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

[whenshewasnice]

"What's wrong with 'might'?" Natalie asked right back. "Did you want something more forceful?"

[necroslacker]

"Maybe more definitive," Sam clarified, shrugging. "Might sounds like there's a chance you wouldn't be unhappy if I jumped off a building."

[whenshewasnice]

"And saying neither of my books made you want to do that implies there's a chance some books out there might," she retorted. "You can exaggerate but I can't do the opposite?"

[necroslacker]

"Hey, I never said any book might make me jump off a roof," Sam pointed out. "I said your books didn't make me do that but I could have added that no book would make me do that because I don't take books that seriously."

[whenshewasnice]

"And I could have just said that you jumping off a building would make me sad," Natalie returned, "but I don't always like to spell things out."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, but wouldn't it have been easier to just say that?" Sam wondered, tilting his head until it almost rested against the door jamb.

[whenshewasnice]

"Probably." The problem was Natalie didn't care about 'easy'. That wasn't the principle she operated on for the most part, and even now there seemed to be an unspoken '... and your point is?' in the air.

"Couldn't you figure it out without that?"

[necroslacker]

"Probably," he echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Does it matter if I could have figured it out or not? Maybe I didn't wanna use my brain right then."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, tough," Natalie replied with a little counter eyebrow raise. "I won't dumb my speech down for your slacker brain."

[necroslacker]

"You make me sound so inept," Sam chided, shaking his head. "I could be offended right now. What if your speech was too tough for me and I just decided to walk away?"

He wasn't going to decide that.

[whenshewasnice]

"I would have to say 'good riddance' because people who can't take a challenge are boring." Sadly, that was pretty much the truth, too. "I'd be surprised but I would deal."

[necroslacker]

"You are hardcore," Sam said, pretending to be completely offended. "And you would miss me if I walked away."

[And I go to work!]

[whenshewasnice]

"Yes, and?" Natalie asked. "Sometimes things don't work out."

[*waves* Have a good day!]

[necroslacker]

"So, you wouldn't make any attempt to stop me if I decided to walk away?" Sam asked, curious.

[whenshewasnice]

"If you decided to walk away because my speech was too tough for you?" She felt fairly comfortable with the assumption that he wasn't going to do that. Comfortable enough to be honest about this. "No."

[necroslacker]

"Rough," he said, whistling. "What would it take for you to stop me?"

[whenshewasnice]

"A non-ridiculous reason for leaving, for one," Natalie shrugged. "There's no point to stopping someone who wants me to act dumber. Why would I want that?"

Maybe in a few years.

[necroslacker]

"I don't know," Sam admitted, shrugging a shoulder. "Some people act dumb when they care about someone else. Blinded by attraction or something."

[whenshewasnice]

"There's being blinded by attraction and then there's being asked to change who you are," Natalie countered dryly. "No, thank you."

[necroslacker]

"You haven't even invited me in," Sam pointed out, glancing down at where he was still pretty much standing outside her door. "Guess you're not that blinded."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm a fan of free will and initiative," Natalie quipped, glancing back at her room. "Maybe I thought you didn't need a specific invitation."

No, she just hadn't gotten around to that, even though the first part of her statement hadn't exactly been a lie, either. She looked at him again, with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Would you like to come in, Mr. LaCroix?"

[necroslacker]

"I would like to come in, Miss Adams," Sam said, smiling at her before he stepped inside. "And while I agree with your first statement, I didn't wanna just barge in if you were gonna be busy or didn't want company."

[whenshewasnice]

"How overly polite of you," Natalie drawled as she closed the door behind him. She liked a certain amount of privacy. "I'm not doing anything in particular."

Beyond her musical instrument related wonderings, that was.

[necroslacker]

"Guess that's lucky for me," he said, walking by her and making sure to let his fingers trail across her hip very lightly as he did. "Did you miss me while you were gone?"

[whenshewasnice]

It was stupid how such a minor thing could send a little thrill up her spine even as she was being her dry, mild self. Completely stupid, but also kind of nice and distracting.

"A little," she replied, turning around again. Just barely smiling.