Room 223, Monday Afternoon

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie had survived her first Fandom High Parents Weekend. It really wasn't much of an accomplishment when she hadn't had any guests of her own, but whatever. She gathered it was still some kind of a landmark, even if she'd spent the majority of it just reading and watching stuff on her own. She just liked it better that way.

And hey, she'd still managed to get what she supposed was a variation of the 'if you hurt him' speech from Sam's friends, so that was something.

But now it was Monday, and it was time to get back into gear. And for Natalie, this meant sitting on her bed with a cup of coffee, studying German from the book in front of her.

She led such an exciting life.

[ooc: Post open, door halfway open. And not the other way around like I typed first.]

Comments

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, I guess so," he said fairly noncommittally. He shrugged and tried not to focus on the tension he could feel. That wouldn't do him any good. "But, I didn't sleep last night. I bet it's from there."

Or not but it was as good an excuse as anything else he had.

[whenshewasnice]

"You should sleep," she said, half sighing the words. Something was still making her feel like that was an excuse but she had no real intention to push. "Take a nap or something."

[necroslacker]

"It's not always that easy for me but yeah, I know," Sam said, shaking his head. "I don't sleep well most of the time. I just had a worse time of it this weekend. It happens. It's happened all my life."

He didn't like wearing the pouch his mother had given him since that suppressed the part of him that had made him feel whole but not wearing it meant a lot of nightmares and ghostly visitors.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie gave the slightest little nod. "I gathered as much back when you felt the need to specify you hadn't had any nightmares."

Well, no, she'd just retained that tidbit from the post-crazy morning and put it together with other things just now. But anyway.

"Sucks, I'm sure."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah." He wasn't gonna deny that. It sucked. He wasn't going to give it up but it did suck. "Insomnia's good for other things, I suppose."

He got a lot of...staring done.

"Anyway, I'll be fine. I'll find some time to sleep and the circle of life will repeat except without any loud chanting and all. Welcome to my life."

[whenshewasnice]

"Glad to be here," Natalie said, lightly, responding to a sarcastic statement with something approaching honesty because she could. Because it was the unexpected thing to do. "So, what are you going to do now?"

[necroslacker]

"I dunno," he said honestly, threading his fingers through his hair and sighing. "Something? If I leave it general enough like that, it gives me lots of options, doesn't it?"

[whenshewasnice]

"It does," Natalie agreed. "But also doesn't really answer my question."

Not that she looked the least bit upset about that.

[necroslacker]

"I don't have a good answer to your question," Sam told her, shrugging. "I don't know what I'm going to do now. Stand here? Talk to you? Think about England? No idea."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, pick one and see where it goes," Natalie suggested, tilting her head. "Isn't that how you and I have been doing things so far?"

[necroslacker]

"I'm already standing here, aren't I?" he asked, spreading his arms and looking down at his feet. "Doesn't that mean the choice is made for me already?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Well you were already standing there when I asked what you were going to do and you said you didn't know," she pointed out. "I sort of assumed that no, it's not."

[necroslacker]

"You trying to confuse me?" Sam wondered, raising an eyebrow. He decided to try a different (albeit one probably doomed to get him nowhere) tact. "What are you gonna do now?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, I'm not going to try to confuse you, because you do that well enough on your own," she quipped, getting up and picking up her German text book off the nightstand. "Other than that, haven't decided."

[necroslacker]

"Guess that means we're both at a loss here," Sam replied, leaning back against her door and shrugging. "So, what now?"

He'd been set to leave and then he'd gotten sidetracked with...a fairly circular conversation.

[whenshewasnice]

Business as usual, then. Natalie took the book to her desk and set it neatly down in a pile with all her other school books.

"I didn't necessarily mean I was at a loss," she noted, as she moved one of the figures on her desk. "Just that I haven't decided yet."

[necroslacker]

"Uh huh." Sam wasn't sure how much more of this circular conversation he could take. He hadn't been lying when he said he was tired even if that had been an excuse for his tension.

He stayed still for the moment though, using that as an excuse to watch her do...whatever she was doing. He was indulging himself, yes.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie moved some stuff around, idly spending a moment reorganizing some of the stuff on her desk. Quietly.

And even when she turned around and slowly made her way over to him and the door, watching him, she didn't say anything. Silence didn't bother her. She stopped once she was in front of him but not exactly in his personal space, then tilted her head a little, like she was considering something.

[necroslacker]

Sam almost felt a little exposed under a look like hers. He almost wanted to look away because maybe that would hide the secrets he could swear she'd be able to pick out just by looking at him.

He didn't look away though. He blinked a few times and watched her face for some indication of what she was looking for.

[whenshewasnice]

She wasn't really looking for anything in particular, just... making up for something she hadn't really felt comfortable doing over the weekend.

When she slowly reached out to carefully touch her fingertips to his cheek, that was kind of the same thing too.

[necroslacker]

Her initiative there almost surprised him. He inhaled quietly, almost like he wanted to hold his breath when her fingers touched his skin. He didn't know what she'd feel, if he was hot or cold, or anything else.

He didn't know if she was looking for something or just...touching him because she wanted to. And he knew he could have asked but he didn't.

[whenshewasnice]

And since he didn't ask, she didn't feel the need to tell him. She just slid her fingertips along his cheek, back towards his ear. Then she flattened her palm against his cheek, gently.

Without a word.

[necroslacker]

It was the 'without a word' that was making him...it was strange. He knew she didn't talk a lot and he wasn't a chatterbox either but still. She was touching him like she was and she was utterly quiet about it.

Sam decided he'd stay quiet too for as long as he could. It wasn't like this didn't feel good to him. He liked when she touched him and he liked how her hand felt against his skin. He could stay quiet and wait.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie kept her hand where it was and just... watched. In a few years, she'd be pretty much able to make people do her bidding with a single silent look, but this wasn't like that. This was a little softer than that, even if she wasn't giving much away.

She liked this too, though she was already wondering whether being silent would turn into some kind of a competition.

[necroslacker]

Sam wasn't trying the silence into a competition. He just wasn't sure where she was going with everything. He'd never been able to tell so he tended to wait and see.

He idly licked his lips but, besides blinking, he didn't move much else. His back was against her door and his eyes were on her and his feet weren't moving. So, his silence lengthened.