-- ALL THE CHOIRS IN MY HEAD [Ashton]

Lark laughed and shook her head a bit, hair falling over her shoulders. She wanted to make a more perverted comment, but should she? With some of her guy friends it was not a big deal but she wondered how Ashton would take it. She could not recall ever really making questionable comments towards him. Probably because she liked him and did not want him to think she was weird or creepy. She found it amusing that she had never really dealt with relationships or anything physical (that she could actually remember) and yet she saw fit to make off-handed comments on occasion. Finally feeling bold enough, she said, "I'm not so sure that it would enjoy being fucked by a protractor in the eye," Lark replied with quirky smile, even if she was not directly looking at him as she did so. A warmth crept up her neck after the fact, a very unsuspected image popping into her head. What the hell. She was going to take any distraction possible at this point. The smile vanished part-way as she briefly looked up to see he was looking at his book. "I'm sorry. If I liked math...or was even remotely good at it I would try and help. But me and math aren't really the best of friends either." In all actuality, Lark disliked math. Maybe not as strong of a hatred as Ashton, but it was not her favorite subject. There were some things she could handle like basic algebra but that was about the extent of it. At this point she would prefer the science book in her lap, even if it was a pain in the ass. She did not want to read. She whined about it in her head.

"I can't either." Lark sighed and picked at the edges of the pages with her fingernail. "So much reading. Seriously do people actually enjoy writing these books? I would fall asleep." And she probably would have slept if a certain someone had not been in the room with her occupying her thoughts. When she had caught herself staring at Ashton, she noticed that he had looked up to catch her gaze for a moment before looking down at his book again. It was as though they were playing 'glance tag', where one would look up and then look down, and the other would switch off. Too bad the next time Ashton looked up, so did she. Lark could feel her face heat up and she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear; why did it have to get to her so bad? It was so silly. She diverted her eyes off to the side for a moment. "Y-yeah. Science pretty much abducted mine." Did it really? It felt more like her mind was buzzing with a bunch of thoughts and doubts and insecurities that she did not want to have. Every time Lark tried to build up the courage to tell him, it was quashed by He wouldn't want me. A sad thought, really, but she could not control how inadequate she felt. Lark did manage to chuckle and tried to rein herself back in. She had to keep up the mask. The one that said everything was normal. "Yeeeah, probably not. Though one can dream, right?" Maybe one day they will get smart and decide to try and actually make school seem more fun. How did Josh manage to enjoy this stuff? She would never understand. She was not lazy by any means but reading a textbook was blah.

Once again, the girl flipped another page in the book and saw yet another immensely long stream of sentences that looked like word puke. There wasn't even a picture on the page. Lark did not look up when Ashton spoke, now hesitating to meet his eyes for a second time. It always left her mouth dry. Words were difficult to come by. "Yeah I'm not sure I can keep doing this all afternoon. It's making my head hurt." She heard him shut his book, and decided to follow suit. As she pulled her hand away from the page she caught her finger on the edge of the paper and got a cut. "Ow! Damn," She sucked in a little air through her teeth and observed the thin slice, a small bead of blood forming. "Stupid paper. Studying is painful." Lark looked around and, upon not being able to find anything to wrap it up with, put her finger in her mouth for a second. "Like wha?" She replied through her finger, then removed it and shook it out. The cut was burning now, but hopefully it would stop soon. It was amazing how such a small cut could cause so much discomfort. She set it against the fabric of her shirt for the time being. "Have anything in mind? Because I'm up for whatever you wanna do." She always said that, but it was true. Anything was better than trying to focus on reading a science book she did not care about while her mind was running in several different directions away from her studies. After settling her eyes on different objects around the room for a time (an attempt to think of something to do while simultaneously avoiding looking at Ashton) Lark finally managed to look at him. She smiled softly and messed with her shirt before finding the cover of the science book settled in her lap.

Lark nodded, though she kept her eyes trained on the pages in front of her. "Yeah, I'm surprised too. I really don't see what would be enticing about it. It's just a bunch of numbers and shit." Not that numbers themselves were not important, but anything past the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division seemed so useless. Calculus and the other high end maths could go and fall off of a cliff for all she cared. It was so amusing to hear Ashton complain about it though. Adorable, actually. She smiled to herself as he started to whine about college, a chuckle passing her lips as her eyes scanned the page but did not really read the words on it. "Because it's college, Ash. That's usually what goes with the territory." She shook her head and moved some of the hair out of her face as it fell from behind her ear. "Hmm. Maybe you were hypnotized? They convinced you that college was going to be like, really amazing and there wouldn't be any math classes." She supposed there would really be no point in going to school if there was no reason, though. And if it were too easy then there was no need to go to college in the first place. She did feel sympathetic towards Ashton though, since it seemed to bother him so much. Looking at the pages in her lap was much easier than trying to make eye contact with him. Hopefully it would be taken as her being focused on reading than anything else, even if she had yet to change the page.

Although books were somewhat of a necessity in life, Lark could not quite comprehend why some of them had been created in the first place. Better yet, why did they force people to read them? Surely textbooks would never even have a place in the market if not for school. Lark preferred hands on experience, learning from real life as opposed to staring at empty words on a page. That is like telling a painter to read a book instead of actually setting brush to canvas. She listened, only glancing up briefly. "I don't know if I could have that sort of patience. I mean, to each their own but that definitely wouldn't be for me." Lark wrote song lyrics but that was about the extent of her writing career. Even then those were far less complicated than a novel. "No, I don't think you did," She shook her head. "But that's really neat. Does she make good being an author? I hear it can be a bit of a struggle at times." Financially, being a writer was not easy. There were a few series that truly hit the top charts and the revenue was through the roof but not everyone made the big time. Lark considered offering to read a book or two of hers in support of her career, then shut her mouth at Ashton's next words. Romance novels... That made her feel strange. Books like that definitely involved more than kissing. She could feel the tint of pink return to her cheeks. "That would be really weird. But at least you're supporting her right? I'm sure that makes her feel good." Even if that meant knowing Ashton read hot, steamy romance novels. Something she did not quite expect to hear from him. "I read on occasion, but I prefer music over that. Reading for school assignments is such a pain in the ass though."

Lark tried to ignore the slight nagging sting of her finger, but in all honesty she would rather focus on that than let her mind drift elsewhere. It really was growing to be bothersome, not being able to make direct eye contact with Ashton anymore. Before it was simple and effortless, but now every time she thought to meet his gaze she felt as though maybe he could read her mind or figure out what it was she was feeling. "Yeah it is, but it could definitely be worse." She pulled her finger back and looked at the cut for a second before putting it back. "No I'll be fine. Thank you though! If it bothers me too much I might get one later." If it had been a larger cut she might have asked for a band-aid but as it was there was no need as the bleeding had already stopped. Lark looked up from the book and finally managed to watched him intently as he seemed to go off into thought. He glanced at her, and she felt frozen. "Y-Yes?" The silence between them was making her anxious, and the look he gave her was not helping. Ashton moved towards her. She swallowed. What is he-- The thought dissipated into thin air as his lips met hers, Lark's entire body tensing up from the contact. Her brain instantly shut down, but instinct did not allow her to keep her eyes open wide but for a moment. She closed them and slightly leaned in to show interest in his gesture (which was automatic as well). Her face grew incredibly hot, heart racing. After a second she realized what Ashton had done and slowly pulled away from him, keeping her face rather close to his. Finally the girl could meet his gaze, though it looked nervous. "U-Uhm...A-Ash...?" She glanced down at his lips, then back up again. "What was...you...why...?" Lark could not even make a coherent sentence. She was essentially a puddle on the bed.

"I can tell you don't. You shouldn't do things that you don't like or don't want to do, Ash." She partially frowned, glad that he was trying to do the college thing but also taking notice that he was not fond of the math and the homework in general. Lark did not have a love for school work either but Ashton seemed to dislike it way more than she did. The frown was replaced by a smile as he laughed. His laughter and smile always brightened her mood. Ashton really did not have any idea the effect he had on her, did he? Probably not, being as she never said much on it. "They actually tried?" Lark asked, still scanning the page. She must have read the same sentence at least four or five times before going to another. "Were they actually like...trained to do it? I'm not sure if that's the right word for it..." She mulled over the word a moment or two. "Practiced? Or something. I think they have psychiatrists that hypnotize people so they'll be more relaxed and stuff." Lark refused to go and see a psychiatrist for the issues she dealt with over the course of her life in the Hollow, and she thought she was faring quite well. There was nothing broken to fix. Lark shook her head and looked up for a split second before looking down again. "Nah, not yet. Hopefully no one will try, and if they do I hope it doesn't work. That would be weird if it did." It would mean that someone could have access to her thoughts, her memories, and they had the ability to ask questions she was not wanting to answer. If she was going to tell people stuff about herself, she wanted it to be voluntary.

Lark nodded and listened, always interested in what the Earth elemental had to say. There were times when she felt so incredibly overwhelmed by how talkative he was that Lark often found herself struggling to respond, but managed well enough. His attitude and chatty personality was one of the best things for her. "Sometimes it's better to do the things you love and not swim in cash than have a job that makes you miserable and have no where to put all the money you earn." Lark knew all too well that her career choice was not going to make her a lot of money, but it was something she wanted to do. She was not sure of his mother because she never had a huge opportunity to have an in depth conversation, but the girl still admired her for chasing after something she enjoyed. "Extra money is always nice when you do have it though." She smiled to herself, tracing her finger along the pages of the book. A small laugh passed her lips. "I'm sure she did. Was she really expecting her son to read something like that? Well...at least one of the ones she had written." The main reason it made Lark uneasy was because of the fact that she was not accustomed to romance. Her only acts of physical affection had been placed on a guy who did not even want her, and she hardly remembered any of it. Instead of feeling hurt like she probably should have, it made her angry. I'm worth more than that. I want someone who will treat me like I'm worth it. Secretly she had hoped it would be the boy in front of her but Lark was not going to expect that to happen. Of course, life loved to throw her little loops.

She could only stare at him, heart racing wildly. Where was her mind? Sloshing around inside of her head at this point. The close proximity, even after the kiss made her feel anxious. It was not a bad anxious; she liked being close. Having his lips on hers. However this was the guy she liked and that was her first kiss (being as she tried not to count the one with Brett as such). His laugh caused her to look sheepish and she somehow managed to twitch a small smile in response, dropping her chin in embarrassment. "Well...yeah I know that I just..." She toyed with her hair a little. "I wasn't really expecting it is all." Her voice was quiet and timid, but not scared. Lark simply could not think of any other way to respond. She blinked a few times. "Instinct?" Lark was not quite sure what that meant but she supposed it was a good thing. If it weren't, would Ashton have even kissed her? She was still trying to calm her nerves and the uneven beating of her heart before finally meeting his gaze again. There was no hesitation, no glancing away. I wouldn't have kissed you back if I wasn't okay with it... She thought, not able to make it into a sentence just yet. She was caught up in his eyes. Captivated. Although by the time she managed to find her tongue Lark was no longer interested in confirming this verbally. She was going to do what he had done to her. She hesitated at first, slowly, but managed to scoot a little closer to him. Fingers subconsciously moved to his face and ran along his jawline for a moment before she pressed her lips to his again. Once air became an issue, Lark pulled away, her breath nearly lost to her from the emotional rush. This time there was a smile on her face, and she still did not pull away from his gaze. "Answer your question?"

Lark chuckled, trying to imagine someone with little to no practice in the hypnotizing arts making attempts to place someone into a deep sleep. Then her train of thought drifted to the cartoons where they used black and white spirals to daze their enemies and get them to spill their deepest, darkest secrets. The gold watch dangling from a chain always seemed to be the fallback though. Not that this was a very serious discussion, but Lark liked to ponder on these things none the less. It gave her something to think about. To focus on. "Ohh, like hypnotizing for dummies sort of deal." She smiled. "I'm not so sure I'd feel safe someone doing that. Might make me live out the rest of my life clucking like a chicken or something." Now that would be a suckish way to live. For all she knew they could hypnotize her, but could not manage to revert her back to normal. That was a rather scary thought and decided not to think about it. Why was she even thinking so deep into this anyway? Distractions. She needed to find a way to keep her mind occupied and this seemed like the best idea. Lark eyed him briefly before reading another sentence on the page. Another two or three times would suffice before moving on to the next one. "...I'm trying to figure out why Fantasia was the first thing that popped into my head when you mentioned magic." Not that Fantasia did not have magic in it, but the movie was quite old and it had been quite a few years since she'd seen it. Oh well. No need to question her train of thought. Obviously it was wandering where it wanted to.

Romance novels always made Lark feel edgy. It was not that she looked down on people for reading them or thought that they were poorly written, more that she was not accustomed to romance herself and so it led her into a subtle state of awkwardness. Now knowing that Ashton had read them...she swallowed. He did not make her feel nervous but now Lark knew that he was far more aware of romantic gestures than she was. Inadequate might be the appropriate word for how she felt. She raised an eyebrow but could not even bring herself to look at him as she said, "Suuuure. Of course you don't." It was light and teasing and she tacked on a little laugh to make sure he knew this. Of course, teasing or not, if that had been true...she could feel her cheeks warm up. "Well I guess those are the best books to read then, if you're into that sort of thing. And if your mom is a good writer that could help." Part of her wanted to try reading one of these books to both make Ashton's mom feel good and for her own benefit. Maybe she could learn something? Not that a guide on romance would truly help her but Lark had always felt her lack of experience could be a huge hindrance in relationships. Although until recently she never really cared much for them. Ashton managed to change that around rather quickly. "Oho, blaming your mom for your love of cheesy romance. Just admit it, you couldn't resist reading it." There was a smile on her lips, though she was not looking directly at him as she spoke. For some reason Lark was not so sure if she would ever say anything to Ashton now. Not when she was so inept at romance.

Of course it seemed her friend did not seem to mind (or know) that she was not well-versed in relationships and so now, there they were, doing something that she never thought he would be interested in doing with her. Lark could not believe that he had actually kissed her, that for whatever reason he felt it was the right thing to do. Was that how this stuff actually worked? Impulse? "Oh," Was all she could say. Lark was not sure, but she wanted to try. So she moved in and returned his affection in the same manner as he did. His immediate response was a little surprising and almost caused her to pull away but enjoyed it too much to do so. Lark pushed against him slightly when he deepened the kiss, her free hand resting on the one he placed on her leg. The other one managed to shift around his neck. She was reluctant to break apart but needed to breathe at some point. Lack of experience left her a bit more breathless than Ashton. Lark's smile was bright. "Good." It spared her the words for the time being; her mind was stunned into silence and the kiss was her best way of responding. She squeezed his hand as he took hers. The affection was incredibly nice. I'm glad he made a move. His question made her laugh; she removed her hand from his neck to cover her mouth a little bit. Her face still felt warm and was tinged pink. "Well," Lark started, sounding almost as though she were thinking over his question. "I've never actually been called that before..." She finally admitted it. "But y'know, I suppose it's better than being considered your boyfriend." Her eyes sparked with humor, a smirk on her lips. Essentially she was saying: Yes. I would like you to.

Lark felt warm from the inside out. The smile on her face was almost permanent, and her cheeks were glowing from how happy she felt. For once in her life she felt wanted. Worth something. Not in the sense of friendship; her friends were always there and they were people she knew she could count on, but in the sense of a partner. Someone you could associate with on a deeper level beyond friendship. She never had that before. Ashton had no idea how grateful she was that he was giving her that chance. That he felt she was worth this. Lark felt so giggly and giddy, it was hard to contain herself when he asked if she could be considered his girlfriend. The question was really not all that hilarious but when you were in as chipper a mood as she was it would be a bit hard to contain yourself. This might have seemed out of character for someone like her, but around Ashton it felt completely normal. No one else would witness this, and if they did it was not towards them but towards Ashton. Lark laughed again as he hit her playfully on the arm, shrugging her shoulders. “I know, that’s how I roll.” Troll. Roll. For some reason the fact that they rhymed was amusing. Really just this entire situation put Lark in a great mood. It was not something she wanted to explain, merely enjoy. She tilted her head and pouted, batting her eyelashes. “Aw, ruin my fun why don’t ya?” She teased, eyes still alight with humor. “But fine, I won’t make you the girl in the relationship. You’d probably look awkward in a dress anyway.” Lark sounded exasperated but she was merely playing. That would be incredibly weird and hoped that she would never have to witness her boyfriend—going to take a while to get used to that label—cross-dressing.

It did make her feel strange, not having been in a relationship before. At his comment, although Ashton was smiling and teasing, she knew she had a lot to learn. Lark hoped that things came naturally enough even though she had a feeling certain things would not come to her as easily as others. “So you actually keep that manual on hand? ‘The Boyfriend Manual’…I’m wondering if I should be concerned.” Lark eyed him, smirking playfully as she leaned in a little on her elbows. For the first time in a long while, she felt completely at ease around him. There were no awkward side-glances, no shuffling feet, and no hidden blushes. How she felt was out in the open now. The tension was gone. She wrinkled her nose a bit and nodded. “Yeah…if it were to be a requirement I’m not so sure I could handle that. Besides, I’d rather learn from experience anyway.” She grew a little quiet near the end of the sentence after realizing how that might have sounded, but did not avert her eyes, though her face did grow warm. Aside from the one incident with Brett—which caused her to flinch inwardly—Lark knew nothing. Had done nothing she could remember. Kissing seemed to happen without any problems, which she was grateful for, but everything else past that was even more unfamiliar and made her feel uncertain. Ashton was a good guy though. She trusted him whole-heartedly. That said a lot, because it took her quite a few years to feel this level of trust with Josh. I hope Josh wouldn’t feel insulted by that. It was not an explainable thing, really. It just happened. Lark glanced down at Ashton’s lips for a brief second, and as though he were reading her mind, he kissed her again. Every time she could feel her mind shut down.

A smile played on her lips as she kissed him back, loving his hand in her hair and the contact in general. All of this was new, and it did feel different, but it was a good different. She wouldn’t trade it for anything. Lark ran her own hand through his hair; after so many years of avoiding and dodging (and, to an extent, fearing) physical contact she finally had a chance to absorb it and embrace it with all that she had. Instinct naturally took over. Reluctantly Lark pulled back—y’know, the need to breathe did exist—and still she could not help but smile at him even though it was considerably softer than before. She also glanced over at her discarded science book. “I hadn’t been studying most of the time anyway,” Lark admitted with a small chuckle. “Was kinda distracted.” She had been distracted almost the entire time they had spent with their books open trying to get stuff done, and that was simply not happening for her. Especially not now. Lark refrained from closing her eyes at Ashton’s touch, but did lean into his hand ever so slightly. Even Lark herself could not explain how this boy managed to make her practically melt at his feet. “You want me to turn into a Popsicle, don’t you?” She asked with a laugh. “But that sounds like a plan. Just know that I’m beast at snowball fights. You think you can take me?” Lark wiggled her eyebrows a little bit, clearly ready to challenge him in a friendly snowball fight. She leaned in, kissed his nose, and used the fact that they were still holding hands as a means to have him follow her outside (after putting on her jacket and beanie). Lark shivered slightly and exhaled from the sudden cold, glancing over at Ashton before walking a fair distance away and started making a snowball.