'Sup? (Grady)

[Jeff McIntosh]

Dinnertime was always much the same as lunchtime: obtain food, slather it in hot sauce, go find someplace to sit. Usually he sat with teammates, but he was a bit later than usual thanks to Dr. Neville discovering he had thrown a bottle of hot sauce at someone. He hadn't meant to throw it at anyone, but the psychiatrist didn't seem to accept that as an excuse. 

This meant that none of his usual dinner buddies were around, to his disappointment. He didn't mind sitting alone, really, but there weren't that many open seats. The few there were, dotted around the cafeteria here and there, were all next to someone. It was just a matter of choosing your poison. 

He considered the options. Girl, girl, girl, loud person, girl....

Aha! 

He finally spotted someone tolerable. 

All he knew about the other boy was that they shared some classes, and he was quiet and thus not annoying. 

He sauntered over, clearing his throat to alert the other boy to his presence. 

"Sup. Anyone sittin' here?" 

[Grady Mitchellson]

Grady usually sat with Connor or Sunar during meals. It wasn't that he minded sitting alone, but he found that sitting alone sometimes made him a target. And he was trying to get out of his shell more.

Still his first reaction when someone he didn't really know was to want to run. Especially a bit jock-looking guy. Even though the guy didn't look like he was about to cause trouble.

"Uh...no?" Grady said, clearing his throat a bit after his voice came out too high. "I mean, no." He gave the other boy a weak smile and before returning to stare at his food.

[Jeff McIntosh]

Jeff took this as an invitation to sit down. If the other boy didn't tell him to leave that was almost like saying he could sit there.

"Cool." He unwrapped his flatware as he asked, "You're Grady, right?"

He was pretty sure that was the name he had heard teachers using. Maybe, just maybe he should pay more attention outside his own little social circle, because if he got the wrong name he was going to be embarrassed.

[Grady Mitchellson]

"Yeah?" Grady said. Immediately hating how his voice went up at the end. Still, he had half expected the older boy to follow the question about his name with some sort of rude comment about what his real name was. Grady got that sometimes.

But it seemed this guy was actually just wanting to double check. So Grady tried to shove away his doubts and relax a little bit. It wasn't easy.

"You're Jeff," Grady said after a pausing for a moment. It wasn't too hard for him to recall the boy's name. Not that he was a stalker of his fellow male students, but Grady did watch them a lot. For tips on how to be a guy. And he's also been fairly obsessed with male names when trying to pick out his own.

"So...uh...Sup?" he asked, before staring back at his plate.

[Jeff McIntosh]

Jeff nodded in affirmation. Yes, he was definitely Jeff.

"Not much," He shrugged as he speared what he was pretty sure was an enchilada with his fork. "Late for dinner because of detention."

He laced the word detention with a mixture of disgust and disbelief.

"None of my friends are here," because of stupid detention, "but you seem all right."

[Grady Mitchellson]

Grady grinned a little at the obvious contempt Jeff had about being forced into detention.

“What’d ya do?” he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. “I mean…um…if you wanna share…”

He smiled again, trying not to explode from happiness. He was ‘all right’. He seemed ‘all right’. This big, manly, jock thought he was ‘all right’.

“Uh..you’re all right too,” Grady said. “I mean cool. Whatever. Dude.” He looked down at his plate to hide his blushing. Why did he have to act like such a dork sometimes?

[Jeff McIntosh]

Jeff had the grace to look slightly embarrassed when Grady asked what he'd done to earn detention. 

"Ehhhh. I uhhh...threw an empty bottle. And it hit someone in the face." 

She had been an innocent bystander, and he had felt bad about it. Although Dr. Neville had made it clear that he would have gotten detention even if the bottle hadn't hit anyone, which really didn't make any sense. If it hadn't hurt anyone then why would it have been a problem? 

The other boy's reply brought a chuckle to his lips. "Thanks. So...you usually eat by yourself?" 

Jeff could definitely see the appeal in that. 

[Grady Mitchellson]

"Aw man," Grady said. Not sure who he felt more sorry for. Jeff for his stupid mistake, because surely he hadn't meant to hurt anyone. Or the person who got hit in the face. "That sucks."

Grady smiled when Jeff laughed off his oddness.

"Uh...sometimes I guess." Meaning yes. All the time. Unless Connor or maybe Sunar was around. They were pretty cool. "People can be jerks."

He shot a look around the room as if he could point with his eyes towards all of the idiots that surrounded them. "Ya know?"

[Jeff McIntosh]

"Oh, sure, yeah," Jeff agreed, despite the fact that he was on occasion the one being (rightly) referred to as a jerk.

With the exception of his siblings (although Jo was a little lot more touchy feely than he would have liked) and his teammates, he didn't care for the company of very many people. Mostly other people made him feel awkward and uncomfortable; fortunately, although Grady seemed shy and maybe a little anxious sitting here with him wasn't especially awkward or annoying. However, if the other boy preferred to sit alone perhaps he should have chosen somewhere else to eat.

He stabbed at his food with his fork as he asked, "Hope you don't mind me sittin' here, then."

[Grady Mitchellson]

"So...what were you in for?" Grady asked, hoping his wasn't prying. He was sure it was something cool, that had gotten Jeff's classroom to think he was awesome. Something Grady was sure he'd never be able to pull off.

Grady didn't so really mind the company of other people. Well, he was learning not to mind it. It had taken him a long time to be comfortable with himself enough to be comfortable with other people. And of course there were still days when he just wanted to hide in his room all day, but he was trying to force himself to be a part. And if that meant eating the cafeteria where random people might join him, then so be it.

At least Jeff was being friendly.

"Oh no, not at all!" Grady said, wincing a bit when his voice raise a bit to high. He was worried he had offended Jeff. And now he was worried he'd given himself away. Stupid voice. "I mean...," he continued dropping his voice back down. "Sit where you want. Free country and all." He smiled quickly before also stabbing at his food, unconsciously mimicking the other boy.

[Jeff McIntosh]

Jeff's brow drew down in confusion at Grady's question. 

"In what for?" 

Unless the other boy had already forgotten that he'd answered about detention, he couldn't think what this question could be in reference to. Oh! Sometimes people made attending Hammel sound like a punishment, maybe that was what the question meant. 

"You mean like why am I at Hammel?" 

No, maybe it was about his detention? Maybe he had only thought about answering but actually hadn't. It did take a lot of concentration to keep out the conversations going on in the cafeteria and around the school, and so maybe he'd simply been confused because he'd thought he was conversing with Grady but was actually responding to someone else? 

But, no, he'd seen Grady's lips moving, and it sounded like his voice.