Sketching in serenity [Cade]

[Elanora Brennan]

It had been a stressful start to the new year already she Nora was only 4 days in, she had met a few nice people, gotten her tattoo done finally which was all good. The worst day though was New Year’s even when she had decided going to a big party was a great idea. Boy was she wrong she still had a headache from the overload of meta’s. She had decided to get away from the town with its hustle and bustle and go to her favorite place to get away. She was bundled up in her jeans, with leggings underneath for added warmth, t-shirt and riding jacket as she carefully picked her path to the lake on the motorbike. She was always more cautious in winter it didn’t take much ice on the road to land you in trouble if you weren’t careful.

Once she arrived safely in the car park at the lake she dismounted and after removing her helmet, gloves and riding jacket, quickly replaced them with a warm soft jacket and thin gloves. Stowing away her riding gear in the gear sack and withdrawing her sketch pad and a pencil case she strode off toward the lake. Here usual spot was sitting on the ground leaning against a tree out of sight. That didn’t seem feasible today the ground would be too cold to sit on for any period of time, she glanced around, the only other place that seemed feasible were the picnic tables under the gazebo’s at least her work would be protected from the weather if it turned into anything other than cold.

She made her way toward an empty one, she wasn’t used to being so out in the open when she drew but hey she was supposed to be getting back into life right. She scoffed at herself, yeah back into life that is why you came to a lake when its freezing out to sketch, good work on the being social thing Nora, she thought to herself. Settling down on the seat she set her book and pencil case in front of her and just looked around for a moment not sure what to sketch today.

Despite being totally socially awkward Nora couldn’t help noticing a rather attractive guy nearby, quite tall with dark hair. She wondered if she could get away with sketching him without him noticing… flipping the book open and selecting a pencil she began the rough outlines, sketching out the shape of his face and figuring out the placement of his features, all the while praying he wouldn’t catch her in the act.

[Cade Maddox]

It was cold. It was so gosh darn cold. Like why, wwhhyy did he pick today to go out? It had been somewhat warm lately. But no, today, it had to be under 10 degrees (or something like that). At least he had been running the whole time.

Cade wanted some fresh air, and boy was he getting it. Tired of staring at the same, dull, walls of the exercise room, Cade decided he would go out to the lake he had only visited twice before in his whole time at Hammel. Dressed from neck to toe, Cade wore a white exercise t-shirt under a light long-sleeve red shirt, covered by a flexible black jacket. Though the outside of his legs indicated jeans, they were pretty worn out and in one of the holes, it could be seen that he also wore black exercise pants under them. Flexible black boots completed the look.

When he had arrived at the lake, he found a nice spot where the sun was actually shining, and began to run through the motions of his exercise dance routine. Despite his heavier clothing than he was used to, Cade was able to move effortlessly through the movements, though his feet and lower legs moved a bit stiffer than he'd like.

Closing his eyes, Cade sighed. It wasn't like there was really anything or anyone to look at anyway. Why was he even here? His characters had all but abandoned him, he had barely gotten anything out of them except on Christmas and New Years. They refused until he had more real friends and he stopped relying on them. At what point were they individuals and not a part of him? Or was it him? Regardless, this was not the place to meet new people, not on a day like this.

He continued dancing and exercising with his eyes close. It was actually easier than battering the poor things with the cold air with his quick movements. Ending with an excited charge, he jumped up and thrust down with a punch, like a superhero. Kneeling and pushing his thinly gloved hand to the ground, he opened his eyes and scanned around him.

Some meters away was a big splash of color in the environment. "Really didn't expect to have an audience out here!" He called out. He didn't have to yell, they weren't very far away, but he still spoke with some volume. The fact that he didn't stammer because of a girl was some kind of progress, though he wasn't exactly comfortable that she saw him dancing. Awkwardly walking in her direction but not right to her, he stuck his hands in his coat pockets, "So...uh...why are you at in this...really cold weather?"

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora had been busy sketching away, with him moving around doing some awesome dance moves she had moved on from trying to sketch his facial features and had opened to a new page where she had been doing quick sketches of some of the different poses she saw him in for using as reference later on. Also because it was just good practice to try and get the shapes for poses down, and you had to be quick with a moving target.

The sketches on the page were very basic and messy with none of her finesse she showed when she actually properly drew something but it was a fun exercise. Nora had become engrossed with filling out some of the rough sketches and hadn't realized he had stopped dancing until she heard his voice, was.. was he talking to her? She glanced up from the page and saw that he was walking in her direction, she shut the sketchbook as he approached glad for the forewarning if he hadn't called out she might have been caught sketching him.

As he got closer she felt a familiar yet different prickling behind her eyes, he was definitely meta, but she didn't know what sort, she had never come across his power before so the feeling of it in her mind was unfamiliar. Since it was just the two of them at the lake it was pretty easy to ignore the prickling sensation, what was not so easily ignored was her lack of social skills. She looked down at her hands which were fiddling nervously with the pencil she still held as he asked what she was doing out in the cold.

"I... I was just... I just... I like the cold... It's nice and peaceful" She stammered awkwardly, she had done okay lately managing to talk to people but she couldn't get her words to form today, she was nervous over him finding out she had been sketching him, she didn't show her work to people especially if those people were the subjects in it.

[Cade Maddox]

Cade wasn't going to lie, he wasn't sure if she was mirroring his awkwardness for good or bad reasons, or she was actually as awkward as he was and felt. "I hate the cold," Cade replied slowly, putting his arms around himself in a hugging motion, rubbing his arms. While he was warmed up from the dancing, it still was not a comfortable temperature right now.

While he had noticed she was drawing when he first saw her, she seemed to not have her sketchbook open despite the pencil shaking in her hand. "Am I disturbing that calm and peace? Because I can go...it's really no problem..." Cade stammered that sentence a bit, realizing that she probably wanted to be as alone as he wanted to be, even if he apparently 'didn't actually want to be alone'.

That sketchbook still played on Cade's mind even as he stood, only occasionally looking at the redhead...she definitely had a striking appearance, but he honestly didn't recognize her. But even then, if she was or had been at Hammel, he wouldn't really know. He probably recognized less than 1% of the student body.

It him in that moment..."Were you drawing me?" Cade asked, with no negative emotion (or really any emotion for that matter), just curiousity driving it. "I...uh...maybe, I should..." He kind of stammered. He wasn't really comfortable being anyone's subject...and that meant she was watching his warm up if she were...he didn't really want anyone to see his dancing, "I was just uh...warming up, that wasn't meant to be good or..." Cade's cheeks reddened a bit, wishing he had wind to blame it on, but the air was mostly calm.

[Elanora Brennan]

It was amusing to Nora, most people who lived here for more or all of their lives seems to hate the cold. She personally loved it, heat however was another story. Growing up in Australia she had always longed for winter and even when it came she had fantasized about being somewhere it was cold enough to snow. In her mind being cold was better, you could rug ip and add more layers but in the heat there were only so many clothes you could remove before it was inappropriate. "I love the cold" she said quietly in response to his cold hating comment, the only bad this about it was how unsteady it made her bike.

Yes she thought but didn't say, he was definitely disturbing the calm as she felt anxious and jumpy around him. However no she didn't want him to leave, she was tired of being alone all the time with no one to talk too. Though at this moment she wondered if she could ever talk normally with him. Surely when she wasn't trying to hide the fact she had been sketching his movements? Maybe? Before she could attempt to form words to invite him to stay or at least tell him he didn't have to go he was asking if she was sketching him.

"I...uh...a little" she stammered unable to lie and cursing herself for not opening the art book to one of the other pictures in there instead of just closing it. "I'm sorry, your movements were just so intriguing and it was such a good opportunity to practice getting different movements of the human form down I couldn't resist, you were so graceful and I promise if anyone ever did see them, not that they would because I have no one to show them too, but if they did they would never know it was you, it is just a bunch of ovals and lines to show the movement I swear..."

She was speaking fast and rambling and she knew it but she wasn't able to stop it. She had two socially awkward states, either too quiet or she said too much. Her head dropped in shame red flaming her own cheeks as she fiddled with the pencil anxiously. Torn between wanting to throw the book open to prove her point and not wanting too due to her anxieties of sharing her work with anyone but her mother. Great way to make friends Nora, she thought to herself wondering where the nearest rock she could crawl under and hide was.

[Cade Maddox]

Cade could only pat his sides in response to her loving the cold. Cade preferred being able to be down to just a t-shirt, and that just can't happen in weather like this. Not that he didn't try. Most days he still tried to just wear a t-shirt under his jacket, since the Hammel dorms were usually warm enough for it not to be a problem.

Cade's discomfort reached peak levels when she said that she had been drawing him, but before he could respond to ask that she don't, she unleashed a whirlwind of words. Not that Cade didn't want to say something or interrupt her, but he was too good (and too incapable) to do that. So he just stayed silent as she talked. Truth was, she seemed to have just as hard of a time showing what she did as Cade did...so he really didn't blame her for the reaction. When he was caught by other students while exercising or dancing or singing...he often tried to explain too quickly...just as he was moments before that his dancing wasn't good. Her awkward, but excited speed was...kinda cute, Cade felt himself admitting.

But according to her, he was graceful? Intriguing still meant what he thought it meant, right? No 'hip, new' uses, right? She wasn't secretly making fun of him? After she was done, Cade moved to sit next to her, and give her a weak half-smile before stammering out a, "C-can I see what you did? I never really could draw..." To her, he likely seemed very uncomfortable, but otherwise okay. On the inside, every part of him was screaming and wanted to get out of there. Any reason to get out of her would be okay.

"Hey kids! Huddle a little closer together, body heat is very good on a day like this. Days like this just make you feel blue. Then again..." A stylized, somewhat live-action looking blue-skinned Genie/Robin Williams hybrid (from Disney's Aladdin) leaned over the two of them with a cartoony grin that was impossibly large, but somehow looked natural on his face. "I'm blue everyday! Blue-da-ba-dee-da-ba-di!"

A look of abject horror slowly spread across Cade's face. Deep down, he was happy to see one of his best friends again, but oh why right now, after over a week since he saw any of them.

His Genie character jumped over them like they were a pole vault and moved in front of Cade and the girl, getting really close, "Can we see the pictures....can we pleeeaaasse" Cade began stammering, his cheeks red once again. No words were able to come out though, tried as he might.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora was a little surprised when he came and sat next to her, she had almost been expecting the guy to yell at her and insist she tore up her book or something. Not that she knew anything about this guy or his ways yet, it just seemed to be her go to assumption when people caught her sketching them. When he asked to see her art book she automatically pulled it to her chest, she took a few calming breaths trying to convince herself it was okay to show him, and in fact she probably owed it to him since she had been sketching him without asking first.

Nora was just about ready to show him the sketch pad, she had taken a few deep breaths and was pulling it away from her chest. A voice behind them had her letting out an involuntary gasp like squeak of fright and she jumped some before turning to see who had spoken. Her eyes grew wide with shock as she was looking at what appeared to be a blue Robin Williams in full Genie personality mode. Her mouth hung open as she gaped at him, she vaguely realized he was talking, something about body heat, and being blue...

Another gasp like squeak escaped her as Genie jumped over them to stand in front of them, her head swiveled back around and she looked from the boy’s look of Horror to the impossibly large grin on the blue Robin Williams face. Genie was right up in her face when he too asked to see her pictures and she looked wide eyed at him and back at the boy again having no clue what was going on. She watched as he seemed to be trying to say something but nothing was coming out, she knew that feeling all to well.

Swallowing down the lump that had formed in her own throat stopping her from making a sound she tried to speak, when that didn't work she closed her eyes a moment taking a deep calming breath. Okay so there was a fictional character who somewhat looked like the guy who voiced him but also didn't enough so she knew he couldn't be real...right? Surely weirder things had happened around this place... Nora couldn't think of any, after all she was a recluse she wasn't around when things happened.

One more calming breath and she opened her eyes a crack, the grinning Genie was still in her face expectantly. Not knowing what else to do she opened the sketch pad up with shaking hands to the scratchy very rough sketches detailing the different poses she had captured during the boys warm up as he had called it. She was sure they probably couldn't see it all to well as her hands were shaking so badly but she couldn't seem to make them stop, just as she couldn't get her voice to work.

There were other pictures in the book, a barely started profile of the boy’s face, some landscapes, some sketches of the cat that lived next door to her and do on but she didn't flick to those she just stood rooted to the spot the shocked look seemed to have stuck to her features, holding out the sketchbook in front where Genie and the boy could see it.

[Cade Maddox]

Cade was slowly dying inside. He practically begged for them to come out for hours and hours, to let him have his friends, to talk, to have fun. They had left him cold and alone with nothing but music to keep him going. Now, the second he found someone to talk to, even someone attractive, the Genie chose to pop out.

Why now? Why at all? Cade surprised himself. He was angry, like legitimately angry. He couldn't actually believe this was happening. Was it his nervousness? Well, it could feel his rage now. Cade looked at the drawings she showed, which meant that the Genie could see them now. Standing up, Cade pushed against the Genie, and though Cade didn't physically feel anything, the Genie still reacted.

"Look, you saw the pictures. Now get out of here. You can't just come out when you want any more."

"Now Cade, that's no way to treat a friend..." The Genie said, cautiously, but his body was visibly shrinking to a more normal size as he moved back. "You're not my friend. You're a character from my imagination and I don't want anything more to do with you. This is the last time you surprise me, and this is the last time you scare someone."

Cade, face full of anger, shouted with a rage he had never before experienced, at a volume new to him, "GO AWAY!"

In that instant, the Genie dispersed into the particles his characters always left in. For a brief moment, he felt a sharp pain in his forehead, but it soon subsided as he felt his hands (did he clench them, he didn't realize he had clenched them) slowly unclench themselves. He turned back to the girl, a mixture of pain, frustration, and sadness on his face.

He took the few steps back toward her, and got on one knee, putting his hand to his forehead, "Look, I'm sorry...I--I--I'm a meta...I-go to Hammel ...I create characters...I'm having trouble controlling it, I'm sorry, did he...I...scare you did..." Words stammered out like like the tears that seemed to be welling in his eyes. "The drawings are good by the way. The flow...is really nice...you capture the movement well...you...." Much like she had earlier, his nervousness crossed the peak where words came out scrambled and quickly. In a momentary bout of exhaustion, Cade leaned again the table seat and sat down. "I'm sorry."

Cade and the psychology staff had determined a few years ago that in times of intense stress in his life, it was possible that his connection to his powers could manifest minor psychoses. Not permanent and not life-altering, but they still felt horrible in the moment. He looked at the girl again. Cade could only hope that his face talked for him, he didn't mean anything bad toward her.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora was rooted to the spot, part of her wanting to take off jump on her bike and leave, but she was so shocked by this blue Robin Williams/Genie...thing that she couldn't bring herself to move her legs. Even more shock registered when she saw the guy stand up and start pushing against the genie, telling him he couldn't just come out any more. She listened as the Genie tried to argue with... Cade was that what Genie called him, telling Cade that's not how you treat a friend.

Cade's response baffled Nora some, how was this thing a character from his imagination, Nora jumped a little when Cade suddenly yelled for the character as he had called it to go away, her mind was whirling as she watched the Genie disappear leaving nothing but some weird particles behind where he had just stood. Nora was still sitting where she had been this whole time her sketchbook open and hands still shaking as Cade stepped toward her. Eyes were wide as he knelt down and tried to stammer out an explanation.

She nodded slowly at first she already knew he was meta, her own power had told her that though she had not been able to figure out what the actual power was. She still wasn't sure she fully knew from his explanation, she had never met a meta who created characters before so knew nothing of the power. She let him finish his stuttered explanation, and compliment on her rough sketches, before finally sitting back down and finishing with sorry.

She wouldn't have been able to interrupt him if she wanted to her voice didn't want to work, she had a few false starts where her mouth moved but no sound came out before she cleared her throat and finally found some version of a voice. "i... it's okay... I uh knew you were meta, but was not expecting that... I'm okay... That's ummm an interesting power... can you create any character?" She spoke trying to find words and failing somewhat not 100% sure what to say in regards to what just happened and somewhat just babbling out whatever was able to come out in her shocked state.

[Cade Maddox]

Cade felt awful, his emotions were swirling in a figurative abyss. Chest tight, he could barely manage to look at the girl, let alone talk to her. What just happened hadn't ever happened. Not the random spawning of a character...the angry outburst in front of others.

When he was younger and first at Hammel he had some angrier moments, but they were when he was 'acting' as a more violent character. No, this...this was rage, and he just lashed out in front of someone. The side effects of his powers were on display, and he hated it. Body shaking slighty, he hugged himself with his arms around his midsection.

"Ye-yes..." Cade replied slowly, "If it is on TV, and I see enough of them, I can...could create anyone. They are based on my imagination and what I saw of them. I don't consciously control them once they appear though. I...am having difficulty controlling when they are created lately...I don't know why."

Finally looking the girl in the eyes again, his face softened a bit at the sight of hers, and he felt the need to apologize once more, "I'm so sorry for this... Looking at her, he tried to speak more, forcing himself to engage in conversation with this person, his eyes ended up drifting to her body, arms, hands...at least it was still in her direction.

"What...what is your name?" He asked, trying to attempt to put some confidence in place, still sitting on the hard ground next to the seat portion of the bench. The girl was lovely looking, and he couldn't help but hope that her name matched. The romantic in him could get scared, but it never died.

[Elanora Brennan]

Truth be told Cade's outburst had scared her more than the random genie character popping up out of nowhere being all blue and nosey. After living with her quiet mum and shutting herself away from society in a way she had almost forgotten how loud and aggressive some people could be. She watched as he almost closed in on himself, his body shaking and his arms going to wrap around his midsection as if trying to hold himself together or protect himself maybe, she knew she had been in a similar pose many times in the past.

Nora nodded slightly as he explained a little about his power, how he had to see the character on tv often enough to be able to create them and was interested to learn he had no power over them once they were created. She also found herself feeling sympathetic toward him she knew what it was like to not be able to control her power. Nora was considering what to say when he looked up and met her green eyes with his blueish grey ones. She watched as his face softened and he began to apologize again before asking for her name.

Her face softened in response to his, she was captivated by his eyes while he held hers and felt as though she had been released when he looked away. "You don't have to apologize, I know what it's like not having control of your power, not in the same way but still..." She spoke softly but her words far less broken up then they had been since he came over and all the crazy had happened.

"I'm Elanora... just Nora is fine" she wasn't sure why she had introduced herself with her full name she never did that, something about this guy had her feeling off kilter and she wasn't sure she liked it. "Your Cade?" she asked, assuming that was his name, or at least that was what his characters seemed too call him. "You can sit on the bench... the ground must be awfully cold" she blurted out suddenly having remembered that was the reason she had sat here and not in her usual spot under the trees to begin with.

[Cade Maddox]

"I may not have to...but I still want to. I...I never yell like that. I don't like it," Cade replied as he shifted uncomfortably, all too ready for this awkwardness to pass. It seemed like she was getting past her pauses and troubles, Cade couldn't help but wonder if he could match her, and he tried to, "So...what's your power?" Please don't be something that can kill him.

"Would you believe me if I said I liked Elanora better? Sounds so much more pretty...and fitting..." Cade said, a smile finally coming to his face, a few teeth visible. It was truly a fitting name, and while Nora was okay, he was glad that she said the other, because it was so much...better. More right.

"Yes, Cade Maddox. Junior at Hammel even though just about every other student my age has graduated," He laughed sharply at himself before adding, gesturing with his hand a little as he talked, "I didn't quite get the school thing when I was younger."

More of his mother was horrible and he never wanted to think about that again, oh why did he think of that in the first place, think of something else..."Your hair is a really nice shade of red," Cade immediately winced, realizing how inappropriate what he just said was and how awkward he felt, and wow was that heat in his cheeks...escape route please...

When she told him he could sit on the bench, he nearly jumped in place, and softly replied, "Oh...yeah, sure." He moved to the bench on the other side of the table from her, so they had the actual table between them. That felt safer right now.

[Elanora Brennan]

Nora was relieved to hear that he didn't yell like that often, she didn't want it to bother her but his outburst had bothered her. Even though she couldn't help feeling like people with anger problems would deny having anger problems she still felt better hearing from him that it wasn't a regular thing. "It's okay, honestly" she replied softly trying to keep the pure relief out of her voice. "My power?" she mused slightly when he asked about hers "it's nothing as cool as yours, mine is meta sensing, it's more annoying than anything else..." she responded, trailing off when she realized she was talking more then was called for again.

She smiled slightly, slight heat blushing her cheeks at the compliment on her name, "I could never pronounce Elanora when I was young so it kind of became Nora and it kind of just stuck" she blurted out for some reason feeling the need to explain her shortened name to him. She was flattered that he liked her full name and was it just her overactive imagination or had he effectively called her pretty?

Nora busied her hands closing her sketchbook and pushing her pencils back in the pencil case and zipping it up her face angled down toward her things not knowing whether to respond to the maybe compliment, feeling like she was probably reading too much into it and would look like a fool if she did she decided to keep quiet and it wasn't long before he was talking again introducing himself fully and explaining his school status. She wondered slightly how old he was, he looked to her to be close to her in age, "School isn't for everyone... when it comes to science I fail so badly, I only just scrapped through..." Nora had gone from stuttering to blabbering way too much and had to consciously reign herself in.

Her hand went up and she ran her fingers through the tips of her hair where it fell around her face at his compliment, her face turned down toward the table some as her cheeks flushed red again and a small smile graced her lips. "Th..thank you.. Your blue eyes are lovely..." she blurted out without meaning too instantly clamping her mouth shut and biting the inside of her cheek. She had always been a sucker for blue eyes but she hadn't meant to blurt it out, she was starting to wonder if she had made a giant mistake leaving the house today, she felt like an idiot.

[Cade Maddox]

"Meta sensing? So you know when there's a meta around...that must've gotten boring at Hammel? I mean everyone there is one. Except like a couple of teachers," Cade replied conversationally. Genuine interest, wasn't going to lie, the ability to sense people...had its upsides and downsides. Then again, maybe she didn't like it...how did she knew where they were? And did she know much about them from the sensing?

The explanation made him smile, "Oh believe me, it took me forever to figure out my last name. Mahdok was the closest I got until I was like 9." Wow...Cade couldn't believe that actually came up. Something from his past that wasn't character-related, but actually him? He actually had a story that wasn't an avoidance of his mother? Mother. Why'd he have to go there. Uh. Cade stammered, as if his brain's searching for something to think translated to his mouth, "B-but, I really do think Elanora is better. Ca-can I call you that?" He really didn't want to call her Nora, she deserved better.

Elenora was...kinda cute. Cade wasn't usually fond of redheads...but the way she acted, the way she was treating him. All of it felt very natural. He was finding it much easier to just smile. "You don't understand, that's me in everything. I think they just push me forward so they don't have to tell the state that they pushed out a kid without a high school degree." While he was bad, he wasn't that bad. He honestly did just well enough to pass each semester, and that's all anyone (especially him) cared about.

Cade regretted saying what he said about her hair, and it just made him feel worse to hear what she said in response. It was a compliment...at least he thought it was. But now he didn't know, was she just being nice...wa-was-she-did-could-she's not flirting with him, was she. Cade couldn't meet her eyes as his hands slammed into his coat pockets and he looked toward the water. Feeling his skin heat up, he barely got out his next words, "Sure is cold tod-ay..."

[Elanora Brennan]

“I got sick of it very quickly at Hammel, being around all those Meta’s meant I pretty much had a migraine 24/7, they told me coming here would be good, they would teach me control, but mine doesn’t have much control, I wish I could switch it off” She answered a sad tone to her voice. She didn’t mean to make it seem all sad story sally or anything, she wasn’t even sure why she was telling him all of that but it just seemed to come out.

She smiled a small almost breathy laugh coming out as she glanced down as he explained the difficulty he had with his own name, sure it was his last name and not his first but still. It was kind of nice knowing she wasn’t the only person who had trouble pronouncing her name as a child. “It’s good to know it wasn’t just me” she said softly with a smile to her voice. She thought for a moment about him wanting to call her Elanora, it wasn’t that she disliked the name it had just become habit that people shortened it so she didn’t mind, in fact she kind of liked the idea of him calling her by a different name then everyone else, even if it was just her real name. “Of course you can, after all it is my name...” she said feeling a little shy and silly having to give permission for someone to call her by her name.

“I don’t believe that… after all your dancing is amazing… especially if that was just warming up” she said honestly, indicating toward the area he had been warming up when she got here even though he no longer stood over there. “I would love to see your actual dancing sometime” she said shyly, feeling overall more relaxed around him but still unsure how he would react to showing her his dancing, she knew she was still shy about her art and was dancing really much different? It was still a form of art wasn’t it?

Nora instantly regretted her comment about his eyes, feeling like a real idiot and like she had put her foot in it big time when he went appeared to react negatively. Avoiding eye contact hands in his pocket and looking at the lake she glanced down fiddling with the corner of her art book. His comment on the weather brought home the fact that she had put her foot in it, she pulled her jean clad legs up to her chest her feet resting on the seat and circled her arms around them.

It was something she did when she felt too emotionally exposed, which definitely fit this situation but it could also be seen as a way of fending off the cold. “Sure is…” she said softly not knowing what else to say to that she chewed on her lip a moment and looked up at him as he glanced off at the lake. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to make things weird, you really do have lovely eyes and I didn’t know what to say and it just kind of came out and … I should really be quite now…” she suddenly blurted out, clamping her mouth shut at the end having not meant to say the last part out loud usually she just mentally pulled herself up, she didn’t usually blurt that part out.

She considered grabbing her art book and making a dash for it, surly running away would be easier than this… She was good at running away and avoiding people, that was what she did.