sweets are sweet ; kayden

[CLEO EVERETT]

Cleo loved the mall. The mall had stores ad stores had cute clothes, amazing shoes, and darling jewelry. Grimm Avenue Mall was not the same as her favorite Los Angeles Mall but it was a mall nonetheless. What was up with the name, though? Grimm Avenue? Total downer. At least the place didn’t look grim. It was bright, noisy, and crowded. Cleo felt right at home. She’d feel more so if she were swimming but one can only do that so often. Exiting the Gap outlet, two full bags of clothes in hand, Cleo headed to the in-mall Starbucks. Right about now, nothing sounded better than a Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino with whipped cream. She’d also be getting a snack, of course. Maybe one of their heavenly muffins. . .

Looping the bag handles around her wrist, Cleo made her way into the cafe, trying to keep from bumping into anybody. It was a little crowded; lunch time, though, after all. Waiting in line now, Cleo tried to ignore her grumbling stomach and instead focused on how she would, very soon, have a delicious drink and muffin to enjoy. The girl in front of Cleo had curly, blonde hair and was a little bit taller than Cleo herself. Even from the back, she was very pretty. The line moved forward a bit. Cleo was glad that this Starbucks had two cash registers. It was like an elite Starbucks. Best (in New York) she’d ever been too. The blonde girl stepped up to make her order and Cleo caught site of her face. Kayden! Of course, she could be wrong. All she’d seen of her was a small icon but it made sense. Hadn’t her and Jared been talking about Starbucks? “Can I help you?” asked the other cashier and Cleo stepped forward, an apologetic smile on her lips.

“I’ll have a Strawberries and Creme Frap, with whipped cream,” she started before looking at the pastries they had in the display cases. Remembering the internet conversation, she looked back to (Cleo paused to check the name tag) Jaclyn. “Do you have any Apple Fritter?” A couple minutes later, Cleo had paid. One bag contained four Apple Fritters and the other had a slice of Iced Lemon Pound Cake (for mom) and Old-Fashioned Glazed Doughnut (for grandpa). She was just waiting on her drink now and Cleo looked around the Starbucks for Kayden. She was hoping the girl hadn’t left; Cleo’d bought so many Apple Fritters for a reason after all.

Her drink was set beside her and Cleo grabbed the Venti Frap and, having found Kayden during her searching, Cleo approached the table and sat down across from her without asking. “Kayden, darling~!” she chimed, figuring that if Cleo had recognized her, then Kayden would as well. “It’s crazy that I recognized you. But it’s also good. Remember how you said you came to Starbucks for drinks? And that you’d never tried any of their Apple Fritter?” Cleo asked, opening the bag and inhaling deeply. Oh God, she loved these. “Well, I bought you one!” She took one of them out, wrapping it up carefully in a napkin and setting it in front of the blonde. She grabbed one for herself, doing the same, and took a bite. Yuuummmmmmmm!

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words; 548
notes; lala
outfit; hurr

[KAYDEN MACKENZIE]

The usual, that was what was ordered, that was what was given, and that's what Kayden sat down with at a table off to the side. She loved her coffee, and today, since she had no work to do, she was going to relax in the coffee shop, drink her coffee, and people watch. It was actually surprisingly entertaining and helped pass the time. Especially if you knew how to read peoples' body language, and Kay, well, that was part of her job- communicating with body language.

Kayden sat quietly in her seat, pulling out a book to make it look like she was doing something as she sipped the venti sized toffee latte she had in her hands, watching the people around her. There was a guy who was apparently fighting with his girlfriend over something, and from the way he was pleading, it obviously wasn't the first time he'd done something. Across the store, there was a woman shuffling through receipts with an exasperated look on her face- apparently she was having trouble with her funds. It was remarkable how much you could learn about people based on how they would act.

Like this girl who had just sat down in front of her, who obviously knew Kayden's name. Kay let her book fall shut as she watched, listening to the girl. She started talking about a conversation that had happened in a chat room a few days before, and one name popped into her mind. Cleo. Kayden smiled a little as an apple fritter was pushed in her direction, wrapped carefully in a napkin. "Well, I guess you aren't one to beat around the bush, are you Cleo?" Normally, Kayden would have felt incredibly awkward about all of this, but the girls actions were so forward, so friendly that Kayden couldn't very well just say no.

Kayden set aside her novel and put down the coffee cup to carefully unwrap the apple fritter and then gingerly pull a bite sized piece off of it, popping it into her mouth. Quite frankly, Kayden found a lot of places' food over-rated, and for the most part, Starbucks seemed to fit that bill, but this apple fritter was good. Kay smiled a little, "You're right, I was missing out..... This is really good. Hey, have you heard any more from Jared? I haven't talked to him in a couple days."

[CLEO EVERETT]

Cleo was unaware that Kayden had been reading. She felt a bit guilty for interrupting her but Kayden set the book down without hesitation. Oh, good! So it hadn’t been a big deal. Cleo took another bite of her Apple Fritter before setting it down. She didn’t want to finish it, after all. She only had one more left (assuming Kayden would want the other) and Cleo had to pay for a taxi back to the college. Cleo sipped at her Frappucchino and leaned back in her chair. She watched Kayden’s expression as the girl bit into the Apple Fritter. Ah, yes, there was the expression she so adored! The look when they tried something delicious, for the first time. Cleo shrugged in response to Kayden’s first question, a late answer. “To beat around the bush is to waste time of which we have little of.” Okay, wow, where had that come from? Total downer but pretty darn insightful. “Wow,” she laughed, “sorry about that!”

Cleo drank some more of her Frappucchino, looking around the Starbucks. A couple arguing in that corner over there. Maybe Kayden had been people watching. People watching was so much fun. Being quite into her Psychology class, Cleo often people watched just so she’d have observations written down if an assignment were to pop up. It was good to be prepared. She turned her attention back to Kayden and grinned. “I know right, doll?” she agreed, breaking a piece off of hers and eating it. Yum, delicious. Cleo shook her head. She didn’t have Jared’s number and she wasn’t going to call his club just to talk to him. That internet chat room was nice and convenient. Still, though, she’d have to see about getting his digits. “Neither have I,” she answered with a shrug. “I can talk to Mitch and see if he has, if you’d like.”

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words; 313
notes; RAWRR.
outfit; hurr

[KAYDEN MACKENZIE]

“To beat around the bush is to waste time of which we have little of.” Okay, wow, where had that come from? Total downer but pretty darn insightful. “Wow,” she laughed, “sorry about that!”

Kayden lifted an eyebrow at that, then laughed a shook her head, waving off Cleo's apologies with a slight wave of the hand, "Don't apologize for telling the truth. Apparently it makes people mad- I learned that from experience...." She bit her lip for a second as she seemed to recall some memory, then she shook her head to clear the thoughts out and return back to the present, looking around at the people in the coffee shop idly. Really, there wasn't a whole lot going on in the Starbucks today.

With a bit of a nod, she took another bite of the pastry she had been given before setting it aside. She would finish it in a moment. "Really, it's really good." She nodded a little in reassurance, then bit her lip as Cleo didn't have any more information about the movie night. She shrugged a little as she took a drink of her coffee, pausing to look around the room one last time before focusing fully on Cleo. "No, don't worry about it. I'll just have to stop in at Sahara or something...." She smiled, "I mostly just need to know when it is.... I can im you or something once I find out? I'll probably stop in at Sahara to talk to Jared after I get my shopping done." Grocery shopping- what a joy.

[CLEO EVERETT]

Cleo laughed a little nervously. Good. She could just see anybody else getting a little frustrated with the statement. It was a downer, after all, and she still didn’t know where it had come from. Telling the truth made people mad? Did it really? Cleo thought back and laughed out loud, remembering. The truth certainly did make people mad. She could just recall the times a girl had found out why her boyfriend broke up with her. Always so angry , thinking it was something and it ended up being Cleo’s fault. Ooooh, they were also so mad. Cleo couldn’t help but to roll her eyes at the memory. She sipped at her Frappucchino and looked to Kayden. “The truth does seem to upset some,” she agreed before taking another bite of her Apple Fritter. She couldn’t get over how good it was and she was glad to know that Kayden liked it. Cleo was glad to have stopped into the Starbucks.

Cleo nodded slowly before shrugging. “Whatever works best,” she answered with a smile. If she wanted, she could get a hold of Mitch while Kayden stopped at Sahara to talk to Jared. Cleo was glad Kayden was willing to stop by the strip club. It was certainly not a place Cleo wanted to go anytime soon. “That would be great,” she murmured. Kayden was such a nice girl. Really. And she was so pretty, too. But Cleo didn’t know that much about her. Which was a little frustrating. They were going to be having a movie marathon sleepover, after all! It would be good to know a little bit more about the blonde. “So, Kayden, what do you do for a living? Are you still in school?” Cleo asked before sipping at her drink again. Hopefully the questions were casual and not interrogating.

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words; 305
notes; o3o
outfit; hurr