Alice Kennedy (![]() ![]() @ 2017-07-11 18:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | tyr, uke mochi |
o crap it's going down
Who: Alice and Gus
What: Flirtatious behavior leads to poor decisions
Where: Gus’s apartment
When: June 20, the night before the pool party (so hella backdated)
Alice was done with work, at least for a day, and she was glad of it. Things had been chaotic over the past number of weeks, what with Isobel losing her memory, the death in Rafael’s apartment, and the hecticness of work, but today had been particularly awful. A man had come in requesting an obscene amount of baked goods to be handled immediately--more than Alice had in stock--and had a meltdown when Alice admitted she wouldn’t be able to fulfill the order in such little time. While she was doing a halfway decent job in managing her company, she never was one for conflict and having a stranger flip on her over something so small left Alice upset.
Despite trying all her might, she couldn’t shake the sadness and uncertainty of the day. So when Gus texted her, agreeing they could have their tv-viewing, dinner eating evening at his place so as not to disturb Rafael at hers, she decided to bring a bottle of alcohol along with her. They could have mixed drinks because it was her Friday and, anyway, it was worth celebrating that Gus had received great grades for the semester.
Upon Gus opening his apartment door, Alice forced a smile. “I brought vodka because today was awful at work, but we should toast your good grades.” She held up the bottle, the clear liquid sloshing in it. “What’s for dinner and how can I help?”
There wasn't much to see at Gus’ place, admittedly. His furniture consisted primarily of second hand pieces found on Craigslist, which BB had taken no time at all to point out upon her first visit to his home. That, and a few of his smaller pieces he'd swiped from his ex-roommates, but Gus considered the theft justified. If they were going to adopt a dangerous dog without discussing it with him first, then certainly they wouldn't miss an end table or two.
Still, for all the reasonably threadbare appearance of his apartment, he’d done his best to clean up before Alice's visit. Coming home from work that afternoon, he'd tossed out the trash and quickly scrubbed down the counters, washing any stray dishes he found. He'd also been certain to put away any drug paraphernalia, regardless that Alice already knew he smoked to ease his joint pain. It just didn't seem right, somehow, that it should be laying out on the coffee table when a woman like Alice was visiting.
Still, he didn't refrain from taking a couple of hits once he was out of the shower, disliking the idea of potentially being in pain during her visit. Tossing on an old Steely Dan concert t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts, he padded barefoot to his kitchen, digging out cooking supplies from his most recent shopping trip. Instant rise pizza dough and all the fixings were scattered across his counter space, and he was adding the finishing touches when Alice arrived.
Always a sight, Alice nevertheless looked less than stress free. Gus smiled reassuringly at her anyway, ushering her inside his home, slightly nervous. “Vodka sounds great. I can be Russian for one night if you can.” He mentally shoved himself for his bad one liner, walking with Alice to the kitchen. As he pulled down glasses for their drinks and a bottle of Sprite from the fridge, he walked himself through a list of what not to do while Alice was here--namely, not to embarrass himself.
“So uh, what happened at work?” he asked carefully, pouring each of them a drink. “Someone being a douchebag?” The insult escaped before he could check his language, a measure of apprehensive irritation already rising at the thought of some schmuck ruining Alice's day.
“Yeah,” Alice said with a sigh as she opened the bottle of vodka and poured them each a generous amount into the glasses. “He yelled at me and not even for a decent reason. I felt awful. I don’t understand why people think it’s okay to just scream at strangers for not getting their way.” She was the most miserable she had ever been in front of Gus and she found she couldn’t just bounce back from all of this. It wasn’t like her to hang onto something like this for so long and yet here she was, feeling miserable and sorry for herself.
It took her a moment to realize she was still thinking about herself. “But what about you! We have to celebrate that you’re done with school and got great grades. This isn’t just pity vodka but happy vodka.” She held up her glass and smiled at Gus. “Cheers?”
He rarely offered his concern so freely. Not out of spite, but rather out of a severe interest in maintaining boundaries from others, limitations necessary to keep life more simple. Gus liked to think he was a practical man.
But damn him if he didn't want to hold Alice while she vented. Instead, he nodded along in agreement with her rant, scowling at the unnamed assailant of her good day. “Cheers,” he said with a mustered up smile. “And it can be both. Like. I'm not gonna judge you.” He took his own glass in hand, raising it to clink it together with Alice's.
The vodka and Sprite went down relatively smooth, the liquor’s harsh sting calmed by the carbonated beverage. Having taken a hearty swig of his drink, Gus grinned at Alice, and motioned to the waiting pizza. “I’m gonna put this in the oven so we can eat soon, and like. What do you say to playing 20 questions while we wait?”
Alice grinned, “I think that sounds the like perfect plan and an even more perfect distraction.” She picked up the sprite and vodka, hugging both to her body, and moved towards the seating area.