We All Move in Circles

Counter-Clockwise, Chapter 2

The three-day limit she had given her stranger flashed by almost as soon as she had blinked. Not that she really just decided he didn't exist, but it was sort of like an abrupt throw-back into reality, the little spark having finally gone out. She was going to have to just accept the fact that she was likely never going to see him again, and would simply have to make due with the not-so-interesting variety of guy she had promised herself she would date, for safety's sake. Though luckily Christian had asked her about him the next day, so at least she knew she hadn't developed a suddenly apparent imaginary friend.

All the same, it had been over five months now with no word. She was more or less expecting to forget the whole affair. Which was a pity. She had tried to write it down once, recreate it in the form of a story, but for some reason, it had never felt quite right. At first she'd attributed it to writer's block, but when the problem stayed, despite her usual remedies for blockage, she decided the meeting must have been something truly cosmic. A one-time only sort of event, that could never be recreated. On the one hand, this made it something truly worth treasuring. On the other, she was bound to lose the memory of it someday, or at least, the details of it…eventually that day might be nothing more than a vague recollection of the major events.

"So, then, where do you want to go Valerie?" Came her friend's voice from the front seat, pulling her suddenly back into reality and the present day. Which involved her birthday, her two best friends: Cassandra and Lauren, the best cake she had ever tasted baked by Cassandra, and now, plans for a lot of tequila at whichever bar she wanted.

"We should go to Vi's. They have the best birthday deal." Lauren suggested, "And that way, Christian might finally get something for his months of crushing on you." She grinned at Valerie in the rearview mirror.

"Please. Chris does not have a crush on me. He's just nice to me because I'm always the one that tips him, unlike a couple of cheap chica's I happen to know." Valerie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. Lauren just loved to toss men at her, it was her goal in life to find everyone else the perfect man. Never mind Lauren hadn't had a decent date in what seemed like years. "Either way, I don't really feel like Violet's. Besides, it's Friday. You know that's cougar night, and the last thing I want is to start a cat fight with some lady twice my age on my birthday."

"What's up with you? The last few times we've suggested Vi's you've turned it down. Usually you jump at the chance." Cassandra said, watching her in the mirror as the bright neon sign of Violet's passed the windows, as though thinking that as soon as she saw the sign she would change her mind.

"I dunno. I guess I just need a break from it is all." Valerie shrugged. More like she had a peculiar paranoia that if she went there she would accidentally replace the memories she wasn't quite ready to let go of yet. "Where do you guys want to go? I really don't care, so long as it's a bar."

"That's not the tradition Val, and you know it. You have to pick." Lauren insisted.

She sighed heavily and sat back, trying to think of where she wanted to go, running over all the bars she knew of. Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone, the shrill ring piercing through the music of the car. "Can you turn that down for a second?"

Cassandra nodded reaching for the stereo dial and she pulled the phone out, feeling the familiar sensation of her heart jumping into her throat when she didn't recognize the number. She tried to talk some sense into herself, really, what were the chances? It had been months for heaven's sake, but she couldn't quell the little prickling sensation of excitement and hope in her chest. "Hello?"

"Hey Birthday girl! Sorry, my phone died, so I'm borrowing a friends, what's happening later tonight?"

It was hard to keep the let-down sigh in, but she managed as she smiled to the voice at the other end of the line. Stella, another of the girlfriends she had met since moving here was the party expert. She could take a math club and make it the most fun thing you'd done all week.

"Hey Stella, nothing yet, we can't decide where to go."

"She means she won't just pick a place." Lauren shouted, evidently hoping that it would reach Stella over the phone, and the music of whatever bar she was in.

"Yeah, basically."

"Well, I'm at that one flippin' pub we found a few weeks ago, remember it?"

"The sketch one that pretends to be Irish?"

"Yeah…fucking…uh…fucking O'Heaney's." Stella said it slowly, indicating she was reading it backwards off the window. "It's pretty lively, why don't ya'll come by for a few cold ones?"

"Careful what you say Stell, you'll make me start talkin' like a redneck again." Valerie laughed, letting a bit of her old drawl make it's way into her voice, just to make a point. "How's Irish work for you girls?" She directed to the two in the front seat.

"Stupid question Val, who doesn't love an Irish boy?" Lauren guffawed.

"I imagine we'll find several where we're going."

The pub had been nice. A little smoky and rowdy, but nothing that wasn't solved by poking one's head outside for a few minutes. Stella had ended up going home with some guy she'd been hanging out with before the other girls had gotten there, and Cassandra had gulped down way too many shots of Irish whiskey to be able to drive, so it ended up being just Lauren and Valerie for the drive home, Cassandra practically out cold in the back seat of her own car.

"So, have fun?"

"Yeah. Right up until you guys bought me a lap dance from a guy who was ten times the legal limit and at least 300 pounds." Valerie scoffed.

"Come on now, you were going along with it." Lauren laughed.

"Sure, until he fell on me anyway." Valerie snorted in response, whilst Lauren still had a good laugh at her expense. "Anyway, this is me. Don't bother going all the way into the parking lot, it's a pain in the ass to get back out of at night." She reached for the door handle as Lauren pulled the car to a stop. "Thanks for the night. It was fun. Really. I'll call you tomorrow and check on Cass-"

"I think you should maybe sleep at her place tonight." Lauren said, suddenly looking very serious.

"Uhm…why?"

"There's a guy on the steps there." She pointed through the passenger window. "I can't tell, but it really looks like he's looking at your apartment."

Valerie followed the trajectory of Lauren's finger, having to squint to see the blob of shadow that she seemed to think was a person. A car passing in the opposite direction, shone sudden light on the steps of the building. There was indeed someone standing there, and after a few seconds, she registered the nice suit and the perfect posture.

"Oh my god! Lauren, that's the guy!"

"The crazy one? Shit, let me get my phone, and we'll call the cops on his stalking ass-"

"No, no. Not that guy. The one I was telling you about. The one I met on the bus."

"You mean the one who hasn't called you in five months?"

"Well…yeah, but, dude, I never thought I was going to see him again." She reached for the door handle again, this time getting it open, cold night air pouring into car. Lauren grabbed her firmly by the arm.

"Val, think about this. You haven't seen him in forever, and you said you never brought him home. So how in the hell do you think he knows where you live? And why do you think he might be standing there? At this hour?"

"Lauren, listen, I know it seems bad, but he-"

"The next words out of your mouth had better be 'he's getting maced', or I really will call the cops."

"You're not my mother." Valerie pointed out. "Listen, I can almost guarantee that this is not what it looks like. He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet." Lauren tried to stare her down, and Valerie just stared back, immune to all her tactics after months of friendship. She also had a speech prepared about once-in-a-lifetime, "Serendipity" style love, knowing Lauren was a sucker for such things, just in case. But she could see it in Lauren's blue eyes as she finally crumbled.

"Fine. Fine. If you trust this guy, then it's on your head if things go south, got it? Just…promise me he won't stay the night, okay?"

"I'm not twelve."

"I know….but, it just seems like that would be asking for something bad to happen."

"Okay, got it mommy." Valerie said, swinging the door open all the way finally. "I promise I'll ask him if he's been tested too."

"Valerie I'm serious!"

"Stop worrying Lauren. Take Cassandra home, she needs to be babied a lot more than I do." Valerie shut the door on Lauren's snotty reply, which also involved a middle finger, and began her trek across the parking lot, feeling suddenly very nervous. What was she supposed to say? What could he possibly have to say after all this time? The soles of her shoes crunched on the frostbitten ground between the asphalt and the concrete walkway, but he seemed not to notice her, focusing very intently on her window. Or at least, the general vicinity of such. She vaguely wondered whether he had simply frozen in place. He had no form of overcoat on with his suit, and the blazer certainly couldn't have been keeping him warm in the February temperatures. She came within three feet of him, but still he hadn't noticed her.

"So uh, were you planning to just stand here until morning if I was in there sleeping?" She asked mildly. He jumped slightly, then abruptly wheeled around, grabbed her about the shoulders, and kissed her so suddenly, and so fleetingly, that she scarcely had time to react with anything other than a wide-eyed stare. Not to mention his fingers were so cold she could feel them through her jacket. He released her shoulders and took a deliberate step back.

"I'm sorry. This is going to sound really strange…but I had to know you were real." If that was his idea of an explanation, it was sorely lacking.

"You couldn't just…I don't know. Call me?"

His dark eyes focused on the ground. "I couldn't. I didn't take your number."

"Then…how did you find me?" She was starting to wonder if Lauren may have been on to something.

"You signed it with a V. There are only five people in this area with a first name starting with V. Two of which were named Victor. I just narrowed it down from there, and hoped the V wasn't for your last name. Because there were twenty of those." He shrugged, then looked back up at her, somewhat like he was lost. "I shouldn't have come here. I'm sorry."

"I don't mind, exactly. It's just…well, it's been awhile that's all. And I could have been inside fast asleep, and you would have frozen out here."

"I know. But I couldn't help it. I just…really wanted to see you."

"And now that you have, what do you plan to do?"

He stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Arthur." Finding this all very peculiar, but somehow not having expected much else, Valerie extended her own hand to his, giving his icy fingers a ginger shake, worried they were going to snap off.

"Well, Arthur, I'm Valerie, and you better come inside. I think you may have frostbite."

This was very, very awkward, almost more so than their first meeting. Valerie watched her Stranger, or rather, she supposed she could call him Arthur now, sit on her couch silently while she made them both coffee. For herself because she wasn't sure she was sober at the moment, and for him because she was fairly certain his poor fingers were going to fall off if she didn't give him something warm to hold. Arthur sat with his still near-perfect posture, his back not touching the cushions of the couch, staring at an open book on the coffee table with a vaguely-blank expression. Silence permeated the apartment, she swore she could hear him breathing when she wasn't making noise with the coffee machine.

"I'm sorry." He said again.

"For what?"

"To drop in on you so suddenly in the middle of the night. It's hardly appropriate."

"You're just lucky I was out at the time, or you would have been out there for hours."

"It was your birthday?" She turned sharply, about to ask how he had known that, but then realized there was a partially opened package sitting on the table, not four inches from the book he was looking at. The card sitting next to it was a pretty good dead-giveaway as well.

"Yeah. Tuesday. I'm not telling you my age, so don't ask."

"Happy birthday. I would have gotten you something if I'd known."

"Thanks, but, how would you know what to get me?" She asked, looking over her shoulder to smile at him.

"I don't know. I guess I would have just improvised. Given the circumstances though, it probably would have been a souvenir from the airport."

"Did you just get here?" She asked, surprised. He hadn't struck her as the sort to act on impulse, but if that were the case, that would likely explain his lack of a warmer jacket. And the fact that his luggage consisted of a carry-on overnight bag and a briefcase of some sort.

"Yes. From Crete."

"Crete? As in like, the Mediterranean?" She poured the coffee out into two of her mugs, non-matching, but she didn't exactly have fine china to break out.

"I was working."

"Oh? Stealing the future from the Oracle of Delphos?"

"What?" She turned to meet his slightly confused look, an eyebrow quirked. He was far too impeccably neutral to look truly confused, but it was enough that she could tell.

"Have you ever read "A Winter's Tale"? By Shakespeare? There was an oracle in Delphi back in the day. He was supposed to able to read the future and the past, and decided whether people were guilty of crimes they were accused of."

"I see. No, nothing that exciting I'm afraid. Just a basic corporate sabotage job."

"Sounds more exciting then what I've been up to." Valerie shrugged. "How do you take your coffee?"

"Whatever you're doing."

"Okay…" She didn't have a lot of background to work with, but it seemed to her that Arthur was acting very strange. He seemed nervous, fidgety, and perhaps a bit frustrated, though she couldn't figure what about. "Here." She carried the coffee into the living room, offering him a choice over which cup he wanted. He took the no-nonsense black one over the one printed with little colored seashells. Didn't that just figure? She settled in the cushion he wasn't occupying, absently sipping at the way too bitter coffee. But she was really trying to sober up, so the blacker the coffee the better. "So…what happened?"

"What makes you think something happened?"

"Well, I'm not stupid for one. I know there's got to be a reason, and probably a good one, for you to go looking for a girl you met once and spent all of three hours with." She sipped her coffee nonchalantly. He seemed to be very occupied with his, though he hadn't taken a drink. "If I say you can crash here tonight, will you tell me why you need to?"

Arthur slid her a sideways glance, looking equal parts surprised and grateful. He leaned forward and set his coffee on the table, then sat back, his hands on his knees, nodding in agreement to her request.

"There was…suffice it to say that something went wrong. Very, very wrong."

"In a dream?"

"Yes. Some things got into a dream when they shouldn't have been able to."

"How?" She questioned, not understanding the consequences of such things. She still barely understood the concept of controlling dreams to begin with.

He said nothing for a long moment, gazing at something in the corner of the apartment. "Me." He finally answered.

"What does that mea-"

"I haven't dreamed in nearly two years. But the last few weeks…I haven't been able to stop."

"You don't dream at all? Or you just don't remember it?"

"I'm not sure. No one really is. But…I don't know what happened. It should have been an easy job, it was an easy target. Either way, I must have let my guard down, because my dreams started to invade the dreamscape we had built."

"And that's…not good?"

"No. It's actually very bad when that happens. Not only can it mean risking the success of the job, it can affect the subject of a dream…pretty severely."

"What happened?"

"Think of it like trying to watch two movies at the same time. You're not sure what's really going on in either, you're confused, trying to pay attention to too many things at once. In the end, we had to drop it. I screwed up, and I cost us all an important deal. The whole team's on the run because I couldn't keep it together."

"So…you came here because…?" Not that she was trying to be rude, but it was very strange for him to come all the way back to America, just to turn up on her doorstep rather than see a therapist or something to that extent. And it was starting to sound like a therapist may be who he ought to talk to. "You said you had to know I was real. Why?"

"Let's just say…the lines between dreaming and reality suddenly became very hard to see." He practically mumbled the sentence, eyes downcast.

"Well…I know I'm real. So if my opinion means anything, you're back in reality now." She sat her hand over his, giving it a light pat. "Is touch the same?"

"It depends on whether it's a touch you remember or not." He glanced at her, then her hand sitting atop his. His fingers turned, clasping hers lightly. "I suppose I owe you a pretty big debt now. This is twice now I turn up unexpectedly and ask something of you."

"Could be worse." Valerie shrugged. "You could owe a debt to a crazy girl instead." She scarcely noticed he was still holding her hand until her phone began to ring and she stood to answer it, unwittingly pulling her fingers from his grasp. "Sorry. I just need to get that real quick." She stumbled over the words awkwardly, as a second bout of her ringtone further shattered what had moments ago been a fairly intimate atmosphere. She had half a mind to just ignore it, but she figured since she was already standing up, and the moment had already been spoiled, she might as well at least tell whoever it was to leave her alone the rest of the evening and shut her phone off. Reaching the counter she had tossed it down on, she examined the screen to see who was calling and felt her stomach drop. Of all the lousy…"Hello?"

"Hey Valerie! I just swung by your place and saw your light was on. I thought maybe I could come up and give you your birthday present."

"Patrick, listen, this isn't really a good time, I met a friend at the bar, and we're trying to catch up on old times, so, you know, I kinda wanted time alone." It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't really the truth either so she still felt the need to be secretive about it, turning away from Arthur and speaking quietly and hurriedly, though he didn't really seem to be eavesdropping, or even vaguely interested, drinking his coffee like he hadn't just been telling her deep dark secrets.

"That's no problem, I'll just be there for twenty minutes tops. And I'm cool if we could arrange a little-."

"Really, It's not a good time for this." She cut him off, rolling her eyes at the typical male, especially the Patrick variety, behavior. "I just want to stay in and go to bed tonight."

"Come on Val, I just want to see my girl on her birthday."

"Patrick-"

"Really, don't worry about it, I want to see you okay? I'll be there in five." And that was the end of the conversation. Valerie huffed an annoyed breath at the phone, or rather, at the man who had been on the other line. He could be so dense some days. And pushy. Once he got an idea in his head, that was it.

"It's starting to sound like I should leave." Arthur piped up from the couch.

"No, you don't have to. It's just…I'm just going to tell him to leave. He wasn't supposed to be back until Sunday night."

"So who is this Patrick? If you don't mind me asking." She did a bit, when he used a semi-accusatory tone like that and had apparently been eavesdropping after all, but she answered anyway, if a little snidely.

"My boyfriend. Of a whole three weeks."

"Serious boyfriend?"

"Yeah, we're engaged and I'm having his baby." She informed sarcastically.

"Sorry." He seemed to realize she wasn't serious, but didn't exactly look thrilled either way. "Would you like me to go now?"

"Look, I said you can stay and you can Arthur. This wouldn't be the first time I had to shoo him off because he wants a booty-call in the middle of the night."

"Sounds like a nice guy."

"He is actually. He just tends to think with the head between his legs more often than the one on his shoulders. He can be really sweet most days."

"I'll trust you as a judge of character." Was his reply, though it was painfully obvious he wasn't happy about somebody else getting involved what had been shaping up to be night that was exclusively theirs.

"Just sit tight." She told him, with what she knew probably looked like a forced smile. She wasn't exactly thrilled that Patrick had come back from his biking trip with his "bros" two days early either. Not to mention that he had just happened to pick the road that went right by her apartment to drive home. She did feel kind of bad thinking these not so nice things of her boyfriend though, but it's not like they were "going steady" necessarily. It was more like a mutual agreement that they would only hook-up with each other for a while, pretty well strictly sexual most of the time. Of course it just happened that the one day Arthur had decided to mysteriously pop back into her life was the same night Patrick got an itch that he couldn't scratch himself. Fate was a funny thing.

Right on time, five minutes later, there was a knock on Valerie's door. She walked through the foyer and pulled it open, finding a well groomed and expectant looking Patrick, his brown-blonde hair just a little too long in that California-boy sort of way, his clothes casual but stylish, and a mischievous glint in his dark hazel eyes. For a moment, she was worried she would lose her better sense and invite him in. The fact of the matter was, Patrick was pretty damn sexy. He worked out, and it showed, along with the fantastic tan he had from all his outdoor activities. But she caught herself, and stopped the door so that only she was visible, though it wouldn't be that hard for him to look over her head and into the apartment.

"Hey babe. You look nice." He complimented nonchalantly, leaning in to give her a kiss and pushing the door open while she was distracted. Damn he was good. "So, where's this friend of yours? I'd really like to meet her. Is she- Uhm. Val. Who the fuck is this?"

Well, he'd spotted Arthur then.

When she didn't give him an immediate answer, he redirected the question.

"Who in the fuck are you?" He repeated, staring down at Arthur, who was still sitting innocently on her couch.

"I'm the friend."

"Hey, uh, you didn't mention it was a dude you had over." Patrick craned his neck to look back at Valerie as she closed the door with a snap.

"Well, you didn't ask." Valerie shrugged, twisting her hair absently and following him into the living room. "You didn't even really ask if it was okay for you to come over. You just walked right on in." She's only gone over this same damn discussion with him four or five times. She didn't like unexpected guests. And she certainly didn't like uninvited ones. Arthur was obviously not included in this equation. For some reason.

"I was under the impression that you weren't seeing other people."

"It's not like that. He's a friend and he's visiting. That's all there is to this." She tried to explain calmly.

"That's not what it looks like."

"What's it look like to you then?" Arthur intervened rather hotly.

"It looks to me like you should be going."

"Sorry, I thought she told you she was busy."

"Fucking little-" Patrick made a step as if to swing a punch at Arthur, but he was up off the couch in seconds, sidestepping Patrick with ease, the other man barreling into the couch. There was an unpleasant crack which Valerie at first worried was his neck or spine. But when he stood back up, looking beyond pissed, she realized it must have just been a board or spring in the couch.

"Quit it! Or at least take it outside!" Valerie yelled in vain; Patrick was a guy who didn't like to admit when he was beaten, and Arthur seemed to be getting his kicks agitating him. Though she had to hand it to the latter man, he may not look like much with his nice suits and relatively small frame, but he was damn good in a fight. Or at least in improvising. He hadn't even had to hit Patrick yet. He was doing all the damage to himself, trying to just catch Arthur who was more or less running circles around him. After a few more seconds of her uselessly shouting at them, and Patrick taking out one of her smaller bookcases, he managed to get a handhold on Arthur, grabbing him by his tie, and wrenching it tightly around his neck before giving him a right hook across the face.

"Let him go! Patrick, for Christ's sake, let him go or I swear I will call the cops on you right now!" There was the sound of fabric ripping as Patrick gave the silk tie one last point making jerk, before throwing his grip off, knocking Arthur back a few steps.

"What the fuck Valerie?" He demanded, staring over at her.

"You just tried to choke someone in my living room. How else would I be reacting?" She snapped, reaching for her phone, actually prepared to make good on her threat. She'd always known Patrick was one of those macho guys. But this had taken to a whole new level that she never wanted to risk seeing again.

"I only picked this fight because of you-"

"Oh, that's nice. Blame your girlfriend."

"Arthur, you're not helping." Valerie circled Patrick, giving him a wide berth, phone in hand, to stand next to Arthur, examining the damage done. He looked okay, all things considered. The left corner of his mouth was bloody, and already starting to turn purple, as well as a few splotchy areas on his cheek. His neck was an angry red under his thrown-askew shirt collar and ripped tie, but it didn't look like anything serious had been done. "Go get some ice out of the freezer, okay? This is going to swell something awful pretty soon." She brushed a fingertip over the blooming bruise as gently as she could. "Go on." She said, more insistently when Arthur didn't budge. He consented with a nod, keeping his eyes on Patrick as he went.

"Valerie, what the fuck is this about?"

"Look, I told you that I would prefer you didn't come over. And this is why. I knew you would pull something like this the second you knew there was a guy here. I didn't think you were going to take it that far, trying to actually kill him though. And now I think it's best if you go."

"Go? Like, permanently? Are you breaking up with me? Because of him?" Patrick brandished a finger at the kitchen, where she could hear Arthur obediently opening the freezer.

"No. It's not because of him. It's because of you and what you just did. I want you to go. Now, Patrick." She pointed at the door like he was a five year-old.

"Fine. Do whatever the hell you want." Patrick put his hands up as if he were surrendering. "This was the only way this really would have ended. I think we both know this relationship we had was nothing more than sex."

"If it was, you should have no problems walking out that door."

"Tch. Bitch. I was going to call it quits tonight anyway." He stormed to the door, ripped it open and slammed it shut behind him. Well, good to know he was going to handle it like a mature adult. Just for good measure, Valerie walked across the floor and locked the door. She didn't want to take any chances of him coming back after he'd had a few, which she had no doubt he was out to do now.

This was one fine birthday this was shaping up to be.

In the kitchen, Arthur was standing over the sink, what was left of his tie sitting on the counter, holding an awkward icepack made out of a kitchen towel against his face. He eyed her as she walked to his side, leaning against the counter.

"I don't think you should trust me as a judge of character after all."

"Does he do that kind of thing often?"

"No, never. He's always talked a lot of shit, but he's also always weaseled his way back out of an actual fight. I think you're the first person he's ever actually hit."

"Well, don't I feel special."

"Yeah…sorry about that." She looked at the floor. "I uh…I hope you don't think too much less of me, for the company I keep."

"No. I hardly have the grounds to stand here and judge you. Or him really for that matter. I'm not the greatest company myself." Arthur tossed the rapidly melting ice into the sink, hanging the towel over the edge. "Sorry about the couch. And the shelf. I can pay for both."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. The shelf was cheap and the couch was old. It was only a matter of time before they went on their own anyway." She shrugged. The awkwardness was starting to sink back in again. She could feel it heavy in the room.

"You're really quite incredible, you know that?"

"Huh?"

"You. You've jumped right in to help a total stranger twice now. I've never seen anyone willing to do that."

"Well…you're also not a total stranger. Close but… at least I know your name now."

"Would it…sound odd if I said I wanted you to know more about me?"

"Depends on how you word it I suppose." Valerie shrugged, looking up from the spot that had been occupying her attention on the tile floor, turning her eyes instead to look at Arthur, who was looking right back. The un-injured side of his mouth quirked up.

"I don't have anything original at the moment. Will you settle for me asking for your phone number?"

"Arthur, you're a few steps behind. You're standing in my kitchen. I'd say we're a little beyond exchanging numbers."

"Is that an invitation?"

"Only if you're willing to take it."

"Very willing." He said quietly, leaning into the kiss she had been preparing. Want getting the better of her, Valerie's armed snaked around his neck and pulled him in further. He breathed out an exhalation of pain into her lips.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I forgot you were hurt already…are you okay?" She panicked at her foolishness. What a way to ruin a perfectly good moment. She pulled Arthur's hand away from his face, where he had put it in an instinctive defense from further wounds. "It's starting to swell too. You'll have to ice it longer.

"Don't suppose you'll take a rain check…?"

She smiled, relieved to see he was taking the ruined moment in stride. "Hey, I've got all night."

Author's note: I actually have nothing to say for a change. All the same, enjoy. :)