Outside Natalie's Apartment, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday

[whenshewasnice]

This morning had been the first time Natalie had actually freaked out over what she was doing with her life at the current moment. It didn't last long, and she'd been expecting it to happen the entire week she'd been here, but still. She got up, checked the news through scifi technology, and freaked out (albeit in a mild, internalized, Natalie-like fashion) for a good ten minutes about the reality of being here – in Haiti, in the future – instead of at college following a plan she'd set out for herself years ago.

And then it had passed, and she'd been able to focus on what was going on in the world again.

But maybe that was still the reason why she'd felt like inviting Jim over tonight. She'd dressed it up as celebrating her first complete week here, of course, but maybe some of it was just the reassurance of a friendly face who wasn't also a politician. So, she'd called him, and told him they were going to go have a nice dinner so he needed to wear his best (he wasn't as hard to convince as he liked to pretend) to go with her dress. And he'd showed up, and they'd had their nice dinner with appropriate conversation – she was pretty particular about not seeming in any way weird or inappropriate here – and now they were just heading to hers. Stepping into the elevator.

"I live on the top floor," she shared, as she pressed the corresponding button. "Has quite the view."

[ooc: NFB, reserved for that dude. Early because timezones, and I'm a rebel.]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

"The reason why you left the room, the way you left the room? Annoying."

He knew the reasons behind her leaving, he wasn't dumb.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie gave his tie an absent little tug.

"Well, I was annoyed by you first."

[pursuedthestars]

"Why? Because I said one word? Because I acted in the same exact way as I always have? That annoyed you? Swell."

Still a little annoyed, yes.

[whenshewasnice]

"Because you shut down a topic that's only going to pop up later," she replied. "Yes. I was annoyed."

[pursuedthestars]

Jim shook his head again and let his expression fall back into irritation.

"I didn't shut anything down, I was being coy. You don't want to know anyway and I was trying to tease you. But, I'll know not to do it again."

[whenshewasnice]

"Teasing me? That's what we're going with?"

Natalie. That was not a helpful tone at all.

"Because it didn't feel like it. And you're usually better than that at teasing."

[pursuedthestars]

"Let me go," Jim said, pushing her hands away and brushing past her. "I'm not sticking around to be judged for a one word, completely innocent response. I'm not. Better things to do."

[whenshewasnice]

"I will judge you all I want if you refuse to see the contexts of your words," Natalie informed him, turning as he moved past her. "You know it's a touchy subject. You'd just said as much."

[pursuedthestars]

"I said one word! It's barely even a word, Natalie!" Jim threw over his shoulder. "One freaking sort of word and you're acting like I told you I fucked some girl in your former dorm room. I haven't, by the way, but you apparently think I'm that guy."

He made it out to her door, grabbing his phone out of his pocket to try and schedule a stupid portal or a hotel or something in this completely unfamiliar world.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie stomped out to the door after him. Except with her bare feet there wasn't much in the way of stomping, really.

"I didn't think anything, because you didn't say anything," she replied. "But I thought the conversation had taken a turn for the serious, and do you know what you do when talk gets serious and you don't feel like elaborating on your feelings? You go 'hmm', and then you stop talking. So excuse me for failing to assume it was just teasing."

[pursuedthestars]

"There wasn't a need to elaborate on anything," Jim snapped, glaring at her. "You told me your opinion and I said 'hmm' because I had nothing to elaborate on. I don't do serious conversations in the first place, Natalie. But the bottom line is: there was absolutely nothing to elaborate on. Nothing."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie's shoulders looked tense. "Well, it would've been a good time to rewrite our old rules regardless, since the deal is off," she pointed out, managing a calmer tone.

She held back a sigh.

"And to think all I wanted when I set this whole thing off was dirty talk about the kitchen."

[pursuedthestars]

"I don't feel like talking about the rules or the kitchen right now," Jim said, still stabbing at his phone and choosing to glare at it rather than her.

[whenshewasnice]

"Eventually you'll have to."

Not that she wanted to talk about either right now.

She watched him abuse his phone in silence for a moment, before asking, "Do you even know how to get home from here?"

[pursuedthestars]

"No, but I'll figure it out," he replied, eyes still on his phone.

[whenshewasnice]

This time, she did sigh.

"Please don't."

[pursuedthestars]

"So, I should get lost instead?" Jim asked, taking her words literally and frowning down at his phone for not doing what he wanted it to do.

[whenshewasnice]

"Please don't leave."

There, she could elaborate.

[pursuedthestars]

Jim didn't immediately reply. He kept his eyes on his phone but his stabbing got a little less angry. He was still pretty tense, though.

"Fine."

[whenshewasnice]

"I didn't invite you over for a respectable dinner with a fight for dessert," Natalie felt like saying, quietly. As if he'd ever think she'd planned this. She didn't like it any more than he did. "Aggression of a sort, maybe. But not this."

Maybe that was her way of apologizing without actually saying the words.

[pursuedthestars]

Jim stayed quiet for a few more moments before his shoulders sagged.

"I figured. I know."

[whenshewasnice]

"This is just how we talk," she added. "Sometimes." Because they were complex and complicated, and sometimes things just clashed. "Let's try again."

[pursuedthestars]

"Okay," Jim agreed and stopped pushing buttons on his phone before he slid it into his pocket. He looked back up at her.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie smiled. It was faint.

"Hi."

[pursuedthestars]

"Hey," Jim replied with a small nod.