Nope, doesn't ring a bell (Lucy)

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner had his life together. It was kind of exciting, really. He'd graduated from Hammel, was working full-time at the House, actually kind of making a name for himself, and he had his own place. The whole idea of adulthood had been appealing to Tanner for quite a while, but now that he was actually doing it, he found he liked having a routine and, of course, the freedom of not having to go to class, study, do homework... That said, he sort of regretted not going to college, but he could always do that in a year or so if he ever got bored of his current situation.

There was one slight problem, though, and that was that he had gotten so busy with work that he'd lost touch with a lot of people. He still kept up with Kiara, Zac, and a few of his other friends from Hammel, and he got along with most of the workers at the House (with the exception of a certain Romanian pianist and a kid who worked in the costume department who made him exceedingly uncomfortable for reasons he couldn't quite articulate), but he still felt like something was missing.

It was on his rare night off that he found himself laying on his couch, flipping through his phone contacts while a rerun of South Park placed on the television on the other side of the room. Hmm... there were a few people there he hadn't spoken to in a while... Lucy. Now there was a name that caught his eye. He'd had Lucy in his phone since the auction Kiara had organized, and they'd managed to have two somewhat successful dates before just... kind of falling out of touch. It was probably Tanner's fault, really. He was a busy guy, but that was no excuse. Would it be weird to text her now, after several months?

Probably.

[phone]: Hey, Lucy. It's Tanner. Larson. How have you been?

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It took a while for Lucy to notice she even got a message. Her headphones were perfectly drowning out any outer noise - including that of her message tone. She was busy, anyway. Killing bitches on WoW. You know how it is.

When she finally took a break, she realised someone had actually messaged her. Most of her friends never bothered - they either visited abruptly or IM'd her. But she read it anyway;

Tanner Larson.

Who?

Ah, shit. She was never that great at remembering names. Unless she had a decent nickname to tack onto them. But Tanner Larson - what super funny thing could she blend that into. Glancing back at her wall - the proverbial wall of drawn faces - she couldn't say she recognised him there either.

She was drawing a complete blank.

[phone]: Get lost, jackass. I don't know you.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner quirked an eyebrow at the response. It had come a while after he'd sent it, but he hadn't been anticipating a response right away given how out-of-the-blue his initial text had been. For a moment, he felt a bit dejected, but then he realized the girl must surely be joking. She did have a rather callous sense of humor, after all; he seemed to recall her calling him gay at some point because he liked to sing or whatever.

[phone]: Haha. Very funny.
[phone]: I know you remember me. From the House?

After a brief pause, he sent a third text, just in case:

[phone]: Our date you didn't wanna go on?

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy usually had an incredibly stellar memory for faces. Numbers too. As soon as she got the message about the House, she felt her mind racing back to the first time she'd been there. Faced with a slightly persistent blonde boy with a neat little smile and even neater hair. He liked to sing. He managed to make her stay.

[phone]: OH yeah

Was all she sent back.

[phone]: I remember.

She added swiftly, as if that hadn't already been obvious. But it was a pretty bad end to a short conversation, so Lucy spent a sliver of her time trying to think of what might spark a response.

[phone]: You graduated, right?

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner wasn't exactly sure what he had expected to get out of texting Lucy. Perhaps he was just bored and wanted someone to talk to, or maybe he felt bad that there had been some sort of potential there that he'd let slip out of his fingers. Or hell, maybe he was just horny. Either way, he knew it wasn't fair to expect anything in particular, so he couldn't really blame Lucy for not recognizing his name at first.

[phone]: Yeah, graduated
[phone]: Still in town, though

He pondered telling her he still worked at the House, but figured that might be an overflow of information; besides, he wasn't totally sure how much she'd actually enjoyed being there. Well, enough to warrant a second date, but he figured that was more due to his geeky charm than the atmosphere.

[phone]: You?

He actually had no idea what her situation was these days. Had she graduated in June? He couldn't recall whether she was eighteen or... older or younger. But it was somewhere in that vicinity. He remembered them talking about how they both didn't like Vermont that much, but evidently not enough to have moved away by now.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

[phone]: You serious?
[phone]: Why're you still hanging around here?

Lucy was curious. She kind of assumed someone like him would have wanted to move somewhere else. Somewhere better. More suited to what he wanted to do with his life. From memory he sang, or something.

[phone]: I mean, you weren't a shit singer y'know.

Shit. Was that a compliment? Fuck, why couldn't people take back messages.

[phone]: Still waiting to graduate.

That was annoying. Lucy frowned at the mere notion, carrying the intention of switching this around as soon as possible.

[phone]: Do you still work at
[phone]: Shit
[phone]: What's it called?

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner smirked; Lucy must have remembered their conversation about wanting out of Pilot Ridge just as he did. That was a fair question, then. In truth, part of it was inertia, but he didn't need to tell her that

[phone]: Well I was thinking of going to college, but I'm making good money at the House, so...

This way, he figured, he could save up for college while doing something he enjoyed.

He recalled the girl's relative inability to pay (or take, for that matter) a compliment, so he recognized her attempt at kindness in calling him 'not a shit singer.'

[phone]: Thanks.

Still waiting to graduate. So then was she supposed to have been in his graduating class? That would make sense. But then why hadn't she? She'd demonstrated her power at the House and she clearly knew what she was doing with it. And she hadn't seemed stupid to him, so that ruled out academic reasons for being held back. It wasn't really his business, though, so he wasn't going to pry.

[phone]: Ah. Sucks.
[phone]: The House? Yeah I still work there. Every Thursday

He could only imagine her reaction to getting a winky emoticon, which was a large part of why he'd used it.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Of course Lucy remembered. Tanner was the first like minded person she'd actually sat down and talked to.

When she got the compliments response, she figured it was best to leave it as it was. It was already out there, it wasn't able to be taken back. So fuck it. She let it go.

[phone]: Yeah it sucks.

She frowned at the notion, but when she got his next message it was difficult not to laugh. "Did he-" Her voice broke out as she chuckled to herself. A winkie face? What a homo.

[phone]: Are you hitting on me?
[phone]: ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

Her teeth sunk down into her tongue gently. It was too good to just let him get away with.

[phone]: No offence dude but you're pretty much a stripper

[Tanner Larson]

[phone]: Maybe.

Tanner found himself smiling. He knew there was no way Lucy would be okay with flirtation, but that was part of what was so fun about it - pushing her buttons and seeing what set her off. She was like a fiery little timebomb. Besides, the way Tanner saw it, it was only natural they might flirt a little: he was hot, she was hot, why not, right? Well, he already knew she didn't see it that way, but the shy, unconfident Tanner had grown up over the past year.

[phone]: You look good when you wink.

Okay, that was likely taking it too far. It was just a harmless joke, though. Hell, even texting her was taking it too far, and here they were, so he might as well enjoy it while it lasted. He could only imagine how much longer Lucy would entertain this for.

[phone]: Hey not true, I keep my clothes on.
[phone]: Why, you been thinking about that?

Tanner was not very good, quite clearly, at this whole flirtation thing. But he tried and hoped that maybe it had a sort of dorky charm. Why else would she have bid on him at that auction thing? And he was bored, so he was going to keep pushing those buttons while they were available to him.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Maybe? Lucy exhaled on a sharp laugh. From what she remembered about the guy, this wasn't very like him. Either he was - in simple terms - fucking with her, or he was something of a different person.

[phone]: The digital version ain't got nothing on the real thing.

Because it was like a game now, wasn't it? Were they awkward flirting for the laughs? Was he actually being legitimate?

[phone]: Not very well, apparently.

Lucy could have sworn he was a stripper. Maybe he was just being really modest that one time she actually went and saw him perform. Oh well, that didn't really matter. She could make stripper jokes for days. Later.

[phone]: Hey, you're the one who texted me first.
[phone]: What've you been thinking about?

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner smiled. Okay, so they were flirting, there were no two ways about it. This was kind of odd, seeing as how they hadn't flirted at all on their first date, and only a little and very awkwardly on their second. Any other guy would have sealed the deal given that they were already at his place, but Tanner was a special kind of dork, one who had possessed absolutely no game beyond natural attractiveness until earlier this year. He certainly wasn't complaining about this new development, though. Perhaps he wasn't the only one who was bolder over the phone than in person - or, as likely, perhaps he wasn't the only one who'd grown up over the past year.

[phone]: I don't recall you ever doing that in person. I'm sure I'd remember if you did.

When asked what he'd been thinking about, he had to think carefully before responding. Anything flirtatious like "you" would likely just come off as creepy. After all, they hadn't seen each other in nearly a year, and his text was out-of-the-blue as it was.

[phone]: Well, felt bad I never got that third date.
[phone]: Guess I got busy.

Alright, now bring it home, Larson...

[phone]: Maybe I can make it up?
[phone]: That is, if you're down... down, down, down, down

She had to remember that awful song he'd sung during their date at the House -she just had to. Then again, she hadn't even remembered his name right away, so there was always a certain level of uncertainty.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

He got busy? Lucy wanted to argue that, but then she realised that a stripper's life wasn't something she could comment on in terms of business.

[phone]: Suuuure you did

When Lucy got his last message, she laughed a lot harder than she thought she was going to. Of course she remembered the song - or rather, parts of it. She remembered he didn't totally suck at singing, so that was something. He was definitely a little different than she remembered, though it really had been a year. She supposed she was different too.

[phone]: Just for that
[phone]: I'm saying yes

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner frowned slightly when Lucy questioned the veracity of his statement. It really wasn't much of an excuse: people got busy all over and found time to see each other. He supposed he just... didn't have his priorities right? He had basically done a terrible job of staying in touch with everyone, and Lucy had been one of several casualties. He was dropping it, though, since he didn't really have any way of responding to that without admitting guilt.

Just for that... JUST FOR THAT WHAT, LUCY? Tanner's heart skipped a beat as he waited for the second or two that passed between the two texts. But yes. It was a yes. And Tanner's day, week, and month had been made. Because getting a date was hard enough, but getting a third date? That was pro status.

[phone]: Nice. So, you doing anything Saturday?
[phone]: I promise I won't take you back to the House.
[phone]: Unless you want. j/k

He had a pretty strong feeling that wasn't on her short list of date locations for the foreseeable future.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

[phone]: Saturday? I don't think so

At least, Lucy didn't have any plans yet. She rarely made plans - rather, things seemed to happy on the fly. So she figured the night might as well be his. When he was talking about the House, of course she laughed.

Initially she went to message him saying she couldn't think of anywhere worse to go, but she deleted it. Instead, she went about it in a different way;

[phone]: You asked for a date, you figure it out.

[Tanner Larson]

[phone]: Awesome.

It made sense that he'd be the one to decide where they'd go, seeing as how this little date had been his request. But it wasn't going to be a very easy choice. Both of them being under 21, there weren't many bars or clubs they could get into; besides, Tanner would feel kind of weird essentially visiting the House's competition. So maybe a restaurant. Damn, there was not enough to do in Pilot Ridge. He'd ask around the House and see what people suggested. It was basically a miracle that Lucy had agreed to a date a year after they'd lost touch, and he wasn't mucking this up.

[phone]: Let's meet at the House at 7. Then we can walk there.

Tanner didn't go to Hammel anymore, so he couldn't pick Lucy up at her room, and it would be kind of weird for her to pick him up at his apartment. The House was a pretty central location in the downtown area, so they could just rendezvous at that point and head to... wherever it is they were going.

Tanner had some research to do.