Room 223, Friday Afternoon

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was not intending to leave her room today. Nope. Yesterday had been... a lot of things she didn't really feel like dealing with right now. And the way to not deal was to stay in her room. There was nothing cowardly about it. She just wasn't going to leave. Just for today.

Maybe the weekend.

Unable to really concentrate on any of her school stuff, she took a seat by her keyboard, intent on forcing herself to focus on something. Immersing herself into practice seemed to be a thing for that. And she was sticking to strictly classical pieces.

No pop. And no singing.

[ooc: Door closed, post open!]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

"That doesn't mean I have to like this," Natalie replied evenly. Mostly because any other tone would have ended up defensive, she was sure. Yeah, she remembered that time, too, but she was going to insist this was different.

[necroslacker]

No, it didn't but Sam wondered why she was being stubborn about this and trying to see it as something bigger than it was.

He nodded. "Okay, so you're pissed." He could get that.

So, of course he said, "The fries you gave me yesterday were good, at least."

[whenshewasnice]

He'd probably be left wondering that for a while.

"Well, I didn't spit in them," Natalie said. Because that was just charming. "Congrats."

[necroslacker]

"I think it's a little late for me to be scared of your spit," Sam said, proving himself the master of being eloquent. But, it was true. They'd made out enough for him to not really care.

"So, thanks," Sam said, matching her sarcasm with some of his own. "Do I get your number now?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I believe you should already have it," Natalie retorted. "Even if you give out yours to random waitresses."

She didn't mean that one seriously (since that waitress had been her), but it was kind of patently hard to tell with her expressions, or lack of them.

[necroslacker]

"Oh yeah, you've really got me pegged, Natalie," Sam said, laying on that sarcasm now. "You know who else has my number? The girl at the pizza place. Oh, and I gave it to the delivery girl from the Chinese place the other day because she gave me extra duck sauce."

Okay, it was safe to say he hadn't liked that one and just reacted since he couldn't tell what she was implying.

[whenshewasnice]

"I feel so jealous." So... deadpan. "Do all these others have my face, too?"

She was probably really not helping things.

[necroslacker]

Not really helping things at all. Sam's lips thinned and a muscle tensed in his cheek. He didn't get easily irritated and he didn't think he was there now but it was safe to say he wasn't too happy.

"Nope," he quipped, shaking his head. "That a requirement for me spreading myself around? I hadn't gotten the memo."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie ought to have been given some sort of an award for how quickly she'd dragged his mood down to 'not great' along with hers. It was a special skill.

"Well, you were probably busy ordering food while it was going around," she quipped, dryly, before deciding to drop that topic. "Did it really take you as long as it seemed to figure out something was wrong?"

[necroslacker]

"Oh, are done thinking I'm the scum of the earth now?" Sam asked, unable to just let her let that go that fast. Not a chance. "Sorry, missed that memo too."

Sure, it wasn't a great comeback but he didn't care. "I got that something was wrong. That help you out?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Your words, not mine," Natalie replied calmly, in reply to that first part. As for the second... "Just seemed to take a while."

And the reason she wondered, honestly, was mostly just idle curiosity. Or it would've been if she hadn't felt mildly annoyed like she did. At the island more than at him, but he happened to be there.

[necroslacker]

"And your implication is what caused my words," Sam said, shoulders tensing enough that he noticed and forced himself to relax.

"So what if it took awhile?" he added, shaking his head. "I'm a freaking dummy. Are you that surprised?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I never said I was surprised."

And she wasn't, not really. He already had a history of being a dumbass, there was no question about that. But it all related back to her own unease with what had been going on with her.

And then she fell back into silence.

[necroslacker]

"Swell. Thanks," Sam said, shaking his head and looking down the hall. He was contemplating just taking off so he could grab his skateboard and clear his mind.

"Yep, you've got yourself a stupid manwhore," he quipped, giving her a thumbs up for that one. "Good catch on your part."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie paused for a bit. Then she closed her eyes and exhaled.

And then she said, "You're not a stupid manwhore, Sam."

It wasn't quite an apology – she didn't quite think one was warranted – but it was something.

[necroslacker]

"You sure about that?" Sam asked, watching her quietly. "You didn't sound too sure earlier. Might wanna take a poll just to get the best answer."

[whenshewasnice]

Her eyes flicked open. Some annoyance remained.

"Yes, I'm sure, Samhain."

[necroslacker]

Sam made a face at the use of his full name and decided he wasn't going to say anything else for the moment. She could decide if she was gonna talk or if they were gonna stare.

[whenshewasnice]

They were going to stare. For the moment, anyway.

Natalie was excellent at staring, after all. Top notch. She could withstand silence and staring for a while.

[necroslacker]

And he was still a little stung by some previous comments that he could just stand there quietly and not say anything either.

So, fine. They'd stare at each other and probably get looked at weird by anyone who passed by since he hadn't even gone in her room yet.

[whenshewasnice]

It was probable. Luckily, though, Natalie didn't really care what anyone thought about her.

Which, admittedly, was a little backwards for someone who'd wanted to hide out in her room today, but it was a complicated thing. This, at least, was all her.

So she watched him, silent and still.

[necroslacker]

Sam was pretty determined not to be the one that broke the silence. He might have to blink more than she did but he didn't have to talk. He'd spent a lot of time not talking in the past, he could do it again now.

He wasn't going to apologize for yesterday either. It wasn't like he could have shaken her out of whatever had happened and he'd done nothing more than play along.

So, he stood there and wondered if she'd just end up pushing him into leaving.

[whenshewasnice]

That was one possibility.

Another one was that she was going to reach out to try and yank him towards her by the front of his shirt. Which was what actually ended up happening once some more of that neighbour-confusing silent staring had gone on for a while.

She had her reasons borne of watching him.

[necroslacker]

That...hadn't been what he'd been expecting her to do. He stumbled just slightly but he didn't resist. That was mostly due to the fact that he had no time to tell his brain to resist.

She'd yanked him towards her so fast that he just went forward while managing to stay on his feet.

[whenshewasnice]

If Natalie was completely honest, she'd kind of counted on him being too startled to resist. She'd hoped that would help her get him through the doorway, because that would mean she'd be able to get the door closed, which would then in turn mean she could push him against said door.

So, basically, she'd counted on his lack of resistance quite a lot.