Players:
Summary: Star finds Nathaniel in the coffee shop and tells him not to steal her boyfriend.
Date: October 11, 2011
Log Title: Coffee Fit
Rating: PG
Westchester - Grind Stone
The Grind Stone is a quaint little coffee shop with tables surrounded by various shape chares and even a few couches with coffee tables. Baristas in yellow aprons are ready to take anyone's order from a latte to a hot chocolate to one of their many specialty drinks.
Nathaniel has a number of weaknesses; unsurprisingly for a college student, coffee is definitely one of them. The young mutant makes his way into the Grind Stone and heads for the counter, ordering himself something large and flavored, a heavy-looking canvas satchel resting on his hip. He waits for the coffee, then makes his way to a table, shaking his coat absentmindedly to rid it of the chill from outside. The weather is getting colder by the day so it's no surprise that the coffee shop is fairly busy, especially since it's late afternoon, when most college students have finished classes and all of the highschool ones have. He sits in the corner, or as close as he can manage, facing the rest of the room and takes out a heavy book that looks to have something to do with Renaissance art. Sipping his coffee, he flips the book open and gets out a couple other things - notebook, pencil - so he can take notes.
With school over for the day, Star has taken the oportunity to go grab a real cup of coffee. She pushes in the door, pausing for a moment as it closes behind her before heading for the counter to order something with lots of chocolate and caffeine. She turns to survey the cafe while she waits for her order, her eyes falling on Nathan sitting in the corner with his text book and she chews lightly on her thumbnail for a moment. When her coffee is delivered, she gives the barista a small smile and heads over to wind her way through the crowd to join the other empath. The red cowl neck sweater she's wearing doesn't look all that warm, but she seems comfortable enough in it and jeans, "Hi, Nathan. Mind if I join you?" She's calm, for the moment at least, and doesn't really wait for him to either offer an invitation or tell her to get lost before settling into a chair where she can watch both the room and him.
Nathaniel actually doesn't notice Star at first, or at least doesn't appear to. He lifts his head a few seconds after she's spoken, just in time to watch her sit down, and he blinks at her in mild surprise, "Oh, hi. No, go ahead. I'm just trying to get some studying in for school. I'm guessing you're done for the day…?" He keeps his attention off the book so he can talk to her, eyebrows lifted in curiosity while he picks up his coffee and takes a sip.
Star nods, "Yeah. And I haven't actually found an online school I want to do yet." So she's finished for the day. "So what are you studying?" She tries to get a peek at the book, just making polite conversation for a moment, "Did you and David have a nice conversation the other day?" Ah… Small talk. It's not exactly something she's very good at most of the time.
"Renaissance art. We're supposed to study mediums, brush strokes of certain artists, that kind of thing. Finding our niche or some crap, I don't know," Nathan grouses, turning the book so she can look at it all she wants. He picks up the coffee again and shrugs in response to the question, "I guess? I told him to stop trying to hook me up with guys all the time. Do you know we were hanging in a cafe and he got the waitress to buy stuff for a guy in my name the other day? Like I'm so defective I can't find them on my own." He huffs, then blushes faintly and ruffles his fingers through his hair, "Er. Anyway. There are a lot of online schools and you have to research each one - I'm not surprised it's taking some time. Some online schools have physical campuses. Maybe see if there are any in New York?"
"That's kind of cool." Star looks at a couple of the pictures before sliding the book back over to him, "So you're an artist, then?" It's not really a question, from her tone. She sits back, crossing her legs and sipping her coffee. The news that her boyfriend is trying to hook his best friend up with random guys has her rolling her eyes, "He's probably just trying to help." She does agree that it can get more than annoying, though! "At least he's not trying to keep you from dating anyone. Cloud's done nothing but thrown a fit anytime I go out with anyone for the last couple of years." She frowns a little, "Other than David, anyway. I guess he thinks David is one of the few guys he can trust not to go do anything he'll have to hunt them down for." She rolls her eyes at that thought. "I swear, my brothers are all way too over protective…"
The thought of finding a school in New York that she could go to has her shrugging, "It's an idea, I suppose. I was just wanting to have some kind of college experience before summer starts."
Nathaniel shrugs and shakes his head, propping his jaw on his fist, "Oh, no, I know he's trying to help. I'm just not big on matchmaking, you know?" He takes another swallow, drawing the book back over and answering her non-question, "Just an art student." It's self-deprecating, but that's how it is. He winds up laughing when Star talks about her brothers, rubbing the back of his neck and having a momentary twinge of unrelated discomfort before he drops his hand back to the table to curl around his coffee, "Well, it's understandable, I guess. Especially if you're the only girl and they're not all mutants… and you could still just try taking one class? I'm sure there are extracurriculars or whatever you could manage without too much trouble, if you don't have time for an entire course load."
Star nods, "Oh, I totally understand." Matchmaking is irritating, at times, "Don't write it off completely, though. My friend Jamie set me up with my first boyfriend back home." He ended up being a jerk, but that's another story. She wrinkles her nose at the laughter, "Well, Cloud has powers…" The others, she's not really sure about, "If our older brothers do, then I don't know about it." Cloud is the only one that's admitted to the rest of the family that he's a mutant. Even she hasn't quite gotten around to doing that. She nods again, her hands wrapped around her cup, "I suppose I could. Maybe there's a weekend class I can take, or something." It's something to consider, anyway. She glances at him out of the corner of her eye as she raises the coffee to her lips, "I couldn't help but notice that you… Well, you like David." Ah… the real reason she invaded his study time!
Nathaniel swirls his cup slightly to avoid letting the syrup settle and nods, "From what I've seen, brothers tend to think they need to protect sisters, especially younger sisters. Since mutants suffer a lot of discrimination, that probably just makes it worse." He takes another swallow of coffee, but when she finally gets to the point she wanted to discuss, he only lifts his eyebrows. He finishes taking a drink and licks his lips, nodding, "Yeah. He knows, so don't worry. He doesn't /believe/ it, but at least I told him." He shrugs, turning his cup needlessly just to have something to do, fidgeter that he is, "It doesn't mean anything. David's straight."
Star just rolls her eyes again, "Yeah, well, Cloud is younger than I am." Even if it is only by about ten minutes. She wrinkles her nose and drops her voice slightly, "Yeah, well, at least I'm lucky enough not to have any obvious mutation." Other than eyes that change color, that is, "I know there are some people that aren't so fortunate, even at Xavier's." When he admits that he's told David that he likes him, she nods and takes a small sip of coffee before setting it on the table, "I just don't want there to be any problems, is all." She blushes faintly, just a light pinking of her cheeks, "I like David. I don't want to come between a friendship, but I don't want to lose another boyfriend because he all of a sudden decides that he wants to go out with someone that's crushing on him." She doesn't sound like she's threatened; more like she's just making her own feelings known.
Nathaniel nods his head in agreement regarding those that aren't so fortunate as the pair of them, "Yeah. I went to school with a few people who couldn't hide what they were." He shrugs helplessly, then lifts his coffee again to sip. He smiles faintly at Star, shaking his head and examining the cup, "Honestly, I'd decided to just ignore it. It's harder than I thought and I've considered telling David I don't want to be friends anymore, but really, that has more to do with him than with you." He licks his lips, folding his arms and leaning towards Star slightly, focusing on her with his pale green eyes, "Star… David likes you… and he likes girls. He's so far from leaving you for me that the concept is literally on another planet. He doesn't take my crush seriously, okay? He doesn't get it and I doubt he ever will. There's nothing for you to worry about."
The cup is lifted to Star's lips, but lowered again before she drinks when he mentions not being friends with David anymore because of liking him, "Don't do that… David needs his friends." She considers herself his friend. They were before they started dating, anyway. She blushes faintly when he tells her not to worry about it and nods, "Well, I just wanted to cover my bases, is all. It's not like I'm really worried, but…" She shrugs. "Anyway. Everyone needs friends. You need David as much as he needs you."
Nathaniel isn't getting any studying done, for the most part, so he tucks his book back into his bag and adds his notebook and pencil while he talks, "I like you, but… you're David's girlfriend. He and your relationship are your primary concern. David's primary concern is pretty much the same. Don't get me wrong, he's invested in our friendship. A lot, even." He hefts his bag up onto his lap, returning his attention to Star with a furrowed brow, "But I've dealt with people before who failed to understand something and hurt me by being that way. I know how I respond to it and I'm not going through it again just because you think David needs a generic band of friends. I've been by myself before, I can do it again. You wanted to make sure I didn't intend to steal David, mission accomplished. I'll see you later." He slings his bag over his shoulder and pushes himself to his feet, snagging the paper coffee cup and heading promptly door-wards.
"Dude… I can smell feelings. I want everyone to be happy." Star rolls her eyes a little at that, "And David might be really smart, but he can be an idiot about the way other people feel." She runs a hand through her hair, gently, this time, picking out a few tangles. She frowns a little when he talks about being hurt before and shakes her head, just letting him talk for the moment. The mention of being by himself, however, has her sitting up and putting both feet on the floor, "Nobody can live totally on their own." Especially not an empath, from her view. She opens her mouth to continue, but then he's leaving and she blinks a couple of times, looking like she's just been slapped, "You bet you will." It's said softly, a small frown drawing her brows together as she picks up her own cup of coffee and heads out just a moment later.
She just really doesn't like crowds…
