< HSoS 88 | High School Of Scenes | HSoS 90 >
< HSoS 88 | H So S Timeline | HSoS 90 >
Furud is crouching with his back against a jutting rock at the bottom of The Hole. A trio of pebbles are arranged in his palm, and he is concentrating fiercely upon them, as if they had done him wrong. They rise above his palm a centimeter or so, and start to spin around each other haltingly, only one moving at a time, but he keeps looking up as if to check for noise or movement.
Antares Rustling in the weeds and the crunching of rocks reach the bottom long before Antares does, along with intermittent humming of some snatch of melody with variations. The humming stops suddenly as she gets close to the bottom, not seeing him yet. "Furud?"
Furud closes his fist around the pebbles, knuckles white for a second. He looks in the direction of the voice, and his calls out, guarded. "Antares?"
Antares "Yo." She looks around the boulder, seeing him and stepping out with a bit of a shuffle. "What's up?"
Furud smiles, and his tense posture relaxes again, "Not much," he replies noncommittaly. "You?"
Antares "Nothin', really, y'know." Now that she's clear of the boulder Furud can see she has a bundle tucked under her arm, which she hesitates and then holds out to him abruptly. "Here. I washed them. Thanks a lot." The jeans and shirt.
Furud "Oh." His smile flickers, and he looks at the bundle. "Yeah, you're welcome. Any time. I mean... You can keep them for a while if you want." A pause and a passable grin. "Looks good on you, y'know."
Antares "I don't, I mean..." For some reason Antares looks angry, looks away. "Just take them, okay?" she says, not meeting his eyes.
Furud gives her a hard look, then takes the bundle from her and puts it across his knees. "Thanks." His tone is cool and distant. He fiddles with the pebbles in his palm for a bit, then drops them. "Is there anything else?"
Antares "Naw, I guess not." Antares shifts her weight, starts to turn away, then stops with a sigh. "Shit. I didn't mean it like that. I'm just, I'm not staying at home right now, and I don't have a lot of space where I'm crashing."
Furud "You know, you confuse the everliving shit out of me." He rubs his forehead, then realizes what she'd said. "You ok?"
Antares "*I* confuse *you*? That's a good one." She snorts, then shrugs. "Sure, I'm fine. Why not?"
Antares She puts her back against the rock and slides down to sit next to him, looking up at the sky.
Furud "I can think of a few reasons." He runs his fingers through the small pile of rocks he'd gathered earlier, choosing a largish one and throwing it against the rock face across from them. It makes it, but only barely.
Antares is silent for a while, still staring at the sky like she's soaking up something from it. "You know what the crazy thing is?" she finally says, softly.
Antares "All last week, before things went to shit, it felt weird. Like waiting for the hammer to fall."
Antares "Now I beat up the principal, saw Maia kill a guy, got kicked out of the house, and screwed up god only knows what with you."
Antares "And it feels... I dunno. Not better, but more normal."
Furud throws another stone to join the other clattering in the semi-darkness. "Things were going too well last week, I guess."
Furud "Is this how you want it to be?"
Antares seems taken aback by the question. "It's just how it is, right?"
Antares Then she frowns, thinking it over a little more.
Furud "Some of it I guess."
Antares "You know last week, when we were up on the church roof? It was like I was just this person who'd been out of town, and we were saying hi again. Like that's all there was. Sometimes I wonder what that'd be like."
Antares She scowls at Furud's boulder target. "Shit, I'm not making any sense."
Furud passes her a stone. "Like if we weren't... different... or if we were just friends and that's all?"
Antares "The different thing." She throws her stone at the rock, hard, then winces and shakes out her arm. "I mean, I'm not saying I wish were normal or whatever. I just wonder."
Antares Leaning back again, she scans the sky and nods at an approaching ridge of clouds. "Rain's coming, later."
Antares "Anyway, what do you mean, I confuse you?"
Furud nods and sighs. "Yeah. I never thought I'd wish I was normal, but it does seem... easier. It'd be nice." He looks up at the clouds instead of answering for a bit. "I mean, you confuse me. I can't figure you out. I can't tell what will make you mad, or what will make you kiss me."
Antares Silence for several seconds, as Antares hunches her shoulders and searches for a safe answer. "You keep getting in my face, then backing off right before I'm about to take a swing at you. You're not... you don't make any sense."
Antares "I can't just walk away from you," she adds, barely audible.
Furud turns to her and says, deadpan, "This may be hard to believe, but I'm not /actually/ trying to piss you off."
Antares turns, eyes flashing and mouth opening to say something angry, then stops and takes a closer look at him. "Oh, fuck you," she says. "You're doing it on purpose now, aren't you?"
Furud grins, and holds his hands up in a gesture of mock-innocence. "I would never!" he proclaims.
Antares She glares at him, grabbing a fistful of his jacket. "Jesus fucking Christ. One of these days I'm going to actually hit you, smartass."
Antares She lets go, looking guilty for a second, then grabs his jacket again and leans forward to kiss him.
Furud moves at the same time, tangling his fingers in her hair and pressing his lips to hers.
Antares shifts her weight toward Furud, taking another fistful of jacket in her other hand and pushing him back against the rock as they kiss. The first few drops of rain begin to splat around them.
Furud grunts a little as he presses against the rock, then slides his free hand around Antares' waist and pulls her tightly against him, kissing fiercely, the heat of their bodies whipped away by the wind.
< HSoS 88 | High School Of Scenes | HSoS 90 >
< HSoS 88 | H So S Timeline | HSoS 90 >
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