Daniel moved to stand, leaning on the wall with his hands in his pockets as he looked to Otter. Then he saw Aiden. He wasn't sure what he was expecting since he had told her half brother that Otter needed him, and he had though he had heard Aiden's voice going into Otter's room, but it certainly wasn't seeing him.
"Hey Otter, Aiden," Daniel stated, just barely refraining from using another name. He wanted to say something else. Anything else. But he didn't want to humanize the jerk. He made it appear like he was coughing, restraining even putting a name in there. It was amazing how much self control Daniel actually had.
"Yeah, well, a guy tends to want to know the answer to asking someone out as quickly as possible. Not that, you know... I'm like all guys," Daniel stated, struggling to find words that didn't make him seem weird or typical. He stood, just giving an almost smile as he tried to not act like he was getting eaten up on the inside. Naveen was a cool guy, and he hadn't really said anything, but his words were what kept Daniel there, waiting to hear Otter's response.
Daniel almost said something at Aiden. He was so close. It was right there yet he refrained. He could have said so many things. He had so many options to quip back at Aiden. Daniel wondered if Aiden thought Daniel was that bad of a dude. It wasn't like he had done anything previously to ever hurt Otter. Only Aiden.
"Thanks Ai-den. Will you be there tonight at the party?" Dan asked. He knew it was low, but it was the only thing he could do to make sure it wasn't obvious that he was making a quip. He knew Aiden was rarely invited to such events. He had on an innocent face, one that he knew passed for everyone, especially the teachers. It was always a prize winner in contests at parties like tonight.
He then turned to Otter. "And Pukka girl, you doing okay? Can I do anything to help you out? Or is there something I shouldn't do?" Daniel asked, honestly, being genuine. He hated to see Otter hurt. He didn't care that people would talk about the scene that they made, but he did care what Otter thought of him.
Tessa wanted to throw the project in her hands. She would have if she hadn't been in the cafeteria. Instead, she let her head fall into her hands, massaging her temples. Why couldn't she do anything?
She looked up when she heard someone sit down in front of her, giving Marilyn a weak smile. "Hey," She said softly, as if she wasn't into saying anything. She wasn't. She really only wanted to talk to one person and she was not going to confront him or talk to him. At least, not without Lucca beside her. She didn't know what she would do if he came up to her.
She sighed again before taking out her phone. She ignored the text she had received once she saw it was from Marilyn, then passed it to her friend upon opening up the conversation she had had between Hugo where she had invited him to breakfast then he asked who it was.
"Lucca gave me his number but didn't give him mine so he didn't know who it was or he did know and he just didn't care or didn't want to talk to me. Then I didn't want to leave you but I didn't want to come here because I knew he'd still be here and he's right over there but it hurts to look over there so I sat here by myself to try to work on a project and I can't do it because I freaking can't make things like it work and I suck and everything is just going bad," Tess ranted before finishing by just letting her head rest on the table, face down.
She sighed, glancing up at Marilyn slightly. "Am I overreacting?" She asked softly, pushing her project further away from her so she wouldn't have the disappointment in her face.
"Besides, it was stupid to think he would even look over here. He has so many other friends... Why bother with a stupid mechanic who can't make an automaton hand?" Tessa muttered softly, letting her finger push at one of the mechanical fingers in her sorrow.
She knew she was overreacting, and she knew she was being obnoxious, but it was good to let out what was going on. Her mother tried to listen but was often too busy or didn't have time to have a real conversation and there were few people who Tessa felt comfortable enough talking to.
She looked up at Marilyn, asking, "Why are the cute ones never interested?" Tessa asked glumly, in a voice that would cause a lot of people to elicit a little laugh which she didn't think she'd mind. It would make her think it wasn't the end of the world. A little laugh, or advise on how to get a boy to either notice or not be stupid...