A Dark And Quiet Room

This was cross-posted to the Forge. You might find the discussion there of interest.

The Third Date, or Trials and Tribulations

And so, the third date started after an angry confrontation between Candy and her father. She decides to drive to Lester’s place in the projects. She doesn’t call ahead; she’s never been there before. But she needs to see him.

Of course, this means that she catches him at his worst. He’s lounging around the house in his boxers. Pizza boxes are scattered everywhere. The kids are running around like maniacs. And Candy shows up at his door in tears.

Eventually, they end up sitting out front on the steps. She’s talking about her father; he’s talking about his ex.

Compatibility: Family is hard

Then, both of their jobs conspire to interfere. Someone showed up to give Lester money for drugs. He tried to wave him off, but he eventually just takes the money. Then Candy’s cell phone started ringing again. In frustration, she threw it against the wall, shattering it.

Compatibility: Job struggles

Candy told Lester that he doesn’t have to keep selling drugs. He could be into sales in some other field. She has seen how well he does. He is discouraged, though. He’s tried to get other work, but he can’t, because of his criminal record. He doesn’t actually like selling drugs, but he does need to put food on the table for his kids. And now, of course, he’s going to lose them…

But she is undeterred. He could clean up his life, and she would be with him to help.

Compatibility: Us against the world

She offered to take him and his children out to Chuck-E-Cheese. He accepted. So they got the kids heading out the door. As they do, Lester picked up the cigarette case with his joints, but she stopped him. “Leave them here. For me?” He paused for a moment but then agreed.

The trip to Chuck-E-Cheese was successful, although Lester discovered that Candy is not a good driver. Eventually, they found themselves back at the apartment. The kids charged into the house to get ready for bed, while Candy and Lester stood outside. He started fumbling around for a joint to smoke, but of course it wasn’t on him, because it was inside. Candy touched him. “You don’t need that,” she said.

Lester paused and then nodded. “You’re right. I don’t.”

They kissed good-night.

Aftermath and Coda

In the final analysis, we had 6 Attraction and 6 Compatibilities. A happy ending for us! Yay! So we answered the three questions.

Do they stay together after the third Date?

Absolutely.

When did your character fall in love with the other?

Candy fell in love with Lester when he gave her a star.

Lester fell in love with Candy when she affirmed his ability to get a job that wasn’t drug dealing and promised to stand by him while he did.

What are the long-term chances for this relationship?

Well, this is what we figured out.

Lester lost full custody of the children. So he went into drug rehab and got clean. Then he started a restaurant with Candy being a major investor. She financed the restaurant by selling her house. Somewhere in there they got married.

The restaurant was a success…eventually. But they burned through a lot of the initial investment money. So they live in an apartment over the restaurant.

Lester is back in court, fighting for full custody of his sons. His ex is still a junkie and a loser, so he’s hoping that the judge will look favorably on him.

Candy is pregnant. So her mother put her foot down. She wants to be able to see her grandchildren, even if they will be bi-racial. Her husband will just have to deal with it. So, Lester and Candy just had dinner with her parents for the first time. It wasn’t awful.

Because they are living in an apartment over the restaurant, Candy can’t have a landscaped garden like she used to. I imagine that she still putters about with potted plants and the like, but her days of open landscaped yards are gone.

But they still have the stars.