Subway Cars & Lonely Hearts

thirtyfive/irl/

italics ~ elliot

bold ~ carter

underline ~ leo

tuesday september 18th 6:58 pm est

carter walked off the stage into the makeshift green room, expecting to walk into one of leo's famous lectures. instead, his manager sat on a cushy gray chair in the corner of a room, typing away on his cell phone. 

"before you ask," leo began, "I was mad at first, but the internet is going insane over the verse you sang, so your pr team thinks the leak was good."

"someone posted it already?"

"you're trending on twitter, bud. everyone wants to know who it's about." leo turned his phone around to show him that #cartersgirl was in fact already trending.

"fuck, paps are gonna be on me all night now, i wanted to try and take her out, you know? do something special, impress her." carter rubbed the back of his neck as he sat down on the black leather loveseat, "now i'm screwed."

before leo could respond, his phone began to ring, "it's the label, i have to take this. don't stress carter, she'll love anything you guys end up doing and you know it."

leo then left the room in search for better signal, leaving carter alone. a few moments later, there was a soft knock on the door before it opened, as elliot let herself into the room. carter immediately felt the worry move to the back of his mind as a subconscious smile spread over his face. 

"so i have good news and bad news, paparazzi are crowding the front entrance as we speak. but, i just so happen to have access to the staff entrance where there are exacly zero people waiting for you."

"hard choice, but i think i'm going to have to go with door number two on that one."

"oh, also, before i forget, i brought you a hat and glasses from the fashion closet, i know it's not much but i thought it could help just in case." she fiddled with her fingers.

"that's perfect, thanks el." he said, putting them on, "now let's go."

the two were able to exit the office building without a hitch, and were walking the streets of new york, talking and laughing. their relationship (status unconfirmed) had transferred seamlessly from a digital one to a real one, making their interactions effortless. 

elliot was in the middle of telling carter a story about one of her college classes, when she pulled him into a little market place along the street with a grin on her face. "i assume going to a restaurant is out of the question right now, so we're going to have dinner in the wonderful ristorante grace and elliote, except no grace tonight because she had to go home and help her moms move."

"oh yes, i heard that fine establishment just received their fourteenth michelin star, i'd be honored."

"that's true, the food there is so fresh that you get to watch me buy the ingredients right now."

"and what will we be eating on this fine evening?"

"hmm, good question," her eyes skimmed over the baskets of produce, "thoughts on eggplant?"

"there's a sex joke in there somewhere but i'm going to ignore it. sounds great."

"shut up or i'll call tmz on you right now," she tried to sound serious despite the smile on her lips. "go make yourself useful and grab a box of pasta."