Veronica Mars is a marshmallow (ronmars) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-10-25 21:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, cinderella's prince, veronica mars |
Who: Veronica Mars and Prince Tom
When: Wednesday Oct 22
Where: Chipotle
What: Random Encounter
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete
Being the newbie at the firm, Veronica was swamped with work. She had some time to pick up a quick dinner and then straight back to the office. She was craving some mexican food and lucky for her there was a place about a block from her office.
Pulling out her phone she texted her best friend and roommate. I’ll be home late. Don’t wait up. She was just hitting the send button when she realized it was her turn to order. Veronica pointed out the items she wanted underneath the glass encasing. It was a lot for just one person, but the blonde knew how to eat.
Tom was standing in line behind the petite blonde, watching her order. He chuckled softly, moving as the line did, ordering his own food. This would be just what he wanted. He was pretty hungry. But probably not as hungry as the blonde. “Jeez, are you feeding an army?” He asked, grinning playfully, as the burrito expert wrapped up their orders.
Veronica was a bit startled when she heard the man behind her speaking to her. It took a lot to startle her, but he had accomplished it. Or maybe she was just off her game after the long day at work. “Just a small one. And by small, I mean me” she wasn’t ashamed of her appetite. Veronica couldn’t stand girls who acted like they barely ate.
“I’m impressed. Seriously.” Tom was still smiling in a friendly way as he moved forward with her in line to pay for their burritos. “...I’m always ridiculously full and sleepy after eating here. If I had your meal I’d be in some kind of food coma.”
“Good point” Veronica replied with a small smile as the line moved forward, she stepped up to the cash register to pay, but the truth was she hadn’t exactly thought about that part. More just about how hungry she was and in need of comfort food. “I’ll just have to manage.”
“Or just take your time with it,” Tom offered gently. “Chipotle makes excellent leftovers. Even just a couple hours later gives the body time to recover before the next batch.”
“I do have a long night ahead of me” she said with a small sigh. “Looking forward to some left overs might just get me through it” she stood to the side, waiting for him to pay. “Want to join me for the first round?” she asked with a smirk.
Tom gave a little nod and a smile once he’d finished paying up. “Yeah. I’d like that. Thanks.” Then moved toward the drink counter to fill up his cup. “You’re eating on your own… working late? What is it you do?” He asked, curiously.
Veronica walked with him to the soda machine, filling up her own cup. “Unfortunately” she replied to his first question. “Lawyer” she added as they made their way to an empty table. “What about you? Why are you eating alone?”
“Honestly? Sometimes I just like getting away from people and having a meal to myself.” Tom said, moving with her to a table. He wasn’t on the prowl tonight. The recent dreams had thrown him for so much of a loop lately that he was feeling a bit… off. “I run an investment firm. My father owns the company, I’m just heading the Southern California branch,” he added, answering her question. “Work ran a little late, so instead of heading home to try and scrounge for food, I thought I’d swing by and let someone else do the cooking.”
“If you weren’t about to share a meal with me, I would assume tonight was one of those nights” the blonde replied taking a seat at the table. She tried her best to suppress an eye roll at the mention of working at his father’s company. Her first thought was that he was just another rich kid riding daddy’s coat tails. She had to remind herself that not everyone was like that. “Take out is usually my go to. I’m not exactly the world’s best cook.”
“What can I say? You changed my mind.” Tom gave her a friendly smile, then unwrapped his burrito to dig in. He wasn’t trying to impress, so he wasn’t being dainty. At the same time, he was a hungry man, so he went in for it. (And he was still charming all the while.) “Nah, I’m not, either. Though, I make some killer pancakes.”
“I tend to have that effect on people. It’s my killer personality” she smirked unwrapping her own burrito. “I’m more of a waffle girl myself” she said with a shrug taking a large bite.
“Ohhhh, my pancakes would change your mind about waffles.” Tom said, playfully egotistically. “It’s really magical.”
“What? Are they made out of pixie dust?” she smirked raising a brow at him. “You know you are going to have to make some for me now, if you want to prove yourself. Just try to refrain from bursting into tears when I still prefer waffles.”
“Something like that.” Tom grinned. “Secret recipe.” Then he took a bite, but chuckled and nearly choked. “Hey, I’d love to make you pancakes. Anytime.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card with his name and contact information on it. Then he held it out to her. “...give me a call. I’ll make you pancakes.”
“You do realize this says ‘Tom Prince. Investment banker’ right? Not ‘Tom Prince. World’s best pancake maker’ right?” she responded taking another bite of food. “I’m Veronica by the way” she added realizing she hadn’t even told this guy her name yet and here she was sharing a meal with him.
Tom gave a little laugh. “You do realize now I’m going to have new business cards printed, right?” He had a twinkle back in his eye. Something about this girl was reviving. Perhaps because she took his mind off the Dreams and all that garbage. “Hi, Veronica. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Not so fast” Veronica replied holding up her finger. “First you have to get my approval that they actually are the world’s best pancakes. It’s a legal thing” she smirked. “Nice to meet you too, Tom Prince, investment banker.”
“Even if the pancakes aren’t necessarily the best, I could still be the best maker.” Tom said, grinning brightly. “I mean, maker of the best pancakes and best pancake maker are different things, right? One means the best maker, and other means the best pancakes.” Beat. “That’s getting a bit complicated, isn’t it? Too much for a Chipotle dinner.”
“You sure you are an investment banker? You sound a lot like a lawyer” high compliment coming from Veronica. “Complicated yes, but your argument is valid. Although it does beg the question: how does one qualify to be the best pancake maker if his pancakes aren’t the best?”
Tom chuckled. “Definitely not a lawyer. Definitely not smart enough to get through law school.” He responded in his charming way. “It’s all about the style.” He added, the grin stretching out the word.
“Law school is tough” Veronica admitted. “But you do have the whole argument part down” she added taking another bite of food. “Never knew there were different styles to making pancakes. It’s like a whole new world” she joked.
“Oh, I can introduce you to all sorts of new things.” That was one of those lines that could have sounded deliberately sexual if delivered the right way. Tom was saying it playfully, though, not in a suggestive way. “About pancakes, I mean.” It was a tease, a joke, flirty, sure, but not sleazy.
Veronica just shook her head at his line, a smirk on her face. Clearly she was amused. “Well I would expect no less from the world’s best pancake maker” she shot back a playfulness in her own voice as well.
“Then I’m looking forward to our next meeting. A pancake date.” He grinned playfully.
Tom’s phone started to beep. He obviously did it with great reluctance, but pulled the thing from his pocket to glance at the screen. It was a text. He read it quickly and frowned. “They need me back at the office.” He said with an angry, little sigh. “I’m afraid I’m gonna have to cut our dinner a little short.”
Veronica did her best not to frown when Tom mentioned having to leave. She understood it really. She needed to get back to her own work soon anyways. Unless she wanted to spend all night at the office. “Don’t worry about it. Duty calls” she gave him a reassuring smile. “I should probably get back to work anyways” she added wrapping up the remainder of her food to take back to the office with her.
Tom wrapped up the rest of his burrito, too, matching her frown with one of his own. “But you’ve got my number. You can call me, anytime.” He said, and the smile came back to his lips. “We’ll have pancakes.”
“Or waffles” Veronica teased getting up from the table. “I’ll see you” she added even though she was still unsure if she would actually use his number or not.