the boardwalk ; monday afternoon

[necroslacker]

Despite the problems Sam had been having with his ghosts disrupting people (or person) lately, he wasn't in too bad a mood today. That might have been because he'd gone out skateboarding for a long, long time and was just now sitting down to take a breather. He was hot and sweaty but it had felt good to channel some of his discontent and guilt into exercise. He swiped his sweaty hair out of his eyes and stretched his legs out, using his skateboard as a foot stool for the moment.

He was spending as much time away from the tents as he could and therefore, spending as much time not sleeping as possible. It might be unhealthy but there was no way he was gonna risk scaring people he didn't know with random ghost visits. It was hard enough that he was bothering Natalie with it.

So, he wasn't sleeping and he was barely around the campsite which meant he was either off skateboarding, walking, or just...doing something that kept him away and didn't put his tentmates at risk.

It was stupid, he knew, because most people here were used to weird things but Sam was stupid at the best of times.

[Open place in town, open post!]

Comments

[necroslacker]

"Mmm, do you?" Sam asked, sliding his arms more comfortably around her and making sure she stayed close to him. "Never knew you wanted to date a rebel. I can be defiant when I wanna be."

[whenshewasnice]

She hadn't really been planning to go anywhere, but that was nice all the same. "I was aware of that," she said. "It's attractive in small doses."

[necroslacker]

"I'm learning new things about you all the time," he laughed, smiling down at her. "I'm not planning on becoming an out and out rebel though. Don't worry. Not my style."

[whenshewasnice]

"Good," she decided. "I don't want every instance of doing a little cleaning in the room to become a battle of wills."

[necroslacker]

"Is that your subtle way of telling me the room needs to be cleaned?" Sam asked. "Not that we're living there for awhile, but still."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie gave that a quiet snort. "It was just an example, Sam."

Like she ever let the room get to a state where it needed any particular kind of cleaning in he first place.

[necroslacker]

"Good, then while we're camping, I'll just go back to the room and mess it up," he teased. "Defiance, you see."

[whenshewasnice]

"But I'm a girl," Natalie pointed out. "I have many ways of fighting boyfriend defiance."

[necroslacker]

"Such as...?" Sam prompted because he was curious now. "What will you fight me with?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Withholding things."

She demonstrated this by pushing away from him.

[necroslacker]

Sam had a pretty good grip on her though so he wasn't going to let go that easily. "Withholding what? We're already separated, I can deal with being without for awhile, I think. Gonna have to."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie put her hands flat against his chest and pushed a little more firmly.

"Well, since we're talking about the room, I was thinking of the time after we're not in the tents anymore."

[necroslacker]

Sam held strong, trying to maintain his hold on her even if he knew she was stronger. "Yeah, but why would you do that? It affects you too."

[whenshewasnice]

"Not as much." She could be stoic when she wanted to, see. She could also put a little more strength into pushing him, though not nearly all she had.

As that might have broken something. "And isn't that what girls do?"

[necroslacker]

He lost his grip with one hand but still had her with one, at least. "I don't know what girls do since, as you can see, I'm not a girl. But, I wouldn't think you'd want to be like all other girls."

[whenshewasnice]

"As if I'm the first girl you dated without meeting her in a cage," Natalie scoffed, trying to shake his hand off. "You don't need to be a girl to know what they can do."

[necroslacker]

"Hey, I've dated other girls besides you and Brid," Sam defended, letting her go and making a face. "I have."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie raised an eyebrow at him. "How are you getting defensive when you're just confirming what I just said?"

[necroslacker]

"Because...I miss understood you," Sam said sheepishly. "And thought you said I hadn't."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie let out one of those little surprise laughs. "Well. Point is, you'd think some of those conquests of yours would have taught you how girls can work."

[necroslacker]

"Not really," Sam admitted with a shrug. "I've had other girlfriends but I've never been...great at relationships. They usually didn't last or we just decided to be friends or something."

[whenshewasnice]

"Those girls were weird."

Or maybe she was. Who even knew?

[necroslacker]

"Or maybe I was the problem," Sam pointed out, smirking. "I think that was probably the weird part of the relationship."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie shrugged. She doubted it was that simple either way. "Well, their loss."

[necroslacker]

"And your gain?" Sam asked, half smiling.