It took a few minutes - he had to wait until no one was watching - but Matteo did it.
He found Katrina's mailbox (don't ask me how) and slipped a folded pece of lined paper into it. He'd meant for it to be a note, but everything he'd tried to write sounded phony or too blunt, or just plain creepy. So he'd settled for simply drawing a heart, in red pen. It got the message across, didn't it?

Now, he was striding - rather, purposefully limping - to the exit, with a faint, satisified look on his face. So what if he hadn't had the guts to ask her out, or even sign his name? ....Anyway, he didn't even know if she was free.

It was a start.

Uneaven, bouncing footsteps echoed from the nearby stairwell as Katrina took some steps two at a time, others one after another, and still others she skipped completely and slid on the handrail. Today was a good day, after all. She'd made another good grade in chemistry. I'd say that's cause for being a little giddy.

She was going to go get something to eat at a subshop on campus, go buy some ice cream and then watch gooey chick flick movies all night. Or some of the night. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that the doors in this particular dorm are poorly placed and that the door to the stairs opens right into the path of the entrance doors. Whoever planned this building must have been on something. So instead of walking into regular air, she walked into Matteo.

"Eep!"

Matteo uttered a similiar "Eep!" sound, bouncing off her and stumbling back into a wall. He proceeded to slouch and carefully wrap an arm around himself, bending to a sudden sharp pain that had ignited in his back and side. He probably had cracked ribs from being hit by that guy's car the other day, but hadn't been to see a doctor or, in fact, done anything about it at all.

He was grimacing, but he didn't make a sound. After a few moments, he carefully straightened up.

And recognized Katrina.

Uh-oh,... what if she saw me putting that note in?! Drat, drat, drat, drat....

She had only fallen back and managed to keep balance by holding onto the doorframe, thus she saw his contorted look of pain, immediately becoming concerned.

"Oh my gosh, are you OK? I'm so sorry, God, I'm so stupid!"

He blanched.
"Uh - I, I didn't..."

It took a moment for him to register that she hadn't seen him slipping that note into her mailbox, and when it did, some of the color returned to his face. He sagged with relief, forcing a weak smile.

"...It's alright. Just an accident... could happen to anyone..."

"You sure? It looked like you were really hurt.."

Her hand landed on his shoulder because it was just a natural thing for her to do when she was checking on people.

"Well, I, uh... sort of, but..."

Matteo's eyes flick briefly to the hand on his shoulder, the sight of which keeps him from speaking for a second or so. He then shakes his head, asking himself just what is it about her that affects him like this?

"Um,... I am, sort of, but not from you. I, uh, kind of got in the way of a moving car the other day."

"Oh gosh, are you ok?" That question seems to come on it's own accord, now. "You didn't break anything, did you?"

Oh, they're still in the way of both doors. Maybe it'd be better if they moved out of the way. So Katrina gently guides him out of the way of the doors.

The faun fumbles with nonsense syllables for a good little while before finally biting his lip and forcing himself to talk slowly and normally, and with as few 'um's as possible.

"I don't know for sure. I mean..., it hurts, but I haven't gone to get anything checked out," he shrugs, adding slightly more cheerfully, "But if I'm still up and about, it can't be that serious."

She bites her lip, "Even still..." Oh well. If he's sure.

And then a thought occurs. It's no fun to be by yourself when you've had such a great day, is it?

"Have you eaten?"

"Uh...yeah, 'bout an hour ago..." he nods. "Why?"

It should be mentioned that Matteo is pondering idly whether to pretend his injuries hurt worse than they do, to get her sympathy and perhaps (dare he think it?) even another touch on the shoulder.

He dismisses the thought as soon as he realizes he was seriously considering it.
He figures, if he has to try to make her pity him in order to get her attention, he doesn't deserve it.

"Oh, well I was just gonna go get something for supper, so.." well now she doesn't want to get embarrassed and say it...erg. Get on with it, girl.

"So, I was just thinking that if you hadn't already eaten you could join me?" Say yes, pleeeease, you're such a nice guy!

"Um, well,... I'm not hungry or anything,... " (he wishes that he were, so he'd have a solid reason to go with her) "But I could go with you to keep you company anyway?"

Oddly enough, he's thinking much the same thing she is: Please, please, please say yes...

Big smile. "Okay, yeah, sure, that'd be fun!"

Yes!

"Um, it's just a little walk away from here. You gonna be good to walk or d'you wanna catch a bus?"

After all, she doesn't want him to be hurt on the way there.

It takes a serious effort to suppress the grin that's trying to force its way onto his face.

Part of the grin escapes anyway, showing up as a warm smile.

"Oh, walking's fine," he nods.
He doesn't want to be a bother and go on the bus, if it interferes with her plans... and he's not much of a fan of public transportation anyway. It's too crowded for his liking.

Hers too.

And he wouldn't be a bother either way.

"Ok, cool! Well it's just this way, then.." She pushes open the door and tugs on his sleeve a bit.

"It's not that big of a shop. It's actually underneath this other one and we've got to walk down some stairs to get to it. You don't mind, do you?"

Matteo follows obediently, so the tug on the sleeve is unnecessary,... but still welcomed.

"Mm? No, of course I don't mind..." the fan shakes his head emphatically, "Of course not. Just show the way."

Yes, a celebratory night is much better with someone to share it with.

"So," she begins while they walk, "How'd you happen to be in my neck of the woods?"

"Uhhh..."

Damn! Can't tell her - agh, have to think of something fast. Wait too long and she'll know I'm lying - damn - ah, got it.

"Shortcut," he said briefly, "It's, uh... I was cutting across the campus as a shortcut. I was, um, I was going to the store. The, um... the music store. On the other side of town."

Lying is not his forte.

"Oh." That's ok...he doesn't have to tell her. She's not going to call him on it, but he really can't lie.

...it would be cruel to ask him what he was going to get...

So she won't.

"That's cool."

"...Yeah."

He doesn't want to lie to her, really he doesn't,.. but what he doesn't want even more is for her to find out what he was actually up to.

"So." Matteo gives a small cough. "Um. What've you been up to?"

"Oh," she shrugs, "The usual. Classes, rowing. Not a lot, actually."

Wait, there was something, she knew..it was in the back of her mind...

!

"Oh! My gosh, I have to tell you. I'm so crazy, I can't even believe I did it.."

She kind of stops in mid thought. She does that sometimes.

Matteo chuckles. She has so much enthusiasm.

"Mmhm? What did you do?"

"Well," she fiddles with her fingers, "You remember how I said that I wasn't going to go through with the whole magic thing?" Katrina pauses, looking at him a little anxiously.

"Well...what you said got to me again and so I sorta told my professor that I'd do it and now I'm sorta taking lessons in it. Gosh," her ponytail swishes with each shake of her head.

"I can't believe I was so set on not doing it and then I did."

The unspoken question: what do you think?

"Oh."
Blink.
"Oh."

Matteo offers a shy smile.
"Well - that's good," he says simply. He's quite pleased about it, really. In a way, her accepting to keep her magic makes him feel like she's accepted him, too, faun-ness included.
Even if her magic has nothing to do with him.

What a relief! She actually feels a lot better with Matteo knowing. It would be a lot harder to keep up if she and professor were the only ones who knew. She's only had one lesson so far, and doesn't even know when the next one will be or if it'll be in a group setting like the one she walked in on but even so, it's nice that he knows.

"Really," there's a little smile, "You think so?"

"Yes, I do," he says sincerely. "Not that it'd be a good thing if everyone knew about - everything, like, well... you know what I mean. But I don't think having one more in on it can hurt. And it'll be good for you, maybe... You know, I'm jealous."

A teasing grin.

"I think it'd be neat to have magic of my own."

"Who knows? Maybe ya do." Shoulder nudge. "Thanks, though. Honestly, I'm glad you think so."

"Heh. No, I don't. I'm as unmagical as the average human."

Wince. He doesn't want to remind her that they're not the same species.

"Oh, you're welcome. It's nothing."

Oh yeah, that. Nice going, fates that be, you're being very mean and unfair. You're making Katrina a little sad.

"Well so was I until a little while ago."

Well, they've been walking for a little while and here they be. The two came upon a two story building, but instead of going in at the ground floor, Katrina lead them down a set of concrete steps that opened into a short ceilinged deli.

"You sure you don't want anything?"

He's so busy looking around, it takes a moment for her question to register.

"Wha-? Oh,...no. No, I'm fine."

"Mmk." She turns to the person behind the counter, orders a club melt and a pint of Ben & Jerry's Double Chocolate. Oh, and a drink. The ice cream's for later.

Katrina pays, sets her things down on a table, gets napkins and a straw then sits down herself and asks Matteo to sit with her.

To which Matteo replies, "Sure," because he didn't follow her all the way here just to turn around and leave once they arrived. He slides into his seat, wriggling around uncomfortably until he can get properly settled. The chairs weren't exactly made for fauns.

Well...since they're here..

"D'you have a favorite sandwich?"

She chuckles a little at her question, but only because it's such a simple one.

"Oh, absolutely."

He grins. Who doesn't like to talk about food?

"Peanut butter. Hands down."

She grins back.

"Peanut butter, wow, my sister loves peanut butter. How 'bout jelly? You like jelly too or are you a 'purist'?" Joking, of course.

"Hmmm,... sometimes I have peanut butter and jelly,... but mostly, it's just peanut butter."

A shrug.

"How about you? What's your favorite?"

"Mmm, it depends sometimes. But I think overall I can safely say tuna salad on toast with swiss cheese." she shrugs and laughs, "I really like swiss cheese."

"Heh. Yeah, swiss cheese is good."

Matteo has to keep himself from wrinkling his nose at the tuna part, but a flicker of a frown crosses his face. Ick. Fish. He's a vegetarian, and not the kind that only refuses to eat cute animals. In his opinion, even the ugly creatures don't deserve to be eaten. The thought of eating something that was once living and moving makes him sick.

Aww, too bad for you, Matteo, she caught it.

"What's that? Something wrong?"