Rock and a Hard Place

[Rowan Booker]

Rowan had been avoiding this meeting at all costs. Not because he was afraid that they wouldn't get along, but rather because he knew he'd be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Rock being Beat and hard place being Lucy. The two most important women in his life were finally meeting and he wondered how he was going to split up his attention. Usually it was just him and one of his girls, but two of them? That was going to be a tough one. Beatrice was blood, she was younger and she probably should come first because they'd been close ever since Ben's death and even before. But Lucy was the reason he was the man he was today. She got him out of his slump and brightened his life tremendously.

To say the least, he was going a little crazier than usual.

And when Rowan we crazy, his room became spotless. Every little thing that might have been slightly out of place was now perfectly aligned and clean. There was no dust in his room, and it was empty sans a few select posters here and there along with a calendar that marked every day he worked, the hours and the days that were dedicated to school functions. He as a mad man, cleaning and re-organizing everything.

When Beat showed up, he acted as normal as possible, which wasn't hard and asked her about school, her dorm life and everything else while they waited for Lucy's arrival. Rowan had been sure to plan that Beat was there before Lucy so they didn't end up showing at the exact same time and having an awkward run-in before the official meeting. 

He sat on his bed, laying back just chit-chatting away when there was a knock at the door. "Beatrice, be good. You understand? I mean I'm not worried because if you like me, you'll love Lucy, but don't be a little snot, understand?"

[Beatrice Booker]

Rowan had been going on for forever about Lucy. Of course, Beat being the snoop she was had done her own detective work and had more or less stalked Lucy the best she could which mostly entailed just spying on her over a book at lunch. She didn't get much of a read. She was tall... pretty she supposed and had a killer accent that reminded her of Steve Irwin.... she kind of hoped that she could at least get her to quote him during this very important meeting.

When she got to Row's she had a hard time not laughing at him. He looked truly frazzled and she couldn't make heads or tales of it. She really didn't see the big deal. Rowan had had girls before around her and it was always fine... she supposed. She never particularly liked them. She always got this weird gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach whenever they'd act cute or hang all over him, which seemed to happen a lot in these situations. 

Beat rolled her eyes. "The lack of faith you have in me is actually insulting." she said as she hopped onto her bed making herself comfortable. She didn't want to look as nervous as Rowan was. If they both acted like puppies about the pee themselves this Lucy chick was sure to jump ship immediately. Beat on the other hand didn't have a choice, her and Rowan were blood weather he was embarrassing her or not. 

"Breathe Row" She coached as she dramatically let herself flop back. "If this girl is as cool as you INSIST then hopefully I won't have to be a snot" She threw the word back at him. "By the way you've got a bat in the cave"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy knew a fair bit about Beatrix already. Rowan liked to talk about her a lot, particularly when the conversation on Lucy's end turned to that of her sister. Beat, to Lucy's understanding, was the closest thing to a sibling the guy had ever had. So she was important. It might have made meeting her a bit daunting, but she expected he'd be the same if she ever let him meet Nica.

The tatted-up meta made the usual trip to Rowan's room, as on time as she could be. It was important to him, so tardiness seemed like a stupid thing to get caught up in.

Walking into the common area, Lucy immediately noticed the Boston boy's dorm room door was open, and she could hear two voices emanating from inside. They were both here already. That was probably a good thing.

"Again, Ro?" She asked instantly, looking around the room as soon as she could see inside it. "Didn't anyone tell you to put a bloody lid on the OCD shit?" It made it way too obvious that he was stressing out. No one was going to feel calm about this if he was clearly stressing out.

It was then that the Australian looked at the smaller girl on his bed. She resisted the urge to joke about how that particular spot was probably the most dirtiest place in the whole room; "Hey."

[Rowan Booker]

"It's not lack of faith, babe. It's fear of the known, you have a knack of being a little punk when you don't like someone," And he didn't want his cousin to hate his best friend or vice versa. He wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it quite so well. It was bad enough that he was pretty sure Lucy didn't like Alex, if she didn't like Beat, he'd be completely fucked.

God...Alex. That was a meeting he dreaded even more.

Rowan snorted at her and ruffled her hair, "You're a snot regardless. Don't make me embarrass the living hell out of you, you know I will. Cousin spit and all that nonsense that Aunt Maryna does." He smirked at her and nudged her. The banter between them eventually calmed him down and he felt that he could actually get through this without acting like a total moron.

Until he heard his best friend's voice. And she totally called him out on his stress relieving ways. "Sue me for liking my shit clean," He rolled his eyes at her before rolling off his bed and heading over to the older girl. Rowan yanked her into a hug and planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek. Well hey, if they were going to pick on him, he could annoy them both! "Hi, baby. I MISSED you," He laughed and visibly relaxed by the time he turned to Beatrice.

"Beat-box, Lucky, Lucky, Beat-box," He smiled at the nicknames he'd given them and gave Beatrice a warning look that more or less said if she didn't play nice he was going to make this last year he was here absolute torturous for her.

[Beatrice Booker]

Beat looked up at the skinny dark haired girl. Was this really who he was getting his tighty whiteys in a bunch for? She was pretty, sure, but jesus he had to fucking relax! "Hi." she responded sliding herself to the edge of the bed to sit, her legs dangling off of it. She watched the interaction between her cousin and this girl, interesting. She wasn't used to seeing Rowan in action, she was used to him at her house with at least one of their moms home or not too far away. This was, weird. And she wasn't quite sure how to deal with watching him dote on someone else. 

"Nice to meet you Lucky." She chuckled putting her hand out, "Tris, actually." She hadn't told Rowan about her new name yet, but she was trying it out. She wasn't so sure if she was a Beat anymore and she wanted her own identity. Tris sounded more grown up, more like a hot girl instead of some little tom boy following around her brother and older cousin. She wanted to be the hot girl.