Tobias Eaton is a (powerfulname) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2017-09-30 17:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, * emily, * kit, c: clara bea hyland, r: tobias epstein |
WHO: Bea Prewett and Tobias Epstein
WHEN: September 30, 2017
WHERE: Dunhaven University → a restaurant
SUMMARY: Tobias and Bea go on maybe a date (??)
WARNINGS: None! Still in progress.
Spending Rosh Hashanah alone had been profoundly depressing. Last year--his first year away from home--Tobias had attended an event hosted by the Dunhaven Hillel, but it had been awkward and exhausting to spend all that time among people who were new to him, but not to each other; the Hillel kids were a tight-knit group, and Tobias had never really ingrained himself with them, in large part because it was a voluntary social club, and he was never overly eager to mingle when he didn’t have to. So Tobias figured that this year, he would just lay-low, go to some services, and hang out a bit with Beau. That last part had been alright, but it still didn’t feel like the holidays. It wasn’t as though Rosh Hashanah had been particularly enjoyable the past couple of years, not since his mother had passed away--but he’d felt a little closer to that feeling and time in his life when he was surrounded by other people celebrating and all the familiar vestiges of festivity. With break fast now looming, Tobias felt strangely determined to make a better time out of it than he’d done with the last high holy day--maybe because eating himself into oblivion alone in his dormitory was actually even more pathetic than ringing in the new year solo. It might have been the stupor he’d worked himself into from not eating all day, but he didn’t hesitate or stop to think before he texted Bea and asked her if she wanted to get dinner around seven. As he waited for Bea at the gates of Dunhaven’s campus, Tobias leaned a shoulder into the ornate work of iron that loomed above him. He still didn’t really have the energy to worry too much about how this would go and what the exact nature of this outing was. Tobias actually felt more at ease with Bea than he did with anyone, though that was something he still couldn’t quite understand. For some reason, Bea hadn’t told Josie that the reason she couldn’t hang out that night was because she was meeting up with Tobias. The fact that she continued wanting to see him and talk to him felt like something she still needed to process and understand and, for now, she was content to keep whatever existed between them for herself. That wasn’t to say that Bea had any expectations at all of the reasons why Tobias had asked her to meet him for dinner--in fact, she had no expectations, largely due to the fact that she wasn’t ready for anyone to expect things she wasn’t sure she could deliver, either. Her life was too uncertain right now to know that she could be whatever people needed her to be. That didn’t stop the hint of excitement she felt as she walked through the city toward the university’s campus where she was to meet Tobias. She spotted him almost immediately at the gates, as though her senses were trained to be hyper-aware of his presence. She dug her hands into her pockets and walked up to him, a small smile on her face. “I take it that we’re not eating at the campus cafeteria, then?” “Ugh, no,” answered Tobias with a lopsided sort of smile as he pushed himself off of the gate. “I’m starving, and this is definitely not the kind of hungry anything in there could satisfy,” he said. Dunhaven’s cafeteria wasn’t bad, really, but on a Saturday night, it was a desolate den of scraps, cold beef patties, and lonely souls--speaking from experience. “I was thinking Grandma’s?” Tobias suggested as he fell into pace beside Bea. Bea quickly did the mental calculation in her head and, determining that she could afford a dinner at Grandma’s, nodded her head. “Sounds good, but I should warn you ahead of time that I can kill a plate of Grandma’s hash browns.” She noted, vaguely, that that was the most country thing she had ever said in her life. She walked in step with him as they left the front of the campus and, though she’d meant to keep a casual amount of distance between them, her jacketed arm brushed against his. “I had a can of Campbell’s soup and a cheese sandwich on the menu tonight,” she continued, ignoring her thoughts, “but I guess I can slum it with the real food, instead.” Tobias was Very Aware of the arm brush, but he didn’t acknowledge it and just kept on walking. He laughed. “Well, thanks for sacrificing for me, because I can probably kill about three plates of Grandma’s hash browns right now,” he said, then paused for a beat as they turned the block. Normally, divulging details about himself was akin to pulling teeth--a long, tedious, and painful process. And yet...for some reason, it didn’t feel natural keeping things from Bea in the same way that it had always felt more than natural with others. “It’s Yom Kippur,” explained Tobias. “So we fast from sundown the day before to sundown tonight,” he said with a wry smile. “I’m truly ravenous.” Bea glanced up, surprised. She didn’t truthfully know a lot about Tobias, so she wasn’t sure exactly what her impressions were of him in all subjects, but she hadn’t necessarily taken him for a religious person. Then again, she’d known plenty of other people who’d been spiritual but not religious, or who appreciated their respective cultures without being religious. So she wouldn’t just assume he was or he wasn’t, though she enjoyed getting some insight into who he was. All it did was make her want to know more about him, a dangerous road to walk because knowing more generally meant having to divulge more. “I’m pretty sure, after fasting, even my soup and cheese sandwich would be delicious, though,” she offered, “I’ve been hungry enough to find a can of stewed tomatoes gourmet.” She laughed and shrugged a shoulder. “But I won’t judge you eating three orders of hashbrowns. I can be a bit of a human garbage disposal myself,” she said, smiling. “So you’re...Jewish?” “Oh, it definitely would be, but I’m willing to go the extra mile,” he said, then paused again. Tobias hesitated, not because he was uncertain of his identity, but because it brought them to the precipice of something he didn’t think he was ready to talk about tonight. Also...Tobias didn’t think he was Jewish in quite the same way that he had once been; he certainly wasn’t orthodox any longer, but he did still think of himself as Jewish--that was an intrinsic part of who he was, and Tobias didn’t think he could be so easily alienated from it. “Yeah, I’m Jewish,” he said simply as they neared Grandma’s. There was more to it than that, but affirmation seemed sufficient for now. “That’s cool,” Bea replied, and then skipped ahead to grab the front door to Grandma’s, letting Tobias walk in front of her. She could tell that he didn’t want to be pressed on the issue just then and she respected that, so she kept any further questions on the topic at bay. It was probably better that way, anyway, even if she did want to know everything she could about this guy who so intrigued her. The smells inside Grandma’s were mouthwatering and Bea found her stomach growling in hunger. She covered her stomach with one hand and tried to stifle the sound of it. “Booth or table?” She personally preferred the booths because they seemed a little less exposed than the tables. It was a deeply ingrained preference but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to let Tobias choose tonight. “Booth,” Tobias said easily, then grabbed a spot across the room. The smell of the food was dizzying, and as he perused the menu quickly, everything sounded good. “Alright, well, I want all of it,” he said. Snorting back a laugh, Bea said, “Well, then I might actually judge you.” She was clearly joking and might have taken up the challenge of doing the same had she had the means of actually doing so. Instead, she scanned the menu, casually checking both the menu items and their corresponding prices as she did so. “I think I’m going with breakfast for dinner,” she said, “and I’ll probably steal a quarter of all the crap you’re ordering when you’re not looking.” Tobias raised an eyebrow, “Well, now I’m going to be looking the whole time,” he retorted. “I’m good enough to steal it even when you are,” Bea replied, with a mischievous grin. “So I’d advise you to order more than you think you can actually eat.” He grinned, amused. “Alright, well, I guess we’ll just have to see,” he reasoned, as the waitress approached their table. “What can I get you two?” she asked. “I’ll have a hamburger and fries,” Tobias ordered, then eyed Bea from across the table. “Actually, make that two fries.” “Alright,” she said, writing down Tobias’ order. “And for you, dear?” she asked Bea. |