A warehouse called George - Thursday

[badassprodigy]

After work, Barry had spent most of his time cleaning up the warehouse and establishing a portal back to his world. The portal actually only took a minute and the cleaning was actually pretty needless but nevertheless, Barry was in high gear in preparation for tonight.

Not that he was nervous or anything.

Nope. Not at all. Not one bit.

[For that one.]

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

It would just be rude and she'd totally come off as a pompous ass if she didn't hug her fiercest competitor back, riiiight? And it was a hug that definitely made even her wonder if Chip totally got robbed. Damn.

But then that question hit and the first thing Summer could think to say was, "Oh, shit, I still get the money, too?"

Sorry, her brain sort of defaulted into Danger Shop mode and may have forgotten that this was, like, legit reality.

[badassprodigy]

"You do," Amanda said warmly. "Especially if you pour us another one of those shots."

"I still have mind," Geoffrey said, upon which Amanda slammed it down without hesitation."

"You and Padme would get along so well," Tom chuckled.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Yeah, pretty hard not to dig that style.

"Then I guess..." said Summer, who just spent this whole time trying to think quick and was maybe starting to feel that satisfactory exhaustion that had been discussed earlier regarding this whole thing creep in, "put it towards my next business venture. I've had it suggested to me recently that maybe I should consider shifting my focus to something with pancakes."

[badassprodigy]

"Well, we look forward to your next venture," Ted said leading the judges in a round of applause as the camera's did the traditional victory close of Summer looking triumphant.

Barry was hanging back watching the whole thing with a smile and his arms crossed. "Pancakes, huh?" he said when she was finally free of the studio stuff. "Is that the breakfast food or some kind of venture for your cat?"

And he was totally not jealous of that hug you gave Chip, Summer. Nope. Not at all.

[somethingwithturquoise]

She was just trying to be a good sport!

"A little bit of both, actually," Summer grinned, tried to temper her grin, and then realized she couldn't stop smiling, and may have bounced a little in joining Barry. "Long story. And, okay, be honest, how much did it cost you to pay off the judges and those total hacks at the beginning?"

[badassprodigy]

"I paid off the contestant who you took the place of," Barry said honestly. "I did that so they had to pick up your application in a not-so-random fashion. I did make sure that the concept was Jello which took a little technical maneuvering. I also paid for Tom Collichio to make an appearance because I think he's fucking cool."

He looked her straight into her eyes. "But I swear to you I didn't pay off the judges," he promised. "That's all you. Plus the other guys fucking sucked."

[somethingwithturquoise]

The evening had been filled with a lot of tense moments where Summer felt her breath would be stuck on pause of a long time, but none of them compared to the moment when he looked er straight in the eyes like that. She wasn't even sure she heard half of what he said after that, except that she was able to catch the last part enough to kickstart her breathing back up again with a soft laugh.

"They really fucking did," she agreed emphatically. "I'd almost be mad about it if it weren't for the fact that I'm pretty sure I'm okay with not doing that again for a while. You weren't kidding when you said it would be an exhausting and emotional, but ultiamtely satisfying experience."

[badassprodigy]

Barry couldn't help but laugh a little nervously as he remembered the conversation from earlier this week. Or at least when he remembered the context.

He simply held out his hand. "You look like a woman who could use a drink. Can I buy you one?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer was never forgetting that conversation.

And took that offered hand with a little thrill, and her other hand joined it, too, as she moved to lean in against him. Because just how much she'd done in these last few hours was creeping up on her fast and it would just be...nice.

"I think," she said, "you've dumped enough money on this venture already, and I've just been handed a pretty decent chunk of change, apparently. How about I buy you one?"

[badassprodigy]

"I would like that," Barry said feeling Summer lean in and for once not flinching when someone came into his personal space. In fact he didn't want to move really.

Strange.

"I know a place around the corner," he suggested. "No jello shots though."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Yup. This was definitely nice it was official.

"Yeah." Summer laughed a little. "I can't believe this is me saying this, but I think I could use a break from jello right now, for sure."

[badassprodigy]

"Fuuuuuuck," he said in genuine amazement.

Yes. That statement deserved that response.

"Listen," he said trying to lead her away without trying to pull away from her. "Can I make a suggestion for our next date? How about pizza and bad action movies. This one-upping thing is going to fucking kill us."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I was actually going to suggest the same thing," Summer snorted softly, pulling away just enough to make moving and grinning over at him easier. "Plus, you still need to meet my cat."

[badassprodigy]

"Mmmm. I don't know," Barry joked. "That's a lot of fucking pressure. What if Pancakes doesn't like me?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer gave a thoughtful little hum in response. "Then it's a sign, I'm afraid," she said, her tone exaggerated in its regretfulness. "Pancakes is an excellent judge of character."

Was she just saying that because Pancakes had technically chosen Summer and not the other way around?

Oh, yeah, she was definitely saying that because Pancakes had technically chosen Summer and not the other way around.

[badassprodigy]

"Shit."

Was Barry considering using a modified form of catnip or cat pheromones to ensure that pancakes liked him?

Maybe.

"Well, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it," he joked as he led her out of the building and towards a nearby bar that he had scouted out online as a potential location. "In the meantime you need some alcohol."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer really couldn't help a warm, pleased feeling and a smile to match at the sound of that shit, and she was just about to say something to suggest that she probably needed all the alcohol when she stopped and let out a small "shit" of her own.

Then hesitated a little, because so far, they'd managed to sort of keep her whole particular, uh....youthfulness out of things, but it was probably better to address this sudden realization now than have it get super awkward at the bar.

"Uhhh, hold on," she said, "you don't, uh, just happen to know what the actual drinking age in this dimension is, do you?"

Please just let it be at least twenty because Barry was a super genius who had thought of literally everything so far do it was already covered when he picked this dimension and god Fandom had really spoiled her about this sort of thing, hadn't it?


[[ lol, and thank you, brain, for waiting until just this moment to remind me of this particular little detail XD ]]

[badassprodigy]

Barry just smiled and from his pocket pulled out a card between his index and middle finger with his free hand. He held it out to Summer which was a fake ID with a picture of Summer on it.

"I wasn't sure of your birthday so I made one up," Barry admitted. "But even then I don't know what year it is in your dimension so for at least this place you are 21."

He smiled a bit before adding. "By the way this is my home planet/dimension. I was tempted to have my friends meet you here but since I haven't met your cat yet it's probably best we hold that off for another day."

[somethingwithturquoise]

The relief Summer felt at that moment was palpable on so many levels.

"You really are a super-genius who's thought of everything," she gushed out, and she laughed with a sort of sheepishness about it before she grinned. "And, yeah, I really appreciate not having to meet your friends when I'm exhausted and covered in possibly equal parts sweat and jello. But I am looking forward to it."

Then she wondered if it was possible to overdose on warm, fuzzy feelings because if it was, she was probably getting there remarkably fast.

"And it's June 19th," she added, with a softer grin.

You know, one day before the actual start of summer.

Because way to go and mess that one up, Beth and Jerry.

[badassprodigy]

Barry took the compliment of being a super-genius in stride. It was a fact of life for him and not something he tried to be too egotistical about. However he did turn a bit pink at Summer's compliment.

"They may show up for Parents Weekend," Barry replied. "And after they see that episode of Chopped they'll probably like you on sight. They already know you're a badass."

He pushed open the door to a place known as Dutch Fred's which was fairly empty at the moment as it was somewhat early in the evening.

"And I promise I won't forget your birthday."

Which wasn't hard for him to do.

"All right, rich girl. Unfortunately I've had my limit of alcohol for the week," he said, taking an open seat at the bar. "But this is more for you than me at the moment."