Keep Her On A Leash Setting: Courtyard, late morning Characters: Kyle and Autumn
Kyle stalked up to Autumn, striding across the courtyard, tension and anger clear in his posture. “You tell your girlfriend to keep the hell out of my business,” he snapped at her.
Autumn had been happily decorating right up until that point. Then she blinked, looking at a Kyle who did not look like he was as excited as he'd been that morning on the journals. "...what's going on?" she asked, concerned. She absolutely ignored the fact that he was snapping at her for something that had to do with Mazie, not herself. Obviously Kyle was angry, so her best bet was to figure out what about. "Are you okay?"
“I’d be fine if your girlfriend hadn’t decided that it’s her personal fucking mission to force me into a relationship with Adam, regardless of how I actually feel about the issue. Like we’re both some kind of damn toys she can play with!” he told her, hotly.
Autumn set down the streamer spool she'd been working with, concentration fully on Kyle. That...was pretty awful to hear. Not surprising, really, she knew Mazie could be rash and tended to do things before thinking them through in the slightest, but it still sucked to be playing damage control. Especially when it had to do with Kyle and Adam, who she was already neck deep in trying to keep that sorted. "I hear you." she told him, just so he could possibly dial it back a notch. "And I'll talk to her. What exactly did she say? Because that sounds like a whole lot of not fair."
The words got through to him. Kyle could be a person who easily overreacted, but he was also someone who knew when he needed to get himself under control. He took a minute, breathing deeply, calming himself down. When he spoke, he was still annoyed and frustrated, but none of it actually showed in his tone or expression. “Firstly, she implied that because Adam had told me that he liked me, I pretty much had a duty to date him. After that, once I had explained my feelings and position on the matter, she told me that I was feeling too caught up in the negative and I should just believe that it could be done. That she was keeping an eye on me. And that she wasn’t going to stop trying to get us together.”
If it wasn't too over the top, Autumn would have facepalmed right there. As it was, she made a face, and sighed. "Okay." she said, taking all that on board. "I'm very sorry that happened. All of that sounds incredibly unfair to you." And ridiculously short sighted on top of controlling and whole worlds of wrong... "I'll do my level best to make sure it doesn't happen again." she promised. "Starting right now. The day is young, decorating can wait. Is there anything else you want to add in here, so I know what I'm going in to? And is this going to ruin your night? Can I do anything else that might help?"
“There’s nothing else you really need to know. She told me I was toying with him. Which... She said that none of what she said was Adam’s own opinion, but... If that’s how he feels... I hope that’s not how he feels,” Kyle said, knowing he was worrying about that under everything else. He was trying to hang onto his friendship with Adam, and yet all of this seemed to be threatening it at every turn. “She needs to not encourage this,” Kyle told her. “The worst thing right now would be for Adam to think there’s a chance. It’s not fair, to either of us. He’s having a hard enough time letting this go as it is. And he really needs to,” Kyle knew he could say more about that, but he didn’t. Autumn hadn’t signed on to hear him vent about his own issues, after all. Instead, the artist straightened a little and reached for some decorations to start helping out. Like he had promised. Like he had been so excited for earlier on. “No. This isn’t going to spoil my evening. I won’t let it.”
"If she says it isn't Adam's opinion, then I don't think it is." Autumn said. "Mazie's...prone to brashness. Which isn't an excuse, mind. Just if she's blasting off on something she's pissed about then it's probably just her." As Kyle went on, she was nodding as he spoke. "I know," she said. "I know." she agreed. "I'm on it." She gave him a small smile, though it was more an expression of determination on his behalf than otherwise. "Thanks for the help, and for telling me about this." she added. It was going to muddy up her day, but jesus this needed to be dealt with ten minutes ago. She just wasn't looking forward to it. But this was what she'd put herself out there for. Helping. Sometimes that took a really shitty form.
“I’d like to think it’s not - Adam’s opinion, that is.” He looked over and quirked a smile at her. “I took your advice, by the way. About Adam. I talked to him - told him that I was going to start calling him on shit. Told him he was hurting me. We talked - a lot, actually. Cleared the air. It was - actually, it was really good. Which was why the whole Mazie thing - it felt really, really uncalled for.” And was one of the reasons he was worried about Adam’s opinion. It had left him wondering if he had read that whole situation wrong. Sometimes it really felt like one step forward, two steps back. As if the other man never really heard or took on board what he was saying.
Autumn smiled at Kyle that time with a pleased warmth. "Oh that's awesome!" she said, very happy with that. "I'm so glad to hear that, I’m so proud of both of you! And I can imagine, with that progress it was a shot to the teeth." she agreed. It was a delicate situation, really. Bulls in china shops needed to not be stomping around in that playground. "But again, I don't know. It doesn't sound like Adam to me." she admitted. "It sounds like a friend who didn't think shit through properly before she opened her mouth."
Kyle hung some more decorations, before standing back to look at the wider picture, and moving back in to rearrange them slightly. “He took it pretty well, actually. I... He has... He’s never liked the fact that sometimes he feels like I’m keeping things from him. Which - he’d be right about. So, we kinda agreed that I’d work on being more honest with him, and part of that was me telling him about the stuff he’s doing. So, it’s like we both end up getting something out of this.” He looked over at her. “I didn’t want him to feel like this was just about me telling him when he was doing something wrong. I think he’s had far too much of that in his life. He always thinks everything’s his fault.”
"Ohhh I know. He automatically claims blame for everything." Autumn said. "I've tried to work on that with him, but it's a hard mentality to break through." she admitted. "But it sounds really great. I can't tell you how encouraging it is to hear this." she said honestly, and that showed. "And you've got good instincts there. I think Adam's spent a lot of time hearing a lot of things he shouldn't. So this is excellent to hear. I'm really glad it's working for you both."
“I’m gonna do what I can,” Kyle told her. “I just - I know that all of this can get in the way. Which sucks. Hopefully that’ll be part of it though - Adam learning to take ‘no’ for an answer,” he added, trying to sound like he was putting a positive spin on things. He could feel the doubt creeping up inside though, he he decided that now was the time to change the subject. “You have a costume picked out yet?” he asked her.
Autumn nodded. "I do." she smiled. "Yourself?" she asked. "I imagine it's hard to pick. I saw, and man they went completely over the top with the costumes! It's awesome. I'm so glad they actually did it."
“Not yet - but I’m planning to have a good root through in a while. I love costume parties! I was thrilled when I saw your announcement this morning! I think we all really need it - even if some people aren’t as enthusiastic as others... Was this your idea?” he asked her.
Nodding with a grin, Autumn laughed. "Yeah." she admitted. "I thought it would kind of...get everyone out of their head for the evening. And what better way to do it than have everyone come as someone else?" she posed. "Costume parties are sort of freeing, I think. Plus, a ton of fun. Things have felt pretty down here recently. Time to brighten it up a little."
“And this is why you’re on the entertainment team,” Kyle said, breaking into a wide smile. “So - you have my personal and more heartfelt thanks,” he told her, grandly, before laughing a little. He was determined to enjoy tonight, and he was starting to feel rather more like that wasn’t going to have to be forced. “If I ask you to dance at the party, would you do me the honour..” he teased.
"Oh, the honor would be all mine!" she said brightly. "I'd love to! Now I'm going to hold you to that." she winked. She was glad to see him lightening up. That was definitely a good sign, and it made her feel at least a little better that her girl hadn't gone and ruined someone's night when the whole point of tonight was to have a fabulous time. "But I suppose I should track down Mazie, and nip this before it gets any further." she said, not wanting Mazie to have time to track down Adam and talk to him again. She didn't know if she was even planning this, or she'd gone completely rogue with her chat with Kyle, but she didn't want to take the chance, and have to untangle more damage done to Adam's psyche.
“Thank you - I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier,” Kyle apologised. “I just - I was pissed off, and you needed to know.” He took the decorations from her hands. “But - you can leave me with all of this. It’s safe in my hands,” he told her, more than happy to look after decorating until she got back.
"It's okay." Autumn said, genuinely letting him off the hook. He'd never been on it to start with. "I get it. And thank you. I'll be back as soon as possible. I'll grab us some lunch while I'm at it too, kay?" she asked, starting to head off.
“Sure - and good luck!” Kyle called after, her. Then he turned back and gave over his whole attention to decorating.