Sweet and Simple

Chapter Three: Awkward Silence Anytime We Talk
This time it’s real
It’s the two of us

"Aren’t you lot done yet?" Dom asked, coming into the living room where Elijah and Ariel were stationed surrounded by pieces of paper, some blank, some typed on; Ariel’s laptop was in her lap, there was a pencil behind her ear and she looked like she was concentrating really hard. Elijah yawned, and stretched, wincing as his back cracked. They’d been sitting in the same spots since after breakfast that morning; it was nearing seven.

"Close," Elijah muttered, leaning across Ariel’s lap to look at the computer screen. "There’s a typo on ‘look’, right there." He pointed at the screen, and Ariel nodded and went to fix it, but didn’t speak. Elijah looked up at Dom, who was staring at them with a mixture of disbelief and boredom on his face. "I don’t think l-o-k-o is a word."

"It is with a c," Dom replied, falling into a chair across from the couch the other two were perched on. "But then it’s Spanish. And probably doesn’t work in the sentence you’ve got it in."

"It says ‘Look, Captain! An iceberg!’ So ‘Loco, Captain! An iceberg!’ wouldn’t have the right affect."

Dom’s face remained blank, just like his voice. "You’re kidding, right."

Elijah grinned and nodded. "Ariel? Do you want to quit now and go get some food? I don’t want Dom eating the furniture since I’ve just gotten some of it. Normally, I wouldn’t care…but it is from IKEA, and what if I have a Swedish person over and they’re really offended that I have teeth marks on my Swedish-made sofa?"

"Do you know anyone from Sweden?" Dom asked, getting up and heading towards the kitchen. "In any case, I’m not entirely sure that all of IKEA’s stuff is even made in Sweden."

"We can quit," Ariel said, saving the document and then closing her laptop. She sighed and relaxed against the back of the couch, rubbing her eyes as she pulled her glasses off and set them in her lap.

"Tired?" Dom questioned, coming back into the room with two cans of soda; he handed one to her.

"Yeah." She popped the lid on the can. "Thanks."

"Thanks, Dom, for the drink," Elijah stated lightly, getting up to get himself a can.

"You know where we could go?" Dom said, as if they were continuing a conversation from earlier. "We could go to the Viper Room." His eyes lit up and got huge, but Elijah shook his head.

"Why?"

"Because it’d be fun," Dom replied, in a voice that suggested he’d rather have said ‘Duh, Lij.’

"But there’ll be paparazzi and people hanging about outside." Elijah made a face and took a long drink from his soda.

Dom ignored him, and turned to Ariel. "Do you drink, Ariel?"

"Sure, if you want me to crawl home," she replied in a humorous voice.

Dom didn’t seem to think she was kidding. "Oh, good. Okay, so we’ll go there. It’s settled."

Elijah sighed and shook his head. "Can’t we go somewhere less…Hollywood?"

"Yeah, but don’t you want to show Ariel what it’s like to be in Hollywood, rather than what it’s like to just live here and not have any idea what goes on ‘in the biz’?"

Elijah snorted. "No." He looked at her seriously. "Unless you want to. I don’t care. We can go there, if you’d like to…" he glanced at Dom for help, but Dom merely shrugged. "Be Hollywood," he finished lamely.

Ariel laughed a bit, catching them off guard slightly because they weren’t sure she actually DID have the ability to laugh. Apparently she did, though. It made Elijah loosen up and laugh as well, and that, in turn, made Dom feel better about making them go to the Viper Room.

"Do you come here a lot?" Ariel asked, glancing around the place and sipping at her drink; Elijah was in the bathroom, and it was just she and Dom, sitting in silence. She fumbled for something to talk with him about, but she didn’t know why she felt she needed to talk in the first place. Maybe she felt like she’d been giving them the wrong impression since she arrived. The impression that she was a workaholic was an accurate one, but she didn’t have to be a cold hard bitch, either.

"No," Dom laughed a little and took a deep drink from his beer. "I’ve never been here before."

"Oh." This seemed to surprise her, so she took another sip, for lack of anything better to do to hide it.

"I thought you might like it." He shrugged and set his bottle down. "Some girls. Well, most. Most girls would."

Ariel nodded, tearing her eyes away from his to survey the room again. "Yes. I can see why."

"Oh?"

"Well, Johnny Depp is over there," Ariel stated, looking back at Dom, but jutting her chin in the direction of Johnny, who was surrounded by a group of people. "I’ve heard girls like him."

"Have you?"

"Yes," she laughed a little. "Haven’t you?"

"Yeah, but I just don’t see it."

She didn‘t bother masking her surprise this time. "See what, the attraction?"

"Yeah," Dom answered seriously. "I mean, he’s a sex god, but who cares?"

Ariel had been in the process of taking another sip, but unfortunately she snorted it all out; Dom handed her a napkin to mop up, all the while trying not to laugh himself silly.

"I see you’re a fan of his, as well," Ariel said, after most of her face was dry.

"I guess that means you’re a fan, yeah?"

She shrugged a bit. "I liked him in Pirates of the Caribbean. I haven’t seen any of his other stuff."

"You should rent Edward Scissorhands," Elijah commented, sliding into the booth beside Dom.

"How’d you know we weren’t talking about Orli?" Dom questioned humorously.

"She’s obviously seen Orli in more than just Pirates." He took a drink, looked across the table. "Haven’t you?"

Ariel looked up from where she’d been dabbing at her blouse. "Um. Yes. Yeah, I’ve seen him in other stuff."

"Like what?" Dom asked, looking at Elijah. "He isn’t in anything else."

"Dom? He was in that movie with you that time. What was it called? Oh, yeah. Lord of the Rings."

"Yes, but I didn’t think Ariel was aware of that movie."

"Why not?" Ariel asked, but was ignored; Dom was too busy in his heated discussion to hear her.

"I’m sure she’s aware of it. I mean, most people are."

"Yeah, but she’s not a fan of me."

"So? Not everyone who has seen LOTR is a fan of yours, Dom."

"Name three people!"

"Okay---"

"BOYS!" Ariel yelled, waving her arms in front of their faces. She looked directly at Dom. "I have seen LOTR many times. All three, in fact, more than once each. They are great movies, and I never said I wasn’t a fan of yours."

Dom couldn’t help the grin that spread across his lips. "Oh, yeah?"

"No, but that’s because I didn’t know who you were." She elaborated a little, gesticulating with her glass. "I didn’t know you were Merry."

"How do you know that now?" Dom asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I don’t?"

Elijah snorted into his drink, and then chugged it down. "So!" He said, wiping his mouth. "Shall we go get some food somewhere?"

Dom nodded silently, feeling like he was lost, and wondering if perhaps he had missed something pretty imperative when he‘d been at the beach all day, instead of in the living room with the working types.