remember your lovers who gave you more than love.
[ooc: I am sorry for spamming the comm, guys. >< But this might be the last weekend or week in general where I'll get to tag heavily, with school/work on the way. So I...decided to be crazy and make a multi-pup post. Tag in as many times as you'd like, with as many characters as you'd like! It's open like burning. ♥]
Anne Hamilton is wandering the ( Read more... )
Anne Hamilton is wandering the ( Read more... )
He is hoping that she is being serious.
Nothing would amuse him more than Anne actually writing another list in her journal with a translation of her own personal language this time. He would actually have to get that laminated to keep with him.
Laminated to prevent destruction by water or fire. Knowing Chicago, it's a necessary precaution to take.
David smiles back at her grin but he looks down soon after. He isn't sure that his sushi grabbing is worth that much of a grin, but...
Yes, that was another but.... The narration has no idea why they keep happening with him in his tags to her.
"Yes, you did."
David goes for another, and he drops this one at first and then gets it at the second try. "Yeah, I like them. I don't find Ms. Kwon as scary as you do," he says and then he smiles at her. "Biology seems like it'll be fun. I like the science stuff. Not my strong suit but interesting."
Of course, he would like it. It has a strong basis in observation, though David's observation is done as a writer, not a scientist. Details!
Reply
IT IS EXCITING TO HER AND SHE WILL GRIN IF SHE WANTS TO.
The narration has no idea why it keeps happening either, but is amused. It's okay, David! Anne would make anyone go 'all the dots' on her.
Anne bristles, cheeks slightly pink again. "Not that scary. I mean. Poor choice of words there. It wasn't so much fear. It was more of...slight anxiety. And stuff."
This is a lie. She was terrified. Archangel who will fuck your shit up is equivalent to Anne quaking in her boots. That's a lie, too. Anne doesn't wear boots.
She wears ballet flats.
She wrinkles her nose, making a face. She's quick to grab one of the last sushi rolls. "As long as we don't have to dissect a frog. Poor frogs. So what's your strong suit? I'm guessing English but I don't wanna assume stuff."
If David's fond of the Bard, he'll probably fair better in Ms. Kwon's class than Anne.
Reply
HE WILL NOT STOP HER FROM GRINNING.
'All the dots' from David is a compliment. We promise.
He is only smiling a little at the pink on her cheeks and the way that she's bristling at him. Only a little. "Slight anxiety," David says. "She does seem to love her Shakespeare."
The narration is dying over here.
Anne can quake in her ballet flats over the frightening English Lit teacher. David will protect her! Or at least sit in front of her in class so she can hide behind him.
"We probably will... but we should get partnered up? Knowing Chicago. I don't know that I'd trust dissected frogs to stay... dead." There is a freaky image. Thanks for that, David. It's that worst case scenario thing of his working again. "English is sometimes my strong suit. I sometimes have trouble writing like the teacher wants me to write, but I've gotten better. It's the only class I'm sure to get an A+ in. What about you? What's your strong suit? Class-wise."
He won't even pretend that he can assume.
Anne has a way of surprising him. In the best kinds of ways.
Reply
OKAY. WELL...GOOD. Insert lineface here.
"Yes, slight anxiety," Anne says with a nod. This was the girl who referred to her running away from the proverbial dragon as a trot. No wonder Ms. Kwon might not take to her instantly.
"She's always had a rep for being kinda obsessed with him," Anne agrees, chewing her sushi roll thoughtfully. "If you speak of him in a poor light, you're supposed to fear for your life. There was also an incident involving her and prom back in...I don't even know, way back. But no one will dare ask her what that is anymore."
Oh, David. Anne would have sat behind you anyway in hopes that you'd block her from the teacher. Her life being the way it is, she'll still get picked to answer questions, most likely.
And have no idea how to answer them to Ms. Kwon's liking.
"We should," Anne says brightly, and she doesn't hide the amusement that comes with David's worst case scenario. He does seem to always think them up, along with every other possibility. "Better to deal with frogs than dragons. I'd just feel bad about poking at them and...stuff. It's a frog but it has feelings!"
"I took Astronomy last year? That was my best score. I like everything that has to do with that." Yes, Anne. We know. You have a telescope. You know the constellations and their meaning.
Did you think she'd be done with her rambling? Of course not.
"But, aside from that I'm good with numbers. I can do equations in my head quickly. Give me a Shakespeare sonnet and I have no idea what it means, but ask me to multiply really long numbers and I can do it all in my head fast."
No, really. She can. Just test her!
Reply
"I don't think she could actually kill you over not liking Shakespeare. ...could she?" This is Chicago that they're talking about. It is Looney for that matter, but she is an angel. Angels can't kill innocent.
Not liking Shakespeare does not make someone guilty.
Honest.
"I didn't hear about the... prom thing," David admits, trying to think of what it could be. Maybe a Prom theme gone bad and a misrepresentation of what truly is Shakespeare. He has his doubts that a prom would ever make their theme Shakespearean.
David will be sure to subtly whisper the questions to Anne when she needs them. He can only imagine how much more scary... slightly anxiety inducing it would be for her to be put in the spotlight by the woman.
"It does? I didn't know. I guess they're so good at hiding their feelings that I never noticed before," he says with a small smile, teasing again. It's getting easier for him to be comfortable teasing her. It's only taken him a couple months. "Shame on me."
He is quiet as she answers him and throughout her entire ramble but he is listening. He always listens because he likes to listen to anyone really but especially to her.
"So I could help you with English and you could help me with math?" David tilts his head to the side to think about up a good question to test her. Hey, he has to make sure she can match up to these claims if she's gonna help tutor him in math. "What's 214 times 843?"
Yes, three digits is a really long number to David.
Reply
The glaring is a sort of art form. It's intimidating, okay?
Never mind the fact Anne can easily be intimidated.
"I only heard it 'cause some of the girls were talking about it in the locker room. I've never gone to a prom before so I have no idea how valid this rumor is," she says, tapping her chin with the end of her chopstick.
It's said matter-of-factly. There is no way Anne would even want to go to a dance. Some may be okay with wallflowering it up all over the place but she'd rather stay home and do something she'd like instead of just...standing there. Awkwardly.
"You should feel ashamed," she says to him, trying very hard to keep a straight face. "Luckily, I don't think they'll hold it against you."
Three digits isn't that long of a number to Anne, but it's okay, David. She wouldn't want to make claims about something she couldn't back up.
"180,402," she answers easily, peering into the plate to see if there are any rolls left. There's only one. "I could use any help I can get when it comes to English. I guess I'm not--"
She really wants that last roll.
Anne clears her throat and asks primly, "...Are you going to eat that?"
Reply
It is very intimidating... and anxiety inducing. He would agree with her about that, and it's not like he would enjoy being glared at but he likes Shakespeare! There's no worry there!
"I've never been to a prom before either. I went to a homecoming once with some of my friends back at my old school," he offers and then he shrugs a little. "It was... okay. I just haven't had anyone to go with here."
They mostly stay in a corner laughing about unrelated things. Occasionally, they'd dance. David would not dance. He would laugh at his friends dancing, sometimes be pulled into dancing with them.
"Frogs have feelings and they're forgiving too. Got it," David says, and he's not even trying to keep a straight face. There's too much amusement in his voice. It's giving him away.
Hey! Three digits is a lot of numbers to him!
"Wow," David says, having no idea if it's the right answer or not but assuming that it is. "Very impressive."
...and then he actually laughs at the question. It's the prim and proper way that she put it that's making him laugh more than anything else.
"No, I'm not," he tells her, running his fingers through his hair and plopping the chopsticks down beside the container. "I had a big meal earlier. Have at it."
Even if he did want it, he'd let her have it. There is a gentleman there at the heart of David, and a gentleman always allows his lady to have the last bite of shared food.
Or something.
Reply
Anne purses her lips together, wondering how anyone can stay mad at him when he smiles. Not that she's mad to begin with. She likes when he jokes with her.
She nods her head a little at his answer, twirling one of her chopsticks in place. She likes hearing about his life back where he's from, however offhanded the comment is. Anne has to wonder why he had friends back home and why he hasn't made any till now. She wonders, but she doesn't ask.
When he shrugs, she shrugs in turn. It isn't a gesture that comes with intention or notice. Studiously keeping her eyes on the plate she says, "We should check it out. I mean, if we feel like it when the time comes."
And who knows, maybe by the time prom rolls around they'll have made more friends. It's possible.
Anne is inwardly feeling so awkward she doesn't pretend she's insulted about the frogs.
"Thanks," she says with a small laugh, looking down at her plate again. "Like I said, I'm not good at the rest. Science or English or...most of it. I'll get good grades if I apply myself, but none of it comes naturally."
Nothing like dancing.
Brightening up considerably, she snatches up the last sushi roll. She was hungrier than she thought she'd be. Once she's done, she gives him another sheepish smile. "I forgot to eat dinner. Thank you! It was a very good roll. Rolls. They were all good. I wasn't...favoring one over the other. I'm very impartial when it comes to...sushi. I'm the Switzerland of sushi, too."
Aside from pot roast. Apparently. Shut up, Anne.
David, Anne would say you are the true example of chivalry not being dead!
Or something.
Reply
"We should," he agrees. "I bet dances at Looney have to be crazy. The most exciting thing that ever happened at ours was a major dress malfunction or a whole punch bowl being spilled."
Not that he's usually looking for excitement, but sometimes Chicago is more than the terrible and the action. Sometimes Chicago and all that happens in it... can seem magical too. Maybe the dances are more like that.
"I don't think it has to. What comes naturally is what you should be doing anyway," David says with a smile. "As long as we make it through high school..."
And they will. He believes they will.
It may be idiotic to believe in a city like this but he does.
David sends her a bit of a look. "You shouldn't forget to eat dinner. It's... good to have," he says, because stating the obvious is a good way to show one's concerned. Then again, she did have the mess with her dad. It'd make anyone forget to eat.
"You're welcome. I had some in the refrigerator anyway so... I'm glad it was... They received enjoyment." Cough. Awkward phrasing there, David. And then the smile pulls further across his face. "Maybe we should just call you Switzerland from now on."
He's not serious, not really which is pretty clear from the fact that he's still smiling... and looking at her... and...
David reaches for the container and the chopsticks. "I should... throw these in the trash."
Reply
There can be adventure and days that make her feel like just a normal teenager doing normal things. It's how they ended up chasing her dog and landing in a puddle surrounded by water sprinkles.
It doesn't always have to be about what's gloomy and painful.
She wants to believe that. She really does.
"Hey, that's pretty exciting." Anne halts her thought process there. "Probably not to the girl it happened to. Makes it kind of hard to forget, anyway."
Anne lifts her gaze again, smiling back at him tentatively. The stone that has long since sunk into her stomach wants to push away the hope that might think differently. "As long as we survive Ms. Kwon, you mean," she says, in her attempt to bring back some sort of lightness to it that she would have otherwise trampled on.
Maybe she believes they will, too. If there was no hope, Anne wouldn't be alive today.
She bites her lip to keep from smiling. "Yes, sir," she says. She gets it, she does, but she didn't have the time tonight. Usually she's good about not skipping a meal.
It's a good thing Anne's done eating when David's awkward phrasing comes. She looks back at him, and...
Stands up, moving to pick up the glasses. "I can help. I should...probably get going anyway. I didn't realize it was so late." She bites her lip again, this time for entirely different reasons.
Reply
They can have normal days which have a certain magic to them that isn't supernatural at all.
It's real, and it's theirs. They can and will have good days too.
"Yeah, I don't think she ever lived it down," David says with a small smile. "They might have forgotten about it now after a year has passed, but I don't know. I didn't forget."
And David isn't like some teenagers who can be cruel.
"That's what I mean," he confirms and smiles a little more at her, despite the fact that her smile is so tentative. "You can pretend you're in love with Shakespeare for a year, right?"
Her comment works well enough to bring the lightness back but he feels the heaviness too. He feels it and ignores it because they have time. She has time. He has to believe it.
"Oh, right. Late. It's... It is. I mean, you don't have to go, but..." THERE IT IS AGAIN. DO YOU SEE IT?
David takes the items into the kitchen, placing the container in the trash.
His chest tightens again, and when he turns back, he's serious. It reads in how tense his stance is and how his jaw locks and his gaze drops to the floor. "I don't want him to use you coming in late as another reason... to hurt you."
Reply
She can tease sometimes too, David.
And she is highly aware of how cruel teenagers can be.
"I think I can if I try really hard," Anne says thoughtfully, smiling a little more herself. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and... Stuff."
So poetic, she is.
IT HAS BECOME A PATTERN OF DOTS AND AWKWARD UNCERTAINTY.
Anne's gaze drops back down to the floor. His sentence trails off and she's not sure where he was going with it, but she knows how she feels and the sentence completes in her head.
You can't stay. You can't avoid things forever. "Yeah. I know."
The good thing is their houses are only blocks away from each other. It's a good thing in more ways than one.
What are the odds that he'd live close by?
"He won't," she assures him softly, tugging down on her sleeves once more. "I don't think he'll even notice. I'm just...gonna slip in through the window again. I'm--"
Before she can regret it, before she can let the awkwardness take over and keep her from doing so, she walks over to David and hugs him. She doesn't hug people often, if ever. Affection isn't something shown to her often and it isn't something she, in turn, gives.
Except she wants to say thank you again and the word diminishes what it actually means.
"I'll see you tomorrow at school, okay?" she asks, stepping back and turning away before she can see a reaction.
Reply
"And stuff," he agrees. "Sounds like you're on the right track. Even Shakespeare would be proud of a line like that."
And stuff.
It's very cutting edge and beautiful.
IT'S A BEAUTIFUL AND HILARIOUS PATTERN, OKAY?
It's not how he would have completed that sentence. In fact, the completion doesn't come until he's in the other room so that's why she's forced to complete it on her own.
"Okay," David says when she assures him. If she says he won't notice, he won't.
David will believe that, because he doesn't want her getting hurt twice in one night.
There's a pause when she hugs him. It's surprising. Maybe because he can read her movements well enough to tell that she's not one to give hugs easily. He isn't either. Well, he's affectionate enough when he knows someone well enough but it takes him a long time to open up to someone enough to be that affectionate.
David wraps his arms around her, holding her tightly, protectively against his chest. For this second, this moment, he feels stronger than he ever has before.
He feels like he can do something tangible, something that helps. David feels like he has power and strength that he never imagined-- that he doesn't usually feel like he's had, and he's never known a hug to do so much to him.
She pulls away, and she's walking back before he can formulate a response for.. Not that he would want to say any of that.
"I'll s- see you. Tomorrow."
Reply
Leave a comment