No Use To Hope Now

It's surprisingly easy for Ivan to get a hold of Hope's cell phone number, but it's surprisingly difficult for the man to muster up the courage to dial it. Staring at the small slip of paper in his fingers, the man leans back in his office chair, taking a deep breath. He's on his lunch break, and will be for the next fourty minutes or so. He has the time to do this - but does he have the drive?

After a moment of self reflection, he curses underneath his breath before finally reaching for his cellphone and, quickly, pressing down the digits to connect with hers. Now, all he can do is listen to the dial tone and hold his breath, hoping she doesn't actually pick up.

Poor, poor Ivan. He's going to be sorely disappointed. Since Hope is on her way to work after class, she does fumble with the cell phone in her purse as she runs up the stairs to make it to the food court. "Hope Tyler," comes the eventual reply. She looks at the time, but she's not due to text Bobby just yet so it's doubtful that it's him calling and checking up on her.

"Hope," Ivan calls out, pausing slightly to give her time to process his familiar voice. And just in case the static has distorted it beyond recognition, he sighs. "It's me…Ivan Fontane? Listen, please don't explode. Just hear me out, okay? Do you have time to talk?" Uncomfortable as he is, he begins to tap his fingers restlessly against the top of the counters.

Twitch. The voice. The name. Hope is just… ugh. She would have much rather a surprise call from Bobby, but she will deal with this for the moment. "Did you lose my sister again? If you did," she says quite curtly, "I may just see to the restraining order after all…"

Hey! It's going better then he thought it would! At least Ivan has that to look forward to. "Did I - oh, no. No, Faith's just fine. But in that case, I assume that you do know she's bunking at my apartment. Then this should make my offer more compelling." Beat. There is a time out taken to order his thoughts. "I want to call a truce. For her sake. I don't want her, or you, to feel uncomfortable. I want you two to be able to spend time together, and I don't want any tension between us to make our lives any more miserable then it has to be. What d'you say?"

Hope grits her teeth together, a sound that is more than likely heard over the speaker of the phone. She considers simply hanging up on the man, but instead snorts. "How 'bout… no?" The teeth grit a little more and she extrapolates. "I don't like you, I don't trust you, and as much as I love my sister, I think you're a slimy bastard and not good enough for her. Prey on the mentally unstable much?" Pause. "I can spend time with her without you being involved, unless you're intending on locking her up."

Ivan is not entirely surprised by her reaction, although the resignation he faces her with is riddled with disappointment. "Really?" He sighs, and the sounds of him moving, shuffling in his spot can be heard. "You couldn't look past your blind hatred enough to treat a relative stranger with civility? Not even for your sister's sake? That's…disappointing."

"Let me put it to you this way," Hope says, anger apparent in her voice. "You've known her for what? Two, maybe three weeks? Most of which she's been institutionalized. Mentally weak and unstable. Yet, now she's /living/ with you. You want to explain to me how that's not extremely creepy and slimy?" Pause. "Besides which, while I'm sure my sister would like it if we were all buddy-buddy, it's not going to happen. Taking advantage of her killed any chance of civility you could possibly get from me." It's probably a very good thing that she's unaware just how far things may have progressed between her twin and this man. That might make her scream or shout, as opposed to just being cool.

It's funny - it's gotten to the point that Ivan isn't even offended by her vicious attacks. Her ranting is taken calmly, almost passively, sounded off with the periodic tapping of his fingers against the hard wood of his desk. "I could explain it to you, yes, but I don't think you'd like what you'd hear. It'd only upset you, so I'll refrain. But, if it's any consolation, she's free to go whenever she'd like. As much as it kills you to consider it, I'm not holding her hostage or anything. And I'm not the skeevy creep you seem to think I am." Beat. "Regardless, I wanted to extend the proverbial olive branch, so here I am. You're welcome to drop by the apartment anytime, provided one of us is around. A think you still remember the address, seeing as you submitted for it to be searched."

Oh, Hope's not ranting, not yet. She's merely making a very valid point. "Mr. Fontane, it's creepy no matter how you look at it. My sister was in an extremely incapacitated state the first time she was at your apartment. Then, you decided that it would be a wise decision to /date/ an extremely mentally incapacitated person, which wound up with her getting kidnapped and nearly killed." See, now that she knows what's going on, she's perfectly calm about it. "Excuse me for saying so, but only some sort of twisted individual who can't hope to have a /real/ relationship would prey on someone in that position." And all of it is offered in a point-of-fact manner, rather than her typical rant. "I wouldn't drop by your apartment if you paid me to do it."

"For someone who claims to love her, you don't give her very much credit, do you?" Ivan returns with the quirk of his lips. "But of course. I'm the monster here. How dare I even consider the fact that there might be a person, a woman beneath that exterior of fabled insanity. And it's funny, isn't it? How, now that her insanity has been lifted, she still doesn't seem to consider me some sort of predator? Anyway, I can see it's a lost cause. At least I can say I tried." And with this fairly optimistic sentiment, the man pauses. It would be so easy to insert some snappy zinger, about how it's better that she doesn't show up due to the nature of his relationship with Faith. So easy.

But he refrains. "Well. I hope you have a good life then, Hope. No pun intended."

"I don't /claim/ to love her, I /do/ love her, unlike you who's barely knows her." Should he say different, he'll probably shortly feel the wrath of Hope. "Fabled insanity? I'm certain if you asked her, she'd tell you that her inability to function for the better part of two years was indeed something insane. Considering that it was only until /I/ started taking care of her that she even /remotely/ started to come back to herself at all. As for why she doesn't see you as a predator, Mr. Fontane, she just doesn't know any better yet." There is only a small, small pause as she finishes. "And if you even /think/ of keeping her from seeing me, I will have no qualms in telling whoever asks where she is."

After which, he'll be soundly shown the dial tone. She /does/ have to get to work, and now she's got to calm herself down before dealing with the annoying people in the mall foodcourt.

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