InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Trying not to connect w/people"

Richard Wainwright (atrickstertype) wrote in paxletalelogs,
@ 2011-12-17 23:08:00

Entry tags:

loki, sigyn

Mama Always Told Me, Be Careful Who You Love
Who: Richard and Serena
What: A Not-A-Date at a classy Italian restaurant
Where: Cunetto's House of Pasta
When: Backdated to December 10, 2011 at 6 pm
Warnings TBA
The call from the radio station came at two in the afternoon on Friday- he had the job. Finally. He had been very calm and politely enthused, but somewhere inside him a much younger Richard was fist-pumping and headbanging to Metallica long before he put down the phone. Unemployment, however short, had been hell and to call this a dream job hardly covered how he felt about it. Working in radio again was good enough, but as program manager he would almost be running the station. It was going to be a damn good station, too. He already knew and liked a coworker, and he started work on Monday. Really, he couldn't think of better news.

Except for the fact that he had a date lined up. That was the icing on the cake. It was a proper date too, whatever Serena said. She was quite the woman. He had almost despaired of his chances back in Chicago due to the whole doctor/patient confidentiality mess, but here things already seemed to be looking up. A date already? This was going to be fun.

So Richard had prepared accordingly. He arrived in the lobby at fifteen to six dressed in a nice suit (not his best, but dressy enough for a casual dinner) and carrying a bouquet of mixed flowers. Roses, he thought, were a bit much for a probably-date, but tulips in winter were just enough to flatter her. And, he would admit, there was a part of him that was out to tease as well. Three months of joking and flirting had earned him a quick ride on the unemployment line, and it amused him to no end that the date he had worked so hard for was finally about to happen halfway across the country. So there he waited with a bouquet of flowers, a new haircut, and a limo idling outside. Since the Monster's tragic demise, it was just about the only way he could pick anybody up in style. (Not that the Monster had been stylish.) The final task was to idle casually and look as though he had just arrived in the lobby until Serena appeared. Whenever that would be.

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atrickstertype
2012-01-06 07:25 am UTC (link)
"While you're even more lovely than I thought," Richard replied, meeting her eyes and smiling slightly. "It's good to see you again, Serena." And it was, really, but the feeling was somewhat tempered by another one that he hadn't expected. Seeing her had woken a deep sense of resentment, one that dampened his enthusiasm and quieted his smile. He hadn't expected to hold the lost job against her, and he didn't really, but something about seeing her was unpleasant enough to make him grit his teeth.

It was a stupid, confusing reaction, and a completely nonsensical one, so Richard tried to push it down under his other thoughts which were universally more positive. Serena looked fantastic in red, which was nice in a date, but he also genuinely liked her. She had always seemed like a solid person, especially for a shrink, and her presence at the Pax was a breath of normalcy. Even better, it meant that he might actually have a chance now in his previously doomed campaign for her affection.

Maybe. He wasn't sure exactly where they stood, especially not with her appearing dressed for battle and wielding a Mona Lisa smile. Richard held out his tulips bravely, and met her head on. "How have you been?" he asked, the question coming out sober and sincere, not at all the debonair playboy he had presented in his sessions with Serena in Chicago.
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