ICE FISHING WITH ROWAN. :D [it's been a month since i've seen him, tell me he's alright]

Alecis sat at a table in the far end of the coffee shop. She was waiting for Lumi Lavanya, one of the Dian advisers. It was time she talked to someone about getting Rowan help, she couldn't just let him fall apart. Surprisingly, she hadn't heard anything about Dian's latest screw-up as she had been expecting. Maybe Rowan was actually pulling himself together.

"Yeah right," Rheis muttered, unbelieving. "Stop trying to see the good in him, he's fallen apart." Why don't you just get over him? he added, silently.

Alecis wanted to believe that Rowan was back to his own ways, but she didn't want to be hurt when she realized he wasn't. Because he probably wasn't.

So she sat, trying to keep her mind on happier things, like her siblings, until the adviser got there.

Lumi didn't want to meet Alecis to talk about Rowan. She was originally just gonna not show, but then she realized that she didn't want to stay at home either. She didn't want to do anything. She wished she could just nothing for a while.

As she walked to the far end of the coffee shop where Alecis was, keeping her eyes straight ahead (looking blank and unfocused) even though she felt like everyone was staring at her.

She reached the table and sat down, stared at the tabletop, and waited for Alecis to talk first.

A girl came and sat down at the table Alecis was at. She figured it must be Lumi, who else would just randomly sit with her? Alecis waited for her to introduce herself, but after several seconds of awkward silence she decided to go first. "Hey, I'm Alecis," she started, smiling a little. "I'm glad you could make it."

And she was glad, though it didn't look like Lumi was. She seemed crestfallen about something and a little annoyed, but it wasn't Leci's place to ask, so she didn't. She, too, didn't want to talk about this, but she knew she had to, so she sucked it up and continued waiting for a response.

Lumi nodded stiffly. Alecis seemed to have the tact not to ask "is something wrong" like everyone else in the entire world had. She appreciated that and tried to act a little warmer, but it was difficult.

"I'm Lumi. Nice to meet you," she said, but her voice was still dull and lifeless. "Rowan told me a long time ago that you wanted to talk to me."

"Yeah..." Alecis said, trailing off. not knowing exactly what to say. "I'm sure you've noticed what's happened to him, how different he is. Especially since I'm sure you're around him quite often."

Just get to the point, Rheis yawned from the floor by her feet.

"I think he needs help."

Oh. Alecis obviously hadn't seen Rowan for a while. Now the Dians had someone else to worry about. =/

"Oh, you don't have to worry about him anymore," Lumi said monotonously. "He pulled himself together when he found out about the baby." She envied how easily his problems had been solved. She didn't even stop to think that Alecis might not know about the baby.

SAY WHA?

"Oh...you didn't know," Lumi said with a lack of care. "He knocked up that chick from the party. You were at the party, right?"

The party seemed like forever ago now...

"I, I...uh, no... I didn't...know...um..." Alecis' eyes were still huge, her brain still blank. This girl must have her Rowan confused. Maybe he was crazy, but he couldn't, he wouldn't... he was having a baby?

"... he... are you sure?"

"Yeah," Lumi replied patiently. Normally she would have been impatient at Alecis's reaction, but now...she didn't even care. About anything. There was no point. "He moved her into Dian and everything. They can't stand each other, though. Oh, and he's back with that Charlie girl."

Why did Rowan suddenly get everything he wanted in life just as Lumi got everything taken away?

Alecis didn't know how to respond, so much had happened in the month she hadn't seen Rowan. A baby ... Charlie...

At least he was happy, right? She had wanted him to be happy. She would have done anything for him to be happy again. And now he was. And she hadn't had to do a thing...

But Lumi didn't seem happy about his happiness. Which was strange, you would think that she would want her Overloridian back to his old self. Maybe something was happening that Lumi wasn't telling her. But why would she lie?

"Well... at least he's happy..." Alecis trailed off again, not knowing what to say to the Dian in front of her.

"Yeah, at least he's happy," Lumi said bitterly. She didn't know where her anger at Rowan was coming from. She just hated every man in Amelia right now. They could never know her pain. But Lumi didn't have any friends that were girls. She looked at Alecis. "D'you wanna order something, or...?

Alecis's stomach hurt a little from the news she had just recieved, but she thought maybe some coffee or something would help her think a little clearer.

"That sounds good," Alecis said, wringing her hands together anxiously. As if on cue, a waitress showed up a few seconds after Alecis spoke. The two ordered and as the girl whisked off to get them their drinks Alecis turned back to Lumi.

"You sound like you're kinda mad at Rowan, do you mind if I ask why? I know you're one of his top advisers." Alecis asked, tentatively.

"I was," Lumi corrected, avoiding the question. "I resigned two days ago. I...haven't been feeling up to it lately, I guess." She looked away. "I dunno. I wasn't really qualified to do it in the first place, anyway. And...and I just didn't really wanna do it anymore..."

That, or anything else.

"Oh," was all Alecis could think to say. The girl had obviously skipped her question, but there was probably a reason. And it wasn't her place to pry, she didn't even know this girl.

At that instant the waitress came back, their coffees in hand. As she went to set them on the table two kids ran by, almost knocking the waitress backwards. She steadied herself in time, but the cups in her hands weren't so lucky. They flew into the air, one splattering all across Lumi and Leci's table, dripping hot liquid into both of their laps. The other flew up and landed a few tables away. Thankfully that one was empty, but now spilled coffee lay all over the floor.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH"

Lumi screamed--first from surprise and second from the scalding hot coffee that had just been dumped on her--and jumped to her feet. Alecis did the same, and together they both banged into the table and knocked it over, and in the process knocked the waitress flat onto her face. Some random clio had rushed forward and tried to catch the waitress before she fell, but slipped in the spilled coffee and crashed into another table.

A burning sensation crept through Alecis' pants and scorched her lap and legs. A scream escaped her thoat as both she and Lumi lept to their feet. In the process they ended up being the cause of a lot of mayhem. Things all over seemed to be crashing to the ground, making a lot of noise, but all Alecis could think of was what she was feeling.

She grabbed a cup of water off another clio's table and whipped the water at her crotch, hoping to soothe the pain, if only a little. When it didn't help much, she grabbed the second cup, pouring it out as she had done the first.

"WHAT THE HECK!" she screamed as she threw her hands down to her buttons and, quickly as possible, ripped her jeans off. As she did she searched for more water to soothe her burnt skin.

THIS WAS THE SECOND GODDAMN PAIR OF PANTS THAT HAD GOTTEN RUINED THIS WEEK.

After her initial reaction Lumi hardly felt the pain of the hot coffee. She was more freaked out than in pain. She looked over at Alecis to see if she was okay and nearly had a heart attack when she saw her taking off her pants.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" she shrieked. Was Alecis CRAZY!?

Alecis glared at Lumi, how was she keeping hers on? It wasn't like Alecis was wearing a thong or anything, if she was wearing a swimsuit it would have shown more than the underwear she was wearing did.

"Relax," Alecis said, the glare gone. "Why would I leave on something that was causing me pain?"

"Because you're in a room full of clio!!!" Lumi exclaimed in an unnatrually high pitched voice. More accurately they were in a room full of disgusting men. "Put them back on!!" She didn't sound angry or demanding. She sounded like she had completely lost her composure. Which she had. What the fuck was Alecis THINKING!?!?

Alecis didn't know why she was freaking out so much. Why did she care what other clio thought? But whatever, Alecis pulled the soaked, but cooled jeans back on.

"Calm down," Alecis said, trying to make Lumi stop going ape. "They're back on."

In the background, the waitress was finally waking up from her mini-coma she had sustained from smacking her head against the table. Luckily she had missed Alecis being unclothed, but she still didn't look too happy.

"Maybe we should go now," Lumi said, her voice shaking ever so slightly. She had already been kicked out of Casa Nova's once for something she didn't do. Alecis agreed quickly when she saw the look on the waitress's face. They scurried out of the store.

As the two clio left the small coffee shop, Alecis laughed out loud. It had been a funny thing, even if it was a bit painful. "At least that was fun," she giggled, remembering the waitress's face.

Lumi actually...smiled. Just a little. For less than a second. "Yeah."

END