Adrienne and Jake - Sunday afternoon

[x-courier.livejournal.com]

Jake and Adrienne meet in the stairwell of the Brownstone. Somehow, one of them manages to ask the other out on a date. Neither of them is sure exactly how that happened.



Jake hadn't been focused on much more than finding Wanda's apartment and eating cake when he'd first arrived, and in the intervening days he'd not taken the time to explore much. However, he now found himself a bit stir crazy, made even worse by the fact that he couldn't leave the Brownstone without an escort. Lacking one, he'd decided to wander the halls of the building and familiarize himself with the place.

...Which had taken all of ten minutes, even given the time he'd spent poking around the Danger Gym. Thoroughly bored, he wandered back down the stairs and towards the lobby, hoping to perhaps shanghai someone on their way in or out.

On her way to visit Amanda, Adrienne passed a rather good looking man on the stairs, turning back to check him out and hoping he wouldn't notice that she'd paused. He was very attractive. She'd thought everyone who lived in the Brownstone worked for Emma, but Adrienne had never seen this man before. Still looking back at him, she went to take another step but had already reached the top of the staircase and her foot landed on nothing but air, causing her to pitch forward, off balance. She managed to keep her feet, but had stumbled rather audibly.

This could be interesting, Jake thought as the woman passed him. He'd just turned to say something when she stumbled. He stopped and put on his most charming smile. "Are you alright?"

Wishing the floor would swallow her, Adrienne paused with her back to the man and regrouped, fighting back her embarrassment. When she turned back, she gave him a calm, easy smile in return for his. "Fine, thank you." Change the subject fast, she ordered herself. "I've been here several times visiting people," she continued, "and I thought I knew most of the inhabitants. Are you new here, or possibly visiting someone?" Had Amanda finally dumped Angelo, perhaps? Or was he a companion of Wanda's? She had fine taste, after all.

It occurred to Jake that while everyone who entered the Brownstone had to get past Emma's door goon, there was probably less threat of Remy hurting him if he was somewhat discreet. Besides, there was something familiar about this woman that he just couldn't place, and that made him the tiniest bit nervous. "I'm a friend of several of the folks here, although it's probably easiest if I introduce myself as Wanda's old roommate. Jake Gavin," he said, walking back up the stairs towards her and extending his hand.

Adrienne took his hand and gave it her firm, businesswoman handshake. "Amanda's spoken of you on the journals," she realized, nodding with approval. So he was a friend of Wanda's, and Amanda's. Extra points for him, besides being attractive. "Adrienne Frost. I teach math at Xavier's. I also own a modeling agency and fashion label. I was just going to see Amanda," she announced with a wave towards the closed doors up ahead. "You were headed out somewhere?" Not that she wanted to end their acquaintance so soon, but Adrienne didn't want to keep him from anything, either.

"No, actually, just looking for something to do..." He trailed off as he tilted his head to the side, seemingly unaware of the fact that he hadn't let go of her hand yet. "Frost? Are you related to Emma, by chance?"

Was it odd that he hadn't let go of her hand yet? Adrienne wasn't entirely sure. She didn't pull away. "I'm her much younger sister," she answered with a smirk. "Do you know Emma through her association with Snow Valley, or Frost Enterprises perhaps?" She now knew from the journals that he had worked at the school previously, but wasn't entirely sure where he knew Emma from.

"Um." Please don't be a telepath. Please don't be a telepath. Please don't be a telepath. "She shot me once. Or tried to shoot me, rather." He smiled apologetically, realizing that he still held her hand in his, and abruptly let go. "It was strictly business--the shooting, that is. But Emma and I are old acquaintances. And we get along quite well, now that neither of us is trying to shoot each other." Shut up, Gavin, he thought furiously. "I didn't realize--I mean, I knew she had siblings, but--" Oh, this was going so well. "She hasn't told me much about you, which is a shame."

His rambling made the psychometrist grin. "Our relationship is... complicated," Adrienne replied goodnaturedly. She didn't really know what their relationship was at present, but know it was nothing to bother Jake with. "Don't worry, Mister Gavin. I don't shoot people." It seemed pretentious to add that she hired people to do her shootings for her. "So you say she shot you over business," she prompted, "yet you haven't enlightened me as to whether it was Snow Valley, or Frost Enterprises business." She added quote marks to Snow Valley, to indicate that she knew Snow Valley wasn't just a think tank.

"Oh, it was several years ago, long before Snow Valley existed," he replied, leaning casually against the wall. "I am--I was," he corrected, a quick frown crossing his face before being replaced with a small smile, "a courier at the time. We were also at Xavier's at the same time. She helped me with some, um, wardrobe issues." Too late, he realized how much that sounded like innuendo and hoped that Adrienne wouldn't notice.

"Did she?" Adrienne grinned widely. "Well, I'm in the modeling and fashion design business, Mister Gavin. Please accept my offer to help you out with any... wardrobe issues you might have in the future." Adrienne thrived on innuendo.

He smiled back, albeit sheepishly. "I hope I don't have the issues I was having then, but I would be happy to take you up on your offer--I have found myself in need of a new wardrobe lately, as a matter of fact. Are you only a designer, or do you also do retail?"

It occurred to Adrienne that she shouldn't mention the fact that she didn't design the clothes she marketed, so she merely gave him a smile and answered "I have a shop, yes. Hopefully a second in the summer, but there is the one for now. I also collect quite a lot of clothing items at the modeling agency-castoffs from photo shoots and the like- which I like to give away to good homes. So what is it you do now that you 'were' a courier?" she asked, recalling the fact that he'd changed his mind about it when he'd mentioned being a courier earlier.

He barely managed to not sigh. "That's a good question, actually. I'm between jobs at the moment. I've been trying to talk Wanda into letting me be her kept man, but I don't think she's buying it." He shrugged. "Her loss, really." He sized Adrienne up, now that his brain had finally quit seizing over the 'Emma's little sister' issue. "What brings you to Xavier's? Do you share in the family love for teaching, or did they get you drunk and talk you into it, too?"

"Court order," Adrienne deadpanned. It wasn't true, but he didn't have to know that.

Jake laughed. "That may be the best reason I've heard yet." He thought for a moment, one eyebrow raised. "Since most people don't get assigned to Xavier's without reason, I assume this means you've got superpowers of some sort, then?"

She waggled her fingers at him. "Psychometry." And since most people didn't know what that was, "I read the history and future of objects. Not all that super, but it does come in handy occasionally. Very useful for figuring out how things are built or learning alarm codes," she informed him with a wicked smile. "Since you hang out with the gang in this building, does that mean you have superpowers?"

"Shapeshifter," he said, waggling his fingers back. When he was done, they were markedly elongated. "I'm fun at parties. Not as much fun as you, I'm sure--psychometry, eh? That sounds like it could really come in handy." Mentally, he moved her firmly into the "asset" column.

Nodding impressively at the elongated fingers, Adrienne broke out into a wide smile. "It can be handy. I defused a bomb once." Well, Zanne had done the wire snipping, but Adrienne had been the one to tell her which wire to cut, so it was almost as if she'd defused it. "I bet you're a lot of fun, Jake," she agreed, thoroughly enjoying his company. "Say, have you ever considered modeling?"

Jake blushed, caught off guard. "What? Um...not really, no. It's because I'm so skinny right now, isn't it?" he laughed in disbelief. "This is a temporary condition. I had a little, ah, mishap."

Pleased with his reaction, Adrienne's smile grew. "Skinny has nothing to do with it, Slick. I promote healthy models, anyway, but your weight isn't the point. Your powers were. It was just a little joke," she said with a shrug. "I enjoy teasing shapeshifters about modeling because someone who can be anybody could be quite profitable in the business. Of course," she shrugged casually, "if you're between jobs right now and want to take me up on the offer, it doesn't have to be a joke."

"Um. I suppose I hadn't thought of it that way," Jake said. It had been far too long since anyone had flirted with him seriously, and he realized he was more rusty than he realized. He shrugged, his easygoing smile coming back to light on his face. "I'm exploring a few things right now, but I'll keep your offer in mind. I suppose you and I could get together at the very least so that you could explain what might be involved--say, over dinner sometime?" You're hitting on Emma's little sister, a part of his brain said incredulously. Mentally, he shrugged--Death by Frost, either one, wouldn't be the worst way to go.

Holy crap. Did he just ask you out? Adrienne hid her sudden shock with her smile. She'd had plenty of dates while she'd been running her company, but those had been arranged- on her part at least- for personal gain, to win contracts or publicity. Being asked out had always been in response to her careful, calculated flirting, always engineered to give her what she wanted and nothing she didn't want at the end of the night. Since stepping back to teach, she hadn't dated at all because there'd been no need for it. Even her Hellfire Club manouevers had consisted of lunch meetings and the occasional dinner meeting, but the other party had never classified it as a date. So what had happened here?

She'd been flirting with Jake, but not for the purpose of business. Not really. She didn't actually intend to use him as a model. Who was he, anyway? A friend of Amanda's and Wanda's, but that didn't necessarily mean he was safe. Emma had shot him, after all. Why the hell was she flirting with him? Because he's cute. Shit. Bad reason. Say something before he takes it back. Should he take it back? Shit. "I think I'd like that, Mister Gavin," she answered finally. I've learned quite a few ways to do you bodily harm if I decide later this isn't a good idea, so what the hell? it was just dinner, after all. And he said he wanted to talk about modeling. So maybe it would just be a business dinner.

Oh my god you just asked her out. And she said yes. He blinked. Emma was going to laugh herself sick. Or kill him. Or worse. "Um. Great!" He jammed his hands in his pockets, realizing that he was dangerously close to hand-flailing. "So. Um. Whenever's good for you?"

Christ, Emma's reaction to this is going to be amusing as hell, Adrienne thought to herself, giving Jake a bemused glance over the hands-in-the-pockets thing. Unless she kills me. "I'll have my assistant get in touch with you, then," she told him, sounding confident even though she wasn't feeling it. "It was very nice to meet you, Mister Gavin." Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get myself a very stiff drink at Amanda's place and figure out what the hell I just did.