[332] Awkward Crys, Lovely Mere

[Crystal Dinaia]

This thread is past dated to Crystal and Meredith's 12th year (so beginning of last year, basically!)

For Your Consideration
.i've praticed this for hours, gone round and round
Pawns: Crystal Dinaia, Meredith Beckendorf, & Jack Callahan
.and i think that i've got it all down
Status: Open
.as i say it louder, love how it sounds
Current Count: 4,042 words

Crystal was accustomed to moving from room to room, having never found a roommate that stuck at Somnium Academy. The first year, when she was a tenth year, the roommate she set out to make her best friend had turned out to be a miserably lonely girl who only blamed the world’s reaction to her on other people. Night after night, Crystal listened to the girl drone on and on about boys who didn’t like her, friends who weren’t real friends, and other subjects on which she offered constructive criticism. It wasn’t until halfway through the year that she realized she was doing no good with the girl because she didn’t want to find solutions, only to blame all of her obvious faults on other people. When the girl tried to effectively “steal” a boy Crystal had been attracted to, it had been the end of the half-hearted friendship. Once bitten and twice shy, the redheaded girl never let another roommate into her life, quietly marking off her side of the room and keeping all conversations mild and noncommittal. It was easier that way and made life better for both roommates because when emotions weren’t involved, many forced living situations became easier.

The girl had begun earlier that day, lugging lamps and electronics and many bags full of clothing and bedclothes to right in front of her new dorm room door. She wouldn’t say that she had a lot of stuff... Okay, she definitely had a lot of stuff. While looking at the pile, she suddenly realized that she was in over her head and had somehow packed more into the small dorms at Somnium than one would have thought plausible or even reasonable. She frowned delicately and wiped the back of her hand across her head, moving the cotton headband that held her soft auburn hair back. Adjusting it, she put her hands on her hips, inexplicably nervous to open the door. What if her new roommate was already in there? Would their first meeting make her feel awkward? Would she blush terribly? Worry knotted in her stomach until she shook stiffness into her spine and inserted the heavy brass key into the keyhole, turning it with an annoying grating sound. The door popped open relatively easily despite its heavy appearance. She peered inside shyly and skittered inside when she saw life, a rather immature action for a full grown woman.

“I’m not breaking in!” The first words that popped out of her mouth were immediately awkward and she began flushing, missing the natural grace she should have had upon a first meeting. She took a breath and shook her head, trying to regain some footing in her downhill slide. Crystal wiped her hands on the ruffled cotton skirt she wore and pulled down the edges of her ribbed tanktop, an easily breathable outfit she had worn specifically for moving her things. For a moment, she wondered if the outfit matched as she walked over to the bed that was obviously hers and sank down into it, loving the feeling of a new-old mattress. The room around her looked exactly like the dorms she had always had at this school, but she would soon suggest that they pin up panels of fabric to change the color of the walls. The Academy student knew they couldn’t paint the walls, but knew ways of customizing the room without leaving a trace. She was rather well known in the girl’s dorms for her decorating suggestions, though her style was often too old fashioned for many of the girls.

“What I mean to say was ‘Hello, My name is Crystal Dinaia,’ “ Crystal stated, relatively calm now, the flush in her cheeks dying down. “The words sound just a like, y’know?” Her knees rubbed against each other, her feet in flat tennis shoes looking a little too large in relation to her bare legs. Unable to hold back her amusement, she smiled at her own strange introduction and played out a few fantasies of what the year would be like. Perhaps they could have a fall festival and celebrate halloween this fall and while looking at her roommate, she thought about what costume she was pick for the girl if she was choosing. For some reason, her mind kept coming back to something involving wings and a green wig. What strange thoughts for someone just meeting her roommate for the first time, Crystal thought and shook her head, as if cleaning the thoughts away before speaking again. “So, how long have you been moved in? I wish I would have started packing earlier...” the girl shot a mournful look at the pile of her belongings right outside the door.

[Meredith Beckendorf]

Meredith had been sitting on her bed for the past half an hour just staring at the laptop screen and munching on some chocolate covered raisins. The day had been pretty easy, since she moved in day one of announced moving days, she hadn't had to worry about the week-long moving period they were allotted between dorms. There had been a brief problem with the girl moving out of this dorm, as she had not been as prepared as Meredith and apparently lot the girl rude for moving so promptly, but that confrontation had been handled with no small amount of grinning sarcasm and utter lack of care for the poor lamb's feelings on Death's fault.

She was lounging about in her normal attire for just sitting around, a slip of a top that barely fastened around her ample bosom and a waist-controlled skirt slit up both legs high on her thighs, revealing the calves easily without lifting the skirt as she swung her feet behind her. Her feet were bare, but for a pair of fish-net socks that rose halfway up her calves, and her arms were covered in two mismatched arm-warmers. As usual, her eye makeup was heavy, outlining those big brown eyes, and her black hair for the moment was pulled up and curled, falling in ringlets about her face and giving her a definite gothic lolita look.

She'd poked her head out a few times, and she knew her new roommate would be in soon. She'd heard the things piling up at the door and had been unfortunately just a few seconds short of ever catching a glimpse of whatever weirdo was deciding to pack up outside and make trouble for themselves later rather than just prop the damn door open and set their things inside. She popped another raisin into her mouth and continued chewing, licking the melted chocolate from her fingertips before returning them to her keyboard for some idle prattle with some retarded Christian and his equally uneducated girlfriend while still privately messaging her Riff and trying not to laugh aloud at some of the things going on inside of it. The answer to her question and all those other minuscule thoughts preceding her roommate's arrival were cleared up in an instant as the redhead slipped through the door as if she was barricading it from zombie invasion and promptly exclaimed that she was not breaking into her own room. A flare of questions seized Meredith's mind, but none of them seemed to take precedence over attempting to stop herself from guffawing at the girl she'd be getting to know quite thoroughly in the next year. There was no way, though. Just when she was sure she had it under control, the girl spoke again, and Meredith snorted, she laughed so hard. It was a loud, obnoxious bark of a laugh and Meredith covered her mouth promptly as if she could have grabbed the damn noise out of the air and stuff it back down, but her snickers were a lot less irritating by far.

"My name's Meredith, but you can call me Mary.. or anything you want, really, since inevitably we'll be stuck with one another this year." The words held a hint of irony, and were certainly more welcoming than gruff, powdered over with the smile the damn redhead had forcibly placed on Death's face a few seconds earlier. "I expected to growl at you and make sure you knew where not to walk on my side of the room, but somehow after that introduction, I feel like it would be unwarranted." She turned her head away a minute and dropped the few raisins in her palm into her mouth, chewing hurriedly and tapping away at the laptop keyboard vivaciously for a moment before looking back up at Crystal, "Sorry about that. I don't get a lot of opportunities to insult the weak-willed and talk to my girlfriend at the same time. It's distracting, but I hope you don't find me too rude." Usually, Mere didn't give a care about her roommate's opinion of her, but somehow, the girl wanted to make this one work out peacefully. Perhaps less for herself, and more for the frightened rabbit image that Crystal had given the moment she had entered their room. "If you sit and talk to me for a bit, I'll help you haul your shit in after I'm done talking. Riff-baby's only got about 45 minutes on, anyway, and there are plenty of morons in the world I can fool around with later."

[Crystal Dinaia]

Crystal breathed a sigh of relief as her roommate spoke to her and she was able to get a feeling for the Meredith’s personality. The girl was a badass, to say the least, and why Crystal’s personality didn’t match that, she was pleased that the girl was genuine. This first impression wasn’t a matter of coyly covering up the truth with sweet introductions and pasted on smiles, but with Mere, what one saw was what one got. “I’m glad we don’t have to resort to the roll of duct tape I brought to divide the room in half lengthwise. I’ll only need help carrying in the TV to be perfectly truthful. Behind these noodle arms is a frame of pure steel,” she spoke earnestly, as if a deadpan face and monotone voice would make her ridiculous statement any more true. With a sigh, she looked toward the door, wishing some sort of magic would immediately “poof” everything into her room and put it perfectly in place. To be honest, she was being lazy now and needed to start in order to finish.

“I’m just going to start packing things in so I have somewhere to sleep tonight, but I’ll talk when you have a chance. I don’t chat on the internet much but it does seem like a lot of nitwits gather there. Have you ever seen Bash.org? It’s like all of the idiotic chats in the world have been gathered into a hall of fame.” Crystal had begun unpacking her bag of electronics as she spoke, pulling out a slim laptop in a red leather shell, an iPod, an external harddrive, and several other essential components to her computer set up. She had bought everything with size and power in mind, small and cute enough to all match and fit nicely on a desk but powerful enough to do what she needed it to do. “So what are you studying this semester? Have you found anything interesting enough to make a career out of?”

Crystal had been worrying about that whole graduation thing lately and had been procrastinating when it came to dealing with the future. She wasn’t sure what she would do or where she would go yet and the idea of not knowing was plaguing her. Knowing she didn’t have anything to return to when it came time to go home for the holidays was enough but knowing she didn’t have anything to look forward to almost killed her. Just thinking about it again made her heart race and she had to calm herself down as she plugged in her computer’s white charger and began plugging in various other cords to other devices. Soon, she had finished the task of setting up her electronic work station and began to add in decorative elements like picture frames filled with pictures from junior high and happier times with her family. She hadn’t yet thought that it was strange that she hadn’t taken pictures of her family since she was 13 years old and neglected to feel the pain that hit her in the stomach when she realized she hadn’t spoken to her mother in five years. Five years had changed a lot about her, she realized as she pushed back the long hair that spilled forward to cover her face. Even if her mother turned up now, would she still love her now that she wasn’t the child she remembered? The thought was heavy, far too deep for the young woman as she turned back to the pile in the hallway to occupy both her hands and her mind.

“I haven’t decided what’s most important to me yet. I thought when I finally decide where I’m going to university at that I’d either major in design or psychology, but I’m not certain. I’m not even sure college is right for me at this point but that might just be an attachment to home.” By home, she meant Somnium Academy. Somehow, the word had become synonymous with the world she lived in now and the rainy weather of England had become second nature to her. She had begun hanging up clothing in her closet, oddly enough arranging it color order based off of the rainbow with white clothing on one end and black clothing on the other. The closet was soon full of clothes, jam packed to be exact, and she began folding shirts to go into her chest of drawers, kneeling to put them in to the lower drawers. The girl moved gracefully, bending delicately now that she was no longer nervous or self conscious. Too easily things became familiar to her, mostly due to her trusting nature, and she found her comfort zone between the hum of her laptop and the sound of Meredith clicking away on her own keyboard.

This dorm had quickly become “her” room as she added in her own things, making her bed and settling one of her prized possesions on the self above her desk. A small stuffed brontosaurus with a soft gray body sat there, matching nothing in her inventory, looking gangly and awkward with its slight but sweet smile. Crystal had affectionately named him Gao the night she had been won him at a local carnival. She could still remember the night and how it had felt wearing black tights and a long, off the shoulder shirt dress, her hair curled and styled fussily. She’d been young and innocent that night, happily and giddy from the alcohol in her system. Thinking that the ferris wheel would be her biggest opponent that night had been an enormous mistake, but she was joyous and gazed at the boy that had given her Gao with loving eyes, despite the fact that she hadn’t yet told him she liked him like that. The girl snapped out of it and patted the dinosaur on the head, knowing that some nights he would sneak into bed with her when she felt most vulnerable, when she dreamed of car accidents instead of something beautiful.

Finally, she made up her bed, awkwardly wrestling with the mattress to put a teal bedskirt made of elaborate lace on the dorm room bed. Fluffy egg crates rested on top of the mattress after the bedskirt made its way on, then sheets were tucked sharply over both of them. Down-alternative pillows landed on top of a handmade quilt her mother had made, worn soft and faded by the many years she had slept under it. All of the colors inside it gave it a warm, old fashioned look, as did most things in her side of the room. An antique lap with a fringed cream colored shade was placed on her nightstand, and then she was done packing everything in with the exception of the TV, a mini-refrigerator, two bags full of shoes, and - Who was she kidding, she was no where near being unpacked. Crystal looked around her progress with her hands on her hips and let out a happy sigh, then turned to Meredith and smiled gently before stating matter-of-factly, “It feels good to be home again.” Crystal neglected to mention that home usually always had piles of clothes that never made it into the hamper and a fleet of shoes lined up against the wall.

[Meredith Beckendorf]

"Bash... yeah, I've been there. It's pretty amusing to go and troll it." She pushed a ringlet away from her face and smiled across at the redhead. She assessed the pile of junk and sighed, shaking her head. She supposed she should say goodbye and help the girl, but she figured in the next ten or fifteen minutes, she'd not have gotten everything in, and Meredith could help her then. The chick on the chat was getting on her nerves, and she wondered where the hell she was from. Her eyebrows knit after some particular stupidity she had read from ... that kid, "I find it vaguely sad that people solely identify with their relationship with an invisible fate-bringer in hopes that he will favor them." Her frown deepened and her fingers tapped across the keyboard as she dropped another small handful of raisins into her mouth and chewed happily. Her body language was like a predator as she leaned over the laptop, seeming to smirk to herself every time she finished saying something and laughing a few times, some bitter exclamation of her superiority.

Another window? Jackie!

Her entire body language changed suddenly, and a blush seemed to tint the edge of those white cheeks. The vicious predator seemed more the coquette debutante suddenly. She changed her position again, and she giggled as she tapped back and forth with someone.. probably new? Her eyes drifted up to Crystal as she moved back and forth between her stuff and work. As the redhead spoke, Mere responded very shallowly, obviously dragged into her conversation wholly. Her eyebrows knit and she stared at Crys for a moment, contemplating something, apparently, for her next statement. Meredith took some chocolate raisins, pouring them into a small bowl and standing up for a second to set the bowl on Crystal's desk after it was set down, wandering back to her laptop moments later with a smile of glee.

"Yo, Crys, I asked a friend of mine to come up and meet you. He can help with your moving, too." She smiled an impish smile, the obvious rouse of wanting to see him herself easily seen through with that evil smile. She tapped a few more sentences out and closed the top of the laptop. 15 minutes had passed pretty fast, and although she had lost about half an hour with Riff-cakes, she'd make it up by calling her later on tonight, she had promised. She stood up from her seat, the heavy scent of incense falling off her in waves now that she moved. Her body swished to and fro as she clammered over to the things and picked something up, carefully transporting it from one area to the inside, choosing an untouched corner to move the boxes to. She didn't want to invade the new girl's privacy, after all. She considered changing her outfit, but figured it wasn't really important... After all, Jackie couldn't possibly know what she was wearing as different from what she was wearing.

"So, college thinking, huh? I don't know. I've been kinda lazy about that." Truth be told, Meredith didn't want to leave Somnium... ever. The only things she had been thinking about was how much they would charge to let her sleep on the school grounds forever, get an apartment, perhaps upkeep the place. She'd considered training to be a teacher, but that seemed too hard and a little bit ... awkward. After all, she didn't really get along with kids right now; how would she get along with them when she had the power to write them right out of a school and career?

"Are you gonna be staying here throughout the summer? Lots of kids are going home after the big move week..." Meredith licked her lips as the girl set up her bed, the hefty goth settling another box on top of the four or so she had carried in between yammering her head off. She considered how many naughty things she could do on the girl's bed before she got back as a giggle-worthy measure, but she really meant to do none of them. Meredith did plan to fill her bed with someone this summer, though, but she was sure it wasn't going to be who she wanted to do it with... as usual.

[Crystal Dinaia]

A boy? That meant she wouldn’t have to lift all of the heavy things outside the room by herself! Crystal was pleased with the statement, if only that meant she didn’t have to heft the widescreen TV onto the shelf above her desk herself. Perhaps it was usury, but she would be sure to thank him for helping her move stuff, as that was the polite thing to do. The room was small, so when Meredith started to move things around, Crystal snuck to her new bed and sat in the middle of it. She had picked up the small bowl of Raisinettes as she headed toward her new seat and was watching the larger girl walk back and forth across the room with curious eyes. Something about her mood was... Different. She seemed more vibrant than she had been when she had walked into the room, something about her had perked up. Was that a blush in the gothy girl’s cheeks? Could it be that this friend she had invited over was something more than a friend? She laughed a little behind her hand, masking the chewing motions of her mouth slightly before swallowing the mouthful of chocolate covered raisins.

“Ahh.. This summer? I might go visit Dr. Murphy and his wife for a week or so, but I don’t have a home to go back to in the states. Even if I went to visit my dad, his condo doesn’t have room for me. I’d either have to sleep on a purple suede couch or buy my own hotel room. And I surely don’t have money for a hotel room. Are you heading home?” She happily munched on the raisins, she just about choked when she realized she hadn’t thanked the girl for helping her move her things or for sharing her snack. “OH! Thank you by the way. For the raisins. And the moving.” Crystal crossed her legs while she sat on the bed, pulling her pillow into her lap. The summer was one of her favorite times of year at Somnium Academy. Often the art teacher offered a few non-credit classes just for fun and the campus itself got much more quiet. The hallways didn’t ring with the constant sound of footsteps and the library was more even more quiet than it was during the day, but she preferred it that way. After the fantastically loud first year of high school she had spent, the girl had learned to value the simplicity of a life less complicated.

“I envy you. You can wear black without looking like you’re in mourning. The minute I put on leather pants, I look like I’m going to go track down vampires or monsters in the night.” Crystal scratched her knee lazily and stretched her arms over her head. For a moment, she thought about where she had stored her yoga mat, wanting to drag it out to lawn beneath her building. Yoga was something that she usually could take or leave, but it often relaxed her and she enjoyed the sunshine, especially on a day like today, when procrastinating outside seemed much more interesting than unpacking her extravagant shoe collection. “So your friend...” Crystal started slyly, a smile creeping across her lips, “Is he cute?”

[Jack Callahan™]

]It wasn't like Jack would have been opposed to helping Meredith move in had she been alone in her moving-in-osity, but the fact that he was helping her friend [who was probably attractive..hopefully] made it all the better. Not only that, but they were older women [by a whole year!], which was every guy's dream. For serious.

To make the best out of this amazing opportunity that he could, Jack had whipped off the shirt he had been wearing in favor of a more fitted black one with smaller sleeves; one that would show off more muscle for all of the lifting he would be doing. And his jeans, if he did say so himself, made his butt look very nice. To add to the touch, he'd spritzed himself with a subtle hint of cologne, one that would obviously attract all the ladies, and prepared to go. Since he didn't know the other girl that would be there [and Meredith had told him she was cute], he obviously had to bring his best A game.

Once he was certain that he was irresistable [well..more irresistable than usual, of course], he left his dorm in pursuit of Meredith's. He tried to make it take as long as possible, since he knew how girls were about getting dressed and whatnot and Meredith had warned him. Which meant that he arrived at their dorm about forty-five minutes after ending his conversation with Meredith.

Taking a deep breath and habitually adjusting his shirt collar, he rapped on the door a couple times before stepping back. It wouldn't do to be standing in front of it in the event that Meredith was, in fact, still naked. If that were the case, she would probably kill him and toss him out the window, and then it would really be pointless for him to have gone to all that trouble to look spiffy.

[Meredith Beckendorf]

Meredith hefted another box, settling it above the outward curve of her breasts as she slipped back in through the closing doorway, stopping it with her foot as she slipped by the redhead and stacked it atop the already 5' high stack of boxes in the corner. She wiped her brow of sweat and turned to face the girl, the blush in her cheeks replaced by the soft red of heat and exertion. She turned back to the girl as she sat on her bed, organizing her things, and took the excuse to sit back down, a welcome choice even though she had only moved a few heavy things. It was no real joke that Meredith didn't exercise enough--"Me? Home? No way. It's not that I have a problem with home or anything, it's just.. I really like it here at Somnium.. and my new parents need to focus on my brother." Her voice got soft, a little maternal, and a hint of a smile perked at her ruddy cheeks, "He's really happy with them, and I think he needs them to pay exclusive attention to him for a while! It's good for him!" She giggled softly and grabbed another raisin, sticking it between her lips before holding out the dish to Crystal again, seeing that her small supply had been devoured. "It's no problem. There isn't any reason why the first meeting has to be awkward--it's a myth! Truth be told, as long as you put your most honest foot forward, you'll know the first day if you'll be fighting over stupid shit the entire year or if you'll be best friends forever." She paused, thinking that over a moment before adding, "So to speak, anyway."

Meredith took a deep breath and set the dish down on the floor, tapping her foot merrily to a tune inside her head as she picked up her laptop and set it off to the side on the mini-table at the foot of her bed. "Black is known to be flattering to girls my size, so I suppose I took it to the extreme. I really want a dark, cemetery-gate type four poster bed with hanging witches beads and satin sheer cloth." She stood up, holding her hands out to the sides as if she could will her dream into existence, "But, I suppose I should get out of the wanna-be horror princess fantasies!" She laughed, a quick, obnoxious bark of a laugh, loud and full of honesty.

Time passed between them for a moment, and Meredith pushed those curls away from her face and flopped back heavily to her bed, a creaking noise from the springs of the mattress announcing its distaste for her weight. When Crystal asked the question, there was silence, likea heavy weight had dropped in the room as Meredith looked at her, deciding whether or not the redhead would be a threat. She couldn't claim Jack--after all, Jack was much too good looking for someone like her--but Meredith knew her limits. She couldn't just watch someone date him in front of her, either.

"Jack's really cute," The words were soft, but spoken very clearly with a mark of articulation. "I like him a lot--we've been good friends since I met him here. If..." She paused and bit her lower lip, rolling it between her tongue and teeth as she contemplated her next words, "If you find yourself attracted to him, do me the courtesy of restraining your relations directly in front of me, or else our chance of surviving peacefully will be ended." It wasn't a threat. The words harbored no ill will, though someone might have taken them as such. It was merely a request--an honest expression of her feelings, something Meredith felt very important. Honesty and cowardice did not work well beside one another. It took strength to be up front with people, but it spared her having to explain an outburst that might come up later.

Meredith stood up from her station and set about pulling things inside again, putting distance between herself and Crystal for a while whilst she allowed the redhead to fully comprehend the statement and decide what she would do with the information Meredith had given her. The senior dawdled and procrastinated, stacking things carefully outside before picking up more than one box to pull inside, making her efficiency double while still giving her a good excuse to avoid her new roommate for a short time. I hope she's not one of those dramatic girls who is going to take what I said... for some reason to create unnecessary conflict. Each pass, she kept checking the clock. It seemed like Jack was taking very long.

[Crystal Dinaia]

Crystal chewed on her lip, immediately feeling guilty from her own little statement. She didn’t consider herself to be a catty girl, nor a girl who stole other girls’ boyfriends. Well, friends who were boys, anyway. She had only asked what she had asked because Meredith had seemed excited about Jack coming over and Crystal thought she would begin to gush about the boy. It hadn’t been a challenge, but more of a prompt for her to speak further on the subject. The redhead felt a bit crushed as she continued to pop raisins into her mouth, watching Meredith through her long lashes, dramatically darkened with mascara. She didn’t know how to respond for a few moments, so she didn’t, but then realized her actions might have been taken as indifference toward the other girl’s plight. Meredith had come back into the room by the time she was able to unclog the clump in her throat, whether it was due to emotion or Raisinettes, she couldn’t tell.

She cleared her throat, pushing a few strands of hair away from her face to clear her field of vision. “Meredith? I just wanted to tell you that.. I already have.. Well, someone.” Crystal immediately flushed to the roots of her hair, turning almost as red as the silky strands. She couldn’t handle talking about him even if it was just a mention of his existence. He was so above her, but she didn’t know if that’s because she had put him on a pedestal or if it was because he was simply a masterpiece. She hid behind her curtain of hair as the door opened and closed again with Meredith bringing in another box. Guilt plagued her and she hopped up from where she was seated cross-legged in order to grab some more of her own stuff. It wasn’t until she was almost across the small room that she noticed a few short knocks at the door. “I’ll get it..” She murmured, her voice a bit choked as she spoke, the tension she had created in the room making her forget that they were supposed to have a guest.

Crystal was still flushed as she opened the door, her cheeks red with embarrassment. She hadn’t yet told anyone at all about her crush on one of her teachers, a strange one-sided love affair that she hadn’t confessed yet. The very thought of him had her in a tizzy, even though she hadn’t even mentioned his name. Her hand wrapped around the doorknob, throwing it open a bit haphazardly with a loud crash as it bumped into the edge of her desk. She hadn’t yet mastered the mechanics of this room, even though it was set up exactly like the last one she had been in. “Oh.” Crystal blinked several times at the attractive boy at the door of the dorm room. Meredith hadn’t been lying when she had stated that Jack was cute and there was something about him that told her his personality would be even cuter. No wonder Mere had reacted the way she had…

“Hi!” Crystal held the door open for Jack to step into the room, though the surrounding circumstances had her a bit flustered at this point. “I… Um… Meredith?” She passed the ball of introductions quite easily to Meredith, uncertain of her own actions, afraid that introducing herself with a small smile might be taken as flirting at this point. Crystal was nothing if not ready to make this living arrangement work smoothly. She couldn’t handle another year like her first one and to be perfectly honest, Crystal needed friends much more than lovers.

[Jack Callahan™]

With the way the door was flung open, Jack was expecting to see Meredith behind it. When it wasn't Meredith, but an attractive older woman [heeeell yeeeaaaahhh], he grinned cheerfully. It didn't look like he'd walked into a particularly welcoming atmosphere, but whatever, everything was welcoming once Jack Callahan was in it. Awkwardness didn't bother him in the slightest.

"Heeeey," he said, giving a wink. He'd have walked in, but the awkwardness that even he could feel kept him firmly in place. What had Meredith said about him to make this girl go all fail? Seriously, he wasn't that bad guys and girls needed to not be so finicky about being flirted with. "Meeeerrrry," he called, peering in rather than stepping in. "Whyy are you leaving me out here in the cold?" He pouted at her, still in the doorway.

Luckily for all of this, Jack still smelled delicious [oh yeah] and his arms still looked like they were built by the gods [which obv they were], so he was all set. This Crystal girl did not stand a chance with his perfect wit and charm and physique. And neither did Meredith, which was why she should hasten immediately to open the door. Come, Meredith. Hasten!

"You must be the roommate," he said while he waited, glancing back in her direction, still grinning. "You're just as cute as she said you were." He winked, failing to notice that it was this sort of thing that might have sent the rest of the room into an awkward tizz. But then again, Jack failed to notice a lot of things.

[Meredith Beckendorf]

Meredith flushed a shade of red that was probably cartoonish. Who would have thought she'd have scared Crystal out the door right into Jackie. She has someone, she said. Meredith took this as a good reason to lower the tension in the room immediately. The unfortunate redhead was at a loss for words and was acting awkward, which had two very good reasons not to happen in Mere's mind. One, poor Crystal didn't need to seem like the end of the world was at the door, but two, and much more importantly, Jackie could only be so oblivious, and if he figured out Meredith had a crush on him, that would be the end of their simple, but awesome, relationship. So, in lieu of this fear, Meredith swept across the ground to stand behind Crystal and wrapped her arms around the girl; a bit close, perhaps, but she wanted this awkward to at least seem for some different reason rather than the truth. Her chin settled on the curve of Crystal's shoulder and she smiled at Jack sweetly, "Well, what the hell are you waiting for, Dork? You know you can let yourself in. This is Crystal, and she's adorable." The words might have been loaded between her and Crys, but there was nothing odd about the statement to Jack, and she flittered off away from the redhead, pushing her curls back over her shoulder.

"Crystal, this is Jackie. He's adorable, as well, don't you think so? But I'd be careful, he can make you fall in love with him if he talks too much--some sort of witchcraft love spell, I'm sure!" Meredith was giggling now, wishing she could tell Crys that she didn't have to be so grave. She hadn't really expected Jack's timing to be so bad; so she'd have to use coded words to try and ease Crystal into acting normal. After all, Meredith expected Jack to flirt--and she expected Crystal to flirt. Everyone flirted with Jack. It was impossible to avoid.

She brushed her skirts, dusting the small particles that had gathered on their folds back into the air as she leaned over and adjusted some boxes in the corner, entertaining herself for a moment. Then, she reached up and fixed one of the thumbtacks in a poster she had put up dedicated to a printout of one of her favorite characters from a television show.

"So," she picked up the dish of chocolate raisins and held it up, trying to coax Jack into the room like some sort of wild animal. She unconsciously had her arms pressed together a bit too tight as she popped one into her mouth, pressing her cleavage up just a bit and looking coquettish, though he wouldn't have identified this as any different from usual for Meredith, since she always seemed to do unconsciously silly lure-and-trap tactics that consistently failed around Jack. On the other hand, Crystal was probably a little more aware of the idiocy that was ensuing, which, luckily, Meredith was completely unconscious of, otherwise she would be the deepest shade of pink she could manage, "... Raisin, Jackie?"