To Enjoy an Evening [Open]

[Kara Barnhill]

Kara hadn’t caught Matt’s fret over his hands. It was something that the girl could easily overlook. After all, he was not the only man that sweat when they danced. He was, though, one of the few creepy ones. Which spoke in his favor.

He took the bottle and opened it, managing to get out an order for a daiquiri before taking a sip of his drink. Something about his countenance made Kara to believe that he was amused by something. Her choice in beverage? Must be.

It was revealed to be the case when he inquired to her liking them. She laughed lightly before nodding. “I have nothing against beer, truly.” She would, given the right circumstances, get some sort of bottle to satiate her thirsts. Though even Kara had to admit it was very rare. She preferred things that tasted lighter. “It probably comes from when I was little and my Mom and Dad would go to dance competitions. If they brought me with them, that was just about the only drink they would carry they could make virgin.” She didn’t travel with her parents often, of course. They had been adamant about keeping her in school, and giving her plenty of options and roots. But, if it was on a weekend, and local, their daughter was almost thrown into the door to watch.

Sometimes, Kara imagined her mother wanted her to follow in her footsteps and take over the dance studio. While the girl imagined she would help upkeep it, she was not going to put the life she wanted on hold to go back and teach. No matter, you could hire instructors.

Her drink was made and extended and she said a quiet thank-you to the bartender, finally taking a sip of her drink and unknowingly giving Matt permission to do the same. Mmmm. Strawberries.

“It does taste like fruit,” Kara agreed. “But I like fruit. Well, strawberries leastways.” She grinned. She tossed him another look. “Just as good the second time around?” She inquired to the brew he was drinking. Kara had never actually tried a local brew before. Perhaps now she would have to. Just to see.

[Matthew Grimaldi]

"You deserve a drink for being so patient with an oaf like me." He offered with a bit of a chuckle, raising his bottle to clink with her very ladylike daquiri. He was secretly amazed that she was still hanging around. She was yet to run away, or make up an excuse to leave, or to yell at him in an attempt to get away. Then again the night was still young, there was still time for such events.

"Class tomorrow? What kind?" His thoughts then drifted and he recalled a little fact. "If it's the University I think it does one of my fr-- Coworkers lectures there on occasion." He tried to shut himself up again by taking another long sip of his beer. Clearing his throat without looking at Kara he finished the thought. "Krys Robin." God, why did he even bring that little twat up? What was the chance of Kara even knowing of her?!

“Just as good the second time around?”

A hint of a smile pulled at the corners of Matt's lips. "Well..." His voice was gentle despite its gruffness, nearly lost in the commotion of the bar. "You'll just have to see." Now he could have done something suave and bold, like kissed her which was really something you saw in movies nowadays, but life wasn't like that and neither was Matt. He wasn't nearly that bold with women let alone one he just met.

So he reached forward and snatched one of the shotglasses, pouring some of his beer into the little glass before holding it out to Kara to take. "See for yourself." He nodded as a form of encouragement as he faced her, like a teacher lecturing a student. "Best to take small sips if you want to savor the taste of the hops. Hold it on your tongue for a little bit, right at the back." He pointed gently toward the back of her cheek, barely touching her skin so he wasn't spooking her away.

But as soon as he moved he pulled away, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Unless you hate beer, then it's best just to gulp it down and be done with it." Another little smile, this one was surprisingly boyish and teasing.

[Kara Barnhill]

What kind of classes? “Psychology. It’s for my second degree,” she answered. “But the people seem to have picked the major because they find it too easy.” She frowned a bit at the thought and then continued. “Unfortunately, that means a whole bunch of the students don’t care.” Kara, for one, was not one to just take academics lightly. If she wanted to join the best of the best, she needed to prove she could fit in with them.

At times, her driven personality was almost scary. She had no social life—but she deemed it training for when she would finally be able to join the force. They surely didn’t have one either.

"Krys Robin."

Well. That name was certainly familiar. “The woman from Counter Terror?” So that was what he did. Matt worked for CT. That was slightly surprising for Kara. She had not met many of the agents from that branch of the FBI, but she was highly impressed. “I have heard one of her lectures,” it had been last year. The name had stuck with her though. Probably because of how unusual she had been. Not a bore to listen to, mind, just not what she had expected from a CT Operative.

He reached for a shot glass and poured her a bit of the beer, and Kara almost laughed. Oh goodness, she would certainly not be able to escape this! He gave her directions on how to get the best of it, and Kara laughingly reached to grab the shot glass, setting her own drink down on the bar for the time being.

She held it up as if in show, and then drank it, trying to do precisely what the man had said. Good God, it was bitter! Still, she was far too much a lady to spit it out, and she didn’t wish to insult his tastes either. She finally swallowed, her face momentarily twisting to some sort of humorous expression she was certain, though quickly bubbled over into laughter. “You have strong tastes,” she finally declared. Not her cup of tea, or more precisely her kind of drink, but she appreciated that someone liked it. It was not something the woman was going to go out and get every time she was at a bar, but experiences were the spice of life.

“Not too bad,” she finally admitted. She would probably get used to the bitterness if she had enough of it. In truth, it wasn’t that horrible.

[Matthew Grimaldi]

"Unfortunately that much hasn't changed over the years." Matthew noted with a nod, taking a sip of his local brew. He could drink the things like water if he wanted. They went down easy for him, he was so used to it because he had been drinking them since he was 17/18 just like any other teenager who was raised in the country with almost nothing better to do.

"Same exact way when I was in school. And, I have to admit, at first I was one of them." Another sip as he let the words and his own thoughts sink in. He was a bright boy but he certainly wasn't the brightest, probably not at all like this Kara was. He had the potential and determination but he tended to get slightly better than average grades. But he excelled in sports and his teachers always loved him because of his caring heart and soft spoken tendencies. He always gave 110% no matter what he was doing, even if he couldn't be the best at something he sure as hell tried.

"I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in life back then but I finally figured it out." For the most part anyways. He was still pretending every day to be a different person for his job, add onto that his secret musician life sometimes he got his own personality lost with the others. "But you strike me as one of those people that always knew what she wanted to do huh?" It wasn't an insult he just strongly believed this about the woman beside him. She seemed very sure of herself, very intelligent, some might say perfect. Matt had never been a fan of the perfect but hey, Kara could have some faults yet. Of course this was only thought with humor. She probably even knew what division she wanted to be in. She struck him as the sort that planned everything.

“I have heard one of her lectures.”

"Oh?" Matt chuckled from behind the nozzle of the beer bottle, taking another sip. "And how'd that go?" Krys often hated doing the lectures because she felt like no one wanted to listen to her. She also had some bad experiences with college people aking fun of her when she left. Matt hated college kids, particularly college men (especially the frats) because they had no regard for feelings. Now Matt didn't feel much of anything himself but he hated when others inflicted hurt on people just because they could.

Matt watched in amusement as Kara took a shot of the beer and her face warped into a scrunched up look that led him to believe that she had discovered the bitter part of the beverage. He couldn't help but smile as she forced it down and tried to pass it off that she had taken it like a champ. Hopefully no one would ever order this young woman a tequila, she'd be on the floor in tears!

"I guess it takes some sort of gettin' used to." He reassured, keeping any laugh from escaping probably much like Kara had done out on the dance floor as he was bumbling through the steps. "It comes with practice." He offered thoughtfully, though a hint of a smile remained in his features. "Just like with anything else. But don't worry, I won't put you through any more this evening."

[Kara Barnhill]

"But you strike me as one of those people that always knew what she wanted to do huh?"

Kara, who had chased the bitter beer down with a nice long sip of her sweet daiquiri, began to laugh. "Hardly." Kara finally answered. She lowered the drink back to the countertop and looked over to Matt once more. "Don't be fooled. I have to get it before I know for sure thats what I am doing." She tilted her head to the side, and thought back on it, though. "I wanted to be a vet in grade school. That was until I found out I was going to have to see dead animals---that would have been way too much for me, I guess." It was odd, and for a moment Kara questioned herself.

She could handle looking at dead human beings, but not a cat or a dog? The whole thing seemed a bit off, and for a moment Kara felt as if she was not as kind and warm as she had led herself to believe. "But in high school...I was pretty sure I wanted to do something in the force. The FBI, in my opinion, seemed to hold the most options. Once I started studying I really liked the idea of profiling." Guess that was how she had gotten there. Huh. She thought to herself, amusedly. She had never questioned how she had gotten to where she was. It just kind of unfolded; though Kara figured that part of it was planned. She, after all, was going back for a second degree to make herself more appealing to the BAU sect. Wether that worked or not remained to be seen.

"And how'd that go?"

Kara frowned for a moment in thought. "Not too bad, if I recall. It was a year ago, though. I mean, she was a bit nervous. But the lecture was interesting enough." Oh, that sounded terribly rude! "I enjoyed it." She tacked on for good measure. Still, there were very few lectures she did not enjoy. Even some of the ones that droned on about nothing, Kara could claim she liked. She was not one to insult someone's presentation.

She could, after all, be insulting a future employer. How terrible that would be!

She watched as he took yet another sip of the drink he had in his hand and the woman shook her head disbelievingly, though not rudely so. "Getting used to..." she repeated in a mumble. How could he drink it like that, with absolutely no sign of even registering the bitterness? It was like it was some sort of nourishment to him. "Guess you got used to it." She said pointedly with a smile.

"Just like with anything else. But don't worry, I won't put you through any more this evening."

Kara bubbled into laughter once more. My, she did seem the cheery sort when caught at the right time. Tonight had been the apparent 'right time'. "Thank you," she managed to say before falling back to more laughs. "Maybe next time." She offered, a bit more seriously. She might take it as a challenge to get used to such a beer. Kara was, after all, quite driven and took the things that made no difference and turned them into challenges. Just for the fun of it. Kara was an oddball in that respect; not many people understood why or how she worked in such a way. And, in truth, Kara didn't either.

[Matthew Grimaldi]

"Don't worry." He offered gently, even with his gruff voice. "Even when you're forty something years old you still don't know what you want to do." The whole idea probably sounded cliche but for some people their interests were always changing, so it held true for them. Matt of course loved his job but was he ever really content?

Since his sister died he had never been able to take a step back and just admire his life. Though he had a decent job he was single, he didn't have any kids, and he lived far away from his family. It was probably best that he didn't look back in retrospect then he couldn't realize what he was missing.

Matthew had actually been having a pretty good time with this young woman. She was kind hearted, she was intelligent, and she wasn't exactly running away from his company either. By all logical reasoning and guessing (which he posessed little of as he wasn't a doctor) she seemed to be having a good time, and Matthew, likewise, was as well. But of course all good things, even if they were only good for one person, had to come to an end and this was apparent when Matt finally caught sight of the clock over the bar.

"I have to get going. I have a flight to catch in the morning." He rose to his feet, nodding to Kara politely before standing in front of her. He always hated rushing off like this for apparently no reason, though this time he actually gave one. It was all part of the job with CT however and was to be expected. "Nice meeting you. Best of luck." He added for good measure, not wishing to appear rude.

And with that he walked right out of the bar leaving the remainder of his local brew on the bar countertop.

[Kara Barnhill]

Kara had enjoyed herself that evening. She hadn’t done as much dancing as she would have liked, perhaps, but the one dance she had secured had been completely worthwhile. To see anyone go a bit out of their comfort zone was an accomplishment on her part. And by the way Matt had behaved, it had been well out of his comfort zone.

The brunette was a bit surprised, perhaps, that the man need go. She had not realized the time that the clock held but managed to keep a surprised and shocked look suppressed. “Oh, of course.” She nodded in response. As he stood and took off for the door, leaving the beer she had gotten him sitting on the countertop.

He had wished her well and was gone. Though, Kara was not at all upset or hurt by such actions. In fact, she assumed that it was probably strange that he had lingered as long as he had in her company. After all, an Agent always was on call, and flights do not wait for sleepy passengers.

The beer was cleared away by the bartender, and Kara turned her own attention back to her drink. She took a few more steps before she offered the barman a smile and pushed herself up from the counter, also moving for the door.

After all, she had class in the morning. And staying out late would not prove to be helpful to her grades or her perceived image. Still, as the girl left the club and moved to her car she smiled. It had been a rather interesting evening.

---Closed!---