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"Hey," he protested weakly as she took the spaghetti box. He shifted the biscuits so they didn't go tumbling, then hurried to her side. "What're you doing after here?" he asked once he was next to her. "I have to drop off Jordan's food, but I don't really want to subject you to the torture that is my bandmates."
"I…just have to kill time, I guess." She said, shrugging a shoulder. After eating, she would have to let the food settle and, well, clear, before the chemo. And she for once didn't have anything planned out. "I'm sure your bandmates aren't that bad, anyway."
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"That sounds boring," he commented, nodding at a person that stepped out of Aika's way without complaint. "Killing time, that is. And as for my bandmates…well…they can get rowdy—especially if I were to randomly show up with a girl."
"It likely will be." She said with a nod, shifting the tray to hold it better. "What exactly do you-oh." She paused, the light coloring returning to her cheeks at that. "Well, if you say so." Aika shook her head, pressing her lips together.
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He opened his mouth, closed it, shook his head, then opened it again. "You're free to come with me, though, if you want to. You seem like you're perfectly capable of putting them in their place. Your choice." He found an open place to sit and tapped her arm thrice. "There's an empty table just five feet to the right."
"Honestly? I am somewhat curious to meet them." She tilted her head, turning and taking a few steps towards the table, tucking her cane in her elbow to reach out to find the table, before setting the tray down on it. "Thank you. And I don't know about putting them in their place, but something like that, if need be."
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"Then meet them you shall do, though I can't promise I quiet crowd. They'll probably be pelting you with questions left right and center, so just let me know when to get them to bugger off." Rory set his food onto the table and sat down, stretching out his legs and arms with a sigh.
"Of course. What kind of questions would they be asking?" Aika asked, carefully pulling out a chair and sitting, leaning the cane up against the table. She couldn't really see(pun not intended) why someone would ask her as many questions as he seemed to think they would.
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"Favorites—and they won't stop with the usual favorites. Probably why you're here, hobbies, likes, dislikes, relationship status if I know them at all, any friends you might have, if you've heard of our band, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah." Rory sighed and grabbed a biscuit, buttering it once he finished his list. "Might be more, who knows."
Aika tilted her head as he listed off the possible questions, patting lightly around her tray to find her fork and using it to spear a carrot. "That is…quite a lot of things." She said, before taking a bite of the baby carrot. She didn't speak until she had swallowed, thinking. "Relationship status? Why-?"
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Rory sighed like a parent fed up with his children. "Because they're all single and classify themselves as 'ladies men.'" He rolled his eyes and bit into his muffin, a different sort of sigh escaping him. He loved fluffy biscuits, especially ones with a ton of butter—both on it and within it.
Aika tilted her head, the carrot pausing on it's way back to her mouth. "Wh-oh. I take it they're the type to flirt with anything vaguely feminine then?" It was completely unfathomable to her that she might even be remotely someone guys would flirt with, despite the fact that it had, in fact, happened before. She was completely oblivious to that kind of thing though.
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"They'll flirt with anything that has a pulse if given a chance," Rory joked, though he had a feeling it wasn't a joke when talking about a select few of the group—*cough*Rowan*cough*. "Though I'm pretty sure Tobias leans more towards men than women, so you might be safe from him. Might. No guarantees."
"I'm sure it will be fine." Aika reasoned, finishing off her carrot and moving on to chicken, once she'd managed to find it on her tray. "If it was too bad you would be guiding me away from them, I'm assuming."
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He nodded with an "Mmhm." He finished his biscuit, then set the others off to the side for later. He instead went on to his soup to keep it from getting too cold. It was gross when it was cold, and that's no good. "I'll be giving them looks if they get too bad, so you might be okay. I'm just assuming the worst—as usual. Pardon my dramatics."
She huffed a soft laugh, shaking her head. "Your dramatics are entertaining, however, well, dramatic they may be." She said, lips quirking up in a smile as she tapped the fingers of her free hand. "Anything else I should know about them?"
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"Well, it's my job to be entertaining, so I guess mission accomplished," he said with a chuckle, then took a quick second to eat some of his soup. "As for anything else you should know…they really are good guys—once you get past all of the obnoxious tendencies. I wouldn't be friends with them if they weren't."
She nodded, chewing thoughtfully on another carrot. The whole friend thing was definitely interesting, considering she'd never really had friends of her own. And now, without much to do, why not watch other people interact with theirs?
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Rory quickly finished his soup, sighing as he leaned his head back. The warmth of the soup chased away any of the hospital chills that had managed to seep permanently into his bones, and his coat was steadily growing a tad too warm. The fluffiness was too good to give up, though, so he kept his precious coat on.
Aika managed to finish off her vegetables before the timer she'd set for herself in her mind went off, and she set her fork down on the tray. "We should get that spaghetti up before it gets too cold." She suggested, tilting her head just slightly.
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He nodded with a sound of agreement, standing up. "I can throw away the rubbish," he offered, always the gentleman. The spaghetti box was still a little hot, so it should be just perfect for Jordan by the time they got up there.
She opened her mouth to turn down the offer, before pausing. She had absolutely no clue where the trash can was. "Alright." She said after a few moments, nodding. Standing from her chair, she felt around for her cane, fingers closing around the handle once she found it.
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He scooped up her tray and put his trash onto it, then lightly brushed her arm to let her know he was leaving her side. He headed over to the rubbish bin and dumped it all in there, then put the tray and soup bowl where the dirty dishes went. Once he was done with all of that, he came back to Aika. "I'm back," he announced, grabbing Jordan's spaghetti.
"Welcome back." She said, turning her head in his general direction as she carefully stepped back from the table. "Is that all you need, food-wise?" She asked, feeling around with her cane to check her immediate area.
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"Yup," he said, popping the p. "The others can fend for themselves, and Jordan's lucky I even thought of him when coming down here." He looked around to see if Aika was in danger of knocking into stuff. It looked relatively clear, save for the occasional human being milling about.
"Alright then." She nodded, pressing her lips together as she turned her head slowly, trying to remember which way the doors had been. With a sigh, she turned in Rory's general direction again. "I may have lost the exit already. Is there any chance you would be willing to guide me in the right direction."
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"No worries," he said, lightly grabbing her upper arm and turning her in the direction of the doors. "They're right over there, and the good news is that there aren't any tables in your way either." He let go of her but kept within grabbing distance should anyone rudely step into her path.
She made a slightly startled noise, taking a moment to gather her wits about her. Unexpected was one word for it. With a nod, she took one step, then another, before gaining a quick pace, though slow enough to keep from crashing into anything. "That's good. Thank you."
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Rory muttered a small, "Sorry," when he heard her startled noise, ducking his head slightly and burrowing into his coat. He started walking beside her, making a mental note of not forcefully turning her again, before replying to her. "You're welcome."
"You don't have to apologize." Aika assured, feeling around to place a hand on his arm as a sort of bonus to let him know it was fine. "I just wasn't expecting that. Quick and efficient though." She huffed a small laugh, pausing at the sound of footsteps to let a woman carrying a baby pass.
