Quiet Playtime - Open

[Reece Morgan]

Wandering around the compound at night in the middle of winter was sort of nice.

Surprisingly, Reece was enjoying the solitude, which wasn't something the sixteen year old telekinetic was actually known for. He liked to surround himself with people because it beat having time to think about things. But tonight was sort of peaceful in his head.

He was in a good place. His powers were under control most of the time [though this was mostly due to the fact that it was hard to get him really emotional] and he wasn't struggling with his academics. Sure, he was still single, but he supposed he shouldn't be too focused on that right then.

Reece ended up in the student lounge that was mainly empty, save for a few unfamiliar students in their own little pockets with either a book, a handheld device or just staring out the window. He wanted to bother one of them but he decided against it when he saw that the pool table was clear.

Quickly, he went over and tried to expand his abilities. He knew they were limited, so limited, but it wasn't like him not to try. He concentrated and calmed himself down before raising a hand over the table, training his focus on the balls but nothing happened. He tried a few more times and finally gave up when he realised he wouldn't be able to unless the balls were made of paper.

"Bummer." He mumbled before grabbing the rack and the balls, lining them up before taking a shot. Quietly [as quiet as anyone could be while playing pool] Reece played with himself for awhile.

[Olivia Baker]

It seemed the student lounge was becoming Liv's home base over the last few weeks. She didn't know what had happened, but for the first time in her life, the library was a bit too isolated. Normally, Liv welcomed the silence, and adored being alone, among her thousands of best friends, the books. But lately her allies had become her enemy. Symbolizing the compliance she'd had for her entire life to her parents ridiculous policies and standards. Not to mention her brothers, who like her were conditioned to love the dusty pages, the dustier ones with wrinkled pages and tearing spines, often their favorites. Now, her brother was coming, and not just any of her brothers but Tristan, the one who was the toughest on her. She wasn't sure he even liked her, resentment was often what she read off him. Yes, the library, and the books were definitely off limits. 

So off to the lounge, her notebook in hand, she went, hopeful that her favorite spot would still be available. 

To her surprise, the lounge was mostly empty, except for Reece Morgan, a student whom she knew primarily from just seeing him in the halls and the occasional class they shared. 

"Hey" She waved on her way to the chair and coffee table next to the window, might as well be friendly. 

She opened her book and that satisfied her for a moment before being interrupted by the sound of pool balls going over and over. She turned a bit to watch, "Playing pool alone doesn't sound like much fun." She wondered if he was studying physics or geometry, as pool was often used in examples for both. 

[Reece Morgan]

Losing himself into the game, he didn't realise that a newcomer had slipped into the lounge until her voice filled his ears. Blinking up, he missed his shot and the yellow striped ball knocked against the side of the table and rolled away from the pocket Reece had aimed it for.

"Hey, Livvy." The telekinetic grinned sideways as he put his stick down to the floor and leaned a little against it.

The brunette had definitely gotten his attention and he was successfully distracted from his game. "But being able to win against myself is pretty fun. If I ignored that I also could lose to myself." He chuckled and waved her over.

"Keep me company."

[Olivia Baker]

"I have to warn you, I'm not very good." She chuckled as she closed her book and got up. She knew she should be focusing on her homework... but wasn't that how it always was? "I could probably count the times I've played pool on one hand."

She grabbed a pool stick off the wall and started to put the blue chalk on the end. Why she was putting the chalk on it she didn't know, but it seemed like the thing to do, maybe it was to prevent slipping or something. Seemed kind of dumb to her either way, and why blue? It always ended up staining her fingers by the end of the game, but perhaps she was overdoing the chalk a bit.

"Should we start a new game or continue with... this one?" She asked looking down at the balls which seemed halfharzardly tossed around the table, only a few missing. She wondered how long he'd been playing by himself, probably not too long.

[Reece Morgan]

"Good thing I'm a good teacher." Reece winked at the time manipulator, already coming up with different situations where they definitely had to be in close contact. He couldn't be blamed. She was ridiculously hot, he was a boy and he had no scruples.

"We should definitely start a new one. I was losing." The telekinetic grinned at his own joke. Leaning his stick against the table, making sure it didn't fall, Reece rounded out the balls and rolled the triangle to the top middle part of the table.

"So the first move is always the easiest. You just gotta break it up with the white ball." Reece instructed, grabbing his stick and aiming the white ball to the middle of the upended triangle. Leaning forward, he took his shot easily and managed to pocket two striped balls.

"Alright, so I'm taking out the stripes. You do the solids." He walked to where the white ball landed and looked at Olivia. "With me so far, Livvy?"

[Olivia Baker]

"How were you losing?" Liv laughed. She appreciated Reece's slightly corny sense of humor. It was fun and you didn't see many people who would joke around and be silly anymore. Of course Peyton seemed like the type that would especially considering that time they tried to make a ball pit and ended up getting locked in the gym closet... 

"So the first move is always the easiest. You just gotta break it up with the white ball."

Liv watched as Reece so easily waltzed over and broke the balls, sending them flying like shooting stars in a thousand different direction, and managing to send a stripe ball into the pocket. Great. He was phenomenal. This was sure to be embarrassing. She felt her stomach twist. She didn't like not excelling at things, especially things that could be reduced to math and physics. She was GOOD at those. But it was the balls that was the problem. Wherever balls were, Liv should not be. It wasn't natural to her. Handling balls came as easily to Olivia as sky diving through an ocean of green jello. Part of her wanted to just sit down before the embarrassment of trying. But Reece was there, and smiling, and he was cute. Damn it, why did he have to be cute? And now she was staring. 

"Alright, so I'm taking out the stripes. You do the solids. With me so far, Livvy?"

"Sorry.. Yeah!" She chuckled racking a hand through her dark hair, bringing with it a nice streak of blue now in her locks. 

Liv took the pool stick and lined it up to the ball, her form was terrible, elbows out, bending at the wrong point, her height wasn't helping. She took a breath in, aimed, and missed. "Oh jeeze!" She laughed. She probably looked ridiculous. "I'm going to try this again." She said and shifted her weight slightly, she managed to clip the corner of the white ball this time, making it roll over a couple inches and barely bumping into a green ball. 

[Reece Morgan]

"I dunno, I'm pretty good so maybe I got a little intimidated by myself." Reece chuckled. He knew it sounded cocky even as it was coming out of his mouth but hey, he knew he was good, why not flaunt it?

Getting Olivia connected to the game seemed to be pretty tough since she was distracted enough not to notice that she had chalk in her hair.

He gave her a grin and let her shoot. Her miss made him wince while hiding a smirk. When she was done, he leaned forward to run his fingers through her hair under the guise of removing the chalk dust out of it. "You've got a little chalk in your hair." He said, getting unnecessarily close to the other girl before turning back to the board and pulling the white ball closer to him.

"The trick, especially since you've got mighty long legs, which I am seriously digging by the way, is to lean back, resting your wrist on the edge." He demonstrated as such, looking ridiculous with his butt jutting out a little. But he knew if Olivia was to do so, she would look damn fine.

"Want me to show you?" Reece asked with a little crooked grin, flashing his teeth a little.

[Olivia Baker]

"I dunno, I'm pretty good so maybe I got a little intimidated by myself."

Liv found herself rolling her eyes as he complimented himself. She only hoped he was kidding, if there was anything that Liv found a turn off it was genuine cockiness. She liked to play, play cockiness she loved and got a kick out of and did from time to time herself. But those real douche bags who actually thought they were God's gift to the world she had no tolerance for. She'd give him the benefit of the doubt though, up until now he hadn't shown any of this and it seemed like playing. 

"I'm pretty damn lucky to have such a gifted couch." She said, her voice laced with sarcasm. 

"You've got a little chalk in your hair." 

When he came closer, his hands through her hair Liv felt herself stop breathing, her eyes locking with his for a split second before she ripped them away. What. The heck. Was this? Her heart started racing and she wasn't sure why but all of a sudden she had the hunch that she was indeed getting hit on and all she could think about was the sweat that was undoubtably starting to develop on her forehead or even worse under her armpits and this outfit was NOT suited for that. She'd actually tried today and was wearing a tasteful white button down, black skirt with white thigh high socks peaking out from her black knee high boots. She looked cute, granted she'd had help. 

"The trick, especially since you've got mighty long legs, which I am seriously digging by the way, is to lean back, resting your wrist on the edge." 

Wait. Was he not hitting on her? NO! No one hit on her she was getting instructed... and that legs thing was a joke.  Yes. Instructed. Ok, that she could work with. She watched with critical eyes as he showed her the proper form. Ok

"Want me to show you?"

"Thanks. I think i've got it." Liv beamed, certain she did. She leaned over, exactly how he had showed her, her body leaned over, long and lean with her ass jutting out, her skirt rising slightly in the back in reaction.

"Like this?" She asked looking over her shoulder at Reece, her hair falling over one shoulder like an ebony waterfall. "If it's not right now's the time to correct me before I assault another pool ball." She laughed. 

[Reece Morgan]

His smirk deepened at the eye roll and Reece found herself just a little bit more attracted to his ‘friend’. It certainly helped that she looked like someone morphed Catherine Zeta Jones and --- on that celebrity morphing website to make her pretty face.

“Deal with it.” The telekinetic gave her the Blue Steel pout with a quick nod. Removing the chalk from Olivia’s hair turned out to be a little more exciting than he thought when he realised the other meta was experiencing a mild form of anxiety.

When she tried the move he taught her, he took his time to take in her form in that position. “Jesus Christ.” He mumbled with a low growl before looking up to her face slowly when he realised she was talking. “That’s…okay but maybe push your hips a little more.” He leaned his stick against the table, coming up to her side and sliding his hand down the side of her body to settle on her hips, pulling it back slightly.

“There we go…” he murmured as he took hold of her elbow to tuck into her body. “Okay so you wanna have your elbows parallel to the ball you wanna hit, right?” He was standing extremely close to her and was bent beside her. “And pull your hand back, look down at the ball, Livvy. And then hit it with as much force as you want the ball to move.”

[Olivia Baker]

When she tried the move he taught her, he took his time to take in her form in that position. “Jesus Christ.” He mumbled with a low growl before looking up to her face slowly when he realised she was talking. “That’s…okay but maybe push your hips a little more.” He leaned his stick against the table, coming up to her side and sliding his hand down the side of her body to settle on her hips, pulling it back slightly.

"What was that?" She asked looking over her shoulder, not catching whatever he mumbled under his voice. 

"Oh, Ok." She said pushing her hips slightly further out before he came to her side, his hands running down her slim body and landing on her hips. She felt that feeling again, the fastened pace of her heart, the unsureness of what was going on and the rush of excitement that she wanted to push back down and bury forever. She closed her eyes for a moment, she had to push the anxiety away or - 

She glitched. The moment played again, his hands running down her side, but slower this time as time moved, and Liv was not able to control it. 

"Sorry..." she blushed, that was embarrassing.

Once he adjusted her elbows she nodded, trying to concentrate on the ball on the table and not Reece, who was standing so close, their bodies nearly pressed against eachother's as she took the shot. Sending a wave of power through the ball and hitting right into the solid red ball, sending it right into the corner pocket. She finally exhaled, and jumped with excitement at actually hitting the ball. "It worked!" She laughed turning to face Reece. 

"Uhm... Sorry" She chuckled awkwardly, facing him they felt even closer, as if they were breathing the same air. She took a step back. This was weird. "You're right! You're a great teacher" She said just to fill air, unsure what was supposed to be happening. It was clear he was hitting on her and it almost felt like she should kiss him or something right now but Lord knew that was probably the worst idea ever. But her heart was racing, and he was cute, and she felt so damn lonely lately and... No. 

"I should probably get back to.... my...." She could hardly remember what she came down for. "Book." 

[Reece Morgan]

Reece cleared his throat when he almost got caught by Olivia. "N-nothing. Just..." he waved his hand a little so she would look forward.

He knew what he was doing was a little more than just flirting and if Olivia didn't catch on, he was going to go and ruin their friendship with some douche move one way or another.

The feeling he got when she tensed up felt a lot like he had experienced it before. "Whoa," he murmured. Her apology was met with a curious frown before he put two and two together. "Did you just..." He asked before shaking his head, not really minding. He knew her power glitched a lot and of course, they were all still in training so he gave her a free pass.

"Well hey!" He exclaimed with a grin when she pocketed a solid ball on her next try. They were incredibly close when she started celebrating and Reece was so close to just sealing the deal but Olivia was quick enough to move away.

The tension and awkwardness was practically tangible as Olivia moved away, claiming to go back to her book. "Aw come on, you got a point! You can't back out now!" He pointed out, already masking the awkwardness he had felt from before. He wouldn't be Reece Morgan if he couldn't be a douche for awhile, could he? "But hey, I guess if you're chicken." He smirked. There it was.

[Olivia Baker]

"Chicken?" She repeated raising a brow. Even when feeling incredibly awkward, coward was a word that she did not intend on being called. She hated being called anything even remotely related. She could feel her blood boil, thinking of her brothers, particularly Tristan, who would almost sing the word in reference to a very tiny Olivia, dancing around her merrily as she began to cry, getting her so worked up that she couldn't even attempt to do whatever the task was that day that he was teasing her about at all. It lit a fire in her.

"I might suck but the one thing I'm not is scared." She said grabbing his pool stick for him and shoving it into his chest, she held it there and moved in. "Especially not of you." She said as she released it and chuckled grabbing her own and leaning cockily against the pool table, arms crossed and smirking.

Ok so maybe she was talking about more than one thing there. She knew they might have almost kissed just before... maybe. She couldn't be totally sure. SHe hadn't had much luck with the subject. Maybe she shouldn't have moved away... maybe it would have been nice.

Too late now anyway. He wasn't as close anymore, that tension had been relieved and unless he did something dramatic, it wouldn't be back.

[Reece Morgan]

He could sense he had hit a nerve in Olivia but he couldn't help but grin at her response. Nobody backed out on being called a chicken and Reece was the worst at that. He was a dick about it all the time, it was just upsetting that Olivia had to deal with it.

Raising an eyebrow at her verbal response, he also sensed that there was more to it than the surface. He wondered briefly what she meant by it.

The tension may have diffused but Reece still couldn't shake off the feeling of wanting to kiss Olivia. Mostly to prove a point.

Setting himself up with his stick, he made sure his hit was aligned before looking up at Olivia with the hugest shit-eating smirk before hitting the ball, pocketing another striped ball easily. "Okay, I'll go easy on you, I'll let you have another go."

[Olivia Baker]

"Okay, I'll go easy on you, I'll let you have another go."

"I'm sure." She said watching as him and that stupid smirk put a ball into another pocket. Was he serious? This wasn't even going to be fair. But Liv wouldn't go down without a fight. He'd unleashed that competitive side in her, and it was strong.

"Lucky shot." She said taking lining up her own shot. She took a little more time than she would have liked given the circumstances but wanted to get it in. She recreated the position that Reece had showed her, took a breath in, then as she exhaled hit a ball right into the pocket, on it's way it hit another ball which also went in. Two.

"Hah!" She said and jumped up. "Maybe you shouldn't take it so easy on me Mr. Morgan." She said sauntering over to him.

[Reece Morgan]

Her response to him pocketing the ball made him smile widely. He could actually see the determination burgeoning from her. There was clearly something in calling someone chicken that could definitely put anyone up for a challenge. Olivia was no different and Reece briefly wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Watching her sink two of her balls elicited a surprised laughter from the telekinetic. He clapped for her and grinned. "Well well. I suppose I have underestimated you, Miss Baker." He smirked and brushed up against her deliberately. Just to get a reaction.

"Maybe I really shouldn't take it easy on you." His voice dropped an octave as he dragged his hand down her back and walked to the other side of the table, the smirk still on his face.