Break Her Like A Breadstick

[Rootbeerpants]

It’s even busier than Helena first thought it was. Is Applebees this popular or are they here for other stuff? Probably other stuff. Applebees doesn’t seem like a must go destination. Either way it’s nice to have extra hand holding time. Even if she is still worried about her hand being sweaty. As the car came to a stop though Helena sighed a little as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Not that she wasn’t gonna enjoy the rest of the date but the car ride was surprisingly fun. As Helena grabbed the door handle though she noticed Rozlyn hadn’t let go of her hand or even made a move to leave. Instead she was still singing. Well…Helena’s definitely not gonna complain.

Instead she leaned back on her seat and just…stared at Rozlyn. Was it creepy to stare this much at another person? It’s hard not to though. When an extremely attractive woman is holding your hand while singing it’s hard to really focus on anything else. As the song ends and Rozlyn turns to look at Helena though Helena looks away, staring out at the parking lot while trying to squash her embarrassed at being seen staring. “That…that makes sense.” Helena doesn’t look back at Rozlyn but she can hear her getting out. Before Helena follows, she wraps her hand around the necklace Abby gave her, stroking it gently with her thumb.

This is it. The actual date part. For all that is good in the world do not let yourself mess this up. Somehow Helena’s made it this far. But the moment she slips up it’s all going to fall apart. If Rozlyn realises just how much Helena sucks and how much better she is this dates going to be a disaster. At least…that’s what Helena thinks. With one last deep breath she opens the car door and steps out into the evening sun. Maybe she should have worn sunglasses or something. Not that she owns any. “So…ready to go?”

[StarletDevil]

Rozlyn pauses and thinks, standing beside her open car door on the opposite side of Helena. Does she just say yes and keep going, or... try to have a bit of fun? Sure, why not. She pretends like she's getting back in the car as she responds.

"No actually, I'm uh, just gonna leave you here. Have fun. See ya."

She doesn't actually sit down though, instead just having her upper body leaning into the inside of the car, staring at Helena from a lower vantage point. She shakes her head slightly with a small pleased smirk.

"Yeah, 'course I am. Let's move."

Roz pulls herself up and steps out of the way of her as she shuts it, hands in her pockets as she comes around to the other side to stand beside Helena, taking the girl's sleeve and starting to pull her along as she slowly walks backwards, the sun behind her illuminating her in much the same way as their first encounter in the library.

"Make sure to shut the door. Like, well. Use some force."

[Rootbeerpants]

Helena felt a spike of panic drive itself through her. Wait really? Did she do something wrong? Was this just a prank or something? Oh of course it was. Everyone’s gonna make fun of her. Stupid Helena thinking she could-

Oh. She’s joking. Right.

Well now Helena feels stupid for very different reasons. Come on pull yourself together. Obviously it was a joke. Ugh stupid brain.Helena let out a breath she didn’t realise she started holding and nodded. “R-right. After yo-oh.” Helena let out another surprised sound. You’d think she’d be used to Rozlyn touching her and pulling her around by now yet apparently not. As Rozlyn did start pulling her away Helena pulled her leg back and kicked the car door shut with as much force as she could, rocking the car as the door impacted. Maybe Rozlyn didn’t mean quite that much force. “Uh…sorry. I-I hope your cars okay.” It probably was. Helena’s not exactly a strong woman. But that didn’t stop her from feeling bad as she got dragged away from the car, looking down at the ground and rubbing her arm nervously.

Just got out of the car and already hating herself. Great.

[StarletDevil]

Rozlyn flinches at the slamming of the car door, gripping Helena's arm a bit too tightly as she wide-eyed watches the car rock in place for a moment. Damn! This girl is full of surprises. She shakes off her surprise and presses the button to lock the door. She shakes her head a bit and somewhat loudly mumbles.

"Don' fuckin', wreck my car man, geez. Pff..."

Her hand fishes for Helena's and reunites them as the pair walk to the establishment. She looks over at Helena and tilts her head a little. Wondering what else the seemingly fragile Carpet Girl might be hiding. It could be absolutely fucking nothing, and that's fine, she just wants to know.

"I mean, still a good kick. Y'ever try any like... dunno, martial art stuff? Could be good at it."

[Rootbeerpants]

Helena flinched a little at the tighter grip on her arm, biting back the small cry of pain that almost came out. “I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to. I-if there’s anything broken I can pay-“ Helena’s words trailed off quickly as Rozlyns hand found hers, suddenly too distracted to remember how her sentence was about to end. Her eyes darted between their join hands and Rozlyn for a moment before settling on the ground in front of her as a nervous laugh escaped her lips. “Um no I uh…I haven’t. I’m not really…good at stuff like that.”

Helena’s dad was telling her she should be more active pretty often but the problem with trying to do any kind of sport is getting over the hurdle of being bad at it and knowing you’ll be bad at it. Obviously she knows that no one starts out good but somehow in her head that doesn’t apply to her. Have to be good immediately or else you’re just wasting your time. Helena shakes her hand and tucks her hair back behind her ear with her free hand, swearing under her breath as she accidentally rubs a bit of her makeup. “Uh…you ever do stuff like that? Fighting stuff I mean. Like martial arts or um…you know stuff like that.”

[StarletDevil]

Oh yeah, Helena hasn't seen Rozlyn without her hoodie on. That'd probably answer that question instantly. Rozlyn laughs quietly to herself, raising the hand holding Helena's for a moment, pausing, and lowering it down before correcting herself by raising her other hand to rub the back of her head. She continues to approach the building with Helena, a small shrug accompanies her response.

"Uh, yeah. Been in wrestling clubs for... years now. If I wanted I could like, flip you over and pin you to the pavement, easily. Anyways yeah, I did some uh, other sports 'n' stuff growin' up. Football and what not. But uh... wrestlin's kinda my main thing now."

(Fuck, should I like... tell her? That's... fuckin'... bigass risk, probably would scare her away. Nah, not now, maybe not ever)

Rozlyn pulls Helena's hand towards herself and gently pins Helena's arm against her back, bringing the two of them even closer, hands remaining unified. She looks Helena in the eyes, almost bonking her head against Helena's, her other hand comes out and pokes Helena on the forehead.

"I could show you some moves back at your place. You might lose some hair if you don't tie it back though."

She frees Helena's arm to return to a regular hand-hold as she brings the girl inside.

[Rootbeerpants]

Helena looked back over at Rozlyn, making a concerted effort to make some kind of contact with her while she spoke. She can do this. She just needs to keep herself steady and keep herself focused. Something that immediately gets harder when Rozlyn says she could pin Helena to the pavement. Also immediately Helena’s gaze goes back to the ground, her face starting to heat up again just from the mental image it gave her. This is pathetic right? Turning into a mess just from imagining Rozlyn throwing her down and…getting on top of her with her hands pinning Helena down…strong…gah! Helena shakes her head again, a little more vigorously this time. Stop thinking like that! You’re getting distracted. Rozlyn is trying to tell Helena about her interests and here she is with her mind in the gutter. Just breath, calm down and don’t let your mind wander.

That would have been a good mantra if Helena could keep it in her head. However being pulled in so close to Rozlyn unexpectedly with her arm pinned behind her back had caused her entire body to meltdown, corrupting all her thoughts as she effectively blue screened. Not at all helped by what Rozlyn was saying to her. By the time Rozlyn had finished and was pulling Helena inside the Applebees she was a complete blushing mess, trying to mumble out some kind of reply but coming back with only a small squeak. Helena might not make it out of the restaurant at this rate.

[StarletDevil]

Rozlyn pulls Helena along up to the front, waving slightly at the waitress.

"For uh, two."

She nods and they're led to a table, it's decently crowded and Rozlyn tries to ignore some stares from the older church crowd, instead focusing on looking at Helena's flushed face. She silently laughs, and as they're shown their table, she nudges Helena into the seat, sitting beside her and taking a look at the menu as they're left alone.

"You awake Carpet Girl?"

She lightly pinches and wiggles Helena's cheek. She lets go of Helena's hand for a moment so she can take off her hoodie, toned arms on full display as she opens the menu while retaking Helena's hand.

"...Want some breadsticks?"

[Rootbeerpants]

Helena doesn’t fully register that they’ve entered the restaurant until they’ve actually sat down. Even then she doesn’t really say anything until her cheek gets pinched, jolting Helena back to reality from her haze of…well gay panic. “Huh? O-oh sorry I uh…got distracted. But I’m f…fine…” Helena felt her sentence slowly fall down off a cliff as Rozlyn pulled her hoodie off in front of her. Wow she really was strong huh? Big arms. Could she pick Helena up? Probably. That’d be nice. Carried around by Rozlyn everywhere, Helena nuzzling into her as Rozlyn protects her from the world…she’s lost herself again.

Helena lightly slaps herself with her free hand, trying to physically remove her wild train of thought from her head. If this keeps up she’s gonna make Rozlyn think she’s just a silent blushing creep or something. Helena let’s put a small cough before looking down at the menu Rozlyns holding, doing her best not to look over at Rozlyn and risk another hot woman spiral. “Bread sticks sound cool. I mean to eat not as a concept. Well I guess they’re okay as a concept too. I…I should have said yes and stopped talking. Yes.” Helena let out a nervous giggle again, internally kicking herself to death for being so cringe.

[StarletDevil]

Rozlyn can tell Helena is beyond nervous, but she happens to be quite nervous as well, hiding it far better though. It feels like the date is reasonably stable at the moment. She's not too worried about herself anymore, but is... fairly concerned about Helena's ability to function. Well, helping her out with ordering would be a good way to learn what Helena likes in terms of food. She scans the menu curiously, she's somehow never been here so she's not sure what all there is.

"I mean feel free to ramble or whatever, but yeah they sound okay as a concept too. Alright. Sweet. What uh, what're ya in the mood for, like main course wise?"

Helena relaxing should happen naturally, right? She's not sure if she knows how to talk someone into being less gay until they're done eating. But she's never tried before, so who knows, maybe she could. Maybe. Probably not to be honest.

[Rootbeerpants]

Helena looks away from the menu to stare out of the window for a second. If she can’t calm down soon then she’s just gonna combust or something. Rozlyns doing this so easily too. She probably thinks somethings seriously wrong with Helena now. Maybe something is. Helena just needs to get out of her head and get into her date. Not like that.

Helena takes a deep breath, looking back to the menu Rozkyns holding. “Um…they do pasta here right? I like pasta a lot. I mean not to an obsessive…” Shut up. Stop qualifying everything. Just breathe. “…Yeah pasta. Um…I could have the alfredo and broccoli with chicken. That seems nice. What uh…what about you?” Helena gave Rozlyns hand a small squeeze, trying to ground herself in the moment. Her heart is still beating so hard it might crack a rib and her skin feels like fire but she did that okay right? Rozlyn probably doesn’t think she’s a freak. Probably. Hopefully.

[StarletDevil]

Rozlyn laughs and shrugs, internally feeling a little embarrassed, she knows she does this sometimes, try to overexplain or justify things to make up for her lacking social skills. Using reasoning and explanation as a substitute for words with substance and meaning because sometimes it feels awkward to say so little when somebody else says so much so you do what feels necessary and vamp for an unnecessary amount of time to try and seem involved in the conversation but coming at the cost of potentially tiring the person listening to you out because you're certain they know what you're doing and have checked out of your response by the fifth word and even though you have that anxiety you can't listen to it because sunk cost fallacy you started talking and you might as well keep going even though you're not going to get anything from it and you start looping because the nerves of wanting to not seem like a jerk and really show people that you're honestly listening are really getting to you even though could have easily just used a more succinct three word response to get the point across and everyone would have been okay with that.

She gets it.

"Hey, don't need to justify likin' pasta, girl. You want somethin', get it, I'm not your mom. I think I might go for the chicken and shrimp, that sounds like it fucks."

She continues to look over the menu and squeezes Helena's hand back, she's being gentle but the difference is strength is still fairly apparent. She shifts slightly and crosses one leg over the other, clicking her tongue quietly. She glances over at Helena and props her head up on her hand with an elbow on the table.

"So like... you're super gay, and like, same, but uh, you gonna be good? Feel like if I look at you right you'll have a fuckin' brain hemorrhage or some shit. Like I get nerves, my ass was fuckin', boiling in my skin before I headed out, ya just seem like... dunno, super nervy— nervous?"

Her fingers gently tap Helena's hand in a rhythm, going down each finger pinky to pointer and back to the pinky. It was harder to notice when her hands were moving or in her pockets, but there's light scarring on her knuckles. There's also buff arms attached to those hands, definitely could carry Helena, that's for sure.

[Rootbeerpants]

Helena felt a small trickle of sadness start to flow through her at the mention of her mom but plugged it up pretty quick. Can’t cry over just people saying the word. Especially not now. Helena did let a sigh crawl its way out of her as Rozlyn started asking if she was okay though. Guess she had noticed. Hard not to. Leaning back in her seat, Helena made an attempt to look towards Rozlyn before turning her gaze back to the window,

“I’m sorry I…no one’s ever done this with me before. No one’s ever even complimented me. Not like you anyway. I don’t…even really talk to people. So I…I don’t know. I think having a cool, extremely hot woman actually interested in me just…breaks my brain.” Helena glances back over at Rozlyn, a small smile on her face. “Sorry if I’m…being too much. I think you’re…incredible. My brain and body doesn’t seem to comprehend how you’re…here I guess. So…I don’t wanna end up being a waste of your time.” The smile drops away from Helena’s face as she looks down at the table instead, tracing a pattern in the wood with her free hand.

“I don’t know if any of that makes sense. None of it makes much sense to me really. I’ll…try and be better though. I can do better.” Helena’s not sure if that last bits really fit Rozlyn. She just desperately doesn’t want to make this worse.

[StarletDevil]

Rozlyn frowns and looks down at their joined hands. Her expression shifts back to neutral and she shrugs and leans against Helena.

"Yeah, I get it. You're uh, doin' fine y'know? You're hot 'n' stuff. And like uh, I mean that. And like, don't worry 'n' shit, I got time to waste. You're doing good."

She hesitates and raises Helena's hand to her face to gently kiss it, keeping eye contact with Helena as she holds the hand there, as rough as she is, this sensation is soft, delicate. A touch far different than any she's given up to this point. She pulls Helena closer and continues to lean against her, staring at the table and shrugging. She grumbles and squeezes Helena's hand slightly, shifting fingers to lock together.

"Been uh, not really been in the datin' scene much, kinda fucked myself up for a while, didn't really want to try for like, I mean until like, I did, I guess? Whatever, you're the first person I've like really asked out, that's what I'm gettin' at. You're hot 'n' shit, could talk my ears off and I wouldn't complain. So, ya got somethin' going on at least. Wonder what else ya got going on."

[Rootbeerpants]

Helena turned to look at Rozlyn, not quite able to maintain eye contact but doing her best. It was…really nice to hear. Not just that she was hot but that she’s doing good. Even if Helena doesn’t fully believe it having someone tell her she’s not fucking everything up. When Rozlyn started pulling their joint hands up to her lips though Helena’s thoughts once again came to a halt, her eyes becoming locked on Rozlyns as she felt the surprisingly soft kiss on her skin. If she’s being honest Helena’s pretty sure her heart actually stopped for a second there.

Yet rather than shut down and turn into a blushing mess like she’s been doing all day, Helena felt oddly calm. Maybe it was seeing Rozlyn be unexpectedly soft or just the reassurance she’s not failed yet but when Rozlyn pulled Helena closer her reaction was to instinctively shuffle even closer to her. As Helena listened to Rozlyn she felt that strange feeling in her gut again. Now though it felt like a rising tide. Something bubbling up through her body and nestling against her chest. A feeling she hasn’t put a word to yet. One she’s not ready to put a word to yet. It feels…kinda nice though.

Plus Rozlyn is just as nervous as her. Just as bad at this as her. Had a bad experience before but still…picked Helena. Maybe it’s time to stop being a blushing mess and…make sure she knows how much Helena appreciates that. “Well…you could have fooled me heh…I think you’re doing great. Whatever the reason you picked me is I’m really happy you did. And hey…we got all day for you to find out what else I got going on right?” Helena let out a small giggle, looking away for a second before forcing herself to look back at Rozlyn. “As long as you show me what else you’ve got going on too.”