Mmm. Caffeine. {-Bohemian Rhapsody-}

[Ru'Thor]

OOC: This is what happens when Ru is bored in study hall and her iPod is playing Bohemian Rhapsody.

IC

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

Corroborate... to support and confirm.

Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality...

Disburse... to pay out.

Open your eyes... look up to the skies and seeeeee...

Disgusted, Chase Baden shoved his English notes aside, crossing his arms as he shot an irritated glance at the girls in the booth behind him. Damn. Not Baden. Frasier. And he wanted another milkshake.

He was reall beginning to hate that. Not the milkshake, the name.

The girls, not aware of the annoyance they were causing, left, taking their music with them. Chase could hear the end of the verse as they left.

Anywhere the wind blows... doesn't really matter... to meeeee...

The echo of the last words were lost on him as silence- except for the whirring of the coffee grinder- once again filled the little café. Still, Chase didn't return to his notes, gazing lazily out of the foggy window. It looked like it would rain soon. That would draw in anyone that happened to be caught out in it.

And now that stupid song was stuck in his head. I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me... Silently cursing the girls in his head, the boy drew his legs up onto the bench, stretching out with a yawn. The Fraisers hadn't given him his own key yet, so he was stuck biding his time until one of them got off of work. As if it would take more than five minutes to run to Wal*Mart and get a copy made.

Easy come, easy go... Hell yes.

"You want another one, hun?" Jerked out of his thoughts, Chase looked up to the counter at the middle-aged woman who worked the afternoon shift. "On me. You leave good tips."

"Oh- um- sure. Thanks."

She disappeared behind the swinging double doors, and an extra-strong scent of coffee breezed out. Ah. Coffee. Chase shoved his notebook back into his school bag, drumming his fingers on the table. Maybe he would offer to go and get it copied himself? But he would still need someone to come with him; he had only gotten his learner's permit a month or so ago and it was too far to walk.

Damn. Life sucks. An exaggeration, of course, but on a rainy day like this he couldn't help but mope. It was easy to do when the only thing anyone had said to you in the past three days was, "Hey, move, you're in my seat." But that could only be expected after moving in with a new family. Again.

The doors banged open again, and the woman came out from behind the counter, sliding a steaming styrofoam cup across the table towards him. As she did, Chase caught a glimpse of her nametag- DEBBIE.

"Thanks," he said, gripping the straw with two fingers and taking a sip. He could never recall the name of his newly-discovered favorite drink, but he knew that it was some sort of coffee. Mmm. Caffeine.

Debbie nodded and returned to the counter, disappearing once again behind the double doors. Chase took another sip of his coffee and returned to staring out the window. The warm drink was making his nose warm, and as he looked outside he shivered at the sight of the rain sprinkling down. Fall would be giving way to winter soon, but winter in the city was never as beautiful as winter in the country. When he'd lived in Maryland, the snow had gone on to the horizon, undisturbed by footprints or human structures. But here in the city, all of the white turned to gray and brown before it had even hit the ground, it seemed.

Chase's thoughts went on as the rain came down harder, drumming on the roof of the Kauffman House. He could make out forms of people running for cover through the rain-spattered window. And still the song ran through his head.

Nothing really matters... anyone can see... nothing really matters...

How depressing.

Nothing really matters...

Maybe whoever had written it had been depressed. Or on drugs.

To me...

And Chase took another drink, watching the raindrops slide down the foggy window.

[Shira]

Rain. Rain. Rain. She loved the rain. It made her feel happy! Well, most of her, at least. Her feet were sopping wet, but it didn’t help that she still believed that she could still wear flip-flops. At least her jeans, too long of course, weren’t that wet. That was because they were rolled up to her knee, looking like a complete idiot when it had to be freezing (50?) degrees out.

Hot chocolate would warm her up. At least until she had to race to the bus stop later on to go home. She was only visiting the city for the next several days before going back to the suburbs. She just loved it when the pipes broke in the school and they had two weeks off.

And maybe she could work on her creative writing short story that was due the moment they got back in.

Sighing, Nikki waited until the girl’s with the blasting ipod left before she went in. Ah, warmth.

Shivering, shaking water everywhere, she rubbed her bare arms. Maybe she should’ve worn something a little warmer, like a shirt with sleeves. The thing is, the only thing clean in her clothes bag was a plain spaghetti strapped tank top, colored yellow. Not exactly the best clothes to wear when it’s raining. At least she had a sweater, one currently tied around her waist, to keep her warm.

Seeing the lady with the name tag ”Debbie,” Nikki grinned, walking over to the counter, placing her bag on the floor next to her. “Hot chocolate an’ a huge chocolate chip cookie. Or two.”

((Eck. Sounded better ealier.))

[Ru'Thor]

OOC: I am so unbelievably sorry for the delay... bad Ru! Bad!

IC Debbie nodded with a friendly smile, and disappeared into the back, calling over her shoulder, "Three-twenty, hun."

Chase looked up, a slight smile on his face. And here he'd thought that 'hun' was a term of endearment for people who spent much more time here than they had any business doing- me.

He took in the sight of the girl at the counter, and said bluntly, “Aren’t you cold?” As if to emphasize his point, the rain outside picked up and banged hard on the rooftop, thunder rumbling somewhere in the distance over the sound of beeping cars outside. They were all rushing home, hoping to arrive before the storm really got bad. Chase wondered dimly if his foster parents would get here any time soon, or if he'd be stuck walking home in the rain.

[Shira]

“Only a little,” she said. “Never try going swimming in a half frozen lake. Now that’s cold.” But now, since she didn’t have to worry about carrying twenty pounds of water in the bottoms of her jeans, Nikki unrolled them. Shivering at the waves of warmth that traveled up her legs, she grinned over at Chase.

The one thing she hated about being cold was the fact that when she warmed up, it didn’t take long. She hated hot weather; in fact, the moment she was able to support herself, she was going to move farther north, to upper Wisconsin. Anywhere where it snowed more than it rained.

She dug the money out of her pocket, three wrinkled dollars and a quarter. Her larger money was in her book bag…. Nikki spun around once in place, looking for the book bag that wasn’t there… her book bag that had been left at a friends flat. At least she had the keys to the flat, or she would’ve been screwed on the way home.