room 227 ; sunday night

[necroslacker]

After his uncomfortable conversation with Natalie earlier, Sam had retreated to his room and he had showered. It'd felt good, something he'd definitely needed and it did help some tension dissolve. Some, not all.

He hadn't stayed in the room long before he'd left again to get some food. He'd completely bypassed the island's offerings and gone to the mainland to find something new and vegetarian. He'd come back with a few bags and was now eating a salad at his desk. It was late so he had a set of headphones on while he played a few records to give him something to do besides think.

Thinking was just...bad. And he was already brooding so he didn't need to add to it.

[Door closed, post open of course]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

This could have gone a lot better, even Natalie could have admitted that much. As he moved away from her, she sat down in his chair to eat.

"Well isn't this stupid."

[necroslacker]

"If you say so."

At least he'd said anything? He'd gone right back into brooding after her comments about what he'd been implying and wondered if he'd just stay there the rest of the night.

[whenshewasnice]

"I do," Natalie replied, picking at the food. There wasn't annoyance in her tone but then again, there wasn't much of anything else, either. "Why are you brooding?"

[necroslacker]

"Because I'm annoyed."

That was honest, at least.

[whenshewasnice]

"Annoyed at what?"

She'd decided to take an analytical approach to this, yeah. Break it down into manageable chunks and maybe they'd get over it.

[necroslacker]

"You making up your mind about what I was saying and then asking me what I meant when we both know it doesn't matter," Sam said flatly. "I'm not gonna talk just to blow hot air. I just won't talk."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, maybe we should break up, then," Natalie drawled. "A relationship without talking doesn't sound worth it."

... So, maybe the analytical approach hadn't survived very long. And she wasn't serious, not even remotely, and didn't really sound like it either. Mostly she was trying to jostle him out of his brood.

[necroslacker]

"I didn't even I wouldn't talk ever," Sam replied, still sounding flat. He didn't really like that joke even if he knew it was a joke. The summer was so close to being over, after all. "I meant tonight."

[whenshewasnice]

"Seems rather arbitrary."

As if brooding needed good solid reasons for how it worked.

[necroslacker]

"If you say so."

He went back to being silent because he was afraid he was going to get even more annoyed.

[whenshewasnice]

It was far too easy, wasn't it?

Natalie ate a few more bites, then put the food away – see, entirely capable of stopping once she lost her appetite! – before getting up to pad over to the bed.

She might've wondered about how welcome she was there right now, but it was her bed too.

[necroslacker]

And he hadn't doubted she was capable of that but she seemed to think the worst of him sometimes. Or think the worst of his actions. He didn't know.

Whatever it was, it was her bed too and he wasn't going to stop her or get up and leave or anything silly like that. He stayed on his side and stayed quiet.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie flopped down on her side of the bed.

Well, flopping may have been too relaxed a word. Natalie didn't tend to move like that. It was more controlled, like lowering herself on the bed bit by bit but smoothly.

But whichever way you wanted to put it, she ended on her back, looking up at the ceiling.

[necroslacker]

Yeah, he didn't really picture her flopping. He didn't peer over his shoulder to see how she'd ended up but he knew she was there, at least. Sam breathed quietly and even closed his eyes. It was his attempt to relax.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was making a halfhearted attempt at that, too. She closed her eyes, and soon enough found herself humming quietly again.

Moonlight Sonata, what else?

[necroslacker]

Sam recognized the tune and it just brought him back to feeling not wanted earlier. He knew it had been a misunderstanding but still, it brought back a few memories. Sam wasn't going to join in with the humming.

He was staying still.

[whenshewasnice]

And even Natalie stopped humming soon enough, opting to rub her eyes instead. She liked silence, usually. Just not like this. Not from him.

It was a little suffocating.

"So should we just go to sleep already?"

[necroslacker]

"I'm not tired."

Well, there were some words from him. Not many but some. He answered the question and fell quiet again.

[whenshewasnice]

"But you're not talking," Natalie replied, borrowing some of his earlier flatness, "so it seems about the same to me."

[necroslacker]

"There's nothing to talk about."

He'd gotten his feelings dinged and he was annoyed about that. Talking wasn't at the top of his priority list right now. If he'd felt like talking, he might have pointed out how she sometimes had silences like this that he had to break through but he didn't.

[whenshewasnice]

"Your sulky demeanor says otherwise," Natalie replied, reaching a hand out to press it flat against his upper back. Without hesitation.

"As does the fact that you still keep replying to me."

[necroslacker]

"Never said I was ignoring you."

He wasn't gonna argue about sulking because he was but he preferred to call it annoyed brooding.

"I'm answering your questions."

[whenshewasnice]

"It's still talking," Natalie pointed out as she brushed her hand back and forth against his back a few times.

At least he hadn't flinched away.

[necroslacker]

Again, he wasn't really sure what she was aiming for but he was trying not to pull away. He stayed where he was.

"Right, fine, it's talking." Sam just let her have that one because he was already annoyed enough.

[whenshewasnice]

And again, Natalie wasn't aiming for much of anything besides keeping up some kind of a connection.

She was quiet for a while, then rolled on to her side, not really against his back but close enough. Trying to get back to square one and straighten this thing out.