Friday on the Upper East Side [RP for Aryn Wakefield]

[sandandwater]

A lunch date with a casual friend, at noon and in Manhattan no less, meant Pippa had to do something she normally shied away from: wake up early. So much for reclaiming her life and her routine, she thought to herself as she stumbled around her kitchen making coffee. Mornings were not her favorite time of day. But she had to shower and dress, talk herself into a state of semi-normalcy so she could even face Aryn at the upscale bistro. And then of course, there was the drive.

"You're doing this, Kerr." Muttering to herself, coffee mug in hand, Pippa went back into her bedroom. She even managed a smile as she caught sight of her puppy curled against the sprawled form of her lover, both still sound asleep. She'd be tempted to rejoin them and cancel on Aryn if there were any room for her in the bed.

Instead, she showered and dressed in a favorite fall ensemble, something with long sleeves that afforded her the opportunity to hide her hands from view. From there she played with the hopelessly choppy lengths of her hair, finally giving up and leaving them in what she hoped passed for artful disarray. After Larch had butchered her long curly locks, Pippa resorted to straightening and further trimming her auburn mane in an attempt to rectify the damage. She wasn't satisfied with the results but until her hair grew out, there was little else she could do with it.

She left the apartment with those thoughts in her head, turned off the alarm on her car (recently returned to her after the mechanic's massive repairs) and set out for the bridge that would connect her with the much larger city. The radio was conspicuously silent for the duration of her drive. She hadn't been able to listen to anything by Breaker Street and other music held even less appeal to her.

Reaching her destination, she opted to valet park at Jaques'. Finding a place to self-park was never something she enjoyed and if she was going to put on her happy face and pretend life was wonderful, she didn't need that aggravation. Pippa shrugged her purse onto her right shoulder and tugged the sleeve of her left over her hand, holding the hem with her fingertips, hiding the missing pinky and the dark bruising as she handed over her car keys and got out of the green VW Bug.

Showtime.

Comments

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

"That is disgusting." Her face matched her tone as she envisioned a dog slobbering on the contents of her own apartment. "Mr. Beaker is nearly nine months old and he's all legs it seems. I've jokingly said we may as well have a horse in the apartment, really."

More eating, more moving food around her plate. "It sounds like you and Remy and the cat and dog have managed to make things work out pretty well. I've never brought Mr. Beaker to Ro's, but I have had him over at Ro's sister's place. Puppy is not fond of the ferry so I have to take the car."

[bookish-blonde.livejournal.com]

"It is, yeah. He licked the hell out of my face when I first met him."

She wrinkled her nose and took another sip of wine and another bite of salmon.

"We have, I think. Usually Remy brings Jack to my place. It's easier to move him than it is to pack up all of Phantom's stuff and cart him somewhere. Jack likes my couch. And sometimes Phantom will jump up and sleep with him when he's over. It's cute." She smirked. "Also keeps them both out of the bed."

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

"That's sweet." Pippa opted for water and not more wine as she continued to eat, not being at all subtle as she pushed the beans to one side of her plate and ignored them. "The problem taking Mr. Beaker to Ro's is that I don't like taking separate vehicles and Ro almost always has his bike. And I'm not even sure his building allows pets."

[bookish-blonde.livejournal.com]

Aryn laughed. "Yeah, I can see how that wouldn't work. Dog on a bike is a scary thought. Remy's got the Mustang running now, so he drives that if he's bringing Jack." She smiled. "We actually took it to Atlantic City when he got it running. It was just for a night over because I had to work the next evening, but it was nice. And he made out good in the casino."

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Pippa snorted. "Jersey?" Oh some biases will never fade. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves but I don't think you could ever get me to willingly venture into Jersey. If I want to see the beach, I only have to walk a couple of blocks from my apartment."

Never mind the gambling, she's never cared for it and Rory doesn't play games of chance.

[bookish-blonde.livejournal.com]

She shrugged. "Remy was in the mood to gamble, so we went. I just watched, I have lousy luck for playing. He did good, though. It was nice to see him enjoying himself after New Orleans."

She shook her head and played with her wine glass. "That was a hard trip for him. Well, for both of us. But it was only hard for me because it was hard for him."

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

"I can only imagine." It's been so hard to watch her caregivers, Rory's family, struggle with their own issues over Larch and what happened to her knowing that they were trying to shield her from what they were feeling. And Rory himself..."I hate seeing Ro unhappy or out of sorts."

"How long where you in New Orleans? I didn't even know you were gone."

[bookish-blonde.livejournal.com]

"Just four days. Only long enough to settle the legal stuff and check out the house to make sure Katrina didn't damage it too badly. Fortunately, it looked okay. Just a little dusty. But he hadn't been back in a while and it was... difficult."

She chose not to mention the key to the safe deposit box that they'd found or the way people looked at him as they walked back to the hotel. Pippa didn't know the truth of what he was, and Aryn didn't think she needed to right now.

"I think he really needed the distraction after that."

[sand-andwater.livejournal.com]

Pippa nodded as she listened, frowned a few times but kept her comments to herself. It really wasn't her place to judge how anyone else handled grief and she didn't really know Remy well enough to ask for more details. "Distractions can be good, at least he had company he enjoys."