Vanessa answered finally, offering Kam a little lopsided smile. She hesitated, and then continued, "I don't want you to feel like you have to avoid me or anything. We're still friends, right?"
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:49 pm
How did she flop so easily between lost and confident? He was sure there was something wrong here but she was making it hard for him to pinpoint exactly what to say to make it okay.
He stuffed one hand into the pocket of his jeans and brought the other up to rub at the back of his neck beneath his long dreads. It was an idle kind of gesture, part nervous and part just buying time. Apparently he needed to make an addendum to his 'you don't seriously date girls' rule - you also didn't befriend them.
"I'm not avoiding you," he had been, a little, if avoiding meant just not asking her to hang out, "I just don't want you to think I'm trying to be an a** by bringing -" he paused and frowned then, having clearly forgotten something. In the end he just settled on, "by bringing a girl around your workplace. I'm not completely tasteless."
He dropped the hand that was rubbing his neck and shoved it into his other pocket. For as big as he was and as much as he stood out, he seemed to be trying to make himself small then. He was good at plans, he was okay at improvising, but this was completely off grid of what he felt like he could handle. He always did a good job of keeping the women he fooled around with separate from the rest of his life, he didn't want them getting attached or ruining anything - like his already precarious friendship with Vanessa.
"But yeah, we're still friends. I just thought, I don't know, we'd have a talk or some s**t instead of meeting like this." He shrugged awkwardly after he said it with his hands still in his pockets. He was aware that people were starting to look at him, where he'd cornered her and was keeping her from doing her job. Great.
"Can you just take a break or something?" It was a big deal, forgoing his date with an easy blonde so he could try and make up.. whatever this was to Vanessa. He did miss her, because she was his friend, but he didn't have a lot of experience with bros that had so many emotions.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:46 pm
Vanessa couldn't even begin to account for the number of times she'd scrolled through the contacts in her phone, and hesitated over Kam's name. It should have been easy to just text him. The concept was simple-- all she had to do was move her fingers.
But they always, always turned to ice over the 'send' button.
While reckless and stupid, there were some things Vanessa couldn't bring herself to do. Facing him, after he'd kicked her out of his apartment, was one of them. She had her pride.
The anger she'd felt then had had time to wane. It wasn't about pride now, but about regret. Vanessa was very aware of what that little kiss had done to their friendship. And, while she hadn't been trying to turn him into anything more than what he already was, Vanessa wished she could take that brief moment back.
She glanced away from Kam, in the direction of the table where he'd left his date, and opened her mouth to speak. But he was faster than her, and the things he said broke Vanessa a little. It was a good sort of breaking. She relaxed and brightened all at once, because they were still friends.
Oh, good. That was good. Better than good.
"I…" she hesitated, looked towards the kitchen, and then focused back on Kam's face. It warmed her heart, to see him so sincere in this. "It's my first day. I don't think I should take a break right now. Trying to make a good impression and all, you know?"
"But," the last thing Vanessa wanted was for Kam to think she was blowing him off. She smiled, genuinely, and touched him gently on the arm. It was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. "I could come by sometime tomorrow? You still have my movie."
If they were being stared at, Vanessa hadn't noticed.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 10:40 pm
Impressions, right.
He shrugged a little at that comment but did manage a very small, lopsided smile. She hadn't been angry about it, just hesitant, and he supposed jobs were important. He didn't know since his boss was also his best friend - he pretty much got to slack off whenever he felt like it.
"Yea, I do still have your movie. You can come by tomorrow night or something?" He pulled his hands out of his pockets and crossed them over his chest instead, then briefly glanced behind him to make sure his date hadn't noticed what he was doing yet.
Nope, she was still intensely studying the menu.
He took a few steps backwards and was about to turn around when he paused and glanced back to her. "You could just give us another waitress you know, all things considered."
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:33 pm
If Vanessa were still working at the record store, she wouldn't have blinked twice about taking a break. Big Willy was more of a second father to her than a boss, and she still visited him regularly for iced tea. The other day, in order to congratulate Vanessa on her new job, he'd even treated her to her first beer, on the grounds that she absolutely did not tell Mr. Rae.
But this was not the record store, and her new boss was not Big Willy.
It was important to Vanessa, who could not afford to go without a job for the whole summer, that she keep this one.
"Tomorrow night, sure," Vanessa agreed with a little smile, and followed Kam's eyes to the blonde he'd left at the table. She pursed her lips, and managed to quell the jealousy that festered in the depths of her belly by reminding herself of Gehenna.
Only a week had passed since they'd met, but she'd seen him almost every night since. Vanessa was certain she'd never think of herself or public washrooms, for that matter, the same way again.
"Nah," the smile Vanessa turned on Kam now was marked only slightly by her unease. "I don't really know anyone well enough to ask them to take over. Besides, I want to meet her."
She gestured in the direction of his date.
This was only partly a lie. Vanessa's interest in the woman currently keeping Kam's company existed, thought it was not exactly friendly.
"She's very pretty."
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:20 pm
Quite suddenly, Kam realized he didn't have as much control over this situation as he thought.
His eyes flickered between Vanessa and his date for a moment until they finally settled on the golden eyes of his friend. His lips pursed around whatever he wanted to say, like his body was fighting whatever he was thinking. He didn't understand why everything had to be so damn complicated when women were involved but he also didn't know how to fix it, even if he realized it.
Finally, he just sighed at Vanessa's request to meet her and the off hand comment about her being pretty.
"She's just a girl, Van." That was all he had to counter what he knew was going to be a ticking time bomb. Vanessa and whatshername talking? That was a disaster waiting to happen. "She's no different than all the other girls."
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:52 pm
Vanessa didn't really think this was complicated at all. It was simple, in point of fact. She'd kissed Kam. He hadn't wanted her. Now, he was with another girl-- a girl who didn't seem to mean very much to him.
This was both a relief, and slightly irritating.
"Relax," she told him crossly, "We just kissed, okay?"
It had meant more than that to Vanessa, who liked Kam very much. But he was getting on her nerves.
"I miss spending time with you," Vanessa admitted, "but I wasn't looking for anything serious."
This was true. While having a boyfriend might be nice, someday, there just wasn't enough time. Maybe, once Destiny City was safe and the threat of the Negaverse was no more. But not now.
"So I'm not going to pour hot coffee on her or anything."
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 7:15 pm
He threw his hands up in defense as he told her to relax, then just shook his head and shrugged his shoulders a little as if there was no reason for her to be getting cross with him. Then he dropped them and stuffed one hand back in his pocket, watching her a little curiously as if he wasn't quite sure what to make out of what she was saying.
"If you say so," it had certainly seemed like something else to Kam, but maybe that was just because he hadn't expected the kiss in the first place. "I don't mind hanging out and s**t, I enjoyed that part." It was true. Even if he wasn't sappy enough to say it, Vanessa was one of his best friends simply because she liked the same things he did ninety percent of the time.
The other ten, well. That seemed to be the issue.
"As long as you don't maim her before I can get her out of here." It was a joke in an attempt to lighten the mood, accompanied by a half smirk and another light shrug. He pulled his hand back out of his pocket and took another step backward, back the way his date was waiting.
"I should get back before she realizes it doesn't actually take this long to use the bathroom." Then he just gave her a half wave, as if she wasn't about to come wait on his table, and turned back to rejoin his date.
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