Realistic or Modern Roomies [Caffiene Freak & d a n g e r]

[d a n g e r]

Lazily resting her head upon the palm of her hand, the girl was close to the state of falling asleep whilst her lecturer, professor Sheeran, explained the history behind music and all types of culture. Honestly, it was probably a bad idea for the girl to wake up so early in the morning that day, but oh well, it was worth it.

As an instinct, the girl began to add more lyrics to the song within her notebook as an attempt to keep her awake and aware. It was something that she had been working on for a while, but she never succeeded to write words that could make sense. All she could say was that it wasn't easy to write a song. Especially from your emotions, considering hers were confused and misunderstood.

You guessed it. It was about Jack - though she would never admit it. The usual student beside her peered over at her lyrics, yet Gen would scramble to cover them up. "Who's that about?" They'd raise their brow curiosity. "N-nothing... No one." She would stutter before flippping the page over to a new and watching her professor.

As soon as the session had come to an end, Imogen packed up her remains and rushed out of the room and towards the student Quad. Ok, so perhaps she was ecstatic about meeting up with Jack, who could blame her? This was certainly a rare moment in history.

A few minutes had passed of the girl waiting for him to show up. He probably was kept after class... or maybe Todd was free and Jack had decided to join him instead. Or what if meeting up was just a practical joke? Argh, she would always do this whenever nerves would gather into the equation. She would think about the ultimate worse circumstance of an outcome, to which would then lead her to having second doubts and possibly bailing. Nonetheless, she needed to learn how to control it. Jacks was just running late.

She paced back and forth in the Quad, knowing that she'd better keep her head down in case one of her friends saw her and ruined the whole thing. Not that there was a thing exactly...

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack grabbed a sandwich and a soda from the cafeteria, staring at the empty seats where he and Todd would normally dine as he stepped outside. The quad was filled with students, although luckily Imogen was one of the few standing up, so it didn't take long to spot her. Once he'd made his way over, he tried to think of some kind of sarcastic remark to shift the load of his nervousness - but his instinct spoke for him. "Hey." A half wave, half head scratch was his greeting gesture. The fact that she was actually waiting for him and hadn't ditched him for her friends was already bettering his expectations. He tried to find refuge in the fact that Imogen was just annoying, not particularly mean. Still, he had expected to be awkwardly sat with her friends too, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Choose wherever you'd like to sit." He offered, then immediately stiffened. Had he just said something to her in a non-awkward tone? He supposed the rigid figure he was adopting now was compensation enough, but the feat alone was remarkable for his standards.

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen half jumped, half turned around at the distinctive voice of Jack. "Hey..." She saw food in his possession, which she would've definitely got beforehand, however her nerves were biting at her stomach already, so she decided that she'd get some later. "Uh, is over there okay?" She asked, walking over to a nearby table with a bench adjoined already, not wanting to wait for him as she needed to keep her head down.

As soon as Jack sat down with her, the girl felt two feminine bodies roughly push her almost to the edge of the bench. To her ultimate disappointment, it was Christina and Hannah. Great... "Hi, Gen! We couldn't see you anywhere, but you didn't tell us that you and your boyfriend were having a lunch date." They giggled together like two girls at a sleepover. "T-this isn't a lunch date and he's not my boyfriend." Imogen muttered, avoiding eye contact with both Jack and her friends. "Oh really? Jack, be honest with all of us right now. Aren't you even a little bit attracted to Gen?" Christina asked, although at the same time, Gen mouthed to him: 'I'm so sorry about this.'

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack, to his dismay, had been ambushed for the second time in the same day - not counting the wake-up call ambush, because that was obviously only because his guard was down. "A-Attracted? No! I mean, she is attractive, but- I mean, maybe I would- would..." He realised that with every sound that came out of his mouth, he dug his grave an extra kilometer deeper. His panicked look hitched on Imogen, wherein he realised that her friends where just using this moment to tease her, and that he shouldn't be giving them the satisfaction.

He took a deep breath. "I'm joking, of course. This is a date." The words coming out of his mouth were tinder to a flaring blush that took extreme concentration to keep from his face. "That's why we'd prefer it if you guys gave us a little privacy." His steely expression turned on them, Jack could only hope his pseudo-confidence was remotely convincing.

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen's eyes kept themselves to the table, afraid that if she looked up at any second, someone would detect her blushing cheeks. And she definitely did not want that to happen, especially after Jack stuttering over her attractiveness. He really had a way with words. But how could she judge, she was no Casanova herself.

Christina and Hannah's eyes widened as Jack admitted to the two having a date, then their eyes went to Gen, giving her the 'why didn't you tell us look'. "Oh, oh, okay. We'll just leave you two to it then. Have fun." Hannah said, the two girls leaving and skipping off to annoy people someplace else. Finally, the dark haired girl looked up and gazed into his eyes for a few seconds. "Thank you, Jack, and I am so sorry about them. They're not normally like that, haha." She chuckled nervously, brushing the loose hairs back with her fingers.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"Yeah... ha... ha..." The conversation settled into a painful silence, Jack cursed himself for spending all the time beforehand anticipating this moment but not planning a single topic to talk about. As he sat there wracking his brain for something, anything to fill in the conversational void - he spotted Todd a ways behind Imogen giving a thumbs up from behind a tree. That mother- so Todd's excuse about swim training was just a diabolical ploy to matchmake Jack and Gen.

He managed to wrench his eyes from the amused figure, not wanting to draw Imogen's attention to him. Eventually he just opened his mouth and said the first thing that came to mind. "It's... nice... being able to sit with you. I've kinda been waiting for the opportunity." He inwardly cringed, not realising the first thing on his mind would be so exposing.

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen fidgeted with her fingers as she glanced to all place around the quad. Of course, she was searching for something to say, but there was already an awkward tension between the two, thanks to their trusted friends. Normally, she would say something annoying to Jack, and then he would insult her with his witty sarcasm. But even so, it was difficult for her to act like that when her friends basically exposed her crush on him. Well, shit.

Her eyes were in astonishment as he said he had been waiting for the two to hangout. Although, as usual, Gen just had to joke her way out of admitting that she had been waiting for the same thing to occur. Standing up, the girl moved to Jack's side of the bench, sitting closer to him than he possibly would have preferred. "Are you okay, Jack?" The palm of her hand went to his forehead, pretending to check his temperature with a worried facial expression. "Oh, look you're burning up! Now that explains why you're acting like this." Pulling her hand away and putting it to her heart, the girl released a breath of relief. "And here I thought you were 'waiting' for us to hangout."

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack was indeed burning up, and Imogen's hand on him wasn't helping either. Avoiding eye contact, he opted to look at Christina and Hannah, who appeared to be picking on a boy sitting by himself. "Now I know where you get your 'annoying' thing from." Jack nodded toward them. "Although, knowing you, you're probably the one who infected them with it." He shifted his gaze back to her, raising an eyebrow. Todd was shaking his head solemnly from his hiding spot, as if he could sense the conversation topic and was thinking he'd be doing a better job in Jack's place. Jack ignored him, but he still felt a little guilty for wanting to sit with Imogen and then taking the opportunity to make quips at her.

He backtracked. "I guess it's a good thing you're not as annoying as you are cute-" Jack stopped himself, realising he just backtracked off the rails. "-I mean- not as annoying as you are... Cuba." Nope, that one didn't even make sense. Jack realised, ironically or not, that his ship was sinking like the Titanic. "...I mean... this sandwich is pretty good, wanna try some?"

 

[d a n g e r]

The girl's eyes immediately went to her two friends whom were picking one a boy near by. She was tempted to walk over to them and tell them to back off - which she would normally do - but as Christiania glanced over to her, Gen flashed a glare to her. And with that, the two began to walk away from the boy. Turning her attention back to Jack, she shrugged. "I annoy people who I know can take it. For example, you." Giving him an over exaggerated smile, she caught a very quick glimpse of Todd.

Soon enough, the girl had caught on, Todd was Jack's wingman. And a very crappy one might she add. Hearing Jack call her cute was possibly the biggest heart drop of an expience she had ever thought. Sure, he took it back, but it was out in the air now. Ready to hang. "I'm good, thanks." She chuckled slightly, loving how nervous Jack was acting when she was probably more nervous than him. "And, uh, you're cute as well, I guess. Cute for an emo anyway." Knowing how annoyed he got when associated with the term, Gen braced herself.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack's knuckles went white. "I'm not-" Yet he thought about what he was going to say, and then slowly let loose a breath as he decided against it. "...You know what, you can have that one." Although he had to grit his teeth to get it out, Jack was at least somewhat proud of himself for not losing it. His spitefulness had gotten in the way of what Imogen had just called him, however, and it took a few seconds to process. "...Thanks." He muttered at last, scratching his hairline in an attempt to hide his face. "Listen, Gen- there's... something I... something-" He stopped. While he had taken the chance of glancing at Todd while his face was concealed, Jack realised Todd had vanished.

The question of where Todd had disappeared to was almost immediately answered.

"Hey guys!"

Jack winced. Todd was standing behind him.

"Mind if I sit here?" Despite Jack's discreet yet furious neck swiping gestures, Todd seemed adamant to join the duo. "I was just wonderin' if you two wanted to join the party at my dorm tonight, there's gonna be drinks, food, dancing, and a whole lotta people. You down?"
Just like Todd to invite Jack to something at a moment's notice. "Sorry Todd, but we got stuff to do this evening-"
"Hey, it's gonna be running all night, so you guys can just drop by anytime. I insist. Till then, you two can get busy with whatever you have planned for eachother." A sly wink at Jack, whose face was in his hand. "Whatcha think, Gen? You up for it?"
It was Jack's turn to mouth 'sorry'.

 

[d a n g e r]

Imogen felt a triumph seize her as Jack accepted her name calling. It was progress. Slow progress, that is. As he spoke more, the girl was really expecting him to finish his sentence, however, he had been interrupted by Todd. Another causation of mischief. Scooting to the side, away from Jack, she made room for Todd to sit as he explained about his party later that night. Normally, if it was any other day, she would jump at the shot, but now since it seemed Jack wasn't all up to it... she certainly wanted to go. If she persuaded him to go, have some fun, then perhaps the boy would finally loosen up. That would be great. Seriously.

Ignoring his mouth of 'sorry', Gen grinned happily. "C'mon, Jack! It'll be fun and we can just do what we were supposed to do earlier." She attempted to persuade, then looking to Todd. "We'll be there." Without hesitation, she needn't wait for Jack's answer

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack raised his hand. "Do I get any say in this?"
"Nope." Todd prodded his shoulder with a fist, before standing up. "See y'all there. It's gonna be lit!" With that, Todd was whisked away on whatever wind carried him in.
Jack half halfheartedly waved him off before turning back to Imogen. "Why'd you do that? You know there's gonna be like- people at that party, right?" He folded his arms, shivering at the thought. Todd was off chatting up Deborah in the middle of her clique army. If he invited her, that'd be her several followers plus her several stalkers all showing up at the party, and that's not counting whoever else Todd decided to drag in.

The get-together seemed like a slaughterhouse of sweaty, drunk teenagers in Jack's mind - who admittedly hadn't been to many parties.

 

[d a n g e r]

"See you, Todd." Imogen filled the space to which Todd had once taken. Technically speaking, she wasn't even attending the party because she wanted to, but because Jack didn't want to. For that, the boy needed to get out of his comfort zone once in a while, and what perfect zone a partying scene would be. She was confident that she could make him do something crazy, like, dance and talk to people, and perhaps, have fun when gaming wasn't involved. Todd was - if anything - unconsciously doing her a favour.

Once Jack turned his attention back to her and spoke his words worry, Gen gave him an eye roll in return. "So you're peoplephobic, huh? Now that's exactly why we're going. End of discussion. But don't worry, I'll prepare you for 'party talk'." She stated, not taking his phobia seriously before changing the subject. "Anyway, you were going to tell me something, what was it?" She asked, curious as Jack looked rather serious over the matter.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack opened his mouth, then closed it. "I... forgot." He'd tell her later, he promised himself. Now wasn't the time or place.

The rest of lunch wasn't very eventful. Jack had his small talk, but found himself unable to pull up anything deeper to chat about. He didn't feel too bad about it, however, as Jack preferred listening to Imogen rather than conjuring up conversation topics anyway. The two must've been there for an hour, but as with any time he spent around Imogen, it was up in an instant. Sighing, Jack reluctantly stood up, dusting off his trousers. "It was great speaking with you, Imogen, but I should head off to the library. I'll see you at home for stud-" He supposed there wasn't going to be much studying this evening. "...to get ready for the party. See you there." He gave a wave/head scratch combo before sauntering off to the library. Having his nose in a book for the next hour or two didn't quite compare to spending time outside with Imogen, but the shackles of education were unrelenting.

Reading up on emotional states wasn't Jack's ideal reading material per se, but he managed to pass time coming up with metaphors for how his study material would help his career. Every great river has stepping stones. That's deep, right? He sighed, typing up the next few words onto his seemingly million page essay that he'd only just started the third paragraph of. Jack began to wonder if he had enough energy drinks to finish this thing by the next day. Progress was slow, but Jack's determination kept it steady. After what seemed like years later, he decided to conclude his session in the library.

Jack spent dinner wondering if he should've invited Imogen along. Then again, he didn't know too many fancy places to eat.

On his way back, Jack passed by an overly cheery salesperson. "Hello sir! I can see you're a student, did you know that we do 25% off gym memberships for students?" She handed Jack a pamphlet.
Jack shrugged. "I guess I'm already in debt, couldn't hurt, right?"
"Excellent reasoning, sir! Just sign here."
And so, Jack found a physical activity to do that wasn't skating.

He got back home around an hour later, newly purchased gym clothes that tugged on his credit card debt in tow.

 

[d a n g e r]

Waving a goodbye to the boy as the two parted their ways. Gen decided that if she were to use the remaining time before the party wisely, plus spare Jack from waiting around for her, she'd choose the dress once she got home, and then put in a few minutes of adding to her song. Already making her way home, the girl took the time to think about all the strange things that had happened in the earlier day, plus all the stranger things that would happen later on in the day. For all she knew, Jack would probably say more uneasy things to her - well, not that she minded too much as so far all the things have been... nice. And who was she to talk? In a matter of hours, she could possibly be the one complimenting him.

Arriving to the flat, the girl pushed her keys into the lock of the door and twisted it open once a click was heard. After a 15 seconds of settling in, Gen realised her hunger, though what did she expect? Sure, she had the appetite of a stone, but she did get hungry. Since this lunch was so late, she'd just make it dinner. Making her way towards the kitchen, the girl chose the option of making a sandwich between have pot noodles. Once she had gathered her ingredients, within a matter of minutes she had made a sandwich of gold. She chowed down on it whilst scrolling through her Instagram, occasionally liking a post. Unexpectedly, a message popped up from Christina saying: Are you going to the party tonight? xxx In return, Imogen messaged back: Yes, with Jack xxx A second later she wrote back: Ooo, Jack Tempted to send back shut up, the girl chose to ignore it.

A number of minutes had bypassed the girl as she had already finished her sandwich, but once she had spotted the time on her phone, she hurried to her room to get changed. She had determined the dress whilst walking home, so all she needed to do was change and wait for jack to arrive.

Whilst waiting, Gen sat on the couch, doing as she had planned and adding to her song. My heart flutters in your wake. You give me more than I can take...? No, that's too cheesy and revealing. Writing a song was harder than it looked.

Hearing the distinctive key in the lock, the girl guessed Jack was finally back from wherever he had ventured off to. Probably studying like the nerd he was.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack shoved his new clothes under his bed before heading to Imogen's room. Knocklessly, he swung open her door, eyes immediately going to her dress. "Gen, are you ready to go to this stupid... Huh. You look nice." He waited all of a second before turning around and announcing "Guess I'll just go put on jeans and a hoodie." Jack did of course plan to dress at least decently smart for the party, but he couldn't help prodding Imogen's sense of fashion standards.

His sarcasm had robbed him of the topic he had originally planned to discuss, which prompted him to turn back around. "Oh, and do you want to do this drawing/song exchange before or after the party?" While not planning on drinking, Jack knew what Todd was like, and he didn't fancy drawing out such a sensitive piece if he wouldn't be able to hold the pencil right. Still, he managed to keep that particular detail to himself, and instead waited intently on Imogen's decision.

 

[d a n g e r]

"Thanks, I guess?" The girl said, not intending for it to sound so much like a question. But honestly, with his sarcastic comment, she did know entirely if he was being sincere. Closing the cover to her notebook, she sat up and watched as Jack exited her room. How was it possible to like someone whom insulted you? The human brain worked in very mysterious ways, if you asked Gen.

To her surprise, Jack came back inside the room and his question only caused a wide grin to spread over the girl's rose-red lips. Knowing herself all too well, Gen was aware that if they were to leave their 'talent date' till later, the girl would almost definitely be in her drunken state. And the thought of singing anything under the influence was not particularly settling for her. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not that into singing while drunk, so how about before? Todd did say the party wouldn't end till late anyway." She shrugged, quickly grabbing her guitar from the corner of the room and taking her time to tune it whilst she waited for him.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"Fair enough." Jack grinned, leaving the room to grab his book and pencil. Once he'd returned, he pointed the pencil threateningly at Imogen "If you make a single Titanic reference while I do this, I will kill you with this pencil." His mockingly narrowed eyes couldn't quite hold down the smile that found its way onto his lips. "Anyway, just start playing and I'll draw you as you are." Jack realised with slight embarrassment that his hand was shaking a little as his pencil touched paper, but he managed to drag his finer motor skills into obedience quickly enough.

Focus took a little second to find, but eventually, he managed to enter the calm plaza of his mind where his thoughts and imagination seemed to meet at a single point. Loosing a slow breath, Jack began his rendering.

The hair. The dress. The guitar. Her face. Each detail was like a separate piece of one beautiful jigsaw puzzle he had to knit together. Graphite danced along paper, its trail forming lines then webs then images. Mid drawing he looked up at her expectantly, a silent cue to start playing.

 

[d a n g e r]

"Fine, I'll try my best, Jack." The girl emphasised his name as it was no coincidence that him and the character shared the same name, plus the same interests.

Once she had finished tuning her instrument, Jack had entered back into her room and to the girl's satisfaction, he had a book and pencil in his possession. Her brows raised as he set himself across from her, and although it seemed okay for her to start singing, Gen sensed a bit of uneasiness from the boy. So, she decided to only start strumming the melody to the song itself. To keep herself from messing up, she looked down to her fingers as they prodded the neck of the guitar, afraid that if she did dare look up at him, her fingers would tremble more than they already were.

At just about the right time, the girl spotted his eyes on her, and took that as her cue to begin singing. She relaxed her shoulders, but felt her chest tighten as she released her first few notes. Gradually, her tone eased into the lyrics, syncing perfectly together... I don't ask for much, not even a dime, just a touch... A heart to match mine, how about you and me combine...? Within a matter of seconds, the lyrics flowed from her mouth naturally, and in that instant, it had felt as if she had finally finished the song.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack's fingers quickened at the rising melody, as if the notes were the ones tweaking his pencil rather than his hand. Each feature he previously failed to capture became righteous in its complexion, as if the song Imogen played was the missing piece in his endeavours. He looked up. He'd... done it. Switching glances between his drawing and the scene in front of him, Jack - for once - felt satisfied with what he'd created.

"T-Take a look." He muttered, handing her the drawing. Jack'd never really felt self-conscious about his drawings before, evident by most of them being pinned up around his room, but this time felt... different. Trying to reconcile himself by knowing that at least he wasn't as embarrassed as he was in the morning, but the returning memories just made him even more uncomfortable.

 

[d a n g e r]

Placing her instrument to the floor, Imogen took the drawings my from Jack and took her time scanning through the impeccable parts of detail. The boy made her look... alive - in the drawing, of course. And to be drawn like that, it was quite an extraordinary feeling. "It's amazing, Jack." She smiled gently to the boy before finally handing the piece of art back to him.

For a while, the girl just kind of gazed at Jack. Waiting. But waiting for what, she didn't know. She dragged her fingers through her hair and released a sigh before looking away from him finally and concentrating on the party. She stood up, her hand going to reach for Jacks other so she could pull him up. "Can you dance? I'm talking like slow dance, because knowing Todd, at some point he will play it and make us do it."

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Jack loosed a breath he didn't realise he was holding when Imogen gave her verdict on his drawing, a form of relief that was instantly splintered when she asked him possibly the hardest question of his life. "Dance? Y-Yeah, of course I can dance." He took Imogen's hand, hoping that whatever series of movements he'd occasionally do in front of the bathroom mirror counted as dance experience. Relaxing was a little difficult, especially since they were close enough to share breaths, yet Jack tried to calm himself by thinking back to all those movies he'd watched with people slow dancing in them - you just hold hands and walk in circles, how hard could it be?

Evidently it was more difficult that it looked, the girl's toes where like landmines, and Jack couldn't bring himself to look down at his feet with Imogen's particular cut of dress, so he elected to keep them on her eyes instead. Piece by piece, Jack slowly got the hang of it, helped along by Imogen's confident stance. He tried not to get too cocky, it was just a slow dance after all, but Jack still couldn't quite manage to keep the smile down.

 

[d a n g e r]

Gen was clearly impressed by Jack's carefulness and motions. It seemed like he had done it a couple times before, which definitely relaxed her, but nonetheless, she couldn't help but grow nervous as centimetres between them would occasionally close. She would find herself holding her breath or biting at her lower lip. She was never that great at handling a small proximity with a person - especially Jack - so she tried her best to act as casual as possible.

However, trying to act casual was rather difficult, especially when he would look directly into her eyes. Although, to make it fair, she did the exact same in return. "I'm impressed... I never thought you would keep eye contact with me for this long." Cheekily, the girl winked at the boy before chuckling to herself shortly after. She didn't want to stop dancing, not for now, at aleast.

 

[Caffeine Freak]

"Neither did I." Jack muttered, eyes finding something else to look at as Imogen winked at him. A minute passed. Then another. Jack began to slow down. "Maybe we should continue this at the party." He said at last, reluctantly retreating his hands before clearing his throat. "You're a pretty good dancer I guess." He strode off to get changed, electing to - at last - try out the dreaded formal casual clothes he had off in his drawers. Normally he'd go for something a touch more black, but he supposed that the least he could do was match Imogen's effort. Jack could only pray he could actually pull off not looking like an undertaker. Brushing down the ruffles of his waistcoat, Jack noticed his phone was blinking on his table. Upon closer inspection, the device was being spammed by none other than Todd, leaving a trail of messages Jack sighed as he read.

Todd just now:
jack?

Todd 5 secs ago:
hey man you there?

Todd 17 secs ago:
hey dude like half the campus is here hurry up!
​

Slipping his phone into his pocket, Jack stepped out of his room.

 

[d a n g e r]

Her eyes blinked as she felt herself transition back into reality and his hands retract from her waist. "Hm, maybe, and thanks." She mumbled under her breath before tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. As soon as Jack had left, the girl found herself collapsed upon the sheets of her bed. It was only the beginning and she already felt herself about to be drained of her energies. Was this what pretending to not like a person was like? Tiring? It was an act that Gen didn't think she could play for much longer, but if Jack could play it for longer than why couldn't she. Well, that was assuming that he felt the same.

Beside her, a distinctive buzz vibrated her bed and almost caused the girl to jump. It was a call from Christina and as soon as Gen read the name, she knew what the girl wanted. "Hello?" In the background, she could hear the loud speakers blaring out an upbeat song, but unfortunately the speakers were way too loud for her to recognise or even identify the song. "Hello? That's all you have to say? Where are you, Gen? There's this creepy guy who keeps looking at me and attempted to talk to me." Christina wined into the phone over the music, however, Gen just rolled her eyes. "And what am I supposed to do about that?" There was a pause. "Fine! We're on our way now." She sighed, hanging up and resting back onto her bed.

Once she heard Jack's door open, the girl grabbed her phone and purse before putting one object into the other. Just as she was doing so she walked out into the hallway, not yet catching a glimpse of him, it wasnt until the girl actually put her phone inside her purse that she looked up. And she was shocked to see him wearing something else other than black. He really put the effort in, which shocked her even more. "Well I'll be damned, i-is that you Jack? Haha." Giggling childishly she managed to contain her excitement before already making her way to front door and gesturing for him to follow. "Christina is kind of having a meltdown so we need to hurry."