Pippa Fullerton (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} dietetics) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} playout,@ 2020-02-23 17:46:00 |
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| Entry tags: | ! log/narrative, calder fullerton, dietetica |
WHO: Pippa and Calder Fullerton, before they were Pippa and Calder Fullerton
WHEN: June 22, 1996
WHERE: Carson Vineyards
SUMMARY: Calder goes to a winery and insults the wine of a very opinionated sommelier.
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Complete!
“You said this was casual,” Calder hissed to the man standing a foot and a half to his left who was currently dusting off the shoulders of his button-up and dress pants. Jonathon looked like he had just left a job interview, with his gleaming watch and slicked back hair. The taller of the two men was not so prepared. Calder Fullerton had followed the directive explicitly— very casual, don’t make a fuss, and was wearing a clean pair of jeans and a polo his mother had sent to him for Christmas. It brings out your eyes, his mom had crooned. He smoothed it self consciously over his abdomen, hoping that it didn’t wrinkle as a woman in a pair of cut-off jeans and a t-shirt came to greet them. Maybe he’d be fine after all. “Johnny!” she beamed, stepping in to give their mutual friend a hug. “Calder, this is Nora Greene. Nora, my friend Calder Fullerton.” He stuck his hand out obediently to shake her own. “Nice to meet you.” “Don’t be silly, pleasure’s all mine,” Nora smiled again, the action easy, genuine. “Come right this way. We’re just about ready for you. First tasting?” she asked as she led them past a well-manicured lawn and almost palatial house. Calder nodded, clearing his throat to confirm his answer. “You’re in for a treat, my sister is the best sommelier in all of Napa Valley. Here we are!” She tapped the table that overlooked the vineyard, picturesque hills rolling in the background. “Feel free to start with the Malbec.” And with that Nora Carson Greene was gone, leaving the men with their first tasting. “Should we?” Calder asked cautiously, glancing around. Jonathon shrugged in response and held up his glass. “To you, buddy.” And with that, they both took a sip of the wine, Jonathon nodding approvingly at it while Calder’s eyes pinched closed. “Oh, my god, what the hell is going on in this?” the sandy-haired asked tightly. A bottle of wine landed on the table in front of them, causing the small pour of wines to slosh warningly in their tasting glasses. Calder started, off guard as the bottle hit the table with a bang. A pair of stormy eyes glared up at the man besmirching her grapes, flickering briefly to the other the man in a universal gesture of where the hell did you find him? Where her sister’s smile was as warm as the sun, Pippa Carson’s smile was almost predatory in nature as she directed it to the tall asshole. She took a step back, doing her best not to give him the satisfaction of inelegantly craning her neck up to meet his eye. “It’s a full-bodied red, obviously,” she said, ignoring the way a blond head suddenly popped up behind the bar as he sensed danger in the air. “Apparently the notes of raspberry and coffee are lost on you.” “Nora, darling, I think you need to come see this,” Kit Greene softly called out, grabbing a dish towel and pretending to dry off already spotless glasses. The woman in question walked over easily, wiping her hands on her thighs. “Oh, here we go,” she murmured, grabbing a towel of her own and holding out her hand for a glass. “Maybe it needs to thin out,” Calder muttered under his breath. There was a chance that a few good breaths could rid his taste buds of the lingering notes of the wine, though he sincerely doubted that raspberries or coffee were in there. He took a moment to attempt, but no, that was not working. “I need water,” he told John, glancing at the petite woman that had materialized from seemingly nowhere. Oh, shit, she was beautiful. This was sufficiently horrifying. He kept his eyes trained above her head, hands falling to the table. He should say something nice, smooth things over, be the smooth talking lawyer you claim you want to be. “Should find their way back to where they belong,” he said instead, “because it’s not in that.” Pippa’s smile turned into a scowl as he looked over her, not even having the decency to acknowledge that she was standing in front him. Typical male with abnormally long femurs. They all thought they were above the common sense law with their height and sandy hair. It was infuriating. “If you’re going to bad-mouth the grapes, at least do me the favor of doing it to my face,” she snapped, ignoring the urge to jump up and get his attention. “Well, the grapes don’t have feelings, so, I don’t think they can really be offended,” Calder retorted, turning his gaze back to her. Unless...did sommeliers believe that grapes had feelings? No, it couldn’t be. That was absolutely ridiculous, but from how mad the woman seemed, she might have actually believed it. “I don’t like it,” he continued, firm. Stubborn. “I’m sure that others would agree with me.” “He’s either incredibly brave or the dumbest guy I’ve seen,” Kit mumbled to his wife. Nora laughed, stifling the sound quickly as she noticed her sister’s shoulders rising to her ears. “Actually, no one agrees with you,” Pippa informed him, gesturing to the wall of awards hanging on the wall to his left. “That only means that those people don’t agree with me.” She rolled her eyes and focused on Johnny, her smile turning fond as she took in the family friend and turned so she was cutting the grape-bashing man out of the conversation. “I made some scones last night. Do you need a snack? I know traffic can be a beast sometimes,” she chirped, eyes narrowing as she eyed the way his shirt hugged his body. “Pippa, don’t be rude!” Nora called out, unable to stop herself. “Ah,” Johnny shifted on his feet, glancing back towards Kit and Nora, before he looked back at Pippa. She was tiny, but a terror nonetheless. “Sure, do you want me to grab them?” Pippa waved a hand. “I’ll get them. Enjoy your wine while I’m gone,” she said, turning on her heel and flouncing back towards the bar. She was certain at least one of them was worthy of Carson wines. “Dude, what the fuck?” John turned to Calder, eyebrows disappearing into his hairline. “I told you this was casual, not to insult my mom’s best friend’s children.” “Well, I didn’t insult both children,” Calder retaliated, watching her blonde hair whip out of his sight line. “Just the one.” The darker haired man groaned audibly, muttering something about lawyers and their technicalities. “You need to apologize to her.” “What? Absolutely not. She’s going to come back and poison those scones to kill me.” “And you’d deserve it for being an ass. Just apologize. It’s not that hard.” Calder tightened his hands against the edge of the table, then nodded, seeing Pippa come back into view. “I’ll try,” he told his friend, setting a small smile on his face. “I’m sorry that this wine is not pleasant.” “Okay, who wants some brownies!” Nora yelled from the bar, looking to her husband in alarm. “Run interference before she chokes him.” “I’m taking a brownie for the road. For sustenance, you know,” Kit said, kissing his wife in case he didn’t make it out of battle alive. “I’m sorry you have no taste buds.” Pippa dropped the bag of scones on the table, imagining she was dumping them over his head instead. However, she had spent too much time making them to waste them on Mr. “Your Wine is Not Pleasant” and his insufferable height and soulful eyes. “I’m sorry that your scones sound hard.” He glared at the treat in question, steadfastly keeping his eyes away from the friend that had brought him to this cursed place to begin with. “Are you the kind of person that can’t accept that people have different opinions? Because I gotta say, it’s admirable to be that bullheaded, but ultimately shortsighted.” “Soooo it sounds like you need a crash course in wine, buddy,” Kit said, loping into view and taking a risk by inserting himself between his sister-in-law and fellow clueless male. “Kit Greene, Nora’s barkeep and handyman.” Calder raised his hand in greeting, internally groaning at yet another person to tell him he was being rude. Wasn’t the general rule to be nice to the one you just met? I could be better about it, he conceded. “I just don’t understand why we’re all fighting about this? It’s just wine.” Pippa’s eyes widened, her mouth automatically opening to tell him exactly what they were arguing, before she closed it with an audible snap and stalked back to the bar. He didn’t even have manners, for goodness sake. Her grapes were perfect, thank you very much. Kit waited a beat, before cheerfully adding, “I’m more of a beer guy myself.” “Uh, honestly I’m not much for alcohol,” Calder hesitated, wondering if this was some kind of trap. He looked back towards the bar where the sisters were conversing, before he turned his attention back to the men he was with. “Sorry; I don’t know what came over me.” “Oh, now you say you’re sorry,” John snarked, running a hand through his hair. The blond man laughed, shoulder lifting easily under his worn soccer jersey. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Pippa must have liked something in you because you’re still breathing.” “That’s how she acts when she likes someone?” Calder asked incredulously, shoulders up around his ears, stepping away from the table to stretch his legs. “How about when she really wants someone dead- just whips out the knife?” “Straight for the jugular,” Kit affirmed. Nora let out a low breath through her lips, almost whistling as Pippa made to open her mouth again. “I don’t need a recap, I have ears,” the older sister said with a sigh. “He’s cute.” “I don’t care how tall he is or how soulful his eyes are,” Pippa scowled, turning her back on the trio and reaching for the paper tickets lined up, “He’s not cute. He’s rude.” Her eyes scanned the ticket, frowning over some of the wines the customer had paired together on their flight order. Seriously, “grapes don’t have feelings.” She snorted slightly at the ridiculousness of it and reached for a nearby bottle. “Soulful, hmm?” Nora watched her sister from the corner of her eye, fiddling with the frayed edge of her shorts. “I don’t think you were particularly pleasant, either, Pippa,” she informed her with a sigh, “Almost knocked a man out with those scones.” The taller woman dodged the whack she saw coming from a mile away with an infectious laugh, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Come on, he’s cute and clearly uncomfortable here. He feels out of place.” Pippa glanced over at the trio, eyebrows lifting slightly when she caught Johnny’s eye. She arched an eyebrow at him, daring him to say something, before returning to the row of glasses in front of her. She had work to do; she shouldn’t waste any more time on this subject. “Johnny should have known better,” she pointed out, twisting the wine bottle to catch the drop that threatened to drip on the counter. “Than to out-dress his friend so viciously? I agree,” Nora remarked with a shrug. Pippa set down the bottle and studied the group. He wasn’t that - “No. Stop those wheels for turning right now, Nora Greene,” she warned with a shake of her head. “What wheels? The ‘be kind and treat others the way you want to be treated’ wheels or the ‘Kit has your email and home phone number shoved into his pocket’ wheels?” Nora tapped her sister’s shoulder affectionately, floating away to join the men. “Both are already in motion, little sister.” She was back at the table a moment later with a kiss to her husband’s cheek and a sneaky hand grabbing the piece of paper from his back pocket. Kit leaned down to press a kiss against the top of her head. “So, Calder, I hear you’re about to sit for the bar, and believe it or not, Pippa is great at organizing study materials if you want some help.” Kit turned, trying to disguise his sudden snort into a cough. Nora beamed upwards at him, bumping her hip against his. “I don’t think your sister wants my face to darken her doorstep as long as she’s breathing,” Calder confessed, keeping his eyes trained on the wine glass he cradled in his hands. “But thanks for the offer.” Pippa’s eyes almost disappeared as she glared at her meddling older siblings, wishing she had been born an only child. She saw the way Nora’s hands cradled the paper, twisting it between her fingers, before she threw her towel down with a huff and made a beeline for the group. “I don’t know what they’re promising,” she announced, a total lie, and plucked the piece of paper from her sister’s fingers, “but if you don’t take my number you’ll never know anything about wine, and that is a true crime as a Californian.” She laid the piece of paper down on the table, silently daring her sister and brother-in-law to say something. “And those soulful eyes of you are definitely worthy of an education,” Nora added, deftly dodging any potential blows from her sister and pulling Kit back with her, who dutifully followed with a salute in Calder’s direction. The man in question rubbed at his mouth briefly, the best attempt he could muster in the moment to cover the smile that had appeared. There was, however, no disguising the chuckle that accompanied the action. “And you’re sure that I’m not going to be killed on the spot should I dare return here, Hellbeast?” he asked, reaching for the pencil he kept in his pocket. He tore off the bottom half of the paper presented to him quickly and wrote his own information down, holding it out to Pippa. “You’re a potential lawyer,” she quipped, taking the piece of paper without hesitation and giving it a quick glance, “so I’m sure you can figure out that I’m always innocent until proven guilty, Calder Fullerton.” |