“Still feel like an asshole,” he mumbled, stupidly, rapping his knuckles against the bar. “Uh. Scotch. Glenfiddich, if they have it,” James said, fixing her a smile, as if he’d ever order anything else. His penchant for single-malt whiskey was probably the one habit he’d never manage to kick. “I’ll get you the next one. No buts.”
In all honesty, he was more than a little staggered by the place – even as he scanned over the bar listing chalked onto the board above the colourful array of bottles and glasses, his chest was already tightening at the sheer number of figures displayed next to a damn pint of beer. Great. “How was…” James had started to speak, just as he heard Dinah mutter something under her breath, and he jerked his head away from the board to raise a questioning eyebrow, only to immediately turn his expression into a frown.
At her words, without even pausing for a beat, he stood up a little straighter, squaring his shoulders, instantly alert. “Who, that guy?” James took the opportunity to give the man in question his best distrustful veteran glare, lifting his jaw – all at once grateful for his growth spurt as a child in Illinois, and the subsequent muscle mass gained overseas. Stupid, probably; but, unfortunately, he knew guys. Their behaviour wasn’t put off unless challenged. “Want me to talk to him?” he said, casting his gaze back down to Dinah even as he inched slightly closer, keeping his hand carefully on the bar. He lowered his voice as he spoke. “Or, we can move seats. I mean, I could just show him my badge. Kind of cheating, but…”
dinah clocked all of the micro-decisions made as james stood up, had studied enough masculinity in her psych classes to know each of the signs (and, outside of that, it definitely wasn’t a bad view). part of her wanted to take him up on his offer, to tell him to ‘talk’ to the guy, who had clearly had a few more drinks than the two of them and would probably try to escalate it into a fight. she decided against it, however. she’d had about all the fun she wanted to get out of the idiot who’d slowed his walk towards them. letting out a huff of laughter at his final offer and shaking her head, glancing back at the other guy momentarily before placing a hand on james’ arm and looking up at him. “no, don’t worry about it, it’s okay. i think he’s going anyway, must have gotten the message by now... if not then flash the badge.” she didn’t even look back to check her theory, instead turning back towards the bar and ordering him a double for james, and a gin & tonic for herself.
“other than that, sorry, how was work?” in a place like oakland, she assumed the answer to that question varied from ‘uneventful’ to ‘i was almost stabbed busting a drug ring’. it definitely had it’s good days and bad days -- good areas and bad areas. she’d elected to stay up in her mother’s new orleans apartment while she was doing her orientation week given that the morning start was early and she’d rather sleep in for as long as possible. the bonus of having early shifts meant that she had the nights, and most of the evenings to herself, but it was marking the end of a long week and she was more than ready to head home tomorrow. maybe get a massage first, she made a mental note of it.
internally, calculating everything around her as per usual, she knew that from her attire alone she fit in at the bar better than james did. the contrast between his ‘jeans-and-top’ get up and her black dress was clear, but she wasn’t planning on using him for his fashion choices, so she didn’t much care. “oh and how’s the flooding? i haven’t been able to help out this week what with work and i feel just awful.” false. she was glad to be out of there.
