thatboyhaswoe (thatboyhaswoe) wrote in amalgaversehigh, @ 2010-11-06 18:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | !ic, !log, location: mall, student: dakota murphy, student: ryan letowski |
[LOG] drugs gimme drugs - no wait
Aside from going to school and work, Ryan really hasn't ventured out into public since he began his sunny trip down withdrawal lane. There's about a bajillion reasons why not, ranging from his rampant irritability to the non-stop headaches he's been dealing with. But it's been almost a month now, and while he's still anxious and a little paranoid, he's stopped flying off the handle at the tiniest thing, and his head's been cutting him some slack. So when Levi mentioned he had a job interview at the mall, Ryan decided he might as well tag along. Because being cooped up all alone for a few hours sounded very unappealing, and now that he's not buying snorty coke, he has money to spend. And that means shopping. While Levi's at his interview, Ryan hits up his usual stores of choice- Urban Outfitters, Hot Topic, and Journeys- then grabs a seat at Starbucks (not /that/ one; the one by the food court) and goes for some highly caffeinated something or other, which is new crutch as of late, and people watches. Because that never fails to be entertaining.
As usual, Dakota is trolling the mall for customers. Because of her chosen profession, she has to be available all the time, and right now is the prime time for people to come looking for a fix. She hits all her usual spots-- the water fountains near the back entrance, the girl's bathroom, Spencer's, and Abercrombie and Fitch-- and then, with a good hundred twenty five in her wallet, decides to go splurge a little on herself. This means ridiculously high priced coffee, obviously. Starbucks is not the best place to lurk, because honestly, it's too quiet and Dakota doesn't have very many hipster customers, but she's pretty much made her quota for the day. Any more customers, and it'll just be a bonus. When she walks in, she doesn't immediately spot Ryan. She's not exactly /looking/ for him, even though he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. After she's bought her coffee though, Dakota /does/ spot him, and after chilling by the wall for a moment, decides to go say hello. She'll be greeting him with a, "You never call me anymore, Letowski. I'm hurt."
Huh wha? Ryan blinks, snapping back to reality, and looks over to see who's talking to him. "Oh, hey," he says in greeting, looking Dakota over once. "Yeah, I've, uh, kinda stopped calling everyone lately. Sorry." He usually hates the whole running-into-people-you-know-in-public thing, because he never knows what to say and half the time he straight up doesn't /like/ the person he's bumped into. But he does like Dakota, so after a short pause, he nods at the empty chair across the table from him, indicating she's welcome to have a seat if she feels so inclined. Besides, he probably owes her some sort of explanation for why he's suddenly not so interested in what she sells. Drug dealer/client etiquette and all that.
Dakota will take that seat, curling up in her usual fashion, knees up to her chest, one arm wrapped around her legs and the other holding her coffee. She likes Ryan, thinks based on the times that he's bought from her that he's a good guy. Generally she keeps out of people's business; she knows better than to pry into most of her clients lives, and plus, she's usually not interested anyway. But Ryan, she enjoys talking to. He's awkward as fuck but generally able to keep up with the witty banter. Dakota sips from her coffee, and then fixes Ryan with her familiar piercing stare. After a moment, she speaks. "How long have you been off of it?" Because she's a drug dealer, she knows the signs, and she keeps an eye on her customers.
Ryan sort of glances around, avoiding looking right at Dakota, because oh god eye contact- he barely makes it with his boyfriend, really. But her question catches him off guard and he looks her right in the eye for a split second before bringing his hand up to rub at the side of his face absently. "Er... about a month. Almost." Why lie? Dakota's obviously aware of what's happening here, so playing dumb would just be, well, dumb. And honestly, Ryan's kind of sick of carrying it around like some sort of dirt little secret, so straight up admitting to it feels a little freeing. "It fucking sucks." An understatement, that.
It's cool, it's cool. Dakota is used to people not making eye contact with her, which is why she stares without blinking so much. It unnerves other people, and she finds a certain joy in that. "I imagine it does," Dakota replies, with another sip from her coffee. "I'm not offended. In all honesty, you're better off without it." This is said dully, but she does mean it. Just because she sells it doesn't mean she's a fan of what it does to people. "I'm surprised you've made it this long without it, though," Dakota continues, and she's /still/ staring at Ryan. And that sounds bad, but honestly, she is surprised. She has a few customers so addicted to coke that they base their lives on their next hit.
"Yeah, no, I know." Yes, he'll be better off without it, but damn, it doesn't feel that way sometimes. Most of the time. Okay, /all/ the time, but a promise is a promise, and if he can just last a little longer without it, he'll be fine. Probably. Maybe. Oh frazzled brain, stop trying to sort all this out right now. Ryan sets his elbow on the table and props his chin in his upturned hand, slumping forward in his seat. "Honestly? So am I. But what can I say, I guess I'm just dedicated to the cause." He's dedicated to /something/, at any rate. "Sorry to force you out of a cool buck twenty every month, though." Smirk.
Dakota is well aware of the way withdrawl works. Not necessarily because she's gone through it herself, but being a drug dealer means she sees various levels of this. A month is pretty damn good, in her book. "Dedicated. And you have help." Hey, it's not like Levi and Ryan are a secret, considering they're usually glued to each other. Ryan's last comment makes her snort. "How am I ever going to go on without an extra twenty to thirty dollars? Surely I'll miss the rent because of it." Which is all said so dryly that there's no way she could be remotely serious. "I'll live, Letowski. I've made a decent profit off of your discounts." Sounds weird, but she's been overpricing the Juvie kids to make up for it, and they keep buying, so...
That's because the vast majority of the Juvies are collectively dumbasses. Ryan grabs his coffee with his free hand and pulls it towards him, but doesn't lift the cup to take a drink. "That I do." Hands down, Levi being there to help him deal with everything is the number one reason he's lasted this long. Ryan lifts his eyebrows, not quite understanding how Dakota's making a profit, but also not questioning it, instead saying, "Well, that's good, I guess." A pause. "I guess this means we're going to stop having sordid run-ins in the hall between classes, huh?"
Don't even question what Dakota does. It's confusing for everybody who is not her. Dakota shifts in her chair, freeing her hand to stir her coffee with her straw. "A shame, really, that's my favorite part of the day." Because Ryan is so easy to fluster. Dakota, you mean, mean girl. "Does this mean your boyfriend will stop giving me dirty looks every time he passes by me?" Siiiip. "As adorable as it is, he has the entirely wrong idea. You're not my type, and I have no intentions of seducing you into the darkness and having my way with you." No, see, she has Carmichael for that-- I mean what.
Somewhere there is a boy in a leather jacket and fire engine red pants fist pumping, but here, there's a boy in a plaid shirt with floppish black hair that's starting to blush. "Oh, well, I mean..." Derp. Ryan busies himself with taking a drink of his coffee, then raises his eyebrows for the second time in as many minutes. "He gives you dirty looks?" Oh, Levi. "Huh." Okay, that is sort of adorable, in a bizarre way, and Ryan hides a sudden half-smile behind his cup before setting it down. "Not your type? What's not to like? I'm a sparkling conversationalist with a body like a battle axe. Come on now." Hey sarcasm, there you are. We were getting worried.
Snoooort. See, easy to fluster! "The dirtiest. I'm not sure if it's because of the product or because I enjoy violating your personal bubble." It's latter. Oh, Levi, indeed. Dakota may or may not be smirking a little bit at that blush, purely because yes, this is still fun. And the sarcasm is appreciated-- seriously, she was beginning to wonder if the coke withdrawl had drained all of his humor. "When you put it that way, how can I resist." It's said so flatly that there's no room for a question mark. "Unfortunately, I can't openly show my affection for you. For one, Blakely would most likely skin me alive." A beat. "And you've broken my gaydar. There's that, too." She's kidding, and it's evident by the way she hides a grin behind her knees, sipping her coffee.
Ryan assumes it's because of the coke, actually, which just goes to show how oblivious he can be sometimes. He snerks and shakes his head at the first part of that little explanation, then looks up with an 'I nevah!' sort of expression on his face. "/I/ broke your gaydar? What's the even supposed to mean?" Think about it, Ryan. Think real hard. Or don't, you might hurt yourself.
Cue eyebrow raise. Don't play dumb, Ryan, you know exactly what that's supposed to mean. "First. Look at who you're dating. Contrary to the common belief, flaming of that magnitude does rub off." That sounds so terrible, Dakota, use your filter every once in a while. "I feel that there's an opportunity to make a joke about blow, here, but I'm drawing a blank." Oh, god, Dakota. How do you even have friends?
That first comment earns Dakota a /look/- Ryan has a pretty decent bitchface from years of being all angsty and morose- and he takes a sip of his drink versus replying. The second comment, however, gets a response after Ryan sets his cup down. "Really? Queen of the quips is at a loss for words? I'm shocked." He's smirking again, totally kidding, and he sits up a bit, pointing a finger at Dakota. "Blow jokes are easy. Blow hard, blow job, blow me." He lowers his hand and taps his finger against the table. "Boom, just like dat." You're lucky you found Levi, Ryan, because seriously, who else would date you?
She'll take that look with a little grin. Victoryyy. However, Ryan lists off all of those, and Dakota rolls her eyes, flicking the paper wrapping from her straw at Ryan's face. "Sorry, I meant I was drawing a blank for /original/ jokes." Come on Ryan, get it together, man. "Did you just say 'dat'?" Yes. Yes he did. "You are far too hipster to say 'dat'."
Ryan successfully swats the straw wrapper out of the way, but still flinches like it was a brick coming at his face. "I'll say 'dat' all day long. And it's totally hipster of me if I say it ironically." How was that ironic? It just was. Somehow. "You know, like ray-eee-ain on your wedding day or some shit." Yes, that just happened, in full blown monotone glory.
Oh, god. Dakota stares for a second, and then she can't help it; she laughs. She doesn't do that very often, not around mostly-strangers like Ryan, not even around people like Evan, but that monotone is hilarious and she can't help it. When she can control her giggles, she pulls her hand away from her mouth and runs her hand up through her hair, brushing it out of her face. "That was like listening to an angel sing," Dakota says, trying to suppress her grin. "I'm surprised you're not fighting off major record labels with that sweet, sweet ironic tone in your voice."
Ryan actually smiles when Dakota starts laughing. Confirmation that he's funny, or at least amusing, is always a welcome confidence booster. Okay, you actually /need/ confidence for it to be boosted, technically, but it feels good all the same. "Mmm, thank you." Drink. "Who says I'm not? Right before you got here I turned away someone from Sony. I'm not in it for the money. Some might call me a real innovator, I prefer the term 'are-teest'." God, you dork.
And that is why Levi is dating you, Ryan. Because you are a dork. Dakota looks amused, sipping her coffee. "I've heard that line before." No, really, she has. Only that dude was serious. "I'm afraid we'll no longer be able to speak if you sell out, Hannah Montana." Or should she say Lindsay Lohan-- no, too soon, too soon. "I'll defriend you on Facebook and everything." Metaphorical Facebook.
Oh, buuurn. "Hey, hey, back it up." Ryan takes down the rest of his coffee, then points the empty cup at Dakota like it's a bizarrely shaped finger. "Hannah Montana is a total fake. I'm a legitimate performer, thank you very much. Like Justin Bieber." He sets the cup down and slumps back against his chair. "But if you defriend me you'll miss all my ironic song lyric status updates." Sadly, this is not metaphorical; he actually does this.
"I don't care if you meant that in an ironic way or not, but either way you've lost about fifty points for uttering 'legitimate performer' and 'Justin Bieber' in the same sentence." Oh noooo, not the points! Because Ryan cares so much about Dakota's point system. She shifts around in her chair, sipping her coffee again and then resting her head on her knees. "Good point. I can't live without those. Our Facebook friendship is safe for now." Dakota only uses Facebook for uploading embarrassing pictures of people at parties.
"Wait, there's points? How many did I lose?" Ryan waves a hand. "And how many did I have to begin with?" He cares! Sort of... What if there's prizes you can trade these things in for? Then again, the things Dakota deals with are probably not anything Ryan needs to be working towards obtaining. "Mmm, good. If you unfriended me I'd have like... two people left." No joke.
"Fifty. You had a a hundred and sixty five before I took fifty away, you originally started with a hundred. And yes, there are points." She rattles that off like she has it memorized, which she does-- all the people she knows have points, and she has all of those memorized. Everybody starts with a hundred. For instance, Carmichael has a hundred and eighty three. Don't even ask how she judges this. It's confusing and only makes sense to her. "Aww. Poor you." Dakota says, tilting her head at him. "You need more friends, Letowski." Way to like... rub it in, chica.
Ryan just stares at Dakota as she lays all that out for him, then taps a finger against his lower lip a few times. "I... okay then." Thanks for clearing that up, Dakota. Ryan lets his hand drop down to settle on the table, then sort of nods, breaking eye contact again. "I seriously do. I have like, one, that I'm not dating or related too." A pause. "Er, I didn't mean that to come off as all 'woe is me'. I just sort of can't stand most people. Which sounds angsty as hell, but it's true. Kind of... I mean, maybe I just don't give people a chance and that's why-" He stops and looks back up at Dakota. "-Yoooou don't care about that. Anyhow, yeah, more friends. Sounds like a plan." Quick, play with your empty coffee cup like it ain't no thang. There you go.
... Awwww, Ryan. Dakota listens to all of that with a kind of amused expression, setting her cup down so she can pull her hair over her shoulder and run fingers through it while she listens. When he cuts himself off, she raises an eyebrow at him and pauses in her hair-brushing. "You forget who you're talking to. Just because I'm a dealer doesn't mean I like people." Actually, it's the opposite. "I already knew you quit before I walked over here," Dakota tells Ryan, and this has a point, seriously. She doesn't talk to people who aren't customers, generally, and she definitely doesn't talk to people she has no interest in.
Ryan passes the empty cup between his hands, back and forth like a poor man's version of table hockey, while he listens to Dakota, then stops, glancing up at her. "You did?" He sounds sort of surprised. "Why, cause I haven't been buying anything?" Seems like a logical conclusion to him.
"That, and the fact that when I see you around school, you look half dead. I'm an observant person, Letowski, I know things." Dakota has her minions and her contacts, shhh. "My point is, as a general rule, I don't talk to people who aren't my customers or Evan." Pointed look. "The fact that I'm talking to you now should be some indication that I would like to be friends." If you can handle having your ex-dealer as your friend, that is. But she will listen to your woes and give you no-bullshit answers!
Ryan starts to protest the 'half dead' comment, but stops himself, because it's true. He's more pale than usual and holy crap check out those bags under his eyes. But her next statement gets a reply, which is a hesitant, quiet, "You... do?" Someone wants to be his friend? This is maybe the third or fourth time he's ever been told that, and he lifts his eyebrows curiously. Well, he'll be damned. "I could get behind that. In a non-sexy way. Okay, maybe a little sexy. I can't keep this-" He pauses to run a hand down his chest. "-in check all the time." Inside he's all 'ohmygosh', but there's an image to keep up, so he plays it cool. Well, cool for Ryan at any rate. He thinks he can separate Dakota the person from Dakota the drug dealer, because he'd be willing to put in that effort. And he's pretty sure she's not going to try to pressure him into buying anything, because he thinks she's not that type of person.
Yep, Dakota saw all of those things and noted them down when she did. Never know when stuff like that is going to come in handy. Having references is handy when you're in her business. His hesitant reply makes her lean forward a little, still hugging her knees, and she watches him, wondering what's going through his head. She does snort at his comment though. "I promise I'll keep my hands to myself." She replies wryly. "It'll be hard, of course, with your pure animal magnetism." To be quite honest, Dakota doesn't have many friends either. It doesn't bother her, because all she really needs is her mother, sister and Evan, but she's never against having more people around. Ryan seems like a good guy, and she thinks she can learn to trust him. And she definitely won't try to pressure him. There's no reason for it, and she's pretty sure Levi would kick her ass if she tried, anyway. She gives him a little genuine smile from behind her knees, which... she's done like once, ever, to him. "I don't have friends. This is kind of nice. And don't ever tell anybody I said that, or I'll neuter you."
"I'll do my best to keep it in check, promise." Ryan smirks and runs a hand through his hair, pushing his bangs off to one side, but they almost instantly fall back into place. It's been weeks since he's done anything outside of just brushing it, he realizes, and idly thinks it might be about time to get back into the habit of actually styling it. He's just been finding it hard to care about anything like that lately, so this is truly a withdrawl milestone of sorts. Ryan returns the smile and puts a hand up, palm facing Dakota. "I solemnly swear to keep my mouth shut. I'm sort of attached to my junk. Literally." He lowers his hand and purses his lips, eyeing Dakota for a moment. "So now that we're friends, does that mean we have to like, hang out and talk and all that crap?" Grin. He's kidding, of course, and really wouldn't mind that. After assuring Levi there's zero chance either of them will try to get all ups on; Ryan knows allllll about irrational jealousy. CoughcoughBocough.
That whole not having product in his hair thing is something Levi kind of has been secretly enjoying, honestly. He likes running his fingers through Ryan's hair when there's nothing in it. But! Dakota is not Levi, and she has no idea what Ryan's hair feels like with or without product and probably doesn't really... care. So, there's that. At that comment, Dakota makes a face. "As long as we don't have to hug." She's kidding, and the smile that stays on her face enforces that. To be honest, she wouldn't mind talking to Ryan, or listening. She supposes that's what friends do, anyway. And she'll definitely have to have a chat with Levi to assure him she's not going to sex Ryan up.
After a moment, she reaches over for her coffee and takes a sip from it, and takes joy in the fact that she's reached the point where it's just the sweet stuff left, with no coffee. Om nom nom. "Where's Blakely, out of curiosity? I've only ever seen you not attached to his hip once or twice." Outside the drug deals, obviously. "Hugging? That involves human contact, and I'll have no part of it. You're safe." Ryan, don't lie, you love hugs. But that's one of those unspoken things he'll keep to himself and settle for reveling in whenever it chances to happen. He reaches a finger out and knocks his empty cup over, straightens it, and does it again. Why? He's fidgety and getting one of those random waves of anxiety. Fun times! "Levi? There's a unicorn convention down by the Gap. He's hosting a panel on tail braiding etiquette." Tip over, pick up, knock back down. "That or he's at a job interview. I can't remember which."
Dakota's eyes are on the empty cup, watching him knock it down repeatedly. She recognizes little anxious moves like this, but there's not really much she can do. "Oh my gawd, unicorns?" Dakota asks, and it's so deadpan it rivals Ryan's monotone. And yes, she says it like that. "You may have to excuse me for a minute so I can go squeal over them like a tween." Dakota has this weird thing about unicorns. It's a thing, which Dakota has many of. There's a pause, as Dakota watches Ryan do his cup thing in silence, and then she pulls her legs closer to her chest and blows her hair out of her face. "... I'll be offended if you don't invite me to you and Blakely's wedding." She mostly says it in hopes of getting a splutter or two. Meaaaaan.
Smirk. "If you're seriously going to squeal, I'm coming with you and videotaping it for future blackmailing purposes." They may now officially be friends, but there is never not a need for potential future humiliation. Tap cup, watch it fall over, pick it up, Dakota mentions a wedding, tap cup so much harder than was intended, send it flying off the table, sputter, move gaze between Dakota and the cup that is now rolling under the neighboring table, blush. "I- what? Wedding? When- huh?" Ryan waves a hand between himself and Dakota frantically, like he's fanning something that's on fire. "We've only been dating for, uh... two, two and a half months, tops. I can't, I mean, I don't think I'd ever get married anyhow, I never even-" Dude, calm your tits, she's messing with you. Ryan stops batting the air and slumps back in his seat, looking a little embarrassed at his outburst and subsequent rambling.
Dakota is totally snickering now, all through Ryan's frantic flailing and freaking out. Never not a need for humiliation indeed. If Dakota was someone else, she'd feel bad. Since she's not, she doesn't, but she does smirk widely and scoot forward in her seat, one leg slipping down off the cushion and settling on the floor. She hugs the other as tightly as ever. "Cute, Letowski. You're so easy to mess with." He is most likely aware of that, Dakota.
Ryan sighs, rubbing at the side of his face. "I know, I know," he says, letting his hand drop to drum on the tabletop. Just cause the cup's gone doesn't mean he's not jittery anymore. Ryan shifts around in his seat for a few seconds, eyes flitting around the crowd in the food court, then suddenly; "I, um, I need to get the hell away from all these people, like, right now, um, I dunno if you want to wander around with me or if you got something to do?" There's people all over the mall, but they're not as congested together as they are here, and a wave of random, inexplicable paranoia is hitting him right about... now. He looks a little deer in the headlights, glancing over at Dakota before looking back at the crowd.
Dakota's picking up on the anxiety again, and she's not going to leave the guy alone in the middle of one of those freak outs. "I have absolutely nothing to do." For another hour or so, anyway, since she does have customers she needs to meet, but Ryan doesn't need to know that. "Go, I'll follow you out." She'll keep him company until Levi shows up.
"Okay, cool." Ryan stands up quickly, grabs his jacket and bag of ridiculous hipster whatever he bought and drapes them over his arm, then starts for the main entrance for Starbucks. He pauses, considers picking up his discarded coffee cup, but it's under a table with two women sitting at it, and he's not about to get up close and personal with their legs to grab it, so he leaves it and walks out into the mall. He doesn't stop walking until he's found a spot where there's not a huge cluster of people, then turns to face Dakota, looking a little frazzled. "Ah, er, thanks, I just- yeah." Ryan shakes his head and moves on. "I don't really have a destination in mind, I'm sort of just killing time for now." He sounds more relaxed, but every now and then he looks around and fidgets.
Dakota follows after him, watching carefully; it's not like she's expecting anything bad to happen, but she doesn't know how Ryan has been acting to the withdrawls, so it's just a precaution. When he stops and faces her, she tucks her hair behind her ear and lifts a hand. "Not a problem." She gets it. Dakota settles next to him, keeping pace, and shoves her hands in her jacket pockets. "I figured. I'm hungry, I'm going to get a pretzel. Tag along." Everybody's all up in the food court, so the pretzel stand won't be crowded. In fact, that section of the mall is generally not as packed, which she's thinking will probably be good for his nerves. She may not show it often, but she does have her moments of caring. And she'll start walking now.
How very thoughtful. Of course, Ryan is daft and quasi-freaking out, so he just takes all that at face value, following after Dakota as they make their way down the main aisle of the mall. "Yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea." He's been eating more lately since he doesn't have any coke in his system being all 'el oh el you don't need food you're running on meeeee', so he might actually get something once they're there. Ryan doesn't say a whole lot as they walk along, still trying to get over his little anxiety issue, and he checks his phone every few minutes just in case he missed a text from a certain someone. Not that he's looking to ditch Dakota, he's just going through a different sort of withdrawl, because he's absolutely ridiculous.
Oh my god, stop the presses; Ryan eating something of his /own free will/? Amazing. Not that Dakota knows about that stuff. She doesn't walk /close/, but she doesn't wander too far, either. Just keeping an eye on him, really, because she thinks whatever points she can earn with Levi might be a good thing. Not that she's actively looking to make him happy, she just prefers to have more allies than enemies. Plus, he's like six feet, she could totally use him as a bodyguard. It doesn't take long to get through the crowd to the pretzel stand, and she, of course, turns to Ryan and says, "Ladies first." Meanwhile, Levi is almost done with his interview, so Ryan will be getting a text in a couple of minutes, surely.
Ryan stops being all worrisome long enough to smirk and point a finger at Dakota. "You think I would be insulted by that, but if it gets me in line first, I'm gonna take it." And with that he walks up to the counter and orders a regular, boring pretzel, pays for it, and stands off to the side until it's ready. Even then, he'll wait for Dakota to get hers, because he's inexplicably got manners and nomming in front of someone who's hungry is kind of a dick move.
"Oh, it's an insult? Here I was, thinking I was being polite," Dakota quips back, flashing him her own smirk, and she goes for the pretzel that has the jalapenos in it. That whole process doesn't take long at it's boring to write about, so she gets her pretzel and takes a bite out of it, glancing at Ryan. "I'd say we head for the unicorn convention, but that search is far too lengthy for the time limit we're under." She checks her own phone, actually... sighs, and then brushes her hair out of her face. "I have a meeting I'm supposed to be at near Hot Topic. Be a gentleman and escort me there?" Because she'd like to be around normal people for as long as possible before having to meet up with Simon. Ughhh, Simon. Her expression is as blank as ever, but she kind of violently rips a piece of the pretzel off as she waits for Ryan's reply.
That must not be a happy text Dakota just got, Ryan figures, and lifts his eyebrows at the way she manhandles her pretzel. He's not going to pry, but he'll definitely walk her over to Hot Topic. "Yeah, it would be useless anyhow. We need tickets to get into the con and that bad boy sold out months ago." He rips off a piece of pretzel in a far less violent manner than Dakota, and pops it in his mouth as they walk. "So is this like a 'yay I'm about to get paid' sort of meeting?" Or, more accurately, a 'I'm about to sell some drugs' sort of meeting. Ryan obviously doesn't know who Simon is or what his ~relationship~ with Dakota might be, so he's once again left in the dark.
His relationship with Dakota amounts to two words: Edward Cullen. Only Dakota has no desire to be Bella in this situation, and he's not actually a vampire. She snorts at the unicorn convention comment, and then, as they're walking, she speaks up, keeping her eyes on her pretzel. "More like 'hooray I'm probably going to feel like killing small fuzzy creatures when I'm done with this meeting'." So fun times, then. "Don't worry about it. Talk about something else." Another violent bite, and then she closes her eyes briefly and falls back into her usual cool, calm mode. "Like unicorns. Or things that are as full of rainbows as unicorns, like you and Blakely." That's right, distract him with quips.
Ryan frowns, and he sort of wants to ask Dakota exactly what he's going to be leaving her with, but he also doesn't want to end up like her poor pretzel, so he keeps his mouth shut on the matter aside from, "Well that sounds like fun." He takes another bite of his pretzel and smirks again. "Oh, har har." Nom nom nom. "...What do you want to know?" Divulge information about his relationship voluntarily? Nevah!
"I wouldn't give me free range," Dakota warns him, raising an eyebrow. It's true. She'll most likely ask something that'll get her a reaction, because that is how Dakota rolls. She's a lot more calm with her pretzel now, munching on it thoughtfully. "Tell me what you like best about him so I can watch you get all doe-eyed and make fun of you."
That's a good point, but thankfully Dakota asks something that doesn't make Ryan want to run into oncoming traffic. "Uh, hmm, let's see..." Another bite of pretzel is taken so he can buy time to think of a better answer than /everything/, which was the first thing to spring to mind. "Well, he's got the patience of a saint, he puts up with my shit, he has this mind boggling ability to stay optimistic no matter how bad things get, which I can even fathom being able to do. I guess, I dunno, I just like the way I feel when I'm around him." Plus, Levi's hot, Ryan adds mentally, which is a total bonus but seems petty after all that sappy stuff. "Go ahead, mock away." Grin.
"So, when you're around him, does everything you touch turn to glitter?" Dakota asks, smirking back. It's cute, she's not going to lie, but she can't resist. "It's a legitimate question. And if the answer is no, you're either lying or the universe is broken." Mocking complete. There also be a Hot Topic coming into view up here.
"No, it does. It was fun at first, but that shit gets everywhere and it doesn't come out. /Ever/." Which doesn't bother Ryan as much as it will in about, oh, five years or so. Let's put that fourth wall back up... there we go. Then suddenly, Hot Topic. Ryan slows to a stop outside the store, looking around for, well, he's not sure what. "End of the line, shorty." Please, Ryan, you have four inches on her, tops. "Do I need to vacate, or...?" Not that he has any reason to stick around the store, but whatever.
Psh, the fourth wall has very shaky foundations as it is. Dakota snorts at the reply to her glitter comment-- see, this is why she wants to be friends, his comebacks are awesome-- and then, Hot Topic. Dakota glares up at the sign, finishes off her pretzel, and then glances at Ryan. "It's probably be a good idea. You need someone from my line of work coming after you with a ridiculous grudge like you need a hole in the head." Dakota gives him a smirk. "Go find your boyfriend and tell him I'm not trying to get into your pants for me." Cue two finger salute.
Ryan puts 'someone from my line of work' and 'ridiculous grudge' together and comes up with the following; Dakota is meeting a guy drug dealer with jealousy issues. Yeah, Ryan'll pass on that one. He grins and returns the salute with an, "Aye aye, captain." Pause. "Er, uh, text me if you want to like, you know... do stuff. Or whatever." So nonchalant. Ryan gives Dakota a dude nod as a farewell in case the aforementioned jealous 'co-worker' is lurking, then fishes out his phone to check for- yaaaay Levi's done oh gosh. Ahem.