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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 16, 2011 13:36:41 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Nell got so confused and shy over the buffet deal that Joshua couldn't help but find it almost... adorable? It was really the only word for the way that she reacted to his amusement, and he laughed at the suspicious look that she gave him. "It's a buffet, Nell," he said slowly when she asked him what was going on in his brain, "and it's you." He could have continued in his explanation, but he was laughing softly again at the idea of her misunderstanding. She really didn't get why it was so funny? "I would have thought a buffet would be like, your idea of heaven or something." Joshua grinned over at his friend, looking cheeky and amused. His idea of a heaven would be a library, one even bigger than the library of congress. So big that it carried a copy of every book ever written and he could get lost amongst the millions of pages and the scent of aged paper. But that was Joshua, and this was Nell. Who seemed quite excited when he mentioned the idea of taking her out to a buffet, mind you. "They don't call it all you can eat for nothing," he pointed out quite cheerfully. He'd been to his fair share of buffets and he didn't even enjoy eating as much as she did, which was another part of the reason why he found this so hysterical. "I have a feeling I'd need to stop you from over-eating," he teased with another chuckle, though he was only pulling her leg now. "It'll be fun. I'll remember next time I hear about one." He wasn't kidding, either. He really would want his friend to experience this considering how much she loved food.
It said something for her dignity that she could laugh about a stupid experience afterwards and not get angry when Joshua also found it funny. He had done his fair share of silly and stupid things, and so he couldn't really hold it against her, either. "At least you weren't hurt," he said, though he was still trying not to crack up about it. She'd told him that he was allowed to laugh at her, but he didn't want to carry it on for too long. Even with permission, openly mocking someone was just plain rude. "Why the hell didn't anyone stop you?" he asked her with amusement. It seemed strange that someone would let a drunk girl go roof-diving onto the lawn. "Then again," Josh added thoughtfully, "they were probably drunk too, weren't they?" It wouldn't have surprised him if the answer was yes, because she'd said that she was at a party after all. "Alcohol is one of the best and worst inventions of all time." Though he was no longer laughing, he was still clearly amused. "Besides, I'm sure we've all got our share of stupid experiences." He certainly wasn't going to compile a list for her to feel better about this, it was just something which he'd said in passing so that she might not feel so embarrassed about him laughing at her. He didn't want to make Nell feel uncomfortable, after all. She was his friend, and friends were not supposed to be douchebags.
There was something off about the way her tone went when she agreed with him, but Joshua was still too amused to think much on it, and by the time he might have looked back and furrowed his brow in confusion, they'd already moved on in their little game and he'd answered her question. She seemed very, very amused by the answer of course, and Joshua blushed even harder. Damn it, why had he picked that particular memory to share? Now she knows that you've freely flaunted nakedness in front of a drunk crowd, Josh, he snarked internally. Real wise of you. Nell seemed more amused than judgemental, though. Like Joshua himself had, she also seemed apologetic for her large amounts of laughter. "... it's fine," he said quietly, still too red-faced and sheepish to look her directly in the eye. He finally brought his gaze back to meet hers, then ducked his head again almost immediately. "I laughed at you, this is revenge," he acknowledged. Now they both knew something embarrassing about one another, though Joshua's was a little more crude. "Right, now that we've both pictured me streaking through the streets..." It was muttered, but it was in a good-natured way as his lips twitched into a hesitant smile. "You lied," he said with a bit of a laugh. "You are so judging me right now." He took one of the stir sticks from the table and poked her lightly in the arm with it, accusingly.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Joshua laughed when Nell confessed her desire to learn the trapeze. It was such an obscure talent to desire, but it suited Nell quite finely. "You could probably do it pretty good," he mused. "You have to build up muscle strength and flexibility to be a trapeze artist, I think." He'd never read about this, but he thought back to that one time he'd went to see Cirque du Soleil with his family and how the women had all been incredibly well-built. Then he was imagining Nell with that sort of talent and--no, no, he wouldn't go there. "It does look like fun," he concluded, glad that his cheeks were still red from the streaking incident so that she didn't know that he'd just blushed again. He then focused on her question so that he didn't have to think about flexibility and shit. "Anyone?" he said, frowning. "Hmm." He thought about that for a moment, drinking tea rather than tapping his fingers this time around. "I think," he said as he set it down, "that I'd like to inhabit the mind of someone either completely brilliant, completely insane, or a combination of both." He grinned a little. "They say that the world's geniuses were all a bit whacked, so I'm curious as to what it would be like to think like they do. Or," he added with a laugh, "maybe a celebrity. It would be nice to have people worship the ground you walked on." He winked to show that he was only playing around.
"Well, this is it," Joshua reported. "The twentieth question, the grand finale. Let me come up with something good." What was something that he really wanted to know about Nell, that he was really interested in? His expression slipped into a contemplative one as he frowned and studied a small notch in the table that looked as if it had been there for a while. It was difficult. There were a lot of things that he wanted to know about his friend, and some of them were too complex to put into words. He also wanted to know what she thought of him, and this thought made him alarmingly self-conscious. She stuck around and seemed to excuse his flaws, but what did she think of other things, like his shamelessness, his assholishness, his romantic history? No, there was no way that he could ask something like that. But there was something else that he wanted to ask her, and it made him almost shy, which was ridiculous. Joshua was never shy. He was very upfront about, well, everything. Oh, what the hell. He'd just go for it and see what she said. "Well," Josh started slowly. "this was fun. Kind of sucks that we can only ask twenty questions, because I could probably have went on until Timmes closed for the night." Damn it, he was dancing around the actual question, wasn't he? Just go for it, he told himself. See what she says. Even if it's a flat out no, at least I tried, right? "So, I'm curious," he decided. "What would you say if I asked you out?"
[Cue the hilarity. xD]
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 16, 2011 16:06:33 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER Nell smiled. ”Right, right, place with a lot of food…” She giggled as she mussed up the back of her hair. Yeah, it was pretty odd that she’d never been to one of those things now. ”It is heaven, which is probably why I’ve been kept from it for so long.” After all, heaven is supposed to be something unattainable. Even though she was sure many people—including Josh—have been to them before, she had never even known of their existence until recently. And discovering that there was a place with a row of food set out for the taking was like a chorus of angels descending from the clouds. Her love affair was something indescribable and quite comparable to his passion for literature and history. Why can’t I have a passion that’s good for something other than keeping me healthy? ”You know what, I don’t think buffets can be considered heaven for me. They are more like my complete and total downfall.” Buffets may turn out to be dangerous for her, because hell, she’d like to live there. Sleep under the tables and wake up every day with mass amounts of food… ”It’s the devil’s creation,” she said certainly. Grinning at his next question, she said, ”Me? Overeating?” She scoffed as if this was unimaginable. Well, she’d never gotten sick from eating too much, which was pretty damn amazing. Nell guessed that was because she still ate pretty healthy stuff. ”You better,” she said sternly. She wouldn’t mind being dragged to a buffet, at all.
Laughing too, she nodded when he said at least she didn’t get hurt. Yeah, the astro turf actually did pretty well to cushion the fall, even though she had a few bruises from that and a nasty headache to accompany the hangover. Still, it was easily to laugh about it now, especially with Josh, who she was pretty sure wouldn’t think of her as some kind of crazy idiot. People did crazy stuff when drunk, that was for sure. As long as no one else thought it was a good idea to jump with her, that would have added guilt on top of the embarrassment. At his question, she raised her eyebrows until he acknowledged the fact that a house full of shitfaced idiots would only encourage her in her stunts. ”Heck,” she said, shaking her head, ”They’re the ones who helped me up there.” She could remember bits and pieces of the night through the thin haze, and she wouldn’t let her friends live down the fact they assisted her in her stupid decisions, either. ”Well, at least it takes quite a bit to get me as drunk as I was that night,” she said abou the alcohol. She made sure not to take three shots of vodka in a row anymore, especially when she was in a place that had a roof. Nell smiled at him, eyes glittering. ”I don’t even have to be drunk to do stupid things,” she admitted. Usually the drunken decisions ended the worst, but she had her fair share of sober stupidity. She wondered if Josh did, too, or if his stupid decisions were all the result of alcohol.
It took a while to remove her hands from her face after laughing so much, still recovering from the giggles. She couldn’t even pick up a donut to eat, she was still chuckling like an idiot. Part of the reason it was so funny was the fact that it was Josh, and he’d been against streaking that night even when he was drunk. Looks like he learned his lesson. Thinking this made her laugh anymore, and she tilted her head as if she could hide this from Josh. Through all this laughter, she managed to get out, ”Revenge? Nooo.” The smiling and the giggling wasn’t supporting her case, though, and while so amused she still felt bad for Josh. It was like laughing at the expense of his naked escapades. Oh god. Every time she thought about it, she laughed even harder. And then he had to go and mention it again, which made her laugh even harder, and she looked at him apologetically, hoping that taking a drink will manage to stop her laughter. Nope. She was blowing bubbles with the straw now. She only managed to somewhat contain herself when he poked her with the stirrer, she felt the need to tease him more. ”What, can you feel me judging you, Josh?” she said, not laughing anymore but still grinning like an idiot. ”Is my judgment that powerful?” Nell was being silly, but she didn’t care. It was fun teasing him, especially when he was blushing so much.
She shrugged, still smiling thanks to the whole streaking thing. Stop thinking of that, Nell. She was going to lose control if she kept going back to that. ”I guess that means I have to start hitting the gym, huh,” she said, of course oblivious to why he was still blushing. She just thought it was the lasting effects of his embarrassment, just like her smile now was at his expense. Nell kept herself in shape just because there was rarely a moment she was sitting down and lazing around like a couch potato. Being a trapeze artist would be a good way to channel her energy, but she wouldn’t be running away to the circus any time soon unless things got really bad with the trial. At his answer, she said, ”That’s probably what happened to Einstein’s hair. And you ever hear of Nikola Tesla. They called him a mad scientist” she said with a little laugh. She thought it would have been funny if Tesla was actually a Thunder elemental with what he did. Anyway, it was completely possible to be both super smart and crazy at the same time, from what she knew. When it came to celebrities however… ”Well, you’re already living like one!” He was living the good life with all the money he had, so all he needed was a movie or two to have the complete celebrity package.
”One drumroll, coming up,” she said before she started tapping her hands against the table, trying not to be too obnoxious with it. But she stopped to give him time to think and waited patiently for his next question, fussing with a straw wrapper on the table. She was expecting an insanely difficult question to answer, like his others had been, one that she needed to put all her energy toward. All his questions were so difficult for her simply because she never really thought about herself, and it was strange to examine her own personal. More than that, she was glad to have learned about Josh since he’d always been this one big mystery to her. Like what Churchill said about Soviet Russia, he was a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” And there was still a lot she didn’t know about him, which was great. No one could ever learn all there is to know about another person, and she wouldn’t have it any other way with Josh. Instead of a question, he commented on the fact that the game was over, and she drew her attention away from the wrapper. ”Yeah, it feels like we went through the questions so fast,” she said, even sounding disappointed about it. If they hadn’t had a cap for their questions, they’d have been sitting there all night going back and forth. The comment seemed to segue into his next question, one so simple that it actually got her off-guard. Why did it take so long for him to come up with that? ”Aren’t we already out?” she asked, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion. ”But I guess I would say…sure?” Nell didn’t even get why he had to ask, since they’ve been out several times before. That’s what friends do, after all. They went ‘out’. And Josh didn’t even have to ask her, in Nell’s opinion. ”That’s a weird question,” she commented, but shrugged it off, still completely oblivious to what he actually meant.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 16, 2011 16:47:41 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Joshua was trying to be polite and stop laughing at Nell's misfortune, but everything she said about it made it even funnier. He clenched his jaw and pursed his lips together, ducking his head to hide his smile as he imagined her friends cheering her on and helping their very smashed pal onto a roof. "Parties are dangerous places," Joshua replied, voice tight with his withheld laughter. He worked his jaw and couldn't help the soft laugh that brushed past his lips when she mentioned sober idiocy. "Nor do I, sadly enough," he admitted. Josh remembered drag races and trespassing and other stupid, teenage shit he'd gotten up to. And then of course there was his entire gang life to think of, which had been stupid no matter how drunk or how sober he was during it. "All I need is someone to convince me it's a good idea." It was easier said than done, however, for Joshua was not an idiot. He was logical and so the thing in question usually had to be pretty funny and entertaining to get him to try it. Like racing down the street in his Gallardo when he'd first got it. He hadn't actually raced the Aventador yet, unless you counted when he'd taken a joy ride with Nell down the long street that led out of town. "Well, doing stupid shit is part of being young, as they say," he pointed out with a bit of a laugh. Now he had calmed down after the initial amusement involving Nell's roof diving, and the flush in his cheeks from the blood rushing to his face was gone.
... only to be brought right back again when they started talking about Joshua and streaking. Nell seemed to be finding this way funnier than he'd expected, and though Joshua understood why she found it so amusing it certainly didn't help his embarrassment. Not even taking a drink seemed to calm her down. "I can feel your judgement," he confirmed, face still blazing brilliant red. He could actually feel the heat in his cheeks, and though he was trying to maintain eye contact it was very hard when the person across from you was, well, judging you. "Oh, yes," he snorted. "We should all bow down to Nell and her almighty powers of judgement." Christ, the incident itself had been humiliating enough, and now he had to live through the embarrassment all over again whilst having his best friend laugh at him for it. "I'm just glad I was able to nuke it before she put it on YouTube," he said honestly. "That would have made things ten times worse." Yes, the one filming had been a female. Why the hell had she dared him to streak and then filmed it? He didn't know. Probably so that she could show the video off to all of her friends and laugh about it. Heh. Not any more. Bet you miss that camera, huh? He could have just deleted the video, but he'd stolen the thing for good measure. She hadn't suspected him.
Hitting the gym. Oh god, Nell, just-- She was certainly not making things any better, and he felt bad for thinking of his friend like this. Just--no. It wasn't that Nell wasn't pretty. No, no, it was probably because she was pretty that this made him feel so awkward. She was his friend and this was not right, so he tried to force any and all images from his brain and focus on answering the question. It worked, at least, because thoughts of Einstein and Tesla were a lot less dangerous. "I still bet that guy was an elemental," Joshua said with a shrug, speaking of Tesla. He thought the same of most famous volcanologists or seafarers--they were just too good at their craft to be normal humans. When you were an elemental, you understood things about your element that ordinary people could not. You didn't just watch it and learn what it did, you influenced what it could do. The element became like an extension of your own mind. "True," he laughed when she said that he was living like a celebrity. Lounging back in the chair, he posed as if he was self-absorbed and egotistical. "Everybody loves me." He was kidding, though, and he broke it with a laugh a moment later. "Acting's pretty fun, but I can't imagine making a career out of it." He'd taken a drama and improv class one year and enjoyed it, but his real talents lay elsewhere.
Whatever he'd been expecting in response to his question, he certainly didn't get it. Joshua blinked as he realised what she'd taken it to mean. Seriously? She's got to be pulling my leg! But Nell was too nice for that, too honest. She seriously didn't realise what he'd implied with the rather sneaky question. Or 'weird' question in her opinion. He couldn't understand how she was so utterly oblivious, but it was clear she wasn't joking around. She was entirely serious. Now, how would he deal with this? I could back out, ask her another question and say I was kidding. Yeah, that would have been the cowards way out. Should he be amused by this, or embarrassed? He was leaning more toward the former, and he couldn't help a bit of a laugh escaping past his lips. "... Nell," Joshua said patiently, trying not to laugh lest she realise what he was going on about and feel embarrassed herself. "that's not what I meant." Shit, well, there goes the idea of backing out. He couldn't feel the embarrassment that he'd figured might occur in this sort of situation. Instead, he was just insanely entertained by his friend's naivety. "Just... think about that for a moment," he told her. "Reconsider." He sometimes forgot about her naivety, the fact that she didn't realise that some things were normal. Any other, average teenager likely would have understood. But Nell... well, it looked like she needed a little more prodding than that. Now he had to wait for her real reaction... if she even understood.
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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Post by NELL DOE DALE on Aug 16, 2011 17:38:17 GMT -5
i think god is moving its tongue there's no crowd in the streets - - - - - -and no sun in- - - - - - MY OWN SUMMER Nell allowed Josh to laugh at her expense, not feeling as bad as she had when he first coaxed it out of her. She nodded silently as he acknowledged just how dangerous parties were. Very, very dangerous, especially when she managed to get herself smashed. Or rather, it was other people encouraging her. Not that she was easily influenced by her friends, but still… So Josh did have his fair share of sober stupidity? That was good to know, and it made her grin a little mischeviously. ”Truer words have never been spoken,” she said, lifting her cup as if in salute when he said that all he needed was a good convincing voice to encourage him to do stupid things. Nope, neither of them needed much prodding to do stupid shit, even though Nell’s naivete played into it. A lot of the things she’d done were because she didn’t understand how stupid they were, even when sober. Inexperience with the world could prove hazardous to someone like her, it seemed. ”That makes me feel better about it all,” she said lightly. Now that she could do stupid crap as a teenager, why not? She’d missed so much of her childhood and even her teenage years—when she hit the milestone, she was still in The Bronx, still with her mother, still held captive. Now she was able to run around like all teenagers should. Well, save for the fact that she didn’t have parents to reprimand her, even though her father certainly tried.
Josh blushing was certainly not keeping her from laughing any less. I am so sorry, I am being mean right now. But she couldn’t help it. She really tried her best to stop, but that only made her laugh harder and now she was feeling a little dizzy from her giddiness. You’re a terrible, terrible person. He was clearly embarrassed, and yet she kept going. Barely able to get out what she wanted to say, she managed, ”Respect, my minions.” If Josh wanted her to stop in her laughter, he really shuld have stopped talking about it. Her words sounded like a gasp when she said, ”She was going to put it on Youtube?” Stop it, Nell, you’re just embarrassing him more. By now she was fanning herself with a napkin, clutching her stomach as her laughter started to die into a short gasps. Josh had managed to put her into hysterics about this, but now she was managing. As long as he didn’t bring any of it up again, she’d be okay. But she had to say, any time someone mentioned streaking, her mind would instantly go to Josh and she’d probably end up in a fit of giggles. Thanks for ruining this for me, she thought, the laughter having finally faded into a lopsided smile.
Completely unaware of Josh’s trials, she entertained herself with thoughts of being a trapeze artist. At least they weren’t about him streaking. Great, she thought about it again, and the snort that came out because of it was rather random now. Recovering once again, she slapped her hand on the table. ”You think that, too?” she said. ”You know, it’s possible that a lot of elementals are scietists. I mean, the Thunder side of my family has a lot of scientists.” Even though she wasn’t sure how many electrical engineers there were. Her father was a biochemist and her grandmother a physicist, and she was pretty sure neither of them required electricity. But she was certain one of her Fuentes relatives had dealt with electricity. They were self-made rich bastards, after all, a lot of them had six-figure salaries thanks to their occupations. Josh’s comment made her snort, and she joked back, ”I’m sure there are those who already worship the ground you walk on. Probably because of your car.” Yes, Nell admired his car like nothing else. It was a beautiful piece of machinery, and one day, one day, she’d get her hands on a Lambo. And then she could brag about her own ride, and not feel the need to hide whenever driving her PT Cruiser.
Nell honestly thought they were done after she gave her simple answer. She had gone back to drinking her iced tea and looking at nowhere in particular when his voice called back her attention. She lifted her eyebrows as she waited for whatever else he was going to say. She easily replied, ”What did you mean, then?” Oblivious to even his amusement, she sat back to mull over what he said. It was a simple question, why did he feel the need to make her re-examine it? Unless… ”Oohh,” she said calmly as she realized that he meant what teenagers did, in the dating sense. It was a term she hadn’t really been aware of anymore, since she hadn’t been asked out or asked anyone out. ”Oh,” she said again, but this time she was laughing a bit, thinking about the people who asked each other out. Like Josh. Wait. ”Oh!” This time the word was short and louder than the other times, accompanied by blushing. He meant…he actually…god, she was so stupid. ”Oh, oh, oh,” she said, her mind now scrambling. Now she had to think back to his question again, and think of an answer that didn’t involve her naivete of the subject. ”Uhm…yes,” Nell said, ducking her head a bit in embarrassment. And this time she knew what he had meant when she said, ”Yeah, sure. I’d…go out with you.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -HEY YOU, BIG MOOD - - - - -guide me to shelter- - - - -
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Post by JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE on Aug 16, 2011 18:42:29 GMT -5
[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, width:380px; height:200px; background-image: url(http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss283/amostprofoundseduction/paper1.jpg); padding:3px 10px 10px 10px; border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px; -moz-border-radius: 30px 30px 0px 0px;] I'M NOTHING BUT A TIN MAN, DON'T FEEL ANY PAIN. rusted from the rain,
I STUMBLE THROUGH THE WRECKAGE, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO SALVAGE, NO ONE LEFT TO BLAME. AMONG THE BROKEN MIRRORS, I DON'T LOOK THE SAME - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Joshua waited patiently as she first asked him what he meant, then seemed to think about it. He wondered if he was going to have to come out with it and rearrange the words so that it was impossible not to realise, something like, 'Hey Nell, wanna be my girlfriend or something?' But no, that didn't sound like something that he would say. At any rate, a long 'oh' from Nell implied that she was starting to catch on. Joshua watched her as he waited for it to really kick in. No one reacts this calmly to--ah, there we go, he thought as she chuckled a little. What was she going--and then she let out another exclamation, this one loud and accompanied by a blush. He'd made her blush? For some reason this made Joshua grin, and it was very hard not to laugh as Nell appeared flustered and surprised. There, now she's got it, he thought to himself. It had taken her long enough, but it seemed like his friend--did he still call her that, or?--had grasped the concept. Now for the answer. There was that shy feeling again, but it was overrode with amusement and the desire to keep such amusement at bay. And then she said yes. Wait--what? Again, Joshua really wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. Rejection? More laughter? Certainly not this, he realised, though the grin widened a bit. "Oh," he said, and now it was his time to be saying such things. "Okay." So what did this mean for the two of them? He was going to ask, wondering if she was wiser than him about the whole dating thing, and then he noticed the time.
"Shit," Joshua cursed suddenly, staring at the clock in alarm. His father would be home any minute now, and Donovan was the one that usually checked to make sure his son was obeying the rules of his house arrest. Ducking his head in embarrassment, he admitted, "I'd, um, I'd better go." His lips twitched into an awkward sort of smile. "Parents, you know?" It sort of sucked that he didn't get to continue talking to her or ask about this new condition of absolute awkwardness and confusion that he'd dragged between them, but he would be worse than dead if he was caught breaking the rules before even a day had passed in his sentencing. His mother would just glower at him in disappointment and Donovan--oh, he didn't even want to think about Donovan. "This was fun, though," he said. "Would have been better if we had time for another game, but unfortunately..." Joshua sighed. "Ah, well. Maybe next time." He gathered up the donut box and his empty cups of tea, setting the empty plate back on the glass counter and then throwing out the trash. "See you around, Nell."
When he got home, he felt pretty successful and full of himself. Nothing to feed one's ego like 'going out' with Nell--what did that even mean for them?--and then making it back home without getting his ass kicked. He exhaled long and slow when he got back into his room, fully intending to feign sleep. He was just shrugging his jacket off and heading toward his closet when he noticed slight movement in one dark corner of the room. Donovan, still in his business uniform and looking like he'd just got home, had his arms crossed as he leaned against the corner. "Welcome home," he said icily. "Where were you?" As usual, it was a rhetorical question. As Joshua froze in alarm and tried to stammer a response, his father ploughed onward. "I would have thought that you'd at least have enough respect to wait a few days before breaking my conditions, but clearly not." The words were spat, and Josh couldn't meet the man's eyes. "Look at me, boy," Donovan snapped at him. "No use being ashamed of it now, is there? I bet you had quite the fun time. What did you do? Graffiti? Drinking?"
"No, Dad, n-nothing like that, I just--"
"We don't care what you did." Patricia entered the room now, and his mother didn't look quite so charming when she was glaring daggers at him. Annabel was with her, looking very upset and refusing to look at her brother. "I saw him," she mumbled quietly. "I'm s-sorry Joshy, I just--" He was angry, however, and he did something he rarely found himself doing: he snapped at her. "Save it, Annabel." His use of her full name rather than the cute nickname keyed in to the fact that he was furious. "You fucking told on me?" Instantly he was met with three replies from different points of the room.
"I'm s-s-sorry!"
"Watch your language, boy!"
"It's a good think she told us, Joshua!" Patricia's voice was like a slap across the face, and he could have bet she might have literally struck him if not for the distance between them. "I can't believe you! We decide to give you some free reign and you abuse that within the first night!" She sounded disgusted, always knowing how to cut deep. "Annabel, sweetheart, go find something to do," she said with a complete change of attitude. "We need to talk to your brother alone." The little girl cast a nervous glance toward her brother and then left, shutting the door behind her and leaving him alone with the two predators that were known as his parents. Shit. The yelling started immediately, accusing him of being delinquent and disobedient and a bunch of other words that he knew were true. He tried to stick up for himself or worm his way out of a bad spot, but it didn't work. When they left the room, he was landed with an even worse sentencing than before: no car, no phone, and no leaving the room. He felt guilty as he pulled the laptop out from its hiding place. At least they don't know I still have this... Maybe if Nell got online, he could tell her what had went down.
GO ON CRUSH ME LIKE A FLOWER, RUSTED FROM THE RAIN. COME ON STRIP ME OF MY POWER, BEAT ME WITH YOUR CHAINS. AND IF I'M THE KING OF COWARDS, YOU'RE THE QUEEN OF PAIN - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . |
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