Vampire Anime puts me in the mood.

Who: Kavin and Jeri
When: Evening
Where: Phoneland then Kavin's house

Once Kyle left his house, Kavin sat around thinking about everything both he and Issac the day before had said. He'd never really thought about Jeri that way. Never thought about whether she was cute or hot or any of that. Sure his mother had always told him, along with Jeri's mother, that they'd end up together, but he'd never really put much time into actually considering the fact that he might actually like her if he spent time with her. In any case, he figured he needed to make up for being a jerk through out the last few years and actually talk to the girl. Kill two birds with one stone. Make up for lost time and find out if he might like her all in one swift move.

So, about five, he called her cell and waited for her to answer.

"This is Jerilyn." She was just finished in the shower and getting dressed from after work. There had been an... issue. With the flour. Suffice to say that the shit had been pretty much everywhere and Jeri had looked like a ghost for most of the day. But now she felt fresh, clean, undusty, and unwheaty. Or whatever flour did. She was about to pop in a DVD in the television in her room, too, but was promptly distracted by her cell.

"Hey, Jeri... it's Kavin... well yeah, you probably already know that since you've heard my voice for like years... yeah... Uh..." His brain went blank for a moment, not remember why he was even calling the girl. He felt a little dumb being all tongue tied for absolutely no reason. He hadn't ever had trouble talking to this girl before. "You wanna hang out?" he said finally.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be there in twenty minutes. You want me to bring over a movie or my 360 or anything?" She didn't notice any tied tongues or anything. She just noticed the potential entertainment and distraction that Kavin would inevitably provide one way or another. "Or, I don't know, D&D?"

"I don't know how to play D&D... and I have a 360, but... if you wanna bring a movie, or you just wanna bring some games or something. Doesn't matter, just come over and save me from the boredom I've put myself in." Kavin said, smiling a bit and being thankful she'd not called him a loser or questioned his lack of speech skills.

"Psh. Loser. You need to learn to play D&D." She laughed. "But not today, probably. I'll bring a couple of games and Hellsing - that's appropriately gory. You still have that ginger in your fridge or do I need to run and pick up more?" She got up and started putting on her shoes, holding the cell between her shoulder and her ear for the moment while she did up the laces.

"I still have some." he told her. "And games and Hellsing sounds good. See ya in a few then?" he said with a smile.

"Yup. Be there real quick." Jer agreed, and flicked her phone closed without saying goodbye. Mostly because she didn't think of it, since she'd be there right away. She threw the first couple of discs of Hellsing Ultimate into her backpack, humming the themesong under her breath.

Kavin said 'bye', mostly to himself as he too flicked his phone shut and waited for her to get there. He glanced out the window, looking at the snow and scrunching his nose a bit. He wasn't looking forward to going to school in that the next morning. The realization that he'd just asked Jeri to walk in it made him feel a little guilty. He sighed and plopped down on the couch, waiting for her to arrive.

It was an entire block. She managed to get through the snow and to Kavin's house without serious mishap, though her shoes were a bit damp now, and her cheeks and nose were red. She picked her way over the icy bits and up the porch steps. Brushing the snow off her hat, she rang the doorbell, still humming. Of course, that didn't mean he answered the door fast enough to suit her - it wouldn't have been fast enough if he'd been right inside the doorway, really. So she happily pounded on the door with her fist. "Oi! Lemme in!"

He pulled the door open, letting her rush past him. "Dude, it was only like five seconds." he told her as he shut the door behind her. "It can't be that cold out. Here... lemme get your jacket." he offered, holding out his arms to help her take the jacket off. "It's warm in here and I doubt you wanna be all jacketed and shit and uncomfortable."

"What does the temperature have to do with anything?" She gave him a faintly puzzled look before peeling off her jacket (she had a white long sleeved shirt on underneath) and handed it to him. And her toque, too. She'd skipped out on mittens, but that was okay, since it really wasn't that cold. Just kind of wet. She pulled off her shoes, too, and left them to dry by the door. "I'm the impatient sort. I require constant instant gratification."

"Well I hope you're not that hard to please in bed." he said before he really could stop himself. "I mean... for the sake of the guys you might sleep with or whatever." he tacked on quickly. "Wanting to be all instantly satisfied and stuff. The poor guy wouldn't know what to do." Kavin really hoped that subject could be dropped now and they could move far far away from it, never to be revisited again.

"I'll time myself next time I have some private, personal time." Jeri promised with a rather evilish grin. Kavin was just squirming with that one, wasn't it? That was funny. "And I'll let you know. Meanwhile, want to watch a large-chested cartoon police woman get turned into a vampire-hunting-vampire?" She held up her backpack, like she was trying to tempt him. "There's a butler who destroys people with some sort of wire, too. You know you wanna."

He barely heard anything she said about the movies she'd brought as her little talk of 'personal time' had him picturing things he really shouldn't be picturing about this girl he'd known for a large portion of his life. "I uh..." he began, shaking his head and trying to rid himself the images, finding himself unable to. "That's so not fair." he told her. "Girls shouldn't be allowed to even mention stuff like that." he complained, heading back to the couch and plopping himself down. "Yeah... movie... sounds good."

"What stuff?" She blinked at him, and that evil little grin widened. "Personal private time? Want me to use textbook appropriate language?" She clapped him on the shoulder. "Poor you, stuck with evil me. Movie time! Want me to make you some more tea while you stick it in the DVD player?"

"Doesn't matter what you call it. As soon as you say it, instant mental image. Thanks. I appreciate it." he muttered, standing up from the couch and thanking his body for not betraying him. That would have been just wonderful. Explaining away a mental image induced boner. Not his idea of a good time. "Yeah. I can do that." he said with a nod, reaching out a hand for her to give him the DVD.

Jeri smirked. "Why do you think I said it? Really. You should know that girls are evil by now." She wandered to the kitchen, whistling to herself before he could respond. It was a lot of fun to tease him. "Did you eat all the soup from yesterday? Do I need to make more of that, too?"

"No, I'm not a cow." he called into the kitchen. "I still have some in the fridge. You're just trying to make me fat so no girl will like me and you can torture me with thoughts of you diddling yourself." he ranted, taking the first DVD from her case and popping it into the dvd player. He didn't start it just yet, instead followed after her into the kitchen. "Why exactly do you love torturing me so much?"

"'Diddling'? What are you? Four?" Jer grinned and shook her head. Now that she knew his kitchen, she got out a cutting board, pot, the ginger, lemon juice, and honey much more rapidly then she would've yesterday, and she set herself cleaning and cutting right away. "Because you're such an easy target, and you were trying to make me blush yesterday, anyway - hell, not even just yesterday. Eat your just desserts, dear."

"'Diddling', 'fingering', 'masturbating', whatever you wanna call it sweetheart. And making you blush is on a totally different level than sticking naked mental images of you in my brain for eternity." he countered. He watched the girl as she moved around the kitchen, easily finding everything she needed probably at a faster pace than he would have.

"I have a very nice bum." Jer grinned at him. Actually, in her opinion, she wasn't curvy enough and didn't have a particularly nice bottom, but whatever. "Make sure you note that in your mental fantasies." And she started to peel the ginger, loving that sweet, hot smell all over again. "If you're going to picture me naked, I want to clarify that right now."

He blinked a bit at that then shook his head. "Stop it. That's not fair. You're supposed to get pissed and slap me or something, not put gasoline on the fire." he complained. "You're basically giving me permission to think about you naked. Next thing I know you're going to grant yourself access to my spank bank."

"Psh. Fine. Okay. Don't picture me naked, or whatever. Fussy, fussy man." She shook her head and got some water in the pot to boil to make the tea. "How's your stomach, anyway? Better? Did the tea help yesterday, then?"

"Too late to tell me not to." he told her, shaking his head. "You can't just say it's okay and change your mind. Guy rule. Once allowed to picture someone naked, you totally get to whenever you want. Sometimes even when you're not allowed, but see you did give me permission and now you can't take it away. And my stomach's fine. I have a headache. I think that's from you though." He smirked a little at that. So maybe the headache wasn't from from, but it sounded good.

"Best headache you've ever had, then." Jer grinned and dumped the cut ginger into the boiling water, with a quick splash of lemon and some honey too. "And you know it. Good about your stomach, though. Glad I could help."

"You're such a pain in the ass." he said, shaking his head. "Look..." he began, figuring now was the best time as any to spring the 'help me with school work' idea on her. "I've been outta school for a couple days, and I know you're like not even in my grade or anything, but I've got tons of shit I'll have to catch up on and I really don't feel like spending hours by myself working on it... so you wanna help me out with it. Like tell me when I get something wrong or whatever." he shrugged. "Fuck I don't know. Just come hang out with me and I'll do it myself." That didn't go exactly as he'd wanted it to.

"I'm a pretty solid 'B' student, but if you really want to risk it, sure. I'll hang out. Hell, you can help me with mine. Might work out better in the end." She nodded thoughtfully. "Or whatever. We can help each other if you want. That'd work okay for you?"

Kavin held down a 3.5 gpa, but he wasn't going to tell Jeri that. He was more than capable of doing his own work without any help, hell, he did it all the time when he got back from a trip, but it gave him a reasonable excuse for hanging out with her without actually having to ask her out. It was one way of finding out if he liked her enough to ask her out officially. "Yeah.." he said after a minute, brushing a hand through his hair. "That works."

"Right then." She nodded and tasted the tea with the help of a spoon. She frowned. Not nearly strong enough yet, and she let it boil some more. "I guess we'll have to save the brownies and joints for after the schoolwork and stuff, then, though. Shame."

Truth be told, he didn't trust himself around her while he was stoned off his ass. He knew where things like that could lead. Probably even further with Jeri than it had with Nate. "Yeah... shame." he agreed, shaking his head a little.

She laughed. "You just don't trust my baking, do you." She tsked. "Anything you want to eat tonight, you better get it now. Tea is almost ready."

"Should I have a reason to doubt you're baking?" he questioned. "Maybe you're going to poison those brownies and kill me." he teased a little. "That's your devious little plot. You play all cutesy and shit and pretend that you're my friend but you're really plotting my demise as we speak."

Jeri raised an eyebrow. "Yes. This is my overplot. Run. Run while you can, Kavin. Except don't. It's cold and wet outside and you'll probably get sick all over again. That'd just be awesome. Your mom would kill me."

"Your mom would kill you, too." he pointed out. "You know she loves me." He smirked a little bit at that, unable to hold it back.

"That she does." Jeri agreed, privately of the belief that her mother liked Kavin a hell of a lot more then she'd ever liked her daughter. "There would be much grieving by the old ladies of the neighborhood if I killed you. Lots of weeping. Possibly some sort of parade of guys with bagpipes playing 'Danny Boy' as they marched past. And me, hung up by my neck, lynched on a streetlamp."

Kavin couldn't help but laugh at that. "Aww. I don't think she likes me that much." he said, shaking his head. "Now you on the other hand, I'm a firm believer that you wouldn't kill me because you like me too much." he challenged.

"Eh, admittedly I do have some vague fondness for you, if only because I need someone I can experiment on when I want to try baking brand-spankin-new things on that won't, y'know, die from sugar." Jeri grinned that crooked grin of hers. "In spite of the whole cooties thing you were trying to give me. That was mean."

"Oh, whatever. You know you'd love to catch the cooties from me." he chuckled. "I'm much better specimen of boy to catch them from don't you think? And it wasn't mean, either. You tease me and expect me not to tease you right back. Besides, you're kinda fun to torture." Kavin reached out to poke her in the side playfully.

She didn't react real well to the random, light poke. She actually visibly flinched back, jumping away slightly. She blinked a couple times, then gave a sheepish grin. "You surprised me! What if I'd still been holding the knife, or a pot of hot water or something? Tsk tsk." And she went over to the stove to pour the ginger tea properly.

Kavin raised a brow at her, obviously not believing it was mere surprise. He folded his arm across his chest and looked at her. "I didn't surprise you." he said, clearly expressing the fact that he didn't believe her. "You acted like I was going to hit you or something..."

Jerilyn snickered. "Sure, that's exactly it. Maybe with all this 'private fun time' talk, I'm just afraid of you touching me with hands that I don't know when they've last been washed." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Like you'd ever hit a girl."

He rolled his eyes and moved to the sink, squirting some hand soap onto his hands and washing them. "You know you'd love for me to touch you." he said, not realizing how it sounded until after he'd said it. "I mean... not like that..." he told her, drying his hands on one of the towels. Kavin's face visibly turned red after that one.

"...it vaguely amazes me how women don't fall at your feet with lines like that." Jeri shook her head, with a perfectly straight face. "Man. That's awesome. You've got a way with words, amigo. Maybe it's the way you turn neon when you say it - try working on that." She grinned at him and reached over to squeeze his shoulder. "It's cool. Relax, alright?"

The fact that she noticed his face changing colors only furthered his flush and then she had to touch him too. "I uh... yeah... okay... fine..." he said, swallowing a bit of air as he glanced up at her. "My lines aren't that bad..." he protested. "Not that that was a line or anything, but yeah."

"Right. That was the opposite of relaxing. Just so you know." Jeri shrugged and poured out a cup of tea for herself, and one for him. "You need plants on your kitchen windowsill." She said suddenly. "Chives, at least. And aloe vera. So that when you burn yourself, you can just use it." Apparently what caused that line of thought was a small splash burn on the back of her hand, because as soon as she put the pot down, she sucked on it with a wince. "Just a thought."

Kavin watched her suck the burn. He pulled her hand away from her mouth. "That's not going to help it." he told her. "You're supposed to run cool water on it to keep it from blistering." He didn't let go of her hand, instead pulled her towards the sink and turned the water on just a little cooler than room temperature.

She was at least expecting his hand this time; she saw it coming. So she let her wrist be taken and she followed willingly enough to the sink. "It's not much of anything. It just hurt for a moment. You don't have worry about it, y'know."

"Well I can't exactly send you home battered and bruised and not at least try and help out in some way, can I? Your mother will think I was abusing you. Can't have that." He let the water rush across her hand for a few moments and then flicked the water off and grabbed the towel to dry her hand. "How's that?" he questioned, pulling the towel away again and letting his eyes find hers.

"I seriously doubt she'd even notice." Jer grinned slightly, and she actually did blush a little. Just a bit of pinking in her cheeks. She looked away, rubbed the back of her neck like she was trying to think of something to distract with, and perked up. "Tea time! Shall we, good sir?"

Kavin noticed the slight pinking of her cheeks, but he didn't make that known. He did smile though. "Yeah. We shall." he nodded. "Tea and dvd's. Come on." And with that he headed to the cabinet to pull a couple mugs down.

Jeri wandered over and grabbed her tea that was already in a mug. Silly boys and their need to use up every dish in the house. "It's already poured. Burning myself just that sexy that you forgot?" She was obviously teasing, and wandered her way to the living room before he could retort.

He flushed again at the realization. "I uh... yeah, incredibly sexy." he said putting the mugs back into the cabinet and turning around. "I don't know how you do it. Walking around being sexy all the time. Must be awfully strenuous." Kavin said.

Jeri grinned again. "Yeah, that getting burned stuff? Hard work, man. Hard work. I have to practice all the time. Good thing I still got the touch, hey?" She giggled and set her mug down on the coffee table in the other room, and sprawling out on the couch.

Kavin followed her out with his own mug, taking a sip and setting it down on the coffee table. He grabbed the dvd remote and plopped himself down beside her, pressing play and setting the remote down again. "Now, what's this about again? Something about chesty chicks or something?"

"Oh, it's about a busty cartoon police woman chick who gets turned into a vampire by, obviously, a vampire, and she goes around hunting other ghoulies and ghosties and vampies and whatever with him. It's gory and funny." She grinned. "You'll like it."

"Right..." he said, giving her a skeptical look. "Do you assume that I'll like it just because she's got huge knockers?" he questioned. "Am I genetically predisposed to like busty broads?" he teased, a grin breaking across his face.

"I was referring to the gory and funny parts, but sure, you can like the boobs too. It's really great how they don't obey the laws of physics and... well, never mind, you'll see for yourself." She tucked her feet up under her and picked up her tea to take a sip. "I only brought the first disc. I have a few more at home."

"How can you not like boobs?" he questioned. "They're just... boobs." he said with a shrug. He'd never really tried to explain why boobs were freaking spectacular, but they were. "Maybe it's just a guy and lesbian thing." Kavin said after a moment. "Do girls think about parts of guys like that?" he queried aloud.

She covered a smirk with her hand. "The whole 'bigger is better' thing? I'm not... I'm not sure." Jeri was really trying not to laugh. Seriously. She knew at least a few women thought that way, otherwise there wouldn't be such a 'huge' (forgive the pun) sale of, shall we say 'oversized'? toys available on the internet, clearly geared towards women. "Maybe. But, eh, I've always figured, y'know, it isn't the size that counts - it's how you use it. Gotta be something to that."

He watched as she covered her smirk with her hand. "Yeah... guess so. Couldn't tell ya. Haven't really asked anyone. I guess it depends on how honest girls are for me to say whether or not I know 'how to use it', as you put it." Yay for conversations about boobs and family jewels. This could only get more interesting.

"I'm sure you're very good with the tools you have available to you." Jerilyn was trying, unsuccessfully, not to laugh. "Lots of practice, right?"

"If that was a nice way of calling me a whore, then you're wrong." he told her, shaking his head and shifting himself back against the couch, leaning away from her and against the arm closest to him. "So no, not lots of practice."

"Sure. I'm positive you're right." She patted his shoulder with fake reassurance. "And I'm not the one who said it, by the way." But then Jeri was promptly distracted by random violence in the anime she'd brought over, because that was always overly funny to her.

He could tell she was faking. "I'm not a slut. Just to clarify that once again. I've only slept with two people. Not like I have time to really fuck around to be honest." He didn't care if he was talking to himself. Her eyes were fixed on the television so he was fairly sure she hadn't even heard him.

One of the benefits of being able to multitask was that she could listen to him and still know what was going on on the television. Besides the fact she'd watched this like a half dozen times since she bought it. "Really? You need a sugar-momma. Someone to keep you in the lifestyle to which you are now accustomed. Hey, and that way you won't forget what it's like to get laid!" She added, in reference to a conversation they had a couple days ago. "That'd be a total bonus. And I heard that older ladies are real animals in the sack."

"Ew. Exactly how much older are you talking?" he questioned, shooting her a look. "I'm content with being single. Women are far too complicated for me. I don't think I'm built for relationships anyway. Alone I know. Alone works."

"Like in their thirties. You know. Old-old." Considering the fact that thirty was about twice Jeri's age, she could be forgiven for thinking that. Maybe. Probably not. "The ones who have established careers."

"I'm not going to screw some thirty year old woman. That'd just be... weird. I'm not a cougar hunter." he said with a roll of his eyes. "I'll stick to chicks my own age. Course maybe you should get some thirty year old man. A sugar daddy for you. Only... more like a sweet and low Daddy because sugar's bad right?" Kavin teased.

"That is a terrible pun, and you should be ashamed of yourself." Jeri laughed. "And nah, no thanks. I figure I can get one of those if I go to college, and he can pay for it. It'd be awesome if I went, though - become a professional cook. A total chef. Can you picture me in one of those hats?"

"You wanna be a chef?" he questioned. "And you can't laugh at my terrible pun. I'm sick remember. You're supposed to be nice to me and shower me with love and all that."

"I made you tea! Tea is love!" Jer protested with a grin. "And I brought you Hellsing - see? It's gory, he just put a hole right through policegirl's chest to kill the vampire. That's love too. There. You're being showered in the stuff."

Kavin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I feel all the love Jeri." He leaned forward to take his mug off the coffee table and take a sip of his tea. "This shit is good though. I have to give you that. You're gonna make me a ginger tea addict. Great." he laughed.

"Ginger is good for you. It's like brain food, or something. I don't know. It's good for sad tummies, though." She patted his shoulder. "And it's good even when you're not feeling sick. It's one of my favorites. It's good iced, too."

"See now I totally gotta keep you around just to keep me in supply of the stuff." he smiled. It was as good a reason as any. The more he hung out with her, the more reasons she was giving him. His eyes flicked to the television for a moment to catch a few seconds of the show. "I didn't think that girls liked watching this type of stuff." he said, pointing to the television.

"I'm not just any girl. I'm special." Jeri smirked. "I don't know. Maybe some don't. I like it, though. I find it entertaining. But then again, most of my friends are guys, so maybe that influenced it. Is it weird?"

"No, actually it's kinda se-...." he paused and shook his head, taking the time to think about the use of that word before he let it slip. "Cool." he edited. "Nice to not be forced into chick flicks and shit like that."

"Hey, I like chick flicks!... Lord of the Rings trilogy is a chick flick, right?" She raised an eyebrow, trying to think. "Um. Hm. Oh. Princess Tutu. That's a really girly anime. Um. Star Wars. That's kind of girly, considering how much Luke-bloody-Skywalker whines like one. ... Nah, I got nothing." Jeri shrugged and grinned. "Chick flicks can be really dumb."

"Lord of the Rings totally doesn't count as a chick flick." he told her. "Too much fighting and shit in it to be a chick flick. I don't know what the hell 'Princess Tutu' is, so maybe that's chick flickish. Star Wars, that's nerdy, not girly. But yeah, chick flicks are dumb, but I didn't mean it as a insult or anything. I'm kinda glad you don't like chick flicks. Makes it more bareable to watch movies with you." Kavin grinned.

"Princess Tutu is... well, it comes off as a chick flick, but it's sword weilding and fighting magical ballet dancers. It's..." She looked up at the ceiling, trying to think. "Weird. But good. For lack of a better explaination. I guess chick flicks aren't my thing. I don't get movies where you need to bring tissues too. Why would you pay for that? Or for love stories? Seriously, if I wanted love stories, I'd by cheesy romance novels."

"Romance novels aren't even about the romance. My mom reads that shit. Has it all over the bathrooms in the house for those long baths and shit, right? Well one time I'm in there and I pick one up and flip through it just for the fuck of it. They've got some dirty as shit in there. Fucking written down porn is all that is." he chuckled.

"It's lady porn. See, there's only two, maybe three scenes of pure porn in those things. The rest is built on formula. Girl gets guy, drama, girl loses guy, half the book is making up, the make up sex, the climax - of the book, not of the sex - and then everyone is happy and wonderful and there's sometimes a finishing up scene of sex if they need to fill out five, six more pages." Jeri nodded. "Seriously. We could probably write one together by just making up names and a very general storyline. Oh-em-gee there is an assassin and he's after the girl but she's the wrong one and the manly man has to save her." She waved a hand, laughing. "And there we go. We could probably sell it, too."

"Did you just proposition me to write porn?" he teased, reaching over as if to poke her in the ribs, but he paused and drew his hand back. "Sorry, don't want ya to freak out on me for touching you. Note to self, keeps hands away from Jeri."

Jer mock-pouted at him. "Hey, some people just get twitchy when they're touched and not expecting it. I saw your hand coming that time. And I didn't freak out that badly." She actually reached over and poked him in the ribs instead. "And no. I'll keep the royalties to myself when I write it." She smiled sweetly.

"Is the pout because you want me to touch you?" he questioned, raising a brow at her. "And you did kinda freak out sorta bad. Like more than just 'I don't like to be touched'. It was like 'oh my god don't hit me', but that's besides the point. And you so can't keep the royalties to yourself because I so had part in the creative process, therefore you totally gotta give me a cut."

"What the hell did you add to it?" She eyed him, and if she'd be standing she might've had her hands on her hips. "I made up everything important there. Like the storyline that keeps it from becoming complete erotica. So there."

"Doesn't matter, you wouldn't have come up with it, had I not been sitting here talking about chick porn books." he pointed out. So I have to get a cut. And you totally didn't answer my question either."

"And I'm not going to answer it so that you can wonder about all night." Jeri grinned. "But as for the book, that's a dumb excuse. Fine. You can have five percent. And that's being generous, since all you did was sit there and talk about porn."

"You have to answer, that's not fair. If you don't answer, I'm just going to assume that I'm right. And if that's the case, I'm totally going to tease the fuck out of you for wanting me to touch you." he teased, sticking his tongue out at her childishly.

"Hmph. Fine. I don't mind if you touch me. There." This wasn't quite what he wanted to hear, she was sure, but maybe she could get away with it. She just stuck her own tongue out at him in return, because that was easiest.

"Don't stick your tongue out unless you're planning to use it." Kavin told her. "And that's totally not even an answer either. I asked if you wanted me to touch you, not if you minded it." he pointed out.

"Hey! You stuck your tongue out at me first! Why is this a 'do as I say not as I do' situation?" She mock pouted again. "I should be the one saying not to stick your tongue out if you're not going to use it. You're being a total and utter tease. So there."

He raised a brow. "Who says I wasn't planning on using it?" he countered. "And how exactly does me sticking my tongue out make me a tease?" Kavin questioned, the dvd by now completely forgotten.

"I dunno. It just seemed like the most appropriate thing to call you. So there. Again." She really didn't think he was actually on using his tongue for anything other than drinking his tea, so she didn't comment on that. "It probably wasn't, though."

"You're no fun to flirt with." he told her. "Too many excuses and ways to write off everything." Kavin gave a shrug and a little half smile then turned his attention on the television again, wondering what Ms. Jeri would have to say about that.

"It's easy to come up with excuses and ways to write off everything when you know it's all a joke." Jeri laughed again, shaking her head and picking up her cup for another sip. It was good luke-warm, too, and she nudged him with her foot.

"How do you know it's all a joke?" he questioned, his head turning towards her again, eyebrow raised. "You don't know me that well, babe."

"Because people don't flirt with me." Jeri explained easily, apparently not getting it at all. "I'm a geek. You're part of the in-crowd, for all that you say you're not a part of any clique."
She shrugged and set the cup down again, tea done. "Besides, why would you want too?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "One, who gives a fuck if you're a 'geek'?" he questioned. "And for two, I don't care what crowd I'm in. They don't get to dictate who I do and don't flirt with. You're really down on yourself, ya know? You shouldn't be. And why would I? Why wouldn't I? You're cute, you're smart, you can hold a conversation for more than ten minutes without mentioning prom or how you hate your hair or whatever and I've known you for so fucking long I could tell you more about your childhood than you could." Kavin shrugged. "Whatever, doesn't matter anyways."

Jeri personally thought that maybe whatever plague he had was affecting his brain, but it was a very sweet kind of brain disease. She reached over and put her arm around his neck, touching his forehead with hers. "That was really sweet of you. Best pickup line ever." Then she let him go and settled back again.

Kavin hadn't expected her to get so close to him. His eyes even widened slightly when she did, but he didn't pull away from her. He swallowed when she moved away again. For a moment he didn't say anything, he just looked at her. "Did it work?" he asked after a moment. "The pick up line?" he questioned, managing a nervous little laugh.

She blushed, grinned in that way embarrassed people do, and rubbed the back of her neck. "Maybe? I don't know. Um. Did. Um. Did you want it to work for serious? Or were you just joking around some more or... how does this work now?"

The fact that she blushed and then smiled, just made him smile as well, almost as if her grin was infectious. "I wasn't joking to begin with..." he pointed out. "And I don't know... it wasn't really a 'line', it was the truth, so there's no 'working' about it..." He lifted a hand and brushed it through his shaggy hair. "And I don't know... guess it depends on how you want it to work." Kavin told her, letting his hand fall into his lap once more.

"I don't know." She frowned thoughtfully. "I mean, we could... I don't know. Try it? I guess? I mean, see if it works out." She offered tentatively. Jeri wasn't sure how to make this work out without it getting weird. And he really was a nice guy, and it could be maybe be good to try out with him, that whole dating thing. "If you wanted."

Kavin bit his lower lip and thought about it for a minute. "Before we try anything... maybe I should tell you why I'm sick." he said, glancing up at her. "That's part of the reason me and my last girlfriend broke up and I'm not going to go into whatever this might be just to end up in the same boat, because... well that'd just suck."

"...okay, if you've got some weird STD that's like syphilis or hep or something, that's both a good reason to break up and a reason to see a doctor." She hesitated and patted his hand, kind of slightly worried now, though she was pretty sure that he wouldn't kill her with cooties. "Especially if you didn't, y'know tell her."

He made a face just because she'd even let that cross her mind. "I don't have an STD." he told her, though he couldn't really blame her for deducing that from what he'd said. "And even if I did, that wouldn't matter because I didn't sleep with Charlotte. But that's besides the point." Kavin sighed and shook his head. "I'm detoxing. That's what's wrong. My stash of vicodin disappeared and I couldn't get more."

"What? No. Better question. Why? Why would you start taking vicodin in the first place?" Jeri folded up her feet underneath her. "And how did you manage to convince the doctor to keep supplying you with it?" She rubbed the back of her neck again. "...and are you almost through the detox or are you going to go completely bugfuck in like a week and need to be committed? I've never looked up vicodin withdrawal before."

"I got hurt a while back and the doctors gave it to me and I just kinda kept taking it. Taking more of it. And my dealer supplied me when the doctors cut me off." He sighed and leaned back against the couch letting his head fall back against the cushion. "And I think I'm almost through with it. The bad part anyway. It's supposed to get really bad and then get slowly better. And I think I've already seen the worst of it... but yeah... that's the long and short of it. So you're welcome to tell me I'm a dumbass now or whatever." Kavin said, turning his head towards her.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I think you're a dumbass. But honestly - you quit. Most addicts don't quit cold turkey. That's, like, something to be proud of right there, I think." She shrugged. "If you need to hang out to keep the cravings away, you can call me up as you need."

He nodded and gave a smile. "Thanks. I think I might. Though... I might just call you up to hang out just because I want to. That okay too?"

"Psh. Yeah. Of course." She smirked. "That's cool too. I might end up just wandering over and harrassing you, too. Because I can and I am occasionally very slightly evil."

"Oh really? That so? So what exactly does this harassment consist of?" Kavin asked. "There are a lot of different forms, I'd just like to know what I should be expecting." He shifted, turning towards her a bit and resting one arm along the length of the couch as he studied her and waited for a reply.

"Wandering over and demanding attention, mostly." Jer gave him a little half grin. She was still blushing a little, but it was slowly leaving her face. "So, if you're coming off one thing, should I even bring over those brownies or... what do I do here?"

"Aww, you want to demand my attention." he teased, returning her grin with one of his own as his eyes traced across her flushed face. "I haven't done any weed the whole time I was detoxing. Nate has my stash to keep me from smoking it up, but I think I'm okay enough to do my weed again. You're not going to kill me with weed brownies, babe."

"So you an' Charlotte broke up over you detoxing? What did you do, like, freak out on her claiming she was covered in bugs and then throw up on her shoes?" She thought that was kind of a lame reason to break up with someone, considering they were doing it to be healthier. That was a plus in her book. Of course, she didn't know the whole story, so whatever. Jerilyn shook her head. "Whatever. You don't have to answer that if you don't want too. That's private stuff."

"No, no." he said, shaking his head. "We broke up because I was on the vicodin in the first place. Well that and some other stuff. It was just a big mess. Doesn't matter now, it's over and done with and I'd really... just rather not talk about it if I can help it. "The detoxing shit didn't start til after. Someone took my pills at school and that's what launched me into the whole thing." Kavin explained.

"Ooooh. I vaguely sort of get it now. Okay. Well. You're coming off them, which is good. So that's out in the open then." Jer nodded, and she sat back against the couch, pulling herself up a little so she wasn't slouching as much. "That's that then."

"And you're still okay with it?" he questioned. "I mean still okay with me?" Kavin wasn't really sure what he was trying to ask or where to go from there. He was more than a little surprised that she seemed to be handling the admission so well.

"Are you okay with me occasionally looking sick, dizzy, and trembling? Or me giving myself shots every day, and pricking my fingers? And going to the doctor more often then most people?" Jeri raised an eyebrow. "And having to eat on time, all the time, or risk getting sick - or, sorry, sicker? Yeah, I'm okay with it. If you were still on it, or going on to something worse like heroin or whatever, I'd have issues. But hell, I'm proud of you. You're coming off the junk."

"Diabetes isn't exactly something you can control." he pointed out. "I'd be a real jerk if I couldn't deal with that much. So yeah, I'm okay with all that. And as for something worse like heroin, fuck that. I don't like getting shots, let alone shooting up. I wouldn't have even started the vicodin if I hadn't been prescribed the shit and let it get outta hand. But the fact still remains, I'm a vicodin addict. It's not going to go away, I still want it..." Kavin hadn't admitted that much to any of the people who knew about the real reason behind his sudden illness, but the truth was, if he could get the stuff, he'd be taking some right now.

"Well, yeah. Alcoholics who go through AA always say that they still want liquor, don't they?" Jeri frowned and set her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. "You'd just be a clean addict, which is better than still being on it and worse than not being addicted at all. The unhappy middle ground. But hey, I'm around for you! I can't make it better but I hopefully won't make it worse. At least you'll be able to make a choice now. You can want it and not take it."

"So what happens if I want it really really really bad?" Kavin queried, raising a brow and grinning a bit. "Do I call you and tell you to come over and keep my mind off of it?" He laughed a little and reached over to brush her hair away from her face. "Cheer up, Jeri. Frowning doesn't look good on you."

"You can, though just to warn you I do have school and a job and random weird things I do with my geeky friends." Jeri grinned. "So if you call on a D&D night I might have to pack everyone up and bring them all over here and take over your living room. Or just drag you there. Or something." She waved a hand. "It'll be interesting."

Kavin chuckled a little at the thought of his room full of geeky guys playing D&D. "As long as you don't force me to play, I think I can deal with the prospect of being overrun by dorky guys in my living room babbling about things I have no clue about."

"Okay, so. It's, like, settled then? I have no idea how this dating thing works." Jer grumbled. "How do we do this? I'mma follow your lead here."

"So you've never like had a boyfriend or anything?" he questioned, raising a brow at her. "Like, seriously?" He wondered for a moment if he'd suddenly gotten a 'thing' for girls who didn't date much. He shook that thought away and looked over at her again. "Why do I have to be the leader, why can't you be the trailblazing chick?"

Jeri snickered. "Because I'm a wimp, and why would I go trailblazing when I have a perfectly good guide sitting right there?"

"That didn't answer my first question." he pointed out, shaking his head. "And you shouldn't be a wimp. You should make a move or something because I know as soon as I say or do anything I might get smacked." he chuckled. "Girls are too confusing."

"I've never had a boyfriend. I have friends who are guys, but no boyfriends. Like, seriously. It's just never been an issue because I've always been 'one of the guys'." She shrugged. Jeri figured that if they'd hung out more, that's all he'd have seen her as, too. Might've been better that way, too, but ah well.

Kavin frowned a little at that. "Would you rather me see you like that too?" he questioned, reading a little more into what she'd said. The fact that she'd shrugged made it seem that way, at least to him. Like she wasn't sure she really wanted a boyfriend or not. "Like one of the guys I mean."

"Not if we're going to try the whole dating thing. That would be strange." Jer laughed. "I don't actually have the right bits to be one of the guys, but none of my friends who are guys have ever seen them for proof."

He laughed at that, shaking his head. "So if we do try the whole 'dating thing', do I get to see them for proof?" he questioned, though his tone made it clear that he was teasing.

She tried to keep a straight face though she didn't really succeed. "Aren't there rules for that? Like, third date before you get proof I'm not one of the guys visually? Trying to jump the gun a little there?"

"That should be like pre-dating requisites." he told her. "Just so I can be positive that I'm not dating a guy, ya know. Just in case." he chuckled. "So no, I don't think I'm jumping the gun at all. I'm more than willing to prove that I'm a guy if you want." he told her with a teasing grin.

"Hey, I want dinner and a movie at the very least before we play show and tell!" She laughed, then considered that for a moment, then looked at her watch. "To late for dinner now; we could try tomorrow. If you feel like eating and not throwing everything up tomorrow, anyway. I'm not really keen on that kind of thing."

"So do we not date til tomorrow then?" he questioned with a crooked little smile. "You don't really have to show me anything." he said after a moment. "Besides, I'm fairly certain that you're a girl, Jeri. But we can still hang out tomorrow if you want. Which reminds me, do you walk to school?"

Jeri pursed her lips. "Well, we could count this as a date, since there was tea and television. That's like a mini version of dinner and a movie. But yes, I would like to hang out tomorrow, but I can't until after work." The last question had her blinking. "Yeah. I walk to school, then to work, and then to home. You?"

"Oh, yeah. Totally. The whole walking in the snow thing is exhilarating." he teased. "Nah, I drive. But, since you walk, I get to tell you that I'll give you a ride tomorrow. Because yeah, that'd be mean for me to like, make you walk to school. Especially when we live on the same road and it's fucking freezing outside."

"You're a sweetie. Maybe it'll melt by tomorrow afternoon?" She peeked out the window, and made a face. "Hopefully, anyway. Okay, sure, if you want to give me a ride then I can be here - what time tomorrow morning?"

"I usually leave like half an hour before the first bell, just so I can get a parking spot at school. So if that works for you then, yeah. I can take you to work too if you want. I mean, I don't do much else." he shrugged. "At least you won't freeze your ass off walking, ya know."

"Sure. I can show up around then." Jer nodded, deciding not to explain the fact that she was going to walk to the gym and back before then. Yay for exercise. Not that she wanted to go in this kind of weather, but she kind of had to go anyway. She'd just have to go a little earlier, and probably show up at Kavin's with wet hair. "I'll just bring breakfast with me."

Kavin raised a brow at the mention of breakfast, mostly because he didn't eat breakfast in the morning. Wasn't exactly a breakfast kind of guy since the day he realized he could sleep in a little more if he skipped the meal. "Oh, right... you have to eat every meal, gotcha. Yeah, okay, that works then. Breakfast for you. If I don't answer the door when you knock, I'm probably still out." he warned. "Not much of a morning person. Sure you'll get used to that."

"I could phone before I wander over? Would that work? Or will you not answer the phone? I don't want to have to walk back and forth to my place and here because you won't get out of bed." For all that the walking would probably be good for her, that would be, um, no.

"I'll get up." he told her. "And if I don't, there's a key taped underneath the window by the door. Just let yourself in and beat on my door til I wake up. I wouldn't really recommend opening the door to wake me up because yeah... can't be held responsible for what you might see should you choose that method." Kavin chuckled. "So... decided then?"

"Sure. You can give me a ride to school in the morning, and to work after school." She paused. "How shall I repay such a noble deed, good sir?"

Kavin shrugged and thought for a moment, then he leaned over, taking her chin within his fingers and pressing his lips to hers. He didn't kiss her long, just a soft little peck. He smiled a bit when he pulled away. "We're even."

Jer was surprised, but she didn't object. She did, however, turn kind of pink with a blush and got a slightly stupid grin on her face. She rubbed the back of her neck when he pulled away and looked to the side. "That's a good way of repaying you. I like that method."

He let out a little laugh at that. "Oh really?" he questioned. He noted the little grin, the blush filtering across her face and the fact that she turned away before she spoke. "Why'd you turn away then?" he questioned, raising a brow. "Seems like your scared I might do it again." he teased, just to further that color across her skin.

She turned more red, and grinned a little wider. "Now you're just being mean! It was a very nice kiss. Thank you."

"I don't think I've ever been thanked for a kiss." he teased, reaching out to take her chin within his fingers again and turning her head towards him. "You gotta look at me sometime, you know that right, might as well get it over with." Kavin grinned, his scar showing up with the expression even more than usual.

She blushed even more - really, he wasn't helping at all. But she did flick a look at him, looking really sheepish, and bit her bottom lip.

His grin didn't fade, if anything it widened a bit. "Is it really so hard to look at me?" he questioned. "You do realize I'm the same guy you've known for like.. half your life, right? Just because I kissed you doesn't change anything. Well.. some things, but not the fact that I've known you forever. If me kissing you makes you not want to look at me, maybe I should just take it back." he teased.

"Nah. You don't have to do that." Jeri said, still blushing, but still grinning too. "That'd make you a taker-backer, and that would be all sorts of terrible. And I kind of liked it. I want to keep it."

Kavin laughed and shook his head, not letting go of her chin just yet. "A taker-backer. Now that would be just awful. I wouldn't want to be that, not at all. Guess you'll just have to keep my kiss. Might even give you another one." He tested the waters a little first, closing the gap between them just a bit and tilting his head to the side. He smiled again. "If you want, I mean..."

"I... yes. I mean. Stop making it difficult to form coherent sentences." She pouted at him, yet again, but it kind of dissolved into that shy smile again. And she took a deep breath. "Yes. I'd like another kiss."

"You're kinda cute when you're incoherent." he teased, letting the gap disappear entirely before she could respond. Lips once more pressed against hers, and for a moment he felt slightly guilty because of Charlotte and even a little because of Nate, but he quickly pushed those thoughts aside and let himself get lost in that simple little kiss. He didn't pull away as fast this time. He let the hand at her chin shift upwards across her cheek and held her in place there for a moment. It was slightly amusing that he'd spent hours with this girl and never once thought about kissing her. He couldn't help but wonder if maybe he should have.

Lacking any real experience with this whole kissing thing, Jeri didn't feel particularly guilty. She didn't really understand why he'd be interested in her, but at least for the moment she was willing to accept it anyway. And she didn't freeze up. Very tentatively, and shyly, she kissed him back.

Kavin smiled against her lips just because she kissed him back. Girls were so much less complicated than boys. At least that's what his brain kept telling him. Most of his brain. Part of him still informed him that he'd kissed Nate. That he kinda liked Nate, but he tried his damnedest to silence those voices as he continued the kiss. Lips parted over her bottom lip, biting the bit of flesh lightly.

That surprised her a little, but when she thought about it she had no problem with the little nip. Not that she had to think much about it at all. Hell, Jeri didn't want to think about it much at all. She was kind of busy with this, after all, and her lips quirked up slightly, even with the kiss.

That was a good sign, right? That she was smiling about the whole thing. Kavin released her lower lip and grinned a little as he turned his head in the opposite direction and returned his lips to hers once more.

And Jeri was perfectly willing to continue the little kiss, in her shy, kind of unsure what she was doing sort of way. So, for lack of education of what she was doing, she copied Kavin - in a much more tentative sort of way, she very lightly nipped his bottom lip they way he had done to her.

And that was nice. That little nip was perfect and Kavin was cursing himself for still feeling guilty about Nate. He felt guilty not because of what Nate would think, but more guilty because he was kissing Jeri and spending a lot of time thinking about Nate. He forced those thoughts away. Shoved them back into the back of his mind and once she'd released his lower lip, he tilted his head a bit more to the side and let his tongue slowly trail across the crease between her lips as if begging for entrance.

Not objecting, she didn't need to (not that she would've been able to if it was required) think about it. Her lips separated a little bit at the long, slow lap of his tongue. Still not thinking about it, her fingers trailed up his arm and overlaid the hand on her cheek with a soft, happy sigh. If this was what it was like to kiss someone, she wouldn't have waited.

He was glad that she didn't object, his tongue making that absolutely clear as it dipped into her mouth and searched out hers only to move slowly against it. His other hand moved around the girls body, resting against the small of her back and pulling her tighter against him.

She made a soft, muffled, approving sound at the cuddling and with what he was doing with his tongue. Well, presumably, since she met his tongue with her own and started doing what he was doing, so that they met somewhere in the middle in terms of activity. She was flushed again, but not just from a blush this time, and she edged closer to him when he pulled her closer.

That little muffled sound was met by one of his own and then she moved closer to him, furthering his assumption that she didn't have any complaints about what he was doing. He kissed her for a moment longer before slowly tapering off, pulling his tongue back and closed-mouth kissing her softly, then opening his eyes again as he pulled away. He swallowed as he waited for her to open her eyes, a little smirk flickering across his face. "How long are you going to avoid looking at me now?" he teased.

She flicked a sheepish, shy look up at him, almost right away, and that flush became much more dark on her skin. "Um. Maybe forever, I don't know." But since she wasn't looking away at all, that was probably not going to work as a reply with any kind of truth in it. She gave him a little quirked up grin. "Sorry. You might have to stand me not looking at you for years."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Well, you'll just have to get over that." Kavin told her, shifting back against the couch once more. He let his arm move around her shoulder, pulling her over against him. "We're supposed to be watching this movie. Stop making out with me so I can pay attention."

"Hmph. Fine." She tried to sound grouchy, but wasn't very good at it. Jeri just kind of ended up readjusting her position so her feet were under her and she rested against Kavin, and settling back to watch the rest of the disc. Which wasn't very much, but she couldn't drum up any disappointment in having missed any. "I'll have to bring over the second disc some time if you get like this with vampire anime."

"What can I say?" he teased, brushing a hand through her hair. "Vampire anime just puts me in the mood." Kavin chuckled, and tilted his head to rest against hers as his attention turned once more to the television. He was still feeling a little guilty about Nate, but all in all, he couldn't complain. He liked Nate, but he was finding out fast that he liked Jeri, too.