Just My Cup of Tea

It was Thursday afternoon, two days before Jayne was to show Garrus one of her favorite lunch spots. Feeling brave, Garrus had ventured outside the hotel for some place to have breakfast, or something resembling it, since dextro-friendly restaurants were just a bit hard to find in California. He figured it would be even worse when he went overseas, but there were actually more dextro-friendly places than he thought, maybe almost as many as California. A lot of the places catered to both dextro and levo customers though, while Garrus was used to simply one or the other. Garrus found himself thinking that if he ever had Jayne with him in California, he would take her to his favorite lunch spot, but then reprimanded himself because she would have no reason to be in California nor would she be able to eat anything there.

As he finished, he laid down enough credits to cover the small bill and include a tip for the food, because he had to admit it was good. Completely different than most things he had had while in California, and Garrus thought this might be a plausible excuse to come back, but then waved the thought away when he stood from the table.

Hailing a cab was not something Garrus was very good at, even after having been in London for two days. Then again, it wasn't like Garrus had gone many places in his short stay, and had a little time to at least try and perfect the art of hailing a cab. Once back at the hotel, Garrus figured he would pay Jayne a visit. He was sure that she would appreciate a friendly face in the midst of a busy work day. Well, mostly sure. He hoped that it was confidence that Jayne saw in him when he walked up the desk. "Hi, can I -" She glanced up at Garrus quickly, looked back down at the message she was typing out on the computer, then realized who was at the desk and looked back up at him, smiling. "Hi. Sorry, it's been absolutely crazy this morning." A nervous look crossed her face fleetingly.

"Don't worry about it. We all have days like these," Garrus replied, leaning on the side of the desk so as not to look like he was asking for help or a room. He already had the latter, and the former wasn't a type of help that Jayne could provide.

"I suppose. It comes with the job, I guess."

"Yeah." Garrus smiled, his mandibles flicking.

Jayne returned the smile with a much more playful edge to it. "Unable to wait for Saturday?"

Garrus' mandibles flicked again as his smile faded into a playful smirk. It seemed once he started talking to her, his nervousness seemed to fade and be replaced by the confidence he wanted to show before beginning to speak with her. Garrus only had a slight problem with that, and hoped that Jayne would find it at least somewhat endearing. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you just come in from somewhere?" Garrus raised the plates above his eyes in a question. "I heard the bell above the door ring."

"If you must know, I was just out for a late breakfast."

Jayne looked at her watch. "I'll say. It's almost time for my lunch break." She looked back up at Garrus and smiled playfully again. "Are you doing anything in a half hour?"

"I'll have to check my schedule."

Jayne rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed on her face. "If you'd like, I could certainly use the company until my lunch break starts. And even after then too."

"I am a tourist, Jayne." Garrus paused for a moment while he thought about how her name felt on his tongue. "While you are most certainly a wonderful sight to see, I was planning on seeing the main ones while I was here."

"I might've forgotten that you're not from here. Not sure what gave it away though."

"The accent, probably."

Jayne giggled, her eyes brightening as the bubbly sound spilled from between her lips. "That would be the lack of one." Garrus' mandibles flicked as she bit off the end of the sentence. "Or it could be the fact that you have a room here. Londoners don't pay for rooms in hotels, they pay for flats. Or houses, but that's much more common in the country."

"Flats?" Garrus asked.

Jayne giggled again. "Now you're sounding like a tourist. Americans call them apartments." Garrus simply nodded, a hint of a smile on his face. "As I was saying, if you'd like to keep me company for a little while today, it would certainly be appreciated." The smooth confidence instantly leaked out of her voice when she straightened up and added hastily, "Unless you have other plans today. Since, you know, you're a tourist after all."

Garrus tilted his head at her sudden change of tone. It was almost as if she was afraid that he would refuse her the company for a few hours. Garrus had a feeling he'd be seeing much more of this receptionist over his time here, and she was most definitely a much better excuse to return to London than the exceptional food. Leaning in closer to make up for the distance she had created between them, he said, "Jayne, I'm not going to refuse your company for a few hours." His voice was quieter than before, and he enjoyed the flare of color in the shell of her ears when he spoke her name again. Garrus leaned back to his original position and his voice returned to its normal volume. "Besides, I have another week to catch the best sights of this city." He wanted to do something else now, in the small silence in between playful responses, but he wasn't sure what he could do. Human customs were quite different from turian ones, and he didn't think the usual turian ways would help him court a human. Garrus smirked to himself when he thought that he should have figured this out two days ago.

A small smile appeared on Jayne's face, one that looked timid and nervous to Garrus, one that reminded him of a smitten schoolgirl. "Of course. Maybe you'll even have enough time to see some not-so-famous sights." She had trouble keeping the smile on her face casual, and an even harder time keeping herself from winking. She knew turian customs were different, and didn't want to risk offending this one. It would make the next week very awkward, and Jayne was not looking forward to the earful she would get from both Sarah and Amie.

"Yeah." The word seemed almost forced from Garrus' mouth the way it was so drawn out. He wasn't sure if he was uncomfortable, confused, or a bit of both. Whatever he was feeling, it was neither good nor bad, and this showed on his face. "Let me just grab something from my room and I'll be right back down, alright?"

Jayne just nodded in response and gave Garrus another timid smile. She released a breath she wasn't aware she had been holding when the elevator doors had closed in front of him and leaned back hard against her chair. The resulting force rolled her back a few inches on the smooth tiled floor, but Jayne was much too absorbed in her thoughts to notice. What am I doing? she thought. This is nothing like me. I'm not the type to have witty conversations with turians and hint at possible sexual relations. Turians don't even have the same biology as humans, I'm not even sure that would work. Jayne didn't notice the loud sigh she released as Garrus returned to the side of the desk.

"Jayne?" he called.

She turned her eyes up at him, her head following a few moments later. "Yeah." She smiled very briefly and glanced down at her watch. "Just five more minutes."

Garrus placed his hands on the small counter the desk made. "Are you okay? You seem...put off."

"I..." Jayne trailed off, unsure if she wanted to truly convey what she was thinking. If she really wanted to start something with a tourist from California she met two days ago, it wouldn't do to build a foundation on a lie. She took a deep breath as she stood up. "I'm not usually like this."

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked, watching her walk around the desk and up to him.

"I'm not usually one to be...doing all of this." Jayne rolled her hands around in the air, trying to resemble a familiar gesture of trying to find the right word. Garrus' brow plates had raised again as she searched the depths of her brain for her sophisticated vocabulary. "All of this...witty conversation. I'm not usually...being all forward and making vaguely sexual remarks and...all of this." She looked up at Garrus nervously.

He was watching her intently, trying to gauge the many emotions flittering across her small, smooth face. Without much thought, Garrus placed a hand on her forearm. "Jayne." His bright blue eyes met her shining green ones and held them. "Don't worry. I have about as much idea about what to do as you do. Turian customs don't really transfer well over to courting humans."

Jayne smiled. "Well it's good to know that I'm not alone here."

"Of course not. I'm standing right in front of you." Taking a risk, Garrus moved his hand down her forearm and took her small hand in his. It looked so much smaller inside his three large fingers. He looked back up at her eyes, bright with happiness, and she reached out and took his other hand.

She felt so small next to him, but she felt something else too. It wasn't something she couldn't pinpoint right away. Then, when Garrus released her one hand and they walked silently into the lounge, she realized what it was.

Safety.