comeoutwrong | Room 323 [Thursday, Evening]

"I've got no issue watching you pack," he said because he was kind of comfortable now. "I'll take a nap right here or something. I gave you an option. If I gotta work harder, you'd better be upping your entertainment promises."

Effy considered that, and nodded a sort of agreement.

"No packing, then," she said, and smirked. "You fall asleep there, might never be able to move you." He was a bit bigger than her, as he so loved to point out.

"You taking the IOU then?" he wondered, still not moving from his comfortable position. "Or you want me to try and come up with some other incentive for you?"

"I'll take an IOU," she agreed. "You gonna write it down for me, signed and official?"

Kind of fun to have something like that to hold over his head.

"Get me a pen and some paper and I'll make it official," he said, kicking his legs against her bed. If she wanted it official, he could do that. "I'll put little stars on it just for you."

She could do that, and moved away from him to find a biro and something to write on which she tossed onto his stomach.

If he was going to take up space on her bed, she could drop things on him.

And smirk. Because like she wouldn't at this juncture.

"Cute," he said, picking both things up and scribbling a few things on the piece of paper. He folded it up and then handed it back to her.

When she opened it, she'd see: IOU one thing of your choice. If you pick something dumb, I will make fun of you.

Alex

And there was a happy face next to his name. "Keep it in a safe place so you can redeem it."

Of course she'd be keeping it safe, and she pointedly wandered over to pin it right in the middle of the board behind her desk.

"It disappears, I know you're just trying to get out of your side of this deal."

"I'm not a fucking quitter," he said, Griff's words from the other day coming back to him. "I don't duck deals. Maybe that's your job."

"I'm keeping it so far," she pointed out, making her way back over.

"Not packing and sending you to sleep."

"I could fall asleep anyway," he said, getting comfortable again. "I'm very relaxed right now."

"Wouldn't be much point in telling me to entertain you." She didn't think he'd actually do that. "Waste of an IOU."

"True," he said, grinning up at her again. "Maybe I'll fall asleep later. After I see how good of an entertainer you are."

"Thought I'd proved that already," she said. "Seemed to think I was pretty entertaining then. Nothing's changed."

"I didn't say you had to prove anything," he pointed out, shaking his head. "But anyone can have an off day. Maybe you're tired or something. Got a little too much on your mind and can't focus."

"Nothing on my mind, not having a sleep problem... No off day." She smiled, cocking her head as she looked at him.

"So, am I supposed to bust out a board game, or was there some specific entertainment you were looking for from your side of this IOU?"

"Where's your creative thinking? I can't be answering everything for you," he asked, amused. "You've got the IOU from me so you can choose the entertainment. I just reserve the right to call it stupid if it is."

"Thought that was the stipulation on my side of this," she reminded him. "You're the one wanting something from me right now."

And if she could talk him round in circles, more was the fun.

"And I gave you an incentive," he reminded her. "A big one. But I'm also not making your decisions for you. You've got a brain, I'm sure it works."

"It works," she confirmed, smiling and moving to straddle his legs. If he was taking up space on her bed, she could take up space on him. It was becoming a thing.

"I don't have any board games." The sort of games they played, tended to have far more interesting rules anyway. "Could just chat?" Sure, he'd appreciate that with her sitting on his lap.

"You're in a chatting mood?" he asked, keeping still while she got comfortable. "We could talk about the weather. It's fucking hot outside."

Because they were such great small talkers. Once or twice didn't count.

"Think there's something wrong with your country." Humidity like this was just nasty, in her opinion. "Feels like someone chucked a wet towel over it."

See, she could talk weather!

"You just have to get used to it," he advised like he was some expert. "Nothing wrong with the country, something wrong with the weather. Live near the ocean, this is what you get. It was dry heat back where I'm from."

So could he!

Small talk really wasn't so hard.

"And where's that, anyway?" Because after all this time, she wasn't sure she'd actually asked.

... Maybe she wasn't all that great at the small talk.

"Iowa," he shared, shrugging a shoulder. "It's in the midwest, pretty much. Lots of farms, lots of tornadoes, little to do. Home sweet home."

Yeah, his tone did not indicate that he really thought that.

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