A Snack to Remember

[Emma Frost]

"This is Lorelai." she said as she walked into the kitchen with Carter following like some tall timid puppy, only to see Frostbite standing in the same spot still basking in the icy cold glow. "Lorelai? This is Carter, he has just now arrived and since I know of no other who would have such intimate knowledge of the insides of our refrigerator would you help him to grab a bite?"

Emma placed her hand on the small of the boy's back and gently pushed him toward the center of the room. She stayed for just a moment more and watched as the timid young man, a stranger, was welcomed to the new home by the icy broken child in her own way. It was just what Lorelai needed Emma considered the dynamic, recognizing that the ice bender was not constrained by her past with the boy and neither was the boy by his past with the girl.

After the first moment of awkward silence she turned and left them their to help one another. The smile on her face let on only a little as she mused about how strange the world was and life's timing and how everyone was here to help one another if they could. She laughed slightly at herself, shaking her head as she re entered the Rec-Room and walked over to the pool table to look in on the shenanigans that were afoot.

[Frostbite]

Lorelai opened her eyes and pulled out from one ear an earphone as she could hear faint conversation above her music. She'd kept it low enough for this reason, although the desire to just really tune everyone out was something she really wanted to do. Lucky enough, she thought as she turned around as she heard her name being spoken, but not yet speaking while she tried not to grimace at no longer being alone, That it has to be Miss Frost that has to come in when I'm just trying to move around and not be seen. And someone new and everything. This kinda figures cause irony loves to drive people crazy, but if he's new then he has no idea of the shit I've pulled. Alright then, she thought with the tiniest of sighs as she let her hand drop from the refrigerator door and heard it close.

After the headmistress left, she looked at the new boy, not yet having come to a decision about the first impression she was going to draw on him. Obviously he seemed a bit more on the quiet side, and hesitant since he didn't seem to move. She let out the slightest of sighs again as she saw that she had to start the talking. "Hey," she said, her voice unable to pick up some sort of tone that resembled something lively or welcoming. She wanted to be nice to him, but she wasn't sure if she could quite sound the part, especially if she had to do all the work. "So, what are you in the mood for? There's some leftovers from the cookout left in here, and some other stuff. Um, I haven't quite decided what I wanted, so come take your pick," she said, one hand opening the refrigerator again while the other hung at her side. Her music was still playing, and it could partially be heard through the earbud that was dangling down her front. She thought about turning it off, as she knew it could sometimes be rude to tune people out, but she only turned it down, just in case it came to that.

Despite the fact that there was a possible new friend standing right in front of her, she still wished she didn't have to come down. She slept like a rock when the meds finally kicked in, but she woke up with her stomach growling since she never got a chance to finish what she had at the cookout, for reasons quite obvious. She hoped that it would be a mission she could finish without seeing anyone, or having been seen, but like always, she should've known better that if she stepped out of her room, or even stuck around the kitchen for too long then it was bound to happen. She sort of blamed the refrigerator for being so nice and cold while everything else felt warm, unlike her nice, wintry room she left. Otherwise, she wouldn't have stood there for as long as she did, just sucking up the cold.

She waited for the new kid to do or say something as she held back a third tiny sigh.

[UPstart]

Following Ms. Frost into the kitchen he saw that there was another student here. A girl with blue hair. She was cute, and that made it worse for Cross. He had never been a real talker. When in the presence of a girl, he was even more shy, and being that this girl was cute and a little different with the blue hair, Cross was at a loss to speak. Ms. Frost introduced him and then gave him a gentle nudge into the kitchen a bit more.

Lorelai, as she was introduced, had been listening to something. Cross kind of felt forced onto this girl, and as shy as he was, thought he was doing nothing but being a bother already. She seemed to take in stride though, and offered him something to eat. Cross was never rude, so he slid his bag from his shoulder and placed it on top of his skate board, resting them against a wall. He took a deep breath and turned to face Lorelai once again. His eyes were looking everywhere but directly at her.

Cross wanted to say a lot of things. Wanted to ask what she was listening to. What brought her to this school. He just couldn't. " Hey....... ummmmm. thanks.... maybe a drink?" he asked quietly as he looked up a second to meet her gaze. His crystal blue eyes quickly averted from hers. He hated being in new places and not knowing anyone or anything.

[Frostbite]

She shrugged and grabbed a Diet Pepsi for herself and left it open for him. "Go ahead and take one then. You don't have to ask to go into the fridge," she said as she stepped back to lean against the counter. She still hadn't decided what she wanted to eat, so she kept thinking while she let Carter get himself a drink. She saw him look at everything else but her, and she had to scoff quietly at that. She knew it was because he was obviously shy and not very talkative, but it just made sense. Who would want to look at her anyway? Her face looked a lot better than it had just a couple hours ago thanks to the multiple doses of pain killers, but it wasn't completely healed yet. She ignored the thought with a roll of her eyes as she looked at the back of the refrigerator door.

"So you skate?" Lorelai asked, eying his board against the wall. Go figure that the shy new kid had the same hobby as her. "You any good?" she asked, moving back to the fridge after he got his drink. She grabbed some cold cuts and bread to make herself a sandwich that would hold her for long enough. She moved back to the counter and started making herself a bologna, salami and cheese sandwich. "I skate too. You want a sandwich?" she asked as she turned to look at him, figuring she may as well ask since he didn't seem like he was going to move much. She mustered up the effort to curl the ends of her mouth up in the slightest to form a small smile to seem kind.

She knew she probably didn't seem too welcoming. She hadn't wanted to be found and yet she was, and now that she'd been left with someone to talk to she couldn't just leave. She wasn't mean like that. However, if it continued that he would barely answer, she felt like her patience would wear thin and she'd ruin chances with a prospective friend. She would try though, because she had to talk to people again. It was a bit sooner than she would've wanted, but fixing herself would have to come sometime. The only comfort was that he was new, so it was technically a fresh start. Hopefully she said enough to get him talking a bit more, because he was more quiet than any of the other new kids she'd seen come in.

[UPstart]

The opening of the can caught his attention again as he looked up to reach for it. He looked at her once again and he smiled just a bit, and slid the can from her hand. "Yea.... OK, thanks." He settled onto a stool and looked around, to get his bearings on the room and to keep himself from looking at Lorelai. Sipping the soda lightly, his other hand rested on his leg and his fingers tapped against his leg.

He was trying to come up with something to say so he wouldn't seem rude. He wasn't trying to be rude or act like he didn't want to talk. Cross just had a hard time forming his thoughts into words when around girls. His eyes and face perked up a bit as she asked him about skating. 'Did she just ask if he skated? And did she just say she skated to?' He thought to himself. This was something Cross could latch onto. He didn't know how to talk to girls about normal things, but Cross new how to talk skating. he only barely heard the question about the sandwich. He was hungry though it had been a long trip. "Ummm... sure, I guess."

Cross had a great imagination and was great at expressing himself through his skating and his art. he often put a lot of himself into the characters he drew in his comic that he was working on. He was still a little unsure how to talk about his skating so he acted like he was talking to his Friend Billy. "Yea, I like to skate....... I ........ I'm good at street tricks..... and, ummm ..... I practice a lot on street courses...... you know, freestyle and all........" There he had said something, and as far as he could tell he didn't sound like a complete idiot. He opened his mouth again to speak and made the mistake of trying to look at her while he talked. His mouth shut and he looked down at his hand on his leg. His fingers gripped his jeans, 'Say something!' he yelled in his own mind' Still not looking directly at Lorelai, he spoke softly again. "How about you?" Quickly taking a long drink after he asked.

[Taffy]

Ricki was combing her fingers through her hair, trying to fix it a bit as she made her way down from the Rec Room into the kitchen. She knew that the new kid was going to be there, since Miss Frost had mentioned that she was taking him there to grab a bite, and since she'd returned alone, Ricki'd figured that he was probably sitting there by himself- but she really hadn't expected Lorelai to be there. She halted by the enterance to the kitchen for a split second, before continued her way in. "Oh.. hey guys."

She'd been meaning to pop in and see Lorelai after the cookout, but she hadn't really got round to doing so because she'd popped in for a shower, and she had to wash her hair, and by the time she was out again- everyone... well, nearly everyone, was going to the Rec Room. A tinge of guilt twisted its way into Ricki's stomach, and her hair fell forwards to curtain her face. "You guys alright?" she asked, looking from the new kid to Lorelai, her gaze lingering on Lorelai for a couple of moments before her eyes dropped to the floor. It shouldn't be this awkward. Ricki was never awkward. Wellll this is the first. she sighed, she literally did not know what to say.

She made her way towards one of the cupboards, Err, right, well, lets just get Ivy some food. Uh, I don't really wanna stick around too long, so she's gonna hafta live with ready food. Making stuff's gonna be too long. Er, packet of chips? An apple? She likes apples... weird healthy person, umm... I could make her some chilli-cheese toast, that doesn't take too long to make. She sighed, deciding that she may as well make the chilli-cheese toast. A little bit of time here wouldn't hurt... would it?

She headed towards the fridge and pulled out the partially empty packet of bread, along with some chillies and cheese spread and headed for the counter where Lorelai was working, although, she set her things down at a bit of a distance. She didn't know how Lorelai was feeling right now- she didn't know what Lorelai felt towards her... the rest of the team. She'd just tried to attack them with ice-beams earlier, and honestly, that creeped Ricki out a little. "So uh, you're the new guy huh?" she said feebly, not doing well with awkward silences at all. She turned her head to smile at the guy. "What's your name again? C... Cart something? Sorry, I must've missed it, I was a bit distracted." she muttered apologetically, as she thought of Ivy once again.

She rolled her eyes at the thought, before getting herself a chopping board, a butter knife, a chopping knife, and two plates. "Uh, wow, skateboard huh?" she added as her eyes fell on the skateboard that was leaning against the wall. "Thats cool- Lorelai skates too." she added, her eyes flickering vaguely over to her former team-mate. Hopefully that passed on the message that she wasn't completely mad at Lorelai- in all honestly, Ricki wasn't mad at all, she was just... upset. She couldn't understand why Lorelai had gone to such extreemes, but hey- the girl'd recieved her lesson.

She sighed as she turned her head back to the counter, and started working on the chilli cheese toast. She tried to be quick with it- she cut the bread slices into four triangles, so by the end of it there were 20 little triangles, all with cheese spread and little peices of green chilli on top. She carefully placed all the triangles into the baking tray, and popped the tray into the oven, setting the temperature to what she needed it to be as she started cleaning up. "Soo... er, you can fly on disk thingies or something huh? That's quite cool. Oh, I'm Ricki by the way- I'm on the Acolytes as well- that's the team you've been put on." she rambled, desperate for the silence to be broken as she popped the cutlery into the sink and moved the remaining bread, cheese spread and chillies back to their respective places in the fridge.

She moved back towards the sink, trying to be quick with the washing up, so she could be out of this place within the next 5 to 10 minutes. Chilli-cheese toast hardly took 5 minutes to be finished. You just had to wait for the cheese to brown a little, and the bread to harden into toast.

[Frostbite]

It only seemed as if Lorelai's mood would just keep going further into the dumps as not only did Carter just take her soda, but Ricki came in as well. As if she needed to keep getting found and have more people to deal with. She stopped making her sandwich, not yet halfway done and glanced at Ricki as she spoke before looking at Carter drinking her soda. "Um, hey dickhe-" she cut herself off with a forced exhale of breath, trying to keep her cool but was clearly getting annoyed, "That was my soda. Thanks for taking it," she said, one eyebrow raised and her lips pursed in a pissed off manner at him. "I told you you could get your own from the fridge," she said, rolling her eyes as she turned around, opened the fridge and grabbed another soda. She closed the refrigerator door with a slam. I just KNEW I shouldn't have come down here. Even the new kid won't make it any easier. Christ on a bike I hate my life and the people in this school, she thought as she purposefully placed the freshly cold can of soda right next to her unfinished sandwich, where it was in the range that if it were touched, her hand could swat the intruding hand away.

Instead of saying anything more while she finished making her sandwich, Lorelai heard Ricki making small talk with Carter and let that try to distract her. It didn't improve much, since it had to do with the soda-stealing new kid, so she focused on making a second sandwich, although she didn't make it with as much care as hers. She slapped the cold cuts onto the bread and when she finished she slid it to him on the paper towel it was on. She slid her stuff away from him and took a seat at a further away seat. She munched on her sandwich as she watched Ricki finish putting together whatever it was that she was making.

Lorelai didn't know whether or not she should say something to Ricki, or even Carter, but she felt as if she were stuck in there and wasn't able to leave. Not yet, anyway. If any more people came in, or someone did something to just make her regret more coming down into the world of the living, then she just might. For now, she forced herself to chill out, and deal with the people in there. She finished chewing a bite of her sandwich before she resumed the conversation she'd been trying to give life to before Ricki came in. "I like skating in the parks, but I'll skate anywhere I can. The courtyard isn't a bad place to just skate around. Little lips for grinds and stuff," she said with a shrug as she debated saying something to Ricki as well, but nothing came to mind. I suppose there'll be this awkward silence until one of us says something. She doesn't seem to completely hate me, so maybe things can be fixed with her. But then again, I never did anything to her. I left the team, not dropped her as a friend. She chose to ignore me, and I haven't been Miss Social Butterfly today. Whatever, what happens happens, she thought with a glance over at Ricki, who looked like she was rushing things.

Lorelai let out a soundless scoff and thought about if she really wanted to try and include her in the conversation. Nah, screw that. She doesn't wanna be in here anyways, and if she wanted to talk to me she would've addressed me. I'd try to talk whatever needs talking to with her if she wanted, but now isn't the time nor the place. Another time I suppose, she thought as she took another bite of her sandwich so she didn't have to say any more for the moment.

[UPstart]

Cross had been distracted and still a little unsure of himself in this place. He had screwed up big time. Cross had misunderstood and thought Lorelai had got the soda for him. He heard Lorelai and thought he had totally ruined this meeting already. Cross always screwed up things when girls were around. Now there were two girls here talking to him. Cross had to realize this was a school and there were going to be other students around.

He glanced over to Lorelai with a apologetic look as he tried to speak. "I..... I'm sorry, I....... I didn't mean to........ I misunderstood.... I...." He couldn't finish a sentence. and sighed in frustration looking down to his hands. Not even at the school for an hour and he had marked himself as an inconsiderate ass to two of the students.

He looked to Ricki who had come in and introduced herself as one of his new team members. The first thing that passed through his mind was 'Do all the girls here look this cute.' He was beginning to think he would never be able to really talk again. He was trying to say something as to not appear rude again. "Hey, Carter, ......... but I'm usually called CC or Cross. Yea ....... I do like skating." She still seemed a bit distracted as she was moving around the kitchen fast and trying to make something. He hoped he hadn't made her uncomfortable too. Cross wasn't really sure what the team concept was at a school. He understood schools had teams, but they were usually for sports or something. He opened his mouth to speak to both girls this time hoping they might answer him. Nothing came out as he looked confused and closed his mouth again, turning his head to look away and around the kitchen. This time, hoping that if he didn't look at them directly he could talk, he asked softly. "Uhhh what does it mean to be on the Acolytes? I mean........ What kind....... what kind of team is it? What....... what is it we do?" Cross had heard Ricki ask about his power and flying on his disc, but he had avoided talking about that for now. He wasn't sure if, or how, he wanted to share that with people yet. He still wasn't used to being different and having this power. The ability had seemed to bring more attention to the already very shy teen.

Lorelai mentioned skating out in the courtyard. He was sure he could make good use out of the space. Trying to possibly salvage something out of this talk with Lorelai he swallowed hard and glanced up to her again. "Are we allowed to skate out there? I mean..... not we as in together..... I mean I wouldn't assume you..... and me..... Not at the same time. Unless ...... you wanted to......, not that you would, you don't ..... even know me. I mean......" His words just seemed to mumbled off from there. He had no idea what he was trying to say anymore.

Cross took a drink of the soda, to stop from making a fool of himself talking. Only he still felt bad as he had taken Lorelai's soda. He looked at the soda and the threw together sandwich and smiled a bit still looking down. "Thanks for the sandwich ...... and soda. Even if I did take yours...... sorry about that again..... I didn't mean too....." He sighed again and glanced at the two girls once again.

[Taffy]

Ricki couldn't help but allow a couple of giggles to escape her as Cross went on about the skating part. Even though the words weren't really directed at her, she did find it quite amusing. Ricki managed to sneak a glance at Lorelai, only to flicker her gaze away really quickly, giggling even more at the expression on Lorelai's face. Ricki sighed, the amusement evaporated pretty quickly as she caught sight of Lorelai. It would just be so much easier if her and Ricki were able to be friends again- but, it just wasn't that easy. Ricki hurried to finish the washing up and dry up the bit of cutlery that she'd washed, and put it back in it's original place.

"At the high school level we have three teams," Ricki spoke after a couple of moments, replying to Cross's earlier question. "Acolytes, Paragons and New Mutants. We're just put in the teams that Miss Frost thinks we'll do best in I guess- right Lorelai?" Ricki turned her head to look at Frostbite rather quickly, before turning back around. "We have Colossus as a team lead-" Ricki stopped talking as an audible TING sound that she'd been hoping to hear interrupted her words. "-leader." she added quickly, finishing off her sentance. She grabbed the oven-gloves and pulled out the tray with all the cheese triangles in it. The melted cheese with the hint of chilli smelt realllyy good to Ricki.

She was careful as she set the tray down on the counter and transferred the peices of toast into the two plates that she'd pulled out earlier. "Uh, yeah. Colossus is really cool- he's really supportive, and one of the most amazing team leaders ever." she said, complimenting her team leader, who she really respected and looked up to. "But I'm sure you'd love it. We've got another new girl just this morning on the Acolytes- her names Maddy, she's quite cool. Then there's Ian who's like our sort of elected team leader you could say and-" Ricki stopped in her words as she realized who she was speaking in front of.

Speaking of the acolytes in front of Lorelai probably wasn't the smartest thing to do. Ricki bit her lip as she popped the baking tray in the sink and got down to getting that washed. "Uh, I'm sure you'll meet the team soon enough, you'll see who all we have." she hurried to add, "But yeah, don't worry, The Acolytes aren't too bad." Ricki shrugged, cussing herself mentally, as she tried to change the topic to something which Cross would perhaps feel more comfortable with. "I dunno much about the skating stuff though, Lorelai's the one you want for that." Ricki added, giggling a bit internally as she got reminded of Cross' little ramble earlier. "Oh by the way- d'you guys want any of the toast things? Although, you guys already have food... but yeah... y'know... incase."

[Frostbite]

Lorelai shrugged a little, looking over at Ricki when she offered some of what she made. She didn't have to have one, but would take one so as not to seem completely unfriendly. "I'll have one," she said, looking over at Ricki with the slightest of mustered smiles. Maybe it would show that there was no hate or any bad feelings on her end. Besides, she'd been wondering what exactly she'd been making. There was a smell of spiciness, but she didn't know what Ricki was making. Lorelai pushed her paper towel closer to Ricki so that she could put one on it, moving her half eaten sandwich over a bit.

This minute interaction was a nice small way to temporarily ignore Carter, because the way he spoke was starting to grate on her. Sure, he seemed like he was a nice kid, just really really shy, but it took him five minutes just to get a sentence or two out and Lorelai didn't know how long she could deal with that for. Finally she looked at him and let out an audible sigh. "Next time, just go into the fridge. Like I said, you're allowed to get your own food. And as for skating together," she said with slightly pursed lips, debating if she really wanted to take the time to skateboard with this kid, "Maybe." She liked when there was someone around who could keep up with her and not fall over all the time. It was one reason why Iceman was awesome: he was more of a surfer, but he didn't do bad on a skateboard, and it only helped that he was the master of ice slides. Having Carter there was iffy, because she was beginning to think he might be too clammed up to even skate with her there. That, and the extremely hesitant way he talked could drive her insane, like it was starting to now. She felt sorry that she had so little patience at the moment, but her day hadn't been even remotely close to anything good.

When Ricki had been explaining the Acolytes to Carter, Lorelai couldn't help feeling twinges of guilt. She hand't been able to help looking at Ricki, who was still on it and starting to talk about each person. How could she repair anything with them? She didn't know how to come about talking to them, especially Kevin and Ian. Even Haven, maybe. The rest she did nothing directly against them, although she figured they'd want an apology too, since she didn't abandon them. She changed teams, not left the school. She knew there was tension between her and Ricki, but when that was going to break or get resolved she didn't know. She wanted to water down those burning bridges between her and everyone else, just so that she made sure she apologized and was sincere about it, even if they never forgave her. She couldn't bring herself to talk to any of them yet, and she was glad when Ricki seemed to have caught herself and went on about something else.

To get her mind off it, she tried keeping the conversation moving. She realized she was doing a lot of distracting herself lately, but it had to be done. "What did you make, Ricki?" she asked as she looked at the plate of food, saying anything so that she could be counted for socializing today, and so that things just kept moving so it could run its course. She hoped it would, because eventually, or in other words- soon, she wanted to go back to her room. Maybe it was just her, but she thought she was getting paranoid that things could go very sour the longer she stayed there.

[UPstart]

Cross listened to Ricki as she started to explain the teams and a little about their team and Team Leader. Ricki had mentioned that all the high school level students were on Teams. He began to wonder how Ms. Frost chose this team for him. Or any team really. He had never really participated in any team sports or activities, outside of skating. Cross was doubting he could offer much to a team with skating being his only real talent. Those on his new team wouldn't understand him, or find a use for him, or so he thought. Cross was interested in meeting with this Colossus she spoke of, Ms. Frost had said he was the art teacher as well. Cross was hoping he might be able to help him along with his comic. Hoping it was like his school, he could simply fade out in the class and not be noticed, they might leave him alone long enough he could practice on what he enjoyed and was good at. "Thanks, ummm... when do classes start?"

Lorelai had said that maybe should would try skating with him. That was a start for Cross. He didn't mind skating alone, it was just good to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and to work out tricks with. Taking another drink he sat considering his options. "Do I have to go back to the rec room after this?" He asked and dared to look up to the two girls here. His tone definitely told them that he didn't want to. " I mean...... can I go outside or something? They are all just ...... watching TV and stuff." To be honest he was hoping to get outside and blow off some of the new kid tension he felt, and get a feel for the courtyard.

[Taffy]

Ricki lifted the baking tray which was now all warm and washed and dried and popped it back into the Oven. "Classes have already started for the term, but seeing it's the weekend, we're obviously not having any classes- back to schedule on monday." she explained as she washed and dried her hands and turn around to look at Cross and Lorelai. Well, that was Ricki's cue to ramble. The fact that Lorelai had directly spoken to her somehow seemed to lift something heavy that'd been pushing down on Ricki's chest. The awkwardness that she'd been feeling somehow seemed to lessen drastically. Ricki felt the urge to grin, and she did so for a split second before trying to compose her face again.

"Here ya go." she mused sliding one triangle onto Lorelai's napkin. "My family calls these things chilli-cheese toasts, I don't really know if they have any sort of official name, but seeing it's just plain toast with cheese and chilli on it, I doubt there is a better suited name for it." Ricki shrugged, giving Lorelai a small smile as she did so. She combed her fingers through her hair once, before licking her lips and flexing her arms a bit. "Nah, you don't have to come to the Rec Room, but it'd be cool if you did- everyones there." Ricki said as she picked up her two plates. "You can go check out the grounds if you want- maybe Lorelai can give you a tour or something?" Ricki turned around to exchange a look with Lorelai, giggling a bit on the inside.

"Maybe you guys can head down to the courtyard and skate or something? I dunno, whatever you want. Treat it like your home." Ricki shot a comforting smile at Cross before she began to move towards the door. "Right, I've gotta get this stuff to Ivy, before she decides to poison me or something." Ricki giggled a bit as the thought of Ivy attempting to poison her entered her mind. It was just so hard to imagine Ivy doing something like that on purpose, she was just so sweet. "Right, I'm out! See you around!" Ricki chirped half skip-walking out of the kitchens, making her way to the Rec Room.

[Frostbite]

Lorelai watched Ricki leave the room with a slightly raised eyebrow. Already she was offering her to give a tour, one she wasn't really in the mood to give. Regardless she gave Ricki a small smile and then looked to the chili cheese toast that was on her paper towel now. She picked it up and looked at it as if it were something interesting to look at before taking a bite. The spiciness bit her tongue and she was reminded why she was more a salty/sweet food kinda girl. She didn't mae a face at the spiciness though, and put it down before she looked at Carter again. "You should go check the courtyard out. Nice place to get away from people, especially when they're all piled in the rec room like they are now. More peaceful," she said with a scoff, her face and tone showing a sort of boredom since Ricki took the relatively lively conversation away.

"Especially if you tune everyone out," she said with a smirk, remembering that an earbud still sat in one ear and her music was still playing softly. It was one of her favorite songs and she was sorely tempted to put the other bud in so she could listen to it fully. However, she was forcing herself to stay civil and tuning the new kid out would be mean. Instead, she just let her head barely tilt from side to side to the sound. "So what are you gonna do?" she asked him, exhaling a breath as she kept her voice relatively normal despite the fact she was already tiring of this conversation. "Gonna go outside and skate? If you don't remember the way to the front door where the courtyard is, I can show you...if you want," she offered with a hint of hesitance in her voice, inwardly hoping he wouldn't take her up on it because she wanted to go crawl back in her icy cold hole. This had been enough socializing for the rest of the day as far as she was concerned, that was, unless someone she liked came by or stopped her on the way back or something. Then it'd be a little different, and the conversation most likely wouldn't be as grating as this one was.

She looked away from Carter as she waited for his answer, deciding to look at her piece of chili-cheese bread and think about how nice it would be to go back to her cold room, keep the lights off and sleep some more. Maybe keep a light on and just read something. As long as it kept her away from everyone else, in her comfort zone so she could wait out the rest of this day of shittiest days. If Carter declined her offer like she hoped he would, she planned to happily tell him 'Bye,' tune everything out again with her music, and skulk off back to her room.

[UPstart]

Ricki had left, and the conversation seemed to stall. Cross was to shy, especially around girls to really hold a major conversation. Lorelai was trying though, and had even brought up him going to the courtyard to get out and it would be peaceful. Cross nodded to himself lightly. "Yea.... I think I might do that. Just till..... you know, ... I get used to things here." He really didn't want to go back the crowded room of people he didn't know and do things there he didn't like. " I could get some skating time in and try and relax. I'm pretty sure I can find my way back out there." Cross didn't want to put out Lorelai any more then he already had by having her lead him around.

Finishing the sandwich and the drink, he stood. He was tall and lean, and under his baggy clothes he might have been something to look at, but he always kept himself covered up. He stepped over and scooped up his back and kicked the end of his board and it sprung effortlessly into his hand. He had grown to know his board perfectly. "Thanks for the drink and sandwich...... Lorelai" It was the first time he used her name. "And ..... you know..... if you ever get board...." He held up his board, to show the corny pun. "You know where to find me..... if you want." he shrugged after that and headed out the door to try and find his way back outside.