Something's gotta give soon;

[Deleted]

Oriel snorted, hearing her profound description of her own musical abilities. “Well, shit. Now I have to ask you for a diddy or something. Maybe get you up there for the holiday concert or something. Sure the school’d love you.” Now Oriel was just teasing. He didn’t think she could be that bad, though even if she was, somehow that made her seem a little more….normal. Like a normal person.

Oriel could sing. In the shower or the safety of his bedroom. Or when acting like a fool for someone’s entertainment. He’d never actually taken it seriously - not like dancing - but he could do it.

“What? You ain’t going to finish?” he snarked as he took the other napkins from her. “And here I was enjoying our little grooming session.” Oriel started wiping off the rest from his hair anyway, though.

Oriel cackled at her sudden meekness. “That was barely a love tap,” he mocked. “You got to put your whole body into it, f’you want it to really pack a punch. Trust me, I get punched all the time.” Well, a punch wasn’t exactly the same as a slap, but the concept was the same. Wasn’t it?

Two 24-packs? Oriel rolled his eyes. Rich people…. “I just don’t like wasting food. Shit was yours and it was wasted on my bullshit. Don’t sit right with me.” Oriel strolled over to where the napkins were, tossing the used ones in the trash and grabbing a new cluster. As for the pants…well, Oriel had no obligation to care about that. “Can’t you just buy a new pair or something?” he muttered as he continued to work on his hair. Damn, he wished he had a mirror or something.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

“Maybe—and this is only if you’re lucky—I’ll join in on a group performance of ‘Happy Birthday.’” She cleared her throat quietly, a developing smoker’s cough apparent; bouts of hacking would become inescapable once the weather grew colder, “And if I got up there, I’m pretty sure my trainer would be convinced that the psionic blasts are a lie and that my true ability is a sonic scream.”

Audrey snickered, enjoying the self-deprecation to a degree; she could dish it out, and for the majority of the time, she could take it.

The cheeky boy continued to playfully tease her, but the dancer took it in stride, “The only person I care to groom is myself.” Her voice was haughty as she flipped her long hair with an added drama, a silly recreation of her booger-related meltdown.

“You get punched all the time?” She resisted the urge to chuckle, twirling a chunk of blonde hair around her finger, “Why does that not surprise me?” The fact that Oriel wasn’t constantly sporting a pair of black eyes was a feat within itself… She couldn’t fathom the amount of people he must have pissed off throughout his young life.

“Seriously, it’s not a problem.” She settled herself into the couch, outstretching her long legs and pointing her toes, arches flexed then relaxed, an exercise she needed to do throughout the day to keep her feet in perfect condition, “My schedule of drinking those damn things is already overwhelming enough, I don’t need you buying me any more.”

As she watched the handsome teen fussing with his still gooey hair, she reached into her oversized purse and pulled out a compact mirror, detangling spray, and a hairbrush—She was essentially Mary Poppins, but with beauty products.

“Here, I hope you don’t mind smelling like passion fruit.” She laid down the products next to her in a neat pile, her body still consumed in a routine of small ballet exercises, “And yeah, I mean it’s not an issue of purchasing new pants but rather admitting to myself that I’m not a size zero anymore… Which I know sounds petty as hell, but I don’t know, explaining that whole shitstorm is just not something that either of us would be interested in.’

[Deleted]

“Nah, I’m sure you harmonize beautifully. I’ll let you sing next to me, then you’ll be good by default.” Arrogant much? Why not? Oriel was goddamn perfect!

Though, unlike Audrey, Oriel could only take certain kinds of verbal abuse. He had his own set of triggers and it was fairly common for people to step on them unintentionally. Audrey hadn’t hit one of them yet…well, not quite. Most of the stuff she was dishing out was exactly what he preferred in a good banter bout.

He coughed into a laugh. That kind of mannerism sure reminded him of someone. Maybe(maybe?) Oriel was too quick to judge? She wasn’t like the rich bitches he’d encountered before…..though that still didn’t mean she wasn’t a brat, however she might not be half as naïve as Oriel thought. “Right, Gotcha,” he returned with a snap of his finger. “If I want to maintain my fabulousness, guess I should just do it myself. Might end up looking like you, otherwise. Ugh…!” Oriel made a disgusted face and sent a sneer her way.

“No no! That ain’t the right answer!” he urged her, tilting his chin up at her as he twisted himself around. His hair still had patches of pink goo. “You got to say…” Oriel gestured up to his face. “Why would anyone want to mar up this goddamn beautiful face of mine. A fucking crime, is what it is.” He returned to cleaning his hair. Damn…he might have to just up and take a shower at this rate.

It still didn’t sit well with Oriel, her just giving up a drink like that. Whatever, it was her drink, Oriel made an offer, she refused, end of story. Though, in his opinion, she could probably stand to drink a few more of those things a day.

And now here she was offering him exactly what he needed to pamper himself to perfection. Oriel leered down at the beauty products. “Personally, I go with either cherry blossom or virgin blood, but guess passion fruit’ll have to do.” Oriel rolled his eyes as he “settled” on something less than “perfect” for his hair. Looking in the compact mirror she’d set aside, Oriel saw he’d gotten most of the goo out, but it was going to be hella sticky until he could wash it proper. Oriel nabbed the detangling spray and the hairbrush, and got to work. “Uh-huh….if you say so. I for one would love to have a clue why chicks are so obsessed over their weight ‘n shit.” Some even to the point of starving themselves, which Oriel didn’t understand even more. If you didn’t have to starve, then why would you choose to? Must be why Oriel was such a glutton.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

Audrey giggled, amused by the boy’s confident persistence, “Fine, but only if I get to lip sync a la Britney Spears.” As far as she was concerned, Miss Britney was the ultimate pop diva of the early 2000’s; all others could bow down.

Always interested in playful and mostly well-meaning banter, the dancer gave the boy a sharp side-eye, an eyebrow cocked before she spoke plainly, “Keep dreaming—you wish you had these cheekbones.” She then puckered her lips, exaggerating the sharp angles of her face with a cheeky pout. Who was Oriel to talk? He was still a confectionary dipped in pink goo.

“Well, if looks could kill…”Audrey began coyly, now bringing a knobby knee to her chest to stretch her hamstrings, “You would be a very ineffective serial killer.” The blonde unabashedly laughed at her own joke, a known faux pas, but she wasn’t in the mood to care for high society manners. It didn’t seem like Oriel was the type of care if she broke proper social decorum.

“Virgin blood?” She snorted, now switching legs as she continued the stretch with her left limb; “Good look finding any of that around here.” The stereotypes were accurate as the students of Hammel got around; but hey, lock up a bunch of hormonal teenagers anywhere and see what happens.

Releasing her left leg and settling back into the cushioning of the sofa, Audrey now held her abs tight and lifted her legs in unison as she worked on strengthening her core; some may find this odd, but anyone who saw Audrey in passing more than once knew that this was just what she did. Being a serious ballerina required serious effort, especially considering she didn’t get the amount of training at Hammel she was accustomed to back in New York. At any available moment Audrey was stretching, tensing, or sculpting her figure to better her art; she didn’t need an instructor up her ass to remind her to do her exercises, she inherently had that unyielding drive to achieve her goals.

“I mean, what I have going isn’t the standard oh my God I need to lost ten pounds for prom, I’m so fat, etcetera…” She paused her movements now that the conversation developed a more serious tone, tucking her legs beneath her bottom as she made soft eye contact, “I have a mental illness—Anorexia Nervosa—and although it is categorically an obsession with weight, it’s not a chick thing and it’s not about being pretty or wanting boys to pay attention to me…”

She searched for a better way to describe the condition, to help Oriel understand that this wasn’t some poor little rich girl complex, “You know, like hallucinations, either from drugs or pixie dust or whatever…” she cleared her throat, trying not to sound like a teacher but rather someone attempting to reach out, “My life is like a 24 hour hallucination, but instead of seeing giant mushrooms and floating technicolor penguins, I see myself as a morbidly obese person, someone who is a shameless glutton that deserves to be starved…”

She looked away, embarrassed by her confession, “So yeah, whatever, it’s a sensitive topic.” Audrey then laughed awkwardly, playing with her hair in attempt to cover her face; she was so accustomed to being dominant and in control, but when it came to her disorder, she found herself meek and struggling to return to her assertive nature.

[Deleted]

“Just as long as you shake your hips like her too.”  Though Oriel didn’t care too much for Britney Spears.  Sure, she was hot(to a point), but she was definitely not his type and he didn’t think she could sing worth shit either. 
 
So maybe it was a good match-up? If this chick was as tone-deaf as she claimed.
 
“Yup, always wanted to be able to stab someone with my cheeks,” he countered. “A fucking dream come true.”  Oriel shook his slightly matted hair out of his face and traced his lightly stubbled jawline with the tips of his fingers.  “This is what it’s all about.” He smirked. “I’d show off the hair again, but you’ve been blinded by its gorgeousness enough for one day.”  Oriel stuck out his tongue playfully.   
 
“Good thing that ain’t in my job description as the Evil Overlord.”  Some may argue that he couldn’t get that far without staining his hands in some way, but there was more than one way to dominate the masses.  Besides, if he killed everyone, then there’d be no one left to rule over. He’d had this argument before, actually. With one of his “adversaries”. There were surprisingly a lot of others at this school with designs to conquer the world.

Oriel laughed. She had a point, there were far too few of those these days. Virgins. It brought up a sour memory of one he’d hoped to keep sweet and innocent…but that one wasn’t as pure as he’d thought. Oriel had dropped her quickly once she’d shown her true colors. Women…it was always women who connived. Tricked. Betrayed. “Nothing stays innocent for long,” he said rather darkly. It surprised himself, actually, how so much hate such a joke actually roused from within him. Did he actually hate women? he wondered for the first time. While he didn’t want to say yes, he couldn’t say no either. It was complicated, he decided. Shaking his head, Oriel took a breath and combed another chunk of mussed hair between his fingers, wiping away the goo with a tissue that was just about saturated.

Oriel continued to listen to the blonde as she explained exactly why she was so “obsessed”. He glowered at the term “mental illness”. He hated it. It made it sound like… Oriel stopped fussing with his hair and slowly glanced over at the girl, his scowl fixed in place. “Mmm…” he grunted, turning back to his business. Oriel combed through his curls one last time. It wasn’t going to get any better than this. “And…” he started hesitantly, setting down the brush next to the small cluster of other hair products. “…no matter how much someone tell you otherwise, s’like their word means shit, right?” Oriel draped himself over the back of the couch and curled his arms around themselves, burying the bottom half of his face within them. “…I don’t know nothing ‘bout whatever shit it is you got, but…I know about….what it’s like believing shit you know ain’t real.” He fell silent, letting his words hang in the air. Oriel didn’t know what to—…he didn’t want to say anything else. His thoughts were suddenly very heavy.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

“Of course I can!” she started before giggling, shaking her little butt while still seated. “Although, I doubt I could ever execute a body roll like Britney.” The dancer turned away for a moment, her expression wistful as she reminisced over the “Slave 4 U” music video, her focus primarily on Britney’s glistening sweat-slicked abs. Mmf.

Audrey caught herself fantasizing and turned her attentions back toward the boy, realizing she had missed a few beats of conversation… It was something about an Evil Overlord? Whatever it was, it sounded odd, but she just nodded her head and smiled as she always did when realizing her mind had wandered.

As the conversation took a turn for the more serious with personal confessions occurring from each side, Audrey leaned in as she listened attentively, following Oriel’s words with care. “I mean, the only reason innocence is so special is because it’s a rarity in the face of the corruption that surrounds us… I know I lost mine a long time ago,” she held her gaze, falling into the warm chestnut of his eyes, “and I assume you have too.”

The students of Hammel had a tendency to grow up fast considering the kind of power they wielded from early puberty; these teenagers had no choice but to mature quickly.

Audrey worked to conceal her surprise at how Easily Oriel understood where she was coming from, that words were meaningless in the face of her illness, “Yes, exactly.” Busying her hands, she pulled the products the handsome boy was finished with, returning them gingerly to their home in her oversized bag. She wondered why he chose to stand above the sofa as opposed to taking a seat—There was plenty of room for the two of them.

She nodded along dutifully as Oriel explained his shared experience of the mind betraying reality; her interest was piqued, but she didn’t want to pressure the teen into revealing more than he felt comfortable with.

“Yeah, it really sucks; especially when you realize you’re acting like a psycho, but it’s like… you’re trapped in your own stupid brain.” Audrey sighed, frustrated with memory, “But at least, well I don’t know about you, but I’m a lot better than I used to be. I mean, I still feel awful about myself, but I refuse to let it stop me from eating. I don’t ever want to go back to the hospital.”

Her eyes clear and wide, she gestured sweetly to the space beside her, “You know, you don’t have to stand if you don’t want to.”

[Deleted]

Oriel grinned, snickering through his teeth. “That shit’s easy,” he boasted and demonstrated slightly where he was standing. Nope, not just demonstrating, Oriel spun around and transformed that simple body roll into a series of very fluid hip thrusts. His bulge was still there, though he’d adjusted enough so it wasn’t brazenly obvious.

The fun and games didn’t last. Though, while he hated it, it wasn’t uncommon for Oriel to jump from one mood extreme to the next in the blink of an eye. It was part of his “condition” they told him. He hated it.

“Yeah….ain’t sure which “innocence” you talking ‘bout…but both’ve been gone a while.” One of those being his sexual innocence, which he gave up during his early adolescence, and the other being his childhood innocence. Oriel didn’t even remember when he lost that one. If he ever had it to begin with. This kind of talk made him sink into memories he didn’t want to remember, an empty stare blanketing his face while he monotonously worked on his hair.

This sucked. The meds were supposed to prevent him from sinking like this, weren’t they? Defective pieces of shit…

It was because he needed(or so they said he needed) those that he had an inkling of an idea of where Audrey was coming from with her self-illusions. Or rather, delusions. Oriel sank forward a little from his place over the back of the couch. He wondered how long it would take him to slide over completely at this turtle-like pace.

He smiled into his arms slightly, though it was more from brief amusement of being able to relate than any real form of happiness. Because why should this subject bring happiness? “Yeah….then you look back and remember it all made fucking sense at the time…but you can’t remember why it did.” Though at the same time, he would know that it was fucked up for some reason, yet couldn’t stop, which only made him more desperate. And then it just cycled. That’s what scared Oriel. That utter loss of control over himself, not knowing what he was going to fuck up when it happened. He turned his head on it’s side to face her. “I’m glad that…you’re doing something. Better, I mean.” And moving forward instead of staying trapped in one place.

Oriel shrugged. “Mmm…I’m challenging myself. Don’t interrupt.” He produced his tongue at her.

[Audrey Vandergraaf]

Audrey looked on with interest as Oriel swiveled his hips and arched his back, executing a body roll with swift ease. She bit her lower-lip, finding the liberated movements of his shape oddly… sexy? Ugh, yuck—The dancer pushed her consciousness elsewhere, “I wish I could move like that…” she sighed with playful envy, “but anytime I’ve taken a hip-hop class I’m told that I shake my ass like a Stepford wife.”

After their amused exchanges, the conversation dipped back into the realm of seriousness, both parties respectful as they listened to one another, speaking of both innocence and delusion. “I guess I was speaking in a general sense…” Audrey mused, rolling her neck, the vertebrae cracking audibly beneath her speech, “Not just virginity,” she blushed for a moment, embarrassed slightly by her sexual experience, “but more than that, you know… seeing how the world is, never really getting to be a kid…”

She stopped, not wanting to get too entrenched in the rabbit hole of traumatic memory, her pale lips pressed together as she followed the teen’s words with careful interest. “Yeah, I can barely make sense of the shit I decided to do this morning… like wearing three pairs of pants.” Audrey lightened the conversation with a giggle, although she still mourned the loss of her prized skinny jeans. “But yeah, thanks… doing better is… good?”

Emotive conversations made Audrey awkward, she wasn’t exactly skilled in the art of feeling. Thankfully, Oriel returned to his more playful self, demanding silence as he slinked across the back of the couch.

“I believe in you, tortoise. Don’t let that hare intimidate you.” She also stuck out her tongue, mimicking the handsome teen as she raised her bony arms, clasping her hands together in bravado applause, “Slow and steady wins the race! Slow and steady wins the race!”

[Deleted]

Oriel had to laugh at the image she provided. “It ain’t really that hard,” he tried to explain. He let his arm hang loosely by his sides as he leaned back, slowly rolling just his hips forward. “S’all coming from the exact same place as the rest of that shit.” His hand rested on his abdomen to demonstrate. Oriel chuckled and shook his head, straightening himself properly this time. “It’s that fancy shit you guys do that I don’t get.” He snorted, half in amusement, half in disdain. “I’ll probably end up twisting my foot off trying to do them perri-et turns or whatever they’re called.” He knew not a lick of the terminology either. “You know, the ones where you just keep going?” Oriel rotated his fingers around each other to give some sort of visual in case she didn’t know what he was talking about.

Oriel didn’t like talking about these heavy subjects, though. It unburied memories that were better left forgotten to the orphan boy. “Yeah…” he said with some stiffness. “And…” Keep it chill, Oriel. His jaw tensed. “You ain’t no choice but to grow up to make it through, but then….they still fucking treat you like a kid.” Only six more months, he reminded himself. Then he wouldn’t have to deal with that bullshit anymore.

Her description brought out a short giggle from the flopped teen. “Yeah…the fuck were you thinking with that? I mean…you’re room’s cold, yeah, but….nowhere else is.” He vaguely motioned to himself, a boy wearing a sleeveless shirt in the middle of the ‘harsh winter’. Oriel shifted into his ‘comfortable’ position. That is, hanging and slowly moving like a glacier over the back end of the couch. “I think so….better is better than worse or…not doing anything.” Any amount of progress was ‘better’. That was something else Oriel had to get over; concentrating on his own gradual progress instead of taking steps backwards because he couldn’t get all the way to point B in one go. That was probably the reason why he could empathize. Even though…he usually didn’t have these sorts of conversations with anyone, save for Dr. Neville.

It was difficult to keep the straight face with Audrey’s heartfelt “encouragements”. The corners of his lips were twitching, and he was tempted to roll over the couch entirely in one quick movement…. “I saaaaid,” he wailed. “Don’t interrupt! You’re distracting me!” From what, who knew? He tilted his head towards her, finally unable to hold back his amused smile. “Yeah? We’ll see ‘bout that.” Who said Oriel was the tortoise? He was more the hare than anything else. Impatient to a fault.

His smirk widened and twisted as he continued to slither down the down filled cushions, suddenly changing his trajectory to aim straight for the blonde girl. Quick and smooth, he flopped longways across the couch, landing, with any luck, with his head smooshed in her lap. “Mmm….pillow,” he hummed in satisfaction.