Java Fixation

[tony]

TAGGED: Jennifer O'Donovan
[W] For Mild Language

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Sitting in his dorm this evening he was bored since he had no homework at all and so he went online. Thinking he was messaging Brody he attacked the IM madly typing away at something that happened earlier. After he told the person about the poor girl who passed out due to the science lab he realized something. Wrong person, Jennifer O'Donovan's named popped up instead of Brody screen name. Tony went red in the face which he was glad no one can see him right now. Either way he calmed down from his fluster then he calmly talked to Jenny. Also messaged Brody too, this time clicking the right screen name, then told him about what just happened then and earlier. Course he didn't talk to Brody long since the man had to go with his girlfriend to walk her dog at the park. Tony asked if she was going to use the pink studded leash to take Brody out for a walk.

Tony was just kidding with his friend though, he knew his friend would laugh. So now he was only left talking to Jennifer which they were having a great time and he helped her with some homework. Typical nerd thing of him to do is help her with homework then feel all ecstatic because he helped her out. Soon the subject of what one another were doing tonight came up. He thought she was going to hang out with her boyfriend then he found out she didn't have one anymore. Well he assumed she had one since he thought she was beautiful and would have one million guys after her. So he braved the nerve to ask her out for some coffee since she kind of hinted it. So there, now he had plans for the evening which he thought was going to turn out great. As soon as he logged off be began to panic since he didn't know what to wear, yeah nerdish of him.

So after scrambling around he just put on a normal band t-shirt since he didn't think to go fancy. Some pair of dark jeans to match the dark grey color of the band shirt. Normal sneakers to match up then a jacket since it was night time. He walked out of his dorm and locked the doors to it after making sure he had everything. Now he was off to the parking lot where his car was, old school black mustang, then set off to go get Jenny. Now he knew where to go which he hoped she will be down there waiting for him when he arrived. He didn't know what to expect when going to a boarding school other then they are kind of strict. But he would have her back by 10 pm which it was only 7:30pm right now so they had two hours. Like they needed two hours or so to drink coffee then possibly take an walk by the beach.

Wasn't so cold out so why not take a walk around in the moon light. Nothing romantic, just him being a friend and her being a friend. A friend he did have a crush on, well more like weird feelings when around. He was too shy though to bite the bullet and tell her he did have a crush so he hide it and denied it. Even to himself he denied the little butterfly feelings inside of him. He has liked girls before but never did he really think anyone would want to date him. Since after all he still felt like the awkward kid with the thick glasses, large amount of metal in his mouth and lots of chub on him. As he was driving he was just listening to whatever was playing on the radio and kind of tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. Did not take him much time at all to get across to the other side of Marseille since there were not many cars out there on the road.

When he arrived at the school she mentioned he just went double parked. Took out his phone as he shut off his car. His eyes flickered over to the school then he bite down on his bottom lip then took his phone out. 'Hey Jen, I'm outside your school.' He texted over to her phone then he set the phone in his lap. He chewed on his bottom lip some more since he was nervous about this. Why was he so nervous? He was just going to go hang out with his friend. "This shall be fine. Just go have some coffee together and talk a little. Don't talk to much though. Especially don't snort when laughing for too long like you did last time. God that was so embarrassing. Okay stop talking to yourself!" He lectured himself then he stopped unlocked his doors so she would be able to get into his car when she arrived. She said she would be waiting for him, or did she mean she would come out, he didn't know but he was there waiting.

[jenny]

Oh crap.

Jenny had been sitting for five whole minutes on the end of her bed, staring at her reflection in the mirror that hung crooked on the wall. She watched the blood drain from her face and her skin turn even paler than it usually was. What had she done?

Twenty minutes before she was slaving over her History homework, wishing for something else to happen to placate her boredom. Then she logged into her instant messaging account and instantly her evening changed. Anthony Blasco sent her a message, or four, to be exact, that were meant for his best friend Brody Hathaway. Just seeing Tony’s name pop up on her screen was enough to get her heart pounding, but when she figured out that he wasn’t trying to tell her about the poor girl in lab that fall ill it started to make sense. So they talked, he helped her with her homework, and then he asked her if she wanted to go and get a coffee. She had taken that long to reply she was sure he would have fallen asleep or gotten bored, but her fingers refused to work as her mind raced at the idea that Tony Blasco actually wanted to spend time with her, no matter how platonic it was. She had spent the last few weeks thinking that he was avoiding her as much as she was avoiding him. So when she replied and said that she’d love to hang out with him, it was almost just as surprising as seeing his message in the first place.

That was ten minutes ago and she had spent five minutes staring at the blank computer screen, and then another five staring at herself in the mirror. She was waiting for the panic to settle in. She was being stupid. Why had she said yes? Tony was a great guy and she had barely come to terms with the fact that she had a gargantuan crush on the man, and now she had just volunteered to spend time alone with him. She groaned softly to herself and reached for her mobile that sat on the desk by her laptop. There was only one thing she could do. She opened up a new text message and typed away. ’Tony, I forgot I had something to do tonight. Maybe another time? –Jenny.’ She hit send, and waited. She just couldn’t do it. She couldn’t subject someone like Tony to an evening with someone as plain, mundane and dull as her. It just wasn’t fair to do that to-

Beep-beep-beep.

She almost jumped out of her skin as her phone vibrated in her hand. She frowned, confused as to how he could have text her back so quickly, and opened the message. She physically gasped as she read the navy and white lettering that told her she had insufficient funds on her phone to send a message and told her to buy more call credit. Crap! what little relief she had gained from turning him down now vanished as a tidal wave of panic and nerves crashed over her. She was on her feet without meaning to stand up, and was pulling clothes from her chest of drawers as if her life depended on it. She was looking for something to wear, she realised as she flung a fifth t-shirt onto her bed without really looking at it, and what she was wearing just could not do. She had gone out for dinner with Andrew, her best friend, and a pretty stylish accident had left a tomato sauce stain on her chest. She had gone back to her dorm and thought little of the idea of changing when she was going to be doing nothing else that evening anyway.

How wrong she was.

The jeans she wore would do her, she decided, if not for the fact that there was nothing wrong with the stonewashed denim; she didn’t have time to replace them too. She found a plain white, Lacoste tennis shirt and quickly changed, pulling on a semi smart deep red jacket over the top just as her phone rang again. ”Crap,” she whispered again as she grabbed her phone and read the message. She could have passed out with the announcement that he was already outside. She didn’t even have time to fix her hair! Cringing, she did what she usually didn’t dare, and released her waist length mane from the band that held it back in a messy and unkempt French plait. She unravelled it, whining a bit with impatience as she glanced and glanced again at the LED numbers on her bedside clock. He’d been waiting a few minutes already. She whined again and grabbed her hairbrush, dragging it mercilessly through her long hair until it at least looked neat. At this stage she was practically bouncing with the nerve that thundered her system. She wouldn’t have time to braid it again, so it had to do. She grabbed her phone and her purse which held a couple of notes, her school ID card and her keys, and shoved them into the pockets of her jacket, before leaving her room, some ten minutes after Tony had sent her the message.

The halls were empty, and it wasn’t until she emerged into the open night air some four stories below that she found her first sigh of life. And it was exactly the life she had been trying not to panic over. But the nearer she came to the car, the steadying her breathing became. The nerves were still there but the panic subsided, and she could think clearly. It was a relief. She grinned in the car’s general direction and waved somewhat sheepishly before she could point out that doing exactly that was really, very stupid and embarrassing. She reached it eventually, her sudden flush of heat I her cheeks only subsiding enough to be easily hidden with the long hair she was now thankful she left loose.

“Hi,” she chirruped as she opened the door and sat down into the passenger seat, instinctively pulling her jacket closer around her before she shut the door. “Sorry I took forever; I would have replied to your text but I guess I ran out of credit…”

[tony]

As he sent the message to her he began the waiting process which he was slowly thinking, maybe this was a bad idea. He really liked this girl, more then a friend, which he didn't know how to react around her at times. Also the last time he hung out with her he embarrassed himself. When he laughs too hard he ends up snorting just like a pig which that is what happened last time. God he wanted to bury his head into the sand or be shot right in the head but didn't happen. He just got red then walked away from Jenny and Brody, just for a moment to calm down though. So he didn't even think she wanted to hang out with him at all since he was a nerd. He was wrong obviously which here he was now in front of her school waiting for her. God he was thinking of texting her saying he forgot he had homework and maybe they should do it another time. Or tell her his grandma got sick and he needed to rush home or something.

Making up some excuses in his head which he had not a clue she was doing the same thing in her room. But he couldn't of texted her some excuse since he told her he was there. "Just act normal and don't worry about it. She is just a friend of a friend which you want to be friends with better. Nothing more, no big deal." He remarked to himself then rolled down his drivers side window since he was dying of heat. He put it half way down then took a deep breath and looked at his phone. Two minutes with no text message and he looked to see if there was any sign of her coming. But no there was no figure coming to him out of the darkness and he was worried. His leg bounced as he was sitting there since he was afraid she maybe set him up. Thought this was going to be one funny joke to tell Brody later and such, which he sighed. Rubbed his hands over his face a little stressed then turned on the radio louder which was playing some Deftones.

Was a mellow song called Changes so he was able to calm down then lean there in his seat. Finally he figured to turn off the lights and she would be a while, so he did. Chewing on his bottom lip for a moment he was looking at the dark sky for a mere moment. But then began to sing out the words to the song since he knew the words by heart. Anything to calm him down, even though he kept checking his clock on his phone and he noticed it had been 5 minutes. This sinking feeling inside of him that he was completely ditched was there. But he thought that maybe eh should allow maybe 10 more minutes or so. Since girls took a while to get ready and so he felt that was the only excuse or problem right now. Sure she said that she did not take long to get ready but girls did take a long time to get ready. So he felt it was a little white lie and was not going to hold it against her at all.

Finally when 8 minutes went by he rolled down the other window since he was getting hot and finished rolling down his window. He played the music a little louder but nothing blaring in the silent night. He was just trying to distract him as he waited or else he'd might get out of the car to pace. He didn't want to draw attention to himself especially when she was coming out. Might freak her out if he was pacing around the car or walking around nervous outside. The song changed which he turned down the music when he saw someone coming his way and he was feeling relieved. Like he was smothered for a long time and now he was able to breath again. A smile went back on his lips as he watched the figure coming closer and closer to him. Then he saw she waved at him to let him know she was coming towards him. He saw her, he was going to wave back, but he did not he just smiled off at her then waited for her to come close.

She reached the car which the window was down so he heard her say hello to him. "Hey Jen." He said to her and gave her the nick nick name to her normal name. He turned down the radio some more then he sat up in his seat as she was getting into the car. He got settled then put his belt back on him then smiled over at her when she apologized. "Ah it's okay. I figured you were going to take a while." Then she said her credit was up on her phone so he went nodded then made the face to match what he was saying. "Oooohhh....well see that also doesn't help. But don't worry about it. So, um, er are off." He remarked then he bite down on his bottom lip since he was a nervous wreck. He turned on the lights then started the car up right away then settled the radio to play as background noise. Was just some rock song, he liked rock, which he kept it on one station all the time since they pay variety of old and new rock.

"So I have to have you back here by 10pm?" He rechecked since she said she had a curfew and he wanted to make sure he did have enough time. He was sure that he had the right amount of time and also so he would have her back in time. He set the car to drive then left the school then went to roll up the windows all the way up and left a crack open. He knew where to go since she said there was a coffee shop near the beach shore. That would be fine he would take her to coffee then they can go for a small walk. Just talk, become better friends, he thought this was all a good idea. No nothing else was going to happen and he knew it as he drove the speed limit to get to their destination. At this point he was quiet since he didn't know what to say. He should say something though instead of just waiting her to answer yes or no to his question earlier. "So, how are you tonight?" He wanted to choke on his tongue and die from what he even asked but didn't. At least he made an effort, his eyes kept on the road as he drove, and left the silence there so she can speak up.

[jenny]

It was strange how the nerves that were eating her up inside actually dissipated slightly when Tony was next to her, even though it was him she was nervous about. She knew it didn’t make sense but even the thought of it had her smiling. She settled back in the passenger seat, undoing the button of her jacket so that she could breathe – ok, so she wasn’t exactly cured of the nerves, but she doubted that would ever change. So it wasn’t that strange that her clothes felt tight the moment she started to get comfortable, but the quick fix of flipping open her buttons helped… or so she felt. A deep breath escaped her as though her jacket was holding it in, and she hoped he didn’t hear it. Just to cover up though, when he started talking she turned her head to face him, showing how rapt she was (or should be) with the conversation.

“Yeah, ten… the security are really hardcore about the curfews. Just last week a girl in my Science class had to spend the night in her car because they wouldn’t let her back to her dorm. And she was only five minutes late. I guess it worked… I mean, she wont be doing it again in a hurry, but it’s a bit extreme if you ask me. There are students who don’t have cars to sleep in and their parents are hundreds of miles away… what are they meant to do? At least if I’m late I can just go home, I suppose…” Eventually she trailed off. Jenny, in all her wisdom and intellect, had a nasty habit of rambling. Nerves made it worse, but she could ramble forever without a cause if there was a silence to fill. “Sorry,” she muttered, unable to hide the pink blush from her cheeks as she turned to look out of the window again. “I’ll shut up now.”

The evening was slowly creeping up to eight o’clock, and complete darkness was swallowing the last traces of the sunset on the horizon. The night air was peaceful on the other side of the window. Jenny watched as building after building swept past; she hadn’t noticed leaving the compound of the school. They were headed west, towards the more ‘kitsch’ part of town. She liked it there. Nothing was too extravagant or too odd to be found there, and they typically had the best cafés too. She knew of one, not so much a café but a kiosk, at the very end of the boardwalk. On one side was the bustling town and on the other was a thinning stretch of commercial shops that eventually vanished completely, as if they all decided that the sea and the beach was just too much competition for trade.

Tony’s voice broke through her wandering thoughts and snapped her brown eyes to his, all of her attention back on him. “I’m pretty good tonight,” she answered, a timid smile lighting her eyes as she forced herself to look away from his handsome face. “Better now since… well, since I’ve given up on History. At least for tonight. Unless we have too much coffee and I can’t sleep later. Then I’ll probably end… up…” She cringed again, wondering if another apology for letting herself ramble on was in order, but she decided against it. Her cringe was enough of an apology.

“Thanks for this,” she said finally, digging up some courage that had been demolished with her embarrassment. “I don’t really go out much during the week. Even for coffee with a friend.” She fell silent quickly this time as her mind kicked into overdrive. Coffee with a friend. That was all this was. She knew that Tony probably only asked her out because he felt sorry for her. Most people took that approach, she found; ‘lets invite Jennifer, she’s got nothing else to do’. Usually it irritated her when people showed her pity. She had enough to do with her studies and her books and she was happy enough doing just that. So when Tony asked her, why didn’t she get irritated with him too? Well, for one, she really did want to spend time with him. He was… she… well, in simple terms, she had a huge, gigantic, giggly schoolgirl crush on him; if he had asked her to jump ff a cliff she probably would have.

OK so that was a bit of an exaggeration, but she did find him extremely attractive, and he was so nice and friendly to her that it was actually difficult to force herself to believe what she knew; that he was only spending time with her because no one else would. But she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and she was going to enjoy tonight, even if he wasn’t going to like it as much as she wished he could. She’d at least try her best to make it as pain free for him. He deserved that at least. And she tried not to think about why someone like Tony, who had friends like Brody and Elannia and all the other popular university kids would choose her to waste an evening. He really was in a different league to her.

“So what have you been up to since I last saw you?” she broke in again as the song on the radio trailed off and left a lulling silence. “It’s been about a week or more, right?”

[tony]

Oh he had no clue she was a nervous inside as he was about this whole meeting thing, how they thought so alike. They were so shy they just wanted to hide from one another and make up some stupid excuse not to hang out. But it was too late, she was there in the car and right next to him now. He thought this was better that he had not chickened out then if he had chickened out. Brody would of laughed at him, he would of felt badly and then Jenny would hate him which was the worst outcome of it all. He sighed quietly then looked over to Jenny to perform his best performance. He was not much of an actor to pretend he was calm but amazingly he was being good. He asked her about the curfew since he did not want to get her in trouble at all. He knew some boarding schools were really anal about their rules and stuck to them. So he was going to make sure he would have her there by 10pm, well earlier then that. Especially after the story she told him about the security locking you out even if your a little late.

"Wow that is super strict." He remarked off then he looked over just a glance in some amazement before turning back tot he road. He stopped at the stop light then he shook his head since that was horrible. "In fact I promise to get you back super early so we don't have that problem. I would hate to make you sleep in my car." He made a joke, a smooth one too, which he smirked off then laughed. He was trying to act normal, laughter he knew was wonderful to a girl. They seemed to like jokes and liked to laugh, also it needed to loosen up the whole moment. He smiled as she trailed off her last words then he heard her apologize but he was confused. What was she apologizing for? He had completely obliviously not heard she was rambling. Actually he did not see it as a constant ramble just a simple conversation between the two of them. Then she said she would shut up which he looked a little confused then realized something. He was talking enough so he guessed she felt like she was yakking his ear off.

"No, no. There's no need for that. I should talk more. Just..." He remarked then bite down on his bottom lip. He then decided to go out and say it, might be a small ice breaker for her too, so he said it. "I'm just dreadfully shy." He said to her, admitted to her, which she should know this since he barely spoke when they hung out before. It took him a moment then he asked her questions to get her to talk more. Or so that he was talking some more which he was glad to hear she was doing well. Also laughed when she said she gave up on homework then cut herself off like she had before. That is when he knew maybe he should speak up right about now. "Given up on the history? Well...I guess I would too. Then again I would most definably do it later. I have an OCD about getting my homework done before I go to sleep that night." He felt his cheeks heat up a little since he felt like a mega dork right now since he openly admitted that right out.

He did do his homework before he slept or he did not sleep at all that night. He was weird like that and was some overachiever on getting his stuff done when the assignment was assigned. He did some embarrassed smile to cover his nerves which she did thank him for taking her out. This made him smile normally now since he was glad to hear those words. He was more then pleased himself to take her out and treat her for a nice coffee, simple enough. "Welcome. It's my pleasure to treat you out tonight. Be actually nice to have an intelligent conversation with someone. No offense to Brody or anything, he is an awesome friend, I'm just not interested in hearing about parties and girls all the time. Actually to be honest not interested particularly in neither one of those topics. Alcohol is at parties which alcohol kills brains cells and thats not a good thing. Girls, well, yeah I like girls but most college girls just want one thing. So I tend to stay clear of girls and most parties, unless I go without drinking...." He then stopped talking since he realized he was now the one rambling on about something.

He bite down on his bottom lip then he looked down for a moment as he hit another red light. He felt so hot, he wanted to take off the jacket on him, but he could not moved at all. He cleared his throat then looked at the road as the light turned back the color to go. Then he saw some cafes since they were near the beach but he didn't stop in front of them. Instead he drove past them all then went parked at the beach parking. She asked him a question as they parked which he heard her but he did not answer her at all. Instead he turned the car off, opened the door of his car door then went around quickly to open her door. "Nothing but school really." He said automatically as he opened her door so she knew he heard her question. Also so he was not ignoring her at all when she did ask the question and he smiled as he held the door open. "Oh, last time we saw one another." His eyes looked away from her down to the ground. He went back to chewing on his bottom lip then he nodded.

"Yeah I think it has been about a week or so. Not that long though." He smiled off then moved so she would be able to get out of the car. Waited his moment till she was fully out then shut the door. Locked his car up then he shoved his keys away into his pocket and finally sized her up. She was a little shorter then him which he did not mind at all since he was tall. But, damn, she looked beautiful which he did not gawk at her at all he just looked her over. Well he looked her face over that was all, he did not dare look elsewhere, then he smiled. "So which cafe is your favorite? I figured we can walk to wherever you suggested since it's not so far." He said then he stood there putting his hands into his jean pockets. He did not make a move to walk at all until she made out the suggestion since he was a little horrible at picking places. Also he was trying to impress her with what she wanted. Tony was clueless when it came down to dating since he has not been on a date before.

[jenny]

Jenny gazed out of the windshield as the lights of the streets flickered past them and she listened to Tony talk about his friends. She knew his friends, hell, it was through Brody – the brother of her brother’s friends – that she met Tony in the first place. She also knew what kind of people they were, especially Brody, and the company that boy kept. Unfortunately, when she had met with him (with or without Tony in the group of people he kept), Jenny was always left wondering what the blue eyes boy saw in his company… especially his girlfriends. He was intelligent, or so she believed, so why he spent time with girls who had IQs that matched their ages, it perplexed her. And when she thought about the fact that Tony then kept the same company, it disturbed her. She would never be one of those girls, and as much as she was proud of that fact, she was insanely jealous. Still, like Tony said, she at least could hold a conversation of some degree of brain power behind it. She, like Tony, avoided parties, but for her it wasn’t so difficult to do. It wasn’t every day that her snobbish boarding school mates let their hair down.

Yes, her mind rambled as much as her mouth did. She hadn’t even noticed them slowing down until they pulled off the road near the beach and Tony cut the engine.

‘Chivalry is dead.’ She couldn’t remember if it was her brother or one of her friends that she head say those words, and at the time she had to agree. Tony though was starting to make her think they were all wrong. Her fine eyebrows raised over her honey brown eyes as she watched him move with a surprising speed around the front of the car to get to her door. She was impressed, needless to say, and she had forgotten her questioning of him until he answered as he opened her door. Nothing but school. She knew that hard truth all too well. Her life was made up mostly of ‘nothing but school’, though she had been trying to change things since moving from her comfortable school in England to the unfamiliar world of Marseille. She had been going out more, saying ‘yes’ more, and at the same time she couldn’t see a difference in how she was before as to now. Maybe it was just the change in environment that had her feeling like her efforts weren’t large enough… or maybe she wasn’t making much of an effort at all. After all, she still had her limits… and they were considerably lower than what she presumed Tony and his friends were used to.

She climbed out of the car and took a few steps away so that he could shut the door behind her. When she turned back she could feel his eyes on her face, and for a moment she couldn’t find the courage to look back. Instead she let her gaze focus on a nearby shop front, the shutters looking as though they hadn’t been opened in years. And the funny thing is that it didn’t stand out amongst the other buildings. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him smile, and whether she wanted to or not, she couldn’t help but look at him. That smile was what had caught her attention the very first night she saw him, and it never failed to make her smile back. It was infectious, elevating and completely charming in every way. She found herself looking away again as she felt a faint blush burning her fair cheeks.

“There’s… well…” she started, wrinkling her nose as her words refused to form immediately. “There’s a place… but its not the best coffee in the world. Actually… its probably below average… way below… but its not far from here...” Her tone lifted as if she was asking him if he wanted to try it, but she wasn’t really waiting for an answer. The tiny little kiosk that had stuck in her mind before now invited her like an old friend. She grinned to reassure her companion that it wasn’t that bad a place, and nodded back along the boardwalk in the direction they had come from. “It’s that way.”

She started to walk, knowing that Tony was by her side. The movement did something to her though, and as the chilly wind blew off the sea and tossed her hair around her shoulders she drew a rattling breath. She’d blame the cold, of course, but even walking beside him had and excited nervousness running through her. She buttoned her jacket again and shoved her hands into her pockets against the breeze. After a moment of silent walking she finally glanced up at him, a smile forming instantly on her lips. “We don’t hang out enough,” she decided bravely, aloud. “We should… more often. I mean, you know… with Drew and Brody and… whatshername… and everyone else…” Yeah, that sounded convincing…