concoursec | her heart and you are worlds apart

Entry tags:

her heart and you are worlds apart

Characters: Tom Bronson & Sharpay Evans
Location: Some fancy restaurant in Balamb Town
Rating: PG
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: Backdated to sometime after Homecoming. What better way to celebrate than with a victory dinner? And maybe, just maybe, Tom'll tell Sharpay he loves her.

The memory of their victory dance at Homecoming still lingered in his mind days after the fact. Of course she'd think of their first dance as something that just friends did - and well, they were freaking King and Queen - but Tom hadn't wanted to say anything then. Not when all eyes were on them and when his confession might turn sour at a moment's notice.

So instead, he'd quietly promised her a victory dinner to celebrate. He'd reserved a table at one of the fancier restaurants at Garden - the kind that'd eat up three month's salary if he weren't careful - and had even bothered to dig up one of his navy blazers (and even his pressed black slacks!) for the occasion. It was weird, how he tried so hard to impress someone who didn't really seem to notice his efforts in the first place. Shar wasn't much like Maxine - in fact, they couldn't be any more different if they tried - but there was just something about her that made him come back for more, time after time.

That "something" was probably why he bothered to take the time to head over to her dorm, casually knock on the door, and then prop himself against the doorframe as if this victory dinner didn't mean as much as it did. He was never as good as acting and pretending as she was, but he figured if he'd manage to keep it a secret for this long... he could keep it for another hour or two. Or three.

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The knock on the dorm door had Boi bounding to the door, barking excitedly until Sharpay emerged from her bedroom a moment later.

"Shh," she called, putting on an earring as she got to the door.

Boi shut up accordingly but continued to crowd at the door until he had to move out of the way for Sharpay to open the door. At the sight of their visitor, he sat, watching Tom carefully: He had always been confused by how strongly this big human smelt of cat, and as much as he wanted to chase the guy, Sharpay had always warned him not to. Still, cat-man was someone to keep an eye out.

Above the little dog, Sharpay beamed, though she was giving Tom a quick onceover of her own: He was dressed up, for Tom, and it wasn't even her doing this time; she put it down to the mystery venue. For her part, she was wearing a white cocktail dress with a blue blazer, silver heels and handbag, and her Homecoming Queen tiara, which had barely left her head since the dance. Even Sharpay Evans gave her signature color a break once in a while.

"Hey," she greeted him, even as her gaze darted back to Boi; even now she still suspected Boi would have quite enjoyed chasing her friend. She indicated his outfit with an approving nod. "We must be going somewhere nice!"

Nice for Balamb, at least; Deling had nicer but she didn't think Tom would go further afield for just dinner with a friend.

If it weren't the dog, the moment when she first walked out would've been absolutely perfect. Ignoring Boi's barks with the politest smile he could muster - which was saying something for him - Tom gave her an acknowledging nod.

"That's right," He chuckled, balling his hands into fists so that he wouldn't automatically stuff them in his pockets. "I mean, it is a victory dinner, so I figured we could splurge a little, right?"

Still, even Tom couldn't ignore that tiara. He didn't know where his crown went or if he even still had it; it just wasn't that important to him. In all honesty, he still thought Cid should've won... but the populace spoke and the populace chose him. "You're really going to wear that...?"

It wasn't a judgmental comment - Tom wasn't really capable of those around Sharpay - so much as curiosity (okay, and maybe a smidge of judgment.)

Sharpay pouted.

"It matches my shoes," she pointed out.

And it did, but it was more important to her than that: She'd needed that win. After her glimpses of her friends' home worlds and times, and her own brief step back in time onto her own world, it had been very reassuring to find that this world had something of her world that seemed so small and insignificant in comparison to events of this world's past. The fragile piece of plastic also served as reassurance that a good percentage of Garden liked or at least didn't actively mind her, which, besides being potentially useful, was also just a nice change from being backstabbed out of opportunities to do something she loved.

"Don't worry: I wasn't expecting you to wear yours or anything," Sharpay added. She'd known from the start Tom wasn't as invested in homecoming as she was, and that was fine by her. Her pairing up tactic had worked; that was what mattered.

Boi whined. Rolling her eyes with a smile, she bent down to scratch him behind his ears and then shoo him back into the room where the food was. With Boi taken care of, they could go.

Tom sighed of relief, letting his shoulders sink just a little bit lower than usual. As long as she didn't expect him to wear his crown, he could deal with whatever else she had planned for the night. Watching Boi disappear, he grinned back at Sharpay before exiting her apartment and holding the door open for her.

"Fair enough," He responded wryly, flashing her a smile. "After all, we can't have your whole outfit clashing now, can we?"

Almost immediately afterwards, he then glanced down at his own outfit. He'd thought a lot about making sure every part of his ensemble fit together, from the cuff links to the violet and silver tie to his own deep purple collared shirt. Unusually for him, everything actually matched - which Shar had noticed, much to his pleasure - and hopefully, it didn't clash too much with hers? "... Though I can't promise we match either."

"We coordinate," Sharpay observed, comparing his purples and navy to her blue. It worked. "Did you want to match?"

And why would he, she wondered. She hadn't even matched outfits with Ryan for a couple of years before ending up in this world; the only time she thought friends should match outfits was for a costume. (Couples, on the other hand, should if not match, at least look like they were going to the same event, she thought.)

"We're still a little early; I could go change!"

"Nonono, it's completely fine!"

Tom wasn't sure what quite came over him, from the way he stepped forward. Nervously coughing, he straightened his tie before he turned and started to walk outside. "I mean, you look fine. I was just thinking back to Homecoming." The part about her making him wear pink to the dance was the part he'd conveniently left out. Especially since he hated pink.

"That's all. I promise."

She laughed, swinging her handbag as she caught up with him.

"That was different! We were trying to make people vote for us as a unit. We don't have to match going out for dinner; no one's voting for us here.

"Unless," she added, shooting him a smirk, "this restaurant has a very unusual theme."

Tom couldn't help making a face as he stopped before the elevator and pressed the down button. "Nah," He laughed, returning that smirk, "I wouldn't have bothered dressing up if it were that weird."

Wait. He wasn't supposed to have outright confessed to dressing up on purpose... Thank god for the elevator showing up on time.

"I mean, it's... Nevermind. Got any big plans for the break?"

Sharpay sideeyed him curiously as she stepped into the elevator, pressing the ground floor button. So he had dressed up. It seemed to fit with the idea of celebrating a victory from a formal event, so why was he trying to change the subject?

But she'd roll with it. She kept her own secrets; who was she to deny one of her best friends their own?

"In Fisherman's Horizon?" she replied. Yeah, right. "Nothing beyond sunbathing. From all Garden's intel on it and what people were telling me in Deling, there's nothing to do there if you don't like playing with scrap metal or fishing."

After their last break in Esthar, Sharpay considered Fisherman's Horizon a rather poor follow-up destination.

Following her inside, he folded his arms and shrugged. Fishing didn't honestly sound that bad to him. He'd never seen it before - not before coming to this world - but that didn't make the idea any less enticing. Then again, part of Tom wondered if that was the werepanther inside him speaking.

"I'm sure there's something," He laughed, trying to keep the mood light as he watched the elevator go down a floor and open again on the first floor. Walking out after her, he then added, "I mean, all of Garden'll be there, so I'm sure the Instructors'll get together and throw parties or something."

If all else failed, there was a huge stack of math problems waiting in his room. As much as Tom loved working with raw data and building charts, he hadn't had much time for it during the Quarter. "But that's disappointing... I thought Fisherman's Horizon would've been bigger."

"It's big in size," Sharpay shrugged. "But most of it's solar panels.

"A party sounds good, though," she added, brightening. "And Rinoa told me once that there's a big outdoor stage; maybe we could do something with that."

She stared off into the distance, envisioning it; her 'we' referred to Garden at large rather than specifically herself and Tom.

Trust Sharpay to think of the theater, even when she wasn't technically responsible for the school plays. Tom snorted, holding the door open for them as they exited the lobby - and essentially, towards their mystery destination.

"Maybe. I don't think Garden'll have a dire need to use it, at least," He chuckled, passing the front gates and giving an acknowledging nod to people they passed on their way out. "Point is, break'll be what we make of it, right?"

He could just see it now: he'd probably be living at the bar and racking up a tab that'd even surpass dear Dad's. Who said he had to be sober during break?

Sharpay nodded, starting to feel just a little bit better about break in one of this world's smallest towns. Besides, it would be with her friends, and they certainly weren't boring!

"What do you plan to make of it?" she asked, looking up at Tom. "Since I know you won't be working on your tan..."

Even as she gazed at her friend, she was still careful to stay aware of her surroundings: The road to Balamb was not free of monsters, and she was a kickboxer in heels.

He laughed, glancing down at his hands. "Hey! I could very well get a tan if I wanted to."

In retrospect, he should've gotten them a car - but would that have been going overboard? - or even rented a motorbike, but he supposed the destination would more than make up for it. It had to! Keeping a steady pace, Tom looked ahead and elaborated, "But actually, I was planning on sleeping. And I guess getting ahead on this dataset I'd been working on for a while..."

While he may not be good with paperwork and remembering things on time, every now and then, Tom did have his moments of genius. The datasets he'd analyzed every so often for the Intelligence division? Pretty much proved it.

She laughed with him, briefly picturing him on a deck chair in a polo, board shorts, flipflops, and sunglasses the way Ryan used to sunbathe at Lava Springs with her. The mental image was hilariously ill-fitting.

"So you're using your break from one job to work on another?" Sharpay shook her head, grinning. "Crazy cat."

As much as she liked to tease him about his intel work, Sharpay was actually pretty proud of him for it. The work was something she couldn't wrap her head around and had very little desire to; Tom's ease with it was impressive.

He simply smirked at her in response. The work itself never took long once he figured out their distribution, but his epic procrastination skills meant that they took a lot longer than he'd like to admit by any stretch of the imagination.

"Sure seems like it," He chuckled. Once they'd reached the town proper, Tom then gestured towards one of the nicer buildings nearby - specifically, the one with the outdoor verdana and clientele that clearly didn't live here - and started to walk closer towards it. "But hey, I can be productive enough for the both of us."

Her eyes lit up at the sight of the restaurant. Oh, she had walked past this place many a time.

"You didn't," she breathed, latching onto Tom's arm. "I've been wanting to come here for ages!"

It wasn't just the lack of any worthy special occasion that had kept her from this particular restaurant; it was her budgeting: After her shopping habits and tendency towards Balamb cafe food instead of the cafeteria food, Sharpay didn't often have enough left for a full service restaurant.

Even though he didn't want to (or did he?), he felt his heart stop the minute he saw her arm around his. That reaction alone had been worth the whole night! They were still friends, though, and friends didn't blush at these sorts of things. Nor did they seem even more pleased than usual---

And he hadn't even made it to first base yet. Beating down all romantic thoughts, Tom tried to regain his composure with a laugh. Escorting her to the front of the restaurant, he then let the waiter take them towards their table outside.

"Oh?" He wryly remarked, knowing full well of her interest in the place. "Guess I picked something right for once."

"Well done," she said, beaming and reaching up to pat him on the head before taking the seat their waiter pulled out for her.

As the waiter started listing the day's specials, Sharpay took a small hook out of her purse, placed it on the edge of the table, and hung her purse from it. She was still draping her napkin over her lap when
the waiter asked to take their drink orders.

"Iced tea," she said, after a quick check of the drinks menu. "Lots of ice."

How southern. Tom took his seat, casually leaning forward and taking his menu in his lap. Every now and then, he'd glance up at the waiter to be polite, but his attention was clearly elsewhere.

Only when he was asked for his drink did he snap back to this world. Tom laughed, handing over the drink menu to the waiter, "And I'll have a coke." For once, the alcohol wasn't an issue! The kind they served at this place was nice, but it usually didn't go down well with whatever they served...

Oh, who was he kidding. Even in his mind, Tom knew he wanted to be sober when he wanted to confess. Downing three beers really wouldn't help his case. Once the waiter left to get their drinks, Tom set the menu down.

"See anything interesting?"

Sharpay had faintly noticed Tom's spacing out during the waiter's spiel, but his question distracted her from checking on him, and she started looking at the menu instead.

"Maybe the steamed Trabian king crab," she mused. It sounded great, but crab legs could be so messy to eat, and she was wearing white... Still, of all the people on this world to be a messy eater in front of, she wouldn't mind as much in front of Tom.

She ran a finger down the menu, absentmindedly licking her lips, before she glanced back up at him.

"What about you?"

"Probably the filet mignon," Tom admitted, casually opening the menu again to glance at the descriptions briefly. Of course he'd get the steak - it'd be excellent at a place like this - but he wasn't quite sure exactly what cut he'd get just yet. It usually depended on the place.

Still, really good steak would always be really good steak. "But the crab? Yum." He chuckled. "I'd pick that too."

"If you do get the filet mignon, I could share a few crab legs with you," Sharpay offered. "There are always too many."

Sharing also came with the added bonus of not making her look like a pig if she ate all of them, though she was kind of hungry from first the walk into town and now the sea air that came with an outdoor table in Balamb.

It was a tempting offer. Tom thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Nah," He said, grinning and glancing up at the waiter as their drinks were placed on the table. "I think I'll let you have 'em all to yourself."

When the waiter asked for their order, Tom not only placed his order for a filet mignon, but also decided at the last second to order them a couple of appetizers - calamari and bruschetta.

He sheepishly shrugged at Sharpay once he was done. Must've been the JSA and their "let's share everything!" approach rubbing off on him.

"And for your girlfriend?" the waiter added, turning to Sharpay.

"Oh, we're not--" she started.

"My mistake," the waiter said smoothly, though his face betrayed some surprise at this information. "What will it be?"

Sharpay was a little guarded as she ordered her crab, but by the time she passed her menu back to the waiter, she'd come around to bemusement, raising her eyebrows at Tom. Hospitality workers made the weirdest assumptions.

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in which posts intended to be backdated which never were are referenced

in which i remember to detail Tom's outfit... sorry ;;

kitty cat's looking sharp :D

all for his Sharpay ♥

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apologies for the late!

no worries <3

\o/!

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