Family Bonds

[muffinstud]

[This is a special little something for ickle Harri.]

The setting: An upscale restaurant downtown. The items on the menu aren't ridiculously expensive, pricy enough to keep the atmosphere sufficiently snooty. The smells of a french/chinese fusion waft from the kitchen, teasing the customers waiting to be seated.

The time: The evening, specifically, the evening of a particular couple's anniversary. Said couple has been dating for 4 years to the day, and the woman at the table still has no ring on her finger. She taps the table cloth impatiently as they wait for their food.

The woman: Charlene DuBois, one half of the couple having their anniversary tonight. She waits for the waiter to bring their drinks, hers being a cran-raspberry daiquiri. As she waits, her eyes go over her date, and they soften up. One can see through the look in her eyes that she truly cares for the man across from her, and she gives him a small smile. "Honey, you really shouldn't have gone out of your way for all this. It's fantastic, so romantic... but I thought we agreed we wanted to do something low key tonight?"

The waiter: He finally arrives with the drinks, doing a double take as he looks at the woman and hands her the daiquiri. Then he offers the man his drink.

[Harri-chan]

Across the table from Charlene, was her boyfriend, Matt Young. He had short brown hair, and wore a smart black jacket, over a white t-shirt, with black trousers, yet he had black canvas sneakers with white toecaps on his feet. Having been tapping away at a cellphone screen when Charlene spoke, he looked up, and it seemed to take him a second or two to focus before he returned her smile.

"It's nothing. I know I've been spending a lot of time with work recently... but I've not forgotten about you", he said, leaning across the table to brush a kiss against her lips before glancing up when the waiter arrived, and nodded as he was handed his beer. Matt's internet clothing business had really taken off recently, which meant he'd had a lot more money that could potentially have been used to spoil Charlene, but... so far he'd been too busy working to actually treat her much at all.

[muffinstud]

Charlene goes through the motions for the kiss, and takes a sip of her drink after. "I know, and I'm really happy for you..." She frowns at the phone acting as the divide between the two of them. "I'm proud of you, finally taking off with your business. You've worked so hard on it..." She gives him a sad smile. "So... maybe now that you're more financially stable... we could talk about our future again? I mean, you're making enough that I could quit my job at the office. We could move in together like we always wanted..." She bites her lip. Moving in had always been her idea. She talked on and on about how she was enjoying things at the office, but it was really only because she could talk to the married women that worked there. In truth, she had only taken it to make ends meet.

[Harri-chan]

Matt's gaze had drifted back to the phone until Charlene brought up her suggestion, and his eyes widened a little as he lifted his head. Reaching for the bottle of beer, he took a sip from it, as if trying to buy time to think about what was said next. After a couple of seconds, he smiled again.

"Charlene, baby... you don't want all that. You might think you do, but trust me, it wouldn't make you happy. You've got your own place, your own job... the whole independent woman thing. That other stuff is all a bit old fashioned these days", he shrugged, and took another sip of his beer.

"I'll buy you a bigger apartment", he said, his smile growing. Matt had never really been reluctant to spend his money on her, it was just his time that was hard to get recently. "I'll stick it in the calendar for next week", he added, and with that, his focus was back on that damn phone.

[muffinstud]

Charlene's bright blue eyes glisten with wetness, her puffy, silky lips pout. "But Matt... we've been doing just that for four years. I can still be independent while spending more time with you." She leans over, trying to draw his attention from the phone with her impressive cleavage. "That's all I want... you. Not your money, not your security, not anything you can do through that stupid phone!" Her voice is a little choked up, sounding sad but still beautiful. "I just want to spend time with you, like when we first met. I love you, but I need more than this."

[Harri-chan]

Sure enough, Matt's gaze rose, drawn to her cleavage, like a hypnotist's watch. He swallowed a deep breath and lightly licked at his lips.

"Charlene... you know I spend as much time with you as I can. We've made a lot of money in the last year with the business, but this isn't the time to slack off. Why settle for being millionaires when we could be billionaires?", he asked, still gazing at her chest. Reaching across the table, he lightly took hold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Maybe in a few more years things will be different. We can talk about this then, okay?".

[muffinstud]

The beautiful woman sits back in her chair, and squeezes his hand back, but barely. "All right. I guess I can wait another four years..." She sighs and takes another sip of her daiquiri. With a sad, somewhat sour look marring that face of hers, she looks out in the restaurant. Now she just seems bored as she waits for her meal to arrive. "Matt? What if... what if I told you I was seeing someone else?"

[Harri-chan]

Matt looked visibly relieved that Charlene seemed ready to drop the topic, and he puffed his cheeks out slightly as he leaned back in his own chair and took a sip of beer. His gaze dropped back to Charlene's chest, admiring it for a second or two before she next spoke, and his lips parted slightly. Immediately, he lifted his gaze to meet her own, and tilted his head, a frown creasing his brow.

"Charlene... come on, this isn't the time to be playing mind games. We're out to celebrate with a nice meal, let's just enjoy it, huh?".

[muffinstud]

Charlene seems to have settled her wandering gaze on a certain part of the restaurant, but turns to Matt once he addresses her... just to dismiss her. "You're... you're right. Sorry, it was a bad idea for a joke anyways..." She grimaces and holds her glass up. "Let's just enjoy ourselves, okay?" She takes a sip... and lets her eyes wander back to the same spot elsewhere in the restaurant. "I... I love you, Matt."

[Harri-chan]

Matt ran a hand back through his hair and rubbed at the back of his head before picking up his bottle of beer, and gently brushed it against Charlene's glass with a smile that seemed to show relief more than anything else.

"I love you too, Charlene. I want you to know that... ", he said. It was true. He really did love her in his own way, even if he did seem terrified by the idea of commitment. He certainly had no interest in other woman, the only thing she had to compete with was his work.

"Do you think you could escape the office for an hour or two tomorrow at lunch? I want to take you shopping, buy you a couple of new dresses, maybe some shoes... ", he offered, as if it could make up for what she wanted so badly, despite her best efforts to convince him that it did not.

[muffinstud]

Charlene gives him another of those sad smiles. "Sure. I could arrange something like that." More gifts... Matt trying to put a price on their relationship again. Charlene looks into her glass, wistfully remembering the time they spent together in school, how he'd been so shy around her. Of course, she had dated around a lot, but the only guys with the courage to ask her out didn't care about her, just a notch on their belts. They had hung out as friends for so long after school too. It wasn't until four years ago that Matt asked her out... She smiles dreamily as she remembers that wonderful night.

[Harri-chan]

Setting the bottle of beer down, Matt picked up his phone, slipping it into the jacket of his pocket before sliding his chair back slightly and rising to his feet. Coming around the table, he leaned down, softly brushing Charlene's hair back from her face, and tenderly kissed her cheek.

"You're beautiful, baby", he murmured in her ear, and one hand lightly brushes along her shoulder, and then trailed down her back before he moved away slightly.

"I'm just going to take a quick trip to the bathroom, won't be long", he promised, and was off, winding his way through the tables until he reached the corridor where the bathrooms were located on the other side of the restaurant, and slipped through the one with the male sign.

[muffinstud]

She lays her hand on top of his before he leaves, and she nods as she watches him go into the bathroom. She uses her napkin to dab her eyes and looks over to the same spot in the restaurant as before. She gives a slow nod, stands up, and makes her way out of the restaurant.

The men's room is neat and tidy, kept by a guy in a suit who stands in the corner next to a small basket for tips. Of course, while he's taking care of business, Matt's phone goes off. More stuff about the store. It just never ends... but at least it's a sign that things are right in the world. He's moving up, has a gorgeous girlfriend, and soon he'll have everything he wants. Right? Right?

[Harri-chan]

Matt nods to the guy in the suit as he enters the bathroom, and turns into one of the stalls. He pushes the door closed behind him, but it fails to latch, allowing it to slowly swing open again as he unzips himself in front of the toilet and begins to pee. He could feel the vibration from his jacket pocket, and with a wince, he slides one hand in there to pull out the phone, and brushes his thumb across the screen to answer before lifting it to his ear.

"Hello... ?".

[muffinstud]

Unsurprisingly, Matt has a call from work! This wouldn't be the first time he's answered the phone in a stall though, would it? Such is the life of the successful businessman. The call doesn't seem to be all that important though, and Matt is able to finish it up soon after he relieves himself. Now, what was he doing again? Ah, he was showing Charlene how much he cared for her, right?