Ene (impotentwaffle) wrote in politico,
@ 2010-01-04 13:12:00

Entry tags:

To Callaway, Backdated
"Are you sure I can't talk to him?" Parker said, clutching his manuscript to his chest. The publishing company had sent it back with a rejection letter and this was the last one Parker was going to take sitting down. He hadn't ever thought of getting an agent to do this sort of thing. All he knew about the writing industry was that he wanted in and damn if these people didn't tell him why his work wasn't good enough to get published when things like Twilight were being printed.

"No, Mr. Reigh. Mr. Sanders is in a meeting right now and even if he wasn't, it isn't likely that he would be able to take your request. He's very busy. Please, resubmit your manuscript at a later time." The woman was used to dealing with desperate writers who had been recently rejected by the company. Parker grit his teeth together and could hardly keep from slamming the stack of papers and the deceptively blithe manila envelope in which they'd sent his rejection down on the desk. He stood there, refusing to leave and the receptionist looked up at him blankly, stubbornly as their stand off began.

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-06 08:05 am UTC (link)

"Well aren't you dreamy," Parker quipped. He may have been making a snide comment, but it struck him how much it was true. He felt himself get light, warm, drawn to how relaxed and confident Callaway was. The man felt really safe and that wasn't something Parker thought about a lot of people. "And if you hate it do you think you'll still want to get to know me? I think that if I hated your writing, I wouldn't be nearly so interested in you. I think our writing is our personality. You can't put something shitty down on paper and expect people to still want to know you."

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halloweenish
2010-01-06 08:16 am UTC (link)

"I highly doubt it'll be shitty," Callaway said smoothly as he reached for the sugar to mix some in with his tea. "And I suppose you're right, we are what we write in a lot of ways. I mean, we're leaving a part of us behind for the rest of ... however long the earth is meant to be here. I think that maybe that makes whatever someone writes important in some way, even if it is shitty."

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-06 08:39 am UTC (link)

Parker quirked a brow. "Now how am I supposed to take your critique seriously if you go all zen on me?" But the sentiment was sweet and Parker rather liked it. Most of the stuff going on inside of Parker wasn't apparent on the outside, so he came across as terribly bitter and dry, but in reality, he was deeply affected by things. He kind of wanted to show that to Callaway, but he wasn't certain how to go about it.

Instead, he ate some more of his sandwich and drank his coffee quietly.

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halloweenish
2010-01-06 08:43 am UTC (link)

"Well, I don't write about vampires that sparkle, I think that at least warrents me some seriousness," Callaway replied happily. "I think that Twilight might be one thing that is just shitty, plain and simple, and it's a bit sad to think it's gotten so huge. There's nothing worse than going to the grocery store and seeinga middle aged woman in a Team Edward shirt."

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-06 08:59 am UTC (link)

"Especially since Jacob is clearly the hotter of the two," he laughed and nudged Callaway's foot under the table playfully. "I don't wear reading glasses, by the way. And I read on the floor. You know, just in case you wanted to imagine me reading your book." It felt almost like he was describing something dirty and he felt his heartbeat quicken. That just made him laugh some more though. Oh how naughty it was to read, how close it made them.

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halloweenish
2010-01-06 09:08 am UTC (link)

"Good to know," Callaway said with a flirtatious grin.

This was fun. It had been such a long time since he'd met someone that he was genuinely intrigued about, and attracted to. And so young. Parker was obviously much younger than him, but here he was, having lunch and flirting with the boy.

"I'd like to take you out to dinner," he said after a moment. He was taking a chance. Maybe Parker was just being friendly, maybe he wasn't flirting at all. Maybe he wasn't even interested in Callaway beyond his writing.

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-06 09:24 am UTC (link)

Parker looked down at the table, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Honestly? You wouldn't even have to take me out to dinner," he said shyly, implying that Callaway might already be right where he wanted to be for something more than just reading each other's manuscripts. Parker really liked the man and he wasn't the type to go much farther past like before hopping into bed with someone. Granted, he was impulsive and self-destructive so he didn't have the best judgement. He was completely offering himself up, but not in a very deep way.

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halloweenish
2010-01-06 09:29 am UTC (link)

That hadn't been the response that Callaway was expecting, and he arched a brow in slight surprise before his expression softened. He let his hand reach across the table with ease, and he took a hold of Parker's, letting the tips of his fingers brush against the inside of the younger man's palm.

"I want to take you to dinner," he said again. "And more than that, yes, but dinner first. I'd like to know all of your smiles first. Or most of them, at the very least."

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-06 06:51 pm UTC (link)

People usually just took him up on the offer and when Callaway didn't, he looked very perplexed. Parker didn't go farther than a hookup, friends with benefits or acquaintances with benefits to be more precise. The way Callaway touched his hand made warmth crawl up his neck. Easily, his hand opened up, like the other had hit some release button and his fingers relaxed, allowing the touch to continue instead of pulling away like he might normally do.

"Oh," he said with mixed emotion. "Well, what about all of my frowns?"

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	halloweenish 2010-01-07 12:33 am UTC (link)
	Callaway let Parker draw his hand away, and he smiled softly as he met the younger man's eyes. He liked the question, he found it honest and sweet. "Those, too," he replied quietly, and he picked up his cup of tea to have a sip. He wet his lips once he'd swallowed the warm, soothing liquid. "So can I? Take you to dinner?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

impotentwaffle
2010-01-07 05:52 am UTC (link)

He was having a hard time not staring at Callaway's mouth as his tongue swept across his lips. "Hm?" he sounded as if he'd suddenly been far away and was just coming back to reality. "Oh. Right. Yes. Dinner sounds nice." He nodded firmly. Even if he was nervous about opening up to someone, letting someone in, dinner wasn't exactly a commitment, right? He could stay safe, stay as closed off as possible. And it certainly wouldn't be awful spending time with this guy.

"I'll probably have quite a bit of your book done by then too." He figured four or five hours would give him a good start on it, and he was always eager to share his opinions.

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did liam ever tell reagan much about his and chancellor's relationship and would you wanna do a

halloweenish
2010-01-07 06:04 am UTC (link)

backstory thread on that mayhaps?]

Callaway's expression brightened considerably at Parker's answer, and he set his cup down so that his fingertips could graze against the edge of the envelope that held Parker's manuscript.

"I'll probably be finished with most of this too," he agreed, "That'll give us plenty to talk about. Maybe I should cook you dinner instead, I hate the noise of restaurants when I'm trying to discuss writing. Too much distraction, you know?"

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He probably told Reagan everything; they seem to have that type of 'ship. And yeah let's play that!

impotentwaffle
2010-01-07 06:38 am UTC (link)

Parker finished his sandwich and then wrapped both of his hands around the warm cup of coffee and leaned back in his chair. "At your place?" he smiled and quirked a brow as if he'd caught on to some grand scheme to get him to Callaway's home. That was certainly fine by him.

"I think that sounds good. We can really talk. I'd better get reading actually. I'll walk you to your car so you can give me your book?" He dug in his pocket to pull out cash enough for the whole check. He'd said he was taking Callaway out to lunch and he planned on making good on that.

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I'll start it :]

halloweenish
2010-01-07 06:49 am UTC (link)

"Yes, at my place," Callaway said with a smile.

While most men would probably use making someone a meal as a ploy to get them to their home, making it easier to get someone into bed, Callaway genuinely just wanted a good conversation and a good environment to have one in. That wasn't to say that nothing would happen, of course, but he certainly wasn't planning anything.

"That sounds excellent, thank you for lunch," he told Parker as he got to his feet and plucked up the manilla envelope to tuck it beneath his arm. He led the way to the door and held it open for Parker before he slipped out behind him.

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Woo!

impotentwaffle
2010-01-07 06:57 am UTC (link)

Parker hesitated, expecting Callaway to be opening the door for himself. When he realized that he was holding it open for him, he laughed a little. "Do you try to be charming, or is that just natural?" He waited for Callaway to lead him to his car, really curious to see what he drove.

He glanced down at his manuscript in Callaway's hand. He was sure the man wouldn't like it, or worse yet, he would like it but be completely freaked out by its vast sadness. He knew he could put people off with his personality and he really didn't want that with this man.

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halloweenish
2010-01-07 07:07 am UTC (link)

"Natural, I guess," Callaway replied with a warm laugh.

He fell into an easy stride, both of his hands tucked into the pockets of his black slacks while Parker's manuscript was pinned neatly between Callaway's side and arm. His car was silver and sleak, an old vintage 1968 Mustang. Callaway preferred the classics over the new stuff, and he was absolutely in love with his car, mostly because he liked the history it held.

"One second," he said as he fished his keys out of his pocket and unlocked the car, and the inside was just as pristine as the outside. He grabbed his messenger bag and pulled out a stack of papers bound together, and as he handed it over to Parker he smiled. "I suppose I should write down my address for you. What time will you be coming over?"

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-07 08:04 am UTC (link)

Parker stared at the pile of paper in his hand. When he was in the hospital, he'd become a big fan of Callaway's work. This was kind of like the holy grail and before this moment he hadn't fully connected the man in front of him with the Callaway Martin of those books. He held onto it a little too tightly, half afraid he'd wake up and this would all have been a strange dream.

"Yes, you should." He offered him his hand as a scrap of paper for the address. Really he just wanted Callaway to have to touch him long enough to write the address on his skin. "How about 7:30?"

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halloweenish
2010-01-07 08:09 am UTC (link)

Callaway tucked Parker's manuscript away into the his messenger bag and put it back inside of the car after he'd snagged a pen from it, and he took Parker's offered hand to write down his address. His handwriting was surprisingly clean, smooth, and neat.

"I'll see you at 7:30 then," he said as he held onto Parker's hand for a moment, then gently let go. "Any requests for dinner? I make really amazing spaghetti and meatballs."

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-07 08:52 am UTC (link)

Wallowing in the way the pen felt gliding across his skin, Parker stared at the marks left by Callaway. He didn't recognize the street and would need to look it up when he got home. "Amazing spaghetti and meatballs it is then," he smiled.

When 7:30 rolled around, Parker was not there. He'd stood plenty of people up before, but that was not the case here. He'd lost track of time reading the man's new novel and now he was sitting on a bus, looking at his watch every five seconds. He hadn't thought to get Callaway's number so he couldn't call him to let him know he'd be late. It was nearly 8:15 by the time Parker found himself booking it from the bus stop down the street toward Callaway's place. He didn't want the man to think he wasn't coming. When he got there, he was out of breath and leaned against the door with one hand, gasping for air before he managed to knock. He looked utterly disheveled, winded.

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halloweenish
2010-01-07 08:59 am UTC (link)

Parker hadn't been the only one who'd gotten lost in reading. By the time Callaway looked up at the clock, it was nearly 7. He'd meant to start cooking a half an hour ago, but instead of panicking about it he got up to start. When 8 o'clock rolled around, he was a little surprised that Parker wasn't there yet, but he wasn't worried that the boy wouldn't show. By the time he heard the knock on the door, he'd just stirred the sauce and put the noodles on, and when he went to answer the door he smiled a little bit.

"I guess I wasn't the only one who over-read," he said, as if over-reading was just like oversleeping. "Come on in," he added with a friendly wave.

His apartment was neat. Old antique furniture made up the bulk of it, but it was oddly comfortable, lived in, well used. The flooring was made up of a rich dark hardwood, and he had a stack of books sitting by the fireplace.

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-07 06:43 pm UTC (link)

"I was afraid you'd think I wasn't going to show up. I've done that to a lot of people and I kept thinking that it was karma for all those times, that I wouldn't make it when I really wanted to." It was clear that Parker tended to make mountains out of molehills and he got the feeling that Callaway was exactly the opposite. That would be good for him, he thought to himself.

The apartment was amazing. Parker's was, of course, a little hole in the wall and utterly messy by comparison. "It smells good," he said as he relaxed a bit from running and angsting over whether or not Callaway would be mad that he was late.

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halloweenish
2010-01-07 09:50 pm UTC (link)

"I got carried away with reading your manuscript, I just figured you'd probably done the same - which I take as a compliment, by the way," Callaway said as he shut the door and put a hand to Parker's back to lead him towards the open kitchen area.

"I just put the noodles on. Shouldn't take long for them to get ready, are you thirsty? Would you like something to drink? I have water, wine, beer, juice, and soda."

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-07 11:29 pm UTC (link)

"Beer would be good," he said quickly. It might take the edge off. "And yeah, you're right. That's exactly what happened. I'm nearly finished actually--didn't even get up to go to the bathroom. Speaking of which, where is yours?" The book had been exciting and intricate and like always, Parker had been transported. He couldn't believe that he'd been among the first to read it.

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halloweenish
2010-01-08 04:51 am UTC (link)

To hear that Parker was enjoying his novel so much was relieving to Callaway. While he'd grown a little confident in his writing over the years, and because of his success, there were times when he still felt a bit insecure. He really wanted to impress Parker, and he didn't quite grasp that he all ready had impressed the younger man, and had been for years through his books.

His current book focused more on an Egyptian historical mystery rather than religious history, though there was some religion mixed in. He'd gone to college and majored in religion studies, wanting to know as much as he could about the topic, and minored in history. It paid off, too. All that he'd learned, he used in his writing.

"I've nearly finished yours, too," Callaway smiled as he went to snag two beers from the fridge. "It's down that way," he added with a nod. "First door on the left."

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impotentwaffle
2010-01-08 05:55 am UTC (link)

He was incredibly nervous to hear what Callaway thought of his book. He paused, trying to glean what information he could from the way Callaway was speaking. Nearly finished yours too. He couldn't quite decipher the deeper meaning of that. Then again, there probably wasn't some cryptic meaning behind it, Parker was just looking for one.

Heading off to the bathroom, Parker was thankful to have a moment to catch his breath. While he was there, he could not resist looking inside of Callaway's medicine cabinet.