It was bound to happen...
Who: Hope & Mouse (w/ a cameo by Lucy Van Warren) Where: Chloe's Sugar Shack When: Early Friday evening
After her little talk with Candi, Hope was feeling a little more up to talking with Mouse about her feelings. She was almost positive that the girl had the same feelings about her, which made the talking part a little easier. After cleaning up downstairs in the basement, she came back up, knowing that Mouse would be in here somewhere.
Hope was right, as Mouse had just started her shift about 20 minutes earlier, while the Watcher was downstairs with Candi and Faith. She was quietly taking an order over near the counter, and who was it she was helping? Oh, joy. Her favorite customer, the high-school jock who didn't get that the shy girl wasn't interested. Still, she pretended (not very well) to laugh at his lame joke, and not to wanna punch him every time he made some shitty comment. Hey, good tippers? Hard to find. And he never did anything TOO bad, just the occasional sexist comment or attempt at looking up her skirt. As she turned to walk away, this time he got a liiiiittle daring and actually reached over to pat her on the ass.
Hope had been willing to look over the guy for Mouse's sake, since he did leave good tips, but seeing him manhandle her like that pissed her off. Instead of going over to him and smacking him over the head like she wanted to, though, she instead quietly went over to Lucy and told her what she just saw.
Oh NO. Mouse bit her tongue so she wouldn't say anything... but as she turned around, she saw Hope, the angry look on her face, then the girl talking to Lucy. CRAP IN A HAT.
Hope couldn't help it. When she told Lucy, she took a step back from the counter as Lucy when over and chewed out the basketball player and finally made him carry his but out and leave.
"Dammit." Mouse muttered, as she looked over and saw, as she suspected, that the asshole didnt leave a tip. She hated even feeling upset about this, as the guy made her REALLY uncomfortable. But she'd TOLD Hope why she needed to keep him around. "Hope?" The waitress asked with an annoyed, squeaky little pout, once people had started going back to their own affairs. "Why would you do that? I needed to keep him as a customer!"
Hope looked away for a moment. "Because you don't need to put up with creeps like that," she said to her, starring down at her feet. "You shouldn't let someone grab you like that just because you need the money. I *know* your situation. I really do. I just...I just can't stand to see someone grab you like that..."
"You can't?" Mouse asked, that voice going all squeaky again, as it ALWAYS did when she was nervous or antsy. "Why? Is it some girl-power thing because of your job or somethin'?" She blinked, trying her best not to get upset, as deep down, she knew Hope was right.
"No, it has nothing to do with my job, Mouse!" Hope said, nearly squealing herself. OK, once Lucy had shooed the guy out of the store, she just stopped to watch. SHE easily knew what was going on, and, horribly enough, found it totally cute and hilarious. Bad Lucy! Anyways..."It's...no one should touch you like that unless they care about you, and that piece of trash obviously doesn't."
"Well... thanks for caring, Hope... I do mean that. I just..." She sighed, not wanting to bitch about something that was done out of respect, AND something that was actually the right thing to do. "I wouldn't have put up with anything worse than that. And if I was seeing someone I wouldn't let him do THAT. But I need the money and people aren't exactly beating my door down, you know?"
Lucy actually ran to the back so that she could laugh in private. OK, too funny for her. Hope, meanwhile, was resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Apparently this was obvious to everyone BUT Mouse. "You really can't tell, can you?" she asked, finally.
"....How stupid does it make me if I say I have no idea what you're talking about?" Mouse asked with an adorably honest frustration. She honestly thought Hope saw her as a sweet kid, maybe a fun person to talk to, nothing more.
Hope took a deep breath. "OK, I've never said anything like this to a girl before, or really even a guy, but definitely not a girl, so if I do this wrong, just let me know." She finally brought her eyes back up to Mouse's face. "I like you, OK? Like, not just in a 'let's be friends and grab a cup of coffee' sort of way. In the 'I can't stand to see some guy grab you because it makes me want to use my Watcher training to kick the crap out of him, which I promised to not use my Watcher abilities for non-Watcher purposes, and I think that falls under it' way."
Honestly? Hope had just wasted a bunch of breath. Because Mouse had pretty much falled hysterically deaf the moment the words 'I like you' came out of her mouth. "You.... like me-like me? As in want-to-go-out-with-me like? Because if I'm imagining this I'm seriously gonna be upset."
"No, you're not imagining it," Hope said to her. "I really said it. I really, really do." Which was why she had almost attacked the guy who had grabbed her butt.
"Um... would you wanna maybe... I dunno... do something? Ever?" Ohmygod. She was really TOO adorable sometimes. She was already trying to think of she had anything she could sell to get some date money.
"I'd love that, actually," Hope said. "And more like on the soonish side, since I just admitted all of this stuff to you." And Hope was so paying for all of this.
"OH THANK GOD!!!" Lucy yelled from the back. Yep, she had been listening to the whole thing. "I thought you guys were just going to stare at each other and swoon all day every day."
"Lucyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Mouse squealed, cutely stomping her foot. Damnit! Lucy was as bad as Chloe! "Anyway... um... whenever... whenever is good, you know... for you and stuff...." She lived right up the street from a decent pawn shop, so... woo-hoo! "I'm totally warning you now though: I'm a boring date. I stammer, I get flustered and stop making sense, and sometimes I forget to speak and sit there in quiet."
Hope smirked a little. "I highly doubt that you'd be all that boring," she said to Mouse. "Besides, I'm sure that, together, we can make some of our own fun." She then blushed. "And that came out way dirtier than I had intended."
Mouse, right then? Blushed as red as the hair on her head. Note she didn't exactly look offended or put off though. Just surprised. "I'm willing to do pretty much anything you think is fun... just..." She whispered, feeling ashamed to have to ask this. "Can we go somewhere or do something cheap?"
Hope chuckled. "We can go or do whatever you want," she said to her. Not that she intended on Mouse paying for anything, but let's cross that bridge when we get there, OK? She reached out and held Mouse's hand.
Ok, even the waitresses EARS were turning red now. She wasn't used to this kind of attention, as really, only Marlowe had ever shown her any kind of public affection in the past. She was totally LOVING it.