Cricket Campfire; Wednesday Afternoon

[wehateyouplzdie.livejournal.com]

It was hot. Far too hot to do anything productive, outside of making a blender's worth of strawberry margaritas. It was also far too hot for pants. It was cool enough, however, to hang out by the campfire pantless (but wearing boxers, much to his dismay) and with a blender's worth of margaritas. The fire wasn't lit, but it was a nice place to sit and attempt to get a tan on his pale Canadian legs.

[Oooooooopen]

Comments

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Ah, what you're really saying is that you won't have to talk to me once we're not living next door. Trust me, Jaina, I'm sticking around." He didn't know if that was good or bad news.

[solo_sword]

"No, I was more worried I wouldn't be seeing you as much." If at all. And okay, there had been part of her that had been worried about his post-summer plans that had been afraid to ask, and now she kind of had to. "You're sticking around?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Yup, I was supposed to go back...but I think I'm gonna hang out, see what I can figure out here." Maybe get his own head out of his ass.

[solo_sword]

So she was relieved, shut up. "Good," she said with a tiny smile. "Of course I'm on round two of staying in Fandom to figure stuff out, so of course I'm all for that." Hey, so far she was finding it to be a really good decision this time around.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"We'll see how it goes," John shrugged. "There's something to be said for desk work, but if I'm stuck at a desk, I may as well be here with people I like, right?"

[solo_sword]

"Exactly. Besides, you'd go nuts with too much desk work," she said, remembering what she knew of the assignment he'd left behind. "Here at least the town itself manages to keep things interesting."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"If you're a fan of voids, I guess," he said. "So, it's obvious you're staying, huh?"

[solo_sword]

"For a while at least," she said, and paused. "I put in to teach. We'll see if it gets accepted or not."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"And here I quit!" John laughed. "I'm looking for something that isn't bartending." Working for Chuck was NOT happening.

[solo_sword]

"What, you didn't want to figure out a way to hang out on the beach into the winter months?" she teased.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Exactly. Plus, I'm not a big fan of the fake beach," John pointed out.

[solo_sword]

"We have a fake beach?" she asked. Not that she put it past this town.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Uh, the Danger Shop?" John figured after three years she'd've had a class there. At least once.

[solo_sword]

"Oh! See, I would have not classified that as 'fake beach' without prompting," she said lightly. "Due to it also being 'fake spaceship' or 'fake wasteland' or something."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Who needs a fake spaceship when they can have a real one?" John teased. God, he missed his puddlejumper.

[solo_sword]

Jaina smiled and said, "Did I mention I have my own here now?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"No! But it automatically makes me hate you a little."

[solo_sword]

"You don't hate me a little," she said, shaking her head. "It's at the junkyard, if you want to check it out. Jedi get special X-wings these days."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"You're right, hearing that I think I hate you a lot," John groused, jealousy radiating.

[solo_sword]

"Don't hate me," she said, a little surprised at the jealousy. She didn't know why it surprised her, it just did. "I was never home, so I had a way to get from point A to point B, is all."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Right, it makes sense." He had to agree with that, but they still took away his spaceship. Like she'd be any happier in his shoes. "I'm afraid my commute 'home' involves planes I'm not allowed to fly."

[solo_sword]

She was feeling more than a little bad for bringing it up, but she wasn't sure there was anything she could say to fix it. "Yeah, sorry. I wasn't thinking."

She really needed to start doing that.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"No, you're allowed to be happy about your ship," John said, looking down at the really interesting dirt. "It's just hard to be the guy on the ground."

[solo_sword]

There was something weird about post-breakup friendship where she wasn't sure if it was okay to have the reaction she wanted to have. And then she remembered she was going to do what she wanted anyway and moved to sit next to him, wrapping her arms around him. She wanted to hug him. There. "I'm still sorry you got screwed," she said.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

Surprised, John winced as her arm pushed against his rug burn with a little ow face, but he didn't shy away. "Yeah, me too. Sorry I'm not that universally supportive guy anymore." It just doesn't work out for him now.