Guest: Thank you.
Rober428: Thanks! Cute is the plan here, for now.
Pixie1913: Thank you. I don't think I am very good at fluff, so I'm considering this practice.
Blondie: Thank you! Glad to bring my readers smiles rather than tears for once.
A/N: A small, cute little plot has developed in my head for this. Writing something light and not too serious is a nice, relaxing change of pace.
Something Just Like This
She said, where'd you wanna go?
How much you wanna risk?
I'm not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts,
Some superhero,
Some fairytale bliss.
Just something I can turn to,
Somebody I can kiss.
- Coldplay, The Chainsmokers
"So, why did you move to New York?" Chloe asks. They stop weaving in and out of people, and turn down a relatively empty street lined with expensive houses that all look alike. "I've never been to Virginia, but it seems like it would be a lot different than here. Probably cheaper too."
"I like the change of pace," Aubrey answers – the same scripted response she's been giving for the past seven months. "You?"
"I like to sing," Chloe answers, "I want to be on Broadway one day. You don't have to tell me that I'm one of those people. I already know everyone else thinks that."
"One of what people?" Aubrey slows down once they're away from the crowd, relishing the fresh air and personal space. The change of pace is nice – the hoards for people, not always so much.
"You know…" Chloe shrugs. "One of those people who moves here for fame and fortune and to see their name in lights. I don't want that. I just want to sing."
There is a pizza parlor three blocks away, and Aubrey decides the crowd has dwindled down enough that they might be in luck finding somewhere there to sit. "I thought people move to LA for fame and fortune," she jests, "People move here to get stuck in traffic and avoid Times Square."
"And to get accosted by eight identical Elmo mascots at the same time, if my trip to the bank yesterday taught me anything." Chloe shudders.
Aubrey puts on her best poker face. "That's how they initiate you," she says, "They trap you at the bank so they can manipulate you out of your hard earned money, and then they use it to buy you your own costume and you're forced to become one of them. I hope you didn't give them anything."
Chloe glances at her from out of the corner of her eye, her lips curving into a lopsided frown. "That's terrifying."
"They feed off your fear." Aubrey tries to keep a straight face, but fails.
"They look like they feed off crack cocaine and homeless people," Chloe deadpans.
Aubrey shrugs. "That too." She pulls open the door of Slice of New York. The smell of freshly baked bread makes her stomach growl, and her mouth immediately starts watering. She holds the door open for Chloe, and scans the room for a place to sit. "Table or booth?"
"Booth, definitely." Chloe steps inside, then turns back to look at her. "Should we grab a seat first?"
Aubrey nods. She steps inside and grabs two menus from beside the counter, then walks around the people milling about toward the nearest empty booth. It's near the window, and Aubrey scoots over close to the glass after she sits down. There isn't much to see – only a few shops and a subway entrance, but a view is a view in the city. She places the menus on the table, then flips one over to look at the pizza slice options.
Chloe slides into the other side of the booth and picks up the second menu. "So, tell me about yourself," she says and settles back against the seat. "Who are you, Aubrey?"
Cheese. Pepperoni. Sausage. Aubrey glances up.
"Sorry, that was a really broad question." Chloe says, reading as she talks. "I'll start. My name is Chloe. I'm twenty-seven. I'm a Gemini. I have a dog named Sir Licks-A-Lot. I want to be on Broadway, but I'm also a licensed vet, and I just started working at the new animal clinic that opened. Your turn."
Aubrey presses her lips together as she thinks. "My name is Aubrey Posen. I'm older than you, and I'm an Aires." She decides on her pizza and lowers her menu. "I live with Brian, Conrad, and their dog, Twix. And Brian and I are interns at a law office." Oh, and I have a daughter. That's always the deal-breaker, right there, isn't it? She folds her arms on the table. There are plenty of other reasons to not call her again without it falling back on her kid, so she decidedly keeps her mouth shut this time. She wonders if this is how Chloe introduces herself to everyone, because it's definitely not how Aubrey was taught to start conversation.
"Ooh," Chloe places her menu on the table. "So, which character would you be on How To Get Away With Murder?"
Aubrey tilts her head. Judging by her general knowledge of the show… "No one," she answers, "I'm on my way to being a Corporate Lawyer. I don't go to court. I negotiate and write contracts."
"What if you did have to go to court?" Chloe asks, "What if Brian was accused of murdering a big, corporate partner and you had to defend him. Who would you be?"
"Someone in prison for mimicking a Defense Lawyer with no degree or prior training." Aubrey furrows her brows.
"We should take one of those Buzzfeed quizzes," Chloe suggests. She pulls out her phone and switches from her side of the table to Aubrey's, angling herself so she's facing her. She types for a moment before looking up. "Ready?"
Aubrey slowly turns to face her, wondering if now is a good time to tell her that she has no idea what Buzzfeed is.
"How do you come to class?" Chloe asks, "A: Confused. B: Ready and Composed. C: Wait, we had class?"
"Ready and Composed," Aubrey answers easily.
"What's your current relationship status?" Chloe asks next, "A: Happily Taken. B: It's Complicated. C: Single and Looking. D: Single and Not Looking."
Is that even a real question? Aubrey's saliva feels thick in her throat. She subtly tries to look at Chloe's phone, but it's positioned so she can't see anything on the screen. She looks at her menu, absently scanning the words without reading them, tempted to choose the last one.
Chloe glances up from her phone. "Should I say it's complicated?" she asks.
Aubrey's head snaps up and she quickly shakes it. It's definitely not complicated. "C," she answers simply.
The corners of Chloe's lips twitch upward and she looks down and touches her phone screen.
"What's your typical Friday night?" Chloe asks, "A: Partying. B: Netflix. C: Studying." She pauses. "It is Friday, and we did just meet at a Block Party, so…?"
Aubrey shakes her head again. "Working would be a more accurate answer," she says, "Tonight was a fluke."
"Okay, so we'll just out studying," Chloe says. "How do you usually approach someone cute?" She taps her phone. "Well, I'm cute and I approached you, so we're going to pick the one that says cute people just approach you."
It's starting to feel like Aubrey is answering questions on a dating app rather than figuring out which fictional TV character she would be. "We're going to get kicked out for loitering soon," she says and picks their menus up.
"Wait, we're done," Chloe says and taps her phone again. "Okay, you would Michaela Pratt. Michaela is an ambitious over-achiever with a stellar resume. Always the first to raise her hand in class, she is exceedingly over-prepared and ready to impress any professor or person of authority. Sound accurate?"
Too accurate. "I don't think so. For serious though, we're going to get kicked out for loitering."
Chloe smirks. "Let's get some pizza then." She slides out of the booth and places her phone in her pocket, then holds out her hand.
Aubrey blinks and stares at her hand.
"What?" Chloe asks. "You don't let people help you up?"
Aubrey's cheeks feel hot as she grabs Chloe's hand and lets her help her up. Her imagination must be acting up when Chloe's hand seems to linger a few seconds too long on hers. They literally just met. She quickly reasons that it's been two years since anyone has held her hand (not that helping someone up could be considered hand-holding), and one year since she's been shown any sort of affection at all. She curses Conrad in her mind for sending her thoughts in inane directions.
Chloe unties her jacket from around her waist and tosses it on the table. "So no one takes our spot," she explains. "You know, Michaela is exceedingly independent, too." She winks then turns and walks toward the counter.
Aubrey glances at Chloe's jacket, hoping there's nothing valuable in the pockets. This is New York, after all. She keeps an eye on it as she follows Chloe to the counter, pulling her credit card out of her pocket in the process.
Chloe bumps their elbows together. "It's fine; it was like $5 at Ross." She smiles and steps up to the counter. "Do you want to order first?" she asks Aubrey.
Aubrey forces herself to stop worrying about it and slides their menus back into the holder by the counter. She orders herself a single slice of white, broccoli pizza, looks down at her credit card for a fraction of a second, then turns to Chloe. "I got it," she says. "It's your first time having pizza in New York; someone should treat you to it."
"That's really sweet. Thank you." Chloe glances one more time at the menu – this time, at the one on the wall behind the counter – then orders herself two slices of veggie pizza. "At least less me buy us some drinks." She pulls some cash out of her pocket and places it on the counter, ordering two Yuengling beers as well. "You can't have pizza on a Friday night without beer." She pauses. "Or on any night really."
It's hard to disagree. Aubrey pays for their food then grabs both of their plates as Chloe takes their drinks and her change. She nudges Chloe's jacket out of the way and sets their plates down before taking a seat again. Her stomach rumbles again.
Chloe slides back into the side of the booth across from her and passes her beer across the table. "Are you a vegetarian, too?" she asks as she looks at Aubrey's pizza.
Aubrey looks down at her food. "Um…"
"It doesn't bother me if you're not." Chloe is still grinning, and Aubrey is starting to wonder if her resting face is somehow an excited smile, "I didn't used to be, but then I treated someone's pet cow in vet school, and then every time I tried to eat beef, I was worried I was, like, eating one of its family members." She laughs. "It's weird, isn't it?"
Aubrey can't help but smile, too, as she shrugs her shoulders. "Yeah, that's kind of weird," she admits and picks up her pizza. "But I guess, depending on where you live and how the grocery stores obtain meat products, the statistics of eating a hamburger related to the hamburger you ate a week previous could be very low or very high. But cows kill people, too. Statistics show that cows kill more people per year than sharks do."
"So, are you really a Corporate Lawyer?" Chloe asks, narrowing her eyes, "Or are you secretly a Defense Lawyer for serial killer sharks?"
"I was a dual major," Aubrey answers with as much sincerity as she can muster and takes a bite of her pizza, trying not to smile.
Chloe laughs again and rolls her eyes. She takes a bite of her pizza then lifts the back of her hand to her mouth and nods her head. "Mm. This is amazing," she says, still chewing.
It takes every ounce of Aubrey's self-control not to pull out her mother voice and tell her to swallow before she chokes.
Chloe's phone goes off, and she pulls it out of her pocket and looks at the screen. Her cheeks flush a visible shade of pink. She's about to type when her phone starting pinging repeatedly, and her eyes widen. "Does your friend always text this much?" she asks.
Aubrey freezes mid-bite. She's doesn't even need to ask which of her two friends might be blowing up Chloe's phone. She quickly chews and swallows, taking a drink to make it go down faster. "What's he saying?" she asks, less concerned that he may be driving Chloe crazy, and more concerned about what content he might be driving her crazy with.
"Nothing," Chloe says a little too quickly and takes a long drink.
"So, he's just saying random words?" Aubrey asks. Actually, that might make sense if he's drunk…
"Well, no…" Chloe slowly tucks her phone back into her pocket, the redness in her cheeks becoming more prominent.
Aubrey takes the opportunity to pull out her own phone and check her messages.
7 New Messages
Con:hows it going?
Con:shes cute right?
Con: i told u shes adorbs
Con: get her number
Con: hey
Con: have u looked at the time
Con: u need to pick up Char soon
Aubrey glances at the time, then quickly puts her phone away. Shit. "I'm sorry. I have to go," she says, "I have somewhere I have to be. Do you need someone to walk you over to the subway?"
"Oh." Chloe fumbles for words. "The subway? No, I live down the street."
"Okay, good." Fuck. That was rude. "I'm so sorry." Aubrey slides out of the booth and checks to make sure she has all of her things. Why did she think she had enough time to walk to dinner. Why did Conrad think she had enough time to walk to dinner? She still needs to buy dinner for Charlotte.
"It's fine." Chloe takes another drink and stands up. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm just running really late." Aubrey pulls her wallet out. "I need to buy something to go." She takes one last swallow of her drink then places it on the table and walks swiftly to the counter.
Chloe grabs her jacket and follows her. "Late for what?" she asks casually, after Aubrey orders a slice of cheese pizza to go and hands her card to the cashier.
Aubrey swallows thickly and takes her card back, followed by the small, rectangular pizza box. "I left my kid with a sitter." There. She said it. "I'm supposed to be there in five minutes." She waits for it – waits for the moment Chloe finds an excuse and bails out before she has time to even blink.
"You didn't say you had a kid." Chloe offers her a gentle smile. "I totally understand. Well, I mean, I don't, because I don't have kids, but, yeah, you should definitely go before you're late."
Honestly, that's probably the easiest she's been let down. Aubrey nods. "It was nice meeting you." She turns and heads for the door.
"Um, hey, Aubrey, wait!" Chloe calls after her.
Aubrey stops and turns around.
Chloe takes several long strides to catch up with her. "This is going to sound really awkward, but your friend has been trying to set me up with you," she says, quickly, "That probably makes all of this really weird, and I totally understand if you don't want to hang out again, but you seem really sweet and adorable. Maybe I can get your number?"
Aubrey blinks and takes a moment to make sure she heard her right. Sweet and adorable. That's new. Her entire body feels warm, and it isn't just from the alcohol. She nods and waits for Chloe to pull out her phone, then gives her her cell number. "It was nice to meet you." She kicks herself for how stupid her words sound. Of course, it was nice meeting her. Had it not been, she wouldn't have given her her number.
"It was nice meeting you, too." Chloe ties her jacket back around her waist, then loosely folds her arms. "I'll call you, and we can make plans when you have more time?"
Aubrey nods.
"Great. Bye, Aubrey."
She likes how Chloe says her name. Aubrey mentally kicks herself again. "Bye." She turns and rushes out the door.