coming to terms//LILA

[vincent jacob dorée]

Andy left that morning and Vincent had been worrying about him ever since. Andy was Vincent’s little brother and he often stayed at Vincent’s and Sterling’s apartment, particularly when their father’s drinking got really bad – because with the drinking came the beating. He was able to stay through the weekend, but by Monday (which was today) he needed to get back, otherwise their dad would be suspicious. He’d even gone so far as to call the cops on Tobias – a man in the neighborhood that had taken to looking out for the Dorée boys – when they went to his house for refuge. Vincent really wished the law wasn’t so stupid about this sort of thing. Vincent was out of there now, but he wished Andy could just live with Tobias, who would treat him really well.

He wanted to go to a place where he probably wouldn’t be bothered and where he could just get away from his worries of home and school. After some consideration, he decided to head for the local pancake place. He hadn’t eaten all day because of a messed up schedule anyway, so he was starving. Once he arrived, he took a look around and was a little relieved to see that it wasn’t too crowded. It was about three in the afternoon, so not too many people were going to full meals. He was slowly but surely becoming a regular in the place…which he was completely fine with.

“Um…the usual?” he asked, unsure if the waitress knew what his usual was.

“You got it, cutie,” said the woman, winking at him before walking away, which caused Vincent to go into a fit of blushing. He sighed and slouched down into his booth, hoping the blushing would stop.

[delilah paige fairchild]

i'll find my own bravado

The morning had gone by terribly slow. Delilah had been called into work at five-thirty in the morning; apparently someone had called in sick and she was the only person who could cover for them. She was not happy to wake up and serve rude customers coffee all morning, but it was the only way she could make money at the moment. So, begrudgingly, she'd gotten up and rushed to work on a day she wasn't supposed to work, and spent her whole morning at Starbucks. Talk about a bad start to what could have been a great day!

She had only just gotten off work after several hours. Lila was sure she'd only gotten off because her boss felt bad about dragging in the college student so early. Pulling her hair out the bun she'd thrown it in for work, Lila began walking down the street. She wasn't really sure where she wanted to go - she could definitely go for some food, as she hadn't been in the mood to eat anything for lunch except for a bagel with cream cheese. by now, she was pretty much starving. Lila decided to just wander down the street and look for a place to eat, rather than a place she visited regularly. Despite attending college in Chicago for three years now, she hadn't really explored the city.

Strolling down the street, Lila would glance into shop windows every once in a while to see if anything caught her eye. She stopped in surprise in front of a pancake restaurant, seeing someone familiar through the window. The face was unmistakable, even from so far away. She was quite positive it was Vincent, a younger friend of hers. He didn't seem to be waiting for anyone - probably trying to avoid people, actually. Oh well, Lila thought, a grin appearing across her face. She pushed the door open and walked right over to his table, where she caught the last bit of his exchange with the waitress.

Lila sat down with a quiet giggle. "Aw, is Vincent flustered by a lady's not-so-subtle flirting?" She said, amused, seeing the blush on his face. "I think she likes you. And, hey, she's cute! You should totally ask her out!" Lila exclaimed loudly, smiling across the table.

[vincent jacob dorée]

Vincent widened his eyes and sighed as he leaned back into the booth, relieved that his blushing was slowly but surely going down, once the waitress had left him to himself. Flirting was something that he was really never comfortable with. It just made him feel even more awkward than before and he never really knew how to react. Of course, this only made the flirter laugh most of the time, which just made Vincent even more embarrassed.

To distract himself, he pulled out one of his history textbooks from his book bag and set it on the table. He was pretty sure that he had picked up this obsession with history from Tobias – who was a lot more of a dad to him than his real dad was. The book he pulled out was for his American history class, which he was really excited about. They were jumping right into the American Revolution, which was a topic that had always really interested Vincent.

He was so enthralled in his reading that he was taken by surprise when his friend Delilah plopped down into the seat across from him. His eyes widened and the blush came back once he heard what she said. “What – no!” he said, shutting his book and staring down at it. He could feel the heat in his face return and he could only imagine how red his face might be. His eyes flashed up to her and his jaw dropped when he heard just how loudly his friend spoke. “What are you doing? She’ll hear you!” he said, in a panicked voice as he leaned forward slightly to check if the waitress was around. 

[delilah paige fairchild]

i'll find my own bravado

Lila couldn't help but giggle at her friend's panicked response. She doubted she was loud enough for the pretty waitress to hear her, but perhaps she was being a tad flamboyant. She knew Vincent didn't like the attention, but she couldn't help herself. All she wanted was to help out her friend who obviously didn't want it. Oh well.

"Oh, relax." Lila told him, trying not to roll her eyes. "She didn't hear me, she's already in the kitchen. Which reminds me, I'm starving." She frowned, and looked around for the waitress. Once she saw the woman exit the kitchen, she waved her over. Apologizing for the rude way she'd gotten her attention, Lila told the waitress her order. Turning back to Vincent, she smiled sheepishly. "I hope you don't mind me intruding on your quiet time. I just got off work and didn't really eat because it was rather unexpected." She told him, mumbling the last part. Lila was still bitter about being called in on a day she wasn't working. Well, that was a job - at least she was getting paid.

Delilah glanced across the table at the book sat in front of Vincent. "Oh no, are you really doing schoolwork? What are you reading?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow. Then, just as quick as she had mentioned the book, she moved onto something.

Leaning back in her seat, she stared at Vincent. "Alright, let's take a look at this. You're cute. She's cute. What's stopping you?" Lila asked him, interested. She was probably really pushing it, but she couldn't help herself. She was honestly curious in why he wouldn't at least try to talk to the waitress when she so blatantly flirted with him, no matter how innocent it had seemed.

ooc: this is a big mess, i'm sorry. hopefully you can get something out of it, though?

[vincent jacob dorée]

“O – oh…okay,” he said, before heaving a sigh of relief at the knowledge that the waitress was in the kitchen. Vincent just became a bundle of nerves when it came to flirting; something that he was currently proving. He never even understood why anyone would even want to flirt with him. He always thought that they were talking to someone else, that it was some sort of prank or that was just how the person acted towards everyone. Vincent just couldn’t accept that anyone might think he was interesting or attractive in any way.

He immediately lowered his head and stared very hard at the cover of his history textbook when the flirtatious waitress came back over to take Delilah’s order and to bring Vincent his food. Vincent raised his head and he muttered a,”Thank you,” as he moved his book out of the way so that she could place his plate in front of him. Without her even saying anything, he could feel the blush rising in his face. “No problem, sweetie,” she said with a laugh before heading back to the kitchen with Delilah’s order.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, shaking his head and unfolding his napkin before tucking it into his lap. He did a double take when he barely heard what she muttered last. “What – were you not supposed to work today?” He briefly glanced to the side, pausing in cutting his food when she spoke up again. “Oh…sort of. I was just reading ahead for my American history class,” he said, shrugging before putting his silverware down and slipping the book back into his book bag,”Um…speaking of school, though, how are you liking your classes?”

To Vincent’s surprise, Delilah suddenly changed the conversation topic. He sighed. “C’mon…I doubt she’s even interested. She probably acts like that around everyone,” he said, nodding in the waitress’s direction,”Or she thinks it’s funny.”

ooc: No worries, that was probably my fault. xD I didn't give you much to work with. I hope this one is a bit better!

[delilah paige fairchild]

i'll find my own bravado

Delilah laughed quietly at Vincent's reaction to the waitress returning. The whole thing was adorable, really; he was acting like a little kid. He was reminding her of a boy she vaguely remembered from elementary school; her friend liked some boy who kept avoiding and running away from her, most likely due to the girl cooties. Kids were amusing. She smiled at the waitress as she left, then back at Vincent who was blushing once again. She grinned at him, then cast a suggestive glance at the retreating woman.

When Vincent mentioned her work, Delilah's nose wrinkled in distaste. "No!" She replied, shaking her head. "They called me in last minute because someone was sick. I wasn't supposed to work today at all! So I spent my morning serving mean customers." Lila sighed unhappily. Work wasn't really that bad, it was just the few rude customers and having to wake up early that made her upset about it. It was the only way she was making money, after all - so it couldn't be horrible.

"My classes? I love them, I think I'm finally getting somewhere." Lila replied quickly, before moving onto the next subject. She pursed her lips at her friend's response, slightly annoyed at the answer. "She has to be interested at least a little bit!" She protested. "Even if she does it with everyone, she's obviously being more touchy-feely towards you."

"But why would someone do that simply because they thought it was funny? That's horrible!" Lila exclaimed. There was no way someone would do that - she couldn't imagine anyone being that heartless.

[vincent jacob dorée]

Vincent sympathetically tilted his head to the side. He always felt really badly for people that really didn’t enjoy their jobs. Aside from the occasional nasty customer, Vincent loved his job. He was able to be around music all day, even get a chance to play or write music, and he was seen (for some reason) as an expert in most stringed instruments. Besides, it was really hard to not love the job when he had someone like George for the boss. George was probably the chillest person that Vincent had ever met. He reminded him of a mixture of a hippie and a surfer dude.

He was about to respond to her comment about her classes when she immediately continued onto the discussion of the flirtatious waitress. Vincent sighed and rolled his eyes. He really didn’t want to talk about this. He never wanted to talk about this sort of thing, not because discussing it made him uncomfortable, but because it might lead to other kinds of discussions. “What are you talking about? She called me – what was it? S – sweetie and cutie?” he said, blushing as much as he tried not to,”How is that more touchy-feely?”

He sighed and leaned back into the booth again before drinking his orange juice. “Believe me, it happens. People think it’s hilarious,” he said, taking a bite of his waffle. Granted, anyone that flirted with him because they thought it was funny merely did it because he got uncomfortable so easily, so...it was sort of his own fault.

[delilah paige fairchild]

i'll find my own bravado

The waitress returned to their table once again, her hands full with Delilah's order. Smiling and thanking the waitress, she watched as she walked away before turning to her food. She'd gotten pancakes, probably their most popular dish. The restaurant was called, after all, Samantha's Pancakes. It'd be a shame if the pancakes weren't very good, but thankfully Lila found them delicious. She ate a couple bites and took a sip of her iced tea, watching Vincent out of the corner of her eye. Sometimes - no, usually she didn't know how to take him. She found it impossible to argue with the younger man. He never accepted what she said, and sometimes that could be incredibly irritating. Granted, it was probably the topics she chose to discuss with him. She knew he didn't like talking about it, yet she continued relentlessly.

Delilah had never been the best at explaining her reasoning. She'd been terrible at those silly debates in high school, too. She never could find a way to effectively prove her point, much to her dismay. So she just stared at Vincent for a couple seconds, thinking. "Touchy-feely, like affectionate or something." Lila mumbled, looking down at her plate and taking another bite. She grabbed some maple syrup and drenched her pancakes. She glanced up at Vincent, as if daring him to say something. At this point, however, she didn't even care how unhealthy the amount of maple syrup she'd used. Taking a large sip of her iced tea, she glanced at Vincent again. "I just don't understand why you can't accept that someone may have been truly flirting with you." Lila finally said, putting down her drink.

"And anyone who thinks flirting just to get a reaction is an asshole." Lila stated bluntly, her lips a thin line. She could understand people who were naturally flirty, but she didn't think she'd actually run into anyone who make flirty comments for amusement. If she had, she certainly hadn't noticed.

ooc: ah, i'm sorry this took so long. the past couple of days have been rather busy for me.

[vincent jacob dorée]

Vincent paused in cutting up his food to look up at Lila when she tried to explain what she meant. After her explanation, he got a pretty good idea of what she meant, but he didn’t think that’s what the waitress was doing. “I don’t think so,” he said, slowly shaking his head. Maybe he just had a different idea of what affectionate and touchy-feely meant, though. It was entirely possible, since he wasn’t really used to anything of the sort. “She’s probably just trying to – to get a big tip or something,” he mumbled, lowering his head to stare at his food while he continued cutting it.

He raised his gaze slightly to look up at Lila when she spoke up again. Sighing, he rested his silverware on his plate and rested back into the booth. “I don’t – I don’t know. It just doesn’t make sense why anyone would want to,” he said, avoiding making eye contact with Lila upon speaking the last sentence. He knew that she would argue with him on that point, but…he couldn’t help it. That was just how he felt about himself. He doubted that would ever change, honestly.

His eyes flashed up to Lila’s face when he heard what she said next. “Yeah…yeah, I’d have to agree,” he said, raising his eyebrows slightly and nodded. It was slowly and unfortunately becoming news around campus that Vincent got terribly awkward and nervous when it came to someone flirting with him.

ooc: No worries, I don't mind waiting. ^^ I hope this was okay!