aaron plays cops and robbers. (yamazaki) wrote in fruitful_rpg, @ 2009-03-30 22:35:00 |
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Entry tags: | character: aaron yamazaki, character: johanna hastings, location: slate apartment complex, player: chels, player: lisa, status: complete |
RP Log: Aaron & Hanna
WHO: Aaron Yamazaki & Johanna Hastings.
WHEN: 29 May 2049; 5:14pm.
WHERE: Slate Apartment Complex, lobby.
RATING: PG.
SUMMARY: Aaron and Hanna bump into each other for the first time in four years. Yikes.
WARNINGS: None.
Strolling across the parking lot, Aaron felt the somewhat exhausted contentment of returning from the gym settling in to his mood and muscles alike. Opting to spend the freedom of the weekend burning off any built up energy from idleness -- working his way through the machines, running track, finishing off in the gym's swimming pool -- he was energized but ready to relax and secure something for dinner. Brushing messy bangs from his eyes (they were still damp from the rinse-off in the showers, and he had forgotten a comb), Aaron glanced at the large moving van parked near to the apartments. Curiosity piqued, and he shifted his course just enough to glance in and investigate. Furniture, it looked like. Someone was probably moving in. Or moving out. One of the two, though he supposed the plastic spread over the pieces suggested the former was more likely. Most people didn't bother with those sorts of things when they were moving out. Or at least he didn't. Not wanting to be caught staring at a furniture van, Aaron pulled his attentions away, once again, and finished the short trek to the front door of the complex. The air conditioner was comfortably cool as he stepped inside, and he was just moving toward the stairs when he noticed a couch and three figures -- a woman and two men -- blocking his path. "Excuse me, would you mind -- could I possibly get through?" he asked politely, trying to wait for some semblance of a lull in conversation. It wasn't entirely successful, considering none of the three had noticed he was there long enough to lull, but standing there in silence would be, perhaps, even more awkward. It was true that Johanna was not aware that someone was attempting to get through. She was entirely absorbed in the conversation, or rather, argument, that she was having with the moving people, who were about ready to put a hole in the wall trying to shove the couch into the stairwell. "I'm telling you, if you just turn it over, you can get it in and then you can lift it over the corner," she insisted. "You just have to be careful!" She was fairly certain the moving men were more than capable of getting the couch of the stairwell; she was less certain they'd be able to do it without damaging the apartment building and her brand new couch. The men were just getting to the point where they were impatiently assuring her that they did, in fact, know what they were doing when another voice interrupted the increasingly heated conversation. Hanna whirled, the force of her emotions lending a touch of annoyance to her expression at the interruption but her expression changed to pure shock once her eyes landed on the source of the interrupting voice. At first her mouth fell open soundlessly, the shock of seeing Aaron, her ex-boyfriend, the one that she had given the whole of heart to once upon a time, rendering her speechless. What was he doing there? Of course, it only took a moment for her to regain her composure, snapping her mouth shut as she reminded herself that Aaron had every right to be in Innovo. After all, he had grown up there, something she certainly had no claim to. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Hanna found her tongue, forcing her lips into a casual smile. "Hey, Aaron," she offered as calmly as she could manage. It was so unexpected that Hanna hardly had a moment to consider what was happening but it was beginning to sink in that Aaron, the man she had felt compelled to leave back in college, was standing before her and that the pain associated with that parting has not diminished as much as she thought it would have. A terrible sinking feeling twisted in Aaron's stomach when he registered who the couch woman actually was. He was not prone to lying, nor to self-delusions, but at that particular moment, he wished very much that his mind was paying a particularly cruel trick on him and that Hanna Hastings was not actually standing in front of him with a couch in his apartment complex. To stare in startled silence was not the more effective (nor the most intelligent) way to deal with such a situation, but on a rare and strange chance, he found himself struck tragically speechless, as social ability and verbal communication skills had taken a momentary nose-dive. What was she doing here? He supposed it wasn't likely that it was someone who looked exactly like her, taking into account that she knew his name... But he needed to focus. Keep his head on straight. Maybe she was...helping...someone else move...Highly unlikely. "Han..." he started before pursing his lips together. A tense nod replaced whatever words he had been preparing to say, and he took hold of the two ends of the towel still slung around his shoulders -- if only to give his hands something to do. Hanna fought the sudden urge to stammer an excuse and dash off but the fact that moving men were standing in her path with a large couch presented a rather obvious roadblock. "Just take the couch upstairs," she instructed the men, nearly cringing at the way her voice sounded so weak all of a sudden. They already knew which apartment; they'd brought up a chair already so further instruction wasn't necessary, something she was grateful for as she swallowed to soothe her dry throat. The men exchanged glances before nodding and moving toward the stairwell. She watched the men until they vanished up the stairs but she felt Aaron's eyes at her back and it made her stomach knot uncomfortably. Finally, she turned back to face Aaron, smoothing her features as she might do at work. "So, what are you doing here?" she asked, realizing as soon as the words left her mouth that it was likely a stupid question. It clearly looked like he was coming in from swimming and why else would he be coming in fresh from the pool if he didn't live in the building? Of course, that set off another realization: if Aaron lived in the building, that meant that they would be living in the same building. This move was turning out to be all that she feared and then some, she realized, sighing internally. Still, she was determined to keep her feelings to herself. As far as Aaron knew, she had cheated on him and then broken up with him, she reminded herself, something that made her feel uncomfortably unclean. Maybe she would have been better off following the moving men up the stairs, she thought ruefully, resisting the urge to glance back toward the stairwell. Well, it was too late for that and all she could do was stand her ground. How bad could it be? Aaron blinked -- no chatter in his mind was aiding him. 'What was he doing here?' "I live here," he responded tersely, the fingers on his right hand drumming his towel. A disconcerting flood of memories he did not want to think about were springing up in his mind (far more readily that ways to escape or face the situation with minimal discomfort -- figures) -- he hadn't wished to think about them for four years, and he didn't wish to think about them now. He was getting married, and he really did not need this headache right now. "I think the better question would be 'what are you doing here?'" Aaron added a moment later, his voice a little sharper than normal. Hanna blinked, understanding why Aaron was taking that tone with her but it stung all the same. His obvious annoyance was a painful reminder of how things ended between them. While Hanna had come a long way from that point, there was no way she would consider the scars of those last months of college anywhere near healed. She fidgeted where she stood, unable to contain the nervous energy that filled her at the moment, her weight shifting from one foot to the other before she managed to force herself still. "I just moved in," she said, her tone coolly aloof as it might be when she was on the job. In a way, she was grateful she had that armor, at least. "I was assigned to come here for my job." Short, sweet, and to the point, right? Well, perhaps she didn't have to throw the bit in about her job but she figured had to emphasize the fact that she hadn't chosen to come back to Innovo and invade his territory. It seemed, though, that it was exactly what Hanna had done. She had fled Innovo, left Aaron broken-hearted to fend for himself only to come back and move in quite literally right on top of him. It wasn't her plan but when she went to tell him that, her throat stuck and she couldn't find the words. Why was it so hard to talk to him? Before that party she'd always told him everything. Instead, all she could do was watch, her hazel eyes searching for something she couldn't quite name as she took in the sight of her ex-boyfriend for the first time in four years. Giving her a once over from toe to head, Aaron's gaze stopped on hers, and the pit of his stomach gave another uncomfortable twist. Knitting his eyebrows together, he shifted on his feet and stared back: her eyes and body language didn't suggest she was lying (though her expression wasn't what he would call "open") -- and she didn't look all that different. A few years older, but it was an eerie and uncomfortable feeling of being jolted backwards. If it was her job that brought her, it wasn't even likely that she would feel compelled to flee the city again. He couldn't even bring himself to tell her to find a different apartment complex, because not even in the twinge of resurfaced hurt and frustration could he pretend like he had any special right over the area to tell who to go where. Realizing he was still staring (albiet thoughtfully) forward, Aaron blinked his eyes and let out a soft huff, hooking his hand at the back of his neck. "Mm." The response was more of a soft grunt of a noise after the stretch of silence, acknowledging that he had heard and comprehended, but he didn't know what to say to her. Four years of nothing and everything -- of distress and regrouping and moving forward -- having that unravel was not what needed to be happening now. Unraveling should happen a nice, far distance from marriage, and 'days' did not constitute that distance. "Well, then I will accept your silence as understanding," Hanna replied, her words coming out clipped and rushed, her arms folding across her chest. Part of her felt bad, though, even if it wasn't readily apparent. There was a great deal of guilt and unresolved feelings that still tightened their grip around her when she thought back toward the end of their relationship and she could see Aaron's disorientation quite clearly. While it was possible that he had changed (in many ways, she knew she had), she knew his personality well enough to read the discomfort. I didn't want to hurt you, she thought but the words, of course, were too hard to say. Instead, Hanna would continue with this charade in hopes that somewhere along the line it would turn into a reality. She was a mature adult, she reminded herself, a mature adult that had ended her relationship with Aaron four years ago. She had to move on and allow him to as well. "I trust you are doing well? You look well," she offered, her tone becoming more even, though she did have to remind herself to breathe. But she was holding herself together and that, for the moment, was accomplishment enough. "I'm well," he responded bluntly, his eyebrows still slightly furrowed as he rubbed at the back of his neck. He didn't really feel up to sharing the details of his life with her, as if they were still friendly, or friendlier, or whatever the case... Manners compelled him to return the question, whether or not he really cared to hear how wonderfully her life was going, however. Whether she was married or paired, or whether life had grown increasingly better with her departure from Innovo. It wasn't that he necessarily wished with vindictiveness that she was miserable -- but rather he didn't think he wanted confirmation at all, for good or ill. "And you?" If Aaron was disinclined to divulge much of what had occurred since their last meeting, Hanna was even more so. Still, she replied in a similarly vague fashion. "Well enough, all things considered," she replied blandly, pairing the statement with an equally bland smile even if no part of her felt even remotely like smiling. Well, that was her life, wasn't it? Hanna was beginning to realize quite certainly that being friends with Aaron was probably not going to be the best idea if she was going to feel this nauseated just trying to exchange simple pleasantries. It was like ripping off a band aid, seeing him, and the pain was as raw and fresh as it had been four years before. Why hadn't she considered that possibility? Fortunately for Hanna, her unsettling whirlwind of thoughts and emotions was interrupted by the return of the moving men, who looked completely uninterested in the life-altering conversation that was going on in the lobby of the apartment building. They stopped expectantly and didn't seem at all hesitant to interrupt the awkward silence that had fallen between Hanna and Aaron. "Miss, should we bring the coffee table up now?" one man asked gruffly, entirely oblivious the fact that the silence he had broken was thick as butter. Hanna nodded mutely at first, having to clear her throat to even find her voice again. "Yes, that would be good. Just put it in the living room," she said and the man nodded and off they went again. She had been excited by the new living room furniture she had purchased but now the furniture was almost forgotten. "I'm glad you are well," she finally said, the words sounding stiff, almost mechanical even to her own ears but she could think of nothing else to say. Aaron shifted uncomfortably. "You, too." His eyes were watching the moving men carrying furniture up the stairs again, though to be honest, he did not find the activity to be anything particularly interesting. He had been curious at the large moving van outside, and he had guessed a mild inconvenience when he first spotted people and furniture in front of the stairs, but this wasn't exactly the inconvenience he had formed in his mind. When the men were fully gone from sight, however, the excuse and distraction left with them, and Aaron was left with nowhere logical to focus his gaze except for on the person he was talking to. Avoiding eye contact felt particularly conspicuous from him, as he was always the sort of person to confidently look someone in the eye when talking, but looking at her (and talking to her, for that matter) was somewhat akin to sticking the knife in and twisting. Thinking about that relationship that he had so pointedly buried, and thinking about the circumstances of her breaking things off with him was more than he wanted to relive. And yet, all the same, he straightened his posture and made eye contact again with a coolly distant expression. Inconvenient as it might be at times, his face had always been an open book, and his attempts to fake it were rarely if ever successful. Well, that attempt at interaction had certainly been something of a failure, Hanna thought with an internal sigh. Again the silence hung between them so thickly it was almost tangible, like an uncomfortable blanket settling over their shoulders. It was frustrating, not only because it was unexpected, but because Hanna tried so hard to keep herself together, to keep the past at bay, and until this point, she had been so successful. Of course, it wasn't helping to watch Aaron struggle with the pain just as she was. One might have expected misery to love company but truthfully, Aaron's discomfort only seemed to make her own more pronounced. "Well, you know, I should probably get upstairs," she said quickly, the words tumbling out in a hurry before they got stuck in her throat. "You know moving men, they're probably putting a hole in the wall or something." Hanna attempted levity with her tone but the attempt fell disappointingly flat, only slightly recovered by the 'what can you do?' smile and shrug that followed. Lord, if she ended up running into him all the time in the apartment complex and this happened every time... best not to even let her thoughts wander in that direction. At least she had an out this time. Aaron nodded, making a somewhat awkward movement that didn't seem quite certain if it wanted to shift toward the stairs or the elevator or down a different hall entirely. The idea of walking up the stairs with this thickly tense air was not in the least bit appealing...and when the 'out' came, he settled for the ease of re-establishing distance. Distance to think. "Right, then," he said after a silent moment, stepping back a few feet. Hesitating a moment, he gave another needless nod and walked toward the elevator, pressing the button to go up. The simplicity of just walking up the stairs to the third floor -- that in itself felt a touch suffocating, and the more it sunk in, the more interested he was in returning to his apartment. It could be dealt with later. "Good bye," Hanna said softly to the back of Aaron's head as he turned toward the elevator. She let her eyes fall to the floor as she took the moment to catch her breath. It occurred to her that taking the elevator to the fourth floor was more practical than walking but at the moment, with her usual abundance of energy bursting to impatience at the flurry of thoughts in her mind, she needed to stretch her legs. Besides, the thought of being caught in the elevator with Aaron after that would be excruciatingly uncomfortable. No, best to avoid that. Hanna waited until she heard the door of the elevator slide shut before she lifted her eyes and turned toward the the stairwell. Taking steps as long as her legs would allow, she moved toward them. Moving, moving, always moving. Moving seemed to make everything easier. It wasn't quite running away, more like giving her a chance to cope. Or at least, it sounded better when she put it that way. Besides, it was better than crying. |