Welcome to Gaia! ::

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"See you," Delia said with a wave. For a moment she stood and watched him leave, then snapped out of it and turned to walk up to the school. She was feeling much more relieved and at ease now, though some things still bothered her in the back of her mind. She figured she would have enough time to take a nice rest in the dorm for a while, maybe snack on a cookie or two. It was when she met a fully dressed Danielle in their room with a huge grin on her face that she realized she was sadly mistaken.
"Look who's arisen from eternal slumber," Delia joked, receiving a light shove on her arm in response.
"Guess what?" she asked, bouncing up and down on her toes.
Delia laughed. "What?"
"I've decided you and I are going out to lunch after orientation. And you can't say no just because you're tired," she said, already familiar with the stubborn look on Delia's face.
Delia just sighed, unable to hide her smile. "Sounds good." she replied before closing her eyes and yawning, flopping onto her bed and inhaling the scent of laundry detergent.
"Don't take a nap just because you were stupid enough to wake up extra early today," Danielle told her with a laugh. "Speaking of, what did you do, anyway? You didn't get any groceries?"
Delia sat up, realizing she'd gotten so distracted she forgot she mentioned anything about shopping. "Oops...sorry. I guess I got sidetracked... There's this book store on the way that I really liked..." It wasn't a complete lie, after all, there was a book shop there that Delia had been eyeing for a while now, just with no time to spare for it. Her friend seemed to take that as a proper excuse, for she was now immersed in her own reflection, trying to cover up the dark circles under her eyes with globs of concealer.

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By the time everything was said and done, including orientation, Delia felt exhausted. Her mind had been pummeled with information, more than she thought she could absorb at the moment. Her head still ached from this morning's event, but not only that, now she had school to worry about as well. "Classes start tomorrow, can you believe it?" one of Danielle's friends had asked with a joyous grin, bouncing up and down just like her friend did. "No," Delia replied honestly with a small laugh.

After most of the students dispersed again in their own little pacts, Danielle tugged Delia out of the air conditioned halls and into the sweltering sunshine. It was probably around two o'clock and already the heat had skyrocketed, along with the humidity. Delia's hair was becoming fluffier and frizzier with each step outside she took.
"So where are you taking me now?" Delia asked, failing to hide a long yawn.
Danielle was carrying a tote bag full of papers, books, and her own money, and was looking quite eagerly flustered with it all. "I hear there's this really good sandwich shop in town. Homemade bread, the whole shabang. We should go there."
At first, Delia didn't think much of it, but simply pretended to groan. "Will there be air conditioning? My hair looks like a troll's."
Danielle just laughed and continued to tug her along. It reminded Delia of the way her sister dragged her through the park back home, wanting to show her everything she'd discovered when they were little.

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Delia's stomach grumbled hungrily as they began to walk. She hadn't eaten much all day, only drinking sips of water here and there. Danielle didn't seem to notice, because they walked slow and she was babbling away about how excited she was for classes to start. Though this was something she didn't really expect from her new friend, she couldn't help but to realize the direction they were heading. Cutting her off mid sentence as they approached the shop, Delia asked, "This is the place?" a touch of nervousness in her voice. She wasn't sure why she was feeling so anxious all of a sudden; it wasn't that big a deal if she ran into Jac at work, right?

"Mhm," Danielle replied, skipping to the door and swinging it open. "Apparently Caroline's uncle or cousin or whatever owns the place, and she told us we should check it out."
Delia raised an eyebrow, following close behind her into the shop. Small town... she thought. Immediately the smell of cooking meat and fresh bread wafted their way and her mouth watered at the tantalizing smells. Along with the smells, they were greeted with fresh cold air coming from the AC, which was immensely relieving. Delia exhaled, forgetting her silly worries and approached the counter with Danielle. They peered at the menu curiously, like children awaiting a big Thanksgiving dinner. "Hmmm... what do you think, Delia?"
Delia shrugged, still peering at the plethora of options.

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Both Danielle and Delia turned in surprise at her name. When Delia's eyes landed on Jac she broke out into a smile. "No," she replied but couldn't help but to giggle. "But students have to eat lunch too, you know." Her smile went from friendly to teasing and Daniele's eyebrows raised even higher than they already were. She looked from Delia to Jac then said a little too loudly, "De, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend."
Delia's smile fell from her lips like icicles from the roof of a house. She looked at her companion with an icy glare that read a combination of "Think before you speak, moron!" and "I'll explain later". Though her eyes had shifted in frustration, the color that rose to her face deceived her pissed off facade. It gave her the classic look of a flustered little child, which made her even more self conscious. She tried to laugh it off as casually as possible. "Danielle, this is my friend Jac. Jac, this is my ever so audacious roomie Danielle."
Danielle smiled in a flirty sort of way at Jac and tipped her head. Her high bun flopped. "Nice to meet you." She then turned to Delia and nudged her in the ribs. "Good catch, De."

After a moment of incredibly awkward silence and profuse blushing, Delia looked at her friend and said in a uncharacteristically monotone voice, "Why don't you order for us? I'll have whatever you have."
Danielle finally took the hint and scurried back to the counter, ordering a couple paninis and two sodas.
Her face still prickly and warm, Delia turned back to Jac and smiled. "So, um, how's work?"

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Delia exhaled in relief when it seemed that he wasn't bothered by Danielle's obnoxious comments. Danielle was still lingering by the counter, waiting for their lunch to be made and humming to herself happily. Delia nodded as she listened to him, but her eyes flicked to his side, indicating her worry. If she was to be honest, she'd admit that it was hard not to think about it. At his question, she ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Well, classes start tomorrow, and I'm kind of excited for that..." she sort of trailed off, finding herself staring at him more than she'd intended to.

Blinking, she snapped out of her trance and said as quietly as possible, "Is it... I mean, do you feel alright? Do you need anything?" She wasn't sure what she meant by her own question, whatever could help really. He looked pretty beat and it had only been a few hours since she'd stitched him up.

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Delia watched him for a moment warily, though she could see he seemed to be fairly fine. All she could do for the moment was nod and return the small smile, glancing at Danielle out of the corner of her eye. When it seemed she was still preoccupied at the counter, chatting up a storm with one of the other workers, Delia's eyes fell back on Jac and brightened up when he teased her. At this point she failed to hide her smile, nor the bubbles of laughter that spouted from her lips. She looked at him and rolled her eyes, but maintained the smile. "Oh, so clever," she replied sarcastically, "Your extensive use of alliteration is quite impressive." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but mostly teasing, finding his joke more amusing than she let off.

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Delia found herself looking at him again, searching his face for whatever he was hiding. The mood had changed, and she couldn't bring herself to say much of anything else at first. Without realizing it she had inched closer and leaned against the table, inspecting the look in his eyes. She blinked a few times before asking quietly, "What happened?" She wasn't sure she was really expecting an answer, especially after what happened earlier.

But she didn't have a time to take back the question, or even find out what he would say, for Danielle had made her way over to her with a tray of food, grinning from ear to ear. "It smells delicious, huh?" she giggled, inhaling and sighing like it was the best thing in the world. Delia tried to smile, but it wasn't the best she'd pulled yet. Luckily Danielle was rather oblivious and didn't seem to notice the change in mood.
She sat down at the little table next to Jac and found herself immersed in the sandwich.
"Oh, wait, did you need money?" Delia asked, snapping out of it for a moment and fishing through her purse.
Danielle took a sip of lemonade and shook her head. "Paid for everything. Don't worry about it. Sit." She pointed to the chair on the opposite side of her, the one closer to Jac, and spoke as if she was commanding a dog. Delia sighed, hung her purse on the head of the chair and sat down, beginning to gingerly eat the warm sandwich.

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