Eating Out

[Taylor Smith]

Taylor had been shopping in the city since early this morning, and it was now two in the afternoon. She'd bought some of the new material she'd need for her new dance classes that'd been added to her schedule. In Freshman and Sophomore year, there wasn't much diversity. They'd done ballet, obviously, and that they'd keep on doing until the very last year, which was fine with her - she was a ballerina, simple as that. But she did enjoy trying new things as well, and she'd found out that in their Junior year, a few ballroom dances were added to the list. She was a bit disappointed to know that waltz - the real, extremely hard kind - wasn't taught until Senior year, but she didn't mind waiting. For now, they'd start on Latin kind of dances, and the professor had not exactly given them a list of articles to buy - she'd given them an address and told them to tell the saleslady what they were there for. That's what she'd done, and now she was slightly self-conscious but the things the woman had given her. She was used to costumes that showed off her body, but it did cover it usually. With the dress she'd have to wear for salsa and things of the sort, along with the shoes, it was more than showing off her body.

Shaking off the thought, she glanced around, feeling suddenly that she was getting hungry. There wasn't a lack of choice for food in Kansas City, but today she really didn't know where to go. She'd tried pretty much all the most popular places in town over the last three years, but she never knew where to go when she went out for dinner and she usually let her friends pick where they would go in the end. After a while of pondering and trying to choose, she figured she'd go to her favorite restaurant and headed for Milano, glad to have finally decided as her arms were getting tired with all the bags she was holding. Clothes weren't that heavy, but after a while of walking around they weren't exactly light either. As she stepped inside the restaurant, she smiled lightly at the familiarity of the place. She loved Italian food, having herself some origins that went back to that country on her mother's side, who often cooked Italian meals back home. Taylor tried to learn how to cook more things every time she went back home, though it wasn't often, and she especially enjoyed when her mom showed her things that were more exotic, or foreign. Greek food especially was really fun to do.

As she walked further into the place, however, she couldn't restrain a small groan at the sight of the line that was waiting to be seated. She should have guessed the place would be busy at this time of the night, on the weekend, but she hadn't been thinking about it before she'd seen the line. Now it seemed as though she would have to hold her bags longer, though she could have left, but there was a bit of stubborness in her - she'd made her mind that she wanted to eat Italian food and now she didn't feel like leaving and going somewhere else. She glanced at her watch with a sigh, figuring she had never better to do anyway, and nobody was waiting for her. She glanced again at the line and figured it maybe wouldn't be too long of a wait, thinking she might as well wait now that she was here.

• • • • •

[Milo Parker]

Milo was heading through downtown, not to do anything really he was just bored. Bored beyond all reason actually. All of his friends were off buying things that they needed or something along the sorts, he wasn't though because he didn't really need anything. It'd already been gotten for him before he even came to the school, heck it was gotten for him before he even left the school at the end of Junior year. His father kept up to date on exactly what he needed so that he could get it for him right away. Make it seem like he cared or something along those lines. He didn't really care though, it just left a lot of boredom for him when everyone else was always off buying the few last minute things that they would need for the year. Sometimes he'd volunteered to go with them to get the things that they needed but that was never much fun. So he decided to go re-explore the city or at least the nearby city. It wasn't going to be all that exciting but at least it would be better then sitting around doing nothing or helping others to do find the things that they needed for school. Most everything was better then that, because for some reason the people he called friends actually paid attention when shopping so basically all he did was follow them around all day.

He walked down the street past several restaurants, all of which he'd been to before. He considered going into several different ones, but he wasn't sure which one he wanted to go to. He liked some of them a bit more then others he had to admit, but he didn't know quite what he was in the mood for at that moment. So he kept walking until he came to a stop in front of Milano. He liked the place well enough, they had good food and it was always a happy place in general. Loads of quality service in such, so he decided to stop in and eat there. He walked in through the door and came up behind Taylor, looking up the line at the amount of people. It was a good sized wait but he didn't really care he'd made up his mind and it was where he wanted to eat. On top of that waiting might be entertaining if something interesting managed to happen along the way. And if something didn't, he was sure that he'd probably be able to find something that he could do to make the situation amusing in some way or another. It was what he was best at. So he stood there, looking around and tapping his foot lightly to the music that was playing in the restaurant.

[Taylor Smith]

After a few more minutes of waiting, Taylor's arms were getting really sore - and that was saying much, considering her arms were practically as strong and muscular as her ballerina legs, but the bags were getting heavier by the minute and her fingers especially, tightly gripping to the thin plastic, felt as though they'd been frozen in that position forever and never would go back to normal again. Sighing, she glanced again at the line before deciding to put her bags down on the floor, figuring she'd have to drag them along as the line moved forward but it didn't really matter at that point. Curious, she took a peek beyond the line to see what was going on in the large dinning room, wondering if it was really this busy because it was a weekend evening or if there was something special going on. Most of the tables, however, seemed to be occupied by couples, so she figured it was the first option, but she also noticed a large group nearby so it was probably a mix of both. Shaking the thought off, she went back to staring down at the floor, not finding anything more interesting to do.

As she was still absorbed by the patterns in the carpet beneath her feet, she felt someone move behind her and figured someone had just been added to the line. Curious, she turned her head to the side slightly and peeked over her shoulder, trying to be as subtle as possible, glad that her hair was down and hid most of her face. When she recognized the guy that was standing behind her, however, she quickly turned her head back to stare in front of her, her cheeks reddening slightly when she realized her quick movement had not been hard to miss - so much for being subtle. But yeah, she'd recognized him alright - she knew him. Not well, but who didn't know him really? He was talked of a lot among the school population, and though she hadn't talked to him exactly often, she agreed whenever someone said something nice about him. He really did seem like a great guy, and there was no denying that he was good looking as well. She didn't exactly have a crush on him - not crush crush. But... well, it was something.

As she was lost in her thoughts about the boy who was currently standing behind her, a couple entered the restaurant in a rushed manner and stepped in front of everybody else, heading to the counter. Taylor wasn't paying much attention to what was being said, thinking it was none of her business anyway, but she did manage to catch a few sentences. Overall, the couple was complaining because there was no possibility to get a table right now and they were in a hurry to eat. They'd called to take a reservation, had been told it was not a possibility for such a busy night and time, but they'd assumed it meant that it was not needed and they'd get their tables right away anyway. After complaining about the time of the wait and the poor services, they stalked back out of the restaurant. Then, three things happened - the woman, who was briskly following her husband, bumped roughly into Taylor. She then lightly tripped over one of her bags, making it fall backward, just where Taylor's foot was moving to keep her balance, making her trip over it and fall backward. And then, Taylor landed on the person right behind her. Great.

• • • • •

[Milo Parker]

Milo wasn't really paying attention when Taylor looked back at him and managed to miss the whole this entirely thanks to the fact that he was busy reading the walls. He did so for a few minutes and then he watched as a couple hurried in past everyone else, silently raising an eyebrow in his own curiosity. He tried to listen to their conversation, mostly for something to do plus it looked like it would be interesting and/or amusing. It turned out that it was. Mostly because the couple wasn't all that bright apparently. He watched as they complained making possibly some of the stupidest arguments that he'd heard yet. It was really quite amusing that the couple could have possibility thought the way that they did. He watched them until they hurried out, but what he wasn't expecting was to be on the ground with the person that had been standing in front of him, now landing on top of him. He looked at the person, first realizing that it was a girl which was a good thing. It would have been a lot more uncomfortable had it been a guy who was laying on top of him. Though - he realized - it would have had to have been an extremely light guy had it been one. The next thing that he realized was who was on top of him. He smiled slightly as he did, not knowing the girl extremely well but at least knowing her.

"Well hello there Taylor," he said with a grin. "You know there are better ways to get people's attention then falling into them. However I've got to admit that this is probably the most effective," he said teasingly to her. "Though I can't really say that I'm all that upset by it, after all who can complain with a pretty girl on top of them?" He knew that he was probably going to make her uncomfortable, at least a little bit. But that was simply how it was going to be. Plus it wasn't like he was telling a lie or anything, she was a cute girl. Everyone knew it, though sometimes he doubted if she knew it. However that was probably just because she was so quiet, had she not been he was sure he'd probably know exactly what she thought about herself. Then again, if everyone where outgoing the world probably wouldn't be the same type of place that it was then.

He noticed that a few people were starting to stare slightly at the two of them, so he figured that it'd probably be a good time for the two of them to get up. He looked back at her. "And as much as I wouldn't mind staying this way, really I think it's probably best that you get up," he said smiling slightly at her. "People are starting to stare and as much as I love people, if I remember right I don't think you share that same feeling."

[Taylor Smith]

Taylor kept her eyes shut for a good while after she'd fell on Milo, groaning inwardly and hoping it hadn't really happened, as though not looking at him would make it as though it was just part of her imagination. If I can't see it, it's not real, right? Sadly not. When she heard his voice, she was forced back to reality and opened her eyes slowly, shyly, not exactly at ease with the fact that they were now both on the floor, her on top of him, and for the first time in her life Taylor felt that if she had the occasion to actually strangle someone, she wouldn't restrain herself from getting her hands on that woman's throat. She was possibly in the most delicate and embarassing situation she'd ever found herself into, and the person which was involved was definitely not the person she'd wanted it to be. She felt as though she'd never live this down.

She opened her mouth to apologize, mainly for having fallen onto him, but also because for some reason she was frozen on the spot and unable to get up. But before a word could come out, he started speaking himself, and she closed her mouth, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red. Great, just great. She knew he was known to make a lot of jokes, but this was a moment she wished he'd retrained himself from doing so, mainly because she couldn't quite figure if he was being serious or not, and as much as she wanted to tell she hadn't done it on purpose to get his attention (though now that she thought of it, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing...) she simply couldn't talk. She just kept staring at him, her eyes slightly wide from the shock and embarrassment, her cheeks still red as she bit lightly on her bottom lip. She was slowly getting control back on her actions and thoughts when he said something else that caused her to blush even more, making her think her face must be similar to a tomato by now. He'd called her pretty... okay, so some of her friends had called her pretty often, and her parents mainly used the term beautiful, but they were friends and parents, that's what they were for, right? And now hearing it from it, it felt different. Had she trusted people less, she could have thought he was making fun of her, but not being that way, she figured he was being honnest, and it made it even more uncomfortable.

As he mentionned that they should probably move as people were starting to stare, she quickly came back to earth and moved off him swiftly, rising up to her feet in one movement as she nervously tucked her hair behind her ear, thinking that his comment would probably have made her blush even more if it'd been physically possible to be this red. "I'm really sorry about that," she finally said, managing to talk for the first time. She knew she wasn't responsible for falling overall, but if she hadn't put her bags on the floor it probably wouldn't have happened. As she thought that, she glanced down at the floor to see that some of her dance costumes had gotten out of the bags and she sighed, kneeling down to put them back in.

• • • • •

[Milo Parker]

He laughed slightly as he got up, offering her a smile. "It's okay," he said. "No harm done and it's not like it's your fault." He looked at her dance costumes as she bent down and tired to pick them up. He'd known that she was a dancer, it was just always something that managed to escape his mind if there wasn't proof right in front of him. "Getting your school supplies before you stopped in for a bite?" he asked her, he didn't mind that it was none of his business. Nothing was ever any of his business, but it never stopped him from butting in before and it wasn't going to now either. He was curious and outgoing therefore he was nosy by default. It wasn't like he could control it or anything, though he never exactly tried to either. He just stuck with the fact that he was an used it as a bit of an excuse. So that he could continue to nose into other people's lives when he felt like it. It just made things more interesting for him. And amusing most of the time, because people were just that way. All people were amusing, wether they knew it themselves or not.

He looked a head slightly as the line started to move again, he waited for when Taylor would be ready to move. He still couldn't really believe that the place was as packed as it was. It wasn't that he didn't believe that the restaurant was packed it was that he didn't believe that everyone had decided to go at that time. Didn't people have places to be or something? Honestly, how was it that no one had lives anymore? They should have been somewhere doing something else, he supposed it could have been worse though. Possibly if there wasn't anyone to talk to standing around. Luckily for him Taylor was there, though after he had made her go so red he wasn't sure that she even wanted to talk to him. He'd understand if she didn't. But it was worth a shot, a lot better off then standing around boredly anyway.

"So Taylor what have you been up to lately?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow at her. "Well other then shopping and falling into people?" he asked teasingly. He knew that he probably should drop the last part, but it was fun to tease people. Especially people like her who blushed so easily. It just made it even better in some weird way... to know that you caused a person to blush. It was a good feeling he had to admit. It somehow made him feel better about himself, a bit of confidence. Then again there was just some people who blushed at anything... but he was going to choose to ignore that little piece of information.

[Taylor Smith]

As she was kneeling down on the floor, picking up the costumes and throwing them back in the bags, she tried to get a grip on herself, looking down so that he wouldn't see her face, her hair hiding it anyway. She wondered what he must think of her now, and she also wondered why it even matter. So sure, she knew she was a tiny itsy bit interested by him, but it wasn't as though she really did know him. He might as well be a freaky guy who hid his true personality with jokes and fooling around. She rolled her eyes to herself and shook her head, knowing that wasn't true and thinking she must now have officially gone insane. Maybe they gave medication for this. As he asked her a question, she looked back up and rose again with a small smile, nodding slightly. "You could say that," she said, glancing around the place with a small sigh. "Seems like the shopping was faster than the eating though. I've never seen this place so packed before," she added with a light frown, more to herself than to him. It was true though, she came often and she'd never had to wait so long to be seated.

As the line started moving a little forward, she bent down again to grab her bags and moved along with the other people, deciding to keep the bags in her hands now. It would probably be less dangerous that way, and they weren't that heavy anyway. Besides, the last thing she needed right now was to trip over them once more and end up on top of him again. Not that he'd been all that uncomfortable... she groaned inwardly and attempted to chase those thoughts away, thinking it really wasn't the best of time to be having those, especially not with him standing right behind her - she had a feeling that, if she blushed for no apparent reason, he wouldn't restrain himself from asking what had caused it. And Taylor was a really bad liar. Most of the time she ended up telling the truth anyway if she was asked something she didn't want to answer to, but this time, it really wouldn't do, and he'd know for sure she was lying. Body language gave it away, and being a dancer, her body language was very developed.

She blushed lightly when she heard him ask another question, shrugging lightly and managing a small smile. "Not much actually," she said, remembering that she'd actually fallen on somebody else not too long ago. "It's been a very quiet week, except for the falling," she added with a wider smile, tilting her head slightly and looking around the room once more. "My clumsiness will be the death of me some day, I suppose," she added with a light sigh, afterward wondering why she'd even said that when it was of no importance really. But she didn't know why, in spite of all the shyness and embarrassment, she felt comfortable talking to him. Or trying to anyway. Her clumsiness wasn't usually something she talked about - people thought it weird that she could be a dancer, and clumsy at the same time, wondering why she didn't fall when she was dancing then, and it made it a bit awkward to explain that when she danced, she wasn't exactly the same person. "What about you?" she asked, returning the question. "Been busy teasing people?" she added with a slight grin.

• • • • •

[Milo Parker]

He smiled slightly as he heard her, though he wondered how someone could be a dancer and to clumsy at the same time. It had to cause some issues along the way, or at least he would think that it would. Dancing was suppose to be a very graceful thing. So maybe she was just a graceful dancer and a clumsy walker. That didn't make much sense but then again not much hardly ever made sense when it came to life. He'd just learned to accept it and move on. There was no use to spending his time wondering about how the world worked, much less how the people in the world worked. That was just asking for a headache. So he focused back on what she was saying, smiling when she returned the question back at him. Really he hadn't been up to much lately, but he wasn't ever the type to just say nothing and shrug it off. If there wasn't anything really exciting then he'd just talk about the not so exciting stuff and call it all good. It worked for him anyway.

"Of course I've been busy teasing people," he said with a grin. "After all people are just such easy targets if you really look at them. Much easier then say... that wall over there. It's not going to move or trip or fall or say anything that it'll regret later." He looked over at the wall and shook his head as if he were disappointed in it. Then he turned back to her with a smile. "But other then teasing people... I've got to admit that there hadn't been many things of interest happening to me. Nothing really out of the ordinary. You know a few teacher lectures here and there about behaving in class, a few hate letters from people I might have played a practical joke on once or twice in the past." He really hated it when people couldn't take a joke, those were probably the worst kinds of people that there were in reality. Those were the people that always ruined everyone else's fun just because they couldn't take one little joke. Honestly, if they really didn't have a sense of humor they shouldn't proudly display it to the world. They should have sat back quietly and kept that embarrassing fact to themselves. It wasn't a good quality to have.

He watched as the line moved slightly again, he was happy to see that quite a few people seemed to be leaving. So that meant that they'd be able to get some food faster themselves. It was a good thing too because he was getting hungrier by the moment. He turned back to Taylor, thinking of something that he was curious about. After all he knew why he was there alone but he didn't know why she was, so it was just good enough for him to ask her. "So your friends are they still off shopping and you ditched them to eat? Or are you like me and just ditched your friends in general to come find food?" he asked. Most people after all usually came downtown with their friends and then they all ended up splitting up along the way. There weren't very many people who just came by themselves. Well not usually anyway. Or at least he hadn't seen many of them. He almost always limited his thoughts in that way. If he hadn't had any experience with it then it either wasn't true or it didn't exist. That was just his own narrow mindedness though.

[Taylor Smith]

Taylor could see from the look on his face that he didn't quite understand how she could be a clumsy girl and a dancer at the same time, though he didn't ask, but it still made her smile lightly. She'd actually figured when she was a bit younger that her clumsiness wasn't exactly natural in her. She hadn't been a clumsy kid, though she'd practically started dancing before the time she was even able to walk properly. Her shyness worsened it though, in some way, as though she became so aware of her body and the way she moved when there were people around that she found herself with too much of it - and that was saying a lot, seeing how thin she was - to be able to move without stumbling or bumping into stuff. It was more of self-awareness than clumsiness, now that she thought of it. And sometimes, lack of attention - she often got lost in her thoughts and didn't bother looking in front of her, which wasn't exactly a good thing most of the time, but she'd gotten used to it with time. It was also one of the reasons why she often had bruises on her legs and arms - her skin bruised very easily, being so sensitive and pale. A mere poke that was a little harder than usual could make her skin go black and blue. She remembered some teachers worrying over it back in elementary school, but they'd soon gotten over it after seeing her bump a few times into a corner or something of the sort and then noticing she had a purple spot on her skin before the end of the day.

She giggled lightly as she listened to him talk, a small smile forming on her lips as she did. She rarely did have a real wide smile on her face, not to mention grins, yet most people who'd seen her smile usually told her she ought to do it more often, like David not so long ago. She had a bit of a problem with it, mainly because of her self-consciousness, like for everything else. It could be a real pain sometime. "Well you never know, walls can surprise you," she said in a teasing manner. "But I'll admit, I've never seen a wall move, fall or talk," she said as an afterthought, shrugging lightly. "So you're probably right on that one," she finished with a slight nod, smiling lightly when he mentionned the teacher's lectures and hate notes. She knew he was the kind to play jokes and tease people, and that was bound to get him into some kind of trouble sometimes. But she didn't really think his jokes must be that bad, so people who were upset with him surely had no sense of humor. Then again, she couldn't exactly say she'd react well herself if a practical joke was played on her, depending on what it was obviously. She was able to see a joke as a joke, but if it became too much, then she didn't see much in it except a cruel prank.

She stepped forward again as the line moved once more, noticing some people were actually leaving instead of waiting. She thought it a bit silly, especially since they were closer to the counter than those behind, but she supposed they'd been here longer and were probably tired of waiting. As for her, since she'd started waiting, she'd think it a waste of time to leave after a while. She'd have lost so much of her time for nothing if she did. She looked back at Milo and tilted her head slightly as he asked her if she'd left her friends to come and eat. She smiled and shook her head lightly. "Neither, actually," she said. "I wasn't with friends, I was shopping alone," she explained. "I don't really know that much people at the Academy, not people I consider myself close enough to ask them to go shopping with me," she added with a light shrug.

• • • • •

[Milo Parker]

He grinned as he heard her talk back with a teasing tone in her voice. It was good to see that she had a sense of humor about it all. He really couldn't always remember which people found him funny and which didn't unless he had a distinct reason to do so. For instance if someone just made a small comment about not finding it funny or just a small comment about finding something he did funny he wasn't likely to remember it. After all he got a lot of those, so they weren't exactly all easy to keep straight within his mind. It was the big things that stuck out for him. People who either helped him to do something or joked back with him, even at him. Then there were the people who sent the hate letters and were always glaring at him. He never cared either way though in all honesty. He wasn't about to change who he was for someone else, if they didn't like him then that was their problem, it wasn't his. The only thing that could possibly ever inspire him to change his ways would be if he seriously ever hurt someone pyshically or mentally. In which case he'd change his tune. He wasn't cruel enough to keep going on with things as they were, but that didn't mean that he would completely change. It'd probably just be a small change that would make things better.

He couldn't believe her when she answered neither to his question. She didn't have friends close enough to ask to go shopping with? That was really weird. It wasn't like shopping was this deep and personal thing. Heck it wasn't even personal a lot of times. Then again maybe it was just one of those girl things. Shopping meant bonding or something else that he wouldn't understand because he didn't think like a girl. "Really I personally don't see how you'd have to be close to go shopping with someone," he told her honestly. "Because I'd just as soon go shopping with some person I met off the street, but maybe it's a girl thing? Does shopping mean something different to you guys then it does for the rest of us? Because as my general knowledge of it stands shopping is going from one store to another and getting things that you need to buy and that's it. Do girls throw in bonding over shoes or something like that?" He was pretty sure he was hitting on the mystery that baffled all guys, well except maybe the gay guys but they didn't really count all the time, especially when it came to things like that.

He noticed that the line was moving again and this time it happened to move quite a bit, but it was easy to see why. There was an exiting party of what looked like could have been a birthday party group or a youth group or something along those lines, either way he could tell that quite a few tables would be opening up. He watched as the people ahead of them got taken to be seated. By now there was only two more couples in front of Taylor. So once they got seated all he'd have to do was wait for Taylor to go get seated, then he'd be able to get a seat himself. Something occurred to him though and caused him to frown slightly in thought. It would goes to take him longer to eat if he had to wait for a table by himself. The smarter move would be to just eat with Taylor, that way they could both be seated at the same time. He wasn't sure what exactly she'd do if he asked her... so he decided to find out. "Hey Taylor I just thought of something. As were both eating alone it seems kind of silly for each of us to just take up a two person table by ourselves. So how about we just eat together. So that the people behind us don't have to wait even longer and so I won't be bored while I eat my meal," he suggested with a grin.

[Taylor Smith]

Taylor was a bit surprised by her own way of acting, especially since she was talking to a boy, and one she had a small crush on too. It seemed to her she would usually be acting much more shyly considering the situation, but in some way, she felt that he was putting her at ease in a way nobody had managed before, and she'd only been talking to him for a few minutes now. She felt that she could be herself with him, because his personality was one that probably made other people feel comfortable with him. Or at least, that's apparently how it worked for her. She figured some people probably didn't like him all that much, since she was pretty sure it was hard to like him when you didn't have any sense of humor, but seeing as she did, she was lucky enough to enjoy being in his presence. Well, for now anyway. She couldn't exactly base their whole friendship - or at least what she hoped would turn into friendship - after only one encounter with one another. Maybe he'd get bored with her before he even knew it, she wasn't exactly the type of girl who kept others entertained. Then again, he was surely enough of an entertainer for two.

She bit down on her bottom lip lightly when he said he didn't understand why she had to be close to someone to go shopping with them. It'd actually been an excuse and she'd hope he'd buy it. Truthfully, she didn't have that many friends at all. Oh, she did have some people she talked to from time to time, but that was mainly as far as it went. She was so quiet and silent that people didn't often approach her, thinking they were bothering her, and she was definitely not one to go toward people on her own. But she hadn't actually wanted to admit that, the fact that she didn't really have any friends. Maybe it'd make him think there was something wrong with her, and then he'd decide not to talk to her anymore. She couldn't help but laugh a little when he kept talking however - if bonding over shoes was a mystery to him, it was to her as well. She wasn't much of a shopping girl, she went shopping when she had something to buy, but she didn't really like it otherwise. "I just... well, I don't hang out with many people at all, actually," she admitted after he was done talking. "And even then, to me shopping isn't exactly play time, it's just something I have to do, why bother do it with someone else?"

Taylor glanced at the line when she saw it was moving faster now before seeing the group of people that was leaving, instinctively taking a step back so that she wouldn't be bumped into again - falling once was enough for her. She then looked ahead to see how many people there were left before she could be seated, giving a quick sideway glance at Milo as she wondered if it would be simpler for them to sit together. At least, he would have to wait a little less, and they wouldn't be taking up two tables. She couldn't bring herself to ask it though and sighed lightly as she noticed there were two couples left before her. She'd just have to sit alone probably, and have a rather boring time eating. However, as she looked up at him when he started speaking again, she realized he'd actually been having the same idea as her and couldn't help but grin, happy that he wasn't a bit like her and had suggested it instead of keeping the idea for himself. "Sure, that'd be nice," she said. "More interesting than eating alone," she added with a light blush before he could think she'd meant anything else by that... which she actually had.

• • • • •

[Milo Parker]

He waited for her answer to his first question. Unfortunately the mystery of girls and shopping had still not been solved, but he supposed that someday he'd be able to figure it out. He gave her a small shrug and a smile though. He wasn't really expecting her answer, but he wasn't about to make a big deal out of it either. After all he somewhat knew what that was like. He did always have people to hang out with but it wasn't like he was close to many of them, or hardly any of them actually. It was something that most people hadn't expected, because of his outward appearance for being outgoing a lot of people just expected him to be a very open person. That's why a lot of people who tried to get close to him were often very shocked at how closed of a person he really was. The people who fell into that category most tended to be his girlfriends. He didn't have many long lasting relationships because he was closed. It didn't bother him at all though. If they couldn't accept him for the way that he was, then there wasn't a point for him to be wasting his time on them. It was quite simple actually.

He grinned when he heard her agree, noting her light blush. "I agree it would be a lot more interesting than eating alone, because as we've established earlier that wall isn't exactly the best company," he said teasingly as another couple was taken to their table. "But really, thanks for agreeing to endure yourself through a meal with me. I probably will talk a lot through out the meal, but you don't mind that do you?" He looked at her reevaluating her in his thoughts. She seemed shy on the surface and she even exhibited shy behaviors like the blushing that she did frequently, but he thought that she was probably a lot more then that. Behind the shyness, he could see it already. He'd just have to find a way to make it known to everyone else. He never really got why people were shy, it often hid their personalities, and most of the time those personalities turned out to be some of the best ones out there. So it didn't make any sense really. If more people who were outspoken became shy and more people became outspoken that were shy generally they'd probably have a better general picture of everything.

The line moved once more and now they were in the front of it to be seated. Something that he couldn't have been happier about, just the simple fact that they were going to be able to order their food next helped to shut up his noisy stomach. It seemed to have a lot to say, which didn't bug him really. Though as he thought about it he probably should have grabbed something to eat before he headed out of the door, however his worries were soon over as the host came back and informed them that there was a table ready. He smiled and grabbed a couple of her bags for her. "You've had to carry them the whole time," he told her, following the host to a table. Once they got there he sat down the bags that he had grabbed, putting them under the table slightly so that they wouldn't be in anyone's way.

[Taylor Smith]

She smiled lightly and nodded at his comment, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as they moved closer to the end of the line once more, glancing over to see that there weren't many couples left before them. That was a good thing, because she was starting to get really hungry. She hadn't eaten much today, a little something for breakfast and no lunch. She was used to eating very little - she didn't keep herself from eating when she was hungry, and she always ate as much as she was hungry for. But she had very little appetite most of the time, and though it'd worried a few people before, especially seeing she was a ballerina and some people seemed to have preconceived ideas of how a ballerina, or dancer for that matter, would eat, thinking that most of them had eating disorders. Some had, mainly those who were very anxious to keep the right weight when put under a lot of pressure, like big ballet companies who had certain expectations as to their employees' shape, but some people who weren't dancers had eating disorders too. Taylor, though she'd been accused of it a few times, didn't. And right now, she really, really wanted to eat something.

She smiled lightly as he thanked her for agreeing to eat with him, and she figured it was unnecessary to mention she'd been hoping he'd ask her because she wanted to do it but couldn't bring herself to. Instead, she simply gave a small nod and her smile widened slightly, showing her teeth in a light grin. "You're welcome," she said before shaking her head. "I don't mind people who talk a lot, " she added before shrugging lightly, still smiling. "I can be very silent at times, and if someone talk a lot it goes along well with me. Means I don't always have to say a lot," she explained, though she thought it would be rather obvious. She was a shy girl and couldn't exactly hide it. Being outgoing, outspoken, talking to strangers and showing herself of... those were things she simply couldn't understand, or even less do. It simply wasn't who she was, and most people she'd met before got a bit annoyed with that way of acting, which explained why she didn't have that many friends. But at the same time, she was thankful for not having many friends - she knew the little amount she had were real friends. Sadly, most of them lived back at home, and didn't go to the Academy.

When someone finally arrived to lead them to their table, she made sure she had all her bags and was about to protest when she saw him reaching for some, but didn't say anything after he spoke and simply smiled at him thankfully. "Thank you then," she said in a light tone, blushing a little again. She was getting really annoyed with her blush right now. He probably had noticed, and she wondered what he must think of it. As for herself, she felt like quite an idiot for it. She followed him and the host and then sat at the table their were assigned, placing her bags at her feet to keep them out of the way as well. The last thing she needed was a waiter tripping over them and dropping whatever they were carrying. She smiled at the host as he handed over the menus and opened hers, already knowing what she was taking but doing it out of habit.

• • • • •

[Milo Parker]

He smiled slightly as he saw her blush, he actually thought that it was quite cute though he was sure that she probably didn't feel the same way about it. He wouldn't mention anything about it though, after all he didn't want to embarrass her even more about it. That would just be cruel, so he took a seat across from her and gave a small smile as the host handed him his menu, he wasn't really sure what he wanted. But he knew what he was going to have to drink already, well that was if they had it. He glanced toward the bottom right hand corner and saw that they had Pepsi products which he was grateful for, because it meant that he could have Mountain Dew. Now that he had that out of the way he could figure out what he actually wanted to eat. He looked through the menu though he was already familiar with it, but he never had the slightest idea of what he wanted to eat until he got there and ordered it. He liked to switch it up every time he came and tried to try everything that there was to try, the only time that he didn't really try something was if he knew that he didn't like what it was in general. Even then he had to really not like it to not try it.

Routine was a bit boring, so he tried to avoid it as much as possible. Especially with foods, after all he was never quite sure if he'd like something or not. So as he scanned the menu he tried to find something that he hadn't had before. Right now he was pretty sure that he was going to end up getting fish, so he looked through each of the descriptions of those he hadn't tried yet. Once he was sure what he was going to have he looked back up at Taylor and smiled slightly as he waited for the waitress to come. He didn't expect to be gotten to right away, not with so many people there that night but that was alright, it could give him some time to talk with Taylor. Get to know her a little better, after all he hardly knew her as it was. All he knew was her name, and that she was a junior dance student at Gordon Parks'. So he really didn't know hardly anything about her and as they were about to sit around and have a meal together, so besides the very boring topic of school there was only one thing that they could really talk about. And that was each other.

"So Taylor I've just realized that we really don't know each other too well," he said with a small smile. "So since we're going to be spending this meal together, I'm guessing that the best thing for us to do during this time might be to get to know each other." He looked at her for a minute. "Well that is if you want you, if you'd rather we could just sit here and make some small talk about the weather and school. Either one is fine with me, but I really would refer that we went with the former. It sounds like it would be a lot more interesting for the both of us. However it's all up to you to pick. Either way as long as we aren't sitting here in silence it's good for me." He really couldn't stand the silence, it drove him insane. Silence wasn't ever something that was not awkward with him, he didn't believe that it could be 'comfortable' as some people liked to call it, because it was just nothing really. He knew that there were moments when it was the best thing to be silent, but if it wasn't necessary then he'd avoid it at all costs. Even if it did resort to talking about school and the weather it was better then nothing.

[Taylor Smith]

Taylor sighed inwardly as she concentrated on the menu longer than necessary, trying to find the exact meal she wanted. She knew what it was, obviously, having taken it so often, but she could never remember the name, seeing as it was written in italian even on the menu. She was starting to regret agreeing to this - she was very glad he'd suggested that they eat together and even more that he was even talking to her, but she had the feeling that she would end up boring him to death and then he'd probably never want to see her again. Overall, it wouldn't be too surprising for her. She was very shy, sometimes too shy, and she knew it. She often tried to get rid of her shyness, to at least try to comfortable with strangers, but it was easier said than done. The closer she got to a person, the more she opened up, but most of those she met didn't really bother to stay around until it reached that point, which probably explained why she didn't have many firneds. Before coming back to the Academy this year, she'd promised herself that she would try harder, and by eating with Milo right now it was surely a step in the right direction, but if she remained silent through the whole meal it'd seem more as a step backward. Actually, she was mainly afraid that he would regret asking her to eat with him, and it was likely to happen if she didn't start talking soon, or anything of the sort. She figured that starting by putting her menu down might be a good thing, though she wasn't completely convinde the many blushes had left her cheeks yet. Sighing lightly, she read the name of the meal she'd be ordering a last time, making sure she'd memorized it and wouldn't have to check again, before closing the menu and placing it down on the table, folding her hands over it lightly and looking up at Milo a bit shyly.

Just as she did, she heard him talk and smiled lightly, relieved she wouldn't actually have to start the conversation. Knowing his reputation, she was actually hoping he'd supply most of the talking they'd have to do, though of course she knew he couldn't be talking to himself and so she'd have to say some things as well. She bit down on her bottom lip lightly as he suggested they should talk about themselves and get to know each other better, wondering briefly what she would say about herself and if there was even something interesting to be said. To this point, she highly doubted it, and she was worried that talking about herself would merely speed up the process of him being bored. Then again, she didn't really want to talk about weather either, or anything of the sort. She gave a small smile and shrugged lightly. "I don't mind talking, it would surely make the time spent here more interesting," she said with a light grin before tilting her head slightly. "I'm not..." she began with a light frown, trying to find her words. "I'm not very good at this. Talking, I mean. Giving informations about myself, things like that." She figured he wouldn't be overly surprised by this informations. Most people, right after meeting her, managed to guess rather easily that she wasn't the most talkative girl. A small smile reappeared on her face as she looked over at him. "I'm good at answering question though," she said. "So if there's anything you want to ask, it could at least help start the conversation."

She thought that was actually a good plan, unless he prefered not to, but at least then she would manage to talk, and after a few questions she might even be able to do some talking of her own. Or try to, at the very least. She simply hoped the questions wouldn't be too embarassing, though she was pretty sure he wouldn't do it on purpose. As long as he didn't start asking her about boys - not that she thought it'd be the kind of conversation he'd want to have and it wouldn't last very long either - it should be fine. She'd never actually had a boyfriend before, never been kissed or anything, and though she'd had a few crushes, they hadn't been very numerous. Having never been approached by boys, she wasn't even aware of the effect she could have on them and didn't see herself as very attractive, like most teenagers. She'd done some progress though - a few years before, if someone called her pretty she'd blush and deny it. Now she still blushed but thanked the person who complimented her instead. She still wouldn't let herself be called beautiful though and would have thought she was being made fun of if someone came and called her hot or anything of the sort. The only times she thought of herself that way was when she was dancing, and it was unconsciously. Seeing the admiration in the eyes of other people when she finished dancing sent a message of pride to her brain but she usually repressed it.

• • • • •