Lily Evans (aimed_curse) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-03-03 15:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | lily evans, peter quill (star-lord) |
Who: Lily Evans and Peter Quill
What: Random run-in leads to giving a stranger a ride home - possibly a new friendship? GASP!
When: Post last zombies
Where: Yoga studio to the street Peter lives on
Rating/Warnings: None really
Status: Complete when Posted
Lily wouldn’t go so far as to say she was scared of the dark but after the most recent bout of zombies she would admit that she was more cautious about being outside alone after dark. And as far as she was concerned it was a perfectly reasonable fear because who knew when Orange County would go insane again? Normally after the evening classes at the Crescent Moon Studios she’d walk out with some of the other students but tonight she’d gotten a call right after class from the client she was supposed to work a party for that weekend, wanting to change everything at the last minute and by the time she’d gotten off the phone everyone was gone or in the class that had already started while she’d been in the hallway. “Brilliant. Just brilliant.” She said to herself, dropping her phone into her gym bag as she started heading towards the front door. She could call James or Andromeda, get one of them to talk to her on the way to her car but she didn’t really want to get into what she was worried about with either of them right then. It was a toss up with her best friends whether they’d be understanding or tease her about it. Or a mixture of the two. Well that was the concern with Andromeda. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how James would react these days to just about anything - everything was confusing there.
She leaned her back against the wall next to the door, pulling her phone back out and scrolling through the contacts list, debating between calling someone or waiting for the next class to let out and just walking out with those students. If she could trust her powers to do more than make flowers this wouldn’t be as much of an issue for her.
***
True to his word, Peter went immediately to the studio to fix any of the damage. Since he wanted consistency, it took him awhile to source out some materials until he was happy with the end result. Dropping off the materials, he busied himself with planning things out. An hour or so later, he felt confident he had everything in place, so he got ready to leave, his phone in hand as he started drafting a text to Hayley.
Rounding the corner, he was surprised to see a woman in the hallway. Normally, he planned his work to be when no one was around but he'd really wanted to get going on this so he must've come earlier. Walking past her, he noticed she looked a little upset. Not your problem, Peter, he thought to himself before realizing that was a shitty attitude to have. With a sigh, he stopped and looked at her. “Hey,” he said in what he hoped was a friendly tone. “You okay?”
***
Lily looked up when she heard someone speaking near her and she flushed slightly as she realized how much attention she hadn’t been paying to what was going on around her. “Hi. I’m fine. Just waiting for the class to let out so that I’m not walking to my car by myself.” She said, giving him a somewhat embarassed smile. “And being distracted by my phone which is why I was late leaving after my class as it was.” She added.
***
“Oh, is that it?” He gave a smile, realizing that he was covered in dry wall dust and paint. Probably not the most reliable looking guy but he knew he had charisma when he wanted it. No matter what he looked like, really.
“I can walk you out, no problem.” He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head back. Did he know her? Was she from the Network-with-a-capital-N? “A little ...spooked out from recent craziness?” How vague was too vague? “I mean, I know I sure felt a little ..frozen and dead inside this weekend.” That was the perfect amount of vague. Peter felt proud of himself.
***
Lily smiled back at his discreet mention of what had happened in the area the past weekend. “I stayed at a friends this weekend actually because of it. Safety in numbers from that...cold, dead feeling that threatened to take over everyone this weekend. Even with it having past I’m still on a little on edge I guess about...it coming back.” Especially since she vaguely remembered there having been another attack of zombies a few months before while she’d been sick.
“Are you sure you don’t mind walking me out? I don’t want to get you in trouble with your boss if you’re supposed to finishing a job but at the same time I’ll admit I don’t want to walk out to my car by myself.”
***
It took a moment for Peter to realize Lily was referring to Hayley. “No,” he laughed. “I promise -- I won't get in trouble. A contractor keeps his own schedule, and who am I to turn down someone in distress?” He gave a wink and another flash of his patented smile. “And I’m Peter. Guess we haven’t bumped into each other on the network yet.” Yes, he had caught her own hints back. “I'm pretty new to all this …. stuff but I think I can handle helping you out. Where's your car?”
***
Lily couldn’t help but notice that he had a nice laugh and her smile got warmer as she extended her hand to shake his. “Lily. And somehow we haven’t. I guess the network must be bigger than I realized.” She said, smiling back at him, a little bit more of her accent leaking into her voice as she relaxed around him. She’d spent the day as Ariel so she’d had to hide it and just hadn’t stopped until then. “I parked around on the side because it was the first spot I saw when I got here. Towards the left.”
***
Shaking her hand, he continued to grin. “Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. I’m still trying to figure out who is who, and I’ve probably only talked to like ...5 people. I guess when you’re all stuck in a weird parallel universe, it’s good to make friends.” And everyone seemed to have some sort of quirk too. Like this chick who seemed to be gaining an accent. Whatever. Who was he to judge?
“Okay, well let’s get to it. I was about to walk home anyways, so yeah. Vamanos .” Peter still hadn’t gotten around to getting his own wheels. He’d been checking craigslist, seeing what was there, but he hadn’t found anything he liked well enough yet. Cabs were pricey, and really, after being locked up for so long, he found he enjoyed simply being outside.
***
“If you ever get a handle on all of that I hope you share. I still can’t remember the names of everyone I talk to more than once or twice on there.” Lily said as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder. She generally picked one trait that stood out to her to help her remember who she’d talked to and who she hadn’t. It didn’t always work but she figured it was still over 50% effective.”
She led the way to her car, keeping track of the sounds around them as best she could while also not being rude to the guy beside her. She used her key fob to unlock the doors as they turned the corner, alarm chirping once to show that it had disarmed before she opened the back door and dropped her bag on the seat. “If you want I could give you a lift to the bus stop or the end of your street. Least I can do to thank you for walking me out.” She wouldn’t make that offer generally but she didn’t think Peter was a mass murderer or anything.
***
“Uhhh….” The invitation threw Peter off-guard. He really wasn’t expecting an offer of a ride, and he didn’t actually know if he wanted to take it. Not because Lily was a scary person or anything, far from it. It was that he kind of liked to take a walk, maybe smoke a j, think about life and relax. It wasn’t like Hayley’s studio was that far from Yondu’s.
On the other hand, cute girl.
Cute girl always wins.
“Sure, thanks, but I don’t actually catch the bus. I usually walk, so you can drive me until you don’t feel like driving anymore, and that works too.” He grinned. “I’m pretty easy to please.”
***
“Then the end of your street it is.” Lily said as she slid into the driver’s seat. She always kept the passenger seat clear in case a friend from work needed a ride. And also when she went through the drive-thru she could put the food in the seat there, fries in easy reach for her to eat on the drive home since sandwiches could wait.
“You might need to give me directions there.” She told him, putting the keys in the ignition and trying to remember if she’d turned the radio back down before getting out of the car to go in.
***
Peter gave directions as he buckled in and then the radio was on, playing good music. Really good music. Almost instantly, Peter was bobbing his head, and tapping his fingers on the side of the arm rest while he sang along with The Beatles. He had a fairly good singing voice, and was well aware of it so he sang confidently without really caring what Lily thought.
Actually, even if he did suck, he wouldn’t care. “Help” was a classic, damnit. He would severely judge anyone that didn’t know the words and couldn’t sing along.
Lily better have been paying attention to the directions, because he wasn’t going to repeat them until the song was over. Or maybe until the next song. That was the beauty of music -- you just go where it takes you.
***
Lily was fairly confident that she’d gotten the directions right as she started driving to where he’d told, singing along softly with Help on the radio. She’d always loved The Beatles, ever since her father had first played one of their records for her. She didn’t have the best singing voice, she wouldn’t ever win a contest, but she didn’t sound horrible. And even as she sang she kept her voice low enough to hear Peter’s which was a lot better than hers.
She waited until the song ended to speak. “And here I thought I was the only person around here who was actually a Beatles fan.”
***
“I would have gotten out of the car if you hadn’t sang along.” Peter was joking. Kind of. “Music is kind of my thing . My mom loved music from the 60s and 70s, and I guess it stuck.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out his ancient iPod. “I won’t trade this thing in, not until it’s completed dead. 160 gbs of music, and I barely ever skip a song.”
With a twinkle in his eye, he leaned back in the seat, his fingers tapping along to the song in the background. “Want to hear a secret?”
***
Lily laughed at his costume about getting out of the car if she hadn’t sung along. “Beatles. Rolling Stones. My dad and I used to listen to all of his old records when I lived at home. After dinner, mum and Petunia would be cleaning up and he and I would be hanging out.” She told him, looking over as he pulled his iPod out. “Mine is at home, for when I’m trying to go to bed. Or when the roommate and I want to listen to something that isn’t full of profanity or complete trash.” Okay maybe she was ridiculously critical of contemporary music but she stood by her opinion of most of it.
“That all depends - this isn’t where you tell me you’re actually a supervillain or anything is it?”
***
“My hair is wayyyy too good to be a supervillain’s,” Peter quipped back. “Nah...it’s kind of embarrassing but once upon a time, I was the frontman for northwest Denver’s foremost punk/ska band. It was fun, I never paid for drinks, I got to have cool hair but … yeah. Oldies is where my heart is.”
He motioned down a street and smiled. “Just a few more turns and I’ll get out of your hair. I appreciate the ride, thanks hey.”
***
“I’m guessing Denver has a pretty harsh competition for those bands?” Lily said, shooting him an amused glance as she made the turn he motioned towards. “Seriously not a problem. I like driving and exploring. Figuring out new places. And of course meeting people who know and appreciate good music.” She gave him a smile. “Let me know where you want me to let you out”
***
“Over there is good,” he said. It was close enough that he could smoke a bit and walk, relax, and not worry about his heavy tools. “And hey, anytime you want to cruise, listen to music and belt one out, I’m your guy.” He’d never turn that down.
***
Lily waited until the traffic was clear enough that she could pull over without anyone hitting her because hell if she wanted to deal with the cops today. “I am definitely going to take you up on that Peter.” She said, putting the car in park so he could get out.
***
He turned and grinned at her, giving a mock salute. “Thanks again, Lily.” He opened his door and stretched his legs, getting out of the car. “I’ll be seeing you.”