Lara Follet (radioinmyhead) wrote in morningstar_mnr, @ 2008-12-13 14:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | lara, lis, noah, stone |
Gardens outside reception; Saturday night; Stone, Lara, Lis, and Noah
Lara really needed a break from all the hoopla going on inside. It was kind of impressive that she lasted this far through the night before she had to get out for some air. Unfortunately, the air was cold. The cardigan she had on over her dressed was a help, but not exactly ideal. Nevertheless, Lara was going to stay outside for at least a few minutes, free to be mopey in peace. It would make the air inside feel that much warmer (and therefore welcoming?) when she came back in. Besides, there was a lot of stuff to look at out in the fancypants courtyard she'd wandered onto. Statues and trimmed hedges and a tastefully lit fountain with benches around it. Lara headed in that direction, to get away from the noise she could hear coming from inside the building.
Stone was in the middle of spinning his adoptive daughter Adri around the dance floor when he'd spotted Lara, still looking all mopey/irritated. He could sympathize, really. He'd felt pretty shitty being the tag-along at her and Lis' friends' wedding. He couldn't blame her either, watching him and Lis be all couple-y, even if it was fake. He felt guilty. Then again he was Stone. He always felt guilty. But considering everything that'd happened in the past few months, he felt especially guilty about this. Maybe at some point in the near future, he should talk to Lis about dissolving the fake marriage thing since obviously it totally did affect Lara. This had all gotten really complicated in a little more than a year.
It took him awhile to free himself of Adri, and then to make it all the way across the room and to the courtyard since people kept stopping him. When he finally got there he watched her for awhile before he actually approached, wondering how upset she was about all of this. She had to be all cold out here. It was December, and she was Lara. So he tugged his jacket off as he approached and draped it around her shoulders before he actually stepped into her line of sight. "Is it safe to join you?" Or was she pissed at him and didn't want to talk to him?
Lara had no idea she'd been followed, nor had she been paying enough attention to hear footsteps. So she jumped at little when he set the jacket down on her shoulders. Lara blinked and turned to Stone, pretty surprised that he'd come out there. She also felt bad, too. Hopefully he didn't realize how mopey she was. She'd been doing her best to hide it, and she didn't want to bring down all the apparent good times going on.
"Do you think I'm going to Hulk out on you or something?" she asked as she closed the jacket further over herself. It was warm in general, and even warmer because he'd just been wearing it. "Thanks," she added.
If he'd been drinking, he might not have noticed, but he hadn't been. Well, he'd had one or two but it was spread out over a long afternoon and night. He smirked at her comment. "That'd be hot, actually." he sat down next to her. "With the clothes tearing and the super powers and all." Maybe not the green, destroy-the-world part though. He nodded when she thanked him. He was quiet for a moment, looking around at the courtyard ahead of them. This place was a piece of work. "Are you mad?" He asked.
Lara rolled her eyes a little bit with a faint smile at the Hulk comments. She turned back to the fountain and and frowned a little at his question. "No," she answered, not turning back to him just yet. "I'm just...I dunno. This is exhausting." Her shoulders slumped and she turned her eyes down.
Stone watched her frown and his brow furrowed. He let out a 'Pft,' sound. "Tell me about it," he sighed. He was more on the joking side than Lara was but he was trying to make her feel better. He frowned at the way her shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry," He lifted his hand to look at her watch. "It's almost over. Honest. I know it's all...fancy and..." And something. "Over the top." It sure was.
Lara felt like such a whiny chump, busting up the party by making him follow her outside instead of manning up and just getting through the night. "Yeah, I know," she nodded as she turned back to look at him. "And I'm fine, really. I just needed a break."
Stone nodded. "A break is good. And necessary when at a Lis-event." He agreed. He leaned back and put his arms around the back of the bench, which at least put one of his arms around her. "If you want to go home, I can take you home y'know. It won't take long. I'll come back afterward and once the party's over and my life is my own again I can meet you back at your place. Or mine even. It'll be empty tonight. And quiet. Very conducive to recovering from Lis-events." Which were always extravagant and draining, usually in a good way though.
It was all very sweet, but there was no way Lara was going to take him up on that offer. She didn't want to put him out. And she was an adult. She could deal. "I'm fiiiiine," she repeated, shaking her head. "Like you said, it's almost over."
Stone shrugged. "Yeah, it is. But still." He said. "It's been a long day." He nodded. It sucked that the day made her mopey. Stone's mind started to wander as they sat there and he tried to figure out what to say to her. Was she upset because she thought he and Lis were really into it or something? It really wasn't anything between them but a joke and a Joke that started before he and Lara had. Should he had tried harder to convince Lis to postpone this stuff until later? She might have if he brought the....non-baby stuff into it since she was privy to the information. Stone frowned a little. Why did everything have to always be so complicated? Probably because he always wound up making it that way.
"Yeah," Lara agreed. "But you don't have to worry about me, honest. I just wanted a breather. And...I don't want to keep you out here if you don't want to be." She wished that hadn't sounded like she was fishing for him to say that he really did want to stay out there. That wasn't her intention at all.
Stone arched his eyebrows and looked over at Lara. "Are you kidding?" He asked as he watched her closely. He wasn't sure if she was fishing for him to say it or not but he pretty much did. "I'd much rather come out and take a breather with you, than have to talk to everyone and their mom inside and keep tabs on Gibson and Patience and my sisters," It was still weird to say that in plural form. He rolled his eyes a little. "It's a madhouse." He smirked. "This is much nicer." Even if it was a little breezy, something that would bother Lara more than Stone.
Well, even though Lara hadn't been fishing for it, it was still nice to hear. She smiled just a bit and nodded. "In that case...feel free to stay as long as you want," she said.
Stone arched his eyebrows as he waited for her response. When it finally came, he broke into a big dopey grin. "Thanks for the permission," He smirked as he settled back on the bench to solidify that he was staying put.
Lara smiled a little more and turned her head some more to get a better look at him. "I had to say something," she shrugged.
Stone grinned a little more. "Sure, sure," He teased a little as he tapped his hands along the bench back, feeling a little fidgety. He was still thinking about weird dopey sappy things. Things that he thought Lara thought should stay in the dreamland and not spill over into real life. Also, he'd lost count of how many cannoli he'd had from the dessert table.
Lara was quiet. She had turned back to the fountain and just stared at it without really focusing much on the water. She wasn't thinking about sappy things. Just some sad things. It was hard not to when she was being bombarded by over-the-top displays of affection and ex-boyfriends all cosy with new girlfriends and weird alternate reality dreams that kept coming back. Not to mention dealing with everything that had happened in Augest. Like she had told Stone -- it was exhausting.
After a minute she turned her head down to look at the jacket as she wrapped her further around herself. It was stupid to be out in the cold air on the cool bench thinking sad thoughts, but there she was.
Yeah, Stone had thought about that, the stuff in August that is, earlier. He'd forced it out of his mind as much as possible, a feat made easier by the cannoli, he thought. He could be wrong. He spotted Lara pulling the jacket closer and only hesitated for less than a second before he moved his arm froward from the back of the bench and moved it around Lara's shoulders, sliding himself closer to her and moving his hand along the outside of the arm that was on the opposite side of him to try and help warm her up.
Lara was pretty deep in mopey thought, so she didn't realize she had leaned against Stone until after she had done it. Things were certainly a lot warmer like this.
Stone grinned a little, glad that Lara had leaned against him. He wasn't much thinking about it as he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "I mean it," he told her. "We can go home if you're ready to go." He told her even though he, and Lara he was sure, knew Lis would never allow it of either of them.
Lara rolled her eyes up to look at Stone when he kissed her. She moved her head to see him better after his offer. "No," she said, arching her eyebrows and giving him a look. "You know we can't." For those exact Lis-related reasons.
Stone let out a little sigh as he fixed his sugar-glazed gaze landed on the fountain in front of them as he bounced the knee farthest from her, a sure sign of the sugar rush he was valiantly taming at the moment. "Yeah," He shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for offering." He smirked a little before he fell silent, back in contemplation overdrive, thoughts made more erratic by the hyperness.
"Nope," Lara agreed. She set her head back down against his shoulder and dropped her eyes to look at his bouncing knee. At least gorging on sugar was better than doing so on alcohol. Although maybe not, since it affected Stone's brain just as much, if not more.
Nooooo, it gave clarity. Speedy, erratic clarity but still! He could walk without staggering too. Not the point. The point was that Stone was very nearly sure that he was actually okay with the fact that he'd slipped mid-makeout and told Lara he loved her. He thought that the statement was true. Maybe. He wasn't sure though, mostly because he wasn't really sure what qualified as love in that kind of sense. He loved Poe (Cassidy too, shhh) but that was based on the whole sibling thing and completely different. He loved Lis too, but that was a whole other level in and of itself. More like a kindred spirit kind of love and not the cheesy soul-mate kind. His feelings for Lara were different, immensely. He thought so anyway. Bad stuff happened to them, between them even. But good things happened to. They were surprisingly supportive of each other in the end during these instances, even when fights occurred. The...abortion, situation for example, started out pretty horrible.
Stone was pretty sure that was mostly due to shock and other various emotions cause mostly due to his own family background issues but he thought he turned out supportive in the end. He did a lot of stupid things leading up to that, sure. Maybe he wasn't supportive at all. Stone frowned. He would have been supportive if he'd known beforehand and had time to digest the information and mull it over.That sounded like he was blaming Lara. He didn't want to blame Lara. Lara did what she did because of Stone. Stone blamed himself. That wasn't the point. The point was that he thought he was okay with saying to Lara that he loved her, but he wasn't sure that Lara was okay with him having said it, accident or not. This was a lot to think about during downtime of his vow renewal celebration with Lis. Stone's brow was creased up a lot.
Lara's thoughts weren't nearly as speedy or erratic. Just slightly depressing as she started at the fountain. She wondered if she and Stone were going to be like this forever, all undefined and occasionally awkward with fear of resentment and all. Well, maybe not forever, but for as long as they were both willing to put up with each other. Lara probably should have done something about their weirdo relationship earlier, but she was far too willing to put up with him that she didn't care how undefined and awkward they were. She would take what she could get. Which wasn't a good way to go about things, but Lara wasn't good at doing things the good way. Not the important things, anyway.
Stone was willing to put up with the lack of definition at first but it was wearing on him currently. This whole fake marriage with Lis possibly made the lack of definition more difficult too. It had been a stupid decision and even though Stone did get a kick out of Lis' reactions to bank account related things, he didn't want to offend her and suggest a divorce to their fake marriage. The prospect freaked him out too. Not moneywise, since it wasn't like he wouldn't freely fork over money to Lis. She could keep all the bank cards and access to the money she wanted. It wasn't like it'd run out, even with Lis' extravagant spending abilities. He thought that she'd probably get it and be all for it once she realized it was because of how he felt about Lara. She'd probably go all sap-faced and be all giddy about it. Maybe. Anyway, Stone wasn't sure how Lara really felt about the fake marriage stuff. She claimed it didn't bother her, but Stone was pretty sure it did. He really hated their crappy communications skills. He wondered how Lara would react if he confessed right now that he thought he meant it when he said he loved her. "You'll probably freak out," He murmured without realizing it since he was staring at the fountain in thought, his head leaning down against the top of hers. He wasn't aware he'd even said anything actually. He frowned still as he kept right on thinking and bouncing his knee.
Lara paused, holding her breath momentarily as her stomach started get that dropping feeling. Did that count as freaking out already? She lifted her head off his shoulder to look at him, a worried frown on her face. "...what about?" She didn't even want to try and imagine all the horrible things he could follow up with.
Stone blinked. "Hmm?" He asked, fairly startled out of his thoughts as he focused his eyes on Lara and blinked to clear the last of the contemplation fog away from his eyes. "What about what?" Yup, he was oblivious. Sugar rushes tended to do that to him. Still better than being wasted, in Stone's opinion anyway. He wondered what he'd said out loud to make her frown and then felt his cheeks warm up a little when he realized what he'd been thinking about.
Stone's confused response made Lara feel a little bit less worried, but not entirely. And any worry that went away was taken over by her own confusion. She knitted her brow further as her eyes scanned his face for some clue as to what was going on. "You...said I'm going to freak out. About something."
Stone's eyebrows arched up and he might've turned a little more pink...mostly in the tops of his ears. "Oh," He shifted a little and let out a nervous smirk. "Mind's wandering," He told her. "Too many Cannoli." He nodded. He hesitated a few moments. He could think of something stupid to pacify her curiosity and concern, but he didn't really want to. He kind of hated tip-toeing around her, especially after all the stuff in August. Avoiding talking about things got them in this mess to begin with hadn't it? He cleared his throat a little. He reminded himself that she probably wouldn't let it go so it was okay to confess even though now wasn't a great time at all. "I was just...thinking about some stuff," he looked down at his lap and shrugged a little. "When I accidentally, uhm," He paused a moment and bit the corner of his lip. "Y'know...saidIlovedyou." That last bit ran together into one word.
Lara had been under the assumption that the accidental blurtation was something neither of them was ever going to talk about ever again. It was something she revisited in her mind a lot, but she would never speak of it out loud to Stone. Or anyone else for that matter, but especially not to Stone. So Lara's eyes widened a bit.
"...what about it?" she asked, quieter than she'd intended. She was feeling more nervous at the moment than anything. Especially since she swore she could see that parts of Stone's face were turning pink in what little light they had out there.
Stone shifted again, definitely nervous under her scrutiny. He wasn't good at this stuff, especially not with all that extra sugar. See? She was freaking out. He hesitated again, lifting his eyes to look at her. He studied her face for a moment and weighed whether he wanted to just shrug and weasel his way out of it, or if he just wanted to spit it out and tell her. He watched her for one more moment before he went on. Fuck it. She was already freaked out, right? Might as well go for the kill. "I...was thinking...that maybe...y'know," He took a deeper breath than normal. "That I meant it." Right. See. He could bridge the communications gap...sort of.
Yeah, Lara was freaking out. It was internal, but pretty evident in her eyes as she stared at him, not speaking. Also in her heartbeat, which Lara was pretty sure she and everyone inside the building could probably hear. She refused to let herself feel good about this. It was obviously just a mistake on Stone's part. She never ever expected him to ever say anything like this (to her, in this life) so clearly it was just another mix-up.
"No, you didn't," she found herself informing him, shaking her head a little. "You're just...high on sugar." That had to be it. Lara turned her wide eyes forward, to look through and not at the fountain.
Stone let out a tiny sigh. See? He knew she'd freak out. He frowned a little when she spoke. So he was okay with the prospect of meaning it, but Lara obviously wasn't. It was hard to wipe the frown off his face after that. His brow knitted together. "Just cause I ate cannoli doesn't mean I'm unaware of what I'm saying," He muttered before he turned his eyes down to his lap and loosened his arm around her since obviously he'd made her uncomfortable.
It was too bad that Lara didn't catch his frowning, as she had already turned away. But neither his tone nor his arm loosening were good things. She turned her head to look at her shoulder and frowned herself. "But what you're saying..." Was crazy? Yeah. Lara didn't know what to say. He couldn't possibly love her, especially not after all that shit she'd pulled in August.
Stone rolled his eyes a little. "Isn't what you want to hear," He shrugged. "It's no big deal." He thought about bringing his arm back to himself but he didn't want to cause extra issues now that he'd been dumb enough to cause one. So now it was back to staring at the fountain. Anyway, of course he could love her. Love meant being able to forgive people when bad shit happened, didn't it? Anyway, it was his fault she did what she did in August, so he couldn't exactly hold a grudge against her for that.
Lara frowned further and turned back to look at him again. "Shut up," she dismissed his comment with a shake of her head as she nudged him in the side. "Do you...are you sure? Really?" He definitely looked disappointed at her response, so that had to mean something.
Stone's forehead scrunched up further. He shrugged and turned his eyes back down to his knees. "I don't think I'm ever really sure of anything." Which wasn't a very good response, he didn't think. He shook his head a little. "I don't see how it would be a big leap." He went on. "I mean, I care about you," And check it out he didn't stammer when he said it either. "And it sucks when we wind up fighting. Our communication sucks," Especially compared to dreamland them. "I'm pretty addicted to being around you..." He shrugged. "Told you you'd freak out." He added.
Lara didn't know if that was assuring or not. But probably not. "So...you're not sure if you love me, but you figure you might as well since it sucks when we fight?" Well, and other stuff too.
Stone frowned as his eyes squinted a little. "What? No," He shook his head and looked over. He rolled his eyes a little. "That would be pretty stupid." He shrugged. "This is making you uncomfortable though." He frowned a little more. "And what I meant by that about the fighting, is that I don't like fighting with you. Which is fairly ironic considering the past." Which was probably why she didn't want to hear that he loved her. Stone was an idiot.
Why'd he have to go and bring that up? "I'm not uncomfortable," she said, even though she was. But probably not in the way he thought she was. "I'm just...confused. Surprised, I guess." She angled her head away from him slightly and squinted. "You do know you're not dreaming, right?"
Stone rolled his eyes, mostly at that last part. "Again, eating cannoli doesn't cause me to be unaware of my surroundings, thoughts or feelings." he told her, finally turning his head to look at her, which was when it occurred to him that he hadn't actually told her that he loved her, just taked about saying it before. He took a deeper breath than normal, "I am perfectly aware that we're both awake, and I want you to know that I love you." he told her and it didn't feel weird to say it like he thought it was going to. "And I'm sorry that it freaks you out or makes you want to get as far away from me as possible."
Lara went back to the breath-holding the staring. She wanted to think about this more, but she wasn't sure exactly what there was to think about. Hearing Stone say it -- the first time or the second time -- didn't make her want to flee in terror. It made her want to do the exact opposite. That definitely meant something. Well, she knew what it meant, but it was something that more and more lately she had to actively try not to think about.
Thinking. It was annoying and usually got her in a lot of trouble because she usually thought the wrong things. So Lara opted not to think and not to respond to his comments, and instead pulled him down by the back of his head for a very necessary kiss.
Well, that was definitely a good sign wasn't it? It had to be. She would have left if she didn't like what he had to say right? Or something. Stone was too busy recovering from the shock that she actually kissed him after that so that he could kiss her back.
Lara realized she wasn't getting much of a response, so she pulled back a little and looked at him. "I don't want to run away from you," she told him, just to make sure they were both clear.
Stone blinked when she pulled away, preparing for something bad. Instead he wound up grinning. "Good," now he was a little less worried so he leaned over to be the kiss initiator this time.
Lara lifted herself up higher on the seat so Stone wouldn't have to lean down as far while she kissed him back. This was weird. It felt kind of like Lara's world got flipped upside down, but maybe in a good way. No, definitely in a good way. Almost-literally unbelievably good. Especially after August.
Well obviously the August stuff didn't break them so according to the sayings they were supposed be stronger or some silly crap right? Stone reached up to brush his hand along the side of her face as he kissed her a few times. This turned out better than he had hoped it would.
Lara needed to pull back for air, so she did just that, only keeping their foreheads together. The jacket had slipped off the shoulder opposite him, but she wasn't really thinking about the chilliness at the moment. She was actually feeling pretty warm, also a little fuzzy. She wondered if he was expecting her to say that she loved him back. She didn't know if she was ready to say that just yet. All the other times she'd said it she ended up not really meaning it or meaning it in a different way than the guy who had said it to her. She didn't want that to happen this time.
Stone was glad for the breather. He left his forehead against hers and grinned at her. At this point he wasn't expecting anything since his previous expectations had turned out to be wrong. "I think you still owe me a dance by the way," Something that could wind up very dangerous since they'd probably wind up dancing to some fast paced old school Madonna song and cause Stone was overly hyper, more so since Lara hadn't completely rejected his declaration.
Lara turned her head a little to look back toward the building. She'd almost forgotten where they were and why they were there. "I do," she nodded, bringing her eyes back to Stone. "But in a little bit." She smiled a little (but a lot of dopey) and let go of him so she could take his hands. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this nice, and she didn't want to ruin it by going inside.
Stone smiled a little more. He was in no rush to leave their current spots. He looked at their hands and grinned a little more definitely on the very dopey side. And in line with that he lifted his head so he could kiss her forehead. He lingered there for a moment and then moved to lean his forehead against hers again. It was a comfortable silence though not an awkward one.
Lara stayed quiet with him for a few minutes before she tilted her head up to give him another kiss. She pulled back with an arch of her eyebrows. "So I guess this kinda makes you my boyfriend now, huh?" she asked with a smirk.
Stone let out a little nervous snort of laughter at that. The tops of his ears went fairly red again as well. His lips twisted up into a funny little smirk. "That's weird to hear." He answered. "But yep," he shrugged. "It gives us official titles." He added with a nod. This was all kind of odd, but not the bad kind of odd though.
"Definitely weird," Lara confirmed. She smiled a little more with a shake of her head. "Look at what you did," she chided.
Stone grinned and shrugged dismissively, playing along. "Yeah I really know how to ruin a moment." He smirked. "It's the cannoli. Honest." He insisted innocently with a firm nod.
Lara dropped her jaw and feigned an offended gasp. "You told me the cannoli had nothing to do with it!"
Stone dropped his jaw and feigned as much innocence as possible. "Did I?" He asked, eyebrows arching. "Maybe you need to clean your ears..." He grinned. Like a dope.
Lara grinned and didn't have much of a follow up, so she leaned in and kissed Stone again (and again and again and again) to make up for it.
Stone was a-okay with kisses over retorts. So he added a few extra kisses in there as he returned hers. It was awhile before they had to break apart for some air. Too bad breathing was necessary. Stone was having trouble keeping the stupid dopey grin off of his face. It was kind of pathetic, but he sort of didn't care much.
Lara was smiling pretty dumb, too. When they were apart, she looked down at her watch to see how much longer they were stuck here before they could go back to the Manor. Still too long. In fact, it seemed even longer in light of recent developments. She dropped her arm down with a small sigh.
Stone glanced down to see what Lara was looking at and then smirked a little at her sigh. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead and then he kissed her properly once more. "It's not that long," He assured. "Honestly." It just seemed like it and if she kept looking at the clock it would take longer, which would suck.
"It feels longer now," Lara admitted with a small smile. She lifted her arm again to drape over his shoulder. "But I guess it's not so bad spending it sitting out here."
Stone smirked a little. "Yeah, until we get dragged back inside when Lis notices we're missing." He mused with a roll of his eyes. He'd gotten used to the fancy clothes sure, but he really wanted to be in something more comfortable right now.
Lara shrugged up her shoulders. "She'd have to find us first," she pointed out. "She didn't line your suit with a GPS tracker, did she?" Lara took her arm off of Stone's shoulder to pat down the side of the jacket.
Stone's eyebrows jumped up a little. "It's Lis. It's possible." He said as he chuckled about the jacket pat down. "I think we're safe for now, though," He added.
"That's good." Lara stopped patting and slipped her arm through the jacket's sleeve instead. Her hand was kind of lost inside of it, the sleeve was so long. She put her arm through the other sleeve and closed the jacket over herself again.
Stone had to laugh at the way his jacket dwarfed Lara. He put his hand to the side of Lara's face and leaned forward to kiss her again. The kissing stuff was pretty addictive in dreamland and real world alike. He hoped Lis was occupied enough to give them awhile outside before dragging them back.
It wasn't too much longer before Stone's cell phone started ringing, interrupting the cliche in-front-of-fountain-on-a-bench kissing session. Lara pulled back and gave Stone a look. It had to be Lis.
Stone let out a sigh and then reached into the front left side of the Jacket to get his phone from the inside pocket. He rolled his eyes a little as he flipped it open and stuck it to his ear without speaking to let Lis initiate this conversation.
"Baby, is that you? Where are you?" Lis asked, sounding pretty exasperated. "I've been looking all over and people are asking for you."
Lara leaned her head down against Stone's shoulder. Lis was loud enough on the phone that Lara could hear pretty much everything she was saying.
"It's me," Stone confirmed. "I just needed some air. I'll be back in a few minutes." He told her, hoping she agreed so he and Lara could have a few extra minutes out in their cheesy scenery.
"You should come back now," Lis answered. "I need arm candy. And your dad keeps trying to dance with me."
At Stone's side, Lara cringed.
Stone frowned when Lis brought his father up. He couldn't decide if she was serious or if she just knew it would get him inside faster. He tried not to sigh. "Okay," He gave in because he was worried that she could be serious. "I'll be right there." He agreed.
Lis was mostly serious. He'd only asked her -- nay, insisted -- a couple of times, but luckily Lis knew better than to take him up on it. "You better!" she replied. "I'm by the champagne. Toodles!" And, with that, she hung up.
Stone sighed after he hung up and slipped the phone into his pants pocket. He kissed the top of Lara's head before he reluctantly started untangling himself to stand up. "Might as well get the rest of this show on the road so we can get out of here and go home." He said.
Lara let out a sigh and looked up at him once he was standing. "Guess so." She stood up and started pulling her arms out of the jacket. "I could really go for one of those out-of-town trips right about now," she commented as she worked on the second sleeve.
"You can keep it on if you're cold," Stone waved a hand as she started taking the jacket off. "And an out of town trip sounds like a good idea," He decided with a nod. "Maybe longer than a weekend this time?" He suggested. "I think we've kind of earned it." Right?
Lara paused for a moment and then started pulling her arm back through the sleeve again. She'd keep it for just a little while longer. "Definitely," she nodded, smiling a little. "Where would we go?"
Stone shrugged as they started heading for inside. "Where do you want to go?" He asked. He paused a moment and held his hand up. "Wait, let me guess. Somewhere with a beach?" He smirked.
Lara half-smiled and rolled her eyes. "Well, going somewhere warm would be nice, but seriously, I'd be cool with just going over the state line. Even if it's to a stupid bed and breakfast."
Stone smirked a little more at the mention of a bed and breakfast. Good times. Better than awkward craziness since August. "Ahh...more wax effigies." He nodded as they headed down one of the paths to bring them back inside.
"Yeah, exactly," Lara nodded with a roll of her eyes. "So any option is fine by me as long as it's a place where we can get a break and people can't bother us with their...peopleness."
Stone nodded. "Okay," He decided. "We'll start looking at places after we've had enough sleep following this...event," He waved a hand at the building before they headed inside. "Do I have to let you book it in order to wind up with a wax effigy though?"
"Um..." Lara squinted, pretending to think about this. "No," she decided. "I'm sure you could pay anyone you want to make you an effigy, so that would work too."
Stone smirked a little. "That's not as fun as earning it." He reasoned as he looked around when they entered, mostly looking for Gibson and Patience to make sure they were actually behaving themselves.
Lara looked around as well, though not seeking out anyone in particular, as she once again pulled her arm out of the sleeve of Stone's jacket. It wasn't as cold inside, and even more important than that, making people wonder about the renewed groom and his mistress-y lady would only make the night more annoying for them. So she took off the jacket and held it out for Stone. "Thanks."
Stone took the jacket back with a nod. "Sure," He replied as he finally spotted Gibson hovering close by Lis and following whenever she moved. Gibson was such a seriously disturbing person. How had he really avoided being put in jail for some indiscretion or another? Seriously? Stone shook his head and looked at Lara. "If you'll excuse me, I have some people to boot from the festivities." He rolled his eyes.
Lara nodded. "I'll be...elsewhere." Avoiding Gibson was a major priority, even more so after those Christmastime hospital-related dreams. "And try not get punch-y. We wanna get out of here as soon as possible, 'member." She gave Stone a warning point as she stepped away.
Stone smirked. "I'm as docile as....something docile!" he called after her before he started heading for Gibson to inform him that it was time for him to leave and take Patience with him. And then he was going to have to go back to being all lovey dovey with Lis. Not that this was particularly horrible or anything. He just wanted to go home and all now that he and Lara had...had a moment or something.
Lara nodded with a sarcastic smirk and turned toward the other direction once Stone started walking away. Now that she was (relatively) alone, she dropped her eyes down to the floor and smiled a little to herself. Okay, so maybe she had to struggle a bit to keep the smile 'little'. And now, of course, after all that happened outside, she had to occupy herself as the guy who professed his love for her went to hang out with his wife. Awesome.
Noah was on his way up to the bar to get some drink refills and then he was going to stop by the dessert table on his way back. He happened, however, to run into Lara while trying to avoid someone he didn't know who had gone stumbling by him. "Whoa, sorry," He said, clearing his throat a little when he saw it was Lara he'd bumped into. "Hey."
Lara saw shoes first and then looked up to see Noah. Her smile faded. Mostly, anyway. "Hey," she said simply. She glanced around before zeroing back in on him. "No Peri?" They'd seemed pretty much inseperable earlier, but then again Lara had been viewing them through mopey-colored glasses.
Noah lifted a hand and pointed past his shoulder. "At the table," He answered. "I'm on a drink and dessert run," He shrugged. He couldn't decide if he was amused or disturbed by Lara's predicament with this renewal stuff and, oh, I don't know, Stone actually being married and her being a mistress, fake marriage or not. He didn't really want to be here, but Peri was having fun so, whatever. Plus free food and drink was hard to be disgruntled about.
"Ah," Lara nodded. She squinted a bit at him, thinking back to that first time he'd pulled a 143 on her. Her memory of it was way vague at this point; she must have tried to block it out or something. But she did remember how totally freaked out she was. So different from tonight, where she was still a little smiley -- like she had a secret or something, which she kind of did -- even when looking at the ex-boyfriend who thought she was a slut. "Having a good time?" She arched her eyebrows up.
Yeah well, he didn't really think that anymore. She was definitely something and she'd done a lot to hurt him - purposefully or not. But whatever. He wasn't going to start was fight with her or something tonight. He shrugged. "With enough alcohol sure. Some woman was trying to grope me on the dance floor," He grimaced and looked around. "I think it was Stone's mom," He couldn't be sure however, plus, ew. "So it was time for a break." He smirked a little. "What about you? You look less mopey now," Or was he not supposed to mention that he'd noticed that?
Lara opened her mouth to respond about Patience, but she shut it right away when he called Lara like he'd seen her. "I wasn't mopey," she said, furrowing her brow a bit. "Just a little tired."
Noah nodded. "Ah, I trust you found some caffeine then," He shrugged. He'd totally caught her and he knew it, but whatever. He was a little on the drunk side too, so he just dropped it. And then he spotted Patience at the bar, where he was going to be heading. "Damnit," he rolled his eyes as he muttered it. "She's creepy." No wonder Stone was so fucked up.
Lara wrinkled her brow further at his response. She was about to say something in return when he brought up patience. Lara turned to look at her. "His father is much worse," she said simply. Much, much worse.
Noah sighed and then arched his eyebrows a little. "Yeah, here's my shocked face," He retorted. Stone? Had disturbing parents? Noooooooo, say it isnt so! Like the world didn't know. "He's been after Lis all night." He added as he watched the bar, hoping she'd leave it so he could go get the refills.
"So I hear," Lara commented. She looked back and forth between Patience and Noah. If it was anyone else, she might have offered to help them out. But nope, not him. Let him deal with a real golddigging slut. He could learn the difference.
Hey, Noah was only here because Lara's friend had insisted on inviting him and Peri. He would've turned the invite down, politely to Lis since she wasn't exactly hostile to him very often, if Peri hadn't wanted to go for whatever reason. He looked at the bar again and sighed. And then spotted a waitress and perked up a little as he flagged her off and put his order in. He looked at Lara. "Do you want anything?" She asked. See, he was being civil.
Lara shook her head. If this was a little while earlier, she would have been all about downing another drink or two, but right now she was all right. She was in a good mood, despite the fact that she needed to wait forever before she and Stone could go home. Besides, at an event attended by the extended Hawthorne clan, you needed to keep your head clear.
Noah nodded and finished giving the order to the waitress and told her what table her was sitting at. He looked in Peri's direction and then looked at Lara again. "I should probably get back," he nodded to the table. He had his own date to socialize with and all.
Lara raised her hand and gave him a waggly-fingered wave. She turned before he left and headed off to wander into the crowd. She didn't really have much of a goal in mind, and she considered just going home and telling Stone to call her when he left, but no, she could wait it out. Eventually she turned in the direction of the buffet table to get a snack. That would pass the time.
A few hours, more food and a fair number of drinks later and it was time to leave. It took about an hour to clear all of the guests out aside from a select few from the wedding party. Stone was out front right now, helping Poe, her date and a couple of her friends into a limo to take them all home. He was tired, and a little buzzed himself and he'd spent a good deal of the night putting Patience and Gibson in their place which, while fun, was tiring. He just wanted to get in his own limo and go the hell home so he could get out of his tux. Once they were on their way, he headed back inside the front doors.
Lara was in the lobby, pulling on her coat and watching Lis as she entertained the few guests left, as well as staff, with some stories about her early days in New York with Stone. It was pretty amazing that Lis still had as much energy as she had, considering she'd been operating at over one hundred percent all day, but that was Lis.
As she went on about some night on the 6 train, Lara pulled on her gloves and then lifted her hand up to her face to stifle a yawn.
Stone rolled his eyes when he heard bits of the 6 train story. Lis would never get tired of that story. He smirked a little at Lara's yawn fest and was about to speak when he caught the yawn bug and had to lift his hand to cover his mouth so he could yawn too. "Way to pass the yawns," He smirked.
Once Lara closed her mouth again, she looked over at Stone with a smirk. "You're welcome."
The group by Lis started laughing and Lara glanced over. "I swear that story changes every time she tells it," she said with a shake of her head. "The real one is probably just that you two sat quietly on the train for the whole ride, full stop."
Stone smirked and then shook his head. "Sorry to trash your theory but there was definitely more than that," He grinned. "Though, maybe not the different story she tells every time," He conceded with a little shrug.
"Oh yeah, good point. You two, sitting, being quiet?" Lara nodded. "That's something that never happened." She looked over at Lis again. "Can't you drag your wife away from her adoring public now?"
Stone laughed. "Exactly," He said to that first part. He looked over at Lis and the last group of guests and then out through the glass doors as the last few limos pulled up. "I can try," He smirked and then turned to make his way over to Lis. "Punkin, I think the staff is waiting for us to clear out," He nodded to the staff, who were finished cleaning up and glancing in their direction. they couldn't turn off the lights and get out of there without all the guests leaving.
Lis took a look around and heaved a sigh. "All riiiiiight," she agreed and parted from the group by taking Stone's arm and wishing everyone goodbye.
As she and Stone walked away, she looked up at him with arched eyebrows. "And where should the afterparty be, dear renewed husband?"
Stone said goodbye as well and slide his hands into his pockets as Lis grabbed his arm and he started to walk back towards Lara. He arched his eyebrows. "After party? Seriously...did you find yourself some speed for today?" He asked for probably the tenth time this evening. She was seriously wired, she had to be! "This was the after party," He smirked. "Hence the term 'reception'."
"Then the after-after party. It's what all the glitterati too, and we are completely glitterati," Lis informed him, not bothering to respond to the speed comment since he had already made a number of similar remarks by that point.
Stone stopped once they reached Lara. "You're not tired at all?" Or uncomfortable in her fancy clothes? Stone was uncomfortable mostly because he'd been in them all day. A pair of pajama pants would be quite nice right now...or y'know...nothing. That would work too.