Room 330, Thursday Evening

[genesishero]

It had been... well, definitely some kind of week. The very distracted sort of week, in fact, where Evan had alternated between trying to study and trying to work off some of that excess energy that he had all pent up since Monday. He'd even called in on what would have been his first day of work, explaining to his new boss that there was no way he was going to be able to do his job in the middle of all of this pollen.

Calling in pollenated was completely legitimate around here, right?

This evening, he was smack-dab in the middle of 'working it off' mode. His books were all piled up on the other side of the room and he'd cleared a space in the middle of the floor, where he was doing push-ups. Lots and lots and lots of push-ups. Kinda pasty shirtless push-ups. Because, really, what else was there for it?

He was desperately hoping this whole thing would wear off before the visitors could begin arriving to the island tomorrow.

[OOC: Expecting one, but open if anyone wants to visit Evan beforehand.]

Comments

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Sholeh...really ought to know better. This was not the right week to go deliberately knocking at Evan's door. This was the week for cold showers and doing laps, NOT for visiting someone that had featured heavily in multiple dreams over the past few nights.

But she was sixteen and pollen-laden hormones trumped good sense. Sure, she had a copy of Tiny Females in her hand and several questions about what Pilgrim's progress actually was, but if she was being honest with herself (and she most assuredly wasn't), it was all a ruse to find an acceptable reason to go visit Evan when everything else was saying that she should be doing the opposite of that.

Except for Zeela. Zeela thought this was a great idea. Sholeh was ignoring that, too.

Knock knock!

[genesishero]

Knock knock?

"Who's there?" Evan had to ask. Haaaad to ask. Because he was picking himself up off the floor and not completely clothed and kind of sweaty, and there was a very finite number of people that he would actually answer the door for, when in that particular state of disarray.

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Was she one of them?

"It's Sholeh!" she called through the door. "I was hoping you'd have a little while to talk?"

=Or maybe not talk?=

::Hush, Zee!::

[genesishero]

She pretty much was 'them.'

Evan hesitated for a moment, and then made a reach for a towel so that he could at least try to get rid of a little bit of the sweat on his skin. He was dabbing it at the back of his neck as he opened his bedroom door.

"Talk?" It wasn't anything serious, was it? "You know I always have time to talk, Sholeh."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Right, so when Evan opened the door, he was shirtless and sweating a bit. Did he perchance also sling the towel across his shoulders, too, after vigorously drying his hair? Sholeh and her sisters didn't know much about pop culture, but even they had seen that iconic male pose.

=I'll give the kid this,= Zeela said, casually. =He's filling out pretty okay.=

::Hush, Zee.:: Sholeh said again, this time a bit more dreamily.

"Hi..." she said, before ducking her head and blushing. "I...book." She held out her book towards him, so he could see that she had one. "To talk."

Nice and coherent, sweetheart.

[genesishero]

Evan blinked down at the book, then back up at Sholeh. She was... kind of missing a few words, there.

"You... want to talk about the book?"

See, he was getting the hang of comprehending 'flustered stammer' as a language!

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Which was only for the best, really. It was his girlfriend's second language, after all.

"Th-that's why I'm here," she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "To talk. About the book."

And not make out! Certainly not!

"But you look busy..." She bit her lower lip, looking awkward. "Maybe I should have called...?"

[genesishero]

"Oh! Um... Maybe it couldn't have hurt," Evan admitted, though he was pulling the door open the rest of the way and stepping aside so she could come into the room. "I was just... doing some push-ups, mostly."

Mostly?

"Completely. Just push-ups. Nothing important. Come in?"

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Sholeh didn't move from her spot in the doorway. "I'm sorry," she mumbled towards her toes. "I wasn't thinking."

About what he might be up to, anyway.

"I'll try to be better about calling in the future?"

[genesishero]

"Oh! I just meant-- This week. It's a weird week, and..." He was not going to flail his arms. He was so not going to flail his arms. "Here, come in. What book do you have? You don't have to worry about calling all the time, you know? Honest."

It's just, the last time she'd come here during one of these weeks, there had been magazines out...

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Sholeh took a step inside and then flushed a brilliant scarlet as she took in his meaning. "I--oh. I was--were you--I mean, I'm not--!"

She squinched her eyes shut tight and counted to ten.

"...Maybe I should just go. I just wanted to talk about Tiny Females, but if you were, uhh, busy, with, errr, your pushups or whatever..."

He had said mostly...

[genesishero]

Hey! The bonus to him being shirtless right now? She could see just how far down his blush went.

"No, it's fine! I really was just doing push-ups!" Damn that 'mostly!' "And thinking. Push-ups and thinking, but it's nothing I can't worry about another time, you know?"

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"You're worried about something?" Sholeh asked, bravely trying to keep from noticing his blush and his chest and how far one extended down the other. Or how much more defined that other was. "I'm always willing to listen if you wanted to talk. Not just about books, you know? Anything!"

[genesishero]

"It was mostly about Parents Weekend," he admitted, taking a few deep breaths (probably not helping how easy it was to notice that chest, granted) and battling down that blush. "And how I'm hoping the pollen is gone by tomorrow, and making sure things are all set up for the meet and greet tomorrow afternoon. You know... practical things."

Because if he didn't think of practical things, he wasn't going to survive the week, here.

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"Oh goodness," Sholeh said, covering her mouth with a hand. "I hadn't even thought of that! It's a good thing our mothers aren't coming--I wouldn't know what to do if everything was still like this!"

Way to splash cold water all over your girlfriend's libido, Evan.

[genesishero]

Oh, as if that would last long this week. Honestly.

"I know, right? I don't think I have anyone coming, myself. I mean, Wade's pretty busy and I think Logan's figuring out that I don't really want him around right now. But everyone else's parents?"

That would be... awkward. A bit.

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"Maybe we could spend some time together tomorrow," Sholeh offered. "Since neither of us have anyone coming to visit? This way we don't interfere with anyone else's parent time."

And they could have a 'No Guests For Us' picnic somewhere off on the beach and pretend like that didn't bother them at all.

[genesishero]

It would be pretty much the best picnic ever. Away from all the insanity of the meet and greet, and all...

"I'd like that," Evan decided, and then he took a seat on the edge of his bed. "Caius wanted to talk to me sometime this weekend. I have more training to do before he leaves, I think. But tomorrow? At least once the meet and greet is all set up, I'd love to sped time with you."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Nothing horrible could happen at a picnic with just the two of them during a pollen week!

"He wants to spend time with Zeela, too," Sholeh said, looking around for somewhere other than the bed to sit down. The bed was just too inviting right now. "Maybe he'll have you two training together?"

[genesishero]

Not a chance!

"Maybe," Evan replied, nodding a little bit and standing up again, moving to pull out the chair at his desk for her. "I mean, he really only gets the weekend, he'll probably want to get as much done as he can with us as quickly as possible, since he's really mostly here for Yeul."

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"It's very kind of him to take any time for us at all," Sholeh agreed, sitting down in the offered chair. She trailed her fingers over his hand as a thank you before sitting. "I know Zee's really looking forward to it."

[genesishero]

Evan was pretty sure training wasn't all that Zee was looking forward to, but he decided to bite his tongue on that particular point, nodding and smiling a little at her hand.

"It'll definitely be a learning experience," he decided, stepping behind the chair and resting his hands lightly on her shoulders. Maybe a little backrub or something... "So, tell me more about this book you have?"

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

For some inexplicable reason, he would find that Sholeh was carrying a lot of tension today. Especially after his hands found her shoulders and began rubbing.

"Mmm..." Barely a sound, more like a small catch in her throat, but Sholeh was keenly aware of it anyway.

Yes, book. Definitely book. Good time to talk about book because it wasn't sitting around making noises because Evan was touching her.

"Have you ever read it?" she asked quickly. "They keep talking about this other book and I don't understand it. I thought you might have some insights. You always know just what I want--I mean, what I need to know."

[genesishero]

"Well, maybe not always," Evan demurred, stretching his neck a little in order to get a better look at the book while he continued to rub her shoulders. "How far have you read so far? Is the other book all that's tripping you up?"

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Sholeh was very much aware of how close his head was to hers now. If she wanted to, she could lean over and kiss him--and she very much wanted to. But--would he mind? He was just as close as she was and hadn't moved to kiss her. Perhaps he'd prefer it if she didn't?

She shifted slightly to look at him, tongue darting out to lick her lips. Who knows what might have happened next, if Zhahar hadn't irritatedly said, *Sholeh! Book!*

"Oh!" She jumped a little in her seat, startled. "Err, yes. It seems very important to them, but I don't know what it is or where they're going on their, err, progress."