Not Seeing Eye to I

[Brackie]

Oh wow, he used the word 'pleasure'. He's already ten times smarter than the football team.

Owen seemed interesting enough already. I mean, compared to most of her peers, or at least the guys she hung out with, nerds and jocks alike, he was already unique in Penny's eyes. Handsome, even. Stuff like that wasn't stuff that blipped on Penny's radar that often, but rules were made for exceptions. It must have been the hair. Or something inconsequential. She noticed stuff like that every so often.

What's with the sudden change in attitude? It must have been the fact he was more than likely going to be hanging around for a while. Penny knew better than anyone what to expect from her fellow cheerleaders boyfriends - honestly, what heterosexual, hot-blooded American boy would ever turn down the chance to date a high-school cheerleader? Especially a bunch of catches like Cass and Jess? Those were the guys she had to put up with, and Penny had learnt to put up with those types. Although if he harmed a hair on Cass's head, he was going down faster than the Berlin wall.

Penny adjusted her glasses and smiled right back at Owen.

"Well, I'm Penny...which she just said, so I don't know why I'm saying again-anyway, you're the guy with that motorbike, right?"

((Still here, sorry for the wait-up))

[Courtography]

Cassidy seemed excited and why shouldn't she be? Owen seemed like a nice guy, well nice enough for having just met him. He sure wasn't living up to the biker reputation. He didn't look all dirty and seemed actually nice instead of a drunk womanizer, but maybe she had watched a little too much TV.

Plus he had said it was nice to meet them. A jerk wouldn't do that, right? Probably not. "Yep I'm Jess," she concluded at the end of Cassidy's introduction. She kinda wondered if Owen would stick around though, most people had a group of people they had lunch with every day. Would his friends come or would he leave? Or would he actually stick around for a bit?

She was rather curious. After all, most guys weren't interested in a bunch of girl talk during their lunch.

[umop-ap!sdn†]

(No problem. You're doing us a favor just by throwing your characters in here.)

Cassidy was beaming. Already everybody seemed to click. She looked up to Owen, and her eye caught his lunch bag. She patted the seat next to her. He left his old table to sit with us. No, with me! That's a good sign... right? She thought for a moment. It's too early to call him whipped. WAY too early.

Introduction were over. Wait, no they weren't. Cassidy almost felt like she should say her name now... It was like an AA meeting with all the name exchanging. She quickly offered a more productive conversation topic.

"Owen, what are you doing this weekend? I have gymnastics on Friday, but Saturday works if you wanna hang out."

She realized how forward she was being.

 Did I even mention I'm a gymnast? We really don't know all that much about each other...

She broke eye contact briefly so she could think. Was she rushing into things?

We know we're interested in each other. That's enough for now. If we don't hang out we'll just be stuck at interested.

Her gaze returned to him, looking more confident. Eager and expecting. Interest leads to liking, which leads to loving, which leads to... uhh... commitment? Doesn't matter for now. She was between interest and liking, and ready to take the next half-step.

[Serpico†]

((Sorry for always taking so long to respond))

Owen nodded slightly in response to Penny and Jess, he would have liked to talk about his bike but he held back. It wasn't as bad as he thought, the conversation was a bit plain and he kind of liked it that way. It was not the most stimulating conversation, but it was better than the gossip that he had anticipated. Soon Cassidy was speaking, asking him if he was free on the weekend as he shifted in his seat.

As if I'm busy on any weekend ever... Generally he spent his weekends on the couch or out in the mall, rarely following any sort of schedule.

"Sounds good, I'm pretty sure that I'm free on Saturday." He knew he was free, not sort of sure but positive that he was free. Still, he didn't want it to sound like he didn't have any plans.

"Have anything in particular in mind?" He figured the cinemas would be a safe but generic choice, though The Castle might be better, even if it wasn't the type of place that he would go to.

"What do you think of Miniature Golf or Go Karts?" Now that he finished asking he opened his lunch bag, pulling out a red apple. He rarely brought lunch to school, but this was one of the few times his mother actually had time in the morning to pack anything for his lunch. Sure it was plain, but a home made sandwich was a nice change from cafeteria food.

Despite the fact that his experience had gone really well he really would have preferred to plan their outing without the company of Penny and Jess around.

[umop-ap!sdn†]

(aight, it has been quite some time, so I guess Jess and Penny are pretty much done here. Feel free to chime in! But I want to keep this thread moving!)

Hmm, she leaned toward him, slightly turning away from Jess and Penny. She didn't want to outright say, "this is a date, you guys can't come," but discrete body language wouldn't be too rude.

"Awww mini golf sounds so cute!"

She almost clapped a hand over her mouth. Don't say cute! Guys don't like being cute! Quick! Damage control!

"But Go Karts sound exciting! And I met you're really good at them!"

She didn't want to decide, she hated choosing for people. She really didn't prefer one over the other, but mini-golf just seemed to adorably chick flick-y.

"You decide!"

No. He'll pick golf for me.

"But if we do Karts, don't expect me to wait up for ya!"

There we go. That was flirty and challenging. Your move, sir.

[Courtography]

(Actually I had been waiting for Inky, since he hadn't gone away yet. But yeah, I have nothing really to add...)

Owen seemed nice enough for Cassidy, she supposed. Like, it wouldn't matter a ton because like, even though guys could be fun and all, it was just high school. She had heard that college guys actually had brains and stuff.

But take what you can.

(Jessica Murphy continued elsewhere)

[Serpico†]

Owen raised an eyebrow when Cassidy clapped her hands over her mouth; he found it peculiar behaviour to say the least. He noticed that she seemed to like the idea of playing mini golf. Though she seemed confident in her Go Karting ability he didn't expect Cassidy to be able to keep up with him in karts, her behaviour before suggested that she would want to play golf, but then she gave him signals that she wanted to play karts.

Now he was sitting there silently trying to choose, if only he knew what she liked. After all when he asked her in the first place he expected her to pick one of the two, and he dreaded the decision that he would have to make now. Her mixed signals confused him more than anything.

"Fuck it, just pick mini-golf. You suck at it anyway; she'll probably win and get excited about it. No wait, pick Karts, that way at least it'll be fun." He mentally settled on Karts, because smacking little coloured balls with a golf club just seemed a bit boring to him. He always threw the games anyway, because he wasn't great at it.

"Alright then, it's a challenge." He smiled and added "Don't get upset if I win Karts though."

[umop-ap!sdn†]

Oh good.

He'd picked the man option. He wasn't a pushover, and he wasn't a sissy. Confidence was a plus. She smiled behind her hand, and slowly lowered it back to her lap.

"Uh, we'll see there mister. I drive my mom's smart car all the time, so I know how to drive a go-kart." That was what she called the vehicle, she figured he'd get it.

"I really haven't been to the castle in awhile, wow. I can't wait!"

She waited for his reaponse, simultaneously thinking of a playful taunt about how she'd drive circles around him.

[Serpico†]

Okay, she seemed confident, but Owen was much more confident and sure of his own ability to drive. Still, it wasn't good to push that he would probably race circles around her. He wasn't competing with her, he was going to try and date her. He would probably let her think she was winning part of the time... maybe the second time they play.

Yeah, he would definitely win the first time so that she would see that he's a great driver.

"It's a date and I'll see you there then. Oh, also I'll get your address from you on facebook so I can pick you up." He decided it was time to leave the table, not really being in the mood to chat any longer. "Listen, I'll catch you guys again another time, just got things to do right now."

He packed up his lunch and left the cafeteria as he preferred to eat in silence and the chatting that he participated in left him little time to eat. Plus, he figured that talking with your mouth full was pretty unattractive.

He'd be ready to pick to her up on the weekend and take her on their date.

[umop-ap!sdn†]

(about a month later)

Cassidy threw her phone onto her bed. She hoped it would buzz in response, but it didn't. Owen would just text her whenever he felt like it again. She put her hand on her aching abdomen. Stupid lady parts making her angry. She flung herself back on her bed and reflected.

Owen was fun, and really different. Sure, they didn't have much in common, but she loved hearing about his interests, and telling him all about herself. She'd even given him the whole story about her parents, something she didn't just tell anybody. Her adoption wasn't a big secret, but her birth parents' deaths would just make people feel bad for her. She didn't really want the attention either.

Maybe that was why she had trusted Owen. Not because he was super special and amazing, because she wanted to keep his attention and interest... No. She was just being moody and menstruaty. She rolled over on her elbows to look at her phone again.

[Serpico†]

Owen honestly didn't want to talk to Cassidy at the moment, she was fun at first, but now she wanted him to be emotional and caring. At least that was the way he saw it, she told him about her parents and the incident. He didn't know what to say, it took him a moment to formulate the words and even then they were a half assed 'I'm sorry that happened to you.'

He was shit at the emotional stuff, he honestly found it awkward.

He sat on his bed, staring at the contents of his tidy, but crowded room. He read some books just to get his mind off the relationship as it was moving too fast for him.

At the time he was reading through a book called Grey Victory, it was alright, and it was one that he picked up from a cheap sale. Its cover was a bit worn and it seemed like the previous owner had mistreated it, but it was still an okay read.

When the last chapters of the book had concluded the idea of calling Cassidy was temporarily forgotten. He picked up another novel, but set it back down; it had been a few hours. He supposed that it was time to call her.

He dialled her number, and waited for her to pick up. As soon as this conversation was over he intended to read Zorro.

[umop-ap!sdn†]

Something below her shoulder blade wiggled. She flipped over to see Owen was finally responding. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to hear what he had to say. Confused didn't mix well with hormonal.

She picked up the phone, carefully thinking over her tone of voice before answering. She wasn't angry, just frustrated. Nor sad, just confused. It wasn't really all his fault she was such a hot mess.

Deep breath, calm. Let him talk before you say anything. Her tone was inquisitive rather than annoyed.

"Hello?"

[Serpico†]

She answered; part of Owen had kind of hoped that she wouldn't. He was hesitant, but he forced himself to push the words out of his mouth.

"Hey, what's going on?" What else was there to say really? He was forcing the conversation.

He silently prayed to whatever greater force that existed that Cassidy would not talk about anything deep or emotional.

"Just calling to check up on you..." No, she might get mad if it sounds like he's monitoring her activity like she's some sort of child "...Like, Just calling to see how you are and stuff."

Owen mentally punched himself. Those last words could roughly mean: YES, DO TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS!

Owen could mentally feel the emotional flood gates opening.

[umop-ap!sdn†]

"...Just calling to see how you are and stuff."

It was out. The brief spark that was their relationship failed to catch hold of and tinder, and had officially fizzled. It wasn't a "hey! How are ya?" or a "how was your day?" No, this was an obligatory check in.

She had her answer. And she'd probably known all along, but now it was undeniable. As much as she tried, she couldn't help but feel some disappointment. She was being cast aside like a toy.

Cassidy would act like she didn't mind, save them both the drama. There wasn't even really anything to be mad about. He'd taken her out a few times, and now he didn't want to. That was his choice.

Then again, the feeling of being dumped was still unpleasant. He wasn't into her anymore. And while she could cry on her bed wondering why, it seemed more practical just to not care.

Of she'd wanted to make him feel bad, she'd say "why do you care?" or "Great, it's so sweet that you ask." She wasn't happy, but she wasn't spiteful.

"I'm alright. Kinda tired, but alright."

She was tired. Tired of getting strung along. Tired of waiting for answers. The conversation was slow. But he'd at least called, so there had to be something important.

"What's new with you?"

[Serpico†]

He was completely oblivious to Cassidy's train of thought; he didn't get the impression that anything was wrong. He was glad that she wasn't pouring her feelings into the phone; he wouldn't be able to cope.

"If you're tired you should take a nap, babe." He paused, collecting his thoughts before responding to her question.

"I was just reading and lost track of time, it was a good read. It's this alternate history book set in the civil war..."

He would have gone on a rant about the book he had just finished, about the civil war and how it was interesting to see an alternate outcome to the war. Then he realised that Cassidy probably wouldn't really be interested in that sort of conversation, or keep up with him. Sure she liked poetry and stuff like that, but he was sure she didn't like war novels much.

"...It was really good."

This is where he felt that their relationship fell short, their interests were way too different and Owen just couldn't bond with her through conversation.

He sat in awkward silence; at least he found it awkward.