Just as he predicted, she was sitting near the entrance. Jonas was off to the side talking to her dad and bringing Freddie into the exam room. Some kind of checkup, he figured. He approached her and plopped his rear end on the edge of the desk, making it shift from the change in weight. He flexed his growing arms for good measure, curving his back and sitting up with a leg slung over the other, leaning in so she could look into his baby blues.
“Reading up on how to fit in, Jo?”
She shut the book and made a move to leave. He grabbed her by the sleeve. “Where do you think you’re going, huh? All I did was ask you a question.”
She put on a grim expression. “I have other things to do.”
“Yeah? Well, what about a little bit of gossip?”
Ignoring him, she put her attention onto the terminal, which she tried to log off without him glancing over.
“Oh, I just heard that you’ve got a thing for Paul.”
She stopped then, fingers going lax on the keyboard for the briefest of moments. Then she continued to type and shut it down, avoiding looking at him altogether. “I don’t.”
“No? Why the silence? Hey, you like him, your secret’s safe with me.”
The pit in his chest burned again and he swallowed it back down. There was no way that’d bother him if the two really did have a thing for each other. Right? Wrong. Paul was a Tunnel Snake, and no Tunnel Snake would be caught dead making goo-goo eyes after any girl, especially not the doc’s kid!
“Leave me alone, Butch. I don’t care.”
And the tone in her voice confirmed it. She really didn’t. Not about him, not about him at all. Whatever he said...she just brushed it off. Didn’t matter what it was. If he ever dished out a compliment she would just stare at him and turn her back on him. At least when he snapped at her or made rude, snarky remarks there was some kind of interaction...as short-lived as it was. There was nothing he loved more than her relaying her anger onto him with little actions because hell, it was better than the cold sting of rejection he faced from her every other day.
Thinking back to that day with the damn sweetroll...he wanted it badly because yeah, he was starving and waited too long in the dark for her to come waltzing through with the surprise. But mainly because he saw something shift in her expression when it was given to her, a sign of life he never got unless he was challenging her. Plus he was still annoyed that she put him through the whole ordeal of propositioning him to be his tutor with Brotch right there...his mom heard about it and chewed him out for not accepting but in truth, he wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on his work. He would’ve spent the entire time trying to draw any kind of reaction from her than actually learn the stuff on paper.
So he made his way back to Paul while he and Wally both declared that Jo was off limits because she was not Tunnel Snake material.
There was a dance coming up. Something to celebrate the official end of school, like a graduation of sorts. Christine kept insisting that in the books she read that it was called a prom but no one really believed her since she was destined for the maintenance department anyway.
They were eighteen and Butch was miserable. He fucking hated the job he was assigned. Hairdresser? Really? It didn’t help that Jo actually cracked a smile when he was moping in the hallways because as always she got just what she wanted – to work side-by-side with dear old precious daddy.
Bitterness about his career aside, he was at a loss. There were only four girls their age and two of them were considered no-man’s land. Paul finally grew some balls and asked out Christine while Freddie and Susie had some weird thing going on. Wally said he didn’t give a shit because it was stupid anyway but...Butch didn’t feel like he should go alone. He was a gift to all the women there, so why should he have to drag his ass alone to a party?
Re: FLW/Butch - Complex - [6/?]
“Reading up on how to fit in, Jo?”
She shut the book and made a move to leave. He grabbed her by the sleeve. “Where do you think you’re going, huh? All I did was ask you a question.”
She put on a grim expression. “I have other things to do.”
“Yeah? Well, what about a little bit of gossip?”
Ignoring him, she put her attention onto the terminal, which she tried to log off without him glancing over.
“Oh, I just heard that you’ve got a thing for Paul.”
She stopped then, fingers going lax on the keyboard for the briefest of moments. Then she continued to type and shut it down, avoiding looking at him altogether. “I don’t.”
“No? Why the silence? Hey, you like him, your secret’s safe with me.”
The pit in his chest burned again and he swallowed it back down. There was no way that’d bother him if the two really did have a thing for each other. Right? Wrong. Paul was a Tunnel Snake, and no Tunnel Snake would be caught dead making goo-goo eyes after any girl, especially not the doc’s kid!
“Leave me alone, Butch. I don’t care.”
And the tone in her voice confirmed it. She really didn’t. Not about him, not about him at all. Whatever he said...she just brushed it off. Didn’t matter what it was. If he ever dished out a compliment she would just stare at him and turn her back on him. At least when he snapped at her or made rude, snarky remarks there was some kind of interaction...as short-lived as it was. There was nothing he loved more than her relaying her anger onto him with little actions because hell, it was better than the cold sting of rejection he faced from her every other day.
Thinking back to that day with the damn sweetroll...he wanted it badly because yeah, he was starving and waited too long in the dark for her to come waltzing through with the surprise. But mainly because he saw something shift in her expression when it was given to her, a sign of life he never got unless he was challenging her. Plus he was still annoyed that she put him through the whole ordeal of propositioning him to be his tutor with Brotch right there...his mom heard about it and chewed him out for not accepting but in truth, he wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on his work. He would’ve spent the entire time trying to draw any kind of reaction from her than actually learn the stuff on paper.
So he made his way back to Paul while he and Wally both declared that Jo was off limits because she was not Tunnel Snake material.
There was a dance coming up. Something to celebrate the official end of school, like a graduation of sorts. Christine kept insisting that in the books she read that it was called a prom but no one really believed her since she was destined for the maintenance department anyway.
They were eighteen and Butch was miserable. He fucking hated the job he was assigned. Hairdresser? Really? It didn’t help that Jo actually cracked a smile when he was moping in the hallways because as always she got just what she wanted – to work side-by-side with dear old precious daddy.
Bitterness about his career aside, he was at a loss. There were only four girls their age and two of them were considered no-man’s land. Paul finally grew some balls and asked out Christine while Freddie and Susie had some weird thing going on. Wally said he didn’t give a shit because it was stupid anyway but...Butch didn’t feel like he should go alone. He was a gift to all the women there, so why should he have to drag his ass alone to a party?