Characters of a Minor Sort (jesschars) wrote in btvsal, @ 2010-07-07 23:16:00 |
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Current mood: | happy |
Rambly Conversation is Rambly
Who: Joshua and Dawn
Where: Avarice
When: Monday Night, 6/5
Why the heck was Dawn even HERE? Honestly, she had NO idea. Avarice, while the place most of her schoolmates hung at, wasn't exactly Dawn's cup of tea. She liked clubs, as was evident by her love of The Bronze back in Sunnydale, but this place was a LITTLE too big for her. Still, she was here... mostly out of boredom. Buffy was out with the boyfriend, which actually made Dawn happy, even if it DID leave her home alone more than she liked. So, what the hell, right? The younger Summers girl put on a flattering (but modest) black miniskirt and red sleeveless blouse, teasing her hair just a little and headed to the club. Now of course, that she was HERE... she felt a little ridiculous.
Joshua himself was having a drink at the bar after what had been a long day of work. Training had been a little extra rough today, but now he was done and he wanted to relax. He was OK with things not working out with Gwen. Not exactly happy, but she was happier than he'd ever seen her be, so he couldn't hold that against her at all. But that meant that he had to find his own happiness now. Not the worth thing in the world, he supposed.
Bopping over to the bar for a drink, Dawn flashed her wristband to CJ and grinned. "Coke please?" She asked in that sweet little lilting tone of hers. She happened to glance over to where Joshua sat, and just... gave a bashful, blushy wave.
When Joshua noticed the pretty girl sitting next to him and gave her a smile. "Not sure I've seen you here much before," he admitted. "And that didn't sound like a come on in my head, sorry."
Dawn just BLUSHED, hard, at that. Yes, she was a VERY pretty girl, but when you're still in high school, even about to be a Senior, your social standing counted more toward your dating status than your general looks. So she wasn't exactly used to guys that looked like HIM really talking to her much. "It... don't worry. It totally didn't. Sound like a come on, I mean. I mean, I'm sure your come ons are WAY better than that. Not that I'm saying you're some skeez that has tons of come ons."
He chuckled when she said that. Another girl who didn't know just how pretty she really was. For some reason, LA tended to breed those like crazy. "I think I get what you mean," he said to her, smiling. "I'm Joshua, by the way." He offered her his hand.
"Dawn." She replied, shaking his hand, which seemed MASSIVE compared to how, well, tiny she was. "And to reply to earlier... no, I really don't come here often. I kind of... don't go out too much recently."
"Really? That's too bad," he said to her. She really was kind of tiny compared to him, but most girls were, honestly. "Busy with school or something?"
"Yeah. About to start my Senior Year of high school... kind of can't WAIT to get out of there. Kids can kind of be jerks, you know?" Not many could be as cruel as Camille, granted, but even with her gone, there were plenty of others remaining.
Actually, she had looked a little older than that, but he wasn't THAT much older than her. "Kids can kind of suck," he agreed, taking a sip of his drink. "Luckily some of them grow out of it."
"Most of my friends have graduated, so... I'm hoping I can sort of make friends with my... friend's friend. And that made WAY more sense in my head." She said, rolling her eyes. Way to look good in front of a cute guy, Dawn, Really.
He chuckled and nodded. "I think I understand what you mean," he said to her. "Friends always help pass the time during the school days." It was what had helped get him through high school at any rate. Not like he was the most stellar of students.
"When did you graduate?" She asked, her own little not-so-subtle way of getting his age. Real smooth, Dawn.
"I graduated in '99," he told her, taking another sip of his drink. Which didn't make him *that* much older than her, actually. Nothing gross, anyway.
"Oh. Cool." What a conversationalist, hm? Hey... Dawn hadn't REALLY had serious relationship since ASH, for God's sake! She was a little gun-shy! "So... you all alone tonight? And, again, a question that sounded way less pickup-line in my head."
That last part made him laugh again. She was cute, OK? "Yeah, I'm here alone tonight," he told her. "Kind of went through a break up recently. Well, 'break up' is kind of a strong word for it, but basically that."
"Ouch. Yeah I did that once. Couple years ago. Because..." Ok, blush-time. "Ok, because I really haven't dated anyone SINCE my first real boyfriend."
He thought on that for a second. "Everyone has to start somewhere," he told her. "And not everyone has much experience past the start."
"I've mostly been focusing on my studies since we broke up, really. I studied overseas a couple of times because of some scholarship opportunities and oh my GOD I am the single most boring girl alive." She winced, realized she was bragging about SCHOOL to a good-looking guy.
He smiled at her. "Actually, sounds kind of neat," he said to her. He had never been overseas. Well, he hadn't had the chance to do so yet, anyway. "Where did you get to study, anyway?"
"Italy... in a little town near Rome. Which was kind of funny because I can barely speak any Italian, so had to kind of wing some of it, but it was SUCH a nice experience." She caught herself sort of... fidgeting nervously, as face it: most of the time? Dawn was a bit of a wallflower.
"I've never actually been out of the states before," Joshua admitted to her, "so that actually does kind of impress me a bit." The only languages he knew other than English were a few words in some random demon languages that he had picked up during his 'work' and a fair amount of Spanish. "I did my basic training in New Mexico and got transferred here and, other than that and Atlanta, that's about all of the major traveling I've had the chance to do."
"I kind of get a kick out of New Mexico. It's not really new anymore, nor is it Mexico. Yet it's called New Mexico. Kind of thing that makes you wonder, you know? Like... who was drunk when THAT got named?" Sigh. This is what happens when Dawn gets flustered by a cute guy. She tends to ramble. About stupid, stupid stuff.
"Well, if you want to go that route, then why is New York still called New York?" Joshua had actually been around rambly women all his life. He had thought his sister was the queen of it until he came to LA. He could easily figure out conversations like this.
"Wow... now that is a GOOD point. And New Jersey! NOT A THING is new about that place. It's old, and dirty, and stinky." Even in her head, she was screaming at herself: 'Shut up, Dawn! SHUT UP!'
He laughed. "New Hampshire isn't exactly young in the tooth, either," he said, then shook his head. "And I sound like my grandfather by comparing anything to 'young or old in the tooth.'"
"That saying really does make NO sense. It's like when someone tells you not to look a gift horse in the mouth. That's about the stupidest thing I've ever HEARD." Was this discussion really happening? Really?
Yeah, he realized just how strange this conversation had to sound and just started to laugh again. "I really have no idea what that phrase means, either," he admitted. "I think it means a horse as a gift or something."
But why would you give or get a horse as a g... you know? Nevermind." She laughed, rolling her eyes. "So what do you do? You know, when not being overwhelmed by rambly high school girls?"
"I'm in the army, actually," he told her. It really was the easiest cover story for what he really did that there was. "I'm just glad that they are kind of lenient with the away time at nights from the base."
"Wow... the Army? I can see it. You look all tough and 'grrr'." She said with a nod. Because 'grr' is obviously a good, vivid description of someone.
He just chuckled. If only she knew that he tended to deal with the things that went 'grr' instead of being that way himself. Anyways..."Thanks," he said to her.
"Anytime... " She laughed, blushing a little as she grumbled suddenly, looking down at her cellphone, which was vibrating in her hand. "Crap... my mom's calling. I'm guessing she just noticed I was supposed to be home a half hour ago."
"Ooh, you should probably call her back then," he said, wincing slightly. His mother had been a terror when he broke curfew. "Good luck with her then."
"Um... maybe I'll see you here again sometime?" She asked, her voice that nervous little squeak that her friends loved to tease her about.
"I'd like that, actually," he said to her with a smile. "Hopefully you're mom will actually let you out of the house before you graduate and I'll be able to do so."
"Yeah. Ya never know. My mom can go from cool to ridiculous in like, 0.2 seconds. So we'll hope she's cool today." And then? Dawn took what was, for her, a daring little step: she grabbed a napkin and scrawled her cell phone number on it. "Here... this is just... just in case you wanna maybe plan out when we meet up here again or, you know... anything."
He smiled, taking the number. "I'll definitely be giving you a call soon then." OK, so he was a teensy bit older than her, but she was cute and he liked her, and it wasn't like he was ridiculously older than her, so it was OK.