Uh..I-I-I-I...

[Lister D. Reynolds]

LDR breathed a sigh of relief. Thank you, universe! You can mess with me however you want for the next week. Thank you. He felt his chest loosen slightly, heart still pounding. Oh, he still wanted to run away.

He flinched as she shouted, his nails digging in deeper. If he tried he could probably run past her, but that wouldn't be fair. Blair was having just as hard a time to keep from running away, leaving now would just push her over the edge.

"S-S-So-Sorry..." He looked her in the eyes and shrugged "I-I-I've ha-...do-doesn't ma-matter..." His face flushed again, his eyes looking down at the girl's lack of clothing "Y-Y-Y-You sh-should probably...pu-put your clo-clothes back on." He turned around to give her a chance to...gain her composure. Hopefully they could still be friends. The thought made LDR feel weird. He counted through the people he'd count as friends here. Demi, Ben, Sammy, Barry...Blair? When had he ever had friends who weren't people online?

[Blair Collins]

Blair started pulling her clothes back on. It felt weird with Lister just standing there but she did not want to spend another second dressed that way. She even had to take her sweater off so she could put her shirt back on. She did all this in silence--what was she supposed to say?

"Okay," she muttered when she finished. She looked at Lister and stuffed her hands into her pockets. Maybe she did like him but like hell she was going to tell him that today. She breathed in--

"Oranges!" she exclaimed. Damn, why does she keep doing this? "Sorry... I smelled something on you earlier but couldn't recognize it. Got it now."

Blair shuffled her feet. What pretty leaves there were on the ground. Yes, let us focus on those. She looked up. "Can I see the photo you're going to hand in for the assignment?"

[Lister D. Reynolds]

LDR turned back around and breathed another sigh of relief, she had clothes on now. And she seemed to have calmed down. Her random comment took him by surprise "I-I-I gu-guess...I-I-I use this..." He added a shrug to the end of it.

He glanced back down at his camera and clicked through a couple of the pictures, quickly going past the more..graphic ones. He stopped at the first one he took, her mid-shiver with the sun highlighting the cute expression. Was it cute? He couldn't decide "I-I-I ca-can de-delete the o-others..." His face turned bright red, even though he was now looking away.

[Blair Collins]

She scrolled through the photos in her camera and stopped at the one she took of him at the pier. Lister stood against a background of the morning sun, the lake glittering. "I like this one. A tad bit dramatic but... you looked peaceful."

The girl cleared her throat. She really wished he did not ask her that. What was she supposed to say? Oh, please, keep them! May you always remember our time together and realize I could be a quality lover/crush. Uhm, nope! Not going to happen. Never.

"That's up to you," she answered, shrugging and trying to sound casual. "I'm keeping all of the ones that I took." And she was probably going to stare at them all day but she was not about to tell him that either. "Leverage, maybe."

[Lister D. Reynolds]

LDR's face felt like it was melting "U-U-U-Uh...I-I-I-I..." He rubbed the back of his head before looking back at her "I-I-I'll se-see...be-best that I ha-have so-something to blackmail you wi-wi-with, i-in ca-case you u-use those a-against me." A smile curled at the corner of his lips.

His breathing was still off but his heart seemed to have calmed down. Getting slower, still too fast for his own good but slower. The urge to hide in his room still remained. Maybe it'd be best if he did? Yeah, maybe. "I-I-I th-th-thi-..." He couldn't finish his sentence, didn't want to. Something stopped him from doing so.

He wrung out the bottom of his drying t-shirt, it stuck closely to his torso. A tension was stuck between them, a tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. LDR could feel it and he squirmed. He wanted to start walking back, wanted to get back to his room.

[Blair Collins]

He did not finish his sentence. Why the hell was he not finishing his sentence? Lister squirmed. What the actual f--

"Hey, are you okay?" Blair almost reached out to touch him--because that was what a normal person would do. A comforting hand usually worked but this boy was anything but usual. But she did not know what else to do. So she stood there, waiting for something to happen.

If Lister had something to say, he did not look like he was about to say it anytime soon. He was looking uncomfortable again. Fucking hell, what did she do this time? This was insane. Blair wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake some sense into him--this boy needed to get a grip! What was with him? This was not about that romantic attraction thing. They were past that, right? And she already put on her clothes. So what now?

Okay, this was discomforting Blair as well now. He was officially freaking her out. She considered calling for a nurse or something. She took a deep breath. "Lister, what's wrong?"

[Lister D. Reynolds]

"I-I-I-I th-think we be-better he-head back...be-before so-someone...uh...." LDR stammered, looking up at Blair "N-N-Nothing's wr-wrong...I-I j-just th-think we sh-should...he-head ba-back..." He took a step forward, moving past Blair.

He started to walk at a slow pace, create a short distance from Blair. No, running away. No, running away. Try to be normal. Try to be calm. "I-I-I-I th-think I ha-have so-some...I-I-I wa-want to wo-work on..." Why couldn't they just hang out? Why couldn't he just be normal?

Yelling internally LDR picked up his speed, going faster. And faster. Until he was running away. So he ran and ran, leaving Blair stood there. What was he going to say when they bumped into each other again? 'Sorry, I had a complete meltdown and needed to go have a panic attack'?

LDR stopped a couple hundred metres away, back to a tree. He doubled over trying to control his breathing.

[Blair Collins]

He was going... going... aaaaand he was gone. Blair blinked. What the hell just happened? She looked around her. Yep, she was completely alone. Damn, that boy could run. Either he was too far for her to see or he was hiding. Should she wait for him? Was he even coming back? Did she want him to come back?

Part of her did--she could never stand cliffhangers. But most of her was kind of glad that he ran--it was not like she could do it herself. This saved them from anymore possible humiliating actions. But what now? Excluding the sounds of nature, silence surrounded her.

"It was nice meeting you!" she yelled in no particular direction. Just in case he was within earshot, he would know that she was not going to hold any grudges. She started making her way back to her dorm and wondered if she would ever see Lister again--or will he avoid her forever? Well, at least she had the photos.