Tuesday, April 1, 2008 Who: Astrid and Fox Where: Out on the beach When: Evening What: Settling differences and swimming!
After the exciting evening of laser tag and a rowdy dinner at the Egyptian-styled Hard Rock Cafe, Fox wanted some down time. So as soon as he got back to the house, he strode out to the beach just beyond. There was a bench not too far from the house that Fox had found his first day here and he moved over there to sit. The bench gave him an excellent view of the shoreline and the horizon. The sun had set already and the moon was rising, casting soft white light on the waves and the few people still playing in the surf. It was nice, calming and peaceful. Something about it called to him, but he wasn't sure what it was.
Hearing sand being shuffled just behind him, he turned. "Oh. Hi Astrid." There was a cautiousness to his voice. The last time they'd really spoken alone, she was still upset at him. And then he'd gotten chewed out by Keagan. He'd done his best to not antagonize either of them so far. Maybe he hadn't been successful.
It wasn't that Astrid was mad at Keagan or anything, it was just... he was having fun toking it up and she just hadn't quite hit the 'I clearly need a joint' kind of level of her vacation. She was actually thinking more the whole going and having a swim in the dark thing. So, while she left Keagan mellowed out in the beach house, she'd changed into her blue swimsuit and slipped a white wrap on before heading outside. It was quiet, that was both really nice and... really weird for her. She hadn't even realized that Fox was there until she was almost on top of him at the bench. "Oh... uh... Fox..." Astrid cleared her throat, reaching up to brush hair out of her eyes. "Sorry. Didn't realize anyone else was out here. Figured you would have been inside with Jack or Keagan."
Fox shook his head. "Nah. They were having fun smoking it up and I just didn't feel like a joint yet. Told 'em I might join up later though." After gnawing on the inside of his cheek for a moment, he patted the seat beside him in invitation. One she was perfectly free to ignore if she chose, but he wanted to find out just where they stood. He was coming to realize that, like Rae, Fox just didn't have a chance of getting into her pants. While he wasn't exactly thrilled about that realization, he was beginning to like having girls as friends.
The funny thing about Astrid was that, under different circumstances, or at the least, with time, things could go well for her and Fox. But... right now? It still felt like eggshells. Regardless, she took the invitation and passed in front of him to take a seat on the bench, bringing a leg up so she could wrap her arms around her knee and hugged it close. "I was kind of feeling the same way. I don't think I've hit that part of the vacation yet." Astrid cleared her throat, glancing over at him, not really sure why she was looking at him before staring back out at the ocean. "So... you guys totally kicked our ass at laser tag."
Fox chuckled. "Yeah, but you guys did alright yourselves." Turning his head, he glanced at her, seeing her defensive posture and wondering if he was the one that made her feel that way. It couldn't be anyone else, since it was just the two of them talking. Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I really am sorry about last week. And for going overboard with my apology the day after. Keagan reamed me out for it."
Astrid winced a little, chuckling. "Actually, uh... that was probably a gutcheck reaction from Keagan. He's, uh, surprisingly, a little jealous. I didn't think he was like that, but he, uh, was. And look, you did apologize and..." Astrid sighed some, resting her chin on her knee and looking over at him. "That's certainly better than nothing."
Fox nodded, albeit halfheartedly. "Yeah, but we're still not cool. There's tension here and I'm not sure how to get rid of it." He looked out over at the crashing waves. "At least, I don't know how to do it without constantly insulting you, which I seem to keep doing."
"Yeaah, um, the insults would probably be detrimental." Astrid sighed, reaching up to brush her hand through her hair, wondering if maybe it would be time to get things off her chest. She knew where some of that tension came from, but... the last thing she wanted to do was to open up the door for him to start pursuing her. "I know that you've been trying, I think it's just gonna probably take time. Or... maybe not even time, we just have to be honest or something. I dunno."
Fox chuckled. "And here I just came to the conclusion that it was never gonna happen and that I'm alright with it." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "I like you. You're pretty cool, but for right now, we're probably better off as friends." He gave a half smile before looking back at the horizon. "After all, as Keagan so reminded me," he muttered before raising his voice to normal levels again, "You've got a boyfriend and I've-" Fox broke off. "Well, I'm happy with the way things are going right now."
"I... what?" Astrid paused. Had she said something out loud to give him the impression that they needed to be 'better off as friends?' "I didn't say...." She sighed, dropping her leg and shifting so she could look at him. "Fox, what do you think is going on here? We're... we're trying to be friends. There's nothing more going on than that. And even if there was potential for something..." Astrid smiled some, chuckling. "I wouldn't want to be a notch on your bedpost. Even if I was single. I'm still convinced you have a nice heart in there somewhere that wouldn't want to use his friends like that."
Fox furrowed his brows and turned towards her. "Uh, I was trying to tell you, clumsily it seems, that I'm gonna try to stop acting like I only want to get into your pants. You've made your points perfectly clear in the past, and I've finally caught up and agree."
Astrid took a deep breath, letting her nerves bleed slowly out of her body. "Okay..." Strangely enough, Astrid found herself... all right with that for the moment. It made her feel quite a bit better for now. "Then we're okay. We just.. It's good. I want to be friends with you. Get to know stuff about you."
Fox nodded. "Alright. I'll admit right now that there's some things I may not be comfortable talking about, and I'm definitely not used to talking about myself openly. But if you ask, I promise here and now to give you an honest answer." He raised a brow at her. "That's fair enough, right?" He was trying to be honest and not be cocky.
"Okay, totally fair." Astrid smiled and held her hand out to him. "Shake on it and we'll call it a deal. And any question you ever have for me, I promise to answer."
Fox smiled, suddenly feeling more relaxed than he had for the past several days. Reaching out, he clasped her hand, but before shaking it, he asked, teasing, "And you'll answer honestly, right?"
Astrid laughed a little, nodding and squeezing his hand a little more. "I promise. Honest answers. I'm sure it will help us both in the long run."
Fox nodded and shook her hand. "Done. And I agree with you." Smiling, a lot more at ease now, he leaned back in the seat and glanced back towards the house for a moment before turning back to her. "So any idea what the big fuss is about for weed?"
"What do you mean?" Astrid leaned back as well, pulling her wrap tighter as the wind blew through her body. "Why are they fussing about it? Well, according to Keagan, weed was totally normal while at his commune. He likes it."
Fox chuckled. "Maybe he likes mellowing out or something? He seems to walk around rather uptight a bit."
"He's way more relaxed around me, but... yeah, he does kind of tend to be pretty inverted." Astrid cleared her throat and glanced over at him. "Tell you what, though. Let's not talk about my boyfriend right now."
Fox nodded. "I can happily agree to that." Talking about Keagan with Astrid just wasn't one of those things he was comfortable with. It was just the first thing that had popped into his head. Of course, he also wanted to ask if she had enough geek food now, but that would bring up the foot-in-mouth scenario from last week. Damn. This talking thing was hard. "So what would you like to talk about?"
Astrid smiled some, reaching her finger up to tap at her chin thoughtfully. "Hmmm... well..." Astrid chuckled and snapped her fingers. "Oooh, that's right, I was gonna ask... what's with you and Rae? I was totally getting, y'know, vibes off you two."
Fox thought about her question for a moment before shrugging. "Nothing's going on that I know of. We're just friends." Turning, he grinned at her. "We'd just happened to hit it off better than you and me."
"Well, I'm not surprised." Astrid giggled, even though she wasn't entirely sure she beleived that. She didn't have any evidence, but she had... a feeling. "You and I spent most of our conversations getting into arguments. So far, we're doing remarkably well right now. But, good. I'm glad you're calling her a friend."
Fox's smile relaxed. "Yeah, I am, too. She's pretty awesome and we agree on a lot of things." Turning on the bench, he rested his knee on it to get a good look at Astrid. "It's a little weird to not be deliberately pushing your buttons, but I like the effect. You not screaming at me is a nice bonus." He grinned after his little joke.
"Oh, is it? I thought you loved the dulcet tones of me screeching at your idiocy." Astrid laughed a little and reached over, ruffling his hair easily. "And I have to say, I like this, too. You're nice once you let some of those walls down."
Fox chuckled. "Well, my ears do appreciate not ringing anymore." When she reached out to play with his hair, he put on a pout to rival a two year old, scrunching up his nose and reached up with a hand to fingercomb his hair back to the way he liked it. "I'm glad you think so."
"It, uh, makes you cute, too." Astrid added, as if from an afterthought, then leaned back once more. She wished that she'd had something to drink or something to focus on... other than Fox.
Fox noticed the conversation laspe and gestured to her swimsuit as another topic. "I'm not keeping you from swimming, am I?"
"Huh?" She'd almost forgotten what she was originally out there to do. "Well, no, not really. I can go swimming at any point tonight. I was just going to pass the time." Astrid glanced him over. "Wanna join me?"
Fox glanced down at his own outfit. He hadn't changed from the jeans and tshirt that he had worn to lasertag and dinner. "Um, I wouldn't mind, actually, but I need to go change." Standing, he turned towards the house, and glanced back. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Jogging to the house, he went inside and headed up to his room. He stripped quickly and donned his swimming trunks, neglecting shoes and grabbing a towel on his way back out.
By the time that Fox had come back outside, all that he could see of Astrid would have been her wrap hanging off of one of the beach chairs right near the sand and some footprints. Otherwise, she had vanished under the water.
Walking along the sand, he dropped his towel on another beach chair next to her wrap, and moved towards the water. He waded out until he was waist deep in the sea, looking around for a sign of Astrid.
Astrid didn't quite realize how close she was to Fox as she swam, but she also could hold her breath for quite a while. She passed behind him in the water, then swam further out towards the ocean before popping up for just a moment in the darkness for air, before slipping back underwater again.
Diving under the surface of the water, he emerged quickly and starting using sure and steady strokes to pull himself out towards the sea. After a little ways, he started to tread water, letting the waves bounce him around.
Astrid had been totally distracted for a few moments as she swam around, and before she knew it, she popped up quite literally in front of Fox with a gasp, more shocked that she had almost run into him. "Oh shit!" She laughed, treading water.
Fox was surprised that Astrid had popped up right in front of him and the next wave caught him by surprise. He slipped underwater for a moment before surfacing, coughing lightly and spitting out the salty spray. "That didn't taste good." Laughing, he swiped the water from his eyes and treaded one handed. "So you found me, huh?"
Astrid tossed her hair out of her eyes before dropping back so she could dunk her head and slick her hair back. "I wasn't trying to look, per se. More like you were a general part of the swimming experience."
"Ah," Fox nodded, kicking his feet lightly to stay above water. "Well, it's better than playing Marco Polo." Cocking his head to one side, he considered that. "I never understood the appeal with only two people and in an ocean. That's gotta be boring."
"Well, I don't like Marco Polo anyway, even when there's a big group of people." Astrid smirked, swimming away for a moment so she could have more room to tread water. "Although, one of these days, I swear to god I'm gonna learn how to boogie board."
Fox laughed at the thought of Astrid on one of those boards. "I've always wanted to surf myself. And scuba dive. That sounds like an absolute blast to me."
"You? Scuba dive?" Astrid grinned some, then swam closer to him. "Let's see how well you hold underwater!" With that, Astrid tackled Fox, pushing down on his shoulders and trying to dunk him.
"Yup. I wanna scuba dive." He grinned in the dark, but at her last statement, his grin faded. "Wha? Gah!" Kicking hard, he managed to stay above water long enough to take a deep breath before she pushed him under. Playing her game, he dove deeper, away from her hands and out a ways from her, staying underwater.
Astrid thought she had the upper hand until he suddenly slipped out from under her hands, and she tread water, looking around for him. "Fox?!" She laughed a little, then her laughter faded a little when she realized he still hadn't popped up. "Fox? Hey!"
Fox knew he could hold his breath for awhile and he swam back to just under Astrid's feet. Quickly, he slid his hands around her ankles and gave a firm tug to pull her underwater.
Astrid barely had time to yelp as she was suddenly dragged under, and she seriously panicked. She couldn't really kick her legs, but her arms tried to claw her way ot the surface, having more than a little panic attack.
Fox quickly released her ankles and let her climb to the surface. It wasn't that far, he'd pulled her barely six inches under, but from the way she was struggling it seemed like he was trying to drown her. Surfacing, he took in a breath and slowed his racing heart from having stayed under so long. "Shit, Astrid, are you ok?" Please don't say I fucked up again.
Astrid knew that she should have been angry with him, but simply seeing that he was there took all the anger away and simply filled her with relief. "Oh thank god!" She gasped, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tightly. "Oh, fuck, that was... that was scary, don't ever do that again..."
Oh. Kay. That wasn't at all the reaction he was expecting, but it was much better than going back to square one with her. Wrapping his arms around her, he hugged her quickly. "I didn't mean to scare you. I can hold my breath a fair bit."
Astrid was shivering, mainly because she was way too scared to be angry. "It's o-okay, you... um... you didn't know... I just... I have this thing about... darkness and... and not being able to breathe..."
Fox nodded. "Okay, alright." He rubbed her back and felt her shiver. She felt a little chilly to the touch, probably because the water wasn't incredibly warm just yet. "C'mon, let's head back to shore. You're kinda cold." Swimming sideways, he gently tugged her with them, back until he could feel his toes hit the sand, though it was probably still too deep for Astrid.
Fox nodded. "We both probably should." He moved them further torwards shore until he was certain that Astrid could stand on her own. Running a hand through his hair, he flicked the water out of his eyes. "I'm sorry I scared you."
Astrid had rested her hands on his arms, not quite ready to get out of the water. Okay, this was probably a bad idea. She was standing there hanging onto him and trying despreately to be JUST friends with him, and yet she knew that she was.... ugh. "It's okay. You didn't know I was gonna freak out. You were just having fun."
Fox nodded. "Yeah, and I'll make sure to keep that in mind for next time. I'll try not to freak you out."
Astrid grinned some, patting his arm a little. "Right... thanks..." Astrid started to turn but found herself stopping and turning to look back at him, inching closer to him. "Fox... I'm glad we talked."
Fox smiled down as Astrid, feeling the sand beneath his toes and the slight pull of the tide. "I am too. I much rather be on good terms with you than bad."
"I second that." Taking a deep breath, Astrid reached up and pat his cheek, clearing her throat. "I think... I am gonna... go inside now."
Grabbing Astrid's hand, he kissed the back of it and smiled before walking in towards shore and his towel.