Finding the chair when she walked in, the brunette sat herself down, crossing her legs, her arms still over her chest and her face still in the same facial expression. As she got settled, she got rid of her jacket and scarf, as well as her shoes, revealing that she'd clearly been ready for bed. She was clad only in a tight cami and a pair of jeans she'd pulled on last minute.
Crossing her legs Indian-style on the chair, Noreen leaned forward to listen to his story. Several minutes later, her expression had changed from a raised eyebrow to a frown. Well, he'd definitely unsettled her. And slightly disappointed her.
Holding up a hand, she interrupted him. "So let me finish your story for you. You got drunk with this dancer girl in Las Vegas and somehow she convinced your drunken self to put on a pool boy type of speedo and take a picture, right?"
Oh man, did she know him. Al put a hand to his forehead and slowly dragged his fingers down across his eyes. "Yeah, pretty much. If it helps, I really thought that she was... never mind, it won't help." Ugh. Al let his hand slide from his face, then slumped back in his chair. It wasn't exactly a slump of defeat, or the bad posture of a sulking man-cub, but he was clearly uncomfortable. It was there, ready to be read in the way he crossed his arms tightly over his chest.
"I kept a set of the photos from the party to remind me of the night. That's all. 'Cause she was a good girl. I liked her."
Noreen watched him and couldn't help but be amused by his actions. But she didn't show this amusement. Not right away, anyways. "Damn, I'm good, she complimented herself, letting an amused expression cross her face momentarily. He looked rather uncomfortable and she almost wanted to laugh but she kept wanting to play this game with him.
"Well, hand them over," Noreen held out a hand, suppressing a grin.
When Noreen complimented herself, Al managed a weak - but amused - smile. Of course, it didn't last long; the outstretched hand was met with a quizzical look. "What, the photos?" Alejandro asked, brow wrinkling. "You want to see them?"
Uh. That couldn't bode well. But, none the less, Al heaved himself up out of his seat and shuffled back towards his private room in the apartment he shared with Evan. "Gotta grab the album. One second." When he returned, it was with a thick brown binder full of plastic photo sleeves. He was already rifling through it, so by the time he reached Noreen and offered the object, he'd found the right page. There was a blank slot where the Compendium photo had been, and after it were a series of photos of people lounging around a pool. Photos of people taking shots. Photos of a dark-haired woman in an outfit almost as skimpy as Al's had been, doing her best model pose.
Taking the album from him, she looked over the pages that held the pictures. This was amusing. Finally, she couldn't help a titter of a laugh.
"Alejandro Diaz, these pictures are so ridiculous!" she exclaimed after a moment, looking up at him with a small grin. "Honestly. Who does this? Only you." Shaking her head, she closed the album and held it back out to him. "I'm going to burn those orange manpanties." He was probably going to be relieved that she wasn't murdering him, or something. His initial discomfort at her appraisal of his pictures had been hilarious. "I don't ever want to see these awful pictures on the Compendium again."
"Well, I mean, I'm not shy." Al protested, caught between residual nervousness and relief that the disapproval seemed to be passing. "And I don't still have the orange briefs. Washing machine got 'em. Well. Bleach got 'em - I sat them down on the top of the dryer and someone had forgotten to clean up a spill."
As for the photos in the Compendium? Al bit his lower lip. It took him a few long seconds to make up his mind, but he eventually nodded. "Well, okay. No awful pictures in the Compendium."
Now that that was over, they could finally relax. Well, he could. "Thank you. As appealing as you may be shirtless, the orange speedo killed it," Noreen told him, the flirtatious statement coming out easily for her. He'd known her long enough to know that she was a natural flirt and sometimes didn't even realize it when she was flirting with someone.
"So tell me what you've been up to?" she asked, now serious. Noreen hadn't seen Alejandro in a while and was slightly antsy to know what he had been doing. Call it her motherly instinct.
"Note to self: no more orange speedos." Al replied, with a cheeky grin. Hey. He was a flirt too, and it came as something of a second nature. Most of the time, it was out before he'd even thought about what he was saying. "Are trunks really that much better? They cling." He laughed, exhaling air through his nose, and dropped back down into his seat.
"Up to? Well, work. And there was that party-crashing thing with Murdock and Evan and... a new guy. Don't remember his name so well. I told Murdock we were crossing territorial boundaries, showing up uninvited, but he swore it would be fine. And the next thing I know? They're insisting that we agree to leg-hair removal."
"They are manlier? And make you look less like a Cabana boy?" Noreen suggested. Thinking about it, she shrugged, flicking some hair out of her face subconsciously. "I think it was just the shock of seeing you in an orange speedo. It's such a loud, random color."
Passing a hand through her dark brown locks, she tilted her head, a sure sign she was listening to him. Party crashing with Murdock and Evan eh? She liked to know the occasional happenings of her hook-up buddy. Leaning forward in interest, her eyes widened at the mention of 'hair removal.' "Wait a minute, leg hair removal?? I need to get comfortable for the rest of this story. Let's make our way over to your bed." She realized how that may have sounded and that made her internally cringe.
"...you know, Edwina did say something about a 'pool boy.' I know she didn't mean anything by it, but..." Al trailed off and made a face. It was a wrinkled-nose, squinty-eyed face, the kind of face that most clearly said 'uh, no.' "Okay. No orange, and definitely no speedos or briefs if they make me look like a Cabana boy."
'Cause that? Was not an association Al wanted to encourage.
"Yes. Leg hair removal. I swear, if Murdock wasn't already my friend? I'd strangle him. But the girls seemed to have a good time with it, and it'll all grow back. If only I was sure that Murdock would listen to me next time I said 'don't invade their territory.' But nooooooooo, suddenly I'm un-manly and afraid." Al rolled his eyes. As for Noreen making herself comfortable on his bed? In an absolutely shocking moment of self-restraint, he didn't say anything. Not a word.
He may've smirked a little, though. Just for a second.
"Way to stereotype us, Al," Noreen told him, raising an eyebrow. Laughing at the look on his face, the brunette grinned at him. "Thank you, pool boy."
That wasn't an association she rather liked herself. It was so stereotypical Hispanic that she hated it. She'd always felt more in touch with her Spanish side then her French side because frankly, no one stereotyped her mother.
"What party was this?" Noreen asked curiously. Noticing his silence at her comment about the bed, she rolled her eyes and stood up, pushing his head with her two fingers. "Shut the fuck up. And get that smirk off your face." Finding his bed, she flopped down onto it, making herself comfortable. "What are you waiting for, a strip tease? Continue! And hurry up and get over here." It wasn't as if they hadn't fallen asleep together before!
"I know. I read that and went '...POOL BOY?' but I didn't want to say anything, 'cause mouthing off to Edwina kind of feels like kicking a puppy. The puppy didn't mean to chew up your favorite shoes. It was just teething, you know?" Al raked his fingers through his hair and smiled. And then the insistence that he stop smirking made it worse - the lopsided smile became a grin.
"Okay, okay." Al held his hands up, defensively, and dropped onto the bed next to Noreen. "So there was leg hair removal and then costuming. They had some... I don't know, lingere-themed thing going, I really didn't understand it. There were a lot of feathers and corsets, it looked completely uncomfortable. I probably would've taken off if the other guys hadn't been there, but I didn't want to leave 'em."
She honestly felt like slapping him. Suppressing this urge, she moved onto her side when he dropped onto the bed, feeling more comfortable like this. Propping her head up with her elbow, she listened to the rest of his story.
"First of all, who's party was this?" Noreen asked curiously. "That's some pretty messed up entrance requirements for a party." Wow, she wasn't aware that Al would actually go and get his legs waxed and wear a corset. She was highly amused by this. Sitting up, she yanked over his leg and rolled up his pants, laughing at the sight of his hairless legs. "Wow, they're almost as smooth as mine," she teased him, lifting up the leg of her sweats for a second before dropping them and laying back down on her back. "So did all of you guys dress up? I sincerely hope you were drunk through all of this."
Most of the time, Al deserved a good slapping. He was really lucky to escape unscathed most of the time.
"Some girls Murdock knows. Uh. Bianca, and the other woman was named Cassia?" Al paused, thoughtfully, but whatever he was about to say was interrupted by Noreen's examination of his (now hair-free) leg. "Yeah, we were drinking. And there was more liquor at the party. We dressed up - Murdock tried to talk his way out of it, of course."
Bianca and Cassia? "The Princesses?" She'd seen them around the Compendiums. Right bunch of blonde bimbos, at least from what she'd seen, or read. "Why did Murdock want to go to this party?" Noreen asked curiously, pushing Al's leg back near him and laying back down.
Finding the covers, she wiggled underneath them. As she listened to Al talk, she felt herself zoning off, not because she was bored. More due to the fact that she was fantasizing about ravishing Al on his bed. First of all, wasn't that incest? Wasn't she basically his mother? Secondly, that would just be awkward whenever Evan came back from wherever he was because he was obviously not in the room. She came back to reality sometime around the time he said something about 'dressing up.' "So what did you wear?" Noreen asked, a smirk playing at her lips. "I'm trying to imagine you in a corset and fishnets." She paused for a second, then shook her head, "It's not working."
"I think Bianca's the princess from his story. So of course he wanted to go." Al lifted his shoulders in a little shrug. "I don't get it, but I mean, Kipling didn't write those kinds of stories." For which Al was grateful. Running around a jungle sounded a lot more appealing.
"...that's probably for the best," Al replied, grinning at Noreen's revelation that she just couldn't imagine him in a corset. "Now. Don't tell Murdock I said this, 'cause he'll use it against me, but me? In women's clothing? Not pretty. Like, however bad you think the orange speedo was? Five times worse than that."
Finding the chair when she walked in, the brunette sat herself down, crossing her legs, her arms still over her chest and her face still in the same facial expression. As she got settled, she got rid of her jacket and scarf, as well as her shoes, revealing that she'd clearly been ready for bed. She was clad only in a tight cami and a pair of jeans she'd pulled on last minute.
Crossing her legs Indian-style on the chair, Noreen leaned forward to listen to his story. Several minutes later, her expression had changed from a raised eyebrow to a frown. Well, he'd definitely unsettled her. And slightly disappointed her.
Holding up a hand, she interrupted him. "So let me finish your story for you. You got drunk with this dancer girl in Las Vegas and somehow she convinced your drunken self to put on a pool boy type of speedo and take a picture, right?"
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"I kept a set of the photos from the party to remind me of the night. That's all. 'Cause she was a good girl. I liked her."
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Noreen watched him and couldn't help but be amused by his actions. But she didn't show this amusement. Not right away, anyways. "Damn, I'm good, she complimented herself, letting an amused expression cross her face momentarily. He looked rather uncomfortable and she almost wanted to laugh but she kept wanting to play this game with him.
"Well, hand them over," Noreen held out a hand, suppressing a grin.
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Uh. That couldn't bode well. But, none the less, Al heaved himself up out of his seat and shuffled back towards his private room in the apartment he shared with Evan. "Gotta grab the album. One second." When he returned, it was with a thick brown binder full of plastic photo sleeves. He was already rifling through it, so by the time he reached Noreen and offered the object, he'd found the right page. There was a blank slot where the Compendium photo had been, and after it were a series of photos of people lounging around a pool. Photos of people taking shots. Photos of a dark-haired woman in an outfit almost as skimpy as Al's had been, doing her best model pose.
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Taking the album from him, she looked over the pages that held the pictures. This was amusing. Finally, she couldn't help a titter of a laugh.
"Alejandro Diaz, these pictures are so ridiculous!" she exclaimed after a moment, looking up at him with a small grin. "Honestly. Who does this? Only you." Shaking her head, she closed the album and held it back out to him. "I'm going to burn those orange manpanties." He was probably going to be relieved that she wasn't murdering him, or something. His initial discomfort at her appraisal of his pictures had been hilarious. "I don't ever want to see these awful pictures on the Compendium again."
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As for the photos in the Compendium? Al bit his lower lip. It took him a few long seconds to make up his mind, but he eventually nodded. "Well, okay. No awful pictures in the Compendium."
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Now that that was over, they could finally relax. Well, he could. "Thank you. As appealing as you may be shirtless, the orange speedo killed it," Noreen told him, the flirtatious statement coming out easily for her. He'd known her long enough to know that she was a natural flirt and sometimes didn't even realize it when she was flirting with someone.
"So tell me what you've been up to?" she asked, now serious. Noreen hadn't seen Alejandro in a while and was slightly antsy to know what he had been doing. Call it her motherly instinct.
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"Up to? Well, work. And there was that party-crashing thing with Murdock and Evan and... a new guy. Don't remember his name so well. I told Murdock we were crossing territorial boundaries, showing up uninvited, but he swore it would be fine. And the next thing I know? They're insisting that we agree to leg-hair removal."
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"They are manlier? And make you look less like a Cabana boy?" Noreen suggested. Thinking about it, she shrugged, flicking some hair out of her face subconsciously. "I think it was just the shock of seeing you in an orange speedo. It's such a loud, random color."
Passing a hand through her dark brown locks, she tilted her head, a sure sign she was listening to him. Party crashing with Murdock and Evan eh? She liked to know the occasional happenings of her hook-up buddy. Leaning forward in interest, her eyes widened at the mention of 'hair removal.' "Wait a minute, leg hair removal?? I need to get comfortable for the rest of this story. Let's make our way over to your bed." She realized how that may have sounded and that made her internally cringe.
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'Cause that? Was not an association Al wanted to encourage.
"Yes. Leg hair removal. I swear, if Murdock wasn't already my friend? I'd strangle him. But the girls seemed to have a good time with it, and it'll all grow back. If only I was sure that Murdock would listen to me next time I said 'don't invade their territory.' But nooooooooo, suddenly I'm un-manly and afraid." Al rolled his eyes. As for Noreen making herself comfortable on his bed? In an absolutely shocking moment of self-restraint, he didn't say anything. Not a word.
He may've smirked a little, though. Just for a second.
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"Way to stereotype us, Al," Noreen told him, raising an eyebrow. Laughing at the look on his face, the brunette grinned at him. "Thank you, pool boy."
That wasn't an association she rather liked herself. It was so stereotypical Hispanic that she hated it. She'd always felt more in touch with her Spanish side then her French side because frankly, no one stereotyped her mother.
"What party was this?" Noreen asked curiously. Noticing his silence at her comment about the bed, she rolled her eyes and stood up, pushing his head with her two fingers. "Shut the fuck up. And get that smirk off your face." Finding his bed, she flopped down onto it, making herself comfortable. "What are you waiting for, a strip tease? Continue! And hurry up and get over here." It wasn't as if they hadn't fallen asleep together before!
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"Okay, okay." Al held his hands up, defensively, and dropped onto the bed next to Noreen. "So there was leg hair removal and then costuming. They had some... I don't know, lingere-themed thing going, I really didn't understand it. There were a lot of feathers and corsets, it looked completely uncomfortable. I probably would've taken off if the other guys hadn't been there, but I didn't want to leave 'em."
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She honestly felt like slapping him. Suppressing this urge, she moved onto her side when he dropped onto the bed, feeling more comfortable like this. Propping her head up with her elbow, she listened to the rest of his story.
"First of all, who's party was this?" Noreen asked curiously. "That's some pretty messed up entrance requirements for a party." Wow, she wasn't aware that Al would actually go and get his legs waxed and wear a corset. She was highly amused by this. Sitting up, she yanked over his leg and rolled up his pants, laughing at the sight of his hairless legs. "Wow, they're almost as smooth as mine," she teased him, lifting up the leg of her sweats for a second before dropping them and laying back down on her back. "So did all of you guys dress up? I sincerely hope you were drunk through all of this."
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"Some girls Murdock knows. Uh. Bianca, and the other woman was named Cassia?" Al paused, thoughtfully, but whatever he was about to say was interrupted by Noreen's examination of his (now hair-free) leg. "Yeah, we were drinking. And there was more liquor at the party. We dressed up - Murdock tried to talk his way out of it, of course."
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Bianca and Cassia? "The Princesses?" She'd seen them around the Compendiums. Right bunch of blonde bimbos, at least from what she'd seen, or read. "Why did Murdock want to go to this party?" Noreen asked curiously, pushing Al's leg back near him and laying back down.
Finding the covers, she wiggled underneath them. As she listened to Al talk, she felt herself zoning off, not because she was bored. More due to the fact that she was fantasizing about ravishing Al on his bed. First of all, wasn't that incest? Wasn't she basically his mother? Secondly, that would just be awkward whenever Evan came back from wherever he was because he was obviously not in the room. She came back to reality sometime around the time he said something about 'dressing up.' "So what did you wear?" Noreen asked, a smirk playing at her lips. "I'm trying to imagine you in a corset and fishnets." She paused for a second, then shook her head, "It's not working."
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"...that's probably for the best," Al replied, grinning at Noreen's revelation that she just couldn't imagine him in a corset. "Now. Don't tell Murdock I said this, 'cause he'll use it against me, but me? In women's clothing? Not pretty. Like, however bad you think the orange speedo was? Five times worse than that."
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