3x01: We're not broken, just bent

Rachel and Oberyn were eating their take out watching random stuff on T.V. when the mail came through the door.
“Can you get that?” Rachel asked.
“Yes, of course.” Oberyn said getting up and walking to the door. He picked it up and handed her the envelopes. Rachel rolled her eyes when she saw a thick envelop. “That’s for Atie.” She muttered.
“What is it?” Oberyn questioned confused.
“It’s money from Rana.”
“It’s addressed to the both of you.”
“I don’t want it.” Rachel said crossing her arms causing Oberyn to sigh.
“The one thing all three of you have in common is that you're all stupidly stubborn.” Obery muttered.
“You’re like my only friend right now! Can you at least be nice to me?”
Oberyn laughed, “Fine, I’ll be nice. Even though I think you’re being an idiot right now.”
“You always think I’m being an idiot.”
“True.”
They both sat watching the T.V. for a couple of minutes when suddenly Robb came up on the news with the headlines “Stark boy snags another win.”
Oberyn turned to look at Rachel who was staring at the screen in pain.
“Should I switch the channel?” Oberyn asked quickly picking up the remote.
Rachel shook her head, “No, no. It’s fine.”
She stared at the screen intensely as the interviewer was asking Robb questions about how it felt to win, about his family, how he got into law, all the typical questions she already knew the answers to. But she suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe when the reporter asked him a very interesting question.
“So, Mr. Stark, here’s a question everyone’s dying to know. Are you currently seeing someone or are you in the market?”
Robb smirked, “I’m definitely not in a relationship but I’m also not on the market.”
“What does that mean?” the reporter asked.
Robb shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s just say there’s this really special girl out there that I can’t get out of my mind.” Robb said shrugging his shoulders and smiling. “Next question please!”
Rachel stared at the screen in shock.
Oberyn looked at her, “Can I change the channel now.”
“Yeah.” Rachel breathed out.

Atie’s hands were shaking as Liam led her into the house.
“This place is huge.” Atie breathed out.
“It’s whatever.” Liam shrugged. “Come on.” he laughed dragging her into the house.
“Mom!? Dad!?” Liam screamed as he entered the house.
A beautiful woman walked down the stairs and smiled, “Hello, you must be Atie.” SHe beamed. “I’ve been dying to meet you for so long.” she said shaking Atie’s hand.
Atie beamed, “Hi, me too!”
“Come to the table.” Helena smiled. “Liam’s father should join us soon.”
Atie smiled at how surprisingly pleasant she was. Maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as she thought.

Atie sat at the dinner table, staring at her food nervously. Honestly she had no reason to be nervous. Both Simon and Helena were perfectly nice. They asked her about her school, her family, her future plans, what places she had visited and whatnot. And with every minute Atie became less and less nervous.
“So, Liam”, Simon turned to look at his son. “When is it that you’re going to get yourself together and join the family business?”
“Dad”, Liam sighed.
“No, I’m sure Atie here agrees too that it’d be best for you to get your life together and do something productive”, Simon said it as if it was the most logical thing in the world. “Don’t you, Atie?”
“I… Liam and I haven’t actually talked about this that much”, Atie admitted. Honestly she was even shocked about how big the family house was, and how rich the family apparently was.
“Oh, that’s alright, honey, I’m sure Liam doesn’t like talking about business”, Helena said kindly. “He doesn’t do that with anyone.”
“No, because it’s not something I am currently interested in”, Liam said tensely.
“Then what are you interested in, exactly?” Simon demanded. “Just having fun for the rest of your life?”
“Oh, for God’s sake, Simon, eat your food”, Helena rolled her eyes. “Let the boy be.”
“I barely ever even see the boy these days. He’s always off somewhere. This is the perfect timing to get him to see reason!”
“I am not going to discuss this with you right now”, Liam snapped. “We are having dinner with my girlfriend right now, and we are going to be focusing on her, not me. Okay? You can grill me later, like you always do.”
Simon was about to open his mouth when Atie spoke up: “I really like physics! What were both of your favorite subjects in school?” And under the table she gave Liam’s hand a comforting squeeze.

Rana was waiting for Jasper to arrive. It was not like him to be late, which made Rana cranky as she ate the popcorn she had bought for them both.
“Hey”, Jasper finally arrived, holding a slushie in his hand. “I figured you’d want this”, he smiled. He wondered why on earth Rana was wearing a black top, a black sweater and a black leather jacket. “Aren’t you hot?” he asked.
“I am, obviously”, Rana joked, standing up and smiling at him. “I’ve missed you.” She had, but she would not usually admit such a thing. She just wanted to take his focus off her clothes. “What have you been up to?”
“Missing you, mostly”, Jasper admitted. “What is going on? Has Robb made you his prisoner or something?”
Rana snorted. “No. I just needed some time away from everything, really”, she shrugged. “But I should not have blown you off, sorry”, she smiled. “Should we go to the movies already?”
“Yeah, sure, let’s go”, Jasper said, attempting to move his hand to touch her waist. To this Rana panicked and pretended to accidentally throw her slushie at his shirt.
“Oh, crap, I am so sorry!” she gasped, looking at the mess she’d made. “I’m sorry! My hand slipped!”
Jasper snorted. “If you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was ask”, he murmured as he gave her a smile. “I’m gonna go wash this off, okay?”
“Yeah, that’s.. yeah”, Rana gave a nervous smile as she watched him walk off. “I am a literal idiot”, she muttered to herself, pressing her hands to her belly. She could not wait for this nightmare to finally be over. After which she could finally be normal around the people she cared about.
Jasper came back a moment later, his shirt a bit wet. “I rinsed it off, it’s fine. Let’s go”, he gave her a smile before heading into the theatre before Rana.
Rana sighed, burying her head in her hands as she walked. It had been a bad idea to say yes. But as it turned out, the rest of the night was not such a disaster. Until Jasper drove Rana home.
“So, I’ll see you soon?” he asked hopefully, giving her a smile.
“Yeah, I think so”, Rana said, and she was just on her way to rush off when Jasper grabbed her arm and gave her a kiss. Rana wanted to respond so bad, but she was so afraid of him finding out that she pulled away.
“I have to go”, she whispered. “I’ll see you.”
“Yeah”, Jasper muttered, watching as she walked off. That girl was a mystery to him.