Babydoll

Bottomless mimosas

January 18, 2016

After the almost disaster that was Christmas day she had thought for one minute that her and Bucky were on the same page. Turns out they weren't. Either that or he did get freaked out and was running in the opposite direction.

Things had been so good the whole week leading up to New years eve, it had been wonderful. Bucky'd been so sweet and attentive to her. They had decided to take a step back from the physical part of their relationship at his insistence. He said he didn't want her to think he was after her just for sex. So for the next six days they'd spent their time getting to really know each other, but then something switched right after New years day and he pulled away from her again.

It wasn't immediate. No, it was so gradual over the course of the last eighteen days that she couldn't see where she had gone wrong. They'd gone from talking and hanging out for hours to suddenly hardly speaking at all. She wasn't clingy and knew better than anyone that Bucky needed space sometimes so she backed off. But one day became two and then four until they barely spoke to each other except as they passed each other in the halls or at meetings.

Frustrated by how things had been going and needing to vent Aurora wanted a girl's day, but Natasha and Wanda were out on assignment with Mathew and Steve for the whole weekend. Having been abandoned by all of the girls she was left with the next best thing. The closest friend she'd made since moving back home decided to take her out for some good old fashioned day drinking. This is how she found herself sitting in an upscale brunch restaurant somewhere in downtown Manhattan on a Sunday drinking a lot of mimosas as she complained about her love life to Pietro.

"Why are men such assholes, Piet?" She asked the silver haired man sitting to her right downing her fourth or was it her fifth mimosa? Shaking her head because she didn't care that she was getting tipsy at 11 AM in the morning. Flagging down their waitress to show her that her glass was empty.

Laughing with amusement, the speedster who couldn't get drunk sat back sipping on his own drink. "I'm not sure, but I have a feeling you will tell me." Turning back to him Aurora holds up her right hand as she began ticking off her points on her fingers.

"I mean, we do everything we can to let them know we're interested without looking like a stalker or seeming to be too aloof. When we do sleep with a guy we have to not seem too eager so as to not come off slutty, but not too reserved so we don't look like a prude. We try to show how good we are at our jobs without bragging to hurt your egos, but also not look like a damsel in distress." Smacking her hand loudly on the table in annoyance had some of the older hoity-toity socialite's sitting near them looking over at her in distaste for being loud and not dressed as one should for brunch at this kind of establishment.

Ignoring them she took a sip of her now full glass. Aurora forlornly leaned her elbow on the table and propped her chin up on her fist. "You just can't fucking win with men."

"It is unfair that this is how the whole mating ritual goes." Biting back his laughter at her impassioned speech Pietro nodded his head in agreement. When she doesn't laugh he sets down his forkful of eggs Benedict. "I'm sorry Bucky has distanced himself from you. I really thought you guys were finally getting together." Sighing she took a sip from her glass as she picked at her food.

"Me too." Glancing up at him she quietly asked, "Do you think I'm too much? What did I do to push him away?"

Shaking his head, Pietro reached out to grasp her hand. Squeezing it gently before linking their fingers together he tells her, "Rory, you didn't do anything wrong. It just might have been too much for him too quickly. Remember, Bucky probably feels like he doesn't deserve happiness after what Hydra made him do and that's on top of not dating for how many decades?"