Closed RP: Kat and I Just Like Pairing Our Characters Up, Okay?

[five_steps_back]

Kurt wasn't a fan of grocery shopping, so it's lucky his trips were fast. He only had a few small cookbooks that were based on quick, easy meals with canned food, so there weren't many aisles he had to go to. He was headed toward the registers, trying to remember when it was his turn to cook again at the station and if he should stock up on some things, when he saw her out of the corner of his eye as he passed by her.

She was gorgeous. Kurt liked to think it wasn't the main reason he offered to help her; she had been reaching for something on a high shelf, just out of her reach, and her little girl (he assumed) wasn't by trying to get her attention and point out things like kids do. The words slipped out before he knew it.

"Do you need help with that?"

Comments

[bookblather]

She corralled the little girl's latest attempt to wander off and looked up at him. For a moment before she really saw him, she looked almost wary-- then she looked him up and down and smiled.

"Yes, please," she said, and nodded at a box on the top shelf. "Could you get that one, if you don't mind?"

[five_steps_back]

"Sure," he smiled. Kurt couldn't help but smile wider when he handed it to her, because she was even more gorgeous up close, and he glanced down at her hands when she took the box. No ring. He might as well try. "I'm Kurt."

[bookblather]

For some reason, she stiffened, then relaxed. "Gina," she said. "And this is... Catherine Marie, put that jar down right now and come here!"

The little girl, evidently named Catherine, pouted but put down the jar of pickles she'd picked up and ran back to her mother.

[five_steps_back]

"Hi, Gina," he said, feeling somewhat idiotic afterward. Kurt, for all the 'advice' his coworkers had given him over the years, was not very good at talking to women. His brain just seemed to completely blank out whenever he had to.

Instead, he looked down at Catherine and hoped he didn't seem creepy. "Hi, Catherine. How old are you? Five?"

[bookblather]

Catherine scowled. The reason for this was immediately made plain when she stomped her foot and said, "'m Caty. 'm four."

Gina sighed, and reached down to gently shake her daughter's shoulder. "Be nice, Caty," she instructed. "What do we say to people we met?"

She scowled still, but mumbled, "H'lo."

[five_steps_back]

Hopefully that wasn't an omen on the entire situation. "Hi, Caty," he tried again. "Sorry. You look older than four."

It must have not been that impressive of an answer. "How old are you?" Caty asked.

Kurt laughed. "Thirty four."

[bookblather]

"Caty!" Gina scolded, and looked up at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, we're still working on appropriate questions. Say you're sorry, Caty."

"But he said!" she objected. "He said!"

[five_steps_back]

"I don't mind," he reassured Gina, still smiling. "I did ask her first."

[bookblather]

"See!" Caty insisted, and moved away from her mother's legs, over to Kurt's. She held up her hand, imperiously.

Gina smiled, reluctantly. "She wants to shake your hand," she translated, after a moment.

[five_steps_back]

Kurt hoped Caty didn't fully catch the amused glance that he gave Gina when he tried to remember if he acted like this when he was four. Since he was the youngest of three... He'd probably been similar.

He was careful not to squeeze Caty's hand too tight when he took it in his and returned the handshake. "It's nice to meet you, Caty."

[bookblather]

Caty shook back very solemnly, then looked him up and down for a moment before declaring, "I like you."

Gina choked on something that sounded halfway between horror and amusement.

[five_steps_back]

...He was fairly certain she didn't mean that in crush way, which was good. He didn't really know how to handle adult women liking him in that way, much less kids.

"You don't seem that bad yourself," he answered with a grin. Kurt looked up at Gina again. "Should I be honored?"

[bookblather]

"Yes," Gina said, and this time she was smiling with pure amusement. "It's an honor. Caty doesn't like many people."

As if to confirm this, Caty popped her thumb in her mouth and nodded solemnly.

[five_steps_back]

"Then I definitely am." He hesitated, before holding his hand out to Gina. "It's nice to meet you too, Gina."

[bookblather]

Gina hesitated herself, then reached up and took his hand, very lightly. "I'm pleased to meet you too, Kurt."

[five_steps_back]

He smiled broadly, reluctant to let go of her hand when he did. She had soft hands. Somehow he was back to being tongue-tied and had nothing to say. "The honor's all mine, I'd say," he tried, very much ignoring the blush he could feel creeping up his neck.

[bookblather]

She gave him a rather uneasy smile back and pulled her hand away. "Thank you for helping me," she said, and set the box in her cart. "Come here, Caty, let's go home, okay sweetie?"

[five_steps_back]

This. This is why he shouldn't talk to women. A vague panic always settled in his stomach when it was obvious he had said something wrong, and it made him say things like, "Do you want to grab a cup of coffee sometime?" Though with how rushed that came out, he wasn't even sure it was possible to tell what he had said.

"Sorry," he muttered, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck and still ignoring the blush he could feel up to his forehead now, "I'm really not good at this."

[bookblather]

Gina froze for just a moment, her eyes wide like a startled deer. After a moment she laughed, but not meanly. "I don't know. I think you're very good at it."

[five_steps_back]

He looked at her in surprise. "Really?" he asked before he could stop himself.

[bookblather]

She nodded, still smiling. "Much better than most men who hit on me. And trust me, there's a lot."

[five_steps_back]

"I believe it. You're gorgeous." He really needed to started thinking before talking; it might keep him from saying less embarrassing things. "When did you want to get coffee?"

[bookblather]

Her smile froze. "I, um. I didn't, actually."

[five_steps_back]

Or he could just prove his own point from before. "Sorry," he genuinely apologized. "I shouldn't have assumed."

[bookblather]

"No, you shouldn't," she said, seriously, and bent to pick up Caty. "But you were doing really well before. So you know." She hesitated a moment while she settled her daughter on her hip, then made a quick decision. "I suppose a cup of coffee couldn't hurt."

[five_steps_back]

He smiled cautiously, since he figured smiling too much at that might seem creepy. Maybe there was such a thing as too cheerful, but Gina was pretty and he hadn't had a date in a while. "Great. I can give you my number?"