not_an_oreilly (not_an_oreilly) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-08-12 19:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-07-2017, darcy, darcy and liam, liam |
The First Date
Who: Liam and Darcy
Where: The brewery
When: late
Darcy had sent Liam another message to meet her at the brewery, which door to go to and everything, then she’d set about putting things together. Yes, she was a little more dressed up than usual, long dress that dipped low in the back and she couldn’t wear a bra with, but it was still subtle, since Avery’s slut comment was weighing heavily on her. Then she’d raided Aiden’s stash, knowing where it was and getting them some of the best, dropping it into a bucket of ice. The bar would have been easier, but her luck it wouldn’t be closed or someone would be wandering around, so the brewery proper it was. It smelled strongly of hops and beer, but it was a familiar scent to her and hopefully not too much for Liam. She’d spread a blanket in one of the darker corners, adding in a lantern for mood lighting and then paced anxiously while she waited for him to meet her.
Liam didn't feel like himself. He felt very, very confused. Eli was still at the hospital but Liam had been encouraged to step away from the hospital for a little while by a few insistent nurses who had come to take over caring for Eli.
He'd gone home and changed into something that just felt strange. After wearing scrubs for days now, real clothes felt heavier, but he put on a hoodie, t-shirt and a pair of jeans and headed to the brewery as quickly as he could. He didn't like being outside any more than anyone else seemed to right now, especially with the rain and the wolves prospect. His heart was pumping hard the whole time he jogged to the brewery and opened the door instructed by Darcy as quickly as he could.
It was darker and as he let his eyes adjust, he spotted a flickering light and headed toward it quietly. "…Darcy?" He asked, voice very small in such a large space.
She swung her head around, hearing the voice and heading that way. For a moment she bit at her lip, then headed towards his voice, smiling once she spotted him. “Liam,” she said, waving as she moved into sight. “I’m over here. Glad you came.”
Wow/. Darcy was always pretty but this was different. It made him feel like a big shmuck for not dressing up more, and like a jerk for his head being a million places at once. He smiled at her after a moment of just watching her and headed her way, hands tucked in his pockets because he was determined to speak more. “You look pretty.”
Darcy found herself biting her lip with a soft smile, shrugging one shoulder. “Thanks. I thought...it was something better than just you know...school.” The dress was still pretty casual, just a knit thing, but flattering. She reached for his hand, pulling him more into the brewery after making sure the door was locked after her. “Come on, this way. I set up a good spot.”
How did girls do it? How did they put on something like this dress and just look...so beautiful? He wasn’t sure he’d ever understand it but he loved it. He walked with her, hand in hand, and followed her through a building he’d never been in. “This is...cool.” He should have brought something, right? His mother would have slapped him upside his head for his lack of manners.
Darcy nodded. “It’s my family’s. Mostly. Possibly the only cool thing about us.” She smiled as she led them to the corner she’d set up, motioning for him to sit. “The bar is a little fancier, but there’s a less likely chance that we’ll get walked in on here.” She dropped down on the blanket and reached for one of the beers, popping the top on the bottle and offering it to him.
So they were really in private now. Huh. Liam told himself not to let it freak him out that he was in private with really pretty Darcy, but a little part of him felt anxious about it, like he might just ruin something. And now she was offering him beer and he realized, again, that he hadn't really…ever been drunk. He'd had some beverages, things he could snag from his mom without her noticing and share with Finn, but nothing more. So he took the beer and sipped at it, trying to hide the reaction of it on his face. The beer itself wasn't bad, but Liam wasn't sure he liked beer. "I think there's more cool things…more than just this…..about you."
Darcy caught the look on his face and laughed a little before opening her own. “You’re lucky it isn’t the shit Aiden used to brew in the basement. That tasted like paint thinner. It might have been paint thinner.” She smiled a little more. “I guess. What do you want to know?”
Maybe drinking wasn't really for him. He hadn't much liked it back at home and now this sort of cemented the not-liking-it thoughts. But still he drank, in an effort not to be rude. "Don't know…Something nice?" He asked, looking back at her with the start of a smile. Something that would take his mind off of the hospital and every bad, bloody thing he had seen recently.
“Something nice,” Darcy said, tapping her chin while she thought. After a moment she was smiling a little, looking over at Liam. “Well for starters your friend Finn was making out with my cousin. Though that’s not really nice, or about me as much as interesting.” She smirked a little and shifted closer. “If you want something about me...I think you’re really cute.”
Liam listened, surprised enough when she said it out loud like that that he nearly choked on his beer. He felt his cheeks flare in a blush and he stared at Darcy for a long, long moment before clearing his throat. He was supposed to say something right? He was supposed to return the compliment but mostly, what he ended up doing was looking down at his bracelet again. "….Nervous." He admitted.
“You don’t have to be,” Darcy told him. “There’s not anything you can do that I’m not going to like.” She smiled softly and took a sip of her beer.
How? How did she like him so much and felt so open saying so? Liam felt so strange, so torn, and he wasn't sure what to do with himself let alone with her, so how was she so sure of herself? "…someone more interesting?" He asked, not sure if it made sense. Really, he was curious why she didn't want someone more interesting.
Darcy made a little face. “You don’t think you’re interesting?” she asked, surprised to hear that. He was very interesting. More than most people she met, probably more than her.
"Not like Finn…Eli, Audrey…You." He said, shaking his head a little bit. He was quiet, meek compared to his friends, and he certainly wasn't as interesting. It was just a fact. He sipped at the beer again and then made a face. "Why…why drink?"
Darcy shook her head. “Don’t say that. You’re just as interesting as they are. Probably more since Finn’s interested in Avery.” She was halfway to another sip when Liam asked about drinking. Darcy looked at the beer then shrugged. “Not sure. I guess I have been for a while. Aiden used to sneak them to me. And now...why not? It’s a neat feeling, that little bit of a buzz where everything moves slower and just going for something doesn’t seem nearly as scary as it does when you’re sober.”
He looked back down at the beer in his hands and tried to make sense of her words. He’d never gotten to that part with drinking and he still wasn’t sure he was ready to just yet. But instead of stopping, he just took a lighter sip and looked back at Darcy. “Thank you...for thinking I’m interesting.”
She leaned in closer, watching his eyes. “It’s not thinking you’re interesting,” she said softly. “It’s knowing you are. And wanting to know more.”
Liam blushed a little, looking back down at his bracelet. After a moment he put the beer aside and pulled the bracelet off his hand, holding it out to her. “...Sister’s.” He’d not told her about this before, but maybe now was the right time. It felt like a good time.
Darcy took the bracelet when Liam handed it to her, studying it. “Younger sister?” she asked. She’d had a bracelet like it when she was younger. “Did she not make it?” Darcy’s eyes looked up to his, sympathy in them. She’d seen it. There were few left of her line of the O’Reily clan. Very few. Despite her dislike of them, she felt the sting of them being missing.
Liam was quiet when she asked the inevitable question and ended up shaking her head. “Mom and Hayley...” He said, looking down at his hands. “Just Finn and me. Then Audrey and Eli.” That bracelet was one of his most prized possessions and just having her hold it was making his palms itch, but he was trying to contain it.
Despite everything, Darcy got it. She knew what it was like. Fingering the bracelet for a moment more she looked up at him then handed it back. “Hayley’s a pretty name. It was just you and Finn? Wow.” For all their shortcomings, she’d never been on her own out there.
“At some point. Just us. Then others, then just us and Audrey and Eli.” He took the bracelet back a little too quickly and pulled it onto his wrist again, for once actually worried that the elastic was going to get too stretched out, that it might not stay. He tried to quell the panic in him and looked back at Darcy again. “Love Hayley.” He said, resting his head on his knees as he pulled them up to his chest.
She watched him take it back, leaning in and running her finger over it again even if it was on his hand again. “I was always with my family. A few of them.” She let her finger run towards her arm, trailing along it. “Lucky Hayley.”
The touches were different in a way that he didn’t expect. It was like with Audrey in a way, but different because this was Darcy, not Audrey. And yet, even though he knew it was different, it still felt the same in some ways. It was so confusing that Liam just looked back down at his bracelet and tried to think of something to say. “Miss her. She would have liked you.”
She kept brushing her fingers against him, just gentle. “Do you like me Liam?” she asked, switching to her thumb, pressing it against him.
That question felt loaded. Of course he liked her. She was beautiful and kind and sweet and liked him. But part of him was still hung up, caught up in being confused about liking Darcy when compared to liking Audrey. He’d liked Audrey for so long and now he felt stuck in the middle, which made him scared that whatever choice he made would be the wrong one...and then anxious that he even had a choice to make. Nodding, he looked back at her thumb on him, not sure how to explain all of these swirling thoughts to Darcy, or even if he wanted to. So he looked back up at her again and nodded, deciding to keep his mouth shut because even if he was doing it more now, talking wasn’t his strong suit.
It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Darcy nodded as well, biting her lip. “You know...at the hospital...I should have kissed you.” She ducked her head from his eyes then, a little shy, even for her.
She had kissed him on the cheek before. He very vividly remembered it, but this kiss she was mentioning didn’t seem like it was going to be on the cheek. “Big day,” He said, watching her as she ducked her head. It had been a long, crazy day for both of them, but he couldn’t deny that even he wanted to know what it would feel like to kiss someone. And Darcy was really, really pretty and sweet and definitely kissable. But kisses made him nervous, like mostly everything else did.
She kept touching him, and eventually looked up at him from under darkened lashes and eyes. In the low light she knew she looked haunting. She’d been told that once. “It was, but it could have been bigger.” She’d been too confused, too scared and stressed to make that leap. “Would you want that?” she asked, hesitating for once in her life. She wanted this, but she also didn’t want to screw this up. Maybe it would be better to go with the long game.
Liam watched her, just as nervous as he ever was, probably more so this time. He got too easily caught up in the way she looked, so different than anyone he’d ever seen before, and especially in this capacity. “Don’t think I’m good at it...” He warned again, knowing it wasn’t the answer she might have wanted but it was the first thing he could think to say. He felt she deserved the warning.
“How would you know?” Darcy said, smiling more. That Avery had been making out with Finn and Darcy wasn’t there yet with Liam made her a little jealous, so maybe Darcy was pushing this too hard. But wasn’t this the perfect setting for that sort of thing? “I think you should let me judge that.”
Liam still felt funny about all of this, like he wasn’t ready to be taking this step. But then again, Darcy was there and talking about it and looking so pretty. And Liam was caught up in this, so he nodded a little, because words were failing him even if maybe his thoughts were clouded by the prospect of kissing Darcy.
Darcy considered the nod for a moment longer then dared to lean in a little more, fingers curling around his arm as she pressed a soft kiss against his lips. It was gentle, but not tentative, as if she was sure of what she was doing in that moment, which she was. She knew how to do this and she had a feeling something in him would take over too.
Liam shouldn’t have been caught off guard. They’d been talking about this for the past...however long this conversation had been and now here her lips were, warm and soft against his. And he was the one who was timid because this was further than he’d gone before, further and scarier and more exhilarating all wrapped up into one big mess of a feeling. But he did kiss her back, even if it was slow and not as forceful as hers.
Darcy was relieved that he kissed her back, letting out a little sigh, something soft and sweet into the kiss. She eased up her kiss, just to match his pace. She wanted to keep kissing him, to not stop. Her fingers stayed around his arm, holding on to him as she shifted closer.
This was...crazy. Crazy in a way that Liam hadn’t expected it to feel. It was good and scary and nervous and great all at the same time and he felt all those feelings rolling around in him when they kissed. She shifted closer but instead of being able to keep kissing her, he had to pull back for air. His cheeks were flushed and pink and he couldn’t quite meet her eyes on the highly-likely chance that she hated his kiss.
Darcy made a soft noise when he pulled away, not sure what to do with herself. She wanted him there, kissing her, but he’d stopped and for a second she panicked. Then she just barely caught the blush on his cheeks, smiling more. “You are good at it,” she said, voice low, just barely a whisper. Timid, yes, but she still had little shivers from his kiss. Maybe because he was the first guy in a long while or maybe even ever that she really liked who was kissing her. Not just some stranger willing to pay her attention or some boy at school who was more of a conquest. She liked Liam. He was different and interesting, and he listened. He was patient and kind and things Darcy wished she was, but definitely wasn’t.
That made him smile. If it wasn’t true, thankfully she was lying to him. If it was true, he...still wasn’t sure he believed it. But either way, it felt nice to hear. He hadn’t expected to be told he was good at it, since he was lacking practice, but even so it boosted his confidence a little. He looked back at Darcy and then down at her hand on him. “You too,” He said quietly, then reached for the beer to take another, strengthening sip even if it made him cringe a bit. “Your cousins...ok?” He asked, thinking that it was a deviation from their actions and even their conversations, but Liam needed the time. He needed to wrap his head around all of this, and for once, talking would help.
Darcy was a little surprised at the change in conversation, but she went with it, nodding and reaching for her beer with her free hand. She didn’t let go of him, or move much further away, but she let him have the break between kisses. “Mostly. They got out of the hospital, but I haven’t seen either one of them yet.” Which was half her doing, half theirs. It wasn’t like she hung out with Patrick and Lochlan regularly anyway. “Patrick was acting a little weird before he got out, when I was visiting him, but I don’t know if it was a thing or just Patrick being weird.”
That concerned Liam. Maybe something was wrong? Bad things could happen when people were bitten by animals, right? All those people bitten by the bats earlier...and now these wolves. The concern was on his face when he looked back at Darcy. “Weird...how?”
Darcy shrugged. “He seemed like he had a headache. And...this is going to sound insane, but he could hear me. I’m good at knowing how loud I need to be for him not to hear me, but he could.”
It did sound a little strange, but only slightly. Liam had spent a pretty quiet existence so he was used to picking out small sounds, but if Patrick wasn’t and he had somehow been able to do so currently? That was strange. “...Headaches happen,” Liam said, trying to be reassuring, because he knew at least that much was hard to get rid of after an attack that jostled her cousin around. “...Check and see...later, if he still can hear you?”
Darcy nodded. “I probably will. Now that they’re okay though, I can go back to avoiding them.” Since she tended to do that anyway. “What about you? How’s Eli?”
Liam looked down at his beer again and shrugged after a moment, debating another sip that he, in the end, forfeited. “Hospital,” He said, instead choosing to swish the liquid around in the cup. “Better, but...still there.”
That left Darcy frowning. “I’m sorry. I hope he gets out soon.” She reached for his hand as he swirled his drink. “I’m glad you still came to see me. I was hoping you would.” He was closer to his friends than she was to her family and Darcy wasn’t sure she’d be back on to dating if her cousins were still in the hospital.
He didn't want to tell her that he'd been essentially told to go home or get out, for at least a little while, so instead he just nodded. "It's nice...to see you, nice," He responded, looking up from the drink in his hand to her then back down. "...Scared for Eli," He said after a moment, as if the 'though' that should have followed was implied. "Wish he was out."
Darcy watched Liam for a moment then took his drink from him and lifted his arm enough to slip under it and closer to him. Resting her head on his shoulder she wrapped one arm around his middle. “I’m sure he’ll be fine,” she said, hoping that was the truth.
Liam watched her settle in close and although it pushed his thoughts separate ways, torn between how nervous she made him when she was so close and how nice it felt to be close to her, he ended up with a smile on his lips. “He will,” He said, nodding a little as he wished for the words to be true.