Issue 1 Downtime

Cal sat in the kitchen at a table, looking kind of tired but not inclined to get up. He'd evidently heated something up and already eaten it. Now a box of electronics was spread over the table where Cal was picking and choosing among the various items, working slowly and, well, exhaustedly.

Haley padded into the kitchen, sniffling, wearing a long t-shirt as a nightshirt and presumably some shorts underneath. At least one would hope. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and opened the fridge, grabbing a pitcher of water and setting it on the counter while she stared at the tall cabinet where cups were stored, all the while not seeming to notice Cal.

Stymied by the height of the shelf where the last few cups sat, Haley managed to grab them with her tk and pulled one down gently, and then poured herself some water manually. It was pretty clear she'd been crying.

Cal looked up at Haley from where he sat, stopping what he was doing for a moment. Shit... Finally, he sighed. "You all right?" he asked, kicking out a seat at the table and starting to pull stuff out of the way. At least when someone's like this they're not likely to start making fun of me...

Haley jumped a bit, almost letting out a squeak. She composed herself a bit.

Fuck, I look atrocious...

"H-hi," she said, clearing her throat nervously.

"Hey," he said, sitting back. "Should I take that as a 'no'?" he asked, doing his best not to let his gaze drift down to her legs. Not too often, at least.

Haley joined him at the table, "this place gives me terrible nightmares," she said almost shyly.

Cal nodded at that. "Homesick?" he guessed, moving the various broken electronic things out of the way to make her a space at the table.

"Not really...just this place...it's got a weird creepy vibe. And it... I dunno. It's just really hitting me hard,"

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Cal said, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Shit... Is this another 'because I'm not a real boy' thing?

"I might just be kinda sensitive to that sort of thing," she sniffed, wiping her face try and hide how much she'd just been crying before she got in here. "Or maybe I'm just crazy and watch too many scary movies. But irregardlessly, its been shitty trying to sleep here in the UK. And on top of that I'm rooming with a girl who beat me up and hates me, so FML."

"Wait, your roommate beat you up? What the hell?" This was probably the most normal human reaction she'd gotten from him. Oh great. I'm sure she wants you to ask THAT, idiot. "Can... I don't know, is there anything I can do to help?"

"We liked the same guy that she's now dating. She found out, picked me up, and head butted me. Not even shitting you."

"Seriously, what the fuck," Cal said, sounding genuinely irritated about that. "And that douchebag picked her?"

"Maybe he's afraid she'll beat him up if he leaves," she said quietly with a smirk.

"Sounds too timid to keep up with you," Cal said with a tentative smile.

"You're a sweet guy, Cal, thanks," she smiled.

Hot, too... she thought WAY too loudly.

Shit, am I blushing? Shit, I'm blushing. And put the firewall back up, HAL.

Code: Select all

Firewall in place.

He shrugged, trying to keep cool. "Just doesn't seem worth getting worked up over some guy that's going to let a she-beast beat him around."

"I'm over it. Guess she isnt. She yells at me for waking her up because of my nightmares,"

"That's fucked up," he said. "God forbid someone have a bad dream, what the hell." He looked back down at the scattered electronics, various smartphones and tablets in various states of disassembly. "Well, if you need company, I'm usually not asleep," he offered.

"Well good," she smiled. "I think I'll probably need company pretty often. .

"So... uh... Look, I'm... sorry about just bailing the other day like that," he said, without looking up from what he was doing.

"It's fine. Lily was sort of being a tool."

"Yeah, but... Well, anyway, yeah," he said, shifting uncomfortably in his proximity to a hot girl. "You hungry?" he asked, more for something to say than anything else.

"Sure I could eat...anything good around?" she asked.

"Um... I grabbed some stew that was left in there. I could make you something if you want, not like I have much else to do." Which, of course, kind of went against the table full of stuff he was working on, but hey.

"It's fine, you look like you've got plenty of stuff to do," she nodded at the table with a friendly smile. "What's with all the spare parts?"

He shrugged. "Money," he said. "I buy up all the broken iPods and stuff that I can find on auction, fix 'em up, sell 'em off. Most of them say what's bad on them, so as long as you can find out how to take them apart and fix them, it's not too hard."

"That's pretty cool. Do you make a lot of money?"

"Not really. Enough to get by, I guess. It's not a huge profit or anything, but at least you get some cool toys in the process," he said with a shrug.

"Guess I know who to talk to if I drop my phone or my TK has its way with it," she smiled flirtatiously at Cal.

"Pff, everyone mistreating their hardware," Cal smirked back. Hang on... shit, is she... dammit, what does that smile mean?

Haley's smile broadened ever so slightly as she overheard his mental confusion.

"So other than makin' money, what do you do for fun?"

He shrugged. "Honestly I don't know. Always kind of just went with my friends were doing and it was fun. Then all this happened, and now that isn't really on the table."

"Well we all need new friends now that we're in a new country. Wanna be my friend?" she grinned.

"I..." What? He looked at her, his gaze unmistakably suspicious. She's cute, there's nothing wrong with her... what's the catch here? But, still, what was he going to do. "I... yeah, I would," he said, swallowing nervously.

"You okay?" she smirked, "I'm not asking you to marry me, man."

"Well, there's always a catch," he said, like he was pointing out the obvious.

Haley looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Shit, he thought, shifting uncomfortably. "Well, when isn't there?" he asked, deciding to stand his ground a little at least.

Haley stared at him blankly.