Room 324, Friday Afternoon

[vanillajello]

Kate was just getting around to emailing photos of Fandom to her brother when her phone buzzed, signaling the arrival of a message.

haven’t seen you at school, where r u?

Kate blinked a few times after she read the message. Oh-kay. Not entirely unexpected, but still pretty surprising. She wasn’t going to reply to it, though. He didn’t deserve it. She couldn’t really bring herself to delete the message right away, but went back to picking sendable pictures on the computer.

About five minutes later the phone buzzed again.

i miss you katie-chan

...He was making it really hard not to reply. Kate sat on her bed, looking at her phone.


[Open door, open post!]

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[future_sandworm]

Leto knocked lightly on the open door and waited for Kate to notice him.

[vanillajello]

Kate looked up, and her vaguely confused expression turned into a smile when she saw who it was. "Oh, hi Leto."

[future_sandworm]

"And here I am, interrupting you again." He smiled at Kate.

[vanillajello]

"Distracting, not interrupting," she said, snapping her cellphone shut, putting it down on the bed. "Someone else beat you to interrupting."

[future_sandworm]

"Oh? Should I be jealous?" he joked, entering the room and taking a seat next to Kate. "How have you been?"

[vanillajello]

"I think maybe he should be," she said, smirking a little. "I've been good. Auditioned for the play on Tuesday. Bought a plant yesterday." She gestured at the pothos on the table.

[future_sandworm]

She got an amused look back. "I'm relieved," he said. "And Dinah persuaded me to by a plant recently too."

[vanillajello]

"What kind?" she asked. "I asked Miss Vida for something that will survive me and Bobby."

[future_sandworm]

"A cactus," he replied. "A desert plant." He nodded at the pothos. "And this one is supposed to survive exactly what?"

[vanillajello]

"A cactus, I should've guessed," she said, laughing a little. "The pothos is supposed to survive us sometimes not remembering to water it, mainly. I'm not exactly sure what other dangers it's going to be facing here."

[future_sandworm]

"Similar to a cactus in that respect," he said. "And I was actually wondering what else you might put the poor plant through."

[vanillajello]

"It might get pudding dumped on it," she grinned. "And I have no idea how it will react to my music choices. I'm sure there are many other hazards too."

[future_sandworm]

He laughed. "Clearly you're a dangerous woman to be around. Or is your roommate the one to blame?"

[vanillajello]

"I'll gleefully blame Bobby for everything," she replied. "And then accidentally set the plant on fire or something."

[future_sandworm]

He nudged her shoulder. "How generous of you."

[vanillajello]

"Generousity is my middle name," she noted. "Just one of my many, many good qualities, which hopefully overshadow my potential for being a plant killer."

[future_sandworm]

"So, dear plant killer, what kind of generosity am I to expect from you," he teased.

[I have to go for a while]

[vanillajello]

"You'll get everything you ever ask from me," she said, tilting her head to the side and smirking. "Unless I don't want you to have it, for whatever reason."

Yes, she was fully aware of how little that actually meant.

[future_sandworm]

"And what would you want me to have?" he asked, trying to get Kate to say something that meant a little more.

[vanillajello]

Kate gave him a look. She knew exactly what he was trying to do. Then she looked away. "Will you take 'I don't even know' for an answer?"

[future_sandworm]

"No," Leto replied, grinning. "Why should I?"

[vanillajello]

"Because all other answers might only be half-truths?" Kate offered.

[future_sandworm]

"A half-truth is not a lie," he replied.

[vanillajello]

"Not entirely, no," she said, wrinkling her nose at him. "But some of it kinda maybe might be."

[future_sandworm]

"There is always a spectrum between truth and falsehood," Leto said. "And you are avoiding my question."