Re: coffee: sam & neil
"I'm going easy on you, yeah?" she teased. She'd always thought he needed someone to drag him out of his shell and make him feel shit, but maybe she was wrong. Maybe he was happy with content, if that was even possible, yeah? She grinned when he explained away her teasing comment. "I think not answering to anyone is a great accomplishment, Neil," she said, taking pity on him and relenting. But, yeah, listening to the Meredith thing wasn't the easiest, and it probably showed on her face a little, but she nodded when he said he'd gotten help; she understood that, yeah? "You were always too hard on yourself," she said of his dragging someone down comment. "But I get it. The drugs, they're the same, sort of. Worse, actually." Not that it was fair to compare addictions, but she knew hers had made his worse.
Sam wasn't sure about Lou being truly free of anything, because she didn't trust the doors to hand that kind of shit out. She'd settle for him figuring out how to control whatever was happening to him, but then she hadn't seen Lou at his worst; Neil had. She lifted pale a brow when he said he'd heard about Lin and Daniel, curiosity in inky blue. "You don't talk to Daniel, so Lin told you?" That surprised her, and it showed. "Yeah, Daniel told us he was going to look for his parents. The wish fucked him up, and he doesn't remember his childhood or his past or anything. He's blank, and I think it's fucking with him. Lou talked to Lin too, and Lou was all fucking worked up about it. Thought Lin wanted to use him as a rebound to feel better." But his smile to chase away the seriousness about the open thing, that was hella transparent. "I don't talk about it much anymore," she admitted. "It just causes problems."
But then the manager came, and she saw Neil put the generous tip on the table. "You know," she said, walking through the door and then using his arm for balance as she slipped on one heel, then the next, "you don't have to pay people for everything. You're pretty fucking ok without the payout, baby." Without warning, she gave him a hug, tight and slow, and she smiled as she drew back. "I'll let you know what Cris says, yeah? About going out." She was about to step back entirely, but she stopped just before she took the step. "And, hey, it goes both ways, yeah? If I can call you if shit gets hard, you can call me. If you're sitting outside a bar and wanting to go in or whatever. I may not know anything about being a sponsor, but I can jump on the car hood until you're embarrassed enough to drive away." Grin. "Or, yeah, if you just want to talk. Car hood jumping might not be your thing."