Room 222 | Sunday Morning

[pursuedthestars]

Jim hadn't wasted any time in getting back to his room. Hey, he would almost welcome Jackson's presence after all that time without privacy. He didn't mind the bouncy castles but man, the novelty wore off quick and he didn't like rolling over in the middle of the night and ending up splayed against the side of a castle with plastic up his nose.

He'd brought Natalie the snake back first, setting her up on his bed so she could slither around and do her snake thing before going back and getting the rest of his stuff. He'd dropped all that on the floor beside his bed and stretched before flopping down beside Natalie.

Who was still a snake.

"You ever gonna change back?" he asked idly, not expecting a response. He got none. Jim sighed and tucked an arm under his head. Snakes were not great conversation partners.

[Door is open, post is open]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

"Wow," Jim said, raising an eyebrow. "I meant for comfort, not to immediately jump into bed with. Calm down."

Not that she'd gotten worked up but the words told him she felt fairly strongly about things.

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm perfectly calm," Natalie said, because she was. "And you're jumping to conclusions."

[pursuedthestars]

"I don't think I am," he told her, shrugging. "I was just joking around and got cut off at the knees. I mean, it's fine, but you know. It wasn't jumping to anything."

[whenshewasnice]

"Yes, it was," she replied, pulling her hand out from under his shirt so she could push her bangs out of her eyes. "But it doesn't matter."

[pursuedthestars]

"I disagree but fine, we can agree to disagree on this one," Jim told her, shrugging.

[whenshewasnice]

"Things you assume don't make a great basis for disagreement."

She'd meant to not say anything more on the subject, but then that came out anyway.

A pause later and she just shook her head at herself, looking down and away from his face.

[pursuedthestars]

"Natalie, don't tell me what I can and can't do," Jim told her, frowning. "You got pissed off when you thought I tried it with you so don't try it with me. I disagree with what you said and I'm trying to leave it at that. So, can we leave it at that?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Fine."

She still wasn't looking at him, though. But when it came to her? At least she hadn't immediately rolled off of him, even though the other side of the coin of being opinionated and having thoughts of her own was that could be fickle and moody.

(And easily hurt.)

[pursuedthestars]

Jim just sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Well, this had turned out fantastic. He shook his head again and just stayed where he was.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie tugged absently on the edge of the blanket.

The silence stretched on as she wondered whether she wanted to still salvage things, or just pick herself up and go.

[pursuedthestars]

And Jim wasn't sure what her choice was going to be. He hadn't moved since her single word statement and he didn't know what he could say to make anything better since she'd wanted the last word on the subject and his disagreement with that had caused the whole thing.

He was suddenly tired.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie had that effect on people. She wished she didn't, sometimes. For such a smart girl she could feel so unbearably stupid sometimes.

She glanced up at his face, finally.

[pursuedthestars]

Jim was rubbing his eyes when she looked up at him, trying to see if he was actually tired or if his eyes were just stinging for some other reason.

[whenshewasnice]

Yeah, Natalie was wondering about something like that too.

She brought her hand up to his face again. This time, it was just to brush her thumb against his jaw. Her touch was light, like she didn't want to startle him.

[pursuedthestars]

She didn't startle him but he was surprised. He brought his hand away from his face and glanced down at her, question in his eyes.

[whenshewasnice]

She didn't have an answer. But her fingertips moved over his cheek and she didn't break eye contact once she had it.

[pursuedthestars]

And if he was honest, he'd been expecting her to get up and start to leave. So, he was still curious as to what she was thinking but he stayed quiet and didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

[whenshewasnice]

Somewhere in the future, Wallace was convinced Jim had just agreed with him about Natalie being horse-faced.

But that wasn't really relevant to anything currently.

She was thinking she only had a week left and she didn't want to waste that on fighting or unnecessary awkward. And that was why she was brushing her thumb over his lips again, watching it move along the curve like she was memorizing it.

[pursuedthestars]

He wasn't going to object to being touched. Her touch felt nice and he hadn't wanted her to leave so this was nice. This was nicer than what he expected would happen after the whole misunderstanding so he was going to take it and enjoy it.

[whenshewasnice]

And Natalie was deliberately pushing past her pointless annoyance and letting it go. Touching him was better so she kept doing it. Pressing her thumb against the middle of his bottom lip.

She also shifted a bit, getting their hips a little closer together. See, she wasn't leaviing.

[pursuedthestars]

She wasn't leaving but he still wasn't sure what she was thinking. He didn't know if she was pissed and touching him because it was the better option or if she was apologetic or what. She was stubborn, he knew that, but he still wished he knew what she'd been thinking.

[whenshewasnice]

She was a little bit apologetic, even if she didn't think she was the only one with something to be apologetic for (because she never did). It was also the better option, when compared to flouncing.

And she wasn't pissed. Didn't look it, either. The expression on her face was softening.

[pursuedthestars]

Good. Good, he hadn't wanted to deal with fighting with her today. It put him in a bad mood so he was glad they seemed to be leaving that behind and just...just being together.

That was good.

[whenshewasnice]

Yeah, it was.

Natalie licked her lips as she considered breaking the silence. She wasn't going to comment on what had just happened, if she could help it. She had other things to say. Quietly, softly.

"You should be touching me too."

[pursuedthestars]

"Should I?"

He picked his hand up and reached down to slide his fingers through her hair gently.

"Okay."