Room 223, Sunday Noon

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie's Sunday mornings and afternoons tended to be the same every week, when there wasn't any weirdness afoot. She got up earlier than most, got coffee, and then either wandered somewhere else in the dorms (generally either Sam's room or the roof), or came back to her own room where she sat down and read something.

This Sunday was no different. She sat cross-legged on her bed, a book in her lap, occasionally eating a piece of candy or two from the bag beside her. The Petey Sci-Fi soundtrack played on in the background at a moderate volume, and every once in a while she hummed along.

A day like this didn't need much more than that.

[ooc: Open post, half open door! I'm onna traaaain.]

Comments

[necroslacker]

She wasn't going to need to come by Sam's room today because he hadn't slept (what else was new?) so he was awake and after spending some time just laying around, he'd decided to head down the hall to her room.

He rapped his knuckles lightly on the half open door before pushing it open a bit so she could see who it was.

"Morning. Catch you at a bad time?"

[whenshewasnice]

Glancing up from her book, Natalie granted him one of those rare half smiles. "Does it look like a bad time?"

It looked... much like any time she was alone in her room, really.

[necroslacker]

"Didn't know if that was studying going on or just reading for pleasure," Sam explained, shrugging. He leaned against the door frame, looking relaxed enough. "Wouldn't wanna interrupt your journey to college success."

[whenshewasnice]

"People seem very concerned with that this week." Not really, but related topics had come up before. She picked up her bookmark, stuck it between the book. "This is just reading for fun, for the record."

[necroslacker]

"Concerned?" Sam questioned, staying where he was for now but not doing because he didn't want to come in. He was just taking his time. "Someone else has his eye on your college ascent? Should I be jealous?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Peter was unimpressed with my choice of extracurricular activities." Which she hadn't even told Sam about yet, so that was going to be interesting. "But I pointed out my course load is still bigger than most people'."

[necroslacker]

"Extracurricular activities?" Sam repeated, sounding quizzical. "Did you...join a club?"

He couldn't see her doing that though and he wasn't even thinking about the whole musical thing even if she'd told him she'd auditioned when she'd been out of her mind.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie snorted. Yeah, not much of a club person.

She nodded vaguely towards her desk, where her laptop was playing the Petey Sci-Fi soundtrack. "The musical."

[necroslacker]

Sam's eyes widened for a second. "Oh wow, you got cast? I thought you'd taken your name out of the running or something."

[whenshewasnice]

"Apparently giving yourself a cheese name and acting perky doesn't immediately disqualify you," Natalie quipped. "It just gets you Ecuadoria."

[necroslacker]

"Well, uh." Yeah, what did he say here when he wasn't sure if she wanted to do this or not? "Congratulations?"

[whenshewasnice]

It was okay to be unsure. Hey, Natalie wasn't entirely certain, either. "Thanks," she said, a little wryly, brushing hair away from her eyes. "The directors basically said I'm needed."

Also that she was talented. That may have weighed more with her.

[necroslacker]

"Guess that means I should get a ticket to the play, doesn't it?" Sam asked, smiling a little easier now.

[whenshewasnice]

"Probably." Well, Natalie felt it was probably going to be the only chance he'd ever have of seeing her coming even close to... strutting her stuff on stage. (She was oh so wrong, of course.) "I will let you know once we start selling them."

[necroslacker]

"Cool, thanks." He probably wouldn't know otherwise. Such was the way of a slacker and all. "I'll be there. Count me in for at least one performance."

[whenshewasnice]

"Boyfriend duty," Natalie quipped, tilting her head a little. "Want to come in?"

Not that he didn't look nice in the doorway.

[necroslacker]

"Not a duty if I wanna do it," Sam said, nodding and stepping inside so he could shut the door. "I wanna come in."

If it wasn't obvious by now and all.

[whenshewasnice]

"Never would've guessed," Natalie drawled, but in that vaguely amused way of hers. She reached out to put her book away on her nightstand. "You can't like a duty?"

[necroslacker]

"Duty just makes it sound like an obligation," Sam explained, wandering over to stand beside her bed. His hands were in the pockets of his jeans and his knees touched her mattress. "That's all."

[whenshewasnice]

"An obligation can't be pleasant?" Natalie wondered, looking up at him. "Everything you should do is automatically a bad thing?"

[necroslacker]

"I don't know, I've never thought that hard about it," Sam said, shrugging. "Most of the time, it just sounds like something you have to do rather than something you wanna do."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, I don't even know if there are any boyfriend duties," Natalie replied with a shrug. "Expectations, maybe. Not obligations."

[necroslacker]

"I don't really know either. My last relationship was...atypical."

Was it bad form to talk about that with her? He wasn't sure there either.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie supposed it depended on the kinds of things he said. She wasn't an overly jealous type. She didn't think she was, anyway.

"I'm not sure there is any other kind."

[necroslacker]

"You mean when I'm involved or relationships in general?" Sam asked curiously.