faun

[shesepankh]

Saturday morning sees Bella with her notebooks about magic all in her knapsack, her medallion safety-pinned by its chain to her bra just in case she trips the wrong way, waiting with Charlie for pickup for the Avalon trip.

Comments

[castmyown]

Zzzzzzzzzz.

[morethanimaginary]

"That's it, I'm sitting on you."

She does!

[castmyown]

"Mmmrgh?" he says.

[morethanimaginary]

"Up!"

[castmyown]

Darren stumbles out of the car and to bed. Then, zzzzz.

Sleeeep.

[morethanimaginary]

The next morning, it is Savannah's sworn duty to tease her brother.

"Sooo. You and Bella sure were cuddling, huh? Snuggling all the way back...?"

[castmyown]

"... Um," says Darren.

And then he is looking at his cereal and blushing.

[morethanimaginary]

"You should ask her out. I will coach you," offers Savannah. "Guarantee she will say yes."

[castmyown]

"Um," he repeats.

[morethanimaginary]

"No ums! I am going to coach you, and you will ask out the cute girl! Your sister commands it!"

[castmyown]

"Okay."

Coaching occurs. It is maybe one of the most traumatizing experiences of Darren's life.



Monday morning, he arrives early and looks for Bella before English class.

[shesepankh]

Here she is! She is notebooking about not-Hogwarts.

"Hi, Darren," she says when he wanders nearby.

[castmyown]

"Hi," he says.

Then all of the coaching is just gone and he blurts, "Your hair is smooth and shiny today!"

And then he runs.

[morethanimaginary]

From her spot nearby, Savannah watches. And then, her hand meets her face and she sighs. Her brother is so terrible at this.

[shesepankh]

Bella lifts a hand to touch her hair, absolutely bewildered.

Then (at a safe, sedate pace) she heads in the direction where he fled.

[castmyown]

There he is, sitting and bonking his head against his palm. Over. And over.

(And over.)

[shesepankh]

"Are you okay?"

[castmyown]

"Probably not," sighs Darren. "If I die of embarrassment, daisies at the funeral, please."

[shesepankh]

"Embarrassment is not fatal. Are you otherwise okay?"

[castmyown]

"... Um. Yes?"

[shesepankh]

"Okay, so what happened?"

[castmyown]

"I thought that part was kind of obvious," he says, closing his eyes and wincing.

[shesepankh]

"You gave me a weird compliment on my hair and then ran away like I was a lava monster, I'm confused."

[castmyown]

"I am so bad at this," sighs Darren. "... Sorry, um - for confusing you?"

[shesepankh]

"You could better apologize by unconfusing me. Unless the problem is that you don't know why you did it either and you need to be checked for some kind of neurological issue."