You Can Do This...Just Relax (Talen)

[Adrianna Carstyn]

On her bed she sat, brown hair sprawled out on her pillow, right hand gripping her phone, chewing on her bottom lip. In case it wasn't obvious...she was nervous. This was a first for Adrianna. First of all, she never called a guy to hang out, they usually called her. Second, she felt a bit whorish having just been broken up with and already moving on. Lastly, she was afraid he'd think she was making him her rebound. So not the case!

It wasn't a rebound if you really did like the person and just had a momentary lapse in sanity. She had gone to the club to relax after the news about her mom was worse. Shortly after that her and Luke started dating and then she never really had a chance to talk to her new...interest. Well now she was and she was absolutely terrified.

In her head Adrian kept playing out the situation just so she could brace herself for the hatred through the phone. Surely he wouldn't want to be with her after she had ditched him to date someone else. Though in her defense, she had met Luke before Talen. Not that it mattered, what she did was low and she knew it.

Adri took a deep breath and dialed the number she hadn't looked at in a while. The phone rang once...twice...a third time and she hung up because she was so scared. She tried again. The phone rang once...twice and then she hung up. "Oh God! Get a grip girl!" She took another deep breath and pressed redial. Ring! Ring! Still she waited. Ring! "Please, please don't answer. I can handle leaving a message," She said to herself as the phone rang for a fourth time.

[Talen Trahan]

It was sunset and the sunshine was dying in his window…perfect for a sketch. The way his bed was situated, he could sit with his back to the wall on his bed and sketch the sunset as the sun disappeared over the horizon. So there he was, sitting shirtless on his bed, pad of paper sitting on his bent knee and his hand deftly outlining the sun’s rays coming through his window. His computer sat on his desk, his closet door was open, and his cell phone was on the pillow next to his hip. A tiny smile graced his lips as he worked on his next piece of art.

“Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO suddenly filled the air, and Talen went to pick it up before it stopped playing. Confused, he looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Adrianna. Pleasant surprise showed on his face as he stared at his phone. He hadn’t talked to Adrianna for a while, not since they had left the club together and he had found out she was going out with Luke. He had kept his distance, knowing she would need it. His phone rang again, interrupting his thoughts, and he went to answer it again before it stopped playing. What was Adrianna up to?

The phone rang for a third time and Tal pressed the button and held it up to his ear. “Good evening, Adrianna,” he said politely, putting his drawing book down for a moment while he talked to her.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna froze. Her heart stopped and she cussed silently. She took a deep long breath and then spoke extremely quiet, "H-hi Talen. Long time no talk huh?" She smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand and rolled her eyes at how pathetic she sounded. This was a bad idea and she had no way of changing it now that he had answered. Her face was burning and she thanked God that he couldn't see her.

Her small room felt like it was closing in on her. She never stuttered, she never spoke in that pathetically, desperate tone. Why was she now? Answer being...him. He made her feel so different. When she was with him everything changed. She was no longer calm, cool and collected. She was a bumbling fool that tripped and stuttered repeatedly.

The song Clumsy by Fergie popped into her head and she held back a laugh. Now that song made a lot more sense to her. Adri chewed her bottom lip and fidgeted. Bad habit. She missed the sound of his voice, it hit her once he spoke. That polite sweet tone he always used that made her want to squeal like an obsessive fan girl. She couldn't compare it to anything else, but that.

[Talen Trahan]

Her voice came over his cell phone and he felt more pleasant surprise and longing fill his body. She was gorgeous, sure, but it was also her smile and her eyes and her personality that made him want to be near her. She was with Luke, though, and he would be a gentleman and leave her alone. “It certainly has been a while, Adrianna,” he replied, looking down at his sketchbook. He flipped through the pages and stopped at a certain page, those eyes he so adored gazing back up at him.

After that night at the club, he had gone to sleep, but when he had woken, he had grabbed his book and had started drawing, not stopping for several hours until she was complete. Adrianna’s smiling face was drawn and colored on paper, her eyes twinkling and inviting him to see her again.

“So what’s up?” he asked curiously, leaning back against his pillows and looking at the ceiling.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna couldn't get his face out of her mind. She blushed at the image of him stripping into just a wife beater in front of her. She missed him. If it hadn't been for meeting Luke before and Luke making his move shortly after the club experience, she would have definitely gone for Talen. Sure he was younger, but he made up for it. He was more mature than most of the guys at Hammel she had met. He was sweet and funny and made her feel different. He had been so nice to her that day and she blew him off for another guy.

After getting back to her dorm from the club she had called her mother. It was later than their usual conversations, but she wanted so much to tell her mother that it couldn't wait til morning. Adri had told Amelia everything. She pretty much gave a play-by-play of the whole night. Her mother had been so happy for her, that Amelia sounded almost better. But once Adrian told her that she had started dating Luke instead, her mother had sounded disappointed. It wasn't that Amelia didn't like Luke, it was that she noticed the difference in the way she talked about the two. According to Adrian's mother, she sounded happier when she got back from the club than she had in a while.

Adrianna smiled, well Mom, hopefully this works, she thought to herself. "I was kinda wondering you know...if maybe you'd like to," She gulped. "Hang out some time...soon?" Adrian asked. She crossed her fingers and closed her eyes as she waited for his response. She expected a quick and blunt "no," but she couldn't stop the hope in the pit of her stomach from spreading throughout her body. Adri wanted him to say yes more than she had wanted a lot of things.

[Talen Trahan]

Her words made him lay in frozen surprise. Wasn’t she with Luke? What happened between them? She didn’t sound upset, so she couldn’t have broken up with him, could she? He took the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a moment before putting it back to his ear and thinking of something to say back to her. Words deserted them when he needed them most…what would he do?

“Um…sure,” he attempted lamely, looking at the ceiling. Really, Talen, you could do better than that. “What happened to Luke?” He cringed as soon as the last word left his mouth. Smooth, Trahan, real smooth. “What I meant is…um…” Great. He had no more words. Awkward.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna smiled at his answer. He sounded pretty surprised, but not mad which was a relief. She couldn't believe he had actually said yes! Adri took the phone away from her ear and did a little dance, but when she heard him talk again she put it back to her ear. As soon as he mentioned Luke, her heart sank and she almost dropped the phone, luckily she hadn't. What would she say to that? 'He dumped me so I figured I'd go to the next best thing?' That wasn't her.

Adrian took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Um...we...broke up almost a week ago. He went back to Greece and left me here to finish school." She sounded pathetic, but not really too upset. She didn't want Talen to feel as if he were her second choice because he wasn't. She knew she needed to tell him that.

"Listen, don't think that you're my rebound guy okay? I don't do that sort of thing...ever. If Luke hadn't asked me out before we talked...I would have done this sooner. I really really like you Tal. You aren't my second choice, I want you to know that." She sounded a bit stronger and less nervous. Adrian wasn't lying, everything she had said was true. She wanted Tal to like her, she wanted him to fall for her. Dating Luke wasn't a regret, but Adri just wished she had met Talen either earlier or something that would have made it easier for her.

She wasn't that lucky.

[Talen Trahan]

He continued to look up at the ceiling as she spoke. He had broken up with her to go back home? That was cold, too cold for Talen’s liking. Slow anger built up in his chest, bubbling over like a forgotten soup on the stove. When Tal would eventually go back home, he wouldn’t break up with the girl he was with unless he truly felt like she was better off finding someone who would give her the love and attention she deserved back where she was. He took a deep sigh and closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“The guy’s a moron,” he muttered to her in a low voice, feeling protective feelings well up inside him at the thought of her. “Breaking up with you before he went back home meant that he was playing with you, which shouldn’t’ve happened.” He opened his eyes again and looked down at the sketch of her still looking at him, and smiled slightly. “I really really like you too, Adrianna. More than I should have, given our first meeting, but hey, it happens. I would love to be your boyfriend…unless you’re asking me to be something different?”

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna sighed when she heard Talen's anger towards Luke. It wasn't that Luke had been playing with her, he was too nice to do that. Or maybe that's what she wanted to believe. She had liked Luke a lot, but she was beyond oblivious sometimes. She sighed at the thought. She was happy that Talen seemed to care so much. It gave her more hope that he'd actually say he wanted her.

That's when he spoke the words that made her heart stop and then take off. She smiled brightly and squeaked, "really??" She asked in a very high pitched tone that barely concealed her excitement. "Of course I want you to be my boyfriend, what else could I possibly mean??" Adri giggled and started dancing around her dorm room. Could this day have gone any better?? She couldn't stop smiling.

(OOC: sorry for the length, I'm on my phone again.)

[Talen Trahan]

When he heard her excitement, he grinned and sat up, putting his book away and looked outside as the last ray disappeared and twilight colored the sky. It made him feel powerful that he could make her feel better by saying some simple words. Never mind that she was his first ever official girlfriend; he seemed to be doing it right.

“Then I will be your boyfriend, Adrianna,” he answered her question, feeling excitement blossom in his chest. It truly was a moment to be excited. Looking around, he noticed the time on his clock and winced. He needed to go to bed early so he could get up early and run in the morning. “Listen, I’m really sorry to cut this short, but I’m running four miles in the morning and I need to go to bed early. I’ll text you about going out on a date and stuff, okay?”

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna bit her lip and held back a squeal of excitement. She couldn't begin to explain how happy she was. She looked out the window and noticed it was getting dark. She had thought about getting up early and running again since it had gone so well before. That's when she heard him say he had to go because he was going running in the morning. She laughed lightly at how much they had in common. It was scary sometimes.

"That sounds perfect. I'll talk to you later then." Adrian twirled a strand of her hair and smiled brightly. She couldn't slow her heart beat or anything. It was worse than when she started dating Luke. She was happier, but she couldn't understand why. It didn't matter, she was happy and he was her boyfriend! "Good night Talen. Sweet dreams." She said in a slightly more controlled, but no less happy tone.

((End...EEP!!))