Winning Out

Tempest simply nodded in confirmation at his request to ‘start over’. He’d made an effort to communicate with her properly, and she appreciated such things. She watched as he asked for his own drink and looked to her for her order as well. “The blood of my enemies, usually, but today I’ll settle for a nice dry red,” she looked to the bartender as she said so. “Cabernet if you have it,” she added, side-eyeing her companion as he rubbed at his jaw after her compliment. She took his hand and shook it, gently but appropriately. “Wonderful to meet you, Luis. I’m Tempest Maddox. You can call me Temp, if you’d like,” she offered with a small smile. “I’m curious, what had you so distracted earlier?”

He nodded, giving her order into the bartender. As they gathered their drinks, he leaned on the wooden bar top, shooting her a smirk of amusement. “I’m on to you. Let people see you drinking the red wine so when you’re kicking back with a nice glass of enemy blood they’ll mistake it for the vino. Nice plan,” he was teasing her, but their was no malice in his words. He did, however, almost laugh out loud when she said her name was Tempest. He knew little about her yet, but it seemed fitting from the small amount he had experienced. “I’ve been working all day. I needed a break, but sometimes when you get something stuck in your brain, it’s hard to switch it off,” he shrugged. “What about you? What brings you out tonight?” 

“Good thing I have a whole ten years to get it under control,” Nick grinned. Over the years, his circle of friends had grown smaller and smaller until they fell into two categories: business or childhood. But, seeing as his business friends were only seen in a more professional capacity and his childhood friends were back in New York and Boston, he was flat out of luck in the Cove. Unless this idea worked. “Like a lower lumbar support group?” Nick jokingly asked, a grin taking form on his lips. “Couch Potatoes United. I like it. Let’s spread the word tonight, get the ball rolling.”

“I mean, sure, a decade seems like forever now, but it’ll pass in the blink of an eye. 2010 seems like it was last week. I think you might be a little pushed for time,” Luis pointed out with an amiable smirk. A genuine smile came to his face at the other man’s words, and he nodded his head. “That’s exactly it. Backaches anonymous.” The thought of it was entirely ridiculous, but he liked it all the same. “Sounds like a plan. We’ve gotta get recruiting if we want this to take off.” 

“You aren’t wrong. Maybe I’ll make it my goal in the 2020s to fill out people’s knowledge of the 1920s. That should keep me busy the rest of the decade,” Nick smiled. “I’m glad one of us knows the layout. We should hang out sometime, crack a beer and just sit on the couch. That way we can’t be faulted for sitting around all day since it’s technically a social outing.”

"A busy decade for you, by the sounds of it," Luis chuckled. He wasn't exactly s history buff himself, beyond old movies, so perhaps his words were a little hypocritical. "You know what, that would actually be perfect. The best of both worlds." He had forgotten how hard it was to make friends as an adult, especially solo. There had always been college or roommates or work or his ex to act as the buffer for meeting new people. Now he was single, living alone and running his business out of a spare bedroom, relying on Cove Club events to bring new people into his life. "Maybe if we find a few other like-minded couch potatoes, we could make it a regular gathering," he suggested.

“i used to. i still work with them now and then, but since i moved to the cove, i transferred to the station here. i still do a lot of patrolling in beaumont, though.”

"In that case, I'm sure we will probably be working together in the future, though I think I'm going to be doing more in Beaumont than the Cove" Luis smiled warmly. There was a lot of crossover between the police's work and what he did, but it was the nature of the game that they worked together, their differing methods providing insight the other could not glean. "If we're ever headed out to Beaumont at the same time and want to carpool, let me know." He said, only half joking.

Suddenly the female appreciated the way that he changed his tone. She nodded in understanding. “Apology accepted,” she said gently, one shoulder moving slightly upwards in a half-shrug. “And I apologize for snapping. It’s unladylike,” she added, looking down at her empty drinking glass as he asked his question. “Oh no, I’m not headed anywhere. You can certainly buy me a drink,” she agreed with a tiny smirk. “You got a name to go along with that chiseled jawline?”

Things had steered dramatically in the opposite direction, and for that, Luis was grateful. He wasn't a combative person by nature, and if he hadn't have made things right, it would have played on his conscience for days. "Start over?" He offered, the corner of his lips tugging upward in half of a smile. He fished his wallet out of his pocket, signalling for the attention of the bartender, ordering a second rum and coke for himself and turning to the brunette with brows raised in question. "So what's your poison?" He asked her. Her next words made him laugh out loud. "Chiselled jawline?" He repeated, almost in disbelief, hand running over said jawline in a self conscious gesture. He lowered the hand from his face and held it out to her to shake. "It's Luis. Luis Bautista. And you?"

“POSITIVE,” DOMINIC CONFIRMED. whoever’d wanted this pie wouldn’t miss it; dominic wasn’t even sure someone had asked for it, he may have just been bringing it as a gesture pie. he thought on the offer for a moment before nodding. “sure. i’d like that. what are you watching?”

Luis grinned. He hadn't had much planned for the night- some Ramen, maybe, or a peanut butter sandwich- but the arrival of the pie had certainly been an unexpected surprise. "I was watching the first Indiana Jones movie, but we can find something together if you aren't into it," he shrugged, hitting a button on his remote that booted up Netflix. "any good recommendations?"

JACE SMILED, A toothy grin. “sure,” he said with a nod as luis offered to drive them there. “i don’t mind. i work at the university in beaumont so i walk a lot; my legs could use some rest.” he raised an eyebrow, looking around for luis’s car. “lead the way…?”

His car was parked close by, and Luis gestured to where it was at the end of the road. “It’s the black Kuga,” he gestured to it, hitting the button on his keys so it lit up and leading the way over. “There’s an aux cord somewhere, feel free to plug your phone in.” It wasn’t a long way to the coffee shop, but he rarely drove without music, and he didn’t want to be judged on his own tragic tastes. “What is it you do at the university?” he asked, curiously. 

“oh that’s what they all love,” he chuckled. “and i love every second of it, but damn i can’t see my floor still.. they are all under ten. eight, six and two. a damn house full.

Luis smiled, fondly. It was everything he had wanted when he had married himself, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. “I’m sure it was a Christmas to remember, by the sounds of it,” he said, kindly. “the floor will still be there in a few days. It does sound like you have a full house, though. What are their names?”

“fair enough, that most certainly is an offer” bruno nodded his head affirming the words that came out of his mouth. “help yourself” he motioned to the table that had beer and wine and some cups on it. bruno retreated to the back of his shop, putting back on his barber smock and grabbing a cape and motioning to an open barber chair, “take a seat, it’s no problem at all” bruno smiled. usually at his old shop he’d try some crafty trick to avoid a last minute cut, but he figured he would need to at least pretend to be hospitable for now.

Luis sighed in gratitude, moving a little further into the shop. “I really appreciate it. I know its late, but I was a little tied up earlier and couldn’t make it.” He picked up a beer, and moved to take the offered seat. “I can help you clean up, though, if it will get you out of here faster?” he offered, internally cringing at the fact he had made the man’s day longer than it needed to be. In interest, he glanced around the place. It was a nice place, and it looked as though he had worked hard on it. “So, how was opening day? All good?” he asked, conversationally. 

“Think of it this way, if everyone went fancy, it would be a pretty lame depiction of the ‘20s,” Nick offered. “I guess it does make going home to the couch all the more rewarding, so not all bad.” He laughed a little. “Nice to meet you too. I am — my partner, Erin. She’s around here somewhere. We’re over on Sea Drift Lane. What about you?”

“It would be very Gatsby. I think that’s about all a lot of people know of the 20s,” Luis pointed out with a small smile. “It’ll be like coming home from a long day at work and jumping on the couch- the best part of the day. I’m over at Cove Court. It’s not too far from Sea Drift Lane.” 

“i do my best. it’s pretty much common sense,” she said. “they are strong, but it depends on how you raise them in general too. — are you? i’m a police officer. it’s nice to meet someone in the industry around here.”

Luis looked at her in interest at the revelation, nodding his head and trying to hide his eagerness. “Oh, that’s awesome. I used to be on the police force back home in Boston, but when I moved to Carolina I went private. Do you work in Beaumont?”