[Madison Ardnell]

Madison was not late. Madison was never late. It was a deliberate choice, stemming partly from his desire to do what he had to do with complete accuracy and partly for the favor, however small, it gained him with the teachers. He was scrupulous about doing his homework, keeping to the dress code, never getting caught breaking a rule. (That last was made much easier when you had a power that prevented people from sneaking up in you.) After all, when something came before the attention of the teachers, who were they going to believe- the kid who'd always been good, or the troublemaker? The HFT of offenses (that's "holy freakin' trinity", except "freakin' was not usually the word used) at EMBA was smoking, alcohol, and sex. Madison was so far only guilty of the first two, but the semester was still young.

He had stepped over from hus assigned lab space to have a few words with another on-time arrival when his lab partner arrived. Keaira looked flustered, clearly trying to make up for her previous record of lateness in getting here soon enough. Madison internally shook his head and chuckled.

Excusing himself he went over to the space assigned for the two of them. "Afternoon, Keaira," he said. "How are you today?"

Keaira Matthews

[Keaira Matthews]

TAG: @                                         Words### Being perpetually tardy despite her numerous attempts at punctuality was maddeningly frustrating. However, if there was anything that perturbed Keaira more than her failure to consistently arrive to class on time it was the fact that Madison had arrived before her. MADISON! Of all people! Somewhere in the back of the brunette's mind, Keke realized that  it probably wasn't fair of her to make such a snap judgment about what kind of person Madison was based solely on his atrocious behavior in ballet. Still, it was her first interaction with the  arrogant young man  and the impression that he'd left upon Keke was less than stellar, to say the least.  It was quite possible that perhaps had the teen never found herself in the position of being partnered with Madison in this class that she would have content to  allow her first impression of him be her only impression of him.  Which left the teen with a couple of options;  minimize her interactions with Madison doing just enough to get their project finished as quickly as possible or actually take some time to get to know each other in hopes that they would discover enough common ground that they'd be able to better tolerate one another. Particularly because as she understood it, changing partners was not an option and she'd be stuck with Madison for the remainder of the year. After all, no one could be all bad, could they? He had to have some redeeming qualities, didn't he?  Almost as if on cue, as if her thoughts had summoned him to her, Madison crossed the room to where she was seated. For some strange reason the thought of her thoughts drawing him to her lingered within the teenager's mind perhaps a bit longer than they should have. Was it possible that they had? For all she knew he could very well be a telepath. It wasn't like they'd discussed their powers with each other. Or that she would ever expect them to get to that level of comfort with one another in which they would. Still now that the idea had taken root, a deep scarlet hue seeped into her cheeks. As much of as she hadn't necessarily been a huge fan of her old school, the sixteen year old now oddly found herself missing it. Or at the very least missing normal awkwardness in social interactions where she was more concerned with things like whether or not  her clothing was in style  rather than whether a potential new friend was a mind reader or not.  Granted, she hadn't been hosting any inappropriate thoughts at the time, but a person's mind just seemed like an immensely personal thing to have a person invade.  He had greeted her. He'd greeted her and she hadn't responded. The technopath was merely sitting there slack jawed blushing furiously. for seemingly no apparent reason. Finally finding her voice, Keaira replied "Morning! Afternoon, rather. Is it after noon? Well, I mean it is technically after Noon, so I guess it would be afternoon wouldn't it? " Oh my gosh, Keke, can you be more of a spazz, the teen scolded herself as her blush worked its way all the way up to the tips of her ears.  Smiling sheepishly,the brunette tried again "That didn't really make sense, did it," she inquired. "Well, I meant to say was.," Keaira started as her hand reached up to smooth a lock of hair out of her face ,Keke leaned forward unaware of the placement of the metallic tongs on the table which once coming into contact with her elbow fell onto the floor with a loud clang.  "Dammit, I can't do anything right today," the teen swore. I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new

credit to Laura of Adox

[Madison Ardnell]

To Madison's eye, Keira was practically screaming information about herself. Her nervousness, her feeling of awkwardness, her... dislike of Madison? What had he done? It annoyed Madison that she already had an opinion of him; he much preferred to be the person in charge of forming such opinions. If someone was going to dislike him, he at least wanted the pleasure of earning it!

But he knew enough to know the proper next step. Keeping a smile on his face, he chuckled at her awkward greeting. "I got the picture. Damn, it's nice out today. Too bad they won't let us do this outside, huh?"

He was facing her, face and posture carefully calculated to show what he wanted her to see. His shirt was just tight enough across his chest to make his pectoral muscles visible- her awkwardness was the sort that would bleed easily into noticing such things. It never hurt to be hot.

"What, just because you dropped these?" he said, bending down to grab the tongs. "Surely it's not that bad."

Setting the tongs down, he took his seat next to her. "What do we have today? Binary chemical reactions? Oxidation and reducing agents? Okay, not so bad, I guess."

Keaira Matthews

[Keaira Matthews]

 

TAG: @ ;                                                 Words### By her own admission, despite being rather academically gifted, Keaira didn't possess many other talents save for one; an innate ability to not only detect one's most positive attributes but to encourage them to showcase them to others. It was her calling so to speak and she was good at it...usually. Keke had as of yet to ascertain Madison's redeeming quality and as she refused to believe that he simply didn't have any the only logical conclusion for the brunette to draw was that she hadn't made an earnest effort . But why? That was the question. Why had she been so content to allow her pre conceived notions of Madison to linger for so long? Taking his poor behavior in ballet at face value was an affront to her inner scientist.  It was almost as if a part of her had no interest in being proven wrong about him. Like she preferred to cling to her prior assessment of his character even if her logic and reasoning behind the conclusion she'd hastily drawn was flawed. But to what end? Her continued disassociation with him? Was that it? She needed a reason to justify her alienation? This was a first, and to be honest more than a little unsettling. Perhaps, she was merely overanalyzing things as usual. After all, Madison was just a boy. A boy.... with a really cute smile, but a boy nonetheless. She'd talked to boys before, right? Well, actually no. Not, really. She'd babbled incoherently and they usually nodded politely and smiled till something else eventually  stole their attention. As she heard a low chuckle escape Madison's throat, the teenager lifted her gaze to study his face. Well, she'd definitely been right about the cute smile. Why hadn't she ever noticed that before? More importantly, why was she noticing that now?  Focus, Keke, Focus, the teenager thought to herself. If she had any chances of getting through this class without Madison painting her as a blithering moron she had to at the very least refrain from looking directly into that smile. Choosing instead to focus on his words, the sixteen year old's gaze flitted over to the window as he commented on the weather. He had a point. It was a radiant day with the sun's ray reflecting beautifully and brilliantly off the glass. Nodding, the technopath replied " Preferable, but a bit impractical I'm afraid. While I admittedly haven't read over the details of today's experiment in full, there's always a probability of the reaction becoming or being volatile. Should that be the case the local flora is highly unlikely to be able to withstand such volatility."  Oh, she was doing it again wasn't she? Meeting idle small talk with sound logic, because that was what every boy liked right? Cogitation and Sound Reasoning.  Wait, what did it matter what boys liked? Well, not boys, plural, Keaira reasoned. What was wrong with her today? Slightly concerned that the chaos that was unfolding in her mind was visible on her face, Ke's gaze flitted back to Madison. Well... it would seem that the brunette had found another place to focus attention other than his smile, but she wasn't sure that it was in any way appropriate. In fact, her cheeks burned with her modesty as she noted the way that the delicate fabric of Madison's shirt clung to his torso showcasing his rather impressive pectoral muscles.  Averting her gaze would be rude as you were supposed to look at the person that you were speaking to, but wouldn't continuing to stare at his chest be even ruder? Much to her relief, Madison bent to retrieve the tongs that she had dropped earlier, giving her a chance to tear her gaze away and he placed them back in their previous spot before moving to take his seat beside her. Shaking her head, she continued "It's more than just that. It's just been a bad day all around. I've been running behind schedule all day today.  I spilled a soda on my favorite blouse so I had to rush and change after my first class.  No matter how hard I try, I'm still a disaster in ballet and  despite the fact that I am actually pretty good at  writing in Spanish and singing in Spanish I still get points off on stuff because my pronunciation is terrible. It's just been an awful day, but I'm sure you don't really want to hear about all that."  Looking down at the sheet of paper that was sitting on the table between the pair, Keaira answered "Um, well it looks like today we have binary chemical reactions. Oxidation and reducing agents is scheduled for tomorrow.  Technically none of our reports are due for any of these until the end of the week so I suspect that we can do them in any order we choose. Which would you like to do first? I mean what are you must comfortable or familiar with?" I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new

credit to Laura of Adox

[Madison Ardnell]

As he approached, nervousness seemed to break out of her emotions like the sun breaking through the clouds. Interesting. She really hadn't had a good day; he knew that from her face before she said it in words. But the slight attraction was still there; he saw that too. Of course, slight attraction didn't necessarily mean anything; he knew he was attractive and that females often noticed this, but it took work to leverage that into something more concrete. It was a tool, that was all.

At her comment about local flora he found himself raise an eyebrow. “Local flora? You think the grass can't handle it? Won't it grow back?” He felt her notice and his body and stretched his shoulders very slightly, emphasizing his pecs. It gave him a thrill to unbalance people in all the right ways: a dozen little pushes, a swathe of tiny things, each amplifying discomfort until the victim's cheek were burning and she couldn't say a word without stumbling. And all the time he'd play innocent and happy, as if he was blissfully unaware of what he was doing to her.

It was fun.

When she described her day so far he nodded sympathetically. “That sounds like it sucks. Hey, we could work on Spanish sometime if you wanted; I'm decent at pronunciation.” That was true, though he was weak in other areas, which he didn't mention. Why put down yourself if you didn't have to? He moved himself closer to read the paper which was on the table, in the process, and being very aware he was doing it, moving himself closer to Keaira without quite touching her. He scratched at his chest, making the motion look perfectly natural.

“Let's do binary first. I think that leads into the other stuff? This is the AB, CD to AD, CB thing, right?”

Keaira Matthews

[Keaira Matthews]

TAG: @                                                       Words### This was so unlike her, Keaira thought to herself with frustration. What was wrong with her today? Socializing with boys had always been something of a challenge for the brunette, but never could she recall a time in which she'd been rendered so flustered by someone that she couldn't form coherent sentences. There was a first time for everything, the teen knew, but this certainly wasn't a first that Keke could appreciate. Losing her inhibitions was  indeed a terrifying thing for one whom prided herself on self control. The gentle rise of Madison's brow somehow wrenched her from her reverie. as he inquired as to whether or not the grass would be able to regrow. As her anxiety intensified, the teenager had begun to absent-mindedly twirl a lock of hair about her index finger. Clearing her throat, Keaira started "Well,  I suppose it could. It just depends on what kind of chemicals we use and how badly the grass is burned as a result.  If the roots are still healthy then new growth shouldn't be inhibited, but  if we manage to scorch the glass to its roots then re seeding might be necessary which is quite  a hassle even for just a small patch. It is probably better that we err on one die of caution anyway, because..." Keke broke off mid sentence, her cheeks reddening as she realized that her mother's influence was showing. Much to her surprise,  Madison offered  to assist her with her pronunciation.  It was a kind offer and one that shouldn't be regarded with suspicion and yet  Keaira found herself wondering whether or not it was because he felt sympathy towards her because she'd had such a rotten day or it was genuinely out of the goodness of his own heart. With her grade in Spanish suffering, the sixteen year old was hardly in a position to turn down a tutor. Suddenly, a thought came her! Wait, was he....was he asking her out? Like on a date? A study date, but a date nonetheless... No...not of course not. That would be ridiculous. Guys rarely looked at her in that regard. Offering Madison a sheepish grin, Kearia replied "Really? I totally suck at rolling my Rs. I think that's the bulk of my problem  with pronunciation. If you could help me with that, I am pretty sure that the rest will be a piece of cake." In an effort to better see the paper detailing their experiment for the day, Madison had to move a little closer to it and  in essence...her. As he did so, Keke was once again very aware of the prominence of Madison's pecs. Were they somehow more noticeable then they had been a few minutes ago... no... that was absurd, but man did he smell nice, the brunette noted. Nodding her head numbly, Keke answered "Uh...yeah. Pretty much or Fe(s) + Sg(s)? But yeah that's pretty much the gist of it. I assume that mastering this will help us better understand and be more prepared for the  lesson on Oxidation. " Having been so wrapped up in her conversation with Madison, Keaira hadn't noticed that the classroom had begun filling up until the teacher strolled in and instructed everyone to don their safety goggles and turn on their Bunsen burners. I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new

credit to Laura of Adox

[Madison Ardnell]

"Awesome," he said when she agreed to meet him. She was giving off signals of attraction but no signals that she knew if he reciprocated. The game now was ambiguity. Be just nice enough that she thought he might find her attractive. Keep her in suspense until she simply had to know. With the right moves he could wrap her around his little finger, become her secret obsession. He rather liked the idea of that. But that would take time, and for now the key was to be just a little aloof. Keep her guessing.

"Meet at 3:30 maybe? Under the big tree near the pond?" His choice of an outdoor, "Romantic" location was not a coincidence in the slightest. Oh, no. But his body language and smile were merely friendly. He changed the subject to the day's worksheet and they had begun going through it when the professor came in and instructed them to get ready and turn on their Bunsen burners and put on their goggles.

And here came the first problem. Keke had put hers on the work bench, and, when she hadn't been looking, Madison had hidden them. This caused a bit of a scuffle that ended with the professor saying sternly, "Miss Matthews, surely you know to be prepared when you come to chemistry lab," and at just that moment Madison had said, "Wait, I actually think I might have an extra," and reached into his backpack and pulled out his spare and presented them to Keira.

See, that was how you did this. When a girl was uncomfortable, she naturally gravitated towards the person who got her out. You didn't need big acts to wrap them around your finger, most of the time. Just little nudges.

[Keaira Matthews]

TAG: @                                           Words### Keaira  was confused; it was a state of mind that the brunette wasn't familiar with and quite frankly didn't like at all.  After ballet class, Keke was fairly sure that she knew precisely what kind of person that Madison was and had treated him as such. However, his offering to assist her with Spanish without asking for anything in return had given her pause. Although, if she were being honest, Madison's choice of locale for their meet-up seemed a bit odd. Beautiful, to be certain as the brunette had always found nature to be a relaxing environment, but not necessarily appropriate for studying. Frowning, the sixteen year old  replied "3:30 is fine, but outside though? Seems like it might be a bit distracting don't you think?" The location actually proved to be a bit more of a conundrum for the teenager than it should have been as Keaira was quite a big fan of nature and yet her studious nature didn't allow for much of any interruption in her studies. She had been about to suggest the library wherein she'd located a cozy little nook near the back that was rarely occupied in a section not often frequented which would all but insure that they wouldn't be disturbed when the teacher gave the instruction to put on their goggles and turn on their Bunsen burners. It was a simple instruction that should have been easily executed and yet... where the hell were her goggles? The teenager could have sworn that she had placed them on her work bench and yet they were nowhere to be found.  Frantically, Keaira sifted through the items on the bench becoming more and more agitated by the minute as the goggles resolutely refused to materialize.  To make matters worse her frenzied motions had not gone without notice as the teacher chastised her quite unapologetically for being unprepared.  Mortified, the technopath's cheeks tinged bright pink as her head drooped in shame. Suddenly, Madison's voice piped up from beside her, informing both her and the teacher that he possessed an extra pair of goggles that he would happily loan her.  While disappointment lingered in the older woman's eyes, she said nothing further. Instead the ornery professor merely gave the pair of them a curt nod before moving on.  Still a bit disappointed in herself and feeling more than a little abashed, Keaira took the goggles from Madison's hand with a soft "thanks" and busied herself with sliding them over her eyes. As the teacher moved further down the aisle and out of earshot Keaira added low enough for just Madison's ears "Like, I said. Worse day, ever." I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new

credit to Laura of Adox

[Madison Ardnell]

“Distracting? Nah, being outside is fun.” Of course it was going to be distracting; that was the whole point. Well, that and making sure he was the one doing the distracting. “Weather's nice.” He smiled, trying to disarm her. It seemed to be working.

His trick with the goggles went wonderfully. Her frustration was obvious and the moment when he came in to save her was perfect. He could almost physically feel her warming up to him. Her half-groaned whisper came after the teacher left. Madison half smiled and shrugged. “Hey, it came out all right.” Casually (but secretly very deliberately), he touched her arm. A comforting touch, so he intended. Just at the moment when she was feeling down. Yes, this was going well.

The rest of chemistry was boring. He kept up his act of being friendly but a little aloof, and afterwards Madison and Keira went their separate ways. He did remember to stuff her goggles in her bag when she wasn't looking, though. He doubted she would notice anything suspicious; things got lost in bags all the time.

3:30 rolled around and Madison was waiting by the tree, as he'd mentioned. He felt her approach in his power before he saw her. He'd put on some cologne he kept in his room; not much, just a bit. Too much hurt you in these situations. There was a bench under the tree and he sprawled in it, hands behind his head, legs out. Perfect. Confident and relaxed. Exactly what people found attractive. He tested the pose, frowned, then rolled up his sleeves to expose his forearms. He wasn't a bodybuilder, but he had some muscle there. Perfect. He held that pose for the next several minutes, waiting for her to arrive.

“Hey Keira. Or should I say, 'Hola'?”

[Keaira Matthews]

TAG: @     Words### Keaira had always been an avid lover of nature. She supposed that in a way she had her mother to thank for that. There was really no better place to meditate, center, and ground yourself than in a meadow, garden or even a pond. The locale was sure to soothe her admittedly frazzled nerves. It was odd than she had never considered studying outside before now. Smiling softly, Keke replied "Being outside is actually a lot of fun. It's usually one of my favorite places to be to be honest. Nature is very...soothing." The brunette's dark orb shifted to the window as Madison commented on the weather. Nodding her agreement, the technopath added "Might be a bit chilly though. It usually is around bodies of water. Particularly, at this time of year." The sixteen year old suspected that for most misplacing an item wasn't necessarily a big deal, however as a person that suffered from mild OCD, Keaira was simply beside herself at having lost her goggles. She was always so meticulous about how she packed her bag. How could this possibly have happened? Almost as if he could sense her frustration with herself and her mortification at having been called out by the teacher, Madison's arm gently grazed her own. It was a delicate touch, so much so that Keaira wasn't completely sure that she hadn't imagined it. Offering a casual shrug, Keke responded "Yeah, I guess you're right. I probably shouldn't get too hung up over it." Much to the teenager's relief the rest of chemistry went without incident and the debacle from earlier was soon forgotten as the bell sounded and Kearia gathered her belongings. Offering Madison his spare pair of goggles back and resolving to invest in a spare pair of her own to avoid having such an incident take place again, Keke  shuffled out the door and on to her next class.  As 3:00 rolled around never had the teen found herself more anxious about a study session as she had at that moment. It certainly wasn't the first time that she had studied with a boy and most certainly wouldn't be the last and yet... her palms were sweating....profusely. So much so that she had wiped them on her jeans several times prior to approaching the pond. Whereas her hands were no longer damp, upon seeing Madison lounging on a bench awaiting her arrival, the teenager's mouth suddenly felt dry forcing her to swallow hard several times before she could confidently return Madison's greeting. Hola...well at least that was a word that she was familiar with. With a sheepish grin Keaira replied "Hola. Como estas?" Toying with a strand of hair that had crawled loose from her ponytail, Keke added "I hope that I said that right." I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new

credit to Laura of Adox

[Madison Ardnell]

It only took Madison a glance to see the Keaira was nervous. From the way he had seen emotions dance over her when she saw his pose, it wasn't hard to guess that he had triggered something in her. She was in denial about of, of course. She hadn't come here for lovin', she'd come for studyin'. But really that was probably for the best. He could string her along now, he thought, giving little hints here and there, leading her from emotion to emotion until she was drooling for him, thinking all the while it was her own idea.

She was already balanced on the edge of a knife, and she barely understood it. She played with the end of her hair in a nervous, but also an enticing way. She knew on some level what she was doing; she was just in denial about it.

Madison was under no illusions. This wasn't true love, or finding a soulmate, or anything like that. It was teenage lust, plain and simple. And that was okay with him. He wasn't after a relationship or a lifetime partner; he just wanted a roll in the hay, however he could get it, and he'd found subtle ways to push Keaira's buttons and bring her to the point of wanting without understanding what was going on.

It was always like that, he'd found. Human emotions were such volatile things. A leaf rolls by on the wind and suddenly you're thinking of lost childhood playtimes. A wave swishes over the top of the water and you're back to the taste of your first kiss. A sunset leaves you nearly in tears because of how you and her watched one just like this once. Lust worked on the same principle. Tiny things, tiny shifts in movement, word choice, body language, and suddenly you were ready for the lewdest of next happenings. That was the human mind, unless you disciplined yourself to stop it. In the end you had two choices. You could either rule over your emotions, or you could be a victim of them. Madison had always considered it a blessing that he had never really cared for or about anyone else. It had made the choice easy for him. Keaira, as far as he could tell, had never mastered it.

He favored her with a beneficent smile. “Muy bien, gracias. E tu? You said it fine,” he said, breaking into English. He shifted position, moving slightly towards her, moving to the side to leave a position on the bench she could take.

“What did you want to look at?”

Keaira Matthews

[Keaira Matthews]

TAG: @  Words### It wasn't that Keaira had never had a crush before, but rather such feelings were often short-lived for the brunette. Keke was an annoyingly logical person and in most cases said logic often overrode her emotions. In fact, it was quite likely that it was for this very reason that the sixteen year old had never had a proper boyfriend before. She was simply too pragmatic to get caught up in emotional entanglements. While she liked to believe hat this was simply a part of her genetic make-up. the technopath suspected that this particular frame of mind that she'd developed was a least some part intentional.  It wasn't that the teen didn't desire a relationship, but more or less that she simply didn't understand them. Emotions were volatile, unstable, irrational, and fickle which made them far too unreliable and unpredictable for the teenager's liking. Of course, being a metahuman bought a whole new layer of complexity to the matter as it often erected a necessary but undesirable barrier between herself and whatever boy managed to catch her eye at the time. If she were being honest, it was likely this particular factor that spelled the end for more potential relationships than her incessant need to overanalyze her thoughts and feelings. Of course, it was also quite possible that was why her current crush had been lingering for so long. She hadn't been able to immediately talk herself of out her infatuation by using the excuse of having to hide who she was. The simple fact that they were both here meant that they were both metas which was kind of a relief to be honest as it took a lot of the guesswork out of the situation. One didn't have to be anxious about how their potential lover would respond to the knowledge that they were a meta.  Still, there was an even bigger chance that she was misreading the situation entirely and Madison was simply being nice to her and wasn't interested in her romantically at all. Such a discovery would do little to diminish her physical attraction to the boy but would make it easier to not obsess over it. There was there smile again, Keaira thought to herself as he shifted his position in order to make room for her to sit. Lowering herself down on the bench next to him, a soft smile illuminated her own face as he reassured her that she'd answered correctly at least. "Ok, so the words that I said actually meant what I thought that they did, which is good, but how was my pronunciation? I think that's what I really want to focus on. Pronunciation and conjugation. I feel like most of what I know how to say is either slang or really broken Spanish. Do you think you could help me out with that?" I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new

credit to Laura of Adox

[Madison Ardnell]

She was confused and doing her best to hide it. Others might have missed the complex mixture of microexpressions crossing over Keke's face, but not Madison. She was getting it, then, the signals of attraction he was displaying to her. Perfect. Now was the time to make it more concrete. They were close together already, but he scooted just a bit closer as he considered her question about pronunciation.

“You weren't bad,” he said. “The main way native speakers show off is they speak faster. If you go slow, you sound like a foreigner.” He grinned. “At least that's my understanding.” His hand brushed her knee, just briefly. Nothing too obvious yet. Just a quick touch.

She really was pretty, playing with that strand of hair from her braid, he thought.

“The problem is, you mind wants to translate from Spanish to English, so you slow down. You have to figure out how to skip that middle step. One thing I do is I make flashcards, but instead of putting the English word on the other side, I put a picture of the thing. Helps retrain your brain.”

He ran a hand through his bangs, slicking them back. A motion at once casual and calculated. He looked at Keke again. Time to heat things up a little. “So if I said, 'Buenos días, señora bonita'...” His voice trailed off, but his eyes had a twinkle.

@keira

[Keaira Matthews]

TAG: @  Words### As carefree of a spirit as Keke tried to be, there were a number of things that tended to vex the brunette and at the top of the list was being confused. While the logical segment of the teenager's brain insisted that uncertainty was inevitable in life, nonetheless, the sixteen year old despised it. Particularly, when it came to matters of the heart as her mother often said 'Love was many things, but the one thing that it should never be was uncertain.' The technopath was physically attracted to Madison, of that she was certain how he felt on the other hand, well that was an enigma. Ugh, why couldn't boys be more forthcoming?  Was it really that hard to walk up to someone and say 'I like you?' Apparently, so as she herself had yet to do it. Should she take this opportunity to follow her own advice, the teen mused. Keaira had just parted her lips to voice her inquiry when suddenly her mind went blank. There hadn't been a great deal of space between the pair but at that moment Madison had chosen to fill in the gap which now meant that he was closer to her. Really close. Uncomfortably close and yet she didn't want him to move. Her pulse had quickened making it quite difficult to focus on his feedback regarding her pronunciation. However, she was able to pick out a few key words like 'faster', 'foreigner' and 'slower'. It seemed enough to get the gist of what he was saying. As long as she spoke slower she wouldn't be able to pull off being fluent but for now she was ok with that.   Eww, why were her palms so sweaty, Keaira wondered as she replied "Well, I suppose that as I become more comfortable with the language I should pick up more speed when I speak. Although I never really expected to become fluent anyway. Just be able to carry on a halfway decent conversation." Just as Madison's hand brushed her knee, Keke's own hand had come down to rub her hands on her jeans in a vain attempt to dry them causing her fingers to lightly graze his before he pulled away. Suddenly, her face felt unbearably hot. However, at the mention of flashcards the teen's face brightened as she responded excitedly "Well, that's a study method that I can definitely get behind. Flashcards are kind of my jam. I make them for practically everything, you should see the ones I made to memorize the..." As Madison ran his hands through his hair, the brunette trailed off pathetically. He had such amazing hair, the motion on his part tempted her to replicate it, to feel the silky strands as they slid through her fingers. Focus, Keke, the sixteen year old scolded herself. Ok, so she recognized most of the words that he'd said. 'Bonita' though? Didn't that mean pretty? Had he just called her pretty? It took a few seconds for the teenager's mind to bypass the mental blue screen that his primping had erected within her mind, but finally she was able to access her database of commonly spoken Spanish words and confirm that Bonita did in fact mean pretty. Assuming that he was just using the phrase as an example, the teen shrugged the verbiage off as she tried to string together a response. Feeling a bit uncertain, she answered "Um, then I guess I would say Buenas tardes, guapo."   I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new

credit to Laura of Adox

[Madison Ardnell]

Madison had been fishing a few times. He had never been much for it, but he had learned a few things. He had learned that when you went fishing, you got the bait, you threw out a line, and you waited for a bite. And waited. And waited. Maybe for a long time. But when you got a bite, you had to yank the pole upward in just the right way, or the fish might escape. It was called setting the hook, and it was an important but easily forgotten part of the process. James and John might have been fishers of men, but Madison wanted to be a fisher of pretty girls.

Everything was perfect. He could practically see the lines of heat and tension in her. She was getting the signals he was sending, confused by them, maybe, but feeling something she wouldn't easily cast off. That was his line. Telling her she was pretty had been the bait. And her reply... Yes, that was her bite. Time to set the hook.

He gave her a sideways look as she answered, meeting her gaze and holding it just a little longer then would be normal. Keeping his expression upbeat, but knowing and confident. Like she'd given him the answer he was expecting. She was attracted, but she didn't know what she wanted. Well, he could help with that.

"Gaupo, you say?"

There. Put it out between them. Force her to acknowledge her impulsive action, but don't pull away or give any sign it was unwelcome. Not too fast, not too slowly, he reached out his hand towards her, making sure she could see it coming (not wanting to catch her too much off guard, that would set him back), his fingers brushing against it, questioningly at first, then more confidently, wrapping around in a firm grip that was almost- not quite- ownership. His thumb stroked her knee as he leaned forward, still smiling but with a more serious look in his eyes as he leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"It's possible there was a hidden agenda, asking you here..."

Keaira Matthews