Who: York and Lexi Branson When: Backdated: Mid January Where: A Cafe What: Meeting for coffee Rating/Warnings: Family Friendly Status: Complete
So, York wasn’t used to this. It’d been a long time (really long time) since he’d asked a girl out for coffee. And he thought he’d made his intentions clear. He thought Lexi was beautiful and funny and smart. If she was interested, then he was interested. Why not give it a try?
So he arrived a few minutes before they were set to meet, and ordered himself a latte. Vanilla latte. Then he settled in a booth to wait for her to arrive, warming his hands on the latte cup. Tom Petty was playing low on the radio.
Lexi hadn’t gone on a date in awhile; especially not one with someone she had met online. However, she had seen York posting on the net before and she thought it was cute how he’d direct messaged her to ask her out. Not to mention she wasn’t like any other girl being asked out by a stranger. She was a vampire so if something went wrong she was more than capable of handling herself and if he turned out to be a jerk, she would just compel him to do something embarrassing.
Reaching the cafe, Lexi looked around for a moment before spotting York then went to get her own drink. Latte in hand, she headed over to York’s booth, smirking, “Is this seat taken?”
York and Wash were practically brothers, and Wash and Anna were… serious? Fairly serious? So they ran in similar circles, anyway. York had been to the house for parties and the like, and had seen Lexi around. He liked what he’d seen of her. So he thought… well, why not? Worst case they stay friends. It wasn’t like things were going to get awkward after one date.
At the sound of the voice, York looked up from the cup. He broke into a smile, which lit up his face. He had a long, ugly scar over his right eye, which was white and glassy. But he was still a fairly handsome guy underneath it. And the fact that he was optimistic and happy most of the time certainly helped with the glow on his face. “Actually, I was sort of saving it for someone.” He teased.
“Well crap, I guess I’ll have to find another seat then.” Still smirking, Lexi sat down across from York and placed her cup on the table, “Have you been waiting long?” She knew she was right on time, but she didn’t know if the other man had gotten there early and had been hanging around this whole time.
York grinned. The grin lit up his whole face--pleasant and friendly--and his eyes shone. Well, his good eye. The other one was milky and white, and covered with a nasty scar. Hopefully she was used to it by now--they’d seen each other around--because he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses. He wore them a lot, but almost never inside. (That was a douchey thing to do).
“Not long.” He sat up a little and leaned forward. “You look nice.”
Lexi wasn’t that shallow that she would be turned off by scars or anything like that; as far as she was concerned, it was on the inside that counted, “Thank you. You do too.” She took a sip of her cup as she watched York, “So what made you decide to contact me?” She was genuinely curious and figured it didn’t hurt to ask.
York chuckled at that. He didn’t look nice. Or, at least, he didn’t look anywhere as nice as she did. Because let’s face it; Lexi was gorgeous. York was a fairly good looking guy. Maybe. Sometimes. On his good days, anyway. But Lexi was pretty much always beautiful. He didn’t contradict her, though. (See the last comment about douchey things to do.)
“I just figured… we’ve got some of the same friends. It might be nice to get to know one another better. Besides, it’s been a long time since I’ve been out on a date, so…” He cleared his throat, his cheeks a little pink now as he grinned in a self-depreciating way. “Was that a bad thing to admit?”
It made sense as far as Lexi was concerned and she returned the smile then shook her head, “Not at all. I also haven’t been on a date in awhile.” Most people would probably think that it was crazy that a girl like her hadn’t been on a real date in the last few years, but honestly, after a long term relationship, she’d just wanted to be single for awhile, “So, what is it that you do, York?”
That was a relief. But also quite the surprise. York’s eyes went a little wide when she said she hadn’t been on a date in a while. He’d asked Anna (Wash’s girlfriend and Lexi’s roommate) if Lexi was seeing anyone. After the squealing had ended, Anna told him Lexi “didn’t have a steady beau.” So York thought she was still dating, just no one seriously. And he thought he’d give it a try.
Well, now he was glad he had.
“I work for Irvine PD in the tech department. I’m an IT guy.” York was pretty proud of what he did for a living. It was a little weird being a civilian working in the PD, but he thought it suited him. “And you… you work at Disneyland? That’s what Anna said.”
While having a boyfriend would have been nice, Lexi had mostly been taking the last couple of years to get acclimated to life as a vampire. She had turned right around her ex had left so it didn’t seem like a good idea to get into anything until she was sure that she could control herself and then there was the part where dating anyone who wasn’t a dreamer would be a little tricky, because while she didn’t find it difficult to be around non dreamers on a daily basis, eventually someone she was dating would find out what she was. Of course after her recent evil mistletoe kiss with Klaus, she had realized how much she’d missed kissing, “You must find some pretty interesting things on people’s computers.” She smirked then nodded in response to his question, “Yup. Been playing a princess for the last couple of years.” She had probably been working there as a face character a lot longer than most people did, but she liked her job and she had her whole undead life to do other things.
“Oh yeah.” York gave a little smirk. “Really interesting things. I don’t do a lot of evidence, though. Sometimes, but mostly I do… like, networking and software and hardware updates.” He was amazing with computers, really. Sometimes he could help with other things, but for the most part his job was to make sure the computers on site were secure, connected, and running the appropriate software. It was kinda boring. Sometimes he got to leave and go to other sites, too. “A princess?” He asked, brightening and smiling. “Really?”
Lexi nodded, “Yeah. I’ve been playing Aurora and Rapunzel for awhile now. It’s fun cause I get to make kids happy and adults too.” The only real downside was when guys or even sometimes dads would try to hit on her or be inappropriate. Of course, now she could just compel them covertly, “I hadn’t intended to do it for this long, but I like it and I have plenty of time for other jobs.”
“That’s… really cool. I think it’s wonderful how you get to make kids happy. Which do you prefer playing? Aurora or Rapunzel?” Of course, York had seen all those Disney movies. Not just because he had a young nephew who was going through that phase, but because when he was a teenager, he was really into musicals and theater, and all the girls would sing all those songs incessantly. He had a girlfriend in high school who made him sit down and watch all the modern Disney movies from The Little Mermaid to Hercules.
“If I had to pick one, I’d say that my favorite is Rapunzel.” Lexi took a sip of her drink, “For one, the costume is a little less complicated so I can move around a lot easier.” Not her other costume really hindered her with her vampire abilities, but she prefered being comfortable. “Plus I can be a little freer in how I act as Rapunzel.”
“Comfort is important,” York said as if he completely understood. In truth the only outfit he ever had to wear on a regular basis was his armor, and while it was designed to be comfortable, it was still a little clunky. The halloween costumes he’d worn were all over the spectrum of comfort, but those he almost only ever wore once. “What do you mean by freer?”
“Well, Rapunzel’s personality is closer to mine than Aurora’s is. So I don’t really have to act as much.” She didn’t know if that made sense or not, but it was the best way that she could explain it.
York was smiling. She was a really pretty girl. It made him almost a little sheepish, but he was doing his best to keep his cool. “That makes sense. I might have to come and see you at work sometime. My nephew loves Disneyland. I mean, he’s still a toddler, but he loves to try and eat Mickey Mouse’s nose.”
“You should definitely come by. All my friends will come visit me from time to time.” Lexi might not have gotten to hang out with them when they came to Disneyland, unless it was one of her days off and she had gone with them, but she always enjoyed when they came by to see her while she was working.
“I’ll do that.” York gave her a charming, one-eyed smile. It was his way. He lifted his coffee cup in a toast, then took a sip, thinking this was going fairly well. She was nice. And pretty. And he felt like a pretty lucky guy.