juststopped | for Krem

Entry tags:

ig,
krem

for Krem

It isn't the first time she's ended up somewhere she didn't necessarily intend. In private, she's done her fair share of crying over Flemming - she misses her daughter like a part of her, even after so many years - but in public, she's decided to put a brave face on it. After he'd delivered her to her apartment, Krem had told her that he'd be happy to take her for dinner, once she felt more settled. Adaline's done a little bit to make the apartment her own. She's gone back to the place that Sam bought her and put together a capsule wardrobe that's a sad shadow of her guest room back in San Francisco. She is, in short, trying. And that has to count for something.

It's the middle of the afternoon when she texts Krem.

Dinner would be nice - Adaline.

They arrange to meet at a place that Adaline's walked past a few times. It's not a particularly showy place, but she does make an effort, putting on a dress with a full skirt that reminds her of something she might have bought new in the fifties. She does her hair and make-up. She considers heels for a long time and then decides to wear them anyway. Krem strikes her as someone who doesn't lack for confidence, quiet though it seems to be.

She's a little late when she steps into the restaurant, shrugging out of her coat to let the hostess check it for her.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Maybe I'll pick up dessert," he said, mild contrition even as he began to smile again to match her bright, brilliant smile. "Just to make sure you don't hold a grudge. I wouldn't want to ruin my chances to share that lemon cake with you and taste your bread, after all."

God, she hopes that's as much of a euphemism as it sounds. She manages to keep her face straight, for a moment, and then she collapses into helpless, drunken giggles.

"Oh, God," she manages to get out once she's got her breath. "I'm so glad I met you."

Krem's smile stayed a bit bashful, even as Adaline laughed. He watched her dimples and the way her eyes crinkled, and he looked down a bit, tugging at his earlobe, when looking at her too long became a bit like looking too long into a fire, too bright and brilliant to stand.

"I'm glad I met you as well, Adaline."

It makes it easier, losing Ellis, leaving Flemming behind. She lets herself be distracted so that she can pretend that none of it matters. That her heart isn't broken.

She takes another sip of her port.

"I feel like this could all have been so much worse."

Krem hummed speculatively. There were a lot of things that could have made it much worse, he was sure, and Krem didn't want to mention any of those, lest he imply that Darrow were, fundamentally, bad. It wasn't, for the most part. Strange. Odd. But not bad, he had found.

"It's true," he said, and then sniggered a little. "You could have come during Valentines, and this chocolate cake might have made is spout poetry at each other like imbeciles."

Both of Addie's eyebrows raise and she pauses with a fork almost, but not quite, to her mouth.

"That happened?"

"Well, I don't know if it was all chocolate," Krem admitted. He shrugged a little and laughed, soft, polishing off the last of his port. He checked the bottle, but it was empty already; not surprising, they'd each had two fairly full glasses of it each.

"But there was all sorts of shenanigans going on around the city. A friend of mine proposed to his girlfriend. Another had some sort of run about with his girl that they didn't speak to each other for a few days after. I made some silly mistakes of my own. It only lasted the day though."

Adaline makes a thoughtful noise in the back of her throat and drains the last of her drink.

"Time for the bill?" she asks. She finds a reluctance in herself to leave the table but she knows that dinner can only be drawn out so far.

"I suppose it is that point of the evening, isn't it?" He couldn't help but keep smiling though, and not just because of the pleasant buzz of a bottles worth of wine sitting pleasantly in him. It had all been good company and laughter and a surprising bit of contentment. It had been easy. And he liked that.

The waiter made it easy to split the check between them, making no fuss about dividing it as they explained they'd like it--Adaline with the appetizers, Krem's entree and the dessert, and Krem with the wines and Adaline's entree. It came out about evenly.

"I'd like to walk you home, if that's alright?"

Counting out dollars, Adaline sweeps her blonde hair over one shoulder.

"Honestly?" She says, glancing at him through her eyelashes. "If have been disappointed if you hadn't offered."

"I didn't want to seem presumptuous," Krem said, handing over his bank card when the waiter came back for the bill. He rather liked the ease with which the bit of plastic worked.

When everything was taken care of and they collected their coats at the door, he offered her his elbow, smiling brightly at her.

Adaline slips her arm through his, wondering at how easy that is.

"You don't have to," she says. "If you have better things to do. You've made the gesture - I'm suitably impressed."

"No, I want to," Krem assured with a nod. "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't want to. I don't say things I don't mean, and don't offer things I don't want to. I just didn't think I should presume you'd want me walking you home, is all."

He smiled, easy and simple.

"Oh please," says Adaline, rolling her eyes, squeezing his arm a little and, yes, the feel of the muscles through his sleeves is distracting. "If it means this lasts a little bit longer? I'm happy to be walked home."

Krem smiled, and he felt that subtle squeeze on his arm, and maybe, just a little, he flexed his arm a bit under her hand. Just a touch, more a natural instinct than anything else really.

He was more than happy to share her time and space, the companionability of her presence as they walked together. The chill of the evening didn't seem quite so bad with someone else beside him, after all.

They walk in silence for a moment, the click of Adaline's heels loud on the sidewalk. She risks a glance at him, his profile. Maybe the fact that he's nothing like Ellis at all makes it easier. Maybe that's a lot of the charm. It's cold and Adaline huddles down into the collar of her coat a little.

Krem was aware, a few times, that Adaline was looking at him, but only because he was looking at her as well as they walked, and because he was trained in years of being aware of when he was being watched. He was never a spy, but he was a soldier, and he knew when someone had their eye on him. But he didn't call her on it.

When they reached her apartment, he paused outside her door, reluctant suddenly for the end of their evening.

"Well," says Adaline, leaning against the wall, her arms wrapped around herself as she looks at him, head tilted slightly. "I suppose this is where I ought to say goodnight."

"I suppose it is," Krem agreed softly, with just a touch of that reluctance in his voice. He lingered his fingers gently on Adaline's elbow for a moment, admiring her yet again as they stood there outside of her apartment door.

"Would it be terribly inappropriate of me to kiss you goodnight, Adaline?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't," she says. "And you're really not making it easier to not invite you in."

Krem smiled a little, fingers still gently on her elbow, but tracking up her arm just a little. "It would be irresponsible of me to make sure you didn't safely settle, I think. You did drink four glasses of wine. I'd at least won't to make sure you made it to the couch before I gave you that kiss. Plus, if we were both sitting, then you'd actually be a height I could reach."

Adaline finds herself amused by how suddenly forward he is. Yes, they've been flirting all night, they both know it, but this is something else entirely.

"The heels do come off, you know," she says, pulling away from him to start opening her front door.

"I should hope they do," Krem said, tucking his hands into his pockets and acting the perfect gentleman as she opened the door for them. He let her lead them in slipping off his jacket once again and holding it delicately in front of himself for now.

"That doesn't change that I know I'm shorter than most other men. It's something I've gotten used to over the years. I've gotten used to a lot of things that make me different from most other men."

"Tea, coffee or something stronger?" she asks, immediately slipping out of her heels and her coat and holding out her hands for his coat. She smiles, eyebrows raised expectantly. She knows a lot about not being the same as everyone else.

"You make it sound as though you've got a tail."

"Are we planning to be up all night? I'll have whatever you feel up to making for a nightcap," Krem said with a smile. "It just can't have dairy in it, if you want me to keep being good company."

He passed over his coat to her and slid out of his shoes as well, loosening the buttons on his waist coat and relaxing, just a touch. He supposed, well things were pleasant and loose and before they were terribly complicated, then was the best time to approach things.

"No, nothing quite so exotic," he assured. "I'm just a bit...queer. In quite a lot of ways."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject