I Hate That I Love You || 1x1

[adheline]

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

Clayton follows Jessie out into the parking lot, relieved that she doesn't have any allergies. Tam has free roam of the house, excluding the locked doors of his parents' studies and bedroom, and as soon as the front door opens, he's charging over to investigate. He smiles as Jessie lists off her questions, unlocking his car and opening the passenger door for her. "His name's Tamerlane," he answers first, rounding the hood and settling into the driver's seat. Named for his mom's favorite poem. He was his birthday present from her four years ago as a puppy, and he took her suggestion for the name. 'Course, he liked the poem, too, even if he wasn't a poetry fanatic. "Tam for short. He's a Bernese mountain dog. Really likes meeting people, and hopefully he won't jump on you but if he does he's not attacking. Just excited." Basically a big lump of fur and love, really. He imagines that Jessie will get along just fine with the dog. Tam's become such an important part of his life, a companion in an empty home. They go on morning jogs together, Tam sits on his feet while he's doing paperwork or homework. Chomps away on beef and lamb while Clayton sits nearby chomping on cereal. It's embarrassingly important to him that his companion and potential girlfriend get along. Especially since he is really hoping this thing between him and Jessie goes somewhere. Or solidifies in the least. He still doesn't know what to refer to her as. They never really hit the friend point, just rocketed right past it into a different murky water. They weren't technically in a relationship either, but they were exclusive. Now that the whole group's merged together as they have, there's plenty of time and freedom to figure it out, though. Hanging out together like they are today will make sure of that. There's still plenty that they manage to learn about each other every time they meet up.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ Skylar locale⇨ school role⇨ science project boy

While Skylar's trying to be encouraging, for reasons completely unfathomable to him, Nathaniel can't help but disagree. With the first bit, anyways. He and Jessie, the more he learns about her, just seem to be destined for friendship. She's never shown a hint of an indication that she would be interested in someone as boring as him. As for there being plenty of people out there, that much is true. Now that he's come to terms with the hopelessness of his feelings, he should make some efforts towards moving on. Still, it feels weird to be getting this placating from Skylar. It was only yesterday that she went public with her 'change,' two days ago that she opened up to him. Even then they were awkward as could be. She starts another thought, and he raises an eyebrow when she doesn't continue immediately. He doesn't associate her with hesitance. When she suggests doing something else together, he understands, and now both of his eyebrows are raised. Together. There's not a single thing he thinks they have in common as far as activities go, and even though they can get along it doesn't mean they always do. However, the fact that she, the ex-aggressor, is the one suggesting it, intrigues him well enough. "Um. Sure?" he agrees after a moment's hesitation, flipping his notebook closed. After all, it was an exhausting day yesterday, as she said. Between the grand apology, the whole thing with Clayton, and getting his feelings stepped on, he's ready for a break. Even if it is with Skylar, weird as that is. He clears his throat. "Sure," he repeats more decisively. "Did you have anything in mind, or..?" To be honest, he doesn't even care that much what she suggests, if anything. Now that she's brought it up, he's ready to get out of here.

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ Michael locale⇨ car role⇨ the third girl

Audrey nods as Michael explains the situation, wondering if she can turn that homework into a group thing so she can make Michael do his for once. But in all, Audrey supposes the two of them will have a decent amount of time just to the two of them. A girl Melissa's age is fairly capable of handling herself. Unless his sister decides to stick with them, which she doesn't mind either. Soon enough they arrive, and Audrey's hit with a wave of nostalgia. When she was a kid, she more concerned about friendships and the latest trading fad than she was about grades and scholarships. She sees a small group of kids poking around in the dirt. Oh, the simplicity. While Michael's out to find his sister, Audrey tugs distractedly on her seat belt and looks around the interior of the car. She considers snooping around the glove box but decides against it for a multitude of reasons. She wants to know what he considers worthy of the compartment, important enough to have on hand, but it's also absolutely none of her business. It's for the better, anyways, since the back door is opened soon after the idea occurred to her. Audrey turns in her seat to wave at Melissa when Michael reintroduces them, smiling brightly when she's recognized. Well, if she ever needs an ego boost, all she needs to do is call up the littlest Harrison kid. "Hi Melissa," she returns warmly, pushing her hair behind her ear. Tour of the house, huh? Intriguing. It's like a free pass into the depths of Michael's evil lair. Though now that she's let herself get to know him, she's not sure evil exactly qualifies anymore. Dramatic, perhaps. Prone to bad decisions. Annoying decisions. "I would love a tour, thank you." She glances over at Michael. "Please tell me there are embarrassing pictures of you on the walls."

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: school || tagged: Clayton ||

Upon hearing the name, it takes a second for Jessie to recognize the reference. The pretty, but melancholy poem about the conquer and his regrets of choosing to pursue power over love. Luckily for Tam, it's nothing that a dog has to worry about. She remembers it briefly from reading it a while ago. Nathaniel would probably know it better than her. She wouldn't really call her a literature nerd, but she tends to have friends who are. She usually enjoys anything they recommend to her but doesn't really actively seek materials to read. "Tamerlane," she notes, as she settles in the passenger seat. "It's a lovely name. I didn't think you would be into poetry." She smiles as he continues to answers her answers. She can tell that he's quite fond of his little companion, which just makes her more determined of putting in the effort to getting along with Tamerlane. It would be better for her and Clayton's relationship in the long run, even if she still a little confused what about where she wants their relationship to go. "Got it. He sounds very energetic. I hope he likes me." she wishes. There is a moment of silence as she tries to think of a topic to continue the conversation. She feels like she wanted to asks him something, but couldn't really find the time in the day while hiding in the corners all day. That thought reminds her of what she was concerned about. "Oh right. So, uh, how's Skylar?" she asks. "She looked pretty upset yesterday and sounded pretty shock during your conversation." She did fine afterward and doesn't seem too affected today, but she still wants to make sure. It's weird to be concerned about someone who'd been so vicious to her, but this involves Skylar and Clayton's friendship and she doesn't want to hurt that. Especially after hearing about how close they were from Clayton.

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: school || tagged: Nathaniel ||

Skylar could see that he's a little confused about her offer. Actually not just about her offer, but just her behaviour in general. And honestly, she is too. She's honestly not sure what she's doing and why she's exactly doing this. All that's really clear for her is that she made a promise to be better, both to herself and Jessie, so she's going to follow through with that. It's not like she can really back down anyways from yesterday's revelations with Clayton and all. She's got to do it for him too, she's not going to let her petty grudges get in the way of her best friend and his new crush, even if she's still a little surprised about the whole thing. With his hesitance, she was sure that he was going to turn her down. Which makes sense, even with her opening up and trying to change, since their relationship was still pretty rocky. So, she dips her head down to her notes to see where to continue their project, but then he agreed, she looks up with slightly shocked expression. "Uh, well." she starts, mind blanking at his question. Usually, she would suggest a trip to the mall, like this weekend, for a break from life, but she doesn't really feel that right now. She doesn't think the hustle and bustle would do her any good at the moment. Besides, she doesn't think that's Nathaniel's taste. She closes her notebook to follow his actions she tries to think to do. "I guess I don't really feel like dealing with people right now though, so maybe we can just take a walk and see where it takes us," she suggests questioningly. She has to admit that she rarely does anything outside of the mall, but this could be a nice change of pace. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to agree," she explains her lack of ideas, not used to being so unprepared.

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: home || tagged: Audrey ||

Michael smiles at the interactions between his sister and Audrey. He's glad that Mel's taking a liking to Audrey and Audrey seem to return the sentiment. He narrows his eyes at Audrey with the mention of embarrassing pictures. He shakes his head. "Sorry, unfortunately, there are only pictures of me being awesome," he says with a smirk. He knows there are probably some in the photo albums, but not on the walls. His dad only has up pictures of all his and his siblings' achievement and awards. Like him at his soccer tournaments, the twins with some academic thing and Mel at her ballet recital and so on. There is also a family picture with his mom from a while back that his dad refuses to take down. It's a short drive back to his house. He pulls into his neighbourhood, then into his driveway. "Welcome to my humble abode," he says as he parks the car. His house was decent in size. It's a little bigger than the average suburban house, but not by much. It's definitely not as big as Clayton's or Skylar's for sure. He opens the car door for both girls before walking towards the front door. "Why don't we start with that tour, I'll come along," he asks while unlocking the front door. Mel nods her head. "Let's start with the upstairs," she says, pulling Audrey along. He just follows behind. Mel gives a detailed tour, showing where everyone's bedrooms are and even where the bathrooms are. Although, she doesn't go into anyone's room other than the one she shares with Emily. The last spot was his bedroom, the door closed. "And that's Mikey's room, but we can't go inside unless he says so. That ends the upstairs part of the tour. Any questions, so far?" Mel says as professional as she can. He can't help but smile at how hard she trying here.

[adheline]

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

It's not the first time he's gotten that response to Tam's name, and Clayton shrugs. "I'm not, really. Poetry's more of my mom's thing, but I generally like it." If he had to choose a poet, though, it might not be Poe. Probably someone more like Keats. He looks over for a second when she expresses the hope that Tam will like her. Man, he hopes so, too. But he also thinks there isn't anything to worry about in that regard. He doesn't say anything else until she does, just watches the road and keeps an eye on his speed. When Jessie asks about Sky, he sighs and drops his hands from ten and two to the lower bar of the steering wheel. "She's alright. She's upset that I didn't say anything to her, but she kinda gets it." That isn't to say he shouldn't have come clean to begin with, because he probably should have. Regardless, Sky seems alright now that things have been explained and everyone had the night to cope with it all. What's more, there isn't much that can shake the solidity of their friendship. She may not seem it, but Sky can be pretty understanding. Especially with him, since she knew him like the back of her hand. Clayton fidgets a little, wondering if he should say anything to Jessie about telling Sky he likes her. It seems inconsequential to him, but it definitely wouldn't be the first time not telling someone something came back to bite him. Clearly. "I did tell her that I uh, that I like you," he divulges after a bit of hesitation. "I didn't say anything else about us," he adds, "but it felt wrong keeping something like that from her." After all, he would want to know if Sky was interested in anyone. Clayton looks to Jessie as he pulls up to his house and parks at the top of the winding driveway. When he gets out, he rounds the hood to open her door for her, too. Sky was upset, definitely, but she wasn't the only one. "How about Nathaniel? He looked decently shaken up, too." Would be even more if he knew the extent of what he and Jessie were up to. Clayton isn't asking out of false concern, and he's honestly worried about how he might take it if Clayton and Jessie move into a more solid relationship.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ Skylar locale⇨ school role⇨ science project boy

This makes twice now that she's made an offer to do something, which in itself was confusing, and then expected him to decline. He can't decide if she wants him to say no, which begs the question of why she asks to begin with, or if she's prone to out of body decisions. For all he knows she's asking without even knowing she's doing it. Either way, he stands by his answer. He's more than ready to get out of here, and Skylar is more than distracting enough to take his mind off of Jessie. That is, if she stops asking so many questions about her. Nathaniel just hums and shrugs, tucking his notebook back into his bag and pushing up from his chair. "Sounds good to me," he says, because it is. Nothing lost from a good walk, and they might be here forever trying to think of something they'd both want to do. Skylar seems like a mall kind of person, and he decidedly isn't. It's good for conversation, too, so maybe he can interrogate her for a change, instead of it being the other way around. She probably knows more about his feelings now than he does, the way they keep talking about them. That makes him pause as he's slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Why are you so interested in my love life anyways? I thought you couldn't be bothered with me," he queries. Couldn't be bothered, anyways, so long as he wasn't with Jessie. Then it was just two birds with one stony insult. Now that they're in a truce, the sole reason for her to talk to him has been eliminated. Save for conversation about their chemistry project, but that didn't include chit chat. As often as it's been happening with her, though, he has to wonder if he'd just been doing partner projects wrong this whole time by not gossiping along the way.

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ Michael locale⇨ Michael's house role⇨ the third girl

Audrey rolls her eyes. She'll see about these 'awesome' pictures, though she has to admit that she's intrigued. As it's said, a picture's worth a thousand words. The pictures of a family's walls said a lot about them, even if all they were happened to be school photos and paintings. Her own parents littered the walls with pictures of their two kids, more of Audrey than Lou. Among them were images of Audrey showcasing various awards and certificates, and a few of Lou with field hockey awards. Most of them were nice, staged photos, though. Like her personal favorite, one taken last year of Audrey and Louise all dolled up for an uncle's wedding. When they reach the house, Audrey removes herself from the car distractedly. Humble, hah. It isn't too much bigger than her own home, but it's still impressive to her. She's suddenly struck by how odd it is to be walking into Michael's house, former arch nemesis and all, but Melissa's quick to distract her with that tour of hers. It's honestly adorable how intent the girl is, and Audrey pays serious attention, nodding fervently where applicable. Before long, she discovers that Michael wasn't lying about the pictures. Nothing embarrassing, but all the kids appear to have their own specialties showcased in frames. And sure, she had appreciation for an athlete, considering how she was pretty bad at most sports herself. So while she wouldn't go so far as to say he was awesome, the pictures of Michael in a soccer uniform were very, incredibly far from embarrassing. Before she knows it they're done with the second floor. "Mikey," she repeats softly with a small grin, giving his bedroom door a long look. She hasn't heard that nickname before. Getting over the bizarre allure of his door, and the curiosity of what colour he's painted his walls, Audrey clears her throat and turns seriously to Mel. Studiously, she taps her fingers on her bottom lip and regards her. "You know, I don't think so. You're doing a marvelous job with this tour." She glances over at Michael. "Now I know why you're so immature," she says, gesturing to her tour guide. "She's got enough maturity for the two of you."

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: Clayton's house|| tagged: Clayton ||

Hearing that he likes poetry is a little unexpected for Jessie, but now that she's gotten to know him, it really isn't all that surprising. As much as he seems to not to be, he does have a sentimental side to him. She figures it's where his interest in photography stems from. She notes this as a topic to ask more about, though he has more knowledge on it than she does since his mom interested in it. Parents tend to pass that kind of things to their child even if their child isn't exactly interested in the same thing. She's glad to hear that Skylar and Clayton worked things out, but she can't be all that relieved as she sees Clayton tenses up a little. "Oh." she was all she could say when he speaks again, as what he says alarms her in a multitude of ways. First, the idea of him liking her is still a little foreign, so when he mentioned it she feels her face heat up. She can't be too concerned about that as he brings it up while telling her he told Skylar about it. While she's glad he didn't tell Skylar everything, she knows the girl will probably grill her about feelings, albeit subtlety. That would probably be worse if she knew about everything. The most concerning thing of all is that he told Skylar something, but she hasn't Nathaniel anything. This makes her wonder if she should have told him something. He deserves something after she's been keeping so much from him. She's mildly distracted from her thoughts as they pulled up to his house and she steps out his car. Looking at it, it seems so big, which just makes this whole thing more intimidating. She turns her attention to Clayton when he spoke again, eyes widening a little that he was on the same train of thoughts as she was a moment ago. "His reaction was pretty similar to Skylar's but probably more severe. I talked it out though, I think." she begins to explain, with uncertain tone. "I didn't tell him anything more than what we told everyone though since..." Things are still a little muddled between them and she doesn't know how to explain everything. "I, uh, we're...we're confusing." she simplifies, one of her hand clutching her other arm, feeling a little vulnerable. "And it felt it would make things worse if I brought it up," she adds, eyes darting to the side. "But you told Skylar, so maybe...I should have told him something."

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: school || tagged: Nathaniel ||

It seems like even with Skylar's scrambled up answer, he didn't seem deterred from her offer. Well, she not going to complain even if she's surprised. She needs this break and even though she's a little reluctant to admit it, he's probably the only way that understands why. Aside from Clayton, but he's got his own things going on behind the scenes. She hops off her seat to pack things up. She checks her phone briefly as they gather their things up. She glances up momentarily toward Nathaniel to check if he's ready. Looking down at her texts she was just checking, she wonders if she should relay the information she just got. Seeing how everything is going, she sees no harm in doing so. It's just providing some encouragement to her best friend. She figures it best to do it now before she forgets, even though it's unlikely she will. Looks like your competition may be backing down. :p She quickly sends over. She jumps a little when she hears Nathaniel speak again, but quickly recovers to avoid suspicion and pockets her phone. His question makes him pause a little because she can come up with an exact answer right away. She knows part of is because of Clayton's new interest in his crush, but she doesn't think is a good idea to let him know that. But there is also another part to it she isn't sure how to explain. Habit maybe, she's just used to digging for info, especially for him. "It's not just you, I just like to know stuff." she shrugs as she picks up her bag. "Also, you really think I wouldn't bother with you?" she questions. She guesses she could see where he's coming from since she did act like they were nothing but dirt for the longest time, but that was the only way she could put them down. But in truth, she cared way too much about them. "Would I hate someone I couldn't bother with? I just wouldn't care at all about them. But the tensions and hate have been resolved, so..." she explains, gesturing between for the last part. She guesses she just cares in a different way. "Since you're complaining so much, I'll let you have free reign to ask me questions. Love life and all," she tells him, rolling her eyes as she walks to the door. Not that she has a love life to question. "I would prefer if keep them away from yesterday's whole fiasco though."

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: home || tagged: Audrey ||

Michael smirks as he catches Audrey's gaze lingering on the entrance to his room. It's really not all that different from any other teenage boy's room, at least in his opinion. The room was mostly blues and greys with red accents. He had lots of posters of video games and soccer players on the walls and a trophy rack. Nothing noteworthy that he needs to keep secret. Melissa's only saying that since he always tells his dad and the twins to stop barging into his room. Mel just took that pretty seriously for everyone. Audrey turns her attention back to Mel soon after, so he couldn't really offer her a peek. Although, it's something to keep in mind for later banters. His gaze softens as he watches Audrey compliment Mel. "Marvelous? What does that mean?" the little girls turns to him and asks. He smiles and bends down to ruffle her hair. "She means you're doing a great job, even more than great, kiddo," he explains before straightening up again. He gives Audrey a look and pouts a little when she addresses his immaturity, but it doesn't last long. He looks back to Melissa once more. "Well, yeah. She's better than me in a lot of ways," he says, expression softening even more than before. And he truly believes that. She's a little spoiled from being the baby of the family, but she has a sense of duty that he never had. Which is good because she'll probably wouldn't even like him now. He doesn't really want any of his siblings to turn out the way he is now. While he is mostly carefree, the looming fact to the future nearing doesn't escape him. Nor the fact that he has no idea what he's going to do. He kind of just push that aside he does with most problems. Plus, he still needs to be a strong big brother. He doesn't want them to deal with that, but they look like they're heading the right way. Mel continues the tour to the downstairs. Moving through the living room, the kitchen, the dining room and even his father's study. She also briefly explain the basement, which acts as a game room and also has a small fitness area for him. She even shows the backyard when they head back to the ground level. She leads them back to the start before saying "And lastly these are the awesome pictures that Mikey mention before. Feel free to take a good look at them and tell me what you think?"

[adheline]

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

Clearly what he's said has put Jessie into some state of alarm, and Clayton almost winces. He should think things through before he says them. Although he's not quite sure what part of his answers put her off, there's no one else around to have been the cause of it. He watches her warily, waiting for a hint. She doesn't say much in reaction to what he said about Skylar, which he isn't sure how to take. Neither does he know what to do with how she starts off about Nathaniel. Clayton doesn't know the boy well enough. There are reasons for Vise to take it worse than Sky, namely his monster crush on Jessie, but he also doesn't know that there's actually anything going on between her and Clayton. On top of that, Jessie's right when she said the reaction was severe. Clayton can only assume there's something else going on in that nerdy brain of his, and he's not sure he wants to go near it. That's friend business, which strictly excludes him. Clayton relaxes a bit as she continues, calling them confusing. They've been that way since day one at the park, caught between various different labels. Even if they hadn't agreed on keeping their status on the down low for now, he still would have only told Sky that he likes Jessie, purely for the fact that there isn't even much else to say. He could admit to there being 'something' going on, but that something hasn't been defined, and trying to put it into words would be difficult. Clayton shakes his head. "It's different from Sky and me. We've grown up together. I'm not saying your friendship isn't as important or close, but it's still newer," he shrugs. He also definitely wouldn't have wanted to be around when Vise found out. "Tell him if you want to, but if it doesn't feel right then you're entitled to your privacy." They make it to the front door, and there's a buzz in his pocket. He takes his phone out to see a text from Sky, making his eyebrows jump up. He taps out a quick reply, Of course, I'm intimidating, which is mostly to cover from the relief and hope that his thing with Jessie won't kill her friendship, and opens the front door. Almost immediately Tam comes bounding around the corner, sensing a guest, and Clayton has to intercept before the dog can pounce onto Jessie. He almost falls himself, but manages to keep both himself and his dog upright with a small stumble. "This is Tam," he introduces with a huff of a laugh.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ Skylar locale⇨ school role⇨ science project boy

It makes more sense that Skylar's just being her usual gossipy self than if she were actually interested in his innermost thoughts and feelings. He just hopes she isn't going to be spreading this around, though she has more of the reputation to gather information than spread it. However, the way she explains away not bothering with him neither comforts nor insults him. Or it does both. He isn't literal dirt in her eyes, but apparently being worth bothering with marks him worthy of hatred. Which probably makes sense, but it's a little sad, really. Skylar's got a lot of emotion, and all she can think to do with it is channel it into negativity and hate. It's isolation in its finest form. As he sees it, she looks pretty lonely. From what he gathers, she's can rely more on her driver than her own parents. He scoffs, following her out the room. "I wasn't complaining. Just confused," he corrects, starting down the hallway. Classes were over with a while ago, and it's late enough that sports practices have just started, meaning the hallways are empty. Aside from the occasional murmur from a classroom, there's hardly a sound. He wonders what to ask her about, not sure he wants to touch her love life. Until she started targeting Jessie, he didn't ever pay her much attention. He thinks he remembers seeing her with a jock or two, but otherwise, he doesn't know a thing about her dating history. Neither does he think there's much going on at the moment, because now that he is paying attention to her he knows he doesn't see her with anyone but her friends. Not only that, but she's the kind of girl that could probably make whoever she's interested in return that with a snap of her fingers. Assuming they have no self-respect, which he thinks is right up her alley in terms of having a type. Would mesh well with her bossiness. Nathaniel thinks for a moment, then decides to stray as far away from yesterday as possible. He goes with something that stood out to him before. It's not extraordinarily personal like her questions, but he's never been one to dig anyways. "You said you were interested in cosmetics. Scientifically. What would you actually be doing?" All he can imagine is dumping chemicals in a test tube and pulling out a stick of lip tint, which he knows is highly unrealistic.

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ Michael locale⇨ Michael's house role⇨ the third girl

With a gentle smile, Audrey watches Michael's fond interactions with his baby sister. Had she not already had a glimpse at his sweetness with his siblings, she would find it unexpected. Even knowing how he is with them, she finds it absolutely endearing how cute they are together. She presses her lips together and gives Michael a long, almost curious look when he praises Melissa as being better than him. So he is capable of humility, and he says it with such fond honesty. The expression on his face nearly makes her want to wrap him up in a hug. She wonders how many other people get to see this side of him, as opposed to the over-confident flaunting he puts up every day. There's a part of her that wants to explore this side more, and another that wants to quit before she likes him a little too much. Soon enough the tour's moving on downstairs, and she's wrapped up again in Melissa's role and decidedly not lingering on the hidden softness of Michael. The girl's thorough, she'd give her that. A stark contrast to her older brother, who can't even be bothered to do his homework. Audrey steps up to the indicated pictures, eyes flitting from photo to photo. There's that word again: awesome. She twists her lips into a sarcastic smile and gestures to a picture of her classmate. "Gosh, Michael, you're so awesome. Excuse me while I swoon," she lilts, raising the back of her hand to her forehead and tilting her chin up, fluttering her eyelashes for good measure. More seriously, she points to a picture showcasing Melissa's ballet. "But I do think it's really neat that you two have physical niches," she says to both of them, directing the next part to Mel. She forgets age and word comprehension sometimes, not usually being around kids. "Interests, rather. I really wanted to be a ballerina when I was little, but I'm a terrible dancer." Way back, she was quite shortly enrolled in a class until it was made abundantly clear she was going nowhere with it. Aside from wiggling around while she does the chores, she hasn't danced since. "You look like you're really good at it, though."

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: Clayton's house|| tagged: Clayton ||

Jessie glances back towards him, feeling both thankful and relieved at his advice. It helps clear her head a bit from her guilt by pointing out factors that she wasn't really thinking about. He's right about how their friendship is different too. Even though they had the same status of best friends, she and Nathaniel have only known each other for almost half a year, while Clayton has to know Skylar pretty much his own life. In any case, his advice helps her decide what to do with Nathaniel. She needs to figure what exactly she wants here first and put a more solid label on this thing that's been going on between her and Clayton. After all, there is no point in telling Nathaniel anything when she doesn't even know what is going on. Her fuddling through an explanation, probably won't help makes things any better. Feeling better, Jessie moves her gaze back towards Clayton. She wanted to thank him, but he was distracted by his phone, so she didn't interrupt and just follows him to the door. He seemed pretty surprised by whatever notification he got, which made her curious to what exactly he saw. She was once again interrupted, but this time by a furball charging around the corner towards them. She froze in her steps since even though she knows it just means that Tamerlane is excited to greet her, it's still a little frightening watching something charge at you. Luckily, Clayton step between them. She reaches out when he almost lost his balance, but he only stumbled slightly. Looking at the dog, she smiles as Clayton introduces him. She bend lowers slightly to introduced herself. "Hi, Tamerlane. I'm Jessie." she greets warmly, her mood lifting at sight of the fluffy animal. She still feels a little nervous though. Actually a lot nervous. She interacted with plenty of dogs before, but this felt different. It almost felt like she was trying to get approval from a boyfriend's parent. "I, uh," she starts, glances up to Clayton for a minute wondering how exactly to put this. "like your owner a lot, so I hope we can get along," she says shyly with a light blush. She figures she should just address her feelings as they are. She knows she said like him before, but it was a little uncertain. She feels like she can confirm them now, for the most part. Especially after spending a night thinking about it and blushing. She feels like that's pretty telling to how she feels. Again, doesn't make things less confusing or let her know where she wants to take this. She's going to focus on the cute doggy in front of her right now. "Can I pet him?" she asks, glancing briefly at him and lifting her hand up. "And, uh, thanks," she mumbles finally, both for the advice and for being a barricade.

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: school || tagged: Nathaniel ||

Skylar follows him down the hallway. She feels a buzz in her pocket, probably from Clayton texting her back. Seeing that Nathaniel seem to be still thinking of a question for her, she takes a peek at the message he sent her. She rolls her eyes at the words on her phone screen and just sends an unamused emoji face to him. She guess she didn't really to send that information to him. She should have guess it considering he seems pretty confident about it yesterday too. Hearing him speak again, she looks towards Nathaniel and drops her phone into her jacket pocket. She raises an eyebrow at his question. Out of all things that was what he was most curious about. It's not like she didn't know before, but her question before and his question now made her realize how starkly different their priorities in conversations. She should have suspected that he would be eager to learn things even if it's not strictly his interest. She's not going to complain too much, it is something she likes to talk about. Although, it is a little hard to find where to start with the way he phrase the question. "It's a little hard to explain when you put it so broadly." she says. Cosmetics products are anything that are used to beautification or used to changed appearance. She explains this briefly. "Cosmetics is such a wide range of products. It's not just make up. Like shampoo is cosmetic." she tells him as she starts getting more into the topic. "It's a lot of mixing ingredients, which differ depending to on which product you're making and finding the right balance, so the product can actually be applied and have results." she continues, trying to keep it as simple as possible. "In terms of certain makeup products, you would also have to deal with pigmentation and balancing that with consistency." You can't just make a red lipstick that just looks bright red. You have to make a red lipstick that would actually stick on the lips. "And there is getting the ingredients, in the first place, but that differs from ingredients to ingredients where all sorts of the process need to be used. Especially, if you're making things from scratch." Of course, there is also where you get the ingredients, considering whether to get cheaper ingredients to balance cost. That's more of a business thing though, so it doesn't really apply to his question. "I don't think you'll want to go through all that. But it's basically just a lot of mixing and testing." she finishes up.

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: home || tagged: Audrey ||

Michael narrows his eye at her just slightly Audrey's exaggerated sarcastic swooning before letting out a short laugh. Melissa moves her gaze between them, not really understanding the interactions. She's quickly distracted when Audrey moves on, blushing slightly when the blonde compliment her. "Thank you," Mel says shyly. "I'm sure there's something you're really good at too. Everyone has their own interests or, like you said, niches?" she says questioningly, mispronouncing the word slightly, but she used it correctly nonetheless. Micheal isn't too surprised, she was always a fast learner. He is surprised to hear Audrey's old aspiration to be a ballerina. He's not exactly sure why though, it's a pretty common thing most girls wanted to be when they are younger, like Melissa right now. He guesses he always pictured Audrey to be the studious type. Her strict habits feel like she's always been this way. But people can also completely change in a short period of time. He guesses he can't really be certain what kind of child Audrey was like unless he asks. It feels like a more suited conversation for later though without an eight-year-old fluttering around them. "What? No compliments about my soccer abilities? Just it's neat. I'm wounded." he says, clutching his hearts, being just as dramatically as Audrey was a few moments ago. "Aw, Mikey, don't feel bad. I think you're super cool." Mel says, not getting it once again and cheering him on. He lets out a chuckle. She always thinks he's cool though, so it's not exactly the same when it comes from her. He's not going to tell her that though, he doesn't have the heart to do so. He just looks down and smiles at her. "Thanks, Mel. Why don't I get a snack for us and you can start your homework here?" he asks her. "Alright." she gives him a quick nod and hurries towards her backpack that he left on the couch when they first come in. He watches as she quickly digs through her backpack for her homework and places them on the table. She starts with no complaints. "Join me if you want." he offers Audrey as he turns towards the kitchen. He begins to walk towards the kitchen but was still glancing back to her. "You seem to enjoy my sister's company a lot more though, so I won't blame you if you rather stay with her," he says as he was walking away before turning his head and heading towards the kitchen.

[adheline]

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

Tamerlane sniffs happily at Jessie and Clayton stands back to watch her talk to the excited dog. He raises an expectant eyebrow when she pauses and looks at him, lip curling into a soft smile at what she ends up saying, and the blush that she sports with it. He nods permission to pet Tam, who's practically begging for it by pushing his nose at her and making the occasional whine of delight at meeting someone new. Clayton decides to start letting him socialize more, since he really does seem to like greeting all these humans. Tam gets jealous of other dogs, but he's usually pretty happy to preen under the attention of most people. Most of the time, though, he moves on quickly. Once he's gotten his fill of petting he'll gladly forget about whatever human he's just met. Clayton will really know if he's taken a liking to Jessie if he's there to say goodbye or not when she leaves the house. It's usually a pretty good indication. Though it's quiet, Clayton catches Jessie saying thanks and shrugs. "Just public services. Advice, protection from wild animals, I'm somewhat of a package," says sagely, checking his texts while Jessie's distracted by the dog. He smirks at what Sky sent him, sending a winking emoji and slipping the phone back into his pocket. He gestures to the right towards the staircase, which curves back along the wall of the foyer to a balcony above their heads. Under the space of the stairs, closer to them at the door, is a piano that absolutely nobody uses. He wonders sometimes if it's even tuned, but he's never bothered to test it out. "Camera's are upstairs if you're ready. Well, first, do you want a drink or anything? Hungry?" Hosting manners, even in a relaxed setting, are really important to his mom, so if she knew he was having someone over she would always remind him to offer out half the pantry. It's nice, though, that she's so congenial, so he can't really complain.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ Skylar locale⇨ school role⇨ science project boy

It seems to Nathaniel that Skylar found his question somewhat boring. Not like she should have expected him to ask for something embarrassing. Things like that made him kind of uncomfortable to ask, honestly. It felt weird to him. Namely because he barely even knows her. Then again, the point of invasive questions is to get more acquainted to another person. He waits for her to decide how to answer, having no idea what she means by broad. He's never seen the cosmetic portion of any store, nor the belongings of any girl he knows, but apparently there was even more to it than he thought. Nathaniel slips his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, listening intently while they amble down the hall. Obviously he knew make-up involved science, but he never thought about the extent of that until now, and he's pretty impressed that Skylar has such an interest in it. She always seemed like a surface kind of person, which includes just liking make-up because of 'girly' reasons, as it were. But she's actually wicked smart, and she uses that. "Makes sense. That's all just so foreign to me." Considering both of her parents are into business, it does seem somewhat left field. That thought brings him to his next question, which sort of delves into that more personal zone that she was probably expecting to begin with. "Are your parents supportive or would they prefer you do business? He's already worked out that her parents were busy people who, apparently, canceled a whole lot of dinner plans with their daughter. But that didn't mean they couldn't still be in touch. That's the more personal question that begins to burn to him. "And, uh, I mean how close are you guys? Do you talk to them a lot?" Her parents are somewhat mysterious. The only adults he's seen at her house are her driver and chef. His own parents seem to be everywhere, he can't even imagine living in an empty house.

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ Michael locale⇨ Michael's house role⇨ the third girl

Audrey takes her eyes off of Michael's dramatics regarding his soccer when Melissa speaks to comfort him. She bites her lip over a smile because it's so incredibly sweet. She remembers back when his siblings showed up at the cafe and he mentioned that Melissa would be bias towards him if she were included in their little cook off. No doubt about it, she adores her big brother. It's clear that he loves her just as much, and Audrey kind of wishes she had that. Even when her and Lou were on better terms, they were never incredibly close. Even her parents didn't have that relationship with her, since they went from focusing on Lou to just becoming expectant of Audrey. Partially her own fault, since she just locked herself away to drown in schoolwork. She watches Melissa start in on her homework before rolling her eyes after Michael. Such a baby. She follows him into the kitchen, hands clasped behind her back. "Careful, you sound a little jealous," she teases, leaning back against a countertop. Even though the mention of babysitting his sister had appealed to her, she had been aiming to spend the afternoon with Michael anyways. Her fingers take purchase on the ledge of the counter as she remembers that it was her first instinct to find him. As soon as her shift was cancelled, he sneaked his way into her thoughts. But she hadn't been able to get out the full sentence when she attempted to ask him to do something, so maybe he didn't quite realize that Melissa had little to do with her choice to come over. "I do love your sister, she's cute. And she's totally your number one fan." She clears her throat, but keeps her gaze on him. "But uh, I did actually come here to hang out with you. Believe it or not." In fact, she can hardly believe it herself. It's still so weird to her how surely he changed her opinion of him.

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: Clayton's house|| tagged: Clayton ||

At Tamerlane's warm reception of her, Jessie's smile grew. Even though she knows that this behaviour is probably common with everyone from Clayton's description beforehand, she's glad she's not an exception. Besides, how could she not be happy with such a cute doggy asking for her attention? She glances towards Clayton at his response towards her thanks, raising an eyebrow slightly, but her smile doesn't waver. "Right..." she starts as she gets down lower and begins to give the dog its well-deserved pet. "Nothing less from my knight, I guess," she says with a soft smile, thinking back to the first time that he offered her a ride home. After she feels like she gives the dog a good amount of attention, she straightens up and walks beside Clayton. She's again curious about his expression and the context of his text conversation, but her eyes widen at what she passed him though. She knew he would have a big house, but the view still shocks her. She can't believe that he would have all this all to himself on some days. Or even for today, all to them two, by themselves. The piano under catches attention, but the mention of cameras catches it more. She turns to him at his offer, pausing as some thoughts run through her. She shakes her head. "I'm good, but..." she says, eye glancing around the room again. She realizes that this is the first time they can really freely explore this new side of their relationship. No rush to meet up of friends or worry about prying eyes. With this realization, she feels the urge to do just that. "So, we're all by ourselves, huh?" she asks, still a little bewildered by the thought. She moves her gaze back to him. "That means we could..." She steps closer, her gaze lowering towards his lips for a minute. She raises her hands to place on his shoulders. She hesitates for a moment, trying to see where to place them without all these zippers getting in the way. This jacket really is kind of weird. She wonders if these zippers actually work. She reaches over and pulls on one of the zippers. "Sorry, these are really distracting." she apologizes with a light laugh. She steps away slightly, realizing how she just ruined the mood. "I'm ready for the cameras."

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: school || tagged: Nathaniel ||

Skylar smiles briefly at his conclusion of her explanation. She's always enjoyed explaining the process of making cosmetics to people. Although a lot of times when she has to explain it is to people who question the viability of it as a science. While it's nice to prove those people wrong, this is nice in another way. It feels like Nathaniel really was interested in learning about it. Nothing too unexpected from him and his reputation. It's fulfilling to feel like she taught him something, even if he doesn't fully understand it afterwards. Her smile quickly fades at the next topic he brings up though. Her parents are a sensitive topic to her, something that she rarely talks about. The only person that knows the full extent of it is Clayton. She hesitates for a moment, wondering if she should refuse to talk about them. But she did say he had free reign on his questions other than topics relates to yesterday. And she's asking just as much more personal questions for him, so it's only fair if she answers. "There's some business aspect to what I want to do, starting my own line of makeup and all," she starts, she moves her gaze to the side. "but, my parents don't really know that's what I really want to do." All the experience she has with cosmetics are all done through her own hands. Something she's proud of, but she wishes her parents knew or even cared about. "I think they just expect me to work for them in some way." she sighs. "To answer the second part of your question, not really." she begins to explain. Now that's she's started, she can't seem to stop spilling her guts. It really can't be helped when she held this in for so long. "We haven't really had a decent conversation in like forever." Especially with this most recent trip. "Most of the times we talk nowadays, it just consists where they are going and what they're doing there. And for me, what they need me to do when they are gone or my grades." It's at this point she feels herself tearing up. She turns her face, even more, to hide them, furrowing her brows at how vulnerable she became. In front of him of all people. "It's okay though. I'm used to it."

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: home || tagged: Audrey ||

Michael can't help smile as he hears Audrey following behind him. Glancing around the room, he figures he'll cut up some pieces of fruit and grab some crackers for his sister. Better to give her some helpful options. He would usually don't mind giving her junk food, but while Mel never complains, his dad would always lecture him about it when he came back home. He doesn't really want that to be Audrey's first interaction with his dad. He smiles at Audrey's words about Melissa being his one number fan as he grabs an apple and begins cutting it. He can't deny that. He was the closest towards Mel out of all his siblings ever since the day they first met. When his parents first brought her home from the hospital. He wasn't too happy about it being a little ten years old. Especially since he wasn't really close with the twins back then. They got along, but the twins were always closer to each other. It's probably some weird twin connection. He remembers making a scary face towards the baby, but she just laughed. It's that reaction that changed his mind about her and started their bond. And after his mom left when she was so young, he knew he had to give more attention to Mel to fill that gap. He looks up, surprised when Audrey tells him that she came to hang out with him. He thought that was at the bottom of the list of her reasons. He smiles genuinely at this. "Well, that's good to know," he notes softly. There is a brief pause as he stares at her. Feeling the tone might get too serious and knowing that they don't do serious well from experience, he decides to lighten it up to avoid any awkwardness. "I knew you couldn't resist my charms." he jokes with a slight smirk before continuing his fruit cutting. It is weird how much their relationship has changed. She even met all his siblings. He didn't share the same knowledge with hers though, which makes him a little curious. "So, now that you have all this dirt on my family dynamic, mind if I ask about yours? You have any siblings?" he asks. Realizing he hasn't offered her anything to drink or eat yet, he adds. "Do you want anything by the way?"

[adheline]

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

Clayton keeps his eyes on hers as she takes in the room, and then settles on him. He catches her drift immediately, smirking down at her as she voices her thoughts. His eyebrow lifts when her hand diverts to a zipper, though, and the smirk turns into an amused smile even though he would have liked for that to continue on. They'd have plenty of time, though. Without this jacket. "You can thank Sky," he snickers, shrugging out of the jacket and tossing it on one of the two chairs in the room. They sit on either side of a long, skinny table that only houses a silk runner and an ever-changing vase of flowers. Right now it's a wintry mix of white and crimson blooms, with dark ferns curling over the lip of the glass. "She got tired of my usual jacket." He tugs the hem of his shirt into place while he starts up the stairs. Behind him, he hears Tam trotting off towards the living room, likely to tear into another toy. "Come on." The second door on the left of the stairs leads to his bedroom, which triples as his study and personal gallery. It was designed to be the master suite, but his parents gave it to him since they had their own studies. They hardly touched their room anyways, so it would have been a waste of space. Clayton pushes open the door and leaves it gaping behind them, gesturing to the far wall. There's a massive wall unit that spans that side, the top part of which are shelves lined with cameras and lenses. The bottom half are drawers, some of which are labeled as supplies like film and empty sd cards or usb drives, but mostly say things like 'mountains,' 'abandoned buildings,' or 'portraits.' Physical copies of some of his photos. Now that he's showing it to someone, it seems like a bit much. Like maybe his interest is more of an obsession. Suddenly embarrassed, even though he's the one who invited her in here, he reaches out and picks up a spare camera strap, toying with it so his hands are busy while he glances around the room. He's relieved to see he remembered to make his bed this morning. The study portion of the room is the only messy bit, his desk littered with piles of paper and manila folders. "So uh, this is the collection," he announces uselessly. "Feel free to pick things up," he offers, finally settling his gaze back on her.

✬ N A T H A N I E L ✬
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tagged⇨ Skylar locale⇨ school role⇨ science project boy

Right, she wants to start her own brand of cosmetics. Ambitious, which he grudgingly admits to himself is actually pretty cool. As much of a nerd he was usually called, he doesn't know exactly what he's going to do outside of the fact he'll be a scientist. A chemist of some sort, but as for the job title, that's a coin toss. He's got a year or two to decide yet the specifics. Nathaniel's expression tightens as she explains her parents, looking at her to try and confirm what he's hearing in her tone. The fact that she's hiding her face does that. It hits him how much this actually bothers her, whatever she says. She's got such a strong front, before this project he never would have guessed she was so distressed. "It's not okay," he disagrees, stopping in the hallway and taking her by the shoulders to stop her too. He thinks it might be uncomfortable to turn her face towards him, so he settles with turning her by the shoulders instead and hoping she'll look at him by herself. He gets that she doesn't like to look weak at all, but there's nobody around but the two of them, and they've already shared a surprising amount of what makes them vulnerable. "Skylar, it's alright to be upset with all that. It sucks. Nobody's going to blame you if it gets to you a little." He lets his hands slip away, taking a little step back and carding his fingers through his hair. "Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. I knew something was going on there." From the other night, he managed to piece together that her relationship with her parents was thin. He might not have known exactly how sensitive the topic was, but now he feels bad for bringing it up. "If you need to talk to your lame lab partner about deep stuff, I'm a pretty good listener, but don't feel like you have to if you don't want to," he offers, almost bashfully as he stares down the hallway, stuffing his hands deep in his pockets.

⊰ A U D R E Y ⊱
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tagged⇨ Michael locale⇨ Michael's house role⇨ the third girl

For a moment there that feels kind of important, Audrey smiles gently back at him and holds his gaze. Then his ego returns and her expression turns wry. "Right," she agrees sarcastically, eyes on what he's preparing. Her attention snaps back up to him when he asks about her siblings, and any humor on her face falls away. "Yeah, Louise. Lou. Plenty of dirt there," she mumbles, coming up next to him and taking an apple slice. "This is fine, thanks," she answers briefly, taking a small bite while she tries to decide what to tell him. While he said she had dirt on his family, she wouldn't really call it that. They were somewhat polished, relationship wise. Still, he deserved the details. "She would have been a senior when we were starting high school, but her boyfriend was older and moving across the country for college. So she dropped out and followed him." It was a sudden decision, as far as Audrey could tell. Lou came home one day and said she was leaving the next week. She looks up at the kitchen ceiling. Their parents were too shocked to actually be mad until she was gone. "He broke up with her seven months later." Audrey finishes off her apple slice and nabs another. "So now she lives with us every other month when she's between jobs and can't afford rent. She's a terrible employee," she says with a half smile and a tiny shrug. There's a lot to be frustrated with when it comes to Lou, but she's an amusing enough person at least. "She drives me nuts, but she can be nice to have around, you know? Just... I wish things were different." Nibbling on her apple slice, Audrey shuffles in place. It feels weird to be exposing this relationship to someone. Not even Nathaniel knows all that much about Louise, just that she's around sometimes and never went to college. She glances sideways at Michael. "So is that enough dirt or did you want more of the family dynamic aspect thrown in?"

[lucky ⋆]

❅נєssιcα scσғιєℓδ❅

|| meetings in the park || location: Clayton's house|| tagged: Clayton ||

Jessie stares at him as he removes his jacket, blushing and moving her gaze back onto his face when she realizes what she was doing. She's not sure why she was so fixated on the action. She's just so used to seeing him in a jacket. She smiles as he explains Skylar was the reason for all these new jackets. It's not too surprising since Skylar is known for her style. Jessie wonders briefly if she should ask the girl to help with her wardrobe. Now that they're on better terms. "I see," she notes. Although, she didn't really have a problem with his leather jacket. He looked pretty good with it. He did wear often and Skylar's know him way longer than her, so maybe that has a factor to it. "Hm, I didn't really mind that one." she voices as she follows him up the stairs. Nor this one, it's just a weird style. "The green bomber looks the best though." She furrows her brows at her words. She's not sure why she's saying all this. "Just in my opinion," she adds hurriedly. Not that it really matters. She follows him into the room. Her eyes widen at the size of his collection and try to contain her excitement as she approaches it. She didn't know where to even start. She glances to him as he speaks. She only realizes now that she's taking in the rest of the room that it was his bedroom. She could feel nerves bubbling up at this realization, but she's more distracted by his behaviour. She looks at him inquisitively. He seems off, almost like he's a little shy about this. She's never thought she would Clayton like this. It's kind of cute, but where did it come from. Is he not used to showing this all off? Then again, from what she's gathered, this interest of his isn't very publicized. This may be the first time he's ever shown anyone this. "Hey, you're just as much as a camera nerd like me," she exclaims enthusiastically, hoping that would break him out of his current state. Going through some of his work, she notices something that she has in her collection that he doesn't have. Or at least she doesn't see them. "Do have any photo albums?" she asks, turning to him.

♛sкчℓαя נαcσδs♛

|| the science project || location: school || tagged: Nathaniel ||

Skylar stops in her steps when she feels his hand on her shoulder, but she doesn't turn to face him. She listens to him talk, surprised at how understanding and compassionate he's being towards her. His offer touches her. She's used to hanging around shallow and hard-hearted that are either only around her for surface reasons or think showing emotions is a sign of weakness. So, it's hard for her to find many people time turn to about this. Him offering to fill that stop fill her with such gratitude that she feels comfortable enough to turn to face him. "It's not your fault, you didn't know," she assures, wiping her face off. She can't believe Jessie missed out on a such a great guy. She shocks herself with that thought and begins fixing herself up to distract herself from it. Once, she's cleaning herself up, both physically and mentally, she gives him a soft smile. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." she accepts his offer. She has a feeling that she definitely takes him up for that. Especially now that her usual support is a little distracted with someone else. She almost groans when she thought that. Even now, everything goes back to her. She mentally shakes off these thoughts. This isn't helping her current state. There is a lot she still wants to spill about her parents. How she wishes they would just stop for a minute and listen to her. How she tries so hard to perfect everything to prove to them she can make it on her own. But not right now. She's still not used to being vulnerable in front of people other than her best friend and staff members. She feels like this is more than she can handle right now. And besides, she invited him on this impromptu trip so they can take their mind off of this like this. "This isn't what this is supposed to be. We're supposed to be taking a break from all these emotional things," she complains, trying to lighten up the mood. She's still recovering from an emotional overload though, so she can't really think of what to talk about. "Ask me something more fun or tell me something about you. Like your future plans and all," she tells him, hoping it would jumpstart a new conversation.

☀ мιcнαєℓ нαяяιsσи ☀

|| the third pair || location: home || tagged: Audrey ||

Watching her expression drop at his question, Michael feels himself mimic the action. It seems like maybe that wasn't the best question to ask. It doesn't stop her from answering though. Listening to her story of her sister, he feels like he's getting a better understanding of Audrey. Now, he kind of gets why she's so against relationships and so intent on studying. Because she's seen what being in a relationship done to her sister and she doesn't end up that way. He can understand her frustration towards the situation, but he still thinks that she's lucky that her sister is still often with her family. "I get it, but at least she's still around." he expresses, tone a little downcast at how this reminds him of his mother. He doesn't even remember the last time his mom visited them. It would have been during the summer. Early summer too. He's not even sure if she's going to coming by during Christmas. He hopes so for Mel's sake, but it's unlikely, knowing his mother's track record. She'll probably make up some excuse about a big seminar that she just has to attend. It's odd how they have a similar experience with family members who just up and left, but for completely opposite reasons. Her sister chose her relationship over her schooling while his mother chose her education over her relationships. He remembers when his mother first brought up studying something fancy somewhere in Europe. His dad wasn't totally against it, he just wanted her to wait a few years after Mel grew up a little more since she was so young. That's when the fighting started and one day, she just left and flew all the way to another continent, where she still resides to this day. He distracts himself from these thoughts by grabbing a plate and moving all the apple slices to it. He glances towards Audrey when she asks him if he wanted her to continue. He definitely is still curious about it, but he doesn't want to pressure her into answer anything she doesn't want to. "If you don't mind. You don't sound too enthusiastic to talk about it though," he suggests as he checks if they have any grapes left. Namely seedless ones. "You can ask me questions too if that makes you feel better."