xp_logs | Julan & Angel: Delicious Dinner Drama

Manuel sets Julian & Angel up to have dinner together...it does not go as planned.

In Salem Center. Julian sat, dressed in his black suit with green tie at a table set for two- waiting for Manuel to arrive in what- he presumed- would be a spectacularly late fashion. In his family, such tardiness wasn't something to be tolerated; despite the surfer culture that Julian had picked up this was a lesson drilled into him and he found himself slightly agitated. Checking his wrist watch again, Keller sighed and smiled at the rather attractive brunette who winked at him as she refilled his glass with lemon-water.

Angel stared around her as the hostess guided her through the crowded restaurant – she really hadn’t been in anything like this place before. While both of her parents were well off, especially after her dad got that job in New York, they were really low-key kind of people. Fancy places were more the quiet, expensive kind of places, and those were for special occasions. But Angel was really glad she’d dressed properly for the place, finally having an excuse to use her ‘little black dress’ that apparently every woman needed.

She didn’t really know why every woman needed one but it had been one of the Secret Rules of Grown Women so she’d bought one.

“Here you are, miss,” the woman in front of her said, stepping to the side as she indicated the table.

Julian had been taking a sip of water when the hostess ushered who he at first thought to be Manuel to the table. When he turned his head to see Angel, looking better than he'd ever seen her with the possible exception of prom...before he messed things up. With a startled jump, water shot from his nose and he coughed loudly- drawing some unnecessary attention from other patrons- before he stammered out, "You!? What are you doing here?"

If she hadn’t been so horrified to see him, Angel would have laughed at the water thing but all she could do was just stare. And turn various shades of whiteish red. It was an interesting combination of colors on her face, especially as she couldn’t hide behind her hair since it was piled on her head. She glanced over her shoulder but the hostess had slipped away, leaving her alone with curious people looking at them.

Since running was almost as embarrassing as standing there, Angel quickly sat across from Julian. “Me?” Angel hissed quietly, holding her purse with a death grip. “I’m supposed to be here! I was meeting Manuel for dinner. What are you doing here?”

"You? No you're not." Julian leaned across the table, anger visible on his face, but the sadness from their break-up still behind his blue eyes. "I'm supposed to be meeting Manuel here for dinner."

“No, you’re –“ Angel paused and narrowed her eyes as she thought things through. “That bastard. I’m going to kill him. Slowly. With glue. Or something.” She threw herself back in the seat and crossed her arms over her chest, staring over Julian’s shoulder and purposefully not looking at how nice he looked tonight. “He set us up.”

Given the conflicting emotions he was experiencing, it took Julian a moment to catch up. "Oh-no-you-don't, not before I get to suffocate him in a TeeKay bubble." Taking another drink of his lemon water, he looked around to see a few heads turn their attention back to their food and low whispers as his eyes caught theirs. Looking back to Angel, he sighed and continued in a low tone, "Did you put him up to this?"

Little wasps of smoke puffed up between Angel’s fingers as she gawked at him. “Did … I …” She sat back and waved the smoke away with an irritated hand. “You’re an ass, Keller, you do know that, right? What, you think Mr. Sneaky Manipulation didn’t think this up on his own?”

"Manuel?" he nearly growled. After a brief pause he continued, "Actually that does make some sense- but...I...you know what? You're the ass, Fire-um-" he caught himself from using the pet name that she no longer seemed to deserve. "You're the ass, Moth." He grinned, knowing how the name aggravated her. Part of him felt bad for saying anything.

Instantly, her chin went up and she glared at him down the length of her nose – it was a look her mom cultivated in the court room and Angel had spent years seeing it in action. “Last time I checked, Mr. Not Even a Trainee, I wasn’t the one making out with the blond bimbo on Prom Night,” Angel responded, digging immediately in response. “Oh, I’m sorry, should I say ‘shucks, my lips slipped’, instead?”

He smiled- not happily, but suppressing the anger he'd built up over the past couple weeks and focusing it to a point. "Yeah, I kissed her-" 'apparently' "-but did you ever think that maybe you aren't partly to blame for all this?!" He shifted slightly his voice a harsh whisper as Julian looked at her over the candle-lit table. "You sent me to prom with her to cheer her up- I wanted to take you if you've forgotten. And maybe if you loosened up a bit, I wouldn't have even been tempted; and yes, I was tempted to do so."

With a sigh he leaned back in his seat and mumbled something under his breath.

“What did you say?” Angel demanded, her voice low and shaky with hurt and anger.

"It was nothing," Julian said with a dismissive gesture. He took a sip of water and turned his gaze away from her gaze.

“If you have something to say, you say it out loud, Julian Keller. Anything you have to say to, or about me, can be said to my face.” It was odd, her throat was killing her. It was dry and tight, even though all she wanted to do was cry. But she wasn’t going to cry, not again. She’d given him enough tears so far.

With a roll of the eyes Julian met her gaze again. He could tell she was seriously hurt by this- but she couldn't be hurting more than he was. After all she'd been the one to call things off between them, who'd refused to talk to him and had burned his peace offerings. She'd ignored every attempt he'd made to apologize and explain himself, shutting him out of her life. "Fine, you want to know what I said, Firefly?" Keller's smile was gone now; part of him was begging his brain to reconsider telling her the awful truth. "I said that maybe I should take Inez up on her offer, seeing as you never seem eager to...well, you know-"

Julian’s words were cut off with a splash and a sputter and the restaurant patrons were once again gawking at the young pair. But Angel couldn’t bring herself to care; not about being stared at and now about Julian. She was on her feet, half leaning over the table, with her hand clenching a now empty glass. With care, she slowly straightened and carefully put the glass down so she wouldn’t slam it on the table top and accidentally shatter it.

“I’m done,” she said quietly, gathering her purse up along with the remains of her dignity. “Enjoy your dinner – order something expensive and charge it to Manny for all I care.” Angel turned and headed out, waving off the hostess when she stepped forward with concern on her face. Once she was outside, she planned on calling someone for a ride home since her dad had dropped her off but she needed to be well away from Julian by then.

As far away as she could get.