Natural Progression

Who: Chance and Kaysen
When: After school
Where: Kaysen's House

After spending the afternoon with Jezebelle, Chance's mind shifted back to Kaysen. It didn't bother him that he'd ditched the remainder of school. It was a frequent habit last year, one that had gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion, so he knew what to expect once the school contacted his mother. Which was why he was avoiding going home at the moment. And he was perfectly fine with letting Kaysen distract him from that. He hadn't returned her text yet - which he knew had given her the last word, but he'd let that slide - she he drove to her house about an hour after school let out and parked across the street, glancing up at her window. Pulling out his phone, he sat there and flipped it open.

Still wearing that blackcherry stuff? He sent it off, looking out his window again, wondering if she was in her room.

Kaysen did happen to be up in her room, sitting by the window though she didn't think to look out and see his car there. Instead, she was sitting there with candle, playing around with the flame. She'd been disappointed that she hadn't gotten more texts from Chance after her last one, she'd kind of been waiting all day though stopped once school was out. And weirdly, she had still been being left alone. It was all weird, but it had kind of been a nice reprieve. Or might have been if she hadn't been constantly thinking to herself that everyone had to be planning something huge if they were being like, quiet an stuff. So when her phone piped up with a message, she grabbed it up and flipped it open, smirking down at it. She thought for a few moments, sort of still absently trying to make the flame dance, and she was minorly successful with it, and she texted back. Maybe. But by now I totally could have washed it off. SOMEONE totally didn't text me back like, hours ago.

Chance tore his gaze away from her window to look back down at his phone, his own little smirk crossing his face. She'd been waiting for him to text her. Which made him feel kinda guilty that he hadn't, and kinda ecstatic that she'd been wanting him too.

sorry, school got boring so I left with jezebelle. don't you have more lip stuff you can put on and then maybe come see me?

Kaysen had gone back to the flame, but got the message right away, so she paused and looked at her phone again. What am I, a lipgloss emporium or somethin? And her again, huh? Aren't you gonna get kicked outta school if you start skipping already? Though it was his last year, maybe no one cared. She'd kinda heard that seniors could get away with a ton more than other students.

Chance was staring back at the window, realizing he could see her now, sitting there alone. The phone buzzed and he read her message, wanting to get her to come down and talk to him face to face.

I like your lips. and they're even better when they taste like fruit. I'm not worried about getting kicked out. for some reason they seem to have more patience with me. i'm not going to make a habit of it, I don't think. or i'll try not too. what are you doing right now? other than sitting in your room?

She absently kept pulling her fingers through the candle flame, pondering her answer to him. Well, who says you'll get to taste them? pretty forward of you. she pointed out, And how do you know I'm in my room? I could be like, in the living room watching a movie, or in the back yard, or like, the bath or something. Why she would have her cellphone in the bath with her she wasn't pondering.

Okay, so picturing Kaysen in the bath was...so wrong. But what the hell, he was a guy, and she was hot so...yeah. Mental images deciding to pour into his brain, Chance shifted uncomfortably in the seat. So not right.

Bath huh? You got a camera phone? Okay, I know that's dirty. Sorry. Look out your window

And he got out of his car, shutting the door and leaning against it, waiting for her to do as he instructed.

She did, hearing the car door, and she saw him out there. Smirking, she pushed her window open, and leaned her elbows on the sill, looking at him through the screen. "Stalker much?" she called down to him. Though she didn't sound that terribly upset with him. Better here than school, right? Right. That's what she was telling herself anyways, and after the text messages and everything she did wanna talk to him. And hang out maybe.

"You like it," Chance called up to her, grinning. He motioned with his phone before taking a step forward in the street. "You going to come down or what?" Because he didn't necessarily want to go inside if her brother was home. Especially with things like wanting to kiss her and stuff on his mind. Something told him he didn't think Isaac would appreciate that at all.

Kaysen made a show of thinking about it. "What do I get out of the deal?" she called. Because after the whole not answering her back for ages all day, she totally couldn't let him off light. It wasn't her style! Therefore...nossir. He was going to have to come up with some way to make it worth her while. Somewhere in the back of her mind it occurred to her she was flirting, but she totally ignored that.

She was flirting. Chance could recognize it. It still took some getting used too, given she was so unpredictable sometimes. But it was still awesome. "What do you get?" Chance asked, his grin widening. "The opportunity to prove you can resist me to my face, rather than hiding behind your phone. Or you know, hanging out in your window. Makes me think you're playing it safe."

"Oh come on, you have to do better than that." Kaysen protested, rolling her eyes. "That's the lamest thing I've ever heard. Fine, if you're not going to make sure there's something worthwhile for me to interrupt my busy schedule for..." she started, and made as if to close her window again.

Chance took another step forward when she went to shut her window. He'd probably get run down by a car and would never see it coming. "Aw, come on! You don't think I'm worthwhile? What if we go get something to eat? Or like, ice cream or something?" Girls liked ice cream didn't they? Or was that chocolate? Damn it. "If you shut your window I'm going to just knock on the door and have your mom let up! Or I'll climb up the side of your house to your window or something."

Kaysen eyed him. "You would not climb up the side of the house." she said. "And I already ate, so that's out." she informed him. "Don't you bug my mom, I still don't hear the end of the last time you were here!" Witness her not closing her window though. She wanted to see what he'd do. It was kinda fun, really. In a weird sort of way. Not having gotten shit for a whole day had put her in a stunningly good mood. Even if she figured tomorrow the entire world would crash down again, it was something to not have been picked on for a whole day.

"I will if you make me," Chance warned, though he wasn't sure if he was referring to the climbing or bugging her mom. Maybe both. "I think your mom likes me." Which was total bull, given she'd only really been able to blink in shock when he'd come by the last two times. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I stopped by to see her daughter and that way holds less chance of broken bones. Then I'll get to come up to your room again. Either way, I'm going to come up if you don't come down." He remembered the last time he'd be up there, it had completely freaked her out to the point of her falling off her bed. Chance finished his walk across the street and started across her lawn.

"Chance!" she hissed, though loud enough for him to hear. "You jerk!" She stood straight, and kind of looked around her room in a panic, wondering if there was anything she needed to quickly get rid of, and oh hey look, some dirty clothes on the floor that included bras and stuff, that she shoved into the closet and shut the door. Ohgodohgodohgodohgod was going through her mind in a steady mantra. Was there anything else embarrassing?! EE!

He heard her hiss at him and grinned. Completely ignoring her, he stepped up to the door and punched the doorbell with his finger. He told her, hadn't he? She had her chance and, well, he could be just as difficult as she could be when prompted. "Did you hear that?" Chance asked, looking up to her window where she'd disappeared. It was obvious she had, but he still liked teasing her. "I totally rang the doorbell, Kaysen!"

It opened a few moments later, Mrs. St. James eyeing the young man outside. "...it's you again." she said. It wasn't really clear if she was pleased or disappointed in that, it was mostly just a statement. "Are you here for Kaysen?" At least this time she remembered that he wasn't there for Isaac. "She's upstairs." she added, walking back into the house.

Well, that was easy, Chance thought, stepping into the house. He could almost picture Kaysen running around her room like the Road Runner in a panic. "Thanks, Mrs. St. James. You're looking extra lovely today," Chance told her, before taking off upstairs before she could respond. As long as he didn't run into Isaac, he'd consider the mission successful.

Kaysen heard him on the steps, and ran over to her door to yank it open, peering down the stairwell at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she whispered, and yes, she was as a matter of fact flushed from rushing around her room in a panic.

Chance waited until he was at her door, both hands bracing himself against the door frame as he looked down at her. Her cheeks were flushed and he tried to bite his cheek to keep from smiling but he couldn't. "Exactly what I told you I would do. You wouldn't come down, so I came up. You're mom seemed really excited to see me by the way. Almost as excited as you do."

"If by excited you mean tremendously annoyed." Kaysen said, making a face at him, and she reached out to grab his shirt and tug him into her room, because if he was in the hall he might get caught by Isaac, and she didn't know what she'd say and it would be a big huge mess and yeah that totally shouldn't happen. "All you had to do was come up with an appropriate lure." she added, crossing her arms over her chest and all but huffing at him.

Chance let her pull him into her room and he went willingly, of course. His eyes swept along her things again and he sat on the edge of her bed without invitation. "I'm still new to this stuff too, you know. I've never had to lure girls to me before. They always sort of...just come themselves." He shot her a grin. "I'm still figuring out what exactly is the appropriate bait for you other than movies and candy."

"Yeah, well maybe they sucked, and I like, deserve more effort or something." she said. She had totally asked him all about the other girls he'd had before when they'd gone out to eat something, but right now? she totally didn't wanna talk about other girls. Especially not ones he'd probably slept with. That was an oogy thought, and she didn't wanna have it! "Well, try harder." she said. "I'm sure you'll come up with something, you haven't flunked out of school yet. Be creative." she added.

"Creative?" Chance asked, lifting both eyebrows. "I guess I can try that out. But yeah, you do deserve more effort." And she'd been getting that from the moment they met, though she didn't need to know that. Chuckling, Chance shrugged. "I dunno, I kind of thought trying to climb up to your window was creative. All romantic like, then we could kiss and stuff. But I guess I need to work harder on getting you to come downstairs. Next time, I'll totally be prepared. Forgive me?"

Kaysen wasn't sure there was a physically possible way to get to her window, but didn't say so. Instead she made a show of thinking about it, and eyeing him. "Hmm." she said. "I dunno. You like, left me hanging for ages today. We were texting and it was making my day fly by, then you all of a sudden felt the need to up and leave school to run around with a girl named Jezebelle. Do we have to go over the biblical reference again?" she asked, tapping her foot even to add to her 'annoyed' demeanor.

Chance gave her a curious look and stood from the bed to walk over to her. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd been waiting on me." Reaching out, he tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I was going to but I didn't think it'd be nice to sit around and text all day when I had company. And yeah, I remember the biblical reference." He cocked an eyebrow with amusement. "You jealous?" Because it sure seemed like she was, what with her demeanor and all that.

"No, I just see the weirdness in you tromping off with a girl named after like, the queen of the wicked women." she answered. "And how did you have company when you were sposta be in school anyways? Unless you like, hooked up and ditched together right after you were texting me, then you had company." And she was thinking abou the logistics here way too much.

She was so jealous, even if she'd never admit it. Referring to another girl as the queen of wicked women, even if it was just a reference to the name, spoke volumes. "I got your last text right as lunch was starting, and I had already decided to leave, and ran into her and she came with. What if her name was like, Kathy or something? Would you still find weirdness in it?"

"No, then I'd just wonder who she was." Kaysen said. She was not jealous. Though she did kinda find it weird. Maybe. Was she some chick that he could go off and get into trouble with? Like he couldn't with her? Quit it. You're being stupid. He's not even your boyfriend. she reminded herself firmly, and she went to sit by the window again, to go back to playing with the candle flame. "Whatever, anyways..." she said, firmly changing the subject. Though she couldn't quite remember where to connect it back to with what they'd been talking about in the first place.

Chance returned to sit on her bed, wanting to watch her play with the candle to see if he'd see anything she wasn't telling him. "She's a friend," he told her, because it felt important to say. "I think school's kind of overwhelming her right now, so she's more into ditching with me than anything. Probably at least until she gets used to things. Like I said, though, not gonna make a habit of it or anything. And I promise next time I'll text you back." Chance motioned to the candle. "You wanna show me?"

"I wasn't like, grilling you. I didn't ask." Kaysen said, slightly annoyed she was getting an explanation that she hadn't asked for, even if some part of her wanted it, and felt weird about it. Which was why she shouldn't know this stuff. Then she looked up from the candle. "Um...show you?" she asked, not sure she knew what he wanted. Her fingers stilled in the flame, and she of course left them there, not burning in the slightest.

"I know you didn't ask. I was just telling you." His eyes were watching her fingers and while his first instinct was to snatch her hand away from the flame, he realized she wasn't being burned at all. Which was exactly what she'd told him. He nodded, still sort of mesmerized by it. "That," he clarified. "Not being burned. It's like..." The fire liked her or something, but he didn't want to sound stupid by saying that out loud. "It's cool."

She looked back down at the flame, and kept her fingers there, swirling around it, and she tried to concentrate enough to make it dance around her finger almost like she was stirring water. Which really didn't work! What she did manage was to make it dance though, swaying back and forth in her fingers wake as opposed to just sputtering and reacting to air current like a normal flame would. When she started it, she kind of half kept her eye on Chance out of the corner of hers, through her eyelashes so he wouldn't be aware she was watching him.

That was just fucking insane. He inched the upper half of his body closer, brows drawn together in concentration as he watched the flame follow her fingers. It was one thing to fall into fire and not get burned. Another to be able to control it. He wasn't sure even what to say about it. What could he say? "You've been practicing doing that, haven't you? I mean it looks like it's been trained almost."

"Yeah-huh." Kaysen answered, still keeping most of her concentration on the flame, and making it do...something not exactly flame-like. She still couldn't do anything that awesome, she was still working on it. She'd wanted to wait til she could do something really cool, but well. He was there now, and she'd kinda wanted to see if he'd be impressed, or think it was dumb. So far, he was looking more along the 'impressed' side of things.

And he thought the shit he could do was weird. Not that what she was going was weird in a bad way. It was damn cool, actually. "I wonder if after awhile you'll be able to like, conjure fire yourself or something." His lips curved into a half-grin and he looked up at her from the flame briefly. "Like you'll grow more powerful with this shit the more you do it." All of the sudden he wished he could show her some stuff. Anything. But the things he could do were just...creepy. It wasn't making fire dance and move, though he wished he could do that too.

"Um...from what I gather, if I can get better at it, I should be able to." Kaysen said. "I um. There's this book? About er...elementals?" she suggested. "I guess that's what I am. Maybe. I mean, probably. It's still kind of working itself out in my head though. But I guess eventually, yeah. I'll be all...Firestarter n shit. Like Charlie from Stephen King's book." Or kind of, anyways. Not really exactly the same, and she had doubts she'd ever be able to do anything like that little girl could.

Okay so that got his attention. "No shit? Firestarter? Holy shit!" He watched her hands again, trying to comprehend that bit of information. He made a mental note about the elemental thing to see if he could find out information about it. "That's just fucking crazy. In a good way," Chance assured her, totally beyond impressed. "So much cooler than my...it's just cool. "I'm glad you're working on learning about it, rather than trying to ignore it."

"I keep trying to make the flame jump between two candles, but all I can do is make the one flame lean over and stretch out to light the other one, and sometimes it doesn't work and I just get exhausted." Kaysen explained. "It's really weird. Like if I just kinda sit around with the flame for a while and um...meditate? I guess? I dunno, I feel better, like all charged and energetic and stuff. But when I do anything it drains that? But it kind of goes in this weird flowy circle. I dunno, it sounds dumb." she finished, making a face because she wasn't explaining it well.

"Are you kidding? It doesn't sound dumb at all. You just said you can get one lit candle to stretch over and light another." Chance wasn't sure why he was so damn surprised. "It's flippin' awesome, is what it is. I can't believe it went from you just realizing you can't get burned, to actually manipulating fire." He finally tore his gaze from the flame to her face. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

She made a face. "I dunno. I wanted to be able to show you something?" she suggested. "Like, it sounds so stupid. All of it. Sounds dumb and borderline like, psychotic or something. So I wanted to be able to show you, so you didn't think I was crazy or something." She wasn't owning up to her wanting him to think it was neat. "Wanna see? I can try the candle thing." she said, moving to set the candle on her dresser, then she took another one--they seemed to be all over her room lately--and set it next to it. Then she moved back over towards the bed, but sat on the floor instead of the bed, leaning her back against it right next to his leg. "Might um...take me a minute." she added, narrowing her eyes in at the lit wick.

He almost replied, but didn't want to mess with her concentration. He'd never think she was crazy. That was damn near impossible at this stage in his life. He knew she was special, though. In so many ways that didn't include just manipulating fire. He wanted to watch her, because she was damn cute, watching the candles like that, but he also wanted to see what happened, so he simply watched, resisting the urge to sit next to her.

Kaysen took her time with it, concentrating, and she wound up unconsciously holding her breath, skin starting to get red as she tried to bend the flame to her will. It only flickered for a few moments, doing nothing in particular but sputter, but then it very clearly started to lean. It leaned farther and farther over towards the other candle, like it was blowing in the wind but it wasn't guttering like there was any air current on it. She got it to touch the other wick, then had to stop, because a headache was starting to form. She hadn't managed to light the other, but it was smoldering as the other flame went back to normal, and she gasped in a breath, then frowned darkly at the candles as if they had personally offended her. That had pretty much been what she'd wanted to avoid. Damnit.

Chance had been watching, his own breath caught in his throat as the flame move and bend. And then it stopped and he looked down at Kaysen to see what had went wrong. "Your face is all pink," he told her, stepping around her to sit. "You're okay, right? I mean, doing that shit doesn't hurt you does it? Other than sap some energy?"

"I'm fine." she mumbled, clearly disappointed in herself. "I'm just still learning how to do it, and so sometimes it's kinda exhausting." she added. "And if I do a whole bunch of it at once? Sometimes it gives me a headache. The book said it's prolly just because it's like finding a brand new muscle, and I'm working with it, to it's gonna be sore. I dunno, it was weird. But yeah, sometimes it's kinda exhausting." She sighed then shot a glare at the candle that hadn't quite lit. "Stupid thing." she muttered.

Chance gave a little laugh. That she'd be disappointed she couldn't do more yet, even though she still had those kind of powers. "What you can do right now is beyond cool. Even if it was just sticking your hand in flame and not getting burned. The fact that you're learning to manipulate fire?" He nudged her a bit with his shoulder. "That's kind of hot. No pun intended."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever." she said, not believing him. "But...yeah, anyways. That's kinda...I guess what I can do." she said, shrugging her shoulder. She looked over at him, and just kinda watched him through her eyelashes, attempting to figure out what he for really thought about it. If it was messed up, or if he did think it was cool, or he was weirded out. So far he didn't seem weirded out though. So that was good maybe?

Of everyone Kaysen knew, Chance probably figured he was the one least likely to find it weird. He was the epitome of weird. "I think it's pretty damn amazing," he told her. "Just promise me you won't set me on fire or anything." And he was thankful she didn't seem overly freaked out by it anymore, like she had before. If she could accept something like that about herself, she might be more open to learning about other 'weird' things.

"I promise I won't." Kaysen said. Then she bit her lip. "Um...but I dunno. The book said that it might happen sometimes. Said er...all kinds of things about fire elementals." she added, not sure how much she wanted to tell him on that. A lot of it she thought was kinda bad. Maybe.

"Like what?" he asked, stretching out his legs on her floor in front of him. "You mean you could subconsciously want to set me on fire and just do it? Because that would really suck. What else did the book say? Are there other things you can do?"

"Um, more like it might happen on accident in times of high stress. Whatever that means." Kaysen said, huffing slightly and rolling her eyes. Her whole life was high stress. It was kind of frightening. "So I dunno. I might like, eventually start lighting things on fire by accident, if I'm not careful, but I dunno how it really works. Sometimes when I'm upset I feel all hot, but I dunno if it's related or not." She sorta skipped over the question about what else it said about fire elementals.

Chance considered that bit of information. He knew she dealt with enough stress in her life. And she was upset often enough that he was kind of worried what that would mean in regards to what she could do. "Is it something you can learn to control over time?" he asked. "If you keep working at it? And practicing, or whatever it is you do with it. Is it only when you feel upset? I mean, are you only able to feel this stuff when you're angry, or your emotions are out of control?"

"I guess. I mean, eventually." Kaysen said. "I dunno, it's not like...well okay there is a book, but I don't know anyone who can answer my for real questions." Except Charlie, but it's different between earth and fire. "An no, I mean, you saw I could do stuff with the fire when I was just concentrating on it. So it's not all the time when I'm upset. That's just when I notice the too warm thing."

"Do you think there might be someone else who can do what you can do? I mean, if there is..." Of course he didn't know the first thing of how to go about finding out. "The too warm thing...when you're upset. I mean...damn." He wondered how many times she got all heated when they argued. He'd have to watch that from now on, because he didn't want anything bad happening to her because of him. Then he kind of looked at her, his mind wandering over a few things. "Can you feel it? The heat on your skin when you get emotional? Or is it just internal? Which I know is a weird question..." Because whenever they'd kiss, she always felt warm. Really warm. Though he'd always chalked that up to what they were doing rather than this elemental stuff.

"Honesty I have no idea." Kaysen admitted, pulling a face at him. "I don't stop to check, cuz I'm usually real busy with the being upset and shouting or hiding or whatever I'm doing when it happens." Depended on what was upsetting her. "I just started noticing it more. Maybe it always happened, and I didn't notice til I knew something was there." she added.

"I could piss you off right now," Chance offered, somewhat jokingly. "We could try out the theory. Or I could just kiss you and see if it's not just when you're upset." Okay, so he was totally pushing his luck here, but hey, it was a legit offer, wasn't it? He was all for elemental experimentation!

Actually, Kaysen was pretty sure if anyone was capable of pissing her off in a heartbeat, it was Chance. He was real good at that, in fact. Pro, even. Then she eyed him. "You just want to kiss me. It's what you came here for and everything." she said. "But I'm resisting. Notice that I'm totally doing that? Told you so."

"No, I didn't come here just to kiss you. I wanted to see you," he corrected, looking over at her and studying her face. "And you're only resisting me to try to prove a point. It's a conscious thing you're doing. You're purposely trying, so it doesn't count."

Kaysen gave him a look at that. "Okay that's the dumbest logic I've ever heard. You just made that up off the top of your head, and that's totally it. You can't just randomly make up rules and stuff! Totally not fair!" she protested, sticking her tongue out at him. "But fine, you've seen me." she said, then hopped up to turn in a circle for him as if to prove the point. "See? All seen and everything."

"Rules are meant to be made up!" Chance pushed himself up. "I'm full of dumb logic, you should know that by now. If it makes sense in my head, then I think it's fine." He reached out to grip her waist when she was finished turning around. "I mean, didn't you wanna see me?"

She stopped, looking up at him and she made a show of thinking about it. Truthfully? Yes, she really really had. She'd spent a lot of the day disappointed he hadn't texted her back, which meant she must have really been looking forward to it. And she'd been happy to see him when she'd looked out her window and saw him down there. So yes, yes she did. Like she was really aware of the fact that he had his hand on her wrist. The pressure there, and that he was there in her room, and weirdly, she hadn't panicked as much as she would have thought. "Maybe." she said, not giving into anything. It wasn't in her nature.

"Maybe is usually as good as yes," he told her, tugging her a tiny bit closer. "Better than no. Or 'I'm still thinking'." Which seemed to be her official motto now. He gave her a somewhat lopsided grin, using one hand to reach up and push her hair back from her face. "You can admit things like that to me, you know. Occasionally, it does a young boy's ego good to hear that the girl he likes may like him too. Just every now and then."

"You like doing that." she noted. And she had noticed it a while back, his thing for tucking her hair behind her ear. She didn't mind when he did it, really. It was a small thing, but she kinda liked it sometimes, even. Affection without it being too over, or something. Or maybe he just wanted her hair out of her face, she didn't know. "So what is it you want to hear right now then?" she asked. She protested the tiniest bit when he tried to pull her closer, but only just so much that he'd have to tug a little harder, then she went.

He realized she was right. Observant, anyway, because half the time he didn't even realize he was doing it. Maybe it gave him an excuse to touch her, plus he liked seeing her face when her hair wasn't hiding it. "I dunno. You could just say that yeah, you did want to see me, or something. Doesn't have to be over the top full of mush." He did tug her closer, since he was stronger than she was and everything. "No one's around to hear it but me, so..."

She let him tug her closer a second time, again resisting, but not too much. She still made a big show of having to think it all over, like it was a really hard decision she had to wrack her brain for, then sighed heavily. "Okay..." she said. "I wanted to see you." she conceded, like it was the biggest thing in the world she had just handed over to him.

He laughed before giving a quick shake of his head. "See, now I know how tough that was for you. But it means a lot that you forced yourself to do it for me. I think you like me more than you let on," he teased. "I won't make you do that again for at least another week or so. Just so you can recover."

She made a face at him, and stuck her tongue out. "Eeegooooo." she said. "See that's why I don't tell you that stuff. Because it all goes to your head and then you're all egomaniac on me, thinkin you're so totally awesome, and it's insufferable." she made up on the fly. Because he wasn't really like that in any capacity. "You gotta be kept in line somehow."

"I told you I need the occasional stroke to the ego! Everyone does. But I am totally awesome. I'm just more subtle about my awesomeness than most people." He really wanted to kiss her right now, but he wasn't sure she'd let him, with that whole 'resisting' thing. Though she was letting him hold onto her. "I like that you keep me in line though. Helps me from letting my head get too big and exploding."

Head exploding. That was right. He'd tried to shoot himself. "You survived it okay last time." she said, then winced a little, before she moved closer, climbing up onto her bed to stand on it, and she leaned her forearms on his shoulders to balance herself. Then she started to sift through his hair to find his scar again, so she could see it in the light. "I think you telling me about that leaked into my dreams." she said. "I was dreaming about zombies."

Chance felt himself cringe inwardly at that. It was kind of...morbid. Though he was used to morbid. Just not coming from Kaysen. Before he could stop her, she was suddenly searching through his hair again, but he didn't push her away like he may have wanted too. He just didn't want more questions. "I'm not a zombie, though," he said. "Did you dream I was a zombie? Or just zombies in general?"

"I dunno, I don't remember." Kaysen said, finding it, and she made a close inspection of it, running her fingers over the scar. "I just know there were zombies, and head explosions." she added. "Big calibre gun..." followed afterwards, though it was a bit distracted as she frowned at the back of his head. She glanced up, so she could see his face in the mirror over her dresser. "What did you use?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Chance asked, not really enjoying the turn of conversation. He liked the fire, and flirty and shit like that. "You actually wanna know what kind of gun I used? That's kind of morbid, don't you think?" Still. He looked up at her, finding her reflection. "It was a pistol my dad owned. I don't know what brand it was...I just...knew where it was and used it."

She did know it was morbid, but she couldn't help but ask. She really couldn't. She noticed where she was that she could smell the scent of his hair, and she drew that in, not really thinking about it, as she ticked her gaze back to the scar. Looking closer, she still had questions. "Revolver? Or...um...automatic?" she asked. She was thinking it had to have been a .22. Otherwise he probably would have like, lost his whole head. She was still wondering how he'd managed not to die.

"Automatic...I think." He cringed again. If not for the reason, he would have really liked the feeling of her fingers in his hair. "I told you I don't remember a lot of what happened...I just. Is it really that interesting?"

"You tried to kill yourself. Pulled the trigger and everything." Kaysen pointed out. "Course it is. And I mean, I know it's morbid, but I kinda just...wanna know what happened." she said, blushing some. She also kinda wanted to kiss the scar, but she wasn't giving in on that first. She'd promised herself, and she was willing to bet that he'd count it, even if it wasn't on the lips. That didn't mean she didn't smell his hair again, this time a tiny bit more obviously.

"I don't know what happened," he lied, smirking a bit, despite the topic, at her in his hair. "I guess I just pulled the trigger and it didn't...work. That's all I can remember about it." He shifted a bit on his feet. "I really don't know what else to tell you about it. Other than right now, I'm glad it didn't work." Most days he was still bitter about it. Somedays he wished it had. But moments like this, being with her - he was thankful his mom was such an insane bitch.

Kaysen smiled a bit at that. "Yeah...I'm glad it didn't." she said. Because she thought it might need saying. So, he was damn well going to get to hear it, end of story. She took another look at it, traced her fingers around it, then stood straight. "I have more questions, but I figure you want me to not ask, right?" she asked.

Chance released a low breath and reached up to sort of scratch his hair back over the scar. "I guess it depends. I mean, I ask you questions you'd rather not answer all the time. You can ask me whatever you want, but I can't guarantee any kind of real answer to them."

She dropped down onto her bed, sitting indian style as she looked up at him. Her mind was slowly churning things all around, and she realized he'd said something earlier in the conversation that was trying to poke itself forward again. She was trying to remember what. "You don't have an exit wound." she said. Which really, wasn't actually a question. It was more of a statement, with a question behind it.

He simply looked at her, because that much was obvious and his expression showed it. His arms lifted out, just a bit, from his sides. "Yeah. It's still lodged in there somewhere." That happened to people sometimes, didn't it? Even if it didn't, he doubted she'd know for sure. Still, he stood there, watching her rather than sitting next to her. He felt if he got too comfortable, he'd slip up and he sort of felt like he was being faced with some kind of pop quiz and it was really important he pass it.

She looked really confused at that, and looked up at him, a bit alarmed. "Wait, what? They just...left a bullet in your head?!" she asked. "That's so not cool! What if it moves? Where is it stuck? Didn't they have to remove it?? It's not like, lodged somewhere where someday it might rupture something and kill you, is it?" The idea was alarming, the whole concept just not at all happy to her.

Chance stared again, trying to make sure actually caught all of her rushed questions. He shifted from one foot to the other, eyes drifting from her face to the window, and then back to her face again. "I think maybe it's like when people get pieces of bullets stuck in their bodies after being shot. Like if you remove it, they'll become paralyzed for life or shit like that. I, ah, don't think it'll rupture anything. They're...like doctors so I assume they know what they're doing. I'm not worried about it."

Kaysen stared at him. She continued to stare, like he had just told her he was renaming himself Charmaine and moving to texas to become an Elvis impersonator. Not worried? Not worried?! When they couldn't remove it for something like that?! That didn't make sense? How could he not be worried! In the end she wound up not anything, she was far too shocked and staring at him, eyes wide.

Chance gave her an exasperated look, recognizing the look on her face. "I know it sounds weird, and scary and stuff, but I don't have like, medical answers to give you. I'm sure if things were, like, life threatening, I'd know about it." Ugh, he hated lying to her about it. It made him feel really guilty, like he was betraying her somehow, even though it was more of a protection thing.

"It sounds like you have a bullet in your head." Kaysen said, because hey! That's what he was telling her! Only he was telling her it was no big deal, which was total crap! God, did he just not want her to worry or something? Because she completely did not in any way buy that. People didn't run around with bullets in their head and were fine. At least, not so far as she knew. She looked at him, very very worried expression on her face, and she didn't say anything more. Whatever her head had been trying to put together was a little derailed at the moment.

"People get bullets lodged in places all the time," he pointed out. He had a weird feeling like he was being backed into a corner somehow. Especially when he had no clue how to explain things. He'd never had to before. The only person who knew what happened was Jezebelle, and she knew the truth. He began to pace, just a tiny bit, his hands resting loosely on his hips. "I'm still alive...so...and I can still walk, and talk. I'm good as new. Sort of."

Kaysen still didn't say anything. She just watched him pacing, looking troubled. She didn't know what to say now. She still didn't believe it, and she didn't think even if she said so he would tell her anything else. So she was at a loss, not sure what to do now. She just watched.

Chance looked over at her and paused in his pacing. "Seriously, it's nothing to freak out over. Even internal freaking out. Is there anything else you wanted to know?" Because she'd asked, after all. He couldn't help it if she didn't like the answers.

There was lots she wanted to know. Whole scads of things. But she didn't ask, so she shook her head. Then apparently, that was a lie, because another question found it's way out of her mouth. "Did it hurt?" she asked. It seemed important to her. Like she wanted it to not have hurt, but at the same time, was sure it had, at least in recovery.

He felt relief at the shake of her head, but then she'd asked another question and despite not wanting to answer it, he smiled at the quick change of mind. Would it have hurt in recovery? Probably. He hadn't felt a thing when he pulled the trigger but elated freedom. When he woke up, there was no pain - not of the physical sense anyway. "Yeah, a bit." He went to sit next to her on the bed. "I mean, not when I did it. I guess afterward it did." He hated lying. He wanted to tell her the truth - show her the truth. He just didn't know how to do that. He gave a sigh and looked over, his eyes finding hers. "Can I ask you something? If there was...something...that I could do, kind of like...what you can do with fire, would you want to know?"

She paused as he asked that, her mind itching again. Something at the back of it, something he'd said earlier. She wracked her brain, and it was difficult to do considering she already knew things didn't add up. She knew it, her brain just didn't want to make sense of the picture. All the pieces were there, she was sure. Scattered around and she knew she had a picture there and everything. Her mind simply wasn't focusing enough to make it intelligible to her. Which it really needed to, damnit, because she figured this was really fucking important. Seemingly at random, her mind spit back out the phrase that she'd been looking for. So much cooler than my... he'd started to say. Then he'd switched it. "So much cooler than your what?" she mumbled, half to herself, then she blinked and wrested her attention back to him. "I'm not sure." she said, frowning at him. "I mean, my immediate reaction is totally yes of course I'd wanna know, because who wouldn't wanna know something like that about---someone they hang out with all the time and all that stuff and fuck, I dunno. Cuz another part of me says I'm still getting used to this stuff with me and it's still kind of freaking me out and I don't know if I'd freak out with stuff with you or not because I'm already kind of freaked about the other stuff and you know how I get and I spaz all the time and I can't help it, and--" she broke off, because she had to breathe. Breathing was good. Really it was. And any minute now, she might cool down again. She was getting more upset, and one thing she didn't quite realize was the wick she hadn't lit has smoldered again slightly, the lit candle's flame rising up on it's own, melting the wax down faster, even if both effects were fairly unobtrusive, easily overlooked.

Chance tried to keep up with her, eyes squinting and brows furrowed as she finally paused to inhale some oxygen. Good, he was really starting to worry she was gonna pass out from the lack of it. He kind of figured that'd be her answer - just a lot shorter and to the point. "It's okay," he told her, after she'd stopped. "I mean, my stuff..." Isn't important. "It's not that...whatever. So it's cool. I know this is all new to you, and the stuff you can do, you're still trying to figure it out. You don't need my shit on top of everything else." He glanced down at his hands, clenching and unclenching his fingers before he looked up and gave her an understanding smile. "I'm not going anywhere, so it's not like it's time sensitive or anything."

She gave him a wary look, like she didn't believe him. This could be because she didn't. "Does your stuff freak you out?" she asked. Kaysen felt terrible. Like she was being a bad person or something, because she couldn't say 'why yes of course I want you to tell me, whatever it is I'll be fine! we can deal with being different together! It'll be great!' and all that stuff. Why couldn't she be someone like that? Was she capable of it? She still didn't know what to say though. And she felt like no matter what, she was going to say something wrong.

He didn't mind that she didn't want to know at the moment. She was still debating whether or not to go out with him - and he'd initially asked her like, forever ago. Even though they were kind of already going out, but he didn't wanna say that aloud and spoil it. As it was, he'd rather wait until she really wanted to know rather than pile off of his crap on her and freak her out completely. He wasn't sure she could handle it. He examined his hands again. "Some of it does. Some of it...I like. Depends on my mood, I guess."

Kaysen still watched him out of the corner of her eye, trying to figure things out. "Can I...like...ask again?" she asked. "Maybe sometime later?" She hesitated, then continued. "It's not that I don't wanna know." she assured him. "I promise it's not that. I do. I'm just...still kinda dealing here, and I don't know a lot of stuff and I'm still learning and everything so is that okay? Will you..." Still like me? Does that make me a stupid, bad person?

Chance nodded, smile still playing at his lips. A tiny part of him was disappointed. But a bigger part was understanding and he'd gladly keep all of his crap to himself forever if it meant not causing her anymore stress than she already had. And he always had Jezebelle, if he wanted to talk about those things anyway. She already knew what he was - so it was just easier that way. And someday Kaysen would ask, and then he'd deal with it then. "Yeah, no, it's fine. I don't wanna make things worse on you, or anything." Chance leaned over to place a kiss on her forehead, because he wanted to assure her he wasn't mad or anything, and he felt maybe that would be a more convincing way. Plus, yeah, he'd wanted to kiss her.

It did help make her feel a little better. A little. She was still unsure though, and that showed in her eyes as she kept them locked on his. "...promise?" she asked. She felt really stupid, and internally was hating herself really really bad over this, but she wasn't at all sure about anything right now. It all seemed to be moving really fast, like someone had kicked the gearshift of her life a month or so ago, and now everything was stuck in high gear, continually gaining speed and she didn't even know how to drive yet. So to say it was all scary and she didn't know what to do, barely keeping the car of her life on the goddamn road would be putting it lightly. One might say it was a gross understatement, even.

"I promise," he told her, and meant it. He knew Kaysen was having a hard time with the fire stuff, and with him, and school, and everything. He just wanted to be there to help her deal with it all. He could handle his own problems himself. "I guess, though, I might feel better," he continued, a tiny grin starting to form as he wanted her to feel better herself, "if you'd kiss me, or something."

Kaysen wrinkled her nose up cutely at him, and punched his shoulder. "You're insufferable." she informed him. But, because she did feel bad about things, and maybe it would help, she very tentatively sort of leaned closer to him. She hesitated a few times, getting a little closer to him each time, cheeks flushing bright red. Damn this whole initiating a kiss thing had been so much easier when they were being overly emotional and in the near-dark. Now that it was like, in her room in the middle of the day and everything, it was way harder. But in the end she managed it, a quick little kiss, but a kiss none the less. Even if after she did it, she was already thinking that there were way better kisses in the world. That involved more than that.

Chance could barely enjoy her kiss, given how quick and hesitant it was, and how he was trying his hardest not to smile like a moron as she did it. She was suddenly shy? After practically straddling him in the school auditorium? Yeah, there were definitely a hundred different layers to Kaysen St. James. So far, he was digging every single one. He reached out, his hand sliding around to the back of her head and neck and he pulled her to him again, giving her a proper, deep kiss. Because hey, they both deserved it at that point.

There was a part of her that thought Oh thank god. when he kissed her. That serious sort of kiss, the kind where she found out what he tasted like. That's what she really wanted, after all. She just hadn't known how to kind of...do that. He usually initiated, and the one time she had it had been massively extenuating circumstances, she figured. Yes, that was her story and she was sticking to it!! But since he'd kissed her, and was kissing her good, she could relax into it, kissing him back as she was sort of getting used to now. Kinda sorta. That didn't mean it didn't make her stomach errupt in pleasant butterflies, or her body tingle with heat.

His stomach always did this little flip when she responded and kissed him back. It was that feeling he always used to get when he'd do a particularly complex trick for the first time on his skateboard. But with Kaysen, it was every time. He didn't think he'd ever get used to it. Not that he wanted too. He liked the feeling. His thumb brushed along the nape of her neck and he pulled her closer, his tongue parting her lips to deepen the kiss further. And she always tasted incredible - lip gook or not. He'd never get tired of it.

That part of the kissing thing always had a really profound effect on her. It was like it was electric, the brush of his tongue against hers, it shot straight through her body to her core, and heat spread out from there rapidly. She made a soft sound that was breathed into the kiss, shifting closer to him, taking a bit of initiative instead of making him draw her in the whole way. No, she wanted to be closer. Like he kinda wanted to push him onto his back.

The noise she made prompted him to pull her closer, enough that his arm was sliding all the way around her waist to pull her flush up against him. It was kind of awkward, the way they were sitting on her bed, but he didn't care. Suddenly he felt like maybe he was on fire, his body responding to the way she moved against him. The way she moved to him, like she wanted to be closer too. He briefly had a thought that if her brother walked in, he'd probably be testing out that immortality thing again, but Chance wasn't about to stop. Hell no, not while Kaysen was kissing him. Not for Isaac, or even an army of zombies.

Kaysen wasn't actually thinking about her brother. Her brain wasn't anywhere near her sibling, it was rather focused in on the boy depriving her of oxygen in really creative, amazingly nice ways. Her arms went around his neck, and she shifted some, kind of slowly working on altering position with him so it would be less awkward. Even if she didn't quite realize that's what she was up to. It was definitely what was on her physical agenda, though her body and mind really weren't on the best of terms, so the brian missed that particular memo.

Chance felt her move again, trying to make things more comfortable and he sucked gently at her lower lip before both arms came around her waist where he pulled and shifted them both until she was laying back on her bed, his body only half-covering hers. Chance lifted a hand to brush the hair that had fallen into her face away before he kissed her again, much happier with this position, given there was less pressure against his groin. She tasted great, and smelled great and he was quickly forgetting where he even was at the moment.

EE! The switchychangy position thing! Which...she was okay with. It wasn't him on his back, but she could deal with that. Maybe. For now. She went more than willingly enough, some part of her freaking out over the fact that she was making out on her bed. With Chance. How had that happened?! How did it ever start happening? Because after he'd first kissed her after she'd hit him, they seemed to do that a lot. Good thing she really loved it, and she thought he did too. She'd looked into his eyes when there was the slight pause, but then his mouth was on hers again, so she slid them shut again, putting her concentration on that once more.

It was good. All of it was good. Ten kinds of awesome. He was still sort of blown away by the fact that he was in Kaysen's room, kissing her on her bed. Chance was stupidly excited, in both a mental and physical way and he briefly remembered the first time he'd been in there, when she'd freaked out and had agreed to go skateboarding with him just to get him out. Jesus, that wasn't that long ago, was it? It felt like it was, for some reason, but in a good way. He brought his hand down to her hip where he lifted it just enough that he could support her lower back with his palm, drawing her close to him. He stroked his tongue against hers slowly, wanting to draw those sounds from her again.

She liked the kind slow thing. It really wasn't any less intense than anything else, the hard sort of stuff like they'd been doing in the theater. Kaysen was figuring out that that she liked finding out what different kinds of feels everything gave her, even if they were all really different but leaning towards the same result at the same time. He did get another noise out of her when he drew her in closer. Part of her was still pondering that whole pushing him onto his back thing, but she didn't quite yet. Which didn't at all mean she wasn't going to eventually.

Chance was of the same mind, given he loved finding out just how Kaysen would affect him. Everything she did, every way she kissed him, or touched him, got the same response. One that he couldn't necessarily hide at the moment, though he made sure not to pull her hips too tightly against his. He pulled his lips away from hers to breathe briefly before he trailed his mouth over her jaw to her throat. No blackcherry stuff here but the skin still tasted damn good to him, especially where his tongue flicked out against her pulse point.

She shivered, something that left little tingles in her body along the way. God, she never would have thought something like that would get to her, but boy did it ever. Everything did, and she was still a little bit on the marveling side that it was the small things that made such an overwhelming difference. How did that work, even? Kaysen even found herself tilting her head so he could have better access to her neck.

He took the tilt of her head as encouragement and rolled his body forward, just enough that he could reach more of her throat, his hand sliding along her side to her hip. Chance inhaled quietly, breathing in the scent of her hair. God, he was such a sucker. Bringing his lips back up the side of her neck to her jaw, he placed tiny kisses along her cheek and then back to her mouth. At the moment, this was much, much better than talking.

Kaysen would have backed him up there. Yes, much better. Much better by a long shot. And, as he got back to her lips, she kissed him back--and made that whole pushing him onto his back effort. It was abrupt, a sudden shift, but she put both of her hands on his shoulders and pushed, using the leverage of her body against his to help with the job to get him there. Then natural thing to do when doing that of course was to straddle him, which she did, as she continued to kiss him.

Chance didn't know how it happened, or how their mouths managed to stay pressed together as she pushed against him, but before his brain could catch up with it, Chance found himself on his back with Kaysen straddling him and his lips still working over hers. His hands lifted to her hips to hold her still because God, if she moved over him, he was going to go insane. Were they really on her bed making out? Or was this one of his bizarro dreams again where he'd wake up all sweaty and with a hard on? It sure as hell felt real, just like she did. Chance groaned and lifted his head up slightly from the bed to apply more pressure to her lips and kiss her harder even as his arms slid up and around her waist to pull her down closer to him.

There. She got another noise. She liked those. They did good things to her, electric sorts of things that she savored. She even pushed down against him, because he was drawing her in, and it also seemed the natural thing to do. From the times when they'd done things together before, she was getting that impression. That he would like that, and as she did it, she found out she did too. She could feel him, the effect she had, and while part of her thought it was the scariest thing possibly known to man...another part loved it. Kaysen felt this...urgency in the flow of her body. Which had her kissing him hard, a desperate sort of feel to it as she did it.

His hands went to her waist again with the intent of shifting her just enough that he could think and possibly control himself, but instead Chance felt his fingers grip her hips tightly to hold her still even as his own hips jerked up against her. Her desperation only fueled him further and he pressed against her again, a tiny gasp escaping his lips. He wanted to let his hands roam and touch her everywhere because Ohmygod everything felt good and he recognized the ache inside of him that wanted more.

When his hands gripped her tighter, she felt a thrill at it. A shudder raced through her, at the gasp he gave, and the first push back up against her. It had felt almost...involuntary on his part, and she really loved that. Did this mean she was kind of a control freak? Because she adored the feeling of power. That she clearly had it, and there was nooo changing that right now. Hell no. When she had to breathe again, she broke the kiss to trail some along his jawline, to kiss his neck, like he did with her. She did like he had too and tasted his skin, just below his ear, and then she exhaled into it.

Chance was more than willing to let her have all the power. At least for now. He was just trying to keep up with the sensations pulsing almost painfully through his body. Every time her lips pressed against his skin his body seemed to tighten just about everywhere until he could barely breathe from it. When he felt her breath on his neck, he trembled slightly and clenched his jaw to keep from groaning again because he wasn't sure he could keep quiet about it. His knees pulled up slightly to cradle her more firmly against him as his hands slid down to her legs, gripping her thighs where she was straddling him. He knew he should stop her because if he didn't, he wasn't going to be able to keep his hands in check, but at the same time, he wanted to let her do anything she pleased. He was completely at her mercy, and at the moment there was nowhere else he wanted to be.

His slight changes in position were fine with her. And she after a tiny hesitation sucked at his earlobe lightly, teeth barely scraping over it as she breathed into his ear again. When she did that, she pushed down against him again, and she made sure it was harder. Something unignoreable, intentional. She liked the way his skin tasted, and she still wanted to get another sound out of him. From her hand on his opposite shoulder, she could feel the tension in his frame, and she started paying even more attention to that. That was good, right? She thought it probably was. If it wasn't, he'd probably stop her, or so went her theory.

"Jesus," Chance managed hoarsely, his fingers pressing into her thighs harder as his body jerked underneath her. He was burning up and there was a thick haze of arousal hanging painfully inside of him. He didn't think he could get any harder than he already was and it took everything he had inside of him not to whimper pleadingly for...for something. Clearing his throat, he tightened his hands on her to hold her still, even if she was sitting directly on top of him. He was enjoying the pressure which only made it harder to stop her. "Kaysen...we gotta stop before...I mean your mom's downstairs..."

An electric jolt of triumph went through her at the first word. God, that sound in his voice! She imagined she'd be replaying that for herself later. It was the best sound ever. And she was just about to go back to kissing him like the world was ending when he said the rest of it. Kaysen had been giving him little kisses. Jaw, cheek, corner of his mouth. She gave a little whine of protest, not wanting to hear the word 'stop', nevermind contemplating it's meaning. She kissed him again, though in it, it was clear she'd gotten the message, she just didn't happen to be happy about it. So it was slower, not so charged or hard, but still...there. And she pushed down slowly but steadily once more, because she found she couldn't stop herself from it.

He kissed her back eagerly, relieved, but still disappointed, that she seemed to understand and hopefully agree with his assessment. And then she pushed against him again and he couldn't help the tiny whine deep in his throat because Jesus Christ she was torturing him! She was doing it on purpose, she had to be, because he knew she could feel the effect she had on his body and she wouldn't stop...and he didn't want her to stop because he wanted to roll her beneath him again and slide his hands under her shirt and rock against her and... Groaning again, he pulled back from her lips. "Okay," he breathed, hands coming up to slide into her hair. His head fell back against the mattress, his chest heaving as he tried to suck in oxygen. He was going to have to go home and spend the rest of the day locked in his room to alleviate what it was she was doing to him. "Gotta...stop..."

Sure they did. And she totally would, just as soon as she kissed him again. Which she did, drawing it out, and another, slowing them down, though she eventually pulled back. She even wanted to go back in for another, and almost did, but managed to draw back before she got herself in trouble again. Stop was a bad word. That decision came down from on high in her mind. It was a bad, bad word that she didn't like. Even if she understood it and everything...still. She half pushed herself up, hands coming to rest on his chest, though she was aware of the fact that it just rocked her body back on his, and she didn't try it exactly, but it was possible that she knew it would happen and didn't think of an alternative way of getting away from his lips so she could better convince herself that they needed to knock it off now. Drawing her lower lip between her teeth, she bit down on it lightly, her eyes half lidded as she gazed down at him, cheeks flushed, hair just a little tossled as it fell over her shoulders.

Chance found the courage to open his eyes after she'd pulled away, her body rocking back against his as she straightened. He couldn't breathe anymore, less so now that he was looking up at her from dark and needy eyes. Her hair was falling over her shoulders, cheeks flushed and her lips pink and swollen from where they'd been kissing. She looked like some kind of...fire goddess. It sounded so cheesy in his head, and he'd never tell her that but just looking at her was making the tightening in his groin more painful. Chance exhaled slowly to try and slow his heartbeat that was still thudding in his chest. His hands, as if they had a mind of their own, slid up to her hips and then her waist, up further until his thumbs pressed against her ribcage just underneath her breasts. He parted his lips to say something, to tell her how pretty she is, but his throat was too dry that nothing came out.

She was fascinated with the way he looked there. All...she didn't even know what. A word for it didn't exist in her mind yet. But she liked it. She very very much liked it. Like he needed her. Something, she didn't know. And again, another little thrill went through her because that look was there because of her. She'd done that. When his hands moved, she almost squirmed to stop him, but in the end curbed it because there was a part of her--the part that was pretty much in charge right now and up until recently she'd had no clue even existed--wanted to know what he was going to be doing with them. When he opened his mouth to speak, she waited, breath catching in her throat for a long moment, before she realized he wasn't going to say anything. "...what?" she asked. And her own voice sounded breathy to her. And something else. She couldn't tell what. It was a whisper, but a kind of heady one. Throatier than usual, maybe the tiniest bit hoarse. She leaned a tiny bit forward to support more of her weight on her hands, looking more straight down at him, and she knew it was her rocking forward on him, just that tiny bit. Some part of the back of her mind wondered when she'd gotten like this. Where these crazy buttons were that got hit so hard and she just did things. Things like move in a way that was subtle, and she probably shouldn't, but did anyways because she knew it would have an effect on him.

He winced when she moved forward, but only because he was struggling with himself not to jerk his hips up again, to just grab her hips and rock her over him until he found release. That'd only encourage her, and then he wouldn't be able to stop doing all the things he wanted to do to her. Bad things. Things that shouldn't be happening on her bed with her mom downstairs and her brother...somewhere. She was just so damn sexy, and she didn't even realize it, which only made her more sexy in his mind and every single cell in his body was on fire with a need he knew couldn't attain. Everything, even the sound of her voice, throaty and hoarse with arousal, shot through him and his eyes closed briefly before he looked up at her again. "If I tell you that you're beautiful, will you believe me?"

Now, any other time anything even remotely like that would have come out of his mouth, she would have scoffed at him. Even now there was an internal twitch to. A kneejerk reaction that said he had to be shitting her. That no, no no, that wasn't true. But the way he said it, combined with the look in his eyes. That kind of solidified something for her. Maybe not that she was, but he thought she was right then. Her cheeks flushed even redder, and she continued to gaze down at him. Her stomach was still full of nervous, pleasant butterflies, and places lower than that wanted to push against him again. A slow sort of rock against the hardness she could feel there. And she did it, too, dragging it out, barely moving as she did a roll of her hips, eyes not leaving his. "Do you think I am?" she asked, voice still soft and hoarse, something clearly going on behind it. She felt too warm again. Overheated, on a very high level. She couldn't tell in the slightest if it was her fire thing kicking down into high speed--or simply the effect he had on her.

He went to reply but his throat was too dry and he swallowed before trying it again. "Yes." She didn't scowl at him, or roll her eyes or call him names. No, this time it seemed like she believed him when he said it. The way her cheeks darkened, he knew the words effected her in ways they wouldn't have before. Oh God, then she rocked on him again, slower this time, but enough that his body twitched and Chance exhaled a quick breath, his own hips lifting to press against hers. Not as hard as before, or as quickly, but enough that his body was thanking him for it as his eyes drifted shut again. Swallowing hard, Chance tried to regain his mental footing and he looked up at her again, watching her face as his hands slid underneath her breasts, his thumbs fanning up and over them. He wasn't breathing while he did it, waiting to gauge her reaction before he allowed himself to enjoy it on any level. For all he knew he'd be enjoying a slap on the face any second now instead.

She'd been waiting for it. Curious as to if he was going to go through with it or not, and she'd never had it happen before, so she'd been waiting, wondering what it felt like. And, after an initial flare up of panic, she decided that she didn't mind at all. She of course also liked that he pushed against her again, and was touching her, even if they'd already called a halt. Like she had too much of an effect on him to stop. So she arched into his touch a little, using the motion to rock against him again, though she kept her eyes down on his so she could watch how he reacted to everything. It was something she was finding she really really enjoyed--seeing the way his expression changed so easily in reaction to what she did. Even if it was small things. It was all so clear there, when she watched.

Instead of a slap in the face, Kaysen was rocking over him again, which while it may not have been the reaction he'd expected, it was the one he'd been hoping for. He moved against her, forgetting why he'd wanted to stop a few minutes before. Something about...? Nope, couldn't remember at all. Chance licked his dry lips quickly and swallowed again because it kept feeling like his throat was closing up, cutting off his oxygen. He didn't want to grope her...well, he did but at the moment, he just wanted to touch her. Hands sliding over her breasts, he moved them down to her stomach and around to her ass, guiding her over him because he couldn't stop now. No, he could. Maybe. He probably should. In a minute, damn it.

She leaned a little more forward, her hair framing her face as she let him guide her, movement getting a little more fluid as she found something like a rhythm. This was why girls wound up sluts, was what went through her mind. Because she knew they should stop--he'd even said so--but she didn't really want to. And while later she'd probably have a screaming panic attack over the whole thing, right now, it wasn't triggering. Leaning forward a tiny bit again, she wanted to kiss him. She really, really did, hadn't it been long enough without kissing that it should totally be happening again? She was thinking so.

Chance lifted up again to meet her lips, his tongue sliding into her mouth immediately to taste her. There were no thoughts about stopping now. Even if his brain screamed at him to stop, his body wouldn't listen. It felt too damn good. His hands squeezed her ass, pressing her down harder to him even as he rocked up and against her. His chest felt like it might explode with the lack of oxygen, but he didn't care. He didn't want to stop kissing her. Thankfully his groans were muffled against her mouth because he couldn't hold them back anymore. Everything around him felt really hot, but in a good way - and really fucking good way. One hand remained where it was while the other lifted to the back of her hair where he held her in place, his tongue more persistent and demanding now as he let his want for her to take control.

Her hand fisted in his shirt as he kissed her again, god, that's exactly what she wanted. And he kept moving too, she moved along with him. He was making sounds, and she loved it, and everything felt vastly overheated, and amazing at the same time. The way he kissed her got to her too, where it was so immediate and deep, tasting each other again as her heartbeat sped up in her ears. When he was pressing her down harder against him, she added to that, and after a moment of kissing him, she started to keep the pressure harder, and move a little faster. Weren't they supposed to be stopping? Something like that. Only she still didn't want to.

His hand slid up into her hair, the silky strands winding around his fingers as he tilted his head to kiss her deeper. He'd moved slow before but now his hips were grinding against her, his knees locked in placed to keep her where she was. Chance gasped against her mouth again, his eyes clenching shut as pleasure began to coil tightly in his stomach. He could feel it spreading throughout his body, his skin tingling, burning...he did notice the heat, but he didn't know if it was from her body, or his. Maybe both. Tearing his lips away from hers, Chance released a loud, guttural moan and buried his face against her neck, both arms tugging her down against his chest to hold her there in a tight grip as his release slammed into him unexpectedly. One bent knee collapsed as his foot kicked out and slid against the mattress as his hips jerked up again, his entire body trembling beneath her now. JesusfuckingChrist, was the only coherent thought he could manage.

It was surprising for her, something she definitely hadn't expected, so when it happened, she was a little caught off guard. She very nearly asked if he was okay, or what happened when the reality of it sank in, thankfully saving them both from that embarrassment. OH. She'd made him...and he'd.... RIIIIIIGHT. She couldn't tell whether she wanted to panic all to hell, or be excited that she'd managed to do that. She had a feeling later on she'd be doing like, so much panicking she'd need to knock herself unconscious. The moan though. That she was remembering, and would be doing so for a while. Staying where she was for the moment, at least until he released her, she kind of wondered what she was supposed to do next. She really had no idea. Then she paused, smelling...smoke? Not a lot though, pulling back from him just enough, she glanced behind herself at the candle. Which had been a mostly unburned taper, and had burned itself completely down and out, apparently. When had that happened? No idea. She turned her attention back on him, so she could see what was happening in his eyes.

When she moved, he pried his eyes open and let his head thunk back against her bed. He was still panting, both legs now down and stretched out. His hands fell lazily to her hips again and he licked his lips once more. She was watching him, and had he not felt so damn good at the moment, he would have been embarrassed. When he found the strength, he lifted a hand to brush her hair away from her cheek to her ear again. She was like - amazing. Incredible in every freaking way. He wanted to gush and praise and...yeah, he was pathetic. Chance knew he probably ought to say something, only he wasn't sure what to say. Or do. It wasn't like he hadn't done stuff like this before, but this time it was different. Everything was different. He coughed a bit to clear his throat and gave her a tiny, sheepish grin. "Uhm...guess we should have...stopped." Did he apologize now? Should he? Was she totally panicking now? A dozen questions ran through his mind, none of which made it past his lips.

She blushed bad at that, and squeaked a little, getting off of him(though she didn't go far, just off to his side on the bed) and she buried her face in his shoulder, and her pillow. WHEEEEEPANIC! Oh god what the hell had she been doing, what had possessed her?! And yet it had all been feeling so awesome that she couldn't quite think past it, and she peeked at him through her fingers and wished she had answers or something, because damn. Even so, she did kinda have a smile in her eyes as she peeked.

There was the panic. He'd been waiting for it, after all. Still, he grinned, hiding it for a second behind the guise of just rubbing his palms over his face. Okay, so he shouldn't be smiling like a moron, but...yeah. He couldn't help it. He shifted, turning toward her where he could feel her face buried partly against his shoulder. "Don't hide," he told her, reaching up to pry her fingers away from her face. At least she wasn't like, scrambling off the bed and running to hide in her closet or anything. His tone was light and coaxing. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...I mean..." This really should have been easier. It would have been if it hadn't been Kaysen. "Couldn't help it. You're just..." Ah, he was going to bungle this badly if he kept talking. He was just having a hard time forming a coherent thought, given his heart was still pounding in his chest and his body was only just now recovering from the happy onslaught it had experienced. He wished he didn't have to say anything. He just wanted to curl up with her and do nothing for awhile.

She was still peeking at him, and she moved slightly, looking at his eyes for a few heartbeats, then finding something fascinating over his shoulder. "I'm not hiding." she insisted. Which wasn't strictly true. Though around now, she was kind of wondering if she could say she had to go to the bathroom, then just stay in there the rest of the night. She also didn't really think he had to be sorry, really. Was it a 'sorry' thing?

"Hey." He touched her chin gently, and then lifted up to lean on his elbow so that she'd have to look at him rather than whatever fascinating point she'd found over his shoulder. "I don't want you to feel embarrassed or anything. I like you. And you like me. It's like natural progression." Of course, he would understand that. Kaysen, on the other hand, might not.

She looked back at him as he turned her face towards his still blushing terribly. "Yeah?" she asked. And had to resist the urge to hide again. Whee, hiding was good! Only not. Okay. She could deal. Her voice was slightly squeaky, and she wished it would go back to normal. Logic was telling her that well. It wasn't like she hadn't been enjoying herself. And clearly, him too.

He smiled a bit at her response, recognizing that she was freaking out, but trying not to show it too terribly. "Yeah." And yeah, he had enjoyed it. Obviously. More than he had intended too, but what's done was done. Might as well deal with it. "It's nothing like, to be ashamed of or anything. I mean...were you okay with it?" He fully intended her to try to hide again, but he wanted to make sure she wasn't uncomfortable now, even if she hadn't been a couple minutes ago.

She nodded. Though weirdly, she didn't try to hide again. She was darker red, if possible, but well. She couldn't actually deny that part. Enjoy it? Yeah. She had. Definitely. Whole bunches. "Yes." she answered verbally, thinking he probably deserved an answer that wasn't just a head-movement.

"I don't think I've ever seen a person's face get that red before," he teased. Maybe this was part of the natural progression too. Because he didn't think he'd be having this conversation a week ago. Or getting fairly calm responses from her. He was starting to think that the fire thing was embedded in her personality. Red hot passion and all that stuff. It made sense to him. He leaned down to brush his lips over the tip of her nose. "So...is this where I ask you to go out with me? Or have I met my quota for the day?"

She made a face at him. "I dunno." she said. She didn't immediately say she was still thinking. And really, it was less not wanting to go out with him that was stopping her, and more she knew that there were going to have to be ground rules followed, and she didn't know if he was okay with that yet. Chance certainly didn't seem like he was okay with rules. Last time she'd gotten upset with him for stuff, he'd got really upset back. And she still didn't know what Isaac would say, and his opinion was really important to her. "I'm still..." she paused. "You do know that when I say I'm thinking I am for really thinking about it, right?" she asked. Because it suddenly occurred to her that he might not.

"Sure." He shrugged one shoulder before his eyes drifted over her face. "I mean, I think so. I guess I'd understand it better if you told me what it was you had to think about. I mean, like, besides your brother." Because they'd been over that before and just blech. He didn't want to think about Isaac, let alone talk about him. The guy was a dick. But that wasn't important to say aloud in front of Kaysen at the moment. Or ever.

"This stuff isn't easy for me." Kaysen said, pulling back a little, curling up on her side next to him. But she was still there with him, almost snuggling. "Like, you've had girlfriends before. And I know you keep telling me you don't have it easy either, but I still don't...it's still harder for me. And if you haven't noticed, in the grand scheme of things even, totally ignoring our personal situations, it's always harder on the girl. So...yeah, it's a lot for me to think about. I...I like you. Obviously. But don't rush me, okay? It's a...it's just a lot." She wondered if that was the most rational explanation she'd ever given him about anything ever, and thought maybe it was.

His hand slid around her waist, just resting there to keep her from going anywhere. Not that it seemed like she was, but still. "I know it's not." And he didn't bother pointing out that they weren't girlfriends because it didn't seem like the time to get into that. "I won't rush you. I don't want you to think I am. I won't ask again, if that makes you feel better about it." And he was perfectly willing to leave it alone if it was easier on her. Just hearing her actually saying she liked him was enough to have him feeling pretty good about the situation. In any case, he was learning there were a lot more levels to patience that he initially thought.

She thought. "...no." she said, making a bit of an embarrassed face, but then smirking faintly. "You can keep asking." she added. She liked that he kept asking. It was just harder to turn him down when they were face to face and had been kissing, and she knew he was for really kind of asking. But she didn't want him to stop--she just didn't want to have to decide. Not yet. Not til....she figured some things out.

Chance smiled at that, resting his head on her pillow. "Okay. Once a day then. We'll see how many colorful ways you can come up with saying no." Which didn't really bother him. As long as she never said no seriously. He didn't even want to contemplate that happening. Until then, he'd be okay with this.