x.Chasing Sunshine

[KERFUFFLE]

I want to, because I want to do a career in art. But I just don't know whether it's worth the stress. I mean, it's been particularly bad recently. And I saw the amount of work that goes into an A Level Project and.. Well I can do it, but I hate being a perfectionist.. It's hard to say right now.

Brandon was evidently concerned about her, but he still smiled at her when she came out. He said to her, "We'll see how things go. And I think if it carries on we should get it checked out. It wouldn't be good if you end up missing out on a few days being ill." He offered her his hand to lead her back to the table.

That's true, aswell. And, yeah, that is my least favourite part of making a character. I hate thinking of names.

 

[Penguins.]

Yeah, my friend who has AP Art here says that the class is hell...it's a lot of work apparently.

Avery sat back down when she got to the table. The food had arrived while she and Brandon had been gone but she wasn't completely sure if she should be eating the food they had ordered if she did have a virus, but she was really hungry.

"Do you guys have any plans for the day?" Sierra asked, after most everyone had started eating.

I'll just look around behindthename.com till I find something I like. It's what I usually do. Haha. I'm looking at Irish names right now. Reagan is pretty. I also really like Cassandra.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Well, I was amazed. There was this piece that this girl had made which was basically this ballgown made entirely of paper, like, as in, she'd cut them into sort of leaf shapes and made them into a dress. And then we found out that that was only coursework, not a final piece. Oh dear..

Brandon helped himself to food when everybody else had picked, ever the gentleman, and then tucked in with his chopsticks. The food was great, but he couldn't help but have half of his mind that was a little worried about Avery. He figured it was irrational. Everybody got ill every once in a while. He didn't really know the answer to Sierra's question, so he said, "I'm not sure," and then asked Avery, "Do we?"

Yeah, I just search through name lists and such. Reagan is pretty, actually. Definitely sounds Irish.

 

[Penguins.]

That sounds awesome! If I ever wore something like that though, I'd be scared to move in case I ripped it. That does sound really hard, though.

Avery shook her head as she finished her bite. "Not really. I've already taken you to all the tourist locations. Unless you're in the mood to go to a museum or something, there's really nothing I had planned for today."

"You could always come over to our house," Sierra suggested. "I mean, it's not the most interesting place but you're staying at your hotel and the rest of our family is out. They took Ryan to go look at some colleges, so Elysa and I have the whole place to ourselves, and it gets kind of boring."

Avery was fine with it, of course, but she looked to see what Brandon had to say.

I'm kind of leaning towards Cassandra. If I used an Irish name, I'd feel obliged to make her a redhead and Avery's already a ginger.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

It was amazing. Like, if it wasn't made of paper, it was definitely wearable. But, yeah, the thought of doing that, though.. Crazy.

When Avery obviously looked to see what he thought of it, Brandon smiled and nodded. He said, "Yeah, that sounds good to me, anyway. I take it that you're just fine with it, Ave?" He'd be surprised if she didn't want to spend some time with her friends.

Particularly Reagan. Sounds Celtic, who were pretty much all redheads xD Cassandra is pretty, too. I suppose I'd better get thinking of someone. I could use Caden, because he's new. But I dunno yet.

 

[Penguins.]

It reminds me of something I saw either on the Food Network or the fashion channel...chocolate dresses. A designer made chocolate dresses for a charity fashion show or something and the models had to be in really cold rooms so that the chocolate wouldn't melt. I don't know how they didn't eat their dresses.

"Yes, of course," Avery nodded. "So it's settled. We'll come over to your place after lunch and stay till however long we feel like it."

"Perfect," Elysa said. "We can just walk there. It's less than ten minutes on foot, Brandon." She directed her statement to Brandon, since Avery already knew how close they lived to the restaurant.

I love the name Caden! I was actually considering it for one of my characters a while ago, but it clashed with Cadence which I liked better than Caden.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Wow, that sounds amazing.. I'd love to see that. I don't think I'd be a particularly reliable model, either.

Brandon smiled and replied, "Okay. It all sounds like a great plan to me." He ate some more of his food and contemplated the fact that he had been warmly welcomed into Avery's group of friends, which he was really happy about. He also said, "The food is amazing, by the way. You'd be paying a high price for this kind of food in London."

Cadence. That just fills my head with Mozart and Handel because I can just hear Mr. Carey going on about Plagal and Perfect Cadences. Oh dear.. But I do like the name, as well. Though, Cadence sounds more like a girl's name to me.

 

[Penguins.]

I Googled it but the ones I found weren't the ones I was talking about... :/ I guess chocolate dresses are more popular than I realized.

Avery didn't say anything in response. She knew that Brandon might feel bad about the money. The food wasn't terribly expensive but it definitely exceeded the average price of restaurant food. Luckily, her friends took the hint and didn't say anything. When the check came, Sierra picked it up and slipped her credit card in.

"You're visiting," she explained. "So I should pay."

Haha, cadence is my favorite SAT word. My other favorite is caprice. And yes, it is a girl's name. Rhett's sister, actually.

I can't decide where Cassandra should be. pfft.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Ah, still, I'll Google them just to get a general idea, I think.

It may have been for the best that nobody said anything. Brandon was definitely like that about dinner and such. Still, it was significantly cheaper than the ones he'd ever looked at in London. Which meant that he'd never actually been to one, because he didn't trust the take outs from around him. He usually had to make it himself, or went wen he was somewhere else in England. When Sierra pitched in, he said, "You don't want something for the tip, at least?" There it was, he couldn't help himself, he did feel bad just sitting back and letting them pay.

Yeah, I like Caprice.

I love the word Cadence because, through that association with Music class, I just visualise the whole room of blank faces. Literally, it just went over everybody's head because of the way he'd explained it.

Um, can't help you, that's the other part about new characters that I hate.

 

[Penguins.]

The ones I saw weren't even half as amazing as the ones on TV though. ):

The ones of TV were literally like ballgowns.

"No," Sierra shook her head. "Of course not. Honestly, don't worry about it." After the waitress returned with her card and the receipt, Sierra stood up, letting Elysa and Rhett out. "Shall we go?" she asked.

Ahaha. The SAT definition is simply rhythm.

hmmm....random generic setting it is then!

Cassandra loved this diner. Although the food was completely unhealthy, it just tasted good. The french fries here were the best, and they were usually the only thing she ever ordered along with a coffee. It was a strange combination, some said, but one of her favorites. Her heels made a sharp tapping sound as she seated herself - it was a sound she both loved and hated. She bit a fry as she sat down, feeling slightly guilty. There was no way her sister would approve of her eating here.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

It appears to be more of chocolate coloured dresses than actual dresses made from chocolate :/ Man, I wanna see some now.

Brandon shoved his wallet back into his pocket and then stood up, letting Avery out and then following along, taking her hand in his, as always. He didn't know why it was exactly that he felt like doing that all the time. Maybe it was going back again as a sort of holding onto her thing, because he was afraid that soon enough she'd see that she could do better than him. And, of course, it was still partly down to the fact that he just liked to.

Really? Well, that's interesting, I didn't think a musical cadence had anything to do with rhythm.

Ah, that sounds more like it. xD

Excellent. Caden is going to be entering in nearly exactly the same way as he did the last time I brought him in..

Caden had been running after a bus. He was supposed to be catching that bus and only that bus, because it was the one that would get him to Grand Central in time. His endless number of cases had weighed him down, and he had no chance. But he'd still given it a dam.n good go. He sighed with frustration as it pulled out just as he was getting to the stop. And, like everybody else in this city, it wasn't hanging around in terms of speed. Oh well. Coffee time. He settled on a diner across the street from the bus stop, simply because it was close and looked nice enough. Any coffee was good coffee after what had just happened. He just managed to squeeze through the door with all his stuff, and then hauled himself over to a table a little ways in.

 

[Penguins.]

Let me look for some. I don't want to show you the ugly ones though! D:

Avery squeezed his hand gently and let her friends walk a few steps ahead of them. She couldn't be alone with him now, obviously, but even walking a few steps behind everyone else made her feel closer to him. She looked up at him and smiled, stopping once to kiss his cheek.

Hmm...I don't know. It's how the SAT uses it, so it's how I use it!

Too generic then, I suppose? Sorry. lol

Cassandra had finished her fries in almost no time at all. She couldn't help but to feel bad about it - her sister was her modeling agent (all this talk about chocolate dresses and modeling made me pick this!) and if she figured out that Cassandra had been anywhere near junk food, all hell would break loose. But then again, she didn't have another show lined up for at least a few more days. She looked up as a young man walked in and seated himself. Tossing her long blonde hair over one shoulder, she stood up and threw away the french fry carton, holding on to the coffee. Unfortunately, her heel got caught in a chip on the floor, and she tripped, spilling the coffee over both herself and the man who had just walked in.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Mmmokay

Brandon smiled back down at her, squeezing her hand in return, and returning her kiss as well, when they stopped for a moment. He thought about when he and Rhett had been talking about family and such, and reflecting on that he really thought about how much he valued Avery. He liked his uncle and his aunt, but they weren't hugely close, so in many senses, she was all he had. He'd been particularly thoughtful lately, for some reason which he couldn't figure out, but he had certainly come to a conclusion he already knew before, and that was that he couldn't do without her. And he really didn't think he friends had any idea of how serious they were about each other.

Well, that's fair enough. It's only just confused me now, though xD

Nope, not a problem ;]

And, weird, the other girl Caden just met was also a model.

Caden hadn't really been paying too much attention to what was going on until he noticed that, as you do when somebody trips, the girl who'd just gotten up had moved in an unusual way. And then the next thing he knew, he just felt a sudden increase in heat coming from his shirt, coming from the coffee the girl had just spilled. His immediate reaction was a quiet, "Ouch," but then he got out of his seat to see that the girl was alright. He picked up a couple of tissues for her and for himself and offered to help her up. "You okay?" he asked her.

 

[Penguins.]

Hmm...dictionary.com?

THAT'S WEIRD. O: I picked it because we were talking about models and then a bunch of modeling company ads came up so I was like "Hmm...that sounds like an interesting career choice."

Avery didn't speak as they walked. She was thinking, but about how off she had been feeling lately. She didn't want to worry Brandon, of course, so had kept it to herself until today. She didn't have much time to think though; Sierra and Elysa lived very close by. They were in and out of the elevator in almost no time at all.

"This is it." Sierra said, once she unlocked the door to the apartment. "Please, make yourselves at home."

Cassandra let him help her up, blushing profusely. She had never tripped in heels before, not since the first few times she had ever worn them. So why now? And why when she had coffee in her hands? Coffee which ended up on a stranger as well as her clothes. Now her sister would be enraged. "I'm so sorry." She said as she picked up the now empty cup. "I'm fine but are you okay? God, I'm so sorry." She avoided making eye contact with him, or anyone else in the diner for that matter. She didn't want him to be mad at her, but New Yorkers weren't known for patience.

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Well, according to AppleMac Spotlight dictionary (this thing has everything, I swear xD) it can mean rhythm, but usually in music it refers to an interval that as part of the key scale that establishes chords and such, etc. etc.

Well, I should probably get going. But have you noticed my ability to stay up much later than usual? xD G'night!

Brandon had been thinking about it, too. He hoped Avery would get over it soon, it was never nice to be feeling ill, especially since they were on a trip. He let her in first, following in behind to go into Sierra and Elysa's apartment. It always struck him how different things were to what he was used to; as he had been expecting, it was a nice apartment.

"Oh, really, it's not a problem," Caden, said, just shrugging it off, smiling a bit and offering her something to wipe the excess coffee off. She was in luck, in terms of the famous way in which New Yorkers were known for behaving; he wasn't a local, and therefore much more tolerant. Just recently, he had been spending more and more time in Manhattan. He was considering a move there as it stood, he really liked it. Going home was his reason for needing to get the bus to the station and such. Oh well, he'd just call home and go tomorrow. He wasn't complaining in the least about staying an extra day. He then asked her, "What coffee were you going to have? I'll get you another one, on me, if you like."

 

[Penguins.]

AppleMac Spotlight Dictionary? xD What is that!? Is that like an app for the Mac?

I HAVE, ACTUALLY!

and I'm very impressed. You're almost at my level!

Avery sat down on one of the couches, pulling Brandon down next to her. She kicked her shoes off and pulled her feet up next to her while reaching for the TV remote. Obviously, this was almost a routine for her. "Do you want a drink or something?" she asked Brandon, while flipping through the channels.

Cassandra shook her head. "No. Please don't worry about it. It was my fault really." She sat down across from him, almost unconsciously, as she tried to dab some of the coffee off her jeans. It was easier to do it while sitting down, rather than bending over. "I'm so sorry." She repeated. Perhaps she had said it too many times, but she did feel terrible. "Is there anyway I can make it up to you? I mean, your clothes. And coffee stains are just so hard to take out." Then, realizing she had sat down she added "I'm sorry. Do you mind me sitting here or are you waiting for someone?"

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Haha, okay, so, I don't know about the Windows 7 adverts where you are, but we have one over here that shows how you've got a computer search bar to look for documents on your PC. And, well, Macs have had that for years, and it's called Spotlight. But, not only does it find documents, it finds webpages and such, and you can search for a word and it'll come up with the dictionary meaning, a thesaurus relating to it, the English to French Translation, and any other language you ask for. And so, I searched Cadence on my AppleMac Spotlight Dictionary xD

Haha, I think 1 am last night was pushing it a bit, since I got woken up earlier than I realised this morning xD

Brandon was sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, and had watched her actions in amusement; clearly Sierra was speaking incredibly literally a few moments ago. He shook his head and said, "No, I'm okay, thanks. I'm quite cosy here, so I'm not prepared for either you or I to move."

Caden smiled ad continued to tell her that, really, it was fine. "Hey, it happens. I'm pretty sure if I was wearing shoes like that I'd do that pretty often," he said lightheartedly. "And, if you'd like to make it up to me, I'd really love it if you could stop feeling bad about it. I'm sure it's not totally serious if I can't get coffee stains out of this shirt, I have plenty more." He had a pair of black jeans on, and a black suit jacket worn casually, left open and with the sleeves pushed up, over the top of his t-shirt, so the rest of his clothes wouldn't show the stains. He hadn't particularly taken her sitting at his table as an unnatural occurrence, so he seemed surprised by her question for a moment, until he realised that, well, he didn't know her. Still, he shook his head and said to her, "Oh, no, it's just me. So, I'm fine with that."

 

[Penguins.]

Oh yeah, they have that on the iPhone too searches through your emails and songs and everything.

1 AM. YOU CAN DO BETTER!

Avery smiled, completely okay with that suggestion. She kept flipping through the channels, and stopped on a cooking show. "Can you teach me how to make that too?" she asked, pointing to the lady on TV, who was making sushi.

Cassandra looked down at her shoes. Did he think she was clumsy? Because she was usually the exact opposite. God, she was embarrassed. Actually, most girls would be tripping in the four inch heels, which only added to her 5'7". But poise was something Cassandra usually prided herself on. Of course, that wasn't the only thing. She was pretty and she realized that. Her hair was a pale blonde and was naturally straight - the kind of straight her mother and sister spent hours to achieve with their straighteners. Her eyes were a light gray and she was skinny. She had to be skinny, naturally. "Thanks," she said in reply to his letting her sit there while she wiped down her clothes. "I'm Cassandra, by the way. Cassandra Darby."

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Yeah, exactly. Actually, I didn't realise you could do it with songs, but I just tried it

Haha, well, I did pretty alright last night, since I'm not tired today.

5"7 and with blonde, straight hair? If it wasn't for the skinny model thing Cassandra would almost sound like me xD

Brandon watched what the lady was doing for a moment, to see the kind of ingredients and such that it required. "Sure I can. I think we may have to stock up on stuff like seaweed here, before we go home, because I don't see us getting it in our remote little town somehow," he said. "But it looks like something I could teach you pretty easily."

Caden actually thought her to be quite the opposite of clumsy. He figured she wouldn't wear heels like that if she couldn't walk in them, and her total embarrassment suggested that it barely, if it had ever, happened to her. He smiled and then thanked the waitress who brought over his coffee for him. One might think he wouldn't feel like a coffee now after he'd just had half a cup spilled all over him, but he really had no hard feelings about it. How could he? He had to admit, she wasn't exactly the kind of person whom he wouldn't like to have a conversation with. She was attractive, and he was otherwise a shy person. "You're welcome," he smiled slightly. "I'm Caden. Caden Fletcher. Nice to meet you, Cassandra."

 

[Penguins.]

Haha, yeah. I found that by accident on my phone; thought it was awesome.

I have a ton to do tonight. And I did a ton today. SO I'M TIRED. D:

You're 5'7"!? I'm so jealous! I'm only like 5' 3/4".

"I love sushi," Avery said, excited. "I haven't had it in ages though. Can you teach me how to make sushi first? Maybe after some practice I'll be able to make it by myself and it'll even taste good."

"Nice to meet you too." Cassandra nodded in response. She had finished cleaning off her clothes to the best of her ability and now she wasn't quite sure what to do. His coffee had come; perhaps that was her cue to leave? But he didn't seem like he wanted her to leave exactly. And to be honest, she didn't particularly want to leave either. Then, she noticed everything he had with him. "Are you going somewhere?" she asked, gesturing to his cases.