Vanessa Cleveland can turn invisible (filiampandora) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2016-09-22 01:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | nasir, vanessa cleveland |
WHO: Vanessa Cleveland and Nasir
WHAT: don’t stop, don’t stop the rock (clock)
WHERE: Max and Nasir’s
WHEN: 9/7, evening
WARNINGS: None really
It was pizza and movie Cutthroat Kitchen night (because a show where people sabotaged each other and themselves while a man maniacally laughed about it, spoke to the mean part of Nasir that, in another life, was satisfied by stabbing Romans. Here, he contented himself with Alton Brown). Nasir had ordered the pizza just before V got there, so they were just sitting on the couch gabbing and waiting.
He was in the middle of showing V pictures of his mom when the pizza arrived, so he left his phone sitting on the couch to go get it. He didn’t see any reason not to - it was just V, after all. Totally nothing to worry about.
***
The location for their hangout nights had changed but other than that, and Max’s couch being a little comfy to sit on for a few hours at a time, everything was the same when they got together for their pizza and netflix nights. Nasir had left his phone beside her when he went to get their pizza and she picked it up to keep looking through the pictures of his visit to his mom. She knew how rough that visit had to have been for her friend, she’d been there with her own biological parents, and she was glad that it had seemed to go so well because he deserved a good visit. To have his family back. At least some of it.
She finished looking at the pictures and bounced over to the app store, looking to see if he’d downloaded any games or anything she might want to try out and when she was looking at the list of things that other people had downloaded for one of his apps she noticed something that made her giggle and have to click on it. Just to see what all it was. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had an alarm clock app and as she read through the description she started giggling harder. She had to download this to Nasir’s phone. It was too good and hopefully he’d be amused by it. If not when it went off she’d be in her apartment and would just have to apologize and make it up to him.
She was watching for him to come back in while it downloaded, whispering at the phone “Come on come on…” hoping it would hurry up and finish installing before he came back in and closing the play store and opening pictures back up just as he came back in, clearing the downloads list. “It looks like you and Max had a good visit,” she said, an innocent smile on her face as he came back in with pizza and drinks for them.
***
Nasir was too distracted trying to juggle pizza and soda to notice the slightly too-angelic look on V’s face, so he didn’t notice anything off. He finally managed to get everything set on the coffee table, without spilling anything, and went to go get some plates and glasses before settling again.
He smiled down at his phone. “We did. It was...I wasn’t quite expecting it, it was a lot at once. But I’ve talked to them every day since, pretty much. It’s…” absolutely wonderful and somewhat terrifying, at once; he didn’t want them finding out what had really happened to him but keeping the secret was a little stressful. “It’s nice,” he settled on, because it was. It was so nice, and he was so happy.
***
Vanessa reached out for the glasses as he came back in, taking them from him as he sat down and pouring them each a drink. She gave him a truly happy smile and leaned her head back on the couch as she listened to him talk about it. “That’s great Nasir. I’m really happy for you. Do they know about what happened? Where you were?” She asked, reaching for a plate and the pizza box to get herself a slice after she put his phone down. His cell phone would go off in a few hours and she’d have to see his reaction on the network if he didn’t call her. Or text her about it.
***
“Ah…” Nasir squirmed. “No, I - I couldn’t tell them that. About what happened. They were so happy to see me and I didn’t want them knowing what had happened. I just told them I ran away and didn’t want to come back because I was ashamed.” At least half of that was true. He filled his own plate and glass and then sat back, turning the TV on low for background noise.
After getting through his first slice (because he was hungry and didn’t have much willpower when it came to pizza), Nasir turned to Vanessa. “So how has your week been? Anything interesting happen?”
***
Vanessa reached for his hand when she saw him squirming and squeezed it gently. “I get it. You told them what you were ready for them to know. It’s okay,” she said, giving him a reassuring smile. Or one that she hoped was reassuring.
“I’m still trying to work up the nerve to turn in my notice at the Cafe but I told Daddy that I’d take him up on his offer about school. Now it’s just working on the applications and deciding what to study. Nothing really exciting since I avoided anyone I knew was sick.”
***
Nasir let out a breath and nodded. “Yeah, I just...I’m not sure I ever want them to know. They don’t need to know that ever.” He was learning, gradually, that it was a part of his past and he could accept that, but there were just some things your parents didn’t need to know about you.
But he perked up at the mention of V’s school. “That’s good! I didn’t know what I wanted to study either, I don’t think most people do and if they say they do they’re lying.” He wrinkled his nose. “I managed to avoid that too, reading about it was enough for me, honestly. This place is fucked up.”
***
“If you don’t want them to know - than they don’t need to know. It’s entirely up to you.” Vanessa said. She believed that whole heartedly. It was up to him who he told what to. And a part of her agreed that it probably wasn’t a good idea to tell his parents about what he’d been through. It wouldn’t do them any good to know and she knew how upset he got talking about. She didn’t think his parents would want him upset that way.
“I know I want to help people. Other than that…” she shrugged slightly. She’d figure it out when she started at whatever college she got into. She knew she wanted to stay in Orange County that was it though. “I was scared that Annie or our parents would come down with it. So glad they didn’t. I love living here but sometimes I hate living here. You know what I mean?”
***
Nasir nodded again. Max (and his actual therapist) had told him the same thing but the more he heard it, the more it seemed okay - not lying, just slightly omitting, for their sake. He gave V a small smile.
“Very noble of you,” he said. “But that’s good. That’s more of an idea than I had, honestly. I just kind of needed something to do and it seemed the most productive option.” He winced and nodded because god yes did he know what she meant. “I’m glad they’re okay and, yeah. Between the talking birds and the demons and the crazy blood disease...yeah. This place is nice on the days when it isn’t trying to kill us.”
***
Vanessa gave a small shudder at the mention of the birds. That was a memory she hated reliving. Even if it was how she’d met Nasir. So it wasn’t all bad. “I still want to smack every bird I see down out of the sky. Just in case they can talk. Other than the insanity it’s nice here - the weather’s normally great. It’s just…” she sighed and shook her head. “I hate my family being here because I worry what’s going to happen to them.” This was the way their Netflix and pizza nights went. They would plan on watching a show or a movie and then end up talking about things.
***
Nasir agreed - it was a horrible memory, but meeting V had been a definite bonus. Given the Network they might have met eventually even without some feathered intervention, but it would have taken longer and, frankly, Nasir wasn’t sure he wanted to think about who else might have found him freaking out. “I’m not going to say that I’ve chased them away from the house with a broom but I’m not going to not say it either. But yeah. I like it here.”
Nasir shared the sentiment. Knowing, in the abstract, that his parents lived here had been one thing, because they still felt removed from the craziness that tended to happen. He could act like it didn’t happen to them. But now, he knew how close they were to everything, and that in all likelihood it did happen to them. And he was dreading the next time something OC-like happened. “I’m sure they’ll be fine,” he said to reassure both V and himself. “They’ve got us, right?”
***
“Oh trust me I know. I’m looking into getting a cat that can be indoor/outdoor to try to keep them away from my place.” Vanessa was mostly joking. If she did get a cat she would never let it run free like that. Not with the way people drove around here. It might get run over by someone and she’d never quit feeling guilty about it.
She reached out to squeeze her friends hand again when he asked her that question. “They’ve got us that’s true.” They might not actually be able to do much to protect their families but what they could do - they would. She turned her attention to the show. “OH! This is the episode I was telling you about with that chef that has the best accent ever. You have to watch this guy. He’s amazing.” She said, curling her legs up under her as she made herself comfortable to watch the show.
***
Nasir smiled at the reassurance, and squeezed her hand back. But then the show presented a distraction and he got caught up in it, and the guy with the (admittedly amazing) accent.
Later, when V had been seen off and everything was settling down for the night, Nasir was brushing his teeth and checking the news on his phone before he turned it off for the night, when all of a sudden it lit up bright yellow and started screaming at him. Nasir screamed right back, choked on a mouthful of foam, and threw his phone across the room.
A few moments later, thoroughly embarrassed for his slight overreaction, Nasir retrieved the still screaming phone and checked what exactly was going on with it. Some new app that he didn’t remember installing, that apparently functioned as an alarm that he didn’t remember setting. The only people he’d left his phone with recently were his parents (unlikely), Max (probably unlikely), and…
“Goddammit Vanessa!”