Snippet #2604530

August 1st, 2015
Fine, peer pressure wins. MILOS, Greek Islet

Surprisingly, Chess responded very well to Nathan, still smiling broadly. She didn't react negatively to the pun he slipped in out of habit, either. "Oh, is that so? Well, your parents had good tastes; your name rings quite nicely in the ears," Nathan remarked, not sure if he was trying to act cool or just being a loser again. Whatever. The point was, she didn't seem to mind him being around...that was the important thing. Yay, I can feel like I'm cool enough to have friends!

That self-insulting thought immediately grasped his feelings of happiness and yanked them back down to depressing territory. Don't forget, you're going to be here for a long time. You'd better figure out how to actually make her happy.

Though a loser like you can't figure that out about anyone, right?

Trying to force his smile back on his face, Nathan looked up to speak to Chess again--only to find she was talking with someone else, a taller boy with black hair. Oh... Slowly, Nathan turned away, telling himself Chess just was looking for friends or something. Another corner of his mind, however, was already trying to tell him that she had already lost interest in Nathan...

No, can't think like that...Chess doesn't seem like that kind of girl. Yeah...she's just getting the people around her to like her. I should follow suit...it's probably best to practice by talking to the person on my other side. Just gotta act like I'm nice, like I'm cool...like I don't have any flaws whatsoever.

Quickly, Nathan turned to his other side, only to be treated to something...rather disturbing. A girl with short, brown hair and turquoise headphones around her neck (and quite a nice body, but he'd probably get slapped to the moon if he ever made any sign of having noticed that) was sitting there, with a visibly uncomfortable look. The boy sitting next to her, with white hair, was kissing her hand, and...trying to whisper seductive words art her or something. Very out of Nathan's expertise.

Watching the girl withdraw her hand and retort in a melodic accent he was unfamiliar with, still looking clearly unhappy, Nathan wondered if he should speak up. It looks like I ended up eavesdropping on something bad...uh oh... Should he deliberately "steal her attention" so she wouldn't have to pay attention to that white-haired creeper? Or would he make things worse?

I can't do that, she'll probably think I'm just as bad as him... Nathan's mind assaulted itself relentlessly, demanding that he take action immediately--which outcome he chose didn't matter, as long as he moved quickly. No...I'm too awkward for her; she'll think I'm even worse... At the same time, his hair couldn't hide his expression from their view, so doing nothing would probably make him look just as bad.

Okay, fine... Mustering all the courage he could, Nathan cleared his throat. Then, hoping he wouldn't stammer too much, he addressed the girl. "Um, h-hey! Is something wrong? Y-you haven't taken any food, you know..."

It was an utterly pathetic way to start a conversation, but there was no helping that.