What Just Happened...? (Open)

[Deleted]

Zach stared off into the street, clutching the two Benjamins in his right hand while his left swung uselessly to the side as the person whom it'd just been holding onto had just disappeared in less than 20 seconds.

Someone at the high-end clothing store Kai worked for, From The Spectrum, had called in sick and he was needed to cover a shift.

After a quick phone call, getting some money shoved in his hand for a cab, a meal, and whatever else he wanted, and a veeeery long, knee-buckling kiss, Kai essentially vanished in the middle of their outing in downtown Pilot Ridge and drove off to the mall, leaving Zach standing there in the middle of the side-walk somewhat turned-on, awkward, alone, and just a whole lot of confused.

That--------JERK!!!

How dare he just leave him like that in the middle of nowhere?! Did he think a few kisses and 100 dollar bills was enough to make up for essentially abandoning the socially awkward writer in the middle of a crowded downtown?! Just what did Kai think Zach was? Just who did Kai think he was? Just what was he thinking at all ever???

And didn't Kai know that most places didn't even take bills over 50!?!?

Zach's hand was starting to shake with how hard his grip had become around those two bills, so much his hand hurt. He took a deep breath and tried to get the red to fade from his face as he pulled out his wallet, slipped the money into it, and stuffed it back into his back pocket. Really, there was nothing else to do but go back home...or rather Kai's apartment, since it was still spring break and Zach had agreed to stay with the younger man until classes started again at which point....what? Would they just go right back to how it was before? With both of them being too busy to meet more than a once every couple of weeks? Because Lord knew the both of them were complete workaholics and had everything in the world to do before they could get to their social lives.

Social lives....is that all they were? Social? Friends? Something else that still didn't make sense to Zach?

He sighed again and started walking down the sidewalk, unsure of what to do. Well...he was getting hungry, they'd only just started and hand't gotten the chance to eat yet. So....food. Now where? Zach was just fine with fast food but he had the feeling that Kai intended for something better than that, considering he'd insisted that Zach wear something more acceptable than his faded, holey jeans. He stopped in front of a restaurant that looked pretty high end, one of those that had the menu listed outside and displayed all the overpriced prices. Zach stared at it for a moment before shaking his head and taking a step back, determined to just stick with what he knew, when he misstepped right into the person behind him. He twisted around to stabilize himself or catch the other person, but before he knew it, both he and the other person were lying on top of each other in the middle of the side walk. "S...sorry..." he said with a slight ache in his voice.

[Oliver Barnes]

Oliver walked along the relatively empty sidewalk, with one shopping bag in his hand. He.. he just needed to get off of campus for awhile. Spend a little time away from the familiar. He rarely went downtown, only to frequent the bookshop and on occasion, the thrift shop to find plaid shirts. In his bag was a flannel shirt, tucked among a half dozen books or so. Oliver found joy in The Book Nook, making sure to frequent the place at least once a month to discover new and old reads.

Books provided a nice distraction from the real world, and lord knows that Oliver needed the literary escapes these days. Mostly since running into AJ at some dumb dorm room party. Now that was awkward. Being Oliver, he had tried to run away, like times before. Inside, the shy boy knew that the two would have to face their fears (mostly his since AJ didn't even know he was at Hammel until the party) ad talk about what had happened sophomore year.

Needless to say, he was already distracted from his thoughts, and wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. Oliver debated on stopping somewhere for a quick snack and drink before heading back to campus, when he felt someone bump into him. No big deal right?

Until the boy were awkwardly tangled around each other on the sidewalk.

Oliver blinked, not even realizing what had happened. It took a moment to register, and then his face turned crimson in response. "Oh, shit, no, no it's.. it''s o-okay." he managed to stammer out, running a hand through his hair. "My fault man." He apologized, letting go as he realized he was clutching onto the stranger. A few passing people laughed, none offering to lend a hand. Oliver cleared his throat, thoroughly embarrassed with the ordeal.

[Deleted]

Really, once Zach was done running into people, he might wonder what it was about him that constantly made him run into people in a cliche way like he'd just stepped out of a cheesy romance novel, or movie, or something like that. If that thing about him wasn't there, then maybe he wouldn't be tangled up with this other person in the middle of the sidewalk with every single passer-by pointing an laughing at the sheer ineptitude of both men.

At least it was a man. That, somehow, was less awkward than if it had been a woman that the sudden entanglement had resulted in Zach's face planted between her breasts.

Though Zach's face was likely equally as red as it would have been then and, as it seemed to be, also about as much as the male he'd toppled himself on top of. "S-sorry…" he said again as he fumbled to pick himself up off the other without accidentally touching or placing his hands or knees in places and areas that were less than appropriate…..and probably failing. "Sorry!" he exclaimed as he snapped himself away and his weight fell on the other boy again. Though this time, Zach managed to roll himself to the side of the other man so Zach's poor victim wasn't taking the whole brunt of it. "I…I am so sorry…" he pleaded again, like a broken record, covering his reddening face.

[Oliver Barnes]

Oliver felt his cheeks burn red, and the colour wasn't going to fade anytime soon. It just had to be someone as awkward as Oliver was. He licked his lips, searching for the right words to say. What was there to say that didn't involve embarrassing himself or the stranger further?

"It's okay... really." Oliver insisted. "I should have been paying attention.. and.. and I wasn't and so now this happened and I'm really sorry cause it was my fault..." He began to ramble, running a hand through his hair anxiously again. And then the stranger fell on him... again! Oliver grunted in response, mostly in confusion. And it sort of came out like a squeak. He inhaled, feeling even more blood rush to his face. Oh god, this was so embarrassing! Oliver would have rather face AJ in front of the entire Hammel population!

"Ah, it's okay." He repeated, quickly sitting up and dusting off his shirt. "Accidents happen." Oliver assured the stranger, turning to face his awkward companion. Seemed kind of older, probably a college aged kid. "I... god." He shook his head at the confrontation. If there were a more awkward and embarrassing way to meet someone, then Oliver would be surprised to see what could compare to this fiasco.

[Deleted]

"I really wasn't paying attention either," Zach admitted, completely convinced that it was his own fault that this debacle had come to pass. "I'm not used to these shoes and I just…tripped over my own feet and…" Well, combined with not paying attention, anybody who happened to be standing behind him likely didn't have a chance. But Zach wasn't normally this clumsy, just over all around awkward, which is what made these kinds of encounters even more awkward.

They both probably looked ridiculous rolling around on the sidewalk like they were, apologizing over and over to each other. One of them really should get up already.

"Yeah…" Zach breathed out a soft laugh. "You can…you can say that again." Accidents do happen, especially where Zach was involved. This was worse than when he tried to make hot chocolate with breading instead of…well, chocolate.

Though by now, now that he was sitting up and thinking about the whole thing, it was pretty funny. Zach couldn't help but start laughing. He devolved into a flurry of soft giggles as he finally propped himself up into a somewhat sitting position. "Sorry…..I really shouldn't be…." Zach started to apologize again but his embarrassed mirth was quickly getting in the way. He pulled his knees up and rested an elbow on them, covering one side of his face with his hand. "Sorry…"

[Oliver Barnes]

The conclusion that Oliver came to after this situation was that neither of the boys were all too good at social interactions. In fact, he saw character traits in the older boy that made Oliver wonder if he was going to be the same way at the same age. "Yeah I was stuck in my own thoughts, thinking about... life." He generalized, rubbing the back of his neck as Oliver slowly sat up straight, his back protesting in pain.

He groaned, hunching over so it didn't cause as much discomfort. Oliver saw that a few of his books had fallen out of the paper bag, and he shuffled on his hands and knees to pick up the scattered books. Tossing them back in, he waved one in the hair before saying "I was actually thinking about how excited I was to start reading this... then this happened." Oliver waved his hand to the two boys, sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, flustered and embarrassed.

Then, the stranger started laughing. Oliver, blushing on instinct, let out a small laugh. "It's... okay. I guess when you think about it, it was pretty funny. What had happened. I thought it was just a cliche in books and movies." He rambled, laughing alongside the boy.

[Deleted]

Okay, so Zach was awkward. He'd long since accepted that this was fact and was going to remain fact for as long as he lived since so far he hadn't gotten over his awkwardness even remotely at all. And somehow, accepting the awkward was supposed to make him less awkward…or at least less self-conscious about it. So Zach could dive head first into any situation and not worry about whether or not he was going to be awkward, because it was definitely going to happen. It saved a lot of time on worrying, basically. "Yeah…" Zach agreed. That's exactly what he'd been doing, thinking about "…life."

And food. He still needed food.

But seeing the books scattered about, Zach automatically started helping to pick them up. Yes…this had happened before too. Zach had run into someone and caused them to drop the whole of their books. If this happened again, Zach was going to have to start calling him the man of cliche meetings….no, he wasn't, that just sounded stupid. "Oh yeah?" Zach looked at the cover, recognizing it as one he hadn't gotten to read yet. "That one's on my 'to read' list," he offered with a nervous smile. As if this person wanted to know what was on Zach's list of things to read.

"That's…exactly what I was thinking…" Zach said, finally making an attempt to stand up. "This…actually happens eerily often. I'm…actually, I'm starting to think someone's doing this…on purpose…"

[Oliver Barnes]

"Life bothering you too?" Oliver asked, with a half sympathetic, half teasing tone. Clearly, the older boy was distracted by something, otherwise the two wouldn't have wounded up on the sidewalk, tangled together. To sum it up, life... was a bitch. Rarely did Oliver use profanities but the situation called for it inside his head.

"Thanks." He felt his cheeks turn pink again in response. Oliver wanted to open up the closest storm drain hatch and jump in, never to be seen again. Thankfully, he didn't opt for that decision and instead let the stranger help pick up the scattered books. Once all collected again, Oliver smiled. "Yeah? I hope it's a good one. Has a lot of favourable reviews on it." he rambled, running a hand through his hair. He needed a new book friend to rave and rant about literary works to. That person use to be... well, you know.

"The whole bumping into strangers thing?" Oliver asked, with a frown. That came across kind of rude. "Not to sound mean or anything, and I don't mind.. just asking." he tacked on with a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. "Maybe someone is. Someone controlling your life. Maybe we're characters in a book or novel." Oliver grinned at Zach, chuckling at the thought.

(breaking the fourth wall hell yeaaaaaah)

[Deleted]

"Yeah…" Zach confirmed with a nod and a half exasperated smile. Life, or rather Kai, had planted him right in the middle of this mess in the first place. If it weren't for that tall sexy….jerk! then Zach wouldn't have been wandering around in such a daze not paying attention so he can run into people left and right.

"Heh…If I'd read it already I could tell you if they were right." Though Zach had a tendency to enjoy any kind of literature so his opinion might not be worth much. However, he did have a preference for fantasy and science fiction. Less romance, those stories all ended up being the same and if he wanted to read that kind of swill, then he'd just sooner write it himself….

wait, wut?

Zach shook his head of things that weren't supposed to be in there anyway, especially not when he was supposed to be paying attention to the person in front of him. "Yeah," he said, completely oblivious that what he said might have been interpreted as rude. It was a lame attempt at humor, though friends of Zach would likely tell you that even his jokes came across as awkward. "Could be, though…." He continued, offering a hand down to the other man. "….it's actually kind of scary, the more I think about it." Because then that would mean that there was actually someone to blame for his most recent series of strife and discord. Which actually wasn't funny, if that was the case. Zach shook his head, waving a hand somewhat dismissively. "Sorry, uhm….theological speculation is probably too heavy a subject for first conversations," he murmured somewhat to himself but loud enough for his new companion to hear.

What would be a better thing to say? "Umm…I'm Zach. It's nice to…run into you?" No that didn't sound right, Zach just stop talking please.

[Oliver Barnes]

As this was their first meeting, Oliver didn't press on Zach's seemingly distracted mind. Had it been someone the boy was closer to, he'd probably ask what was bothering him, but that wasn't the case.

"Well, maybe we'll have to bump into each other again someday and say what we think of the book." He teased, smiling at the other awkward man. Oliver needed more people in his life who enjoyed literature outside of the library and book store, and actually wouldn't mind acquainting the guy. That is, if he wanted to hang around with a kid. Oliver snorted. Probably wasn't that desperate like he was.

He collected himself, brushing a bit of dust off of his plaid shirt and grabbing onto his shopping bag. Curiously, he tilted his head slightly to the side at the man's vague sentencing. After explanation, he chuckled. "Maybe it's a little too heavy for starters but.." He trailed off, having nothing intelligent to add to the conversation. Instead, Oliver took his offered hand and nodded towards the once stranger. "Thanks." Now he was standing upright again and doing his best not to fall over again.

Oliver laughed, running his other hand through his hair. "I like the puns." Even if Zach didn't mean to say all of those as puns, he would just pretend that he did. Make it less awkward for the guy. "Nice to meet you as well, I'm Oliver." He shook his hand after standing up and let go with a soft smile.

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The mention of meeting up again to discuss the book reminded Zach of another, similar meeting he'd made a short time ago. "Actually," he started, a lot less nervous and awkward now that he knew where he was going with his thoughts. "We're, well me and a friend, are actually trying to start up…a book club…actually." Well, maybe he still was a bit awkward. "If you're interested." Because then they really could get together and discuss the book. Well, Zach would have to read it first, but having these books "assigned" or something for them to read would actually be some great incentive to get the grad student to get through his reading list.

Though next time they met, if they met, Zach was definitely going to keep away from abstract topics of conversation, really what had he been thinking. Surely he was going to remember this incident later and have a case of belated embarrassment in front of Kai who was going to make fun of him forevermore about it, making it so that whenever Zach was reminded of this day, he was going to look back on this stupid little folly of his and relive the embarrassment wherever he may be.

Sigh…

"Sorry…." he said again.

At least he liked Zach's poor attempt at humor. Yes the puns had been intentional, but he was always so awkward at the delivery, most of the time people just told him to stop trying. Or he'd tell himself that. "Thanks…." he said with a more relaxed smile, offering out his hand for Oliver.

Though now they'd gotten to the point of, "what next?". Were they just supposed to go their separate ways now? Zach let the silence hang between them a moment before he felt his stomach pang again and he remembered what his initial mission was in the first place. "Uhmm….I was actually going to get a bite to eat. If….well if you're not doing anything important, you could….If you want..I mean, not that what you're doing isn't important but………….my treat?" He tried to save himself with a stiff smile. Did it work?

[Oliver Barnes]

"Yeah, I'd love that!" Oliver answered instantly, snorting to himself. Was Zach a mindreader? Either way, he loved the idea. "Count me in. If you need any help or anything too, I'd be more than willing to help organize or something." He rambled to Zach. Now that the idea was in his head, Oliver couldn't stop thinking about it. It would get him out there, now that basketball season had ended. He needed something to do, as well as meet new people.

He shrugged off Zach's apology, as there was nothing to apologize for in his eyes. Already, Oliver liked the guy, as he reminded him of himself. Except older. Maybe even more awkward. God, was he going to be even more awkward? Oliver didn't want to think about that. And the puns were just more reasons that this literal encounter wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed before.

As soon as Zach mentioned food, Oliver's stomach reminded him of his own plan to get food before bumping into Zach had happened. His hand subconsciously went towards his stomach, as it gurgled in response. "I think my stomach is agreeing to proposition, but I can pay, it's okay." He offered with a smile. "Oh, yeah, no, I totally understand. I was actually going to go grab a bite to eat somewhere before... this." He gestured vaguely around themselves with a laugh. 

"Got anywhere in particular you like to go? I'm not picky." Oliver rambled, patting his back pocket to make sure his wallet was still there. Otherwise, that would be embarrassing. And he didn't know if his awkward nature could take another moment like that.

[Deleted]

Wow, well that was a lot easier than he thought. Zach was used to being roped into projects, not in organizing them. He was used to being told what to do, where to go, what to say….Zach never could have done anything as thrilling or grand-scale as the Rocky Horror show, nor did he think he had any of the assertiveness required to run things like Jade did. But…he could at least start a small get-together of like-minded book lovers, right? But any help, like what Oliver was offering, was more than welcome. "That…would actually be…great, actually," he stumbled through his words. "I-I really….suck…at organizing things. So really, any help would be…helpful."

Even Zach had to mentally facepalm at the pure awkward of his responses. Did he really just use the word "actually" twice in the same sentence?

Believe it or not, Zachary was a little bit of a grammar nazi, especially against himself.

Zach offered a similar laugh in unison with Oliver's as he agreed and insisted that he pay for himself. "I don't know, I was thinking this place," he said, pointing to the classy place they'd collided in front of, feeling a bit sheepish for suggesting such an expensive plate. "Uh…hence the offer…." Because Zach wouldn't expect anyone he just met on the street to be able to afford such a place. Were it not for Kai, Zach wouldn't either. "If not that's okay!" he said quickly before this guy could give him any seriously strange looks(it was probably too late for that though). "I'm totally okay with just a burger and fries if that's what you want."

[Oliver Barnes]

Although Oliver didn't consider his organizational skills a defining trait, he was sure he could handle organizing a group of people. Besides, people in book clubs tended to be older, more mature people who could handle showing up at someone's house or a book store or coffee shop on time. But now he was overthinking it. He smiled at Zach reassuringly. "It's okay, I'm not the best either." He admitted. "But, every little bit counts, right?" Oliver was sure they could do it. Pick some novels in advance, set a meeting day... it could work. "I'm sure a lot of people would like that sort of thing. A book club, that is."

He was feeling a little less self conscious around someone like him, someone on the more awkward side of society. Maybe literally bumping into him wasn't such a bad idea afterall.

Looking up, Oliver raised an eyebrow at the suggested place. Yeah... definitely more expensive than his usual meal at McDonalds. The name of the place was the first indication, and then the sign nearby that blatantly advertised the ridiculous prices. He choked a little at the prices, giving Zach a panicked look. Was this almost stranger offering to buy him lunch here? "I... I've never been to a place like that before." He hesitated. "I mean, not to sound rude or anything either, I really appreciate the offer... I just don't want you to feel obliged or anything." Afraid of sounding ungrateful, Oliver stuttered out a "If you want, the place looks good. I just feel bad if you spend all your money on me or something like that." He rambled, running a hand through his hair. Just when he thought the embarrassment was over...

[Deleted]

Again, any help that Oliver could give would be…helpful. "Yeah.." he agreed. "Right now we're still barely in the planning stages." Getting permission for a venue was the first of their problems right after gauging interest. Then they had to make out a schedule of some sort…maybe? Was that necessary? Probably agree on which novel would be discussed ahead of time, so they were all on the same page…but how did they decide which book to review? Zach realized very quickly that he knew absolutely nothing about scheduling, requisitioning, and advertising. He'd always just been a lackey. "I don't think we even have a club president yet…I don't even know if we need that sort of thing."

Zach saw the panicked look on Oliver's face when he realized that the place he'd chosen was such a ritzy place. Yeah…that had been Zach's reaction too and he was more than ready to just go to McDonalds and get a $3 value meal…and then pay with a hundred dollar bill….which he was sure was going to get him strange looks from the cashiers…and possibly turned away since they couldn't break such a high bill. "Actually….It's not really my treat," he admitted with a sigh. "I was supposed to meet a friend, he was supposed to pay…but then he got called in to work." Zach shook his head, still exasperated over the audacity that that stupid man was. "….and…he lent me…some cash, I guess…." Now it was Zach's turn to feel embarrassed again. Really, how many people left their friends money as compensation for being called away from a date…?

Date? No…no this was just an "as friends" thing. Right? See? He was going to have lunch with Oliver here and it nobody considered it a date. "Or…we can go to McDonalds." Which wasn't very far either.