afraid_of_marshmallows | Entries tagged with what: just friends omg!

Arden had stupidly had the jitters all day Tuesday, thinking of the plan with Cal to have one last paintball dinner while here in Québec. Did it mean something? Something more than friends? Surely he wasn't trying to drop a hint or anything...right?

Which meant that she couldn't help but inwardly (and ruefully) laugh at herself when they ended up deciding to end up at the Buffet de l'Anquitaire. The food looked amazing, don't get her wrong, but the chill diner atmosphere didn't really give off 'confessions of a secret crush' vibes. She was definitely glad she'd stuck with a cute but nothing fancy outfit. This was firmly 'two friends having dinner post-paintball' territory.

Once again proving that the only one harboring a secret crush was Arden. She really needed to stomp that out. She'd been making good progress, but Parents' Weekend had derailed that. But hey, if she could kill a crush during a trip where there was only one bed, then there was probably no bringing it back, right? Of course right. She was just gonna...get on doing that, then.

"Let me guess," she teased, snagging a seat in one of the bright red booths, "you wanna get the hot dog and sausage poutine. And, hey! We'll have to try some of these pies so I can report back to Graham."

After everything that had happened this weekend, it was probably no surprise to anybody that Arden had fallen asleep...and then stayed asleep for the next twelve hours. Honestly, she was probably going to sleep for another twelve hours soon, but for right now, she was in a brief lacuna of consciousness. She still hurt pretty much all over, but it wasn't like it had been and for even that much of a reprieve, she was grateful.

She closed her eyes briefly, appreciating the touch of fresh air on her face. The roof, she realized. Somebody had put her on the roof. That was probably the only reason she felt even this good. She was stuck healing human slow, but it would be worse for her if she stayed inside. Let's just hope it didn't rain. But maybe Midnight would make her an overhang or something.

Reaching out to pat Midnight in general appreciation, she was surprised when her hand touched hair, not roof or blanket.

"Huh?" she croaked aloud, and turned to see Kamala, asleep, to her left. She turned the other way to see Cal, reading, with BD-1 on her right. "Hi?"

[That Arden is in bad shape is fine, but as so many other threads today, details NFB. Post limited, an open post will be up in the next day or so; canonically, Cal and Kamala's threads come first, both modded with permission.]

Well, it had finally happened. After weeks and weeks of hoping, dreaming, even yearning for the opportunity; after flirting with it, dancing around it, and coming within a hairsbreadth of it several times over, Cal's dream had finally come true:

He had beaten Arden at Paintball again.

More than that, even, he'd come in first place, beating the entire class. And, to properly celebrate this momentous occasion, Arden had decided that none of the restaurants on the island would do. They needed to go somewhere special, not somewhere they could order takeout from on the regular. At first, she'd planned to head into Roswell and see what kind of places they had available, but stepping out into the vast wilderness of sand dunes had her quickly spinning on her heels and deciding that, nope, a portal would do them just fine.

As good a time as ever to check out a restaurant she'd noticed in Baltimore when she'd gone to get her tattoo, no?

And so, come dinnertime, Cal and Arden found themselves in Baltimore, the skyline weird without Fandom's distinctive silhouette on it, ordering all the fries their bodies had room for.

A pity that Fandom had taken this week to go a-wandering. The lack of the island at their backs might have clued them in that they hadn't taken a portal to the island's Baltimore, but to Arden's.

[For the gent with the droid and NFB for distance!]

In deference to certain people's aversion to smelling like sunscreen, Arden had set their dinner time to sunset, so he wouldn't have to wear any and could avoid getting burned. She was a very thoughtful friend that way.

She'd also gotten an extra-large blanket to hold all of the takeout she'd gotten from Taste of Thai, which was...extensive. She'd basically promised to get every single item on the menu with a chilly pepper next to it, and she had to get some of her favorites and any that seemed like something Cal had mentioned liking before... Which had ended up being so much that the restaurant had sent someone to help her carry everything which, honestly, was amazing of them and Arden had tipped very well. For a half-second, she looked at the spread on the blanket and wondered if maybe she'd gotten to much--and then remembered it was Cal, so if they did end up with any leftovers, she'd know it meant he secretly didn't like something.

Food, check. Blanket, check. Cooler of beverages, check. Sunset, check. All she was missing was the winner of this week's paintball game! Which was the only reason they were even having dinner, thank you. Because of a bet.

::Yo, Kestis, better get down here and eat before the tide comes and washes dinner away.

[For that guy getting spicy meat on the beach!]

Perhaps the island had been satisfied by their sacrifice the last time they'd tried to get Paintball Dinner. Perhaps it figured they had suffered enough today already. Either way, the only shenanigans that Arden and Cal had encountered on their way to the steakhouse for dinner that evening were the traumatized memories of their afternoon.

They really needed to have a talk about appropriate targets for hero worship, Cal.

"So important question for you," Arden said as they were led to their table. "Are we risking an onion blossom with our cicada hands?" She held her hands up to him, waggling her fingers. "Or are we playing it safe and skipping the finger food?"

Yes she'd washed her hands like four times since their detention in the park. But the memories lingered.

[For he who is on the hook for dinner, pls!]

So...this week had sucked. It had sucked a surprising amount, actually. And she'd expected it to suck, after she'd went and fucked everything up, but even so, she'd been taken aback by just how much it had sucked anyway.

She'd tried, she'd really tried, to claim a little space, because practically living in Cal's back pocket had only made her stupid, one-sided crush intensify. But even being distant friends felt awful, more awful than just living with an unrequited crush did. So now she was here, awkwardly hanging outside of Cal's door, trying to figure out how apologize, and ask if she could take it all back, and go back to being proper friends. You know, assuming she hadn't torpedo'd everything on Saturday. And assuming that he'd still want to be friends with her once she finished apologizing for everything. He would have every right to tell her to go away until the distance between them was great enough that she wouldn't be able to somehow subconsciously influence gremlin hallucinations or whatever she'd done - because obviously she'd done it - and he wouldn't wake up in the morning sleeping in a junkyard, being emotionally as well as physically uncomfortable.

C'mon, Finch, she scolded herself. Enough fucking around. Put your big girl panties on, knock, and at least apologize.

Okay, she could do this. She raised her knuckles to the wood of the door, knocked three times (on the ceiling if you want me... oh god, why brain? why those lyrics? why now?), and called, "Um, Cal? You here? It's, uh, Arden."

And now to spend every microsecond between now and when (if) he answered freaking out that he might not be there. Or, worse, that he was and he was just staying quiet so she'd go away. Or worse than that-- Well, okay, she didn't have a worse than that, but her brain could probably create one with enough time.

Oh! He could be with the vampire that had flashed him! Yeah, that would be worse. Hey, thanks for that, brain!

Goddess, the trials and tribulations of being eighteen.

[For the completely disinterested Jedi, pls!]

After, oh everything that happened at the junkyard today and her conversation with Kamala, Arden was ready to just get into her room, take a shower, and faceplant into bed with the blankets up over her head. Possibly stay there until Monday. That seemed like a brilliant plan, actually.

One thing she hadn't planned to do was trip over a box in silver and white paper with a giant bow on it. With a feeling of dread, Arden reached for the attached card. Congratulations to the Happy Couple - DW

She just stared at the card. For a long time. And then, mostly because she couldn't help herself, she unwrapped the box to find...fancy toaster. In other situations, she might have freaked out over this, the potentiality of a debt, any number of things. Not tonight. Nope, she was just going to open her door, put the box on her desk, and flop on the bed. Fuck the shower.

Yup. Not moving until Monday.

[Establishy]

So, Arden would have to say that her first adult party had been a success, if you were defining success by 'having fun' and 'not being utterly miserable the next day,' which she absolutely was. She'd had a good day of classes and now she was putting the last finishing touches on getting ready for...dinner.

Not a dinner date, obviously. This was just a friendly dinner between friends! She and Cal had a - now weekly - bet that the loser of Paintball would pay for dinner for the winner! You know! Like friends did! Probably all the time!

And the fact that she had chosen Cafe Fina for their first dinner meant nothing besides that she was curious about the restaurant! And, it was a nice place, so obviously she had to dress up. That wasn't indicative of it being a date, just respecting dress codes!

But now, feeling ~~pretty~~ appropriately dressed, Arden exited her room and headed to Cal's, knocking on the door. "Let's go Kestis," she called through the door. "No dawdling, now. Time to pay up!"

[For the friend-type person and absolutely no shenanigans]