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 Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:46 am
Remi was frantic now, wondering why she ever even suggested anything like a date. After hours of hard work, she now actually had a dinner set. Chicken, salad, and mashed potatoes. It was the best she could come up with in the little bit of time she had. The apartment was spotless, even in Gavin's room, though Remi couldn't help but keep checking to make sure that the few pictures on the wall were hung straight, or that there weren't any stains on the kitchen counter.
She was in a dress, for once. Not anything fancy, but it still looked nice. Gavin was building with legos in a corner of the living room, confused as to what was going on. Why was Mommy running around like that? She'd even made him clear out the mess from his own room, which meant something big was happening.
"Table's set, pots are cleaned, Gavin's clean," Remi went through her checklist outloud, anxious for when Stephan would arrive. She hoped all this preparation wouldn't creep him out. But it was technically a date...right?
((There's a elouai doll of Remi in the dress she's wearing in my journal if you want to see ^^ ))
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:08 am
Stephan hung anxiously just outside the door for a few minutes, trying to convince himself to just knock on the door. The frat boy proved to clean up alright, having taken particular care in shaving and making sure his hair was neat. He was dressed in simple black slacks, dress shoes, and a cream collared shirt. He felt a bit overdressed, but then again, that was better than looking like he was going somewhere with the guys, right?
Finally, he managed to gather up the courage, and knocked a few times hard, holding his other hand behind his back. On his visible arm he carried a grocery bag with a container of chocolate chip cookies. He had wanted to get a toy for Gavin, but not knowing much about the boy, had decided sweets would be a better option at first.
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:13 am
At the sound of someone at the door, Gavin perked up.
"I answer it!" he yelled, his high-pitched voice could be heard through the door. With a leap, he sprinted to the door before his Mommy could answer it. It was his turn to be the big boy this time. He was just tall enough now too.
"W-wait, Gavin!" Remi said, panicked as she raced from the kitchen to the hallway in front of the door. But the little boy had already reached the door and turned the knob. Fortunately Remi was in view, or else Stephan might think he was at the wrong apartment considering the door was opened by a three-foot tall toddler.
"Allo mister," Gavin smiled up at the man, wondering what was in the bag. Remi had hoped to ease the shock of seeing a little boy with wings, but instead it'd be the first thing Stephan saw when the door opened.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:44 am
After the initial shock, Stephan found that Gavin wasn't nearly as weird as he had imagined. Always good to overestimate things like that. He knelt down quickly, setting the bag down beside the boy before ruffling the feathers on his head. "Hey little guy, you being good for you mom?" Smiling, he looked up at Remi, giving her a wink. This wasn't so hard, the kid wasn't screeching, and his heart hadn't imploded yet.
Speaking a bit quieter, he turned back to Gavin, "There're some cookies in there, but ask your mom before you have any. You don't want to ruin dinner." With that, he got back up, leaving the bag behind, and walked toward Remi. "I got something for you too," he assured her, taking his hand out from behind his back. In it he held a bouqet of a dozen peach roses. He wasn't too sure of all of the meanings, but the woman at the florists had told him they would be perfect, hope for the future, or something along those lines.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 8:56 am
Gavin nodded with a smile when asked if he was being good. Of course he was being good! He'd opened the door, hadn't he? Once the bag was left for him, he grabbed it and dragged it back into the apartment after this new guy. Gavin liked him already if he brought offerings of cookies. He didn't understand the concept of ruining dinner.
"Oh wow," Remi stared in awe at the roses, bringing a hand to her mouth in surprise. No one had ever gotten her flowers before. Letting her hand drop, she stepped forward to take the bouquet. "They're beautiful! Thank you."
This was obviously a sign. Still, she wasn't sure how to react. Part of her wanted to hug him, and the other said it wasn't appropriate for that yet. Nevertheless, she needed to do something with the roses.
"Let me find something to put them in really quick," she said, her face blushing slightly from the gesture. "Feel free to make yourself at home."
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:06 am
Nodding, he managed to calm down a bit. Well, she seemed to like the flowers, and the kid definately seemed to like the cookies. He was doing good so far, yeah. Now if only he could stop himself from starting to shake. The anticipation of waiting to see what he would mess up was starting to get to him. Maybe he wouldn't mess anything up though, hopefully.
He took a seat on the couch, looking over toward Gavin. "So what do you do for fun?" He asked, only partially expecting an answer from the boy. It was worth a try to talk to him, after all if he was going to eventually have to babysit the kid, he might as well get to know him some.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 2:18 pm
Still elated over the flowers, Remi rushed into the kitchen and started scrambling under the sink. There was a vase under there somewhere, she knew it. Aha! Found it. It had used to hold artificial flowers, but during the move into the compound they had been ruined. Luckily she'd kept the vase.
Gavin looked up at the visitor and tried to comprehend the question. Fun? What did he do for fun? As if a light bulb had gone off in his head, he quickly darted off down the hallway toward his room, only to return seconds later with an action figure in his hand.
"Play Hawk Man!" he answered, waving around the toy superhero.
"He's been obsessed with that toy ever since one of his friends gave it to him," Remi explained as she carried the now full vase of roses and set it on a side table next to her armchair. She would have put it on the table, but there was no room amongst the dishes and the food. "So how've you been? Finished unpacking yet?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:44 pm
Flashing a warm grin at the action figure, he had to admit to himself that he was glad it wasn't markers. Those two girls on the first day had sort of soured him, and his wall, on the thought of art supplies. "Hawk Man sounds like a great superhero, always does the right thing?" He snapped to attention when Remi came back, making a bit of a face at the mention of unpacking. Truthfully, he'd started hauling boxes out of the room to unpack them, but it wasn't really and appealing thought. So many just sat cut open so he could get what he needed from them, "I'm... On the road to finishing."
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:51 pm
Gavin nodded. "Uh huh! Hawk Man hero! Like me for Haki!"
He puffed out his chest proudly when he mentioned Haki, making Remi chuckle a bit. All the frequent comments on his so-called heroism from the little girl were starting to get to his head. Now every chance he got he was helping out in hopes of being the 'hero' again. Not that Remi minded, just so long as he stayed out of the crazy outfits.
"Well if you need a helping hand I'm not all that busy these days," Remi offered. Then remember that dinner was on the table, she figured it'd be nice to eat it before it got cold. She nodded toward the table with a smile. "The food's ready whenever you are."
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:01 pm
Oh, right, dinner. He was being forgetful, minor screw up. Getting to his feet, he nodded, "A little help would be nice, and yeah, now's fine, I'm starving." Alright, so he wasn't exactly starving, but he hadn't eaten since breakfast, and if his stomach hadn't been in knots he probably would have been. Alright, so quick mental review. Gavin knew Haki, but he wasn't crazy, as far as he could tell. And so far, even though he looked a bit stranger than a normal kid, he was acting like a normal little boy. Normal acting kids he could handle, no sweat. Or maybe not. There seemed to be two ends of the spectrum. Normal and completely, entirely, unendingly loony. Nice coin flip.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:09 pm
With a quick sweep, Remi scooped Gavin up into her arms as if she'd done it a million times before and led Stephan to the table. On the table were three sets of dishes and silverware, one with a highchair--considering the incident at Dacian's that one time. In the center lay a large bowl with a leafy salad, another smaller bowl with mashed potatoes, and a large pan holding a rotisserie chicken.
"I wasn't sure what you liked, so I cooked the first things that came to mind," Remi said sheepishly as she set Gavin in his chair.
This was where her own stomach got into knots. Was it too much? Would he like it? Did the chicken cook all the way? She couldn't have him going back to his apartment with salmonella. That would be horrible.
Gavin, completely oblivious to the possibilities of food poisoning, was starving. He reached out and snatched his own fork, waiting for someone to cut him his own slice of that juicy looking chicken. Or the mashed potatoes. The salad was too green, but Remi would probably make him eat some of the yucky stuff anyways.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:15 pm
"It all looks great," he said, trying to reassure her as he sat down. Truthfully, he was no wonderful cook himself, with the exception of grilling, so even with a chef's help he considered it a nice accomplishment. Reaching for a knife, he stood slightly, "Want me to cut it up?" Gesturing to Gavin, he added, "I think Kujo over there's going to get a little impatient if we keep chatting." Alright, so maybe calling her son Kujo wasn't the best idea, but from the way he'd grabbed that fork so fast, he wouldn't put it past the kid to lunge at the bird. Wait, is Gavin had wings, didn't that sort of make him a bird? Well, he wasn't poultry, so whatever.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:29 pm
Gavin raised his arms up in the air, including the one with the fork, with an emphatic, "Yes!"
Man, this guy brought cookies and then offered to cut his chicken. New best adult friend! Not even the friendly man who offered him ice cream could beat this. Hamlet, the puppy, didn't count because he wasn't human as far as he could tell.
Remi blinked at the allusion to Kujo, but then it made her laugh a bit. "Well, he is blended with a hawk, and I think hawks do eat chicken. It's the only reason I can come with as to why he likes it so much."
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:37 pm
"At least he's not blended with a vulture." Maybe not the most understandable joke, but it made sense to him when he thought of it. After all, a chicken was better than rotted stuff, right? He started to slice up the chicken, dividing the dark and light meat with practiced speed. Turning to Gavin, he asked, "Dark or light little dude? Or maybe you want a leg?" It wasn't particularly important, to him at least, but sometimes kids cared about things like that, right? Better safe and a bit proddie than facing a kid's temper tantrum.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:46 pm
Gavin blinked. Dark? Light? Leg?! This was chicken! Any part of it worked. Still, because the man was kind enough to offer, Gavin pointed at some of the darker meat with his fork. "That!"
Because in his experience, it was easier to chew and it tended to taste juicier. Choking on dry chicken was not an experience he'd like to relive.
Remi started dishing out herself some salad, waiting for the other two to get their share first. This was nice, having more than just her and Gavin at the table. She hadn't had a meal like this since...well, since she'd last eaten at her parents. Even her friends would just drag her out to restaurants, so a nice homecooked meal was always welcome.
"So besides unpacking what else have you been up to?" she asked as she put a bit of salad on Gavin's plate, who in turn scrunched up his nose at the leafy stuff. Didn't his mommy know that green leafy things were yucky?
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