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Realistic or Modern Taking it Slow [P]

Gary Sue

The One who Vibes
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Another day, another new moments to cherish. That's how it usually went, but as of recently Gabriel was starting to have it rough with his college, family, friends, you name it. Just like most other days, he was out of his house, wandering around town. Last time, it was the park he went to to unwind. This time though, he wasn't sure. After wandering downtown for a fair bit, seeing couples, tourists and friend groups come and go, he got an idea. "If you can't beat them, join them.", he nodded to his own train of thought and made way for the marina, arriving within a few minutes and letting out a slightly refreshed sigh. The breeze helped ground him back to reality and unwind a bit. The best spot though always were the thick walls the wave crashers had been placed against.

The college student made his way further down the marina until he found a set of stairs leading up the wall, and within a matter of seconds he was already with the best view he could use for the occasion. There wasn't much more he could ask for than a pretty sea to look at, reflecting the soft sunshine at the start of dusk. Maybe if he'd gotten here earlier, he'd be able to enjoy it longer, but that was much to ask for. Gabe quietly seated himself by the edge of the wall, smiling and enjoying the view. After a while he looked around, seeing groups of friends huddled up together, discussing, laughing and sharing experiences, and then there was another person all alone, like him. With headphones on, she seemed to be enjoying the view just as he was.

He didn't want his motives to be misinterpreted, but... to hell with it. He quietly scuttled a bit closer, and leaned his head forward a bit as he tried to get a look at her face.
"Hello.", he grinned and waved slightly before straightening his back upright again. "You came here to relax too?", his best efforts to strike up conversation had started, although he was certain it wasn't the most... 'ordinary' way to do so. Now he could just rely on his softer voice and features to help him not look like a desperate playboy hitting on anything with two legs.
 
Another day, another... thing to look at, she supposed. She blew a plume of smoke from her cigarette as she stared rather blankly out into the horizon, an incredibly angry-sounding musical track blasting faintly out from her earbuds. She breathed in another gust of tobacco, closing her eyes as she did so, hanging her legs over the sea wall, the waves crashing just below her feet. Every time she looked over her shoulder, she saw people with friends, couples, families... and it kind of sucked. It sucked, because she found it so strange how rare lone people were. You'd think they'd be common, but sometimes it felt like it was just her. Like right now. The sea wind carried the smoke she was blowing away from her, sending the foul-smelling result away from her.

Crazy, to think where everything from her to this fucking wall came from, she thought. All the history that went into making a grey wall with a grey person sitting on it. She sighed, tossing the butt of her cigarette into the sea. It was at that moment, as one song ended and she was left with a moment of comparative silence, she spotted someone sitting near her. She sighed as she saw him open his mouth in her peripheral vision, pulling out an earbud, her blank stare out into the horizon now directing itself at the man, perhaps more sharply than she intended.

"...yeah, hey," she replied, about to turn her head back, naively believing that'd be the end of it. But his next question proved her wrong. Right. This is why she stayed in her apartment. She set her jaw for a second, swallowing a pang of anxious annoyance as she looked back into the water, her gaze relaxing a bit. Looking at her face, Gabe would notice sharp, somewhat dark, Mediterranean facial features, brown eyes reflecting something between apathy and simple boredom.

"Well- relaxing might not be the right word. Just... thinking, I guess. And- well..." she glanced back at him, as if examining him, trying to glean his intent, before shrugging, and continuing.

"Thinking isn't usually that relaxing... in my experience," she explained, before falling awkwardly silent.
 
Without the slightest clue why, it looked like whatever had happened to this one literally sucked the life out of her and left but an empty husk behind. Gabe scratched his head awkwardly and looked at the sea again before back at the new acquaintance. "Ah, you overthink things too?", he commented quietly and looked down at the waves, feeling some droplets land on to his legs. The water was cold, but such was the price for choosing to wear shorts and head near the sea. "I thought I had it badly cause things have been going horribly for me, but you're in a whole other league.", he somewhat rudely remarked with furrowed brows and a small frown on his face now in place of the grin he had before, crossing his arms and lifting his head to look into the sky.

"It's kinda good to know I'm not the only one.", the eccentric man continued on, not looking to be giving up on trying to have a discussion despite her sharp looks and cold attitude. She seemed to have a lot on her plate, and this would help... or at least he'd rather be looking out for her, but right now he was just trying to put himself at ease. He lowered his gaze again to look at his pale hands, letting out a deep sigh and looking back at the woman. "I'm Gabe. Full-time college student and part-time stressed out.", the brunette tried to make light of his situation and chuckled a bit, offering a hand to Calliope. "Everything's gone to hell recently so I came down here to... I guess just vibe a bit. The sea's pretty and I've gone everywhere else already this week, so keeping things fresh."

Despite it looking like a monologue, this was actually him trying to spark up a conversation still. Bubbly as he was, he sadly for some happened to be quite the chatterbox. He knew that some hated it, others appreciated it, and thankfully despite his voice being rather high pitched, it was just soft enough to not be irritating to most.
 
Cal nodded at his initial question, listening impassively as he spoke. She seemed to be more interested in looking at the water than looking at him, making it difficult to tell whether or not she was actually listening, fiddling with the earphone she had taken out idly. She sighed, tapping it with a finger until he rudely blurted out that she 'was in a whole other league'. She stopped, and gave him a partially confused, partially pissed off look.
"Fuck off, man. You think I need a sea-twink wearing shorts to tell me I've got problems?" she asked, scoffing.

"Yeah. Not the only one, I guess," she echoed in an annoyed tone, rolling her eyes before turning them back to the surf. Was this guy oblivious, stupid, or straight up mean, she wondered? As he extended his hand, she seemed to almost flinch as she turned her head back around, her mouth partially open as if ready to say some sharp retort. After realizing he was offering a handshake, she relaxed a bit, but didn't reach for his hand.
"...Gabe, hm. Cal," she said, waving her fingers at his hand as if to accept his handshake in spirit, if not in actual physical action.

"Everything's always been in hell bud. You're just figuring that out a bit later than me," she said, crossing one leg over another, pulling out another cigarette from the pack beside her, lighting it up and taking a puff.
"I... just ended up here. You- you ever just- start walking, and then next thing you know, you're just... somewhere?" she asked, holding the burning cigarette between two fingers and taking an occasional drag as she did so.

"Don't got nothin' to do outside work, so I usually just..." she trailed off. What did she usually do? Lay in bed, smoke, listen to overly aggressive music, drink occasionally...

Nothing she wanted to talk about, actually.

"I usually just stay in."
 
Gabriel being in a very sensitive spot, he'd normally take the comment personally and go quiet. But... "... Sea-twink sounds about right.", he said and sighed, feeling a bit more offended by her refusing to shake his hand than he did by her words. He quietly just slipped it back in one of his pockets, looking at the water quietly as she kept on going. "... That's exactly what I meant when I said she was in a whole other league, it sounds like she's going through a full on existential crisis...", he murmured to himself while paying attention to her own words, giving her some troubled looks from time to time. By the time she was finished though, he just nodded.

"Yeah, tell me about it. I haven't moved out of my house yet cause my college happens to be close, but my family's been hell to deal with. Can't really sit at home, so I end up just walking around to keep my head from catching a migraine.", the brunette explained his own experiences, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he did. "Are you sure you don't... you know, want to talk things out?", he rather boldly recommended to her, although he expected her to fully lash out with how short a fuse she seemed to have. "I-I mean, you sound... you've got a lot on your plate. I do too, that's why I tried to... y'know. Maybe it's not the best idea, but I'm kinda fucking lost at this point.", Gabe huffed in disappointment and what sounded like uncertainty, looking straight down at the waves that crashed and almost disappeared.

"You probably know what I mean. Just hanging in there for the sake of hanging in there. And it's lonely and miserable.", he finished his thoughts and let out another deep sigh, looking at her cigarette before towards the horizon again. "Everybody copes somehow. I can't really blame her for it."
 
She looked over at him. What, he was allowed to say shit, and she wasn't?
"Eh... sorry. I don't... do handshakes, or- well, a lot of touching. It's- not a you thing, it's just... you know," she said awkwardly, sighing. Why did being a decent person have to be so nerve-wracking? Probably because she's always been a bad person, she thought. "But- I dunno. I'm aware I look like I was hit by a car and told my dog just died at the same time right now, I just don't like being reminded about it, yeah?" she explained. Once he started going on, particularly about family, she seemed to purse her lips, idly chucking the nearest pebbles into the sea.

"Family... yeah. Shitty how the people you're stuck with your whole life can hurt you the most, right?" she asked, holding the cigarette between her teeth for a second while she removed her second earphone, putting the pair of them back in her pocket, before taking it back out and sighing.

"I packed up soon as they signed the form sayin' I could. Can't tell if it's the best or worst decision I've ever made, to be honest," she admitted. When he proposed 'talking it out', she gave him a rather bemused look, until he went on, explaining himself.

She blew out another plume of smoke towards the sea, before shrugging.


"I mean, we're already talkin'. Ain't like I can stop you either."
 
There was nothing wrong with what she said, if anything she had him nodding alongside her quietly until she was done. "I get that they're family and all, but... I wouldn't mind a break.", he sighed and looked to the side at her, realising she probably was going through much of the same. "... I guess she just works to work and keep afloat. Sorta same boat I'm stuck in.", the boy remained quiet for a moment, swinging his legs and just taking a few deep breaths to enjoy the scene. "College has been bad, family has been irritating at best, my friend group keeps breaking up over the smallest of things. I just want to... dig a hole, or something, and jump right in for a while. You know?"

Gabe wanted to talk to her about pretty much everything, but there was little to start or to even describe the situation. Maybe it was a better idea to focus on her own situation and help her unwind, then she'd ease up and help him out too. At least that's what the 'sea-twink' thought, for now. "You're independent from your parents now, aren't you? Unless you have a horrible job, you're probably better off that way.", his words of encouragement were genuine, but he was being careful about whatever he said from this point onward. "The new city? If you've moved out you probably weren't from here to begin with, right? How's that going for you?"
 
Cal closed her eyes as he talked. They looked tired, bags under them and all, as she seemed to relax into her seated position a bit, crossed legs dangling towards the sea. When he continued on, she didn't respond, mostly because she wasn't entirely sure what to say. I mean, in some ways they had similar problems, and in other ways they were the opposite. He was looking for a break, she was wanting something, anything to happen. Even if it was just a distraction for a little while. Being left to her own devices for years... wasn't good for her at all. Something told Cal that Gabe didn't entirely know what he was asking for.

"College, family, friends... a lot to manage, sure, but... least you've got them, right? Jumping down a hole or whatever... it's not worth it, figuratively or literally. Take it from me," she said, sighing.

"You get down there, and it feels nice for a week. But then you start losing shit. You know. Dropping out of college, stop calling family, fall out of touch with friends... fuck, after a while you lose the shovel and you're just stuck down there," she said, rubbing her eyes with a hand.

"Not that I- ever made it into college, or that it would be a good idea to call my family, but... you know what I mean," she said.

"Yeah. Actually got all the paperwork and shit done to leave at sixteen. Job isn't horrible, it's... eh. I moved here... three years ago, now. It's... you know. Every day feels the same, waking up in the same bed staring at the same ceiling to do the same thing... barely make it to work, some days," she admitted. Gabe... wasn't so bad, she supposed. He made it easy to talk to him, at least.

"I'm just... tired, you know?" she asked.
 
Yet another few cold, hard facts from Cal, and he'd just found himself nodding along. "... Speaking to someone like this about how things are going badly probably makes me look greedy. She has nothing and meanwhile I'm complaining how things aren't great.", he commented on himself while she kept on going, and... it sounded like he was struck down by overload. She was struck down by the mundanities of life. "... It sounds like we're both the same, but we're nothing alike.", he commented himself and didn't even bother trying to make sense of it. He knew he wouldn't be able to make any more sense out of any of this in his current state.

Quietly lowering himself further and further back, he eventually laid down on the concrete wall and looked at the sky blankly, letting out a deep sigh in agreement. "... I know. Tired sounds right.", Gabriel mumbled and placed the back of his hand to his forehead, continuing to wing his legs back and forth as water kept occasionally splashing the both of them. "Isolating for a while wouldn't hurt. From... you know, all this. Just hopping in a hole with a ladder and climbing back out whenever.", he thought aloud, raising his hand from his forehead quietly and looking at its palm. "Just phasing out and waking up a few days later. Hell, a week. It'd be relaxing, and everything would be back to normal. Sweet dream, right?", he almost pouted to Cal and gave her a toothy grin, knowing he was asking for too much. "Yeah, right..."
 
She didn't reply to his first statement, letting the sea spray wash against her legs as she folded her arms. She understood where Cal was coming from, despite her own problems. She'd been overloaded, pushed around, bullied about by family and friends before.

She glanced over at him as he laid down, taking a deep breath. Why did she, of all people, have to come into existence as a result of a freak hyperthermic incident that led to the creation of the universe and all life? Actual one in several trillion chance. The worst luck of all, really. She bit her cheek. She'd had thoughts like that before. They never ended well. In fact, they ended in some of the worst mistakes she'd ever made in her life. So she simply kept her teeth in contact with flesh until her mind forced itself to move on.

"A ladder? Now you've just ruined my analogy. How am I supposed to philosophically monologue about my problems to a relative stranger if he ruins my analogies?" she asked, turning to him with a look that bordered on amusement. She offered him a slight upward turn of her lips in response to his initial smile, that quickly vanished.

"Nah, but... getting people to leave you alone for a week is a lot of effort. Involves staying in... a lot. To the point where your wondering if it was worse than just being stressed out. I still don't know, and I'm doing both," she said.

"But yeah. That'd be a nice dream," she agreed.
 
She got him thinking right now. He remained silent, clenching his fist and placing the back of his hand back on his forehead again. "Hey, Cal. Are you relaxing right now?", he awkwardly asked and looked to the side at her, giving a small smile as he checked on her. If she were still talking despite how aggressive she was at first, especially if even she was offering smiles, she had to be taking some form of pleasure in their conversation. "I can't stay in and you have nothing to do. Why don't we just go out at some point?", Gabe bluntly asked her, pursing his lips in thought and trying to tap his foot on the back of the wall, to little success.

"Let's go for a hike or something. Some walk, I don't know. Help the greenhouse in your lungs get some fresh air.", he tried to poke some fun at the smoking, grinning slightly and exhaling deeply. "That way I won't be alone for a week. Or staying in. And it'd be the same for you.", the boy finished his train of thought, getting back up and stretching with a yawn before he pulled himself further back on the wall and crossed his legs. "It is relaxing though. Probably the most relaxing walk out I've had in a while, existential crisis and all included."

For however much he looked like a downer a few moments ago, he was back on track and trying to be his bubbly self again. It really did calm him down, to have someone else suffering the same as he was. He'd have said that out loud to her, but then he'd just sound like a dick. "What do you say?"
 
Cal looked at him as he asked his initial question, puffing on the quickly reducing cigarette in her fingers occasionally, tapping a boot against the wall occasionally, the heavy heel clicking against it.
"Relaxing? Hm. I dunno, really," she said. That was an honest answer, even if it might not sound like it. Keeping track of how she was feeling was a fair bit harder for her than it perhaps should've been.

When he began his blunt request, she looked over and arched a brow, giving him a bemused expression. When he continued to mention a hike, she huffed amusedly, looking him over.

"Mhm. Me. A guy I don't know. Hiking. Alone. Now, if you were a woman with no connections to fall back on, what would you say to that?" she asked, smirking, her brow still arched sarcastically. Her gaze was almost withering, for a few moments, as if dripping with expectation, until she broke her expression, snickering as she looked away.

"Ah, jeez. 'Hey, wanna go to the woods with me?' You need to take a class on what the ladies like," she said, letting out a small bout of laughter.

"That's- pfft, oh that's good... and- wait, you- pftha- oh god, that's- 'You relaxed? You wanna take a hike?'" she said, before continuing to struggle not to laugh too hard as to be a complete bitch. Her laughter was almost flute-like, airy, higher-pitched, yet somewhat soft, her hard features melting into a much more personable expression. She did eventually managed to pull herself together, pinching the bridge of her nose as she pulled her expression back together, but with a smile that definitely wasn't present before.

"Oh, man. I'm sorry, that was totally- pft- uh- whew. That was a dick move, sorry," she said, raising a hand apologetically.
 
When put in context, yeah, his question went from sounding innocent to making him look like a creep and little else. His cheeks got a red tint from embarrassment as she kept on driving her point home, getting a slight growl out of him before he gave a flustered "F-Fuck off!". It didn't sound as menacing as when she said it though, granted... she was the one bullying him this time around. Actually, hadn't it been that way since they started talking? "You called me a twink just a few minutes ago, I didn't expect you to suddenly feel threatened by me.", he tried to talk back, but just swallowed the truth and gave her a nod. If only that's the worst 'dick move' one could pull...

"You're right though. I should probably be less stupid with what I say.", Gabe admitted quietly and rubbed the back of his neck, taking comfort in the fact he'd managed to make her smile at least this once. "... I feel like a complete jackass, but at least she's enjoying it.". The laughter made for a pretty sweet moment, and put a smile on his face. "You look more friendly when you're going all chew toy.", he grinned and looked back at the sea, the sun having almost completely disappeared as the lights from the marina had all lit up. "... Are you going to head home, or you feel like going for a walk? It's going to start getting cold.", he proposed, mostly to keep the conversation going now that he managed to open her up past her initial gloominess, and because he was going to freeze up next to the sea, at night, with just shorts and a thin jacket slapped on.
 
She let out one final snicker before covering her mouth with a hand when he reached maximum blusteriness, uncrossing her legs and leaning back on her hands, looking over at him and discarding her second cigarette butt of the evening. She let out a long, decidedly more relaxed breath, giving him a teasing, amused look as his complexion grew more noticeably red.

"Who knows? Maybe your some secret bodybuilder, yeah?" she asked, before looking at his legs which were only half covered by his shorts and making a face that implied that, on second thought, she was wrong.

"Eh, alright. Either way, I'm not into getting into fistfights in the woods if I can avoid it, you feel me?" she asked, shrugging and leaning back forward, freeing up her hands from being leaned on. She gave a little chuckle at the mention of her newfound 'friendliness' and his continued embarrassment. She seemed to ease off on him at that point, and started taking his proposition a bit more seriously, thinking about it for a moment, although she found it amusing that despite the previous embarrassment, he seemed wholly undeterred.

"Well- damn, most people would just give up after that. Alright, I respect the play..." she said, pulling her legs back underneath her, and moving to stand. She winced as she did so, clutching her back, with the simple process of just standing seeming to be more painful than it perhaps should for the average person, she twisted her neck, prompting it to crack rather loudly, as she let out a groan.
"If it's head home and stare at a wall or the adventures of the mysterious sea-twink, I think I'll choose the latter," she said, stretching her legs. "You coming?"
 
Although he didn't try to talk back this time, holding back became increasingly harder. The more she teased, the more it kept sounding like she was throwing out innuendos left and right. Her stares, the faces she made and the amused looks kept getting more and more of a rise out of him. "S-Stop making it sound like I'm trying to shag you!", he said and laughed, struggling to keep a straight face after almost shouting that so naturally. "There ain't anything to do though, if I had anyone else to talk to, then maybe... Plus she's enjoying herself, even if... that means bullying me, but.".

And there it was again, that beautiful nickname she'd decided to give him. "Please avoid snapping your spine in half...", he flinched at the loud crack, getting up himself and shivering as a cold breeze blew by. He didn't seem to wait for her to take the lead before getting back down from the wall and on to the pathway that led either further down the marina, or toward the town. "My god, it's so much better without the stupid wind...", he nodded to himself and rubbed his hands together, looking back at Cal as she made her way down to the path too.

"Say... why 'sea'-twink? I don't remember showing up as a mermaid.", Gabe asked with a raised eyebrow, zipping his jacket and putting his hands in its pockets, before he began to head towards the town, at a pace slow enough where she'd be walking alongside him. He made sure to be a bit further to the side though, trying not to make her too uncomfortable. The last thing he wanted to reinforce right now was the idea that he was hitting on her.
 
Cal pretended to be surprised by the accusation, bringing a hand to her chest as she moved to keep up with him. Her balance didn't seem bad, but at times it seemed a bit... off. Stumbling over her own feet a little bit for seemingly no reason, seeming to struggle not to lag behind.
"I never said anything about shagging. You sure you're not the only one thinking like that?" she asked, a smug expression on her face as she did so. She sighed, rubbing her neck at the mention of her spine.

"Yeah yeah. Very funny," she said, playing it off with a smirk. She didn't want to be hypocritical, but talking about how... well, her entire body was right now wasn't exactly a preferred topic. For several reasons. She looked away, yawning and rubbing her eyes again.

"Agh. Miss the wind already. Keeps me lively, y'know?" she asked as her yawn tapered off. "And- you aren't a sea twink because your a twink of the sea, you're a sea twink because you're a twink by the sea," she explained, giving him a patronizing look.

"A common misconception," she said, trying her best to channel a condescending teacher impression.
 
Gabe took note of her hardship keeping up with him, and eventually slowed down his walking speed to be more casual, stroll-like. He might as well do what he can not to give her a hard time, he thought to himself and before he knew it, she was back to normal. "You're the one bringing up-", he almost immediately took the bait this time, seeing her expression and laughing again as he huddled his own arms closer to himself. "You're doing it on purpose again, bug off.", he murmured and puffed out his cheeks, listening to her and just coming to the same conclusion he did before.

She felt more alive by the cold wind blowing against her everything, while he on the other hand felt one step closer to getting a frostbite. A wee bit sensitive when it came to temperature was all. "Thank you for the lesson, Miss All-Things-Twink. It's truly a mystery how you're not an associate professor at campus yet, I think applications are open right now.", the boy went from miffed to smug pretty quickly, grinning and looking toward the street just a bit further ahead. "And so, the sea twink evolves into a land twink?", he looked to the side with an eyebrow raised while they waited for the street light to go green so they could cross into the more central parts of town.
 
When she saw him slow down, she struggled to keep down a pang of annoyance. It wasn't at him exactly, although in yesteryears she would've taken it out on the nearest person, but rather at herself. One mistake, and now people had to treat her like a senior. It wasn't a great feeling. She appreciated how wordlessly he did it though, continuing the conversation like nothing happened.

"Mmm, wow, just blame me, huh?" she asked, harrumphing dramatically. When he pointed out she was doing it on purpose she shrugged her shoulders, shrinking in on herself a bit and laughing mischievously.

"Oh, they would never hire me. My running theory is that they're all terrified my towering intellect would leave them all jobless," she said flippantly, adjusting the strings of her hoodie to be a bit looser. She pressed the button of the street light a few more times, as if it would make it turn faster, before it finally did. Satisfied as they began to cross, she turned to respond to him again.
"Well, no. Sea twink sounds funnier," she said, wrinkling her nose as if he'd made a preposterous assumption.

"So, what isolated, undisclosed location are you going to take me to, might I ask?"
 
He gave her an entertained look when she tried to play innocent, grinning at the self-compliments and nodding along. "They're sure to be quaking in their boots at the very idea.", he added to the joke, chuckling. Once they'd crossed the street, he gave her a blank stare, the tint on his cheeks having become commonplace by this point. "At this point, you're the one trying to take the sea twink to an isolated location. You wanna say something?", Gabriel grumbled and looked away with a 'humph', looking about the street as the two walked aimlessly. "Well... I don't know. I just walk and go wherever I can without looking dumb. We can go by the park or just run some circles around the town.", he proposed and looked to the side with a faint smile.

"As much as she seemed to be in a horrible mood, she's getting along pretty well right now.", the thought just made him smile a bit more, but knowing Cal this was going to turn into an 'admiring me?' comment that he'd have to do his best to brush off again. "Is there anywhere you wanna head? Other relaxing spots I could steal from you. I could use a few ideas.", he asked her, knowing she might have explored some parts of town that he'd completely neglected.
 
She smirked at his added quip, sticking her hands in her hoodie's pockets and rolling her shoulders, grimacing slightly as she did so. "Ow, what a pain in the ass," she murmured, freeing one of her hands rubbing one of the shoulders in question, before realizing that Gabe was still staring at her.

"Do I got something on my face?" she asked, arching a brow before rubbing her face as if there was actually something there, making it perhaps unclear whether that was a sarcastic response or not.

"Do- man, do I look like someone that could take down a sea twink right now?" she asked, gesturing at herself. Honestly? She didn't really. Her posture was somewhat more hunched than what could be described as comfortable, still looking a bit uncomfortable from whatever she'd somehow strained a few moments ago.

"And- says the guy staring me down, shaking me down for all my secret spots. You trying to track me down, guy?" she joked, trying to politely deflect the question. Places like that were places she wanted to be left alone. Maybe another time, she thought, before realizing that would imply they would stay in touch after this.

Man, did she want to say something? Blech, she had no idea. "Alright, hotshot. Maybe I'll show off one. But if you come in there with all your friends and stink the place up, I will not be a happy woman," she warned. She took a sudden turn, parallel to the marina they'd come from, towards the edge of town, and began to jaywalk across the street, seeing as it was rather bare of traffic at the moment. She'd turn to face him.

"You coming?"
 
Gabe quietly shook his head at the question as he watched her rub her face, blinking quietly and then running his eyes up and down her figure. "I mean... you're being the hunchback of Notre Dame, but I doubt I could push you back for the life of me.", he replied and looked down at his hands before his eyes went back to the street. "I'm kinda weak and I don't like being violent either, so... there's that.", he muttered and returned his eyes to her, flinching at the shakedown joke. "I'll never get anywhere with this lady, sheesh...", he was quick to note mentally before she actually extended an offer.

"Huh, for real?", the brunette was dumbfounded, planting his feet in place for a moment. And before he knew it, she was crossing the street with her back turned to the other side, although thankfully there were no cars in sight. "D-Don't do that, get across before you turn around!", he scolded her and ran over, quickly making his way across and giving her a look filled with genuine worry. They were back on their merry way with Cal leading ahead, and after a short while, Gabriel tried explaining his position. "I'm asking for myself, not for any friend groups. If I felt any more lax around them, I'd be with them instead of soul searching by the ocean."

That's right. If anything, she had to thank his friends for allowing the creation of the all mighty sea twink. A title that although somewhat odd at first, he could probably wear as a badge of honor on his chest if he had to. "We're heading out of the town instead of in?", he asked her and raised an eyebrow, albeit still following her just the same.
 
At the hunchback comment, she fell silent for a moment, grappling with a flare of insecure anger, biting her tongue before she said something she'd regret.

"I- uhm- haha, yeah..." she said, scratching her head while letting out a rather obviously fake laugh, straightening her back somewhat hastily, looking away before her expression twisted to one of brief physical discomfort, finishing her walk to the other side of the road before waiting for him to catch up.

"It's fine. I looked both ways! Or, listened both ways. I didn't hear any cars, so it was fine," she said, shrugging. She gave his deeply concerned expression an amused once-over

"And- good. Not a lot of places with a lack of douchebags hanging out anymore," she said as she walked, sighing. "I mean one of them was taken over by this dude who really wanted to take me into the woods late in the evening. Can you believe that?" she asked, before snorting amusedly and picking up her pace slightly down the sidewalk, seemingly eager to get wherever they were going.

"Yup out of town. It's a bit windy, sorry, but it's worth it," she promised.
 
Just when he thought things were getting better, just when she had stopped mentioning the hiking proposal... "I didn't say anything about today or it even being at evening..! M-Man, I wish I was a mermaid so I could drag you into the ocean now...", he grumbled under his breath and gave her an embarrassed look, checking the sea every now and then and then looking back at her. "Ah, so you are looking to torture me for being the fool I am.", he replied to the windy comment, having noted before that she seemed to enjoy the breeze while he wasn't too well dressed for the occasion.

No matter, she seemed to have promising tastes when it came to heading to more relaxing spots. Out of town was a bit out of his comfort zone, but that had recently transformed into a discomfort zone, so maybe change would be good for once. "I don't go that far out usually, but... now you got me curious where it is. I trust you though.", he quietly reassured her and from that point onwards, remained relatively quiet, past the occasional jabs at his stupid idea earlier, when he'd always take the bait without fail. It looked like Gabe wanted to enjoy the scenery, and having someone else give him something to do for once didn't hurt either. It was nice to just be able to throw his head back, relax and let someone take the lead.
 
Cal's eyebrows shot up at the mention of dragging her into the ocean, turning to face him once again, looking as if she were struggling not to laugh. "Drag me into the ocean? Pray tell, what precisely would this hypothetical mermaid version of you do once you had me in the ocean?" she asked , placing a hand on her hip, and giving him a very questioning look.

"Well- maybe I'm trying to keep you busy so you don't in fact drag me beneath the waves, keeping the wind upon your sea-touched skin so as to keep you weak," she said, chuckling and shaking her head.
She kept them walking at a good pace, despite her previous discomfort, soon taking them out of town, out towards the coast again, but not towards the marina. There was a stretch of park land there, trails leading through trees every which and where, crickets growing audible as time passed.

"Oh, you trust me? I've got you enraptured? Enraptured enough to drag me into your seaborne lair, even?" she taunted, as she took an abrupt turn down a trail, out towards a clearing that was starting to become visible, that seemed to be overlooking the water.

"One seaside spot to another. We're almost there. This is where I go when the marina gets too crowded, or... I just need to get out of town," she explained.
 
Yet again, she'd managed to make whatever he said sound like another attempt to hit on her or corner her somehow. Another, as expected, flustered reaction as he just raised his hands to his face to cover it, grumbling and almost squealing. "P-Pray fucking god there's a day that not blushing feels normal...", he mumbled before lowering his face and with an embarrassed look, just staring back at her. "I'm not trying to do you..!", he cried out and kept following behind, huffing in an exasperated exhale. He wasn't reaching his limit or anything, but the burning up on his cheeks felt more and more tiring as she kept nonstop teasing him.

"With the amount of resistance you put up, you'd better not be projecting about the woods thing lady...", he quietly said as they entered the park and followed her down the trail, taking the taunting quietly and with a mental retort "She says as she tries to lure me into hers...". He paid close attention to the ground to make sure he wouldn't trip any and get hurt while following along. "This really is a small walk away from town, huh?", Gabe mused and noticed Cal had been walking faster than before, probably because she must have been excited. "The amount of walking you must have done to find this spot is... pretty surprising.", he praised her somewhat, although it might rub her the wrong way. It came out naturally though, so there was little room for regrets really.
 

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