Shooting Star

Culture and Cupcakes || Link & Lana

"You are from LA after all." Link said it as if it were some kind of explanation. "Though to be fair, how you view big cities really depends on how you grew up. I mean, my dream would be to own a cabin up in Alaska, somewhere between a lake and the mountains preferably." Link started washing their used dishes and gave a shrug. "It’s a habit." And it was true, he’d grown up cleaning up after his mother, especially when she worked multiple shifts and didn’t have much time for anything else. Though when Lana shut the water off he barely had time to dry his hands on his jeans before she tugged him along to the living room side of the plentiful space. "Mama Mia, right." Link said, already dreading the thought of sitting still through another movie in the same week.

"Lake and mountains?" She asked, trying to picture the serenity that he was describing. For some reason, it didn't surprise her at all that he dreamed of being far away from everything, despite how little she knew of him. She hadn't imagined that he would have chosen Alaska, but to each their own, she supposed. "Seriously, don't worry about it," she insisted, letting herself fall back onto the sofa, dragging him with her. Snatching the remote from the table, Lana glanced over at the  messy haired young man, smiling slightly. She clicked the TV on, making sure the movie was ready to play. "Mhm," she nodded. "I hope you don't mind that I know the entire movie by heart. I'll try not to sing too much, I mean."

Culture and Cupcakes || Link & Lana

"New York seems like it’d be a lot to take in." He said, never having grown up in bustling cities he was sure he wouldn’t appreciate them as much. Sure, they sounded great in theory but the crowds would most like get on his nerves, though it wasn’t like he had any plans to go there any time soon. He finished up the cup of water before slipping out of the seat next to the dark haired girl and grabbing the plates, figuring she was dine as well, and walking over to the sink with them. "I think sometimes you have to take a few steps back, see things in retrospect, y’know?" He informed her before turning the faucet to wash the dishes. "Thanks for dinner, Lana Rhodes, it was great. Really." His hungry helped the situation of course, but it was still really tasty.

Everyone thinks that about New York at first, but...I don't know. I just don't feel like it's overwhelming. Maybe it's just because I've gotten used to it over years of vacationing there and all, but...It's soothing for me." When he lifted himself out of his seat, she lost her balance in her own for a moment before steadying herself and getting up as well. "I-I...You're welcome!" She replied hastily, crossing to the sink to stand next to him. "You don't have to do that, y'know. You're a guest, I can take care of it later. Besides," she started, shutting off the water and grabbing one of his hands. "We have a movie to watch, remember?"

Culture and Cupcakes || Link & Lana

It took a moment, but Link shook his head no. “The break kinda ruined any chance I might’ve had.” He said, trying his best to be nonchalant about it. The interesting thing was that while Lana was the actress, Link was great at masking any distress he might have had. But maybe, in real life situations, that made him more of a liar. When she turned to him, he wasn’t fazed by the closeness. He was already to unfamiliar with personal space to care all that much, instead he kind of welcomed it even if her knees were a bit knobbly. The girl could really talk, but at least she said something and it wasn’t like him who would usually say nothing in the midst of confusion and riddles to entertain himself. He didn’t have to do that here, her words came so rapidly that it was easy to lose himself in thought as he processed them all one by one and stringed them into something comprehensible. “You’re the only person, probably in all of West Harbor, who’s given up a spot at Juilliard.” He tapped his fingers on the table, making a rhythm out of habit. “Not too sure yet, but I guess it’ll be nice to find out.” And at her final question, he gave a smile. “Never dwell in the past, Lana Rhodes, it’ll never lead anywhere decent.”

Lana's smile faltered slightly when he got into the effect his break now had on his life. She'd heard in sports that once an athlete was injured, that was about it for them, but she hadn't thought to piece that together. His nonchalance about the subject was almost unsettling and while she wanted to pursue it, she let it go. She wasn't going to allow herself to dig into a complete strangers personal life, especially since she wanted to see him again after this. Instead of pursuing the subject again, she forced a smile back onto her lips, leaning forward and resting her hands on his knees to prop herself up. "Julliard Schmulliard. I can't lie and say that I like Harbor more than I like New York, but it's nice here." Shaking her head, she grinned up at him, completely forgetting about their meal, her cupcakes, and the movie that was promised to come. "Just keep moving forward. That's the motto, yeah?"

Me Oh, yeah, I'm fine, thanks for asking! I think I got something in my eye or something. 

Culture and Cupcakes || Link & Lana

"I’d say so. Everyone’s got something that’s their thing, I suppose. Well, I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t got a niche." He nodded. "I would hope so, if not, then I just wasted a lot of years and buckets of money of equipment." He laughed then, not mentioning how he was on a scholarship for baseball and had been scouted by a major league company before the accident that ended any chances of him going pro. "Juilliard, wow." Link said, admittedly impressed. It was odd meeting someone who seemingly had it all and had grown up having all the opportunities in the world. "International Relations. Though I’ve changed it a few times." He said, pulling at his collar.

"Are you going to do anything with it after college, then? Or is it a purely recreational kind of thing? Either way, I think it's really cool that you're passionate about something. Some people pretend not to be passionate about anything, but I do believe you're right in saying that everyone has their niche. I definitely know that I do. I tend to get a little competitive when it comes to my roles, I think." Taking in a breath to pause between her speech, Lana used the moment without speech to take another sip of her water, turning her body in her seat to face him, her knees against his. "Juiliard, yeah! It's my dream school. I mean, I like West Harbor just fine and I'm sure I'm getting the same education here that I would there, but--" She veered off, unable to convince herself that her own words were true. Not that it mattered, anyhow. Juiliard was important to her, but as she'd reminded herself before making the decision to move out to Washington instead of New York, Danny's health and safety were more important than her life aspirations. Especially when she could jump right back into them as soon as she was sure Danny was going to be okay for good. "International Relations sounds super interesting. Do you like it much? What were you doing before?"

Culture and Cupcakes || Link & Lana

Link swallowed down the bite portion he had taken in with a gulp of water and nodded to answer her question. “Since I was maybe four or five.” He elaborated. He smiled at her, though his preferred team were the Boston Red Sox he didn’t mention it as he figured she either wouldn’t know them or wouldn’t care about them considering she had just admitted to pretending to like sports for her fathers sake. Which was nice of her, really, Link was bad at pretending to like things he really didn’t. “Yeah.” He agreed, though part of him knew it would be even harder to balance all of his responsibilities once he was back on Harbor’s team. Link couldn’t help but crack a bigger smile at her comment then. “I know, I was just joking.” He explained, constantly amused by the enigma Lana Rhodes was. “That’s smart of them.” The boy said as he finished off the plate, surprised at how full he had actually gotten. “You’re majoring in Theater right?” He asked, forgetting if they had gone over the topic before. “Cause if you’re not, then maybe you should consider a carreer in the culinary arts.”

"Wow," she breathed with a grin. "You've been playing baseball as long as I've been acting. Is that your passion, then? I mean, I hate to be blunt or rude or anything, but are you good? No, wow, that sounded way ruder than it did in my head. You don't have to answer that." Trying to shake off her last comments, she continued on to start into her passion, pleased that he had brought up one of her absolute favorite things to talk about. If he thought she could ramble about absolutely nothing, he should see her start on theater. That thought in mind, she made an effort before speaking to convince herself not to get too carried away. "I am! It's what I was going to be going to Julliard for. Acting major with minors in ballet and performing arts. You go to West Harbor--what are you majoring in? I don't think I've ever thought to ask."