Author's Note: A Don't Blink side story. Sarah/Josie ficlet set after Take A Cup Of Kindness.
This Time I'm Gonna Slow It Down
And fools rush in
and I've been the fool before.
This time I'm gonna slow it down
'cause I think this could be more.
The thing I'm looking for.
~Please Don't Say You Love Me, Gabrielle Aplin
It's Saturday, and Sarah doesn't have to work today. She'd finished transferring all the survey data onto the plans for the Chelsea Blue Project two hours before her deadline yesterday, which means she gets to enjoy the full weekend before diving back into meetings with the project manager and the construction supervisor bright and early on Monday morning. The last place she really wants to be today is back on the seven train heading into Manhattan, but once again, that's exactly where she is.
She self-consciously tugs the edge of her hoodie down a little farther over form-fitting Capri pants, shaking her head as she wonders exactly how she let Josie talk her into this—bicycling the Hudson River Greenway when she hasn't been on a bike in at least four years. She doesn't even have a bicycle—her old one is still back in Michigan, buried in the back of her parents' garage. Sarah had occasionally borrowed her roommate's bike back in New Haven when she'd been in the mood for some exercise or just really late for a class across campus, but she'd never bothered to bring her own with her from home.
"Don't worry about that," Josie had said. "There are rental shops all along the greenway. Just wear bike appropriate clothes."
The problem is that Sarah doesn't really have any of those either, hence the pants that are just a little too tight but still comfortable enough for movement and an oversized hoodie. The late March air is still chilled, especially in the morning, so Sarah thinks that she can get away with this. She does have a tank top on underneath the hoodie just in case the weatherman is right for a change and the temperature heats up this afternoon. A small wallet with her ID and some cash, along with her cellphone and keys, are secured in her pockets, but she feels naked without the messenger bag that's been practically attached to her since grad school.
She transfers to the four train at Grand Central, compulsively checking her pockets to make sure everything is still in place before gripping onto the overhead bar for the trip down to Bowling Green. She's supposed to meet Josie at the Battery Park bike rental on State Street at ten-thirty. As the train rattles downtown underneath Park Avenue, Sarah lets her mind wander over the last two and a half months of her friendship with Josie Deveraux.
She really hadn't known what to expect after the woman had unexpectedly kissed her on New Year's Eve. Part of her thought it had just been a pity kiss—actually, Sarah had spent most of the evening thinking that Josie was only talking to her because she felt sorry for her, but she was mostly just grateful that she had someone to talk to at all. Sarah had managed a few brief, stilted conversations before Josie had arrived, but she can't deny that she'd been silently wondering why she'd agreed to go to the party when staying home and watching the ball drop on television would have probably been more fun for her and certainly less stressful.
The midnight kiss had been quick and chaste, and frankly, Sarah didn't have much time to fully process it before Josie was grinning at her and wishing her a happy new year. There hasn't been a repeat. Apparently, when Josie had extended an offer of friendship, she'd meant friendship, and that's fine with Sarah. Mostly fine. Josie is a very attractive woman, after all, and Sarah can't deny that she's found her eyes wandering on more than one occasion. But Josie is also Quinn's friend, and even though Sarah is trying (and succeeding) to be Quinn's friend as well, the whole being attracted to Josie thing just feels incredibly complicated right now.
In any case, Josie had walked her down to the sidewalk in the wee hours of New Year's Day and made certain that she'd gotten into a cab safely—she'd insisted that Sarah stay away from the subway and the drunken revelers—and even went as far as to pay for the cab ride after exchanging phone numbers and promising to call her for coffee sometime. Sarah hadn't really expected that phone call, but true to her word, Josie had gotten in touch with her two days later to ask when a good time to meet would be.
Since then, they've met for coffee on multiple occasions, had several weekday lunches when both of their schedules had allowed—well, mostly Josie's schedule since she's been the one hopping on the train downtown—and they'd even gone to the Bronx Museum of the Arts to see an exhibit on the influence of Latin American modernist architecture on contemporary art. Josie calls them friend dates. Sarah doesn't quite know what to call them, but she's happy to have someone in the city to spend time with outside of her job.
After what feels like forever, she finally exits the subway (and checks her pockets again) and walks the rest of the way to their meeting spot. The sun is shining, and it would almost look like spring might be just around the corner if she didn't know that there will supposedly be another potential winter blast moving in from the North West early next week. The calm before the storm. There's a cool breeze blowing in from the river, and Sarah is glad that she'd opted for the hoodie, although she imagines that she'll end up sweating before too long.
As she gets closer to the rental shop, she checks her phone for the time and to see if she has any messages, but all she sees is the last text from Josie about an hour ago to verify their "date." She glances around at the people—tourists and walkers and joggers and bikers already out enjoying the beautiful day—and she notices a familiar redhead leaning over a bicycle with her forearms casually slung across the handlebars as she waits. Sarah pulls a hand free from the pocket of her hoodie and waves, and Josie stands up straight, bicycle between her legs, as she smiles and waves back. Sarah takes a breath as she crosses the street, taking in the skintight, cropped bicycle pants that hug Josie's toned calves and the form-fitting, white bike jacket that tops it. Like Sarah, Josie had opted to pull her hair back into a ponytail. Unlike Sarah, Josie appears to be an avid biker—this becomes more apparent when she gets close enough to see that the bike between her legs is definitely not a rental but a high end hybrid.
And then the bike isn't between her legs anymore because she's sliding off of it and putting down the kickstand so that she can greet Sarah with a happy, "Hey, you made it in pretty good time."
"Yeah. I happened to hit the trains just right today." Sarah glances at Josie's bike again, noticing the little bag attached to the frame just beneath the seat and the mounted water bottle. "I'm guessing you didn't take a train."
Josie laughs, shaking her head. "I rode down the greenway."
"From Chelsea?"
"It's only a twenty minute ride," Josie points out with a shrug.
"Only twenty minutes," Sarah echoes flatly. "You do realize that I probably won't be able to keep up with you today," she warns, already feeling like this could be a disaster.
Josie waves off her concern. "I'm not planning to race you. We can just enjoy the day and the scenery, maybe stop for lunch somewhere. It'll be fun."
Sarah can't help the little smile the comes to her lips at Josie's faith in that declaration and the way her eyes sparkle with anticipation. "Okay," Sarah agrees with a nod. "I guess I should get a bike," she reasons, digging out her small wallet and starting for the shop, but Josie closes a hand over hers and steps into her path with a shake of her head.
"It's already taken care of," she informs her. "I reserved you a bike yesterday when you agreed to come."
Sarah feels her cheeks heat slightly. "Josie, you didn't need to do that."
Josie grins. "Actually, I did. The bikes tend to get picked over fast on a weekend. I got a comfort bike for you, since you said you haven't been on one in a while."
"Thanks," Sarah murmurs, following Josie over to the guy manning the rentals and listening as she gives him her reservation number.
The bike the guy wheels out for Sarah isn't anywhere near as nice as Josie's, but it looks like it's in good shape, and when she slips her leg over the frame, she's happy to find that it's a good size for her and the seat is relatively comfortable, all things considered. The bike has a little bag with a Bike and Roll logo attached to the handlebars, complete with a bike lock and key, so Sarah takes a moment to empty her pockets and slip her wallet, phone and keys into the bag too.
"Ready," Josie asks with an eager grin, mounting her own bike once again. When Sarah nods, Josie instructs her to, "Just shout if you need to stop."
They push off and head down into Battery Park with Sarah following behind Josie. It takes a minute or two for Sarah's sense of balance to fully kick in, but she supposes that people compare remembering old skills to riding a bicycle for a reason because it doesn't take very long for her to feel comfortable riding again. Of course, once she stops worrying about tipping the bike over, she's free to actually start paying attention to the scenery, and the very first thing she notices is the curve of Josie's backside on the bike seat in front of her. Sarah shakes her head and pulls her eyes away from that to actually look at where she is and where they're going.
She has to admit—reluctantly and only to herself—that parts of Manhattan are incredibly beautiful. The bike trail cuts along the river in the park and past the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Rachel Berry pops into Sarah's head unbidden, and she idly wonders if she and Quinn have ever been there before the thought of them slips away completely as Josie leads her along the Esplanade. They leave Battery Park and begin to ride through the cityscape, and the first time Sarah calls out to stop Josie is in Pumphouse Park under the shadow of the Freedom Tower.
"Are you okay?" Josie asks with a concerned frown as Sarah glides to a stop next to her.
Sarah smiles sheepishly, nodding. "Yeah. I just needed to stop for a minute."
Josie watches her in mild confusion while she unzips her bag and digs out her phone, flipping on the camera and pointing it up at the skyline to capture a few photos of the building. Next to her, Josie chuckles as she crosses her arms and waits.
"Sorry," Sarah mutters, ducking her head as she pulls her phone back down.
"Don't apologize," Josie tells her with a fond smile. "I love that you get so excited over the things you love. It's se…" she hesitates and purses her lips for a moment before she finishes with, "inspiring."
Sarah blushes again, not having missed what Josie almost said. She slips her phone back into the bag. "Okay, we can go."
Josie grins and pushes off. Sarah alternates between following Josie and peddling side-by-side with her in the less crowded sections of the path. And her gaze alternates between the waterfront with the Hoboken skyline and the buildings of Manhattan—and occasionally Josie's very nice biking form.
They stop at Chelsea Piers and take a little detour so that Sarah can get up close and personal with the IAC building and it's curved, reflective glass. Josie doesn't grumble even a little when Sarah asks if they can chain their bikes to the nearby rack and walk all the way around the building; she just pulls out her lock and clips her bike in place. As they circle the building, Josie listens to all of Sarah's excited gushing about it and even pulls out her own phone to snap a few pictures.
"You know, I don't think I've ever stopped to really look at this building before," Josie comments. "But it is pretty gorgeous at night."
Sarah glances at Josie to see her gazing up at the building with a thoughtful smile, and she decides right then that she'd really like to come back to Chelsea some night and find out just how gorgeous she is. It!—it is.
They walk back to their bikes and unchain them, riding back onto the trail and continuing uptown. It's already eleven-thirty by the time they make it to Riverside Park, and Josie asks her if she wants to stop for an early lunch. Sarah is feeling a little hungry, so she agrees, and Josie leads them through the park to the bike rack outside of the Pier i Cafe, where there are tables with umbrellas scattered along the waterfront and surrounded by flowers. They chain their bikes, and Sarah fusses with her hair and sweatshirt, feeling decidedly underdressed, although she can see more than a few people walking toward the cafe dressed casually in shorts and t-shirts and jogging and bike gear.
Sarah pushes the sleeves of her sweatshirt up and then tries to casually dab the sweat from her brow. Josie grins at her and offers her a sip from her water bottle, and Sarah accepts it gratefully while Josie unzips her jacket, revealing a glistening layer of perspiration on her chest and—oh. Josie only has a sports bra on under the jacket, so Sarah gets an eyeful of well-defined abdominal muscles, and then she gets an eyeful of more when Josie shrugs off the jacket, dropping it over her bike before she lifts her arm to wipe at her own brow. Sarah nearly chokes on her mouthful of water as her gaze trails helplessly over the curve of Josie's right hip and up along her side where a stylized fox stalks over her pale flesh—its front paw just disappearing beneath the waistband of her bike pants and tail curling under her ribs, partially hidden by the bottom edge of her bra.
"You didn't have that in college," Sarah breathes out. Josie pauses, glancing at her in silent question, and Sarah feels her face heat even more. "The…ah…tattoo. N-not that I was checking you out back then," she rushes out quickly. "But you…you used to jog around campus. I…I saw you a few times…and you…um…the sports bra," she explains lamely, gesturing to her before she passes back the water bottle.
Josie grins a little wickedly, taking the bottle and sliding it back on her bike . "It's okay, Sarah. I did used to flash my midriff a lot back at Yale," she reminds her as she unzips her bike bag and tugs out something blue. "And you're right. I didn't have the tattoo then. I got it after I graduated law school."
"It's…um…nice," Sarah says, shoving her hands into the pockets of her hoodie.
"Really?" Josie questions, shaking out the rolled-up blue material in her hands to reveal a short-sleeved bicycle shirt. "Because I remember you weren't really a fan of Quinn's tattoo. You even made her get it removed."
"She had a tramp stamp of Ryan Seacrest!" Sarah reminds Josie incredulously. "Like you wouldn't have asked her to get rid of that too."
Josie laughs, shaking her head. "Yeah, you have a point," she concedes. "But just so you know, I'm not having mine removed."
Sarah nods slowly. "I…I would never ask you to."
Josie smiles at her then, soft and mysterious, and Sarah's stomach erupts with flutters that she really can't pass off for hunger pangs. "That's good to know," Josie murmurs. Then she tugs the short sleeved shirt over her head, hiding the fox on her skin once again and pulling up the zipper over her breasts just enough to be technically decent before she tightens her ponytail, rolls up her jacket, and tucks it into the bag. She pulls out her wallet, stuffing it into the back pocket of her shirt along with her phone. "Come on. Lunch is on me."
Sarah pulls her eyes away from Josie's body and shakes her head, scrambling to get her own wallet. "You paid for my bike. I'm buying you lunch," she insists.
"No, you're not," Josie argues with a grin as she walks down the path to the cafe. "I asked you out today, so it's my treat."
Sarah's steps falter as she rushes to catch up. "This…this isn't a date," she says uncertainly. It sounds more like a question than a statement even to her own ears.
Josie's lips quirk into an odd half-smile before she sighs. "A friend date," she reluctantly clarifies with a shrug. "I still asked you, so I'm still paying."
"N-no," Sarah repeats, falling back into step with her. "We'll go Dutch." That's the least date-like, after all.
Josie flashes her an impish grin. "We'll see," she chirps, unexpectedly slipping her hand into Sarah's as she tugs her toward the cafe. Sarah tries not to notice how comfortably their hands fit together or how soft Josie's skin is, but it's pretty impossible—as impossible as ignoring that flutter in her belly or how often it keeps happening to her in Josie's presence. In this moment, she can't really say that she wants to. She has a feeling that things are about to get incredibly complicated.