Unexpected!

Who: Thom and Leija
When: Late afternoon
Where: Phone, then Thom's house

Having got back from Isaac's Thom had headed for his room, lying out on his bed and contemplating the ceiling for a long while. Not that there was much particularly interesting about his ceiling. Nothing, in fact, but he wasn't sure what else to do. He couldn't believe that - that Jamie would do that. He understood the 'no dating' rule. Hell, he got that. But to lead Isaac on like that, to make him think... Damn, but he'd been there - he'd seen them, he'd seen his friend. He'd been anticipating being happy for Isaac, he'd anticipated being jealous for fuck's sake! It was all there and worked out and never had he foreseen it would turn out like this.

Hence - ceiling staring. Until he started to feel vaguely guilty. And then a little more guilty. The maybe a lot guilty. Because the normal scheme of things didn't work like this. The normal, usual, accepted scheme of things had Isaac with the girl and Thom sitting on the sidelines. Which was fine, because Thom did the sidelines very well. He was almost born to it. He was happy on the sidelines. And now? Now Isaac was sitting at home, brooding. And Thom? Wasn't. Throughout it all, he was thinking of Leija - even if that made him a bad friend. It definitely made him feel guilty. He should have done better back there. He should have been able to get through that without his mind wandering. He definitely should have been able to get through it without mentioning her name. Which he noted he'd been unable to do.

But he hadn't been able to. Which made him feel like shit. And meant only one thing. There was only one possible reaction - he picked up the phone on his bedside and called her.

Leija had had a very ... enlightening lunch with Tensiel. It fascinated her, all the differences between 'her kind' and angels. She couldn't help but feel like she'd sort of gotten shafted, in the universal scheme of things. No blessings, no real way to help people. People that weren't dying, anyway. No, she just had gotten stuck with the ... the shitty end of the stupid life-stick. What good was what she did if it only lasted a matter of minutes any-damn-way? Nobody got to stick around to enjoy it, she never got to see the effect of it for more than a few last breaths and heartbeats. There was absolutely nothing rewarding about being what she was. Though that was probably a hella-selfish stance to take ... that was how she felt. Not that she begrudged Ten her special powers. And her pretty wings. She just ... what the hell was she going to live so long for? It was enough to depre--

Her thoughts were cut off by the phone ringing. She jumped, a little startled, and slid off of the bed. Her dad was no doubt nowhere near the phone downstairs, so she snagged up the line in her room. "Hello?" she asked, sounding a little wary.

"Sorry for keeping you up so late last night," Thom said - skipping the 'hello'. He wasn't too good at greetings, and generally skipping them unless he was nervous. And, right now, he was really less than nervous around her. Not any more. No, already his voice had a note of humour in it as he spoke, feeling unaccountably better already.

Her heart leapt into her throat, though it wasn't from nerves. Hell no, it was more just extremely surprised joy. He'd called her. He'd called her, voluntarily, all on his own, even though they'd already said a couple of times that they'd see each other on Sunday. Leija caught a glimpse of herself in her mirror and she was beaming her fool head off. "Um, who is this?" she asked, amusement and teasing very clear in her voice.

On the other end of the line, Thom raised an unseen eyebrow and smirked. "You had more than one guy keeping you up last night?" he asked, obviously amused. He brought a hand up to rest behind his head and cringed slightly at the inner suggestion he was being a bad friend as he dismissed Isaac from his mind. He told himself he had call waiting - he'd know if the guy rang. Right?

"Oh honey, I've got gobs of guys keeping me up every night," she joked, rolling her eyes. She did a little bounce and pulled the base of the phone over to her nightstand so she could sit on the bed. "But don't be sorry. It wasn't like you had a gun to my head or anything," she said, voice softening some. God, he was going to kill her facial muscles, making her grin like this. "Had to come back for more, huh?"

"Gobs of guys, huh?" Thom asked her, musingly. "Well, maybe I should just leave you to it..." he suggested, obviously calling her bluff. He paused. "Well, I coulda just answered your email, but there was this phone, looking all forlorn, and I thought..."

"Oh well ... tonight's the harem's night off," she added hastily, then couldn't help but giggle. Ugh, so girly, she berated herself, but without a lot of heat behind it. She was just too happy to hear from him. "Does it feel better yet?" she asked, smirking.

"The phone?" Thom asked. "Oh yes - a lot less neglected. It doesn't get a whole lot of action, you know," he confided before turning onto his side and propping his head up on a hand. "There's a harem?" he asked, sounding intrigued. "You never told me about that..."

Leija laid back and started wrapping her arm up idly in the long phone cord. She wondered if she was in bed with him again, and really had to stop herself from asking. Because ... yeah, he could hear her now, this was a little different. "Aw, poor phone. I can commiserate," she said instead. Which wasn't much better. "And yes, there is a harem. They are all imaginary, and you'd rather think I'm creative than crazy, right? Didn't we establish something like that?" She grinned.

"Mmmm, an imaginary harem?" Thom asked, taking his time over the words. "So, do I get to know about this imaginary harem?" he asked her. "Because, really, I think that if this is going to become a regular thing, I should know whether I run to risk of not getting Leija one night... Though, maybe if you turn up for one of our dates wearing a veil and a belly dancer's costume, I might just be able to guess," he teased.

She laughed, and really thought her face would probably spontaneously combust, it was so hot. She tried to picture that, and then her mind supplied the fact that she would most likely run away if he saw her in something like that. "Well see ..." she started, grinning stupidly. "There's not much to know, because they kind of change? Being imaginary and all. So now they're all sort of ... tall brunettes with shaggy hair and guitars. In Speedos, of course. Because what self-respecting harem member wears clothes?" Oh God, she was going to die ...

"Speedos?" Thom asked, highlyamused. "Tall? With shaggy hair?" Actually, put like that, they kinda sounded, well, like him. Only he wouldn't be caught dead in speedos... "Just to clarify - these are female harem members, right? Cos male ones are gonna totally fu..mess with my fantasy," he warned her.

"This is my imaginary harem, why would I want a bunch of other girls around?" she retorted, far too amused by this conversation than was strictly sane. "If you want an imaginary harem of females, get your own. ... and quit that, you can curse around me. I have a mouth like a sailor, honest to fuck." Leija propped one knee up on the other and chuckled.

"Oh, that's right - use logic on me," Thom pouted. "Sure, we were talking about your imagination, but you said the word 'harem' and my mind kinda wandered off in another direction," he laughed, realising that he had been making no sense - but at least he was honest about it! It took him a moment to realise what he was being told off for, before he chuckled as he realised - he did tend to watch his mouth around new people until he got their measure. "So, you like guys with guitars, in speedos, do you?" he asked, slightly doubtfully.

She giggled, unsurprised to hear that 'harem' was one of those words that had very specific associations in the Guy Brain. "Not necessarily. Well, the guitars for sure. But some guys really just can't pull off a speedo," she said, feigning disappointment in that. She gave a sad sort of sigh, grinning her head off on the other side of the phone. "You like girls in belly dancer costumes? Like ... a bunch of them all at once?" she countered teasingly.

"No guys can pull off speedoes," Thom amended, firmly. "Especially not the ones who think they can." He paused, laughing a little. "I dunno, I think I could be okay with a bunch of girls in belly dancer costumes - I'd be willing to take one for the team and y'know, sacrifice myself to a roomful of girls dressed as bellydancers to find out... In the name of science, of course," he joked.

"You're a good man, Thom," she told him, voice somber even through her smile. "I can't provide any more girls than myself, but we could start your experiment out small, see where it goes." She honestly couldn't believe herself, joking around about dressing up in a belly dancer costume for a guy -- granted, a very cute-sweet-funny-hot-personable guy she really really really liked -- that she hadn't even known a week yet. Leija was happily sure she'd lost her mind somewhere. It was great. "Y'know, sort of acclimate you to the environment."

"That with or without the Shakespeare hat?" he asked, not taking her at all seriously. After all, what girl offered to dress up for you when you'd only known them a few days? Okay, so they'd talked a lot during that time. In fact, Thom was half expecting her to tell him to leave her alone for a while - and was so very glad she hadn't, because he was steadily realising that he did really like her. But still.

"Without," she said, rolling over on her stomach on the bed and propping up on some of her many pillows. "The Shakespeare hat is an entirely different experience. Unless you've got some weird kink about mixing time periods and regions." She giggled softly. In no way, shape, or form did Leija want him to leave her alone. This was the stuff that Giddy was made of, and at the moment it felt unbelievably awesome.

"Oh no, my weird kinks are entirely different," he joked, smiling as she giggled. He decided that that was a good sound on her. Cute, like the rest of her. Reaching over, he grabbed another pillow and sat up a little so he could stuff it behind his head.

"Oh really?" she asked, sounding amused and intrigued. "See, now you have to tell me. ... oh! You owe me a random fact today too! You could kill two birds with one stone here, I hope you realize." She got comfortable and found herself wishing that there weren't a couple of phones and half the town between them.

"Nope - I already gave you a random fact, remember," he teased. "It was well gone midnight when we started on that one." He reached over and pulled him laptop towards himself, humming slightly as he loaded up his email. "Le'see... Yup, Saturday - you even told me it was," he informed her, finding the right email. "'So it's Saturday, give me a fact. I'll even go first. Just in case you want to know me better too: I can't sleep on my back. Or without being surrounded by a bunch of pillows. Now you. Go.'," he read out to her, putting on a girly voice to do so. "And I told you about peas. And then about cooking. So you're actually up a fact. You'll have to wait for another day to find out about my weird kinks..."

She couldn't help but giggle madly at the fake girlie-voice he used. She was really doing that far too much, she had to stop before she totally grossed him out forever. "Damn you and your ... speaking the truth. I wanted to know," she half-whined. "But now you've committed, so you totally have to tell me a weird kink tomorrow." Leija smiled brightly, pleased with this plan. "And you have to tell me in person, 'cause I'm going to see you tomorrow." Which made her butterfly-stomach excited.

"You are," he confirmed with a nod which she obviously couldn't see. "But... Are you really going to be insisting I tell you personal facts in the middle of a party?" he asked her, changing his tone to sound slightly doubtful.

"Well ... no," she admitted, a bit deflated. Despite the light-hearted nature of this conversation, part of her mind immediately started to pick that apart. Did that mean he didn't want to hang out afterwards? Were they only going to see each other around gobs of people? Was the 'alone time' he'd suggested really not alone-alone? In fact, what if he really didn't like her at all and this whole thing was a complete disaster? Maybe he was this way with everyone. "But you did mention alone time, as I recall," she pointed out, trying not to let that bit of disappointment into her voice.

He missed her doubts completely, just hearing her words. "Hmmm - I did, didn't I?" he said, musingly. "Of course, if you want me to tell you my inner-most secrets, it'd have to be somewhere away from prying ears..." he added, biting his lip slightly - something he would only do when nobody could see him. "Do you trust me enough to go off with me like that?" he asked her.

Oh. Well that sounded ... a little tantalizing. In a really nice, stomach-curling way. It occurred to her for pretty much the first time that he was practically a total stranger. Which, in a way, was more exciting than a deterrent. "I trusted you to come into my empty house with me," she reminded him, a little slow smile crossing her face. "To some ... very nice results, I must say. And we've established that you're no good at psycho killing, so ... I'd say probably, yes. Depending on where we went."

"Oh yeah - very nice results," he agreed, his voice bordering on almost a purr. Which had him blinking in surprise once he'd said it - being that it was totally unlike him. He laughed silently and slightly self-consciously at himself, sitting up and bringing his legs round to sit on the edge of the bed. He ran a hand through his hair. "We'll, er, have to see what..." He rolled his eyes at himself and stopped - he didn't babble nervously. "We'll see," he told her, with a little more confidence, getting over his fit of 'self-conscious teen'.

She arched an eyebrow on the other end of the phone. She wasn't sure at all what to say to that, though it had been very nice to hear. And she needed a better adjective than 'nice'. "I guess we will, then," she said with a little smirk. Leija rolled back over on her back. She felt all restless now, like she should be doing something. "So what are you doing?" she asked before she could over think it. "I mean, besides talking to me."

Thom was feeling much the same way, and he stood and walked to the other side of the room, looking out of the window. There was nothing much to see. "Nothing - just talking to you," he admitted. "How about you?" he asked, wondering suddenly if he'd interrupted something. She hadn't been expecting his call, after all - it wasn't as if she would have just be waiting for it. Not that he'd expect her to be doing that, even if she was expecting him to call, of course.

"Nothing," she answered in kind. See, now ... this is where normal people segue into 'wanna hang out?' ... but you're not saying it. ... nope, still not. For God's sake, say something. Instead she got up off of her own bed to pace around. There was some block in her throat that wouldn't let her suggest that they see each other. Because what if he didn't want to. Gawd. "Just talking back. Which, don't get me wrong, is fantastic." She smiled a little.

"So, I'm not... I didn't call at a bad time then?" he asked, cautiously. "I mean, I'm not interrupting anything - or anything? Cos, I realise that this is kinda... random. Me calling you," he told her. Because it had been. He'd just - well, wanted to. Felt the need to. Okay, so he'd been thinking of her. And her number had been right there and... everything. Yeah.

That? That unsure little puppy tone he got in his voice? Was murderously adorable. It made her feel so much better about being a huge crushing dork like she was. "No, I was doing even less when you called. 'Cause I wasn't talking to you," she explained with a little grin. "You can call me whenever, swear. ... I dunno ... I just feel kind of like being out. Of the house." Hint, hint. Preferably not alone, don't make me have to explain it.

This time, he actually clued in - which possibly was a miracle. Or possibly was just him listening. Which he did actually do sometimes. "Well," he said, perching on his windowsill. "If you're not doing anything. And I'm not doing anything - we could, maybe, not do anything together. If you wanted to - maybe we could even think of something to do to fill the huge gaping nothingness of 'not doing anything'."

Leija was glad that she got through to him, because she really hadn't been sure if she could make it through actually asking to hang out with him. Because ... yeah, that was a wee bit desperate when she was supposed to see him tomorrow anyway. But if it was his idea, then ... awesome! And it had been. Go them. "Sure, I think I could deal with that. Even thinking of something to do. ... you wanna come over? Or me there? Or somewhere in between? I think I could beg the car keys away from dad."

"Erm, somewhere in between or you coming here would be best," Thom admitted - hating having to do so because, well - "My mom has the car," he admitted a little reluctantly - god, this wouldn't be happening if his mom would just buckle and buy him a car! "So, I'm kinda on foot." Oh yeah, he sounded like a complete lame-ass now. How humiliating. It wasn't so bad when he had the entire day - he could walk wherever in the morning, stay there all day, walk back in the evening. He wasn't afraid of a bit of exercise. But to meet up with someone? When time as an element? Yeah - so not working for him.

"That's fine," Leija said immediately. Perhaps a wee bit too quickly. Because bringing a boy into the house while her dad was here? Noooooo thank you. Not just yet, if she could avoid it. And if Thom's mom had the car that meant she wasn't there. Which made the redhead five kinds of wonderful nervous. She could do this, it was a normal teenagey thing to do. She didn't seem to think his lack of transport was lame at all, however. "I'll come there, and then ... yeah, we can figure it out. ... If that's cool," she added to the end, glancing at herself in the mirror.

Thom smiled and stood. Okay. Okay! He paused - he should really say that outloud. "Okay," he told her. "So, I'll see you soon then," he said, only just managing to not make that a question. "You think you can find your way here okay?" he asked. That was a question - but it was allowed to be.

"Long as you tell me which house it is, sure thing," she said, sounding a little bit bemused. She'd have to change really quick ... brush her hair ... god, how long ago was her shower? Shit. Leija started for her closet, wondering if she had anything that screamed 'hi, I'm not trying too hard but you rock and I want you to think I'm great and hot and stuff'.

He chuckled a little at that - he'd forgotten that she didn't really know where he lived - he quickly gave her the address. "It's the white house on the right - there's a cherry tree in the front yard," he added, sitting back down again and looking out of the window to said cherry tree. He glanced across at the St James house, but didn't see Kaysen. God, he hoped Isaac was okay - he checked the handset, as if there'd be another call sitting on the display, but there was nothing. Of course.

Leija knew precisely where that was. Of course. She nodded, even though he couldn't see her, and pulled out a pair of dark jeans from the closet. They made her butt look good. Or so she thought. ... wait, why was she thinking about that again? Shaking her head at herself, she chuckled softly. "Okay. I'll be there in a few, then," she said, hoping that was casual enough and didn't sound too much like 'omg I want to see you now now now now'.

"I'll be here," Thom told her. "See you soon." He clicked off the handset and threw it onto the bed, leaning back against the window. Okay. So she was coming over. Okay. He relaxed back, a slight smile on his face. Leija was coming over. To his house. Now. Okay. He paused. Leija was on her way over to his house. Now.

Shit.

He stood, thinking. Okay, so his mom wasn't expected home for hours - and she was never early. So he didn't have to worry about the third degree there. They had food in, soda. The place wasn't a total mess - not that it ever was anyway, but for some reason today that crossed his mind. He crossed to his bathroom and checked in the mirror, before splashing some water over his face and combing his hair. He turned to leave, pulling his t-shirt off and throwing it into the laundry basket - fresh clothes, he'd decided. Then he turned back - he'd better brush his teeth, right? Shit. How long did it take to drive a couple of miles? Would she have been leaving right there and then? She was a girl, right? Girls took forever to do anything. Right? But what if she wasn't one of those girls - up until right this minute, he'd kinda hoped she wasn't, that she was someone more together and less primping than that type. But right now? He'd quite like the delay.

He pulled another t-shirt out of his dresser as he walked back into his room, fitted, dark blue. Needs a shirt, he decided, pulling a light blue shirt from his closet. He shrugged it on, leaving it unbuttoned, casual, rolling the sleeves up as he wandered back over to the window to watch the street outside, angled back so that if she did arrive, she wouldn't see him watching for her - that was important. A minute ticked by. Where was she? Thom was officially back to hoping she wasn't one of those primping girls that took hours to do something as simple as leave the house.

In the meantime, across town, Leija was a whirlwind. She didn't want to keep him waiting too long, but she didn't want to seem like she was in a huge rush -- which she was, she just didn't want to seem like it -- even though she didn't want to forget anything important. Like brushing her teeth. Which she whirled around on her toes and ran back to the bathroom to do. She settled on the dark jeans and a dark green t-shirt that looked ... nicer than what she'd been wearing. She looked good in green. Surely he was in casual clothes, he was at home, for God's sake, but she had to be ready to go out if he wanted. And yeah, showing up in pjs? Not an option.

After she was satisfied that she'd brushed her hair enough, Leija flew down the stairs and (relatively) calmly informed her dad that she'd been invited out. For pizza. With some girls she'd met at the party she told him about the day before. He was only half listening, but she knew if she'd included "boy" anywhere in there? There'd be questions. He handed over the keys and she planted a kiss on his cheek and then she was out the door to the garage in a whirl of red hair. Soon enough -- after singing very loudly with the radio on the way over to try and quell her nerves, she was pulling into Thom's driveway and getting out.

He caught sight of the car pulling into the driveway and stepped back from the window. Didn't recognise the car - that had to be her, right? Thom walked across the room, thinking. Which to do - meet her at the door? Hmm, he could make it downstairs to open it before she got there, he knew. But would that look too keen? She'd know that he'd been watching for her that way. Yeah, that wouldn't do. But he couldn't be too long opening the door - didn't want to keep her waiting. Finally he decided to head downstairs and then he could wait for her to knock, and play it by ear.

... wow. He had a nice house. Whatever Ms. Harkin did that kept her out a lot, she made damn good cash doing it, it seemed. It didn't intimidate her, per se, it was just something else to be aware of. Thom didn't feel like a rich kid, after all. Being all ... down to earth. And she wasn't walking. She should be, because he was in there and she was still outside, and that wasn't right. Just in case he was watching, she made herself walk -- not run -- to the porch and up the steps. Leija smoothed her hands over the front of her shirt and knocked. Then re-tucked her hair again. And bit her bottom lip to moisten it a little. There. Okay.

Inside, Thom had sat himself on the stairs, about half way down, watching the front door. Damn, but she was taking a long time to knock. Had she changed her mind? And, if so - why the hell would she do that? He told himself firmly to stop second guessing - it was stupid and pointless and a complete waste of time. And then the knock came. And he made himself wait for two breaths, before standing and walking down the stairs to open the door. And there she was. "Hi - you found your way okay then?" he asked, giving her a smile and standing back so she could come in.

"Yup, no problem at all," she answered with her own bright smile. He was wearing real clothes, and it made her wonder in a vaguely exciting way whether that was for her or if he always hung around the house dressed. She sure as hell didn't. Leija walked in, toed off her sneakers at the door, and managed to tear her eyes away from him for a few seconds to have a glance around. Just so ... yeah, she wasn't staring. For too long.

"Good - you getting used to the town a little more then?" he asked, leading her through to the kitchen, passing the archway to the large living room to one side and the dining room across the corridor. "Can I get you a drink?" he asked as they entered the kitchen - an attempt to be the good host. Not that many people actually came round to his house. The guys from the band, obviously - but they'd been doing that for so long that they treated it like a second home. 'Host' didn't ever come into it, since they were as likely to not actually both announcing their presence until they had snack food in one hand and a half finished soda in the other.

"Yeah, I'm doing okay with it," she understated, following along with him. "I've got a pretty good sense of direction anyway. Her first ridiculous thought when he said 'drink' was something brown in a highball glass, and she giggled a little. Leija silently blamed the environment and really answered. "Sure, what do you have?" The kitchen at least looked more lived-in, and she found herself remembering that he said he cooked. Honestly, she could kind of see it in her mind. She found a counter to lean against and watched him, smiling.

Thom checked the fridge - as if he didn't already know. "Erm - coke, diet coke, orange juice, still or sparkling water or coffee," he told her, looking up over the door at her.

"Diet coke," she answered. Then added, "Please." Had he gotten even cuter since she saw him last? She was thinking it was possible. Or maybe she'd just discovered more about him to like. "So, you nervous about the show? Or did we establish that you're never nervous?" Leija grinned a little.

He pulled out two cans and crossed to her, starting to hand her one, before stopping. "Did you want a glass?" he asked, unsure. He didn't normally, but there was the whole 'she's a girl' thing about it, so he really should offer.

"Nope, the can is fine," she said, reaching out to take it from him. Looking bemused, she popped the top on it and took a sip. Leija and dainty usually didn't fit together in the same sentence.

He looked a little happier with that - or, at least, a little more like he was on solid ground again. He opened his own can and took a long drink, leaning on the counter next to her. He cocked his head to one side slightly and chuckled a little. "And I think we established I don't get nervous - not about that kind of thing, anyhow," he told her. Which was true - performing didn't phase him in the least.

Recalling the way he'd rambled a little and stumbled over what he was trying to say when they'd first met -- not that she had any room to talk at all -- Leija figured she knew what kind of thing made him nervous. On cheap impulse, she leaned ever so slightly to put her shoulder against his, mildly looking across the way at the spice rack. "I'm sure it'll be great, either way," she said, taking another swallow.

He looked down at her shoulder touching his and pushed back slightly, just a small amount of pressure as his heart speeded up in response to the contact. His eyes ticked back up to hers. "Of course," he said with a cocky grin. Easier to concentrate on the band.

She laughed a little, and reflexively thought she'd really done that too loud for a quiet kitchen. Nobody had ever told her how all this shit could make you feel excited and on top of the world at the same time it made you feel like a huge idiot. "Good then," she teased, wrinkling her nose at him. "I won't have to burn you too badly in my review."

He pulled a slightly shocked face. "'Too bad'?" he asked. "Too bad - oh no, that's not allowed," he added, turning to face her and leaning in slightly, one elbow resting on the countertop. "No, you've gotta be singing our praises and saying how great we are..." he teased.

Leija arched an ironic eyebrow. "Oh do I?" she countered, fighting against the big grin that was threatening. He was closer, damn him; it got her stomach all in riots. "What about my journalistic integrity? If -- in the event that you guys suck -- I have to lie ... you're going to have to make it worth my while."

Thom grinned. "You know, I think we've been here before..." he pointed out, his eyes dancing. "Okay, so - what's it worth? For you to say we're great, no matter what?" he asked her, impressed that he'd managed to say that and keep a straight face - quite the achievement, all things considered.

She rolled her eyes skyward and took the time to take another sip of coke and swish it ponderously. Her heart was beating way too fast, she was sure he could hear it from there. She wanted to say more kissing, but wasn't that kinda slutty? They weren't going out yet or anything, after all. "Well ... no matter what's pretty steep," she mused, pursing her lips. "I suppose another date might do the trick. The nighttime kind."

Thom wasn't sure what to say straight away as he battled with the warring thoughts and feelings that flashed through him. Disappointment that she hadn't demanded more kisses, since that had actually been his hope, when he was being actually honest with himself. Surprise that she'd apparently just asked him out. Pleasure for the same reason. And a milion and one other little things that he couldn't quite put a name to. "A date?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow. "You know, Leija, you need to learn to start demanding more in blackmail and bribery. Another date I would have given you as a freebie," he told her, moving his hand slightly to touch her skin.

Before she could stop them, her eyes ticked down to his hand. She did manage to suppress the shiver that tried to happen at the unexpected light contact. She looked at him again and bit her bottom lip briefly. "Guess I'm just easy to please," she said, more softly than the rest of their conversation had been going. "Or I fail at being an extortionist. Like you fail at being a psycho killer." She realized she was leaned in even more toward him, but didn't correct it.

Slowly, he began to move the tip of his finger back and forth over her skin, noting how smooth and soft it was. His gaze followed her's down to his hand before he looked back up to her face. "I guess everyone has to be bad at something, right?" he said, his own voice as soft as hers, he could hear his heart racing now, sounding in his ears and he was suddenly aware that they were once again standing in a kitchen, of all places. Which he then really, really wished he hadn't realised because reality came crashing in and spoilt the whole damn moment. He pulled back slightly. "Erm - did you want to go into the living room?" he asked, in a slightly more normal tone. Dammit.

Leija blinked. For all intents and purposes, that had felt exactly like a pre-kiss moment to her. Kind of like the one they'd had ... before ... in a kitchen. She didn't mind the kitchen, it was comfortable and there were countertops and ... yeah, okay, maybe the living room was a good idea. Even though it had couches. Or maybe because it had couches. God, her brain made zero sense right now. "Sure," she said, keeping the slight disappointment out of her tone. She smiled at him and pushed off the counter, leading herself back toward the living room. Which allowed her to make an 'OMG!' face where he couldn't see.

Thom stayed leaning on the counter for a moment as she walked away, taking a moment to appreciate that her butt looked really good in the jeans she was wearing before he made himself drag his mind out of the gutter and follow her, bemoaning a moment lost. He hovered a little as they entered the living room, with its two large picture windows letting in the afternoon sunlight, the upright piano against one wall, along from the open fireplace. There was an entertainment system and then carefully placed to make most use of the room, two long couches and an armchair. He wondered where she would choose to sit.

It didn't even occur to her to make any moves toward the armchair. Leija picked a couch that was in pretty good view of the TV -- just in case -- but had it's back to the window. Strategic. Maybe. Sort of. In any case, she sat on it and put her can down on the coffee table. Then snagged it up again, slid a coaster over closer, and put the can down again on top of it. This was definitely a coaster house. She looked at him, smiling faintly and trying not to agonize over whether he was going to sit close to her or not.

There was definitely strategic seating involved, possibly millimetre-specific seating involved as he sat down next to her. Close enough to show that he was definitely interested, but far enough away that he wasn't suggesting that he was going to be all over her or come across like some kind of creep. Part of him wondered if he should have suggested that they went out somewhere - aaaand the other part of him was quite happy sitting here thank you very much. He chuckled very slightly as she set her can down on a coaster and did the same with his. "So, your dad was okay with you coming over here then?" he asked, figuring he should at least make moves to make conversation.

He was warm. She could feel it, but they weren't touching again yet. Leija reminded her body that helping herself to his lap was not acceptable behavior. The sort-of small talk started again, and she didn't even consider lying to him. "I didn't tell him," she admitted, smiling a little bit sheepishly. She laced her fingers together and then unlaced them. Only to do it again. "I mean ... not that I'm trying to hide you or anything, just ... he would've slowed me down. A lot. And ..." Yeah, that was a good spot to stop. She shrugged a shoulder.

He reached out and put a hand over hers, effectively stopping the fidgeting motion. "Am I going to get you into trouble?" he asked her, his voice serious, but he moved slightly closer anyway.

Her instinctual mental answer was a resounding yes, just not in the way that he thought. Especially with his hand there. Before she could overthink it, she turned one of her hands under his to slide their fingers together. "Not with dad, no," she settled on as an answer. "He'll just want to meet you sometime." And lecture me on safety and crap.

Meeting parents was thought of by some people to be the scary serious thing. Thom had never really thought about it like that - but then again, Thom didn't generally casually date either, so he took her comment in his stride. "Fair enough," he agreed, his mind admittedly half on the fact that she was holding his hand. "So, what did you tell him then?" he asked, a smile playing across his lips.

Leija belatedly realized that she hadn't told Thom about the gathering at ... Journey's, was it? God, her head could hardly keep all those people straight now that she wasn't looking at them. Except Tensiel and Caleb. She smiled back, eyes fixed on his face. He looked really good all smirky like that. "That I was invited out to pizza with a bunch of girls I met," she filled in. "That was good enough for him." She ran her thumb over one of his knuckles lightly.

Thom made a 'tut'ing sound, shaking his head slowly. "Oh dear - lying to your father. Whatever next," he teased, obviously kidding. "I dunno - lies, bribery, corruption, blackmail - are you always like this, or am I just a bad influence on you?" he asked - which probably would have made Isaac howl with laughter. The thought that Thom Harkin would be a bad influence on someone. Yeah - not happening.

How about breaking and entering and vandalism too? she added mentally. Which Thom so didn't need to know about. Newp. She grinned a little. "See, you wouldn't even know that I am always like this if I tell you otherwise, so ... I'll just go ahead and blame it on you," she concluded, teasing back. "You're doing an admirable job of corrupting me." So you should do it more. Really. Go now! Nnnnnnow! Riiiight ... now!

"Except that now you've told me, so I know it's not all my fault," he pointed out, reaching up to push a strand of hair back from her face. Okay, okay - so that had been a total excuse, there there'd legitimately been hair there that may or may not have required moving and it meant that, that having been done, he could casually rest his elbow against the back of the couch, move a little closer and bring his hand to rest on her shoulder. Without it looking like he'd been looking for a way to accomplish that move since they sat down.

The part of Leija that was always cynically amused just cracked up laughing. That had been suitably smooth. But the rest of her, the girly parts, felt like her heart had just stopped for about a half a second. Which upset the butterflies that now apparently lived in her stomach. "But it's more fun to blame you," she was saying, her eyes drifting down to his lips before she made them return to his gaze. "That's part of the whole ... being bad ... stuff." Whee, coherency.

He was only half listening to what she was saying now anyway as his tongue darted out to moisten his lips. He watched her as she spoke. God, he wanted to kiss her again. He was just waiting for a moment. Like yesterday - that had been a moment, that had been... Yeah - a moment. And then there'd been the one today in the kitchen, but he'd managed to mess that up. And now? Now, would she think that he didn't care about what she had to say if he just cut right across her and kissed her? Not that they were really talking about anything vitally important or anything but... Yeah. He wasn't sure. His eyes darted down to her lips and back, not realising that he was mirroring her own move. And then he pulled her ever so slightly towards him, just a flexing of his fingers against her shoulder, nothing more.

Leija had completely lost track of the conversation herself. She was pretty sure she'd rambled off into idiocy, but honestly couldn't remember. He kept doing that thing with his tongue. It was terrible. So so terrible, but so so good at the same time. The little bit of pressure on her shoulder seemed to be a green light and it was all she could do not to lunge forward and do the deed herself. Dimly, her quasi-rationality was freaking out. What if he thought this was all she'd come over for? Did he think she was easy? ... maybe he should, because she really wanted him to kiss her again. A lot. But he wasn't yet. Why wasn't he kissing her yet? He looked like he wanted to. Why was this such a pain in the ass? "I want you to," she murmured before she could stop herself. Which she immediately hoped didn't wreck his nerve.

It didn't in the slightest. In fact, quite the opposite as her quiet words broke him out of his moment of uncertainty and insecurity and he smiled, half in amusement, half in relief and closed the rest of the distance to kiss her, the hand on her shoulder sliding round to her back to pull her toward him.

She went willingly, of course, one hand lifting to rest lightly on his chest. It gave her a weird little thrill to feel that his heart was beating just as hard as her's was. She kissed him back, letting him set the pace and pressure, since she hadn't the first clue about what she was doing. It was making her feel five kinds of tingly, however, and that was a good thing. For the moment.

He let his eyes drift closed as his other hand moved to hold her waist and he gently slipped his tongue between her lips, deepening the kiss, trying not to think about this entire situation, about how he hardly knew this girl, how he'd really only just met her. Sometimes his mind just got in the way of things and right now, he was happy for it to go jump. Really. And so far, it seemed his mind was aboard with this plan, which was handy, really.

Somehow, despite all the things she'd already thought about moments like these back oh ... three days ago when she hadn't had any experience, the fact that there was a tongue in her mouth that wasn't her's didn't weird her out in the slightest. It made her breath catch a little, but her mouth responded in kind, her tongue gliding almost shyly against his. It just felt ... neat. And good. And really there wasn't anything negative she could find in this in the slightest. Leija shifted around a little to face him more.

There'd been a guy at school last year who'd spent most of his time - read: whenever there were enough guys around to make it worth his while boasting - going on about how he'd made out with his girlfriend for three hours straight without coming up for air. Thom wasn't sure how much of that he actually believed, because he'd never managed to master the kissing-whilst-breathing technique. Though, admittedly, it had been a while since the opportunity to do so had actually presented itself. As it was, and because of this, he pulled back slightly, because suffocating on someone was never a pretty sight. He pulled in a breath, his eyes opening to look at her - from very close up, since he really hadn't pulled back that far at all. He didn't say anything - his head was spinning just a little right now. In a really good way.

For her part, Leija's eyes stayed closed and her lips slightly parted for a few seconds after he'd pulled back. That? Was awesome. She could probably very happily do that all night. Which was something she probably shouldn't ever tell him, because then she would be easy. She peeked after a few heartbeats, eyes cracking just a little bit to take in his expression. It was hard to see from so close up, but it looked good. She re-wet her lips and found herself at a total loss for anything to say.

Not being able to think of anything to say was actually okay, because Thom didn't actually intend saying anything anyway as he leaned back in again, shifting his position slightly as he kissed her again, more deeply this time.

She felt really not-with-the-program, as that actually surprised her a little, but she recovered more quickly this time. Emboldened by the fact that he really seemed to be enjoying this, Leija kissed him back with a bit more allowed enthusiasm. Maybe she wasn't so bad at it. The hand on his chest slid upward and she let it rest on his neck.

He'd felt her slight moment of surprise when he'd kissed her again and had been about to hurriedly pull back, thinking that maybe she'd wanted him to stop, when she responded, and responded well, encouragingly. And so he didn't pull back, but he wasn't about to go any further either, Thom knew himself well and knew his limits, with anyone. He drew the kiss out as long as he could though, before air became an issue once more.

Though she was absolutely sure that his lap would be a fantastically comfortable place to be ... Leija resisted the urge to get even closer to him. If he already had a bad impression of her, so be it, but she was really going to try not to make it worse. There would be a spot where this got scary, but they hadn't crossed it yet. She pulled back a little further when they both needed oxygen and looked at him through her lashes, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth for a moment. "Wow," she murmured, giving a soft little laugh.

He laughed a little at that, thinking that was a hellishly cute look on her. "Yeah," he agreed, sitting back a little. Too much of that and he'd risk getting carried away, which would be a bad thing for so many, many reasons and therefore not happening. He reached for her hand though, turning it over and tracing patterns on her palm. "So, where did you want to go on our next date?" he asked her. "The nighttime one," he added, since she'd specified that, which had amused him. At least when she asked someone out apparently she could do it properly. He still couldn't believe he'd suggested lunch - he was so lame at times.

The fingers on that hand twitched a bit, but she didn't mind the feeling. It tickled in that really good way. "I'm not sure," she said, voice still a touch soft. "Anything's fine, really. I don't ... I haven't really ... done this much. Or at all." Leija glanced up at his face before dropping her eyes again. She attempted to quell something in her that was saying this had Potentially Disasterous written all over it. It was just dating, it wasn't like he'd proposed to her or anything. Dammit.

"Okay, well how about a movie some night then?" he asked, figuring that that would be nice and non-threatening. He didn't make any comment about her lack of experience - he'd kinda guessed that much when she'd told him that he'd been her first kiss. "Since I think we're both agreed that the party tomorrow night probably doesn't count, right," he added, resisting the urge to lift her chin so that he could look into her eyes.

"No, that's ... a working event. For both of us, really," she said. She firmly clamped down on any panic that threatened to rise and looked up to smile at him a little. "But a movie would be nice. Really. Nice. ... wow, my brain has completely melted," she said, laughing lightly at herself. She put her free hand to her face and brushed it back through her hair, cheeks tinted pink. "Yes. Movie."

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment," he told her. "And note down for future reference that if there's anything I really want to get you to agree with, I should kiss you first," he added, really hoping that she didn't mind the insinuation that there would be more kisses in the future. He knew he'd like to assume that there would be. "In the meantime, you know you're definitely gonna have to meet my friends tomorrow night now, don't you?"

Leija chuckled, slightly enjoying the little flutter at what that meant. She was the opposite of minding. "I think you've discovered my kryptonite," she informed him, trying to wrestle herself back into blithe and witty. It was hard. "Or invented it, I dunno which." She smiled through a sudden nervous feeling at the second prospect he put forth. "Yeah ... " she said slowly. "Like ... all of them?"

"All of them? Hmm, well, there's not actually that many," he told her, suddenly wondering if that would matter to her. He hoped not - he didn't think it would. If it did, he realised he'd have to do some reassessment, because the one thing he never wanted ever again was a girlfriend like Em had been. "Just a handful of people, mostly the band. I know more people, but..." But I can't actually think of a way of saying 'I'm a bit of a loner' without it sounding like (a) I'm the unpopular guy nobody likes or (b) a total idiot.

She was visibly relieved to hear that. Which made her feel somewhat like an antisocial moron, but hey. She was relieved. She didn't think her brain could take many more people all at once. "Okay good," she said with a soft little embarrassed laugh. "I um ... I dunno, I'm totally not a social butterfly? And lots of people I don't know kind of ... clam me up, so." So I'll try hard not to be a total retard in front of them. Because friends' opinions were important to people, she knew that. If she had friends, she'd want their opinions on him.

"With the disclaimer that, no matter what, as a guy I would never be any kind of butterfly anyway - I'm not a social one either," he told her. "So, no - there's not that many people. I'll be gentle." Talking of... "Oh, which - I should probably warn you. Isaac. My best friend. He's... He might be just a little bit fragile tomorrow night. He kinda got the brush off from a girl he really likes. Don't mention that I told you or anything - just... He might not be in the best of moods, so. Yeah. Advanced warning." Because he really thought it might actually be needed.

Leija listened, and filed the name away. Isaac was the Best Friend. God, she hoped he wasn't on some woman-hating kick that would infect Thom or anything. Crap. She nodded, however. "Okay, noted," she said with a faint smile. "That sucks for him, though." Just because the urge was there -- probably due to the fact that brush-offs had been mentioned -- she settled in a little closer, leaning on him. He still had her hand.

Thom settled back against the couch, easing down to get a little more comfortable, more than happy as she settled against him. That felt undeniably nice. "Yeah, really does. Isaac's usually really, well, he dates a lot and usually if he gets shot down, then it's just water off his back and he moves on. But. Yeah, he really liked this one girl and he thought that she liked him..." He paused. "You don't want to hear all this, do you?" he asked, since he realised that he'd just been about to start blathering on at her about everything.

She had leaned her head on his shoulder, so her grin was pointed at the coffee table before she turned it up on him. "It's okay," she told him, amused. "If it's on your mind, I don't mind hearing about it. Or anything." In all honesty, she really liked the sound of his voice in general. Leija reached up to brush some dark hair more out of his eyes. They were lovely, really, once you got to see them. "You don't think meeting me will like ... rub it in, do you?"

He reached an arm round her loosely, liking the feeling of just sitting like this, feeling her warmth at him side. "I dunno," he admitted. "But I'm not gonna hide you away and pretend you don't exist or anything. Which I can't do anyhow since I've already mentioned you to him." Kinda. Without really meaning to, but still. He sighed slightly. "I just don't like seeing my friends hurt," he admitted at last, taking her up on the offer to talk about it. "And she hurt him. She told him - told everyone - that she didn't date, but with Isaac, she gave him reason to think that maybe she'd break that rule for him. And then today, she came round and apparently told him that not only would she not go out with him, but she was seeing someone else and that she would never consider dating him. Which, by all accounts was a total turnaround on everything she'd said before." It was obvious from his tone that Thom was not happy about any of this.

Leija listened, settling her temple back on Thom's shoulder as he talked. She actually managed to mostly focus, only slightly thinking about how good he smelled. And that it made her feel good that she'd been mentioned already. She toyed idly with his fingers until he got toward the end, then she frowned. "What the hell," she said, sounding disgusted. That was a big reason why she wasn't a social butterfly; she largely couldn't stand other girls. "That's fucked up. What a bitch."

He knew there was a reason he liked this girl. And, okay, it wasn't all to do with her reaction to that, but it was nice to find a new reason as well. "Well, yeah," he said, equally disgusted-sounding, twisting his hand slightly to toy with her fingers instead. "And the thing was that I thought she was okay til then, y'know? I mean, she seemed nice and everything. I'd warned him that he didn't really have a chance, but I'd thought that was cos she didn't date, which is fair enough, but..." he shrugged.

"Yeah, but to like ... claim you don't date to one person and then turn around and start dating someone else ... shitty," she concluded. Which of course he already knew. There was something insanely attractive about a protective guy, even if it was just for his best friend. Not that Thom wasn't insanely attractive anyway. She just ... spent so much of her time having to see so many terrible things ... well maybe she wanted somebody to want to shield her from that, even if they couldn't. ... Which he couldn't know at the moment, so it was moot anyway. "Sounds like he's better off, though."

"Yeah, I think he is, but it's gonna take him a while to see that," Thom said, tilting his head to look at her from a slightly different angle - just cos he could, and because there was something really great about looking down at a girl all snuggled up against you, especially when she was really cute and when doing so gave you that comfortable 'right' feeling. "He really liked her." Thom shook his head. "So, yeah - if he's not exactly the happiest guy on earth tomorrow, that's why. Don't hold it against him. And, er, if I'm not..." He trailed off - he wasn't exactly known for his public displays of affection anyhow, so maybe he should just leave it at that.

Leija drew her knees up and braced her socked toes against the edge of the coffee table. She leaned her legs comfortably against his. He was definitely snuggly, in this weird not-overbearing-at-all way. "If you're not what?" she asked, looking up at him again. She really wasn't sure what he was about to say.

Not all over you at the party, which I wouldn't be anyway. Probably not. He thought about the best way to put something along those lines and then decided there really wasn't a good way. "Usually, between me and Isaac, he's the one that gets the girl and I'm the one who doesn't," he explained instead. "So things are a little... flipped round right now. I would prefer not to emphasise that fact to him tomorrow night, that's all." That was tactful, right?

It took her a second to really understand. But it made sense, once it did. She'd gotten the impression that he wasn't ... overly warm and demonstrative anyway. Maybe a little odd for a performer, but he seemed like a private kind of person. Leija wondered in a briefly paranoid way if he thought she was going to run up on stage and try to play tonsil hockey with him or something. "Ah," she said, thinking she should probably say something. "Okay. That's fine."

There was definitely such things in life as bad timing, Thom knew that for a fact. And everything that had happened today came under that header. Because this was great, really good. But when combined with what had happened with Jamie and Isaac earlier on, this could have happened at a better time. A time when he could have shared it with the one people he could talk near enough openly with. As it was, he was fairly sure that his best friend was going to see straight through him tomorrow night anyway when he introduced them. He always did. Isaac seemed to have an almost psychic ability to read him that nobody else seemed to have.

But there was no helping that now, so instead he focused his attention back on Leija - which wasn't exactly a hardship - as he ran his eyes over her face before leaning down and kissing her softly once more. Just because he could.

Her mind had been running around in slightly-worried circles, mulling over things that were impossible to ask, and she'd just have to find out. Like did he expect her to act like nothing at all was going on and they were just friends? ... she kind of didn't think so, that wasn't really what he said, but -- ... Thom cut the thought process off with his lips. And that was okay. Really, she was fine with that, because it was more of an answer than she could come up with on her own. She smiled after the little smooch. "So how long do I have here?" she murmured.

He considered the question, really not sure of the answer. "Well, how long do you have?" he asked her. "I don't have anything else on for the rest of the day - I was probably gonna end up downstairs going over some stuff for tomorrow, but that was only cos I had nothing else doing. If you mean when will my mom be back? Probably not til gone ten. So, really, you have me for as long as you want me," he told her. Very few people actually appreciated just how much free time Thom had on his hands. He was basically left to look after himself - an arrangement that had been long standing and which had worked like a charm to date.

"Pretty much as long as I want," she answered mildly, shrugging one shoulder. "Daddy was pretty busy, so ... he'll probably forget I even left." Which was precisely why she'd left a note on the refrigerator as well. "Until you get sick of me hanging around, really." Leija grinned a little at him. She was perfectly fine with that plan. "Or y'know ... until you want to have any of your groupies show up," she teased, poking him a little in the side.

"Ha! As if they know where I live," Thom laughed, for the first time admitting that maybe the band had the occasional groupie. And, to be honest, in a town this size, it wasn't that hard to figure out where anybody lived anyhow.

"Whatever, you've got like five of them upstairs, don't you?" Leija grinned. She liked it when he laughed. "They're all fighting over one of your shirts and pulling each other's hair and stuff. ... just very quietly."

"All kitted out in belly dancer costumes," he agreed, seriously. "Which, really, is probably the reason they're fighting over my shirt - it gets cold, y'know," he teased.

"You are totally a cruel master," she said, tsking and shaking her head. She heaved a theatrical sigh before having to crack another smile. Then straightened up enough to kiss him again. Just because, well ... apparently she could do that now. He'd done it to her. It was only fair. And very nice.

"I am - you should probably take note of that and make sure you know what you're getting yourself in for," he advised her as she finished kissing him - which was a slightly different experience to when he initiated it and not at all an unpleasant one. But there was a definite comparison and he was fairly sure that it was different. But he should make certain - and to do that, he had to kiss her again. Which he did. Yes, subtle but definite differences. "Who knows, I might start demanding all sorts of you..."

Leija had most definitely decided that she liked this better than the phone or email. Because kisses kept happening, and she really liked those. "I think I could handle that," she murmured with a smile. Before bridging the tiny gap between them and kissing him back. Again. "I have a great many talents, you know," she added once that was done.

He pulled her in closer a little, wrapping both of his arms around her and settling them, kissing her slowly, gently, taking his time over it, before pulling back and looking into her eyes. "So," he said, softly. "Since you could handle that - and you have a great many talents," he added, emphasising the words. "When do I get to hear you play?" he asked, obviously relishing the words - and not letting her go.

"That is so not fair," she said a bit breathlessly. She didn't sound like she meant it, though, with her own arms having found their way around him. God, this was ... beyond all rational description. "You're abusing my kryptonite, sir, and I don't appreciate it." Which was why she nuzzled another soft kiss against his lips. " ... maybe after I hear you play. Some more. With the rest of the band."

"Hmm," he said, returning the kiss. Because, hey! If you wanted something someone didn't want to give you, you used every trick in the book, right? And because kissing her was nice all on its own, of course. "Monday then?" he asked her. "I could live with Monday...."

"Maybe Monday," she relented, only half-aware that she was saying so. If nothing else, it was an excuse to see him for the ... third or fourth day in a row. Her brain wasn't functioning well enough for her to really say. It felt all squishy. "We'll see." He'd win for sure if he kept doing that, and Leija was starting to think he'd caught on.

He blinked. He hadn't actually expected her to say that. At all. Okay, so he'd been using the kissing trick, but he hadn't actually expected it to work. Cool! Wow, that was... yeah. Worked. Damn.

Leija opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow at him. She smirked a little. "What?" she asked softly, 'cause he kinda looked a little surprised. "I said maybe. And if you laugh at me, I will punch you in the kidneys, fair warning."

"Only maybe?" Thom asked, pulling a face. "See, now I have two days to turn that maybe into a definitely. And I promise not to laugh. Y'know - since you were so good not to laugh at me and everything."

"Mmm," she murred, keeping the feeling of 'nuh uh, no way in hell' to herself. Because she'd already said maybe, damn him. Damn him muchly. "We'll see." Which was even more vague than 'maybe', but there it was. Subject change! "So ... wanna watch a movie or something?" Or something being 'sit here and make out some more'. Because she was really enjoying it.

No, not particularly, really I just want to sit here and make out with you, but I guess that might not be a good enough excuse, right? And that - means moving. Shit. "Yeah, a movie sounds good," he agreed, unfolding and moving away from her, somewhat reluctantly. He crossed to a cupboard and opened it, revealing a stack of DVDs. "See anything you like?" he asked her, turning round.

Her eyes ticked upward as he turned around and her cheeks got a little bit pink. Yes, she had been looking at his ass. So what? A girl had to get to know the goods, right? Oh ... movies. "Umm," she said, biting her lower lip and peering. Really, she wasn't sure that it mattered. It would probably just end up being background noise while they kissed anyway. Oh hell, she may as well be honest. "Doesn't matter to me. But it's a good cover in case your mom comes home early," she said with a crooked little grin.

He looked at her, a little surprised, then laughed. "She won't," he promised, randomly picking a DVD and putting it in the machine, flicking the TV on. "She never does. If anything, she'll be late," he explained, returning to the couch and drawing her back to him as he sat down. "We're all good," he added.

He didn't have to draw very hard, because she was right there again, both arms slipping around his shoulders. "Good," she purred, obviously having become ten thousand times more comfortable with all this. She had hours upon hours to spend with him, and really couldn't think of a more enjoyable way to spend it than alternating talking and necking. It was good times.