xp_logs | {Pas de Trois} Julian & Esme: Popping the Question (backdated)

Julian seeks out a Stepford for a date to the prom.

((OOC: Backdated to the morning of the 23rd))

The whole situation was just a little on the odd side for Julian. His girlfriend, of whom he was very fond and enjoyed spending his time with, had lent him out for prom as a favor to Manuel, who was doing a favor for the Stepford Sisters. Of course, if she knew that he had been asked to do this as a favor, it might ruin the gesture, so the prudent course of action would be to start thinking about how much fun he and Esme would have together on prom night.

Approaching the door to their suite- which had the names of all four sisters on the multi-colored crayons Dani had put up- Julian cleared his head and knocked, wondering if they were even home.

"Come in." It could have been any of them, answering the knock.

Julian turned the knob and pushed the door open, when a thought hit him, all of them looked exactly the same...so which one was Esme? "Hello?" he asked as his head poked through the doorway.

Strangely, however, the solitary blonde in the room was - quite solitary. She blinked at Julian, then raised a hand in a tentative wave. "Usually we don't have visitors," she said, sounding vaguely mystified. "People don't just drop in. Um... hi." The blush was very slight, but noticeable.

Blushing, that was a good sign and his odds were one-in-four that this was Esme, but there was only one way to be sure. "Hey, Esme, where are your sisters?" He suddenly realized how stupid it sounded to ask that, seeing as it made him sound like he was here to see her and not the others. "I mean, how are you doing?" Julian took a few tentative steps into the immaculate suite, suppressing the question of who did their cleaning- since he didn't see them as the types to clean for themselves.

"They're out," she said vaguely, not correcting him, and thus confirming that he had the right sister. "We don't spend all our time together, you know. And we do so clean."

Julian smirked at her last jab, "Of course you do. I might have to get the four of you to clean my suite...maybe even wear little french maid uniforms or something." Strolling into the room, he took a seat on the couch and smiled with his typical reassuring bravado. "How're you doing today, Esme?" he wondered if she already knew why he was here.

Esme blinked cornflower-blue eyes at him, looking startled. "Why me?" she said, sounding confused. "That doesn't make any sense. You're dating the little pyrokinetic."

An inward sigh later, Julian leaned forward, "Guess that answers that question. But if you're already digging around in my head, you know the answer to that." Leaning back again he cut her off, "I'm guessing you're asking because you want to hear me say it...and I don't even have to read minds to get that. So, allow me to explain. I like you. You're different from your sisters and even though the four of you look the same, I know you're not like them. When they were spreading rumors about Mister Beaubier, I could see you didn't want to- which is why you didn't get splashed...even if you did get soaked, sorry again about that." He paused, collecting his thoughts, "You're smart, beautiful and I've noticed you've been down lately...so I wanted to take you to prom...as friends. That is, if you want to."

Esme had turned quite scarlet by the time Julian finished speaking. She opened her mouth and then closed it again, blinking at him some more. "All right," she said, abruptly. "Okay. We can-I can do that, right? We're supposed to be spending time apart. And you're--well, you're nice. To ask, we mean. I mean." She looked on the verge of frustrated tears for a moment. "It doesn't matter what the we thinks, does it? Friends can take friends to prom."

His hand shot out and gave hers a reassuring squeeze, "Definitely- and I guarantee a fantastic night."

He got a shy smile in return. "Then we-I need to find a dress."