Roger felt a lot better after having eaten a huge pizza all by himself -- and stealing a slice or two from Alicia. The only bad thing about it was that he had had to pay for it. If he had won the stupid flagpole competition he wouldn’t have to have pay for it. Yes, Roger Davies could be a huge drama queen when he didn’t win. Fortunately, it usually didn’t last long.
“Want to walk around for a while? Maybe tell me what’s going on in your life? I feel like we haven’t really talked in ages,” he said to Alicia as they stepped out of Stone.
It was strange to her, the things the way she saw the world differently from when she arrived her to now. She mostly just nodded when Roger went on his fit over not winning and didn’t mind her food being stolen, although she did swat his hand away at one point.
“Sure,” she nodded as they finished up and got up. When the got outside, she did nod, it did seem like their lives were really different. He worked with magic research and she was running a team now. “What’s going on in your life?” She asked switching it a bit.
He gave her a light shrug as they started walking. “I took Cho out for dinner the other day,” he mentioned. He hadn’t told anyone about it until now. “It wasn’t like a date... I think. I don’t know,” he said, scratching the back of his head as he thought about it. He and Cho had been friends for a while now, but he didn’t know if he liked her or just flirted with her out of habit.
That’s right, Cho was back around again. Alicia felt a little bit bad but she felt disconnected from people from home unless they were people who were family. “Do you want it to have been a date?” Alicia asked tilting her head a little bit.
Roger furrowed his brows for a moment, thinking about Alicia’s question. “I don’t know?” he asked. He sighed. “I like Cho, she’s a good friend. And you know I did want to date her back at school... But I don’t know how if I flirt with her because I like her or because it’s just habit.” Even back home he flirted with her all the time, before and after she was married. But he hadn’t really put much thought into it. Until now.
“I remember,” she did remember those conversations vividly. “Well, I guess the question would be if you want to be more than friends, and not just flirting, something more.” She shrugged at the thought of it. It wouldn’t surprise her, Cho and Roger.
“I was a bit dramatic about that one, wasn’t I?” he chuckled. He remembered that talk -- or rather talks, since it went on for days. He could be such a Drama Queen, specially when he was younger. Good thing Alicia was always there to smack him back to reality, both metaphorically and literally.
“Hmm... I’m going to have to get back to you on that one,” he said. Feelings were complicated sometimes. “What about you?” he asked. “Is there anyone in your life?”
“Come on, that’s all I get? No gut feeling?” She asked, her life was complicated lately. “No, I’m leaning to wanting something more?” Alicia pushed for a little more of how he was feeling.
“My gut is telling me I ate way too much,” he joked, rubbing his belly and avoiding the question for a moment. He sighed and chewed on his bottom lip as he thought about it. He was going to have to do it sooner or later, so better do it now and have a second opinion. “I guess... I just, I don’t know what I want. I mean, do I want a casual relationship or something more serious? I feel like Cho would want something serious but I don’t know if that’s what I want right now.”
“Rog, you’ve always been looking for the right girl for a serious relationship, and Cho isn’t a new feeling,” she offered. She was positive Cho would want more than just a casual relationship. “Is that such a bad thing? Try and figure out something a bit more serious?”
He sometimes hated when Alicia was right. But she was right and he knew it. Despite his shameless flirting, Roger didn’t really do casual relationships. He liked to think he did sometimes, but reality was he would rather have love than just sex. “But what if she decides to go back home? Or Atlantis sends her back without a warning?” It had happened before, with Kenzie. Sure they hadn’t been serious, but feelings were involved and Roger wasn’t looking forward to going through that again, especially when he knew this time, if he allowed himself, he would fall for Cho hard.
“And what if it doesn’t?” She asked. “You can’t live your life here by half just because something might happen. Trust me, I know.” She’d seen a lot of people come and go, way too many. “And what if you can find a good life here with Cho?”
“Since when have you become so bloody wise?” He sighed and nodded. “I know you’re right,” he finally said. “Maybe... maybe I should ask Cho a date? A real one this time. See what happens?” Maybe he could push that fear aside and just enjoy his time with Cho. He knew that was what he should do.
Shrugging, “I’ve always been wise!” What she didn’t say was that nearly three years of some sort of strange war probably helped her do that. “I think you should start with asking her on a date, a real date, not a ‘let’s grab dinner’ sort of conversation, be clear with her.”
“Nah,” he teased lightly, chuckling. “Okay. Will do that,” he said with a nod. He felt a little nervous about it, but he knew he had to do it. He needed to get his feelings straight. “Are you going to stop avoiding my questions and tell me what’s going on in your life? If you’re not telling is because there’s something going on.”
“That’s complicated,” and it was, her life was complicated. “Besides, I don’t really have a lot of time for a life of my own with the team and Laura.” That wasn’t completely true but she did spend a lot more of her free time at home than she did before. “It’s in a wait and see sort of pattern.” That wasn’t the full of it, but she was still wrapping her head around it. “Being responsible of a kid takes up a good amount of time.” Alicia wouldn’t change it for anything, she loved Laura.
“You kind of love complicated things, Als,” he said. “I don’t think you could ever have a non-complicated life. Ever.” Most Spinnets didn’t do things the normal way, but Als sort of took the crown. “How is Laura, by the way? Has she talked you into getting a lion or an elephant yet?”
“I do not love it!” She said almost defensively. “I just like,” she paused. Sam was, he was amazing, Marcus was a bloody prat and she wanted to kick him, Erik, he was different. He saw something the others didn’t. “Different.” She settled on.
Alicia grinned. “She’s great, well, she’s good, she still hasn’t been fantastic with her summer reading, but she’s getting into it. I just hope she doesn’t want to adopt spiders next.”
Roger arched one of his eyebrows at her. “You love it and you just keep denying it. Denial is not good, Als. Makes things a lot more complicated-- wait, then I guess denial is good for you,” he said, teasing her a little. There was nothing wrong with liking things complicated. To each their own, right?
“Why would she want to adopt spiders?” he asked a little confused. “What book’s she reading?”
Alicia just rolled her eyes and happily let the conversation stay on Laura. “Charlotte’s Web,” she confirmed. “A talking spider, and other animals but with Laura you never know which animal she’s going to decide she might want as a pet next.”
“I have a very faint memory of that book,” he said, shoving his hands on his pockets. “You think she’d like a ferret? They don’t give much work and are the best.” He loved his two little ferret buddies.
“Rog, we don’t need any more pets right now!” She smiled. “She’s reading, which is good, I know it isn’t really her favorite thing to do.” Alicia never thought she’d be worried about things like how much someone was reading, or what their marks were, at least not like this.
“What? It was just an innocent question. It’s not like I was going to buy her a ferret after this,” he tried to sound as innocent as possible. He looked at Alicia and smiled. “You’re a good mom, you know?”
“I’m a big sister,” she said quickly but smiled, all the same, she tried to be good for Laura and help her however she could. “Come on, let’s get some ice cream.”