Todd Foley is smitten like a kitten in a mitten. (psychicsurgery) wrote in superbabies, @ 2013-01-15 01:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | charlie power, todd foley |
Log; Todd Foley/Charlie Power
Who: Todd Foley and Charlie Power
When: Saturday night.
Where: IHOP and the hall outside Charlie's room.
What: A date!
Status: Log; complete.
IHOP. Love it or hate it the restaurant was an American staple. It was also a reasonably priced eatery that could easily be afforded on Parental Money, which was why Charlie had chosen it. Well. That and the delicious pancakes she had been thinking about all week, so really it was the best possible choice here.
After a somewhat short drive, the two teenagers reached their destination and promptly had a fifteen minute wait for a seat thanks to the evening crowd. Eventually, they were taken to a booth near the back of the restaurant and Charlie slid into the booth next to Todd as she took the menus. “Okay buddy. I’m going to start with the pancakes because that’s why we’re here,” she started as she opened up the menu. “Rooty Tooty Fresh N’ Fruity. Almost as fun to say as it is to eat! Jesus. They pay someone to come up with this? I want that job.”
Todd bit his lip to keep from laughing at the name, but the subtitle was too much and he couldn’t quite hold back the guffaw that slipped out, nodding beside her. “I don’t know, I think it’d get tough after a while,” he countered. “There are only so many ridiculous ways to say ‘eat this shit’ that you can really put into a menu.”
He smirked over toward her, nodding again. “What’s next? I’m not sure I’m in a real ‘Rooty Tooty’ kind of mood tonight.”
The tragedy of it all was he missed out on Charlie’s epic eyeroll at the description, though she was sure her feelings on the ridiculousness of the name came across in her tone. Because really it was ridiculous here, IHOP. “But people must be hired by IHOP to come up with these sort of things. I bet this is what you do with a degree in English.” Naturally.
“Okay. New York Cheesecake Pancakes. A taste of New York! Our stack of four fluffy buttermilk pancakes is loaded with rich cheesecake pieces and crowned with cool strawberries, powdered sugar and whipped topping.” Tipping the menu down, she looked at Todd. “That one is not nearly as fun.”
“I guess that makes sense. They can’t all write musicals.” The thought of an IHOP themed musical, however, brought another smile to Todd’s face as he listened to the next item from the menu. She was right -- it was practically boring in comparison -- but that didn’t change the fact that it certainly sounded interesting.
“How do they break cheesecake into pieces small enough to fit into pancakes?” he asked, tipping his head as he tried to process the thought. “Does it include the graham crackery bit? That’s the best part...”
“English majors write musicals?” Huh. Charlie always assumed music majors wrote musicals. “And there doesn’t look like there is any of the crust bits in it, which sucks because that is the best part. It basically looks like they slathered some sugared cream cheese in the middle and topped it with gooey strawberries.” Now that she described it like that the pancakes didn’t sound so delicious. “But you can make it a combo with a bunch of different meats?”
“According to Avenue Q they do, yeah,” Todd shrugged. The description killed the pancake’s appeal, and he winced a bit at the thought of combining that with any sort of meat. To say it was less than appealing was quite the understatement. “I think I’ll pass. You know, don’t they just make plain old regular pancakes anymore?”
“Ugh, I knew that. I swear I knew that.” And she claimed to be a lover of musicals. “And they do! With authentic country taste, apparently. Not so sure what that means, but there you go.” Unlike the picture of the New York Cheesecake pancakes, the original buttermilk ones actually looked appetizing. “There are blueberry and chocolate chip ones too.”
“Oh, well, chocolate chip is good.” And normal. Relatively normal, at least. “I think I can manage chocolate chip. It’s just outside of the box for me to hold on to my hipster cred, but normal enough that me-in-two-hours isn’t going to be regretting me-now’s pancake choices.” A smirk, a nod, and the tiniest hint of another chuckle. “Unless there’s something else you’re saving for last?”
“Hipster cred? Does that mean we are eating here ironically?” she asked with a laugh in her voice. They certainly didn’t make the cut for before it was cool. “You should have told me before so I could have worn a thrift store shirt.” Not that she owned these sort of things. No. Never. “Well, there is one last one that might be a contender.”
“If I understand correctly, I’m allowed three completely non-ironic loves,” he explained matter-of-factly (or, rather, made up as he went along). “For the first, I chose nineties alternative music, because I really like acoustic guitars. For the second, I am choosing pancakes.” He smirked, shrugging a bit. “It’s a flawed system, but it works. And it means that you can save your thrift store shirt for our next date. Assuming we have another date. After this. I’m getting ahead of myself... what was that last thing? Tell me about that. Yeah.”
“There can be another date. Yeah. Sure.” She stopped herself short of actually stating the fact that this was indeed a date. Feeling her cheeks turn red, Charlie quickly shuffled back to the original topic. “Well, I hate to tell you but I think I just found your third non-ironic love here. Cinn-a-stack pancakes. Our signature stack of four buttermilk pancakes, layered with a delicious cinnamon roll filling, then drizzled with rich cream cheese icing before being crowned with whipped topping. And they actually look good.”
Todd was grateful for the distraction of the last set of pancakes, nodding even as he felt himself blush. She’d said yes, that was the important thing, wasn’t it? Or wasn’t it still too early to tell? He shook his head. Better not to think too much on it now.
“Damn,” he chuckled. “You were saving an ace up your sleeve... I’m pretty sure that’s the only real option, here. The rest simply won’t do.” He smirked, relaxing again. “And since they’re still pancakes, they only count for love number two. I’ve still got my third one all saved up.”
“Oh good. Because holding out for that third one is a good idea. And you -- oh!” At her exclamation, Charlie briefly reached over, grabbed his hand, and gave it a quick squeeze. “They totally have a Twitter hashtag for this pancake and encourage us to tweet pictures of it.”
Todd’s brow furrowed just a bit at the exclamation and the handholding, but his expression quickly softened as she explained. “Seriously?” he laughed, shaking his head. “Does your phone do pictures? We have to.”
For another second or two, Charlie’s hand lingered on his before she slowly pulled it back so it could grasp the menu once again. “Oh totally. I even have Instagram on it, so we can totally hipster this out in hopes of being featured on the famed IHOP website.” And really isn’t that what everyone wanted in life?
“Dream come true,” Todd said after a moment, nodding. The hand thing had been a fluke, right? He shouldn’t read into it. “That’s a very nice perfume, by the way. It’s a nice touch.” A smirk, another nod -- his neck was starting to hurt from all the nodding, in fact -- “Definitely a good way to impress a blind date. Ten points.”
Join the club, Todd. Charlie was trying not to read into this entire event. “Oh. Thanks!” As she replied, she gave a genuine smile. Todd wouldn’t have been able to see that she had actually made an effort tonight with her appearance and such. Not only was her outfit painstakingly picked, but her hair had just the right amount of messy curls and she had actually bothered to put on more make up than just mascara. “My moms picked it out for me for my sixteenth birthday last year. Mama said it wouldn’t make me smell like a cheap whore, so I guess they did well!”
Todd chuckled and took a somewhat dramatized sniff. “Nope. Not cheap or whore-like. Definitely a win,” he agreed with a knowing nod. “Trust me, I’m an expert. Not many people know this, but I was actually a smell-tester for the Macy’s perfume department in my youth.”
Her eyes narrowed as her lips twisted in a look of slight disbelief. “Really?” Really?
“Nah. They wanted me but I felt like it was beneath me,” Todd assured her, leaning back in his seat. “I wouldn’t work for anywhere less classy than Bloomingdale’s.”
Folding the menu and placing it down on the table, she gave his arm a friendly swat. “Ugh. Remind me not to come around you on my No Shower Saturdays then.”
“Is that a thing people do?” Todd chuckled. “Man, that explains a lot...”
“Hey. Sometimes I just want to spend a day doing as little as possible.” Nothing wrong with that! And given her powers, she could make her hair look good on those needed trips to search for food.
Todd nodded. That was fair. And one day probably wasn’t that bad. Not like the freshman boys who didn’t seem to understand what a shower was.
“Works for me,” he answered, nodding once again. “So... does this thing come with sides or are we simply to bask in its deliciousness?”
At least she put on deodorant unlike those freshman boys. “Oh, you can get any of the sides you want, I think. Like meat. Or eggs. Meat and eggs. Oh! Probably those potato things too. But you better make your choice quick because I think our waitress is coming our way.”
“Oh, man, that’s not the kind of decision you drop on a guy with such short notice!” He laughed, but the thought of picking with a waitress looming made what was normally a rather stressfree situation suddenly worrisome. “Um. Potatoes! Yeah. Potatoes.”
“Of course it is! It lets me see what kind of person you are by your snap decisions. Or something.” Charlie really wasn’t going anywhere with that. However, she did rattle off her order to the waitress, which was exactly the same as Todd’s. Well. She wanted some hot tea and she didn’t know many American guys who drank that.
“Tea, eh?” Todd teased gently as the waitress walked off with the menus. “I think this date just became thirty percent classier. I’m not sure I’m prepared for that. I knew I should’ve brought a tie...” Not that tea really was all that intimidating. Still, she seemed to enjoy his sense of humor so far, better to keep rolling with it, he supposed.
Hey now. Tea was good for you what with its antioxidants and what not. “Won’t lie. I was inwardly disappointed you weren’t wearing a tie. Totally lost points on that one.” Once again, it was obviously she was joking. “Sooo... guess that means you were offended by what Jak said?”
“Offended?” Todd chuckled, shaking his head. “Where I come from, being called a hot date is generally considered a compliment. Though I’m still having trouble wrapping myself around this whole me being ‘hot’ thing. People keep telling me but I think it’s something you’ve got to see to believe...” He smirked, shrugged. “And I’ll grab a tie next time. Scout’s honor.”
“People have been telling you that you are hot?” she asked with a good amount of sarcasm in her voice. “Oh honey...”
That got a snort, and Todd quickly covered his mouth in embarrassment as his shoulders shook for another moment. “Yeah, I know,” he replied. “They’re very mean to me. Tell me I’m good looking, say girls would be lucky to have me. Then they talk about plaid and expect me to know what that means. Those bastards.”
“What’s wrong with plaid? Plaid can work in the right outfit.” Seriously. Nothing wrong with plaid as long as you don’t over do it. “And don’t worry. You’re pretty hot. Cute. Hot cute.”
“I’ve been told that it’s acceptable for us straight guys, though I know at least one gay person who’s a big fan,” Todd shrugged. Patterns were just the same as colors, as far as he was concerned: highly overrated when you couldn’t appreciate them. The compliment made him smirk again, though there was a bit of a blush behind it. “Thanks. It’s nice to hear. For what it’s worth, I think you sound very pretty.”
“Well I am of the belief a person should wear whatever the hell they want. So.” For Charlie, she could care less if something was in style just as long as she liked it. Life was too short to spend all that time worrying over clothes. So wear plaid if you wanted, Todd. “I sound pretty? Thank you.” If her voice could sound like it was blushing, that’s what it was doing.
Todd nodded, making a note to wear a tie and plaid on the next date. It could be an inside joke, of sorts -- though he wasn’t sure that planning inside jokes on the first date was the usual way these things progressed. He’d need to ask Billy.
“Yes, you sound pretty,” he repeated, smiling over at her. He didn’t quite hear the blush in her voice, but this close he could tell that her heart rate increased just a bit, and while it felt like cheating that he could sense that, he couldn’t help but smile a bit more.
“Okay buddy. You get enough brownie points going for you here.” Oh good here came here tea.
Todd chuckled, feeling his own cheeks blush. “Good to know I’m not striking out, yet.”
No, he wasn’t. He also wasn’t striking out with his agreement to go to IHOP because when dinner came, Charlie managed to eat almost all of it. When it came to pancakes, she wasn’t going to leave any on the plate is she could help it. After dinner, the two piled back into the car and made their way back to the school, which was relatively quiet given recent activities. “You know, I’m not going to be ashamed of it any longer,” she confessed as she pulled the car into the garage. “I have some One Direction on my iPod.”
Todd laughed, shaking his head. “Oh, man, that might be a dealbreaker for me. I’m not sure... how much?” He smirked, making it clear he wasn’t too serious. If she wanted to listen to British boy bands, he was hardly in any position to stop her and, really, things were going well enough that he doubt he’d have even minded if she’d decided to play it on the ride home.
“Just the ones that have the most downloads on iTunes. And I’m not convinced I am going to marry them or anything, so it’s okay,” she added as she pulled up the parking brake and shut the car off. “I mean, everyone has those few songs in their playlist that they don’t want anyone else to see.”
“I guess everyone does, don’t they?” Todd said after a moment, pondering. “And it’s good to know you’re not delusional like that. It’d have made this date take a pretty awkward turn to find out you were mentally engaged to a pop star you’d never met.”
“No. I promise you that I’m not that delusional. Only moderately delusional like the rest of the school,” she answered with a matter-of-fact tone in her voice. “You ready to go back in?”
“I guess so,” he said after a moment, smiling over at her. “I’ll walk you to your door, if you’d like. Be a gentleman and all that.”
“That would totally make up for the fact you forgot to wear a tie.” Just give her a moment to climb out of the car.
Todd smirked, slowly stepping out of the car. “I already said I was sorry!” he laughed. “I promise to remember next time. Hell, I may just start wearing ties all the time, now...” Of course, even though the offer had been to walk her to her door, it was going to be her leading the way. He had his cane, folded up and in his back pocket, to help him get back to his room on his own, but the trip to hers would be easier without it.
“You could go with a bow tie. That would give you a ton of hipster cred.” Once she locked her car, Charlie linked her arm with Todd and continued to ramble all the way to her room. “Welp. This is my stop.”
“I could,” Todd nodded. “That’d take a trip to the thrift store, though. Not sure how I’ll fit that into my schedule.” He smirked as they stopped, letting his arm slide free of hers after a moment. “All right then. I had a really good time, tonight. Thanks for going with me. We should... I’d like to do it again. Some time. Soon. If you want.” He blushed, shrugging. “Your choice, really.”
“Sure! I would love to do that. Yeah.” Biting her lip, Charlie hoped that didn’t come off as being overly excited. And then she fell silent as she tried to think of what to say next. “Well. I guess that is good night then,” she finally settled on saying as she rocked back on the heels of her feet for a moment.
“Awesome,” Todd responded before catching himself, and trying to play it cool. “That’s cool. Maybe next week? We could go out again, or maybe order in, if you want.” He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could while still blushing. “We’ll see.” Silence fell for a second as they both rocked, Todd biting his own lip as well.
“So. This is the part where I’d go for a good night kiss but there’s kind of a good chance I’ll accidentally headbutt you,” he confessed eventually. “So... yeah.”
“Yeah. We’ll see,” she echoed. Part of her was confused as to why they had to plan hanging out now, but she figured maybe Todd knew more about this than her. Maybe she could latch herself onto someone who was more In the Know of these things. Maybe? Perhaps she shouldn’t think too hard about this for the rest of the night.
Tilting her head to one side, she nodded. “Yeah. Totally understand.” Sighing slightly, Charlie looked at the ground for a moment before rocking up to the balls of her feet and lightly pressed a kiss on Todd’s cheek. “I had a fun time,” she stated as she lowered herself back down to flat feet. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”
“Sure,” Todd said, smiling slightly. The sigh was concerning, but she’d said she’d had a good time. That was good, right? He swallowed, reaching into his pocket for the folded cane as he took a step back. “I’ll talk to you then.”
“Okay. Bye Todd.” Taking a few steps back, Charlie quietly opened the door to her room and slipped inside. Now she was going to flop on the bed and stare at the ceiling for a few minutes as she replayed the past few hours over in her head.