A Summer's Fear [Summer, Heather]

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

This night had been a long time coming. Dr. Crane had met her once before and they had spoken in a rare interview, though she never did get much out of him that she could use. He explained the truth about Miss Glass but it was nothing that she would be able to decipher on her own. He needed to guide her through it and walked alongside her to the edge of oblivion. She needed to feel the embrace of darkness from below and lose herself in the one true truth that poured from the depths of it.

The setting at the dinner table was quiet with Dr. Crane sitting there silent and Miss Glass copying his behavior. She probably didn’t understand quiet why he was doing this, but he had informed her earlier that he had invited one of her “Friends” for dinner. Of course he didn’t cook the meal in front of them; most of it was take out. He had set it up like it was a dinner though and even made his own plate, but had no intention of partaking.

Dr. Crane had hired a thug to go and pick her up at her home and drive her here. They had a pretty good set up since he started working for Luthor and had been given everything he needed. He’d been spending a lot more time with Luthor lately, but Miss Glass was still able to follow him around as he required in their agreement at the Asylum. He knew that she would follow behind him, what choice did she have? It was true that whatever he had established with her wasn’t clear in her mind. She had been wavering of late about her loyalties to him and he could see it. But somehow he knew that she would come to her senses about it eventually. This at least would be one attempt to show her something different and in the end get what he wanted in return.

The doors came open and Dr. Crane stood from the table. He saw Miss Gleeson walk in and extended his hand to her seat across the table to show her that she could join them.

“Good evening Miss Gleeson, sit and partake with us ”

[Deleted]

Summer fiddled nervously with her hands as she looked at her own blank expression in the mirror. Why was she so worried? It was only a simple dinner with Heather to accompany her – her dear friend whom she had dined with many a time before, but now was different. There was a loud knock on her door, causing the redhead to jump – slightly started she glanced in the direction and started toward it. A large figure stood in the door way, informing her to follow him. Summer simply nodded and walked silently behind him. The large man opened the back door for her, allowing her to sit inside after she carefully inspected it. After sliding into the elegant black town car, the young reporter nervously played with the hem of her skirt. “I just have a few questions…” She began, but the man simply shot her a look using the mirror and remained silent.

“Oh…” Summer sounded a bit disappointing, but instead of arguing like usual she focused on the streets they passed and tried to make an assumption as to where he was taking her, but the undeniable curiosity continued to pry at her. When they finally stopped, she could recognize the side of town, but was oblivious to the location. “Please, where are we?” She asked the driver, but he said nothing. Instead he turned the car off and evacuated it. Summer was left alone in the back seat for several painful seconds before he opened the door for her, sending a sinister smile her way. She tried to return one of her own, though it wavered a bit as she climbed out, smoothing her skirt in the process.

She hadn’t brought much with her – just a small fashionable clutch to match her outfit that contained a bit of cash, the means necessary to touch up her make-up and a form of identification. Following the burly driver, she took a look around the location in attempt to gather some information from it. As he opened the doors for her, he stopped as if he was not going further. Summer bravely started inside, quickly eying a very proper set up with her dear friend and the man that she associated herself with on the other side of the massive room.

The only sound occupying the room was the sound of her heels breaking the silence as she started towards the pair. The mild sketching of Crane’s chair caused her to stop abruptly, though he was simply offering her a seat. “Thank you.” she said simply to be polite, smoothing her skirt as she sat carefully in her assigned seat. “I was a bit surprised for such an invitation honestly, especially after our last chat…” Summer cleared her throat, finding her mouth slightly dry before sending a hopeful smile over at Heather and speaking in a much less formal tone. “You look nice…”

This was all a bit awkward, though she didn't want to say what was really on her mind and risk setting off some kind of ticking time bomb. "I guess I am just a bit confused honestly. How are you both here? Shouldn't you be-" She pursed her lips together for a moment, allowing her sentence to fall short. Should she investigate as usual? Or go with the flow and simply see if answers surfaced on their own.

outfit: click here to see!

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

It would be putting it mildly to say that Heather has severe reservations about this evening. Mostly because when Jon is with anyone - especially if they're not the sort of person that can really handle themselves - things tend to not go so well for that person. Which is something that normally bothers her surprisingly little, especially since she's just been exposed to that enough, but a friend - someone she actually cares about - is different. Because while she realized long ago that Jon cares enough about her personal well-being that she doesn't need to be afraid that he'll do anything horrible to her personally, he hasn't shown the same consideration to things that she cares about.

Which is why, for once, she's not having much problem looking at Jon... at least whenever he happens to not be looking at her. As they wait he's caught her several times staring at him out of the corner of his eye, only to hastily shift her gaze to the table the moment that he looks in her. Why is he doing this? What is he thinking? Perhaps the most promising possibility is if he simply wants to give her a pleasant evening with her friend, but even if that is the case, that's no guarantee it will turn out all right. He seems to believe that she ought to feel exactly the same way about everything as he does, and when she doesn't he fails to take that into account. And naturally that makes her extremely on edge about this entire thing - in fact she really, really wishes that VerMillion would just take over so she could hide from the world until it's all over one way or the other. After all, VerMillion would be dead calm in this same situation, but her other half has been taking over less and less lately.

When the silence is finally interrupted by the arrival of their guest, Heather immediately smiles at Summer, but it's a smile that's so nervous and brief that it probably fails to be reassuring at all. In fact she almost seems to startle when Summer speaks to her directly, though she's quick enough to return the compliment by saying, "Oh, thanks! Um, you too!" But, not really knowing what else to say, she goes quiet after that. She does appreciate the compliment though - this place is leaps and bounds better than where they were before they were in the asylum. She's actually be able to get ahold of clothes that her style - which has never been as 'dressy' as Summer tends to be since she prefers the good, old-fashioned t-shirt and jeans look. But she picks very trendy t-shirts and jeans rather than the more common fare so the look is far more sophisticated than it could be. So yes, she does look nice, except for her currently very withdrawn and nervous manner.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

Dr. Crane rarely hired anyone to do anything for him. The problem with having a gang of members or hiring lackies to do your work for you was that you weren’t doing the work yourself. If the work was out of your hands you could never trust the right job to be done. The doctor never put his faith or his trust in anyone but himself and even then doctors would argue if he could even do that. The subject of his capabilities to feel much of anything had come up in several psychological sessions with him but nothing has ever been proven. It was always left inconclusive and it always would remain that way.

There were many other Professionals that took the liberty of having personal assistants, drivers, henchmen but Dr. Crane would never have these things permanently. It was far to costly for little in return. But on the off chance that he did hire someone they were completely disposable. At any time he could rid of them, in any manner he deemed was the best. He was never one for killing, but he wasn’t beyond it if it was needed, he wasn’t a murderer after all. He was just doing that the rest of society did, when someone didn’t do things their way they were punished, when someone outlived their use they died.

Miss Glass and VerMillion, on the other hand, were another matter entirely. He had hired her, or rather taken her in as someone to be with him. But she wasn’t taken originally to work for him. Her new position as his PR was a new thing that had come up when she simply needed more to do. She was better at that kind of work that he was and he already had a reputation that kept most of the dealings away from him in Gotham. He couldn’t have all resources cut out to him, so she would be a buffer in-between. Of course, she had no real problem accepting the position aside from her first given assignment. She was special; it was just unfortunate that he had to remind her of that so often. He wasn’t good at that sort of thing.

So this entire evening had been about getting her more adjusted to where she was and a certain meeting with Miss Gleeson was just the sort of thing he needed. Of course, he was never one to do things out of the kindness of his own heart, there was no such thing. There was always an ulterior motive to what he was doing. In this case he was just killing two birds with one stone. In front of the table was laid out a plethora of different kinds of food. Different vegetables and meat littered the plates, each one presented as if it had been by a chef, but it wasn’t him. He could, however, take credit for it.

When Miss Gleeson sat he took his seat near Miss Glass and began filling his plate. It was more of a habit than something he would actually eat. Dr. Crane knew that he wouldn’t touch the food that was in front of him. “The Asylum? He interjected as she tried to cut her own self off. “I may leave whenever I wish Miss Gleeson, surely you’re not so naïve to believe it is there idea to hold me there longer than I intend to be.” He gave her a glance as he finished putting food onto his plate. “You said you knew Miss Gleeson when we last spoke, since our setting wasn’t appropriate the last time you, her or I spoke I decided to make the occasion more preferable.” He explained and then set his fork down without taking a bit. His eyes now laid on Miss Gleeson, watching her every movement from the moment.

[Deleted]

Though Summer could honestly say that she never thought in a million years that she would be the third wheel at a dinner for her good friend and the infamous Dr. Crane, it honestly wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it could be. Then again, the night was still young and she did not trust the man that sat across the table from her. She took a moment to glance around, trying to make her silent judgment on the building that she was currently in, noting any possible items that might foreshadow what was to come. However, nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. In fact, it was all seemingly harmless in appearance, even as a spread of delicious looking food arrived at the table. Despite how tasty it all looked, Summer stomach was in knots underneath the silky material of her purple dress.

In attempt to do something with her hands, she moved to adjust the necklace which charm fell directly over the cleavage that the dress provided in a plunging neckline. While it might have been wise to dress down, it wasn’t an outfit that was out of the ordinary for the vivacious redhead to sport. “Did you get that hair kit, well- before you left? I had it dropped of the next day before work and I was told they would give it to you when you woke up.”

The internal struggle of whether or not to politely scoop petite portions of food onto her own plate or not was a tricky one. While she raised to know better to do so in a very lady-like fashion, the person who it was being offered by was one she was also instructed to typically avoid. However, curiosity couldn’t exactly keep her away and seemed to be her biggest downfall. Summer literally had to force herself not to roll her wide eyes at his statement, a smirk playing on her lips as she replied. “Please, Arhkam isn’t a summer home. You had to have some assistance getting out. I don’t believe that they allow you to come and go as you please.” Especially with all of the new security procedures that the building was soon to undergo, but now was not the time for such a discussion.

When it appeared that both women were informed why they were here, it still seemed a little too good to be true, but Summer wasn’t going to let her guard down so easily. In fact, she pursed her lips at the comment. She could feel his eyes on her, but she attempted to act as though it didn’t bother her whatsoever. The redhead took a timid sip of the glass of water that was provided at her seat rather than making a comment.

outfit: click here to see!

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

At Summer's question, Heather visibly brightens as she idly holds a lock of her hair between her fingers as she replies, "Yes, I did! Um, that's still the base color." Though already since their escape she's added yellow highlights and reddish-orange shading to the fireball orange color she was able to get at the asylum, thanks to Summer. "Er, thank you for that!" she adds, "It, well, made the asylum more bearable."

Though it's not merely the quality of her clothes and her hair that has changed since her last chat with Summer - her stammering, while not gone, is noticeably decreased. Not gone, but there's real improvement - though that actually has more to do with the fact that Jon is present and not the location. In fact, to Jon's perspective, her stammering has gotten much worse since Summer arrived.

As the conversation shifts to their escape, Heather shifts uncomfortably and remains conspicuously silent, attempting to hide her unease by taking her turn dishing up her plate. Though in spite of her nerves about everything else in this situation, she's not hesitant at all about eating the food Jon's offering. After all the time she's spent with him, the one thing she knows she can trust is that he'll do no harm to her - or at least, nothing that he thinks is harmful - so she doubts that there'd be anything wrong with the food. And if there is, it wouldn't be too bad and in spite of her nerves she's hungry enough to risk that much.

But just like Summer, Jon's explanation of why they're here doesn't do much to calm her. Mostly because it's missing the reason why he wanted to have the opportunity to have both of them in a 'more preferable' setting. More preferable for what? Though after a somewhat awkward pause during when she can see Jon staring at Summer and Summer pretending not to be bothered, she decides to speak up and say, "Um, yeah, I've known Summer for, um, a very long time. Years. Er, we met at college because, well, we both wanted a career, um, doing basically the same thing. Er, except she's more TV and, well, I'm more radio. So we, um, were in a lot of, um, classes together and stuff. Then, well, after we graduated we still, um, kept eating lunch together everyday." At least until she met Jon, anyway... Rather than mention that, she goes quiet - that's about all she can do to try to keep the awkward silence away without any help.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

As everyone settled in, the doctor scrapped the fork against his own plate. It made a high pitched squeak that was much easier on him than the rest of the group around him, but he was never one to stop something for another person’s sake or to spare their anxieties about it. Just staring at the food made him sick to his stomach and it was not helping to look. Not wanting to think about the food any longer he turned his full attention to Miss Gleeson. Slowly he pushed the edge of his plate away from him just a few inches. He just wasn’t interested anymore.

“I do leave exactly when I mean to leave. This particular case was no different, regardless of who I was with.” He spoke with a certain flatness in his voice that spoke volumes about how much he was willing to press on with that thought. There were more important things to continue with now. While she spoke with Miss Glass who stammered and stumbled over each word he couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t touched her food.

At first he thought that Miss Glass was simply distracting her, she wanted to put some stalk in a false politeness while she spoke. But the more she stammered the less it became the case. Miss Glass was nervous of course, she hadn’t been in social settings often, let alone social sessions with him involved. Often when they were alone they didn’t even talk and most of his talks with VerMillion had been unpleasant. She had gotten to the point to where it didn’t seem that she minded if he was quiet, but it didn’t matter. If he didn’t have anything to say to her he simply wasn’t going to speak. But on the rare occasion she would listen to him talk about his work, and she could listen for more than a few hours.

For now, it was best for her to get her practice speaking to others again right now if she was ever going to fulfill the deal they had made about her new job. She was going to need all the practice she could get if she was going to speak with the Penguin again. It wasn’t that Dr. Crane couldn’t go himself, or was afraid to, he could go whenever he wanted, but Miss Glass would have a better chance of breaking through to him at an earlier point. It was a line of trade and communication that he needed to remain open and with it closed there were just too many potential things cut off. What he had done needed to happen, but now things needed to move forward from that and go to something new. He understood how men like The Penguin worked. All of his stock and all of his pride was put into what he had accumulated and the paper that came with it. It was all meaningless and in the end it would bring him nothing. Just like his building fell block by block so would paper. It was all material, just items that held no real value.

He had something to ask Miss Gleeson, a secondary motive for her being here, but for the moment he was going to solve her appetite. It wasn’t farfetched to believe that she was frightened to eat the food he had placed in front of her. Dr. Crane excused himself from his own seat and walked over to Miss Gleeson’s plate, he took it from her and placed it in front of VerMillion, and he put VerMillions in front of her. That should ease her somewhat and if it didn’t she didn’t have to eat. “Miss Gleeson, I can’t imagine you haven’t been busy of late…But would you be interested in something new to report on?” He finally inquired about the reason she was here as he took his seat again. His food still laid in front of him but he had no intention of trying again.

[Deleted]

Adjusting the rather large and ornate necklace she had decided to wear to draw attention from the plunging neckline of her dress, she quickly realized that she was messing with it every couple of minutes and placed her hands back in her lap. While she attempted to smoother and ignore her nerves, Summer fortunately had an unusual way of dealing with them. Rather than it reflecting in her speech or tone, she was known to fidget with her clothing or hair and notorious for biting her lower lip. Aware of these flaws, she placed her palms flat on her lap.

“It looks beautiful. I’m glad I could help.” She said with a smile, still addressing the topic of Heather’s hair. Pursing her lips slightly she continued. “Though I wasn’t originally aware of your release, I am very glad that you are out of there, Heather.” Then again, Summer wasn’t fully convinced that she belonged there to begin with. Though the question of VerMillion surfaced on the tip of her tongue, she withheld the question – unsure if the woman still was around though assuming she very much was.

Summer smiled at Heather’s recollection of their history. It hadn’t seemed that long since they had graduated with their desired degrees and entered the media world. Both striving to do well, the women landed their own shows around the same time as the other. The redhead could easily recall some of their daily lunches prior, complaining about some of the diva’s she was forced to work for at the studio only to rise up and become one. However, one day Heather never showed up and she hadn’t ever since. “Until….recently anyway.” The young reporter stiffened as she finished her friend’s story for her, still obviously a little bitter and unsupportive of the current circumstance.

The stretching caused Summer to suck in her cheeks, making a sour face as she attempted to ignore the unpleasant noise. Summer did everything in her power to resist rolling her eyes at both her actions and his statement. “I’m sure.” She said finally, still clearly not convinced but knowing that she was not going to get anywhere despite how much she pressed. Summer continued to spend most of her attention on Heather, growing almost accustomed to her stammering and stuttering and focusing merely on the words that left her lips. In all honesty, the young redhead was just happy to be in the woman’s company once more in a surprisingly lighter scenario than the horrible, dingy-white walls in Arkham.

As the man moved from his chair to switch their plates, Summer knew what she was doing. A smirk graced her plump red lips as she moved to trade them back, noticing what resembled a sliver of meat on Heather’s plate. “I’m a vegetarian, Dr. Crane. But thank you for the reassurance.” Seeing as Heather had begun to sample some of the items from her plate, Summer was convinced that it was safe. As she retrieved her own plate back she tasted a bit of the greens she had placed on her own plate before taking another sip of her water so he would be satisfied and not appear to be a rude guest even despite the infamy of her host.

His question only caused the smile on her face to widen as she turned in his direction once more, clearly amused. “I’m always interested. What would that be?” She replied, eager to hear what he would say.

outfit: click here to see!

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

As Summer expresses how glad she is that she's out, Heather is very quick to nod and agree, "Me too!" She went from simply disliking it there to outright not being able to stand it rather quickly. And this place is a step above it in most ways, so she's quite content with the change, even if she has to put up with VerMillion occasionally complaining about it. Her other half was much less interested in leaving than she was, but as she'd been miserable in the asylum and VerMillion is merely bored being here, it's still a net positive.

Having hoped that her attempt at conversation would help ease the discomfort in this meal - especially her own - she can't help but frown and even send her friend a flicker of an accusing look when Summer says the words that she'd intentionally left out. So much for trying to make this less awkward... It encourages her to keep her mouth shut, and her attention goes to her food.

Or at least it tries to, because abruptly Jon takes away her food and replaces it with Summer's. Her forehead wrinkles and her mouth opens to object, but no words come out and though it takes her a moment to get over it, when she does she realizes why he did it. Closing her mouth again, she sighs and decides to resume eating even if it's not the food she picked out for herself - if it makes Summer be less worried about eating, it's fine... But then Summer is switching them back again and this time her sigh about it is accompanied by a roll of her eyes. As worried as she is about this overall situation, that whole little incident strikes her as ridiculous and she's this close to a sarcastic laugh about it. What stops her from doing so is the fact that she's somewhat troubled by the idea that she's being used as a food taster, especially since that she thinks it will end up giving Summer more assurance than she really ought to have.

In fact she's still wary of actually saying anything once the meals are back in front of their original owners, and she lets the need to chew be her excuse for failing at any conversation while she listens to the other two. Especially since Jon's question instantly makes her worry about what he's talking about, and Summer's quick interest may have been a mistake, and... She shifts in her seat, chewing her mouthful but having a difficult time trying to convince herself to collect another.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

When Dr. Crane settled again he didn’t care that she no longer wanted her food. Just the action of swapping her plates would have been enough to satisfy her fears. The fear of meat was not too terribly uncommon, but rather unhealthy if not managed properly. Considering how she looked she wasn’t mismanaging the fear, but even if she was he was in no position to argue with his current appearance. It wouldn’t be difficult to tell at a glance that he didn’t eat often or much when he did.

What mattered much more than her comfort was the fact that she was interested in covering the story he was going to provide. He knew that she had already caught herself up in their affairs, or she wouldn’t have went to see VerMillion. After their last conversation he knew that she wasn’t particularly pleased to see him. Miss Gleeson didn’t agree with what he had to say about VerMillion but everything that he said still was completely true. He had no reason to lie to her about it, because truly there was never anything that she would be able to do about it.

He sat back in his chair again and gave a glance at the plate he had slid away from him. The sight of it made his stomach flip and move into uncomfortable areas. He didn’t enjoy the feeling of bile in his mouth and that slick nusea always came up when he even tried to think about it. Why did he even set a plate of food out for himself again?

He took a long pause, watching both of them talk like they were long-time friends. Nothing between them again would ever be long term again. He had taken the person that Miss Gleeson once knew and made her into who she really was. He had chipped away the viel of the disguise she used for the world and revealed her for the beautiful color she was. He found himself staring at her from across the table even though he was still talking to Miss Gleeson.

“I am going to turn myself in.” He said quiet plainly, though he knew it wouldn’t make much sense. They did just escape the place that he was turned in to. It was different this time because he was going to turn himself in to a different place and for a totally different reason. He took a deep breath and extended his palm out to the air to try and explain/. “It may not be something that your used to following, but I can see it becoming an interesting opportunity.” The doctor finished with cyrptics seething in his voice. His eyes had finally turned from the firey flames of Miss Glass’s hair to hers.

[Deleted]

Flashing an almost sympathetic smile in her friend’s direction as if to apologize for the unceremonious switching of plates, she simply could not allow Crane to win that one. Despite her nerves and insecurities in regards to the situation, she didn’t want to show any sort of weakness and she knew that he fed off fear. She wanted to appear unconcerned, confident and simply here to benefit her relationship with Heather and actually see her friend again. While it seemed as though talking sense into her about her relationship was practically impossible for the time being, she wouldn’t give up on trying to press the idea that Crane was not a good choice into the fellow redheads mind.

The idea of leaving this seemingly harmless dinner and leaving with something that would boost her ratings seemed far too good to be true. While she was gullible, she also made a point to insure that every story she reported was completely factual. She took another small bite of the greens on her plate simply too show that she wasn’t worried, though it was all just an act. However, the curiosity mananged to overshadow the emotion somewhat and she eagerly waited to hear what would leave his lips.

Confusion masked her pretty face as she looked at him curiously. She was briefly speechless, but she finally mananged to find the words. “As comforting as that is to know….why?” Summer asked, unsure of what a man who had recently mananged to leave Arkham was interested in returning so quickly. It wasn’t making any sense to her at all. “It’s not, typically I have to work for something this substantial, but here you are just handing it too me. I don’t understand. There is a catch or something.” She assumed, unable to fully believe his statement.

outfit: click here to see!

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Heather is plainly surprised by Jon's announcement - she even looks directly at his eyes for half a second, but then her gaze goes down to her food. For half a moment she tries to decide if she believes him or not, but then like Summer she assumes that there must be some sort of a catch. He doesn't like being locked up, she doesn't like being locked up, and they'd be separated again...

Putting her fork back on her plate, her face gets a deeply troubled expression as she seems to sway very slightly in her seat as if responding to some internal pain. It's a small enough thing that Summer might only see that she's quietly unhappy about it, but Jon can surely tell that the stress and anxiety at the mere thought of it is just pouring off of her - she doesn't want either of them to be in the asylum again!

She won't speak up and object about it, though - while she may question Jon's judgment from time to time, he usually does know what's best and when he doesn't it's usually the little stupid decisions about how she feels and what he should do about it and not something big that's more about him like this. Surely this would be a part of a bigger plan, and temporary, so though she's stressing about it already it doesn't overwhelm her - mostly because she's waiting to hear other details and is hoping that there will be something reassuring among them.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

He drank their reaction to his announcement. Of course Miss Gleeson wanted to follow the case immediately, but she was untrusting of his motives. If there was one thing that Dr. Crane never believed in it was trust, she was afraid, but she always would be. Miss Glass’s reaction was expected as he had not breathed a word of this choice to her on purpose. She would have fought him on the idea immediately but it was simply because she didn’t understand. There was something that he had to do but her fears would take her as well.

But they weren’t the only ones left in the dark. More importantly he hadn’t told his newest employer about this little endeavor, but this was his test. If everything happened according to how he’d planned it in his mind, then he would be correct in his hidden assumption. But until then it was just a prediction waiting to be supported by evidence.

Feeling no need to sit at the table any longer Dr. Crane rose to his feet and made his way toward her along its rectangular shape. “I never implied that you wouldn’t be working for anything…” He corrected her in his cryptics, but he didn’t expect she’d understand. “Obviously this is a mutual beneficial outcome for us or you wouldn’t be sitting at this table, but there is no catch….You just do your work as you normally would.” He explained as he finally got to the edge near her seat. His shadow crept over her until she was darkened from the light by it.

When he had invited Miss Gleeson here he had indeed had an ulterior motive than to let Miss Glass see her “friend” again. In his professional and psychological opinion Miss Glass didn’t have friends. This one was just like the rest of them, he was the only one that was willing to show her who she really was inside. But now that he had gotten Miss Gleeson here….

How much room did she feel she had to say no?

[Deleted]

Catching the subtle exchange between Heather and her precious ‘Jon’, (Summer had almost gone to loathe the name completely) she barely caught that the fellow redhead seemed just as surprised as this bit of news. “Did he not tell you? Before now…” The young reporter asked her friend, completely disregarding Crane for that moment. After all, Heather and her curiosity had been the primary reasons she had come in the first place. Maybe with enough fuel to the fire this might be enough to sway her opinion of the man she had chosen to align herself with.

He moved from his seat, seizing the young redhead’s attention as he started along the perimeter of the table. Her eyes trailed him closely as her limited the space between her arrangement and himself. The redhead snorted at his comment before looked down and adjusted her necklace so it lay correctly above her ample cleavage. “I’m not surprised, Crane.” She said almost nonchalantly, though she was confused by his motives. Cling to his words she took a small sip of the water in front of her before continuing. “And what exactly do you get out of this? There is no doubt I can turn this into a credible, newsworthy story…but at what cost? I want all the details upfront. Right now…” Summer demanded intent on solving this mystery.

“But most importantly … what does she get out of this.” Summer asked, nodding toward Heather. “It’s not fair that she follows you blindly into the dark when – in my personal opinion – you have been nothing more than a hindrance to her life since the moment she met you. Sure, I can get my story and you can get your way – whatever it is. But what does Heather get? I don’t trust you, and I haven’t from the moment we met. I’m sure you are not going to tell me anything that isn’t going to mutually benefit you in the process, but I don’t want to help you. I’m here for her.” Placing her glass back down with a bit more force than she intended to, her hands were shaking. Noticing it quickly, Summer put her hands back in her lap to hide the fact from others.


outfit: click here to see!

[Heather Glass - VerMillion]

Given the state of stress that she's in, so deeply wrapped up in her feelings that it seems that her world is collapsing in on itself, the words directed at her seem very sudden and jarring to Heather. She startles somewhat, her eyes shifting around wildly for a moment before she quietly answers, "No..." He didn't tell her, but then again she didn't exactly expect him to. Jon isn't one to tell her anything she doesn't need to know until she needs to know it. She's sure that he was going to get around to it and that he was simply sparing her the worry. Or something like that - something to her benefit...

Staring off again at nothing while they discuss what he wants again, she startles once again when Summer suddenly mentions her. She shifts in her seat as her friend continues, looking a bit uncomfortable. More than a bit actually. She doesn't mind following Jon into the dark, really. And she doesn't think that he's hindered her life at all - after all, without him she may still be a successful radio show host with a lot of friends and such but she wouldn't have him. And she wouldn't trade him to have any or all of that back. Maybe that's crazy - scratch that, it's probably crazy - but crazy or not that's what she wants. She's happy to be with him! ...Well, perhaps not completely happy, but she's hopeful that they'll get there.

So the exchange makes her uncomfortable enough that she wants to speak up and say something, but at the same time she feels more than a little bit nervous about speaking up while Summer is speaking so forcefully. Still, after much inner encouragement from VerMillion she manages to say, "Summer, I, um..." She stops, and tries again. "It would help me if, um, you helped Jon with this," she states sincerely, looking to her friend to see if she's being at all convincing. Because it would help her... she assumes. Summer may not trust Jon, but she does, and he wouldn't be asking for this if it weren't very needed. And if he needs it, in a way she does too. Probably.