analogthis | open rp/inbox

Yeah? Just means we won't be going on any double dates soon, that's all.

( if/when chloe gets a boyfriend of her own. does she even like anyone? she's so far outside the blackwell ecosystem, nathan wouldn't know.

he rubs his eyes and sits up. )

You're back now?

Well, almost. Bus.

I figured maybe you were busy when I didn't get any texts back from you. Is everything okay?

[She watches the scenery go by outside her window, the sun already pushing lower on the horizon. Beautiful lighting for pictures, she thinks.]

Yeah. ( he's ruined everything [again] and his mentor hates him, but he's okay. he's fine. ) Just... tired. Feels like being a roller coaster, this thing with you.

[She sighs softly, cradling her phone closer to her ear.]

Yeah. I know what you mean. My life has gotten so damn dramatic since... Well, you know. The Time Warp.

I, um, made plans with Warren since I couldn't get ahold of you, but I can tell him we'll hang out another time if you want do dinner or something?

[Wouldn't be the first time she's blown him off for doing something else... Ugh, bad choice of words.]

Whatever you want... ( he's not even sure if he wants to see her. seeing her means being obliged to know what she knows. he could always lie to jefferson, make something up, but mark always has a way of seeing through him. )

Do you think you're different now? Since we fucked?

( devoid of innocence, shackled by corruption, etc. )

[Max's feelings on the matter, however, are uncomplicated: she does want to see him. She shoots a quick text to Warren telling him she's getting too tired, too much partying last night, and thus almost misses what Nathan says.

It comes through her speaker and she's immediately reddening, putting her phone back to her ear with brows furrowed.]

What? No. Different how?

[She'd already told him she didn't believe in that whole "having a dick in you fundamentally changes you as a person" thing that virginity often implies. But... it is true that she's been thinking about sex way more often than she did before they hooked up. Sex with him, specifically. Did that mean she's changed?]

I don't know. ( and it's true; he doesn't. if max had seemed different to him lately, it's only because he's beginning to get to know her better. maybe there's some darkness to her eyes, but if there is, he hadn't seen it. he doesn't have the trained gaze of a practiced photographer. he's a rookie, an amateur. )

Different like... bad.

( or maybe jefferson is just a puritan. )

[If he hadn't gone with "do you feel bad now" she might have assumed he was trying to initiate more phone sex. Just talking about it had started getting her a little heated, but that dissipates, leaving her feeling confused.]

No. Are you worried because I had trouble remembering all of it? Because I remember enough, and I liked it. I'm...

[She glances back at the distracted couple in the corner, takes note how she's only a few minutes out from Blackwell now.

Her voice is softer, quieter, whispered into the phone:]

I'm glad it was you. Roller coaster and all... I'm glad it was you, Nathan.

[No, she hadn't always felt that way. But she does now. She's telling him the truth.]

( he's not worried about anything regarding the sex itself anymore. in the immediate aftermath, he'd panicked, but he feels like that's all been cleared up.

he's asking because he wants to see what jefferson sees, because he feels like an idiot for being blind to it. max doesn't seem 'ruined' to him, so maybe he just isn't looking hard enough. )

...Really?

( it's all so confusing. maybe it's a good thing that her first time was awkward and filled with pirate puns instead of in an underground bunker surrounded by cameras. but that would mean there's something seriously fucked up about jefferson's philosophy, and nathan isn't able to see how that's true. )

Do you have any dresses?

[Max still isn't sure about his line of questioning here or why, so the low-level confusion and mild concern remains.

There's some noise as the bus stops and Max gets up to step off of it.]

Yes, really. And... yeah? I mean I don't like to wear them every day but I have two for special occasions.

[Probably not fancy enough for any Prescott-class special occasions, but. They are indeed dresses.]

Also... I'm back at Blackwell now.

[Just walking across campus to the dorms, still dressed in Nathan's clothes. Braless. Gawd, it's a good thing she cancelled with Warren, actually. She should change clothes.]

What do they look like? Like, evening dresses?

( prescott-class check. also, only two dresses? max must really be slumming it... )

I'll come over and see. Gimme 20 minutes.

Not exactly...? [Not at all.] Alright. Deal. See you soon, then.

[This gives her at least enough time to change into a regular outfit: jeans, t-shirt, a different hoodie since her usual one still has nose-blood on it...

Then she pulls her two dresses from her closet to lay them out on the bed, feeling curious why Nathan wants to see them but also having the suspicious feeling it's about taking her out on a formal date. Which is exciting and nerve-wracking in equal measure. "Formal" is totally out of her comfort zone.]

( twenty minutes feels like enough time, at least in boy world, to get cleaned up and dressed. he showers, and brushes, and flosses. he uses cologne that costs more than this dormitory. he uses the hair products he only breaks out on special occasions.

when it comes to his outfit, he chooses one of those old-money displays of wealth, like his father taught him. an expensive maroon button-down and pressed slacks shows class way more effectively than gold chains. rolexes are fine, though. that's a reasonable, appropriate showing of $40,000.

it's afternoon time by now, so there's no hope of crossing into the girls' dorms unnoticed. he guesses there's no reason to be subtle now, anyway. everyone that matters already knows, so he knocks on max's door with only the mildest hint of embarrassment. )

[Max is really about to be smacked in the face with the reality of dating a Prescott. First, she also decides to shower, after like a second of sitting on her bed and feeling like she has a Hospital aura about her. Yeah, she has time to wash that off. She brushed her teeth and washed her face at Chloe's already, but still.

She's returning to her dorm in her normal clothes and her shower caddy on her arm, hair still damp around her face and cheeks a little red from the heat of the shower, when she sees Nathan knocking on her door. She gives him a small smile before letting them both into her room.

The dresses on her bed are pretty simple affairs. One is a casual blue sundress and the other is slightly more formal, but plain and black. They're classier than Walmart, but definitely not any kind of expensive label here.]

Judging by what you're wearing, I'm gonna take a wild guess that these aren't up to snuff for whatever you have planned.

[He does clean up really nice. Handsome and classy. Not that Max is knowledgeable enough about how to tell if things are expensive, or to tell how expensive they are. She'd probably be gobsmacked to be told the price of the watch alone.]

( the building agitation dissipates when she appears behind him. he relaxes, and doesn't seem to remember when he'd started to tense up. maybe this whole dating the hipster thing is making him more nervous than he'd realized.

once inside the privacy of her room, he feels better. between the two dresses, he opts for the black one. he flips it around, searching for the designer's tag. )

Is this an a-line or a basque?

( he holds it up in front of her, doing his best to imagine her in it. its style, it's like a strange, knock-off amalgamation of both shapes. )

It'll do. It's just dinner. Not like you're meeting my parents or anything.

[She laughs a little, sounding a bit self-conscious with one arm holding her other.]

You're definitely asking the wrong person.

[The term "a-line" sounds familiar, but she's never heard the other word before at all.

Her eyes widen at even the implication she could theoretically in the future be meeting his parents. God, no thank you. His sister? Sure! Parents? Check, please!

She puts her shower caddy away and takes her hairbrush from her dresser to run it through her hair a few times.]

Okay... So where are we going?

( he sets the dress down and can't help but laugh a little at her expression. meeting his parents is the last thing he'd do to her. over his dead body.

in a way, sean prescott and martha prescott are just two more people for him to protect her from. )

Where? Uh... Two Whales Diner.

[Oh, the relief is instantaneous, her body visibly relaxing.]

Good. That's seriously perfect. You do know I practically grew up there, right?

[She puts her hairbrush down and walks back over to her dress on the bed, already divesting herself of her hoodie, since it's just her top layer.]

( meanwhile, nathan had assumed some local diner didn't make for much of a date at all. it's so basic, even vic would say so. he'd like to take her somewhere nice, somewhere cool, maybe fly her out to all his favorite spots back home in florida... but it's a school night.

god, what a childish reason.

at least max looks genuinely delighted by the idea. )

Seriously? ( both in response to her enthusiasm and the new fact she's thrown his way. he walks over to check on lisa, but glances at her though that vanity mirror. ) I thought you just moved here, like me.

( nathan's been here for a few years now, but he hardly considers himself a local. max wasn't here last year, and now she is — therefore, she must be another newbie. or so he'd thought. )

You don't act like them.

[Either oblivious to the fact he's looking at her through the vanity mirror or just unphased by it, she starts changing out of her casual clothes to put the dress on as she talks. It's different from changing in the hospital, anyway... In that she has underwear and a bra on already.]

I was born here and grew up here. My family only moved to Seattle five years ago. I came back for the photography program here. But how don't I act like them? I'm not sure what that even means...

You're just different. I don't know. It's not like it's a bad thing—

( nathan goes from looking at lisa, hefting up her pot to admire her leaves in the setting sun, to looking up at max half-naked in the mirror... and he drops lisa.

in his defense, he'd neither meant to shatter the plant nor see a hot chick in a state of undress. but, a crime is still a crime, and lisa is now a victim. )

Fuck. Fuck.

[She quickly turns to look at him with the dress halfway up her arms, surprised by both the noise and his sudden cursing. Pulling the dress the rest of the way on, she hurries over to him, checking the damage.]

Her pot's broken but she may still be okay. [May. She'd probably be in better hands with her mom because Max is a very newbie plant momma. She looks back at Nathan with a friendly smile.] I'll buy another pot for her and move her there tonight. And... [She lowers her voice and leans in with a hand next to her mouth like she's making sure Lisa can't hear her.] If it makes you feel any better, I've killed like six plants since I started highschool.

[Lisa might be the first one dead since she started at Blackwell now, but still.]

( max is being strangely chill about him murdering her plant. he's mentally braced for impact, but nothing ever lands. she doesn't mention how he's a disgrace to the family name, or how dropping this plant pot is indicative of being a bad photographer - neither of which much logical sense, really, but he's stopped questioning the things important adults say to him.

he squints. )

You mean you're not gonna just, you know... ( he whistles and draws a spiral in the air with his hand, which must be the universal sign for time travel. )

Do you want me to? Then do I just not tell you what happened? The hospital was kind of a scare... I was thinking I should probably take it easy unless it's a life or death situation...

[Technically this could count as a life or death situation. Lisa's life. But it's really not that big of a deal to her. Yes, she names her plants, and does silly things with them in order to break the tension and get Nathan to smile, but... In the end, it's still just a plant.

Anyway, picking out a new pot with Nathan for her to move her to might be kind of fun?]

Fuck if I know. They're your powers, babe.

( but, if it were him, he'd be rewinding constantly. he'd rewind until his nose bled, and more. he'd fix every damn thing in the world, if he only could.

since max isn't nearly as wasteful with her powers as he'd be, nathan squats down to pick up the big hunks of broken porcelain. he still feels like shit about it, but max's even temper is helping to delay what may very well be an impending crash-out. )

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