She’d gone through the rest of the afternoon rehearsals without letting herself think too much about what was going to happen when she went home. She hoped it would be a good conversation, but that wasn’t something she could afford to think about right now. Now when it would be curtains up on her first performance in less than a week. Things were going well, but she was not about to leave any room for doubt in her capabilities now.
When rehearsals were over for the day and the main cast was taking a break before their evening performance, Tina was heading home. She forced herself not to rush though. She sent a text to Zeke when she was nearly home, giving herself enough time to shower, change, and send a message to Thalia letting her know that Zeke was coming over, she didn’t know what was going to happen yet, please don’t fry him.
She had just changed into something comfortable, and was pulling her hair back into a braid in preparation for sleep that night when she heard the doorbell ring through the house. Snoopy responded in a series of excited barks, she could hear him get up from massive dog beds by the fire. Han was probably still laying there, unbothered by the new arrival.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she quickly quieted their younger dog, sending him back to the bed, though he continued to watch the door, tail thumping against the floor. But he didn’t bark again when Tina pulled open the door, so he was learning.
Ever since they had started to hook up, Ezekiel had been over several times and was accustomed to the dogs that lived with Tina and Thalia. But it had been nearly a month now since he had last seen them and he was worried that Thalia had trained them to attack him while he and Tina had been going through their weird phase, when he heard Snoopy’s barks through the door.
Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case when Snoopy didn’t come at him when the door opened. He wasn’t too worried about Han, the older dog less bothered by what was going on around him.
But thoughts of the dogs were dashed when he looked at Tina. Smiling tightly at her, he waved a hand awkwardly at her. “Hi.”
“Hey.” she responded, unsure what to make of the awkward wave. She had no idea where this was going to go. Pulling back the door, Tina stepped aside and motioned into the house with her other arm. “Come in.”
Tina looked back over her shoulder to Snoopy, whose tail was still rapping against the floor and looking like he wanted to come running over, likely to demand attention. “Stay.” she told him sternly, which caused the dog to lower his head to the pillow, but that was about it. When she was pretty sure they were safe from any dog tackles, Tina led them both toward the kitchen. Out of sight, out of mind, hopefully.
She had no idea how to start this off, because she had no idea what he was going to say. “Can I get you anything?” that seemed like a safe place to start. “Water, coffee, tea?” It was late, but maybe he had plans to work tonight so coffee could still be on the table.
“He’s getting better at listening to commands,” Zeke noted, watching as Snoopy watched them leave. Han had barely moved an inch during the whole exchange. Following Tina, he was familiar enough with her freaking mansion that he knew they were headed to the kitchen when she led them further into the house.
Taking a seat at one of the chairs at the island table, he watched her as she tried to figure out what to offer him. “Honestly, if I have more caffeine, my heart’s probably going to explode. I’ve already had three cups of Thom’s jet fuel masquerading as coffee before I came here.” Which had done absolutely nothing to calm his nerves, which might have accounted for why he was shaking his foot now.
Rubbing the back of his neck, he sighed, trying to still the nervous energy running through his body. “I don’t know how to do this without messing it up, but I want to try,” he finally said, jumping into the reason he was there.
“It’s Thalia, mostly. She doesn't have her animal communication here but she knows what she’s doing.” Tina had picked up a few tips for training dogs, but her sister was the master. “I’ve also seen Han literally push him down when he gets too hyper, so that helps.” They balanced each other out. Snoopy made Han more active, and Han did his very best to calm the younger dog down when he was too much.
Owning some of Thom’s jet fuel herself, she knew exactly the kind of kick that could have. “Right.” she said, “No heart exploding substances.” Which basically left water. Tina didn’t know if she wanted it more for herself or not, so she poured two glasses and placed them on the island, so he could have it if he wanted.
She didn’t sit down herself, probably also out of nerves. Instead she found herself leaning back against the island. She was silent for a moment letting his words sink in. Okay, so he did want to try to see whatever this was. That was good. That was what he wanted. “You’re not the only one worried about screwing things up, you know? It’s okay to feel like that. Especially when places like this screw you over so much.”
Ezekiel nodded his thanks to her for the water, but didn’t move to take it. He knew if he did, he would just fiddle with the glass and probably spill it all over himself in the sudden case of nervousness that had hit him.
“So what now?” He asked, because he didn’t want to presume that this was a done deal. That’s what got him in trouble, before, when they had broken up.
Tina wasn’t sure what was next, except it was late and she was ready to wind down for the night. Putting her water glass back on the table, she walked around the island so she was on the same side as Ezekiel, stopping just a half foot away and leaning against it.
“Do you want to stay? For a bit. For the night. I was just going to watch something random on Netflix but I’m open to a change of plans.” Or just someone joining the watch party. Whatever. Tina wasn’t trying to force anything, but she also would like to get rid of the awkwardness in the air as soon as possible.
Okay, one step at a time. Ezekiel could do that. It was a lot better than trying to figure it all out right this second. Netflix and chill, whichever way Tina wanted it. That much he could handle. A little of the tenseness of his shoulders drained and he nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I’d like that. Army of Thieves is out now? Not really horror, but could be fun?”
He slid off the stool and closed the distance between them so that there were only inches between them. Reaching for her hand, he asked, “Is this okay?” While he normally wouldn’t ask, would have just assumed and grabbed it to drag her to the room where she had her TV setup, this felt safer as they navigated trying to figure out how to make it work between them.
Tina stood up straight when he did, tensing slightly when he got close, unsure of what he was going to do next and mostly just excited to find out.
...she hadn’t expected something as simple as that. Confusion flashed behind her eyes as she looked down at their hands. It was so unlike him that for a second she thought he was that concerned about the movie.
“What, my hand?” Well, that was adorable. When she looked back up she smiled, then bit down on her so her amusement didn’t show (that probably failed). “Yeah.” Tina nodded, “I think that’s fine. TV room or my room?” Both had TVs in them and both were comfortable. She didn’t care which spot they went with.
Ezekiel was very tempted to drop her hand and run away, but he plowed through his instincts and held on. “Cool, let’s go to your room so your sister has a harder time trying to maim me.” Not that a locked door would stop Thalia Grace, but it might just buy him enough time to jump out the window and outrun her.
Maybe.
Tina huffed out a laugh, but started to lead them to the stairs and up to the second floor where the bedrooms were. “Like a door would even slow her down.” She could tell him that she already texted Thalia to not shock or maim anyone, but she’d hold off on that for now.