Tweak

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Tweak says, "Call upon the Sea Ponies!"

Sophie Frost (outgrewthenest) wrote in utr_logs,
@ 2010-03-21 16:34:00

Entry tags:

gar logan, sophie frost

Who: Gar Logan and Sophie Frost
When: After this thread.
What: Uncomfortable talk about feelings and crap
Warnings: Nah.

Sophie sat on the edge of Gar’s bed, leaning forward with her head in her hands. I’m so pathetic, she thought as she listened for the sound of running water from the bathroom. Her outburst had been completely immature, and not at all attractive. She had seriously embarrassed herself, and she wasn’t exactly looking forward to this talk. It had to be done, she knew, but it was so tempting to pretend nothing had happened.

She smacked her forehead with her palms and flopped back on the bed. She hadn’t even thought she liked him like that. It wasn’t like she’d been plotting ways to entangle him in a web of seduction or anything.

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-21 10:12 pm UTC (link)

Ashley had been very understanding when he'd canceled their date, though he'd probably want to monitor his flirting when he went into that particular Starbucks from then on. He was still in a confusing place, though. It wasn't that he'd never thought of Sophie in a romantic way--even if he did feel guilty about it sometimes--it was just that he'd never thought of her as a real option. She occupied the part of his mind reserved for unusually attractive celebrities and fictional characters: they were certainly date-able, but he wasn't going to be the one to do it. And now she was throwing his entire system into disarray.

He was trying to keep himself from thinking too much for fear that Sophie heard him. He wasn't sure if her powers worked that way, but it was still bothersome. So he focused on the shampoo, on the bodywash, on the deodorant, on the sweatpants. And then he was dressed and clean and smelled nice, and there was nothing left to do but to find Sophie and talk to her.

"Should probably get a shirt first," he said to himself. He walked into his room with the intent of retrieving a shirt from his closet, only to find Sophie sitting on his bed waiting. "Um. Hi."

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-21 11:32 pm UTC (link)

"Hi," she said, her voice muffled by the pillow she'd tossed over her face. His pillow smelled like boy sweat with a hint of petting zoo. When was the last time he'd washed his sheets? The more she tried to avoid thinking about that stuff, the more little things snuck in. Like Emmett assuming Gar was Sophie's boyfriend. Or the little kitten yawn when she called Gar in the middle of the night. It made her smile, but further confused things, too.

"Are you wearing clothes?" she asked through the pillow. She probably should've waited in her room instead, but Gar's room was homier. It was messy, but it was a better place for a talk. There were more things to be distracted by. Like pillows.

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-22 01:20 am UTC (link)

"I'm dressed. I'm sorry if my mansome hairy chest threw you off." It wasn't exactly how he wanted to get the conversation started--an awkward moment was hardly an ideal way to begin a discussion about feelings and whatnot--but it could have been worse. He'd almost gone into the bathroom without his pants, and having nothing on but a towel would not have made for a pleasant experience.

Gar took the pillow out of her hands and tossed it back on the bed. "So... let's talk, I guess," he said eloquently.

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-22 04:34 am UTC (link)

There was no un-awkward way to do this that Sophie knew of, so might as well get it started right off. She sat up, scooting over some to make room. "Yeah.." she said, frowning a bit. "Um. Sorry I messed up your date." Sort of an understatement. "And was a complete spaz about it." She ran a hand through her hair nervously.

She needed guidance... A mentor, or motherly advice. Though, knowing her mother, it probably wouldn't be pretty. Sophie didn't have much in the way of female friends, so girltalk was limited to when Gar morphed into green women. Didn't exactly help, in this instance.

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-22 06:43 am UTC (link)

"No big deal. The only thing I knew about her was that she put extra caramel in my drink." After a moment passed without either of them saying anything, he added, "Well, that, and she had stupid hair."

The obvious tension filled the room, as oppressive and obvious as a weight on their chests, but Gar ignored it for the moment. "So it's probably my fault that... you know, stuff happened the way it did. I mean, it's got to be kind of weird, right? That I'm even thinking about dating again? I probably should have said something instead of just throwing it out there on my way out the door, practically."

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-22 08:05 pm UTC (link)

Extra caramel? Total slut move. That's, like, the coffee shop equivalent of flashing your tits. Sophie somehow managed to keep her 'I-told-you-so's internal.

"I don't.. know.." Sophie floundered, trying to think of a better way for things to have gone down. "It's not like.. It's not just you. I could've said something. It's just.. awkward." She had sort of been hoping they would figure it out in some Disney-like epiphany, with rose petals and singing woodland creatures and everything would fall perfectly into place.

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-23 01:44 am UTC (link)

"Well, it's supposed to be weird. I mean, if it weren't weird, that would be pretty... weird. Um. All right, lemme start again. Okay, see..." Gar sighed. "I lost it. I had a thing to say, and it was probably wicked perfect for this very situation, and now it's gone forever. God damn it, now how are we going to settle this?" He was half joking, though he still hoped that he could bluff his way into the perfect thing to say. Nothing was coming so far, though.

"All right, here. You... like me. And that's new information, so I really need elaboration on that front. So if you have anything to toss in there--why, how, why, I'd really appreciate it. Because right now I'm kind of drowning. In an ocean of... stuff."

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-23 02:57 am UTC (link)

Sophie smiled a little at his rambling, nodding some. The whole 'weird' thing really rang true. "Um. Why?" She laughed nervously, shrugging a little. "I don't know. I like you. You're my best friend. You're pretty much the only person I talk to about stuff." Did she already mention that she was pathetic, or was that just in her head? "Wait. I don't mean that I like you just because there's no one else around. That's really not flattering, is it? Wow, I suck at this."

"I guess it kinda snuck up on me gradually. I really liked living with you. It felt really normal at a time when nothing else did. And I miss that a lot. I miss you. Even though I know it seems kind of.. wrong."

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-23 03:43 am UTC (link)

That was probably the word that Gar had been doing his best to avoid thinking: wrong. What would Rose think? Wherever she was right now, she'd probably moved on. And given that she was virtually immortal--at least, extremely long-lived--she would probably have a better understanding than most for mourning a loss and then accepting it. But it still felt weird to be considering moving on with her sister. Especially Sophie.

"It's fine," he said, trying to chase away the dark thoughts. "You don't have to worry about offending me. You're probably not physically capable of offending me. I get called worse things than 'the only show in town' walking down the street to buy a newspaper." He paused again. "I like you too," he said after a moment. "I'm... not really sure what to do with that information, but I like you too."

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-23 04:04 am UTC (link)

"Yeah?" She was glad he liked her too. She didn't know what to do, either, but this conversation would be worse if it was all about letting her down gently. "Yeah. Not really a clear path here.." She had a lot of questions, but they didn't seem right to ask. It was impossible to think of Rose as just Gar's last girlfriend, the way Mars had just been Jon's ex. She couldn't just dismiss her sister like that, which made things really difficult. For a long time, Sophie had thought Gar and Rose were Meant To Be. That was hard to get over, even with these feelings.

"Argh!" Sophie stood up sudden, walking to the other side of the room and frowning.

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-23 05:10 pm UTC (link)

Gar, who was not privy to Sophie's thought process, jumped when she let out her sudden cry of frustration and walked away. Being a Manhattan apartment, there wasn't a lot of away to walk to, but there was still a very clear message there. Which ran completely counter to every other message she'd been sending him. The first thought was that he'd said something wrong, but she hadn't seemed too offended when he'd said she liked her--quite the contrary, her tone had been bright and almost musical. Then the noise and the walk.

Chicks, man.

"So... okay, I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry I did it?" he said, hoping against hope that this was the right thing to say this time.

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-23 09:45 pm UTC (link)

"What?" She turned back to face him. "No, you didn't do anything." She sat down on the bed again, her shoulders slumping a little. "This is just hard. I'm trying to think of how this will work and.. I can't figure out how to make it go the way I want it to." She kept coming up with 'we don't do anything, ignore our feelings, and both get old and die alone,' which was melodramatic, pathetic, and the reason she'd abbreviated it to 'Argh.'

"It's just.." She stopped, really not sure how to finish that thought without bringing up Rose. "Is this a bad idea?"

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-26 05:40 pm UTC (link)

"It might be," he admitted. It felt strange to say, like he was narrowly avoiding cheating on his girlfriend when she'd been gone half a year. "But at the same time, it feels kind of silly to feel bad, you know? I was willing to date Coffee Shop Girl--" Gar smirked at the look on Sophie's face when he mentioned her-- "and that didn't make me feel nearly as weird."

He gave this some consideration. Obviously part of the problem was that it was Sophie. He didn't know why that should have made any difference, but it did. But a lot of it, something he wasn't voicing but was thinking very loudly, was that Ashley was just some girl he'd have a few dates with and probably never see again. There was nothing casual about the nascent feelings for Sophie he was being forced to acknowledge.

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-26 06:47 pm UTC (link)

Sophie sighed, drawing her legs up to the bed and wrapping her arms around her knees. She probably would've felt more comfortable with him dating Coffee Shop Girl too, in a weird way. She would've hated her, but she could've convinced herself that she hated her because she wasn't Rose. That was a somewhat acceptable, only slightly crazy explanation.

"Maybe I should've let you go out with Coffee Shop Girl. Then you'd know if you were really ready to date, or if it was just the extra caramel talking." She was a little more cautious about rebound dating after her breakup with Jon. She just hated worrying about being inferior to a guy's last girlfriend. Maybe it was a little unfair and unrealistic. She wasn't likely to find a guy who'd never been in a relationship before. But being compared to Rose made it worse. She thought really highly of her sister, and wasn't sure she could measure up. "I just can't be her," she said quietly.

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-26 06:59 pm UTC (link)

"I don't want another Rose," said Gar, and he was a little surprised to find that he meant it. "Rose and I were... I loved her. And that's never going to change. But we weren't some Great Destined Thing. We were a couple of friends who complemented each other in just the right ways, and our friendship just went the way that things go sometimes. With kisses. That doesn't mean I'm talking to you because I think you're Rose. You're not. You're Sophie."

He wasn't sure why he was arguing this strongly for it when he wasn't even sure himself what he wanted to do. It just seemed important that Sophie not think less of him. "Here's the thing. You and your ex broke up because he was still pining over his ex, right? I miss Rose. I'll probably always miss Rose. But I'm not pining. When bad things happen, I don't want to run to her. I run to you."

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-26 07:59 pm UTC (link)

Sophie's eyes widened and she peeked in his mind just enough to see that it was all true. She was smiling. This probably wasn't an appropriate time to be smiling, but she couldn't help it. He ran to her.

"That makes sense." Gar had it more together than she gave him credit. "That's how I felt about Quentin. He was a good guy and I miss him, but I'm not pining." She hadn't really been able to express that before. After seeing Jon so hung up on Mars, she'd started to wonder if she was the weird one, for not being as attached. She hadn't thought of it the way Gar did.

She felt a lot better now that they'd established that. "I really like you."

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-27 04:29 am UTC (link)

"I really like you too. I mean, I canceled a date with a girl who gives out free caramel. You know she would have put out. That's just a fact." A smirk and a nudge helped to dissipate some of the tension. Some of it. "This... us... whatever we are, or will be, or might be... it's gonna be weird, you know? I mean, okay, fine, I've dated demons and evil terrakinetics and humans and a veterinarian who had a profoundly unhealthy interest in my powerset, but this may take the cake. But I do like you. And I think the weirdness is worth it."

Gar stopped as he realized that he didn't know what "it" was, and marveled at the fact that he was arguing for something that, fifteen minutes ago, he hadn't even acknowledged as an option. "So yeah," he finished lamely.

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-27 04:48 am UTC (link)

Sophie giggled a little. "A vet?" Because that was the creepy one. She nodded though. "Yeah. Weird. It could be weirder, though. The Cuckoos could be here and I could be all 'we are the five-in-one'," she said, her words stilted and her eyes going all glowy. It was just a useless parlor trick now, but it made for a neat effect.

"Weird is okay," she said, her eyes going back to normal. "I think I can handle weird. I mean. Being around you feels right. You make me feel normal. And not just by comparison," she joked, nudging him back.

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-27 05:40 am UTC (link)

"I can see how having a crush on a green shapeshifter can seem normal." Then again, she was a genetically-modified clone of Emma Frost programmed to share a mind with her four more clones of Emma Frost, and her mother was a dude. Squishy feelings were comparatively mundane. And besides, she was a mutant. Green skin color wasn't that exotic.

"You want to order a pizza and watch a movie?" he asked. Aware that it seemed like a sudden change of topic, he added, "I mean, I think that eventually, you and I are going to have to make friends with dinner and dancing and whatnot, but right now, we should call the pizza guy and check out pay-per-view, because that's a lot less awkward to think about. You can cuddle with an animal of your choice on the couch."

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outgrewthenest
2010-03-27 06:14 am UTC (link)

"Like you said, it would be weird if it wasn't weird." Dating a normal person would be unusual for her. Jon had been pretty much Sophie's idea of a 'normal' guy, and he built a freaking island.

"That sounds good," she said, smiling. Not really much different than the rest of the winter she'd stayed at his place, but she liked it. They were good times, and a good way to relax after the intense conversation. "So.. Is that the unofficial way of saying it's official? Or is that still too awkward to talk about? I just want to know what to put on the calendar."

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lewdgreendude
2010-03-27 08:52 am UTC (link)

"I don't think it's too awkward. It's just the right amount of awkward." It would be a long time before it stopped being weird, and already Gar could envision some of the things that would be stranger than others. When he went to bed tonight, the smell of Sophie would still be lingering in his room, assaulting his animal senses and driving him to distraction. When they hung out, he wouldn't be sure if he was acting as a friend or as something else when he curled up on her lap or made some lewd comment.

But on the other hand, that kind of weirdness was something he was almost looking forward to.

"Come on." He took Sophie by the hand and pulled her up. "We have a date."

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