Sometimes you just need a break.

Who: Rose and Leija
When: evening
Where: Leija's house

Leija had called Rose to tell her she was good for company whenever Rose wanted to come over. While she was at the grocery store, she'd bought a frozen pizza so they wouldn't have to order out, and went ahead and started to warm the oven up after she hung up the phone. She hummed a bit as she moved around the kitchen, her fingers idly keying the notes that would be there if the countertops were a piano. She looked through the cabinets and considered if there was anything that went with pizza. It didn't really need anything to compliment it ... but some quickly baked cookies could be awesome ... Girl nights required cookies. Pulling a sheet pan out, Leija started cutting up the cookie-dough roll from the fridge.

They'd both been fairly clueless about what they wanted to watch so on her way over Rose had picked up some cute comedy that didn't seem to have any horrible triggers in it. No huge focus on families at least and she just hoped it wasn't one of those movies that was completely different from what the cover said about it. It took her a while to get to Leija's house and she was pretty cold by the time she made it there, making sure she had the right address before ringing the bell. Her house looked so nice from the outside that Rose stepped back and looked around while she waited for Leija to get the door, somewhat wishing she lived in a house like this - a proper house and not just a room in the dormitories.

The pizza had gone in by the time the doorbell rang, so that was probably perfect timing. Leija headed over to answer it, a small smile on her face as she opened the door. "Hi!" she said, stepping back and motioning Rose in. Poor thing had to be cold. "I just stuck food in the oven, so we should be good to go soon," she said, closing the door behind the brunette. "Did you find it okay?" Which always seemed like kind of a strange question to her, seeing as how people always ended up there to be asked in the first place, but hey. She wasn't really used to having guests.

If asked, Rose would have told her it was a perfectly reasonable question. She could have been wandering around, knocking on a lot of doors to ask for directions or she could have found it okay, which she had. "Yeah, thank you," she said with a small smile, pulling her mittens off and loosening the buttons on her coat. It was cold out but she'd still enjoyed the walk there in some semi-masochistic way, at least it had made her feel awake. "Your house is so pretty," she said as she shrugged off her backpack and took off her coat.

"Oh thanks," Leija said, glancing back at the living room behind her. She guessed she was used to living in nicer places, she didn't really think much about it. It was just home, and her dad had always made pretty good money teaching. She took Rose's coat from her and went to hang it up in the coat closet. "Come on in, make yourself comfy. Dad's off grading papers and shit in his study, he might pass through at some point, but ... yeah. Do you like peanut butter cookies? 'Cause I'm totally making some."

"Yes, definitely," Rose replied contently and grabbed her backpack. "I don't know if this movie is any good, it's new-ish and it looks like it could be fun," she said and toed off her shoes before following Leija inside the house. She instantly liked it there, the feel of the house, the things she could smell there and the way things looked. She liked going to people's homes - they said so many little things about them that conversation didn't reveal. "Thanks for inviting me," she said with a genuine smile. "It's so nice to just... get out of the dorms for an evening."

The place was neat above all things, and felt roomy. The furniture in the living room was comfortable-looking without being ostentatious. It was meant to be lived in, but lived in nicely. And she'd straightened up some. Leija had a lot of time to be domestic these days, it seemed like. The redhead took the movie from Rose to look at and nodded her approval. It would probably be a snoozefest, but that was okay sometimes. A lot of the time, really. "No problem, it's good to have company," she said sincerely, and gave Rose a smile. She motioned for Rose to follow her to the kitchen, heading off to check on the pizza. "I bet, I don't think I could stand dorms, myself."

"It feels a bit cramped," Rose admitted. "Just a dorm room and a small bathroom and nowhere else to go - nobody to really live with. I thought it would be fun but it really isn't." It didn't help that she just wanted to go home and she couldn't, maybe not ever again. "There's a small sitting room down the hall but it's always such a mess. Understandably, this many people my age living together..." She sighed but when they entered the kitchen she inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of home. A real kitchen again, the whirring of a fridge, the smell of something baking, the clock on the oven, it filled her with nostalgia and a deep sense of loss.

She was quick to push those feelings away, at least enough to not get overwhelmed by them. Instead she thought she'd keep Leija updated on the here and now and how things were going. "I think I somewhat made up with Caleb yesterday," she told her. "We went to see a movie and I managed not to annoy him too much." She smiled faintly and leaned against the counter, wondering if she could help at all but Leija seemed to have everything taken care of in there.

Leija tried not to twitch internally at the mention of Caleb. It was good that they hung out, they needed to ... heal things there. Needed to be on good terms. For both of their sakes, and that had absolutely nothing to do with him wanting she herself to stay the hell away. "That's good," she said, glancing up from where she'd opened the oven and was eyeing the pizza. It needed a few more minutes, so she closed the oven door again, and bit her tongue on any 'how is he?' questions. Because she didn't want to have to explain why she was asking. So she wiped the counter down for a second. "What'd you guys see?" she asked.

"Wristcutters," Rose replied, still feeling weird saying that name. It was so morbid, for such a nice film. "It's showing at the art house, I really liked it and he didn't hate it so that was something." She was completely oblivious to Leija's discomfort with the topic, though she still somehow felt like she had to reassure her that they were just friends - if that. "I think I have... maybe, possibly a date tomorrow," she said and the fact she found that quite weird and random showed in her expression as she did nothing to hide it - quite the opposite really. "Which is..." She groped around for words, looking a little pained. "I don't know, the timing is all off but at the same time I feel like I should do something that's not all about the bad or." She was stumbling over her words, looking to Leija as if asking for help. Approval or her telling her it was a horrible idea or something. For all she knew it wasn't even a date but Zed was cute and he made her laugh even when everything else was breaking her apart.

That had her looking over in surprise, eyebrows lifted. She would've said so if it was a date-date with Caleb, even though the statement made her heart clench up for a second anyway. But she hadn't said Caleb-date, she'd just said date, and Leija really had to get over this whole being retarded thing. "A date?" she said, looking interested as the corners of her lips turned up a little bit. "With who? Somebody you have class with, or ...?" She didn't look as though she thought that was horrible news, it definitely deserved hearing-out before that judgement could be made.

"No, he's a bartender," Rose replied and it felt nice to have someone to share this with because she really got the feeling Caleb wouldn't want to hear any of this. "I'm not even sure what we're going to do because he said we should just put a bunch of ideas in a hat and make a mystery of it." That made her smile again, though a little self consciously. "That... kind of sounds like a date, right? I'm not even sure I should be dating, everything is so.... But he's nice and he makes me laugh." She looked bewildered for a moment, biting her lip. "I just feel like I'm doing something wrong while also feeling like I deserve something good and, I don't know. I'm sorry I'm rambling, I'm barely through the door when I pounce you with problems."

A bartender. Which made the other pale eyebrow raise up and join the other one. so an older guy. Which made Leija realize that she didn't relaly know how old Rose was anyway. Just old enough to be in college. But still, anybody who served alcohol for a living sounded a lot older to her, though that probably wasn't true. And completely not the point. "That ... yeah, that sounds like a date to me. Not like I go on many, but still," she said, leaning her hip on the counter to look at Rose. She smiled faintly. "Making you laugh is good, don't worry about rambling. I think that just ... probably you need to take anything really slow? But maybe a date could be good. Fun, you need it."

"Oh God no, no moving fast," Rose said, eyes widening. "No no no, do not need complicated emotional rollercoaster type of stuff in my life." Or more of those anyway. She had enough complicated bad stuff going on for ten people without adding to it. "He's cute and funny but I'm going to try to keep it as just... Friendly, I just hope he's not going to push, or... Oh I don't know. Can you tell I don't date much either?" She smiled faintly and shrugged. "Making friends is good for now..." She trailed off, eyebrows shooting upward. "Oh! I almost forgot." Going back to her backpack she dug up something small and handed it to Leija. "It's just a little thing, just to say thank you." It was a small scented candle, delicatedly decorated with a faint vanilla scent. The glass it was in could be used for later, pretty though not of the overly expensive kind.

Leija could sympathize with the 'complicated emotional rollercoaster' bit, most definitely. More than definitely. She was about to say that just friends sounded like the best plan for the moment when suddenly she was being given a candle. Leija took it with a growing smile. It was a simple thing, but she didn't really get gifts very often. Or like, hardly ever, so ... she even still had the stone Thom had given her, despite everything. "Aw, thanks," she said, sniffing the candle and making a pleased little sound. "This is nice, I appreciate it, you really didn't have to." She smiled brightly, really touched that she actually was given something just for being a shoulder to cry on.

Rose was visibly relieved at her reaction, smiling easier now. "It's... a thing, I just, I feel nice giving people stuff, new friends or old or... And you really- you really kind of saved me that night. I was just... You were my candle in the dark, kind of." God that sounded corny, she'd never really thought much of corny things but after she got here, after she met Caleb, she had started picking up on the things she did that could be seen as too girlie or annoying in some way. It was ridiculous, censoring herself like that but there it was, that uncomfortable self-awareness. Her expression said as much, that it was probably over the top, her brows furrowing and her smile getting a little crooked. "I'm just glad it wasn't a complete miss. I kind of gave Caleb something that was so not him and... It was just awful."

Leija thought back to the little things she'd given him. The scorpion keychain. The Hello Kitty guitar pick on a necklace. The stuff he still wore and used for some reason she couldn't really fathom and really didn't need to dwell on. She made herself refocus on Rose, what she was saying. "Aw, it wasn't ... I mean, you would've done the same," she said, feeling a sweet kind of awkward about taking the appreciation. "No, it's nice, thank you." She set it down on the counter and stepped forward to give Rose a light hug, feeling that was probably appropriate. If only the girl knew how much it had made her twitch in the beginning. God, she was an awful person. "I'm glad I could help," she said as she stepped back again. The pizza was probably ready, so she moved to take it out of the oven.

Rose hugged her back, relaxing more which made her smile a little less strained. The smell of food tickled her nose and she breathed in deeply. "That smells good," she said and closed her backpack again, putting it on her shoulder so she wouldn't forget it in the kitchen. She was no longer cold but she definitely felt the hunger beginning to eat at her - especially with the smell of food taunting her senses. A good walk like she had had getting here definitely helped with the appetite. "Anything I can do to help? Grab plates or glasses or anything?"

"Yeah, there's plates up there, and glasses up there," she said, nodding to each cabinet in turn as she pulled the pizza out and found the rolly-cutter thing. "Go ahead and help yourself to whatever's in the fridge that you wanna drink." She went about separating the pizza out into uneven slices, giggling a little. "I always suck at this part," she confessed, glancing over at Rose with a grin. She sucked a bit of cheese off of her thumb. "But it all ends up in the same place, right?"

"Right," Rose laughed lightly, grabbing a couple of plates and then glasses before peeking into the fridge. "What do you want?" She asked, grabbing a Mountain Dew and holding it up as if for approval. Sometimes people said 'help yourself' but that still meant 'please don't drink that because it's dad's and he's weird about his Mountain Dew' or something.

Leija glanced over and nodded her approval at the Mountain Dew. They were her's anyway, and one of the many dietary vices she allowed herself. Really, it was amazing she wasn't three hundred pounds with the way she ate sometimes. "I'll take one too," she said with a little smile as she dished up pizza slices on the plates. She handed one off to Rose and took the Mountain Dew in return, then led the way toward the living room. As long as she didn't have to talk about
Caleb, tonight might actually work out to be good.

Rose followed and balanced her plate on her thighs once they sat down on the sofa. It was comfortable and again she felt a little nostalgic in a painful way to be in someone's actual home. A sofa and a TV and pictures on the walls - it was beautiful. But she also felt comfortable there, to a point where she barely wanted to go back to the dorms. "I hope this movie is good," she said. "Otherwise we can watch something else, I'm easily entertained." She wasn't really but she didn't get bored easily either - so long as there wasn't horrible violence or dirty jokes she was likely to be able to watch it without much trouble.

As hostess, she went about firing up the electronics and sticking the movie in, then joined Rose on the couch. Putting her socked feet up on the coffee table, she picked up the remote and looked over at Rose. "Do you watch the previews?" she asked, since she knew that some people really loathed them. Not her, she kind of liked them. Even though there would probably be like ... 'Beethoven's 37th' on a movie like this or something. She took a sip out of her bottle.

"I'm okay with skipping them if you want to," Rose replied. "I kind of like them, they're sometimes like little mini-movies and the voice-over can be funny." Again - easily entertained as she'd told her already. She waited with eating her pizza, not wanting to burn her mouth since it was so fresh out of the oven but gosh was she hungry already! "Did you see the one for the Seinfeld movie?" She asked with a small grin. "With the voice over guy in the booth?"

Leija laughed a bit. "Yeah I saw it," she said, nodding. "That was hilarious, I love that guy. Only it was weird to see him and hear him at the same time." She set the remote aside to let the previews play, lifting her pizza and blowing on it for a second before she took a bite. It was good, for oven-pizza.

"I always picture those guys far different, like it's all the same guy," Rose snickered softly. "Oh my God, and they all look like that guy... I don't know his name. He was in..." And of course that escaped her memory too and she gave a frustrated little sound. "Oh! He talked for the guy in the uhm... the cartoon with the prince who turns into a llama." She couldn't help but laugh again, nibbling cautiously on her pizza. It all sounded so ridiculous but at least it amused her if nobody else.

"The Emperor's New Groove!" Leija supplied happily, with a laugh, glad that she remembered. "I loved that movie, it was hilarious. You mean they all look like David Spade? Little and squirrely? Or the big guy, 'cause he's got that same kind of voice. Krunk, his name was Krunk, I think." Yeah, and she knew wwaaaaaay too much about a cartoon movie. She didn't mind it, though, this felt nice and friendly and relaxed. Which was a good place to be for a change.

"Krunk!" Rose laughed. "Only the actor who talked for him, he was in some show too, he played someone's boyfriend or something. But yeah they all look like him. It'd be hilarious if they all looked like the little guy, this tiny guy with a really deep voice." It was nice to laugh and just picturing David Spade with a big booming voice had her snickering throughout the previews. "I loved that movie," she added. "And Ice Age. Oh now I wish I had brought something like that."

"Well maybe this'll be good," she said with a sweet smile. "If not, I at least have some Invader Zim that we can substitute." Invader Zim was good for all occasions, after all. She settled in as the previews ended and the actual movie began, munching on her pizza and feeling rather ... normal, as strange as it was. But it was good. She could live with some normality every now and then, and Rose could probably use it too.

Rose really could and she felt comfortable and safe in Leija's livingroom. The movie wasn't all that great but it didn't matter. She'd never seen Invader Zim so they watched a couple of episodes afterward. They were ridiculous and over the top but they still made her laugh and that was what mattered, right?