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message 1:
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Mal
(last edited Mar 16, 2017 09:50PM)
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Mar 15, 2017 03:40PM
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She was being stupid; he was also being stupid, but admitting it to herself was step number one. After the wishing well, Althea sucked up all her teary-eyed feelings, puffed up her chest, and took it upon herself to go find her man and get him back ... somehow. Her lips tingled with remembrance, hoping hoping hoping that a kiss would do ... something. Anything. She didn't know where he was, but figured his dorm would be a good place to start. Scrubbing her face, searching to eliminate any stray tear-tracks, maneuvering the hallways until she came to room marked 006. Her hand was wrapped into a loose fist, shaky as it lost momentum just shy of the door; she was worrying her lip now, questioning what would happen if, well, nothing happened. What if she kissed him and he pushed her away? What if she kissed him and he was disgusted? Didn't remember? Didn't feel anything at all? KC'd said that he felt comfortable around her, so maybe those feelings lingered, but there was always that possibility... No. Sucking in a big, determined breath, Althea clenched her fist and rapped on the door, standing at attention (albeit, not all of her nervousness was gone).
Dang, Juliet thought that boys were supposed to be quick at getting ready, but nope. That had not been the case. here at all. Her and Kaneki were supposed to just get dinner together, but then he'd said he had to change his clothes from training real quick and he'd pulled her into the room to wait for him and well here they were, Kaneki shirtless as he rifled in his closet for something to wear. "you know, if you just organized your closet a little you wouldn't have to go digging for something to wear. Have you even done laundry yet?" There were clothes all over the room, a total boy hazard zone. It was obvious that Pierce didn't live with any super anal neat freaks, or if he did that poor guy was in hell every day of his life with his other roommates.
At a knock on the door, Juliet frowned wondering who would be knocking. Maybe someone looking for one of his roommates? A teacher with some sort of announcement? Before she could think about how awkward it might be to open the door, she was already pulling it open, and lo-and-behold who should stand before her but Althea. A very straight backed, serious looking Althea. "Althea! What a surprise, Kaneki and I were just about to go get something to eat....unless....you wanted to have a moment alone?" She looked over her shoulder then at Kaneki, because oh yeah she could definitely make herself scarce if the two wanted to talk.
Okay, listen, normally his closet didn’t look this bad, but it just so happened he had rifled through every piece of his clothing last night looking for the one shirt he knew he had brought, only to find it under his bed the next day. So she could make all the comments that she wanted, but it’s not like she could complain about the view. “I’ve done laundry, you snot, just wait over there if you don’t like looking at me.” he shot back, not even hearing the knock of the door. Not sure how great his hearing was before his accident, but it certainly wasn’t doing him justice today. Maybe it was gradually just getting worse, it’s not like he would notice.
What he did hear was Juliet talking to someone, so he grabbed a shirt and began tugging it over his head as he walked over to her -- pulling a sock over his foot at the same time. Yeah, you can probably imagine the way he looked hopping over to the door like that, and yes, he did smack his head on someone else's dresser cabinet thing on the way over. Kaneki straightened up before he came into view, tugging the shirt all the one down as he finally stepped past the door, "Who is i-" oh. KC smiled at Althea politely, before looking down at Juliet like she was crazy. Why was she inviting Althea to lunch.
He ran his hand through his hair instead of wincing in pain when Juliet pinched him subtly, "Yeah, we were just going you should join us, really, it can be fun." Because obedience.
Generally, when we go looking for a guy in his dorm, you don't find a girl opening the door. At least, Thea hoped not. She stared blankly at Juliet for a moment, trying to put all the pieces together. Juli was Kaneki's friend, she reasoned, it isn't weird that she's here ... in his dorm ... in the middle of the day ... right? She did a good job of convincing herself this was true until Kaneki made his grand appearance. Half-naked, pulling a shirt over toned, exposed muscles, and scrubbing his hair into a mess-- or had it already been a mess? Was Juliet here as something other than KC's friend? Althea felt her heart plummet. Her head began to spin, and she was sure she felt herself take a step back. All her confidence faded away, her shoulders sagging and her fists turning into weak things. She brought a thumb nail between her teeth, worrying herself enough not to start shaking. Okay. Okay. This... it was okay. This was probably not what it looked like. Unless it was. Oh GOD-- what if it was?
“I… um …” Althea stuttered, awkwardly looking away, like she might be able to un-see this whole thing. It would just go away. Had Kaneki always liked Juliet that way? If he had, did they ever really have anything at all? Maybe all the times he’d said ‘I love you’, he wasn’t talking to her. Thea gulped, tearing her hand away from her mouth and plummeting them both into her back pockets. “I’m kind of hungry.” That was a stupid thing to say, but she needed to know if Kaneki really did like Juliet. If he did than … well she didn’t know what.
Why did Althea look so uncomfortable? She'd gone from confident to practically shaking in less than a few seconds and Juliet couldn't figure out why. And jeez-louise what was with Kaneki's face, giving her that wide eyed look like she was the one who was suffering from brain damage and not him. From the way Althea was acting too, it was looking like Juliet was going to have to do all the work here in getting these two back together. So she smiled with a nod, "Great. Then you can join us. We can all get food together, it will be great. All three of us hanging out again," Oh. Oops? Maybe she shouldn't have said again, as in referencing when the three of them used to hang out. Only back then it had been with Juliet third-wheeling them while Althea and Kaneki were all cuddly love-bugs. Hopefully no one focused on that comment too much.
And now that Kaneki was dressed she stepped out into the hallway with another easy smile at Althea, before her eyes widened slightly as she just remembered. "Oh, Thea you were coming here for a reason, weren't you? Did you want to...talk to Kaneki about something? I can just get something to eat with my roommates later if that's the case." Or by herself probably, since it wasn't like her and Artemis were going to go skipping through the hallways down to the cafeteria together any time soon. The only reason they'd go together would probably be if someone dragged the other there by their hair.
But who knew, maybe Kaneki and Althea were talking to each other again. After all they did have that whole punishments thing together. Juliet didn't, she was feeding the animals...which really wasn't much of a punishment at all. Although the food for the pigs was kind of gross sometimes. And no she wasn't oblivious to the way the tension in the room had thickened so heavily....she was just choosing to rebrand it as latent sexual tension between her two friends- rather than the awkward vibe it actually had.
What? No! Kaneki did not want to be alone with Althea, because that had gone so well last time? He was not interested in Juliet playing the I'll give the couple some space because I can pick up on modest hints and bow out card, because that most certainly was not the case today. Maybe in the past he had given her like a head nod or something because he wanted to be alone with Althea, but things were different now, and he wasn't nodding his damn head! "Ahaha. I'm sure she just got the wrong door, but anyways, we can all together get food together. All three of us." he grabbed Juliet's arm, steering her in the direction of the dining hall. It might have seemed like a friendly gesture, but he was gripping very hard.
If he couldn't escape this mess, neither could she. He would bolt without her, and that was the truth. Kaneki probably wouldn't be subtle about it either, he would just like get up and leave like 'well, good bye' and not even make up an excuse. Is that what she wanted? "I'm dying for some banana pudding, do you think they have some in the kitchen?" Awkward.
