The Wyatt Estate

Noah's smile instantly dropped to a frown as she said that Ian was the kind of guy that got what he wanted, "well, good" he forced out. He tried to hide his obvious dislike of the answer, but in this case his ability to get what he wanted both helped and hurt Noah all at the same time.

His smile temporarily coming back as she claimed there were worse ways to die, "yeah, but you know that's totally going on your tombstone right if that's how you die? It's just too good to not broadcast it to the world. You'll forever be known as the girl who died from eating." He paused and smirked, "Death by Internal Combustion? I could make sure it at least sounded cooler."

"You were just doing what you needed to, I don't see why it was so bad. You spent so much time here..." Noah chewed on the inside of his lip, trying to figure out how casually to ask what he wanted to. "So, for this whole plan b thing to work, how long do you two have to be married before you get divorced?" He was assuming they wouldn't end up falling in love, but he sure as hell hoped that didn't happen. He wasn't ready to let go of her just yet. Sure, he wasn't in a place to ask her out again right now, she would obviously say no. Especially with everything going on, but the future wasn't set in stone, right?

"Feel like going shopping tomorrow? We could even go to the beach or something. There is always a volleyball game or something going on. Well, I could play and you could watch or whatever. Unless you want to play?"

Karina raised her brows at Noah's tone, a little surprised by how much venom he seemed to inject into a couple short words. "I'm talking about his schooling," she reminded him softly, because it kind of felt like that message had been lost along the way. "Not me. Although yeah, it is good to have him in my corner and willing to help me out, Noah. He's been a really good friend to me." And it was true, with the key emphasis being on friend. Ian really hadn't shown any romantic inclinations toward her since shortly after they'd returned to America, which was another reason marrying him had a better chance of working out. She actually had some idea of what his expectations for her were; Noah was much more of a wildcard.

She shook her head as Noah insisted her cause of death would go on her tombstone in that case, but he'd at least find a way to make it look cooler. "My parents aren't even the type to put Beloved Daughter on my tombstone; lettering costs extra. It would be, like, my name, and then the years I was born and died. Not even the dates. But I'm sure you could boast about the manner if you wrote the obituary; they'd totally let you." Well, what a turn for the morbid.

She was quiet for a minute as Noah turned his attention back to her immigration thing, not really sure he actually wanted the answers he was asking for. "If I'd been gone, like, less than six months? It wouldn't have really been an issue. Those extra two and a half just...shift the scope of it, I guess." She shrugged, taking a bite of the chicken she wasn't even really hungry enough to be eating since it gave her a few extra seconds before responding to his second issue. "Not long enough I can see myself wanting to get married for real before it's over?" she tried vaguely; she really never had intended to think about marriage before, like, twenty-five. When Noah's expression made it clear he wasn't just going to let it go, she sighed. "If it comes to that, probably a little more than three years. I can apply for permanent residency right away, and then the rule of thumb's three years after receiving that, before you can get citizenship. I'm not on a J-1 or anything now, so there shouldn't be any further problems."

She nodded as he suggested they go shopping or to the beach the next day, looking at him with a mixture of amusement and disbelief as he continued. "I can... watch you play?" she repeated with a laugh, shaking her head. "If I'm going to embarrass myself, I'd rather do it playing badly than like, being your personal cheerleader." His efforts to actually include her in his life outside of his bedroom meant a lot, but she'd noticed as a result that he sometimes treated her like a porcelain doll. While finally having that fight with Noah - which had really been years in the making - had cleared up a lot of things, it had also just brought up a lot of new questions, too.

Noah chewed on his lip as she talked. He let out a breathe, nodding, "I'm sorry." He meant it honestly, it was just this whole situation he didn't like. Not that he really should be complaining, he was sure the situation she was in was a few times worse and a lot more frustrating. He needed to stop being selfish and just let it be, since it wasn't like it was going to change anything.

He raised an eyebrow, "Well, we'll just have to fix that then. I have your back, don't worry." He just winked, totally joking. He definitely hope she wasn't going to be dying anytime soon." He laughed, "I would hope not, I mean, I think it's still illegal to be married to two people at once, just saying." He was just trying to ease a little tension he realized he caused. He figured he should just let up for now because he was making her uncomfortable. He smiled, "well, that's good. Lets hope it stays that way. So, don't be breaking any laws or anything anytime soon."

He laughed, "well, I don't know. I haven't see you play volleyball in years, you could have decided you didn't like playing. I didn't want to assume. I would love to play you in volleyball again. Maybe this time I can finally beat you." She used to be really good and they had always had some fun games in his backyard back home. "Think you can still beat me?" He challenged.

"It's okay," Karina said uneasily, because she wasn't really sure if it was. Maybe she needed to just clear it all up instead of letting Noah's imagination run wild. The problem with that idea was that she wasn't even sure she was correctly interpreting his distrust of Ian as jealousy, and she wasn't about to have that blow up in her face. As much as she liked Noah, it was difficult to be that open around him, because he'd already hurt her and she knew he still had the ability to. That wasn't the way things were with Ian, which was a big part of what made him a better choice for this sort of backup plan. She could go into it with the confidence of knowing she wouldn't confuse fiction and reality.

"God, I can't believe I'm even thinking about marriage," she admitted as he made a comment about bigamy still being illegal. Under normal conditions, she couldn't really even wanting to ever get married. She'd never been the type of girl to daydream about some big wedding. "You do realize that like, the whole green card marriage thing is technically illegal, right? So I can't make any promises about not breaking the law."

"Even if I didn't like playing, I'd like watching you play even less," Karina pointed out dryly, shaking her head. She smiled a little at the challenge, shaking her head. "I only won because you were already, like... eleven sheets to the wind drunk when you'd decide to play, and never noticed I wasn't drinking. Being able to stand upright without help basically ensured I'd win."