room 216 ; saturday afternoon

[necroslacker]

Sam's week hadn't really improved after Brannoc's phone call. It hadn't gotten worse but he'd hoped for good news. Brid had called him last night and hadn't given him that. The conversation hadn't been terse, thankfully, but he could tell she was worried which worried him. Something supernatural was attacking locals in Seattle and she hated that she couldn't figure it out. He'd tried to remind her that she wasn't a superhero but she'd said she was and Sam had laughed because he kind of figured she'd say that.

No one had died though and Brid had promised to keep looking. Sam had hung up with her promising to call if things got worse. And he'd actually admitted a fear that maybe Douglas had somehow escaped which she'd tried to reassure him was false.

Currently, Sam was trying to shove dirty laundry into a too small basket and getting more and more frustrated with it as minutes passed. He knew it wasn't the laundry that was causing his stress and frustration but a build up of a few things and his poor clothes were just in the way. He felt like he just kept hitting brick walls in every area of his life. He'd manage to climb over one and hit another and it was just an unending process.

Sam was getting a headache from all the brick walls. And his laundry was just not fitting in the freaking hamper. That was the story of his life, right there.

[Door & post are open, sure]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

"You saw me in class," Yeah, because that totally counted. With all the dancing and thugs and things. "I come and I go. Sometimes I feel more like being alone."

[necroslacker]

Yeah, Sam was beginning to wonder if she got emotions and feelings and anything like that at all. She liked to say she never missed things but Sam thought she was missing a lot.

He didn't say that though. "You're right. Guess that's cool, then. Hope it was a productive time for you."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie would've argued that not immediately reacting was not the same as missing things. Even if there probably was an unhelpful helping of that in there, too.

"Not really," she shrugged. "So should I gather that I was missed, somehow?"

[necroslacker]

"You can gather that I noticed," Sam said, refusing to be the one to give things away right now. He thought he was always the one doing that first and it was exhausting sometimes.

[whenshewasnice]

"Things got weird last time," Natalie said, by way of explanation. Mildly. Shrugging a shoulder. "Tense. I'm sure you noticed that, too."

[necroslacker]

"Yep." Well, he had so there was no use in denying that. "I notice things and yeah, I noticed that."

[whenshewasnice]

"I could tell by your hasty exit," she replied dryly. "I don't know if I have much more to say about that. That happens. Tense... happens."

[necroslacker]

Sam was a little disappointed that that seemed to be all he was going to get from her regarding things. He wasn't surprised but he was a little disappointed.

"Yeah, I get that," he replied, nodding. "Live and learn, I guess? Turn the other cheek? Some other stupid proverb that you'll dismiss because you don't like them?"

[whenshewasnice]

This time, Natalie actually rolled her eyes at him. Her. Whatever.

"I gave us space, Sam," she said. "I don't like fighting so I opted for a timeout. I don't know what more to say."

[necroslacker]

"I don't think it was a fight," Sam said, shrugging and finally pushing away from his desk. He slipped around her and wandered towards his bed. "But, I also don't think you even know why things got tense and I left."

[whenshewasnice]

"No, it wasn't a fight," Natalie agreed, turning a bit as she watched him move across the room. "But in my experience that's what tenseness usually leads to."

And she really, really disliked fighting.

"And no, I don't know."

[necroslacker]

"Yeah, didn't think so," he said, turning his back on her so he could frown and hide a sigh. He didn't want her to see the continued disappointment about that. "No big deal, I guess. I'll get over it."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie could frown too, though. "That's it?" she asked his back. "You're not treating this a chance to enlighten me?"

[necroslacker]

"No." He shook his head. "I'm not gonna always be the one to talk and talk and talk between us. I tried a few times last week to get you to talk and you weren't having it. So yeah, that's it. I can't keep being the only one to initiate things."

[whenshewasnice]

"How crappy." If not entirely unjustified, as Natalie would've grudgingly had to admit. This had to be the first time that someone sounded like they were giving up on her before the relationship even had any kind of official status.

"I seem to remember that when I did try to volunteer my thoughts on the things that you so wanted me to talk about," she added, after a pause, "I got nothing but variations of 'yeah I got it' in return, so. No one's perfect, right?"

[necroslacker]

"Natalie, I'd beaten my head against the wall for awhile before that talking to you about things before I finally decided to cut my losses," he said, whirling around. "Did you forget that part?"

It seemed to him like she had. "I gave you free reign to ask me what you wanted to ask me about a fairly serious discussion and you decided to ask me about Halloween. And then something I said obviously bothered and I asked you about that and you waved me off on that one too. I feel like I'm always hitting walls with you, that you just don't want me to know you."

[whenshewasnice]

"And yet you're still learning." Even if it was mostly about the many ways in which she was not always an easy person to deal with. "Sadly not the fact that I didn't want to have a serious discussion. Or that I don't ask the big questions because I think you deserve to tell me when and if you want."

[necroslacker]

To someone like Sam who wasn't used to the kind of person she was, it sounded to him like she just didn't want to work at finding out more about him. She wanted him to talk, she wanted him to hit walls and learn that way.

"Learning about you and you wanting me to know you aren't the same thing," Sam replied, shaking his head. "They're not. But, I still get the feeling that you want me to do all the talking and take all the initiative. Half the time I get close to you, you stand still like you're trying not to scare some wild animal."

[whenshewasnice]

"It's more like observing," Natalie remarked, dryly, because yes, she was aware that she tended to do that. It wasn't something she could really explain. "I'm sorry if the kind of person I am disappoints you."

[necroslacker]

"Don't do that," Sam said, shaking his head. "Don't put words into my mouth like that. The person you are doesn't disappoint me. But, you've gotta stop expecting me to do everything. I wanna be with you but I need some freaking help here. I need to know that you want me around."

[whenshewasnice]

"I do," she replied, though it felt pointless to say when she'd been called out on it. It sounded meaningless to her. "I don't know if I can do more than say I'll try to be more... open, I guess."

[necroslacker]

"I know you're a private person and I'm not asking you to suddenly become something you're not," Sam said, shaking his head at that statement of hers. "But, I like you and I'm a guy. I kinda wanna know that you like me and wanna be around me. That's all."

[whenshewasnice]

"So, guys that like me are needy." It was a very faint attempt at a joke. She wasn't entirely sure the timing was right, either. But she couldn't help it. This was unfamiliar territory. Things had gone a little differently with the guys she'd dated before. "I haven't exactly done this before."

[necroslacker]

"You haven't done what before?" Sam wondered because he was pretty sure she'd had boyfriends and dates before. At least he was taking her joke as a joke and didn't go to defend himself.

[whenshewasnice]

"This conversation," she said, shrugging. "The whole bit about not making you work so hard. It's not a concern I've run into before."