Just a bit of Southern Comfort

[helena]

Let’s see now…where else could she advise him to go? He didn’t seem like one who would enjoy the harsh atmosphere of The Pit…maybe Wicked? It was a popular nightclub for the locals, though she’d never really gone herself. Ah, memories of her party going years. Both Wicked and The Pit would have been some of her favorite haunts, she thought, a wistful smile on her face.

It was really too bad that she’d gotten stupid that one night. What would life have been like, if she’d continued with her wild ways? She definitely wouldn’t be sitting to such a handsome guy talking, that’s for sure. She bit back a snort of amusement, doing her best to hide the effort behind a dainty cough.

Gah, getting the mind out of the gutter, she thought, focusing on what Russ was saying once again. She couldn’t help but finally let loose a laugh at his first comment, ducking her head in mock shame. ”I have been known to cut loose and have a bit of fun, sometimes,” She said, shaking her head a bit. ”But unfortunately, not lately. I guess you can say that it’s a hazard to being in my line of work.”

She was about to go on; to regale the poor guy with horror stories of late nights, no sleep and bad dreams…but she never really got the chance. One second, her mind was happily compiling places of interest that Russ should see in his stay in New Orleans and in the next, it proceeded to freeze.

Oh, God, please, PLEASE don’t let her start blushing! What had her friend in Psych say? It was all in her head. She would not focus on the fact that a handsome young man had just basically asked her out, and she would be fine. Normal colored. Not impersonating a talking fire hydrant! Just take a deep breath, put a smile on…

Aw heck, there it went. It took all of Helena’s self control not to whack herself on the forehead as she immediately felt her face redden. Great, now she looked like she’d gotten a sunburn. Maybe she could blame it on his hotness? That would definitely be what a friend of hers would do…gah! Why could she do nice, motherly and gentle, but she could never manage suave? ARGH.

”Running into me?” She repeated, surprise on her face. Okay, she could manage intelligible sentences and not sound like a human-sized parrot. ”Oh, as if…meet up later? At one of the places I mentioned? Er, or maybe somewhere that you wanted to go, of course; my suggestions were just…um…suggestions. You don’t have to take them or anything, I swear. Though, I do know the owner at Lucy’s so…er…oh foo, I’m babbling. Wonderful.”

With an amused snort, Helena rolled her eyes at herself before covering her eyes with her free hand. After a moment of trying to stop herself from either finding a lake to douse her face in, or continuing to babble, she lowered her hand and gave him a ‘yes, I know I know I’m crazy, but I’m really harmless’ look.
”Okay, I’m sorry…that was embarrassing. It’s definitely been a while since someone’s asked me to do anything not involving making sure their arm doesn’t fall off in the next ten seconds.” A nervous laugh. ”But…um…I guess it wouldn’t take much. To get us to run into each other…as long as you give me notice to when you’d want to.”

[/blockquote]

[russ]

With any luck, Helena would decide to ‘cut loose’ tonight. It would provide later opportunity to ask her what she did that was so over exerting, and anything else that might occur to make her a lasting memory. She conveniently seemed overdue, and anticipation surged through Russ as his fingers stilled on the bench to comfortably gripping it. After all, the damage was done, now he need only await her answer. He was used to rejection; it came with the territory. But he was not apprehensive for a lack of experience in the department of asking someone to go do something. On the contrary, he had to do it on a daily basis now, and was probably why he just cut to the chase. It was not that he was promiscuous, though the opportunity to be so definitely leant itself to his lifestyle, and the proof of that lay in the fact that he asked guys and girls alike very similar questions. After all, drinks were perfectly innocent and a great way to expel the awkwardness of just meeting a person.

That he was used to this established, he was not at all unaware of why he felt slightly self-conscious doing so now. He imagined a woman like her got poor schmucks like him asking her out all the time. But his intentions always started out chaste, and the stereotype of his sex could be quite an obstacle to overcome when approaching someone attractive. Guys and girls alike, actually. With his slender frame and passive personality, there were certainly some misunderstandings to account for as the night progressed. Such misunderstandings were more likely to be on his behalf this time, but the unmistakable blush response was a good sign for now. He felt a little bad for evoking the subsequent prattle. He had tried to be very subtle when he asked at first.

He was inclined to stop her, because he was pretty sure she wasn’t getting that he just wanted to go do something. Hell, if she wanted to go sit in that haunted cemetery all night he would find some way to make the most of it. Though, the idea of a haunted cemetery in a place like this sort of gave him the chills. And he wasn’t sure what he might think of her if that’s what she really wanted to do. Fortunately, it did not readily leap from her mouth in the mass of her response to what was, what he thought was, a pretty simple question. At least she was aware of how flustered she was coming off, and so he just shook his head dismissively in the face of her embarrassment.

To be perfectly honest, it was not until she mentioned the preservation of limbs that his eyes went slightly wide. Yes, the nature of her work would definitely be coming up. But surely that wasn’t enough to immediately withdraw the invitation? No, certainly not, he decided after quick assessment. Her charming grin did have a great deal to do with the decision, but the bias was favourable.

[white]“Notice.”[/white] He amusedly mimicked to himself, ironically musing that this was sounding more like an appointment. [white]“Well, it wouldn’t look very good on your part if you didn’t try to steer tourism to your friend’s bar.”[/white] He grinned, trying his best to make her feel relaxed again. [white]“Let’s say there, eh? Mm… nine?”[/white] There was a measure of qualm in his voice as he ball parked what he thought was a reasonable time. If she was already done with work at this hour she must have been working pretty damn early. [white]“And then who knows where you can stalk me to after that.”[/white] He added with a grin and a wink.

FINISHED and continued in [navy]Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds[/navy]