Vanessa & Wanda | Sunday evening

[x-copycat.livejournal.com]

Wanda comes over bearing Chinese for belated birthday drinks with Vanessa. Talk of failed relationships and flirting ensues.

Though she knew where it was, Wanda had not yet been to either the new offices Vanessa had set up or her new apartment. But with the address firmly in mind, it wasn't all that hard to find and so she found herself on the doorstep to the apartment with little trouble in getting there. With her arms full of Chinese food from one of her favorite places, she gently knocked on the door with her foot, announcing loudly, "Delivery!"

Vanessa had considered answering the door in a slinky robe and trying to make it look as suggestive as humanly possible. But she didn't own a slinky robe. The best she had were her typical cargo pants and a tank top, which meant she looked entirely normal aside from her hair actually being down for once. When the door opened Wanda did get a bit of a waggle of eyebrow. "Mi amor," Vanessa greeted, instantly brandishing a smile and stepping aside to gesture Wanda inward. "Need help with all that, love?"

"I will never turn down a helping hand," Wanda said, grinning at Vanessa over the bag. She let her take the bag and Wanda took the opportunity to step in closer so she could shut the door. Letting her purse slide to the floor, she started to look around as she bent to slip off her shoes. It hadn't been that long since she'd last seen her friend but, standing in her new place, it suddenly felt like it.

"You know me, always willing to help a lady in need." She nodded her head toward the kitchen. "There is wine in the kitchen. Strangely enough, the cutlery resides there as well." Vanessa had the whole floor for an apartment which meant it was too big and under-decorated. But the walls were all brick, which she loved. Somehow all that brick reminded her of Boston. She went shuffling off barefoot toward the kitchen so she could put the bag down on the counter. Vanessa liked to think that her apartment looked a lot like the one in the Brownstone had, but she had a feeling the extra space changed the look of it. She also owned more than another bookcase worth of books and the TV was sort of off in a corner away from the main seating area. It had wheels, it could be transported when she actually wanted to use the damn thing.

"Good lord, do you have "Go Big or Go Home" tattooed on you somewhere?" Wanda asked, staring around in utter amazement as she followed Vanessa into the kitchen. Growing up had meant she had lived either in the tiny caravans or slept outside. Obviously, she knew people lived in large apartments or homes but it was something she still sometimes had to wrap her brain around. Also, she made a note to buy some house warming gifts - too much space and not enough things inside of it.

"You'd think I had a weird, permanent telepathic imprint of a Texan or something, wouldn't you?" She laughed, shaking her head at herself. "It was open when the place upstairs was and I liked the idea of being able to house someone near the office if they needed protection because it meant the rest of the crew was around a lot during the day without having to pull them far away for security detail if need be. And this way if someone shows up in the middle of the night in a panic I'm still here." She set the bag down on the counter and nudged three bottles of wine in Wanda's direction one at a time. There was a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot and a Pinot Noir. "It's way too big for me and if I wasn't so terrible at relationships I'd say I need a significant other to cohabitate with. Alas." She shrugged and started to pull cartons out of the bag and set them down by a couple of plates she'd already set out.

Even though the Snow Valley members lived so close to work, this certainly took it to the next level. But as Wanda picked out the Pinot Noir - she had a fondness for Bordeaux wines - her mind moved away from questions about the space and getting settled and latched on to the last thing Vanessa had just said. "Have I missed something?" she asked, mildly, leaning a hip on the counter so she could watch the other woman take out container after container of Chinese food. The last Wanda had heard, she and Lex had still been fairly tight. But things could change, and quickly, around these parts and it had been some time since they had managed to catch up.

"Hm?" It took Vanessa a moment to figure out what she'd said that Wanda was responding to., Right, the terrible at relationships bit. "Oh. That. Don't worry, you're not very far behind the ball on that and I try to not really broadcast those things. Well, unless the broken hearted guy in question turns up where I and my coworkers live and starts screaming at everyone." Her break up with Sam had been...special. Vanessa set the empty paper bag down on the floor and started to pop open tops on the cartons. They were carefully arranged in a line from appetizers to noodles and then onto meat. "So, yeah, the basic gist is that Lex and I aren't dating anymore. Sort of a domino effect kind of thing starting in the summer when he went off to try to figure out why his powers were being weird and culminating in him picking the entirely wrong words to say to me. I'm not sure how he meant it, but he said he thought I'd have an orgy whether or not he wanted me to if I really wanted to and thus he was agreeing to allow it. I'm not sure what else you could mean when you say that but," she shrugged. "There was no fixing it for me anymore at that point. He cried. Maybe destroyed stuff after. But he hasn't turned up on anyone's door step screaming yet so I'm considering it an improvement on my last break up."

She allowed herself to feel a little relieved that she hadn't gotten so busy that she'd missed something like that. "I do appreciate this ex not screaming at me from the street below," Wanda replied, dryly, clearly remember the time that David and herself had the ... interesting run in with Mr. Guthrie. "I do not understand the tears, perhaps, but then again it is better than attempting to duel me on the streets in front of my apartment building." She paused long enough to locate the wine opener and continued as she started to open the first bottle. "So this has been something that has been building? I am sorry, Vanessa, I know how bizarrely things can end. Were you two in love? Or him, I suppose? Is that why he took it so badly?" Or perhaps it was a combination of things. Wanda didn't know Lex at all, really, having not been at the mansion whenever he was around.

"He told me he loved me during that orgy conversation, which was a joke on my end for the record and I was half naked at the time. If I'm half naked and on your bed do you really think I'm after an orgy with anyone else?" She shook her head, clearly thinking Lex was an idiot. "I don't know if I was in love with him. I cared about him a lot. I thought there was a lot of potential for a future something or other there. I always got really uncomfortable with how totally open and heart on his sleeve he was. Actually," Vanessa frowned, "he was sort of a girlie man. Great guy otherwise, but a girlie man." She shrugged and slid the two wine glasses over to Wanda. "So since I attract girlie men who throw tantrums when dumped in one form or another I'm veering away from dating guys. Me and relationships with guys are doomed. Because if another guy makes me feel like I just bashed a puppy's head against a wall repeatedly for no reason I might actually have to stab him. Because that's the effect Lex's crying had on me, made me feel like a puppy mauler."

"Perhaps the mansion isn't the best dating pool source?" Wanda asked, filling both wine glasses as soon as she had the bottle open. "Not that there aren't some very fine specimen of the male species there but you seem to be ... oh, I have no idea what that baseball term was that Adrienne taught me to say. You seem to be striking out, there, close enough. Though maybe with each one, the drama potential goes down? The next one might actually take the break up decently well and the one after that - ! Well, after that, the sky is the limit!"

Vanessa couldn't help but laugh. She stuck either a spoon or a fork into each open container for ease of serving. "Well, see, I've developed this theory, aye? The first one, well, I didn't particularly know him very well or for very long before we dated. That blew up big time. The second one I knew and was friends with for about a year. That one sort of sucker punched me in the gut but didn't blow up. So, I'm thinking that either: a. I date women and see how that goes, or b. I try this sort of flirting, hooking up thing and let the next relationship evolve from that. A relationship out of nowhere with only some flirting as a basis didn't work and neither did one coming from a friendship. There's no point in repeating a losing formula, thus, women or general casual fooling around first. Which I've never really done. The casual fooling around bit, I mean. Except once with a very close friend. We really needed to clear the air of all our sexual tension, though.

"My unpaid sex life is woefully short and unremarkable." She paused and considered that comment. It didn't seem quite right. So she amended it. "Lex and I had some fantastically remarkable sex, but as he was one man and we were in a committed relationship at the time he gets to be one of two bullet points on my not-for-work sex list. Damn, that is sad, innit?"

"I think I shall just hand over a glass of wine instead of answering that particular question," Wanda teased. She did so and then leaned against the counter with her own glass in hand. It was a damned good wine, Vanessa hadn't skimped at all. "But I am the right person to talk to, seeing as I rarely venture into the realm of relationships. Stephen and then Kurt but besides them?" She shrugged one shoulder and took another sip - Kurt had been a fun romp but Stephen. Well. Stephen and Jake still made her head hurt in that "is this a good thing?" way. "I think my entanglements these days to be far less of a headache than actually dealing with someone in that way." Now Garrison had been a good time; talk about fond memories. "There's something to be said about rampant flirting paving the way for everything else."

Not normally a wine drinker herself, Vanessa gave the glass a good long look before taking a sip. Okay, that wasn't bad, actually. She had flirted shamelessly with the girl in the store and gotten her to give Vanessa recommendations. She would need to let the girl know how well those had worked out. Or perhaps let her manager know. "Mm..." Vanessa nodded. "I think rampant flirting and non-relationship stuff might be the way to go. At least for a while. I don't think I've got the emotional wherewithal for boys with so many emotions. My reservoir has to build back up."

Wanda couldn't help it. She giggled. "Stuff? What are we, thirteen?"

Now that she thought about that phrasing that way it really did sound like she was a kid. "I was going for non-specific," Vanessa told her, laughing. "Because, really, fingering a girl on the dance floor isn't exactly the same as having sex, whether there are strings attached or not." And now Vanessa had very happy, vivid mental images involving just that scenario.

"And as quickly as that we change gears back to being filthy minded perverts." Covering her mouth, Wanda giggled helplessly for a few moments just relishing the ability to do so. Stress and time had taken moments like this away from her and she knew she had to hold onto them as hard as she could for the times they were in short supply. Flapping a hand around her face, she grinned. "And I am apparently going to the wrong clubs."

It was Vanessa's turn to giggle. "Apparently you are. You should come with me some night. And besides, you and I are at our best when we are filthy minded perverts. What good is having a clean mind? That way leads to boredom. And a lack of orgasms whether they are busy being not induced by yourself or others. Some days my dirty mind is all I have, m'dear." She took another sip of wine, smiling at Wanda from the lip of the glass. "Mm...you should have seen the poor soul Amanda and I decided to tag team at Silver the other night. We picked the one guy who seemed sweet but sorta hopeless and was getting ragged on by his mates for it. Then proceeded to drape ourselves all over him and sandwich him between us on the dance floor. It was like his head was about to pop from Happy, capital H there."

"I'm amazed he didn't have a heart attack." It was a good sign that Amanda and Vanessa were hanging out again. It had been hard on the witch when Vanessa had decided to pack it in and head out - you lose enough people in your life, it made the ones leaving voluntarily hard to take. "I swear, you two are deadly together. It would make me feel old but, happily, nothing actually does that so I am safe."

"We are very pretty and very hard to resist together." Wanda got a bit of a waggle of eyebrow that held a mild suggestion that she wouldn't be able to say no to their combined powers either. Vanessa shimmied over closer to her friend and snaked an arm around her waist, using the motion to draw herself in closer to the brunette. There was very little difference in height between them so Vanessa didn't need to lean very far to rest her head on the other woman's shoulder. Wanda got Vanessa's most deadly puppy dog eyes when she asked, "If I wore a man for you could I get you in bed?" She only sounded like she was partly joking, but it could be hard to tell with Vanessa.

Wanda quirked a smile at her as she rested her cheek on top of Vanessa's head. It was slightly awkward to stand like that but not so much that it would cause her to stop. "Now, that does make the top ten list of ways I have been asked to join someone in their bed," she replied, taking another sip of her wine though she was careful not to spill any on Vanessa's head. "Darling, you can have me in your bed whenever you want as yourself - though all I would probably do is sleep and cuddle. And ignore what Sofia says. I do not snore in my sleep." If someone could be the complete opposite of shocked, that was Wanda at the moment. If anything, she was surprised that it had taken so long to get asked.

Vanessa gave Wanda her most forlorn sounding sigh. "Crush my dreams, why don't you?" She didn't seem terribly disappointed though. Vanessa had never been one to develop crushes on straight girls. Wanda was gorgeous, but Vanessa could fully appreciate how aesthetically pleasing the woman was without actually lusting after her. "But I'll take the consolation prize happily." Once upon a time Adrienne used to end up in Vanessa's bed for just cuddling and sleep fairly regularly. With Adrienne gone for some time now she found that she sort of missed that, actually. Vanessa slipped her head off Wanda's shoulder and gave her friend a peck on the cheek. "This means you won't be seeing your apartment until some time tomorrow and I'm going to spread rumors that we had amazing, passionate sex and I've recruited you to swing for the other side. That's cool, right?" There was even a small, stifled giggle that followed.

"As if I expected any less!" Wanda laughed, squeezing her around the shoulders. "Inside that purse is a full change of clothes. I know how you drink, madam, and knew that there was no way I was leaving this place unscathed. So you are stuck with me until I stagger out, doing a good impression of someone on the walk of shame. Is it a walk of shame, though, if you had no sex and brought a change of clothes?"

Grinning wickedly, Vanessa decided, "It is if I manage to hide all your underwear, my little wine lush." And Vanessa was certainly feeling mischievous enough to do it, too.