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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 17:49:24 GMT
Parker nodded when Madison said she'd been angry with him. It really came as neither a shock nor a surprise. Instead he accepted it, like something difficult to swallow and horrible to digest. He nodded with an apologetic look on his face. However, when she added that he shouldn't get too much better, he laughed a full bodied and genuine laugh. "Oh, Madison, I promise you that no matter how much I try, I'll never get that much better." He winked at her from across the table and took another sip of his drink.
He was eager to move away from the topic of Olivia, though he knew it would come up again because deep down he believed Liv would always be a part of his life. In fact, though he'd spent years trying to ignore it, he knew that returning to New York meant returning to Liv's world - a world he didn't really make decisions so much as just reside there and take things as they came. He knew it and he knew that in all honestly he'd never know how to leave it completely. But he didn't want to admit that, especially not to Maddy.
"Are you still the good girl I remember?" he asked her instead, ticking an eyebrow up and smirking at her.
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 14, 2015 19:26:13 GMT
She laughed, "Oh, I'm not really that good."
Sure, she naturally defaulted to a kind and caring persona, but most of that had been something she had to work at. Something she still had to work at. The publishing world wasn't known for being all sunshines and rainbows, and she had seen people's ugliness come out in the form of rejection letters, responses to said rejection letters, meetings, and so much more. The more time she spent in that world, the more comfortable she was becoming with knowing the best way to handle situations was to straighten her spine and give it as good as she took it.
"Would it surprise you to know that I think that you might have rubbed off on me a little?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 20:41:30 GMT
Parker laughed and eyed Madison for a moment. He supposed that, no, he didn't really expect that she was completely good. No one was perfect. But Madison was still a head above the rest of the people he normally associated with. When she laughed with him, he noted that he did miss her laugh quite a bit. He'd missed a lot of things about her, frankly. And now that they were sitting there over dinner, he was hopeful that his return to New York meant that he could, at the very least, become her friend and make amends for his past treatment.
"I'm not surprised, no," he admitted. "I am however very curious, and hoping that I didn't rub off too much, as I can be quite the cad." He grinned. "So tell me, Maddy, what has your walk on the wild side been like?"
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 14, 2015 20:50:43 GMT
She leaned her forearms on the table, bringing herself closer to him. It was funny how quickly she felt herself becoming more and more comfortable around him. It truly was as though they had been friends once and were now perfectly capable of maintaining a mature friendship now. Grinning at him, she shook her head at his question. "Not terribly wild. Just more understanding of the allure of it."
Taking another drink of her wine, she laughed softly. "Well, there was this time in college that I was conned into going to a party with my roommate. It was probably the first time I had something to drink other than one of those gross wine cooler things that taste like liquid candy or something. Needless to say, I ended up getting drunk and playing ..." she trailed off, realizing that she might be getting ready to cross a line. "Strip beer pong. Honestly, you go to school in the midwest and you learn all sorts of strange things."
She shrugged it off nonchalantly. "What about you? Any wild stories I should know about?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 22:00:19 GMT
Parker listened intently as Maddy recounted her exploits during college. He chuckled and tilted his head at her, "I'm afraid I'm not terribly educated on the rules of that game, but I can imagine." He lifted his eyebrows at her and smirked, almost surprised at how easily it was for him to flirt with her. He tried to curb that urge, unsure that he could make good on whatever silent promises he was insinuating. After all, he'd always firmly believed that she was far too good for him.
"Nothing too incredibly wild, I hate to break the bad boy image, but I daresay that I've become rather dull since leaving here," he admitted. "During college, there was really just Ashleigh, and then after we broke it off I've been entirely engrossed in work. Which, granted, sometimes when you're trying to wine and dine and elected official into approving grants and legislation for what you do - things get a bit...interesting. But I'm not sure anything as exciting or scandalous as strip beer pong in Michigan," he teased with a wink.
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 14, 2015 22:29:58 GMT
She smiled at him and contemplated reaching a hand across the table to take hold of his. Madison wasn't even sure what they were doing anymore. Though she had spent much of her day convincing herself this wasn't a date, that it was just two old friends catching up, she was starting to think she might have been wrong.
"I don't think it sounds dull. It just sounds... Normal." Regardless of the fact that it hasn't been her who had been with him in college, it was endearing that he had said it "had just been Ashleigh". Would should have thought Parker Blye could have been a one woman man?
That thought propelled her to follow through and stretch her hand out to rest on top of his.
She didn't know where her daring kept coming from. "Maybe I'll have to teach you how to play."
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 14, 2015 22:39:29 GMT
Parker was extremely surprised when Madison reached over and took his hand in hers, but he easily returned the gesture and watched where their hands were joined with interest. "I think that you should be warned that I'm a very competitive man, Madison," he warned her. In the back of his mind he felt that there were other things he should warn her about. All of the reasons she should have to keep him at arm's length and not let him near her. Because no matter what she said, she was good and he simply would never reach a point where he would deserve her second chances.
But a selfish part of him didn't know how to tell her any of that. So he squeezed her hand and then forced himself to let go for long enough to take a sip of his drink. He smiled at her. "I'm glad you came out with me tonight, Maddy."
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 14, 2015 22:50:30 GMT
She was trying to picture it. The pair of them playing strip beer pong the way that she had in college. She started picturing him in a state of near undress and had to shake the thought from her head. When he let go of her hand to take a drink she took the opportunity to down the last sip of her wine. She was going to need more to drink if they kept flirting like this.
"I'm glad I did too." Smiling at him, she sought his hand again. "And I will hold you to that game. I'm a very competitive woman too, Parker."
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 15, 2015 0:01:14 GMT
Parker knew that the two of them were hedging on dangerous territory. And suddenly he was a bit anxious about it. Only a few nights ago, he'd been in an elevator on his way up to his hotel room with Olivia. Now he was sitting in a booth at a restaurant with Madison and it was like he was seventeen again, caught between two girl and quickly realizing it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It wasn't anything to brag about. Someone always ended up hurt in the end, and he felt as though he'd spent enough of his time hurting the one of them too nice to really deserve it. Even if she thought it was what she wanted right then. Could he actually make a move and not actually be able to follow through later on in being good enough?
He smiled warmly at her, squeezing her hand and nodding. "Soon," he promised, pushing away the thoughts in his mind.
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 15, 2015 0:18:46 GMT
The temptation to continue whatever sort of flirtation they were engaging in still felt very strong. She smiled softly and felt a brief pang of butterflies in her stomach as he squeezed her hand and promised they would get the opportunity to try her stupid game.
She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and let it go slowly. "This might be dangerous, won't it?"
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Post by Parker Blye on Aug 15, 2015 0:30:49 GMT
Parker looked at her for a moment and then nodded. "Extremely. Which is why we should save the game for another night. We can work up to it," he nodded and grinned at her, even though he wasn't exactly sure what he was saying. Nor was he at all sure that this was a good idea or the right thing to be doing. But as he often rationalized in his head, he had always been a very horrid person. He had always tried to but under no certain terms had truly been a good man. Sometimes he was selfish. And in the case of Madison Walker, try as he might to change it, he was just as bad as he'd always been.
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