Addie wasn't nervous, or fidgety up until about a thirty minutes before she planned on heading toward the observation patio that JR had mentioned for their little impromptu date. Rather then let all the tension build up in her stomach though she opted to just work it out and did a few sets of ten pull-ups from the bar that she placed in her doorway. It gave her mind something to focus on for the moment, and when she was done she felt a bit more at ease. A quick glance to the clock and a pit check and she figured she didn't smell. It was only twenty-two and that wasn't really enough to get her sweaty. Maybe she glowed. Maybe that was lame, but it didn't matter. She still headed to her closet and pulled a new top out tugging it over her head and putting another application of deodorant on.
Addie twisted her hair back but didn't tie it, watched her door close behind her and realized that there was no turning back. Well there was turning back, but she couldn't let herself do that. Her hands tucked into her pockets as she rounded the corner and watched the doors slide open in front of her. JR was there leaning against the rails looking out at the water. "So I actually made it out here, do I get points for attendance?"
Jim heard her footsteps just outside the doors before they slid open, relying on his naturally keen hearing. It was sharper than Mike's and a great source of amusement for both brothers when they'd sit around and Jim would identify people based only on their footfall.
Glancing back over his shoulder, Jim was momentarily caught off guard. Yeah...that was *definitely* the chick he'd seen not too long ago. God*damn*, she was cute...like really cute. Like elfin cute, Keebler meets Tolkien with those dimples and that willowy frame. And then there was the blonde thing. He liked blondes.
Fuck him sideways, she was cute as hell, and he *really* wanted to start nibbling on her. Start at her toes and stop at her scalp. Maybe.
"Dia Dhiut...if I told you you looked fabulously, stupendously, gorgeously fuckable, would you slap me?" he asked with a grin, meandering over to take her hand and press a gallant kiss to her knuckles. "Because if you would, I won't say it...but seriously, you look...amazing."
The grin disarmed the obviously completely out of place compliment that was tucked away behind the one curse word, which actually made her laugh. Then the gentle manner in which he took her hand and kissed it almost made her blush, almost. Instead she just shook her head letting her laugh fall a bit softer and mostly in her shoulders.
"I don't think there's anyway to avoid the fact that you already said it, so I'll stave off the physical abuse for now, and thank you. For the compliments, as bold as they were." She laughed again as she moved away from him toward the rails taking a deep breath of the fresh air trying to clear her head a bit, since suddenly she was a bit fuzzy.
"Hey, least I ain't stammering like one of those dweebs on the science team." he joked, ushering her on ahead of him as she walked up to the railing. Leaning alongside her, he watched her for a moment before lifting his gaze to the sky.
"View's pretty righteous from here," he explained, "I figgered you might dig it. I come here to map out constellations when I have a moment...y'know, since we don't exactly have any." Glancing at her again, he flashed her a lopsided grin. "Back home, you got the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Andromeda, all that...way I see it, folks might feel a little easier here if they could do that...still look up at the night sky and see shit in the stars, know what I mean?"
Addie brings her hand up to beneath her chin, letting her elbow wobble a bit on the railing as she rests her head, tilting it over to glance at him. She ran her tongue over her top set of teeth for a second, then smiled at his sentiment. "There's an awful lot of them up there, you'd play connect the dots for hours."
Addie shifted up off her hand and shifted on the railing pressing her back against it, hooking her feet at the ankles as her elbows supported most of her. Her hair fell off her shoulders hanging back as she stared up at the sky. "I'd want one named after my mother. Inessa the fair. Itwould have to not look like anything though, because she could always just see things in nothing." She hadn't really realized that she was talking about her mom, in fact it wasn't something she had planned on, it just did. She exhaled a bit uncomfortable for a moment and stood up a bit straighter, shifting against her hip instead of her back, taking her line of sight back to looking at JR.
"Days...I once spent a whole weekend out here." Jim admitted with a roll of his eyes. "Or in the Ancients Database, looking shit up."
He watched her with keen interest as she shifted to tilt her head up to the sky, and for a moment he wished he had bothered to learn to paint. He wanted to paint her. Or draw her. He was definitely going to write a song just about the way she looked, that was for *damn* sure...
"I'd want one named after my mother. Inessa the fair. Itwould have to not look like anything though, because she could always just see things in nothing."
Jim squinted at her, evaluating the look on her face and in her eyes, along with all the other details he already knew about her. Shuffling them around in his head, he came to the obvious foregone conclusion...at least obvious to *him*, anyway.
Now that he hadn't expected...not that she'd open up that way, but that they would actually have something like *that* in common.
"How long was she sick?" he asked quietly, shifting to match her pose, lounging back against the railing as he watched her curiously, filtering out other little deatils about her based on her appearance. Like the fact she'd been working out before she came here, or that she'd been having trouble sleeping lately because her back was out of alignment...
Her line of sight fell to her shoes immediately, brow furrowing a bit before she finally exhaled again, slow and steady. She took in another breath just for good measure and met his eyes, "A few years... no. Well maybe longer... I just know those last two were the roughest for her. I wasn't that old. David... David was just a baby."
Addie shifted again leaning against the railing staring out into the water, wishing for a moment she could just sink, not literally, just feel that pressure against her ears and listen to the echo against herself. Instead she could hear the crash of the waves as they hit the piers, and the sound of JR's breathing.
"Maybe it was just life adding up on her, too much too fast, not enough... of anything? I kind of wish I knew more... I can't blame her. I can't even blame my father..." Her mouth turned up a bit in the corner an expression of almost giving up on it all, "I can't seem to find blame for anything these days."
She stood up running her hands through her hair, "Wow. Talk about a total killjoy here. I'm sorry... I don't actually talk about her, not even to family. I don't know why I even brought her up."
"Hey...totally cool, Dimples." he assured her, reaching over to lay a hand against her forearm for a moment. "I can dig it and then some. Life shits on the best of us...I grew up in a bad part of LA? My ma was murdered when I was thirteen. Just going to the drug store for a carton of milk, y'know?"
He paused, grinning as he gave her arm a squeeze. "And you ain't no killjoy...you want it straight? I'm flattered you felt that comfortable around me. Even for a sec." Smirking, he leaned in and spoke with a mock conspiratorial whisper. "But shhh...don't tell anyone, 'kay? Word gets out, and my macho chauvinistic tough guy rep is fucked...and we wouldn't want that, right?" he teased.
He was doing it again, disarming her with that Irish boy charm, and she didn't entirely mind. The soft gesture, the gentle squeeze, the little nickname, she had already figured she was in trouble with him, but seeing it live and in person was a different story. She was completely in over her head, but for once it wasn't as bad as she had expected.
"Thanks, and no worry your secret is safe with me. I'll make sure to keep your rep all chauvinistic. I'll tell them you grabbed my ass, and that should balance the scales easily." She laughed lightly, thankful that he had broken the tension that she had put into the setting as well, as she playfully leaned against him in a nudge of flirtation before settling back on steady feet.
Watching her smile again and nudge at him did a lot of unusual things to Jim, physically and otherwise. He was having some real serious issues with this girl right off the bat. Sexy was sexy and cute was cute, but Aedeline was a pretty hardcore combination of both, and he was getting real damn tempted to shove his hands in his pockets or something just to keep from getting grabby.
"Well, hey! Maybe if I play my cards right, I can make the fantasy a reality." he smirked, then gestured behind her to where he'd laid out a picnic blanket and the food he'd brought, along with a bottle of wine. "So...uh, mess hall doesn't leave much room for cooking, since all the grubmeisters in there are so goddamn fuckin' nitpicky, but I did put together a nice little spread with what I could find...ain't exactly Emeril, but it's a little better 'n just 'a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou', dig it?"
Her smile was lighting up her face, still demure and a bit guarded but everytime he said 'dig it' she couldn't help but laugh a bit, mostly because it wasn't a phrase she heard too often let alone from a military man. He was attractive, there wasn't a doubt in her mind about that. As a matter of fact doubt had slipped from her mind the second he had gripped her arm a moment earlier.
Addie shifted to standing up and moved toward the little set up JR had working in his advantage, "It's perfect Jim, seriously. I mean I wasn't expecting anything really, so this is exactly the right thing to have."
"Something as opposed to nothing...I can't go wrong." he laughed, taking her hand in his and grandly leading her over, helping her to seat herself with a deliberately dramatic, sweeping bow before moving to sit alongside her in a relatively unusual display of grace for a man of his size. Easily folding his long legs comfortably beneath him, he leaned over and grabbed a glass, handing her one before picking up the bottle of wine.
"So," he drawled with a wicked grin, uncorking the wine and pouring her a glass, "what had you so worked up you had to get physical 'fore you came on down here?" At her look, he nodded towards her. "Your hands...mild abrasion on the heel of yer left palm indicates you smacked something you shouldn't have. My guess? Push ups or chin ups."
Glass in hand she gave him another one of her trademarked glances that questioned just how 'observant' he was being. It wasn't that she minded, because it was almost refreshing not having to hide things, even though somethings might be better off hidden. Still she had to know how he figured things out, because it wasn't her shirt, or her scent she had checked that, but of course the metal grip did dig into her palms a bit harder than she had wanted to, and there was that scrape. It was a tattle-tale scrape.
"Nerves? I figured it was better to work it out, then let it knot my stomach, so yeah guilty." Lifting her palm she showed the slight scraped heel of her palm, "Pull-ups, and it's not like guys don't do crunchs before a date so don't tell me I'm odd."
"Never said you were, Dimples." Jim chuckled, pouring his own glass of wine and taking a small sip before reaching out across the blanket to grab a small plate and extended it to her, offering one of the small sandwiches that was on it.
"And don't look at me like that!" He added, grinning. "Dude, you *honestly* telling me you're suprised? It's...it's fuckin' *there*, it's so obvious!" He paused, pretending to look serious. "Besides, I'm a goddamn doctor...be remiss in my duties and all kindsa good stuff if I missed that shit."
Her laughter this time was a lot more present, grin wide and beaming as she nearly gasped, "Oh, your a God Damn doctor are you now?" She was laughing, just because it was almost insane to be having a discussion about how he had picked up on a small scrape on her palm, which had outted her nervousness about coming to dinner with him. "I wonder does everyone get this special attention to detail that I'm getting? Because I'd hate to find out that all the girls get this sort of once over at dinner."
She sipped at her wine still smiling at him from over the top of her glass. Setting the glass in her hand a bit she brought her hand to her mouth covering her smile for a moment, "Seriously Jim, I don't think I've ever met someone quite like you. Which is actually pretty impossible sounding since you have a twin brother."
That smile begged for a response, and that laughter warmed him from the inside out. Grinning as he chuckled, he tried to look offended and failed. "Yeah, I'm a goddamn doctor, wanna make something of it?" he teased. "And yes, I give that special once-over to all blondes I have dinner with on this observation deck with abrasions on their palm from chinups they did before our date."
He paused, flashing her his best 'wounded puppy' mock pout. "Does that make me a bad person?"
As she laughed, he took another sip of wine as she spoke, covering her smile. That caught his attention far more than her remark. Smirking, he reached out and caught her wrist lightly, drawing it away from her mouth.
"You have got...the *cutest* damn smile." he admitted honestly. "Do me a favor...don't cover it up around me, huh? 'Cause I'm way into it." Pausing, he released her hand and cocked his head to the side. "Now...what was that you were sayin'? 'Cause I got kinda distracted." he teased.
Addie twisted her hair back but didn't tie it, watched her door close behind her and realized that there was no turning back. Well there was turning back, but she couldn't let herself do that. Her hands tucked into her pockets as she rounded the corner and watched the doors slide open in front of her. JR was there leaning against the rails looking out at the water. "So I actually made it out here, do I get points for attendance?"
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Glancing back over his shoulder, Jim was momentarily caught off guard. Yeah...that was *definitely* the chick he'd seen not too long ago. God*damn*, she was cute...like really cute. Like elfin cute, Keebler meets Tolkien with those dimples and that willowy frame. And then there was the blonde thing. He liked blondes.
Fuck him sideways, she was cute as hell, and he *really* wanted to start nibbling on her. Start at her toes and stop at her scalp. Maybe.
"Dia Dhiut...if I told you you looked fabulously, stupendously, gorgeously fuckable, would you slap me?" he asked with a grin, meandering over to take her hand and press a gallant kiss to her knuckles. "Because if you would, I won't say it...but seriously, you look...amazing."
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"I don't think there's anyway to avoid the fact that you already said it, so I'll stave off the physical abuse for now, and thank you. For the compliments, as bold as they were." She laughed again as she moved away from him toward the rails taking a deep breath of the fresh air trying to clear her head a bit, since suddenly she was a bit fuzzy.
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"View's pretty righteous from here," he explained, "I figgered you might dig it. I come here to map out constellations when I have a moment...y'know, since we don't exactly have any." Glancing at her again, he flashed her a lopsided grin. "Back home, you got the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Andromeda, all that...way I see it, folks might feel a little easier here if they could do that...still look up at the night sky and see shit in the stars, know what I mean?"
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Addie shifted up off her hand and shifted on the railing pressing her back against it, hooking her feet at the ankles as her elbows supported most of her. Her hair fell off her shoulders hanging back as she stared up at the sky. "I'd want one named after my mother. Inessa the fair. Itwould have to not look like anything though, because she could always just see things in nothing." She hadn't really realized that she was talking about her mom, in fact it wasn't something she had planned on, it just did. She exhaled a bit uncomfortable for a moment and stood up a bit straighter, shifting against her hip instead of her back, taking her line of sight back to looking at JR.
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He watched her with keen interest as she shifted to tilt her head up to the sky, and for a moment he wished he had bothered to learn to paint. He wanted to paint her. Or draw her. He was definitely going to write a song just about the way she looked, that was for *damn* sure...
"I'd want one named after my mother. Inessa the fair. Itwould have to not look like anything though, because she could always just see things in nothing."
Jim squinted at her, evaluating the look on her face and in her eyes, along with all the other details he already knew about her. Shuffling them around in his head, he came to the obvious foregone conclusion...at least obvious to *him*, anyway.
Now that he hadn't expected...not that she'd open up that way, but that they would actually have something like *that* in common.
"How long was she sick?" he asked quietly, shifting to match her pose, lounging back against the railing as he watched her curiously, filtering out other little deatils about her based on her appearance. Like the fact she'd been working out before she came here, or that she'd been having trouble sleeping lately because her back was out of alignment...
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Addie shifted again leaning against the railing staring out into the water, wishing for a moment she could just sink, not literally, just feel that pressure against her ears and listen to the echo against herself. Instead she could hear the crash of the waves as they hit the piers, and the sound of JR's breathing.
"Maybe it was just life adding up on her, too much too fast, not enough... of anything? I kind of wish I knew more... I can't blame her. I can't even blame my father..." Her mouth turned up a bit in the corner an expression of almost giving up on it all, "I can't seem to find blame for anything these days."
She stood up running her hands through her hair, "Wow. Talk about a total killjoy here. I'm sorry... I don't actually talk about her, not even to family. I don't know why I even brought her up."
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He paused, grinning as he gave her arm a squeeze. "And you ain't no killjoy...you want it straight? I'm flattered you felt that comfortable around me. Even for a sec." Smirking, he leaned in and spoke with a mock conspiratorial whisper. "But shhh...don't tell anyone, 'kay? Word gets out, and my macho chauvinistic tough guy rep is fucked...and we wouldn't want that, right?" he teased.
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"Thanks, and no worry your secret is safe with me. I'll make sure to keep your rep all chauvinistic. I'll tell them you grabbed my ass, and that should balance the scales easily." She laughed lightly, thankful that he had broken the tension that she had put into the setting as well, as she playfully leaned against him in a nudge of flirtation before settling back on steady feet.
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"Well, hey! Maybe if I play my cards right, I can make the fantasy a reality." he smirked, then gestured behind her to where he'd laid out a picnic blanket and the food he'd brought, along with a bottle of wine. "So...uh, mess hall doesn't leave much room for cooking, since all the grubmeisters in there are so goddamn fuckin' nitpicky, but I did put together a nice little spread with what I could find...ain't exactly Emeril, but it's a little better 'n just 'a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou', dig it?"
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Addie shifted to standing up and moved toward the little set up JR had working in his advantage, "It's perfect Jim, seriously. I mean I wasn't expecting anything really, so this is exactly the right thing to have."
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"So," he drawled with a wicked grin, uncorking the wine and pouring her a glass, "what had you so worked up you had to get physical 'fore you came on down here?" At her look, he nodded towards her. "Your hands...mild abrasion on the heel of yer left palm indicates you smacked something you shouldn't have. My guess? Push ups or chin ups."
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"Nerves? I figured it was better to work it out, then let it knot my stomach, so yeah guilty." Lifting her palm she showed the slight scraped heel of her palm, "Pull-ups, and it's not like guys don't do crunchs before a date so don't tell me I'm odd."
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"And don't look at me like that!" He added, grinning. "Dude, you *honestly* telling me you're suprised? It's...it's fuckin' *there*, it's so obvious!" He paused, pretending to look serious. "Besides, I'm a goddamn doctor...be remiss in my duties and all kindsa good stuff if I missed that shit."
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She sipped at her wine still smiling at him from over the top of her glass. Setting the glass in her hand a bit she brought her hand to her mouth covering her smile for a moment, "Seriously Jim, I don't think I've ever met someone quite like you. Which is actually pretty impossible sounding since you have a twin brother."
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He paused, flashing her his best 'wounded puppy' mock pout. "Does that make me a bad person?"
As she laughed, he took another sip of wine as she spoke, covering her smile. That caught his attention far more than her remark. Smirking, he reached out and caught her wrist lightly, drawing it away from her mouth.
"You have got...the *cutest* damn smile." he admitted honestly. "Do me a favor...don't cover it up around me, huh? 'Cause I'm way into it." Pausing, he released her hand and cocked his head to the side. "Now...what was that you were sayin'? 'Cause I got kinda distracted." he teased.
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