Chillaxin's a dying art [[o p e n]]

Abi was a little ticked off, he hadn't answered the first question, but she supposed in the long run it really wasn't worth answering. It was pretty obvious. Darnell started rambling on, explaining how his summer was a little stressful and all, Abi frowned. He could have just told her, it wasn't like she would've been annoyed at him, she had asked how his summer had been. "Ok" Abi muttered, half-heartedly, processing the information thrown at her. "and just cigarettes!" She propped her head up on her hands, resting her elbows on the mattress, "It's not like you're in trouble, it's just I worry about you" Abi turned her head, as soon as he apologised, her eyes softened.

The urge to hug him, it was just so difficult, him just looking at her like that. "Yeah. Don't apologise, it's ok. You couldn't ever disappoint me!" Abi rolled her eyes, why was he always worrying about that. She slid over, opening her arms and giving him a massive hug. Abi wasn't exactly a 'huggy' person, but it felt like the right thing to do, and it was Darnell. "S'ok" She whispered, as long as he was ok, Abi was fine with it. "Yeah I know" Abi nodded, still holding onto Darnell. Perhaps she was more upset than she first thought, all she wanted was for him to tell her, but she wasn't his babysitter! They were best friends, he was her closest friend! "I'm happy worrying about you! So, I'm sorry, but that's not going to change" Abi pulled away, telling him firmly, there was no way she'd ever stop worrying about him.

"To protect me? She looked at him weirdly, "From what?" Abi placed a card on top of the pile, a three! "SNAP!" She quickly stuttered, hardly able to get the words out, she slammed her hand on the pile with a little slap. So, he lied to her. To 'protect' her, she didn't need protecting, and what could Darnell protect her from?! Abi was perfectly fine. She could worry about herself!

Darnell could tell just by looking at Abi that she was mad at him. Not blow up mad, but a little mad. But what could he do? He'd already done what had made her upset, so he couldn't take that back. And she didn't understand how it felt. She couldn't. He'd never want her to! And yet somehow he wished she could have an idea- just so that she could sympathize... It wasn't easy...

And then she hugged him. Wow. He felt paralyzed, and yet relaxed. Paralyzed because ever hormone in his body was buzzing toward his head, throwing loads of ideas into his mind, and tempting him to no end- she was way close. Then relaxed because of her words. It was 'okay'.

He rolled his eyes as she pulled away. She was happy worrying about him? "Geez, fine then mom," he teased, hoping internally that he sounded as calm and cool and collected as he wanted.

"And I just mean I didn't want you around me when I felt like I needed to smoke... mostly when I was drinking- which I have successfully parted from, by the way- you can search me- no alcohol," he half smiled. "When I didn't feel right, or stable, I guess... I didn't want to do something I'd regret or make you feel like all your help meant nothing. It meant a lot- at risk of sounding corny- it meant the world to me." The half smile was growing.

Then came the SNAP! Her hand fell on the pile. He looked at it and then he took it and held it. "I'm sorry I can't explain better... I've never been good with words... Hence the exclamation of CLAP!"

"Ok! Ok!" Abi laughed, it was a bit much, but he should know what she meant. She just cared about him, as long as he was ok after he smoked, or after a drink, as long as he was safe it was fine. He'd manage to get through it, but Abi hated seeing him in that state, he just wasn't himself. As she had moved away, Abi missed the comfort. Weird. She missed hugging her best friend, Abi wondered if that thought was the beginning of her losing her mind. It was a strange thought, her friend was right in front of her!

She felt sort of guilty, however. Here she was, trying to get him to stop and Abi had no idea what he was going through. It wasn't exactly fair, Abi hadn't even tried the stuff and could only understand by what she had heard: gossip. It didn't give you the best ideas. She rested her head on her elbows, laying on the bed, "I'm sorry, I don't exactly know what you're going through" Abi didn't know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing, they both had their pros and cons.

She nodded as he started talking, it was getting serious again, which she supposed had to be said. Abi rolled her eyes when he told her to search him, "I trust you" she understood what he meant. Protecting her from seeing him when he was drinking, and smoking, just like she'd thought it really wasn't too great a sight. "You're my best friend, I don't need protecting from you though" Abi mumbled, poking him in the side.

She grinned, "Aw, that was too corny" Abi felt her face grow warm, a light blush filling her pale cheeks, "I'm glad I could help?" She saw him pick up her hand from the pile, her grin faded to a small smile. "I'm sorry I can't explain better... I've never been good with words... Hence the exclamation of CLAP!" Abi's smile grew, "I think you can explain, just fine!" She laughed, Abi didn't need or want an explanation, Darnell was her friend, through and through.

Darnell was feeling a new withdrawl ache now. Withdrawl from Abi. That hug had been so nice, it'd actually made him feel better, and now it was gone. He rolled over onto his back.

"I'm sorry, I don't exactly know what you're going through"

"You should not be sorry. It's a good thing that you don't know. I don't want you to ever know." He stared at the ceiling, moving his hands beneath his head. It was a relaxing position, and it hid his hands. Maybe they'd stop shaking soon... but the more he thought about how they shook, the more they seemed to go.

As Abi poked him in the side he shifted a little further from her, a laugh escaping his lips- that had tickled. That's what you say now, he thought to himself grimly. But he kept the smile on. It was important that he kept the smile on.

"I think you can explain, just fine!"

"Well thank you!" He rolled back towards her smiling. "Now... where were we? You snapped, I believe? So what do we do now?"

Abi shrugged, she couldn't understand where all the random 'protector' stuff came from, don't do this, I'll protect you. "Yeah, yeah" she replied dull-ly (?). Rolling her eyes, as she lay on her stomach, in the complete opposite position to Darnell Abi fiddled with the edge of one of her cards. Darnell rolled up towards asking her what happened next, she pouted. "Umm. I think I take the whole pile, and then we carry on, until someone has no cards and is the loser" Abi didn't know whether the winner was the person with no cards left, or the whole pack.

She didn't feel like playing snap anymore, not after that talk. It just felt weird, like having some sort of argument with someone and then carrying on as if it had never happened. Except, Abi hadn't had an argument, but they had talked about all the stuff they didn't often speak about, now it just felt like she should leave. Abi didn't want to. She liked being up in the dorm with Darnell, just talking and playing even if it felt weird, because it was with her best friend and they were together.

She didn't quite know what to say on that subject, it was probably best forgotten. Abi was staring down at the floor, from her position on the bed, "Do you get it?" she turned her head sharply to Darnell.

Darnell looked at Abi and just watched her for a second. He really didn't want to play Snap anymore. He was bored of Snap. All he could think of was what Abi could be thinking of. He didn't know. He had no clue. But he had this kind of queasy feeling in his stomach telling him there was something wrong about it. He'd said something wrong- and he didn't know what. Ugh.

This was exactly why he couldn't be with Abi. He always felt like he was hurting her- no matter what he did, what he said- what he didn't do, what he didn't say, he always felt like he'd done something wrong. The more he was around her, the more he was bound to hurt her. And closer, more too...

"Uhh- yeah... I get it..." He sighed. "Are you hungry? Maybe we can go find some food... Get out, get some fresh air or something, too..." Anything but lying her awkwardly one minute longer.

Abi felt slightly guilty. The look on his face said it all, Abi had done something to annoy him, or something. Whatever it was, Darnell didn't look happy. She didn't know what things would be like at Homecoming, now they'd agreed to go together, what would they wear? Abi nodded slowly at his answer, at least he understood how to play snap. She smiled, albeit a tiny smile but a smile all the same, all she had to think about was Darnell in a scuba suit, it was truly memorable.

"Ok" Abi sat up, swinging her legs around and standing up from the bed, "Yeah, lets grab something to eat! Then.." She trailed off, standing there looking off into nothing "Yeah, fresh air" Abi shrugged, running her hand through the ends of the front of her hair. She waited for Darnell to get up from the bed, proceeding to open the dorm door and walk down the creaking stairs. "You hungry?" Abi asked, appearing in the common room, her head turned behind her towards Darnell.

Darnell grabbed a hoodie and slung it over his shoulder as he pushed off the bed and stood. Things weren't going to stay awkward- they never did with Abi. Of course there were always those really tense moments, but hey- if they could get through what they'd gotten through so far- they could get through anything- certainly this.

As they walked out of the common room, the sun hit their faces and Darnie scrunched up his face. His eyes trailed downward a moment- blinded by the sun- something on the ground lit up. He bent over and scraped an old bottle cap out of the dirt. Odd. It was tannish in color with a little blue flower design stamped on the top. Kind of pretty. He pushed it into his pocket, and looked over at Abi.

"Starving. Let's go. This one's on me." He nudged her a little before throwing an arm around her shoulders. He smiled. Things were going to be A-Okay. He just had that feeling.