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Post by tedster on Apr 23, 2012 22:03:36 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;]( this takes place during the beginning of this previous summer's break, away from the academy in ottawa. )
Like any other student, ever, Teddy really enjoyed his breaks away from the Academy, and this had not failed to carry over into his college days. While the Academy's breaks were short in comparison to those who attended college around him, any time off was welcome, especially when he could go back to his home in Ottawa and hang out with his family and dog, catch up with friends, and let himself unwind from how tedious it could be at the Academy, always keeping himself in check with his schoolwork, part-time job, and probably most important of all, elemental alliances and the like.
Teddy really loved the Academy, honestly. It was home, now, years after he had first gone there for his primary elemental training, but back then and even now, Teddy didn't understand the need for the elemental alliances. He didn't really like being told that so-and-so element was bad news and he should keep away from them, even if these warnings usually ended up being true. It was good to know that one wasn't technically alone when heading into a war, but on another level, he felt sort of weird about casting off an entire group of people just based on stereotypes and preconceived notions. That wasn't really how he rolled, but it was hard to try to stay afloat in an environment that pitted students against each other almost immediately. Still, if he thought about it, most of the Fires he knew he didn't like. It was nice to spend a month away from them, at least. And, well, it was nice to spend a month free to hang out with whoever he wanted, period, no questions asked, no side-eyes received.
Like, for example, Skye. And it was kind of sad that he would never dream of hanging out with her on a regular off day back in Maple Hollow.
The afternoon sun had yet to start setting when Teddy pulled into the parking lot of his favorite ice cream stand, scanning the crowd quickly to see if Skye was there yet, but it probably wasn't the best thing to do while operating a giant hunk of metal. He managed to find a parking spot, wedged in between another car and a powerline pole, got out of his car, and quickly scanned the crowd again, even if he was still a little far away. He didn't see anyone that resembled his Thunder classmate, though. Tucking his shades on, he locked his car up and replaced the phone in his pocket with his keys, jogging over to the stand and hovering by the line waiting patiently for ice cream. He checked his phone for any missed calls or messages, of which he found none. He debated as to whether he should send her a message or not, but seeing as he was ten minutes early, maybe it wasn't necessary. Skye wasn't usually late, either, and ten minutes wasn't too long to wait, all things considered.
So instead, he resigned himself to leaning against the edge of an empty picnic table, tucking his phone back into his pocket as he waited for Skye, eyes scanning the menu only half-heartedly, gummi bears the only thing he knew he wanted for sure as a topping. |
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 24, 2012 15:28:02 GMT -5
Being in school could take a toll on a person, and in Skye's case, doubly so. Actually, she was pretty sure it was the case for many students at the Academy, but then it was hard to have to deal with homework and fighting all the time. Hating people was just a little too much work to keep up all the time, and so was getting along with people she didn't always even like just for the sakes of alliances. That said, she was probably luck she was a Thunder and not a Fire -- Thunders were notoriously less loyal, not that it really stopped them from fighting for the cause whenever it came up. That said, Waters and Earths could be annoying as fuck -- not all of them, but at least enough that she got where her fellow alliance members were coming from. All of this was conjecture, though, something she thought about as she waited for the bus and thought about how much it would cost for her to buy a damn car. It was probably more money than she had, but maybe for the next year, she could get something. It was getting pretty lame to have to take the bus everywhere, actually, even though at this point she had a pretty impressive grasp of the Ottawa transit system (and had, really, memorized Maple Hollow's).
She was in a good mood, though, despite the fact that she was sitting in the heat and it was kind of gross and awful. Summers were by far her least favourite season, at least when it came to weather, because damn, was July hot. Even so, being on break made it kind of worth it -- she was supposed to head for California the next week with her parnets, but until then and for sometime after they returned, being at home was fantastic. Maple Hollow was great, fine, okay -- it was just as much of "home" as Ottawa was at this point, but even then, when she thought of home, she always meant the city she'd grown up in and returned to for breaks. Plus, being away from school was kind of a relief in more ways than only that. There was no homework to do and no alliances to worry about -- no concern of being tripped down the stairs by some Water punk. In the case of Teddy, it was far easier just to hang out when none of that business was in the way. Doing so back at the Hollow was, again, more work than it was worth. At least they had days like these over breaks... and at least the bus was finally here, she thought as she got on.
At the ice cream stand where they'd planned to meet -- a sure favourite of the area considering the line of people -- it would have been pretty hard to miss Teddy, what with his hair once again bright blonde and, er, that eccentric wardrobe. (Hey, if he made it work...) He looked kind of distracted, though, watching the menu, so instead of calling his name she came up behind him -- apparently she didn't stand out as much, though she couldn't imagine why, sarcasm intended. "Boo!" she greeted, poking him in that-one-spot-in-the-sides to get his attention. Then, because that wasn't much of a greeting at all -- "Hey, Teddy."
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Post by tedster on Apr 24, 2012 16:31:31 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;]There he was, sort of minding his own business after graciously leaving the table he was leaning on for a family of four to take seats their instead. He always felt awkward whenever he was just standing in some space with nothing to lean against for some reason, like he didn't know quite what to do with his arms and legs while they weren't occupied, which was partially true -- they were long and lanky and sort of awkward. He couldn't even claim he had muscles because people saw through that real quick. So instead, he was studying the menu in apt concentration when he felt a finger dig into his side, in that one spot that always made him squeak and jump away. And even as he did so, he knew it had to be Skye, because no one enjoyed seeing him squeal like a girl more than she did. "Dude, you scared the crap out of me!" |
[/color] he said carefully, noting the children of impressionable age around them. Definitely didn't want ot be pissing off any overbearing parents anytime soon. He held a hand over his heart, feeling it slowly come back down from the surprise. "You know, you could have said that first, and then poke me in the side or something."[/color] Teddy fake!grumped, mostly because he wasn't really all that mad. Maybe it was what made him such an open target. Either way, though, he smiled at her, because telling her not to screw with him wasn't much of a greeting at all. And also sort of futile. "Hi, Skye."[/color] Teddy said, reaching out and pulling her into a hug. It was Skye's own downfall for being okay with how touchy-feely he was, but it came to be somewhat of a surprise to know that she was just as touchy-feely as he was. He figured Thunders hated that sort of thing, but then again, there were a lot of things different about Skye, and he was happy with this particular tidbit. He let her go, tucking his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans as his arms fell to his sides. "Okay, so do we want idle chit-chat first followed by awkward silences over ice cream, or we can get ice cream and talk with our mouths full and be kind of gross and not-so-classy?"[/color] Teddy suggested, gesturing to the stand behind him and the people lined up, waiting for their turn. It was something like a joke between the two now, remembering how awkward they had been when they first ran into each other by chance at one of Ottawa's shopping malls. Neither knew much about the other except what elements they were, but Teddy was as stubborn as he was outgoing and decided to try and strike up conversation, of all things. Un heard of, really. But somehow, the casual chatting became something like a weird friendship, though if you asked Teddy how that happened, he wouldn't have the faintest clue on what to tell you. Things always happen. Whether they had a reason to or not would always remain to be seen.[/div][/center][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 24, 2012 17:44:38 GMT -5
Teddy was an easy target -- too easy, actually. His reactions were always worth it too, because she was pretty sure he fell for this one every single time and each time it was accompanied by an extremely girly squeal on his part. Luckily Teddy had things to fall back on besides his manliness. That was probably a plan that wasn't working out so well for him. "I'm pretty sure I scare the crap out of you every time I do that... but this was one of the better times." Of course, by "better", she meant hilarious. It probably wasn't any better for Teddy himself. At least she was just playing around and wasn't as antagonistic as some of the other Thunders -- at that point she was pretty sure it'd just be purely evil. "But then I wouldn't get to see you jump," she pointed out, grinning as she debated doing it again. Nah. He was probably too on-guard now, at least for the next few minutes. Plus, she'd just feel bad if she actually managed to get him twice in the same thirty seconds or so. It got a little bit sad after a point.
Luckily for her, it didn't seem like Teddy could really stay mad at anyone, at least not for something stupid like that. Next thing she knew, she was being pulled into a hug, not that she was complaining. Hanging around mainly Fires and Thunders could be kind of exhausting at times, honestly -- as it turned out her own touchy-feely tendencies were a pretty rare thing when it came to this side of the alliance. It made it kind of nice to hang out with Teddy, who'd made it really clear really fast that he was kind of willing to cuddle up to most people. She returned his hug and then let him go, smiling. It was always refreshing to be back home and in the company of people she liked -- without having to worry about anyone else's agenda. "I think at this point I'm pretty partial to awkward silences," she answered, her face uncannily serious considering she was definitely joking. Apparently it was usually hard to tell, but people (Teddy included) had definitely been able to figure it out in the past. "But ice cream is even better, so." She gestured toward the back of the line to suggest they move there instead, and then joined it. There was still a pretty decent amount of people before them, though. "Though gross, if you start dripping ice cream all over the place I'm leaving." She wouldn't really, though. (Probably.)
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Post by tedster on Apr 24, 2012 20:03:02 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;]Teddy merely followed Skye to the back of the line, falling into step beside her as he pretended to be offended at the thought of himself acting anything remotely under the 'gentleman' genre of human beings. "Skye Ford, you wound me with that sort of talk! I'm absolutely affronted that you would suggest I partake in such barbaric behavior." |
[/color] Teddy scoffed, for extra credit. "That is simply a waste of ice cream, I wouldn't dare do such a thing. Especially in front of you."[/color] Teddy finished in his usual style, leaving the theatrics behind. The line crawled forward. He and Skye crawled with it, and a few people joined them at the end. The sun was kind of sweltering, truth be told, making the back of his neck break out with sweat, and he mentally congratulated himself for choosing to go blond during the summers -- having dark hair with the sun beating down on his head day after day gave him headaches, and this helped a ton. It also made him look really fly, which was always a plus, and was actually pretty practical, now that he thought about it, but he enjoyed the reaction he got when he told people he thought he looked fly. It was always a mixture of amusement and jealousy -- though the jealousy may have been incorrectly inferred on his part. The world will never know. He casually leaned his arm on her shoulder; while she wasn't that short, she was still shorter than him, and he had a really bad habit of doing that to people shorter than him, but Skye's shoulder was really in prime position to allow him to rest his elbow, and sort of lean into her personal space. ...not like Teddy has any actual notion of where one's personal space started and ended since he would gladly get all up in it anyway, but he figured if she was bothered by it, he'd know, and soon. "How's your break going so far? Do anything fancy?"[/color] Teddy asked amiably, ignoring the line in front of them and looking at his friend instead. For as long as he knew Skye, he didn't really know that much about her family -- just that she was an only child and her parents were also elementals. And that was probably obvious, since she had to get her elemental power from somewhere, after all. But getting to know her family seemed like such an extra privilege, one that he'd be grateful to have, but he hasn't even found everything out about her yet, and Teddy was a naturally curious human being. He, on the other hand...well. Skye could probably write his entire biography from memory, depending on how good her memory was.[/div][/center][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 24, 2012 20:49:42 GMT -5
Skye listened, amused, not really sure whether or not she should cut in at any point to interrupt what sounded like the start of a complete tirade. He stopped quickly, though, finishing off sounding completely casual. She mostly tried not to laugh, though he'd probably have just taken mock offence at that too. "You're the one who suggested that we're anything less than classy," she pointed out, ignoring the kids behind them who looked like they were kind of weirded out. Ten-year-olds weren't usually very reliable... at least, Skye didn't think so. "True -- I'm pretty sure I can't hang out with someone who wastes ice cream like that, either," she said flatly. Ice cream was definitely not to be wasted; perfectly good milk and flavouring and, uh, ice. Plus, she was pretty sure ice cream was always crazy expensive at this time of year, though she never bothered remembering prices long enough (through the seasons, that was) to check up on her own theory. "Not sure what especially me means, though..." She quirked a brow at him.
She shot him a bemused look when he decided that she was now his armrest, but didn't ask him to move, just scooted along up the line so that he could stay on and wouldn't fall over or something... even though the idea of Teddy faceplanting was actually a little hysterical. Skye wasn't that mean, though -- not to friends, at least, and as rarely as they got to hang out (especially at school) she did consider Teddy a friend. She met his gaze pretty comfortably, despite the fact that he was pretty close, all up in her personal business and what-not. She was pretty sure Teddy had no idea what the word "personal" actually meant in practice, anyway. "Not too bad, the usual." Mostly "the usual" meant hanging out at home and catching up with friends not from the Academy, but she figured that this was more or less the same for everyone who didn't live in the Hollow. "California next week with my parents, though! It's going to be hot. And awful." Really only the "hot" part would be awful, because other than that it should be pretty fun... except for maybe the beaches and the long plane ride. "What have you been up to?" she asked rather than explain any of this -- rarely a sharer, though Teddy seemed to be.
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Post by tedster on Apr 24, 2012 22:54:46 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;]"I'll have you know that I actually think we're pretty darn classy. It would take a considerable amount of effort to pretend otherwise," |
[/color] Teddy said, and really, there was wouldn't be anything to worry about -- Teddy wouldn't waste ice cream. Not even if he was on his death bed and it hurt to move the spoon to his gaunt lips. No ice cream, no life! Or something like that. He merely waggled his eyebrows at her when she had raised one at him, the inquiry about what he meant by 'especially you' left alone. Really, he thought it was obvious -- obviously she'd kill him if he wasted that much ice cream. But she could figure it out on her own or something. Teddy merely grinned, then took a few long strides to catch up with her scurrying after the line, never taking his arm off her shoulder. Some of her hair flew into his face from the movement, and he was pleasantly surprised to get a whiff of something vaguely smelling like oranges. Or maybe pineapple? "Whaaaaat, I'm totally jealous! I hear California's pretty awesome. What part are you going to? Most importantly,"[/color] he said, grinning cheekily. "Are you going to get me something? I'll even take Minnie ears if you find yourself at Disneyland!" And really, he'd love the shit out of Minnie ears, too, mostly because they would look good next to his pair of regular Mickey ears, and then up next was a Pluto hat. Disney was awesome, okay. Whoever said that Disneyland was for kids only was sorely mistaken...or just a crotchety, disgruntled old person. He found that he was usually right in this assessment. However, California was pretty big, and knowing Skye and her penchant for being classy, he wouldn't be surprised if she and her family ended up in San Francisco or Napa Valley or something, wine tasting and being all bourgeoisie. At the conversation shift, he shrugged, finally taking his weight off her shoulder and straightening up, scratching at his head a little. What had he been up to? Nothing special. Nothing like California, anyway. "Me? Not much...spending most days with my dog even though he refuses to move much unless he needs to be walked. Hanging out with friends not from the Academy."[/color] His face darkened a little bit. "My brother got a girlfriend and I'd be okay with it if she wasn't so annoying. She's all high maintenance and snooty and chews gum really loud. It's so gross."[/color][/div][/center][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 25, 2012 16:30:45 GMT -5
Waggling her eyebrows was a skill that Skye had never acquired, and she was pretty sure she'd just look stupid trying it, but so did most people. There was no way Teddy could do that without way more practice than she was willing to put in, though. "But why would we bother doing that when class is effortless?" Or, well, it wasn't really, but she figured that if she had to try at something then she might as well make it classiness rather than... the opposite. Skye didn't really know what this conversation was, actually. Sometimes that happened with Teddy. She raised her free arm to move her hair out of his face when she did notice that it was kind of flying all over the place. Long hair was kind of a curse, honestly, and it was kind of too bad that she couldn't just... chop it all off. (Well, she could, but at this point she was pretty attached to it.) "Teddy," she started, the picture of complete and utter seriousness even though she was anything but, "your face is all up in the way of my hair."
He sounded more excited than she was, especially considering the fact that he wasn't even going, but she smirked when his real intentions became clear quickly. "Minnie ears, huh? Sure," she agreed, making a mental note to remember this if they did wind up at Disneyland -- her parents weren't always the most predictable of people, to be honest. "Only if you promise to wear them, though! And take a picture. And let me post it all over the Internet." That said, she was pretty sure Teddy would still find a way to make it work, so that plan was apt to fall apart pretty quickly... though she wouldn't mind being the friend of the next Ridiculously Photogenic Guy or whatever equivalent they thought of. "I'm not sure where we're going, though... Beaches... Mountains... I think my dad wants to drive up to Vegas while we're there, too." It was still a little lame that they had the awful drinking age of twenty-one there, though, if she was going to be up in Vegas anyway... She rotated her shoulder around a bit, adjusting again as he removed his head from her arm. "You should have brought him!" she answered -- referring to Teddy's dog, that was, not his brother (though she didn't really have anything against Taylor, not really), then paused and wrinkled her nose at the description of the apparent new girlfriend. "Why does he even like her then?"
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Post by tedster on Apr 25, 2012 16:53:11 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;]"Skye," Teddy replied, flipping his non-existent long hair out of his way, over his shoulder. "You just have to admit that your hair has as secret vendetta against me. It's probably jealous that I look better as a blond." This, of course, was pure conjecture. And probably pretty false. And now that he thought about it, the idea of Skye with blond hair sort of terrified him because he didn't think it could look good at all. Not that he would ever say this out loud -- he would never offend a woman's delicate tastes, especially in the field of looks...unless they specifically asked for it. Skye wouldn't. And plus...meh. He kind of liked her hair the way it was, all long and tousled effortlessly in a way that only she could have.
Her condition about posting a picture of him in Minnie ears wasn't actually anything he wouldn't have done by himself, anyway, either with his friends from home or his other bros around Maple Hollow. Honestly, she should know better by now. "For you, I'll even wear the outfit to go with it. And I won't even try to worm my way out of it! You just have to find the outfit somewhere." |
[/color] All right, so dressing up as the mouse was sort of an impromptu thought, but honestly, where the hell were they going to find a Minnie costume here, in Canada, of all places? Why would America's northern friend even welcome that sort of thing across its borders? Unless someone felt there was a veritable black market for Disney costumes. That's a business he could get into. Plus -- and let's all be a little real here -- Teddy would pull that off in a second, anyway. He'd have to dye his hair black again, but he did that anyway once summer began its decline and fall started turning leaves red and orange. Really? This couldn't go wrong. And even if Teddy never actually considered the consequences of getting himself involved with stupid shit like this all the time, the fact that he always had some sort of a plan on hand was reassuring enough. The conversation veered from Minnie ears to Skye's actual vacation in California, and Teddy listened, still somewhat jealous. Especially at the mention of Vegas. "Vegas, too? Now you're just rubbing it in. Skyyyye,"[/color] he mockingly whined. "Take me with you! I can hide in your suitcase! I'll be your walking wardrobe! Get me away from Taylor's awful girlfriend!"[/color] And okay, in actuality, maybe she wasn't so bad -- she could see why she got along so well with his brother, but the way she chewed gum was seriously just vile. "You know how Taylor is. He's all prim and proper and elitist and, 'I'm younger but I'm so much better than Teddy but I'm really not but I want to be and be insufferable and my ego is huge!'. I guess he thought getting a girlfriend would give him an edge, but he didn't count on her being sort of rude the first time she met my parents, so..."[/color] Teddy paused, shrugging a little bit. "Needless to say, that's not working out so well. It's actually a bit of a trainwreck and I feel bad for him, but I can't help him beat me when there's no competition. He can win, for all I care."[/color] For once, Teddy was actually somewhat serious, as this issue with his little bro had been a constant point of tension between them, even though they were fond of each other and actually had each other's backs more often than not. The competition was just annoying, though, and tototally unncessary.[/div][/center][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 25, 2012 21:59:20 GMT -5
She gave him the most judgmental look she could muster -- more of an are you for real look than anything else, though -- at the nonexistent hair flip, and then crossed her arms over her chest trying her best to look affronted. It was probably true, though; she'd never tried to imagine her hair blonde, and honestly didn't want to. It'd probably look awful. Teddy, though, didn't always have blonde hair, but then again he changed it so often that she could never be sure what she was going to see on any given day anyway. "You wish your hair looked this good," she corrected. "Can't dye my hair blonde -- don't need to blind people every day, thanks." It was a not-so-subtle dig at Teddy's obnoxious hair colour, but she wasn't being serious anyway (even though, yeah, it was really bright). She he wasn't even sure he'd take it to heart even if she were being serious anyway -- he had enough confidence to spread all over the entire population of Ottawa and still have some left over... plus, he had to be at least kind of used to her at this point.
"Outfit and ears? Got it," she said with a nod. She didn't know where the hell she was supposed to find an entire Minnie Mouse outfit that would fit Teddy, considering they probably didn't make them in twenty-one-year-old-male size, but then she was sure he'd be able to fit his way into a dress, being positively shrimpy. "I'll hold you to that." At this rate, she was going to have to make an actual checklist of things to buy while in California anyway, but as far as Skye was concerned, any old red dress with polka dots was a good enough substitute. They could probably find a pair of tights to fit Teddy, too. She wasn't actually sure if he would even do it, though -- he didn't exactly seem too shy to or anything, but everyone had their limits. Most guys drew that line at crossdressing, apparently, but by now he'd gotten her hopes up way too much to just drop them.
She found herself laughing at him, probably not his actual envy but definitely the ridiculous whining. "Teddyyyyyyy," she whined back. "I could! Are you okay with both of us getting arrested and thrown into federal prison, though? Because I think Customs would be pretty rough about sneaking people into their country or something." She wasn't sure Taylor's girlfriend was actually as bad as he was currently making it sound, but then again, just the bit about the gum had been enough to kind of gross her out immediately. "Mm," she answered to signify that she understood. This did kind of sound like Taylor -- anyone who bothered to listen learnt a few things when Teddy started talking -- but it wasn't like she knew him all that well. "Yeah... I can see that. But what, seriously, rude too?" Ooh. The girl sounded like a ray of sunshine. Skye kind of tried to sort out the mess that sounded like Teddy and Taylor -- brothers who got along but had what sounded like a pretty one-sided competition to be... something? She didn't really get it, and was actually pretty glad she was an only child in moments like these. "I guess it's not the same if you surrender or something..." She somehow didn't see that going over so well.
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Post by tedster on Apr 27, 2012 21:08:31 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;]"Look, I have an entire plan! I just bring my passport with me. And then we can just say that I needed a nap and the trunk was the most comfortable spot. It's flawless!" |
[/color] Teddy exclaimed, grinning. No, he wasn't serious...at least about the napping in the trunk part. He was pretty serious about hitching a ride to the rumored great city of Las Vegas, and he would indeed bring his passport to speed the entire process up. He was sure that Skye and her family had plans they wanted to stick to, and getting pulled over and arrested by American customs was probably not in the gameplan. And Teddy knew how those American border patrol agents could be, by personal experience. Well, sort of. ...all right, they had never been so bad to him whenever he went to visit family in New York, but he's heard horror stories. He doesn't get why they would be asses about it, though. Like Teddy would go down to Canada's pants willingly. He looped an arm through hers as they trudged up the line, slowly but surely getting to the window that would allow them to obtain ice cream bliss. "I don't know, I guess not overtly rude, but it was just a bunch of small things that really bugged them. She kept talking about how the house just smelled like rice, and draped herself all over Taylor during dinner yet somehow still had one hand on her cell phone at all times,"[/color] Teddy replied, recalling the night in question. None of these things bothered Teddy, really, but it was mostly because Teddy didn't really mind anything, but he had seen it on his parents' face as clear as day. Hell, he was pretty sure that even Taylor knew they weren't pleased, but Taylor didn't exactly have the nerve to tell her to knock it off. Teddy didn't even know why he thought bringing a girl like that home would be enough to give him an edge; what Teddy said before was true -- he didn't know what this competition was. Taylor always outshone Teddy in some way. He was the better student, the more serious one, more driven and ambitious than Teddy was and would ever be, so Teddy didn't know why Taylor felt like they were in a contest or something. Teddy just didn't know what it was, or why it was even happening. He thought he had grown up showering his brother with all the affection he was supposed to give him -- and it wasn't even like he did it against his will, Teddy genuinely loved his brother -- but despite all the great and fun times they had together, there was always a simmering sort of tension on Taylor's end. Truthfully, it was annoying, but Teddy just pretended it wasn't there, for both their sakes. "Yeah, I guess not. I've tried, too! I told him that I never wanted to be better than him, but he just gave me an evil eye and walked away. I don't know what I did to wrong him."[/color] Mostly, though, even besides the confusion, Teddy was slightly hurt that Taylor apparently harbored some grudge against him, when he had never considered Taylor to be anything short of an amazing person. That kind of sucked, a lot.[/div][/center][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 27, 2012 23:33:50 GMT -5
Skye was pretty sure that Teddy was on some pretty strong stuff if he could suggest with any semblance of seriousness that this was a good plan. Well, she was pretty sure he was kidding anyway, but even so, she didn't really know how he came up with these things half the time. Teddy's mind was a place that she didn't dare try to adventure, and this was definitely not an isolated incident of her thinking something along these lines, either. "Teddy, that is by far the worst plan I have ever heard for sneaking into another country," she told him, shaking her head, but it was probably all made pointless by the very small but no less present smile. "Plus, we're taking a plane... and I think once you get to the plane part, 'I needed to take a nap' isn't going to be the best excuse anymore," she pointed out. That plan was definitely going to require way more work if he wanted to get anywhere close to Vegas, thanks. She supposed they could have driven there, though, but then she was sure that all three of them, Skye's parents and herself, would have just gotten annoyed and irritable, and that was never something nice on a family trip of all things.
She let him loop their arms together, frowning a little as she listened. The girl kind of sounded annoying -- precisely the type of person Skye kind of hated, to be honest, but then again she hadn't even met her. She wasn't exactly the most fair, though, seeing how often she tended to call judgments exactly as she saw them. This was probably kind of a huge hindrance to making friends, but Skye wasn't actually all that interested in too many people at this point. People had proven themselves to either be douchebags or just plain irritating, and she didn't really want either of those things around her. "I can't even imagine your parents being happy about that," she said, frowning, even though all in all she knew pretty little about Teddy's parents. He said plenty, sure, but there was knowing things about someone, and then there was... knowing someone. If nothing else, she knew that her parents would have probably been more than annoyed, and she would have been annoyed. "But I mean... you know. 'Always sweat the small stuff.' She probably could have tried a little harder not to be rude when meeting her boyfriend's parents." Skye probably could have been a little more candid when judging the hell out of someone she didn't even know, to be honest, but if Teddy was complaining, he was kind of giving her free reign. She had a funny feeling that it had more to do with the big picture than, er, the actual annoying girlfriend, though. "Probably nothing. You're just Teddy. People like you." She shrugged a little, or as well as she could while their arms were still interlocked. It really was an enviable trait of Teddy's -- though Skye, personally, wasn't really the type to resent something like that, but she could kind of get it. "And I don't mean that people don't like Taylor, but." She left the sentence kind of hanging, but continued on a completely separate note, "I figure it's not easy being the younger one, either way." Yeah... yeah. Skye was definitely glad she had the liberty of being an only child, all childhood loneliness aside.
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Post by tedster on Apr 28, 2012 17:50:55 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] "Especially when it was the first time he's ever brought a girl back home for us to meet. I mean, I've met his other girlfriends, sure, but 80% of them were all much nicer than this girl. I don't know why he would start with her," |
[/color] he shrugged. And even though he brought it up, Teddy kind of deflated as he poured his heart out about his whole situation with his brother, which hadn't changed at all since both of them reached puberty, so it wasn't like it was just going to magically end now that he was actively whining about it. And he felt kind of bad since this ice cream gathering wasn't supposed to devolve into anything like that. He sighed. "I don't know, it's just sort of frustrating. Anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to blab about stupid family shit."[/color] He apologized, then paused. "But hey, people like you too, you know. There's nothing to not like about you!"[/color] He rattled on, withdrawing his arm from hers, only to fully drape it around her shoulder. Just in time -- the line moved up more and soon, they were being called forward. Finally! Sweet, sweet ice cream! He grinned and walked with her to the window, taking a few last glances at the menu before saying hi to the girl behind the counter. "Hmmm...can I have salted caramel, with Heath bar on top? On a cone, please,"[/color] Teddy ordered, grin growing as the girl disappeared to get his order ready. It wasn't the first time he had come to this ice cream place since the summer started, but every time he's come so far, they've ran out of his favorite flavor, the salted caramel. But no...not this day. This day, they seemed to have an abundance as the girl didn't even have to lean down to scoop it out onto his cone, and so maybe it was just a sign of a great day. The girl came back with his ice cream cone, loaded up with ice cream and Heath bar topping, and it was like his grin was trying to eat his face, he was so happy. He paid, tugging a bank note out of his pocket and handed it over, picking off bits of candy bar from his cone and eating the pieces as the girl made change. Stuffing the bills and coins he received back into his pocket, he leaned against the side of the counter, leaving enough room for Skye to do her thing, a little embarrassed. "Uh...sorry. I suppose it should have been ladies first and all."[/color][/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by SKYE JESSICA FORD on Apr 28, 2012 21:20:39 GMT -5
Whatever Taylor's plan was, it didn't seem that well thought-out, at least not if the actual intention really was to gain an edge somehow. Maybe he had some kind of master strategy or something... or maybe he'd really thought the girlfriend would be nicer to bring home than she really had been. Skye was probably just overthinking it, though -- it wasn't like she even knew Taylor that well. She kind of prided herself on an ability to see the ways people thought (to varying degrees, obviously, based on how well she knew them in the first place) but Taylor was kind of the exception to the rule or something. "I don't know. He might regret it, in retrospect," she said, feeling that this was probably true... but again, she seriously had no idea of how Taylor's brain worked. To be honest, if Teddy hadn't yet seemed to figure out this mess, then she probably had no hope; as brothers they'd obviously known each other longer, and Teddy was a pretty smart guy. "Oh -- don't worry about it. You'll be okay! Taylor, too." She was pretty sure of that, and Skye wasn't much of an optimist -- not at all, actually -- so it was kind of saying something. "And... thanks." She smiled. Well, at least, she'd like to believe that people liked her, but at this point she was pretty sure she'd rebuffed many people enough not to be considered very approachable (and by association, likeable) anymore. Then again, she wasn't sure she cared -- she had the people in her life she wanted to keep around, and that was pretty much that.
She took the opportunity, with his arm now over her shoulder, to lean against him anyway, always a fan of close contact somehow when people would permit it -- but then she straightened up again once the window became clear. Ice cream was kind of more important than many other things. She let Teddy order first, not really paying attention anyway -- she hadn't really had time to peruse the menu earlier, seeing as she'd gotten here second, so she took a few seconds to do so now. It was kind of an overwhelming menu, to be honest, but it wasn't exactly the first time she'd been here (it was a pretty popular place) and so she mostly just skimmed, deciding on whatever caught her eye. "Hey... Can I just get the cotton candy, please? On a cone. Thanks," she said, flashing the girl a smile and then fishing around in her purse for her wallet once the order had been punched into her register. Once she found said wallet, though, she was a little dismayed to find that her only money was a crisp fifty -- one of the pretty gorgeous new ones, too... Well, that and a few coins, but obviously sixty-two cents wasn't going to cover this. She bit her lip. Breaking up a fifty to pay for something that was just $4.89 should be a crime or something. (Why was she even carrying around just a fifty dollar bill? She was actually pretty sure it was just for the aesthetics, stupidly enough.)
"Huh?" she asked, kind of distracted. "Don't even, you're fine," she said, waving off his apology (because seriously, it didn't even matter) but then continuing, "Though, y'know, if you want to kind of make it up, would you mind covering this for me?" She gestured at the amount indicated on the register and then the inside of her wallet, empty except for that one beautiful bill, to show the dilemma. Hopefully he'd understand... but maybe not. She was pretty sure this was a problem that most people had, though. She should have probably known better than to stick large bills into her wallet in the first place.
(...orz sorry this turned into a "canada has new fifty bills!!!" post. i'm fangirling currency or something, lol. but they really are beautiful. ;;)
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Post by tedster on Apr 29, 2012 20:19:45 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] Teddy was pretty okay at reading body language. It was something he sort of picked up along the way -- his brother didn't always speak his mind even though Teddy prompted him to, so he learned at an early age to read him like a book, and it worked. Since then, he's been able to read everyone else, more or less, and even though he may not have known exactly who they were or what their mannerisms were, some were the same. Like the internal debate Skye had as she looked into her wallet only to find one of the newest Canadian fifties floating around in there, and a small amount of change, if the jangling of coins meant anything at all. Simply put, she probably didn't have enough to pay for her ice cream. And because Teddy was generous and human at heart (and may have been KO'd by her biting her lip -- when did he start finding that sort of thing cute?), he had already been fishing in his pocket for his change from just minutes before, knowing he had a $5 note in there, as he had paid for his with a $10. "Don't worry about a thing, pretty lady, this one's on me," |
[/color] he grinned cheekily, handing the money over. He didn't really know what to do with the 11 cents, but he tossed it into his pocket when offered and, grabbing a few napkins, walked over to the picnic tables from before. Eating with pleasant company always made the time go by faster, Teddy thought, as the edges of dusk started to creep into view of the sun, dimming the sky to a mellow looking peach. He didn't know how far Skye lived from here, but no part of him was okay with the thought that she would be waiting for the bus in the encroaching night alone by herself, and while he knew Skye could take care of herself should anything happen, it felt like the gentlemanly thing to do to offer her a ride home. He was hoping that it wouldn't be construed in a, 'you are a girl therefore cannot take care of yourself' way, but seeing as she accepted, he didn't think he offended her. Which was good -- he wouldn't really know what to do with himself if something had happened and he had just left her to the night. And so he dutifully dropped her off, clear across the city from where he lived -- he bid her goodnight, waited until she unlocked the door, went into her house, and shut the door behind her before leaving, heading home. And, of course, it was back home when he began to freak out. Not that it was his fault, see. Even though he had spent the beginning of his evening out complaining about him, his little brother was kind of awesome. Whatever issues he had with him, they would have to fix at some point and in some way, but when it was just them two and there were no expectations to try and meet or surpass, they had a really great time, and this evening was no different. Taylor was watching TV in the living room, their parents having gone to dinner with some family friends, and they began playing video games, and Taylor had asked how his night was in the midst of it. And Teddy was honest -- told Taylor he had met up with Skye, how nice of a night it was, what they talked about (except for the part about hating his girlfriend), dropping her off at her house. And then, the start of all his problems -- Taylor had grinned at him all smug, paused in the middle of sending shells at a passing kart, and said, "Sounds like a good first date."Which is why now, forty-five minutes later, Teddy was pacing around the living room, video games forgotten, going over the events of the night, arguing with Taylor on whether it was a date or not (and it was not, thank you very much, but what if it was???). He was sure he directed a few "I hate you"s at Taylor, too, since this was entirely his fault. Entirely his fault, and his fault that, of all things, Teddy didn't think he actually minded that it could have been a date. And there...that was the issue, because he constantly screwed things like this up all the time, and he didn't feel like seeing this one go down the drain. Despite being in elemental rivalries. Especially because they were in opposing elements. He knew he had to talk to Skye about it, somewhat -- just to make sure that they were on the same page. And if they weren't, then it could be awkward for a little while, but that was better than nothing. Except he was having a bit of a problem trying to get his fingers to operate his phone ot text her, but thankfully (or regrettably) Taylor plopped his laptop onto Teddy's lap, his messaging client already on and running, signed on to Teddy's handle rather than his own. There was a window already open, blank, save for the other party's username -- three guesses as to whose, but chances are one was only needed. "I'm not IMing her for you," Taylor had said, then left the living room, leaving Teddy on his own. He sighed. This was probably going to be a really, horrible, terrible idea, but well...he'd just have to deal. Fingers poised over the keyboard, Teddy began to type.
[ the following was rp'd on aim. much fun went into the conjuring of their screen names. ] qwertyuiop:[/color] SKYE. SKYE. SKYE. ARE YOU THERE. isle of skye:[/color] TEDDY. TEDDY. TEDDY. ...are you okay qwertyuiop:[/color] oh. hi! yeah, i'm okay. hey so you're home safe! that's good. isle of skye:[/color] ...yes? though, uh, you know you saw me get home, right? qwertyuiop:[/color] ...i saw you go inside, but who knows what could have been waiting for you!! qwertyuiop:[/color] okay nevermind that, i have a question. isle of skye:[/color] but -- okay. what's up? qwertyuiop:[/color] well...would you consider what we did this evening a date? qwertyuiop:[/color] IF NOT IT'S COOL, i was just wondering because taylor said it sounded like a date and i told him that it wasn't but he didn't believe me and so i figured i could ask you and get back up or something idk isle of skye:[/color] ..................um. isle of skye:[/color] i mean, first of all... i think the real question here is whether or not we WANT it to have been a date? qwertyuiop:[/color] ...what's your answer? isle of skye:[/color] ...i asked you first. qwertyuiop:[/color] ...i im'd you first. isle of skye:[/color] ...then my answer is i don't know. qwertyuiop:[/color] ...well, my answer stayed at an "it would be cool" qwertyuiop:[/color] but like qwertyuiop:[/color] not if it'll fuck things up, the way it is now isle of skye:[/color] well... fuck up being friends, you mean? qwertyuiop:[/color] yeah isle of skye:[/color] ...i think it'd be pretty cool, too. qwertyuiop:[/color] ...really? isle of skye:[/color] ...really. i wouldn't lie about that! qwertyuiop:[/color] i know, i know! sorry, i just...i don't know, i don't want you to say that only because i said it first. qwertyuiop:[/color] NOT THAT I THINK YOU WOULD i know you better than that but. yeah. isle of skye:[/color] okay, just... calm down! isle of skye:[/color] ...are you calm yet? qwertyuiop:[/color] taylor's laughing at me, but i'm calm. isle of skye:[/color] ...to be fair, i'd laugh too. hi taylor. qwertyuiop:[/color] laughing at my pain and panic is not cool. fyi. qwertyuiop:[/color] (he says hi) isle of skye:[/color] i said calm down! that means don't panic! qwertyuiop:[/color] i'm not now! i was before. isle of skye:[/color] well. that's good! isle of skye:[/color] but, uh... what now? qwertyuiop:[/color] ...i don't know. do we really want to try this? isle of skye:[/color] i don't know... i mean, it's okay here. but school kind of fucks that kind of stuff up sometimes. qwertyuiop:[/color] or more like "all the time"... isle of skye:[/color] yeah. and i guess i shouldn't say "kind of", either. qwertyuiop:[/color] probably not. so...do we just leave it? qwertyuiop:[/color] i mean...we can. we could. but not gonna lie, that would suck a lot. isle of skye:[/color] we can, yeah. i mean, it's not like people haven't done it before. but i mean, teddy... we don't even talk there. qwertyuiop:[/color] i guess text and im doesn't count, huh qwertyuiop:[/color] not in any way that's conducive to a...relationship??? i guess isle of skye:[/color] well, relationship, yeah, we can say that. but... no, texting isn't really at all. isle of skye:[/color] and i mean, i like you. but it's not really about that when it's more... is it worth it? qwertyuiop:[/color] i think you're worth it isle of skye:[/color] ...teddy, how do i say no to that? qwertyuiop:[/color] oh...sorry qwertyuiop:[/color] i mean you still can. there's a lot of reasons why this probably isn't a good idea. especially when most of our time is spent at school. isle of skye:[/color] don't say sorry. but i mean... i know. and a few weeks in between months and months doesn't really mean anything. isle of skye:[/color] or -- not when it's a... relationship in question. qwertyuiop:[/color] no, i know. and honestly, even if we were to bring it back to school with us, it...like, i don't want you to have to choose sides. isle of skye:[/color] i mean... i know what i'd choose. but can we please not let it come to that? qwertyuiop:[/color] i wouldn't. but that doesn't really leave us with much options, does it, for when we're at school. isle of skye:[/color] no, it doesn't. i don't know... we're not exactly close to being done school yet. qwertyuiop:[/color] i don't know, it's a year or so... qwertyuiop:[/color] i mean. i could keep it secret? but i know that that's asking a lot. isle of skye:[/color] i know. we could do that. but i mean, secret friendships, aren't they kind of hard enough as is? qwertyuiop:[/color] yeah, it is. and probably harder when there's really little to no chance of us ever seeing each other. isle of skye:[/color] ...a year and a half isn't so long. is it? qwertyuiop:[/color] i don't think so. isle of skye:[/color] me either. still worth it? qwertyiop:[/color] definitely. maybe even moreso...a little mystery to keep things interesting, eh? isle of skye:[/color] that sounds totally suspicious and not reassuring at all. just for the record. ... <3 qwertyuiop:[/color] oh please, like you wouldn't be able to see right through it anyway. isle of skye:[/color] i can't tell whether to be offended or not! qwertyuiop:[/color] just go with it <3 isle of skye:[/color] ...i don't know why i deal with you <3 qwertyuiop:[/color] because i'm charming and you like it! isle of skye:[/color] if it helps you sleep at night! qwertyuiop:[/color] in all seriousness, though...i'm glad we had this talk. <3 isle of skye:[/color] yeah... i am too. <3 i think we'll be okay. qwertyuiop:[/color] i think we will be, too. (: qwertyuiop:[/color] hey, i have to go...taylor wants his laptop back. isle of skye:[/color] okay. i'll talk to you later! ...tell taylor i said thanks. or something. i figure he had something to do with this. qwertyuiop:[/color] yeah, i'll text you later or something. and ew, don't give him a reason to be smug, he's smug enough as it is. <3 qwertyuiop:[/color] good night, skye. isle of skye:[/color] good night, teddy. <3[/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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