Wednesday | April 30th, 2008 Who: Astrid, Summer, Jack When: 9.40pm+ Where: Halls/Dorms/Astrid's Room What: Summer needs to vent, and Jack needs to PREVENT.
Summer was glad Astrid had agreed to let her come over. She needed to vent. As soon as it was out of her system, she could push it aside, continue with her day, and not think about it anymore. The redhead couldn't think of the last time she'd been so angry. Not just at the totally inappropriate things Jacob had said, but at the fact that he'd purposely said them just to upset her, and also because he had managed to ruin what had otherwise been a really great night.
The memory of horseback riding with Nick was basically gone, now. In his place stood ugly words and just cold anger.
As soon as Astrid's door was open, Summer rushed through and shut it behind her. Her eyes were wild, her face blanch. "Look at my fucking journal," she croaked, her voice thick. The profanity and lack of a smile should have been enough of an indication to Astrid that something was really wrong. She sat on Astrid's bed, glad her roommate was out, and gripped the sheets beneath her fingers. For the first time she looked at Astrid, and realized the poor girl had basically just gotten in; her computer was still displaying just the desktop.
"Wow." Astrid blinked, completely stunned at just how worked up Summer was. Her best friend was never this torqued up, and wow, it was almost 10 at night and she was this mad? And to think. Astrid had just had a crappy day with her dad. "Umm.... kay...." Astrid sounded about as cautious as she was, and she reached out, clicking her laptop mouse a few times as she brought up the journal. "What am I looking fo..." Astrid grinned some. "Awww, you went horseback riding with Nick? That's awesome!" She looked up at Summer, and her smile immediately faded again. She cleared her throat nervously. "Not... the reason you're mad, tho."
Summer's eyes were quickly welling up. She shook her head, hard, hair flying, and then upwardly nodded toward Astrid's laptop again.
Uh-oh. Major damage, then. Astrid clicked on the comments, then sighed at Will's comment. "Oh my god, that Will guy is such a douche, ignore him. HE got on me about Fisher that one time..." Astrid leaned closer to her monitor, her concern peaked by the fact that Jacob's lame ass was now talking to her. As she kept reading, the expression on Astrid's face got more and more dark and angry herself, until she finally smacked her monitor shut and looked up at SUmmer. "What the fuck is his damage?!"
Summer threw up her hands. "Can you believe it? I mean, horse porn? REALLY? Really. Really." She clawed her hands over her bangs, eyes, lips. "Aaaarrrrrrrrgh... the fact this boy saw me naked KILLS ME. Can atom witches manipulate time and space? I need a djinn. Fuck me!"
"Okay, fucking seriously?" Astrid stood up out of her bed and started to make her way towards the door. "I'm gonna go punch him in his purile, fucked up, misogynistic, assmunching FACE!"
Summer leapt from the bed like a shot, arms out. "No no!" she cried, desperate now, because she believed Astrid. "Don't give him a reason to make it worse. I already emailed his sponsor," she cried, trying to place herself in front of Astrid and put her hand on the girl's shoulders.
"Thank you I love you but please don't, I don't want you in the middle, he'll be mean to you, too and I already emailed Ms. Wilson and told her that he was making me fear for my safety," she stammered, with a wry smirk.
"No! She's not gonna do anything but smack him on the hand, you know that!" Astrid sighed, exasperated, and she grabbed Summer's arms gently and completely spun them around so she had her back to the door now. "I don't care if he's mean to me, he's going around fucking terrorizing you and no one seems to fucking care! His fucking friends condone this cruel shit like it's sport!" The more Astrid thought about it, the more personal Jacob's tactics hit home. "He didn't date you to make fun of you, but now he's acting like it! I am sick! Of bullies! Like him!" Astrid swung her door open and began to march her way out to the boy's dorm.
Summer followed, because she couldn't actually restrain Astrid, and just looked more and more panicked as the seconds clicked. "I'm going to email my sponsor, too, I just haven't a chance yet. Pleeeeeease Astrid, I don't want to make this worse, I just wanted to vent, I know you care about me and thank you soooo much.." she reached for the other girl's hand.
"Nope!" Astrid quickly snatched her hand out of Summer's grasp, and kept right on marching. "This is it! I'm done with this! The next time he does it, if it's not a punch in the teeth, it'll be because I actually castrated him!" Scary words to say the moment she made it into the boy's hallway, but she didn't care.
Jack was in Family Guy PJ pants, a clingy black tee shirt, and nothing else. He was holding a bag of sour cream & cheddar potato chips and a bottle of Brisk iced tea from the vending machines downstairs. He had not expected to see a red faced Astrid and Summer on his way back to his room. Barefoot and surprised, that's what he was.
"Astrid?" he asked, having only heard "castrated him!" as he rounded the corner to return to his room.
"Can't talk, Jack! Got an assmunch to punch!" Astrid managed to bark as she continued on her warpath to end all warpaths. She was completely ignoring Summer following her, but that was because this felt more like a mission from on high. Like Odin had deemed it necessary to knock the little fluffy bunny pagan down a peg.
"Whoa ho ho," he said, doing a rather athletic two-step backward before he shot out an arm well enough ahead of her so as not to clothesline her, but to effectively make her stop walking. His other hand held the snacks awkwardly.
Astrid paused, just short of getting whomped in the stomach by him, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Jack, move."
Jack looked at Summer, who appeared like she was going to throw up. "Hi, Summer."
"Hi," she mewled, hands being wrenched together.
His eyes slid back to Astrid. "What's going on."
"I have to go punch Jacob in the teeth, so if you'll excuse me..." Astrid tried to make a slick move to sidestep Jack and go around him.
Jack played football. Astrid needed to up her game. She ended up with a bag of chips and a cold bottle being pressed against her chest as he blocked her gently. "Jacob? Who is Jacob? The asshole who blinded you on accident?"
Summer pinched her nose and sniffled.
"Yes, but more importantly he's harassing my best friend who happens to be his ex with saying shit like how she inspired horse porn and has been doing nothing but being some purile BUTTMUNCH -" She screamed over Jack's shoulder. "AND I'M GONNA KICK HIS ASS! THEN WE"LL SEE WHO'S THE BIGGER MAN! MY CAJONES ARE BIGGER THAN YOURS!"
.....Wow.
Jack's eyes popped at her sudden outburst, and he had to laugh, even if she scared him. Just a little. "Uh, wow. Okay." He glanced to Summer again, who seemed less...firey than Astrid about this whole...ass-kicking idea. Summer twisted her mouth and pleaded with Jack via expression.
"Kay, we're going back to your room. You can't assault random dudes. Especially not morons who can't use their powers right..." he shuffled along to consistently block her, and then abruptly tossed his chips and drink to Summer. "Catch."
Summer caught the chips. The iced tea hit the ground and rolled. "Sorry!" she cried.
"S'okay," Jack laughed, quickly snatching Astrid's shoulders. "You. Turn around."
Astrid growled and tried to shrug out of his grip. "Nooo, I'm gonna go in there and kick his ass and show him how a real witch blinds people!" Clearly, this wasn't going in Astrid's favor, but like any Viking, she was pretty single-minded when it came to having a purpose.
Jack just tightened his hold and then forcibly twisted her around so her back was to him. He pushed on her shoulders gently, back toward whence she came. "Uh, no, no you're not..."
Astrid planted her feet. "I'm not moving. You will not get me to move from this spot until I have punched his leechy little face in and make pretty ickle Draco Malfoy feel like the scum on the bottom of my shoe."
Summer had to snicker, a little, at that, but she was still reasonably miserable and sniffling back tears that wouldn't fall. "Let's just go back to your room, Astrid...."
That was all Jack needed. Astrid had obviously gone off the deep end. "Right," he grunted, before ducking his upper body just enough to physically spin and grab Astrid at once. His arms closed around her hips, and with a deep 'mmpph!' from inside his chest, he threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold.
"JACK!" Astrid squeaked as she was suddenly thrown completely off her feet, and she held onto him with as much of a vice grip as she could, given that she was upside down! "Put me down! Lemme at him! Jack! Goddammit!" Astrid was trying to kick but couldn't, he had too good of a grip on her legs, but at least she could smack her hands against his back.
Which actually hurt, a lot, and his wincing showed that, but he wasn't letting her go. Summer's jaw hit the floor and she was now putting a hand over her gaping mouth while the other gripped his snack. His ice tea was in her elbow's crease. "Oh my God," she said, blinking. "Jack..."
Jack's eyebrow arched as he started walking back toward the girl dorms. "Can you think of a better way to stop her?"
Summer bit her lip and shook her head. She was red from head to toe, blushing hard and fast and wishing she could fall into a pit and die.
Astrid was not happy with this turn of events, and when she realized that Jack wasn't going to let go, she finally just went totally slack in his arms and waited for him to bring her back to her room. After all, she could just try again once he put her down. "This isn't going to work. I am gonna make that bully pay. I hate bullies."
"I emailed his sponsor!" Summer reminded her, almost whining.
"And I'm sure she didn't do anything! Because eeeveryone thinks his stupid behavior is okay!" Astrid was sufficiently riled up again enough to try squirming out of Jack's grip, to no avail.
Jack slapped her ass, hard. Purely in an effort to get her to be shocked enough to stop squeaming. "Cut it out."
Summer's hand went back to her mouth, and she stammered "ohmyGawd," before giggling a little through her not-crying. Which made Jack grin.
Astrid was, in fact, quiet and still at that point. What... had just happened...
Jack moved quickly, because a) Astrid wasn't light as a feather and b) he wanted to put as much space between this Jacob guy and her as possible. He thought Jacob deserved a beating too, absolutely, but he wasn't going to let Astrid endanger herself simply because he'd been a douchebag on the fucking INTERNET. It was the goddamn internet. Why did everyone take it so seriously? If Jacob was really a man, he'd insult people to their face.
Summer adusted his snacks in her hand. "I'm Summer, by the way..."
Jack laughed a little wryly. "I got that. I'm Jack."
Summer grinned, then fell back a little to grin at Astrid. She shrugged coyly.
Astrid glowered at Summer and propped her chin on her hand in the most bored look she could possibly have. After all, she was busy hanging off of Jack like a freakin' sack of potatoes. "This is so not cool! I'm trying to defend your honor!"
"I KNOW AND I LOOOOVE YOU," Summer said, looking as emphatic as she could holding vending machine goods. "But I'm afraid it will get you in trouble! And me! And I just wanna get JACOB in trouble."
Astrid looked back at the back of Jack's head, then frowned. "I will get you back for this, Jack. I swear to ODIN, I will."
"Uh, Summer? Can you...?"
"Oh!" she squeaked, scampering ahead to open the unlocked dorm door. Jack passed her with Astrid in tote. When Summer closed the door behind them, Jack set her down like a post.
Astrid was still and rigid up until she was on her feet, and then she reached out to practically tackle Jack, even though she had no leverage and wasn't exactly big or strong. "You are standing in the way of justice, here! This is NOT the first time he's pulled this shit and he just gets worse!"
Jack grinned fiercly at 'standing the way of justice.' She was too funny. Where the hell did she come up with these phrases? REALLY!
"I get that, he's a d-bag, I get it, but you're gonna get expelled!" He was laughing softly, mostly at how FIERCE she was being, hands going up to block any attacks from her.
Summer nodded and came up beside Jack. "He's right, Astrid... "
Jack glanced at her computer, which was closed, then back to her. "What are we talking about anyway. Show me."
Astrid opened her mouth to rant at him, then paused as he asked what exactly she was so mad about. "Okay, okay, fine, yeah, I'll show you. Then maybe we can go beat him up together." She scampered over to her laptop and pulled up the screen she'd had it on, showing Jack the entry.
Jack sat down in Astrid's chair like he owned it, scooted forward with his elbows on her desk as he read with his face close to the screen. Behind his back, Summer looked to Astrid with huge cow-like eyes. Then she silently mouthed "...wow."
Before making a gesture with her hands and face that seemed to say: "Intense!"
Astrid glanced over at Summer and rolled her eyes. This wasn't something she was all that surprised about. That was Jack as she knew him. It was... kinda hot... actually, when she thought about it. Whatever. Sighing some, she made her way to standing behind Jack, peering over his shoulder like somehow that was going to make him read faster. "See what i mean?"
Jack normally hated anyone peering over his shoulder, but this was different. "Uh, yeah," he said, then swiveled around in his chair to quick an eyebrow at Summer. "Uhm, you dated this guy? YOU?"
Summer's eyebrows furrowed a little. What did that mean? YOU? "Uh.. yes... not too long. It was... a tricky situation."
"Yeah, I'll bet. Is he fucking pyscho?"
Summer swallowed, paling a little, and closing in on herself. "Yeah, I guess. I mean.. he wasn't, at first."
Jack swiveled back around to reread some. "Never are, at first, right? Psh. What a fuckface. And what's up with all the fag stuff before this? No wonder he's so fucking angry, he doesn't know where to stick it."
Summer blinked.
"Okay, see?! SEE!" Astrid was saying that to Jack at first, then turned her attention to Summer. "Jack agrees, and he's not even exactly prime dating material either!" Astrid realized what she said, then looked to Jack. "Hey, no offense, but you're the one who has like, massive hang-ups. BUT, you know how to treat a girl."
Jack was laughing at her. Summer was confused, because it appeared as if Astrid had just insulted him, but... if Jack was laughing, then obviously...he was fine. Right? He was a strange boy. He seemed rather relaxed and intense at the same time. His posture was laid back, but his eyes... his eyes bored holes into your face when he looked at you.
"Thanks," he smirked, and then looked to Summer. "So what are you going to do?"
"Me?" squeaked Summer, handing her snacks over to Jack.
The shifter set them aside on Astrid's desk and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah. You. The ex girlfriend."
"Uhh... I may email my sponsor, but I didn't have time to THINK, I'm so mad, I just.. I emailed HIS sponsor and sorta stretched the truth and made it seem like I was afraid for my personal safety and then --- "
"NICE!" Jack said, laughing.
Summer stopped speaking, blinked, and then smiled a little nervously. "I just want to make him stop. I don't want a war."
"Except for the part where clearly Jacob wants to be a big bully and doesn't want to stop until you're in the fetal position singing 'someone to watch over me' while the Nazis of his brain storm your French resistance." That must have made no sense to anyone else, but like usual, it made sense for Astrid. "Maybe we can come up with some sort of plan of attack."
Summer had found her spot on Astrid's bed again, and now buried her face in her hands and bent over, head swimming.
Seeing this, Jack looked from her to Astrid with an arched eyebrow, still slouched comfortably in her chair. He had turned it around to face them, with one elbow resting on her chest, the other arm resting between his spread thighs.
"Look, Summer, I know you don't want to engage, but, like, I'm sorry, this is NOT DS9 where you just play dabo with a Ferengi. Ya gotta be like Picard on this one. Boldly Go! Engage, Number one! Engage!" Star Trek lingo. Wow, she outed herself as a nerd like no other.
Jack's eyes widened although the rest of his face did absolutely nothing. "Uhhhhhh.........................what."
Muffled, Summer's voice came through her fingers. "Some of that was Star Trek, I think," she said woefully.
"It was, I'm sorry, BUT it applies, Summer!" Astrid made her way over to Summer and plopped down next to her. "C'mon, this beats you up every time he does it."
"I knowww," she said, finally uncovering her red face, "but if he knows how much it bothers me, he'll win! I don't want him to continue. He's got issues, I get it, I feel kinda bad for him..." She cracked her knuckles, a nervous habit. "It's all so stupid... I wish he'd just... he thinks that you're responsible for our break up so if you say anything to him he'll just turn on you..."
Jack stayed quiet, watching the girls from the desk, eyes switching between their faces.
"Wow, he says what with the who?" Astrid blinked some, truly taken aback for a second. "He thinks I'M responsible? This is fucking new."
Summer wanted to cry, and looked like she was getting close. "He thinks that like.. you know, me talking to you about us... and you convinced me.. which is RETARDED.." she laughed wryly .. "because in reality I broke up with after like, the third time you suggested it or something."
"Uh, yeah, that is retarded because I didn't really have any sort of factor in your decision. You decided to break up with him because he went psycho and clearly wanted to bang Dizzy."
Summer rubbed her arm and glanced at Jack, then back down at her shoes.
Jack, realizing he was being given a private screening to the airing of Summer's dirty laundry, spun in Astrid's chair and started to check his email on her laptop.
Astrid sighed a little, reaching out to touch Summer's arm and make her look at her. She lowered her voice, though, to at least attempt some privacy, trying to relax. "This is all on him. But that doesn't mean you need to put up with his shit."
"I know," she said quietly, looking down. "I had such a nice time with Nick.. we had fun.. and now this just fucking killed my fucking night."
"Hey, woah, no," Astrid held a finger up in protest. "None of that. Your night with Nick is still awesome. Don't let the lame ex ruin your good evening. He was being a jealous twat because you're moving on with a guy who's actually cute."
"Well, uh, that's over now, once Nick sees that. I can't even delete it because I need Ms. Wilson to see it. It's so retarded. This is high school all over again, except this time I have a boyfriend."
Jack glanced up and over.
Astrid blinked, looking over at Summer. "Back up. Did you say you have a boyfriend now? As in Nick? Because if that's the case, he doesn't strike me as the type that gives up."
"No no. Oh my God. No. I meant. Oh my God. I meant.. a guy who is interested." Her slip of the tongue made her even more red. She covered her face with her hands and fell over onto Astrid's bed with a screechy wail of disgust.
Jack grinned. Cute. She was cute. Astrid (MagnussonMadness) is available
Astrid watched her fall like a log cut down by a lumberjack and finally smiled for the first time since she'd gotten angry. "That's not a bad thing. I'd kill for that kind of interest."
Jack had started playing Solitaire. He was basically just there to be a doorway blocker, and he was cool with it. The chick talk.. eh. He'd dealt with it before.
Summer lay on her back, hair spilling everywhere, and sighed with her hands laced across her stomach. "I just think it's.. amazing," she said, with a little angry laugh, "because I am the most NON confrontational person I know, yet all this drama is always happening to me."
"Hey, it could be worse. You could be me. Not only do I bring drama upon myself, I don't actually care if I start it." She grinned. "Case in point. You are my bff. I would take punches for you, chica."
Summer grinned up at Astrid. "Thank you."
"You are so terribly welcome." She reached over and grabbed a stuffed animal off her bed, hurling it at the back of Jack's head. "And Jack would, too."
It hit Jack, but only because he wasn't looking. "Hey!" he said, as a plushie bounced sideways off his scalp with a squeaky noise. He twisted the chair back around with a smirk. "Eh? Take punches? Uh, yeah, sure. I mean, if he grows a dick and gets more nasty than intarweb shit." He mimed tapping a keyboard with two fings. "I hate choo, oooh, I'm a bad ass, look at me make fun of a girl ON THE INTERNET, oooooh." He rolled his eyes. "Give me a fuckin' break, seriously." His eyes settled on Summer, intense. "Don't even sweat this fool, seriously. He sounds like a fucking... what's the word Astrid? OH. Twatwaffle. Yeah. There you go. Twatwaffle."
Summer sat up and was now laughing, despite herself.
Astrid beamed at Jack like an idiot, not even realizing how totally pleased and warmed she was by the distinctly Jack kind of endorsement Summer had just gotten. "Twatwaffle. Oo, you're learning! That warms the cockles of my heart, you know."
Jack laughed, hard, a short bark, and looked at Summer. "So you deal with her... all the time? Really?"
Summer grinned, scratching at her thigh, and nodded.
Jack shook his head and returned to his game. "This guy ever bother you in person?"
"No, we avoid each other in the halls."
"I figured that...alright," he said, with some finality.
Summer looked over to Astrid, confused, blinking.
Astrid glanced over at Summer, shrugging as well, then turned to look at Jack. "Is that your way of saying the guy's cajones are so small they're microscopic?"
Jack kept clicking, not looking up. He didn't use a laptop often; it was clear by the way he fought with the touchpad. "It means... he bother you in person, you let me know." He narrowed his eyes. Queen on top of king....
Summer slowly turned her head to Astrid with a long-lipped well hey! expression.
"Okay, point taken, my glorious knight in shining armor." Astrid laughed. "Good to know you're handing your favors to damsels in distress these days."
"I hate guys like him," he responded simply.
Astrid kind of just sat there smiling stupidly at the back of Jack's head for a few minutes, totally not realizing she was doing it.
Summer poked Astrid sharply, and then, when she was sure Jack wasn't looking, made a 'caveman' face.
Astrid jumped and looked at Summer, but the reference was totally lost on her. "What?" She whispered under her breath, barely audible to Summer, much less Jack.
Summer grinned and shook her head. She'd tell her later.
"So, uhm, Jack. When you're not preventing Astrid from beating on guys senselessly....what do you do?"
Jack glanced away from the screen to smile stupidly at her, finding her interview-like demeanor amusing. "Well, you know.. uh.. I'm on the football team, I fuck around in the garage, I shift."
Summer nodded, smirking. "Yeah. You're the random naked guy who's been outside lately."
Jack threw up a huge grin and nodded.
"He's the rott with the big...." Astrid held her hands out as if holding a pair of... well, balls.
"You're so rude," Jack said, to Astrid, laughing.
Summer nodded. "Oh, I remember."
Astrid giggled some, then shrugged. "Ah, yes, but it's my honesty that makes you talk to me. Cause you find it hi-larious."
Jack shook his head, grinning, and looked to Summer. "Rae says you draw really good."
Summer blushed. "Really? She said that?"
He nodded.
"Wow, uhm, well.. tell her I said thank you! I think she's waaaay better.... oh my God! Uh yeah, I like to draw. And bake."
"Yeah? Bake me something!"
Summer blinked, then smiled slowly. Was he...was he serious? She looked to Astrid for help.
Astrid nodded some, smiling, but she couldn't help but realize her stomach had started to twist up in knots a little. She wasn't sure why, though, so it was best to push that down more. "She makes orgasmic brownies."
"Well...now I have to have some," Jack said, fiendishly enjoying the way Summer couldn't seem to understand his intentions and also at how she was blushing.
Summer scratched at her knee again, feeling shy. "I.. sure. I can make some. I guess. Provided I don't try to crawl into the oven myself ... "
"Oh stop that," Jack said, immediately cutting off that further route of conversation. "Fuck this guy. Didn't you just say you have a new guy on the ropes?"
Summer laughed and covered her face. "Ohmygawwwwd."
"She totes does! Nick is so totes into her, Jack, I was talking to him the other day about her and he was all 'so, like, what are her interests' and 'what does she like to do' and blaaaaah..." Astrid started to act like Nick, being all cool and suave while putting on a fake lower voice.
Summer, who had once again fallen backward onto the mattress dramatically, bolted upright now and whacked Astrid's arm. "WHAT."
Jack cracked up, at this.
"Oooooow, paaaaaaaaain!" Astrid whined, feigning a massive injury to her arm, laughing. "I'm sorry, it just happened yesterday! We were chatting!"
"You didn't tell me this!" Summer said, with a grin, before it abruptly vanished. "Ugh.. it doesn't matter. After he reads these posts, he's going to fucking run for the goddamn hills. I... I... ugh..." she bubbled with anger, and then, suddenly. "I HATE Jacob, UGH!"
Even Jack, who had barely ever spoken to Summer, arched an eyebrow and felt the air in the room twist in itself and say 'ho shit!'
"Hey!" Astrid squeaked, and she reached over to grab Summer's shoulders. "No. He's. Not. Give the guy more credit!"
"I wouldn't blame him if he did!" she moaned, and covered her eyes again.
Jack ran a tongue over his teeth from beneath his lips, then opened his bag of chips. "Uh, nah, he won't."
Summer blinked, looking over at him.
Jack took out a chip and munched down happily before shrugging in response to her owl-stare.
"Well, there you go. Take it from the expert." Astrid grinned, motioning to Jack. "He is a guy, after all. They tend to be really good at explaining themselves."
Jack offered the bag to Summer, who declined, and then Astrid. "Wait, does that mean I should explain?" He was teasing.
She smirked. "Oh, no. You know me. No crow barring necessary. I don't want to be that girl."
"I'd like an explanation," Summer said, looking as doe-like as she could be.
Jack grinned, settling back with his snacks. "Alright, well... if I'm goin' after a chick, and she writes 'thanks for a fun time!' -- no pun intended" he added, his hand out in a 'no offense!' gesture to Summer, with a serious tone, "--on her journal, I'm like 'kay, cool.' THEN, if her douchebag of an exboyfriend starts shit for no fucking reason other than to be a douchebag, all I can do it sit there and go 'Wow, what a fucking douchebag. No wonder he's jealous. I'm the man.' " He shrugged.
Summer's eyebrows furrowed. "Soo... you're saying... Nick won't be afraid, he'll think Jacob is a moron...."
"Yeah," Jack said, licking sour cream or cheddar crumbs off his thumb. "And if Jacob is willing to look like such an idiot, he obviously fucked up pretty bad. So you must be worth acting like a douchebag over. I'd consider it incentive."
"There you go. You're boosting Nick's ego cause Jacob sees him as a threat. That sounds pretty awesome." Astrid grinned some, then smiled a little wider. "You are such a lucky brat right now."
Summer laughed, at 'you must be worth acting like a douchebag over' and then, at Astrid's quip. "I...guess."
"No, no, that's it," Jack assured, laughing. "I mean... if both of his balls had dropped by now, he probably would have come up with better insults. You know, like if he had dropped bombs to scare Nick, but, uh, I mean, clearly, the best he could come up with was.... uh, 'suck it,' was it? I wouldn't worry." He cracked open his iced tea with a kssssh noise. "Seriously."
Summer wasn't entirely convinced. Nor would she be. But this was helping. For now.
"You should just talk to Nick about it tomorrow." Astrid smiled. "Like, see what he says and if he's all 'No, it's cool,' then I'm sure he's cool about it. He likes you."
"You don't know that for sure," Summer said, smirking. Though, if he asked about my interests? And tonight...
"Oh my god, don't give me that look," Astrid giggled, reaching out to poke Summer's nose. "You totally realize that he's gonna be fine with it."
She shook her head, sad again, and tucked hair behind her ears.
Jack was grinning. "This the kid with wings?"
Summer nodded.
Jack nodded. "He's good at basketball."
Summer smiled a little.
Jack stared at her, then grinned. "Haaaaaaaah. You're funny."
"What!" She looked to Astrid, again for a Jack-translation.
Astrid laughed a little and shrugged as well. "I dunno what he means! I mean, aside from the fact that you honestly think he doesn't like you."
"I'm not getting my hopes up!"
Jack laughed. "Chicks are crazy. You two are nuts."
"Hey!" Summer tried to smirk. "No being mean to me! I had a rough night!"
"And you can't be mean to me, either. My butt is sore, thanks to you!" Astrid pointed at Jack, giggling a little. Of course, her giggles had nothing to do with humiliation at being smacked in the butt.
"Haha," he said, going back to his Solitaire game. He'd lost patience by now, though, and sloppily moved a few more cards before clicking the corner X. "Okay so... if I leave, are you gonna stay here and not do something stupid?"
Astrid tapped her finger to her chin. "That depends. If I do something stupid will manly-mc-manly come and literally sweep me off my feet?"
"No, because I need to sleep. Summer can magically slap your ass outta Jacob's hallway." He pretended to think about this for a while, stupidly smiling. "Not a bad image.."
Summer smirked again, then rolled her eyes.
"Mmm, shut up." Astrid giggled, and she stood up, walking over to him and placing her hands on his shoulders, massaging them. "That first shot was free. Next one's gonna cost you, jackass."
Summer began to feel uneasy, like she was the trespasser in Astrid's room instead of Jack. She watched this exchange with a half-smile.
Astrid kept massaging his shoulders literally without thinking about it, almost as if to say thank you for stopping her from doing something stupid. "Next time you pick me up, you better have a damn good reason, though."
Jack's eyebrow arched, his expression unseen by Astrid, but he didn't move. In fact, he did the opposite, and stilled while she kneaded into him. "Uh huh," he said, then looked over at the blushing Summer.
"So you alright now? Not gonna puke anymore?"
Summer's grin was pathetic. "How did you know I felt nauseous?"
"I could practically hear your heartbeat."
Astrid smacked Jack's shoulder and stepped away, walking back over to her best friend and tucking her hands into your back pockets. "Sorry for accidentally making your night worse."
Summer held up her hand with a grin. "It's fine. At least it was out of a moral obligation to uphold my honor."
"Yes, it totes was. That's me, defending my bffs everywhere." Astrid grinned some, then glanced over at Jack. "Gonna go enjoy your munchies now? Or are they all gone?"
Jack shook the bag; there were some left. "Yeah, I'm gonna go." He folded the bag enough to slid it into the pocket of his PJ pants, then picked up his iced tea. "Summer," he said, toasting the air in her direction, "nice to hang."
Summer nodded, smirking at his sarcastic tone.
"He-heeey, nice to see you too, douchenozzle." Astrid grinned, in a 'way to forget me' kind of way, even though she was only half joking. She was a little annoyed, but knew she had no reason to be.
Jack's eyes popped in a 'wow, psycho?' expression as he turned his torso from left to right, now facing Astrid.
"You were next."
Summer bit her lip. Bff's didn't snicker.
"Uh-huh. Sure. Suuure I was." Astrid smiled some, her hands tucked into the back of her jeans still. "I'm joking..."
"Alright," he said, with a chuckle. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, I'm sure, at some point." Because you'll IM me.
After he left, Summer turned to Astrid. "Wow."
Astrid glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow. "Wow?"
"He's.........so intense."
Astrid laughed a little and shrugged. "Aaaah, I guess. Maybe I'm just used to him, but he doesn't seem that way to me."
Summer laughed. "He came in here and like .... owned everything. He reminded me of my dog, except, like my dog, knows not to lift his leg on anything."
"Okay, well, I used to call him dogboy for a reason, but he gets annoyed if I say it, sooo..." Astrid winked at Summer. "I just say it to people who aren't him. Like you." Astrid walked over to her chair and plopped down in it, sighing. "Okay, great, now my desk has guy vibes all over it."
"It has WHAT?" Summer said, getting up to edge closer.
"Well, y'know, my chair is warm now.... cause of him... and it kinda smells... like him... a little... not like, a lot or anything."
Summer smirked, but didn't say anything more on the matter. Her thoughts wandered back to her crush, and she found her smile slipping all over again. Ugh. She didn't want the morning to come, but at the same time, the emotional roller coaster of the last few hours was making her crash. Fast.
"I should get going."
"You sure?" Astrid turned to look at her, resting her chin on the back of her chair. "I mean, you can hang, we could eat pop tarts and watch a movie if you're not ready to wind down just yet."
"I'm actually crashing.... I went from happy to really happy to pissed to sad to really sad to semi amused to happy....." her hand gestured a rolling 'ecetera' motion. "I should just sleep and see how I feel when I wake up and read my email and see who else wants to jump on that bandwagon."
Astrid nodded and got up, walking over to give her a huge hug. "Okay, well, if you need me, just come find me at the wedding tomorrow."
Summer gave a huge hug to her friend, and after a sad smile, said her goodbyes.