A/N: I had trouble finishing this story, but I'm working on a follow up. Hope you enjoy!
For anyone that's following me, so sorry for the lack of updates! Real life + procrastination...
"Good work everyone. Take the rest of the day off," Maggie announced. They had just finished up a case, and no one would argue with her giving them an early start to their weekend.
Kirsten and Cameron were at his desk, getting ready to leave. "Do you want to come over?," he offered. They had been hanging out more often on weekends, since Camille and Linus had been enjoying each other's company most nights. Kirsten would never admit it to him, but she was glad she could spend time with Cameron at his place... the walls at her house were thin and it left little to the imagination whenever Linus was over.
"Yeah, sure," she answered with a small smile. They both turned from his desk to go towards the elevator.
"Wait!," they heard. Camille was rushing over to them, with Linus in tow behind her. "Since we have the afternoon off, and it is a nice sunny day in Los Angeles, why don't we all go for a picnic?" Camille beamed at them, giving a look that was both simultaneously inviting and 'you're coming whether you like it or not.' "I mean, why waste this wonderful day, right?"
Cameron glanced at Kirsten, giving her his best plea look, hoping she would catch on. She saw his look, but knew better than to argue with Camille when she wanted to do something. She simply shrugged, giving Cameron an apologetic expression.
"Great!," Camille exclaimed. "We'll call in an order to the deli, you two pick it up, and we'll get the wine and meet you at the park. Usual place in an hour?"
"Sure," Cameron answered for them.
"They're late," Kirsten said for the third time.
"Why don't we give them five more minutes, and then we'll text them again," Cameron said. He looked at his phone, 2:15pm. They were already fifteen minutes later than they said. At least they had the decency to pay for the food when they called it in. Cameron and Kirsten had the common sense to buy a few drinks, just in case. And it looks like that paid off, since Kirsten just opened her iced tea and took a sip.
They had set down the spare blanket that Cameron had left in his trunk for occasions such as this, in their usual spot which was back against the tree line overlooking the grassy meadow and a small pond in the distance. They all enjoyed people watching and taking guesses on what conversations were going on around them.
"What about that couple?," she asked. Despite Cameron saying to give them five more minutes, she needed a distraction.
Cameron studied the pair. The guy leaned towards the girl, tucking the hair behind her ear. She fed him a bite of their dessert. "Married, six months. Still in the honeymoon phase. They're making plans for a vacation."
She nodded in response.
Cameron checked his phone again, the five minutes had passed. "Why don't we start without them?" He was already getting their sandwiches out of the to go bag, handing Kirsten hers.
"Thanks."
They sat in comfortable silence, starting on their late lunches.
Both their phones went off within seconds of each other.
"Camille," Kirsten said. Her text read Sorry, we won't end up making it. Got a bit distracted. Enjoy lunch! Kirsten just sighed and stared at her phone, not entirely surprised that they had been stood up by the other pair.
"Linus here," he said holding up his phone. His text read Yeah, we won't be making it... We're a bit tied up at the moment. He coughed after reading his text, nearly choking on the club sandwich he had taken a bite of moments ago. He knew exactly the kind of implications being "tied up" meant when Linus was talking about Camille. Another story of Linus with too many tequila shots.
Thankfully for him, Kirsten seemed to be oblivious to Cameron nearly choking on his sandwich.
He took a minute to recover, taking a drink of his lemonade. "What about those two?," he asked pointing to two students wrapped up in their studies, notebooks strewn all across their rather large blanket, large textbooks, and laptops.
She examined the students, coming to her conclusion after only a few seconds. "Too easy," she replied. "My guess is they're studying neuroscience and cramming for an exam. Probably complaining about their professor adding today's lecture to the exam for tomorrow." She smirked at him.
Cameron laughed at that, since it was Kirsten's go to answer when they saw students. "Oh come on. They could be studying programming or coding."
"No, take a look at their books." She pointed out the very large textbooks that were several inches in thickness. "It's either a science or medical textbook, so I'm right."
He scoffed at her observation, knowing she was probably correct.
"What about those two?," she asked.
Cameron studied the couple for a minute. The girl was beautiful, and the guy was rather nerdy looking and wearing glasses and a Star Wars t-shirt. His initial guess was that they were friends. But the longer he studied them, the more he saw the parallels between the couple he was watching and themselves. Cameron saw the way the guy pined at the girl, when he thought she wasn't looking. The small smile that she would give him and the light flush of her cheeks, almost immediately followed by her looking down at her hands in her lap. It was rather tragic really, that neither of them is noticing the looks from the other since they're too busy trying to hide their own feelings. Not that Cameron should be one to judge, since the couple could probably look at him and see the same.
"Earth to Cameron. What do you think?" She nudged his knee to make sure she was really heard.
"Uh, coworkers. Maybe friends, or maybe on a first date." The words left his mouth before he really had time to think it through.
"Why do you think they're on a date?" Kirsten was honestly curious. Even after all this time, she still had trouble picking up on subtle social and emotional cues.
Cameron knew better than to say they might be on a date. If Kirsten wasn't convinced of his assessment, then she would question it. Thinking on his relationship with Kirsten, he could certainly guess why the couple he was studying might not have revealed their feelings for the other. The fear of inevitable rejection, the fear of screwing up their friendship, or fear of losing her altogether. They were all valid concerns. "Well, if they are coworkers maybe there is a no dating policy. So I guess I take back the first date part. They're just friends."
Kirsten wasn't entirely convinced by his explanation, feeling as though he was leaving something out.
"Who knows... maybe they're complaining about being stood up by their other two coworkers who promised they would join them," he laughed.
She picked up on his nervousness, determining that it was best not to further her line of questioning and make him more uncomfortable. As to not draw attention to it, she simply finished eating her own sandwich. Eventually his clenched jaw and avoiding her eye contact dissipated.
They continued their little game of people watching. Cameron guessed that a couple with their young daughter was only at the park because the little girl insisted on it. Kirsten studied the group of college students Cameron had pointed out, speculating that they were pretending to study but really planning a frat party tonight.
"What do you say we head back to my place. Movie night?," he asked. That was their original plan after all.
"Yeah sure," she responded. She cleaned up after them, gathering their trash. Technically they had two more sandwiches, which could be dinner later. "At least they paid for our lunch, and dinner," she said, holding up the bag as proof.
"You know, we should really start taking bets on how often they'll stand us up." He just finished folding up the blanket and they left to go to his car.
"And how will that work, exactly? They bail more times than not, so we would probably be betting on the same outcome."
"How about a friendly guess then, rather than a bet," he suggested.
"Alright," she agreed.
Over the next month, Cameron and Kirsten correctly guessed that the other duo bailed on two game nights, three dinners, and two movie nights. They only disagreed on one game night, where they actually showed up. Kirsten knew that Camille wouldn't bail on cards against humanity (which she suggested, dismissing Cameron's suggestion of pictionary), but Cameron thought they wouldn't show.