I Hate That I Love You || 1x1

[adheline]

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＣＬＡＹＴＯＮ-------

----park meetings-x------【 tag | Skylar 】【 location | school 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

Eyes tracking the motion of Sky's hand as she tosses them in the air, Clayton smirks. It's fun getting her riled up. He's not completely doing it on purpose, though. Some of it, he is. But he also just doesn't enjoy discussing the nitty gritty of his every thought and feeling. She has to pull for every detail she wants, simply because it isn't organic for him to give them in the first place. Which she already knows. He's not sure why gets so annoyed every time something like this happens. She should be used to it by now. Then again, it's pretty easy to irritate her. He sits through another barrage of questions, still slouched down in his chair and gazing lazily up at her. Except, as she starts hypothesizing and going into dramatic little shows of shock, he grimaces and sits back up. Maybe he should have just given her details to begin with. "I... no. I didn't know." He wouldn't quite use the word clueless, though. "I didn't really figure it out until the next day, while Jessie and I were talking about it at the aquarium." He'd like to leave his answer at that, but he knows that just because she veered off course there doesn't mean she won't want a detailed account to answer her previous questions. He scrubs a hand to his forehead. "Ugh. Fine, okay, even though I think it's nobody's business but mine and Jessie's, I'll give you 'details,'" he concedes. And only because he and Sky are closer than most siblings he knows. He wouldn't tell any of his other friends, that's for sure. "It started when her dad came through, and he gave me a look that Jessie thought was just him being awkward. I told her it was because he thought I was into her." He's unsure how to paraphrase what happened next, but it's all necessary background information to answer her questions, so he decides to just jam it all into one big, broken sentence. As one does when forced to tell a story. "To which she said obviously wasn't the case, and I said it should be surprising that people don't like her, not obvious, and so as payback for cheating in the video game when the thing about her dad distracted her, she leaned in close and said maybe I did like her." He's not sure if any of that makes sense to Sky, but he's not stopping to find out until he gets all the way through this. "I couldn't let her win with that, so I basically said I'd tell her if she told me first. Which is where she said she thought I'd be bolder than that, but then she said she liked me. Which was just part of our... game. She didn't mean it, but, you know." Clayton shrugs. "It packed a punch. Plus, I had to prove her wrong. So, before I knew it..." he trails off, tapping his fingers against the table. "And she was wrong. I only said that to egg her on. If I knew, I would have been more direct. But goading me into kissing her definitely wasn't her intention, even if it worked. She was pretty shocked, too." Shocked, but receptive. He wonders what would have happened if she hadn't been curious. If she had been upset and kicked him out, if he would have ruined all their progress in one fell swoop. Jessie keeps saying she hasn't changed him, but if he weren't spending time with her, he'd probably still be insulting people with his merry crew of popular jerkwads. He supposes he should be grateful that she saw something in him and took the chance.

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＮＡＴＨＡＮＩＥＬ-------

---science project--------【 tag | Jessie 】【 location | school 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

His use of the word friendly, more how he used it than the word itself, is apparently a tell to Jessie. He eyes her warily as she explains herself, not sure how he'd begin to explicate his wording if she asked him to. Not sure he even can. He's done a pretty decent job of brushing off all the oddities of his time with Skylar as just being part of the learning curve. Friendly is the right word to describe his time with Sky. It's just not the only word that comes to mind. "I guess so," he says in agreement to her assessment of Skylar trusting him to help with the dance. "I haven't really thought about it that way. I think I was just conveniently there when she needed help. At first I was just going to help with the decorations. Then, since the venue took a while to confirm an appointment, she was going to go alone to that, so I offered to tag along. And that only came about because she got the confirmation when we left the mall together on Thursday." She's definitely a stickler, though, no arguing that. He likes to think they work well together, though. He never imagined he'd be a part of planning a school function, much less a dance, but he's actually kind of enjoyed the process so far. And spending time with Skylar. Even if they do have weird, tension-ridden moments. He goes silent again when Jessie gives her theories on that, thinking about it some more. He does kind of know where it came from, it's more-so a question of why. He guesses she's right about it resolving itself, though. While the proximity situation has popped up again, it hasn't set their budding friendship back at all. "Maybe. We haven't really had any problems since then. And, I mean, even then it wasn't exactly a problem. Just a little awkward." They've had more awkward moments, but nothing that really set them off course. "As you said, we have been hanging out a lot, which is a dramatic flip from how we were just over a week ago." Jeez, it has only been about a week since he had dinner at her house, hasn't it? It feels like it's been longer than that. "It's weird. All week, whenever we met up to finish up the project, we ended up doing something else instead. And then today, we actually were going to finish it, but then, you know." He tosses a small gesture to the stairwell they're camped out in. "At first, I thought once we wrapped up the project and didn't have meet-ups to turn into different hangouts, we'd just stop talking altogether. Now, though, I think we're friends. Except, I did use that word once and she looked unsure." He gives a little shrug. "I guess we'll see." They'll wrap up their project tomorrow after school, and that'll be the end of that excuse to get together. That just leaves the dance, and then obviously, as long as he's not imagining things, this friendship he thinks they're building. He hopes he's not imaging things. Not just for himself, either. Obviously he likes spending time with her, even if sometimes they start off awkwardly, so that's for him. But Sky's lonelier than people realize. Even if he isn't her first choice, at least he's another person she can turn to when she needs somebody. He understands, to an extent, the impact her parents have on her, and he hardly needs to be told that the popular crowd are superficial friends. Hopefully she realizes she's worth more than that, and deserves people who actually care about her.

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＡＵＤＲＥＹ-------

-------the third-----------【 tag | Michael 】【 location | Michael's house 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

Having not thought at all how he'd react to her depositing flour on his nose, she doesn't expect anything either which way. That said, the brief moment of puzzlement she gets out of him is gratifying. Let him be the baffled one for once. She thinks she's probably just effectively ruined a moment, though. Until he grabs her hand and hauls her in close, and even as she sucks in a startled gasp, she suddenly can't use the air to breathe. She's hyper-aware of where they touch, nose to nose with nothing but a sliver of space between them otherwise. It's overwhelming enough that his words reach her in delay, and her eyebrows scrunch together at his 'same to you.' Belatedly, as she watches his gaze roam her face and notices the flour on his is partly missing, it occurs to her that he would have shared the flour she put on him when their noses touched. Under normal circumstances, she would have connected those dots immediately, and if she were thinking clearly, she'd probably be annoyed at how completely his closeness affects her. It's actually impossible to think clearly like this, though, and even though she really likes the fuzzy tingles he's inciting, she's relieved when he takes a step back. They're a bit beyond baby steps at this point, but she's not ready to just jump into everything. She chews on the corner of her lip, gaze still steady on him as he tries to divert them back to what they were doing before. Her heart bursts with a unique sort of pride that she's never felt before, knowing that she's affected him, too. Not nearly as much as he has her, as she's still reeling, but enough to leave him grasping for words. Silently watching him get their cooking back on track, there's no doubt in Audrey's mind that she's blushing again. Something could have happened there, and the only reason she can think of for him to pull back is out of consideration for her. Which absolutely warms her heart. Though, it does nothing to help get it back to beating at a regular pace. Listening to his instruction does, however, and slowly she reverts back to her usual mode of being a good student. She picks up the rolling pin as instructed, grinning when he laughs. "Ah, yes. Tortilla-shaped. Shockingly enough, I do actually know what those look like, so I should be able to make it work." Doing as tasked, rolling out the dough is a simple enough process. It shapes easily and doesn't crack at the edges like the cookie dough her mom makes around the holidays. It's easy enough that as she picks up the third ball and begins to flatten it, she allows herself to glance over at Michael before returning her attention to rolling. Feeling bold for no reason other than they're alone and she's already survived one incident of close contact, she decides to venture into it. "I see what you mean by distractions, now," she begins idly, carefully laying a thin round of dough on top of the others on the plate. "Definitely not what I had in mind, but I like your idea better." Audrey focuses on her hands and what she's doing with them, even as she speaks, until she's made a few passes with the rolling pin on another bit of dough. Then she shoots him a small smile. "How are my tortillas coming along? Tortilla-shaped?"

(( No worries! <3 ))

[lucky ⋆]

❅ Jᴇssɪᴄᴀ Sᴄᴏғɪᴇʟᴅ ❅
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ meetings in the park ] [ location: school ] [ tagged: Nathaniel ]

Jessie tilts her head slightly in confusion when he says she never considered Skylar asking him to help with the dance as a sign of her trust in him. As he explains further how it came to be, she gets where he is coming from. It does seem like things ended up that way just because of convenience. Still, Jessie thinks that there's a level of trust Skylar displayed there, letting Nath in on something that seems to be quite important to her. "Maybe." she shrugs. She smothers a chuckle before she says, "But if she didn't trust you to be helpful, I don't think she would have a problem turning your offer down." Hearing that there hasn't been any further tension, Jessie figures she probably is right in her assumption. Nathaniel seems to agree with her, clarifying that it was never a problem either way. She didn't think it was either, though her wording might have led him to believe she thought it was. She's not sure there was any better way to refer to it though. She supposes just awkward moments like he says is good enough. She nods along again as he continues his explanation, paying close attention. As he talks about how everything they meet to work on their project, they end up doing something else together, she can't help but find it interestingly familiar. She can't help but see the similarities between them and her and Clayton. Though they didn't exactly plan to meet up every time, they did somehow find something to do every time. She's not sure what to make of this at first, considering her current relationship with Clayton. She has to remind herself, that they could just be bonding as friends. It's what she and Clayton were doing initially too, she thinks. Until he kissed her, of course, but she didn't expect something like that would happen with Nath and Skylar. Then again, she didn't expect something like that to happen to her either... She gives him an apologetic look when she learns that she interrupted their project with this whole thing. She's not too surprised to hear that Skylar seems a little unsure about labelling them as friends. Not because she doesn't think Skylar wouldn't consider him as her friend. She's confident she does with everything she's heard so far. She thinks it's probably just because this isn't like any other way she made friends before. It's probably taking her some time to get used to. "I'm sure she does think of you guys as friends," she assures him without any hesitation. "She might be just hesitant since she's not used to having friends like you." She voices her thoughts out loud. "Or maybe she's unsure because she thinks of you as something else or more. I don't know." She says offhandedly without thinking about what she was actually saying, just throwing out theories on what came to her mind. Even after the words left her mouth, she didn't realize what she had said. She's already moving on to her next train of thought. He seems a little noncommittal at the end there with his shrug. "If she doesn't for whatever reason want to stay friends, do you still want to try to be friends?" she wants to hear his thoughts on it or more so see his reaction to this idea. "Not that she would have any reason considering everything you told me. I'm just curious..." She glances towards him with a careful eye.

♛ Sᴋʏʟᴀʀ Jᴀᴄᴏʙs ♛
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ the science project ] [ location: school] [ tagged: Clayton ]

Skylar could see Clayton was both used to and tired of her endless questions. She's too giddy to care. She's even more gleeful than before when he confirms that he was indeed clueless about the whole thing. That glee turns into shock and confusion when he tells her that he didn't know until they talked the next day. There have been multiple times mentioned so far she thinks he could have caught onto his feelings. She knows he said he might have been in denial for a long time, but she didn't realize how much of an understatement that was. She assumed it took a while, but not until literally the very end. She has to push her surprise aside when Clayton speaks up again. She raises an eyebrow at his words, not expecting him to say anymore because he hasn't answered her questions with more than a couple sentences. She's not going to stop him if he's volunteering to share more details with her though. She rests her head on her hands and makes a show of her listening intently. That breaks in the middle of his rambling though as she leans back and furrows her eyebrows slightly. For a moment, she thought she missed a part or something before realizing he was just having trouble stringing everything together. By the end of it, she has to run through everything again in her head to make sure she gets the most out of it. "Uhhhh, okay. I think I got all that." she sighs, massaging her temples. "You are so bad at girl talk." She shakes her head. Not that she expected any better. From what it seems, they somehow just riled up each other into this. She remembers their arguments were always quite heated, but not in that way. "You two and your little competitions, gosh," she exclaims, shaking her head once again. "The way you talk about it, it's a wonder how you two keep it under wraps and together for so long." Probably just by avoiding each other. For the last week, they haven't interacted in public. "I like to imagine you'd be more composed in public, but it doesn't sound like you had much control." From the sound of it, those hallway spats could have ended much differently. "I guess somehow it worked out for you, but what a mess." she shrugs. Nothing she had to think too much about, she finally got the details she wanted. "Well, thank you for finally giving me what I was looking for. Can't say I don't have any more questions, but I'm much more satisfied now." She won't be as intense about them as before. After this next question, that is. "But Clay, the next day?!" she yelps. "You didn't know until you guys talked during the field trip?" She gives him a look of exasperation out of pure disbelief. She just can't accept that he was that clueless despite teasing him about it. "I mean you couldn't hold back from kissing her when she showed an inkling of reciprocation and you literally almost kissed her a few days before that." she points out. Now thinking back on his behavior during the field trip before their talk, it was so blatant. "If I wasn't so preoccupied and in the dark during the field trip, I could have told you with how intent you were on her." she quips. "That would explain the staring. It was like you couldn't wait to talk to her." How did she not realize? "I was mostly teasing about you being clueless, but you really were upon the last minute." she chuckles in amusement. "I don't know who was more clueless, me from not seeing that or you for not realizing the most obvious thing ever?"

☀ Mɪᴄʜᴀᴇʟ Hᴀʀʀɪsᴏɴ ☀
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ the third pair ] [ location: home ] [ tagged: Audrey ]

Michael shakes his head a little at himself after her reply, letting him know she is familiar with tortilla shapes. He probably didn't need to add that extra bit with his instructions, but he's glad that she's at least amused by it. There's a bit of a lull in which they both are focused on their tasks. Michael finds himself going at a leisurely pace as he cuts up the dough piece by piece. In the quietness, he glances towards Audrey briefly. For a moment, he's wowed by the fact that she's here, as his girlfriend. Watching her work alongside him makes him feel off-kilter brief. He blinks, not sure where that feeling sneak off on him before realizing it's been so long since he shared a moment like this with a girlfriend. He's gotten used to being a serial dater. He's not complaining about the change though. It's nice to just spend time like this with someone he cares about. He can't say he's even cooked with his other girlfriends though. Cooked for, yes, but never cooked with. This is something that he has only shared with Audrey. Seeing she's already made good progress on the rolling, he begins to finish cutting up the last bits of the dough. Just as he set the last piece aside, he heard her speak up again. He raises his eyebrows as she begins, furrowing them as she continues. At first, he's not sure if she's referring to what he thinks she's referring to. She says it so casually that there's no way he's hearing her right. Then she just moves on and asks about how she's doing on the rolling. For whatever reason, that's what makes him register her words. A sudden shock runs through his body. Is this her way of giving him the green light on going a bit farther in their relationship perhaps? He doesn't want to assume though with again how fresh their relationship is. He has to hold herself in place to keep a safe distance between them. He puts his hands on his hips, leaning towards the counter just slightly to look over her work. Acting like he's doing a thorough inspection, he makes a show of looking it over before leaning back and tapping one finger on his chin. "Perfectly tortilla-shaped." he praises with a grin at the end of all that, keeping the conversation casual just like her. He can't exactly let go of what she said though. He has to tease her at least a little about it. He has to remind himself to keep it light. It's a bit difficult as he repeats her words in his head. "What's about distractions though?" he asks, tilting his head slightly. He steps towards her just a little to grab the other rolling pin. "Are you coming around to my idea of distractions?" Just as she did before, he begins rolling out a piece of dough. He rolls over it twice to get it flat enough before he starts spinning the dough and rolling over it once every pause. Keeping the same tone as she did as before. He says. "That's good to know," he tells her, eyes down on his work. After turning the tortilla in a full circle, it's done. He places it on top of the rest. He turns to her, eyes serious, but tone playful, he warns her, "But you shouldn't be saying things like that or we wouldn't be getting much done." He pauses briefly to let her realize what he means before grabbing another piece of dough and getting to work on the next tortillas. "Let's finish this and it'll be time to cook them up," he suggests. "Can you handle the heat?"

[adheline]

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＣＬＡＹＴＯＮ-------

----park meetings-x------【 tag | Skylar 】【 location | school 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

When Skylar accuses him of being bad at girl talk, Clayton rolls his eyes hard. No kidding. If there's one thing that Clayton can say conclusively about this conversation, it's that it's exhausting. Seriously, if Sky weren't so concerned with squeezing every last detail out of him, he wouldn't think twice about any of this. He and Jessie are a unique situation, and they just kind of do whatever it is that they do, no logic needed. It works for them. When it comes to relationships, logic is highly overrated anyway. As long as things are going well, why does it matter how or why it all started? Then again, there are those odd few moments when his feelings begin to alarm him in some weird way that he's never had to deal with before, and he has to accept the fact that maybe Sky has a point when she calls the whole thing a mess. His composure when it comes to Jessie is, in fact, a hot mess. His feelings are a hot mess. He's a hot mess. And now, thanks to Sky, he actually has to confront that mess. Just when he thinks she's finally, at last, actually done grilling him, she's yelling at him again. He groans long and loud. "Sky. You just got done telling me that you can kiss someone without it having to mean you like them. Besides, we had a secret friendship. Or, you know, kind of a friendship. And it was new, and right on the heels of a pretty ugly rivalry. I didn't even want to think about possibly having feelings for her, because what were the odds of her liking me back? After the way I treated her?" Even now, sometimes he'll have an unwelcome memory of something he's said, and he can't believe they're where they are now. "Honestly, what were the odds of her even wanting to be friends? I was more concerned with keeping her interested in building a friendship, forget about anything more than that. Any obvious signs I missed, I really wasn't looking for them anyway." Though when she puts it like that, they do sound incredibly obvious. He supposes, in whatever form it takes, he's always been impulsive when it comes to Jessie. At first, in picking fights with her, then eventually in other ways. Maybe that's why he sucks so much at this secret relationship thing they've got going. Actually, kissing her cheek in front of her dad should have been an immediate warning that he's got serious problems with his inhibitions. They've just vanished. He shakes his head belatedly and scoffs. "I'm not clueless," he retorts petulantly. "It's not like she knew either. Whatever. Enough about me, tell me more about your unlikely infatuation." Even though he normally doesn't care to discuss the nitty gritty of people's feelings and relationship drama, he's always had a genuine interest in what Skylar's got going on in that department. He may not always act like he's super invested, but she's his best friend. He wants to know. He just usually doesn't have to ask for it. Sky's never been shy when it comes to voicing her romantic grievances, so the fact that she's less than forthcoming regarding Nathaniel is fascinating to him. She's answering his questions openly, but she wasn't the one to bring him up in the first place. He had to. "When exactly did you first find him kissable? And how'd he end up helping you with the dance? I fear for my life when I try to help you with stuff like that." It kind of says something that she didn't scare him off with that. "And... your parents? Did something happen?" Clayton can't imagine she just casually gave Nathaniel details about her home life, and her wording when she mentioned it makes him think it wasn't intentional. She said Nathaniel helped her to feel less lonely all week, and that's both a comfort and a worry. Has he been so caught up in Jessie that he wasn't there when Sky needed him? It seems like her parents are always pushing her to the side, but that doesn't mean it ever sucks less when it happens. At the very least, he can distract her with some shopping, like he did last Saturday when she picked this coat out for him. He wonders what exactly Nathaniel did to be so 'attentive,' as she put it.

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＮＡＴＨＡＮＩＥＬ-------

---science project--------【 tag | Jessie 】【 location | school 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

Nathaniel grins at the idea of Sky shooting down his offer to help, because she's right. Every step of the way, Skylar's been nothing but meticulous in preparing for this event, from her schedule down to her checklist. She's thought of everything possible that she needs to address, and he doesn't think she'd waste time entertaining a helper if they weren't actually being useful to her. It's nice to think, then, that Skylar really has placed a good deal of trust in him by letting him near her dance planning. He truly hadn't given it this much thought before, but now that Jessie's brought it up, it's warming to know he and Sky are gaining traction even in this small way. As they've spent time together, obviously he's found himself comfortable enough to venture to say they're friends, but this is some actual evidence to contradict Skylar's hesitance. Which Jessie doesn't seem to think is an issue anyway. He gives her an appreciative look as she starts to suggest reasons she might have reacted the way she did. But, his attention snags immediately on one little phrase. Something else or more. His heart gives a tiny tug at the mere idea, leaving him disoriented. The thought of what that implies shouldn't affect him in the least, but even as Jessie continues talking, his mind lingers on it. At first, he interprets her follow-up question to mean if Skylar doesn't want to stay friends in favor of becoming more, if he would prefer to just stay friends. Because he can't let go of that word 'more.' Imagine that. Friend-zoning Skylar Jacobs. Him. His mouth pops open, but nothing comes out at first. "Um. No. Yes. I mean-" He huffs out a frustrated breath, finally threading together the actual meaning of Jessie's question and feeling ridiculous for having assumed it was anything else. Especially something like that. Seriously. Sky, liking him? Hah. It's dumb. So dumb that he should really stop thinking it. Like, right now. "Yeah, I would want to be friends. I like spending time with her. She also needs more friends who genuinely care about her, who don't make her feel like they're just putting up with her until they can leave." He frowns, thinking back to the other day at the diner when she thanked him for just that. But that really wasn't the case. He was being honest when he told her he enjoyed hanging out, and he'd like to keep doing so even after their project's turned in. Not only as part of this whole group that their friendship trios are trying out, but just the two of them, too. "So, I hope you're right, and she feels the same way. I guess I am pretty different from any of her other friends. That's probably it." That's way more likely than this something else or more theory that she just ever so casually tossed out there. It's... it's ridiculous to even consider. Right? Skylar, thinking about him that way? Even if by some miracle she did, it's not like he thinks of her like that. No, so, just forget about it. Nathaniel's lips twist to the side and he taps his fingers against the material of his jeans. Seriously. Forget about it. Ugh. "What makes you think she might think of me as more than a friend?" He doesn't think anything he said really indicated that, and Jessie's barely seen the two of them together. But she mentioned it so carelessly, like it didn't take any searching to occur to her at all. And then just moved on from it, like she didn't even say it to begin with. He can recall with startling clarity some moments of flirtation, but those were unique situations. First and foremost, right after they got gelato. She was just demonstrating. Proving a point. And in his room, well, he's honestly not entirely sure what the catalyst for that was. His best running theory is just that she was testing or messing with him, because she seemed cool as a cucumber in the moments immediately following their interruption. Unless... gah, he needs to stop thinking so hard about this. Even if something were happening here, he's still got lingering feelings for someone else, and that's just not fair to Sky.

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＡＵＤＲＥＹ-------

-------the third-----------【 tag | Michael 】【 location | Michael's house 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

As Michael assesses her work with rolling out the tortillas, Audrey takes the opportunity to prep herself. Even though he's focusing first on the tortillas, she knows he won't just let her previous comments slide away from him. He always takes any opportunities she leaves for him to grasp on to, whether she leaves them intentionally or not. It used to be mostly accidental, so his subsequent responses usually just riled her up. But this, this she deliberately put into play. While she's anxious, in a good way, for how he'll respond, she hasn't ever been able to predict him. It could be anything from a pleased acknowledgement to a nearly scandalous flirtation. Scandalous to her, anyway, in her infinite lack of experience. She matches his grin when he calls her circles perfect, pleased as punch to have met his standards. That makes a count of two in her favor: the measuring and the rolling. Which is good, because seeing as how much he likes to cook, she'd really hate to ruin these tacos. Then, as expected, he rounds back to distractions. "I may be," she offers lightly, gaze dropping to watch the way he expertly rolls out his bit of dough. It's a much faster, smoother, and altogether more impressive technique than she'd employed, and she finds herself transfixed. Never had she considered that the act of rolling out dough could be attractive, but here she is. Once it's added to the pile, she turns her gaze up to meet his. It takes her almost the full time he allows her to process his next statement, eyes widening at the implication. Aha, so, both pleased acknowledgement and a scandalous flirtation. Not that she minds it. In fact, the suggestion is almost tempting. Like, really tempting. Even though her reaction to their little flour situation is proof positive that she still isn't quite ready to dive into the deep end, she can't lie and say she's not excited to work her way up to it. Now that she's not lying to herself about her feelings, she can even admit that she's briefly thought about it before all this. She's both wary and impatient, which probably isn't a good mix. It's probably not even a normal mix. But, at least for now, she's brave enough to try a little more than dusting flour on and off of each other's faces. Just, perhaps not quite to the point of not getting anything done. Not yet, anyway. Also, she really is looking forward to trying the finished tacos, which is reason enough to stay on track. And they're almost ready to cook them, so she only has to stay focused for a little while longer. She blinks at the double meaning in his final question, taking a small second to actually consider it. Can she handle it? His proximity just a minute ago was overwhelming in the moment, but not in a bad way. She liked it. And in the aftermath, his reaction left her feeling emboldened. They have kissed before, she reminds herself, and she didn't implode. In any case, moving forward doesn't have to be in leaps and bounds. He's proven himself to be considerate, and she trusts him to back off if she finds herself needing it. "I can handle it," she decides, reaching over and plucking up another ball of dough. "Just be patient, because I'm not nearly as efficient at rolling these out as you are." She pauses in the middle of picking up her rolling pin as she realizes that sentence has a double meaning, too. Pure accident, but surprisingly accurate. Who knew there were so many metaphors in a tortilla. Incorporating a novice's rendition of his roll and spin technique, she finds the process is a little faster than before, and she triumphantly lays another completed disc of dough on the stack. "You're also in charge of anything involving heat. We both know how I do with toasting bagels." She picks up her next piece of dough thoughtfully, trying to decide if that also has an accidental double meaning. Now she feels like she's just giving him too much fodder. It's not like he needs his ego fed. "That last one was literal," she hurries to add, pointing a warning finger at him.

[lucky ⋆]

❅ Jᴇssɪᴄᴀ Sᴄᴏғɪᴇʟᴅ ❅
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ meetings in the park ] [ location: school ] [ tagged: Nathaniel ]

As she watches him closely, Jessie notices that Nathaniel seems a little distracted. She's not sure why exactly and she begins to wonder if she worded her question confusingly. That further continues in his first string of conflicting answers. Her eyes dart across his face, trying to figure out what got him seemingly so flustered. He seems to recover as he starts over though, so she couldn't really read much into it. His answer is expected, from all that she heard so far. She frowns along with him as he explains his reasoning. She remembers having the conversation she had with Clayton about Skylar. From what she heard, it seems like Skylar has a lot going on. And now hearing that it doesn't seem that she doesn't have enough genuine support around her makes her sad. She was already planning to become friends with Skylar. After all, she's Clayton's best friend. But she wants to make a conscious effort to make sure Skylar knows she's not just doing it out of obligation. She would like to become one of those friends who genuinely care about her. She nods along empathetically as he expresses his hope that her theory is probably right. She didn't really get any extra insight with his answer, but she does note that he does seem to care for Skylar a lot more than she expected. She was considering if she wanted to do anything when Nath spoke up again. His question makes her furrow her eyebrows. She opens her mouth before closing it, unsure if she heard him right. "I said that...?" she tries to think back to her ramblings. She does tend to have a problem with that. Her eyes widen as she realizes she did without thinking what she was actually saying "I did say that..." she says to herself. Her mind scrambles as she tries to think why she said that. It seems like a reasonable possibility to her for some reason. How did she work through that in her mind? She then recalls thinking about the similarities between them and her and Clayton, realizing perhaps that's why she made that connection. "Sorry, I think I was thinking about Clayton and got confused," she admits, cheeks flushing red at the admission. Gosh, she hasn't stopped thinking about him this whole time. "Well, not exactly confused." she clarifies quickly. Confused sounds like she didn't actually think it's a possibility. "It's just what you described sounded like us during the early stages with the hesitancy and everything. So, I guess I thought it could be plausible she thought that way since you know how we ended up." She hates how it sounds I just threw this out there without much thought. Especially since with the way Nath asks, he sounds hopeful at the possibility. She doesn't want him to feel discouraged by her explanation. "Not that it isn't anymore. Now that you bring it up, it does make sense." she continues. Well, he brought up she brought it unknowingly. She does actually mean what she says though. A lot of Skylar's actions make more sense seeing it through that lens. "I mean she seems to pay special attention to you even after we all hash through everything." she considers, thinking back to the mall trip. She notices Skylar seems to fret around him a little more than the others. She did end up dragging him away for his makeover, which she didn't do with her or Audrey. "She seems to like to drag you off to be on your own." she rambles on. "I don't know how you guys end up hanging out rather than doing your project every time, but if she's choosing to do that instead of hurrying to finish the project that could be a sign." She stops herself after that, realizing she's making a lot of assumptions here. She should probably clear one thing up first. Glancing over towards him, she asks, "Do you...want Skylar to like you?"

♛ Sᴋʏʟᴀʀ Jᴀᴄᴏʙs ♛
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ the science project ] [ location: school] [ tagged: Clayton ]

Skylar rolls her eyes as he begins to protest. He totally could have wanted to kiss Jessie without meaning that he liked her, but he has to consider all the extenuating circumstances and the context too. In a vacuum, sure, he could have not realized, but there's so much more to it. She furrows his eyebrows when he starts telling her that he is more focused on their friendship. Simply because he didn't seem to have the same attitude toward her and Nath's friendship when she mentioned her hesitancy about just going for a kiss. "Uh, no, you are clueless." she imitates his tone, being just as petulant as he is. She thinks she made her point though, so she won't harp on it anymore. At least not for today. "And a hypocrite! All these excuses for you and yet I should go it with Nath?" She crosses her arms and huffs as he asks his questions about her 'infatuation.' Her shoulders slump down when he expresses concern over her parents though. She can't stay mad at him at that. "Oh boy." she let out a long sigh. "Of course something did. More on that later." She's over it by this point, so it wouldn't be as hard to talk about it, but she would still like to leave it to the end. "When? Funny you ask, because it was the night after the field trip," she reveals, eyeing him accusingly. "I considered what you said seriously and couldn't help but think he would be a pretty good boyfriend." Having more time to think about it, she has more of a grasp on why. "Now that I think about he's kind of similar to that one summer fling I had," she considers. Nathaniel's not as assertive, however. "Remember I cried about to you. So, like I said. It's your fault." she points out again. "For the dance, I mentioned needing to check out the venue and probably needing to do it myself since the committee this time was put together a little last minute. He offered to help and I took it." she shrugs. It was pretty straightforward. There's not much to this story here. "He hasn't complained so far, so that sounds like a you problem," she tells him flatly. She knows she can be bossy, but being that scared of her sounds like an exaggeration. On the hard part, she thinks, pursing her lips. "Now, remember when you took me out shopping for the weekend since my parents pushed them returning home to Monday." she reminds him. "Well, guess what? They just completely cancelled on that too. I don't think they'll be back until the holidays at this point." They haven't mentioned any plans on coming back anytime soon, so she has to assume that's the case. "I was working on the project with Nathaniel that day and offered to spend dinner with him instead. For whatever reason, he agreed. I was a bit emotional that day and we talked about insecurities and such, which led to my apology the next day." she explains, realizing now that she's never explained what happened there fully to Clay. "We didn't talk about my parents, but I think he picked things up from the circumstances." That and the staff around her house seem to share her love of gossip. "Here's the real kicker. So, we ended up going to check out the venue for the dance together and guess who I happen to bump into." she tries to not get choked up thinking back on it. "My mom. She didn't have time to spend with her daughter, but had the time to check out the venue for their Christmas banquet." she laments flippantly. "I kind of broke down from that and the stress." she pauses. She looks towards Clay meaningfully. "He stayed with me." Her voice is soft and quiet, expressing that it's as simple as it sounds. "I mean after all that, he deserves a kiss, right?" she tries to jokingly brush off how strongly she feels about Nath. A dry laugh trails into a sigh as she deflates and once again faceplants onto the table.

☀ Mɪᴄʜᴀᴇʟ Hᴀʀʀɪsᴏɴ ☀
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
[ the third pair ] [ location: home ] [ tagged: Audrey ]

Patting down the ball of dough, Michael tries to stay calm as she confirms she might be into his ideas of distractions. His eyes are focused on the counter and he grabs his rolling pin. Rolling out another tortilla, he tosses it on top of the growing pile they have made. He glances over towards her at her response, trying to act nonchalant at the implication of it. His eyebrow raises slightly at the following words though, unsure whether they're still talking metaphorically or literally. He watches as she copies his technique as she rolls out her next tortilla, smiling at just how much of a good student she is. His eyebrows raise increasingly as her words again have a double meaning. At this point, he's pretty sure she's being literal, but can't help but be a little caught off-guard initially hearing her. His assumptions are confirmed by her quick follow-up. The combination of her warning finger and all her unintentional slips makes him snort. He tries to keep it together, but the realization of how ridiculous to have this conversation through cooking metaphors makes him unable to contain himself. He stiffens his initial chuckle but eventually bursts out laughing."I know, I know." he chortles, putting his hands up as a show of his innocence. "I got it." He shakes his head slowly at himself. It's not often he has flirted with cooking and he's definitely never had a conversation about boundaries through cooking. He turns his focus back onto rolling out each piece of dough, going at a more leisurely pace than usual, so they can do it together as long as he can make it. "Right," he notes, remembering helping her out with the bagel a while back. "Nothing with heat for you then. At least not for today. I'm sure you'll get it with practice." She's been a fast learner with everything else he's thrown at her today. He thinks if she's up to bracing it a couple of times, she'll get the hang of the timing. Perhaps, he could guide her through it next time. Assuming that this wouldn't be the only time they cook together. He's hoping she's enjoying this and will be impressed enough with the food that she would want to do this again. Putting his last tortilla onto the stack, he takes a few steps back as he brushes off the flour in his hand. Hands on his hip, he glances around to figure out their next step. He knows he'll doing all the cooking on the stove, but he has to think about what Audrey could do. "Hm, nothing with heat, huh?" he contemplates. "Can't say there's much else for you to do then." He can't really think of anything to do at first. "I guess you can grate some cheese?" He glances at the cheeses he brought out. He figured they could just grate it while they were assembling the tacos. They might not even need it. Taking another scan over the counters, he does find something else. "Oh, actually. You can make the kimchi salsa." He cut up everything for that and set it in a bowl already, but haven't mixed everything up yet. "You just have to mix all this up and add some lime juice." He points out as he grabs two pans. "You probably can get both of those done pretty quickly, so you can just enjoy my show afterwards." He brings everything that needs to be cooked over. He's planning to cook both things at the same time, so he can get this done sooner and she wouldn't have to just wait around. "I feel like we should we should probably have an actual conversation about 'distractions' literally," he says, turning the heat on. He got some insight into her thoughts on it beforehand, but he would like to be completely clear about it. "How much are you comfortable with?" He looks over at her as he waits for the temperature to get to a suitable level. "Can I..." he starts, biting his lip slightly, a little nervous to ask this so directly. "Can I kiss you? Because I would like to, but I can wait too."

[adheline]

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＣＬＡＹＴＯＮ-------

----park meetings-x------【 tag | Skylar 】【 location | school 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

Hearing that Sky had been thinking about Nathaniel in this new light since the field trip has Clayton's eyebrow quirking up. Then it drops and he rolls his eyes when she makes it a point to blame him for it again. Make one joke and never hear the end of it. That said, if she and Nathaniel ever get together, she'd have to thank him, rather than blame him. He does remember that fling, though, and how much it affected her when they broke up. Even though she knew going into it that it was temporary, it was the one time he remembers her crying over an ex. Normally she just gets mad, so Clayton had been way out of his element in trying to console her. He doesn't want to see her go through that again, so her comparison gives him a moment's pause. At least Nathaniel seems to be a good planning helper for her, if nothing else. Clayton shrugs at her assertion that the problem with helping her out lay with him, figuring it's more of a two way clash. Her standards are too high and he's too stubborn to comply with them. Nathaniel appears to be more the type to go along with whatever anyone else plans, so he's probably more willing to follow her command. Clayton grimaces when she brings up the reason for their shopping trip last Saturday, already having an idea of where this is going. And he's right. It's rarely hard to guess what's happening when she brings up her parents. His parents are away right now, too, but at least they're trying. Probably. More than hers are, at least, and he resents her parents for putting her through this. Again. The worst part is probably that this is a habit of theirs. It seems to have been the catalyst for her and Nathaniel breaking the ice, though, so at least that's something. It also gives reasoning to how Nathaniel had been the one to get her to apologize to Jessie. If anything can make Skylar emotional, it's getting cast aside by her parents. Clayton's frown hardens as she continues, bristling at her mom's callousness. It's a terrible thought, but he wonders, not for the first time, why their parents bothered to have kids in the first place. Sometimes he wonders if they would have been less lonely with siblings, but then he figures that would just be twice the heartbreak when their parents disappear. He and Skylar have always had each other, at least, and even though he's been a bit distracted this past week and she found solace with someone else, that won't ever change. The tension in his jaw and shoulders dissipates with her gentle phrasing of how Nathaniel navigated the ordeal, a slow, small smile growing as she puts her face to the table again. Well, this is definitely something beyond what she let on earlier. "Yeah, he does," he agrees quietly. He chews on his lip for a second, debating. "But... maybe you shouldn't. This is clearly more than just a passing impulse. What if he's still hung up on Jessie?" It's the dead opposite of what he told her to do mere minutes ago, but maybe the doubt is necessary. The last thing he wants to do is egg her into something that will leave her dealing with rejection. "Unless you think he might reciprocate? I'd just hate to see you getting hurt over this."

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＮＡＴＨＡＮＩＥＬ-------

---science project--------【 tag | Jessie 】【 location | school 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

The fact that Jessie doesn't even remember bringing up this more than friends theory doesn't bode well for the likelihood of it being the truth. If she didn't really think that was the case, and she just tossed it out there as a vague option, there probably isn't much evidence to back it up. It is kind of on par with her unique brand of rambling, though. She doesn't always intend on saying some of the things that she does. He grins at her blush when she mentions Clayton, not even realizing until a moment later that he found her Clayton-induced bashfulness cute rather than getting jealous over it. Either their conversation about Skylar is taking over his mind completely, or he's even more moved on than he thought. Either way, her thought process seems to have run along her history with Clayton, and he's surprisingly okay with that. He nods along slowly as she brings up things she's actually witnessed from Sky, their going off on their own, and as she mentions veering off from their project. Which happens a lot. Both of them. They're almost always ignoring their project to do something else, and they did break off together at the aquarium and the mall. She's right, they could be signs. They could also just be signs of friendship, too, though. Or just loneliness. Being popular, one wouldn't really assume that Sky's as lonely as she is. That, at least, is what brought them off the project that first time when her parents cancelled their dinner plans. Jessie's question startles him out of his thoughts, and he blinks at her. As absurd as it is to think the answer is yes, he can't quite ignore the feeling in his chest when he thinks about it. "I... don't know." It's still absurd. For one thing, he and Skylar have only been on good terms for a week to the day. That doesn't seem like enough time for the friendship phase of their transition. And another, they've got a lot of similarities, but they've still got a ton of differences, too, that make them a rather unlikely fit. But then he thinks about when they stopped at the diner, and something about that just felt so... right. But there's Jessie, still. Maybe. He's realizing quite suddenly that he's far more concerned over Sky's feelings than he is Jessie's. Except, he can't forget the raw feeling he had each time he learned more about Clayton. He scratches at his jaw, blowing out a pensive breath. "I mean, I'm still..." Nath pauses, meeting Jessie's gaze with reluctance, at a complete loss for what his emotions are actually trying to tell him. If he weren't the one in the middle of it, he might find it amusing how he's ended up talking to both Sky and Jessie about his feelings for the other. He is in the middle of it, though, so it's just more tiring than anything. "Confused," he says at last, but he's not sure how to explain it without confessing to her. And Sky had wanted him to do that, hadn't she? Why would she tell him to confess to someone if she liked him? She wouldn't, because Skylar Jacobs goes after what she wants. So, it's quite likely all their speculating is just that: speculation. That thought leaves disappointment to settle heavy in his chest, and he closes his eyes with a frustrated sigh. "I think I might want her to, but it's complicated."

─────┬───────────────────────────────────

ＡＵＤＲＥＹ-------

-------the third-----------【 tag | Michael 】【 location | Michael's house 】

─────┴───────────────────────────────────

It's clear to Audrey that Michael wants to laugh just before it actually happens, and she tries to act annoyed about it, but it's contagious and she giggles right along with him. This whole cooking metaphor conversation has definitely been a first. But it's certainly also been fun. She avoided cooking mostly because she didn't have the patience to sit and watch water boil, but having this experience with Michael is an eye opener to the fact that, apparently, part of it may also be that cooking alone is plain boring. This is far more entertaining. They finish up with rolling out the tortillas soon enough, and Audrey carefully brushes the flour from her hands as he thinks out loud to come up with something for her to do. She grins at his belief that she can manage the actual cooking part of it with some practice, warmed both by his faith in her and the implication that they'll be doing this again. For the time being, though, watching the show doesn't sound too bad. "Sounds like a plan," she agrees, sliding over to where her next set of ingredients to mix are. At least from making the tortillas, she knows she's got mixing pretty well mastered. She hums in agreement to his initial statement about having a more serious discussion about their limits, because that is actually pretty important. Then feels the beginnings of a slight blush at his direct question about her comfort zone, but he's still going so she keeps busy while he decides on his wording by tugging the mixing bowl closer to her. Then she feels that slight blush flare into a burn at his final question. Forgetting all about the salsa, she turns fully to face him. It really shouldn't fluster her so much. It's not like she's never thought about it, or that it hadn't been close to happening before, or that it hadn't actually happened before. Because it did. For that weird little cafe in the mall. Maybe it's just the way he's come right out and asked. Which is actually super sweet, and her heart melts at the consideration. Or maybe it's the hesitant way he's asked it. She's really not sure, but whatever the cause, she knows the answer. Even if it hadn't been a yes before, his thoughtful approach solidifies it. "Yes, you can." Her attention dips to his lips for a moment before flitting to the stove beside him, then to her own mixing bowl, which she turns back to with a soft clearing of her throat. "As for whatever else I'm comfortable with... I guess I don't really know. I mean, I don't really have any previous experiences to go off of." She has a general idea of what there is to be comfortable with, but she couldn't say how it would affect her or when it would be too soon or too much. "I don't mind trying to find out. If I get overwhelmed, I'll let you know. You've given me every reason to trust your judgement as far as this kind of thing goes." Even back when they first started talking and she considered him annoyingly determined and persistent, not once had she found him to be pushy or inconsiderate. She'd ignored it in favor of finding ways to be irritated by the attention of a serial dater, but he's actually quite the gentleman. "And, you? I guess it's a lot different for you, I doubt I can do much to overwhelm you," she muses, adding in lime juice to her salsa ingredients and stirring some more. "But I'd still like to respect any boundaries you have. I already know public affection is one of them," she adds, recalling that to be the downfall of one of his two previous relationships.