Hot Cars, Good Food, Fast Dancing. ((Open))
Drev drove them to the Mazda dealership on the out skirts of town and they took a few minutes to look around while waiting for a salesman. Wren spotted the little silver sports car from across the lot and headed over, Drev in her wake. It was perfect, like chocolate and a bubble bath perfect, and it screamed her name. She opened the door of the top-down convertible and slid into the felt-like-butter leather seat.
"Oh, Drev this is it. What is it?"
Wren looked around for the name and found MX-5 etched into the dash just about the glove compartment. As she was fingering all the little buttons, a man in a light gray pin-stripe suit approached.
"Hello! Welcome Ben Livitz Mazda. I see you've decided to check out the Miata MX-5. This is a lovely little machine, and might I say you love perfect in it ma'am."
Wren rolled her eyes and gave the man her best I-can-bullshit-as-well-as-you smile.
"I'd like to test drive this one."
"Sure thing, Miss. Let me go grab the keys and you and I can take her around the block." The man oiled his way back inside and Wren grinned up at Drev.
"If this thing drives as great as it feels on my ass, I'm buying it."
Until now.
Now he had his own permanent place, he wasn't on tour anymore, he didn't feel the need to get out of town all the time. He had someone to share his day with, to hang out with, to have fun with.
Damnit, why did all this have to be so... confusing? After seven hundred years, a guy should be able to sort out what's going on in his own fucking head, shouldn't he?
"No, honey bun, I can't say that it does."
She sipped from her wine. "What does appeal to me is a nice dinner, great dancing and perhaps a little chat with that cute guy at the bar. Look at the hair on that guy, like he just stepped off the beach. Not bad huh?"
"I s'pose, though I'm not really into the surfer-type. Want me to set you up with him?" He took a sip of wine, bit into another roll, and hoped she wouldn't notice the anger burning just beneath the surface of his ice-blue eyes.
Wren shrugged and sipped from her wine. "I think I'll pass on Mr. I-spent-more-time-on-my-hair-than-my-date-did. He doesn't look like he'd be much of a dancer anyway."
Wren waggled her eye brows at Drev and grinned. His eyes and jaw looked a bit tight, and she was afraid she may have pushed it all a bit too far. She wasn't sure where their relationship was heading but she didn't want to kill it before it even stood up and walked. Which meant a change of subject was in order.
"I'm going to look for realtors tomorrow. Any recommendations?"
Was there a danger of Wren leaving him? What if she becomes attracted to another guy? Would she still live with him if she was seeing someone else? Would he let her live with him?
"You're going psycho, Calo. You need to chill out and just let it flow. Things've been going alright so far, haven't they? Just relax and take it one step at a time."
He gave himself a mental shake and shoved those thoughts aside. "Uh, yeah, I have info for a bunch at home. I don't really have much experience with them, though. This condo is the first place I've actually owned. And since I paid for it all up front, I didn't have to go through all the loan junk. But I'll help you through it if you want." He smiled at Wren and let himself relax again. A moment later, their waiter arrived with their food.
"Thank you." She smiled at the waiter, then put her napkin in her lap, and began to move the salad around in her bowl with one of the three forks at her place setting.
"I'd like that, Drev. I don't know anything about realestate. I was assigned to school housing, then moved into a girlfriend's apartment as she was moving out. I just don't want to get screwed because I look and sound like the mid-west farmer's daughter that I am."
She grinned. "Well, technically I'm a mid-west mechanic's daughter." Wren slid a forkful of lettuce and chicken into her mouth.
"A mechanic's daughter... I can't imagine you ever thought you'd be... where you are today, hm?" He'd almost said 'dating a rock star' but he wasn't sure how she'd react to that. Are they dating? Drev wasn't even sure. He never really was good at labelling relationships. Of course, most of his relationships only lasted a few nights, so he hasn't really had much practice.
She put another bite of salad in her mouth to shut herself up. 'No I can't way I was planning anything that's happened to me. I was hoping for a studious life in college then making it into a company somewhere and dancing until I was too old or too broken. Ah, isn't it great the way life throws curve balls at you?'
She gave Drev a smile and sipped from the wine the waiter had paired with her salad.
Alright Wren, pull it together and answer him.' "Content with what Drev?"
'There, now he can't misconstrue that, can he?'
Drev finished chewing and cleared his mouth with a sip of ice water. "With where your life is." He shifted a little bit in his chair. He wanted to say more, but didn't; it would probably end up sounding like he was trying to show off his money and influences. He was pretty sure Wren knew he wasn't in this for some twisted kind of self-validation. But cynicism can creep through even the tightest cracks.
"Yes and no, Drev. I had completely different plans for my life. I did not expect to be in a city half way across the country from my family, or living with a man, or dealing with the horror of Marcus, or thinking about buying and running a dance studio at nearly twenty-three.
In the last six months I have learned that I am a stronger woman that I thought possible. I have a passion inside me that is so intense that sometimes I feel like I'm going to burn up from the inside out. I have found a person who believes in me and wants to be with me, not for what I can give him, but simply because of who I am.
I have discovered an entire new world here in this bustling place and I find myself home. This is not what I had planned, but I like where I am, and I can only think of one change I want to make."
Wren gently cleared her throat and sipped her wine. She felt suddenly nervous and couldn't figure out what to do with her hands.
"...one change..."
He tried not to let himself think about that too much; the thought of what she might mean scared him and excited him.
"What would that be?" he said carefully, trying to keep his voice level and calm.
"I would change the way I feel about...about..." She looked up and knew her eyes showed exactly what she felt, and that fear and desire were right up there on top. "You."
"You got yourself into this," he heard himself say. Maybe he did have a good idea of what was on her mind, but it didn't comfort him at all. There were so many consquences, so many possibilities; they all scared the shit out of him. One possibility thrilled him, but to get there would be a very, very rocky road that he wasn't sure either of them could get through.
He took a deep breath, but didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. It was probably best to keep his mouth shut right now, anyway. He took a long sip of wine, wishing it was Scotch or JD. When his eyes rose to meet hers again, he hoped he still had his poker face on.
"How would you change it?" he asked in a smooth voice. He dreaded her answer, but he very much needed to hear it.
"I know you don't want more from our relationship than what we have now. I would hazard to guess that you don't have more than friendly feelings for me. But Drev, I've tried. I've really, really tried, but I can't seem to keep my heart from losing control. If I could change that, or change how you feel, then yes, I think I would be content with my life right here and now."
She stopped, sighed, and took a drink of wine, emptying her glass.
Drev took a deep breath. "I just want to be make sure I understand you fully. You want... us... to be more than just 'roommates with benefits'?
"Drev, I know that you don't want more from this, but I felt like I was deceiving you by not telling you how I feel. You and I have always been honest with each other, from day one there hasn't been any secrets between us. You know everything about me, and I just couldn't keep lying to you.
I don't know that I'm in love with you Drev, but I care very very deeply for you. And if you would be willing, I'd like to be more than your roommate-lover."
After a few moments, he spoke. "My hesitancy isn't born out of lack of romantic feelings toward you, Wren." He took a deep breath. "Getting involved with a guy like me is a deeper plunge than you might imagine." Hopefully she'll take that to mean his celebrity and mafia affiliations. Which would be a concern certainly, but those both seemed like a mosquito bite compared to his 'big' secret.
Goddamnit, he didn't like this. He didn't like keeping such a huge secret from her, especially now. But he didn't want to turn her away, either. That was nearly unacceptable.
Drev stared into her eyes, searched them in the hopes that the answer lay within her striking gaze that so closely mirrored his own.
"I'm just... I guess I'm just afraid to hurt you, Wren. That's the last thing I want to do."
"But it's inevitable, Calo."
He reached across the table and took her hand. He felt that pull from her again, and he let out a sigh, followed by a chuckle.
"As long as we don't call each other 'snugglekins' or any such tripe.
Oh, and I want more hot monkey sex. At least three times a day."
Her heart soared and tears teetered on the brink of her lashes. She didn't want to cry, because she always felt so weak when she cried, and the last thing she wanted to do was feel week right now. She smiled a bright watery smile at him.
"I don't know if I can do three times a day, I might could swing one or two sessions of hot monkey sex, but the rest will have to be tame sloth sex. Oh and how do you feel about 'pooky'?"