InsaneJournal

Who: Jeremy Gilbert and Rapunzel
What: Rapunzel gets coffee spilled on her her; Jeremy offers her a ride home
When: Backdated: Wednesday, January 8th. Late Afternoon.
Where: Coffee Shop
Rating: Family Friendly
Status: Complete

Rapunzel didn’t drink caffeine. She was a girl who already had plenty of energy, so the last thing she needed was more. Still, she went in on occasion because coffeeshops had really delectable sweets to go with their coffees. She was armed with a hot chocolate and a muffin the size of her fist when she tried to spot a place to sit down, and was a little disheartened to note the place was completely packed. Well, that was okay. She could take her drink to go, maybe have her muffin in the park! She was distracted by the thought of that when someone ran into her, a woman with a baby that seemed to be in a rush.

She didn’t stop to apologize and the blonde gave an uncomfortable gasp, looking down at the front of her ruined coat. Well… that was great. She frowned, pausing at the nearest table. “Sorry, can I put this here for a second?” she asked, since the coat was soaked and she should probably take it off. She wasn’t totally sure how she was going to get home without it but she’d figure it out.

Jeremy had decided to stop by a coffee shop near his school on his way home for a coffee, but over an hour later, he was still sitting at a table near the door, textbook open to the chapter his History class had been assigned to read for homework. Sure, Jeremy could have just gone home, where it was even quieter than the coffee shop, but truth be told, he didn’t like being at the house alone. Even during the day he still felt like he was being watched and expected to see someone at the windows or in the doorways when he looked. He hadn’t admitted it to anyone, because he’d made such a fuss about keeping the house after his parents had died, but he was afraid of being in the house alone, because he worried that the person or people who had broken in and accidently killed his parents would come back. The rational part of his brain knew that was unlikely, but the rest of him was convinced. So he spent a lot of time out of the house unless he couldn’t avoid it or he’d invited Stiles or Myrcella over.

He had actually just finished reading the chapter and figured it was probably time to head home, just in case Elena made a rare appearance when a woman with a baby rushed by, bumping into a girl who was headed towards the door. He hadn’t realized the girl had spilled her drink until she spoke and he finally looked up to see the stain on her jacket. Remembering that he had a stack of napkins on the table, he grabbed them up and offered them to the blond, “Yeah, no problem. Here. I’ve got some extra napkins, if you want them.”

“Thanks,” Rapunzel said, accepting the napkins. Maybe if she put her coat on the table and dabbed at the stain, she could dry it off enough to walk home? It wasn’t as cold as it had been, but she would probably be pretty cold if she walked home without it on. “Sorry to intrude on your table… I guess I’m just a bit of a klutz.” Or she’d been run into, but she would rather plant the blame on herself than someone else.

She put the jacket on the table, and dabbed at the stains (kind of uselessly) before offering, “I’ll be out of your way in a second, I promise, this is just easier on a table…” If he asked her to leave, she definitely would. Oh! She should probably introduce herself. “My name is Rapunzel. That way I’m not some weird stranger taking over your space.” No, she was just a named stranger taking over his space.

“I’m Jeremy,” He said, watching her as she tried to clean off her coat, “No, I think that woman over there bumped into you.” He gestured towards the woman at the counter then looked back to Rapunzel. “Do you think you can clean it or is it gonna have to be dry cleaned?” Jeremy didn’t know much about fabrics and what could and couldn’t be put in the washing machine, but he was pretty sure that some jackets were dry clean only.

He was probably right that it would need to be dry cleaned. Wool was temperamental. The girl gave a slight hum as she considered it. It was a nice coat, she didn't want to give up on it. "I'm not sure... I'm sure I'll figure it out. I'm just worried I will freeze on the way home. I walked here."

The dress she was wearing underneath was pretty, but even with the snow gone things were still weirdly cold in California.

Jeremy thought it over for a moment because speaking, unsure if she’d even take the offer, but he couldn’t just let her walk home without a coat on, “Do you live far? I’ve got my car and can give you a ride.” He’d understand if he declined the offer, but he wanted to make it anyway.

Oh. She was a little surprised by the offer, eyes darting up from the mess of her coat on the table. “Um… well. Not very far? A few miles…” She was actually planning on taking the bus, but taking a ride would actually be really nice. “Are you sure? I mean, you really don’t have to do that. I don’t want to inconvenience you.” She gave him a small smile, hoping to reassure that she wouldn’t be upset either way.

“It’s not an inconvenience at all,” And it gave Jeremy more of a reason to stay away from his house a little longer. “I mean, you’ll get there faster and won’t have to be cold.” He wondered if he should tell her that he had a girlfriend so it wasn’t like he was trying to hit on her, but at the same time, that might be even more strange to hear.

“That would be lovely, Jeremy, thank you.” She gave him a bright smile that could probably melt a polar ice cap. “I probably would be okay but if you really don’t mind, I’d love a ride.” She’d probably have to make him drop her off across the block, her mother would get mad if she saw her in a car with a boy she didn’t know, but still! That didn’t make the gesture any less nice. Jeremy probably didn’t have to worry he was trying to pick her up, Rapunzel usually didn’t notice that sort of thing. She’d had to bluntly ask Gale if he was trying to ask her out, which had been a little embarrassing. “We don’t have to go right now, if you were doing something here?” She couldn’t tell if he’d just arrived or not.

“No, I was done actually.” Jeremy got to his feet, grabbing his backpack off the floor and his textbook from the table, “Come on, my car is right out front.” The nice thing about this coffee shop was that he was able to park right out front instead of looking for a spot somewhere along the street. “So, where do you live exactly?” He’d need to know where he was taking her.

Rapunzel collected her poor coat, looking apologetic (poor thing, hopefully she could get it cleaned! She loved this coat) and followed after Jeremy. He was a lot taller than she was, but that did not seem to intimidate her terribly. Being five foot nothing, she was kind of used to people being taller than she was. She told him her address, before wondering, “Is that too far? I guess you could just drop me off at the bus station.” She could afford the fare home.

“That’s not far at all. I living in Huntington. My girlfriend used to live in Newport Beach.” Jeremy said as they made their way out to his car and he unlocked the doors before getting in. Now that Myrcella lived in Laguna Beach, she lived a little farther away, but Jeremy still didn’t mind driving her home or picking her up when she came over, so dropping Rapunzel in Newport Beach wouldn’t be very far.

Oh, good. She did look a little relieved. She didn’t want him to go out of his way to do her a favor. At least it wasn’t terribly far out of her way. “Oh, perfect. Then you know the area, then!” Rapunzel was the worst at giving directions, probably because she had so little experience in being outside of her own home. She knew her address, but directing people there? Yeah, that was hard. “You don’t have to take me to my door. Just to my block is fine… My mother is a little bit strict, she might be upset if she saw me with a boy.” Even if nothing was happening, it was pretty hard to convince her mother, and Rapunzel did not want to be grounded.

Jeremy had overheard other girls at school, talking about how they’d have their boyfriends drop them off around the corner cause they weren’t supposed to be dating or something, so he could understand why Rapunzel wouldn’t want her mother to see her getting out of a strange car, “Alright. I can do that.” Jeremy knew the Newport Beach area fairly well anyway, having grown up in Orange County, so he didn’t need directions to Rapunzel’s house; just her address.

His car was nice, and Rapunzel kept silent until she was seated and buckled in. She didn’t want him to get a ticket because of her, and she wasn’t much of a law breaker in the first place. Once he was on the road, she decided to make conversation, so it wouldn’t be awkward. “So, I’m guessing you go to school around here somewhere?” He didn’t look much older than she was, but she wasn’t sure if they attended the same school. He didn’t look familiar.

Jeremy was pretty good at driving and talking at the same time and still being able to pay attention to the road, but it was understandable that someone he’d just met wouldn’t know that or might be too shy to talk right away, “Huntington Beach High,” He said, glancing over at her briefly, “Where do you go?” It’d be quite the coincidence if she went to the same school as Myrcella.

“I go to Creekside,” Rapunzel told him with a small nod, fixing him with a small smile. Little did Jeremy know that Rapunzel had already met Mrycella, but it was rather hard to bring up in random conversation! “My mother considered Huntington Beach High but she has a friend on staff at Creekside.” Or, so she said. Who was Rapunzel to dispute it. “This is actually my first year in public school, it’s kind of new for me. I used to be homeschooled. But I really like it. Do you do extracurriculars?” She was maybe talking too much, but Rapunzel had a problem with that.

“That’s where my girlfriend goes too. Do you know Myrcella Baratheon?” Wouldn’t it be quite a coincidence if this girl knew Myrcella. At least then she might be a little more at ease. “I go to Huntington actually. I’m a senior.” When she asked about extracurriculars, he shook his head, “Not really. I haven’t had the time this year.” That was partly due to his parents’ deaths over the summer and the fact that he’d skipped quite a number of days so far this school year. “What do you think of school after being homeschooled for so long?”

Rapunzel did brighten at the name. She hadn’t been aware of Myrcella’s last name, but the first? Yeah, that was familiar. “I didn’t know she went to the same school I do!” Which … didn’t make sense without context. “I met her fairly recently, she helped me find the perfect dress for my date. She’s lovely. Have you two been together long?” Hopefully that wasn’t weird to ask. “I see… well, that makes sense. I don’t have that much going on, but I still think I might have joined too many. It feels like it’s rare for me to have time to sit down. I really enjoyed the break.”

Jeremy nodded, “Yeah, she’s a senior there too.” It hadn’t really occurred to him until then, the fact that they were both seniors and both at different schools, which meant that if they were still together come the spring, which Jeremy hoped they would be of course, there would be two proms for them to go to. “We’ve been together since….well, we’ve known each other since the summer, but we’ve only been officially dating since Halloween.” It felt strange to think that it had only been such a short time that they’d been dating cause it felt like so much longer since they’d spent so much time together before that.

She hadn’t really asked how old Myrcella was, it seemed especially strange that she didn’t know her when they were in the same year. Rapunzel was going to have to fix that! Maybe they could have lunch together. “You must be looking forward to prom, then… It’s coming up soon, isn’t it?” Rapunzel hadn’t thought too much of it, but she wondered passingly if Gale would be interested. It might be weird to bring him, considering he was graduated and already in the army. Maybe she’d just have to go alone. “She really is nice. She told me a little bit about her boyfriend. You seem to make her really happy.”

“Yeah, it is. I hadn’t really thought about it until now.” Jeremy glanced at a street sign as he drove, double checking that he was going the right way. If Prom was coming up then graduation was too and he hadn’t even begun to think about college. “She’s helped me through some stuff that’s happened this year, so she’s made me really happy too.” It was kind of nice to know that Myrcella talked about him to other people.

Jeremy wasn’t the only one who hadn’t considered college. It was hard to imagine that this was her first and last year of school. She should probably put in applications but Rapunzel wasn’t even sure where she wanted to go, and what she wanted to do. Very frustrating. “I’m glad she was there for you, then,” the blonde said gently, wondering what exactly he was referencing. “I know you just met me but I’m happy to listen. I’m pretty good at it.”

Jeremy smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes, “Thanks for the offer. It’s just some family stuff that I’ve been dealing with for a couple of months.” He didn’t want to bother her with everything that had been going on, because while Myrcella might not have thought he was a terrible person for the way he had been treating Elena, someone else who was detached from the situation might.

She nodded idly, not offended by his turning her down. They were strangers, after all. "As long as you have someone to talk to. I know what it is like to not feel like you have anybody." For a long time she had felt suffocated by her situation with her mother and she hadn't been brave enough to tell anyone about it. Jeremy had Mrycella, and that was good. He didn't have to talk about it with her.

“Yeah, it’s a really shitty feeling,” Jeremy said as he turned down a street near Rapunzel’s. “Where do you want me to drop you off?” If Jeremy was right then they were about three streets away from Rapunzel’s street and he wanted to make sure he dropped her off in the right spot.

"There is a bus stop on the corner," she told him, shifting to collect her things so she would be ready to get out when he got there. "Thank you for the ride, Jeremy. It was really nice to meet you. Maybe I will see you around?" He was the boyfriend of a new friend, so maybe? Why not? She hoped whatever was bothering him would be resolved soon; he seemed nice. Whatever it was hanging over his head did seemed to drag him down unfairly.

Jeremy nodded and pulled over by the bus stop, “You’re welcome. Got you home quicker than if you’d taken the bus.” He had been happy to give her a ride, because it had kept him away from the house for a little longer, “Maybe you will,” If she was a friend of Myrcella’s then it was entirely possible that they would see each other around again sometime. And little did he know, they were both on Valarnet.

She gave him a small smile, before nodding and heading out the door. “Goodbye, Jeremy. And I hope whatever it is, gets better soon.” She tapped on the door, gave him a small wave, and then closed it behind her, retreating to the sidewalk and watching him drive away before she walked home. And walked quickly--it was cold!