6/29 open to all!

[sciencesaggressively]

It’s been a good morning.

As much as Newt prefers to have his wife around, he also can’t deny that every once in a while, having a day off when Kate is scheduled to work can be kinda nice—even when it means Jeff tries to cuddle up next to him when he’s trying to lounge naked on the couch. What makes that worse is the way goddamn Cat stares at him like he’s trying to peer real deep into Newt’s soul.

Otherwise, it’s perfectly relaxing, and he knows Kate would say the same of when he’s out long enough for her to have the condo to herself for the day. Of course, being that the place is so big, there’s only so much tinkering and TV watching and baiting the dog with the cat that he can take before he needs to be out and about. That wouldn’t have been a problem at the ‘Dome, he’d been totally content to be alone in a dark lab for hours on end, not even bothering to take a break to eat unless Hermann would sigh at him from across their diving line before going to grab him a tray from the mess hall. Nowadays, though, he’s about to be around people. It gets too boring without having some to talk at, and the pets don’t count.

Once it hits noon, Newt decides that he’s craving something he doesn’t have to go the trouble of making himself for lunch. Indian, maybe, or Thai. Or pizza. Chinese? A burger. No, probably Thai. Definitely Thai, and he can grab something to go before he leaves the restaurant to drop off for Kate at The Dressing Room to earn himself some extra Super Awesome Husband points. Yes, good, a plan.

Before he leaves, he makes sure the dog has done her thing and the pet bowls are stocked up with food and then he’s out the door, nodding at Jack the Door Guy as he passes through the lobby doors. The Thai place is only a couple blocks away, his mouth is already watering at the thought of shoveling some pad thai in his mouth, but he has to take a moment to pay attention to his surroundings because it’s such a nice day out. The sun is shining, the sky is clear, and all Newt can think is that he’d better not get a burn because he’s so not prepared to deal with a peely nose. Granted, he probably should have remembered to slap on some sunscreen before he’d left but the thing is, he hadn’t so really, it’s up to Mother Nature now to do him a solid.

Squinting up at the offending sun, he adjusts his glasses, losing track of where he’s stepping because of the distraction. Before he can process what’s even happening, Newt crashes into another body, nearly landing his ass on the ground.

“Dude!” he exclaims as he steadies himself, arms held out to maintain his balance. “That was totally my bad, sorry. You good?”

Comments

[refusedtocall]

In all fairness, Carla Jean should probably be paying more attention to where she's going, too. Though she may not be much for letting her mind wander, the heat and the light, glinting off windows, make it easy to do so. Summer in Darrow, she's found, is nothing at all like summer in Sanderson, where everything's dry and dusty and open, not too unlike it is the rest of the year. Here, the air is heavy with humidity, and the buildings, the structure of it, all the people lining the sidewalks, make it a different beast altogether. She doesn't mind it, but she's still dressed accordingly, her hair pulled off the back of her neck in a messy bun, wearing the kind of loose t-shirt and denim shorts that she'd have worn around the trailer back home. It feels a little more familiar, a little more manageable, than the cooler months they get here.

Whatever the reason, she doesn't see Newt until he's walking straight into her, then nearly falling over, while she takes a couple steps back to stay upright. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she says, letting out a breathless, flustered laugh. "Are you? Not gonna topple over, are you?"

[sciencesaggressively]

Ah, shit, it's Carla Jean. Aside from his own wife, there are very few other people he'd want to nearly knock over less, which he's pretty sure is supposed to be meant as a compliment.

"Me, topple over? No. No, no, no, it'll take a little more than that to take me down." Not true, he's been tackled to the ground by the goddamn dog, he's pretty sure Carla Jean's even seen that happen but still, he doesn't have to admit it out loud.

Rolling his eyes at himself, Newt breaks into a grin. "So this is what it takes to get you to see me now, huh? Gotta totally run into you on purpose just so you'll give me the light of day? Real coo, Carla Jean, real cool."

[refusedtocall]

"Hey, it ain't that hard to track me down," Carla Jean says, laughing as she does. "I do have a phone, you know." All teasing aside, she knows she's just as much responsible for how long it's been since they've crossed paths, said phone something she uses rarely. She's able to use it now, a step up from where she was when she first showed up here, but to her, it still seems strange and new and, more often than not, unnecessary. She'll answer it if it rings, return a text, but little more than that.

At least their collision wasn't serious, though, and at least it's Newt whom she's run into, or who's run into her, or some combination of the two. "In fact, I was just tellin' your wife, I should come cook for you in your fancy kitchen sometime."

[sciencesaggressively]

She's got him there.

Newt briefly considers trying to blame his lack of communication on being busy with moving, but he thinks better of it because Carla Jean would totally call him out on that. The truth is, he's just freakin' lazy and tends to wait for his phone to blow up, which is does often enough. That's not something he ever thought he'd be able to say, but Newt's admittedly glad he can. The differences between his life here and in the 'Dome are pretty goddamn astounding but one of the most notable is the fact that he actually has a social life here. Bonus wife, too, he's pretty fond of her.

"Um, you should totally come cook for us," Newt says, nodding eagerly. He does most of the cooking at home, aside from the occasional cute attempts Kate makes, but it'd be nice to have someone over to spoil them. "You know you're welcome anytime and not just because you're promising food. Speaking of which, I was headed over to the Thai place up the street to get lunch, wanna join?"

[refusedtocall]

"Yeah, yeah, that sounds great," Carla Jean says with a grin, nodding in agreement. Thai food — like so much else in Darrow — is still relatively new to her, nothing she was able to get back home and that she's still pretty sure she doesn't wholly understand, but she definitely can't pass up the offer of lunch, especially with Newt for company. As established, it's been too long since they've hung out as it is. This seems like a perfect opportunity to change that, to catch up a little without either of them having to remember to use their phones better than they already do.

Nodding down the block, she says, "Lead the way?"

[sciencesaggressively]

"You might have to run to catch up," Newt teases, taking the first few steps toward the restaurant, "I'm seriously so goddamn hungry that I'm pretty sure my stomach's just eating itself. If I die of starvation before we get there, remember me fondly and say nice things at my funeral."

Literally two minutes later, they arrive, both of them still alive and well, and Newt holds the door open for Carla Jean. "Holy shit," he says, letting his eyes briefly flutter shut as he inhales the scents that waft out to greet them. "You smell that? Heaven. Heaven. Food is always so much better when someone else makes it for you."

[refusedtocall]

"That, I can definitely agree with," Carla Jean says, laughing as she steps inside. Even with as much as she enjoys to cook — and she does, as much for the familiarity of it as anything else — it's nice not to have to worry about it, too, and it isn't like she goes to places like this often. It makes her appreciate doing so, and the variety here, that much more when she actually does. "We better order quick, I really don't want to have to explain to your wife how you died of starvation right before we could get Thai food."

They're nowhere close to that and she knows it, but he's the one who made the joke first, and anyway, now that they're here, she's more aware of just how hungry she really is. At least it doesn't seem to be too crowded.

[sciencesaggressively]

"She'd be pretty pissed," Newt agrees, grabbing a couple takeout menus and handing one to Carla Jean to browse. "She's not a fan of when I get into near-death situations, no idea why."

Staring at the menu isn't helping him at all, if only because his eyes are so much bigger than his stomach right now, though his stomach can hold a lot. Pad Thai, lemongrass chicken, yellow curry, fried spring rolls, red curry, green curry, Newt wants it all, every last bit of it. Well, okay, he'll save some of it for Kate; but most of it's definitely going to be for him.

"I think I've decided," he says, looking up at Carla Jean with a victorious grin. "I'm getting literally everything on this menu."

[refusedtocall]

"Literally everything?" Carla Jean asks, skeptical but amused. "In that case, maybe I don't need to order anything, I'll just have some of all that." If it were anyone else, she'd just assume it was a joke, but with Newt, it's hard to be entirely sure. She can actually imagine pretty easily him ordering one of everything and bringing it all back with him. Granted, that would also likely be an absurd amount of Thai food leftovers, but at least there'd be a lot of variety among them. "In fact, I think I'd be doin' you a favor if I did."

[sciencesaggressively]

"Okay, well, we have to make sure at least some of it goes to Kate, or she'll kill me and if it comes to that, I'm totally ratting you out, too. I'm not going down alone on this if we're playing the sharing game. It's not always caring, y'know."

In fact, it hardly ever is, germs and all. But after what he's seen and had to deal with, germs aren't really high on his list of priorities to consider when it comes to Thai food. He thinks he can live a little, in this case.

"Okay, I'm going to order, it'll only take a few. We can head back to the condo to eat, if you're cool with that. I can show you how funny it is to dangle the cat over Jeff's head. Seriously, though, hysterical."

[refusedtocall]

"Sounds like a plan," Carla Jean says with a smile, nodding once in agreement. "Probably be easier anyway, with all the food we'll have." She's still not even entirely sure that Newt is going to make good on ordering one of everything, but she knows better than to be too skeptical. The second she is, she's sure Newt would prove her wrong, and maybe even just for the sake of it. As ridiculous as this might be, though, sure as hell nothing she'd ever do on her own, she has to admit that the idea is pretty fun, too. They'll have more food than they know what to do with, but at least it'll keep. "And I will make sure we save enough for Kate. I doubt we could finish everything off ourselves anyway."