Derek Souza (edisonwolf) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-05-20 17:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, chloe saunders, derek souza |
Who: Derek and Chloe
What: First meeting. Lots of staring.
Where: Video store
When: Today
Rating/Warning: Low/None
Status: Complete!
Movie rental places were a dying breed, but Chloe had figured out where there were still a few places that were open. Today was a day when Chloe wanted to go out and get a few movies for a date night with Henry. There was something about being able to purchase a tangible copy of a movie that made the difference and Chloe felt really guilty if she tried to illegally stream any movies. Redbox was kind of a pain because sometimes you suddenly didn’t have time to finish the movie in a day and return it. At least this place gave you a couple more days and she didn’t mind paying the small fee to keep the membership alive.
As she wandered the store she had a couple more classic type movies in her hands that were harder to find on things like Netflix and Amazon for streaming. She was running her fingers along the spins of the dvds as she tried to see if there was anything else she was missing when she turned the corner and suddenly saw a familiar figure come through the door. Well….not quite familiar. The boy she knew in her dreams wasn’t as fit as the man standing there and his face wasn’t as clean, but if you took all those things out of the equation she knew it was him. Derek Souza. What in the world was he doing here?
Derek had just gotten off work and was headed back to his studio apartment. He had so much studying to get done, as usual. Luckily for him he had always been pretty smart so cramming all the information into his head wasn’t overly difficult. It also probably helped that he didn’t have much of a social life to distract him and he liked it that way.
However, instead of going straight to his apartment he stopped at a video store. He wasn’t sure why, it wasn’t like he had much time to watch movies. But maybe on a study break, or when he was trying to fall asleep. Besides it was good to support a dying business and he had to admit he preferred physical copies to streaming as well.
When he entered the store he spotted a pretty blonde and she seemed to be staring right at him. She felt familiar in a way but he wasn’t sure why. He was fairly certain he hadn’t met her before he’d remember that. He shrugged making his way over to her. “Hey,” he said softly not sure what else to add to that. He wasn’t always great with words.
Oh shit. He had noticed her. Chloe’s pale skin immediately turned rosey when she realized that she hadn’t been stealthy at all. So, did she ask him if he was Derek Souza or just play along that she had absolutely no idea who he truly was. It would be a lot weirder to ask him about his full name on their first meeting, right? And she certainly couldn’t turn around and hid because he was tall. So insanely tall. He seemed taller than he had in the dreams, was that possible?
“Hi…” her voice sounded small and slightly pathetic. Was this how she wanted this meeting to go? He had intimidated her through most of her dreams at the moment and she had imagined redoing this introduction a million times. However, suddenly meeting each other at a video store hadn’t been on the list at all. Yeah, playing dumb as probably a good idea at this point in the game.
Derek didn’t notice her blush. Or that she suddenly seemed shy. Not that he would know if it was sudden anyway. The girl seemed familiar but he still wasn’t sure he knew her. “You were staring,” he said bluntly. He meant to phrase it as a question but subtlety or manners were never Derek’s strong suit. That was more Simon, Derek was always the awkward one.
“I -- I…” that sent off a string of curses in her mind as she suddenly slipped back into a stutter that hadn’t plagued her in quite a while. He was not going to be the cause of her stuttering once again and she rolled her shoulders back slightly as she tried to answer him, “I didn’t mean to stare, sorry. You’re really tall…” Wow, smooth. That was so not supposed to be how she went, but at least it was a decent excuse for staring at him in the moment.
Derek was well aware that he was tall. That usually didn’t invoke stares from people though. He just looked at her, a confused expression crossing over his features. “…And you’ve never seen someone tall before.” Again meant to be asked as a question but came out as a statement. He really needed to work on his delivery. If Simon was here he’d probably be nudging Derek and telling him to chill. But Simon wasn’t there so Derek didn’t even think to mentally scold himself.
“No, I mean, of course I’ve seen tall people. But I was just kind of surprised to see how tall you are? I didn’t mean to stare, promise,” Chloe really had no idea how to dig herself out of the hole that she was currently in. Her mind was spinning thanks to the Dreams and having him right in front of her wasn’t helping things, “Um, let’s just pretend that I wasn’t staring? You’re a guy, can I ask you a question? Would you watch either of these movies?” She was holding ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ and ‘Night of the Living Dead’, which showed that she was having a random assortment of movies tonight.
Derek let the subject drop. While he wasn’t exactly sure he believed her explanation is was plausible and he had no reason to doubt it. Besides she seemed nice. “You’re very good at stating the obvious,” considering she had pointed out that he was tall and he was a guy, both of which were very true. He looked at the movies she was holding up and raised a brow. “I didn’t think many people still watched the classics,” he commented. It seemed like everyone wanted to see movies with tons of special effects now a days. At least from the little Derek paid attention to it all. “Yeah, I’d watch those.”
“Thanks?” That was totally a Derek comment to make and she was surprised to realize how alike to his dream self he was turning out to be in real life. It was still incredibly weird to be around him right now, but she was doing her best to not make the situation even more awkward and she didn’t want to start blurting out that she had dreamt about him, “And I do. I studied film in school, so I really like going through old classics from time to time. And awesome, I’m on movie duty for date night.” Oh. She hadn’t meant to blurt out that she was having a date night, but it was too late to take it back now. At least it was out there in the open?
“That wasn’t a compliment,” he mumbled. Damn, that was rude, wasn’t it? He really needed to learn to keep his mouth shut sometimes. This was why Simon always had all the friends and he didn’t. “Is your boyfriend into the classics too?” Or girlfriend but considering she had pointed out that he was a guy and asked if he would be interested in the movies the logical conclusion was her date was with a guy as well.
And just like that he made her cheeks burn with embarrassment. Why did he manage to get under her skin and upset her? It shouldn’t be that big of a deal that he wasn’t being nice to her. She would probably think the world was ending if he was a different version of himself here. But whatever, she was just going to have to get used to it because she didn’t think this would be the last time she ever saw him, “And I’m getting him more into it. He’s a photographer, so I think he appreciates still life more than moving pictures.” She was trying to enlighten Henry with some classics and trying to explain her passion for film at the same time.
He wasn’t trying to be rude. That was just how he was. He didn’t even notice the girl’s blush. Derek rarely ever picked up cues like that. “It doesn’t seem like a far stretch from photography to movies,” Derek commented. “Maybe you should show him some that are known for their cinematography. He’d probably appreciate that more.”
“Nah, it’s a pretty easy connection to make. And that is actually a good idea. Anything you would recommend?” she was curious to see if he had anything that she hadn’t seen before hidden up his sleeve. Right now she and Henry were just having fun watching random movies, but it would be nice to choose something that was beautiful and would speak to her boyfriend a little more.
“Schindler’s List,” Derek responded. It also had history in it and although Derek was more interested in science he liked history too. “Or uh that new movie with Leonardo Dicaprio and the bear,” he paused racking his brain for the name. “The Revenant,” ask him any scientific fact and he could tell you. But ask him about movies? That was a struggle. “But you’re the one that’s into movies. I’m sure you’ll think of something.”
Schindler’s List was a really good movie. Not really a date movie, but it was really well done, and when she had first seen it in high school she had cried a little. The question was mainly made so she could get a sense out of the Derek here. “I do like Schindler’s List and I haven’t seen The Revenant yet, so that might be for next time. But thank you for the suggestions. I’ll stop bothering you while you’re trying to pick out a movie.”
Derek wouldn’t know about what was a good date movie and what wasn’t. He didn’t think or really care about that type of thing. Again, that was his brother. Not him. The Revenant was also one of the very few recent movies Derek had seen which was why he suggested it. He was usually too busy studying or working for movies. “Enjoy,” he replied because despite seeming like a dick he wasn’t and he did hope she enjoyed her movies or date night or whatever.
She gave him a bit of a wave as she made her way to the counter to check out. He wasn’t acting like a dick because she knew that he wasn’t a man of many words. It was still uncomfortable and at least they had gotten past it just a little bit. It would be interesting to know if he was going to dream and figure out what was happening in the Lyle House. She snuck one last glance over her shoulder at him before heading out of the store.