forum Craving Human Interaction, don't like to be touched -- sorry, I know I'm a pain Open 0/0 (mature for dark themes/TW)

Started July 11, 2020 by @Oakiin

tune

(Awesome!)

Arlath mainly had the one spot he liked to sit in at the library. Further away from the main hustle and bustle, he was able to read in peace. So the next day found him there again, albeit a little cautiously. He was determined to mind his own business should Cai be there today, and not embarrass himself further. Opening his book, he settled in, firmly ignoring everything except for the words in front of him.

Cai was keeping himself welll hidden in the children's section shelving the books and helping some of the children find books for reports or just for fun. He didn't want anyone to see him, especially Arlath, although he knew that his sister would probably try to find him there today. She had seen how flustered he was when he had gotten back home, she had come over to hang out and spend some quality brother and sister time. Then she had insisted that he remember that they would be going out for lunch the next day. Wednesdays were always their day to go out to to lunch together, and she never forgot about that, no matter how many times he had forgotten, she was yet to. Which just got on her nerves.

Adrienne glanced around looking for her brother. He must have forgotten again, she thought with a sigh. Heading over towards the back, she guessed he might be there, she looked around for him, but didn't spot him. She wasn't exactly sure what part of the library he worked in specifically, so this was getting annoying, "Good grief, Cai, where are you?"

Arlath couldn't help but glance up as he heard someone say Cai's name. Seeing a girl standing not far away looking rather frustrated, he hesitated, wondering if he should say something. He hadn't seen Cai all day, and doubted he was back here. But remembering how poorly that had gone yesterday he reluctantly returned to his book, keeping half an eye on the girl in case she spotted him or continued to be unable to find Cai.

She sighed and pulled out her phone, sending her brother angry texts about how he was so late. Now, with her anger somewhat channeled she relaxed and waited for him to respond, but a few minutes passed and nothing. At first she brushed it off, thinking that maybe he was busy, but after nearly fifteen minutes passed, she grew annoyed again. It was a pretty large library, and she figured that if she moved around too much, she wouldn't exactly be able to find him, What do I do now?

(So I just remembered she's supposed to introduce them thinking they don't know each other, and that won't work if Arlath says he knows Cai xD So maybe Adrienne addresses Arlath first? Unless you had an idea already ^^)

Arlath turned a page without really reading the words printed there. His safe spot seemed to be compromised, he realized miserably. By no fault other than his own, he found he was no longer comfortable in the quiet corner of the library he'd frequented for so many months. He was on edge, anticipating an uncomfortable encounter at any moment, unable to focus on his books. He let the book fall to his lap, staring blankly at the shelves in front of him in tired defeat. Maybe he should just tell the girl Cai wasn't here, then at least she might leave. Or maybe he should just leave. He wasn't sure either would help at this point.

In defeat, Adrienne looked around for someone to talk to just to pass the time. She noticed a man in the corner that looked somewhat familiar to her. She had seen him at a coffee shop before and had struck up a conversation with him once or twice, she thought. Adrienne walked over to him with a smile on her face, "Hi, uhm, I don't know if you recognize me? I believe we've spoken once or twice about uhm, coffee?" She was being awkward at this point and she could tell that the man knew it, "But, uhm, yeah? I'm sorry to bother you or anything, I was just curious as to what book you were reading, so I tried to come up with something to segway to that, but I failed terribly."

(Sorry replies are so slow, I've been struggling a lot with the college process, I'm still here <3)

Arlath refocused on the girl in surprise, and it took him a moment to formulate a reply, but finally he managed to get his brain kicked into gear and he really registered what she'd said. Come to think of it she did look vaguely familiar, though even with her reminder he couldn't quite place her.
"Uh, yes, hi." He forced a smile to his face, hoping it looked as genuine as he felt. "It's okay."
He raised his book to show her the cover; Mastiff, the last in the Beka Cooper trilogy by Tamora Pierce.
"I'm not sure I like it as much as her other ones," he said, studying it for a moment.

((Don't worry about it, honestly same))

She waited patiently for a response from, knowing and completely understanding that the way she was, and the way she spoke to people could something throw others off. And just completely surprise them, "Ooh, it sounds good." She remarked a lot calmer than the way she had first spoken to him, and less extroverted and loud, "Is that so, hhm, her books lately have been changing a lot from what they first were. I sort of miss her old writing style.

(haha it's a time, eh?)

"Agreed," Arlath said, contemplating the cover for a moment. "I highly enjoyed the Song of the Lioness series, this is just…too modern."
He sighed and closed the book with a shrug. "I'll probably finish it anyway, I don't have anything else to do."
Ouch, that probably sounded pretty pathetic, he thought with a wince. Ah well, what could he do about it now?

((Yeah, I got bored during quarantine, and although I finished up my classes and stuff, I decided to take a class on programing, just for the heck of it. Mainly since I have nothing better to do.))

Adrienne giggled quietly, "I think it was a pretty good series too, but uhm. yeah." Her small smile grew a little bit when she felt her phone vibrate. She pulled it out off her pocket and smiled when she saw that it was Cai, "Uhm, okay. You'll have to excuse me, my brother is finally responding to me." Then she got an idea, "Heyyy, I think that you two might get along pretty well. He works here if you'd like to meet him."

(ooh, that's really cool! I hope it's going well! I'm taking a history course, and while I'm enjoying it a lot, I missed the first two days by accident, and I'm a little lost, oops xD)

Arlath hesitated, remembering that she had been looking for Cai, but eventually slowly nodded.
"Okay," he agreed. Surely Cai would have complained to his sister about Arlath. Maybe this was a different brother? No one said it was impossible. Plus the temptation of social interaction of some meaningful sort was far too great.
"Thank-you."
Not wanting to hold her up he quickly put his books back in his bag, ready to go in no time at all.

Cai to be honest was a little nervous about seeing Arlath again, he had thought that the way he had behaved the day before was just not right. He wanted to apologize to the other man, but he figured that it would just be too awkward to do so. He continued to shelve the books waiting for his sister to come so that he could take his lunch break. He saw Adrienne coming his way, he smiled. But, then his smile faded when he saw Arlath following behind her. Uh oh. . . He looked down at the cart he had been pushing and messed with the books nervously.

Arlath nearly tripped when he saw it was, in fact, Cai. He almost said something to Adrienne, but bit back the words. What could he say now that wouldn't be awkward?
You've done it now, he thought to himself miserably. Things always seemed to end this way.
I suppose I'd better apologize. Though he doubted Cai would accept it. Cai would be entirely in his right to not accept it, really. It was Arlath's fault, after all. But for now he simply hung back behind Adrienne, keeping his gaze averted. He'd apologize the moment he got the chance.

(Hey! I don't know if you're at all interested in continuing this, and I totally get it if not, I really vanished there. A lot of personal stuff happened. Some really bad things went down and I just was off the internet for quite a while. But if you want to, I'm trying to come back to Notebook just a little bit, and I would be down to kepp going with this.
Up to you tho!)