group
He nodded. "Yeah, there's six of us—me, Jordan, Kasper, Harvey, Tobias, and Rowan. We've been a sort of group ever since we were kids, so we've just…stuck with each other. Got in trouble together, lied for each other," he chuckled, "got sick together, explored together, sang together, yadda yadda yadda."
"Wow. Close friends then." She bit her lip, sweeping the cane out slightly to make sure she wouldn't walk into anything. She'd never really had friends, had always been moving too fast for any of her peers to even think about bothering. And if she was honest, she'd been too absorbed in getting into Juilliard to worry about it that much.
group
"Yeah, I guess we are really close," he mused. Rory had never really thought about it like that—he had seen his gang as more of a group of brothers than friends. "It helps we grew up in the same neighborhood. Small community and all that."
"Ah." She nodded, stepping out of the way of a doctor she had heard coming. She paused, listening to the doctor's steps for a moment. That was Dr. Grace. He had heavier steps, that were slightly uneven. Shaking her head, she continued after Rory. "What was that like? I…grew up in an area where the neighbors tended to keep to themselves."
group
"Well, you probably know how England is," Rory said with a small laugh. "Everyone's all nice to each other and overly polite. I knew pretty much all the kids and their cousins because they were my neighbors too. No one had to pay for babysitting because one of the other adults would offer without needing payment." He made sure to keep his responses long so Aika could follow him.
"That must have been nice." Aika commented, managing to catch up to his side. She tapped his arm just to make sure she wasn't too close, before turning her head up to where she judged his face to be. "And you got your friends from it."
group
"Eh, it was alright," Rory said with a shrug. "I mean, at least there were no stabby-stabby people. But it got kinda boring after a while. That's how my friends and I sorta formed a group together. We'd go and entertain ourselves whenever we were bored." He sighed. "I was the one trying to get them to be less destructive or do less dangerous things. But did they listen? Noooo."
Aika, despite herself, huffed a laugh at that. "I take it that became a common occurrence then. You have apparently become the de-facto guardian." She drew her cane a bit closer to herself, hoping Rory would at least let her know if she was about to crash into something. She'd only just met him, but he seemed nice, if a bit odd.
group
"Mmmhmm," Rory said, if a bit dejectedly. "I even told Jordan to keep an eye out for people like that. It was late at night, and we were in a part of town where there were bars on every block. He insisted that he'd be fine, and now look where he is." Rory didn't sound mad, though. He was more concerned for his friend and relieved he ended up okay in the end. He made a noise and stepped over, tapping Aika on the shoulder. "Moving gurney to your left."
"Thank you." Aika nodded, stepping to the right, closer to him and out of the way of the gurney. "That really isn't his fault. It's the driver's fault for irresponsibly driving while intoxicated. You would figure, with all the adds and seminars at schools that the accidents, as in the crashes, would go down significantly."
group
"No problem, and I know," Rory said sighing. "But I still had a mental breakdown when I heard that he was in the hospital after being involved in a car crash. I thought the worst—we all did." He stuffed his hands in his fuzzy pockets. "And as for the ads and seminars, I think people just don't like being told what they can and can't do, and they believe they can control themselves just fine."
"Despite the overwhelming evidence that they cannot." Aika, after a moment of thought, reached up. Blindly, she managed to find his shoulder without too much awkward patting, giving it a squeeze. "What matters is that he's alright though."
group
Rory nodded, then gently grabbed her shoulder to bring her to a halt. "Elevator's just to your left," he told her, stopping as well. He didn't offer to take her somewhere else, just let her be. He had been taught to let people make their own decisions and ask for help on their own.
"Oh! That was quicker than I thought. Was I really that close the entire time?" Aika made a face, before shaking her head. "Thank you, Rory." She grew quiet for a few moments, before speaking again. "If you're looking for something to do, I'm just heading down to the hospital cafeteria. You're welcome to join me."
group
"Really?" he asked out of genuine curiosity, his voice accidentally slipping into his Korean/British combo with just the single word. His stomach made a growling noise, and he finished off his melting ice cream sandwich before saying, "Ah, if you don't mind."
She tilted her head, noting the change in accent with her own curiosity. "Well, yes. You did help me out, and you seem like a decent person. Hungry, too, apparently." She shook her head, motioning in the direction of the elevator. "Of course I don't mind. Having someone who can see along is actually appreciated."
group
He didn't bother mentioning that he had a feeling she could see beneath that blindfold. "Well, then I guess I'll accompany you," he chirped with a small smile as he headed towards the elevator. "I actually just came from the cafeteria to get an ice cream sandwich, but that apparently didn't help much."
She followed Rory to the elevator, biting her lip as she instinctively reached for the button, only to realize she was probably on the wrong side. I can barely handle this, how am I supposed to handle actually being blind? She shook her head, resting both hands on her cane. "You'll need some actual food. Ice cream doesn't exactly have any nutritional or filling value."
group
He sighed and pressed the button for her without much thought. "You sound just like my mother. I was just looking for something to munch on because I was bored." Hmm, I should get something for Jordan while I'm there… He shrugged and stuffed his hands back in his pockets, enjoying the fuzziness.
"Your mother sounds like a sensible woman in that field." She said, sighing through her nose. "You eat when you're bored? Is that something you do often?" She sounded more curious than anything, trying to wrap her head around the idea of not finding something productive to do, and instead eating.
group
He ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I don't really have the time to eat regular meals like breakfast and such, so I've gotten in the habit of eating whenever I have the time. It's not much, just stuff like the ice cream sandwich." His career wasn't exactly forgiving of normal schedules, so he and the boys had to squeeze in food, sleep, exercise, and such whenever they could.
"Interesting." She tilted her head, fingers tapping a rhythm on her cane as she thought about that. It made sense then, eating when you could. "A busy job, I'm guessing." The elevator dinged as it reached their floor, the doors opening up as a doctor stepped out, nodding to the two of them.
group
"Extremely," Rory confirmed, nodding at the doctor as well. He lightly tapped her arm with two fingers and headed into the elevator, keeping it open with a hand for her. "Pretty much all musical jobs that end up as successful careers are really busy."
Aika carefully stepped into the elevator, reaching out to find the railing around the walls. "You're a musician too?" She asked, looking at where she assumed he was. A smile lit up her face, the product of discussing something she loved with all her heart.
group
"Singer, to be precise. My friends and I formed a band together, then came here to America to expand, in the words of our agent." He shrugged and leaned against the elevator wall. "All of us are singers, but three of us play instruments as well."
"A band. That explains a lot." She nodded, standing oddly still and straight-backed, one hand on the railing, and the other on her cane. "Well, I wish you and your band the best of luck with your expanding. Do you happen to be one of the three that plays an instrument?"
group
He opened his mouth to say 'no,' but closed it and sighed through his nose. He figured she wouldn't know who to tell, so what the hell. "Not officially, no, but I do know how to play the guitar. None of the others know this, of course, or else they'd insist I be the main guitarist and then I'm out in the spotlight."
She tilted her head, her tapping pausing. While part of her wanted to ask why he wouldn't want that opportunity, another part of her was well aware that that had nothing to do with her. It was his own thing, and she had only just met him. "The guitar? As in, acoustic, or electric?"
group
"I do acoustic," Rory said, tilting his head back and resting it against the wall. "Tobias is our bass guitarist. Rowan's our other guitarist, and he does electric and acoustic, whichever the song calls for." He shrugged and looked over at Aika. "I just don't really care for being front and center stage. Jordan and Kasper are the other two exclusive singers, with Kasper as the lead. Harvey does drums."
"Oh, wow. You're all set there." Aika commented, nodding. "Where all do you play? And I guess it's worth asking, what kind of music do you play?" Her tapping resumed, along to a different beat this time.
