See, now that was more like it. A small grin lurking around the corners of her mouth, Carla glanced over at him. "Good to know." She knew that somewhere underneath all that self-destructive cynical need to constantly one-up the world around him while simultaneously pushing away anyone who might possibly care was a charming, nice guy. Somewhere deep, deep under.
At least this time around, she knew how she felt. And there wasn't the threat of Jordan lurking over their heads. No, this was definitely going to work. They were going to make it work.
One hand went up to rest lightly on his arm, tentatively, if Carla could ever be said to do anything tentatively. As if she wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. The whole situation was awkward. They'd been friends so long, that the 'getting to know you' part was...pretty much over. But then there was the fact that there were feelings, there, that neither one of them had ever really explored. So the first-date (or third-first-date) jitters almost felt silly, if not for the fact that this was whole new territory.
Ha ha. He'd given her a compliment successfully and she had taken it. Now that was progress. Take that, therapy. It... was still awkward, and he suspected it was probably going to be awkward until they managed to get past all the history crap and make with the action (please God please God please) and probably even long after that. But he was trying something he'd never been particularly good at, which was taking it one step at a time.
He slowed in his step as she touched his arm, glancing over at her, brows lifting. Uh. Okay, then, that was a good sign, too. He grinned, uncertain but broadly, showing white teeth as he crooked his arm for her to take.
He might have flexed a little.
What? He was ripped.
"Don't worry," he chuckled. "I'm taking you somewhere good this time. No pizza parlors, nuh-uh." Secretly, he still didn't know what was wrong with a good slice of pizza, but for tonight and tonight only he was gonna let her be right about some things. "You'll see. It'll knock your socks right on off."
Sliding her arm to lace with his, Carla ducked her head slightly, smiling to herself. Awkward was a good word for it. But it was a good kind of awkward. She thought. She hoped.
Oh, God, she couldn't possibly be over-thinking this already, could she?
Firmly putting thoughts such as was her hair too curly for this?, or did her ass look big?, or did the fact that he was flexing mean that he was insecure and therefore would probably do his best to sabotage this date before dinner? aside, Carla laughed, shaking her head. Determined to stay in the moment if it freaking killed her. "I'm not wearing socks," she said with mock seriousness. "So you might have some problems with that."
Oh, come on, of course he was insecure. He was Perry Cox -- genius doctor, horrible date, and he knew it. There was probably no way he was going to come out of this gracefully although, God help him, he was going to try.
Admittedly, the flexing wasn't because he was insecure, but because he was totally hot and he wanted to make sure she knew it. But that was to make up for all the things he was insecure about.
Humor was also a great defense mechanism. He laughed. "Yeah, well, I'll knock your mother's socks off, in that case. Although, who knows? She likes me. Maybe I already have." His grin widened cockily. Carla's mother was, as he might put it, un-be-hee-hee-lievably annoying, but she liked him a lot more than she liked, for example, Turk, and that was worth a lot.
"My mother," Carla said with a trace of a smirk on her face, "has horrible taste." Oh, she knew what he was doing, there. Trying to score points.
Though, to be fair, the fact that mama did like Cox wasn't exactly a bad thing. However, he needed to stop trying to impress her like she was some wide-eyed ER nurse all taken up in the magic of the brilliant Dr. Cox. She knew him. Far too well to mess around with this stupid flexing and smarming and him being that guy. She didn't want to be on a date with that guy. She wanted to be out with Perry, who, despite being friends with for way too many years to contemplate, she was just getting to know. Perry was a side of Cox that Carla had kept at a careful arm's length.
Well, she wanted to change that, now. So he needed to loosen up a little.
To that end, she said, "So, while you were gone, you missed a whole hell of a lot. I mean, the entire school cannot get randomly married off without causing some interesting stories, you know?" And, as they walked down to the village, Carla proceeded to fill him in. Lily being married to a marshmallow. The house elves with tazers. How, apparently, Stephen had some kind of teenage girl fetish in reverse. All sorts of stupid little things that, had he been there, they probably would have sat around and drank bad coffee and done charts and mocked. And damn, had she missed him.
Of course, it was going to take some work for him to get from Dr. Cox--the Man, the Myth, the Legend(ary Pain in the Ass)--to just regular old Perry. His history with women was spotty at best. Oh, sure, he'd known a lot of them, and slept with... well, quite a few of the ones he'd known, actually, but there were only a handful he actually gave a damn about, and even then he only let his guard down around a select few. His relationship with Jordan was all about keeping up the barriers, so that did not exactly count.
Lily had been some major progress, but Carla was most definitely not Lily. Not to knock the crazy redhead in his life (that wasn't himself), but he respected Carla a hell of a lot more, and he'd been in love with her forever, and in a lot of ways that made her way scarier than Lily had ever been. With Lily he could just yell stuff out, most of the time, but Carla occasionally required him to actually think about things. Plus, losing Lily had been Hell for him, but if he ever seriously lost Carla? He'd pretty much have to kill himself.
So the point was that even though they'd been friends forever, now that he was in date mode, it was a little hard for him to let go of the stupid attitude. Of course he needed to impress her, for God's sake. But he managed to relax a little bit as she got him talking, and by the time they made it to the gates, the mockery was flowing freely.
He had just finished a long and extended rant on the horror that was Lily and Sirius's apparently threesome-based relationship with Staypuft McCreepy when they reached a side road, leading away from the village itself. He hesitated, then put a hand on her back, between her shoulderblades, nudging her towards this road. "C'mon. Down here."
It wasn't exactly easy to find parking in the vicinity of Hogwarts--the school wasn't precisely car-friendly--and at first trying to find a place to keep the car Lily had given him for his birthday was almost as much of a nightmare as, say, getting a lecture from Stephen. He'd eventually found a place near Hogsmeade to leave it, and it was here that he led Carla. "Now, I know you just had your heart set on crappy bar food," he said with a self-deprecating little smirk as he unlocked the car, "but like I said, I had something a little better in mind. I hope you can adjust."
After a moment's thought, he opened her door for her. What a nice guy he was, right? No wonder her mother liked him.
His hand, warm and firm on her back and definitely yet another move away from the comfortable land of 'just friends', made Carla stiffen up for a moment before she very consciously relaxed. She could not behave like he was some stranger every time he touched her. That would just not work out. Mentally scolding herself, Carla had actually gotten into the car and fastened her seat belt before she'd registered what was happening.
Blinking, she looked around, her lips tugging up into a wide smile. Whistling lowly, she said, "Nice. And here I thought you'd have some kind of broom or flying carpet." Settling back, she let her fingers trail along the interior. Leave it to Perry Cox to have some sleek little metaphorical penis even in the middle of freaking Scotland's magic central.
"Oh, I can adjust just fine," she smirked, one eyebrow edging upwards. "Just you wait. You'll be left in the dust with my adjusting." She...had no idea what she was talking about. But walking around campus was one thing - there was a certain amount of whimsical Grimm's-on-crack-ness about the whole thing that kept it from getting too real. Now she was in his car, driving to a restaurant, just like a they would on a date back home. It wasn't some weird ass magic thing that Carla could half dismiss as not counting. This was a date. She was dating Perry Cox.
A quick, slightly hysterical laugh escaped her before she managed to bite it back, ducking her head and looking out the window. Oh, God. She was one of those girls. Laverne would head-shake tisk her so bad right now.
"You know, I did actually try a broom," Perry joked, moving around to his own side of the car. "Bu~~t then I realized that I'm neither gay nor a five year old, and that kinda ruined the fun for me." He glanced at her fingers moving along the dashboard and quickly looked away, clearing his throat as he started the car up, because, well. A guy needed to be able to drive, for Pete's sake.
Perry eased the car out of the makeshift lot and had just gotten them onto the motorway when he heard her laugh. He arched a brow and looked over, giving her an uncertain half of a smirk. "Hey, what's so funny?" He chuckled uneasily, then frowned, squinting around the car's interior. "Lily didn't, uh, do anything to this thing, did she? I haven't had a whole lot of chance to drive it, what with the, y'know, magic and all." And the crashing of planes, but apparently that was a touchy subject with Carla.
"And I'm sure the entire male Wizarding culture who has pinioned their masculine identities on brooms instead of footballs will weep into their pumpkin juice that the great Dr. Perry Cox finds their hobby girlish and/or childish." Smiling at him, laughing, Carla relaxed back into the seat, feeling at home for the first time since she'd wandered into the set of Magical Insanity for Dummies, European Edition.
Looking over at him, she shook her head slightly, getting her thoughts back in line. "What? Oh, no, just..." Carla laughed again, her eyes trailing over him in definite approval. God, he cleaned up nice. How had she not known that? Well, of course she knew that. But it was different, now, somehow. Maybe because it was a date or because Jordan wasn't lurking in the background or even just because she was finally letting herself notice. Whatever the reason, she was sure as hell not complaining.
"We're on a date," she finished, eyes crinkling in the corner with a hidden smile. "You and I. How much would Laverne give me a lecture right now? Saying you're just adding me as a notch to your bedpost." Tucking her hair behind her ears, she chuckled for a second before her face suddenly went serious. "You're not, right? Because if you think that all of this is just up for the price of a dinner and a drive in your fancy new car, you have got another thing coming. This," she gestured to herself, "is the promised land, my friend This is not some weekend special. This is going to take time and effort and communication. I'm not one of your little conquests." She arched an eyebrow at him. "Okay?"
Then she smiled sweetly. "Where are you taking me?"
Hey, you had to let them know who was in charge from time to time.
At least this time around, she knew how she felt. And there wasn't the threat of Jordan lurking over their heads. No, this was definitely going to work. They were going to make it work.
One hand went up to rest lightly on his arm, tentatively, if Carla could ever be said to do anything tentatively. As if she wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. The whole situation was awkward. They'd been friends so long, that the 'getting to know you' part was...pretty much over. But then there was the fact that there were feelings, there, that neither one of them had ever really explored. So the first-date (or third-first-date) jitters almost felt silly, if not for the fact that this was whole new territory.
"So, where are you taking me?"
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He slowed in his step as she touched his arm, glancing over at her, brows lifting. Uh. Okay, then, that was a good sign, too. He grinned, uncertain but broadly, showing white teeth as he crooked his arm for her to take.
He might have flexed a little.
What? He was ripped.
"Don't worry," he chuckled. "I'm taking you somewhere good this time. No pizza parlors, nuh-uh." Secretly, he still didn't know what was wrong with a good slice of pizza, but for tonight and tonight only he was gonna let her be right about some things. "You'll see. It'll knock your socks right on off."
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Oh, God, she couldn't possibly be over-thinking this already, could she?
Firmly putting thoughts such as was her hair too curly for this?, or did her ass look big?, or did the fact that he was flexing mean that he was insecure and therefore would probably do his best to sabotage this date before dinner? aside, Carla laughed, shaking her head. Determined to stay in the moment if it freaking killed her. "I'm not wearing socks," she said with mock seriousness. "So you might have some problems with that."
See? They were doing great!
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Admittedly, the flexing wasn't because he was insecure, but because he was totally hot and he wanted to make sure she knew it. But that was to make up for all the things he was insecure about.
Humor was also a great defense mechanism. He laughed. "Yeah, well, I'll knock your mother's socks off, in that case. Although, who knows? She likes me. Maybe I already have." His grin widened cockily. Carla's mother was, as he might put it, un-be-hee-hee-lievably annoying, but she liked him a lot more than she liked, for example, Turk, and that was worth a lot.
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Though, to be fair, the fact that mama did like Cox wasn't exactly a bad thing. However, he needed to stop trying to impress her like she was some wide-eyed ER nurse all taken up in the magic of the brilliant Dr. Cox. She knew him. Far too well to mess around with this stupid flexing and smarming and him being that guy. She didn't want to be on a date with that guy. She wanted to be out with Perry, who, despite being friends with for way too many years to contemplate, she was just getting to know. Perry was a side of Cox that Carla had kept at a careful arm's length.
Well, she wanted to change that, now. So he needed to loosen up a little.
To that end, she said, "So, while you were gone, you missed a whole hell of a lot. I mean, the entire school cannot get randomly married off without causing some interesting stories, you know?" And, as they walked down to the village, Carla proceeded to fill him in. Lily being married to a marshmallow. The house elves with tazers. How, apparently, Stephen had some kind of teenage girl fetish in reverse. All sorts of stupid little things that, had he been there, they probably would have sat around and drank bad coffee and done charts and mocked. And damn, had she missed him.
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Lily had been some major progress, but Carla was most definitely not Lily. Not to knock the crazy redhead in his life (that wasn't himself), but he respected Carla a hell of a lot more, and he'd been in love with her forever, and in a lot of ways that made her way scarier than Lily had ever been. With Lily he could just yell stuff out, most of the time, but Carla occasionally required him to actually think about things. Plus, losing Lily had been Hell for him, but if he ever seriously lost Carla? He'd pretty much have to kill himself.
So the point was that even though they'd been friends forever, now that he was in date mode, it was a little hard for him to let go of the stupid attitude. Of course he needed to impress her, for God's sake. But he managed to relax a little bit as she got him talking, and by the time they made it to the gates, the mockery was flowing freely.
He had just finished a long and extended rant on the horror that was Lily and Sirius's apparently threesome-based relationship with Staypuft McCreepy when they reached a side road, leading away from the village itself. He hesitated, then put a hand on her back, between her shoulderblades, nudging her towards this road. "C'mon. Down here."
It wasn't exactly easy to find parking in the vicinity of Hogwarts--the school wasn't precisely car-friendly--and at first trying to find a place to keep the car Lily had given him for his birthday was almost as much of a nightmare as, say, getting a lecture from Stephen. He'd eventually found a place near Hogsmeade to leave it, and it was here that he led Carla. "Now, I know you just had your heart set on crappy bar food," he said with a self-deprecating little smirk as he unlocked the car, "but like I said, I had something a little better in mind. I hope you can adjust."
After a moment's thought, he opened her door for her. What a nice guy he was, right? No wonder her mother liked him.
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Blinking, she looked around, her lips tugging up into a wide smile. Whistling lowly, she said, "Nice. And here I thought you'd have some kind of broom or flying carpet." Settling back, she let her fingers trail along the interior. Leave it to Perry Cox to have some sleek little metaphorical penis even in the middle of freaking Scotland's magic central.
"Oh, I can adjust just fine," she smirked, one eyebrow edging upwards. "Just you wait. You'll be left in the dust with my adjusting." She...had no idea what she was talking about. But walking around campus was one thing - there was a certain amount of whimsical Grimm's-on-crack-ness about the whole thing that kept it from getting too real. Now she was in his car, driving to a restaurant, just like a they would on a date back home. It wasn't some weird ass magic thing that Carla could half dismiss as not counting. This was a date. She was dating Perry Cox.
A quick, slightly hysterical laugh escaped her before she managed to bite it back, ducking her head and looking out the window. Oh, God. She was one of those girls. Laverne would head-shake tisk her so bad right now.
Well, at least the sex was apparently amazing.
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Perry eased the car out of the makeshift lot and had just gotten them onto the motorway when he heard her laugh. He arched a brow and looked over, giving her an uncertain half of a smirk. "Hey, what's so funny?" He chuckled uneasily, then frowned, squinting around the car's interior. "Lily didn't, uh, do anything to this thing, did she? I haven't had a whole lot of chance to drive it, what with the, y'know, magic and all." And the crashing of planes, but apparently that was a touchy subject with Carla.
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Looking over at him, she shook her head slightly, getting her thoughts back in line. "What? Oh, no, just..." Carla laughed again, her eyes trailing over him in definite approval. God, he cleaned up nice. How had she not known that? Well, of course she knew that. But it was different, now, somehow. Maybe because it was a date or because Jordan wasn't lurking in the background or even just because she was finally letting herself notice. Whatever the reason, she was sure as hell not complaining.
"We're on a date," she finished, eyes crinkling in the corner with a hidden smile. "You and I. How much would Laverne give me a lecture right now? Saying you're just adding me as a notch to your bedpost." Tucking her hair behind her ears, she chuckled for a second before her face suddenly went serious. "You're not, right? Because if you think that all of this is just up for the price of a dinner and a drive in your fancy new car, you have got another thing coming. This," she gestured to herself, "is the promised land, my friend This is not some weekend special. This is going to take time and effort and communication. I'm not one of your little conquests." She arched an eyebrow at him. "Okay?"
Then she smiled sweetly. "Where are you taking me?"
Hey, you had to let them know who was in charge from time to time.
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