Holden Corvale

“Oh, come on, don’t be such a dick── it was just a date,” he yelled, finally bending over with laughter.

Holden failed to see what was so funny. Perhaps he was being pranked. Or maybe the other man was still finding it amusing that he’s - apparently - denying his orientation. But either way, he wasn’t sticking around to find out. 

“Yeah it might,” She smirked at him. “I mean I’m upset because we were close, but it keeps me out of trouble— she was the bad influence,” Nina laughed lightly.  “We were drinking buddies and it often ended up in situations such as the one I was in when I got arrested,” The brunette explained and shrugged her small shoulders with ease. It wasn’t really something she cared to talk about much more than that, the two were friends but she had left without a word—Nina wasn’t going to put much into the situation, it’s the truth of what happened. The brunette stood in front of the Deputy Chief with her hand on her hip as she leant on the table. “We could go for a walk down to the river,” She suggested. “It’s usually pretty quiet this time of day and it’s beautiful. I normally go after work actually,” She confessed running a hand through her brunette hair. “I’m finished my work here at the Cafe. I got my duties done early today, so I don’t have anything else I need to do,” Nina explained.

“At least you do acknowledge it. I suppose that’s good.” He had met many who refused to admit that and it was hard to help them. While he wasn’t sure how it happened, but he had befriended a few good kids back at New York who just ran with the wrong crowd. Of course, Nina’s situation might not be as mad as the others, but he’d hate to see her in cuffs again. “We could do that.” He nodded, “I’ve never been. For a small town, there’s a lot of places I haven’t been to yet.. Which is surprising..” He got up from his seat and tossed his garbage into the trash, “Lead the way.”

“That’s true… because i’m a real bad girl, you know.” Nina winked and gave a wide grin. “Always getting into trouble,” She shrugged her slim shoulders and batted her eyelashes. “Time is a funny thing… I like to have fun but I only got into real trouble when my other friend was around,” The brunette told him. “But she’s gone now and i’ve got no influence,” She said getting more serious and pursed her lips. Nina finished up a few more things in the store, knowing that Holden was waiting at the back. She occasionally looked back at him and eventually her shift was up. The brunette circled back to the man and sat down at his booth. “All done now. I’m completely free.”

“Would it make you feel better that I’ve seen worse?” It shouldn’t be too hard though. From what he had seen, the other wasn’t that much of a troublemaker. “Your friend, huh? Is it mean to say that that’s not necessarily a bad thing that she’s gone?” Holden thought that it wasn’t really a compliment to her friend but he never did approve of ‘bad’ influences. Holden was almost done his drink by the time the woman approached him. Looking up, he sat up straighter as he put away his phone. “Is there.. any place you want to go?” To be fair, he had no idea what he was supposed to do. She wanted to talk more, but were they supposed to stay when she didn’t have to work anymore?

Lydia understood that road safety was low on the priority list. Annoying, considering road fatalities claimed many lives each year. “I understand that. I suppose I’m glad they put some money into helping–the commercials and such,” she said to him, giving him a small smile. “True. Compensating for being slow on their feet I guess? Oh I know! It’s a sacred tradition that your first car has to be terrible. Like, barely functioning but you still love it! You have to work your way up to a nice car. That’s what my parents would say to me. I think also the fact that I was a terrible driver–still am–may have played a part in that.”

"If they could invent cars that can drive themselves, they could invent cars to stop automatically when there’s a pedestrian in the way or nearly in the way.” He nodded subtly, “I assume your first car wasn’t a nice car? Mine was average but I didn’t really care. A car was a car.” Holden was thankful and amazed that the other talked a whole lot more than he did. His parents didn’t talk all that much either so it intrigued the cop sometimes how one could just ramble on while he on the other hand preferred to be to the point.

“That is the echo of the closeted and scared men, my friend. Okay, we can have a ‘no homo’ date. Would you feel better if I call it a brodate?”

“If it is so unfounded, why are you getting so upset? They call this a defense mechanism, you know? And I am not outing you── there is no one around here for me to out you to. Well, no one but me.”

“Upset? No, merely annoyed. Sorry to disappoint you, but I. Am. Not. Gay.”

“Luckily you didn’t,” she repeated, lips tugged upwards to form a small grin. “Thank you so much! That would be great. I’ll keep reminding the kids crossing to look both ways and make sure it’s safe before moving. I usually stand outside and watch to be certain they get across safely too.” They always had a teacher on duty at the gate to watch, but Lydia often stood with them to quell her own nerves. She couldn’t help but throw her head back, laughing. “They’re always the ones! It’s like they get behind the wheel of a car and just forget about everything else. That, or you have those jerks in the BMWs who act like they own the roads too, just because they have a big engine and nice car.”

“It’s nothing. It’s just along the way anyways - I wouldn’t really hold my breath if they don’t do anything. There’s other more concerning things than traffic control sometimes. Frustrating to hear, but it’s the truth.” He brushed a loose hair away from his face, “Either they forgot, or they missed moving fast. They can’t really do that on their feet remember? I was told that most high school kids gets the expensive cars. Rich families seemed to be everywhere.. but I can never understand.. why they would give them nice cars.”

“I’ve met a fair number,” Nina nodded. The brunette smirked at his comment. “Yes! As friends,” She responded coyly and laughed playfully.  “I’ve only been arrested once Officer Corvale,” Nina smirked her lips. “I see what you mean—I could never do it,” She shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll be sure to look for you in an hour,” The brunette said as she pulled the menus in her hands closer to her body and a smile spread out onto her ruby painted lips. 

For some reason she felt a strange sort of protective pull as he answered and she place her hand back on his shoulder. “Come on. You should never have that much on your mind. Walking in front of cars equals a dangerous amount of worrying and you either need a drink or to talk. Either way you are coming with me pal,” Carson explain as she guided him away from the street and back down the sidewalk. “Woah is that what it sounds like when you’re arresting someone? You are coming with me pal,” Carson repeated gruffly with a small smile.

He looked down at her, unsure to why he naturally allowed her to lead the way. Holden wasn’t a big drinker yet he wordlessly agreed to it. “I don’t think talking will do much good in my situation.” He muttered more for his own ears than hers. Perhaps it would do any other person good to talk about things, but Holden was a man of few words, preferring to solve problems by mulling it over alone than share the burden. And he had no idea if he should unload this burden on his supposed sister. Would she hate him if she found out? They barely knew each other but Holden didn’t want to complicate things for her if she moreorless enjoyed her life till now. 

Lydia hummed, nodding her head in agreement. “It is unfortunate. And scary too with the amount of road deaths there are. I don’t know what goes through some people’s heads on the road…” she let the sentence taper off, commercials of safe driving flashing through her mind. “That sounds like a good idea but I don’t know if the police would be able to do that or take it seriously.” It was hard to get anything implemented, and she knew already the service was stretched within the town. ‘Babysitting’ near the school, she was certain, was low on the priority list. “Oh, I can believe that! They’re either as slow as snails or Formula 1 drivers - there is no in between.”

“It’s not uncommon so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Almost died, but luckily I didn’t, so i guess we’ll leave it at that. I might make a visit to the police department, but that’s really all we can do at this point.” Holden shrugged. While he knew the dangers of letting people like those who almost ran him over loose in the world, Holden also understood the priorities when it came to cases. “I had a teacher once in highschool, walked around with a cane. Needed a whistle as she ‘controlled’ traffic whenever we needed to switch classes. But when she drove - I’m surprised she hadn’t ran one of us over in all the years she taught.”

“Nah man, if I take an no for an answer, I’d never have a job. But who is the person who refuses free dinner? Just someone deep in the closet, of course!” 

“Why are you so persistent on this unfounded opinion of yours? Even if it were true - which it is not, it’s rather rude to out someone like that, don’t you think?”

“I haven’t met many people in law enforcement who didn’t have that issue—so you’re not alone,” She suggested. “Not that it’s a problem…” She said quietly narrowing her eyebrows and hoping she hadn’t offended him. “Really? Did something happen to change your view of people?” Nina asked with a raised eyebrow. Nina took a sip of her own drink, her fourth latte of the day. The brunette could see his reaction but she genuinely wanted to get to know him, although she wasn’t sure why. It was almost like she believed there was more to him than he was letting on. She had always enjoyed the conversations the two had previous. “Yeah, just grab a drink. It’s hard to for me to really get into a conversation when i’m trying to concentrate on making sure everyone’s is happy, tables are full and nobody is without coffee,” She smirked. “Tough job,” Nina joked, but it was sort of true.

“You know quite a few in my field?” A small smirk appeared subtly, “I hope you mean you know them as friends and not as the officers who kept arresting you.” Holden shrugged, “It’s hard not to be suspicious of everyone at this job. We’re meant to suspect everyone one way or the other.” The visiting cop had dealt with enough liars - his own father lied to him for years as well, it was hard not to see past all of that. Of course, he still had a margin of optimism in people, hoping that not all the good people were lost in the world but from what he’d seen, everyone had something to hide. “Then... I’ll be in the corner booth.” He looked back to see the said booth vacant and took a seat there, taking his phone out to check his messages. 

“You know, you don’t have to be on the closet anymore. It is okay to be gay,” he pursed his lips together not to smile. “I don’t want a date, I want a date with you! We totally have chemistry.” 

“While I agree that there is no problem with being gay, I am not gay. So no, I will not go on a date with you. Perhaps learn how to take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“Um… never mind,” Nina shook her head. “Yeah… I can see how that would happen,” She said as she pursed her lips together. “I haven’t really met too many cops honestly…” The brunette confessed. “W-why… are you guarded?” She asked. Nina nodded her head and turned around to start making his iced coffee. She turned on the machine and heard the gentle hum as it came to life and started making coffee. “Um… only another few hours,” Nina said looking up at the clock. The brunette could tell he was serious and didn’t have the best people skills, but that wasn’t a problem to her. She finished making the coffee, putting a straw in it and slid it across the counter. “Here you go,” She said looking up at him. “We could chat after my shift is done, if you’d like?” Nina suggested.

“Uh.. I like to think it comes with the job.” He couldn’t really think of any other reason. All his life, he had been like that. His father had been the same as well so to him, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. “Perhaps my view of people had been jaded a bit.” He shrugged, not knowing how else to explain it. Taking his drink, he took a sip and gave the woman a small nod - genuinely surprised that she even made the offer. He hadn’t expected the other would want to hang out after work - he wasn’t dim, he knew he wasn’t much of a company.. “Uh.. You want to chat after your shift?”

Despite gaining the guy’s reassurance, Lydia gave him a once-over glance to be certain herself that he was doing alright. “Not all the time. I think this must be just not your lucky day,” she commented, bringing her bright hues up to meet darker ones. “Bunch of arseholes. There are schools nearby and no wonder I worry about kids crossing the street.” She found herself getting annoyed about it, thoughts of highlighting road safety to her students flashing through her mind. “I’m like a grandmother driving around these areas. You can’t be too careful.”

“Unfortunately the world’s filled with a lot more assholes than we would like. It’s almost as if they don’t care if they claimed a life.” He frowned, “There should be more patrols around the school areas. Surely they can write up a few fines just camping out here for an hour or two if that’s the case.” He nodded, “You’d be surprised just how fast some grandmothers drive. They are a lot faster than they are walking.” 

@holdencorvale

“Excuse me?” Holden stared at the other man, not sure if he was trying to play him out of boredom or he was actually serious about the question. “While I guess one would be flattered to be asked out, I think you’ve mistaken. I’m not gay. If you want a date, I suggest you look elsewhere.”