a change of pace {jamie!}

[JAMIE SHOEMAKER]

“Take a look around. I’m going to change. Whatever’s in the fridge is yours to have.”

“Oh, thanks!” Jamie said as he walked in the door after her. He kinda felt weird being in Cleo’s dorm. She’d been in college when they were dating but he’d never visited her dorm. Most of the time she hung out at his place. He always wondered why. Cleo’s dorm was waaaay nicer than his broken down house. He looked around and found the fridge. He was definitely in need of some soda. Opening the fridge, he found some Dr. Pepper and lots of beer. Cleo drank? He was pretty sure she didn’t. It had been a year. It was probably her roomies’. He opened the can of Dr. Pepper and took a huge gulp.

“There’s an ice pack in the freezer, right?”

Jamie opened up the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen veggies. “Will this work?” he turned to see that she was in her PJs. That’s not what he thought she meant by changing. Jamie looked down at fridge as if something marvelous had appeared there instead of right next to him. He’d totally seen Cleo in her PJs before right? He thought about it a little more and realized he hadn’t. She looked so adorable! That’s all he was going to think. Bad thoughts go away. Cleo playfully bumped him over and got the watermelon. Jamie looked up and stole a piece of it but not before saying, “Cute PJs.” He moved out of the way and found a seat on the couch in front of the T.V. There were two movies on the table… “Are we watching one and two? You sure you can stay awake that long, li-Cleo?”

notes: so utterly terrible and short

[CLEO EVERETT]

Cleo laughed. “Dr. Pepper. Good choice. I’m pretty sure my roommate would be none too pleased if anybody else drank his alcohol.” She shook her head; Scottie hardly ever shared with Sadie and Adrian. She was the one who had to tell them when one was too many. Cleo grabbed the pitcher of sweet tea (she always made sure they had some) and poured herself a glass as Jamie grabbed a piece of watermelon. She stuck her tongue out at him before returning the pitcher to the fridge. Cleo sent a glare to the frozen veggies. Where had their ice pack gone? Well, there was no way she was going to trouble herself with that. Her head was fine. Returning those to the freeze, Cleo grabbed a towel, her glass, and the container of watermelon, joining Jamie in the living room.

She set everything down on the little table next to the couch before settling down next to Jamie, pulling her knees up to her chest. “Of course! If we can, we’ll watch all of them.” Cleo grabbed the DVD remote, starting the movie. “I don’t ever ever fall asleep during Harry Potter.” She laughed, nudging him with her elbow. “I thought everybody knew that about me.” Cleo was well aware of his almost using her old nickname. She loved nicknames and wondered briefly why he’d stopped himself. “You can call me little red, if you want.” She told him, eyebrows raised. Cleo smiled at him before turning to look back at the TV. “I don’t mind.”

notes; yours is ten words longer than mine!

[JAMIE SHOEMAKER]

“Dr. Pepper. Good choice. I’m pretty sure my roommate would be none too pleased if anybody else drank his alcohol.”

So Jamie was right. Cleo didn’t drink. Well, that’s good. “Yea, I know not to mess with another college dude’s alcohol.” Jamie laughed and stuck his tongue out at Cleo in return. He didn’t get an answer from Cleo so there he was on the couch with a bag of frozen veggies. When Cleo sat down with the towel he figured its was for the makeshift ice pack and wrapped it around the frozen veggie pack.

“Of course! If we can, we’ll watch all of them. I don’t ever ever fall asleep during Harry Potter. I thought everybody knew that about me.”

“All of them? Sweet! And I don’t think I’ve ever watched Harry Potter with you. We did watch Lord of the Rings though…” Jamie faded off trying not to think of how he couldn’t remember half the movie because he was—Cold! The ice pack was biting his hand with its coldness. Jamie moved it to his other hand. He grabbed a pillow and set it in his lap. “Hey Cleo, you can lay down and I’ll put this on your head. It should get rid of the headache…and keep you awake.” He said teasing her with the last line while trying to find feeling in his other hand again.

“You can call me little red, if you want. I don’t mind.”
Jamie smiled back and said, “Okey dokey, little red.” He couldn’t stop smiling as the familiar theme song played. Cleo was making him happier than any amount of delicious Lemonheads. As long as he could keep Cleo happy, maybe this friendship thing wasn’t a bad idea.

notes: I hope this is okay. I kinda assumed a few things. >.<

[CLEO EVERETT]

“Especially this one.” Cleo shook her head. Time to drop it. She didn’t want to make her roommates seem like awful people. They weren’t. Not really. Okay, they sometimes got on her nerves. Wasn’t that normal, though? She was pretty sure every one of her Baum roommates had annoyed her as had her Barrie roommates. There was just no getting around it. Cleo was quite sure even a roommate that had the exact same personality and preferences, they’d get annoying at some point. Some people thought imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. Cleo didn’t.

Cleo laughed. “Of course.” She paused, thinking. Had they? Lord of the Rings was nice but it, unlike Harry Potter, did put her to sleep. “We probably did. I wouldn’t be surprised if I forgot. I get tired of those movies.” She shrugged. It just wasn’t the same. Perhaps she’d like them better if she had read the books. Maybe. Oh well. Cleo focused on the television, realizing she’d missed Dumbledore’s first lines. Well, dang it. Cleo glanced to Jamie, half-still watching the movie. “What?” Having completely forgotten the ice pack, Cleo gave him an apologetic look. “Oh! Uhm…” She shot a glance to the television.

Watching while laying down might be weird but she’d stopped ignoring her headache and so it’d started to come back. For a minute, Cleo tried not to think about it and after that minute, it was worse. “Okay.” She couldn’t help but to sound a little reluctant. Then again, she’d never watched a Harry Potter movie sideways and it could be interesting. She grabbed the towel and a pillow, setting the pillow down on Jamie’s lap. Cleo grabbed the frozen veggies and wrapped them in the towel before scooting down the couch until she could comfortably rest her head on the pillow.

“I would trust Hagrid with my life.” Cleo quoted, gently pressing the ice pack against her head. “I would, though. Really.”

[JAMIE SHOEMAKER]

Jamie tried not to be sad that Cleo forgot about them watching the Lord of the Rings movies. She thought those movies were boring? “Well, that makes sense,” he mumbled to himself as she resettled herself in his lap. He let Cleo take the ice pack from his hands and watched her carefully as she put it on her bump. Poor Cleo. He hoped that the ice would help. Jamie bit his lip as the movie started. “I love that little light catcher thing. It’s so cool!” he whispered as Dumbledore was being a boss. He looked down at Cleo and smiled as she quoted the lines.

“I would trust Hagrid with my life. I would, though. Really.”

“Definitely.” He nodded his head and tried to find something to do with his hands. He settled on leaning back on the couch and putting his head behind his head. This couch was comfy. It felt really soft. Jamie started to yawn and listened to Cleo quote more lines of the movie. It was just like all of their movie nights. Cleo’s commentary was actually more entertaining than the actual movie. His vision started getting blurry and he felt his eyes shutting. The movie suddenly got loud and Jamie’s eyes snapped open. What was he doing? Stay awake! Huh? Oh Harry, was getting sorted. Cool. After about ten minutes, Jamie gave into his exhaustion again and fell asleep dreaming of his old self.

notes: Sorry for the shortness. I fail at being a Harry Potter fan.

[CLEO EVERETT]

Cleo glared up at him. “It’s the Deluminator.” Perhaps it wasn’t fair for her to get upset with anybody who didn’t know Harry Potter terms. Just because she was such a fan didn’t mean Jamie had to be. She went back to watching the movie, quoting lines and adding commentary as it went. Cleo was glad that Jamie didn’t seem annoyed by this. Most of her friends told her to ‘SHUT UP’ or it went something like ‘so help me God, Cleo, if you don’t shut the fuck up right now, I will bash your head against the wall.’ To which she would immediately quiet down to (when somebody swore at her, she was quite sure it was a big deal). Unfortunately, her silence would only last five minutes before she’d take up mouthing the lines and then another five minutes later, she’d be full on quoting again. She’d grown used to people getting up and leaving halfway through watching these movies with her.

“Happy birthday, Harry,” she muttered, shifting a little so she was partially laying on her side. She still held the ice pack against her head. It was already feeling better and her headache had gone away. Cleo was so focused on the movie that she hardly noticed Jamie’s silence. It was nice compared to others who would start to talk, saying the movie was boring. Or asking questions, heaven forbid. That was the worst thing somebody could do while watching a Harry Potter movie with Cleo. For example, Professor McGonagall was supposed to call the first years up alphabetically. Bones definitely did not come after Granger. Oh well. It didn’t matter, really. The movies were still fantastic. She’d sat up suddenly during the troll scene, leaning forward, yelling annoyed comments at Ron for taking so long to cast that spell. Then, before she knew it, the Quidditch match scene had started and she nudged Jamie. “This part is so good.” He’d been much too quiet.

Cleo glanced to him only to see he’d fallen asleep. “Jamie!” Cleo exclaimed, shaking him a little. Cleo looked back to the television. “Look, look! You have to watch this part—” She paused, flinching as Harry’s broom took on a life of its own. “Jamie, are you watching?!”

[JAMIE SHOEMAKER]

“It’s the Deluminator.”

“Oh, cool!” Jamie said after a silent yawn. And then he was out. Something about having Cleo lay in his lap made her appear in his dreams. The world was lit up with sunshine but he knew they weren’t in the city. His feet brushed against soft sand and he heard Cleo mumbling quotes to Harry Potter behind him. Hee turned around and smiled at her. Jamie woke up halfway and his dream changed to a nightmare. A hooded figure was holding a gun to his head.

“Where’s the money, Shoemaker?” the thug growled. Jamie shook his head knowing he didn’t have the money. His hands turned to fists in his sleep and he began to frown. The thug let him go and Jamie ran to the zoo to meet Cleo. He apologized for being late and they walked. In one of the exhibits an owl named Hedwig and some kid named Harry was having a talk with a snake. Jamie had no idea how he knew the kid’s name. Jamie mermered in his sleep and adjusted himself. He woke up halfway and stopped dreaming but still not coherent. He wanted to sleep but there was something keeping him awake.

“This part is so good.”

“Mmm…” Jamie murmured. What was Cleo talking about? Weren’t they at the zoo? He put his hands on his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

“Jamie!”

Jamie groaned and opened his eyes a little. When did it get so dark? What was Cleo all excited about? Were they in the bat exhibit? The little brown bats were the cutest.

“Look, look! You have to watch this part-- Jamie, are you watching?!”

Jamie opened his eyes a little bit more and saw Harry Potter. Since when did they play Harry Potter at the zoo? Jamie waited until Cleo tried to wake him up again to do anything. Once she was close enough to his face he pulled his hands down from his head and cupped her chin. He smiled and kissed her. "Little red, I love you but I tiiiired. Let me sleep please,” he said sleepily. He hoped she wouldn’t get too mad but he needed sleep. He put his hand on her cheek and was out once again.


notes: AWWW

[CLEO EVERETT]

Was he still sleeping? That simply wouldn’t do. He had to at least watch the Quidditch scene. Then he could sleep all he wanted. The couch could be comfortable enough, she supposed, to anybody that didn’t have to sit on it every day. She’d grown tired of it, becoming aware of its cons; sometimes she would move and something would jab her and other times there would be no fluff in the cushions. Yes, she was mighty tired of this couch. She’d have to see what the roomies thought of buying a new one. None of that mattered now! What mattered was waking Jamie up long enough to watch this scene! The movie wouldn’t make sense if he didn’t watch this part! (Well… maybe it would if she explained things).

“Jamieeeeeeeeee,” she whined, nudging him again, while trying to find the remote with her other hand. She always managed to lose the thing during her movies. (It was just another reason to hate this couch; it probably swallowed the remote as a mean joke or something). Stupid couch. Cleo glanced to him. Sort of waking up. Abandoning her search for the remote, Cleo turned a bit, facing Jamie. Her eyes were a bit narrowed and she looked a little frustrated which should’ve been impossible. She was watching Harry Potter for goodness sake. Cleo had been about to protest his sleeping through the first movie of only the best movie series ever when he finally moved. However, it wasn’t what she’d expected.

Little red, I love you something something he’d just kissed her and her eyes were no longer a bit narrowed but wide as saucers and her entire face felt hot and she wondered if it really was possible to be red as a tomato or cherry or whatever else people compared blushing to. Cleo covered her mouth with her hands, sitting back, or more like falling back, except that in her attempts at waking Jamie, she’d positioned herself so that she was half facing away from the television. Needless to say, falling off of the couch hurt. “Ow, ow, ow,” she hissed, sitting up, clutching the back of her head.

Sure that her clumsiness would’ve woken Jamie up, she spoke whether or not her could hear her. “J-Jamie, maybe you should go home…” Her cheeks were bright red again, she knew it. “You can hardly stay awake anyhow.”

[JAMIE SHOEMAKER]

Jamie drifted back into dream land for a few seconds before being jerked awake by a big thump. All of his dreams disappeared from his mind as heard someone cry out.

“Ow, ow, ow,”

“Shit!” Jamie sat up and looked around disoriented. Oh right, he was in Cleo’s dorm. Harry Potter was still playing on the T.V. but it was waaay farther along then the last time he remembered seeing it. He looked down to see Cleo on the floor. What was she doing there? Then he remembered the thump. He snickered a little bit and thought of how that could have happened. “Jeez Cleo, you get into movies more than I do!” he teased. He held out his hand to help her up and tried to stop laughing. “You okay? Did you hit your head again?”

“J-Jamie, maybe you should go home… You can hardly stay awake anyhow.”

The light from the TV showed her face and Jamie saw her blushing. Was she really that embarrassed about falling? Maybe it was because he fell asleep and she was mad at him. He really didn’t want to leave now. “I mean… if you want me to. I’m wide-awake now! Sorry for falling asleep,” Jamie rambled randomly. He stood up and stretched a little. “Are you sure you’re okay? I hope you didn’t hit your head in the same spot.”

notes: poor kid has no idea :/

[CLEO EVERETT]

Cleo wasn’t quite sure why she was whining about hitting her head. It hadn’t been nearly as bad as colliding with the pool wall. It was mostly the surprise that got to her. Cleo was quite sure that everybody said “ow!” when something startling happened, even if it hadn’t hurt. Then again, the fall had hurt. Just not her head. And Jamie was awake. Cleo looked up at him, forcing an amused smile. “I really do. Then again,” she paused, taking his hand and puling herself up. “This is Harry Potter.”

She shook her head though it seemed contradictory as she grabbed the frozen veggies and pressed them against the bump from earlier. Her headache had returned. “No, no. It was my lower back this time.” Cleo arched her back a bit, cringing. She was such a klutz today. And she needed more things to distract herself with before she ended up asking a bunch of questions or… or something. Cleo shook her head again, clicking the power button on the television. “I’m tired, anyway. Hitting my head and all,” she smiled a bit sheepishly.

“I just need some rest. I’ll be fine.” Cleo waved a dismissive hand. She glanced to the kitchen and added as a quiet after thought, “and maybe some hot tea…” After a moment, Cleo looked back to Jamie and smiled. "We can hang out another day. When I'm feeling less... woozy, y'know?"

notes; ang, i love jamie so much.<3

[JAMIE SHOEMAKER]

Jamie was worried his frown was going to be permanently etched on his face. This was all his fault really. He just had to hang out with Cleo and by some weird twist of fate, she’s getting hurt from it. He probably should leave ASAP before he did any real damage.

“No, no. It was my lower back this time.”

“Oh.” Jamie’s frown got deeper. She hit her back. Couldn’t that like paralyze people? Nah, she was walking around. Jamie took a deep breath and calmed down. He didn’t really need to freak out. It never helped things.

“I’m tired, anyway. Hitting my head and all,”

“Yea,” Jamie whimpered. He didn’t want to leave. He slowly got up from the couch and looked for his phone. He found it in between the cushions. He heard Cleo say something about tea and hopped up. He loved making tea! It tasted gross but the little bag thingies were so cool. “I can make—“

"We can hang out another day. When I'm feeling less... woozy, y'know?"

Jamie looked down at his hands and mumbled, “I don’t know little red.” He walked towards the door and wondered why the heck he had said that. Well besides the fact that he’d just remembered his dreams while he was sleeping on the couch. He felt so bad having dreams about Cleo when she was right there. Seriously, how could he do that? They were over. Maybe he needed some more time away from her to figure that out. Even though he’d rather suck on a tea leaf than abandon Cleo again.

notes: Jamie loves you too <3

[CLEO EVERETT]

On second thought… Cleo really didn’t want to alone right now. She watched Jamie for a moment before tossing the frozen veggies on the table. His frown seemed permanent right now and that bothered her. She didn’t want him to be upset. With a sudden look of determination, Cleo clicked the television back on and fluffed her hair. “I changed my mind!” She exclaimed, latching onto his wrist as he turned to the door. Cleo tugged him back into the dorm, smiling. Headaches weren’t going to keep her from spending time with Jamie. Neither was that kiss. Because… well, he seemed unaware of it happening. And she really didn’t need to make a big deal. What if he made a big deal and then it… she didn’t want to think about it!

Cleo led him to the kitchen, half paying attention to Harry Potter now. “We’ll make tea and grilled cheese sandwiches.” She said, looking to him. “You’d started to say you could make it, right?” she asked him, letting go of his wrist and digging around in the cupboards. Just because she was being a worrisome klutz didn’t mean she had to go and kick Jamie out. That was nonsense. “Do you… do you remember anything after I woke you up…?” Cleo asked cautiously, setting two mugs down on the counter, shooting him a curious look. If he didn’t remember, then… she wouldn’t bring it up. If he did… well, she’d figure that out later.

Cleo skipped back to the couch and grabbed the veggies before returning to the kitchen and shoving them back in the freezer. “I make super delicious grilled cheese sandwiches but if you want something else, that’s totally fine.” Cleo told him, opening a few cupboards as if to prove her point. “We went shopping recently.”

[JAMIE SHOEMAKER]

“I changed my mind!”

Jamie felt Cleo’s hand latch around his wrist and almost laughed. She wanted him to stay. Yay! All the bad feelings he was getting disappeared as she dragged him back into the dorm. He always thought is was funny how she could get pretty much anyone to do whatever she wanted if she tried hard enough. She especially had power over Jamie. He kinda felt like he owed her.

“We’ll make tea and grilled cheese sandwiches.”

“Oh grilled cheese! Sounds yummy!” He found tea bags in a little red box and pulled one out.

“You’d started to say you could make it, right?”

“Yup!” He held up the tea bag and took one of the cups and filled it up with water. He put it in the micro and wondered why Cleo had changed her mind. Maybe she realized she wasn’t really that tired and was just being cranky. Maybe.

“Do you… do you remember anything after I woke you up…?”

“You mean when you fell down and scared the bejesus out of me? Or did you wake me up before?” he asked. He remembered having a dream about waking up but falling back to sleep. Was Cleo in that one too?

Before he could think about it more the micro went off and he began making tea. He put the other mug away and found a glass.

“Actually I’m not a big fan of drinking tea, making it is fun though,” he admitted. He lefted the bag in the mug and filled his cup with water. After taking a big gulp, his grogginess cleared away some more.

“I do remember having some weird dreams with you and Harry in them. Man, I’d never thought I’d dream of Daniel Radcliffe,” Jamie mumbled. He laughed and hopped up on the countertop.

[CLEO EVERETT]

Cleo laughed. “Of course it does! Grilled cheese sandwiches are only the best kind of sandwiches there are.” She started to prepare her little work station beside the stove as Jamie made the tea. She sometimes preferred heating the water in a kettle, but if Jamie wanted to use the microwave that was fine. Besides, she really didn’t feel like waiting the time it took to boil. The microwave made things much easier. It was the lazy way out and she loved using it on her lazy days. “We could have tomato soup as well,” Cleo paused, though, remembering the day at the restaurant and how… she shook her head. “No. Actually. Uhm. Just the sandwiches.” She gave no explanation to her sudden change of mind and instead continued making the sandwiches.

Cleo couldn’t help but to smile, “sorry.” She really was being a klutz today. “I was just… startled.” Please oh please don’t ask why. Why had she even bothered to say that? Might as well hit herself in the head with the frying pan now to avoid any further embarrassment. “Will you add sugar to my tea?” Cleo asked, flipping the first sandwich. “Like… lots of it.” Cleo smiled at him quickly before returning her focus to the stove. Her tea always had to be very sweet and Adrian hated it. She told him often enough that he was missing out, but still no go. “Why don’t you like tea?” she asked, wondering how that was even possible.

Cleo almost dropped the spatula in surprise. She played it off well enough, giving Jamie an amused look. “Me and Harry?” She asked, “tell me more.” Because any dream that included her and Harry Potter was a dream she wanted to hear about.

[JAMIE SHOEMAKER]

Jamie watched as Cleo started to make the grilled cheese. He was a horrible cook himself. He really just lived off of chinese food and cookies these days. Oh… cookies sound good right now. Jamie pushed that thought away and paid attention to how she was maing it. It looked easy enough. He might be able to make that in the micro even.

"We could have tomato soup as well, No. Actually. Uhm. Just the sandwiches.”

Jamie was about to ask what was wrong with tomato soup when it hit him. That’s what she ordered when her and Jacob got in that one fight. Jamie always wondered why girls stopped doing things because they did it with the guy that broke their heart. Why stop enjoying the delicious goodness of tomato soup just because one stupid guy ordered it for you? Although the fight was probably because of him.

“sorry. I was just… startled.”

“Startled? By the movie? You’ve seen it that many times and you still jump out of your seat?” Jamie tried not to laugh but if you looked at him he was totally giving away his amusement with that don’t-laugh smile.

“Will you add sugar to my tea? Like… lots of it.”

“Sure,” Jamie search the counter for the sugar. He found it right next to the honey. After pouring at least two tablespoons in he stopped and asked, “Honey?”

“Why don’t you like tea?”

“It taste to much like dirt and leaves. I don’t maybe with that much sugar I could learn to stand it.” Jamie made a disgusted face at the thought. “Probably not. It smells good at least.”

“Me and Harry? tell me more.”

Jamie searched his brain for the dream. It was starting to come back in bits in pieces. “Well, we were going to the zoo and we saw an… owl…Hedwig and…oh! Harry was speaking to the snake! He was like sssssshashaaaa,” Jamie said. He laughed a little bit and went off on a tangent, “You know what if parseltongue was a real language? Like you now, that one language in star trek? That would be so cool! We’d all be like ssssss how are you? Sssssssshasaaaa you’re hot. Dudes could totally pick up girls with their parseltongue skills.” Jamie snickered and then remembered another part of his dream.

“Oh and then there were bats….and they were watching Harry Potter… oh no… that might have been me waking up? What happened next--,” Jamie paused and the rest of the dream hit him like a cold splash of water to the face. He sincerely hoped that was still his dream. “Hey Cleo, what’s your favorite movie? I kinda like the fifth one. You know, even though that Sirius guy dies. The glass shattering and that creepy Bellatrix lady are epic.” Jamie attempted to talk away the whole thing. While he was doing that he was begging it not to be real.