The Wrong Kind of Help (Patty & Cecil)

Cecil wasn't...quite sure, how to reply to that. Let alone with the added concern of not accidentally offending her. He knew there were ways to respond to that, but his brain just wasn't wired to come up with any of them.
The thought it was taking was written blatantly on his face as he puzzled with this, until he eventually settled one thought. "...I am never going to understand how relationships like that work."

"I know." The little smile on his face tweaked upwards for a moment, a flicker of motion. "I'm not that out of it. Besides, how often do people ever mean it like that? Wouldn't have thought that definition is what people'd usually jump to."

He looked at Patty, expression somewhere between disbelief and 'oh god not again', before looking at the bottle in his hand. "...I still assert there's something here. Special, 'You got Punked' green tea, brought into the light of the day by the so-proclaimed Queen of the Bitches herself." He takes a much larger swig this time, before looking back to Patty with a more relaxed look. "Effects include lowered anxiety, reduction of thirst, and rendering people susceptible to looking foolish. Order now, and get an inspirational message about the power of the mind and the things you can do if you believe, ab-so-lutely free!"

He holds the expression for a moment, before...groaning and facepalming. "Can't believe I just said that...I've been hanging around Kats too much."

"I'unno," the delinquent shrugged, "She was acting like a bitch so I told her to screw off. I said I knew her, not that I liked her. Like we just talked sometimes or sometimes we'd hang out and do stuff, she was like half a friend. Total bitch though." Patty had a lot of girl friends like that where everyone kinda hated each other but hung out anyway, it could get pretty stupid but she could navigate and control the drama really well. Guy friends were a lot better since they were honest with you, not like honest honest, but like they were either cool people, trying to get in your pants, or fucking douche canoes and it was easy to tell which was which. Cecil was cool but clueless as hell, not like cool cool but like okay cool. He was preeeeeetty much a huge dork and kind of a weirdo, cool wasn't gonna happen until he was like in his 30's making smart people money.

"Yeeeeaaaah suuuuuuure ya know..." she teased, "If you were hyper-ventilating 'cause you weren't that kinda cool I'd have some really bad news for you, dude." Her grin spread across her entire face when Cecil looked at her with this like, dumbfounded expression. Like she just told him she was a lizard in people skin or something. He was pretty easy to fool. Fun too. And then he went on this whole like advertisement shit where it was Patty's turn to look like his eyes turned to Yorkshire Terriers. She gave it a sec for it to sink in and busted out laughing.
"Ahahahahaaa! Heeheehaahaahaa you're a fuckin' doofus hahaaa...!" she giggled, giving him a playful shove. It was a hard shove though, like, put him back in the grass hard.

Holy freakin' shit that was funny though. Like, he was hilarious when he lightened up, he just needed to keep doing that. She was also kinda high though so like maybe not that funny but still probably funny. Most importantly he'd calmed down and he was enjoying himself, so she could be happy. Patty did exactly what she wanted to do and she didn't even have to slip him Xanax. The druggie chick stood to her feet quickly and wobbled for just a sec, nearly falling over.
"Whoooaaa...! Aheha... I stood up waaaaay too fast," she lied. At least it was a good lie, she got back to normal pretty quick so like normal people would probably believe it. Unless they didn't. ...shit is anyone gonna tell she's high? Fuck this was the WORST part. Patricia would chuckled and hold her hand down for Cecil to grab onto.
"Yeeeeaaaah you're totally fine. Haha c'mon funny guy, get the fuck up here!" Like, they should probably get to class, it's been about 2 hours already. ...or maaaaybe 5 minutes? Patty almost couldn't tell, everything was moving slower. She'd try to skip next period just in case, or at least show up later when she comes down. Ooh! No, nurse's office! Yeah she'd have a good excuse then.

"...as I said. Never going to understand that." Why on earth did people hang out with people they didn't like when they didn't need to? He was completely the wrong person to ask about these dynamics, he knew that, but come on - what was the point in hanging around with people that you hated, pretending to be all friendly while jumping on any remote chance to demean them?
Did people really want an excuse to be a dick to someone that bad that they'd hang around people
they can't stand waiting for the opportunity?
...oh, who was he kidding. The answer was yes. It was always going to be yes. But that didn't make the whole thing any less depressing and asinine.

The moment of shock and silence was utterly nerve-wracking. Well...he'd done it. He'd actually done it. And he really, really, shouldn't ha-
Wait, what?
It kinda pleased him that she found it funny, but he really wasn't quite sure how he should feel. He didn't know why she was laughing. What she was laughing at...or well, who, as his concerns lied.
And in all honesty, it was hard to think that it was what he did that she was laughing when the possibility that she was just straight up laughing at him existed.
At least either way she got some amusement out of it.
He sighed and started to go for another drink just as the shove came, the 'You got Punked' green tea doing its job once more as he got covered in it while he was sent to the ground. "Great..."

As he sat back up again, Cecil rolled his eyes at the familiar turn his mind has taken, and took Patty's hand - either for her to help him up, or just to drop him onto the floor again. Entirely possible either way.

"Ahaha coooooome up here," she strained, bracing her feet to pull Cecil to his. He was a lot heavier than she was so it was kinda hard, but she was a stick and he was a lot taller so like whatever. Still got'im there. She almost lost her balance getting him back up and made a sort of round step to avoid falling over with that same goofy grin on her face the entire time. Like, his palms were SUPER sweaty though. Yeah... yeah he was all wet now. When the fuck did that happen?
"Haha how'd ya get all wet?" she asked innocently, unaware that she knocked his drink all over him. Also kind of unaware that he had a drink even though she gave it to him. She was a little unaware of a lot of things right now.
"Is the grass wet? Was there a puddle there? Dude why'd ya lay down in a puddle?"

Patricia craned her neck. Yeah there was a puddle there. The grass was all wet in one spot. And ripply and stuff. Holy shit all of it was waving dude that is sooooo cooooool. Patty blanked for a moment just... staring at the grass in the wind before turning back to Cecil. He was all wet, when the fuck tha- oh yeah, just now. Yeah she'd do something about it.
"Hey. Hey hey hey we're gonna go to the pool, 'kay? They got towels there, no one's gonna care if we take some." Patricia would attempt to keep the action moving and her erratic focus pointed towards something as she tried to take his hand and drag him away to fix his puddle problem. Like he probably wasn't gonna get away with taking off his shirt, they weren't cool like that here.

...he had so many questions right now. Sooo many.
Apparently, even if there was nothing in his drink, that didn't mean that she hadn't had something. It was like she didn't even see the bottle in his hand.
Or, you know, remember she'd given him it? A few minutes ago?
Was she messing with him? Was this a joke? "You pushed me over when I was going to drink the green tea you..." Cecil trailed off as Patty started staring into the grass.
...oh dear god, it wasn't a joke. She was actually that bad.

"Patricia? Are...you alright?" She wasn't, that much was clear, but did she know that? "Towel's not important, you're - hey, hey wait-" Cecil found himself dragged around by the girl again, this time just simply unsure if she'd keep her balance if he tried to resist the motion.
She meant well, he knew, but he was seriously starting to get concerned right now.
What the hell was he supposed to do here? He seriously didn't think she could go to class like this...god, would she even care?

"Ahahah c'mon, c'mon!" the druggie urged, pulling Cecil along at a run as she twisted her way around the quad and eventually the hallways, giggling as she went. Cecil's questions went ignored completely. Like she heard him the first time and didn't wanna answer, she was fine, she did this all the time and never got caught. Buuuuuut she forgot anyway, Patricia was more focused on getting to the pool like she said she would. Racing through the grass and in the hallways was pretty exciting when everything blurred past, it was like she was floating in her body and riding a motorcycle as people and things blew past like signs. Any concern or protest from Cecil behavior or otherwise was going to get lost in the really awesome feeling of flying across the ground as her heart beat in overdrive.

It wouldn't take long to get to the pool moving at the breakneck-but-more-realistic speed Patricia thought she was moving at. She'd slow down to a stop before the doors and look at Cecil with a finger over her lips, gesturing to be quiet. The lanky girl would giggle a bit, straighten her posture, brush off her sleeve and wipe a hand over her face and at the end of it all she'd appear pretty normal like she wasn't freaking on Adderall at all. Like, this wasn't the first time she went on a trip around other people and certainly not the first time she got away with it. Like, it wasn't exactly easy, she had to pretend that things weren't interesting and control her breathing so it wasn't so quick but closing her eyes for longer periods when she was blinking helped her focus. She slowly pushed open the door to the pool, looking around for other people buuuuuut there weren't any. Nobody was gonna use the pool on break, there wasn't enough time. Patty basically skipped over to the towel rack and grabbed about half a dozen to bring back over to Cecil.


If he followed her into the pool like she'd wanted instead of waiting by the door she'd take an extra stop to toss the entire bundle at him as soon as he went to take them, laughing evilly when she did.
"Aaaahahahaaaa...! Ahahaaa... haaa... phew you're so easy... ahahaaa..."
The tall chick stood looking at him as normal as could be to the untrained eye, at least for anyone who didn't know or wasn't actually looking for it she just looked like she was in a good mood. But a closer look revealed her eyes shaking slightly in their sockets, sometimes moving over Cecil's shoulders in half-second bursts and a her heart could be seen beating faster than your basic resting heart rate. ....fuck now she was thinking about it, that meant other people were gonna think about it. Buuuuuuut she could hide that, and moved to do so by crossing her arms in front of her chest. As long as she could keep moving and keep attention off her relaxed state she wasn't gonna get caught for sure and she'd make damn sure she didn't.

"Hey-why-you-what-Patricia-"
Being ignored was doing no good for Cecil's perception of things. He had no idea if Patty could even tell what he was saying. She obviously knew he was there, the way he was being dragged along, but goddamn it was she okay
What the fuck had she had?! Why wouldn't she at least acknowledge he was talking?! He was freaking out here! He was absolutely freaking out here!

Cecil squinted at her disbelievingly, a very obvious question in his eyes as they stopped at the doors to the pool. Pausing one moment as she went in, he followed after her...
To get a bunch of towels all over him as he came in.
"I- you-"
There was a definite twitch his eye at this point.
Shaking his head and closing his eyes, trying desperately to quash the protests his mind was throwing forth in the knowledge that they were utterly pointless, Cecil took a long breath out as he grabbed a towel from the floor to wipe himself down with.
It was just one thing after another, wasn't it? Goddammit, he wished she was just drunk. At least he'd have a fucking clue what was going on then.

Watching Cecil get mad only made Patty laugh harder.
"Aaahahahaaaiiieee...! Don't get mad, hurry up! We're gonna get caught here if you don't." Haha why was he getting mad? It was just a prank, she didn't hurt'im or anything like she just threw towels all over him and stuff, whatever. She was helping him out! So like... he should cool his shit and stuff. Patricia couldn't sit still for long with her brain and heart in overdrive, as Cecil dried off she'd peer cautiously out the window of the pool room. No one was coming. For now. But the period was gonna end at some point and then there might be a class here, sooooooo they might get found out. And like that was chill, they could be there. It wasn't a big deal. But she was NOT going to get a reputation for sneaking off with guys like this, she already worked hard to get Albrecht to chill out and resetting that progress really wasn't on her list. Besides... they might ask questions and find out that she's high. Fuuuuuuuck dude, she just needed to like, go ride the wave somewhere until it stopped. Maybe she'd be late for geometry or something. Nah, nah she'd just sit in the back and try not to stare out the window like a zombie.

"Yo, you almost done? Classes are gonna start and junk, you're gonna miss'em. Like I don't really give a shit but you probably should."

Why did she have to laugh? This wasn't funny. This absolutely wasn't funny. He was seriously worrying about this. Not that she cared, not that she even saw the problem, but he had no idea what was going on or how serious it actually was.
Also, there were towels everywhere.
He didn't know why that even rated considering the situation at hand, but it did. In the midst of his worries for a drug fuelled Patricia, he was concerned about towels.
He didn't know what to make of that.

He winced as Patty mentioned that classes were approached. He dabbed furiously at what wet patches remained before chucking the towel to ground and hastily advancing towards the door. "This'll do. We need to move..."

Patricia nervously peered out the door. She looked left, she looked rig- DUCK BACK INSIDE. Okay... okay... that was close. She checked again, looking right and... just opening the door and walking out. There was nobody out here, she was just messing with him.
"Haha, you comin' or what!?" she motioned him with her finger. There was a joke for that she was trying to set up. Patricia wouldn't stick around for long though, she had to move. Like, HAD to move. Staying still was pretty painful, she wanted to move around and do stuff and NOT doing that sucked. The lanky chick would sway from side to side as she walked in an even rhythm as if listening to a song no one else could hear, bobbing her head as she enjoyed the feeling of the air on her tingling skin.

She looked back to him in her vague haze with a wide grin.
"Okay so like, you're good now right?"

As Patricia went through the pantomime of pretending there was anything much to be concerned about, rapidly jerking back into the building before peering outside once more, Cecil found himself struck with nerves. It was one thing him knowing that there was something going on with her, but if anyone else saw and picked up on it, that wasn't exactly going to be good.
He'd rather not she draw that kind of attention.

His steps were tentative as Patty beckoned him out, concerned about being spotted himself despite the fact that he...really didn't have to worry about that as much.
It was not a fact that occurred to him then.
For now, all he could do was sigh as he left as well, taking a look around of his own to see if there was anyone there. "Yeah, I'm coming..."

...she wasn't entirely alright, he felt fairly sure. That wasn't what was being asked of him, but it was the first thought to strike him nonetheless, wondering how Patricia seemingly failed to see any problem whatsoever with her state.
Was...this better, or worse, than the alcohol?
He shakes his head clear, having paused a little too long as he was thinking. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just...thinking too much a moment there."

Okay, so he wasn't good like he said he was. Patty wasn't stupid, she knew when stuff was bothering people. He was happy and making jokes and stuff a while ago but now he was like all... depressing and shit and sighing and not being fun anymore. Was he still mad? Dude, she wasn't gonna apologize for tossing the towels at him, if that made him mad he should like, freakin' get over it. It was just a joke and it's not like it was embarrassing or insulting or anything either, it was totally harmless! She turned her body toward him with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face, forcing to take slow and controlled breaths to offset her quick heartbeat but her pupils still twitched and scanned over him, behind him and in all forward directions with the snowy hazy crawl the hallway was doing.


Okay so she wasn't trying to be a bitch but he seriously needed to just, like, cool his shit and take a chill pill. She knew what "thinking" meant and it meant he was getting upset about stuff because he was letting his brain go to bad places for no good reason at all. But like, she wanted to help him out and if she was the one that was fucking him up then she'd just go and maybe he could recover from his freakout. He got dry and shit so like, he should be fine. Her absent goofy grin spread across her face again as she relaxed her posture.
"Rad! So like we're cool, right? Hey yo, I gotta go do other stuff, you'll be good right?" Patty already knew the answer or maybe just didn't care, he was fine. So she'd already started turning away to leave.
"Yo see ya later, 'kay?" she called out, taking a half jog that turned into a skip at some point before she had to slow down and act normal for the normal people. It bugged her a little bit how he got like, all serious for a second but she'd forget it just as quick as she left it behind her. The sun coming in though the windows made like SUPER cool patterns to distract her with.

Cecil tried not to be taken aback as he was called on how he was doing. He understood what he was being told. He got what the point of it was.
But goddammit, it wasn't that easy for him. It was never that easy for him. It was probably never going to be that easy for him.
He almost envied Patty in that regard. Just in the way she seemed to be able to brush things off so easily and bounce back.
...though, then again...if family was any indication, things bothered her more long-term than she allowed herself to believe.
Not that he'd dare mention that.

As ever from what he knew so far, she was back to how she normally was in a moment flat. He was barely able to get a word out before she was going off. "Ah, uh, yeah! See ya!"
...as much as the whole being on drugs thing was bothering him now, she'd probably done it before. He probably didn't have to worry about her being picked up on it. Admittedly, that concerned him in...different, ways, but it crossed one thing off.
For now, he would just be glad she went out of her way to help him out.

And...get to class. Just had to...oh fuck, it was HISTORY again wasn't it?

+4 Stats to Patty for...

1. HP
2. SP
3. Ppstr
4. Pmstr
5. Dex
6. Luck

Random number (1,6) :

4

+4 Stats to Cecil for...

1. HP
2. SP
3. Ppstr
4. Pmstr
5. Dex
6. Luck

Random number (1,6) :

6