Jazz's Dorm (Lani and Obliv) [Finished]

Claire walked quickly through the hails, a package under her arms. She appeared as calm as she could, though her heart was racing at the mere thought of what she was doing. She'd asked the secretary where Jazz's dorm was, and had quickly made her way to the girl's floor. She found the dorm, and set the package outside, spinning quickly and making for the exit. She would find it when she opened the door, or when she got home, because Claire had been to agitated to determine whether she was there or not. She hurriedly made her way back to the lobby, clenching and unclenching her palms to air out the sweat.

Jasmine was just coming back from a rather long run, her exposed arms and lower legs already taking on the painful red of an oncoming sunburn. She was panting as she stepped inside, savoring the air conditioning before making her way to the drinking fountain, holding back her long braid to keep her hair from falling into the fountain. "Mail go yet?" She asked, still breathing heavily as she looked to the secretary, wiping the sweat from her brow. The woman shook her head, but smirked. "Someone come looking for me or something? It's not like I've had an admirer in a few months." The secretary grinned, sliding her fingers across her lips like a zipper. Jazz sighed and shook her head, heading towards the side of the building her room was on, content to take the stairs. It was then that she caught sight of the familiar figure, and her brow rose suddenly. "Claire?"

Claire froze at the sound of her voice, stopping in the middle of the hallway. She'd hoped zigzagging to another staircase would've helped her, but it appears she wasn't fast enough. Slowly she turned back towards the staircase, giving a nervous wave. Getting caught sent her heart thundering, and her breathing picked up, leaving her flustered and nigh panting. "H-Hey Jazz..."

Jasmine offered as much of a re-assuring smile as she could muster, still trying to catch her breath. "What'cha doing here, beauty?"

Claire froze, unable to think up a good excuse. She settled for a half truth, stammering out her response. "D-Dropping something off..." She shuffled her feet, too anxious to stand still.

Jasmine laughed a bit. "Well, if you're not busy, we can chill for a bit. I need a shower real bad, but besides that I'm free for the rest of the day. Antonio's been bugging me about watching the match, but I have no interest."

Claire was simultaneously frightened and sad. Frightened about how she would react to the package, and happy for the same reason. After all, there was something so fulfilling about watching someone open their gifts. She felt herself nod and she began to take steps forward, ending up beside Jazz.

Jasmine smiled at her, nodding. "I'd hug you, but I don't know how you'd feel about that and I'm sort of... Well, sweaty." She laughed, taking the steps two at a time, her long legs protesting every step of the way. "So what do you do outside of school?"

Claire followed behind, growing more and more anxious the closer they got, though she did her best to disguise it. "I-I, y'know... Hobbies... I-I have a job from h-home, online t-tech support..."

Jasmine smiled. "Really? Sweet. I've been trying to work at Chupa, but they seem set on me waiting until after my birthday. Legal reasons and what not." She rolled her eyes as they made it to her floor, rubbing at her shoulder tenderly. "For now, I just wait tables at a few places. The tips are nice on occasion, but flirting always helps so that's to be expected."

Claire gave a curt nod. "I-I could never work a job like that..." She breathing quickened just a hair as they turned a corners and Jazz's dorm, and the package, came into view.

Jasmine laughed. "I'm a social butterfly. Customer service jobs aren't for everyone." She looked over at her door, her head tilting curiously before she sprinted over and picked up the package. "What's this?" She asked, taking the note off and reading over it quickly. A smirk spread across her face as she looked from it to Claire. "Claire, is this what you were dropping off...?"

Claire's cheeks burned read, but she nodded in admission. She spun around, facing her back to Jazz and starting to take slow deep breathes in an attempt to reclaim her words.

Jasmine laughed, holding the note between her teeth as she opened the package. Her eyes lit up when she pulled out the campus, a smile breaking out around the note. "Claire," she struggled to say around the note, "it's beautiful! You finished it!" She took the note out, holding it behind the painting as she looked between it and the shy girl. "But I can't... I can't accept this. You worked too hard on it..."

Claire turned back around, giving a smile. "Y-You said you liked it... A-And I couldn't make you p-pay for it. P-Please accept it?"

Jasmine grinned, a happy blush on her face. "Are... Are you sure? If you need the money, I... I could still pay..."

Claire shook her head quickly back and forth, her own blush deepening a shade of red. "I-I wouldn't take any money you offered m-me... I-It's a gift..."

Jasmine smiled, not quite sure how to react. "I.... are you sure? I don't really have anything that I can give to you in return..."

Claire gave a quick nod, pulling her hood up over her head for a small sense of security. "Y-You don't n-need to give me anything..."

Jasmine laughed. "I'll find a way. An eye for an eye, you could say. C'mon." She held her new gift in one hand, unlocking her door with the other and opening the dorm. She shoved a doorstop under it with her foot before gesturing her inside and setting everything in her arms and pockets on her dresser. "I need to shower, and then we can find somewhere to hang this. Feel free to look around." She began taking out her braid as she spoke, tossing the elastic tie onto the dresser.

Claire entered after her, an smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Despite her anxiety, she was so happy that Jazz had liked it. Claire nodded when she mentioned taking a shower, already looking around the dorm for a place where it could be hung.

The walls were, for the most part, covered in tattoo sketches and print-outs, inspirational quotes, band posters, and various posters and print-outs of famous women. With the exception of the space between her windows, there wasn't really an open area anywhere in the room. Bed sheets, blankets, pillows, and clothes were strewn across the bed, the fridge looked like it was also doubling as a dining table, the desk had sketches over everything but the laptop, which was littered with stickers, and her tv looked like it had seen better days. A large scratch ran the length of it, and it looked like she had either tried to decorate or fix the frame tie-dyed duct tape. She had an old vcr-dvd player sitting on the floor next to it, as well as an old -school gaming system that seemed to be the best kept thing in the entire room. Her dresser drawers were covered in stickers and sticky notes, and most were either over-filled or simply hadn't been taken care of correctly and had clothes poking out of them, keeping them open.
The shower was already running, and Jazz was singing some off-key pop song as she bathed, not caring what Claire did.

Claire quickly put her self to the challenge, mentally rearranging things for several minutes. Finally, in a flurry of papers, she found a spot to hang the papers. Then she went around, picking up the papers she'd moved and layering them over several others. Her cheeks burned a bit in guilt over messing up the placement of the drawings, but soon lost herself in examining several.

When fifteen minutes passed and neither the water nor the singing stopped, it seemed quite obvious that Jazz would be in the bathroom for quite some time. Another ten minutes passed, and finally the water stopped, followed by the sound of water being wrung out of wet hair, and wet footfalls. "Be out in a bit!" She called, shimmying into a set of clean spareclothes she kept in the bathroom. "Sorry for the wait!"

Claire continued to study the drawings, finding a few that she liked and pulling them off the wall to get a closer look. She jumped a bit when she heard Jazz shout out. She called out in return, albeit it much quieter. "Alright..."