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Tweak says, "he's an airborne ranger,"

Zach Kitano (coalintodiamond) wrote in nosuchtimes,
@ 2008-03-12 17:14:00

Entry tags:

adrienne conté, zach kitano

The History of Zach and Adrienne: Take 7
Who: Zach and Adrienne
Where: Commons area, then Zach's room at the school.
When: Tuesday, February 13, 2007. Evening.
What: Dance Lessons! For the upcoming Valentine's Day dance.

Zach had figured an open commons area would be the best place to give Adrienne some formal dance lessons, but that was soon proving to be a very bad location of choice. They had barely even begun when other students were passing by the commons area, some of them snickering or outright laughing, while others sang snippets of that god awful rhyme the new jackass, aptly named Loki, had posted to his journal about Zach and Adrienne.

While he tried to act like it didn’t bother him, the teasing attitude going around rattled his calm. He and Adrienne weren’t exactly dating at this point. That’s why. Okay, if they were openly dating, Zach wouldn’t have a problem with it. He’d laugh it off and find it funny, but it felt like a serious intrusion into his privacy since there wasn’t anything final between him and Adrienne. They admitted they liked each other, and they were working on it from there. What if the jokes drove Adrienne off from pursuing anything with him? What if the teasing got out of hand and caused them to drift apart?

Despite Loki’s apology, Zach didn’t believe it. The guy was still cracking jokes at their expense. Hopefully, he’d find other people to make fun of and back off of Zach and Adrienne’s case. Nico could lure the guy’s attention elsewhere to something far more interesting. There had to be some illicit affair going on somewhere. Zach believed he was as boring as they came — he liked nice and sweet girls very near to his own age. It wasn’t like they’d get a sensational story out of him.

After what felt like the millionth sing-song call of “Zach and Addy, sittin’ in a tree” with occasional colorful and embarrassing alternations made to the original, Zach finally sighed deeply and stopped with their routine. His hands dropped to his sides, letting go of her hand and waist. Concentration was impossible with the constant interruptions, most of them jeering in nature. Sure, the rhyme was absolutely childish to the ninth degree, but that didn’t seem to stop students from singing it. Weren’t most of them teenagers and adults, anyway? Or at least supposed to be? Then, why were they acting like this was grade school all over again?

“Maybe we should go somewhere more private,” Zach suggested, scratching the back of his neck. “This is,” he gestured towards the opening of the commons area, “getting a little out of hand.” A corner of his mouth fell into an unsure expression as he waited to gauge her reaction.

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cursedwithfur
2008-03-13 12:04 am UTC (link)

Adrienne would have been lying if she said she hadn’t seen the rhyme posted all over the journals. It was funny – sort of – though she really didn’t appreciate the other snide remarks that were being made at her and Zach’s expense. While they weren’t officially dating they were spending a lot of time with one another so she could see how others might confuse it as such. But right now they were just feeling out the territory, seeing where it could go without the complication of being in a relationship.

But she was already so attached to him, as much as she hated to admit it. He had worked his way behind those walls that she had built and was setting up shop as far as she was concerned. Hell, she told him about her parents and how she ran away to keep them safe and because she was scared of their rejection. It was a secret she hadn’t even told Starbuck yet, and yet she had already broken down to Zach. So yes, she was attached and it was scary to not know if he felt the same way.

The rhyme that Loki put up, however, was not helping to ease the tension between Zach and Adrienne. If anything, it only added a spotlight to their situation and almost seemed like some sort of pressure for them to do something. Adrienne, however, left the post with the rhyme alone. She didn’t need to defend herself or express her feelings about it openly. While her feelings weren’t particularly hostile, they couldn’t be mistaken for happiness either. Amused? Perhaps she would have been had it not been for some of the meaner comments that came after it.

Oh well – she decided that the best course of action was to leave it alone. That didn’t mean that the rest of the student body prescribed to her decision. So being anywhere near one another invoked a singsong caroling of the rhyme. They both tried to ignore it but it was only getting worse as the minutes passed. Adrienne was glad when he suggested going somewhere more private, a bright smile lighting her face in response to it.

“Yeah, we probably should.” She adjusted her ponytail and then grabbed her sweater and keys off the couch. “Lead the way.”

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coalintodiamond
2008-03-13 01:35 am UTC (link)

The thing was Zach wasn’t trying to work his way past anyone’s walls. If he and Adrienne were growing closer, it was a sign that they really liked each other. No purposeful aim existed in him to ‘win’ her over or gain her for himself. He liked her, and it was as simple as that. Speaking to Adrienne about his own life and past was easy because she listened to him. Her interest was palpable whenever he spoke, and he felt a genuine desire to talk to her.

When it came to the story of her parents and how she had run away from them, he wasn’t aware of who she had told and who she hadn’t told. Basically, Zach had no idea that not even her friends were in the know about what had happened. He considered it private information, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that he was going to mention it to other people. However, no inkling burned in his mind of how sacred the knowledge really was that she had divulged to him.

Did he feel the same way? In his own way that wasn’t any lighter than hers, he was attached to Adrienne. Unlike many of the other people here, she always wanted to be around him for some reason. Zach might have been a recluse back at home and a bit of a sarcastic prick at times to keep people away, but his comfort zone had increased dramatically now that he was in an environment where he didn’t have to hide. People like him usually got annoyed quickly with behavior like Adrienne’s, but Zach was different. He longed to be broken out of his shell, not to stay stuck in it. If Adrienne wanted to drag him all over the world to do it, he would hand her the reins and love every single moment of it.

Glad to see the smile on her face at his suggestion, Zach led the way through the school to his dormitory. He probably would have held her hand, but it would have made the jeering worse. Once they were safe inside the commons area of his dormitory, it was quiet. Zach looked back at her, a soft smile on his face. He took her hand this time, guiding her up the stairs towards the boys’ dorms and to his room.

His room back at home was mostly blues with neutral shades like black, white, and grey. Not for any reason in particular other than blue tones felt sort of calming, and his mother believed that was the best choice for his room color to be before he was old enough to make such a decision himself. Here, he had landed a room with dark oak walls and lots of deep red bedding and dark grey furniture. It was a complete opposite from what he was used to, and sometimes he really didn’t like it. As a result, it was somewhat rare to find him spending time here. Usually, he was everywhere but here.

“This is my room,” he said, closing the door behind them. The window was wide open, the setting sun in direct view. Golden rays painted his room with a fiery tone in addition to all of the red colors and wood. He went to his bed to pick up one of the pillows and sat down on the edge of the mattress, holding it up. “I told you I had a spare pillow,” Zach joked as he held it up, eventually tossing it back onto the bed. His face felt hot. He shook his head, smiling. “I’m kidding,” he added, as he usually did.