Move that healthy butt

Who: Alexis and Nate
Where: Streets of Marquette
When: Shortly after noon

Frank had told Nate not to go to the parade but it was a matter of interpretation, wasn't it? Don't go there? Or don't partake in it? Nate chose the latter. He was a little bored and curious about the whole deal. Finding out where they were presently wasn't hard, he just followed the music and stopped somewhat far away to just watch, safe distance and all. People were dancing, people who didn't look like the types to be dancing, people who couldn't dance at all, it was an interesting thing to watch, an old man doing little dance moves around his cane, his wife wiggling beside him. A bit surreal.

Nate heaved himself up on a concrete fence nearby, zipping his coat up better and huddling his shoulders against the cold as he lit up a cigarette. He could watch from there, hopefully nobody would trick him into dancing.

Alexis hadn't been able to resist the parade, all the color, music, and dancing! She'd gone to watch, a smile on her face as they passed by. Candy was thrown and she picked some up, stuffing it in her pockets before she decided to step away. Everyone seemed completely taken in by the event, and though she was drawn to join them, she hadn't even started her homework; she wasn't counting on Kyle to do his chemistry, so she might as well get to it.

As she drifted away from the parade, a guy sitting on a fence caught her attention. She stared for a minute, trying to place where she'd seen him, then smiled. "Hey," she said, looking up at him. "Were you at Kavin's party Friday night?" Her father had taught her a lot of things, but apparently the 'do not talk to strangers' rule never sunk in.

Nate hadn't noticed her approaching but looked down as she spoke, grinning lazily. "Yeah, I was." He didn't remember her face, though he'd been pretty out of it or busy talking to Medea and some crazy, clingy boob-obsessed college girl all night. "I'm Nate," he added, ashing off the cigarette on the other side of the fence so he wouldn't rain ashes down at her.

This town surprised him somewhat with the types of people who'd talk to him out of the blue. She looked like a cheerleader, all pretty in that way, definitely not the type of girl who'd go out of her way to say hello at least. Looks were deceiving, that much was obvious.

"Thought I saw you there," she smiled. "I'm Alexis. Mind if I join you? Or do you own the fence?" Try as she might, she couldn't remember much more about him than his face. She'd have to ask Kyle if he knew him, and maybe watch for him at school. Now that she found someone to talk to, her chemistry homework was quickly forgotten.

Nate looked around, more for show than anything, then grinned again. "Not my fence," he replied, briefly wondering if all the Marquette girls were this friendly. "Hop on up if you..." can. She was small, the fence was tall. "You want any help?" He offered, figuring he could probably give her a boost if she needed it. Then again she looked, again, like a cheerleader and those girls were full of surprises. He'd seen as much at whatever games he'd gone to in the past.

"I think I got it," she smirked. Alexis might not be a cheerleader, but she had the upper body strength needed to pull herself up, even if it took a little jump to start out with. Having been taught self defense and basic strength training, her father would have chewed her ass out if he found out she couldn't even hop a fence. Then she would have gotten a lecture for not carrying her gun with her, but it was the middle of the day and this didn't exactly look like a dangerous area of town, especially with the parade in sight. "Thanks for offering though," she said, planting herself down beside him. "So, are you friends with Kavin?" she asked, naturally nosy.

"Nice," Nate commented on her climbing and out of habit, offered her a cigarette, though he was pretty convinced she was a health-conscious cheerleader type now. "And yeah, I'd like to think so. Fast friends, just got here on Wednesday. Were you in the parade?" He wasn't sure why Frank was paranoid about the whole thing, if she'd been there she looked just fine. It was just a parade, not like it was like the rat-catcher fairytale where some creep was up front leading the town's population to their doom or something.

Alexis considered taking a cigarette, then shook her head, deciding against it. She smiled, though, since it was nice of him to ask. "No thanks," she said. "I just went down to watch it for a while. I like the music and costumes. It's the kind of thing that makes you wanna run away and join the circus, you know? I did grab some candy though." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a couple of pieces. "Want one?" she asked.

"Yeah, maybe when I'm done with this one," Nate replied, gesturing with his hand that held the cigarette. Sweets and nicotine didn't mix well. "So, Alexis," he said, trying to figure out why that name was so damn familiar. "You're a friend of Kavin's?" He asked, wetting his lips before taking another long drag of his cigarette.

"Just let me know," she said as she began unwrapping a piece for herself. "By proxy. I don't really know Kavin. I mean, we've met briefly and all, but not really talked. But Kyle invited me to the party, and they're friends." Popping the piece of candy in her mouth, Alexis began to suck on it, putting a small bulge in the side of her cheek as she spoke. "Do you know Kyle?" She wanted to call him, or text him, but they'd seen each other the past two days and she didn't want to seem desperate, especially considering she'd see him tomorrow in class.

That's where he remembered the name from. Don't tell Alexis, good thing he didn't blurt out that yeah, they'd been toking together. "Yeah he was at the party too," he replied. "Talked to him some. Plus he ran into my car on Friday." He grinned at that and quickly added, "Nothing serious, just a crazy guy on a bike meets sleepy car standing still."

Well, she knew he was at the party, seeing as how she'd been there with him, but she assumed he meant that's where he'd met him. "He ran into your car?" she asked, brow furring. "Like, on his bicycle?" She knew he didn't have a motorcycle yet because they'd talked about it, which made the imagry of this collison a bit more difficult to picture. "Were you parked?"

"I was sitting at the lights," Nate chuckled. "He rounded the corner and bam! It was kinda funny, since he wasn't hurt and all." He ashed off his cigarette again and looked at her with a small grin. "You're his girlfriend or something, right?" So yeah, the whole night was a bit of a blur and even if it wasn't it was hard to keep everyone's connections straight. But it wasn't a far fetched question.

Since Nate looked okay and she'd seen Kyle twice since then, she'd assumed they were both okay. It was just... random. And kind of funny now that she knew what had happened. She'd have to tease him about it later. "I dunno," she grinned, looking down for a minute as she began to swing her feet back and forth. "We've gone on one official date, and we met up last night at the masquerade thing. But I don't know if that makes me his girlfriend. Is that something just assumed? Or is there a formal invitation?"

"Never been in a relationship so I know fuck all," Nate replied with a small grin. "That stuff is just full of weird and contradicting rules though, guess you just have to work it out for yourself." He tried to remember what Kyle had said, he'd sounded a bit like she was his girlfriend with the whole hiding the smoking from her, but he couldn't really remember.

"I'm not exactly experienced," she said, her fingers beginning to drum on the top of the wall. "I'm sure I'll screw it up, but I'm hoping I won't." There was just so much she could do wrong... like open her mouth and talk about things she shouldn't. "You've never had a girlfriend?" she asked, curious since he brought it up. "Have you ever wanted one?"

"Not really, yes and no, or whatever," Nate replied with a small shrug. "Seems like a lot of hassle or expectations and bullshit. But yeah I can see the appeal, too, I guess. But hey, if you have any sway over Kyle? Please make him stop calling me New Kid, okay?" He grinned again and idly nudged the embers of his cigarette against the concrete, as if making the ashes tidier. "I'm actually no longer the newest guy in town so he should totally drop it."

"Who's newer?" she asked. "And it's not like you're the only one. I just got here beginning of the school year, and Lily and Breezy arrived, like, a week ago. I know we're girls, but that's gotta count. I'm not so sure I have any sway over him, but I'll give it a shot," she grinned. As much as she'd like to think she had sway over Kyle, she wasn't sure they'd gotten to that point yet, especially if she wasn't sure he was a boyfriend or not. "I don't think there's much of a hassle with Kyle, and I hope he doesn't think I'm one. But I do think all relationships develop expectations of some sort, positive or negative, even non-romantic ones. You have expectations of your friends, your family... it's just something new, you know?"

Nate nodded to that while thinking on who he knew was a newcomer too. "Medea and Isabelle just arrived," he said and then furrowed his brows. "Shit, I actually don't know any guys who are new to town. 'Less I'm just forgetting someone. Where are you from anyway?" This was getting amusing, all those girls, new in town and then him. He had to wonder what the ratio between girls and boys was.

"I move around a lot," she said, feeling oddly giddy. Her fingers continued to drum to the parade's music, and she looked out at it for a moment, wondering if she should run and join them. Wasn't there a reason not to? "I was in Arizona last year, but I mostly grew up in Florida. Where are you from?" With both of them being new, the questions could be traded easily.

"I move around a lot too," Nate replied. "Austin Texas though, closest thing to home and all. So you're suffering the cold too?" He added giving her a knowing smile. Man, she was a bit hyper wasn't she? He noticed the tapping and the way her body was ever so subtly moving to the music in a way that seemed more reflex than a forced effort. "You don't have to stay up here on my account," he said, somewhat amused.

"Not suffering, not yet," she laughed. "I'm kinda looking forward to it, seeing what a real winter is like. I wanna play in the snow." And, even if she couldn't tell anyone, she kind of wanted to see what she could do with the snow. Could she make it swirl around like she did the water? It was something she looked forward to playing with. "Hm?" she asked, not sure what he was referring to, even thought her body continued to move slightly to the music. "What'd you mean? I'm enjoying your company."

"You just look restless," Nate replied, smiling at her. "You look like you want to go back to the parade or something, not that I'm pushing you to leave or anything." He stubbed out his cigarette and flicked it away before going on. "You're easy to talk to." Which she was, definitely nothing like he'd have guessed at first glance. "But I can always pester you at school, a parade doesn't come through every day."

Though she didn't understand it, she was easy to convince. Going back to the parade seemed like a fabulous idea! "You don't mind?" she laughed. "It seems silly, but I kinda wanna go dance with them. They won't be here much longer, you know?" Alexis had always liked to dance, so it wasn't completely far fetched, even if a little more impulsive than she usually was. "I'll see you at school then?" she asked, assuming he was a student at MSHS.

Nate just laughed and nodded. "Go dance," he told her, they ran in the same circles it seemed so he would be seeing her again. He halfway wished he was the dancing type, people seemed to be having so much fun, but he wasn't so he wasn't going to join her. Not sober and not a dance like that, slow dancing he'd managed to pull off with Medea but he'd also been stoned at the time. "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

She hopped off the wall, bouncing lightly on her toes as soon as she hit the ground. It seemed like she was ready to dance here, even before going back down to join the crowd. "See you, Nate! It was nice meeting you!" Alexis waved, then headed back towards the parade. Homework could wait, at least when there was a parade in session. He was right-- things like this didn't happen everyday.