Sandy Jameson (hearseverything) wrote in commandhq, @ 2018-06-01 17:17:00 |
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Aidan had secured a television, a movie, and some popcorn as he figured that was a pretty low key fun way to spend some time with Sandy and catch up on everything going on with her.
She hadn't had the easiest run of things and from somebody all too familiar with being on the wrong side of the Regiment he knew better than anybody just how shitty it was coming out the other side.
The movie was a fairly light one, lots of comedy, nothing too heavy and hopefully she'd enjoy it. He'd also seen anybody else off who had been thinking about sitting in the vicinity by glowering at them.
The few days following the fallout from her conversation with Cassidy had resulted in a lot of serious self-reflection. She knew that something about her needed to change, but she didn't know what it was, so she had been experimenting. Today, her experiment was that she'd managed to lightly curl her hair, the pink and blond lengths mixed together and putting on some eyeliner and mascara (which she was finally getting good at; she had stopped poking herself in the eye now). She had on an band t-shirt that she'd seen in the shoppette and liked the look of which in itself was a departure from what she normally wore which were oversized, baggy things that she'd had for years.
She had her hands tucked awkwardly into the back pocket of her jeans as she wandered into the leisure room where Aidan had arranged for them to meet. She was surprised to see that he'd actually managed to empty out a small area for them to just sit and enjoy a film, she assumed.
"Hey," she greeted, lower lip between her teeth as she came to stop beside the couch.
Aidan turned his head when he heard Sandy's voice before any greeting he was going to say got lodged somewhere in the back of his throat because objectively speaking he'd always known Sandy was a pretty girl but she looked... prettier if that was even possible? She had definitely done something different. The hair was obvious but there was something else and it took him a few moments to clock the makeup and the change in clothes.
Clearly she was getting more comfortable in her surroundings.
"Hey," he said with a smile. "You look different, but good different I mean-" He rolled his eyes at himself. "What I'm trying to say is that you look nice."
Sandy ducked her head shyly at the compliment and she tucked her hair behind her ear, one shoulder hitched up slightly. She looked at him through her lashes before she sat down beside him on the couch and tried to ignore the fact that she felt like she was blushing. Would more make up hide that? A blush?
"Thank you, I dyed my hair, fancied a change..." she mumbled, though when she looked at him again this time she was smiling more widely than before, a brighter one than usual. She was trying, okay? "I'm glad you don't have your hair back today," she told him sincerely. Because she always liked it better when he had his hair down.
She wet her lower lip again and twisted her fingers together. "Anyone else joining us?" Because she knew Aidan had a few friends, she didn't know if he'd extended the invite to others.
"Fair enough, it suits you," Aidan offered freely and without reserve. He didn't really bullshit so whatever he said tended to be the God's honest truth. At the mention of his hair he lifted a hand to rub through it idly. "Yeah, wasn't really feeling putting it up today."
He shook his head. "Nah, it's just you and me. Hope that's okay?"
The popcorn he'd prepared was retrieved and offered up.
"It always looks better when you've got it down," Sandy told him sincerely, also without reserve. Just because compliments were new in being given to her didn't mean that she forgot to tell people what she thought. She was realising that she needed to be more vocal, that she needed to use her words, because what else did she have? She could cheat, she knew that, but that seemed to do nothing but get her into trouble.
She looked a little surprised when Aidan said it was just the two of them, but it was followed a moment later by a nod. "Yeah, that- yeah, that's okay. More than okay, I- I don't know what I thought, I just thought that-"
She had no idea, so she stopped, picking up a handful of popcorn and stuffing it into her mouth to stop herself from speaking any further.
"Thanks," Aidan replied before he turned away to pick up the remote so he could get the television setup for the DVD. "I went for comedy, figured it would be good to have something fun to watch." His preferred genre was horror but that wasn't exactly easy watching.
He helped himself to some popcorn.
"So, how are you?"
"I don't mind horror movies," Sandy said, finishing the popcorn she was eating and then offering Aidan and apologetic look. "Kinda hard to be afraid of stuff on the TV when you've faced scarier things in real life." She smiled a little and took another piece, popping in into her mouth and watching him for a moment, liftng her shoulder.
How was she?
"'m okay," she answered. Though she probably could have sounded more sure. She'd been... trying to sort out her family but was learning that maybe this was just evidence that they shouldn't be sorted. "You? You've been quiet on the network."
Aidan's eyes slid over to Sandy as it was clear she'd plucked that direct from his mind. She was lucky that he liked her or that sort of thing could and would piss him off. People he liked got more patience and tolerance from Aidan than those who didn't.
"Next time then," he said with a nod of his head as he let the movie begin to play, another handful of popcorn being collected.
His eyes narrowed however when she said what she did and she didn't sound overly certain. "You sure about that?" His shoulders shrugged a moment later. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just trying to behave myself to get my powers turned back on."
"Sorry," Sandy mumbled. "I'm trying to get better at that. It's just hard. Everything's so loud." She watched Aidan eat popcorn for a moment and then looked at him when he narrowed his eyes at her.
She threw a small piece of popcorn at him. "Just family stuff," she offered. "Which is always a pain in the butt." She tucked her hair behind her ear and picked up another piece of popcorn. After solitary, everything felt weird so she was trying to sort that out.
It had involved withdrawing away from everyone else. Of course, no one had called her out on it so she was trying to understand where she fitted in with the few people in her life that weren't part of the Outsiders.
"You think it's gonna work out? It'd be nice not to have them on lock-down anymore."
"That's one of the many reasons I'm glad I don't have psychic abilities," Aidan replied sympathetically. Yes, his powers hurt. Yes, they broke bones. Yes, they tore muscles, but at least he didn't have to live day in and day out hearing everybody else's thoughts.
What was it with people and throwing things at him? First the grass clump and now popcorn?
"I'm not too familiar with family stuff," he shared. "But I can imagine it sucks. If you need to I dunno talk or whatever just let me know." He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. "Not sure, hope so because as much as they suck it would be nice to be able to use them."
Sandy snorted. "Being a psychic sometimes really sucks." She shrugged, "But I experienced what it was like to not have my powers and it was horrible. So... not gonna do that again." Plus she was trying to just be better, be more than everyone seemed to think she was.
She popped a piece of popcorn in her mouth and turned to look at the television, there were trailers playing from where the DVD had started, so she didn't have to pay too much attention just yet.
She shifted, toeing off her sneakers in preparation for getting comfortable. If this had been one of the others, she'd have put her feet in their lap or something, but the idea of doing that with Aidan right now made her feel a bit weird so she didn't. But she did sit so she was facing him.
"It does suck, but it's okay, I just- one of my friends is confused and doesn't know what he feels and everyone else is just generally angry at the world. And each other."
She tilted her head. "They hurt you, right? You said that before." She flexed her fingers, "You- I mean, that's not good but at least you'd be able to defend yourself."
Aidan arched an eyebrow. "That sounds really messy." Ugh, feelings. Total minefield and a clusterfuck if you weren't careful. "Sounds like people need to figure their shit out before it goes on for too long." Stuff that went on for too long had this funny way of making molehills into mountains.
"Yeah, you could say that," Aidan shared. "But I figure I won't ever get used to it or work out how to deal with it unless I have access to my powers." He tapped his bracelet. "And I've had this a long time. Long enough that the first time I used my powers for the first time it hurt like a motherfucker."
"Right?" Sandy agreed. "And to leave me out of it." She lifted her shoulder and leaned forward, picking up one of the bottles of soda that Aidan had procured for them, unscrewing the lid and pouring them both a cup, putting the bottle between her thighs and carefully screwing the cap on, lower lip between her teeth as she focused on doing it up tightly enough that it wouldn't get flat while they were watching the movie.
With the bottle back on the table, Sandy reached out carefully and touched Aidan's wrist, catching the bracelet and looking at it with a frown. "It's stupid," she told him honestly, "I mean it's not like you'd try and escape or anything." Her eyes flicked up to him, looking at him through painted lashes and with a mischievous smirk, "I mean, not anymore."
"That too," Aidan said with an agreeing nod before he watched with some bemusement as Sandy seemed focused on making sure the lid of the bottle was firmly screwed on. She seemed different, not so... heavy. Honestly that made zero sense but Aidan knew what he meant which he supposed was all that really mattered.
He turned his head when Sandy took a hold of his wrist and inspected the bracelet. The only other person who had touched his bracelet had been Syreni but that had been a while ago and her touch hadn't exactly been welcome because he didn't know her. Sandy he knew so he didn't scowl or flinch away.
Aidan's lips pulled into a smirk. "The not anymore part of that sentence is important."
Sandy spotted Aidan looking at her trying to put the lid of back on tightly and her cheeks flushed a little. "Soda goes flat real quick," she mumbled, embarrassed even though she'd already put it on the floor. "Doesn't take long for it to get flat, and flat soda is nasty."
Her thumb brushed over the bracelet when he didn't flinch away from her, her eyes dropping to his lips as they curled up in a smirk and she felt her own widening a little in response, her other hand catching his fingers to turn his hand over so she could see the top of it. She'd never seen one up close before, just Aidan's and even then it was never from this close because she respected his large personal space bubble. But he didn't pull away, so she just took the time.
"I can't blame you for trying."
The DVD started playing the movie and Sandy turned her head to look at it, having sort of forgotten that they were meant to be watching a film. She let go of Aidan's hand and reached forward to pick up the two sodas she'd poured, offering one to him and then picking up some popcorn. "Have you watched this one before?"
Aidan just let Sandy touch because she'd always been respectful of his personal space before and once it seemed like she'd looked and touched enough her attention turned back to the television. "I haven't actually, figured we could find out if it's any good together."
He said thanks as Sandy passed him a cup of soda and he took a sip before following it up with some popcorn.
"Hopefully it's good but if not we can go find a horror instead."
It wasn't good.
Ten minutes in and three fart jokes later, they made a joint decision that the film was shit and they needed to watch something horror-related instead. Sandy moved to the collection that was on the shelves in the back and scoured it for something that looked scary. She selected The Conjuring. The front of it looked creepy, and what she could decipher from the back looked like it might be a good watch.
"Have you seen this one?" she asked, crossing back over to give the box to Aidan, waiting until he'd read it before she departed again, this time to flick out the overhead lights. It wasn't worth watching a scary movie in the light after all.
Aidan was very glad that he and Sandy were on the same page as far as the comedy went. It really did suck and he didn't trust himself to be able to sit through it without throwing the entire bowl of popcorn at it. He took a look at the DVD that Sandy had given and he shook his head. "Nope, never seen it. Looks good though."
Thankfully when Sandy flicked the lights Aidan had gotten up off the couch to put the DVD in before he fumbled his way back to the couch.
Once Aidan was settled on the couch, Sandy dragged the table closer to them, careful not to spill their drinks, or the popcorn. But it meant they didn't have to lean over too far to get their things. It did also mean they'd have to climb over the back of the couch but worse things had likely been done on this couch.
She grimaced at that thought, waiting for the movie to start before she wriggled on the couch, legs stretching along the couch but not over Aidan. It wasn't massively comfortable for her but she preferred being sprawled. She shifted again, toeing off her shoes and returning her legs to the couch, half bent as she watched, transfixed by the movie, jumping the first time the screeching music appeared.
Aidan watched Sandy for a moment as she took some time to get comfortable before his attention turned to the television as the movie started to play. He was sipping at his soda when Sandy jumped for the first time as the screeching music played and he was thankful he had some of it in his mouth or he would have laughed.
And he didn't think that would be appreciated, even if it was good natured.
"You okay?" He asked a moment later.
"Wasn't expecting the noise," Sandy grumbled, a little embarrassed, though she had a good-natured smile on her face as she met Aidan's eyes in the dark. She saw a spark of amusement in Aidan's eyes and she might not have taken it well if he laughed, but she wasn't going to be offended by him being amused that she jumped. He wasn't going to be mean to her; he hadn't done that yet. And he'd offered to spend time with her.
Tucking her hair behind her ear she picked up her soda and sipped at it, returning her attention to the film. "Probably not the last time that'll happen." She stretched her legs out a little more, not touching Aidan, but not too far off. "Just warning you."
"Good to know," he said with a smirk before he leaned forward to pick up his cup of soda to take a sip, eyes lifting to watch the movie. It was definitely creepy and way better than the comedy they'd tried to watch earlier, he should have just gone with his gut to begin with.
He stretched his legs out in front of him and propped up the heel of his boot on the table as he sunk that much deeper into the couch, hand slipping into his hair and eyes glancing over to Sandy every so often to see how she was faring with the movie.
And she wasn't lying, by the time they were halfway through the movie, Sandy had jumped another three or four times, each time when the music started. The last jump had her feet slipping forward a little, toes tucking underneath Aidan's thigh but she didn't look away from the screen, she was utterly caught up in the film, eyes wide and lower lip caught between her teeth.
Aidan lifted an eyebrow when she felt Sandy's feet disappear under his thigh and he turned his head to look and yeah sure enough Sandy's toes were now tucked right under him, against the denim which covered his leg. He almost said something but then noticed how wrapped up she was in the film so he kept from saying anything before turning his attention back to the movie.
"You need a pillow or anything?"
"Hmm?" Sandy asked, dragging her attention away from the film to look at Aidan, a little confused before she ducked her head and gave a bashful laugh. It was easier to feel less... defensive with Aidan because she knew he wasn't going to just be an asshole, and even if he was, she knew he wasn't intending on being mean. Not to her, at least, she hoped.
She pursed her lips in thought before she shook her head. "No, I'm okay? I'm not scared," she said with a little frown. "It's a really good movie."
"Alright," Aidan said with a nod of his head a moment later when Sandy clarified that she wasn't scared just super wrapped up in the movie. "And you're right, it is a good movie." He nudged her in the side with his elbow. "Good choice there, Sandy."
Sandy ducked her head at the nudge, a little too late to hide the smile, and tucked her hair behind her ear, suddenly overcome with an almost bashful, shy sensation. "Thanks," she mumbled, nudging him back gently. "And, um, thanks for asking me to come spend time with you."
Aidan gave Sandy a smile. "I figured it had been a while so we'd better do something about it." He'd never really had friends before so he was still learning how it all worked. Baby steps, right?
"Wanna watch this movie and then maybe another?"
"Yeah," Sandy said with a smile. "If you've got time." She didn't have anywhere to be.
"I got nothing but time," Aidan assured her.