[fiction] aubergines.
365 Gay Sharks
Day 314, Word Count: 1766
Theme: November; Write Until You Drop
This post is part of the 365 Gay Sharks project. If you would like to learn more about this project, click here to read more about it. :D
"Do you have something against it?"
Chris laughs, "No, not at all. It's that I live with Aidan, who was probably working the front desk when you came by, and his boyfriend."
"Ah, and you'd prefer potential dating applicants to not be gay too?"
"I prefer it, yes. Are you going to ask me out on a date?"
"Would you accept?"
Chris grins over the edge of her cup. "Probably."
There's a pause in the conversation where Chris takes another sip of her coffee and Taylor's thinking, like he's considering the situation. He's tapping his fingers on the table in a syncopated rhythm and Chris finds it weirdly endearing. She takes another sip of coffee, waiting.
"Okay," Taylor says finally, "Chris, would you like to go out on a date with me?"
"I really would," Chris smiles, "Here, lemme give you my phone number."
Digging around in her backpack, Chris locates her little case of buisness cards and pulls one out, sliding it across the table to Taylor. He picks it up, examining it, and Chris figures it's nothing he didn't already know because it's one of her Kink&Kind cards and he knows.
"Call my cell if it's a Monday through Wednesday. Actually, just always call my cell, because Aidan is an obnoxious asshole."
"Will do," Taylor says as he pockets the card, "Anyway, I gotta get back to work. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you more."
Taylor flashes her a brilliant smile before he slides back behind the counter, and Chris takes another sip of her coffee and watches him go. She checks her phone, seeing that it's still not quite late enough for her to call Avery, and sighs. Aidan would be no help on this matter.
He's always been weirdly overprotective about her dating anyone, which Chris gets. She really does understand why he's hesitant about it. She had a couple of really awful relationships in college, always tainted by the expectation of sex she wasn't always willing to give.
She hasn't dated much since they got out of college, mostly just trying to settle into the rhythm of her new, weird schedule and life. Aidan doesn't push her on it. He never brings it up the way her parents sometimes do, because he knows that Chris can handle herself. Chris has been taking care of herself since she went off to college, figuring out how she fits into the world and who she really is inside.
That's something she feels like she's mostly come to terms with. Aidan's helpful in that, Chris knows, because he knows how to be proud. He's taught her that it's okay to be proud; she doesn't have to pretend she's a lot of things that she isn't just to make people like her. Fuck the people that don't like you, Aidan always says, because they don't know what they're missing out on and they're awful people anyway.
There's an art to knowing how to fake confidence when you don't necessarily have it, and Aidan's taught Chris the secrets of that too. She knows that when you appear confident, people will think you are and they'll believe in you. They'll trust you when you need their trust. Perception is almost all in the way you present yourself, but you have to be confident in yourself to make other people confident in you.
It's skill that's useful in her line of work now, obviously, but it's gotten Chris through things outside of that too, like college. Chris isn't entirely sure how she made it through college, but she's pretty sure it had 90% to do with Aidan basically dragging her through. Aidan himself graduated with crazy honors and awards and all sort of other things because he's always been an overachiever, Chris thinks.
Aidan's over-achieving comes from something inside himself, though, because Chris has met his parents and they're really overwhelmed by it. His parents are proud of him to be sure, because he's living his dreams and he's happy and everything's good, but they're really confused. He says they never understood his ambition, his drive to be better, because they didn't posses it themselves but they supported him anyway.
They've both got awkwardly supportive parents, which makes Chris feel incredibly lucky and undeserving of everything that she's got. Chris finishes off her coffee and gets up, giving a little wave to Taylor before she tosses it in the trash and exits the Starbucks.
Out on the street, Chris takes in the city and takes a deep breath, indescribably happy and light in mood. She checks the time again. Avery should be just getting off work, and Chris is excited and giddy and can't contain herself so she dials his number and calls him.
"Hey, Chris," Avery says, "what's up?"
"I have a date," Chris blurts out, "and I don't understand how this is actually my life right now. It's like a terrible romcom."
"Eeeeeeeeh? Details! I need all of the details, Chris."
"There was this client a few days ago that I really connected with and I was on a fucking coffee adventure and he's a, a fucking barista!"
"Oh my god," Avery is trying not to giggle, Chris can tell, "Your life really is a romcom. Have you told Aidan? This is great."
"I never tell Aidan about my love life," Chris sighs, "that would be like automatically making things go bad."
There's a noise Chris can tell is Avery muttering under his breath about traffic and all the reasons he hates driving, and the bus pulls up. Chris gets on, and she knows it's kind of rude to be on your cellphone while you're on a bus, but she doesn't really care as she boards. She needs moral support, and she'll just talk quietly so other people aren't bothered. This is super-important and they can just deal.
"Is he cute? You have good taste, he's got to be cute. Oh, what are you going to /wear/?"
"I don't know," Chris runs a hand through her hair, "That's why I called you, you're so much better at this than I am."
"This is why you need to tell Aidan about your love life, you know he loves playing dress-up."
Chris rolls her eyes, swaying as the bus moves along, and trying not to bump into other people too much where she can help it. Buses suck. She loves the idea of public transit and having adventures on it, but the sad reality is that she generally tends to despise certain forms.
"Yes," Chris sighs, "but then Aidan always wants to kick their asses and possibly sit them down and give them The Talk."
"Ohhhhhhhhh," Avery actually laughs this time, "You haven't told them that you're the asexiest person there is yet, have you?"
"No," Chris rolls her eyes even though Avery can't see it, "It's not something that came up in our short conversation, okay?"
The fact that it's not a conversation she enjoys having either is unspoken, but still there. Avery acknowledges it with a little hum. Avery only knew because Aidan had a standardized speech that he used on every boyfriend that he'd picked up since Chris figured herself out. It was a little bit embarassing every time he gave it, but after the first guy who'd gotten jealous of Chris for no reason, it was needed.
"Not everyone is an asshole," Avery says, "you know that, Chris. I know you do, I know you're smart."
"I know," Chris replies, "but sometimes it feels like they are. I just didn't want this to go south too fast, you know?"
"You're allowed to be happy, Chris, but that happiness shouldn't come that the expense of your essence."
Avery sounds like a fortune cookie, but Chris knows what he means and she knows that it's true, even if it doesn't always seem so.
Chris sighs, "I know. Hey, talk to you when I get home, yeah? Just wanted to tell someone and freak out a little."
"Only if you help me with dinner. We're having chicken tonight."
"Always," Chris smiles a little, "I love you, see you soon."
"I love you too," Avery says, "See you soon."
Chris hangs up, shoving her phone back in her pocket and lets the city fly by as the bus navigates through it. Everything feels surreal. Just to check that she isn't dreaming, Chris pinches herself. It stings, which must mean that she's awake and not having vivid dreams.
To be honest, Chris has never understood the point of that test. What if her subconscious knows she doesn't want to wake up and it hurts. There seems to be a certain degree of assumption in the test that Chris can't quite sort out in her head, so she's never trusted that test. In this instance, Chris thinks that maybe it doesn't matter either way because it's crazy if it's a dream and crazy if it's real life.
The bus slows as it comes to the stop she's getting off at, and Chris steps off before walking the couple of blocks back to the house. Avery's car is in the driveway, and she pulls her keys from her backpack and unlocking the door. She steps inside and drops her bag gently. Locking the door behind her Chris takes off her shoes and wanders into the kitchen where Avery is almost certain to be. It smells so anyway.
"Hey," Chris says when she sees him, "What do you need me to do?"
"Mix up the spices according to that recipe," Avery says, pointing at a piece of paper on the counter, "and tell me more about your guy."
Reading over the recipe, Chris collects the spices that it requires, some measuring spoons, and one of the smaller mixing bowls they own. She opens the jar and measures out some paprika as she tries to gather her thoughts and articulate them intelligently, or relatively so.
"His name is Taylor," Chris starts, "and I'm pretty sure that our scene was either his first or one of his first and he works at Starbucks."
"What's he look like? Which Starbucks?"
"Taller, probably Latin-American of some sort, hint of muscle on his chest - which was waxed - and messy-ish black hair."
"You don't remember which Starbucks, do you? Ah, it's in your notebook. I'll snoop later."
"You're just as much of an asshole as Aidan is," Chris says as she cracks pepper over the spice mix, "how do I forget that?"
"It's my face," Aidan shrugs, "I'm very cute and no one suspects me."
This entry originally posted here. Original entry currently has
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Day 314, Word Count: 1766
Theme: November; Write Until You Drop
This post is part of the 365 Gay Sharks project. If you would like to learn more about this project, click here to read more about it. :D
"Do you have something against it?"
Chris laughs, "No, not at all. It's that I live with Aidan, who was probably working the front desk when you came by, and his boyfriend."
"Ah, and you'd prefer potential dating applicants to not be gay too?"
"I prefer it, yes. Are you going to ask me out on a date?"
"Would you accept?"
Chris grins over the edge of her cup. "Probably."
There's a pause in the conversation where Chris takes another sip of her coffee and Taylor's thinking, like he's considering the situation. He's tapping his fingers on the table in a syncopated rhythm and Chris finds it weirdly endearing. She takes another sip of coffee, waiting.
"Okay," Taylor says finally, "Chris, would you like to go out on a date with me?"
"I really would," Chris smiles, "Here, lemme give you my phone number."
Digging around in her backpack, Chris locates her little case of buisness cards and pulls one out, sliding it across the table to Taylor. He picks it up, examining it, and Chris figures it's nothing he didn't already know because it's one of her Kink&Kind cards and he knows.
"Call my cell if it's a Monday through Wednesday. Actually, just always call my cell, because Aidan is an obnoxious asshole."
"Will do," Taylor says as he pockets the card, "Anyway, I gotta get back to work. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you more."
Taylor flashes her a brilliant smile before he slides back behind the counter, and Chris takes another sip of her coffee and watches him go. She checks her phone, seeing that it's still not quite late enough for her to call Avery, and sighs. Aidan would be no help on this matter.
He's always been weirdly overprotective about her dating anyone, which Chris gets. She really does understand why he's hesitant about it. She had a couple of really awful relationships in college, always tainted by the expectation of sex she wasn't always willing to give.
She hasn't dated much since they got out of college, mostly just trying to settle into the rhythm of her new, weird schedule and life. Aidan doesn't push her on it. He never brings it up the way her parents sometimes do, because he knows that Chris can handle herself. Chris has been taking care of herself since she went off to college, figuring out how she fits into the world and who she really is inside.
That's something she feels like she's mostly come to terms with. Aidan's helpful in that, Chris knows, because he knows how to be proud. He's taught her that it's okay to be proud; she doesn't have to pretend she's a lot of things that she isn't just to make people like her. Fuck the people that don't like you, Aidan always says, because they don't know what they're missing out on and they're awful people anyway.
There's an art to knowing how to fake confidence when you don't necessarily have it, and Aidan's taught Chris the secrets of that too. She knows that when you appear confident, people will think you are and they'll believe in you. They'll trust you when you need their trust. Perception is almost all in the way you present yourself, but you have to be confident in yourself to make other people confident in you.
It's skill that's useful in her line of work now, obviously, but it's gotten Chris through things outside of that too, like college. Chris isn't entirely sure how she made it through college, but she's pretty sure it had 90% to do with Aidan basically dragging her through. Aidan himself graduated with crazy honors and awards and all sort of other things because he's always been an overachiever, Chris thinks.
Aidan's over-achieving comes from something inside himself, though, because Chris has met his parents and they're really overwhelmed by it. His parents are proud of him to be sure, because he's living his dreams and he's happy and everything's good, but they're really confused. He says they never understood his ambition, his drive to be better, because they didn't posses it themselves but they supported him anyway.
They've both got awkwardly supportive parents, which makes Chris feel incredibly lucky and undeserving of everything that she's got. Chris finishes off her coffee and gets up, giving a little wave to Taylor before she tosses it in the trash and exits the Starbucks.
Out on the street, Chris takes in the city and takes a deep breath, indescribably happy and light in mood. She checks the time again. Avery should be just getting off work, and Chris is excited and giddy and can't contain herself so she dials his number and calls him.
"Hey, Chris," Avery says, "what's up?"
"I have a date," Chris blurts out, "and I don't understand how this is actually my life right now. It's like a terrible romcom."
"Eeeeeeeeh? Details! I need all of the details, Chris."
"There was this client a few days ago that I really connected with and I was on a fucking coffee adventure and he's a, a fucking barista!"
"Oh my god," Avery is trying not to giggle, Chris can tell, "Your life really is a romcom. Have you told Aidan? This is great."
"I never tell Aidan about my love life," Chris sighs, "that would be like automatically making things go bad."
There's a noise Chris can tell is Avery muttering under his breath about traffic and all the reasons he hates driving, and the bus pulls up. Chris gets on, and she knows it's kind of rude to be on your cellphone while you're on a bus, but she doesn't really care as she boards. She needs moral support, and she'll just talk quietly so other people aren't bothered. This is super-important and they can just deal.
"Is he cute? You have good taste, he's got to be cute. Oh, what are you going to /wear/?"
"I don't know," Chris runs a hand through her hair, "That's why I called you, you're so much better at this than I am."
"This is why you need to tell Aidan about your love life, you know he loves playing dress-up."
Chris rolls her eyes, swaying as the bus moves along, and trying not to bump into other people too much where she can help it. Buses suck. She loves the idea of public transit and having adventures on it, but the sad reality is that she generally tends to despise certain forms.
"Yes," Chris sighs, "but then Aidan always wants to kick their asses and possibly sit them down and give them The Talk."
"Ohhhhhhhhh," Avery actually laughs this time, "You haven't told them that you're the asexiest person there is yet, have you?"
"No," Chris rolls her eyes even though Avery can't see it, "It's not something that came up in our short conversation, okay?"
The fact that it's not a conversation she enjoys having either is unspoken, but still there. Avery acknowledges it with a little hum. Avery only knew because Aidan had a standardized speech that he used on every boyfriend that he'd picked up since Chris figured herself out. It was a little bit embarassing every time he gave it, but after the first guy who'd gotten jealous of Chris for no reason, it was needed.
"Not everyone is an asshole," Avery says, "you know that, Chris. I know you do, I know you're smart."
"I know," Chris replies, "but sometimes it feels like they are. I just didn't want this to go south too fast, you know?"
"You're allowed to be happy, Chris, but that happiness shouldn't come that the expense of your essence."
Avery sounds like a fortune cookie, but Chris knows what he means and she knows that it's true, even if it doesn't always seem so.
Chris sighs, "I know. Hey, talk to you when I get home, yeah? Just wanted to tell someone and freak out a little."
"Only if you help me with dinner. We're having chicken tonight."
"Always," Chris smiles a little, "I love you, see you soon."
"I love you too," Avery says, "See you soon."
Chris hangs up, shoving her phone back in her pocket and lets the city fly by as the bus navigates through it. Everything feels surreal. Just to check that she isn't dreaming, Chris pinches herself. It stings, which must mean that she's awake and not having vivid dreams.
To be honest, Chris has never understood the point of that test. What if her subconscious knows she doesn't want to wake up and it hurts. There seems to be a certain degree of assumption in the test that Chris can't quite sort out in her head, so she's never trusted that test. In this instance, Chris thinks that maybe it doesn't matter either way because it's crazy if it's a dream and crazy if it's real life.
The bus slows as it comes to the stop she's getting off at, and Chris steps off before walking the couple of blocks back to the house. Avery's car is in the driveway, and she pulls her keys from her backpack and unlocking the door. She steps inside and drops her bag gently. Locking the door behind her Chris takes off her shoes and wanders into the kitchen where Avery is almost certain to be. It smells so anyway.
"Hey," Chris says when she sees him, "What do you need me to do?"
"Mix up the spices according to that recipe," Avery says, pointing at a piece of paper on the counter, "and tell me more about your guy."
Reading over the recipe, Chris collects the spices that it requires, some measuring spoons, and one of the smaller mixing bowls they own. She opens the jar and measures out some paprika as she tries to gather her thoughts and articulate them intelligently, or relatively so.
"His name is Taylor," Chris starts, "and I'm pretty sure that our scene was either his first or one of his first and he works at Starbucks."
"What's he look like? Which Starbucks?"
"Taller, probably Latin-American of some sort, hint of muscle on his chest - which was waxed - and messy-ish black hair."
"You don't remember which Starbucks, do you? Ah, it's in your notebook. I'll snoop later."
"You're just as much of an asshole as Aidan is," Chris says as she cracks pepper over the spice mix, "how do I forget that?"
"It's my face," Aidan shrugs, "I'm very cute and no one suspects me."
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comments. :D