fh_trips | Kohala Coast, Hawaii | Morning & Afternoon | Tuesday

"My name is Nathan, not dumbass," he informed her haughtily before taking a seat in the sand beside her and stretching out his legs. "Dumbass is a name you reserve for the virgins, the sickeningly religious, the unadventurous, and the French."

He did reach for her thermos like the helpful bloke he was and passed it to her. "I've joined you. Do I get a gold star or something? I think I deserve a reward."

"You get exactly what I promised you would get if you joined me." Caroline set her thermos in the sand right in front of her, not wanting to have blood on her lips just now. She pushed up only enough to lean in and try pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Nathan had almost forgotten that she'd said she'd do this but he didn't move away or anything. Of course, the next thing that came out of his mouth probably shouldn't have but whatever, he was still irrationally pissy and totally confused as to why.

"Not the first time you've given one of those away today, is it?" he asked, already regretting that slip. Sure, it was a little bitchy but it also gave away that he'd been paying attention to her earlier.

Caroline pulled away with a start. "You were watching me?!" Now look who was surprised and annoyed.

And was that jealousy? Caroline probably shouldn't have hoped. "Oh my God, no wonder you're being such a bitch."

"I wasn't watching anything," he said hastily, frowning down at the sand. Even if it was a poor lie, he was still going to use it try and save some face right now.

"And I am not being a bitch," he added, shaking his head. "There is nothing bitchy about me. I'm completely friendly and compassionate right now. I am greeting the world with open arms and giving everyone a fucking proverbial hug because I am just that non bitchy today."

That probably sounded bitchy. Oh well.

The look Caroline shot him spoke of true belief in his words. Right.

"Um, or you're being a complete bitch because I had a conversation with a friend during which I kissed him on the cheek because he's like, four hundred times nicer to me than anyone else on this planet. Not that I should ever have to explain myself to you, but I don't know, maybe I'm just taking a page from Bod's book and trying the whole nice thing for the day. I promise I won't tomorrow."

Not that Caroline thought she'd see Nathan the next day just based on his attitude.

Nathan made another face down at the sand like it was the sand's fault that he was being a gigantic jackass right now. It was easier to blame the sand than himself.

"If he's so nice, why aren't you letting him carry you around instead of me?" Nathan wondered, glancing over at her. "Why aren't you spending the day frolicking in the fucking surf and then having a nice tumble in the sheets instead of sitting here, asking me to join you?"

Nathan thought that was...okay, it was weak but he thought it was telling or something. "And why would any of that even make me bitchy? I'm being inquisitive and insightful. Not bitchy."

"And you wonder why I call you dumbass," Caroline replied, totally exasperated. She shook her head at Nathan and all his stupidity as she opened up her thermos and had a nice swig of blood.

"Maybe I should use smaller words. Or find a fucking leprechaun to translate. Or maybe you could try to like, use your brain? I kiss Bod for being nice to me. I kiss you for being... Hmm, let's think on that!"

Nathan pursed his lips and forced himself to keep his eyes on her. Obviously, he was supposed to be figuring something out but the only things that were coming to mind probably weren't the right answer.

"You kiss me for being..." He stopped and really tried to figure out why she was actually kissing him. It wasn't pity or anything like that. And she seemed to like it when it happened so it wasn't just to say she had. Fuck, he had no idea why she kissed him, of all people. "...the kind of guy who lets you practice your Italian instead of trying to shag you despite the fact that you were sitting on his lap. And the kind of guy who offers to fucking walk you home when you were drunk and the kind of fucking guy who doesn't want you to run away when I'm kissing you."

Right answer or not, Nathan thought that was a good answer. He'd used his brain and everything.

His answer wasn't bad, but it wasn't the one she wanted and so Caroline was a little annoyed when she filled in the blank for him. "For being you, okay? God, is that really hard to understand? And I didn't run away." She'd stopped herself from having a snack.

"And all of those things I listed are what make me me so technically I was right," he pointed out, stomping a foot down in the sand because it gave him something to do.

"Really, though, let me ask you something," he said, trying to turn the tables on her now. "You make it all sound so easy. You kiss me for being me. Does it make sense in your head? Do you even understand this...thing?"

Here, he was honestly curious because she kept bitching about his stupidity and idiocy but he couldn't see how it could be that easy. They never did things easily.

"No, because if even you seem to think I should be kissing other people then there is clearly something wrong with this picture," Caroline told him before taking a big swig of blood.

"And come on, I can't even kiss you without it starting an argument!" And now that she was drinking there would be no kissing.

Great, she was taking his jealous bitching seriously. And he didn't know how to correct her without making it obvious that he'd been jealously bitching. It was an unsolvable dilemma.

"There's nothing wrong with this picture," Nathan said, deciding he'd just go with the idea that required no talking (on his part) at all. "Finish talking, Caroline. I'll show you how easy this can be. Yeah?"

Edited 2011-02-22 21:21 (UTC)

"You think you can show me easy, Nathan?" Caroline looked up at him, doubting his ability even as she set her thermos aside and turned on her side to face him. "Because difficult seems to be the norm here."

"Shhh." Nathan put a finger to his lips because she was still talking and he didn't want to get lectured again. Nathan moved around until he was on his knees and leaned closer to her, letting his lips find the line of her jaw.

This was easy, he thought. And this was affection he didn't give to other people either. Eventually, he'd need to use words with her, he knew, but for now, he was just going to slide his lips up and her jaw towards her cheek.

Caroline's eyes closed at the soft feel of his lips against her cheek. "Even that's not as easy as you think," she pointed out. Mainly because she wished he would kiss her but ugh, he'd probably taste the blood on her and it was so disgusting and wrong and wow was it a good thing her eyes were closed so that he wouldn't see how totally torn she was.

Nathan kind of gave up on getting her to be quiet since it seemed like she had to talk just to be comfortable. That was all right, he could listen.

He moved his lips up near her ear, kissing both earlobe and the shell before finding the spot right behind it and pressing a light kiss there as well.

"Why is this not easy?" he whispered since he was so closer to hear ear. "What's hard right now?"

That wasn't even an innuendo.

For once, Caroline didn't feel like answering out loud, but it seemed like he was expecting her to. "I don't know. Something always happens. You know that as well as I do."

Nathan was trying not to get discouraged or put off by her negativity right now. She seemed to be expecting something to happen, whether it be his attitude or something else, and he was determined to prove her wrong.

"You're thinking too much," Nathan decided, moving his head away from her ear for the moment. That made it easier to cradle her face between his hands and kiss the spot under one of her eyes. "Stop that."

It was scary, but Nathan was probably right about that. Caroline opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Stop thinking?"

Caroline could hardly stop speaking, let alone thinking. How was she supposed to obsess over things if she had to find a way to shut off her brain without use of the lovely dulling alcohol she so enjoyed on Wednesdays.

"Yes, stop fucking thinking," he said, meeting her gaze with his own. He didn't let go of her face though so that kept them close together. "Is there something you want right now that you're thinking about? Tell me true, Caroline. Don't make me break out my human lie detecting skills."

"You have human lie detecting skills now?" Caroline asked, smiling just a bit as she stayed close, suddenly feeling very aware of where they were and how warm it was. "Think they work on vampires?"

"They don't discriminate," Nathan said wisely, nodding. "So yeah, I think they work on everyone. You planning on lying to me for some reason? The question wasn't that hard."

"I wanna know more about these skills." Lie detecting was fascinating. "Not that I'm a liar. I'm just an interested party."

"I can't explain the innate and inherited skills I've got, Caroline," he said, shaking his head. "There aren't any schematics or a manual or any technical shit like that. It's just the way it is."

He nodded, trying not to seem like the liar he was. "I think you should answer my question instead of avoiding it by talking about the skills that make me a superior human being."

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach