noteasytobepink | Wheelsy AU ~ Hollywood Nights

"Well, we'll just have to agree to disagree then won't we?" She was going to give the waitress her card the minute Bill's back was turned. So ha!

"And look at you! Haven't you been eatin' proper? No one knows how to feed you anymore?"

"What're you talkin' 'bout, Starla? Lookit' all this muscle mass."

He held his arm out to prove it to her, then reached out to grab the door as they walked into the restaurant.

"Don't mistake my fit leanness for skinny."

"Yes, yes." She patted his arm. "You're He-man and all but you still look you haven't been eatin' proper. Real meals, not take out." Said the woman preceding him into a diner but hey!

"You have to order some veggies."

Bill smiled at the hostess and asked for a table for two.

He glanced at Starla and gave half a nod.

"Yeah, sure. Macaroni counts as a veggie, right?"

Bill...this would be Starla swatting you upside the head for such a question. If he pretended not to have earned that, well, she'd swat him again.

"Ya'll really should think about settling down Bill, before your bachelor feeding habits ruin you."

"Hey, ow. What?"

He ducked his head, and rubbed the back of it in innocent dejection.

Her suggestion made him pause as they reached a booth, and he was slow to sit down.

"Yeah, maybe I should."

"Don't you 'What?' me Bill Pardy. I've known you since you were still wondering why pants was a good idea." It didn't matter in the least that she was learning that lesson at the same time, but still!

"Good."

He barked a laugh at that, and shook his head at her.

"Alright, fine. I'll get one vegetable. Y'can't tell me corn don't count, neither."

With that out of the way, he focused on the other part of the conversation.

He had come here with every intention of telling her everything that had been on his mind and heart. Now that he was here, though, with a possible opening, flights of butterflies had taken off in his stomach, and a big rock had lodged itself in his throat.

Maybe now wasn't the time for it. Or, maybe now was his one chance.

Working his throat, he opened his mouth just to see what would come out when the waitress showed up.

"Hello, can I get you two started with some drinks?"

Bill blinked and abandoned his train of thought, answering, "I'll uh, take a Coke, please."

"Be brave, Bill, try more than corn. How about a medley?" She might be teasing at this point but hey, who could tell?

She turned to flash a smile at the waitress and nodded. "A Sprite please. She interrupt something important Bill? You look like you were thinking hard for a moment."

"Only if it don't come with peas." He could handle just about anything else, except for peas.

Bill watched the waitress go, then turned back to Starla and shook his head.

"No, I just... I was wonderin' how big their burgers were."

He'd do it later. He hadn't been in town ten minutes; that wasn't long enough to start spilling his guts.

"Baby." She snorted and checked the menu. "Looks like cauliflower, carrot, squash, and broccoli." So there!

"And if you were wonderin' that why didn't you ask when the waitress was here?"

He made a face, but he'd order it when the waitress came back.

"I was hopin' you could tell me in real life terms, 'stead of just a weight which is what she'd give me."

Opening his menu, he flipped to the page with burgers on it.

"So now, we talkin' a two hand burger, or somethin' as big as my head?"

"Bill, I'm sure she'd tell you in terms you understand if you asked nice," she deadpanned. "I'm not usually eating burgers when I come here." She liked the chicken salad and the chicken tenders okay?

"Just imagine a weight, an how much bread that weight would take. Isn't hard right? You've grilled!"

"Well you're no help. I reckon' I'll just pick out somethin' else."

Turning the page on the menu, he tapped a picture.

"The chicken fried steak looks pretty good."

"Isn't my job to be helpful." She snorted helpfully. "When have I ever made your life easier Bill? Tell me once! You're the steady one!"

Bill made a show of thinking about it, and shook his head.

"Not once that I can recall."

He grinned, then held up a finger.

"Oh, except of course for the time y'helped me pass algebra. An' the once when y'helped me with my science project. An' of course you kept the seat next t'me warm on every grade school field trip we went on."

His grin turned into a warm smile, and then he turned his head as the waitress returned to take their order.

Bill put in for the chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes, and, reluctantly, included the veggie medley with his order.

She opted for the fish bake and chicken ceasar salad, and an order of veggie medley just to show some moral support. "Pure self interest Bill! If I didn't sit next to you I had to sit next to Carny the Cannonball." being as how he was next in alphabetical order, which was the default seating arrangement.

"And it was our science project, I needed a good grade too. And Algebra was a freeby so you'd stay in the same grade with me and remain a nice screen against CC." Lying through her teeth but hey, it was funny!

"So you never did any of it just 'cause you liked me?"

He didn't realize the weight his words carried until he'd already tossed them off. Trying to glide past it, he gave a laugh.

"Just for that I oughta give ol' CC your number now."

"Would I have asked someone I didn't like to be my bodyguard in Cali?" She asked simply. "I just also had ulterior motives!" She could support this! She could! And yes, she did miss the weight in those words.

"Well, I happen to know CC grew up into a decent man, works as an engineer, has three kids and a lovely wife. I was part of the alumni committee after all and he couldn't come to reunion because his kid had appendicitis."

He'd sidestepped one there, and he quickly picked up the banter to keep it that way.

"An' what's your ulterior motive for bringing me here now?"

"Same it's always been Bill, bodyguard." She grinned cheerfully. What? That had always been her stated reason for getting him to California! "It's my premier after all."

"Thatt mean I should get myself a funny little ear piece and some shades?"

"You'd look good in the right set of shades," she mused, looking him over. "But an ear piece would drive you nuts, and you'd probably manage to pick up baby monitors."

"You think so?" He grinned, then lifted his arms back off the table as the waitress arrived with their order.

"Yes, I do. After all, you managed to get the precinct headset picking up afternoon soaps when you helped fix it remember? Baby monitors would be a snap!" And just as accidental, but hey!

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