Away From Pranksters

[Jason Campbell]

"No way, you love that movie? I thought even the actors who played in it didn't like that movie."

It might not be really nice but the smile Jason had as he laughed had nothing cruel to it. He never meant to mock Charity Croft. He was still very surprised she agreed to see him again, in a better environment than the school and the hundred pranks they left in the teacher's lounge. He invited her and she said yes. Maybe he was not as bad with women as he thought he was.

The place was pretty crowded. And it would appear the woman was running for the World’s Slowest Waitress Award. Jason was pretty sure he could grow a.... no wait, he already had a stubble, bad example. He could have grey.... no he already had some. All of his hair will turn white before they could get their meal. There, that was more like it. It took already pretty long before she came to ask what they wanted to drink, even longer to serve them said drinks and she had left in what seemed an eternity with their orders. The only reason why Jason’s beer and glass of water were not both all drank was because he spend too much time talking to Charity.

It started with the usual small talk. How was work, if he saved anyone, if the students tried anything else on her... Was the coffee machine still a tool from hell trying to take down the teachers one at a time? In reality, this was not all that interesting so they went over funnier stuff. And it was how she ended up sharing with him that she liked a movie that he apparently didn’t think anyone liked. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said with his smile still on. He seemed far more relaxed than he often was. "We all have those, right? Do you remember Back to the Future? I don’t know if you’ve ever seen those. That flying skateboard Marty had... I wanted it so bad when I saw that. I ‘borrowed’ a friend’s skateboard to try and do like him. Should’ve practiced first ‘cause I only started with it that I ended up falling some stairs and broke my arm,” he admitted He took some of his water before feeling like adding. "Oh, sure, my dad healed me but I sort of realised certain things are better left to movies.” How many more minutes after eternity were they now from their meal?

[Charity Croft]

"Nope, I'm telling you: Grease 2 is a total guilty pleasure," Charity insisted, adding a slight shrug. Yeah, it was a bit odd to be out eating with Jason Campbell. Charity still wasn't quite sure what was going on here or anything. He'd made the offer and the next thing Charity really realized she was sitting at a table drinking water and waiting on a waitress who apparently liked to put the "wait" in waitstaff. At least the conversation was pleasant enough, and Charity really liked to think she was doing better at working her way out of the whole awkward "I'm an adult I swear" phase.

Charity nodded as Jason talked about the Back to the Future movies. Who didn't know and love those? People who weren't human, that's who. She had to laugh at Jason's comment, shaking her head.

"Wait a moment: I thought you said you were super boring?" she said, pointing at him. 'Attempting to be Marty McFly is definitely not boring. Sooo, you might want to fix your definition of that," Charity smiled and bobbed her head again before leaning back a little. "Did this place have, like, one of those 'if you wait more than twenty minutes you get your food free' things? Because at this point I'm thinking we would've been better off trying to rely on my awesome cooking skills."

[Jason Campbell]

Jason normally had a boring social life. He more often than none spent his evenings at home, watching some shows without paying too much attention, reading books or doing research. Whenever he felt the need to go out and meet people, he usually ended up in a bar and talked little to the other human beings around him, other than the bartender that is. Oh, he had interactions too at times but he rarely invited someone. He usually waited for them to invite him. This time, he called Charity. Her personality was very different than his but he still found her of good company. The way she tried to convince him Grease 2 was worth watching was really amusing.

He laughed even more as she pointed out he could not pretend to be Marty McFly and claim he was boring. “I was eight when it happened. Things started to get down for me when I reached puberty,” he replied. The smile on his face showed he was jesting though and he hoped she got it as such. She should, it was not like they were being very serious. This too was quite a change of pace for him. So far, he liked it.

She was also starting to consider the same thing as he did about this place. “It’s not the first time I’ve come here but I never had to wait this long. Must be short on staff for the evening. Or that waitress just really doesn’t like us.” He would opt for the first if he was being serious but he still suggested another reason. She brought up her cooking skills. It was not the first time she claimed for them to be awesome but Jason had yet tasted it. He thought a restaurant was a better place to invite Charity than go with the whole awkwardness that might come by inviting someone to your place and cook for them. “Ah yes, but I said I was inviting you, not inviting myself to your place.”

[Charity Croft]

Charity had to let out a slight laugh. "So you got all your wildness out before you hit twelve? You rebel you," she had to smile though. After all, she hadn't exactly been that much of a rebel herself. Yeah, there had been the whole wonky, goofy thing that she did pretty well and all, but that wasn't really rebelling or being cool. Plus, she kept working her way into making that more adult and all. Hence why it kept coming up again and again.

That and waiting made your thoughts start chasing each other around in circles. And they'd definitely done some waiting. "I dunno, she doesn't look like one of my students," Charity said, craning her neck to get a better look. She pretty well knew each of hers by face though, so it was pretty unlikely that this one was one of hers. She leaned back in time for Jason's next comment.

"That and you'd be inviting yourself into a girl den," Charity pointed out. "Since I'm now living with Reid and Bell and all. I'm sure they'd probably make their distance or something. Or, knowing my luck, we'd end up with some sitcom thing where Reid shows up drunk and half naked while Bell's trying to take care of a dying squirrel or orphan child."

Sadly, that had nearly happened.
Twice.

[Jason Campbell]

“Something like that,” he answered with a laughter in his voice. He didn’t think he’d be this relaxed. He rarely was. Then again, he rarely had the occasion to be. Jason had but a handful of friends, most of which happened to be colleagues or people he met only on a few occasions over a beer, to get the stress of work out.

Charity claimed she didn’t look like one of her students. If she was a better memory of faces then he did, he might believe although the fact she looked just a little too old perhaps to be in high school helped. He did realise there was college too but he’d rather not think about. “Then maybe she realised I was a doctor and decided to make us wait like you can do in a hospital,” he said with a shrug. In reality, he was not all that worried about it. If they were to make enough of a fuss about it, not only would they apologize but they might as well get away without paying the beverages they ordered. As long as the food was not cold by the time they arrived, Jason would not complain too much. “I hope you were not in a hurry?” He felt like asking her however. He had little waiting for him at home but it might not be her case.

Inviting himself in a girl den? Now, that would be a first. He was about to ask if she resided at school still but she answered for him. Only he didn’t expect the answer to make his freeze like that. Reid and Bell. A woman he once slept with and admitted having no problem doing it again since it would never get further and another one he found charming and might have considered he flirted with her. And now Charity, who might also consider he was flirting with her. Somehow, the image of himself leaving Reid’s room after spending the night drinking and more with her, only in underwear, walking out to find Bell and Charity preparing breakfast came to his mind. He was not sure he liked that image. “You’re living with... I had no idea. But you forgot her dogs, right? For the sitcom scenario. They’d do something too for sure.” In the end, he preferred waiting for their meal here. Yep.

[Charity Croft]

It almost felt weird to see Jason laughing. Then again, Charity did seem to make him laugh each time she ran into him. At least this time it wasn't through pointing at penis cakes or tripping over herself or eating something weird or anything along those lines. This was almost adult-level laughter, and that was something that Charity could at least be a little proud of, right? She was going to take it anyway.

"Or she's tired," Charity supplied, shrugging. "Or she's just someone who doesn't care about tips. Or it's the cooks. Or she's just an evil robot sent from the future to ruin our good time." Charity shrugged again. "Got to be one of the above."

Charity at least had the water to sip and enjoy. Yay water. Charity actually ran her fingers along the edge while Jason figured out her roommates. "Well, it's not like it's all that recent or anything," Charity replied, shrugging. "We all sort of ended up moving in together about..." She closed one eye, tilting her head to the side while she did the math, "a month ago, maybe two? We've kind of gotten used to each other."

Charity shrugged again. She actually enjoyed living with Reid and Bell: they were both interesting and made things all the more exciting. And, well, they did sometimes get up to near sit-com level shenanigans. "Uh, did you not catch who's living in that house?" Charity pointed out. "The dogs are the most well-behaved residents," she had to smile almost smugly at that, before rolling her eyes. "Okay, that's a lie. It's totally Bell. If we're Full House, she's Danny, I'm Joey, and Reid's Jessie... and that works out way too well..."

[Jason Campbell]

Jason didn’t think he was the kind to never smile or laugh. It happened. More often than people believed. The problem was that he rarely had people around when that happened, because most of the people he met, it was at the clinic or for some other professional reason. It seemed inappropriate to joke around while dealing with someone’s cancer or healing their wounds. I believed so, at the very least. But he was not meeting Charity under such circumstances. In fact, he had never done that. A first really, it seemed, since pretty much everyone else he knew ended up receiving some care on his part at one point or another. Well, it might still happened. She once told him she was accident-prone, if he remembered correctly.

He laughed again at the many other choices she offered to explain why this was so long, the one making more sense being the fact she was an evil robot from the future of course. “That is just one terrible way to get rid of all people above twenty-five,” he replied with a light shake of his head. But he kept his smile on, since none of this was said seriously. Well, the young woman might be tired and not interested in tips. Or the cooks were particularly slow tonight. Who knows? But their conversation was just for fun.

He nodded as she shared the information with him. So she had been there since a while and so did Bell. He had no idea but it was also the kind of information he didn’t think the others really had to share with him. Did Bell know he knew Reid? Did Reid think he’d know the other two? Probably not. And discussing roommates had never been something he had done much with either of them. “Reid hasn’t turned you into a party animal just yet?” he asked, teasing Charity. The woman was going down a dangerous slope but whatever comment Jason could say about it would just end up sounding like a medical advice. And he knew what Reid made of those.

He laughed at the comparison. “What is it with this town that makes most of us perfect characters for sit-coms?” he asked her as he tried to picture that in his head, this Full House version of their lives. It was hard for whatever he remembered of this show was limited. He didn’t have to think of that too long for the waitress finally returned with their meals. Jason was almost tempted to comment about it but she offered no explanation to the long delay and he was too polite for that. They might just end up with spit in their drinks otherwise. “And look at that, it’s still warm. How about you?” Jason let out once the waitress left after asking if they needed anything else.

[Charity Croft]

Charity very nearly found herself sticking out a tongue as Jason sort of lightheartedly teased about her comments and her age. She knew full well that she was technically older than most of the people around here, which often resulted in confusion as she generally acted about the same age as most of her students. But she figured that Jason hadn't meant it as an insult or anything along those lines. There were reasons and all.

Plus, it was more interesting to consider her roommates. Charity had to laugh. "It's more likely that Bell and I will have Reid cooking," she pointed out, "since we outnumber her," though there were even times when she and Bell got one one another's nerves. Sometimes Charity felt in the middle of the two of them... which again had her thinking about Full House and sitcoms and how easily their lives seemed to line up.

"You're not the one who works with a cat, had a dwarf for a father, and lives in a craaaaazy house with a bunch of single women. Oh, and I totally got asked out to prom this year," Charity smiled and bobbed her head. "Yeah, that happened."

Also happening was the arrival of their food. Charity waved a hand over hers. "Feels warm," she said before picking up a fork and taking a bite. "Hey, doesn't taste too bad either. So maybe there's just a light out in the kitchen or something," Charity shrugged. She was at least somewhat willing to think the best of them. Right up until she found out that Lucy James worked here, that is.

[Jason Campbell]

Jason didn't always realise that his words could sometimes be considered tactless. Women and age, that was a touchy subject yet he brought it up and joked about it, not thinking it might be wrong. It was not like he said thirty, even if he knew that she was. He said twenty-five, which could imply she looked five years younger. She had to like it, no? Only it was best not to talk of age. Something Jason did not always get.

He preferred to try and picture Reid cooking. “That’s... an odd image. Something tells me there would be a lot of alcohol in that food,” he replied. As for outnumbering Reid, it might be true but he also didn’t think they really got her cornered or anything like that. It was true however that picturing Reid as a housemaid straight from the 50’s was as logical as hearing Bell curse, drink and sleep with whoever was around. It was amusing to imagine because it was so not likely. As for Charity... he didn’t know. He found it hard to picture her because, in the end, he didn’t know her very well. It was like he had a whole new Charity every time he met her.

“Wait, cat?” Because that was obviously the weirdest of everything she just said. He couldn’t get how one should be working with a cat. “Pet therapy?” It seemed unlikely but he was not the trainer. Maybe some were able to calm down with a cat around. He knew animals could be used in therapy, even if he never tested it himself. How stretched it was then to believe it could be used to train people’s abilities?

If that was what caught his attention, she preferred to talk of the prom and how she had been asked out. “Was it a student?” He smiled as he asked, clearly amused by this. He didn’t go to prom. He didn’t see the point. And never had the guts to invite anyone to it. To think that someone asked Charity to prom, this one, not the one when they were kids, was funny though.

The food was warm and edible. All they could asked for, even if Jason felt like he should probably complain a little. But the waitress was already gone to have another customer wait for sure. “I just hope it’s not like that every night or I can’t see it stay in business for long.”