Outback Steakhouse - Friday Night

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

There was one really good thing about a smaller town than Hart, and that was that it was way easier to get a seat at a popular place on a Friday night. Jack looked over his menu at George. "Ever been here before?"

[Do you need a steak? Get your steak!]

Comments

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"Nope," George said, looking around. "I mean, not ... this one. I've been to Outback before. Just ... in Seattle."

She raised an eyebrow. "You've been to an Outback before, right?"

Just checking. If she had to introduce him to the messy joys of the blooming onion, that was doable.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Hey Jack," the waitress said. "Do you guys need a few minutes?"

"That would be great," Jack replied and she left. He looked sheepish for a moment. "I come here sometimes."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"Every now and then," she said, with a grin. "So why here? Do you have a fetish for kitschy stereotypes of foreign countries?"

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"They have really good appetizers and it's on my running route. Not far before the end of it, actually, so I usually hit here when I start to get hungry. Now you, I know why you've been here. I hear you like steak." He might have been mocking her for her earlier comment.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"I always thought running was a morning thing," George said, fiddling with her straw. "And that steak kinda wasn't."

She was ignoring that jab. Ignoring it. See?

Okay, maybe she glared a little. That was still ignoring.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

In response, Jack was happy simply to smile. He didn't need to say anything more on the matter. "I do morning and afternoon. It's not like I have to be up early for classes like at home. There's time for a run and a shower. I'm giving myself away as not really the type to join the apathy club, aren't I?"

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"I'm in a band," George volunteered. "Sometimes. We haven't ... played in a while. I think we lost our singer."

Maybe they could be an instrumental band?

"The club was just kind of supposed to be a joke," she said. "Why did you join, anyway?"

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Your name was on the sign-up sheet."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"Okay," George said. "Is that the flirty answer, or the real answer? I'm gonna be flattered either way."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Can't the flirty answer be the real answer as well? I like it when the two meet."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

George considered that for a couple of seconds.

"You could have just asked me out at the club fair," she said. "Maybe you've got more apathy in you than you think."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"This way I get scheduled, school sanctioned time with you every week...and a heavy dose of apathy," he admitted.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"Using a school club to find dates," George mused. "You're gonna get me kicked out, at this rate."

She seemed really upset about that. Seriously.

"The apathy thing kind of grows on you," she added. "It was a joke, and then we all sat around glaring at each other, and it's kind of ... actually a social thing now."

For limited values of social. They were still, well, apathy club.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Socializing for apathetic people. It's not one of the weirder parts of school life here. You scowl about it, but you like it, don't you?"

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

That one, George had to think about.

"You mean the club or you mean being here, at this school?" she asked.

Because those two questions had very different answers, was all.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"The club. School's supposed to bring mixed feelings."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

George pushed her drink away and frowned at him.

"You, too?" she asked. "Lots of people seem thrilled to be here and I'd rather be home."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"I have friends at home. I knew the area, knew my school even though I didn't always like it," at least not until after he stopped being Mr. Track Star, "I had a job. I had a life. Then I had to come here. It's turning out okay, but it's taken a long time to adjust to be okay with it."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"I think I'm still in the 'refusing to adjust' phase," George said with a sigh. "Like if maybe I don't accept the weird crap going on, I'll get to wake up back home in my own bed again."

Oh, hey, saved from the more depressing aspects of that idea by the waitress! Good timing. George was so going to tip.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

Ordering was the perfect break in conversation and when the waitress left, they were back on even ground. "My trick is meet people who make passing the time worthwhile," he gestured to George, "keep busy and shrug the weird off. Something crazier will come up next week and I don't feel like spending the rest of my high school life being shocked and amazed. Hey, maybe that's why Apathy Club appeals."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"I think maybe it's a club for everyone who hates clubs," George mused. "And doesn't feel like pretending to get along with people and caring about all that, but would feel left out without one. This is shitty date conversation, isn't it?"

She was blaming herself there. Not him. She sucked at dating. Sorry, Jack.

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Why should date conversation be any different than our normal conversations? I asked you out because I like when we hang out and talk about the stuff we talk about. This is perfect date conversation."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"Oh," George said.

No. She hadn't considered that. Well, in that case ...

"Okay," she decided. "In that case, I stand by what I said. It's a club for people who hate clubs. Is it what you expected?"

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't expecting apathetic people to hate anything. It's too much work." Was he teasing now? Yes. Yes he was.

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

That was a good time for her to roll her eyes. "How much energy do you think hate needs?" she said. "I mean, a vendetta, that's gonna take it out of you, but sitting in the back rolling your eyes and mocking, that's really low-effort on the grand scale of things."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"I don't know, hating something takes it out of me."

[onapalebicycle.livejournal.com]

"Can you do ... weary disinterest?" she asked. "Not really hate. It's like Diet Hate. You'd hate it if that didn't mean you'd have to get off the couch."

[notlikebobby.livejournal.com]

"Weary disinterest is a speciality of mine."