Who: Lina and Aramis. What: Drinks over an awkward chat. When: Early June. Where: A bar. Status: Complete. Rating: Low.
The text came to her sooner than she expected, and she almost recanted the entire offer of meeting up and buying drinks. Not because she was a cheapass (not this time anyway), but Lina wasn’t all that comfortable with the kind of confrontation that would enforce the fact that she had fucked up.
So when she replied, set up a date, time and location, she actually appeared earlier than scheduled. It was a different bar than she’d been - the last one may have temporarily banned her from all the shit she broke - but it served food and drinks, and had a hole-in-the-wall kind of atmosphere. Lina did what she did best: indulge in food - spicy buffalo wings in this case, leaving only bare bones in the basket after she’d been finished them - and get some liquid courage. First it was a beer and then it escalated to chilled liquor in shot glasses.
“I’m turning into an alcoholic,” she murmured to herself, examining the glass with a look of annoyance. No wonder I need more money than usual lately.
Aramis knew that he had no reason to take her up on the offer. Everything that had happened was certainly in the past now, and while at times it made him a bit bitter, at the end of the day he was a sucker. He was bound to give most people a second chance if they wanted it, and in Lina’s case he’d probably give her a third.
When he arrived, he found her easily. Aramis had thought that maybe she’d stand him up, and was shocked, therefore, to see her sitting there. “I see you’ve started the party without me,” he said, taking a seat across from her.
The sound of his voice made Lina freeze in her chair, the only thing moving were her eyes following him from where he approached until he sat down. It would have been the perfect opportunity for the cocktail waitress to swing by and ask if she wanted another round, but nope, the bitch never came.
Lina had the same thought process he did - she’d thought he would have stood her up. Not like he owed her anything.
“I got hungry,” was all she could muster and then kicked herself mentally. She choked out a nervous laugh and leaned back against her seat. “Geez. How long has it been?”
“A while,” Aramis answered. He was glad it was as awkward for her as it was for him. When the waitress came by, Aramis ordered a beer for himself and then waited until they were alone again. “What are you doing in Orange County?”
“Tourism. Sightseeing.” Lina shrugged. “Well, if only. Ended up quitting the business. Except my boss never really liked the whole ‘two weeks notice’ thing. Decided to leak my info to our country’s lovely three-letter organizations. And been on the run since. Happened not too long after…” She made an awkward hand motion, with a wince. “You know.” The waitress had dropped off another chilled shot glass, filled with whatever nasty and hard liquor she ordered. She felt like she would need a lot of those.
“I’d heard they got something on you,” he commented, sipping his beer. “Fortunately it was deemed that I was better used elsewhere.” Honestly, Aramis knew he should probably call her in. That would be the appropriate thing to do in his position, but he couldn’t bring himself to. “So you came here. Small world.”
“Small world,” she repeated with a half-smile, although mirthless, and picked up the shot glass to twirl around with her fingers. “I did a lot of messed up shit before. And I can’t say I was in the best, ah, state of mind. But.” Lina paused to breathe in deeply, still trying to formulate words. “I wanted to say I’m sorry. For the whole thing. Don’t really expect you to accept it, but I’d regret it if I never said it. I never wanted you that deep in the entire mess. I didn’t want things to end the way they did.”
Aramis let out a slight sigh and ran a hand through his hair. He knew, inside, that he really had no reason to feel guilty, but he knew that he had a part to play in everything as much as she did.
“To be perfectly honest, Lina, I suspect we were both in odd places at the start of it. And I’d be lying if I said I ever had second thoughts about any of it. I think I’d have done about anything you’d asked.”
“I know,” Lina said and bit her lip, fighting an actual smile this time. She laughed and scratched the back of her neck. “Honestly, you were exactly what I needed at the time. Not to inflate your ego, but…” She sighed, and in that breath it seemed like the tension slipped from her body. “You were the best guy.”
That was probably the nicest thing she’s ever said about someone. But out of everyone, she thought he deserved the acknowledgement. “Why didn’t you rat me out? When you had the chance?”
“Oh, no, by all means, inflate away,” he told her, his own lips quirking up into an amused look. Then Aramis paused and shrugged. “I don’t know. Fear of incriminating myself, somehow? I think I wanted to believe that deep down you weren’t as bad as all that. Why ruin your life when there was a chance to fix it still?”
At that point, Lina figured it was the right time to down the shot. She slammed the glass back down and wiggled her nose as it burned down her throat. She wasn’t a bad person, no. But she really had made stupid decisions - all because at that time, it all seemed like it was too much fun to pass up. “Nice to hear someone had some faith in me. And it sounds like I owe you more than just drinks for not throwing me to the feds.”
Lina flagged down the waitress for another round of drinks. And another order of buffalo wings. It was...good, finally getting that off her chest. “Are we...gonna be okay?”
Friends. That’s all she wanted to be, but was almost afraid it was too much to ask for.
“Drinks are more than enough,” he said, finishing his beer and getting another one. “Well, and if you could manage to prove me right by continuing to stay out of trouble, that woud be good, too.” Aramis gave her a smile for a brief moment.
“I suspect we’ll be just fine. Life’s too short to hold grudges, and, for all intents and purposes, I really was fond of you. The fondness has shifted a bit, but that hasn’t changed.”
His request was reasonable. Often hard for her to do, but it was reasonable. Besides, staying out of trouble actually benefited her mostly anyway. Lina laughed and nodded.
“I’ll do my damn best,” she said and raised her glass for a toast. “I’m not really sure what to toast for. I feel like it’s appropriate though. So ding my glass and let’s keep drinking.”
“Cheers, then, to whatever it is people toast to in these situations.” Aramis clinked his glass against hers and took a long drink, signaling the waitress for another round.