[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/LVxoGqK.png[/img][/center]

Allen smiled gleefully, ignoring Trad’s outburst. It seemed the young man had failed to interrupt them in time for Allen to make an educated guess. Not that he would have failed to latch on to the most amusing explanation he found for Trad’s embarrassment otherwise, Sand knew.

“Good on you, kid!” And turning back to her, he added in a feigned whisper, still loud enough for all to hear, “And good on you too. I hear every girl needs a friend like that.”

[i]When did this turn into a rom-com?[/i] 

Sand sighed, giving him a helpless shrug. She turned, giving Sepia and her family a wan smile. “Well, nice to meet you. Congratulations on the expanding family too. Now, not to put a damper on everyone’s enthusiasm, but I’d say we should go before someone gets thumped or this one finds someone else to pester.”

Sand grabbed Allen’s arm, pulling him away from conversation with Trad’s family, and began dragging him along back to the main campus. Allen staggered, stumbling a few steps until he righted himself, keeping up with Sand’s brisk pace.

“Don’t be rude, Sand,” he reprimanded, though his easy smile took much of the threat away from the admonition.

She hummed. “You seem more excited than usual,” she observed in a low voice.

“Naturally,” he answered in kind, “Can’t I be happy to see my little girl?”

“Sure. Nothing wrong with that. I appreciate it, in fact.” Sand threw a dubious glance at him. “But something tells me you might be trying to get back at me for yesterday’s change of plans.”

“Oh, that? Don’t worry about it.” He gave her a devious smile. “Rather, I’d be doing this either way. It’s a parent’s prerogative to thoroughly embarrass their children in public. You avoided it when you ran off to Atlas, but I’m not missing this chance.”

“Whether that applies to you is debatable.” Allen winced, visibly chastised, and Sand repressed a pang of guilt. She should have put more thought into her answer. 

“You’re a bit too quick to admit that,” he told her. “Careful you don’t give everyone a bad impression of you.”

[i]You’re one to talk[/i], she thought, [i]particularly when I feel like a mother stringing along an unruly child[/i]. If the child weighed two hundred pounds, had greying hair and was beginning to bald, that was. Had their roles reversed while she wasn’t looking? That was a chilling thought.

“It’s not like we can hide it, either way,” she pointed out. “We look [i]nothing[/i] alike.”

“Bah! Details, details.”

The pair whispered bickering only intensified as they continued to walk.

[@SevenStormStyle][@Awesomoman64]