ᴠɪᴋᴛᴏʀ (mobdog) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2017-02-13 20:57:00 |
|
|||
"Hey, Noa," Vic said, surprise tinging the greeting as he realized just who was standing outside of Burgatory. Had she and Marina arranged this, somehow? He cast a sideways glance over at his wife, but even as he did so he knew that if Marina had been involved in this, she wouldn't break her poker face. "You, uh, meeting someone over here for dinner?" he added, after he'd greeted Noa with a hug and quick kiss on the cheek. Settling the soles of her boots back on the sidewalk, Noa shook her head. “I was just stopping in for takeout,” she admitted. “Closed the shop up early because it was real dead today.” Nobody in Austin seemed itching to make bad Valentine’s Day declarations in ink. “I don’t have anything in the cupboards, and Burgatory’s on my way.” She reached for the door handle. “Usually I’d stay, but I suspect most of the place will be filled with happy couples.” She smiled a little, as if the unspoken ‘like the two of you’ was obvious. Though ambushing Vic with a threeway seemed like the kind of shenanigans Marina would get up to, she surprisingly hadn’t planned such a thing for this evening. Stepping forward to give Noa a hug herself, she pulled back and with an amused smile, said, “Knowing our luck we’ll probably get seated next to some kids who call each other ‘schnookums’ or some fucking shit like that. Maybe we’ll have to try to out-cute them. And Vic with a heart-shaped burger is going to be a sight no one will want to miss.” "Aw, shit." Vic already knew he wouldn't be able to win some kind of competition like that. "Y'all should do it instead, if that's what happens." Except he'd said it without thinking, despite the fact that it was already very obvious that Noa had her own plans for that evening and so did him and Marina. And now it was already out in the open and he couldn't take it back. "I mean --" Raising her eyebrows a smidge, Noa commented, “It’s a little rude if I dinner crash, sweetheart.” Maybe most especially because it was Valentine’s Day. “Unless you were angling for dinner and a show.” Halfway through her sentence she considered whether or not she should have said it, but by then she was committed, so she finished with a smirk to cover her own second guessing. One of these days he was gonna learn how to navigate this shit without fumbling half the time. "No, that wasn't what I meant," he said quickly. He always felt like he was running to catch up after these two. Marina just snickered behind her hands, watching this situation unfold before her and earning a half-pout, half-disapproving glance from her husband. She knew better than most at how bad Vic was at flirting so any time she got to witness him flounder, she enjoyed the hell out of it. And it wasn’t like she could pass up the opportunity to tease him further, so she took a step closer to Noa and let her fingers trace up the other woman’s arm until her hand rested on her shoulder. “But you wouldn’t mind it, would you?” Despite the way this had been building between them for the last three months, Vic couldn't help but hesitate, second-guessing even now, before replying. "No, I wouldn't." Torn between a few different responses, but mindful that they were in a very public waiting area at a restaurant, Noa eventually settled for a slow smile and sliding an arm casually around Marina’s waist. It was maybe a hair too close for friends to be standing, but the other patrons were too concentrated on their own company to pay too much attention to anyone else around them. “I suspect you’d make a real good audience, sweetheart. Very attentive.” Her tone was neutral, but the way she kept Vic’s gaze wasn’t. “And responsive.” And consciously Noa knew she was toeing a line. He cleared his throat in an obvious attempt to break the charged silence that settled between the three of them after Noa's pointed remark. "So you're coming to dinner," he said, a statement instead of a question. "We better get a table before the place fills up." Biting her lip in amusement at the whole situation, Marina gave Noa’s waist a squeeze before pulling back from their close proximity. She walked towards the podium, assuming Vic and Noa were right behind her, saying, “table for three” once she had the host’s attention. Austin was a very small town these days, and most probably knew about her and Vic but it didn’t concern her all that much what having a tag along might look like. It seemed like timing was on their side because after a short wait they were led to a corner booth. Marina slid in all the way to the wall, waiting to see who would take the spot next to her. Noa cut her eyes up to Vic, hesitating like maybe she could guess how many buttons she might’ve already pushed from earlier, or where he’d rather sit just by looking at him. She couldn’t, and rather than second guess her own actions, she gave him a slow smile, brushing her fingers lightly across his arm before she slid in beside Marina. “Thought you might want the space, sweetheart,” she told him innocently, nodding towards the other side. “These booths are… cozy.” He laughed, gamely moving into the seat across from the two women, before his phone buzzed in his jeans pocket. The reason behind it, too -- a text from Sasha indicating he'd be over at a friend's place -- caused him to frown slightly, though it was more out of puzzled curiosity than sadness or anger. "Y'all know someone named Shelby?" “Doesn’t ring a bell. I assume this is Sasha related? Because fuck if I can keep up with whoever Sasha is trying to hookup with,” Marina said, a laugh in her voice. He had some other girl sleeping over a while back, but she didn’t think her name had been Shelby. “What did he say?” "He's hanging out with Shelby tonight. Gonna be home after they're done watching some movie." Vic shrugged his right shoulder, frowning still, until it occurred to him in a lightning bolt of remembrance: "Oh, the doughnut girl. Talked to her a little bit when she first came to town, after me and TJ tried to investigate her place on behalf of the burger kids. Anyway, I told him it's okay, since we're out on a date. Er, I didn't mention the three of us specifically, but y'all know what I mean." Except this wasn't a date -- was it? Vic thought it may have been, even if it hadn't been intended. Noa raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?” she teased him, playing dumb as she knocked her foot against his beneath the table. She thought she understood what had happened earlier in the lobby, but part of her wanted to hear it out loud, maybe to settle a few pesky nerves. “You think he’s trying to tell me I’m date-crashing without saying it?” she asked Marina, the hint of a smirk creeping back onto the corners of her mouth. Marina chuckled and looked between her husband and Noa. She wasn’t going to bullshit the question and nodded, a smirk on her lips. “Well, I guess you are. But I don’t think either of us are complaining about it. In case you haven’t picked up on it, we like your company.” Vic eyed them both with caution. He'd done a lot of fucked up, scary shit in his life, but sitting at this table with these two women felt like one of the scariest. Still, they'd been dancing around this for a long time, ever since last fall. So he shook his head slightly, shrugging his right shoulder, and clarified: "Actually, what I was trying to say was that even though we didn't come here thinking the three of us would be on a date, that's what we're doing and I ain't upset about it." Just anxious as fuck, apparently. "I figure the kid doesn't need to know about that part yet until we, you know. Get this figured out. If it's gonna be more than… what it is." Figuring things out had never been Noa’s strong suit, but she nodded anyway, and figured that it wasn’t on the table for tonight anyways. “I’m for keeping him in the dark until then,” she agreed. “But you might want to encourage him to stay out tonight, sweetheart.” |