Mind Games [Rhea & Ferris]

[Cecil Wathen]

Rhea's little exasperated outburst caused an equally exasperated sigh to leave Cecil's lips. “No, not all the time like, like that. Just y'know, words and stuff, like I do with everyone. Saying hi when he came in if I was stuck behind the bar, that kinda thing. He never responded to it, ever, so I just figured he was deaf to it. And then...” The sigh became a frustrated grump, muffled when he placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it, the warm embers glowing softly in the cool air. “And then this all happened.”

Cecil took a long draw on the cigarette, the motion familiar and oddly soothing, but almost spit it out in disbelief at Rhea's statement. “It's not funny, Rhea! Shit, I don't know what the hell I'm doing! I don't know what happened or how to fix it or... or even if it can be fixed!” Cecil began to get a little wide-eyed as the frustration took hold, and he pointed his cigarette at Rhea as he spoke. “You know why? Because it's been here.” The fingers that had been pointed at Rhea moved to press against his own temple, the cig tilted away so it didn't burn his hair. “It's been here for fucking months. I couldn't... I can't work out what the hell I'm supposed to do with that! I didn't want all...” His hands gestured in a frustrated flapping motion. “all this!”

Mephit could sense her owner's growing state of unease and gave an anxious whining-bark, causing him to crouch down and ruffle her ears again. Rhea's conclusion made sense, he knew it did... but it wouldn't make this any easier. After a long moment's hesitation, he gave a small nod. “Can I at least finish this cig first?”

[Rhea Hartman]

Rhea put her hand over her mouth to stifle the rest of her giggles. Her eyes were still smiling, but when she lowered her fingers they revealed a more sober expression. She cleared her throat. “Look, you know I'm the last person in the world who should be giving out romance advice. I mean,” she breathed a chuckle. "I dated what might as well have been the same self-absorbed douchebag over and over again. Dan started calling them all 'Chad.'" She paused. "I split my knuckle on his tooth for that once,” she added reflectively. Then she shook her head as if brushing off the distraction.

“The point is,” she continued, “Pretty much any advice I give you is shit. But if you want to get over a crush, the best way to do it is to put it out in the open.” She suppressed another smile and rested her hand on his tortured brow. “And that's, ah, definitely happened. So one way or another it'll probably be out of your head soon.” She ruffled his hair. “You think too much. If it was that bad you should have just asked him out.”

Convinced that she wouldn't have to fetch Ferris from the restaurant and drag Cecil in front of him, she allowed her friend the concession. “Yes, you can finish your cigarette first.” She slapped the top of his shoulder. “Then I can help Ferris out and you can smoke until you throw up.”

[Cecil Wathen]

Cecil listened as Rhea was speaking about her lack of credentials when it came to that kind of advice, paying attention to her but gaze transfixed on watching the smoke curling up into the air. It was oddly soothing and he could almost feel some of the tension ebbing away as he watched it. Oh it was still there, knotting in his stomach and making him feel nauseous and like running away was still a totally valid plan, but the desperate urgency to be anywhere but here seemed to be easing away slightly. Of course, that could just have been the Valium kicking in.

He made no effort to nudge away Rhea's hand when she rested it on her forehead, and when she ruffled up his hair Cecil just left it in whatever state she had put it in. It wasn't long enough for the fussing to have made any kind of real mess of it. “Yeah, it is out there, but... I couldn't have just asked him. I've never seen him show the slightest interest in anyone, never mind me, and it's been so long it just started to seem like it'd be a bit... weird, you know?” He gave a small shrug, taking another long pull and exhaling through his nose. “Besides... I haven't dated since, well, since Aaron.”

That truth was both difficult and bitter to admit, and Cecil's brow furrowed deeply as he rubbed at it in frustration. He gave a humourless laugh in response to Rhea's suggestion of smoking until he threw up. “That'll probably be the plan, yeah.” Sadly, all too soon the current cigarette was down to the filter, and he stubbed it out thoroughly before discarding it in the trashcan. “Right. Let's get this over with.” Leading Mephit back through the bar, he sent her through the door leading up to the apartment and closed it behind her. It was a few long moments later that he realised he was still stood staring at the door, quite unable to turn away from it and face the inevitable. He knew that he should, but he had not felt so stuck in place for a very long time.

[Rhea Hartman]

"You could have. You just didn't." Rhea flicked Cecil's forehead in a final gesture of annoyance and affection before returning her hands to her pockets. "I know," she agreed, more sympathetically. "That why I haven't said anything before." She lifted both shoulders in casual regard. "Well, at least you've got that whole 'awkward first romance attempt' out of the way. And it can only go uphill from here."

She watched with approval as Cecil, true to his word, squared his shoulders and headed back into the bar rather than vaulting over the back fence. "That's the idea." She waited just inside the doorway to the bar, heard Mephit clattering up the stairs, and yet no Cecil appeared. She sighed and turned around. A little encouragement then.

Encountering the Welshman staring a hole through the apartment door, Rhea took him gently but firmly by the shoulders and steered him around. "Bar's this way." And with a little push, she sent him back into the restaurant.

[Cecil Wathen]

Cecil frowned at the flick on his forehead but made no move to attack her back like he normally would have done. Instead he just let the cool wall support him, giving a humourless laugh at her mention of it only being able to go uphill now. “That, or he'll sock me in the mouth as soon as I head back in. Which is totally valid, I think.” Cecil flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette grumpily. “I mean, it's creepy, right?” Just then something Rhea had said occurred to him, and he frowned at her. “Hang on a sec... What do you mean, you haven't said anything before? I never told you any of this.”

Regardless of what his nerves (and sense of self-preservation) were telling him, Cecil knew that this was not something that would magically go away if he ignored it. Even as he stared at the wood of the door up to his apartment, unable to move from the spot, he knew that he had to turn around and face the mess that he had created. He offered no small amount of resistance as Rhea took him by the shoulders, semi-involuntarily blocking the motion until he knew that he had no other choice. Eventually he caved, and with Rhea's little push he made his way back out into the bar proper.

Towards Ferris.

Stopping a few feet away from the chef, hopefully out of earshot of the few other people that were in the bar, Cecil shuffled awkwardly and was unable to tear his gaze away from the table. “Uh... That was... That was massively inappropriate, and I'm sorry.” He fussed again, fidgeting and rubbing his left elbow awkwardly with his right hand. “I didn't mean for it to get like that, which isn't an excuse because I know I shouldn't've been doing it anyway, but... yeah, I'm really sorry.”