Vriska Serket counted thirteen. Including her, the count was fourteen. There were two people missing from lunch. The seats at both ends of the table belonged to the leaders of the two sessions. They both sat there, cold and without a body in them.
Vriska did not like being jealous. She didn't care too much for the emotion in the first place, and she tended to think that all feelings like that of envy were others' feelings toward her. It wasn't allowed to be the other way around. Because, face it, she was seductive as hell.
But this was a special case that the blue-blooded troll couldn't help feel jealous about. And soon, jealousy would turn to anger. And when Vriska got angry, she turned into the equivalent of a teenaged mad scientist, who wasn't afraid to knock down anyone in her way. Frustration gripped her sides. John was supposed to be in love with her. Karkat was supposed to turn him off like a flashlight with a burned out bulb.
And he most certainly was not supposed to be a homosexual.
The grape under the Scorpio's fork felt the pressure of her emotions. It slipped and flew across the table into Eridan's jaw.
"Hey! Wwhat do you think you're doin'?" Eridan frowned and rubbed his mouth. Terezi belched and laughed at the same time. Nepeta stifled a giggle.
"Sorry," Vriska mumbled.
And then, everyone froze in place. The entire group of them, even Gamzee's wasted ass, stared in shock at Vriska, "Did you just say… sorry?" Terezi asked bewildered. Even Dave, the even-tempered cool-kid, turned his head to get a good look at the action.
"Is there anything wrong with saying 'sorry'? Did I miss one of Rose's human culture courses? Can I not say 'sorry'?" I began to dawn on Vriska that she had never said sorry, and truly meant it.
They all squirmed in their seats, unnerved by the suddenly hostile troll, "No, it was just, er, unexpected," Terezi said.
Vriska nodded in quiet apprehension, strung out a confused 'excuse me', and left the dining hall. She wasn't very sure where she was going, but she ended up in the music room. It was a cavernous room that had been padded for acoustics by Dave, Rose, John, and Terezi a few months after they had found themselves stranded on the meteor. It was a really shitty excuse for a music rooms and the pads didn't do much. But it was John's favorite place to be, other than outside, up in the air. She figured she had made the decision to come here subconsciously. There were shelves in the back corner that contained two guitars, a violin, and various other instruments they had found in the mansion and on the meteor. In another corner was a drum set and Dave's turntables. In center of the room was a grand piano with a few seats gathered around it.
Vriska dwelled on the countless memories she had from this room. Her face went sour remembering that most of them she had been focused on John.
She wandered around the room for a few minutes before sitting in an empty spot on the concrete floor and burying her head in her hands. She had never felt this way before and definitely had never dealt with such a strong emotion. The only thing that came to a second place was pride. But it was still a mile away from her love for John. It was nearly shameful.
Suddenly the hair on the back of Vriska's neck stood up. She heard humming in the hallway right outside the door. She stood with purpose and quickly picked up an instrument from the shelf right before John came through the door.
"Vriska! Oh, hey! I think you just missed lunch," John said. It was so ironic that John was here, that it seemed so un-ironic. It was that 'ironic' twist of fate that always happened in Nic Cage movies, and even though you could always see it coming from a mile away, it still surprised you.
"I know," She replied. She leaned on a chair, staring down the tambourine in her hand.
John furrowed his brows, "I didn't know you played the tambourine," John looked at the instrument thoughtfully.
"I don't. I was, uh, seeing how heavy it was."
"Likely story!" John winked, sitting down at the piano. He began to play Showtime and soon Vriska hap-hazardly patted the tambourine against her leg. It sounded pretty good. Of course she always loved what Jon played on the piano, but she felt this particular time sounded nicer.
When John slowed his fingers to a stop, Vriska put down the tambourine and John got up from the piano asking, "So why'd you miss lunch?" He asked.
She squinted, "I could ask you the same thing," she retorted.
The human blushed profusely, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "Um, haha, well-"
"You were with Karkat," Vriska said flatly. John opened his mouth to say something, and then quickly snapped it back together. Instead he looked at her in dismay and she had to look around the room, anywhere to avoid John's pleading eyes.
"Hey I'm sorry, I guess. I didn't mean to offend you or anything. It's not like much happened. We just, um, kissed a bit," John caught Vriska by the shoulder, spinning her around to face him again. She caught his eyes, driving her into high-gear attraction. How could anyone's eyes be so gogdamn blue?
She brushed his hand off of her shoulder, walking toward the door, almost on the verge of a breakdown, which very rarely happened to the fierce troll.
"Hey! Wait! What's wrong, Vriska?" John shouted after her. He grabbed her wrist.
"Let go of me, John!" she insisted.
"No! Not until you tell me what's going on."
Vriska took a deep breath, "Have you ever wanted something so much, but you knew it was so impossible that the thought of wanting it just seemed silly?" she asked him. This was her last resort. If she failed to get him now, John would be forever lost in Karkat's arms.
"Well, yeah, I guess. I think so," John scratched his head, "Well, I don't know."
"Well if you were in my shoes, would you go after the thing you wanted, even if it was seriously on the side of 'Not going to happen'?" She asked.
John thought for a second then said, "Well you're a whole lot braver than me, Vriska. So whatever this thing is, it's got to be somewhere around 99% impossible for your to not have done it already," Vriska's entre body seemed to sink into the floor. It wasn't looking good, "But I think maybe that the weight of the not-likeliness is holding you back from doing something. Gee, I sound like Rose!"
Vriska smiled, "So you're saying I should go for it?"
"Yeah sure!" John grinned from ear to ear, happy to help his friend.
Just do it. Just go for it.
And that is exactly what she did.