quality time, c

Basil perked a brow at her when she tried to play off his compliment as hollow, but he smirked instead, "I don't."

Come on, get real. Who was she talking to? Definitely not someone who was used to talking to girls all the time, that was for sure.

While she was changing, he picked out a sunhat with a ribbon close to the color of the ribbon on her dress. He held it out to her with a smile.

Her comment about the heat was out of the blue, but to be completely honest, he was feeling it, too. Though for reasons other than what was going on with the weather or a possibly broken air conditioner.

"You feel it, too? The heat, I mean. It seems to have just... come out of nowhere, don't you think? Perhaps it has something to do with the weather? It was rather hot outside--" but halfway through he stopped himself and cleared his throat. He was fairly certain that rambling was rather suspicious, so he decided against it.

"Well I... it seems that I have my new outfit and... We should probably get those candles and incense before the store closes," he continued on, thumbing over his shoulder towards the assumed direction of the shop he bought his sundries at.

Suddenly, everything felt a little more hyper-sensitive and the air felt heavy and thick as he breathed it in. Being outside definitely didn't help matters at all, considering it was the real kind of hot out there. It put a strange kind of pressure on his conscious, his emotions feeling all the more alive.

To be perfectly honest, he was terrified. Basil didn't know how to take the feelings and emotions of what was going on inside his overly-logical head. The last time he felt the way he did, his heart was pulled from his chest and crushed underneath the high-heel of the woman who owned it. A smart man would ignore what was going on and brush it off as immature inner-babble, but he wasn't feeling like a smart man. That small fact scared Basil more than he ever thought he could be.

What scared him the most was the fact that he was sure, some kind of sure, that Hadley felt something of the same thing; her sudden reactions confirmed it. It only made sense. He'd noticed her face when he got close to fix her ribbon, how red her cheeks suddenly became and how her lips parted just the slightest.

He doesn't think she realized he saw, but he did. It had made his heart skip and he was surprised at himself for not taking a quick breath at the time to calm it.

It was hard for him to focus on anything else but the young lady walking beside him as they made their way down the street towards the little sundries shop. How she took her steps, the way her arms swayed at her sides or how she'd reach up to hook a few strands of hair behind her ear.

He'd never noticed those little details before and he silently wished he'd stop. Basil didn't deserve to get hurt again. He'd promised himself not to get caught up in things like love again. Not even lust because he knew he was weak-willed.

Before he knew it, they'd arrived at the store and he paused his steps, looking up at the building in a sort of half-daze as he slipped out of his deeper thoughts. He reached out and opened the door for Hadley, a mixture of different scents almost hitting their noses once the door pulled the aromas out into the fresh air of outside.

Inside the store, Basil suddenly felt more relaxed and at home. He could feel the tension in his muscles dissolve with each intake of calming scents the store had to offer and he let out a sigh he felt like he'd been holding in for hours.

His feet carried him to the incense sticks and potpourri, a soft sigh escaping his lips, "Mmm... just what I needed.

Grabbing a little baggy, he filled it with different sticks, sniffing carefully at each one to make sure they were satisfactory.

He noticed her sneezing and sniffling, her eyes looking a little glazed as well, and he frowned some, closing up the baggy once it was full before moving on to a few oils, then the candles.

"Are you alright?" he asked, putting a candle back and turning towards her fully when her sniffling became too obvious to ignore. "We can leave if it's bothering you that much to be in here. I'd have for you to be miserable. I'm almost done, anyway." And with that, he picked up a few random candles, not caring about their color, and turned towards the cash register.

It honestly wasn't that big of a deal to him if they had to leave earlier than he would have liked. Basil could always come back at a different time, one where Hadley wasn't there. It really did make him feel a little guilty for bringing her in without even asking if she had some kind of allergy first. He'd have to make it up to her; he'd already decided.

He smiled at her and shook his head, taking his bag and leading them out of the store into the warm, but fresh, air outside, "It's alright, Hadley. I don't mind it. I've gotten what I came for anyways. If I end up remembering anything else I'll just come back another time. Besides, I'm sure you're wanting to get home to start snacking, right?"

He didn't want her to leave and head back to her house; not yet. He fixed breakfast for her earlier that day, right? And she likes food... So perhaps, to make up for unthoughtfully causing her sudden sinus attack, he could cook dinner for her, too.

By the looks of what she bought at the grocery store, all she was probably going to eat that night and many nights after, was a bunch of junk food and wine.

With that thought in mind, as they headed back to her car, Basil wondered when the last time she'd had a warm meal made for her. Just out of curiosity, he'd ask her later and find out. A girl who loved her food deserved to eat well, not eat junk food just because it's cheap and tastes good, though he understands why that would be a thing and he doesn't judge.

"So, back to my place, then?"Basil asked, keeping it a little vague on purpose. He didn't want her to think she had to get out of his hair too early. On the contrary, Basil rather enjoyed her company a lot, more than he thought he'd end up liking it, and then suddenly he was blushing again.

He laughed a little bit when Hadley had to pause at the front door, then unlocked it and let them in, of course ladies first.

Once inside, the first thing that he did was head straight to his bedroom to put the incense and candles away, placing them in a special box near an ornate corner of his bedroom.

"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable," Basil spoke rather loudly out towards the living room, loud enough so that Hadley could hear him. It wouldn't take him long to put everything away and when he had, he returned to the main room and sat down on the loveseat, letting out a sigh. "Ah, I'm sure you're hot and tired from walking around all day, driving us everywhere. Why don't you grab one of your snacks and we can watch tv for a little while?"

This was his chance, his chance to make it up to her. "And perhaps you could stay for dinner?" He'd said it so easily, but on the inside, his heart was racing and his palms felt a little warm just from waiting on her reply.

What would she say? Would she think him weird? Was it strange to ask something like that of her? He really hoped that she wouldn't freak out over it. That was the last thing Basil needed; he was already nervous enough as it was.

And of course it would be rude to not take the offering. With a soft nod, he reached into the box and pulled out just a couple of cookies, nibbling on one as he thought of what to cook.

She'd asked a good question, not really knowing what they could have for dinner. He was just so eager to get the offer out before he really thought that far ahead. "Aheh, probably should have figured that much out before asking you, huh?"

He felt so embarrassed and he nibbled on his cookies again to occupy himself. At least he had an excuse not to talk, seeing how he had food in his mouth and talking with your mouth full was always rude. Nothing but the sounds of cookie crunching and the tv going filled the silence for a long time before Basil finally spoke up again.

"What types of things do you like? I'm sure I could make anything you wanted. My fridge is full since I just went to the store just a day or two ago." He internally cursed at himself. He felt so nervous and it probaby showed, though he hoped with everything that he had that it wasn't obvious how out of his element he really was.

It had been at least two years since the last time he'd even thought about flirting with someone, let alone ask them out for dinner. At his place. In his kitchen. One-on-one.

Bloody hell, forget about worrying over not knowing what to cook. What was he going to talk about with her? What if things got awkward and she thought he was a weirdo freak? At that thought, he suddenly remembered the wine. He had wine, as did she but he wasn't going to ask her to open up one of her bottles of wine when it was he who invited her over to his place for dinner. He'd open up one of his own bottles. They'd drink some, get relaxed, and there wouldn't be enough time for things to be awkward.

Yeah! He was set. All he had to do now was figure out what to cook once Hadley told him what it was that she liked. This wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be.

He snapped his fingers and sat up a little straighter, a broad smile spreading across his face as he spoke, "That's it! Fish and chips! We'll have homemade fish and chips for dinner. What do you think of that?"

Honestly, Basil couldn't be more delighted. It'd been a while since he'd had a decent basket of fish and chips, let alone made some for himself. Not only that, but it was the perfect type of dinner for this particular evening. It wouldn't have been overly romantic and sappy and he wouldn't have to worry about impressing her far too much (not that impressing her was something he didn't want to do, he was just really nervous).

"And you know what else? We can have a couple of beers. Why not? Beer goes great with fish and chips, right?" Basil asked, clapping his hands together once, then rubbing their palms together as he stood up from the loveseat and made his way to the fridge to check if he had everything.