Don't burst my bubble (with Aerina)

[Jacob Tapper]

Jacob Tapper let out a long exhale he hadn't realized he was holding in as the buzzer blared over the speakers signalling the end of the game. The young brunet came to a stop on the court and bent forward, placing his hands on his knees and letting himself take a few deep breaths. Once he'd caught most of his breath, a smile spread across his face: Hammel's team had won by just a few points, and the closeness of the game had made victory all the sweeter. He loved the end of the game: teammates were embracing and complimenting one another on a job well done, students - and the occasional staff member who'd come to check out the game - were cheering enthusiastically on, and the cheerleading squad was waving their pom-poms around like they'd just won Game 7 at the freakin' NBA Championship. He loved it all. But most of all, he loved knowing he'd played a role in said victory.

"Hey good game, Tapper," said one of his teammates, who'd joined him at center court. He threw a high-five in Jake's direction, but the trans-dimensional perceiver dodged it; when he was tired like this, he wasn't as well-equipped to stifle one of his visions, and he didn't want everyone assembled to think he was tripping out or something.

"Yeah, you too man," he replied simply with a nod and a small smile. They walked together over to the bench, Jake reaching for his white towel as the other boy headed to the locker room. Jake wiped his brow, which was coated with a thin layer of sweat, as was much of the rest of him. He next reached down for his water bottle, peering around at everyone else in the gymnasium as he drank deeply.

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Phew!!  Being a cheerleader was tough!  Aerina didn't realize how much of a physical workout she would be getting when she joined the squad.  It was a good think that dance kept her on her toes, quite literally, in fact! And in shape too! Despite her small stature of itty-bitty, Aerina had a little bit of tone in her arms and calves, and sported a few decent curves. Not many, but a few that she was willing to show off while in her cheer uniform.

She’d only cheered for a few games so far, but so far, Aerina had found her eyes following a few select players. Yes, she knew she didn’t have time for boys, but….there was nothing wrong with looking, was there? Of course not. There was nothing wrong with talking either. At least, she would not think so. The game was over and there was some time between the end of the game and everyone leaving the gymnasium. Why not be daring and take this opportunity?

Aerina nodded to herself as she kept her eye on the good-looking boy who was just about to take a drink from his water bottle. He had played very well, she noticed. Rina wouldn’t mind being his personal cheerleader, tee-hee~ Aerina hopped up from her seat on the bleachers and practically floated over his way, carrying a set of pompoms, one in each hand. Oh, gosh, what was she to say??

“You played very well tonight!” she said brightly, smiling up at the much taller boy. Her accent was heavy, but she still spoke clearly. “Are the games always so exciting here?” she asked curiously. She tipped her head to the side, allowing her ponytail of rampant curls sway along with it. “This is only my second time cheering, so I don’t know very many people. What is your name?” They may have said it at the beginning of the game, and it might be on his uniform, but…Aerina still wanted to hear him say it. To get the conversation going. That wasn’t too bold of her, was it?

[Jacob Tapper]

Jacob had, of course, noticed the cheerleaders. When hadn't he, really? They were a bunch of pretty girls wearing fairly tight clothing bouncing up and down for the crowd's delight. It was a pretty awesome setup, if you asked him. That said, he didn't really pay attention to them during the actual game, or at least tried not to, since that would just distract him from the subject at hand. And if there was one thing Jacob hated, it was having his attention pulled in different directions, particularly when he was focused on something he thought was important.

He had just taken a long, deep gulp from his water bottle when he heard a feminine voice behind him. Turning, he saw a girl standing beside him - and boy, was she a short one. She must be pretty young, he decided based on her height, though she was wearing one of the cheerleader outfits, so maybe she wasn't so new around here. "Oh, thanks," he said through a smile as this stranger complimented his performance. He had known he'd done a good job, but it was still nice to hear it from someone else: feeds the ego, and all that. He took a few more deep breaths, still coming down from the excitement of the game. "Yeah, they're pretty fun," he assented with a nod, looking around at the now-thinning crowd. Not that there had been a huge one, but there had been enough people to make it feel like a real game, one worth crushing.

"I'm Jake," he said with half of another smile. He didn't extend his hand to offer a handshake, out of instinct, since he wasn't interested in reading her: it was nothing personal, of course, but he was tired and didn't feel like dealing with the headaches and further exhaustion that came with having one of his visions. He could usually control when he had these trans-dimensional visions of his, but when he was already wiped out they were harder to avoid. "Um, and you are?" He asked, remembering his manners.

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Oh, he was much cuter up close! And now that she had a better look, Rina could see that he was actually in fact quite handsome. Actually, if she really looked hard, he resembled her older brother in some ways. This made her bright smile shine even brighter. Or maybe that was just because he was talking back to her? “Is that so? That’s is fun, I think. I sometimes wish I could play like that, but…” The girl shrugged her tiny shoulders, glancing up at the boy coyly. “I have bit of a small problem with that.” She giggled at her own joke, not truly caring if he did with her. “I’m afraid I would be trampled only three seconds into the game.” Actually, she might be even before it started, if the crowds were always like this.

“Jake,” she repeated to confirm, then she nodded and bubbled up again. “I’m Aerina. Some just call me Rina, but either will work.” She didn’t notice that he hadn’t extended his hand, or she simply did not care. Aerina knew that it was customary in America to shake hands upon meeting someone, but she also quickly realized that not everybody followed that custom, for one reason or the other. As such, she’d learned to not be so forceful in engaging, if the other did not present that opportunity first.

“You must have been playing for a long time to get that good,” she commented, leaning forward slightly. Again, she didn’t have much to show off, but…there was still something there to see, right? And that’s how all the older girls did it(at least they did in the movies), especially when they had the lower cut necklines in their cheer uniforms. She blinked up at him with innocent eyes, secretly hoping her make-up hadn’t smeared during the workout. Or that her nose wasn’t shiny. She should’ve checked before coming over, darnit!

[Jacob Tapper]

Jake laughed at the girl's pun about being too short to play basketball. She was kind of funny, for a random stranger who had just approached him seemingly out of nowhere. He was still pretty sure she was very young, though based on how she spoke and behaved, she was either mature for her age, or older than she looked. He would have to feel it out either way. At the very least, it would be cool to know some of the cheerleaders better, particularly one who seemed not to be at all intimidating, since some of the others were... quite, quite beautiful, and knew it. Jake wasn't so good at talking to those, on the occasion they gave him the time of day.

"Aerina." It was his turn to repeat the other's name, mostly because it was one he'd never heard before and wanted to make sure it would stay in his brain. He could see himself misremembering at a later date. He smiled again as Aerina turned the conversation back towards his prowess on the court. "Yeah, I've been playing since I was a kid," he said, a hand instinctively reaching to rub the back of his neck. "Used to play with my friends back home." He used to miss those friends, when he'd first come to Hammel nearly five years ago, but he rarely thought about them anymore, which was kind of bittersweet. He'd long since gotten used to his new surroundings.

If Aerina was worried about her appearance, she needn't be: she still looked quite nice, in Jake's eyes, for someone who had been jumping around for a few hours. Hair pleasantly mussed, not sweaty like the players were (hell, like he was), makeup just fine... Jake didn't necessarily notice every little detail, but rather generally got the impression that she looked good. "What about you, you been a cheerleader for long?" He figured that was a safe, roundabout way of ascertaining her age. Maybe. It would be kind of embarrassing for him if they were the same age but he had never noticed her.

[Deleted]

Did she think herself silly for such a lame joke? Of course, but what good was being embarrassed going to do? From everything she’d read and seen in movies, boys liked cute girls with confidence, who weren’t afraid of being a little silly. Even if she was as small as a 5th grader, there’s no reason why she couldn’t seem attractive, right? Plus there was that whole ‘pushing your limits’ thing at work…or was it ‘out of your league’? Aerina was getting her idioms mixed up.

Oh, gosh! He said her name! Aerina hadn’t been prepared for that one, and it easily made her bounce with giddiness. That wasn’t too unusual, was it? Well, Aerina was usually pretty bouncy anyway, so maybe he didn’t notice. “Have you? That’s really interesting! I bet you were just as good back then, weren’t you?” She gave his arm a playful punch with her pompom, then her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, right. Where is home anyway for you?” No doubt still here in America. But still, America was a pretty big place. It was the same for her, Aerina could say she was from India, but India was a very big place and one side of it was not the same as the other side.

Oh, even more gosh! He was asking about her! That meant he was interested, right? Aerina shook her head, her ponytail whiping back and forth across her shoulders with the movement. “No, not very long at all. I only started this semester,” she explained, moving her eyes up and to the left as she thought over her answer. “There wasn’t much cheerleading to do at my school back home.” Or more truthfully, she hadn’t had time, not with her studies and home life, and the fact that commuting to her private school took up a big chunk of her free time. “I do dance, though. And dace and cheerleading are practically the same thing, aren’t they?” Not quite, cheerleading was a bit more acrobatic, but it still required a lot of deliberate movement, like dance. She hopped into a pose with her pompoms still held tight in her tiny hands. Then she broke into giggles again, blushing at her random action. “Sorry! I’m still very energized from the game. I think it will take a while to calm down into something a bit less…well, rather, more normal.” This was fun! Aerina was glad she had the guts to come over and talk to him.

[Jacob Tapper]

Yes, Jacob - like so many guys - liked a girl who didn't mind acting or looking a bit silly from time to time. Confidence was sexy. Sexiness was also sexy, and he wasn't sure he would think of this girl - Aerina, he repeated in his own mind, lest he forget it - as sexy. She was just... so small! She was definitely cute, though, and the fact that she just walked right up to him and struck up a conversation was pretty cool. Usually he had to approach a girl if he wanted a conversation, and that could be very nerve-wracking. Of course, he assumed her only intention was to make a friend, but that didn't stop Jake from mentally sizing her up, pun very much intended.

He smiled as the girl fawned over his ability. "Well, not as good then, no," he replied demurely, running a hand through his short, brown hair. "I was young then, I've gotten a lot better." He was doing that thing guys do when they think bragging is the same thing as flirting. Not that he was really aware of himself as a flirtatious being, since he had very little experience with sex and sexuality, but it was mostly on instinct that he was proverbially puffing out his chest. "I'm from New Jersey," he said in answer to her question. "So, not too far from here. I'm guessing you're... from a bit further away?" He didn't want to be presumptuous, but judging by her accent, she had not grown up in the US.

Unfortunately, Aerina's answer about how long she had been cheerleading didn't give him too good a clue as to how long she'd been at Hammel - and, by extension, how old she was. But that was okay, for now: as far as he was aware, they were safely in 'friendly banter' territory. He laughed at the girl's giddiness, amazed she could be so full of energy when he felt so drained of it.

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Rina could be sexy! If given the chance! She wasn’t going to grow much taller than this, even though she hoped she would, so she was sure that she could be at least a little bit sexy. The gods wouldn’t have doomed her to be in an unattractive, childlike body for life, now would they? But even if she couldn’t attract any boys with her body like the older girls could…she still had her personality, which she’d been told resembled the sunshine itself! That’s what she was banking on, yup!

She pouted when he denounced his previous ability. “Aww…that’s too bad, but…I suppose that makes sense.” She giggled again, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth in a demure manner. “But…you were better than the other kids at least, yes?” Of course he wasn’t as good a player in the past as he was now, but he must’ve displayed some amazing talent back then too! He probably had all the girls fawning over him then too. Tee hee~

“Oh, New Jersey, that is…” Aerina tried to remember her American geography. “That is south of here, isn’t it? I’m sorry, I don’t remember quite where it is.” Aerina blushed, feeling just a little bit embarrassed now. But that at least would confirm for him that she wasn’t from anywhere nearby. Aerina nodded, grinning up at him. “Yes! I’m from Maharashtra. That’s in India,” she explained, assuming he wound’t know where her state was. “In the east,” she added. She was used to now people not knowing where her country of origin was. Not everybody needed to know everything about another country, she reasoned.

Rina was glad that their conversation was going so well. Maybe she should take another step? Aerina hunched up her shoulder and looked around to the crowds dissipating behind her and around them. “So…what do you usually do after the games?” She smile cheekily and tapped his arm playfully. “I bet you go out with the team and celebrate after a win, don’t you?” That would make sense…but she hoped he said he didn’t have any plans at all. Maybe he would join her for a quick trip to the coffeehouse? Or even McDonalds, Aerina wasn’t picky!

[Jacob Tapper]

Jake wasn't the most acutely aware of fellows, but he knew when he was being fawned over. At least, he was usually right about that. Aerina (Aerina, Aerina, Aerina)'s insistence that he was a great basketball player even as a child definitely seemed like flattery. And, being a young guy, Jake just ate it up. "Well, of course," he sad proudly, smile widening to a toothy grin. "Yeah, New Jersey is south of here," he confirmed with a nod. "It's not an important state. Easy to forget. Not really worth remembering." Not that he had bad memories of the state, but he knew it wasn't popular or that well-known, particularly to those from far away.

"Wow, India," he said. Not to sound like a dumb American, but he couldn't even imagine what India was like. "East," he repeated, nodding his head as though that meant anything to him, like he could deduce her state's culture, economy, and peoples just from that piece of information. For the same reason that Aerina probably knew very little about New Jersey, he had no reason to know that much about her region of India.

When the young girl looked around the room, his eyes followed hers, noticing it was quickly emptying. That was usually his sign to go too, for he had to shower, change, and then... whatever else was on his schedule. Studying, or a jog, or whatever else there might be. That said, he was pretty sure he didn't have anything concrete planned for the immediate future. "Uh, well sometimes," he said with another nod. "I don't know about today, though. I don't think so." Someone would have said something at halftime, probably, if there was a big event planned. "I'll probably just, I dunno, go back to the dorms or something."

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Aerina wasn’t exactly being subtle, even if she thought she was, about how starry-eyed she’d become over the good-looking boy in front of her. From afar, he was just another basketball player to admire and dream of. Now that she was up close, and they were talking, it was much more intimate, for sure! And he was just that much better too! How long did they have to talk before he asked her out on a date, she wondered?

Or maybe she should just go for it herself? Was there a rule that said she couldn’t? Back home definitely, but she was in America now and in America it was totally okay that the girl asked the guy first! Free speech and all that, right?

Aerina giggled, figuring that the exact ‘where’ of where she was from didn’t really mean all that much to him. D’aww, he was so precious, pretending that it did just to spare her feelings! Yes, yes…Rina thought she just might take a leap of faith here. “Well that’s no fun,” she said with a look of playful disapproval. “Going back to your dorm just to be alone and do….nothing.” She assumed. There was probably plenty for him to do back at his dorm. “I’ve decided! There’s a thing going on at one of the other cheerleader’s houses.” A girl who happened to live in the area, so it was a house party! “I’ve never been to a house party before,” she explained, tapping her foot on the floor and looking down meekly. “And I really don’t want to go alone.” Or rather, she didn’t want to show up without a date. She hadn’t planned on going in the first place either, so this plan was made exactly 0.2 seconds ago. Aerina looked up at him with her big, brown eyes and a gentle smile, hoping he would say yes. Oh, please say yes! she prayed. "Does that sound like something you might enjoy?" she asked, fluttering her lashes exactly two times.

[Jacob Tapper]

Once he started talking about going back to the dorms, that was pretty much what he'd set his sights on, so he figured this conversation was just about wrapped up. It was nice talking to someone new, especially someone who seemed somewhat smitten with him - or was that just his narcissistic assumption? - but there didn't seem to be much left to say and he was starting to feel dirty having been out on the court sweating so long.

But then Aerina mentioned a cheerleader party, and that changed everything.

His eyes lit up, like a child's might on Christmas morning when they first come down the stairs to see all of the presents stacked under the tree. A cheerleader party would, of course, have plenty of cheerleaders. And cheerleaders' friends, who probably also looked like cheerleaders. Some of them would no doubt be closer to his age than what he assumed Aerina was. And maybe they would see him with her and think he was such a nice guy, in spite of how hot he was (again, the narcissistic assumptions), and so surely he deserved a date or at least a kiss.

"Well, I mean, if you don't want to go alone..." He started, scarcely managing to suppress a big smile as he pretended like he was ready to do Aerina some big favor, "then yeah, I could go with you." He sort of regretted his choice of words - he wasn't going with her, per se, rather going at the same time as her. That was an important distinction since it would be a jerk move to show up with one girl and leave with another (which, again, he was pretty sure would be happening). But he was sure Aerina knew what he meant. "When is it? And where?"

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To be honest, it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d phrased it differently. The main point was that they were going at the same time and everyone else thought they had come together. Because that was how it worked, wasn’t it? So long as you showed up on the arm of someone, then it didn’t matter who you left with.

Ideally, Aerina would leave with the same person(hopefully upstairs rather than out entirely), but so long as she got there with a person as cool as Jake, then that would be enough for other guys to think she was worth their attention and hopefully give her an opening to talk to them. And also, she would be the envy of all the other cheerleaders who weren’t brave enough to ask someone so hot to begin with. Rina wasn’t the slightest bit intimidated by Jake. If she let herself be, then she’d never be able to talk to anyone!

“Oh, wonderful!” she exclaimed, bouncing up slightly and pumping her pompom into the air. Her eyes sparkled so much they could blind someone if they stared into them. “It’s supposed to be right after the game, so anytime after that I guess we can show up,” she rattled off the details to him. “And it’s at the Thompson house, um…” She scanned the court, looking for the cheerleader who had made the offer. Or rather, it had been his…her…his…mother who invited everyone. Rina pointed to a couple by the exit, an androgynous blonde next to a woman with golden curls who looked far too young to have a child of that age. “That person there. I’ve never been to her house before, but they gave us directions.” Meaning, if he wanted to find the place, Jake was going to have to meet up with Aerina once he was ready. Yes, this was an excellent plan, if she did say so herself!

[Jacob Tapper]

It never would have occurred to Jake that both he and Aerina had the same motive - of using the other person to get at others. Both wanted to be seen with someone attractive so that they'd look better to other attractive people. It was completely manipulative, but at least nobody was hurting anybody else in the process. Just... gentle using.

He followed the girl's finger and saw a young woman standing next to a young boy (Jake didn't know much about gender fluidity or androgyny, so he just assumed that someone boyish with short hair was, well, a boy). He smiled complacently: the woman was pretty attractive. She looked a little older than him, but not much. Was she a cheerleader? She didn't look that familiar, but maybe he'd overlooked her before. Well, he wasn't making that mistake again. First target: identified.

He snapped back to reality when Aerina continued speaking. Directions, right. Jake didn't have them, so he would need someone who did, and obviously the young bouncy girl in front of him would do the trick. "Okay, well I have to go back to my dorm and change," he stated, realizing he couldn't show up in the lame outfit he'd tossed into his gym bag before coming to the game, "but why don't you tell me what building you're in, and I'll swing by and pick you up?" That seemed the most logical to him: it didn't occur to him that this might be exactly what Aerina had been gunning for.