2019-07-15 - Agreed

Astrid is laying out on her bedroom floor on a shaggy white rug, elbows keeping her head propped up as she pours over her handwritten notes in her ecology notebook. She's wearing her PJs -- light pants speckled in stars and a loose sweater cardigan over a ribbed tank top. Her hair is pinned up in a messy bun by a mechanical pencil, her forelocks tucked back behind her ears. She has her legs kicked up, ankles crossed. Her windows are thrown open wide, and the sound of the heavy rainstorm beats quietly against the roof and dribbles thickly off the eaves. Softer music hums beneath that, coming from a little speaker on her dresser which also props up her phone. It's some quiet rhythmic music-- probably some studying Spotify playlist. Her door is open just enough to be almost inviting.

Marius comes bearing gifts. Leaning against the doorframe, he nudges open the door, studying the sprawled woman for a long moment before he holds out a milkshake. "Study food." His face is still speckled with rain, but his hair is dry, courtesy of the jacket left downstairs. "I mean, don't let me interrupt. Unless you want a milkshake." Beat pause, "I'm pretty sure you want a milkshake." He's annoying when he's confident, isn't he?

Astrid looks up when her door makes that little creak. She turns slightly, rolling onto one elbow as she glances over her shoulder to him. Her smile warms at the sight of him, all rain speckled and bearing a milkshake. "Pretty sure I don't want a milkshake, but a distraction would be nice." She sits up, swinging her legs under her to sit cross-legged. She holds out both hands for her milkshake, and once given, she forgets her studying. "Where's everyone?"

Marius looks confused, "You don't want a milkshake? Sorry, I ate the fries and the burger already." When she sits up, he steps into the room, rolling his shoulders, "Pretty sure that everyone just assumed you were going to be studying all night and pissed off. Handing over the milkshake, he shrugs, sinking down to sit cross-legged on the floor before the side of her bed, "Jens is painting again. Hopefully not another housemate portrait. Ash is... well... after Ash told me that she wanted to sleep with someone tall and a little wild, but that Bobby at school would do because she didn't want to take the direct approach, so she's probably in Hoquiam."

"I want the milkshake," Astrid says helpfully as the mastiff puppy looks confused. Then she takes the milkshake and settles comfortably on the shaggy rug. She glances up at the bit about Jens's painting, and she grimaces a bit. "Yeah, I hope that he's just doing normal creeping painting." She slurps at her milkshake thoughtfully, though the mention of Bobby has her gaping slightly. "Oh god, I mean... Bobby's pretty sexy, but he's not really tall or wild." She takes another slurp from her milkshake. "But I think she's been in a dry season."

Shaking his head, Marius shrugs a little helplessly, "I don't know, it's better than pining, right?" He lifts his brows, shrugging slightly, "I said she should just ask if he was DTF." Pausing a moment, he adds, "Of course, I said that before I realized that she might be talking about my brother." Or him, honestly, the description fits either of them, and half of the men in Gray Harbor -- the taller half. "Now I'm just trying to get that image out of my head. Thankfully, I don't know what Bobby looks like, so I can't picture that at all." Shaking his head, "What the heck is she doing have a dry spell if she doesn't want it? You're her best friend, what are you doing to fix the problem?" His brows rise slightly, his features open, innocent. Probably too innocent. "Oh, and she said you could join in."

"Is Ash pining?" Astrid sounds surprised. "She seems okay. I've seen Ash like really pining, and it's not pretty." She pivots the cup back and forth on the rug, tilting her head slightly over toward him. "Ash and Jens? No way. Though you and Ash? You two flirt pretty hard, so maybe she's got a thing." She takes another slurp from the milkshake while she looks out toward the heavy rain and its beautiful sound. She is looking out at it when Marius drops that tidbit on her, and she laughs merrily as she looks over at him. "Well, if it would help Ash get out of her dry spell, I'd go roll around in bed with her and Bobby." Her hazel eyes glitter with mischief as she looks at Marius.

"Oooh, over who?" Marius leans forward a little, like he's going to get a little dirt, but then shakes his head... only to freeze a little, "What? I flirt with everybody." Well, not everybody. He holds a hand out for the milkshake and makes a beckoning gesture, and then chokes, pauses, tilts his head to one side in consideration, and then nods, blushing a little softly. "I mean, I remember you talking about..." he trails off, and the soft blush goes bright, his eyes dropping down to the carpet in front of him. "Never mind. Um. Should I be worried that Bobby's going to steal you guys away from me?"

"Yeah, sure. You flirt with everybody." Astrid then offers him out her milkshake at his beckoning. Once she surrenders it to him, she rocks up to her feet to pace across the room toward her cellphone. She plucks it up while she stands in a lazy half-slump, scanning over her notifications and text messages. She looks up just in time to spot the heat rising at his cheeks. Her own blush matches his after a moment, and then she looks back down at her phone. "I've totally never actually done anything like that with Ash. I think it would do something weird to our friendship." Then she looks up at his other question, and she smiles. "Ree, look at me." When he looks up, she goes on, "Nothing is going to take Ash and me from you. Nothing."

Marius sucks down some of the milkshake, rolling it between his heavy hands. Looking up from below his brows at her, he shakes his head, sighing faintly, "Yeah." There's a pause, and he looks up even as she's smiling and cuing him. "It -- " he cuts off, letting her make the promise and smiling faintly. "Yeah, I know. I was joking." Setting the milkshake down in front of him, he fiddles with his fingers, "That sort of thing would change a friendship, wouldn't it?" A smile bounces back onto his face, "I mean, sharing them with a Bobby. Sounds like risky business anyhow." No judgment, just teasing. Granted, teasing to distract from his previous statement, but still teasing.

Astrid casts a little smile over her shoulder as she finishes off her text message to Ash to check in on her progress with Bobby. Then she crosses the room toward him again, this time dropping onto the edge of her bed while she looks down at him from her new perch. She silently asks for the milkshake, and when given over, she takes a sip. There's a quiet thoughtful moment before she looks down at him, "Did it change our friendship?"

Blushing again and looking down to where he plucks at the shag of the rug, Marius glances up past his brows once more, "I don't know..." he hands up the milkshake, "you kind of disappeared for a couple months there. But no." His brows lift, "Not in the long run, I don't think." There's another pause, and then he queries, "Do you think it did? Or would it if we could remember everything we did?" The blush continues to burn fiercely -- he's pretty clearly thinking about some of the things that he does remember.

"Oh, um." Astrid's own blush rides high into the apples of her cheeks, flushed bright beneath the light tawny of her skin. "Well, I kinda was seeing that guy in Seattle while I was home for the summer." She shuffles her feet a bit, glancing downward for a long moment. Her toes give a little wiggle into the white shag, those black-lacquered nails standing out against the white fibers. "Actually, having those little memory gaps almost makes it worse." Then she pushes off the bed, sinking down beside him. She's close, arm and leg pressed against his own. Her green-brown eyes lift to meet his now that they are close. "You... um." She clears her throat as she looks away. "You ever thought about, maybe... doing... it again?"

Marius looks up at that, although it's a slow thing, not sudden, "Oh... I meant after Christmas. Before... the car. So, Seattle? You okay about that? I mean, it's been a while..." But then she's sinking down next to him, and he looks down at where her leg presses against his for a moment, then tosses his head back to clear his face of the strands of hair that tend to fall across it. As she looks away, he looks toward her, studying her profile, "I mean... I've thought about it." And now it's his turn to look down, and he flushes from collar to hairline, "Pretty sure it would be pretty hard not to think about it. At least for me," he hastens to add. There's a moment's pause, and then he looks back to her, "So why does not remembering make it worse, Ast?"

"Oh." Astrid looks away when he clarifies the timeline. She presses her lips together before she adds, quietly, "Cathy." She shuffles slightly on the ground beside him, looking down at her hands and knees. The two sit there together, not looking at each other. Then she takes in a sharp breath, straightening up. "Because, I want to remember what it was like." Her hazel eyes flicker over toward him briefly to meet his gaze. Then she loses that little touch of bravery, and she's laughing as she tucks aside some hair. "So. Um. Tomorrow, right?" Beat. "Driving me into campus?"

Marius nods, feeling around the scabbed edges of that old wound, the bright new skin that itches with healing on either side of the failed relationship -- and once in the middle. He swallows hard, half-turning toward her at the response, only just catching her gaze before he looks away again. Licking his lips, he draws in a slow breath and lets it out, "Yeah. Ten o'clock. I've got an interview at The Jitter House out there at 10:30, too." Looking toward her again, "I didn't know there was a guy over the summer. I didn't... I mean, we didn't... Back to School wasn't why it ended, was it?"

"Oh. Yeah? I hope you can get a job here in Gray Harbor. I mean, Hoaquim is okay, but it would be nice to be closer for work." It's a random, rambling response. Then she is looking down into her hands again, thoughtfully. "No. We ended it before that. You know, he was off to Western and I was heading down here, and we could have tried that whole dating across two campuses thing, but-- " She then looks over at him, resting her head back against the bed. "Back to School was nice. First time I don't think you were totally spooked waking up beside me after cutting loose."

"Yeah. I'm kind of..." Marius's hands gesture a little helplessly, "casting the net wide. Kind of hoping to find some place besides coffee. I know I'd look cute in the apron," if they have one in his size, "but I don't now that I really want to deal with that much coffee all the time." His blush -- which had been fading -- returns full force at the latter comment, however, and he looks down at his hands, glances over to her hands, then laughs and shifts around so that he can lean back against the side of the bed alongside her, "Hey, I wasn't spooked at ScanFest. I was puking." Licking his lips, he rubs his hand with his other thumb, "I liked New Year's best, I think. Neither of us ran off." Pause, "I mean, until I had to puke."

"Wide nets are good." It's an automatic response, filling the gaps of conversation while her mind spins around the other topic. She intakes a deep breath, and then settles into a little smile. "Yeah, well... you went and drank half the mead in the tent, so I'm pretty sure you earned puking up your entire digestive system." Then she quiets, lowering her chin slightly as she looks down along the length of her legs. The mention of New Year's has her looking up, and she laughs. "You mean how we woke up, and actually were normal hungover people who just happened to be naked?" Then Astrid shakes her head with a laugh. "Yeah, but you puked and then came back, which was nice." Beat. "And then I ran off to puke.But I came back, too!"

Marius shrugs a little helplessly at the accusation of him drinking half a tent of mead, but he's got a little grin on his face. Her laughing words, however, get a lean back from him, allowing him room to point at her emphatically, "Yes! That." Leaning across her, he reaches out to pluck up the mostly-gone milkshake cup and lift it up in a toast, "To puking and coming back." Offering out the cup to her, he laughs, shaking his head, "Maybe with less of the puking part. I don't know. That seems like an optional sort of thing." They've been comfortable around one another for years, and so even with his blushing and embarrassment, Marius has no problems leaning back against the edge of the bed with his shoulder and leg pressed lightly to Astrid's, an easy intimacy that somehow dances between friendship and something more intent.

Astrid takes the milkshake at his offering, and she laughs. "To puking and coming back." The toasting is returned before she slurps down nearly the rest of the milkshake. She sets the almost empty cup aside, settling back in beside Marius with that old, familiar comfortableness. She rests her head slightly against his shoulder. "So, um." She looks up at him, hazel eyes thoughtful. "We could maybe next time not wait until we're absolutely drunk we get to the puking part." It's an almost sheepish ask, and a warmth of a red blush flares up against her cheeks. "Maybe stop somewhere closer to buzzed."

Marius looks over to Astrid at 'So, um,' his eyebrows rising in question. Meeting her gaze while she makes her suggestion, his cheeks heat as well, and he licks his lips. The frozen moment as he tries to decide how to respond is only a heartbeat, but it feels like it stretches out for half an eternity. Shifting his stretched-out legs a little, he smiles crookedly, teasing, "Next time? Do we get to plan a next time?" His brows draw together and lift, worry creasing his forehead in the wake of the teasing, "I mean... it sounds like a good idea." Letting out a little breath, he laughs alongside the brief gust, leaning back and giving her shoulder a little nudge as he rests his head against the bed once more, "So what you're saying is that bringing a pony keg to the beach is a bad idea."

"I don't really know what I'm saying," The apples of Astrid's cheeks redouble with the blushing heat, and soon enough she's offering him a shy smile. "But are we not allowed to, um, plan that kind of stuff?" Then she laughs and looks away with a quiet, "Shit." With a breath, she reunites her gaze with his, and she wrinkles her nose. "Bring the pony keg. I'm pretty sure that's a must. I should talk to Ash about if we're just beach camping or what." Her eyes travel away from his to the window that lets in all the rain noises, and she tucks a bit of hair behind her ear. "I was just thinking that... well... I don't know."

Marius can nearly hear the bright red on Astrid's cheeks, and he looks over to her again to drink in that shy smile. "I think we just did. I mean... planned that there would be a next time." A soft, chuckling sigh, and then he purses his lips together in an anxious little rubbing motion that makes his beard and mustache bristle. "Beach camping. Doesn't leave much room for sneaking away after the keg." And his blush is back at that, but he clears his throat and glances sidelong over to her, "You were just thinking that?" There's a pause, "When's the last time you couldn't tell me something, Ast? I mean, besides that you had a boyfriend all summer."

A shy note of defensiveness slips into her words, and she pivots toward him slightly as she says, "I didn't tell you because, well... I knew it wasn't going to last the summer. I'm pretty sure only Ash knew. It was just one of those flings. You know, lots of hot and lazy sex, not doing much of anything else, getting chided by Mom while Mama laughed. It really wasn't anything besides some cooperative fun. Besides, you guys were all still down here except when Ash came up to visit a few times." Then she takes a breath before she adds, more on topic, "I was thinking about New Year's, about how comfortable it was, thought about just letting you know that we could probably do some FOB without actually getting so wasted we almost puke on each other."

Marius holds up his hands before him when Astrid pivots toward him defensively, "Hey, you don't owe me an explanation," a chuckle accompanies the words. Then he wrinkles up his nose, "And eeew, hot and lazy sex? I only like my sex cold and acrobatic." Still, he glances down a moment, licking his lips as his mind wanders a moment. The smile that follows is a little more gentle, although still a little tentative, "Yeah..." confusion flickers over his eyes a moment, "FWB? Oh..." he blushes, "Friends with benefits." He's stymied for a second, then reaches out to nudge her leg with his knuckles, just a gentle little bump on the outside of the thigh, "I mean... I think that it'd be nice. You know, to try it. At least once, without the massive hangovers and memory gaps."

"Why don't we make a compromise and go for hot and acrobatic?" Astrid's words have that simmer to them when she's teasing Marius, but then she blushes high at her cheeks. This isn't the same setting it would have been, this intimate moment on her bedroom floor. So she clears her throat and rests her head back against the mattress. She looks up toward the ceiling with its recessed lights. The bump half-rolls her head toward him to look up into his paler eyes once more. "Yeah. Just once." Then she laughs softly as she bounces her head back against the mattress, looking back up at the ceiling again. "Never know, maybe we will hate it without the knock-out drunk mindset."

"Well, from what I remember," blush, "it's a whole lot easier to make things sound fun and dirty," blush, "when we're both drunk." Marius grins over at Astrid, "Because you tried, oh man did you try, but that blush just... well, let's just say it was really cute, but I don't thiiink that's what you were going for." He nudges her shoulder again, and then shifts to wrap an arm around her shoulders, squeezing lightly as the gesture bounces back and forth over the line between 'good friends' and 'benefits,' which is enough to make him shift a little and try to find a less line-bouncing position for his arm without actually removing it from her shoulders. "And if we do, then we take good memories, what few remain, and call it a day. And if we don't, then we know you don't have to travel to Seattle for hot sex, and I don't have to... travel to my right hand." Really, really blush.

These two blushing darlings would probably have Ash saying so much. So very much. But Ash isn't here, and Astrid is blushing next to a blushing Marius, and that's what we got. With a little tip of her chin, she looks beside her to Marius. A little smile settles into place, and she reaches out to give his knee a small squeeze. Her shoulder rests comfortably against his underarm, her side more readily pressed against his. "Would definitely solve a whole slew of problems." Oh, these sweet summer children. Then she gives him a little nudge. "Beach party then. No obligations. Someone cute comes around and we'd rather spend time with them, no hard feelings. Agreed?"

"Totally solve 'em." Sweet summer viking. Marius rocks with the nudge, but manages to resist actually falling over and dragging her with him. "I mean, they'll have to be pretty dang cute, or else I'll be really disappointed in your decision-making. But yeah. Definitely. We try out not-totally-drunk, and if we like it, we solve some problems. And no obligations if we spot someone tasty we want something more with. Done." Instead of trying to make 'not-totally-drunk time' start now, however, Marius just draws in a breath and leans his head against Astrid's, "I mean, assuming there's even an opportunity at the beach. 'Cause from what I recall... tent's not really going to be much cover." Blush blush blush.

"In my decision-making?" Astrid giggles softly as she leans back to look at him. "I never make bad decisions. I have done extremely well with all my decision-making. And I have a pretty high bar when it comes to who I decide to just saunter off with." Then she brushes her brow lightly across his temple before she leans back to smile at him. "Good. As long as we have boundaries. I don't want you to pass up anyone because you're worried about hurting my feelings." Then she rests back against him, nestles gently against him once more. "Well, we can figure it out. I mean, there's always options somewhere." Somewhere.

Marius laughs easily at her giggling, countering with, "Spring Break last year." He's pulling out the big bad-decisions-guns, and then he chuckles again and adds, "Yeah, when you're drunk, the bar's about this high," his free hand reaches up to gesture at the height of the top of his head. The touch of her brow to his inspires a low grin, "Likewise. About the feelings." At her suggestion, however, he chuckles, "Astrid Birget Miller-Erickson, I am not going to f -- " he stops, going red from collar to crown, " -- have sex with you in a campground bathroom." Drunk Marius would not have a problem with this. His laughter is smothered by his embarrassment, his arm slipping from around her shoulders to give the back of her neck a gentle squeeze before settling back into place.

"Look, she was beautiful, and I wasn't that drunk." Astrid was that drunk. "She was an amazing kisser, and maybe she was a bit clingy, but we totally went our separate ways." A little laugh slips past her lips, and she rests her head back against the mattress. Her brow arches when he goes from the dirty word to the benign. "I wasn't going to suggest you fuck me in the bathroom, but there are other places on a beach to have sex." Then she laughs. "I'm sorry, to fuck." Then she looks up at him with a tilt of her head when he touches the back of her head. "Alright. I should get back to studying and then sleep." She leans in close and presses her lips gently against his cheek.

"Oh, she was beautiful, but she was way on the wrong side of the Hot/Crazy Scale." Marius shakes his head slightly, "It's the eyes, Ast. You always have to look at the eyes." His blush deepens, somehow, when she goes straight to the coarse word, and he clears his throat, looking over to her just in time to smile into the kiss on his cheek, "Yeah. Okay. Fuck. Sex. Whatever. Look, somehow it's harder to say when I'm not six sheets to the wind." Which would be twice the normal number of sheets to the wind. His fingers caress the back of her neck gently, and then he nods, "Okay. Get some rest. I'll be back here a little before ten."

"Ree." Astrid looks at him with a dance of amusement in her eyes. "You're so adorable when you blush." Then she is sighing a bit as he gives the back of her neck a gentle touch, and her eyes flutter shut briefly before she smiles up at him. "Alright. Before ten." Then she scoots aside a bit to give him space to stand up. "Sweet dreams, Ree."

You call a blushing person adorable, you get more blushing. It's just not fair. Marius leans in to press a kiss to her temple despite the blush, then drops his hand away from her neck to lever himself up to his feet, "You too, AB. You'll kill the test. You know, since you're actually studying and drinking the milkshake instead of grain alcohol." Then he's headed for the door.