Aubrey R. Kline (deklined) wrote in mnhttnprjct, @ 2010-04-16 14:34:00 |
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AUBREY: Aubrey was going to kick Lindsay. Really. She would do it. Her palms were sweaty, and her hair really wasn't suitable for a date. Nor was she wearing something especially nice. Lindsay hadn't given her nearly enough warning. She had only texted her about it ten minutes ago, when Aubrey's bus was already getting close to the restaurant. She knew she could have just gotten back on the bus going the other way around and told Lindsay to give her regrets to this person -- Cody. That was his name. But Lindsay had sent along a picture of him and Aubrey had to admit that he was attractive. She instantly felt guilty. She was seeing Max. And she knew that she probably should have just gotten on a bus heading home, but knowing that he read her blog and was interested in her gave him a certain charm. Things with Max felt like they were going nowhere, and at least she had a valid excuse. She hadn't know. So Aubrey took a deep breath and held her purse tightly, applied her lip gloss and ran her fingers through her hair before she walked proudly forward, hoping that she looked at least halfway decent for a date. She really hoped that this Cody was an understanding sort of guy. CODY: Cody, on the other hand, had had nothing but time to meticulously stress over the buildup to this unconventional date. There had been three wardrobe changes, negated or supported by the input of various friends (and once, his mother). He'd read up on Aubrey's blog and some other political sites to make sure he could sound informed and discuss topics relevant to her interests, even though most of the subject matter generally daunted him. He'd groomed, he'd psyched himself up, and he'd made the last-second executive decision to ditch the tie before heading out the door for the arranged rendez-vous. Despite some leery warnings of appearing too cheesy, he'd picked up a modest bouquet of flowers from a local grocer - for no small fee, given the inflation on nearly anything grown out of the earth these days. When Aubrey strode towards the appointed cafe he was already seated at the terrace, nervously smoothing down his maroon button-up as he waited. Upon spotting her approach he quickly stood, lips spreading in a wide smile. "Hey! Aubrey." He greeted enthusiastically, his body language seeming to telegraph that he wanted to go for a hug, but stopping himself and offering a hand for a shake instead. "Nice to officially meet you." To his credit, he showed no sign whatsoever of being dismayed by her appearance. AUBREY: He looked even better in person, which made Aubrey feel even more guilty. Her smile slipped for just a second but then was back on her face, brighter than ever. She was surprised to see the bouquet on the table. Just what had Lindsay been telling him? She hoped that the conversations had just been light, friendly. And not romantic. "Hi! Cody?" She walked quickly to him, feeling extremely grateful that she had decided to not go to the gym before meeting Lindsay. For once she was really, really glad that work had gone late. She could tell he wanted a hug, and started to move towards one, but as he stopped himself and offered her a handshake, she laughed nervously, but good naturedly. "It's really great to meet you, too." At least they had talked over her blog. So not every single one of their connections had been Lindsay pretending to be her. She just wished she could have read the comments he had given her before, but there was no time for that in the short time Lindsay had given her. "You look great," she said. CODY: "Really?" Cody asked with no small amount of relief at the compliment, "I mean, you do too. You're even prettier than in your vlogs." He hadn't stopped grinning since he first spotted her, and seeming to realize this, made a conscious effort to tone down his expression to a more casual smile. Remembering the flowers with a start, he plucked them from the table and offered them up. "Oh, these are for you. I hope it's not too cheeseball, but I saw them and thought that it's too bad people don't give flowers so much anymore, so I thought, why not, right?" AUBREY: "Of course!" At his compliment she blushed a little, and laughed nervously. She had a whole flock of butterflies at the pit of her stomach, and she felt a bit weak on her feet. For a split second she got worried she was going to faint, but she focused on trying to enjoy herself. His smile was charming, and along with her nerves, she was already starting to feel guilty about having to let him know how things had really been set up. What did fake Aubrey know about him? Or about this date? It was all she could do not to pull out her iHolo and make Lindsay explain everything to Cody herself. But she had a feeling Lindsay wouldn't put it as sensitively as she could. She gave him a bright, sweet smile when he handed her the flowers. "Oh, really? But you shouldn't have!" She didn't know if she ought to feel pleased as punch of dreadfully guilty. Because it had been a very long time since someone had given her a bouquet like this. "It's not cheeseball at all..." She smelled them. "You're just too sweet, Cody!" CODY: "Oh, nah..." Cody dismissed the compliment with a bashful wave of his hand, "Just how I was raised. Here," And proving a further hint of those upstate manners, he sidled around the table to pull out her chair and help her settle into the cozy terrace spot. He slipped his bulk back into his own chair and opened his mouth to speak, but before he had the chance a cheerful barista appeared at their side. "Oh, uh, I'll get a mocha syntheccino." By the time he was old enough to start developing a taste for coffee it was already a rarity, so he generally preferred the (far more affordable) synthetic options. AUBREY: She was impressed by him pulling out her chair. She gave him a pleased smile for his troubles, setting her purse at her feet and letting herself get comfortable in the seat. She was just about to open her mouth and start to explain, but she kept it closed until the barista was ready to take her order. "Just a black synth, please." She set her hands in her lap, wondering how on earth she was going to explain. Should she do it now, or wait a little? CODY: Cody's hands settled on his thighs and and he exhaled, gesturing in a manner as if to say 'well here we are'. "Sorry, this is still kind of a little surreal for me. Your blog was one of the first things I started reading when I moved to the city, to try and get used to New York, and here I am sitting down with you and having a coffee. It's totally..." He gestured in vain for a moment as he tried to find the words for the complex emotions elicited by the situation, but in the end deferred to the fine art of pantomime: he splayed his fingers out at the side of his temple and made the sound of explosion, as though his mind were, in fact, being blown. "Y'know?" AUBREY: "No, it's fine," she said as he began speaking. He mentioned her blog and she smiled brightly. It was so good to know that normal citizens of the city were reading it. She knew it would be instrumental in getting her name out there when the candidates for city council were listed. And Aubrey knew she was young, and knew it was a long shot for her to get elected, but she was determined to do everything in her power to make it a possiblity. And here he was, making her feel like there might be a chance. "Oh, yeah, I think I know what you mean." She knew she was blushing, she could feel the heat in her cheeks. And with that adorable gesture the guilt clenched he stomach again. "Oh, god." She put her hand to her forehead. "Cody, I don't know how to say this. I'm glad I'm sitting here with you, I am. But, I-- I just want you to know that--" And then the barrista returned with their drinks. Aubrey stopped, feeling anxious and nervous to be interrupted right at such an important moment in her confession. "Oh--Thank you," she said, taking her drink. Her hands twitched around the cup. "I just want you to know that you weren't talking to me on match.com. I've never set up a profile there. A friend of mine did. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even know about this date until fifteen minutes ago. I thought I was meeting her here." CODY: Cody's brows raised expectantly as she begun, fully and innocently oblivious to the blow that was about to come. "Oh, hey, thanks." He took the faux frothy drink and sipped it carefully, while nodding for her to continue. By the time her thought had been concluded the casual curiosity had drained from his expression, being replaced by utter bemusement with just a hint of doubt. His left eye narrowed and his head cocked, appraising her with a loose half-smile, holding on to the last vestige of hope that the whole explanation was going to be followed up with a just kidding! When this expectation was not met his expression fell in full, and the large man seemed to crumple slightly with embarrassment and disappointment. "Oh." Was all he managed to say, the single syllable heavy and crestfallen. He seemed completely at a loss as to how to respond to that particular bomb, but he no longer seemed all too keen to meet Aubrey's gaze. AUBREY: She felt horrible as he seemed to deflate. "Oh, I..." She instinctively reached her hands forward as though to take his. "It's not that I wouldn't be interested in you. It's only that I thought, you know, I ought to give you a full disclosure." She bit her tongue. She couldn't be interested in him. She was dating Max. She was going to have to tell Max all about this, wouldn't she? Just because things weren't perfect didn't mean she could legitimately date someone else while they were still seeing each other. "Although, you know, I think she must have a pretty good handle on what I like." Even as she said it, she realized she ought to have prefaced that with a mention of Max. CODY: The grasping of his hands brought Cody to lift his gaze to meet Aubrey's, his brow furrowed to give his eyes a look frighteningly akin to a kicked puppy. Luckily Cody was one of those people far more predisposed towards trust than anything else, and Aubrey's professions seemed to soften his hurt expression fairly quickly. "Yeah?" His tone fully disclosed how ready he was to be won back, as did the slow un-slumping of his shoulders. His brow remained creased with a cautious doubt, but the corner of his lips were hinting at a relieved smile. "I mean, if you didn't know, or if you didn't want to do this, I'd understand. It's not like you should have to go on a date just because your friend played a dumb joke..." His ellipses offered the temptation of an easy out to the situation, but his hopeful eyes made it perfectly clear that this wouldn't exactly be tricking off his back if she bailed. AUBREY: "Yes," she said, nodding quickly. She gave him a weak smile, her gut clenching again as he looked at her with such innocence. She squeezed his hands again. "I don't mind, I mean, besides one big problem that makes this a little inappropriate." Her cheeks flushed. "I'm seeing someone else, and I know Lindsay hasn't exactly been his biggest fan. She thinks I ought to see other people..." She trailed off, one of her hands lifting off of his to lamely gesture. She looked obviously embarrassed. "I feel horrible, Cody. Because at least I know Lindsay, but you don't know her and you've only been completely sweet and charming, and I just feel awful because this is so unfair to you." CODY: "Oh." Cody registered this little bit of information like a slap; not only in the disappointment of her being 'unavailable', but from the moral red flag of currently being on a date with a girl who was spoken for. Suddenly his presence felt like a transgression, and the discomfort read as loudly on his face as his disappointment. "No, nah, hey, it's cool." He blustered in an effort to dismiss the excruciatingly awkward situation as no big deal. "I mean, this sort of stuff probably happens all the time, right? I've never really done this online thing before." A fresh wave of embarrassment hit him as he realized that while he was now outed as an 'online dater', she in fact was not, thus robbing them of the shared guilt of the dubious taboo. He lifted his cooling synthiccino and took two long, hurried gulps. "We'll probably laugh about it later." AUBREY: "Yes, probably," she said. Although Aubrey was unsure how many people would pull a move like Lindsay. She felt horrible for Cody, and was relieved that he wasn't making her feel more guilty about everything -- at least not directly. His eagerness to try and make everything sound 'cool' made her feel worse. But she still thought better of him for it. "I'm sure we will laugh about it," she said. She took a sip of her coffee. "So, how is your syntheccino?" She desperately wanted to get off the subject of Lindsay and the fact that she wasn't really even supposed to be here with him. CODY: "What?" Cody looked down at the cup in his hand as though he only now realized he was drinking something. "Oh, right - yeah, it's good." He seemed leery for a moment, as if trying to decide if a conversation shift would make him feel better or worse, but ultimately decided to grasp the life preserver of a distraction. "I mean, I always hear people complaining about synth coffee, but have you ever had the real stuff? I did once, and it was awful. I'll take the fake kind anyday." He lifted his cup as if to cheers this point, and tipped it back for another sip. AUBREY: She lifted her cup and clinked it gently against his. "I have had the real thing before, but I try to stay away from it as much as possible." She took a sip of her coffee. "The real thing is much better, and so it makes it hard to be happy with the taste of the synth the more you have it." She gave him a smile. "But it's just a bit too extravagent to go about blowing money on coffee. There's much better ways to put money to use." She took a little packet of a non-calorie sweetener and added it to her coffee, stirring it. "So," she said slowly. "Are you finding that you enjoy New York City more than you did at first?" She was trying to remember what other things they had talked about on the blogs. CODY: "Oh, for sure." Cody nodded firmly at the question, "I mean, it's not like I didn't like it or anything, it was all just really, y'know, overwhelming at first. And with my job, I guess I probably get to see a lot of the less attractive sides most of the time, but I try not to let that influence my opinion on the city too much. It's a cool place, and I try to focus on the cool parts." He paused mid-gulp as a thought occurred to him, quickly trying to separate the wheat and chaff of the conversations he'd had with 'real' Aubrey on her blog and 'fake' Aubrey on match.com. "Uh, I'm the police officer." He amended, just in case that was a detail Lindsay hadn't conveyed. AUBREY: "I quite understand," she said. "I'm from Phoenix, so this is a far cry from what I'm used to." She made a wistful smile as she remembered the sun and the heat. She knew she was probably more suited to live somewhere like Florida, but she didn't like the humidity and she didn't think she could handle the partying atmosphere the state now projected. Beyond, of course, being away from her family. She let out a little laugh. "No, I-- I do know who you are. We've talked a few times. Lindsay mentioned that in the text, and I knew exactly who she was talking about. I just am trying to remember what we've talked about..." She trailed off for a moment and then leaned a little closer to him. "Wait, you were talking about the crocs, right?" CODY: The fact that she remembered who he was from their brief blog conversations seemed to imbue Cody with a bit more of his lost self-worth, and he relaxed into the awkward conversation a fraction more. At the question he tilted his head back and laughed; a loud, mirthful sound. "Yeah! That was definitely me. Jeez, I actually thought they were a myth when I first started getting calls, I was rolling my eyes and just trying to calm people down, I didn't realize there were actual gators. That sure was an eye-opening day for my career, let me tell you." He was still smiling when he sipped his coffee, and now seemed comfortable enough to turn the conversation around a bit. "You-- I mean, your friend said that you were thinking of running for office? Is that true?" AUBREY: "What?" Aubrey's mouth dropped. "Did they actually find some?" She wondered how she had missed that. "In what district?" Pleased that Lindsay had at least made somewhat of an effort to talk 'for' her in an appropriate way -- she hoped, at least -- Aubrey nodded with a smile. "Yes. Well, a few years ago I had only been thinking about becoming a lawyer. But a lot of things changed," she shook her head. "So I decided to go a slightly different route." She drummed her fingers on her coffee cup. "Actually, I'm hoping to run for City Council this fall. It's probably a long shot, but I just think that since this is the first real election that will include all refugees. The districts are a far cry from what they were at the last election, so I think that it is a pivotal time for New York City. So..." She shrugged. "Hopefully I make it into City Council, and then, well," her smile broke into a grin. "Hopefully higher. But, really, it's politics. You never know what can happen." CODY: "That's amazing." Cody answered quite earnestly, visibly impressed by such a pronouncement of ambition and civic-mindedness. A flash of excitement crossed his expression as he remembered a relevant factoid from his pre-date research, though he made an effort to share it as off-handedly as possible. "That means you'd be on three committees if you won, right?" Yeah, he really had no idea what that actually meant, but he knew it at least made him sound knowledgeable. AUBREY: "Why, yes," she said, obviously a bit caught off guard and surprised at him for pulling out that fact. "That's exactly right." She tilted her head. "Actually, I might have to pump you for information if I do get in-- Find out more of what really goes down in the police stations. I am hoping to get on the committee for Fire and Criminal Justice. Although, you probably aren't working around District 3, so you might be useless to me." She winked at him to make sure he knew she was only joking. CODY: "I totally do!" Cody blurted enthusiastically, possibly missing any irony in her previous statement. "I'm with the 81st Precinct, on Ralph. And I'm totally up for helping out, if you need it. I mean, I'm pretty new so I'm still learning some of the ropes myself, but I'm all for trying to help improve the system, right?" He grinned at this thought that he too could be politically active in some way; an ambition he'd never realized he'd admired until meeting Aubrey. His lips pursed together and he added coyly, "And I could probably be persuaded to vote for you too, I suppose." AUBREY: "That's amazing!" She clasped her hands on the table. "That's really close to where I live, I can't believe it. You don't happen to live in District 3, do you? Because you can only vote for me if you live in my council district. So that's probably a longshot. But I would really hope that I could persuade you to vote for me, if you do! It will be quite awful for me if someone who enjoys my blog wouldn't want to vote for me. I think I'd be completely out of luck, if that's the case." CODY: Cody released a disappointed sigh in response to this question, his hands lifting into the air and falling to his sides with futility. "Aw damn, no, I'm in five. I didn't think about that. I mean, I've been thinking about moving, my apartment sort of sucks, but I don't even have a clue where yet. So maybe?" He shrugged apologetically, his attention turning back to his nearly-finished beverage. AUBREY: "I'm afraid you are in the wrong district, then. But you wouldn't really be in the right district unless you lived in three." She thought for a moment and then opened up her purse and withdrew a business card. She scribbled her cell number on it and then handed it to him. "But if you decide that you do need someplace else to live, you can give me a call. That's what I do, right now at least." She took a deep breath. "And as long as you don't think that I'm the most annoying person due to my friendship with someone who makes up a puppet match.com profile for me, can I have your number?" CODY: Cody accepted the card with a smile, turning it over in his hand once before tucking it into his pocket. The next question, however, caught him off guard - he looked momentarily speechless, before murmuring a 'yeah, sure' and pulling out a pen to jot his iHolo digits onto an available napkin. A half hour from now he'll be dwelling over exactly what just happened, what it meant, why he'd given a girl with a boyfriend his phone number - but at the moment he was working exclusively on impulse. "Just don't pass that on to your friend," he joked as he slid the napkin across the table, "I think I've had my fill of practical jokes for a bit." |