Peeta Mellark (double_knot) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-10-10 22:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, caroline forbes, peeta mellark |
Who: Peeta Mellark and Caroline Forbes
What: Meeting at a bar
Where: Local bar
When: Friday evening (10/9)
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
It was a shit week. The was the most eloquent way that Peeta could describe what had been happening to him. The explanation to his family on what had transpired earned him the right to take a week off of work and he was possibly going to spend it on earning his name on this barstool. Drinking with Johanna and Annie hadn’t felt completely wrong, but when he was left by himself there was a small part of him that just wanted to drift into the void. He was no longer trying to get drunk, just enough to numb the pain. And it was working if the fact that his fingers had gone a bit tingly was anything to go by as he ran them along the edge of his glass. Hazel eyes studied himself in the mirror across from him just above the bar and he let out a sigh. This was a little pathetic wasn’t it?
It was time to get up and try to do a bit of socializing. He tipped the bartender with a nod of his head, grabbed his drink, and made his way into the crowd. There was a small group of guys off to the side that he noticed had the look of military about them and he made his way over to introduce himself into their conversation. It worked well and soon enough he was being challenged to a game of darts and having to buy a pitcher as the loser. He turned to head towards the bar to pay his debt when he turned right into someone and did his best to move his drink away from whomever it was to lessen the risk of spillage.
Caroline needed to get out of her house for a bit. Things were too intense there and she knew Lexi could handle Stefan on her own for awhile. Besides Caroline had to cancel her birthday thanks to him. She deserved to go out and have a little fun. Caroline didn’t need to meet friends for drinks. Being the social butterfly that she was she could chat up pretty much anyone and have a great time whenever she went out. Which was precisely how she spent her night. She even flirted with a few guys and got herself some free drinks. Of course she barely even got tipsy thanks to her vampire tolerance, but hey she was having fun! That’s what mattered.
None of the guys she had met were really holding her interest all that much and she really should get back home soon. Check in on Stefan. She was just about to head out when someone ran into her. There was no spillage, with her vampire reflexes she was able to keep that from happening and he seemed to move the drink rather quickly anyway. “Sorry!” Caroline apologized, her usual bright smile on her face. She finally looked at the guy who she had bumped into. Okay, he was pretty cute. Maybe she could stay a bit longer.
There was a moment when he did a bit of a double-take when he realized who he had bumped into. A part of him thought it was going to be a burly man who was going to immediately throw him to the ground to pay for what he just did, but thankfully that was not the case. Instead fate decided to throw a bit of mercy on him and it was instead a lovely blonde girl who wasn’t upset that he had almost spilled his drink on her. “Oh no, I’m the one that should apologize. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” Peeta explained to her with a shake of his head.
His eyes glanced down to notice that she didn’t currently have anything in her hands and glanced back up to her. A crooked smile appeared on his face, “Can I buy you a drink as an apology?” It was the least he could do and he certainly wouldn’t mind talking to her for a while.
Another free drink? Why the hell not? Not that she really needed guys to get drinks for free. Compulsion and all. But it was always flattering when a guy wanted to buy her one. Even if it was just because he had almost knocked his into her. “Sure,” she agreed with that smile of hers still spread clear across her face. “You totally don’t like owe me an apology or anything. But who am I to turn down a free drink?” she added her smile turning into more of a smirk. “I’m Caroline by the way.”
That smile was like a bright spot in the clouds that had been looming over him. Maybe being around someone happy will teach him to be a little less pessimistic at the moment. “I’m glad that you won’t turn down a free drink. I still feel bad because it could have been a lot worse and I would have ended up with an angry blonde girl plotting my demise the rest of the night,” Peeta commented with a grin. She didn’t seem like the type to wish death upon a guy who spilled a drink on her, but he had seen all kinds in his life, “and I’m Peeta, nice to meet you.”
Caroline was known for being a ray of sunshine. The eternal optimist, seeing the bright side to pretty much every situation. So there was a good chance she could brighten Peeta’s night up some. Not that he seemed all that sad to her, but he definitely wasn’t on the same level of happiness as her either. But then not many people were. “Not the rest of the night,” she teased as they made their way back to the bar. “Maybe just five minutes. I work quick,” she winked at that as the bartender came over to them.
“I’ll take a rum and coke,” she told the man. It was a classic college drink, but Caroline was a classic college student. A vampire maybe, but she was still into the whole rum and coke thing. Then her attention was back on Peeta. “Nice to meet you too,” she finally added. “Do you come here often?”
That quip earned a laugh from him and he shook his head with a smile. Alright, this was definitely going better than he thought. At least he was laughing about something and not just being moody and depressing the bartender. They stepped up to the bar and he reached a hand up to flag down the bartender as he listened to Caroline with a nod. “I can certainly get you a rum and coke. And as for coming here often….if you had asked me that a month ago I would have said no. But this past week has been a hard one.” That was probably a little more than she wanted to know, but a part of him still wanted to explain away the possibility that he was spending too much time in a bar lately.
Her first instinct was to ask if it was dream related. Dreams could make any week difficult. She was experiencing that herself this week and it wasn’t even because of her dreams this time. However she also knew that not everyone dreamed. So randomly bringing that up would be odd, especially if he wasn’t a dreamer. “I know how that goes,” she said instead offering him a warm smile this time. Yes, Caroline’s smile came in many different forms. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough week,” and she wasn’t just saying that to be polite. It was genuine. “I’m sure things will get better though?” she did her best to sound reassuring, but it was a bit difficult without knowing what was wrong. However, Caroline had just met the guy she wasn’t about to pry into his life.
“Thank you, I appreciate that. I hope things do get better. This isn’t a horrible start in the right direction,” Peeta commented, gesturing with his glass towards her, which was true. At least he wasn’t bothering anyone else with his problems and a nice, beautiful girl was paying attention to him. When the bartender came over her placed his order and then turned back to her, “So, do you come here often?”
“Glad I could help,” he was good with the compliments. He beat the guys with the cheesy pick up lines. If Caroline had to hear one more tell her he wasn’t a photographer but he could ‘picture them together’ well she might just eat him. Okay she wouldn’t go that far but she would definitely compel them away. And she had done that on occasion. Peeta didn’t require that though. “Sometimes,” she replied honestly. “Not like every night but once or twice a week maybe.”
Cheesy pick up lines weren’t really in his wheelhouse, so he did his best with being honest and being charming. At least he wasn’t drunk enough to tell her that she was wearing space pants. That had come out of his mouth at least once in his life. He took a long sip of his drink to finish it off and set it on the bar as the new drinks came, “That’s not bad. Going to school around here?”
Caroline picked up her drink taking a sip before answering Peeta’s question. “I go to UCI. Just switched majors actually.” She had always been a pretty genuine and honest person. Even when meeting guys in bars she didn’t feel the need to change facts about who she was, lie to them. Of course there were things she kept to herself, like the fact that she was a vampire. That wasn’t exactly the best opener. “You?” Peeta looked to be around her age, maybe a little older, so it was possible that he was in college too.
“Yeah? What did you switch to?” he was rather curious. College wasn’t something he got to do, but it had always interested him. And in response to her question he shook his head, “No, actually. I went into the military instead of college, got injured, and now I own my own bakery.” It was a weird story to tell, but it was completely who he was. He loved his bakery and wouldn’t change the way things had gone. He most likely was only a year or two older than her even though people tended to say he had a baby face.
“Drama,” she wasn’t sure why she had switched exactly. It was just time for a change and that was her major in the dreams so she figured why not. It was going pretty well so far. She almost told him she was sorry about his injury but figured he probably heard that all the time so she didn’t comment on it. Choosing to focus on the other things he shared instead. He was more than his injury after all. “Military to baking. That’s a change,” she commented with another sip of her drink. “I actually work at a bakery,” obviously not his because she would have met him before if she did. “What made you decide to open one?” Don’t get her wrong it was impressive that he owned his own business when he didn’t seem to be much older than her, but still she was curious as to how it came about.
“Drama? Really? I’m impressed. I’m still getting over my stage fright, so color me impressed,” Peeta commented with a grin as he took a long sip of his drink. He had been on those couple cooking shows, but he still managed to get incredibly nervous beforehand. “And yeah, it’s not really something you would expect. But my father is a chef, so it’s in my blood, and I always enjoyed baking more than cooking. So, when I got back I decided to just go for it. And what bakery do you work at?” He wondered just briefly if he could steal her away to work at his bakery, but he knew that if it was Audrey’s place then he probably wouldn’t try.
“Really,” Caroline replied with a proud smile. She liked impressing people. That was the whole point in being a drama major wasn’t it? Okay maybe not the whole point but some of it. “Owning your own business is pretty impressive too. I can’t like cook or bake at all,” she confessed not that she really needed to now that her diet consisted of blood. “Baxter Bakery. Have you heard of it?” it was likely he had. It was a fairly popular bakery in the area.
“Mmm, make sure to invite me to your first movie premiere,” Peeta drawled, the alcohol finally starting to kick in a little more than it had earlier. A smile appeared when she commented about owning his own business, “And thanks. I really love it. And if you wanted to learn, it’s really not difficult. But, you’ve got all the baked goods you could want at your fingertips working at Baxter. Audrey’s a really great lady.”
“I’ll be sure to do that. You can even be my date,” she winked at him. She doubted she would ever see this guy again but hey a little flirting never hurt. “Yeah she’s a great boss. I love working for her,” Caroline agreed finishing off her drink. It wasn’t having quite the same affect on her that it was on him but she had that high vampire tolerance. “Maybe I’ll learn someday,” she added with a shrug although she doubted it. It was a skill she really didn’t need to know so she didn’t see much of the point. “Thanks for the drink.”
The wink and comment earned a laugh and a shake of his head. It would never happen, but he could at least say he tried if she ever did manage to make it big. And the fact that his drink was affecting him was probably due to the amount he had had before he started talking to her. His tolerance was getting higher, but he wasn’t a vampire. He wasn’t quite sure where to lead off from her dismissal of ever learning to cook or bake, but he was saved by the pumping music overhead. “Do you wanna dance?” Peeta asked with a smile and held his hand out to her.
Caroline wasn’t exactly ready to go back home yet. She was having fun and Peeta was good company. But her drink was finished. Sure she could order another but she didn’t want to seem presumptuous. And then he asked her to dance. “I’d love to,” she replied with a smile to match his on her face. She set her empty glass down on the bar and took his hand walking with him to the dance floor.
His glass was also left on the bar as he held onto her hand and lead the way into the large crowd that had gathered onto the dance floor. It had been a while since he had done this, but it all seemed to come back from a time when the rest of his military buddies would go over to the local bars. The pulse of the music flowed through his body as he danced close to Caroline and enjoyed the fact that right now there wasn’t a need for words. It was far more simple this way and he could just focus on having fun.
Caroline was also a fan of the dancing and having fun. The talking and flirting was nice and yes it was fun too, but it had been awhile since she had actually danced with a guy. Unless you counted the week her humanity was off but the blonde didn’t like to think about that. Wrapping her arms around his neck she moved her body against his, enjoying just being close to him.
If Peeta could turn his humanity off without the consequence of being a hungry raging vampire he probably would in this moment. But for now he was going to numb it with alcohol and indulge in how good Caroline’s skin felt against his. His hands slid down her back gently to rest on her lower back and waiting for the signal it was safe to go lower as he pressed closer to her.
Caroline gave Peeta a small smile as his hands traveled down her body. She didn't mind the placement at all. She pressed her body closer to him so there was pretty much no space between them, her hips grinding against him to the beat of the music.
As they continued to dance Peeta leaned forward to gently let his lips brush across her cheek. He was attempting to be subtle about moving onto the next steps, but the alcohol was finally hitting his system hard and he really had nothing to care about at the moment. He knew what he wanted to happen tonight, but he wanted to know if Caroline was thinking along the same lines. He wasn’t stupid enough to ever pressure a girl into something that she didn’t want.
Once his left her cheek, Caroline turned her head slightly her own lips trapping his in a heated kiss. The vampire probably wanted the exact same thing to happen that Peeta did. It had been a long time since she had truly been with anyone. Too long. Since her ex. She needed to get back to her no-strings having fun self. Peeta seemed like the perfect back for that.
A raspy breath escaped his lips once they broke the kiss and his hazel eyes stared heatedly into hers. That was the confirmation he had been waiting for and his hands slowly slipped down to get a true feel for that shapely behind as he captured her lips once more. The fact that they were supposed to be dancing was quickly lost on him as he let himself get lost in Caroline. He certainly didn’t want to stay at this bar for much longer.
Her hand moved to the side of his face, cupping his cheek as she deepened the kiss. She was no longer swaying with the music, now they just stood in the middle of the dance floor lips locked together. When the second kiss broke a small smile appeared on Caroline's face. "Want to get out of here?" she breathed. Hopefully he had a place. Hers was out because three roommates. One who was currently a Ripper and might eat him.
"Definitely," was the only word he could utter. He was a little gobsmacked by the whole thing and quickly removed his arms so he could take her hand head out of the crowd. "Your place or mine?" he asked as they finally made it through and to the exit. He was ready to hail a cab and get on the way to their final destination. Tonight had turned out much better than he expected.
“Yours,” Caroline replied with a spark in her eye. This was a shaping up to be a damn good start to her birthday weekend.
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