Gardeners and Out of Season Madness... De Ja Vu

She laughed quietly.

"Aphrodite. Through and through."

"Beautiful, sexual, fiery, and scary when angered," he sighs, "the red is natural then?" The question comes with a wicked grin.

She flashed him a grin.

"It is. As is my temper."

"Threats on the first date," he asks with comic indignation. "Sheesh, I thought I was fast."

She couldn't help her grin.

"This is a date? What, like, one of those college dates where you tell me I have nice shoes and don't even bother with the dinner and a movie?"

Her reaction was immediate. She clasped both hands over her ears, bending slightly at the waist at the wail of intrusion.

And took a quick look around to see if they were alone.

"Holy crap," he says with a start, hunkering down the same as Oriella.

She stood back up, though she seemed to be looking around. For anyone, any trace of what just happened.

"Holy shit, that was spooky."

He shakes his head and stands with Oriella. "Apparently we are in the first scene of a horror flick," he says as he gathers his senses, "probably a good idea to leave the sex for later, but I wouldn't mind a movie."

She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Can't split up now, either."

"Want to investigate," he asks with interest. "Ya know, just in case we're the main characters and have to deal with the big bad at the end. Who knows, could be any number of things that go bump and we'll be screwed if we don't have any clues by the end." He looks up for a second seemingly lost in thought, "Now that I think about it, screwed isn't as terrible as other words might be in this situation... how about disadvantaged."

She couldn't help but laugh.

"You sure we won't get in trouble for investigating?"

Since she was game.

"I don't think so," he turns his head dramatically pointing his nose in the air in three-quarter profile, "after all, who could deny this boyish chin and perfect hairline."

She laughed and nodded.

"Okay. Well, I'm game. I'm Orie, by the way," she said, holding out a warm hand for him to shake.

"Orie," he repeats it fondly, "I like it." He takes her hand and shakes it in a friendly fashion, the warmth returned in kind.

She grinned as she brought her hand back, then looked out across the campus.

"Thanks. Full name's Oriella, but that just gets confusing. So, where do we start looking for the source of the creepy?"

He looks around for a moment, pondering the question, "I like north."

She pointed with one hand.

"North it is!"

She took off in a decidedly north-like direction.

"I'm right behind you." There is a lightly lusty sound in his voice and his expression was all raised eyebrows as he watched her walk away.

She turned to flash a grin at him over her shoulder.

"Not sure if that was you trying to come on to me or trying to scare me."

He just grinned.

She seemed exceedingly delighted at either prospect. She kept heading north.

"How far north are we going?"