In Case Of Zombie Apocalypse...

who: kaysen and chance
where: all over
when: afternoon

Chance had feared it was going to rain, but thankfully all the sky seemed to want to do was gather dark clouds, leaving the day dry, so far. He took advantage and spent most of the morning after his therapy session on his skateboard. He knew exactly what he was doing, though he wouldn't consciously admit it. So what if he had somehow ended up on Kaysen's street. He only lived three blocks away, and hello, skateboarding! So yeah, he was bound to pass by eventually. Only he wasn't passing by, and he knew it. As he came upon her driveway, he stepped off his board and picked it up before glancing up at the windows, wondering which one was hers. Chance knew it wasn't the best idea, but since when had he ever been accused of having those?

So he found himself on her porch, and his finger pressing against the doorbell. He just hoped her brother didn't answer. Thankfully, it was a woman, who he could only assume was her mother, who seemed distracted, but was looking at him expectantly. With a tentative smile, he gripped the edge of his skateboard with both hands. "Is Kaysen around?" Lame!! But what else was he suppose to say? He'd never really done this before.

"Isaac isn't--" she had started, but broke off and blinked at him as he asked for her daughter and not her son. "I...you're here for Kaysen? Has she gotten herself into trouble again?" she asked.

"Uhm. No?" Chance said, lifting an eyebrow. He couldn't imagine Kaysen getting into any kind of trouble. Trouble usually meant doing more than hiding and pretending to be invisible. Still, it was telling that Mrs. St. James automatically assumed he was there for Isaac. Sparing a glance over her shoulder, he managed another small smile. "Is she home? If not, I can come back later..."

"I think she is." Kaysen's mother said, still looking a touch bewildered. She should be up in her room. It's up the stairs, first door on the left." she informed him. "...and your name, young man?"

"Uhm...Chance," he told her, taking a cautious step into the house. Best not to tell her his last name in case she would have heard of him. Holy shit, she was sending him to her room? He was terrified. "I...you mean...I should just go up?"

She looked mildly confused. She didn't know, really. "Would you rather I called her down?" she asked. To say she didn't have experience dealing with anyone coming over for her daughter would have been an understatement, and that was unfortunately obvious.

"Oh, no." Yeah, he'd answered that question way too quickly. He pointed briefly and grinned. "I'll just...go up and get her. Thanks." Holy shit. Kaysen's mother looked confused, and Chance felt it best just to get up the stairs before she came to her senses. He headed up the stairs, skateboard under his arm. First door on the left. He slowed his pace, noting the door was cracked open. He hesitated outside of it, turning to flee once...and then twice. And then finally planting his feet firmly and knocking.

Kaysen was in her room listening to music, sitting on her bed indian style as she went over prints she'd just made. They were spread out over the entire bedspread, and she was frowning at them critically. When the knock came on the door, she half glanced up. "Come in." she said, figuring it was Isaac.

Holy shit! Chance hesitated again, his knuckles turning white on the skateboard he was gripping. With a deep breath, he pushed open the door and found her peering over what looked like photos. He didn't dare step into her bedroom, but did a quick sweep of the place, noting the mirror on the wall. No! You are so not going there, he told himself internally, all the while trying to smile. "Hey. Your mom said...she said I could come up."

At the voice that was distinctly not Isaac's, Kaysen did something silly. She let out a short sharp little scream, clapped her hand over her mouth, then-since she'd jumped-she fell clean over the opposite side of her bed, disappearing down behind it with a thud.

"Shit, are you okay?" Chance asked, taking a small step in her room and pushing up onto his toes, craning his neck to see if he could spot her behind the bed. He heard nothing so he decided to hell with it and walked to the side of her bed where she currently lay on the floor. "You okay?" he asked again, trying his damnest not to smile.

She was half propping herself up, hand on her head as she looked up at him. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked. That was way better than answering the question about being alright. The less attention to her dumbassery the better.

"I already told you, your mom let me come up," he said, leaning slightly and offering his hand to help her up. "I thought I would stop by to see if you were busy."

She stared at his hand for a minute, honestly not sure what he was doing. Then she took it, since she figured it out. "I um...no." she said. Oh god what are you doing here?! You're in my room! Are there bras out? Panties? Oh god!!!

Chance helped her up and released her hand as soon as she was on her feet. He stepped back and glanced at the pictures. "Hey, these are really good," he told her, moving around to the other side of her bed to get a better look at them. He shot her a glance. "What do you do with them?"

Kaysen was trying not to fidget horribly. That wasn't working out for her, however, as she was kind of half pacing but only in a small area because if she was going anywhere else she'd have to go by him and then there might be brushing against him and she didn't know about that. "Oh. um. I don't know. I have books and stuff.." she said. She also noted to her horror that the ones she'd taken of him happened to be out there--she'd been trying to decide what to do with them.

"Well, they're really good," Chance told her again, completely focused on her photography now. He noted the photos of himself on his skateboard from yesterday and nearly reached down to pick one up. But they weren't his and he had a feeling she was probably pretty protective of her things, photos and all. Still, he guessed it was a good sign that she hadn't burned the pictures of himself, or tossed them. Straightening, he smiled at her. "So you're not busy then..." He shook his skateboard slightly. "Want to go boarding with me? See if I'll fall on my ass this time?"

"Thanks..." Kaysen said warily. She wasn't sure why he'd said it, or if he meant it, or if he would have said it if she'd had a bed full of weird crazy clown photos. Which she didn't have and had no plots to ever have, but still. She kind of half reached down to mess up the shots, kind of trying to hide the ones of him. Which was stupid, being he'd looked right at them. Is my room lame? god, it's probably lame. He probably thinks I'm like, 12 now or something. Why had he ever come to her room? People weren't allowed in here! Gah! "Um. Er. Sure?" she suggested. Anything to get him someplace that didn't have a teddybear sitting on the dresser.

He was more than prepared to have to convince her to go with him, so when she said sure, he very nearly began to persist. Instead, he cocked an eyebrow. "Sure? You mean yes?" Jackass, that's exactly what she said! Relief burst inside of him and he smiled again, probably looking like a jackass as much as he felt like one. "Yeah, okay. Awesome." He watched as she gathered up her photos and he reached down in the mess to pick up the one of himself standing on his skateboard. "You might want to keep this one," he told her with a grin. "So you can tell people 'you knew me when', and all that."

Kaysen's cheeks turned a dull, deep red. "Why, are you planning on being famous someday or something?" she asked, grabbing it back. then she grabbed up all her pictures, which totally didn't work for her since they kept slipping out and falling to the floor in a nice lazy manner, quite a few of them were prints of him. Like the blurred one she liked best. That one she kicked under the bed.

"Maybe." Chance shrugged and watched as she gathered her photos up. He liked that he could make her blush. "Thought maybe I'd be a writer, or something...but you know, the best ones are never famous until they die, or kill themselves, or something..." He trailed off. Of course that meant he'd never be one of those authors, with the immortalized in death thing. "But you never know...anyone can be famous this day and age, with the net and all that shit. Stuff," he corrected. Fuck all with the cursing!

"Well, even if you were famous, if I came up with pictures of you, you know that the entire world would just say I was stalking," she pointed out. "I'd be like, on the front page of the Enquirer or something dumb like that." 'Desperate teen girl stalks famous man'. Yep. Sounded like her life.

Chance chuckled and shook his head. "Never had my own stalker before," he lamented with a dramatic sigh. "Even stalkers need their fifteen minutes of fame." He motioned to his board again. Best not to dwell long enough for her to get her things put away and gather her bearings. She'd more likely kick his ass out of her house once the initial embarrassment of him being in her room wore off. "Want to go back to the school? Or do you have any other haunts you like to board at?"

"I dunno." Kaysen said hesitantly. "Where do you usually go?" she asked. That was when Edison, her sleeping kitten had decided to wake up. He'd been sleeping under her bed, and wandered out to climb up onto Chance's shoe. What he was doing there, who knew, but it was apparently the place to be.

"Anywhere," he admitted. "There's some really great railings behind the supermarket down the street, but I'm usually caught and kicked off the property..." He trailed off as the pressure on his shoe and looking down he noticed the kitten currently working on climbing up his ankle. Leaning down, he picked up the kitten, holding it against his chest as he slipped his board under his arm. Kaysen owning a cat seemed somewhat fitting. "What's his name?"

Kaysen tried not to look panicked for a minute, then managed it. "Edison." she answered. "Charlie gave him to me, she lives across the street." You should totally go talk to her, she's pretty and nice and way better company than me, and can we go back to the part where I don't know what you're doing here and you're in my room?

"Edison," Chance repeated, smiling when the kitten began to paw at his hand, mewing loudly. "I don't know who Charlie is, but that was pretty cool of her. My mom's allergic to cats...and dogs...and fish." He grinned at Kaysen as he held Edison, wincing slightly when the kitten turned and dug his claws into his chest. "Actually, now that I think about it, she's been allergic to every kind of pet I ever wanted."

"I don't think you can be allergic to fish." Kaysen said, frowning. "Like, eating them, sure, but not just having them in a tank. That'd be like saying you were allergic to water. So unless your mom's really the wicked witch of the west, she's totally been lying to you."

"Yeah, I figured that much," Chance said, lifting an eyebrow. Apparently people didn't joke around with her very much. Or he just wasn't that funny. "I think she knew I wasn't responsible enough for a pet, so she just lied to keep me from throwing a temper tantrum over not getting what I wanted. Your mom seems pretty nice, though," he added with a quick motion toward the door. He decided to refrain telling her she thought he was here for Isaac.

Kaysen kind of gave him a look like he was a pod person. "Um...sure she is," she said. She didn't say that the only reason they'd allowed her to have a cat was Isaac had asked for her, and told their parents that it was supposedly for the both of them. "So--leaving!" Kaysen added too brightly. Witness her wanting him out of her room. And like, for her to grow a brain and figure out what the hell was going on. That would be cool too.

Chance followed her from her room, still unsure about how in the hell he had actually managed to get inside of her room, especially given everything that had happened yesterday. And stranger still, she had agreed to go out with him. Okay, not really going out but technically...Chance was trying not to trip over her as he followed close behind her. She looked really pretty today...smelled great too. And so, God, there he was with that creepy thing again. "Uhm, you have a nice house," he told her lamely, afraid that the silence would give her far too much time to actually think about this.

The silence had indeed been giving her time to mentally flail some more. She had taken Edison from him, and she put him into her backpack as she grabbed that to shrug over her shoulder, her board by the door. Slipping her shoes on, she then headed outside. "Thanks." she said, not sure how to respond to that. Sure, they had a nice house. The parents were fairly well off, so it was big and had nice things...she just usually didn't think about it like that.

He dropped his board onto the ground and stepped onto it, eying her backpack. "Are you sure he's safe in there?" Chance asked, following her. "I mean, he's not going to get hurt or anything will he?"

"Yeah, I've taken him before." Kaysen said, eying Chance warily. "What, you think I'm gonna do something to hurt my cat?" she asked. Whee, cue defensiveness!

"As long as you're not wearing him on your back if you happen to ditch, then no," Chance replied easily. "To be honest, I figured you'd end up accusing me of wanting to hurt your cat, or something."

Kaysen eyed him at that, not sure what to say after something like that. "I don't know if you'd do anything like that," she said. "Why...would you?" she asked, pushing off on her board. This was really just an escape tactic, because the conversation was crazy and she didn't like it.

"No, of course not." He rolled next to her, at ease, despite the topic of conversation. He'd had worse in his therapy sessions. "I just figured with my so-called reputation, or being a psycho, or whatever it is people think I am..." Okay, now it was time to change the subject before she totally freaked out. He shot her a small smile before focusing on the street ahead. "I freak you out, don't I?"

"No," Kaysen said, far too quickly, then she sighed. "Yeah." she corrected herself. "I don't get you. I can't figure out why you're around, and I don't know what you want. Like, as far as I can tell, there's nothing you can be getting out of this." Therefore, why would he be doing it?

Chance pushed his foot off of the street a bit faster, hopping his board over a small pothole in the road as he considered her words. Maneuvering his skateboard around he returned next to her. "Want to go to Lower Harbor Park?" he asked, avoiding commenting altogether. There was only so many times he could say the same thing to her. And he wasn't about to open up that can of worms all over again.

"Sure." Kaysen answered. This mostly because she didn't particularly have a strong desire to get into the same conversation again either. She wasn't thinking it was going to get any better, or that she'd get better answers this time. So...avoiding circles was good. Desperately, she tried to think of something to say to distract her from the fact that she was like, hanging out with her stalker. Or whatever.

Chance didn't mind the silence. The soft rolling of the wheels beneath their boards soothed him, which was a bit weird, but he'd spent a lot of his childhood on his own, on his board with nothing but that sound keeping him company. As they neared the park, Chance moved his board closer to hers, but maintained a decent distance as not to scare her. He'd yet to see her where he didn't cause her to fall over. "Hey, just to get it out of the way, I'm sorry about last night. With the fighting...and then the freaking you out in Harkin's basement. All that stuff I said...it was stupid. I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable."

She looked over, not sure how to respond to that. "Is your lip okay?" she asked. "And...and your ribs?" He'd said something about that, hadn't he? He still looked kinda bruised to her, but that was normal. All she had was the little cut on the inside of her lip from when he'd scared the shit out of her and she'd fell on the stairs.

"My lip is fine, yeah. My ribs...they're all right." Yeah, they were still somewhat sore, but he'd had worse injury. "You sort of begin to ignore the bruises after awhile," Chance continued. "My mom was fucking pissed though, but she's used to it. I think she was just thankful I wasn't in school when it happened. She and the principal are on a first name basis." He smiled, as though proud of this fact. "What about your lip? I'm sorry I keep scaring you on your ass."

She winced, unhappy he'd pointed it out. Way to make her feel dumb. Like she didn't on a constant enough level in the first place. "It's fine." she said quickly. "I think like, the injury I've got right now that hurts most is my arm. But you didn't do that, that was just me ditching." She shrugged. Her arm did bug her, but that was mostly because your arms? Touched a whole lot all the time on a daily basis. It stung all the damn time.

Chance rolled his board lazily toward her, trying not to show too much concern. "It's still hurting you? When did you ditch?" he asked. "Let me see your arm." His locked his gaze to hers and tilted his head. "I just want to see how bad it is, I'm not going to touch you, or anything. It could be infected, if it's still hurting you."

"It's still hurting because I have no skin left." Kaysen said, and she did look wary at him. But he answered her thoughts before she even properly had them. Huh. Maybe he was starting to understand her if nothing else. Weird. She did pull up her sleeve though to show him the long skinned patch of angry roadrash on the underside of her right forearm.

It certainly looked painful. He started to reach out to touch it, but remembered his promise and dropped his hand back to his side. "Did you get this treated at all?" Chance asked her, tearing his gaze from the skin to her face. "It looks pretty bad. You should put some anti-bacterial cream on it, and bandage it up. Are you sure you want to be here? If you ditch again and tear that open, it's going to hurt like a bitch."

She shrank back a little when it looked like she was going to be touched, but she relaxed again when he stopped. "I put stuff on it...it's fine. I get this stuff all the time," she said, and pointed to the spot beneath her chin that matched her arm. "And yeah, I'm aware, it's not like it's the first time I've ditched before. I'm a big girl and everything, I can totally handle it, mom." she said, rolling her eyes at his concern. What, was she wearing a neon sign that said 'I'm fragile! Come worry about me!' lately?

"All right." Chance shrugged and skated away from her. Being concerned about her wasn't going to get him anywhere. And really, it only served to make him like a wuss. He had a reputation to uphold, after all. Wanting a moment to regather his thoughts, Chance pushed along the pavement faster before hopping his board into a 50-50 along the nearest picnic table. He landed smoothly, staring out over the lake ahead before turning back to her. She still stood there, watching him, and he lifted his eyebrow expectantly. "You gonna just stand there? I only got to see you do one trick." Which was a lie, of course. He'd seen her do plenty of them. But that borderline back to that whole "stalking" thing she probably thought he was doing. So he thought it best to stay quiet.

Kaysen gave him a Look. "What am I, free entertainment?" she asked. But she couldn't resist showing off, really. She skated over towards him, shrugging off her backpack. She handed it to him, so she didn't ditch and like, squish her kitten. That would be bad. Therefore...nope! "Hold this." she instructed, skating past him. Then she proceeded to go through the series of tricks she usually did when she was going through the park. Hopping up to the ledge of the concrete, hopping from there to the two benches that were next to one another, going from one to the other before she clapped her board back down onto the pavement. If she didn't think about the fact that she was being watched, if she pretended she hadn't gone there with him, she was fine. She even managed it for a few minutes.

Chance could feel her kitten moving around in the bag, but he held onto it as he watched her go through her motions. So she had to show off a bit, which he didn't mind at all. At least she felt challenged enough to show off. He could tell by her form that she'd been doing this for awhile. She didn't even care much about her injuries, which meant she got them often. Still, he wasn't about to turn puppy dog and start gushing and praising her. With a lopsided grin, he lifted one shoulder in a nonchalant shrug. "That was pretty good, I guess. Simple stuff." Twisted as it was, he liked pushing her buttons. Something about that fiery look she had in her eyes when her temper flared. It was sort of a turn on. Yeah, twisted, twisted twisted.

"Simple?" Kaysen snapped. "Simple?!" She skated back up to him. Consider her buttons pushed. "That wasn't simple, that shit took work, thank you, I'd like to see you do it!" she grabbed her backpack, and gave him an angry, pointed glare. Hell no was anyone going to downplay the shit she could do as kid's stuff, she'd been on a board since she could walk, and it had taken work to get as good as she was. And she was good, damnit. Much better than the little skateboard gang of thirteen year olds that hung out at Graevaret or the like. She was good.

"Careful of Edison," Chance told her calmly before rolling backward on his board, unable to disguise his smile. "And like I said, you're pretty good. But I can do everything I've seen you do so far. Sure to a bystander it looks complicated, but to me, it's simple stuff. That's by no means putting down your abilities." So he was a bit full of himself when it came to his board. He couldn't help it, and to be honest, he liked a challenge, and more, liked presenting one. "No need to get so defensive. You name it, I can probably do it."

"Really, you can just land everything I just did. Let's see then." Kaysen said, giving him a highly unimpressed look. Actually, around Marquette, Kaysen hadn't ever seen anyone else who could really hold a candle to her. People were too afraid of getting hurt or whatever, and she never did. You had to commit or you got hurt, and sometimes you got hurt anyways.

There was the issue. After you've put a gun to your head and dealt with death, falling off your skateboard didn't seem so terrifying anymore. He could do what she had done, he was confident of that. He had gone through a phase last year when he tried to do complicated tricks that could have easily sent him to the hospital. A part of him had wanted to get hurt badly enough. Shrugging at Kaysen, he skated past her and proceeded through the tricks she had shown him, pulling off every single one, until, of course, he hopped from one bench to the other. That's where he fucked it up and his board stalled, sending him flying onto his back onto the concrete below. He landed with a thud, laughter catching in his throat and choking him momentarily. There. Now you've gone and really impressed her.

Kaysen was smirking as he went down, and she skated up, stopping when she got to him, and she stepped off of her board to squat down. She leaned over him, that smirk still quite firmly in place. "What was that you were saying?" she asked far too sweetly.

He would have replied, but he was still trying to catch his breath. Resigned, he stayed flat on his back and instead smirked at her before finally managing to move. Wheezing, he pushed himself halfway up and rolled onto his side. His back was going to be scratched to hell. "I can do it," he managed, wincing as he stretched his back. "Let me try again."

"Um, you might want to do stupid dangerous stuff for the hell of it sometime when you're less beat to shit." Kaysen said. "You were already hurt anyways with your lip and your ribs and now you just ditched on your back." she pointed out. She also took note that she could see little pinpricks of blood on the back of his shirt, and she reached out to tug it up so she could get a better view of how scraped up he was. She didn't touch his skin, but she eyed his back critically.

There was that choking thing again, except this time it had less to do with landing on his back and more to do with her tugging his shirt up. Chance hissed through his teeth as he instinctively arched away from her. Okay, so yeah, that fucking hurt. Plus he wasn't sure how comfortable he felt with Kaysen eying his bare back, especially with the bruising around his ribs. He tried to tug his shirt back down. "I'm fine," he told her before shooting her a quick glance. "It's not that bad, is it?"

She was left blinking. "Um, yes!" she said. "You're all hurt! Like you're scratched to hell but dude! You were that bruised up from last night?!" she cried, totally blindsided by that. He hadn't seemed to be that hurt to her when they'd left, but gah! Bruises! Lots of them! So unless he'd gone home and rammed himself into poles or the like the whole way home...eeeesh.

Chance smiled at her, pulling his shirt back down his back and ignoring the sting. "I'm fine," he repeated. "It's what happens when people are kicking you. Bruises heal." Chance stood and grabbed his board, now resting upside down next to the bench he had fallen from. He didn't want her to be patching him up every time they talked to each other. Dropping his board onto the ground, he ran a hand through his hair. "Let me try it again. I can get it this time. You were distracting me."

"I was doing that how?" Kaysen asked. "I didn't even say anything to distract you." she pointed out. "And seriously, you should give it a rest. That looked like it really hurt, and you should prolly get your back washed off and stuff in case there's sand in the scrapes." She knew all about sand in the scrapes, it blew.

"You were watching," Chance replied, as if that explained everything. He could do anything when people watched because he never paid them any attention. Kaysen was a completely different story. "I live like, a block away. I don't think I'll bleed to death. Besides, has ditching ever stopped you from getting back on your board?"

"No, but usually I wait til the next day to go back after a serious ditch." Kaysen said. Then she looked at him, kinda confused. "Um...yeaaah I was watching, that was the point, remember? You wanted to show me up and y'know. Utterly failed?"

Chance laughed, lifting a hand to scratch the nape of his neck. "Yeah, I concede. You're the Queen. And I didn't want to show you up at all. Besides," he continued, smirking now, "how do you know I didn't ditch on purpose?" Okay, that was a stretch. He didn't ditch on purpose for anyone, but it never hurt to cling to the last thread of ego he had currently.

"Because I was watching, and you totally didn't." Kaysen said firmly. "You wouldn't have had that 'oh god I fucked up!' look on your face all skateboarders do when they realize the second you start to fall that you can't pull it back." she continued. "But yes, I'm the queen. Or something. I rock." All her statement needed was 'neener' stuck on the end with her tongue stuck out, but she refrained.

"Okay, you rock, Queen Kaysen and her royal subject Edison," Chance said, mock bowing despite the constant stinging in his back. "I could do it you know." He pushed his foot off of the ground lightly to roll forward, stopping and smiling down at her. "But since you're concerned for my well being, I'll put off showing you up for another day." He feigned an overly dramatic grimace and reached back to touch his back. "Since I did injure myself while attempting to impress you...twice...wanna walk me home?"

"Don't start that shit again." Kaysen grumbled, standing back up again and pushing off on her board closer. "I like you better when you're not being fucking weird and insane." she added. Then she considered, eying him very critically. "...I guess." she conceded. Some twisted logic in her head told her that if she did, maybe the trap would spring already and she could be done with him. It was sound logic to her.

He should have taken offense at being called weird and insane, but he didn't. Couldn't. Especially when it was probably true. "You know I'm just kidding," Chance told her, deciding to walk now, as his back was starting to throb. "Just because a guy tries to flirt with you, doesn't mean he's insane." With a small smile, he glanced at her, wondering when a scowl had become adorable. God, he was pathetic. Seriously. Dark, broody, mysterious guy? That was him. Not blushing, stammering, panting for attention guy.

"Um, yeah it does." Kaysen said. "Ask anybody. that makes you totally certifiable, and definitely freakshow material." she continued. "Because seriously. Social. Leper. I said it before, I just don't think you were listening. Need to clean the shit out of your ears or something." she commented, skating wide circles around him as he walked. She was good at that, she did it with Isaac all the time.

"Yeah...I heard you. I just don't agree with you." Chance didn't mind her circling him, even though he kind of felt like he was some kind of prey. He motioned toward himself with the arm carrying his board. "Besides, you're a social leper and me...what have you called me so far? Uhm, insane, obsessive, weird, certifiable freakshow material. So, I guess you're a bit better off than I am."

"Not really all of those things fall under the social leper category." Kaysen said. "And much, much more." She was halfway around again, at his back when something finally sank in and she blinked, almost falling off of her board. "Wait, you're flirting with me?!"

Brows furrowed together, Chance watched her stumble, trying to understand where that had come from. "Huh?" Then he remembered mentioning the word flirt a few seconds ago. He was starting to wonder if the things he said actually got through to her, or if she had an automatic resistance to conversation with other people. "No, I'm not flirting with you. Obsessive, insane freakshows do not flirt with social lepers, it's just unheard of." His tone was calm, almost amused. "So don't look at me like that, or start, you know...doing that thing you do when you're starting to freak out."

She had to mentally try to rewind what he'd said, and she didn't think that it added up with what he said now. But she was SOOOO going for the current 'no, not flirting' thing because the idea that he was did in fact hit her freak out button hard. "Thank god!" she said, totally not at all thinking about he might take that, she was just relieved that he wasn't like...hitting on her. God, she had no idea what she'd do if he did.

Chance honestly wasn't sure whether to be amused or offended at her relieved outburst, so he simply kept walking, his house now in view down the street. "Would me flirting with you really be that bad?" he asked, shooting her a pained look. "I mean, yeah, I'm not like..yeah...but am I that repulsive?" He just hoped his mother wasn't home. If Kaysen thought he was insane...if she met his mother, he'd probably never see her again.

She took a minute to get going again, pushing off behind him once more. "I...people don't flirt with me." she said. "And you're not repulsive." she added, because she sort of recognized that she might need to say that because she might have hurt his feelings. God, when had she started worrying about hurting anyone's feelings? Wasn't he secretly out to hurt hers?

"Are you sure they don't?" Chance asked. "Or is it possible that you just don't recognize it when they do? Because yeah, I was flirting with you, but I'm not now," he added quickly before she could go off or run. "I mean you're really...and yeah..." Stop talking! Swallowing, Chance motioned ahead toward the large house with the winding driveway. "I live up there," he told her, stopping and watching her on her board. "Do you wanna, you know, come inside or something? Get a drink?" Seventeen, total psycho, plenty of "girlfriends" in your time, and you're stumbling about like a complete moron.

"Yeah, my first hint is usually when they start laughing at me and making fun if I so much as look over at them." Kaysen said. "That really cuts right through the whole possibility of flirting. God you still don't get it, do you." she snapped. Then she frowned at him. "You were? Gah, okay not talking about this." she decided, shaking her head and following. "I dunno, I could I guess. Are your parents home?"

With a sigh, Chance fell silent. He did get it. But every time he tried to make her understand that he got it, he said it wrong, or she took it wrong, and she was snapping at him. If anyone got it, it was Chance. Just because people left him alone in school now, didn't mean it was always that way. And it didn't mean his life was perfect. A part of him wanted to get angry that she couldn't see past her own pain and recognize other people's, but he knew if he got angry, she'd bolt. And he didn't want that. "My mom's not home," he told her, walking past her up the driveway. Usually when his mom was home, the garage was open, and thankfully it was shut now. He slipped his key into the door and looked back at her over his shoulder. "She should be home soon, so if you're worried I'm going to like, go all insane on you, don't."

The thought had crossed her mind, but she tried not to look like it had. "Is it just you and your mom?" she asked, kicking her board up as she got off of it, and she peeked in her backpack to check on Edison. Who had apparently fallen asleep. But asleep was fine, so she was all good.

"Yup." Simple answer for a simple question. Chance stepped inside his house and held the door open for her, waiting for her to enter. Their home was bigger than what Chance felt was actually needed. Too many rooms for only two people, but he supposed when a life insurance policy was a half a million dollars...well...might as well show it off. It was a morbid thought, and deep down Chance knew his mom hadn't bought the house with that in mind, but he supposed when you got used to a certain lifestyle, it was hard to break from it. "Coming in?" he asked, after she had peeked into her bag.

She sort of looked up then hesitated, before she decided she was braver than that, and she did. She walked in and looked around, taking Edison out of her bag to carry him and she left everything else by the door. Just in case she needed a quick getaway. Hey, one never knew. "You want me to clean up your back?" she asked. Since he couldn't do it himself.

"Uhm." Chance shut the door behind her and led her down the foyer hall into the kitchen. He grabbed two sodas and set them on the island before pausing. "Yeah...okay." He turned and pulled open the small closet in the hall leading from the kitchen into the living room and pulled out his mother's first aid kit before bringing it to her. Man, he was stupid. Stupid. This probably wasn't a wise idea at all. Chance hesitated before tugging his shirt up over his head. He kept it around his arms and sat on one of the island stools. "Just...careful with the disinfectant. It stings."

"Baby." Kaysen accused, then after a hesitation, she pulled up another stool and sat behind him. She set Edison down on the counter. "Make sure he doesn't fall." she said as she grabbed up the disinfectant and wipes. Eyeing his back critically, she considered for a few long moments. There wasn't a lot of sand, but there was some, and while she'd totally had worse, she knew some scrapes were still a pain in the ass. These ones were pretty spread out, so yeah. Half glancing at his profile, she started in on washing the scrapes.

Chance bit his lip painfully, not wanting to jerk too badly at the touch. He reached out and took Edison in his hands after the kitten began to wander too closely to the edge. He tried to think of something to say, but his throat was closed up now and all he could do was close his eyes as she worked on cleaning up his back. It hurt, but Jesus, it was worth it. "I guess I owe you," he managed, the lump in his throat dry. "I should pay you or something for patching me up all the time."

Kaysen rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because that's not at all whore-like." she stated, carefully starting to get some sand out of the scrapes on his shoulder. That always sucked the most, really. Everything else was cake, but gravel in wounds was horrible, and sand in them was just as bad. She tried to be careful with him, since she could see him tense up really bad. She had to smirk faintly to herself over it--like she'd said. Baby. She'd totally had worse. Boys were like that though. They could be gushing blood and they'd say they were fine, either that or they were the biggest wussies on the planet.

"Whore like?" Chance asked, finally jerking away and making a noise in his throat that sounded way too close to a whine. "I'm not asking to pay you for sexual favors. I don't think nurses and doctors would appreciate the comparison. Still, thanks," he said, shifting his gaze down to Edison, who had somehow begun to nuzzle his palm. "For helping me out...and still talking to me even though I'm clearly insane."

"You are such a baby! Hold still." Kaysen said firmly, going back to what she was doing. "I swear, you act like you've never ditched before. This is so totally not even that bad." she added. It was possible she was rambling a little bit. "If there are any doctors around to be insulted, then I'm truly sorry. But they can piss off, too. And c'mon. Don't thank me for shit. What am I supposed to do? Just like, leave you bleeding or something?"

Chance laughed at that, his thumb rubbing over Edison's ears as the cat began to lick at his fingers. "Yeah, probably. I bet you'd probably prefer to leave me bleeding. And hey, I've ditched worse than this, but I usually don't have someone digging gravel out of my back afterward." Okay, he was going to sit still. For real. He could handle it. "Besides, by the time you're done, my back will be feeling better, but your arm is still going to be sore. You should take care of yourself the way you take care of me."

"Thom patched me up when I ditched." Kaysen said, rolling her eyes. "It's fine. See me? I'm totally not a big baby. I can hack it." So maybe she'd teared up a little, he didn't need to know that. "And by the way, I do what I want, thanks, so if I wanted to leave you bleeding, I totally would." she added. Because yeah. She paused and started lightly scratching at some more sand--which she knew would hurt like a bitch so she was trying to do it fast.

"Fuck!" Chance yelped, practically bounding off of the stool. He shot her a look and attempted not to pout. "Now you're just trying to make it hurt." Reluctantly he sat back on the stool to let her finish. Okay, fine, he was pouting now, but damn, it fucking hurt and he'd never really had anyone patch him up after ditching. His mom felt it was his own fault for skateboarding, so any injurt he incurred was his own responsibility to heal. "How's you arm?" he asked lightly, remembering the scrape she had shown him earlier. "Still hurt?"

"Quit being such a pussy." Kaysen said, rolling her eyes. "You've got sand in your scrapes, I'm getting it out. I mean, if you really want it to heal in there, fine, I can go, but I'm sure you know better than to leave it there." she finished. She started working at the sand again. "My arm's fine." she added. She didn't mention that yes, it did still hurt, but that's what happened when you left a bunch of your skin on the sidewalk. Her chin was just as bad, it just happened to not be quite so huge.

"Yeah I bet it is," Chance said, turning his head slightly. "Last I saw it, you didn't clean it very well. I bet it gets infected. You're good at being bossy but you don't take your own advice." Okay so his back was starting to feel a bit better. He just hoped she didn't stop with that touching thing. Sick!

"I got all the gravel out." Kaysen said. Or, okay, Thom did. "It just takes time to heal you know. Unless you've got like, freakish superhealing powers, which if you did? You totally wouldn't be so badly bruised up." She could see now that the bruises wrapped around his ribs on his side and over onto his abdomen a little, dark, uneven bruises. Not that she'd been paying huge attention to it or anything! Really! She so totally hadn't checked him out.

Chance listened to her words before he set Edison back onto the island where he promptly pounced upon her unopened can of soda. Slipping off the stool, Chance stood and turned toward Kaysen, his expression serious as he looked down at her. He didn't so much care that he was shirtless now. "I can help you with that scrape, if you want me too. I have...it's hard to explain. But if you trust me, I can make it not hurt anymore."

Kaysen looked up at him, massively confused. One second she was patching up his back and now...what the hell? It gave her a little thread of worry and fear. She'd almost gotten herself to stop being so paranoid since she'd been actively doing something, so she hadn't worried about what he might do for a good minute and a half or so. And this is it. This is where the trap gets sprung, and everything crashes down. "What are you talking about?" she asked quietly. "I'm not done with your back." Can we please go back to that and pretend you hadn't gone weird?

Torn, Chance glanced down at her arm, covered up now. But he knew where the injury was, he knew it was bothering her. Was he willing to completely blow this out of the water just to heal a scrape? And she was looking up at him with those wide eyes again, that slight fear. Frowning, Chance shook his head. "Nevermind." He turned away from her to let her finish up on his back, eager now to get his shirt back on. He was going to ruin this somehow, he knew it. "Are you almost done?"

Thank god. she thought in relief as he sat back down. Much better. She was so totally going to ignore the shit out of what he'd just said and done. Yeppers, witness her not at all paying attention. "Almost, hold your horses." Kaysen said. "Unless you're in a big rush or something." she added, which now occurred to her. Maybe whatever just happened mean that now he wanted her to go away.

"No, I'm not," he said assuredly. His knee was starting to do that restless bouncing thing again. He just needed to calm himself and take a step back and think things through. He'd only started talking to her a couple of days ago and she didn't trust him yet. No way would she take what he could do in stride. She'd run screaming from his house and he'd never see her again. That much was certain. "It just...feels weird not looking at you while we're talking."

"Haven't you ever talked on a phone?" she asked, finding tha weird. "You don't see people on the phone when you're talking to them." It was sound logic. Pausing, she got some more disinfectant onto a cotton ball and she started really cleaning it all off. She thought she'd got most of the sand, so that was good. She couldn't see any immediately, and she wasn't going digging into his scrapes to find more.

"No, not usually. The only person I really talked on the to phone was Devon...and Jordan texts, so...other than my mom, who I avoid at all costs, no...I'm not a phone person. I prefer to see you face to face if we're going to have a conversation." He'd finally relaxed again, running a hand through his shaggy hair. He felt his lips curve into a smile, despite the fact that she couldn't see it. "So if you ever decide to call me, you might as well just walk on over instead."

She would require his number to do that and she was fairly sure she'd never be brave enough to do it. Like, ever. But then again she could barely believe she was over his house cleaning wounds on his back. "Who's Devan and Jordan?" she asked instead of talking about the possiblility that she may call him. She sat back, eyeing his back critically. Then she took a bandage, and started blotting at the scrapes. For her, she always would rather let them breathe, so they'd scab fast and she wouldn't have to worry about them so much, but she didn't know what he wanted to do with them.

"A couple of friends of mine," he answered easily, picking at the knee of his jeans. "Jordan started seeing my friend, Devon Richards. He's in the hospital now. Coma, or something, it's a long story." And one he'd prefer not to talk about. "She hasn't spoken since he got hurt, so that's why we text each other instead." He could feel her pressing the bandage against his back. "You don't have to bandage it up," he told her. "The bandages will end up bugging me and I'll spend more time than is necessary trying to peel them off."

"Okay." Kaysen said. "I'm just gonna keep it here for a second." she added, pressing her palm against his back over the scrapes, to get as much blood off as she could. "Sorry about your friend." she added, because it seemed like the thing to say. She thought she remembered hearing about something like that, but she didn't know the details.

Chance rolled his eyes, thinking it was completely and utterly ridiculous and unfair that he had to sit there, perfectly still when she was touching him that way. He was starting to get fidgety again. "It's not your fault, no need to be sorry. Shit happens, especially to good people." He fell silent, watching Edison curl up on the island counter top. "So," he began slowly, deciding to push his luck. "Are you gonna ask for my number? Or should I ask for yours?"

It was Kaysen's turn to fidget. "Aren't you the one who was just saying that you don't like the phone?" she asked. "Like you're not a phone person and you want to talk to people face to face?" Way to dodge the question! Huzzah! God, was he back to flirting? Was he not? She had no experience in this sort of thing at all so she really had no way of knowing.

"The phone is a great way for me to call you up and ask you to come over," he explained. "Or for you to call me up and ask me to come over. Conversation can happen after." He twisted around on the stool to look at her. "I'm not that scary, am I? I know I have my weird moments, but I'm asking you for your number...it's a pretty normal thing to do."

It was way easier to talk to him when he wasn't looking at her. Like, totally. She had no idea why it was easier, but ohhhh yeah everything was a million shades of uncomfortable now that he was putting her on the spot and looking at her and sitting right there n stuff. It was also easier to ignore that she was sitting kind of close to him when she'd had something else she was concentrating on. She put the bandage aside and sort of tried not to fidget, but it wasn't working for her. "I should go." she said, looking anywhere but at him.

Frowning, Chance finally turned himself completely around on the stool to look at her. Was he really that pathetic that he just ignored it when she was constantly rejecting him? He pulled his shirt back over his head and tugged it down. "I'm just asking for your number. I'm not asking you out, or whatever. Who do I call when I need someone to clean up my injuries again?"

She looked kind of pained, eyes firmly on the kitchen floor. At least until she heard squeaking and she looked up to grab Edison off of the counter. She wasn't sure if that was what he was really after or not, and she wasn't at all sure she should do this. Which was amazingly stupid, because he knew where she lived and had already seen her room. So having her phone number wasn't really that big a deal, was it? Oh god, if he got the one out of the book her mom would answer or her dad, or Isaac...yeah, okay. Better give him her cell. "...okay." she said, still totally unsure of herself.

Chance smiled softly and stood, turning to pull open the drawer of the island, grabbing a pen and the small post-its his mom kept there. He slid handed them to Kaysen, knowing he was grinning like an idiot again. "I swear I won't call you unless it's really really important," he promised, sitting back on the stool, only because it meant he was closer to her than he was had he kept standing. "You know, I ditch a lot more than I let on." Which was total bull, which he was sure she knew, but since she couldn't tell when someone was flirting with her, if he didn't mind saying it so much.

"I don't know, you looked alright." Kaysen conceded, pausing to deposit her kitten in the hood of her hoodie while she quickly wrote down her number. She pushed it over towards him. "Only for things that are really important." she said. Not that she believed for a second he'd follow that. But...oh well. Maybe he wouldn't call. Or maybe she'd learn what it was he thought constituted an emergency.

"Promise," he said again, taking the number from her. Of course, what she considered an emergency may be entirely different than what he considered an emergency, But he certainly didn't need to start digging for specifics right then. He slipped the post it into his pocket. The last thing he needed was his mother finding it. "You know, you can call me too. I know you won't, but if you ever...want to, or whatever. You can. If you need, like, company."

She wondered if he could fathom that she had spent her entire life without company. That the most she had was her brother, really, and only when he was around. That the last thing she ever considered was 'hey, I wonder who I could hang out with today' because there was never anyone who came to mind. She didn't hang out with people, she avoided them. It was so utterly alien to her. He'd mentioned friends. Devon and Jordan, people he had. She didn't have anyone like that and never had.

"I'll take your silence as meaning you'll think about it," Chance said, taking the pen and writing his own cell phone number down before handing her the post it. "I know you don't like being around people, really, and you don't trust me yet, but I like being around you, even when you're snapping at me. No tricks, no ulterior motives. I just...even if you just want to go skateboarding. I don't mind."

She took it, sort of half glancing down to see what his handwriting was like, before she put it into her hoodie's pocket. "Okay." she conceded. She might think about it. It would be weird, but oh well. Pretty much lately everything had been weird. What was one more thing? Maybe it would work out. Or maybe she was insane, and stupid. Probably those last two, really. She couldn't think of a single reason why it would be the former.

Chance parted his lips to reply before he heard the front door open. He started, an Oh, shit moment flooding his body before he grabbed the first aid kit and took it back to the closet, shutting it quickly as his mom walked through the door. Ignoring her, he returned to Kaysen. "I'll walk you home," he said quickly, wanting to get her out of the house as soon as possible with as little communication as possible.

Kaysen saw the abrupt change going on, and was a little bewildered. "Er...okay..." she said, grabbing up her stuff and making sure Edison was all good before she headed for the door. Good thing she hadn't taken her shoes off, wasn't it?

Chance sighed as his mom entered the kitchen, two grocery bags in her arms. She seemed to pause momentarily as her eyes fell upon Kaysen. "You're home," she said, shooting him a bewildered look before setting the bags down. "Are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

"Uhm." No? Fuck. "This is Kaysen, Kaysen, my mom." A quick introduction and he touched her elbow lightly to try and maneuver her out of the kitchen, but his mom was far too quick to allow that to happen.

"Kaysen?" Victoria asked, taking a few cans from the bags and staring at him before smiling at Kaysen. "It's nice to finally put a face with the name."

There were several things that went on in Kaysen's brain simultaneiously. There was the flailing over meeting some strange woman who was the mom of the strange guy she wasn't even sure she liked hanging out with yet. Then of course there was the 'caught' sort of irrational feeling she was having like she'd been walked in on doing something wrong even when it was the opposite. Beyond that, there were jumbles of other feelings, all drowned out when her last bit sank in and she was full fledged inernal panicking. Finally put a face with the name?!?! What came out of her mouth was a squeaky little: "Huh?"

"Nothing," Chance answered before his mom could, his cheeks burning. Victoria shot him a "What? Did I say something wrong? look and he glared at her before nudging Kaysen toward the door. "Bye, mom."

"Dinner's at five!"

"Plans," he yelled over his shoulder before leading Kaysen out the front door. He left his board on the porch and shoved his hands in his pockets before finding the courage to look at Kaysen. "She got you confused with Jordan, I think...don't mind her."

Kaysen didn't believe that for a second. "Cuz they sound so much alike, and like, she totally wouldn't have met Jordan before since you guys are such good friends and whatever." she said. Then she decided that she really didn't care that she didn't believe it, she wanted to believe it. Yes, yes. Wanted to, so she was going with that! "...erm. Nevermind! Confused me. Gotcha." Witness her going with that.

Sighing, Chance walked down the driveway, thankful when she followed. "My mom's a bit nuts," he told her. And thus, it was his turn to be internally flailing. Everytime he thought he was making progress with Kaysen, it backfired. Maybe it was a sign. He turned to look at Kaysen, walking backward down the walk. "Isn't insanity genetic, or whatever? If it is, that's where I got it from." Since he was positive she thought he was crazy anyway. Might as well run with it.

Yes, she did think he was nuts. She set her board down but went very slowly so she could keep up with him and this time she didn't circle him. "I think it is sometimes. I don't think you'd run around confusing people though." she said. Which was a totally wild suggestion, considering she didn't know him well period. For all she knew, he did. Or just had a crappy memory or something.

"So, okay, if I told you that I mentioned you like, once or twice, then you look at me like I'm insane again," Chance told her. "Or you accuse me of stalking you." He really was a sucker for punishment. "Either way, I look like a moron."

Kaysen hesitated as she eyed him for a long moment. "Have you mentioned me?" she asked, voice kind of quiet. She really thought she didn't want to know the answer to this, but oh well. Maybe he wasn't the only one who was a glutton for punishment. She was confused and really had the instinct to ignore or go around it, but...oh well.

Chuckling, Chance shot her a look before staring ahead, feeling suddenly out of place without his skateboard. He knew better than to completely tell the truth. In fact, he was beginning to understand Kaysen a bit more, which was strange, given she rarely said anything worthwhile unless it was while yelling at him. "Which answer do you prefer to hear?"

She thought about that before answering. "I don't know. The truth?" she asked for hesitantly. Like she wasn't at all sure she really did want the truth. But from another point of view, she didn't really want to be lied to, and find out later that she was, because that had the potential to be creepier than she was expecting from him already.

"The truth is for shit," he told her. "I know that, and I think you know that. It can be manipulated, twisted..." Trailing off, he pushed his own thoughts to the back of his mind before looking over at her. She really did have incredible lips. But that was way, way off course from their discussion. "The truth is, yeah maybe I did mention you a few times. I guess that can go into your stalker file you're developing on me, right?"

"Mentioned me how?" she asked. Woohoo, score one for her for asking a bunch of questions she didn't particularly want to know the answers to! It was a record for her today. She seemed to be going for a few of them, and usually she didn't do that at all. "And...y'know...how come?"

Chance paused and waited until she looked at him. "I think I've been pretty obvious about that, Kaysen. I don't know, do you really need me to spell it out for you?"

She made a face at him. "Fine. Lie to me." she decided. "Tell me whatever you want." she invited, sighing to herself. She didn't know if it was obvious to her. She was still confused as all hell. Like, all her sixteen years worth of confusion added up couldn't compare to how Chance made her feel.

"You seem to prefer the truth," Chance replied, falling into step next to her again, despite the fact that she was on her skateboard. "But it seems whenever I try to tell you the truth, you freak out on me."

"Yeah, well, that's just me. Maybe I'm annoying and you should give it up or something. Or you could start getting creative with your lying, and like, start telling me about how zombies are about to invade and you know, only no one else does but you have that curse that if you told anyone, they wouldn't believe you. And some...future...guy robot thing...came from the future to save a turkey--wait, that was Aqua Teen. Moving on. But you're interested because the fate of humanity is in my genes, since I've...got so much asphalt, gravel, and various other minerals from the area in my skin and they've assimilated into my body chemistry by now. Which will repel the zombies." Yeah she was talking complete shit now.

Chance wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or shake her in frustration. "Well, you've got an imagination," he responded after a few moments of silence. "And you know, I wouldn't be walking you home if zombies were about to invade. I'd be like, thousands of miles from town if that were the case. And Aqua Teen has to be one of the dumbest shows I've watched. I like Futurama." He grinned at her. "And believe it or not, I haven't lied to you once since we met each other."

"Hey, I like Aqua Teen. It's really random. I like random." Kaysen protested. "So if zombies were to invade, you'd just cut and run? Wuss." she accused. "Not me. I'd...come up with a plan." she said firmly. What that plan was, who new, but now her mind was milling it over. "I'd have to go to Thom's house, because the basement's soundproofed. So people could hole up down there, and the zombies wouldn't know."

"Aqua Teen has no reason to it, and every time I watch it, someone dies. And fuck yeah, I'd run. I'm not going to get my brains eaten by some zombie. And whatever, soundproofing...? Zombies know where you are. They don't need to hear you. They always find you, everyone knows that. That's why there's ever like, two survivors in zombie movies. Your plan would be to bash in their heads with your skateboard as they crashed in through the window."

"Whatever!" Kaysen scoffed. "That's why you reinforce the windows. So you'd have to do that first, and if they can't hear you and you're downstairs, they can't sense you either. You'd be totally safe. Then, I think I'd probably take over the fire hall, there's a tower, so I could get a rifle and like, snipe zombies for a good few hours a day, trade of shifts. It's at the top of a hill too, so squirting water down the roads would turn them to ice in the winter, and iced up zombies on more ice would make killing them hella easy." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "So when they attack, I'll be sure not to come get you to save, since you'll be in like, another country already."

"How do you know they're not like, psychic zombies who can read your mind?" Chance shot back. "And if you're holed up in some boarded up, soundproofed basement, why the fuck would you leave and risk your life to get to a fucking tower? Zombies are undead right? You're totally making your own zombie rules! If you were smart, you'd just leave the country with me instead of playing hero."

"I'd rather play hero than coward." Kaysen said promptly. "Fuck that noise, if zombies are going to be invading my town, then they're going down. Besides. I'll bet a whole lot of them are the assholes who are mean to me. I can take out some aggression on them." Then she rolled her eyes. "They're undead, they can't even talk, how on earth would they be psychic? That's just crap. No we're talking the Romero, slow ass undead with no intelligence, they just see something moving and go lumbering towards them for tasty brains."

"Fuck, those movies are complete bullshit," Chance said firmly. "Tasty brain zombies who move at a snail pace and still end up killing everyone. What the fuck? Besides, zombie movies are completely overplayed these days, they're all the same cookie cutter pieces of crap. And sorry, but make them psychic and maybe give them some speed...I'm totally there. Otherwise, boring." He looked at her. "You're just bending the rules to benefit! Suddenly you got like, a rifle, and ice, and you're all Milla Jovoich in Resident Evil kick ass and come on...you'd be hiding under a table in Harkin's basement screaming like a girl if zombies were beating their way inside."

"Says you. You don't know me very well though." Kaysen huffed, mock-offended. "At least I wouldn't be running off like a big pussy. And hello! We live in the U.p.! Ice comes down from the sky, and all you need is water to make more. That'd be easy. All I'd have to do is wait til October. And hey, Dawn of the Dead the remake were fast zombies. But if you want fast and psychic, then they're not even zombies anymore. That's more vampires n shit. Zombies are slow and stupid because they're reanimated corpses. They don't think, they run on twitches of instinct, and they have no survival skills. They're really only dangerous in mobs. And there would be mobs, because no one believes in zombies. Unless you're talking about me. Jeeze, haven't you read The Zombie Survival Guide or World War Z?" she asked, tsking at him.

"Vampires!" Chance threw his hands up in the air. "Vampires? Are you shitting me? Psychic does not equal vampires. Vampires are allergic to sun, undead blood sucking fiends. Totally opposite from psychic zombies, and yeah, you make them psychic it adds a whole new dimension to the same old shit. How is slow and stupid at all scary? I'm trying to make them more interesting. I did read The Zombie Survival Guide," he joked. "Didn't teach me anything I didn't already know. See Zombie. A. Run from Zombie. or B. Shoot at Zombie with high powered rifle then run from Zombie. Big fucking deal. Now World War Z, that's one I need to check out from the library."

"High powered rifles cause too much noise, it just attracts more." Kaysen said firmly. "Duh. And do it, it's like, the best book I've ever read. So read that before you go all expert on zombies on me when you clearly don't know what you're talking about." she finished loftily. "Haven't you seen vampire movies? Psychic. With all the like 'come to meeee' crap that hypnotizes people. Haven't you watched Dracula? Like any version ever? Psychic."

"Yeah but who cares if you attract more? Slow moving dumbasses, remember? Are you really that worried? And, hello, psychic does not mean hypnosis, so maybe you should read Vampires 101 before you start talking about it." He stuck his tongue out at her, despite the childishness of it all.

"You're a dickhead. You're just talking out your ass because I know more than you do." Kaysen shot back. "It's not normal hypnosis, it's not like he swung watches in front of her or anything, that's just a good word. He called her with his mind. That's totally psychic. And also, if you attract a shit ton--they travel in packs you know--then you'll totally run out of bullets, they'll overwhelm you and eat you! Way to contribute to the zombie army, Chance. Rifles don't exactly have a hig bullet capacity and don't reload very fast either." Wow was this conversation dumb. But she was weirdly having fun with it.

"Oh, so now you're changing your stance on psychic and hypnosis. Oh, it's not normal hypnosis," he mocked. "Admit it, I'm right. Vampires are more hypnotic than psychic and that's just the way of it. I don't need a rifle to kill zombies, I'd get like, a machine gun or something. Or a glock, just because they're cool." And he had one. "Or I'd just, hello, blow them up. Toss a bomb in the crowd and zombie problem solved." He paused and looked at her, his tone completely serious and full of curiosity. "If you bomb a vampire and blow it up, it dies, right?"

"Oh, so now you're changing your stance on psychic and hypnosis. Oh, it's not normal hypnosis," he mocked. "Admit it, I'm right. Vampires are more hypnotic than psychic and that's just the way of it. I don't need a rifle to kill zombies, I'd get like, a machine gun or something. Or a glock, just because they're cool." And he had one. "Or I'd just, hello, blow them up. Toss a bomb in the crowd and zombie problem solved." He paused and looked at her, his tone completely serious and full of curiosity. "If you bomb a vampire and blow it up, it dies, right?"

"Vampires, yeah." Kaysen said with a nod. "Not zombies, though. You have to squish their brains or their parts keep going. And okay smart guy, where exactly are you going to get a machine gun? Or a bomb? Are you secretly a crazy bomb guy that builds shit in his basement or something?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him. She realized they were getting closer to her house, and she might have slowed down the tiniest bit.

"So what, if blow up a zombie and their head comes off and rolls away from their body, what then? They can't bounce around on their necks, or is it like those stupid comedies where the body gets up and starts searching for the head, while the head is like, a couple feet away yelling 'over here you fuckwit!'" Chance shook his head. "And no, I'm not some crazy bomb guy who builds shit in my basement, but fuck, if vampires or zombies attack, you're going to wish I was."

"No, that's lame return of the living dead zombies. I always thought those ones were really gay." Kaysen commented, shrugging. "You already said you'd totally bail and be elsewhere anyways, so it won't matter. I'll be left all on my own anyhow." she continued. No different than now, really. She looked at him again, head tilting to the side a touch as she did so. "So I'll just have to fight off the zombie invasion all by myself."

"Well the way those movies go, you'd be the only one left alive, so yeah, you'd be on your own. Until, of course, the last twenty minutes when the hero, that'd be me, who ditched the pretty heroine, that'd be you, halfway through the movie, came driving back into town in a kick ass car, machine gun flying, killing all the non-gay zombies and saving your ass." He shrugged. "Happy ending for all."

Kaysen groaned, though she did laugh a little too. "What, and I'm supposed to just like, hop into the car, lose all of my badass points as I become the total damsel in distress, and I'm supposed to forgive your ass? You totally ditched me!" she said, punching his shoulder lightly. "You'd totally have to come up with the best suckup story ever for me not to like, kick you out the door, steal your kick ass car and drive off into the sunset on my own."

"It was all part of my plan," he assured her with a grin. "I knew that there was like, a zombie killing machine gun somewhere that would kill all th zombies in one fell swoop, so I had to ditch to go find said machine gun, otherwise the whole town would totally be lost to the zombies. And I couldn't take you because, it'd be too dangerous, and I knew you were kick ass, so you could handle it on your own." He resisted the urge to laugh. "You're not a damsel in distress...you'd like, hang out of the kick ass car and whack everyone with your weapon of choice. We'd be like Bonnie and Clyde, but good guys...and killing zombies instead of robbing banks."

"So not really like them at all." Kaysen said, smirking. "And a machete." she said firmly. "You don't have to reload them, and they look scary." She nodded, then rolled to a stop at the end of her driveway. Stepping off her board, she kicked it up, then felt incredibly weird. She realized they'd had a whole conversation there, and she'd actually kinda liked it. And now she didn't know how to say goodbye to him, or whatever. How did people normally do this? Was she making a Thing here when there didn't need to be? Gah!

"Machetes it is," Chance agreed with a nod, looking over her shoulder at her house behind her. "You get the machete, I'll take the machine gun. Those zombies will be sorry they ever attacked Marquette." He rocked back on his heels, knowing that if he said anything remotely weird, she'd withdraw again. So instead he smiled at her and began to walk backward again, the way they had came. He wasn't about to draw out this goodbye and send everything into "weird" mode again. "You have my cell," he told her. "Keep me updated on that zombie attack, if you see anything weird, or anyone mentions brains at dinner."

She watched him going, glad that there apparently wasn't going to be a Thing. "Okay." she agreed. "Um. See ya." she added, giving an awkward little half wave that looked just like she felt--like she wasn't sure that was what she was supposed to be doing. Then she turned and headed up the drive to her house, glancing back once before she disappeared inside.

Chance watched her until she disappeared inside of her house. Biting the inside of his lip, he turned and began to walk back home, not really unable to stop the grin on his face this time. Pulling out his phone, he very nearly called her, wondering if zombie invasions would pass as an important reason. Deciding against it, he put his phone back into his pocket and headed home.