nocturnalcoitus (nocturnalcoitus) wrote in tiberiusswann, @ 2010-03-16 19:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | adora, duncan |
Friday, April 18th, 2008
Who: Duncan and Adora
Where: Starting on-campus, then moving off
When: Friday night
What: Adora and Duncan attempt a friend hang-out slash non-date
Adora had tried really really hard to talk to Keagan throughout the day, but the email about his roommate wanting him to move out had kind of mesed him up a little. But, he'd kept encouraging her to go hang out with Duncan, stating he'd be fine and that he didn't need her worrying about him - which she only sort of was worried. She felt bad that the old man was catching such flack and backlash.
But, now she needed to focus on she was going to do. Which was... try to have a friend... hang out... thing... with Duncan. And while that wouldn't have bothered her three weeks ago... now that she was self-aware that she definitely wanted to be more than friends and it seemed that he didn't? She wasn't making it easier with Keagan being there, and enough people had chewed her out about dating Keagan and that they all thought she was supposed to be honest with Duncan and it was... incredibly confusing. She was confused.
BUT. She had to hang out. With her friend. That was what she was going to do.
As she grabbed her keys and headed out, Adora spent a few minutes to check the journals on her phone as she made her way towards the garage. She actually paused in the middle of the grass as she read the entry by Kindle. Had this just been posted? What the hell.
---
Duncan was beginning to feel a little bit like an asshole. It was an uncomfortable and unfamiliar feeling for him. It had been a long time since he could remember doing or saying something he disliked himself for. Generally, he was proud to remain polite, but assertive. Recently though, watching the aftermath of Keagan's "outing," an overriding, repetitive thought -- namely being 'I freaking KNEW it' -- was streaming through his head and making him feel a bit brutish.
He had told Adora it was a bad idea for Keagan to keep up the ruse. He thought it was a worse idea to date a student. He knew it was a bad idea from the start, but Adora had been a little adamant and well, now.... things were worse than ever. Not only was Keagan getting flack for being dishonest, but he was getting flack for being honest.
And to be openly dating! Insanity. He blamed the entire situation on the two of them (something else that was eating at him). He credited the lunacy of their blatant disregard for everyone's feelings on Adora's post-traumatic stress and Keagan's inexperience with how to handle such things in a modern day world. Perhaps the fact he hadn't been burned alive had confused him.
---
Adora stood there in the grass for a moment, staring at the journal entry, before she remembered that she needed to call Duncan. Right? She thought she had to call him to let him know she was on her way. She switched off of her internet browser and kept walking towards her car, finding it in the garage and unlocking it with a click of her remote.
"Hey, Duncan?" Adora's voice had an odd, hurt little edge to it, although she was telling herself it wasn't there and that she didn't know why it would be. "I'm on my way. In a few." She finished buckling up and turning on her car, backing it out of the garage.
----
"Great," he responded, before snatching his coat and heading out the door. He had known Adora was going to suggest they hang out in his apartment but... he had no idea how that would have been possible. It would have been too strange. He needed time to acclimate to the idea that his new best friend and lover was now his (best?) friend and... not his lover.
Keagan was clearly a better choice for her, anyway. He was older, so therefore wiser, even if it wasn't in a sexual manner. Besides, Adora probably loved that. He was probably a buffet in comparison to Duncan, in terms of a meal.
When he got downstairs he slunk against his building's doorway, looking out for her approaching vehicle. His hands were in his pockets, and his shoulders were hunched. It didn't make sense, because the chances of him being cold were slim, but there it was.
---
Adora pulled up a few feet from him, throwing her car into park and beeping the horn. Once the car was no longer in motion and she knew it wasn't going anywhere, she had already grabbed the phone and was back on that journal page again. The funniest part about it wasn't the whole thing about people talking badly about Keagan, she'd expected that. So had he.
It was the implication that somehow because she was a succubus that Keagan was being preyed upon that had hit her in the gut. And hard. She had already known she was going to catch flack for being a succubus, and she knew that she'd made the mistake of sleeping with Keagan based entirely on hunger, but... she didn't need to see it again. She didn't need people to point out that succubus = heartless ho-bag.
By the time Duncan had gotten into the passenger's seat, she had a funny little screwed up and distracted expression on her face, illuminated in an eerie way from the back light on her phone.
----
He was quiet for a moment, then arched an eyebrow. "What.?"
---
Adora cleared her throat, looking up at him. "Um..." She took a deep breath, debating what to say or how to say it. She chose instead to hand him her phone. "Have you seen this?"
---
Duncan barely looked at it for a second before he handed the phone back over. "Ah, yeah, saw that."
---
The way he kind of brushed through it made Adora swallow and nod some, trying to gather herself back together. "Oh... okay..." She was quiet, clearly distracted and trying not to be upset, but then again, she wasn't sure how she would even describe how she felt on the matter. She turned back to her car and went to throw it out of park, then paused, her hand on the gear shift.
---
He watched her with careful eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, after a bit, but the way his mouth twitched in an uncomfortable smile also said "told you so."
---
"Guess I just proved everyone right, didn't I?" Adora chuckled a little, but there was clearly no humor in it. "I mean, Keagan expected all the remarks, he doesn't care. But... I guess everyone was right. I'm just a succubus so I just prey on the weak, right?" She sighed some and looked out the front window, considering if she should just tell him to get out of the car now. Some company she'd be.
--
Duncan's eyebrows came together, and he stared at her before speaking softly. "Well.. do you feel like that's what happened, here?" Duncan still had no idea how these two had gotten together. He had had a feeling that Adora probably slept with him in a moment of weakness, and that Keagan had slept with Adora in a different kind of moment of weakness, and well, guilty, Adora said -- 'let's make a date.' Though to assume such was insulting to his friend, and so he was trying not to think on the matter until she provided further clarification.
---
Taking a deep breath and sitting back in her seat, Adora reached up to rub her eyes a little. "I know that I slept with him on accident. But I also know that he probably had the ability to say no, so... I guess I just feel like... it was an accident and I never expected it to happen. But do I feel like I'm just preying on him or something? No."
---
"So then what does it matter what they say? He's wrong either way, in their eyes. He's damned for being dishonest, and still damned for being honest." He reached up to rub the back of his head, looking more sorrowful than he had moments ago.
"You had to know this was going to happen. That they were going to pull the succubus card."
---
"Just because I knew they were going to say it doesn't mean I have to like it!" Adora snapped, looking over at him. "That's... a really callous thing to say."
---
He leaned back, struck by her tone, eyes going wide. "I.. I'm sorry. I just meant.." He wasn't sure what he meant. Perhaps that he had figured Adora had prepared herself better. Did she really never look before she leapt?
"... I didn't say you had to get used to it, I just meant.. I thought you knew it might happen. And.. you did," he added, quietly. "That's all." He tentatively reached out to put a hand on her knee, comfortingly.
"You had been hungry, or, weak, but.. now you're not. And you two are still.. dating, right?" There was a pause. He was vaguely uncomfortable with the notion. Why, he wasn't sure.
---
It was odd, because normally Adora would have been comforted by the touch, but at the moment, she was tense and upset and his responses really weren't making her feel all that better. That and she was still reeling from the way that he just figured she should expect all the talk and get over it. Then again, maybe it was that he could read it... and that he seemed to agree with it.
"We're..." Adora realized that Duncan was asking if she and Keagan were still dating and she realized that there was no way she could be honest. Not right now. It would just make Duncan laugh and be even more convinced that it was a good thing they weren't sleeping together anymore. "We're still moving forward with this, yeah."
----
He gave an encouraging squeeze. "So there you go. Fuck 'em." It was rarely he used profanity, but then.. he hadn't been himself lately anyway. He pulled his hand away with a shrug and a heartening smile. "Those who know you know that this is something you want to do for yourself, for reasons that are better than .. food. Those who don't know you -- well, they don't know you. Not like I do, like your friends do."
He grinned. "Don't worry, if anyone says anything to me about you, I'll drag 'em on a subway and punch 'em."
---
Adora smiled a little again, remembering the little adventure on the subway. Of course, now it had a whole different meaning to her, but, hey, she'd take what she could get, right? It was enough to make her think about Duncan and not want to hate him. But, he was talking like... like this was what she wanted and that was the furthest thing from the truth. But she didn't know how to tell him.
"R-Right..." Adora smiled, trying to bolster herself again. "I've got Duncan, my um, my great defender of all social injustices."
---
He nodded, crossing his arms comfortably over himself as he slouched down in his seat. "Do you.. mind if I move the seat back?" He needed leg room.
---
"No, why would I mind?" Adora chuckled a little, despite the nervous jumping in her stomach. Dear god, the night was going to be long if it felt like this the entire time. But, distraction now given, Adora put the car in gear and started to drive out off towards the exit to the campus. "Don't be mean to Leonardo. He's a good car, so no jokes about it being crampy."
---
"I just have long legs," he said, with a cheeky grin. After a moment, he began humming. First it started low, quietly, almost inaudible, and then it became louder. The theme to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
---
The more Adora heard him humming, the lighter her mood was getting, and it was kind of deceptively calming. In fact, it was so relaxing that by the time he got to the end of the theme, Adora softly muttered under her breath without thinking, "Turtles in a half-shell. Turtle power."
And continued driving like she had never said anything.
---
Duncan laughed, softly, as his body gradually slunk down back to a state of relaxation. Mid-slink, his chest.. hurt. He felt wrong. Like this was not a moment he should have been sharing with Adora. At least, now when it made him feel so comfortable and cohesive. Being with her made him link past and present in the healthiest way he'd yet to achieve. Her very presence helped him understand how people change, why they changed, and what time could do. She wasn't as old as him, but she was old enough to comfort him.
Except Keagan was older. So they were both probably much more useful to each other -- especially right now -- than Duncan could be. Huuh. He wondered if the feeling of 'slammed door' that suck in his gut was because he had lost out to another man; if it was a pride matter. He'd done it before, after all, but it had always been an easy transition. He had wanted the woman in question to hopefully divert her attentions anyway, because she had become too attached and well, he knew he never would be able to live the sort of life with her that she wanted. So when another man had come along -- a coworker, gym trainer, friend fo a friend -- he'd simply stepped aside with a bit of theatrical affront, and that was that.
This was...different.
---
Adora was also dealing with a gnawing feeling in her stomach as they drove. It hadn't occurred to her just yet that they hadn't decided where they were going, what they were going to do, but at the moment, she had no issue just driving. It felt like as long as she was driving, it was somehow out of time, so she didn't have to actually discuss anything or address how she was feeling.
Even though she'd tried to give Duncan the impression that she was over the criticism and the fact that he'd expected it, almost like he'd expected her to act just like she had been, she was still dwelling. And the whole thing felt awkward. She really wished that somehow she could have just erased the last two weeks and go back to being friends with him and they were both blissfully ignorant.
Sighing a little, Adora turned on her radio, hearing a synth filter over the speakers as she drove. Something by Coldplay, she couldn't remember the actual title, but she'd heard it before. "So, where did we want to go?" She finally asked, then focused back on the road again.
When you try your best but you don't succeed, when you get what you want and not what you need... When you feel so tired but you can't sleep, stuck in reverse...
---
Duncan let out a little chuckle. "You started driving, I thought you had an idea. Ehm, hungry now?" His gut panged, because his next joke had been 'Er, for food!' but he wasn't allowed to make that joke anymore.
How could he miss something that had only taken place after a few months? He'd been alive for centuries.
---
"Yeah, I could eat." Adora remarked, trying to focus on just making a mental note of what exactly was in the area for food. "There's a good barbeque place down the highway. That sound good to you? They have great ribs and pulled pork." She glanced over at him, forcing a lopsided smirk at him. "And besides, you were the one who suggested we go out for the night."
---
"Ribs and pull pork?" Duncan said, grinning. "I try not to eat those foods in public, but hey, I'm game. I need to step out of my shell. Let's do it!" He gave an emphatic pound to her dashboard, lightly.
---
"Do not hit Leonardo!" Adora snapped and reached over to swat him in the arm with a grin. "And you better give the food a try, because I don't plan on eating daintily just cause you're there."
---
"Oh, well if we both look like pigs, that's fine. Then people will point and laugh at BOTH of us." In reality, everyone would look disgusting. His face screwed up a little. "They give you the little wet napkins in a pouch, yes?" He had no idea they were called "Wet Naps" --- it was a fact that had never made its way to him.
---
Rolling her eyes, Adora took the exit onto the access road that led to the restaurant she was thinking of. "Yes, they give you wet naps, you big dork. I promise your dainty fingers can be cleaned to your typical obsessive-compulsive immaculate state that you prefer your entire apartment to be in."
---
His smile died, a little, but he kept it hanging and looked out the window. Obsessive-compulsive? He'd heard it before. It had just been a while.
After a moment, he spoke again. "Do they card?" A snicker.
---
"While your good looks are boyish and playful, Duncan, I don't think we'll have to worry about thaat." Adora glanced over at him then looked back at the road. "You're hardly jail-bait material." She pulled the car into a parking spot near the entrance.
---
"First I'm obsessive-compulsive, now I'm old!" he said, grinning wildly now, already forgotten. "Jeez, are ye goin' to buy me dinner before y'drag me to the back alley an' shoot me?"
---
Adora laughed and stepped out of her car, pausing until he'd gotten out to make her witty reply. "Believe me, if I was going to drag someone into a back alley, it wouldn't be to shoot them." Adora paused long enough to realize what that sentence could mean, then added a little more with a grin. "Torture is much more fun." Part of her wanted to yell at Keagan when she got home for having told her she could flirt with Duncan and that it would be good for her. She was failing to see how.
---
Why was she listening to Keagan about dating advice? Hadn't it been established he wasn't the deepest knowledge well to visit on that?
"Oh, lovely," he said, before darting forward to grab the door and hold it open for her. His grin was "shit-eating."
---
Adora huffed a little and crossed her arms over her chest at him opening the door for her before slipping in anyway. For a few minutes, she'd totally forgotten that she and Keagan were even going the fake dating route. Duncan was still doing all the little things he did before, she was just noticing them more now.
She did make her way to the hostess before he did, though. "Hi, two, please. Anywhere's fine."
The hostess grinned and looked at the two of them. "Sure. Are you celebrating anything tonight?"
Adora blinked, looking over at Duncan and clearing her throat uncomfortably. "Um... no? Just... two friends... out to dinner." She looked back over at the hostess, taking a deep breath. "That table?"
---
Duncan coughed into his mouth to politely hide his laughter from the hostess, while watching Adora squirm and spew out sarcasm. When the hostess agreed -- albeit confusedly -- and snatched their menus, Duncan leaned in to Adora.
"I think.." he whispered into her ear as they walked, "that table is the one by the restrooms."
---
Adora had not been expecting Duncan to lean in and whisper in her ear, so when he did, even though it was a completely innocuous statement, she felt a full shiver travel up her spine.
"I... what?" She looked over at him, trying to recover, feeling totally thrown off-guard. "Oh, wait, I get it. You're hilarious."
---
He grinned, proud of himself. "I've never been asked that question in a restaurant before. 'First time here?' yes, but never what I was celebrating. What if we came here after a funeral just because we had had a long day and didn't feel like cooking?"
---
"That's a horridly morose thought." Adora smirked, then took a seat at the table the hostess had brought them to. "Ah ha. Not near the restrooms. The friend table is apparently just like any other table."
---
Duncan made a dubious expression and leaned down to check for remaining dirt, dust, or grime. "Bet they don't clean this table as well." He was joking, obviously.
---
"Well, no, they would never clean it to your specifications, Duncan." Adora laughed and leaned back in her chair, looking him over. "In fact, you'd probably be the scariest restaurant manager I could possibly think of." She pretended to put on a brutish expression and affect a scottish Brogue. "Oi! Clean th' table there, ye waste o'space! Get the bleach! Each table mus' be sterilized 'fore we can have 'nother customer!"
---
"That was theeee worst brogue I've ever heard," he said, laughing so hard his eyes were glassy. "Good thing you're not in my play. Just the pretty background piece."
---
"Hey, I never pretended to be good at it!" Adora laughed, reaching out to grab her straw and open it, then blew the casing at him. She wasn't quite sure if he meant she would have been the pretty background piece to basically any play, or if he was speaking hypothetically, but she chose to just ignore it for the moment. "Besides, I'd rather just hear you speak in your brogue." Although, she'd just had the thought that maybe that was off-limits now.
---
He blushed and leaned back, shaking his head with laughter. He wasn't sure what he was shaking at -- him, her, them, or the entire situation. He suspected she flirted because she didn't know how not to. Did she talk to everyone this way? He had always assumed she saved it for a few, but he was curious to know the answer now.
"Ah, well. Sorry. Time weathers all."
---
"If you say so." Adora smiled some, then sighed. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and grabbed it. A late reply from that email from Hope. She frowned a little, then shoved her phone back in her pocket and decided just to ignore it. "So, wait, the play is soon. This means I can finally see the magnum opus you've been working on all this time. I tried everything I could think of to bribe you into letting me see a rehearsal, including coffee. The waiting will finally be over."
---
Duncan grinned, though it was stressed. "I hope everything goes alright. There's an equal ratio of genuine excitement and heart dulling apathy among the cast. As I suspected, the initial fervor was over the prospect if being 'chosen' for something -- not, actually, for being part of something other people take part in."
He shrugged, just as a waitress came over to take their drink orders. "Corona, please."
----
Adora hadn't had a drop of booze since she'd lost the baby for the longest time, and yet in the last week, she'd wound up getting a very heavy taste of it. So, this time was going to be no different. "Can I get a Cosmopolitan and a glass of water?" Then she turned her attention back to Duncan again, although now she had her menu out. She needed to figure out what she really felt like.
"Well, the same thing happens with kids who take art class. Even the kids who really like their mediums kind of start to hate the class mid-way through from all the extra work, the fact that I will purposely make them work out of their comfort zone to new mediums. Buuut," She smiled up at Duncan. "I'm sure your kids are gonna do great."
----
Duncan grinned under her words of encouragment. "I hope so. I mean ... Princess Bride. Come on."
He began looking over his own menu. "Chicken is less messy than ribs ... "
---
"I'm really excited about that, too, you know. But, you know what I think we should do next time?" Adora was still glancing over her menu as she talked, her free hand casually looping strands of hair around it without thinking. "I think maybe we should get my art club kids together with your techs and actors and try to collaborate. Maybe it would be a good exercise for my students to learn how theatrical design works."
----
Duncan wasn't phased by this suggestion because it was one of an educational and professional matter; Adora had a good idea. "Oh?" He just wasn't clear on it. "How so?"
---
"Most of my students only have worked on small sketches, paintings or sculptures. They don't quite have a real grasp of scale. Working on scenic painting, helping create textures that have to be viewed from yards away, as opposed to a foot or two away." Adora smiled and then looked up as she made her decision on food, just as the waitress was approaching. "I think it would be great, and it would help your tech students learn aesthetic appreciation."
---
Duncan considered this with his usual "hmmm" chin crinkling look before the waitress arrived. He turned out ordering ribs, just to be cheeky, with a side of french fries and... huh. The choices were fries, baked potato, mashed potato, vegetables, or cinnamon apples. Getting either potato would be redundant, and, well, bleech to the other two. He didn't like cinnamon on his apples. He could tolerate them if there was a flaky pastry crust but..
He glanced up to Adora, frozen in the middle of delivering his order. "Ehm, if my other side is the apples, will you eat them? Do you like them?" He'd seen her buy cinnamon-apple candles for his apartment (which he'd politely redirected to hers).
---
Adora chuckled a little at the request, then nodded. "I will definitely eat them." She happened to really like cinnamon apples, and the observation of all the candles around the apartment had been a correct one. "Are you not an apples fan?" She chuckled as she took a sip of her Cosmopolitan and waited for him to finish ordering.
For herself, she ordered a pulled pork sandwich and asked to substitute the fries for fried okra, a side of apples and lots of extra vinegar sauce and barbecue sauce.
----
"I do, just not with cinnamon," he replied, having given her a very big 'what the fuck?!' face in front of the waitress -- who had laughed, of course, because he was so adorable -- at Adora ordering fried okra.
---
"Are you mocking my food choice?" Adora scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest at the little private joke he and the waitress were sharing at her expense. She had no idea if it was normal to feel a little twinge of 'bitch, lay off', but she did. "Fine, I'll just eat all your apples anyway."
---
When the waitress had left, Duncan was feeling like this could be possible. He could still be friends with Adora and not worry about Keagan worrying or Adora making the situation complicated by.. being herself (a complicated gal). He lo..liked her, but, yes, complicated. She complicated it herself, though, because she tended to overthink some things. It was ironic, really, because she often accused him of doing the same. They were similar enough, in some respects.
Enough for what? thought Duncan, in response to his own notion, but he was unable to come up with an answer.
"I'm thinking of just doing two shows, not three," he said, sipping his beer. "I mean.. parents aren't really visiting, so.. well, some are, but, in reality, that third night would be sad and pathetic." He laughed a self-deprecating chuckle.
---
"Really? Well, I can't blame you, it's kind of a small student body and you don't want that third night to be, well.... me. And the cast. And crew." Adora laughed a little, taking another sip of her drink and leaning back. Complicated was right. Adora was too used to not feeling anything for people that now that she started to feel things, she was impulsive and certainly not acting her age when it came to what she wanted.
----
Exactly. Duncan didn't blame Adora, but he knew what to expect, at the same time. He laughed at her joke, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "Exactly. And perhaps a few grandmothers, who came to all three shows." His voice took on the crinkly aspect of an elder. "Oooh, Kyle, you did such a fantastic job up there!" he warbled, sucking his lips over his teeth.
---
Adora had been taking a sip of water, but she choked on it when he started trying to sound like the oldest fogey imaginable. She laughed and coughed at the same time, shaking her head and patting her chest to help stop the coughing. "Oh, horrible... horrible, you're so bad."
--
Duncan smiled, proud of himself. "You love it."
---
Adora chose not to respond to that little comment with an affirmation. Instead, she focused on cleaning up the spilled water on the table in front of her and then glanced back up at him. "At any rate, two nights will be profitable enough, and that will finance your next production. I mean, that's how all you theatre teachers operate, right?"
---
He shrugged, head moving in a waggle. "Eh, theoretically, yes, but the nature of this place has me relying on third-party funding, really. But hopefully, if this goes well, I can do more next time." The idea was to get better and better.
"Suggestions?"
---
"You really want my suggestion?" Adora gave him a devious glance, then made a comical move to put her fingers on her temples and squinted. "Read my miiiiind, Duncan..."
---
Duncan pulled a Johnny Carson/envelope move, fingers to forehead. "Teacher-parent conferences, rioting." Then he mimed opening the envelope. "...What happens when I take Adora's suggestion."
---
Adora laughed and reached out, whacking him in the arm. "Oh come on, what is the one show we sit and watch if it comes on because I refuse to change the channel? The play I quoted to you the first day we met?" She grinned. "You wouldn't have to pay royalties..."
---
Duncan pretended to really, really have to think about this before asking, with a screwed up expression: "...You want to to have them perform General Hospital?" He was playing dumb; the light in his eyes said so.
---
"I will punch you in your face, Duncan." Adora laughed, reaching across the table and lightly tapping his cheek with her fist. She obviously wasn't punching him, but it was comical nonetheless.
---
"Oh you will not," he said, before biting his lip. "I'd love to do Shakespeare, but... these kids don't care enough. I won't tarnish it with hungover halfsies. You need real drama students for the Bard, and there aren't enough here."
He scratched at his face; he needed another shave. "Brute honesty, but I suffer no less love for them despite my lack of faith in their ability to do Shakespeare justice."
---
Adora chuckled a little and rolled her eyes, leaning back. "I can understand that. I really do enjoy my art club, but even those most advanced students wouldn't actually care enough to learn Renaissance style portraiting, as beautiful and skillful I believe it is." She glanced around, wondering where the food was, before giving him another sideways look. She kind of liked him scruffy, actually, but she wasn't about to say that. That was probably off-limits conversation.
---
"Well, it's easier to fling a wet brush at a canvas," he said, with a smirk, just as the waitress began making her way toward them. She came from Adora's back, so Duncan's expression belied what was coming. He sat up, and back, eyebrows high, just as the cheery server popped up from behind the succubus.
"O-KAY, we have riiiiibs..." Duncan raised his hand.
---
"You're a giant pain in the ass." She laughed a little, then waited as her plate was put down in front of her with no flourish. Once the waitress had left again - thank god, that woman was becoming and more and more punchable by the second from all her good cheer - Adora tossed a piece of fried okra into her mouth and moaned happily and unabashedly.
---
Duncan slid a fry in his mouth, then smirked while he chewed with a closed mouth. This was good. This was nice. Normal. Friendly. Perhaps this wasn't a hopeless cause, after all.
So now what to talk about? I could ask her how the new apartment is 'working' for her. He swallowed. Well, she's having sex in it, so, the answer to that would be -- well. He reached for his beer. "I'd have to be giant, if I'm a pain in your ass."
Pause. He sipped.
Oh yessss, Duncan, Fat Jokes! The world's best awkward-REDUCER.
---
"What?" Adora nearly choked on her food, her cheeks suddenly burning with indignation, embarrassment, or... something, she wasn't sure what. "I..." Adora cleared her throat, trying desperately to feel insulted and a little hurt. That felt like a bit of a slight. Her brain had made the leap from a fat joke to a joke that was more of an insult about her feeding habits.
"Didn't realize you had such an opinion on my ass and its size. Sorry if I'm eating more than you approve of."
---
He looked taken aback, having expected that to go over a little better. "I was joking, darlin,'" he purred, voice smooth as usual, "you know there's nothing wrong with your ass." Not that he hadn't told her countless times he'd like the pregnancy weight on her, because he had.
BAD THOUGHTS DUNCAN.
---
Adora glanced up at him, suddenly feeling self-conscious and uncomfortable. "Oh." She gave him a little forced smile, then looked down at her food and took a big bite of her sandwich. There you go, Adora. Eat so you don't open your mouth and fill the conversation with stupidity and insecurity you're not used to anyway.
---
Duncan chuckled, not realizing his nervous reaction was just going to make her feel worse. "How on earth could you take me seriously? Have we met?"
---
Adora just felt worse. Now she felt like an idiot for having taken him seriously in the first place. "I don't know, I just..." She squirmed a little in her seat, which was a clear indication she was out of her comfort zone. "I guess I shouldn't be worrying about whether or not you have a problem with my ass anyway. I mean, look at Elle, she's certainly more curvy than I am."
---
Duncan narrowed one eye from above the rim of his almost-finished beer mug. What did that... oh. Ohhhh. Ohhhh.
His mouth curled into a half smirk and he set the frosted mug down sowly. "Well.. yes, she is. She's pretty, too, but.. where did that come from?"
Play dumb, play dumb!
---
It took Adora a second to realize how utterly stupid the words that had come out of her mouth were. Great. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth, struggling for the right words before she shrugged and reached for her Cosmopolitan.
"Nothing. I'm just glad that I, um... apparently freed you up. I'm glad you're finding someone. I was worried about you, handsome." She finished that with a little smirk.
---
His eyes widened, showing whites all around for a moment, and then he composed himself with a forced smile. Worried? WORRIED? What, like it wasn't an option for him? That it made sense she was moving on but he was .. not? What?
"...We're not... dating, Adora." He laughed a little. "We just went out as friends."
---
"Are you sure? Because, I mean," Adora shrugged some, clearing her throat. "If you were, I think that would be great. We could... double date or... something..." The words stuck in Adora's throat like that was the most painful experience she could think of, and she looked down to focus on her food. This was fucking ridiculous. Why in the hell had she tried to do this? Why didn't she just trust her gut and run at the first sign that this would be difficult?
---
Duncan laughed. "Oh yes, that would be a good idea. 'Elle, let's go on a double date with Adora. Yes. Yes, my friend. Yes, that friend.' " He snickered and began peeling his ribs off the bone with a fork and knife.
"But yes, I'm sure." He arched an eyebrow and paused, mid-cut, hands still. "How would I not be sure?"
Why did she seem so uncomfortable? Shouldn't he be the one who was uncomfortable? He was the single used-to-be-FWB. She was the one who had moved on.
---
"It's up to you, I was just asking." Adora said quickly, and she quickly wiped her hands clean and pushed her chair back. "I'll be right back, excuse me for a sec."
Adora retreated for the bathroom about as fast as she could without looking like a caged animal. She was feeling that way, though. Or maybe just like a profoundly stupid individual who thought it was a good idea to have dinner with a guy that she didn't want to be having dinner with as 'just friends.'
Once she was in one of the bathroom stalls, she grabbed her phone and dialed Keagan's number as she paced. Oh great, voicemail. "How much fucking help are you, old man, if you tell me I can call when I need advice tonight and then you Baaaail!" Adora huffed. "Call me back! Help! 911!" She slammed her phone shut and leaned against the wall, groaning and looking up at the ceiling. "This was the worst idea I've ever had."
---
A middle-aged woman who had just read the inside of a Dove's chocolate wrapped candy that said 'onto others' knocked on Adora's stall.
"Excuse me. Are you alright?"
---
Adora blinked and held her tongue when she realized someone actually had heard her, and she cleared her throat. "I'm fine, thanks!" Adora called out, when she really felt anything but fine. "I'll be just great once I get home."
----
There was a dubious silence for a moment.
"O-kaaAAy," the stranger said, in a sign song tone that said: 'I don't belieeeEEve you."
---
Groaning a little, Adora frowned and opened her mouth against her better judgement. "I can't come back out of this bathroom because there is a man in that restaurant that I want nothing more to kiss and tell him I want to be with him but we're JUST FRIENDS."
---
There was a pause long enough to make Adora worry that her would-be guru was gone. Then, again the voice. Quiet, soft, and cheerful.
"....Is he gay?"
---
"What?!" Adora squeaked, about as flustered as she could be. "No! Of course not! He's not gay, he's... definitely..." Adora's mind flashed to a few of their more... playful romps. "Definitely not gay. He's... more... we're just friends and he thinks I'm dating someone else and it's complicated but I don't want anyone else but him."
---
"So you're not dating someone else." She was just trying to clarify.
---
"No, no, I'm definitely NOT dating someone else, he just... thinks... that I am... because I haven't told him otherwise." God, this sounded ridiculously bad the more she said it. Adora groooaned and rested her forehead against the door.
----
"...Ohhh." The voice's chuckle indicated it perhaps understood, or, at the very least, was old enough to approach understanding.
"You should tell him." It sounded so simple, coming from someone else.
---
"That is so much easier said than done, sister!" Adora sighed, then took a deep breath and relaxed some. "I am going to go craaaazy during this dinner. I can't handle having any conversation with him because I either suddenly realize how attracted I am to him or how much it hurts to talk to him like this."
----
The door jostled, only because Adora's new confidant had leaned on it. "Maybe he feels the same way. Is he dating anyone?"
---
"Well, no." Adora sighed a little. "He's not. At least, not yet. But he went out to drinks with some girl yesterday and I'm not stupid, one night of drinks turns into two nights, to three and it just gets worse..." She groaned some. "I'm gonna lose him, but then again, he's the one who said we were friends."
---
Again came a long pause. "You should tell him. At least it would get you out of hiding in a ladies' room during Friday night dinners."
---
"Oh, I really don't think he'd like to hear that, because... I sort of..." Adora cleared her throat. "I've been perpetuating the whole me and someone else dating thing because I didn't want him to feel pressured. And now this feels like a damn Gordian knot!"
---
"I....don't know what that is," she said, quietly. "But I do know that honesty usually helps."
---
Adora huffed a little, then gathered herself together and promptly opened the door in her listener's face. "Thanks. We'll see how it goes." Adora brushed past the woman and made for the tables again. Oh the faster this night was over the better.
---
"Good luck?" the middle aged, sweet looking woman suggested, watching the "younger" woman hurry out.
Duncan had stopped eating; he was waiting for her to return. The second he saw her heading back, he snuck a fry in.
---
Adora made it back to her seat without the world crashing around her, so that was quite helpful, but she was still pretty nervous. The very idea of telling him the truth was making her stomach flip over again. "HI. Sorry. Back now." She reached down and popped a few pieces of okra in her mouth.
---
Luckily, ribs tasted good no matter what the temperature was. He licked his forefinger clean and then reached for his beer. His expression was skeptical. "Everything alright?"
---
"Hm? Yeah, sure, fine. Just fine." Adora sounded too casual, but she quickly managed to steady out her tone and sip her Cosmopolitan. For a woman who knew how to manipulate people for whatever she wanted, being anything around Duncan seemed to be one heck of a challenge. "I just needed to wash my face. I was feeling a little flushed."
---
Duncan's face said ".......Riiiiiiiiiight," but his mouth said:
"Alright. Feeling better? You still have to eat my apples." He pushed his place forward.
---
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." The prospect of cinnamon apples did temporarily distract her, and she reached out with her fork and put a mouthful of apples into her mouth. She grinned up at him a little, and the expression was a little more genuine than one she'd had all night. It was the same kind of look she'd give him when he caught her with a spoonful of ice cream late at night during the week she'd stayed.
---
This soothed him, however little. He didn't know what Adora's problem was, but he knew he couldn't fix it, and that bothered him. Seeing her smile really helped.
It was early -- not quite seven. He raised his eyebrows as he reached for his napkin, wondering how this was going to go. "Ehm... we could, uh, see a movie, afterward? If you wanted?"
---
"I, um..." Adora wanted to say yes, but that was the kind of reaction she would have had if this whole awkward mess had never happened in the first place. Now, she wasn't sure she could handle another few hours of this... mess. "Maybe, yeah. I think I'm going to focus on dinner first. And maybe dessert. I was thinking of getting ice cream before we leave here. They have really good sundaes."
---
"Focus" on dinner?
"Alright." He took a few more bites before setting his fork down. "This is weird. Why. What's wrong?" He twisted his mouth to the side. "Is it because of Keagan? Or are we just having trouble switching gears, here?"
---
"I..." Adora's fork paused where it was, and she cleared her throat, putting her own fork down and glancing up at him. "I don't... know... I'm just..." She cleared her throat yet again, wondering if maybe this was the time to say something. "To tell you the truth..." Adora trailed off, not really sure where to start.
And that was when the chipper waitress made her way back over. "Is there anything else I can get for you two, tonight?" She glanced over at Duncan with a cute smile that made Adora really wanted to just crawl into a hole at the moment. Who the hell was she kidding? Adora had no chance in hell of ever doing this the right way.
---
Duncan actually seemed frustrated, but was too polite to not smile back. "I'm good, thank you." He was suddenly not feeling dessert-y. But Adora had wanted some. "But, ehm..." he looked to Adora, eyebrows up. "Ice cream?"
---
"You know what? I think I'm good after all..." Adora didn't want another reason to stay in this restaurant feeling like she was going to crack or blow up at someone. So a smile and a gentle pushing of her plate away was all she needed. "Just the checks, I think."
---
Plural? He wouldn't correct her -- just in case she had said it correctly -- but when the waitress left, he looked at her. "What, I can't pay for your dinner anymore?"
---
Adora couldn't help but give him a sly smile, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Who said I was going to stop telling you that you couldn't?"
---
"You said 'checks,' not 'check,'" he replied, with a disarming smile.
---
"Only because I got a chance to. If you'd had your way, you would have said 'check'. What I meant is that we have been having this discussion about whether or not I'm going to let you pay for my meals for the last two months. I doubt it's going to be over today, and especially not if you think you've won." Adora smiled a little at him, then leaned back in her seat again, taking another long drink of her Cosmopolitan.
---
He rolled his eyes. "Just let me pay."
---
"Are you going to have an explosion of manly pride or something if I don't?" Adora sighed, rolling her eyes back at him.
---
"Nooo," he said, laughing. "I'll be fine. I just don't see the big deal."
---
Adora could see the big deal, but she wasn't about to go telling him. Instead, the moment the waitress came by with the checks, Adora grabbed hers only to hand it to Duncan. "Fiiine."
---
He snatched it with a cheeky grin and leaned sideways to retrieve his wallet from his back pocket. "Thaaaaank you."
When everything was settled, he handed the bill envelope back to the waitress, with his customer tag on of 'No, I don't need change.' Duncan was a good tipper.
On their way out to her car, he raised his arm and then...remembered. It had just seemed natural, for him to throw his arm around her shoulders good naturedly when they left a place...
"So... back home?"
---
"Yes." Adora sighed some, swinging her keys in her hand as she made her way for the car. She was actually wondering if maybe she'd find a reset button when she got home, so she could wipe the utter awkwardness of tonight out of her memory. "Back home. I think that would be the best idea."
---
What a strange thing to say. The best idea? That would be the best 'idea?' What?
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" His voice softened. "You can still talk to me, Adora.."
---
Adora turned to look at him but couldn't quite meet his eyes. "Nothing's wrong. I'm... I'm fine. I'm just fine."
---
He knew she was lying, but he did not know why. His stomach now regretting the barbecue sauce. "..Alright, if you're sure," he said, mouth twisting. He'd be relatively quiet in the car, unless she put conversation out there.
---
"Yes, of course I'm sure." And that was about the last thing Adora said for a good half of the drive home. She didn't really know what to say, but she could tell that telling him the truth on top of the rest of the botched evening was just not a viable option. On their way home, though, she did try to strike up conversation again. "So... when's tech week?"
---
Duncan sucked in a breath and closed one eye. "Yeeeeah.. I am not.. doing that. I have one kid missing a rehearsal at least once a week. I wasn't even going to bother with that. I would LOVE to, don't get me wrong, but not my first time around. I want them to like working for me."
---
"Aaah ha, okay." Adora nodded some, taking an exit towards the school and glancing over at him. "I'm sure they like working for you. They're just allergic to work."
---
"Could be," he said, happy to be on regular conversational playing ground now. "They're having fun, though, and that's what is most important to me."
---
"Good! Then again, you picked something outrageously funny, you know that. So I'm sure that definitely helps." Adora grinned and gave a little chuckle. "You don't want them performing Dante's Inferno, after all."
---
"I feel like that would be a little too on-the-nose, as it were, what with half the cast and the director being of a demonic nature." Then he laughed, because his word choice was funny to him. Demonic nature? Him? Right.
---
"That's a very... interesting way to put it. Of a 'demonic nature.' As if you could be of an angelic nature or something, too." Adora was relaxing a little hearing him laugh. She liked his laugh, it had a tendency to make her more easy-going. "But maybe next year. You can do Dante's Inferno. Or as Eddie Izzard would suggest, Popeman."
---
He had missed that skit, but, recognizing the name, he asked, with a twitchy movement of his face and neck: "...Did I leave the stove on?"
---
Adora laughed a little, replying to the same joke. "No. No, I'm a fucking squirrel!"
---
Duncan smiled over at her, leaning against his door. "Right. I have that on DVD."
---
"A fine selection for your movies. I approve." Adora chuckled and then pulled back onto the road to the campus. "I need to watch some good stand up. I haven't in a while."
---
Duncan made an appreciative noise but said nothing else, hoping to find comfort in the silence -- he always had before, after all.
---
Adora liked to fill silence when she was nervous, but she found right now that she just didn't have... anything to say. The small talk and the flirting and the conversations all seemed to be off-limits now. For her, anyway. Even if Duncan didn't think it had to be. She parked her car in silence, then got out kind of quickly. The less time in a confined space with Duncan... the better.
---
Duncan was getting close to annoyed. This in and of itself was a difficult thing to do -- the half demon was rarely ever actually annoyed. Why was she so .. strange? Did she feel guilty at having gone out with him?
Was Elle right? Did she... no, no. She was dating Keagan. So it had to be the guilt. She was guilty. She had suggested they hang out though! Hadn't she? Or had he? Ugh, it was all a blur. A messy, confusing blur. By the time his head straightened itself out he was opening the door to his building. He glanced over at her with a sad smile. "Ehm... thank you for dinner."
---
Adora smiled and nodded some, wanting to reach out for a hug but then realizing - nope, that was off-limits, too. "Hey, you're the one who paid for it, so I should be thanking you, right?" She grinned, winking at him and starting to take a few steps in the direction of her own building. "I'll talk to you this week. Or something."