Survival Of The Fittest

Was she laughing? Well, to be fair, it was a pretty funny thing to do, not notice your own hunger whilst standing right by the canteen. Heck, the whole conversation had gotten started with her walking up, lunch in hand, trying to politely get past Beatrice so she could eat. But then they'd gotten talking about interesing stuff, and Evie had fallen yet again into her recent habit of developing brief, intense crushes on every girl that paid any attention to her beyond common courtesy... easily enough done, really. So Evie giggled a bit in return. Seemed appropriate.

"Yeah, same," Evie patted her bag, where she'd stowed her lunch earlier on, to free up her hands for water retreival.

"Plus, y'know..." she left that one hanging on purpose. People tended not to respond well to her bringing up her diet unprompted.

"But anyway! Yeah I was supposed to meet, uh, but if you wanted to hang out, like,"

Foot in mouth moment. Evie willed herself to be calm, be cool, channel the kind of confidence she managed to have in just about every other part of her life. It didn't work perfectly, but she at least finished the sentence.

"I'm in the library a lot recently, doing a lot of reading, I mean, that's what you do in there!"

Sentence completed, now she just needed to stop, move on to another sentence, say something else.

"So, yeah. I'm gonna..." Evie gestured towards the canteen vaguely.

She stood there, patiently, waiting for Evie to finish speaking, one hand holding her water bottle loosely by her side, the other gently clutching the strap of her own bag. It looked as though her potential faux pas had turned out to not be one after all. Or perhaps it was, but it was so minor that Evie had just been able to laugh it off. Either way, her new friend didn’t seem at all bothered by it, and Beatrice felt a little bubble of warmth grow inside of her.

It took her a few seconds, however, to figure out what Evie’s gesticulating in the direction of the cafeteria meant, and the sudden jolt of realisation almost threatened to burst the bubble immediately. It shook ominously for a moment, as Beatrice opened her mouth in an ‘O’ shape of understanding, but it held firm. She remained steady. The smile reappeared on her face.

“You should go and eat, it’s okay,” she said, nodding and maintaining eye contact for as long as she could bear. "Are you meeting up with the rest of the swim team? I hope you have a good time!”

She took another quick sip from her water bottle, using it as the perfect excuse to break the line of vision, before she continued.

“And I’d love to hang out again, whenever you’re available. I’m in the library pretty much every day during lunch. Oh! And you can always find me with the rest of the lacrosse team whenever we practice. If, uh, you know when that is, of course.”

"Yeah, yeah!" Evie nodded enthusiastically, friends, she had those, was definitely going to go sit with them and eat food and all that jazz.

It's just a shame that means ending the conversation, really. She was enjoying it.

"Yeah, I'm sure I'll see you in the library some time, or wherever!"

And then it was back off into the canteen with a little wave and a smile. She didn't know when the lacrosse team practiced, she'd never really had much interest in lacrosse in fact, but Evie made a mental note to find out as soon as she could. But first, food.

[Evie McKown -> to the gym!]

Beatrice waited for a few minutes after Evie had left the corridor before she also made her move. She had realised, shortly after the door to the cafeteria had swung shut, that their respective paths would have taken them in the exact same direction at first. It would have felt very awkward to have done so immediately after saying goodbye; at least, that was how it felt to her. She had already managed to avoid one social slip-up just now. She didn’t particularly feel like taking a chance and stumbling directly into another one.

She could feel her heartbeat speed up once again, as she placed her hand on the door. It was, mercifully, not as extreme as it had been before, but it was still enough to make her hesitate for a moment. For a brief moment, she considered an alternative dining location; maybe she could have lunch on the playing fields or somewhere similar?

She could feel herself physically recoiling at the very idea, however; deviation from her normal routine was not something she was prepared to handle in her current state. And besides, going somewhere else would really rather defeat the whole point of waiting around in the corridor for a few extra minutes.

Beatrice took a deep breath. Her fingers bounced against her water bottle. She found a smile sneaking its way onto her face. It would be okay. She was just a few short steps and then a single flight of stairs away from safety. And Evie was in the dining room now. She’d try and look out for her, catch her eye, during her walk, and if she couldn’t see her, then that was okay too. She knew she would be somewhere in that room. Someone friendly that she could go to if she needed any more help.

With a big smile on her face, and the thought of spending more time with Evie in the future in her head, Beatrice pushed the door all the way open and made her way towards the library’s stairs.

((Beatrice Briggs continued elsewhere))