Beware Danny Lubbe. (ohthataintright) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-12-18 22:41:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, danny lubbe, stephanie brown (batgirl) |
Who: Stephanie Brown & Danny Lubbe
What: BFFs in the making, and possibly more
When: 12/16
Where: Granny’s and elsewhere
Rating: A for the most Adorable, also for America.
Status: Complete
December in California was still fuckin’ weird. Danny didn’t give a shit what anyone said about him getting used to it or being careful what he wished for. The fact that he could go out in shorts and a tank top (and his beanie, always his beanie. Nobody was taking his beanie from him, not the weather or god himself.) when it was almost Christmas was wrong.
And yet he was pretty perfectly okay with going to have ice cream in the middle of December. What? It was hot out. That was totally allowable. He waited until the tail end of Stephanie’s shift mostly because it was right about when he got done with work too. And, bonus! Granny’s wasn’t too far from where he was shooting that day. (Other bonus, it was great being able to take a shower in the middle of winter and not go outside worrying about your hair freezing.)
He sat down at the counter, looked around totally conspicuously until a young blonde woman came over. “Hey Sparkles!” he said cheerfully. What? How else was she supposed to know it was him? He just hoped this was actually her, it’d be weird otherwise. Danny tried really hard not to think about that.
Stephanie had of course been expecting him to show up any time and as the hours ticked by she had wondered more than once if he had already slipped through without her noticing or if he wasn’t coming at all. She had told Ruby and the others to direct anyone looking for ‘Sparkles’ to her, prompting more than one to note that she seemed more excited than usual. She hadn’t realized it until then but she was, she hadn’t been sure what to expect when she joined the Net but she was always up for and excited to meet new people. And of course new people who were into ice cream and other sweet treats as much as she was were the best sort of people to meet.
She hadn’t given up on him though, after all she was Stephanie Brown and Stephanie Brown never gave up on anything. So when he came through the door her smile was as warm and cheery as ever, and it only grew larger and brighter when he called her Sparkles. “Danny! Glad you could make it.” any considerations about the lateness of the hour were forgotten, she was still her bright and bouncy self even if she had suffered through her last final and a shift ‘on the truck’. “You up for the Special Christmas Sundae? Or maybe some of the best waffles you’ll get anywhere? Actually everything here is seriously fantastic so you can’t go wrong.”
“Can I get the Special Christmas Sundae on the best waffles I’ll get anywhere?” he asked, swiveling a bit on the counter stool. Counter stools were amazing. Best things ever for fidgeting. They were even better when they were super lubed up and you could just rocket yourself all over the place. Most places didn’t do that anymore. Probably for that exact reason. “I mean ice cream and waffles, right? It’s like peanut butter and banana.” He paused and looked at her very seriously. “If you’re against peanut butter and banana, I’m not sure we can be friends.”
His serious look made her giggle as she leaned against the counter, “You know, I don’t think I’ve had peanut butter and banana together since I was a kid. But I liked it then, so no worries about us being friends.” Given how she loved combining flavors and secretly enjoyed the disgusted looks on people’s faces when they saw her eating stuff considered ‘weird’, it was quite impressive that she hadn’t had the two together in so long. Of course she was putting wasabi on her chocolate bars now so she had moved far beyond simple peanut butter and banana. “But yeah, you can totally have them together.”
She pulled the menu from the holder, turned it to their waffle choices then set it down in front of him, other hand moving to brush one of her long blonde pigtails behind her shoulder. “The best one I think is the one with bacon, strawberries and whipped cream, which gives you like a whole mountain of whipped cream once you add the sundae. If you can handle that, of course, you might not be the experienced whipped cream and waffle connoisseur that I am.” she couldn’t resist the chance to tease him. “And when you add the bacon in there it takes it to like a whole new level of like, required awesomeness.”
“Make it happen,” Danny said, still completely serious and not at all needing to look at the menu. “You had me at bacon.” Stereotypes weren’t always true, but when they were, you found yourself with a Canadian demanding bacon. The food he had in his mind was possibly the most delicious thing to ever grace the face of the Earth, which was saying a lot because Nutella and chili powder were things that existed.
And then, just as abruptly, he went back to spinning on his stool side to side as much as he could. It seemed like most of the guys he worked with got all weird and tired once they wrapped, or looked at him like he was on something because he was totally ready to just run like five miles. Not that he ran. Running was weird. Unless you were running from something, then it was totally justified and he had a lot of practice running from things. “Okay, so do you usually do the thing where you tell strangers on the internet where you work and to get ice cream? Is that some sort of elaborate sales pitch? Or is this a trap? Is that spy here?” He had to be. Somewhere. Spies, man. They were like ninjas only in suits and this was California where pretty much everyone seemed to be in a suit. It was disgusting.
“That spy?” an eyebrow shot up as she was writing down the order, having to think a moment about what he could be talking about. At the order window she tapped the bell and stuck the ticket to the ‘turny thingy’ and muttered to herself in a terrible fake accent. “Ve ‘ave vays of making you talk.” But then it hit her, “Oh, that British guy on your post the other night? No we’ve not had any Brits today, at least while I’ve been on shift. Why, you expecting somebody to pop out and get you?” She suddenly did an over the top, overly exaggerated gasp, “Is immigration after you? Are you one of them Canadian aliens like come here to take our jobs and do them better and like teach us how to be all polite and clean and stuff?”
Returning to the counter with a smirk she leaned against it again, “I tend to think it my civic duty to tell people where they can get the most awesome foods, I just happen to work here. Unless you’re like some kinda Canadian spy or something, otherwise I’d have to tell you that you’ll never learn the secret to our normal bacon.”
Danny had to stare at her wide-eyed for a moment before his face burst out into a broad grin. “You need to stop being awesome or I’m going to propose to you right here and now. Donut ring and everything.” He sat up a little straighter and looked conspiratorially over his shoulder before leaning in and whispering. “Little secret: The polite Canadians are the ones secretly trained as assassins by the Ministry.” He tapped the side of his nose and sat back down, barely able to contain his own laughter.
And then, well fuck, then he managed to swivel his hips enough to actually get a full revolution from the stool. Fuck yeah. “And I’m technically half-American. Which is really messed up and something you should be told before you’re in California. It’s like my whole life is called in question here. Who am I? I don’t wanna be redneck Jesus. That’s a thing right? I mean that’s what the propaganda films all say.”
“You’re going to have to pick out a ring then because I never stop being awesome.” she said quickly before leaning in and faking another gasp when he started laughing. “I knew it! I knew it! And the Mounties? They’re like a distraction right? Everybody loves the Mounties in their sweet red uniforms and their horses and their hats, all the while the real threat was slipping in unnoticed! Oh my god, Dudley Do-Right, he’s like your deceptive mascot right? I bet his horse is like evil and has been running Canada behind the scenes for years! It all makes so much sense now.”
She had to let out the laugh she had been holding in other wise she was sure she was going to do some serious internal damage. “Redneck Jesus? You mean Dale Earnhardt? I think you’re only supposed to root for the guy in the rainbow car, he’s like from California I think. So no, don’t worry about being a racing driver. Or do you mean like that Canadian guy that was in that new GTA thing? No, probably not him. He tells too many Canadian secrets. Turn coat. Anyway, just don’t ever shout ‘Merica Fuck yeah!’ and you should avoid being like anything in those propaganda films.”
“You’ll have to pry my Canadian secrets from my cold, dead syrup hands,” he said with as much seriousness as he could muster, which, given the conversation he was having a pretty hard time managing. “Okay, but seriously, the Mounties are fucking badass. I mean they look like jokes, but you do not want to be trying to outrun one of those assholes because apparently they’re upset that you accidentally hit them with an ice chunk during a perfectly legitimate war.” That was an Oh Fuck moment that Danny never, ever wanted to relive. And he probably wouldn’t unless he managed to piss off an FBI agent somehow, which was entirely possible.
“Okay, so if I’m clearly gonna have to pick out a ring and probably get a suit too and be all propose happy, we should be hanging out. I mean this doesn’t need to turn into some Dharma and Greg shit unless we’re actually going to get a sitcom, which we totally should have, because we’re awesome.” It was the only sequence of events that made sense in Danny’s mind.
“Accidently, really?” she folded her arms under her breasts and gave him an incredulous look. “You weren’t one of those evil little bastards that would get a chunk of ice or a rock and make a snow ball around it and throw it, were you? Cause that’s terrible. Somebody broke my friend’s nose that way and the little punk was never caught.” her eyes narrowed a little and she leaned forward, finding it difficult to be so serious. “Were you in Jersey ten years ago? And did you own a red coat? Oh yeah, I’m on to you fella.” she pointed two fingers at her eyes then turned them at him, the international ‘I’m watching you’ sign.
“You don’t gotta wear a suit,” she slipped into a northern New Jersey accent there for a moment put pulled it back. “Though a suit with that beanie would be totally fashionable. And would you still love me if I wasn’t serving you food? Maybe that would be our gimmick, I have to constantly feed you while I’m dressed like Snooki and do the accent.” The bell dingged and she went to collect the bacon and strawberry-covered waffle and add the ice “Okay, so what sauce do you want? We got egg nog, white chocolate, peppermint, peppermint chocolate chip, cherry cordial, fruitcake, red velvet and green velvet. That last one is red velvet just colored green.”
“No!” Danny looked completely wounded for a minute. “What? No, someone threw an ice chunk at this little kid and I got pissed because that shit just ain’t right. Sometimes a dickbag just needs to know how it feels.” But they were back to silliness again and even Danny couldn’t stay in wounded face for long (but he was pretty good at it. It helped when any emotion that crossed his face was completely genuine, mostly. It didn’t help so much at work sometimes.)
“I’d still love you if you were awesome. Serving food doesn’t have anything to do with it. Though we can pretend I’m not half American and that I’m marrying you for citizenship so I can steal all of America’s trade secrets. We need them if we’re ever gonna take over.” He swiveled a bit more, considering his options. It was a hard decision, especially since he had to balance the strawberry and bacon in there too, which sucked because his gut said egg nog, but egg nog and strawberries were not a good combination unless there was actual nog in the egg nog. Whatever nog was supposed to be. “White chocolate,” he said resolutely, resisting the seriously strong urge to ask for some siracha too. This creation needed to be consumed unadulterated. Cock sauce next time. There was definitely gonna be a next time.
While he had been deciding she had seen to the ice cream, giving him an extra large scoop in the center atop the strawberries and bacon so it would melt just right. “Oh, good first time choice. Getting your eye in, or should that be stomach in? Next time I’ll see if I can talk somebody into making a peanut butter sauce and we can replace the strawberries with bananas.” She was working as she talked, coating the ice cream and drizzling the white chocolate over the rest of the waffle. Next came the crushed holiday cookies, half covered in their own green and red sprinkles, and like with the ice cream she gave him a generous helping. She believed in going big or going home after all.
That was followed by the whipped cream and she didn’t stop until she had made what looked like a small snowy mountain on the plate. She shook the two sprinkle shakers over the snowy mountain to the tune to Jingle Bells, stopping when it was sufficiently dusted. She finally topped it with a cherry and brought it to him with a little salute. “There you go, if you can survive that you will do Canada slash America proud. Godspeed.”
If Stephanie happened to think that he wasn’t absolutely serious with joking proposals, clearly, she wasn’t on the receiving end of this pile of food and offer for peanut butter and bananas. “I will not go gently into this good diabetes,” he said, picking up his spoon with one hand and saluting back with the other.
Whatever this gold mine of flavours was, it was absolutely the most delicious thing he’d put in his mouth all day. The look on his face said as much, and three bites in he really couldn’t help but talk with food jammed in the sides of his mouth. “The only thing that would make this better is some Bailey’s.” That would be good. And then he could finish off the bottle after and it’d be absolutely amazing. A few more bites and he added, “no, but seriously, what are you doing when you’re off work. You’re cool shit. We should hang out.” Or make out. Whichever. Danny wasn’t fussed either way, but if there was gonna be making out he really should probably level with her about how he paid his bills, mostly non-existent as they might currently be.
His look made her smile, even if she had only put things together and not actually cooked them herself she loved it when someone liked what she brought them. It was a feeling she got a lot at Granny’s, she swore the old lady and Ruby had to be magic to make things so good all the time. “That’ll be something to keep in mind for next time then, maybe see if I can get some of that Bailey’s Haagen Dazs though without the alcohol I’m not sure if you’ll like it as much.” Surprisingly Stephanie hadn’t had a drink since last Christmas where she and her mother had shared a dixie cup of two dollar wine, she simply didn’t have the time to drink most of the time.
“Well thanks for recognizing my obvious coolness, yours is obvious by the way too.” she rocked up on her toes, putting her arms behind her back and popping her shoulders in turn before leaning back against the opposite counter. Thankfully the place was usually dead this late on a weekday. “I don’t really have any plans, end of a long day for me but I’m not done-in yet. I don’t really know the nightlife much off campus though, the most I really did was hang out in the dorms and challenge the science majors to a little ping-pong or Rock Band or DDR depending on what they wanted me to beat them at. But I’m pretty much up for most things.”
He kept eating. It was ice cream. He had to otherwise it’d melt all over the place and he’d end up with soggy waffle soup. “We need to do something more awesome than games.” She’d probably beat him anyway. He was kinda shit at video games. Ping pong he was great at, but that was a game that basically required being able to bounce all over the place so he didn’t think it counted. “I haven’t been to the beach yet,” he said, this time actually managing to swallow his food. “That’s actually really messed up. How the fuck did I manage that one?” He looked up at Stephanie. “Don’t you dare tell anyone,” he said, pointing with his spoon. “They’ll kick me out of the country.”
Of course, being kicked out of the country wasn’t gonna be the worst thing that could happen to Danny, but he wouldn’t be too thrilled about it either. His expression fell while he thought about it more and he turned back to his ice cream deliciousness. That would cheer him up or at least distract him. “You’re in college?” he said, changing the subject entirely. “What’re you studying?”
She put her hands up, “Hey don’t worry, practice saying sorry and about properly and no one will ever think to question you. Or better yet, make it exaggerated so everyone will think that you’re making fun and thus could be in no way Canadian. The whole Dick Van Dyke ploy, works every time. If it doesn’t well, the laundry room in my basement is big enough for a cot, I’ll hide you.” She was teasing but the more she thought about it the more she liked the sound of the beach. “It sounds like fun though, you got a ride? Otherwise we can take my bike right down to the sand.”
Stephanie did have to wonder what was going on in his head the way his expressions kept changing, but she didn’t know him well enough to ask after it. “Yeah. CSUF. Go Titans. Criminal Justice, kinda hoping to be a social worker if I can make it through school and grad school after that. I know, so dull, right?”
“Nah, not dull. I mean if you’re into that stuff why not, right?” He might’ve been really crap at school himself, but he wasn’t gonna be a dick about people who were all for it and had a shot at doing something with their lives. “No ride. I’ve been walking or doing the whole public transport thing. Or riding my bike, but not tonight.” He really tried not to on worknights. Never knew when you’d be a little messed up for that.
He finished his mountain of sugar, wiped his face off and grinned up at her. “How much longer you got until you’re off, Sparkles?” He’d paid attention enough to know his general window of opportunity, but now that he was here and full of ice cream deliciousness, he’d forgotten completely.
Glancing down at her watch her brow furrowed and her eyes moved to the clock on the wall to confirm what it was saying. Her expression lightened, “Five minutes, lucky Sparkles, and I don’t have to help close tonight since we got some new busboy who gets the ‘new kid’ ritual of cleaning the place up and clearing down for the week. Better him than me anyway, took me ages to mop the floors when it was my turn, and I fell on my ass. Thankfully that was back when they were open until two so no one was about to see it. If he screws up the special December hours will bite him in the ass.”
She pushed herself off the counter and came closer with a smile, “Good job, you’re still here and your teeth haven’t fallen out yet. You might be ready for the deep-fried pie sandwich soon, gotta work your way up to that gut-buster. I know I did.” She could have been mean, she could have called the busboy away from his work in the kitchen, but Stephanie wasn’t like that, at least not until she got to know the guy better and they established a teasing rapport. Instead she was kind and bused the plate for him, dropping it off at the window before heading to the register to print out the check. “So what do you do?”
Danny’d always been a good tipper, but having serious expendable income just made him an even better one. “There’s a deep-fried pie sandwich?” he asked, utterly in awe of the idea. “God bless America.” He set a twenty on the table and went up to the register to actually pay for his meal. “Oh you know, last year of high school. Kinda lame being the new kid who’s only gonna be there for a few months anyway.” Which was dumb and he didn’t know why he was so intent on finishing anyway other than to prove everyone else wrong when they said he wouldn’t. That and tormenting his alleged father was pretty much the best ever.
“And work some nights, usually weekends, but I had a thing tonight.” A vague nebulous thing that he was hoping she wouldn’t ask about. Well, maybe if she did, it wouldn’t be so bad, right? Shit, he’d never actually had this situation before. It wasn’t like anyone at school actually ever talked to him. It was weird being Mr. Lubbe’s kid when as soon as they realized he was nothing like Mr. Lubbe, he didn’t exist. Weird and kinda good, he guessed. “‘S why I was late.” He cleared his throat and just handed her another twenty rather than worrying about the check. Danny was pretty sure there was every possibility here that he’d tell her the truth and she might not believe him. Either way, this might be awkward. Really awkward. Fuck.
Oh high school, Stephanie didn’t miss it at all. Especially her senior year when even before she started showing someone had let it slip that she was pregnant and she was called a variety of names until she graduated. Mostly ‘whore’ and other stuff she wouldn’t like to repeat, but she had ignored it and got through it all without having to beat anybody up. Even if his wasn’t as bad as hers she wouldn’t poke at it. “There is, and it’s amazing and terrible at the same time. It’s not a regular menu item, one of the kitchen guys came up with it as a way to get rid of the older stock yet while still being able to enjoy it.”
The second twenty almost knocked her for a loop, “Dude, at least keep one of these, it’s only five seventy and I know I didn’t earn a tip this big. Unless you’re expecting to go out back with me, then I’m offended that you think I’m so cheap.” she smirked. “I’ve gotta pay tuition, so at least offer me fifty first and haggle me down.”
“You’re keeping the twenty, I’d like change on this,” he said, sticking his tongue out playfully. “Seriously though, I’ve...got way more than I know what to do with and...look, can I just be Canadian for a minute here and be a nice guy?” The out back comment had him blushing just a little at the tips of his ears, avoiding eye contact. “I mean unless you wanted to go out back, that’d be cool but um...fuck.” He scratched under the back of his beanie and looked up at her again. “Beach? Beach sounds great. Let’s do the beach.” Yeah, Danny’s avoidance tactics needed some work too.
“I can uh, point out all the stars we can’t see because there’s so much city.” It wasn’t much of anything to offer and Danny was kinda feeling like he was choking on his own foot here. Maybe if he just thought about the pie for a while. Pie was great. Deep fried pie was going to be better. There was no other option. “I really feel like I should be apologising here, but I’m not sure why.”
His awkwardness was an awkwardness she knew all too well but she still smiled and chuckled as she counted out his change, letting him be the nice Canadian as he asked. “Don’t worry about it, I’m just teasing you. If I did that sort of thing you wouldn’t find me working here. I’d be in a Nevada brothel making all that girl next door fantasy money. I think the jobs I have now suit me better anyway.”
She handed him his change and receipt then stepped back to take her bright red apron off, folding it over one arm as she took the pigtails out, her scalp thanking her. “I’ll need to clock out, you can wait in here if you want or you can head outside and have a look at my bike. It’s the purple Honda Cb 600 at the side of the building next to the bike rack.”
Danny nodded several times. “I’ll meet you outside.” He smiled awkwardly at her, glad for the pass. It had the potential to get way, way weirder. He jammed his change in his pocket and decided that going outside and finding the bike was the best idea ever. Ever. Space to calm down would do him some good.
Once he was out there, he found himself kicking around a rock to work out all the weird awkward tension he’d built up...and the sugar. Mostly the tension. He hadn’t really been good at making friends since he got down here, and if he was being honest, he wasn’t all that good at making friends back home either. Maybe she’d be cool, like really really cool and not think he was weird or annoying or say she didn’t need him anymore. Whatever. The rock was totally fun anyway. Like pebble soccer.
She was leaving a little early sure but Danny had been the last customer anyway, her work was done and Ruby and Granny never seemed to care as long as she did her job while she was there. They were great ladies and she was really happy to be fitting in so well at a place she already loved. It wasn’t as easy as her UPS job but she didn’t have to see anyone answer the door naked on this job, which was always a plus.
A minute or two later she came out, having clocked out and taken the time to run a comb through her hair before pulling it up into a ponytail and to slip on a very light leather jacket. It was more about keeping her inside bits inside than warmth, but she had to admit she did rock the jacket really well. She was also carrying a purple helmet that matched the bike, a helmet that she was now holding out to him when she got close. “Ready to go?”
Danny took the helmet and put it on, really hoping that she wasn’t gonna need it, but hey she was probably way better at driving than he was. He was, to put it lightly, kind of a menace. It was all part of his plan. He wasn’t sure what that plan was, but he was pretty sure being an awful driver was part of it.
“Absolutely!” he said brightly. Time outside to dick around had done him a world of good in terms of calming his nerves. Some things just needed to happen. “Nice bike,” he said, gesturing. He almost made a joke about it getting better speed than his Schwinn, but, well that seemed lame even for him.
Stephanie was thrilled when he didn’t fight her over the helmet. The whole ‘oh I don’t need it’ excuse riled her up just as much as the ‘oh you’re the girl, you wear it line’, thankfully it had been a long time since anyone had tried to say either to her. She only had the one helmet and believed in driving safely, especially when she had a passenger. It also helped that he had just given her a twenty dollar tip too, it meant she would be extra careful with him. “Thanks. Eggplant is my favorite color, as you can tell.”
She smirked as she climbed on the bike, leaving more than enough space for him, zipping up her jacket before getting out the keys. It roared to life and she couldn’t resist the urge to rev it up, even if the engine wasn’t that impressive. “Climb on and get a good hold on me,” she was teasing now, speaking up to be heard over the engine. “Don’t want you to fall off!”
Danny hopped on easily behind her, settling close and wrapping his arms snugly around her waist. Falling off and dying wasn’t on his list of things to do, and she’d totally invited him so it was okay. The helmet and the engine did make conversation kind of impossible, which was pretty good because all he’d probably be able to think to say was ‘you’re really warm’ or ‘you smell nice’ or something else slightly awkward.
It didn’t take them long at all to get to the beach, but Danny kind of sucked at noticing what was going on when there was blonde hair in his face and the helmet was distractingly heavy. Also she did smell good, even if she also kinda smelled like diner. Nothing wrong with that, though. It took him a minute to actually let go and get off the bike, pulling the helmet off to both breathe and see properly. “It’s weird being at a beach that isn’t perpetually ice cold,” he said. At least he thought it wouldn’t be. It would make sense, right? There was really only one way to find out.
“See, that’s what California does. It messes up all your perceptions and shit. I totally expected it to be all windy and cold the first time I came out here.” she admitted while she fully parked the bike, taking her jacket off as well. She had parked them close enough to the pier that if he was in the mood they could check that out as well. “Then again, where I’m from I was totally surprised when no bodies washed up, and that you can actually tell that the water is blue during the day is nice too.”
She slung her jacket over the bike and took the helmet to hang off one of the handle bars when he took it off. “So what are the beaches like in Canada? Besides cold.” Stephanie teased as she started down the beach. “Are there moose everywhere and people in parkas going, ‘sure is coold, eh?’ and passing around beer?” her fake Canadian accent was terrible and she was rather proud of herself for how terrible it was. Suddenly, before he had a chance to answer, she stopped still and flopped down onto the sand, moving her arms and legs in a likely familiar shape. “Sand angel!”
“It smells like dead fish and sometimes sewage,” Danny said, wrinkling his nose. “Moose are fucking menace. Especially when they’re migrating or whatever. They don’t give a fuck and sometimes you’re stuck in traffic forevvvvvver because the damn moose won’t move.” He looked down at her, arched a brow and then smirked deviously at his newest awesome friend before his clothes were basically just gone and he was running towards the water. Never let it be said that Danny Lubbe was possessed of any ability to feel shame about his body, and at least he was wearing underwear mostly for her benefit. You had to know someone at least a week (outside of work) before they saw your ass and balls.
Her eyes went wide when he started stripping and her mouth fell open a little as he raced to the waves. Something told her she should have expected that, after all what was a trip to the beach without a swim. Not to mention Danny seemed like the sort, or so far he did. She liked to think she could read people but she was wrong often enough. Climbing to her feet she dusted herself off and jogged closer to the water. “You’re gonna freeze to death! Don’t! Please. No one else will give me twenty dollar tips!”
Of course she was now faced with a choice to either yell to him from the shore or be brave and strip down to join him. She wasn’t like him, she had never been the sort of girl who flaunted her body and after the baby she did everything she could to keep herself covered. She looked better now than she ever had but in her mind she still saw all that pregnancy weight when she looked in the mirror. “Are you expecting me to join you?”
Danny’s first response was to submerge himself entirely in the cold water, laughing as he surfaced again. “Not gonna freeze! Did you forget the whole frozen north thing already?” He sent some water in her general direction which, well, would have been way more effective in a pool. Maybe they should find a pool to break into instead. That’d be fun. No, that’d be more than fun. That’d be the best plan ever.
Later, though. There was ocean for now. “Totally! Come on in, the water’s...wet!” His grin was bright, taking over his entire face while dark blond hair had gone nearly black with the water and lighting. “Promise we’ll both survive!”
“I don’t know, dying from shame seems a possibility!” but she gave in as of course she was going to. Off went the white t-shirt, followed by her black converse and relaxed-fit jeans, leaving her in a simple flesh-colored bra and tiny black boyshorts. Barely clad she decided it was too late to back out and so she dashed into the ocean, diving under the waves. She momentarily thought that she had lost her mind as she resurfaced, ponytail clinging to her neck and shoulders, especially as it would take her around twenty minutes on the highway to get back to her place and she would end up incredibly cold. But she could put that aside for a moment to enjoy the water and the company of the boy with the surprisingly attractive body.
“Oh shit,” she shook her head and had to keep swimming to help stay warm. “I’ve been in California for far too long, forgot what could feels like. You’re crazy, you know that?” she gave him a smile that suggested that she didn’t think this was a bad thing at all.
“Not the worst thing I’ve been called!” he replied, all too cheerful as he swam closer just for the sake of shoving her with all the playful affection he could muster. He wasn’t gonna be the asshole who pushed anyone under the water or went ankle grabbing when currents were a real thing, but a friendly shove was totally fair game.
Almost skinny dipping in the ocean on a nice starry night? Yeah, Danny could be down for this more often. “Shame is overrated. It’s just me, and you could have like big green scales or webbed fingers or something and I’d still think you were the most beautiful girl I ever met.” The thing about Danny was that he was shit at lying, shit at being anything other than 100% himself. Sparkles was...she sparkled. That was all there was to it, and he didn’t think that telling her so was weird or awkward. Just awesome.
Stephanie turned bright red, she was sure from the soles of her feat to the tips of her ears, and she had to cover her face for a moment. She really wasn’t used to compliments, at least nothing like that that could be dealt with by a simple ‘thanks’ and quickly brushed aside. Eventually she dropped her hands to the top of the water and turned them towards him pushing the biggest splash of water at him she could muster. “You got me down to my underwear only a few minutes after meeting me, I don’t think you need to go with your lines now. It’s just overkill.”
She floated back a little so if he did try to return the splash she could dodge it, “Boy with the insanely pretty smile, what do you need with lines anyway?”
“What?” Danny said, brows raising as he blushed. He was pretty sure even in the dark she could see that. He could tell that she got a little pink over him so it only made sense even while he was sputtering and trying not to choke on seawater. “I wasn’t- Those weren’t lines. That was just the truth!”
He finally found his rhythm again, treading water properly while he watched her. “If you never decided to do something dumb like this with me again, it’d still be the truth.” He looked a little sheepishly down and then smiled again before ducking under the water to save her the trouble of doing it herself.
Oh no, he wasn’t getting away with it that easily. When he ducked under she went down after him grabbing his arms and urging him to resurface. She wasn’t entirely sure why she did that or what she was going to do when they could both talk again and they were already above the water before she had time to think of something. She just went with her gut, even if that was probably the wrong thing.
Her hands moved to his cheeks and before he could stop her or squirm away, not that she thought he would, she planted a rather chaste kiss on his lips then let him go. With that she put a little more distance between them, like she was ready to make him chase her if he tried to come closer. “If that’s how you tell the truth never, ever try lines then, you might make a person’s head explode.”
She just… She… Danny had to sort of float there for a minute just staring at her while his brain worked really hard at getting over the short circuit that seemed to have happened. She totally just kissed him. Nobody’d ever… well at school back home to make fun of him and then at work, but neither of those things counted. He forgot he was swimming enough to reach up and touch his lips like he really, really didn’t believe that this was a thing that was happening.
Of course that was about when the ocean decided to remind him that it was a thing and he had to shove his arm out to the side just to keep floating. That was the jumpstart his head needed to get out of shell-shocked land. He grinned again, smile spreading slow and genuine over his face. He splashed at her again, laughing like life was the greatest thing ever and he wanted to freeze this moment in time to keep with with him always. Right up until he went swimming towards her. “The only lines I know are cheesy anyway.” Yeah, this was going to be a chase, but it was going to be a totally fun one.
Him being stunned was a bit of a surprise but a sweet one. Maybe her gut hadn’t been so wrong after all, not when he was smiling at her with his eyes all lit-up like that. She wasn’t sure what she expected from him in reaction to that beyond a little chase, then again she hadn’t been sure what to expect when he walked into Granny’s. It turned into a great night though, one of the best.
“Oh yeah?” she grinned moving a little farther away each time he got closer. “I seriously doubt that unless Canadians have insanely high standards when it comes to pick-up lines.” she found she really had to move to say just beyond arm’s length. “Maybe we’re just easier here in ‘Merica: fuck yeah!”
“Yeah,” he said, still trying to play catch with her. “I mean…” He frowned a little and then said, in the best American accent he could do. “Do you have a sunburn or are you always this hot?” The grin that followed that was nothing less than cheesy and went right along with the brow waggle.
“How much more truth do I have to tell before you’ll kiss me again?” Like for real kiss him where he could actually realize what was happening while it was happening so he could kiss back.
She actually had to pause and laugh at how terrible that was, a hand coming up to cover her mouth to try to muffle her laugher. It didn’t work but it slowed her to a stop long enough for him to reach out and grab her if he wanted. “Oh my god,” her cheeks were a little red from laugher. “Okay, okay that was really bad, and not just because it was cheesy but you’re essentially saying that the girl in question looks red, which is not something you ever say to a girl because she will run off to check herself in a mirror then cover herself in green concealer.”
The laughing smile turned to something more sweet when he asked about another kiss, happy to hear once again that she had done the right thing in kissing him the first time. “You know, I don’t know, we’ll have to see what truths you’d say.”
He caught her by the waist with one arm, glad that they managed to somehow get near enough to shore where he could put his feet down and be okay. “That Sparkles was the absolute right nickname for you,” he said, meeting her gaze. “And that before you smelled really good like strawberries and funnel cake and that I’ll totally wear the helmet on the way back to wherever but you’re going to have to wear my beanie so that your head doesn’t freeze.” Because he cared about things like that and there was no reason for anyone to suffer at all here. “Or that I really do wanna kiss you again, but if that’s not something you actually want, I’m okay with that.”
How someone could be so entertainly nuts and yet so sweet was beyond her but he seemed to pull it off really well. That blush returned and this time she tried to hide it by keeping her face turned away from his. That sensible side of her was trying to flare up at her, to tell her that she just met this guy and she was already down to her underwear and that he might get the wrong impression about her, and that it had been almost over two years since she had kissed anyone or had been this physically close to someone else. She silenced all that by wrapping her arms around his neck, after all the way he had his arms around her like he did it was the natural thing to do, especially as he was taller than her.
“I… Yeah, okay that works.” she giggled nervously, not being able to hold it back. “I’m sorry, I’m just… awkward. But yeah, you can kiss me again, I’ll just be over here crossing my fingers that I remember how to do it. It’s been a while.”
Danny smiled sweetly. “No judgement,” he promised. His chest was doing that weird fluttery thing, all nervous anticipation that even the water couldn’t freeze out of him. He leaned in, nose brushing lightly against hers while he closed his eyes and kissed her. It was gentle and sweet and he couldn’t help but smile just a little into it. Yeah, this was definitely something he could get used to.
It might have been years but it all rushed back to her, especially that all-over tingly feeling she could never fully describe. Her arms around his neck tightened a little as she returned the kiss, and if she had known what he had been thinking she would have definitely agreed. This was a feeling she could definitely get used to, and maybe him too if he remained as fun and sweet as he seemed. She had been on the verge of taking the kiss deeper when a larger wave hit them, causing her to lose her footing a little and break the kiss.
She was actually a little thankful for that, it brought her back to reality and reminded her that she really didn’t know him yet. She didn’t need to be kissing him like that when they had only just met. She had to be smarter and more in control of herself this time. Back came that nervous giggle, though it seemed more deserved now, her hold on him finally loosening. “You need to do something about yourself, you’re too adorable. Learn to lie or not smile like that or something.”
That was a really, really good kiss and he was kinda sad that it was over. Maybe he could work hard enough and be worthy of more from her one day. He stole a brief one on her cheek before he pulled back enough to make it clear that he was allowing her whatever space she wanted but she was still totally welcome in his. “Um, okay?” he said, a little worried about that. “I don’t think the lying thing is gonna pan out.” His were always outlandish to save him the trouble of having to keep track of them. “Could I maybe...I dunno, actually buy you dinner or take you to a movie or something instead?”
He cleared his throat and looked really nervously up at her. “I mean, if you wanted to do the whole going out with a weird Canadian-American halfbreed thing.” American dad or not, Danny’d never really identify with that apparent part of himself. He was from Manitoba. That was all there was to it. “Or I mean we don’t even have to go anywhere. We could just hang out um...or not do typical date stuff. Or different typical date stuff. Like we could totally go ride a bunch of roller coasters or go paintballing or or yeah. I just...I really like you...even though I don’t really know you. So...so there.” And that had to be okay, but if it wasn’t, then Danny would totally just be her friend and they could still hang out and do stuff, right?
“You’re doing it again!” she beamed. “You’re being all cute and I’m getting all warm and fuzzy! Which, you know, is hard as hell to do when you’re in the ocean in your underwear. And the ocean is in your underwear, but it gets rid of the sand, I hope or the ride home is gonna be really uncomfortable.” the talking went along with that nervous giggling before, she simply didn’t know what to do with herself when he was all sweet like he was.
“No, no, I like freaks. I mean, I’m one of them, and thus they’re my kind of people. Especially the weirdly exotic half breeds. But yeah, I’d like to hang out and do stuff and things.” that was a little more normal, her brain could work with that, it made sense to it even if Stephanie herself was all giggly and probably out of her mind right now because ‘omg the guy with the cute smile likes me’. Not sure what to do with her hands either she let them play in the water as her eyes finally found their way back up to his. “I like you too Danny, I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Cool,” he said, smiling again. It was though. It was cool and he might have a shot at something really cool with someone who seemed to be really cool and and yeah. “Come on,” he said, nudging them back to shore. “Let’s get dressed again and maybe try to dry off before we go anywhere.” There had to be a towel or two somewhere he could find to steal. At least for her. All that hair couldn’t be fun once they started driving, Danny beanie or no Danny beanie.