Megan and Andy - Promotions and Confessions Who: Megan and Andy When: Friday, Feb. 8 Where: Their flat, Mahou Sushi, Community Center near their flat What: Andy gives Megan some good news... and some not so good news. Then some more good news!
Megan's lips twisted as she stared at the rings in the coffee table. The ones that had been there since before she'd moved in and that refused to come out no matter how much she polished. Hands on her hips, she held up the bottle of Old English Scratch Remover furniture polish as if the bottle had failed her and it had been her only hope. Which it really was. She'd gone through all the potions she knew of, all the old techniques she'd heard of, and then her mum had recommended scrubbing cigarette ashes into the rings twice and finishing with the Old English. Unfortunately the furniture polish had been a little more than she'd hoped. Even more unfortunately neither she nor Andy smoked and Quinn was the only person she knew who did. But she really didn't want to ask for his ashes since she just knew he'd go tell Andy about it and she really didn't want him worrying about her worrying about the table.
Coffee grounds hadn't worked, neither had mayo or vaseline. And now this expensive bottle of furniture polish wasn't working either. Maybe when she got her next paycheck she'd buy a pack of cigarettes and just burn them for their ashes? Picking up her rag, she collapsed into the couch cushions - avoiding the spot where she knew the beer stain had been - and glared at the rings as if they were the source of all evil in the world.
The door to the flat burst open, and Andy came in, grinning instantly when he saw Megan there on the couch. She looked frustrated, and he was glad he had something to make her smile. "Guess who's home!" he said, spreading his arms and revealing the bouquet of tulips and irises he'd been hiding behind his back.
As soon as Megan had heard the door oped she shoved the cloth and polish deep into the cracks between the cushions, but her entire demeanour and annoyance at water rings disappeared entirely as soon as she heard Andy's voice. And then every thought in her head evaporated at the sight of the flowers. Flowers! "Are those for me?!" she squealed, running over to him and clapping her hands together.
"All yours," he said, holding them out to her as he bent in to kiss her cheek. "Put them in some water and then go throw on a dress. We're going out to dinner tonight."
Eyes as wide as saucers, she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him as tight as she could. "Dinner? Dress? Flowers!?! Did something happen?"
"Yes, something happened, and no, I won't tell you until we're at the restaurant," he said, squeezing her back.
With another excited squeal, Megan took the flowers and practically flew into the kitchen - finding a vase, trimming the stems, and arranging them in water. When she was confident they were perfect, she ran to the bedroom, poking her head out at the last second. "How nice of a dress? I don't want too look too fancy!"
"Sushi nice," he said, following her voice back into the bedroom. "I thought we could go to Mahou. They have vegetarian rolls, I checked."
Megan pulled the old shirt she'd been cleaning in over her head and dropped it neatly in the hamper before following it with her track pants. "Really?! I've never had sushi before! Is it good?"
"It's vegetables wrapped in rice wrapped in seaweed wrapped in zen," he said, reaching into the closet and pulling out a flamboyantly polyester button down shirt. "You'll love it!"
Nodding along with his description and gnawing on her lower lip while looking around her minimal selection of dresses, Megan's eyes landed on a pink one she'd bought for a spring wedding several years ago. She'd never gotten to wear it since her mum had declared she looked like a harlot, but she'd never quite been able to part with it. Like all of Megan's prized possessions it was in immaculate condition, though it was probably a little musty from being carted from place to place. With a lift of her chin she decided that even if it was too fancy, she was going to wear it anyways. "I need the closet," she declared, her face fixed into a wide smile as she turned to Andy. "Just for a second!"
Andy grabbed a pair of slacks and backed away. "All yours, love," he said, tossing his clothes on the bed before pulling his shirt off.
Cramped in the tiny closet, Megan managed to grab the dress off the rack and wiggle into it. She'd grown since she last wore it, and it was much shorter, but the past year had kept her from growing thicker as well as taller and it still zipped up and covered everything. Mostly. Looking down she realized that no matter how strapless and backless a bra was, it was never going to fit in that dress. Once she'd manage to situate her undergarments with the dress, she grabbed her wrap from its hanger and fastened it around her before pushing the doors open. "Okay, I just have to do my hair and then I'll be ready," she insisted, pushing herself up on her toes and kissing his cheek.
"Whoa," Andy said, grabbing her shoulders and putting her firmly at arm's length so he could look down at her dress. "Let me see this. You look hot. Turn around."
"It's just a dress," she said sheepishly, though dutifuly taking the wrap from her shoulders and spinning around so he could see the dress. "I don't look like a harlot, do I?"
Andy's brow pinched, his eyes filling with determination to keep her from changing out of that dress. "No...no, you look exquisite. This is the perfect dress to wear to sushi!"
Practically jumping into his arms, Megan kissed him as hard as he could. "Thank you! I'll just be a minute, really!" she insisted, kissing him once more before disappearing into the bathroom.
Andy hurried out of his corduroys and into his black slacks and shiny deep blue shirt. He stood in front of the mirror on the closet door, popping his collar up and raising one eyebrow to an improbable arch at his reflection. "You are one handsome psychic, Professor Bell," he growled at himself.
Teeth brushed, make up on, hair straightened, earrings in place. Check, check, check, check! Satisfied that she didn't look completely awful, she returned to the room, resting her head against the doorway as she watched Andy, her grin growing by the second. After Last Year she'd been so sure she would never really laugh or smile again, and yet here she was - happier than she'd ever been in her life! "The handsomest!" she agreed, piping up from her place in the doorway. "You look so good in blue! Have I told you that before?"
Andy's eyebrows lifted and he folded the collar back down as he turned to face her. "You've certainly thought it before," he said. "And you look gorgeous in pink, love. You ready?"
"I love pink!" she needlessly reiterated, picking up a pair of heels and sitting on the bed to strap them to her feet before jumping to them again. "Ready!"
Andy threw on one of his nicer thrift-store dinner jacket finds and led Megan out of the flat, letting her Apparate them to Cayotic Alley, right in front of of Mahou Sushi. The inside of the of the restaurant was sharp and modern, centered around the sushi bar where three skilled chefs wielded magically-enhanced knives, slicing with deadly speed and accuracy. Andy requested a booth away from the bar so that Megan wouldn't have to watch the fish being cut up and slid in to sit right next to her in the back of the booth.
After ordering them both a glass of umeshu, a sweet Japanese plum wine that Andy'd had once and figured Megan would like, he opened a menu in front of them and pointed out the vegetarian section. "Oh, oh, you'll love the cucumber and avacado roll. We should get at least two of those."
"I like both cucumber and avacado," Megan said thoughtfully, scanning the menu. "Oh! Roasted eggplant and zucchini! Can we try that one too? Oooh, or what about the-" cutting herself off, she looked up with her words stalled on her tongue. "Andy, are you sure we can? Do we have enough?"
"Order whatever you want to try," he said, giving her an easy smile. "We should get some vegetable tempura, too. Have you ever had tempura?"
Eyebrows meeting as her confusion deepened, Megan shook her head. With her photography classes coming up as an extra expense for her she'd been worried about them cutting it too close, but here they were at a fancy restaurant ordering whatever they wanted out of nowhere! It just didn't make sense. "What's tempura?" she finally asked, tilting her head to read the description.
"Vegetables battered with these flaky little bread crumbs and deep fried," he said, watching her expression. "So...there's a reason why we're out for dinner tonight, remember? A reason why we can have whatever we want. Well, it's more like two reasons, really...."
Remembering the reason he said he'd tell her at the restaurant, Megan straightened up - the menu and tempura completely forgotten. "Oh my goodness, did you discover you're really an heir to the throne?!" she asked breathlessly.
Andy shook his head. "No, no...I'm still trying to prove the Adair family link to the Windsors," he said quite seriously. "First of all, I got a letter from Habit's cousin Jonas. My horoscopes last week brought in a few fan letters from the reading public, and he'll pay me to help Parvati jazz up hers every day."
"Oh that's wonderful!" she squealed, gripping his arm and bouncing in her seat. "I loved your horoscopes! I think they're the best! What's the-" momentarily cut off, she looked up as their wine was brought to the table and the waiter stopped to take their order.
Andy ordered several different rolls off the menu, as well as the tempura, and then turned his attention back to Megan. "What's the what?"
"You said two things," she reminded him, a huge smile from the first news still plastered on her face as she picked up her glass. "What's the other thing?"
"Well," Andy said, reaching for his glass. "Do you remember how I told you that if I was patient, they'd eventually make me a full-time full professor?"
Almost scared to believe he was telling her what she thought he was telling her, Megan nodded with wide eyes. "Did you play them right?" she whispered.
He clinked his glass against hers and winked. "A straight flush," he said. "A week from Monday, I'll start my first full schedule of classes."
If it hadn't been attached to the rest of her face, Megan's jaw would have hit the table. "You're full-time? A real professor? A promotion?" she asked, her squealing covered up by her voice being nothing more than a scratchy whisper. Then her wine glass was back on the table and her arms were around him as she practically launched herself into his lap. "Oh, Andy, that's fantastic! I'm so proud of you!!"
Andy beamed into her hair. "Thanks, love. I'm proud of me, too."
"You," she started, lowering her voice and glancing around to make sure no one was listening, "get loads of biscuits tonight! Even ginger ones," she promised, cheeks flushed as she took a sip of her wine. "Oh, this is sweet!"
"Do you like it?" he asked, then drank from his own glass.
"Oh yes, it's much better than that champagne stuff Ben brought us that one time," she said, wrinkling her face at the memory.
"I knew you would," he said, tapping his finger to his temple. "So, about this biscuits--" he started to say, but got cut off by the waiter bringing them a small plate of tempura, artistically presented. Andy picked up up a piece of zucchini with his chopsticks, dipped it in the sauce, and held it out for her. "Open wide."
Doing her best baby bird impersonation, Megan tilted her head up and opened her mouth for the tempura.
As if he was playing a knock down drag out match of Operation with Gus and Tink, Andy carefully fitted the tempura into her mouth and withdrew his chopsticks.
At the burst of flavour Megan's eyes snapped open. Making a noise of pleasure, she savoured the taste before washing it down with a sip of wine. "That was amazing!" Picking up her own chopsticks, she chose a daikon and dipped it like she'd seen him do - letting the excess drip off before holding it up so she wouldn't drip the sauce on the table. "Okay Mr. Professor. Your turn!"
"Ahhhh," he said, opening his mouth, and then chomped down on the radish, crunching on it happily. "It's really good here. Perfectly crunchy on the outside, perfectly cooked on the inside."
Choosing an eggplant for herself, Megan chewed it thoughtfully, looking up at Andy in complete amazement. The fact that her mouth was full with deep fried eggplant was the only thing that kept her from blurting 'I love you!' out right then and, as far as she knew, ruining the meal. So once she'd calmed herself down and swallowed the mouthful, she leaned up to give him a quick kiss. "Thank you," she told him, putting as much feeling into it as she could.