July 1/ Struggle/ PG-13/ Open

[alyssa]

Character(s): Mayumi Yoshida, Cole Peters, and anyone that would like to join!
Time: 9 P.M.
Location: A random restaurant near campus.


Mayumi huddled in the corner of the small restaurant, nursing a hot cup of tea and her nose stuck in her notebook. It had begun to rain again while she was out exploring the town, and this was the first place she had found to take shelter at this time of night.

She didn't really enjoy walking home alone at night, either, and she hoped beyond hope that someone from Aozora would enter the restaurant and she could persuade them to let her walk home with them.

Mayumi highly doubted it, though.

So she sat, scribbling in her makeshift diary/songbook. But the words weren't coming to her... again. That hadn't happened since the week before the Aozora auditions, and, that time, it was awful. Mayumi had nearly broken a few things trying to get her words back.

She shivered a bit and dropped her pen on to the table top, both of her hands reaching for her tea. Taking a sip, her eyes drifted to her right, then her left, and she was strangled with the feeling of being alone again. Mayumi had even invited her roommate to join her in exploring the town earlier that day, but she had declined, and, apparently, had every idea in the world of how desperate Mayumi had to be to have asked her.

Thinking about it again, Mayumi humph-ed and set her tea down once more. She was this close to resigning herself to a life of being alone with her notebook and piano.

And maybe a cat or two.

[amelie]

Cole was always hungry. Always. If there was a time when he wasn't hungry, it was because he had just finished eating and had eaten waaay too much, but if you gave it a few minutes or so he'd already be hungry again. That's just how he was. He never stayed full for long unless he was too sick or too tired to eat, and those moments were rare. Unfortunately for Cole, another thing was that he never had the cash to eat out, so he had to bribe his friends or get food for free wherever he could.. On the occasions where he did have the cash to eat out, though, he made a big deal out of it.. and those were one of these days.

It was late, true, but the time didn't matter to Cole as long as he got what he wanted to eat. In fact, as he strode in through the restaurant doors, he paused to take in the atmosphere. He inhaled deeply, trying to get the full smell of all the restaurant had to offer. Plus, it was warm in there. Not a it's-getting-hot-in-here-so-let's-take-off-all-our-clothes warm, but a comfy wow-this-feels-really-nice warm.

Now the big question was, what would he get? He was sure that a place like this offered a variety of things. He hoped they had some good white rice, which they probably did, but if they didn't, he was fine with other things too. Soup, chicken, beef, noodles, f--

Wait a minute.

Wait a fucking minute.

His gaze shot over to a table where the most stunning girl(well, she was for the moment, anyways.. or at least until he saw another hot girl) was sitting alone at a table. Alone? Did that mean.. no boyfriend? No family? No one to interrupt his endless flirting if he decided to talk to her..?

... Jackpot.

Cole found himself telling the waiters and waitresses that he was with her and that he didn't need his own table, so he instead strolled over and took the empty chair there. “Well, well, well,” he said, giving her his signature goofy grin. “What do we have here? A pretty girl all alone in a big city?” He laughed. “That's dangerous, you know, but I can help ya.. I can protect ya.. If you want.” With that, he gave her a wink.

Wow, he was obviously just the best.

[thehaakun]

Rin sighed and pushed open the door to the back of the restaurant, lugging the huge bag of garbage behind him. "I'm always the one on trash duty," he complained to himself, pulling the trash onto his back and hunching over from the weight. Rin shoved the bag into the dumpster, then turned away, revolted by the smell.

"How could the delicious food that I create end up with such an awful stench?" Rin asked sadly, wiping away an imaginary tear. "Well, back to work," he said, his mood changing back to his normal, cheerful mode.

Rin walked back to the restaurant and whistled a tune, joining the other cooks in the kitchen. He went up to the little window where the food would be transferred to the waiters, expecting to see a full house; he was surprised, then, when he found only two people. A boy and a girl. They look like they're around my age. Maybe they go to Aozora too! Rin thought excitedly.

I should personally get their order, he thought, puffing out his chest in pride. My cooking is the best around here, anyways. Rin grabbed a pen and notepad before pushing the door out of the kitchen and into the general dining area.

He went up to the couple (as he assumed they were) and asked with a friendly grin, "Hey, there. How can I help you both tonight?"

[alyssa]

Mayumi didn't look up from her notebook when she heard the door open. She didn't look up when she heard people talking, and she didn't look up when she heard footsteps.

She did, however, look up when she heard the legs of a chair scraping the ground very close to her.

Her eyes locked with those of a smiling blonde boy. “What do we have here? A pretty girl all alone in a big city?” He laughed. “That's dangerous, you know, but I can help ya.. I can protect ya.. If you want.”

Mayumi's eyes widened. Pretty girl? Was he talking about her? "I... um... What?" she stuttered a bit, not knowing how form structured sentences.

The blonde boy was cute, and seemed quite nice, but that could have just been flirting - the majority of the Aozora boys were quite flirtatious.

Mayumi didn't really care that night though, she just wanted someone to keep her company and ward of the loneliness, even just for one night. She smiled softly, but her gaze was broken when another boy interrupted.

"Hey, there. How can I help you both tonight?" asked a boy dressed in something similar to a waiter's outfit. Did he work here?

Mayumi stuttered again, cursing herself for being flustered. "Um, j-just some more tea for my... friend and I."

The word "friend" sounded weird coming from Mayumi's lips - not a bad kind of weird, but the I-could-get-used-to-it kind of weird.

[amelie]

Aww, look at her, all flustered. Cole couldn't help but smile wider and he let out a small laugh. “You heard me..~” he said cheerfully. “I mean, like I said, if you want. I'll do anything for you tonight.” He pressed his hands down and leaned forwards a bit on the table. “And by that I mean.. anything.. anything at all,” -- cue stupid pet names -- “princess.”

Sure, maybe Cole wasn't the brightest guy and, sure, maybe he shouldn't be that forwards with every girl out there. Sure, he might have known that deep down, but he just honestly didn't care. What fun would life be if he just lived in fear of interactions? He would never get any dates or anything like that and he would just end up lonely. That was, until he got his big acting job that he was oh so sure that he was going to get. If he didn't.. Well, let's not think about that.

He sat back in his chair once again, reaching down on the table to fiddle with straw wrapper laying around as he waited for her reaction. Then, suddenly, there was another voice in their conversation. “Huh.” He looked up to see a dark haired boy and he squinted a bit, trying to figure out who he was. He recognized him, but from where.. Oh!

“You go to our school, doncha?” he asked, just letting Mayumi order whatever. Truth was, he was really, really hungry, but he didn't want to blow this with her by making himself seem like an absolute pig.

[alyssa]

“I mean, like I said, if you want. I'll do anything for you tonight.” He pressed his hands down and leaned forwards toward Mayumi. “And by that I mean.. anything.. anything at all... princess."

Mayumi's eyes widened again. That was the first time anyone had called her a cute pet name. Her sister - who had no problems dating - had told her that pet names were stupid, but Mayumi was blushing hard. It was probably the cutest thing she'd ever heard.

After placing her order, Mayumi turned to the blonde boy again. "Um, order whatever you'd like." She told him with a smile, then looked down at her notebook, doodling a quick smiley face. Mayumi was going to add the boy's name to the doodle, but she realized she had no idea what it was and looked back up to him.

The blonde had turned his gaze to the boy that had showed up behind him. “You go to our school, doncha?” The blonde asked.

Mayumi really didn't want to interrupt the blonde's conversation considering he was one of the few people at Aozora that had taken the time to be nice to her, but she wanted to know his name more than anything in that instant.

She reached forward and placed a hand on his forearm. "Sorry to interrupt, but I didn't catch your name...?"

[thehaakun]

Rin scribbled down two teas on the notepad. He glanced at the blonde boy next to her, appraising the confidence that emanated from him. He then turned his gaze to the girl next to him, glancing down at her notebook and noting all the doodles. It reminded him of this one girl he'd met in the library who doodled a lot too. What's up with girls and doodles? he thought to himself.

He was caught off guard with the blonde boy asked him a question. It took him a second to comprehend what he said, so absorbed was he in his own thoughts. "Um, yeah, Aozora," Rin said, looking at the boy again. Who was this guy? How did he recognize Rin? Rin had never seen him around school. What year is this guy in? What's his major? Questions buzzed in his mind as curiosity got the better of him.

Rin was thankful, then, when the girl reached to the guy and asked him about his name. "Speaking of names, I'm Rin. Okumura Rin. Nice to meet you both," he said, introducing himself first. "And I'll be your waiter tonight," he added on as proper waiter etiquette.

[amelie]

Of course Cole noticed her blushing. Wasn't it the whole point to make them blush? It meant he had succeeded in, as he would say(along with various old men and people from movies that were probably made back in 50 B.C or something along those lines), “wooing” her. So now that he had that thought in mind, he decided that he might as well go ahead and finish pursuing her .. despite the fact that she clearly did not understand his hinting.

“Mhm..” he mumbled, leaning back in his chair so far that it came off the floor a little, but before he tilted it backwards, he caught himself. His focus was yet again on that oh-so-interesting straw paper as he began to speak again. “I'd just like some white rice if you got any,” Cole ordered with a shrug.

Of course the blond was able to recognize him. He didn't know his name exactly, since it was so annoying to have to learn so many, but Cole was actually very good at keeping up with faces, even if he had only seen them once or twice in a hall way. Besides, being the tall guy he was, he often saw a lot of people over the heads of the other students when walking around. It wasn't that difficult for him to see someone he hadn't before and memorize their face.

He glanced back to Mayumi once again, that lopsided grin of his coming back again. “Cole,” he introduced himself. “Cole Peters. I go to Aozora, too.” As he said the second part, his attention was back on the waiter - Rin, he'd said his name was - and he gave a nod. “Yeah, yeah, thought so! What do you do? I'm an acting major.” Then again, so were a lot of people. “The best acting major.”

[alyssa]

The girl's fingers were still on the blonde's arm as he ordered and leaned back in his chair, eyes on a piece of paper. She didn't recognize him from school, but, then again, this entire city was filled with students, and, no matter how hard Mayumi tried, she'd never know everyone's names and faces.

Whatever.

Glancing behind him, at Mayumi again, the blonde said, “Cole. Cole Peters." Somehow, that suited him. "I go to Aozora, too.” His gaze swung back to the other boy. “Yeah, yeah, thought so! What do you do? I'm an acting major. The best acting major.”

A small, wry smile tugged at her lips. Mayumi hadn't met many actors -- other than Ayame, Ren and some kid called Max -- so she really couldn't dispute that with him. And, it didn't really matter if she did or not.

Pulling her hand back and resuming her writing, Mayumi's eyes darted up to the boy a few times. He looked very familiar -- he goes to your school -- but Mayumi couldn't figure out why. She sighed, setting he pen down again, deciding she probably wasn't going to finish the verse she had been writing now -- or ever -- and looking up at Cole and... what had the waiter said his name was? At Rin.

"What are you doing off-campus this evening?" Mayumi asked, her eyes on Cole again. "Aren't Fall play auditions coming up? Should the acting majors be spending every waking moment learning lines?" Her voice dropped to a whisper as she brought her tea to her mouth. "Instead of talking to girls at restaurants."

That hadn't been a subtle hint for him to leave, not at all, Mayumi was actually kind of excited that he had joined her that night, but she had no idea how to carry on a normal conversation with a boy that seemed interested in her. If she could, Mayumi would be banging her head against the table of trying to drown herself in her tea. This was going to be an embarrassing night on her part -- half-mumbled sentences and blushing, great.



(OOC: I don't know if the person that plays Rin has been around much... And I don't really know what to do when an RP-er goes MIA, so I don't know what to do about his responses :/ )

[amelie]

Cole wasn't completely sure if he was the reason she had smiled or not, but he was glad that she had. It was better to get those kind of reactions from girls than none at all so this was just sort of an accomplishment to him. Besides, even if it was a small one, he still thought she looked pretty with it.. "Ah.." he mumbled out loud as he glanced up at her, staying silent for a moment before his own goofy grin lit up on his face again. Maybe I can make her laugh..

Although, before he could get the chance to even come up with a joke, the lines were brought up. His happy expression soon turned to a frustrated one as a groan escaped his lips. "Lines.. schmines. I'm good enough to remember them without too much practice." He waved it off then with a shrug of his shoulders.

This time, instead of going back to his cheerful expression, he gained a smirk instead. "Here's a better question. What are you doing off campus, talking to guys you hardly know?" he accused, even though Cole knew that he wouldn't harm a fly if it didn't bite him first. "I mean, shouldn't you be doing some learning of your own, miss..." He blanked. "Miss.. Miss.. Uh, what do you do anyways? Are you in the music stuff or.. what?" Hell, if he got that right, it was definitely a lucky guess.

"If that's the case, maybe you can give me my own little show sometime.. Hmm, princess?" He didn't really want to take no for an answer. He might have been trying to act like a gentleman now, but he would definitely persist more later if needed. This girl interested him for some reason that he couldn't explain to himself.