Room 504, Monday Afternoon

[intraspective]

Ino got out of class, and it was one she was really going to have to reread her notes for and hope the handouts made sense because paying attention had kinda... failed her there, grabbed a quick sandwich from the common room (because, really, sandwiches were just about the easiest thing ever to make and she was hungry) and wandered back to her room with it in tow.

And the mirror. And the fact that, if she was going to make sure she was ready for things, then she ought to maybe make sure she had everything all set out. For the moment though, she was just sitting on her floor and staring at the mirror while she ate her sandwich.

[Open door, open post!]

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[intraspective]

She kicked her plate to the side. "Come in!" she called.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley entered and gave a little wave. "Hey Ino," he said.

[intraspective]

"Hey," she said, glancing away from the mirror and trying a smile. "How're you?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Pretty good," Hurley said. "Things are going, like, good and stuff."

[intraspective]

"That's two goods in two sentences," she said, having to smile a bit more at that. "What's up that's so good?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Kinda... had a date last night?" Hurley said. He was a little embarassed, it seemed like bragging.

[intraspective]

That got a real grin out of her though--the first today.

"No way! With who!" Ino beamed up at him. "What did you do? Did it turn out well?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"Penelope," Hurley said. "We went out to Ching Tai and stuff. She taught me how to use chopsticks, it was cool."

[intraspective]

"Sit, sit," she ordered, gesturing at one of the desk chairs. "Penelope? That's so cute." Awww.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley sat down, and blushed a bit. "Yeah, it... I think I like, like like her."

Yes, he used 'like' three times in a row in one sentence.

[intraspective]

Awwwwww.

This was much better than brooding. "Do you think she likes you?" Awww.

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley bit his lip. "That doesn't really matter, I think."

[intraspective]

Ino frowned. "Why not?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"She's kinda... engaged," Hurley said.

[intraspective]

...

"Then what," Ino asked, very slowly, "is she doing going out on dates?"

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"...She doesn't want to be?" Hurley said. "The engaged part, not the date thing."

Pause.

"I hope."

[intraspective]

"Still," she said, "technically, even if she doesn't want it to be, that's called cheating. And you deserve better."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley frowned. "So I shouldn't have asked her out?"

[intraspective]

"No," she said, considering that. "It's more, even if she likes you a lot, that it's wrong of her to say yes when she's engaged. Because whether she wants to be or not... that's what she is, right? And that is cheating. You acted just fine."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"But... she's only engaged because her mom forced her," Hurley said. "The dude doesn't even like her. I think."

[intraspective]

Ino shrugged a little.

"Where do you draw the line. Whether it's her choice or not--it's still technically cheating. And, honestly, if she doesn't want to be engaged then she could say 'no'."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

Hurley frowned. A lot.

"Man, this sucks."

[intraspective]

"No, at least not for you," she said stubbornly. "It's just, that yeah, what she's doing is technically wrong."

[likes-chicken.livejournal.com]

"I just wanted her to have fun without having to worry about all that stuff," Hurley said. "I'm making her do bad stuff."

[intraspective]

"You're not making her do anything," she informed him sharply. "You're a good guy, trying to help. You didn't do anything wrong."