Iowa | Monday FT

[pursuedthestars]

It was Jim's birthday.

"And on January 4th, my mother birthed the beautiful, gifted, charming, amazing man you see before you!" Jim shouted while standing on the counter of some bar he'd found. In his hand, he held a drink high, looking out over the patrons of the bar. He knew none of them but he didn't care. "So, on this illustrious day, I say we drink. To me!"

Any excuse to drink seemed to satisfy the denizens of the bar so Jim knocked his shot back and everyone else did too. He raised his fist up in victory before jumping down and getting another drink. He grinned and leaned against the bar, chatting up the nearest pretty girl.

"I think you should sing to me," he told her breezily. "The birthday song. You know it?"

She did and so she sang it. A few people around her joined in, some in drunken, slurring voices and some a little clearer. Jim loved it either way!

"Best birthday ever!"

Spent around strangers. Yeah, he was faking it but he was still having fun.

[NFB but open for all the usual things. Slowing time down a bit in Jim's world to get this post in since I missed it on the exact date. Yay canonical birthdays.]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

Jim rolled his eyes and batted her hand away. "I'll do what I want."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie swatted at his hand in return. That was a perfectly mature thing to do.

"Of course you do."

[pursuedthestars]

"Quit it," he said, shaking his head. "I'm busy."

[whenshewasnice]

"Doing what, exactly?"

She wasn't very convinced. And she tried to poke his nose again.

[pursuedthestars]

"Enjoying my birthday!" Of course. "See all the happy people around here? We're having fun!"

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie glanced around. "All of these people who aren't acknowledging you in a ny way, shape or form?"

[pursuedthestars]

Jim exhaled and finished his drink. "We're having fun," he repeated.

[whenshewasnice]

"Then I guess you're set." She knocked back the rest of her drink, then straightened up and reached up to press a quick kiss on his cheek. "Happy birthday, Jim. I do mean that."

[pursuedthestars]

"Leaving so soon?" he asked, glancing over at her. "Quick trip."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie actually looked at him for the first time in a moment. "I think I misjudged how well I'd... fit here."

[pursuedthestars]

Jim sighed. "Sorry, I hope I didn't make you feel like that."

[whenshewasnice]

"It's not your fault." Well, not a lot, anyway. "I'm just still adjusting, I guess."

To their new relationship, among other things.

[pursuedthestars]

"You can stay and hang out, if you want," Jim told her. "Just, I don't know, try and have fun? Relax."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie brushed her bangs back. "I don't feel at home with you, Jim," she said. "I don't know where I stand."

[pursuedthestars]

"Then, you can go," Jim said, a little hurt but not letting it show. "Sorry you feel uncomfortable."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie could still guess at his feelings. It had sounded less hurtful in her head. "I just know I'm not entitled to anything," she added, by way of explanation. "And somehow that makes me not take anything. Because I don't know where the new boundaries are."

She wondered if he could follow how that worked in relation to having fun.

[pursuedthestars]

"Okay," Jim said, nodding and ordering another drink since he was there and all. "You do what makes you comfortable. I'm not being an ass, I mean that."

[whenshewasnice]

She sighed. "You could offer to discuss the new boundaries."

[pursuedthestars]

"We can," Jim said, bristling just slightly. "Can we do it on a day that isn't my birthday, though?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Yes, I figured that was about where the things about my comfort or even being here stopped," Natalie noted a little dryly. "For the record, it wasn't going to be a big heart-to-heart. It was going to be about simple things like what's okay for me to do here, but I won't burden you with it now."

On account of dealing with this mostly self-inflicted bruise on her pride.

[pursuedthestars]

"To make a long story short, you can do anything you want," Jim told her. "The only thing that's changed is we're not exclusive."

[whenshewasnice]

"That's a big thing to change," she said. "And whenever I think about touching you ––" Nose-poking not included, apparently. "–– I get a second thought that tells me it's too familiar and too affectionate."

[pursuedthestars]

"I don't care if you touch me," Jim told her, shaking his head. "If I did, I'd tell you but seriously, you can touch me. I'm fine with that."

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't know why my brain is the way it is." Probably to facilitate all the very smart things she did. This overthinking was collateral damage. She reached out, slowly, to touch the backs of her fingers to his cheek. "Sorry."

[pursuedthestars]

"See?" he asked, leaning into her fingers some. "This is fine."