Pic-a-nic Basket (closed)

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare shook his head in disbelief. He'd never seen Keith insecure like this, with the possible exception of their run-in with Skylar. Even then he'd been able to stick up for himself, though. It wasn't just his inability to command Elouai, but the uncomfortable silence he'd held onto as he'd followed in his and Michael's wake.

Dare gave Matthew a meaningful look, then headed off to dig a ball out of the diaper bag. "Here," he said, stepping up beside Keith. "Tell her to sit. Use your man voice. Tell her to sit and stay, and don't throw the ball until she sits for a few seconds."

[Keith Evans]

Keith didn't know what to do with pets and kids, especially when they belonged to someone else. It would be so easy to do something wrong and mess things up and he really didn't want to do that. He had led a successful life of avoiding situations where he might be put in a position to control a dog or take care of a kid. "I'm just not as good with...things with brains."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Dare looked aside at Keith, wondering again what this was about. "This doesn't have anything to do with Elouai, does it?" The first time they'd met, Keith had said he liked dogs. They'd talked about her for a while. Keith had knelt and talked to her. "What's going on?"

[Keith Evans]

"Damn it, I don't know, Dare, I'm off today," Keith said, shaking his head. The first time he had met the dog there hadn't been nearly as much going on in his life. And she had been on a leash. And she hadn't attacked him. He glanced over his shoulder at the others, but quickly looked away.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Why?" Dare asked, his voice low, but firm. If Keith was miserable, it would drag the whole day down, and no one needed that. "This have anything to do with Trent?" All he'd heard was bits of classroom gossip, but he knew something had happened, and it just so happened to coincide with Keith's sudden retreat.

[Keith Evans]

"It's between him and Rowan," Keith said, then glanced back at the others again. "Can we not talk about it here?" He didn't want to get into it if he didn't have to, but he recognized that he couldn't enjoy the day right now. Maybe he shouldn't have come after all.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Yeah, sure," Dare said, then turned back to Michael. "Hey, Keith and I are going to take Elouai around, get some of her energy out," he said. Whether that was what Keith had meant or not, that was how he'd decided to take it. He clipped Elouai's leash back on without waiting for Keith's okay, then gestured toward the path.

[Keith Evans]

Keith was silent until they were a little further away from the group. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was so...off today. I was at my place talking to Rowan and Trent came up and knocked on the door. I told him I couldn't be with him then, I could see him the next day, though. Then he kind of showed that something was up and by the time I found him he had found Jory. Trent put his f~ing wand to his head."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"To Jory's head?" Dare asked, immediately concerned. "Oh, to his own? Wow, either way that's pretty bad. It's a good thing you noticed there was something wrong, you know?" He wanted to say more, but there were some things he hadn't told anyone but Michael, and even then he hadn't gone into much detail. Still, those things came to mind, and Dare quieted.

[Keith Evans]

"To his own head, I'd already told Jory to leave. I hadn't even wanted to go after Trent, Rowan told me to," Keith said, refusing to look at Dare. "I don't know what the hell set him off that night. Damn it, if Rowan hadn't been over, I would have handled it better." The talk with Kane afterward had helped, but he couldn't help but still feel the same guilt and sense of responsibility, though perhaps to a lesser degree.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"What's up with Rowan?" Dare asked. "He's married, right?" As far as he was concerned, that meant there was no reason for extracurricular activities, at least not the kind that the man had been having with Keith.

[Keith Evans]

Keith sighed heavily, "Well, yeah. But the thing is...they got a love potion on accident and got married because of it. Now she's pregnant and won't give him a divorce." It was complicated and frustrating. "He wanted to keep going like we had before, that's what we were talking about when Trent showed up."

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"Oh." That explained a lot. Still, it left even more open. "Were you really going to do that?" Any respect Dare had for Rowan as a coworker dropped, and he wondered about Keith as well. It was times like this that he was glad he was married. As exciting as it could be going out with someone new, he didn't miss the drama.

[Keith Evans]

Keith shoved his hands in his pockets. "I don't know, Dare," he said. "He said he couldn't do it when I was having sex with someone else. But there were times when we were together...where it felt like there could be something serious, and he was willing to continue...but there's Shianni..." He shook his head and looked determinedly at the spot in front of him. "It doesn't matter, we decided not to try anything, for our sanity's sake. He suggested I should start dating." Even if it felt like they would end up doing something again.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

"You can't have sex with anyone else, but he can get his wife pregnant?" Dare asked, baffled at the seeming hypocrisy. But they'd decided not to do anything, so maybe it was more confusion than hypocrisy after all. "Okay, so you and Rowan are just friends. What about Trent? There any potential with him?"