Fun and Games

"It never snows in North Carolina" James thought miserably to himself as he left the physics building, and put up his umbrella to keep the rain off his head. It was a dreary day, and James tried his best to avoid the small puddles of water that formed on top of the bricks around campus. "who the hell would make an entire campus of bricks?" James thought for the thousandth time.

Exams were finally over, and on his walk home James was mentally loosening up, looking forward to the month break before classes started again in January. Although it was in the middle of December, it was still in the upper thirties, making it cold, rainy, and wet. James held onto the railing as he went down brick steps, remembering his mothers advice, "Wet bricks be very slick," and picturing the small girl fall down at Disney years ago while she ran around a brick fountain. He was nearing the bus stop as he passed through a parking lot that students often took as a shortcut, and took refuge in his blank mind after his physics test. The bus stop was crowded, and he couldn't fit under the covering the campus provided for wet days such as this. "at least I have my umbrella," he thought. He looked around at the students under the covering to see if he knew anyone. His eyes fell on his neighbor, a tall girl, shorter than James' six feet, but only by four or five inches. She had long brown hair tied in a pony tail behind her, tanned skin, although a little fairer than usual since it was the middle of December, brown eyes, and was wearing a black buttoned up coat that came down to her thighs, a black short skirt, that was short of her knees by half a foot, black stockings, and yellow rain boots. James had always thought his neighbor was hot, yet only said a casual hello when he saw her outside her apartment, and never talked to her during physics, although they only sat a row away from each other.

She looked in his direction, and James quickly glanced away, hoping she didn't notice him checking her out. "At least the lucky bitch isn't in the rain right now," he thought to himself.

James looked to his left and was relieved to see his bus was approaching. He always took 9th Ave. home, to skip the mile walk to his apartment. The bus stopped in front of the covering, and people qued up outside it, leaving James to stand behind them, although not everyone from the covering was getting on the bus, there were still ten people in front of him. "Please let there be a seat," he thought to himself, not wanting to stand during the ride home. He stepped on the bus, collapsing his umbrella, and looked around for a seat, with four people still behind him. It appeared that every seat was taken as he walked down the rows, trying not to catch anyone's eye, and was aware of the squeaking sounds his shoes were making. Already people were standing beside the door, holding onto a bar, and James almost gave up hope that he was find a seat, and conceded that he was going to have to stand on his ride home. He grabbed onto the bar above him, and noticed that a seat was open a few feet away from him, and his stomach lurched when he saw it was next to his neighbor. He quickly walked over to the seat, and plopped himself next to her, hoping that the people already standing wouldn't think less of him for taking this seat. "hey," he said to his neighbor.

Her brown eyes looked over at him, and she smiled, "hey," she said in a friendly fake voice, only girls could pull off, "how did you do on that final?"

"I did alright," James said, "that question about Torque was a bitch though, I had no idea how to set it up. I just wrote out equations."

"Yeah, me too," she replied, "I hope he gives a lot of partial credit, otherwise I'm going to fail."

Their physics teacher was new, and his tests were brutally hard, but he always gave a lot of partial credit and curved the grade to even out everyone's score. It still left people feeling like they had no idea what they were doing on the test they just took. "I'm just so glad exams are over," James said.

"Yeah, me too," his neighbor replied.

That comment ended the conversation, and the noise of the bus, and the rain hitting the windows was more audible as they rode on in awkward silence. James wasn't a nerd, but his neighbor was a bit more "popular" than he was, and he was surprised she was so polite to him, since most better looking girls didn't seem to talk to him at all. "while I have her here, I might as well press on with the conversation," he thought to himself.

"Are you doing anything fun for the holidays?" he asked hoping this might spark their conversation again.

"Yeah, next week I am going to my beach house at Emerald Isle with my family, and we are going to stay there until after Christmas," she said, "what about you?"

"Well nothing that exciting," James said. Emerald Isle was a nice island off the coast of North Carolina, filled mainly with beach houses. It didn't have "the strip" that Myrtle Beach had, and was a quieter environment. "I'm staying at home, my sister is coming back from Indiana, so it'll be good to see her."

"Oh nice, where do you live?" she asked.

"Only like 20 minutes east of here, so its pretty close," James said. James was pleased with himself that he was carrying on this conversation with such a good looking girl so well. With most girls he talked to they put up a false feeling of interest, and he could sense it coming from her, but he didn't care, this was the most he has ever talked to a girl this good looking, when not explaining something school related. "When are you going home?" he asked her, trying to keep the conversation going.

"In a couple days," she said, "Its like a five hour drive, and my parents don't want me driving at dark, or probably in the rain," she laughed.

"that's such a fake laugh," James thought as he chuckled a bit trying to be polite, "lets keep it going,"

"And I'm sticking around tomorrow night because there's a basketball game that I'm going to with a friend," she finished.

"Sweet," James said, expecting her to ask him when he was going home. She looked away from him, and James realized that it wasn't going to happen. "Stick the course," James thought. "Hows your roommate doing?" he asked. James didn't really know her roommate at all, and had much less interaction with her than he did this brunette, and although they were both hot, he didn't know either ones name.

"She's good," his neighbor said, "Her last exam was two days ago, and she left right after it."

She stopped talking, but didn't look away, as if she was expecting him to ask more questions. "why the hell do I have to do all the damn work in this conversation," he thought to himself. "Maybe I can at least find out this bitch's name."

"Her names Ashley right?" James asked, saying the first girl's name that popped in his head.

"No, Nicole," she corrected.

"O whoops," James said, "and you are?"

"Claire," she said smiling.

"I'm James," James said holding out his hand.

She laughed and shook his hand, "Its weird that we never really met, even though we live right next to each other," she said, letting go of his hand.

"Yeah, we're even in the same class," James said.

"what is your roommates name?" she asked

"Yes, she's finally asking me questions," James thought. "Mark."

"O, how is he?"

"Good, he went home yesterday, but its only like twenty minutes away."

"Do you guys live near each other?"

"not really, he lives south," James said. "So what are you doing tonight?" James said this without thinking really, but if he got the answer he wanted, this could turn into something fun. "Please say nothing, please say nothing, please say nothing"

"Nothing really, I guess just hanging out at my house. All of my friends have already gone home. My friend tomorrow is coming up from South Carolina, and then we are going to go home together in two days," she said.

James tried to study the expression on her face to see if she seemed interested in him. "why am I so fucking bad at reading girls?" he thought to himself madly. He glanced out the window the first time since he got out the bus and noticed that they were almost to his stop. "Its now or never"

"Do you want to come over tonight?" he asked as the bus put on its breaks to stop in front of their apartment complex. He immediately regretted his decision, knowing that his house was a wreck, but this was a chance that you just don't get everyday.

Claire looked surprised at the question. The bus had made a complete stop before she even started to answer, "and do what?" she asked

"To be honest, I haven't thought that far ahead," James said smiling. He hadn't gotten a "no!"

"I just rented a movie to watch tonight, its kind of girly though," Claire said.

"O my gosh yes!" James thought. As long as he was with this girl, he didn't care if he had to sit through "The Notebook." "That's cool, bring it over." James said standing up with Claire as they got ready to leave the bus. He exited the bus, they both started to walk towards their apartments, and James realized they were going to about the same place. Ecstatic about that night, James still felt as though he shouldn't have to talk to her on the way home, he already got her to say yes, what more should he have to do?

"What time do you wanna come over?" he asked her to avoid silence.

"I don't know, seven?" she said questioningly.

"sure," James said, knowing that didn't give him a whole lot of time to clean up after his roommate. "So what movie are you going to bring over?"

"It'll be a surprise," she said with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Finally, I got her to loosen up a bit." James thought. "Well that's not fair," James said jokingly, "what if I need to veto your pick? Like if you select "The Notebook?" "what is up with me and The Notebook?"

"I promise it won't be The Notebook, ok?" she said playfully.

They arrived at their sidewalks that lead to separate doors, and the 'couple' started to separate, "Alright fine," James said, going up to his door and unlocking it, "I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight," Claire said.

As Claire entered her apartment, she closed her umbrella, and put it next to the door to let the water fall off it. She began unbuttoning her coat, and thought about the night ahead. She had always tried to be a polite neighbor to James, but never imagines herself going over to his house. "I do have nothing better to do tonight, and this could be fun," She thought to herself, but still doubted it. She sat down on her couch and took off her rain boots. James wasn't exactly the type of person she hung out with, and wasn't creepy or anything, he was still a little weird.

He wasn't her type of guy, with a tall lanky body, pale, red hair and freckles, white eyebrows, weirdly colored blonde eyebrows, but a strong chin, and beautiful eyes. Today was the first day she was close enough to notice how pretty his eyes were. They were a mix of green and blue, with a yellow halo around his pupil, so when you stared into them, the two colors blended together, and made her stomach seize up in pleasure.

"At least I won't have to carry on a conversation with him the entire time since we'll be watching the movie," she thought as she went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. It was five o'clock, and she wanted to eat before hand. She got out a pan to cook macaroni and cheese with, filled it up with water and put it on the stove. "I guess I won't change tonight. I don't want him to think that he's that important, that I would take extra time to look nice for him tonight. Plus, I look nice already."

As seven approached, she checked her makeup, brushed her teeth, let down her hair and put her rainboots and coat back on. She looked at the clock and saw that it was already 6:58, "time to go," she thought, "lets hope this won't suck too badly."

She grabbed her umbrella, went outside, locked her door, and stepped through the grass separating their doors. The rain was still coming down, it was colder, and there was a strong wind. Claire struggled keeping her umbrella up, as the wind threatened to knock the umbrella out of her hand. She walked onto the sidewalk, took a deep breadth, and rang the doorbell. "I hope he hurries up, its so cold out here?" she thought as her umbrella was blown down to her side. She was now getting wet and tried her best to pull the umbrella back over her head as the wind picked up and she had to take a step back to keep her balance She waited for the door to open, and was relieved when it finally did.

"Hey," James said as he appeared, "Come on in, sorry about the wait, I was upstairs." Claire stepped through the doorway, and noticed he was wearing a green and black flannel shirt and jeans. "I wonder if it took him anytime at all to pick out those clothes?" she thought meanly. "Stop thinking about that," she told her self, "he seems really nice."

"Its cool to leave your boots on," James said, "Everyone else does, plus this floor is a bit questionable."

"Ew," Claire thought. She looked down at his feet and noticed that he was indeed wearing shoes. White New Balance running shoes, "not a bad choice."

"I think the weather is getting worse," she said.

"Yeah, I wish it would snow, but if never snows here," James said.

"Yeah, it only gets cold," Claire said.

"And rainy," James said.

"Yeah," Claire agreed with a small laugh.

James led them through them into the room to the right. There house were almost identical, but flipped. "I made popcorn," James said gesturing towards a wooden coffee table in the center of the room infront of a couch.

"Thanks," Claire said politely.

"What movie did you bring?" James asked.

"Love Actually," Claire said trying to judge the expression on his face, "Have you seen it? Its not the Notebook"

James laughed, "No, is it good."

"yes, I watch it every Christmas, but I left my copy at home, so I figured we could watch it."

"Sweet," James said. Claire noticed he looked a bit nervous, and she noticed she felt a bit nervous as well. "maybe this wasn't the best idea," she thought.

"Lemme see the movie," James said holding out his hand.

Claire opened up the box, and handed him the DVD. "Thanks," he said. He got down on his knees infront of the T.V. and put the DVD in an Xbox 360. "Very classy."

There was a three seated couch infront of the coffee table, and a love seat off the right. The walls weren't covered up by much, which was a big contrast to claire's many pictures covering her apartment. He T.V. was in a corner, and there was a fireplace next to the T.V. "You have a fireplace?" Claire exclaimed, "that not fair, I don't have one."

"It's probably because our Landlady likes me better than you," James said jokingly.

"O sure, did she also throw in a Jacuzzi?" Claire joked.

"yes, but we had to pay for the water hookup," James said.

"Wait! Really, where?" Claire said surprised.

"I'm just joking, I thought you caught that," James said grinning, "sorry."

Claire began to feel a little looser, "Haha. I'll be on my guard from now on."

"That's good," James said, still ginning.

Claire had chosen her seat on the very left of the couch, infront of the fire. "Do you use the fire often?"

"not really, we have heat, but we still have wood on the back porch in case we ever need it," James said.

"O cool," Claire said.

"Yeah, we still haven't used it yet though. I was thinking about using it to smoke some meat like they did in the olden days though."

Claire was ready this time, "Trying to become like a lumber jack or something?" she teased, "I see you already have the apparel."

"I did chop down some trees this morning before our exam, that's how we got the firewood," he said very seriously. James could obviously carry on this conversation well, and it made Claire feel more comfortable they were joking around so well.

"That's very masculine of you," she said.

"Thanks," he said sitting down at the other end of the couch.

"No pressure," Claire thought, "start the movie."

"Alright," James said. He was using his Xbox controller like a remote. During the small silence Claire could hear the wind picking up outside. "So would you be watching this movie by yourself tonight if I wasn't here?"

"Well there's nothing else to do," Claire defended. "Plus it's a very good movie."

"I hope so," James said.

The movie started, and they stopped talking for a little while. "Who is that?" James asked.

"They are about to tell you," Claire said, irritated he was talking through dialogue.

"O sorry," James said.

"What a weird dude," Claire thought to herself. This time the thought wasn't malicious, but playful.

They reached for popcorn at the same time, and their hands touched each other, "O sorry," James said, grabbing the bowl and holding it out for her.

Claire like they feel of his hand, and it was the first time they ever touched. There weren't sparks or anything, but it was comforting. "Thanks," Claire said, taking the popcorn and smiling. It was still raining hard, and it was cozy on this couch next to James.

James wasn't really watching the movie. He said he had never seen it before, but he had. He and his sister had watched it every Christmas together for four years, but it was still a chick flick, and he wanted to appear more masculine in front of Claire. Although they had just "met" today, he wasn't feeling so nervous. He kept glancing over at her, and trying to catch her eye. They were really deep brown eyes, and James was sure he could look at them forever. "Damn she's hot," James thought for the twentieth time that night. They were getting to his favorite part of the movie, and in his excitement he said "I love this part."

Claire looked over at him quizzically, "I thought you said you had never seen it..."

Everything went black as the lights and T.V. turned off, and there was a *Zap.*

Claire let out a high pitched yelp, and James could tell she had been startled.

"You ok?" he asked.

"yeah, what happened?" she sounded a bit afraid.

"I guess the power went out," James said disappointed. This 'date' was going so well. James reached beside the couch knowing that was where Mark had left the lighter. Mark never put things back in the apartment, and James was happy he left this item so close. It was a grill lighter, James clicked it on and a small flame erupted from the end of it. He could see her in the small light, and still thought about how hot she was. The wind was howling outside, and some tree must've fell on some power lines. "Now we finally have a need for a fire," James said heading toward his back porch led by his lighter.

"Let me come with you," Claire said getting up.

"My gosh, only the power went off, are your really that... frightened?" James said.

"O haha," Claire said, looking a bit mockingly, "I just want to see if you need help getting the wood."

James saw right through her reply, but was pleased all the same. Maybe this date won't be a complete disaster. "Whatever you say," he said walking out side.

The rain had stopped, but the wind was stronger than it was before. "My gosh its freaking cold out here," James said as he stooped over to pick up some logs. Luckily they were under a tarp so they didn't get wet at all. "Here," James said, handing her some logs. She took them and stepped back inside the doorway, but only enough to let him through. "Still leaving me alone?" he joked.

"I wanted to hold the door open for you," she said.

"How thoughtful. But as you can tell the carpet holds it open well enough," he said coming through the doorway.

She let go of the door and noticed he was right. "Whatever," she mimicked him from before. She slowly went into the next room, not knowing the layout of the room too well in the dark, and waited for James to come in behind her with the wood. He plopped the wood down in front of the fireplace.