Rainy day OPEN

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Annaleigh was sitting by the pond, watching the ripples in the water. It was raining lightly but it didn’t bother Anna. Smiling lightly she pushed her hair back, not bothered that it was already sticking to the back of her neck from the rain. Biting her lip lightly she sighed and groaned. More than anything right now she wished that she could go home to her parents, be normal, she wanted to sleep more than anything.

But she was here, and she wasn’t able to be normal. The main problem was that Anna couldn’t get enough sleep at night. She was either dreamwalking and ended up in other peoples dreams, making her own sleep tiring in itself, or she forced herself not to sleep at all, and that would make her grouchy. Usually if Anna got on average about three hours sleep a day she’d have had a good day, though usually she wouldn’t get that much sleep as she forced herself to stay awake. She hated herself for going into people’s dreams, but she couldn’t stop it. She didn’t actually want her ability, power whatever you wanted to call it, but just had to deal with it.

The rain began to get heavier. Shivering slightly, Anna pulled her jacket tightly around herself as a weak attempt to warm herself up a little without having to actually going inside. It was days like this, when she was alone that she began think about her past. It wasn’t often that these ideas would pop into her head. Memories of her worse past would come back to her and she’d remember why she was so grateful for her adoptive parents. Pushing her hair out of her eyes again she sighed and lay back on the wet grass, not thinking about how her clothes would get ruined.

It was strange how much this was relaxing her, it was both keeping her awake and letting her feel everything. Anna liked this part, where she felt like she could feel everything because she was so tired. She wasn’t actually asleep and she wasn’t going to sleep but Anna knew her body wanted to sleep. So she just lay there and let the rain fall down on her.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Zac was driving around town when the first rain clouds decided to show their presence. This was his third trip to town for the month, again another one for his clothing addiction closet expansion. He says the quality of the clothes (material- and design-wise) is a bit mediocre, so he’ll make up for it by the quantity. The perks of being a rich heir.

While bothered by the rain clouds’ sudden appearance, he didn’t care much about them at first. He was speeding cruising around town and in his mind, he would reach the school before the first drops fall. He was wrong. The drizzle dropped midway through his trip, causing the self-proclaimed Hammel prince to growl and grumble in disgust. Rain really gets on his nerves, having to experience it only a few times in his childhood as they had weather-manipulators employed in their household. “This better not be the work of Dr. Campbell’s son or Miss Covington.” A direct consequence of his dislike of wet weather is his dislike of weather-manipulators, particularly those whom he can’t control. It’s a mixture of irritation and envy, as weather-manipulators can affect an area so large compared to what Zac do with his own.

Determined to buy a number of accessories (as if his closet back in the dorm is not enough), he simply bought a black umbrella and went on. He did get to a three to four more shops after that, but then the rain started to pour down and his mood was slowly turning bitter.

So he drove back to the school, a little slower this time. “Damn you rain. What’s the use of driving a convertible then?” Being the egotistic pig that he is, Zac bought everything he owns specifically to stand out and be revered. What speaks cooler than cool and hotter than hot other than a nice, new convertible?

Parking on the allotted school space, Zac slowly went out and grabbed a few of his bags. He would’ve grabbed more, but he’s too busy grumbling about the sudden rain to be able to think properly. After taking a quick rest as he set his bags down on his walk-in closet the spare room in his dorm suite, he headed out in the rain again, this time taking the shortcut near Hammel’s quiet creek. And as he was walking along the wet and muddy grass, he saw a lonely figure along the side of the pond, laying carelessly (and wet) on the ground. He slowly walked over, hoping to know why the hell would she be lying there drenched and cold.

“What would a lovely lady be doing out here in the dark? And without an umbrella, nonetheless.” He bent down a bit, his face directly above the girl. She seemed familiar, though he knows not if they’ve had much deeper interactions that the casual hi and hello.

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Anna pushed her hair back slowly and frowned as she heard someone walking over to her. She eased her eyes open slowly and looked up at someone who was directly above her. Blinking slightly stupidly she blushed and looked away and sat up moving back away. She wasn’t really happy with people coming into her personal space. Again Anna pushed her hair back slowly and shook her head. “Well, uhm you’re out here too, so if you ask me that question, why are you here?” She asked slowly.

Though she wasn’t a nasty person, Anna wasn’t one to say things that could offend someone, but she was slightly grouchy when it came to the fact she hadn’t slept for a while. So she didn’t really mind if she seemed a little snappish. She shook her head and closed her eyes. “I came out here to think, to relax.” She said slowly. “And the rain is nice sometimes.” She said slowly blushing at how silly she sounded.

Shaking her head Anna decided she could at least try to be a little nicer. “I’m Annaleigh.” Anna said not looking at the guy. For one she didn’t know his ability, and she was kinda shy so she didn’t really talk to a lot of people. Anna knew that she’d seen the guy before, though she couldn’t tell you who this guy was.

That was something about Anna, she was insanely shy, and though she’d been here since she was about twelve or eleven, she didn’t know many people because she was so shy. If she didn’t want to talk to someone she often didn’t. It was just because she was so shy, quite often she’d be seen by herself or she’d move away from big groups. Dark corners were her favourite place.

[Zachary LaRousse]

“Hmm. Feisty. I like it.” Zac smirked as the girl beneath him scurried to get away from their rather awkward position (it didn’t occur to him that he had been invading her space, not one bit). As the girl stood a few steps away, Zac took his sweet time to carefully observe the girl. She had captured his attention while he was faraway, time to check if she’s still attractive up close. Indeed their height difference is a bit big as he towers a bit from her, but it wasn’t too severe to turn the (self-proclaimed) prince off. Her hairstyle is a bit on the messy side, but it somehow she makes it work. And she does know how to use her dark hair to her advantage, using it alongside strong make-up and bright lipstick to make her fair skin shine even more. She also knows how to dress and accessorize well. The wet-look doesn’t hurt much either. “It’s worth giving it a shot,” Zac mumbled, his gaze becoming more uncomfortable by the minute.

“Huh, what was that again?” Zac titled his head on the side, hoping to showcase his newly-dyed bangs (his stylists made it chesnut brown just a few days ago), then gave the girl an innocent-yet-dirty smile (how he does that, I have no idea). Unfortunately for Annaleigh, Zac wasn’t one to be sensitive about personal bubbles. In fact, he likes to pop them, mostly for the fun of it. And now that she’s caught his attention, there’s no stopping him from going further and starts being physical. After all, Zac is known to be the “touchy” one, may it be a guy or a girl.

“Oh, you’re asking me why I’m here. Well,” he trailed off, acting cutesy and sweet. He did hear Annaleigh clearly the first time, but he just loves to play coy. “I just came from town to pick out some stuff. They were a bit too many, so I had to take trips to bring them back to my dorm. I’m on my way to pick more out from my car right now.” He gave her another smile, then checked his overall appearance quickly. Grey skinny jeans, body-fitting maroon shirt, a brown neck warmer and a fedora titled to the side for flair. ‘Perfect as always,’ he thought.

“Well, people do have different ways to relax,” he replied, trying to sound so concerned and interested, “Personally, I hate the rain. Makes the ground so soggy that it soils my shoes.” He lifted his right foot to show his expensive yet muddy Louis Vuitton shoe. “For me, relaxing either means a trip to the spa or shopping. Sleeping wouldn’t hurt either.”

“Hi Lei, I’m Zachary. But you can call me Zac,” he answered with a wink, holding his hand out for a handshake. He stepped a bit closer to Anna, effectively cornering her. “You can go under my umbrella if you want to. We don’t want Lei to get sick, do we?” he asked with the sweetest tone he can muster. Hopefully it’ll be enough to charm little Anna and wrap her around his fingers.

[Annaleigh Valentine]

She was confused when the guy said about feisty, surely he wasn’t talking about her? Anna was probably the complete opposite to feisty, more reserved and shy. Of course wouldn’t actually say she wasn’t feisty, how could she? Blushing she looked down at her feet and tried not to have too much attention drawn to herself. She wasn’t good with conversations with new people. Anna glanced over slowly at the guy and tried to ignore him. She didn’t want to be rude, but she’d come out here for a bit of relaxing quiet time.

When he smiled she couldn’t help but feel just a little bit uncomfortable, looking away she blushed bright red. Anna definitely wasn’t very confident, slowly she got to her feet and wrung her hair out a bit, knowing that soon it probably would soak up more water, but still she wanted to get some of the water out of her hair, shivering as a load of water went down her spine.

When he told her where he’d been she nodded slightly. She had to admit shopping was fun. Pushing her hair back slowly out of her face again she blushed. The guy seemed like he cared a bit too much about himself and didn’t care about others, not someone Anna would usually talk to or hang out with. Usually if she ever talked to anyone they were similar to her, or they gave her the space she needed when she needed it. This guy, didn’t seem like he’d be willing to do this.

She frowned lightly as he showed off his expensive shoes. “Uhm, if you don’t like your shoes getting dirty why not wear other shoes?” She asked slowly. Anna didn’t understand why people would want such expensive things that could get easily ruined, but of course she appreciated anything she got, that was just the way she was. Then she felt a pang of jealousy inside her when he said about sleeping was good for relaxing. Anna hadn’t had a good nights sleep since she was about eleven years old. So when people spoke about how they had a good night sleep, Anna wasn’t always the person you should talk to about it. “Those aren’t my type of thing, I don’t have money for a spa, and shopping is alright but just relaxing where you have time to shut your mind off is what I prefer.” She mumbled as she blushed a bit, bringing one of her hands to her mouth and biting on her nails.

No one really called her Lei, so when he said it she frowned slightly. But she was a nice person so she decided to take his hand in a slight handshake. When he said about her getting sick she shook her slightly. “Uhm I don’t really think about getting sick, and well I’ll be fine I’ll have a warm shower to warm myself up.” Anna mumbled to herself. She wasn’t really one for big conversations, and when someone tried to get into her space she got rather uncomfortable. Plus, though she would never ever say it, the way Zac talked about her getting sick was slightly patronising in Anna’s eyes.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Unfortunately for Anna, Zac isn’t really the best when it comes to reading body language. He’s either very oblivious, even to the most obvious signs of boredom, annoyance or hurt, or takes things the wrong way, given that he’s somehow rewired his brain to think that everyone loves him and everyone who shows signs of hate towards him is just insecure. Wonderful really.

So it goes without saying that Anna’s blush of shyness and outward gazes were taken as Anna’s show of her attraction to the said boy. It’s hard to explain why or how seemingly natural signs of embarrassment were twisted, but that’s the mind of the self-proclaimed Hammel prince for you. I’d say that he felt flattered but he already predicted that she’ll like him the moment she laid eyes on him, so that won’t make much sense anymore (well he thinks that everyone does, so Anna, don’t feel too bad).

True to his nature, he chuckled (in the inside) about his prediction becoming true and walked a little closer to Anna, stopping mere two steps away from the girl. He did get hints of her becoming shy, but instead of interpreting it as a shyness that pertains to not being comfortable around new people, he took it as shyness due to the fact that she likes him but feels intimidated by his awesomeness. Fortunately this weird notion prevented him from invading Anna’s personal space even more.

“You do know that you’ll still get wet no matter how many times you dry your hair if you stay out in the rain,” he laughed, trying to sound sweet and concerned. It seems the girl won’t go with him soon, and his ego simply can’t take rejection quite easily (or he doesn’t take rejection at all).

“Well, this shoe goes with my outfit, you see,” he answered, waving his left hand (as his right holds the umbrella) to show how well-thought-of his shirt choices are. “I do have other shoes that fit with this ensemble, but they’re a bit more expensive. And I haven’t worn this pair in like, forever. I think I only wore them twice since I bought them, first time in Seoul, where I bought these, and the second time, today. Haha.” Anna was absolutely right in her character judgement. Zac is one of the most self-conceited person that ever walked the planet, and he won’t walk out of any chance to show off himself and his awesomeness.

Zac prevented a frown from forming when he heard Anna say ”I don’t have money…”. He was a bit upset as she couldn’t afford a simple spa trip, but he decided to overlook it anyway. After all, not everyone in Hammel’s the son of a wealthy businessman, and Zac was at least a bit thankful for it (he’ll lose his edge if everybody is just as rich as him). That, and the fact that he’s already made up his mind about flirting with Anna. So unless Anna proves to be a very poor person with a bitchy attitude that won’t be any worth to brag about being with (*ehemL.C.ehem*), Zac’ll stick by her.

‘She has very soft hands. Nice,’ he told himself after receiving the handshake. He didn’t really see Anna’s frown, so he just continued using the name he feels fits Annaleigh’s face. “Really Lei, you don’t have to be shy about it.” This time, Zac stepped towards Anna’s side, effectively shielding the girl from the rain and being a personal-space invader. “So, you new here? I don’t recall seeing you before, no offense.”

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Frowning slightly Anna didn’t understand why this guy wasn’t backing off. She knew she wasn’t being obvious with the guy but she thought that she was being a bit more obvious and showing that she felt uncomfortable around him, but apparently she wasn’t being obvious enough. Blushing slightly she shook her head. “Yeah but it gets most of the water out of my hair which is better than none of it.” She mumbled feeling embarrassed. Did it matter that she was wringing her hair out for no reason?

She frowned as she realised how conceited this boy actually was. Shaking her head she laughed. “Yeah but if they’re so expensive then why not get a cheaper pair for times like this? When they will get ruined.” Annaleigh made sure to bite her lip when it came to the fact he’d only worn the shoes twice. Anna was not someone who took something new lightly. She would wear things for a long time and though she did like the occasional shopping trip, she would still wear other things a lot too.

Anna of course did have some money, but she didn’t have money to burn on things she didn’t need. That was pointless, she never bought new books when she could visit the library, she often went to vintage stores or stores where clothes had already been worn because there were things you couldn’t find anywhere else and they were cheap. She was grateful for everything she had, and a lot of people didn’t understand it.

Her frown deepened when he said she didn’t have to be shy about it. “Uhm, I’m a shy person to begin with, so forgive me, but, what is it you think I’m being shy about?” She asked slowly before she realised he was right next to her. Frowning a bit more she blushed and laughed shaking her head. “Uhm, I’ve been here since I was like twelve. So that’s like, five years I’ve been here, so I don’t think I’m new here.” She said slowly. Anna was a very reserved person, someone who literally kept to herself most of the time and blended in with the background.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Fortunately, Zac finally caught on Anna’s discomfort. He actually chuckled as he saw the noticeable pink shade forming on Anna’s cheeks and her continuous hair wringing. Unfortunately though, he interpreted her discomfort about having him around to being shy around the person she likes a whole lot. In Zac’s mind, he already knew she liked him. And the stronger blush and awkward mannerisms only confirmed to Zac that indeed she likes him, and maybe, likes him even more than he expected. All this twisting of information only made Zac’s head bigger (not literally of course), and caused him to even close the distance between him and Anna. Sorry Anna.

“Nice logic, Lei. You should teach me more about that some time,” he laughed, though his statement may be translated as more sarcastic it actually is. He did think that Anna’s logic is a bit crooked and weird, but he’d like to know more about said logic, i.e. Anna herself. To Zac, part of flirting is knowing how the other would tick, so if ever they wouldn’t work out, at least he still had something against her that he can use. Yes, apparently to Zac, everything and everyone would just be used for his further happiness.

“Actually, this is one of the cheapest pairs I’ve got,” he answered, “But you do have a point actually. I should buy those one-thousand dollar shoes, if only to prevent my other ones from being soiled. But I fear they may actually make me look stupid.” He tilted his head for a bit (as if thinking what Anna just said) and pouted as he realized that it may not work (again, a fake one). “But I’m willing to try it,” he gave Anna a childish smile, hopefully constructing a sweet image around himself, “You’re a very smart and practical person Lei, I like that.”

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you like that,” Zac replied, hoping his apparently tactless statement wouldn’t turn the lady off. Rejection is the last thing he’d want for this conversation to end up with. “I mean, you didn’t force me to offer you the umbrella or something, I gave it willingly. You don’t have to be ‘shy’ about it. That’s what I mean,” again, the justification ended with a rather friendly smile.

“Really? You’ve been here for five years already? I’ve been here since I was thirteen (which would translate to about four years now) and I haven’t seen you before! That’s odd.” Zac was stumped. How can an attractive lady such as Anna has escaped his radar. Has she been hiding under a rock or something? “Well at least we met each other before graduation, right?” he joked, still not over the surprise that had come to him just a few moments ago. “I would honestly like to make up for lost time, to know you more. Want to accompany me to my car to pick up my stuff then continue this over coffee? My treat.” While Zac wasn’t really the best when it comes to making cute expressions, he’s learned over the past years that most girls couldn’t resist cute puppy-ish faces – hence his rather vague impression of one, hopefully to coerce Anna to come with him.

[Annaleigh Valentine]

When Zac moved closer to Anna she felt very uncomfortable, would it be rude if she inched away? She desperately wanted to, but no she couldn’t, it would be rude and unfair. She was sure he’d leave her alone…sometime hopefully. Of course Anna could end up snapping at him if he annoyed her enough, but right now she was keeping a cool head and just trying to ignore him.

She laughed slightly as he said about her logic. “Oh, no it’s not logical, it’s just I don’t want water all down my back while it’s constantly raining.” She said shrugging. To be honest she didn’t really care if she sounded stupid or silly or whatever, she was tired so she wasn’t thinking completely straight.

When she realised the shoes were over a thousand dollars she felt pretty amazed. Why would you want shoes that expensive? Her whole closet didn’t equal that amount of money. Pressing her lips together she didn’t say anything. Anna was just beginning to realise that maybe he was trying to flirt with her. How could she tell him she wasn’t interested? She was not a very confident person, and she definitely wasn’t looking to hang around with Zac as much as he obviously wanted to hang out with her.

She wasn’t offended, but if he wanted to think that she would let him. But it seemed that no matter what Anna said or did he was able to bring it back to as if she liked him or something. It was beginning to get annoying, but Anna tried not to show that. “Oh, right, of course.” She said simply. She didn’t want to lead him on and didn’t want to confirm it. So she tried to keep herself quiet.

A smirk came to her face this time. “Yes, I’ve been here five years. I usually keep to myself though, so I don’t know a lot of people really.” She explained. She hadn’t actually been hiding under a rock, usually it was the library or her room. Anna wasn’t one for many friends and stuff, she liked to have a couple friends but a lot of times she enjoyed being on her own.

Now a problem arose. To be honest, Anna didn’t want to go with Zac, she really just wanted to be alone. But he offered coffee, and Anna was a huge sucker for coffee. One of the problems with being an insomniac by choice was that she often felt tired and sluggish, and coffee was a brilliant way to combat that. Biting her lip she sighed and nodded. “Alright, one coffee.” She said hoping that her tone of voice would show that she wasn’t interested in him.

(Sorry it took a while, I’ve just started classes and I’m already finding it difficult DX)

[Zachary LaRousse]

To answer that question, Zac would simply move closer. Yes, he’s just too cocky and oblivious and arrogant like that. He just doesn’t care really. He’s taken a liking to Anna, and (like all spoiled heirs and heiresses) what Zac wants, Zac gets. If she snaps at him, he’d most likely take that as spunk and would even pull him closer (unless the ‘spunk’ gets waay out of hand of course). It would take a lot to make Zac go away, and “a lot” in this case is really a lot (as his definition of ‘cheap’ is a thousand dollars, it must also mean ‘a lot’ would be proportional, or something).

Zac tilted his head slightly as he tried to process her ‘logic’. Sure she claimed it wasn’t logical, but if Zac would follow her lead (and say it really wasn’t), he’d be all bonkers and would likely dismiss Anna as a lonely kid made delusional by her isolation from society. And he wouldn’t want that, no he won’t. So he did try to understand what’s so wrong about water running behind your back while it’s raining. And how wringing your hair out would help. And so far, no luck. Obviously he needs to spend more time with the girl, which really isn’t such a bad idea.

Why would Zac spend so much on such an article of clothing you ask? For the simple reason that he can. Unfortunately, Zac’s much too shallow like that. As said a thousand times before, Zac never experienced any real hardship in life (other than his mother’s death), especially when it comes to money. He was never out of it, and what he considers as ‘his moments of bankruptcy’ just means he’s a few hundred thousand dollars short of what he usually has. His mom tried to teach him the value of money, but her untimely death somehow stopped the whole learning process – his dad was too into Zac that he couldn’t bear refusing his demands (his ‘guardian’, Cedric, did try imposing rules and such, but Zac could easily bypass them with a simple puppy pout to his father). And since LaRousse Industries doesn’t seem to be that much affected by the turbulent economic status of the world (seeing that it is run by some of the world’s most powerful metas), seeing a thrifty and smart-spender Zachary would be quite impossible.

“I see. That may explain it,” Zac muttered, but more to himself than anyone else. So people can go under his radar it seems. Hmm. This just means he ought to up his information gathering skills at once. Some noteworthy meta may have entered the school and it would suck if he or she would go unnoticed (in Zac’s view, that is). “Shall we go then?” he gave Anna a reassuring smile then ushered her towards his car.

Zac stopped in front of a red Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet, a car he just bought a few weeks ago. “Yeah, forgive the rather unpleasant appearance of the car.” In reality, the car was in tip-top shape. He goes to the have his car cleaned every week, and pays the keeper extra to make sure his ride was always looking new. So in reality, he was just fishing for compliments.

He let out a small chuckled when he opened the door and saw quite the number of bags still. It would take more than a trip or two, even with four hands. Seems the others would have to wait then. He grabbed a few and handed them to Anna, saying, “You don’t mind carrying this for a bit, don’t you? I just have to get this to my dorm suite first. I’ll treat you more than a cup of coffee, I promise.” He knows manual labor isn’t what Anna signed up for when she agreed to coffee, but she’d just have to bear with him a little more.


ooc:
I know right. >.<. Zac!muse was really hard to find too. School sucks. Loljoke. :3. Sorry for the delay too. .
-Jam

[Annaleigh Valentine]

As soon as Zac moved closer to Anna she realised that no matter how many times she moved away he’d probably move towards her again and again and again. So this time Anna just stood there slightly uncomfortably, hoping that it didn’t last for too long until they moved and got away from here.

It was bad but Anna couldn’t help but feel slightly smug at his obvious annoyance at the fact that he hadn’t found out about her five years after she’d been brought here. Though she didn’t not like him, she didn’t really care for him. He just seemed a bit too conceited and as if everything was for him and him alone, and he got what he wanted. Unfortunately, Anna had already said yes to the coffee, and she was obsessed with caffeine so she was willing to actually get the coffee even if it meant staying with this guy that she didn’t entirely like.

So they headed towards his car. Frowning slightly as he mentioned the ‘unpleasant appearance’ of the car she just shrugged. “Well uhm I think you’re being silly if you think the car looks bad, but uhm, I’m not exactly an expert when it comes to cars.” She said. She didn’t put it past him to think that the car didn’t look good, to be honest he just seemed like the type of person who wanted the best car that you could get. “To be honest, I’d just be happy I had a car.” She said simply. Anna was beginning to get into the stage where she was getting tired and grouchy. She needed the coffee and soon.

But it would have to wait just a little bit, because when the door opened she felt bags being pushed towards her. So now she was Zac’s servant? His slave? Anna shook her head. “You know, next time it would be a bit nicer if you asked first and didn’t just assume.” She said. The grouchiness was coming quickly now, and Anna definitely wasn’t up for carrying bags. But to get the coffee she had to work, so she tried and grabbed a few more bags and piled them up in her arms. She’d grown accustom to carrying bags when she was little, when she had been with her real parents. Hopefully her body wasn’t too tired to get to his dorm with these bags before she got coffee, she didn’t want to end up collapsing.

[Zachary LaRousse]

In retrospect, Anna should never have said yes to the coffee. Unless she can conjure a massive calamity (i.e. an earthquake, hurricane or make Zac’s newly bought stuff muddy accidentally), there’s no backing out now. And one can definitely say that Zac won’t let dear Annaleigh go, not until he finds the ‘information’ he’s gathered about her substantial and himself satisfied with what had transpired between them.

Zac laughed when he heard Anna’s remark about his car. She really did know nothing about cars (just like me). She had no idea that what Zac has was the 2010 model (he’ll get the 2011 one pretty soon, just as soon as his father’s temper subsides) and that it costs roughly 120-gran (minus shipping, of course). But Zac could let that pass. After all, not everyone cares (or can care) about luxury cars as much as Zac.

“Well it does have a smudge right about here,” he said, pointing to a mud splatter on the side. It wasn’t that huge or distracting and neither can it be seen at first glance. “And if you see my passenger compartment, it’s a big mess. That, and the air conditioning’s been acting up lately.” Well the last part may have some truth in it. When Zac turned it on earlier, it roared quite loudly before gradually quieting down. Also, it wasn’t as cold as Zac remembered it. He made a mental note to ask his mechanic to repair it later.

Zac grabbed an extra two or three bags from behind and simply laughed off Anna’s comment. Really, he could care less. And since Zac was fixed on Anna liking him, he believes that whatever he does would be fine. “Fine fine,” he chuckled, “I’ll make a mental note about it the next time we meet.” He smiled in good faith then led the way to his dorm suite, initiating a few small talks here and there, apparently oblivious to Annaleigh’s growing grouchyness.

He stopped Anna for a bit when they reached the door. “Wait for a bit, ok Lei?” he said, taking a key out of his pocket to open the door. “You can take a seat if you want to,” he told Anna as he ushered her into the common room, “This’ll be quick, I promise.” He hurriedly took the bags from Lei and dumped it in one of their two spare rooms. Yes, Zac has taken advantage of having only one roommate by making the two spare rooms his walk-in closets. If Horus can have his idiotic friends over, Zac is entitled to some quirkiness too, he thinks.

He borrowed the speed of a cheetah to finish arranging his purchases quickly. Arm cuffs here, necklaces there. Scarves and fedoras together in one corner and the earrings to the box. After he finished putting the last shirt on the hanger he immediately went out and smiled. “So Lei, are you ready for the much awaited caffeine treat? Where’d you like to have it? I know a good place downtown. They serve wicked toffee mocha,” he offered. Hopefully, if Anna can maintain her relatively calm demeanor at least until they reach the place.

[Annaleigh Valentine]

When Zac said about the smudge, Annaleigh rolled her eyes. Was he completely serious? A smudge? Sighing Anna shook her head. “Alright well I have no clue what you’re talking about really.” She admitted as she shrugged. Hey if that was a major thing for him, it was a major thing, but to Anna, it was only a minor detail. She didn’t have a car, and she’d never get one most probably, so cars didn’t matter to Anna at all. She never had this idea of longing for a car, she could appreciate if a car looked nice, but she didn’t really think about how she desperately wanted a certain model of car.

Ignoring his comment about the mental note she began to walk. She wanted to get to wherever his room was, dump the bags and get to the coffee. If he tried to talk she’d mumble something hoping he’d give up with the conversations. Of course inside she knew that he probably wouldn’t give up trying to talk her. Anna was pretty sure she had his personality more or less figured out at this stage, and so far he hadn’t done anything to disprove her suspicions that he was an egotistical, cocky, rich more or less stuck up boy who couldn’t care less about anyone else but himself and what he wanted and what he got.

When he ushered her into the common room she shrugged and sat down on one of the chairs. It was a very comfortable chair, and since Anna was kinda exhausted, after less than a minute she ended up falling asleep on the chair. She didn’t even hear him when he walked out and began talking about the coffee or where to have it. Anna hadn’t slept more than about three hours in the past week. So this was the inevitable coming, which was why she desperately needed the coffee she’d been promised.

[Zachary LaRousse]

Zac was so not expecting this to happen. He was feeling that Annaleigh was getting a bit too grouchy and he thought it was because she was experiencing her monthly visit. He so did not expect her to be grouchy because she was sleepy because frankly, she doesn’t seem like it. It’s either Anna being a great make-up artist, effectively hiding any clue about her sleepless nights, or Zac being just so oblivious (I go for the latter). Nonetheless, Zac was so surprised about the whole thing that he just laughed all of a sudden.

“Oh god, are you serious Lei? Are you seriously asleep?” Of course Zac, she’ll answer ‘Yes, I am asleep’. He slowly walked towards her to check if she really is taking her sweet time in dreamland. He looked at her closely, stared at her uncomfortably, checked her breathing and listened for snoring. He even tried waving his hands in front of her and shouting “Hey Anna” a couple of times, but to no avail. She really is asleep.

‘This is not good, not good at all,’ Zac thought. If he was still at his old dorm suite, this wouldn’t be that much of a problem really. Girls are not allowed in the all-male dorms, not even in their common rooms. True, Ember was a frequent visitor in their room, but come on, that’s the Idiot Brigade. They can be wild and rowdy, but everyone knows they wouldn’t hurt Ember – she’s one of them (and whoever hurts that sweet lady would pay very dearly, probably because whoever he is would face the wrath of three insane guys with really nothing to lose). And while Zac isn’t really seen as a creeper-type of guy (sure he can be a jerk but surely he wouldn’t drug someone then bring her to his room), it’s hard not to think about such a scenario in this situation. Especially since Anna seems to be so deep in her sleep.

He gave Anna a couple of light taps on her arm, hoping it would wake her up. “Lei, Lei, wake up Lei.” Hopefully Horus won’t barge in all of a sudden.

[Annaleigh Valentine]

Anna was not going to wake up very easily. It often happened where she fell asleep for what was quite a while, unless she had her iPod in her ears with some pretty loud music blasting in her ears for an alarm clock. But of course when she fell asleep somewhere other than her bed…well she often didn’t have her iPod in her ears. Like today.

People never understood how soundly Anna slept. She’d probably sleep through a car crash if she was tired enough. So if you were just shouting, you had your work cut out for you to wake her. Luckily she wasn’t in so much of a deep sleep that it was completely impossible for her to sleep, it just was pretty difficult to wake her.

Of course Anna hadn’t fallen asleep on purpose, she was just a little desperate for sleep. And who wouldn’t be if you barely slept at night? Plus comfy chairs were exactly what you needed to have a little bit of a nap. And as soon as Zac began tapping her arm, her nap became an extremely short nap.

Frowning, Anna began to slowly pry her eyes open, wondering what was going on. She glanced up at Zac and frowned. “Have you not gone yet?” She asked confused thinking that he’d forgotten something or some other reason like that, she glanced around looking to see that all the bags had gone, she frowned and turned around to Zac. “I fell asleep didn’t I?” She asked slowly feeling slightly embarrassed, but knowing that it was highly likely that she could have fallen asleep in an instant. Pushing her hair back slowly she couldn’t help but blush then sigh. “Sorry.” She said slowly, not really knowing what else to say.