I'll wear you around my neck, you're my possession

[cleansesong]

"You're gross!" She exclaimed, laughing and then shaking her head, trying to avoid blushing from his words at all costs. The last thing she needed was for him to realize that everything he was saying was just making her like him more. That would just add to the already huge ego he seemed to possess, and she didn't want to do that. He seemed to want to make things hard for her though, sliding his arm around her waist nonchalantly and continuing to walk, acting like he didn't care. Well, two could play that game, couldn't they? She would have to work out a plan,

At his comment about her joining him in the shower, Della rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Sorry, those privileges are reserved for people who don't throw batter in my hair." She joked, scooting away from him as they reached the pizza parlor and then walking inside, a smile on her face. "Where are we sitting?" She asked, turning to look at him for a moment and raising an eyebrow curiously.

[stupidkiid]

He smirked. "Gross? Nah. I'm far from it." Laughing loudly at her shower comment he shook his head. "Well I 'll just have to remember that for next time." He looked around the small pizzaria and shrugged looking back to Della. "We can can where you'd like. There are some tables and booths over there in that corner. Take your pick."

[cleansesong]

"You're gross, actually." She repeated, rolling her eyes and laughing. "Who says you have a shot at a 'next time'? I don't recall ever saying that." She teased with a smile. "No, it's your choice." Della replied, shaking her head as he tried to make her choose where they would sit. "I don't do the choosing thing. You wanted me here, I'm here, you choose where we sit."She explained, a smile on her face again.

[stupidkiid]

"Yeah, If I'm so gross, why are you here?" He shrugged slightly and looked around, before answering her next question. "I know there'll be a next time." He sighed quietly and rolled his eyes taking a few steps in front of her and dropped down into a booth towards the back. "So you're telling me you don't want to be here? You could have told me to get lost at the door." He smiled and leaned his elbows on the table as he watched her sit down.

[cleansesong]

"No one ever said there would be a next time. I'm not just some random easy whore that you can just screw around with and then leave once you get your jollies. I'm unpredictable." She stated, following behind him to the booth he had chosen. "No, I did not say those words." Della replied as he questioned her on if she wanted to be there, sitting down and rolling her eyes. "You really need to learn to listen, boy. I said I don't do the choosing thing. I have trouble making decisions." She clarified, smoothing out the bottom of her dress and biting her lip.

[stupidkiid]

He rubbed at his face. "Take your own advice and listen. I don't think you're a whore Della. If I thought you were a whore we wouldn't be out. I would have taken you back to your room and talked you out of your clothes already. But here we are..." He sighed and leaned back onto the seat of the booth. The waitress approached the table and he ordered a coke and two slices of pepperoni pizza. "And whatever she wants." His head was tilted towards the table as the waitress walked off with their orders. He rubbed the back of his neck wondering how she'd gotten the impression he thought she was a whore he wanted to screw around with. He spoke almost too quiet to hear.. "I told you I'm no good at this."

[cleansesong]

Leaning back on her side of the booth, Della raised an eyebrow as he spoke, not quite sure how he could be so sure that she would have willingly obliged if he had attempted to flirt her out of her clothes. As the waitress approached them, she let Ryan order and then just asked for a water for herself, biting down on her lip as she tried to figure out how to reply to what he had said. "It just seems like you don't care at all about what happens to those girls after you're done with them.." She mumbled, looking down at the table but them looking back up as he spoke again, almost unable to hear what he had said. "I don't think you're bad at this, I just don't understand why you're trying to be such a nice guy towards me. Is it just a front so that I'll open up to you or something?" She asked softly, biting her lip again after speaking. "I mean, I've been screwed over too many times to just assume that you have good intentions." She admitted, biting her lip again anxiously as she waited for some sort of response.

[stupidkiid]

"I always cared what happened to the girls... after wards. It's just the girls I usually hang out with.. knew why we were hanging out... and why we never got past the door of her dorm or mine. There was a reason for that. They knew what I wanted and I knew what they wanted. It's not like I told them I wanted a meaningful relationship, fucked them and pretended I didn't know them the next day. I'm not heartless Della." He clenched his jaw, trying not to look too offended. "This probably was a bad idea. I'm doing this because I'm interested in who you are and what you're about. You told me last night at the beach that I wasn't jerkish enough to be a jerk but now ... now you're asking me if I use girls and throw them away? If my actions towards you are a front? If you're opinion of me is so low why are you here?" He'd spoken to his hands for the most part and then looked up to see Della's reaction to his words. It was probably the most real thing he'd ever said to anyone and now he felt wide open and it was uncomfortable.

[cleansesong]

Staring at the table as he spoke, Della tried to take in what he was saying, looking up in surprise as she heard the tone to his voice change and flinching slightly. She shouldn't have said anything, that was always her problem. Why had she never learned that keeping her mouth shut about this sort of issue made things better? With a sigh, she bit her lip and then replied. "I never said my opinion of you was low, you just keep saying things that are making me question all of this. I just... I don't know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you like that, I just know how it feels to not know that what's happening meant nothing at all to the other person. I'm sorry." She mumbled, looking down at the table again and clasping her hands together nervously.

[stupidkiid]

He sighed and rubbed his face again, shaking his head. He stood and slid into the booth on her side pushing her over slightly so he had room. "I didn't mean to get angry. It's just... I... People think I'm this thing.. that I'm not. I know I'm a man whore," He paused to laugh. "But I'd never intentionally hurt anyone." Slowly he slipped his hand around hers and reached over with his free hand and tilted her face up so she was looking at him. "You don't need to apologize. Just know I'm here for the right reasons. I want to get to know you. I want you to be more that just a weekend fling Della. I'm sorry you were hurt in the past but I'm not here to do that to you." He chewed at his lip ring as he looked at her, rubbing his thumb over her cheek gently.

[cleansesong]

Della slid over so that Ryan would have room on her side of the booth, a soft blush covering her cheeks again when his hand touched her cheek, flinching back slightly for a moment and then relaxing. "O-okay." She managed to say, her mind emptying itself of the ability to form a complete coherent sentence. "Good.." She said slowly, biting her lip again and the smiling shyly. It was rare that Della was flustered like this, but in the current situation, could you really blame her? A tiny part of her still worried that he was just saying what she wanted to hear for her benefit, but the majority of her wanted to believe him. "Thank you." She finally managed to say, smiling again softly. "I am sorry though, I didn't mean to sound so mean. I just talk without thinking sometimes." She admitted, laughing softly.

[stupidkiid]

He smiled when she smiled this time and he nodded his head. "Good." The waitress returned with drinks and food. He figured she'd held back because of the serious tone of their conversation. He took a sip of his coke and offered Della a slice of pizza. " Don't apologize. I earned my reputation and I have to deal with it. I shouldn't have gotten so upset. I guess... I just don't want you to think of me the way everyone else does. Your opinion matters."

[cleansesong]

Looking up as the waitress returned, she smiled and thanked her politely, biting her lip for a moment as neither of them spoke. He broke the silence though, thankfully, and Della shook her head as he offered her one of the pizza slices, taking a drink from her glass of water and then smiling again. "My opinion matters? Thats nice to hear." She responded, grinning contently. "But you don't even have that bad of a reputation, except for when you say things about girls yourself. I think you're great, and you're not going to change my opinion any time soon."

[stupidkiid]

He smirked when she denied his pizza. "Why'd you come to dinner if you didn't want anything to eat? One of those girls, huh?" He laughed and playfully poked her side. He took a bite of his pizza and leaned back on the seat of the booth and looked over at her. "It does matter and I don't think you listen to the school yard gossip enough if you don't think I have a bad reputation." He laughed again shaking his head. He finished up his pizza and stretched a bit. "Well, what would you like to do for the rest of the night?"

[cleansesong]

"I am not 'one of those girls', I'm just not hungry." Della replied, jumping slightly as he poked her side. "And in my defense, you never said anything about dinner. All your note said was that you were picking me up at seven, so there." She said, sticking her tongue out at him and then laughing. As he replied to her comment about his reputation, Della shook her head. "I don't like gossip. It's better to hear things from the actual person than from some gossip queens. I hate those." She grinned, shrugging her shoulders as he asked what she wanted to do. "I don't know. Like I said before, I don't like making decisions. You get to choose."