2013.08.27 - Staten Island Starbucks

It's the mid-afternoon lull in the office, and about time for Justin to take his usual coffee break. The meeting he had scheduled earlier in the afternoon went well, and it's left him in a more upbeat mood than he has been the last month or so. So instead of just going down to the coffee bar in the cafeteria like usual, he decides to call up a friend and head out to one of the other coffee shops on Staten Island. In his mind, he's earned the break, so the CEO dials the number for one Fern Fiddlehead. The phone conversation is pretty brief, and the meeting place is set up for a Starbucks that's not far from the office.

Justin arrives first, electing to drive himself in his oversized black Hummer SUV. Unlike Fern, who could probably guess the drink he would get, he isn't sure what the young waitress will want to order, so he simply grabs a table and doesn't get the drinks as of yet. He alternates between looking down at his phone and looking out the large windows, watching for his companion to arrive.

With the day off work, Fern was doing one of the things she loves to do best... joyriding on the Staten Island Ferry! Luckily, she was on a trip heading toward the island when Justin called, so it cut out her having to catch the next ferry back over. She hurries down the street, a skip in her step, heading for the rendezvous, when a flower cart catches her eye. After just a moment's pause, she stops and buys a single red carnation, then gets back to her hurrying to meet her 'date'. As she passes the window she spies Justin inside, waving with the carnation, her smile wide and warm. "Justin!" Because he might not know who he is, she calls over as soon as she clears the threshold. At the table she waits for him to get up, for their customary hug of greeting, looking at him expectantly.

Justin spots the sprightly redhead as she makes her way toward the coffee shop with the red flower in hand. He can't help but grin- the you woman must have some sort of magic power to make the likes of men like Justin Hammer honestly smile. Once she's inside and near the table he stands, if for no other reason than to walk them up to the counter to order drinks. He completely expects the hug he's sure he's about to receive. "Hey Fern, glad you were so close when I called. Lady Luck was on our side today, I guess."

One more step and her arms go around Justin for a more enthusiastic hug than normal, perhaps to make up for his own usual reticence. "I'm glad that you called, I was just going to ride the ferry all day long," she says, stepping back with a grin. She breaks the flower stem off at one of the higher knuckles, then gives a light tug on the lapel of Justin's suit jacket. "Here, bend down just a little." Finding the buttonhole, she threads the stem through, fussing for a second to get the flower placed just so. "There. That looks wonderful."

Maybe it's Fern's exuberance, or his own good mood, or a result of what happened last Friday, but whatever the cause, Justin isn't quite as reserved in returning the hug as usual. "I still don't see why you find that so amusing," he admits lightly to the young woman. He eyes the flower as Fern snaps the stem, and can take a guess as to where that's going. Sure enough, she manages to pin it on him as soon as he stoops down a bit. He chuckles lightly, shaking his head. He's not a flower person, and it only somewhat goes with the blue and black tie he has on. "Yep, looks good," he offers before standing back up straight and looking toward the counter. "So, what would you like? My treat, I think you got it last time."

"Because it's one of the few times I actually get to go on a boat," Fern says patiently, giving his lapels a light tug now to straighten them as he stands. "I love the water, I just don't swim well." Red carnations go with everything, everyone knows that. At least, Fern knows that. "You look absolutely spiffy. May I have a large chai latte, please?" She seldom splurges on a large for herself, and it might be the only time she would take advantage of someone else being able to afford it, but they're another weakness she seldom gets to indulge herself with.

"Oh, chai latte, good choice. You ever had one no-water breve? Tastes even better." It could easily be assumed that Justin goes to Starbucks a lot, given he seems to have an uncanny knowledge of their menu. That, or he's a barista on the side and just doesn't tell anyone. "...And yeah, I think that does it. Adds something to the suit, ya know?" He grins as he walks up to the counter and places the order for Fern's chai and a cinnamon dulce latte for himself. Both venti, of course. He pays with the gold card he has, the same one that Jazmin Cullen accidentally pilfered and returned. Once the transaction is complete he turns back to the young waitress. "As much as you like boats, I outta take you out on mine one of these days. Got a 104-foot Sanlorenzo, you'd get a kick out of it."

Fern beams proudly at Justin's appreciation of the flower, extra glad that she thought to buy it. "No water? Don't you need water to make a drink?" she asks, clueless. You can tell she doesn't frequent this place by her lack of knowledge of what a venti is. Or she's just too stubborn to call a large anything but a large. As she accepts the drink she murmurs, "Thank you, Justin." She moves to sit back where he had already been, unstrapping her bag to hang on the back of her chair. "Is that very big? Does it have a motor?" She may love boats, but she's not very schooled on them.

Justin can't help but smile at Fern's questions. Having grown up in the city, he would be equally as clueless if he were on Fern's home turf. "Means they have to use all milk or cream, no water in it. Comes out richer," he offers as he sits back down at the table after collecting his own drink. "As for the boat, it's fair sized. Yeah, twin diesel motors. Three decks, plus the bridge." Honestly, Justin doesn't know much about boats either. He bought a yacht because he could and he wanted one, not because he's a sailor of any sort. He can pilot it himself, most of the time, but that's about the extent of his knowledge.

Fern's brows lift in surprise, "Three decks? Good heavens, Justin, that's a cruise ship!" She grins with the teasing, pausing to take a small sip of her tea. "I'd love to go on it. Nobody ever asks me to go out on their boat." There's almost a note of petulance in this, because she does know at least one other guy with a boat who has never invited her out. So she takes the ferry. But the pout is short lived, and she blows on her tea to cool it.

"Not quite a cruise ship," Justin retorts with a chuckle. "And it's settled- we'll take the boat out one of these days. Haven't had much of a chance to take it out lately, been awful busy." He takes a drink of his latte as well. "So how have you been holding up?" the question has a more reserved expression, and the tone a bit of concern. After running into the werewolf twice in a week, Justin's concerned.

The distinct pleasure at the prospect of going out on Justin's 'cruise ship' tempers a bit as the topic shifts. Fern knows what he means, but glosses it. "Oh, great. I played some video games with friends the other day, and work has been great." There's no need to mention the new crop of nightmares, and they're really not so bad. Even if the werewolf gets top billing. "How are things with you? Slowing down at work any so you can take a breath now and then? I'm pretty impressed with you getting out of the office on your own today." The teasing is back, coming easily and comfortably.

Justin has a moderate talent for reading people, and he catches that Fern is being a bit more upbeat than she should be. He doesn't press the issue, however, and just nods. "Sound like fun," he comments before another sip of latte. "Glad things at work are good too. Yeah, managed to escape today. Things are slightly less hectic, but still pretty slammed. The MQ-28 is going into production, we're sending the first batch to Buckley AFB for a training squadron."

A light frown comes at the letters and numbers, and Fern pauses, trying to pull up the answer to her question before she asks it. But, no luck. "Which one is the MQ-28? That's not the BullShark one, is it?" Thankfully, she didn't slip and call it the Bullwinkle, which she's been known to do in her head from time to time.

The CEO makes a light pointing gesture toward Fern. "That's the one," he replies. "The BullShark drones are going to go live before the end of the year. It's a pretty big milestone for HI." He grins as he talks, and there's pride in his voice. Screw the dissenters, the project was a success. Every prototype has some quirks, and those still crying that it's a flawed design don't know anything. Or that's what Justin's telling himself, anyway.

"That's wonderful!" Fern even claps lightly, unabashedly pleased for him. "Do you have a next project lined up already?" She can't imagine Justin not having the next thing in the works, with as consumed with work as he can be.

Justin smiles, again honestly, at Fern's reaction. "Yeah, yeah, it's a pretty big deal. I'm hoping to be on-site for delivery and the first flights. Working on that with the Air Force." He pauses to take a drink and glance out the window. "Got a couple more projects running. About ready to get the video conferencing out the door, still working on the Safe Drive system and the airport scanners. Couple other things, but those are classified. And I'd rather not have to kill ya for telling ya about them." He offers Fern a bit of a wink, noting he's joking about the killing part.

Fern drinks as well, now that her tea is a little cooler, taking a second to appreciate the spiced tea with her eyes closed as she listens. Opening them again, she focuses on Justin. "That sounds exciting, getting to be there with the military when they take out your drones. Will there be generals and stuff?" Is that Air Force too? He gets a laugh with his joke, "Psht. I'm the best secret keeper you'll ever know, Justin Hammer. But I don't want you to worry that you might have to kill me anyway."

Hammer nods lightly. "Yeah, Air Force has generals too," he replies. "I'm sure they'll wanna see the first flights too. So I'll just have to see how everything pans out." He shakes his head lightly at her response to his joke. "I have enough to worry about, I don't wanna have to worry about killing one of the few people I call friend." Justin takes a deep breath, sitting back in his chair and relaxing a bit. It's the first time in weeks he's really been able to do so. "So, when do you wanna go out on the boat?"

"Good. I'd rather keep being your friend while alive and spare you the chore of killing me." Besides, there's a wolfman out there somewhere who might be more than willing to do that if he bumps into her again. "Hm... well, there's a holiday weekend coming up. Do you have plans already?"

The CEO gives a snorted chuckle and a shake of his head at the waitress' comment. "This weekend? Come to think of it, I don't think I do," he replies after thinking it over for a moment. "Yeah, pretty sure I'm free. We could get get food catered in, make a day of it. I figured you'd end up working this weekend, unless Anita closes the restaurant?" He figured Labor Day weekend would be a busy time at the restaurant. "You like seafood?"

Fern studies Justin as he pauses before answering her question, a musing smile on her lips. It grows again with his reply. "Great! I'll have my usual Sunday off, and Jerry said he'd work Monday for me since I've been covering so much for him, so we have our pick of days." She had been planning on spending the weekend avoiding thinking about the last family picnic of the summer that she was missing. At least, with everything there is to do in the city there isn't a lot of time to dwell on being homesick. "I love seafood."

"Excellent!" Justin says, leaning forward, putting his elbows on the table. "If you've got both days off, we could make it a two-day trip. Go down the coast a ways, then work our way back up." He picks up his cup, takes a drink, then stares at it for a moment, brows furrowing.

Blue eyes widen at the offer, and Fern looks about two second away from leaping over at Justin in joy. "Really? We can stay overnight on the boat?" She sounds like this is the most amazing thing that's ever been offered. Her face falls immediately, though, as Justin frowns into his cup. "What? You do have to do something already this weekend?"

Justin catches the look, and the tone of voice is hard to miss. He braces, just in case the young woman does pounce. Thankfully, he's spared. The question gets a headshake and he forces a chuckle. "No, no, nothing this weekend. I'll get everything arranged, and I'll give you a call to give you all the details." He'll have Jack get the catering arranged, and make sure that his usual captain is available for the trip.

That reassures Fern, and she sits back, taking a sip of tea, then planning. "Alright, so, for two days I'll only need one bag, I think." A thought occurs to her and her eyes widen, "Oh Justin, we should go dancing somewhere! You can't tell me you don't know how, I saw you at the Expo." There's a twinkle in her eyes, "I had no idea you could move like that. You looked like Michael Jackson." She doesn't even insert the obligatory Michael Jackson joke here, just let your mind wander a moment.

Dancing? Justin arches a brow then shakes his head. "Um, I don't know about that one. The Expo thing was kind of a spur of the moment idea." The Expo was one thing, but actually dancing for the sake of it? He snort-chuckles again at the Michael Jackson comment. "Really? Michael Jackson?"

"Don't say no!" Fern says quickly, holding her hands out as if to physically stop him, "Just.... think about it. We'll have a couple drinks, and then we'll dance like nobody is watching," she grins. "Alright, call me with the details then. And let me know what I should bring. I can get beer, or some snacks, or whatever."

Another chuckle. Oh, boy, a couple drinks too? That sounds like it could end very embarrassingly. Finally, Justin surrenders. "Alright, alright, I'll think about it," he says, holding his hands up, palm out, in surrender. "As for what to bring, don't worry about food. I'll have that covered."

Fern look somewhat dubious, but she doesn't argue the point. Surely she'll come up with something necessary to bring along that Justin hadn't thought of. "Thank you, Justin. I just know it's going to be so much fun. I can't wait to sleep on a boat." One part of her brain keeps working on what to bring, and she looks down at her empty cup. "Hey, that went quick. Or have we just been here for that long?" She looks up and around, looking for a clock.

Justin looks at his watch and blinks. "We've been here for a bit," he returns with a shrug. He isn't in nearly as much of a hurry to get back to work as he normally is. "And don't worry about it, Fern. I wouldn't mind taking the boat out anyway, and it's not as fun to go out by yourself." He finishes off his latte as well, looking down at the empty cup.

"Well, stand up and give me a hug," Fern says, twisting to get her bag, slinging it across her chest as she stands. "Then take a couple minutes and get your thoughts together before driving back to work." She's a big believer in the 'take a couple minutes' school of thought. Sometimes a person just needs a moment or two to recharge, take stock, and then forge ahead. Her hug is warm and tighter than usual, and her smile is bright as she looks up to his face. "I'm gonna catch the ferry back and head home. Talk to you when you call, Justin."

The CEO stands when Fern demands it. He finds her forwardness amusing on a couple levels. What is it with him and very assertive young females? He hugs the young waitress back. "I'll make sure to take a few, he replies. "And don't get yourself all worn out on boats, now, OK? I'll give you a call here soon."