. (lostrequiem) wrote in solsticerp, @ 2009-12-04 16:55:00 |
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Current mood: | mellow |
Saturday: A Fishing Expedition
Who: West and Cian
When: Early afternoon
Where: Basketball courts
West knew that it was the day of Vapor's re-opening, and he knew he had to find something decent to wear for Jessica before nightfall, but he refused to be one of those guys who stayed home and tried on every freaking shirt he had in his closet. All he knew was that she wanted him to do something with his messy hair, which was a piece of cake. And West knew if Jess didn't like what he chose to wear, she'd tell him to change - and he would. At the moment, though, Jessica was the last thing on West's mind. He had gotten up late and then had gotten a text for some more basketball, and West was never one to turn down a game.
He and several guys from the neighborhood, and the basketball team, were shooting hoops at the park. By one o'clock, West was sweaty and had a couple scrapes on his knees from being knocked down onto the pavement. But basketball was a physical game, and he loved it anyway.
Cian had slept late and then headed over to Darkwater to pick up the pot Darren had promised to get for him. He figured he and Ava could try out getting stoned some night next week when they ran out of other things to do and wanted to spend some time just hanging at his house, and he wanted to be ready when that moment came. He'd hung out with Darren for a few and then headed back down toward town, thinking he might run by Java or something. It was too early to start getting ready for Vapor, since he wasn't a girl and didn't need to do anything beyond taking a shower and getting dressed. As he'd driven past the park he'd seen a b-ball game going, and of course he'd parked the car and hurried over to join in. He took any opportunity to play sports immediately, especially in the summer.
He never minded getting scraped up, either, and one elbow was scratched and bleeding by the time he'd been playing a while. He didn't notice, really, nor did he care that his shirt was soaked through. He would have taken the damned thing off except that Ava had left her name written on his back in sunblock. He'd managed to fade it a little with the sun, but it was still readable; thus, the shirt stayed on.
West had noticed when Cian joined in, but other than a quick nod in greeting, he didn't say much to the other guy. Jessica would probably want to beat West over the head for even playing basketball with her ex-boyfriend, but basketball was basketball. Personal feelings didn't spill over into sports, at least in West's mind. The two were on the same team, and that was that. At least on the court. After another hour of playing, a few guys made excuses and left. Soon enough, everyone was getting tired and complaining about being hungry, and eventually, it was just West and Cian shooting the ball - which happened to be West's - at the hoop. "You goin' to Vapor tonight?" West asked a bit breathlessly after letting go of a three pointer that missed. Might as well make small talk for now.
Cian could deal with West. He thought the guy was probably delusional, and he didn't really trust him outside of sports due to his close friendship with Jessica, but whatever. He didn't see that as any reason to be unpleasant. "Yep," he said, leaping for the rebound and slamming the ball through the hoop. He figured that at least half the kids from school would be there, maybe more, along with a ton of college-age and older people. Even with the fact that they wouldn't have to sneak in, it could still be pretty cool. "How 'bout you?" Maybe this was a minor fishing expedition on Cian's part; he figured if West was going, it would be with Jessica. He couldn't imagine Jessica Delaney missing any kind of social event, so he could look forward to at least seeing her there. Maybe he wouldn't have to talk to her. He was sure it'd be better for all concerned if he didn't.
"Yeah." West reached out to grab the ball before it could bounce away from him. Personally he had nothing against Cian. The guy was alright, and the only time West had found him annoying was when Cian had been dating Jessica. But West was pretty good at keeping those particular thoughts and feelings to himself. It wasn't like he had anyone to complain to anyway - at least no one who would keep their mouth shut. The last thing he needed was their entire school knowing he was jealous of Cian Andersen. He dribbled a bit and then shot the ball again, finally making it through the hoop with a beautiful swishing sound. "You going alone?" He was fishing a bit himself, since he was wondering if Cian was bringing a girl. He wanted to know for a couple of reasons... one, he'd need to know if he needed to make sure he steered Jessica clear of any Cian encounters - especially Cian with another girl encounters - and two, he was curious for Emmaline also.
It had to kill West just to see him around, Cian sometimes thought. He'd spent hours upon hours getting intimately acquainted with the girl West was into. The guy had probably been relieved when they broke up, or, wait, when Cian dumped her. Now Cian had joined the rest of the spectators who might wonder if Jess would ever throw West a bone or if she'd continue to date a long string of DCHS jocks and maybe even college boys, if she could get her hooks into one. "Nah," he answered casually, chasing the ball and dribbling it across the court. "Me and Ava are going." He didn't give a shit if West spilled that to Jessica or whoever. If Jessica thought he and Ava were getting it on, maybe he should let her keep thinking that, if only because it would drive her nuts. Keeping the ex-girlfriend off balance was a lot of fun in his opinion.
It had driven West nuts to see Cian with Jessica, especially knowing they weren't saving themselves for marriage or anything. It sucked, but it wasn't like there was anything West could have done about it. He dated a few girls here and there too, and it wasn't like West was a virgin. He just didn't want to think about Jessica getting it on with other guys. That was one aspect of her life he'd rather she keep to herself. "That's cool," West said, shoving a hand through his damp hair and watching Cian with the basketball, waiting for him to shoot it so West could grab it again. "I know you're probably gonna think there's some ulterior motive behind my asking, but are you and Ava... together?" Cian would probably assume he was asking on behalf of Jessica, which... shocking, West wasn't.
Cian's jaw was set as he slammed the ball again, giving himself a few seconds to decide what to say. It could be that he was a little antsy this afternoon, thinking about Ava and her lunch date with Liam-- or maybe trying not to think about it. Ava and Liam had both told him it didn't mean anything, and it wasn't that he didn't believe them. It was more that it made him twitchy and irritable. He just couldn't help it. "I am kinda wondering why you're asking," he said as the ball thud-rolled toward West. "'Cause you're getting a little personal, bro." He shrugged and half-smiled, doing his best to make his expression nonchalant. "Ava's my best friend. We're together a lot. Anything else is confidential." Let West and Jessica chew on that for a while.
"Fair enough... sorry. Don't mean to cross any lines or anything. That's what I figured anyway." West picked up the basketball and bounced it from hand to hand as he studied Cian. He didn't think Cian would be dating Ava anyway. Friends is one thing, but the chick was kind of weird, not really popular at all, and not really the type jocks like Cian dated anyway. Even cute girls could be odd. "I'm asking more for Emmaline than for Jessica. Doubt you'll believe me, but Jessica hasn't really said anything at all about you or Ava to me and I doubt she would. But my cousin's kind of got a thing for you so I thought I'd kind of nose around to see if you were seeing anyone else." Em would be pissed at him if she knew West had phrased it like that, but might as well get to the point. He didn't want Cian pissed off at him, and the last thing West wanted was a black eye for being too nosy about Ava. Jessica would probably take one look at the swelling and bruising and call some back up for a date instead.
Cian wanted to ask West why he figured he wasn't dating Ava, but he decided not to. The guy might get curious as to why Cian cared that he thought that. Man, he could shoot Liam for putting thoughts into his head, seriously. He'd been bopping along completely obliviously until the dude had opened his mouth... and he needed to quit thinking about it again. Now. His expression changed to one of surprise when West said that he was asking for Emmaline because she had a thing for him. "Emmaline?" he asked. "Seriously?" He wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Emma was M's sister, and he could honestly say he'd never entertained an impure thought about her. Not that she was unattractive or anything like that, but he just... hadn't. He shrugged and said, "You'd better not tell her you said that to me. She might smack you into next week."
"Yeah, she probably would," West said with a small grin. "But she's got this idea about herself that no guy would say yes if she asked them out. I know she's M's sister and you're friends with M and everything, so it might be too weird." Or maybe Cian just wasn't interested. As much as he loved his cousin, Emmaline was sort of on the same popularity level as Ava. West dribbled the ball twice before shooting it toward the hoop. "But I told her I'd ask, or whatever. You know how girls can be."
"Oh, yeah," Cian said dryly as he leaped for the rebound. "I know how they can be." Girls were a challenge and, sometimes, a complete mystery in the ways they thought and behaved. He imagined they felt the same way about guys. Cian was probably more blasé about them than the average teenage guy considering that, well, he'd had them chasing after him since he'd been about thirteen. He lined up a three-pointer, missed, and then ran the back of one hand across his forehead to keep sweat from falling into his eyes. His car was going to smell lovely once he got back across to Eldritch, wasn't it? Maybe he'd get out and sit on one of the benches for the ferry crossing and, hopefully, the wind would dry him off.
Reaching out, he grabbed the basketball before it could roll by him. He was also feeling tired and he could feel the sweat dripping down his back. His mom was going to tell him he stunk the minute he walked into the house. "Confusing," West expanded, tossing the ball up once again and watching it bounce off the backboard. "Frustrating... like they expect you to be a freaking mind reader all the time. They want one thing one second, and then the total opposite the next, and then they get pissy if you don't catch on fast enough." His past girlfriends had always seemed increasingly annoyed with West. He didn't know if it was because of his lack of 'romance' or because of his friendship with Jessica. Who knew? Who cared... they were exes for a reason. Although Jessica wasn't any better in giving him clear signals. She'll want him to take her out one week and then she'll have another boyfriend the next. He caught his own rebound and tossed it up again, missing horribly.
"Shit yeah," Cian said, agreeing completely. West had just summed up the essence of most high school females and also expounded on the reason why he wasn't chomping at the bit to jump back into dating. Who wanted to spend the glorious summer months chasing after some girl with an attitude about herself and high expectations? As nice as it'd be to get laid, Cian just wasn't ready to go there. Hell, why couldn't more chicks be like Ava? She didn't get all bitchy and snippy and high maintenance, at least not around him. He couldn't really picture Ava acting like that with anyone. He caught West's second rebound and then rolled the ball back toward him; he'd had enough for one afternoon. He should probably get back across to Eldritch and shower, since he was supposed to pick Ava up at five. "I gotta bail," he said, not envying West for having to deal with Jessica at all. Least it wasn't him anymore.
West didn't think any high school girl was excluded from the high maintenance, sometimes crazy attitude. Even the most shy girls probably had it bubbling right there underneath the surface, ready to explode the minute a boy paid attention to her. In West's mind, you just had to deal with it, if she was worth the trouble. Bending down, West grabbed his basketball and offered Cian a quick salute. He needed to get home to shower too. And try to find something Jessica would deem acceptable for the public. "Sure thing. Thanks for stoppin' by to play." He would have said he'd see Cian at Vapor later, but West was going to do whatever he could to keep Jessica from seeing the guy, and he was sure Cian would be doing his best avoiding act too. "Catch ya around, Andersen."
Cian tossed West a wave. "Later," he said, then bent to pick up his car keys from where he'd dropped them at the edge of the basketball court. He'd had his workout for the day, and now it was time to get ready for what should be an awesome night. He'd just do his best to avoid Jessica and West, and he felt sure West would be making sure the two of them avoided him, too. He completely understood, though. He and Jessica did not mix well in public or, well, anywhere. He jogged off to his car, ready to move on with his day.