Sally and Louis' Date
Chapter 29: Sally and Louis' Date
“Allow me, please,” Louis said, pulling out Sally’s chair for her.
Sally blushed, not used to gentlemanly manners. For all she loved her father and brother, they tended to treat her as one of the pack.
As Sally settled her coat on the back of her chair, Louis took his own seat.
They ordered their drinks in silence, then perused the menu. The waiter seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time to fetch a Sprite and a Coke, so that each of them had decided what they wanted and read their menu front to back four times.
“Can I ask you something?” Sally said into the silence.
Louis nodded. “My life is an open book.”
“So’s mine,” Sally smiled, “most are too scared to read it though.” She bit her bottom lip. “Why did you ask me out? I’m not likely to spill any family secrets and I don’t have information of available cases, especially local ones.”
The young man regarded his date with affectionate confusion. “Cases? Do you think I asked you out because I’m, what, a copper?”
Sally shook her head. “Not a cop, but maybe…” she leaned in, “a hunter?”
Louis slowly shook his head. “I don’t hunt anything.”
“So what,” Sally asked exasperated, “drew you to ask me out?”
“There’s a list,” Louis smiled.
“At the rate our waiter’s moving, I’ve got all night,” Sally gestured with her hand for him to continue.
“You’re clever.”
Sally nodded, humbly accepting that. “I even know my stalactites from my stalagmites.”
Louis smiled. “Truly a wealth of information, you are. You’re also very pretty.”
“I’m all right.” Despite all the dating she did, Sally thought of her looks as only average, just pretty. She’d long ago decided that Cody was the beautiful one in the family, with her matinee-idol looking father a close second. Sally mused that it was probably the genetic line. She found her hazel eyes closer to a boring brown than her brother’s sparkling green and her brown hair was thin and often just swept away into a ponytail.
Louis raised his eyebrows and his mouth quirked up. “You impress me.”
“You have low expectations.”
“You have a contradictory nature,” the boy countered.
Sally’s cheeks felt hot and, mercifully, the waiter appeared to take their orders.
Once he’d left, Louis jumped back into the conversation. “All right, obviously you’ve seen right through me.” He held out his hands. “I was going to wait until the second date, but I’ll tell you what’s different about me, that you’re sensing and is obviously putting you on your guard.” He leaned towards the middle of the table and Sally mimicked his movements. “I’m a wizard.”
No dramatic pause, no roundabout expression, no self-explanatory display of magic, just three words. Sally blinked. Then blinked again. “A wizard?” Her eyes lit up. “That’s amazing!”
Louis smirked. “Not going to give me the ‘there’s no such thing as magic’ spiel?”
Sally grinned and brushed her hair behind her ear before tapping just before her earlobe.
“That’s a fey’s bonding mark!” Louis exclaimed, his voice just below a startled whisper. “You’re-”
“Not a witch,” Sally held up her hands, “but my family… well, bugger it, I guess you do get the family secrets after all. They’re not very good secrets, considering everyone in town knows about them. That’s what happens in a place this size, but everyone’s really nice and helpful and they like us all the same.”
“Are you actually going to clarify any of that?” Louis was the one left blinking.
Sally flushed. “Oh, right. My Dad, he worked for Torchwood. So did my Pop before he died. Dean, she’s like my sister, and she’s a hunter. She’s on a job now, which is why she wasn’t in the bookstore. And we all dabble in that too: hunting, I mean, though the bookstore too I suppose.. So aliens and demons and anything supranormal my family knows all about.” She pointed to her mark. “I got this from a little feyling that had gotten tangled in our lilac bush at home. He gave me this and promised me the help of his clan if ever we need it. But I know all about the bad fairies too,” the girl seemed to be made of vibrant colours as she outlined what had happened at her brother’s 30th birthday party, and the first time she exorcised a demon, and how it felt when she first helped an exiled alien settle into a new life in the next town over.
Louis was smiling widely and pointing down towards his own plate before Sally realised her meal had been brought.
Immediately she clammed up and turned a few new shades of red. “I’m so sorry. Most normal people like to talk about their jobs, telly, or sports. I talk about things which make those normal people back away slowly.”
“Lucky for both of us, I’m not normal either,” Louis fixed a look on Sally that made her warm all over and it wasn’t lust, well not all of it. “I never really wanted normal, which is what drew me to ask you out. You’re fiery and completely mental and brilliant.”
The girl was starting to feel like blushing was her default state around Louis. “I’ll even try to be yar.”
“The Philadelphia Story,” Louis nodded approvingly. “I think I’d like a yar woman, provided she was you.”
Compelled by the fact he recognised her favourite movie, Sally leaned forward and kissed Louis. The boy… no, the wizard's mouth tasted sweet and the magic sparkled unexpectedly on her tongue like pop rocks. When she pulled back, she half-expected her exhale to glitter in the air.
“Allow me, please,” Louis said, pulling out Sally’s chair for her.
Sally blushed, not used to gentlemanly manners. For all she loved her father and brother, they tended to treat her as one of the pack.
As Sally settled her coat on the back of her chair, Louis took his own seat.
They ordered their drinks in silence, then perused the menu. The waiter seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time to fetch a Sprite and a Coke, so that each of them had decided what they wanted and read their menu front to back four times.
“Can I ask you something?” Sally said into the silence.
Louis nodded. “My life is an open book.”
“So’s mine,” Sally smiled, “most are too scared to read it though.” She bit her bottom lip. “Why did you ask me out? I’m not likely to spill any family secrets and I don’t have information of available cases, especially local ones.”
The young man regarded his date with affectionate confusion. “Cases? Do you think I asked you out because I’m, what, a copper?”
Sally shook her head. “Not a cop, but maybe…” she leaned in, “a hunter?”
Louis slowly shook his head. “I don’t hunt anything.”
“So what,” Sally asked exasperated, “drew you to ask me out?”
“There’s a list,” Louis smiled.
“At the rate our waiter’s moving, I’ve got all night,” Sally gestured with her hand for him to continue.
“You’re clever.”
Sally nodded, humbly accepting that. “I even know my stalactites from my stalagmites.”
Louis smiled. “Truly a wealth of information, you are. You’re also very pretty.”
“I’m all right.” Despite all the dating she did, Sally thought of her looks as only average, just pretty. She’d long ago decided that Cody was the beautiful one in the family, with her matinee-idol looking father a close second. Sally mused that it was probably the genetic line. She found her hazel eyes closer to a boring brown than her brother’s sparkling green and her brown hair was thin and often just swept away into a ponytail.
Louis raised his eyebrows and his mouth quirked up. “You impress me.”
“You have low expectations.”
“You have a contradictory nature,” the boy countered.
Sally’s cheeks felt hot and, mercifully, the waiter appeared to take their orders.
Once he’d left, Louis jumped back into the conversation. “All right, obviously you’ve seen right through me.” He held out his hands. “I was going to wait until the second date, but I’ll tell you what’s different about me, that you’re sensing and is obviously putting you on your guard.” He leaned towards the middle of the table and Sally mimicked his movements. “I’m a wizard.”
No dramatic pause, no roundabout expression, no self-explanatory display of magic, just three words. Sally blinked. Then blinked again. “A wizard?” Her eyes lit up. “That’s amazing!”
Louis smirked. “Not going to give me the ‘there’s no such thing as magic’ spiel?”
Sally grinned and brushed her hair behind her ear before tapping just before her earlobe.
“That’s a fey’s bonding mark!” Louis exclaimed, his voice just below a startled whisper. “You’re-”
“Not a witch,” Sally held up her hands, “but my family… well, bugger it, I guess you do get the family secrets after all. They’re not very good secrets, considering everyone in town knows about them. That’s what happens in a place this size, but everyone’s really nice and helpful and they like us all the same.”
“Are you actually going to clarify any of that?” Louis was the one left blinking.
Sally flushed. “Oh, right. My Dad, he worked for Torchwood. So did my Pop before he died. Dean, she’s like my sister, and she’s a hunter. She’s on a job now, which is why she wasn’t in the bookstore. And we all dabble in that too: hunting, I mean, though the bookstore too I suppose.. So aliens and demons and anything supranormal my family knows all about.” She pointed to her mark. “I got this from a little feyling that had gotten tangled in our lilac bush at home. He gave me this and promised me the help of his clan if ever we need it. But I know all about the bad fairies too,” the girl seemed to be made of vibrant colours as she outlined what had happened at her brother’s 30th birthday party, and the first time she exorcised a demon, and how it felt when she first helped an exiled alien settle into a new life in the next town over.
Louis was smiling widely and pointing down towards his own plate before Sally realised her meal had been brought.
Immediately she clammed up and turned a few new shades of red. “I’m so sorry. Most normal people like to talk about their jobs, telly, or sports. I talk about things which make those normal people back away slowly.”
“Lucky for both of us, I’m not normal either,” Louis fixed a look on Sally that made her warm all over and it wasn’t lust, well not all of it. “I never really wanted normal, which is what drew me to ask you out. You’re fiery and completely mental and brilliant.”
The girl was starting to feel like blushing was her default state around Louis. “I’ll even try to be yar.”
“The Philadelphia Story,” Louis nodded approvingly. “I think I’d like a yar woman, provided she was you.”
Compelled by the fact he recognised her favourite movie, Sally leaned forward and kissed Louis. The boy… no, the wizard's mouth tasted sweet and the magic sparkled unexpectedly on her tongue like pop rocks. When she pulled back, she half-expected her exhale to glitter in the air.