Counting Stars [Travis]

[Adaryn Breslin]

Adaryn woke up, her mood elated and her eyes bright. She slept through the night with no problems and her body feeling rested. There was the dull throb that her recent inflicted wound was causing her, but aside from that, she felt great. It was a Saturday, which meant no classes, and no people to really bother her. She emerged from her room and slipped over to small kitchen within the conjoined dorm. It was nice, having such a place that was almost like her own small apartment. When had she even felt like this about the dorms before? With a shrug, she made herself some Lucky Charms, fitting for the tone of the day, she figured, and ate what was in the bowl.

The day was relatively uneventful, but nothing had really occurred that could possibly ruin her mood. She got into some small talk with Tori and added a few drawings to her portfolio. As she slipped through her sketchbook, and she passed a perforated page, and she thought hard about what exactly she tore out of her sketchbook. She never tore anything out of her sketchbook...

Then she remembered.

She had given Travis a picture she drew of him on their first meeting, and her mind wandered to what he might be doing at a time such as this. On a Saturday at 4 PM, he could be out and about, or maybe with that girl he spoke about that he seemed to really care about, Adaryn couldn't be sure. She would text him, but her phone was shattered into pieces. The girl bit her lip gently, but didn't dwell on why her phone was in ruins. It would ruin her mood, and she didn't want that.

Addie figured she'd have to do it the old fashioned way; she'd have to go up to his room and see if he was there. Maybe they could hang out? She wasn't sure. But now that the idea came to mind, she was going to act on it. Addie slipped into her room, changed into the a white turtle neck and jeans, as opposed to her PJ pants and a baggy t-shirt, and slipped out of the room.

She passed through the Co-Ed Dorms rather quickly, searching for Room 206, aka Travis' dorm. The Brunette knocked on the door a few times, and bounced on the balls of her feet until the door opened.

[Travis Morgan]

Mostly Travis had just been hiding in his room, listening to music all day, not doing much of anything. Thinking a lot. His mother had called a few hours ago and caused him some mild panick when she suggested flying him home for Christmas (mild was putting it lightly). The experience of flying out here in the first place had been so traumatic that the thought of doing it again (twice actually) had him begging and pleading with his mother to just let him stay at Hammel. He didn't care about presents or any of that. All he wanted for Christmas was to not get on an airplane!

Even after his mother caved, the rush of panick had his hands trembling. After a minute of pacing his room, he dropped tot he floor and did as many pushups as it took to work off the nervous energy. He would have gone outside for a jog or something, but the outside seemed like a bit much to handle at the moment.

Travis had calmed himself down again by the time Adaryn showed up. There was music playing loud in his bedroom, and he was dancing around like a total idiot. The knock on the door made him stop, though. He froze in place, and his head snapped toward the sound. Cautiously he turned off his music and listened hard as he crept out of his bedroom and toward the main door. He didn't feel anyone on the other side, and he opened the door slowly--

"Adaryn!" He said, clearly relieved it was her and not someone he didn't know, possibly looking for one of his roommates or something. "What's up?"

[Adaryn Breslin]

Being her polar opposite today, once realizing she held up her mental block, she let it fall. The happiness and giddiness spread out, lightly wrapping around Travis' somewhat negative aura. He was nervous. But it wasn't too bad. Something must have happened earlier on in that day. But instead of asking about it like she normally would, the Empath continued to bounce back and forth on her feet. "You and Me, hot chocolate and conversation in the common room?" This was not natural. This was not right. But for once in her life, she didn't care. She was legitimately happy. After getting everything out to Monroe, and then coming to grips with the fact that she was finally free from her parents reign and she never had to deal with them any longer, the girl decided to smile for once.

There was nothing weighing her down today. It felt nice.

Her hands fell to her sides, and she bit her lip softly, amused at herself for even doing this. "Come on, we can talk about some interesting stuff. Like cats vs dogs, or dystopian vs utopian, or whatever nerdy stuff we can think of." Her speech was much faster and less deliberate. It almost sounded like it was rambling. Such out of character actions probably shocked Travis, which was okay.

"And before you think something is horribly wrong, or I'm on drugs... I'm just happy. I figured I might as well share that happiness with a good friend."

[Travis Morgan]

Travis blinked at her. He could feel her elevated mood now, and a smile tugged the corners of his mouth even if the rest of his expression was still stuck on surprise. What was happening? He'd never seen her so happy before.

He liked it. It was nice, and he was glad for her. All he ever wanted was for people to be happy, and he had been starting to think that Adaryn would be fighting depression her whole life. He certainly expected that for himself, at any rate.

"Um, yeah. Okay," he said with a smile. Her energy was relaxing, and he suddenly found the thought of leaving his dorm appealing. "I've never seen you like this," he said, stepping out of his dorm and closing the door behind him. "Did something happen? Or.. just randomly in a good mood?"

[Adaryn Breslin]

"There we go," The girl smiled, gesturing for him to follow. She may have been happy and what-not, but touching was still a very uncomfortable thing for her to do. Not that she minded about the things she was capable of doing right now, as her mind was set for some decent conversation and some nice hot chocolate.

He commented on her mood, and she shrugged. "I've been sleeping better, and I've been talking a lot more. I don't have so much weighing me down right now." It was great. Vincent was pretty much like her father figure at this point, though she isn't sure he knows it. He may not be one for physical hugging and all of that, but he has given her the emotional support that she has needed. The same with Sean. With their sessions, she hasn't hide time to build up, and honestly, she trusted those two men more than she has ever trusted anyone.

"Plus, I'm off work today, which is also a good thing. I don't have to deal with sleep deprived teenagers wanting coffee. Well, there's Monroe, but for the most part I can deal with him."

[Travis Morgan]

“Well that’s good,” he commented, shoving his hands into his pockets as they walked. He wasn’t sure what else to say about it, except that it was good. Travis didn’t actually know that much about Adaryn. He wasn’t the prying type, generally speaking. He personally found it uncomfortable to be asked questions about himself, so he tended not to ask the same questions of others under the assumption that everyone else would feel as put-on-the-spot as he did. And Adaryn didn’t usually emote. He may as well be talking to a completely different person right now. Feeling her happiness was relieving on one hand, but just slightly unnerving on the other because it was new. Travis didn’t know what to expect from this Adaryn.

“Wait— Monroe?” Thankfully, Adaryn was a bit talkative at the moment so he didn’t have to come up with something. Travis was much better at the whole conversation thing if somebody else started it. “…why is that familiar?”

He felt like he knew that name. Travis had met Monroe inside a dream once, during his first month or so here at Hammel. The event was blurred and half-forgotten like a handful of other awkward encounters from his somewhat long adjustment period. He’d met people, and never talked to most of them again because… well people were stressful, and mostly they’d seemed perfectly alright before he showed up so.. they probably preferred that he didn’t just randomly show up and demand their attention. It’d probably be awkward anyway.

[Adaryn Breslin]

She turned to look at him curiously when he mentioned Monroe's name sounding 'familiar'? Had he known him? Well, obviously not well enough considering the confusion in his tone and aura, but she didn't really comment on that. "Yeah, Monroe. He's a dreamwalker, and basically get's no sleep because of it." He was also someone she really liked, and apparently he felt the same way. But she really didn't know what they were at this point. Really, she was kind of nervous to ask.

They made it to the common room with minimal awkward silences as Adaryn kept up the conversation. Really, what she was hoping was to get to know Travis better, and to allow him to learn things about herself. She didn't give up much information about herself, and she didn't want to keep holding people at arms length any longer.

She was finally learning to come to grips with everything in her life. It was a tough road, and she was far from the end... but opening up had to be the first step, right? Plus, she was in an elated mood, so it would do her good to spread it around, right?

"Dark or milk chocolate?" Adaryn asked with a smile, gesturing towards the hot chocolate/coffee machine that was set up in the lounge. "Oh, and whipped cream or no whipped cream?"

[Travis Morgan]

Oh the dream walker! Travis tried not to show the uncomfortable blend of surprise, embarrassment, and mild panic on his face, but that hardly mattered. Adaryn would know anyway, even if he didn’t show any signs. He remembered Monroe now. From a dream, of course.

It was awkward. He didn’t exactly remember the dream, but he knew he woke up from it suddenly. He remembered that the feelings he had right now were the feelings he’d had after that dream, though he wasn’t exactly sure why. Monroe seemed like a nice guy. Definitely not the kind of person who cared whether or not Travis was the most awkward person on Earth. He saw people’s dreams all the time, he was probably used to some really weird shit.. but that didn’t stop Travis from being incredibly insecure about the whole thing.

“Huh?” Travis blinked and rose his eyebrows when Adaryn asked what he wanted. “Um.. milk, and.. yes. Whipped cream..” He scratched the back of his head and inhaled deliberately, making an effort to shake the sudden anxiety that was still making his heart palpitate uncomfortably.

Jesus, you’ll just flip out at any old thing, won’t you? He scolded himself mentally and took another deliberate breath. Adaryn was in a good mood. He should try not to spoil it.

[Adaryn Breslin]

There wasn’t much to hide from the girl. She started picking up on his anxiety almost immediately, and she raised a brow. She couldn’t just ignore the fact that he was upset anymore. She wouldn’t be a good friend if she did. Adaryn made the hot chocolate, and brought the cups to the couch where Travis sat.

“Travis, are you alright?” Obviously he knew that she already figured out he wasn’t. The perks of having an empathetic friend, yes? The electric buzz that he created did not affect her like it would have if she didn’t have her shield up, thanks to Vincent’s recent teachings.

“You don’t have to tell me, because well, it’s your business. But is it anything I can help with?” If he asked for her to use her power, she would. As long as it would help him feel better. But the brunette wouldn’t do anything unless she was asked. Addie knew better. Addie learned.