smashacademy | 002 Private texts; Action to anyone in the cafeteria

Entry tags:

002 Private texts; Action to anyone in the cafeteria

[After her second day teaching class, Katherine is sitting by herself in the cafeteria, staring blankly down at her phone. She looks slightly torn, but after a deep breath she presses a few buttons, shuts her phone and then goes back eating her lunch.]

[Private to Vincent]
Hey... We still need to talk. I'm sorry that I left in such a rush last Tuesday. I've thought some things over since then, and I'm ready to give it another try whenever you are. Just let me know.

[Private to Sable]
Hello, Sable. I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me for coffee later this afternoon.

[Private to Kanji]
Hey, Kanji. If you’re not too busy, would you mind contacting your friend for me? I could use some help for next week’s assignment.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Okay. How about this evening?

[So no drinking until then, Vince.]

That will be perfect. Where at?

~~[So I can sober up.]~~

I'll just meet you at your dorm again.

[And do your laundry.]

[Please do my laundry everything smells I can't.]

Okay...

See you then.

[Okay we are going to try this again.]

[Yes. And Kat's pretty sure that she isn't going to break down this time, but it was still nice to have the rest of the day to mentally prepare for it.

A few hours pass, but before long she finds herself knocking on Vincent's door, comparably less tense than a week before.]

[Okay. Let's do this. Again. Let's also be an adult here, Vince. He opened the door and let her in. There was the Katherine he knew. He looked calmer as well.]

So...uh...I guess I still dunno what to do about it. That's what I learned.

[She walks into the dorm, thankful that Vincent seems to be at ease. So far, they're headed off to a good start.]

I don't know either, Vincent, but despite everything that happened,--to me, at least--I do know that you're telling the truth.

[She turns and looks back at him with something of a smile.]

We have a lot to talk about... so let's sit down and get started.

[...Oh? Oh! Was that a smile? Was Katherine believing him? Oh my...Okay, Vincent had to smile back.]

Sure, come on in.

It's cleaner this time in here I promise.

[Well all the beer cans are gone.]

[She's a little bit surprised herself, but then again having an entire week to think things through really did help. Even as hard as it was to bring herself to believe him... in the end, she knew that he wasn't lying.

Which did only prove to complicate things--and possibly make her feel weak and maybe a little bit desperate. Because she wasn't even close to being over him. And she couldn't deny that it was refreshing to see him acting like himself... before everything happened.

She goes to take a seat at his desk again, setting her bag down beside her. She sits back in the chair, and rests her arm on the desk, taking a moment to think to herself before looking at Vincent again.]

... I'm going to ask you a question. And I want you to be completely honest with me. Can you promise me that?

[Of course, this was the decent boyfriend before the storm of confusion and "omfg what a mess"-ism. So honesty wasn't a hard thing here. He HAD been telling the truth. He had nothing to hide (except the fact that he got kidnapped by robots and--forget it). He looked at Katherine in the eye and gave a serious look.]

Yes. I promise.

Good.

[She laces her fingers together and looks down for split-second, trying to gather the right words. Then she looks up at Vincent again with an equally serious expression.]

What kind of future do you think we have?

[What...kind of question was that. Answer honestly though. He HAD to.]

Well for one...I'd like to be able to HAVE one...I...It really sucks not being in a relationship with you.

[She maintains a neutral expression, squeezing her hands together a bit tighter. Even as good as that is to hear, that's still not really an answer.]

Then let me rephrase--assuming we see this through, what kind of future might we have? Do you feel like our relationship would go any further?

[Uh.]

What you mean like...

Getting married?

[You’re smarter than you look, Vince.]

Well… possibly. But not only that. [And this time she means it.]

I guess what I’m asking is if you think we’ll even last. Can you see us together for the next five years? The next ten?

Will our relationship always mean something to you? Will… I always mean something to you?

[She closes her eyes and sighs, her voice softening when she speaks again.]

For a while--even before everything that happened--I felt as though we were hanging on by a thread. And I don't want to go on if it's just going to end sometime in the near future.

Edited 2012-03-09 03:46 (UTC)

[Vincent is just going to...avoid the marriage topic for~~ever~~ the moment. He can't even...Vincent pondered this for a moment, he had to find the best way to say what he's trying to.]

Katherine...I wouldn't have been dating you for so long if you didn't mean something to me.

You're smart, beautiful, successful...and a hard ass. What would I even do without you?

[You’re breaking her heart, Vincent… Though that’s still not really the kind of answer she’s looking for, she can work with it.]

I don’t know, Vincent. You tell me that. Would you be better off? Happier even?

[She opens her eyes again; she's doing a good job keeping a straight face, but it's still notably obvious that this is hurting her.]

Maybe someone else will come along and catch your interest and our five years of being together will be meaningless. You say that I mean something to you, yet you’re afraid of commitment. You say that you hate not being in a relationship with me, yet you don’t want to go any further. I see no future in that.

[She bows her head.]

So tell me how I’m supposed to believe you… when I've seen it end.

...Why would I be better off without you?

[There she goes again, hard as a rock...]

It's just that...

Well, marriage is a huge thing. I'm...not sure how I feel about it exactly right now. But I do know is that you're right, it freaks me out.

Do you know how many couples get married and end up in a shitty divorce? And a lot of times, kids are involved! You think I'd want us to go through with something like that if the littlest thing went wrong?

I liked what we had, Katherine.

[For a while, Katherine is completely silent. Once she takes a step back and really considers everything—especially after all that she had been through, she has to admit to herself that he has a really good point. Something that she had overlooked before while being caught up in the rush of things. The possibility of being pregnant. The pressure her parents had been putting on her. Fitting in with her friends.

And then she put all of that pressure on Vincent. While it didn’t really pardon him for cheating on her, it still served as another plausible explanation for what happened and why it happened.

When it came right down to it and she was completely honest with herself, Vincent wasn't the only one at fault here...

Another sigh. Jeez. She’s been sighing a lot as of late.]

I did too...

...

...You’re right.

[She pauses and nods her head. It’s like something clicked and it all made sense.]

Maybe… [She pauses again, considering her words—he wouldn’t recall their previous discussion about marriage and the whole pregnancy scare. She’s not sure that she even wants to mention that.] … I was being too hasty.

[Vincent really wanted things to be the way he remembered. The same. When he didn't have to worry about the things he would have to worry about otherwise. Marriage...could ruin that. It could ruin them in their own lives in so many ways...at least that was how Vincent viewed it. Why did they need to run off and get married? Just so the law could declare them together officially? While Katherine was silent, all those thoughts swirled in his head. Katherine meant a lot to him, and he didn't want his views on marriage putting a damper on how Katherine was important.]

Look, aside from that whole marriage stuff. There's obviously the whole...time and space bullshit we need to work around but...

[...]

If we could...I'd like to start over. I really want that. Maybe that's selfish but I can tell you I never thought about cheating on you. Ever. Maybe coming here changed whatever would have happened days, weeks, or months later when I DID cheat. I have no clue.

[Translation: Let me grovel at your feet, please take me back. Waaaah.]

Well… I was going to address that next—but all things considered, I don’t think there’s a lot that we can say about it if ‘time and space bullshit’ is the extent of our knowledge. And I think it’s already been established that this place isn’t normal.

[Then she looks a bit uncertain. She believes him--she believes every word he's said to her so far.

But is that really enough? It seems foolish to give things another shot, but then again--was that not the reason why she agreed to sit and talk with him? Had the possibility not always been in the back of her mind?

Of course it had. However, it didn't keep her from being slightly hesitant.]

I’ll... think about it. After we get some answers on what’s going on.

[Translation: Of course I’ll take you back, you loser.]

Edited 2012-03-10 17:28 (UTC)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

002 Private texts; Action to anyone in the cafeteria

Text

Text

Text

Text

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Liz. This is KILLING me. /dead

I was dead ten comments ago

He's handling this so well. ;A;

He's trying hard in the name of love

:| I think he's winning.