Brandon laughed and shrugged. "Can't we be both?" he asked with a big grin. "Some of the alcoholics I've met are pretty fucking enlightened, even if their brains are all pickled. Who knows, maybe that's what makes them enlightened," he added with a snorted laugh. "Maybe that means we should drink more." As if punctuating, Brandon took a drink from his beer bottle and nodded an affirmative.
"Tolerance wasn't the thing," he mused. "It was more stupid idiotic bravado issues." He wasn't afraid to admit that, either. He was a guy. Idiotic bravado was part of the package, no matter how much men tried to deny it. "Doesn't matter how much I've had to drink, it's just a thing. Or, it was, anyway. Someone dared me to do something and I did it. Got myself into a lot of trouble back when I was younger."
Not a date. Brandon didn't do dates, anyway. Not really. His dates only ever consisted of a couple of drinks and then a set of moves that always wound up with the girl back at his apartment. Somehow, he expected things not to work like that with Bea. Besides, he liked her more than he liked those girls, so... he kind of hoped it would be different, too. Her response made him grin a little wider. "I wouldn't have suggested it if not for you, though, so I guess we can let you take credit for this one," he offered, his grin turning teasing. "Next time I'm taking all the credit, though. Just for the record." As if there was a record.
No, he didn't understand firsthand how that felt, but he did understand it because, "I saw Leah go through a lot of shit, so I know oldest child syndrome is kind of shitty anyway." He looked at her and shrugged. "I imagine it's not that much different even without the three sibling thing." Vienna didn't seem that terror-like now, but that didn't mean she had always been that way.
"Rae's cousin, I think. It makes sense, if you ask me," he shrugged and chuckled.
Brandon nodded. "I knew a few of those myself," he told her. "It was always hard to see cops go bad, I'll be honest. But it happened a lot in my precinct, especially since we ended up with really dangerous routes. Reg and I had to arrest our assistant chief once for drug trafficking." Not a fond memory. "But I was one of the good ones. Not to brag or anything." But he felt like he'd earned some bragging rights.
"You just made the comment by saying that," he pointed out with a wry little grin. "Hey, I know of guys who liked dressing nice, too. Straight guys," he added as an afterthought. "There's something about looking good, and I don't think you really have to dress fancy to look good." Said before he'd thought it through, but he couldn't take it back now. And it wasn't like he hadn't meant it, anyway. "There's a boutique off on the other side of Bedford. Maybe we could head over there sometime. I think there's an outdoor clothing shop next door, anyway, so..."
He chuckled when she said she missed heels. "I miss my leather jacket."