Maria DeLuca (readyourpalm) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-07-16 18:03:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, maria deluca, michael guerin |
Who: Michael Guerin and Maria DeLuca
What: Michael taking Maria out to lunch to apologize for crashing the DeLuca BBQ
When: A few days after July 4th
Where: Local restaurant
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 - some swears
Status: Complete
Maria was surprised when Michael offered to take her to lunch as an apology for crashing the DeLuca Fourth of July BBQ that had been going on. Honestly, Maria hadn’t really minded because it was such a mellow gathering and he was obviously three sheets to the wind. She had put him on the couch when he was finally on the verge of passing out. It had been hilarious to see him show up and complain about having to hang out with parents, but apparently Mimi DeLuca didn’t count as one of those parents (she had also gone to bed by the time Michael showed up).
Him being a decent human being and offering to apologize for his actions was what had surprised her the most. There was no way she was going to pass up a free lunch no matter who was paying. She had begrudgingly given Michael her phone number after Alex’s dream incident because if those two were going to be spending time together then she wanted a heads up if something like that happened again. She re-read the text as she walked towards the restaurant he had picked and stood outside as she waited for him to arrive.
Michael didn’t really remember much of what happened on the fourth. After Liz showed up with her parents it was kind of all a blur and Michael wasn’t entirely sure why he was there. Seemed a hell of a lot like a family thing and he was not family. He ended up just drinking a lot, which was probably what he would have done anyway. He left before the fireworks and somehow ended up at Maria’s. Next thing he knew he was waking up on her couch. He took off pretty quickly feeling a little bad about his behavior. It wasn’t until the next day that he texted her an apology and an offer to buy her lunch later in the week.
Michael showed up at the restaurant and spotted Maria waiting outside. “Hey,” he greeted with a nod as he approached. “Sorry, was finishing up a car.” He grabbed the door holding it open for her.
Michael didn’t cause any issues when he had come over and had mainly just amused Maria to no end with his drunken rambling about fireworks and parents. She had dealt with enough drunken friends and been that drunk friend back in New York City that it wasn’t a huge deal to her. She was a little worried about how much Michael tended to drink though but she didn’t know if they were friendly enough to bring that up in a discussion.
“Hey,” she answered back when he approached and gave him an easy smile. At the comment about finishing up on a car she gave him a quick once over, “Well, at least you cleaned up nicely so I don’t have to pretend I don’t know you while taking advantage of your generosity.” She thanked him as she walked through the doorway and saw the sign that said seat yourself and made a beeline to a comfy looking booth.
There was still some grease under his nails, but he had changed his shirt at least. “Glad you approve,” he smirked following her over to the booth and sliding in across from her. “It’d be a shame to buy you lunch if you wouldn’t even talk to me,” Michael added giving her a small smile.
His expression turned a bit more serious, but he was interrupted when their waiter brought over the menus. “Thanks,” Michael said before ordering himself a beer. He didn’t need to look at the menu for that. He waited for Maria to select her drink and the waiter to leave before speaking again. “So, do I want to know how bad it was?”
“Mmmhmm, it’s very important,” Maria said with a voice of seriousness before sliding into the booth and letting out a laugh, “I feel like you of all people would love a lunch without someone talking to you during it.” She knew she was right about that one but she also knew that Michael wasn’t that</li> bad about keeping up with their conversation when they were together.
Michael ordering a beer in the early afternoon made Maria arch her eyebrow just a little before she ordered herself a Coke and then chuckled a little, “It wasn’t that bad. You just kind of ranted a bit and then you passed out on the couch. I kind of just shrugged my shoulders and assumed Alex would take care of you if you needed anything. Then you disappeared in the morning.”
“Maybe,” Michael admitted with a small shrug. She was right. he usually wasn’t the type for much talking. Especially small talk. But Maria was always easy for him to talk to. He usually enjoyed their conversations. Even if she was giving him a hard time. “Depends on the person,” he added, a small smirk on his face.
“I wasn’t there for Alex,” Michael said, his eyes meeting Maria’s. Yes, he was sleeping with the guy. And they may have some sort of strange connection that Michael couldn’t quite explain. But Maria had been the one he remembered talking to that night when he was with the Evans and Ortechos. She was the reason he had shown up there. Not Alex.
Those comments combined with the look in his eyes made Maria thankful for the extra melanin in her skin so he couldn’t really see her blush. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of that information and she sent a silent prayer of thanks to the universe when the waitress showed up with their drinks and was taking their orders. She ordered a sandwich with a fruit salad instead of fries.
But once the waitress left she knew they should probably bring that up again and she fiddled with the straw in her cup, “So, then why did you end up at my place, Guerin?” She honestly was a little shocked that it wasn’t because of Alex because they were just friends.
Michael didn’t give a shit about eating healthy or even attempting it. He was all about a burger and fries, which was exactly what he ordered. The waitress left and Maria picked up the conversation right where they had left it. Michael took a sip of his beer before answering.
“Don’t know,” he replied honestly with a small shrug. “I just remember talking to you and wanting to go see you, so I did.” He didn’t see a reason to lie about it. “Hell,” he went on. “I kind of forgot Alex lives with you.” He gave her a sheepish smile before taking another sip of his drink. It was true though. He did know it in the back of his mind. But it wasn’t like he had spent any time with Alex at Maria’s place. Alex always stayed with him. So yeah, he forgot. Especially when he was drunk.
Well at least it didn’t seem to be anything more with him. Although it was still a little weird for him to want to see her, but if he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it then she wouldn’t either. They’d just leave it at that. “Oh really? Well, I guess he is spending a lot more time at Casa de Guerin than he is at the DeLuca house,” Maria didn’t judge as long as her friends were safe, “Well, I’m at least glad you took an Uber.” She would not have let him into the house if he had driven his own truck to her place.
It wasn’t a huge deal to Michael. He enjoyed being around Maria. So that was where he wanted to go. She was fun and easy to talk to. Things with Alex were usually more on the intense side which wasn’t always what Michael needed. So yeah he had wanted to see Maria that night.
“I do know when I’m too drunk to drive,” Michael replied with a grin, taking another swallow of beer. He had a lot of experience with Uber. “And what can I say? Who doesn’t prefer an air stream to an actual house?”
“Yeah, and some people say that and then slip up every once and awhile,” Maria had seen it before with some of her friends and she didn’t want to see it happen with anyone else. She would stop worrying about Michael for now, but she really hoped this didn’t mean a future where he continued to show up drunk at her place just because, “I can think of quite a few people. I don’t think anyone ever shows up at your air stream for the interior design.” She raised an eyebrow at him to make her point as she finished sipping on her soda as the waitress arrived with their food.
“You’re right,” Michael began a smirk forming on his face. “They usually come for the epic sex,” he couldn’t help but joke before finishing off his beer. When their food was brought over he went ahead and ordered himself another beer before digging into his burger.
She knew that kind of comment was coming and she gave Michael a dramatic eye roll and a groan of annoyance. Michael was full of himself and while she was not someone who wanted to confirm his claims she couldn’t fault his swagger. She thanked the waitress for the food and grabbing her drink for a refill, “Another beer, Guerin? It’s barely even noon.”
Michael preferred to think of it as having confidence. But the subject was dropped, changed even. As was his mood. Maria might have not meant much by her comment. Hell she might have even been trying to look out for him. But Michael took it more as judging. And he had enough of that growing up. Being the ratty foster kid, usually new to school, came with a lot of judgement. He didn’t need it now.
“Yeah,” Michael practically snapped. The butter knife on the table began to vibrate. “What’s wrong with that?” Before he knew what was happening the knife along with Maria’s fork both went flying off the table. “Shit,” Michael muttered, taking a deep breath to calm himself.
The change in his attitude took Maria by surprise and then the vibrating utensils happened and her eyes grew wide. Had she made him upset? Why the hell were things moving? It didn’t help that then the utensils went flying off the table and Michael seemed to accept blame for it happening. Her brow furrowed as she moved to grab the utensils off the floor, when she righted she gave him a look, “Do you want to explain that? Because it wasn’t me.”
Michael rubbed his face with his hands. No he didn’t really want to explain it. He didn’t know how. But he couldn’t lie to Maria. “Would you believe me if I said it was a dream thing?” Michael asked, keeping his voice low, an earnest look on his face. That seemed like the best place to start considering he knew Maria had dreams.
“If that means you’re not getting mad at me for calling out your beer and you don’t end up like that white boy in Chronicle then sure,” Maria knew that weird things happened in the dreams and things even appeared in this world like the crazy rock giants the other weekend, “Don’t tell me that we’re all becoming mutants or something in Roswell.” God she didn’t want to be part of some weird secret experiments.
“In what?” Michael didn’t watch a lot of movies. But that didn’t really matter. Not with what had just happened. “No,” he said, wishing he had a damn beer right now. “Pretty sure I’ve always been able to do that in the dreams.” At least as far back as he could remember given the first seven years before he emerged from the pod were a mystery. Much like the first seven years of his life here.
“Movie about some dumb white boys that get telekinetic powers and the one goes crazy and does some horrible stuff,” Maria commented, “And hm, you an alien or something? I mean it makes sense since we live in Roswell and you know, the whole Area 51 and ‘47 crash.” Her dreams were a bit slice of life right now, but she could see things being more than they seem.
Michael felt a wave of anger wash over him again. Was Maria trying to say she thought he was capable of doing horrible shit? But he managed a breath to calm himself before anything went flying again. He chose to focus on her question instead. “I think so,” he answered because there was no point in lying about it. She dreamed about Roswell too, she’d figure it out eventually.
Maria watched his face for what was going on inside his head. She hadn’t meant to upset him, but apparently everything she was saying was rubbing him the wrong way now. “Well, that definitely makes things interesting,” Maria commented with a small smile and lifted her drink to her lips to take a sip. Apparently Michael Guerin was a dream alien and now his powers were seeping through into real life. Man, was anything ever going to be normal again?
Michael’s head was a fucked up place. He barely knew what was going on in there sometimes. Well apart from his clear abandonment issues. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out, though he did have the IQ of one. “That’s it?” Michael asked with a brow raise. He wasn’t expecting her to just roll with it like that. “You’re having lunch with a maybe alien and you’re fine with it?”
“Yeah,” Maria commented with a small shrug of her shoulders, “There’s some weird stuff on the Network. Harley Quinn posts on the Network, Guerin. People have all sorts of crazy powers, there were rock giants roaming around town, I’ve come to terms with it. I believe in a lot of things and aliens has always been one of them. It’s weird, but I’m not going to stop being your friend unless you suddenly unzip your skin and emerge as a little green man.” It might be a little weird later on but right now he was still just Guerin.
And just like that Michael’s anger dissipated. He had always had a temper, but since the dreams it seemed to be worse. Usually Maria’s comment about his beer wouldn’t piss him off as much as it had. Though he still wasn’t a fan of being judged. But all that was gone now, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “You finally admitting we’re friends, DeLuca?”
“Shut up, Guerin, don’t make me regret it,” Maria narrowed her eyes at him, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, and she knew that they were friends. There was no reason to not be friends at this point especially now that he had revealed his dreams to her. She narrowed her eyes just a little bit more before she lifted her burger to her mouth to take a large bite. Okay, maybe he wasn’t so bad but he would never let him know that.