I Hate That I Love You || 1x1

[adheline]

♠ C L A Y T O N ♠
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ meetings in the park boy

Sky returning his hug is a good sign. Also, evidence to how close they were to get over this issue so quickly. They understood each other enough for Sky to know how often he messed things up, and that he really was sorry. That's part of why he lets her in on the whole liking Jessie thing. Best friends were who people were supposed to go to and dish their crushes. That's the general cliche for a reason. It worked. If he's going to show Sky that he does want to include her on this, however hard it is for him to overcome his natural distance even with her, he needs to be more open more often. She knows a lot about him, but there's still plenty left to say. For some dumb reason he's not watching for her reaction, just glancing around, so he jumps when she yells. Startled, he whips his head around to find everyone looking over at them, so he gives Sky a harsh shush. He frowns when she uses the argument of his type. If he was being honest, his type sucked. Sure, they were nice for a week. A novelty of sorts, not that he's proud of that. But none of them lasted, and over time he gave up on them all together. He went for the pretty girls with million dollar smiles, who could charm the pants out of anyone and convince them to do anything. All of his girlfriends had silver tongues and graceful steps. What really stood out about them, though, was their lack of patience. Nobody bothered to put up with his closed off behavior, or cared enough to learn about what he really liked. They wanted his face and his wallet, and that was all there was too it. He scoffed. "You want me to tell you things but then you go and freak out about it," he complains just so he can have an extra moment to think. He bites his lip. "I don't know how it happened. It just did." Clayton gave a little shrug. "It's new, though, and really, really confusing. So when I say that I can't explain it right now it's not because I'm stalling. I really have no clue." All he does know is that he has a ridiculous urge to go to the park every day, that he can't look at a camera without smiling, and that when he kisses Jessie it's the most natural thing in the world. He attempts to bite back a grin he just knows is overly fond. He doesn't talk often about his feelings, any feelings at all, so he doesn't explain any more than that.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ science project boy

There's definitely a point to what Jessie's saying. He'll admit to his bias, sure. He was being unfair to Clayton's capability to function as a normal human being. In his hurt he just can't understand what made Clayton's brand of comfort so appealing. He clenches his jaw, not sure how to answer her. Everyone was saying sorry too often today, and he doesn't want to say it without cooling off. Those words weren't meant to be said with insincerity. He can't really explain himself, either. He's not going to tell her right now, in the middle of their disagreement in an aquarium, that he likes her. That it's because of that he's being so resentful and unfair. He looks over at the boy in question when Skylar yells, brow furrowing. Why is it so unbelievable with Clayton? Because he didn't know him. Skylar told him about her feelings privately, her jealousy and insecurity. All he knew of Clayton was that he was privileged and flaunted it. The softer side he'd seen in Skylar before, during their experiment, when she could get along with him. There was no hint of redemption in Clayton. Be it contentedness with his attitude or a an unwillingness to ever drop it, he seemed cold and distant. Far from comforting. Jessie looked adamant about the contrary, though. Nathaniel really just wanted to back out of this situation all together. He was always adamant that people could change. He shouldn't block Clayton off just because Jessie gravitated towards him. "It was just sudden, you know? Skylar I knew was going to happen because she talked to me about it and explained it, but then you come out with Clayton and you've been hanging out for a week?" He shrugs desperately. "I had no idea. And there are certain things you're supposed to catch onto about your best friend." At a point, he has to start feeling oblivious. "If you say he tried, I believe you. I just have yet to see it for myself."

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ the third girl

Audrey likes to be agreed with, so Michael's compliance is nice. She's so used to him being on the complete other end of the spectrum just to get a rise out of her. It bothered her when he went against her, obviously, otherwise said rise wouldn't have been given, but obviously there was something about it that kept drawing her back to it. She might like the challenge. Being around Michael, she's never disinterested. That's what confirms to her that maybe there is something between Jessie and Clayton, even if it's just a close friendship. Those pushes and pulls were what attracted people to each other. She's about to turn her head to Michael and say something, though she forgets what it is when there's a shout behind her. She pauses a little in her step, raising both eyebrows towards Skylar. Oh my. Wanting to know what happened back there, Audrey keeps half an eye on them, but they've moved closer together so she can't hear anything other than what Michael says next. Her eyes widen and she feels her chest freeze, but thankfully she keeps stride so nobody bumps into her. In the context of hinting at Clayton and Jessie's supposed relationship, which may or may not even exist, 'us' sounds starkly presumptuous. Us as in together. As in romantically. At first she can't help but feel flustered. It's an involuntary response to the guy she -unwillingly- kinda sorta likes saying 'us.' Then she thinks she's very likely misinterpreting. Us could just be us in the moment, walking towards some fish. Ignoring the drama. That's not like him, though. He takes every opportunity to joke about something, or flash an insincere flirt her way. And that's more likely. She doesn't know why the thought upsets her so much, but she's certain it's just a joke. Then again, there's no wink or smirk attached to his comment. "Us?" she asks, trying to sound deflective like she usually does. It comes out more meek than she wants. "Is there an us?"

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone, Nathaniel ||

Listening to his explanation, Jessie slumps down slightly. She realizes that she was being a little unfair when she asks the question. While it did prove her point, she understands where he is coming from as well. Because she felt the exact same way when Skylar suddenly apologized to her. She didn’t see it coming at all because of the same reason to why he didn’t see this coming either. So, she can’t blame him for being so shocked. “It’s not your fault for not noticing. I’m having been that open about everything,” she says, glancing down for a moment. It’s always been like this. Whether it’s because of her indecisiveness, her nerves or for what she thought to be the benefit of others, she had a bad habit of being too guarded regardless of how close she was to that person. She knows that some of her previous friendship suffer from this too. “It’s something that I need to work on.” She contemplates for a brief moment whether she should tell him the whole truth about Clayton. She knows that she should, it would be the first step to working on being more open. She can’t get seem to get the words out though. She’s afraid of how he would react to it, especially since he’s still not over the whole first part of her and Clayton. She’s still trying to figure the whole thing out herself, so she doubts she would give a good explanation to it all. She knows she’s just making excuses for herself, but she doesn’t think that coming out with it right now would help this whole conversation. Instead, she addresses the last thing he says. “And I don’t know if you’ll ever see it for yourself. He is a hard person to get close to, but he has his reasons to be distant,” she explains. She doesn’t fully know those reasons, but she can understand them being a bit of a distant person herself. She just realizes it now, but that similarity may be one of the reasons why they were drawn together. “But I’m glad you believe me.” she ends. She’s not exactly what to say next. She knows that there are still things that need to be cleared up, but she hopes that they cleared up enough to move on from this. “Are we good?” she asks meekly.

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone, Clayton ||

Skylar gives him an unamused look as he complains. He’s acting like he just told her what he had for dinner yesterday. She wants him to tell her stuff, but that doesn’t mean that she’s not going to be surprised at whatever he tells her. Her expression relaxes once he starts explaining though. She’s not completely satisfied with the answer he gives her, but she can understand how confusing these things are. Plus she knows that he’s not really into talking about these things, so she’s not going to grill him about his feelings anymore. She does notice him holding back a grin, but she can see how strong these feelings he has been. Even with a glimpse of the expression he’s holding back, she knows she never saw him with an expression like that about anyone. She lets a small sigh before she takes a glance back at Jessie. She has to admit that she could see why he develop these feelings. While she has always called her a plain Jane, Jessie is actually quite pretty, in a cute way. That plus her sickeningly sweet personality is really a killer combination. “Well, I can’t say I don’t see how you got here. Jessie is quite adorable in a way,” she says flatly. She’s a little jealous with all the attention the girl’s getting. Not that she wants Clayton to think of her in that way because that would be weird. Just in general, especially since she’s never really had many long-lasting relationships. Most guys are afraid to approach her and those who are brave enough usually thinks she too much to handle. The same bitter feelings she always had towards the girl is creeping up again. She shakes her head, trying to get rid of those feelings since they won’t do her any good. “She got both you and Nathaniel wrapped around her fingers,” she comments, trying to not sound too bitter. Saying that does give her something else to focus on though as it reminds her about Nathaniel’s similar feelings towards Jessie. “Are you concerned about the competition?” she asks, giving a small nod towards said competition. She knows that Clayton usually have no problems with girls, but Jessie doesn’t seem the type to fall for his regular charms. Nathaniel has a long friendship with Jessie, which she would feel like the girl would value more.

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone, Audrey ||

Michael continues to walk easily, not realizing the connotation of what he said. He turns to Audrey, raising an eyebrow at her question, confused about her tone. “Yes?” he begins to answers questioningly but stops himself when he realizes how what he just said the sound. His eyes widen and a billion thoughts flashing through his brain, but none of them are coherent. “Oh no, no, no. I just meant us in general.” he quickly tries to explain, his words coming out of his mouth all fragmented. “Like us interacting normally without all that,” he says, gesturing behind him to all the others and their drama. And that’s really what he meant. Sure, he was thinking in that direction slightly, but just in like a friendly getting to know each other way and that wasn’t his main concern anyway. If this was anyone else, he would probably ask if she wants there to be an us. But he knows the answer to that, so he knows if he does say that it would just sound desperate and sad. Her tone doesn’t give him any hope of thinking otherwise either with the slight, but very noticeable to him, panic in her voice. To him, it sure doesn’t sound like she likes the idea of us. “Because, I know you don’t do relationships.” he continues on, despite the fact that he thinks he should stop talking by now since he already cleared up what he really meant, but he can’t seem to stop his mouth from moving through. “And you’re not interested in me in that way anyways.” he looks away briefly, trying to not sound too bitter about that. Even though they had that moment yesterday where he learnt that she didn’t think of him as a pest that she just wants to get rid of and that she actually cares about him. He’s pretty sure that doesn’t have anything to do with how she feels romantically about him nor does it changes it. After all, she made that clear the many times that he tries to flirt with her both seriously and not. He shakes himself from those thoughts and focuses back on clearing up what he meant. “So just us, not being complicated and confusing,” he concludes, finally managing to stop himself from talking. Even though, after all, that he said, his last statement is pretty inaccurate.

[adheline]

♠ C L A Y T O N ♠
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ meetings in the park boy

It's nice to hear that Sky understands where he's coming from, but the tone of her voice makes him raise an eyebrow. That's not her jealousy kicking in, is it? He definitely has it bad for Jessie, but Sky's his best friend, and nothing will change that. He's not going to let anything get in the way of that. She means way too much to him. When she brings up Nathaniel, Clayton grimaces. He completely forgot about him. Literally everyone, except poor clueless Jessie, knew how he felt about her. Nathaniel and Jessie, forever to be subject to 'are you dating yet' jokes. Yesterday, Jessie made it very clear she didn't think of him in any way other than as a friend. But that was one sided. If this thing Clayton had with her culminated into something more substantial, and eventually they came out with it, hopefully it didn't ruin their friendship. Because of how much he values Sky, he holds a high opinion of close friendships. Whoever it is, he wouldn't want to get in the way of any. And Vise looked significantly upset just at the thought of the two of them being close in a platonic way, it was dangerous to imagine anything else. Sky was right enough, though. Both boys were completely at her beck and call. Maybe that's what gave her that tone of voice before. Her question makes him smirk. There was no competition. Jessie told him who she liked already. He can't reveal that bit yet, so he uses his confidence in that to play into his usual flaunting. "'Course not, I'm a catch." By no means a player of any sort, he preferred to keep relationships sparse, he still had a decent bit of choice in relationships. He knew that, Sky knew that, a lot of people knew that. And while he wasn't worried about Nathaniel as competition other than his friendship being chosen over a relationship with Clayton, and despite his popularity, he did have an ounce of worry that Jessie would come to her senses and kick him to the curb. He was prone to saying the wrong thing, and both of her parents hated him. A lot. Deservedly. "I'm just concerned about how likely I am to mess up," he confided

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ science project boy

Nathaniel watches Jessie carefully. She seems to thinking about something as she talks to him, maybe wondering why he's being uncharacteristically bitter. He takes a deep breath. He's getting more worked up than this is worth. Nowhere along the way had he earned exclusive rights to her, she was well within her own power to make other friends. Especially if they helped her out in some way, however suspicious he still was about that. He wasn't lying when he said he believed her, though, so he'd have to give Clayton the benefit of the doubt. Especially if she doesn't know that he'll ever get to see it himself. He glances ahead towards Clayton. If he's so hard to get close too, he doesn't find it surprising that Jessie was among those who managed it. She was easy to open up to, and readily relatable. And all around great. Nath bites his cheek. He wonders if Clayton would react like he has to this, but quickly banishes the thought since it won't help anything. He runs a quick hand through his hair, softly curling up the corner of his lip in a reassuring half-smile. "Yeah, we're good. Sorry for freaking out." He wasn't usually so finicky around her, since she rarely gave him reason to be, but he wasn't new to a general case of the green eyed monster, in the phrase of Iago to Othello. He was content to a humble life, sure, but that didn't keep him from inherently wanting things. Mostly non-material things, like knowing certain people or having the right instincts. Though there were more consumerist concerns, like having lost a competition and prize to someone he unjustly labeled undeserving merely for winning. It wasn't anything he was fond of being like, so he tried to correct it as quickly as possible. In the case of having lost, he makes an active effort to offer congratulations. Similarly, in the case of Jessie, he would try and support her new... well, she never explicitly said friendship, but this new understanding with Clayton. "Why did you hide it for so long, though?"

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ the third girl

Those were a lot of 'no's. Audrey's eyebrows rise minimally, watching him without words. He seemed awfully panicky. And adamant that there was nothing implied in that 'us,' as she'd questioned. She felt almost snubbed. Spending time with her looked to have scared him off from his pursual of her. But that's what she wanted. Stop, she told herself, because she needed to stop feeling so disappointed when she was getting what she asked for. All she wants is friendship. That's it. However her pulse raced when he stood close, he wasn't the kind of boyfriend she needed. She didn't need anybody right now, it wasn't even just him. But then he brings up relationships. Her eyes widen and her eyebrows hike further. He wouldn't mention it if it wasn't on his mind, and she takes special note of how he only refers to her not doing relationships. Not of them not being interested in each other, but of her not being interested in him. She flushes and looks away, too, chest tight. This was getting too personal for comfort. "Right," she agrees weakly, even though nothing he's said is actually right. She doesn't do relationships, true, but she craves it in the deepest recesses of her desires. As for being interested in him, well. More than she wants to be. And complicated and confusing. It defined them. They were in a perpetual tug of war, pulled between disagreement and sentiment. That, and his explanation for his comment only confused her more. She wants a definitive truth about what he meant, but she's too scared to know the answer. So for once she doesn't press. Thankfully, she sees the bold letters of The Red Sea. "Oh, look, we're here." Sure enough, there's a large, rounded tank full of colourful fish, and she angles her path to land right in front of it. To fully derail their conversation, she points out the nearest fish. "Look! Lionfish." As she watches it float around, her expression tightens into a thoughtful frown. "You know, I never looked into it, but I've always wondered why it's called a lionfish," she muses to him. "Looks more like a tiger to me."

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Jessie let out a deep sigh of relief when Nath confirms that they're alright. She returns the smile he gives her brightly, glad they are starting to move on from that hurdle. Although, his next question drags them back to the bundle a little. She doesn't mind though since she feels like he deserves an answer to those questions. She pauses slightly though as she realizes that she's not exactly sure the answer to that. She thinks it's a combination of a lot of things. "Well, I think there were multiple reasons." she begins as she thinks of which ones to elaborate on. "It was mostly because I wasn't sure how exactly to tell you without hurting you in any way. I didn't want to you to think I pick him over you, because you are my best friend regardless of anyone," she explains. She frowns at the fact she ended up doing what she was trying to prevent anyways by keeping it for so long. "I guess that still ended up happening though, which again I'm sorry about that." she apologizes once again. "There was also the fact that wasn't sure if this was going to be a continuous thing. We still revert back to our old behaviour sometimes." Well, mostly Clayton does, but he's gotten better at recognizing and rectifying it. She can see the effort in his actions, so she isn't as harsh about it as she would be before. "And just my general indecisiveness. It really all boils down to that. But I'll try to get better at that." she tells him again, finishing her explanation. She really should though since it never really did her any good. She still hopes he understands where she was coming from. She was so engrossed in her conversation with Nath and resolving their friendship, she didn't even realize they had arrived at their destination. She ends up bumping into Clayton as she was still focused on watching Nathaniel's reaction. She jumps back a little as she apologized before looking around a little confused to why the others stopped. Seeing the big sign of the name of the exhibit, reminded what they were doing in the first place. She's been doing that a lot today. "Oh, we're here," she comments sheepishly.

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

As he boasts, Skylar can't help but rolls her eyes. It's not that she necessary disagree with that statement, it's just she doesn't really think that attitude would help him in winning Jessie's heart. Because wasn't that one of the reasons why the girl didn't like him that much in the first place. His concern makes her think that he was actually exaggerating his confidence about this though. She quips an eyebrow at this, giving him a suspicious look. She would assume that he's worried that he'll slip back into old habits easily. She can understand that worry with her doing something similar just before this. She still isn't completely sure how she feels about this whole thing, but as his best friend, she figures she should just be supportive. "I mean even if you mess up, as long as you realize the mistake and make a genuine effort to work on things, I think it'll be fine," she tells him simply. "Jessie doesn't seem like the type to dump you just because you made a mistake. She probably cares more about intent." She's only basing this on all her experiences with the girl. But judging by how easily her apology was accepted after all she put the girl through, she would assume what she said was true. She stops her steps when they reached the exhibit. She turns her gaze to the two in front of them, noticing Michael's slightly stressed expression. She almost what to groan as she realizes that she's going to be stuck helping out her friends with their crushes for a while. She decides to approach Michael and Audrey. Saving Michael from what seems like an awkward encounter with his crush and giving Clayton time to spend with his. Hearing the end of Audrey's statement, she cuts in as Michael clearly has no idea what to say. "I heard they're called lionfish because their spines and fins resemble a lion's mane." She takes a good look at the fish swimming around, narrowing her eyes to check if the similarities are there. "Vaguely," she comments before stepping away. "They are referred by multiple other names too though. They're actually listed right here." She points to the info board.

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Michael tries to not be noticeably disappointed at her one-word response to all his rambling. He really should be relieved that she's not pressing on and just moving on from all this. Because then there is no chance of him spill anything that he's not ready to say. But just how simple she said it though, it feels almost like a slap to the face. That she just shut down any possibility of his words were untrue. There was no correction of any statement he made, so he can only assume that everything that he said was true. At the same time though, he feels somewhat hopeful with the way she said it. How her voice wasn't very firmly, almost sounds like she doesn't fully agree with what he said. It doesn't give him that much hope though. He wants to address it, just to make himself feel better, but he's afraid that it would just lead to disappointment. He should just push this back to the back of his mind for now. He already told himself that he's just trying to get to know her and focusing on developing any sort of meaningful relationship with her. It doesn't matter if it's platonic or romantic. And she clearly just wants platonic for now, so he'll take that. He decides to just follow her towards the tanks. He's still stewing in some of his thoughts, so he has no idea how to respond to her words. He just stares blankly that the fish she mentions. He almost jumps at Skylar's appearance, forgetting that they were with other people for a moment. He turns around to see that everyone has arrived at the scene. He listens to Sky's explanation. While he usually doesn't care for her know-it-allness, he's actually really happy that she's here spouting random things right now. It gives him time to get back to normal and something to do. He smirks at the end of Skylar's explanation, realizing that he was stuck with two know-it-alls. "Well, I think at least you two would get along," he comments as he walks over to the information board she mentions. He raises an eyebrow at some of the other names listed there. "Lionfish is really the best name out of all these. And the most badass. I mean, what kind of name is turkeyfish or tastyfish?"

[adheline]

♠ C L A Y T O N ♠
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ meetings in the park boy

Clayton knows that Sky's still hesitant on this matter, if only for the fact that everything was happening at once. Just an hour ago she thought he hated Jessie, and suddenly she learns they've been something like friends for a while now, and then the real swinger of the fact that he's got it bad for this ex-enemy of his. And, yeah, again the fact that she was the complete opposite of his type. Not that he really had any choice in the matter, so types were irrelevant anyways. Sky's support here is thusly the best thing in the world, and he's just smiling now because he's got someone like Sky. She's not saying anything groundbreaking, nothing super heartfelt or anything. Just observation and mild assurance. It's what he needs, though. He stays behind, watching her head over to help out a distressed Michael like the mother hen she was. He wonders how she even puts up with the two of them, always getting themselves into something. Michael more so than him, he liked to think. He cocked his head, just observing the trio. His thoughts reminded him of their short fight earlier, if it could even be called that. What did Michael see at the park? Someone bumped into him, and he turned to find Jessie, and Nathaniel at her side with an eyebrow raised in his direction. His supposed competition. He did feel bad for how he was practically swiping Jessie right from under his nose, knowing how her friend felt about her. Suddenly it felt like he wasn't being fair. Jessie should know. But while it doesn't feel right to continue on without her knowing she's got a potentially better option that he knows about and is keeping from her, it would be a million times worse were he to spill the beans on the poor boy. And maybe he's a little selfish here, but he doesn't want her thinking about anyone but him in that way. He focuses on Jessie and smirks down at her. "Forgetting where you are again?" he asks in a tone casual enough, but it's got a double meaning paired with the wicked glint in his eye.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ science project boy

So maybe the way she and Clayton came forward after waiting so long hurt him, but she was right. He would be hurt regardless. He might have been quicker to get over it had she told him straight away, but it would have stung still. As long as they're still a duo, though. He presses his lips together in an appreciation of an understanding smile, but he's to distracted by her explanation to turn it into any real expression. He turns a critical eye to her. Old behavior for those two wasn't comforting to hear was still coming up. All that translated to was Clayton being rude and resentful while Jessie only fights back where necessary. Sure, if Jessie says Clayton's okay, fine. He can deal with that in time. Respect it even. But if Jessie got hurt along the way, he wasn't going to feel so friendly. For now, she was asking him to give the two the benefit of the doubt. For now, he could do that. He breathes out and nods. "Okay," he starts, and he's about to say more in respect to him understanding, and he'll try to keep an open mind, all the ilk when Jessie runs right into the subject of their conversation. Guess he'll start with that resolution now. He watches Clayton in case he's going to drop into that old behavior Jessie mentioned and growl or something. In the time he's gone to school with Clayton he's seen some nasty faces on the boy. Mixed in with a fair few haughty smirks and cocky shrugs of indifference. A person could see anything in school hallways, though, and teenagers were more than eager to rile each other up. He's seen people rub the kid the wrong way. Jessie included. It wasn't pretty, and that's only one of the many reasons he was worried about this whole thing. What he does end up saying makes Nathaniel take an involuntary half step back. So they had inside jokes now, apparently, because he had no idea what he's referring to. Confused, he looks to Jessie for her reaction so that he can form his own. He didn't sound mean at all in what he said, which a different tone could make that sentence seem like. Instead, he sounded more amused. Some of the doubt Nathaniel was clinging onto slid from his grasp.

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ the third girl

Watching the fish swim around, Audrey notices that Michael doesn't have anything to say. Neither about the fish nor their previous conversation, to which she's thankful. For the most part. There's a small part of her that wants him to slink up beside her and throw his arm around her shoulders, as he did, and tease that she didn't sound so sure. At least then she'd know that they were still joking. She bit her lip. It was harder to keep saying no when she wasn't sure anymore that he wasn't serious. She always boasted about being so resolute, and she was, but there was only so much a girl could do when it came to taming her first real feelings. She turned her attention to Skyler as she explained the name, but frowned back at the fish. She still would have chosen the tiger as a namesake. In her commitment to distract her previous conversation, she hadn't even noticed the information board. Hadn't even thought to look for it. Hearing from Michael that he thinks she and Skylar could get along isn't as striking to her as she's sure is socially acceptable. From what she's heard, partly from Nathaniel, in fact, Skylar was an intellectual. As much as Audrey enjoyed showing people up, she could also get behind a conversation with someone who could keep up with all her useless trivia. Not to say she'd ramble on about existentialism with Skylar, but there were plenty of other topics. She steps up next to Michael to look it over while he's reading the names. She finds the names he lists, smiling faintly. "I think I'd rather be a tastyfish than a not-tastyfish," she defends, glancing up at him. "If- hold up," she interrupts herself, scooting by him to look at the tank on the other side of the board. She squinted, and she was certain her earlier notice of movement wasn't part of her imagination. It's also just good timing, because she was sure she was going to say something stupid just then that Michael would have the opportunity to turn into something flirty, then turning her into an affronted mess in front of his friend. Ah, there, it blinked. She caught the faint outline of a day octopus, molding itself into the camouflage of a rock. "I bet you can't find the octopus," she challenged Michael, and she supposed Skylar, too, if she was up for some petty competition.

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

An immediate light pink hue spread across Jessie's cheeks at Clayton's question. While his tone seems normal, the subtle sly look paired with it helps her catch on right away to the double meaning of his words. He was the cause to all of the previous times she's forgotten where she was today. She tries to not think of the specific actions involved in those stolen moments to avoid her going even more red. She can't say anyone has ever had an effect like that on her before. Not that she's gotten to that point with many people. Although, she still think that reaction is something to note about her feelings towards him. Perhaps something to keep in mind when she has time to try to sort out how she concretely feel about him. This thought reminds that she currently doesn't have that time. She mentally shakes herself from all those previous distracting thoughts. She focuses on this current moment in time right now and that it wasn't about the two of them. At that thought, she realizes that he's making her all flustered in front of everyone. She narrows her eyes briefly at this fact, trying to use it to get her out of this blushing state. "Maybe," she answers with a slight pout, giving him a light glare. The glare doesn't last long though as she can't say she's that annoyed at what he's doing and soon a small smile replaces her pout. This is the push and pulls that she likes. Although, she keeps in mind to watch out for this from Clayton. Knowing him, this will likely be a recurring thing. "But now that I remembered, I should get on to what I been wanting to do," she says, shifting her focus towards her surrounding. She briefly admires the display and all the marine life around her. Just a glance gives her a splurge of inspiration. She reaches into her bag pulling out the camera that lays inside. Clayton's camera. She was about to take off and step closer to the tanks when she remembers that she hadn't really concluded her talk with Nathaniel. She finished what she had to say, but he didn't get to respond to it when she kind of interrupted him as she stumbled into Clayton. She turns to Nath as she pulls the camera strap over her head. "Do you still want to continue our talk? You didn't finish what you were saying," she asks. Even though he said they were good, she wants to make absolutely sure of that.

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Skylar doesn't give much of a reaction to Michael's statement about her and Audrey. She wouldn't be surprised if what he said was true. From what she heard Audrey was a smart and sensible girl. She could see them getting along. Probably better than a lot of her girl 'friends' right now. She watches with an amused smile as Michael browse through the names. Her eyebrows raise up as Audrey begins to respond, noting how wherever the girl was heading to would be an easy way for Michael to make some sort of comment about. She rolls her eyes at the look on Michael, he seemingly caught onto the opportunity as well. She doesn't get how the two deal with all their back and forth. That thought extends to Clayton and Jessie too. She doubts that just because they formed this new bond their completely stripped themselves of their old behaviour. It just seems like it could get so complicated. She just wants a nice boy that isn't 'afraid' of 'dealing' with her. She turns her gaze back to the tanks and spots the octopus Audrey mentions fairly quickly. Ah, a day octopus, known from their camouflaging abilities. And this one is showing that skill off quite well. So well, that poor Michael seems to have trouble to spotting it. She shakes her head as he frantically tries to find it. She lets him flounder for a minute "Look at that rock more carefully." she guides him towards the creature. She's being a little gentler than she is usually. If this was just them with their friends, she might have teased him more. She doesn't want to completely embarrass him in front of his crush. She smirks when he finally finds it. "Figures you would have trouble finding. You're not great with subtlety," she comments, not being to resist teasing him a little. She gives Michael a look he defends himself. She meant catching onto subtleties, not being subtle. She doesn't bother to correct him, since him missing what she means just proves her point further, and just turns around to check up on the other three. Nothing seems too out of the ordinary. The only thing that catches her attention is Jessie's camera. Only because it looks really similar to one of Clayton's. Then again, she really knew next to nothing about cameras, so she can't tell the difference between the varies makes and models.

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Michael glances towards Audrey tries to defend some of the names. He smirks at which one she chooses to defend and her word choices. She rather is a tastyfish, huh? Some times she makes it too easy for him to twist her words into something else. He ignores Skylar's disgruntlement at his expression, clearing catch onto what he was thinking. He's used to her being that way with him. She's one of the few people that doesn't fall for his charms. Similar to Audrey, but she doesn't react as nearly as entertaining. He remembers that when they first met, she would always just give him a deadpan expression to whatever he said. Nowadays, from time to time, he would try to pull one of his lines on her and she would stop him before he could ever get out a second word. Not that he ever would seriously try and put the moves on Sky. She is a little too intimidating for him. He doesn't get to make any comments that he was ready to come up with though as she turns the topic back towards the marine animals. He joins her on the other side of the info board. He watches her with a confused look as she seems to be fascinated by something. He turns his gaze towards the tanks, furrowing his brows as he doesn't see anything out of the ordinary. His eyebrows furrow even more when she challenges him to find the octopus. "Huh? I don't see an octopus," he says, moving closer to the tank. His eyes dart all around the tank, but he still couldn't seem to find what she was talking about. He was about to ask if she was pulling his leg about there being an octopus when Skylar points out a rock for him to look at more closely. Observing the said rock more closely, he catches the creature blinking briefly. "Oh, cool." he expresses with delight, even though he wishes that Sky didn't have to point it out to him. He's glad she didn't call him a dingus or anything, which he was kind of expecting when she started showing him where the octopus was. Her next words make him straighten up though. "What?! Coming from Miss I have a chauffeur that drives me everywhere," he exclaims, offended by she's the one calling him out on this. "I can do subtle." he declares to Sky, but she seems a little distracted by something, so he turns to Audrey instead. "Right?" he asks her, urging her to agree with him.

[adheline]

♠ C L A Y T O N ♠
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ meetings in the park boy

Upon catching Jessie's blush, Clayton's eyebrow raises and his smirk hikes in satisfaction. Exactly what he was looking for, and, honestly, exactly what she should have expected from him. Now that he had a little bit of freedom, he'd be doing much the same any chance he got. Wherever he could slide a vague comment into public conversation to make her flush in front of other people, he definitely would, and no one would guess what he meant but her. Her glare doesn't faze him, but he's glad to see her smile. At least she knows it's just him being playful and not trying to seriously mess with her at all. That's another thing to add to the list on why she's most definitely not his type. His type hated when he played around with them, they were too touchy. Jessie could take it just as well as she could give it. His eyes drop to her bag, watching her withdraw his camera. He considers making a stupid comment like 'nice camera, I have one just like it,' but refrains. Good thing, too, because she's already moving on to Nathaniel. They were probably in a conversation much like his and Sky's. Well, before he confessed to Sky his feelings, since Jessie was still trying to figure hers out and Nathaniel hadn't seemed to have passed out. Wanting to give them privacy, he ambles away slowly, sparing a glance towards the other three. They were actually looking at the marine life, as people are supposed to do in an aquarium as opposed to stir up drama. Standing lax with his hands in his pockets in front of a space of wall, just broader than the width of his shoulders, he keeps an eye on them from his bit of distance. He can hear them, just not too clearly. Funny thing how well they seem to be getting along, though Michael and Audrey were the least problematic out of all of them. When it didn't come to each other, that is. Audrey and Sky seemed to be doing surprisingly well, though. He wonders if Audrey knew Sky a little better she would ever ask if he had to put her up to apologizing to Jessie. Probably, since even he was surprised, and they were best friends. He tilted his head, eyes on her hand as it touches on Michael's bicep. Audrey wouldn't have asked, however, if she didn't know that he and Jessie were on good terms. Just like Michael did. Clayton huffed out a silent scoff of disbelief, crossing his arms. Seemed Jessie wasn't the only one he would get to slide meaningful comments today.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ science project boy

Somewhat perturbed, Nathaniel can only stare at the colour on Jessie's cheeks. It wasn't a good sign. Clayton was known to attract girls all over the place but Jessie? Please, no, there was no way. His remark wasn't even flirty, in any way whatsoever. And Jessie wasn't like that. Even if they were on better terms, this was still Clayton and Jessie. They didn't do attraction, not to one another. The only explanation was embarrassment, surely. Maybe while they were talking before, something came up, and Clayton's words reminded her of something. The glare to smile combo isn't so good either, though. Aside from that, he's already made the mental promise to work on his jealousy. These tumbling, paranoid thoughts were the exact opposite of being worked on. He lets out a slow breath, trying not to let his mind warp Clayton's smirk into something sinister. Though, it does look rather self-satisfied even if he's being generous. Motion to his side draws his attention, and he raises an eyebrow at the camera Jessie pulls out. Not that he's seen all her cameras or anything, but he doesn't remember seeing her with that particular model. He looks up to catch her eye, shrugging. Clayton wanders off in his peripheral, so Nathaniel feels comfortable saying what he'd meant to get out before they ran into him. "Yeah, just uh," he paused, looking down and scuffing the tile with the toe of his sneaker. "Look, if you say he's cool, then I'm sure he is. You're the nicest person I know, so I'll take your word for it." Arguably, though, being the nicest person could go the other way. If she's too nice, she'll give Clayton more credit than he deserves. But on that note, Nathaniel has to remember that Jessie very well held her own against him when they were at odds. At the beginning of it all, he can only assume she was critical, too. "I can't promise I'll see what you do, but I'm open to try. But uh, you'll tell me if anything happens, right?" he asks, still concerned that Clayton might say or do something, even if it's totally accidental, that could set them back a couple steps. "'Cuz whatever it is, I'm here to talk with if you need it."

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ the third girl

Audrey smirks over at Michael with a raised brow, enjoying the look on his face. She doesn't smirk often, but it's certainly entertaining enough to call for it. The corner of her bottom lip is between her teeth while she watches him finally notice the octopus with Skylar's guidance. It's, frankly, adorable the way he brightens upon finding it. Ugh, no, she catches that thought real quick and shoves it away. Sure, it's true. But not allowed. Skylar's comment makes Audrey's lips purse to keep from smiling, but it comes out anyways when Michael jumps to his defense. The wrong defense. She snorts, laying a placating hand on his upper arm. Despite the amusement in her eye, she says gravely, "About as subtle as as the colour yellow." She shakes her head, pulling back her hand and laughing a little. To be fair, despite not being able to pick up on subtleties, he could actually be subtle in his own right. Sometimes not, but when he was being cheeky, for example, he had his own way with words. Or when he was setting her up for a joke. Hm, no, she'll continue to tease him, he's earned it. "Don't worry, you'll do something subtle later and really show her," she assured him, "and say 'see, I told you!' and completely ruin the effect." After one more glance at the octopus, Audrey moves on slowly to the next tank while she's keeping her grin in check, which is just a varied collection of fish. There's a large board for her to read, so she does so. Michael is completely comfortable with Skylar, and witnessing their relationship is interesting, in a way. Like a scientific subject, she can observe and analyze his interactions from a third party view. More closely than in passing in a hallway or classroom, anyhow, because she's certainly seen certain aspects of him. The aspects that repelled her from him. But when he's with her, and with his friends, he's off guard. She looks over at him, tugging on her hair. She certainly likes that she's gotten to know him better, and she definitely wants to continue doing so, but then there's some part of her that wishes she never did. Just because she feels so selfish being with him. Which is dumb, because they're not doing anything out of friendship bounds so she's not gaining anything unfair.

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Jessie let the camera hang off her neck as she listens to Nath attentively. While she let the straps do most of the work, she has a light hold on it just to keep it extra protected. At Nath's request, she bites her lip nervously. As much as she wants to tell him that she will definitely come to him if anything went awry with Clayton, it would be a false promise. It's not just because of the new development in her and Clayton's relationship, but it is a factor as there would be many things she wouldn't be able to bring up currently. It's mostly just that whenever she has trouble, her first instinct is always to solve it on her own. She tends to keep kind of those things to herself until the very last moment. It's what lead to this. She does appreciate his sentiment and she did say she'll be working on being more open though. So, while she can't completely promise what he asked, she can at least let him know that. "Thank you, Nath. I'll keep that in mind and...I'll tries my best to let you know if anything happens," she tells him with a soft smile and a small nod. She definitely wants to try her best to let Nath in on anything happening with her now, especially after all she been keeping in. Hopefully, she won't have to go to him much about Clayton, but their track record hasn't been the best so far. Speaking of Clayton, she just notices now that he wanders off when she started talking to Nathaniel. She glances around for him. She's a little surprised at where she finds him, off to the side. She thought he had joined the others. She follows his gaze on to the rest of the group. They seem to be having a good time. Or at least the girls did, Michael seems a little befuddled. "Let's join the others," she tells Nath before taking a few steps towards them. She stops briefly as she passes Clayton. She raises an eyebrow at his expression. She looks back and forth from Clayton and the gathering around near the tanks, wondering what exactly is making him have an expression like that. She wants to ask him but feels like this could be a long topic of conversation. She feels like they all deserve a break after all that just happened. She decided instead to take a picture of him to snap him out of whatever he was in before taking a few steps towards him. "Why are you just standing off to the side? Come on," she asks before she turns around and treks back to the rest of the group.

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Skylar lets Michael and Audrey banter back and forth on their own. She steals a glance at them as she's watching the other three, catching their reactions to each other. Or more specific Audrey's reaction to Michael. It's what she's more interested in anyways since she's already had a glance of Michael's reaction earlier today. She could see the girl holding back her grin at Michael's antics. It's kind of cute in a way, their a little push and pulls. She just hopes they get things clear between them, but it could end up very messy if they don't. She sees Clayton wander away from the other two. She watches the other two briefly seemingly continuing a conversation, probably what they had been talking on their way here before her gaze follows Clayton to his spot off to the side. Seems like he was giving the other two some space to talk. How considerate of him. Skylar can't help smirk at this. It'a simple gesture, but she could see his changed attitude towards Jessie by it. She frowns when she notices him watching the two beside her though. Her eyebrows furrowing at his expression, not exactly sure what that look is for. She's distracted by Jessie passing by him with Nathaniel. She moves her gaze towards the studious boy instead. She feels pretty bad for him with the whole situation. She knew how she felt with Clayton keeping her in the dark with all this, so she can imagine how he felt. It was probably worse, considering she did have an inkling of something was going on and that he also has a very obvious crush on Jessie. And with Clayton budding in on that too. Poor boy. Not that he wouldn't have a fair chance with Jessie. He's very nice and considerate. He's pretty cute and attractive as well. She blinks when she realizes what she was thinking and shakes herself out of it before turning her attention back to the two beside her. "We're just stating facts," she says simply. She tries not to laugh at the way his face scrunched up and how he whines. Feeling a little bad, but still slightly mischievous, she puts her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, look, Michael. It's okay that you're not great with subtlety. Both in the way I meant it and you meant it. It's what makes you endearing. I'm sure some people find it cute." she tells him, glancing at Audrey with a playful glint in her eyes before dropping her hand as the others approach them.

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

As Audrey places her hand on his arm, Michael's gaze snaps down to it, a little surprised. He looks up at her, eyes widening ever so slightly. For a moment there as she begins talking, he had thought that she was actually going to defend him, which he wasn't expecting. A small beginning to grow on his face, but then it immediately drops when he realizes what her words meant. As subtle as the colour yellow, huh? So, he's not subtle at all. He disagrees with that completely. Sure, he can be dramatically sometimes, but he can be subtle as well. He prides himself with his way with his words. In terms of picking up girls and teasing people, not like poetry or anyways like that, of course. But that still requires a lot of subtlety to master. So, he is taking this very personally. He frowns even further as Audrey continue to tease him about this. "I'll show you two. You'll see, I'll..." he declares, but then shrinks down when he realizes that doing this was doing nothing, but proving their point. "I'll do something subtle," he mumbles quietly in the end, not being able to think of a good way to prove them wrong at the moment. He'll think of something eventually. He flips around when Skylar joins in again. At least he was right about them two getting along. He almost wished he was wrong about that though because if it continues this way, he can see this happening a lot. "It's not fair. You two are ganging up on me," he whines, pouting at this unfairness of this argument. It's one thing for him and Audrey to go back and forth when they're by themselves. It's also a thing when Skylar and he exchange quips with each other when they with their friend. This, when the two of them join together to tease him, is a whole other thing. He doesn't like it. He glares at Sky as she puts a hand on his shoulder, not trusting the action as anything good. He realizes as she begins to talk though as it seems like she was actually comforting him. At the end of her speech though, he blinks at Skylar's words. There was a lot she said there and he didn't fully register all of them, partly because he was still sulking when she started speaking. What did she mean by in the way she meant it and the way he meant it. Was she not talking about his lack of subtlety? And endearing, what's that all about? He just looks at her strangely as the others came by, making them a group of six again.

(So sorry that I haven't posted much this past week. It's been a hard week for me with school and just emotionally in general. But I'll be getting back posting more regularly again now. c:)

[adheline]

♠ C L A Y T O N ♠
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ meetings in the park boy

Whatever was going on over there, it looked like Michael was under attack by the girls. Good, serves him right, not being straightforward about what he's seen. Clayton was willing to let the issue go when Michael said he was passing through, but he had a new suspicion now that Michael wasn't the only one in on it. Some how or another, be it she was there too or Michael ran off to gossip, Audrey knew something. What's somewhat interesting to him is that Michael was hiding the fact. Like maybe he's hiding her involvement in an act of protection, which says something. The protective quality isn't anything new, that's not what stands out to him. More so, the fact of who it is. Michael likes to mess around, and from what Clayton's seen, he does so in his favor. There's a shutter in his face, and he blinks, finding Jessie right in front of him. Apparently, having taken a picture of him. He can't find it in himself to be mad at that, since he took a candid shot of her yesterday. He grins, shaking off his funk and pushing away from the wall, trailing after her to the tanks. On the way there, though, he can't help but cast a curious gaze on Audrey. He really just wishes that he knew what was going on, so he knew exactly what he had to watch out for from those two. No matter, he'd find out in time. He stopped next to Sky. "Looked like you were having a good time over here," he tells her, nodding over at Michael with a smirk. "Why's he pouting?" Not that it's an unusual sight when the two are together. Sky always has something to throw Michael off his game, Clayton just likes to be in on the joke so he has something to snicker over. Audrey's voice raises slightly from her quips with Nathaniel, and he glances over with a shrug. He's not overly fond of aquariums, so he doesn't have much of a preference for where they go. He definitely doesn't hate them or anything, and his opinions had lifted in light of recent happenings to forever be associated with aquariums, but he was generally impartial to the whole thrill of it.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ science project boy

Nathaniel returns Jessie's smile, not sure if anything will happen between the two but wanting to be there if it did. Knowing she would, or would try to, keep him in the loop is reassuring. He supposes it's not technically any of his business, but he always thought being the best friend trumped whether it was or not. It gave him the right to be nosy. He's just seen her hurt before, and it's not his favorite sight. He hates not being able to help. Nathaniel spares Clayton a glance when Jessie does to see what he's getting himself into, surprised to see his intent stare on the other half of their group. He follows it, amused to see the other three seem to be conversing steadily. An odd group, the six of them made, but it seemed to be coming together. "Okay," he agrees easily, following Jessie towards everyone. Aside from the uncomfortable lunch, they've all pretty exclusively been separating into small groups, which kind of defeats the purpose of coming as a group. Even if that decision was made in the moment by Jessie and Skylar. Now that he thinks about it, though, would they have ended up in duos had they not combined? When Jessie offered for Skylar to join them, the blonde only mentioned adding Clayton to that. Michael was already attached to Audrey, and even though Nathaniel would assume she'd join him and Jessie, she seemed pretty content to hang with Michael. Which would be awkward were he to follow their trio around instead of his own. Maybe joining was the nest natural step after all. He pauses when he sees Jessie do so, but slumps when he sees why and keeps moving. Going forward, he has a feeling he's going to be trying to avoid situations with Clayton purely so he doesn't have to see Jessie smile at him. He's glad that Audrey's quickly by his side so he's got a distraction from the others. Audrey, at least, kept things in order and drama free. Most of the time. Some times. Their relationship was more simple, in any case, and by all means the most relaxing he had. He jostles their interlocked arms. "Please, don't pretend you even noticed," he jibed, referring to the fact that she was grinning away the whole time she was over here.

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ everyone locale⇨ aquarium role⇨ the third girl

Audrey presses her lips together to force away a smile, because they were obviously upsetting him and it shouldn't be amusing. Just as he finds her fun to mess with, though, she almost can't help it. Seems like it's much the same for Skylar, even when she's observing the others. Audrey catches her glance, grin falling away and eyes narrowing at what she says. A quick look confirms that, as expected, Michael didn't pick up on what Skylar was hinting at. But Audrey did. Yeah, some people find it cute. Nobody needed to know that, though, least of all Michael. Audrey turned her attention away to the other three as they showed up, nearly jumping when she finds Clayton's eyes on her. She can't say what he's looking at her for, but it can't be anything good, judging by the way his eyebrow quirks before he moves on to his friends. Now she's gotten looks from Skylar and Clayton, different though they may be. She hooks her arm with Nathaniel's as he comes over, seeing that he's got that vague look in his eye again. Poor boy needs a break; outside of books, he was never made for drama. He likes the calm, not the excitement as she does with others. "Was wondering when you three would catch up," she says, jostling him right back. Then she scoffs, withdrawing and pushing him away, mumbling something like 'whatever.' But he was right. Just enjoying the exhibits and the company she had, she barely noticed that the other three weren't with her other than in a passing thought. Hanging out with Michael and his friends might not be so bad, come to think of it, especially if she knew she was going to have Skylar on her side to tease him. After seeing mostly a hostile girl, Skylar was actually okay. Even if she made that comment about finding Michael cute. She was smart, witty, collected. Audrey could get behind that. She watched a fish swim circles around another, then checked her watch. "Well, we've got a little bit of time left. Anything else anyone wants to look at specifically?" Her question is mostly meant for everyone, so her eyes skim over all the individuals collected into their little group, but they land on Jessie and her camera. Maybe she has something in particular she wants to take a picture of.

((Oh, it's no problem, I totally understand! Hope things smooth out for you <3))

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Jessie glances around the group as they gather together again. Seeing the expression on Michael and Skylar's face made her curious about what exactly they were talking about. She didn't ask though, just because it felt a little weird for her to interrupt their friendly banter when she wasn't that close with them. Clayton soon joins them and ask the question for her anyways. She keeps an ear on their conversation as she turns to look at her friends, but the answers don't reveal much. Looking towards her friends, she smiles as she watches Audrey quickly goes and tries to take Nath's mind off of everything that just happened. She wants to join her and was about to step forward when she second guesses herself. After all, she was the main reason why he even needs a break from this. She already said so much too. What could she even say anymore that could be more comforting? She pauses in her step, glancing away from everyone towards the tank. In the end, as everyone talks briefly amongst themselves, she turns to the tank, watching some of the fish darts around. She glances back towards Audrey as she addresses everyone. At her mention of time and pulls out her phone to check. Staring at the numbers on the screen, she realizes that there was only so much time left. She didn't expect to be so late already. She guesses that their lunch took up some time with everything that happened. This was supposed to be a fairly short field trip anyways, considering all the assignments that attached with it. When nobody else made much of a peep and most everyone's gaze landed on her and her camera, well, Clayton's camera, she realizes that the decision of where they should go was mostly up to her. "Oh, uh." she begins, panicking slightly as she hadn't really had much of an opinion on it. "I'm fine with anything, I don't really have any particular place in mind," she says. She usually doesn't plan much for her photoshoots. She just picks a locale and goes with the flow. She likes capturing things at the moment. She's glad that Skylar was able to take her useless suggestions and come up with the decent plan though. She nods at the proposed plan before glancing around for the other's opinion on it.

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Skylar isn't surprised at all at Michael's reaction to what she said. This happens way too often. She would rile him up so much with one thing, then make a jibe at him with something else and he'll have always trouble to pick it up since he's so focused on the other thing. She simply smirks and doesn't change her expression as Michael continues to become more and more perplexed, knowing that her unchanging smug smile would only infuriate him more. She would feel bad, but it's not like he doesn't have his fair share of jibes towards her. As much as she doesn't want to admit it, he has rattled her a bunch of time before and he's pretty decent at it. It's how their friendship works, this includes Clayton as well. Which is why, when her best friend comes by and asks the cause of Michael's whining, she just shrugs. "You know. It's the same old," she says vaguely. She let's put a laugh that she's been holding back for the longest time when Michael says that he doesn't even know anymore. Just like that, the minor tension from before was gone. She was willing to let this go since she feels like got as much as she could out of Michael with it. It's time to move on. She turns her attention to Audrey when she spoke to the group. She shrugs as she didn't really care. She got what she needed to get do, her assignment, so now it's whatever to her. She glances towards everyone else after making her stance on it, her eyes land on Jessie. Mostly since she was a kind of off to the side by herself, but also because of that camera. Upon a closer look, she definitely feels like she's seen Clayton with the exact same model. She doesn't have much time to think about as Jessie spoke. Realizing that nobody has an idea of where they should go, she decides to pull out her map. Glancing at where they are to the exit, she makes up a plan. "Why don't we just make our way toward the exit slowly and we can linger around any interesting exhibit. This way we won't have to worry about rushing back," she suggests. She rolls her eyes at Michael's comment. "Are you just saying that because you can't handle anymore teasing?" She smirks a little at first but then frowns when she realizes that he has sobered up from his confusion. She just lets out a small 'hrmp' before waiting for everyone to agree with her plan.

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: aquarium || tagged: everyone ||

Michael barely registers who approaches who as the others join them. He was still not exactly sure Skylar meant with her last statement, face scrunching up gradually. He's not even sure if this would be worth the effort to figure out. It could just that thing she always does with him to make a snide comment without him knowing. Her smirk makes him want to figure it out though. He glances before towards Clayton when he arrives. He feels a little more relaxed at his interjections since it feels like it's perhaps time to end this little thing with everyone joining up again. At Clayton's question, even though it was directed towards Skylar, Michael tries to think of an answer himself as well. He finds himself not being able to come up with one, however. In all his confusion, he has already forgotten why they got into this in the first place. After Skylar answers but doesn't really answer, he lets his expression relax. "I don't even know why anymore," he says sheepishly with a grin. He shares a laugh with Skylar before turning back to Audrey at her voice. He takes a good glance at the whole group as he just realizes that they were all together once again. It's a little odd seeing them in the same vicinity and being civil. It seems like most of them worked out whatever they needed to work out as well. It's the first time that he realizes that this could actually be something that happens more often now. He turns his attention to Audrey's question because of not much of it. He, like most of the others, don't have much of an opinion on this. He didn't care for aquariums that much, which Audrey probably knows about when they were doing their assignments together. He smirks when Skylar takes the reign again as expectedly. "As expected from the little control freak," he says, giving her a little payback for what just happened. "I was just going suggest we go wherever randomly, but that sounds fine too. Let's just stick as a group and head onwards now." He shakes his head at her response. Oh, he's not going to affect by the implications of that, his head it's mostly clear now, so he has no trouble to deflecting that. "Oh no, we passed that already. Now, we're talking about your quirks," he tells her, crossing his arms. A satisfied smile grows on his face as she doesn't say anything back.

(Thanks for understanding, things are a lot better now, but school's still really busy. c: Also, we could probably time skip soon. To after school of the next day, maybe?)