Sitting down for dinner was an experience in itself for all four of them, Jim dressed too formally, Dave in jeans and a T-shirt -- him, oddly, the best dressed for a casual meal. It was not a big occasion but Alex was the most masculine out of all of them, a ladies suit cupping her form... Or was it a men's suit? Either way, she wore it well, loosening the blue tie as dinner progressed and her cheeks grew rosy under the glow of the evening. Of course, the McNutt parents left them to it mostly but they had ordered in Italian food for them to have, which at least was something that went down well.
There was no alcohol involved but they all needed something to relax as things progressed and Jim was the most uncomfortable of all of them, sitting a little bit further apart as if he didn't really want to be there. Sure, it was nice to look at Robin but having both Alex and Dave right there in his home, the home he had lived in for so many years, was overkill. If it was Robin, he could just lean his elbow on the
Yet Alex was more forward than anyone could have expected, leading the way on conversation and handling the play off one another with the diplomacy of a pro. After so many years hiding her sexuality, who she truly was, there was something more that she needed to play out for herself, exercising her skills in the best way possible as they enjoyed the saucily appropriate meal of meatballs and spaghetti.
"Yeah, so glad to almost be done with that," she said, referencing some common event at their place of study that had thrown them for a loop, hard work that hadn't really been due. "It's better to be out, heading to the end of it all, you know?"
"Totally!"
Over the top, although a little more relaxed, Robin smiled widely, her painted lips glistening with gloss, sparkling and enthusiastic, even if complete vapid.
"It's, like, super boring to have to do that class," she went on, flipping her hair as she leaned back, a fork in one hand. "Who gives a damn, you know? That guy... He's always staring at me, looking at me... How do you even work with things like that? I need to get the grade, like!"
Alex smirked and slunk an arm around Robin's shoulders, drawing the woman in close, squeaking halfway off her seat.
"Oh, Robin... Mr Jeffries may be an old pervert but he sure knows a good thing when he sees it! That's why he's staring at you, honey."
They laughed automatically, although the joke should have been one passed between close friends and not those who had been shoved together by circumstance. Emboldened by this, Alex pressed on, neck hot with a flush.
"I mean, who wouldn't want to look at you? You're fine, Robin... Real fine!"
She may have been quoting from some obscure film that only she had seen and, truth be told, it did not work in the slightest for her. Dave rubbed the back of his neck and Robin blinked without actually realising what was being said, the compliment that was too much for polite company. Whereas the reference alone falling flat should have made her realise that she was going too far, it only served to push her on and on, her jokes becoming cruder and cruder with the span of every passing moment.