* I'VE BEEN PRACTICING OUT LOUD, [matthew]

Nell grinned and waggled her fingers at Matt. She was glad she wasn’t intruding on him, but she never really was. He didn’t ever complain, and so she took it upon herself to give him a surprise in the form of her presence. ”Oh you make me blush,” she said, rolling her eyes as if scandalized by his comment. ”One time you’re gonna be, and then I’ll take a picture, and blackmail you with it. Sorry, vato.” Knowing Nell, it was all too clear how much of a joke that was. Unless you made it to her exclusive enemies list, she’d never think of hurting someone like that. Especially not Matt. He was just adorable, even though there was really know what she should say that considering he was older than her. In her world, that didn’t make anyone less adorable. And for his sake, she always managed to resist the cheek-pinching charade, even though it was really hard on her. She didn’t know what to do with her hands when she was overwhelmed by that.

He told her that Sandy wasn’t home, and Nell groaned playfully. ”I’m alone with you. No!” She held up her hands with that dramatic cry, and dropped to her knees for effect. With little effort, she jumped back up, always filled with energy. She didn’t think about a day when she wouldn’t be so limber and she’d be taking calcium pills or anything like that. It was way into the future, and she had trouble looking into it enough. ”Dry martini, shaken not stirred.” She held her thumb up before taking the glass and peaking into the fridge, resisting taking all the food out. Sandra was living with him, and she wasn’t going to devour the contents that should be feeding the two of them. She certainly ate for two a lot of the time, even though she never really thought about it. ”Just give me some of that OJ.” Nell held out the glass to him, glad that she brought her own food to keep her content.

He pointed out the bag then, and she grinned slyly. ”You better believe it,” she said, taking out the comics and flipping through some of the pages as she sat at the table. ”I was down at the shop, and apparently I was thinking they came out later so it blew my mind when I saw the most recent one. Think I have a bit of catching up to do. Have you been keeping up?” She was pretty ashamed of herself, but life was busy sometimes, and she barely found time to stop by the store to indulge. The last time she had indulged in anything was when she bought a phonograph so that her vinyls could actually been listened to. That had been a music marathon for her, considering it was the first time she listened to them. She looked up when Matt spoke, mouth gaping. ”And this is what I miss! When’s the issue coming out? Holy crap, that’s awesome…” It was really great news and maybe she should have been more embarrassed that she felt such an emotional connection to comic book characters. But this was Matt, he understood completely. ”Did they officially announce it or what?”

After getting her OJ, Nell hopped up on the counter and flipped through the comic, paying most of her attention to Matthew. She may have loved her comics, but she also loved Matthew, and she wasn't about to ignore him for some Marvel gloriousness. "I just got paper, so you know I had to spend some of it," she said, brushing her fingers together. She didn't get paid a lot, and most of it went to savings. Nell was spendthrift, but she also suffered from something most people did--spending all your money after getting it. Probably because it was uncommon to be holding so much. "And that's why we avoid the internet, Matty," she said, holding up a finger before picking up the glass and taking a sip. "All you have to do is look at google and bam! Spoilers." She didn't go on the internet too much, mostly thanks to Josh. There was also the fact that she never grew up with it, and so she wasn't as attuned to it.

Nell leaned back a bit, groaned. "Two months? C'mon, they're tripping." She wasn't too bothered, both because it took a lot to actually get her upset and because she was a patient person. She had a wait a while to buy these issues, two months for the wedding issue wouldn't be long. Ugh, but the excitement was going to kill her. She guessed she'd have to mark it on the calendar in her phone, set an alarm for it. Usually she didn't need reminders like that, she had a memory like the gift of God, but it certainly would be helpful. "I refuse to believe its anyone else," she said, shaking her head. But she guessed they'd make the actual announcement soon enough. "At least we'll probably be getting some more details soon." But that might make it even worse, considering that details would just cause more anticipation for every fan.

She laughed at him. He did have a point, and if it were truly unhealthy, she may have been more concerned. She was very focused on her health, that was for damn sure. "Maybe, but eh, who cares?" She threw up her hand. "And hey, at least we're not the kind of people who, you know, throw showers and crap like that. I bet there'll be people like that." Those were the hardcore fans, and she wondered if she could ever be so passionate about something. In actuality, she was passionate about everything, but there was nothing she truly focused on in her life. She was stretched all over the place. "You wanna cook something? Bake?" It was always better to read over comics and talk with food involved. Or maybe that was just her. She didn't know, but she was pretty sure everyone loved food. What wasn't to love about something that helped you live?

Nell was only a little higher than a little ol' lady when it came to the gauge of internet saviness. She did have a clue, at least, but she didn't tend to use it too much. Nell hadn't even used the old one in the library back in New York. That was definitely because she was very young and she had too much stubborn pride to ask the librarian to help her. Everything needed to be done on her own. "Is that a threat, homie?" she said facetiously. "You gonna head to Marvel headquarters with a baseball bat and take it to the streets?" She formed a 'w' with her fingers, and then remembered that this was Canada, and she was American, and the culture shock sometimes was still pretty incredible. Not too much, thankfully, not like she saw all off America before she'd left it for a better place.

Nell snorted, flipped a page. "Pff, but where would the gifts go? 'Oh, I'm just holding it for the lovely couple.'" It was strange thinking about everything that went into a marriage considering she'd be doing that someday. She remembered her parents' marriage--stories of it--and they hadn't had anything big, didn't have the money or a family. The two had eloped, and they were fine with that. But she was sure Josh wanted his family around, even though she'd be fine with anything. For a moment, she thought of her father, that traditionally he was going to be the one to walk her down the aisle. She had a short period when she would have accepted that, but now... Every man has regrets. I can't be mad about the past. Nell didn't know how to feel, really. She was tired of fighting, of bitterness, of expectations never followed through.

Nell could throw together anything with even meager rations, it was a talent for all Fuentes men. Her father just didn't have a son to pass it down to. She closed the comic and dropped it onto the counter, hopping down. "Pasta?" she questioned. Now that was something she could work with. "Have tomatoes? I can make a sauce then." She'd always been taught to make things from scratch, to be original. It scared her sometimes, thinking of how much the past shaped her, molded her in its hand to form whatever she was today. Nell didn't think she was actually something in any true shape or form. "Got spices, right? Not too depleted on that front, I hope." Living in a mansion now, she had a goddamn cook, but she still liked to do a lot of things on her own. But she'd quickly come to realize the necessity of staff.

Nell laughed at the Water elemental's words before adjusting her feet and pretending to swing a baseball bat. "Like so," she said as she pretended to watch the ball fly away, shielding her eyes with her hand from an invisible sun. "Of course, it's different when you're trying to kill a guy." She didn't know about the usual stereotype of dorks who read comics and the fact that they usually didn't play sports. She was getting used to these things, but she didn't know a lot about them. Maybe it was better, stereotypes weren't very good things. But even so, Nell would like to know more about the world around her. It was hers now, she got to see it all, and there would always be things she needed to know about it.

Open bars sounded good, and she took Matt's word on it until he questioned it himself. Nell blinked, tilted her head as she looked around as if the answer would be written in the walls. Boy, was Matt asking the absolutely wrong person. "I don't know, actually," she said, blinking. With her limited experience in...everything, a wedding shower and reception were two things that she had never gone to. "Deary me, I should know this, shouldn't I?" she said with a grin. She was going to be married eventually. Of course, there hadn't been any planning yet, but it was still something that she should have a grasp on. In a moment of panic, she realized she knew fuck all about weddings. How to plan one. Where it would be. All the little details.

She opened up the bag and pulled one out to see the size. "Yep, that should be good," she said. "But I should probably wash my hands first..." Nell turned on the faucet and ran the water over her hands before she started handling food. "If you got onions, that'd be wonderful, too." She liked he fridge to be kept stocked, and in a mansion it was rare when one didn't see food in it. She laughed at the saffron comment. "Nope, just need basil. And...garlic powder, I guess I'll use." She didn't use cook books most of the time, she had recipes in her head. Her father didn't have a son to pass on his cooking prowess to as it was usually a patriarchal thing, so she got everything a son should have. "I am a fan of spaghettini, but whatever you got." She got to working on chopping the tomatoes, quick and dexterous.

Nell waved the knife around in a circle. She sometimes needed to remembered she was holding a potentially dangerous object. ”Regular spaghetti it is, then,” she said. Nell nodded when he said he’d get started on it, stomach growling in ascent. ”We’ll have to share the stove.” She could make cold sauce, but cooked was much better in her experience. Richer, not as thin as it was if it was kept cold. The girl practically squealed in delight when he gave her the onion. ”Delightful,” she said, putting the knife down before gesturing some more. She liked this sort of teamwork, making something together. She thought it was a very good way to cook. And Matt was a very good cook as well, even though it was hard to botch spaghetti. Then he retrieved the pan and she said, ”Thank you, doll.” Even if she didn’t have the ingredient, she would always improvise.

The girl cut up the onions as Matt spoke. ”Hopefully not,” she said with a light chuckle on matters of knowing the ins and outs of the institution of marriage. For Nell, it was a reason for anxiety when she didn’t know about something so common. Because it was yet another thing she didn’t know about the world. ”Nah. Haven’t really discussed it.” Actually, they hadn’t discussed it at all. It was the proposal, and bam, she was engaged to Joshua Dale. ”A wedding planner…” Nell murmured. Never considered that, mostly because she hadn’t actually thought about the wedding at all. ”Oh dear, wandering the internet? I know there’s flowers, right? I can take care of flowers.” She was an Earthie, it wouldn’t be hard to mass produce…whatever kind of flowers were used for weddings.

When Matt started chopping cucumbers, she turned and smiled tearfully at him. ”You’re making me cry, Matty,” she said melodramatically. The onion fumes were to blame, but she also appreciated the words. It was almost funny, speaking of anything involving Josh being sweet, or cute even. Nell often thought he was adorable, but she wondered if it was just her. ”I would hug you if I weren’t holding a knife.” She sniffed and glared playfully at the chopped onions before preparing to dice them. Maybe they’d need to open a window or something. Onions got way intense. ”Have you been dating or anything?” It’s usually something friends talked about, but she knew what she was like with information on her personal life. More often than not, she neglected to tell people about important things. Thankfully, the engagement ring was unmistakable.

Food. Food was at the reception, right? And what about the ceremony? Neither of them belonged to a religion, so would they be married by a justice of the peace like her parents? This was why she didn't think about things. "Is shepherd's pie an appropriate wedding dish?" That part definitely excited her, the food. They'd have to hire catering, probably. That's what people did. There's a lot of time to figure all this out. That was one thing she could count on. Time.

Nell waved a hand in front of her face, fanning it off. Good thing for Matt, she never cried. Only in front of Josh, he was the one person she let her guard down in front of. It was a surprising realization, actually. "What'll you do at the wedding when I'm balling like a baby?" Didn't brides usually do that? She didn't know if she'd be able to pull it off. Sure, she would be happy on her wedding day. At least she believed. God, she hoped so. No, no, she was certain of it. It's why she accepted the proposal. Josh was the one thing in her life that she was certain of.

Nell was glad to move on from the onions, playfully butt-bumping Matt as she squeezed in next to him to start making the sauce. "So there's a person of interest, huh?" she said, not being able to stop the impish grin on her face. She liked to hear when her friends took interest in someone else, it got the gears in her head moving. Which wasn't such a good thing for the friends in question, actually. "Have you ever talked to her? A good pick-up line would be..." The girl leaned against the counter, a hand on her hip. "Yo baby, I was wondering if you got them Shakespeare notes. That guy had swag, am I right?" She threw in her best ghetto accent for that, and for once it was a good thing she grew up in the correct area for it.