dyson (terence fowler) (bigwolfpants) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-01 20:59:00 |
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Bo was at Always, leaning up against the bar with her drink. After the funky dreams, and the body switching, she was starting to realize how bizarre the OC was. There was something crazy keeping her there, though. Almost as if she couldn’t leave. She wanted to turn tail and run back to where things were normal, but something--some weird force--was keeping her there. Not to mention it’d be weird to leave now she had a place to stay. The past week--the body swap stuff--was so weird. Staying with Tonks and Mac was fine, but when they were in other people’s bodies, that was just... confusing. Anyway, she had a beer sitting on the bar in front of her and she was nursing it slowly, taking some time to people watch. Being in the body of a stranger for the last week made her look at people differently. She was curious about people, more than she’d been before. And she was hungry. So much more than when she’d found herself in someone else’s skin. It was getting to be a bit hard to control. Dyson had been in the OC for a little while, definitely long enough to realize how crazy things could get. He couldn’t complain, though, because so many unexplained things kept him busy. It was a part of what kept him on assignment out here, he figured. Besides, it hadn’t been anything he couldn’t handle and he really liked it out here. California was different from Boston where he’d grown up, but it was nice. He was looking at something on his phone, not really paying much attention to his surrounding as he made his way to the bar and ordered a beer. A moment later, though, he happened to glance to his left and he did a double-take as he recognized the woman seated next to him. “Bo?” Bo turned at the sound of her name, and gave a little start. Very little. Mostly just her eyes going wide and a sharp intake of breath. She recognised the man next to her. They’d had a thing together, that felt like a billion years ago--a thing that ended when his job transferred him, when she realized that she didn’t mean as much to him as he meant to her, when she fully came to understand that her lot in life didn’t include normal relationships. And she’d ran. The memories of the time they spent together filtered through her mind for a moment and she was caught completely off guard. “...Hi.” She said, unsure what else to say. Sure, ‘Hi’ seemed a bit lame, a terrible way to greet an ex-lover. Had she had a little more time to think on it, she would have come up with something better. But, for now, ‘Hi’ would have to suffice. Dyson had never known what it was that kept him from truly connecting with women, but really letting them in. He’d cared for Bo. He still did. There had still been something in him telling him not to get too close. A part of that had been that he’d been undercover when they met. Not being able to give a woman your real name sort of nixed the chances of a lasting commitment, especially when you knew you could have to leave at any time. Faced with Bo now, Dyson really didn’t know what to say, either. He knew he probably should apologize for just disappearing on her the way he had, but apologies generally came with explanations and that was something he wasn’t prepared to offer. “Hi,” he echoed her greeting, instead. “You’re… here. You’re here.” She said, somewhat awkwardly, somewhat lamely. “What… what are you doing here?” She asked, lifting her hand to scratch nervously at the back of her neck. She honest to god thought she’d never see him again, and now here he was. Standing in front of her, almost like a ghost. A very good-looking ghost, but a ghost nonetheless. Dyson couldn’t help chuckling at that. “Yeah, I’m here.” He smirked slightly at the look on her face and the question she asked him. “I live here. Well, not in this club. In Newport Beach, actually. Have for about 6 months now.” Dyson was surprised to see her, too, but he still couldn’t help being amused at her reaction to seeing him here, as though it was the last place in the world he would turn up. “Wow. Well. Welcome.” Bo was trying to collect herself now. She lifted the drink to take a gulp from the glass, now wishing that there was a little more alcohol and a little less melted ice in it. “I mean, that’s a bit rich, considering I got here after you did.” She added, then set the glass down. A little smile crossed her features, and she turned to look at him. Don’t be awkward. Don’t be awkward. “So, you look good.” An easy grin slid over Dyson's face at her words. "Small world, isn't it?" He looked at her now, drinking in every little detail of her features. How long had it been? In some ways, it felt like a lifetime ago, but in others it felt as though it was just yesterday that he'd last seen her. "Thank you. You look pretty good, yourself." I missed you. The thought came, unbidden, but Dyson's didn't voice it out loud. It was true, Dyson realized, even if he hadn't known it until this moment. “Very small. Possibly too small.” The moment she said it, Bo regretted it. She was being a little snarky, a little standoffish, because she was trying to put her guard up. Just being near him again made her feel strangely vulnerable. As if the feelings she’d tried so hard to suppress were going to cause her pain again. “Thank you,” she added, quickly, to his compliment. “I work out.” The last bit was a tease. A flirt. Sarcasm, irony, playful… whatever you call it. “If that’s how you feel, I can find another bar,” Dyson said quietly. The smirk faded from his lips as he looked at her. He knew it was his own fault and he couldn’t expect anything different, given how things had been. He couldn’t expect her to be all smiles about seeing him again after the way he’d just left without even telling her goodbye. It had seemed right at the time and he wasn’t sure he’d change anything if he could go back, but he also knew she had to have been angry at the time. Possibly even hurt. Dyson didn’t even know how to respond when her tone changed again. A part of him felt like he should make his excuses and leave, before he had a chance to upset her again. Bo wanted to tell him he didn’t have to find another bar. She wanted him to know that she was over it, even if that was far from the truth. She wasn’t over it. It still hurt like hell. But she couldn’t very well tell him to find another bar, could she? That was selfish. There was also a tiny part of her that wanted to see him again. Wanted answers to all the questions she’d had. Where had he gone? Why? Was it her? Was there something she could have done differently? “Maybe you should.” She said, softly, after a long pause. She wasn’t looking at him anymore, she was staring down at her hands holding her glass on the bar. Dyson didn’t speak. He just nodded and turned, walking out of the place. A big part of him didn’t want to go, but it seemed like that’s what Bo wanted and he felt just guilty enough to keep his distance, if that’s what she needed from him. |