2019-10-08 - Surprisingly Wholesome

Since the 'Incident' Bennie hasn't been seen much of anywhere. Once Alexander offered her a place to stay under the guise of pet sitting - which to be fair she's totally keeping them alive - she hasn't strayed at all from 13 Elm Street. As such, it's starting to get stifling in here with all the Cabin Fever, and despite the chill in the air - or perhaps because of it - the front windows of the house have been opened and Luigi's pleasant melodies are tweeted out through the screens.

Geoff pulls up at the curb outside and is heralded by the rumbling of his bike. Climbing off the motorcycle he makes his way up to the door, clothed in his usual apparel of a shirt and jeans though today is also joined by a loose hoodie to keep out some of the chill of the autumn. Bringing his fist up he rapts on the door with three short business like knocks and tucks his hands into his pockets to wait.

Bennie tenses from where she's curled up in the corner of the couch with a book on the truths and fallacies of blood DNA when she hears the bike. Of course there are others she knows that ride, but her mind no doubt makes a leap from those she owes money to, straight to Easton. It's only after she calms the sound of her heart in her ears that she hears the knock and considers it could be a host of other options as well. "Just a minute!" She calls as sweet as pie towards the door, as she throws the blanket off her lap and slips towards the door. "Who is it, please?" Never having before been the type to question such things instead of just flinging open the door with a welcoming smile.

Geoff snorts gruffly and shakes his head "Sorry Please ain't out here, it's just me Geoff." there's a toying tone to his voice that is definitely not unfriendly. His shifts there and glances out towards the street before asking "Are you expecting someone else? Trouble?" voice lowering he asks playfully "Am I in danger out here?"

Even though he identifies himself, Bennie is still slow to open the door for Easton's best friend of the corporeal variety. She's got a grey knit scarf around her neck, and she's an ill-fitting flannel and sweatpants that are obviously meant to be a man's. "Depends, are you afraid of the pizza delivery boy? I mean, he'll grow out of that acne some day, no need to scream in fear just because he has Mount Vesuvius on his nose." She jokes, yet the humor doesn't make it into her tone or scrunch up her eyes like normal. "C'mon in."

Geoff shakes his head as he steps on in "Look I just don't trust teenagers, they're prone to doing stupid things and the acne creeps me out." he speaks from personal experience about doing personal things. Once he's inside and the door is shut behind them he takes a moment to look Bennie over appraisingly "You, how are you doing? You're not secretly horribly injured are you? Bird flu? Death Flu two?" nose wrinkling he shares "Thanks for that by the way, you gave it to Easton, he gave it to me, and I ended up giving it to Harper. I felt like I would have been lucky to die."

Bennie crosses an arm across her stomach, the other one bracing an elbow on that horizontal forearm while she fiddles with her scarf at that question, tugging it up higher on her neck. Must be the autumn chill to be bundled up so tightly, but that doesn't explain the open window allowing the cool air in. "Geez, I am so sorry about that. I can't even imagine. But just think! If your new relationship can survive the Death Puke 3000, it can survive anything right? Speaking of, you don't have the ...Billy Herpes too, do you?" She assumes no, or there's not a damn thing she can do if he does. "You want some lemonade? I have a half a pitcher left."

Geoff thinks for a moment before nodding "If you got some vodka I'll take that too." A grin pulling at his lips "And no I don't have ghost herpes, I always use protection." a wry grin pulling at his lips as he takes a glanc around "Oh yeah, it's pretty amazing that it could survive that." A note of warmth enters his voice as he says "When it was just beginning to hit me and she was on the verge of descending into hell she came over to my place to bring me soup and ice pops despite feeling like shit. That girl is gold."

"I think there was a bottle of something I saw when cleaning..." The inner pad of her cheek is gnawed for a moment, "Just a sec." Bennie disappears into the kitchen, still smelling of it's recent pine scrub down. It's not long before she returns with a glass of spiked lemonade for Geoff. "I'm really glad. You deserve something nice and dare I say wholesome after the ups and downs that Erin put you through at the end." Even though it's Geoff, whom she's known for ages even if they weren't friends in the beginning, Bennie sets the glass down on the edge of the coffee table for him instead of handing it to him directly. "I didn't ruin it with the whole wholesome thing, did I? I mean, she's a librarian, so that means when her hair comes down out of the bun, I'm sure there is a riding crop involved."

Geoff grins broadly "She's surprisingly wholesome, and I'm going to avoid commenting on what happens when the hair comes down." with a laugh he says "I tried asking her out proper in high school, she totally missed it and asked what we'd be doing. I suggested books or a movie or something." he shoots a look to Bennie "I was not the best at asking people out back then...But anyways she decided what I was really proposing was a book club and set about trying to teach me to love reading." this is said with a laugh and a shake of his head. Settling down he takes the glass and takes a sip from it "But I'm not here to talk about me. How are you doing Bennie? Is there anything you need? Anything I can take care of for you?"

"I'm great!" Pipes up the knee-jerk reaction to that question, along with the accompanying wide smile. So what if her voice threatens to break and there are a few watts missing from the brightness of her expression. "This'll all be over soon, the flu will burn itself out," Because that's all this is, right? The flu. Clearly why she's in seclusion. "And everything is going to go back to normal. Man, a book club. If I were that naive back in high school it would have saved me /a lot/ of teenage angst, am I right? Phew. "

Geoff simply fits Bennie with a /look/ and waits.

"I'm fine. Don't look at me like that, Geoffrey Turner. That might work for getting me to bring my trash cans in or for me to stop feeding so many stray animals but..." Yet Bennie is avoiding his gaze now, busying herself with picking up what appear to be tiny toys meant for the bird whose now not his beak stuffed under his wing, as if asking Bennie to turn out the lights and go to bed already. "I'm fine. I have to be fine. The only other alternative is to fall to pieces an Easton has to be strong right now if he's going to get through this funeral. If he hears that I'm a mess? He doesn't need that distraction."

Geoff keeps that look for a good few minutes longer before sighing and shaking his head and acknowledging "You're fine Bennie. You're so fine that I'm deciding to crash here on the couch tonight after drinking with you." rolling his shoulders he settles back and sips on the lemonade, gesturing with it afterwards "In fact I'm the one whose not doing so hot here. After this alcohol I definitely shouldn't drive and I should stick around." eyebrow arching he asks "Does that sum things up pretty well?"

There is a slight shrug from Bennie as she tucks a wavy lock of hair behind her ear, letting her fingers continue trailing along it until she gets to the end. Fanning it out with a grind between forefinger and thumb, she starts hunting for split ends. "I mean. You really shouldn't drink and drive, especially not since you brought the bike. It's starting to rain all the time now, and the roads are slick so it probably wouldn't be such a bad idea. Just looking out for you, Gee."