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Perfect timing. Antony had just finished her second cigarette when they arrived at the cafeteria, and she snuffed it out on the door way before she opened the door and strolled in. Sniffing the air as she threw away the butt, she tried to determine the food that they had tonight.

Whatever it was, it smelled rather attractive.

"No steak," she sighed after her look-see of all the food, but she was only slightly disappointed. Soon she was filling her plate with some chicken, carrots, and some green beans.

Passing the salad bar, Antony stopped and eyed the sunflower seeds. They looked really good, and she had never really been much for them or pumpkin seeds. But she couldn't ignore the craving, and before she could contemplate any longer, Antony had a bowl full of them, and as an after thought, some cashews as well.

Setting her tray on an empty table first, she then went up to grab a glass of water and some silverware before taking her seat again.

Jamal pressed his lips together in annoyance at the declaration of no steak as he moved closer to the food, having paused at the door briefly to take a quick survey of who might be around. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone. That was one good thing, even though the one thing he really wanted, they didn't have out. No hamburger either; looked like poultry would have to do.

He heaped his plate thickly with chicken and skimped on the veggies, taking only one spoonful of beans. He also grabbed a pair of dinner rolls that looked semi-decent. Jamal had always and continued to ignore the salad bar, but the deserts got a quick skim over before he grabbed what looked to be a custard of some sort and a few cookies.

"I wonda' if this place takes suggestions on what ta cook," he mused aloud as he set his plate across from Antony's, also leaving briefly to acquire a tall glass of milk and the necessary silverware.

"You think they would, considering the... variety of tastes people here have." Antony paused, taking a bite of chicken and then a forkful of greenery. "The sad thing is, I'll never get foreign food again. No Chinese, Thai, Italian..." She groaned pitifully as she continued on, frowing deeply.

After a few thoughtful chews, she swallowed and added, "Carrot Top should kidnap someone that cooks at a Chinese take out pace..." Grumbling inwardly as she took a few more bites, Antony heard the door open, but wasn't too interested in whoever it was that came in.

That was, until she heard the unmistakable sound of claws clicking against the floor.

Nope. Not going to look. Instead, Antony stabbed a piece of chicken and shoved the meat in her mouth. Just in case they wanted to involve her in conversation or something.

"Aw s**t, I could go fo' some good Chinese 'bout now," he said wistfully, tearing into a piece of chicken breast. "I ain't had Chinese in a long a** time...coupla months be'fo I ended up herr I had it. Maybe if we ask, they might be able ta' do somethin' 'bout it? They usually real good 'bout gettin' what we want. Ya jus' fill out a request form 'n' they get what ya want if they can. I ain't had no problems wit' it, anyway."

As the door cracked open, he glanced over Antony's shoulder to see who it was. Please don't be Ambrose...please don't...

The face he saw made his brow furrow instead and his jaw tensed. Oh great...it was Antony's spar buddy. Just lovely. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a fight because he was in a helluva good mood right now.

He was somewhat relieved when the girl moved to the food with an air of urgency. Okay, so far, so good.

Antony looked up at Jamal when he went quiet, watching his eyes and face for his reaction to the person who just walked in. She frowned immediately and raised an eyebrow questioningly as if to ask him who had just come in.

And then he looked... relieved? Antony still didn't dare look. "I'm in too good of a mood for this s**t," she reminded herself aloud in a low voice once she had swallowed the chicken. The poultry was soon replaced with a forkful of carrots.

She had a feeling she knew who it was, and didn't quite know how she would react to seeing her again.

Jamal looked like he wasn't sure if he should actually say who had just come in...as long as she didn't turn around, she'd be okay. He had a feeling, however, that Joli might be there awhile, unless she took her food back to her duplex so either way, he was sure that the women were going to at least make eye contact at some point.

"Yeah and I hope yous stay that way," he said in a level tone, deciding to let the cat out of the bag without saying the photographer's name. "Look, jus' don't say nuthin' if she comes over, a'ight? I really don't wanna get broke again because I gotta step in. She ain't that bad..."

He did sympathize with Antony and her determination to not believe or want to face what was supposedly going to happen, but he was selfish in that he didn't want to deal with any battles today. Not after the pleasant past few hours.

"Thought as much," she muttered with her mouth full. Swallowing, she sighed, nodding in response to Jamal's request, "Then next time pull me apart from behind."

In any other circumstance that would have caused her to chuckle, but she didn't even catch the possible double meaning.

So she diligently continued to eat, finishing the food on her plate before taking a handful of sunflower seeds and cashews and tossing them back. They seemed to taste better than she remembered.

Her eyes accidentally caught sight of Joli when Antony looked up at Jamal to say something, and her stare instantly hardened. Another handful of her 'dessert' and she was pulling out her pack of cigarettes and shaking one out a little more forcefully than was probably necessary.

Jamal rubbed at his brow in a "oh great" sort of manner, seeing the very distinct glare and the sudden reach for her cigarettes. At least she hadn't launched herself out of the chair yet....

"Yo," he grunted in Joli's direction, deciding that if Antony was going to be at odds with the brunette, then the least he could do was at acknowledge her presence so she would feel completely hated as she ate her dinner. He offered her a bit of a wave.

Had she not been too busy lighting up a cigarette, Antony would have given Jamal a reproachful look for 'fraternizing with the enemy.'

Maybe the cigarette smoke would irritate lizard girl? It was a hopefully endeavor, and she made sure to blow all smoke in her general direction, munching on handfuls of sunflower seeds between puffs.

Now if Jamal only had a blunt hidden away in his pants...

He was irritated with her, but not enough to subject her to TWO stony cold demenors. She really wasn't that bad...she gave him bubblewrap afterall. 8D Jamal glanced to check to see how the damage inflicted the other day looked on the other woman's wrist. However, the pungant scent of smoke made him cut the look short.

His gaze returned to his tablemate, whom he gave a quizzical look as the smoke was very pointedly being exhaled in Joli's direction. Oh sweet jesus...Jamal had to fight to not roll his eyes. This was still better than her trying to choke the s**t out of anyone.

As for the joint, Jamal never left home without 'em.

Her eyes looked up just in time to catch him attempting not to make a face and Antony scoffed, "And how mature would you be if it were Ambrose?" She was quite aware of how immature she was being, but it was making her feel better and that alone was reason for her to continue.

Antony shoved another handful of seeds in her mouth so that she didn't make a rude comment. Of course Jamal was 'okay,' he and her both were getting laid, and it was damn good.

Finishing her cigarette, she snuffed it out irritably in a lone carrot, feeling a little bit better at the hissing noise it made. She reached for another smoke, glaring at the little package when it produced nothing, not even after a few good smacks on her hand. What a great time to run out of cigarettes.

"Hey, you got a smoke? ...Or better yet, some green?" Her eyes glinted eagerly, "Might do a better job calming me down..." Pot always put her in a better mood, and it was damn hard to piss her off when she was high. Double plus.

Jamal ignored her little jab, deciding it wasn't worth saying something that might make her mad even if it wasn't intentionally.

"I'm a'ight. Don't worry 'bout it," he said in response to Joli while watching Antony beat the s**t out of her empty cigarette pack. At the question of having pot, he made another face. "Girl, I jus' gave you a baggie of it da otha' day..." he said as he leaned to the side to dig into his pocket anyway.

"Yeah well, I'll replace it later," she grumbled irritably, leg bouncing absently underneath the table. "Or compensate with sexual favors," Antony added gruffly when the pot was not procured instantly, violet eyes watching him like a hawk.

The sprinklers, which probably would have gone off already due to cigarette smoke, were the least of her worries right now. Her good mood was slowly being ruined, and she wanted to save what good mood was left.

He hadn't meant to irritate her further...it was meant more of a joke than a real reservation against giving her more. He pulled out the tattered bandanna fragment and pulled one of the smooth, white blunts from the few that were left and passed it over the table.

"Here," he said with a bit of edge to his tone. s**t, he was going to need one if this kept up.

The moment it was procured and handed over, Antony lit it and initially took a few long drags. When she saw the lizard girl coming over to their table, she thought it best to add a few more drags to the count. Sighing in content when a pleasant tingle tickled her brain, Antony looked up at Joli and blinked at the blatant name drop.

"Who's Awen?" She asked, slinking down lower in her seat when the lizard girl left, and as an after thought, Antony waved back at the girl's retreating form, "Bye bye Gozilla~."

Jamal didn't flinch at the name, but he did mentally go "oh ********", forcing his best nonchalant smile. "A'ight...thanks, Joli," he said with a nod, sitting back in his chair, feeling distinctly non-hungry all of a sudden.

As Joli wandered away and Antony inquired about the name, he rubbed a hand over his face. Hm...how to explain... He wasn't really worried, persay, since it was obvious that the relationship he had with Antony was basically a friends with benefits one. Awen was his girlfriend (probably until Awen found out about this) and Antony just happened to be a girl who was his friend. It all worked out in his mind.

"Well," he began, glancing quickly at door to see if Joli had gone.

Antony waited for him to go on, but when he simply glanced to see if Lizard Girl had left, she hopped to her feet and swaggered towards the salad bar. Another bowl of nuts and seeds to go~. Maybe two just in case.

Balancing the two bowls in her arms with the blunt hanging from her lips, Antony was clearly in a better mood. Godzilla had left the building, and she smiled wide, debating whether she should do an added dance as well. She decided to dance later, when she didn't have precious stockpiles of munchies for later in her arms.

Her gaze returned to Jamal as she sat back down, placing the two bowls on the table before offering him the rest of the joint. "Well what?" The tone was cheerful and a complete 180 to five minutes or so ago. Yay for pot!

Jamal watched her bounce away to collect more snacks from the salad bar, a brow lifted at the immense amount of nuts and seeds she decided she needed. Ooookay...

He took the offered joint and took a hit, letting it simmer in his lungs for a few moments before exhaling and leaning back fully in his chair, legs sprawled out in front of him. Haha people were going to be so pissed when they come in and smell pot. Not that he really cared.

"She's ma girlfriend," he said matter-of-factly, deciding that beating around the bush wasn't going to help.

"Okay..." Antony shrugged and popped a singular sunflower seed in her mouth to munch on. Then there was silence. Either he was waiting for her to throw a s**t fit, which was probably not possible with the floating feeling she was currently immersed in, or something she couldn't think of at the moment.

Well, it sucked that he lied to her about this in the first place. She hated dishonest people, but on the other hand, him not telling her made this all his fault. Well, as long as the sex stopped it did.

And she had no intention of doing that.

"Well... Let me tell you something Jamal..." she started out, tossing a cashew into her mouth before continuing, "Ya know Owl right? Well he's married, and I've been ******** him for as far as I can remember." Obviously, she could care less that he had a girlfriend.

A few more seeds were flicked into her mouth before she snorted, doubling over with laughter, "But s**t... You're a** is dead if she finds out~." Though Jamal probably didn't need reminding of this fact, Antony was oblivious and high... So too bad for him.

Jamal smirked, glad that he was right that she probably wouldn't care. He had a sneaking suspision that there was more to Owl that she had told him in the beginning.

"Yeah, I'm know I'm gonna be dead," he said with a resigned sigh, scratching at his neck distractedly. "But...look. You and I ain't the same and her and I. I dunno...I know she gonna be mad and I ain't tryin' ta make her upset...s**t happens, I guess." He partially blamed their first little romp on the booze and drugs, but he couldn't blame the second on anything. He knew exactly what he was doing that time.

If anything, his moods had been so much better now that he could get some a** basically whenever he wanted it, so it was pretty theraputic...but somehow he -knew- Awen wouldn't give a damn about that.

"Oh~, so how are we not the same?" She didn't really care for his puny explanations; Antony wanted the dirt, and possibly the ego boost.

"You in luuuuve?" She crooned, grinning blissfully in amusement as she sank even lower in her seat, rear barely still in contact with the chair anymore. Hey, she was shrinking! Maybe she was melting from the seeds, or turning into a flower. Yes!

Her eyes widened and she brought her right hand up entirely too close to her face to see if it was turning green, or into a leaf. First she had to focus properly... Antony screwed her face up, squinting and tilting her head to the side before she let it drop to her side. She was an ugly flower.

Jamal o_O'ed at her as she started to stare at her hand, ignoring again her little jab. He didn't know how to respond to that one...it wasn't love, persay. He had a hard time making attachments like that. He liked her, that was for sure...not in the friends with benefits way.

"Uh, you a'ight?" he said, hoping for a change of subject. The pot had obviously gotten to her.

"I'm an ugly flower," she admitted sadly, looking absolutely crushed at this realization. For a moment or two, Antony continued to mope about being an ugly flower, until she saw the seeds on the table. Taking her hand (the one that was keeping her anchored to the chair), she reached for a handful, but before Antony reached them her chair shot out from behind her.

The tattooed woman made a sort of 'aieee~' noise as she disappeared under the table. The sound of a body hitting the floor and a grunt of pain happened seconds later.

Blinking, Antony stared up at the ceiling and declared herself dead. In reality, she was simply sprawled out on the linoleum, legs and hips under the table while everything else hung out from under it.

Jamal almost doubled over in laughter, finding this to be TOO FUNNY. He'd only had a single hit thus far so he wasn't as affected as she was...that and he was much bigger. It took a fair amount to really get him going.

He slipped from his chair to fall into a squat next to the table, peering down underneath to see how she was faring. One hand reached out to shake the nearest foot.

"Uh...Antony?"

"SHH!" She hushed him angrily, "I'm dead." And to her, that explained everything.

Man not only was he not a flower, but he was trying to wake the dead as well. What did he think he was anyways, a witch doctor?

"Protect the seeds," she told him woefully, as if it were her last request.

"You ain't dead...jus' stone off yo' a**..."

He tugged on her foot again, an imploring look on his face. "Come on, lets get outta herr before anyone else comes in. "We'll get yo' damn seeds when we go."

"My a** fell off?!" She cried in alarm as she sat upright all of a sudden, her forehead smacked into the edge of the table with a sickening crack. Antony went down again, both hands clutching her head in pain.

Groaning pitifully, Antony didn't dare to move. Even with her eyes closed she was seeing bright lights and stars, a searing pain knocking her sober for a brief second. Not really able to focus on any single thought, Antony simply continued to make soft, painful noises.

Such a way to end the year.

Jamal facefaulted as her head slammed into the table. Oh sweet jesus.

He came around the table and put his hands under her arms, hauling her up and away from the offending piece of furniture, careful not to have her fall forward.

"A'ight, I think we betta leave," he said, trying to swing her legs up so he could pick her up without much trouble. It was going to be a fairly long walk.

She simply responded by moaning and then grunting softly when he hauled her from under the table. Attempting to stand up, she soon realized that he was trying to pick her up and lifted a leg, nearly toppling over in the process.

Her head was killing her and the room was spinning painfully, but aside from that Antony was still in quite a pleasant mood. But she understood that he wanted to get her home. That was a very good idea to her, and she nuzzled into his chest. It was so warm.

Jamal swiftly caught her before she keeled over and shook his head in amusement. Good thing one of them was still sober enough to deal with this sort of thing...otherwise they'd both be thinking they were dead plants that lost their asses or something. He hoped to god Awen didn't walk in at this moment, because that would be way awkward.

He moved away from the table, nearly tripping over the chair she had sent sliding earlier, and headed for the cafeteria door. It took some adjustment here and there to fit both himself and her out the door without banging arms or feet on the frame, but soon they were back out into the cool night air.

Yes, very lucky for her that he was sober, but head bump aside, she would rather be high than lose her good mood over Godzilla.

The cool night air felt good on her forehead, and she smiled lazily, one of her hands still cover her eyes. Her other arm was draped over Jamal's shoulder, not that it helped him in the least with carrying her.

She didn't even realize that they had left their trays (and her precious seeds) still littering the table.

Jamal hadn't even thought about the trays...whoops. XD;

"Ya gonna kill yo'self onna this times," he chided quietly as he walked down the path towards the duplexes. "If I wasn't afraid you gonna kill me, I'd be tempted ta take away that pot I gave ya...but don't get yo panties in a twist, cause I ain't gonna do it."

The latter was said quickly in hopes of keeping her from going ballistic in his arms.

Antony mumbled an incoherent response, keeping her head leaned against his chest. The hand holding her head moving to loop around his neck since it was so dark outside and the light wasn't much of a factor.

"My head hurts," she moaned redundantly. Her head continued to throb, though the pain had become more dull than before.

"Well o'course it does,' he murmured with audible amusement. "I hope ya got some asprin at yo' place cause you might need it." He hoped she wouldn't have a huge bruise because that would be fun to try and explain when she wasn't high as a kite.

...God this was a longer walk than he remembered.

"Hello~," she said dramatically, "I'm a woman... And I bleed~."

Well it was the truth.

Antony paused, a sudden realization hitting her, "So I'm... Not a flower?" She didn't know if she should be disappointed or relieved.

And as far as the walk was concerned, it had probably been longer when Antony had to heft the broken Jamal all the way across the village. At least she was smaller than him

"No, you're not a flower," he answered firmly, carefully winding around duplex buildings now that they had reached that area of the island. "And wit' any luck, you won't be."

He squinted into the dark, looking for her duplex amongst the the masses.

"Sweet~," she said drowsily, suddenly feeling very tired. But she had only just woken up hours ago. That didn't matter right now though, only sleep.

Antony wasn't thinking enough to remember that it isn't a bright idea to go to sleep after getting conked in the head.

With a bit more walking and a bit more searching, he finally found her duplex looming in the night. Thank god...

He managed to get the door open with some more shuffling of Antony's body so he could get the handle, then stumbled inside the dark duplex, looking for the nearest chair or couch.