Room 223, Early Monday Evening

[whenshewasnice]

It was already the evening when Natalie made it back from Montreal. Leaving had been harder than it should have been, somehow. Being sure of the basics of how the world functioned provided a kind of comfort she couldn't help feeling. And maybe clinging to, just a little. It had been a good weekend, by her standards. Reading, music, a few walks around the city that happened to coincide with a phonecall or two back to Fandom.

And now she was here again. She'd dropped her bag on her bed and taken off her jacket, and right now... She was standing in the middle of the room, looking around and wondering whether there was room for a keyboard, and whether Tara would mind, and whether she'd actually play even if she did get one. Her parents had offered to pay for one, after an idle mention of having played something on the Fall Break. Privately, she thought they were offering mostly so she'd keep the skill up and keep playing songs for family at Christmas.

Regardless, she was considering it. She just wasn't coming to any sort of a conclusion.

[ooc: Open door, open post, I'm on Fall Break now myself, whoot.]

Comments

[necroslacker]

If she wasn't going to move, Sam was gonna take a few steps closer to her again. He ended up within arms reach but not enough to really crowd her yet.

"Me too. Just a little," he said, giving her a brief smile of his own. "Did you tell your parents about me?"

Well, she got to hear his friends not know about her and she gotten to ask!

[whenshewasnice]

"I may have mentioned you in passing." Though mostly because her parents had prodded her about whether she was making friends, and she'd had to say something about someone to get them to stop.

It was entirely possible they thought he was a girl, even. "Briefly."

[necroslacker]

"Briefly's better than not at all, isn't it?" he asked, tilting his head and letting his smile widen the smallest amount. "I mentioned you to my mom when she called me this weekend. She's curious."

[whenshewasnice]

"Hm." No, Natalie still wasn't too overt with her reactions. But, she actually moved just a bit closer to him. Out of her own free will, even. "I hear some moms are like that."

[necroslacker]

"It might shock you to know considering my reputation as an out of control ladies man, but I actually didn't know too many girls outside of Brooke back home."

Well, Brid. But. Yeah.

"My landlord used to lecture me all the time about getting a girlfriend. I guess I can't blame my mom for being curious."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie snorted at the idea of his fake reputation and tilted her head slightly at the rest. "No, guess not," she agreed. "So, what kind of a mention was it?"

[necroslacker]

"She was wondering how I ended up reading the book I was reading," Sam shared, shrugging. "And so I told her. And she wanted to know more and I gave her some but not everything."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie gave the slightest nod. "Everything would be too much." Though she couldn't help wondering what 'everything' covered with them, right now. "Private, and all that."

[necroslacker]

"She was satisfied with what I gave her," Sam replied, nodding. "She didn't need to know more than that though I'm sure she'll ask. Maybe I'll give her your phone number."

He wouldn't do that. His mom wouldn't call and interrogate but still, she probably would call.

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't take calls from numbers I don't know," Natalie replied. So, while she was fairly sure he was joking, she was also fairly sure she wouldn't get phone-ambushed on the off chance he wasn't. "In general."

[necroslacker]

"You're not adventurous at all," Sam noted with a slight smirk. "What if the person on the other end of that wrong number was the man and/or woman of your dreams?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Then maybe they'll leave a message," Natalie drawled. "In that already highly improbably scenario."

[necroslacker]

"You answered all my calls," Sam said, taking a step closer to her which brought them pretty much toe to toe. "I don't think I'm the man of your dreams, after all."

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't dream of men," Natalie returned, choosing to take it literally. Todd didn't count; whenever she had dreams of him, they were always still kids. "Sorry."

[necroslacker]

"What am I to you?" Sam asked, deciding he'd just ask a tough question of his own since she was going to be literal and amusingly irritating.

[whenshewasnice]

That threw Natalie for a loop, just slightly. She didn't even blink, though, but then with her that wasn't really saying much.

"You're Sam."

There was probably more to her answer than just that.

[necroslacker]

"I'm Sam to everyone," he pointed out, shaking his head. "What am I to you?"

He wasn't going to let her get away with that answer that easily.

[whenshewasnice]

"As if that means you can't be Sam to me, too," Natalie retorted, tilting her head again, just a little. "Fine. You're the only person on Fandom I missed when I went home. You're the guy I like."

[necroslacker]

One corner of Sam's mouth lifted and he reached to run the tips of his fingertips down one of her arms. That had been a good answer. It was good to actually hear it.

"Thanks," he murmured, looking back up at her. "Sometimes I just like to hear that."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie gave him a little twitch of a smile back, glancing down at his hand and her arm before looking up at him again. "So what am I to you?"

He shouldn't be surprised she wanted to know.

[necroslacker]

"You're Natalie," he said, doing it deliberately since she hadn't given him a more thorough answer right off the bat. He had to match her difficulty for difficulty if he could.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie rolled her eyes in a somewhat good-natured manner at that. "Not even Nat? I'm Natalie to everyone," she drawled, making a show of going through the same motions he had. "What am I to you, Samhain?"

[necroslacker]

"Samhain?" he asked, making a little face at that. "You're Natalie to me. You're Nat to me too. But, you're also the girl I like and the girl I think about when I'm laying in bed at night not sleeping. It helps relax me."

[whenshewasnice]

"It does?" It was one of those rare times that Natalie's expression was just... open. Honest curiosity. "Huh."

Well, it was something to think about.

[necroslacker]

"Yeah." He shrugged, not seeing it as a huge thing. "Sometimes I've got a lot on mind and just wanna lay there and relax. It helps to think of someone who relaxes me when I'm around her."

[And away I go!]