if these wings could fly for the rest of our lives
Nervously, Abigail's fingers toyed with the sleeves of the hoodie that she wore. The girl was all too aware of the look of disappointment upon her boyfriend's features at that soft rejection of moving in with him. She was hardly oblivious to just how super duper uber important this was. This was like...a super big step in all of the American magazines she had seen during her younger years, even if it wasn't reallllyyy a thing where she lived. That heavy sigh upon Arlo's lips caused her own features to tilt downwards ever so slightly, the woman nibbling upon her bottom lip as she watched him. It was...difficult, she knew, all that her culture nearly demanded of those relationships. American ones were just so...DIFFERENT. In Nepal, it was all about getting married and pleasing your husband and having kids. Here the girls were far more inclined to experiment with men and whims and things in ways that Abigail would have previously been appalled to even CONSIDER. Still...she wanted to make Arlo happy, and not just because she'd been taught that she was supposed to. It was that desire that caused the girl to mention her own uncertainty of what rules she was supposed to follow and which ones she could simply leave behind with the country that she too had left (and likely would never return to). Of course, that meant talking to her dad and that was kindddd of a little bitty itsy problem when she hadn't exactly told them man she'd even gotten involved with someone....at all.

The very idea of facing her father caused her nose to wrinkle ever so slightly, her hazel eyes turning down to her bare feet. She was pretty sure she was going to get a talking to. More like...absolutely sure and that was kind of sort of awful because she always tried to be a good girl. Ugh! The very idea of making her father disappointed made like...butterflies in her stomach. The super duper nervous kind that made her feel sickly. She was now TOTALLY biting on her bottom lip without really noticing, her heart thudding a bit faster at the whole idea of it. In a way, she was almost thankful for Arlo's conversation to focus on before that whole idea of talking to her dad made her like....cry. Even if the concerns of what happened if she broke the rules was not much better. The government, after all, hardly kept track of what girls did what or slept with who. That was silly. It was just...the way things were. After all, what if a girl slept with a guy and then got pregnant before marriage! That was like the WORST scandal ever! A girl she knew from school had once had that happen to her and her family had kicked her out and she had gone to live in a tent with other women who were deemed "undesirable". It was like...THE WORST. Arlo had no idea what it meant to be 'undesirable' in Nepal. There were like...no jobs, no family, no home, no...anything. Her very fear of being one of them, it seemed, was still entirely potent. The soft-touch of Arlo's hand upon her knee slowly drew her gaze upwards and towards his softened features.

Abigail hardly expected the promise upon her boyfriend's lips, one that admittedly meant like...WAY more to her then she suspected even HE realized. No one had ever told her that. Well, that is no one besides her parents had ever told her that they wanted her and even then, lately her dad had been...well...kinda...distant. Arlo was like...all she had lately and being away from him did...sometimes...make her a little bitty bit lonely. A simper crossed her features as she reached up to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. "I'll always want you too." She offered, the girl DETERMINED to return that sentiment. It was that very exchange, however, that caused the girl to quickly insist she would talk to her dad about it next time he called. She could do this. Arlo deserved it that she at least ask. Besides, what if he said yes? That would be kinda cool right? She'd never lived with someone before! Well, someone besides her parents, again. That sudden inquiry of whether or not her dad knew however, immediately caused the girl to freeze. Like...literally...freeze. Like...mid gesture sort of deer in the headlights oh noes she was caught kind of freeze. "Uhhhh....." She started, her gaze immediately deviating as her nose wrinkled again. "Umm....I mean....our conversations arn't that long and he asks me about school and most of the time when he does I have to tell him about my grades and everything because he's helping me pay for school and then he kind of has to leave because work has been really really important so I kind of haven't quite...fit it in there between the turtles and telling him about my Organismal Evolution coursework."

So...maybe she had a bit of fixing to do but everything would be okay, right? That soft smile that Arlo gave her helped to at least reassure she could handle this and slowly, a weaker one crossed her own features. At the very least, they BOTH agreed Arlo kind of needed a better place than the one he was currently living at. Not that his current apartment was like the WORST but...it was...kinda sparse. It was better than Nepal though! The idea that he needed something with at least functional APPLIANCES prompted soft laughter from the girl before she nodded readily. Okay, so MAYBE he didn't need an oven to cook or anything but...his place was definitely kinda lacking in the food department for the poor little panda girl - who DID need food to like...live. The very last thing Abigail had anticipated with that change in conversation was for things to deviate like....WAY WAY WAY OUT INTO LEFT FIELD. That very MENTION of the other things he wanted to do prompted little more than a completely blank and utterly baffled stare from the girl - the very likes of which only prompted further equally as confusing explaining. He wanted her hands where? What now? The detailed explanation she was offered caused her eyes to widen, that panic within the girl surely entirely palpable. Her heart was all but HAMMERING within her chest, her cheeks near flaming at the very SUGGESTION of touching Arlo...well...DOWN THERE. Arlo was quick to follow up the idea with the suggestion that they needed to get used to touching - a sentence Abigail hardly let him finish as her lips parted, her words a veritable blur as she rushed through them to change the topic to like...ANYTHING ELSE.

She watched, breathlessly, as Arlo's features went slack, the man clearly trying to keep up with her. It hardly lasted long, however, before his lips contorted into a visible scowl. WELL, SHE FELT THAT WAY TOO ABOUT SOMEONE DYING IN A HALLWAY! His inquiry of where the vampire lived prompted a ready nod within the young woman. "She lives in the North in this really big house and it has a cream-colored front and there are strawberries that grow along the fence and it has an apple tree in the back and there's an iron fence." Okay, so maybe that wasn't EXACT instructions but...she remembered ALL of that! "I didn't PURPOSEFULLY go visit her! I was just...trying to eat the strawberries and then she saw me and picked me up and and and..." She paused, taking a big breath of air. Oh my god, she needed to breathe. This was all too much. TONIGHT WAS TOO MUCH. Still, Arlo's inquiry on whether or not she was okay prompted a slow nod from her. She had...survived, at least. She hadn't ended up like the poor girl on the carpet!

The chill of Arlo's arms, however, was far more comforting than Abigail ever realized she needed, the girl leaning into her boyfriend's welcoming embrace. The soft press of his lips against her cheek finally prompted some resemblance of a normal smile back upon the usually bubbly girl's features. A gentle sigh left her lips, however, as Arlo insisted he'd ensure this other vampire didn't 'bother' her. "It's okay...I think...she's just lonely...and wanted a friend." Though...maybe the first rule of friendship should be like...no killing your friends or something. That seemed like an important one. It was the sound of her nickname, however, that drew the girl from her thoughts, her gaze turned up towards him as he pulled back at her, that super duper stressed look once again showing up on his features. Oh, dear. This was about that again, wasn't it? Silently, Abigail's head nodded at that insistence that this was something she had to talk about with someone. It wasn't like she KNEW very many someone's to discuss a thing like this with. Olly didn't have a girlfriend so he probably didn't know anything about sex. Frost had...the hurricane and they had kids so he might know something...Alexis...was Alexis with anyone? Malia was equally as marriageable and she didn't know Raven well enough to breach that topic. There was Sebastian and Dorian. They were both very nice and they clearly had a successful relationship. They didn't have sex, of course, but maybe they might know something about it. Arlo did say they were both like...super duper duper old right? Maybe she'd ask Dorian about it, he did encourage her to get with Arlo in the first place, after all. Her head bobbed again, even if it was more to herself then her boyfriend. At the very least now she had a plan and that was like...the most importantest. "I will." She promised solemnly, even if she was pretty sure she knew what to expect about sex. She had learned about it, after all.