Bad at prying

Who: Charlie and Nate
Where: MSHS
When: Gym (3rd period?)

By the time Nate finally showed up for gym it was a little bit of a disappointment that Kavin didn't show. Class was boring enough without someone to hang out with and bitch about it to. He'd been keeping an eye on Charlotte since the dream he'd stumbled into but that was from a distance so when he found himself paired up with her for exercises he saw his chance to do a little better than that. "Hey," he said softly, while they waited for instructions. "How have you been?"

Charlotte's rage had dulled a little bit. At least she was no longer slamming doors or - worse - cursing. She couldn't believe she'd said that. She looked over at Nate and offered a small smile. "Fine. How are you?"

"Sleepy," Nate replied truthfully since he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before - something that shouldn't surprise him by now. "But good. Did you have fun at the bonfire?" He glanced up, then groaned as he noticed the coach handing out balls. Which probably meant some idiotic game.

Charlotte wasn't a fan of whatever this was about to be either. "Yeah, the bonfire was great." she said. "I left before anyone got really drunk though. Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, and got really drunk," Nate chuckled wishing he knew the right answers to ask to find out how she was really doing. People didn't have dreams like that unless something was going on, in his opinion at least. Some emotional turmoil and he somehow doubted it was all about Kavin.

The coach handed Charlotte a basket ball and told them to practice dribbling and passing. She kind of had to marvel that Ransom played this regularly, it seemed altogether way too difficult and complicated for her. But she tried dribbling lamely anyway, and carefully passed the ball to Nate.

Nate was decent at this though he'd never join the team and he dribbled it for a bit before passing it back. Boring. "Off your game?" He asked with an easy smile then added, "Tired?" Subtle wasn't a strong suit but he wasn't as dense as to ask her if she'd been sleeping okay lately.

Charlotte smiled a bit. "To be off my game I'd have to have game in the first place." she said, dribbling and passing back. "At least I think that's how it works. I'm not really athletic. Least I got you as a partner, you seem to know what you're doing."

"Doesn't mean this gets any more fun," Nate chuckled. "Playing is one thing but these little exercises are just dumb." No answer on the tired front, damn. "So uh, none of my business really but how are things? I mean, after Kavin and all." And the ball was in her court, literally.

Charlotte winced slightly as she pretended the ball was very interesting. "I got rather angry with him, and that just keeps getting worse. Unfortunately I very publicly announced in the hallway that I hope his more intimate pieces of anatomy fall off. That's... regrettable." But already done. "Other than that, fine. I have a date tomorrow. How's he doing?"

"Well, shit," Nate muttered. "He's been... sick. Real sick, but getting better. Didn't realize it was so bad between you guys, I mean... wishing his dick off is pretty... ow." He winced as well at the thought. "But hey, a date. That's awesome, should cheer you up some, huh?"

"Sorry." Charlotte said, mostly about what she'd said. "I shouldn't say things like that, especially not to you. But yes. I'm looking forward to it."

"No virgin ears here," he assured her with a chuckle, grabbing the ball when she passed it back. "Hope you have a great time tomorrow. You going with Ransom?"

Charlotte's cheeks went a little pink, but she nodded. "We were just friends when I was with Kavin." she clarified. "But when Kavin and I broke up it was like... self-fulfilling prophecy. I had more time to spend with Ransom... and... um... yeah."

"Not judging," Nate told her easily. "No worries there. I was a little surprised when you guys broke up but you both seem to be moving on so that's cool. Save for wishing bad things anyway," he added the last with a small smirk, cocking a brow at her.

Charlotte made a face and looked away. "Sorry." she mumbled. "Can't help it." She felt bad, like she'd just been badmouthing Kavin to his friend. But she was still so angry!

"Did you really leave on such bad terms?" Nate asked. Kavin didn't really talk about it anymore and Nate couldn't quite remember what he'd said about it right after it happened. "Maybe you guys should try to work things out, talk about it. You know, get it off your chest."

"Yes, we did." Charlotte answered. "Kavin made things very difficult for me, and once they were over I realized I was better off not being with a guy that can't go five minutes without purposely embarrassing me or talking about how amazing his penis is. He also ran and told Ransom that he was the reason we broke up. So... I'm pretty happy never speaking to him again. Sorry, Nate."

"Alright then," Nate muttered, cocking a brow as he dribbled the ball over to her again. It was a little too much information but he'd asked. If she was that mad, the dream made a little more sense, he'd just never expected something so bloody in the mind of Charlotte, the sweet little girl Kavin had been dating when he met him.

Great. And now Charlotte felt bad. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, fumbling a bit with the ball. "I didn't mean to... just... sorry." Why did she feel like she owed him anything? She barely knew him. But he had always been nice to her. Suddenly Charlotte just wanted to run away and find somewhere else to be until the school was talking about something else again.

"Don't worry about it," Nate said, shrugging one shoulder. "I figure you have a free pass on shit talking as the ex girlfriend and all. Just wish you guys were okay, s'all."

"Why?" Charlotte had to ask, shifting nervously from one leg to another. "Why does it matter so much to you?"

"I don't know," Nate said with yet another small shrug. "Because I like you both? And you don't seem all that happy when you're mad, you know. I mean obviously but, I think it might be eating at you or something."

"It wasn't a healthy relationship." Charlotte said, shaking her head. "And I am angry and sad and confused, but... I just want to move on from it all. I hope things work out better for him and Jeri, but he and I weren't a right fit."

That was a load of crap if Nate ever heard one, if that was all she wouldn't be so angry.But he didn't say as much, just nodded sympathetically and waited for her to pass the ball again.

Charlotte felt very awkward. And guilty. And a lot of other things, and at the same time, she didn't understand why she felt everything she did. She passed the ball and took a step back. "I'm not feeling well. I... I'm going to go to the nurse. Sorry."

He looked at her curiously and nodded. "Take care, Charlotte," he told her, holding the ball and forgetting to dribble it for a minute. "If you ever want to talk or whatever, I'm here."

"Thanks," Charlotte replied, holding herself as she turned away. She just needed to go find a place to disappear.