movie stars and super models [calval]

Cal was all too used to constantly being the one to initiate action-- in fact, it was arguable that save for Allison from the day before, he'd almost always been the one to decide where to go and what to do. Hearing the other person say 'not sure, any idea?' when being asked about what they had in mind was almost standard for him, and sometimes it got tiring. However, today was not one of those days. Today everything was lovely and the world was bright, he and Val were going to maybe gorge themselves on fast food and have a grand grand time. He shot Val a smile, clicking his tongue.

"So what makes you so late? I'd have thought that you'd be good at being punctual." Cal chuckled, leaning against the tree they were meeting at. Tease her a little, wind her up. Why the hell not. "Looks like my faith might have been misplaced." He waited for a reaction before guffawing, giving Val a pat on the back.

"No problem bro. Shall we go to In-N-Out and get some burgers? Or are you more of a healthy foods kind of person?" It hadn't occurred to him that he barely knew Val out of the context of being a lab partner. She was fun and she was cute, but now it was time to actually get to know the other as an actual friend. What was one more buddy, right?

Oh god she totally bought it. Cal couldn't help but burst out laughing as Val started exclaiming about how she was sorry she was late, saying that she wouldn't do that again, and he shook his head, giving Val yet another pat on the back. "Dude, chill out. It's not like I'm actually mad. Trust me," he said, "It takes a lot more than that to get me angry. Take my word for it when I say so." It was true-- Cal did get occasionally irritated but he didn't have a very short fuse. He was usually quite the affable individual, and outside happenings tended to get him upset rather than legitimately angry.

He wasn't someone who you wanted mad at you, though. Cal wasn't about to admit it out loud, but he was no stranger to emotional manipulation and pulling strings here and there. His relationship with his mother in itself was testament to that: he loved her, but she'd hurt him, and he was lashing out in response. While he wasn't about to debate the moral implications of that, he could quite easily say that it had seemed like a natural response. But enough of that. He wasn't out here to discuss his teenage angst with Val. Nope, they were going to have burgers. Burgers!

"Never been to In-N-Out? Dude, how long have you been in California for?" It had been one of the first few places his dad had told him to check out, and he had since been a loyal customer. "Their animal style fries are to die for, we should get some of that. I don't know anything about your dietary habits though, so give me a shout if anything isn't a-okay." It was then when she mentioned that he should lead the way.

Well.

That... Probably wasn't the best of ideas.

"Okay. Just let me map where it is," Cal muttered as he pulled out his phone and typed in In-N-Out. The location of the restaurant showed up as being about a ten-minute walk away, and he beckoned for Val to come closer to him so she could see the map as well. "See this? It's just a couple of roads down. We should be able to get there... If I follow the map. My sense of direction sucks," he muttered as he began to walk in the direction the arrow was pointing in. "Come on, hopefully we'll get there within the next five hours."

He could follow a map. At least, he hoped to hell that he could follow a map, especially an arrow tracking what direction the two of them were walking in. There weren't many people he knew that could get lost using a GPS, and he sincerely hoped that he wasn't one of them... As for Val, he was quite sure that she was one of those said people. All in all, he was humanity's last hope. The final beacon of light for them, guiding their way to being a pair of conquerors. Rise, children, and march in the gallant direction of their booty--

Okay, speaking of booty, Cal had no idea why pirates used the same word for 'treasure' and 'ass'. Unless-- plot twist-- the ass was the treasure. Damn, with that thought, he really should have been born in a different day and age.

But that was a pondering for another day. Right now, Cal had bigger things to do and bigger mountains to scale. "Good to know that you're down with burgers. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," he exclaimed. On cue, his stomach made a rather ungraceful noise. Wow, he really was getting hungrier and hungrier by the minute. Then again, he was quite sure that needing to eat and wanting to eat were two different things entirely, and most of his cravings and urges fell under the latter category. He consumed so many calories that they would probably be enough to feed an entire third world country for a day.

Time to concentrate on the map though, keep his eye on the prize. Cal kept his eyes trained on the arrow that would take them to their final destination, and started walking, beckoning for Val to follow. The little flush on her face had gone completely unnoticed-- he was too busy trying to follow the map to even register that it had happened. He turned to her as they started their journey. "So, what have you been up to over the past couple of days?" Small talk, the usual. Nothing particularly scintillating, but who knew, they might stumble onto something amazing to chat about later.

Like pirate semantics.

Oh, Val was being far too flattering. A bit of trouble wouldn't have cut it for the mighty Cal, harbinger of doom. Or well, that was what he imagined Bailey saw him as-- he preferred to think that he was leader of awesomeness and all things fun. Alas, most people didn't have a sense of humor, so he would have to deal. It was okay though, because Val most certainly did. Or at least, she was willing to go along with him. If he had intentions of taking over the world, he would have hired her as a minion. Pretty, smart, and all-too-willing to listen to anything he proposed.

But ehh. Too much responsibility, and he would end up sitting on his iron throne eating copious amounts of cake. No big deal, really. The two of them arrived at the eatery, and Cal sniffed the air. "I smell the 8th wonder of the world," he whispered overdramatically. Then again, everything Cal did was more than a little over-the-top. He got into line, gesturing a little so she could step ahead of him. "Ladies first!"

Though if you asked a certain other few people, Cal would be the lady in this scenario. The blonde nodded as she mentioned the plants. It was one of Val's favorite subjects. "Sounds like fun," he said, completely genuine. Whatever made her happy, right? "You gotta take some pictures sometime. I imagine you've got an entire greenhouse full of crazy things in there. How's the one that eats people, by the way? Maybe I could bring my pug there for a visit." Not that he actually wanted Puggerpillar to get eaten, of course. But he just had the best mental image of a plant hopping around in its pot, chasing the poor dog around the house.

Hell yeah.

Like most others, Cal found it interesting to profile people. He wasn't always the best at doing it, but it was still fun to wonder about the thoughts that lay behind someone's head, their psyche and how they worked. Humans were all just using one another, after all, be it for companionship, for friendship, or something more sinister. You didn't exactly have to think of using as a bad thing, as long as you gave something back.

So far, he saw her as someone who was genuinely good-natured. Good thing too, because there weren't many people like that out there in the real world any more. Pleasant, sweet. A tad naive, really? Then again, Val wasn't too difficult to figure out. The blonde smiled as the girl went on about flowers, taking a bite of his burger as he did so.

His face lit up with delight as the juices of the patty and sauce trickled down his throat.

Delicious as always.

"Dude, that would be pretty cool." He really didn't mind taking a look at the crazy plants. Some day someone was going to get killed in that building. He knew it. And when they did, Cal was going to be able to tell the world that he'd survived Val's crazy plants, all of them. "I'll bring Puggerpillar. Hopefully he'll emerge alive." It was then when Val asked about himself, and he shrugged.

"There really isn't much to say." It had been a rather uneventful couple of weeks, anyway. Other than the girl he'd met at the party a while back who had proven to be quite the interesting one, though he hadn't even managed to get a name. "Gone to a couple of parties, marathoned all of Suits in two nights. Spent too long wasting time on the Internet. Oh," he said, pulling his phone out, "My dog arrived at my new apartment a couple of days ago!" With that, he started scrolling through his phone, before brandishing a picture of the dog in front of her.

"Look at him. Doesn't he look adorable?" Well, Puggerpillar looked miserable as usual. But it was just his face. Cal was quite sure that the dog was actually extremely happy, and just bad at expressing it. Bailey's spirit animal!