sid pierce.

           — her eyebrows raised. she could have sworn she took them out of the bowl when she left, but it was very possible she hadn’t. remembering things was far from her strong suit, and coupled with the fact that she had smoked a well-sized joint before leaving for work likely contributed to her forgetfulness. she wouldn’t tell sid that, though — he hated when she smoked before doing things like that. closing her eyes as his fingers brushed her cheek, she smiled.

           — “ i’ll try harder to remember next time. pinky swear. ” one of her arms unwrapped itself from around his body, and she lifted her hand to wrap her pinky finger around his. “ and if i forget then i’ll just suffer outside for the night instead of waking you up. ” she could tell he had tried to put himself together slightly when he woke up, but his hair was still mussed up from sleep, his eyes droopy. her smile grew, and she unwound her other arm from around him but kept her pinky wrapped around his as she began to walk to the door of the building.

           — “ how was your evening, anyways ? i feel like i miss out on a lot while i’m working. did tinsley come by or anything ? ” 

sid continued to stand there and look at her as she spoke, promising to try better next time, even if he knew that it wouldn’t be the last time it happened, and for sure not the last time he’d be getting late night calls asking for help, but he just nodded before letting his gaze move the moment he kinda felt one of her arms letting go of him, only to lift it up between them, her pinky sticking out and wrapped itself around his own. he couldn’t do anything but let her to so, by holding onto her pinky, “yeah no that won’t happen and you know it..” he muttered, before trying to give her a smile, trying as well to hide how tired he was in reality.. not being too sure he really managed to fool anyone.. especially someone he saw every day.. her other hand soon came off of him, but their fingers stayed locked together as she made the decision to go back inside, not that he disagreed, cause he did miss his bed already.

the man followed behind the younger and smaller girl, listening to her as she started asking questions.. “at least you didn’t miss much tonight.. i kinda just-- went out to work out, and went back home..and yeah-- stayed on the couch, then bed..  and now im out here.”

           — alice knew she was going to be getting flack about this for ages. leaving her keys in the apartment yet again despite all the best efforts to remember them. she could tell based on his voice over the phone that sid had been far from pleased with being woken up at past twelve to come let in his airhead roommate. however, she’d rather deal with an irritated sid than sleep outside. it was a short walk from the small restaurant she worked in to their building — a three story brick structure with three separate living spaces — and a route she had walked before many times. it was easy to zone out when doing repetitive tasks, and so she hardly noticed she was home until she bumped right into sid, likely annoying him further.

           — “ sorry buddy, ” she groaned, words muffled by the fact that her face was pressed into his chest ( he smelled like laundry detergent and cigarette smoke, a scent she found comforting ). she let their collision turn into a hug — one he would have to fight hard to get out of. her small arms wrapped around his midsection tightly and she looked up at him, a frown evident on her face. “ i know you think i’m stupid but i swear i remembered my keys when i left !! they must have hopped out of my purse when i wasn’t looking. ”

this for sure wasn’t how sid had wanted to spend his time, but part of him was getting used to needing to get up and stupid hours of the day to help alice, his roommate out cause she had forgotten to do something, or just actually forgotten something.. this time, as many other times, he’d be awoken only to learn that she’d lost or forgotten the apartment keys and couldn’t get inside.. so he’d reluctantly gotten dressed and stood outside their building waiting for the girl to show up. what he hadn’t expected though was that alice would be the one to walk  into him, but then again it wasn’t out of character for her, and he found it kinda cute.. a lot about alice, sid found kinda cute..  

a low and almost inaudible groan escaped him the moment he heard her call him buddy.. something he hated, it made him really feel weird.. but regardless he didn’t protest as she kinda just dug her face into his chest, sliding her small arms around his body and hugged him.. the taller of the two, peered down at her, only to be greeted by a frown.. “-- your keys were in the key bowl by the door..” he muttered, lifting his hand to push some of her hair away from her face.. “but it’s fine-- i’ll survive..”

           — “That makes you sound like a serial killer considering I have no idea what your job is” Tegan smirked as she popped a few olives in her mouth that were in a bowl on the counter before sipping her drink again. She could already tell that this cute guy and her were very much going to get along, and the prospect of even just having a new friend was exciting for her, it’d been awhile, on all fronts.

          — “Well, you’re talking to me, so i’d say you’re doing pretty well” her smile was genuine, most guys she talked to were giant asshole’s who figured that if they looked at her the right way she would fall at their feet, but she wasn’t like that, she had good taste and high standards, which could be why she was still single. “The only reason I have to talk to people is work, I wouldn’t consider it very social, so what do you do that requires minimal contact with other people?”

         — “I can appreciate that” Tegan waved down the bartender and ordered herself a vodka soda, she took a rather large gulp of it before giving her attention back to the boy “I’m Tegan, by the way, and i’m borderline antisocial and have no idea how to properly talk to people when they aren’t telling me how they like their coffee, or i’m drunk” she shrugged, laughing at herself, hoping maybe her terrible jokes could help break the ice.

           — Tegan wasn’t exactly expecting attention from anyone, but of course it was a nice feeling when a cute guy gave you any sort of attention “oh, no, but I haven’t been here long, so there’s still lots of time” Tegan had a grin on her face, he looked like he barely wanted to be there based on the fact that his outfit looked thrown together, but she didn’t mind, considering she wasn’t sure why she was there either. “So what brings you to a party based on the stupidest hallmark holiday?” her tone came across way more cynical than she’d mean’t to.

hearing her question in regards to why he was there wasn’t exactly what he’d expected to hear from her.. she looked like someone who’d showed up with the intention of meeting someone at least, but the familiar cynical sound of her question was the complete opposite.. a slight chuckle escaped him, “well um-- the cheap alcohol i guess..” he mutter, raising his glass her way before taking another sip of it, feeling it burn all the way down his throat.. “doesn’t make my wallet hurt too much by the end of the night-- that kinda stuff..”

         — Tegan was happy to just be out of the house and not be at work, she wasn’t a fan of Valentine’s day considering she could never get a guy to stick around long enough to celebrate something cute and mushy. So there she was in her tight short red dress and pumps sitting at the bar, trying to enjoy herself without being too cynical about the whole holiday itself.

anywhere drinks were involved, sid would try and make an effort to show, and with a dress code, he as per usual put minimal effort into it and just went with a dark red plaid shirt and called it a day.. as he arrived at the bar, he kinda just headed directly towards the bar, getting whatever strong shit he could get a hold of, letting his gaze drift as he saw someone sitting in the corner of his eye.. turning his gaze it landed on a blonde haired girl dressed in a short red dress that had him shifting where he stood..  and as he finally got his drink he drank some of i before walking up to her.. “anyone bought you a drink yet--?” he asked, though instantly regretting it as he heard how stupid it really sounded..

               — one thing alice always loved was closeness. she had never been one to shy away from physical contact, even with those she wasn’t overly close to. the fact that sid catered to this ( despite her never mentioning it to him ) was captivating, in a way. that he was able to pick up on what she wanted based on assumptions alone. everything he had done for her thus far, even the little things, were more than she ever could have asked for or expected from him. she reveled in the feeling of him kissing her forehead once more, before glancing down to the box. whatever he had gotten her was poking at him, and she could tell. he was being more insistent than she had ever seen him. “ okay, i guess i’ll go first. ” her tone was teasing as she sat down on the couch, pulling her legs up so she was cross legged. blue eyes followed sid as he very carefully picked up the box, placing it on the couch beside her. her curiosity was eating away at her, and she was growing more and more excited with each passing second. when she finally got the all clear to open the box, she wasted no time in discarding the lid.

               — holy. shit. the gift she got him didn’t compare to this at all. alice couldn’t say anything as she looked back and forth between sid and the contents of the box, mouth agape. she wasn’t sure how to react, but she could feel tears welling up in her eyes as she picked up the tiny puppy and placed it in her lap. he was white, covered in little black patches, tail wagging so hard it looked like he would knock himself over. she could feel the tears running down her cheeks now, but instead of silence she was laughing. it was soft, interrupted by sniffles and hiccups, but the happiness she was feeling was indescribable. when she finally looked up at sid again all she could do was shake her head before throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his shoulder. “ sid … you … i love you. ”

sid’s gaze didn’t leave her as he watched her looking at the box. then as she reached over and took the lid of, he was so focused on getting and seeing her reaction that he forgot about just about everything else there.. his eyebrows raised themselves as she started looking at him then back at the puppy then back at him again, and it was then when he could see her eyes starting to well up before she picked up the small creature, placing it on her lap he couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the wagging tail of his, watching how it just kept barely missing his face as he started squirming... but looking back at him he was hit with a wave of confusion at first, as he saw her cry, truly worried something was wrong but then the small laugh escaped her and he heard it.. it instantly made him worry less.. the whole ordeal of trying to get the puppy had been a mission in of itself, but he wanted things to work with alice, so he went all out..

the boy bit his bottom lip and before he even knew it, he felt alice’s arms wrapping themselves around him tightly, and buying her face in the crook of his neck. strong arms wrapped back around her, and held her tightly before those three words made its way through his head... pulling back slightly he looked at her, “what...?” he muttered, letting his hands move from being around her to cradle her face in between the palms of his hands.. “I-- just.. alice.. i know a dog isn’t something you maybe get someone else after knowing them as long as we have but i wanted us to have something, and i wanted to give it to you before i’d ask something else from you.. i just wanted to know, if you’d maybe want to try being my girlfriend.. cause.. i-i-i love you too...” 

               — a contented sigh left her and she let her body melt more into sid’s, eyes fluttering shut for just a second. the happiness he made her feel was unlike anything she had ever experienced before and it was hard to imagine ever going a day without it now. she could happily stay in his arms forever. though she was unsure where she stood on the concept of marriage ( a silly thought to be having at the moment anyways, given the fact that sid had yet to even ask her to be his girlfriend ) she could see herself eventually wanting to on the condition that it was him she got to be with forever. shaking the thoughts from her head, her smile grew again at the nickname and a small shiver went down her spine. her eyes stayed locked on his face as he looked at dinah, eyebrows raising a tad at his quick dismissal of her off behaviour. it made her curious herself on the contents of the box. she wouldn’t question it, though. it was rude to inquire about christmas gifts regardless of how curious she was. she would just be sure to get onto gifts right away.

               — unwinding her arms from around him, she stood on the tips of her toes to give him a quick peck before twirling around and dashing over to the christmas tree ( the sudden movement sending dinah simpering away into her bedroom ). “ i’m making muffins for breakfast and they’re in the oven, so we might as well just do gifts now while we wait. i’m really excited to give you your present. ” she clapped her hands together excitedly, “ if that’s alright with you. we can wait until after breakfast if you like, though it’ll be a while. ”

if anything sid just wanted things to work out, that being between the two but also the fact that he had a lot of stuff planned for the day.. he knew he had things that he hoped and prayed would happen the way he’d been watching it unfold in his head.. one scenario repeating itself over and over again, like he knew what he’d do, just... he had to wait, right then wasn’t the time.. he needed it to be perfect.. he just peered down at her for a moment as she melted into his embrace, allowing him to hold onto her tightly, continuously giving him a sense of purpose, something he usually didn’t.. sids hands gently stroke the lower part of her back while she seemed to get distracted by dinah’s behavior again besides his attempt at dismissing it, and not draw more attention to the gift he’d brought to the point where the cat would spoil the surprise.. despite knowing he’d make her open in in a matter of minutes.. 

his hues were quick to return to looking at her as he felt her arms letting go of him, making it so that he did the same thing, though he hadn’t expected anything of what she did next.. the man smiled before chuckling lightly seeing her twirl her way across the floor, and the sight of the cat just flying across the room to hide somewhere else, leaving the two alone with the box.. he didn’t even really pay attention to her as she spoke, only noticing it as she mentioned presents.. “oh no, presents right now sounds like a good idea..” he muttered with a smile, before he moved up closer to her, bending down to kiss the top of her head.. “how about you go sit down, and open mine first..?”