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 Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 1:57 pm
Paris stared at the screen of his phone and sighed, not all that thrilled by the text his mother had sent him. “Remember to call me,” it said, as if the nagging he’d been subjected to during lunch the day before hadn’t drilled that desire of hers into his head well enough. He had no intention of following through with it, and so was even more annoyed by the reminder than he would have been had he actually thought calling his mother of all people was an option.
“Leave me alone, Mom,” he muttered to himself, shutting his phone with a snap and setting in down on the table as he took another sip of his drink.
He was sitting by himself at one of the street-side tables at a café, a half-eaten bagel spread with chocolate chip cream cheese and a cup of ice water in front of him. It was a warm enough morning to forgo a jacket over his white sun-dress – embroidered here and there with a blue and green floral pattern – and the sun was out, bright and cheerful, the perfume of nearby flowers almost enough to mask the normal smell of pollution. Most of the people around him were older – a few college students, a couple of businesswomen enjoying a short morning break, mothers or fathers with their very young children, but very few high schoolers, if any at all. Not that Paris didn’t expect others to skip; he was sure he wasn’t the only one playing hooky.
Paris didn’t have any plans for the day other than to avoid the people and places he could barely stand. He had his dance bag on one of the chairs beside him so he wouldn’t even have to go home later to grab it before heading to the studio, though he had no idea what to do between now and then. He figured he could go shopping, wander around some stores and try on some clothes and hope that was sufficient enough to pass the hours. He glanced at his phone at the idea and considered pressing one of the numbers on speed dial to see if he’d have the potential for some company, but stopped himself before he could even reach out to do it.
It didn't feel right, or fair. He didn't want to outright lie, but he didn't know what to say about himself and the change that had come about him two or three months prior. He didn't know how not to tell the truth, and until he did it was better to simply continue avoiding the issue. He didn't want to make things more complicated than they already were.
Instead, he sighed and went back to eating his bagel, wondering which stores he should visit first.
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 2:25 pm
"Annabel, heel," Christopher instructed the young Finnish Spitz he had with him as they came to the stop at the edge of the sidewalk, waiting for the light to change. In one hand he had his normal, dark grey backpack slung over his shoulder; in the other he was holding onto a pink leopard print leash attached to the matching collar worn around his dog's neck. He couldn't remember the last time he'd attempted putting on a... less vibrant collar and leash combo. His mother liked to insist that Annabel was too much of a princess to wear anything but pick and/or covered in rhinestones.
And thus, the first year DCU student was standing with a very girly looking dog, just because he couldn't bring himself to set his foot down and insist on her wearing spikes or camo. Not that he would make her wear spikes or camo, but it was better than pink leopard print, right? Maybe? Whatever...
It was a typical week with typical things to expect. Prom was coming up for the high schoolers, and although he knew college students were invited as well, he couldn't bring himself to be all that excited about running into certain people. His luck wasn't good enough to actually help him avoid people like he would prefer to do, sometimes.
Chris glanced down at his watch as the light turned green for them to cross, taking a step off the sidewalk before Annabel moved to follow. He still had a few hours before his baseball practice, so he had a little time to stop and get a bite to eat and something to drink.
It was a little cafe that he stopped at, kneeling down to carefully tie the pink leash around one of the empty tables set outside, before making his way in to place his order.
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 4:12 pm
He was almost done with his bagel when his eyes found his cell phone again, and Paris frowned at it, battling temptation. He was lonely. He knew he only had himself to blame for it, which only made it worse. It was his own choice to drop off the face of the Earth, whatever his reasons for it might be -- staying at school for a few weeks, then sneaking off and staying away just as long; spending his nights visiting his usual haunts, then spending just as many prowling other areas of town, sticking to the shadows and hoping he didn't run in to anyone else, trying his best to get used to what he was, only his best didn't seem to be good enough.
He huffed in frustration, annoyed by his own indecisiveness, and reached out to grab his phone when the yapping of a dog at a nearby table attracted his attention. Paris looked over at it and smiled when it's head turned and it looked at him as well, curled tail wagging at the sudden attention. Glancing around to see if the owner was anywhere in sight before deciding he or she must have gone inside, Paris rose from his chair and moved over to kneel by the dog leashed to the table.
"Hi, there," he said, letting it sniff his hand before petting it. "You're a pretty dog. Look at you. You're like a little puppy princess."
It yipped at him and nuzzled against his palm, and then went about sniffing at him some more -- his dress, his neck, his hair, nudging at the knitted blue cap on his head. Paris grabbed it to keep it from slipping off and let the dog lick at his hand for a few moments. With his other hand he reached for her collar, finding a metal tag with what he was going to assume was the dog's name engraved on it, decorated with some sort of pink gemstone.
"Annabel Lee, huh?" he said, imagining what the owner must look like to give his or her dog a name like that. Probably a Lit teacher or something. Or some hippy bookworm.
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 5:23 pm
Actually, no. He was definitely not a Lit teacher or a hippy bookworm. Of course, it had been his mom who had named his dog, but that wasn't the point.
Christopher ordered his lunch of a plain bagel with strawberry cream cheese spread, and one of those healthy, all natural fruit drinks with pomegranate in it, before heading back outside to sit and eat, as well as make sure that Annabel was okay. Seeing a pretty blonde in a dress and hat had him pausing at the door to the cafe, blinking curiously at her. Something about her seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember if he knew her or not. At least not when he couldn't see her face.
Whether he knew her or not, he moved forward to set his glass bottle and wrapped bagel down at the table, letting the bag slide off his shoulder too, setting it on the ground.
"It was either that, or Nevermore," Chris explained with an amused grin, having overheard her saying his dog's name. "I thought Annabel Lee suited her a little better... And it didn't seem as creepy for a puppy." Maybe if she was a bird or a cat... but not a bouncy, curly-tailed fluff-ball.
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 5:59 pm
Annabel started yipping loudly when the door to the cafe opened, so Paris knew to expect the owner to arrive at any moment. He figured it was alright for him to be petting her since he wasn't immediately yelled at to back off. Most people liked it when their dogs got attention anyway, didn't they? Like some sort of strange ego boost? 'You think my dog's cool, so that must me something good about me' -- or some such thing.
Paris paused at the voice that spoke to him. It sounded... kind of familiar. He didn't recognize it immediately, but as soon as he tilted his head up to look he easily remembered where he'd seen this young man before. College party. A little more than a week ago. There had been some chit-chat and flirting, and a few lessons on the guitar.
"Chris," he said his name, surprised, and moved to stand to his feet. Unfortunately, the table Annabel was leashed to got in the way and he ended up smacking his head against the edge of it. "Ow, crap!" he hissed, lifting a hand to rub at the offending spot.
It wasn't anything debilitating -- just a little embarrassing -- and once the stars cleared from his vision a few seconds later he was able to face Annabel's owner full on. "This is your dog?" he asked, a bit of a dumb question, yes, but he'd blame the minor disorientation for that.
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Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 11:18 pm
Well, that would explain why she looked so familiar! She was the girl with the blue-green eyes and the nine for legs... Maybe even a ten, depending on what kind of shoes she decided to wear.
Christopher blinked at Paris when she turned around, and then winced in sympathy when she turned around, quickly moving to kneel down beside her to see if she was okay.
"Careful! You're going to really hurt yourself like that!" he fretted, looking her over as if that would tell him whether or not she was going to bleed to death from hitting her head as she did. When he was satisfied that she was just stunned for a moment, and after giving his dog a gentle shove away from him as she tried to lick at his face, now that he was in range, he reached out to offer her a hand.
"Yeah, she's mine," he confirmed, standing from where he was kneeling and hoping that Paris would take his offered hand to be helped to stand as well. "My mom picked out the collar and everything for her, just in case you were wondering," he quickly explained, not wanting her to get... whatever wrong idea people might have due to things like that. Pink wasn't seen as a very masculine color these days.
"What are you up to? Don't you have school?" Chris asked with a frown, really hoping she wasn't skipping. Maybe they just had a day off...? Or maybe it was lunch break?
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 10:01 am
Paris waved Chris's fretting off. Talk about an overreaction. He'd bumped his head a little bit, not split his skull open. He supposed the concern was kind of sweet -- the attention wasn't bad either -- but it was being wasted on something stupid. He recovered quickly enough himself, removing his cap for a moment to lightly rub at the damaged spot and ruffle his hair to make sure it still looked decent, before placing the cap back on top.
He took the offered hand and finished climbing to his feet, leaning over to pet Annabel again as she jumped between them, happy to have two people fawning over her. He almost teased Chris about the collar anyway, though he knew he didn't have much of a right to question it considering his own sense of fashion, but Chris's apparent discomfort made it much too easy to get in a few digs. Really, Chris didn't have to try so hard to convince him.
"School?" he asked, having forgotten for a moment that that was exactly where he was supposed to be. The frown on Chris's face made it obvious to him that skipping wasn't the answer he was looking for.
Oh well. It was the only answer he had.
"Um, mental health day," he said, smiling brightly, and then added, "It won't affect my grades at all."
Nothing he did would affect his grades at this point, neither to make them better nor to make them worse. That, however, wasn't something he felt like sharing with Chris, not because he was ashamed of it, but because Chris seemed the type to immediately launch into a lecture, and there were plenty of other things he'd rather be doing than listening to that. He'd just let Chris think whatever he wanted about that particular comment.
"Are you going to be sitting around for a while or did you get that to go?" he asked, quickly changing the subject and making a motion to Chris's food.
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 11:15 am
Who said he was overreacting...? Alright, so maybe he tended to fret over little things, but at least he was concerned and didn't laugh at her. That would just be mean... And although he frowned when she waved him off, he didn't continue to fuss. If she wasn't okay then she would say something, hopefully.
Christopher frowned even more at her "mental health day" comment, though he forced himself to keep his mouth shut. So she was skipping class. Ah, well... It wasn't as though he didn't expect people to do it. He was just the annoyingly goody goody student who had never skipped a class, lest he miss something important.
"I'm sitting for a while," he said, deciding there was no point in scolding her — he didn't know her very well, so he didn't feel all that comfortable in lecturing her. And it wasn't like she was doing something to hurt anyone.
Chris reached down to rub at his dog's ears as she attempted to circle around their feet while still tied to the table, and thusly not being able to go more than halfway around before having to turn around. Picking up his bag, he took a few moments to open it and pull out a bowl and a bottle of water, setting it on the ground and pouring some for Annabel to drink, and hopefully distract her enough to stop trying for so much attention.
As for Paris... he looked her over as she stood, eyes inadvertently glancing down at her bare legs, before quickly returning to her face. To be honest, he hadn't expected to ever see her again, but he definitely wasn't going to complain. On the contrary, he was kind of happy to see her again. She had made good company at the party just a week ago, and it wasn't every day that someone so patiently let him "teach" them how to play the guitar. Most people would rather just watch him, rather than try and be helped to play. And it was nice that she was so pretty, too.
"Would you like to join me? If you're not busy, or about to leave, I mean," he quickly added, not wanting her to feel pressured into sitting with him, especially if she had only been passing by.
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 11:28 am
"I thought you'd never ask," he joked.
Paris returned to his table long enough to grab his things. He paused once again when his eyes settled on his phone, but he shrugged it off and slipped it into the outside pocket of his dance bag, slinging that onto his shoulder and tossing out the trash from his quick meal. He kept his cup of water, bringing it with him as he made his way back to Chris's table, sliding into a chair and setting his bag down on another empty one.
He didn't see any reason not to sit with Chris for at least a little while. He had nothing to do, Chris had nothing to do, and while he was sure they had very little in common and hung around very different circles, Paris wasn't opposed to sitting across from him and basking in the company of a handsome young man. Besides, he could tell Chris thought he was pretty. It was a nice boost for his ego.
"So you have the guitar and the dog," he observed. "Don't tell me you've got a baby hidden somewhere, too. Talk about major girl bait. You'd have the chick magnet trio. I'm surprised there aren't any girls lining up right now."
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 2:15 pm
Chris moved to sit down at the table, watching as the blonde got her things and moved over to sit with him, though he first made sure that Annabel was out of the way and content with her bowl of water.
"No baby," he said, laughing lightly and shaking his head, "But I do have an autograph signing in about an hour." He was joking, of course, but seeing as she was joking as well, he didn't really have to worry about trying to amuse someone without a sense of humor. That would kind of suck if she didn't find things funny, but he's met some people who didn't appreciate joking around.
"I wasn't expecting to run into you again," he admitted as he twisted the bottle of his juice to open it and take a quick drink. "This is a nice surprise... for me, at least. I don't know about you," he said, though he was still smiling lightly. Paris was an interesting young lady... She was forward enough to get his attention, but then she didn't hit on him like others might have, if given the opportunity. It was nice feeling comfortable around a female, other than his best friend, of course...
"What have you been up to in the past week...? Did you have a nice mother's day...?" he wondered, having had enjoyed a quiet little weekend break with his own mother and family. Sure, his little brother drove him up the wall, but what else can you expect from a ten-year-old?
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 3:02 pm
Chris thought he wasn't hitting on him? Granted, Paris wasn't really trying as hard as he might have, but that was only because he didn't think anything would come from it. They'd spent an entire party together and nothing had happened, so he could only assume Chris either wasn't interested enough to reciprocate or he was already taken. It didn't seem as if he were with someone -- he didn't react like a guy who was worrying about his girlfriend discovering him being friendly with another girl -- but maybe he wasn't in to fooling around with someone he barely knew.
It made Paris wonder what he was doing wasting his time. His only explanation was that he was bored and lonely and had been without friendly company for a while now. Other than Ladon -- and perhaps a select few other people -- everyone else he'd ever been around wanted something from him. Giving himself away got tiring after a while; sometimes it was nice just to be around someone who acted like a friend, without having to concern himself with what they expected later.
"You get awfully personal right off the bat," Paris teased, his brows raising at Chris's curiosity. "We just sat down and you've already brought up a subject I don't usually talk about."
Then again, Mother's Day had been the day before. It was the perfect subject for small talk when the weather was being so pleasant and uneventful.
He smiled to let Chris know he wasn't upset, but waved the topic off. "Mother's Day was better than it could have been, I suppose. The rest of the week was better. I spent most of it at the studio," he said, leaning against the table with one elbow propped against it, his hand cradling the side of his face. "And you? Are finals coming up soon or are you already done for the year?"
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 3:30 pm
No girlfriend. He'd sworn them off for a while. The only girl he had to worry about being jealous was Zia, but since she wasn't anywhere in the vicinity, that he could see, he wasn't too worried about it. He didn't mind her occasional possessiveness, but he also didn't want to end up scaring off good company. Paris just happened to be some pretty good company so far, at least.
Granted, he didn't even realize he'd stepped into unwanted topics until it was too late and a good portion of his bagel had been shoved into his mouth. He froze, blinking with wide eyes at Paris for a moment, before finishing biting off the piece of his bagel and quickly chewing and swallowing, with a little difficulty in his haste.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," he quickly apologized once he was sure he wasn't going to choke, and although Paris didn't seem to be offended or upset, he also hadn't meant to delve into personal topics like that. It had only been the day before, so it was still on his mind, and he seemed to have a problem with not realizing that his life and other people's lives weren't always the same in being decently happy and uneventful.
Chris paused cautiously as Paris went on, passing by the Mother's Day question with ease, and then returned with questions for him. "Finals still, but mostly done," he said, frowning when Annabel decided she wanted to nuzzle up against Paris's leg, snapping his fingers to get her attention when she tried licking the young lady's leg, as well.
"Anna, stop it! I'm sorry about her... Annabel, come here," he told her, which resulted in the dog wagging her tail more and continuing to try and lick at Paris's leg. Dumb dog...
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 4:03 pm
Paris looked down at the dog, removing his elbow from the table to reach out and pet her. "She's fine. There isn't any harm in it," he said, scratching behind her ears and rubbing a his hand along her back. "Isn't that right? You're a good puppy. You just want some attention, and there's nothing wrong with wanting a little attention, is there?"
He wondered if he should look into getting a pet for himself. That might help with the loneliness a bit to have someone else there, even if that someone happened to be an animal. He hadn't had one since his Beta fish died, and even though Alejandro hadn't been all that interactive, it had still been nice to look over and see him swimming there and know he wasn't alone. He hadn't realized that he'd missed that until sitting with Annabel now.
"I like dogs," he decided, "Not big ones, though. Annabel's a good size. I could live with a dog like her... or a cat. I've always wanted a cat."
Taking care of a dog might be difficult at this point in his life. They did required a lot of time and attention, and he wasn't sure how much of that he would have to give to one. Cats were easier since they could generally take care of themselves so long as he put food and water out for it. It'd just be nice to have another living, breathing thing to curl up with at night.
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 6:13 pm
It was clear that Annabel greatly enjoyed the attention, seeing as she scooted closer to Paris and attempted to lick at her hand as she pet her.
Chris, though, still wasn't too sure if that was okay, and he frowned at Annabel as she continued to mess with Paris. But if Paris said it was okay, then he guessed it would be okay until she got tired of her. Sometimes he wished that his dog would behave better, though... especially in new company.
"If you're ever interested in getting one, you should top by the D C Animal Shelter," he said, sitting up a little more in his chair as he picked at a piece of his bagel, always interested in the possibility of someone adopting a pet. "I volunteer there, so I could definitely show you around and introduce you to some of the dogs and cats."
It would definitely depend on how much room she had for her to get a dog, at least ideally. A cat, on the other hand, would fit in just about any home or apartment, just as long as it was allowed. Having a pet could be a big responsibility, but as long as she could take care of it and feed it and all that, then he didn't see anything wrong with getting one.
"Have you had a dog before...? Or any other pet...?" Er... she didn't have, like, a history dead pets, did she...? Because that would be kind of horrible. And he would feel really guilty for bringing up yet another topic that wasn't wanted.
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Posted: Sat May 14, 2011 6:28 pm
Somehow Paris wasn't surprised to learn that Chris volunteered. He gave off that straight-laced, goody two shoes vibe of someone who studied hard and made good grades and volunteered at animal shelters and soup kitchens and gave blood as if he could make a difference. Paris supposed it was nice to know there were people out there looking out for the little guy, but with all the crap that went on in this city he wondered how much good it actually did.
"I had a Beta fish up until a few months ago. Then I walked into my room one morning and found him belly-up in his bowl," he shared. It was a sad memory, but not necessarily upsetting. Fish didn't last long anyway, did they? It would have been much different if it had been a longer-living animal he'd grown up with instead of a fish he'd had for only a short while.
"Other than that, nothing. My parents always said a pet would be too expensive," he said. He didn't go into further detail. What was the point of sharing his financial situation? Admittedly, it was better than it had been when he'd been younger, considering his mother's current job, but judging from Chris's nice clothes, pampered dog, and the posh crowd he hung around, the young man across from him wouldn't understand.
"Is Annabel your only dog?" he asked, petting her still. "She's not exactly shy, is she?"
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