Give Me A Look Like I'm Way Out Of Bounds (for Anne and Jack)

[eliotwaugh]

Eliot rubs his hands together, his breath fogging as he reactivates the warmth spell keeping him comfortable while he waits in the park. It's bleak and overcast, the sky the sort of thin mean gray that holds a potential for snow, but he doesn't expect to be outside for much longer. A few yards away at the entrance to the garden, the Darrow Horticultural Society has put up a sign proclaiming a showcase of tropical blooms at the Conservatory greenhouse. The sign is garish and amateurish, more like a palm tree set-piece from a high school production of Guys and Dolls than anything approaching good advertisement, but the greenhouse itself is a grand art deco edifice with a stepped roof and the silhouettes of leafy branches visible inside even at a little distance. Eliot smiles in a tight line as he thinks about being really warm, with air that doesn't sting to breathe. He checks his phone for the third time and huffs a sigh.

It's not that he has regrets, and it's not that he's nervous. There's nothing to be nervous about, certainly not because the actual execution of this outing doesn't match the idea Eliot had when he'd first heard about the flower show. So if he's early it's because he doesn't know Anne well enough to be casually late; if he's pacing by the entrance it's because perhaps he had too much coffee with his lunch. And it's cold out. That's all. It's a miserable day and he is determined to have a good time, as soon as the pirates actually show up.