RP: Out with Brielle

[avabyrne]

Date: March 12, 2011
Characters: Ava Byrne, Brielle Martin
Location: Angel Abbey
Status: Public
Summary: Drinks!
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[bri_martin]

Brielle turned with a grin when she heard Ava's familiar voice. "Hey! No not long at all," she answered, patting the empty seat she'd saved beside her. "I wasn't sure if you'd want a table or to hang out here, but I figured I'd reserve two here, since it seems like there's a few tables to choose from and the bar seems to fill up fast. Do you have a preference?" she offered, smiling.

The Abbey was certainly fast becoming one of her favorite places to hang out for food and drinks. The bartenders were all going to start recognizing her on sight at this point.

[bri_martin]

Brielle laughed as she lifted her glass in Ava's direction. "If not, I'm certain the drinks will be optimistic enough for both of us," she giggled as she took another sip. The bartenders here really were amazing. Mister Leather Pants certainly had himself a great pub.

"Oh, that's just what I need!" Brielle snickered. "Still, I suppose suffering through such a hardship is the least I could do," she added with a wink and a grin. "Please, feel free to use me as a guinea pig anytime you like. That new club is already going to be making a fortune off me."

[avabyrne]

"Drinks are good about that," Ava said, peering into her glass and wondering just how much vodka had gone into it. She was already slightly grin-faced after this one. She signaled for a refill, noting that she was nearly empty.

"It wouldn't be a hardship. My scones are great. There's only one time they weren't great, and that was when I switched sugar for salt by accident. Which I don't recommend." She shook her head. "Anyway, I think you've probably used the gym more than I have so far. I'm getting bad. But at least I'm walking every day with Wilbur?"

[bri_martin]

"That's still plenty of exercise," Bri pointed out with a smile. "And I don't get there as often as I'd like. If you ever want a buddy to go with, though, let me know. Maybe we'd both be better at it, that way."

She finished her mojito and eyed the glass ruefully, debating another. Bri laughed as Ava ordered a second, taking that as a sign. "Tonight certainly isn't helping me resist lush status, but at the moment, I don't really care."

She gave a thoughtful sigh for a moment, tapping a finger against the bar as she waited for her refill. "It was my brother's birthday yesterday. First one I've ever missed. Is it bad I'm feeling terribly guilty over this?"

[avabyrne]

"We said we'd be buddies last time," Ava pointed out, "but we never got a chance to. We'll fix that. Motivate each other."

"We're both a long way from being lushes. At least, I'm not going to worry until I'm on first-name basis with a bartender, like you."

Ava looked at Brielle when she spoke about her brother. "I don't think so," she said, sliding her refill toward her when it came back. "You're really far away for the first time. Did you call him, or anything?"

[bri_martin]

"Once we motivate each other into being motivated," Brielle amended with a snicker. "It'll happen. Maybe. Eventually?"

Bri gasped in mock offense. "That's not a... okay so maybe it is. Crap, I'm doomed," she stated mournfully as Ava slid her refill towards her. She eyed it a moment before sighing and giving in with a shrug. "Oh well. Maybe lushes have more fun?"

Smiling, Brielle nodded. "I skyped with them. Uhh, video chatted," she explained, unsure if Ava knew what that was. "I got to witness it, at least. And watch him open the present I sent him. But it still wasn't the same, you know? Just when I thought I'd banished the last of my homesickness, too..."

[avabyrne]

"I'm having fun," Ava declared, because she was, and her new drink was every bit as strong as her old one.

"Sure, I know Skype," she acknowledged with a smile. "My parents discovered it last year and they make liberal use of it. I prefer the phone when it comes to talking with them; it's easier to be evasive when my mother tries to set me up when she can't see my face." Ava was a crap liar, always had been.

"But that's so nice, that you at least got to be there after the fact. He's your younger brother?" She looked at Brielle then. "I'm sorry you're homesick. Maybe when you get some time off you can make a quick trip up to visit."

[bri_martin]

"Which is the entire point, isn't it?" Bri winked at her, taking a sip of her own refill.

Wincing in sympathy, Brielle shook her head. "I'm sorry. And I don't blame you in that case. Although why they're trying to set you up when you;re all the way down here sounds a little silly. Are they trying to lure you home again?"

"He is," Bri agreed with an affectionate smile. "I'm the oldest - there's four of us all together. Gabriel's next, Brandon's in the middle - it was his birthday - and Becca's the youngest. They've always been a handful. Although I suppose I'm not one to talk, either."

[avabyrne]

"It's a little harder for her now, thankfully; she hasn't tried to since I moved here. I just get general 'why aren't you dating' treatment now. But I've only been here a few months, and DC was just a couple hours' drive away. Not daunting enough for her." Ava laughed and rolled her eyes. "I think they'd prefer if I lived closer, but... I think I'm close enough for now." Ava did miss them sometimes, and she loved them so much, but it had been stifling all the same.

"Big family," Ava observed with a smile. Her immediate family had always been small, and she'd wondered if her parents wouldn't have coddled and fretted so much if there'd been more children around. "Sounds like a handful to have to babysit, but you sound like you didn't mind too much."

[bri_martin]

"Ahh, she's one of those types," Bri chuckled. "In that case, I can't say I blame you. I can't imagine my father trying to set me up with anyone, and his choice in possibles... would be a little alarming, I think. Or, at the very least, boring. Although I think he'd be as horrified as me if he had to pick out potential dates for me."

"Enormous," Bri snickered fondly, a smile on her lips. "And I'm used to it. Most of the time, I pretty much raised them. Babysitting was something I paid someone else for."

[avabyrne]

"Yeah, my dad doesn't get involved in that, bless him," Ava said with a laugh. "That'd be too weird for both of us." Her mother had no concept of weirdness, unfortunately.

"Aw, what, out of your spending money?" That hardly seemed fair; Brielle couldn't be that much older than her siblings. "They probably miss you a lot, too. Thank god for Skype, at least."

[bri_martin]

Brielle laughed as she sipped at her drink. "Yeah, I can imagine it would be. Poor dads. The things they put up with." She winced a little at the question, always finding it a little awkward explaining her somewhat odd situation. "Oh, no, it wasn't out of mine, exactly. I usually handled some of the household funds and stuff. To help my dad out. He had a business to run that kept him busy so I took care of most of the things at home so he didn't have to worry about it. And yeah, they probably do, although the boys would never admit it and Becca admits it a little too much, since every day brings a new disaster in her melodramatic life. But we still talk a lot, so it's not too bad. Thank God for the internet."

[avabyrne]

"That's lovely," Ava said, propping her chin on her hand as she leaned against the bar, "that he had you to take care of that. Everyone pitching in, and everything -- not to mention, you already knew how to handle bills and things once you branched out on your own." Ava smiled wryly. "Mm, teenage melodrama. I definitely don't miss it. Every problem feels fifty feet tall." Not that she didn't have fifty-foot problems these days, she supposed. Or ones that felt like it.

[bri_martin]

"It was good preparation, that's for sure," Brielle chuckled as she played with her drink, smiling slightly. "Although I'm still trying to break myself out of the habit of having fifty million things to do at any given time and realize that with only one person, everything's much simpler now. I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something."

Bri snickered. "Yes. That's it exactly. Everything is Armageddon. And if she's not calling me about it, my dad is, because she's flown into some emotional fit over dinner and he's just... baffled. I almost feel sorry for leaving him to deal with it."