Emma & Cordelia -- lunch

[frostedheart]

Emma was having second thoughts about the restaurant. It wasn't the nicest one in her Upper East Side neighborhood, but it was a nice restaurant on the Upper East Side. She might know people inside it; it might alienate Cordelia.

But Emma liked it here, found something soothing in the crispness of its lines, its bright whites and long windows, its sense of space. Emma never wanted to feel suffocated.

She still had no idea how Cordelia really was. If she was as fine as she claimed. If she needed something. Maybe Emma wouldn't mind if Cordelia did need something. She had missed her; she had worried. Emma wanted her sister. Maybe that was a bridge too far, but Emma didn't want to remove the option entirely.

She also didn't want to affix her heart to her sleeve if Cordelia wasn't better.

But Emma was hopeful.

She sat, a glass of wine in hand, and scrolled through her phone, answering an email or two.

Comments

[frostyfeelings]

It was only fair that Emma got to choose the restaurant, or so Cordelia kept reminding herself on the way there. She was wearing slim trousers and a matching blazer and, okay, she had an old band t-shirt on under that, but she still didn't look out of place as she approached the hostess and gave the name Frost.

Cordy didn't let the hostess walk her over to the table, making her own way instead. She stopped by the empty chair across from Emma and had to smile--Emma still looked like Emma, only more so. Like she'd grown into herself.

"Hey, Em."

[frostedheart]

Cordelia. She looked healthy. She looked calm. She looked, well, okay. It was surprising to see her like this. No rage, her expression open, smiling. Emma had missed her.

She had to smile back, a real, warm, smile. "My prodigal sister returns."

[frostyfeelings]

"Some animals are inevitably drawn back to where they came from." Cordelia glanced around the restaurant as she sat down. It wasn't her style, but she could see why Emma liked this place. "So. How's tricks?"

[frostedheart]

"I didn't think you were of that species." Cordelia really did look well, Emma thought. That relaxed her. "The tricks are many and I'm the master of all of them. How's your life?"

[frostyfeelings]

"Neither did I," she admitted. "Even Frosts are wrong sometimes." If any more irony dripped from that statement, she'd probably stain the tablecloth.

The server came by to get Cordelia's drink and she ordered an Arnold Palmer. "Of course you are. And my life's good," she offered with a little shrug. "Not very exciting by either of our former standards, but it works."

[frostedheart]

Cordelia noted the drink order without reacting. "You look good. What are you doing with yourself?"

[frostyfeelings]

"Thank you." It was strange, getting a compliment from Emma, but she didn't make a thing of it. "Full-time student, part-time barista. It is...refreshingly normal."

[frostedheart]

It was strangely normal. It was the sort of life that Frosts could never have. But there Cordelia was, doing it. She raised a brow. "Are you a good barista?"

[frostyfeelings]

"I'm an...adequate barista," Cordelia admitted with a small laugh. "But I've only been doing it for like a month, so. What about you? What do you do with your days?"

[frostedheart]

"Then I won't buy my coffee from you yet." Emma would tip well. She shrugged her shoulders delicately, letting her hair shift, ripple down her back. Anyone who was staring could be dazzled by her. "I'm very busy. Philanthropy, business. Everything I should be doing."

[frostyfeelings]

"That's probably wise." Great coffee was orders of magnitude better than good coffee, and Cordelia was a burgeoning expert on it now. Living in the Pacific Northwest was enough to do that to a person, and caffeine was the only substance she was allowed to abuse now, so that went double. "Making boys cry?" Cordelia added with a grin.

[frostedheart]

"But of course." Emma smiled. It was what she did best, really.

[frostyfeelings]

"No special someone desperately hoping you'll one day marry him?" Cordelia had always pictured a flock of suitors around Emma tryong to be 'the one.'

[frostedheart]

There was a flock. Emma just had no real interest in any of them. "I've been proposed to three times this year," she said, dismissively. "But no one can keep up with me."

[frostyfeelings]

It suddenly made her want to ask about Julian, if Emma knew how he was--but that would probably be cruel. Cordelia kept the thought to herself, not wanting to risk ruining an otherwise pleasant lunch. She was considerably more careful with her powers these days, but it still felt weird not being able to get anything off Emma. Though it helped knowing that went both ways and Emma couldn't read her, either. "I have a hard time picturing you actually married, anyway." Of course with an example like their mother, it wasn't hard to see why.

[frostedheart]

It was an oddly pleasant lunch. "Being the perfect wife, you mean? Why, I could be just like our mother." She rolled her eyes, and maybe, just maybe, she might have winked.

[frostyfeelings]

"Yes, that's just you to a T, isn't it?" Cordelia said dryly. She had loved their mother once, a long time ago, but she'd never wanted to be like her.

[frostedheart]

"I am exactly what people expect from me." To their faces. Underneath the looks? A whole other story.

[frostyfeelings]

"Better you than me," Cordelia replied sincerely. Living up--or down--to people's expectations wasn't something she even attempted anymore; she just wasn't cut out for it.

The server came to take their order and Cordelia simply said, "I'll have whatever Emma recommends."

[frostedheart]

Honestly, it was better Emma than Cordelia. Emma could handle it. Cordelia was more sensitive. And more fucked up. Emma made her recommendations, with a quick reassurance to her sister that she'd love the meal, and then asked, "So what are you studying?"

[frostyfeelings]

"Music therapy, actually. Piano, mostly." She'd been gifted at piano as a child, but she'd never wanted to practice--probably because Winston ordered her to.

[frostedheart]

"So you're going to serve others." What a weird, but nice, notion.

[frostyfeelings]

"With great power comes great responsibility. Or something." Mostly she just wanted to not actively make the world a shittier place like her parents had.

[frostedheart]

"That is what they say," Emma responded, leaning back just a little to look at Cordelia. Just to make sure everything she felt was true. She didn't need her powers for this - just observation.