She got her daddy's tongue and temper
Sometimes her mouth could use a filter
God shook his head the day he built her
Oh, but I bet he smiled.
Lee Brice, She Ain't Right
She shivered a little, clearly not used to the much cooler temperature of a fall in New York as she stood in the park's playground, pushing Danny on the baby swingset as she talked to him. Jason had come by her mother's apartment to talk to her and out of respect, she'd bundled up Danny, grabbed her own jacket and walked a block over to the playground thinking that maybe they'd fix things if they had alone time to talk and sort through their mess. Not that she knew or claimed to know anything about matters of the heart or romance or anything, she just.. She could tell they loved each other deeply and that this was taking it's toll on them both.
For Danny's sake, something had to give.
"What do you think, huh, Danny? Think they'll get their shit together?" Adriana asked as she slid her little brother free from the swings and held him against her. He reached up for her nose and she laughed as she walked them towards the sweet and heady aroma of hot chocolate. There must be a stand or something nearby, she figured, and she turned a corner, found the stand near the center of the park. She stopped, adjusted her brother from one hip to the other, dug through the pockets of a pair of second skin fitting and ripped skinny jeans to produce the correct amount of money to buy herself a small cup. "And we meet again, huh?" Nathan said from behind her as she turned to face him, held up the cup and said with a sheepish grin, "I'm a sucker for hot chocolate. I think Danny's got my sweet tooth, got him a chocolate milk and he's over here grinning while he makes both of us sticky.. How's your day?" as she looked at Nathan a few moments.
They did always seem to bump into each other a lot when they were out in town.. Her mother's advice kind of resonated with her, but the girl wasn't even sure how one went about flirting with a guy, really. She looked up at him, twisting a strand of hair around her fingertip as she tried to figure out just how the hell to proceed.. She didn't have half her mother's good looks, she definitely wasn't charming and witty like her aunts... Not good at stuff like this, not at all, not in the slightest.
"It was pretty busy. Mostly small stuff, thank God, but it was busy.. What about your day?"
"Got one car out of the shop and got another in. I can't wait to start on it, it's a Corvette Stingray." Adriana said as she bit her lower lip and smiled a little, shuffled her little brother around in her arms and then said with a laugh, "It gets a lot colder up here."
"Yeah, it does. I mean I'm used to it.. I can imagine you're freezing right now though.. Georgia's not this cold in early fall." Nathan said as he smiled at her and then asked, "Since it's getting dark and Port Charles is a town in New York.. I'll walk ya back up to your mom's place." as he jokingly held out his arm to her, however, it was only halfway jokingly. It wasn't a secret amongst himself and his friends that he sort of had a thing for the new girl in town.. But she was pretty skittish, she didn't seem to catch on that he liked her, he halfway suspected that she just thought he was being really, really polite. "You didn't have to work at the radio station tonight?"
"Nah, this guy took my spot. The advisor's letting him try it, seeing if he's got a knack for it because we had one of the girls interning at the station quit.. Something about not wanting to be there alone after dark? That she got a weird feeling about it? Place hasn't ever bothered me and I've been alone after dark there a lot." Adriana said with a shrug as they walked through the double doors of the apartment complex and into the lobby, Adriana nodding at the doorman, yelling out, "How's the hockey lineup lookin?"
"Not so good, Adri.. You get this cop to walk you up, hear? There's a mobster in the building." the doorman said as Adriana laughed a little and said with a playful grin, "Yes sir." as they walked past the doorman's walled in booth, onto the stairwell.
"You don't do the elevator either, huh?" Nathan asked as Adriana shook her head then said "Not to mention the elevator's kind broken.. Again.. That's the third time this month." as Nathan chuckled and then said "What are you doing tonight?" on a whim, shocking himself a little at just blurting it out.. But his sister Brit's advice was rattling around in his head and he figured what the hell... Maybe he should attempt a move.
"Uhh... Nothing, why? I mean I thought about grabbing a few drinks down at the Rib, maybe playing a round of darts.. But nothing, really.." Adriana said as she laughed a little and pointed out sheepishly, "I'm really, really bad at this.."
"I'm not so great either.. So, you want to grab those drinks with me? I mean I'm not a darts expert like you seem to be when I've seen you playing your mom's co worker Logan, but.. I'm no slouch either. Maybe we can grab something to eat from Kelly's too.." Nathan asked as Adriana mulled it over a few moments with her hand lingering on the knob to the door of her mother's penthouse.. She smiled and said with a shrug, "Sure.. Don't see what the hell it'd hurt, right?" as he smiled to himself as he watched her vanish into the penthouse, door shutting behind her.
At least his foot was in the door now..