e. (epalmer) wrote in mcdermott_game, @ 2009-12-21 02:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | charlotte, charlotte/eric, eric |
Who: Eric and Charlotte
What: They split some pizza, get to know each other briefly and Eric gets zero action.
Where: Harper Cove
When: Uhh. Let's go back to December 6th. Just to be sure.
Rating: PG-13
Charlotte was starving. She'd overslept and had skipped breakfast so by lunchtime, she was past hungry. When she got out of class, she hurried over to Harper Cove since for some reason she was craving pizza and she knew she could get a slice there. Greeting a few people she recognized, she went to stand in line. Thankfully the line was short and she finally reached the counter, looking to see if they had pepperoni and feeling relieved when they did. She reached for the slice on the counter (which happened to be the last one) just as the guy in front of her reached for it too and their hands touched. "I'm sorry," she said and pulled her hand away, trying not to let the disappointment show on her face. It was only a slice of pizza after all and she could just as easily get a slice of sausage but dammit she wanted pepperoni. "you can have it." She looked at the guy's face more closely to see if she knew him but she didn't. With a little shrug, she reached for the slice of sausage on the next pan and put it on her plate.
Burger's were usually Eric's preferred meal, but something about today made him want pizza. Pepperoni, to be exact. With globby, greasy cheese and a large side of ranch. Mmm. He figured he could relax and eat for a bit before heading to the computer lab and putting the finishing touches on his latest video. Maybe meet up with some friends and smoke a bowl; did some fine editing when he was baked. Maybe, maybe not. The Cove was a necessity though. When his hand touched another, he looked to the side and lo and behold there was a pretty little thing. He was smiling his most charming smile immediately. "Nah, that's no fair. Strike you a deal? We can cut it in half and each take a bit." He was being damn generous considering how bad he wanted it. The pretty thing helped.
She was surprised at the offer since she had never seen this guy before but he seemed decent enough. "Sure," she shrugged. "sounds good to me and besides the sausage pizza here tastes like rubber." Charlotte smiled at him and nodded. "Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm Charlotte Fletcher by the way." Introducing herself seemed like the polite thing to do if she was going to split a slice of pizza with the guy.
The dude behind the counter looked mildly offended at Charlotte's comment and Eric had to chuckle. "Eric Palmer," he returned, reaching out for a plate of cheese pizza too. "We can split this too. Unless you want something else?"
"No, that's fine," she said. "and it's nice to meet you, Eric." She too had noticed the pizza guy's expression and offered him a smile in apology. Not that she wanted to apologize since she was speaking the truth but she hated to hurt anyone's feelings. "and thank you again. I can't help it, I have a thing for pepperoni pizza especially with green olives but since they don't serve that here, I'll settle for plain." Charlotte often wished that the cafeterias here had more variety but what could you do?
He shrugged easily. "No problem. And green olives? Really?" He made a face but it relaxed into an amused expression quickly. "You're one of those, huh? Eating healthy things on pizza, who ever thought that one up?" He grabbed a coke when they got near and held one out for her too, if she wanted one. "You meeting anyone for lunch?"
"I don't think green olives are really all that healthy," she pointed out and took the soda he offered her. She usually drank diet but didn't want to mention that because he was being nice and she didn't want to appear picky. "Lots of sodium and all that. Besides the fat on the pepperoni cancels out the healthy in the veggies I figure." His question surprised her. No, she wasn't meeting anyone for lunch but did she want to eat lunch with him? He seemed harmless enough and it would be better than eating by herself so she shook her head. "No, I'm not actually. Just me."
"They're green," Eric said dismissively. "Healthy enough." It was a totally ridiculous topic but it was fun enough. "Yeah?" His eyebrows went up slightly and he grinned. "Cool. Sit with me, then. If for no other reason to express your gratitude at my insane generousity." When it was his turn at the til, he paid up for his coke and the cheese pizza, and then stood to the side to wait for her. He had considered paying for her food too, but some girls got all weirdly offended by that and then thought you were a huge asshole. Which he wasn't aiming for at this exact moment.
"Okay," she agreed a little shyly. Charlotte wasn't used to guys inviting her to eat lunch with them. Will would have had a fit if it had happened when they were together and since she'd been at McDermott, she'd usually eaten with someone from one of her classes or grabbed something to take back to her room. Once she had paid, she looked at her companion and said "Okay so where do you want to sit? Any preferences? It doesn't look too crowded at the moment."
"Corner booth," he decided, grabbing a plastic knife before heading off in that direction, occasionally glancing behind to make sure she was following. When they were seated, he started cutting the piece of cheese pizza in half so he could give her one half. "So, Char Fletcher. What's your story?"
Charlotte followed him, thinking to herself how self confident that he seemed. It always surprised her when people were like that since she had never been that way except on stage. When she was performing, she lost herself in the role and never thought twice about feeling awkward. She took the seat across from and accepted the pizza with a smile. It surprised her when he called her "Char" because even though it was her nickname, most people didn't use it the first time they met her. "My story?" she began, trying to figure out how much of that story she was willing to share. "Let's see. I'm from San Diego, California and I transferred here from USC. Needed a change and since my brother is a professor here, it was the logical choice."
Eric had barely even noticed that he gave her the nickname, had just done it absentmindedly. At the mention of her brother being a Professor, it clicked. Charlotte Fletcher, Tim Fletcher. Duh. Hmm. Charlotte didn't seem like the type, exactly, but if they hooked up this would be the second Professor of his who's little sister he fucked. He still smirked sometimes when he looked at Prof. Sykes. "You don't strike me as an archetypal California girl." He raised an eyebrow and leaned forward slightly. "Am I wrong?"
"Well that depends," she said as she took a bite of pizza. "What do you mean by archetypical California girl? The fact that I'm not blonde?" She was curious as to what the remark meant. Charlotte had never thought of herself as typical or non typical and wasn't sure if he was complimenting her or insulting her. It could be either. "If it helps any, my mother is a blonde. I just happen to look like my dad."
He reached out for the pepperoni slice as well, cutting that up too and then taking his half. "Blonde, tan, obsessed with being blonde and tan ... all about pop culture and dieting." Eric shrugged. "I know I'm overexaggerating, but I'm just saying. It's cool."
The thing was that he really wasn't. Charlotte knew a lot of girls like that but had never been one herself. "You're not that far off," she admitted as she picked off a piece of pepperoni and popped it in her mouth. "I knew girls in my class who got boob jobs for their birthdays and I thought that was insane. Who needs a boob job at sixteen? I mean really." She shook her head and took a sip of her soda. "so yeah there a lot of girls like that out there but thankfully some of us are sane." That might be debatable she thought but she wasn't about to say that to Eric.
Eric lifted his can of Coke toward hers, the aluminum barely making a clink. "To being sane," Eric proposed. "And yeah, boob jobs are pretty much just gross. It's a good thing you got out of there while you still had the chance." He paused, smiling a bit. "I'm from New York. I'm a snob. Can you tell?"
She laughed and shook her head. "No, not at all. I never would have gotten the east coast snob vibe from you. Truth be told, I want to end up on the East coast one day so maybe it's a good thing I'm not your typical Californian." Charlotte dreamed of being on Broadway although she had no idea how long it would take or if she even had a shot. All she knew was that she wanted it more than anything. She'd come too close to never fulfilling that dream and was determined now to make it happen.
"And I'll probably end up on the West coast someday so ..." Funny how that worked. But LA was a film and television hotspot, and that's what he wanted to do, his attachment to the East coast be damned. He took a bite of his half of the pepperoni pizza and smiled at her, looking her straight in the eye as he did so. It was his boyish sort of 'you can trust me' look that wasn't entirely a lie right now. He didn't really expect to get anything from her, but this conversation was easy and fun and not stupid and complicated like all the females in his life seemed to be.
He was charming, she'd give him that much but the way he looked at her made her feel a little wary. Most girls would have immediately trusted him but Charlotte wasn't most girls. "What's your story?" she asked. "You wanted to know what mine was so now it's your turn." He had mentioned LA so he must be planning to do something with television or film versus stage. He looked like an actor on a teen soap so going to LA would make sense.
"No story, really. Graduated high school. Ended up here. I want to work in film," Eric explained. With non-art school girls, he played this little detail up as subtly as he could - the surefire fame, the exciting inevitable lifestyle, his passion for film. It didn't work on girls who went to the same school as him though. They knew the type. "So, this seemed like the place to go. And it pissed off my parents, which sold it for sure." He flashed her a grin before taking another drink of his coke. "I know, I know. They're lucky to have me."
"Well as long as you're happy doing something that you love, that's the most important thing," she said as she finished her pizza. Charlotte had learned the hard way that you had to go after your dreams before it was too late. "and I'll bet your parents think they're lucky to have you even if you do enjoying pissing them off." She smiled at him and took a sip of her coke. He seemed nice enough although something about the way he was looking at her set her a little on edge. Then again she was probably just being paranoid. That wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
Correction: they thought they were lucky to have Brynn. "Yeah, well." He laughed a little, picking up his pizza again. "As they should. Everyone should feel blessed to have me in their life." He polished off the rest of his pizza and started thinking about the computer lab again. This was clearly going nowhere. Maybe she'd realize in retrospect how much she wanted to ravish him, and for that he'd make sure he left the option open. "I should probably peace but if you want my number, we can hang out or something."
Wait. He wanted to know if she wanted his number? "You're that confident that I want to hang out with you, huh?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow and looked at him. He was certainly cocky. "What makes you so sure that I would? Does every girl fall over you or something?" She knew she was being confrontational but she truthfully didn't care. He seemed nice enough but clearly he had an exaggerated opinion of himself.
He watched her little tirade with an entirely bored expression. Had she ever jumped on the defensive boat. And he wasn't even laying the moves on her! "I thought you were cool and might want to do this again. That's it." He shot her this look like, 'tone down the crazy'. "Guess not."
Suddenly she felt bad for her remarks. He hadn't said anything out of line yet she had immediately jumped down his throat. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "really. I shouldn't have said that and I don't know why I did so please forgive me." Gathering her books, she tried to hide the blush that had suddenly crept up on her. "It was nice to meet you, Eric and thanks for the pizza. I...have to go." She hugged her books to her chest and hurried out the door, completely ashamed of the way she had acted. Hopefully she wouldn't see him very often since Charlotte was pretty sure he thought she was certifiable.