Just My Cup of Tea

Saturday.

Jayne wasn't sure how her turian counterpart was feeling at this moment, but she thought she was able to safely assume that he was doing about as well as she was. And that wasn't very well. She stood in the shower for about five extra minutes thinking of ways today could go wrong.

The worst one involved her waiting at the hotel and Garrus never showing up because he forgot, but Jayne wasn't convinced that would happen. A fierce rap on the bathroom door returned Jayne to the present. "Jayne, get your arse out of that bathroom! I'm gonna be late for work!"

Jayne gave a sigh as she shut the water off behind her and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed her towels off the rack to the right and wrapped her blonde hair up in one and her body in another. The door cracked and Jayne saw an annoyed Sarah with a yellow towel on her arm and brown hair still styled from sleep. "Did you remember the fan this time?" Sarah asked.

Jayne smiled sheepishly, reached inside the room, and flicked the fan on. "Yes."

Sarah gave a sigh to match the deepening annoyed expression on her face. "Jayne."

"You're going to be late for work, remember?"

Sarah just gave another annoyed sigh and headed into the bathroom, the door just missing Jayne's butt as it closed. Though she had a smile when she rolled her eyes, Jayne made sure her one towel still covered her and she walked the few steps down the hall to her bedroom.

When the door shut, she looked over the outfit she had laid across her bed. Dropping her towel and picking up her underwear, she wondered if it was alright for a casual lunch date just out in London. I need to stop worrying. Giving another shake of her head, Jayne forced a small smile onto her face when she caught her anxious expression in her mirror and went about slipping into her outfit. She wouldn't admit to how long she spent styling her hair or applying her makeup.

The route to the hotel was so ingrained in her head that Jayne barely had to pay attention to her driving, except when there was a flare of brake lights in front of her at a small bout of traffic winding through the narrow roads. She enjoyed having employee parking when she pulled into the hotel parking lot. Peering up to the sky as she exited her car, Jayne hoped the weather would hold for a walk to the cafe a few blocks away. Canopy jumping was not on her agenda today, and she had spent too long on her hair.

"Thought you'd be waiting in the lounge," Jayne called to Garrus as she entered. Glancing up at the weekend's receptionist, she grinned and gave a small wave in greeting before looking back down at the turian.

He shook his head. "No, I'd be too tempted to take some sort of alcohol down to take the edge off."

A small blush crept up her neck as a nervous smile flashed across her face. "Glad to know I'm not the only nervous one."

Garrus stood and Jayne had to look up to keep eye contact. "Like I said, turian courting customs don't really translate well to humans." He was a little hesitant to reveal the next bit of information. "I'll...admit that I was up on the internet last night doing a bit of...research."

Jayne giggled and subtly inched closer to the turian. It did not go unnoticed by him and his mandibles flicked in a minute nervous smile. This little flirtation reminded Jayne of a smitten schoolgirl, and she wasn't sure if she was disapproving of it or not. She thought she had left this kind of thing behind when she left high school behind as well, but perhaps such feelings didn't transfer across species. Nudging Garrus, Jayne asked, "Ready?"

He raised a brow plate. "We're walking?"

Jayne giggled again. "Of course. It's only a couple blocks." Garrus looked unconvinced. "Garrus, it would take longer to drive there. London streets are small and utterly mental. Come on." Nodding out the door, she almost hooked her arm through his, but began walking before she could.

The sky had darkened in the few minutes they had been inside. Jayne peered up to the sky again and Garrus followed suit. "Are you sure it's not gonna rain?" he asked.

Jayne shrugged, looking up at the sky, then down at Garrus when she answered. "Who knows. It's London in the summer, it's certainly possible. Hell, I should even expect it after all the time I've lived here."

"Which is how long, exactly? Figured out I don't exactly know that much about you."

"Nor I about you, but I suppose that's what this is for, yeah?" Jayne looked up and over with a small, bright smile.

He returned the smile with a wide flick of his mandibles. "I suppose so."

She had some confidence from somewhere and reached down to try and twine her fingers with his. While she was looking at him, the frown on her face was unmistakable as they left the hotel parking lot. "Having trouble?" he teased.

She smirked and gave him a look. "Oh, shut up. I'm not used to my dates having three fingers."

"Among other things."

Jayne flushed and looked away from Garrus. "Yes. Among things," she murmured. He just chuckled, the sound accentuating his dual tones.

It was a few moments of traffic-filled silence between the two before Garrus spoke. "So what exactly is this place we're going called?"

"Bobby's," Jayne answered, perking up. "Simple name, simple food, simple place. And they serve both dextro and levo food. I checked."

"I appreciate it."

"How could I not? I'd be an awful date if I didn't and it happened you couldn't eat anything there."

Garrus gave a small shrug. "Yeah, that'd be true."

Jayne snorted. "I didn't think you'd actually agree with that."

"I think a lot of things about me would surprise you."

Jayne's eyebrows raised as they turned a corner. "Oh really?"

His mandibles flicked in the equivalent of a smirk. "Really."

Jayne returned a smirk of her own. "I'd have to say I'm intrigued to find out."

There was a pause in which Garrus wasn't sure what to say other than, "Good."

It was mostly silent before they reached the cafe, ducking under the canopy quickly as the first drops of rain began to fall. "Looks like we're not eating outside then."

Jayne giggled. "I'm not a big fan of the rain. Even if I have lived here my whole life."

"You never did answer how long that was, by the way."

"I go distracted by the whole two less fingers than me thing."

"Well I'm sorry I have two less fingers, okay? I'm not the one who created the species, don't blame me."

Jayne laughed, Garrus laughing along with her. "C'mon, let's get inside before the wind starts and we get wet anyway."

---

"Okay, that was pretty damn good."

"I told you it would be! And damn you for not believing me." Jayne smirked as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"It's not that I didn't believe you, it's that I had no proof. I'm a tourist, remember?" A brow plate raised above the turian's left eye and he gave a small flick of his mandibles to return the smirk.

"Oh, bugger." Jayne pulls her small purse from the floor onto her lap and places her wallet on the table. Garrus places a hand over hers before she drops her purse back on the floor next to her. She looks up at the turian with raised eyebrows that disappear in her bangs. "What?"

"It's on me."

"Garrus, no, I couldn't--"

His fingers squeeze her hand awkwardly, but she gets the message. "It's on me," he repeats.

Jayne just smiles and drops her wallet back in her purse and keeps her purse on her lap. "Thank you."

"What kind of date would I be if I didn't pay for the meal?"

Jayne just smirks before Garrus leaves a crisp twenty pound note under the salt shaker. Extending the hand that had shadowed Jayne's before, she took it and the two rose to take the small stroll back to Jayne's car. Unfortunately, it was now pouring rain compared to the spitting it had started when the pair had entered the cafe. "Bollocks," Jayne muttered, staring at the sheets of rain coming down.

"Spirits," Garrus said. "I didn't think it could rain this hard."

Jayne giggled. "Welcome to London."

"Is that a mantra of yours?"

"You're a tourist, remember?" Garrus' mandibles merely flicked in a smirk. "Are you ready for the walk?"

"We're really going to walk to your car in this pouring rain?"

"We have no other way to get there, Garrus. And there's such a thing as canopy hopping to avoid the worst of it. It's a hit or miss really, unless you prefer splashing through puddles and getting soaked through just running to my car."

"Let's just get it over with," he sighed, shaking his shoulders as if to prepare himself for the aquatic onslaught.

Jayne gave a humorless chuckle and tucked her purse close to her side. "Keep close," she said, peering out into the soaked streets. "Rain like this doesn't bother most Londoners, and it's easy to get lost just going a few block the way the streets are. Feel free to grab onto something on me as long as you don't rip it."

Garrus took the advice and kept a light hold on the back of Jayne's shirt. "Ready."

"Just a warning, I can move quickly."

"Thanks."

"Let's go!"

And Jayne takes off into the rain, almost pulling the turian with her. He takes a few steps to get his balance and almost falls over, but maintains his hold on the back of Jayne's shirt, almost pulling her dow with him and making her trip violently over a large puddle. Her keys are out when the car is in sight and she unlocks it quickly, almost diving through the door she throws open and just as quickly pulls shut. Garrus ducks in a few moments later, dousing her passenger seat more than she'd like. "Sorry about the seat," Garrus says when he's at least in the car all the way.

Jayne shrugs. "That seat's been soaked by rain more time than I've been able to count. Don't worry about it."

There was a moment of pause as the pair caught their breath inside the now partially soaked car. "Not sure why I came in here now. I have a room."

"Yeah, but that requires you going out in the rain again."

"This is true. And I'd rather avoid that."

"You can come back to my place then. I don't mind taking you back here whenever you want. It's not like it's far or terribly out of the way for me. I work here."

"I was afraid I was going to sound too forward if I suggested it."

"I'm afraid I sounded too forward just then," Jayne admitted.

"No, you masked it well enough in a friendly offer. Which I'd be glad to take you up on."

Jayne smiled and started her car, getting the air conditioning going to both cool and dry them off. "Fair warning, my flatmate might be there. She's working a half-shift only today, and I'm not sure if she'll stay out with coworkers and go drinking or if she'll come home and settle in with takeout and cheesy movies. There's my room in any case." And she can't hide the blush that creeps onto her face at the veiled mention of her and Garrus alone in her room with Sarah there. God, she'd never hear the end of it.

Garrus gave a low chuckle. "I'll keep that in mind. Just some place dry sounds good to me."

"Oh, bugger." She bites her lip and steals a glance to Garrus at a slow intersection. "There's not going to be anything for you to wear while your clothes dry."

"Damn," Garrus mutters. After a few moments, he shrugs. "As long as you have a large towel, that should suffice.

"Are you sure?" Jayne asks as she swings the turn onto the street next to a small park.

Garrus nods. "I've been through worse."

Jayne gives a nervous smile. "If you insist. I'll just be in some comfy clothes while we wait then." She pulls her car into the parking lot outside her complex, sighing. "Ready?"

Garrus gives a small sigh as well. "As ready as I'll ever be."

With a small chuckle that sounds almost tired, Jayne grabs her purse and nods toward her car door. "Come on. It's a quick trip if we run like before."

"Let's go."

Sprinting out of the car, Jayne locking it behind them, she keeps them out for a few unnecessary moments while she fumbles for her keys in the pouring rain. "Bloody hell!" she hisses as they practically shake off like dogs in the staircase.

"How have you lived her your whole life?"

"I'm not sure. You never really get used to the pouring rain like this. Everything else I'm used to."

"Shit." There's a pause as he waits for Jayne to start up the stairs in front of them. "You never did answer how old you are. Seems to me like you're avoiding the question."

Jayne smirks, but Garrus can't see it with her back to him as they ascend the staircase. "No, I just keep getting distracted. Dates with three fingers, pouring rain...I'd think that the city doesn't want you to know hold old I am."

"Do I have to guess?"

"I'd like to see you try." Keys jingle as Jayne inserts one into a lock a room two from the staircase.

"Twenty-four." The answer is almost immediate. Garrus had thought this over the other day.

She looks over at him as the door swings open. "That was a quick answer, but incorrect."

"I suppose I'll have plenty more guesses while the clothes dry."

"For a start." Another smirk turns up the corners of Jayne's mouth as she pulls the key from the lock and drops her keys into her purse.