Danger, Danger (open)

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

Magdalena had been avoiding Tyler ever since their date on Valentine's Day. He had all but got past her defences, and this annoyed her, particularly as she was convinced he wasn't serious. It was just so easy to forget what a manipulative sleaze he was when in the presence of his pretty face and words. She wanted to resist, had no desire to be another one of his conquests, and yet she'd ended up confiding more to him on one date than she had let anyone but Phil know. It was unnerving.

She pulled into the bookstore parking lot, taking the corner much faster than was strictly necessary and nearly plowing down some poor unsuspecting pedestrian. Not that she noticed, her thoughts were too firmly fixed on Tyler Durnham and how much he annoyed her. She had told Phil about the date, of course, but he had seemed decidedly uninterested, and they'd ended up having a bit of a fight. She had avoided attending his stupid political club meeting on Saturday, and from what Mew told her, this was a good thing as Tyler Durnham had decided to show up. Curse him! Did he have to be everywhere she was?! If he attended San Diego Comic Con as a Storm Trooper that would be the last straw, she would have to give up on all her hobbies.

Of course, it turned out that Phil hadn't gone, either, and she wondered if the fight had perhaps affected him, too. Should she call and apologize? But, it was his fault in the first place for being so annoyingly self-centered. He was always on about helping people, but when people needed helping right in front of his nose he didn't seem to care, he was too wrapped up in his ideals.

The short-haired girl hopped out of her truck, patting it on the side affectionately. "Stay," She told it, as though it were sentient and might decide to wander off while she was browsing the aisles of Walden Books. It was such an obvious vehicle, too, so it wasn't particularly likely someone would try and steal it, they would be caught within minutes. But she had got into the habit of treating her truck as though it were alive, and she hadn't stopped to think about how silly this was.

She inhaled sharply, catching sight of the most gorgeous vehicle she had ever seen, and moved to get a closer look. It probably belonged to some completely self-absorbed jerk like Tyler (who admittedly did have a fabulous car), but she was drawn closer, wishing to admire.

[Nolan Ahlstrom]

Lunch with DJ had been good. Nolan hadn't hung out with many of the guys on the team just one on one, so it was a good chance to get to know the burly lineman better. DJ was a cool guy, Nolan already knew that, but Nolan felt like they had gotten along pretty well. It was a great start on the path towards being a leader. With that in his head, Nolan decided to head to a book store, maybe check out some books on leadership or something that might help. He also kinda felt like getting something just to read for fun, though he usually never had much time for it.

The bookstore was peaceful. Nolan's time was usually spent in gyms where it was noisy and humid, so the cool, relaxed atmosphere of the bookstore was a welcome change of pace. He wandered, figuring if there was something in the store for him he'd find it eventually. A half hour later he was walking out of the bookstore happy with the purchase he made, a book of short stories by various horror writers. He had recognized a few of the authors and figured short stories would better suit him limited free time. He headed out to the parking lot with a smile on his face when he noticed a pretty girl standing near his Camaro.

“Can I help you?”

Nolan had been watching the girl eyeball his car for about a minute before he decided to say anything. He found it pretty funny. The car was nice, sure, but it looked great because Nolan made sure to take great care of it. He loved that car, from it's cherry red coloring down to the white stripes on the sides. It wasn't pimped out like the some of the real car freaks these days had, but it was classy enough for what Nolan wanted.

“Sorry to interrupt, you looked like you were having a good time. I didn't want to drive away and disappoint.” Nolan shrugged and gave the girl a smile. He unlocked the car and opened the door, tossing the book he had just purchased on the passenger seat, but then paused and looked back at her. She went to Gould, he was almost sure, but he had never met her before. He extended his hand. “I'm Nolan.” He thought for a moment about trying to be an asshole to impress this girl, but he knew that wasn't in his nature. He was a good guy, at least that's what he told himself. Or was he just too scared he couldn't pull it off?

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

"Can I help you?"

Maggy jumped, startled to realize that the vehicle's owner was so near. She hadn't been paying attention, too enthralled with the car to notice any of the people going to and fro. Then again, she usually made a concentrated effort to ignore people, so perhaps it wasn't a surprise. She didn't recognize the boy; she had attended all the football games, but that had been as a member of the band, so she had spent more time concentrating on her music than on who was on the field. Even had she paid attention to the actual players, it wasn't likely she would be able to pick out any Silver players when they were not in their uniforms.

Fortunately, she had no idea he was a football player, or she would have become highly suspicious of the lot of them. Not that she wasn't already suspicious of them to some extent, but for the moment all she knew about the boy was that he had a very pretty car. That, and he had apparently been watching her ogle said car, which was mildly discomfitting. Maybe more than mildly, now that he had called her out on it.

She quickly dropped her gaze to the parking lot, shifting uncomfortably. "Err." That didn't seem like a very good answer, but she couldn't think of anything better to say. At least he wasn't discussing people being like ants that he could easily squish at any moment, or anything of that sort. He seemed amused, but not in quite the same way that Tyler would have been.

"Mmm....I was just....just going in...." She gestured feebly at the bookstore, though she was still staring determinedly at the pavement. It was true, that was why she had actually gone out of the house. His car had just distracted her. "Eh, no, you can....ummm.....don't mind me....it's just...I mean, it's a nice car." She stammered, because it felt as though she ought to acknowledge that she had been staring; it was no use denying, since he had so clearly noticed.

She didn't realize he was holding out his hand, until he mentioned his name. Then she looked up, at least far enough to see the extended hand. She very seriously considered fleeing then and there, but instead she forced herself to brush her finger tips against his (she still couldn't quite bring herself to actually shake his hand), and muttered hastily, "Magdalenaveloz."

[Nolan Ahlstrom]

The girl's fingers brushed gently against Nolan's. Odd. Nolan smirked a little. The girl, this Magdalenaveloz, seemed nervous and uncomfortable, but it was in a different way than Nolan was used to. He was good looking, sure, and that made some girls nervous around him. But it didn't seem that was why she was uncomfortable, as she seemed to be staring at the car more than at him. He wondered why.

“Magdalenaveloz? Is that short for something?” Nolan almost winced once the words came out of his mouth. That was a dumb joke, and generally the reason he just kept quiet around girls. No matter how far his looks got him, his mouth could hardly ever assist. But he had never heard a name like that before, and it certainly made him curious. Where is a name like that from? It sounded like a weird Russian and Spanish mix. Is it Romanian, perhaps?

Nolan realized he had started to get lost in his own head, and decided he better get out of there before he made anything more awkward. “Umm, well, nice to meet you. I better get going...” Nolan turned and got into his car. He wanted to turn back and say something, smooth it over, just make her feel more comfortable, but he didn't know what he could do or say to accomplish such a task. Instead he just started his car and started going through his CD case to find something for the drive home.

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

Magdalena wasn't sure what to make of this Nolan guy, though of course it might have helped if she had actually bothered to look at him. He didn't sound much more comfortable than she felt, which amazingly made her feel better. Usually she was so convinced that everyone else had reems more confidence, and that only made socializing more difficult than it was already. It was rather comforting to realize she wasn't the only one lacking in that particular area.

"Emm." Was all she could manage when he asked if her full name was short for something. She thought he was probably joking, but it was so difficult to tell sometimes. At least he hadn't attempted any religious jokes, or asked if she were a hooker. She might have had to deck him, then, and frankly decking people was not her strong point. Maybe run him over? That would be easier to do, she figured she could probably pull that off. "Most people just call me Maggy." She offered at last, figuring this was the safest response.

"Oh. Umm. Yeah." She looked up and over his shoulders, towards the store. "I uhh I guess I should go buy books, that's the whole point of going to a bookstore, right? Or is the point sitting in the aisles reading without buying, and blocking legitimate customers?" That was a huge pet peeve of hers, actually, and one she was constantly fussing at Phil and Mew for, as the two boys seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable, though perhaps this had something to do with the fact that they were both much bigger manga fans than she was, and the aisle rats seemed to mostly be peculiar to fans of that medium. "Or have they been kicked out? Please tell me they've been kicked out finally." She sighed. She still wasn't looking directly at Nolan, but she was actually talking to him! Her friends would be so proud.

[Nolan Ahlstrom]

Nolan set down the CDs. This girl was absolutely confusing. He couldn't tell whether he caught her up in an awkward conversation or if she actually wanted to talk to him. He noticed she wasn't looking at him directly, she kept avoiding eye contact. Yet the conversation continued.

“Maggy,” Nolan smiled at her. He hoped she noticed. “That's a little easier to get through.” And definitely a little more modern than whenever Magdalenaveloz came from. It was a cumbersome title, that was for sure. What kind of parents would saddle their child with such a name? No wonder this girl seemed shy. That was about all Nolan could figure out about her, she was shy. Everything else was locked tightly up inside of her.

She didn't like browsers in a book store. At least not ones that took up space in the aisles. Reasonable enough. “Yeah, books are what a bookstore is for. And yes, they still let people read them, no matter where they stand, so I don't think they've kicked everyone out. Unless you're referring to someone specific.” The areas Nolan frequented didn't usually fill up that much, save for the magazine section. It seemed like a lot of people read their periodicals in the bookstore and refused to get a subscription. “Though I wouldn't mind if they cleaned out the magazine section every now and then.”

Nolan suddenly had an urge, and it definitely wasn't like him to ask something like this, but he went with it. Nolan tried to sound as cool as possible. “If you want, I could take you for a ride sometime.” He smiled at her again, hoping that might get her attention, then realized what he said. “Uh, in the car. My car. You seem to like it, so I just figured...” Well that didn't go well. Not at all. Which is why Nolan never invited girls to do, well, anything.

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

Magdalena frowned at the idea that the bookstore hadn't taken to evicting those who only came to sprawl in the middle of the aisles, bending pages and spines and failing to purchase anything. She wasn't sure it was good policy to allow them to camp out, as they were one of the reasons she ordinarily purchased books over the internet. Sometimes, however, it was necessary to actually go into the store and browse, flip through pages to see if she was interested. She considered this to be quite different from the aisle rats, however, as she didn't read the entire thing right there in the store, and she always bought something. "It's just so difficult to browse when people are sitting in front of the books you're trying to look at." She muttered crossly.

She actually allowed herself to look at Nolan, surprise showing on her face. This was the second time a boy had offered to take her for a ride in his car, a fact that she found mildly disconcerting. She was a band geek trending towards goth, she was not the sort of girl guys fell over to drive around town. Unless somehow the definition of desirable had changed when she wasn't looking? That seemed so incredibly unlikely, however. Maybe it really was simply because she was more obviously interested in their cars than most other girls were. She had turned Tyler down multiple times, largely because she knew his reputation, but Nolan seemed unlikely to be the sort of boy who flirted with all the girls. In fact, his offer lacked the appreciative leer that Tyler felt necessary to use on every girl he encountered, which was quite refreshing. She offered him a small smile in return, "Sure. I'd like that."

[Nolan Ahlstrom]

Nolan finally managed to make eye contact with Maggy, but he didn't expect the result. She seemed surprised by him for some reason. He quickly ran a hand over his face to make sure there wasn't a stray piece of cheese from his lunchtime pizza. Nope, he was clean. She even smiled a little! Things were become a little more comfortable, and Nolan felt much better when she agreed to take a ride in his car sometime.

“Okay, umm, cool. How about I get your phone number?” Nolan glanced over at the book store. It wasn't closing anytime soon, and again something compelled him to take the initiative. “Or, you know, there's still a lot of browsers in there. We could go for a ride now and give them time to clear out. I could have you back here before the place closes.” He tried flashing her a smile, hoping it would help convince her that he and his car were perfectly safe. Not that he (or his car, for that matter) weren't safe. Nolan really had no idea what he was doing inviting her for a ride. He wasn't sure why he wanted to, other than to prove to himself that he could be “that guy.” And not that she wasn't pretty, she was, but he hardly knew her. Was he being a jerk? And if so, did it matter to him? He wasn't sure.

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

Magdalena chewed her lower lip, contemplating Nolan's offer. Was it scarier to say yes to a guy she didn't know or to brave the aisle squatters? She had certainly proven to herself that she could in fact go on dates with guys, rather than simply hanging out with them, though she supposed that hanging out with Phil and Mew wasn't exactly the same as hanging out with other guys, and dating Tyler was definitely different from dating anyone else. Nolan seemed more...sincere, or maybe that was simply because she didn't have knowledge of any sort of reputation to slant her opinions.

"Okay," She agreed after a moment. Nolan lacked the intensity of her current nemesis, and he did have a very nice car. Maybe his driving would do the vehicle justice, but then most people thought she drove far too dangerously, and she just couldn't imagine that such a seemingly mild-mannered young man would be a secret speed demon -- but then, how many people thought the same about her? So perhaps she should reserve judgement.

The one issue she had at this point, now that she'd determined she would accept this offer, was whether they had some destination in mind or were merely wandering aimlessly until they arrived back at the bookstore. There was probably some sort of acknowledged tradition relating to driving with guys, but she didn't know what it was and she was reluctant to admit her ignorance, so she simply shuffled awkwardly, glancing at the store and then back to Nolan.

[Nolan Ahlstrom]

Nolan watched the girl bite her lip. It was cute, and Nolan smiled for reasons he didn't understand. There was no harm in innocently flirting with this girl, and Nolan was much better with flirting physically as opposed to verbally. She assented with an “Okay,” which wasn't the most promising answer but a positive one nonetheless. Nolan stood from his car and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door. Maggy didn't seem to be much more comfortable than she did before accepting his invitation, and Nolan was looking for any way to make her more at ease.

“What kind of music do you listen to? I don't have a lot with me, my brother has my iPod. I have some hip hop and classic rock, though. CDs. It's just what I listen to when I want to get pumped up... and stuff.” Nolan trailed off, realizing this girl didn't know him or why he'd need to get pumped up. “I'm on the football team at Silver.” He looked at the ground a moment, the looked back up. “Football's kinda a... family thing, I guess.” He wasn't quite sure where to go from there. “So anyway, I have like Beastie Boys, Snoop, Dre, Tupac, or like Journey or Styx or something. I don't really listen to newer music or the radio... so I don't have a lot of that. Newer stuff.” Nolan rambled on, hoping something he said would make this girl relax just a little bit.