femmejosephine | Just a Beer [Cole]

Most of the time, the shifts at Bondurant's were fine. Today, though, it seemed like everyone was trying to annoy her. People insisted they hadn't ordered what they had (or had ordered what they hadn't), the other servers didn't finish their sidework, and she'd even spilled a cup of coffee. Fortunately, she hadn't actually spilled it on anyone, but she'd still had to clean it up and get another cup for the customer.

When she got home and checked her phone to be sure she wasn't being called back for a double, she saw Cole's voicemail again. He'd left it awhile ago, but they hadn't managed to find a time that worked for both of them. Part of it was being busy on both their parts. Part of it was, honestly, concern on her part that if they went for a beer, they wouldn't have anything to talk about. They didn't come from the same worlds in so many ways. Today, though, she thought it might be a good idea not to have a beer alone, and it was definitely a beer kind of day, so she called him and arranged to meet at a place she was starting to think of as her local.

She'd taken a shower to get rid of the coffee and grease smell, then changed into a nice jumper and what the shops called skinny jeans. She looked good but not stunning, mostly because she wasn't sure whether this was a date or just a beer between friends. After a lot of consideration, she left her gun at home, which was a huge leap for her in a lot of ways. She did have her knife in her boot as usual, but that was just prudence.

She got there ahead of him and settled at a table. If he didn't show, she'd just have a beer.

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Cole chuckles. He can't help but feel like maybe she's keeping herself closed off from him, not opening up as much as she could. Which is fine, really, but. He does want to get to know her.

"I'm not sure I have a favorite color," he admits. But he's happy to tell her about the other stuff, just for the sake of talking to her.

Nikita tsk'ed obviously and teasingly. She was enjoying herself, which she probably shouldn't have been so startled about. Every time she'd talked to Cole, even if it was just a quick hi or conversation in the laundry room, she enjoyed talking to him. She still was, though.

"No favorite color?" she repeated, smiling impishly at him before she popped another chip in her mouth and swallowed it. "I'm not sure if that's legal here. You might have to think one up, just in case."

He grins. "What are you, the color police?" he asks with a laugh. "Okay, okay, I'll work on it. Blue, off the top of my head, I guess." Which he realizes is kind of a cop-out color. Everyone says blue, he's pretty sure.

That was almost worse than no favorite color, and she rolled her eyes.

"Really? Blue? Everyone picks blue," she laughed. "Fine then. Movie, song, video game, thing to do when you have a free afternoon?"

He laughs. "I'll think about it!" he assures. "I like westerns, actually," he adds. "Probably doesn't seem like I would, to look at me. I dunno, I like how the good guy always wins and gets the girl." He's not much of a gamer, though, and especially since getting his powers, touching things is . . . risky.

And she'd learned something new: Cole was a least a bit of a romantic. It was a telling thing to like watching the good guys winning and getting the girls. She didn't believe that the good guys did win in real life and she was actually a little unsure about whether there were any good guys at all, but it was nice to see them in movies. It was nice to pretend that they did exist. She'd agree with that.

"You ever seen The Princess Bride? It's a fantasy more than a Western, but the good guy does win and he gets the girl. And it's funny. A lot of westerns aren't funny."

She'd watched it once with Carla at Carla's insistence. It had come out when Nikita'd been ten or something, but she hadn't seen it. Carla had been utterly aghast and had insisted that they had to sit down and watch it that next weekend. So they had.

"No, I don't think I've ever heard of it," he says with a frown. "You think I'd like it?" He wants to ask if she'd watch it with him, but he wonders if that would put pressure on her somehow.

"I think you might. And if you don't, you can make fun of my terrible taste in films," she pointed out. She was nearly certain he wasn't going to ask if she'd want to watch it with him, which in one way she liked. Cole was always really laid-back and no-pressure, although he did seem to like to spend time with her. She wasn't sure yet whether it was in a friendship way or more than that, and she wasn't sure he was sure either!

For now, what she needed and wanted was an actual friend in Darrow, someone she was almost definitely convinced wasn't going to stab her in the back either literally or figuratively. Anything more than that needed to grow out of that friendship. And maybe she could take a leap of faith now and then.

"Maybe we could watch it together. If you're interested, I mean," she said casually, and sipped her drink.

She hoped her leap of faith didn't land on any spikes.

Edited 2015-03-13 23:02 (UTC)

Cole considers, then nods. "Yeah, I'll give it a shot," he agrees. "And I will hold you to that whole 'make fun of your taste in movies' thing," he adds, pointing at her like it's a promise.

Nikita gave him the happy smile that had, in more than one case, caused someone to drop things, stop speaking, or otherwise show signs of being very startled. She'd hoped he'd say that, and he had.

"I wouldn't expect anything else," she agreed solemnly once she'd stopped smiling.

Just a Beer [Cole]

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