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[Christopher Moretti]

Chris strolled into the main hall on campus, his friend Dani from theater class by his side. Dani was a bit on the 'flamboyant' side of being openly gay, but that didn't bother Chris. He'd grown up in LA, and hanging with theater kids at a young age, Chris had come to accept the eccentric personalities that were drawn to the stage. Heading to the notice board, Chris started looking over the various fliers that had been posted by clubs, looking for something interesting to do over the weekend. Seeing a weekend camping trip on one of them, he pointed it out to Dani who just groaned.

“Don't tell me you seriously want to go running around up in the mountains and forest this weekend, Chris. I thought emo kids stuck to the city.” Dani's tone was playful, even if his words weren’t.

“Yeah, and I bet you think all of us like to sit in our rooms, light candles, and listen to MCR while writing sad poems too. Come on, Dani, you of all people should know better than to buy into stereotypes. And yes, I'm thinking of going on this camping trip. You should come too, it'll be fun.” Chris said with a slight shrug before digging into his messenger bag for his iPhone so he could make a note of the info in his calendar.

“Fun? You call being in the middle of nowhere with tents to sleep in and at best outhouses for bathrooms fun? You are not the same man I met when the semester started.” Dani crossed his arms over his chest and clucked his tongue in his mouth as Chris laughed.

“My family used to go camping on weekends in the summer all the time. I kinda miss it. And don't worry, I'm sure you'll find some way to be the most fashionable person in the mountains.” Chris said with a smirk, loving the look of playful irritation Dani gave him.

“What do you mean I'll be the most fashionable in the mountains? What makes you think I'm going on this crazy trip? Oh no, Chris, emo kid will be riding el solo dolo into the woods. This fairy godmother does not do primitive.” Dani insisted with a shake of his head that sent his long dark hair bouncing around him.

Chris sighed and looked a bit disappointed. “And there's nothing I can do to change your mind? I really don't want to go on this trip alone. It'll be more fun making s'mores and singing silly songs around the campfire with a friend there.”

Before Dani could answer, they noticed some other students coming over to check out the bulletin board, including a certain cute girl he knew Chris was interested in from his history classes. Seeing her there, Dani nudged Chris' arm before nodding in her direction. Dani smirked as he saw a slight pink blush creep into Chris' face. “On second thought, I may be willing to spend my weekend in the forest. But you gotta convince your little crush to come with us.”

“You're evil, Dani... You really think she'd go on the trip if I asked her about it?”

Seeing the questioning look on Chris' face, Dani sighed before his hand met his own face. Face-palming with a slight groan, Dani reached out, grabbing his friend's arm and dragging Chris with him as they walked over to Sabrina.

“I'm really sorry I've got to do this, sweetie, but my friend here has left me no choice. You see, he really likes you, trust me, I've sat through hearing all about it over lunch so many times this semester it's not funny. Thing is, he's a little shy about these things, or he would have told you himself by now. He was wondering if you were planning on going on the student union camping trip this weekend so the two of you could get to know each other better.” Dani explained once he'd tapped on Sabrina's shoulder and gotten her attention. “There, was that really so hard, Chris? Now I'm going to grab a coffee while you two make with the chatting.” Dani said as he gave Chris a slight shove closer to Sabrina before he walked away, leaving the two there to talk without him.

“I'm so sorry about this. Dani's not a very patient sort of guy...” Chris said as he glanced down at the floor for a few moments before looking back up at Sabrina, hoping she wasn't angry with Dani's little stunt.

[Sabrina Taylor]

Getting ambushed like this wasn't what Sabrina had expected when she popped in the student hall after class. She recognized Chris from some of her history classes, but never expected for his friend to embarrass him like this in front of her. Honestly, she had no clue how to respond to any of this, having never been placed in this sort of situation before. One of the drawbacks of being home schooled was her being unfamiliar with some social interactions.

Noticing the slight pink flush in Chris' skin, she figured this had to be embarrassing for him as well. She felt a little better knowing she wasn't the only one who felt out-of-place with the situation. When Dani shoved Chris closer to her, they nearly bumped into each other. Sabrina reached out, placing a hand gently on Chris' arm to help steady him for a moment, as she decided to go with some light humor to try to diffuse some of the tension.

“Wow, your friend is pretty direct and to the point. Must come in handy when he wants to embarrass ya, eh?” A little of her Canadian accent was in her tone, as she hadn't lost it completely even with all the travel she'd done during her life. “You gonna be ok there, or should we go grab a seat and maybe get you a little water before you melt into the floor?”

Sabrina glanced around, spotting an open table close by she started to head towards it. Her hand still on his arm as she gently tugged Chris along with her. She wanted to avoid the rush of students entering and leaving the hall, as well as get them away from the large group by the notice board. She figured that it'd be easier for him to talk to her if they were away from anyone who might easily overhear, especially if what his friend had said about him liking her had any truth to it.

[Christopher Moretti]

Chris relaxed a bit when she responded to the situation with some humor. At least she found something funny about it, even if he did want to murder his best friend right now for doing this. When she placed her hand lightly on his arm, it was like there was something electric in her touch as he felt a light tingling running up his arm.

“Yeah, Dani's not happy unless he manages to embarrass me at least once a day. Think it helps him sleep better or something.” He said with a slight smile and soft chuckle. As she steered them towards one of the small tables scattered around the hall, he happily followed her lead. Glad to be getting away from the rush of fellow students near the notice board. As they walked, his nose picked up on the soft scent of violets.

It was an unusual choice for perfume, but he liked it. Once they'd gotten to the small round table and sat down, he pulled his messenger bag off his shoulders and draped it over the back of his chair. “Thanks for not being completely weirded out by Dani. That's not how I wanted to get to talk to you... Not that I was trying to plan out some perfect way of having a conversation with you or anything. I mean I do want to talk to you and get to know you better... And this isn't going that well, is it?”

Chris was nervous, he didn't want her to think he'd been obsessing over getting to know her for most of the semester, even though he had. He always tripped up in talking to girls he wanted to date. Lucky for him that most of the girls he'd dated in high school found his slight nervousness when talking to them for the first time cute. Otherwise he wouldn't have stood a chance when it came to getting dates, or so he'd managed to convince himself.

[Sabrina Taylor]

As he stumbled a bit in trying to talk to her, Sabrina smiled. His nervousness was not only cute but endearing as well. And she felt better knowing she wasn't the only one who felt a bit nervous with the situation. “Well it's a strange way to break the ice, but not the worst.”

As she slipped her backpack off her shoulder and dropped it on the table, her nose caught his scent. He had a sort of earthy muskiness that wasn't unpleasant. Truthfully she found it attractive, and the way he was acting naturally with her had her convinced that this wasn't some sort of setup with his friend. “This might work a bit better if we start with some introductions. Hi, I'm Sabrina, and I know I've seen you in intro to medieval history.”

[Christopher Moretti]

He took a deep breath when she suggested they start, or re-start as it were, with introductions. “Hi, Sabrina. I'm Christopher, or just Chris if you'd prefer. I've seen you in my history class and have wanted to get to know you better all semester. You're the only girl in class who actually seems interested in it and not there because you thought it'd be an easy way of getting your history credits.”

There, it was out, at least some of it was. He wasn't telling a lie when he said that her interest in the class had caught his eye, it just wasn't the only thing about her that had. He wasn't going to mention that he thought she was cute, or that he'd been having dreams about her for most of the semester. Those were things he'd keep to himself.

[Sabrina Taylor]

“So is what your friend said about the camping trip this weekend true? Were you hoping I'd be interested enough in it to go? Would it have been easier for you to try to pull me aside on some hiking trail to get to know me better?” She asked, with a smile on her face and a soft giggle escaping her lips. “I'm not sure if I should feel flattered you appreciate my interest in history, never figured any guys would find that fascinating enough to want to get to know me over. Guess it's better than wanting to get to know me because I'm the campus 'UFO nut', right?”

Sabs reached in her backpack then, puling out a bag of gummy bears. She grabbed a few bears from the bag before holding it out to Chris.

[Christopher Moretti]

Chris reached over and grabbed a handful of gummy bears from the bag she held out, popping a few in his mouth before he answered her. “Well sorta yes and no on that. Yes, I was wondering if a camping trip might interest you. And I was hoping to get to know you better if you do go, but I doubt I'd be less nervous about all this on a hiking trail in the woods.” He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts as he popped a few more gummy bears in his mouth.

“The whole 'UFO nut' thing doesn’t bother me either. I mean the universe is so damn big that it'd be pretty arrogant to think that we're living on the only planet that can support life. Theirs enough oddities throughout history that we're still having trouble explaining, wouldn't surprise me if some being from someplace not here had a hand in some of those things.” He shrugged slightly.

“I'm not gonna lie, I do think you're a beautiful woman, but that isn't the only reason I want to get to know you better... And that sounded so much better in my head.” Chris frowned as his words didn't come out quite like he'd hoped.

This post has been edited by Christopher Moretti: Apr 9 2012, 09:02 PM

[Sabrina Taylor]

And just like that a little bombshell was dropped between them. When he admitted to being physically attracted to her, Sabrina didn't know how to respond. Chris was being nice, and seemed to have a genuine interest in her. Yet she was very inexperienced when it came to relationships, as most of her friendships had been rather strained due to being always on the road with her father. She'd never actually had a 'boyfriend', never even been on a real date.

Sabs fidgeted a bit with the little plastic bag of gummy bears in her hands for a few moments, before glancing back up at Chris. Looking into his eyes just about undid whatever resolve she had, and she had to make an effort to resist getting lost in his warm brown eyes. “Ok, Chris, you're a really nice guy so I'm going to be honest with you. I've never really been in any boyfriend/girlfriend relationships. My dad raised me on the road with him while he worked. We did the home school thing. I never even had a high school prom. So all this is new unknown territory for me. I'll understand now if it's too much for you and you want to just be my friend.”

There, she'd said it. Even though she really really wanted this to be something more, she wouldn't have felt right without giving him a heads up on what he was potentially getting himself into with her.

[Christopher Moretti]

Chris looked at her in momentary silent shock. He found it hard to believe that she'd never had a boyfriend. When he spoke, he went slow, choosing his next words carefully. “That doesn’t bother me at all, Sabrina. We can take things as slowly as you need to feel comfortable. I've waited all this time to talk to you, if that doesn’t say how patient I am nothing will. Well patient or just stupid for waiting so long.”

He chuckled softly, using jokes to diffuse some of the tension between them. He reached a hand out across the table, and smiled when she slowly placed one of her own in it. “Seriously, I think your more than worth the wait, Sabrina. Even if we're just friends for a while.”

[Sabrina Taylor]

When she placed her hand in his, it felt right. She couldn't explain why, it just did. Sabrina looked at him, really seeing him for what seemed like the first time all year. She decided in this moment that she wanted this, she wanted to take a chance on the two of them. “Thank you, Chris. I think I will go on that camping trip this weekend, if your going to go. We can have fun and get to know each other better.”

She said with a small smile before giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

[Christopher Moretti]

“There's no way I'd miss it now, anything to spend more time with you.” Before Chris could say anything more, Dani strolled over with a large cup of coffee in hand.

“My, my, holding hands already. I'd say that's a good sign. So, are the new lovebirds going camping this weekend?” Dani asked with a teasing smirk. Seeing the tell-tale rose of an embarrassed blush in Sabrina's cheeks caused Chris to scowl up at his friend.

“Dani, ease up with the teasing. You should spend your time packing to spend the weekend in the woods. You remember what you said earlier, right? You're coming along, and we'll have so much fun. At least I'll have fun watching you go without many of the creature comforts you've become used to.” Chris said, flashing his friend an evil little smirk.

“Crap, your right. I did agree to that. Never thought you'd be able to convince Sabrina to go on this trip. Still a deal is a deal. You think the campsite will have electricity? If I can't have my hair dryer out there my hair will get frizzy.” Dani said with a little pout.

“I wouldn't count on it, Dani. Consider yourself lucky if they have flushing toilets instead of outhouses at the campground.” Chris said, his smirk growing wider.

Dani let out a defeated whimper at that, and looked to be on the verge of tears. “This weekend will be torture for me, you know.”

“I know, but consider it good experience in preparation for coming along to the SCA events with me this summer. Even though this weekend we'll be able to have little camp stoves and stuff that aren't allowed at the SCA events.” Chris said, his smirk going to a full fledged grin.

“You mean to say that this weekend is gonna be a practice run for being super primitive with you this summer? Oh that makes me feel sooo much better, not!” Dani said sarcastically as he crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. Chris laughed at Dani's reaction, and was happy to hear Sabrina's giggling join in.

“It's getting close enough to lunch, and I don't feel like sticking around campus for it. If you two don't have another class before lunch, I'm willing to head out now and go someplace off campus to eat. I'll even drive.” Chris offered, and seeing their nods he jumped up and offered Sabrina his arm before the trio left the student hall together.