✔ o h . e m . g e e ✔ | t e s t | ✗☣✗

Favorite Band?

Danger Radio	6.0%	[ 9 ]
Escape the Fate	20.5%	[ 31 ]
Alesana	6.6%	[ 10 ]
Here for da goldz!	11.9%	[ 18 ]
blessthefall	1.3%	[ 2 ]
Breathe Carolina	9.9%	[ 15 ]
Dance Gavin Dance	1.3%	[ 2 ]
Bring Me the Horizon	7.9%	[ 12 ]
Emarosa	1.3%	[ 2 ]
Your face!	33.1%	[ 50 ]
Total Votes:			[ 151 ]

[empty sighs and wine]

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xxxxxxxxxYeah, I'm the sexxxxxxxxxx

Irial had a plan for today’s events, and that plan had most definitely NOT included going to help Alexi with her groceries. No, he wasn’t thinking that to be mean, he was thinking it because . . . well, today was supposed to be the day he actually talked to Andy about his love for Andy’s cousin and asked him the best way to get her to stop treating him like a huge jerk and a*****e all the time. Today, Irial was supposed to just relax and not think about her so he could collect his thoughts and figure out exactly what to do. So what if he’d spent nearly a week doing that? He wasn’t so sure Alexi was ready to talk to him, let alone forgive him or accept a date with him. Hell, she hadn’t ever done it before today, and that was when he HADN’T screwed up and made the biggest mistake of his life. Irial, unlike Andy, actually had the balls to ask the girl he liked out on a date. The only thing was that when he asked her out, Alexi thought it was a joke or something, or she just stared at him like he was absolutely crazy for thinking for one second that she’d date him. And strangely . . . Irial understood that, though it did put a damper on his huge ego. Despite that, though, it hadn’t discouraged him. He’d continued to talk to Alexi when he could and try to flirt with her to see if maybe he was just dreaming and she honestly didn’t like him in that way. There was no way that she COULDN’T like him in THAT way. It was just implausible. Number one, he was Irial. He pretty much had every girl in the town after him, minus his relatives and Alexi. But that wasn’t JUST it. If she didn’t like him . . . Irial would be absolutely heartbroken, and not just because for once a girl didn’t like him and want to be with him.

He wasn’t the type of guy that was discouraged so easily that if one girl didn’t like him he would die. But THIS girl was different. This was Alexi, and Irial had liked her from the start, and fell in love with her short after. If she were to completely and officially reject him, he wouldn’t be able to just go on with his life like he’d done before. He’d beat himself up for being such an egotist and man-whore and letting a woman like Alexi get away from him, and he’d feel like a pathetic piece of crap. That’s how he felt; for instance, when he woke up the morning after that party in Alexi’s bed with . . . Sheila. Sheila, of all people. It couldn’t have been someone else that he’d accidentally slept with because he’d drunk something he thought was water?! It couldn’t have been some other sweet and NICE girl that he’d slept with to break his two month streak of NOT having sexing?! Yes, Irial actually had a conscience, and he felt terrible that he’d slept with Sheila on Alexi’s bed . . . and broke the bed in the same night. He hadn’t meant to, although he was sure Alexi didn’t believe that for a second. She hadn’t exactly given him a chance to explain himself, though. As soon as she saw him in her room half naked (or completely naked and covered with a blanket) she’d slapped him in the face and told him to get the hell out of his house and hadn’t talked to him since. He honestly wished that Alexi would have let him explain that he’d accidentally sipped some clear skull punch and had gotten more than a LOT drunk and couldn’t even see who it was that had pulled him aside to kiss him and do other things that had gotten him excited. Alright, so he knew that explanation would have gotten him slapped again, but he just had no other way of explaining without spilling his heart to Alexi and her taking it as a complete joke.

That wasn’t to say that he didn’t have a plan, though. With her refusal to speak to him, he’d gotten a better perspective of things, and had a starting point. There were a few things that had to happen, first. Number one; he would have to stop drinking alcohol at parties in order to prevent himself from sleeping with anyone (unless they were Alexi). Number two; he needed to get a hold of his libido and not get so damn horny so damn much. That would require hard concentration, and not watching porn when he got excited. Actually, that he could handle, as he would rather watch Alexi anyway . . . which led to number three; he would have to stop thinking of Alexi that way! Was it that hard to link her with something OTHER than how gorgeous and confident and just sexy she was?! Yes, but damnit if he could get control of his second brain, maybe Alexi would give him a chance! There were also other factors . . . such as his egocentricity and joking around all the time would have to stop but . . .well it was a miracle that Irial was even TRYING to make these revisions, and for a girl, no less! Yet Andy still reprimanded him for sleeping with Sheila, not caring that he’d been s**t-faced when it happened. No matter how vile, unattractive, and bitchy Sheila was, Irial wished Andy would give him at least a little credit! Unless his best friend just hadn’t noticed that he was paying less and less attention to girls’ boobs and a**, and more attention to their faces and mind. That shouldn’t have normally been something Andy would miss, hell Irial noticed how Andy had stopped sleeping with girls! Did he know the reason why? No. But he figured the reason that Andy didn’t see Irial’s new behavior was . . . Cass.

Irial mentally groaned when he thought about Andy liking his little sister. It just wasn’t right! She was . . . only just eighteen! AND she was the only sibling Irial had! If Andy were to date his little sister, number one, Irial would be on his balls all the time. It didn’t matter that they were best friends, his sister being hurt by Andy was the last thing he wanted, because it’d be his fault if it happened. Two, Andy would occupy all his sisters time and . . . well, Irial didn’t know it, but he just wasn’t ready to let his sister go. He had a hard time believing that she was an adult already and could do whatever the hell she wanted. He’d always been this protective over her, and he wasn’t going to stop being overprotective for his best friend. Luckily, Andy hadn’t asked about Cass more than necessary, lately. Although, Irial WAS kind of suspicious of how Andy was so eager to get inside and make sure Cass didn’t violate his sandwich. However, unfortunately Irial had more pressing matters to deal with and could momentarily let it slide. Alexi was at her car and unloading groceries, and Irial was supposed to go help. As he approached her, he actually didn’t immediately look down at her boobs and a**, which was an accomplishment on his behalf. He’d looked at her from afar and saw that, yes, she looked gorgeous as always, but no boob looking was allowed! Even if her shirt WAS really tight, Irial had looked straight at her face when he asked if he could help with groceries.

But apparently Alexi was STILL pissed at him, because she coldly told him that she didn’t need his help and walked straight into her house without giving him another second. Irial literally face-palmed himself, because he didn’t know how he’d done something wrong already! He’d not looked down at her chest when he was talking, nor had he stared at Alexi’s a** when she bent over slightly, so that meant Alexi was holding a grudge about the Sheila thing. But he didn’t know how he was supposed to make it up to her for that when she wasn’t even giving him the chance to apologize. Alright, that was fine, Irial would just stand out there until she came back out, and THEN he could say he was truly sorry and give her the money he thought the bed had cost. Running a hand through his hair, he leaned against the back of her car, noticing that (a-ha!) she’d left the trunk open, so she’d HAVE to come back outside. And even though when she’d come out and leaned against the car as well, she had a look of utter annoyance on her face, Irial started to speak. “Look, I’m s--” Okay, so he didn’t even get to say he was sorry, because she’d put up a hand telling him to shut up and was talking herself. What she had to say . . . well, it actually hurt Irial’s feelings. He understood why she’d though that was what he was going to talk about, but those four things were not what he always told her when he came up to her to talk. Sure, he’d jokingly called her a lesbian, but it was ONCE! And even then, he was drunk, so he hadn’t meant it at all. His mother had raised him better than to assume someone’s sexuality just because they wouldn’t date you. What hurt the most was that he’d come to apologize and she automatically assumed he was here to be an arrogant a*****e (which he knew he was most of the time, but he was trying to change!).

He was sure the hurt he was feeling was showing on his face, too, though Alexi didn’t pay that any mind as she started walking into her house, saying that it was too hot and to talk as they walked because she’d been up since four in the morning and had groceries to put up. There were two things that were running through his mind at that moment. The first one was that . . . he really did love her. Despite the fact that she had hurt his feelings, Irial loved the way that she was. Who didn’t love a woman that could stick up for herself and had THAT kind of attitude? Irial had always admired that of her, because it meant that she would be able to keep him in line if they were to ever to actually get together. Most of the girls he was with tolerated the mouth he had on him and his uncanny ability to always have something to say. He knew that if he ever said something that crossed the line while with Alexi, she wouldn’t be afraid to kick him in his family jewels to get him to shut up or realize that he’d said something wrong (because she’d done it before, and DAMN it had hurt him good). The second thing that ran through his mind was that he thought Alexi needed a break. She was ALWAYS working, and he saw how tired she was sometimes. See, if Alexi would let him, he’d help out with anything for her. Honestly, Irial would do anything if it meant less stress on the woman that he hoped to get to see that he wasn’t a bad guy. It didn’t matter if it was . . . cleaning all the toilets in the house! Irial was that desperate and that . . . whipped by Alexi.

“Okay . . . then we’ll talk inside. Because number one; while you DO look very beautiful today, I did not come over to tell you that, and you don’t need to be told anyway. Number two; if I did happen to buy you a bikini or a bathing suit, it wouldn’t be skimpy. Number three; thank you very much, although I’m sad to hear that you haven’t changed your mind on that matter, and number four, I know you aren’t a lesbian and I’m not stupid enough to try and ask you out again, just so you can shove in my face that you hate my guts.” What? Just because he was hurt by the statement, didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to have a retort to what she’d have. And what was more, everything he said was true. She did look beautiful, and he hadn’t looked directly at her a** and boobs, and he thought that she honestly didn’t need anyone else to tell her how beautiful she was. On the swimsuit matter . . . too be perfectly honest, skimpy bikinis turned him OFF. He wasn’t sure why, but . . . if a swimsuit was too slutty or skimpy, he didn’t like it. Everything didn’t need to be showing, there were some things that should be left to the imagination (one of the reasons he adored Alexi so much). He honestly WAS sad that she still thought he was the biggest man-whore on the planet, because he was working on not being one and she didn’t see it. He hadn’t slept with anyone for two months! And Sheila didn’t count because she was an accident and he absolutely hated her. At this moment, he honestly wanted to push Sheila into the pits of the fieriest hell. And . . . lastly, he didn’t want to chance asking her out again. He knew that she hated his guts; because she’d made it known every single time he decided that he wanted to talk to her.

Irial wasn’t thinking of that right now, however. He was thinking of apologizing and . . . trying to find a way to show that Irial was here with honest intentions. He wished he could run to Cass for some quick advice, maybe even Andy, but he was pretty sure that if he left right now, after he was already in her house and walking towards the kitchen, that there was no way Alexi would ever let him back into her house. At least, not today. No matter what he decided to do to get her to see he was serious, no doubt what he did would be such an “Irial” thing to do. As Alexi started putting away groceries, Irial sighed and went up behind her, grabbing her shoulders. No, he wasn’t molesting her! “Alexi, sit down. If you’ve been on your feet since four thirty, I’m not letting you stand up while I can help.” Yes, he was grabbing her shoulders so he could pull her back from the cabinets and sit her down in a chair that was in the kitchen, and then proceeded to put her groceries up FOR her. As continued putting up her groceries for her, he bit his lip then finally started telling her the reason he was here. “Anyway, like I was trying to say before you dubbed me ‘Sir Screws Around A Lot’ . . . I wanted to tell you that I was sorry for what happened to your bed. And I’m not just saying it because I’m tired of the Alexi Death Glares; I honestly didn’t expect or even want that to happen.” Irial paused his work on putting things up for a moment, so he could go to Alexi and pull out his wallet. If he was going to apologize, he was going to do it all at once, because he never knew when Alexi was going to kick him out. When he was near Alexi, he pulled out a huge stack of hundred dollar bills. There were forty of them to be exact, four thousand dollars that he was using to pay her back for his horrendous incident. He picked up her hand and put the money in her hand, because he knew she wouldn’t take it herself, then turned back to finish up the last of the groceries. “You don’t have to forgive me, but I’m paying you back anyway.”

[empty sighs and wine]

To be honest, Niall was extremely glad to be going back to New York for good. There were a few different reasons for this overwhelming joy that he felt when he finally touched down in his home state, and one of them was that he loved New York a hell of a lot more than he liked California. It was true, Niall hadn’t liked California, even BEFORE he’d moved there for college. He didn’t have anything against California or anything, the place was pretty nice and the people there were nice as well, it was just . . .California wasn’t New York, plain and simple. California was always hot, and Niall had grown up in a cooler environment. He missed having to wear two jackets during the winter, and missed the snow. There were lots of things about New York that Niall missed, and he was happy to leave the Californian environment if that meant he could see snow and have all the pleasures he used to have. The only reason he was in California to begin with was because he’d gotten a full scholarship and was not going to pass it up for the world. UCLA had a very good program for graphic design and he was glad to be able to get a scholarship to the school, but he wasn’t glad that he had to get a scholarship so far away. Aside from the fact that Niall was glad he didn’t have to go back to the stuffy state of California, Niall missed his parents. He would admit that he was a momma’s boy. He’d been around his parents for the first eighteen years of his life non-stop, even if he was usually the one taking care of THEM. Who didn’t like to be home with their parents and just . . . bleh, it is hard for me to explain. Niall’s level of affection for people is too high for his own good. A prime example of this would be the most important reason he was happy to be in New York: Kate.

It can’t be said enough how much he wanted to see her and spend some time with her again, despite the fact that he knew it was HIS fault that he missed her so much in the first place. Didn’t people say that if you ignored it, it would go away? Well, he’d tried to ignore his feelings for Kate, but they didn’t go away. If anything, they grew more than ever the longer he had been away from his best friend. Not visiting except for maybe twice a year had been his attempt of getting Kate out of his mind but . . . he saw that the task wasn’t possible. Kate would text him so many times throughout each day and every single time that he opened his phone and saw that it was Kate, he’d smile like he was the happiest man in the world. It was amazing to him how close he and Kate were, even when he didn’t visit as much as he should. Not many people could keep that close friendship when they lived halfway across the country, which he knew for a fact. He’d had a friend that had moved to another country. They’d promised to keep in touch and of course they didn’t keep in touch. But Kate wasn’t going to let them drift apart, even if sometimes Niall thought that it would help him get over the fact that she would never in a million years feel the same way about him that he did for her. Kate had no reason to feel the same way for him, did she? He was only a . . . a caretaker. Someone that was like a brother to her, yeah, that was it. When he’d finally started walking out to the parking garage, though, and saw Kate on his way out . . . it hit him that he’d never be able to get over her.

Who would possibly be able to get over such a beauty? Niall wasn’t only in love with her because she was beautiful, though. No, that would just be stupid. He couldn’t get over . . . everything about her, and it was everything about her that made him think that she could easily have any guy that she wanted falling for her. Who couldn’t like the way she would walk around almost in a near constant blush (an adorable blush at that), or the way that she was always listening to music. There were many small an insignificant things about Kate that were impossible not to notice and love. At least, for Niall that was how things were. When he’d greeted her with a hug, it was the insignificant things about Kate that had him smiling so brightly. For instance, the way she tackled him with another hug when he decided to let her go had his smile double in size if it was even possible. Niall didn’t find it odd in the least that she’d hugged him that way because he figured that she missed him. They were still best friends, and best friends could miss one another in that way, right? Yes, they could, which is why Niall wrapped his arms around her waist as tight as he could without breaking her, so he could show her that he’d missed her just as much as she missed him. There was also the fact that he loved the way she felt in his arms, although he knew he shouldn’t have been thinking that. It would just make him want to actually be with her more, and he was trying to halt all feelings of love for her. Niall could love her as a friend, but loving more than that was strictly off limits. Noticing how small and feminine and comfortable she was would not help his case. Luckily, she pulled away, and Niall was set back on track when he saw her crying.

Okay, so maybe he didn’t get put back on track. Kate looked gorgeous even when she was crying! That didn’t mean that he wanted to see her cry, even if they were happy tears, but she was just too gorgeous for words. He wished he could tell her that, but friends didn’t just casually tell their best friend that they thought they were absolutely gorgeous when they cried. He wasn’t sure if friends gave friends kisses on the forehead either, but he found himself doing it anyway. He couldn’t help it, she was just all . . . she was Kate! Niall had enjoyed giving her that simple and sweet kiss on the forehead, though he frowned inwardly at the fact that she’d turned a beet red blush in response. What if it was because she didn’t want him to do that? That she didn’t want to be seen with Niall and him giving her a kiss on the forehead?! Niall was going to say something about it . . . that he was sorry for kissing her on the forehead and that it was just an impulse, but he realized that would make him seem defensive or something. Not to mention, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that maybe Kate was just being Kate. She was the shyest person that he had ever met, now that he thought about it. Kate was just a natural blushing beauty! So maybe it wasn’t that he’d done anything wrong, and it definitely wasn’t because she liked the kiss, it was that she was a shy girl and would blush at anything and everything. Niall wanted to face-palm himself for almost ruining his cover, but didn’t because Kate was signing to him again, noticing that he was indeed very exhausted. Just her mentioning exhaustion made him want to let out a long yawn and stretch out and maybe take a seat on the ground to fall asleep. But luckily, he had no need to sleep right now. He was with Kate, and they were hopefully going to be able to talk over coffee.

“You’re right, I really am totally exhausted,” he signed to her with a smile, then shook his head. “But how could I not smile around you? I missed you too much not to smile in your presence." Niall wasn't going to lie about that. It honestly was impossible not to smile around Kate, no matter how long he'd been apart from her. There was just something about her that could make any person smile, and not just because Niall happened to be in love with her. Her smiles were contagious, Niall knew that much just by the way she was smiling with a light blush rapidly fading from her cheeks as she put things away in her bag. Looking at her, he wondered just how exhausted SHE was. Somehow, even though he knew she had to be tired, she didn't look like she was. Maybe it was because Niall was bias and thought she looked beautiful anyway but . . . he knew he would hate it if she'd stayed up long because he'd been stupid enough to forget to charge his phone the night before. He just couldn't get that out of his mind, and thought he would have to hook it up to the charger as soon as he got to a place with a socket for him to put the charger into. However, his mind flew straight back to Kate when she grabbed onto his hand to hold. It was strange how he would drop anything he was thinking because of Kate, even if what he had on mind was something extremely important (or at least, important to him). Maybe it was just that holding Kate's hand had always been something he liked. They'd done it so often when he'd lived in New York, even if it was just for a few seconds to make sure she didn't get lost in a crowd, and . . . . well, he didn't want to sound oddly attached to Kate, but he'd always liked feeling like he was her protector when she decided they needed to hold hands. Yes, that's right, Niall would never reach for her hand himself. If he did that, she could take it and think that he DID like her, and then she'd shun him and it would be terrible and . . .alright, so maybe that wouldn't happen, but that was what he thought. It made more sense to let her choose if she wanted him to hold her hand or not, that way it didn't get awkward.

Yet of course, there was an extreme downside to holding Kate's hand, and that was that he couldn't sign. Neither of them could, because it took two hands to sign the right way. Niall knew he could talk though, so . . . when she didn't let him have both hands, that was what he did. This time was different than all the other times though. Normally, Niall wouldn't want to talk in such a crowded place with so many people, because he'd stumble over words and be nervous and just wouldn't sound right. But since his adventures in California, particularly the past nine months where he hadn't visited home AT ALL, he'd changed a little. When Niall started speaking this time, there was no stumbling. Of course it did shock him a little, but he knew what it was from, so he wasn't going to pay too much attention to it. He was actually glad that he hadn't stumbled over any words and had changed in that way. It meant he could talk to Kate without feeling like an idiot. Believe it or not, despite his hate in talking to people, Niall loved to talk to Kate using his voice. He wasn't sure why, maybe it was because she seemed to brighten up when he used his voice were once. He didn't like his voice. . . . but if it made Kate happy, he was happy to talk to her. Right now, though, he was really tired and wasn't sure if it would effect the way he was speaking. You know, his brain might shut down his ability to speak in coherent sentences! It could happen. At least, he knew that's what happened with him sometimes, so after he'd decided against and for staying with Kate rather than in a hotel, he went back to signing once they reached the parking garage. He found himself shivering at the cold, because he'd only worn a light sweater on the plane, and pulled out the jacket he'd brought with him as he looked to Kate for an answer to whether or not they'd need his car.

What she'd had to say didn't really please him. Of course, he didn't mind that he'd have to be the designated driver, but he hated that Kate couldn't drive herself if she needed to get somewhere because of her epilepsy. Now, don't get him wrong, he knew that she was perfectly capable of getting places on her own, whether it be by taxi or by foot, but he didn't feel comfortable with her walking to the airport. It didn't matter if someone else had been with her, Niall didn't want for someone to come by her and do something to her, like kidnap her, because she'd had to walk! He knew where she lived, and it wasn't exactly close to the airport, which is why Niall found himself sighing deeply as she finished up her statement. And to be honest, he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to say to her revelation of a doctor's order. He wanted to tell her that she shouldn't have walked because it was dangerous, yet he knew that she often worried about having other people worry over her and wasn't sure that was the right approach. So he settled on looking down at one of his suitcases to find something to do while he thought. He was actually trying to find some gloves for him to put on, because even though he loved the Winter season, it was still cold and he could only tolerate it with the appropriate attire. He was interrupted by Kate touching him to get his attention, though, causing him to look up at her curiously. Niall couldn't help but to smile at the excitement in her signing. Like with voices, he could "hear" the excitement in her signing, and the fact that she was so excited over this idea she had made Niall pay all the more attention to what she was doing.

Not surprisingly, her idea was good. She was right that it'd save him gas money, even though he didn't particularly need to save money right now. He had plenty of money with him, thanks to his ability to know how to manage his money, but she looked so happy with herself for thinking up the idea, and Niall knew he'd appreciate more time with her, just walking. At her idea, he actually did laugh out loud, but it wasn't because he thought her idea was stupid. No, he quickly made it known that it was for another reason entirely. Yet because his hands were cold and he was still looking for his gloves, he ended up speaking again. "I think that's a wonderful idea, Kate. We'll do that, and hopefully when we get back we won't be too tired to do some more traveling. The last cup of coffee I had did absolutely nothing to wake me up." There he went again. Niall noticed that he wasn't speaking in such short sentences anymore, which, before now, he hadn't noticed. With people in California, aside from to his professors, all he would do is say those short worded sentences and nod or shake his head. Yet it would be stupid to show surprise at his own voice and words, so Niall looked up to Kate once he found his gloves and smiled at her, just in time to see her sign that she was a sucker for a good snow fall. Of course, he knew that, which was why as soon as he heard her say that there was a chance for snow, he decided that they were walking. Not to mention that Niall loved the snow as well, yet another thing he missed about New York.

He found himself laughing at her teasing statement, and figured since he was already talking, he should just continue to speak until later. He wasn't going to have his hands when he was putting things up in the car, nor when Kate and he were walking to wherever this coffee shop was, so maybe if he started talking more there would be no possibility of the speaking portion of his brain falling asleep. "Well we can definitely walk to the coffee shop, because I'd like to see the snow, too. I miss it. And hmm, I'm not sure if I've gotten used to California weather, but just in case, you can still help keep me warm." Yeah, Niall could tease back, too. It wasn't anything over-the-top, and she had started it, so he could continue it, right? He found the key where the rental company had left it taped underneath the driver's seat door, then unlocked the car and put away his things and anything Kate didn't need to bring along with her into the trunk, then once they were situated, he walked back to her with yet another smile. Why wasn't the damn smile going away? Niall didn't know if he cared or not, as he was about to walk with Kate, possibly in the snow. He would have taken Kate's hand again, but then they wouldn't have been able to talk on the way, so he just stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I hope you know where, you're going, though. If we get lost, I'll have to keep YOU warm, though I don't necessarily mind." He joked back with her again, surprised at his own actions, and desperately hoping that she didn't catch the underlying meaning to that. The underlying meaning being that he wanted to hold her close and never let go.

[empty sighs and wine]

Addie and crying seemed to always coincide with each other, ever since she had first moved in with the Royalle’s. It was something that the teen absolutely hated to do and at the same time did so very frequently. It was something she’d been dealing with for a long time, and her mental condition didn’t seem to help anything. Mr. Royalle had been the one to first see her cry. When she was nine years old, she’d joined the family and had a hard time adjusting. See, Addie had been used to only one parent adopting her, and they had typically not even been around; they’d left Addie alone in the house to fend for herself while they went out and did what they had to do. That had been what left Addie so scared and alone. She needed a family that would care for her as much as her original parents had, especially because she still hadn’t understood why they were gone. She’d only been a little kid that didn’t understand the concept of death, let alone murder. Mr. and Mrs. Royalle had to iron everything out with their new daughter over a long period of time. Nightmares and years of being alone weren’t just going to poof into thin air; in fact, Addie was still suffering from nightmares and feelings of depression, but that was what medication and frequent therapy was for. The matter still remained the same, though. Addie cried when her feelings were hurt, and there really wasn’t much anyone could do about it, especially if the daily medication she took hadn’t kicked in. Right at this very moment, she only just blinked back some tears that were threatening to spill out of her eyes, because she hadn’t even taken her medication yet.

Willem had just pulled Addie from the kitchen and to the bathroom. Addie didn’t quite understand at first why he was doing so, but quickly she figured that he was just like she was when she was little. If more than two people ever came into a room at one time, she would run off and hide somewhere. Whoever it was that had come into the room only figured that she loved to play hide and seek, even at the age of nine or ten, but really it was that she didn’t like being around so many people. Had she grown up in a different manner, it wouldn’t have been that way, but because of her experiences, Addie knew that there were certain steps that had to be taken with people like herself and Willem. Addie figured that it was her duty to make Willem feel at home and as comfortable as possible, especially under the circumstances. Addie felt horrible that it was her fault Willem now had a huge gash down his arm. Technically, it wasn’t her fault, but her cat’s fault, but Addie just felt bad that she hadn’t been able to keep Jada calmer when she’d dropped that glass dish. And besides, Willem just looked so . . . well, she wasn’t sure, but he looked stressed and panicked, so she tried to give him a hug. Hugs made everything better, and made people calm down, right? That was what Addie was thinking, but when she felt him pushing her away . . . Addie honestly felt even worse at that and didn’t know what she was supposed to do. Well, first off, she stopped hugging him, and turned away.

There were two reasons for her turning away, and one of them was that she knew she needed to swallow the pills her dad had given her before she forgot. The other reason . . . well it hurt her that Willem had pushed her away. She’d only been trying to help, and family gave family hugs right? Maybe it was just more that she figured that it meant he didn’t like her, and that was one thing she feared most. Once she took her medicine, though, she felt a little better. Not because the pills were working yet, but because she knew that soon they WOULD start working. And once they started working, Addie would be back to normal! Her normal hyper self. Well, she was even hyper when she was depressed, but Addie could tell what the difference was, and so could her parents. She just wished that the medicine would hurry up and do its job! Because Willem had just asked a question that she knew the answer might not be that pleasing to him. Of course, Addie wasn’t going to lie. No, to be honest, Addie never lied. Alright . . . well, sometimes she did, but it wasn’t the kind of lie that was detrimental. At least, not to Addie’s knowledge. Addie had lied once when she thought she was going to get in trouble for something, and when her brother Taylor asked if he was crazy sometimes, she said no. But she wouldn’t lie to Willem and say that she had two siblings when she knew there were a lot more than that, because she knew there would be no point in it. Answering his question, however, seemed to be the last straw.

Addie couldn’t believe she was crying in front of her new brother already! Granted, it was because he didn’t seem to like her and she thought she was doing a terrible job at being a good sister, but she didn’t want to cry and prove to him that she was a big baby! Addie tried to cover up the fact that she was crying by trying to wipe the tears away before Willem could see her, but he’d already seen that she was crying. Addie didn’t see the soft expression on Willem’s face because she’d sat down on the floor to try and calm down again. She didn’t mean to make Willem feel bad . . . she just honestly couldn’t take anymore. She’d spent all morning making brownies and cleaning up the house and fixing up Willem’s room while the other kids had been out and about playing, and then found out that they didn’t want her brownies and Willem hated her. So when Willem said that he was sorry, Addie didn’t look at him, but instead just pulled her knees to her chest and sat there for a moment. She mentally told herself that she needed to act differently, or else her therapist wouldn’t be very happy when they next had a session face to face, but for some reason she just couldn’t make herself confront her problems with Willem. Rather, she couldn’t verbally tell Willem that he’d hurt her feelings and list out all the ways that he’d hurt her feelings. That was what she was SUPPOSED to do, but it didn’t seem like the best approach at the moment. At least, not until she saw Willem moving to sit down near her and he was patting her shoulder.

He’d said that she could hug him if she stopped crying, which made her smile. She wasn’t sure why, but that made her feel a lot better, and that maybe he didn’t hate her all that much after all. Because when she’d hugged him at first he’d pushed her away, and now he said she could hug him as long as she wanted if she just stopped crying. But would he hug back? It wouldn’t be a hug if he didn’t hug back, would it!? Addie didn’t care . . .she just didn’t want to cry anymore, and wanted that hug. Hugs always made Addie feel better, no matter who the hug was from. Addie sighed and wiped her eyes then looked back to Willem. “It’s alright I guess. I cry all the time, no big deal. Normally people just don’t see it.” That was true, because Addie tended to hide when she was crying. Taylor and Addie’s own girlfriend had called her a cry baby before, and Addie didn’t like that. Now Willem had seen her cry, and she wasn’t sure what he thought of it, aside from being sorry that he’d made her cry. However, a hug would cure everything! After another few seconds of thinking and wiping at her eyes, there were no more tears running and Addie smiled a tiny bit as she leaned over to give Willem a hug. She’d wrapped her arms all the way around him, without jarring his bad arm, and stayed there for about thirty seconds with her head against his shoulder before she pulled away. She was in a bit of a better mood, and now all she needed was a few words of encouragement. The person to give those words must have sensed Addie’s distress, too, because soon Addie’s cell phone was ringing. The ringer was set to “I’m Not Jesus” by Apocalyptica, letting Addie know it was her therapist. Addie honestly didn’t want to talk to her in front of Willem, but she’d yet to stitch Willem back up, so it was probably a necessary thing.

“Sorry . . . I’ll make it quick then I can fix you up.” Addie answered the phone with a Hello, then cringed as her therapist immediately asked her what was wrong. Addie looked towards Willem then shrugged as if the woman could see the gesture. “Nothing’s wrong . . . . . Yes I took my medication . . . No, I don’t need to see you right now. Maybe later, though. . . . . . .Ha ha ha, very funny, of course I remember what you taught me, I just forgot for a few seconds! . . . . . .Well I don’t have my calendar with me, but I thinkkkkk we had a session scheduled for Tuesday after I get off of work. . . . . . . Mhm, I promise! Kay . . . . Thanks, I’ll call if I need anything, of course. Bye.” Addie hung up the phone, and it was obvious that she was feeling better. Dr. Linden always had a way of knowing the right words to get Addie back in her usual mood, though mostly it was her bribing Addie with a family recipe for a macaroni dish. It was simplistic things like that that made Addie so happy all the time, but Addie had other more serious matters to take care of. Willem’s arm had to be healed enough by now for her to sew it up. “Um . . . okay, there are a few things I need that aren’t in the first aid kit . . . so I’ll be right back. You’ll be okay waiting, right?” Addie didn’t want to leave him alone in the bathroom if he would rather not wait alone, but Addie needed to hurry up and get what she needed before she got sidetracked by something else! If Willem wanted to follow along, Addie wouldn’t mind in the least, so she just stood up and slipped her phone back into her pocket, then left the bathroom for the kitchen.

When she entered the kitchen, for some reason her parents and Allen stopped talking, but Addie just shrugged and skipped to the cabinet where she took out some medical thread and numbing spray, then she set them down on a small plate and went over to the counter to get a few brownies. She knew Willem hadn’t wanted any at first. .. . but the sugar would help during the time she sewed him up! Addie noticed then that there were quite a few brownies gone. . . then she looked up to see Allen eating one, and smiled. So he liked them after all! “Allen, if you want me to make you some more brownies, you can bring some home! They don’t take long to prepare and . . . well if you don’t want to wait for them to be done, I can take them to you or . .. something. Anyway, I have to go back so I can finish and . . . . Mom, where’s Jada?” It didn’t occur to Addie how much she changed her object of attention, she just knew that Jada wasn’t in the kitchen. However, her mother assured her that Jada was just fine and in the house, so Addie shrugged, took two brownies and set them on the plate, then went back to the bathroom. There, she sat the plate down and then got the first aid kit so she could start getting everything ready. The caring side of Addie always showed, but it showed more when she was about to do something of the medical nature. Addie wanted to get into the medical field when she got older and out of college, despite the assumptions people made of her. If anything, her hyperactivity would help her become a surgeon, because she wouldn’t get tired as easily. Her clumsiness . . . well, that could be fixed! At any rate, Addie was very careful and precise when it came to things like this.

“Kay so . . . sit on the toilet and . . . well, you don’t have to eat the brownies, but the sugar will help! Not sure why, but . . . . .well, if anything, the brownies could be a distraction from the needle or something.” While Willem sat down where she’d designated, Addie put her hair up with a rubber band, then washed her hands so she could start. After she’d taken the bandage she’d originally put over the long cut, Addie cleaned it up again, and took out the can of numbing spray, and looked down at Willem, wondering if he really wanted her to do this. “Are you sure you don’t want to just go to the hospital? I mean, they’ll probably do a better job and maybe they’d give you a lollipop or something . . . .I just don’t want to hurt you, which I most likely won’t because I’ve done this before and always do this kind of stuff, but I don’t want you to be mad at me if I accidentally poke you or something. . . .”





Mr. and Mrs. Royalle honestly didn’t believe that they had been clued in on everything about their new son before they’d agreed to adopt him, although they weren’t expecting to know, either. There was always another story that needed to be told, and not all stories were told up front. Mr. Royalle knew it when he and his wife had first considered adopting Willem, and definitely knew it after the events that had just happened. But neither of the Royalle’s was very worried about it. After Addie and all the other troubled children they’d adopted, they could handle Willem for sure. They just had to know everything that they hadn’t been told. And what they hadn’t been told was quite a big piece of information, but the Royalle’s took it with ease. Willem sounded exactly like Taylor, who was bi-polar, only a tad bit worse. Nonetheless, what Allen had told them didn’t discourage them any from welcoming Willem into the family with open arms. Of course they weren’t going to go back on their word! They looked at adoption sort of like marriage was viewed. It was for better or worse until death did them part. They sure as hell didn’t want to die, but that was the only way they were going to let go of Willem, unless he just hated them so much and wanted to leave, that is. After a moment or two or thinking, Mrs. Royalle spoke up. “Well then, it looks like we’ll just have to be extra careful with what happens around the house. We’ll talk to the kids and tell them to watch what they say and only to call him Rhys, and I’m sure everything will be fine.” Mr. Royalle was just about to make a comment, when Addie had popped up out of nowhere, so he stopped speaking.

He was, however, happy to see that she didn’t have that distraught look in her eyes that she’d had before. She was skipping around again and for the most part happy, and her ability to get off track, even when doing something she was supposed to be doing made him chuckle. She’d asked her mother where Jada was in the middle of saying she had to leave again, causing Mrs. Royalle to laugh as well, and look towards one of the exits of the kitchen. “I think Jada is making friends with Koga, so I think she’s perfectly fine. She’ll come to you when she’s ready to.” Once Addie was safely around the corner, Mr. Royalle cleared his throat and spoke up. “Like I was going to say before Addie waltzed in . . . . Rhys’ behavior at school is certainly different, but we’ll just have to approach him differently. I’m not scared for our family’s safety . . . . all the kids certainly know how to handle violent situations. There may be tears, but Addie always takes care of injuries and she’s got a way of resolving situations and calming people down easily. She’s our secret weapon.” That was definitely an understatement. Addie had helped the family in more ways than one, and not just by knowing how to take care of people. The Royalle’s just hoped that Willem didn’t have any troubles settling in, and that nothing bad happened before they could talk to the rest of the family.

Mrs. Royalle felt the need to lighten the mood, though, and gestured towards the steadily disappearing brownies. “I’m guessing you really like them, huh? We always have an ever-lasting supply, fortunately.”

[empty sighs and wine]

Joshua Caden Moriarty

Yeah, that's my name. But call me anything other than Josh
and I'll stab you with a plastic light saber. Don't test me!
I’ve been this way (sexy, gorgeous, and gay) for a total of
eighteen years, so good luck changing me. Chances are I
won’t change, though, least of all for YOU. Seriously, what
to you take me for? A dimwit? HA! I’m pretty smart actually,
though I do get side-tracked, especially when my man is in
my presence. OH YEAH. GARRETT? DUN TOUCH HIM! HE IS
MINE! Even if he ISN’T a piece of property. The only one
allowed to look and touch is ME. Yes, ME. That would make
me the overprotective friend and boyfriend. But WHATEVER.
BACKDROPsilhouette, my OTHER best friend, aside from The
Will-meister, still loves me for it. So stick that in your juice box
and suck it!

No, seriously. Do it. I double dog dare you. NO TRIPLE DOG
DARE YOU! Mhm, I did it. What now?! That’s right, go read
those facts. You just got pwned like a n00b on Gaia. Suck it.

xoxo First off. If you aren’t comfortable with homosexual people,
xoxothen I suggest you step away from me. Actually, no. On
xoxosecond though, I don’t care if you are uncomfortable with
xoxoit or not! In fact . . . if you are homophobic, I think I’ll make
xoxoyou feel right at home =)

xoxo Yes, I’m gay. Yes, I know this. No, I will not give guys a
xoxohand job for 5 bucks. It has to at LEAST be 25. Alright,
xoxoso I’m kidding, but I have a boyfriend. A boyfriend that I
xoxovery much love, actually, and I do not plan on breaking
xoxohis heart anytime in the near and distant future, so take
xoxoyour whorish ways and leave with them, kay?

xoxo I’ve been told that I have a lot of energy, which I suppose
xoxois true. Seriously, I never actually NEED coffee or an
xoxoenergy drink. I just drink energy drinks because they
xoxocome with the package. I mean, come on. I play video
xoxogames and do nothing but joke around; Monster Energy
xoxois the best way to go, seriously. What kind of idiot
xoxoDOESN’T drink them?? They make for longer lasting
xoxokisses, too ;D

xoxoLet's get something straight. I will kick your a**. Not saying
xoxowhen, but if you so much as . . . make an ugly face towards
xoxoany of my friends, I'll drop-kick you like we're Smackdown
xoxoon my 360. I gotta be there for the Willmeister especially.
xoxoSo if he comes to me and give me a bad word on you, you
xoxobetter watch your back. I'm like a ninja and you'll never know
xoxowhen I'm coming after you.

xoxoWHAT did you just say?! That I was a wimp when I was
xoxoyounger that was BULLIED?! Hey look man. I was trying
xoxoout the sweet guy thing back then. How was I supposed to
xoxoknow that being sweet translated into wimp for everyone else
xoxoin school? The past is moot. Now I am . . . . .strong enough
xoxoto smack the s**t out of you, so shut up. My knight in sexy
xoxojeans came to my rescue.

xoxoThe "knight" was Willem. You know what, I refuse to call him
xoxoRhys. Rhys sounds like . . . some kind of disease, hell I dunno.
xoxoAll I know is that Willem is the name of a handsome prince or
xoxomaybe even a knight, some s**t like that. So The Willmeister
xoxoor Willem or Willy it is. Because Willmeister is a kickass
xoxonickname; sounds like a title on Fable 2 or something. The
xoxoother names are just bitchin', and even if he doesn't like them,
xoxohe loves ME, so nyeh.

xoxoAnyway. Willy and I go way back. Back to my sweet stage
xoxo(bet you guys miss that dontcha? ;D) and the wonderful time
xoxothat we dated. But . . . alas, we weren't meant to be. Willy
xoxoand I are just best buds, but never think that I didn't absolutely
xoxolove my time with Willem. He might seem a bit off, but really
xoxohe is great. You just have to get him to trust you. And ladies,
xoxomight I add, he's a great kisser ;D

xoxoI think Gar-bear deserves a fact or two. He's just that awesome,
xoxoand I bet he doesn't like that Willy got more facts. But anyway,
xoxoI'll make it up to him. -gets down on one knee in front of Garrett-
xoxoI love you like a fat kid loves cake. Waitttt, no. Cake could kill that
xoxofat kid. I love you like Willem loves Strawberries. Only ten times
xoxomore. That means if you were in Willem's mouth, you'd please
xoxohim to no end. WAIT A SECOND, that just sounds plain wrong,
xoxoscratch that, you aren't allowed to be in Willem's mouth D<
xoxoAnyway, I love you Garrett. You make me happier than porn
xoxocandy and Monster Energy.

xoxoAhem. I do love Garrett <3 And he's one of the few people that can
xoxokeep me calm when I get a bit . . .out of place xD He's welcome in
xoxomy home anyday. Because I live by myself and I say so. Mhm, that's
xoxoright. Ditched the rentals when I was 16 and got my own place. It's not
xoxolike I come from a troubled home or anything, I was just sick and tired
xoxoof them being in my business every five seconds. I mean DAMN, give
xoxome some space ya know? Nah, I love my parents. They're hella cool.

xoxoI'm not too sure about Willem's new family. -__- I'll have to inspect
xoxothem first-hand, that's for sure. I did some detective work and got
xoxotheir address. That's right! I seduced Dr. Sexy Allen
xoxoand got their address. (Okay, so I snuck into his office and found
xoxotheir information, SAME THING). It's just a matter of timing.
xoxoAnd trickery, MUAHAHAHA.

[empty sighs and wine]

Josh felt like smashing his alarm clock. In fact, that was just what he did two hours earlier when the thing wouldn’t shut up. Seriously, he hated alarm clocks. Josh always complained about them, because he would wake up when he woke up, and that was that. However, he knew that he needed it for days like these when he didn’t want to get up but knew that he had to, or else he’d miss something important. Something important like getting his boyfriend out of having to work a shift at Wackdonalds. It seemed like this was a daily task, actually. Mostly because Josh had the easiest job in the world and didn’t have shifts to work. No, dumbass, he wasn’t a drug dealer. Josh vowed to never touch the vile things, because he just didn’t think you needed drugs. Now, if they were prescribed medication, then he was alright. Because those weren’t drugs that could have really terrible effects after you took them. No, Josh was a video game tester. I know, right, best job ******** ever, especially for Josh. He absolutely loved video games, since the day he was born! So when he was heard giving a critique on a game some kid was playing in Game Stop, he’d been offered a job as a game tester. He got paid quite a bit just to sit in his living room, play games, and then send in a form giving an overview of the game. To be honest, Josh would do nothing but stay in his living room for the rest of his life if he didn’t have Garrett and Willem to pull him out. He honestly didn’t mind that they took him away from his gaming heaven though, because they made him happy. Especially Garrett.

But we already know that Garrett is pretty much the center of Josh’s universe. He’d bust through five brick walls for Garrett, and that was a fact. All Garrett had to do was give him the word. Or the sign, considering he had no voice. Josh didn’t mind that Garrett couldn’t speak, even though at times he felt like hunting down his father and smacking the hell out of him for making Garrett lose his voice in the first place. However, Garrett being mute wasn’t a problem. Josh liked to text, and that was how they communicated when they weren’t together. And somehow, Josh was happy to be able to know sign language. He always wanted to know what those interpreters at school functions were signing, and now he knew! He could even mess with them and use it to his advantage. Anyway, it was nice being able to have silent conversations with Garrett. Josh didn’t need words to tell Garrett he loved him, and he thought that was special. (And in the words of David Schmitt, “I don’t need no words to feel those lips.”) Special indeed, especially because they could talk without people noticing or knowing what they were saying. Like if they were at one of Willem’s foster parents’ house, Josh could insult the mother’s clothes without her knowing it and then say out loud that she looked lovely. It wasn’t HIS fault he was into fashion. He was gay, it came with the territory.

Right now, however, Josh needed to wake up so he could do his daily boyfriend rescuing. Josh knew Garrett hated working at Wackdonalds, so he often pulled some strings and got them to let Garrett have the day off . . .and STILL pay Garrett for working while not being there. Josh was just a persuasive teenager, what could he say? Right now . . . he could say that he didn’t want to get out of bed. But he was able to drag himself out of the mess of covers and go into the bathroom. He needed a shower and that was for sure. He hadn’t taken one the night before because . . . he was working! He just unlocked all 50 achievements on Fable 2, and had to fill out a form to let the company know what they could do to improve the next version of the game. So he’d stayed up for a long time, and was so tired that he stepped into the shower with his clothes still on. When he noticed . . . he simply stared down at the clothes and laughed, then took them off and tossed them over the top of the shower. Man, Josh loved his bathroom. He’d have to say he had the sexiest bathroom in the world. It was all black. Everything was black, down to the nozzles on the bathroom sink and the lever that flushed the toilet. He wasn’t sure what made him spend a good portion of his gaming money on his bathroom, but he knew if he ever invited Garrett over . . . well, they could always have fun in the bathroom ;D Josh thought it was really cool because there weren’t really any lights. Well, there were, but the whole ceiling was one big black-light. So when he turned on the lights, there were lights, but it made everything look really cool. Especially because the designs in the walls lit up when the black-light turned on, in addition to the white tattoos that Josh had on his hips. It was just freaking sexy. Maybe it didn’t help wake him up any, but oh well.

Getting out of the shower, Josh wrapped a towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom. He honestly could have just walked around naked if he wanted. He lived alone and his parents wouldn’t reprimand him for it. Plus, it was an actual house, and it wasn’t like he kept his window shades open for people to spy on him. No one would see if he was naked, but . . . well, Josh was cold. So he kept the towel low on his hips, until he got to his closet and started to dry off to look for clothes. Looking around, he realized he hadn’t put on his glasses yet. Yeah, he had to wear them. But the plus side was that he had contacts too. He just wasn’t wearing those either. The other plus side? His glasses were amazing. They were larger than usual, but they seemed to match Josh somehow. But he’d put in his contacts. He wanted to make a good impression on this . . Royalle family when he decided to bust up in there with a hidden machine gun to survey the place. After he’d gotten his contacts in, THEN he started looking for clothes. Ah. Clothes. Josh had so many clothes it was ridiculous. His closet was HUGE and full of clothes, which was good for Josh considering he had more than enough items to fill the closet. He probably needed ANOTHER closet. After surveying things for a moment, Josh picked out a pair of skinny jeans and an A Skylit Drive t-shirt. Half his closet was skinny jeans and band tees, but he also had OTHER items. Like said, he was a fashion junkie. He had suits and trench coats and any other piece of clothing imaginable. But missions like ones being completed today called for a band tee and jeans. And paint splattered Vans.

It was at the time Josh was doing his hair that he realized. . . he hadn’t texted Garrett his normal good morning text! Josh’s face dropped, and probably even melted into the floor, when he realized this fact, and he immediately went to go locate his iPhone. “iPhoneeeee, where are joooo? I need you so I can shower my love with virtual kisses dammit!” Josh was starting to get pissed that he couldn’t find his phone. That is, until he heard it ringing. Oh . . . it was in his pants pockets in the dirty clothes hamper, so THAT’S where he’d left it! He looked at it to see that it was just his mother calling, and looked at it for a moment. “Mother . . . or Garrett? Mother or Soul Mate? Who is more important???” Josh thought about the serious question only a second before hitting the ignore button before opening up a text message to Garrett. He’d call his mother back after he got finished with saying hi to his lover. Looking at the time, he saw that Garrett would already be on his way to work, causing him to multi-task and get his hair done as he texted with the other hand.

-gives joo a passionate kiss-
Hey there baby ;D
Sorry I wasn’t up earlier >.<
I was gaming ‘til four in the
morning, sooo. I killed my
alarm clock. It died. But I’m
coming over to WhackD’s
in approximately two seconds
to free you from your greasy
prison. As a matter of fact,
don’t even walk in. You better
wait for me ;D Love you <3 <3
Needs moar hearts. <3 <3 <3
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Josh :3 :]

With his message sent successfully, Josh put a lock on his phone so he didn’t accidentally call anyone, then put the thing in his pocket and double checked his appearance. It was pointless, because he knew he looked good any damn way. So he just grabbed his keys and a hat, putting the thing neatly over his hair, and a slight bit crooking and pointing upwards, then hopped into his car to drive to Garrett’s job. When he got there, he saw Garrett waiting for him, as asked. Seeing Garrett made Josh immediately smile. Hell, he didn’t even feel like he needed an energy drink or coffee anymore! Josh parked and cut the engine, then was immediately in front of his boyfriend, wrapping his arms around him for a hug and smiling. “Ahhh, finally. I missed you to no end. Next time . . . you are staying at my house. And can sleep with me. Then we can sleep in and break my alarm clock together. Andddd, we have a ninja take-over mission. Objective Royalle. I got the address and contact information. And did a background check. It needs hands-on detective work, though!” Josh was . . . certainly hyper in the morning, that much he knew. But Garrett never had a problem with it, thankfully. Josh liked to think he helped Garrett stay happy even in bad moods. Pulling back to look at his boyfriends’ face, Josh lowered his hands to Garrett’s hips and smiled at him. “So, am I getting you out of work, or just stalking you today??? I’m prepared for either!”

[empty sighs and wine]

" I saw just what it does
When its too hard for you to face it
Still pushing you to make it
Its been no new news to me "

Sometimes Moira wondered if she was destined to lice this way for the rest of her life. Honestly, she wondered if all she would ever be was a poor stripper with terrible luck. If it wasn’t for the fact that she actually made money stripping, she would never have chosen the “profession”. She didn’t really have many options to begin with when she was younger, job-wise. What respectable company was going to hire a fourteen year old and try to teach her how to do things a certain way? That isn’t to say that Moira never tried to get a real job when she was fourteen. The only problem was that you had to be sixteen to get a job. To work under that age, you had to have a work permit. The only way to acquire a work permit was to attend a school and have a parent sign the form in front of an official and . . . well, Moira didn’t even have a legal guardian. She’d been on her own, and they wouldn’t let her sign for herself, nor did she attend a public school. Did anyone blame her for taking the first job offered to her? Not to mention, stripping was easy. You didn’t even technically have to strip, and Moira learned that quickly. She’d learned that as long as the guys, or girls, were entertained, it didn’t matter if you’d taken off any clothes or not. But generally, the guys and girls liked to see some skin. Moira had never stripped down to be completely naked on stage, unlike some of the strippers she worked with. Fortunately for Moira, she’d learned to respect herself through her own teachings when she was young. While she did exploit herself by just stripping down to a skimpy top and shorts, Moira’s performances were never about getting naked and being lewd.

Moira seemed to have a grace about her when she was on stage, and not many could explain said grace. She just looked elegant with every move, and none of her dance moves were what anyone could call vulgar or slutty. Her dance moves were surprisingly tasteful, and even when she danced on the poles she didn’t really seem like a stripper. Well she did, because she was most likely wearing stripper heels, but . . . it was extremely hard to explain. Her dancing was just something you would have to experience. The guys that watch her every single night know what I’m talking about; they can see the beauty in her dancing, and be more than turned on by it. Think of it like this . . . once could replace the up-tempo sounds of the fast club music with, say, a classical piece of music from Beethoven or other composers, and Moira’s dancing would somehow fit that music as well. Almost as if she was a ballet dancer. And to be honest, that was what Moira had always wanted to be. When she was little, there had been a free show at the park. The show was a ballet, and Moira had been captivated by the way the ballerina’s moved across the stage without falling from their tip-toes. It had been something that stuck with her, and something she still wanted to try. She’d been lucky enough to stumble across a dancing studio that had a free ballet lesson, and the instructor told her she was a natural. Unfortunately, Moira couldn’t afford to take classes and actually do something with her dream. She was stuck dancing on a stage in a strip club, and could only listen to the violins playing on the iPod she’d been lucky to buy at a thrift shop.

Hopefully she wouldn’t be stuck there for long. It was, after all, why she had applied at a hotel, as well as various other places. But the fancy hotel was the only place that actually seemed promising. If she got the job, which Moira wasn’t sure she would get or not, then they would provide housing FOR her. She wouldn’t have to pay rent, and would be staying in one of the best rooms available and able to eat at the hotel’s diner for free. If she did get this job, then she wouldn’t have to be a stripper anymore. Sure, Moira knew she could always use the extra money, but if one of the hotel employee’s visited the strip club and saw her working there, they could somehow tell her employer and Moira could get fired. After all, this hotel was a respectable place, and she was sure that the owner didn’t want its image tainted because they’d hired a stripper. Moira would be happy to quit her current job, though. It was fun dancing sometimes, but other times it could get difficult and problematic, kind of like how it would end up later on in the evening. As for now, Moira had to actually get to work, which she thought she was doing a pretty good job of. She had managed her time well, but the bratty little girl with the basketball had set her back some. Yeah, it didn’t take long for her to find her inhaler and take a dose of it, but the asthma attack had certainly taken a lot out of her. They were actually very tiring, and it took a while for her to start breathing the same again. It hadn’t helped that she’d inhaled smoke fumes. It wasn’t like the guy knew she had asthma though, so it wasn’t his fault. After all, he was famous and could do whatever he wanted anyway, even if he DID know.

Yes, Moira knew who the blond-haired guy was. There would seriously be something wrong with her if she DIDN’T know who he was. She’d seen him on billboards and on posters and painted on buses, so Moira knew that he was the son of a very very wealthy family. It was part of the reason that she hadn’t tried to linger near him too long, aside from the fact that he was a smoker. What if he was angry that she’d bumped into him and nearly killed his puppy in the process? Moira had been around enough rich people to know that most of them weren’t all that nice. Now, she didn’t know this guy as a person, but she wasn’t going to risk staying near him and talking to him. At least not while he was smoking; maybe if they ever met again she wouldn’t mind. But, then again, what were the chances of her ever seeing him again? Considering where Moira lived and where she worked, she guessed that it wasn’t likely. So she had completely forgotten about him as she got to work after calming down her heart rate and breathing (well, she’d stopped thinking about him and his gorgeous eyes and . . . strong hands and . . . adorable puppy). There were more important things to worry about, such as her performance of the night. Moira honestly didn’t even have to think about dancing; it was as if dancing was second-nature. She knew which dance move came after the other without even thinking about it. Unfortunately, that meant that she was paying attention to the crowd. It was always disheartening to do so, though. When Moira looked out in the crowd, she could see the expression on people’s faces.

Most of the people in the crowd had amazed expressions, as Moira was truly an amazing dancer. Then there were the others with . . . other looks, that Moira just thought was creepy. She wasn’t sure how to describe it, but she knew that the people with those expressions were likely to think of women as only objects, rather than a human being. It was for this reason that Moira was glad she had her own level of self respect. To let THOSE guys touch her and do other things with her would just be sickening. Even though she was a stripper, Moira would rather save her virginity for someone that she loved and that person loved her back. It was just how things should be in her opinion, which was why she hadn’t become a prostitute (which was her other option). During her view of the crowd, Moira ALSO noticed something else. At least, she saw a familiar face. How could one miss him, with his blond hair and snake bites? The guy she had bumped into on the street was watching her dance, and for some reason it made her nervous. If Moira had been a different person, she probably would have missed a beat or something in her dance, but she didn’t. She may have been nervous that he was watching her, thankfully not with one of THOSE looks, but it wasn’t going to affect her performance. It did however make her miss the fact that another person was coming onto the stage with her, another dancer. It made her miss that this particular dancer hated every fiber of Moira’s being, and pushed her. What did the pushing do? It caused a ripple effect, making Moira not notice that a certain guy was too close to the stage, and much to close to her. The next thing she knew, she was being pulled off of the stage, and Moira was terrified.

She normally knew how to take care of guys like these. There had been plenty of guys that thought they were slick and could break the rules of the club. It wasn’t like they didn’t know what the rules were. You had to be a member of the club, and couldn’t just waltz in anytime you wanting. Part of becoming a member meant reading and signing a paper saying you understood the regulations. For the safety of the strippers, none of the men or women were allowed to touch them while they were on stage or off, doing their job. At least, not unless they touched you first, which Moira NEVER did. She knew where that could lead to and how badly it could end up, and in no way was she stupid. This time, however, she’d been caught off guard. She hadn’t been able to stop the guys from pulling her off stage, because of the other dancer causing her to nearly fall. Moira did what little she could, though. She tried to tell them with words that they needed to stop, but they didn’t listen. Instead, there were more guys that had basically restrained her to keep her from struggling, and that was when the real panic started to kick in. Moira didn’t know what to do, and she could feel her breath slowing down and her asthma starting to kick in. She had asthma attacks anytime she started to panic, and especially when that suffocating air of claustrophobia got to her. What had her even more panicked was that she wasn’t sure that anyone around them would notice what was going on. It was a rather large club and she would be easy to miss, especially given the fact that it was so dark in the place.

It was extremely bad that there was a possibility these guys might not let her go, or might drag her away. Mostly because what they were doing was extremely wrong, but also Moira couldn’t breathe at all through the guys hand because of her asthma. She had been able to breathe a little bit through her nose before, but then her lungs just wouldn’t cooperate. Because of the fact that she was so scared, she wasn’t able to feel a sense of relief when she heard someone talking to the guys and getting most of them to let go of her. Before she knew it, there were some other guys there that were definitely handling the situation. Yet, she still had a hand over her mouth and honestly felt as if she was going to pass out from lack of oxygen. She couldn’t even try to cough to get more air into her lungs! It was at this moment, that she realized who it was that was helping her and getting the creeps to leave her alone. It was the rich heir from the street that, if she guessed correctly, was named Gideon. Moira didn’t have time to wonder why exactly he was helping her at the moment, though. She was on the verge of passing out and most likely dying! The brain could only survive so long without oxygen, and her body was sending the last of the oxygen she’d had to her brain at the moment. So when she was finally let go, Moira could only catch herself by holding onto the chair in front of her and try the best she could to breathe in and out. Yet it wasn’t working. Her chest was tight and her brain wasn’t working the way it should, so she couldn’t make herself breathe. To be completely honest, Moira swore she saw her life flash before her eyes. Her pitiful and poor life; Moira was going to die in a strip club wearing revealing clothing and fish nets. And she’d be buried in a park, under some swing, because she had no family and no one to get her a casket. They’d put her in a trash bag and throw her in with the compost!

At least, those were the thoughts running through her mind before she felt hands against her neck, then heard that oddly familiar voice telling some guy named Nolan that she needed her inhaler. Gideon must be very observing to know that she was having an asthma attack. She was extremely thankful, though, that he had knowledge in this area. Because if he hadn’t sat on the floor and pulled her down to do a breathing exercise with her, she probably would have been damaged beyond repair. Moira knew it was a breathing exercise because when she’d been younger she didn’t have an inhaler. All she had was a few people at the homeless shelter that knew she had asthma. Because of that, they were often around when she had the attacks and did the same thing for her that Gideon was doing. Moira felt a bit awkward sitting against Gideon like this, mostly because she barely even knew him. Being taught to breathe by someone was oddly intimate, as it was like giving your breath or a lung or liver to someone else. It was special, I guess you could say. But after a few minutes of listening to the calm voice in her ear and a hell of a lot of mental work, Moira was breathing again. Well, she was getting some air in her lungs at least. NOW she was coughing; her body was naturally responding to the lack of oxygen and she was basically gasping for air. She was controlling it as much as possible, though, and soon there were two guys crouched down next to them, one of which handed her inhaler. Moira gratefully took it from him and took another dose, and she couldn’t help but wonder how much he actually had to use the thing throughout the week. Soon she’d have to go pay for another one, something she wasn’t really looking forward to. Another thing she was wondering, was why people were suddenly so close to her. There was Gideon who had his arms wrapped around her (which didn’t really mind if we’re being honest) and now there were three people around them, staring at Moira.

Moira wasn’t exactly uncomfortable with their staring eyes, but . . . they WERE too close for comfort. She needed air, and not fake air pumped through an inhaler, nor the air of the club. She needed to get out alone so she could regain her wits and get back on stage. She still had quite a few hours left to work, and couldn’t let this get in the way of her job, even if she was still scared out of her wits. For the moment, however, Moira couldn’t make herself get up and tell Gideon to remove his arms from around her. He’d been . . . considerate. Nice. She didn’t know any other words for his actions, aside from heroic, at the moment. He’d not chewed her out for bumping into him earlier, had saved her from some creepy perverts, and THEN he’d given her his jacket and helped her to breathe. It was a lot for her to take in, especially because he was someone important. Not that she was going to treat him like other fan girls, though. Moira thought that it was extremely stupid to screech like a banshee over a guy that happened to be famous. He was a person, was he not? He probably hated being treated that way, too, although Moira couldn’t speak for him. She could however wonder why he wasn’t like the other rich people she’d been unfortunate enough to run into. It didn’t make sense for him to do what he’d done, because he could have just ignored it and gone on about his business, right? That’s what most people did, anyway. That wasn’t to say that Moira wasn’t thankful that he’d had enough kindness to save her. No, she was extremely grateful; she’d been seconds away from becoming someone’s compost!

Still regaining her breath, Moira cleared her throat to say something. She didn’t get any words out, however, before she heard the voice of a familiar person. Her boss, Celia, was yelling at people to get out of the way. Celia wasn’t the owner of the place, but she was a person that had a lot of reign with what went on in the club. And also, Celia was one of the only people in this club that cared for Moira’s own well being. She cared so much that she practically kicked Gideon’s friends out of the way before standing in front of Moira and helping her to get off the ground. Moira had to lightly remove Gideon’s arms from around her, but then she was up with ease and staring up at the tall 25 year old that seemed like she was about to snap someone’s neck. “Kitten, are you alright? Was it THAT one that did this to you?” Celia looked over to one of the males who seemed to have some . . .anger issues, causing Moira to laugh. “No, no, I think he did a pretty good job of stomping down the guys that um . . . had me. I’m fine, just in shock and out of breath. I’ll get back to work in a second.” That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, though. Celia didn’t seem very pleased with the fact that Moira wanted to get back to work already. Moira saw a motherly look cross Celia’s face before she spoke up with some authority. “Moira Sinclair Tiernay. You are most certainly NOT going back to work in a second. You are taking the rest of the night off, eating something, then going home and getting some rest.” If anything Celia was like a mother, rather a big sister, to Moira. So much so, that Moira immediately wanted to protest and complain. Which she did. “I don’t need the rest of the night off. . . I’m fine! And I don’t need rest or food at the moment, so—” “Hun, when was the last time you ate? And did you get more than three hours of sleep last night? Go home and eat. Sleep. And you with the face! Yeah, you, Robert, I remember you. Didn’t you smash a table last time you were here? You still owe us quite a hefty bit of money for that. And you better not touch Moira.” Yep, Celia definitely had the look of an overprotective sister on her face (though Moira figured Celia liked this Robert guy to be honest).

“Fine. . . . I’ll take off. But I’m picking up extra hours on Saturday.” Moira wasn’t keen on losing money, but Celia seemed pleased for the most part. The professional looking woman parted them, a soft expression for Moira and a glare at the other boys, causing Moira to smile lightly, given her shock. Finally, she turned around to look at the guys and . . . felt a bit awkward. She wasn’t sure what to say other than Thank You, and didn’t want to seem rude by not saying anything at all. Taking off the jacket that had been wrapped around her, she stepped forward towards her knight in bleach-blond hair, and held out his jacket to him. “Um, thanks. . . . for that. And the jacket. And, you know, everything. And managing not to break anything in the process.” She added for Robert’s benefit, then cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest because not wearing that jacket left her feeling . . . exposed, since she wasn’t dancing at the moment. However, Moira didn’t move just yet. She felt like she should say something more but . . . it wasn’t coming to her. At least not right now. She’d need to give it a few more seconds, probably, because her mind was still catching up from the lost oxygen and all. Hopefully these guys didn’t think she was a complete idiot.

" Cuz its all been done before
Four years and we're still counting down
Until all your precious time is wasted
Its been nothing new to me "

[empty sighs and wine]

Aislinn was ridiculously unaware of her brother’s thoughts of Gideon. As a matter of fact, Aislinn couldn’t even match his face to his name. She’d seen the guy before, only once, when she’d picked up Sin at a previous time for Sin to come home, but she didn’t know he was Gideon. However, even though she didn’t know anything about this Gideon person and definitely didn’t know how Sin felt about him, there was one thing that Aislinn knew for certain. She wanted Sin to have someone she could depend on when he needed someone. Of course, Sin would always have Aislinn. They were siblings, twins even! She wasn’t going to abandon him or anything like that; there was no way of that ever happening. But did it make Aislinn a bad person because she wanted Sin to have someone special? Aislinn herself had no one “special” in her life at the moment, but she was perfectly fine being independent for the moment! Sin, on the other hand, she wanted someone for him. Even if she couldn’t pick the perfect guy for him, she just thought it would be a good thing if he settled down with one person. Now don’t get me wrong, Aislinn loved her brother and had no problem with the way he was with guys. It was who Sin was and she accepted him any way he came to her. She just thought he needed someone to show him that people care about him. Their parents weren’t doing a good job of that at all, and she knew the effect it had on her brother. So yes, she wanted him to find one person he wanted to be with for the rest of his life, or at least a year or two or SOMETHING, but she wasn’t going to mention that to him, or pressure him into doing it.

Right now Aislinn was merely focusing on pressuring herself to make it to Penneton without passing out from exhaustion. Like a dolt she had forgotten to drink coffee that morning, before she left. But could you blame her? She was just hella excited that she’d be able to see her brother again. To actually and physically be in front of him rather than talking to him over the phone or IM was going to be extremely fun. She and Sin always managed to have a good time together, and they were lucky enough not to have a terrible brother/sister relationship like a lot of the people she knew had with THEIR siblings. Not to mention she was sure that he would have something new to tell her, he always did even if it was only something small. It could be that he got in trouble for doing something he hadn’t ever done before; Aislinn didn’t really care what category it was put into, she just wanted to know everything he had to tell her. But in the meantime, she just needed to actually get to him. Traffic wasn’t particularly on her side this morning, though. Not in the least. How in the hell was it possible for her to hit a red light every two minutes?! Frustration was definitely not needed when Aislinn was tired and hyper all at the same time. Someone was just begging for a b***h-slap.

Luckily there was no need to b***h-slap anyone, and she reached the school safe and sound, without crashing into a pole or something else crazy like that. And of course Sin was waiting for her in the front of the building, like always. Just seeing her brother sitting there had Aislinn happy that she’d decided not to sleep that much last night, and just get to Penneton as soon as humanly possible. Although, she wasn’t sure if the look on his face was worth the drive; the far away look that said he was deep in thought. Why wasn’t it a good thing? Because Aislinn didn’t know what it was that could make her brother look THAT cogitative? That had to be it. Aislinn just wanted to know why he didn’t look more . . . . happy that she was going to be there soon, and in fact was ALREADY there. Perhaps it had been that he just didn't know she was there yet, right? It made sense, after all, because if he knew that she was in the parking lot . . . . well, Aislinn honestly wasn't sure. But she knew she'd get down to the bottom of it no matter how much her brother deflected her questions. Yeah, she knew Sin perfectly well, and definitely knew that he wasn't going to tell her what that look meant the first time she asked him. She'd have to . . butter him up and stuff some food into him. Maybe give him some huggles and all that jazz, then he'd spill!

At least she hoped so. For the mean time, Aislinn just wanted to get her arms around him for a hug! She honestly didn't care what kind of hug it was or how awkward it was. Why? Because she knew that they'd have a proper hug in due time. Just as Aislinn expected Sin demanded she give him a better hug as he stood up from his spot. That was no problem at all, seeing as Aislinn was never one to reject a hug. And come on, this was her brother! If she rejected one of his hugs especially she would feel terrible. Of course she didn't reject his hug, though. Aislinn wrapped her arms around him and gave him a good hug, asking the question that had been on her mind ever since she pulled into the school's parking lot! What was that look about? Of course the answer she received was less than satisfactory. He simply said it was nothing and cast if off as if he'd never even had the look on his face! She knew it was going to happen, though. And she knew right now Sin probably didn't want to talk about it, no matter how much he denied that something was even wrong in the first place. As aforementioned, she would just have to get it out of him somehow. "Hm. I see, then. But ya know, these 'few things' you were thinking about might be important. And you know I'm always willing to listen to anything you want to talk about! I'll let it slip for now, but I know you Sin. It can't just be nothing."

Letting it drop for now wasn't really a problem for Aislinn, nor was it for Sin. She knew he'd talk about it, and she honestly probably didn't even have to do much of anything to get him to spill, either. Maybe just looking at him would pressure him enough to break?? For now, though, they needed to get going! Aislinn thought Penneton was a very nice boarding school and all, but she wanted to get some food and caffeine into her, as well as go back home! She'd pick a restaurant or diner and some time to catch up with Sin over this school any day! Which is why she said she'd take Sin's bags so they could get going. Unfortunately Sin didn't let her get his bags like she wanted! The fact that he'd pulled the keys out of her hand so he could drive had her faux anger boiling! But she wasn't mad, obviously, though she glared at him considerably. Just because his driver's license was in her glove department didn't give him free reign over driving her car, dammit! Aislinn caught him before he got to the car to put his bags into the trunk. How did she catch him? Well, she smacked him on the back of the head. No, it wasn't very hard and was only playful, but she crossed her arms anyway. "Hey, hey, hey, Mister! Just because I haven't sen you a while and love you doesn't mean you can take my keys and drive my car!" But nonetheless, Aislinn got into the passenger's side of the car and put on her seat belt as finished putting his stuff up and got in himself.

As Sin got the car started, Aislinn opened up the glove compartment and got Sin the fantabulous wallet that she kept for him when he had to go back to school. She was sure he had his own wallet on him, but this one was specifically for his driver;s license and the money Aislinn saved for him. No, she didn't NEED to give him any money or anything, but when she had extra money after spending her pay-check and buying what she wanted, she just stuck it in "Sin's" wallet so he could have spending money when they saw each other. Anyway, she took the wallet out and handed it over to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Happy ChristmaHanuKwanzika, Sin" she told him with a smile, putting the wallet in his hand then turning on the radio, saying it because she'd added some money to the wallet for him and he probably had well over a hundred dollars in it. But then they seeped into a comfortable silence as he drove to their usual place of choice to eat and talk, and she just listened to music and looked out the window to watch the road pass by. That was something Aislinn always happened to do when she was not driving, staring at the road as they drove on it. It was oddly soothing, and somehow kept her from falling asleep, rather than hitting her head on the window and being knocked the ******** out.

But they finally reached the diner and Aislinn was excited. The food here was amazing, no matter how small and virtually unknown the place was. She was pretty much dead-set on hopping out of the car and running into the place and ordering the largest stack of pancakes and hash-browns she could, with an entire tub of coffee, but Sin asked if he was paying. Aislinn pursed her lips and made a thoughtful expression than said, "Hmmm. Well you DID practically kidnap me and car-jack me in a matter of seconds. You might have to pay. But I think because I've not been able to pay for dinner for you, I will pay this time around! You can pay for dinner! And no McDonald's for dinner. I think we should go somewhere nice, so we can make fun of the rich snobby people!" She couldn't help but to tease him at first, but of course she would pay. She always paid for their first meal together, then he ended up paying for something else later on. And she honestly did want to go to some fancy place so they could be troublesome and laugh at the people so snobby and rich that they literally looked like they had sticks up their a**. "But let's go inside so we can eat and talk! I missed you!" With that, Aislinn got out and went to his side of the car to pull him out and drag him inside.

[empty sighs and wine]

Username: BACKDROPsilhouette

[img]http://i30.tinypic.com/29d77s7.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i31.tinypic.com/2m82oee.[/img]

[img]http://i25.tinypic.com/nvcvh0.jpg[/img]

Sample Posts [3 please]: I'll give you samples anyway xD test thread
Character Name: Essence Marianne Dazaren
Posting Color: color pending >.< Possibly cc007a. Not sure yet, I will get back to you with an artsy color =D
Who you are reserving: the budding artist =D

Something ironic?
She's actually an artist :]
I found her portfolio website =D

[empty sighs and wine]

There was just something about pictures of early morning, and maybe even the night, that had always captivated Essence Dazaren. Perhaps it was the way you could capture stars in the sky and know that with each picture you took, there would be something different in each one because of the earth spinning? Essie wasn’t quite sure; however she knew that she wanted to do a painting modeled after some pictures she’d taken. Essie could safely say that all of her artwork was completely hers, and that was something she was proud of. Her own father would do paintings on his own, out of his mind, but sometimes he would hire a photographer to take pictures so that he could paint those pictures in his own way. Essie didn’t need to do this for herself. When she’d been learning the ropes as a kid, she’d made it a point to learn every single form of art that she could, and execute the art form with diligence and perfection. The turnout? Well, Essie couldn’t dance ballet or anything like that, as she lacked the grace and elegance her sister and mother had, but she had prospered in the talents that she’d been lucky enough to be able to acquire. There were a few ways that she’d benefitted, actually. One was the obvious; Essie had worked hard as she may when she was younger than she was at present time to have a career as an artist. She’d gone to art school, attended a college for the arts, and now she was an artist with rapid increasing popularity. She didn’t make as much money as she would if she was, say, a doctor or a lawyer, but Essie had promoted her work and gone to enough art conferences that the artwork she sold on her web-store was now going for about ten thousand a piece on average. For a twenty four year old, and churning out an art piece maybe three times a week, that was extremely good. However, this wasn’t the pay-out she was most satisfied with at the moment.

The benefit she was talking about was a person. Not just any person, but the man that she currently shared an apartment with and loved very very very much. Essie couldn’t help but to smile each time she thought of him and how they met at an art exhibit. Of course Essie had known who he was before meeting him, simply because he was a popular art critic in the area that she’d moved to in California. Essie was prepared for her work to be criticized, because she knew that not everyone was into her style of art, but she hadn’t expected for the renowned Daemyn Halsey to be at the small museum she’d first set up in. She WASN’T prepared for him to talk to her while she was so concentrated on making sure her display looked absolutely perfect (thus the reason she’d been scared out of her wits when he tried to introduce himself). Somehow Essie was extremely happy that Daemyn had not just walked away and looked at her like she was crazy as Essie apologized for being scared and commented on gravity not liking her that day while putting her pieces back on display. If he had done that, Essie would have been heartbroken. But more than that, she and Daemyn wouldn’t have been able to start talking, nevertheless start dating and getting serious. And yes, Essie was very serious about her current boyfriend. Art and Dae were Essie’s life, really. She wouldn’t know what to do if she were ever to walk into their new apartment back in her home town and him not be there anymore. Well, there were times that they weren’t always together and he was busy working and he wasn’t home when she was, but Essie was speaking of something else. She was thinking that she wouldn’t be able to handle him totally abandoning her, especially not now. In New York City of all places, this would upset her.

It would bring back lots of memories that Essie would rather not remember. Of course, she couldn’t exactly forget it could she? How could anyone possibly forget losing a love of their life and a close family member all in the same time frame? No, her sister and ex-love weren’t dead. At least, she sincerely hoped that they were alive and well, but they were metaphorically gone to Essie. Christopher had broken her heart without reason and her sister had just packed her bags and left. Essie would never forget the day she came home from an interview, excited to tell her sister her news, only to find that the apartment they shared together was half empty. So yes, if Daemyn were to do the same to her, Essie would break. The childish adult was already stressed enough with her past lingering over her head because they were back in the place they’d happened. But Essie had no doubts that Dae would stay with her. Alright so maybe that is a lie. There were times that she worried whether or not she wasn’t being the perfect girlfriend for him, if not something more, just because she was always cautious about things like that. He constantly reminded her and showed her that he loved her, though, which she was thankful for. And anyway, it wasn’t likely that he would suddenly leave her. Daemyn wasn’t the type of man to leave his pregnant girlfriend to fend for herself, now was he? Ah, yes, now I bet you were unaware of the situation at hand, right? Shame on you, do you not regularly tune into the life of the ever-beautiful Essence and her Gaspard Ulliel look-alike boyfriend?

Essie wasn’t quite sure how this came about, actually. No, that didn’t mean she was pregnant by accident. Believe or not, it was planned. Essie just knew that she was thinking quite a lot one day and that she’d had to babysit for a friend and it had hit her. Essie saw just how much she loved kids and how happy she was taking care of her friend Harmony’s little girl Tessa, and she wanted one of her own. At first Essie had been unsure if it was something she was ready for. She was only twenty three after all, but there were mothers far younger than she was, weren’t they? And plus, her career was really kicking off right now, and painting and art creating was something she could do while pregnant and later taking care of a child, right? Not to mention she had an amazing boyfriend that she loved very much and loved her back equally . . . so why not bring it up? That’s what Essie did, however hesitant she was about it when she’d talked to Daemyn the first time about it. But surprisingly they ended up talking it over and had agreed to try and have a baby. Essie had been extremely happy that Daemyn hadn’t thought she was crazy for wanting a kid when she was still a kid at heart herself, not to mention the action of baby making was fun itself. Har har, Essie was really sweet and not a perverted person at all, but even she would admit that it was enjoyable. However, they didn’t have to try long for it to actually happen. She’d been worried at first that maybe she wasn’t going to be able to have kids, but that was only due to her paranoia. Now, though, Essie was had been pregnant for a few months, and there was no doubt that she was going to be able to have her baby.

She was so happy about being pregnant that she honestly didn’t know what to do with herself. Well, Essie would still go about her usual lifestyle with Daemyn and her art conferences and auctions, but sometimes she felt that she was being silly about it. It was probably only because it had been three months and she was starting to show. Essie actually hadn’t realized that she was showing until this particular morning, though she knew Daemyn must have noticed. It was about four thirty in the morning, and Essie had dragged herself out of the bed to get ready for the day. Why, do you ask, was she waking up at the a**-crack of dawn??? Because she wanted pictures. After all, I explained her fascination of night-time pictures about a million paragraphs ago, and this morning Essie wanted to get some pictures of the leftover stars and the sunrise. She had an idea for a project and needed the perfect pictures for it, which was why she was trying to wake herself up in the bathroom and get dressed. And it was when she had pulled on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with a colored vest over it that she realized just how much her body was already changing. Hell, she couldn’t get her shorts zipped up! Thankfully, Essie had remembered to go shopping and buy shorts and jeans she could fit, so she just got those out and put them on instead. She wasn’t going to pay it any attention until she had turned to the side to find her brush underneath the bathroom cabinet that she looked in the mirror and saw that she looked pregnant already. Her stomach wasn’t big quite yet, but she could definitely tell that it was more round and that she wasn’t as tiny as she used to be. That had Essie frowning down at her stomach and scolding it for making her look fat, but she decided it didn’t matter. Dae wouldn’t care, hopefully. Though she did kind of want to wear a baggier t-shirt, or take of the vest or something.

Oh well, she was dressed already, and now all that was left was to wake up Daemyn! No, she was not going to go outside herself and take pictures, was she crazy?! No, I don’t think so. Essie was trying very hard not to be as clumsy as she normally was so that she didn’t fall and hurt her baby, so she would rather that Dae wake up and help her with pictures. One, she wanted him to make sure she was safe the entire time, and two, Essie needed his help actually TAKING the pictures. She was really tired and didn’t want to accidentally take crappy pictures, so she needed Daemyn’s support! He could very easily stand behind her to make sure that she stayed focused and he could even look through the lens to see if her shot was okay, and if she was using her digital, at the screen. So after Essie had gotten dressed and done her hair, as well as get her camera and notes together, she climbed back on top of the bed that she and Daemyn shared so she could wake him up. “Daaaeeee, time to wake up! I need your help. You’ll help me take pictures right, Dae?” Essie had lain down next to him, very closely, and shook his shoulder lightly. She didn’t want to be violent and rude and demand that he help her with her pictures, because she guessed that doing so would make Dae upset. She knew he would already be extremely sleepy right now, and her being difficult was just going to make it worse on him. And Essie wouldn’t be angry if he didn’t want to get up right now, either. If he told her that he was too tired to help, Essie would be a little disappointed, but of course she would understand.

Never let it be said that Essie did not understand. She had always been the most sympathetic person in her entire neighborhood, and Essie just didn’t like to force things upon people if they didn’t want it. If Dae didn’t feel up to going with her, then Essie could just as easily take pictures from their bedroom window where it was safe and wait for another time to actually go outside to get the pictures, right? Right. So Essie waited a moment, to give Dae a chance to wake up, then she sighed and snuggled up to him and waited a few more moments before shaking his shoulder lightly. “Dae, if you don’t want to get up right now and help, you can sleep, but it’d make me very happy if you came and watched the sunrise with me! It’ll be very very pretty, then I can make you breakfast and you can play the 360 a while. I love youuuu.” Of course, she wasn’t going to force him to, but that didn’t mean she would try and use some bribery here to get him to wake up. Waking up was what he thankfully eventually did, too. It just took him some time, and it was obvious that he was very sleepy. But one thing Essie loved about Dae was that he seemed to do anything for her that she asked of him, even if he was sleepy and would rather be knocked out on the bed for a few more hours. Essie was excited nonetheless, because she would get her pictures and could start her project as soon as she developed the film! Essie waited patiently for Dae to get dressed and do whatever he needed to do, and then she excitedly held onto his hand as they made their way down elevator to the first floor and she found the perfect spot for picture taking. Yes, she was tired, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be excited!

Taking the pictures actually got Essie to wake up, and maybe even Dae as well, though she wasn’t sure. They were talking and flirting and laughing, so the couldn’t be completely dead from the lack of sleep. At least, Essie hoped Daemyn wasn’t too terribly tired, otherwise she’d feel terrible about keeping him awake! Dae seemed to be having just as much of a good time as she was, though, so she wasn’t too worried. Besides, she thought it was romantic, watching the sun rise. When she thought she had enough pictures, Essie leaned back against Daemyn’s chest for a moment, then after just being there with him for a few moments and enjoying his presence, she sighed and turned around and kissed him on the cheek. “Kay, I think we can go back inside now. Unless you would rather stay right here and do absolutely nothing. But I have enough pictures, and I’m really sleepy.” It would seem that Dae chose going inside over staying outside, probably because it was getting warmer already, but Essie followed him inside and went straight into the kitchen so she could find something to cook that Dae might like a lot. She felt extremely accomplished for the morning. Maybe soon Dae would accompany her to a black room so she could get her pictures. Yeah, she liked to do her photographs in that way, not the digital way where all you do is hook into a computer or take a disposable camera to Wal-Mart or something. But anyway, Essie let Dae go off to do whatever it was that he needed to while she flipped through a notebook she kept with her recipes in it while brewing some coffee. Thinking off coffee, Essie got completely side-tracked, wondering what foods and drinks she should and shouldn’t eat or drink with the baby. Only the Lord knew what was going on in her head after that.

[empty sighs and wine]

I'm calling all the time,
I know I interrupt.
But it hurts when all I
hear is you hanging up.
I wont try that again

Oh glorious hot wings. Any type of wings really, but hot wings specifically, were the boy’s weakness. Seriously, aside from lollipops, hot wings were the only thing that could possibly get Adrian to cooperate with anything you asked of him. Hell, if someone asked him to kiss a girl for a bucket of hot wings, he’d do it even if he hated it every second. This was hot wings on the line, and hot wings he would get all for a kiss?! He wasn’t sure what it was exactly that made hot wings his most favorite food of all time. Maybe it was the way the spicy flavors of the sauce and chicken just . . . melted in his mouth and tasted so amazing. Or possibly the way the spicy flavors mixed with and balanced out with the ranch dressing that came with each order of wings that was so appealing. Either way, Adrian nearly always had a supply of hot wings sitting in their small refrigerator. It was an essential, especially because the wings didn’t cost as much as the other food Adrian would have liked to have. And to be completely honest, Adrian didn’t notice how unhealthy the wings could possibly be, simply because they were so damn delicious. As long as the food tasted good, he didn’t care if the grease or sauce soaked through seven MILLION napkins. The food never made Adrian fat, did it?! Never! Plus, the food being messy was just inevitable. Come on, this is Adrian.

Alright, so the FOOD itself didn’t necessarily have to be messy. But Adrian had a very bad habit of being a messy eater. Food always happened to get everywhere EXCEPT for Adrian himself whenever he ate anything, even if it just so happened to be a celery stick dipped in peanut butter. It wasn’t that Adrian had bad manners or table manners or anything. . . he was just as clumsy as Addie was. And the problem was that he didn’t like to clean up after himself. Well, he doesn’t like to clean up kitchen and dinner messes. Adrian would do anything he was told when it came to cleaning up his living area such as his bed and desk (and he did a pretty good job of getting that done, as long as he wasn’t in a hurry or he got distracted), but mention the kitchen and anything to do with dishes or counter wiping, and he was out. He’d rather have someone else do the kitchen clean-up, and there was no real justified reason for it, other than the fact that he could be lazy at times. But as of now, Adrian wouldn’t need to clean up anything. He could take his hot wings and go, because Rhys was working on cleaning out the fridge! And that was extremely pleasing thing for the excited yet nervous male.

As he drove towards the club, however, his excitement and nervousness for what was about to happen slowly faded. Now he was a bit angry to be completely honest. He’d never before been angry at the thought of Rhys but . . . for some reason he now was. Why? Because he felt that Rhys was being an a*****e about the whole thing. Maybe he hadn’t said anything to Adrian since the morning they woke up in the same bed, but it just didn’t seem fair to Adrian. Rhys had a good time with Adrian that night at the club and all of a sudden it was like he didn’t exist? Adrian felt worthless when Rhys wouldn’t say anything to him, and that wasn’t good. Adrian didn’t need to call Addie to see what he could do about this feeling, because Adrian came to the conclusion himself that he needed to do something BEFORE he tried the jealousy factor by bringing another guy home with him. Maybe Adrian just wanted to make Rhys feel aggravated or pissed off like Adrian felt, he wasn’t sure, but he acted on impulse and pulled into the Wings-to-Go drive through. He had a half thought through plan. Of course Adrian wasn’t one to think his plans through all the way, ever really, but he knew that he had Addie’s credit card still in his car and that Rhys seemed to absolutely hate Adrian’s hot wings being near his food. So what did Adrian do? He bought hot wings to bring back to their dorm before he was to have his clubbing adventure.

In fact, Adrian bought ten large boxes of the most spicy, most greasy hot wings he knew that his favorite wings joint had to offer. Maybe hot wings in the excess would get to Rhys. And maybe not, because we all know Adrian’s thinking can be a bit flawed. But hey, at the time, it seemed like the perfect idea! However, it wasn’t until Adrian was back in the dorm parking lot with ten boxes of hot wings in his back seat did he realize that perhaps his idea was not very good. For one, he realized that Addie wouldn’t be very happy when she checked her bank account and saw a charge for ten boxes of hot wings on the screen in front of her. Adrian would have to pay Addie back somehow and apologize a thousand times! Not to mention, there was probably not much room in the fridge for all those hot wings. Their refrigerator was rather small, after all. But Adrian ended up just shrugging it off. There was no turning back now, right? Wings-to-Go was not going to take ten boxes of wings back and return the money spent, and Adrian was going to get the best he could out of these wings, damnit! He’d have enough wings to last him for at least two weeks. Maybe even enough to end world hunger! Alright, maybe not that much, but he had a lot of food on his hands.

Adrian didn’t really pay any attention to Rhys as he appeared back in the doorway with the first five boxes of hot wings. He had a justification for getting more, as he had just eaten the last of the ones he had! So Adrian merely walked into the kitchen, only giving Rhys a slight glance, and put the first five boxes (well, stuffed them, really) into the fridge. Then he went back out to his car. And of course he came back into the dorm again with the last five boxes and seeing that there wasn’t enough room in the thing, Adrian calmly removed all of Rhys’ food and replaced it with his wings. Adrian would feel bad about it later, putting Rhys’ food out on the counter that is, but right now he paid it no mind. Once that was done, Adrian took a bite of one of the wings and actually managed not to make a mess for once, and then he was off to the club for good this time. Maybe he wouldn’t get to see Rhys’ reaction to his foolish stunt, but Adrian being Adrian, he felt that he would get yelled at like he knew Addie would yell at him. And that, my friend, would not go well with him, so he high-tailed it out of there!

Addie was having a very hard time understanding why she absolutely had to dress up pretty like this. It took too long and there really was no point, other than wearing heels that made your feet ache and a dress that was so tight you could barely breathe. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt to dinner would be exactly the same as wearing the dress and heels, aside from the jeans being more comfortable! But of course Addie could breathe perfectly fine in the dress that she and Adrian had worked to pick out for her, and the heels were oddly comfortable. She just didn’t understand what this was all about, and being out of the loop had never been something Addie had liked. However, she did trust Spencer completely on the matter. Despite the fact that she hated the dress and thought it was uncalled for, Addie would do virtually anything for her boyfriend. Virtually because there were some things that it took some effort on Spencer's part to get her to do. Things such as making her wear a dress and take out a lip ring, but she eventually would give into mostly anything, so that was all that mattered, right? But anyway, Addie thought she should try to be at least a little cooperative, for the sake of Spencer's happiness. She wasn't actually sure if he would be mad if she refused to do something that he asked of her, but she knew it'd hurt him and that was definitely not something she was prepared to do. Hell, she never wanted to hurt the man that she'd been dating for a really really long time. There was no point in doing so, and if she did ever hurt him, make him feel bad, or make him mad, Addie was always the first to beat herself up about it and apologize for whatever it was that she'd done.

Despite her not wanting to get him mad at her before they were going to dinner, Addie was taking her time with getting dressed. She hated to be rushed, and beauty took time, right? However, making them miss their reservation after all this struggle on her behalf wasn't on her mind, so of course Addie gave up on protesting about the dress for the most part. Not to mention she was extremely hungry at the moment. Because of what Adrian was planning to do today, she'd spent most of the time talking to him on the phone for support and going over once again what he was supposed to do. Any time not spent on Adrian was spent on getting dressed for dinner and trying to protest against wearing the dress and other stubborn things like that. So she hadn't really been able to eat much when she was so busy doing so many other things! This was part of the reason that she'd gone out of the bathroom and met Spencer, although the real reason was that she didn't want to hold them up. Of course, Addie didn't really think that she looked hideous, she just hated dresses. Spencer thinking that she was beautiful, though, definitely made her feel better about the fact that she had to wear one.

It also helped that he looked amazing in his outfit. Addie couldn't help but to smile when she looked at him. How could she NOT smile at him? But her smiling at his arms wrapped around her and hers around him was not working for her case. She couldn't be smiling and refuse to take her lip ring out at the same time! It just didn't work that way! However, Spencer saying that they'd just have to do this all over again the next week made Addie be quiet for a moment. This must have really been important to Spencer if it meant he was going to make them both go through all this mess again next week. Addie knew that he had to be frustrated . . . and Addie really didn't want to have to go through this again. If she had to take her jewelry out and wear a dress then this really must have been something important. So Addie mentally made the decision as Spencer rushed them out of the apartment that she was going to give in and take her lip ring out. That didn't mean she wasn't going to be unhappy about it, and it didn't mean it would happen right away, but the point was that it would be out before they went inside the restaurant, and that was what Spencer had wanted, right???

Of course, when they were in the car and on their way to wherever it was that they were going, Addie had some doubts. So she asked Spencer if he was sure the piercing wouldn't close up, and if he'd hold her lip ring for her. Addie didn't necessarily want to lose the thing, and she definitely didn't trust herself to put it in the purse she'd brought along with her, either. Addie lost a lot of things, and something that small especially would probably get away from her and disappear within a few seconds! Now, Addie knew that her lip piercing was not going to close. She'd had it for a REALLY long time, and she rarely ever took it out, but it was just her saying that she really didn't want to take it out, but she'd do it for Spencer. And Spencer only. Hearing Spencer's reassuring answer, Addie took a moment to take the ring out of her lip, then handed it over to him when he could take it from her. Hearing him thank her, Addie smiled and leaned against the window so she could wait patiently for them to arrive at the restaurant. "You're welcome, Spence. But I hope you know I won't take it out for anyone else! I'm sure it'll be worth it in the end anyway." No, Addie had no clue what Spencer had in mind for tonight, but she knew that any time she had with Spencer was worth a lot of things, and this included the removal of her coveted facial jewelry.

When they finally parked, Addie actually looked up at the restaurant they'd parked in front of. And to be honest, she was not expecting for them to be at this place. It was a lot more than she was used to. It wasn't that they were poor or anything and that they went to crappy restaurants. No, they'd been to some nice places before, but Addie knew that this place had really expensive food and was hard to get reservations for. It made her wonder what the whole thing was for, but more than that, it made Addie smile. She wasn't so hesitant in getting out of the car and having to walk inside this place in the dress she was wearing, because at least they were well dressed and wouldn't embarrass themselves by wearing the outfit Addie had WANTED to wear. As they walked to the door, Addie leaned into Spencer and kissed his cheek again, something that she found herself doing about a million times a day out of habit. "Now I have to wonder what the special occasion is. We never go to places like this. Either way, I think it's nice." She really did love it, and they weren't even inside yet! And no, she wasn't actually suspicious of anything. She wasn't worried about anything, nor was she expecting anything out of the ordinary to be happening tonight. Maybe Spencer just wanted to take her someplace they had never been or something?

Addie didn't really say much as they were seated, simply because she was taking in her atmosphere. The waiters and waitresses all were dressed very nicely and were really nice to them when she and Spencer were finally seated. Addie was a little nervous when they were handed menus, because she wasn't sure if she was going to make a fool of herself or anything at the restaurant. She was probably nervous for a stupid reason, but eventually she just ended up looking at Spencer for reassurance that she wasn't doing anything she wasn't supposed to, and because she liked the restaurant. Now . . . as for the food that they served, she wasn't sure what to get. Most of the names were really fancy and Addie had to read the small description and look at pictures just to tell what it was she would possibly be ordering, but the food had to be delicious. What was the place again, a five star restaurant? Addie ordered a glass of tea in the end, which she would sweeten herself because she didn't trust them with her sugar! As she was looking at the menu, she fiddled with her fingers a little bit because everything was just so damn expensive! She didn't want to buy something that cost more than Spencer could afford! Addie wanted to say something about the prices, but she didn't want to sound like she was whining that Spencer had brought her here, when she loved it! Though it would be obvious that she was a little . . . . shocked and unsure of herself. Hopefully the made it through dinner and had a good time, because otherwise Addie would feel out of place in the restaurant.

[empty sighs and wine]

]

Welcome to the convoluted workings of a gaian.
Where simple thoughts become reality.
Where the ebb and flow of words,
written on virtual paper eventually led to
the creation of a being, |Ryan Savarayne Valentine [Ryan Sebastian Valentine]|,
(otherwise known as |Ryan|).
All |seventeen| years of my life were made possible
with the help of |BACKDROPsilhouette|.
This person s the reason I am now
|in quite a shocking predicament . . . |
the reason I am able to tell you a little bit about myself. Here goes . . .






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[empty sighs and wine]

cαssαℓιиє cℓαιятσи
cαssαℓιиє cℓαιятσи

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Despite the huge crush that Cass had on Andy, she really hoped that she wouldn’t run into him when she got home with lunch. I know, it might be weird to think that she didn’t want to be around him at all, considering how much she liked him, but she couldn’t help it! Being around Andy was just too much for Cass to handle at times. There actually had been a time, believe it or not, where she wasn’t as shy around him. When they first met, she hadn’t blushed or anything, but had talked to him some and got to know him. And it all went downhill from there. Cass had realized after talking with him that she liked him, and she liked him a lot. That meant that she’d only make a fool of herself around him, which she thought she did quite often. Anytime she was around him, she would end up turning red and stuttering and saying something stupid. Cass had no clue what Andy thought of her stupidity around him, but she assumed that he didn’t say much to her because he thought she was an idiot. This only made it worse on Cass, because she’d let it be engraved into her mind that Andy could never ever want to be with her. And because Andy was at her house hanging out with Irial often, Cass tried not to stay around them too often. Number one, Irial would probably make a comment about her leaving her to hang out with his best friend because they were doing “male” things, and number two; she just wanted to save herself the humiliation. If Cass allowed herself to stay around Andy more than just to say “Hi” and “Goodbye” then she’d freeze up and her brother and Andy would just laugh about her behind her back once she rushed off to another place in the house.

It didn’t help that when she really started to like Andy, she’d walked in on him and another girl in a very . . . promiscuous position in one of the bedrooms. It had been her welcome party, for when she’d officially moved in, and she was looking for Andy because Irial wanted to talk to him, only to find that he was rather busy with another girl. Cass hadn’t forgotten that night, that was for sure. She hadn’t been sure what to think of it as she stood there in the doorway with the reddest blush anyone could ever have spreading across her face. Hell, she could have sworn she’d been so embarrassed to have walked in on something like that, that her whole BODY was red! She was just thankful that Andy, or the other girl for that matter, hadn’t noticed she’d seen what they were doing. God, Cass would have been all that more embarrassed if they had seen her. Cass could only swallow hard and quietly back out of the room to shut the door silently behind her and tell Irial that Andy was more than busy at the moment. She wasn’t sure if Irial could see that Cass walking in on him like that had shattered her heart just a little bit. Because when she started thinking about it . . . well her thoughts weren’t going where she would have liked them to go. It wasn’t like Cass was dating Andy or anything, so it shouldn’t have mattered that he was doing THAT with another girl. And it wasn’t like she didn’t know that he was nearly like her brother when it came to sex, although from an observation point she could tell that her brother and Andy were different on lots of different levels. So Cass wasn’t sure just yet why she was so shaken at her Welcoming party.

Of course, she figured it out with some help from Alexi. Of course, Cass would only ever openly tell Alexi that she liked Andy. Alexi was good at giving advice, no matter how stubborn she could be on other matters. Now, Cass hadn’t been able to tell Alexi just what had happened, but through some conversation . . . well, Cass figured she was jealous of that other girl. Not because she was having sex with Andy (although Cass figured that would be nice as well, seeing as she was a virgin and so shy that she needed someone with experience). Cass was jealous because Andy obviously had SOME attraction for that other girl that he didn’t have for her. Cass didn’t think that Andy could possibly like her, because he went for girls like THAT. He was into girls that were confident and beautiful and just . . . the total opposite of what she was. Yet and still, Cass liked him. She liked him a lot, and anyone could see it. (Except for maybe Andy himself, for he seemed to be pretty clueless, yet the same could be said for Cass.) You could see it especially in the way she was so nervous, and only when she was told to get him a sandwich! Yet Cass was naturally worrisome about certain things, so it couldn’t be helped. Nonetheless, Cass was happy today. Even if nervous, she couldn’t help but to be happy. It was a nice day, maybe a little hot but it wasn’t unbearable, and Cass could possibly see Andy today. Even if he didn’t know she was paying attention, when Andy came over, Cass was most likely somewhere nearby watching. No, she wasn’t a stalker or anything. But if she was studying up in her room and Andy was out in the backyard with Irial, then she would leave the window shades up so she could watch whatever they were doing. It just made her happy when Andy was happy, even if she had nothing to do with his happiness.

Cass was just hoping that this sandwich was good enough to make him happy. She’d hate it if she’d got it wrong or the sandwich preparers had made it taste terrible! Because that would virtually mean it was her fault for not finding better sandwich servers and a better Subway, right? Cass wouldn’t be pleased with herself, and of course she would be entirely embarrassed. She just shook off the thoughts, though, so that she could further prepare the sandwiches and put them on plates. The humming helped her concentrate on brighter things. Things like the flowers that were on the window sill in front of the sink, and the little trinkets that were set up beside the flower vase. Her attention wavered from the window sill, however, when someone else joined the room. And from the voice, she just knew that it was Andy. She would recognize his voice anywhere, and she’d also turned to double check that it was him. Of course, looking at him caused her to blush like no other. He had no shirt on, and of course that had been the main contributor to her blush. Then there was the fact that he’d said the food smelled good. She wasn’t sure why THAT embarrassed her, but a compliment from Andy had always seemed to make her blush, even if the compliment wasn’t about HER. The last thing? Cass suddenly realized that she was wearing very short shorts, and she was suddenly extremely self-conscious. Of course, she tried not to show it, but the blush had to be a big indicator. Thankfully, though, Andy hadn’t noticed she was blushing so badly, nor had he commented on it. Instead he just got his food and sat down, making Cass be able to make SOME of the blush go away.

It was pointless, however, seeing as her blush only flared back up after she’d told him she hoped she got his sandwich made correctly. Maybe that wasn’t a good idea. She’d THOUGHT it was a harmless statement, only to have him say what he did. She wasn’t sure what he meant by it, though. Even if it was messed up, it’d be perfect? Her thought process didn’t take that as a compliment, but her face definitely did, seeing as it heated up with blush again. Cass couldn’t help but to smile back at his soft smile, though. It was a contagious smile and that was for sure. Andy had such a nice smile, and to be honest, it was the first thing she noticed about him. But her attraction to his smile just made her even more nervous. For what if she winded up saying something completely stupid? If she made a fool of herself in front of Andy, Cass wasn’t sure she’d survive! Especially not right now, when she didn’t have the ability to make up an excuse to leave, as Irial wasn’t in the kitchen just yet. Speaking of Irial, where exactly was he? As much as she disagreed with her brother on some subjects, especially with the way he was about protecting her, she sincerely wished he would hurry up and come into the kitchen. If he did, Cass could say that she had something for him and she could go off to retrieve it. Sure, she had nothing for him, but she’d be able to come up with something! On second thought, that might have been an even worse idea than just sitting here and dealing with how . . . . sweet Andy was being, as he’d asked her what she was doing today and making conversation.

Irial was a good brother, Cass thought. Yes, he was definitely overprotective and he made a lot of mistakes over the years. But she knew that he had grown from all of his mistakes, but more than that, she knew how good of a person he was. He had a lot of somewhat girlfriends, but she was there to see that Irial treated each girl with the same kindness and polite manner that he would to his own sister or mother. That was just the way he was raised. Cass didn’t really learn much from her dad, seeing as he didn’t have much of a role in her life, but she’d learned from her mother and brother basically everything that she knew. She’d learned to cook some of the best meals, and clean until the house was perfect in every way. All she lacked was a love-life. Cass honestly didn’t think she had one while she lived in her mothers’ house, though. Irial would probably castrate any guy that so much as TRIED to be nice to Cass. That was probably why she didn’t have any male friends, in addition to the fact that Cass couldn’t be around guys and act normal to save her life. At least, this was what she had been thinking until after she’d asked why it was that Andy wanted to know what she was doing today. Was it just her, or did Andy just ask her out . . . on a date? Cass literally froze when Andy asked the question, right in the middle of taking a bite of her sandwich. She was sure that she looked like a complete idiot, sitting there with the sandwich still up to her mouth, not to mention that she was sure she had to be blushing ten million shades of red. Then again, maybe she wasn’t blushing. Maybe she was in shock?

Through her shock, Cass finished taking the bite of her sandwich and slowly chewed. She wasn’t sure what to say to him; because she wasn’t sure he’d even just asked the question she thought he did. What if she was hallucinating? Was she on TV, and they were trying to play a joke on her? Cass didn’t have to worry about talking just yet, though, because Andy went on to explain, confirming that, yes; he just asked her out on a date. Cass may not have been blushing before, but as he went on to tell her how much he really really really really REALLY liked her, Cass felt her face heat up with each ‘really’. Was she shocked? Hell yes, she was extremely shocked. So shocked that she wasn’t sure if he really liked her or if this was some sick joke someone put him up to. Of course, she didn’t think Andy was the kind of guy to play a joke like that, but it was just . . . he liked her? Andy liked her, and Cass had thought that he would never ever in a million years have any amount of “like” or “love” for her. It was surreal, that was what it was. Mostly it was because Cass herself liked Andy a lot. She was sure that if she had to express how much she’d been crushing over him in the past few years, she wouldn’t be able to convey it to him because it would be near impossible. What was even more shocking was that he’d liked her since she even came to live with her family, rather than just visit on the weekends. Because that would mean that she’d wasted her time worrying so much over nothing. She’d thought that he wouldn’t like her, and he did, so now she was just. . . Cass was baffled.

She was baffled so much that she couldn’t even say anything to him after he had finished talking. She couldn’t even smile back at the small smile he had given her, she was so shocked! Of course, she realized that she needed to say something to him. And of course, she WANTED to go out on a date with Andy. Especially Andy. But . .. there were just a few problems with this. Number one; Cass had never been on a date before. Not with anyone. She couldn’t go out with him and not know what she was supposed to do or how to act! Cass would be too embarrassed to even do anything on the date, because she’d be scared of messing it up somehow. Andy wouldn’t like her if she just blushed the whole time doing whatever it was that he thought to do on the date. Wait, he’d said dinner? Dinner. . . . Cass would really like going out to dinner with Andy. But there was still that fact that she’d be really nervous and didn’t want Andy to know it. And of course there was a second problem. There was always that problem number two, which was nearly always problem number ONE. And that problem was Irial. Would he let her go out to eat with Andy? Cass could probably do something to get them away from Irial before he got back inside if she really thought about it, but . . . when they got back or if Irial came after them, then he would do something! Cass wasn’t sure what it was, since she’d never been in this situation before, but Irial wouldn’t be very happy with it, that much she knew for sure. Even if Andy and Irial were friends . . . well, Cass knew that Irial cared for her TOO much, sometimes.

Luckily, though, she was brought out of her disastrous thoughts when Andy spoke up yet again to say that she didn’t have to say yes, but that he really liked her. That made Cass feel really guilty for considering a no answer. She just . . . she didn’t want it to turn out to be a disaster, nor did she want Andy to change his mind and take back all the times he said “really.” Yet at the same time, she didn’t want to see him more nervous than SHE was. Cass wanted to tell Andy just how much she liked him too, and hopefully she could do it without stuttering TOO much. So after a few moments of taking a sip of her drink with her eyes anywhere but focused on Andy, she gave him an answer. “Oh, well. . . um, I-I’m not sure. I mean . . . . I . . . well, I like you . . .a lot, too, but I don’t know if I could go to dinner with you.” She felt bad for saying that, because she really did want to go with him! But she was just . . . She was Cass! She’d have reacted like that, minus telling anyone else that she liked them, with any other person! “I mean, I . . I’d love to go with you, it’s just that . . . well, I’ve never been on a date before, a-and I don’t . . . . . .Well I guess I could go but . . . I might do something really stupid and, I don’t know.. . . y-you might not like me anymore and . . .” Okay, now Cass was babbling, and STILL not looking up at Andy, because she was afraid he’d think she was stupid for thinking most of the things that she did. However, it was no use trying to reject Andy, because she KNEW that she couldn’t do it. Finally she just gave in and sighed, fumbling with the napkin that she’d had next to her plate. “If you . . . . .if you can get me past Irial . . . I’d like it very much . . . to go on a date . . . with you.”


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and we danced and fell in love on a slow jam

▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀

[empty sighs and wine]

[empty sighs and wine]

------------▪×▪---------------▪×▪-----we were more than friends,
------------▪×▪---------------▪×▪-----before the story ends.
------------▪×▪---------------▪×▪-----and i will take what's mine.
------------▪×▪---------------▪×▪-----create what god would never design.

-----▪×▪---------------▪×▪----- our love had been so strong for far too long.
-----▪×▪---------------▪×▪----- i was weak with fear that something would go wrong.
-----▪×▪---------------▪×▪----- before the possibilities came true.
-----▪×▪---------------▪×▪----- i took the possibility from you.

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(づ￣ ³￣)づ The fact that the situation had yet to take a turn for the worse was extremely assuring for the pregnant female. Rayne was more than happy that Ingo hadn’t totally freaked out on her, even if he had left her in the hallway and made her feel terrible for a moment or so. The fact of the matter was that Ingo had said he wanted the baby. Rayne had of course told him that she wanted him to make sure that it was what he wanted, and not something he was doing for her, and he didn’t object, so that made Rayne even happier. And more than the happiness Rayne felt as she sat there in her boyfriend’s lap, she was finally able to relax. However, there was a small pang of regret that went off in her head. She honestly wished she would have told him sooner. If she would have known that he’d be this understanding and definitely not like how other guys would be, she would have told him the day she found out! Alright, so maybe not that soon. Rayne would have been scared shitless regardless of if she knew that he wouldn’t have a spaz attack. For a teenager, especially one like Rayne that grew up in a HUGE family because of teenage pregnancy, it was a scary feeling. Rayne had doubted that she could do it and that she’d not be able to support the baby. But with Ingo supporting her, as well as her parents, Rayne was confident. She’d taken care of seven million younger siblings, so this would be a piece of cake! And as a result of the thought that she should have told Ingo earlier, Rayne had apologized. She wasn’t, however, expecting for Ingo to turn around and apologize back, though.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ It was just shocking. She had plenty of male friends and, yes, some of them had knocked up their girlfriends. The first statement that always came out of their mouths were “It’s not my fault.” So Rayne didn’t really think that it was Ingo’s fault, even if it technically was. Hell, maybe it was Rayne’s fault that she hadn’t killed all of Ingo’s little fishies when he pissed her off, by kicking him in the family jewels. Not like she’d ever do THAT anyway. But Rayne should have known better than to not have birth control pills at all times. It hadn’t really occurred to Rayne that she could get pregnant so easily in the first place, even if her parents DID have a million kids. Though she was smart enough to not say anything to Ingo about the fact that she thought it was all her fault. She didn’t want to get into an argument or anything, especially at a time that was already pretty stressful. Not to mention, the smallest thing would set Rayne off. She normally was pretty in control of her temper, but lately the hormones had been getting to her. In addition to the throwing up, she was getting more easily annoyed by certain things. An argument was sure to come if she commented on it. So Rayne didn’t say anything and just enjoyed sitting in the middle of the hallway with Ingo. She didn’t give a flying flip if an administrator caught them, because she really needed some comfort and being with Ingo was the best way to give her that comfort.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Rayne hadn’t been happy at first when she heard someone coming their way. She was relieved, of course, to find out that it was only Adrian and Rhys that were coming out of their room to go to the buses. At least, she’d been relieved as far as it came to not being in trouble. As soon as she saw the look on Adrian's face, Rayne felt absolutely terrible. She knew that he felt so left out, simply because of the way he looked. Rayne hadn't talked to him nearly at all during the trip, so he'd had the same look on his face anytime Rhys had pulled him away to talk, and it was a look that Rayne wanted to wipe from his face as soon as humanly possible! She just wanted to tell Ingo before she told Adrian, because she knew that if she told Adrian then he would tell everyone in the entire world. It was a flaw of her friend, but she still loved him despite the flaw! Just. . . . not enough to tell him something her boyfriend hadn't even known yet. Rhys knowing first was something completely different. Rhys could keep a secret and actually encouraged Rayne to tell Ingo sooner than she would have, so she had only a small amount of regret when it came to that. Unfortunately, Adrian hadn't given her a greeting when he saw her sitting in Ingo's lap, and he and Rhys were gone before she could even try to say hi to Adrian. She honestly had wanted to tell him she needed to talk to him, but maybe now wasn't the time. On the bus they could talk, right? At least, after Rayne took a nap. Damn, Rayne was really fricken tired all of the sudden. That must be what telling things to people that had been bottled up for so long must have felt like.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ The sooner they got to the bus, though, the sooner Rayne could get to sleep, especially if things were all and well with Ingo! All she really needed in order to get to sleep was some silence and Ingo to snuggle up to, and then she'd be dead asleep in no time (hopefully not literally dead, either). So when Ingo suggested that they go and get her things, she didn't object. They needed to move out of the hallway anyway, that way they didn't get in trouble. Sure, Ingo would get in trouble for being on HER floor, but hey, what could the administrators expect from them? They were a couple! A couple that was very much in love, and one that was expecting a baby. If Ingo wanted to accompany to her room to help her get her things, they shouldn't be there to stop him! It was just ridiculous; it's not as if they were going to do anything indecent. So Rayne happily followed Ingo to the elevator so they could get going. She was glad to have this weight off her chest, even if they had a lot of details to work out, such as getting their parents together to talk. Rayne's parents already knew, thankfully, so now it was just Ingo's family to deal with! Another reason that Rayne was charging to the elevator for was for the sleep. Not to mention, she wasn't mad that Ingo was holding her so close to him once they got onto the elevator. Rayne didn't see it as something sexual that he'd put his hands on her hips, she just took it as him wanting to rest his hands. .. and that she needed to be closer to him. Which she did. Rayne could NEVER be close enough to Ingo, believe it or not. It was hard to explain, she just. ... she liked being close enough to Ingo that she could smell the shampoo and conditioner he used in his hair. She was damned if she objected to (or wasn't able to) lean her head on Ingo's shoulder and just relax.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Relaxing and silence weren't going to be together though. Ingo had brought up the baby. This time it wasn't as much nervous talk like it was before, which caused Rayne to smile. She was happy to know that Ingo was curious as to what she wanted the baby to be, and was also happy to tell him that she wanted a boy. There was just something appealing about having a baby boy; she imagined him to be a spitting image of his daddy! And even if she didn't have a boy, she'd give him a unisex name. It was a family thing; Rayne's first name was Ryan because they'd wanted a boy, so she could do the same. However, for the moment, she was convinced she was having a boy no matter what. "I know, I know. I just like the idea of having a boy and naming him after you. It's just . . . . special." Rayne had no other way of explaining it to be honest, but luckily she didn't have to attempt to. They were at her floor and needed to get her things! Unfortunately, Rayne couldn't find a way to explain the fact that she already had an ultrasound picture of their baby. Ingo hadn't asked about it, but that didn't mean Rayne didn't want to explain that her mom wasn't going to let her get out of going to get it taken. She wanted to make sure that her daughter was having a healthy pregnancy, with or without Ingo knowing! Rayne brought the picture along with her, kept it in her purse, though. Just because . . it strangely made her proud knowing she'd be a mom with Ingo.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ They didn't get the chance to talk about the picture, though. Adrian and Rhys were sitting right across from them, and as much as Rayne wanted to talk to Adrian, she didn't want to talk about something like a picture of her baby in front of him. As a result, Rayne and Ingo just spent the time waiting for the bus to be ready for them to board by relaxing with Ingo's hands on her stomach. That in particular was something that enabled her to forget about not being able to talk to Adrian, and more focused on the excitement she was feeling because Ingo was alright with the baby being his and a few months in existence already. Perhaps it was better that she not worry herself with what would happen with Adrian until later? Yes, that seemed like the perfect idea, just for now. Not long later, Rayne and Ingo were on their way to the bus and were soon comfortable in the same seat they'd sat in on their way to Texas. It was much easier for Rayne to get comfortable with Ingo to be honest. Adrian wasn't yelling excitedly like he had been before, which Rayne was lucky enough NOT to take as a bad sign, and Rayne didn't have to worry about Ingo getting his arm around her and feeling that her stomach was bigger! Because HA, he finally knew she was having the baby! In fact, Rayne was so comfortable that she didn't wake up for a good amount of time. Normally, she woke up before Ingo, but not right now.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ When Rayne did finally wake up, she almost immediately thought of Adrian and telling him that she was pregnant. Getting some much needed sleep helped Rayne see that she needed to talk to Adrian as soon as possible! Not before giving Ingo a kiss though. And of course, the time that she decided to catch up with her best friend in the whole wide world was the time that the bus decided to wreck and ruin the near bliss Rayne had been in for most of the day.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Adrian was extremely happy that he had been able to come up with a plan that his boyfriend thought was actually good. Adrian was aware that a lot of his plans weren't exactly orthodox. In fact, Adrian knew that none of his plans were possible most of the time. He just tended to throw out ideas that he wanted to happen, rather than what WOULD happen. What, he had the logic of a two year old, what could he say?? But Rhys never seemed to look at Adrian badly for his habit of saying what was obviously not meant to be voiced for fear of sounding completely stupid. Rhys always loved Adrian, at least that was the impression Adrian got from his boyfriend. While he was happy about the fact that Rhys was happy with his plan, he was very UNhappy about how today was going. First of all, there was the fight. Seriously, Adrian hated when people chose to battle things out with their fists! It helped a little that Adrian wanted David to get smacked in the first place, but it still left the boy with a sour taste in his mouth, especially because of the way it made Rhys act. If Rhys was in a bad mood, that meant Adrian was going to be in a bad mood as well, and it was a known fact. The second thing that made Adrian's day fail-worthy? Rayne had come to the room he was in and not said anything to him. She'd just wanted to talk to Ingo.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Of course Adrian understood that Rayne wasn't going to always have time for him. He wasn't completely focused on stealing her away from Ingo at every given moment. Adrian was more often than not with Rhys most of the time anyway, so he knew that sometimes you just got caught up with things and wanted to spend more time with your loved one. No big deal. The problem was that Rayne and him had actually had plenty opportunities together to talk and catch up, just that she didn't seem to want to talk to him about anything. Adrian was no mind reader, so he didn't know what the problem was with HER, but he could tell she always seemed to have something on her mind. And that seemed to tell him that she didn't love him anymore. Granted, Adrian always seemed to jump to the worst possible conclusion, but still. What if it was true? People fell in and out of love all the time, so that meant Rayne could possibly fall out of a friendship with him. Adrian REALLY must have been sad about Rayne, though, if Rhys could visibly tell. Normally Adrian attempted NOT to show his sad feelings around his boyfriend, because he knew that Rhys didn't like it. The fact that Rhys promised they could come back together and alone another time DID have Adrian a bit happier, even if it wasn't exactly what was wrong with him. He couldn't help but to smile, however, when Rhys pointed out that he wanted Adrian to smile for him and that he didn't like seeing him upset. So what did Adrian do? He smiled at his boyfriend and kissed him back, then went to help put up their things.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Despite Rhys not wanting Adrian to look upset, Adrian found himself still thinking of Rayne and him losing their friendship when they had gotten to the bus. So he did what he needed to and asked Rhys if Rayne still loved him, because he needed some reassurance. Thank God he actually got some; Rhys didn't seem hesitant at all to tell him he needed to relax and that Rayne loved him the same as she always did. Rhys telling him to take a breather really seemed to make Adrian snap out of his paranoia, because really, Rhys was the only person that could ever make Adrian relax. Rhys was really smart, definitely logical, so if he said something, and promised, then it was true! "Alright, I guess I can relax. But you'll just have to HELP me relax. I can't do it without your help!" Adrian honestly thought that he couldn't stay still or calm without Rhys to distract him. If Rhys was there, he wouldn't be able to think negatively and dread the worst. Adrian was most definitely relaxed when Rhys and him had sat down on the couch and Rhys was rubbing his side soothingly. So much so that when Rayne and Ingo had popped up out of nowhere, Adrian was too busy talking to Rhys and relaxing to make a big deal of it. Flirting with Rhys was definitely better than moping! And if he was lucky, Adrian could steal Rayne away from Ingo once they got on the bus!

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Getting on the bus, however, comprised of Adrian and Rhys falling asleep, and not having a much needed talk with his best friend. Adrian was able to fall asleep a lot easier knowing that now Rayne would talk to him, and that he got to be used as a pillow! It just felt nice knowing that he could be more than a nuisance, even if only a pillow, for Rhys. Adrian slept well, and was more than thrilled to see Rhys' face when he woke up. But no sooner than he was just getting ready to talk some more with Rhys, Rayne popped up again! Of course Adrian was ecstatic about this. He immediately wanted a hug and moreover, he wanted to demand why they hadn't been talking. It was even more suspicious when Rayne asked him if he knew something was going on. He'd suspected that there was the secret being kept from him. It actually hurt that Rayne hadn't told him, but maybe he just wasn't meant to know yet? Adrian still demanded to be told anyway. But before Rayne could spill that she and Ingo were having a baby, Adrian was out like a light. Seriously, as soon as the bus went boom, Adrian hit the back of his head and went unconscious. So much for learning secrets.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Rayne hadn't a clue what was going on just before the crash. She honestly didn't even know that the bus had wrecked in the first place until she was being thrown forward from her seat. It could have just been one of those speed bumps for all she knew! Yet her body knew that it wasn't only a speed bump. Rayne knew that something was up, after all, the place they were driving through had given her the creeps when she'd woken up. Rayne hadn't thought her intuition was a kind of forewarning for the entire bus, in all honesty. She wouldn't think anything of it until she woke up, though, which could take a while. When the bus had wrecked, she'd been thrown pretty hard, and it was even worse seeing as she was just standing as the bus hit whatever it had hit. To say in the least, when Rayne woke up she wouldn't feel very well at all, especially from the way she landed. Lucky for Rayne, she didn't feel a thing as she landed, and had already gone unconscious from pain receptor overload (if you could call that lucky).

(づ￣ ³￣)づ When Rayne finally did wake up, you couldn't necessarily call her awake. Oh she was conscious all right, because she could hear people moving around her and could feel the way she was lying on . . . something. All she knew was that it felt like she was on the top of two seats and it was extremely uncomfortable. She wasn't worried about being hurt, in all honesty, as she didn't really feel any pain. Rayne was more worried about what was going on and if she was maybe just having a terrible dream. It felt like a dream, kind of like she wasn't all there. Like her head was floating a few thousand miles up from her body and she was looking down on the bus, only she couldn't see anything and would rather NOT be a few thousand miles in the air. It didn't seem like it was something that he could control, though. She was trying to open her eyes and look around, but her brain wasn't agreeing with her body just yet. Pretty much the only thing that she could think about was Ingo. If this wasn't a dream and they had gotten into an accident, there was a chance that Ingo had gotten hurt. And since this was a bus, there was also a chance that he'd . . . died. But Rayne would absolutely NOT think of that possibility. She honestly didn't know what she would do if he, Rhys, or Adrian had died; this was only ONE of the reasons she was so determined to start moving again. The moving thing, though. . . . wasn't happening. Rayne felt so tired that she couldn't move. Maybe she should have slept more earlier??

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Whatever the reason for why she couldn't move yet, Rayne was starting to panic. What if that meant she was paralyzed? What if she was going to die? What if her BABY had died?! All sorts of things were going on in her mind now, and it didn't help that she could hear people start to wake up and freak out. There was one chick that was nearly screaming her head off because. . well, because there was a dead person next to her. And while she wanted to tell the girl to shut up, she couldn't blame her for freaking out. Dead people. . . dead STUDENTS that she saw on a regular basis was something that would make Rayne cry and most definitely scream. Though she needed to stay strong at all times, and try to get her sense of movement back. One thing in particular seemed to be what made her body respond, and that was the feel of someone trying to wake her up. She wanted to say to go away, but it wasn't until she was picked up and moved that she could do so. What made her finally start fluttering her eyes? The pain that jumped through her body as arms went around her and clung to her. She could only guess that it was Ingo that had found her, and she sincerely hoped it WAS him, but she wished he'd let go of her. Normally she wouldn't oppose to him holding onto her so tightly, but Rayne couldn't handle the pain shooting through her chest and wrist, not to mention the dull pain in her stomach.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Rayne couldn't really do anything to get Ingo to stop holding her, even if she knew that she HAD to have some cracked ribs and possibly a broken wrist. She had opened her eyes and confirmed that it was indeed him that was refusing to let her go, and it made her happy. Not because she was in agony, but because he was alright. At least, she thought so. "Please tell me you feel better than I do." She ended up saying, blinking back tears before trying to move in his lap to a more comfortable position. Her wrist wasn't very comfortable pressed against Ingo's body, and it hurt even more when she moved her arm. Rayne couldn't help but to let out a few choice curse words when she wrapped a hand around her wrist to try to hold the pain away, literally. There was no way around the hurting chest, though. No matter what position she sat in, she'd have to breathe, and breathing now hurt a little. Adrian hadn't even thought about anyone else other than herself and Ingo, because. . . well her first impulse was to make sure she and he were alright. Adrian and Rhys and Addie would come later. "Ingo . . . where's Adrian? And Rhys? Are they alright? Are you? Because I just. . . ow ow, okay, Ingo I need to lay down." Laying down would at least make her ribs not hurt AS MUCH, and she'd take any relief she could. As she slowly moved out of Ingo's lap, she didn't really need him to tell her Adrian and Rhys were alright. She already saw Rhys moving towards them, and Adrian was doing the same, looking at Rayne as if she was a skeleton with muscles and no skin or something O_O

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Adrian's experience after waking up from the crash was completely different than that of his boyfriend, best friend, and best friend's boyfriend. Honestly, Adrian was probably the FIRST person on the entire bus to wake up. But that didn't mean he went off to feel pulses and check for people that were alive, did it? No. It was probably because it hadn't occurred to Adrian that this had happened. He woke up groggily and had looked around . . . of course, he wasn't in his seat anymore and the bus was on its side, but Adrian just figured it was a dream. "This is sooo weirddd. Gotta. . .tell Rhys. . . . " Of course, he didn't stay up for long. What? His head really hurt, and if he was dreaming, he needed to try and wake up so he could tell Rhys he had a dream they crashed! Adrian didn't pay any attention at all to the fact that he hadn't fallen asleep in the first place. He'd just been about to talk to someone, so there was no reason for him to fall dead asleep. Unless of course, he realized that there had been an accident. He realized what was going on when he finally woke up. Looking around, Adrian realized that it was the exact same scene in his dream! Adrian thought it was really a coincidence. But . . . then it hit him that this was a serious matter, and definitely not just a coincidence. This was real.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ ". . . . . Rayne???" called Adrian, seeing as she was the person closest to him before the crash. She had been next to him, but now she was nowhere near. What did that mean?? Adrian was honestly starting to panic. What if there were . . . . dead people?? What if they were going to be stuck on the bus for forever! Adrian and Rhys would never make it back home so they could get back to Texas and have their alone time! And he'd never get to tell his mother that he wanted to marry Rhys! Alright, so his mind was going into overdrive, and he was so close to just screaming in frustration. Not in pain. Adrian calmed down a tiny bit when he realized that his head just hurt a little bit and he had some scratches. Of course, Adrian thought nothing of the fact that he could POSSIBLY have a concussion (although he didn't), which was a good thing, seeing as he would have completely freaked out and thought he was dying if THAT was the case. After all this panic, Adrian hadn't once thought of Rhys. No, it wasn't because he was insensitive; Adrian obviously cared very much for his boyfriend. He'd THOUGHT of the other male, just hadn't been worried about him being hurt. That is, until now. Some girl had started yelling about a dead person touching them, and immediately Adrian started getting up and looking down at all the bodies around the bus. He sincerely hoped that most of them were alive, although Adrian didn't have any qualifications whatsoever to check and see, and he would much rather just get out of this morbid situation. . . but he was too busy looking around to see if he spotted Rhys.

(づ￣ ³￣)づ Of course he did see Rhys. He was touching. .. . people and supposedly checking to see if they were alive or dead and Adrian couldn't help but to call out his name to get his attention. "Rhysss! I want to go over and give you a hug, but I'm scared to moveeee!" He honestly was scared to move, or rather start walking around. He wasn't hurt very much, but what if he stepped on someone else and hurt THEM? Anyway, it was just . . . a weird thought of his and Adrian would have much rather preferred to close his eyes and repeat "there's no place like home" until Rhys reached him. Unfortunately for Adrian and Rhys and . . . just everyone, it was then that Adrian noticed Ingo and Rayne somewhere on the bus. Ingo didn't know what was going on with them, and the only thing that registered in his mind was that Ingo looked like he was about to break down or something. Alright, so maybe not break down, but he looked very concerned about Rayne and . . . well, Adrian was concerned too. Seeing Rayne like that, all . . . in pain, Adrian had to go over there right away and see if she was alright. Adrian had to admit that he probably looked really scared. He just didn't want anything to happen to his best friend before they got to make up, or at all! Adrian had to man up and mutter some 'ew's as he walked to Rayne and saw she was awake. "Ingo is Rayne alright, she's not going to die is she?! Rhys is smart enough tobe a doctor, RHYS COME LOOK AT RAYNEEEEEE." Oh boy, was Adrian in for a big shock.