Intrigue and Breakfast

Who: Angelo and Shoshannah
When: Jan. 24, breakfast time
Where: The Drake

Shoshannah had been through quite a few firsts in this past week. Her first real time away from her family. A first job. Meeting many new friends, one of which seemed to have blossomed into a first real romance, but the first she'd stumbled upon this morning was topping the charts. The first time she'd slept next to someone and woken up beside them the following morning. And as she lie there, curled up beside Angelo, her thoughts raced. She knew in the back of her mind that they'd not known each other for that long, but it wasn't like it really mattered to Shoshannah. It just felt right when Angelo was around; it made sense. And in a frantic time full of firsts, she felt lucky to be able to experience so many of them with Angelo.

She realized that her first from the previous night, the first time she'd had something stolen from her, was not such a good experience, but with Miss Amelia and Angelo there to console her, she felt lucky to know that there were people she could count on. And wholly more optimistic this morning about finding her camera than she had last night. And with a clearer head now, Shoshannah could really assess the gameplan for getting her camera back. Now, she didn't know much about pawn shops, but if they were like other shops, they probably weren't even open by the time someone had taken her camera. And if someone was going to take her camera to a pawn shop, they'd have to do it sometime today. But it probably hadn't happened yet, as she glanced at the clock in her room to see that it was still well before 11 A.M, which was when Prophet's Pages opened. So Shoshannah figured that if her workplace opened at 11, most other places might as well.

It was, in fact, around 9:15, which left plenty of time for whomever had her camera to sleep in before actually taking it anywhere. Therefore, Shoshannah didn't make a move to get up yet. If the person who stole her camera could sleep in, then Shannah felt like she could at least get to stay here and watch Angelo sleep for a little longer, which she was coming to realize was a very peaceful sight in and of itself. She wondered if she looked this peaceful whenever she fell asleep, or if anyone actually noticed if she looked peaceful between more obvious inquires about her health or how odd it was that she had just fallen asleep for no reason. She'd have to ask Angelo when he woke up. She'd fallen asleep on him a few times, so he was a frontrunner for a question like that. But if she could look as peaceful as he did, then that was one more plus in the 'pro' side of what her condition did to her.

Like everything else in his life, Angelo slept with every inch of his being. He didn't toss and turn, kick at sheets, or even murmur to himself. It probably stemmed from the addiction that left him asleep when he was awake, but every night's rest was a deep and profound thing for him. Slowly, though, as if he was aware of Shannah's scrutiny, his mind pulled itself from the depths of dreams as his eyes fluttered open. She was a hazy form to see at first; warm tones with fuzzed-over edges, basking in sunlight that bled through the window, indistinct but welcoming. He couldn't help but grin.

Time held no meaning for him as Angelo stretched slowly beneath the bedsheets, curling an arm under his head and scratching at the top of it with the other. Gradually, clarity was leaking into his head again. He could make out the faint trace of a smile on Shannah's lips, the attentive way she was watching him. "Must still be dreamin'," he murmured, extending a hand towards her, "Not that I'm complainin', you know? S'a a good dream to fool myself with..."

"If you're dreaming, I'm dreaming." Shoshannah's smile was set, fixed on her lips as she watched him. She scooted just a bit closer to him, eyes bright and open, attentive for someone who had only woken up a few minutes before him. "I didn't wake you, did I? You can go back to sleep if you want." She was awake now and, with any luck, would be for quite some time but that didn't mean Angelo had to wake up. She pulled her hands out from under the covers and placed them over her eyes, smile brimming into a grin. "I won't stare at you anymore, promise."

Or you're a dream... Angelo thought as he watched her. How had he managed to find someone so unmarred by this city? Who else could play at hiding her eyes with such innocence? "I'm not dozin' off," he assured Shannah, reaching up to pull her hands away from her eyes, coaxing her towards him as he savored the languid tingle in his limbs. This? This was almost like a pipeful, except that this slow awareness never lasted as long as his drug of choice. "Think my body's tryin' to keep me from gettin' too spoiled," Angelo explained as he shifted with her, "An' I'll agree to stayin' awake? But I gotta draw a line somewhere, keep me some comforts."

So Shoshannah moved with him until she was once more tucked safely back against his chest. "I don't think this really counts as spoiling you, especially when you ironed my dress and brought me breakfast yesterday. I just woke up, I haven't had time to run all the way down to Chinatown and bring some of that breakfast back here." She turned her head a little to look up at him, catching his eyes. "Did you sleep well?"

"Like I was floatin'," Angelo assured her with a grin, curling right up to Shannah as she settled against him, "Din' even know they made beds this soft, Sho. Trus' me, this is spoilin' me rotten." Returning to his own apartment would be odd for sure, at least until he got his fix for the day in. "How 'bout you? I'm guessin' you don' share a bed too frequent," he murmured with a pleased smile. Angelo, by contrast, had shared his space with women in the past, but Shannah had been as peaceful and comfortable to sleep next to as any of them, if not moreso. "Wasn' strange, was it? Do I talk in my sleep?"

He was right, Shoshannah didn't tend to share a bed with anyone. Actually, she never had, but that didn't mean she hadn't fallen asleep infront of, beside, or sometimes even curled up against someone that she hadn't meant to. But it never really lasted that long and always ended in some sort of awkward apology and the end of a friendship, so this morning, with Angelo still beside her, meant quite a bit to Shoshannah. "No, I don't. I haven't in the past but I don't mind it." There was actually something quite comforting, calming in the knowledge that someone would be there when she woke up. It was a simple wish, but she'd been hoping for something like that for as long as she could remember. "It's really nice, actually. I feel a little relieved, if that makes any sense." But even with the relief she felt from having him still there, that curious part of her was nagging at the back of her head. Had Angelo shared a bed with someone before? That was probably a silly question, of course he had. There wasn't some freak condition to keep people away from him, so he must have.

Lucky for her, his next question took the concern out of her eyes and replaced it with a smile, pairing it with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "If you did, it's not like I can hear you anyway. That's one nice thing about my condition, I guess. When I'm really, truly sleeping, I'm sleeping, so you could probably have been playing your trumpet and I wouldn't have heard you."

"So that's when I'll get all my practice in 'fore a show?" he teased, figuring that she was declaring small jokes like that safe. "Gon' be a trick to work them teeth on my horn with one arm curled tight on you, but I'll manage." He could've stayed like this all morning, but for a short list of things that mostly didn't manage to touch on Angelo's mind. Eventually, Shoshannah would have to work. Much later, he would too. Before either of those, though, came a low rumble in his stomach that made him realize he hadn't bothered with a meal yesterday, spending his time neatly between his high and her calamity. "They don' got a dress code here, do they?" Angelo asked playfully, "'Cuz I could go for a set of eggs, but I think I left my coat an' tie back at my place."

Small jokes like that were fine, were more than welcome to Shoshannah. They filled her with a sense of warmth, a happiness that only his words seemed to give her. And also sent a small blush to play at her cheeks. "You'll be able to perfect the art of playing the trumpet one-handed, then." She joked back, a small laugh coming from her not because of her own joke, but at the rumbling of Angelo's stomach. It was like a cue for her to realize just how hungry she was as well. "No, they don't have a dress code here. Everyone's really nice so even if they did, I don't think they'd turn us away. We'll be wrinkly together, how's that sound?" She asked as she looked down at her dress that was, once more, as wrinkled as it had been just a few days ago.

He grinned slow and soft as he stretched one last time, twining his legs with Shoshannah's for a moment as Angelo leaned into her. Gently, he turned to angle her down onto the mattress, pressing in to kiss her with an eager sort of restraint. They'd been interrupted last night, after all, and he wanted another shot, even if he was going to pull away sooner than he wanted in pursuit of food. "Together sounds fine like wine, whatever's in front of it don' count for much," Angelo eventually said, breaking away just enough to speak, "'Sides, you wear that dress like it was brand new." Finally, grudgingly, he leaned back from her and began to slide from the bed, claiming one of Shannah's hands in his own to draw her with him. A splash of water to rouse his senses, and Angelo would be as alert as he ever was at this hour.

Woah. Shannah certainly hadn't seen that coming, but that was almost just as exciting as the kiss itself. The surprise element. She could always count on one thing, and that was to never know exactly what Angelo would do. She let herself get lost in that moment, pushing away a slight worry that being pressed between him and the bed was a bit too intimate, and instead just hoping they could pick up where she'd forced them to leave off the previous night, if only just for a little bit. It was over too soon, that was for sure, but there was a smile on her face even as he pulled away. "Brand new and wrinkled." She protested just a little, letting him lead her out of the bed and up to stand. And as much as she was fine with being wrinkled with him, the girl in her simply couldn't leave the room without checking her hair. So she peeked away from him for just a moment, running her free hand over the tangled mess that her hair had become.

She got more than a moment as Angelo disengaged just enough to reach the sink of her bathroom. Turning the faucet on, he splashed water against his cheeks and brow, wiping any lingering sleep from his eyes and moving to rejoin Shoshannah. "Brand new an' wrinkled sounds like me every day," Angelo said, "Ain't a bad way to be, neither. Wrinkles jus' mean a thing's been lived in, right? I'd rather skip bein' fresh-pressed if it meant I was livin'." Which, he knew, couldn't apply to most people. Angelo had a good niche carved out for himself with his three nights a week of an actual job, and everything else being what he chose to do. Most people, Shannah included, had to be a bit more presentable than his usual ensemble of an a-shirt and ratty slacks that were spattered in paint. "'Course, there's somethin' to say for a sleek look if the one wearin' it looks like she's livin'," he complimented, thinking that if she came to see him at the Kitten Club, he wouldn't be able to miss her.

After a few minutes of twisting her hair this way and that, she'd managed to pin it down into a manageable look in time to glance up at him when he spoke. With her blush still there, Shoshannah reached for Angelo's hand then took the first steps toward the door. "You're right. It's worth the wrinkles if you're living." But there was promise of food spurring Shannah to take quick steps to the elevator and press the button, then take an even quicker step into the elevator once it arrived on her floor. As the doors open and she left the elevator with Angelo, Shoshannah came to another realization. That it didn't really matter who else was around, as long as she could be beside Angelo. That even as she led them toward the dining room, she really didn't pay much attention to anyone else around her. "I've never had breakfast here. I had lunch here my first day with Ian, but not breakfast so I guess this means we've found a place we've both never eaten at? Or at least, not eaten the same meal at."

The quickness of the elevator was a blessing that nearly countered the tension he felt as it descended, buzzing underfoot. But when the doors opened and Angelo knew they were on the ground floor, his smile returned as easy as ever. "Too easy a resolution, we'll hafta find another one," he insisted, thinking of the plan they'd made to find somewhere wholly new to both of them. "An' when am I gonna meet this Ian? Feel like I owe the fella a good turn for the one he did you." He was curious for sure, grateful that someone else in this city had done right by a stranger in need. If it wasn't for Ian, would Shannah have even wandered into the Round on the night they met? "Think he's around?" he asked as they moved for the restaurant.

Maybe she was imagining it but it seemed like Angelo's ease sort of...faultered in that elevator, the same way it had the night before. She wondered why, but before she could ask, he'd already answered her question. So she smiled again, all too happy to make more plans with Angelo. "You're right, this doesn't count. It has to be somewhere else." Shoshannah barely had a chance to glance around the lobby before the hostess at the dining room was escorting them both to a seat. But in her brief glance, she hadn't seen Ian. "I'd introduce you to him now but I don't know if he's working today or not. I don't see him anywhere..." Not in the restaurant either. Secretly, she was a tiny bit happy that Ian wasn't around at the moment. Then she'd have to worry about upsetting him, since a small part of her had a feeling that Ian might feel about her the way she felt about Angelo. He'd had such a sad look when she mentioned Angelo earlier...but maybe if he got to meet Angelo, he'd understand? And maybe she was just imagining this too. There was nothing written in stone that said Ian liked her that way at all. He'd been a great friend to her this whole time and she was hoping that he would continue to be.

So, trying to clear her thoughts of any awkwardness an introduction between Angelo and Ian might cause, Shoshannah sat down in her seat and was handed a menu from the hostess. "I think that maybe I'll get pancakes, but only if you promise to try some too."

"Hashbrowns f'me," Angelo said with an eager grin, bouncing a little in his seat. Some measure was anxiousness, but mostly? He was a fan of a good breakfast, and it was a meal Angelo rarely indulged in. he wasn't going to let Shannah spend too much on him, but at the same time? She wanted to buy him breakfast, and he wasn't going to say no to her. "An' you can count on me to try a taste," he promised, eyes lighting up when a pot of coffee drifted by in a server's grip, "Maybe more'n a taste..." Shaking his head at himself, he looked back to Shannah thoughtfully. "Well, I think I'll be stoppin' by here again if I'm welcome, so maybe I'll catch him then?" he asked, oblivious to the idea that there might have been another suitor for her.

Shoshannah peeked at him over the menu, at first a curious look on her face. "You have to get more than just hashbrowns! That's not a breakfast." But the curious look slipped into something playful, something knowing, as she leaned closer when the server passed back their way. "Excuse me, could we get two cups of coffee please?" She asked, watching the server nod and hurry off to bring back the coffee she'd ordered, but she asked for another moment on actually ordering breakfast. She was still trying to convince him to get more than just hashbrowns. "Why wouldn't you be welcome here? Of course you're welcome! If I see him at all while we're here, I'll introduce you. It might be his day off, though."

With a soft chuckle, Angelo took his coffee in one hand and settled the other on Shannah's hand, tuning out the whisper of shock from another table as he grinned at her. "All I figured was that you might not always be here? So if you ain't, they won' be givin' me a room key an' some fresh towels," he teased, aiming a grin over the edge of his mug at her, "More'n hashbrowns? Some eggs'd go jus' fine." He wasn't a picky eater, but sadly, Angelo figured he was out of luck on the few preferences he had. Like gravy for his hashbrowns, maybe a bowl of grits... His eyes lit up, though, as he sipped his coffee finally. By comparison, Nighthawks' may as well have been serving boiled brown paint. "An' you know this means I'm treatin' when we go out to explore, right?"

Shoshannah didn't hear anything from the other tables. As far as she was concerned, there weren't other tables around them. It was just the two of them. She delighted in the feel of his hand, her smile spreading. When the server returned, she ordered her pancakes and Angelo's breakfast so he could keep drinking the coffee that, from his eyes, she figured he liked very much. She finally lifted the cup up to her lips when the server was gone and sipped at it, wishing she had waited until it was cooler. She tried her hardest not to make a face at the temperature of the coffee and instead just put the cup down for now. "It's a hotel, it's welcoming to everyone." She said, sure that in her limited experience, they wouldn't deny Angelo. "You've got yourself a deal. Oh...and, I was thinking...is there really even a possibility that my camera is at a pawnshop right now? It was taken last night and it's still pretty earlier in the day..."

"S'always possible, yeah," Angelo said consideringly, sipping his coffee again. It was too hot for her, but the scalding liquid was bringing clarity to Angelo's wits with every sip, focusing him at a time of the morning when he would've been barely functioning. "One place in town stays open right late, coulda got dropped there... you said you was in Fontaine?" he asked, frowning in thought, "The park's all the way on the other side of the Sixth, wouldn' turn up there I'm thinkin'. Thieves ain't usually got fare for the bus." He almost enjoyed thinking on this, it almost made him feel like a detective from the serials the theatre showed. Except, of course, that the root of it all had left Shannah in tears...

"I'm thinkin' it might get dropped today, maybe tomorrow" Angelo offered hopefully, "When my folks had their place, they'd get these waves every few days? Folks droppin' a lot of stuff off, right? An' my pops, he used to tell me there weren't no way the same people'd have, like, seven watches to sell. A lot of the shops know they buyin' from thieves. But if the cops come 'round with a list of what they's lookin' for, they might find it. Hell, we might if we look ourselves." She wouldn't be looking alone, no way, and Shannah had seemed adamant about looking with him. "If you want better odds? We'll have 'em tomorrow f'sure."

Shoshannah shook her head slightly. "I wasn't in Fontaine. I was about a block or so down from the Drake. Maybe a half block. I don't really know. All I know is that I sat down to get the camera in focus and when I woke up, it was gone and a bus had just passed." She sighed, her hand tightening around Angelo's as she spoke. "But if you think it's best to wait until tomorrow, then maybe that's what we should do? That way we'll have a better chance of finding it." Which she was holding strongly onto, the chance of them finding her camera.

For a second there, Angelo tensed internally. How had he mixed up what she'd told him? He knew how, of course. He'd been high when she called, panicked when he got to her, and then they'd both slept. It was a chain of events that guaranteed him making mistakes, and he silently amended to keep Shannah and his necessary habits as far away from each other as humanly possible. How would she react if she knew? "Well... how 'bout I head with you when you head to work?" he suggested, "Once I know the 'hood you work in, I can maybe poke my head in the nearest pawner's real quick? An' if I don' see nothin' or they din' get no cameras in today, we keep lookin' tomorrow?" His hand shifted to thread fingers with Shoshannah's as Angelo grinned playfully across the table. "I mean, I don' wanna sound selfish, but I was hopin' to spy you out on the floor of the club an' all, not wonder if you's peekin' into shops or nothin'..."

Shoshannah's smile was still there, despite any slip up in her story he might have had. Everyone was allowed mistakes and who knows, maybe she'd even said she was at the park in her crazed attempt to call him for some comfort. She could have very well done that. "Well, I'm not working today, but we can walk by it if you like? I'd love to show you where I work. Maybe we can spy Whiskers, the cat? Although I think I'll be changing his name soon. Whiskers is so...boring for a cat that lives in a bookstore. Miss Amelia suggested I call him Mr. McGreevey because he acts like her old school janitor." But now she was rambling on and on about the cat when there was a much more pressing matter at hand. Seeing Angelo at the Kitten Club. A blush played at her cheeks. "I'll definitely be at the Kitten Club tonight. Seeing you play there is something I've been really looking forward to, no matter what else happens." Her smile grew. "But I have to say that I'd like to make an entrance, so I might have to actually let you go back to your apartment and see you at the club later tonight." Besides, she loved the dress she had and it would add to a certain air of mystery that she was hoping she was portraying. A nice kind of mystery, an intrigue.

"An entrance?" Angelo echoed as a slow, curious smile spread across his face, "See, hints drive this man mad, doll... ain't no fair. I'm gonna be playin' the wrong notes all night, waitin' t'see you come on in." Wrong notes aside, he was being totally honest there. Angelo loved surprises, but the wait for them tended to wind him up tight in anticipation, and if Shoshannah was involved in one? It would be twice as bad. "You's gonna be amazed by jus' how fast I can make m'self go stir-crazy," he warned, winking and sitting back as their food arrived, but not relinquishing his hold on Shannah's hand, "Hell, you already got me more excited 'bout headin' in since the first week I was in the house band." But not so excited that he could ignore the growl of his stomach, apparently, as Angelo claimed his fork and dug into the hashbrowns on his plate. The mystery she was teasing him with? It was exactly the sort of thing that could inspire and motivate Angelo without a lungful of blue smoke.

"You couldn't play the wrong notes if you tried. And even if you did, you'd turn them into right notes." She had to laugh at herself though, since it was only from spending so much time with Angelo that she could have even attempted a compliment like that. Still, with a face rosy from blushing and a tell-tale little flutter in her heart, Shoshannah glanced up at Angelo with playfulness in her eyes. "I guess then it's a good thing we'll be taking a walk before you go home. You only be stir-crazy for a few hours then." Besides, like any good woman, Shoshannah was secretly very excited for a little intrigue, a little surprise. And she knew the dress she wanted to wear that night was upstairs, in her room, safely tucked inside that trunk of clothes, so while she knew how she'd look in it, a small, girlish part of her wanted Angelo to ponder about what she'd look like or when she'd show up at the Kitten Club.

It didn't happen often, but the combination of her praise and her teasing about what lay ahead was enough to make Angelo's cheeks burn as he looked down at his plate, grinning and chewing. "Sho," he said eventually, swapping out his fork for his coffee, "You're all kinds'a good for me, I'm thinkin'... don' know quite how to handle it? But I know I like it." What else was there to say? There was no need for lyricism or flattery, she just deserved to know how good things had felt for him in the past handful of days. "I think your brand of stir-crazy's one I could bottle an' sell, if I din' wanna keep it all f'myself."

Shoshannah could watch that smile of his for days. It filled her with a sense of happiness to know that he was just as happy around her as she was around him. So in his spirit of keeping their words simple and meaningful, Shoshannah lifted her own cup of coffee to bring it close to his in a toast. "To being all kinds of good for each other." Honestly, she felt a little spoiled, like she'd been monopolizing Angelo from the world, but as long as he was happy with it, then she wasn't going to give any of this up if she could help it.