Sweet Sixteen (Open)

[Penelope Lopez]

The thread takes place on the 22nd July

I need your love
I need your time
When everything's wrong
You make it right
I feel so high
I come alive
I need to be free with you tonight
I need your love

It was her 16th birthday and Penelope hadn't really planned anything for today, and seeing as how things had been going lately, she couldn't really ask for anything more. She was happy. Happier than she had been in a while, and all that was thanks to a certain blonde. Though, if someone asked she probably wouldn't admit to it. At least not yet since she didn't know where it all was going.

I take a deep breath everytime I pass your door
I know you're there but I can't see you anymore
And that's the reason you're in the dark
I've been a stranger ever since we fell apart
And I feel so helpless here
Watch my eyes are filled with fear
Tell me do you feel the same
Hold me in your arms again

She was in the auditorium dancing and training since she had been slacking out on it lately. Besides, she doubt a lot of people knew it was her birthday so she didn't bother making a huge deal out of it. She realized she had calmed down a lot since she came to Hammel, and somehow she didn't really mind all that much.

I need your love

Now I'm dreaming, will ever find you now?
I walk in circles but I'll never figure out
What I mean to you, do I belong
I try to fight this but I know I'm not that strong
And I feel so helpless here
Watch my eyes are filled with fear
Tell me do you feel the same
Hold me in your arms again

Her body moved automatically to the music in the background, even if her mind was elsewhere. She hadn't celebrated her birthday ever since her father died because to her it felt wrong. It wasn't the same when the most important person in her life couldn't be there and celebrate it with her.

All the years
All the times
You were never been to blame
And now my eyes are open
And now my heart is closing
And all the tears
All the lies
All the waste
I've been trying to make it change
And now my eyes are open

She narrowed her eyes and tried focusing on why she was here; Dancing. She felt bad for slacking out on it as much as she had been doing lately, and even though she came up with all kind of excuses, they never seemed as legit when she thought back at it as they had been when she first used them.

I need your love
I need your time
When everything's wrong
You make it right
I feel so high
I come alive
I need to be free

She stopped as the music ended and took a deep breath. She rubbed the back of her hand against her forehead and sighed. She missed the warm and strong embrace of her father. Oh, how much she missed him. It ached inside of her every day, and honestly, she couldn't wait for the day when it wouldn't hurt as much. She had heard people say that the pain never goes away and that you just learn to live with it. Well, she hadn't learned to live with it yet, and she sorely wanted to learn how to.

[Deleted]

Oriel really hated that he was getting more and more into whatever he was doing with this whole dance thing that he hadn't even decided if he was going to try or stick with yet. For once, his interest had stuck around(for most of the summer, whoo!) and that was really all the motivation he needed to do anything, even if he was stubborn about openly admitting his interest or putting the energy and time into practice(which he did on the sly whenever he could).

That was his only reason for showing up in the auditorium today.

He was about to head back out when he heard the music and realized it was being used, but stopped when he took another look and saw a pretty little brunette fluttering about the stage. With a snark, Oriel continued inside, carrying his own bag of "stuff" so that he could practice....or nap, either one worked. As soon as he reached the end of the stage, he risked disturbing the girl's concentration by saying very loudly and impolitely, "Aw, shit. I forgot my bundle of ones." He pat down his pants as if he were looking for the cash wad then threw his hands up in the air with a half-smile. "Do you take IOUs, pretty lady?"

[Penelope Lopez]

She turned the second she heard Oriel's voice and with a devilish smirk she pulled down her sweats far enough for the string on her thong to show. ''I'll take anything of value that you can fit on this.'', she said and nodded towards the string. She sat down on her knees in fron of him and ruffled his air. ''What are you doing here, cutie pie?''

It was nice having Oriel here, at least now she had a distraction from thinking about her dad, and the fact that it was her birthday didn't make things any better. ''Care to learn some moves?'', she asked and reached her hand out towards him, hoping he'd bite so she could completely pull her attention to teaching him instead of feeling sorry for herself.

Penelope wasn't wearing anything rather sexy today as she had put on her gray sweats which was pulled up to her knees and a white tank top. Her hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail and she wasn't wearing any make-up. She hadn't really expected anyone to barge in here at this time of day, but she was glad that that someone had ended up being Oriel.

[Deleted]

Now, that there was the only reason in the world he needed to like this girl. How many chicks were easygoing enough to work out in a thong...and then show you? "Nooothing..." he lied, closing his eyes and rolling his head to get the most out of the head-scratchy ruffle. He wasn't about to tell her that the both of them came down for the same reason, though judging from his "outfit"(a pair of mesh gym shorts and a loose t-shirt), he probably wouldn't be able to effectively lie his way out of it.

"Learn some moves? Girl, I've got the moves," Oriel boasted, and did point turn there at the edge of the stage, snapping his fingers upon completing his rotation. "All of them." He hopped up onto the stage with ease and then strutted like a cheesy hipster, licking his lips and sneering them out like he was about to go into an epic rap battle. "Of course....If ya think ya got somethin' t' show," Oriel 'spit' off to the side like some pimp then waved his hand forward like that douche from The Matrix, "I can check it."

[Penelope Lopez]

She had to admit, she was more than happy about befriending Oriel. He was pretty easy going now that they had become friends, and he didn't hit her nerves anymore either. She had to laugh at his so called moves, because they were all so typical him. ''Oooh baby.'', she said between laughs and rested her hand on her hip. He'd gotten better, she had to admit that. Even if it wasn't quite what she had in mind, it was still incredible entertaining. And on the plus side; It made him look incredible goofy. Oh, if only she had filmed it so she could use it against him in the future...

''The stage's all yours Maestro.'', she said and bowed in front of him. She took a step back and waited patiently for him to actually show her some moves. With a smirk on her lips she hit shuffle on the boom box and winked at him as the music started playing. ''Time to show off those moves, boiiiii.'' She was daring him to actually make an effort, curious as to if he'd gotten any better since their dance off.

[Deleted]

Honestly, he wasn't actually expecting to be put on the spot like Penelope had done with him. While, yes, he'd gotten some of his old skill back(and without breaking any bones, I might add), Oriel wasn't sure if he was ready to show someone seriously what he could do. Yeah, he'd shown Hay-lin his skills(or lack thereof) pretty easy, but that was mostly just Oriel being a pompous brat. It was also completely different when he did that shit in front of people who couldn't tell the difference between good and good-faking.

But still, despite his nervousness, it was inherently against Oriel's nature to back down from a challenge. So when she put on the music, Oriel breathed and started counting the beats.

A lot of it was ad-libbing, some undisciplined downrock at first, his feet kicking and popping himself up into an invert before he tumbled over and rolled back up to his feet. Oriel hopped around on his toes, rolling his eyes back trying to think of what next to do before he went into a hookspin(starts at :45)routine, followed by another couple of hops, two fluid backflips and one final one ending into what was almost the splits. He fell over, catching himself with his hand before those tendons tore and he couldn't use his manhood anymore.

"Ow..." Apparently Oriel hadn't gotten his flexibility back completely yet. "I think I broke me," he said with a wince and curled in on himself.

[Penelope Lopez]

Penny was glad to see that Oriel didn't back down from the challenge, which wasn' really a challenge but more of a 'I wanna see you dance to see if you've gotten any better'-kind of thing, but it'd be easier to play on his pride rather than him playing on hers.

She had to admit, he had gotten a lot better, not that he had been bad before. He had almost beat her at their dance off and that was pretty damn cool. And seriously, this boy had some moves. She couldn't keep the grin of her face as she clapped to the beat of the music. She was really surprised at how good he'd gotten so quickly, and she could only imagine what he'd be able to do in the future.

Walking over to the music player, she sent him a smirk. ''My turn, now get off my stage.'' She hit play and the familiar tunes from Nutbush City Limits filled the room as she walked towards the middle of the stage, giving him a gentle push. And then, then she started dancing and singing.

As the song ended she was laughing. The energy she felt was thrilling, and she couldn't believe she had enjoyed such a silly dance this much. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down, and spoke with a ragged voice. ''Man, I forgot how much fun this could be.''

[Deleted]

Oriel had a lot of pride, certainly. He was arrogant and liked to pretend he was better than everyone else. When Hay-lin challenged him, he did an Ok job considering he hadn't done any dancing in years. When he challenged Penelope with that video game, he had done a lot better, but was still far from being back in shape. This time, he actually knew what he was doing, even if he was still, again, a long way from regaining his old skills. Some of those still lingered, but his body didn't want to keep up half the time. Which was why he didn't object when Penelope offered to take over and pushed him aside. Oriel dove forward and rolled, as if the push had more force than it did, and then twisted back upright. At least he still knew how to take a fall...and fake one.

The boy sat quietly and watched while she sang and danced to the music playing from the player. It was...one of those routines that had him questioning whether or not this whole gig really was art or not. But maybe because it was so loose and fun, which was much different than the sharply coordinated stuff a lot of other dancers did, that he liked it so much. That was pretty much all he did, just jump around and have fun.

He grinned and gave a short one-man applause. "I repeat my earlier offer. Do you take IOUs?"

Penelope also had a pretty decent voice. He'd heard some people sing before, but she was pro-quality. Not that Oriel knew anything about that really, he just liked what he heard. "Hey! I can do that too! The whole singing thing." Oriel sprung to his feet and cleared his throat theatrically before breaking out into an off-key falsetto version of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You. His voice cracked about halfway through the chorus and he hacked himself back to his knees. "Ok, never mind. You win," he squeaked. Oriel actually could sing, but not like Penelope. And especially not when he didn't take it seriously.

[Penelope Lopez]

Penelope sat down next to the boy and bumped her shoulder into his. ''Hey, be nice.'', she said between laughs and heavy breaths. ''You know. This is what makes dancing fun. Just letting go of the control you have over your body and just let your body follow the rythm. It doesn't have to look good, it's just supposed to be fun.''

Once Oriel opened his mouth and started singing 'I Will Always Love You', Penelope's eyes grew wide. That was the last song she'd ever expect to come from his mouth. She bursted out laughing, but more out of surprise than because it didn't sound right. Honestly, it didn't sound all that bad. The whole thing was just funny and awkward.

Leaning back as the boy finished up, Penelope had finally managed to stop laughing. Mostly because the dance before had worn her out, and laughing would probably end up killing her seeing as she had problems breathing already. ''Not bad.'', she replied with a smirk. ''We should totally do a duet sometimes. Oh, and dance together! Yeah, that would be ooooh so much fun!'' She said with a dramatic voice and flapped her arms, to show how eager she was.

''Oh, maybe we could even do something about that chubby piece of fat hanging from your stomach....'' Okay, that was just her teasing. Oriel was far from being chubby, that much was obvious.

[Deleted]

"Yeah, that's all I'm doing really, just going with the flow, you know?" Sure there was some skill involved as well as some basic moves, but a lot of the stuff he did was just made up on the spot. "Makes it seem a lot less pretentious than calling it "art"." Which he never really got. Hay-lin said all dancing was art, but whenever that label was thwacked onto it, it just made him think of all the fancy stuff people did, like ballet or waltzing and jazzercise.....ok, maybe not jazzercise.

"Duet?" His voice cracked again as it pitched upwards, still breaking out of falsetto mode. He cleared his throat and tried again. "A duet? You mean like, singing? In front of people?" Not that he probably wouldn't enjoy that, but while Oriel had some degree of confidence in his dancing, he'd only ever sang to goof off. None of it was serious before and while he liked entertaining people with his tomfoolery, he was, apparently, a little bit terrified to try it straight. "I dunno 'bout that...." he started, backing away with his hands up.

But wait! Oriel? Fat!? Oh, now it was on! "Oh! You think I'm fat huh? Do ya?" He lifted his shirt to show off his stomach and chased her down, all while pinching his stomach and showing off his "flab". "I'll have you know that I work very hard to maintain this jiggle. Long hours of naps and danishes, I tell ya! I'm the Olympic champion of laziness and I take pride in that title!" Oriel let down his shirt and caught Penelope from behind, wrapping his arms around her and groping her "assets". "Better'n having a fat chest," he teased, giving both ladies a little lovin'.

[Penelope Lopez]

She nodded in agreement. Yeah, sure. Even Penelope had those moments when skill was all she cared about, and doing everything by the book. But even she had to admit that it was fun letting her hair loose and just go with it. ''Yeah.'', she said with a smile.

''Well, in worst case scenario you could lip sinc.'' Penelope wasn't going to push Oriel in to doing something he didn't want, but she didn't doubt his ability to do it. She was pretty sure that after a few lessons he'd be good to go. Besides she did need a partner she had some form of chemistry with. Considering everything that had happened lately, she was more than happy for still having him around.

Penelope had to admit, the whole scene was just downright hilarious. Everything from Oriel's reaction to him goofing around. This was one of the many reasons to why she liked having him as a friend. He always cheered her up with his foolish behavior. He was running around being his typical self, and of course he just had to grope her ladies. Penelope let out a shrilling laugh and pushed him off. ''I didn't hear you complain about the ladies last time.'', she said and faked a stern look. ''But hey, if you wanna go down there, why don't we start with that horse dick of yours? Sheesh, I can feel that thing poking me from over there.'' She used her hand to wave in front of her head, as if it was extremely hot in there.

[Deleted]

"Ha! Lip-sync? Oh, I can definitely play that!" Another one of his secret vices was listening to songs and lip-syncing the words(especially in the shower), pretending that he was that singer on-stage. Of course, he'd never in a million years admit that he did that. Nor did he ever do it when someone else was in the dorm. Madison would have a field day if he found out that particular quirk of Oriel's. Hell the guy already had enough ammunition against him as it was(courtesy of the other night, thank you very much congregation of the galactically stupid).

As Oriel groped her from behind, he probably held on a little closer than he meant to. Luckily, Penelope shoved the insidious boy away, allowing him to go back to his normal self. "You talking about this thing here?" Oriel questioned the girl as he grabbed the goods through his shorts and started flailing it in her direction. "Trust me, he'd love to have another go." She was just the kind of girl that had him raring to go...But unfortunately(or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it), that wasn't going to happen again. Oriel had no intention of taking Penelope to bed again, as satisfying as it would be. Not now that he knew Kodah had also....

Oriel feigned a trip as he tried to chase her down again, holding himself like he was, and flailed and sprawled and slid across the stage floor to her feet. Then he rolled over like an overgrown cat. "Hi," he said, looking up at her with a stupid smile. He reached out with his hands, opening and closing them as if he expected her to grab onto them. "Care to join me?"

[Penelope Lopez]

''Good. Looks like we have a deal then, Ricky Martin.'', she replied with a grin and chuckled. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun. She could just see them out there, on the stage. Rocking everyone's world.

After the whole deal in Oriel's dorm room, Penelope had more or less put her sex life on the shelf. Not because the whole deal had been especially embarrassing or anything, but because the whole situation had been stressful, and annoying. Hell, she had even enjoyed watching the guys have a go at each other. Poor miserable creatures. ''Good thing you have your very own plaything back at your dorm.'' She gave him a wink, clearly talking about that foul mouthed Madison. Penelope didn't like him much. She could handle his insults, but man, what a party pooper.

With a roll of her eyes and a shake with her head she watched the younger boy roll around on the floor with a foolish smile on his lips. ''You're such a dork.'' She grabbed onto his hands and plopped down next to him. She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. ''How you holding up anyways?'' Even after everything that had happened she couldn't deny the fact that she cared about the boy. He was almost like a little brother. Just not as creepy, seeing as they had slept together and everything. She lay down on the ground and rested her hands over her stomach.

[Deleted]

Ricky Martin....wasn't he that gay latino singer? Or was that someone else? Either way, Oriel was now getting excited about it, despite himself, and it showed on his face. He stepped back and held out his hand towards her. "You will dance with me, and you will be a star! I will not take no for an answer, señorita." Oriel had no idea who the fuck he was mimicking or where the damn accent came from, but still, he cocked a sexy eyebrow at her before breaking character and devolving in to laughs.

He gave her a look, slightly irritated that she brought Madison into the conversation. Oriel wasn't sure why, but he just didn't like talking about whatever the fuck was going on between him and Madison. Not that he was embarrassed over it, because people could go suck a bag of dicks if they didn't like it, but more like....the more other people knew about it, the less theirs it was. He wasn't keen on sharing that relationship(if it could be called that) with anyone else. But then again, at least he could be honest with Penelope about it, since she was already pretty in the loop about it. "Yeah, I got my own asshole to fuck whenever I want," he said, rolling his eyes.

Oriel liked her touch, the feel of her fingers in his hair. He closed his eyes and enjoyed it, nuzzling his head closer on her. "I'm about as dandy as a motherfucking daisy...." With all the stress that had been going on for him lately, Oriel hadn't been sleeping well. Which accounted for him throwing himself into practice whenever he couldn't sleep and couldn't coax a romping out of Madison. Which, of course, only made him even more tired. But at least he was getting something out of it. Oriel rolled over to his side, curling up against Penelope. "I'm so fucking tired...."

[Penelope Lopez]

Penelope didn't really care if Oriel looked rather... Idiotic right now, because in the end, she ought to be used to his childish behavior by now, right? Right. She took his hand and grinned. ''Será un placer, señor!'' This could easily grow interesting, and hey, maybe she gained a skilled dance partner out of all of this?

Well, if Oriel didn't want anyone to bring up his sex buddy, maybe he should have refrained from letting people meet him. Even Oriel had to know that having an open dorm-night like that would attract all kinds of people - which it had - and there would be talking. Lots of talking. But either way, if he wasn't interested in sharing, she wasn't going to force him. Madison wasn't that interesting, so she really doubted she'd miss out on much. ''Nice. Real classy there, bro.'' And she reeeeally didn't need those images plastered in her head. Error. Deleting disturbing images. Beep. Boop. 100% complete! Thank you, and please don't come again.

Penelope nodded slowly while chewing on the inside of her lip. Gosh, he was so moody, she wasn't sure where to step or where not to. But hey, she had gotten this far just barging through. That counted for something. ''You should probably get some sleep then.'', she said silently. No, Penelope didn't really have much problem sleeping. She was used to stressful situations and she really doubted this was going to change anything. Nothing could beat her father dying. So yeah, bring on the stress, because she was going to barge through it like she did everything else.