The Lips, the Teeth, the Tip of the Tongue(Alex)

[Deleted]

Oriel didn't always come to the drama club...mostly because he couldn't stand the people there. The things they did were fun enough. Drama exercises. Vocal exercises. A lot of it made him feel like a dork but then.....Oriel did a lot of things that made him feel like a dork.

The fact that two of his roommates were also there ought to have put him a little more at ease, after all familiarity seemed to do that for the explosively anxious boy, but given that he had an apparent dislike for both of them, it just made things....awkward isn't exactly the word but it was similar. Grating maybe. Annoying. Especially when he had to partner up with one of them.

Alex was.....a few choice words that he wasn't going to utter here. But basically, based on his interactions with her so far, he didn't like her. Which was the great thing about these drama exercises because you had to learn how to work with the people you hate! Great, right!?

Feh....

Oriel sat on the edge of the stage, his 2-page script in hand and his back to the girl with the unnecessarily colorful hair. They had 30 minutes to prep their short scene and then would present it to the rest of the group. Oriel might be more motivated if there was some sort of prize at the end.....maybe. And maybe if he had a different partner. Oriel scowled at the hieroglyphs on the sheet of paper in his hand, not feeling like taking the extra time to decipher them at the moment.

[Alexandra Patterson]

Alex loved going to drama club and acting. After all acting did run in her family. Her mother is on a hit soap opera and had a hit Tv show back when she was a teenager. It was one of the few things her and her mother actually bonded over. Which was one of the reason why this was one of her hobbies she took really serious and tried to excel at. She was always trying to impress her and make her pay attention even if she didn't realize that was what she was doing.

Alex sat down next to Oriel ,one of her legs up to her chest and the other stretched out. She wasn't particularly happy she got picked to work with Oriel. She wouldn't go as far as saying she hated him but she didn't really prefer him was the nicest way to put it. Their interaction haven't been the warmest so far. "Hey, yo Betty Crocker turn around so we can go over this. I am not making a fool out of myself in front of the others because you have a problem with me". Though the problem was mutual. "So build a bridge and get over your pissy feelings and lets play nice while practicing". She grabbed her script off the stage looking over it.

[Deleted]

Why did girls like to talk so much? Why did they think that anything they said actually mattered? Well, Oriel had to admit that what Alex said made sense, of course it did! Oriel wasn't always going to be given the privilege of working with people he liked so of course he had to learn how to be constructive.

Oriel released a very loud, groaning sigh as he turned around to at least sit parallel to his scene partner. "That ain't it, Rainbow Dash," he grumbled, rolling his eyes. "I might hate you, but if I didn't know how to at least pretend to like someone, I wouldn't even be in this club." Pretending to be happy, to like certain people, manipulating etc etc etc was all that Oriel did for a long time.

The problem was….that while he'd significantly improved his reading skills over the past couple of months, thanks to the learning aids he'd been pointed to in the computer lab, he was still a long way off from still sounding like a 6 year old sounding out his ABCs. "Can't we just, like, take a day to learn this shit and do it tomorrow or something?" Oriel would come back with the whole two pages memorized and just recite the dumb shit off the top of his head like a boss.

[Alexandra Patterson]

Alex sightly smirked for a few seconds at the rainbow dash comment. If only he knew My little ponies was one of her secrete guilty pleasure and she rainbow dash was one of her favorite ponies. Of course that was a thing she kept to herself and would never share.

She put her hand over her heart when he said hate. "Ouch and here I thought we were well on are way to being BFF's" she joked sarcastically. "Sadly we can not take it back to the dorm though. So if i'm not it then tell me what it is so we can move on. I can be helpful when I want".

[Deleted]

Oriel too did enough to hide his own guilty pleasures, but there was no point in hiding it from his roommates. It wasn't like he had a tv in his own room, or even a computer of his own to enjoy things on. Oriel often used the main room for his cartoon watching. It was the musical watching that he usually waited until his roomies were out before popping it in, and even then, he didn't bother stopping if they happened to come back before he expected.

"Maybe when you stop sounding like a clueless valley-girl, we can upgrade to acquaintances," he shot back. As for the 'helpfullness' that Alex was advertising, Oriel trusted her with that about as far as he could throw her. Actually, he could probably throw her a hella lot farther than he trusted her. Unfortunately, they didn't have a lot of time. It was either give in to her and be a little embarrassed, or be stubborn and be humiliated in front of the class. "…….I can't read too. We'll get through this a lot faster if you just read it to me a couple of times so I can memorize it that way…." Oriel felt his face flush, but he kept his expression scowly.

[Alexandra Patterson]

"I don't speak like a valley girl" she said sightly offended. "People love how I talk i'll have you know". She give her hair a little flip. "I have been told I have a sexy voice".

"Ahh I see" Alex said as he told her what it was. She definitely wasn't expecting that one. "Your going to have a hell of a time if you want to get into acting you know". She smiled at his flush face finding it amusing. "Oh come on i'm sure your reading isn't that bad. Or maybe it is that bad what do I know". She shook her head about reading it to him. "Oh dear Oriel if I do that how will you ever get better. I will only be crippling you further" she said sounding a lot like how her mother talked to her.  She would say thing like that when she was busy and Alex would want help from her. It was part of the reason Alex didn't ask for help now because she got use to figuring things out. "My mom away say the best way to learn is to do. Also practices makes perfect and their is no time like the present. So lets do this" she said in a fake sweet voice. She picked up her script and looked for a small line for him to read. "Look bottom of the page is your line try reading that". Alex was mostly doing this out of curiosity and amusement but it was a small part of her that was trying to help. She would deny it if you asked but it was still their. "I promise I wont laugh if it's bad".

[Deleted]

“Well, guess what, I’m people too and I fucking hate the way you talk, so you can’t assume you know what we all like, got it?” He stifled a laugh and failed at her mislead arrogance. “Must’ve been tone-deaf then.”

Fuck. Oriel shouldn’t have said anything. He should have just skipped out on today’s meeting. Or just left as soon as he heard about what today’s exercise was.

Yes yes, he knew what he was in for, and he was getting better, but he’d only really been working seriously at it since December, so he still sounded like a fucking five year old reading his first Bernstein Bear book. The point of asking wasn’t so he could avoid a chance to “get better”, it was to save time because they only had 30 fucking minutes to get this shit done, why was it so hard for this flake to understand that simple concept. And what was with the patronizing tone? Like she knew anything about what he’d been through, this was exactly the reason why he didn’t tell anyone about that shit!

And she won’t laugh? That implied that she thought there was something to laugh at and that she would “restrain” herself out of some warped sense of politeness. It wasn’t funny, it was humiliating!

Oriel pushed himself off the stage and turn on Alex with a glare that could kill the fucking friendship ponies. “If fourteen fucking years of practice ain’t making it perfect by now, then there’s something fucking wrong and your little lecture ain’t gonna work any better than every other fucking person who tried to shove that same twisted logic down my throat.” He held up his script and ripped in half before her. Then in fourths. And eights. Then tossed the confetti in her face. “I already know what I can do and what I can’t. So read it to me, or fuck off.” Oriel didn't raise his voice once, if only to avoid drawing attention from the other students.

[Alexandra Patterson]

"Nothing funny" Alex said laughing a little. She playfully pushed his shoulder. Don't hate because I have a angelic voice and your sounds like urkel from family matter".

Alex put her hands up in defense. "Woah calm down Oriel. I'm not trying to force anything on you". She looked at him not showing any reaction about him ripping the script in till he threw it in her face. Her mood quickly changed from her being nonchalant to her being really mad. Alex could handle his jokes, after all she found them very amusing. She could even handle him calling her a whore among other things being it wasn't the worst she heard but when he threw it at her face he crossed the line for her. It briefly brought her back to a place she didn't want to go. The younger her would of just not said anything but this was now and their was no trace of the younger Alex anywhere. She got up and got closed to him glaring up at him seeing how he was a few inches taller than her. "Look here you disrespectful little piece of sh*t". Her voice changed from how she usually talked into this very sweet voice. That how you know that you did something to make Alex mad but she was trying to stay calm. "First if you throw something in my face again I swear to god we are fighting Oriel. I'm sorry, truly am, that I hit some nerve but you are not going to disrespect me by throwing something in my face. I was actually trying to help. I didn't know it was some medical thing or whatever. Second... fine i'll read the script to you. Since you want to go rip yours up having a little temper tantrum I really don't have a choice now anyway".

Alex let out a deep breath knowing she needed to calm down and not let him get to her. Her poker face she always has about everything needed to get back on and caring Alex needed to go away. She sat back down on the stage indian style and picked up her script. "Well sit down" she said not taking her eyes off the the script. "We wasted enough time already and like I said i'm not embarrassing myself". 

[Deleted]

Okay this was stupid. Oriel had an awesome voice, what was this bitch going on about anyway? “Only if angels sound like strangled turkeys,” he grumbled.

Did he really not have as good a voice as he thought he did? Fuck, what this this chick know! She was just a color-blind, opinionated skank who didn’t know how to just do what she’s told. Oriel had tried to be tactful and polite about this, but no, she had to go get all self-righteous on him about it. What fucking sense did it make for him to ask her to read it to him if he could do it easily on his own? She was the one wasting time, not Oriel, nope. If Alex was trying to help, he didn’t see it, just yet another person who liked to impose their ideas of perfection on someone who just couldn’t get there.

Alex didn’t want them to be fighting? Well, too bad, that’s what happened when someone flipped Oriel’s “I fucking hate you” switch. What was she expecting, for Oriel to cower and cry because she decided to talk back with a threat of “Oh, no! We’re fighting!!” Oriel kept his eyes on her, unchanging from their cold glare as she went off on him. There were a few stared from other groups, but he ignored them. “The next thing I throw at your face,” he hissed in a low, oppressive voice, “Is my fist, the next time you decide lecture me about shit you know nothing about, and what ain’t even your business. Capisce?” He looked over the caramel-skinned girl. “I could break a twig like you in half if I wanted.” A slow smirk appeared on his lips as he imagined the feel of her breaking in his hands.

He mentally tried to shake it off but with very little success. Oriel continued to slowly boil inside himself, masking the full range of his frustration with the same cold expression he adopted when the skank first pissed him off. Oriel didn’t sit, but instead leaned against the edge of the stage. He folded his arms and stared forward. “Read it.”

[Alexandra Patterson]

She looked at him chuckled at the fact he was threatening to hit her. Alex was pretty confident she could win in a fight with Oriel if it came down to it or at the least make it a tie. She has decently defend herself against some of her mother's boyfriends before who were probably way more of a challenge than the boy. Not to mention the girl tends to draw a lot of drama to her so she had to learn how to fight finding herself constantly with people wanting to fight her. "Aw aren't you adorable when you're trying to be all tough and intimidating" said said in the belittling tone you use with children. "I swear it's too cute how you think I would be scared of you". Though the smile on his face was kind of creepy to her even if she didn't show it. "Oh and by the way just because I'm small doesn't mean anything. I'm way more of a threat then I might seem" she warned with a nonchalant shrug.

"What no please read it?" she joked. "Some people are just so rude". She chuckled to herself and proceed to read. After the fifth time threw she set it down. "You got it or do I need to go back threw"? It was about a two and an half long pages so it didn't take long to read it.

[Deleted]

Oh she could laugh all she wanted. It was true that Oriel didn’t like hitting women, and did everything he could to avoid doing such a thing, but that didn’t mean he never felt like it from time to time. Bitches thought that just because they were women, they could get away with saying the shit they did. That it excused their insensitivity, their callous words, their manipulative attitudes, their ignorance. They just pull the “but I’m a woman” card and suddenly think any man would bow to their knees and worship the shit on their shoe. Oriel could break this scrawny thing in half if he wanted to….

He breathed.

“That before or after you lure a cock into your bed and bite off his manhood?” He snorted, looking her up and down with condescending eyes. “You don’t really think a whore like you can take me on without first flashing those rancid potato-bags you call breasts, now do you?” It was amusing how so many people thought that Oriel was a pushover. He weighed over 200lbs and had the endurance of a tank. Add to that…he was a twisted fuck. While it’d certainly been a while since he’d engaged in something that hot and heavy(Kodi, that equally twisted ass-fucker had been his last), the threat of violence still flared him up like nothing else. Even more now that this twat was actively asking for it.

His grin held steady. “I asked you nice once, was ribbed and got it chucked back in my face like piece of trash. You really ‘spect me to try again?” He scoffed. “You want courtesy, first you gotta earn it.”

Oriel closed his eyes as he listened to Alex read it off. Once, then twice. He got it by the 3rd time but let her continue anyway. By the fifth he was vaguely mouthing the words along with her. “Yeah, no sweat.”

[Alexandra Patterson]

Alex would never admit it if asked but the boy creeped her out just a little. Not to point of her backing down from a fight of course but just enough to the point of her thinking twice. At times he seemed even more off than her and that was saying something. It had been awhile since she found someone who could even slightly unnerved the girl but she was still pretty confident she could take him. Even if it would be a challenge. The only reason she didn't say anything back was because they were starting to draw attention to them and Alex did not want to be kicked out of drama class and or land detention. Plus if it ever did come to blow why not just do it in the dorm where no one would be at to break it up. So she bite her tongue for now despite wanting to spit a few choice words at him and read.

"Good". Alex checked her phone and sighed. "We still have about five minutes to kill. We could always braid each others hair and share gossip and secretes" she joked being stupid. Even though she was a little curious about Oriel she had no reason just yet to need to know his secrets or history. That would come later when her level of dislike for the boy came to an all time high. She briefly thought about how hard that would be if he was indeed was more like her then she thought. "I mean we are bestfriends. So how are you and that darling little Phoenix? Did you guys go all the way yet"? She smothered a laugh. Of course she knew they did. You could hear them just about every night since the asian kid was a damn screamer. Which she needed to say something about them keeping it down. When she invited people in the dorm at least she was quiet about it. 

[Deleted]

Oriel was thankful that the wench hadn’t decided to continue the venomous banter between the two headstrong individuals, though Alex did so at the cost of leaving Oriel to believe that he had won. Or maybe he just didn’t care and felt rather like just concentrating on the assignment. Oriel had developed an inkling of respect for the stubborn girl. She had a sharp mouth and could keep the banter up well, which under normal circumstances Oriel would have merely enjoyed seeing who could out-banter the other. But Oriel also knew that there were just some areas you had to stay away from. Like the other day with Rya and his comment over her blonde-robot crush. And now, with Alex attacking his less than stellar reading skills. Oriel had stepped on that land mine last summer when he met Penelope. He was starting to think that maybe he and his banter-buddies needed to just sit down and make a list of things to stay away from. Couldn’t hurt.

The time that they actually used to practice was exactly what Oriel needed to calm down and keep himself in check. Take a few deep breaths and concentrate on the dialogue and nothing else. He still didn’t think he liked Alex, but he wasn’t about to murder her anymore. Or worse. “Excuse you, but my hair is exactly perfect just the way it is,” he asserted.

Her next inquiry managed to coax a sneer out of him which quickly devolved into a “tortured” face of “agony”. He sniffled. “That horrible man of mine,” he started, for some reason sounding like a southern-belle. “He just won’t put out anymore. Leaves me at home all day and night with the cookin’ and the cleanin’ and what do I get for it at the end of the day? Nothin’ but a…stupid….blowjob…!” More sniffles came before Oriel erupted into over-dramatized bawling. “I feel so unlooved!” he cried. They were probably drawing more stares over this.

[Alexandra Patterson]

Alex laughed at Oriel dramatic and how he was drawing attention. Hey it was a drama class right? Why not give the people a little show. "Isn't that the saddest little thing I ever did hear" she said in her own southern accent. She place one hand on her heart and another on his shoulder with a sympathizing face. " Well I tell you that it's just not right.That awful man of yours. With all the work you do raising the kids and all he should be putting out five times a day at least. You got to give that Phen a stern talking to I say. Tell him look her mr I wait for you all day and I spect more then ,lord excuse my language, a damn blowjob".

[Deleted]

Before they were drawing stares from their animosity. Now they were drawing stares from their collective silliness. Oriel preferred doing things with the latter a lot more than the former. Oriel tensed a little under her touch, not quite feeling comfortable with that level of contact yet…if anybody was going to be doing any touching it was Oriel! He tried to ignore it with more silliness. “Oh, I try t’ tell ‘im, surely I do! But he just ain’t listenin’! Starts spoutin’ out all this nonsense about respect and autonomy, and ‘sides that, he jus’ bein’ too darned tired t’ be doing anythin’ at all, and I should be lucky t’ be gettin’ what I do.” Oriel leaned in, holding his hand up to his mouth in shock and exasperation. “Lucky, he says! Hmph! Well, I’ll be showin’ him lucky when he come home today, I tell you me.” Oriel sent the girl a sharp nod, wondering how much longer the two of them could keep this up.