Kyle (brainoverbrawn) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-06-15 20:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, julia wicker, kyle valenti |
Who: Kyle Valenti & Julia Wicker
What: Q's best friend meets Alex's best friend
When: Sometime after this
Where: The beach
Rating/Warnings: PG / None
Status: Log | Complete
It was another bright and beautiful day at the beach and Kyle was enjoying the last vestiges of his vacation before returning to work which involved a long day of surfing followed by generally bumming around on the beach. Honestly Kyle loved his job, he did, he really did, but on days like this he realised just how stressful it actually was. Not helped by the fact that karmically speaking he'd apparently had some idea what a giant douche he'd been in another life and was trying to make up for it in a lot of ways.
Of course as he was packing up his things to head home he couldn't help but notice the disaster that was about to happen.
It didn't take a genius to see just how much of a bad idea it was to play volleyball so close to people sunbathing especially if your team was shocking which this team was and the ball was heading straight for an unsuspecting brunette.
Shit.
Kyle dropped what he was doing and made short work of the distance, thankfully just in time as he was able to catch the ball before it came slamming down.
Julia had spent a little time in the water before she'd returned to where she'd secured herself a chair, towel spread out over it and belongings stashed underneath. Sunglasses perched on her face, Julia was in a deep green bathing suit with cut-outs at the side. She had thought about a bikini but honestly she figured she'd probably be more comfortable in a bathing suit. She was right. The sarong she had was black which was helping keep her legs warm even as the California sun kissed her skin and dried away any remnants of the water.
She was mostly oblivious to her surroundings, if she was honest, zoned out and focused on her thoughts - sort of meditating but not quite - but even she wasn't so out of it that when a shadow crossed over her rapidly, accompanied by a series of shouts, she lifted her head and pushed her sunglasses up to see an incredibly handsome man stepping between her and a volleyball that had been rapidly flying in her direction.
Shades now resting on the top of her head, she sat up properly. "Are you okay?" she asked, having heard the sound of the ball smacking into his hands as he caught it. "Also, that was a pretty fucking good catch."
His hands were stinging from where he'd caught the ball but better that than some poor person getting smacked square in the face because that shit hurt. "Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her with a smile as he slung the ball back. "Helps that I played a lot of sports in high school."
It would seem his luck was pretty good though because the brunette he'd just rescued was definitely easy on the eyes and her bathing suit was definitely working for her.
"Kyle," he offered as he extended a hand.
Julia's eyebrow lifted, eyes doing a quick rake down across his body and finding that she wasn't at all surprised that he had probably been a jock in high school. She wondered if he'd done something sports-related in college. The way his shirt clung to his shoulders, highlighting the nice shape of his arms, certainly indicated that he had kept up some kind of sports. He definitely looked after himself.
She reached out and took his hand in her own, finding that it was warm - probably stinging-hot from stopping the ball - and the grip was firm, not too calloused but there were slight ridges she could feel on his palm as their hands slid together. Her eyebrow arched slightly as she looked up at him and her lips curled up into a small smile.
"Julia," she said, head tipped up at him, suddenly very glad that she didn't look utterly awful today. "Thanks for the save. I feel like you intervened seconds before a disaster."
"Pleasure to meet you, Julia," Kyle answered easily and with a further charming smile. "And you're not wrong, being hit in the face with a volleyball is..." He shook his head and grimaced faintly. "I would not recommend."
He chuckled and came down into a crouch so she no longer had to crane her neck.
Julia scooted up the lounger a little and indicated that Kyle could sit there if he wanted to, legs off to one side to give him some room. "Speaking from experience, are we?" she asked, leaning forward and resting her elbow on her thigh, chin settling on her knuckles.
Kyle chuckled as he took Julia up on her kind offer to join her on the lounger, making sure he settled his weight just right so he didn't topple it in one direction or another. "Oh, I do. Happened in college once and let's just say I did not enjoy myself, not one bit. Didn't break my nose thankfully but I was sporting a nice set of black eyes."
Julia winced in sympathy. "Ouch," she shook her head, "that doesn't sound even the tiniest bit fun." She wet her lower lip, glancing at the grateful players who had gone right back to their game without even yelling an apology in the direction of the people they'd nearly flattened. "On the plus side, you've definitely got the kind of look that means you'd still rock a black eye or two."
Kyle's lips eased into a further smile in response to the compliment. "Well, thank you." He also glanced at the players who were right back into their game and just shook his head. People. "So, Julia, aside from nearly being hit by a volleyball how are you enjoying your day at the beach?"
"It's definitely looking up," Julia told him honestly, her lips curled up into a little smile. "Yours?"
Kyle caught that smile and his teeth caught his lower lip as he nodded his head. "Yeah, definitely the same." He smoothed his hands over his thighs and tipped his head. "I was actually going to get out of here, maybe grab a bite to eat. Don't know if maybe you'd wanna join me?"
Julia's eyes dropped to his mouth when he caught his lip between his teeth and she tilted her head in response. "Only if you let me buy, as a thank you for saving me from a volleyball-related injury."
Thankfully she was mostly dry, and she could pull her clothes on over her bathing suit.
"Well, if you insist," Kyle answered with a smile. "Who am I to turn down a beautiful woman?"
Kyle rose back to his feet and gestured. "I just gotta grab my things and I'll meet you at the carpark." With a further lingering look he headed back over to where his belongings were.
Julia smiled and nodded her head, watching him walk away before she got to her feet and slipped her dress on over her head. She was definitely dressed for a day at the beach, which meant that dressing required very little stripping.
Packing up her bag and shaking the sand off her towel, Julia picked up her sandals and headed towards the sidewalk, washing the sand off her feet with the showers there before heading over to the car park, leaning against the low wall.
It didn't take Kyle very long to gather his things and with a bag slung over his shoulder and trainers in place of where bare feet had been a moment ago he rummaged out his keys so he could unlock and get rid of his things. He glanced over and offered Julia a smile where she'd leaned against the nearby wall.
"So, you have two options." He bit his lower lip as he gave a boyish smile as he held up one finger. "One, I can drive us somewhere, but I feel like that's not really something I should encourage, getting into cars with random strangers or two, we can wander down the beach a little and find a place along the way."
Julia tilted her head, eyes on Kyle for a moment before she said with an easy smile on her lips. She looked him up and down for a moment before she said, "Honestly? It'd be a lot of wasted effort saving me from a volleyball only to murder me in your car. I'm good to get away from the beach for a while, if you are?"
Kyle chuckled and nodded his head. "That is a very good point." He reached into his bag and rummaged out his car keys before he got the passenger side door with a charming smile. "You feeling anything in particular?" Figured he'd give Julia the choice as Kyle could eat pretty much anything, he wasn't a fussy eater.
Julia lifted a shoulder and tipped her head in Kyle's direction as she slid into the passenger seat gracefully, bag at her feet as she returned the smile with one of her own.
"There's a nice sushi place about ten minutes away," she told him with an eyebrow quirk. "If you're a sushi guy?"
"I could eat sushi," Kyle replied as his bags were placed in the back and he slipped in behind the wheel. His car was both clean and tidy so he didn't need to worry about Julia judging him for the state of his car. Kyle was by nature a very organised methodical person who valued and at times craved a calm orderly space.
His door was shut, the belt slipped across his chest, the car put into gear and Kyle pulled out of the parking lot.
"Sushi it is, then," Julia said with a decisive nod of her head. It was good; she needed to just be distracted for a while from the dreams that she'd had - and though Q had talked to her about his, she hadn't wanted to validate him at that time by saying she'd dreamed something similar, though not identical, as she'd dreamed about getting that call.
She flexed her finger against her thigh and pushed her hair back behind her ear, watching the beach pass in the passenger window, tapping the place into Kyle's GPS.
Her day was definitely looking up.