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 Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 11:31 am
Before Mr. Rae's heart attack Vanessa found a way to make it to the gym everday. It was an integral part of her routine, and about more than staying in shape. Sailor Vulcan didn't get out as much as she used to, but she would always be a warrior at heart. Vanessa worked hard to keep her body flexible and toned, so that she could protect the people that she loved.
And it was an excellent way of blowing off steam- that was something she'd learned from Kam.
Her father had been out of the hospital for a couple of months, but Van had struggled to get back into the gym. She visited sporadically. Once or twice a week and sometimes not at all, instead of everyday for various degrees of intensity.
But the more Van stayed away, the more she found that she missed it.
So she was back, approaching the font desk with a soft smile on her face. There was no sign of the clerk, but that wasn't surprising. Vanessa figured whoever it was had taken a bathroom break, and waited patiently with her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, gym bag dangling at her hip. She wore no makeup, and her long curls were tied up into a high pony.
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Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 2:34 pm
There was a small door off to the side at the back of the clerk's booth, presumably leading to some office for the staff members. The door chime alerted the couple of goofballs inside that someone had just walked in but they finished watching the last five seconds of their video before either of them bothered to check.
Kamboja was laughing just slightly as he exited the door, taking the quick step down from the office floor to the lower one of the desk area. He threw one last glance over his shoulder, probably in response to whoever was speaking inside, and then whipped it back to the girl standing at the front. He was talking before he ever let his eyes focus.
"Sorry, what can I.. do.. for. Hey." His words slowed to a halt on the last, his steps awkwardly half-pausing the moment he realized who had just walked in his gym. He lingered back from the desk for a minute, giving a partial view of his calf muscle below his gym shorts where a shiny new tattoo gleamed. It was partially hidden by the angle but was obviously placed over the recent surgery scar and seemed to be.. an explosion? Maybe a Volcano.
At last he took a few steps forward and awkwardly looked down at her from across the top. The ache in his calf pulsed as he put more pressure down, but he ignored it. "Sorry. I didn't know."
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Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:05 pm
Vanessa didn't know if she was more surprised to find Kam at her gym, or that he had a job, or that he was apologizing to her. Again. The word sounded strange on his voice. She couldn't decide if she liked it or not.
"Hey," she said after a long moment, eyes drawn to the new flash of colour on his calf. A new tattoo? Intrigued, Vanessa forgot herself and couldn't help smiling. She had always loved his tattoos, and remembered tracing the lines of the one on his shoulder with her fingertips.
Discovering the scars underneath.
"It's fine," she told him, gazing up into his face, smile turning a little lop-sided.
Two weeks had passed since they'd bumped into each other at the bar. Vanessa's heart was still tender, but she'd had time to cool down, and to think about what had happened between them.
"I'm sorry too," she said, knowing that they were apologizing for different things. After two years spent wearing Gehenna's symbol around her neck, Vanessa felt naked without it. She swallowed a lump in her throat, and wrapped her arms protectively around her middle.
"I'm glad you're back."
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Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 9:42 pm
He opened his mouth to say something in response but not for the first time since he'd been back, he found himself speechless in front of Vanessa. Instead he just laughed awkwardly and smiled, caught unawares by the drastic difference in her personality now and then. There was a lot of relief.
"It's okay, don't worry." It had been hard, but he couldn't blame her completely.
He tapped the backs of his knuckles against the desk beneath him and let his awkward smile settle into a charming smirk. He seemed a little more stable, but maybe it's because he'd decided to make sure he was never idle. The job had a nice paycheck and it definitely felt safe not to rely completely on his inheritance too. It wasn't so bad, he was at least good at it.
"Me too, it's good, well, okay now." He stepped away from the counter and reached back into the cooler to grab her an herbal workout supplement (according to the label) and set it down on the desk. 'Light and sweet' was scrawled across the side. As he stepped back to shut the cooler, he flashed a good view of the tattoo - definitely a volcano. Forgetting it altogether, he just turned back and pointed at the bottle."This is amazing, try it." It made him a little sick to his stomach to know there was a line, but he could be a good friend.
Well, he could try.
"Did you need something, though?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2014 10:22 pm
Vanessa had never been good at emotions or feelings. She tended towards extremes, and almost always lost herself in the moment. The other night, at Kam's apartmenet, there hadn't been any time to think or reflect. Together they'd climbed into a railway car, and hurdled along on a track driven by Vanessa's pain. And her anger. And her longing for him.
She felt shy in front of Kam now, embarassed after the way he'd rejected her, but brightened a little when he told her not to worry.
It was okay. And he was smirking in that old familiar way. Making her knees weak again.
Grateful to Kam for being so gracious, Vanessa leaned forwards to get a better look at his new tattoo and exhaled, eyes widening. The art itself was lovely, but she wondered at the sentiment behind it. Vanessa opened her mouth, wasn't sure what she wanted to say, and then opted to try the drink he offered her instead.
"I like it," she said, setting the bottle back down on the counter, smile growing bolder by the second. It was nice to be talking to him like this again. Without Blake looking over her shoulder, or the pressure of her disappointment bearing down on them.
"Um. A water, please. I forgot my bottle at home."
Vanessa gave her gym bag a little shake. Nothing rattled inside.
"So..." She said, a playful light twinkling in her eyes, "you got a job."
Did that mean he was sticking around? Vanessa wasn't sure if she should dare hope.
"How do you like it?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 9:00 am
He nodded immediately and turned back to the cooler, grabbing a bottle of water without even looking inside of it. His eyes were on her as she spoke, giving her his full attention. Her surprise about his job made him laugh under his breath. The cooler was swept closed with one quick hand and he crossed back to the desk, setting the water on the elevated counter next to the supplement drink.
"It's okay," he leaned forward and propped his arms, crossed, on the elevated counter on her side of the desk so that he was leaning over the lower top on his side. He was large enough that it wasn't even awkward for him.
"I just wanted something to fill up my time," he admitted finally. There was an undertone of sadness to the way he said it but he managed to keep a straight face without dipping into that sudden despair he'd gotten the job to escape in the first place. He laughed again to throw off the feeling, letting his smirk settle back into place so she wouldn't think anything was wrong. "Besides, everyone has to grow up sometime, right?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 1:05 pm
The way Kam just kept his eyes on her was a little unnerving. In a good way, Vanessa decided. There was something comforting about it, after two years without being able to look him in the face. What did he see when he looked at her now?
Her hair was longer. She'd learned how to take care of it so that the curls stayed without getting too ratty. There were studs in her ears, and a hickey fading on her neck-- Vanessa tried to squash a fresh wave of guilt, and adjusted the collar of her hoodie to hide the mark. She managed to be subtle about it. Mostly.
Vanessa took another sip of the supplement drink and wondered what she could possibly say. She thought Kam sounded a little bit sad, but then he was laughing and smirking again, and surprising her with his words. The Kam she remembered had never seemed inclined to grow up. This one was... different, somehow.
"I hope you keep it," she said, knowing that his working at the gym would give her an excuse to see him more often. "Kam, I-
Vanessa hesitated, cheeks flushing, and almost told him that it had felt all wrong the other night, when Blake reached for her in his bedroom. Which was ridiculous. Kam had been nothing but mixed signals, and he had not asked her to wait for him. Blake was sweet. He even wanted to marry her. Still, despite her best efforts, Vanessa couldn't help feeling as though she were betraying Kam.
"I really hope we can still be friends," she said, looking him in the eye. "Kinda like we used to."
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Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 2:19 pm
His eyes flashed to follow her hand as she shifted, regretting it immediately. He saw the top half of the jagged circle and sucked in a small breath. He had glanced down quickly and started fidgeting with some pens on the desk below him, carefully guiding them into a line with his pointer finger so that it took an extra few moments just to get them all organized. That was enough time to get his game face back on.
"Ah, you know me," he glanced back up at her with a small shrug, "I go where the wind blows." He made an almost-jazz-fingers motion with his hand to play up his own mystical nature, but to tell the truth he thought he had it pretty good at the current place. "I'll probably be around for a while anyway."
He picked up a stack of papers that were tossed on the desk and crossed to the back of the desk area to file them neatly in a hanging wall file. They flopped over the edge and he fussed with it a moment before sighing and giving up on the way they were determined to hang at a an 'n' shape. He was still listening the whole time and stopped when she cut off, turning to look at her just in time to catch her eye. He swallowed at the words and turned back around slowly, for a moment hesitant.
How did they go back to being friends? ********.
"Sure thing, Van," he answered immediately, regardless of his skepticism. Right now he'd rather have her in his life as something than not have her at all, though he knew his own nature. There might come a time for him when he couldn't do it anymore and that was something he was willing to face, even if she didn't know it. "Just like we used to."
He nodded his head sideways at the open gym floor. "You should probably get going before the after work rush hits."
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Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 3:54 pm
Despite how badly Vanessa wanted to pretend otherwise, things were still wrong and awkward between them. He'd never hurt her as badly as he had the night after the bar, and the b***h of that was that Kam had done the noble thing. She'd been too swept up in him and memories of what they'd once shared to understand what they could no longer be.
It pleased her to know that he would probably be around for awhile. She laughed at his almost-jazz hands, and was more resolved than ever to get back into the routine of making daily visits to the gym. There was no telling when Kam might decide to ******** off again-- Vanessa had to mentally check herself, because she knew that he'd left to go find his brother. It wasn't fair for her to hold that against him.
But he hadn't called when he got back, and there was a lot about his body language now that hinted at a desire to be away from her.
"Right," she said, golden eyes flickering towards the gym, and then back to his face. Vanessa hesitated, bit her lip, and then tried again.
"I like your new tattoo," she spoke slowly, aware of the fact that she was making herself just a little bit vulnerable in front of him again. Kam had said that they could be friends, just like they used to. But she knew him well enough to suspect he might not take initiative. "Here--
She grabbed a pen and a Yoga Class flyer off of the counter, scrawled her phone number on the backside of it. In case he'd forgotten, or lost it.
"You can text me at this number if you want. I'd like to hear more stories about your trip."
Vanessa started to turn towards the change rooms, and promised herself that she would not be too devastated if he let her down this time.
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Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 9:17 am
"Thanks."
It was a single, soft word, but he smiled with it none-the-less. Maybe some day he'd be more comfortable talking about the rhyme and reason behind the explosive mountain dominating his leg, but for now it was enough that she'd seen it. Seen it and known there was a connection, even if he said nothing and she didn't ask. It meant a lot of things, but it was also true that Vulcan was never far from his mind either.
He just also had a habit of covering up scars - physical and emotional.
"Oh," he reached out for the paper as she handed it to him, flipping it over to stare at the familiar set of numbers. He'd turned his phone off before he left to go on his trip, having had no idea how long he'd be gone and not feeling the wasted long distance minutes were worth it. He still knew her number though, even if he'd yet to pick up a new cell phone. He twirled Ghen's ring around his finger using his thumb, letting the pad of his finger brush over the familiar details. It was time to act like a normal member of society again, he supposed.
"Sure thing, kiddo," he laughed but instead of just setting it down, he folded the paper up and shoved it into the pocket of his gym shorts. He was going to hold onto it, at least. She just had to hope it survived the next time he did laundry, or that he bothered getting a phone before. Even as she was walking off, though, he stared after her. When she finally disappeared into the changing rooms, he turned and headed back into the office where a buff, slightly short and close-shaved 20-something was watching 'The Top 20 Lifting Fails of All Time' on the office computer.
He sat down and let his eyes focus on the screen, but his head was abuzz with more thoughts than Kam was usually host to. It was going to be a long week.
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