Luke's Diner, Friday, 9/26

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella had taken off her shirt on the air last night. Ella kind of wanted to die. The fact it was radio, so people heard but did not see her topless state, had kind of gotten lost in her mortification. She simply didn't think it could be worse.

Therefore Ella was hiding, very very stealthily spending her shift in the kitchen. She would come out if clients needed her, but she'd tucked her hair up under a ballcap and was wearing stealthy dark sunglasses.

The kitchen staff had decided to cook a western feast to cheer her up.

Luke's Diner was open.

Specials
Baked beans
Barbecued leg of lamb
Texas sheet cake

[OOC: Flying OCD-free.]

Comments

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

There were some things from last night that Dick was going to simply not mention again for the sake of simplicity. Was he at the bar last night? Yes. Did he and Ella make out there? Yes. What gender was he at the time? Irrelevant, time to move on.

And then there were other things that Dick didn't think he'd have to mention. Like last night's radio. That's why he was sitting at the counter with an amused smirk on his face, waiting for a certain someone to come out of hiding.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

She did emerge. Eventually. Trying to look very much like someone who was not named Ella and certainly had not been topless on the radio last night.

Though the disguise wasn't so effective when she saw the person she might possibly have kissed the night before, even if he had looked a little different.

"Um. Hi." That was ... a word and a half, maybe?

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Hi," Dick said, still smirking. "How are you today?"

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

She gave him the look of someone who smells something fishy, but hopes she might be mistaken. "Fine," she managed. "You know, nothing special, just ... fine! How have you been since Caritas?"

Maybe he'd gotten too distracted by being female to listen to the radio.

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Pretty good. You know, happy to be a guy again and all. Is it warm in here?" Dick asked, unbuttoning the top button of his shirt to get some more air.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"I don't feel it," Ella said sweetly, drawing her apron a little closer to her body. "Maybe guys feel the heat more than girls do. Were you warm last night?"

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but I think that was because of combined body heat of everyone there," Dick said, still playing with his collar. "It is really warm."

So Dick took his shirt off.

He was obviously not going for subtle humor anymore.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

No, not so much with the subtle.

Ella gave herself a moment to take a long look, even as she turned bright red. "It was the squirrels!" she protested.

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Sure it was," Dick said. "Is there a no shirt, no shoes, no service rule here?"

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"There's a 'ignore the waitress enough and she won't serve you' rule," Ella teased.

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Maybe I didn't come here for food," Dick said. "Maybe I just came here to spend some time with you. And spend some time teasing you."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella frowned slightly. "I think I just said 'ignore' and meant 'annoy,' " she informed Dick. "Not that I mind spending time with you. Actually" -- she leaned forward confidingly -- "I don't even mind the teasing."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"But only because you get to see me shirtless, right?" Dick asked.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"It's the least payment you can give me," Ella said, giving him a very approving look. "Honestly, do you think all that many people listened to radio?"

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Probably," Dick said sympathetically. "But at least it's not a visual medium."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"And thank goodness for that favor," Ella said. "I still don't know what the squirrels were on about, with the four of us, but at least it was over quickly."

Though, she realized, that meant Harvey, Robin and Temari had seen rather more of her than her boyfriend. That was a little odd.

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Was that all the clothes that came off last night?" Dick asked.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella nodded. "The squirrels couldn't get Temari or Robin to do anything. I think they were sad about it."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"And Harvey?" Dick asked. "They didn't get him to hurt his student political career already?"

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Not unless coloring his hair with markers was meant as weird squirrel slander," Ella answered. "Speaking of which ... we lost, but I'm not too horribly surprised."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"I'm surprised. But I'm dealing. Shirtlessly," Dick said. "Which is a very good way to deal, I think."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"I knew Turtle was keeping her seat," Ella said, shrugging. "So it was seven people for one space. I don't know why Joan and not us, though. Your brochures were good."

She tilted her head at him. "It didn't feel like the best way to deal last night."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"It said 'Vote for DICK' with 'DICK' in huge letters. How do you vote against that?" Dick asked. "And shirtlessness is always a good way to deal. You just have to make sure it happens in the right company."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"I guess some people didn't want Dick," Ella said, almost making it sound innocent.

She leaned forward on the counter. "Was that an offer of your own company, Mr. Grayson?"

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"All I'm saying is that I'm better company than squirrels for several reasons," Dick said.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"You're a better conversationalist," Ella said, pretending to think about it. "And you've never pulled my hair."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"That's because I'm a gentleman," Dick said. "And, yes, it's entirely possible to be both half-naked and a gentleman."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"But not entirely naked and a gentleman," she said. 'That would just be silly."

"Though that would explain why there are no gentlesquirrels..."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no, it's possible to be both of those, too," Dick said. "But not for squirrels."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"What if they wore pants?"

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"Then their tails are all stuffed in there uncomfortably and they'll be jerks about it," Dick said. "Anyone would be if they had to deal with that."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

Ella almost collapsed into giggles. "You," she told him, "have an odd brain. I'm impressed."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"I just try to think through situations as best I can," Dick said humbly. Although it was hard to be humble when you're sitting around in public without a shirt.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"It's important to be rational," Ella agreed. "Or ... reasonable, at least, when there's nothing to be rational about."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"There's always something rational to go with. It may be hiding, but it's there," said the guy who responded to the death of his parents by wearing a cape and punching people since before he hit puberty.

He was good at finding what he thought to be rational.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"What if I suddenly started throwing baked beans at you?" Ella asked curiously. "I'm not sure there's a rational response."

She may have been slightly loopy.

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"I'd probably leave," Dick said. "I don't want to be covered in baked beans."

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Very rational," Ella said. "I have no idea why my brain went there."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"It's okay. It's cute, assuming the baked beans come out of the can first," Dick said.

[ella-obeys.livejournal.com]

"Of course," Ella said. "I would want to disconcert you, not give you a concussion."

[laidanegg.livejournal.com]

"And I appreciate that," Dick said.