Shake and Stutter

[CondorTalon]

((Miriam Castille continued from One Step Forwards, Two Steps Back.))

Class was over.

Miriam sat outside, on some grass near the entrance of the school building. She was anxiously glancing at the front doors, not even reading the book she had opened up in front of her. She tried to make it look like she was just sitting and reading, rather than the waiting and searching she was actually doing. Her legs swung unnaturally, a reflection of how nervous she was. Prom was coming up. And normally Miriam wouldn't be worrying herself with Prom matters. After all, it wasn't really like she was going to go. She saw no reason to.

But then, she got a text. From Yukiko.

Yukiko had gotten a date for Prom. Miriam started to worry, about whether or not she would be the only one of her friends not to go. Miriam began biting her nails at the thought. She didn't want to be left. She didn't want to be an outcast again. As scared as she was of going to Prom, being left out felt a lot worse in her mind.

Fortunately she did have an idea for who to go to Prom with. She just hoped he would say yes.

Miriam glanced at the doors again.

[Pippi]

((Chase Rodriguez continued from All My Love to Long Ago))

Chase was pretty certain that he'd broken some sort of land speed record, as he exited Mrs. Havok's class. Normally, he enjoyed pretty much all of his lessons, but that math lesson had been seriously awful. It was as if he was trying to be as clumsy as possible in a short space of time. He'd dropped books, papers and pencils all over the place, his pen had run out of ink, and to top it all off, when Mrs. Havok had asked him to hand in his work, he realised that he'd forgotten it at home. Chase had been severely lectured for that.

It was all over now, and Chase just needed to forget about the whole ordeal. As he made his way through the corridors, Chase caught little snippets of conversation; about homework, about a girl some stranger wanted to ask out, about how godawful the school food was becoming. As he rounded a corner, Chase heard a couple of people talking about prom, and he realised that it was a lot closer than he'd thought. Chase always had that sort of problem; he'd hear about some sort of event, acknowledge it as being far away and put off anything related to the event till the very last moment, when he realised that, oh crap, the event was in a couple of days time.

Chase exited the school building, grateful for the fresh air. He just needed to clear his head a bit. His hands in his pockets, Chase looked around his general area. He spotted a figure sitting on a patch of grass near the entrance, and he realised that it was Miriam. She appeared to be reading, although she was spending more time looking around her than at the book. Chase looked on, rather bemused. When Miriam next looked up, Chase waved at her, then strolled towards her.

When he was a few feet away, Chase said "Hey there, Miriam!" before stopping in front of her. "How's things?"

[CondorTalon]

There he was. Their eyes met, as he made his way over to where she was sitting.

"Hey there, Miriam! How's things?" he asked.

She smiled at him and replied, "H-Hi Chase. I'm alright."

She then stood up. It was time, wasn't it? This is where she would bring up the topic of Prom, and eventually ask Chase. She knew that society would have the roles reversed, that the boy would ask the girl, but Miriam didn't care. She... wanted to do it this way. She felt the fluttering in her stomach. She brought her hand to her mouth. She brought it back down again.

"I got a text from Yukiko," she began, "she got a date to P-Prom."

She giggled slightly. When she had first read the message, she almost jumped out of her chair. Even now, she had a hard time believing it. It's not that she wasn't happy for her, of course, but given how quiet she was, it seemed to Miriam that guys would find her unapproachable... or something.

"And... well..."

This is it. All she had to do was ask Chase.

I was wondering if you'd like to go with me?
If you don't have anyone to go with, maybe we could go together?
I'd like to go with you, if that's alright...

She opened her mouth to speak.

Nothing came out.

She could feel her heart beating faster, and her face getting hotter. The fluttering in her stomach wouldn't stop.

She closed her mouth, swallowed, and opened it again.

But the words would not come out.

[Pippi]

Miriam looked up at Chase, and returned his greeting, stuttering despite the fact the two were close friends. Same old Miriam. She had been shy for as long as Chase had known her, and she was just as clumsy as he was. And Chase wouldn't have it any other way.

Miriam stood up, looking as though she wanted to say something, raising her hand to her mouth then back down. Chase stood patiently, a small smile on his lips, his posture relaxed. After a short while, she spoke up again, about a text she'd gotten from Yukiko. About how she'd gotten a date for Prom.

Prom. That was the second time it'd been mentioned in a span of a few minutes. It was as if it had snuck up on him somehow, and before he knew it, he'd been engulfed by the whole occasion. That wasn't to say Chase hadn't planned for prom, or anything. He had an idea in his mind that he wanted to act on, but it was just one of those things that, no matter how confident you are, or how good you are at dealing with problems, was seemingly impossible to actually do.

Miriam seemed to want to say something else, and Chase had some idea of what it might be about. He didn't dare press his idea, however, lest he'd gotten the complete wrong end of the stick. So he waited to hear what Miriam had to say. Her mouth opened but nothing came out, and Chase's face took on a look of concern. Miriam's face was growing steadily redder, and again, she opened her mouth to speak, yet said nothing.

Well, uh... I think I can take a guess as to what this is about... Still, I could be wrong... God knows, it's happened before.

"Hey, Miriam, don't worry. You can say whatever you want to me." Chase said, voice reassuring. "You know me; I don't bite." Chase's faint smile reappeared at that.

[CondorTalon]

((Sorry for the wait.))

No... no... come on, say it...

Miriam struggled to to get her voice to work. Her eyes darted around as if trying to find an escape.

This was a bad idea after all, she thought. She considering running. No. Running would be rude. She should just say forget it, or something.

"Hey, Miriam, don't worry. You can say whatever you want to me. You know me; I don't bite."

Miriam's eyes locked on to Chase's as he said the words. Right... that's right.

Chase is my friend. Why am I getting so worked up?

Right. She just had to say it. Just get it over with.

She took a deep breath. She looked Chase in the eyes.

"W-Well... uhm. If you're n-not busy... um... maybe we go to Prom..."

A pause.

"T-Together?"

Oh gosh, she still stuttered. Her face was still red.

She covered her face to hide her embarrassment.

[Pippi]

Chase was glad to see that his words seemed to have given Miriam some new-found resolve. Her eyes locked with Chase's, and she looked like she was about to speak again. Instead, she looked down, and took another deep breath. Then, she looked back at Chase, and started speaking.

"W-Well... uhm. If you're n-not busy..."

Chase was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat there.

"Um... maybe we could go to Prom... T-Together?"

And there it was. Chase had guessed correctly what Miriam had wanted to ask him. Chase knew that his face had turned slightly red, but it was nothing compared to Miriam, who had actually buried her face in her hands to hide it from view.

Chase was seriously happy, though. He had to be honest, he hadn't really expected anyone to ask him. He had been planning on asking someone, but Chase wasn't sure he'd have been able to work up the courage. That was kinda weird, given his normally calm and collected personality, but it was true. Guess there's some things you just can't completely handle. And best of all, the he'd been asked to prom by the girl he'd been planning to ask.

Chase suddenly realised that he hadn't actually responded to Miriam. He tried to say something, but his words got jumbled in his mouth, and all that came out was "Uh... well, I, ah..." Chase took a deep breath, before saying "Sorry" to apologise for his messed up speech. It took a second before he realised that might have been a bad idea.

No, damn, wait! Now she might think I don't want to go with her!

"I-I mean, uh... I just didn't really expect to be asked that..." Chase quickly stammered. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath, before looking at Miriam and smiling.

"Yeah, definitely. I'd love to go to Prom with you."

[CondorTalon]

"Uh... well, I, ah."

Miriam's heart dropped at that uttering. For a moment she reconsidered. She knew this was a bad idea. She shouldn't have bothered.

"I-I mean, uh... I just didn't really expect to be asked that..."

She held her breath.

"Yeah, definitely. I'd love to go to Prom with you."

Exhale.

He'd love to go...

It took a while for the words to sink in.

He said yes!

Miriam heart was beating faster than ever. She could only imagine how she must have looked. It felt like her legs wouldn't be able to support her anymore.

Oh wait. They didn't.

She fell backwards, onto a seated position. She was giggling.

"Hah... th-that's great. That's great, Chase. Hehehe..."

She took a few more breaths to calm herself down. The hard part was over.

"Thank you."

[Pippi]

Chase wasn't quite sure how he'd managed to speak without completely messing up. Apparently, Miriam hadn't either. She looked rather shell shocked, as if she hadn't quite comprehended exactly what had just happened. Chase awkwardly scratched the back of his head. He hoped he hadn't sounded too stupid just then. He wasn't exactly experienced with this sort of thing.

Suddenly, Miriam seemed to wobble slightly, and the next thing Chase knew, she had fallen backwards, back into the seated position she'd been in before he'd arrived. Chase wasn't sure what to do. It hadn't looked like a particularly painful or hard fall, but then again, those tended to be the ones that actually hurt the most. Just one of those little weird things in life.

Chase noticed, to his relief, that Miriam had started giggling. As she did so, she was attempting to speak, meaning her words became inaudible. The laughter was contagious, and Chase found that he had started to chuckle as well, shaking his head whilst grinning broadly. He wasn't entirely sure why. Relief, or something? He didn't know.

Eventually, they had both managed to calm down somewhat. Miriam thanked Chase, and he laughed again. "Hey now, no... I believe I should be thanking you."

Chase looked down at the seated form of Miriam, and he reached out a hand. "You, uh... you need a hand back up?" he asked.

[CondorTalon]

((Apologies for taking this long. I've been really on and off about Pragame, and I guess this was an "off" period.))

"Hey now, no... I believe I should be thanking you."

She smiled again, as a bit of redness came back to her cheeks. Thankfully, now that all the tension was gone, now that she took a couple of deep breaths, she was able to function normally again. She looked up as Chase held out his hand, asking if she needed any help in getting back up.

Well, actually, she didn't. She was perfectly capable of getting back up. Of course, she didn't tell him that. She decided to let him help her up. After all, if someone you like offers their hand... you take it, right?

She reached out, grabbing his hand.

[Pippi]

As Miriam reached out to take his hand, several thoughts were rushing through Chase's head. Most of them were concerned around one idea; so, what now? This sort of thing was almost completely alien to Chase. He didn't think that just saying "k, I'm off, seeya" and walking off would be a good idea in the slightest. On the other hand, he didn't just want to stand around awkwardly, saying nothing.

Wait, why am I worrying about that? Me and Miriam have been friends for ages, it's not like we're going to be unable to talk to each other all of a sudden.

Chase realised that he'd momentarily drifted off somewhere. Focusing back on Miriam, he pulled her back to her feet. For a couple of seconds, he just stood there. Then, without really thinking, he pulled Miriam into a hug. He wasn't entirely sure what had persuaded him to do so. It just felt like the right thing to do.

"Prom's gonna be great." Chase said. "I just know it."

[CondorTalon]

Needless to say, Miriam didn't see that coming.

"Hwah!" she yelped, as Chase's arms came around her. The next thing she knew, she realized she was being pressed against Chase's body. Her mind quickly began to move into panic mode.

ohnoohnowhatdoidoheshuggingmewhatshouldidodoihughimbackishouldmovemyarmstheyrenotmoving

"Prom's gonna be great. I just know it."

...Yeah. He was right. The comment had somehow calmed Miriam down, and she found herself returning the hug, wrapping her arms around Chase in return.

After a while, she found that they had come apart. Miriam stood around awkwardly, trying to figure out what to do now. Miriam had no idea how to deal with the awkwardness. She decided to make an exit, as awkward as it would be, it would be worse for them to just stand around.

"Um... w-well, I have things at home to do... s-so, uh. I'll see you later...?" she stuttered.

Then she looked at Chase, and smiled. He had said yes. That was definitely something smile about. She turned, taking a few steps in the direction of her house. She turned, saying one last thing before heading home.

"I-I'll be looking forward to it!"

((Miriam Castille continued elsewhere...))

[Pippi]

Okay, maybe that hadn't been the best, most thought out plan ever. It probably would have been a good idea to have said something to Miriam beforehand, but Chase really hadn't been, well... thinking properly. It had just sorta happened. After a couple of seconds, Miriam returned the hug anyway, so all was well.

And then of course came another awkward moment. Chase guessed the most sensible thing would be to just excuse himself and leave, but he didn't want to seem rude, and right now, his mind was kind of blank on the excuses front. Thankfully, his decision was rendered unnecessary by Miriam herself saying that she had to leave.

"Yeah, same here. See you later, Miriam!" Chase said, smiling, waving Miriam goodbye as she turned to leave. After a few steps, she turned again, saying she was looking forwards to prom too. Chase nodded, and said "Same here!" as Miriam turned again, and left.

Chase waited a few moments, before turning to pick up his art folder, which he'd placed on the ground a few feet away. A faint smile appeared on his face as he did so. That really had just happened. It hadn't been something Chase had been expecting, but it was definitely welcome. As he headed off for home himself, Chase knew that the only thing he needed to do was not to be as clumsy as usual; breaking his leg or something similar would not be a good way to round off the day.

((Chase Rodriguez continued elsewhere...))