Make New Friends, Keep the Old (CLOSED)

Julia chuckled at Danny's response to her house. "It's an eyesore. I asked for an apartment and my parents gave me this huge house. I mean I guess it's nice for when I'm older and have a family, but for now it's just empty space. I never know what to do with myself when I'm here." She leaned on a wall and took off her heels, losing a few inches to her height, not that it was so tall in the first place. Julia walked into her kitchen and took out a couple of glasses and a pitcher of water. She filled the glasses halfway and drank the water slowly, handing the other glass to Danny. "Would you like a drink? I have firewhiskey, vodka, wine, whatever your little heart desires" Julia smirked.

"Well what would you like to do now? My house is boring, especially in the rain." Julia both loved and hated the rain. It was relaxing to watch and listen to, but when it got severe, it scared Julia, especially when she was alone. Not to mention that it limited everything to indoors, and there wasn't much to do around here. Julia walked over to Danny and standing close to him. Perhaps a bit closer than friends would stand, so Julia took a half step back, to give him some space.

Having the sense that he felt welcomed in the house, Danny proceeded to take of his shoes next to the door. It was a habitual thing, he never really even noticed it himself unless someone had mentioned it to him. Yet he felt like he should be courteous as her guest and be poltite within her home. Man, he really had changed over the years. He set his shoes down next to the entrance and followed Julia into the next, assuming that the new area had been the kitchen. He began to feel jealous of the house, it seemed too nice to actually live in alone, yet he could definitely find a way to make it cozy if he did own the place. A water slide here, a rock climbing wall over there, man the possibilities were endless!

I guess he still had a little bite more maturing to do.

He stopped in front of Julia and shook his head at her offer. "No thank you, I'm trying to cut back on the alcohol." The last time he drank too much, he ended up sleeping with a woman who tried to kill him. He shuddered again. God, that was a close call. He responded to her question by saying "I don't know, I guess we could just sit around and watch TV or something," he joked. Didn't sound like a half bad idea, but he was more interested in someone else.

He paused for a moment when Julia had stepped a little too close to him, watching her walk back a bit. In an effort to make a move, he moved forward a little bit more, more than close enough to say something. "We could uhh..." he said, pausing at the end of that sentence. Frankly, his mind was too hazy at that moment to make any thought clear, a smile growing wide on his face "I actually have no idea. Maybe you could surprise me."

The grumbling of the thunder outside was becoming more prominent in the quiet house, and the rain was beginning to come down. It was light at first, but it gradually became heavier, tapping loudly on the windows. "Well, I'm not," Julia poured a bit of firewhiskey into her cup and sipped from it. It was her favorite drink, she could drink it all the time, not to get drunk, but just for the burning sensation it left in your stomach after you drank a bit. It felt like a fire was burning in Julia's stomach, and it was one of the best feelings she had ever experienced. Except for one other thing. Julia could not get that particular subject from her mind, and it was aggravating her. She didn't want to screw things up with Danny; he was such a nice man, and it was not worth it.

After taking another sip of her drink, Julia looked up at Danny. She was shocked at first to see how close he was, how close his face was to her's. Julia quickly looked down, blushing. "Um, I'm not sure either. Maybe we could just watch TV until we think of something else to do?" That sounded like a decent plan, for now.

Danny could see the hesitation in her voice, and if that weren't obvious enough, she had been blushing too. He found that really cute actually, be he wouldn't bring it up to her right now. He had her hooked, and she had him hooked. To see who was going to reel in first would definitely be interesting. He could feel himself holding himself back though, something hadn't to do in a while now. He hadn't wanted to throw himself at her and startle her by chance, he would need to do this carefully. "That sounds good," he smiled, keeping his hands at his sides "here, you go set up everything and I'll just pour myself something to drink."

He moved away from her reluctantly and walked towards the counter where the drinks had been set up. She was right, most of the drinks he could think of were already here. He would definitely want to spend some more time here, that was a fact. He noticed she hadn't any soda on display, something that irked him a little. He had become addicted to the caffeine in only a matter of weeks, and he felt himself almost at a withdrawal. He walked over to the fridge and opened up the door, hoping to find something along the lines of soda. Luckily, she happened to have a Dr. Pepper [ooc: hope you don't mind my random snooping xD] and grasped it firmly in his hand. He popped open the can and smiled. Christ, he thought he was gonna lose his mind.

He poured himself a glass of the soda from the can, just to seem a little classy if anything. Call him old fashioned, but that's just how he reacted around women. He walked towards the living room area and sat down on the couch, holding the drink in his hand. Alright, just keep yourself straight man, he told himself in his head Don't lose control or anything.

Everything was moving so quickly and smoothly, Julia could barely keep up. She just stood there for a second, collecting her thoughts- and her breath. Yes, he was very different from everyone else. Julia had never felt like this before, it was an alien feeling to her, and she didn't know how to explain it or deal with it. She felt like she was in a daze, or that she was dreaming, but she embraced the feeling and walked into the living room without a word. Had she not been feeling how she was feeling, Julia would have offered to get Danny's drink herself. She was silent on the outside, but on the inside, she wouldn't shut up.

Did you see the way he looked at you? Well, of course you did. But was it real? Is he just leading you on? What's happening? Julia was only confusing herself further and turned on the television. She looked through the channels and found a show that seemed interesting. It was about those groups of people who investigate crimes and try to figure out who the killer is. It wasn't something she normally watched, but it was the only thing on that seemed most interesting compared to the show that would be sitting beside her. What if he tries to make a move? What do I do? Do I go with it? No, that would make you seem easy. But if I don't it would put him in the friend zone, and I don't want that.

Julia took a deep breath in attempt to calm herself down. She sat on the couch, waiting for Danny, staring blankly at the television screen. It was just a commercial of course, nothing interesting to preoccupy her mind. Well, I'm certainly not making the first move. If he wants it, then he'll just have to come and get it. And with that, Julia's internal battle came to a close as Danny took a seat- rather closely- next to her.

"I'm not really sure what this show's about, except that it's people investigating crimes and stuff like that. But you can change it if you want. It was the only thing that sounded appealing." On the TV, anyway.

Danny sat forward and looked at the television, trying to get a basic understanding of what the show was about. He was beaten to the punch however when she answered his thoughts, finding out it was one of those crime scene shows. They never really captured his attention, hell he enjoyed watching old kid's shows he used to watch compared to some of the other things they had on. This seemed interesting enough though, and he leaned back in his seat, his back pressed against the sofa. "This is okay," he smiled, turning his head towards her. Perhaps some murder and investigation would help get his mind more clear, he usually followed along with these sort of shows.

He kept himself occupied on the show, taking in the moment. A woman sat next to him, obviously attracted to him, and here he was obviously attracted to her, but unwilling to make a move until he knew it was the right time. Was a tense situation that was! At any rate, he kept himself occupied on the show, seeming as if it had just begun. Apparently the victim had been murdered by gunshot to the head, the story obviously blurring out the implied gore. If Danny had saw it, he probably could've gotten an accurate determination as to where the gun was fired, possibly narrowing his own search down dramatically. Yet, he felt that was really irrelevant.

He looked down towards the floor for a moment, not moving his head at all. Ah, what the hell, it was a stormy afternoon and he was debating with himself as to how some fictional victim died. He moved his left hand towards Julia's right hand and locked his fingers in between hers, closing the gaps of air in between. He kept his grip soft, but just firm enough to show that he wanted to keep his grip on hers. This certainly turned out to be a quick afternoon.

Julia looked at Danny from the corner of her eye; she watched him stare at the screen, a hint of aggravation flashed on his face- no doubt from the show- and just as fast as it changed, his face returned to normal, continuing to watch the screen. Julia smiled slightly and turned back to the screen. It had just started off with a girl walking home at night from a date. Apparently a bad decision on her part, because just as she was walking through the "hoodlum" part of town, a group of teenage boys started trouble with her. After a while of fighting, she was shot in the head, but not by any of the boys. It was quite an aggravating episode, because it hardly made sense.

Julia tried figuring out the scene in her head, with little success. The only thing she could think of was that someone hiding in a bush decided that they wanted to shoot someone, so they did. But Julia's thoughts were interrupted when she felt something on her hand. She looked over to see Danny's hand interlocked with her's. This is it, he made the first move! Julia thought excitedly in her head. She smiled at Danny and squeezed his hand gently. Slowly, Julia scooted closer to Danny, so that their arms were touching, but their intertwined hands blocked their legs from touching each others'. It was probably a good thing their hands were there, though. She wasn't sure how well she could contain herself, had they been that close.

But this was good for now. The afternoon had progressed in the way that she had hoped for, but didn't expect. "I have no idea who could have done it" She said, suddenly, referring to the show. "It just doesn't make sense. And it won't make sense until the last five minutes like they always do on these stupid shows" Julia shook suddenly, as the thunder grumbled loudly outside, and a flash of lightning lit up the dark room. "The storm's getting bad" She noted. Maybe it will be so bad, that it wouldn't be acceptable to ask Danny to leave, and he could stay over! Julia thought. No. You can't think like that she groaned internally.

Julia grabbed her glass with her free hand and took a sip, her thoughts coming to a halt with the familiar burning feeling throughout her body. She smiled in content, and relaxed by Danny's side.

Man, they needed to hire some new writers for the show. Everything seemed to be going good in terms of plot and how they explained how the girl had died, but suddenly everything turned into a shootout, right there on the spot. That was a pretty ballsy move of the writers to go from a respectable CSI appeal and then turn it into an urban war movie. Yet then again, it was just one episode, they may have happened to catch one that didn't make the most sense and it had been entirely coincidental. Perhaps he would watch more of the show later on whenever he got a new house to see if they followed a more respectable path. That and he just didn't want to be reminded of his own personal shootouts. He smiled though at the thought. Good times.

He kept his grip on her hand, feeling himself warm up. At least she accepted the move, it'd be awkward if she had denied it and left them sitting awkward watching some average crime show. But now, he could care less about the show, or whatever would come on. But apparently, she decided to bring up the show. He turned his head towards hers and noticed as to how close they were to each other. He felt a lot more bold right now, yet he was able to keep himself contained again. Easy boy, he thought to himself you know how you are when you think without thinking. He answered her by saying "Well, I guess the fun about it is trying to figure out who did it before they decide to reveal it. Yet they do so bad with these shows that no one seems to really understand the forensic evidence or anything like that. Much less ballistics."

He nearly jumped himself when the lightning suddenly lit up the room. He hadn't expected it, but he smiled widely at his own paranoia. He could hear the droplets of the rain cascading heavily on the house, feeling content for once to be in a completely sturdy environment. He'd probably have to make sure nothing leaked into his room at the Cauldron, but he figured that was the irony about it. He gripped his hand tighter around hers and attempted to move closer to her, realizing they were already as close as possible. Wow, he hadn't even noticed that.

(ooc: THE PUNS! Yessss)

Julia was relieved when a commercial came on. It gave the two a chance to talk more with less distractions. At least for a little while. "Isn't this fun?" She asked sarcastically with a giggle. "I just wish there was more to do, but hopefully the rain will clear up soon." Looking outside, it seemed like they had at least a few more hours with the rain, because there was no sign of a clearing anywhere close. Noticing her glass was empty, Julia let go of Danny's grip and got to her feet, heading for the kitchen. "More soda fah ya dahlin?" Julia said in a bad Boston accent like the people on the tv show.

Julia poured herself a little bit of firewhiskey, but only a small amount; she was already beginning to feel a buzz. She grabbed Danny another Dr. Pepper from the fridge and brought the drinks into the living room, taking a swig of her drink. She set the drinks on the coffee table in front of the couch and took a seat next to Danny, only this time, they were closer, their legs touching.

Julia took Danny's hand in her's and let them lay in her lap as she took another sip of her drink. "So, tell me more about yourself. I'm intruiged." Julia smiled, disregarding the fact that the show was back on. Their faces were only inches apart, she could feel his warm breath on her face, which smelled faintly of mocha. It would have been so easy to break the space, and the tension, but Julia needed to keep control over herself.

Danny nodded his head at her question and said "Yeah sure, that sounds good...I like the accent." He smiled warmly at her and watched her walk at, possibly staring for a little longer than he should've. Couldn't help it, he was a guy! He looked back towards the television and began to watch the commercials, noticing that most of the products they were offering were just plain stupid. They were literally selling ten dollar backscratchers. Wow. The people seem to get more stupid by the day, he said, reaching down and changing the channel to something else. It was a program about ancient Egyptians or something and they were talking about aliens too. Sounded pretty interesting.

Before he could get into it though, Julia had returned, diverting his attention back towards her. Glad to see it wasn't just teasing anymore, they were both serious about this. Although, he did enjoy the teasing for a while. When she had sat down, the first thing she noticed was how close she was to him, and he really wanted to take advantage of that. He wrapped his arm around her back as he relaxed against the sofa, his body starting to feel more relaxed now. He became enthralled with the show now, basically just trying to take in every piece of pointless information that decided to offer. Hey, it wasn't smart stuff, it was just really entertaining.

He kept his face pointed towards the TV as she asked her question, causing him to think about that for a second. Did he really want to reveal who he was? Probably not, at least for now. "I'm just another guy you'd find on the street," he said casually, feeling the urge to shrug his shoulders "nothing really interesting about my life...what about you?"