2020-05-06 - A Walk after Work

Dahlia was working at Firefly tonight, tending bar. Her shift was nearly over and the bar wasn't too crowded tonight anyway so she had texted Justin saying he should stop by if he wasn't busy and maybe they could run some lines when she got off work or something. She had been making copies of her script set so she could practice certain things on the go. As such, there was a small sheaf of paper resting under the bar that had gotten a few drink stain drops on it.

Her hair is pulled back in a high ponytail, bangs hanging free and she's wearing a pair of light blue denim shorts and a dark purple halter top. She's flirting occassionally with some of the patrons at the bar because, well, it helped encourage those bigger tips. Every now and then glancing towards the clock on the register so she didn't work one minute more than she was supposed to.

Justin texted back to let her know that he would stop by after he was done with what he was working on for work -- his other work, that company that he still had to run while playing actor. True to his word, he does show up toward the end of her shift, dressed in a pair of comfortable jeans, a white button down shirt, and a charcoal grey vest. He finds himself a seat at the bar and orders himself a beer when she makes her way over to him. There are more people that recognize him than usual due to the uptick in news about the movie and his mother. He smiles politely, allows a selfie or two, but is largely unbothered.

Dahlia grinned when she saw Justin and was now coming back over with his beer. "Hey you." The bottle is set on a small cocktail napkin and slid over to him. "Got about...30 minutes or so left so you won't be waiting too long." She looked a little amused. "Enjoyin' your 15 minutes of limelight?" A light tease as she spies a couple girls a few years younger than them giggling with each other about the selfie that he'd just taken with them. "Day go by alright?"

Justin picks up the bottle and takes a swallow from it before giving her a nod and saying, "No worries. I can wait. Take your time." He seems more than comfortable just sitting at the bar and enjoying his drink while he watches people on the dance floor. He chuckles and looks back over at her, "I mean, sure? I guess? It's always nice for a little while." But then after a while it gets tiring. He has no regrets about moving to Gray Harbor and getting out of it. "Day was good. Got a lot done. Yours?"

Dahlia nods, following his gaze briefly over to the semi-populated dance floor and then back to him with a smile. "Yeah, for a little while." She agreed. She's barely had a taste of fame in the way Justin has and she's already been doing her damnedest to avoid any unwanted attention. "It's been alright." She says as to how her day has been. "Went for my run. Finished off one of the two pillows for Erin's boyfriend. Jack. That owns that body shop in town.Read over some of my pages. And now I'm here, and ready to clock out." She laughed.

She won't be able to avoid it forever. She's already likely been photographed a few times for her association with Justin and his mother alone, and as more news comes out about the movie, it will only ramp up further. Justin nods about her day and grins, "The famous Dahlia pillows." He then nods when she says she's ready to clock out, "Soon, soon." He glances at the time on his phone.

Not forever, but she's going to try her best. "I dunno about famous, but you're next on the list after you an' Hya decide that color scheme." Dahlia chuckled. "Soon, not soon enough." Another customer calls to get her attention, "Holler if ya need a refill." She says to Justin and then goes back to working.

30 minutes goes by pretty quick really. Dahlia hands the reins over to the next bartender on duty and gives him a brief run down of whose got what. Then she's leave from behind the bar and settling in to the seat next to Justin, her papers in hand as she puts in her own order for a beer. "I'm liking what I'm reading so far on the script." She offers to Justin. "I know it's still a ways off but I'm looking forward to seeing how it all comes together on the big screen."

During those thirty minutes, Justin occasionally watches her as she works, and sometimes watches the people around him at the bar. He smiles when she clocks out and comes to settle in next to him. He leans over toward him and shoulder bumps her lightly, "Good. Glad you like it." He then looks around the club and asks, "So, did you want to hang out here or head out? We probably shouldn't actually be reading lines out in public."

Dahlia thanks the other bartender and takes a long sip of the beer before answering. The shoulder bump is returned along with a contented sigh and then a laugh. "Yeah, I mean. Probably not." She agreed, "Hang out long enough to finish our beers and then we can head out?" She suggested, turning her papers over so no lines were showing. "Nice weather tonight. We could walk down to the park, or utilize your pretty view. Or just your house. Or my house." She offers. She walked and Uber'd everywhere. So if he was manning the wheel, he could decide.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Justin says as he takes up his beer and takes another swig. He doesn't seem in any particular hurry, enjoying the music and being out. "We can go to the park or something, at least get some air. I don't want to go right back to the house at the moment. Since I just spent all day cooped up there working." He swivels around on his stool to lean back against the bar. "So, your place or outside, or outside and then your place."

"Outside then my place sounds good." Dahlia agreed. "You know I love to drag you out, and I guess it's been a while since you've been to mine." She mused, taking another sip. "I'll let Declan know I'll be bringing you by in case he beats us home so he knows." She doesn't pull out her phone just yet though, figuring it can wait until they're leaving. "Also, now that the weather's getting warmer. I'm definitely going to start stealing your pool again." She mock warns him with another laugh.

"Not since both of you guys were sick and I was doing soup runs," Justin chuckles and then he pauses for a moment. "Oh," he says after a moment, "Is everything okay with Declan?" He glances over at her, studying her for a moment, before saying, "If it's not a good idea, you can always come over to my place." He does chuckle though at the threat of stealing his pool. "I mean, as long as you leave it there when you're done with it and don't take it with you..."

Dahlia nods a bit when he asks about Declan. "Yeah, we're good. Aaanddd-" A little bit of mischief in her gaze. "He's totally down to try that thing sometime. But I figure that's a conversation we should have more when all three of us are around." She says, giving him another little nudge. "But, yeah. We talked about it a bit, and we made up for the lost time too. So it was good all around and I promise he isn't gonna try and kick your ass or anything if he sees you." Dahl laughed, taking another pull from her bottle. "I make no promises of not taking it with me when I go. It's a pretty good pool."

That slight tension of uncertainty leaves Justin when she mentions that things are okay. That seems to be all that he needed to know, and he nods, taking another swallow of his beer. He smiles a little bit wryly as she continues, though, and he nods. "Well, good. Makeup will be pissed if they have to cover up more bruises than the ones I got to my nose from that mechanical bull." He then smirks and says, "It is a pretty good pool. You still may not steal it."

Dahlia chuckled at that. "Yeah they were pretty annoyed with that one." She feigns a look of disappointment when he says no stealing the pool. "Fineee I guess I can settle for just coming over to use it." She sighs dramatically before flashing another smile. She finishes off her beer and slides the empty bottle closer to the bartender's side with a couple bills to cover it and a tip. "Alright, I'm good whenever you are." She offers, but she's not in much of a hurry to run out the door if he wants to hang out a bit longer.

"Hey, they did a great job of covering it up. They could win awards for that!" Justin says, trying to justify his making more work for the makeup department, knowing full well that he's full of shit. He grins a little sidelong and then says, "I mean, the added bonus is that you could actually visit me, too, not just my pool." He finishes off his beer and then slides off his stool. He snags one of her hands and says, "Come dance with me before we go."

"Be sure to remind them of that next time the mechanical bull flings you." Dahlia teased. "Why would I visit you? I clearly only use you for the pool." She grinned, starting to stand up as he takes her hand. "Great minds think alike. Lead the way." Letting him lead her out on to the dance floor. The idea of dancing had crossed her mind when the song switched up, so she was glad he'd brought it up.

"You say that like I make a habit of getting flung by mechanical animals," Justin says with a laugh. "I'll have you know that was the first and only time I have ever ridden a mechanical bull." He gasps at her in mock-shock. "I see how it is." But once they get out onto the floor, he pulls her in closer to move to the rhythm of the music among the other dancers, slipping into the crowd and finding a spot between the others, beneath the lights, and in the middle of the warmth and press of people.

"Really? The only time? Well we're gonna have to find a proper cowboy bar and have you do it again without any cameras around." Dahlia grinned. "I'll even do it too." Her arms wrap loosely around his neck as she moves with him, pressing a little closer. Letting the music flow through her. Enjoying the vibrant energy from the other dancers and, well, she always enjoyed dancing with him.

"Why?" Justin laughs, "Because you didn't get to be there to see me bash my face into it? I mean, to be fair, I didn't get thrown until after the timer was up and the ride was successful. So at least I got my free beer." His arms slide around her waist and draw her in close. There's a kind of energy to being in the middle of a crowd all moving in time with the music, with the lights shifting around them, the feeling of the bass and the beat thrumming through them, and he enjoys getting lost in it.

"Obviously." Dahlia grins. "You shoulda texted me so I could've seen it." She laughs with him. "And now you gotta make up for it." Her hands unloop from his neck, wandering over his torso or her own as they move together. She reaches up to let her hair down, hair tie easily getting slipped over her wrist as long locks cascade down around her shoulders. She's singing along with the next song that comes up. It's easy to get caught up in the energy, but she doesn't mind it one bit.

"Next time that Easton does a cowboy night at the Twofer, I will call you up so that you can come and witness the foolishness," Justin says. "You missed me in cowboy duds with a black cowboy hat, too." He waggles his eyebrows at her and grins. As she lets her hair down, he spins her around so that her back is against his chest, letting his hands slide down to her hips, letting his nose brush against her ear as they talk, so that she can hear him above the music.

A pleased little noise escaped Dahlia as he spun her around. One arm moved back up, loosely draping around his neck so her hand could toy in his hair for a moment or two. Her head tilted ever so slightly to make it easier for him to hear her as well. "Well now I really feel cheated." She murmured with a low chuckle. "You better be all dolled up for the next one too. I'm glad you're getting out more though, for real. Now you're the social butterfly and I'm turning into the semi-shut in." She grinned.

"Someone kept telling me that I spent way too much time shut up in my office," Justin chuckles. "I think it's the movie, too. Having to be out and working on it.. I'm trying to gear up for all the press stuff that I'm going to have to do after filming is done." He laughs though and says, "Didn't know you liked the cowboy look."

"Well who ever it was, was smart." Dahlia chuckled with him. "That makes sense. I should probably make myself a little more...open. If only keep them from actually showin' up at the house." Because the last thing she wanted was Declan to be getting bombarded by people. Her hand slipped down from his hair, his neck, moving as both her hands rested over his. "I like a lotta looks. But mostly I just wanna see you dressed up and puttin' on an Old West accent."

"Yep, she's pretty smart. It's one of the many reasons that I hang out with her," Justin says with a little chuckle. Then he nods and says, "We'll try and keep Declan out of it as much as we can. People will be curious, and invasive, but it's an independent film, and my mom will probably take the majority of the attention, which means we'll probably get a little bit of a reprieve." He grins and spins her lightly again once more to the beat of the music, "Well then I will have to put on the hat for you sometime."

"Hopefully. We'll see how it goes." Dahlia agreed before she was twirled back around. "Yep you will. Maybe a very late...birthday present or a very early christmas one." Eyes sparkling with amusement. The song starts to transition again and she's a little flushed already from the combination of moving and all the people. "I promise I won't make you model it and I won't take pictures to blackmail you with later." Giggling again.

Justin doesn't seem quite ready to get off the floor yet, and so when the song changes to a different one, he just transitions their dance along with it, moving among the other people on the floor, enjoying the heat of the dance and the crowd. "You say that like I'd be either ashamed to wear it, which clearly not since I wore it to twofer in public, or that I'd care if you took pictures of me... which, again, I don't. So, you're going to have to find something else if you want to blackmail me."

Dahlia moves in close again as they dance with and around the crowd. A wicked smirk on her lips as she leaned up to murmur into his ear. "You just said you'd model the hat. Whose sayin' you're wearing anything else with it?" There's a soft giggle that trails on the end of the question as she pulls back, grinning. "I'm sure I can come up with a few more ideas though. Not that I really know what I'd blackmail you for..."

Justin laughs at the murmur in his ear and he murmurs back against hers, hand at her lower back pulling her up against him, "I'm not sure that the answer is any different.. except for the twofer. Pretty sure they require a shirt and shoes there." His own eyes sparkle with mischief. "I suppose I'm fortunate, then, that you haven't figured /that/ out yet."

Dahlia waggled her brows at him a bit. "Ohh realllyyy?...Maybe I'll get Declan a hat too and you'll both have to put on a show for me...I might just have a cowboy fantasy after all." A tease and a laughed as she relaxed against him. "For Twofer...I guess you can follow the dress code." Feigning reluctance in the statement. "Suppose so. You know my imagination can run a little wild. I just need time to think up something good."

"Uh oh, now I've created a monster," Justin smirks just a little bit as this cowboy hat thing begins to take on a life of its own, though he hardly looks worried about it. As the song begins to draw to a close, he slowly pulls away and says, "I think I need some air. It's a little hot in here.. shall we walk?"

Dahlia slows with him, letting him put some distance between them as she catches her breath a bit. "Yeah, I agree." She smiled. "Too many people." She keeps a hold of his hand, stopping briefly back by the bar to retrieve her papers and then leading him outside into the slightly cooler Spring air. Inhaling deeply, "Much better." She murmured in an exhale. "Even though dancing with you is always fun."

Once they are out in the cooler spring air, Justin draws in a deep breath and then lets it out slowly with a sigh, "Okay.. as much fun as that was, I needed to breathe a little." He chuckles as they walk along, offering his arm to her so that they can wander along arm in arm. He's in no particular hurry, and strolls comfortably toward the car to drive to the park. "Well, I'll stop by work more often when you're about to get off and we can dance your way out the door."

Dahlia takes his arm easily, eyes up on the sky for a few minutes, looking at the stars. Then she looked back up at him with a smile. "I'd like that. Could be a fun thing every now and then." She agrees. She takes her phone out to send a text off to Declan and then pockets it again. "Plus, dancing is the second most entertaining cardio workout." Stated like a well known fact even as she chuckles. When they reach the car she settles in to the passenger side easily enough, relaxing into the seat.

It doesn't take long to get to the park from the Firefly Club. Once there, Justin parks on the street and heads around to the door to open it up for her. Then he offers her an arm as they head off down one of the paths. It's a nice night out, and there are a couple of people out walking around at this late hour, but not many. Just a jogger or two, and one couple walking their dog.

Dahlia falls in step with him again easily as they walk down the path. Her gaze drifts towards the dog a moment before looking back up to Justin. "You know I'm not much of an animal person. But lately I've been thinking about maybe getting a cat. If Declan's for it. Low maintenance but it could be nice to have the extra company now and again."

"Yeah? I didn't think you were into pets at all?" Justin says as he glances over in the direction of the dog. "I figured you tolerated Caleb, at best, since he's pretty well behaved and basically hangs around me all the time." He smiles, "Though cats are pretty low maintenance, as far as attention goes."

"I did at first. Just tolerate him. But he grew on me, good couch companion and feet warmer." Dahlia laughed. "I don't think I have the patience for a dog, and our schedules are a bit too varied for one I think. But something easy like a cat could be nice." A little shrug of her shoulders. "I've only recently started thinking about it though. So I'll have to see what he says about it." Her head lightly rests against his upper arm as they walk.

"He does make an excellent foot warmer," Justin chuckles. He wanders along the path at a slow steady pace, watching the people wander off with their dog and then letting his attention wander back to the path ahead of them. "Cats are nice. I like cats. I don't think I'd get one for myself, but then, I didn't think I'd get a dog either until Caleb. So, you never know."

"True. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a fortune teller." Dahlia laughed. "Let's find a bench that's a little out of the way? Well, unless you want to save the line reading for my place to ensure total privacy." She mused, taking another deep breath of the fresh air. 'I'm so happy that the weather's getting nicer."

"I think we can probably wait for the line reading for later," Justin says with a chuckle. "Unless you really really want to." He glances over at her and raises an eyebrow, checking to see what she thinks.

She shrugs a bit and smiles up at him. "I'm fine waiting till later. After all, it's not like I can't just randomly accost you at pretty much any time to do it." She giggled some, looking back towards the path. "So, How've you been? Over all. With everything going on?"

"It's true. You do have keys to the house," Justin chuckles. "So you generally know where to find me unless I'm actually out doing something." Which, to be fair, has been more often as of late, but still not nearly as often as people who don't work from home. He smiles and shrugs his shoulders, "I've been well enough. Keeping busy. And keeping busy is good. I like to be doing things, working on things, out and about."

"Yep! Though, I suppose if you're out and about whenever I tried I could always run lines with Caleb." Dahlia laughed. "He seems like he'd be a good reading partner." A bit of a grin at the idea. Her head tilted to look back up at him as he continued on. "Keeping busy is good." She agreed. "And I'm glad you're getting out more, even if it's largely in part due to the movie. Lightway still going strong with your attention a bit divided? No major mishaps or anything?"

"He's a really good listener," Justin laughs, "Though fortunately for me he's not quite as good at reciting lines. Else I might be out a role. He's far cuter." He grins idly and gives her a little bump with his shoulder. Though when she asks about his business he nods and says, "The company pretty much runs itself. That's what I have my executive staff for, to handle most of it. I've been handling all the meetings that I need to and doing some programming but we just had a release not too long ago and things are at a slower point, at least for me, so the timing has worked out fine."

Dahlia chuckled at that mental image. "Caleb - Dog Detective...it'd be a far different movie." She returned the little bump. "Good." When he says everything's going well with the business. "Always nice when timing works out well hm?" Her other hand gives his arm a bit of a squeeze. "I've been thinking too. I might talk to Antonio," Her boss at/the owner of Platinum Caberet. "See if maybe I can transition into a more managerial type role. I already am sort of like an assistant. Might get a bit better pay if I can make it official, and not do as much dancing. I love the dancing but, I want a little something...more you know?"

"Yeah?" Justin asks when she mentions asking Antonio about moving into something more managerial. "Do you know if he's looking for a manger? That'd be great if you wanted to transition into something like that. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with dancing. Just that if you want to move on into something with more responsibilities, that's pretty cool. You know I support whatever you want to do, there. I mean, I was a little worried about you going back after getting clean but.. You seem to be doing real well."

"I don't really know if he is or not. But the worst thing he can do is say no, yeah?" Dahlia mused. "Firefly is already covered with that stuff and I like the bar tending anyway. Talking to people and stuff." She explained. "It's been tempting some times...remembering the rush...but yeah. I think I could be an asset. Help orchestrate events and everything. Vet new girls and such." Dahlia nodded. "I'll let you know how it goes for sure. I've been keeping busy too, with different things. Helps keep my mind off any kind of temptations too."

Justin nods as he listens as they stroll along, making their way along the paths in the evening air, the quiet sound of crickets and night bugs the loudest thing around them other than their voices. After a bit he says, "I think you'd do great at it, honestly. Sounds like it would be fun to be involved from that side of things, deal more with the people and planning things." He smiles, "I like running the company, but I also like that I have a lot of specialists who are really good at what they do handling all the different departments, so that I can oversee things without having to get completely mired in the minutiae. It lets me work on the projects that I want to dig into and leave others to other folks. So, having a good manager who you can trust is a great asset."

"Thanks. " Dahlia gave a bit of a grin as he said she'd do great. "I think it will be fun. So I hope he goes for it. And, if I ever get back out of this town it'll look good on a resume." She chuckled and exhaled in a contented sigh. "And you know I always like feeling useful too. So that plays in to it some too." She added. Still trying to carve out a bit of a foothold in general. Finding her place back in this town that she's pretty sure is cursed and she's cursed to never leave it.

Justin nods his head and says, "I think it's a great idea, and I'm sure you'll do great at it. He'd be wise to give you the opportunity." He then turns their direction toward the path back to the car, wandering in silence for a little bit, just enjoying the companionship and the night air. "Alright, what say we head back?" he asks after a bit.

The silence is comfortable and easy as they walk. Dahlia's head rests against his arm again as well for a few moments. "Sounds good to me." She says when he suggests heading back. "Still want to come back to mine? Or are you sick of me yet?" She teased lightly with a laugh.