Not a Date

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau snagged one of the fries, taking a little nibble as he worked his way back to their table. He was pretty sure he could feel eyes on the back of his head; the workers just didn't have enough to do. That was part of the reason why Beau and Liz's gang so often hung out here on this night: it was usually empty or nearly empty of customers. There was an older couple a few lanes down clearly on their weekly date night, and a couple of guys who were way too into bowling to be healthy, but other than that, the place was pretty much empty.

"Aww, but I was plannin' on duckin' under a table an' jus' waitin' till it was all over," said Beau. He slid the fries in front of Liz and looked down the lanes, then up at the score. Yes, he was losing to her, and that gap was likely to keep increasing. Beau really only won if he got lucky, and the chances of that were pretty low tonight.

He reached over for another fry, chewing as he looked to the screen. "Don't suppose I can charm ya into showin' me a little mercy?" he asked, looking over at Liz and smiling once he'd swallowed the fry. "I don't reckon I'm gonna be able to beat ya no other way."

Still, Beau left the table, acting like he hadn't just nearly flirted (he did that all the time, really), and picking up his ball for round two.

[Elizabeth Edison]

"Man up, bucky." She snapped with a small chuckle, making sure the fry she took was laden with the chilli and cheese before dropping it into her mouth. As she chewed, she turned to grin at Beau. "Can you?" She raised an eyebrow, sucking on her forefinger and thumb before wiping it on her shirt. Classy, Edison. Real classy.

Jumping up to take her place on the other lane with a ball in hand, she shrugged. "I could be persuaded but you're gonna have to charm the pants off me." She let the ball roll,knocking down five pins. Snapping her fingers in consternation, she went back to get another ball. "I mean...it's a really hard task I hope you understand that." She looked at him seriously before snorting and chuckling.

[Beau LaRoux]

"'course I can," drawled Beau. He at least managed to send the ball more or less down the lane before drawling out those words. Bowling first didn't really seem to help, as Beau managed to knock over barely six, though at least the last four were more or less grouped. Beau licked his lips and moved away, waiting while his ball came back, his attentions decidedly focused on a certain blonde who had just been sucking on her fingers (did girls really not get that that was kinda hot?). Sure, she dried them on her shirt, but that wasn't about to turn Beau off.

Liz was up and at her lane before Beau's ball finished returning. She commented, then tossed her ball down, surprisingly doing worse than Beau. "Charm the pants off, eh? Reckon I've seen you without pants before, an' I would have to say that it's likely to do me more harm than good," he paused to wink at Liz. "Be awful distractin' an' all. Not that I'm makin' suggestions," he then grabbed the ball and flung it, trying to look completely cool and collected...

...he hit two pins. Which was something, he supposed. He backed away, looking over at Liz, hoping that he'd see some kind of effect... or distraction... or something.

[Elizabeth Edison]

"Oh really?" Elizabeth had to control her lips from spreading too wide in amusement as she sent her ball down the lane.

Her next throw caught nothing, the result of Beau's words. "Don't tease me now, LaRoux." She mimicked his accent. Not too badly either in her opinion.

"Five eight, Beau. You're doin' an awful good job so far." She bit her lower lip a little as she smirked.

[Beau LaRoux]

"really really," drawled Beau, dragging the words through his accent till they were practically dripping in Southern charm. He couldn't help but smile a little more as he watched Liz's throw yield absolutely nothing. That, that was definitely surprising, and it hinted that he was getting to her. Which struck Beau as a little weird, seeing as he'd been flirting with her for years without her doing much more than batting an eye. What would've changed?

Five eight, that nearly caught him up to her. Beau glanced up at the score, his lips twitching. "Looks like I'm definitely gonna catch up. Shame, always fun to be the one followin' a pretty girl," he gave Liz another flirtatious look while his ball racked back into place. "Though I reckon I better watch out; you're a slick one, might get right up on behind me," he quickly threw the ball again. Six pins again, which seemed to be where he was stuck. As if the pins knew what was going on though, they set Beau up for a split. He winced and walked back to the fries, grabbing another to munch.

"Still thinkin' that we shoulda jus' got cheese," he said, half teasing as he again followed Liz with his eyes, trying to figure out what was going on.

[Elizabeth Edison]

There's something to be said about a boy with accents. It could be bias on Elizabeth's part but as much as people preferred an English accent or even an Australian accent, she adored the Southern drawl. Especially when it was coupled with this boy.

She should really stop thinking of this boy that way. Concentrate on her bowling. She can't lose to Beau!

His next comment did get her to snort and stare at him in disbelief. "Come on, you're going to have to do better than pretty girl. And you're damn right I'll catch up on you." She snorted again, rolling her eyes.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt." She shook her head when the split happened. She grabbed another ball, positioned herself as so and threw the ball dead center with a little more force than before. She watched as all ten pins crashed down. "Yes!" She exclaimed, pumping her fist down.

"No," she drew out the word at Beau's suggestion. "Chilli cheese all the way bro." She countered before patting his head. "And dude, you should have gotten just cheese if you wanted." She bumped him a little with her hips.

"Okay hot shot, play with feeling now. Although I could give you some pointers if you want." She wriggled her eyebrows with a cheeky grin.

[Beau LaRoux]

"Well, I could do better, but I don't want to mess up your game that much," insisted Beau, motioning. "'sides, we both know that I've written songs 'bout how amazin' you are. Could probably do a whole verse 'bout how you eat your chili fries like you don't care who's watchin'." Which Beau of course had to follow with a wink. He settled back into a seat, partly to get at said fries but also to take a look at the scores. And to pretend like he hadn't just set up a split.

Maybe just to watch Liz too, a little. Something nice about watching a girl bowl.

And she got a strike, Beau sighed, shaking his head. He was done for, no coming back; the South was not gonna rise again. He pushed himself upright, figuring he might as well get this over. Liz was one of those who got on a roll. He did have one last plan, but it was pretty desperate. For now, he settled for flinging the ball down the lane, hitting two of the four pins. Not bad, though he was definitely going to end up behind. He walked back to the seats.

"Maybe I'll just settle back an' watch you bowl. It's a thing o' beauty, after all," he commented, bending over to grab more fries. He made sure to grab some that were less chili and more cheese, holding them up as if to say that he was triumphant before wolfing them down.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Elizabeth tried not to smile too much when Beau mentioned the songs. If he continued on this course, she probably wasn't going to last long in the game. Turning to him when he brought up her eating habits, Elizabeth suddenly felt a little self-conscious. Keep calm, Edison. Don't ruin this. He doesn't know what he's talking about. She forced a smirk on her lips and looked back to the lane breathing out and grabbing another ball.

"Alright, let's make it a double." She cleared her throat and pushed the ball down again. As it rolled, she briefly wondered why she didn't have a sarcastic comeback when Beau mentioned her eating habits. Blinking, she saw that she didn't get another strike. "Damn. This is all your fault, LaRoux." She whirled and pointed to Beau with narrowed eyes.

"Oh come on LaRoux, buck up. Let's see if I can't whip you into shape."

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau watched, actually believing that Liz was about to repeat her performance. Plus, she didn't even seem to mind his comment about just sitting back and watching her do it. He did, enjoying the sight. There was something almost majestic about the various forms someone took while bowling, after all. Liz pulled back, tossed... and didn't strike.

When she turned, Beau greeted those narrowed eyes with a wide grin. "Didn't know I unnerved you that much, Edison," he drawled, taking another bite of chili cheese fries. she was already insisting thath e get up though, and Beau sighed. he might as well continue embarrassing himself. So he popped up, headed to the lane to grab his ball and moved back...

only to have the ball slide off his fingers, landing with a bang on the floor. Beau jumped then winced, waving apologies to the various people around. "Sorry, sorry, fingers are all greasy,' he mumbled, wiping off said fingers on his pants and grabbing the ball, figuring he'd better take it back to the seat to wipe off with some napkins or something.

[Elizabeth Edison]

She rolled her eyes at Beau's response, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "It's the whole Souern charm. I mean I don't even know if it's you perse. You just happen to have it in droves, don't you?"

Beau dropping the ball made Elizabeth clap a hand over her mouth so the laugh wouldn't get too loud. But the snort gave her away probably. "Oh Beau." She bit her lower lip and shook her head, approaching the boy and pulling him by the hand.

She rubbed his fingers until the grease disappeared, wiping on her shirt as well. She was gonna wash it later anyway.

"Here, let me-" she didn't continue her sentence as she slid her hand under his, pulling rhe ball with their joined hands. "Point your pinky and forefinger straight." Her hand found it's way to his hips where she gripped it lightly. "Loosen up LaRoux." She smirked, despite being a little nervous being so close to the other boy. You loosen up, Edison. Jeevus.

[Beau LaRoux]

The Southern charm had apparently failed the Southern boy. He sighed as he tried to grab some napkins or something. Instead, Liz grabbed his hand, and don't think he didn't notice that little lip bite there. She immediately went to work cleaning them, though Beau wanted to protest when she started to use her shirt. He knew there wasn't much point in arguing with Liz when she got like this, and Beau did kinda like it a little.

"Alright, alright, it's--" managed Beau before Liz grabbed hold of him. He recognized the move all too well, having done variants of it himself. He actually blinked, wondering if she was doing this on purpose. He certainly did whenever he offered to help a girl "learn how to play guitar." Beau was so stunned that he just sort of did what Liz said, altering his grip on the ball and adjusting his stance as if he didn't know what the hell he was doing.

"Hey, I'm always loose," insisted Beau, twisting to look, "an' I know how to bowl. Fingers jus' got greasy," he grunted and turned, managing to this time get the ball down the lane. It only hit half the pins though, and Beau was soon wincing. "That is so your fault," he declared, pointing down the lane. "Messed up my game."

[Elizabeth Edison]

"Sure, sure. " Elizabeth nodded distractedly with a small smirk at Beau's excuse.

Her help didn't yield any results and his accusation made her chuckle, holding her hands up innocently.

"Didn't know I unnerved you that much, LaRoux." She held back her smirk by pursing her lips. "Okay, fine, I'll give you another shot at messing up my game. Just so we're even." She grabbed a ball and stood in her lane.

"Come on, time's a-wastin', cowboy."

[Beau LaRoux]

"Always unnerved whenever a pretty girl gets all up close an' personal," insisted Beau, attempting to look as though this happened to him regularly. It did, but he hadn't been unnerved by it in years now. In fact, he practically thrived on female attention, something Liz knew full well. "You're just making' me all hot in particular," he insisted, looking at her, keeping his expression a little teasing, a little smiling, even as he let the words sort of float on past.

She had said she wanted him to mess up her game, after all. Beau was always willing to oblige. Though he did have to correct.

"I ain't a cowboy though," he said, looking up at her, "an' you know that, Lizzy, so yer jus' tryin' to get me all riled up. Know darn well I'm a swamp rat. I'm used to crawlin' around in the wet heat an' all that," he winked and went to grab his ball again, "so jus' remember the difference."

And with that, he tossed the ball down the lane. Picked up a spare this time, which only added a cocky edge to the smile Beau turned on Liz now.

[Elizabeth Edison]

Elizabeth chalked up Beau's response as something that happened all too naturally to the Southern boy. His flirty ways was known around campus, which was what made it easy for the pyrokinetic to reciprocate without actually thinking it would yield any results. At least that was what she thought. She hadn't banked on the fact that she liked it or that she wanted something a little more.

This was so dumb. Beau was her friend. Her best friend. Augh, why did her other friends bail?

"Yeah, yeah Swampy. Do you really wanna argue semantics when I am giving you an opportunity to win this game we're playing?" She raised an eyebrow, the double connotatin a little lost on her.

Watching him knock down his pins, Elizabeth huffed in response before looking down at her lane, determined to get another strike. She sent the ball rolling and managed to knock down nine. Okay that wasn't so bad. She turned to Beau and gave him a smirk in return.

[Beau LaRoux]

"I'm thinkin' we both know how this game's gonna turn out in the end," drawled Beau. He paused to take another quick bite of fry before watching Liz bowl. Yep, he could definitely do that for a while. In fact, he was half tempted to bring up his phone and take a quick snapshot of Liz mid-bowl. He could claim it was for Facebook or something; he had one of those. Didn't really use it, but it was there. Sitting and collecting dust or something.

He did, however, wince as Liz knocked down nine pins. He looked up at the scoreboard, watching as the board rewarded their efforts. Okay, she was still ahead; he'd figured on that, but she wasn't leagues ahead of him. He wiped his hand off on his jeans and rose.

"'sides, ain't like this ain't jus' a game 'tween friends," said Beau. He flashed a quick smile, nodding at Liz's ball as it came rolling up to her. "Though I gotta admit, don't enjoy watchin' my friends bowl. You've got a great form, Liz," he smiled and reached for his ball. Yeah, this he could do, the flirting. it did feel a little... okay, it actually felt right with Liz. Shouldn't he feel guilty about that? What with their being friends, best friends, and all?