November 20th

This takes place some time after Leah’s last meeting with Kat & Holden where they return to her apartment, but before the story snippet with Taqlid showing up in her bedroom.

As they descended the wooden stairway into the Elk’s Head Gastropub, Leah Sunneborne couldn’t help but find herself amused at Holden’s idea of an appropriate place to bring her for dinner. Not that she really minded — there was something to be said for the heavy wooden architecture hidden behind the neon signs decorating the walls — but this was definitely not a place she would ever have chosen for them to go. Still, they were hungry, and food was food.

They slide into a booth in one of the corners, across the table from one another. The bright red upholstery had seen better days, and Leah scoots right up against the wall to find a spot that isn’t tattered or worn.

Holden puts his feet up, under the table, stretching out luxuriously. “This place is great, trust me,” he says for perhaps the fourth time.

She smiles. “It’s certainly something. This the kinda place you hang out often?”

“Often enough,” he says with a grin.  ”They do great burgers.”

“Mmm,” Leah replies noncommittally.

The waitress — a middle-aged woman with salt-and-pepper hair pulled into a bun and tired-looking skin– arrives at their table, tossing down a pair of menus and cardboard coasters. “Drinks?” she asks, sounding bored.

“What have you got on tap?  I’ll have whatever tastes the best.”

She flips over one of the menus and taps the beer list. “Blue Moon, Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light…”

“I’ll have a Blue Moon.”

She nods. “And for the lady?”

“Sprite.” Leah answers. “With a lime.”

When the waitress departs, Leah flips open the menu and scans through it quickly, running her finger down each page as she browses. She glances up at Holden. “Recommend anything other than the burgers?”

He drums his fingers. ”The fries.”

“Yeah, cause they come on the same plate.” She laughs quietly. “So how was your day?” Leah picks up her coaster, spinning it like a coin atop the table as she holds the top with one outstretched finger.

“Not bad, I spoke to an old friend,” he says, playing with the coaster. “About you actually.”

“Oh?”

He nods. “Sure did.” He leans forward. “Curious?”

She sets the coaster down. “Yep.”

Just then the waitress returns with their drinks. Since Holden’s still holding onto his coaster, she tosses a new one down under the pint of beer, and sets a glass of soda in front of Leah. “Ready to order?” she asks, taking a notepad from her waistpouch and a pencil out from where it was tucked into her hair.

Leah orders a salad, hardly looking up at the waitress; she’s focused on Holden.

Holden orders a burger.

“So what did you say about me?” she asks when the woman leaves.

“Oh, not too much. Nothing he didn’t already know.” He leans back. “Fun fact: this place was used as a shelter during the 1977 city-wide blackout.”

“Who’s your friend?” she asks, ignoring that tourist-friendly bit of information.

“Hey, I answered like three of your questions. My turn. What did you do today, hm?”

Leah sips from her soda before answering. “I had the day off, so I wandered around Central Park. Did a few sketches, talked with some cute tourist guy from Montreal. I told him I’ve heard his coffee is weak, he invited me up to try it.” She shrugs. “You ever been there?”

“‘course I’ve been to Central Park, who hasn’t?” He smirks.

She scoffs. “Montreal, you dick.”

Holden laughs and takes a gulp of his beer. “Yeah, I’ve been there. C’est une belle ville, c’est certain, mais j’prefere New York.” He winks. “Speak anything besides English.”

“Pssh. We’re in America, speak American.” She’s biting back a grin and her eyes sparkle with amusement.

“What, you’re telling me you’ve never heard of Louisiana?”

“They speak American French.” She doesn’t try to hide her grin now, and pats his leg.

He looks down at his hands, a smirk playing along his lips. “Strange to hear all that American talk coming from you.”

Leah rolls her shoulders in a gentle shrug. “Yeah? It’s a great country.” She sounds half-teasing, but in a way that suggests she’s trying to downplay the earnesty of her words.

“Sure is! Used to be more relaxed, though,” he says, looking almost nostalgic. “You could get away with things back then.”

Leah leans forward, resting her elbows on the table. “What kind of things?”

He leans forward, grinning. “Well, there was this one time I stole a girl out from right out under her daddy’s nose, we sped off in my car, fooled around a little, and the old man was none the wiser until she turned up on his doorstep. Now imagine these days if her cell phone had GPS! Old man would have ruined all the fun.”

She laughs. “Oh, so now you can’t make as much trouble as you’d like to?”

“Bingo. You know, I watched from the car, to see her how her dad would react when his little girl showed up again after having disappeared like that. He looked like his freakin’ eyes were gonna pop out of his head!”

Holden chuckles.

“Corruptor of youth and innocence,” Leah says disparagingly. “So was that before or after Kat and Taqlid and whoever? How’s that work? Do you all … share what’s going on?”

“You expect me to just tell you all my secrets, just like that?” he says, flabbergasted. “That would ruin my whole mystique!”

Leah eyes him. “Mystique, huh?” Glancing around for the waitress, she leans back. “I’m just curious. I wonder if I’m talking to you, or all of you.”

“A bit of both. Think of it like… we’re up in the front seat of the car, and… my friends are in the back.”

“Huh,” she says. “How many friends do you have?”

“I’m a friendly guy.”

The waitress arrives with their dinner, cutlery and condiments. “Need anything else?” she asks.

Leah glances at her drink and shakes her head.

“Another one of these, if you wouldn’t mind,” he says, flashing a million dollar smile.

The waitress finally cracks a smile. “Sure thing, doll.”

When she departs, Leah shakes her head, grinning and looking down at her food. “Friendly’s right,” she muses.

Part two is here: http://averygoodyear.net/writing/november-20th-cont/
Part three is here: http://averygoodyear.net/writing/november-20th-conclusion/

And Jesse found the perfect picture to represent Holden:

Ian Somerhalder (Boone from LOST, Damon from The Vampire Diaries).