A Little Gathering

[Dave Cooper]

Dave couldn't help but burst out laughing when Vallery asked if there were any girlfriends that might beat her up. "You're funny, I like you," he said, still laughing a bit before tightening his fingers between hers with a gentle squeeze. "But no," he chuckle, "No. I don't have a girlfriend."

It was getting a bit darker now and people were starting to leave. Which, really, was kinda weird because it wasn't even ten. And it wasn't like it was too cold out. He had no idea where they were going. But its not like all of them left, there were still maybe ten people on the other side of the roof still playing games and dancing to music. "So uh.. I guess to avoid being even more awkward.. let's play twenty questions," he suggested with a smile.

"I'll go first. What's your favorite thing to do? Like a.. like a pastime," he asked sweetly, looking down at her again.

[Vallery Preston]

Vallery beamed when he laughed good nature day. No girlfriend... How lucky was she to find a nice guy who just happened to be cute and willing to sit with her up on a rooftop past ten o'clock at night? Not to mention, she felt something with him. She didn't want to admit it yet, that there was a mutual attraction, but there was definitely something between them and you could feel it in the air. She had been hurt before by guys, so admitting she was interested in someone, after hanging out with him for only about two hours now seemed like a dangerous thing to do. So she tried not to think about how much she liked his smile and his laugh, his smooth and calm voice, the way it felt to sit in his lap -- no, she couldn't think about that yet.

"Twenty questions sounds good," she said as she watched the crowd on the roof begin to thin out. Derek and Shana had left twenty minutes ago, probably to go hang out somewhere more comfortable. She wondered for a moment if Dave was uncomfortable, sitting on the concrete roof top with the added weight of a small senior on his lap. But he hadn't complained and she wasn't going to either. "I like to make music," she said, smiling at the thought of it. "I create tracks and beats, mainly techno stuff, but occasionally I sing a little song, but I kind of suck at singing." She shrugged. "What about you?"

[Dave Cooper]

"Oh dude that's sick!" Dave announced when Vallery said she liked to make music. He internally fist pumped too at the thought that he'd found someone possibly as musical as him. "Small world, huh? My life is music. I don't mix stuff, but I play guitar and piano. Plus I sing. Its kinda all I'm good at," he laughed, blushing a bit. He hated to talk about his talents; that made him feel really cocky.

"I bet you're not a bad singer," he added after a second. "We'll have to test that out someday when I've got my guitar. Alright, your turn for a question."

This was fun. Dave was having quite a good time. And getting to know this girl before moving too fast was turning out to be a pretty great idea.

[Vallery Preston]

It excited Val to know that someone else thought music making was cool. Aside from the kids in her music production class, post of her peers thought that she was an emo music nerd. She could see how they got that impression - she was never without her iPod and a pair of Beats headphones (which were totally douchey to wear but are great for sound quality). Not to mention she had a notepad with staff lines instead of regular lines, so that she could draft actual music notes onto paper, and people thought that was weird.

When he mentioned that he could play guitar, she groaned. "Oh, I'm so jealous!" She cried, laughing. "I can play a few chords, that's it. I use a crappy digital instrument software to record with an online guitar. It's so much easier to just plug the notes in and have it play them back for me, but the quality... It kind of sucks." She paused, and stiffened in excitement as a sudden idea came to her. "Hey, maybe you can help me with my final project for my music products class. Play guitar for a track, maybe record some vocals? We could totally jam." She said with a finality that made it seem more like a statement than a suggestion. She had a feeling that they were going to hang out and do musical things, no if, ands, or buts about it.

"My question is.." Hmm. She wasn't quite sure what to ask. She had so many questions in mind, she didn't know what she wanted to know first. "What's your favorite band?" That was a safe one, right? Besides, your favorite band says a lot about you, at least musically, and she was interested.

[Dave Cooper]

Dave smiled when she suggested he play guitar on one of her projects for a class. "Yea that'd be great," he said. "I'm gonna make you sing too, though," he added, giving her a little squeeze as he rocked from side to side (just once, mind you). "And favorite band? Ugh, that's a shot to the heart. I love so many!"

Letting his head fall back, Dave hummed quietly as he thought. "I really love Hinder. And Sugar Ray, always love Sugar Ray. Green Day is pretty sick... and then there's Soundgarden, Nirvana, and of course Muse," he could've rambled on for hours about how many bands he loved. "I can't pick just one. Same for movies.. I can't pick just one movie. I love them all! Except Titanic. I can't watch that. I cry every time." Smiling again, Dave looked down at Vallery. She was awfully pretty.

"So what's yours? What's your favorite band?" he asked after a moment of eye contact.

[Vallery Preston]

Vallery nodded with a grin when he said that there were so many bands to love just one. She felt the same way - didn't everyone? Music had been a part of her life ever since she was young. her grandfather had played in s jazz band on Wednesday nights st an art museum, so he had taught her to appreciate good tunes. though he hadnt taught her to play an instrument - she just couldnt get the hang of it - he had helped her over the years to discover her passion for creating music digitally. She nodded and ticked off on her fingers every one of the bands he listed that she liked, too. Four out of six she had in common with him, but two she had never listened to.

"I've heard of Sugar Ray but I haven't actually heard them," she mentioned. "Same with Green Day. I really like Hinder, though. I think one of my favorite bands has got to be The Black Keys, I love them. There's a lot of techno artists I like, but I love every genre. Except gospel," she wrinkled her nose. "I hate gospel music. Or anything remotely related to opera..." She laughed, and added, "Same with movies, but I tend to stick to the adventure or horror stuff. Things that keep me interested. I never made it through Tiranic, I just got too tired of the love story." She smiled apologetically, knowing most people loved Titanic.

"Next question - what is your favorite word?" She giggled, knowing it was a weird question. But it was what had popped into her head, and that's how things went with her. Think it, say it, and leave time for any regrets later.

[Dave Cooper]

Dave wasn't all too shocked when she said she'd never really listened to Sugar Ray. Unless your head lived in the nineties like his did, they weren't very relevant. But he was completely shocked when she said she hasn't listened to Green Day. "What?" he asked, trying to sound horrified. "Green Day is probably one of the best bands that's ever lived! They've got so many genres all plugged into one overall label of punk rock! This is not okay. Add that onto our list of things to do. You're going to listen to every CD I have of them."

Laughing it off, Dave settled again and waited for another question. It was his turn, but he'd paused too long and she took the lead. "Favorite word?" he mimicked, closing his eyes to think. "Huh. I've never really thought of that. I guess.. I guess I like the word coarse. As in the texture. Cuz I can feel it when I say it. What about you?"

Dave waited for her response and then asked, "Okay so next question... what's your favorite color?"

[Vallery Preston]

Vallery wrinkled her nose when he said she needed to listen to Green Day. It wasn't that she didn't like them - she just didn't really care to listen to them. But, for Dave, she could sit through a few CD's and albums, she knew. Just the thought of having someone to hang out and listen to music with made her giddy with excitement and anticipation for adventures to come! "Okay, okay," she relented, laughing. "I'll listen to Green Day, if they're as good as you make them of to be."

She knew right away what her favorite word was. It was weird that she had one, but she just really liked words, and lyrics, especially. "Coarse, I like it," she said, smiling. "My favorite word is malicious." She said it with lots of emphasis on the "cious" part, drawing out the s. She gave him a funny grin and wiggled her eyebrows comically. "I know it basically means evil, since it comes from the word malice, which means 'an intention to cause harm,' but I just like the sound. It really rolls off the tongue, you know?"

She shrugged and sort of curled herself against him as a gust of wind hit the roof, and she shivered. Okay, so it wasn't that bad, but it was kind of cold. She noticed, without intending to, that head really nice chest muscles - and stored that piece of information away for later. So he worked out, that was good - healthy is always a plus. Catching herself before her mind went completely off topic, she thought of an answer to his next question. "I think my favorite color is this," she sat up and tugged at her shirt, meaning the maroon red that she was wearing. "I wear it all the time. What about you?"

[Dave Cooper]

Dave smiled softly as Vallery snuggled into him. It was nice knowing that she was already so comfortable. I mean, it could've been the wind that caused that reaction.. but he'd prefer to think that she was as attracted to him as he was to her.

"That's a pretty color," he said when she tugged at her shirt. And he meant it, too. He wasn't just agreeing just for the sake of agreeing. "I like yellow," he added when she asked his favorite color. "And blue. Yellow and blue. And purple. But mostly yellow."

Looking down at her again, Dave caught eye contact and held it for a moment before leaning down into what was probably going to be a kiss. He wasn't sure why, he wasn't sure of anything. But he went slow, leaving plenty of time for her to make the decision.

[Vallery Preston]

Vallery was about to comment on how she liked the color yellow, too, when he leaned down, and time seemed to slow. Or perhaps time had stopped, she didn't know. The obnoxious freshman were distant, and she couldn't hear them over the beating of her heart. He was coming closer, ever so slowly, his lips intoxicatingly close and she didn't know what to do. She didn't typically kiss guys that she didn't know but... She felt like she knew Dave at the same time. She couldn't help it, even though her body was screaming at her to ask what the hell she was doing, as she leaned in, and planted a soft kiss upon his lips. Just one short, sweet kiss that lasted hardly a few seconds.

She pulled back, eyes wide, and offered a tentative, shy smile. Kissing wasn't her strong suit. She always felt like she had to be doing it wrong or something. It made her feel like whoever was kissing her was so close, like they were seeing a part of her she had never shown. It was an intimate act that made her just the slightest bit reluctant, but Dave's kiss was... Well, in one word, adorable. She liked it, she felt like it was... Acceptable, and it felt right. "I'm sorry," she found herself apologizing, even though she was still grinning broadly. "Should I not have done that?"