Chapter 2.50- Bad, Bad Idea

         “So then, Liz walked right up to her,” Roger and Mariah walked home together most days. Not every day, but most. “And get this, she reached down and picked up her leg-”

         Today, however, wasn’t supposed to be a day where they walked home. Usually Roger had his chess league this afternoon, but most of the kids were out with the flu and it had been cancelled.

         “-And then she bent her knee so she could see what an idiot she looked like!” His voice cracked in excitement. Mariah tried not to flinch so he wouldn’t get embarrassed. It happened a lot less lately, but most of the other guys had already finished this part of growing up and she felt bad that he still had to deal with it.

         “So she yanked the toilet paper off of her shoe as fast as she could and then tried to accuse Liz of planting it there! What an idiot. We all just laughed, and when Mrs. Pinkerton came in she asked for a slip to the nurse for stomach cramps. That’s when Liz told her what had happened and Mrs.Pinkerton made her stay in class. It was so awesome,” Roger beamed and Mariah laughed. Kelci deserved a little embarrassment.

         “So are you ready to go?” Roger asked when her mirth had subsided.

         Mariah took in a breath. She hadn’t told Roger because she didn’t want another jealous tirade, and it wasn’t a big deal. But after that story she wasn’t too sure she really wanted to tell Roger that on Thursdays Andre walked home with her where they would work on their project.

         Putting on her biggest smile, Mariah steeled herself for the possible fall out. “Well, you see, usually on Thursdays-”

         “Hey ‘Riah!” She heard Andre call from behind her.

         “I-Walk-Home-With-Andre,” She said through gritted teeth at top speed. What rotten timing. Roger looked like someone had hit him with a frying pan. “Please-don’t-freak-out, he’s-going-to-come-over-here-and-it’s-okay-we-just-talk-about-what-we’re-working-on-next-and-the-project,-okay?”

        “Hey, I got some bad news,” Andre had reached them as Roger continued to stare at Mariah totally deadpan.

         Though she was reluctant to turn her back on Roger she did need to see what Andre wanted.

         “Our babysitter called in sick and my mom needs me to watch my little sister until my folks get off work,” Andre stated. “So I can’t walk you home, I need to run to the elementary school to grab Amber. But I’ll come over as soon as I can okay?”

         “Yeah, sure,” Mariah answered lightly. “Roger will walk home with me.”

         “Great!” Andre reached over and squeezed her wrist, beaming at her. “See you later!”

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         Walking home with Roger had been a bad, bad idea. He’d fumed the entire way, stomping along so quickly that Mariah had to jog to keep up. Out of breath, her feelings hurt, she’d finally let him go on ahead. Only that had seemed to anger him more. What had she done?

         When Andre had finally arrived at her house, lugging a new load of books for them to research, Mariah was short fused and sullen.

         “Hey, ‘Riah?” hearing her nickname made her cringe as the look on Roger’s face when Andre had called it aloud earlier flashed in front of her.

         “Hey, Riah?” Andre asked again, a little louder. This time, she inclined her head, barely, to show she was listening.

         “If you don’t want to work today, I get it,” he said softly. “I mean, that’s kind of a big loss and I’m sure you’d like a little time to grieve. We can work tomorrow instead if that’s better for you.”

         Frowning in confusion, Mariah looked up. Her loss? Roger would come around. They’d probably be texting each other later on that night just like normal.

         “What are you talking about?” She asked bitterly.

         “What do you- do-Your grandma? Your grandma died yesterday. My mom was one of her clients and only heard today. I’m so sorry.”

         Well, wasn’t that just peachy?

         Roger and Mariah had always joked that when the old woman finally died the two would go and dance on her grave. Now that it had actually happened, Mariah wasn’t feeling the joy she’d expected. She closed her eyes, momentarily allowing Abuella to come back and haunt her one more time when she felt the lightest of touches on her wrist and her stomach flipped, bringing her mind back to the present.

         “Aw, I’m so sorry,” Andre said, his voice low. “I shouldn’t have brought it up should I?”

         Mariah moved her arm over trying to go back to the time when Abuella lived here, but his hand just fell to her knee and again her stomach flipped. It flipped and jumped and put most gymnasts to shame every time he touched her and she didn’t want to focus on the present right now. Right now, she wanted to wallow a little.

         “Will you be alright? Should I go?” Andre asked, slowing pushing his hand over some more so he could squeeze her knee.

         Heat flooded her head, making her ears burn and her cheeks feel like she’d just bit into a particularly sour lemon. Using her elbow she forced his hand off of her leg with an exasperated sigh.

         “I will be just fine,” she intoned. “There is no need to worry about me.”

         “Are you sure?” he asked. “I’d hate to force you to work on this when you’d rather spend time with your family.”

         Instead of responding, she just rolled her eyes, going back to the work in front of them.

         “So we’ve both read Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” Mariah said. “And Women in Love and I’m half way through Sons and Lovers-”

          It was taking a lot out of her to finish these. She’d never imaged what the focus of these books could be. She’d assumed they’d be about how life went on. But nooooooo…

         “-I’ve finished it,” Andre added. She raised her eyebrows briefly. It was so weird to her that he liked these books.

         “So I just need to finish it, but I think we can go ahead with the first element we picked which is the timeline of the author’s life and family tree.”

         “No, that’s not right,” Andre leaned in and she could feel the heat from his arm on her knee again. “We were going to do the short biography first. You’ve got the first two mixed up on your list over there.”

         Now she just looked stupid. Sure enough, the list she’d written on the cover of her notebook was indeed out of order. He was going to think she was a real ninny now. Fighting with Roger, Abuella gone (not that she cared,) mixed up lists...

          “It’s alright, it’s alright,” he hurried to reassure her. “Now you said you found an excellent reference book that had some really great info on his life?”

         “Yes,” she said, pointing to the open book in front of him. “It’s a National Biography from the SimOxford on him. Since that’s the SimEnglish official biography on him, and it was where he was born, I figured it would be a really good reference and a great place to start.”

         Andre nodded, giving Mariah courage. She’d been really surprised to find out that he was a lot smarter than she and Roger had given him credit for.

         “Where is it? I don’t see it,” he said, eyes scanning the book.

         “It’s- Oh,” Mariah got on her knees, leaning across him to find the passage. Only the page wasn’t right. She hastily flipped a few pages.

         “Ah, here it is: 1885–1930

                SimBritish novelist and poet.

                Lawrence was born in the coalmining village of SimEastwood, SimNottinghamshire, the fourth child of a miner and a schoolteacher. The conflict between his coarse violent father and refined socially ambitious mother shaped all Lawrence's subsequent attitudes to relations between men and women. He was a sickly boy and his mother made considerable sacrifices- There you go.”

         “That also is the only mention I could find that stated his father was violent,” she sat back down, continuing to expound on her discoveries. “All the rest simply say his father was a ‘coarse’ or an ‘ignorant man’ and then gloss over the rest of Lawrence’s childhood until he goes off to high school.

         “So I’m not sure we ought to include it, since it’s the only reference material we have that particularly states violent. However, it looks like his early years will only need a paragraph, which is perfect if we’re going for…”

         Andre had never let her ramble on that long without adding something.

         Turning her head she saw that he appeared lost in thought, a half grin on his face.

         He didn’t let her dwell on her thoughts earlier, she wouldn’t let him either.

         “Hey,” she said. He didn’t even flinch.

         “Hey,” a little louder. Still no response. She didn’t want to yell at him. So she nudged his hand.

         “Hey, SimPlanet to Andre.”

         “Right, actually, I think we’ll need at least two paragraphs,” blinking hard, he’d come right back into focus and started in. “Since his mom was such a huge influence on him and also, should we mention his childhood sweetheart and one time fiancé Louie Burrows?”

         Mariah scowled at him. Really?

         “This is supposed to be a short biography, and I haven’t come across much more reference to Louie Burrows outside of that tiny fact.”

          “But I have,” he said, pointing. “See that book? Under the newspaper? It’s got a lot of information about growing up in coal mining communities in SimEngland after World War I. Actually, it’s got a lot about coal mining in SimEngland period.”

         Mariah followed his gaze, frowning. But did they really need that book right now? For this part of the project? It might be needed later, but this was supposed to be a short biography.

         “There was a particular bit about how difficult it was to leave a mining community that could be relevant to Louie Barrows, hang on.”

         Andre closed the book in front of him and leaned across Mariah, grabbing the book he wanted to talk about and bringing it closer.

         “’The County Council Scholarships could sometimes mean a better life for more than just the scholarship recipient,’” he read. “’It often opened doors for the loved ones as well.’ She was a loved one right? If he was engaged to her?”

         Mariah leaned in to look closer. As she did her hand brushed his.

         “I guess, but then aren’t you getting more into social commentary than biography?” she asked, turning to look at him.

         To find him looking back at her was a little odd and her stomach flipped yet again, making her blush a little.

         “I think it’s the point that instead of bringing Louie Barrows out of poverty with him, he chose to break it off to have an unfettered affair with Frieda Weekley, who was still married, for love.”

         “Oh,” she nodded, though to be honest, she wasn’t entirely sure it was relevant to a short biography still. Perhaps to his subject style it might be important?

         Nah, she still didn't see the need for it here. Nope.

         His hand suddenly came up, making her back up a bit. When she opened her mouth to protest he hushed her.

         “You have an eyelash on your cheek,” he said. “I’m just going to brush it off.”

         “You don’t have to-”

         “I know I don’t,” he answered. “But I want to. You’re always so well put together that this tiny little black lash is really out of place.”

         Holding her breath, she kept her gaze on him. Did he really think she was well put together? Mariah had always felt a little plain next to Kelci who always had her hair, makeup and nails perfect.

         “Did you get it?” she asked breathlessly.

         “No,” Andre answered. “It’s being stubborn.”

         He flipped his hand over, trailing fingertips across her cheek.

         “There,” he whispered. “Perfect again.”

         Mariah’s heart leapt up somewhere around her throat and started beating like a hammer against her chest.

         Instead of putting his hand down as she’d expected, he pushed his fingers through the hair at her temples. After he’d teased out a single curl and tucked it behind her ear, he slowly leaned toward her.

         To her surprise she inexplicably leaned forward also.

         When it became impossible to keep her eyes open she officially began to panic. She’d never kissed anyone before! What if she sucked at this? How was this even happening? The closer he came the more her mind reeled.

         Before she really had time to think about this his lips had found hers. She’d finally decided to do more than sit still as stone when he moved on, making his way down her cheek.

         Completely on its own, her arm came up, and she ran her fingers through his hair. First her eyes, now her arm? Or was it her head for leaning in first? Oh Watcher, her body had taken over her brain!

         She gasped a little as his tongue began to trace her jaw. Maybe that was enough of that. The experience was dizzying and thrilling, but phew. She needed to catch her breath. How did she do that?

         Lucky for her, he came back to find her lips again without her intervention. Tracing a finger along the back of his ear, Mariah made a quick decision. This time, for this moment, she’d quit fighting her tangled thoughts and simply surrender.

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          Before anyone comments- That’s it! That’s all they did. She had her first kiss, nothing more. For Now. *DunDahDun!!!

          Sorry for the length, but I could Not find a good place to break that one off. And I’m super sorry for the DH Lawrence chatter up there, but it’s kind of important as to what’s going through a couple of teenager’s heads.

          Also- The poses for this chapter are also up for download, including the kisses there at the end. They are specially fitted for teen rigs (No alt shifting! No OMSPs! They Snap!) though there are adult versions available also. And Outtakes! There are a couple of outtakes from this one.