Leon Orcot (under_arrest) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-04-05 20:53:00 |
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Iris wasn’t entirely certain on how she had managed to be talked into going on a date with someone she didn’t know, set up by someone she had pretty much only just met. But somehow that was exactly how she was spending her evening. Well okay, part of it was the fact that she hadn’t been in Orange County for anything more than visiting for holidays since she left for grad school up north, so seven and a half years. But still, this wasn’t something she normally did.
Still, she had agreed to the date and so here she was. It was fine. It was just one date, so while dating really wasn’t even on her radar at the moment, it was good to get out as well and meet people and not just look for stories to write for freelancing until she hopefully found something more permanent.
Leon wasn’t entirely sure why he’d agreed to let Liv set him up again, especially after the disaster that could loosely be called a date with Kara. But, well, she’d seemed bound and determined to make up for the last date with an even better one, and Leon had learned some time ago that sometimes it was just easier to go along with the whims of whatever brain Liv was eating than to fight it.
Anyway, maybe it was time to get back out there. He’d ended the longest, and most serious relationship of his life only two months earlier, but what was that old adage? The best way to get over someone was to get under someone else.
Leon was running a few minutes late, despite normally being the kind of guy who showed up for everything early. It had taken a little longer to drop Chris off with Keith for the night than he’d intended, and he looked at his watch. Maybe she wouldn’t notice the ten minutes or so.
“Hey, Iris, right?” he asked, approaching her, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, his hair tied back in a ponytail.
And he was late. Not the worst thing in the world - Barry was almost always late it seemed - especially since California could be ridiculous with its traffic. Still, she had gone simple with what she had worn. Skinny jeans, white blouse, black jacket and heels. So for now it was going through her newsfeed while she waited.
Which ended soon enough as someone approached her and asked if she was Iris. So slipping her phone back into her bag, she gave a small smile and nod.
“Yeah, that’s me. Which must make you Leon.”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Leon said, slipping into the seat across from Iris and sizing her up. She wasn’t bad looking. Really kind of pretty, in a girl-next-door way, even if Leon prefered his women to be bombshell super-model types.
“Sorry I’m late,” Leon said, reaching for the drink menu. “My little brother was dragging his feet and it took me longer to get him to the babysitter than I thought it would. Hope you weren’t waiting for too long.”
As Leon sized Iris up, she did the same of him. She’d visited Joe at the precinct and was pretty sure that Leon looked like one of the detectives she’d seen there but as she hadn’t exactly been talking to people she didn’t know, she couldn’t be too sure. Still, not terrible looking though there was more than just looks to a person. But he wasn’t her dad’s partner so that was something going for him.
“Not too long, but that would certainly do it.” And it wasn’t like she could fault Leon for having to deal with a younger brother. “How old is your brother?”
“He’s eight, so he’s still cute,” Leon joked. Or, at least, Chris would be if he smiled more. He hadn’t much, not since Leon had woken up shot, and definitely not since Alex had left. With that thought, Leon settled on a drink, and then turned in his seat to see if he could catch the eye of one of the servers.
“What about you?” he asked, tilting his head a little toward Iris. “Any siblings?”
“Not a bad age.” At least no from what Iris remembered. It had been a few years after the death of her mother, Barry had yet to move to the area but Iris had always been relatively outgoing and had friends even then. And she’d been in gloves for two years with her dad training her how to take care of herself. Still, she did smile at the comment.
As for if she had siblings?
“Nope, it’s just me.”
“And he’s better than most at that age too,” Leon said. He finally caught the eye of one of the servers and waved her over, ordering himself a pint of beer and a glass of whiskey, and whatever the lady wanted.
“Nice. I was an only child too growing up.” Leon had already been eighteen by the time Chris had been born. “So, what do you do?”
She had no reason to disbelieve Leon about his brother and well…. Iris knew her dad would probably say she gave him plenty of headaches since she had thrown herself into investigating random things even at that age - even if it were something like a lunch person who didn’t wash their hands after going to the restroom.
With the server coming over, Iris decided on a pint of beer for herself - without the whiskey - and then turned her attention back to Leon and the question at hand.
“Investigative journalist. Freelance at the moment. You?”
If there was one thing that was nice about Leon, it was that he was usually pretty easy to read. Which meant that it was obvious by the scowl that appeared on his face what he thought of ‘investigative journalists.’ Most of the time, they just made his job harder by releasing information the police didn’t want public publically. “Homicide detective,” he answered curtly.
Iris tended to be good at reading people as it was, but as he scowled? She just quirked a brow though it automatically put her on edge. He could like it or not, but journalism was necessary. Even when public editor sections were dismantled and choices were made that made no sense. As a whole though, the work was necessary even when buried in the nonsense.
And she took it seriously so she could already tell this was probably going to end badly. The tone of voice alone told her that and she honestly couldn’t tell if she should even try to salvage this night or not. She wasn’t going to apologize for who she was.
“I see…. My dad’s a homicide detective as well, actually.”
Well. She would at least try. For now.
Leon’s expression really did soften at that revelation. She couldn’t be entirely opposed to the police like so many journalists seemed to be if her dad was one. At least, assuming that she got along with her father.
“So you’re not out to make our lives more difficult by leaking facts about the case to the general public and tipping off our perps?” he asked, only a hint of incredulousness creeping into his voice.
There were reasons people were wary of the police and they had reason for it. But god forbid anyone say it without suddenly being deemed anti-cop or whatever. And the fact that apparently her dad being a detective suddenly seemed to soften him? It was annoying because her relationship with her dad didn’t define her, or at least it shouldn’t. She loved him, they got along great, but that didn’t mean that was how she should be judged.
And of course there was some incredulousness in her voice. This time Iris couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. She knew about snap judgments, life was made of them. But this was ridiculous.
“Well one, I don’t work the day to day crime beat. When I do, it’s unearthing corruption in organizations and the stories that matter to people. And even if I did work more day to day crime stories, I know how to tell what the public should know and what is necessary for public safety and what is necessary to be kept quiet. I care about the truth. Not about getting clicks on the internet.”
“Good,” Leon said. “Too many of your colleagues seem to care more about clicks than content. It’s why I’m still subscribed to the paper.” He refused to reward the new style of “You’ll Never Believe What The President Said Now!” newscasting. “You hungry?” he asked suddenly.
That was the trick. Even actual paper newspapers still had to compete against the digital market, stories being both in print and on the internet. The work Iris did? Usually was in the actual print papers, but it was posted online. Then there was all the headache that came with those who chose the headline and the comment section and really….it was a lot. But Iris was always going to be a big proponent of people knowing the truth and she loved what she did. Headache and all.
“Unfortunately, that’s the market where companies like Google and Facebook buy all the ads space and fewer paper subscribe to the actual paper.”
Still, at least it seemed they were going to be able to move on from the topic and might be able to move past the initial tension. Maybe. Hopefully.
“Sure.”
Leon took a quick glance at the menu, already having a general idea of what he was going to order - steak, rare, which was always a better and less messy date food than burgers tended to be, and then turned in his seat again so he could wave down their waitress. He decided to ignore the vaguely annoyed look that crossed her face for about half a second before she managed to smooth it into something more friendly.
He finished off his whiskey as she started to head over to the table. “I think we’re ready to order,” he said, glancing at Iris and realizing belatedly he probably should have confirmed that with her before summoning their server. “I’ll get the steak and potatoes, blue rare. And I’ll get a top up,” he said, motioning to his drink.
And...he just called the server over without even checking to see if she was ready. That was just…. They just needed to get through this night and then it would be fine. That was pretty much the mantra running through Iris’ mind at the moment. That and she probably should have gone with her normal reaction to being set up on a blind date but too late now.
So while Leon looked over his menu, and then ordered, Iris did a quick look at the menu herself.
“Um, I’ll take the Cajun Chicken pasta.” As she had yet to really need her drink topped off. So instead Iris just smiled in thanks as the server took her menu from her now that the orders were in.
“You like spicy food?” Leon asked, leaning back in his seat. “So does Liv.” Which was, as far as segways went, kind of weak. “Did you uh, know her before she arranged this whole thing?” Apparently she’d just approached Kara in a bar and asked her, and Leon was vaguely worried that Liv was just going up to every attractive-looking woman she ran into and asking them out for him.
“Yeah?” Iris wasn’t usually questioned about liking spicy food or not, so she wasn’t exactly sure on where the conversation was going to go. And then the weak segway happened and she just nodded some. Okay she supposed that made sense. It was definitely a question on why they had been set up. Then again, Iris barely knew the ME, she just had been so excited about the idea and with Iris having been gone for so long, meeting a new person seemed like it wouldn’t be the worst idea. So shrugging, Iris answered the question, “Not really. I was at the precinct and ran into her and we got to talking then she suggested the date.”
“Of course she did,” Leon muttered darkly to himself. It would have been nice of Liv actually knew the women she was setting Leon up with, but it really was too much to ask that she ate the brain of someone sane once in a while.
“So, what’s wrong with you?” he asked, and then flushed when he realized what he’d asked. “I mean, you’re obviously a good looking girl and have a decent job,” he said, hoping the compliments would smooth over that blunder of a question. “I just mean why would you agree to it?”
Iris wasn’t entirely sure on what to make about the grumbled comment but was about to let it slide when Leon made his next comment. At which point, Iris didn’t even bother hiding her reaction as her eyes widened and she just leaned back into her chair some.
“Wow. Okay then.”
Yes, he tried to save himself with the compliments but it was just one more thing - okay mostly the fact she had felt the need to defend her job and what she did all without pointing out how she had more reason to be worried about someone like him than he did about her possibly writing on a case of his. But right. Why had she agreed? It was a question that had been in the back of her mind since this all started.
“Well… I just moved back to town at the beginning of the month and figured it couldn’t hurt to meet new people.”
Though as the evening wore on, Iris had to wonder if that had been one of her better decisions. Currently she was leaning towards no.
“Oh,” Leon said, managing to feel like a bit of an idiot. Honestly, he was doing these dates more to appease Liv than because of any real want to get into a new relationship - he was still reeling from his break-up with Alex - but he still had the feeling that he had managed to really step in it this time.
“Where’d you move from?” he ask, figuring that that was a safe enough question.
Not wanting to actually go on dates and only doing them to appease someone else really was a recipe for disaster. Then again, it wasn’t like Iris had the best reasoning herself for agreeing. Yes, she at least was looking to get to know new people but the dating thing? Not really on her radar at the moment given everything else she was dealing with.
“New York.” Which was its own level of special with the cost of living and given the whole...loss of her job thing thanks to the company getting rid of the entire division she’d been with and not even getting vacation time paid on top of the uncertainty of when she’d get anything….
It wasn’t something she was thrilled about, but it was life. But because of the fact it was tied into her job, which had clearly been designated as a non sequitur at best and cause for a potential fight at worst….going into the specifics wasn’t really something she was looking to do. Even if this wasn’t a blind date and so they were still trying to get to know one another.
“No kidding,” Leon said. “My brother’s from New York. Nice place, if you ignore all the trash and snow at least,” he said, grinning a little. He honestly hadn’t visited New York too often - he’d visited a couple times after Chris had been born, but then he’d gotten too caught up in his work to keep the visits up, and the last time he’d gone had been for his aunt and uncle’s funeral and to bring Chris back to California.
“Yeah? And that’s fair. It’s definitely not for everyone.” Iris had enjoyed it, but she also had been overseas for work a lot of the time. Still, the rent was ridiculous and then the fact that they could get away with not paying out her vacation time when she’d been fired? Perhaps she should have been based in California, at least there was a law here that would have given her that given the nature of journalism which meant vacation time wasn’t taken all that often and constantly built up.
“Yeah, I’ll take the warm weather and the beaches any day,” Leon said, grinning. Then again, if he lived in New York, he wouldn’t have to dream of D all the damn time. Just the thought of D and his smarmy grin soured Leon’s mood, and he scowled, taking a swig from his beer.
“There is definitely something to the warm weather,” Even if Iris did like seasons as well. And… suddenly a scowl. Well that was a sudden shift in mood even if she could have gone without the smarm. It had at least been an improvement to earlier. So much for things seeming to be getting slightly better. Taking a sip of her own drink, Iris looked around. She really had no idea on what had caused the shift or how to redirect or anything like that.
Obtuse as he could be, Leon did notice that Iris seemed to go quiet suddenly, and for a moment he wondered what it could be. Then he realized how his face must have looked. “Sorry, I was just thinking of someone,” Leon said, not really sure if he could explain the whole ‘someone from his dreams’ thing. It was better if he just didn’t mention it.
While Iris hadn’t started dreaming, she saw enough talk about it on the network. Plus after being tethered to someone, she knew how...strange...things could be in Orange County. So while she would have at least understood the reference? It probably was best not to mention it.
“Ah.”
Not that the answer was all that much better. Obviously Leon’s head was elsewhere. Which okay, from what she had already seen, the blind date really had been a bad idea. But if he was thinking about someone else while on a blind date? Really not a good sign.
“It happens.”
It really was just like D to rear his stupid head and ruin things. Luckily enough for Leon, the server chose that exact moment to bring the food, and Leon let out a sigh of relief. At least now they’d be too busy stuffing their faces to actually talk.
Oh thank god. Now they could ignore the awkwardness and focus on food and call it a night. Because there really was no other way this date was going to end besides that. Who knew, maybe she’d drop by Barry’s after because really now.
Leon was happy to let the conversation die while they ate - he wasn’t particularly keen on focusing on anything other than the food in front of him anyway, especially if he was drinking, which he did - he finished two more drinks over dinner. When they were finally done, Leon paid the bill, and then walked Iris out of the restaurant.
“So, this was nice,” he said. At least it wasn’t awful, as far as Leon was concerned. He didn’t especially want a second date, but Iris herself had seemed nice enough - her terrible job aside. Not really sure what else to say, he asked, “so uh, you wanna go back to my place?”
Now, Iris could handle her liquor, that wasn’t an issue. But it wasn’t like it took that long to eat and to finish two drinks in that span of time? Just another sign that this had been a really bad idea. Then he just took the check and paid without discussing it with her. Which okay, she supposed it could have been worse and he expected her to pay for both of them. Still, it was a lack of communication.
There definitely wasn’t going to be a second date, and Iris was looking home to getting out and going to Barry’s. Because she was going to salvage this night somehow. Or….or Leon could invite her back to his place and the journalist honestly had no idea what his aim was. It sounded like he hadn’t put much thought into it and Iris just….couldn’t deal.
“You know, I actually have an early morning and should be getting back home. But um, thanks for dinner. I’m sure I’ll see you around.” What with him working at the same police department as her dad and Barry.
Leon let out a sigh, almost of relief, when Iris turned down his invite. “Yeah, probably will. You have a good night, Iris.”
“You, too.” With that officially over, Iris gave a slight nod and then headed out of the restaurant, finally feeling able to breathe.