noteasytobepink | The DINNER ~ Wheelsy AU

The DINNER ~ Wheelsy AU

She'd been working two days, a day to get a handle on the simple art of flower arranging (complicated stuff would come later) and to start learning delivery routes. It had been nice to be moving again, doing something, anything, constructive and today...

...today she actually teleported back to Bill's house with an armload of groceries and flailed. "I'M RUNNING LATE! DID THE ROAST IN THE CROCKPOT TURN OUT...wait. YOU"RE NOT HOME ARE YOU?!"

It probably wasn't time for him to be home. Meep. Talking to an empty house and running late on starting the meal still! Right! Dough! Dough first, for bread and a sweet dough for tarts. Those needed to rise, then she could start peeling potatoes...

Right. She could do this. She flipped on the radio, tossed her floral shop hat on the counter and stared COOKING. Dancing and cooking but hey who didn't need music to cook well? "Knife!" she called out, years of habit having the warning go out amidst the music so no one got hit by the knife headed toward the sink.

She tended to throw things when she was cooking. Yep.

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June laughed and moved to help Clarice dish out the leftovers.

"I'll settle for anymore baked goods y'wanna be making me," Bill replied.

"Hmmm, that's a high level prize," she noted cheerfully. "I think you have enough for free coffee though?"

"Hm, maybe I'll cash in later, then." He was pretty content right now with crunching ice from his tea.

"I'll keep track of your points then," she grinned and packed the last tart away for June. "I think the next prize level is a toothbrush!"

"Wow," Bill deadpanned.

June accepted the leftovers packed for her, and her look of readiness got Bill up out of his chair.

"It was a lovely dinner, Clarice, thank you very much," June said, leaning in to give Clarice a hug.

"Hey, you'd be surprised what some people will do for a good toothbrush!" Clarice teased. Or mostly teased.

Yeaaaaah.

"Thank you for coming June, I know we kind of called last minute." Three days warning wasn't much!

"I was happy for the invite," June replied, waving off the apology.

Turning to Bill, she gave him a smile. He began to lift his arms to give her a hug, and she held out the containers of leftovers to him instead. She threw him a smile and retrieved her purse.

"I'll walk you out," Bill said, taking the containers. He threw Clarice a bemused look, then followed after his mom.

"Have a good evenin', Clarice. I'll see you Sunday," June called as she headed for the front door.

Uh-oh...was that a good sign or a bad sign? She didn't know! Still, she grinned and saw them to the door. "Yes, Sunday! Talk to you later!"

Time to nervously continue packing up leftovers? Yep.

June opened the passenger door for him, and Bill stooped to load in the leftovers. Rising, he brushed his hands off and grabbed the corner of the door to close it.

"Bill, do you know what you're doin'?"

Bill paused, then glanced at the food he just set down and jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

"Want me t'put it in the trunk, instead?"

"Bill."

Bill tried to hold onto his smile, but June wasn't returning it and finally his slipped off.

"Mom... "

"She seems like a nice girl," June said, looking up at Bill as he fiddled with the weather stripping on the door. "But, how much do you really know about her?"

Bill held up his hand, gesturing at the house. "A lot. I mean, quite a bit at least. She's been livin' here a month, it ain't like we haven't been talkin' an' gettin' to know each other."

June shook her head gently and lifted her hand, resting it on his chest to quiet him as she heard the defensive notes raising his voice.

"Okay, y'talked, an' you been livin' together. I'm not gonna ask about any of the rest." She'd give him his privacy there, but she wasn't stupid. "I just want t'make sure you aren't rushin' into anything."

"'Course not. I-- "

"Bill, just-- just lemme finish." June gave him a firm look, and he reluctantly closed his mouth.

"I'm not speakin' against you two, or tryin' t'change your mind," she continued. "But Bill, you've had your heart broke half a hundred times already, an' this last time with Starla just happened."

Bill's eyes cut away, and June reached up to stroke his cheek, turning him to face her again.

"I'm sorry, Bill. I'm sorry y'had that happen to you. It shouldnt've. That woman has no idea what she's passin' up. But I know you're still hurtin' from that, an' I worry that this might just be your way of tryin' to cover that."

Bill frowned at that, brow furrowing as he looked down at her.

"Y'think I'm just... usin' her?"

"Or, maybe it's her takin' advantage of you."

Bill's jaw tightened, but June didn't waver, keeping her composure calm, and tone even.

"Or, maybe this is what you want it t'be. I hope for that, Bill, I really do. But if it's not, one of you is gonna get hurt, an' it won't be fair at all to the other."

Bill looked towards the house, the weight of his mother's words settling. Stepping way from the car, he closed the door. June stepped closer to hug him, and he kept his eyes down as he returned it.

"I just want you t'be careful, that's all."

"Okay." He nodded, and she broke off and was soon driving away.

Heading back up to the house, Bill closed and locked the door and headed for the kitchen.

"Y'need any help?" he asked, glancing around.

Clarice tucked the last of the tarts away and hitched herself up to sit on the counter, so of course the answer was..."Nah, I got it Bill. She had stuff to say didn't she?" Of course June did.

"We talked for a bit."

He crossed the kitchen to stand across from her, leaning against a chair back and looking at her sitting on the counter. The sight and thought that accompanied it made him smile.

"They don't have too many chairs in the worlds where you been to, do they?"

"She's worried huh?" Clarice couldn't blame her really. That was something parents of any gender were suppose to do...right?

"And no, not really. Not for people on the move anyway."

"She's bein' a mom," he replied, trying not to let his mom's worry affect Clarice. It was niggling the back of his own mind, but he didn't want to focus on it right now.

"Find it kinda funny how you can sit comfortable just about anywhere." Clarice was who he wanted to focus on.

"Hey, I can worry a little. She matters to you," ergo June's opinion mattered in this!

Still...

"Where ever you go, whatever you do, be as relaxed as you can. It's not hard lover, c'mon up here, you'll see. Counter's are just as comfy as chairs."

"She'll just take a bit more convincin', that's all."

He raised an eyebrow at her, looked at the space beside her on the countertop and shrugged. May as well...

With a small grunt he boosted himself up.

"It wasn't that she didn't like you," he said quietly after settling in beside her.

She slipped an arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder the moment he got up next to her, then nodded. "Yeah, figured. Parents are tough customers...and she probably knows we're hiding a lot from her."

He looped his arm around her in turn, and rested his head against one of the cupboards behind them.

"I'm sure she picked up on some of that. An' she's still fussin' about other things. She'll come around."

He hoped. He also hopes she wasn't right about what she said. Nothing like a mom's worry to plant doubt.

"Dinner went good." There was that, at least.

"Other things I should be worried about?" she asked quietly. "I know I'm not what everyone was expecting." At all.

It was nice to just relax against him though, warm and solid and there. Sometimes people just needed...people. That was alright wasn't it?

"It ain't that, it's-- "

Looking down at her he was caught a moment by the way she was leaning against him, the feel of her against his side, and how even though they were sitting up on the kitchen counter it felt comfortable, and right.

Sometimes people did just need people, and despite what his mom had said, it was good to have someone here with him. For him, enjoying his company as much as he enjoyed hers.

"It's nothin'," he decided, bending his head down to press a kiss to Clarice's crown. "I know what I'm doin'."

"It's nothin' huh?" she drawled cheerfully, lifting her face against his lips. She was comfy, and a bit lazy at the moment. She was perfectly content to stay exactly as she was for a while. "I do promise I"m not using you...not in any bad sense of the term."

Bill was happy to sit, as well.

"Just the 'good' sense," he joked lightly, giving her side a squeeze.

"Hmmm, yep. Just in the 'healthy physical exercise' sense." Totally.

He smirked to that.

"An' that I completely approve of."

The smile shortened, and he gave a one shouldered shrug.

"I think mostly she's worried this is happenin' too fast, an' too soon."

"Ah," well...what could she do to fix that? Not much, sadly. "It'd probably be a lot harder to live together too long and not be dating. The hands off policy can get really frustrating."

"Must be my irresistible charm," Bill replied, trying to play smug with an ego.

"An' I'm tired of bein' the guy playin' it safe an' missin' his chances. Took me long enough, but I finally learned that lesson."

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