Buffet de l'Anquitaire, Québec City, Québec, Tuesday Evening

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden had stupidly had the jitters all day Tuesday, thinking of the plan with Cal to have one last paintball dinner while here in Québec. Did it mean something? Something more than friends? Surely he wasn't trying to drop a hint or anything...right?

Which meant that she couldn't help but inwardly (and ruefully) laugh at herself when they ended up deciding to end up at the Buffet de l'Anquitaire. The food looked amazing, don't get her wrong, but the chill diner atmosphere didn't really give off 'confessions of a secret crush' vibes. She was definitely glad she'd stuck with a cute but nothing fancy outfit. This was firmly 'two friends having dinner post-paintball' territory.

Once again proving that the only one harboring a secret crush was Arden. She really needed to stomp that out. She'd been making good progress, but Parents' Weekend had derailed that. But hey, if she could kill a crush during a trip where there was only one bed, then there was probably no bringing it back, right? Of course right. She was just gonna...get on doing that, then.

"Let me guess," she teased, snagging a seat in one of the bright red booths, "you wanna get the hot dog and sausage poutine. And, hey! We'll have to try some of these pies so I can report back to Graham."

Comments

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Don't bother with sleeves sometime and you'll find out," Arden sassed. With a fair bit of drawl.

And then she was staring at him, open-mouthed, before bursting out laughing. "Oh goddess," she said. "I've been arguing with Kamala for months that I was pretty sure you were aro or ace or just not into me...and now I find out you've been checking out my ass this whole time?"

She tossed her head, curls bouncing. "My butt always looks nice. I've got a great butt. Dresses just makes it look better."

[moreofaponchoguy]

"In my defense, you can't see me looking at your butt because it's behind you," Cal said. "Also, if I ever got caught looking at someone in an inappropriate way, Master Tapal would have my head, so I know not to get caught. I'll have to get some more tanktops, just in time for winter."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I mean, it's warm in Midnight," Arden pointed out. "Also, a tank top and sweatpants make for perfectly good pjs, so long as you don't wear them outside."

That was basically her pajama sets, though hers were jersey sleep shorts and tank tops. Though surely Cal hadn't noticed her pjs and certainly not how short they were.

"Well now, at least, it's not the action that's inappropriate, just potentially our location," she teased, since he probably shouldn't be (obviously) checking out her butt in class or whatever. "But you gotta tell me when you do so I feel good about it." She gave it another moment of thought. "Does this mean you actually noticed me in bikinis?"

[moreofaponchoguy]

"Oh, absolutely," Cal said. "The skin and the fabric just..." He made little pinching motions, lacking the words to describe how tight, tiny clothing was just perfect for her. "Beach parties are fun but I've been dying a little on the inside keeping everything to myself."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"You never gave a single sign," Arden accused, though considering she was leaning against him now, she probably wasn't terribly angry. "So...it seemed really obvious that you weren't interested in me at all. I was prancing around in bikinis and you reacted like I was wearing a full-body burlap sack."

[moreofaponchoguy]

"Isn't that rude though? Staring at women's bodies and objectifying them?" Cal didn't spend a lot of time on the internet, but his algorithms had picked up that he was a green flag guy, so his view of Earth's culture was skewed in that direction. "Guys shouldn't be staring or whistling or ogling you even if you're nearly naked."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Well...true," Arden said, stumbling a bit. "But like...there's a difference between ogling and appreciation! Like...objectifying literally means making someone into a thing right? If you ever made me feel like not a person, like a things because I was in a bikini, that would be bad. Subtracting the stuff that makes me me and only caring about the parts of me that you want to use is bad." She looked up at him. "But I don't think you'll ever do that."