3rd Floor Common Room [Friday, Afternoon]

[knowsnokungfu]

Chuck was getting very well acquainted with common rooms the last day or so.

No reason. Really. But there was food right there, and TV, and big comfy couches to flop out on, and--

Okay, yes, maybe he was worried Leia would ask him to make himself scarce again, and then he'd know exactly why she wanted him out of the room for a while, and would

Comments

[shes_got_legs]

The whole break-up with Bruce thing was really upsetting for a multitude of reasons, one of them being that they even lived on the same floor so if Ariel decided to hang out in the common room to distract herself from it and the other things she'd had to deal with since Wednesday, there was still a chance of running into him and that would just be awkward.

Luckily, there were other common rooms.

And other boys.

Case in point.

"Oh, hello, Chuck."

[knowsnokungfu]

"Ariel!" So much more interesting than Bitterwoman. Not that Bitterwoman wasn't awesome, but... No. Ariel won out, and Chuck grinned at her. "Hey."

"You uh, doing all right?" This week, it needed asking. He'd seen people who seemed to be enjoying it, and then there those like him who were vaguely twitchy with the whole thing.

[shes_got_legs]

Chuck's grin made Ariel smile easily enough, so that made it pretty interesting to make sure she kept that smile and not let it falter when he went on to ask a question like that.

"Uh, yeah," she said, with extra enthusiasm to make it perfectly clear, "definitely. I'm doing great, just great. Why wouldn't I be?"

[knowsnokungfu]

"I... guess, this week has been weird, so--" Chuck shrugged, flipping his comic closed. If the slightly forced enthusiasm tweaked something, at least he wasn't mentioning it.

"It seemed... right to ask." And suddenly it almost didn't. "--Is that too private a question this week? I mean, normally, I'd just ask but then with things this kind of, um--" That vague handgesture was meant to illustrate so many things, but just came out as flapping.

[likesscoundrels]

The sexiler in question just happened to pass through. "Hi, Chuck," she said, perching on the arm of a couch. "Thank you again for the other night."

[knowsnokungfu]

"Oh, hey, no uh... No trouble," he assured her. Still not thinking about it. Stiiiill not thinking about it. "I did like, a camping thing. It was... different."

"But, you know, happy to let you have the place and-- All that."

[likesscoundrels]

"Are you all right?" Leia asked. "You seem a little distracted." And he was looking awfully cute today, too. He wasn't really her type, but she could always make an exception.

[knowsnokungfu]

Chuck cleared his throat, and marshaled his expression into something calmer as best he could. "Totally fine. Really, very... fine." He could probably do with a few less words to be convincing, but he was trying.

"Are you? Good. That is."