Planting the Seed [Adrianna]

[Rhett Goddard]

Rhett wasn't planning on being like this anymore. He had changed, he had truly changed, or so he had thought. He was angry, and the anger brought back many of the things he thought he had left behind. Rhett was stubborn, he was not going to lose this one without a fight, and the fight was just starting.

He arrived that afternoon to the student lounge. He had never frequented this place of course, not even when he actually lived on the dorms, but today was a special day. Today he had a mission. It wasn't big, it wasn't difficult, but it was important. He sat next to a familiar face, one that probably wasn't quite happy to see him.

"It was weirdly hard to find you." Rhett said without quite looking at her. "Why the low profile, party girl Adrianna?"

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Between spending so much time with Lani, to being locked away in her room studying and worrying about her mother, Adrianna hadn't quite been her usual 'party girl' self. She was committed to school at the moment and wanted to get ready for her senior year. One last year of Hammel and then she would have to make the choice of staying in Vermont or moving back to California with her mother. Those things hadn't really been at the forefront of her mind though. Mostly, her relationship had been keeping her the busiest.

The longer the relationship with Lani lasted, the happier and more relaxed Adrian got. Already Lani had proven to be so much different from every other guy that had screwed with her mind. He spent time with her as much as he could and yet, they were taking things at a slower pace. Sure, there were secrets he kept from her and she knew that, but it didn't bother her because he hadn't really done anything wrong by her yet. Things were going good for her and she was finally able to be that happy, bubbly girl again.

Or so she thought.

Having moved to the student lounge to hangout and read a book while Lani was out with who she assumed was Odion, Adrianna wasn't really expecting to be bothered by anyone. Of course, she was social and whenever someone said 'hi' to her she'd greet them back, but nothing more than small talk had been made since she came in. Until an oddly familiar presence entered the lounge and came to sit beside her. The familiarity wasn't comforting and in fact, she became quite anxious when the person sat down.

The voice gave away why she was uncomfortable, but her body language didn't give her away, though she knew he'd figure out she wasn't happy to see him back. "Hello, Rhett. What a surprise it is having you back, couldn't stay away from Hammel long?" Adrianna kept her focus on the book she was reading, barely giving the boy a glance. He didn't deserve her attention, why would she bother giving it to him? And why exactly had he been looking for her? The questions irked a bit of irritation out of the girl.

[Rhett Goddard]

"Oh, I'm beyond flattered someone like you noticed my absence in Hammel." Rhett said nonchalantly.

Besides Odion and the head of housing, who had helped him stay away from Hammel for as long as he did, Rhett had thought that no one else had noticed he hadn't been in the school these months. Then again, the (too) close relationship between "girly-name" Lani and Odion was probably the reason why Adrianna was aware. It was also the reason why Rhett was here. Probably Adrianna didn't know yet, but both she and Rhett shared a common goal. It was Rhett's mission to let her know this, and convince her it's what she want.

"I'm just go ahead and cut to the chase," He said leaning back in his seat. "I see no reason to prolong this meeting and I certainly wouldn't want you to lose interest in your," He attempted, to no avail, to look at the book's title. "probably very interesting, book, although I do hope it's not Twilight or I'd be inclined to take the book and burn it." He shook his head softly. "Don't worry, I won't, though." He sighed. "Are we friends?" He finally asked, giving a small second of silence. "In case you're wondering, that is the reason I'm here, yes." He cocked his head slightly. "Or one of them, at least."

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna rolled her eyes when Rhett commented. He always had been full of himself it seemed. “Oh you know, I tend to keep an eye out for those sort of things,” She said sarcastically. Usually Adrian wasn’t as biting and short with anyone, but in this situation, she had reason enough.

Why was it that he had sought her out to talk? He never had before. The only other time they’d had a ‘planned’ meeting was when she asked about Talen and that ended up being the day she dumped Talen. The fact that he wanted to talk to her made her that much more uneasy. It wasn’t as if they talked often, last time they talked was when Izzy had gotten himself into a mess and Rhett took him back to their dorm. Whoopdy doo, that wasn’t something that necessarily made her want to talk to him. Then there was that time in the cafeteria when he was torturing the new girl and had mentioned something about Lani being the same as Talen, all in all, she had no desire to talk to Rhett about her ex ‘boyfriend.’ She didn’t want to hear about Tal ever again because she simply didn’t care anymore. One mentioning of the boy’s name by Rhett, and she was gone.

He opened his mouth to speak again and Adrian listened with an indifferent expression. Well at least he didn’t plan on staying long. She once again rolled her eyes when he commented on her book and frowned, “No it’s not Twilight.” And if you touch my book, I’ll hit you with it, Adrian added in her mind. She finally glanced at him and his question had her nearly dropping her book. Had he really just asked that?! She gave him a look that more or less said what she was thinking. “Just say what you want to Rhett, I’d like to finish my book in peace.”

[Rhett Goddard]

"Well, have you heard of that saying," Rhett said slowly. "'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'?" He finally tuned his face to look at Adrianna. "Because I quite think you're my friend, at least in a particular context that I'm not sure you're quite aware of."

Rhett had to be careful with his words. He couldn't go an insinuate things too aggressively and have Adrianna against him. He was aware that she didn't quite like him, but he had to make sure she would understand and agree with him despite of this. He couldn't come up too empathically and be all "I want to help you", she would probably suspect something's wrong because Rhett would not act like that normally. He had show himself very objectively, but again, not too cold.

He didn't quite thought he had felt as nervous as he was in this particular moment.

"My boyfriend likes your boyfriend." He didn't stop looking directly at her eyes. "And I know you probably trust your boyfriend a lot, but I wouldn't trust mine that much." To mention Talen or not? "He believes we're off and he'll probably try to take advantage of the friendship your boyfriend's providing to make me jealous or prove himself or something else." He let the words sink in for a moment. "And I know they've been getting drunk together and hanging a lot, I mean, I'm worried." He was. A lot. "And I think you should be too."

[Adrianna Carstyn]

“Nope and personally it sounds like a load of BS, no offense or anything,” Adrian snapped. She was in no mood for this frenemy crap. He finally looked at her and she turned her dark eyes on him. The expression on her face said it all, don’t fuck with me. “Oh please do enlighten me on how we could ever be considered friends in any context.” What the hell was he smoking?! In no definition of the word were they even close to friends!

Adrian was really not in the mood for this. She had gone to the student lounge to escape her room for a while, not to be harassed by someone she wasn’t particularly fond of. He had no idea just how much she wasn’t particularly fond of him. Clearly or he would not have come looking for her. Oh how she wished she could just hit him and leave, but she wasn’t like that. She just wanted to be left alone right now. He’d better make it quick or she was going to end up smacking him.

His words made her eyes widen and she gritted her teeth. As he went on, her hand gripped the book tighter. He had no right to tell her anything about Lani because surely enough, Rhett didn’t know anything about her boyfriend. “Stop. Just stop,” Adrianna said through her teeth. She took a deep breath and tried to regain her composure so that she didn’t start screaming. “Look, I’m real glad you’re worried about this, but as you said, I do trust my boyfriend a lot. He’s done nothing to make me not trust him and if he did, I’m sure he’d tell me a hell of a lot sooner than you would. Odion and Lani are friends. Very close friends I’m sure, but nothing more. Just because you had a falling out with Odion, doesn’t mean he’s going to do something like you did. And Lani is nothing like Talen. So next time you think you’re doing me a favor by ‘worrying’ save it because I don’t want to hear it.”

[Rhett Goddard]

Adrianna was clearly angry. Understandable. Also expected. The seed had been planted. Even if Adrianna didn't believe at least one of Rhett's words, and she probably didn't, the doubt had been planted. Perhaps she wouldn't ask herself if it was true right now, but she would eventually, at least if she really liked Lani and was afraid to repeat history. Rhett wasn't a fan of "I told you so"s, but he will be there to say it this time to her if the situation went that way.

"But you did trust him fully too," Rhett said with Adrianna's mention of Talen. "didn't you?" Rhett softly stood up and turned towards Adrianna. "And he wasn't even interested in guys unlike..." He stopped and sighed, turning around towards the exit. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around."

Rhett was calmed. He was telling himself that it had been a mission accomplished, but he didn't quite feel that way. He was worried, he wasn't keen on things not getting his way and he didn't want this to be the first time. He wondered, though, how much of this was to get Odion back and how much to feel like he won?