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Post by AYLA RIVERA on Jan 30, 2017 2:01:42 GMT
“I hope you've memorised where your apartment is now,”
Ayla gave what she hoped was a gentle, charming laugh in response to West’s quip. No way a grown woman could actually forget where she lived - that would just be silly, and probably a little bit sad! When she turned from him and she was sure he couldn’t see her face, she pulled a panicked expression and racked her jumbled brain to remember an address. Directionally challenged at best, Ayla was now in a brand new city with a head injury. It could be… interesting.
She let West guide her back toward the glass doors, her cell phone in hand as she fired off a number of messages to her agent. He was going to absolutely lose the plot when he found out, never mind the fact that Adriana Rivera, the human being, was injured. It was bad for business, and that loss of time and money was all that mattered. She’d need to contact her publicist, too… and apologize to the studio… and there was that splitting headache again.
Outside, Ayla looked up over her phone as West breathed in the day. The stress of the rest of her life quickly muted as she watched him, experiencing a mixture of intrigue and utter fondness as she took him in. A text unsent and only half written, she elected to slip the phone into her jacket pocket and walk with him in silence. A small smile tugged at her lips as she fell into step, feeling almost like she had a secret.
She couldn’t remember the last time she was this comfortable with the quiet.
“So, weren't we asking questions?”
“Mmhm,” she nodded, acknowledging his question before he even finished. It occurred to her that the silence should have been awkward, not nice, so she jumped at the opportunity to break it.
“What's your favourite colour? No, no, that sucks. Why are you in New York?”
Ah. She'd been preparing herself for this question. Her friends, her family, her fans, interviewers - people would be curious why a self-proclaimed California girl for life suddenly up and moved herself across the country. Ayla had thought long and hard about the answer she would want to give, and she finally had settled on what she considered a pretty good one.
However, no matter how rehearsed her answer was, she couldn’t bring herself to spout off a half-truth or less to this man. Somehow, she felt that she owed him something better than that.
Why was she in New York? When everything (and everyone) else was almost three-thousand miles away?
“To… start over,” she answered finally, after significant hesitation. She knew the statement was both vague and probably too much information, but she was all about throwing caution to the wind these days. “And it’s red, for the record. Totally legit question.”
Ayla reached out and touched his arm, side-stepping another ice patch. Honestly she had no idea how more people weren’t cracking their heads on the ground.
“What about you?” she asked, eager to turn the conversation back on him but hoping that it wasn’t too obvious. “Why did you to leave behind the land of deep-dish pizza?”
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2017 18:59:13 GMT
--- baby it's cold outside --- tag: kara/ayla // words: // notes: "To start over." Ayla's answer is simple. "And it's red, for the record."
Red. Of course her favourite colour is red. West sneaks a sideways glance at Ayla as they walk. West isn't thrown by her first answer, he realises, because it's the same answer he would've given. Kindred spirits, he decides with a small smile.
"What about you? Why did you leave behind the land of deep-dish pizza?"
His stomach growls quietly at the mention of deep-dish pizza and he realises that he hasn't eaten since breakfast - and it's mid-afternoon already. The day has flown by. A slice of that Chicago-style deep dish would definitely go down well.
"To start over," West echoes Ayla's answer. "After the draft I worked out with a few teams, got signed to a couple practice squads and spent a year or two watching some other guy living my dream. Then I got cut, and... no one signed me. But the league's headquarters is here, and I do some analysis for USBC's sports news."
West has never spoken in this much detail about his life - to anyone. He doesn't have too many real friends these days - he lost touch with a lot during college, and after college - well, he lost touch with the outside world. He doesn't even mean to speak so candidly, but something about Ayla's kind smile, the way she had tugged at the front of his jacket, the sensation of her cool hand in his - the words fall out before he can even begin to contain them.
"I definitely miss that deep dish right now, though," he turns to the brunette and winks. "There's gotta be some good pizza somewhere in this city, right?"
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Post by AYLA RIVERA on Feb 1, 2017 18:55:28 GMT
"To start over,"
Ayla’s hesitancy to share her true reason for leaving it all behind and starting fresh faded in light of West’s response. She wondered how many others around them felt the same way they did - how many others had moved to the big city with grand hopes and dreams of leaving behind a past that didn’t feel quite right. Maybe some of them. Probably most of them.
She simply smiled, not bothering to hide the heaviness in her heart that flickered behind her eyes. It was gone in a flash, disappearing as quickly as it appeared as she remembered herself.
“After the draft I worked out with a few teams, got signed to a couple practice squads and spent a year or two watching some other guy living my dream. Then I got cut, and... no one signed me. But the league's headquarters is here, and I do some analysis for USBC's sports news.”
She was genuinely surprised with the additional clues into his life and was therefore very careful to follow his words with a delicate concentration. Making a mental note to Google how football in general worked at a later time, she knew already that she didn’t have to understand the in’s and out’s of the sport to follow that West had been chewed up and spit back out by the very thing he loved most. It made her heart twist uncomfortably in her chest to know that she simply had no chance of making it better for him.
How could she feel like that already? She literally only just met the guy. It was hardly fair.
“I needed a clean slate,” she said, deciding that if he was going to step out of his comfort zone and give her just a little bit more, she could certainly do the same. She hoped that by divulging her own past, he wouldn’t feel strange about sharing his. “I woke up one day and realized that the place I loved so much had somehow turned me in to someone I could barely recognize. I guess I cut and run, really, which isn’t exactly healthy but here I am.”
“I definitely miss that deep dish right now, though,” Again with the winking! Who was this guy? “There's gotta be some good pizza somewhere in this city, right?”
“There is. There’s a little spot right around the corner from my ap-” Ayla stopped dead in her tracks, surprised by her sudden realization. If only she could blame it all on the bump on her head. “Oh my God. I’ve just been following you. Um, here, this way to pizza.”
She took a brief moment to recalibrate before tugging on his arm, leading him back a block before turning a corner. Honestly, how was she supposed to concentrate on anything at all if he kept winking at her like that? At this point he could lead her into the Grand Canyon and she’d only maybe question it a little before falling in.
“Okay. Right. Questions,” Ayla gave a small sigh and linked her arm with his as they strolled along, turning herself in to him to avoid someone running past. She tried to ignore the voice in her head that called for her not to get too close to him.
“What do you like to do outside of work? Besides rescue clumsy women, I mean."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 10:40:49 GMT
--- baby it's cold outside --- tag: kara/ayla // words: // notes: He watches Ayla process his answer. Again, he hadn't meant to say quite so much, but something about the strikingly beautiful brunette by his side loosened his lips. She seemed to have a knack for breaking down all the barriers he didn't even know he'd built.
"I needed a clean slate," Ayla finally spoke. West's heart pumped uncomfortably hard in his chest. All kinds of imaginary scenarios began to run through his head: all the reasons he could imagine a kind, beautiful woman like Ayla might need a clean slate were things that made his stomach clench. He swallowed hard. "I woke up one day and realised that the place I loved so much had somehow turned me in to someone I could barely recognise. I guess I cut and run," she continued. West let out a long breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. Of all the scenarios he'd managed to conjure up in the last few seconds, that wasn't one of them - but it was a thousand times better than any of them.
"There is," she's talking about pizza, finally. West's stomach growls in quiet protest. "There's a little spot right around the corner from my ap--" she stops dead. West continues to walk another three steps before realising Ayla is no longer beside him.
"Oh my god," she exclaims. "I've just been following you. This way to pizza." She grabs at his arm and West follows willingly. A smile blooms across his lips as Ayla's arm wriggles its way through his.
"Right, questions," she speaks again. "What do you like to do outside of work? Besides rescuing clumsy women, of course."
West takes a moment. Rescuing this clumsy woman has definitely been an enjoyable venture so far, but it's not exactly something he'd ordinarily list under hobbies and interests. What does he do outside of the newsroom? Not much, anymore.
"Well, I love BMXing, I think I mentioned that earlier," he begins. "I love cars - well, old cars. '20s hot rods. I used to buy them when they got scrapped and rebuild them. Haven't done that for a long time," he trails off, a little lost in thought.
"What else do I do? Well, I used to play football - haven't done much of that lately, either, obviously... if you'd asked me five years ago, that was all I did. I guess I still watch it a lot. Kind of still comes under the heading of work, though." He forces a chuckle and it sounds a little more strangled than he'd hoped. He wonders for a moment if he can get his hands on a pair of tickets and take Ayla to a game.
"What about you? What kind of crazy mishaps do you find yourself in when you're not in work?"
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Post by AYLA RIVERA on Feb 5, 2017 9:22:11 GMT
"Well, I love BMXing, I think I mentioned that earlier,"
Ayla nodded, finding it far too easy to bundle herself into him as they walked along the busy New York street. It was like they'd done it a million times before - her cold hands were warmed by him, and she held his arm as if it would have been strange for her not to.
As they passed a random storefront window, she caught their reflection out of the corner of her eye and nearly tripped over the curb as reality once again slammed her in the face. Whatever kind of friendship this was going to be, it would almost certainly lead to a form of heartache for her. This realization in itself should have been reason enough to convince her to step away, and yet... she didn't.
"I love cars - well, old cars. '20s hot rods. I used to buy them when they got scrapped and rebuild them. Haven't done that for a long time,"
Cars. Ayla used to love cars. Now, she flat out refused to get behind a wheel for reasons that she never wanted to think on again. She could still appreciate them from afar, though, and considered herself fairly versed on how they worked and what was impressive and what was not. Growing up, her father spent hours and small (and large) fortunes on increasing his car collection, teaching her about them for as long as as she would sit still for.
These days Ayla seemed to have more of an interest in wrecking them than anything else, apparently. It was a bit of a strange coincidence that wasn't lost on her that West enjoyed putting back together the very thing that had ultimately broken apart her reality.
"What else do I do? Well, I used to play football - haven't done much of that lately, either, obviously... if you'd asked me five years ago, that was all I did. I guess I still watch it a lot. Kind of still comes under the heading of work, though."
"You'll have to teach me the rules sometime," she told him, unsure at this point of whether or not there would be a 'sometime' for him to teach her. She didn't know what was happening here, and it would likely just be a polite, empty promise in the end. "All I know is that it's the one with the pointy ball."
"What about you? What kind of crazy mishaps do you find yourself in when you're not in work?"
Ah. When she wasn't at work? Ayla often felt like she was always at work these days. This upcoming week would be the first bit of so-called vacation that she'd taken in years, even though she was likely to spend most of it in bed with a pounding headache. The idea of it made her panic a bit, but that was a worry for tomorrow.
"I dance," she answered. "I competed a lot growing up. I can barely walk on a flat surface without tripping over myself, but when I'm dancing it's just about the only time I'm in full control. I was probably more concerned about finding a good dance studio here than a place to live."
Ayla chuckled awkwardly, realizing as she said it out loud just how ridiculous it was. Even though it was true.
"Other than that..." she trailed off, chewing on her lip as she glanced up at the street name on the corner. Pulling him toward the left, she was quite proud of herself when she finally saw the pizza place just down the street.
"Other than that - I watch old films, listen to old music, and read new scripts. I guess that comes under the heading of work, too, though."
Ayla crinkled her nose a bit as she thought about it, but then shrugged a shoulder. So maybe her whole life was work. There just weren't enough hours in the day to fit everything in, but luckily she truly loved her job when it came down to it.
Nearing the shop, the smell of pizza filled the air and made her realize just how hungry she was. She wasn't sure if the tinge of nausea she was still experiencing would even allow her to eat, but she was certainly going to make an effort. A true soldier.
"Okay, West - this is the determining question for whether or not we can be friends moving forward..." she started, reaching out to grab the door as another customer flew out of the shop. She stood in front of it to hold it open, letting several people pass by her as she kept her gaze trained on West through the crowd that momentarily separated them.
"What do you think of pineapple on pizza?"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2017 20:44:44 GMT
--- baby it's cold outside --- tag: kara/ayla // words: // notes: pineapple on pizza is definitely a big no. He's been watching Ayla's eyes as he speaks, noting the confusion, recognition and everything in between.
"You'll have to teach me the rules sometime," she says when he talks about football. He smiles. He'll teach anyone about football if they'll let him. "All I know is that it's the one with the pointy ball." He laughs at that. He flexes his fingers a little. He misses the friction of the leather against the callouses on his palms. The ache of regret blooms like a rose, expanding in his ribcage until he has to take a gulp of cold air. He blinks hard, squeezing his eyes closed for a half-second.
"I dance," Ayla answers his question at last. He smiles again. The joy in her eyes reminds him of his football memories. She pulls him across the path and down a new street. He's never been to this part of town before.
"Other than that - I watch old movies, listen to old music, read new scripts - I guess that comes under the heading of work, too."
He's not alone. For a little while, West was so disconnected from the rest of the world that he wondered if he was the only one who never seemed to turn off the work-brain. Even at home in his downtime, he'd watch football, study tape and follow news updates. But now he knows Ayla does that too. Perhaps they're both disconnected - but maybe now they've made a new connection. Ridiculous, he thinks incredulously.
The smell of pizza fills the air as they continue down the street and his stomach growls, a little louder this time. West clears his throat with a low cough, hoping Ayla hasn't noticed his body's protest. He sighs an exaggerated sigh of relief as Ayla reaches in to push open a shop door.
"Thank god, I thought I was gonna waste away!" he jokes. Another wink. He can't help himself. He wonders how many times he's winked at Ayla now - he's positive that wasn't the first time, but he's a natural flirt and it's become second nature to punctuate a cheeky joke with a wink. Ayla stands aside in the entrance as a steady stream of people leave, and West reaches to take the weight of the door, resting an open palm against the wooden frame above Ayla's head.
"Okay, West - this is the determining question for whether or not we can be friends moving forward..."
They're separated for a moment by the mass exodus of previous customers, but his eyes never leave the spot where he last saw her face.
"What do you think of pineapple on pizza?"
He's stumped. He opens and closes his mouth, faintly embarrassed at his fish impression when he realises that they're alone again in the doorway and Ayla can see him, speechless. Of all the things he imagined might follow her declaration of a 'determining question', that was probably the one he least expected.
"Uh..." he waves a hand in the air, ushering Ayla into the warmth before following, leaving the door to fall closed behind them. The heady scent of italian herbs and sausage assaults his senses. His mouth waters as his stomach protests for a third time.
"I don't--" he guides Ayla towards a quiet booth in the back and slips into the red bench seat across the table from her. "I can take it or leave it, I guess. I'm not much for fruit with my pizza."
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Post by AYLA RIVERA on Feb 9, 2017 14:06:45 GMT
"Thank god, I thought I was gonna waste away!"
Ayla opened her mouth to reply, but quickly realized as he once again winked at her that she had absolutely no idea what she would say. It was these small gestures - the winks, the 'darlin'''s , the tone of his voice - that rendered her positively useless as a human woman.
... and as a human woman who considered herself fiercely independent, if not so to a fault, the way he was suddenly making her feel seemingly out of nowhere brought her quickly to the jagged spot just before frustration.
He directed her into the shop and immediately Ayla was shrugging off her jacket and pulling her scarf from her neck. The extreme warmth of the small pizza joint enveloped her like a blanket - it was all Ayla needed to bring her back down to earth. The heat made her feel more at home.
She gave a small wave and a smile to the shop owner, and he met her eye with a mirrored smile and a hesitant nod. Honestly, this was about her third time at this pizza joint in the past few days, and they were growing tired of her showing up and talking their ears off in jumbled, broken Italian. It was a wonder they still let her in.
Ayla slid into the booth across from him, carefully laying her belongings next to her on the bench before turning her brown eyes back on him.
"I can take it or leave it, I guess. I'm not much for fruit with my pizza."
"Hmm..." she mused, watching him with feigned wariness. Pineapple on pizza was the greatest - something she'd loved since childhood. It divided her family as gravely as politics would every time they had ordered in.
"I'll do my best to look past that... you might just be worth it," she smiled. "Besides, corn on pizza is the true test anyway."
A waiter rushed forward, leaving them with two glasses of water before hurrying off to another table. Ayla smiled in thanks and pulled hers toward her, sipping absently from the straw as she glanced around. She couldn't remember eating or drinking anything at all yet today and it was nearly mid-afternoon. The hunger and the thirst were probably adding to her raging headache, so right now water tasted like the nectar of the Gods.
"So," she sighed after a moment, pushing her now half-empty glass to the side as she sat back into the cushioned booth. "What's your family like? Are they all back in Chicago?"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2017 15:25:05 GMT
--- baby it's cold outside --- tag: kara/ayla // words: // notes: pineapple on pizza is definitely a big no. "I'll do my best to look past that," Ayla responds. West smirks. His answer had been as tactful as he could manage; the thought of hot, cheesy pineapple makes his stomach churn a little. "Besides, corn on pizza is the true test anyway."
West nods then. "Corn on pizza is definitely the real MVP, I can get behind that," he responds enthusiastically. He nods a thank you to the waiter for two glasses of water and brings one to his lips with a content sigh. He's usually very careful about drinking a lot of water every day, but today has run away from him somewhat and any semblance of routine has been lost entirely. He's surprised to glance at his watch and see it's almost three in the afternoon - it's no wonder he's hungry; he hasn't eaten since a little after eight and his body is used to receiving upwards of three thousand calories a day. He has some catching up to do.
"So, what's your family like?" Ayla asks. "Are they all back in Chicago?"
West swallows a mouthful of cool water with a nod.
"My mom and dad are in Chicago, yeah," he answers. "My grandparents are a little further out, in Joliet. That's it, really..." he trails off. He's never talked much about his family. He's never had to.
"I'm an only child. My mom has two brothers but they're out west somewhere I think, so I don't really know any cousins. What about you? Your family all still in California?"
The waiter returns then, and West looks up, gesturing for Ayla to order first.
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Post by AYLA RIVERA on Feb 12, 2017 21:45:15 GMT
“Corn on pizza is definitely the real MVP, I can get behind that,”
Ayla’s eyes widened slightly in shock, and she had to turn away in order to hide her grin. Not only did it surprise her that he didn’t mind corn on his pizza (something that was almost always met with disdain by other Americans), but the fact that he said corn was ‘the real MVP' made her even more sure that he really was her kind of person.
“My mom and dad are in Chicago, yeah. My grandparents are a little further out, in Joliet. That's it, really…”
She turned her attention back on him as he spoke, and felt another strange mix of emotion as he spoke of his family. It was beginning to feel normal, really, this odd cocktail of complete closeness and yet peculiar restriction that seemed to overtake her on several occasions today… she wasn’t sure what was orthodox anymore. All she knew was that she wanted to know more about him, so anything he would tell her she would pay close attention to.
“I’m an only child. My mom has two brothers but they're out west somewhere I think, so I don't really know any cousins. What about you? Your family all still in California?”
“Mom and dad are in L.A.,” she nodded, playing absently with her straw. “I’ve got a bunch of half-brothers from my dad scattered around the country, but I haven’t seen them in years. Everyone else is back in Mexico.”
An image of her abuelo flashed in her head, and she felt a pang of homesickness again. Even now, as an adult, the sound of him singing to himself as he kneaded dough for bread in the kitchen was the most calming thing in the world for her. He used to let her help when she was young, full of energy and troublesome - it felt like one of the most earthy, real things she could do, and it would always bring her back down to even like a piece of parchment floating to the ground.
She’d often fly home when she felt lost, but somehow this time it felt different. It was too profound. It was something even Mexico couldn’t fix, so she had all but escaped to the furthest thing from what she knew as normal. She couldn’t face anyone right now.
Really, the only reason she could let West in even the slightest was because he knew nothing about her. Once she - if she - let him in, she would for sure cut and run from him too.
It took a moment for her to realize that the waiter was back, and she tore herself back to the present with a smile.
“Sorry! Hi,” she sat up in her seat, forcing a small laugh. “Small cheese with corn and pineapple, Mikey, thanks love. I need to educate this midwestern kid I found outside about fruit on pizza.”
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2017 18:26:56 GMT
--- baby it's cold outside --- tag: kara/ayla // words: // notes: omfg ban me from RP this is so short i'm so sorry. West watches closely as Ayla's emotions play out in front of him. He's learned that her parents are still across the country in LA and that she has half-siblings in various places - and that everyone else is in Mexico. He can hear the homesickness in her voice as she speaks of the Mexican contingent, and he realises that she must miss them the most. Having family four states over in Chicago is nothing, he realises. They're only a day's drive away, a couple of hours on a plane. Ayla's family is in another country entirely. He doesn't know what makes him feel worse now: the pain she must feel when she misses them or the fact that he has no idea how he could even begin to make her feel better.
A shadow falls over them. Ayla smiles and laughs as she jokes with the waiter and places her pizza order - cheese with corn and pineapple - and West suddenly realises the waiter is, quite literally, waiting for him.
"I'll take a large vegetable with extra chicken, please," he smiles somewhat nervously at the waiter - Mikey - for the first time in his life, he's self-conscious about the amount of food on his plate. The waiter leaves and West rolls his shoulders. He didn't visit the gym yesterday and he hasn't made it yet today. His shoulders are beginning to stage a protest. He lifts his glass to his mouth and downs the rest of his water in one long gulp.
"It's my turn, right?" he's referring to their questions game. "You said you came to New York to start over. If you could go back to any point in your life with a do-over, would you change it?"
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Post by AYLA RIVERA on Feb 14, 2017 19:49:37 GMT
"I'll take a large vegetable with extra chicken, please,"
Ayla watched him order, picking up on his uneasiness. She wasn't sure what was running through his mind, but whatever it was managed to manifest itself physically and West shifted uncomfortably in his seat. She wanted to reach out to him, to take his hand, and although she'd done that and more with him today, this moment found her without the courage. She settled for tapping gently at his foot with her own under the table.
"You said you came to New York to start over. If you could go back to any point in your life with a do-over, would you change it?"
Ayla was not expecting that question. At least not right now. It was so loaded.
Traditionally when asked this question, which happens at least once in everyone's lives, the easiest answer to both give and receive is just no. It would show that you are easygoing - that you are strong enough as a person to either be fine with your mistakes or boring enough to have never made any. But Ayla... Ayla knew exactly the answer she wanted to give, although something in this man's eyes made her seriously afraid to give it.
"Yes," she managed rather quickly, her voice slightly strangled. For a moment, she wasn't sure how (or if) she was going to elaborate, so she took another drink of water to buy her time to sort it out.
"I mean, I don't know," she said with a sigh, sitting back into the booth again. She played absently with her necklace, a token of years gone by, and tried not to dwell too much on the significance of that. "Hindsight is always 20/20, though, isn't it? I've done a lot of stupid things. Bad relationships, bad films... wrecked a Lamborghini..." She chuckled darkly at that last one - it was the truth, but she wasn't going to make sure he necessarily knew it wasn't a joke.
"Most notably of all, though, a few years back I got bangs and that was definitely the catalyst to many other bad decisions. So yeah, I guess I'd go back and change that."
Ah yes, the old 'humour to hide your pain' shtick. She was good at it. At least she thought she was. She felt slightly guilty for pulling it now, though.
"What about you?" she asked. "What would you change?"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 15:16:56 GMT
--- baby it's cold outside --- tag: kara/ayla // words: // notes: West raises an eyebrow. She wrecked a Lamborghini? That's a pretty impressive, expensive claim to fame. She chuckles, but the humour is dark and West bites back his witty retort. The memory is clearly one Ayla would rather not relive.
"A few years back I got bangs and that was definitely the catalyst to many other bad decisions," she explained. Back to joking to slow the trips down memory lane. It's a technique West used to be an expert in, but it seemed that with Ayla sitting across the table, he couldn't be anything but honest.
"What about you? What would you change?"
"I don't know, man, if I changed anything, I wouldn't be eating pizza with you," he doesn't miss a beat. His answer is smooth and rolls off his tongue; his face pulls into another wink. Yup, there's that humour to hide the pain. Maybe it's not a lost talent after all.
"Honestly, though... I don't know what I'd change," he continues after a moment's pause. "I guess I'd just be better. Work harder, stay later, get stronger, be better. I never liked regrets but I guess I have a lot." West looks down at the table at a water spot right in the centre of his place setting.
"That was kind of a loaded one, huh," he admits somewhat belatedly as he looks up. He's fairly certain his eyes are just about as empty and drained as he feels. He's definitely run the gamut of emotions since meeting Ayla, and he's pretty sure she's done the same. It's been a long time since he's felt anything at all that even the lighthearted jokes and - dare he consider it - fun he's had today feel almost nostalgic.
Their pizzas arrive then, and West assesses his with a smile of approval for the briefest of moments before picking up his knife and fork and digging the utensils into the cheese-topped doughy mass on his plate.
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Post by AYLA RIVERA on Feb 19, 2017 16:39:43 GMT
"I don't know, man, if I changed anything, I wouldn't be eating pizza with you,"
She shot him an impressed look.
Ayla was sure that if he winked at her again - even just once - she would be dragged right over the line that she had marked in the sand. Every time he did it it was another wave that washed it all away, and she was left in a scramble to draw it again.
But just one more and she was sure she'd be pulled under no matter how defiant she thought she was. It was too exhausting.
"Honestly, though... I don't know what I'd change. I guess I'd just be better. Work harder, stay later, get stronger, be better. I never liked regrets but I guess I have a lot."
She followed his gaze down to the table between them, chewing on her lip as the next few moments carried a weighted pensiveness that they seemed to mutually understand.
"That was kind of a loaded one, huh,"
Ayla was already back to looking at him when he decided to glance up and meet her gaze. She held his eyes with her own, lost in the emptiness that felt all too familiar, before she managed a small smile.
"It was kinda heavy," she acknowledged with a slow nod. "But I think I like heavy with you."
Ayla slid her glass of water out of the way as Mikey brought them their pizzas, and she thanked him as he rushed quickly away (probably hoping to avoid getting trapped in a conversation with her). She was glad that West seemed to approve of his food, but when he picked up the knife and fork, her mouth fell slightly open.
"What are you doing?" Ayla exclaimed with a stunned laugh, a piece of corn and pineapple falling off her slice of pizza and landing unnoticed on her plate in her state of surprise. "What is that? Those are decorative!"
She'd heard legends of people who would eat their pizza with utensils, but rarely came across them in real life. It also seemed like the perfect opportunity to try and lighten the mood a bit.
"If I knew I'd be dining with royalty today I would have dressed up a bit more," she teased with a grin, folding up her pizza lengthways before turning it around and taking a bite crusty end first.
She wasn't really one to speak on proper pizza eating etiquette, obviously, but whatever.
"So," she said after swallowing her first bite. "Where were you headed this morning if not a modelling convention? I feel bad for stealing your day."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2017 14:28:27 GMT
--- baby it's cold outside --- tag: kara/ayla // words: // notes: "I think I like heavy with you."
West's mind is in overdrive. What does that mean? There are all kinds of things he thinks it means - things he thinks he wants it to mean, things he thinks it might mean - but that did Ayla mean when she said it? The beautiful brunette slipped - quite literally - into his life and turned it upside down in the space of a few hours.
He's busy carefully digging the tip of his knife into his pizza crust when she speaks again.
"What are you doing?" she asks. "Those are decorative!"
West grins and heaves a sigh of relief after Ayla's outburst, dropping the silverware to the side of his plate and grabbing a slice with his fingers.
"My parents taught me to always at least pretend like I have manners," he explains. "The veggies fall everywhere and sauce drips, but if you're happy to be sat with me in public when I have marinara on my chin, maybe you really are a keeper," he winks, and takes a bite.
"So, where were you headed this morning, if not a modelling convention? I feel bad for stealing your day."
West is somewhat taken aback by the admission. Meeting Ayla earlier that morning felt like such a long time ago. Truth be told, he had no idea where he'd been going. He just needed to be anywhere but his empty apartment.
"Oh, I was just..." he begins. He trails off, unsure of where to go. He hasn't lied to Ayla yet, he's not sure he could even if he tried. "I just had to get out of the apartment," he admits. He tears off another chunk of pizza with his teeth and chews for a moment.
"Were you headed somewhere?"
template by eliza @ TB & THQ
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Post by AYLA RIVERA on Feb 21, 2017 16:40:03 GMT
"The veggies fall everywhere and sauce drips, but if you're happy to be sat with me in public when I have marinara on my chin, maybe you really are a keeper.”
A keeper?
And there it was; another wink. Did he even realize he was doing it?
Her smile faltered and Ayla lowered her pizza. A bell chimed and her attention was drawn to the door as another patron entered, and for the briefest of moments she seriously considered pulling the head-injury card and bolting right through it. She felt a sudden panic and a strong need to escape - as if leaving him behind right that very second would somehow be able to reverse the impact of the damage, but she knew herself better than that.
She was so screwed.
"I just had to get out of the apartment. Were you headed somewhere?"
“Not really." She placed her pizza slice back down on her plate, unsure if it was the pain in her head that had caused her to lose her appetite so quickly or something else. “You can only build confusing Swedish furniture for so many hours straight before you’re desperate for a change of scenery, I guess.”
Ayla toyed with her straw, actually struggling a bit to remember the events leading up to when she opened her eyes and found him kneeling over her. It felt like a foggy memory from years ago.
"I had this grand, romantic idea of what Central Park was like from books and movies, so I wanted to see if it lived up to the hype," she added. Was she talking too much? Most likely. "I never found out. I barely made it three feet inside before it tried to kill me, but I did meet you... so..."
She trailed off, the end of her sentence lingering in the air between them. She wasn't entirely sure where she was taking that sentence.
"Uh, so do you have a favourite place in New York?"
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