Pop the question (no it's not about marriage) BoO Spoilers

BoO Spoilers

ooc: This is a week after Colten arrives. He and Wade now know about each other being siblings and yeah

bic: Colten waited in New Rome, at a very nice coffee shop he found while searching around the other day in a tour, presented to him by his brother. He was slightly nervous- he told Leandra to meet him here at noon. It was now 11:58 AM and he felt butterflies in his stomach. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, approaching summer time, finally. He wasn't a huge fan of snow or cold weather- he continued to babble to himself in his own mind to ease the nerves.

Today was big, huge. He would finally do it, after his 168 hours of knowing her. He would ask Leandra out to the dance at CHB. But from what he heard from his brother, and what he sensed himself, was that Leandra liked Romulus. But Wade said if he ever mentioned it to anyone not named Wade or Tiberia, he would rip his throat out. So apparently his brother really cared for Leandra, but never actually admitted to it, or admitted to the fact he knew about the crush the day it started.

ooc: excuse my literacy skills, I've been out of school for a week

Leandra had no idea why she had been invited to coffee by Colten Jouenn, the guy that she had guided into camp from the Caldecott Tunnel a week ago. He was now a probatio with the 2nd Cohort, and there was rumor that he was actually Wade Juinse's brother, which would make sense since the guy looked like a pure unadulterated mini-Wade. She didn't have anything to do today as far as duties, so for once after everything was said and done she had changed into a loose yellow skirt and loafers with an airy white blouse instead of the usual jeans, t-shirt and combat boots. It seemed to fit the weather better. Her hair was still pulled back in a bushy pony tail, but she would deal with that later.

She walked up to the coffee shop and saw the older teen sitting at one of the out-door tables. "Ave, Mini-Wade. How goes the Second Cohort?"

"Good I guess," he responded to Leandra, just relieved she actually showed up. He slowed his breathing at 'MiniWade'- everyone called him that and that annoyed him. He wasn't his stuck up older brother, he was Colten. MiniWade was not Colten, MiniWade would be a 5 year old that acted like he ruled Rome. And yet so many girls were attracted to his brother, aura or not- despite his stupid personality. Colten grumbled at the thought.

"So, I guess you're wondering why you're here...well, um, Leandra, I have to tell you something, it's, welll...."

"Colten, what the hell are you doing here? I thought we were training today?" Wade asked, as he came in. He played along.

"....how did you even know I was here?" Colten continued to play along.

"I didn't. I couldn't find you this morning, so I decided to come here if you were playing peak-a-boo, to get this really good coffee, but, well, you're here, at Starbucks 2.0." He glared at Leandra. "Err, did I interrupt something?"

"No, it's just..."

"Can I talk to you for a moment, alone?" He took him by his ear away from Leandra. "Are you crazy? I told you Leandra likes Romulus, but you went through with this? You stupid-"

They bickered before Colten came back.

Leandra was surprised when Wade came up and all but hauled MiniWade away for a minute. She was able to catch the first part of the conversation and felt her face flush to a darker, redder brown. She looked away, scratching the base of her head nervously. Was Colten really about to do something stupid like ask her out?

Then Colten came back looking a little red in the face, but determined. Leandra sighed, "You know, Colten..." She trailed off, not wanting to crush the poor guy's spirit. How do you politely say no? Are you required to wait until he says something? She didn't know who to pray for in this case for guidance. Who was the goddess of shredding dreams and smashing hope?

On the other hand, Colten was nice. He was sweet, unlike his pompous brother, and fairly down to earth. And while Leandra still yearned deep in her, uh, well, let's not go there, for Romulus, he wasn't likely to ever change his mind with anything less than a curse from Cupid himself. So should she just say yes? Or say no and hope for the impossible? She wished she could pull a time out and run and ask Tib's advice. Or literally anyone's advice.

ooc: my pc ate my post, excuse this crappy version

bic:

"You know what?" he asked, not to come off as rude, but curious.

Wade came over. "Alright, I'm gonna get going. Colten, good l- coffee, have good coffee," he said, before leaving.

"Ignore my butt of a brother. What I invited you here for is...you know about that dance at Camp Half-Blood? Will you go with me? I know you like Romulus and stuff, but I swear, if you give me one chance- I mean WAIT WHAT?" he blurted, nervously sweating. "Romulus? Who's Romulus? I'm Remus! I don't know a Romulus, I don't know why I thought you had a crush on him? I mean, what?" he awkwardly laughed.

Leandra blushed deeper, really willing Colten to be silent. Instead of Colten being silent, the only thing that happened was the sound of the squeaking chair went away. Leandra sighed and shifted in the chair, but it didn't make a sound still. "Colten. Colten, I heard Wade tell you. Colten, breathe, or you're going to pass out. Trust me. That's awkward."

"...sorry. I just didn't want you to kill me. You passed out before, or someone passed out in front of you before? Nevermind, it's just...I don't want you to like say 'yes' or be my girlfriend or anything- I mean I really do but," he blushed a little, "I don't want use to be dancing or something and the entire time you are thinking of Romulus. I don't want to guilt you into a date with me if you don't like me, is what I'm saying."

What was with people assuming that the natural course of action when a woman was upset was violence? And why were they correct? Leandra's hand had gone for her pugio, even though it wasn't there, a few seconds before Colten said anything. Less because of violence, more because she needed something to do with her hands. However, when he asked about her having passed out, violence became a real and immediate option in her mind. Despite having gripped the table with enough force her fingers went white, Leandra didn't say anything and pushed the idea of killing him out of her mind. Roman training might actually be too violent.

"Listen, Colten, Romulus doesn't believe in love, or romance. And I'm fairly certain he doesn't know how to dance either." It was her sarcastic defense, but it was also true. It sounded harsh. She still felt funny thinking about Romulus. It made her gut churn. Butterflies. Rationally, though, it was a pipe dream. Less likely than her dating Jupiter. At least Jupiter liked women. And a myriad of other things.

"But, y'know, you and I have only known each other for a week. This is all a little fast."

"Oh, right. You never know, he might've secretly won Dancing with the Stars or something," he joked, trying to ease the tension. He then heard her say something about it going fast- they had only known each other for a week. He sighed, thinking about school and how he would get rejected by girls a lot. He tried to act sweet, but then he got rejected. And sadness made him angry, and now he wanted to punch something. Like Wade or a pillow or a wall. Colten tried to hold back a tear, not because he was that upset, because he was so mad and embarrassed at himself he wanted to cry. "Yeah, that's cool. There's always next time, you know?" he said.

"Well, that was it. I better get going." If she said yes, he planned on buying them coffee. If she said no, he planned on buying them coffee. But he was much more angry and upset then he thought he would've been, so he just decided to leave. "Bye." He went to leave.

Leandra was a person who had spent many years watching people try to mask their feelings and emotions. She had gotten used to trying to decipher it out of faces as blank as a Star Trek Vulcan's. Colten was not a Vulcan. In fact, he wore his heart on his sleeve where anyone would be able to see the emotions he felt. Devastation, anger, shame. If Leandra were Yoda, she would have made a quote about the path to the dark side. Instead, she sighed and pushed herself standing, then reached to lightly grab Colton's arm to stop him.

"Colten, I didn't mean..." To say no? To crush his dreams? To hurt him? What did she actually mean? To be honest, she didn't know what she meant. "You caught me off guard. I'm still kind of reelin' from this. And you and Wade discussin' my interest in a certain Optio. But, uh, I mean, well, you're the first fella to ever actually ask me on a date. Or anythin', and, well, it's, um, y'know..." Leandra trailed off, then sighed and slammed her foot in irritation. She had gotten both frustrated and nervous enough that her southern accent was shining through. "Colten, you sit down and man up, instead of being madder than a wet hen over me not saying no."

"It's not you, Leandra. It's myself. I just get really angry and stuff. And well, right now I'm angry at myself, I feel embarrassed and stuff. I don't care that you said no. I just have expectations and I plan things in my head and they never work out. I don't know if it's the ADHD. or what. I'm a bit surprised I was the first person to ever ask you out." He turned back around, away from the exit. "I don't think anyone's ever asked me out, so that's something we have in common. Something extremely awkward, but still." He eased a little. "I..do you ever feel nervous around Romulus? Or scared? I guess that's how I feel around you." He got out some money.

"You up for some coffee? I'm sorry." He still needed something to punch, though, but that'd be later. "Also, you just went full Southern mode there." He smirked, trying to joke around.

Leandra sighed and rubbed her arms a little. She didn't want to answer the question about whether she felt nervous around Romulus. Nervous didn't begin to answer it. It terrified the ever loving hell out of her. She had passed out hyperventilating talk to him. It was not exactly a great memory. "I am Southern, Colten. And why does it surprise you that you're the first person to ask me? I'm fourteen, and I'm not exactly..." Leandra wasn't sure what she had intended to say. Not exactly pretty. Not exactly a great catch. Not exactly easy a great Roman. She was an awkward pubescent teen who wasn't a fantastic soldier or anything.

"Because like, in a non-weird way, I find you really pretty and stuff. Not exactly, what, Leandra? Pretty, attractive, intelligent, what? What are you going to degrade yourself with? You're way more pretty than you think, Leandra, keep that in mind, alright?" He rolled his eyes. Colten didn't understand her about ready to say something about herself that wasn't nice- she was fourteen, which he guesses was just a year younger than him, but, anyway, that's probably why she wasn't asked out. When she was a couple years older, he was sure she'd be asked out all the time. "This conversation is weird. Should we just get coffee and go?"

Leandra blushed stronger than she had earlier and hid her face with her hand. She wasn't pretty, she was just herself. Her hair was always a mess, even though she spent half an hour on it every day. She was skinny and awkward, and she had boobs, but not much of them. She was nothing compared to the elegant beauty Tiberia possessed. Also she was quiet and depressive, and sarcastic. Aside from healing she had no great skills. She would never be Praetor, or even a Centurion or Optio. She was just plain Leandra. Nothing special. It felt awkward to be complimented for something other than her skills in healing or improvements in something. It was unnerving to be called pretty. And yet she liked it.

"Uh, yeah, coffee. Um. Mocha? Please. With whipped cream." Leandra said, her voice quiet and shy. It wasn't the same type of shy it had been with Romulus, where there was a definite note of panic, this one was just shy. "And, uh, I think I will say yes."

Colten nodded. "I guess I'll have the same thing as her," he said, paying. He didn't really drink coffee, his sister had never allowed him. But he guess once wasn't going to hurt him. As he looked up at the menu, looking at the various different options, just being curious, he heard Leandra say something- she said yes! Colten felt so good right now, and so much happiness washed over him. "Um, yeah, cool, thanks," he said, trying to play it cool, but on the inside, he felt like he was going to throw up. In the good way. "So, um, like, you know, you want to catch a plane to Manhattan together, or like?"