a pen and paper kind of day;; open

[erika]

As a general rule Beatrice did not spend much time in the common room of her dormitory. The entire thing had a surreal quality to it and while it tended to have a calming effect on her it also creeped her out a little bit. Despite the assurances that the dorms were safe Bea just always had this feeling as though the ceiling would crash down on her. She didn’t have any real problem sleeping in the dorms but she just didn’t spend much of her spare time there. It seemed as though none of the water students did as whenever Bea was around no one else seemed to be.

Despite her slight fear of the place today found Bea spending the entire day in the common room. It was the weekend and school had just started so people had passed through the entire day but seasonal allergies had kept Bea confined to the castle. Normally she would be in the library or perhaps an empty classroom but the library had been strangely crowded and she didn’t really feel like spending the entire day in an uncomfortable chair. The easy answer would have been to just go and buy allergy medications but that would require actually going outside and Bea didn’t really want to do that either so she had just stayed in.

However without the library and all its wonderful books to distract her Bea had become bored rather quickly and it was too early into the term for her to really have homework to worry about. It was now the evening and Bea was feeling a little bit down. While it was true that she was too young to go into town and party she was still saddened by the fact that she had no plans for a weekend evening and that everyone else seemed to already have plans of their own. Plans which decidedly did not include Bea.

For a brief moment she considered going out and trying to find people to hang out with but before that thought got too far in her mind Shy!Beatrice took over and she instead headed to her room to change into comfy clothes and grab a notepad. Settling back down on the couch, tucking her feet underneath her Beatrice began to think. The thing about Beatrice is that while she loved to write she did it rarely and with little structure. She may have planned her ‘stories’ but they would be written in three different notebooks and in five different colours. Beatrice was the type of person who once on a roll became so absorbed in what she was writing that she would end up smeared in glittery ink and not even notice. She also wasn’t likely to notice anyone who approached her. Bea wrote whatever came to mind and tonight it would seem as though lyrics were coming to mind. They were all rather mopey and involved being alone, Bea would probably scrap them when she read over them later but for now the ideas were flowing, as was the ink.

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[erin]

The dormitories weren’t somewhere Ethan typically liked to stay on the weekends. Everything reminded him too much of schoolwork and all the things he should be doing but wasn’t. Even though school had just started, he still found himself with a large amount of homework for the weekend. He attributed this to the fact that it was in fact his last year at school and naturally would be the most challenging before college. And any amount of homework seemed like a lot to Ethan because he hardly ever did it. It wasn’t that Ethan was lazy; at least not in a physical sense. He told himself he lacked motivation and was why he never bothered to become studious. So, he shoved his school things under his bed in his dorm with the intent of keeping them out of sight until Sunday night.

There were a few things he could do. He’d been invited a couple of places for the weekend but at the time didn’t feel like going anywhere. The beginning of school always felt overwhelming to him and he was in the mood for an hour to two to himself. So he did what he usually did when he felt stressed. After digging through his backpack he snagged his iPod and plugged a pair of headphones in. Most teenage boys would flick on some rock, rap, or something of that nature. But Ethan, instead, went to his go-to playlist, consisting of his favorite show tunes. A song from Rent went by, not really sparking his attention. Then West Side Story popped on the shuffle and Ethan couldn’t suppress the urge to belt out some lyrics from “Something’s Coming.” No one was in the boy’s dorm anyways, not that he cared much. People were generally familiar with his wacky behavior and if not, he didn’t care. With both headphones on, Ethan couldn’t hear a sound, especially not over his singing.

He slipped out the door, intending to poke around the common room or maybe take a stroll outside. Now outside of the confines of his dorm he brought his voice down a little, but still at a level that some may find annoying. He figured no one would be in the common room anyways. The song hit its end note as did Ethan. In a much lighter mood than he had been in all day, he realized he stood in the middle of the common room. However, he felt he wasn’t alone. He whipped around to find Beatrice sitting in the chair behind him, apparently writing. “Oh! It looks as though I’m not alone!

[/color]” he announced light-heartedly. He wasn’t embarrassed though; Ethan made a fool of himself too many times to ever get embarrassed by it. He did, however, feel guilty for being obnoxious. “I didn’t realize you were here, sorry if I was a little…loud,[/color]” he said with a sheepish smile. He plucked the headphones out of his ears and stuck them in his pocket where the iPod was.[/blockquote][/justify][/size]
notes: a little Blaine shoutout there [/color][/size]

[erika]

Bea had no idea how much time she had passed in the common room but she could tell it was getting later, made easier to tell by the fact that people were leaving for the night and no one was coming back. Bea hadn’t even seen anyone in the last hour or so and had therefore assumed that she was alone in the dormitories. Needless to say she was surprised when she heard singing coming from the boys’ dorms. Many water students tended to lean towards the artistic so even though the voice was fairly distinctive she had no clue who it belonged to.

As the voice got louder Beatrice was eventually able to recognize the song as being from West Side Story. She had once auditioned for a local production of the musical but the lead had gone to one of the scariest divas Bea had ever met. She had gone around telling everyone that she was made for the role and generally annoyed everyone in the theatre. That was beside the point though. Beatrice was now curious as to whom the mystery male belting in the dorms was but didn’t bother getting up and checking as not only would that be weird but she was fairly sure she would find out eventually.

Turning back to her notebook she continued with her writing when the voice entered the common room. Bea looked up and smiled to herself, of course it was Ethan. Ever the typical water student he was very upbeat and fun. Bea knew he was into music but had never actually heard him sing before. She was impressed and although she wasn’t arrogant that did not happen very often.

It was obvious that Ethan hadn’t noticed her and not wanting to startle him she didn’t say anything at first, instead just listening as he finished off the song. When he turned and noticed her she couldn’t help but smile again, most people would be at least a little bit embarrassed to be caught but Ethan was not most people and was showing no signs of shame about his performance.

Noticing him notice her Bea turned her attention away from her notebook and smiled at Ethan from the couch. “It’s okay, I heard you coming so it’s not like I was scared or anything.” Bea couldn’t help but feel like she was being a little awkward. It’s not that she wanted to be odd or forced but whenever she was around boys or people she didn’t know that well or boys she didn’t know that well she just kind of froze up. And Ethan was very cute. Not that she liked him, because even though he was nice she didn’t think of him that way, but he still made her nervous and she was unsure about how to behave now. Did she go back to her writing and wait for him to say something else or try and engage him in conversation? Realizing that she was really only making things worse by staring at him and being all weird she decided on option two, mostly because option one was both a little bit sad and a little bit rude.

”So what are you doing in on a Saturday night? I figured I would be the only one who didn’t have any plans tonight.”

[/color] Mentally cursing to herself as she realized that she had just inadvertently insulted Ethan a little she knew she couldn’t take the words back now and so instead just waited for him to respond, hoping he wouldn’t take offence to what she said.

NOTES[/color] UGH! I am so sorry that this took me so long(and that it’s so bad) i promise a shorter response time from now on.
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[erin]

Ethan was used to being a bit obnoxious. He didn’t mean it on purpose; loudness tended to be second nature to him. Sometimes it got on people’s nerves, but he was usually oblivious to it. Growing up, he became more and more outgoing in order to make up for what he lacked when it came to being a big, tough guy like his dad always wanted him to be. And he filled that void by throwing himself more into the arts and what he loved to do. Sure, it irked his father to no end, but Ethan found himself over the years ignoring what he thought. His dad would never accept him and he realized that.

But Ethan shook the daddy-drama from his mind. Who didn’t have problems with their parents? He strode over to an armchair across from Beatrice and plopped down on it. “Oh good, I’d feel bad if I had,

[/color]” he admitted, grinning. The room felt very cozy to him. He slouched in the chair, appreciating how worn-in and comfortable it was. Maybe he’d just stay here all night instead… “Are you busy? Am I intruding? I’m sorry, I didn’t even think…[/color]” he apologized as his voice trailed off. He sat up in the chair a bit. He didn’t want to disturb her; he already was loud enough before. He knew how he valued his alone time and didn’t want to annoy Beatrice. Unless she didn’t mind, he wasn’t sure.

“Well, I suppose I have plans, but nothing I’ve dedicated myself to,[/color]” he said. “I’m sort of just going with the flow of things tonight it seems. What about you, what brings you here on a weekend night?[/color]” he asked, but suddenly realized this may have been rude. He hoped it didn’t come off that way; he meant it to sound matter-of-factly but wasn’t sure if it did.
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[erika]

Bea had spent most of her day alone in the common room and while she had seen many people come and go she was pretty sure Ethan was the first person she had actually spoken to. Considering that Bea tended to be surrounded by people, even if she wasn’t talking to them seeing Ethan came as a relief. It was a break in the monotony that had so far been her day. While she had been writing she was so absorbed that Bea hadn’t felt lonely but now that she had a distraction it began to sink in that she had been spending a lot of her time alone.

Not wanting to become one of those awkward people with no one to talk to she grinned at Ethan until she saw him hesitate about staying. Not wanting him to leave she rushed to reassure him that he wasn’t bothering her, especially since he really wasn’t. “Honestly don’t worry about it. I’ve just been scribbling some lyrics for the last hour or so. I could definitely use a break.” Bea couldn’t help but find it odd that Ethan seemed to be unsure around her. Typically she was the awkward one and she couldn’t help but wonder at the fact that he also seemed a little uncomfortable.

Bea blushed slightly as he mentioned having plans. Of course he had things to do tonight he just had so many he had yet to decide which to choose. Bea knew she wasn’t the most popular person ever and that she just wasn’t the type of girl people invited to parties or asked out on dates but sometimes she rather wished she was. Bea liked herself but she couldn’t help but wonder if life would be more fun with more friends. Bea noticed Ethan shifting slightly in his seat, “If you have somewhere else you have to be you can go. I mean you can stay too if you want I just don’t want you to if you don’t want to, stay that is.” Realizing that she had just seriously made an arse of herself Bea could feel the colour rising in her cheeks. Struggling to try and regain some control of the situation she tried again “Sorry that was rambley. I just meant that if you do have other plans don’t feel bad about leaving but also feel free to stay.”

Bea heard him ask about her plans and tried to come up with a response that didn’t sound completely pathetic. Failing, she instead decided to just be honest, “I’m not exactly the party type. Some of my friends had plans but none that I would have fit in at.” Bea knew Ethan in passing. Like many water students he was very outgoing so being a fellow water student meant that she had probably spoken to him at some point before. She knew from those few conversations and his earlier performance he was very into music but other than that didn’t know a whole lot. Unsure of how to push this conversation further and feeling very awkward she sat there rather quietly, hoping that he, being the more confident of the two would have more to say.


NOTES

[/color] UGH! Again this took waaay longer than i meant for it to and it’s not even all that good. I’m sorry.
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[erin]

Ethan tossed the idea of how to spend his evening around in his mind. Sitting here in the common room made him realize that he wished for a more relaxed evening. He was exhausted too from the past week and didn’t feel like staying out late. Not that he usually did, but he knew for certain that it wouldn’t be long before he crashed from being tired. The night before last had been a late one, trying to finish up some last-minute homework he had put off. He wasn’t much of a morning person either, so late nights tended to have sour effects the next day. Because of his procrastination, he’d been late to his first class, having slept through his alarm. Even though he had slept in this morning, another day of late-waking definitely didn’t bother him.

He was glad when Beatrice informed him that he hadn’t interrupted her or bothered her. Ethan found himself constantly wanting to please people and felt terrible if he upset anyone. That is, unless he upset them intentionally. But he had no wish to hinder Beatrice’s writing and so was relieved that he hadn’t. “Well, I will gladly provide you with a break,

[/color]” he told her with a smile. “Are they lyrics you’ve made up or from a song?[/color]” he asked curiously. Anything related to music always caught Ethan’s attention as he basically lived and breathed it. He sank into the cushiony chair, comfortable now by the fact that Beatrice didn’t mind his company.

Ethan shook his head when Beatrice told him he didn’t have to stay if he had plans. “Oh no, no don’t worry about it, you’re not keeping me. I’ve got some time to spare, I could use a little down time,[/color]” he explained. Ethan was quite comfortable where he was at the time and planned on sticking around for a little while. He wanted to catch up with a few friends he hadn’t seen over the break, but didn’t mind recharging his battery before he left for the night. Besides, there were plenty of other times to go out, he wouldn’t miss anything.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I don’t really hang around at parties that often. Or if I do I don’t really drink or anything like that,[/color]” he told her honestly. “I was thinking about going to listen to some music downtown, there’s an acoustic show that some people were talking about.[/color]” Ethan wasn’t much into partying. He didn’t have a problem with people who did it, it just wasn’t his cup of tea. If he went to a party he usually ended up as the designated driver and he didn’t object to it. He decided to bring up a common topic to talk about, since he hadn’t talked to Beatrice a lot in the past, figuring they could get to know each other better. “So how has school been treating you so far?[/color]” he asked with a grin.

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