Open Bar, Open Mind || F2F || Oddbald
"I’m sure that’s not true." Archie replied, glancing around before his eyes focused on her. He smiled a small, polite smile. "You certainly don’t seem to have an atrocious personality." He was being polite, or course. He didn’t know Holly from a hole in the wall, really. But she claimed to be Frankie’s best friend and he couldn’t help but want to make a good impression. Besides, Holly seemed…nice. If not a little eccentric for his tastes.
He couldn’t help but be a little confused when she stifled a laugh. Out of habit, he glanced down. Thinking he found the root of her laughter, he fixed his skewed bow tie, letting out a slightly nervous chuckle. He was going to make an excuse of how he had been running late to begin with and had needed to rush, but she was already gesturing to the seat next to her and he obliged, sitting on the stool to her right.
"A little bit of both, I suppose. My evening was free, but I also didn’t want to pass up an invitation of a friend of Frankie’s." Archie shrugged slightly. When she called over the bartender, he shifted uncomfortably. He felt under some pressure to order the right drink, like this was some sort of test to prove himself. He looked at the bartender for help, but was met with just a passive, bored expression. Archie licked his lips, since his mouth had gone a little dry. "Uh, gin over ice, please?" He asked, then glanced at Holly, giving her a quizzical look. "So, Miss Oddpick. What may I do for you? Something tells me this isn’t just a…casual bonding event."
"Well, I wouldn’t make assumptions yet, Archibald. Don’t let the pretty face fool you, I might be the worst company you’ve had to spend your time with." It was just the right amount of threat wrapped in self deprecation, and she had no doubt that the man would catch on to it. He worked with words after all.
"We’ll have two, mine with a twist, thanks." The staff nods and gets to work, and Holly turns back to Archie to answer his question. "What are you talking about? I thought that it was a social norm for two complete strangers to exchange information about themselves to forward their relationship. I’m not doing anything out of the ordinary." Her mouth twitches with a smirk. Most things are amusing to Holly, see, she never grew out of the cheeky phase as a child. She loved pushing people’s buttons, just to see how far she could go but not too far that she’d get into trouble. It was a fine art. Two tumblers were placed next to their arms, condensation dripping down the side.
She only gets to savour one sip before she’s alerted, by the loud clearing of a woman’s throat, that it’s time for her plan to be put into action. “Okay, so, say you’re right –” she knocks back the rest of the glass with surprising ease “– say I did bring you here for a reason.” She glances to her Mother on the stage, wand to her throat. “I’m not going to tell you what it is, but will you go along with it? If not, you can turn around and leave right now. No hard feelings. Nothing. I’ll even tell Franks how nice it was for you to come here.”
