Manuel and Adrienne - Swimming

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

During a morning swim, Adrienne is preoccupied with thoughts about her impending date and Manuel picks up on her emotions, goading a confession out of her.

Their morning swims were becoming more frequent, and Adrienne found she enjoyed them more than she cared to mention. Manuel's snark was something she had come to appreciate quite a bit, now that she'd gotten over her fear of him. Today, however, she was preoccupied with thoughts about her impending date with Jake Gavin. It was still a mystery to the psychometrist how that had happened. She was beginning to feel rather anxious about it, but other than Amanda, she couldn't bring herself to tell anyone. "How does Val like her new outfit?" she asked Manuel, referring to the latest thing she'd bought for the child. It seemed she couldn't stop herself from buying clothes where his sister was concerned.


Manuel met her half way through the pool and stopped. "She likes it. It appeals to her darker tastes and she still refuses the sunny look, which I do not mind." He found Adrienne's company amusing, if only riding off her emotions now and again, it gave him something to focus on as he worked out in such close proximity. His muscles were strengthening as was his stamina and while his leg was cramping more frequently, he prided himself on coming this far with the physical therapy Bishop liked to put him through.

Leaning back, he dunked his head, if only to draw the wet of his hair away from his face. It had become long over the last few months, though he'd noticed a gray or two had sprouted, possibly courtsey of his sister. His hand ran up over his face, pushing back the water down his scalp standing up.

"You're very anxious this morning." It was like she was practically begging him to say something.


"I..." she nearly told him about Jake, but didn't think it was the best idea ever. What benefit would it hold? He knew Emma; it might get back to her before Adrienne had even decided what to do about it. And besides, he would probably laugh. "I am not anxious! How do you know you're projecting me, anyway?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe you're feeling anxious. Ever think of that?"


"I forgot to tell you what happened with my sister, yes? She's the reason I do not project anymore and have shields. But to clear something up, I did not project emotions of my own, but others. Therefore had I still be stuck in an emotional loop, persay, I would be projecting your own emotions back to you, amplified. That and the simple reasoning, I do not have anything to be anxious about. You on the other hand..."


Adrienne stopped floating on her back in the water and stood up, frowning at him. "You don't project your emotions? Is that the same as not feeling anything?" Maybe if she ignored it he would let the subject of her anxiety drop? Of course this wasn't helping her relax...


Despite not being a telepath, Manuel could always tell when someone tried to steer him away to distraction with his own emotions and it was a frequent ploy that most of the mansion residents tried to pull off. Sometimes he let them slide sometimes not. This time not. "No, I feel my own emotions. I used to confuse my emotions with others, but not now. There is a definite line between my indifference to your anxiety." He cocked a brow at her, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.


"Stop looking so goddamned smug," Adrienne chastized, albeit goodnaturedly, floating on her back once again. It wasn't his fault, after all. "I'm not anxious. I'm just a little preoccupied, that's all. I was asked out to dinner by a friend of Amanda and Wanda's, and I've been trying to figure out... where we should go." Or rather, why she'd agreed to go, but that was more than she was willing to admit.


"Ah you have a date." Now his smirk grew and he pushed off the ground, swimming lazily off to her side. "What is his name or is that a minor detail?"


"It's not that it's a minor detail," she replied with a frown, "more like it's none of your business. His name's Gavin, but it's none of your business. And it's not a date. I don't date. Outside the walls of this mansion I am an ice queen bitch diva. And a nun. I don't date. I have prearranged business meetings at mealtimes to discuss business. That's what this is. He's interested in modeling. It's a business dinner." Hopefully if she said it to herself enough times, it would be true. It probably was a business dinner, but the fact that she wasn't sure was what was causing the damn anxiety.


"Are you positive it isn't a date?" Manuel laughed and with a sleek air of arrogance, slipped beneath the water's surface, relishing in his own lazy strokes and the faint resistance of the pool water around his body. He resurfaced someways away from her and resumed his lengths. Gavin. He knew that name yet he couldnt' place it.


Adrienne stood up and looked around the pool, eyes widening dramatically. "Wait- is Doctor Sofia here? Are you projecting psychologist emotions now?" She skimmed a hand through the water in an attempt to splash him. "Why would it be a date?" Manuel was just the person she needed to convince her that she was wrong and it wasn't a real date.


"Is this Jacob Gavin we are speaking of?" he asked, ignoring her question. It was so plain that it was a date, he wasn't even going to bother humoring her with an answer.


"Yes. He used to work at the mansion. You know him?"


"I know of him," he replied, neither confirming nor denying anything more than that.


With a laugh, Adrienne rolled her eyes. "Of course you do, Captain Cryptic. You're not jealous, are you?" she teased, attempting to splash him again.




"He's not my type," Manuel mused, dodging the splash. "Is he letting you choose the time and location?"



Chuckling some more, Adrienne climbed out of the pool. "I thought it best I make the arrangements, yes," she answered. "I always make the rules, you know. Don't worry, I promise not to get drunk and throw up on him and then pass out on his bed. You're the only one I save that honour for." She figured it was time she could laugh about that.


"Mmm," he nodded in agreement. "Lucky me."