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sidney prescott (hellosidney) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-10-31 14:23:00

Who: Sidney Prescott hellosidney & Cotton Weary purecotton
What: Dinner, and just hanging out.
When: September 30th, Around 6 [Backdated]
Where: Sidney's Home
Rating/Warnings: Lowish/Some thoughts about depressing pasts, and some language.
Status: Closed/Completed GDoc



~*~

Wednesday had been a quiet day for Sidney. She straightened up her home, making sure that everything was in its place and that the dining room table was clear of research for her latest book as she tended to go in there so that she could spread out. It wasn't that her office wasn't big enough, but Sidney just enjoyed being out in her home as opposed to being closed off in there.

Once everything was back in her office, Sidney cleaned the table thoroughly. Her cleaning only lasted for a couple of hours as she took breaks to watch a little television and browse the Network. With everything done, she dressed in something comfortable before heading to the store to pick up what she'd need for dinner tonight.

The trip to the store didn't take long since she'd remembered to grab her list, and with everything inside, she started preparations for dinner so it would be easy to throw it on about an hour before Cotton arrived. While she waited on time to pass, she actually broke her rule of not doing any actual work and wrote a little bit. Two thousand words later, she saved her work and turned off her computer before heading to her bathroom to take a quick shower.

After she'd finished and dried her hair, Sidney began to rummage through her closet. After several moments, she pulled a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a maroon fitted t-shirt from the more casual side of her closet. Sidney didn't bother with shoes, after all it was her home and she was more comfortable not wearing them.

Dinner was tossed together rather quickly thanks to her earlier preparations. With everything on, Sidney began to set the table, and move the fresh flowers she'd bought from the kitchen to the dining room. Everything was looking nice, not overly so, but in a way that was uniquely Sidney.

An hour passed, six o'clock drawing nearer, and everything was on the table ready to be served. The Breadcrumb Crusted Pork Tenderloin (with a few extra spices tossed in), had turned out beautifully. The roasted red potatoes, green beans and rolls (yes, they had been frozen but she didn't have a breadmaking machine and had no desire to learn how to do it without one), would complement the tenderloin nicely she thought.

Hell, she'd even gone to the trouble to make a Chocolate Cake with raspberries on top for dessert.

Sidney was rather pleased with herself, and she'd just about finished with clean up in the kitchen when Cotton arrived. Drying her hands off, Sidney moved toward the front door to unlock it, and swing it open. "Hey, come on in."

~*~

Meeting Sidney for dinner felt strangely like going on a first date to Cotton. He'd taken two hours to settle on what he was going to wear before finally deciding to go with casual. His jeans were designer, fit well, but were several years old so they weren't screaming their price tag any longer; the t-shirt he'd chosen had no design on it, simply a blue ringer-neck tee which matched his eyes according to his last personal assistant. Cotton figured if he looked like a man who was going to visit a friend for dinner maybe he'd feel like one when he got there.

Sidney looked amazing even in casual clothes. Cotton was literally frozen in front of her with an idiotic smile on his face while she waited on him to actually come into her house after getting the door for him. By the time he got his body going again, Cotton was tongue-tied even in his head so he didn't do more than keep smiling as he thrust the wine bottle her direction in hopes it would speak for him.

The vintage was a good one. White and fruity. The bottle was almost frozen it was so chilled. He hoped it added a light, airy feeling to this dinner because otherwise he was going to wind up wishing he was anywhere -even back in prison- than sitting at a table with Sidney Prescott. The two of them trying to be friends had the real potential to be a terrible experience all the way around.

"No self-fulfilling prophecies."

Cotton started as he realized he'd spoken out loud, "Sorry. I am so sorry, Sid. I'm having this momentary attack of idiocy. It's a combination of stress and the way you look. Good. I mean, you look really, really good. It's hard to think straight. Not that I'm thinking about you and how you look---wow. So I'm starting over. Hi, Sidney! I hope you like the wine. Dinner smells delicious?"

He could hope she went along with it.

Sid had been great so far about cutting him some slack.

"Shoes at the door?" he asked, toeing off his Italian leather slippers to reveal white-socked feet before she could answer.

Who couldn't be comfortable in their socks? These were nice socks. A lot better than the Wal-Mart specials he'd grown up wearing.

~*~

Sidney blinked, confused for a moment as the bottle of wine was thrust her way. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, and then Cotton spoke.

Now she was seriously confused.

A light smile tugged up the corners of her lips, though she tried - not very well - to hide it while Cotton rambled on and on. It was sweet in a way, unexpected truthfully. She'd always thought he was a lot smoother from the way he'd spoken while on the stand and on his television show. Sidney would have never guessed that he'd stumble all over himself like he did, but maybe that was because it was her.

Not that Sidney had that high of an opinion about herself, she just thought it had something to do with everything that had happened in their shared past. Sidney could understand his nervousness there, but she wasn't out to get him or anything of that sort. She was trying to make amends, and extend him her friendship. That was all.

A light blush crept up into her cheeks at the beautiful comment, and she laughed softly. "Thank you." She shut the door behind him, taking a moment to lock the deadbolt out of habit.

"Yes, please." She motioned to where the other shoes were as she took a step back, and then she turned to move toward the kitchen. "Hopefully dinner, and the wine will be good. Dinner's been driving me crazy while it was cooking." She placed the wine down onto the table, and picked up the corkscrew. "So," she started, trying to hopefully keep him distracted, "how was your day?" As Sidney asked her question, she opened up the bottle of wine and then poured them both a glass.

~*~

"In comparison to other people's? I'm thinking my day has been pretty good. I had a conference call with my finance manager and my personal accountant where they told me I've doubled what they anticipated my earnings to be for syndicated viewing. No strange things have happened at my place even though it's still an adjustment for me. Managed to get exactly the wine I wanted on the first try. I can't complain."

Cotton had an easier time talking about his immediate life than anything else. People constantly asked him how his day was going or was he doing alright or simple small talk which made for good sound bytes. Paparazzi didn't bother him the way they once had. He was too small potatoes for them now. The lessons he'd learned on how to deal with them stuck with him all the same; Cotton imagined he could field off the worst investigative journalist on the planet if he was forced into a corner with them.

That was something Sidney likely shared in common with him. Interviews had been a major part of both their lives for a while. Cotton knew he'd pushed her into a few. He hadn't wanted to say she owed him an interview---but he'd felt it. A year of his life had been pure Hell thanks to her testimony whether she'd meant to have him wrongfully convicted or not. It had taken a long time to get over the bitterness of that betrayal.

Grinning at her, Cotton relaxed a little while he realized he could do this, be a normal guy around Sid, have her in his life as a person who understood. She'd shared something with him no one else had or, at least, no one else had at the same level. They were bound together by their experiences from now until the end of time. Sid couldn't take back her testimony while Cotton would never get back the year of his life he'd lost in prison.

"Did you ever think the two of us would be here? At a place like this, I mean, where we're having dinner together and talking like people who are just people?"

~*~

"That's great news." Sidney was happy to hear that Cotton was doing well with syndication. He deserved it after everything after all, and Sidney wanted nothing but the best for him truly. "Sounds like a good enough day to me. I wouldn't be complaining either." She offered with a half smile and slight nod of her head.

She moved to her own seat at the table, glass of wine in hand and the bottle now sitting on the table.

There wasn't anything she could do at this point to take back the pain that she'd caused him, or the pain that the media had caused her. What Sid could do, however, was try to make things a little bit better and hope for the best for both of them.

Sidney did worry that the media would find out somehow about the two of them spending time together. It wasn't as if they were doing anything other than having friendly conversation, dinner and working together - somewhat- professionally but the media always liked to get their little twist on things.

Sidney knew that eventually someone would find out, and that if anyone still cared they would make the front pages yet again. She'd deal with it when, or if that time ever came.

She began dishing her plate when Cotton spoke again and she glanced over at him. Another faint smile crossed her features and she shook her head. "Honestly? No. I never believed that we would end up here. Life has a funny way of working things out though, doesn't it?" She chuckled softly and looked down at her food for a moment before she picked up her wine glass.

"I'm glad we are here though. Here's to new beginnings, and friendship hm?" She raised her glass in a toast.

~*~

Wine made Cotton feel unnecessarily hot. He flushed from it which was some kind of natural reaction according to his research on the internet. There was no way he was asking a doctor why he was a lightweight when it came to wine. It would land in the newspapers how he was a male lush or something. Doctor-Patient Confidentiality only applied to people who weren't the source of America's entertainment. Cotton had learned that the hard way.

He raised his glass to clink against Sidney's with a smile, "New beginnings and friendship. I like it."

The sweet flavor exploded in his mouth as he took a drink. It had stayed chilled on the way over which was nice. Cotton hated hot whites. Room temperature reds could be tolerable in small amounts, but the flushing he experienced made it hard for him to handle it unless it was all as cold as possible. If he didn't know how much of a ruffian it'd make him look like, he'd drink the stuff over ice.

Sidney was a really good cook. Cotton wondered if that was because she enjoyed it or had learned to avoid having to eat out. He'd learned out of necessity. There were a few things a man should never depend on others for in life and being able to feed himself? That was one of them. Cotton would never be in a place again where he had to rely on someone else to serve his food. Hunger was not welcome in his life.

"This is delicious. I know people say things like that all the time to compliment the cook, but I'm serious. You could get away with charging. It's that good. I know you said it drove you crazy. I'm telling you it was worth it. You always liked cooking or learn to avoid going out to eat? I learned to keep from having to go out. I'm not always an attention whore, believe it or not."

~*~

She smiled at the sound of the clinking glasses, and took a sip of her wine as well. It was wonderful, sweet and chilled to her liking. Licking her lips, she sat the glass down and then picked up her fork and knife.

Sidney was just about to cut into her slice of tenderloin when Cotton spoke. Her smile widened at the compliment, and she gave a small nod. "I'm glad you think so." A light laugh parted her lips and she finally took a small bite. It was good, and it had driven her insane while it had been cooking. Sidney had been tempted to take a bite while she'd been plating it, but ultimately she'd decided against it.

She smiled as she chewed and once she'd swallowed she turned her attention to Cotton, "I learned to help out my dad at first. After he and my mother divorced, I had to help him out more and so I started teaching myself by watching random cooking shows on TV and picking up several cookbooks. There was a lot of trial and error, but after a while? I managed." Sidney could remember each and every time she'd burned something, and she had red marks in cookbooks on things that she'd tried and hated.

"That and it is easier than going out. Especially in those early years." Her brows furrowed slightly, "Going to the grocery store was hard too, someone would always have something to say to me, so my dad did a lot of the shopping." She cleared her throat and took another sip of her wine, "All of that aside, I just love to cook. It's something that keeps my mind calm when things are a bit too much, or when I'm stuck on something in regards to my novels." She wasn't going to bring up work that often, but it was a fact that pertained to the topic at hand.

"I really love baking though. The exactness of it makes it challenging to me, and I really like that." She gave Cotton a smile, "I think you'll also love my baking skills. I've got a nice surprise for after dinner."

~*~

Nodding along with Sid's explanation, Cotton was once more surprised by how much they had in common. They seemed to like the same foods and had both learned to cook for much the same reason. He had gotten slack on cooking in the last few years due to being busy filming his show. That had resulted in a lot more dinners being catered or delivered than Cotton had liked. Fresh food made at home was always healthier.

Why eat something from somewhere else when he could make it himself and know exactly what went into it?

"I'm looking forward to trying your baking skills. I promise not to call you Betty Crocker if it's any consolation. I also won't share with the press that you're domesticated enough to cook and bake."

Cotton thought for a moment before he decided to share something personal about himself with her.

"I had to learn how to cook some things early on, too. My dad was a full-blown alcoholic. My mother was a stripper who was more interested in her clients than being my mom. She left and Dad? Well, he became my problem. I learned the basics for microwaving and baking. We didn't eat great. We did eat. I don't know if you knew that about me. Probably. I swear they've done everything except a made-for-TV movie on my life. I just---wanted to tell you. We've got things in common. That's nice to me."

It was nice to have someone to commiserate with him even if Sid had chosen a different path for herself after the ordeal which had permanently conjoined their lives. She would never go away for Cotton; he would never go away for Sidney. They could choose to try to ignore one another until one of them passed away or they could go the opposite direction to team up as friends. No one else would ever understand what they'd gone through. For Cotton, having Sidney in his life as a friend was a lot better than trying to ignore her as if he were ashamed of their association.

He told himself every single day he had nothing to be ashamed about.

Cotton wouldn't make himself out a liar if he could help it.

~*~

Laughing, Sidney shook her head. "Good, I'd rather not be called Betty just in case they're not as up to par as I think they are." Although, Sidney really didn't have many doubts in her baking or cooking skills. Some people just had different tastes, and she cooked things the way that she liked them. "And thank you, I appreciate that." She replied in regards to the press. Sidney didn't speak to them unless she absolutely had to these days. The last time she'd given any statement to any press had been during her book tour, and that? That had been enough for her.

She continuously ignored requests to talk to magazines, papers, television shows because she was trying to put the past behind her. It was only going to be harder to ignore as time went on, and with the publication of Cotton's book it would be even harder.

People would want a statement about what she thought, and they wouldn't stop until she gave it. Sidney had no issues with Cotton writing his book, goodness no, but she was trying now to mentally prepare herself for what was to come.

Sidney continued to eat, although she paused briefly to listen to Cotton as he spoke. She could understand about a mother not being there for their child, or only when they wanted to 'appear' to be a good mother. Sidney had once thought the world of Maureen, but as time went on and more secrets were revealed about her did she realize that she wasn't mother of the year by any stretch of the imagination.

"I didn't know that." Sidney replied with a soft smile over in Cotton's direction, "I figure it won't be long until Lifetime does make a movie about us." That day would eventually come, she was sure, and she was surprised that they hadn't latched onto it yet. They probably would with the release of Cotton's book, and it was okay, it would be okay. She could deal with that.

She nodded, and reached to pick up her glass of wine. "We do, and it is nice." It was strange to think that they did have so much in common, and while a lot of it stemmed from the experience they'd shared, while some of it was just things that had happened to have happened to them as children.

"At least you ate, and learned how to take care of yourself. It's important for people to learn basic life skills. Which seems like a given, but I swear, I've met so many people that don't know how to do things like laundry, or even use a microwave." That baffled Sidney to no end. She was sure there were some certain cases where it was more understandable, but in the end everyone needed to know how to do those things.

~*~

Raising his glass in a silent salute, Cotton took a drink of wine to wash down his food. It caused the flavors to pop in a way he would remember later. He wondered idly if Sid had planned for that or if it was one of those rare happy coincidences in life. There was no telling and it wasn't something worth asking her. He knew enough offences had come her way because of his talk show, popularity, and drive for personal success without him offending her in her own home.

"Here's to hoping Lifetime doesn't cast former 90210 cast members as us, right?"

He knew the day was coming. Cotton had been approached by several people in the film industry who'd wanted him to play himself in a depiction of his life. The idea of reliving the horror he'd already experienced had been enough to cause him to stop taking interviews and interest meetings with unsolicited agents. His personal agent vetted every request for his time for interviews or in-person appearances before Cotton ever had to decide if he'd take an offer or decline.

Good food and good company was enough to take his mind off the bad thoughts and memories flooding his mind. Cotton relaxed as he got used to eating in quiet companionship with Sid. She was a good person to have around when a guy didn't want to have to be the life of the party. They had both experienced enough bad in their lives to know what it was like to have to put on a fake smile for others. It was about not bringing people down with them. They had that in common, too.

"I'm voting we finish the wine with a movie about people who aren't us and whatever you have baked for dessert in front of the TV. We're adults. We can say if we have to eat at the table or not. One of the perks. One of many."

Cotton wouldn't go back to being a kid again for anything in the whole world.

Ever.

He hoped Sid liked having him over. This could get to be something he could get used to on the regular.