Room 222 | Saturday Night

[pursuedthestars]

Jim was almost sad to figure out whatever craziness had been in the phones yesterday had stopped. It'd been pretty fun to get some insane calls from people he'd probably never talked to about things he'd never talked to them about. He'd be saving those for times when he needed a laugh.

Tonight, he had his door open for no other reason than to see who might be around on a Saturday night. It was kind of sad he was around on a Saturday night but he figured one night in wouldn't kill him. Besides, sometimes the dorms could be entertaining.

Jim was sitting on his desk chair, legs stretched out in front of him and book open in one hand. It wasn't anything special but it passed the time until he thought of something better to do. He liked reading for pleasure, anyway.

Shh. Don't tell.

[Door & post are open]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

"Unless your hiding something then, yes, I can tell," Jim said, keeping his eyes on her. "Your skin is fine, Natalie. You're fine."

[whenshewasnice]

Just as briefly as Natalie had looked sad, she looked wryly amused now.

"You are too smooth, Jim Kirk," she said, cupping his cheek with her hand. "And I'm too drunk to care."

[pursuedthestars]

"You're drunk?"

Jim was...slightly torn on this one. Some part of him felt like anything would be taking advantage of her and her lessened faculties.

"Didn't know you did that."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie thought it was something to announce. He would've figured it out from her breath sooner or later.

"Considering you know less than a dozen things about me to begin with, that's hardly surprising."

[pursuedthestars]

"And yet, that hasn't stopped you from coming to me tonight," Jim told her, reaching out to curve a hand around one of her hips. "Has it?"

[whenshewasnice]

She glanced down at his hand, then looked up at him again. Shrugging. Nonchalant.

"I have to walk past here to get to my room. And your door was open."

[pursuedthestars]

With that glance, Jim let his hand drop again. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, legs stretched out in front of him.

"Uh huh." Jim licked his lips and looked at her silently. "What do you want? I don't want to play your games tonight, Natalie. I'd rather read."

[whenshewasnice]

Okay, the sucky thing about being a little intoxicated was that Natalie couldn't accurately control how much of her emotions showed.

Because she would've rather not have him see the hurt on her face – no matter how brief it was – when she let her own hand drop and straightened up.

"I wasn't playing a game, Jim."

[pursuedthestars]

Jim sighed and ran a hand over his eyes before finally standing up. He'd misinterpreted things but he couldn't bring himself to apologize. Mostly because it was hard to tell when she wasn't playing a game.

He looked down at her for a moment before moving past her and closing the door to his room, leaving her inside with him.

"Why did you stop here tonight?" Jim asked her, striding back towards her. "Straight answer, Natalie, or I'm going to take you to your room and put you in bed so you can sleep it off."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie had her arms folded again, but this time it looked a little less standoffish and a little more like she was holding herself, protecting herself from something.

"I don't know."

Straight answers could sometimes be deeply unsatisfying. She'd stopped to complain, sure, but that had died down pretty quickly and couldn't really be the real reason, anyway. So what was?

[pursuedthestars]

"Is there something you want from me?" Jim asked, standing in front of her and trying to read her expression and her body language as best he could. "You're still here."

[whenshewasnice]

"Keen observational skills."

Okay, that was a little dry and sarcastic, but that just meant he was dealing with Natalie here. She watched him in silence for a moment. He really was very pretty.

"Human companionship?" she offered. Suppose that was the simplest way to term it. "From someone not afraid to touch me but free of a year or two's worth of emotional entanglement."

[pursuedthestars]

"So, I shouldn't fall in love with you?"

He was teasing, Natalie, don't freak out.

"I can do that. I'm pretty sure I've done it already."

[whenshewasnice]

"No one should fall in love with me."

And that was just a fact. Or at least it felt like one to her, and that was good enough. She unfolded her arms, and reached for his shoulders.

[pursuedthestars]

"Why not?" Jim asked her, stepping closer but keeping his arms at his sides for the moment. It probably wouldn't last for too long at all. "You can't stop someone from falling in love with you, Natalie."

[whenshewasnice]

"That's not what I said," she replied, leaning a little bit closer, sliding her arms over his shoulder. Maybe her eyes looked a little bit darker than usual. Maybe not. "I said they shouldn't. Meaning it's inadvisable."

[pursuedthestars]

"And why's that?" Jim asked, lowering his voice and moving to slide his arm around her waist. "Jerks deserve love too."

[whenshewasnice]

"It's not about what I deserve." She deserved nice things. She just didn't deal with them very well. "It's about what they don't deserve. And I've been called cruel enough times."

[pursuedthestars]

"You're selling yourself short," Jim told her because it was true. He ran two fingers down the side of her neck, returning the touch she'd started a little earlier. "Put yourself first."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie sighed at the touch, tilting her head away, even closing her eyes for a second. "I put myself first when I broke up with my boyfriend. It took over four months for him to talk to me like a person again."

[pursuedthestars]

"That happens with breakups," Jim said like he was some sage expert on long relationships. He pushed some hair back behind her hair and traced her jaw with his thumb. "What did you expect would happen?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't know." Did it even matter anymore? Her eyes fluttered open again. She brushed her fingertips against the back of his neck, and sighed again. "Love rots your brain."

[pursuedthestars]

"He started talking to you again," Jim pointed out since her statement made it seem like there was talking going on, at least. "So, that's something."

Jim pressed his thumb against her chin and kept it there, eyes on her.

[whenshewasnice]

"Oh, there's sex too," she said, rolling her eyes. "It's all terribly unhealthy and I don't know what's going on there."

Especially now. But she was not keen on thinking too deeply about that. Since that was kind of how she'd ended up drinking with Europeans in the first place.

[pursuedthestars]

"Convenient source for sex, though," Jim said, half smiling and shrugging a shoulder. He tapped her chin once before letting his hand fall away. "Can't be too bad if you're getting that regularly."

Sex was fun. He enjoyed it.