One the Telephone
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| Siobhan Knight | Jenna Donovan |
As she disconnects her phone, Siobhan stares at it. Things are just getting more and more interesting, and more and more confusing. Sorcerers seem to be multiplying, and she's been trying to ignore the feeling of edginess and restlessness that's been stalking her all day.
Her fingers hover over the touch screen before she dials Jenna's number and listens to the rings, waiting for her best friend to pick up. Texting and IMs are great, but sometimes, a good old fashioned phone call is needed. She waits for Jenna's greeting, then launches without preamble, "Chance just called me."
Errands are grand and all, but going through Times Square when it's busy, in order to drop off new pages of the 'book' for her father was a real pain in the ass. Not that she'll ever tell her daddy that. She's been helping him with the new production as much as possible, to see it take form from the very beginning. Thankfully, they're all taking a break after today until the middle of next week.
"Jenna's phone," she chirps when she recognizes Siobhan's number and ringtone. "What did he want?"
Siobhan drops onto the living room couch, tossing her feet over the arm. Her mother isn't around to scold her for it, and she can hear her father and Chris shouting challenges at one another as they go head to head on the air hockey table in the rec room down the hall. "He wanted to warn me that his cousins are in town and he has to take them out on the boat tomorrow."
The witch waits a beat for Jenna to process, or to see if she has to elaborate.
"His cousins?" Jenna knew he would have had cousins, but she's not sure why that poses such a problem.
Until the lightbulb clicks on as she turns a corner toward the space that's been rented for auditions. "His Texan cousins?" It's an euphemism, but she knows that Shiv will get the idea.
"If that's going to cause an issue for you tomorrow, I'll stay behind and do something else with you."
"That's just it," Siobhan sighs and itches the spot above her nose, between her eyebrows with her ring finger. It's a nervous affectation. "He didn't sound happy about it at all, and he asked me to come anyway." Beat. "He said he'd rather have me there than them, but it's a family thing."
Staring up at the ceiling, Siobhan pauses, for the first time actually wondering if Jenna might not be onto something with her thoughts toward Chance's interest in Siobhan. He didn't just ask her to come anyway, he practically begged her. So either he has some nefarious plan, or he does genuinely like the witch and wants to be friends with her. "He told me that it was my choice and he'd understand if I didn't, but that it would mean a lot to him if I did." That sums it up succinctly.
"He also promised to toss them overboard if they're jackasses."
"He likes you."
It's really that simple to Jenna. Chance protests it, but it can't be any more obvious really. He purposefully asked Siobhan to come, and he's not called her to tell her about the change in plans.
"Well what do you want to… hold on." Opening the door, she slips into the building. Looking at the marquee to see which floor she needs to go to today, she nods and heads to the stairs.
Why the stairs? Because the elevator will cut off the call. "Okay, what do you want to do?"
"You keep saying that."
Siobhan exhales another sigh, crossing one ankle over the other and lifting her legs. She holds them there for a ten count as she talks and then lowers them. "I think he was just being polite. You know, letting me know that there would be two unknown sorcerers on board and that they can be jerks sometimes. I mean, it was a lot nicer than letting me find out when I look them in the eyes tomorrow."
Lift legs and repeat.
"I'm going. I think." Siobhan pauses and frowns. Listens to her father trash talk her little brother and her mouth twitches a bit. "I told Chance that I was, anyway, and said I'd call him if I changed my mind."
The witch stretches and flips over onto her stomach, resting on propped elbows. "I want to go. It sounds cool, and I can't go running away every time I meet a sorcerer."
"Obviously there's a reason for that, Shiv."
Her bestie might refuse to see it, and Chance may deny it until he's blue in the face, but she's certain that even if Quintin weren't interested in her, Chance would've gone for Siobhan.
Reaching the top of the stairs, she switches her phone to the other ear and makes a face. "Maybe."
Beat.
"Well let me know. It's tradition to spend the day with you and Harper, and I don't want to break that. So if you decide not to go, tell me first thing in the morning? I mean, really Shiv, you're more important to me than hanging out with two guys on a boat."
"He was being polite, Jenna," Siobhan insists. She really can't afford to think that Chance might be interested in her. Not when she's starting to loosen up around him. Not when she's hoping that he can help her get these little magical outbursts under control.
"I swear though, it's like I'm being haunted by sorcerers now. I'm nice to one and it's some sort of karma to have them come crawling out of the woodwork." She smirks and gives a mirthless chuckle. "Though I doubt Chance's cousins are going to buy me ice cream."
"Maybe he was." Maybe he just likes her. Jenna worries her teeth over her bottom lip and then sighs as she opens up the door. Entering the hallway, she looks for room 112B, entering as quietly as she can while she's on her phone. "Sec."
Covering the mouth piece she murmurs, "Sam wanted me to deliver these to you today. They should help with the next round of auditions. He says the book's nearly done as far as the requested changes go, but these are the pages you need to cast your mains."
"Okay, where was I? Right. He might just be being polite, and I doubt you're being haunted by Texans." Offering a wave to the people in the room, she heads out. "You never know, they might. Chance isn't all that devious."
"I'm not so sure. I mean, it was pretty weird with Nicholas Reynard offering to buy me ice cream last night." It was also pretty weird, or just plain foolish that she let him. Not just any sorcerer, but a Reynard, and she's pretty certain that even at twenty, her parents will find a way to ground her for life if they knew about that.
Siobhan scrunches her nose. "I handled that one okay, so maybe I'll do just fine with Chance's family."
She giggles then, a giggle of genuine amusement. "No, Chance isn't at all devious. I don't know how he's going to make it as a lawyer."
"Wait, what?" Jenna is fairly certain that she heard that wrong.
"Did you just say a freaking Reynard bought you ice cream?"
Though she's not a witch, she's heard for years about the Reynards. Not only from Siobhan's parents, but from her own. How the sons are all rather wealthy, and how they've got multiple businesses, and how never to cross them because it'll make a huge mess.
"Business law is different, I think. It's all white collar crimes. You don't really need to be devious, just brilliant."
"I didn't tell you about that?" Siobhan flips over on her back again, and drapes an arm across her stomach. "I told Harper about it, I could have sworn I told you." Maybe she meant to tell Jenna and got side tracked? Siobhan was a little confused about the whole ordeal.
"Yes, a Reynard. Nicholas Reynard. I googled him." He's something of a playboy, but he was entirely charming and unfailingly polite to Siobhan. "I don't know why, but he bought ice cream for me and a beat cop."
Yeah, totally weird. Still.
"Well, if winning a case can be done with annoying, dogged persistence, Chance has a great career ahead of him." Siobhan grins though her friend can't see it. "He's winning me over with a slow war of attrition."
"You didn't. That's weird, and completely random." Jenna starts down the stairs again, making sure she doesn't misstep as she talks to her friend.
"As if you're that hard to win over, Shiv." Giggling, she hops down the last step and then sighs. "He was probably doing it to impress you."
Beat.
"I mean Reynard."
Siobhan snorts. "Hey! I'm not a pushover. I was just protecting myself, like I'm supposed to." Then she snuck out to meet Chance in Central Park and she ate ice cream and made small talk with a sorcerer from one of the most powerful families in the City. In the country, and not just magically wise.
Beat.
There's another deeply confused frown. "Why would he want to impress me? I'm nobody." He might not have been trying to impress her, but there was something in his manner that made her think he was sincere in what he said. He could be as open minded as Chance, or he could be just another sorcerer. Siobhan doesn't know and she isn't ready to go into details here and now.
"I know you're not a pushover, and I respect that you were protecting yourself. But Chance wouldn't harm you. I'd have been able to tell." Unless he magically cloaked his emotions, which could've been entirely possible. She can't tell the difference between actually hard to read, and those that might use other means to hide their feelings.
"I think the question would be why wouldn't he want to impress you. You're hot, Shiv. Every guy pretty much wants to impress you."
"I think you're biased due to our long standing friendship," Siobhan laughs. Sitting up, she swings her feet around and slides off the couch. The witch begins padding toward the kitchen in search of an evening - late evening - snack. "Have you ever seen Nicholas Reynard? First, he's a Reynard, Jen. Which is an automatic strike anyway, but also? Out of my league."
She opens the freezer door and peers inside. Siobhan recalls a tub of Moose Tracks ice cream in there. "More like he's one of those really wealthy eccentric types who likes to do odd things like that just because he can." For Siobhan to call the man wealthy, considering her upbringing is a statement to the financial wealthy and power of the Reynards.
The witch spots the elusive ice cream and carefully tucks her phone between her cheek and her shoulder and her ear and reaches for it. It's not an easy feet with an iPhone, but she manages. "I'm not that good looking and not every guy wants to impress me. Plenty of guys aren't interested and don't give me a second look."
"Even if I'd seen him, I likely wouldn't know. Except if I was reading the tabloids in mother's waiting room." Which, admittedly, she does do every once in a while. It's fun reading about people in the Upper East Side, and all their shenanigans.
"Maybe. Extremely wealthy people can be odd. Or he could've been playing and baiting you, Shiv. I mean, it's what they do."
Jenna exhales a frustrated sigh and rolls her eyes. "You are too, and they do too. It's me they don't pay attention to."
"I have proof to the contrary." Siobhan sets the carton on the counter and digs up the ice cream scoop and three bowls. After a second's consideration, whipped cream, nuts, chocolate sauce and sprinkles follow to kitchen island counter. "Football player? About six feet tall? Dark hair? Totes not interested in me?" Siobhan is happy to have the break through that she did with Harper, and she's quite happy with their relationship is going, however slow it is, but she wouldn't be human if the rejection didn't still sting a little.
"To what point?" The witch begins scooping ice cream. She cheats, pressing a finger to the carton and murmuring a few words to heat it up just a little and soften the ice cream. "What could he possibly want to play with me for or even bait me for? I have a boyfriend, so it's not like I'm an option for being an arm dangle or a bed buddy." Siobhan even told Reynard that she had a boyfriend, and he still seemed interested in just talking to her again … or not, depending on what she wanted.
"Okay, so one guy, Shiv. One." Jenna's mind flits to Quintin briefly, and then she laughs. "I'm like the annoying little fly beside him. I really am." She doesn't mind that most of the attention goes to her friend, it takes the pressure of Jenna and she can just be her friendly, smiling self.
"To the point that most.. Texans are dicks? You… have a boyfriend! Ohmigod. You and Harper are actually dating now?" Squealing with delight, she crosses the road to where the driver left the car. There's a honk of a taxi, but she ignores it. "He could just be trying to screw that up."
"More like you're the sweet little kitten that he wants to tuck in his coat and keep close to him." Except nights like tonight when he's out doing whatever werewolves do when they're being werewolves. It's sweet really, Siobhan thinks, and she'd probably be more than a little bit envious if she didn't have Harper.
Siobhan pauses a beat, in between scoops, a smile lighting up her face. "Yeah, I guess I do. I mean, we kind of unofficially crossed that line at the party." At least in her mind they did. "That's how I feel about it, anyway. We're still taking it slow, but I don't want to date anyone else. I'm good like this … but that's just me. I like thinking of him that way, but …honestly, I don't know if he'll like me thinking of him that way." Siobhan supposes she'll find out eventually. If he still wants to keep his distance, sort of, then she won't push it. She'll probably be jealous and bitchy as hell if he goes out with anyone else, but she'll do her damn best to keep that hidden from Harper. She'll have other distractions.
"Yeah, but Jen, he doesn't know me from any other witch. It's not like I'm big in the Coven or anything, or I'm like on the front society pages getting engaged. It'd be a waste of time and effort to screw with my life." Except that she told him her name. Willfully, voluntarily. Stupidly. That's probably going to come back and bite her viciously on the ass.
"Maybe."
It appears that today, 'maybe' is Jenna's favorite word.
Thinking of herself as a cute little kitten to be kept safe makes her squinch her nose up. That's almost worse, she thinks. Needing to be protected and kept close. Not that she doesn't appreciate it, because she does. But if that's all it is, then maybe she shouldn't really be dating.
"Taking it slow is a good thing. Harper probably needs time to adjust." Opening the car door she slips in. Once it's closed she leans back in the seat.
"He knows you're a witch. That's likely knowledge enough."
"I'm giving him time. All the time that he needs. This is Siobhan, giving Harper time." She honestly is trying not to come on too strong and not smother or overwhelm him. Her thoughts sometimes drift back to Jesse and his words. She knows now that he had an ulterior motive, but the words still sting when she reflects on them.
Chocolate syrup is generously poured over the three bowls of ice cream. "You sound as paranoid as my parents now. It's not like I'm planning on hanging out with man or befriending him. It was a weird, flukey, freaky type thing."
Beat.
"One sorcerer 'buddy' is all I have room for in my life right now."
"Good. I mean, when Harper broke up with Cynthia, he was ready to ask you out then. Only you'd started dating Jesse, so he waited." Too long, in her opinion, but it's not her place to tell her brother and best friend what to do. Especially not in this situation.
"I'm not being paranoid. I'm being cautious. The Reynard's are Reynards for a reason. None of those reasons being very nice."
Beat.
"So long as it's Chance."
Siobhan looses a bittersweet laugh, topping the bowls of towering ice cream with whipped cream. "I started dating Jesse because he was so clearly enarmored with Cynthia and figured it was stupid to keep waiting around for him." Also, Jesse made her feel like the center of his universe and like she was a queen on a throne. It was a new and different feeling.
"It's okay, Jen. I don't plan on getting tangled up with any of them, ok? If my parents didn't send me to your mom for a psych eval, and/or kill me, I'm pretty sure Regina would."
"He's not so bad."
Beat.
"You will never get me to admit I said that."
"I know. I'm just really happy for you two right now. It took forever, but you're finally together!" Jenna's smiling, and it's coming through in her voice. Siobhan may not be able to see it, but it's there. "I'm glad some part of you was always waiting for him."
Laughing, she shakes her head just a bit. "Yeah, don't involve yourself with them. That leads to the darkside or whatever the Star Wars quote from Yoda is."
Beat.
"I promise on my life that I won't repeat it."
Siobhan can't help but smile brightly at her friend's enthusiasm and the warm tingly feeling that fills her up, just thinking about Harper. This is what she's been waiting for. When she thinks about all the little kisses, and the way he looks at her and holds her … yeah, it was worth waiting for. "I'm really happy too, Jen. I wouldn't -"
"I knew I smelled ice cream!" Christian charges into the kitchen and swoops down on a bowl before Siobhan has finished adding sprinkles to it.
"You can't smell ice cream, you daft punk." Her father delivers playful noogies to his son's head, his words full of teasing affection. "Your underarms, maybe."
Siobhan rolls her eyes and points at the phone, "On the phone here, guys."
"With who? Lover boy?" Chris asks, twisting away from his father and still keeping hold of the bowl he claimed. He sweeps past his sister making loud kissing sounds.
"Could you be anymore childlike?" Siobhan scowls.
Her father scoops up a bowl and winks. "Thank you for the ice cream, Flutterbee. Tell Harper hello." He tugs on Chris's ear, "Leave your sister to some privacy. Let's see what's on the telly."
Holding the phone away from her mouth, she calls after them as they leave, "It's not Harper, it's Jenna." Rolling her eyes, she returns her attention to her best friend, "Sorry about that." Though Jenna well knows how her family is, and should be used to it by now. "You better not repeat it. If he knows I might be softening up, it'll be bad for my reputation."
"Change it for the world? Yeah, yeah, I know."
Jenna can hear the conversation, and laughs as soon as Christian asks about her brother. Then again when Robert mentions to say hello to Harper.
"Christ, I know he's my brother but I really hope they stop thinking I'm him sooner rather than later."
Beat.
"I'm not half as broody as he is!"
She's not really broody at all.
"Go enjoy your ice cream, Shiv. Come over later and we can pick out our outfits for tomorrow."
"I know you're not, and I love you for your non-broodiness as much as I love Harper for his." Siobhan is glad her father and brother are not in the kitchen when she says that.
"Text me when you get home. I'm pretty sure Daddy and Chris ar going to settle on some horribly bad made-for-tv B-grade monster movie, so you'll be saving me."
