Running The Numbers (Open)

[Emerald Parker]

Emerald hated math, she truly did. But she liked to keep in practice, it was a slow week, and there wasn't any homework today (much to her students' pleasure) so here she was in the library of Hammel, having copied a few old lessons of a 12th-grade teacher and running through them as fast as she could. It was quick, simple, and way too easy. A bag filled with books and papers half-emptied out completed the scene of the pretty history teacher engrossed in her work.

Bored very easily by the problems she was completing, she fumbled around in her bag with her right hand for her iPod while her left hand continued long-writing a formula. Putting in the ear buds, she shuffled through until she found "Walking On Sunshine" and started it, occasionally softly singing with the song as she worked.

Long, flowing hair fully brushed and clearly well-taken care of, a medium smothering of makeup with nice muted red lipstick accentuated her face, while a dark navy blue blazer covered a pretty (and rarely worn by her on non-party days) purple tank top that hugged her curves more than usual from being tucked into her navy blue pants completing her appearance to those who saw her.

Sighing as she finished yet another lesson, Emerald reached for her bag (without really paying attention) and knocked it off the table, it falling to the floor in a not-subtle (or quiet) mess. Frustrated, Emerald stood up and attempted to walk the couple of steps to her now exploded bag of papers, folders and books. In the process, however, her right heel got caught on the leg of the chair, and the 29 year old teacher also joined her mess with a not-subtle (or quiet) yell.

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas sighed as he looked down at the desk in front of him. One would never assume that being a coach or even a P.E. teacher would cause a lot of paperwork, but with the amount of physicals he had to file through and sort out, combined with random new students, it had caused him to have a backlog of forms he needed to fill out. His brain had finally reached a breaking point, and he decided he needed to go out for a run.

As he was on his way out of the building, pulling on a coat for the October weather, he passed by the school's library where he heard a rather loud sound coming from inside. He grew a little suspicious that someone had done something inside and decided to head on in, opening the doors he headed inside. He walked a few steps forward looking for anything that was out of place or wrecked before he saw a large pile of papers and the woman who was currently on the floor with said mess. He quickly jogged over to the woman, waving off the librarian who was also coming over to check on what happened, and bent down to ask her quietly in his accented English while he extended a hand out to her, "Hey, you ok?"

[Emerald Parker]

Honestly, it felt like she had been knocked against the Liberty Bell (that being said, your head hitting a history book would likely do that). Emerald coughed from landing on a smaller book under her stomach. Groaning and rolling onto her back, it was a very uncomfortable experience for Emerald with all of the stuff on the ground. Weakly glancing at her feet, it didn't appear that her heel had broken, which she silently appreciated. Looking around, still in a daze from the sudden positional change, she quietly (though dazed, she still knew she was in a library) talked to herself, "This day just sucks..." Her speech slurred slightly.

Shaking her head, she untangled her legs, and tried to lean up (unsuccessfully). The ground seemed vibrate ever so slightly, and Emerald looked up to find a very large man had bounded over to her, with a hand out. She didn't recognize him...or his British accent. Then again, if it were Ruby, she might have a hard time recognizing her, Emerald's bell was rung hard. Replying to the man with a semi-dazed and weak voice, she said, "Only if there's supposed to be two of you." Which honestly could be true knowing the school.

Attempting to grab his hand with her own took a couple of attempts before she made contact with it. She pulled enough on it to sit up in the mess. "Do I know you?" Emerald asked. "Because I honestly can't tell if I did..." She had met most of the staff, but she was sure there were still a few she didn't know. Putting her left hand up to her forehead, she groaned again.

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas had a worried look on his face as he saw the woman try to move around on the floor, she looked like she had become badly dazed from the fall. The worried look on his face grew even more as the woman talked about seeing two of him, she may have gained a concussion from that fall, a thing he had experienced before, so he spoke slowly to her, "No, just the one, now let's get you up. I need to get you to someone." He added the last sentence very quietly so that only he could hear it.

Andreas grabbed the woman's hand firmly after she finally took hold of his, putting his hand her back to make sure she take another fall back. After she sits up he takes the hand away and looks at her for a moment when she asked if she knew him. Andreas hadn't met the woman before, he assumed she must be new to the school, so with a smile spreading across his face he spoke quietly, "I don't think we've met before. My name's Andreas." As he finished talking his worried face came back when he heard her groan again, he talked slowly to her as he moved some of the things on the ground away from her, "We should probably get you to lie down somewhere."

[Emerald Parker]

Oh there was only one of him. Well, Emerald was sure her head would stop ringing enough soon for there to be only one of him for her too. It was a weird experience for her, she had never fallen like that before, and was struggling in the moment to understand why she felt so bad. Most of it felt like it was going away, but certain parts of her body weren't feeling better. The guy (who was finally starting to look like one, less blurry person) was definitely an adult. And a nice one at the very least.

After he helped her sit up and told her his name, she smiled and said, "I'm Emerald. History teacher. You can call me Em or Emmy, don't call me Emmaroo, only my grandma calls me that and I only let her 'cause she's my grandma." Emerald was still in a dazed fog and the words stumbled out of her mouth at an inconsistent clip and eye contact was not kept well with Andreas as she did so.

Her thoughts were interuppted (focused? She wasn't really sure) by the guy...Andreas?...telling her that she should lie down somewhere. Emerald burst into a small giggle, looking at him shyly, "I'm not that easy, sir..." before groaning again and nearly flopping back where she was sitting. Emerald shook her head and tried to focus on him again, quietly saying..."I think there's a couch in here somewhere...I think."

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas continued to smile at the woman as he tried to look for signs of a concussion, he was still worried about her but appearing friendly might keep from doing something that could make her worse. As he checked her he couldn't help but take a few glances over her body, noting she was fairly attractive, but he wasn't focused on that as the girl began to talk. He found the woman's name, Emerald, a little strange as he hadn't really heard of parents naming their children after gems except for the occasional story. He was a little worried as he watched the woman speak, her skipping words and the fact it looked like she couldn't focus on him made him think she had a concussion more and more. "It's nice to meet you Em, and don't worry I won't call you Emmaroo without your permission." He said these words a slowly and kindly as he could while he signaled the librarian to go get a nurse.

Andreas didn't let the woman's flirtatious remark affect him that much, he still couldn't help that his ego grew a little that the woman thought he was trying to come on to her, but it was becoming more and more obvious the woman was needing to see a doctor. He looked around when Emerald mentioned a couch was nearby, spotting the couch in an area near the back of the library he bent down near her to whisper, "We need to get you off the floor and it doesn't look like you'll be able to walk, so I'm going to apologize in advance for this." As he finished talking he slid his arms underneath the woman, lifting her off the ground easily before he began walking to the couch.

[Emerald Parker]

"But you just did..." Emerald said with a short, distracted laugh, hoping that he knew she wasn't upset with it. She found it funny the way it sounded when he said it. Still giggling a little bit from time to time from her response to his remark for her to lie down, she tried to get a better look at him as her vision...sort of stopped bluring. Yeah... he was a man. Really big man. Though she couldn't really tell if he was fit...thick...or just fat. If only he (and the whole room) would stop vibrating, maybe she could tell.

His voice was nice to listen to at least.

Suddenly (at least to her), he was whispering to her, which was just making her smile and laugh again. People usually didn't whisper to her except when they were about to kiss her or something...and up! She was in the air in the arms of the (clearly fit, she now realized) man (oh yeah, Andreas) who was helping her.

"Oh, whoo, hey...wow...you're strong..." Emerald said with a slight tremble to her voice to fit the trembling of her vision. The up and down of moving with him didn't help. As the thoughts of being carried around like a bride entered her mind for the first time in a long time, causing her to ask, "You carry your wife like this?"

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas paused for a moment, thinking over what Emerald had said before he smiled as he realized what she was laughing about. “Yeah I guess I did, well I won't say it without your permission again.” He said as nicely as he could, trying to distract the woman from the pain that she surely had to be feeling. It looked like she was getting a little better, but it's still be safe than sorry in his mind, especially head injuries.

He continued his facial mixture of worried and smiling as he listened to the woman laugh as he picked her up. He took the compliment on his strength in stride, knowing full well she wasn't fully there, as he walked her over to the couch. “Thanks, I used to be a football player.” Andreas said, forgetting for a moment that football for him was soccer in this country. He slowed down as he heard the trembling in her voice, scared he was making the injury worse. He stopped mid step when he heard Emerald’s question about carrying a wife, resuming his walking he tried to keep the smile on his face, though it was noticeably smaller. “I, uh, don't have a wife.” He said quietly, his voice sounding much sadder as he reached the couch, bending down slowly as he prepared to set the woman down as gently as possible.

[Emerald Parker]

"Just don't do it again," Emerald said, finally able to say a sentence without a tremble. It didn't last long and fell apart on 'again', but it was better than she had been doing at least. Emerald tried to place Andreas on her good to bad scale, but the headache (and much more prevalent bodyache) kept falling apart. She settled for good...

Football player? Her mind wandered briefly before her it settled on the personnel roster she remembered seeing at some point..."Oh...you're the PE teacher I haven't met yet...'cause I hate exercise..." She tried to put a hand to her mouth when the second line slipped out, but her coordination wasn't quite right and she ended up slapping her cheek, letting out a minor squeak in the process.

Still not there enough to notice the stop in movement (it already felt like she was swinging back and forth in his arms even though he held her relatively steady), she was however able to notice the sadness in his voice. And it just made her frown and say, "I don't have a husband either, the bastard broke our engagement because he loved his chemistry set more than me..." It didn't occur to her that he had no idea who she was talking about. It also didn't occur to her to ask (ooh! Couch!) why he was sad about not having a wife.

Attempting to strech on the couch, she just barely kept from rolling off of it, one leg managing to do so, but the rest of her staying on. Impacting her face into the cushion, it finally felt like the room had stopped vibrating...but her body still hurt and she let Andreas know with a quiet groan.

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas let himself smile as he looked down at his coworker, he was still worried about her, but it seemed she was getting a tiny bit better. That conception didn't last long as he heard the trembling in her voice as she finished talking, she wasn't all there yet and she needed to rest in his mind. “You might want to not talk for a little while.” He whispered to the woman worriedly. He then let his smile widen slightly as he said jokingly, “And, you can trust me not to say it.”

Andreas let a small laugh out as he heard Emerald say why she hadn't met with him yet. He gave her a charming smile as he said, “Eh, I can't really blame you. Even I don't like working out that much, I mostly do it because I need to.” He let out a slightly louder laugh when he saw the woman accidentally slap her own cheek and at the subsequent squeak, he instantly felt bad though as he realized he had laughed at an injured person.

Andreas frowned as he focused back on the woman, hearing her describe how her fiancé made him a little angry at whoever had done it, the was no reason in his mind to leave someone just for a job, he assumed, and especially not for anyone they got engaged to. “That guy sounds like a real asshole.” The Welsh man said, voicing his anger at the person while forgetting that he was still in a school, and drawing a stare from a nearby student.

He watched the woman roll her body around on the couch with a growing sense of worry. She really looked like she was in pain, so Andreas decided to sit and watch the woman for a while as he caught himself hoping the nurse would hurry up and get here.

[Emerald Parker]

Emerald laid there, not sure how many time passed before a nurse came over to them and asked her to turn over after talking to Andreas about something briefly (concussion? Emerald wasn't sure what she really could hear). Complying, the lady checked her over carefully, Emerald noting whenever something was hurt.

Giving a brave smile to Andreas though wincing several times, she refused to acknowledge that anything was wrong with her. Really, it didn't feel that way. Everything moved the way it was supposed to when the nurse asked her to move it. She was still trembling a bit, but the nurse said something about shock to Andreas so Emerald took that to mean it was normal.

The nurse pulled out a mini light and asked Emerald to follow it. "Am I doing okay?" Emerald asked, and the nurse nodded with a smile as Emerald just followed the little light around. When the nurse stopped and stood up, Emerald closed her eyes (staring at a flashlight was not fun) and she sighed slightly, still in pain when she shifted her body.

Trying to focus, she heard the nurse say (most of this) to Andreas, "It appears that she just got very bruised. Best thing for her to do is just get home as soon as she can and rest. She responded to the light perfectly, so I don't believe we need to observe her for a concussion. When she's more stable, let her know she can come down to the office and we can look at her in more detail if she needs it."

As the nurse walked away, Emerald opened her eyes back up again, and pulled her legs toward her just enough to give Andreas enough room to sit on the couch if he wanted, pulling herself up against the arm a bit to sit up slightly. "You can sit...I think I'm okay enough to share," She followed what she said up with a joyful grin. It was hard to remove it from her face.

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas felt a wave of relief pass through his body as he got the news from the nurse that Emerald hadn't gotten a concussion like he had assumed. The news had come after a nervous wait after the nurse arrived in the library, during which he returned a smile back to the injured woman as she was being checked upon. He tuned back into what the nurse was saying briefly, nodding as she finished speaking to assure her that he got all of the information. He finished letting the feelings of anxiety die down more, letting the nurse leave before he turned around at hearing Emerald’s voice.

The Welshman let a smile grace his face once more as he saw her move up the couch to give him room. He didn't see anything wrong with sitting next to her, allowing his mind to wander now that he knew that she was going to be fine. He looked over her in a short, friendly glance, shaming himself as he focused on her to much for his liking before sitting down next to her saying, “Thank you.” He then added quickly after he settled in his seat, “If you feel bad just let me know, and if you want to you can stretch yourself out again.” He waited a few more minutes twiddling his thumbs before asking gregariously, “So, what exactly do you teach miss Em?”

[Emerald Parker]

Emerald wasn't exactly able to notice when people looked at her 'too long', so that went unnoticed by her as Andreas took what she thought to be a long time to sit. "No, My grandma used to have a small couch that I laid on a lot...this is normal for me. You'll be fine. Besides..." She stretched one of her legs on top of his for a few moments before pulling it back. Looking playfully at him she finished, "I could just do that."

The silence was awkward...but Emerald was still kinda hurting and Andreas just seemed kind of quiet. Emerald was coming to the realization she had kind of insulted him about what she said earlier, even if he brushed it off. Did he not like her now? Emerald really hoped not. As soon as he asked her what she taught, Emerald immediately replied with the slightest squeak to her voice from speed of response, "History!" With a grin, she composed herself slightly, and said 'more respectably'..."History. All the fun stuff...and some of the yuck-stuff."

Emerald waited ever so briefly before asking, "So, what am I keeping you from doing? I doubt you were looking for women who caught their heel on a chair." Emerald was enough back in the moment to feel bad for inconveniencing him.

[Andreas Pruitt]

Andreas let a small smile out at his coworker’s playfulness, leaning back slightly when her feet came over his own in an effort to give it more room. “Well, if you need more room I don't mind being used as a foot pillow.” He said in a friendly manner as she pulled said foot back, getting his body even more relaxed.

Andreas wasn't oblivious to the awkwardness of his silence, he had spent the time trying to come up with something to talk about with Emerald, but couldn't really think of anything besides work and her previous moments with the concussion scare. The Welshman let out a small chuckle at the squeak in the woman's voice, coughing a little to cover it up he then said, “History’s interesting, not exactly everyone’s favorite thing to learn about though. Especially some of my more action oriented students.” Andreas stressed the word action heavily as he spoke, knowing that students he was thinking of often had poor grades in all classes besides his. He raised an eyebrow slightly as she mentioned “yuck-stuff”, wondering exactly she found to be so bad he asked, “And what do you find to be so yucky?” He couldn't remember much from his own time in history, besides battles but those were often easier to remember for him anyway, so a bit of a refresher might help him get the idea.

Andreas shrugged at Emerald’s question, he had been planning to go on a run, but that was only so he could clear his mind and this conversation was accomplishing the same thing. “Well, I was about to go out for a quick jog around the school grounds, but I can do that later. Plus, it's getting a little too cold for me to go out now.” He was very nonchalant as he spoke. He had nowhere to be today, so why not just relax for a few minutes?