Caleb Tate, channeler extraordinaire (synergistic) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2012-08-31 22:39:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | ! log, allegra hawke, caleb tate |
WHO: Allegra Hawke and Caleb Tate
WHAT: Caleb finally convinced her to try a date, this is that date
WHEN: evening, Friday, August 31
WHERE: in the general vicinity of the practice fields
WARNINGS: Allegra cockblocks herself
STATUS: Complete
The date had started out a little awkward, which Caleb figured was to be expected, considering. Allegra was nervous, a fact that he’d been all too aware of when she let him take his hand as they walked out to the practice fields. But she’d also been happy, and maybe even a little bit excited, which he took as good signs. After all, he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t a little nervous too, though the happiness easily outweighed it on his part. He’d brought along a backpack with a blanket and some food he’d gotten from both the cafeteria and the convenience store, setting out a picnic dinner once they’d decided on a spot. It didn’t take too long for the awkwardness to fade away for the most part, leaving them with the easy conversation and joking they were used to. It was already getting dark once they finished up dinner, and even though he’d brought a torch he didn’t think it was necessary yet, instead just pulling out the rest of the food he’d put in his backpack. “I went safe with dessert,” he admitted a little apologetically. “Tim tams.” "Tim tams are great," Allegra reassured and reached out to open the packet, glancing up at Caleb and flashing him a warm smile. "I mean, I was expecting something like champagne and strawberries dipped in chocolate served with freshly made white chocolate ice-cream." “I tried,” Caleb said with a laugh, leaning over to take a biscuit of his own. “But when I realized I couldn’t get the champagne I just gave up entirely. Sorry to be such a disappointment.” "Hey, I understand. I wouldn't want to risk solitary just for dessert either." Not that either of them were anywhere near the solitary end of the punishment scale, but it was beginning to become Allegra's new favourite exaggeration. Especially now that people were in and out of solitary all the time -- or at least it had felt that way. "You can make it up to me somehow?" she suggested. They were on a date, right? She was allowed to flirt on a date. That's what you were supposed to do. “Yeah?” he said, breaking into a grin and shifting so that he was fully facing her. His knee brushed lightly against her leg, and though there was clothes between them he’d channeled her enough lately that he could still get a decent sense of her emotions even if the contact wasn’t skin-on-skin. He was trying not to pay too much attention to that, but it was still reassuring to know that she was enjoying herself. “And what sorts of things would begin to make it up to you? Give me ideas.” "I think that's cheating! Anyway, a little mystery is good. Let's see if you can figure it out," she challenged, returning his grin. “I kind of suspected you’d say that,” Caleb admitted with a laugh. His face got a little more serious, and his eyes flicked down to her mouth momentarily. “I’ll see if I can come with an idea or two,” he said, shifting closer, as his eyes flicked down again. “But first...” he pulled back. “Tell me about London and New York City. Why do you want to move there?” "Why not?" she countered at first, before giving the question a little more thought. Usually people didn’t ask her why she wanted to go, but perhaps she’d just been telling people who hadn’t really cared before. "I don't know what it was about London, but it's something we talked about as a thing to do when I was in school. They speak English, it's still in Europe, working holiday visas are supposed to be easier to get if we want to live and work there. And New York is New York. You?" “Well, the English thing for both,” he agreed. He wasn’t that great with languages, so learning another well enough to live somewhere was intimidating. “And with London, I really like how old it is, you know? We don’t really get history like that here - I mean, there’s obviously history here, but it’s different. So I like the idea of living in a city that’s been around for hundreds of years. And New York,” he shrugged. “Same reason. It’s New York.” She nodded in agreement. They were good reasons, perhaps she could steal one of them for the next time someone asked. "What about the beach?" “I don’t know, I’ve just always liked the beach,” Caleb said, thoughtfully, as he leaned back on his hands. “And the ocean. There wasn’t one that was particularly close to school, but I’d still go in the middle of exams or when things got really stressful. I just like it.” He shrugged. “You?” "It's always felt like home to me," she said simply and smiled. "I can't imagine not being near one permanently." She avoided mentioning that being at IVI was bad enough, not wanting to bring the mood down -- not when they'd managed to avoid all negative topics thus far. “Yeah,” Caleb said, watching her for a moment and breaking into a smile of his own. “So that’s what you have against Antarctica, then? Not enough beaches?” Catching him as he watched her and smiled back, Allegra seemed to grow acutely aware of her heart beat speeding up a little, seemingly pumping louder. "That's exactly it. I'm a beachist." “Poor south pole. Never stood a chance,” he said, shaking his head but not breaking eye contact. “Though I guess I should have figured beaches were the trick, after Claudia’s plan last weekend.” "It'll find someone else to love it." “It’ll be forever jealous of London and New York and beaches. But I guess when you’re covered with snow and ice, it’s kind of hard to get love. Unless Hailey’s nearby,” he added with a friendly laugh. "Canadians are so weird," Allegra claimed with a giggle. "Though I'm definitely adding Canada to my list of places to visit." Caleb broke into a grin at her giggle, shifting his position again so that his fingers brushed gently against her knee, careful to pay attention to her response. "In the summer though, of course. But yeah, it'd be interesting to see her tiny town that doesn't use mobile phones. And I'd really love to try diving with her power. Or more than just sitting on the floor of a pool, really." As his fingers brushed against the thin silky material that composed her tights, Allegra's gaze flickered from his completely intentional action to his eyes. She bit her lip and waited to see what he'd try next. "Have you been working on channeling her power more?" she queried, genuinely curious. "Have you had the chance to try anyone else's?" Caleb left his hand there, as if was the most natural place in the world for it to be, as he considered the question. "Yeah, some. I mean, I started back on the first day at the competition with Vic's, and I've done a few others, too. I'm curious about Marine's, but walking through other people's dreams seems a little - I don't know. Weird." And a little bit like invading their privacy, though he didn't share that part. "I'm assuming I'll eventually get through everyone on my team." Ugh. Power training. Allegra's distaste for it was growing harder and harder to hide. She'd been pretending to go along with it ever since training had started and was only coming up with more and more reasons to avoid showing Wolfe and the rest of her team what she was really capable of. But since now was not the time to delve into her distaste towards this concept of forced teamwork, Allegra nodded and ignored whatever words had formed at the tip of her tongue. "Plenty to keep busy with, then." She noticed that he still hadn't removed his hand from her knee, though, bringing her out of her former negativity just as quickly as the mood had struck. "Do you want anything else?" Caleb had felt a moment of dislike from her, but then it passed and he decided not to ask about it, instead just raising his eyes at her question, curious. "Anything else?" he asked. "Tim tams, life goals, something else entirely. It's very open to interpretation," she replied lightly, but watched him carefully all the same. “Tim tams always,” he said with a grin, reaching over with the hand that wasn’t resting on her knee to take one. “Learn how to hang glide eventually,” he said thoughtfully, “And I can’t think of too many other things that’d make me much happier at the moment,” he added meaningfully. “You?” "Finish my degree, a few more road trips would be nice." She had caught the meaning in his last sentence and wasn't sure what to do with it, still not convinced that any of this was a good idea. But on other hand, it just felt good to hear it and she smiled in spite of her misgivings. "I'm glad you're happy." "Me too," Caleb said, watching her carefully with a smile and, not for the first time this evening, very interested in kissing her. His eyes were drawn to her mouth again but, also not for the first time this evening, he hesitated. "So where are you and Claudia road tripping?" he asked after a drawn out moment of silence, though to Caleb it was comfortable silence. "Aside from Bateman Bay, that is." She didn't understand. He felt like he was attracted to her, he kept looking like he wanted more -- she'd hinted at it even. And still they were just talking like this was an everyday conversation. Except for the part where they were alone and he had his hand on her knee. Or maybe that's what a date with someone you liked was supposed to be like? "Great Ocean Road. I want to go up towards Brisbane, maybe further, but I haven't asked Claudia about that. And there's plenty of time to do it. Honestly, I just like driving." "Brisbane would be fun," he agreed, nodding as he tried to interpret the emotions coming from her. "I'll expect pictures." "I'll post it on facebook, probably." “I’ll look for it on facebook, then.” There was another silence, this one a little less comfortable, as he struggled to think about anything other than how much he wanted to kiss her. "Are we even friends?" Caleb frowned, pulling his hand back. “What do you mean?” "On facebook?" Allegra clarified, regretting her choice of words. She was good at that -- regretting things she said and did rather than avoid saying and doing them in the first place. This wasn’t the first time. "I don't really pay that much attention to it here, but I was on it last week. It was weird." “Oh. I don’t think so, actually,” he said, trying to remember if he’d friended anyone from IVI. “I still use it kind of regularly, but I’d gotten used to it when I moved back home and everyone was still in Sydney, anyway. And I’ve always had friends that that’s the main way I keep up with them.” He shifted position again, stretching his leg out so that it pressed against hers. “Weird how?” "Weird to get invitations to things I can't go to, weird to see my friends post photos that I should be in, that kind of thing. I guess you've lived away from home already so it's probably less weird for you, right?" “Yeah, maybe,” he said, trying to remember what it was like his first year at uni when all his friends were scattered. “When I first left home it was weird, I think. And when I left Sydney to move back home.” He shrugged. “But I got used to it, I guess? And know you’re doing your own thing where you are, which helps. It’s not the same stuff, but it’s your own stuff nonetheless.” Allegra nodded as she mulled over his words. She'd get used to it. It would be good training for when she was living abroad, too. "You have so much more life experience than me." “Do I?” Caleb asked, a little surprised at the comment. He’d never really considered himself as someone who had a lot of life experience, though now that he thought about it he could see where she was coming from. “Different life experience, I guess. Not bad for a what... sixteen year old? Seventeen? I forgot where I’m at.” "Of course. I mean, you've lived out of home, for a start," she pointed out. "I don't even pay for my mobile phone bills, honestly." “I think it just comes down to geography for me, though,” he shrugged. “I had to move to go to uni, so everything else followed. Do you think you would have? Well, I guess obviously, eventually. So when do you think you would have?” "Maybe after I got a job and was done with travelling?" It wasn't something she'd given too much thought to -- too far in the future, as far as she was concerned. "No real incentive to go, yet." “That makes sense,” Caleb said thoughtfully, wondering what he would have done if he hadn’t left home for school. A few of his friends that he’d met in classes lived at home all through school, and he didn’t have particularly strong feelings on it either way. For him, it had just been a result of his circumstances. “So did you have a curfew at home?” he asked curiously. “If we were in Sydney instead of here, and I was taking you out on a date there, when would I need to get you home by, to keep your mum happy with me?” Allegra tried to imagine her mother enforcing a curfew on her and giggled at the thought of Lisa being unimpressed with Caleb. As if. "No, no curfew! She wouldn't even care if you stayed over, actually."” Caleb broke into a grin, looking over at her. “I’d have been invited to stay over?” Okay. She really needed to start being more careful with her words. Except, if Allegra was going to be perfectly honest with herself, she’d meant to say it. She wanted to say it. Lowering her gaze, Allegra turned her attention to the packet of tim tams instead. "Maybe." He shifted closer to her, facing her more fully, looking intrigued. “Interesting. What could have turned that maybe into a yes?” She shook her head at this, a little amused. "Why do you ask questions you know I won't answer?" Again Caleb hesitated for a moment, taking in the amused look on her face and the attraction he was feeling from her, not to mention the attraction coming off him that he was sure she could feel, too. But then he stopped hesitating and reached over, pausing for just a moment before leaning forward to kiss her. Finally, she thought as she felt his lips press against hers and returned in kind. Until that voice of reason kicked up a fuss in the back of her mind and reminded her that this was a one off thing, that he was her friend, that she shouldn’t be doing this no matter how much she wanted to. Allegra pulled back and bit her lip, brows slightly creased in slight anxiety. "You sure about this?" The last thing Caleb really wanted to do was stop kissing her and have a discussion about it instead, but he pulled back slightly anyways, just far enough to look at her and nod. “You’re not?” She sighed -- at herself, not Caleb -- and didn't say anything for a beat. "Promise you won't avoid me if I kiss you again?" “Why would I...” he started, and then shook his head. “I don’t have any intention of avoiding you, Allegra, kissing or no kissing.” “But you’ve--” She stopped herself, really not wanting to go down this route, changed her mind and leaned forward to kiss him again. It was more enjoyable than trying to interpret the mixture of her own emotions and conflicted thoughts, anyway. A small part of Caleb was curious about what Allegra had been going to say, but more of him just wanted to kiss her, so he was glad she'd decided the way she had. It was, quite easily, one of the best kisses he'd ever had, and it took Caleb a few seconds to realize that it was partially because he was channeling Allegra's empathy - so not only was he enjoying himself thoroughly, but he could tell that she was too, even if her mix of emotions was a little more complex than his. He deepened the kiss, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to him. Although kissing was usually pretty great, even when Allegra didn't have an attachment to who she was kissing -- provided they had at least some level of skill -- this was a little different to what even she had been expecting. Incapable of processing or analysing what was happening, however, she just accepted the increasing sense of desire on Caleb's part as she returned his kisses, slipping her arms around his neck. After several moments, though, his out of place concern was too difficult to ignore, despite it's minuteness in comparison to everything else he was feeling. She broke away and pulled back. "What's wrong?" Caleb tried not to frown when she pulled back, resisting the urge to close the gap between them and just kiss her again. He was a little puzzled at her question, letting one hand drop to her hip and reaching up with the other to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "What do you mean, what's wrong?" "I don't usually like telling people how they feel, but," she paused, frowning a little, determined to not let the tenderness of his actions distract her. Though they were nearly doing a very good job. "You seem worried." "I'm feeling a million good things right now, and worried is the one you choose to focus on?" He dropped his hand from her cheek, taking hers and threading their fingers together absentmindedly as he considered the question. "I think I was just reacting to what I was getting from you. Which is a lot of good things, but a few mixed feelings. And I care about you, so I want you to be happy. And okay with this." "I just really, really don't want to hurt you." She was beginning to feel like a broken record now, after the number of times she'd repeated this sentence or a variation thereof. "Because I care about you too and I don't want to be the one who makes you sad. Ever." "Okay," Caleb said, deciding to give voice to the thoughts that had been swimming around his head since their discussion the other night. "You're afraid you're going to hurt me because you get bored quickly when you're dating guys, right?" he asked, "But you also said you don't tend to date guys you really like, right?" Allegra nodded slowly. She'd heard friends give her the 'date guys you like!' speech enough times to know where this was heading. "Right." "So maybe you get bored because you don't really like them to begin with? And maybe if you dated someone you liked - someone who is horribly good looking and incredibly funny and has great taste in animated movies and brings you Tim Tams just because and who you can talk to for hours in person or via texts or online and is - let's be honest - a pretty amazing kisser." His tone was light but his eyes were serious as they studied her. "Maybe if you dated someone like that, you wouldn't get bored quickly?" At the words 'horribly good looking' Allegra had to laugh, though she sobered pretty quickly and by the time Caleb had reached the end of his speech, her expression was grave as she mulled over what he was suggesting. "I did like someone once," she began at last. "We weren't dating. Or calling it dating, or whatever. But everytime I tried to tell him how I felt, he'd just... Pull away. And I still remember what that felt like. It's me, it's what I do." "Are you afraid I'm going to be you in this situation, getting hurt, or you are?" he asked gently. "You," she replied quickly and disentangled her hand from his. She reached for her ring, twisted it roughly around her finger, watching her hands instead of his face. "Just so you know, if that happened - and I'm not convinced it would, because there are times with me that you haven't pulled away - but if it did, I could handle it. But," he said, taking her disengagement as a sign that the conversation was over and pulling his hand back from her hip, "You have at least two weeks to reconsider, since I promised not to try to ask you out again for at least that long." He started putting things away, back into the backpack he'd brought them out in, and offered the last biscuit to her. Ruining the moment seemed to be Allegra's thing of late, she had decided as she declined the biscuit with a shake of her head. "Caleb." "Hmmm?" he replied, looking up from the containers he'd been putting away. "You're right. You're wonderful and horribly good looking and I really do talk to you for hours and... " She leaned forward and kissed him briefly, just one last time. "A great kisser. And tonight was really, really great." Caleb broke into a grin, accepting the kiss but resisting the urge to give her more. "I'm glad to hear it,” he said warmly, holding her gaze for a moment before reluctantly getting to his feet. He held his hand out to help her up, giving it a quick squeeze. "Now let's get back before it gets too much later, hey?" She nodded, holding onto his hand for a moment longer even after she was up on her feet. "Two weeks is a long time, especially here. You can ask earlier." “Yeah?” he said, unable to hide either his surprise or his happiness. “Maybe I will, then. And,” he said with a grin, “You don’t have to wait for me, you know. I have no issues with being asked out. Especially not by funny, charming, and engaging brunettes.” |