「 THE PERFECT PATSIES 」

She smiles at his reaction to the taco because she really was hoping that he would like them too. There are little treasures if you know where to look, and she gives a little laugh as he eats. “I would have gained nothing from this if I had lied,” she points out, laughing again before she takes another bite and lets herself savor it. Ally's not sure how she wants to answer his question here, because it could be an innocent enough question if it was literally anyone else asking, but after moments with him today? She does kind of wonder if he's fishing.

Chewing on her lip, she gives a gentle shrug. “I do, I guess. I don't like being caught completely off guard. Obviously shock happens sometimes, but I prefer when I can handle it when it does.” People watching gave her an upper hand sometimes if she had seen them enough to kind of piece together mannerisms that they might have that she can commit to memory. That way if they had to interact, she felt more prepared to make sure she wasn't pissing people off. “Well, like that guy over there in the gray hoodie? He does homework out here every other day to try and catch a look at one of the baristas at the coffee cart down the way because he knows her schedule. This is a prime spot, but people watching is kind of...it is a learned habit.”

Because her eidetic memory could make memories vivid sometimes, she got used to trying to memorize things about people that she might have to interact with. Now that she and Baron were bonding, she was already committing things about him to memory that she might need to know for the future. He fascinated her too much and while he did catch her off guard, it was in a different way. She felt like she could handle him to a certain degree, and this was helping. “Like with you...you have to admit that we've kind of people watched each other in a way...”

☈ . he almost laughs at that last line, to try and fight against where it catches. she's clearly not wrong, and that's the entire issue here. she says it like it's a known fact, like she's got him figured out. baron hates this, but he can't show it here. he just toys with the foil wrapping at the base of the taco and takes another bite, chewing slowly. staring ahead at the students moving through the evening crowd, scattered about, he looks over at the guy in the gray hoodie, piecing together all that she's observed and recognizing that it makes sense. the way he's writing, entirely too focused for it to be real; the slight shift in his posture towards the direction of the coffee cart; the way every few seconds he tilts his head down even more because he can't help but accidentally steal a glance up at the barista – all things baron, too, notices the rhythm of, now that she's pointed it out. he doesn't add to it.

"reck'n we have," he agrees quietly after he swallows his bite. baron sneaks a glance at ally now, shy eyes moving down to inspect some lettuce that had dropped from his mouth. he picks it up and tosses it on the ground. he has to bite his tongue to keep himself from adding more, revealing more. his shoulder shifts gently beneath her head, adjusting to the weight. it's another thing he probably shouldn't allow, but he does it anyway. he scrunches his nose thoughtfully and runs his finger over the foil in his hands.

he's gotta navigate this one with extreme care. "what've ya figured out, then?" it lacks the proper context, his question, but he doesn't care to elaborate. baron lets the question sit open-ended, allowing her to devise her own setting to answer what exactly it is he's referring to.

It dawns on her as she watches his movements, that she doesn't actually know as much about him as she would like to. After all, they haven't reminisced about much outside of the things she thinks she learned today, and even if they did, she wouldn't know how to bring things like this up. So, she's honestly thankful to him for just going along with things and not freaking out when the tease was thrown at them. It wasn't malicious after all, and when she pulls her wallet out since she had in fact promised that this was her treat, Ally smiles when the food truck owner starts to wave her hands and say it's on the house tonight since he's 'braving the onion breath'. That makes Ally laugh and she pulls a twenty out anyway to slide into the tip jar.

“Yeah, he's prolly a keeper,” she jokes back, slipping her arm through Baron's and leaning against him. Sure it was for show since they've already been mistaken for a couple and while she could have made the correction, this is oddly nice. It had been awhile since she just hung out with someone to hang out, because she's been so deep in her assignments. Those are the thoughts she gets lost in until their food arrives, and she reaches for Baron's hand again to lead him to one of her favorite people watching bench. Handing him his taco, she lets her eyes linger on him for just a moment to really take him in, before she takes a bite of her own and gives a satisfied hum. “They're just really good...”

A guilty pleasure of hers now, but perhaps part of it is that it's comforting. Something about these tacos in particular just make her feel safe, and it helps that they taste phenomenal--at least to her. She motions her hand a little as she swallows the bite, letting her head rest on his shoulder in a way that she probably shouldn't. It's a sign of contentment and vulnerability, and maybe Baron would rather her not, but she'll move if he asks. “This is a prime people watching spot, actually. The drama that has unfolded around here is pretty intense. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much you can learn about people by just keeping your eyes open and your mouth shut.” Little does she know just how true those words are.

☈ . he folds into everything almost too easily. her arm slips through his after she doesn't bother to correct the assumption that they were together, and oddly enough – he doesn't fight it. at least, not entirely just outwardly does he falter into step with her, matching her pace of feigned normalcy. it's almost a drop again, but he gathers it up and stiffens a bit as she settles her head on his shoulder. she carries this ease like it's nothing between them, like they had known each other for years. it reminds him of something he hasn't breached before, something he'd practiced for years but rarely felt extensively. his eyes dart down at the taco she'd placed in his hands, turning it as if he didn't know what to do with it.

baron clears his throat at her last words, and it comes a fraction off-beat, too soon to be entirely interpreted as accidental. and to give himself something to do to pull away from the potential of it getting noticed, he takes a bite. he chews slowly, squinting, then surprises himself with the shift in his expression despite himself. "... well. you shore ain't lyin'," he says with a finality to his words, looking down at the taco in his hands as if he's inspecting it. it had come out in a mumble, and he shyly brings a hand to his mouth after realizing he'd been talking with his mouth entirely too full.

and when he finishes chewing, a slowness back to each movement like he's really taking everything in here, he feels a little uncomfortable with the silence for once. it's a weird shift – almost like he's bored of pretending a part of him actually enjoys being around her like this. it's not something he usually feels. "you do that a lot, don't cha?" he asks out of idle curiosity and an edge of assumption. "watch people like that?" what's really underneath it, though, is the interest in figuring out just how much she not only looks for, but maybe even a hint at what she might actually see.

It's a little surreal that they're holding hands, but Ally is certainly excited to share this with him. Besides, being out in the night air is doing wonders for her mood, and she really does need this after everything that has happened today. Baron did a pretty good job at perking her up before, but she's hungry now, which is apparent in the way her stomach rumbles once they near the food trucks just off campus and the smell is in the air. There's all kinds of scents, but Ally knows exactly where she's going, and her thumb brushes his knuckles before she gives his hand a squeeze.

“Honestly, I am surprised you haven't tried any of this sooner...they tend to stay open for when the inevitable high and/or drunk students come wandering out on a week night.” After all, plenty of people had parties around here still, and there were the occasional people she knew who were convinced that they thought better when they were a little high. All of that tended to equate to hunger--she knew this from personal experience--and if this was around the time that Baron was off most nights, he had to at least see them. Well, unless he parked around the other side of campus, she supposes. “Typically there's a sno-cone one too, but I don't see them tonight...”

She waves that off though, smiling brightly at the taco truck owner who very clearly knows her. Ally has had these tacos many times, and she blushes a little when the woman offers to grab her 'usual', not because she's embarrassed to be here, but because it's one more thing for Baron to file away about her. She apparently quite loves tacos. Well, these tacos. Ally can't help but make a joke though, as she hands Baron a menu just in case he wants to see it, when the woman makes a comment about maybe holding off the onions, with a wink thrown their way.

“If he can't handle kissing with onion breath, it was never going to work anyway,” she teases, looking at him and then shaking her head so he knows she's not at all expecting anything of the sort, she just can't resist the setup of it all.

☈ . they get closer to the food; he can tell by the way the noise and smell build until he can make out the shape of the trucks. baron seems to consistently be a half-step behind her, uncertain in the way he allows her to pull him along, feeling a floating sensation when her thumb brushes his knuckles. he can't settle it at first, and has to shift his eyes forward to level it out. and she keeps talking, drawing a softness from him that easily acts as cover-up for his timidity. he blinks faintly toward the row of trucks, calculating his answer until he gives it up to a slow, understanding nod. he looks down again, mumbling as he kicks at a rock. "ain't been much fer partyin'... i ain't ever been over this way," he pulls an arm over his head, squinting at the setting sun hitting his face. it likely doesn't help to hide the way the redness at his cheeks deepens at his suggested inexperience.

sheepish exposure mixes with deeper intention as he hangs back to watch how she fits in here, how she's greeted with expectation, connection. he watches them interact, pretending to be barely paying attention to the exchanged words until his eyes drop to the menu at his hands. but he doesn't read. instead, he notices the comment and how she responds. baron smiles shyly as he feels attention brought to him, stepping forward now to the window. his mouth parts, then closes again as he feels the flush creep back up behind his neck. but she gives him that look that offers a little relief, though the color seems to get even deeper at his face.

baron appears short in his movements, stiffened by the suggestions made and the indecision it left him with as he returns to stare back down at the menu. seconds pass and he nods to himself, offering the menu for the woman in the food truck to take back. "i'll do the same!" he says, lifting the corners of his mouth into a smile. he drops a hand into his pocket, jangling the coins at the bottom absentmindedly as he chews on the inside of his cheek.

It's actually almost embarrassing the way her whole face lights up when she finishes getting her things together and then she sees him. Part of it is she almost wondered if there was a chance that he would skip out all together and just come up with an excuse for it later. That doesn't seem to be the case though, and she tucks her hair behind her ears as she moves towards him, slinging her cross-body bag over her shoulder. “I had a feeling that the tacos might be too much of an allure for you.”

She winks as she goes around his side and reaches for his hand again, an action she's probably done one too many times today, but she's enjoying this. Ally likes to share things with people that interest her, and Baron has become one of those people today so there is a comfortability that has been established now on her end. She smiles as she leads him out of Juiliard, and suddenly she's talking again. It has to be obvious that she's nervous, but she doesn't really care as she takes in the fresh air and glances back at Baron. He's still kind of hard to read, but Ally likes challenges, so she's looking forward to this.

“You know, the first time I found this food truck, I was having a horrible day,” she offers, letting a little bit of herself out just in case it might prompt him to do the same. “As much as I feel I deserve to be here--as much as I like it here some of the time--my mother made me come. Juiliard wanted me, and she wanted me to 'live up to my potential', and my father didn't fight her. That's normal though. My father cares about my mother's happiness more than anything else in the world and while that's understandable...sometimes I wish he cared more about mine too.” Ally waves that off with her free hand. “What I meant, was that I found this place, and one bite of one of these tacos perked me all the way back up. I'm excited to show you.”

☈ . the way her face lights up when she sees him pulls him from his guard. he stills in the doorway, fingers pausing the way they'd been fidgeting against the loose thread at his side. his hand drops, reaction immediate – he keeps his eyes on her idly, still working through his thoughts on her uncomfortably. she teases him softly, and the flush reaches his cheeks a bit too quickly as he looks down at his shoes, arms crossing behind his back as he sways bashfully. "had ta'," he says, his arms crossing stiffly. "gotta see if they're all that good, i guess," he feels his ears burn, and baron does his best to distract himself of the tension that builds as his spin as she reaches for his hand.

and it feels too natural, the slip of his fingers into hers. he follows her lead with her grip, his own fingers loose as she pulls him forward, his own steps falling in beside hers as they reach the open air. it's cooler here, wider... the noise of the street past the parking lot fills the spaces fittingly. his shoulders noticeably fall into a shrug forward, and he tucks a strand of his hair behind his ear before looking back at ally.

there's nothing better to do than listen to the practiced words that she speaks, not rehearsed but more familiar to her lips. as if she owes the explanation to him, the janitor at the very fancy school that she attends for reasons he doesn't want to ask because they'll draw his interest in too far. baron's already fascinated with her behavior, noticing the way he wants to catalogue every singular movement she makes, as if she cares only just enough to find him interesting. or at least, he believes nothing but this truth. anything else might send him down a spiral he's been nearing all night.

he sniffs in response to her story, nodding in understanding. there's an exhale he lets through his nose, attention pulling ahead as she waves whatever was left unsaid off while still allowing her to keep the lead. it's easier this way anyways. "so all that an' it still comes down t' a damn taco to be fixin' it." he's back to his doe-eyed, naive eyes as they flutter back to meet hers, darting here and there shyly before they fully meet.

Ally's still not even entirely sure what she's doing right now, but the space between them from the piano room to the bathroom starts to seep in as she washes her hands. They've been exchanging pleasantries for a little while now, but this afternoon tipped the scales and she's not sure what to expect from here on out. He's an enigma, certainly, but there are things to unpack she feels she has to be tactful about. Things she wants answers to that she's not sure she'll get--at least not straight forward ones. Perhaps that isn't fair catching him in only one 'big' white lie, but she's dealt with people who talk flowery all her life: hazards of being raised in high society.

People often lie to hide their feelings or get their way, or sometimes even under the guise of keeping the peace and making people feel better. White lies aren't inherently bad, but Ally meant it before when she had said that she wanted to be someone that he didn't feel he had to lie to. She wants to know more about him, but she's not sure how to go about that, and she knows she'll have to be creative when she takes him to get those street tacos. He just doesn't seem the type that wants to open up, and while she does respect that, he can't really blame a girl for trying can he?

The reminder that they'll spend more time together does make her genuinely smile though, so she lets that feeling take root for now as she fixes her hair and touches up her makeup before she heads back to the piano room and gathers up her things. She's been overworking herself with this for long enough, and she wants to spend a little more time unwinding. Besides, maybe despite it all today, she and Baron had made a genuine connection and she's just looking for reasons to be cautious.

“Maybe he genuinely likes you, Ally...” she whispers to herself as she puts her sheet music away into her bag.

☈ . the muffled silence pushes at him in the hallway, the rustle of his supplies filling up the spaces where there's usually plenty of noise. it's here in the silence that baron feels he can breathe after a day of masking, but there's a weight of loneliness now that he's suddenly more aware of. despite their conversation, baron reminds himself that this is all fake. it's an act to him, an extension of himself. she doesn't see the real him, he repeats over and over, pushing down the emptiness that only really seems to come up whenever he breaches a line he shouldn't have crossed in the first place. he's quietly grateful for the few moments he has to himself, to readjust his behaviors before he falters too much in front of her.

a hand drags through his hair, the door creaking behind him as if begging him to focus. where lines get crossed, people start to matter more than they should – he knows it. everything he's built has been in avoidance of it. and yet – she's sticks to him oddly.

the routine to his movements relaxes him for a stretch, emptying the bucket into the drain and wringing out the mop. he ties off the trash and tosses it over his shoulder, nudging the cart into the closet with a whistle and kicking the door shut behind him. he pulls his shoulders forward a bit as he reaches the doorway to the piano room again, his movements shown to be thoughtless. his fingers pull at his pockets nervously as he lingers at the door, the other hand wrapped tightly around the knot of plastic from the trash bag he's holding. when he sees her filing her things away, he flushes a little, batting his eyelids to look at his feet. back to the boy she thinks she's figured out. he chooses not to say anything, but rather let her see him, as he picks nervously at a loose thread at the outer hem of his overalls.

She laughs, shrugging a little bit at his words. “I think you fully underestimate your appeal...” Ally offers, but she knows she has felt that exact same way before. Sometimes you get lost in the person you think you are and how you are perceived, and forget that other people are also watching. Now, they're going to be watching each other, and she can't help but be amused by that. “Their loss is my gain though.”

Once they're back in the piano room, she works away on the stanza she had been stumped on before, but this time she seems to get over her hump as she uses a couple of the notes he had played before to piece a melody together. That makes her whole face light up, pencil between her teeth again as her fingers start to play from the beginning to where she was now, Ally tucking her hair behind her ears after she plays it through the first time, changing just a couple of things on the sheet music before the pencil returns to her mouth and she plays again with the newfound sound.

It's still a little eerie sounding, but there is a key change now part of the way through and it makes everything about it sound so much more hopeful than it did before. “I don't know, Baron...I think we might make a good team,” she muses with a jovial laugh as she puts a couple of finishing touches on it and then plays it through again just to cement that she likes how it came out. Who knew? Ally's been someone who was very proud of the fact that she was so accomplished on her own despite the pushing of her mother and yet...it took allowing someone to help her for her to figure this out. Crazy notion.

“I owe you more than a street taco for this,” she smiles at him, taking a breath as she watches him and ponders the whole situation. There is still so much that she doesn't know about him--so many layers she wants to peel back--but she has already found him to be semi-skittish, so she has to be patient. Patience is not her forte, but she's going to have to try. “I'm going to go freshen up really quick, but I'll be back. Promise.”

☈ . he keeps to finishing up mopping the floors, movingly slowly as his attention stays split. the ring of the piano pulls at him whether he wants it or not. baron pulls the trash and ties the end as he catches the way she adjusts, rewrites, tries again. the shift he notices before she can even finish it, the subtle way it lifts into more of a resolution. he smiles to himself and plops the bag in the basket that holds his supplies - and she speaks again. the pause is smoothed over within seconds as something unreadable passes over his eyes.

"ohhhh yore doin' just fine on yore own –" he redirects with a lightness to dismiss her claims. but it doesn't come out to shut it down the way he should. "just needed a second angle is all." the corner of his mouth pulls, and he nods as she says she'll be back shortly, already stepping back into himself. "i'll be 'round," he remarks and watches her go, pulling the mop into the cart and closing off the giant trash bag he'd been collecting smaller ones into. he whistles and pushes the cart into the hallway, towards the janitor's closet, and kicks the doorstopper to keep it open while he files his supplies away.

She smiles as she watches how he reacts to her, eyes following how he looks down, and she does wonder for a moment if she's being too forward. Not because he seems not to like it, but because she's coming on strong. Classic Ally though. Then he speaks, and she laughs gently. “Trust me, I don't normally invite people to invade my favorite things with me. The piano, the theater and then my favorite food truck around here? That's reserved for people I decide that I like.”

Ally isn't even entirely sure what it is that is making her invite Baron in, especially after some of the things she does think he thinks about her, but he really is a puzzle. Some of the most promising things in life were wrapped up in little surprises and perhaps he is one of those things. He's closed off for a reason, and while she doesn't expect him to tell her because trust between them must be earned, she does want to know more about him. Who taught him piano? Was it all just him playing after hours or was he musically trained? Why did he actually decide to be here of all the schools in the world that he could have chosen? Did he really just come and talk to her at first because she looked sad? She honestly still really hopes that that isn't what happened but at least he now know that's not all she is.

“Good,” she beams at him as she walks with him back to the piano room, bumping him gently with her hip. “I think I have a little bit of muse thanks to you also, so I might plunk away a little as you finish and then when you're done, I'm looking forward to it, you know? You are something else. Do people tell you that?”

☈ . oh, and she likes him? his lips part into a grin, shyness breaching through the whites of his eyes. it makes it harder to maintain and compartmentalize, but he won't show it, of course. he takes it in stride, or at least tries to. his shoulder brushes hers when she bumps him again, falling into step beside her. a small exhale leaves his chest when he recognizes they're closer to ground-level.

"somethin' else, huh?" her words echo in his own, amusedly lifting his hand and rubbing the back of his neck. "don't hear that too often. but i reckon folks 'round here don't spend much time lookin' my way." he knows she'll have something to say to it, but he doesn't say it like he's searching for sympathy. she says it like a compliment, but there's something beneath it that reminds him to hold himself together and keep playing the part.

the piano room brings a quiet to him once they return. he slips back into routine with practiced ease, pulling the mop to his chest where he left it. he wrings it out and moves automatically, using the task to anchor him while his mind slips somewhere else entirely. he works the last stretch of the floor in slow passes, casting a quick glance to ally in curiosity. muse, she said. what about him did she see that made her so curious? baron contemplates their afternoon, the moments they'd shared. surely, nothing had slipped. he had too much practice to let someone be the cause of his guard slipping. but she makes him nervous, and that's something new.

His laugh puts a smile on her face, glad to have caught him off guard just a little bit. She doesn't know what to do with him right now, but she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she wants to know and that is good enough for her. She wouldn't be her if she didn't pursue things like this...even at her own peril.

Ally shrugs her shoulders gently. “You're not just the school janitor, Baron. You are a person, and you are smart, and you are cute, and the 'girl like me' notion is just silly.” Her words are light because she's not upset or anything. On the contrary, she is flattered, but she's never thought of herself genuinely like that. She jokes she's a catch, and perhaps she knows she is, but never in a deeply meaningful way. “What can I say? You've reeled me in with charm.” She takes a step closer so she's in his space, making a bold movement to stroke his hair. God, he's a puzzle she wants to solve.

“I'm going to let you get back to finishing what you were doing, but then I'm going to come back and we're going to get food. I know a food truck around here that has the best street tacos you have ever tasted.” She doesn't even know what this is, but there's a part of her that's excited to find out. Figuring people out is what makes this worthwhile and she can't wait. “I promise you, they are so good.”

☈ . her hand moves to his hair and it blooms in the stillness that passes over him. his eyes, detrimentally soft with her touch, track each subtlety in movement with an innocent fascination. he lets it happen, but it's clear he hadn't prepared for it as his breath catches. then his eyes drop, unsure of what to do with this kind of attention. as if it's too much, in a way that fits the version of him that he's been giving her. he likes how direct she's being, taking the reins and telling him what to do. his actions are delayed, stuttering due to the surprise she keeps eliciting in him. and instead of pushing back on it, like he usually would, giving some kind of excuse to keep the needed distance – he lets her close the gap.

she talks about letting him be before they go to get food, the sureness of it all making his mouth twitch, though it doesn't quite form into a smile. "don't waste much time, do ya?" he asks, then dips his head in a short nod. "okay, i really only need to do that last room and then i'm done," he admits, feeling his skin warm at it. he'd waited until the last moment to interrupt her time, truly, but this works in his favor – because he's enjoying this time with her and doesn't feel too embarrassed by it. fingers hook loosely into his pockets as his shoulders settle back. his eyes linger against hers for a moment longer than expected. he watches in curiosity but also calculation. best tacos ever? he guesses he'll hold her to it.

She wasn't really sure what she thought that he was going to say, but there was always a chance that he was going to tell her 'no'. He'd probably have a whole story to tell about fraternizing or something like that, but the more she contemplates that the more she has a feeling he would know he couldn't get away with that because all they've been doing this afternoon is fraternizing, so to speak. At the same time, she is actually surprised that he agreed, but she can't get a read on him either--not a good one.

“Interesting?” It's the first word out of her mouth and it sounds horrible, but it doesn't really stop her from continuing. When has anything ever stopped her from saying stupid things?? “You can't honestly tell me that a girl's never invited you to dinner before...fancy lying to make me feel special, or am I really just coming on way too strong?” Regardless of the job that he has here as a janitor, he is not unattractive, and considering how charming he can be when he isn't caught in his own web of disasters, it just feels like he's being dishonest again somehow.

Ally smiles as she turns to look at him, wanting her eyes on him so that she can see his reactions. It's easier that way, but also she doesn't want to come on any stronger than she already has. Inviting him to dinner is kind of date-like, isn't it? Even if it's just a friendly gesture, she does wonder what he thinks it might be. Is he expecting a date or is he expecting that she just doesn't entirely want the evening to be done?

“I just like spending time with you. No fancy lying or anything, just a girl improvising, trying to get a guy to hang out with her more...dinner would be my treat.”

☈ . his expression can't quite keep up this time around. there's a time where he just stares at her. blankly, it seems, but he's really just trying to figure out exactly what she's asking for. or maybe ... what she expects back. she repeats his choice in words, and he lets out an airy laugh. 𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆. she's watching him now, and he can't help but feel the warmth of the spotlight. baron feels the space around them narrowing in a way he's uncomfortable with.

cheeks warm a flushed red at her specifications, making it clearer the intention behind her suggestion. "not many folks care t'wait on the school janitor ..." the blush is evident as he turns in on himself, her direct words making him grow more squeamish. he's sure she may see it as rejection, so he has to direct his thoughts a little more. "sorry, just a lil' surprised a girl like you'd want to ... spend more time with someone like me." baron pulls at his neck, then lifts his shoulders in a loose shrug.

She can almost see the wheels turning in his head as she watches him, but she's not sure what she's going to get from him at this point. There are moments where she feels like maybe she knows him a little better than she did before, but then there are other moments where she wonders if she knows him at all. While that could be chalked up to just how getting to know someone is, she just doesn't want the entire interaction thus far to blow up in her face because she'd had fun with him.

Ally talks to other people here at Juiliard, certainly, but it's not like this. The other people in the drama department have the same love of theater, and the other people in the music department look down on her a little if she's honest, but they have things in common. Her memory is why she is good at composing--it has nothing to do with actual talent and sometimes when she thinks too hard about it she feels like perhaps she's the one doing the fancy lying where that's concerned...but she does try.

Her thoughts are interrupted by him speaking up again, and Ally nods as his words settle over her. “I suppose so...” she nods, bumping his hip a little with her own and then chewing on her lip. “It just feels like maybe you thought I was something I wasn't, and I can't even blame you.” People that came here were either super rich and talented, or were talented with scholarships. The key word there was talented, and since most of them were geniuses in one way or another, they did have a tendency to come off as stuck up and entitled.

“If it's okay with you...I wouldn't mind spending more time with you outside of work and class hours?” Ally offers, and perhaps she has an ulterior motive now too, but she is genuinely interested. “Maybe one of these days you won't feel the need to improvise with me,” she winks, and then she starts to head out of the booth, hoping he'll follow her. “We could get dinner maybe?”

☈ . the suggestion stirs up a whirlwind of emotions. baron ponders over the suggestion. calculating. tuning into his developed instinct that seems to pull him in two directions at once. one, to continue this and commit to the act even further, which he usually has no issue doing ... two, showing some restraint in furthering the relationship and allowing sheepish behavior paint him out to be too awkward and shy to breach this standoffish friendship into something more serious. most of the time, he can discern where he's at with his understanding of someone enough to make game-time decisions like this. 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄. baron simply cannot get a read. and it's driving him nearly insane. why he'd chosen a theatre school to work next was ... far beyond him.

people get closer, and they soon start noticing more. baron had never let someone get this into his brain. it's alarming, but the behaviors he wants to show aren't ones that line up with what he wants her to see. he should shut it down, keep it where it's contained in passing conversations. where it's safer, escapable. but then there's the other part of it that he finds utterly fascinating about her. how she watches him, almost catches things, keeps leaning into it anyway. 𝘀𝗵𝗲'𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗶𝗺. and while it's not unlike him to operate out of ego, something urges him forward here. tempted to see how far he can take it.

baron glances at her before letting his shoulders lift in a loose shrug. "i suppose i could. might be interestin' ... i ain't got much practice with that ... sorta thing." his cheeks warm as he reaches behind his head shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. baron follows her out of the booth, hoping to god she doesn't continue with the conversation, forming real plans he'll have to follow-up with to avoid questioning ... but he fears they're already past that.

'Some lies ain't meant t'be caught.' She's not sure how she feels when he says that, but she mulls it over just a little longer than she wishes she had. It's in that moment that she wonders if she's the type his lies from before were for. If for some reason it wasn't actually to make her feel better? Ally's overthinking suddenly, but it happens when she least expects it and suddenly she wonders if Baron just assumed she was braindead in that respect like some of the other people in this place, and that annoys her.

Ally chews on her bottom lip a little too hard for a second or two, and the pain brings her back into the moment as he speaks again, and she realizes how she must look. She was happier before than she is in this moment right here, and she has to smile it away the way that only the theater has taught her how. “I mean...I prefer to be someone you didn't think you needed to lie to...”

Not the words she actually meant to say, but they spilled out of her mouth like water flowing over a cliff anyway. She waves her hand though, like she was kidding, before she finds her eyes looking at his face again. “I just mean that you don't have to spare my feelings in the future. Trust me, I'm more resilient than you think.” A half truth, but she laughs to pass it off as the truth of the matter and nothing but. “Do you do that a lot here so you don't get in trouble? I get it, I do, and maybe you even need to, to make sure you keep your job, but...how do you even keep it all straight?”

Then it almost clicks for her as she waits for his answer, that on some level, he's just playing a part too. What better way to protect his own peace, than just telling people only what he knows they want to hear? It's clever, actually...at least if that's the truth of the matter here.

☈ . he watches it happen in real time – fuck. her words make it sink even deeper, pulling him out of his reality and into something foreign. 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴. he realizes part of him actually enjoys ally's company. even if it was framed with all the bullshit he's presented to her up until here ... he notes that he actually has enjoyed his time thus far with her. his jaw shifts. 'i prefer to be someone you didn't think you needed to lie to...' there's something about how she says it that doesn't quite fit into the box he's shaped for her. not because it's wrong, but because it adds a complication to it. she's noticed enough of the real him that she can distinguish that he's also calculating something with his behavior. fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

his eyes drop, his lips parting to breathe into the subtle panic. "wasn't 'bout thinkin' you needed it. just ... easier that way sometimes." he's being ... oddly truthful? baron exhales, rolling his shoulders back. then she asks a question that disarms him further ; makes him feel as if he might as well be stripped naked right in front of her. 'how do you keep it all straight?' he almost smiles knowingly. because she sounds like she's got him figured out, and almost fools him with it. "you don't," his eyes stay down, breathing measured between words. "not really. people ain't all that different. most of 'em want the same sorta things. be liked. be heard."

fingers still against his pockets, considering how much he's given her here. and how much she's likely pulled out of him without he can even realize it. fuck. he tries to line his next thought up as he speaks it - "once you figure that out, ain't nothin' to keep track of. you're just ... adjustin.' same way you said with improv ... just makin' it work with what you got." fuck.

Something about the way he says that most people don't get to choose their parts strikes her a little harder than she expected. There is a reason that that particular Shakespeare monologue is as popular as it is and it's because the universal understanding of not always having control of what happens in your life is just a fact of life. With this, you get to tell a story the way that you want to, but life isn't always the same and she supposes most people don't take as much control of their own narrative as maybe they should...

“I've become really good at being who people want me to be,” she admits, but it's not an admission she meant to make. Ally blushes a little at the slip of her words, but it's true and she shrugs a little when she tucks her hair behind her ears. That's not the kind of thing you want to admit to someone that you were just making a big deal about seeing you differently, but the words are already out. They can't just be sucked back in when she has already clocked onto how observant he is too, but at least he changes the subject for her so that she doesn't have to.

Ally smiles at him and shrugs. “You could definitely look at it that way, but trust me when I say that improv isn't all fixing mistakes. That would just be a fancy way of lying, right? Improv is more like, making something out of nothing on the fly for people to enjoy and it could be a lie or a fix, but it isn't always. Like you pretending you didn't know anything about the piano to make me feel better about my mess of a stanza was fancy lying. The melody you made with the keys was improvisation and it was better played. Both things also made me feel better, so...”

☈ . the distinction pulls a breath from him, head tilting in consideration. he'd never thought of it like that. "fancy lyin'. huh," he repeats beneath his breath. his eyes fix on the floor of the booth, then toward the stage, avoiding her just enough as to avoid things sitting too heavy between the two of them. "guess that depends on who 'ts for," he continues after a few seconds. "some lies ain't meant t'be caught. some just make things easier t'swallow, it seems."

he realizes how it sounds right as it leaves his lips. baron searches for something to patch it over – "but i see what ya mean. one's fixin' somethin' broken ... other's buildin' somethin' new." oh baron you're going down a path of no return. panic strikes again as he reminds himself that he's said far too much tonight than he should. her reference to his behavior twists the dagger a little deeper. his fingers tap against his pocket, an unmatched restless behavior he should be doing better at concealing. "guess i ain't as bad at one as i thought, then," half to himself, half to her. "which one d'you prefer?"