"Don't even talk a-about her lectures, I feel like I can hear them ringing in my ears now," Tatum groaned, her head shaking at the mere thought. Sera had a bad habit of pointing out the flaws of others, but she took special care in Tatum's case. There was rarely something that the redhead did that her little sister didn't have some critique or comment to give about. If it wasn't trying to play detective with her sexuality, it was trying to tell her she smoked too much weed. She could never win with Sera.

"You'll find someone, you're great," she assured him, gushing a little more than she probably would have done in front of anyone else. She never just worried about embarrassing herself, but hated embarrassing others. She couldn't even be around other people's awkwardness without feeling awkward, but when it was just Rath, she could just say whatever was on her mind. When he questioned her about her boyfriend situation, she gave a non-committal shrug.

"I guess so? I mean, it's.. it's good now, because I g-guess we can go to dances like this and s-stuff and keep mom and dad happy. And like, I already like him, like as a friend so it's like.. I dunno. It's not better, it's whatever," she sighed, knowing it wasn't a really good answer but unsure how else to explain herself. She was, more than anything since Mack's homecoming proposal, generally just feeling guilty about the whole situation. Colin had been convenient, Sam was a real friend.

While Rath hit the joint, Tatum took up where he had left off, absently picking at the side of the log now as he grinned at her. "Maybe we both will," she laughed weakly. "Can they do that? Like, even if we're related?"

Shaking her head, she managed a small smile. "If y-you went up there, I would so rip on you. But mom would definitely be happy. It's a lot of p-pressure," she admitted. Generally speaking, most of the pressure was off of her. Other than the pressure they put on her about going into medicine, Sera got all of the school awards, and Rath played the sports. It was almost like their parents just expected Tatum to be hovering in the middle, not especially good at anything in particular, but generally well rounded.

She didn't stand out, but she didn't really cause trouble. If she started winning homecoming queen and stuff, it would probably give Madeline a false sense of expectations. The last thing she wanted was an expectation of popularity on top of med school. Tatum wasn't cut out for being queen, then or ever.

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