Fourth Floor Common Room; Saturday Evening.

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

His weekend, Cal decided, was just going to be full of new sorts of things, and he decided to stop being lazy in his room and go down to the common room to be lazy there. The common room had the added benefit of television, and he realized that he really hadn't bothered watching much modern TV.

...After a little while of flipping through the channels (after another while of trying to figure out the remote), Cal understood why he hadn't bothered. It was a weekend of new things, but he decided that watching TV wasn't one of them, and he soon turned it off, leaving for his room and coming back with a book and his script for the play to just do some good old reading.


[[ open as common rooms are! ]]

Comments

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, for dating pre-teen boys." He still didn't look up, feigning little actual interest in what act he was even on. "You can be the president."

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"Ohhh," Temari said, making a sad face. "Are you upset I told your little boyfriend the truth?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"First off," Cal said, finally putting the book down into his lap so that he could steady a look toward Temari, "just because Amber doesn't have your massive, child-bearing hips doesn't mean you have to get all bitchy because you're not all cute and little like her. Secondly, I hardly see how you can call it 'the truth' when none of what you said is true. She's not too skinny or not good enough or any of that."

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"I don't lie about things that aren't part of a mission, Sparkles," Temari replied dryly. "Why would I bother to lie about this?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"You tell me," Cal said, "because you're the one still doing it. Seriously, I told you I didn't need your approval, and you shouldn't have gone and been a total bitch to Amber like that. She didn't deserve that."

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"Mm." Temari just managed to look smug. "Could she not handle criticism? Poor thing."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't criticism she deserved," Cal insisted firmly. "She shouldn't have to handle it. I don't even get why it matters to you so damn much, anyway. What's it to you who I date?"

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that poor child. I'm sure she's glad to have you protect her from dealing with reality."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"The reality that some crazy psycho bitch randomly comes in on her shift at work to decide whether or not she's good enough for someone?" Cal asked, his voice threatening to switch pitch on him with incredulousness.

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"Reacting a bit harshly there, aren't you?" Temari replied. "Did I strike a nerve?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Cal told her, as concisely as possible because, clearly, it wasn't getting to her Fanbutt head. "You did. Like I said, why does it even matter to you?"

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"You're a friend, aren't you?" She replied. "Am I supposed to ignore this sort of thing?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"You're acting like me going out with her is going to be harmful or something," Cal muttered, still giving her a look of dull daggers, utterly unconvinced by her argument. "Last I knew, a skinny ass can't do that much damage. Unlike your thighs, which would probably crush me if I ever got between them."

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"Like you would," Temari said dry as the Sahara. "I'm terribly sorry if my opinion harmed her poor sense of worth. It's a shame her home doesn't teach any self esteem."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I think you might have a bit more confidence in your ability to crush souls than you've actually got," Cal pointed out. "There's a difference between having a battered self esteem and feeling pointlessly accosted by some girl you don't even know acting like a jealous girlfriend or something."

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"I called her skinny and said you could do better," She replied. "However will she recover from the trauma?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"Remind me again," Cal said, "of what the point of even telling her this in the first place was? I'm pretty sure your life could have gone on, business as usual, without you giving my girlfriend some BS lines about not being good enough."

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"I did tell you I would, didn't I?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I did tell you that I didn't want you to," he paused, "didn't I?"

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"I don't recall that, no."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"I don't need you going around and judging who I date," Cal reiterated for the record.

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I was so very cruel to tell her my thoughts. How do I sleep at night?"

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"It was pointless," Cal said. "It was unnecessary. Unless you can think of a good reason why it wasn't? I mean, if you were so concerned about my well-being in dating her, you should have told me, not tried to scare her off by being a bitch to her."

[not-fangirl.livejournal.com]

"You started dating her yesterday and I spoke with her Wednesday," Temari replied. "Should I have run right over to share my thoughts with you before then? You're a big boy, you'll figure it out on your own."

[not-a-mused.livejournal.com]

"You sure as hell should have shared your thoughts with me first before you did with her."

But there was something about how Temari said that which stuck to Cal like a staticy sweater. You'll figure it out on your own. Was there a specific it that Temari had noticed? Something that was said that Amber didn't mention that...?

He shook his head; that was ridiculous. What could there be wrong with Amber and him? Fanbutt was just being difficult, although he just wished he could understand why.

"Listen," he said, "I like her, okay? And there's a lot there that I don't expect you to just understand, so lay off of her, okay? It's stupid."