Meg Giry (charmingdancer) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-28 01:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | james kirk, meg giry |
Who: Jim Kirk and Meg Giry
What: Going out for lunch and conversation
Where: a favorite spot of Meg's
When: a short time after they first met
Warnings: Extreme cuteness!
Status: Complete/Closed!
It was an absolutely beautiful California day, perfect for the lunch date Meg and Jim had planned. Meg had put forth an unusual amount of effort into primping, something that her roommate Christine had sarcastically commented on, and it showed as she looked perfectly polished striding onto the outdoor veranda of the cafe she’d agreed to meet Jim at. The place was pleasant enough, one of Meg’s favorite spots to eat. It was just casual enough for what she’d assumed was a platonic lunch date, but nice enough to make a lasting impression. Most importantly, the food was good. They offered mostly salads, soups, and sandwiches along with an assortment of beverages.
Meg was led to a table. She was the first to arrive and saved a table for the two of them, crossing her legs and watching the door casually. If he was punctual, and she didn’t know him well enough to know if he was, Jim should have been arriving soon.
Her eyes averted themselves from the door to the lunch menu. Meg was always indecisive at meals, so she decided she’d better get on deciding soon. Everything always sounded good to her - That was always her problem.
Jim was the kind of man that could step out of the shower, smooth his hair down, slap on some cologne, and be presentable. A nice pair of black slacks and a button up blue shirt, the top two buttons dashingly unbuttoned. He hoped it would make a good impression. Maybe even a great impression. He’d flirted pretty heavily with her, but time would tell if that went anywhere, or if things remained just friendly. Kirk would be pretty happy in either case.
The waiter led him to Meg’s table, and he took a moment to study her. She was very pretty, but didn’t seem that nervous. He cleared his throat and gave her an easy smile. “Meg?”
Her face lit up with a smile when she saw him. “Jim!” Meg stood up, arms outreached to give him a hug from across the table. It was ordinary for her to greet people with such enthusiasm. She had a naturally high energy about her at almost any hour of the day. It came in handy for such a physical lifestyle. “Have a seat! I haven’t been waiting long. Didn’t even get a chance to order a drink yet.”
She smiled at the waiter. “I’ll take an iced tea when you get a moment, though.” Looking back to Jim her smile spread into a grin. “How are you doing today? You look good!” Meg settled back into her chair and crossed her legs again, her sandal dangling off of her foot.
He’d never say no to a hug. Kirk hugged Meg back, giving her back a quick little rub as he let go. It was like greeting an old friend, in some strange ways. To the waiter, he said, “Water for me.”
Turning back to Meg, his eyes crinkled in amusement as he spoke. “You look stunning.” Her energy was infectious. Jim took the seat across from her, leaning his elbows on the table. “I’m having a good day, now that I’m here.”
“Thanks!” She chirped, cheeks flushing only the faintest bit. Meg was used to compliments, but they got her every time.
“It’s a beautiful day to be eating outside. I’m glad you could make it. It’s not the same eating alone.” Meg canted her head to the side slightly, giving him a smile before looking to the menu again. “Everything looks so good here. What do you think you’ll be having?” Maybe his choice would influence hers. Meg was so indecisive.
Uh oh. If she was a blusher, Jim was going to take every delight in making that happen. “No, it’s not the same. Much better with pleasant company.” Giving her a wink, he flipped open the menu, the motion unintentionally shatneresque dramatic. “Mm. You’re right, this all looks good.” He tapped his finger on the menu. “I think I’ll have the chicken salad.”
The wink got a big smile out of Meg. Pleasant company indeed! “Ooh!” Her eyes darted to the description for the chicken salad on the menu. “That sounds yummy. I think I’m feeling the chicken pepperjack panini, though. Something with a little spice.” She looked up to Jim, playfully waggling her eyebrows. Meg had a love for pepperjack cheese she blamed on a babysitter who’d always fixed her grilled cheese with pepperjack cheese.
“You can’t go wrong with pepperjack. What’s life without spice? Boring, that’s what.” He could play up the spicey. “Although I don’t recommend getting into a contest as to who can handle the most wasabi at once. I’m not sure my taste buds have ever recovered.”
Meg chuckled. “Wasabi is intense. Even I use it sparingly and I am a spice addict.” She grinned and shrugged her shoulders. “Everyone has limits, I guess. At least I can say I’m not a wuss. Sounds like you’re not exactly one, either.” Her lips curled into a smirk.
“The best part of life is trying new things. Can’t experience them if you’re not willing to give them a shot. But there are limits. I know a guy who eats ghost peppers raw.” There was crazy and then there was crazy. “I’m pretty sure he regularly gets that hot sauce that you have to sign a waver for.”
Her eyebrows shot up suddenly. “There’s a hot sauce you have to sign a waver for?” Meg’s jaw dropped slightly. “That is… Incredible. I don’t think I would have the guts to go that far. I don’t know, would you call it guts or ridiculousness?” She laughed a little bit. Maybe it was a little bit of both. There was only so much torture she was willing to subject her tastebuds to.
The waiter stepped up to their table, congenial smile on his face. “Are we ready to order?” Meg smiled and nodded affirmatively. “I think so.” She looked to Jim for confirmation.
“There’s a whole range of them. There’s a scale, even. Some of this stuff is a thousand or even ten thousand times hotter than a jalapeno. I’d call it iron guts and steel tastebuds.” Jim could handle a serrano, which was a little hotter than that, but in small doses. He liked spice, but there was a limit. He nodded at the waiter. “I’ll have the chicken salad sandwich.”
“And I’ll have the pepperjack grilled cheese!” Meg smiled at the waiter. He wrote down their orders and returned her smile. “Your orders will be out shortly.” The waiter turned and walked back into the restaurant. Meg turned her full attention back to Jim.
“That’s amazing. Ten thousand times hotter than a jalapeno??” Her eyes were wide. “That’s way beyond what I can handle.” She laughed and shook her head. “Other people are way braver than me.”
“I’m brave, I’m not that brave,” Jim joked, winking at her. “I watched him put a single drop in a pot of chili as big as this table.Now, this is a man who eats jalapeno’s raw. He took a taste and his face went red, he started sweating. He had tears in his eyes. He told me it was the best chili he’d ever had. He offered me a spoonful. I respectfully declined.”
Meg chuckled. “Smart move. I wonder if you can actually hurt yourself eating stuff that’s that spicy.” She wrinkled her eyebrows. It sure felt like you could hurt yourself, but that was just a guess. “My mom makes yummy chili, but it’s been years since I had a bowl. She makes it with poblanos, which I guess aren’t that spicy, but they add a nice flavor.” She took a pause to sip at her drink. “My dad’s the spice nut. He adds hot sauce to the chili before he eats it.”
“You could. But then we’re getting into morbid things. Not the kind of conversation for a light lunch date.” Jim chuckled. “That sounds pretty good. Here’s hoping your tolerance hasn’t gone down since.”
The pink flush returned to Meg’s cheeks. She felt kind of embarrassed, like she’d broken date etiquette somehow by straying into slightly morbid conversation. “Here’s hoping.” Her lips curled into a tiny smile and she sipped at her drink. “Anyway, what have you been up to lately? Anything interesting?”
“Nothing super interesting. While awake, anyway. I’ve picked up a few new students at my self-defense class, and been taking people out into the wilderness.” Which, really, was one of his favorite things to do. Alongside laser tag and skydiving, among other adventursome things.
The blushing was endearing, and he smirked at her.
“The wilderness!” She echoed, raising her eyebrows. “It sounds exciting, getting out there. What do you guys do?” Meg leaned forward slightly, interested in hearing all of the details. She was also interested in hearing about what happened while he was sleeping, too, but that could come later.
“Hike, camp, avoid snakes and deadly cougars. Learning new and interesting things about rock formations. Talking about the stars,” Jim said, straight-faced. “It’s been light fair mostly. I haven’t taken anyone on a true survival course in a year. Trying to ease people in, if they want to come back for the hard core, barely making it out of the desert type stuff.”
Meg chuckled a little bit. “I could never handle that. I mean, I can handle standing on my toes doing aerobic exercise for hours on end, but I’ve never been good at roughing it.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Of course, I’ve never really tried before barring my one experience with a school sponsored camping trip back home.”
“I wouldn’t dream of taking you down the hell trail,” Jim said, smiling. “At least not without a lot of preparation first. But a simple camping trip? I’m sure you could handle that.” He didn’t doubt that she could.
“If it includes s’mores, I’m in!” She laughed. “I guess that’s a bonfire food and not necessarily a camping food. The way you talk about it makes it sound like it’s fun.” Meg smiled broadly.
“It’s a lot of fun. The quiet of nature, stars blanketing you at night. Turn off your light and you can see the world as our ancestors did. Maybe pretend there’s still something left to explore.” There was a wistful expression on Jim’s face. Like maybe he was born in the wrong time.
“I imagine the stars must be really beautiful away from all of the light pollution.” The way he spoke about all of it made Meg smile. It was always nice to witness someone in their element. “Is that something you’d do if it were possible? Explore unknown places?”
“In a heartbeat.” The wistfulness of his expression tinged his voice. “I feel like that’s where I belong. If not up there, then sailing a ship. The old fashioned way.” He grinned at her. “Wouldn’t that be fun? Take a sailboat and see where you could go?” Maybe he should have gone into the Navy.
“Oh, man, that’d be amazing.” Her eyes widened slightly. She could imagine it, being on a sailboat, charting out new territories with no idea of where she was going. Even being on a sailboat with a set idea of where she was going sounded fun. The open sea was so beautiful. Just as long as she didn’t set out during a big storm, she was set!
“Maybe some day I’ll get that ship and take you,” Jim offered. “At least until then, we could try a camping trip.” He could see her eyes light up at the sailing idea, and he understood the temptation of it. Something exciting, something dangerous, going out into the unknown.
“Camping sounds fun, too.” Meg smiled. “Especially with you.” It was meant as a compliment, but it was also sincere. Jim was a fun guy and Meg had a suspicion that he could make almost anything fun. The way he’d spoken about camping had made her certain that camping with him would be a delight.
Grinning, Jim nodded his head at her. “I only hope I can make it an enjoyable experience for you.” He liked to make people feel like they were going on an adventure, and he wanted Meg to feel like she was the center of attention.
“I’m sure it would be. It’d have to be more fun than my first experience with camping. Hopefully I’d avoid poison ivy this time around.” She chuckled, shaking her head. This time, at least, she’d know what the plant would look like and would know to avoid it.
“Fall into poison ivy?” Jim raised an eyebrow at her, hoping to hear more of this story.
Meg winced. “I thought I was taking a shortcut back to my tent, but I was walking straight through a patch of the stuff. I wound up with a rash all over my ankles and calves.” She laughed a little bit. “I can laugh now, but I was itching like crazy for a while back then.”
“That’s not so bad. Here I was expecting something horribly embarrassing.” Jim grinned at her. “I landed in a patch while trying to use the latrine once.”
She chuckled loudly, clamping her hand over her mouth. “Oh no! Oh my god, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh so much. That’s awful.”
“It’s okay, laugh at my pain.” He put a hand to his chest, making a mock-pained expression. “I see how it is.”
Meg laughed a little louder and shook her head. “No, no!” She frowned dramatically in spite of her laughter. “I promise I wasn’t laughing at your pain! That was awful.”
Jim grinned at her, leaning forward again. “It’s okay, you can laugh. I really don’t mind.”
She smiled and shook her head again. “Oh, man, I don’t envy you. Poison ivy on your legs is bad enough!” Meg chuckled. As she laughed, the waiter approached them with their food. He set their plates down in front of them.
“Yum!” Meg smiled at her grilled cheese, breathing in the good smells.
“Second most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever been through,” he said, nodding sagely before taking a bite of his chicken salad. Now that was some good stuff. “How’s yours?”
She took a bite of her grilled cheese, closing her eyes with a smile as she chewed. “Very yummy. Yours?” Meg looked up at him. So far it seemed like the food was pretty good.
“Some of the best chicken salad I’ve ever had,” Jim replied. He gave her a light smile. “Made better by the company.”
She beamed happily. “You really are sweet. Your company is pretty fantastic, too, I might add!” Meg giggled and sipped at her drink. This really was a fun… Date? It wasn’t technically a date, but they were flirting an awful lot. It was a fun meeting, anyway.
Jim would be perfectly happy if it was a date. While he’d, ahem, made friends with quite a few women, there were a couple he particularly liked. But he’d also be happy to just be friends. “I’m glad I’ve made a good impression then.”