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 Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:42 pm
The sun yellow Jeep Wrangler tore into the gravel parking lot beside the small café. The driver, a tall Caucasian man in his early 30s, hopped from the side and quickly took up his appearance in the jeep’s side view mirror.
‘The first real date you’ve had in over a year and you show up late, and looking windblown.’ Lanaki grumbled to himself as he ran his hand through his brown locks. Grabbing the long strands, he tightened the pink pearl and conch shell cord and re-tied his hair loosely in the back so it draped comfortably on his shoulders and fell down to his mid-back. He wore a simple collared, white button down silk shirt and black khaki’s. A pair of polished black Dockers Gordon’s poked out from under his pants. Besides his usual pieces of jewelry; which consisted of a black cord necklace with a whale bone fishing hook hanging slung on it, a woven hemp bracelet, and an assortment of beads and shells that were twined into a few pieces of his hair near the sides of his face; Lanaki felt he didn’t do too bad of a job. Of course the green stripe tattoos around his neck were a drastic contrast to his wardrobe, especially with the first two buttons of his shirt being unbuttoned. Eh, he liked the breeze.
He laughed and finally content with how he looked, walked up the walk and entered the dimly lit café.
“Hmm… perhaps I’m not so late after all.” He questioned under his breath as he noticed only two other customers in the room and the lone barista at the counter.
Taking a few glances in other alcoves of the interior proved his assumptions correct. He made his way to the counter, and found his eyes wondering over the young attendant.
‘No, Lanaki. You’re here to finally meet someone who you can try to spend a little more time with than just a night.’ He mentally scolded himself as he put in his order for a straight black coffee. The barista moved off and he had to look elsewhere now. Finding a quiet section nearest the large window in the front, Lanaki pulled up a large winged arm chair and grabbed the day’s newspaper from the coffee table.
‘Wonder if this “date” thing is actually going to work out.’ He thought to himself with a laugh. ‘Damn that kid.’
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:01 pm
Annabelle was late, she was always late. She slammed the door of the cab behind her and caught a glimpse of herself in the cafe window. Her curls were pulled into a braid that hung to her waist. In her rush curls had pulled free and frammed her pale face. She wrinkled her nose at the reflection and attempted to smooth them into order.
At least her clothing was still in order. A bright green tank top was covered by a cropped black shirt that tied in the back. She had matched it with a short black skirt and knee high black boots. Even in the middle of the day she dressed for a show. Around her neck was a simple black ribbon.
Leaving her reflection, she pushed open the door of the cafe and scanned the room for her date- she assumed he had arrived before her. She still couldn't believe that she had agreed to this. A couple seemed to be going through the awkward meeting stage of the date and the only other occupant was sitting alone. His appearance matched the picture she had been sent. Taking a deep breath strode forward with a bright, if slightly strained smile on her face. "Hello, Lanaki?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:34 pm
The sudden presence startled him slightly as he felt like he had been drifting off. His mission to find a better sleeping habit was still far from his reach it seemed. He looked up from the paper only to be greeted with a stunning red headed beauty. Words could never describe a more prettier thing.
"Aloha~" Lanaki chimed as he lowered the paper to give her his full attention. He quickly realized he was being nothing but a dog and quickly took to his feet to offer better company.
"Yes, I'm Lanaki. And you must be Annabelle Marrow. It's a pleasure to meet you and I'm sorry if I came off as rude. The description I received of you simply does not do you the proper justice." He said with a small gentleman's bow to her and proffered a chair. "Is there anything you'd like to order?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:59 am
His momentary confusion almost made her want to giggle, but she had to admit he recovered quickly. He was not the only one to stop and admire the scenary though. If she thought the back of his head was pretty-sorry handsome, it was nothing compared to his front.
She blushed at his compliment but didn't look away. "You can calll me Anna if you want to, almost everyone does." She took the offered chair and sank into the plush leather curling her legs up beside her. "And I will have to return your compliment, you are quite pretty yourself." She paused a moment, perhaps a man wouldn't want to be called pretty- even if it was true. For some reason her eyes kept wandering back to the few unbutton inches of shirt...
Remembering suddenly he had asked her a question, Anna blinked and responded, "Umm, black coffee I think, I was up late last night." She decided to leave out the 'and slightly hung over' part.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:55 pm
Lanaki smiled to himself at her word choice. 'Heh, so I'm 'pretty'. So long as it doesn't make it around the office all is fine with me.' He thought as he took up a clean mug and the decanter in front of him.
"Well, we already have two things in common. We both drink our coffee black," He handed her the steaming mug. "And have little understanding of a bed time." He laughed, leaning back in the arm chair, while accidentally noticing just how short her skirt really was. He readjusted himself in the chair and brought his attention back to her.
"So, Anna, I hear you're a bit of a musi-" He stuttered as his gaze finally found her eyes. 'Damn- her eyes are green.' He thought as he starred, cup of coffee half way to his mouth. Did this dating service dig farther into his personal life than he had expected?
"Ahh... musician." He finally finished, deciding to rest the cup of coffee back on the table. At this point, he didn't really think he could take another sip without choking.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:13 pm
Anna watched his movements carefully and took the coffe mug from him with another bright smile. She loved the smell of coffee, maybe even more than any other scent she decided as she breathed in the warm aroma. She set the mug on the table knowing she would just burn herself at the moment.
She had to laugh at his comment though, "Well it's good to know I'm not the only one." She pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and reached for her drink. After a sip she spoke again, "Of course that may not say good things about us."
An eyebrow shot up at his stammer in pronouncing her career. He was looking at her strangely. Did she have something on her face? She lifted a hand and swiped at her mouth just in case, but Lanaki had seemed to recover. "I am." Her eyes lit up, she loved to talk about music. "And you are a producer." She could recite his profile just as easily.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:38 pm
Brushing a hand through his hair, he leaned back, trying to regain his composure. "No one can be good all the time." He smiled as he fixed his sleeve cuff for a lack of anything better to do with his hands.
"Ahh, yes, just for a small company on the coast. Helps keep me a little more grounded than I normally would be. However, don't tell that to my boss, he'd highly disagree." Feeling a little uncomfortable talking too much about himself he brought the air of conversation back to Anna.
"A musician. Yet again, small world. Your attire makes me think you'd come off as more of a rocker, but your profile said you're more inclined to country?" He questioned as he took up his mug and sipped at the coffee. His eyes sat glued to the wall just over her shoulder before he finally brought them back to her. So strange of him. He was usually much more well composed than this.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:54 pm
He was very smooth, Anna admitted to herself as she watched Lanaki fiddle with his clothes. He could manipulate the conversation well. She listened intently to his description of work and wrinkled her nose. "That's why I work for myself...of course band mates could be worse than bosses."
Anna blushed very red at his last comment. How had he known that?! She told no one, if she was asked rock was her life and passion. It wouldn't have been a lie either really, her own band was centered around the raw sound, but she wrote and sold songs to a number of country singers under a different name. Now how to explain that? "I-I..." She sighed, "It's a secret love of mine, if I was more famous I would swear you to secrecy." She winked with a little giggle, her face still bright red.
She was so flustered by his question that she almost missed his distraction. Again he wasn't looking at her.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:31 pm
"Oh, I can definitely agree with you on that one. I've dealt with more band break ups than I care to know." He rubbed his temple at the thought.
Her sudden pull inward brought his attention squarely on her now. Her face had turned a bright crimson at his last remark. 'Hiding behind a false name to hide her love? Oh... who does that remind me of?' He shook his head and leaned towards her, his brunette hair falling over his right shoulder and almost touching the ground. "And why would you have to swear anyone to hide such a secret? Such compassion is a rarity but also a hard find to see it so well hidden." He inclined as he clasped his hands together and leaned on his knees.
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 8:03 am
Annabelle paused to think for a moment. Idely she twisted a lock of hair around her finger and swung her own feet foward to rest on the ground. "I suppose I'm still nieve enough think that I have a reputation to protect." She thought of the number of older rock stars that had recently turned to a new genre. "It's probably very silly of me, but there is also the thrill of having a secret too."
At least his attention was back where it was supposed to be. Her face had finally faded back to its original shade of pale peach and she tried to steer the conversation around to Lanaki. "I read that you grew up in Hawaii? I must admit your profile was more informative than mine." She added the last as an after thought.
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 9:00 pm
"Oh, now I didn't mean you didn't need to hide secrets because you weren't popular enough or anything." He stated, feeling like he may have offended her. "I just feel that if you have something you love that much, why hide it?" He exchanged as took another sip of coffee. "But I can see where the thrill would lie. Heh, you're talking to a thrill seeker right here." He grinned as he sat back and rested his arm up behind his head.
"Right, probably a little too informative if you ask me." He smiled, "But I prefer to be straight up. As for Hawaii, yeah, lived their basically my whole life. I'm a big surfer because of it but I was a fool when I was young and tried some of the bigger waves early on." His left hand went down and rubbed at his left thigh absentmindedly. "Let's just say some of the coasts weren't the most forgiving."
"Now," He started again after a pause and topped off his mug, "if you do ever want to come out with that secret of yours, I can help you do it."
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 8:11 am
Anna laughed, "I didn't mean that at all! I was trying to say that I have an ego the size of Mount Everest sometimes. I have friends that try and keep me in check but occasionally I sneak it in." She made a sliding gesture with one hand.
"I don't think there was too much information, I just couldn't think of what people would want to know about me." She leaned forward and picked up her coffee, wrapping her hands around the warm ceramic. "Oh! Surfing sounds like an amazing time, it's on my list of things to try!" Along with sky diving, bungee jumping and learning to cook, but she didn't want to ramble so she left them out.
"I grew up in New York. There was no surfing there. I never even made it to the beach." She forced her voice to remain cheerful as she spoke about home.
Anna laughed again, "You make it sound like I'm gay." She paused, "But I may take you up on that offer at some point, just to see the expressions on peoples face's." She giggled once more at the thought.
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 8:59 pm
Lanaki nodded, "I see. But we all need to preen our feathers sometimes." He smiled thinking about Trelanz.
Lanaki brightened real fast at the prospect of teaching a possible apprentice in the arts of surfing. It had been so long since he was an instructor and really missed the thrill of seeing the other finally catch their first real wave. "Never been surfing, huh? That's like someone saying they've never seen snow." Lanaki laughed.
Ahh, so a Yankee, but not a very proud one? "So, New York," He rested his chin on clasped hands. "The city that can either build you or break you. I thought I got a vibe of independence from you."
Thinking back to what he said, he had to laugh. It did sound like that. Woops. "Oh man, thankfully I know that to be false." However I wouldn't mind the thrill. "Well, if you find any interest in continuing this little adventure we have going, I'd love to take you out and catch a few waves sometime." He smiled as he finished off his mug.
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Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:02 pm
Anna's mind went to Gam at his words and she she had to smile as well. Thinking of the bird boy at home she wondered if it had been lying to say she had no children.
"I have seen snow I assure you," she bantered as she finished her coffes and replaced the cup on the table. Now she had nothing to do with her hands and one inevitably made its way up to her hair. She smoothed it down and then began to play with one strand.
She found his description of home to be accurate, but the first date was not the time to go into that so she brushed it off. "I am independant- both thanks and in spite of my home town."
Anna raised an interested eyebrow at his offer, that sounded like he might actually be interested in her. Of course she was young and attractive, what wasn't there to to like. A mocking voice in her head told her that her towering self confidence would be one thing but she ignored it. "That would be amazing!" She grinned at him.
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Posted: Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:55 pm
"Glad to hear that. You're smart to live your life independently. It's a very strong quality and rather hard to find." He sat there and looked to the ground thinking about how much he had paid to realize that.
'Heh, this girl does nothing but stir up old wounds it looks like.' He thought. 'But perhaps that's a good thing.'
"Alright then, looks like we have a destination for date two from the looks of it. And with it, perhaps a check mark off on that list of yours." He grinned as he stood and cracked his neck.
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