So what now? (Katydid50 x 5Bulletproof-Marshmellows)

[Katydid50]

Daniel forced himself to wait as Elenore took off towards the truck. He counted under his breath, giving her a ten second head start before taking off himself. The rain pelted him the moment he left the shelter of the trees, soaking him through completely. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun. For most of his life, he'd been pretty serious. He had to be. But, now, he was genuinely enjoying himself and he was loving it. The fact that he had Elenore for company only made it all the better. After all, what guy wouldn't like to have a smart, kind, beautiful woman for company? It was made all the better by the fact that her soaked clothes clung to her like a second skin. He may have been a gentleman -kind of- but he was still a man.

Due to the fact that he was wearing pants -not a skirt- and shoes, plus the fact that he had always kept in shape, it didn't take him long to reach Elenore. He slowed his pace enough to match her, a playful, teasing grin on his face. He only sped up at the very last second, slamming his hand against the side of the truck. Laughter bubbled up from within him and he bent over, pressing his other hand against his knee to keep him upright while he laughed. It wasn't that he found anything funny. He was just having fun, something he hadn't done in a long time. Michael always said that he needed to have more fun and, for once, Daniel realized that he was right.  

[5Bulletproof-Marshmellows]

Lightening flashed in the distance and she soon heard the footsteps of Daniel running. She thought about speeding up but she didn't think it would work very well. Seeing him next to her soon enough, she shook her head at him, though she was smiling as well. Pushing him slightly with her hand since he was teasing her, she then turned her attention back to the truck which was almost withing her reach.

Daniel got to it first, his hand hitting the metal. Putting her back against the truck, she raised her face to look up at the sky before closing her eyes as he began laughing, which in turn made her laugh as well. Laughter happened to be contagious at the moment. Looking over at him the next moment, she grinned before running her fingers through her hair. Shaking her head, her hair went flying back and forth. Today had definitely been worth it. It was probably a long drive back home for him, and it would be polite to invite him inside to dry off, after all they both could get sick if they stayed out here much longer. Besides, she wouldn't mind him coming over. "Do you still have your keys?" she asked him after a few moments once her laughter died down.  

[Katydid50]

Daniel quickly straightened up again, managing to regain control over his laughter. Shaking his head, and consequently sending water droplets flying from his hair, he turned his eyes to Elenore. He watched as she threaded her fingers through her hair. She truly was gorgeous. She made him smile and laugh and enjoy himself like he hadn't in... ever. She made him happy. Was it possible that they could be more than friends? Then again, even if it was possible, she deserved someone better. True, he would never cheat on her, but he had done worse things than cheat in the past, things that would make her wish she had never met him if she ever found out.

When she spoke, he was pulled from his thoughts. He nodded. "I didn't lock it," he told her before walking around to the driver's side and climbing in. In the back seat were a couple blankets. He grabbed two and pulled them forward, draping one over the passenger's seat and one over the driver's seat before sitting down. His legs were starting to ache from the sudden exertion. He hadn't sprinted like that for a while. He was still fit but it wasn't often that he ran anywhere. Usually, his exercises involved lifting things, things that a person could do as they fixed or worked on things.  

[5Bulletproof-Marshmellows]

Biting her lip, she watched as he went around the car and then pulled out some blankets. Leaning against the car door, she drew a smiley face after fogging up the window with her warm breath. Grinning, she looked over at him. She was acting childish but she hadn't done that in a while. Freedom. It was something she loved to have but she knew it wouldn't last long. Her eyes watched him for a few moments... perhaps they could be more than friends. He was funny, polite, handsome, and just a wonderful person over all.

Pulling her hair over her shoulder, she opened the car door and then sat down on the blanket before wrapping it around her shoulders after placing her heels by her feet. "Thanks." she told him. "It's been a while since I've gone out." she added, being honest. She still didn't know why she was being so open with him. Putting on her her seat belt, she pulled the two corners of the blanket up to her chin to stay warm. She was shivering slightly but it would pass after a while.  

[Katydid50]

Looking over to Elenore, Daniel laughed aloud when he saw her draw a smiley face on the window. It had been so long since he'd allowed himself to relax even a fraction of what he had today. It felt good, really good. He actually felt happy, not just a dull almost-contentment that he usually felt. He blamed it on her. He didn't know whether it was her personality, her story or just her but he knew the reason he was so relaxed was down to her.

As she climbed into the truck, he simply sat there and watched her. When she wrapped the blanket around her, it struck him that it was pretty cool. Turning on the car, he turned on the heater. It would take a few minutes to warm up but at least it would. The car he'd had before had no working heater. It had been absolutely miserable in the winter.

When she thanked him, he looked over at her. "It's I who should be thanking you," he told her. "I can't remember the last time I've ever enjoyed myself like this." He wasn't sure he ever had. His life hadn't exactly been relaxed. Most of the time, he hadn't known whether he was going to survive the night. But, at least that part of his life was over.

((I can't remember. Are they going back to the Olive Garden or to her place?))  

[5Bulletproof-Marshmellows]

She smiled gratefully when he turned on the heater. It would soon enough become slightly warm. Going home and changing into some dry clothes sounded like a wonderful idea at the moment. Bring her cold hands up she rubbed them together to make them warm. Biting her lip, she glanced over at him when he spoke and then smiled once again.

"Ditto." she told him, meaning only the last part. She liked being around him, it was like she could do whatever she wanted when he was around. Closing her eyes for a moment, she lowered her head. "Want to stop by my place to get a cup of hot coffee or something?" they had driven past her house to get here so it didn't seem like a bad idea and they were both cold. She doubted he would enjoy driving home soaking wet and in this weather.

Placing her cold fingers a few inches away from the vent, she was glad when the warm air hit her fingers, warming them up a bit. Once they weren't soaking wet anymore, he hoped he wouldn't mind driving her over to Olive Garden to get her car.. that is if he agreed to come over. After that.. she guessed that they would just see each other at work the next day.

((I explained it in this post >.< Hope it helps))  

[Katydid50]

Daniel smiled back at Elenore when she smiled at him. No doubt she would enjoy the warmth as much as he would. Then again, he knew what it felt like to be truly cold, making him appreciate warmth all the more. When she spoke, he hesitated before nodding. "That sounds great," he told her before putting the truck into drive and pulling away from the curb.

The thought of going back to her place for nothing more than to dry off and get a warm cup of coffee sounded odd to him but in a good way. In the past, when women had invited him back to their place, it had been for something far less innocent. Perhaps that's why he enjoyed her company so much. He could speak to her and hang around with her without expecting anything more serious than a good conversation. The old him would have been annoyed about that but he wasn't that man anymore. Thank God.

As he drove, he kept his eyes on the road but he was constantly aware of Elenore's presence beside him. This was perfect. They were soaking wet, cold and he couldn't remember a time that he had ever been happier. Glancing over at her, he smiled to himself as he noted that he'd never had any company more beautiful than his current one. Nor more kind, thoughtful, caring... Jeez, you sound like a love-struck ninny, he thought as he turned his eyes back ahead.  

[5Bulletproof-Marshmellows]

She noticed him hesitate but she didn't take it to heart. Switching hands once her hand was warmer, she then hid it under the blanket. It was already soaked at her shoulders from her hair and clothes, but she was still glad that he had provided the blanket otherwise she would have had nothing.

At the moment Nicolas was probably get out of school and Aunt Rose would pick him up. She knew how much he liked it out on the farm so she wouldn't take that away from him. Grace would be going to work, though the last time they had talked about that, Grace had wanted to quit her job. Who knew what was going on now. Grace hadn't complained and Elenore didn't bring it up.

Ruffling her wet hair slightly, she glanced over at Daniel, smiling a bit before returning her attention to the vent that was on her side. It seemed like Nicolas liked him.. he hadn't pushed him away after all. Deserai.. well Deserai was simply Deserai. She would ask questions until your ears bled. Grace on the other hand.. hadn't been hostile but she hadn't been friendly either. Elenore always noted her children' reactions to people that she brought over or people they knew in general.

Daniel.. well she didn't know what he thought of her kids besides the fact that Deserai was curious, Nicolas was reckless, and Grace.. she didn't know what he thought about Grace. What did he even think about her? He was sticking around, so she didn't freak him out. She didn't dig deeper though, there was no point in worrying about that type of thing for hours. Elenore knew that she really did like him though. Closing her eyes, she rested the side of her head against the glass. She would be willing to give it a shot.. if the feelings were mutual of course but at the moment, she had no idea.  

[Katydid50]

As Daniel drove, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed deep in thought and he didn't want to disturb that. He knew he didn't like being disturbed when he was thinking. Though, he was curious. It wasn't often he wondered about people's thoughts. Usually, he didn't care. Whenever he had asked people what they were thinking, it was trivial things of unimportance or even things that insulted him, like how amazing they thought they were or some bullshit like that. Elenore, she was different. He truly wanted to know what she was thinking. He couldn't imagine her thinking of unimportant things, at least not all the time. He wasn't dumb enough to think that all of his own thoughts were based around important things.

He pulled to a stop at a stop sign even though there weren't any cars in sight. He did so more for her benefit than for his own. Normally, he would have slowed enough to see if any cars were coming then just continued but there was always the chance that some car would come speeding along the side road and he didn't want to risk Elenore's health. He had no problem risking his own but risking someone else's was something he just couldn't do.

With no cars in sight, he carried on. It wasn't long before they turned onto her road. He was glad for that. He didn't mind the silence between them; it wasn't awkward like many silences before had been. It was just that he preferred to talk with her, have an actual conversation with some depth to it. Did she have any idea how hard it was to come across something like that?  

[5Bulletproof-Marshmellows]

She was still shivering slightly since her clothes were still wet but she was definitely warmer than she had been before. Elenore wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to the temperature of her skin though, she closed her eyes for a few moments thinking about Daniel. She would probably wait for a while before bringing anything up if he didn't say anything. Maybe about a month.. or maybe more. She didn't know.

Elenore soon realized that he was on the street that she and her family lived on. Smiling softly, she pulled her hair over the other shoulder. It was still pretty wet but it wasn't drenched with water anymore. She realized now that she had mostly been quiet during the whole car ride. Glancing over at him, it seemed like he was fine with that but she still felt bad. Once the car was parked, she looked out the window, it was still raining outside, the droplets of water on the glass were sliding down slowly.

"You can take the blanket with you, I'll stick it in the dryer." she kept her eyes on him for a moment before she grabbed her heels and opened the door. Walking barefoot on the cement was something that she had done when she was younger. She had jumped back into puddles as a child, seeing how big of a slash she could make. Closing the car door, she looked over at him once more before she walked along the white line that was on the cement, lined up with the car.

She walked on her toes since she didn't want the bottom corners of the blanket to get wet. There was a huge puddle between her and the door though and she didn't know where it ended on either side, so walking around it wasn't an option. Smiling a bit, she then ran through it. If she was going to go through a puddle, she might as well have fun with it, right? Reaching the door, she opened it and glanced over her shoulder to make sure Daniel was still coming and then she disappeared into the building, making her way up the stairs since it would take forever for the elevator to come and last time she had taken an elevator, it had stopped.  

[Katydid50]

Daniel pulled the truck up to the curb outside Elenore's apartment before turning off the ignition. It was still raining but he was sure it was slightly lighter than it had been, not that it made much difference. They were still going to get wet on their way inside. When she spoke, he looked over at her before nodding. He would take her up on the offer but it didn't make much difference to him. If she hadn't offered, he would have simply hung the blankets up inside when he got home, maybe hanging them outside once the rain had stopped if they were still wet.

He climbed out of the truck when she did, grabbing the blanket that had covered his seat and tucking the keys into his pocket before shutting the door. He followed after her up the cement walkway that led up to the house. The outside of his shoes were getting pretty wet but he didn't care. They were waterproof anyway, meant for hiking through forests and marshes and other wet places. A bit of rain wasn't going to do them any harm.

When he spotted the puddle that blocked their way, he looked to Elenore. A small smile formed at his mouth when she went right through the middle of it despite being barefoot. Shaking his head out of amusement, he followed her lead though he didn't run. He walked calmly through it before joining her on the other side. When she looked back at him, he smile to her. He followed her inside the building and up the stairs, not even wondering if there was an elevator. He had nothing against stairs and felt they were better for the world in general than elevators, except for people in wheelchairs and on crutches. He could remember how grateful he'd been for the invention of elevators when he'd broken his leg and been stuck on crutches. It had been hard enough moving around. He couldn't imagine how hard it could have been having to try and go up stairs.

The inside of the building was much warmer, for which he was grateful but it did bring an uncomfortable burn to his skin which had gotten used to the cool air outside. He would be fine once he warmed but, until then, he was just going to have to suck it up.  

[5Bulletproof-Marshmellows]

Her feet were still rather cold and she slowed down once she went up one flight of stairs. There were about two more left and she walked up those. Moving the blanket from her shoulders, she hung it over one of her forearms and glanced down for a moment. Her skin had goosebumps over it from the sudden change in the temperature of the air but it would go away soon enough.

Her fingers tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ears so they wouldn't continue to fall in front of her face. At the moment she wished she had a fireplace so she could sit in front of a roaring fire with a warm cup of coffee. Her eyes closed for a moment and she couldn't help but smile. She still desired to have a home out in the country with lots of trees and plenty of space for the kids to run around and do as they wished. Elenore knew that was impossible though. She didn't have enough money to even rent a place like that.

Sighing, she reached her door and pulled the keys out of her bag before unlocking the door. Opening it, she turned her head towards the stairs to see if Daniel was there since she had kind of taken off at first. Leaving the door open as she placed her heels down on the inside of her apartment, she had wiped her bare feet against the little mat that was on the other side of the door. Putting the purse down on the bench that was there as well, she walked down the hall and to the bathroom to get a couple of towels so that he could dry off his hair and she could do the same.

Elenore placed one around her shoulders and walked back over to the door to give Daniel his towel since she guessed that he would have reached her apartment by now. She would have offered a shirt as well since his own was soaked through but she didn't have any that were big enough.  

[Katydid50]

Daniel followed close behind Elenore, though not so close that it was weird or that he was invading her personal space. He knew how it felt to have someone, particularly someone of the opposite sex, invade his personal space and it wasn't good. When she looked back at him, he smiled at her. Yes, he was still there. He wasn't going anywhere and he wasn't going to suddenly vanish either. Was she starting to regret inviting him up? He hoped not.

When they finally reached her door, he watched as she unlocked it before glancing at him once more before going inside. He followed her in, closing the door behind him. Since his boots were actually quite muddy from their trek through the mini-woods, he bent down and unlaced them before slipping them off and setting them beside the door. After all, he wouldn't want someone tracking mud through his house... if his house was this nice and clean. He wasn't under any illusions. He knew his house was a hole, a dirty, run-down hole. But he was working on it. It would be good one day.

He shifted the blanket in his grip and watched as Elenore vanished from sight before reappearing and handing him a towel. He smiled and nodded his thanks before wiping off his face and ruffling his hair. It would dry quickly enough on its own but that didn't mean he couldn't help it along.

Draping the towel over his shoulder, he looked around the room. It looked much the same as it had the last time he'd seen it. It probably would have been considered messy by anyone else but who was he to judge? His own home was run-down and it was only by a miracle that it hadn't fallen on him when he'd first moved in. It was dirty, the parts he hadn't replaced yet being colored with mold. Parts of the floor were covered in sawdust where he'd been sawing planks of wood. Max didn't help, rolling around in the sawdust and spread it all over the house. Stupid cat. The only good thing was that he kept the mice down.  

[5Bulletproof-Marshmellows]

"You can make yourself at home." she gingerly took the blanket that he had with him before moving back down the hall again to the laundry room. She stuffed the two blankets into the dryer as well as the towel that she had used to dry off her hair before turning it on and closing the door after she left it to muffle the sound. Rubbing her hands together, she decided decided to set the kettle on the stove so that she could change into something that was dry while it got ready.

Smiling softly at Daniel for a moment, she filled the black kettle with water before setting it on the stove. She didn't know why she had become so quiet. Perhaps it was the fact that her kids were usually the ones that were loud when she came home.. she didn't think that she was ever home without her kids until now (after she had gotten divorced of course). "I can get you some more towels if you need them." she felt bad since he was still pretty wet. At least she could change into something but he didn't have anything.

Biting her lip, she turned on the stove and set the kettle onto it before turning her attention back to him for the moment. She wished she could actually start a relationship with him but who would want a woman that already had three kids and a job that barely paid the bills? It would put way too much responsibility on the person all at once. She didn't want to do that to him of all people.
((Short, sorry >.< ))  

[Katydid50]

((It's fine. It's good.))
Daniel watched as Elenore took the blanket from him, having to take a moment to register what she'd said. He'd been examining the room to the point that he hadn't noticed she'd spoken until she took the blanket from him. When he finally got what she had said, he nodded, stepping further into the apartment while taking care not to step on any of the discarded toys that littered the floor. Luckily, he'd gotten used to dodging things on a floor. His own house was quite messy and could stay that way for a while when he got into a building type of mood.

He didn't notice when Elenore smiled at him, being far too focused on examining the room. He took note of the toys that he saw, wondering which was the child's favorite. The eldest daughter would have been too old for toys and the boy would have been at that stage where toys became less and less important so he felt it was safe to assume that the toys belonged to the younger girls. He found himself wondering what she would grow to be up like. Would she be a girly girl? Maybe she would be a tomboy. Perhaps a bit of both? So long as she didn't end up a spoiled b***h.

When Elenore spoke again, he jumped, startled out of his thoughts. He blinked before shaking his head. "No, thank you. I'll be dry soon enough," he told her. In all honesty, he would probably be wet for a while. Jeans didn't exactly dry quickly. But he felt weird accepting stuff from other people.

He suddenly paused and looked over at her, curious. He probably could have waited but his curiosity was getting the better of him. "You were awfully quiet in the car. What were you thinking about?"