Afternoon Hangout

[Riley Parker]

Riley was kind of surprised when Grapha offered her his hand, but after only a second's hesitation, she took it and stood up. She could swear that her cheeks were getting warm. She smiled at him shyly, "It was nice meeting you too. Maybe I'll see you around sometime." She said.

[Neah Brightmore]

Neah noticed Szayel's slight unease at her patting his shoulder and couldn't keep herself from smiling slightly. However, the smile faded when she began feeling a little strange. It felt like her heart was beating really hard, and then she felt a slight mood change, but it felt like those emotions you feel in dreams, where it's not real emotions.

She had felt that strange sensation before, usually when something major was going on with Nate. It was one of those twin things that happened. This was strange though, and she didn't quite understand it. She closed her eyes to try to see if she could concentrate on the "link" between her and Nate, her eyes furrowing.

She could tell that he wasn't in physical danger, but that was about it, and there was no way of knowing exactly where he was or how to get in touch with him. Neither twin had a cellphone, so it wasn't like she could call him. She opened her eyes and tried to decide what to do.

[Jordan Knight]

Jordan hadn't realized what he'd done at the time, and felt a blush coming on, but tried holding it back as best he could. "Ah-um, that is to say, um, i-it's not really polite to interrupt someone's conversation, but I was just going to let, ah, Keira know I have to get home." He was speaking directly to her, now. "I have some pups to take care of, so I have to go, but I-I hope t-to s-see you ag-gain some t-time?" He was smiling a bit at first before his shyness crept back in on him.

He figured that was all said and done, and paid for the coffee he had earlier and tipped the waitress, before getting up to go. Alona could take care of the rest, unless Keira remembered where he lived. If she even cares the thought drifted briefly through his mind before vanishing like smoke in a windstorm.

[Keira Reed]

Where was he going? Didn't he remember they were suppose to hang out later? These were a few questions Keira had thought of when she heard Jordan say he was going to leave and did so. She was almost angry. Was he ditching her? This had never happened to her before so she had no idea what to do. She only looked at Rick then at Alona and asked plan out.

"Did..Did he just ditch me?" She sounded as dumbfounded as she felt as she looked back at the door. Her body then noticed he wasn't there anymore and fell right onto the seat, her whole right side of her body was on the seat.

[Alona Knight]

Alona facepalmed inwardly at her awkward older brother. She was gonna have to get Taylor to have a talk with him later tonight. Her attention going to Keira, she sat in an empty chair beside her, and shook her head, smiling to herself.

"Jordan is.....awkward. He can't handle women, especially beautiful ones. He never knows how to act or what to say or anything, and he has virtually no experience. Though I've never actually seen it THIS bad before, I'd say he just got flustered and frustrated or something and didn't want to offend you or anyone or something and figured, since you looked like you were having fun, he would go and do something to get his mind off you. Really, he is an amusing guy, my awkward, so very shy older brother." She explained, grinning half to herself and half to Keira, hoping she would understand. She got close to Keira's ear and whispered something to her.

"Honestly, he won't be able to get you off his mind. He hasn't been able to since the Christmas party."

[Dakota Neloe]

Dakota almost felt honored at Neah's invitation, that was until he saw her sudden change. He heart was beating faster...why was it? Was she ok? Dakota quickly put his hand on her shoulder and brought her closer to him, to if anything else, whisper to her.

"Hey, what's the matter, you suddenly had a whole cardio change...mind explaining it slightly to me?" He grinned at her, letting her know that he was there to do anything he could to make her feel better.

[Pepper Winthrop]

Pepper thought that she would freeze where she was standing when Alex glared at her. Sure, Alex wasn't the best looker, but boy could she send out death glares! Pepper wondered what she did. She had only asked how they were doing!

When Anti came up and told Alex something, Pepper knew that she wasn't going to get any requests, so she walked away from the table. She glanced around to see if she saw anyone in need of help. That's when she saw who her cousin was talking to.

She did this half run, half walk thing toward the table, "Rick!" she grabbed onto his arm and tried to tug him away from the table, "I'm sorry, Keira, is he bothering you?" she asked her friend as if she were asking about the behavior of a misbehaving puppy, "Because, he can talk an awful lot, I mean, he can REALLY talk your ear off! It's so weird! Just don't ask him about this book he's writing, he'll go on for hours..." she trailed off, realising that she was rambling again.

[Keira Reed]

"I don't really want to hear anything.." Keria responded, still rather upset that Jordan ditched her. She just continued to lay on her side. Till Alona mentioned that Jordan had been thinking about her since Christmas. She then quickly sat up, and tried to hid the smile that was forming.

"Really?" She started then saw Pepper rush-ish over to them and grabbed onto Rick's arm. "No, he's not an issue..at least he doesn't run away...and a book? I'm rather curious now.." Yeah, can't you tell Keria is a wee bit bitter?

[Ulrich Winthrop]

Rick didn't even get the chance to say anything to Keira because Pepper was trying to drag him away from her! No! He couldn't let that happen!

Apparently, he didn't need to come up with any elaborate plan that involved tossing Pepper over his shoulder and quickly hiding her in the indoor plants. Keira seemed to be curious about the book...although she seemed to be really negative as she said it...

Something that very few people knew about Rick was that he was kind of shy when it came to his books. He knew he was a good writer, but there was something simply terrifying about showing someone your writing. It was almost like hanging your personality on a clothesline right above a really hungry dog.

"Yeah, I write," there was a shy edge to Rick's voice, "When I'm inspired," he shrugged, "Trying to write a mystery of sorts," his former confidence returned to his voice, "But I'm having a case of writer's block, and Chile Pepper told me that I might get inspired here. I think she was right," he looked pointedly at Keira on the last statement.

"But enough about my novels," Pepper was right, once he got started, he wouldn't stop talking about them. So now was the time to stop talking about them, "How about you. If you're not too busy, how about we go out and paint this small town red? Or maybe green...or purple, if you prefer that color."

[Keira Reed]

"I see, I wish I could hear more about it...maybe later?" Keria smiled and even more so when he looked right at her at his last comment on the book. As for his second comment, she thought for a second.

She did have a thing for Jordan...but...

"Sure, seems that my plans have just opened up." She said, standing up and walking towards Rick. "What place do you plan on painting red first?" She asked, giving another flirty smile to Ulrich.

[Neah Brightmore]

All of a sudden, all the tension inside Neah broke, which meant that what ever had been troubling Nate had stopped.. or atleast the intensity of it had lowered. She still wanted to be with her twin to make sure that he was okay, but atleast she didn't feel the sense of urgency.

She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment to re-center herself before she looked up at Dakota and offered him a weak smile. She cleared her throat to make sure that she was capable of sound before she answered.

"I'm fine.. it was Nate. You see, one of the benefits of being twins is that Nate and I share this.. connection that allows intense emotions to travel from one of us to the other.. and just now.. something was going on with Nate.. I'm not sure what it, but it wasn't good. What I just witnessed was terrible and it was only a small portion of what he must have been feeling." She informed.

She looked away from Dakota, feeling tears coming to her eyes. She wanted desperately to go find Nate and make sure that he was okay.. but she wasn't sure if she should go hunt him down. She forced back the tears and let out a sigh.

"I think he's okay now.... he's not injured atleast... I don't think." She said.

[Ulrich Winthrop]

"Only if me rambling on about my dreams of being an author don't bore you," he grinned at her. He thought about making a character based on Keira...or maybe loosely based...hmmm...

"Where should we go first..." he tapped his chin, "I dunno...I think that there's a nightclub around here, right? But it might be too early for that. And I think you'd find confusing the old lycan in Vilco Urvas dull...shall we just go where the wind may take us?"

[Dakota Neloe]

Dakota couldn't really understand the connection she was talking about at all. Till just a few months ago, he never felt a closeness to anyone. From what he was getting though, it sounded awful, at least her experience at the moment. He frowned and nodded at her then looked at Grapha.

"Hey, do you mind if we meet you where we were going to take you? Neah and I need to look into something..." He asked Grapha then looked back a Neah, who know looked like she was about to cry. Dakota almost felt as if his heart was sinking. He couldn't take the thought of someone he was close to crying. So he quickly pulled her towards him in a one arm hug and smiled sweetly at her.

"Don't worry, we'll find out what is going on with Nate...and when we find the guy or gal that did that to him, we'll take turns giving them what for, alright?"

[Keira Reed]

"Yeah...it's just a little early for the nightclub right now, but later maybe..as for going where the wind takes us...I'll go with that." Keria smirks then looks over at Alona and pats her head. "Thank you for trying to defend your brother for him..but next time, tell him not to run away if he is actually interested in them. He'll come to learn he won't get anyone that way." And it pained her to say that. She really was hoping the Jordan thing would work...he just...didn't really act like he wanted her, at all, since he knew that they had just made plans, then cancelled them and said he had to watch some pups.

"So, you ready to go Rick?" She smiled. "Oh, and you won't bore me...I love creative people, they make the world go 'round." She snickered.

[Ulrich Winthrop]

As Ulrich listened to what Keira said to Alona, he had this strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He wondered if he was being used or played with. Keira seemed to be really upset about this Jordan guy suddenly canceling on her. Then again, it could be a figment of his imagination. Heck, he'd be kind of upset if someone suddenly cancelled on him when some other person showed up.

"Well then you're in for a treat!" he replied to her comment that creative people make the world go 'round, "I'm regarded as one of the most creative Winthrops in the pack," he grinned at her. "It seems that the wind is taking us out at yonder door," he gestured toward the exit. He held out his arm for her, "May I?" he was feeling particularly playful right now.