Stop While You're Ahead

Two Is Better Than One

"Hey, I just meant you..." he smiled.

She suppressed one of her own, nudging him roughly in the ribs, "Don't you dare start that up again."

  ***

   It was short, rough and a bit less emotional than she had expected.

In her mind, she pictured Jean running to her, begging for forgiveness and automatically explaining the reason he didn't show up to their 'date'.

   The following would have been acceptable:

"Rae, I was on my way, when suddenly, a large van appeared full of, oh you wouldn't believe it...ninja assassins!!! I tried to fight them off, but they surprisingly got the better of me. I'm so sorry I missed our hang out."

   "Rae, I just saved the world, I think you owe me."

"Rae, I'm so sorry, I got lost on the way there and a couple of alien invaders..."

   "Rae, I got lost."

"Rae, I forgot."

She would have been fine with any of those answers. Any of them, though they were total bull crap. 

   But, this...oh, this was no where near acceptable:

  "Sorry, I was in the middle of playing COD."

  Not that Jean said exactly that. In fact, she believed the only word he had spoken since she had arrived was that plain, boring old "oh."

    No, she could tell. It was a best friend's intuition in a way, being able to read one another just like that.

 Plus, having the Xbox headphones still padded over his ears kind of gave it away.

She fought the urge to yell, scream and/or jump him, forcing a smile, "Uh...hey." it seemed like a very likely response to a simple 'oh'. Just add a dash of awkward 'hey' and the conversation should go swimmingly.

    "I...um...hey," he weakly replied, scratching the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't currently handling a controller. Yes, this was going just perfectly.

   She mused to herself quietly for a moment, deciding if she should be blunt or dance around the subject. "It's...uh," she turned away, "been a while, huh?"

   Dancing around the subject it was.

 He nodded lamely, hand still refusing to remove itself from behind his neck, "Uh, yeah, it has..."

  She looked down to her feet, noticing a strange piece of fuzz clinging, quite irritatingly might she add, to the carpet, completely standing out. She was half tempted to bend down and pluck it up, but decided glaring at was a much more reasonable use of her time. The tips of her boots would nudge it, occasionally, finding nothing better to do in the pause of silence that invaded their already down hill chat.

   She kicked at it forcibly, a grim frown etching into her features. Why wouldn't the damn thing move? It just sits there, unmoving and mocking her. Doesn't it have anything better to do? She drew back her foot, once again, ready to fire when it hit her.

Oops...avoiding the subject.

"Jean," she paused, face scrunching up oddly, "Look, we really...I need...uh-um," the words were caught in her throat. By what, she didn't know.

   Fear? Anger? Sadness? Rejection?

"I..." her mouth quivered, unsure, "I think...I think I should go."