sunburned | (no subject)

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julie,
priestly

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Suddenly, he's having a hard time sitting still. Concentration is impossible. He draws a lot. He doesn't finish anything. What he does do is draw Laurence a lot, lingering over the lines of his face. Some of the drawings are more successful than others. Sprawled on one of the chairs on the porch outside the hut they share, he all but growls at himself.

He tears the page out. He starts again.

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"I don't think that's exactly it," he says, choosing not to pass comment on lipstick and sweater. "He's never done anything like this, I suppose, and there's got to be no small part of him that thinks its wrong to want it...if he wants it at all and isn't just humouring me."

"That would be terribly unfair to both of you if he's only humoring you. You know him better than I do of course, but would he really do that? I've never had the impression he'd be so dishonest." Say what you will about me and the things I can and will do with the information, but I am good at reading men. "I imagine it's confusing for anyone, changing how you love a person."

"I imagine that you're right," he says, nodding his head. "It's easy for me to forget that not everyone is as sure as I am. I've just always...known. And there was...that time when we were stuck and it was definitely for me benefit. What if I didn't give him enough choice in the matter?"

"He doesn't strike me as stupid or weak, either, John. You wouldn't like him so much if he was." He's clearly been thinking about all of this too much. I can understand the reason he's so very preoccupied, but I'm not sure it's good for him. "Handsome and charming as you are, you're probably not so very irresistible that he lost all sense."

"You're right, of course," says Granby, still clearly flustered. "I'm being unfair to him. I know I am. It's just...frustrating."

"I don't think fairness has much to do with it. You're not angry with him and you're not saying anything unreasonable to me. Though my judgment is probably questionable." I smile at him and hope I'm offering at least a small amount of comfort.

"And you're not so bad off, you know," I can't help but add. "I went out with a man recently who wouldn't so much as touch my hand until I did it first. I understand frustration."

"That sounds exactly like my life of late," says Granby, managing a crooked smile. "I haven't been this chaste since I was a boy."

"Aren't we a pair?" It's too easy, really, to mock the both of us like this, but we are such easy targets. "It's just such a lot of work when the shy ones are so nice, but hopefully worth it. Eventually."

"It is not so much shyness with Laurence as reserve," explains Granby. "That he knows what he thinks is right and what he thinks is wrong and lord knows if he will ever get this truly straight in his head."

"Don't you think his head must be spinning some? Mine would be, in his place. Makes it hard to get anything straight."

As much as I want John to be happy, I have a good bit of sympathy for Laurence as well.

"I know that, Julie," he says, miserably, pinching the bridge of his nose again. "I just feel like I'm going out of my mind."

He isn't paying attention to his drawing so I don't feel bad about moving. I get up and offer him my hand.

"All this moping is not helping. Take me out for dinner, Captain Granby."

I doubt he's eating properly on his own, and the change of scene can't hurt.

He gives her a crooked smile, rolling his eyes as he pushes to his feet, his hand in hers.

"Far be it for me to refuse so eloquent a request?"

"I called you Captain. I wasn't aware we'd decided to become even more formal. Only please, I prefer Lady Julia to Flight Officer Beaufort-Stuart, if you've a mind to use either." The latter has been rather tainted by Gestapo, and though I am teasing him I am very serious about what I'm called.

"Please, Captain Granby, will you do me the honor of escorting me to the Winchester for a meal?"

"You've warned me about the use of 'Lady' before," he says, offering her his arm in as decorous as a manner as he can manage. "I'd rather not get disciplined on my way to dinner."

I take his arm and it's all very proper in appearance. He has very nice manners.

"I'll just stay as your Julie, then. It's nicer, and I'm not much good at discipline anyway."

"Well, neither of us are, then," he says, covering her hand with his for a moment. "Ask Laurence about that, sometime."

"I'm sure Laurence will have a reaction worse than yours should I ask him anything related to you that might sound even remotely inappropriate," I say drily. "I intend only to be the soul of discretion in his company."

"I'm sure you could safely mention my name without sending him into paroxysms of embarrassment," says Granby, and then he thinks about it for a moment. "Probably."

"I suppose we'll find out. I'll be careful of him, though," I promise. "I know I can sometimes be a bit much even for men of my own time. Other than that he's very kind to humor my fascination with Admiral Nelson, I'm not sure he knows what to make of me at all."

"He probably finds you entirely startling," says Granby. He does look entirely amused by the idea. "I barely know what to do with you, so God only knows how Laurence must feel. He's not always as adaptable as he could be."

"You do seem to manage." I am quite amused myself, used to being a bit different to those around me: the only girl or the only Scot, among others. "I rather like to be startling. It's so much better than being dull."

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