Roleplay Thread! If Kim stayed in Albuquerque AU

[its_all_good_man]

[Saul Goodman, formerly known as Jimmy McGill, was currently stuck in a random restaurant waiting out the rain. He had plans to meet a client here but they backed out last minute and he was stuck.]
[Thankfully it was only himself and a few other people in the restaurant but he was growing impatient. He tapped his foot on the tile as he glared at the downpour outside. He glanced at his watch and groaned. It was past closing time by now. He hoped Franchesca remembered to lock up before she, undoubtedly, sped home before the rain. He didn’t have any other appointments scheduled anyway for the day when he left in case this ran long but he was still annoyed.]

Comments

[saintclaire]

[For Kim, a quiet restaurant is a good place to go over paperwork, and that's what put her at a table in the corner furthest from the door. The form she's working on is directly in front of her, with a neat stack of folders to the left and a mostly-untouched plate of nachos to the right. Her coffee is on its third refill; that she isn't jittery over it is a testament to how many late-night espressos have been a part of her former law career.

What does make her jittery, on the other hand, is Saul Goodman standing at the door, looking out the windows like the unprecedented thunderstorm might evaporate with just the right bark into an earpiece. She draws a deep breath and looks back at her papers, but her attention doesn't focus. Not with his silhouette in her peripheral.

At most she can hope that he doesn't notice her, her blonde hair loose and her face turned to the tabletop.]

[its_all_good_man]

[Seeing that it’s not letting up anytime soon, he huffs and glances around the restaurant, looking for somewhere to sit and spotting Kim Wexler.

He stared for just a second before darting his gaze to a booth around her and deciding that was where he was going to sit. He was debating on just going to her but he needed a second to think about what he wanted to say to her.

He slid into a booth just a table or two away from Kim and called a waitress over to order a drink]

[saintclaire]

[She can feel his eyes on her without even looking up, like they could bore holes right through her skull. She feels acutely aware of him, the magnetic positive to her negative, listening for him, waiting for him. Part of her aches. No, most of her aches. The text on the page is wholly lost on her. She reaches for her coffee, but it feels like even the taste has vanished.

When he speaks to the waitress, it feels like an opportune moment to chance a glance, just a cautious glance aside.]

[its_all_good_man]

[As the waitress walked away, he decided to steal another glance at Kim. Had she noticed him yet?]

[She was looking right at him when he turned and accidentally made eye contact. Well, maybe he should say something.]

Oh hey! I didn’t see ya there. How’s it going?

[He asked, starting small talk. He was a liar though. He not only saw her, he schemed for a way to talk to her as well]

[saintclaire]

[Kim's poker face is inscrutable, impassive as ever, even as something in her chest wrenches hard and tight.]

Jimmy.

[There's a pause, small but calculating. It's been a long time since that tense last encounter in his cathedral of justice, but a lot threatens to rush right back to her. Talking to him feels like it could be dangerous.

Pragmatically:]

We don't have to do this.

[its_all_good_man]

[Jimmy. Well that counts as hello. He went to say something again but stopped after she said “we don’t have to do this” This made him have to recaulualte]

[He let out an awkward chuckle at this despite that stinging a tiny bit.]

Do what?

[saintclaire]

[Her eyebrows knit.]

We haven't talked in years and you want to... what? [She purses her lips momentarily.] Catch up over coffee?

[its_all_good_man]

Hey! I didn’t know you were even in the state still. Let alone here. I was meeting a client who’s a no-show and now it’s raining and I’m not getting my suit wet so I’m waiting here. I just thought I’d be nice and say “hi”

[He says, shrugging. His tone was a bit defensive. He wasn’t here just for her]

[saintclaire]

[Doubt floods her; their marriage was short, but their courtship was long, stretched out so much that they were talking about houses together long before anyone else could even guess they were together. The Jimmy she knows –– knew, she reminds herself –– wouldn't just turn a blind eye to her whereabouts, even if this meeting was a chance encounter.

She looks at her coffee momentarily, a long breath slipping from her.

Steady.]

So why talk now?

["Have a nice life" still rings in her ears.]

[its_all_good_man]

[He shrugged. He scooted himself around so he could face her properly]

Well, I wanted to be polite. It’s rude to brush by someone you knew.

[Especially someone with so many fond memories with. He still lived this woman in all honesty. He couldn’t tell her this in this moment. He’d be lying if he said he never thought back on their last discussion in his office and didn’t kick himself in the keister mentally for not begging her to stay more.]

You said you were going to Florida. What happened there? Too hot?

Apologies for slow response, work exploded

[saintclaire]

[His comment pulls a sudden wryness from her, a ghost from the past.]

I think we’re a little past rude.

[Kim finds herself unable to look away from him. It strikes her, right to the heart, that someday they will have been apart longer than they were together.]

Too many tourists with bad taste in movies.