001 [warning: sexytimes]

[seeagreatergood]

Happy Hour at Allen's is, as usual, loud with competing voices and scents, all of which are less important to Auggie than Annie and Jai's laughter and the second beer in front of him.

Well. Almost all. Occasionally Auggie cocks his head at the sound of heels or the floral scent of shampoo and listens to Jai and Annie's reactions. Jai has one chuckle for redheads and another for brunettes, while Annie has a groan for blondes that Auggie is told is rather hypocritical of her.

"Did the last three girls all have tequila, or was it just one carrying enough shots for her whole party?" he wonders.

"The last four," Jai corrects, audibly smirking. "Your nose must be getting tired."

"I don't get it. Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow -- you'd think people could hold off on the faux-Mexican debauchery until Saturday."

He hears Annie sit bolt upright.

"Oh crap, it's Friday, I have a thing with my--"

"Sister," Auggie and Jai chorus with her. Auggie grins, in spite of the dirty look he's sure she's giving him, and adds, "Jai, you owe me ten bucks."

Jai sighs and digs in his pockets. "Which ought to just about cover your cab ride." He slaps the money onto the table at Auggie's ten o'clock. "Annie, I'll walk you to your car, I'm headed that way."

"Now there's a Pyrrhic victory," Auggie says, with a sigh of his own. "Annie, did he really give me a ten?"

"Yes!" Annie says, laughing, and squeezes his shoulder as she stands. "You're so paranoid."

"I'm wounded that you don't trust me," Jai agrees, also standing.

"You'll heal, I'm sure. Have a good weekend, you two. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Same to you, Auggie," Jai says, with an eyeroll crystal-clear in his voice.

"That'll be a boring weekend, then," Auggie calls after Jai's cologne and Annie's heels, then turns back to his beer. Now where is he going to find a ride with all these tequila-soaked early birds?

Comments

[seeagreatergood]

Auggie cracks up.

"Well, big as my ego may be, you probably ought to come over here or you'll really have to stretch to reach it." He pushes out the empty chair across from him with his foot.

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Well, since you asked so nicely. Yes, adorable stranger, I will join you at your table. Just a sec."

She tucks the pen into the binding of the notebook, picks up that and the tea, and transfers both to Auggie's table.

"So how many friends were you drinking with before they abandoned you? The empties say at least one."

[seeagreatergood]

"Two. What, they left their empties?" he says in surprise. "I must look like a real slob inviting you over to this mess. Sorry."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Your friends are the ones who look like slobs. It's okay, there's room for a cup of tea and a notebook. That's all I ask."

[seeagreatergood]

"Ah, you're too generous." He offers a hand across the table, miraculously avoiding knocking over any bottles. "I'm Auggie."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Elizabeth," she says, shaking his hand. "Pick a nickname."

[seeagreatergood]

His eyebrows go up. "Why?"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

She laughs again as she lets go.

"Good answer. You're a liar, by the way; you knew where every bottle on this table was."

[seeagreatergood]

"I didn't know," he objects. "I just had a pretty good idea. Besides, it gave me a chance to look self-effacing and charming. Or try to, anyway. How'd I do?"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you were very good. Top marks. I'd hire you as a spy any day."

[seeagreatergood]

He laughs. "I don't think I'm really the James Bond type."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Well, flirting and espionage involve almost the same skill set, so you're still ahead of the game."

[seeagreatergood]

"Really. How do you figure?"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Working on multiple levels. Improvisation. Reading people. I'm amazed nobody else seems to have thought of this before."

[seeagreatergood]

"Me too. What made you think of it, I wonder. Are you a spy? The Pussy Galore type, maybe?"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"...I'd like you to imagine for a second what would've happened to this conversation if I didn't know a thing about James Bond."

Beat.

"Are you done imagining?"

[seeagreatergood]

"Yep. My cheek already hurts."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"You're quick on the uptake. I like that."

Grinning: "But no. If I'm going to be a Bond character, I'd want to be Bond. Why aim low?"

[seeagreatergood]

"You ought to be aiming for M, then. You sure sound like you could give Dame Judi a run for her money."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"...I like the way you think. But I'm a little young for M. Then again, I'm a little young for a PhD and I'm not letting that stop me."

[seeagreatergood]

"A PhD. Very nice. Where are you studying?"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

With cheerful pride: "The Courant Institute."

[seeagreatergood]

His eyebrows go up.

"I see." He waves a hand. "Not literally. You on spring break or what?"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

She chuckles, shaking her head.

"Not exactly. Whenever I save the money, I go to a city I've never seen before and rent an apartment for a month. My advisor calls them Lizzie's Little Baby Sabbaticals. As long as I keep working, and I always do, nobody says boo about it."

[seeagreatergood]

". . . Wow." He leans back in his chair, grinning.

"I had no idea anything with the word Institute in its name could be that cool. Where else have you been?"