I need like TEN seconds of your time.. (Chassy)

[Corbin Jacobs]

Corbin almost grinned when Chassy admitted that it was fun being scooped up like she had been.. but then she nearly made Corbin go a bit white. Her feet were fine because she showered.. and they probably werent even bleeding anymore. Oh, hell no. That shit was getting looked at. But Corbin just kept walking as he stifled a shudder and she continued. This demon dog was apparently six foot tall or better.. hopefully on it's back legs and not on all fours.. cause holy crap. She'd used her power? .. which was what? ..And took her shoes off so she could run without it hearing her. And then she was getting closer to him.. and it looked like she was genuinely a bit freaked out.

Corbin.. well.. closed the distance and put an arm on her shoulder, taking a look around as he did. "So you blinded it? Is that what you do? Some sort of luminescent or a sensory manipulator or a biomanipulator? --Look, if you find that thing again, you call me, alright?" Because.. like earlier, when she was vulnerable.. there was something different about Chassy. She was more real. And here she'd subconsciously (at least he assumed subconsciously) gotten closer to Corbin when she started talking about this demon dog. It was real.. and she was genuinely afraid of it.

"I have a my Chevelle, right? No worries. You call me, I'll be there. Guarantee that dog-thing can't hurt me. If you got nobody else, I'll do what I can to protect you.." He grabbed his wallet again, handing Chassy a business card with a logo, his name, address, email, office, fax, and cell numbers.

At this point, though, it was safe to assume that they were basically standing outside of the burger joint.. to finish their conversation before heading inside.

[Chassy Trouble]

He closed the distance between them causing Chassy to smirk at the welcomed distraction from the direct thought of that huge devil dog that had tried to eat her. Okay, so she didn't know if it was really out to eat her. But she was pretty fucking sure that it was angry, violent, and would have likely killed her if it had the chance to. Goosebumps again. This time though, the shudder was interrupted as Corbin put his arm on her shoulder and had her looking at him rather than staring off in front of them.

He went to guessing her power and Chassy smirked some more but the smirk turned into a raised brow as Corbin went to telling her to call him if she found that thing again. He even went telling her that she could call him and he'd be there to protect her. Protect her, huh? She wanted to make a joke about that but she was too busy trying to sort out what made him like that.

The card he offered her was taken and she got cheeky with him again after sticking it in her pocket.

"You finally found an excuse to give me your number, huh?" She teased.

She was a little off though from the whole dog thing.

"And damn, yeah you guessed it. Sensory manipulator. Which means I can shut off your senses..."

She moved to be in front of him and gave him a flirty teasing look.

"Oh, I can amplify them. Big time." She added with a wink before grabbing on the door and opening it with a grin.

[Corbin Jacobs]

"Yeah, yeah, excuse to give you my number. So this 'date' can be official." Corbin rolled his eyes and grinned. As long as he didn't fully play along he felt he was in the clear.. and given that Chassy still .. felt a little off.. he was happy to give her the distraction. He trusted that she understood he'd given her that business card so that if she couldn't protect herself, he could help her. That it was a gesture not only of good faith, but also .. well.. brotherly. It wasn't being called 'big brother' that had bothered him.. it was the date bit. Or.. it was mixing the two. Because no. But Corbin did honestly look at girls Chassy's age like little sisters most of the time.. Esha wasn't much older than Chassy and despite technically being a cousin, Corbin treated her like a sister. It just seemed silly not to. The natural urge was there, why fight it? It's not like it hurt anyone.. Hell, it had actually helped to keep Chassy from getting some crazy infection in her knee.

So while Corbin was dwelling on how he really wanted to believe that Chassy understood that he was trying to be a decent human being, she admitted that he'd guessed her ability... and then she went right right back into innuendos. Corbin coughed as he was ripped right out of the sentimental moment he was having and choked on a laugh. "Well if you're gonna amplify anything, how about your focus on taste here? If you shut off my taste buds while I'm eating this burger I'm gonna be pissed. --Yo, Treyvon! Two specials, one with rings! One vanilla shake the way you know I like it!"

It almost seemed like Corbin had been here a few times.. There was laughter from the kitchen as Corbin pointed to a booth with a questioning glance at Chassy. He'd follow her to a seat. His had was still on her shoulder, though. She could shrug it off anytime she wanted, but on the chance that she appreciated it, he was going to keep it there till it became inconvenient.

[Chassy Trouble]

His eye rolling and grinning wasn't going to throw her off. Nope. The thing was, though she wouldn't ever admit it, the chase was what she liked the most when she flirted and carried on. The fact that he was giving her a good chase, kept her interested and amused at the same time. It kept her from planning on just losing his card or something.

He choked when she flirted with him, then laughed before managing to recover by turning it into talking about her manipulating the sense of taste for this meal. Before she could even twist that around again, he was calling to the guy behind the counter and giving him their order.

"So, I'm taking it that you've been here plenty of times." Chassy commented, half teasing.

Her hand went on his and she batted her lashes at him to see if she could get him to squirm before led the way to one of the seats more towards the corner of the burger spot.

"I like to see what's going on around me." She stated as she sat down.

That, and she hadn't seen a "no dogs" sign on the door, so there was that.

[Corbin Jacobs]

"You'll see why that's funny here in a minute.." It was funny because 'Treyvon' was actually a ginger white dude named Trevor who for whatever reason always wore a trucker cap sideways.. He was the whitest guy in Pilot Ridge.

"And yeah, I've been here a few times. I kinda eat a lot.. and I make plenty of money.. so I like to support local restaurants. Plus it gets me out of the shop for a while."

The fact that Chassy 'liked to see what was going on around her' alerted Corbin to two things.. First, that she was perhaps not so confident as she let on.. and second that she was apparently more cautious than he'd been lead to believe. Both of those things were likely to lead to her having a longer life, though.. so he couldn't really find fault with either, even if he was desperately curious why she put on the act she did if she then turned around and was one of those people that had to see the entrance to the place she was sitting in.

As for Corbin squirming at having eyelashes batted at him.. pfft, they were well past that now. And since he was in a place he was comfortable, the tables might just get turned on Chassy at some point in the very near future.. possibly starting with the text message that Corbin received. It was the sound of some kind of large dog barking and growling. This was actually Corbin's 'business contact' txt tone.. set as a barking dog because people were always hunting and sniffing out the best prices and turnarounds they could find. He casually glanced at his phone, then back at Chassy as he hit the screen lock button to shut it up. It was a confirmation that his payment for the stock that was now on his trailer had gone through. No big deal.

[Chassy Trouble]

When he told her she'd see why it was funny, she rose a brow. Why what was funny? She was half tempted to ask him but held her tongue and just went to listening to him telling her that he'd been here a few times. As he went on to telling her that he ate a lot and about how he supported local restaurants, she took little notes.

"So, you eat a lot as a side effect? Or because you're that active?"

And of course, Chassy being in the mood that she was, had made the second part hold a double meaning. The mood quickly turned south though, and not in the fun kind of way, when the sound of a barking Cujo came. Even if Chassy's heart stopped for a split second, she managed to keep a straight face. She wouldn't have started to freak out unless she saw the fucker. And, the fucker ended up just being Corbin's cellphone. Of course, he'd have something like that on his phone.

"So... the whole nice guy thing. Is that because of your past?"

[Corbin Jacobs]

"Eh, you could say it's a bit of both? I mean, denser muscles, bones, skin.. it all takes more nutrients for upkeep.. But, like, I do put in a little effort to not look like a slob.. I walk, run, mess with some weights and stuff.. Plus I work a lot. You'd be surprised how draining sitting in one spot with a welder for hours on end can be."

Chassy's practiced face won the day.. Or at least kept her form giving away how terrified of any large dog she was. Corbin was so used to his text tone that he didn't even notice it was a dog barking anymore. It just meant 'something to do with business'. But then Chassy's question had him raising an eyebrow..

"I'm really not sure where you're even going with that.. Why does somebody need an excuse to be a nice guy? Why do I, like, have to have a reason from my past? If that's how you look at every decent guy, no wonder the pickins seem slim around your age range.. But.. Humor me. If there was something in my past that made me wanna be a nice guy.. would that be better or worse? And.. for that matter, what would it have been? What, like.. crazy romantic or tragic stuff happened in my past in your head that made me who I am?" He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. Oh, yeah. He was gonna make her come up with something and Corbin was really interested in what it might be.

[Chassy Trouble]

Everything seemed fine and good while he answered her about why he ate a lot, him explaining that it had to do with his powers, his work, and him working out to keep that nice shape of his. Which she smirked at the mental image of. But then, things kind of switched up and changed as he went to telling her he wasn't sure where she was going with that, and asking her why anyone needed an excuse to be a nice guy.

Well, because the majority of people out there were assholes, that's why. Even she was an asshole, she'd admit it. As he went to asking her why he had to have a reason from his past then commenting on why pickings seemed slim around her age range, Chassy sighed a little and turned sideways on the bench-like seat to put her feet up and cross her legs at the ankle. She wasn't blowing him off or anything, she just had the feeling this was gonna be a long one.

"Maybe because there's no such thing as people being as nice as you without there being some reason for it and I was wondering what was up." She commented.

"I didn't have any story in my head, and I wasn't assuming it was something from your past. If I did, I would have asked you what it was rather than asking if it was something." She said before bringing her feet back to the floor again.

[Corbin Jacobs]

Oh, but when Chassy had turned and gotten comfy, Corbin had followed suit, turning and pressing his back to the wall and putting his feet up as well. When Chassy turned back, he didn't. It would be a few minutes before their food was up.. he'd rather be comfortable.

"See, I think the opposite way. You don't need a reason to be nice or do something nice.. you need a reason to be a jerk or to, like, do shit just so people owe you or feel indebted to you or whatever. You need a reason to.. say.. not like onion rings. Cause I mean.. onion rings are awesome. Unless, I mean.. Let's say they give you killer heartburn or indigestion. Boom. There's a reason not to like onion rings. Even a reason to avoid them or talk bad about them so other people don't get them when you're around. Guys that go around chasing skirts.. There's gotta be a reason for that. Maybe their first girlfriend did them wrong.. or maybe they're immature idiots.. Or, like, maybe they think 'being a man' is 'controlling a woman' or some shit. Like.. I don't like wasps. I kill wasps. No guilt, nothing. Cause when I was little I turned over a flower pot with a wasp nest in it and I got the shit stung out of me. Turned me against wasps for forever. Got a reason. And I don't like import cars. Cause I see what happens when they wreck. They get destroyed. People get hurt. Reason. Being a decent person doesn't need a reason. People are naturally like.. 'good'.. even if not 'super good'.. Most people would sooner leave you alone than go out of their way to screw you over. I like making sure people know I appreciate when they do nice shit for me, ya know? I mean, that's why I'm here. Cause I mean it when I say thank you and I appreciate that you helped me out. You didn't have to. You could have been like 'fuck this, creepy truck guy, no' but you didn't. You were cool.. with no reason. If you need a reason to be cool.. why'd you help me out earlier?"

[Chassy Trouble]

So he thought people were naturally good and shit and they just turned into dicks when shit happened to them to do so?.. So what world was he from? Most of the people Chassy knew were assholes in some way or another. It wasn't that she didn't have fun with some of them, oh she did. It was just she knew they were assholes and that she was one too.

"I've got my reasons." She told him with a smirk, pretending for a few seconds like she was going to leave it at that.

She did end up speaking up again though.

"I mean, look at you. I'd be crazy to not think of SOME excuse to get at least one date out of you." She stated, evading things with flirting and teasing.

"That, and maybe I haven't quite finished metamorphisizing into a bitch just yet. And yeah, that's totally a word now if it isn't already." She added.

[Corbin Jacobs]

"..Sounds like a word to me." Chassy was crazy good at dodging questions and.. anything real, though. She'd just given him the flirty answer and the too-vague-to-be-an-answer-but-still-okay-cause-it-was-looking-on-the-bright-side answer. Neither of which actually came close to answering the question.. which didn't escape Corbin.. who rested his chin on a fist and stared for a few moments.

"See.. You're a girl.. and you know you're confusing.. but at least you, like, understand your own kind of confusing. Me? I'm not. Never been a girl, never even been in a serious relationship with one. --Or any guys, either. Don't go there. What I'm getting at is that, I mean.. You didn't answer that question at all. Lemme break it down, so you know what a nice guy hears in case you ever come across another one. I've got my reasons.. says two things. First, it says that you want me to dig deeper so, like, I prove I'm actually interested in those reasons.. Second that you aren't gonna tell me those reasons cause.. I dunno. Maybe its too deep and you don't let a random guy ever get that deep.. or maybe you don't think I could understand if you did tell me. Blah blah, crazy not to try because you're hot? That one is like.. what's the word.. transferrance? Where you wanna make me blushy and shit.. cause you already know that Imma back off a little.. meaning that.. what, you won't give your reasons to somebody that's not gonna stick around? I mean, at that point you want me to ask and wanna tell me, but you wanna keep me far enough away that I never get the answer, too. And then 'well maybe theres still some good in me'. That one's typical. Seriously, like, that is the ultimate 'you have to take this answer cause I'm admitting to your point just enough' answer. But you didn't answer the question at all.. and I don't have to take the answer either."

Then he grinned and gave a shrug. "But that means you aren't taking this date very seriously.. and if you - who forced it - don't.. how can I?"

Which was Corbin's way of trying to play along just enough to make Chassy comfortable enough to.. ya know.. drop the act for long enough to answer the question. He'd seen that there was more behind the bitchy badassness. He's seen it when he'd picked her up and taken care of her, he'd seen it when she wanted to be close to him after mentioning her run-in with the demon dog thing she'd seen. He knew it was there.. and even if it required him to play along he wanted to make sure Chassy at least felt safe enough around him to be a little vulnerable. Not because it was a turnon, but because always striving to avoid being any kind of vulnerable was one of the things that happened to people that made them cold and cruel. Maybe that was part of the reason Corbin was a nice guy. Cause he was confident enough to be open and to let people know what was too far in plain English while being sure enough of himself to let people know what was up when it wasn't.

Maybe he could be that for Chassy.

[Chassy Trouble]

Well, this cowboy was riding into the wilds a bit deeper than she thought he might. Seriously, how was she supposed to expect something like that from him? Sure, she technically hadn't known what to expect from him seeing how she didn't know him, but still! And she hadn't wanted him to dig deeper... had she? She didn't think so? Chassy actually hadn't thought about it. She hadn't thought on it at all. She hadn't thought on most of what he broke things down as, she had just been... well, going on instinct, she supposed.

"You always try to strip your date naked even before the meal's over?" She asked him playfully with a cheeky smirk and a raised brow.

"Maybe I don't know the real reason why I helped. I just know I did. I didn't really do any deep digging on it before I went with helping you out. I can tell you though, I'm not shittin' you when I say the whole cute guy and free cheeseburger thing was part of it. I love some cheeseburgers. Seriously. Best food ever." She told him.

Even when she had it as a meal every day for a couple of years, she still hadn't gotten tired of it or anything like that. Nope. She actually was pretty damn happy that she had gotten to eat more cheeseburgers than most of the people her age.

"Plus, I had to have someone be my getaway driver."

[Corbin Jacobs]

Corbin grinned and gave a small nod. "Raw, true, and still with just enough of that horribly flirty personality of yours. Better. Much better. But you're supporting my point.. You decided to help me out before you got enough of a look at me to see if I was cute and before you knew there'd be burgers involved. You decided.. cause at your core, if you can do something that somebody needs and it's not an inconvenience, like.. why not do it. See what I mean? Even somebody who's an ass might reach down to pick something up for somebody if it got dropped at their feet.. or hold the door for an old lady leaving a building or something."

He paused for a second to let that sink in.. seemingly ignoring the comments about stripping dates and getaway drivers. "Same as.. since a couple bucks and grabbing lunch is no big deal for me.. and here we are. Same as making sure your knee was okay. The biggest difference in that stuff is, like, what you define as an inconvenience. For me.. well.. Iunno, like.. low self value or something, maybe.. I don't see my time being that important. When my time's important I got no distractions cause I'm at my shop. The rest of the time I'm no better than you or anybody.. so if I can do something small to help out.. why wouldn't I? I mean, I'm not hardcore into karma or anything, but bein a little nice can make all the difference at the right time and the right place. So why not put a little effort into it? Is that now how everybody thinks? Like.. If it doesn't cost you anything that you weren't willing to waste anyway.. it's probably worth doing something instead of nothing.. right?"

He then let his head thunk back against the wall lightly and let out a quiet sigh. "And yeah, naked dates are better dates. No worries about makup or what you chose to wear. If a person can be around you without any distractions or disguises or cover-ups, that's when you get to know 'em. Ignore the jewelry and the designer logos and see how comfortable somebody is in their own skin and shit.. and see how comfortable they are with how comfortable you are in your own skin. Pretty easy to see when somebody notices if you're comfortable or not, dontcha think?"

Yeah, he was referring to walking the final stretch to this place with his hand on her shoulder. Maybe she'd pick up on it, maybe not. "By the way, just what have I gotten myself into, aiding and abetting you, Chassy? Cause if cops come askin I'm gonna sing like a canary. Fake alibis are solidly like.. third or fourth date at the earliest."

[Chassy Trouble]

"I'm pretty sure I got a good look at you. I mean, I did look over when you called me over the grease of a working man all over your shirt." She commented before biting the tip of her tongue like she was thinking something naughty.

"Back to what you said earlier... You've never been in a relationship? Seriously? How did that happen?... Oh wait, you said serious relationship. Yeah, I've got nothing on that." She commented, buying herself some more time to think over what he had said.

Alright, so if he hadn't ever been in a serious relationship before, then there was a good chance he wouldn't look for one, right? He suddenly was seeming more attractive to her now. It was one less thing to worry about, after all, if he did end up caving to her flirting and all that. Which, she doubted he would do but would keep at it anyways. Though, that talk about all that naked did have her wondering if he was starting to form a couple of cracks here and there.

She got a bit more time to think over everything he said, as some red haired sideways wearing hat dude came over to their table with their order. Chassy only just barely held in the snerk when she finally realized what Corbin meant by funny earlier. She waited until the guy had left before speaking again.

"It's the weekend, I had time, and I don't like just sitting around with nothing to do. So, I wasn't worried about how much time it might take for me to help out and potentially seduce a getaway driver with the bonus of cheeseburgers and naked date time. And don't worry, the cops will never catch us." She told him with a smirk and a wink.

"So, thinking about our third and fourth date already, huh?"

[Corbin Jacobs]

Corbin rolled his eyes when Chassy went right back to changing the topic, but he figured it was probably coming up on time for a topic change for the present anyway. Besides, everything she said was ammunition.

"I've had a few 'flings' if you will. Nothing that either of us figured was going to last, but it was fun for the time it did. Keep things casual enough and it's pretty clear whether or not there's ever gonna be more than casual. It's not so bad being a stepping stone when you go into things expecting to be a stepping stone, yeah?"

Corbin glanced over just as Trevor showed up with their order, the redhead grinning just as much as Corbin was, both shaking their heads. He headed back to the kitchen with a nod, leaving a huge chocolate milkshake, two juicy fresh cheeseburgers, a big basket of fries and another of onion rings on the table, along with two glasses of ice water.

"Yeah, but you're still supporting my point. You had the time, you had the energy, you were gonna waste it otherwise, so you helped out. Even if I hadn't offered you lunch you woulda helped me out. Cause even if you got nothing out of it, it's still worth helping somebody when it doesn't cost you more than you were gonna waste to begin with. Most people, at their core, are usually 'good'.. even if they aren't 'super good'." He nodded affirmatively, raising an eyebrow in challenge for her to come up with a rebuttal that he couldn't tear apart.

With that said, Corbin slid back to sitting correctly and slid his burger in front of himself as he slid hers in front of her. "They don't skimp on portions, so I hope you're hungry." This 'special' was actually two half-pound patties cooked medium-well with bacon and cheese folded into the meat, not to mention a two healthy slices of American and cheddar cheese on top of each patty. No onions, no tomato.. just lettuce, pickle, mayo, mustard, and ketchup. Cause 'Murrca.

Corbin dug in, taking a sizeable bite out of his burger and sighing through his nose at how great these burgers were time and time again.

"And before you get cocky, even date number two depends a great deal on what you were getting away from, young lady." Oh yeah, he'd pulled the 'young lady' card. He'd gone there. Chassy's serve.