The day after, early afternoon

[nomorekaraoke]

It isn't every day Lorne has to crawl out from under his thick, cozierthanthou duvet to answer an unlisted caller sending his cell phone into a vibratin', party hoppin' frenzy.

...the saxophone's blowin' on a rock n' roll show - we climbed in the back seat, really had a good ti-i-ime--

"Hot patootie, my tush." Begrudgingly flipping the phone open and letting his arm go limp. It's an approximative thing, really, where the actual receiver thingamabob ends up.

...right. His ear's over here.

"What's yer pleasure, stranger?"

Comments

[sunnydalealum]

"Lorne?" The voice on the other end is uncertain, and familiar. "It's -- it's Emma."

[nomorekaraoke]

"Heeeey," his voice brightens with the smile on his lips, it's like magic, honest, but it's still just a tad groggy and not quite with the here and now yet.

"Emma, darling. You got home safe. I was worried about you, I'll have you know."

Just a little. A teensy little bit, despite the whole Slayer thing.

[sunnydalealum]

The smile's audible, and her voice brightens correspondingly.

"That's why I was calling, really. To let you know I got home okay?"

[nomorekaraoke]

"Such a sweetheart, you're melting mine." He rolls over on his back, facing away from the glaring sun seeping in through the blinds. It's dark enough in here to be asleep, nowhere near dark enough to go back to it. Not now that he's waking up.

"I hope you had a good time last night. You know, aside from the preview of Creepy Critters 101."

[sunnydalealum]

A small, half-embarrassed laugh. "Aside from that. Yeah, I ... I really did."

[nomorekaraoke]

"Maybe preview is the wrong word, but, yeah... You got it."

There's some rustling on his end; he's getting out of bed, pulling on one of his robes. "I'm glad. It's my pride and joy, that place."

[sunnydalealum]

"Good," she says, and ... has no real idea what to say next.

Somehow she doesn't want to end the conversation just yet, though.

[nomorekaraoke]

"I hope Gus was a gent." He knows he was, but it's better to ask one too many questions than not. Always pays to have a broad perspective of things.

Padding out to the kitchen.

[sunnydalealum]

"Oh, absolutely," she says. "He let me off right where I asked him to and everything."

Which was several blocks from her building, as it happens. And didn't insist on taking her right to her door.

[nomorekaraoke]

"Told you he's a doll."

Coffee or tea, what does he feel like? Now that he's standing there by the counter, he feel a whole lot like neither. Oh, well.

"Listen, there's this thing I forgot to ask you last night. What can I say, ya can't remember everything. Would you at all be interested in earning a few extra bucks?"

Okay, that calls for some explanation. "I can always use a bunch of extra hands for the big bashes, and with New Year's coming up..."

[sunnydalealum]

A startled pause.

"You mean --"

There's a very odd sound to her voice. "Are you offering me a job?"

[nomorekaraoke]

It's a bit difficult to decide whether or not the shock is at all the good kind, or the one that comes with a capital nuh uh.

"I'm offering you a chance, sugar plum. If you wanna send in your resume, you'll know where to go."

He's smiling for some reason. Doesn't feel like he was wrong to ask.

"Well? Are you interested?"

[sunnydalealum]

Funny thing: she's not sure whether or not it's the good kind either.

It's hard not to think about the last time someone offered her a job.

"What, um. What would I be doing? If I said yes?"

[nomorekaraoke]

"You'd be one of the cuties waiting tables. Taking drink orders, showing customers to their tables, you know the drill.

"You have any experience with that sort of gig?"

[sunnydalealum]

"Uh. N-not really. I worked in a coffeeshop once, a couple years ago?"

[nomorekaraoke]

"It's a start we can work with. Listen, if you're interested, do your see-vee thing. You need to give it to a woman in Greenwich, owns a small clothing shop there called Sundries - don't ask me why - it's a second hand meets vintage meets everything between kind of shop. Bleecker Street. Talk to Marta."

[sunnydalealum]

"Marta," she repeats. "Sundries. Bleecker Street." Finding a pencil in the clutter of the junk drawer in the kitchenette, and scribbling the words on a pad of paper by the fridge.

"I, um. Don't really have much of a CV," she confesses.

[nomorekaraoke]

"Sweetie, neither did I when I got started. But really, what I want to see is how you perceive yourself, as a person, a woman; how do you handle stress, what kind of pros and cons you think you have... It doesn't all have to be about your professional credentials, you know. We all gotta start someplace."

Tracing his steps back to the liquor cabinet over yonder, he starts fixing himself a drink. "You think you're up for the job, it'll show even if you don't get all the words right. Eloquence can be such a bitch, if you don't mind me saying so."

[sunnydalealum]

How you perceive yourself. Coward, screw-up, liar, deadweight. Betrayer. Dupe. Victim.

It's not like it's a dangerous job, though. It's not like anything massively important would be depending on her. She'd be waiting tables.

(Two years ago, she still believed that she would someday be a lawyer. She hasn't thought about that in a long time.)

"Okay," she says, still a little uncertainly.

"I ... probably won't be able to get any references, either."

[nomorekaraoke]

"You won't need 'em. I'll know what's good and solid, don't you worry."

He can't help it, the covert admonition slips in there like second nature. He doesn't like being taken for a fool, and while he feels embellishments is the very soul of the resume, there's a limit to everything.

References, he doesn't need. Semi-truthfulness, he does.

[sunnydalealum]

"Okay," she repeats, quickly, and swallows the automatic apology; covert or not, even the mildest of admonitions has that effect on her.

"So I, I'll ... I'll see."

[nomorekaraoke]

"Atta girl. You never take chances, you miss out on all kinds of things." He sips. "It's just the way life is.

"Anyhoo, you're a darling for giving me a call."

[sunnydalealum]

"Thanks." And she hears herself smiling when she says it.

The compliments, the little endearments -- they don't make her nervous, even though she vaguely thinks they should. The offer of a job does, but she realizes (to some surprise) that what she's nervous about is screwing it up. Not ... him wanting something from her, something beyond what he's saying.

"So, um. Talk to you soon, I guess?"

[nomorekaraoke]

"Sooner rather than later, I hope." He smiles, heartened and all brightened up by the sunshine on the other end.

"Anytime, sweetie. You take care, okay?"

[sunnydalealum]

"You too." Meaning it.

She thumbs the OFF button and sits down on the edge of her futon for a while, phone still held loosely in one hand. Thinking.

Looking at the notepad with its few words scrawled on the top page. Marta. Sundries. Bleecker Street.