Skylar James Bale (socialiterocker) wrote in btvsal, @ 2009-12-15 20:32:00 |
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Current location: | A Fancy Restaurant |
Current mood: | hungry |
Entry tags: | ben bale, place: la, skylar james-bale |
Dinner Date
Who: Skylar and Ben
Where: A restaurant in the city
When: Friday, Dec. 11
Skylar looked at Ben from across the table as the two of them waited for their dinner. They had went out to celebrate the fact that she had found and signed a terrific artist, Meehgan, to the label. She felt like a real record executive and everything, only, you know, without the sliminess. "So, darling," she said to him with a slight smile over her glass of champagne, "how is everything else going with the label?"
Which was good, because Ben had all the sliminess for the both of them. Hey. He was in love, and monogamous... but it didn't mean he was suddenly a pillar of virtue. "Great. Between Neely and Grant doing a LOT of good work lately, and the publicity we're getting from signing Eternal Embrace... it's like I've barely had to do a damn thing except sit here and watch calls come in. We're actually going to put together an initial CD that will both whet the public's appetite while you all do your albums, AND help get you recognized more."
"Neat," Skylar said, sipping at her drink. She was glad that this was all pulling together. She didn't want her fiance's label to fall under, and she certainly didn't want the label that she was signed to to fall under, either. "So, all the other bands working out so far?"
"Aside from my constant fear that Ginnifer may eventually gut a male and bathe in his blood? Things are going swimmingly." He smirked and shook his head. "I will say this for your band: while you and the Lazarus girls are all talented, you have all the personality. Lazarus, aside from Stephanie, has a hot but sometimes creepy bass player, a robot on drums, and angry man-hater on vocals. Not exactly 'the cute one', 'the fun one', etc."
Skylar laughed. "Yeah, we've got loads of personality," she said, still smirking at him. "That other girl, Darlene I think her name is...the red head. She seems like she has a lot of personality, too." That was only a little sarcastic. What would he do the day she finally threw up her liver, for example? That was what she wondered.
"Grant is having kittens over us signing her band, actually." He said with a laugh. "Says she's a lawsuit waiting to happen."
"Really? What made him say that. She might not be stable, but that's a little strong." The girl was a nut in more ways than one, but a lawsuit? This she had to hear.
"I dunno. Aside from the rumors of her alcoholism being uncontrollable..." Ben wasn't sure whether or not to believe this part. "He heard that she almost got arrested for attacking someone with a broken bottle."
Yep... if Skylar still had ANY part of her that cared about Gwen... that part had to be ready to vomit now, as word had DEFINITELY gotten around as to who Gwen's new drinking buddy was.
Skylar arched an eyebrow at him when he mentioned the attacking with a broken bottle part. "I wonder if Gwen knows," she muttered, more to herself than to Ben. Yes, she still cared about Gwen, a lot, actually. It just hadn't worked out, and, if Darlene was as unstable as she sounded, well, then putting Gwen with her could end up being a very bad thing.
"Maybe you should send Mere to talk to her. I'd suggest you go, but... I think she's still at the point where seeing you hurts too much." And then, just because the douchebag hated to stay serious too long, "Although it might just be that she's horrified by the fact that now it's ME getting the lip service in my club..."
Skylar laughed. She couldn't help it. Ben brought out the wicked side in her. Still, she swatted his arm for good measure, too. "I'll ask Mere about it. I think she can get through to her better than any of us have a chance at, anyway." Or maybe that Wells kid. He had been seen with her a lot lately, too. She KNEW that he couldn't approve of this.
"Well, if nothing else, Mere could slap some sense into her. You'd just break her heart again, and she'd knock Chloe on her cute little ass." And as an afterthought, just because he felt the quicker he got this out of the way, the better, "Oh yeah, and speaking about Gwen. Heh. Funny thing there. Turns out right before thanksgiving, she slept with Neely. Ohhh how this crazy world turns..."
Skylar just sort of tilted her head at Ben for a second. "Neely...she didn't know who it was, did she?" She didn't think that Neely would sleep with her ex-wife. Tangled webs and all that.
"No, apparently neither of those crazy kids bothered to ask for LAST NAMES before making like wild rabbits. Apparently Gwen was so freaked out so tried to kick Neely out of her own hotel room just to get away from her."
The thought of that was actually a little amusing. "Well, hopefully something like that won't come up again any time soon." The thought of someone trying to kick Neely out of her own hotel room was funny, but sad when she knew it was Gwen.
"I think Neels is really trying here. She seems awfully happy with Rachelle." Which still shocked him, on many, many levels. "So, I bought your Christmas gift this morning..." He said casually as he took a sip of the champagne.
"I'm glad that they are both happy," Skylar said. She smiled at him. "Did you now? What did you get me?"
"Please. Like I'm going to tell you? The Christmas I've wanted my entire life, and you think there might even be a chance of me spoiling something?" Yet he smiled afterward, a fatherly smile rather than his typical lecherous one. "Spent an insane amount on Bella as well."
She smiled at him. She had spent a fair amount on the baby as well. "Well, since you won't tell me what you got me when I ask, I suppose I'll have to use other forms of persuasion to figure out what you got me." She smirked at him.
"You know... I doubt they'll work." He grinned at her, brushing his foot sweetly against her own under the table. "But don't let that stop you from trying."
She laughed. "I'll keep that in mind." She rubbed her foot against his leg as well.
"Please do." He nodded, looking ready to have HER as his meal. C'mon now. This was Ben we're talking about. "Anyway... I want to make sure Bella and Beatrice each have an amazing first Christmas."
"That would be wonderful. A Christmas for them, free of drama and fighting," Skylar said, sounding just a tiny bit wistful there as well.
"I was...considering sending gifts to the McConnells and to Gwen as well. I'm afraid it might be looked at as in poor taste." Ben? Afraid of how he'd look to others? It truly MUST be Christmas. "So should we have a big parry, or would you prefer to just have a blast at Chloe's, and have a more intimate Christmas with just us and the family?"
Skylar shrugged. "I don't know if it would be or not, actually. Which is sort of strange, considering I had etiquette lessons growing up." Her and Lydia both did. Look how well it worked. No, really. "You can always send them anonymously." She wasn't objecting to it, though. Whatever he wanted. "I think I'd rather just go to Chloe's party and do something intimate with the family. I'm sure her party will be spectacular."
"If nothing else, you know at least one or two people will do something drunken and hilarious to talk about until NEXT year." See? Now try saying he didn't know Chloe's circle of friends. Hell... they shared a few of them. In more ways than one. "Shame Meredith can't really get too drunk anymore. She was one of the funniest partiers ever." Well, when she wasn't bent over puking in a trashcan. "As for the gifts... I know it sounds lame, but I just want them, especially the McConnells, to know I still want to be their friend. I wish I didn't care that Patience hates me... but I do."
"She can still get drunk. She was pretty tipsy at the after party of the concert at Avarice," Skylar pointed out. "It just takes A LOT more." Mere had hilariously enough gotten carried away and had to be pulled off a table that night. Then again, how was that different? "It's not lame. I think Pat knows. He'll talk to me and is still friendly. And I don't just mean polite. I think it will just take time." Gwen pulling her shit together, to be blunt, was what it would take.
"I ran into Ashton a few days ago. I tried to talk to him, and he just said 'not a fucking word', and walked away." Ben sighed, trying not to let any of this get to him. God knew that (in his mind), he had a reputation to protect. "I know more people are ON our side than against us... but those few... it stings. These are people I used to consider friends and colleagues."
"Sucks, doesn't it? You certainly learn who your real friends are," Skylar said to him. She was never particularly close to Patience and Ash, so it didn't bother her as much. It hurt more to her that Bella had taken it so hard. "Lots of people didn't understand what was going on. I didn't even really understand what was going on until pretty late into it. Change scares people. Unfortunately, people change." She smiled at him. "Or maybe fortunately."
"I'd go with fortunately." He said with a genuine smile, reaching over to smooth his palm down her cheek. "You manage to test my ego, girl. Because this is ME... and yet I still have my moments where I can't believe you're actually with me."
"Well, it's strange to think of it from my perspective, too. I mean, you stopped seeing other girls for me. Do you know what a mind boggler that is?" she asked him. It certainly was something of an ego booster, for sure.
"Why bother? No other woman can compare to you." Sweetly, he was being sincere there. Skylar was everything he'd ever wanted. "Did I ever tell you how I became the guy everyone... thinks I am?"
"No, actually, you never have." She had never asked. It hadn't come up, honestly. He was who he was NOW and that was what had really mattered to her, but she couldn't help but be curious. "What happened?"
"Remember Sofia? Gorgeous, curvy thing you met briefly?" Oh yeah. Ben was about to give her the whole 'origin story'. Something he'd never given ANYONE not in his family.
"Yeah, I remember her." Skylar sort of had a feeling that this pertained to her.
"She was my first love. I really thought I was gonna marry her one day. And she took off on me. Broke my heart. From that day on, I pretty much decided to just use women like wet-naps. And damn, if I didn't do a good job of it in my day, hm?" Oh, that grin again. Hey... nobody ever said he didn't enjoy his run as the supernatural world's biggest playboy.
"Well, I'm not going to take off on you," she said to him. "I have to ask. What about me made you change that? You had Mere and Faith, and that girl back in Sunnydale. What makes me different?"
"Like I know?" He laughed, not wanting to just... make something up. "I loved them. Hell... part of me still loves Faith, I admit that. But not one of them made me want to give it all up. The day I MET you, I was practically obsessed with you. I knew, that day, that I would do anything it took, give up any and EVERYthing, to be with you."
She smiled at that. It's not always something you can tell, anyway. Didn't matter. She had just been curious. "Well, obsession is never a good thing, but I love you, so it's OK," she said, smiling up at him.
"God, I never get tired of hearing that." He flagged down the waiter, looking to get the check. "I wonder if, when we're in our 70s, if we'll still be as unable to keep our hands off of each other as we are right now."
"Well, I certainly expect to be that way, I don't know about you," she said to him with a chuckle.
"Are you kidding? I kinda wanna just throw you down on the ground right HERE. But I strongly suspect we wouldn't be much welcomed back here. And I think Bretton's trying to work on buying this place." He actually looked disappointed that he COULDN'T throw her down.
She laughed. "Then maybe we should cut out early with the check and get back home."