The last time this happened, he'd gotten into an awful fight. He'd assumed Nina didn't want the trouble of a man, not when men make the lives of women like Nina so hard-- and not when he had his heart so firmly set on someone else. He'd told her she didn't have to be afraid of any lingering feelings, and she'd taken it as an offense.
He's stopped trying to predict her. He shouldn't do that with Rey, either. But it's difficult, when the time before Nina was Grace, when Grace made all of his predictions and trust collapse in on themselves like a house of cards. He wants that control, would sometimes rather destroy a good thing before it happens so that it can't hurt him. As long as he has control over that pain.
But this isn't Nina; this isn't Grace. This is another woman still, and he's sure she's smart enough to know Tommy won't throw himself into her arms, that he won't assume there is something there when it's just him, with another man's life buried inside of him.
She approaches him steadily and even smiles, but he can't bring himself to. He's got his fingers wrapped around a matchbook, and he shakily takes it out.
"Yes," he says, finally, finding cigarettes in his inside pocket. "But only after I've eaten."
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branchandroot
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Date: 2016-03-28 06:46 pm (UTC)He's stopped trying to predict her. He shouldn't do that with Rey, either. But it's difficult, when the time before Nina was Grace, when Grace made all of his predictions and trust collapse in on themselves like a house of cards. He wants that control, would sometimes rather destroy a good thing before it happens so that it can't hurt him. As long as he has control over that pain.
But this isn't Nina; this isn't Grace. This is another woman still, and he's sure she's smart enough to know Tommy won't throw himself into her arms, that he won't assume there is something there when it's just him, with another man's life buried inside of him.
She approaches him steadily and even smiles, but he can't bring himself to. He's got his fingers wrapped around a matchbook, and he shakily takes it out.
"Yes," he says, finally, finding cigarettes in his inside pocket. "But only after I've eaten."