#saving for reference and bc it deserves a spot on the blog kthnx

[selincakar-archive]

— THE END.

As Jesse moved a clean dish towel around a couple of mugs and put them away where they belonged under the counter in wait for the next order that would inevitably come in and put them to use, he smirked a little to himself. "Hmm," a gruff sound in his throat filled the space momentarily as he considered Sey with her decaf as she used the mug to hide, "would it be considered polite to ask a human lie detector to not do what comes naturally?"

What the antique shop owner across from him didn't know was that he'd learned his lessons the worst way possible.

Fine was a generalized and passing response yet very rarely ever meant so. How many times had his late wife said she was fine before everything wasn't and it was too late?

Perhaps he was too sensitive on this now, but Jesse just preferred the ugly truth.

The slip of humor prompted a chuckle to bubble up his throat and his ocean eyes shot a glance to Selin at the counter. He appreciated her visits, the way she checked in without checking in, and stood with the weight on his chest of everything they didn't say to each other. All the history that laid between here and Boston. "It's in a stand, upright, but off to the side, pretty much up agains the wall in the room." Thick shoulder's shrugged as he added, "my mom was Jewish and my dad Muslim. Christmas wasn't a thing for us. We were very much nondenominational in my house. I don't know how to do all this stuff." A hand gestured wide at nothing then fell back to his side.

"I could buy you dinner, though... and you could help me," he suggested, a charmed smile directed at the unsuspecting green-eyed, brunette. As attractive as he'd always thought Sey was, Jesse left out the whole naked and waiting part in belief that he wasn't even a blip on her radar. Plus, there was always that image of her and the husband in his head.

Given his track record anyhow, it was probably for the best.

"I've been here—" Forehead crinkled as he thought back, counted the months and years in his head, of his tenure in Providence Peak. "Nearly three years, I'd hope the right now would eventually fall away." Mostly because he kept himself convinced that there was no going back east. "Yeah," he nodded at Sey's suggestion, "maybe that'll help." Plus, it would be nice to not only see more of the city while also spending time outside of his few usual haunts.

The fancy iPhone was retrieved from his pocket and set on the counter in front of the shop owner. "It's unlocked, have at it," Jesse offered. There was a chance that she might be the only person in town that wouldn't question the nearly $1,500 device in the hands of a barista.

"Is that your way of saying you'd rather see me in... nothing?" Another smirk ghosted his lips but the jest aside he nodded in agreement. They'd only seen each other in very specific settings and in the effort of growing this friendship with the only person really in the know about his former life and who he really was, the disgraced former policeman considered that it would be nice to know Selin beyond the usual four walls of their unspoken connection.

"Aside from Target employees does anyone actually wear khakis anymore?" Brow creased, he tried to think on it while simultaneously giving the brunette a difficult time. "Would you be mad if I wore a belt with my jeans?"

Then a taunting grin appeared on his lips, "how passionate would you get over socks and sandals?" / @selincakar