2013.06.05 - Giiiiiiiiiiirlfriend?

Fingers swipe across a smartphone, as Doug Ramsey browses through today's news, sweeping through his RSS feed. Absentmindedly, he takes a bite out of his dinner, as he quickly texts someone with a thumb.

It wasn't as though he had anything to really be embarassed about, but it was quick, furtive, and then he'd just put it away. Nobody'd notice, right?

"Giiiiiiiiiiiirlfriend?" Cessily asks, circling around Doug with a wry smile, dropping into a seat opposite him. She's got a sandwich in one hand, a soda in the other, and looks notably more relaxed than she's been in....a while!

Well, most people aren't somewhat hyper-vigilant, but unfortunately, Jocelyn happens to be rather vigilant about most things. And Doug was texting somebody. Eh, not a big deal. Or at least Jocelyn didn't care until she overheard Cessily's statement. The girl is coming into the cafeteria from one of her runs. Grabbing a glass of water and a sandwich of her own, she decides the best place to place herself is on the other side of Doug, which means that he's now somewhat pinned between Cessily and Jocelyn.

"Hey Cess. Hey Doug," Jocelyn says casually. She wasn't too concerned about most things right now, which was a nice change of pace. But, it was June, so there was no class to worry about really, right? Right.

"Nooooooooooooo," replies Doug with a -look- as he picks up his fork, beginning to eat his dinner. It's not more than a few seconds later that he finds himself sandwiched between the two students of his. No. No he wasn't going to get into this, and so he dives back into his food, eating quickly, having a sinking feeling about the casual way the two girls were smiling at him.

Finally he tosses down the fork, looking first at Cessily, then Jocelyn. "For your information, I was texting a -friend-."

"Hey Joce!" Cessily says with an excited wave of her hand, now freed since she's put her soda down. "You're really a bad liar, Doug," she says flatly. "How're you doing?" she asks Jocelyn. "I am /so/ glad to be done!" With an easy shrug towards Doug, Jocelyn takes a bite of her sandwich. Outwardly, most people would see that she was taking Doug for his word at that. Doug might pick up that she doesn't buy that's all there is to the story, with the way he reacted, but she wasn't pushing the issue either.

"Not bad, Cessily. I actually got my GED scores in the mail today," the teenager explains. She takes a drink of her water and looks over at the two of them. "Glad to not have to worry about taking tests or anything like that this summer. I can really use a little bit of a break". Given her tendency to run into trouble, she'd totally take any break she can get!

Doug rubs the corner of his eyes as he takes a deep breath, and then looks up. "There's no girlfriend. Don't you think you're being a bit presumptive?" he comments, before quickly shifting towards Jocelyn, thinking it might at least be safer territory. "Good... what were your scores? Did you pass?"

"Yes," Cessily says with a firm nod. "Wait, GED?" she asks. "You didn't get an actual Xavier Institute sheepskin?" she asks Joce with some concern.

"Well, I came to Xavier's, what, four months ago, and I was sixteen. I'm nineteen today, thanks to all sorts of weird stuff with my birth certificate, and really have no desire to be a twenty-one or twenty-two year old high school senior, know what I mean?" Jocelyn points out to Cessily before she takes a bite out of her sandwich. "And I passed," Jocelyn confirms to Doug. "It was close, but I managed to pass, so I legally don't have to attend high school anymore as a student". Of course, that poses other questions, but she'd have to resolve those in their own time.

"Yeah. I got a GED too," Doug sighs, as he runs a hand through his hair. "Needed to get it after I came back." He glances at Cessily. "Well, I technically didn't get an Xavier Institute sheepskin either. It's not unusual."

"Well not everybody does strange timey wimey stuff," Cessily protests. "Doesn't matter, glad you got it, Joce, you totally deserved it," she says with a nod.

"Thanks, though I'll still be around here. I'm not leaving the institute. Probably just take courses at the college remotely, or some remote and some at the campus, if I manage to get in locally still, somehow. I'm sure they've got a late entry program, or something like that. Besides, unless Doug or Mr. Summers is kicking me out, I'm still part of the Young X-Men," she says with an easy grin, obviously joking.

"Anyway, what are you doing this summer, Cess? You sticking around here too?" she asks.

"You know, I never would have taken you for a Dr. Who fan, Cess," Doug comments, although not too loudly. "And I think I'd have promoted you long since... you going to Metropolis U?" Curious. A fair number of people he knew was going there. He might as well consider it too...

Cessily nods at Jocelyn. "I...can't go home," she says. "And, no, Empire State," she says. "You know two supreme court justices went there. Not recently, admittedly," she says, waggling a hand. "Doctor what?" she asks Doug.

Didn't mean Cessily couldn't be going elsewhere, Jocelyn figured. A nod is given. "I haven't figured out yet where I'm going. Depends on who'll take me, but I think most universities take a certain number of GED students late admission. Looks good for funding I bet," the teen says easily. A glance is given between the two when Doug mentions Doctoer Who. "No, he said Doctor Who. Not that he said who the doctor was. Some sort of owl doctor?" Doctor Hoo!

"No, no. _Who_..." begins Doug. "You know, the sonic screwdriver, and the TARDIS, the telephone booth..." His voice trails off, as he rubs his face. "You -can't- possibly have missed Dr. Who. Well, -you-, I can believe it," Doug glowers at Jocelyn. But not Cessily!

Damn her, her metal skin was making it hard to get a good read off her body language, at least, being malleable as it was. Mercurical, as it were.

Cessily shakse her head slowly. "Sorry Doug, not old," Cessily says, shrugging faintly. Cessily uses her stare to distract Doug, as her arm drops below the table and extends, feeling its way along as it tries to make it to the other side and snatch Doug's cell phone. "Well, grow up in the ghetto and things like the latest or best television shows just aren't that important. What is it, anyway?" Jocelyn asks. "A sonic screwdriver sounds a little bit like a really weird drink name," the teenager says. Well, it did!

"Har har. I'm only a few years older than you, and _I_ know who Dr. Who is. How do you not know who..." Ranting on, Doug doesn't really notice what Cessily is doing. "At least you -know- Dr. Who is a television show, and ... wait, you -know- what it is...!" Now Doug blinks at Cessily, before tilting his head, eyeing... "HEY!" And doing a quick look... where -is- his phone?

"Come on, Detroit's not that bad," Cessily says. It's certainly nothing like Portland, but what is? Cessily snaps her fingers at Jocelyn,"Good idea!" she says. "In fact, I'm thinking we should maybe take a summer vacation. Like, a week on the shore or something? You, me, Megan...maybe Laura...." Doug's phone is now drowning in Cesssily's hand, which is rapidly retracting back to her body like normal so she can hide the phone discrete on her lap.

"I was referring to the type of show. I'd already figured out it was a television show or movie or something like that from context. Important skill I've picked up, living around here, and given you were the one who brought it up, not a hard leap to make". Jocelyn hadn't had anything to do with Cessily snatching Doug's phone, honestly.

A laugh is given. "Depends on what section of Detroit you're in Cessily. Never been to Portland myself, so I don't have much to go by, but they don't call Detroit 'Murder City' for nothing". A nod is given to Cessily. "We can probably arrange that, if we can pull together the funding for it. Though I can always fly us, so we can at least save on the airfare," Jocelyn points out easily. She hadn't actually noticed the phone get snatched, so when Doug starts looking around, she looks at him. "What's wrong, Doug?" she asks.

Checking around, Doug frowns, before looking back towards Cessily, then Jocelyn suspiciously. "Seen my phone?" he asks, ignoring for the moment the conversation.

It's not until Doug remembers exactly -who-'s next to him that he turns to Cessily. "Hey, very funny. Hand it over."

Cessily shakes her head. "Nope," she says. "Where'd you leave it last?" It's not like it's disappearing into her or anything, nope. "Atlantic City isn't far, Joce. I figured we could just drive down, if we can borrow an Institute van and everybody chips in for gas and tolls. We'd need to find a place to stay though."

If Jocelyn actually knew Cessily had taken the phone, she may or may not help Doug out. But, as it is, she's got no idea. A nod is given about Atlantic City. "Let me know what the cost would be, and I'll see what I can do," the teenager says. Money was always an issue for Jocelyn. She then glances to Doug. "Well, did it fall on the floor or anything like that? I mean, you just had it, what, five minutes ago?" It couldn't have gone far.

"Exactly," Doug replies, his attention remaining fixed on Cessily. "And I have a screen lock on it, so it should kick in any minute. Which means she's not going to find out anything if she doesn't -look- at it in the next... 30 seconds or something, so..."

"I'll check it out, yeah," Cessily tells Jocelyn. "Maybe find somewhere more mutant-friendly." The phone suddenly bubbles up out of Cessily's hand, which gets positioned in front of her face. She tries to read it quickly before Doug can snatch it away.

Normally, Jocelyn would be with Cessily on the whole findint out what Doug is up to plan. Normally. But there were some things that she didn't support, and sniffing through his private messages on his phone really wasn't one of them. So Jocelyn, being a slight party pooper in this case, silently drains the electricity from the phone. Not all the way, but enough that the big old 'LOW BATTERY' image is going to pop right up on the phone, likely blocking the text and making it harder for Cessily to read it, though maybe not impossible. There isn't any physical tell for this action of Jocelyn's, not really, that can be detected. Jocelyn just stays silent as she lets things happen. Most have somehow drained while it was within Cessily, or maybe Doug forgot to charge it. Whoops.

And now Doug grabs ahold of the phone, trying to work it out of her hand. Surely she could make her skin as hard as she wanted, but still.. "Hey, give it here!" he exclaims. "Sheesh, I told you, she's just a friend!"

The phone's showing 'LOW BATT' and then gets snatched away. "Oh damn, you're no fun!" Cessily complains at Doug. "And seriously, is it that one? The uh.....redhead?" she crinkles her eyebrows at that. Because she's one too, and calling out that feature seems wrong. Then again, she'd probably prefer to be called 'the redhead' than 'the metal one', and thus the same politeness to that other one. "Okay, fine. Friend, fine," Cessily says.

A shrug is given from Jocelyn. "Anyway," Jocelyn says. "Let me know about the trip, Cessily. I've got to go take care of a few things still, like finding out college application details. I'll see you all later". And then Jocelyn will make her way out and back to her room.

Regarding his smartphone, Doug frowns. "I -just- charged this thing!" he utters, before he glances at Jocelyn. The shrug and body language... Hnh. "Oh...! Ok. And thanks!" he calls out as Jocelyn makes her departure.

Once Jocelyn's gone, Doug regards the smartphone again, before looking towards Jocelyn. "No. For your information, I -do- have acquaintances besides Cait--- besides the redhead." Tilting his head, Doug frowns. "Why -do- you keep asking about her?"

Cessily shrugs faintly. "Real redheads are few and far between. We need to keep track of each other. And you two seemed to know each other, but you didn't want to admit it, hence secret girlfriend," Cessily says, ticking out the path of logic. Yup, those detectiving classes come in handy. "Guess I was wrong."

"Uh... you could tell all of that from about -one- minute?" Doug arches an eyebrow. "I told you, she was a -friend-. Nothing more. I met her at the mall, that's all. Nothing secret about that. I just don't want to rush anything, that's all. You could just have asked."

Cessily blinks a few times. "I'm very perceptive," Cessily says. It's something her teachers have told her, so it must be true!

"Mmmhmmm," Doug gives a curious look. "While we're at it, I don't suppose you want to tell me what was up with the late-night poker games? Or the drinking?"

Cessily narrows her eyes. "No, I don't, /DAD/," Cessily says, meeting Doug's gaze.

Reaching out to ruffle Cessily's hair, Doug grins. "Then I won't ask, hmmm? Just don't overdo it. I did have to check to make sure you weren't in -trouble-."

Cessily bats Doug's hand away. "I'm not a child. Stop that," she says, rather curtly.

Pulling back, Doug nods "All right, Cess. Look, I just met her. I haven't -done- anything."

Other than have a talk, and a few geek-out moments, but that's really nothing, was it?

Well, and a few other details, but she didn't need to know -that-.

"Fine, fine," Cessily says, shifting and looking rather awkward now. "I'll lay off," she says, seeming to mean it.

"Thanks," Doug replies with a smile. He could't -quite- read her body language, but it seemed to be reasonable enough. "I'd say more, but you know how it is, right? Too early to do anything more than just hang out."

Cessily shakes her head and glances down. "No, not really," she says, then straightens up. "Um, I should probably go," she says, her sandwich now gone. "I think the others are waiting for me."

"... no?" Now Doug looks surprised. "I thought you would..." His voice trails off, and then the young blonde mutant lifts his hand in a wave. "Okay. I'll see you later, Cess."