Title: Scent

Summary: Joan's hat provides Grace much entertainment and Luke apparently showers with Old Spice. Post Touch Move.

"How can I
Stand here with you
And not be moved by you?"

"Everything" by Lifehouse

Grace dropped her bag to the floor and straddled her stool, glancing briefly at her tablemates before directing her gaze forward. The geek was engaged in what appeared to be an intense debate with Friedman and Glynis at the table in front of her. She cautiously took a deep breath in, relieved to find no traces of vomit inducing aroma drifting her way. It seemed the blonde haired boy had come to his senses and ditched the pickled eggs he had been dousing himself in. She chalked it up to temporary insanity; he had after all only worn it a few days. Perhaps quirky behavior ran in the family.

She savored the now fresh air for a moment before she took notice to what Joan was wearing on her head. It was a horribly hideous thing that looked like she had picked up road kill and plopped it on her head. There was a fuzzy little ball on the top that bounced every time she moved. Grace stared at it, almost expecting it to jump up of the girl's head and bite her. Oh, she was going to have fun with this one.

Lishak loudly tapped her pointer on her desk, signaling the class to turn their attention to her. The loud noise caught Grace's attention enough that she spared a glance in that general direction. Her heart skipped a beat and thudded against her chest as she noticed that Luke was not so subtly throwing a glance her way. That usually only happened when she was feeling the rush of skateboarding or tormenting Price, or something to that extent. Scrawny geeks sneaking looks at her was not supposed to have any effect on her circulatory system. She frowned slightly, contemplating throwing her ruler at him.

Fortunately, Joan came to her rescue, giving her brother a look only a sibling could give and motioning for him to shove off. The little wave of her hand sent the little fuzz ball on her head bouncing about momentarily and Grace barely suppressed a smirk. Joan turned her attention to the lecture, a slightly blank look in her eyes. Grace pulled a sheet of paper out of her notebook and tore a small strip of paper off. Eyeing the monstrosity of a hat, she rolled the paper into a ball and tossed it at the dead polar bear sitting atop the brown haired girl's head. The paper ball hit its mark and the fuzz ball wobbled humorously above Joan's head.

A full sheet of paper balls later, the bell rang and the sound of students packing up filled the room. Several paper balls rolled off Joan's head as she retrieved her bag from the floor and she frowned as she picked several more from the fur of her hat.

"What the…?"

Grace shrugged in mock innocence and took her chance to exit before Joan could figure out that she'd been putting crap in her hat all period. She was a little too focused on watching the amusing sight of Joan combing tiny balls of paper out of her hat as she walked away, which meant she wasn't paying much attention to where she was going. Luke stood in the middle of the aisle and she collided into him before she could stop herself, her short stature caused her nose to bump straight into the space where his neck met his shoulder.

There was a very confusing moment between the collision and before she pulled away in which her face was pressed into his neck and she unwittingly inhaled the faint scent of his muskiness mixed with a hint of something that smelled like spice, which must have been his soap. It was an almost soothing smell that was definitely nothing like the nasty aftershave he had donned the day before. The surprise of how much she liked the scent had her hesitating a split second before jerking back away from him. She didn't get very far, due to his hands on her waist, which must have been an instinctive effort on his part to steady her.

Luke was trying to stutter out an apology, realizing half way through that he was still holding onto her and dropped his hands away from her right away. She didn't even think to give him crap about being in her way as she hurried past him, determined to get away from his hands and weird, good smell. She ignored the odd tingling sensation at her waist and marched towards the door.

She became suddenly aware that the tingling spots had been where his hands had held onto her waist and she paused at the door, looking back at the boy she had just nearly ran over. He was exchanging some sort of banter with his sister and didn't notice that Grace was still in the doorway, staring at him with a hint of fear in her eyes. A nervous twinge formed in her stomach and she frowned at the sensation. Luke and Joan turned to head towards the door and she quickly ducked out of view, heading to her locker.

Should have just left him be about the aftershave, she thought growing more and more perturbed.