LIKE AN OPEN BOOK;;paul&aurelia?;;

[PAUL MICHAEL BRASS]

He was startled when her face lit up, and she suddenly grabbed his arm, but continued to smile, mostly out of confusion. So...this was a good thing...He thought it must be, but was a little distracted while she clutched his arm. Then she let go, spouting something about the static in the flooring, while he just nodded. Then she began rubbing her feet against the carpet, and before he could step away from her, knowing what was coming. But she still got him with a shock that felt too powerful, like it was under his very skin. Weird. Really fucking weird. But he just grinned unevenly, rubbing a hand over the place on his arm where she had touched him again, laughing a little. At least she had a sense of humor?

Then she got quiet, and pointed out that his phone was still buzzing, and he felt the little pinpricks of guilt as he clenched his jaw, looking down, expression now falsely, painfully cheerful as Aurelia turned her back on him and led him over to the couches in the little sky-room.
"Um, yeah. She was just-" He flipped open the phone to check the actual message. "-reminding me about some stuff." He shrugged, a little less enthusiastically, as he flopped into the same couch, but at the other end. Leaning back against the arm so that he could still face her, he listened to her soberly until he caught sight of the rubiks cube in her hand. He was still eager to hear about her, but his eyes were on her nimble hands as she deciphered the puzzle. When she finally set it, fully solved, on the table, he blinked stupidly, looking back to her face in time to see the blush on her face.

"I'm talking too much, aren't I? I'll stop..."

"No, no, not at all," He told her quickly, eyes wide, forcing a smile. "I was just thinking about what you were saying. Though she seemed to have made it plain that she wasn't interested in a freshman, she didn't seem so harsh all of a sudden- not that it would have deterred him at all anyway.
"At least I know you'll be the first one I come to see when I need to find a party," He joked weakly, scratching the back of his neck absently. "My turn?" He leaned back even further, letting one arm hang over the side of the couch. His story certainly wasn't as interesting. "Well...I don't have any pets, for one thing. My family had a dog when I was a kid though- that counts." He pointed to her with a mocking dark look, daring her to argue about it, regaining some of his good mood with a short laugh. Even a little guilt couldn't keep him down. "My parents live in a small town in Indiana- I've lived there my whole life. I mean, I've left it for trips and stuff, but this is my first time living on my own." He nodded slowly, reddening slightly as if this were some kind of weakness. At least he didn't mind living on his own. "My middle name's Michael," He was counting the points on his fingers, trying to make sure he covered all of the bases that she had. "I like sports, and history, and criminal justice shit." He cocked a brow at her- this was what she wanted, right?
"I don't have the best track record at school, but I do well enough, aaaaand..." He squinted at the ceiling. "I've only got one sibling. Anything else?"

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[AURELIA RAMONA OCTAVIAN]

Aurelia looked over to Paul and blinked at him as he spoke, noticing he had been watching her solve the rubik’s cube.
”Shit...” She told herself inside her head, feeling her face get gradually less excited. Now he probably thought she was some sort of super-genius freak, when all she did was practice with her own rubik’s cube. As if to redeem herself, she pointed to the cube and laughed awkwardly.
"I memorized the sequence. It's just an algorithm. I'm not a genius or anything. It just comes in handy when you use your head for memorization most of the time... Lines and whatnot..." She waved a hand and pulled her knees up to her chest, turning so she was facing him completely. He looked like he was feeling a little bit... guitly? She bit her lip and tilted her head, watching his lips move, before glancing away, out towards the school. She could see two girls yelling at each other, and she frowned, rubbing at one of her temples. She was listening to everything Paul was saying, but she was starting to get a migraine, and needed her pills. She looked back to him and smiled a bit when he finished talking, tilting her head.

"Criminal justice, too...? Are you planning on becoming a police officer? I know a few people who are officers these days..." She thought about Simeon O’Malley and his brother Maximillian. Shaking her head slightly, as if to shake the thoughts out, her hand raked through her hair once more and she leaned her cheek on the side of the couch, exhaling slowly through her nose. "I'm trying to think of some questions..." She licked her lips and looked up at the ceiling, watching the clouds go by, before looking down at him again.
"When's your first game? What's your favourite color? Food? Sport and team? Time to wake up? Time to go to sleep? Uhm..." She tapped her chin and thought for a bit longer, laughing softly at him.

"Just those for now, I suppose!" She grinned. She actually did enjoy talking to Paul. It was a lot less of a mind-numbing task than she thought. And she couldn’t stop staring at him, for the life of her. He was just really attractive. Although he had a girlfriend, she could easily change that... But she also barely knew him, and wanted to make sure that he had some sort of academic potential, rather than just some cute university boy with a nice appearance and the brain of a concussed rhino. She wasn’t going for any more idiots... So she’d either have to make him smart if he wasn’t, or just be acquaintances. Which would have been fine, were it not for the fact that he seemed to take a particular liking to her, despite his... previous engagements.

"Oh. And I guess I should ask the preliminary girlfriend questions. What's she look like? Is she pretty? Does she have nice boobs?" She put on her guy voice as she spoke and pretended to be macho, puffing out her chest like she was some big, hot-shot sports star or something. "Lemme see a picture, bro!" She leaned over and flopped so she was standing on her knees above him, holding out her hand for his phone. "Show me." She grinned innocently. She was interested in seeing what his girlfriend looked like. She needed to make sure she was still prettier than the image she had worked up in her mind of the type he would go out with.

[PAUL MICHAEL BRASS]

Algorithm...right. He had a friend who had once tried to teach him, but solving a Rubik's cube had never been a goal he really depended on. So he would just have to settle for being easily impressed.


"Criminal justice, too...? Are you planning on becoming a police officer? I know a few people who are officers these days..."

He shook his head, laughing.
"Not at the moment- I just find it interesting. I don't know what sort of career I want. That's the point of school." He pointed out with a shrug. It wasn't that he had absolutely no idea- he just didn't like anything enough to pursue it at the moment.

As she bombarded him with questions, he tried to keep all of them straight, narrowing his eyes in mock concentration.
"First game is mid October- don't ask me for the date, I have no clue. My favourite colour is blue. I don't really have well-known teams...I mostly watch the European stuff. My favourite food is probably mashed potatoes. Weird, I know." He rolled his eyes, pushing his blond hair back from his forehead. "I go to bed whenever I feel like it, but I like to wake up early. Which kinda sucks if I've had a late night, but it's not that bad." Paul grinned. "Like, really fucking early."

However at the mention of Chelsea his grin visibly faded, wary of where Aurelia was going with this. He regarded her with a frown for several seconds before he burst out laughing, though he still seemed reluctant as he pulled out his phone once again. Scrolling through it he found a recent one of her, and held the phone gingerly out to the redhead, anticipating the worst. The girl in the picture was thin, with a wide smile and a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her vibrant hazel eyes were done up with a light touch of mascara, long straight brown hair framing her narrow face, falling over the crest on the uniform she wore.
"Her name's Chelsea..." His eyes flicked up from where they had been resting on the phone, to Aurelia, sitting up slightly so that she wasn't hanging right above him on the couch.
"So I know you said your ex is involved in rugby, but, what, you're not seeing anyone?" Since when had their little chat gotten so serious? He tried to inject some enthusiasm back into his voice.

[AURELIA RAMONA OCTAVIAN]

With a tender smile, Aurelia picked at the little thread that tied her shoe to the sole, and shrugged, staring intently at it, as if it were the place when was looking for all her thoughts. She shrugged slightly and ran her free hand through her hair, listening to what he had to say and ask, before looking up at him, taking his phone to see the girl in the picture. She was a bit thinner than herself, and looked a lot prettier by Aurelia’s standards... She bit her lip, before smiling at Paul genuinely.
“She’s gorgeous...” She said quietly, before handing his phone back to him and resuming the shoe-picking. When he asked about her ex boyfriend, she stopped abruptly and tucked her knees farther up. It wasn’t a subject she liked to talk about openly. Especially with people who would be in contact with the man.

It wasn’t the fact of all the things he did or said, it was jsut the fact that she didn’t want things to be dug up, to cause more drama between them. It was best that they stuck to their insults in the hallway and avoided the fact that either of them had seen each other naked (something that her ex shouldn’t have really been proud of... steroids don’t lie when they say they shrink your junk) and the fact that he had humiliated her and she had yet to get him back, really. If he found out she still had hard feelings about it, it would be horrible, because the element of surprise would be taken away when Aurelia actually did get her revenge... However long that might take her. It was just something she couldn’t wreck. Ignorance of each other was quite blissful... Although she did sometimes watch the games from the pedway and the particular way his shoulders tensed when he ran to catch a ball was rather intriguing to watch... And the way he ran his hands through his hair after every game, wiping off the sweat that had welled up under his helmet... She stilled remembered the smell. It wasn’t a gross body smell like most men. It was a sweet smell, like a thousand pheremones attacking her senses and surrendering her completely over to his capable hands.

"Too bad he was an asshole." Her subconscious interrupted her thoughts, and she brought herself back around to the conversation she was having with Paul. Her shoulders shrugged nonchalantly and she smiled weakly, putting her hands to her shins, rubbing up and down gently.
"Ah... No... I mean, I've been with people, but it's never worked out longer than a few weeks. Three tops... I'm not really... I mean... I'm kind of a loser." She put her palm to her cheek and rested her elbow on the back of the couch.
"Not an actual loser, but... My ex did some pretty horrible things, and pretty much convinces anyone I've ever been interested in that I'm a horrible person and everything, when really, he's the horrible one..." She looked down to the courtyard below and felt the corners of her mouth twist into a frown.
"It'd bother me if I wasn't so used to people not liking me." She looked up at him and smiled weakly. "I know I'm helping you, but if anyone tells you to avoid me because I'm not cool, you should probably do yourself a favour and do what they say. It could ruin your whole jock image... Especially if Dixon notices... Dixon being my ex." Aurelia’s eyes rolled and she twirled a piece of hair in her fingers.
"Anyway... I'm in two history clubs. One is an actual anthropology and archaeology group that goes out and does finds for the university's research lab. The other is more of a sit-in-and-learn class about Ancient Egypt. The first one meets on Tuesday's at lunch and the second one meets on Friday's at 7PM."

[PAUL MICHAEL BRASS]

Paul was pretty sure that Aurelia was being genuinely nice- she didn't sound sarcastic as she confirmed what he had already known. Yet he couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

While she briefly explained her history with relationships, he crossed his arms across his chest, not sure how he was supposed to act. He guessed the subject was a touchy one, and it was making him feel a bit awkward, like he didn't know how to sit, how to arrange his expression. She probably didn't want his pity, but he had a hard time believing what she said about not being bothered. Whenever she looked away, it just gave him an opportunity to stare straight at her, to not miss the way the corners of her mouth pulled down, but when she glance back, he felt a smile creeping across his face.

He leaned sideways on the couch, placing his arm just like her's, squashing one cheek slightly. If there was one thing he could do to diffuse a situation, it was act like an idiot.
"Don't worry about it," He tilted his head, splitting into a grin. "I met you first, so you have dibs on my opinions." He pushed away from the cushions, straightening slightly. "Besides, he's already got 'dick' in his name, and you think he's going to give me any real trouble? I'm offended." He shook his head slowly, pretending to look disappointed until he couldn't hold back a smile any longer. Yeah, he was immature, but it made people laugh, and he liked that. Or, at the very least, he could change the subject. "Once I'm on the team, he'll just have to deal with me." Paul shrugged, rolling his eyes. "I've dealt with worse. And as for the meetings...you choose- though Friday might work better. Then I won't have to come find you before we go out for a drink."

{Ahmagad this post sucks :[ But yeah...I can't waaaaaait -flails-}

[AURELIA RAMONA OCTAVIAN]

With the slightest curve of her lips in the upward direction, Aurelia quirked an eyebrow as the things he did just kept getting cheesier and cheesier. Finally, when he mentioned going out for a drink, she laughed. It was a bit of a snarky, rude laugh, and she quickly covered her mouth to stifle it. A drink with Paul... The 18-year-old freshman who had a girlfriend back home and was going to stick around even if it ruined his reputation. Aurelia shook her head slightly and ran her fingers through her hair, laughing gently to herself before looking up at him with bright eyes.

"Friday it is. Though, don't think we're going out for drinks. You're still a teeny bopper, yet. It's more like we'll be staying in for drinks." She nodded, quite sure of herself, before realizing what that might have suggested. Without really bothering to correct herself, she stood up from the couch and brushed her pants off, as if to remove any dust that had collected on her (even though she knew there was none); heading towards the staircase doors with a determined look on her face.

Spinning around at the last second, she pointed to him and grinned.
"Friday. Don't forget, okay? Remember, I know where you sleep." She wiggled her finger and looked at her watch, counting down the minutes until her next class. Music Theory was in 14 minutes, and this was the exit she had to take to get there.

"I have to get to class now..." She paused, shrugging slightly. "Which class do you have?" She motioned for him to follow her, and started down the staircase a few steps, looking back at him intently. She didn’t feel like being harrassed by Dixon today; maybe he would lay off if someone else was with her.
"Want to walk me to class if you're free for a bit?" She glanced to him with an expression that was a mix of hopefulness and anxiety. Dixon always saw her on the way to Music Theory, and never ceased to tell her how much of a whore she was. Which wouldn’t have bothered Aurelia so much if everyone else didn’t believe him... But they did. Because the 5 or 6 other men that she had slept with in her entire lifetime had told everyone that they had no idea how many guys were before them, or even Dixon. It was embarrassing.

"It'd be nice for a friend to stick around with me in the courtyards..." Aurelia said slowly, tucking her wild hair behind one ear. She began to braid it into a fishtail braid down the side, before shrugging.
"It's up to you, though."

{I'm really excited too! :3}

[PAUL MICHAEL BRASS]

'Teeny bopper'? What the hell does that even mean? Alright, alright, he understood that she didn't want to give him the wrong idea, and he didn't hold it against her, but he longed to point out that there wasn't much of an age difference. As for staying in for drinks, he didn't mind that either, but he let his eyes narrow slightly, smiling tight-lipped.

"Ah, sure, I understand, you don't want to have to share me." He shrugged, though of course he knew what she meant. Before he could tease her any more however she had jumped up, brushed herself off and strode away down the hall, reaching the doors before he was even a few steps off the couch.

"Friday. Don't forget, okay? Remember, I know where you sleep."

He held up his hands in surrender as she pointed threateningly at him. "Woah tiger, I got it. And I have philosophy, but it's not for another hour or so." He followed her down the stairs, but she stopped a little way down, turning to look back at him with what he could only assume was some degree of vulnerability.

"Want to walk me to class if you're free for a bit?"

He knew first impressions didn't always show the full extent of someone's personality, but he was finding it hard to pin Aurelia down as one thing or another. At first she was a little bit controlling, a little bit 'lone wolf', then she started joking with him, and now she was just...he couldn't keep up. When she mentioned him as a friend though, he figured he ought to just be content with her labeling of things- they were friends now, fine by him. Paul nodded, along with a short 'sure' as he followed her, shrugging it off as if he hadn't been aware that walking alone bothered her. He supposed it had something to do with that guy, and the students he had managed to convince, but honestly, other than her firmness when giving Paul hints about just wanting to be friends, he didn't find anything unapproachable about her.
"You have to tell me how to get back to my dorm on the ground though- because I have no fucking idea." He grinned, knowing even with directions he'd probably be wandering for a while anyway. It was only his second day, after all.