Peter Pevensie (king_peter) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-03-04 02:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, alyssa hamilton, peter pevensie |
Who: Peter Pevensie and Alyssa Hamilton
What: Two Brits Meeting Over Tea
When: Backdated: Wednesday, February 19th. Morning, Before the ash started falling
Where: A Tea Room
Rating: Family Friendly
Status: Complete
Peter had only spoken to Alyssa once or twice on Valarnet, but he already liked the English girl quite a lot, so it only seemed logical that they would finally decide to meet in person. While Peter did miss England and his family quite a lot, he had been happy to find that there were actually quite a lot of other British people on Valarnet, so he didn’t feel quite as homesick as he’d originally thought he would. Alyssa was a bit younger than he was, but Peter was looking forward to meeting her. They had decided to meet at a tea room in Irvine on the weekend and Peter had arrived a few minutes earlier than they planned and was standing out front so that Alyssa would see him when she got there.
Alyssa had been having a stomachache for a while, and she felt a bit feverish, but some Tylenol and tea would fix that. She was wearing a sweater to help combat the chill as she walked up and waved at Peter. “Peter?” She just wanted to make sure. It’d be rude to assume.
It was the accent that tipped Peter off that this was indeed Alyssa and he smiled at her as he nodded, “That would be me. I assume you’re Alyssa,” Peter and Caspian hadn’t been in California for long, but Peter still missed the sound of another English accent, so hearing Alyssa’s was almost like being back in England. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too!” Alyssa had been born in Essex but spent time in the countryside at her boarding school. But she’d never shaken the overly posh accent her mum had, and she shook Peter’s hand happily. “This place makes a really nice brew, you’ll like it.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Smiling, Peter opened the door for Alyssa and waited till she went in before going in himself, “How long have you lived out here?” He asked as they went to find a table. Alyssa was younger than most of his friends back home, but there was something about the redhead that made her seem older.
She was a bit more pale than usual, due to not feeling well, but she was in good spirits. “I’ve been out here for just a little more than a year. Mum was transferred out here and I came so I’d actually see her from time to time.”
He had noticed that she seemed pale, but considering this was the first time they’d met in person, Peter had no way of knowing whether or not this was her normal coloring and he commented on it, “Over a year and you still look like you just got off the plane.” Peter was actually looking forward to trying to get a tan and seeing if his hair would lighten in the summer.
That made Alyssa chuckle. “Oh, I only come one of two ways - normal or cooked,” she teased. “I sunburn so easily I have to carry around a parasol in summer.”
“I’m hoping I don’t burn. My boyfriend is naturally tan and I’ll admit, I get a little jealous sometimes.” Peter laughed, thinking about how Caspian would tease him, good naturedly of course, about how much paler Peter was, “I think I’d look quite silly, walking around with a parasol.” He smiled as a waitress came up to their table, asking if they needed a few more minutes or if they were ready.
“Is he the sort to slap you on the back if you get sunburned?” Alyssa smiled up at the waitress when she came over, ordering an Earl Grey with a tiny bit of milk. She was fairly nonfussy in her tea choices.
Peter laughed again, nodding, “Yes. Yes, he would do that.” Caspian had been known to do things simply to get a rise out of Peter, never anything bad of course, but he enjoyed seeing Peter’s reaction. He also ordered an Earl Grey then waited for the waitress to leave before speaking again, “Are you seeing anyone?”
“You’d better not get a sunburn then.” Alyssa leaned back in her seat, listening to Peter’s questions. She shook her head. “Dating, no. I broke up with someone recently. I’ve got a mate that ... we sometimes hook up, but that’s all.” ‘Hook up’ was such an American term that she laughed whenever she said it, but she couldn’t think of a more accurate way to describe herself and Christian.
“I’m sorry to hear about your breakup.” Peter had never actually had to deal with the pain of a breakup, because Caspian had been his first and only boyfriend. It had been eight, almost nine years now that they’d been dating and while there had certainly been quite a lot of fights, over one thing or another, they had never actually broken up and Peter was grateful for that, “And how does that work out? I mean, I’ve never hooked up with someone before. I would think that eventually there would be some feelings there. Is it possible to sleep with someone and not develop some kind of feelings?” He didn’t mean to pry, but he couldn’t help but be curious, “If I’m getting too personal, you don’t have to answer.”
Alyssa thought about his question and shrugged. If she was lying to everyone but herself and Velma, why not keep that up? “It’s working out great. He’s one of my best friends, and the sex is brilliant.” And she didn’t like him at all, nope.
Peter nodded, “I don’t think I could ever do that. Of course, Caspian is the only person I’ve ever been with, but I don’t think I could shag just anyone.” He wasn’t judging her of course; to each their own, “But if it’s working out for the both of you then that’s good for you.” Deciding not to stay on the topic of sex since they had only just met, Peter changed it, “Are you going to school?”
“I am, I major in psychology.” She smiled brightly, enjoying the topic of school. She’d always liked school, and it showed in her voice. She was ill, and weak, but she sounded happily.
“What made you choose psychology?” Peter always liked to hear why someone chose their major, because he thought it told a lot about the person, “I majored in veterinary medicine, myself, to become a vet tech,” He was hoping to hear back from Dr. Binx soon about the job he’d dropped off his resume about.
“I love animals! I can’t have any, my mum’s allergic, but I’d always wanted one.” She smiled brightly, curling back into her sweater. “I wanted to know more about people, to help them. I’m sort of always the first one people come to with problems, so I figured I’m good at it.”
“That’s actually a good reason to get into that particular field.” Peter glanced up as the waitress came back with their teas and he smiled and thanked her, “Perhaps you can come over sometime and meet our cat, Aslan. If there’s one thing he enjoys more than food, it’s attention.”
“What sort of cat is he?” Alyssa smiled and accepted her tea, sipping it cautiously. “I’m guessing he’s a spoilt boy?”
"He's a Maine Coon." Peter said before taking a sip of his tea then reached for his phone in his pocket after putting the cup down, "He definitely is. Almost any time Caspian and I get something for each other, we get something for Aslan too." He unlocked his phone then accessed his pictures and turned the phone towards Alyssa after selecting a picture of the rather large, orange cat. "That's Aslan."
“Oh, gosh, I bet he’s huge.” Alyssa smiled, taking the phone and looking at the photos of the cat. “Lookit the baby!” She couldn’t help but rinn, squealing a little to herself. “You’re so lucky. I don’t even have many friends with pets. Well. Bran has a few, but I don’t see him often.”
Peter smiled as Alyssa looked at the pictures, “He is quite big. And he has a tendency to jump on us from the dresser to wake us up in the morning to feed him.” While Aslan could be a bit of a pain at times, Peter loved him and couldn’t imagine his and Caspian’s life without him.
That made Alyssa laugh. “That’s quite the alarm clock you’ve got.” She handed the phone back over, grinning. “I don’t have a good one, which I really need to correct. I’m in mostly online classes, which is good, but I don’t want to oversleep on the days I have to go in.”
“It’s not so bad when he isn’t waking us up at six in the morning.” Peter smiled as he took the phone back and set it on the table before taking another sip of his tea, “I never took any on-line classes. While I have the discipline to do something like that, Caspian can be quite the distraction at times.” Of course Caspian had distracted people from regular home work on more than one occasion, but it probably would have been worse if Peter had taken any on-line courses.
“Online is all right. I started this semester when I was having some emotional problems. I’ll probably go back to standard classes next term.” She sipped her tea and snagged a biscuit, dipping it into her mug.
The other reason Peter had preferred actual classes was because he’d enjoyed being around other people and the classroom atmosphere, which you just didn’t get from on-line classes, “I hope everything has settled down for you.” Not that Alyssa would never have emotional problems again in her lifetime, but for the time being she was simply too young to have to deal with a lot, emotionally.
“It’s getting better, yeah.” Alyssa smiled. “Lots of things were just ... situational. Therapy helps.” Getting someone to help her through all of the Bellatrix shit was good.
“I’m happy to hear that things are getting better.” Peter smiled and took a sip of his tea, “That’s good that you’re getting help too. Too many people think that admitting they need help means they’re crazy, but that’s so not the case.” Peter had known a few people who had refused to seek help for their various issues because they thought they would just be put on medication and told they were crazy, so he was glad that Alyssa had sought help for her issues.
Therapy was good, and at the moment, Alyssa couldn’t complain about too much except her bloody flu. “It’s true. There’s really not a bit of harm in getting help. I wish more people knew that.”
“At least now you have first hand experience and can help anyone else who might think of therapy negatively.” Peter thought that, that was important too. It was easier to help someone else if you had first hand experience in a particular situation.
“Well, I want to be a therapist someday, so I hope I won’t meet too many people like that.” She chuckled, letting her cold hands warm themselves by alighting on her mug.
Peter nodded, “Very true. That would make sense with your major.” He smirked and ran a finger along the handle of his cup, “Which do you think of as home? Here or England?” Peter and Caspian had only been in California for a little over a month now so in a way it still didn’t feel like they were staying, but he knew it would take a little while for Orange County to really feel like home.
“Now? Here, absolutely. I never really thought of anywhere as home before anyway. Mum traveled a lot, so I was always on holiday wherever she went. Boarding school never felt like home either, so ... I don’t know, this is the first place that ever really has.” She didn’t know if that was sad or not, but it was simply the truth.
“Where did you go to boarding school? I went to an all boy’s one in Wales.” Boarding school had been Peter’s idea and he was glad that his parents had agreed otherwise he never would have met Caspian, “It was where I met my boyfriend actually.”
“So you’ve said. I went to an all girl’s in Somerset.” She’d liked it very much, and she’d had a good enough time. As a child she’d hated it, but she’d grown to realize that her mother hadn’t ever really been a good candidate for her to grow up under. Her mother hadn’t really been a very good mother anyway.
“I did, didn’t I? You’re going to start thinking I have a short term memory or something,” For the longest time Peter had the same friends, but now that they were in a new place, it meant making new friends and it wasn’t as if Peter were shy or anything, but he was slightly nervous about meeting all new people.”Did you like it? Or do you prefer school out here?” Peter didn’t know very much about American schools.
“You’ve probably chatted to a lot of new people. I like uni out here well enough. It’s rather odd having blokes in my classes, but I don’t really care so much.” Boys her own age - with the exception of Bran and Damian - had never really caused her to look twice.
“I don’t know anything about Uni out here.” Peter said as he finished off his tea, “I can’t imagine that it’s that different though. Unless what they say about American Uni is true and it’s actually rubbish.” He’d heard a lot of things, but had nothing to really base it off of.
“It probably is, but I’ll need the degree.” Alyssa sighed, then winced when it hurt. “You know, I should probably be off. I think I’m coming down with flu, and I don’t want to infect someone I just met.”
“Oh of course. If you had said you were sick we could have postponed, but I’m glad we got to meet.” Peter smiled and took out enough cash to cover both teas then left it on the table with the bill the waitress had given them earlier, “Hopefully it isn’t the flu. It’s never any fun being sick.”
“I hope you don’t have to worry about getting ill yourself. And thanks for getting the bill, but I’m getting it next time.” Alyssa beamed and reached down to give Peter a brief hug. She was glad she’d gone out, flu or no.