BLUE, darcy

[Erik Zwolf]

4th july
3.23pm

erik opened his eyes, a few bubbles passing before his vision. the lake water was oddly clear. there wasn't a pool in evergreen, much to erik's dislike, but this was the next best thing. it still wasn't as good as a pool, but it was okay. his chest ached slightly, the sign that he needed to return to the surface. he took another moment, surveying the murky place where visibility faded before heading towards the sunlight, breaking the surface with a gasp.
'hey, erik! food!'
one of the tellers from the bank, a curvy girl in a retro swimsuit, waved at him from the shore. erik awkwardly raised a hand in acknowledgement, before heading towards the shore. there were a few others from the bank in the water, but none as far out as erik. they were having an unofficial kind of picnic, to celebrate the 4th of july. a lot of the people there were single, having moved into evergreen to join the vow, so there were way fewer parties for them to go to. so they'd organised this little get-together at the lake, and erik had decided to go. anything to get away from rachel. and he was actually enjoying himself. erik hadn't been swimming since he'd moved, and it was a welcome break to be in water for once. it was his element, something he could fully lose himself in, and although he knew real life wasn't far off, it was as if all his worries had been put on hold.
he broke into a fast crawl, before he reached a depth where he could wade, getting to his feet and pushing his hair from his eyes, giving a small smile to the people on the shore, eyes moving over the faces, his smile broadening a little when he spotted darcy. maybe it was a bit odd, to like her based on one encounter, but erik's an easily won over man, and she'd given him cupcakes. that was enough for him to harbour a slight crush on her. nothing that he'd act upon, but it made him feel a little happier. and besides, she was also married, and seemed happy. but it meant he found someone to gravitate towards, and that meant friendship was likely. and he needed it. ryssa had left, and now... well, erik only really had joel, and he was often busy with work.
he moved out of the water, careful not to get the food wet, a small redhead looking up before wolf-whistling. 'damn, erik, you're built.'
he felt his face heat up a little, looking away with a non-committal shrug, before clearing his throat. "i'll go see if darcy wants anything to eat."
after all, cupcakes were less awkward than not being able to tell if a girl was trying to flirt with him or not. and if she was... well, it'd be wrong to say that erik woul dbe entirely opposed to it, but it just wasn't his thing. it was flattering, but in front of so many people, it just made him feel embarrassed.
he skirted the group, heading towards the blonde. she was a little way apart from the rest of them, as if trying to keep away from the edge of the lake. he felt his heart speed up a little as he moved into the shade, feeling intimidatingly huge as he drew nearer, giving her the best semblance of a cheery grin he could manage. "would you like some food? they're getting it out now, so..."
he shrugged. maybe he could eat with her. she was nice- she wouldn't embarrass him or anything. and he could talk to her without worrying about making some massive faux-pas. he wasn't sure why he was sure of it, but he just was. something about her just made him feel that she was a good person. and he's a trusting guy.

[Darcy Strand]

Of course she couldn't go. While Darcy was every bit as social as a girl raised in a place where seeing people was the only thing to actually do would be, lakes (and oceans, and pools) made her nervous, and besides, Gabriel probably wanted to spend the fourth with his best friend and godson and not at some thing with people he didn't know, right? And to be perfectly frank, she wasn't sure how... patriotic he'd be feeling today, considering his dad had been killed on the 4th of another month just earlier that year. It'd make her a terrible wife if she wasn't there to comfort him in his hour of need of some... sort of death anniversary? It'd been her excuse - tempered with her sincere regrets - until she'd heard from another employee that Erik had said he was going. Well then.

After many reassurances that Gabriel would manage just fine without her for a few hours (and, in fact, had forgotten until she'd reminded him, THANK YOU VERY MUCH DARCY), she'd ended up there regardless of her predilections, pecan pie and gallon jugs of sweet tea in tow. It seemed like most of the people who intended to attend had shown up already; inquiring casually after a few names before listing the one she was really after as she placed the confectionery on the table, Darcy was pointed towards a head bobbing around further down the lake. Oh, of course he'd be out on the water, whose kind had been Mrs. Strand's mortal enemy since the age of seven. Obviously. When asked if she'd brought her swimsuit, Darcy feigned regret and declined the suggestion that she go in anyway, dress and all, since it was so darn hot out. She laughed at this and waited for her offer to help to be waved off before going 'exploring', which constituted giving the lake itself a wide berth as she wound around the portion the party had commandeered.

Eventually she settled against an oak not-too-near-and-not-too-far from the water's edge. Drawing her legs up underneath her skirt, Darcy rested her cheek against the thin fabric and was mostly content to just watch the festitivies; Erik was entirely too far out to really pay attention to, but after a few moments she was able to figure out which one was him (what kind of lovesick woman would she be if she couldn't pick his face and haircut out of a lineup?). Anxiety crept in - she didn't like the water because there were sometimes things in it, and he seemed to keep going under. What if he got caught by some seaweed? Or an alligator? They had alligators up here, didn't they? Or a snapping turtle! You could bleed to death if it took off your big toe or something, right? Everytime he disappeared underneath the surface, Darcy found herself holding her breath in largely unnecessary worry before she realized that she was just making herself lightheaded, and instead fussed with her little tote bag in search of a book instead. Like at work, she found her baby blues flicking up every so often to make sure that he was still there, and once reassured everything was fine again for another a minute or so she could think about something else. This was just Darcy's pattern; it was a habit whose pulling force was irresistible, oftentimes frustrating, and altogether not worth fighting against.

There was some lighthearted shouting that she couldn't quite pick out given her delayed attention to it, but people seemed to be getting out of the water as a result. Hah! Take that, lake! You might be big and scary but people liked getting fed that much better! Erik, however, was still out there, and after a few moments of surveying her co-workers from afar, she went back to her reading, relatively satisfied that if there was a shark or something that it ought to know better than to mess with a man who was built like an Ent. Besides, the story was actually getting good after a hundred and fifty pages. Win-win.

In fact, the story was good for enough pages that she had gone to flip the corner, gaze darting out to see if the security guard had left his watery depths only to realize that someone was approaching. And... blotting out the sun?

OhmygoditwasErikwasntitNOONEELSEBLOCKEDWEATHER. And upon further inspection, it was. Oh my god. And he was DRIPPING. And perfect. And wet. And for one perfect, brilliant moment, his silhouette shone as the clouds shifted just so and illuminated Erik like some ridiculously handsome Neptunian sex god. Her brain fizzled rather abruptly. Don't stare don't stare don't stare MIND-DARCY STOP STARING AT HIS CHEST. NO DON'T LOOK AT HIS CROTCH INSTEAD WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! The checkout itself was something that lasted only a split second - and should've been perfectly understandable since Erik was a giant even when she wasn't sitting on the ground - but she still struggled to look perfectly serious and utterly not horrified at herself for mentally reliving that scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

But holy hell. That was what was under all that uniform? Man, did she pick the right employee to have a thing for. Or maybe the wrong one, since he was married and she was married and oh gosh it was hot enough already without adding bothered to it.

"Oh!" Darcy managed to find her mouth muscles, finally, and answered, "Ch-yes." Blushing from head to toe, she got to her feet, folded her place in her novel, and patted off some nonexistent dirt from her skirt before brushing past him to swivel, walking backwards so they could talk and totally not so she could stare at him again. "Hi, by the way. Happy fourth!" Rather unable to look at him without turning even redder, Mrs. Strand smiled instead at a squirrel -absently fanning herself with her book - and asked, "How's your holiday going so far? Is the water nice?"

Of course it wasn't, it was water. But still. Conversation focusing on something other than the fact that he wasn't wearing much at all had to be a good thing.