For muses_w_remotes - 5.8
5.8. “Annie, when you're attracted to someone, it just means that your subconscious is attracted to their subconscious, subconsciously. So what we think of as fate is just two neuroses knowing that they are a perfect match.”
| Sleepless In Seattle
[Co-written with notskywalker & prvdsrhythm]
Benny knew Tab probably still wanted to be in Princeton with her brother, but he was glad to have his best friend back. He was even glad when she'd told him she'd apparently gotten back on the horse. Though her details regarding the particular horse she'd ridden Benny was currently trying to forget. He hooked his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He wasn't about to let any other horses at her tonight. Tonight she was here to hang out with him, and check out the cool little bar that Benny had been frequenting for a while now. Tab just never had had the time to join him before.
Tabitha let Benny play protector as they wound their way through the crowd without argument. Truth was she was still feeling fragile. She cradled her bandaged hand against her chest, and used her other hand to grip the back of Benny's jacket. While she might have told him about Flynn, she hadn't told him about Luke the charming saxophonist. She didn't really know how to. She'd talked to Riley a little, but it only made her feel like a bigger idiot for missing out on something he seemed to think she needed.
She'd gotten her rebound fuck, so maybe it was time to try and move on in other ways. She'd also started organising with Benny to help box up her stuff and move in with him. Tab brought herself back to the bar and looked around. It was pretty cool. She glanced in the direction of the stage and frowned when she thought she saw a familiar figure start to come towards them.
Luke had spotted them the minute they walked in the entrance and he'd almost lost his grip of the microphone he'd been trying to readjust up on the stage. All night it had been drooping on the singers mid-song and while it posed for some rather amusing comedy amidst the performances, it was getting tiresome. It was now bound tightly in gaffer tape and Luke would have to send one of his staff to the music store in the morning to get a replacement in time for the weekend, which usually saw the bar packed to the rafters.
His eyes were fixed on Tab, but he glanced at Benny, almost expecting the drummer to proffer an explanation as to why he'd never brought Tab here before, even when he was still halfway across the room. His arm was caught by a regular patron who wanted to tell him a joke, so Luke stopped with a smirk and leaned on the crowded table to hear it. He laughed at the punchline, even if he was distracted by other things and then excused himself to beeline for the newest arrivals.
"It must be my week for lucky charms," he greeted them calmly. "Sure you aren't Irish?"
Benny frowned as he looked from Tab to Luke and back again. He felt like he was missing something. "Nah, bro, she's English," he butted in before Tab could reply herself. "She does like her Lucky Charms, though. Girl eats her body weight in those things every morning." The blond drummer smirked as he reached his hand down to pat her stomach.
Tab slapped his hand before elbowing him in the side. She ignored his groan of pain before smiling at Luke. "Hey there, Charlie Parker. You just go around randomly gaffer taping mics to stands in bars, or what?"
Luke pressed his lips together in amusement as Benny effectively got the passive aggressive version of a bitchslap. "I know she's English, mate," he offered, eyes locked on Tab. "I'm a man of many talents. Is there a particular reason I haven't seen you here before if you're attached to Benny enough to get away with nearly elbowing him in the knackers?"
"Dude, please don't talk about my 'knackers'. It just makes me think of when Tab's talking about her damn knickers." His nose crinkled as he poked out his tongue between his teeth. He wasn't oblivious to the way Luke was focused on Tab though, and glanced at his best friend to see if she was just as transfixed. He was starting to feel like very a very attractive wall. "You and T know each other?"
Tab's mouth formed a lopsided smile that might have been mistaken for a smirk. "Guess I just kept finding other things to do, but if I'd have known the roadie was hot I might have come sooner."
Luke flicked a glance at Benny. "No, we don't. Why don't you introduce us, man?" he prompted as he not too subtly took in Tab's petite form with intrigue. "Or we could just talk about her knickers."
He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek so he didn't start to laugh. "You should've come sooner," he agreed, leaving the roadie comment hanging.
Benny loosened his grip on Tab as he slapped Luke on the shoulder and gripped it hard. It was Benny's way of warning Luke that he would probably have to hurt him if they talked about Tab's knickers. "Lucas Alexander Jackson, aka 'just Luke'; this is Tabitha London Browne, aka 'just Tab'. And trust me, she will kill you if you call her anything other than Tab. But she lets me call her T because I adopted her back when we were twelve."
Tab shifted on the spot, and rolled her eyes a little. She could strangle Benny sometimes. "Wow, Benjamin Isaac Taylor, how about you just hand over my baby pictures, too?"
"London, huh? And there I was thinking my name sounded like a law firm," Luke said with a laugh. "Not that there is anything wrong with unusual middle names. Very unique." He casually held his hand out in Tab's direction. "Nice to meet you, Tabitha London Browne. This must be my lucky night."
"Then you'll just love my brother's middle name. He got 'Paris'. I'm kind of glad he got stuck with that one since I'd have to kill myself for having anything barely resembling a Hilton girl near my person."
Benny started to snicker as he scratched at the back of his neck. "Well, you do have a lack of breasts thing going on like Paris."
Tab elbowed him in the side again as she turned her head to glare up at him. "I think you're forgetting that if I ever released a sex tape that it would be so much better than hers." She turned her attention back to Luke and grinned as she took his hand. "Nice to meet you, Lucas Alexander Jackson. And it is most definitely your lucky night." She even added a wink that Benny wouldn't see.
"Seriously? Paris? What are you, twins or something?" Luke asked, sniggering. "Is he anything like a Hilton sister?"
He made no move to release her hand. Hers was much smaller than his, but it felt warm and inviting in his. "It's practically fate," he suggested, his lips curling in a smirk that hid much behind it that Benny would be oblivious to. Of course, Benny had a knack of being oblivious to a lot of things.
Benny raised his eyebrows at Luke. "This is T, man. As in the T. My singer compadre, the one I told you about. So yeah, she's a twin. And no, her brother is nothing like a Hilton sister. Even if he is the softer of the two."
Tab stepped a little closer to Luke, and didn't make any move to take her hand away either. She rubbed her thumb against the back of his hand and her brown eyes twinkled in the dim lighting. "Funny that."
"Ahh, doctor brother who is cool in a dorky way," Luke recalled with a nod. "How's the hand?" he asked, still not taking his eyes off her. His fingers linked in with hers.
"Is that what he told you?" Tab tilted her head as she regarded Luke. Then she just shrugged. "I suppose that is Riley. But he's my Big Bro and I love him. The hand's kind of itchy and still sore. Doesn't stop me from doing anything except writing, eating, and playing guitar."
"So, you're the youngest? We have something in common besides fate," Luke said. "And you practically have a whole world of hand actions at your fingertips."
He nodded in the direction of the stage. "Can I tempt you to get up and join me at some point tonight?"
"By a couple minutes, and he never lets me forget. So you got an older brother as well?" She smiled, and waggled her eyebrows. "That I do. I'm surprisingly good with my right hand when it comes to some things."
Benny cleared his throat and pointed at the bar. "I'm just going to grab a drink before T decides she'd rather drag you behind the stage." He ruffled the redhead's hair and smirked. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, T. Which is, well, not a lot."
Tab practically pushed him away with her shoulder and tried not to look too relieved at having Luke to herself. She looked towards the stage and pulled her mouth to the side. "I don't know, maybe. What are you going to tempt me with?"
"No, three older sisters," Luke revealed. "And they never let me forget it, either. I still have mental scars from my eldest beating this bloke up who was picking on me. Real blow to the male ego, that."
He broke her eye contact just long enough to watch Benny retreat to the bar before turning back to her with a smile. "Oh, I don't know... what are the chances of you dragging me behind the stage?" he asked mischievously.
"Yikes, sounds like a definite head fuck. Mind you, I was like sixteen when I terrorised this bitch cheerleader that Riley was dating. She decided that her position also included seeing to the players' more personal needs." She smirked as she straightened to all of her full 5'2" height. "He didn't exactly see it, though."
She licked at her lips, and let out a sigh. "Not as high as it might have been a year ago. Nothing against you, because you really are just... well, hot. I'd do you in a second. It's just, um, horses." She frowned as she once again answered with the cryptic word. "And I guess since we crossed paths again I should explain the horses thing, huh?"
Luke laughed. "Oh now, see, he can't be that big of a dork if he was pulling cheerleaders at sixteen. I was lucky to get a snog off the class bookworm."
"What is with your horse fetish?" he finally had to ask, slightly bewildered. "I tried to work that one out for hours the afternoon we met. Despite hoping you might be thinking if I'm hung like one, I couldn't figure it out."
"I never said she was a talented cheerleader," Tab told him with a grin. "And how did you not get snogs off even the class bookworm?"
Tab ducked her head and laughed. "Well, there might have been a few long moments after we met where I was wondering that. No, it's this conversation me and my brother had about getting back on the horse. In my case the horse is the dating and falling in love thing because I ended something that stretched over eight years. My first love," she murmured with a shrug. "I'm twenty-five and I hadn't had a boyfriend until about three months ago, or something. I was pretty much a tart up until then."
"Well, I can be very convincing and she was very impressed I knew who invented anaesthetic," Luke explained with a light shrug.
At her explanation, he balked. In fact, he took his hand away with a clear of his throat. "So, you're in a rebound phase," he guessed. "Which makes sense, considering you've mentioned the horse in both our conversations. That's all pretty heavy." And intimidating, to say the least, he thought to himself. He'd been caught in girls' rebounds before and it had never ended well for him.
Tab's face dropped as he let go of her hand and she let it fall to her side as she gave herself a mental kick. Way to kill the mood, T. Funny how her internal voice at that moment sounded a lot like Benny. "I was kind of coming off a rebound thing when I was walking through Manhattan. I don't even know how long a rebound is supposed to last. I'm shit at this stuff. Riley's the one who knows all about relationships and dating." She shifted her weight onto her other foot as she started to pull back. "I'm sorry, I never meant to get you caught up in anything, I didn't even... Sorry," she offered again. She looked towards the bar and looked ready to run off to Benny and seek refuge. "I said too much."
"Hey, it's okay. Don't run away," Luke said, leaning down a little so he could see her face. "I'm sorry. That was reactionary. Let's just say I had a rather messy relationship with a girl who was on the rebound in the past and I always swore I'd try not to get myself into the same crap all over again. Plus, I'm more interested in hearing about you, not your ex-horse. But call that a male ego thing. We don't do well listening about exes which is why rebound stuff always goes wrong unless there really is no strings..."
He paused and wet his lips. "And I don't think I'd be satisfied with anything just 'no strings' with you," he admitted quietly. "If you aren't looking for anything, I get it. You can still get up and share your musical talents with the bar."
"I thought no strings would be easier to go back to," she replied softly. She looked up at him and had to bite the inside of her cheek to make sure she maintained eye contact. "I promise not to talk about my ex-horse if you promise you can be patient while I learn to adapt to strings."
She stepped in close to him again and placed her hand on his side. "I wasn't going to look for anything, and I guess I still don't have to. It kind of decided to step out into my path and play me Hendrix."
"It can walk away any time you like," Luke added. He had a sense he just wanted to step away anyway and not risk himself getting hurt. She seemed awfully hung on the first love of eight years and he worried she wouldn't be able to adapt or he wouldn’t be able to live up to that, no matter how long he waited. He'd somewhat been there too. He didn't want to be anyone's back-up plan. He was too solitary and independent himself. When he risked his heart, it had to be for something spectacular.
Something he had a feeling he might find with Tab, if only... if only she wasn't in the situation she was in. He glanced momentarily over at Benny who was laughing at something the bartender was saying. He exhaled slowly and met her eyes again. "I don't know, Tab. It sounds like you have a lot to figure out and I don't really want to get in the way of that. Just because you aren't talking about him, doesn't mean you aren't thinking about him," he murmured.
Tab rubbed her shoulder and let out a rough exhalation. "Short of letting you read my mind I don't know how to convince you that my obsession with horses is more about me, and my history than my ex-horse." She frowned, and glared down at her Union Jack Doc Martens. "Not many people make me want to try for something long term, or something that isn't a quick fuck behind a stage."
She reached her hands behind her and was about to tuck them into the pockets of her jeans when she remembered the cut that was still healing and her hands went back to dangling uselessly at her sides. "You make me want to try."
Luke searched her eyes, biting down on the corner of his lip. "I could just make it easy on you by telling you I don't want a quick fuck behind the stage. I can get that any time," he suggested. "How about you let me take you on a date that is sans horses, sans busking, and sans Benny?"
She nodded as her face relaxed. "Okay. I can do that. A date. And I don't mean to ramble so much; I swear I'm usually more together than this. It's just, I don't know. You make me nervous. Good nervous," she added quickly with a smile.
Luke's face lit up with another smile. "Good nervous. I guess I can work with that. So, when are you free?" he asked.
"At the moment, pretty much any time. The record's done, and I'm just working on moving in with Benjamin, and changing jobs and stuff, so I think it's safe to say that while I sound busy there'll be a lot of doing fuck all as well."
"Hey, I'm the king of doing fuck all," Luke said proudly. "And what about this big brother? Do I have to worry about being subjected to the 'If you hurt her' speech or maybe even beaten up? I mean, damn, the guy dated cheerleaders," he laughed.
"He dated one cheerleader, and that was only for a couple of weeks. He learned his lesson. I don't know if you'll get the speech, or not. Riley's never really had to give it. Mostly he just tells me that if anyone hurts me he'll kill them." She shrugged and smiled up at Luke. "Guess we'll just have to see if you meet him."
"'If' is better than outright fuck off. I can take an 'if'," Luke said with a soft laugh. "So, how about Tuesday night? I'll pick you up. You just have to dress up and I'll take care of the rest."
"Dress up?" Tab pulled her mouth to the side as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Now she had to actually consider what she wore. "Okay, Tuesday it is."
Luke took a few steps away to pluck a napkin off one of the bar tables and handed it to her with a pen from his pocket. "Just write down your address and phone number for me. Or if you don't want to get that personal yet, give me Benny's. I'm only asking in case I do something stupid like come down with leprosy in the meantime. I don't want you to think I'm standing you up if I can't make it."
Tab grabbed the napkin and pen and write down her number without hesitation. She was being given a second chance with Luke and she wasn't going to fuck it up if she could help it. Though really, wasn't this about her third chance? "If you get leprosy I'll cry. I don't want any of your bits falling off before I get a chance to check them out properly." She handed him back the pen with her number and Benny's address. "You better show up."
Luke made a crossing motion across his chest before tucking the napkin safely in his pocket. "I promise, unless I'm dead or kidnapped by aliens, I'll be there, Lucky Charm. I was convinced my horse had bolted when I watched you walk away down the street the other day."
Tab reached out to take his hand, and threaded her fingers through his. "I haven't bolted, I promise." She crossed her heart in a repeat of his gesture, and smiled at him.
Luke returned the smile and squeezed her hand. "I'm glad. And no pressure. Just one date so you can see that maybe not all horses are willing to bolt so easily," he promised.
"I can't wait, Charlie Parker."
Words: 3351
pullmysteth referenced with permission.
| Sleepless In Seattle
[Co-written with notskywalker & prvdsrhythm]
Benny knew Tab probably still wanted to be in Princeton with her brother, but he was glad to have his best friend back. He was even glad when she'd told him she'd apparently gotten back on the horse. Though her details regarding the particular horse she'd ridden Benny was currently trying to forget. He hooked his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He wasn't about to let any other horses at her tonight. Tonight she was here to hang out with him, and check out the cool little bar that Benny had been frequenting for a while now. Tab just never had had the time to join him before.
Tabitha let Benny play protector as they wound their way through the crowd without argument. Truth was she was still feeling fragile. She cradled her bandaged hand against her chest, and used her other hand to grip the back of Benny's jacket. While she might have told him about Flynn, she hadn't told him about Luke the charming saxophonist. She didn't really know how to. She'd talked to Riley a little, but it only made her feel like a bigger idiot for missing out on something he seemed to think she needed.
She'd gotten her rebound fuck, so maybe it was time to try and move on in other ways. She'd also started organising with Benny to help box up her stuff and move in with him. Tab brought herself back to the bar and looked around. It was pretty cool. She glanced in the direction of the stage and frowned when she thought she saw a familiar figure start to come towards them.
Luke had spotted them the minute they walked in the entrance and he'd almost lost his grip of the microphone he'd been trying to readjust up on the stage. All night it had been drooping on the singers mid-song and while it posed for some rather amusing comedy amidst the performances, it was getting tiresome. It was now bound tightly in gaffer tape and Luke would have to send one of his staff to the music store in the morning to get a replacement in time for the weekend, which usually saw the bar packed to the rafters.
His eyes were fixed on Tab, but he glanced at Benny, almost expecting the drummer to proffer an explanation as to why he'd never brought Tab here before, even when he was still halfway across the room. His arm was caught by a regular patron who wanted to tell him a joke, so Luke stopped with a smirk and leaned on the crowded table to hear it. He laughed at the punchline, even if he was distracted by other things and then excused himself to beeline for the newest arrivals.
"It must be my week for lucky charms," he greeted them calmly. "Sure you aren't Irish?"
Benny frowned as he looked from Tab to Luke and back again. He felt like he was missing something. "Nah, bro, she's English," he butted in before Tab could reply herself. "She does like her Lucky Charms, though. Girl eats her body weight in those things every morning." The blond drummer smirked as he reached his hand down to pat her stomach.
Tab slapped his hand before elbowing him in the side. She ignored his groan of pain before smiling at Luke. "Hey there, Charlie Parker. You just go around randomly gaffer taping mics to stands in bars, or what?"
Luke pressed his lips together in amusement as Benny effectively got the passive aggressive version of a bitchslap. "I know she's English, mate," he offered, eyes locked on Tab. "I'm a man of many talents. Is there a particular reason I haven't seen you here before if you're attached to Benny enough to get away with nearly elbowing him in the knackers?"
"Dude, please don't talk about my 'knackers'. It just makes me think of when Tab's talking about her damn knickers." His nose crinkled as he poked out his tongue between his teeth. He wasn't oblivious to the way Luke was focused on Tab though, and glanced at his best friend to see if she was just as transfixed. He was starting to feel like very a very attractive wall. "You and T know each other?"
Tab's mouth formed a lopsided smile that might have been mistaken for a smirk. "Guess I just kept finding other things to do, but if I'd have known the roadie was hot I might have come sooner."
Luke flicked a glance at Benny. "No, we don't. Why don't you introduce us, man?" he prompted as he not too subtly took in Tab's petite form with intrigue. "Or we could just talk about her knickers."
He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek so he didn't start to laugh. "You should've come sooner," he agreed, leaving the roadie comment hanging.
Benny loosened his grip on Tab as he slapped Luke on the shoulder and gripped it hard. It was Benny's way of warning Luke that he would probably have to hurt him if they talked about Tab's knickers. "Lucas Alexander Jackson, aka 'just Luke'; this is Tabitha London Browne, aka 'just Tab'. And trust me, she will kill you if you call her anything other than Tab. But she lets me call her T because I adopted her back when we were twelve."
Tab shifted on the spot, and rolled her eyes a little. She could strangle Benny sometimes. "Wow, Benjamin Isaac Taylor, how about you just hand over my baby pictures, too?"
"London, huh? And there I was thinking my name sounded like a law firm," Luke said with a laugh. "Not that there is anything wrong with unusual middle names. Very unique." He casually held his hand out in Tab's direction. "Nice to meet you, Tabitha London Browne. This must be my lucky night."
"Then you'll just love my brother's middle name. He got 'Paris'. I'm kind of glad he got stuck with that one since I'd have to kill myself for having anything barely resembling a Hilton girl near my person."
Benny started to snicker as he scratched at the back of his neck. "Well, you do have a lack of breasts thing going on like Paris."
Tab elbowed him in the side again as she turned her head to glare up at him. "I think you're forgetting that if I ever released a sex tape that it would be so much better than hers." She turned her attention back to Luke and grinned as she took his hand. "Nice to meet you, Lucas Alexander Jackson. And it is most definitely your lucky night." She even added a wink that Benny wouldn't see.
"Seriously? Paris? What are you, twins or something?" Luke asked, sniggering. "Is he anything like a Hilton sister?"
He made no move to release her hand. Hers was much smaller than his, but it felt warm and inviting in his. "It's practically fate," he suggested, his lips curling in a smirk that hid much behind it that Benny would be oblivious to. Of course, Benny had a knack of being oblivious to a lot of things.
Benny raised his eyebrows at Luke. "This is T, man. As in the T. My singer compadre, the one I told you about. So yeah, she's a twin. And no, her brother is nothing like a Hilton sister. Even if he is the softer of the two."
Tab stepped a little closer to Luke, and didn't make any move to take her hand away either. She rubbed her thumb against the back of his hand and her brown eyes twinkled in the dim lighting. "Funny that."
"Ahh, doctor brother who is cool in a dorky way," Luke recalled with a nod. "How's the hand?" he asked, still not taking his eyes off her. His fingers linked in with hers.
"Is that what he told you?" Tab tilted her head as she regarded Luke. Then she just shrugged. "I suppose that is Riley. But he's my Big Bro and I love him. The hand's kind of itchy and still sore. Doesn't stop me from doing anything except writing, eating, and playing guitar."
"So, you're the youngest? We have something in common besides fate," Luke said. "And you practically have a whole world of hand actions at your fingertips."
He nodded in the direction of the stage. "Can I tempt you to get up and join me at some point tonight?"
"By a couple minutes, and he never lets me forget. So you got an older brother as well?" She smiled, and waggled her eyebrows. "That I do. I'm surprisingly good with my right hand when it comes to some things."
Benny cleared his throat and pointed at the bar. "I'm just going to grab a drink before T decides she'd rather drag you behind the stage." He ruffled the redhead's hair and smirked. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, T. Which is, well, not a lot."
Tab practically pushed him away with her shoulder and tried not to look too relieved at having Luke to herself. She looked towards the stage and pulled her mouth to the side. "I don't know, maybe. What are you going to tempt me with?"
"No, three older sisters," Luke revealed. "And they never let me forget it, either. I still have mental scars from my eldest beating this bloke up who was picking on me. Real blow to the male ego, that."
He broke her eye contact just long enough to watch Benny retreat to the bar before turning back to her with a smile. "Oh, I don't know... what are the chances of you dragging me behind the stage?" he asked mischievously.
"Yikes, sounds like a definite head fuck. Mind you, I was like sixteen when I terrorised this bitch cheerleader that Riley was dating. She decided that her position also included seeing to the players' more personal needs." She smirked as she straightened to all of her full 5'2" height. "He didn't exactly see it, though."
She licked at her lips, and let out a sigh. "Not as high as it might have been a year ago. Nothing against you, because you really are just... well, hot. I'd do you in a second. It's just, um, horses." She frowned as she once again answered with the cryptic word. "And I guess since we crossed paths again I should explain the horses thing, huh?"
Luke laughed. "Oh now, see, he can't be that big of a dork if he was pulling cheerleaders at sixteen. I was lucky to get a snog off the class bookworm."
"What is with your horse fetish?" he finally had to ask, slightly bewildered. "I tried to work that one out for hours the afternoon we met. Despite hoping you might be thinking if I'm hung like one, I couldn't figure it out."
"I never said she was a talented cheerleader," Tab told him with a grin. "And how did you not get snogs off even the class bookworm?"
Tab ducked her head and laughed. "Well, there might have been a few long moments after we met where I was wondering that. No, it's this conversation me and my brother had about getting back on the horse. In my case the horse is the dating and falling in love thing because I ended something that stretched over eight years. My first love," she murmured with a shrug. "I'm twenty-five and I hadn't had a boyfriend until about three months ago, or something. I was pretty much a tart up until then."
"Well, I can be very convincing and she was very impressed I knew who invented anaesthetic," Luke explained with a light shrug.
At her explanation, he balked. In fact, he took his hand away with a clear of his throat. "So, you're in a rebound phase," he guessed. "Which makes sense, considering you've mentioned the horse in both our conversations. That's all pretty heavy." And intimidating, to say the least, he thought to himself. He'd been caught in girls' rebounds before and it had never ended well for him.
Tab's face dropped as he let go of her hand and she let it fall to her side as she gave herself a mental kick. Way to kill the mood, T. Funny how her internal voice at that moment sounded a lot like Benny. "I was kind of coming off a rebound thing when I was walking through Manhattan. I don't even know how long a rebound is supposed to last. I'm shit at this stuff. Riley's the one who knows all about relationships and dating." She shifted her weight onto her other foot as she started to pull back. "I'm sorry, I never meant to get you caught up in anything, I didn't even... Sorry," she offered again. She looked towards the bar and looked ready to run off to Benny and seek refuge. "I said too much."
"Hey, it's okay. Don't run away," Luke said, leaning down a little so he could see her face. "I'm sorry. That was reactionary. Let's just say I had a rather messy relationship with a girl who was on the rebound in the past and I always swore I'd try not to get myself into the same crap all over again. Plus, I'm more interested in hearing about you, not your ex-horse. But call that a male ego thing. We don't do well listening about exes which is why rebound stuff always goes wrong unless there really is no strings..."
He paused and wet his lips. "And I don't think I'd be satisfied with anything just 'no strings' with you," he admitted quietly. "If you aren't looking for anything, I get it. You can still get up and share your musical talents with the bar."
"I thought no strings would be easier to go back to," she replied softly. She looked up at him and had to bite the inside of her cheek to make sure she maintained eye contact. "I promise not to talk about my ex-horse if you promise you can be patient while I learn to adapt to strings."
She stepped in close to him again and placed her hand on his side. "I wasn't going to look for anything, and I guess I still don't have to. It kind of decided to step out into my path and play me Hendrix."
"It can walk away any time you like," Luke added. He had a sense he just wanted to step away anyway and not risk himself getting hurt. She seemed awfully hung on the first love of eight years and he worried she wouldn't be able to adapt or he wouldn’t be able to live up to that, no matter how long he waited. He'd somewhat been there too. He didn't want to be anyone's back-up plan. He was too solitary and independent himself. When he risked his heart, it had to be for something spectacular.
Something he had a feeling he might find with Tab, if only... if only she wasn't in the situation she was in. He glanced momentarily over at Benny who was laughing at something the bartender was saying. He exhaled slowly and met her eyes again. "I don't know, Tab. It sounds like you have a lot to figure out and I don't really want to get in the way of that. Just because you aren't talking about him, doesn't mean you aren't thinking about him," he murmured.
Tab rubbed her shoulder and let out a rough exhalation. "Short of letting you read my mind I don't know how to convince you that my obsession with horses is more about me, and my history than my ex-horse." She frowned, and glared down at her Union Jack Doc Martens. "Not many people make me want to try for something long term, or something that isn't a quick fuck behind a stage."
She reached her hands behind her and was about to tuck them into the pockets of her jeans when she remembered the cut that was still healing and her hands went back to dangling uselessly at her sides. "You make me want to try."
Luke searched her eyes, biting down on the corner of his lip. "I could just make it easy on you by telling you I don't want a quick fuck behind the stage. I can get that any time," he suggested. "How about you let me take you on a date that is sans horses, sans busking, and sans Benny?"
She nodded as her face relaxed. "Okay. I can do that. A date. And I don't mean to ramble so much; I swear I'm usually more together than this. It's just, I don't know. You make me nervous. Good nervous," she added quickly with a smile.
Luke's face lit up with another smile. "Good nervous. I guess I can work with that. So, when are you free?" he asked.
"At the moment, pretty much any time. The record's done, and I'm just working on moving in with Benjamin, and changing jobs and stuff, so I think it's safe to say that while I sound busy there'll be a lot of doing fuck all as well."
"Hey, I'm the king of doing fuck all," Luke said proudly. "And what about this big brother? Do I have to worry about being subjected to the 'If you hurt her' speech or maybe even beaten up? I mean, damn, the guy dated cheerleaders," he laughed.
"He dated one cheerleader, and that was only for a couple of weeks. He learned his lesson. I don't know if you'll get the speech, or not. Riley's never really had to give it. Mostly he just tells me that if anyone hurts me he'll kill them." She shrugged and smiled up at Luke. "Guess we'll just have to see if you meet him."
"'If' is better than outright fuck off. I can take an 'if'," Luke said with a soft laugh. "So, how about Tuesday night? I'll pick you up. You just have to dress up and I'll take care of the rest."
"Dress up?" Tab pulled her mouth to the side as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Now she had to actually consider what she wore. "Okay, Tuesday it is."
Luke took a few steps away to pluck a napkin off one of the bar tables and handed it to her with a pen from his pocket. "Just write down your address and phone number for me. Or if you don't want to get that personal yet, give me Benny's. I'm only asking in case I do something stupid like come down with leprosy in the meantime. I don't want you to think I'm standing you up if I can't make it."
Tab grabbed the napkin and pen and write down her number without hesitation. She was being given a second chance with Luke and she wasn't going to fuck it up if she could help it. Though really, wasn't this about her third chance? "If you get leprosy I'll cry. I don't want any of your bits falling off before I get a chance to check them out properly." She handed him back the pen with her number and Benny's address. "You better show up."
Luke made a crossing motion across his chest before tucking the napkin safely in his pocket. "I promise, unless I'm dead or kidnapped by aliens, I'll be there, Lucky Charm. I was convinced my horse had bolted when I watched you walk away down the street the other day."
Tab reached out to take his hand, and threaded her fingers through his. "I haven't bolted, I promise." She crossed her heart in a repeat of his gesture, and smiled at him.
Luke returned the smile and squeezed her hand. "I'm glad. And no pressure. Just one date so you can see that maybe not all horses are willing to bolt so easily," he promised.
"I can't wait, Charlie Parker."
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pullmysteth referenced with permission.