Falling into some kind of pattern with Jesse had been surprisingly easy. But then, she supposed that was the natural progression with soul mates, wasn’t it? Considering she was above the age of twelve, she didn’t think that things like this held true for every set of soul mates out there, but it seemed to be a thing for them. Which was definitely fine with Bridie – really, it was a huge relief. There were still certain things they hadn’t talked about and labels they hadn’t slapped on whatever they were, but she didn’t care, and as far as she knew, neither did he. She wanted to make it clear somehow that he never had to worry about voicing his feelings or thoughts with her, but then, she supposed that was his decision.
54 Below hadn’t been exactly what Bridie expected, mainly because she’d always wondered what it would be like more than ever trying to come up with some sort of visual in her mind. But regardless, it was nice, likely made nicer by the company. She couldn’t help picturing Jesse in the performer that night’s place. He was certainly talented enough and she thought he had the presence to hold a room’s attention like that single-handedly. And even though she hoped he was enjoying the dinner more than considering potential future career milestones, she figured he was probably thinking the same thing.
Since they had opted for the 7:00PM slot that night over the 9:30PM one, it wasn’t too terribly late by the time they left. The after part was possibly the only time where she felt a little awkward and unsure of what to suggest next. It wasn’t often she wanted to say goodbye after seeing Jesse, but sometimes having a shoot the next morning gave her an excuse to do so, because at least that was some kind of decision on her part. As it was, Bridie’s next day was completely free. She glanced up at Jesse as they meandered away from the supper club, waiting to see any indication that he might speak and then taking the opportunity to have the first word. “Check that off the bucket list,” she commented with a smile, although they’d both already said their pieces about how nice everything was while still inside. “Um, well…we could go for a walk in Central Park, if you don’t have anything better to do? It’s, like, boringly safe at night now.”
In the past year that he’d been in New York, Jesse could honestly say that he hadn’t had a better time than the night he was having with Bridie. Which, okay, wasn’t really all that much of a feat - most experiences he had so far went along the lines of rejections, long work days and failed friendships so the competition wasn’t stiff in the least. But this was definitely the most that he’d smiled in all his life and, again, that made his life sound bleaker than it really was, but he supposed there was something about finally finding your soulmate and slowly trying to get a feel of things that made the world seem... better.
And it was. Well, he’d spent half of the night wondering if Bridie was having a fun time with him and occasionally chancing glances her way across their table, relieved at the smile spread across her face, and the other half suppressing the urge to voice out how he thought that he could do better than most of the performers they’d seen that night... it definitely could’ve gone worse. By the end of it, Jesse was surprised to find himself wishing that it wouldn’t end. The only other girl he’d ever taken on dates was Rachel and those only happened because she took him by the arm and declared they were going on on before he could protest. With Bridie, things had a natural flow about them, a sense of ease that he hadn’t anticipated but was more than grateful for.
Still, that didn’t stop him from inwardly panicking once the show ended and everyone started pouring out of the club, not quite sure if they should say goodnight and part ways or if he should invite her for coffee (was coffee going to be their thing now? He wasn’t much of a coffee man but he supposed exceptions could be made...) or hell, invite her over? when she spoke up and saved him from the embarrassment of floundering. Again. He grinned, nodding, hands stuffed into the pockets of his coat so he wouldn’t have to figure out if he should be holding her hand or not (would it be too forward?). “Will do. I’d have to write one down first but that’s one off. Next on the list would be getting me up on that stage and owning that mic.” There was an instinctive urge in him to look at his watch and pretend that he had something else to do and somewhere else to be - it was a power move he picked up from movies and rarely got the chance to try - but he was too excited at the prospect of stretching out their date that walking Central Park, something he’d never done before and never wanted to, sounded really appealing right about now. “Sure, I can go for that. And night shifts are a thing so there’s no worry about me ending up a zombie at Gramercy tomorrow.” Or NYADA. Somehow he kept forgetting that he finally got in or that he had classes he had to attend. School was obviously not one of his strong suits. “Do you do a lot of that? Walking around Central Park? I mean in general, not at night... cause I imagine there’s a lot of hobos there at night and if one of them tries to jump us, I’ll hit them with-...” He dug around his pocket for anything, but all he had was his phone, a ticket and pamphlet from 54 Below and a thing of mints. “I’ll flick them with mints, I guess? Or slap them with paper.”
