Blythe was practically skipping down the hallway. It was the day after the speed dating event he had attended. Finding Valentein's dorm room, he knocked, his legs wiggling in excitement. As the door opened, he saw Val and smiled. "Valentein!" he greeted. They were supposed to go get a couple phones for themselves. Their aunt had been waiting for them at the campus entrance and they were going to go with her. They didn't talk much until they got to the car and settled into the backseat.
Valentein had been waiting for Blythe to arrive, reading a textbook to get ready for her first class she'd have to take. A knock on the door interrupted the silence as she looked up to the window and saw Blythe waving excitedly at her. Sighing, she placed a bookmark into the book and set it down on the nightstand and got up. As she opened the door, Blythe greeted her. Valentein held up her hand to say no more talking. "Hello Blythe. We will talk on the way there." she instructed bluntly then left the room with him to go to the front gate and get in their aunt's car. Now that they were settled in, Valentein took a deep breath. "My first day went well, I unsurprisingly spent it signing up for classes to get started, something that I hope you eventually did as well." She shifted slightly, relaxing a little now that she was around Blythe, someone she actually knew well instead of strangers. "Did you have fun at the event?" she wasn't even interested in the response, but Blythe would probably more than happy to tell her all about it, which meant less talking for her. She readied herself to start tuning Blythe out as she was sure he'd talk on and on about his day, things that were irrelevant and useless to her.
Blythe inhaled deeply with excitement as he now had the floor to talk. "You should really get out there Valentein and make friends! I mean, your whole life can't be about book and school!" Blythe shook their head and bit then sighed and smiled again, that was usually the extent of his scolding as an older sibling. "I went to the speed dating on the flyer you gave me where I met Eve! She is purple and a fallen and pretty and she's so nice and she laughs at my jokes and we are going on a date to make food together! I need money to buy beef for it." Blythe thought for a moment. "Hey, what is that thing mother cooks for us that was my favorite? I want to tell Eve what it is since she asked me. It's just nice to not leave questions unanswered." he smiled.
Valentein was barely listening, staring out the window. "Mmhmm.... mmhmm... that's nice." Her heart sank a little as Blythe mentioned their mother. "Mother? Yeah, she makes Beef Stroganoff for you." as if she could frown more. Since she was now focusing on Blythe, she was mulling over what he had said before that. "Wait.. Did you say speed dating? That's not what I gave you that flyer for! It was for the Hunter's Jubilee event." her eyes narrowed in annoyance that he had ended up in a speed dating event. Then her eyes widened as it dawned on her. "You... HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!" Valentein was, for once in her life, emoting. She was surprised, concerned, and slightly angry. Who in the world was this girl that somehow convinced her brother to date her. Valentein could not even calm down long enough to come up with a calm response. "You were supposed to make friends! Not.. girlfriends!" She was getting angry, but she didn't have the heart to take it out on Blythe as she took a deep breath and sighed. "It's your life. Just be careful." she spoke blandly, as she let it go in her mind. She would decide later if she truly cared or not about their so-called relationship. Besides, Fallen weren't known to be rude or ill-intended, so the likeliness of it being something that hurts her brother was fairly low.
Blythe nodded, "Oh, yes! Beef Stroganoff!! That's the one!" he then blinked curiously at Valentein as she began to get upset over the event he had attended. "Oh, don't worry, Valentein! I had fun at the event and I got a plush from Eve. She gave it to me, she's so nice!" he thought for a moment. "Do I have a girlfriend? You mean Eve? How would I know if she is my girlfriend?" he asked curiously. He was unsure the exact mechanics of dating. As Valentein continued and ended with telling him to be careful. "I appreciate that you are concerned for your older sibling, but I will be just fine. Eve is a great person, you should meet her! You'll see just what I mean. So no need to be careful! I will be just fine!" he responded with a big smile.
Valentein sighed a bit as Blythe asked what was considered a girlfriend. All the more reason he shouldn't be dating someone, she felt. "Seriously Blythe.... Okay, so a girlfriend is a girl that you are dating. And by that, I mean someone who you are regularly seeing romantically." she placed her hands on the sides of her head as she tried to take it all in. "How about this? How do you feel about her? I mean romantically?" she sighed heavily. "I can't believe I'm asking this..." she took a deep breath to collect her next thoughts, she was trying not to feel embarrassed that she had to ask these questions to her older sibling, but she needed to make sure he understood what he was getting into. She asked each question slowly, pausing in between each one to let him answer. "Do you want to hold her hand? Do you want to hug her? Do you want to... kiss her? Do you... uhm.. Do you want... UGH." she couldn't even bring herself to ask her final question, burying her face in her hands.
Blythe listened intently to Valentein's explanation and began to interject his answers as expected. "Yes, she is just that! She is a girl that I intend to go on dates with!.... Well, I'm not sure if it's romantic? How would I know that?" Blyhthe listened again to her explanation of romantically. How he felt about Eve was straightforward just as he had explained earlier. Eve was pretty and nice and he wanted to be around her a lot. What part of that was Valentein not understanding? Then Val began to ask a series of questions. "Yes, I would love to hold her hand!..... Well, I suppose I would very much like to hug her. I bet she's very soft, so yes! Yes, I would!......... Kiss her?? Uhm... I never thought about that." he began to blush, he had never consider it but now he was. "The thought of kissing Eve make my face feel warm and I think.. I think I do. Is that bad?" Now the thought obsessed him, he couldn't get the idea out of his head. Then, Valentein stopped mid-question and buried her face. "Are you okay? Are you feeling flushed as well?? You look warm." he reached out a hand to her in concern.
Valentein shoved his hand aside. "I'm fine!" she half-barked. She was feeling overwhelmed by the emotions she always forced down. It was too much as she took a deep controlled breath. She began to pray that she never ended feeling this way about another person ever. Even Blythe was a liability to her goals, she knew she'd eventually have to make him hate her. It was just always so hard. "It seems you deeply care about this girl that you just met. I'm concer-..." she paused. No, she needed to stop caring so much. "Look, I'm not cupid. That's something that's an even more infuriating thought. So please talking about your stupid girl crush and let's get this over with. I want to go home." She folded her arms, her face fading back into an expressionless one, closing herself off once again.
Blythe smiled, oblivious to her inner emotional turmoil. "Hey, don't worry. You'll feel all nice about someone one day. When you get older! Though, if you don't make friends, that'll be really hard!." He noticed that Val shuddered after his comment as he tilted his head curiously. "Are you cold?" Valentein didn't answer him.
After successfully buying cellular phones, they returned to the academy. Blythe insisted he walk Valentein back to her dorm room and she didn't fight him on it. As they reached the door, he then remembered something. "Oh! I just remembered I made something for you!" He fished out a plush from his bag, a jackalope that had star constellations on it. "I made it just for you." he smiled at her.
Valentein was quiet the entire rest of the way and all the way back. She was done with social interaction for today. As Blythe offered to take her back to her dorm, she simply let him. She didn't have the energy to fight him on the matter. As he moved to leave, he turned back to her then offered her a jackalope plush. She took it, and apathetically threw it to her bed. "That's nice. Thank you." she spoke blandly as Blythe frowned at her. She reached into her own satchel and pulled out money, shoving it into his hands. "For the meat. Now leave." she then began to shove him out of her room then shut the door on him. She leaned against the door for moment, a frown finding it's way on her face. She heard Blythe say goodbye softly through the door and then he left. After he was gone, Valentein moved to her bed and plopped down, scooping up the jackalope into her arms. She squeezed it tight and closed her eyes sorrowfully and sighed. "You're such an idiot..." she whispered as she curled up on the bed and just laid silently for a long while.
