Thinking of You

((Private RP))

Lorne Barkley sat in the back of a quaint little coffee shop in one of the nicer parts of downtown Tichenorray. He was settled in on a comfy sofa near the back of the shop. A book rested on his lap, his hands folded over it neatly. He gazed ahead, looking at nothing really. His thoughts were elsewhere.

He had often come here to get away from the daily grind of things, and today was no exception. Even though it was a lovely summer evening his thoughts had been heavy. Things weren't going so well with his current boyfriend, Rammel. He'd been behaving more immaturely lately, more rude. He was bossy and demanding, to the point of making Lorne uncomfortable. He found himself wondering what about the relationship was worth holding onto. Sure he was greatly attracted to the guy, and they'd had a lot of intimate moments together. The young Angel's stomach churned as he wondered if he had let himself slip into one of those relationships. The ones that were more about touch and physical attraction rather then emotions and love. He didn't want that.

His mind then suddenly got the image of a young demon girl. She could always cheer him up and clear his mind on even the darkest of his days. There were so many things about her he found to be perfect; Her bright smile and beautiful blue eyes, her pretty long red hair that she tied up in ribbons. Her adorable quirks and carefree spirit. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, flipping it open and dialing her number, something he knew by heart. He pressed it to his ear and listened to the ringer chime from the other end, hoping she'd pick up.

Raina fell over onto the old, worn out bean bag chair she held so dearly, having held her in the worst of times. She was determined to focus and work on her school work that had piled up. Papers spread out before her, in order of importance, she sat back and chewed on her pencil for a second before leaning back over and getting to work.

After about five minutes of that, she found herself trying to balance the pencil on her nose. She sighed and let it fall. "This is never going to get done is it..." She looked back at the papers, the first most important one having her name and a doodle of a flower on it. She glared at them, trying to make them all disappear or at the very least finish themselves.

Just then, her phone went off blaring "Just dance~ It'll be ok~ Da do do and just dance~" making her jump and kick the papers, sending them flying across the room. After she was done with her mini heart attack she groped around in the mess on her floor before she found her little cell phone. Her ears perked up a little when she read who was calling. Raina quickly flipped it open and pressed it to her ear saying "Hellooooo~!" She watched her papers slip underneath her bed and laughed to herself thinking, "At least he made it disappear!"

A big smile made it's way to his face as soon as he heard her voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hey Rain, whats up?" He asked, his voice soft as the jazz music played in the background of the coffee shop. He set the book from his lap off to the side and leaned back on the sofa, slipping his feet out of his vans and pulling his knees up to his chest. His long lanky body curled up against the couch cushions as he made himself comfortable, excited to talk to her again.

"Nothing really" She said as she wormed around until she was comfortable, "Just, you know, fighting giant, scary, red monsters." She hit the red bean bag chair until it was comfy again before she continued, "The usual~ What about you? Hows the hubby going?" Raina rolled over onto her back so that her head rested at the bottom of the chair and her bare feet were against the wall, relaxed and happy to hear his voice again.

Lorne laughed out at her teasing, until a serious expression comes over his face.

"...Wait do they really have you fight scary red monsters there?!" He asked, a little nervous for her safety. He'd heard how Sacris Animam Academy was a pretty intense school, meant to make the demons and angels of the after life strong and ready to face the dangers this Limbo-esque planet held. He was still pretty new to how everything worked here, only being dead for a few months now.

His nose wrinkled a little bit at the way she referred to Rammel as well. She was so sweet at how supportive she was of his relationship, and to her credit she really didn't know the half of how... wrong it felt to him.

"To answer your question, please don't refer to him like that." He said, a little more blunt then he meant to be. But he was comfortable enough with her that he felt he could be. "I'd really rather not talk about him to be honest. Hey are you doing anything right now?" He asked, plugging his finger into his other ear to block out the background noise. It wasn't too bad but enough to bother him.

She laughed with him and harder when he stopped, "Nope not yet! One crazy chick with huge hair and freakish heels that tried to kill everybody but no red monsters. I'll be ready for him though!" She pointed her toes at the ceiling and moved them around the wall dancing to her stereo that was playing "Boom boom! Whatcha gonna do~ When the club goes lo-co-co-co-co-co~"

Surprised by his blunt-ness, her feet slid off the wall and pulled her body into a C shape, her spine screaming for a cease fire. "Ow..." She muttered and rolled out and off of the bean bag. She sat up with her legs folded on either side of her. "Oh sorry, didn't mean to strike any nerves... Right now? Very important, top secret, government agency business that cannot be spoken about." She crawled along her floor trying to pick up the work that had flown over their a few minutes ago. "Why you have something to do?" She tried to keep her voice from sounding desperate, though it didn't do much. She really didn't want to do any work right now.

He smiled as he heard her joke, still a little nervous for her safety though.

"Oh gawd she sounds fabulous." He played along with her. "What happened with her?" He asked, genuinely curious. "And hey, no worries. Sorry to sound so... meh. Things have just been rough you know? I just... I don't want to think about it." He said, his voice soft. He wiggled his toes from under his socks and watched a couple get up to the open mic and start playing a bluesy little tune. The girl was some sort of demon, the boy an angel with black feathers.

His own feathers ruffled as he watched them perform while listening to Raina at the same time. He couldn't help but think the couple looked like the best couple in the world, even though he wasn't quiet sure why he thought this.

"What's a peaceful little forest demon like yourself doing working on top secret government agency business stuff?" He asked, a smile on his lips. "I mean, it sounds important. I wouldn't want to pull you away, even if I'm craving sharing a cup of coffee at this cute joint here in the city. They have an open mic so the locals are playing jazz music and reading poetry. But again, what you're doing sounds much more important" He said playfully, still curled up comfortably on the burgundy sofa.

"Hmm..." She thought about it, "I'm not... sure what happened to her... I think she got away..." She shrugged, as if he could see her. "But never fret! Great Forest Demons are master fighters and can take care of themselves!" She started her evil laughter, that she had been practicing and was quite proud of it. She broke into a fit of giggles and added, "Sucks that I'm not a Great Forest Demon, huh"

She finished stacking her papers back up and her face fell at the sheer mass of all of them together. She decided it would be best to say that her pet ate them and stuck the papers into her mice cage for them to chew on.

"That's ok, I get it, all great love stories must have a conflict, right? Like Romeo and Juliet~" She fell back over onto the bean bag with a hopeless romantic sigh. "And yes, very top secret it's called..." She looked around her room, "Project... Black Mouse." She watched one of her mice, the black one, climb up onto her papers and start nibbling. "Yes, someone forged papers that could put an innocent man in prison. I'm trying to destroy them." She thought about the detention she would get for not finishing all the work.

"But... you know... I bet I could slip away... just for a little while... and make sure that... the red monster doesn't attack the coffee shop! That would be horrible!" She hopped up and quickly stripped, the phone being held up with her shoulder, and put on skinny jeans and a long sleeve lime green shirt.

Lorne laughed softly and ran his hand through his green dyed hair. It fell loosely over his face, not pulled back in a hairband like he usually had it. He wore jean shorts that went down to his knees and a short sleeved button-down shirt with pattern stripe detailing in shades of yellows, blues, and reds. He had a very odd sense of fashion, looking like the skinny models in the urban outfitters catalog.

"Well if it's any consolation I think that you're a great wood demon." He said, closing his eyes and imagining her the first time he saw her, in her green dress and black coat.

"But ew, Romeo and Juliet? They die in the end Raina. Been there done that, hopefully never again." He laughed.

"Project black mouse? That sounds intense. Good thing they have you on the job right?" He asked playfully. He rested his hand on the side of his face, excited to hear that she was going to be coming by soon.

"Oh mai gawd you think the monster is going to attack the Blue Jay Coffee Shop on the corner of 6th and Lloyd!? What an ass! Hurry Rain hurry! The happiness of wanna be hipsters and cool bluezzin jazz cats depends on you!" He joked, a big smile on his face.

One of the demons sitting closest to him gave him an odd glance, like he was some sort of weirdo. This just made him smile more, labeling in his head the demon a wanna be hipster. One of those kids that came to the coffee joint often to try and look cool. The place was swarming with them, but also filled with legit people Lorne felt comfortable around.

The Blue Jay was like his home away from home, reminding him of a place he used to hang out in when he was still alive. The Damascus Coffee House wasn't as quaint and artsty as the Blue Jay, but he'd often go there after school in his little town of Riverview, New Brunswick, just to find a place he could escape with a nice Hazelnut Latte.

"Aww~ Why thank you~" She said, laughing. "I'm working on it! I can't do everything but I'm learning!" Raina hopped around her room with the phone between her shoulder and her ear trying to fit herself into the little pants.

"VICTORY!" She exclaimed when she finally got them on, buttoned, and strung a multicolored, splatter paint style belt through them. "Oh really? I couldn't ever finish that book... They talked funny" She continued as if it was normal for someone to yell victory at random times. Raina turned to her little mirror and frowned at her hair. That morning she hadn't put her normal ribbons in it because she didn't think she was going to go anywhere. She poked at the fluffy red beast and her frown deepened. It took to long to put it in wraps so she quickly picked up her brown elastic head band and slipped it on, taming the rest of her hair with a brush. She did this while still trying to listen to Lorne.

"Ah yes, they should be lucky to have such a dedicated agent on the assignment. They would be lost without me." She made a dramatic sigh.

Raina snatched up a sticky note pad and wrote down "Blue Jay Coffee Shop corner 6th Lloyd" and posed with her hair brush as if it was a sword saying, "Never fret mortals!! I SHALL SAVE YOU ALL!" probably a little louder than she should have and laughed. She gave herself a once over and tugged her green sleeves down so they fell over most of her hand. She nodded and quickly slipped on simple black shoes with little black bows on them and headed out the door, snatching up her wallet on the way and slipping it into her pocket.

Lorne laughed softly at Raina's enthusiasm. He didn't even question her random outburst, he was pretty used to it by now, and he really liked that about her.

"You know Rain in a century or two from now they'll be saying that we spoke funny too. And regardless, everyone knows that they die in the end! It's like... common knowledge."

He laughed again at her triumphant declaration, having to hold the phone away from his ear slightly.

"We're all depending on you Raina!!!" He said, a big smile on his face. "Just make sure that when you're a super secret agent hero lady that you don't forget the little people like me"

Raina walked casually past Mr.Christinson's door, making sure he couldn't see her before she took off running down the hall. She swung around the door and into the stair well, attempting not to trip as she ran down them. She skidded to a halt outside of the school and did a silent victory dance, having beaten her best time to get out here. She tried not to pant as she said "That would be awful! We would be the old people that don't talk right! Well, I'm already pretty old but I don't talk funny! Not according to myself that is... It was so long! I just kinda tuned out whenever someone was talking about it I guess... I just like the thought of forbidden love~"

She giggled at him, "I'll be there! But I forgot my cat suit sorry~ And how could I forget about you? You're the only guy I know who's hair is my favorite color!"

Raina stared at the road and the bustling city at the end of it. "I wish I had wings..." She looked slyly at X's motorcycle that was parked in the parking lot. Reminding herself that she was a nice person, she sighed and started walking down the road, refusing to hang up on Lorne to call a taxi. It's not that far away right?

"A-are you panting Raina?" He asked, his cheeks blushing softly. "You're not trying to run here I hope. The city is about 25 miles from your school." He reminded her. He again let his hand brush through his soft hair at the mention of it. He laughed.

"Yeah green is my favorite color too. I couldn't decided if I wanted it light green or dark green... so I kinda just said to hell with it and did both." He smiled, remembering the day that he dyed it from it's original light brown color. On Earth his mother would have never ever let him do anything like that.

((And Raina must have that motorcycle confused with someone else because X is way to poor to be able to afford well... anything. XD ))

She swallowed and ordered her lungs to work better, not that they listened. "I-I'm not running" She slowed down to a jog. "I mean panting... I mean... I'm in top physical condition! 25 miles? PSH!" Raina stopped and leaned against a tree, holding the phone away from her so he wouldn't hear her panting. "I wonder if there are any horses around here...." Raina looked around, hopeful, but saw none.

She laughed, getting her breath back "Well, I think it suits you! I don't think any color would stick in my hair... Firetruck red doesn't come out easily... " Raina watched a bird fly over her head and swoop to the city. She mentally flipped it off and continued down the road.

"Come on Raina just hang up and call a cab or something. I wanna see you sooner rather then later." He coaxed her, running his hand along his knee cap. It was getting kinda dry and he wondered how many man points he'd lose if he put some sort of lotion on it. He was running out of those and what little masculine pride he had he wanted to hold onto.

"And by the way, I love your hair color just the way it is. I-it's r-really pretty." He said, his cheeks blushing some more even though she wasn't even in front of him. He stuttered on the compliment slightly, worried she'd freak out and think he was weird.

She grumbled. "But I like talking to you.... Oh fine.... I'll talk to you in a bit! Bye bye~" Raina hung up and dialed the cab service which quickly came and picked her up. After she gave the driver the address and settled back into the seat, they drove by a field right next to where she was standing with horses in it. She threw her hands up in defeat and the cab driver gave her a funny look through his mirror.

After ten or so minutes of driving, they got to the shop and she hopped out of the cab. Raina paid him and walked inside, instantly intimidated by the mass of people that swarmed in the shop. She wasn't used to that many people and didn't like that her florescent hair and ears drew attention to her. She stood awkwardly in the doorway until someone else tried to come in and she was pushed to the side. Stumbling, she caught herself before she toppled over into a table. Her face now darker than her hair, she fixed her headband and watched people slowly get back to what they were doing. Which was comforting but didn't make the place any less crowded. Too short to see over most of them, she hopped up and down a couple times trying to see where Lorne was. She didn't get anywhere with that so she flipped her phone back open and texted Lorne, "Where are you?"

Lorne saw her come in and look like a little fish caught out of water. He stood up and placed his hands in his pockets, strolling through the crowd to meet up with her. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he flipped it open to see she'd texted him. He laughed softly and snuck up behind her.

"Beeehind you~" He said, trying to make his voice sound creepy to playfully startle her.

Raina was looking around the shop when he said that behind her. When she heard it a chill ran up her spine and she whirled around, wide eyed. She relaxed, seeing it was him. "You scared me!" She pouted and punched him lightly in the arm. "Wasn't very nice...." She was bumped and she stumbled closer to him in the crowded shop. Turning her head to glare at the tall girl with studs that bumped her muttering, "Jerk..."

Lorne laughed when she looked at him with big eyes. He held his arm after she punched him lightly. He was sensitive though, and would probably get a bruise from that, pathetically enough.

"Scared you? No way. Not the all mighty Raina, here to defend us from the big scary red monster thingy!" He loved playing around with her. He and Rammel used to tease each other like this, but not so much anymore. Lorne just found himself getting annoyed with his boyfriend more then anything now.

He took her hand and started guiding her back to his little place in the corner. The couch was big enough for the two of them, and he hoped that someone hadn't snatched up the spot.

"Try not to worry about people bumping into you Rain. They don't mean it personally, it's just crowded and all." He said, trying to cheer her up, feeling bad that someone had knocked into her like that. "I told you the place was packed right?"

He let out a little sigh of relief when he saw the couch was still free. It was less crowded back there, a nice little spot semi hidden from the rest of the shop. He sat down and looked up at her, motioning for her to take a seat next to him.

"O-OH! Yeah PSH Noooo! Me? I wasn't scared! I was making sure you were... the real Lorne! I mean what if the big scary monster has taken over your body?! It can do that you know..." She let him lead her to the back.

"Yeah you said packed not a herd of elephants were occupying the tiny coffee shop...." She bumped into three more people on the way to the back and was happy for the space that was there.

She watched him sit down and motion for her to do the same. It being a small couch, she tried to sit respectfully so there was a space between them, he had a boyfriend after all. After she sat, the old couch sagged in the middle making them both slide into each other, eliminating any space Raina had tried to preserve between them. She didn't want him to think that she didn't like being next to him so she didn't move away.

“Oh wow is there anything the big scary monster can’t do?” Lorne asked, the goofy and playful smile still on his lips.

“Awww well to be fair it got busier after we hung up the phone. Everyone must have heard that you were coming and wanted to be where the party was at.” He joked, but internally kicked himself. He sounded like a creeper or an idiot or something. She probably thought he was a big loser. Why did someone as incredible as her hang out with someone as lame as him anyway?

His thoughts wondered until he realized that the couch cushions sunk in and made them sit very very close together. He swallowed, his adam’s apple bobbing when he did. He was sure she’d move away but she didn’t. His cheeks got a rosier pink color as he blushed from being so near her. What… what was going on with him anyway? She’s just his friend right? Just a really amazing friend. He didn’t have feelings for her… did he?

“S-sorry about the couch.” He said, his voice cracking. That sealed it. He was defiantly the biggest loser he knew.

"Well..." She thought for a moment, "It can't swim." Raina said seriously, "But I suppose if it took over someone's body than it could....." She gave this way too much actual thought.

She fought off a smile that threatened to escape her as she pretended that he was just being stupid, like a normal friend would. Not being able to hold it back anymore, it broke out and she laughed, "That has got to be the corniest thing I have ever heard!"

Her face now tinted red she smiled, "It's ok, what can you do, right? It has to be an old couch so the springs must be worn and it's like... winter so y'know it's cold and we don't want to freeze to death, right? Stuff like that..." Her voice faded off as she ran out of excuses for the coffee shop couches and why she hadn't moved away from him. She mentally smacked herself for how stupid they were, seeing as it was summer and about 99 degrees outside. Yet, when she thought about it, did she really want to move? "B-but I can move if you're uncomfortable!"

Lorne’s cheeks blushed even darker shades of red when she said this, and he sunk in his seat a little. But then he laughed along with her. He couldn’t really deny what she said. He was in fact corny.

“Guilty as charged.” He joked, smiling, though he still blushed.

He raise an eyebrow as she tried to make excuses for the couch, thinking she was both really cute and also really dorky, which comforted him in a way. He shook his head, the smile still on his face.

“No I’m not uncomfortable if you’re not.” He said, looking into her eyes, his voice soft.

"Nope, not uncomfortable" She shakes her head and smiles sheepishly at him.

In an attempts to keep herself from fiddling aimlessly with her sweater sleeves she says, "So... what's been happening in the bustling world outside of the cold, hard, life draining walls of the academy?" She dramatically falls back against the back of the couch and makes a "Woe is me" sort of noise. Raina peeks out from one eye to see if he's laughing or not.

Lorne felt a rush of relief as she said she wasn't uncomfortable. He liked being so close to her. He smiled big and flopped against the back of the couch with her, tilting his head so he could smile big over at her.

"And you say that I'm corny now do you~?" He asked, a playful expression on his face. His hands were folded over his thin stomach and his toes wiggled a little subconsciously.

"To answer your question, life is bustling, cold, hard, annnd life draining" He said with a small chuckle.