DATE & TIME: February 20th, 11:45PM
LOCATION: A Bar in Paris
TAG: @vicente-deleonĀ , @malachileclair
Lenore is five shots in.Ā āIām not drunk,ā sheāll say if someone were to ask,Ā āIām having fun.ā And itās true. It takes much more to get her properly drunkāas of right now, sheās tipsy enough to be comfortably dizzy, tipsy enough to be smiling. Her eyes are brighter. Itās from the alcohol. All the same, this is a welcome distraction.
She has one arm wrapped around Malachiās waist, and one hand laced through Vicenteās.Ā āIād like another drink,ā She says, looking from her left to her right, pausing to touch Malachiās shoulder with the side of her head.Ā
āWe should each have another drink, no?ā Looking to Vicente, she lifts her foot slyly and taps him on the ass,Ā āYouāre two shots behind, Vicente.Ā Tienes que beber.āĀ
Eyebrows lifting at Vicente, Lenore levels him with a look that says, drink. Half-fun, half-challenge.Ā āOr are you a lightweight, hm?ā
Her grin is charming in the way itās almost wolfish, the dark of her eyes gleaming. She leans back on Malachi and tilts her head up to look at him, asks,Ā āCan you order me a drink, please?āĀ
When Vicente had told them that after St. Petersburg he wanted to be so drunk that he couldnāt remember anything the next day he had mostly meant it as a joke, but three shots in he thinks that with the way their night is going he just might get there. Which will either put a giant hole in his plan to get someoneās number tonight so heāll have somewhere to go when Malachi and Lenore decide they want to do something benign and vaguely domestic or prove his earlier point that he is in fact just as charming as he thinks he is.
Heās about to suggest that maybe that they should head out, would have even offered to pick up the tab from the bartender, when she cuts him off with an insistence that sheād like another drink. And though Vicente runs his thumb over the back of her hand in confirmation that he is listening, can feel her looking back and forth, he looks at Malachi. Because for a man insistent on his independence, wherever they go, Vicente will go.Ā And where they go next comes to do if heāll cave.Ā
But for good measure Lenore seems to push his buttons as well.Ā
āYou canāt bait me, Leonor.ā Vicente isnāt a lightweight, he just knows his limits. Tipsy him is loose limbed and fun; heās attentive and laughs at all your jokes, and heās the right amount of talkative where he can keep track of heās saying while heās saying it. Still, he turns to to Malachi and says,Ā āYeah, order her another drink.Iāll take three shots.ā He lifts his eyebrows at her as if to say, now whoās the lightweight.
He's not drunk, but he doesn't share what's in the dark glass on the table, the only alcohol as some sip from Lenore's drink when he was carrying it to her. (He'll have to walk them home; he'd know these streets drunk in the dark, but he doesn't figure they do.)Ā
And he's something silent here, something watching, but he can be a presence too in silence, in the he holds himself here, never slouched, always something tall, quirked eyebrows with Lenny's question toward Vicente, something all daring in his, but doesnāt let it speaks, let it be all felt. Lenore is felt, all angles; Vicente is all thatās in his level line of sight when he looks forward.
And he doesn't mind how he takes space, Lenny's space, as much as she takes of his. He speaks low, tilting a head down as if it'll help her to hear, as if speaking secrets, "You'll have to move for that," teasing, when her head is hear his shoulder, but legs almost ready to stand.
āHere I thought you two would be more interesting than that, did you forget how to take a dare, Vicente?ā A hand on the crook of Lenoreās arm, moving gradual to her waist to move the arm from his, to stand.Ā āIt matters how you prove you hold your liquor.ā