[Les]

[seas_open]

They haven't really talked about it.

Between telling Corrine, whatever reaction she'd had -- April doesn't know, but she gets the feeling she should be glad she was out of the room at the time -- and Lara getting rid of those sirens who had been on her ass, it's been a rough week. Her apartment is still a disaster and she doesn't feel comfortable living there anymore anyway. She'll have to clean it up before she'll be able to sublet the place, but for the time being all she wants to do is forget it exists. She's quit the job at the lawyer's office, although she isn't entirely sure why. It could have been a distraction, but the time had come for her to go back and she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She's staying with Les for now, but she sincerely feels like she needs to find her own place soon and she isn't entirely sure why.

It's been a strange week and she and Les haven't talked much about what they're doing or what's been going on and she thinks they should, but at the same time she isn't really sure she wants to.

For now she's camped out on his couch in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, a computer perched on her knees as she scrolls through apartment listings in town. She'd picked up the laptop after her place had been trashed, knowing she needed something to call her own, something more than just the things she had in her purse, knowing it would be necessary to find herself a new place to live.

So she's on his couch with the computer, looking at listings, but she's really not entirely paying attention. She's watching Les, too, and faint smile curving her lips as he moves around the place and she wants to tell him to relax, to come sit down with her, but at the same time she's enjoying just looking.

Comments

[seas_open]

"I don't think I'd be the one getting off the hook," she says with a laugh, but she loops her arms around his shoulders, content in this position for the time being, feeling far more relaxed than she had earlier. "I've already paid for you, remember? My money is gone. So it's you we can't let off the hook."

Just as long as it doesn't end like their previous attempt, with Les bruised and bloodied, April terrified and furious. There's a part of her that's so angry with her family for having done what they've done. They're not even a part of her, she's never spent any significant time with them. Her parents hadn't raise her, they hadn't hold her when she scraped her knee as a child or when she had cried. They're not allowed to be part of her and yet they've come here in their own way, trying to ruin everything.

She kisses Les again, a little harder this time, her arms tighter around him. For the first time in her life, she doesn't want something to fall apart, she doesn't want it to be ruined and she doesn't know how to prevent that.

[lesparker]

Les lets her pull him into a tight squeeze, her arms shifting around his shoulders until their bodies are pressed together, and he does the same, lifting his arms to hold her back. After everything that's happened, it's nice just to hold her and know that she's safe again. She kisses him hard, and he just kisses her back eyes shut tight. Their words are a relief as much as they are a concern. Just like April, he doesn't want things between them to fall apart. He wants to be able to like her and to go on their date. She did pay after all.

A tiny voice in the back of his head though is telling him that it's not going to be their choice. That no matter how hard they hold on to one another, it might not be enough to keep. He just holds onto her closer, shoving away those thoughts with everything he can. All that matters is the here and now. They said what they needed to say, and he's comforted by it.

He pulls away after a second giving her a soft smile, cupping her face in his hands. "I definitely don't want off the hook with you. We'll go," he assures her.

[seas_open]

"Alright," she says and maybe she shouldn't believe him, maybe she should have learned her lesson the last time she trusted someone and he more or less pulled the rug right out from under her, but she does believe him. She does trust him. And there's a small part of her that thinks that might get her hurt, that's trying desperately to warn her, but April ignores it and pushes it down as she gives Les a smile.

Leaning back a little, her arms still around him, she asks, "So what should we do on this date? Do I get to be the boss because I'm the one who bought you?" She's fairly certain that they'll have a good time, no matter what they do, but it's been a very long time since she's been on anything resembling a real date and she doesn't want to admit that she's nervous, but she is a little. Things with Les are different, they have been right from the start, but that leaves her feeling unsettled a lot of the time.

[lesparker]

"I dunno," Les says smirking back at her, feeling it a little more now as he pushes away the last uncertain feelings. He isn't very good at planning much of anything let alone a date when he's low-key more than a romantic. He likes just hanging out with her in general, but there is something appealing about the idea of seeing her all dressed up to meet him somewhere. Eating a nice meal and going back to his or her place. There's something very appealing about it that he wants to try. He wanted to try that night he was attacked too.

He plays with her hair in his fingers smiling still. "If you wanna be the boss, I am easily persuaded and I want you to be satisfied with your purchase," he tells her. "Dinner is good isn't it? But you're the boss..."