241. shrewd: clever in practical matters; cunning
Shrewd as he was, Green still had yet to master the art of shutting off his phone alarm while half asleep. So, when his phone buzzed as if having a kind of spastic seizure, he was startled wide awake (he'd rolled on top of his phone in his sleep). After fumbling through the sheets to find the offending device, he was unable to fall back asleep, and stared at the unfamiliar, yellowing paint on the ceiling.
242. vivacious: full of animation
Though vivacious and active the day before after surprising contact with Red, Green felt the onset of lethargy once again. Celadon was a strange place of contradictions; all alive with the gamblers and shoppers, but sleepy with grass favoring trainers. It felt as if Erika, who was always on the brink of falling asleep (she probably was actually 80 or something and just had some secret plantlike longetivity), had asked her creepy ass tangela (actually all tangelas were hella freaky, even more so than Golbats) to douse the whole city in sleep powder.
Green stared blankly at the ceiling, before he startled himself when his lungs erupted into an almighty sneeze. Obnoxious pink azaleas sat in a vase by the barely open window, but shook in the light breeze as if laughing. Curse pollen or gyarados that splashed people and got them sick.
243. appease: to satisfy or attempt to satisfy demands by granting concessions
6 AM was a bit early to be roaming the streets for a restaurant, so Green decided to catch up on essay writing he'd neglected. He wasn't honestly that opposed to writing, it was just tedious, and not the part of researching he'd recalled most fondly.
His stomach apparently had risen with him and called for food a mere 30 minutes into writing. He dug out a 5 day old, surprisingly intact energy bar from the side of his backpack and munched on it in an attempt to appease his stomach.
244. extemporaneous: done with little or no preparation
Lots of people praised Green for his ease in public speaking. Green saw nothing in it; in fact, besides jotting down facts and statistics, he came to most meetings or speeches ready to speak extemporaneously. In fact, it'd be hard, and even absurd not to have your thoughts already laid out in a straight, organized line after thinking about the subject for months. Well, he also had the ability to write analysis for papers on the fly - that just took some deep thinking before hand. Writing was alright, and had been his anchor, if not booster on standardized exams. He just wasn't the type to make typos or grammar mistakes, so when he finished writing something, he rarely double checked.
245. scurry: to move with light running steps
When the digital clock at the bottom of his screen clicked to 8:00 AM, he shut his laptop screen and climbed out of bed. He felt a little bad for not indulging Eevee with some freedom the previous afternoon, and let her out as he changed and prepared to go out. She scurried between his legs and nuzzled his shins, and he was alternately tripping and laughing at her antics.
246. temporize: to act evasively in order to gain time
The noodle restaurant he was thinking about taking breakfast at had just opened, and when he entered, he noticed that the workers had just gotten there a couple minutes before hand. The pretty, blond ponytail waitress temporized, making small talk about the weather and sales at the department store as her coworkers worked frantically behind the scenes to get the soup boiling.
Green felt a little guilty, but more pleased that people were fussing over him. When the waitress seemed to run out of harmless topics and ventured on Green's relationship status, he just bluntly remarked, "I don't like girls."
247. zenith: maximum; the highest point
He half expected her to gasp or do something dramatic, but her excitement reached a new zenith. "Wow that's great! I don't like like guys, so I'm kinda in the same boat! Well, I mean, seeing guys together is probably the hottest thing, but I'm currently in love with the cutest girl on the planet! Who's your boyfriend?"
"...I'm not exactly actively in a relationship... but I do like someone and he likes me too... I think?"
She laughed cheerily. "Oh boy, what you've got to do is take the initiative. Somebody's got to kick it off, and the sooner the better! Are relatives being a problem or something?"
248. thwart: to prevent or frustrate
Green thought about Daisy and his grandpa. Both of them liked Red, and were definitely open minded enough to accept anything. He couldn't imagine either of them trying to thwart a date or something of that sort.
"No, at least I don't think they'd be."
"Then go for it!"
"Uh, he's kind of far away and won't be back for another year unless..."
"Ah, long distance, that's a challenge."
"I worry a lot that someday he'll just forget me and move on." Green pinched the bridge of his nose. Yes, he was being an angsty teenager but was it ok for him to be like this with a total stranger? This girl really seemed familiar though...
249. excoriate: to denounce sharply; to tear or wear the skin off of
She excoriated his presumption. "Memories don't vanish that easy. How long have you been together?
"We've known each other for... 12 years? I kind of confessed 3 weeks ago?"
She face palmed. "At this rate, you'll be old and and a hunch-back by the time you think of living together!"
250. credulous: tending to believe too easily
They chatted on, with mostly Green worrying and the blonde girl reassuring and scolding. When the kitchen workers called on her to bring out Green's noodles, she handed him a note with her number.
"My name's Yellow; I swear I'm not trying to hit on you, because I'm totally in it for someone else right now. But I thought you might want to talk sometime again, since you were already so willing to talk to me as a stranger this morning." She giggled.
Green wondered if he was being credulous in thinking her intentions entirely platonic and innocent. "...I've told you my story, but who's this special girl of yours?
Yellow blushed. "She's really hot, but I don't have my phone on me during working hours because I get distracted real easy. Her name's Leaf. Do you know her?"