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

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"It's a good quality to have."

[seeagreatergood]

"I'm glad we agree."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Do I take that to mean you like being surprised?"

[seeagreatergood]

"You want the flirtatious answer, the politically incorrect answer, or the straight answer?"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"All three, in that order."

[seeagreatergood]

He holds up a finger and smirks appropriately.

"I love surprises."

He holds up a second fingers, still smirking.

"It's not exactly difficult to surprise a blind guy."

Third finger. The smirk fades.

"Yeah, I enjoy being surprised in bed, but the rest of the time? I have enough to deal with in my life without people surprising me. Being blind makes unpredictability frustrating, not fun."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Well. Not even for a sweet guy like you am I going to make myself predictable, but I promise the only surprises I give you on purpose will be the fun kind."

[seeagreatergood]

He smiles.

"Hey, I made it to sweet? Cool. And" -- he waves a hand -- "don't sweat it. I deal with unpredictability just fine."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"You definitely made it to sweet," she assures him.

[seeagreatergood]

"I'll put it on my resume."

Auggie is finding, somewhat to his surprise, that he really likes her. Not that he ever goes to bed with someone he doesn't like, but . . .

She reminds him a little of Tash.

"Hey. What's your favorite book?"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"People say that like I'm supposed to have one. Can I at least narrow it down by century? Nineteenth, Hound of the Baskervilles, Conan Doyle. Twentieth, Friday, Heinlein. He's a guilty pleasure, what can I say. Twenty-first, Night Watch, Pratchett."

[seeagreatergood]

It's kind of a relief that she doesn't say Snow Crash.

"I see you also have excellent taste in authors."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"I like to think I have excellent taste in everything."

[seeagreatergood]

"So do I. It's nice to have it so thoroughly confirmed."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"How about you? Are you one of those inexplicable people who has one favourite book?"

[seeagreatergood]

"Well, I take Snow Crash with me whenever I leave the country, so that's at least pretty high on the list."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Whenever you leave the country," she echoes. "I like those implications. How many cool points do I lose if I admit I haven't read it?"

[seeagreatergood]

He holds out a hand, palm up.

"Gimme your hand."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

...She rests her hand lightly in his, careful of the beer bottles.

[seeagreatergood]

Putting on an appropriately sympathetic expression, he pats her hand.

"There, there. We all have hurdles to overcome. Not having read Neal Stephenson affects over seventy-five percent of Americans."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

Grinning, she squeezes his hand.

"You," she says with deep affection, "are a patronizing snob."

[seeagreatergood]

"But I'm cute."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Adorable," she confirms, and leans over the table to kiss his fingers before letting go.

[seeagreatergood]

"See, that's a nice surprise."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Good. I was kind of banking on that."