Kansas City, MO, Still Whatever Day It Was The Last Time

[vanillajello]

Kate was still utterly, utterly excited about having handed in her flight attendant's application. And why shouldn't she have been? It had only been like fifteen minutes! The only change was that she was on the bus on her way home now.

And as she checked her phone, she found a voicemail from Jack, and a handful of messages from Bod. The former made her raise an eyebrow because bwuh, when had she been ignoring Jack's calls, and hadn't they talked like three days ago? As for the latter, she wondered he'd managed so many texts in such short a time, but didn't even read more than the first. This was a thing that needed to be talked about so she could properly squee about it.

So, deciding to call Jack a little later, she picked Bod's number. She was pretty sure he was at work (and she was right, albeit off by two weeks reagarding the date) but whatever, she was calling him right now anyway. How busy could Luke's be?

[ooc: And so time moves a wee bit faster again. NFB, but open! Bod's thread comes first chronologically.]

Comments

[therewaslife]

"And you didn't ignore a ridiculous rule that you know I didn't mean," Bod pointed out, shrugging one shoulder. "It's not entirely my fault."

[vanillajello]

Pooout. She couldn't have overdone it more. "But you made your choice," she replied. "Didn't you?"

[therewaslife]

"And you made yours," Bod pointed out, trying to go toe to toe with her on this one. "It's not really fair that I be blamed for it all, is it?"

[vanillajello]

"Not all," Kate allowed, peering into the bag of food like it was the saddest thing in the world. "But me being over here, yes."

[therewaslife]

"That's untrue," Bod argued, shaking his head. "You used affection as a way to manipulate me to go your way. When that didn't work, you took it away. It's not my fault."

[vanillajello]

"Wow. Okay." The fake piut went away, replaced by a light frown because now she was starting to feel like a bitch for real. "I'm sorry."

[therewaslife]

"I wasn -- " Bod's words died on his lips and he immediately felt awful for ruining the game. "I apologize. I just don't -- "

He didn't know how things worked still and it was embarrassing. He turned his face back into the pillow and closed his eyes tight.

[vanillajello]

Well, they both sucked at this game. Kate's face fell, and she got up and came over to the bed, climbing in next to him on her knees. "Come on," she murmured, "don't get embarrassed."

[therewaslife]

"It's far too late for that," he replied, voice muffled. "I didn't come here to make your face do that and it did and I apologize."

[vanillajello]

"It's okay," she insisted, reaching out to rub his back a bit. "You can make my face do lots of things. Better things. All is not lost. I'm sorry for playing games."

[therewaslife]

"I just don't know how to play them still," he said and shook his head. "It's embarrassing. It's not like I'm new to this world or our relationship."

[vanillajello]

"Bod, our relationship is weird," Kate told him. "I barely know what the hell we're doing, half the time. At least we're not bored."

[therewaslife]

"You don't know what we're doing?" Bod asked, pulling his head up and glancing at her. "That doesn't sound...all that good."

[vanillajello]

"No, I mean that in a totally good way," she assured him quickly. "I mean, I know what we're doing, we're dating and everything, but just... I don't expect everything to go normal between us, you know? Sometimes we have times like this."

[therewaslife]

"But, don't you think I should know how to deal with things like this by now?" Bod wondered, shaking his head. "I think I should."

And he hated when he couldn't.

[vanillajello]

"You're a graveyard boy," Kate pointed out, softly. "Chances are it'll never be easy for you. I mean, it could just be in your personality."

[therewaslife]

"It's embarrassing sometimes," he said and dropped his cheek back against the pillow. "I just want to understand things."

[vanillajello]

"It's not embarrassing," Kate told him, shifting so she could press her cheek against his back. "You're sweet."

[therewaslife]

"I feel clueless," he mumbled, sighing. "I wish I could understand things like those games and slang and such."

[vanillajello]

"You can learn slang from going online and looking up the Urban Dictionary," Kate replied, smiling a little at how she'd heard his voice through his back as well as through her uncovered ear. "Or from books. As for my games, the onlyway to learn those is to keep living with me."

In a certain sense of the phrase 'living with'.

[therewaslife]

"I wish I could be here more," he said quietly, closing his eyes again. "I read a lot and I use the computer for research but it often doesn't help. The knowledge is there but using it, I can't do that."

[vanillajello]

"Well, I'm sorry but I don't really care about you using all that knolwedge, anyway," Kate murmured, drawing a heart against his back.

"I care way more about how you go along with my ridiculous whims and occasionally do crazy shit with me," she added. "Do you know how much a strength it can be that you don't know everything? It means you don't always have the same prejudices or stuff that other people might have. You come to things with a more open mind."

[therewaslife]

"Perhaps."

Maybe she had a point.

"I just don't want to make you frown. It hurts me when I do that."

[vanillajello]

Kate sighed, but it was soft. "Frowning is a part of life, young grasshopper," she said, sagely. "Sometimes it happens. I think what happens after is more important."

[therewaslife]

"Perhaps," he said again. "I didn't mean for it to happen this time, though. I was really trying to play your game. I really was."