Grant was at his wit's end. It didn't seem that he would ever find a home that could be afforded on his minuscule personal budget, and it seemed that everyone else in town already had a comfortable abode with no space for any roommate. Until an add appeared in the newspaper by a certain Celandine Lafleurette seeking someone who would help pay bills in exchange for room and board and of course personal space to move in immediately. All seemed to good to be true save the small fact that Grant rather remembered Celandine from his days at his alma mater Community High School. She'd been a loner, an art student who never spoke and never attended any school events. He wondered with his hate toward art and loud friendly nature if such a person could be tolerated, and decided that he was out of options.
He arrived at the home, a small, dark loathe-full structure early Monday Morning to find Miss Lafleurette milling idly about the mail box. He forgot for a moment why he was there, and why after so many years he'd finally approached the unapproachable Celandine. Always a one with absent-mind it took him a moment of idly counting finger to recall exactly the purpose of his visit. After a few withering glances from Celandine he recalled his purpose and moved toward her, flowers in hand, a hopefully peace-making bribe.
"Erm...These are for you....Chrysanthemum was it?"
She gave him an exasperated glance before half-heartedly accepting the bright yellow bouquet,
"My name," She spoke, her voice soft with a slight French flair "Is Celandine Lafleurette, and I assume," She looked him over, "that you are here per the newspaper add in which case you should remember my name," she paused, "Grant."
For the fact alone that it gave him the absolute willies Grant ignored her use of his name and attempted to move things along toward a more friendly banter rather than her cold indifference.
He tried flirting:
To say the least, Celandine was less than enthusiastic. She backed him off and moved to enter the home, she would in the least introduce him to the place and go from there.
The grand tour took less than a few minutes, and Celandine was only just finishing with the kitchen, before a familiar ding was heard at her desktop, and she moved quickly to check for any new commissions in writing, new messages from various web guilds, or web forum help questions needing answered. Grant, being a technophobe was absolutely disgusted.
For a majority of time, he stood behind her desk and made a variety of untoward faces of obvious disapproval toward any bit of technology in the room, even the smallest phone or alarm.
Until of course he forgot what he was doing, and attempted some elementary finger counting to soothe his nerves and retrace his steps to recover what exactly he had been doing.
When Celandine stood once more she escorted him back outside the home, presumably to ask him to leave and not come back-to tell him that she found someone else.
It was then that he turned on the charm, for despite commitment issues he was rather desperate for a home.
Really Really desperate:
Being a hopeless romantic Celandine quickly forgot herself and fell into the trap that was his charm, and agreed despite better judgement to become his girlfriend, realizing not that she had been played, and that the relationship would be a hard one to say the least for the boy's commitment issues.
However she should have realized that something was up when he attempted their first kiss, she whole-heartedly refused the fast-paced relationship movement. Not knowing that he was just trying to get more quickly in a position to share a bed with her-for purposes of sleep only, no matter what needed done to that end. For he not being of the romantic sort wanted only to fulfill personal necessity.
Thinking he was safe when she refused to kiss him, he decided to complain about his commitment issues aloud, thinking to find a shoulder to cry on.
Her first reaction was to question whether or not this was really happening to her before her disposition turned to open disgust.
He apologized and they remedied all remaining tension with a pillow fight.
Giggling and excited they ended their fight with Celandine dusting away a stray feather from his cheek, and he responded positively to her caress, but when she attempted to kiss him thinking that his offer still stood she was refused, though no hard feelings were met.
He instead made a compromise that they would go out and watch the stars, wanting to distance himself from anything too intimate, but desiring to keep her within his good graces.
"How about we go peer at the stars, that would be nice." He murmured swiftly pulling her after him to remove any romantic tension they'd built. Anything other than a swift peck was commitment, and he was a man who either went all the way or not at all, and he was usually one to lean toward not at all in his distaste for commitment. Heck even a peck would lead him into marriage and fatherhood. He figured he'd rather not.
In the end Grant felt, though he was far from being the master manipulator that in the least he had edged his way into -what he thought to be temporary, for he knew not Celandine's tenacity- home.
He waited until Celandine was completely asleep before joining her in the homes only bed, he wanted to avoid her any romantic advance before the idea of one even rose. He would leave soon he told himself, he would get a job and have enough money to remain a bachelor forever! This was his resolve as he fell into nightmares of rouge computers and bad art.
How long would he be able to stand this woman?
Would his goals be met?
Or would he fall into something he never thought possible?
