Catching Up (Finally!) – Connor, attn Julia, open

[Connor Pearce]

The guilt about basically fawning over Kian and neglecting his other friends, including his best friend, had reached a boiling point and Connor figured it was long since time he made up for that. Especially since things between him and his boyfriend were good. Really, really, really good if the previous night was anything to go by. Kian had dropped him off back home in the early hours of the morning, both with matching cheesy grins on their faces, and plans to spend more time alone on Kian’s new boat as often as possible.

Not that he was going to share all this detail and new developments with his friend, not at the present moment anyway. He had plenty he wanted to pester Julia about first, the least of which her own possible boy. It felt like it had been ages after all. Not that he was one to gossip, but there was so much to talk about, and a certain Tolkien themed computer game he had to be instructed in. Who was he kidding, he was one to gossip.

And seeing how he might not be the only one with that feeling, Connor came prepared, a pre-emptive strike of sorts. He had cookies. Peanut butter choc chip cookies to be exact. A small stockpile of them, which he stood holding as he leaned up against her locker. There was no way they were going to miss each other now.

[Julia Warner]

Julia had not expected Connor to be waiting for her when she arrived at her locker. She fully expected him to be off spending his few precious minutes before class with his boy -- whom she had still not met, annoyingly enough. Then again, she did have rehearsal after school now, on top of violin practice, so it wasn't as if she had just tons of free time to spend anyway. Still, she had missed her friend and she wanted to meet this new boyfriend of his, scope him out, make sure he was acceptable for her best friend. After all, she didn't approve of the one her brother had chosen, so she couldn't be too sure that Connor wouldn't be equally taken in by a pretty face -- and the chance to actually have a date. But maybe she was projecting her own desires to not be single.

"Connor!!" She squealed in a fashion that was far from dignified, dropping her books into a disorderly pile at the bottom of her locker in order to fling her arms around the Irish boy. "Omigod, it's been forever!!" She sighed dramatically, "I thought you'd forgotten me." She tried to look stern as she said this, but she couldn't conceal the teasing smirk threatening to break out. "Seriously, I thought you and Kian must've eloped or something." She told him, releasing him and returning to her locker, grabbing the books she needed out of the pile she'd created only a moment ago.

She eyed the cookies in his hands, "I see you brought cookies in penance," She noted, hoping he intended to share (though she had little doubt of this) and then she grinned, "I still need to meet this guy, you know! I'll recruit him into LotRO, too, if that's what it takes for you to introduce us. If he really exists," She prodded him in the chest with one finger, "I invited Danny over this weekend, since he's big into Tolkien I thought he'd love to play with us, so if you bring your man, then that'll be four! Then we only need Lexi and Levi to have a whole Fellowship anytime we need to run a fellowship quest!"

[Connor Pearce]

Connor had thought, well, he had hoped, that Julia would be glad to see him, but he far from expected the great excitement that his best friend actually showed. He just managed to move the cookie bag out of the way, to avoid it being crushed into a cookie crumb bag, as she wrapped her arms around him. There was nothing that could make you feel more loved than a bear hug from a good friend, and Connor returned it with enthusiasm, her excitement catching. “Not that long Jules, but yeah, it is good to be mauled by you too.” he laughed in her ear. “Ok....now....can’t breathe...” he wheezed just before she let him go, unable to help himself. That was what friends were for after all.

“Not just any cookies, but peanut butter choc chip cookies. I think. I better check.” he grinned, grabbing one out to bite into. “Mmm, yep, they’re the right cookies.” Connor very helpfully instructed, taking the books from Julia’s arms to hold them instead, giving her the cookie bag instead. The rest of the cookie he was eating disappeared then in a matter of seconds, before his lips were licked clean of any trace of yummy cookie. “Yeah, I know that no cookie, no matter how good, makes up for not seeing me for a while. I mean, I am pretty great. But consider it as a form of IOU. I’ll make sure you’ll get plenty more Connor time in the near future.” he smirked at the girl.

Her apparent doubt about whether his boyfriend did exist was enough to make him laugh. “Yes, Kian is well, I’ve made sure of that.” he teased. “And I’ve warned him about your slight...obsession with Lord Of The Rings, and it hasn’t scared him off wanting to meet you either. Odd.” he queried, before quickly moving a safe, non-punching distance away. “This weekend should be fine. And Danny, can’t wait to meet him.” he flashed a toothy grin. “So, are you still maintaining that you and he are just friends? Cause I haven’t met him, but from what you’ve told me, even I can tell he likes you.”

Not so long ago he wouldn’t have had any idea what a Fellowship was, but now he was too familiar with that, and plenty of other Tolkien-eske terms. “Sure, sounds like fun, we’ll make it for sure.” he agreed, genuinely looking forward to it. She was turning him into a nerd. Well, a more specific type of nerd. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you about when your next rehearsal for the musical is. Have to see the star in making, cheer her on. Just don’t expect pom poms.”

[Julia Warner]

Julia eagerly accepted the cookie offering. "Mmmshgoood," She pronounced through a very ladylike mouthful of cookies. She would have glared at him for his quip about her nerddom, but he darted away to quickly -- and she was too busy stuffing another cookie in her mouth. "Really, I'd be more worried he'd find out about a certain someone's obsession with a certain Disney musical franchise." She tossed back after swallowing the second cookie.

She rolled her eyes when Connor claimed that Danny liked her. "Really, Connor?" She scoffed, tiliting her head to one side in order to give him her best look of utter disbelief. "Is there some rule that says I can't have guy friends? Straight guy friends," She quickly corrected herself. "He's nice, he's funny, and he doesn't like me! Not like that. We both just have similar interests." Had Danny straight out asked her on a date, she probably would have said yes, but after the fiasco with Wynn she had decided it was safer to convince herself that any male she came across had no interest.

"Yay!" She celebrated by snagging a third cookie, "Don't forget, now!" She warned, waving the cookie in her friend's face, "If the two of you get distracted making out or something, I'll be very disappointed." She took a very determined bite out of the cookie for emphasis, eyeing the curly-haired Irish youth as though she expected him to admit that he and Kian were going to be so busy exchanging spit they wouldn't remember to come play video games with her and her geeky cohorts.

"Next rehearsal is this afternoon," She helpfully supplied, "They're every day. You really don't gotta come, though, it's not that exciting. We're still going over blocking and lines and stuff, so unless you wanna see us mostly sitting around and reading from a script, you're better off going off somewhere with your guy." She hoped it didn't take too long before they got out of boring, tedious work and into fun, but she wasn't sure how long that would actually take. "I mean, if you wanna come, you can, but it won't hurt my feelings if you don't wanna stick around."

[Connor Pearce]

Connor just stared at Julia, his jaw gaping open for a few moments. “You wouldn’t.” he finally managed, before breaking out into laughter. “Kian knows I like High School Musical. He just doesn’t know how much I like it. And come on, I’m gay after all, I have to be allowed at least one cliché. So, you know, there’s no need to enlighten him further on my appreciation of it.” He was sure his boyfriend would like the movies just as much as him, knowing how much he loved musicals, but it was still fun to joke around about it. “And don’t knock Disney.”

“Of course you can gave straight guys friends.” Connor willingly agreed. “But there’s no rule that says it has to be completely platonic on both sides either. I’m sure he’s nice, funny, and he just happens to really like you too!” he laughed. “Come on, it’s obvious! I’ll judge though when I finally meet him, and I’ll get Kian’s opinion too. But, that’s not the important thing.” the teenager pointed out. “Do you like him?”

He held up his hands defensively in front of himself, unable not to notice just how much Julia was really, really enjoying those cookies. It was a good decision to bring them, he’d have to remember that if ever he got her mad at him. “No making out while playing the game. You can expect our full concentration for the Fellowship.” he agreed. “I might come over early, so you can show me what to do. I’m really bad with video games.” he explained. “And if you need incentive, there’s more where those cookies came from.”

“No, I’ll make sure to come to a rehearsal. Really want to see you in action after all, it’ll be funny, I mean, entertaining.” Connor quickly recovered. “Besides, Wynn’s in it, isn’t he? I want to learn what he’s doing, where he’s going to be standing on the stage for the show, so I know where to throw the tomatoes. It’s what friends are for, after all.” he grinned.

[Julia Warner]

Julia attempted to give Connor a level look, but failed, devolving into snickering, "Okay, fine, if he already knows it isn't much of a threat then!" She agreed, "I'll just have to think of something else to hold over your head."

She rolled her eyes at his badgering about Daniel. "That's ridiculous, do you hit on every gay guy who talks to you? Just because we both like Tolkien, and he speaks Sindarin, and is really nice and fun and okay, fine, maybe he's cute, too, are you happy now?" She pretended to sulk, something that she seemed to do constantly in Connor's presence. "Really," She continued, "That doesn't mean anything. So what if I like him? Nothing's gonna happen, guys just don't like me." She told herself this was only the truth; she was simply too much of a nerd, and she didn't have the proper hair color. Daniel was very nice to claim this didn't matter, or that she was prettier than the other girls, but she had a difficult time accepting that his comments meant he might be interested.

"Sure, then, come if you want," She caved, "but don't think I won't hit you if you start making faces at me and make me forget my lines. And don't throw tomatos at Wynn, they won't let you see the real thing if you do that." She pointed out. It was very nice of him to offer to torment her former crush, but as much as she had railed against his jerkdom, she didn't want him to rue rejecting her for the rest of his days.

[Connor Pearce]

“Oh, go ahead, try to think of something else you can blackmail me with.” Connor laughed teasingly. “You won’t come up with anything. Apart from my love of people breaking into song and dance at school, I’m just about flawless. I mean, come on, everyone loves the Irish.” he laughed. “So there is nothing you can hold over me, nothing Kian won’t find cute anyway I’m sure. And remind me to never let you into my room to look for evidence. Not that you would find anything anyway, seeing how I’m flawless and all, but better to be safe. You could plant something after all, like one of your own embarrassing cds, or movies. Wouldn’t put it past you. You’re sneaky.”

Her rant about Danny just proved to him more that Julia did like him, and her admittance at the end just topped it off. “Course I don’t hit on every gay guy, I’m taken!” he laughed. “And before that, I only hit on the cute ones, of course.” It was really endearing how his friend couldn’t see how it was even remotely possible that a guy, even a guy who (in Connor’s mind) was making it obvious, and her having freakily so much in common with the guy in question. It was also annoying too, he was sure that some part of her still held a torch for Wynn, so maybe if she went on a date, that was a way to extinguish it. “How about this, when we get together to play Lord Of The Rings Online, I’ll try to get him aside to sneakily find out if he likes you. But I’ll only do it if on the condition that if he does like you, you have to do something about it. Come on, it’ll be fun! We could double date!” he laughed.

The Irishman made himself looked appalled then at the accusation that he would do anything to disrupt Julia’s rehearsal. “As if I would do anything like that! Seriously, I’m offended that you would even think that Julia!” he protested. “I mean, you hit really hard for a girl. Of course I would avoid that. And yes Mum, no throwing tomatoes at Wynn. I’ll be a good boy.”

The cookie bag that his friend now held was starting to look really appetising again, despite the all too many cookies he already devoured that morning. Luckily, the bell rand before he was too tempted to reclaim Julia’s bribe. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your class. So you will hopefully remember that next time you go to hit me.”

Wrapped for Connor