Issue 1 Downtime

It was quite a while after the little party, and all the Truth or Dare antics therein. Ryan and Rachel were rather cozy in his bed, and for some reason feeling very tired and worn out. Ryan wrapped his arm a little tighter around her waist, shifting his wing over them a bit more fully in lieu of a blanket. Ahhhh...

"That was....wow." Rachel said, saying the most neutral thing she could, and not something like "I think I'm falling for you."

"Completely," Ryan sighed, kissing her neck as he relaxed with her. He resisted the urge to say anything that tended to make girls freak out and scoot away, instead going for, "Have I mentioned that you're beautiful?" in an easy-going, slightly teasing voice.

"No, I don't think you have." Rachel said, keeping her tone light.

"Well, you are," Ryan said, running his fingers lightly over her skin, "Everything about you." He lightly kissed the back of her neck. "And every time I see you, it hits me."

"Flattery like that will get you all sorts of places." Rachel teased.

"If it'll make you smile, it did its job," Ryan said, sighing happily.

"Oh, it'll do that." Rachel said, kissing his neck. She started to say...any number of dangerous things, and finally settled on the most harmless "What are you doing Friday night?"

Ryan considered that. "Well, I was thinking about going into London. Have dinner at a nice restaurant, go dancing... But that all hinges on a certain beautiful girl being free and wanting to come with me," he said, kissing along her skin again.

"That could be fun." Rachel said, shivering a little at the kisses, and trying to ignore the part of her brain that was asking if it was a real date or not.

"It would be very fun," he said, settling so that his lips were brushing the edge of her ear as he spoke. "So... would you like to? "

"Yeah." she said, smiling and trying, really, to sound enthusiastic "I'm sure we'll have a great time."

"As long as you're there, I know I'm going to," he said through a yawn, pulling her a little closer.

"Yeah, it'll be awesome." Rachel said, snuggling against him.

"It will be," he agreed. "I promise." He settled into the bed, letting out a deep breath as he felt his head getting a little foggy.

"I should get back to my room." Rachel said, kissing him lightly.

Ryan blinked, completely alert now. "What? Why? You don't need to go anywhere," Ryan said, shaking off the 'just been dozing confusion.' Why's she leaving? She never leaves.

"I've got a early morning tomorrow." Rachel lied, clumsily.

"Doing what," Ryan asked, more than just a little suspiciously, not being a newbie to being lied to by women.

"I've got a paper." Rachel said "Gotta get to the library."

"And that means you can't stay here... why?" he asked, not buying it.

"I just want to make sure that I get some sleep." Rachel said, trying to smile "And not get...distracted."

Ryan looked her over and was quiet for a minute. "Okay," he said. "Now what's this really about?"

"Nothing." Rachel said "A hot guy that I like a lot is taking me out. I should be happy. I am happy. We'll have a good time."

"No, first answer is always the most true. You should be happy. Why aren't you?"

"Because I'm being stupid and overthinking things."

"Look," he sighed, standing up. "If... you don't want to go on a date, that's fine. I just... if you want it to stay casual, I get it, I just... yeah."

"Its already casual." Rachel said "That is the entire problem, right there. A 'date' isn't going to fix that."

"Well I kind of come off creepy if I drop more than one on the table at once, don't I!" Ryan shot back, more than a little defensively.

"Oh please." Rachel said "Like you're really worried about seeming creepy. Look, if you don't want to get the groupie's hopes up, fine. Take me out in London, I'll make sure to order off the 'fuck me' side of the menu, life is good."

"Really," Ryan shot back, looking rather unamused. "And how non-creepy will I look if I tell you I've got dates booked to take you on three months out."

"Yeah, right." Rachel said, clearly not buying it.

Ryan picked up his phone, opened the planner, and tossed it to her so she had to catch it against her chest. "Stuff in green is business," he said. "Stuff in yellow is personal."

The stuff in green wouldn't make any sense to her, as it was all in code, there were a few items here and there every few weeks. In yellow were a few inconsequential items, but, sure enough, there were quite a lot of them that came on weekends and sounded like dinner dates, followed by "R?". Included in this were a few things that looked like like actual events he'd been invited to, and, notably, that coming friday, with a rather expensive London restaurant on that day's entry at eight o'clock.

"What makes it creepy is that you have dates planned and you don't know who you'll be taking." Rachel said, noticing the question marks "Other than that, I have no problem with being your arm candy at this stuff."

"You know what?" he said, grabbing his phone back in a dejected motion, "Nevermind. Just get out." He turned around to throw the phone back roughly in the general direction of his desk.

"Ok." Rachel said "Don't worry, I won't forget my place again."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Rachel?"

"What that means is that we go places, and have fun, and get naked, and that will just have to be enough, because apparently, I'm never going to be good enough to be your girlfriend."

"Good en- You're the one who's saying that nothing I'm going to do can be good enough to move it past casual!"

"I didn't say that." Rachel protested. "I don't want this to be casual....but I'd rather have casual with you than serious with someone else."