Not a Date

[Elizabeth Edison]

It was supposed to be a group outing. Derek, Jean, Macy, Jess and Tyler but at the last minute, all five of them bailed and left Elizabeth to tell Beau about it.

And because she was already at the bowling alley, she didn't think it was necessary to text Beau about their ditching. Instead, she started playing Minion Rush on her phone as she waited for her friend.

As was the usual case, Elizabeth mumbled every now and then as she manoeuvred her way through the different locations on the game, dodging obstacles and knocking down several minions in her path. 

She didn't even realise that Beau had arrived as she laughed at the minion that tried to run away from her but ended up getting knocked down. "You can't run that fast, stumpy legs." She chuckled.

[Beau LaRoux]

Liz wasn't the only one to invite friends, mind. Beau had groaned at his phone as the cancellations racked up on him. Marissa had a surprise gig, Jess (yes, the same Jess, you'd think Liz or Beau would've considered this) was 'busy' which probably meant 'making out with Derek all night, Carol was busy, Diana was busy, Beau had way too many female friends. He sighed and wondered if any of Liz's friends were gonna make it either. Then he wondered if he should be happy or sad about that. He landed on "happy," sadly.

He arrived at the bowling alley, trying not to breathe too hard. He'd experienced this place more often than he cared to admit; he'd technically performed here from time to time. when you were starting out, you did what you could. Now that Beau had a decent footing in the bars, he hadn't bothered coming here. Didn't mean that most people wouldn't remember him. That plus he and Liz came here often enough.

And there she was, sitting there playing on her phone. "I'm guessin' they're makin' a break for it?" asked Beau, leaning over. "An' where's everyone else? Ain't there supposed to be a mess of us?" At least ten, by Beau's count, actually...

[Elizabeth Edison]

Hearing another voice, though not registering who it belonged to yet in her game-addled brain, Elizabeth shrugged lightly. "I got 'em. And everyone decided to bail because surprise surprise, they suck." She snorted and finally paused the game to look up, a smile immediately pressing against her lips.

"Oy, you're here." She pushed off against the wall and slung one arm around Beau's shoulder before pocketing her phone. "I'm guessing nobody else on your end is coming either?" She asked, pulling them into the bowling alley.

Immediately she heard her name being called out. Her eyes went to the voice and she grinned widely at the waitress behind the counter. "Hey Em!" Elizabeth waved and went to the shoe counter where a silver-haired octogenarian beamed at her. "Five and a half?" He asked raspily. "You know it, Ben." She took off her shoes and handed them over to the attendant before scoping out the alley.

It wasn't too crowded despite it being the weekend. "You think we can score two lanes today?"

[Beau LaRoux]

"Well, they suck on my end too," said Beau. He reached down and tapped Liz's phone, indicating where he'd actually sent her some messages letting her know a few people had canceled. They'd been lost in the shuffle, no doubt, and then ignored for a game, which Beau was okay with. Part of what Liz's friends had to get used to if they were gonna stick around the girl. Beau's comment answered Liz's question easily enough, though he nodded as well, double-confirming it. "I'm thinkin' that Jess an' Derek are tongue wrasslin' again," he drawled. Which did have the slight side effect of making him think of who he'd like to "tongue wrassle," but fortunately, said person was already waving at a waitress and approaching an ancient owner.

Beau knew Ben too, and smiled and raised a hand to the old guy as he approached. "Five and a half?" Ben would rasp at Beau, who would chuckle at the old joke. Sure, Beau's feet were small for a guy, but he still filled in eight's easily enough, which Ben was already getting out while Beau unlaced his own. He looked over at the lanes at Liz's suggestion.

"Yeah, I can even fork over some extra cash for it," he said, looking over at Ben. "Matt actually paid me last time, so I'm doin' good," and while still on one leg, Beau dug into his pocket, eventually producing a wad, which was the good Southern way of carrying cash, apparently. Of course, this meant that Beau had a wad of cash in one hand, a shoe in the other, and one foot in the air, which kind of left him sort of stuck there, stuck and chuckling at the situation.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Grinning sheepishly at the indication, she shrugged and skipped into the bowling alley, laughing at his assumption about Jess and Derek. "When are they not?" She snickered as they entered.

Elizabeth bit her lower lip from laughing at the old man's tease. She teased him about it enough so she shouldn't encourage Ben. Should she? Naaah.

"Oooh, Mr. Big Spender today." She nudged him playfully. "Does he do that now? Pay people? I should hit him up for some cash then." Elizabeth teased before noticing Beau's stance. "Uh...doin' the grasshopper, Beau?"

[Beau LaRoux]

Lo, there was much snickering about poor Jess and Derek, but hey, it was entirely likely that those two were making snide comments about Beau and Liz. Of course, the difference was that said comments were not likely true with regards to Liz and Beau, since, well, that would just be stating the obvious at this point.

Thankfully, Beau did not see the lip biting thing. Mostly because he was busy working money out of his pockets and tying on shoes and various other things that now had him stuck in an awkward position. He looked over at Liz who, of course, had to offer "funny' comments instead of helping. "ha ha," drawled Beau. He shifted to try and get at least something free.

"Yeah, he did actually pay; apparently he was drunk or somethin'," muttered Beau. He didn't quite want to ask for help, but he was beginning to see an issue with organizing himself here. He didn't want to ask for help, so he tried to fix it himself. This meant lowering his leg to get both feet on the ground, which apparently meant catching his arm and forcing it lower still. Which left him bent over, but with the money-hand at least somewhat in the air. That... sort of worked? Beau tried wiggling the money in Liz's general direction, hoping that she caught on.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Elizabeth laughed at Beau's reasoning for being paid. "I could totally get him drunk next time I play there. I want the monies." She chuckled before staring at her friend when he started moving the money about.

"Oh did you need help, Beau?" She asked, holding back her laughter. Of course she knew he needed help, that was obvious. But she clearly liked teasing him a lot more so for now, he'll have to suffer a little.

But that didn't really last that long. As much as she liked teasing him, Elizabeth didn't think she was a big jerk. Reaching out, she helped him by plucking the money out of his hand. "Bro, you seriously need to plan things ahead of time. This flamingo act can only go so far in entertaining me." She ruffled his hair and went over to the main counter to pay for the lanes.

Without waiting for Beau, she accepted the change and went to the lanes she had just paid for and typed in 'The Fire Nation' for herself on the screen. "Whaddya want me to put in for your name, bro?"

[Beau LaRoux]

"Sounds like a plan, though it ain't like it's hard to get him drunk," offered Beau. Both he and Liz had been around the drunk version of Matt before, though, thankfully, not since Beau had his little heart to heart with the older man. Beau liked Matt, but he definitely didn't trust the man to keep THAT a secret.

Liz teased; Beau grumbled. He knew she'd still end up taking the money anyway, and he mumbled a "thanks" when she did. That did free up a hand, and from there it was just a matter of unwinding and moving through things. He did have to chuckle at Liz's comment though, even as he got himself fully upright. "An' here I was thinkin' that the flamingo thing got all the girls worked up; guess I'm gonna have to ditch that one." he still needed a bit to get fully adjusted, and he didn't have both his shoes on either.

Not that Liz was gonna wait. Beau rolled his eyes as she ruffled his hair, chuckling again, and then watched as she headed off. He had to admit that his eyes might have lingered a bit longer than normal, seeing as he heard Ben coughing. When the Southern boy looked over, the old time had a smile and raised brows. Beau just shrugged before jogging over to catch up with Liz.

"Dunno, don't I usually use Swampy?" he asked, looking up at it. Well, technically that was the name someone had "given" him when they'd found out he was from Louisiana. Apparently it was the name of a cartoon alligator or something. Beau didn't really know, but he did think it had a good ring to it. He began stretching, grinning over at Liz. "Ready to lose again?" he drawled. As if she didn't usually edge him out of every other game. He'd gotten lucky last time though, and he'd promised to hold it above her head till she inevitably beat him again.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Elizabeth laughed and nodded at Beau's remark about their mutual friend.

His response to her tease made her smirk before she responded. "They do. Just not on the ones you should be going after." She didn't linger too long over that sentence before walking off.

"Do you? Your fans are always calling you the Guitar Hero." She shrugged, not taking her eyes off the screen as she chuckled.

When he asked her about losing, Elizabeth's eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "Are you?" She grinned and typed in what he had said earlier. "Okay so you're on the left lane first. Let's do this." She cracked her knuckles and took a nine ball and positioned herself dead center. "Come on strike."

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau did have to wince, thinking about the various girls that would likely react to the flamingo maneuver. Clearly they weren't the type he wanted to be working through, as the type he definitely wanted to impress was scoffing at it and walking toward a bowling alley.

And setting things up. "Guitar Hero? Seriously?" said Beau, grinning, clearly loving the name. Naturally Liz would have put up Swampy even if he'd suggested that. Soon he saw Swampy taking one lane while the Fire Nation took the other. He seemed to recall the Fire Nation losing to a bunch of swamp guys in that one show that Liz made him watch. He also thought he remembered the swamp guys getting kidnapped or something, so he wasn't sure that was a great analogy to use.

"Sure thing, hot stuff," drawled Beau, picking up a slightly heavier ball and raising it up to his chest. he took a deep breath, taking careful aim. He usually didn't do so great on his first couple, and they both knew it. He waited till Liz moved, moving at the same time, arching back, taking the ball, and releasing it all in one smooth motion. He had that much down; the form familiar enough to him. The ball rolled toward the pins, but Beau could already tell he wasn't going to strike...

[Elizabeth Edison]

"You like it." Elizabeth chuckled teasingly before tightening her shoelaces. Beau really was a whiz on the guitar. Which reminded her that they should do another show together soon. She had been itching to get behind a microphone for awhile now and Beau was the only one she knew who could keep up with her vocally.

Oh yes, she definitely had the confidence to say she had a good voice. Good, not great. And she had a whole lot of time to sharpen her skills so for now she was very happy with good.

Rolling her eyes at what Beau called her, Elizabeth shook herself down and swung the ball back and shot it forward, letting it roll fast down the lane, eventually knocking down eight pins. "Eh...not bad." She shrugged and turned to face Beau with a grin. "Good luck keeping up." She winked at him and grabbed another ball to knock down the remaining two.

"Hey, wanna order up some fries?"

[Beau LaRoux]

Of course Beau liked having people like him for his skills. He'd worked hard at that, and, to be honest, he worked hard at making sure people liked him. Right now though, he was more concerned about what one person in particular thought about him, and she was in the next lane, bowling like a champ already. Beau's own throw had only knocked down about six pins, and the rest had split. Good luck picking that up.

"Yeah, I'm gonna end up handin' over my victory to you again, ain't I?" admitted Beau, blowing out his lips as he stared down the lane. Not that he particularly minded; he knew that Liz didn't really care either. They would have fun even if they somehow managed to tie each and every game (which they'd come near to doing once, but that was a while ago).

Beau tossed the second ball, aiming as best he could. He still only managed to clip a pin, scoring seven on the first. Go Beau. "Right, fries. Jus' cheese good or you want chili this time?" he asked, already digging into his pocket for the wad of bills. He'd have it out soon enough, and he definitely had enough to cover the food, probably grab a couple of sodas too.

[Elizabeth Edison]

"Yes you are." Elizabeth pointed finger guns at Beau and winked at him with a laugh. She got ready to knock down the two remaining pins just after Beau knocked down his one and actually only managed to knock down one. Nine seven, not bad odds.

They were just starting after all.

"Chilli cheese please. And come on, you can't pay for everything." She took out her wallet and gave him a few notes to offset the whole price of the food. This wasn't a date, Beau couldn't pay the whole thing. Even if it was a date; which Elizabeth wasn't hoping for, not at all, she wouldn't let him pay for the whole thing. It wasn't a power move or anything, she just didn't like to be paid for.

[Beau LaRoux]

Ugh, the finger guns already. Not that Beau didn't deserve it: Liz had pulled ahead. Not by much; he could still catch up, if he somehow managed to focus enough on bowling. He'd never been great at focusing on anything that didn't involve music or girls though, so his hopes weren't high.

"Right, chili cheese it iszzzzz-" said Beau, dragging out the word as he realized that Liz was digging through her wallet. Because of course she was, because this wasn't a date, not really. It was two friends hanging out and bowling and stuff. There was even supposed to be a lot of people here, like, at least six or so. So it totally made sense for Beau to take the money, give Liz a little salute with it and head off to the snack bar. Yeah, that definitely made sense. Because this wasn't a date. though, knowing Liz, even if it was, she'd still try to pay.

Beau paid for the snack, watching as Liz did... whatever she did while he got the food. He supposed he could probably return back to where they were and the food would be dropped off; wasn't like the place was jumping with people or anything, but he needed a little time to try and figure out how he was supposed to handle this...

[Elizabeth Edison]

Elizabeth chuckled at Beau's salute and responded with her own two-finger salute.

Flopping down on to the chair when Beau disappeared, the blonde pyrokinetic whipped out her phone and opened her previous game, trying not to show that she was totally not checking Beau out.

Okay, real talk. She wanted this to be a date. When she found out none of her friends could make it, a little bit of her rejoiced. But she knew Beau didn't think that way. Why would he? They were friends.

She was going to play it cool. There was no reason to embarrass herself by making assumptions and acting according to those assumptions. Who was to say Beau would react negatively to her...form of flirtation?

She did glance up once from her phone to see if Beau was looking over before paying attention to her phone again. "Come on LaRoux, you can't hide from your inevitable defeat man." She chuckled, not taking her eyes off the screen.