gale hawthorne (rebelhunter) wrote in the100, @ 2016-04-19 19:06:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !log/thread, !storybrooke, gale hawthorne, jaina solo |
March 24, 2016 - Flashback Storybrooke Flashback Scene - Gray asks Jenny out on a date. characters. Grayson Hart (Gale Hawthorne) & Jenny (Jaina) Solo time. Mid-Afternoon location. The Library rating. Low status. Complete |
Most people probably didn’t expect Grayson to be much of a reader, but the truth was that the library was one of his favorite spots to spend his down time. Reading was something he enjoyed when he had the spare time to just sit for a little while. Maybe he hadn’t done so great in school, maybe he hadn’t gone to college, but it wasn’t because Gray was stupid. He was a lot better read and a lot smarter than a lot of people gave him credit for. And it probably didn’t hurt that Jenny Solo was nice to look at. He’d found excuses to talk to her a lot lately, usually asking where to find some book or other, but he found himself wondering what it would be like to get her away from the library. Nothing fancy, but maybe just getting to know her over dinner or taking her to a movie or something. He didn’t have much reason to believe that sweet, shy Jenny would want to go out with a guy like him, but when he walked into the library today, he was feeling exceptionally brave. “Hey,” he said quietly. He’d spotted her shelving some books and taken that as his moment to approach her. Maybe she’d shoot him down, but there was no time like the present, he supposed. Jenny had noticed that Grayson had been spending a lot of time at the library lately but she never thought it had anything to do with her. Most people who came in wanted to talk to Belle or knew exactly what they were looking for and rarely struck up a conversation. This suited Jenny fine as she usually found herself not knowing what to say to people. Especially if they were guys who looked like Grayson. Or any guy at all for that matter. At the age of 22, she’d had two dates, both of which were fix-ups to her junior and senior prom, neither of which she ever went out with again. They were both bigger losers than she was if that was possible, one of them moved away but he had no idea where and the other one had become a priest. That was a real ego boost right there. She nearly dropped the book she had in her hand when she heard Grayson’s voice but she managed to catch it. “Hi,” she said and smiled at him, glancing down at the book and then sticking in its spot. “How are you?” Jenny was proud of herself, she’d managed to get out four words without blushing although her face did feel a little warm. Look at him she told herself and so she did. “Do you need something?”” At 23, Grayson had been on plenty of dates. He’d had girlfriends, both casual and serious, but it had been a while since he’d been out with someone he really liked. If he was honest, he’d liked Jenny for a while. He’d made excuses to talk to her when he came in here for weeks now or sometimes he’d just steal glances at her while he read or browsed. He was oddly nervous now, which was stupid since he’d asked girls out before, dozens of them, maybe more. Jenny was different, though. She was so smart and so pretty. She probably deserved better than him. Maybe that was why he felt so tongue-tied around her. “I-uh... actually, I just thought maybe if you wanted we could maybe go have dinner sometime?” For a moment, she thought she was hearing things or that she was having some kind of walking daydream but no, she was wide awake and he was serious. How was she supposed to handle this? She wished she could ask him to wait a minute so she could call Dellie for advice but she couldn’t do that without being rude. Instead she surprised herself by actually doing the right thing. Speaking. “Oh. Yes, I’d like that a lot. That would be great.” She was blushing now but there was nothing she could do about it. Grayson had just asked her on a date and she was fairly certain that he hadn’t been put up to it because he had seemed nervous even if Jenny had no idea why she would possibly make someone like him nervous. “Really?” Normally confident Grayson wanted to kick himself for saying that out loud. It made him sound pathetic and, well, pathetic. Hoping maybe she wouldn't notice what an idiot he was, he grinned at her as it sunk in that she'd actually said yes. Of course, now he had to come up with a plan for dinner and somehow manage to impress her, but getting a yes was definitely a good first step. Still a little self-conscious, he reached up and rubbed at the back of his head. “Great, so, um, what's a good night for you?” he asked. He was sure that sounded kind of stupid, too, and he didn't know why he was so off his game here. Sure, he really liked Jenny a lot, but it wasn't like he'd never asked a girl out before! “Friday night would be good,” she said. “I’m not busy.” Jenny wasn’t busy any night really unless her friends dragged her out of the house but Grayson didn’t need to know that. “Where did you want to go?” She wished she could think of something more to say than just asking questions. Why couldn’t she flirt like other girls? Sometimes Jenny just wanted to kick herself. “Friday, it is,” he agreed, grinning. There weren't a lot of choices around Storybrooke, but he wanted to take her someplace nice. “I hadn't really thought past getting you to say yes,” he admitted a little sheepishly, “but I promise it'll be somewhere good.” It occurred to her that he didn't actually know where she lived or have her number, so a moment later he pulled out his cell phone. “Did you want to trade numbers?” he asked. “And maybe give me your address.” That would probably help with the picking her up thing. “Oh that would be good, wouldn’t it? Exchanging numbers, I mean.” Jenny reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “Okay, so here’s mine, she pulled up a screen with her number on it and showed it to him. So if you text me, I’ll have yours.” Of course he knew that, she thought, why did she have to explain? Why did he even want to go out with her? Grayson punched the numbers into his phone, making a contact for Jenny and then he pressed the button to send her a text message. Hey, you. Can’t wait for Friday. Maybe it was kind of dorky to do that when they were standing right there. The smiley he tacked on at the end was definitely pretty dorky. It was true, though. He really was looking forward to spending time with her away from all the books. Looking up again, he flashed her a grin. “So, I guess I’ll see you Friday, then.” Jenny smiled when she saw the message. Yes, the smiley might be dorky but it was cute. He was cute and she was very happy. “I guess so. I’d better get back to work though,” she wanted to keep talking to him but she knew she couldn’t just stand there. To her surprise she said “You can call me later if you want to?” Gray nodded, his grin growing a little more. He knew he couldn’t keep her, that she had work to do, but he was pretty happy with how their brief conversation had gone. “I will definitely do that,” he said and he meant it. |