Bean rubbed the back of her head, almost nervous. “W-Well…originally it was because I love interacting with people and I love being able to make an audience enjoy a performance…however,” she sighed sadly, “now…it’s mostly because I drifted away from my sister and performing became a sort of…coping mechanism for me. My sister Lilac and I got into a huge fight right before I left for college, and..while we do talk sometimes…it’s not the same…”
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Aspen grimaced in surprise, seeing as a girl she just so happened to sit next to decided to spill one of her biggest problems on her, she could barely handle her own problems, let alone handle someone else's.
"I'm sorry." She muttered, turning her head away in the slight guilt of jealousy she was feeling, at least this girl had siblings; a sister, that was alive. This made Aspen feel guilty, as it wasnt Bean's fault her sister had drowned.
Bean tilted her head, noticing Aspen’s expression. “Hey…are you okay?” she asked, worried. She didn’t mean to make the other girl upset, but she wished she knew what was wrong. She wanted to help anyway she could. “Did…Did I say something wrong?” she frowned slightly. Great, Bean. First day and you’re already messing things up…
"no" Aspen said quietly, waving her hand in the air to indicate she was fine. "Im perfectly fine, I was just thinking" She added quickly, smiling at Bean politely, she shook her head and gave a small giggle.
"Sometimes when I think, I end up zoning out and apparently my thinking face looks very depressed." She said through giggles, lifting the back of her hand to her mouth.
Bean laughed a tiny bit, feeling relieved that Aspen wasn’t upset with her. “Yeah…” she smiled softly. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay,” she told her. She pressed her fingers against each other, her mind pestering her with possibilities of what Aspen thought about her.
"so, anything else I need to know about you?" Aspen asked quietly, she gave a small smile. She couldn't think of a specific question to ask, so she settled on getting Bean to tell her any extra information that she wanted to give.
"I like your outfit, by the way." She said with a toothy grin.
Bean perked up a bit. “Oh! Thank you,” she smiled before her smile faded. “Uh…well…some time back, I was diagnosed with depression. At first, I was really scared but…my family really helped me understand my situation. It makes my fight with Lilac worse, though…” she sighed, fiddling with her hair nervously. “I really wish it hadn’t been as bad as it was…”
"why don't you just apologize, seeing as the fight has clearly taken a large toll on you." Aspen suggested softly, smiling at Bean. She is really stressed out about that fight she thought to herself, then shook her head as if getting rid of the thought.
"If you don't mind me asking, what was the fight about exactly?" She asked, tilting her head to the side curiously.
“….Lilac wasn’t ready to let me leave. She was scared that something would happen and that she wouldn’t be able to help me…” Bean muttered, looking away. “I overreacted…I should have just let her explain…” she sighed, resting her face in her hand as tears pricked her eyes. “It was the worst one we ever had…we even made our siblings cry…” she choked out.
"please don't cry" Aspen blurted quietly, placing a hand on Bean's upper back in a semi-comforting motion, though she knew it probably wouldnt work, she was new at comforting people.
"It's okay, I mean just apologize right?" She suggested "as a once older sister I get where she was coming from I wanted ot protect my sister at all costs." She added quietly, moving the hand resting on Bean's back in small circular motions.
Bean nodded, wiping her eyes with her wrist. “Y-Yeah…I just hope she’s not mad anymore…” she mumbled, looking up at Aspen. “I care about her a lot, and I hate that she was so upset…she just wanted to protect me from anything that could break me…” she sighed.
"yeah, its kind of the job as the older sister, to protect." Aspen said with a smile, taking her hand off Bean's back.
"So since we are going to be doing big projects together, I might as well get your phone number." She said quietly, taking out her cell phone, which had a clear case with stickers layered onto it, and a crack in the corner.
She turned it on and went to create a new contact, where she sat the phone down in front of Bean, so she could put in her phone number. "I think we might get along, depending on how long you can tolerate me." She said with a sly grin.
Bean picked the phone up, putting her number in. “If I can tolerate myself during my worst days, I can definitely enjoy being with you,” she smiled softly, setting the phone down once she finished. “There. You can text me for anything, projects or personal,” she laughed a bit. “Thank you…”
Aspen have a small smile and mouthed "no problem pretty girl" to herself, he then looked up at Bean, meeting her eyes she quickly looked away, blushing "have you been in Arizona long?" She asked "if you want, later I can show you around, I've lived here my entire life, so I know the ropes." She added quickly, looking at her hands.
“I would love that…I’m from California,” Bean smiled warmly. “I moved here for college, since I didn’t want to pay out-of-state fees,” she laughed softly. “I would love it if you could show me around. You seem like you love living here a lot.”
Aspen gave a soft smile, and shrugged calmly, "eh—" she said quietly "its okay, gets a bit hot, but its okay." She added with a grin.
"Do you have a class after this? This is my last class of the day, I could show you around after, if you don't have any classes either." She suggested.
Bean shook her head. “I don’t have any other classes after this either,” she smiled. “So, I would like to see what you want to show me,” she nodded.
"cool, are you staying on campus? If you are I'll walk you back to your dorm so you can put your stuff away" Aspen said "We'll be driving, because its blazing outside and my car has a working AC" she added with a small smile, she turned to face forward, glancing at the clock on the wall she realised they had five minutes left and everyone else was starting to stand up.
she slid her phone into her back pocket and stood up, pushing in her chair and shrugged her backpack onto her shoulders, once Bean stood up she pushed in her chair for her out of pure manners. Always push in the ladies chair for her, it shows her you respect her her father always said growing up, then would push in her mothers chair once she stood up from the dining room table.
Bean smiled warmly at Aspen once the other girl pushed in her chair. “Thank you,” she said, looking around a bit. “And yeah…I stay on campus,” she nodded, grabbing her bag. “And we can use your car! Mine’s near my dorm but it needs work,” she sighed, moving out of the way so that Aspen could walk out.
Aspen nodded and sighed to herself, she was attracted to the other girl, but she wasn't sure why, they were so different. But she knew she liked Bean's appearance, anyone would she was very pretty, she was also attracted to something else in her, but she couldn't tell what.
"I'll walk you to your dorm, it'd be nice to see how you decorate." Aspen said teasingly with a small smile, the corners of her lips turning upwards slightly.
“Warning, most of my posters are from musicals,” Bean laughed, leading the way. She was attracted to Aspen too, although she wasn’t completely sure why. “If you hear my roommate belting songs from Wicked, don’t be concerned. She does that all the time,” she added, pep in her step as she walked.
"nice to know" Aspen said with a small smile, keeping up with Bean easily, due to her longer legs. "I hope she is belting out a song from Wicked when we get that, that would make my life a bit more interesting." She added with a grin.
Bean laughed some more. “Yeah, me too,” she smiled as she walked next to Aspen. “It’s especially nice for me…since Wicked is Lilac’s favorite musical,” she muttered, holding her bag close to her.
Aspen gave a soft, sad smile, thinking of Clementine and her love for singing songs from her favorite musicals and gave a soft giggle. "I bet it reminds you of her, huh?" She said with a smile.
"Sometimes when I see musicals I always think of Clementine, my little sister." She added quietly, muttering it soft enough so it was practically a whisper.
Bean nodded before turning to face Aspen. “What happened to her…?”she asked, her voice practically a whisper. She was worried about the answer, but she pushed that away. I need to know…if it’s bad, I want to be able to help her… she thought, tightening her grip on her bag.