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Fourth Floor Common Room | Afternoon | Tuesday | March 15

Today was Nathan's birthday. Last weekend, he'd been stupidly upset to realize that his mum had seemed to forget the whole fucking thing but today? Today, he didn't care. He'd repressed all that and now was just dead set on enjoying his special day. There weren't any classes to deal with so he'd slept late, gone into town, found every single birthday special there was and then come back, childish birthday party hat in hand.

Yep, he was gonna wear that thing while he chilled in the common room. There were possible epic plans for later that he was anticipating but lazing around on the sofa, a carton of chicken nuggets (a splurge in honor of turning eighteen) on his lap while watching some completely awful daytime talk show.

Maybe these people would start fighting each other over the paternity of their kid. Or maybe they'd make up. Whatever, Nathan didn't care. His birthday, his good mood.

[It is Nathan's birthday which he told like one person but the common room is open nonetheless with a birthday boy and bad television!]

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Kate could only hope not to ruin his good mood when she came up a floor after her class. She wasn't coming to see him, no. She came for the can of Coke she knew she still had in the fridge here, because her stash on her own floor had run dry.

And points to her for not looking particularly sullen at spotting him when she came in. "Oh, afternoon," she said, idly, as she was heading for the kitchen area.

"Indeed, it is afternoon," Nathan replied, not taking his eyes off the television screen. He hadn't expected to see her so he was maybe slightly surprised but nothing else.

"I would've said good afternoon," Kate shared lightly, peering into the fridge, "only I don't like making those kinds of judgments."

Which was not a dig of any sort, just her lame attempt at making polite conversation in a situation where she wasn't quite sure how she should be acting.

"Well, it's good for me," he said, grinning at the television screen. "I slept late, I don't have any fucking classes, I'm not freezing my balls off, and I turned eighteen. If I can end this day by being out till the sun comes up, it will be an entirely good day."

"Well, good for you," Kate replied sincerely as she found her can and snagged it, straightening up. "I had to give a presentation in a class where I would've just liked to be ignored, I still need to go run around town, and I'm about six and a half months from eighteen. Happy birthday."

"Thank you," Nathan said while he contemplated just ignoring the rest of stuff that had just tumbled out of her mouth. "And how do you know you didn't get ignored in your class? Presentations, in my experience, are a bunch of bullshit anyway. It's people spouting information that's already been written done and easily found with added visual aids and opinions. I'd rather pick my nose then listen."

"I don't know." She shrugged as she opened the can. "But I mean, I more meant like I would've just wanted to be all anonymous and stuff. Though I'm sure they did more or less ignore me, just like I did them."

"So, what's the issue here?" Nathan asked, glancing over at her. "As far as I can tell, you don't have some fucking neon sign over your head, advertising your existence. People can ignore you, you can ignore people and the world will keep spinning on its axis like it always has. I take comfort in its constancy."

"Bod's in that class," Kate said, shrugging a shoulder as she took a few idle steps closer. "I think it might be better if we weren't drawing each other's attention much."

"And...?" Nathan asked, not seeing why this was important since she'd seemed irrationally attached to that stupid haired bloke from last weekend. "You're done with him. If he hadn't gotten the point before, he probably did last weekend."

"And I don't want to rub it in his face." Or something. She didn't even know, so she sipped on her drink and used the pause as enough of a segue to a new topic. "So, do you have some grand plans for your big night?"

Yeah, Nathan didn't think that was quite the answer she was looking for but didn't say anything even if he wanted to tell her again that her boyfriend was a tool.

"Probably!" Nathan shrugged and went back to eating. "I'm letting Caroline take care of all the plans and preparations. All I know is that she's buying the drinks and I'll probably end up eating jalapenos at like three in the morning."

"Well, whatever makes you happy, I guess," Kate replied with a slightly lopsided wry smirk. "Beats the hell out of my plans at least."

Not that she was terribly unhappy about her plans.

"Your plans?" Nathan asked, raising an eyebrow. "You sounded like you were ready to jump to your fiery death a few minutes ago. Have you somehow changed your tune that quickly? Fucking finicky."

"Maybe you just don't know how to read me." Or maybe she was finicky. "Anyway, I'm still doing the fun run, and afterwards I think I'll fall into bed and start taking calls from Kansas. Wedding planning makes for an awesome post Parents Weekend distraction."

"...please fucking tell me you're not getting married," Nathan said, suddenly sounding stricken. "Please. There is no need for that no matter how pissed off you are. Marriage is a fucking killer. It never fucking works."

Of course, he had his parents has models so not a good template.

"What?" This was Kate, laughing at him, all surprised. "Oh, God no. It's my aunt's wedding. It's, like, next week, and they want me to do some shit to help with it."

"Ah. Congrats to her," Nathan said, feeling a little less like she'd gone even more insane than she already was. "I could see it happening."

Hey, her boyfriend was old. He probably wanted to pop out a few kids with similarly stupid hair and get them fat with yogurt.

"Well, I can't," Kate replied decisively. "I'm not intending to ever get married, and I kinda even dislike weddings too."

Something about the concept of vowing eternal love seemed a little... fake to her.

Nathan was inches from making a smart, probably mean comment about what she liked but he held it back. Barely.

"Does this mean you gotta wear a dress?" Nathan asked, smirking. "At least you can show off your chicken legs, yeah? Put your hands on your hips and give your head a shake and you'll be a rooster, about to wake up the farm.

"Shut up, you gangly freak," Kate replied immediately. "My legs are fabulous and you know it."

"Nope." He shook his head. "One, I'm not gangly, I'm gracefully fucking tall and two, you have bird legs. Chicken legs to be precise. They're perfect for pecking and sorting feed with."

"You just described a chicken's beak," she pointed out, ever so helpfully. "Which is pretty much only an invitation to start in on your nose."

"I described whatever the fuck I wanted to describe," he said, popping a chicken nugget into his mouth and shrugging. "You're not turning me around and twisting my words today so don't even try. Give it a rest."

"Fine, fine," she said, sighing like it was a hardship even though she really, really didn't want to be fighting with anyone today anyway. "Are those special chicken nuggets only meant for birthday boys or can one be spared for a lowly seventeen-year-old?"

"Did you really just call yourself lowly in an attempt to get some of my food?"

He was just so used to Caroline taking his stuff that getting asked was really fucking foreign.

"You must be really hungry."

"No, if I was really hungry I would just take some without asking," Kate informed him. Not that that rule always worked, but anyway. "Just being polite."

Except for the 'lowly', which had been sarcastic, which by definition was not polite.

Nathan held out the carton of chicken nuggets and waited for her to take one. "Don't ever say I didn't do anything for you. These are hard earned chicken nuggets. I had to live another entire year of my life fabulously in order to treat myself."

"I'm sure I'll cherish this moment forever," Kate drawled as she reached out and snagged one for herself. "Like your hard-earned chicken nuggets should be. Thank you."

"Yep," Nathan said, settling the carton back on his lap. "So what, you been appointed a flower girl in this wedding that's coming up? Ring bearer? Pall bearer? Priest? Designated hot girl?"

Kate chewed and swallowed before answering. Occasionally, she had manners. "That last one," she said, licking her fingers. "But technically, 'cause it's in our backyard, I guess I'll be assigned all kinds of random duties. Putting up decorations, mostly, I'd guess."

"And you seem oh so excited about all of this," Nathan remarked, smirking. "Don't be too happy for your family now, Kate. That would completely go against the rebellious lifestyle that you tried and failed to cultivate. Maybe you should just pee on the grass. That'd show 'em."

"Well, weddings suck," Kate shrugged, unfazed. "But they're kind of a better kind of drama than what I'm used to facing at home --" Oh, she'd say that now. "-- and it'll give me good reason to be in Kansas a lot in the next few weeks."

And enable her to go looking at lofts, but she wasn't stupid enough to tell Nathan that.

Well, spending time in Kansas to him meant spending time with that tool so he couldn't help the quick eyeroll and shake of his head. How she was totally blind to all of his when even he could see was mind boggling.

"Not gonna even wait till you graduate to get the fuck out, are you?" he asked, slouching back down onto the sofa. "Huh."

Not saying it, not saying it, not saying it.

"I'm allowed to want to spend more time with my family," she replied mildly over her soda. "It's just for the next two weeks, anyway."

That was a lie. If she'd get her way, that'd be a lie.

"Making a lot of excuses, aren't you?" Nathan remarked, raising an eyebrow. "That's usually the sign of a guilty conscious or a fucking liar."

"You're paranoid," Kate decided, raising her eyebrows. "I'm not lying, nor do i feel guilty. Not about anything relating to this particular moment in time, at least."

"Disappointing," he said nonchalantly, popping another chicken nugget. "I was kinda hoping for some reparations and apologies but alas, I am sure you think you're still just the shiiiiiiiiiiiit."

"Whatever," Kate replied, rolling her eyes, then quirked her lips into a smile that said something along the lines of 'drop it, I'm trying to be nice'. Her face was so expressive in such a complex way, really. "Anyway. Do you happen to have a favorite movie, by any chance?"

He still thought he deserved an apology for that 'unimpressive quality' remark but he'd let her have her way this time. It wasn't forgotten and she really wasn't forgiven.

"Why?" he asked, shrugging. "You gonna act it out for me like a one woman show?"

"No," she snorted. "That wasn't my plan. It's for somethng else."

"Uh." Nathan hadn't ever really thought about it. Movies were movies. He watched them, he enjoyed them, he forgot about them. "Taxi Driver's pretty fucking cool. That man is nuts, man."

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Kate smirked, already starting to wander her way to the door. "Now, I should go back downstairs. I have shit to do before the run."

Nathan raised an eyebrow at the seemingly random question and the lack of payoff to answering. "Have fun running," he said, not questioning it. "Don't die."

Sometimes the payoff took a little more time. Patience was a virtue.

"Not intending to," Kate replied, giving him a little wave as she went. "See you later."

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Fourth Floor Common Room | Afternoon | Tuesday | March 15

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