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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 18, 2015 2:44:54 GMT
It had been her conversation with Riley that had pushed her over the edge. She had been advised that if she thought that Parker could make her happy that she should just go for it, that she should fight to make it work. And while part of her couldn't shake the fact that he had been very honest with her about his relationship with Liv, Madison's gut feeling told her to fight for what she wanted. And right now she thought that she wanted this. She had made the move to call him and to ask him out on a date, a real date. This time she was sure there would be no question as to what they were doing or whether or not another person could come between them because this time she had labeled it. It was a dinner date. And she was nervous. She couldn't stop rubbing her palms on her dress to keep them from being so clammy. Feeling the shortness of her skirt she second guessed her outfit for the thousandth time and wondered if she had enough time to change again. It shouldn't be this hard for a person to dress themselves. Nothing was that big of a deal. But she had still tried on nearly every dress in her closet, disregarding them all for one reason or another. One was too conservative, another was too revealing, or too red. She sighed and tried to convince herself that what she was wearing was perfect. She had even sent Riley a quick text message earlier in the evening to reassure herself that she didn't look ridiculous. It wasn't as though she had never been out with this man before. Hell, it wasn't like he hadn't be involved with her in a way that made her blush to think about. As the hands on the clock moved closer and closer to reaching their agreed upon time her heart began to race faster and faster. "Damn him," she muttered under her breath. Sitting on her couch she tried to busy herself by picking up a book and thumbing through it, but she was sure that she hadn't read a single word. It was much too difficult to focus. She cursed herself for getting ready so early and leaving too much time to get anxious about the evening. |
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 18, 2015 2:54:55 GMT
Parker had to admit, he'd been a little surprised when Madison had called him out of the blue and asked him out on a date, but he supposed it shouldn't have surprised him too much. He knew, more or less, that she was still interested in him and was well aware of the fact that he had done everything to encourage it. So he'd said yes, of course. Because at the end of the day, he wanted to take her out anyway and see if he really had improved enough to the point of deserving her time.
His town car pulled up to the curb in front of her brownstone and he bounded up the steps two at a time before hitting the buzzer and grinning when she greeted him over the intercom. "Miss. Walker, your chariot awaits," he replied easily as he stood back and straightened his collar. He'd foregone a tie that evening. He smoothed his hand over his hair, checking his reflection in the glass pane of the door.
He'd never claimed not to be a little vain.
When she walked out the door, he smiled warmly at her. "Madison, you look lovely," he nodded, taking her hand to lead her down the few steps to the sidewalk and usher her into the town car.
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 18, 2015 3:13:58 GMT
She felt herself grinning like an idiot as he greeted her over the intercom. Leave it to him to say something ridiculously cheesy and charming all at the same time. Well, at least she thought it was charming. She smiled at him as she closed the door to her townhouse behind her. "Thank you, you're looking well," she returned the compliment.
He took her hand and led her to the town car and she sat down beside him, looking out the window for a moment before turning and looking at him. "Thank you for agreeing to come out with me tonight." She bit at her bottom lip and smiled softly. "It is incredibly embarrassing if I admit that I was really nervous to ask you?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 18, 2015 3:29:29 GMT
Parker smirked at Madison, shaking his head at her. "No, it's not embarrassing. I'm a bit embarrassed that you beat me to it," he acknowledged apologetically. "I'm failing in every lesson I ever learned in manners," he admitted sheepishly. He'd been busy between trips to London and wall-to-wall meetings at work. He was glad that she had called though.
Someone he hadn't heard from recently was from Olivia, and while he didn't mean to dwell on that he knew that his former cohort had been angry at him and why, it nagged at him slightly. Because the only thing more concerning than a trouble making Liv was a quiet Liv, to him it meant that he was in the eye of a storm. And he imagined, eventually, it would take its toll on both him and on Madison. He didn't say that though, instead he turned his attention to her. "So, how has work been? Read any good books lately? Or any particularly bad ones?" he teased.
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 18, 2015 3:44:08 GMT
Madison laughed, shaking her head at him. "No, it's okay, really. I know that you've been busy." Hoping that most of what had kept him busy was work and not the company of a certain blonde woman she smiled at him. "Like I said, I'm just glad you had some time in your schedule to take me up on my offer."
Convincing herself to continue trying to take Riley's advice and just go after what she wanted, she slowly inched her hand toward his, giving it a gentle squeeze. She could still feel her heart beating loudly in her chest, so much so that her nerves were convincing her that she was actually hearing it echo in the back of the car. Looking away from him to glance out the window for a second, innocently acting as though taking his hand had been no big deal, she looked back at him with a smile. "Work has been good," she nodded. "Nothing too horrible, but there's one book that I'm helping to copy edit that I can't seem to put down. I actually think I forgot to edit half a chapter today so I'm going to have to go back and reread that tomorrow to make sure I didn't miss a major typo."
"What about you? How has work been treating you? Other than keeping you busy?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 18, 2015 3:57:38 GMT
Parker liked hearing Madison speak about her work because she truly enjoyed it. While he liked his job and he was good at his job, what he enjoyed most about it was the fact that it was all his - no one had handed him a job just because of his name or his father, not that he respected any of the other men in the city less because of their fortunate circumstances. But he thought it was proof that he had grown up, contrary to what Olivia had accused him of the other night. "Must be a good book, when it's released you'll have to let me know what it is so I can get myself a copy."
He shrugged when he was asked about his own job. "We're facing some push back from local legislators that don't know how they feel about the technology, as well as some special interest groups. London's going a bit smoother, but some of the other cities - I imagine I'm going to have to travel a bit. They're even trying to raise problems back in San Francisco," he sighed but shook his head. "But that's not important right now."
The car pulled up to the restaurant, sliding to an easy stop before Parker stepped out, walked around the car and pulled the door open for Maddy. "Shall we?"
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 18, 2015 4:21:50 GMT
She was disappointed to hear that he had more traveling on the horizon as she had been selfishly hoping for some time with him to explore the possibility of a whatever this had the potential of becoming. He dismissed his work and she nodded a little in agreement before exiting the car, thanking him for holding the door open for her.
It wasn't that she had been expecting smooth sailing - or maybe on some level, she had - but she felt like she had to work a little harder to understand him. She was sure that he didn't do it on purpose but everything about him seemed to confuse her in some way or another. From her being the one to initiate their date to now feeling as though she was more emotionally attached to the idea of some sort of relationship with him than he was with her.
They were led to their table and she took her seat, giving a small smile to the host before they left. It had been a long time since she had been on an honest-to-goodness date, at least since she finally ended things with her long-term boyfriend from Harper Collins. She had tried very hard not to think of him outside of work but the realization that he had been her last date had snuck up on her unexpectedly. She tried to ignore the thought and instead looked over at Parker. "I feel like I have to ask," she smiled, "Do you have a favorite book?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 18, 2015 4:34:47 GMT
Parker was pleased with the choice of restaurant. He and his well meaning assistant Nina had talked over about half a dozen before making a reservation. He smiled at her when they took their seats and then listened to her question thoughtfully. "I think I wouldn't be a very good Englishman if I didn't have a favorite book," he quipped before pausing thoughtfully. "I would say that one of the first books to make an impression on me was Marlowe's 'The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus,'" he nodded. "Though I was also a very big fan of Conrad growing up, Heart Of Darkness and The Secret Agent. Fantastic works, and English was his third language, which is what I find most remarkable about the entire thing."
He paused a beat when the waiter came by and ordered them a bottle of wine. He looked at Maddy and smiled. "What about you? Can you pick an absolute favorite? The one that let you know you wanted to work in publishing?"
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 18, 2015 5:02:00 GMT
She had to hand it to him - the man had great taste in books. She supposed if he hadn't that might have easily answered whatever questions she might have had about the validity of her feelings for him, but he was full of surprises. If he had mentioned something like a non-fiction about business or some sort of self-help, "be your own hero" type of things, she probably would have gotten up and left just then. But she actually had fond memories of reading all three of the titles he mentioned. "Those are great books," she complemented. "You have very good taste."
Thinking of her own favorite she shrugged, sipping at the glass of water in front of her. "The Catcher in the Rye has always stuck out for me. Probably because the professor I had in college when we went over the book had such a passion for the novel. All of the symbols and the allusions, the plight of the unreliable narrator... It just made it sort of unforgettable for me. But, truthfully, I think I wanted to work in publishing because of fairy tales, of all things. I wanted to be part of immortalizing stories so that in a hundred years when people looked back on their history, they could look at it fondly in the way that we do with stories like Cinderella and Snow White. Or, at least the Disney versions of them."
Talking about her passions made her feel as though she was baring a personal part of her soul to him, and she was a little worried that she had gotten too involved in her explanation. It wasn't easy having to learn all about someone new.
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 18, 2015 5:17:04 GMT
"I'd like to think my good taste is evidenced by the woman I chose to dine with tonight, but if you think it's the books, I'll take that as a compliment, too," he joked.
Parker grinned as he listened to her talk about her favorite books, he nodded along. He himself liked reading, but maybe not to the extent that Maddy did. He appreciated language as an art form and he appreciated her passion for it even more. He chuckled when he mentioned the Disney versions and he thought to himself that part of it made sense that she enjoyed fairy tales, the fantastical optimistic part of it made sense to him. He supposed that was why she had believed he was a better man than he was ten years ago - that same optimism. "I don't think I know all the fairy tales other than the main Disney ones."
The waiter came by to take their order and pour their wine, he thanked him before taking a sip, pleased with his selection before ordering a steak dish and snapping the menu closed.
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 18, 2015 5:31:55 GMT
She always seemed to be unable to stop blushing at his compliments. He was really going to need to stop doing it so frequently or she thought her cheeks might become permanently stained a vibrant pink. "Well, if you ever find yourself ridiculously bored, let me know and I'll bring you up to speed."
The waiter interrupted to take their order and she relayed hers before turning back to him. "Now you go," she urged, smiling at him. "Ask me something, anything."
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 18, 2015 5:51:43 GMT
Parker chuckled, realizing that a game of sorts had been made out of their date. "A question? Any question at all?" he paused, trying to think of a compelling one. "Why did you choose Michigan for college? You probably had scores well enough to go a lot of different place, what was it about Michigan that made you want to go there?"
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 18, 2015 12:19:26 GMT
The truth was because she needed to be far enough away from her former classmates that she could feel like she could grow up without any of the petty drama. With everyone seemingly choosing schools along the east and west coasts, the Midwest had a certain allure.
"They have a really great English program. It had just seemed very old-fashioned and right up my alley. It was really the campus visit that sold me."
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 18, 2015 13:32:46 GMT
Parker hummed thoughtfully and nodded at her. "To be honest, I think I've never actually been to Michigan. I mean, I've driven through it before once or twice I'm sure, but I've never actually stopped and had a look around. He paused and then shook his head, "Once I had an hour long layover in Detroit, but only saw the airport." He grinned. "I think I attended Princeton to upset my father. He'd wanted me to attend Cambridge, but I'd been insistent on staying here and attending college, maybe a bit to spite him."
Taking a sip of wine, Parker grinned at her. "It's your turn to ask me a question."
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 18, 2015 15:02:12 GMT
She smiled at him, recalling that he had mentioned a strained relationship with his father. Or at least a more complicated relationship than she had with her own parents. It was almost ridiculous how normal and boring her life seemed when comparing it with her former classmates. If nothing else, at least the reunion had provided her with some sort of sense of accomplishment for not having ended up in the middle of some sort of drama - whether it was career related or more personal.
That wasn't entirely true, she admitted. There was this nagging feeling that no matter where this exchange with Parker went, there would always be the lingering feeling that Olivia was just waiting in the wings for the right moment to bring it all crashing down. She was determined not to let that thought ruin her evening, however, no matter how much she wanted to ask him about it. Curiousity about whether or not he had spoken to her recently was rising, but she was a little afraid of the answer.
But she was also afraid of looking back on this date and realizing that she had been completely boring. Running her finger around the edge of her wine glass she raised a shoulder in a small shrug. "I'm really struggling to come up with something that doesn't sound completely stupid." Taking a drink of her wine, she looked up at him with a small smile. "I think you make me nervous, Parker."
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