Room 223, Tuesday Noon

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie came back from her only (and slightly off-putting) class of the day to find flowers waiting for her. A bouquet of orange and red amaryllis, with a note attached.

Happy Valentine's Day to our own Valentine. Love, Mom & Dad.

Well, she supposed that since her parents hadn't given up on this particular tradition even after she'd moved to a different country (not to mention universe), this probably meant there would also be a birthday gift coming in tomorrow.

As she put the flowers in a vase, she couldn't help but hope it was going to be something that could distract her from this restless, twitchy feeling she was still having. It was starting to get a little old, especially since she had too much pride or self-restraint or some other dumb thing to just lock herself up with Sam somewhere until this hormonal thing blew over.

Sigh.

[ooc: Open door/post!]

Comments

[life_inshadow]

"You got more flowers," Tara said, when she got back to the room. She glanced from Natalie's new bouquet to her own roses, which were already beginning to fade. "Pretty."

[whenshewasnice]

"Yeah," Natalie agreed, with an idle touch on one of the flowers, to make the arrangement prettier. She wasn't much of a florist but it was something to do. "From my parents."

[life_inshadow]

"Oh, that's sweet," Tara said, genuinely meaning it. (Her father wasn't the flower-sending type, but she liked that other people's were.)

"And they match your orange roses. The room's all cheerful this week."

[whenshewasnice]

"Among other things." Well, it was a weird week all around. Natalie managed a crooked little smile Tara's way. "There'll probably be a present or something tomorrow, too."

[life_inshadow]

"Delayed in the mail?" Tara wondered. "Or is tomorrow something too?"

She gave her roses one final tweak and flopped onto her bed.

[whenshewasnice]

"My birthday," Natalie said idly, like it wasn't a big deal. She also wasn't going to explain the flowers weren't just generic Valentine's Day flowers, either.

It was a little more specific than that. "There's not going to be a party, before you ask."

And that shouldn't have surprised anyone, because, well, Natalie.

[life_inshadow]

"Happy early birthday," Tara said, deciding she'd have to get a card or something. "And ... is it bad I wouldn't have expected one? I didn't have one last fall."

She'd had one the birthday before last, of course, but a lot of things had been different then.

"I figure as long as there's some cake somewhere in there, you're good."

[whenshewasnice]

In a few years, Natalie's birthdy party was going to merit a writeup in Italian Vogue. But this was not that year.

"Sam's planning something," she shrugged, finally letting the flowers be. "Dunno if that plan involves cake."

[life_inshadow]

"Tell him your roommate said it should," Tara decided. "... unless you just totally aren't a cake person. Then you can have something else."

She was generous.

[whenshewasnice]

She really was!

Natalie snorted. "I like cake just fine," she said. "But we'll see. I don't have my heart set on cake."

She thought actually making it out of the dorms was a lofty enough goal for the week they were having.

[life_inshadow]

"See, that sounds like there is something you had your heart set on," Tara advised, and then wondered if it was just the week or if that really did sound sort of dirty.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie didn't think it sounded particularly dirty.

Not unless you started thinking about it, anyway. "Just a good time," she decided. "That's all I'm hoping for."

[life_inshadow]

And now that definitely sounded dirty and Tara needed to quit thinking that way.

"Did you guys have plans, or is he going to surprise you?"

[whenshewasnice]

"He's making the plans." And she kind of hoped he'd made them before this week because, yeah. The other half of her hoped specifically for dirty plans. "All I did was tell him my birthday's straight after Valentine's."