Midnight Coffee Trip (James)

Was that a snort? Maybe...but, from James? Winter held back a smile. She saw him frown, but Winter didn't see a reason. She didn't understand why, unless she was confusing him again. It was rather possible, because Winter talked too much and sometimes too fast. Winter was thankful she wasn't related to James because her family had a tendency to make fun of her for that, and she wasn't sure she could handle any other human doing so. Though because she rarely knew James, she highly doubted he would be that much of a jerk. That kind for jerkness was somehow always shared in DNA.

Tilting her her a little to the side, Winter said, "Too many? I really only see you interested in women." It was a well known fact that Winter didn't have a filter. Really, nobody in her family had one. But she tried not to come off as rude, and she wondered if James would take offense to her words. Maybe not, though, because he didn't seem like that type of person. But then again, she didn't know him very well. They weren't friends.

And then he was talking too fast. Or at least it seemed like that to Winter. She let out another awkward laugh, a bit louder this time. "I'm an open book." she smiled, trying to find something funny in the way he was smirking but failing. There was nothing funny in the way he was smirking. Just a bunch of powerful vibes that sent her hormones into overdrive. There's no shame in honesty? Really. "There's a lot of shame in honesty. If you're me." she said. Awkwardly glancing to the cereals and picking up theost sugary one she could find. She might as well take one home. "I'm a mess. She admitted. Full honesty. And she was sure he had a bit of influence on that. At least tonight.

Winter was rarely offended when it came to people point in out her flaws, but somehow hearing that from James made her shrink back into a million insecurities. She sort of laughed when he said she was a mess when he was around, because how funny was that? "No, I mean, generally." She said, "I tend to not think my words through, so they sometimes come off as gibberish and it's just not the kind of vibe I want to give off because first impressions are everything and I never seem to say the right thing and-" she stopped herself, because she had just realized...that James wasn't talking about that. He didn't mean she was a mess because she was always talking nonsense. He meant she was a mess because he was around.

Blinking, Winter looked at him. Winter had never been playing the tease, as he put it. Of course she liked him, that wasn't a secret, but her chances were one in a million and she wasn't much of a risk-taker. At least not anymore. She had a job and reputation to protect. "I'm not...I mean, I'm not playing anything." Winter said, her voice a little weak. "I mean, I don't have anything to play." What was going on in her head when he was around? Certainly nothing she remembered. It was always an in-the-moment thought trian. She stared at him for a few beats, because even though she knew he must know about what she thought of him, she had never expected him to flat out ask her.

"If you really want to know, it's mostly things I need to do, things I have done, and how incredible you look in a suit." She said, complete honesty, as he wanted. "And pretty much anything you wear, I suppose. Though I think I think I've only seen you in a suit." She tried to imagine him wearing sweatpants or something more common, but it was hard. She thought abouttbwhat else she thought of during those moments, and added, "I'm also trying to not injure myself too badly when you're around because that would be pretty embarrassing." For some reason, Winter had taken the question a little too literally.

Winter hadn't actually tried to compliment him. The suit comment had been merely on impulse, like much of what she was saying just now. However, she couldn't take it back because that would be even more pathetic. Instead, she gave him half a smile, a forced one. "Well, I'm still here because you clearly needed help with you boring cereals and..." Winter stopped, the feeling of James' hand on her skin was too much for her brain at the moment. "And, well...you're.." Had she been in all of her senses, Winter would have said he was still here so therefore he must have had something going as well.

James didn't seem like the type that stayed just for conversation. Although, given Winter's usually comical behavior she suspected he might just want to stick around for his own entertainment. Like a school girl, Winter completely avoided James' gaze. If she actually looked at him, her knees might just give out. Looking down at her own stuff, the cereal and the coffee, Winter was about to do the one thing that she had always been scared of. She was about to ask him out. Well, she was scared of asking anyone out, really, but James made things ever more weird. Going on a date at sixteen was way different than going on dates at twenty-three.

But then he kissed her. Sort of. It was a kiss, wasn't it? It was very gentle, very quick, but a kiss nonetheless. When James pulled back it took her a second to gather her thoughts and emotions. His words sounded like gibberish now but when Winter caught what he was saying, her eyes widened with disbelief. After stuttering for a second, real words finally came out. "Excuse you?" Winter wasn't one to go home with guys, especially guys who she wasn't actually dating. "I am not a casual thing, James." It may have been obvious, but Winter was offended.