You to Thank (Open)

[James Everwood]

He was used to the jokes, he was used to the sayings, but what James wouldn't give to hear something original. All he heard was stuff like, 'an eye for an eye' or 'it's all fun and games until...'. I mean a man can only be called a cyclops so many time before he goes insane!

Of course, the worst part is unlike most people here, he wasn't the one to just run up and fight someone. Sure he could knock a few heads if he had to, he was pretty quick and for a one eyed wimp he sure could see things coming pretty well. Depth perception was over rated. Not to mention things were better this way, vision tests took half as long, and if his eye sight ever started to go he could wear an eye patch AND a monocle. Piratey and sophisticated in one fell swoop, a regular chick magnet. All the gold diggers and thrill seeking chicks would kneel before him, for he would be a god amongst men with his handsome looks and his love for being a gentlemen!

Of course, while thinking this he didn't notice the stair he was coming to, and he tripped, falling hard on his side. He bumped into several people on the way down, and his books toppled all over the place out of his bag which had somehow come open.

"Oh, great James," He said, getting up onto his hip and grabbing his books, shoving them into his bag, "Way to stick the landing...."

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam was walking down the hallway, her backpack slung over her shoulder She had bobby pins in her mouth and was putting her brown hair into a bun for her dance class later that afternoon; this seemed to be the only good time to fix it. Her iPod was blasting rock music into her ears, so it was safe to assume she was completely lost to the world. She didn't bother looking to her left as she passed the stairwell, and was completely bowled over by someone flying down the stairs.

Sam stood up angrily and was about to tell off whatever asshole it was who didn't bother looking while he was rushing to class, but saw the mess he'd made on the way down and thought maybe she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. She stood up, dusted herself off, and walked over to where he lay on the floor.

"Hey, are you ok, there?" She asked, extending her hand.

[James Everwood]

James finished getting stuff into his bag, zipping it back up. He felt a pain in his side, but mostly it was his pride that was hurt by the fall.

"Hey, are you ok, there?" A girl asked, and he turned to see her. She was cute, extremely cute. Like write home and tell your dearly departed mother you found the girl of your dreams type of cute. Though James wasn't one to fall for a girl right away, he was one to make a fool out of himself.

"Umm, yeah," He said, "I'm ok anywhere really, here or there, you know." He took her hand, and when he did he helped pull himself up. He stood up slinging his bag back over his shoulder and dusting himself off a little, "Are you alright though?"

He got a little worried he might have hurt the girl, and he didn't want to have done that. Of course, she was talking to him, which was always a good sign. Girls talking to you meant that they knew you existed, which was half the battle. The other half was continuing to exist, and James had a way of screwing that up by doing an idiotic thing like talking.

[Sam Ballerino]

She smiled at the boy's response; it didn't make much sense to her, but he stumbled over the sentence a little, which made it endearing even if she didn't exactly know what he was talking about. As he got himself back to a standing position, she got a good look at what the kid actually looked like.

Ooh. Ooooh. Ooooooh.

Only one word registered in her mind: CUTE. And he was. He most definitely, definitely was. Even the eyepatch, a small shock at first, only added to the appearance.

And she liked this appearance.

He asked if she was alright, and she found herself blushing. How strange...

"Don't worry about me. I've taken harder beatings than that." The term "beating" was metaphorical, as she was mainly referring to her dance classes. The brutal pain she suffered there sometimes was much worse than getting knocked over by someone falling down the stairs. She tried to tuck her hair behind her ear but remembered it was up because it was supposed to be going into a bun. Not knowing what else to say or do, and still wanting to pretend she wasn't blushing, she bent down again to pick up the extra bobby pins she'd dropped.

[James Everwood]

"Don't worry about me. I've taken harder beatings than that." She said, and he couldn't help but feel a little better knowing she wasn't hurt or anything. He tried to find words and form an actual sentence as she bent down to pick something else up. He just caught on to what she said and decided to follow up on that.

Say something brave or witty, you're witty James, you can do this...

"Well if you need a knight in shining armor to stop those beatings from taking place then look no further," He said, nervously, realizing how idiotic of a line that was he tried to cover it up with some humor, "Of course I'd have to rent the armor and I can't promise how shiny rented armor could possibly be, and it might weigh me down a bit... so how about I can just be your knight in brown leather?"

Way to ramble on there, James....

James was fully expecting a scoff and for her to just walk off. Since that was the only possibility he could see taking place.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam paused in her bobby pin collecting and looked up as the guy spoke. As he rambled, she had to clamp her lips together to keep from laughing. Soon enough, however, a giggle escaped, and she stood up, shaking slightly with the effort of holding it in. She was finding this guy amazingly adorable, in part for the simple reason that he just looked so damn nervous, and she couldn’t really figure out why. But it flattered her, and something about the way he stumbled over words made him incredibly endearing.

“That’s ok,” she said. “It’s hard to move in armor anyway. Plus it would blind me if you were ever in the sun, and the metal would heat up and I wouldn’t be able to touch you or anything so I wouldn’t be able to thank you properly… but I like the idea of brown leather. It reminds me of Indiana Jones.” She smiled shyly, and then scrutinized him again. “You sure you’re alright? That was some fall, huh?”

[James Everwood]

James thought about it, and somewhere in his head he imagined himself with the hat and whip, brown leather coat, saving her from Nazi's like Indy would have done, and driving away, only to have a snake in the vehicle, and he would make some funny line about hating snakes, and he nearly drifted off too long when he finally came to realizing what she had said, “You sure you’re alright? That was some fall, huh?”

"Oh," He said and turned scratching the back of his head for a second, looking at the scene of the fall before looking back towards her, "Yeah it happens all the time. My super weaknesses include a lack of depth perception and kryptonite, just don't let anyone know."

He then decided to be polite so he introduced himself, "James by the way," He said, "I'm me, that is to say umm. I'm James," He said, still having trouble with the whole speech thing. He held out his right hand, hand shaking wasn't what he normally did but he was nervous so his body had a mind of it's own.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam smiled again, and leaned forward confidentially. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about your weaknesses.”

She took his hand. “James,” she said, experimentally, trying it out on him. “I’m Sam. Sam Ballerino. I just transferred here.” There was a slight pause as she tried to figure out what to say next. She really enjoyed talking to him, but she did have a class to get to. What to do, what to do...

And then, an idea came.

“You wanna walk me to my next class? Which way were you heading?” Hopefully it was in her direction. After all, what was more gentlemanly than walking a girl to class, right?

Classic? Certainly. Cliche? Hopefully not.

[James Everwood]

“You wanna walk me to my next class? Which way were you heading?”

Anywhere with you?

"Uhh," He said, glad that he kept his thoughts on the inside where they belonged, "I was actually just getting some fresh air is all, but yeah I got the time," He said. And he suddenly felt very chivalrous for some reason. Like he might actually be wearing shiny armor right now. He would extend his arm as a non verbal sign of 'after you'. After all he had no idea where her class was.

"So a transfer huh? I've been here for a bit, but not too awful long myself. Long enough to know where I'm going, but not long enough that I have stopped tripping into random pretty girls," He said, and suddenly realized what he had just said, but there was no saving it now. So he just let it go, chalking it up to another clumsy mistake, "So what class are you going to?" He said quickly trying to change the subject before she picked up on what he had said.

Yeah James, because a conversation about class is totally what she wants right now. She's at school, school is boring, it's a boring subject to talk about, stop asking about school. Don't even think the word school anymore.

[Sam Ballerino]

“Good,” she said with a satisfied look, and began heading in the direction of her class, giving him enough time to catch up and walk with her. Pulling out her bobby pins again, she resumed putting her hair up as she listened to him speak. She whipped her head around to look at him as he mentioned tripping into pretty girls, just in time to see his face get awkward with embarrassment again, and he tried to change the subject. She was ridiculously flattered, and felt butterflies flooding her stomach again. But the opportunity was absolutely perfect and Sam was going to take it.

Was she fishing for compliments? Partially. It’s a girl thing. But he was just so endearing when he got awkward, and it amused her.

She did her best to hide her smile and, ignoring his attempt to draw attention away from the comment, she raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh. I see. So you trip into random pretty girls a lot.” She puppy-eyed him. “And there I was thinking I was special…”

Damn it, that smile crept in at the end, ruining the sincerity of it all.

[James Everwood]

He followed alongside her, every once in awhile looking over to her. He was on her left side so that he could see her, and when she whipped around at the pretty girl comment he couldn't help but feel even more awkward then he had before. Still, the way she reacted to it was a lot better then he imagined she would, “Oh. I see. So you trip into random pretty girls a lot. And there I was thinking I was special…”

"Well," James said, seeing her smile he let some air out of his nose in a silent laugh before finishing his response, "If it means anything I'd say you are by far the prettiest and on top of that you're the only one who didn't kick me in the face or mistake me for a rapist."

Yeah, that's a line right there. 'Girls think I'm a rapist' that just screams 'Trust Me!'.

He kept walking but he turned his head away quickly and went silent for a moment hoping she didn't think he was a creep or anything. In truth he wanted her to like him, but part of him lacked self confidence, and his history with girls was that he would blow it at one time or another by saying or doing something idiotic.

[Sam Ballerino]

“Well, that does make me feel special,” she said with yet another grin, and once again getting back to the business of her hair as they kept walking. “But what I’d really like to know is how anyone could possibly mistake someone as sweet as you for a rapist.” Yeah, that one confused her. Because, sure, he seemed to be a tad clumsy if falling into people was a normal thing for him, but rapist? Man, that girl must have been paranoid. Or absolutely bonkers.

She finished putting the pins in her hair, and let go experimentally to see if the bun would hold. When it did, she pulled a bun cover out of her hair – crocheted white with sky-blue beads sewn in – and placed it over the bun. She could gel it down later.

“I mean, you fell down some stairs, you didn’t try to punch me in the face or cop a feel. And you’re not creepy. Which is a big plus in the ‘not rapist’ column, I think.” She nudged him with her shoulder a little bit as they walked. He looked a little embarrassed with himself, but Sam didn’t see any reason to be. It was just a lack of self-confidence, she supposed. But she wasn’t going to bite.

[James Everwood]

She bumped into him and he moved slightly with it but righted himself with a smile, "Actually it's a really really horrible tragic accident. The lesson being never walk down a hallway with your eyes closed even if you think you are alone.... especially when somebody is bent over picking up books they dropped. There was a bump then a fall, and then bad things happened....."

Sam had her hair in a bun as they walked, and his mind went into daydream mode..... in his mind he pictured her wearing a white button down shirt, a long skirt with her hair in a bun wearing glasses. In his fantasy she takes off her glasses with one hand slowly, the other pulling out a pin from her hair, shaking her hair all the way out.....

Earth to James, there is a cute girl talking to you! Pay ATTENTION!

"But I suppose your right. I like to think my eye patch gives off more of a super hero look then a pirate one," He said, it was probably the most conceited thing he'd ever say out loud about himself. He could be conceited from time to time, but it was usually joking, and almost always only in his thoughts, "So, you really think I'm sweet?"

[Sam Ballerino]

“I don’t know,” Sam said, thinking. “I don’t think it’s quite cheesy enough for a superhero look. But I like the pirate idea. You do look like a pirate. Especially with the brown leather. Very…” she looked for a word. “Very RRGRHGR.” She scrunched up her nose and growled at him, clenching her fists. It was all she could think of at the moment, but hopefully he wouldn’t be too weirded out by it…

Sam smirked when he asked if she thought he was sweet. “Weeell… I don’t like to judge a book by it’s cover… but yes, I do. I think you’re a really nice guy. Maybe a little clumsy,” she laughed. “But very charming. Though I suppose it’ll take some more time to make sure my initial impressions are correct.” She quirked an eyebrow at him again, and the implications were clear: she was interested in getting to know him a little better.

Sam looked up and saw her classroom door coming up. Dammit. Already? She had thought the walk was longer than that. She didn’t quite want to say goodbye yet, but she was already late as it was. She slowed the pace, pulled a scrap of paper and a pen out of her backpack, and wrote down her name and cell number on it, but didn’t give it to him yet. She sighed when they got to the classroom door.

“Well, I think this is it,” she said, a little grumpy. She turned to him and gave him a hug. “Thanks for falling down the stairs.” She grinned, grabbing his hand and slipping the little piece of paper into it. "Call me sometime, ok? It'll be nice to have somebody here to talk to."

[James Everwood]

When she did her pirate impression he couldn't help but laugh. It was cute, very cute. He wished he could take a picture of it. Although he was going for not-creepy and picture taking was definitely a creepy stalker move. So he laughed, "Maybe I should get a pet bird for my shoulder?"

She wants to spend more time with you, that's good. Don't blow it.... after all, apparently you're charming.

“Well, I think this is it,” She said, and she gave him a hug. He hugged her back with one arm, “Thanks for falling down the stairs.”

"Thanks for getting hit by me," He said in reply. She took his hand and put the piece of paper she had written on in it. He held onto it tightly with his hand when she let go, "Yeah, same here," He said replying to the last bit of what she said, "Later." He said, holding his hand up, the one with the number, in a sort of none moving wave before he turned and walked off. A smile on his face he couldn't get rid of. He pocketed the number when he was out of sight. He'd call her, but he didn't have a cell phone to program her number into. He couldn't afford it.