The Calling (DrTrollinski & Zhai)

[DrTrollinski]

(1x1 RP between myself and Zhai)


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April 18th, 2014.


Clayton, Georgia, USA.





It was an average Spring day, quite a nice one at that, too. Carl was sat on a wall just outside of their school - they went to one of the better State schools. They didn't get private education because their parents believed they'd benefit more from going through schooling around others and having friends and social interactions, and all that good stuff.


Anyway.


He was waiting for his twin sister, Mia, people said they lookalike, but... Minus the fact that he's a boy, and she's a girl. They shared a special kind of bond that no one else ever seemed to understand. It wasn't nice at some points during school, only because they were in separate classes. They were like the best of friends, but they were related - they offered each other a lot of support here and there whenever they needed it, and they spent one hell of a lot of time together as well.


Like Carl had planned to do today. It was a Friday, and he'd planned a little treat for his sister, just like the 'older brother' should. He was going to head out to the movie theater with her and see a comedy movie, and then they could go to a pretty nice diner that was just into town.


Clayton was sort of a small place, but quite big as well. Thankfully for the two of them, they knew most of it off by heart.


He was still sat down on the wall, just waiting for her to come out of the school at any minute now. He pulled out his Samsung Galaxy S4 and then quickly texted his dad to let him know that they wouldn't be back until later. The parents they had were fantastic - calm and understanding, more than anything. They just let the kids get on with whatever they wanted while they were at home doing... Whatever, I guess. Carl and Mia spent a lot of time out and about - Carl did odd jobs, but he was also a morning paperboy for the local neighborhood, which paid him alright. The odd jobs helped him do well, though, so he treated his sister pretty good. He wasn't a dickish big brother - he was actually really shielding and nice to her.


Now, he just had to wait.

 

[Zhai]

Just ten more minutes. Just ten more minutes.


Mia repeats that phrase in her head until the next minute passes. Thank god – nine more minutes left. Nine more minutes of listening to the President of the Student Committee chirp steadily about upcoming events; school dance, school bake sale, school improvement project, school dinner, school luncheon, school something else. Mia had stopped listened at some point between how the school needs to be painted orange to reflect the seasons and how there should be a school T-shirt created to be worn every Friday.


Impatient, she shifted in her sit and allowed her eyes to sweep across the round table of unlucky School Committee members. All of them – every single one of them – had their eyes leveled towards the clock on the wall behind the President’s head. It was just positioned enough where it looked like everyone was super interested in what the over teased hair-headed upperclassmen had to say, but really everyone was counting down the next eight minutes.


Holy shit. Only a minute had passed since she lasted looked at the clock.


“I’m sorry everyone, I’ve got to use the restroom.” Mia erected out of the chair, pressing a black notebook to her chest and shouldering her pack. There was a break in the President’s gaggle as she commented something about waiting until she comes back. She wasn’t coming back.


Busting from the makeshift conference room – an unused Teacher’s Lounge – Mia drew in and released a ragged breath of relief. Free at last. She paraded down the hall, down the stairs, and a few feet down the hall to her locker; her fingers shoved a key into the lock, wrenched open the locker, and swapped books. Biology can stay, History can go, Math can stay, and Student Committee notes could burn in Hell.


The locker door was slammed shut and she hurried to the exit of the school. Beyond the heavy door of the only entrance and exit, the atmosphere was inviting; the air was crisp, the Sun was giving her skin warm kisses, and there was only her. Oh no – Carl!


Mia swiveled back half down the steps of the school and couldn’t decide if she could go back for him or wait. Maybe he hadn’t been released from class yet. Maybe he left already. Carl never left before her, so it was never right for her to leave before him. Her hands felt around her jacket pockets and pants, feeling for the raised shape of her phone; no texts, no missed calls, no email.


Her fingers send a polite ‘Where Are You?’ to her brother’s phone, and she leans against the railing on the steps at the front of the school.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl was simply sitting there on his phone playing a game when he got a notification for a message. He opened it up and looked at it, followed by shaking his head and smiling. Had she not seen him yet? Then again, there were Christ knows how many people walking by him, so he didn't exactly stand out. His fingers quickly went across the screen and he had a reply across to her within about ten seconds. He was lightning fast on a keyboard and on a touchscreen phone. He grew up experimenting with their parents' technology - he loved using a computer or playing games and pressing buttons on a cellphone from the young age of four years old.


And then there was the time when he dropped his dad's cellphone in the toilet. After he'd used it. God, he got in trouble that day.


'Bottom of the walkway out of the school, on the wall where I always wait.' He quickly sent her the message and held the phone in his lap, looking around and squinting a little as the sun shone into his eyes. He had money with him for the movie theater, but he was getting tired of waiting. At least it wouldn't be too much longer now, right?

 

[Zhai]

Just as the message binged on the phone, the doors to the front of the school were opened and propped by the Head Counselor – a tall, wiry, grayed haired woman who always wore a full patterned suit. Today, it was a one-too-many-stripes pants suit, and against the golden light of the Sun the suit looked like burnt orange peel. The Counselor peered over her the brim of her bottle glasses, acknowledging Mia lingering on steps. Mia offered a half-assed wave and turned to skip down the bottom of the case.


The ‘wall’ that her same-faced twin always leaned against was just past the thicket of bikes and scooters lazily propped against the Self-Ride racks. Mia weaved her way through people slipping on knees pads and fastening helmets, avoiding eye contact with an irritated Student President who was also adjusting a hot pink helmet onto her head. It was Friday, and Mia was in a rush; it wasn’t necessarily a rush to leave school, but because Carl was sometimes as impatient as a spoiled King.


And then there he was – on the wall like he said, head swiveling here and there.


“How long have you been here?” Mia feigned the jealously in her voice; Carl didn’t have to sit in meetings and groups. Mother didn’t expect that of Carl. Mother expected her only daughter to do what she did when she was in school. Be on every team, every counsel, every meeting – have her hand in everything. Mother would probably expect her to marry a guy just like Father and have twins, too!


Brothers have it so easy sometimes.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He looked at her and smiled and then hopped down from the wall. Ah, Mia. He was going to have to talk to their mom sometime about how much she did at school. He didn't view it as fair - maybe he'd volunteer himself so he could go in and at least do something and wait for her at the same time. Even if it was boring as hell. Maybe he could do something with computers instead? That finished around the same time as all of Mia's 'exciting duties' - Heh, right. He was a tech genius - he even had the nerve to call himself better than some of the teachers. The fact that their fifteenth birthday was during the Summer was an exciting event, too. It's not like Carl could do anything better with that age, apart from maybe get a better job.


After all, we all know what Carl could do now that he was in his teenage years, if you know what I mean. I'll spare you the details.


"How long?" He turned to her and shrugged. "I don't know, ten, fifteen minutes or so? Maybe not even that." He smiled a little and shrugged again, and then looked around. "Mia, seeing as it's Friday, I thought I'd be nice and share some of my money, eh?" He chuckled. "Wanna' head out and see a movie? My treat." He said.


Carl was quite a sophisticated guy - the both of them had the dark brown hair that their parents passed down to them. His was a medium-length style - it wasn't classy, but it wasn't a bad-looking one either. His hair was a little shaggy, but that fit his character more than anything. He was going to grow up to be the complete opposite of his father and mother - he was a joker, someone who put a good mood on everything when he had the chance - A surprise invite to see a movie was just one of his little ways.

 

[Zhai]

Carl was a contagious guy – that guy that mothers warn their daughters about before they enter that point in their life where their breasts poke out a little and their hips begin to fill out, and all that other girly stuff happened. Aside from his personality, it was probably about his looks. Honestly, we weren’t bad looking people; in all honesty, we were a damn good looking pair of twins. Mia knew it. Carl knew it – and Carl used it.


Mia recalled on numerous occasions catching the other girls – lower and upper classman – stealing glances from Carl’s direction, storing him away in their deep girl fantasies. Sometimes it was apparent that even the guys in the school were attempting to not exactly look like him, but get close. The hair. The clothes. The walk. The talk.


Oh look, more girls staring at him. Great. They probably had attached some kind of listening device to one of us to track us. Earlier one of the upper classmen touched Mia’s shoulder, and her hand flew up to brush away the length of her thick chocolate hair, and feel for a listening bug. Nothing. Combing a portion of her hair back over her shoulder, Mia erected and faced her brother.


“I’m hungry. We could go to dinner. Your treat.” Mia mimicked her brother’s anxious tone, and offered him a once-in-awhile smile. Mia didn’t smile much, and it was still a mystery to herself that people still wanted to be around her. Her personality wasn’t contagious. Her laughter was seldom heard in school, it was all but dead in school; and she didn’t put herself in the spot light. Maybe it was because of Carl, that people thought the same of her.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"How about a movie and then dinner? I highly doubt that people go for dinner at three-thirty on a Friday afternoon, do they?" He asked with a smirk. "Come on, let's take a walk and we'll see if anything good's showing - I'll treat you to popcorn and nachos in the cinema, if you want them." He chuckled a little and hoisted his backpack further up onto his back, and then set off on a stroll down the sidewalk to begin leading her onward.


The thing about Carl was that he was defensive. He was very defensive. It was mostly over Mia, though. God, the amount of times he'd ended up getting into fights whenever someone insulted her or even showed slight physical aggression towards her - he became like the teenage hulk that wouldn't let down until he was sure the said people wouldn't do it again. He was strong, physically fit, but was by no means an Arnold Schwarzenegger of body-building. Hell, he wasn't even a body-builder.


It went without denying that he did the job of 'older brother' well. He wouldn't let anyone do bad to Mia - even if it was something she could handle, he'd step in and do something about it anyway. He was a gentlemen by nature, but as a teenager, he was a little bit rambunctious in the way he acted and how he flaunted how much of a great brother he was. All of that stage would pass once they got older, but they never experienced anything alone (except bodily changes) - if one of them had a problem, they both had a problem.


"How was the day, then?" He asked her simply, tucking his phone away into his pocket.

 

[Zhai]

“How was my day?” The question slide around in Mia’s mouth like a salty, sharp rock. How does someone put in words – Friday words, the end of the week beginning of the week words – that the day was just as shitty as the day before, and the day before that.


“Well,” She started her sentence, calm and soft, fingering a few strands of her hair into a twist that was allowed to unravel before her finger harassed it into a twist again. “Well, the President of the Student Committee wants to host a school dance and dinner next month.” The image the President painted for the dinner and dance event immediately snuck into her thoughts; too many spring colors, too much decoration, too many girls in dresses and guys in suits, and just too much everything. It was all just too much. The thought of how much it was going to be was overwhelming. “She wants it to be formal.” Mia signed, glancing over towards where a few girls huddled under a dying tree, their eyes up and downing her. What the hell are they thinking about?


Mia was stand-offish. Carl was the muscle. In a medieval story, Carl would have been the knight and Mia the horse, in the sense that she was always leading him into battle and he was the one doing the fighting.


“How was your day? What’d you do in Math? Did you pass your test?” Mia elbowed her brother, offering him a private smile as they approached a crosswalk, slowing behind a waiting group. She knew he passed because she passed. In psychology, Mia learned about the ‘twin-plex’ – twins who had each other’s thoughts, feelings, desires, blah blah. That one class had prompted tons of people to approach either him or her, asking what the other one thought. The only set of twins in school and everyone thinks we’re telekinetic and share thoughts.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He listened to her and sighed a little. He couldn't deny that he felt sorry for her - she did put a lot of work into these things, and he knew she'd be upset if anyone told her that she did a bad job (which she didn't) or called her useless, or something - anyone would get upset by that. Come on, these guys were fourteen years old - they were still kids. There was a lot that could upset them, especially seeing as they were sort of post-puberty right now.


Carl saw the girls looking them up and down and simply shot them a glaze that was close to a glare, but it was nothing threatening. After that, he simply looked back to Mia and shot her a smile again as if nothing happened, and then shrugged. He didn't find his test in Math hard at all - he could have sworn that he'd be able to do it back when he was Third Grade, or something. It was a breeze.


"Yeah, the Math test was easy stuff. I didn't have a problem with it at all." He smiled at her, but it was more of a smirk. "So, run into any interesting people today?" He asked. That was basically his way of asking if anyone had given her trouble at all during the day. And now they were stuck behind a group. How wonderful.

 

[Zhai]

Being siblings – upgrade that to twins – it was easy for Mia to tell when Carl was poking and feeling for something. The little things he said and the way he said them tipped off his intent, but Mia tried not to meet his expectations too much. The question was normally dodged and worked around, and if he brought it up again, more evasive measures. It’s amazing to have your own body guard, but there wasn’t any sense to her in tattling on every person that shoulder checks her in the halls and whose eyes lingered on her back too long. They were only fourteen, but her soul was aged; she knew that there could never be fairness in an eye for an eye or doing the getting for getting got.


“Nope.” Mia stepped off the curb, stepping on the white stripes of the crosswalk to the other side. A few kids from her class offered a smile, wave, or courteous head nod that signaled we all knew each other. Mia offered her half-wave to the left and right to each of them before the crowd thinned at the sidewalk. A few people walked to the left, a few to the right, a few straight. Hoisting her backpack higher onto her shoulder, avoiding catching the hair draping over her shoulder.


“What movies are playing?” Mia nonchalantly glanced at the smallish face of her watch. It’d only been ten minutes from where they started to where they were now. The theater was at least another ten minutes away, and the bus had already left. It was parting from the curb a few feet away and gassing its way up the stretch of road.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Well... 'Neighbors' is playing. I hear that's supposed to be pretty good, if you wanted to go and watch that. We could always take a look and see what else is showing, if you want, but that's one of the better ones that's come out recently." He chuckled a little and smiled when they finally got across the crossroad behind the group that were waiting. God, his post-pubescent ways just wanted to shove through them all, but he was better than that - he'd never done something as rude as that before.


"As for food afterwards, where do you want to eat? A diner? Italian? Nandos?" He asked with a smirk. He only smirked when he mentioned Nandos, though. A Nandos sounded amazing right about now, and he'd even go there now and eat the whole menu if he was feeling up to it - it was a little expensive, but he could always afford to treat his sister. God. He knew that if he had a younger sibling (who was younger than him by a few years rather than a few minutes), he knew that he'd probably be entirely bankrupt by now. Oh well, family meant the most to him, and he'd die for any one of his instant family if he had to.

 

[Zhai]

“Hmm…’Neighbors’ is fine with me. And for dinner?” Mia continued straight, tempted to speed walk past the slower moving trio in front. Her natural eagerness to not waste time, she got from her Mother; everywhere she went was ahead of time and she sped stepped there. Even in the house she zipped back and forth through her room, in and of the halls, up and down the stairs. It was always a natural rush, and she couldn’t control it.


Defeated by the barricade of slower paced girls, she exhaled a ragged breath to calm her speedy nerves, and smirked at her brother. “I’m kind of feeling a burger, honestly.” Although she didn’t normally eat heavy foods – or rather, wasn’t allowed to eat heavy foods – she would seize this offered opportunity Carl was rolling out in front of her to savor a real meal. When she got home, she’d opt to sleep the meal off.


“Why are you being so generous? Don’t you have anything to save for?” Excitement jerked the corner of her lips into a wide smile, her bright blue eyes twinkled with anticipation, and her shoulders lifted. They were fourteen, but soon they’d be fifteen – legal age to get a license. Mia wanted to save for her own car but their parents would of course purchase it for them. Just like so many other parents around here paid for their kid’s first set of wheels.

 

[DrTrollinski]

".. A burger? Ah, great. A Nandos' chicken burger sounds fantastic. Good idea, Mia." He laughed a little and then playfully nudged her shoulder. He simply continued walking with her and then made his way forward with her, his casual walk seemed to stand out, but it seemed to blend in as well - sure, Carl might have been a bit of a trend-setter, but he didn't view himself as anything fantastic. He viewed himself as a normal kid, if not a little more mature than some (most) of the other people at school.


He and Mia and the family were by no means posh or snobby or anything like that. They were a regular family that had good values, and the kids had a great upbringing. They weren't a bunch of fancy people, though. They lived in a nice house, but they didn't have butlers running around wiping their asses for them. No way. Carl decided a long time ago that he could never live like that. Not ever. He wanted to grow up to be a family man with lots of kids, a nice enough house, a beautiful wife, a good job, and a nice car - a lot, but it was achievable.


"I'm being generous, little sister." He joked and winked at her. "Simply because I'm a good brother, of course." He grinned a little and then took a deep breath and shrugged. "Not to worry. I've got enough money saved up - I thought it'd be nice for us to hang out on a Friday afternoon instead of going home and doing nothing." He smiled thoughtfully.

 

[Zhai]

“Well, I wouldn’t have been doing nothing.” Mia’s voice was soft, but had a weight to it. “Mom wants to know what happened at Committee today, wants me to start my evaluation for Humanities, and…something else.” Forgetting the rest of Mom’s You-Need-To-Do-This-List, she trailed off to a mumble and began to snap her fingers anxiously.


Ditching after-school duties to spend time with Carl was better than what Mother assumed Mia would ditch school for. A boy. A guy. A stolen couple of hours to nurse a faux, young romance in some off the map place. A few weeks ago, she was simply running late from tutoring another student – a male – and her Mother was on the verge of calling in the everyone from Swat to the Military to search for her. Upon arriving at the school, Mother couldn’t have timed her departure from the car better – and the scene she saw in her mind was her little girl holed up in the school with some teenage boy. God forbid a hair on Mia’s head was out of place.


Long story short – Mia endured a talk from the moment she buckled the seat in the car until the last minute before bed while she was brushing her teeth and pinning up her hair. It was just tutoring. The guy was so bad in History he didn’t know how many states there were in the U.S.A.


“Carl…” Starting quietly, Mia continued to look straight ahead, her fingers reaching to caress the edge of her bottom lip. “Do you have a weird feeling? Like..I don’t know.”


The explanation she’d practiced in her head sounded a lot better. When it was time be spoken, the words were shy and dived back into her gut.


“I don’t know. I guess it’s just me. Hormones and stuff.” Laughing lightly, her hand rose to rest for a short moment on her brother’s shoulder. “What time does the movie start? I feel like we’re walking too slow.”

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Ah, forget about mom, honestly." He sighed. "We're fourteen. You really want to do all of that boring crap when you could be out having a good time? Dad would agree with me - we should get out more and not have to worry about lectures, and all that." He explained. He wouldn't dare say any of that in front of their mom, but it was what they were thinking for the most part. Their dad was very Laissez-Faire, and he just let them get on with it - he encouraged them to do well, but he wasn't strict. He was quite laid back, hence why Carl was a lot closer with him than he was with his mother.


His mother would probably hit him if he said that to her. Or would she? He didn't know too much.


"And what do you mean a weird feeling? Like... Déjà vu, or something?" He asked. He didn't quite know what she meant. It must have meant something though, right? I mean, she wouldn't usually bring something up if it was pointless. The first thing he thought was that she was worried about something. He did naturally speed up his walking pace when she mentioned it, but he still wanted an answer from her.

 

[Zhai]

Mia waved her hand between them, dismissing his follow-up atmosphere; she didn’t want to think about what she didn’t even know about, but rather enjoy the moment like he said. Carl was just like Father – be in the moment. Father always said, ‘Mia…live in the moment’. What does that mean Dad? We naturally live in the moment, right? There’s no other time we can live in!


Mia walked with Carl to the next crosswalk, left-right peeked, and stepped out onto the white striped path to the other side. Another few minutes in silence, Mia was about to speak. To break the silence between them, because she hated to walk in complete silence with the only other person who understood. What to say, though?


Just as her lips parted and she inhaled, the taste of buttery theater popcorn snuck past her teeth and swam around her mouth. Holy Hell…even though she hadn’t tasted it yet…it smelled amazing and tasted better on her tongue, “We’re here.”


Excitement rung in her voice as her mouth drew into a wide smile and her stride quickened. In the movie, Carl couldn't question her. At dinner, though, he might seize the opportunity. Maybe by then Mia would know what the hell she felt enough to describe it.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Alright." He chuckled a little and then lead her up to the ticket booth and ordered two tickets for the movie, handing one off to her. After that, he took her inside and then went over to the food bar. Mmm. One large box of buttered popcorn, two large mixed slushies - oh, and a tray of nachos to share. Awesome stuff. The movie theater here was well-kept. Already, Carl had spent nearly forty bucks - he didn't seem to care in the slightest, though.


The room they went into was one of the more empty ones. There ten or fifteen other people in here, but no more. They could get some nice seats that were near the back. Mia knew for a fact that if Carl sat too close to the screen, he started to feel faint, got light-headed, and even started to feel drowsy and sick - they needed to sit near the back or in the center every time because of that, but it's not like they were going to have trouble seeing any of it.


On the downside, in the nearly dark room, they looked like boyfriend and girlfriend. How awkward was that? They sometimes got looks, but... You know, it was nothing that ever intruded too much - being twins was hard, wasn't it?

 

[Zhai]

“There’s a lot of couples in here.” The theater was dark, fairly empty, and the movie was still in the preview phase, so it hadn’t even really started; but Mia felt the needed to whisper the statement under her breath, biting the corner of her lip, and debating whether they should sit a seat apart or something. In the light, people could see the similarities minus the obvious he was a guy and she was a girl parts, but it would have been obvious they were twins. In the darkness, they probably looked like to teenagers on an after school date, sharing food and holding hands in the theater.


Mia knew it wasn’t like that, but something about other people thinking that dumb stuff irked her. It doesn’t matter. Carl spent his money on her to get this far and he would be spending more later, so she dismissed her thoughts and started up the stairs on the side of the theater.


Pointing towards a row in the middle of the theater, Mia glided through the narrow row of seats and sat smack in the middle. Middle seats in the middle of the theater.


Through the first half of the movie, she paid attention. Laughed when funny parts came, smiled at the mildly humorous parts; but at some point her hands stopped plucking from the popcorn and reaching for nachos. Her mind trailed off to think about before, what she’d felt during class and walking through the halls of the school. There’d been this weird…rousing in her gut, and she couldn’t put real words to it.


“I’ll be back.” Whispering in her brother’s ear, Mia half-rose into a bow and snuck out of the row, down the stairs, and out to the bathrooms.

 

[DrTrollinski]

Carl looked at her and simply nodded. He was curious about what she'd been thinking about today. What was it that felt weird? If she felt weird, than for some reason, as soon as he found out, he started to feel weird as well - Now he felt strange. He knew why, unlike her - he felt strange because she felt strange, he had a funny feeling in his gut because she had a funny feeling in her gut. Get how it works? Good good.


He decided just to sit and wait. It wasn't worth getting up and looking for her - he would start to get nervous if she was gone more than five minutes, and he'd become restless. It was like there was some sort of invisible string that connected the two of them - like a long line of a soul, or something. Something that stopped them both from ever becoming detached - sometimes, when Carl was younger, he'd imagine it as if she got too far from him, or he got too far from her, they'd both just drop dead.


Of course that wasn't the case and gave him nightmares when he was young, but you know, it was quite magical if you ignored the morbid side of it.


At that moment, he sort of got restless leg syndrome and started gently bouncing his legs in a rapid manner. He was worried already. He was useless at staying cool, in all honesty.

 

[Zhai]

The intent was to be in and out of the bathroom. Quick splash of water on her face, quick look in the mirror, and back to the theater.


Instead, once the water hit her face and she was staring in the mirror – she couldn’t stop looking in the mirror. It was like she was stuck; frozen there with beads of water pulling down her face and her hands supporting her weight against the counter. What the hell is wrong? What could be happening?


The obvious thoughts came first – puberty. It’s ‘that’ time and it’s making her feel like this, like she’s dying inside and needed to lie down for the rest of the weekend until Monday, when school could distract her again. If not that, then maybe the nerves of pending homework that could be finished tonight but instead being put off for a later time. Maybe it was the impossible meeting with her Mother, who was going to bombard her with inquisitions.


Along with her own nerves, another unsettling feeling pulsated out of her gut and through her lower body, down to her feet and – bing! – back up to her head. It was almost whiplash like how quickly and strongly it happened. Tipping the faucet handle and cupping her hands under the cool water, another splash was applied to her face. Wet strands of hair caught in the bath stuck to her forehead and temple; her hands combed through her hair, pulling it into the beginnings of a ponytail but dropping loose again. Mother hated ponytails except when in the house only, because she felt they looked unprofessional or something like that. Mia never understood the real reason, but relished wearing her waist long mane out of the way in the house.


“Stop it.” Mia’s words were direct and for self, her hands snatching a towel and padding the moisture from her face and neck.


Back in the theater, Mia jogged up the stairs to the halfway and slide through the narrow row of seats back to Carl. She chose to sit in the seat beside him rather than step over him to her original seat. It was just easier.


“What’d I miss?” She whispered casually, reaching into the half gone bucket of popcorn on his lap.

 

[DrTrollinski]

"Nothing special." He said, softly, but he took a deep breath of what seemed to be relief. He was happy to see her back, but something still didn't feel right. "To be honest, I don't think this movie's on for much longer. We're sort of at the point where it's coming to the finale, you know what I mean?" He whispered to her. Yep. Most movies had that, where you could tell when things were going to be coming to an end soon - odd, wasn't it? It was a shame, because he'd enjoyed this movie quite a lot compared to some of the other ones that he'd seen with Mia. He never said anything bad about the other ones he'd gone to see with her, but his mood after it always reflected what he thought.


When the movie finally did come to an end - which was still a fair bit after Mia got back, it came to about 5:20 PM. The movie ran for about an hour and thirty minutes, and seeing as it took them about twenty minutes to get there, the time sort of worked out. One thing Carl knew - He was busting to get to the restroom. He didn't ever get up during a movie to use the bathroom, no matter how bad he needed to go. He didn't like missing the movie. He was near enough dancing while they walked out of the screen room.


"I really need the bathroom, okay? Wait here." He said, and then dashed off into the Men's room at the speed of light. He must have been in there for at least two minutes. Good old Carl, torturing himself and nearly causing UTI's - Good stuff. When he finally returned he seemed so much more relaxed and calm. Thank god for that. He never liked crowded restrooms like that, but if nature called, you answered. "Right... Nandos?" He asked casually, smiling.

 

[Zhai]

“Nandos.” Mia echoed in agreement, already shouldering her pack and carrying Carl’s out of the row of seats. Handing it to him, she flipped her wrist and stared down at the tiny face of the watch. Sometimes, she imagined there was a little team in the watch, working to push the hands where they needed to be; but every once in awhile they got tired, worked less or move slower. Mia thought maybe this time the little watch team was working a little harder because time had blown by. It’d gone too fast. If the movie was this fleeted, then dinner would practically be to-go.


Might as well make the best of quick time.


Reaching up, her hands brushed back her hair into a ponytail and secured it with a head band from her left wrist. She didn’t know why she wore head bands on her wrist when she rarely ever pulled her hair back. Maybe it was her plan-ahead nature; what if she decided to go out for the track team? She needed to pull her hair back to run. What if there was some crazed hair cutter in school? She needed to tie her hair up to avoid their wrath.


All unrealistic things, but a person can’t be too prepared.


“Did our parents call?” Damn. Mia hadn’t even thought to text or call them, to let them know they’d gone out after school. Carl probably already did it.


Mia allowed her feet to quickly escort her down the stairs, out the theater, and outside to front of the theater. It was still crowded as people lingered in groups, on their phones, or on the curb waiting for their wheels.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He smiled and the lead her out of the movie theater and took a glance around. Hm, the sun was becoming more orange now, and there were crowds of people everywhere. He recognized some of the other kids their age that were there. Some were in his class, and others were just people he met during breaks, and so on. He made sure they both moved quick so that he didn't have to speak to any of them - he didn't particularly dislike any of them or think that he and Mia were better than them, that wasn't their way - he just didn't want to hear the inevitable 'Oh, is this your girlfriend?' for the dozenth time. It was quite demoralizing.


"Nah, our parents didn't call." He said, looking over his shoulder once more as he made sure that they were quickly drifting away from the crowds. Thank god. At least no one was bugging them - hopefully it'd stay that way for tonight. "I already texted dad. We're all cool. The last thing we need is them causing a riot and calling the National Guard to try and locate us." He chuckled a little.

 

[Zhai]

Mia attempted personal humor and laughed freely, shaking her head and rubbing her temples. Mom was overbearing but her overbearing ways came with funny outcomes, like calling the National Guard for a not missing child.


"Lead the way, Carl! I'm starving and the night isn't getting any younger." She humored and smiled openly, her eye brows plucking up in excitement. The thought of a burger in her hands and mouth just a few minutes away from the present was tempting, and her stomach growled in agreement.


Threading through the crowds, she avoided eye contact and rubbing shoulders. There was the Committee President - again - huddled in a circle of other long haired, raccoon eyed, plaid skirted girls; all of them turned their heads in unison to steal a glance and then whipped back towards their demonic leader. Mia ignored them, shuffled by untouched and not touching, and continued towards the edge of the street. A random guy waved, she reciprocated, and swept her eyes from left to right.


"I never remember the way to that place." Mia smiled - small, a casual - while her inner GPS blanked out and she contemplated left or right to Nandos.

 

[DrTrollinski]

He chuckled a little and then continued leading her on. They were about fifteen minutes away from Nandos, but Carl still had some questions on his mind. The town they lived in was so quiet and casual, but... Something wasn't quite right tonight. He had a funny feeling himself, all of a sudden, but he didn't show it. He didn't want to show it. He didn't even want to imagine that it existed. It was almost quite... Scary, in a sense. It felt like something was wrong here.


"So... What was it that you felt funny about? You figured that out yet?" He asked, twiddling his thumbs nervously as they walked along. He tried not to let his nervousness show at all, but... He wasn't doing too well at that. ".. And it's left, by the way." He said when he noticed that she'd lost her sense of direction.