RP: Dinner out

[jake_abernathy]

Date: October 6, 2011
Characters: Star Abernathy, Miranda Jackson
Location: home and then a restaurant
Status: Private
Summary: Miranda takes her niece to dinner.
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[miranda_jackson]

Miranda had made a point to let her superiors know that this evening was not an evening she would be willing to stay late to finish that one last project that just needed to be finished before the end of the day. She had plans, important plans. Non-work related plans. Which was becoming increasingly rare. She really did used to be so social.

She smoothed her skirt down when she stepped out of her car. Excited, and a little anxious to be spending time with her niece, and thankful that Jake had allowed an outing on a school night. She would need to remember to thank him for that later. She stepped up onto the front porch and knocked lightly, glancing at her watch quickly to confirm that she wasn’t too far behind the time she’d said.

[jake_abernathy]

Star had been mildly worried as time passed that her aunt might have forgotten, but her dad had reminded her that Aunt Miranda had a job that sometimes kept her a little late, so she tried to be patient until her aunt got here. Though she had on head phones, she still heard the knock and was the first to the door, hollering "I got it" back to her dad and grandparents.

"Hi, Aunt Miranda," she said cheerfully, tugging out her ear phones and bouncing to her toes and back down, trying to rein in her excitement over change in routine. "Ready for dinner?"

[miranda_jackson]

Miranda bit her lip to keep from laughing at Star’s exuberance. “Hi, sweetie.” She replied with a smile and nodded her head to her niece’s question. “I am and how does Italian sound to you?” She had gotten a recommendation from one of her coworkers and really wanted to see if the restaurant was any good. If Star would prefer something else though, Miranda could be flexible. The food wasn’t the important thing this evening.

“Do you need to say goodbye to your dad before we go?” She asked Star, glancing around her inside the house. She and Jake had already gone over when Star should be home and the little details, so Miranda didn’t think there was anything she should have to cover with him before she took Star out for the evening.

[jake_abernathy]

"Italian is good. I like almost anything," Star said, smiling. She didn't really care, and she'd never had any allergies or been too picky about her food, at least, a lot less than some kids.

"Yeah, lemme grab my sweater and say good bye, I'll be right back," Star said, darting back into the house to hug her Dad and kiss his cheek and grab her sweater off the back of the couch--air conditioning, don't you know--and rejoined her aunt. "Okay, ready."

[miranda_jackson]

Miranda waited patiently on the porch for Star to return, checking the GPS directions on her phone to be certain she knew where she needed to go. Fort Worth was home, but she had learned that she wasn’t as familiar with it as she used to be, and she’d never been to Piola’s before so it wouldn’t do her any good to get turned around trying to find her way.

“Okay.” Miranda replied as slid her phone back into her handbag and hit the key-fob to unlock her Mini. She followed Star down the walk and slipped into the driver’s side of the car carefully; wishing not for the first time that she wore dress pants more often. Skirts were so hard to manage some days. She waited until Star was buckled to start the engine and back out of the drive.

“How has school been?” She asked as she pointed the car in the direction of Piola’s, “Any subjects you’re liking most?” Miranda hadn’t had a preference when she was in school, at least not until high school when she preferred her French and English classes to anything else.

[jake_abernathy]

Star hopped on in the car with a grin, automatically reaching to put on her seatbelt, a habit that had been ingrained in her from birth on. She hadn't had to be told to put one on since she was basically young enough she had to have help with it.

She had to admire how her aunt dressed. She always looked so pretty, a little like Shelby's mom did but a little different too. "Eh, school is okay," she said, shrugging. "I'm not in class with Kimberly this year." She sighed gustily, much put upon by not being with the girl who had been her best friend for years.

"I like English all right, and science isn't too bad so far. Lots of homework, though, especially in math, and I don't like that. At least Dad has math and we go through it together some nights."

[miranda_jackson]

“Oh, is this the first year you and Kimberly have had different classes?” Miranda asked, sympathizing somewhat. She could remember the first year she and Davis hadn’t shared classes, it hadn’t been her favorite year of schooling. “I’m sure you’ll be able to see each other outside of school though, and yes, I know that isn’t the same.” She glanced at Star, giving her niece a little smile. She was trying to be careful to not belittle Star’s feelings, because even if it seemed a small thing to Miranda it could be very important for her niece

[jake_abernathy]

"Yeah. It's a real bummer," Star said with a gusty sigh. she missed having her best friend with her in classes, because this year they were not all in the same classroom all the time again. Next year, they should be in all different classes for everything, she thought. "We will, but it's different."

"Don't mind some of the homework. Just don't like having so mucccch," she said, grinning slightly over at her. "Dad's always been good with homework. He knows a lot." She was always a fan of her Dad, and even with his previous job with its wonky schedule, he had always made time for her. There had been several times she'd gone to the firehouse and they'd done her homework at the table there while he was on duty.

"So have you been here before?" she asked curiously as they pulled up, craning her head to look at the sign. She couldn't remember ever coming here before.

[miranda_jackson]

Miranda laughed softly as the corners of her mouth turned up in a small smile. “Mmmm. Just wait until you’re in college, sweetie. They take assignments very seriously.” Though, she supposed that was assuming that Star was interested in college. Miranda wasn’t actually sure. But then she also couldn’t see Jake or any of the grandparents not encouraging Star to further her education. “He does. But I’m sure you’ll know as much as he does when you’re that old.” Maybe it wasn’t fair to call Jake old; he wasn’t that much older than Miranda was.

“I haven’t. It came recommended from one of my coworkers.” Miranda replied with a shake of her head as she turned the car off. “But, if the food is terrible I’ll make it up to you with ice cream.” She stepped out of the car and smoothed her skirt down, “Or whatever you’d like.”

[jake_abernathy]

"Yeah, Dad's doing that now. But 'cept for math he doesn't seem to mind his homework." There was something kinda cool about doing homework with her dad, even if one of her friends thought it was really weird. She was proud of him, though, because she knew it was something he had always wanted to do.

"Oh, cool," she said with a grin. "Hee, win win, then," she chirped. She hopped out of the car and closed the door, tucking her hair back behind her ears and coming around to Miranda, smiling up at her as they made their way into the restaurant.

[miranda_jackson]

Miranda laughed softly as she opened the door, letting Star through first. “Yes, exactly.” She said before making her way to the hostess and requesting a table for two. Turned out her coworker had at least given her sound advice in not needing to make a reservation; she would’ve if she had needed to, but it was nice to have not needed to make the phone call. She wasn’t at the level yet where she was allowed to push off her personal tasks on the assistants.

Her coworker hadn’t told her that the restaurant was housed in a renovated home, but looking around she could tell she would like the atmosphere. It was nice without being too stiff. Once they were seated she flipped her menu open, glancing over the top of it to look at Star. “So, are you doing any extra curricular activities, Star?” She asked curiously, “Or is the amount of homework curtailing that?”

[jake_abernathy]

Star let Miranda handle everything, hanging just behind her elbow as she did when most grown ups did this sort of thing. She looked around with interest, paying more attention to the surroundings than anything, and ooh, it did smell good.

she took her menu and started looking at it as they sat. "I do band," she said. "Though I'm not sure I'll keep doing it next year. And I have dance lessons once a week, and Dad still lets me do the kickboxing classes from this summer." She'd always been into more active things.

[miranda_jackson]

Miranda nodded, she had tried a few things (though never band) growing up that she hadn’t been well suited for or hadn’t enjoyed. “Dance lessons? Would that be formal ballroom?” She inquired, her eyebrows raised slightly. Lauren had enrolled her in formal lessons when she was just a few years younger than Star; she could still remember the instructor to this day. “And that’s good, so you’re enjoying that then?”

She smiled and ordered a water with lemon when their waitress came by to take their drink orders. Usually she would have ordered a glass of wine, but didn’t feel it was appropriate to drink in front of her niece; she wasn’t sure what was and was not acceptable.

[jake_abernathy]

"Yeah, Grandma wanted me to," Star said with half a shrug. "I like the instructor, she makes things fun," she said. "Re is really cool, and a good dancer. And she teaches me some Latin dances as well as the other stuff." With her father's permission, of course.

Star ordered water with lemon because she didn't know if she should order soda. The rules were always differentn when she was out with different people, and though her dad might let her for an occasion like eating out, she didn't want to seem to take advantage of her aunt.

[miranda_jackson]

“For cotillion?” Miranda asked, curious. The Abernathy’s were old money; it was possible that Star’s grandparents would expect her to go through all that. “Well, I would hope she’s a good dancer, sweetie, if she’s teaching others.” Sometimes that wasn’t the case though. “Does she have her own studio?”

Miranda went back to looking over the menu; she wasn’t particularly hungry so she would probably just order a main dish. Even though the Lobster Avocado Salad did sound good. “You can order whatever you’d like, Star.” She said, remembering belatedly that her niece might have been waiting for guidelines. Miranda wasn’t overly wealthy, but she had a good job and only herself to be concerned with, so she could afford to splurge on a few meals.

[jake_abernathy]

Star wrinkled her nose slightly. "Yeah, I think so. She doesn't really say so right out anymore, 'cause Dad isn't sure he likes it, but I think she wants me to be a debutante someday." Star herself wasn't sure what she thought about it, didn't really think she'd like it, but for now she was enjoying it.

Star mmmed softly and nodded, looking it over. She liked her Dad's lasagna, so not that. "Mm, so much to choose from," she said, a little indecisive. She wanted something she rarely had, so maybe something with more sea food or something. Or oooh, veal parmegiana, she had liked that the last time she'd had it.