artsybarkeep (artsybarkeep) wrote in themoderngods, @ 2012-04-05 03:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, !thread, ♥ alice dufort, ♥ steven wilson, ♦ demeter |
Who: Steve and Alice
Where: Alice's apartment
When: Weds evening, 4/4/12
Rating: Low
He hadn’t really expected her to call and say she was going to cook dinner. It was a nice thought, but the number of women that say they were going to call him after a chat at the bar were lower than most people would think. But, she had been entertaining that one night, and seemed to have a nice sense of humor with the latest interactions on the journal. Steve decided to just go with the flow and see what happened. Sometimes the most interesting things happened that way.
He was dressed up, of a sorts. Nothing real fancy, no suit or expensive clothing. While Steve owned those things, he didn’t really enjoy wearing them, so this particular outfit was much more casual. Simple slacks, dress shirt, and a leather sports jacket that had that whole loved look and feeling to it was his outfit. Oh, and the nice shoes, tennis shoes would have been a whole bad decision, though he was tempted.
He was a little early, as for once traffic agreed with him. He was more than familiar with Brooklyn, so getting lost wasn’t an issue. Even though he was more than familiar with the town, he still took the subway for most of the way, and when he finally got there, he was about fifteen minutes early. But, being the brave brave soul that he was, Steve walked up to the door of Alice’s apartment and knocked on it. When she answered, he held up a bottle of red wine. “For the chef.” It would be moderately pricey, though definitely on the cheap end of expensive. He could only afford so much.
----
If nothing else, Alice was trying to stay true to her word. Coming back to New York was more difficult than she’d expected, honestly. While it was great to be home, getting back into the swing of her life and the pace of the city was some what exhausting. It probably would have been wise to come home on Friday like they had planned, not that she regretted the weekend in the least. Needless to say, when Wednesday rolled around and she had the evening off she wasn’t actually feeling as up to company as she had planned on being when she’d texted the bartender. Still, he had entertained her and gave her free drinks and she’d enjoyed talking to him- at least when the conversation wasn’t about boobs. If she was going to keep her head about Jeremiah, she was going to need men like Steve to keep her grounded, right?
Okay, she also really enjoyed cooking organic food for people- even if it was just a clever ploy to get dinner (or more?) out of her. That didn’t mean it had to be anything more than what she was willing to make it. For that night she’d decided on steaks with a side-dish made of spinach pasta and zuccini with parmesan. It was relaxed and tasty and she thought a fairly good example of how eating organic food could be normal, affordable, and delicious.
The knock surprised her though. She looked at the clock and confirmed that he was early but went to the door with a smile regardless. She wasn’t particularly dressed up- as Alice didn’t typically dress up anyway- just in a sundress with her hair pulled back. Her tan was fairly deep from all of the time Jeremiah had insisted on being on the beach and her makeup was light. Natural.
“Hey! You found the place. Oh! Thanks,” she grinned and took the bottle, examining it. “You really didn’t have to bring anything. Come on in.” Alice stepped aside to let him past and closed the door behind him. “I’m still cooking, sorry. Make yourself at home though. Do you want a glass now?” she held up the bottle he’d arrived with.
----
“Traffic was good this time.” He said. He lived in the village these days as it was easier than always taking one of the bridges or tunnels to get to school or Midnight. Though, of course, it meant he had to take those to get to Alice’s. Which was why he left early, and of course, didn’t need it at all. “Only if you’re drinking too.” He said with a grin as she took the bottle and asked the question.
He turned his gaze around the room for a moment, as he took in the sights. “Wow, you got like an entire farm in here..” he said as he made a motion toward those same plants. “Do you grow anything on these?” He had no talent for growing things, just creating them. A shake of his head as he considered them another moment and looked back at her. “I haven’t got any talent at all for growing things. Unless they’re supposed to turn brown and all that.”
His hands linked behind his back as he took a slow deep breath of the food that was cooking. “That does sound good though. What are we having?” He turned back toward her fully as he tilted his head slightly. “And you are looking good tonight. The tan suits you.”
----
Did you drive?” she asked, a little incredulous. Still the idea of owning a car in the city was weird to her, much less actually using it. You’d think after spending an entire week in a Blazer she’d be a little more accustomed but no such luck. His comment on drinking made her laugh and she shook her head. “I’ll have a glass, sure. Do you want to do the honors while I see to dinner?” The floor plan was fairly open and the kitchen was clearly visible from the living area. And yes- it was covered in house plants.
“Ah- no, actually. Just flowers and the like. Well those over there,” she pointed to the window off of the kitchen, “are herbs. So I guess kind of? I just really like plants.” Which made a lot more sense now that she... knew more about herself? She was still going to have to pick up a book on greek mythology, clearly she should have paid better attention in school.
“Steak with a pasta side dish. Do you have food allergies? I probably should have asked that ahead of time...” she smirked, looking a little sheepish as she headed back toward the kitchen. Alice was all about remaining relaxed and when she’d invited him to make himself at home she meant it. She was horrible at playing host with a lot of fancy-smancy manners and such. She set the wine-opener on the counter before stirring the veggies in the frying pan.
“Thanks! My trip included a lot of beaches which, as it turns out, is good for getting a tan. Who knew. How is your Spring Break going?”
--
“I didn’t drive here.” He said with a shake of his head. “If it’s within an easy subway or affordable cab ride, I don’t drive when there’s a chance I’ll be drinking.” Unless, of course, he knew he was spending the night, then drinking after having driven was perfectly acceptable.
He followed after her with a nod of his head. “Sure, I can do that.” He said as he made a motion toward the tables. The sheepish look, “I’m allergic only to food poisoning. I swear that’ll get messy if I get it.” He made a sweeping hand motion. “All over everything.” But he grinned at her. He would walk over toward the counter as she set out the bottle opener and then opened the bottle. “Glasses?” he asked before he moved over to grab a couple. They were quickly filled about halfway before he set hers near where she was working on the food.
“Man, that sounds awesome. You didn’t spend all day cooking it did you?” He asked as he tilted his head at her. “Man, I’m going to feel totally guilty if you really spent all day making this dinner for me.” Steve shook his head a little at that. He wasn’t too much into manners himself, at least not formal. Be polite his mother always told him, and he could do that.
“Nude beaches are best for tans. You can get all over. Though, of course, you need to watch out for sunburns. Man, can you get some nasty burns.” He grinned at her. “Mine’s going good. Wish I didn’t work for half of it, but stuff just kinda snuck up on me this year. Next year, I’m so hitting some major party spot.”
----
“Oh good. That seems a little crazy. Where do you live?” she asked. It was strange to realize the things that they didn’t know about each other. It seemed like they had had such a nice conversation at the bar but she really knew very little about him. She nodded to the cupboard with the glasses in it, a spattering of wine glasses that didn’t match each other inside along with the regular drinking glasses.
Alice smirked and shook her head. “No, I haven’t been cooking all day- I’m not nearly domestic enough for that- and I promise you won’t get food poisoning. It’s actually a lot more rare when you are eating organic foods. Obviously, you still have to take normal precautions, like washing your vegetables and such, but yeah- another perk.” Frankly she’d only been in the kitchen for about fifteen minutes before he’d knocked. The steaks were seasoned and marinating and she had chopped up the veggies, started the water boiling. The meal was deceptively simple.
She laughed and gave him a look. “If that’s your way of asking to see my tan lines, I think you’re going to have to try harder,” she told him. “We tried to keep the nude beaches to a minimum.” The thing about Alice was trying to get her to give you a serious, straight answer. Unless it was something she was passionate about, she spent more time swerving than opening up. “As for party spots- I reccomend Virgina Beach- or anywhere in Florida. There was a lot of avoiding Spring-Breakers in those places.”
---
“I live over in the Village.” That would be Greenwich Village on the south of New York. “Not too far. Just a hassle with the bridge traffic, but hey.. cute girl, awesome food, that’s worth a little traffic.” Steve just grinned at her as he tilted his head slightly. He would have picked two glasses that looked like the same size, he didn’t want her complaining he was over supplying her with booze after all.
Actually simple meals would have been the only ones he could make. His skills in the kitchen went exactly to him not starving, and that was the extent of it. He could cook for someone, but it’d be something like a BBQ, and that was his cooking skills. “Oh, obviously.” He said with a wrinkle of his nose at her. “But that’s good at least. Though, I never quite understood what organic food really is. Isn’t everything organic.. because you know.. it’s actually organic in nature?”
The laugh and look got a sheepish grin from him. “Oh, that’s not how I’m planning on seeing your tan lines.” He reached over to take his glass against hers. “That’s how I’m planning on seeing your tan lines.” He winked at her, and his voice was definitely teasing. “Hmm. Spring Break nude beaches. I think I know where I should go next year. You think they’d let someone like me on those beaches? I am starting to catch a little chub down here..” he said as he patted his stomach. Of course, given how often he worked out, there would be no ‘chub’ there.
----
Alice smiled at the compliment and shook her head slightly. She didn’t like to rebuff them but she also didn’t take them to heart hardly ever. She was confident enough to accept that she was mildly attractive and therefore not desperate for approval but not overly-confident in so much as she didn’t buy most compliments paid to her appearance.
“Biologically it’s organic, I suppose. Or most things are- chicken used in fast food chains like KFC is actually grown in labs- I don’t know how biologically organic I would call that.” She made a face, clearly indicating her opinion on harvested chicken product. “But the term organic refers to the process that the food was grown or raised and processed. It was done without the use of non-organic chemicals and additives or hormones that might make the output more beneficial to the supplier but is not good for the consumer. A lot of brands also specailize in cruelty-free organic products. Like free-range chicken, for example.” Not that all free-range was also cruelty free but it was a catch phrase most people recognized.
Alice snorted and gave him another Look. “Hey you’re getting steak out of this deal, don’t push your luck.” Honestly, she wasn’t sure where she even stood on the matter. She really liked Jeremiah but she was also worried that maybe she liked him more than was mutual-- maybe messing around and knocking her past week off of a pedastal wasn’t a horrible idea... Or maybe it was. Maybe it was a really horrible idea. This was exactly why Alice just avoided the whole relationship thing altogether. Things got too confusing and sticky and she never knew where the lines were drawn.
“Yeah I’m sure you’re getting a lot of chub,” she said sarcastically teasing. “More like fishing for compliments. Put your mind to ease though- I don’t think they have anyone checking people out for approval before they’re allowed on the beach.”
---
“Sounds highly complicated.” Steve said with a shake of his head. “All that fuss over food. You grow a cow, you feed it to everyone and get milk while its growing up. Should be that damn simple.” It was a lot of fuss over things that had been that way for decades. But, people were always trying to change something. There was always something in the art world with one artist bitching about another. Of course, he could argue all the finer points of artificial booze or fully grown booze, and whatnot, but that was absolutely different and not related at all.
“Hmmm. Steak.” He said as he reached a hand up to scratch his chin. “Steak sounds like an awesome trade-off. Tan lines.. steak.. Always steak.” He winked at her before he took another sip from the wine glass in his hand. It was having that nice warm feeling on him. Nowhere near tipsy or buzzed, just nice and warm as it flowed down him. He was both bad and good with relationships. He was good when they kept his interest, but bad if he got bored at all. Though, he hadn’t had a real one in a couple of years, between school and work, and picking up random women, he didn’t tend to attract the relationship types currently.
He grinned at her again as he rubbed his stomach. “I gained ten pounds this week. From the smell of things, I’ll gain another ten tonight. You have no idea how hard I have to work out to keep this off, and you get to stay all nice and skinny and curvy without doing a damn thing. You have no idea how much I hate you for that.” He teased.
----
Alice knew that line. That was the ‘okay you’re getting to into it’ line. She got it pretty frequently and didn’t take it personally at all. “Well that’s how it should be, but then the corporations got their grubby hands involved- literally- and here we are. Trying to get things back to natural, or as close as possible.” Okay. She was going to stop now, really.
She didn’t point out that he didn’t have much choice, she wasn’t offering tanlines, she was offering steak. Alice took a drink of the wine before dumping the pasta into the now-boiling water. “Should be just a few more minutes now,” she told him. There wasn’t any part of her that believed he’d really choose steak over tanlines- and all that came with them- but she wasn’t going to argue the point.
“Oh no, not ten pounds.” She laughed and shook her head. “I didn’t say I don’t do anything. I just don’t work out. I farm, that takes work! And I have to do lifting at work.”
----
That wasn’t entirely true. He was an arts major seeking his masters, just about every other person in his classes were fanatic about something. Most of the time it was idiotic stuff, or things that couldn’t change anything. Like protesting things that happen eight thousand miles away in a different country that didn’t even talk to this one. That was going to change things, seriously. “Damn those corporations.” He said with a chuckle. “Always screwing up everything.” He shook his head. “It’s the almighty dollar. Once that gets involved, everything goes to hell in a hand basket.”
She really didn’t know him if she thought along those lines. Just seeing tan lines really didn’t do anything for him, and he honestly found her more attractive in this simple outfit than he likely would have if she had been naked or in some tight getup. He saw people trying to get all sexed up for a living, he had stopped being impressed years ago. Still enjoyed it, but it didn’t impress him. Simpler things did these days.
“Hey, I used to play for my schools football team, I’ll have you know. Ten pounds can really put you off your stride if they’re the wrong kind of pounds. Especially since you have to work ten times hard to lose that than to gain it.” He winked at her as he took another sip from his drink. “And no rush, I’m enjoying the chat. Even the soapboxey kind. I hadn’t known all that before.” Would he still remember it by morning though? That was the question.
----
“I know, I know,” she said and waved her hand. Alice tried her best to be laid back and neutral but there were certain topics she just didn’t let go very easily. Food was one of them. It was vital, after all.
Alice shook her head smirking, and took another drink of the wine. “There are too many people in this city concerned about their weight. And football was how long ago?” she smirked. “I thought the goal in football was to bulk up anyway?”
---
“Wish I had my sketch book.” Steve said with a grin as she waved him off. He took another sip of his wineglass as he tilted his head and watched her. “You get the cutest expressions when you get all animated about this.” He shook his head, though he quickly stepped to the side to make sure he wasn’t within punching distance of her as he said that.
Another sip, before he gave a soft laugh and a shake of his head. “There are people who are concerned about their weight for the dumbest of reasons. They’re underweight and they freak out if they gain two pounds. Or they’re at their ideal and they gain five pounds.” Another shake of his head. “I’m not being serious about gaining a couple pounds here or there. I work out hard enough and stay in shape well enough that I’ll lose it. Even if it means another ten or fifteen minutes on a stair machine or something.”
“Playing on the team itself was three years ago. But I still work out with them now and then. And, unless you’re a linebacker bulking up isn’t quite necessary. I was a receiver, wide receiver if you know anything about the actual sport. I had to be fast, not strong. Fast on my feet, and able to take a hit.”
----
Alice raised a brow and gave him another Look. She was smirking slightly though. “Nu uh, I don’t want to be immortalized in your sketchbook Mister. You might steal my soul or something,” she teased. Luckily for Steve, Alice wasn’t the punching type.
She laughed and looked at him. “So what’s the difference about you and your ten pounds?” she asked. “Face it, you’re falling victim to the aethetics of the fast life. Ten pounds is still vanity weight.” Frankly, maybe Alice didn’t stay skinny so easily as she thought- she just didn’t watch her weight as closely as everyone else seemed to. An inspection of her apartment would prove no scales to be found.
“I definitely don’t know a damn thing about football, sorry.” She bent over to grab the steaks out of the oven and set them on the stove to rest as she finished up the pasta dish.
---
“Oh, I wouldn’t keep your soul. I’m not into the keeping of souls, that’s my math teacher.” Steve said with a smirk and a shake of his head. “I would, however sell it back to you with a slight upcharge. A guy has to make a living, you know?” He grinned at her, though he didn’t do anything else other than grab the bottle of wine, and add a little more to his glass. He would then lean over to put her glass back up to halfway as well, unless she stopped him.
“Well, I did say I wasn’t serious.” Steve said with a chuckle. “I had to keep constant track of my weight when I was playing, but I don’t anymore. If I indulge in a meal, like I suspect I would be now, then it just means I work out a little harder tomorrow to compensate. I work out to stay in shape, and healthy, not because I’m worried about my waistline or if I’ll fit into my skinny jeans. Just eating right doesn’t keep you healthy, you know. You have to have the proper exercise routine. If you really were that much of a health nut, you’d know that.” He didn’t eat perfect, but he knew how to stay in shape and healthy.
“Most women don’t, it’s not really a sport meant for them, though I’ve known a fair few that doo. I was one of the guys who caught the ball and tried to score and not get killed in the process.”
----
Alice shook her head, holding up the hand that held the wine glass. “Ah- no. I am not a health nut. I never claimed to be one. There are so many ways that I could- and should- be improving my health. I just believe in eating organic food- or, better yet, growing it yourself.
“And I don’t do drugs. To me that’s not health it’s just- I don’t know, common sense.” She took the two plates and dished up initial servings before moving them to the dining room table. The rest she brought out in serving dishes. “Unless you’d rather eat in the living room?” she offered. Alice wasn’t really into formalities and didn’t care where they sat.
She did raise a brow at his comment though. “Holy Sexism Batman. I’m sure I’m perfectly capable of understanding football- I just have no interest in watching a bunch of sweaty egos throw themselves at each other for a few hours to prove how powerful they are.”
---
“You should work out a little too.” He said with a chuckle. “Even if it’s just as simple as taking a walk around the block or something.” Steve shrugged his shoulders as he considered her for a moment. “Even those who stay skinny all on their own. Eating good is one thing, living good..” he winked at her, before he watched her move to set the plates.
“Whichever you’re more comfortable with. I’m fine with curling up on a couch, or settling at the table where we’ve got room for drinks and all.” He grinned at her as he considered the plates for a moment. “Your house, Alice, your rules on food.” He walked over toward his place at the table, though he didn’t sit down just yet, he would wait for her to do that.
The arched brow got a smile in return. “It’s not sexist.” He said with a shake of his head. “Women don’t tend to be interested in football. It’s not a sport that you girls seem to be interested in.” A hand motioned toward her, “As you just pointed out. I never said anything about women in sports. Hell, I’ve been working out with another bartender, and she can kick my ass in the workouts.” An arched brow of his own in return. “And if you’re not interested in a sport, you’re not likely going to know the rules. I don’t know the first thing about golf or tennis myself. Short of you hit the ball.”