Alyssa Hamilton is Heaven's soldier. (four_leaves) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-04-02 23:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | alyssa hamilton, peeta mellark |
Who: Peeta Mellark and Alyssa Hamilton
What: A first date!
Where: Restaurant, her house.
When: Wednesday evening.
Rating: PG-13
Status: Complete!
There was a definite level of nervousness bouncing around inside Peeta right now, but he was also excited. Alyssa was an awesome girl and he still couldn’t believe that he managed to work up the nerve to ask her out on a date. Even if it didn’t end up going anywhere he was thrilled at the idea of getting out and being normal. It had been a while since his last date and at least he knew this one would be full of excitement and he even managed to make banana Nutella croissants for her.
That evening he changed into a new outfit, finally something not covered in flour, and made his way out to her place. His thumbs beat out a rhythm on the steering wheel as he drove and turned up the music to drown out his thoughts. The GPS lead the way without incident and after pulling up to her place he turned the music down and got out of the car. He held the box of croissants in his hand as he got to her door and rang the bell.
Most nineteen-year-old girls didn’t live in four-bedroom houses, but she’d inherited it from her mother. She’d done exactly what she’d said she was going to do online and went dress shopping before her date with Peeta, having had a perfectly nice lunch and coffee with the bloke from her English class (who did indeed just see her as a friend, much to her relief). She’d put on the new dress, a cute plaid thing that fell to mid-thigh, and put on her favourite leather jacket with it. She could hear Damian laughing in the back of her mind as she slipped on high heels with them. Alyssa wore heels most of the time because she was only 5’2 - it was no fun having to ask people to reach high things constantly.
When the doorbell rang she’d finished spritzing on some perfume and felt her heart pound into her throat. She opened the door and couldn’t help but grin. “Hello, Peeta.” Oh, crap, had she told him she was English?
Peeta was certainly not the kind of gentleman to make fun of her for being short when he was technically below the average height for men. But he really didn’t mind being on the shorter side. But that quickly passed from his mind when she opened the door and he was able to take in the sight of her. It was a very nice dress and he really liked the leather jacket she had paired with it. Oh and paired with that accent? This was going to be a fantastic night. He thought he remembered seeing something about her being British on the network, but it hadn’t really clicked with him.
“Hey, you look great. New dress?” a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as he held out the box for her, “Since I promised a treat I made you banana Nutella croissants. Thought you’d probably like to leave them here for a late night snack instead of dragging it around with us.”
“It is, actually, and thank you for noticing.” She had been about to hug him, but then he had to bring up banana Nutella croissants. “You made me ... do we have time to sneak one in now?” She grinned impishly before moving enough so he could come inside. “Spoiling my dinner means I’m a cheaper date for you.”
Moving surprisingly gracefully in heels, she walked to the kitchen and motioned for Peeta to sit down. “Make yourself at home.” His arms looked strong, and she could feel herself blushing ever so slightly as she looked for a plate.
“And yeah, we can go sneak one now. I’ve got a reservation for us, but we’ve got enough time,” Peeta was glad she seemed pleased by the gift and he couldn’t help but laugh at her cheaper comment, “I’m all about having dessert first and a cheap date is certainly okay. Probably don’t want to eat a ton before we go riding crazy roller coasters. I don’t want to be puked on.”
She gestured him into the house and he stepped inside, shutting the door behind him, and followed along, “And this is a really lovely place. Do you live all by yourself?”
“I don’t puke, not usually. Motion sick isn’t a thing I suffer from.” She had some scarring on her back from when Bellatrix had cursed her, but that was about it. She was nineteen, she didn’t really have health problems.
Smiling at him, she handed a plate over and opened the box. Sighing contentedly, she leaned over and inhaled. “Yeah, I do. I used to live with my mum, but she willed this place to me before she passed. So it’s just me and my homework most days.” And most nights, but whatever.
“Thank goodness. Once when I was younger my dad decided it was a good idea to give my brothers and I a bunch of candy and soda before letting us go on the Tilt-A-Whirl. Let’s just say that our clothing was quickly disposed of afterwards,” that had been the only time that happened to Peeta and he certainly made sure not to even replicate that situation.
Watching her interact with the baked goods was hilarious and he couldn’t fight the grin that appeared on his face, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” He also wanted to comment that it sounded lonely to be in this big house all by herself, but dampening the mood wasn’t a good idea.
Alyssa couldn’t help but laugh at the image of a bunch of boys spewing in circular fashion. “How many brothers do you have? I’m an only child, but I went to boarding school. So sometimes it feels like I’m the eldest of fifteen or so.” She put one of the croissants on his plate.
She’d been about to bite into her own when he offered commiseration on her mother’s passing. “Oh, thank you. We weren’t super close, and I didn’t really ... I don’t know, I didn’t really know her that well, even toward the end. And I don’t know where Dad is, he left when I was three, so.” There’d been more to the sentence, she was sure, but it escaped her. Instead of dwelling on depressing things, she took a cautious bite of the croissant and immediately made a rather inappropriate noise of gustatory pleasure.
“I have two older brothers. And boarding school? Did you enjoy it or not? And I can totally see you trying to mother all those other girls,” it was an amusing mental image, but Alyssa seemed like the type to try and take younger students under her wing and possibly corrupting them at the same time.
“Ah,” that was really all he could say in response to that. It didn’t sound like an idea family situation, but Peeta certainly wasn’t one to judge. But then she seemed far more concerned with the pastry and he was happy to watch her try the first bite. And it was made even better by that noise she made, which made him laugh loudly, “I’m going to take that as approval.”
“Ah, you’re the baby then.” Alyssa grinned at him. Something about him set her at ease. It was probably the fact that while he seemed to Dream, he was also just really ... normal. He wasn’t broody or grumpy like the other boys she’d been historically attracted to, which was a breath of fresh air. “It was all right. I lived through it?” Which was a nice way of saying she’d hated it, but there wasn’t much point of going on about it.
“Just be glad that Mum’s not around to have met you. She gave gift baskets to every boy I’ve ever shagged.” Alyssa wrinkled her nose, giggling as she took another bite. “Which is more awkward than it sounds, I assure you.”
The comment about being a baby made him blushed just slightly. It was always embarrassing to be seen as the baby of the family, but it was certainly true, “I am. And I’m glad you lived through it. At least you seem to not have gone completely crazy and you seem socially well-adjusted.” He was teasing her a little bit and enjoying that they seemed to have an easy rapport. And while he wasn’t brooding on the outside there was still a lot going on to help make him that way.
“A gift basket?” Peeta’s eyes went wide in surprise and he may have sputtered just slightly as he spoke. That was not something he was expecting to hear, “What in the world did she put into those gift baskets?” Wow, that was one way of parenting. No one had given him a gift basket for dating their daughter and he was feeling slightly left out about that.
“I’m English, we’re not allowed to be too showy in our neuroses. Well. We weren’t allowed to in my family.” She mimicked a booming voice, deep and bassy. “No Hamilton has ever been caught bellyaching in public!” Her grandfather was weird, but at least he wasn’t around either.
Her croissant was finished in short order, and in good time as well - she had to laugh at the look on Peeta’s face about the gift baskets. “Oh, yeah. Porn, lube, weird sex toys, condoms with holes in them, and fertility idols. Mum wanted bushels of grandchildren.” Alyssa shook her head as she washed her hands. “Most mums would focus on their daughters graduating uni first, maybe even dating a little, but Mum went straight to the pregnancies.”
The fact that she mentioned being straight laced because she was English made him chuckle and he shook his head as he laughed. Oh she was definitely going to give him a run for his money tonight. But his thoughts were changed when she began to list off the things that were contained in those gift baskets. His jaw dropped slightly in disbelief, “Oh my God. Wow. That is all kinds of special. I don’t think my parents would ever fully encourage me to get anyone pregnant. I don’t think they want to know that I’m having sex anyway. Oh! So, did you love the croissant? Because I greatly enjoyed your moan of pleasure.”
Alyssa almost spittook the sip of water she’d gotten herself, but then she recovered and grinned. “So when you finally do have a child, they’ll just pretend the stork sent it, yeah?” Huh, he might not be as sweet as she’d bargained for. That made him weirdly even hotter, and she bit her lip when she smiled at him.
“They may. That or the cabbage patch. I think I’d rather have a stork deliver it,” He gave her a sideways grin as he spoke and reached up to run a hand through his hair as a nervous gesture. It was a lot of fun to make her react like that he was certainly going to spend a lot of the evening trying to get her to react, “I don’t think I would ever want to talk about my sex life with my parents. That’s so awkward.”
“Mum was always asking things. It was the worst when my ex lived here - he didn’t have anywhere to go at the time. So Mum was always popping into his room, giving him porn. I still have boxes of it, and I have no clue what to do with it. Do you donate it to charity? I don’t ... that’s just gross.” She wrinkled her yet again. “So. Um. Now that I’ve done everything that my mates told me not to do on a first date, shall we go to dinner?”
“I mean….you could just throw it in a box and leave it outside an adult bookstore? That would be pretty hilarious. Oh! You could totally sell them on Ebay or Craigslist if you want to make money off of it,” Peeta knew that guys that wanted to watch porn would most likely not discriminate how they got it as long as they were in good shape. And when she mentioned breaking the rules of a first date he couldn’t help but laugh, “At least we are good at breaking the ice. Not many first dates tell me that they have a large porn collection. But yes, we should probably get to dinner. This conversation may be a lot more amusing in a large crowd of people.”
“Or I could just leave them anonymously in people’s bookbags at school.” Alyssa couldn’t help but grin at her own idea. “Like some sort of weird porno fairy.” She moved toward him, reaching out and taking his hand. “Thanks for doing this, by the by. Asking me out and all that.” She saw herself as mostly a charity case, really.
“Please do that. Take photos and be a super creeper by watching to see how they react. I think that is absolutely hysterical, I support it,” there as a large grin on his face at the idea of her just leaving porn in backpacks. It took a certain kind of girl to be ballsy enough to do that. When she took his hand he gently squeezed her as his grin turned more tender, “You’re welcome. I’m really glad I did so far. Don’t fuck it up.”
“I’ll take videos for you. Oh, I could put notes on them. ‘Thought you could use this’ or something like that.” She couldn’t help but smirk at her own idea.
But then he made her laugh, loud and completely lacking in self-consciousness. “Oi! That’s a tall order to put on a girl!” She could feel the blush she’d warned him about creeping up onto her cheeks and up her ears.
“The notes would be a great touch. I fully support this. You can start an anonymous instagram account and show the world. I bet you’d go viral on Buzzfeed quickly.”
And there was that blush he had heard about it. It was quite a sight to behold and he chuckled to himself, “Hey, I’m just trying to give you a warning. You’re doing well so far. Now, let’s get ourselves to the restaurant because I’m absolutely starving.” He tugged gently on her hand so they could make their way towards the door and out to his car.
“That’s it, I’m doing it starting next week.” It would give her time to write out all the sassy little notes. But before they got too far out to his car, she impulsively tiptoed up to kiss the corner of his mouth. It was just a peck, but she still wanted to do it. It would satisfy her curiosity and make the rest of the evening more relaxed for her.
That was certainly a surprise to Peeta, but definitely not unwelcomed. But honestly? Just a peck? He smirked just slightly as he turned his head to her, reached up to cup her cheek, and leaned in to kiss her properly. He pulled away slowly from her before letting out a laugh, “If you’re going to do that then you might as well do it right. And if you absolutely hated it then we just saved ourselves a lot of time and money.”
That was a good kiss, and she was glad she’d worn the smudgeproof lipstick. Smiling to herself, she shook her head. “If I was more tarty I’d say we could just skip dinner, but I’m hungry too.” She did like how he touched her face - it was sweet, but still confident somehow. “Come on, before we end up not going anywhere.”
“Hey now, I’m not an easy boy. You’re going to have to work hard to get me to skip dinner,” he teased her as they finally reached his car. He held the door open for her before going around to his side. His car was set up with technology to help him drive with his prosthetic if he needed it, but he had grown quite adapted. It didn’t really phase him, the blue handicap placard hanging on the mirror, and he easily got into the driver’s seat and started the car up.
“Challenge accepted for the next date,” she grinned. She noticed the handicapped badge, but didn’t comment. It was something he’d talk about or not, and frankly wasn’t her business. They were flirting, but that didn’t exactly equal ‘spell out your medical history for me’.
“What sort of restaurant are we going to?” She turned to face him, still a bit in awe of how well this was going. She’d not expected it to go poorly, per se, but she hadn’t expected a good kiss this early on. Or at all, really.
“Italian. It’s called Cucina Alessa and I’ve been there a couple times. They have a really wide variety of dishes, so that’s great,” Peeta tried to make sure he picked something that was a little more casual for their first date. He didn’t want to scare her by making a reservation at some place that was way too fancy, “Please tell me that you like Italian or else I’m going to just end up taking you to McDonalds.”
“That sounds lovely, actually.” Alyssa smiled as she leaned back into her seat, closing her eyes. “You smell really lovely. ... and I like Italian, thank you. I also like McDonalds, so don’t be too biased one way or the other on my account.” She reached out to take his hand, squeezing lightly. “So. Um. Do you want to know anything about me?”
“I smell really lovely? Well, thank you so much,” that actually wasn’t an uncommon compliment. Sometimes if he went out to run errands after working at the bakery people in line would smell the sugar, flour, and bakery smells off of him and make comments. The squeeze to his hand made him smile and he gave a little shrug at her question, “Well, of course I do. But I also hate prying into someone’s life, so you can just tell me whatever you want to tell me. I mean I can find a twenty questions app on my phone if you want to go that route.”
“Oooh, we could do that, if only because they’d be really weird questions.” Alyssa crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “What did you want to grow up to be when you were little?” She was mostly teasing, but also kind of curious. “Did you always want to smell delicious and make baked things?”
“My dad’s a chef, so I’ve always wanted to do something with food. Baking was just kind of something I discovered I was good at and it worked well with the fact that I love to paint. So, I just decided to go for it after I got out of the military,” he explained to her as he chuckled about the idea of smelling delicious, “What about you? What did you want to be when you were small? What do you want to be now?”
“You paint?” She leaned back in her seat, twisting some of her red hair around a finger. Somehow, that made him more handsome - it was romantic and somehow sexy, and something very attractive to her. “That sounds lovely. And you were in the military as well?” That was unexpected; Peeta seemed so kind, so unable to hurt others.
Laughing, Alyssa crossed her legs. “When I was wee, I wanted to be Wonder Woman, actually. I didn’t realize that wasn’t a profession, per se. When I found out that wasn’t possible, I wanted to be a scientist like Mum.” Alyssa hadn’t really had any passion for hard science like her mother, but figured she’d sort it out eventually. “I’m going to uni for psychology now, and I want to be a counselor eventually. I owe a lot to the ones I’ve seen.”
“I do. It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed and it really helps when it comes to decorating cakes. That’s what has gotten me this far with my business. I’m slowly becoming cake famous for weddings,” Peeta still thought it was kind of hilarious. The food competition had gotten him so far and then word of mouth continued to spread, “And yeah, for a few years - infantry. Mainly just to spite my father, but it really wasn’t too bad. At least until the accident.”
“Wonder Woman, I can certainly see that one,” it was an amusing idea. He had wanted to be Batman for a brief moment as a kid. His brothers had almost convinced him to jump off the roof in his cape before his mom intervened, “And psychology? Beauty and brains, lovely. And yeah, counselors can certainly help make a difference in your life. I think you’ll be a great one.”
“I reckon being an artist would come in handy, yeah. Maybe that’s why I’m crap at baking, I’m also rubbish at art. I tried to paint once, and mostly just made a brown blob.” She’d been trying to figure out a hobby she could pour her time into while at boarding school on the weekends. She’d ended up dancing, but eight-year-old Alyssa had been rather frustrated at the time about the whole painting thing.
She’d laughed at ‘cake famous’, but The Accident sounded ominous. “If you want to tell me about the accident, you can. But don’t feel like you have to.” If anything, it made her feel more comfortable with him, like he wasn’t going to judge her for the thick spiderweb scarring on her lower back.
“Thank you. I - there was this particularly dark part in my life where having someone there to simply listen and not judge was so important. I can do at least that. And hopefully more.”
His eyes stayed on the road for most of the drive, but he did make sure to turn and make eye contact with her while she spoke. He didn’t mind talking about his accident thanks to a therapist that mentioned he should own the injury instead of treating it like some deep dark secret. And he would never judge her for any scars she carried because she had not seen his stump or the burns that covered his other leg.
“Just an IED explosion on a routine sweep. Lost part of my left leg. Which is why I also agree that having someone there to listen to you is incredibly helpful. It really seems like something you’re quite suited for,” he explained to her with a tender smile. Although, if he had been going to a counselor that looked like her he wouldn’t have gotten anything accomplished.
She listened to him speak, waiting for a moment while she thought of how to say what she wanted. “It’s not just anything, you know. I’m sorry that it happened at all, but I’m just glad that you get to still do what you want with your life.” She couldn’t imagine having to deal with people’s perceptions on top of an injury and physical therapy.
“I was ... a few years ago this woman kidnapped me and ... well, I don’t know if this is really good first date conversation material, but I have this scar on my back from when she took me and did things.” Because ‘I was kidnapped by a Harry Potter villain’ never got less mad to say out loud, but it always made her blood pump faster in fear. “So that’s why I really learned to understand the value of just talking.”
“I think we moved past appropriate first date conversation material when you told me about your mom’s gift baskets and the plan to be a porn fairy,” he pointed out to her with a grin, “And thank you for saying. It was hard to deal with at first, but I’ve definitely adapted and I don’t let it hinder my life in any way. I usually don’t bring it up to people until they’re close to me, but can’t really hide why I have a handicap placard.”
He grew solemn for a moment as she explained what happened to her. He squeezed her hand tightly, “I’m sorry to hear about that. You don’t deserve something like that to happen to you. But I can see that you’re strong. Strong enough to not let it bring you down, shape your life, and that’s the hardest part of going through things like that.”
“Okay, fair, but distributing porn and talking about grievous injury aren’t exactly the same,” she teased. Raising his hand to her lips, she kissed the knuckles lightly. “I could say the same to you, you know. Living through active combat duty’s bad enough.” He was a hero, in the literal and tradition definitions of the word. No matter what their relationship ended up, she’d always admire him.
That action earned a sideways smile from him before he turned into the parking lot of the restaurant and took a spot in the front handicap area, “You’re very sweet and we’re being incredibly sappy right now. Which isn’t bad, but at least we know we’re good at going all over emotionally on a first date. Alright, let’s go eat and talk about something more happy than both of us being injured.” He didn’t mind having serious conversations, but he wanted to make sure that he showed her a good time and they didn’t get bogged down in sadness.
They were parked, and that meant they were stationary. She undid her seatbelt and leaned forward to press her lips to his. The first time she’d kissed him had been a bit shy, but this was not. It wasn’t too heated, but she was fairly sure at this point that he fancied her a bit, and she knew that she fancied him a bit, so why not be bold? Peeta needed to learn that being sweet wasn’t exclusively the province of meekness.
Oh there was definitely some fancying going on in this car, which was why Peeta eagerly returned the kiss. If he had to decide how the date was going so far he would say incredibly well because this many kisses didn’t usually happen before he got the restaurant. He pulled away from her and let out a low chuckle, “You are incredibly distracting and I feel like I’m just going to end up driving you places and we’re never going to get out of the car.” Not that he minded at all, but it seemed silly if they drove all the way here when they could have just stayed at her place if she intended for them to make out all night.
She was blushing when they broke the kiss, and she shook her head. “I’m starving, and I could murder some pasta. How about we eat, split dessert, then go back to my place and you can explain to me what the bases are? Baseball’s not a big deal back home, so someone mentioned this whole base nonsense thing to me and I had no clue what they were on about.”
Oh dear god. She was going to absolutely kill him. He let out a loud laugh and immediately flushed at her comment, “Oh, I can certainly explain the baseball/base/sex metaphor to you. But are you sure that you don’t want to go ride a roller coaster? I mean, I was totally going to try and win you a prize. Did you know that my leg was 18% of my body weight and I’m super awesome at the Guess Your Weight game?” He couldn’t help but grin as he leaned forward to kiss her once more before pulling back, unbuckling himself, and getting out of the car. He didn’t give her much of a chance to reply as he went around to her side to open her door.
Laughing, she appreciated how cute he was with a blush. “If you want to go ride a roller coaster, we can do that. We can save bases for next time. When do you want to go out again?” She couldn’t help but sigh contentedly when he kissed her again, leaning forward even after their lips had parted. The best part about the date? She hadn’t thought about short, grumpy Canadians once. Peeta was proving to be sweet, funny, and a good kisser. He was pretty much perfect.
“Well, you never know if the opportunity to show you few bases along the way will happen. Like, we’ve already accomplished first base, so good job,” he commented as he held his hand out to help her out of the car. Once her feet were on the ground, and the car door shut, he twirled her lightly into his arms and grinned at her, “As for going out again, for you, I’m free whenever you would like. Or does that seem too eager? I should probably google the etiquette for how long I have to wait to text you back.”
It was so easy to be around her that it felt like a side he hadn’t truly shown was finally coming back out. Maybe putting yourself out there, going on dates, and actually being a bit more social than normal was a good way to forget about his problems. As they entered the restaurant he held the door open for her and then gave his name to the hostess. They only had to wait a moment before being escorted to their table.
“To be fair, I asked you out on a date while on a date.” She grinned when he twirled her, letting her arms wrap comfortably around his shoulders. He made her feel happy, but it wasn’t just that; he made things feel simple. Like being with one of her mates, but with an undercurrent of attraction. Cosy, comfortable, but still heart-skippingly fun.
“Oh, so you’re saying that whatever comes after first could happen in line? And if snogging is first base, what’s second?” She blinked. “Snogging’s a base? I thought it was just an expected requirement.”
"Making a second date while on the first one. You are a ballsy girl," he teased as they made their way to their table and he pulled out her chair while laughing at her comment, "Snogging is a base because some very desperate man wanted to say he got somewhere. Second base is above the waist, third below, and home plate is obviously sex."
Once she was seated he walked over to his and sat across from her, "I don't think we could really get past second at the park, but you are wearing a dress. All depends on where the night takes us."
She sat down, crossing her legs and leaning forward so she could hear him. Her cheeks went bright red again and she laughed. “Here I thought I was the ballsy one, Peeta. Does your mum know you proposition ladies for public shags? Not that that’s a bad thing.” She cleared her throat and looked at the menu, trying not to giggle to herself.
“Tell me all your dates go this way. You’re rather charismatic.”
That earned a raise of his eyebrows and his cheeks were certainly a deep red now thanks to her. He couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. Oh he was certainly enjoying this date quite a bit, “She most certainly does not, and I would like to point out that I’m not propositioning you. I’m just informing you about the base metaphor and pointing out what could or could not happen tonight.”
A playful smirk appeared on his face as he glanced down at his menu. “And they don’t. I think you’re the best one I’ve had in a while.”
“To be fair, I think sex in public - involving your weird baseball game or no - is probably a third or fourth date activity. Better to stick to indoor ones, no?” She took a sip of her water, maintaining eye contact as she drank. Was it possible to blush for long periods of time without medical repercussions? Because he was as awful a flirt as she was, but it was fun.
Looking at her menu, she smiled to herself. “I like you too, Peeta.”
“You may be the death of me,” he commented with a chuckle as he looked back down at his menu. He was really enjoying the time with her and he was quite surprised at how well the two of them got along. As soon as he was going to comment on her liking him the waitress showed up to take their order and deliver a basket of bread. Peeta handed his menu over after ordering and reached to grab a piece of bread, “So, what else should I know about you?”
“Why?” She laughed and would’ve said more, but the waitress interrupted and probably saved her from yet more blushing. Alyssa was hungry, and not the type of girl to starve herself in order to look more attractive in front of a boy (which she didn’t understand anyway), so she ordered some lasagna. Taking some bread, she thought to herself about if she should mention Logan’s stupid self. Eh, probably better just to do it.
“There’s this bloke here that might give you a hard time for dating me. That’s because he likes me, but he thinks he’s too old for me, so he just shags me on and off and tries to give me advice and be my dad when he’s not.” She made a grossed out face. “So if a short Canadian bloke starts to be rude, you know why.”
Peeta would never judge a woman for what she ate. He did work in the food industry, so it was fine by him if they ate as much as they needed. He usually frowned a little when a girl tried to pull that kind of bird routine. And he was very much taken by surprise at her admitting that she had some weird friends-with-benefits thing going on with an older man.
An eyebrow raised at her comments and he raised his glass to his lips to take another drink. He lowered it to the table and folded his hands together as he leaned towards her, “That is a very odd relationship to be in. I’m not judging you in the slightest because you’re certainly not a possession of any kind. But I’m glad you’re giving me a heads up on this now so I don’t look like a complete fool if he tracks me down in the middle of the street. And does this mean I should be changing my facebook status right now or something?”
Alyssa chuckled and shook her head. “If you want? I mean, I’m just warning you because he growls at any boy I look twice at. It’s not as if I’m going to kidnap you and marry you tonight or something. Eat food with, yes. Snog and try to get you to take your shirt off, absolutely. To Logan, that’s enough.” She sighed and rifled through her wallet. Oh, good, she had her fake ID. She flagged down a waiter and ordered a glass of red wine.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be changing it the moment I get home. I’m slightly more rational that it takes a few dates before you get to that level of serious. And I’m thankful for the warning because the last thing I need is some grumpy Canadian coming around and making a mess of things. And you’re not going to kidnap me and marry me? My mother is going to sob into her rosé tonight. But I’m good with the other things happening and not talking about this Logan guy anymore,” he commented with a grin before watching her order a drink. That earned another eyebrow arch from him, “How old are you? I’m pretty sure you’re not 21 because you look too fresh faced for that even though I’m only 22.”
“Good. The physical things can happen as soon as people want them to, but I know I’ve rushed the emotional things in my past and it’s rather stupid of me. I’m trying to change that.” Crossing her legs, she nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m going to preemptively yell at him. But yes, let’s talk about other things.”
She winked at him. “Nineteen, which means I’ve been drinking for ages back home.” She ate her bread innocently, amused that the waiter didn’t even card her. Maybe it was that she was pretty, or maybe he just didn’t care; she usually erred on that second one when it came to serving staff. “Are you a stickler for the law?” She knew that if people were on probation, sometimes they couldn’t be around people who broke laws, and probation could come with goofy offenses. She just wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t get in trouble because of her.
“Understood. I can definitely help you try to not rush into things with me. I’ll be as grotesque as possible if you need me to,” he gave her a playful wink before he let out a chuckle at her comment about being nineteen and how it was normal for her to drink over in the UK. She had a very valid point, although he had to shake his head at the stickler for the law comment, “Not anymore. If you had tried to do that with me while in the Army then I may have gotten a little twitchy, but for now I don’t care. Besides, I can sense that you like to bend the rules as much as possible.” He certainly admired that. She had a zest for life and it was really nice to be around.
He didn’t get to say anything more because the waitress returned with their food and placed it in front of them. The smell was intoxicating and he let out a very soft groan, “I forget how good their food is here. This smells amazing.”
“I bend silly, arbitrary rules. I’m not going to get drunk, I just want a glass of wine with dinner. Besides, if they’d been awful about it, I have a couple bottles at home, I can wait. And shagging in public is fun, so long as you’re not going to traumatize children.” She tried to think about other rules she liked to break. “I speed sometimes? But not often.” Usually she didn’t drive, because of the whole being able to teleport thing, but that wasn’t a first date topic. At all. Especially if he didn’t have powers himself.
The food came out and she sighed contentedly, grabbing a hair tie out of her bag. Long hair and food didn’t mix. She couldn’t help but flush at the noise he made while toasting him with her wine glass.
“Rules really weren’t meant to be followed all the time. And I know you’re not going to get drunk. I would probably be having a beer right now if I wasn’t the one driving. And I think that not traumatizing children should always be a keystone in life. Mothers are a scary breed and I don’t want to do anything that can cause them to come after me. And speeding - yeah, you’re part of the entire population. There’s probably very few people that never speed,” Peeta pointed out with a nod. It was hard to rain on the straight and narrow and sometimes it just worked out better to bend the rules a little bit.
He had never watched a girl tie her hair back when it came to eating and he knew that things were about to get incredibly serious. She meant business and she was going to devour that pasta. That brought about an amused smile on his face as they finished toasting and he started to eat. Thankfully it was a comfortable lull in their conversation as they both became far more interested in the food in front of them.
“Traumatizing children is all well and good, but bringing genitals into it isn’t really a good idea.” She chuckled as she started to cut into her food with knife and fork. “Okay, so your mother sounds as if she had her hands full with three boys and turned out rather formidable, am I right?” She chewed contentedly, sighing as she tasted no end of cheese. Cheese was meant to be on lasagna.
“Mmm, she is quite scary. Almost as scary as my father. He’s basically the American Gordon Ramsay most days. It was an interesting environment to grow up in, but I knew they loved me. And if my father hadn’t told me not to be a baker then I wouldn’t have gone into the Army and eventually opened my bakery,” it all made sense in the end when he put it together like that. He didn’t harbor any ill will towards his parents and he actually got along with them a lot better now that he had done that with his life. He paused for a moment to catch up to his thoughts and his cheeks flushed, “She’d probably really like you.”
“Mum would’ve loved you,” Alyssa grinned. “Your father’s a chef?” She loved food and considered herself a foodie, but she didn’t recognize Peeta’s name, nor his father’s. Thomas Keller, yes, but not so much Peeta Mellark. She’d have to look him up - and his father - when the date was over.
“Yeah, up in Santa Monica. So, I am quite trained when it comes to food,” it was always amusing when he met a girl that had no idea he could cook just about anything. It seemed to be his ace in the hole sometimes and he had made some amazing breakfasts in his day. Alyssa didn’t seem like the type he had to work hard to impress because they got on so well already. It was relaxing because he found himself excited to just show her things about himself instead of putting on some weird facade for the first few dates, “And I have no idea if I’m going to be able to finish this whole bowl of pasta. You may have to roll me out or should I have agreed to have a hollow leg.”
“That’s brilliant! I always end up cooking for people because apparently not everyone knows how to do it? I taught myself in boarding school because unless I wanted tinned everything, I kind of had to fend for myself. I got a portable hot plate and kept it in my room and taught myself from books.” It sounded like boasting, but it was the truth; she’d spent most of her weekends reading and then trying out meals on her roommates during the weekdays.
“Don’t you Yanks get doggy bags?” Alyssa would never get used to that, but she supposed it made sense; the portion sizes were ridiculous. Dabbing at her mouth, she felt her heart thudding a little harder. “Want to come back to my place for coffee?” Because that wasn’t cliche. She blushed, knowing that it sounded like exactly how she’d meant it in her head - come back home and make out with me.
“Well, we’ll have to cook for each other sometime and see what we can create. And you’re smart for doing something like that because I can totally see boarding school having the worst food ever,” he liked the idea that she spent time trying to figure out how to cook when she was younger. There was a difference between picking it up on your own and being trained in it, so he was quite curious to see what kind of things she enjoyed making. And honestly, a girl that could cook was totally hot.
“We do. And I guess if I do get a doggy bag then I’ll need to put it in a fridge as soon as possible. And don’t you Brits pick tea over coffee usually?” he asked with a smile as he reached across the table and took her hand into his. His thumb lightly rubbed over her knuckles, “And if I come over that just means you have to go ride roller coasters with me on our next date, deal?”
“It was awful. Loads of pasta with random tinned veg thrown on top for no reason.” She still hated mushy peas with a vengeance. His fingers on her hand made goosebumps rise on her forearm, and she nodded. “Roller coasters next time, absolutely. And I do love tea, obviously, but I’ll have coffee after dinner like any other person. Tea’s how we get our superpowers, but coffee’s just a nice drink sometimes.”
“Feel free to slap me for this, but I never understood the point of coffee after dinner. It just constantly reminds me of my grandparents and I swore to myself that I’d never get like that. But, if that’s what you want then I’ll break my pact. You just better be worth it,” his voice held a challenge and there was a playful fire in his eyes as he spoke that last part. She was most certainly seemingly like she could be worth it. He had never expected the date to go like this at all, but he was oh so glad he decided to take a chance on her.
Leaning forward, she smirked and pulled out her hair tie. “Peeta, the coffee is a euphemism. I just wanted to go home and see how many bases we could go ‘round.” Finishing her wine, she stood up and waited for him to follow suit. At first she’d wondered if he’d asked her on a date out of pity or something, and she was delighted to be proven wrong.
He almost choked on his water at her comment. Well, he certainly looked like a fool now, but at least he was on her wavelength now. He quickly signed the check before getting up to join her; taking her hand the moment he could. "You are definitely going to kill me and it will be worth every second of it."
Blue eyes went wide in mock shock. “You die during sex? How do you know?” Feigning innocence, she batted her eyelashes at him and managed to actually stay stone faced for a minute before giggling.
"It is totally possible and I have come to peace with the possibility it may happen," he pointed out with a laugh at her mock shock and only laughed more when she began to giggle, "Come on now sassy, let's get out of here." He held the car door open for her once they reached it before getting in on his side.
She couldn’t help going in for another light kiss once they were in the car, smiling to herself. “I’ve never been happier to potentially be a murderer,” she murmured. “That’s a weird thing to say out loud. You’re weird, you are, and I don’t mind at all. I’m probably weirder anyway.”
“We are both incredibly weird,” he pointed out with a laugh as he put the car in drive and made his way back to her place with the help of his gps. They were definitely getting along quite well and Peeta was already looking forward to their next date. His hand reached out to take hers once again, “And I will have to write out a will to make sure they don’t convict you for my murder.”
“Dear World, I died because of sex, as I have done before, the sex was consensual. Also amazing. Love, Peeta Whatever My Middle Name Is Mellark. P.S., Make sure my brothers don’t get my things,” Alyssa singsonged. Teasing someone was half of what made for chemistry with her, she was sure.
Oh that was just absolutely perfect. He let out a loud laugh and shook his head as he continued to laugh, “Oh my god. Brilliant. That is certainly how my will is going to read. I’ll give you credit for a lot of things in there.” The drive back seemed a lot quicker than going to the restaurant and soon enough they were back in her driveway.
“I don’t have siblings, but I did live in a boarding school where it was five girls to a bedroom, so I kind of understand?” She grinned at him, glad she’d been able to make him laugh. When they got to her house, she had to resist the urge to run inside. Instead she opened the door and toed off her heels, suddenly four inches shorter. Being five-foot-two was difficult, but having sore feet was worse.
“Well, hello there. I finally get to meet the real you?” he commented when she stepped out of those shoes and shrunk. He almost wanted to call her an adorable Hobbit, but he was sure she would kick his shins for the comment. Instead he shut the door behind him before looping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer to him.
She laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck and looking up at him. “It’s true. I’m really just a bunch of kittens in a dress, pretending to be a person. I’m so sorry.” Tiptoeing up, she kissed him, a bit more firmly than before, but still not as hard as she wanted to.
“It’s a good thing that I happen to quite like kittens,” he commented before she managed to capture his attention with a kiss. His hands moved down to her thighs and he lifted her up so that she could wrap her legs around him. Now he could carry her somewhere, like the couch, or else they would probably just stand in the entryway for the rest of the evening.
“Points for you,” Alyssa murmured. She wasn’t a cat or a dog person in particular, as she couldn’t decide. But before she could tell him that he’d lifted her up, making her eep faintly into his mouth. “You’re bloody strong,” she murmured, wrapping her limbs around him and moving to nip at his earlobe.
“Someone’s got to lift the sugar and flour in the store,” he commented with a chuckle, which turned into a low groan as she nipped at his earlobe. Where the hell was the nearest thing he could put her down on? He hadn’t really seen much of her place earlier, but he thought he remembered seeing a couch in this general direction. He kept his eyes open as he spotted the couch, moving a little quicker over to it, and then gently laid her onto the couch on her back.
“I suppose at a bakery you’d get the large bags,” she murmured. She tried to direct him, but he’d found his way well enough. Grinning up at him, she ran her fingers up and down his arms. She almost wanted to wait, if only because she didn’t want to scare him off too much. She liked him, and she absolutely wanted to see him again. Dating was harder when you didn’t shag people right after you’d met them.
Something was going on in her mind and as he moved beside her onto the couch he reached out to gently run his finger along her cheek, “What’s up?” He was curious to know what was going on and he liked her enough to take a break from this and have a serious discussion if needed. Hopefully it wasn’t anything terrible, but it did make him slightly nervous to see that look on her face.
“I really ... I quite like you. I don’t want to rush into things and muck it up already.” She blushed again, but his finger down her cheek was comforting. And distracting. Craning her neck a bit, she butted into his touch like a kitten. “If that makes sense, it might not.”
“It does. I completely get it. And I’m okay with not rushing into things. It was only our first date and I’m pretty sure there will be many more in the future,” he had to agree with her on that viewpoint. It was a smart decision to not just jump into bed right away and that just meant that he got to spend more time with her and learn more about her, “How about we only stay on first base tonight?”
“I can live with that.” She ran her fingers through his hair, scritching his scalp. “Besides, you did agree to win me some huge toy when we go to the amusement park. I have to reward you with something, what better than sex?” She winked at him before tugging him down for another kiss.
His eyes fluttered close for a brief moment as she scritched his scalp. Was there anything better than that feeling? His eyes opened again as he listened to her mention that reward and he let out a laugh, “Thank god for huge stuffed animals.” He didn’t say much more because he was more than happy to lose himself in her kiss for the time being.