Closed RP: Jaime and Lola and a Talk.

[nicknamegirl]

((Backdated to Valentine’s Day.))

Right. Busying herself and talking to Gatsby, to try and keep her mind away from Jaime and the Impending Talk, had only worked so-so. Fine. Lola knew she couldn’t avoid it forever. And besides, she had missed Jaime a lot during her mission. Part of her couldn’t wait to see him. So. She went up to her own room,

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[nicknamegirl]

Lola wasn't mad. Or hurt, really. Heck, she hadn't realised she'd said anything close to "I love you" until about four days into her mission, when it had hit her like a ton of bricks and she had smacked her forehead repeatedly. Stupid angelic truth-telling compulsion! She had tried not to obsess too much about it, or what Jaime was thinking now, or anything that would jeopardise the mission. Sometimes it had worked, but when things had been quiet, and Azhar had been asleep, she hadn't been able to stop going through it over and over in her head. She'd definitely said it. She'd been in a hurry, not to mention worried about Mel and Brice as well as her own task, and she'd... wanted him to know. Just in case she was gone longer than expected. The fact that Jaime hadn't said it back was... fine. Because yeah, the stress thing. And he'd gotten it thrown at him pretty unexpectedly. So, not hurt. Just incredibly nervous, and not knowing what to say or do to make that feeling go away. The look on his face wasn't helping much, and she bit her lip, thinking frantically.

Sitting beside him was a good start. Smiling a bit worriedly, Lola sat down at the suggested spot, and brushed a few stray locks of her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, pretty much," she said. "I was watching over a boy named Azhar. His dad had left and his mum died, so he had to watch over his little sisters all by himself. Very brave kid." She sighed. It was always a little sad to have to leave your charges behind after a while, when you'd just started to get to know and like them. "But I think they'll be fine now," she said, to stop things from going quiet.

Her hand moved to brush against his, lying on the spread. Holding hands was at least not that big a deal, and if she didn't touch him soon she was going to start fretting about that too. Ten days? "Oh, well, that's a relief anyway," she muttered. "I was worried about that. Seems like Hogwarts is on our side this time." She wasn't thinking about the date either. Presumably she'd realise it soon enough.

[bantersucks]

Not being a mind-reader (and being generally clueless sometimes), Jaime didn't know that. It had taken him a few minutes to realize what she'd said, and thus had frozen up like an idiot and spent a week freaking out about it. Not exactly the best reaction to leave her with.

He did take the hint when she touched his hand, though, and reached over to take her hand in his. "Yeah, I was kinda trying to look up stuff on that," he said to fill the silence. "The weird time thing." Distractions aside, it looked like he'd had the right idea. Still no clue if he could do anything with it.

Small talk wasn't helping his nerves. "I'm really sorry," he blurted out suddenly. "For, you know, not saying anything when you took off." Well, that didn't make total sense, but it was a start.

[nicknamegirl]

Good. Hand-holding was good. Miles better than not touching at all, and it was kind of comforting, too. Holding hands with Jaime always felt... safe, somehow.

She opened her mouth to ask if he'd found out something about the time thing, but then he dropped the small talk and went straight for the matter that she'd known they'd have to discuss sooner or later. Apparently it was being discussed right now. O-kay.

"Oh, it's alright!" said Lola quickly. "I mean, I was stressed and I might not have heard you anyway, and I'm sorry if I, um, freaked you out. With saying what I said. It just sort of... came out." Cue the blushing... now.

[bantersucks]

Okay, maybe he could have eased into that. If he was someone else. Who was actually good at being subtle. Hadn't he rehearsed something that sounded better than that? He didn't remember.

Jaime blinked, taken aback by the apology. That wasn't in the script that he'd mostly forgotten. "Um. You don't have to - I mean -" He shook his head, trying to put his thoughts in order. He'd had long enough to get this to come out right.

"I guess... I started thinking about stuff that I'd been trying not to think about. Like that you're an angel, and I'm, well, not." Before she could add anything to that, he barreled on. "Like what would happen if I had to go home and you went back to Heaven and we couldn't come back. Checked the Popcorn Room once or twice - hey, the last person I knew who had to leave in a hurry wound up there, after all."

He studied their clasped hands for a moment before looking up at her again. "That's what kinda freaked me out. 'Cause - I love you too."

What? He sucked at small talk anyway.

[nicknamegirl]

Lola listened. She did open her mouth to say something when the angel issue came up, but it was quickly shut again when he said the four words that she so had hoped would come. And then her face lit up like a beacon. She almost started dancing.

"Really?" she asked, and nearly sighed at herself. Stupid question. She sounded totally needy. But she couldn't help it, and a huge, sunny smile was spreading over her face, causing her eyes to shine. He loved her. All the anxiety she'd felt about talking to him evaporatetd instantly, and yeah, there were still things that weren't perfect and yeah, either of them could be called home and disappear forever in a heartbeat, but that didn't seem nearly as important as the fact that he loved her, and she loved him. And it was Good.

So, logically, Lola swatted at his arm, without her smile fading. It would take a while for it to do so. "Idiot," she said fondly. "You had me worried." She paused for a moment. There would be problems. The angel/human relationship was... well, she'd never heard of anything like it. Orlando and Star had been slightly doing that, but Star had died and become an angel soon after they'd met, and it had never been a problem. But as practical as it would have been, Lola very much preferred Jaime being alive, thank you.

She held his hand, and leaned her head a little against his shoulder. "Should we talk about all the problems that could come of this now?" she asked, peering at him. "Or should we save it for later? I'm not going anywhere right this minute. Are you?"

[bantersucks]

Jaime had noticed Lola opening her mouth to say something, which was why he'd hurried on before she could stop him and he'd completely lose his nerve or get distracted and say the wrong thing.

And then suddenly Lola was beaming at him, and it was his turn to blush under the force of that hundred-watt smile. He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Yeah. Really." But he was still grinning like an idiot, and the anxiety he'd been carrying around for several days was starting to melt away. His smile didn't fade when she swatted at him. "Yeah, I know. Been told that a lot this week."

Being dead... well, yeah, Jaime had considered that over the course of the week, which was one of the possibilities that had driven him into mad research mode. It was something that had occasionally bothered him even before he'd met Lola - that one day he'd go out to put out a fire or stop another crazy giant person from destroying a town and not come back. He certainly didn't plan on dying anytime soon. It had nothing to do with being practical; it would hurt too many people he cared about, in more ways than one.

There was also the question of the proverbial third wheel, who had been mercifully quiet during their whole discussion. (Although at one point it almost felt like the Scarab was urging him to just tell her already. He couldn't be sure. Whether or not it understood the situation, it had picked up on his anxiety and was impatient as hell.)

Yeah, that was a lot of problems. When Lola leaned her head on his shoulder, though, Jaime relaxed in spite of himself. "Maybe later. Been a long morning anyway." They'd have to talk about them eventually, but not all at once and he didn't want to ruin this. Between his earlier excursion and the relief of having gotten that out in the open, he wasn't up to running off. He rested his head on hers, smiling as he breathed in the familiar scent of her hair. "I'm definitely not going anywhere right now."

((Sorry for the multiple edits. Avoiding work weirdness.))

[nicknamegirl]

Slowly the room filled up with sunshine. Or at least that's what it felt like, to Lola. If she wasn't careful, she was going to start floating. And awww, Jaime was blushing... Why was it always so cute when guys did that?

"Good thing I like you anyway," she mumbled happily, in this moment not caring about Scarabs or angels or even Heaven.

She nooded faintly, sighing in contentment and blowing hot air against his neck. "Later's good... Hey, you know what?" Lola shuffled a bit, sitting up and kneeling on the bed, turned completely towards him. All traces of nervousness were gone now, as if they'd never been there at all. "If I've been gone for ten days... That means today's Valentine's Day." Very interesting information. A good day to first say "I love you."

((Totally fine! Sorry this tag took me ages. School ate me up and spat me out. >.< ))

[bantersucks]

((Okay, now it's my turn to apologize - researching technical paper topics does not lend itself well to tagging. Lola can ask about "the deal," it's just something silly.))

Sunshine? Well, it felt a lot warmer than it had ten minutes ago, and that had very little to do with closing the window. Jaime blinked and managed a soft laugh. "Lucky for me." There was no trace of sarcasm in that statement whatsoever.

As the warm weight left his shoulder, he looked up, confused, relaxing when she didn't try to pull away. "Are you sure? I -" He paused, listening. "Wait, how do you know about Valentine's Day?" Obviously, he wasn't asking Lola. "From the Internet - okay, that's enough, I don't want to know the details. We had a deal. Don't share."

Jaime shook his head, looking sheepish. "I totally forgot," he admitted. "If I knew you'd be back today... probably would've done more than this." And been even more nervous, probably, so maybe being forgetful worked for him in this case.

[nicknamegirl]

Lola looked on with interest as Jaime spoke to the Scarab. She was rather amused. It was strange, really, how quickly she had gotten used to Jaime talking to someone she couldn't see, but really, how was the Scarab's voice any different from that of Lola's inner angel, which advised her when she was being human and uncertain about what she was doing? ...Okay, so there were a few obvious differences between an inner angel and a piece of alien tech. But it was the same basic principle, anyway.

"That's alright," she grinned. "I wasn't really aware of the date anyway... And trust me." She planted a kiss on his cheek. "You did plenty." Him saying he loved her? Best Valentine's present ever.

She twined a strand of her hair between her fingers, and smiled a bit. "So, what deal do you two have? If you don't mind me asking." Hey, he'd said it out loud, and she was curious.

[bantersucks]

The main difference was that the advice, more often than not, wasn't that helpful. Even though it had eased off the "ack it's a threat kill it" tendencies, it still didn't get a lot of important things. Like individuality, love, sex, pacifism, or personal space. But when its advice made sense, that was usually a sign that he'd been missing the obvious. It knew that Lola made Jaime happy, and that was enough.

And the kiss on the cheek made him grin even wider. "Okay. Good." It was a rare moment where being clueless paid off. "How long was it for you?" he asked, curious. "In Tunisia, I mean."

"Uh..." Well, he'd walked into that question, and in light of everything it was kind of silly. His smile became a bit self-deprecating. "Scarab can pick up wireless signals on its own." Like the radio broadcast on Halloween but he was not even mentioning that. "Off-campus, that means wireless Internet. Wouldn't be such a bad thing, but it checks the Internet on its own sometimes." He reddened a bit, remembering some of the stuff it had dredged up. "Ever know a little kid who asks embarrassing questions out of nowhere about stuff they're not old enough to understand? Multiply that by ten and give them the ability to bring up visual aids. Usually not the kind you want to see when you're trying to take an algebra test." He'd nearly fallen out of his chair.

"So the deal was that it's not allowed to go into details unless I ask for them. And never when I'm at school. Ever." They would only make so many allowances for him being the "One Year Later" guy, after all. "Some things I've gotta explain eventually, but... its timing tends to be kinda off."

((OKAY I WILL STOP EDITING NOW. Promise.))

[nicknamegirl]

Lola pondered this. "About a week, I think," she finally replied. "It's hard to tell when you're constantly travelling and looking after someone else all the time. But yeah, I'd say a week." Plenty of time to miss him, anyway. Which she had, like crazy.

She listened to Jaime's explanation and grinned widely, and just a tad wickedly. "I understand, babe. I kind of was that little kid, actually. Once." That that been her prerogative as the baby sister. She had developed a knack for finding out the most embarrassing questions to ask, too, and which brother would find it the most awkward to answer it, and when was the appropriate time to ask. In public was always fun. There had been one period in time when Alejandro, who had been 14 when Lola was at her worst, had refused to go anywhere with her. Good times.

Lola paused, pushing away a silly mental image of the Scarab clicking around, visiting forums and reading bizarre fanfiction, and blushed a little when she thought of what else existed online. Ahem, yeah... Focusing on other things now.

The angel was still soaring (metaphorically) from both completing the mission and recent boyfriend events, so even though she should be tired, Lola felt on top of the world. And not like she wanted to take it easy at all. If she'd been back in Heaven now, she would definitely have gone to find someone to go out and party with, but sadly, Hogwarts was lacking in parties to attend at the moment.

"Do you want to go for a walk or something?" she asked hopefully. "I'm still buzzing with extra energy; I won't be able to sleep at all until I get to burn it off."

((Gah. Yeah. You know I'm sorry. Maybe this whole thread should be wrapped up soon, to stop us both from apologising so much? =) ))

[bantersucks]

((Well, it's hitting that point anyway. Goodness knows this week's been nuts on my end. That's the problem with these threads that require some actual thought: they take so long! :) Susan-mun okayed the offscreen freakout mentioned. ))

It had been a long week and a half on Jaime's end too. He'd missed her like crazy, and it was worse than that first week when he'd been unexpectedly dumped back home. At home, he had his family and Brenda and Paco to confide in, and school and hero-ish stuff to distract him. He could have done without there being a need for the heroing in the first place. But distractions at Hogwarts had been pretty scarce due to the lack of classes, and he'd been making a point of trying to keep his promise to Lola. Which was why, when the Scarab had inexplicably started panicking and freaking out a few days earlier only to suddenly stop after a few minutes, he'd decided not to ask what had triggered it.

At least Brenda had been here to talk sense into him. Thank God. Jaime wasn't sure what would have happened if she hadn't. He'd have realized how stupid he was being and how he really felt eventually, but not without screwing things up first en route.

"So you were one of those, huh?" He smirked. "Do little sisters have some kinda internal radar that tells 'em to ask you about something embarrassing your best friend said a week ago at the worst possible time?" The first time Milagro had overheard Paco telling Jaime he needed 'pimp school' had made for a really interesting morning at church. At least she'd grown out of that phase and into the snarking back at him phase.

Jaime had been pretty tired, coming off of the morning's events and the nervousness and then the utter relief after confessing to Lola - but he was starting to get a second wind. He was happy just to spend time with her, whether it was just sitting and talking or if they decided to cover the entirety of Hogwarts on foot.

He pretended to think about the question, then grinned. "Yeah. A walk sounds great." He got to his feet, offering her his arm. "Anywhere in particular, or just... go wherever the staircases let us?"

That wasn't entirely facetious. Even though he wasn't on the moving staircases' hit list, they still kept him on his toes.