xp_logs | log: Clarice & Terry

Clarice and Terry meet for lunch to catch up. And Clarice offers some marriage advice.

Terry burst into the cafe a few minutes late for her lunch appointment and nearly face planted into the back of a be-suited businessman, who turned to look at her with a glare as the redhead backpeddled and apologized, then pushed up onto tiptoe to scan the restaurant for her friend.

"Terry!" Clarice called, waving slightly from a booth. It was a little dim in the deli and she knew she tended to blend a little in darker places. She was starving, but had only ordered herself a water with lemon as she waited, not wanting to be rude. "Hey!" she stood, going to give the other girl a hug now that she was here.

"Hey!" Terry answered, returning the hug with interest before she slid into the booth opposite in a flopping sigh. Dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt that provides a backdrop for the brightly patterned scarf wrapped around her neck, she looked frazzled, but chipper enough. "How's the form?"

Form? Oh, school! "Going," Clarice replied with a wry grin. She had on skinny jeans, knee high grey boots and a blue patterned shirt with suspenders. It was almost hipster, but not quite, "It's not like being an undergrad. What about you Mrs. Drake?"

Terry wrinkled her nose at the address, the expression going a little bit sour. She pulled a menu toward her and scanned the offerings as she answered, "Bureaucracy is the same the world over. Feebers have have me chasing down ghosts and spectres, I am sure." She dropped the menu and looked across the table at Clarice. "You are managing it though, aye?"

Was there trouble in paradise? Clarice didn't want to be a bitch and say 'I told you so,' but well...she had. Instead, she kept her opinion to herself. "I'm managing, yeah. I'm too stubborn to drop out, I mean, I made it this far, right?" The truth was, she loved what she was learning, even if it was an insane workload. "I'm taking a lot of my classes with the med students, which is pretty neat," they'll go on to more in depth and specialized classes while she went to do more hands on things sooner.

Terry grinned, not aware she had given a hint to the mess her personal life was in. "Determined tis the nice way to be saying that, but aye, stubborn works. How much longer do you have?"

"Well...since when have I been nice?" Clarice pointed out with a smile. "And a year and a half. This is just my first semester. I graduated college back in May, then started here in September. Spent the months in between finding a roommate, an apartment and working with an organization giving vaccines out in the Sudan."

"I didn't know how long it takes to become--" Terry wiggled her fingers, as if that were eloquent enough to finish her statement. The waiter came and went before she picked up the thread of their conversation again. "Did you find one? A roommate, I mean."

"A PA," Clarice finished for her, then placed her order, "And yeah, I did. The school has a roommate finder program thing. I hate her though. Nothing makes you study more in the library than your roommate having a harem of men she parades in and out of the apartment at all hours of the night. Thank goodness for separate bedrooms."

"Suppose it depends on if she's willing to share..." Terry mused with mock-thoughtfulness, mischievous amusement sparkling in her eyes.

Clarice almost did a spit-take, "Oh no! No no no! I do not want her loser men! I can do better than sloppy seconds!" she had standards!! "Anyways, I study too much for more than just a fuck buddy sort of situation. Grad school is hell on your love life. I should just invest in Energizer and be done with it."

"Fuck buddies have their place." Not that Terry would know. She rolled her eyes skyward and sighed.

That was true. Sometimes they were needed, but they shouldn't be the default, "You got something you need to confess?" Clarice asked, crossing herself, "How long as it been since your last confession, my daughter?" she deepened her voice. Clarice was perhaps the worst Catholic ever. She was okay with that.

Terry laughed, the sound not quite humorous, and eyed her friend across the table before groaning and putting her head down, forehead on her hands folded on the tabletop. "I wish I had something needing to be confessed," she muttered, muffled.

Sad. Very sad. "Great...so we're both trying to live vicariously through the other," Clarice bemoaned, "How did we get so old?!"

"'m not old, 'm frustrated!" Terry countered before she lifted her head and laughed, loud and long enough to attract a few head turns to see what was so funny. "Och, Clarice, I have missed you."

"Wait, wait..." Clarice held up a hand, "Are you telling me that you are married and not getting any!?" she was absolutely appalled. What was the point of being married then!? Well, that and having companionship when you were old and would break a hip if you got too freaky.

Terry snapped her mouth shut and blushed a shade of red that clashed with her hair.

That Terry missed her was absolutely secondary to this new revelation, but no less pleasant to hear, "Dude..." she poked Terry with a finger, "What gives? Because you're hot. I'd do you," and she wasn't even really into girls. Her (brief) foray exploring that side of her sexuality had revealed that she was much more into guys. Like, completely into guys.

"Lets just say things are a little... strained," Terry answered, squirming in her seat in discomfort. She had not totally forgotten the other woman's initial reaction to the news of her marriage. A smile flitted across her face though and she returned the compliment with a tease, "Feeling's mutual. Now that we've established we both have good taste, what is wrong with the men?"

"Good damn question," Men sucked and not in the good way. "I just don't think that they can handle this. We're too bootylicious for them," ah, Destiny's Child. Always a good reference.

Terry snickered and planted her elbows on the table, bracing her head between her hands. "Their loss," she said emphatically.

"Exactly!" their conversation made her think back to when the two of them had gone undercover at the strip club, "You know...I bet you could take some pole dancing classes. If that doesn't get Bobby all raunchy then I am pretty sure that he has the libido of a door knob. Then you can divorce him for lack of sex or something. Wait. Get it annulled...can't you do that if your husband is gay or something?" Maybe? No? She had no idea and was making this all up.

Terry dropped her hands and folded her arms on the table, chuckling at the thought. It's not so farfetched an option, though, she thought. "I think our issues go a wee bit deeper than that," she admitted, then grinned mischievously and looked at Clarice in challenge. "But I will if you will."

"What pole dancing?" Clarice decided that playing marriage counselor was not really the intended purpose of their lunch together as their food arrived, piled high on plates. It was practically bigger than she was! Damn! "Maybe, sure. I mean, it's like riding a bike, right? We've already done it once. I'm already taking kick boxing and krav m'ga though... I don't know when I'd have time."

Terry laughed and picked up her fork to stab the lettuce in the giant salad. "Which is why it has to be with you and no one else. I am not giving anyone else to the opportunity for blackmail." She stuffed her mouth and turned her attention to chasing bits of chicken around the salad bowl.