This is Critical...

[safetypinalert3]

That mall incident, had completely shaken her up. So it really happened, she hadn’t dreamt it. Rhys was very, very real. Thinking back on it—she’d been stupid to run. That’s what the logical part of her brain said. So she shut that part of her brain up, by inhaling a special powder, mixed with her tobacco. That calmed her nerves, and let her drift elsewhere. Carpet had continuously tried to get her to move, to get out. To do something. And all she’d done was sat on her porch in her boxers and a sweater, and smoked the hours away.

She trudged back into her home, and looked around. Antique lamps decorated the entire living room, possibly more than needed, but they cast a golden, yellow light onto her walls and furniture. The couches were cream colored satin, with an antique finish around the edges, on the framing wood. They looked delicate, but they were use to holding Adeen, and behind jumped on, and were surprisingly soft. The floor was hardwood, but not an inch of it could be seen. Luxurious rugs covered the ground, delicate, soft and plush rugs, covered every floor in the house. Tapestries hung on the wall, Arabian style knick-knacks decorated her shelves.

She sighed, laying across her couch, staring at the ceiling. Carpet resting on her stomach. She ran her nails along the soft fabric, petting the possessed Carpet affectionately like she would a cat. “Carpet..I think I messed up.” She glanced down as the carpet shifted. Pretending to hold his “chin” on a tassel, a strong emphasis of ”Do tell.” pressing in her mind, brimming with sarcasm. She sighed, and set up, pushing the Carpet off of her stomach. He lifted up, floating beside her head. She stood up off her couch, and too tired to walk, levitated across the house to the kitchen for tea. Life was bleak. She was dumb. Next time she say Rhys, if he’d even speak to her again—she’d listen to what he had to say. She needed to stop running.

Notes: More Rhys!
Outfit:Comfy.
Song: Critical - Nick Jonas

[RHYS SPRINTER]

He checked the CD player again, making sure, for the fiftieth time this hour, that the song was ready to play, without problems. Today was far too important to tolerate any problems, whatsoever.

In the four days since he'd seen Adeen at the mall, Rhys had let a rock solid resolve solidify in his stomach. He would not, absolutely refused to let Adeen slip away from him. He's understood enough of her mad rambles before she'd run away to deduce that there was a giant misunderstanding between them. With that in mind, he had made up his mind to fix it.

The very next morning, he had called in his entire Human Resources staff from every branch he had scattered on the continent of North America. Seeing the more than four hundred employees gathered at his main office even humbled him a little bit. Until he remembered why he'd called them here in the first place. He'd given them a really rather short speech, and then left them to their work. "Find Adeen Auer or face my wrath."

It wasn't his fault his reputation preceded him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't use it to his advantage.

It had taken them the better part of four days to identify and track down one Adeen Aysil Auer, whose current residence was 1523 Jacob Way, Apt 102, New York City, New York. Of course, they would have had it done sooner, had Rhys actually explained a bit about Adeen's appearance instead of breathing fire at anyone who dared walk into his office. He'd demanded Candace come in off her thrice damned vacation that he conveniently forgot ever giving her permission to take, his signature on her vacation slip down in records notwithstanding. The woman was forced to hold his hand as he fretted and fix him coffee and mop his forehead with a cool cloth and try to force some food into his system, but she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she had fixed him with a wicked smirk the minute he'd finished recounting his tale of crazy was-going-to-make-him-jump-through-hoops love, and said one phrase. "Serves you right, bastard."

He'd pretended he didn't hear her. She was too good an assistant to fire.

But at long last the search had ended, and a folder had been slapped on his desk. He'd given everyone three days off, and buried himself in it. The things he found out made his head spin.

Adeen Aysil Auer, or Triple A as kids in a youth home had dubbed her, had a trail of foster homes that dotted the entire continent. And that was before someone stuffed her in a group rehabilitation home for troubled teens. That did explain the pink hair, he conceded. There was an entire sheet devoted solely to her drug related interactions, and Rhys was floored to see she had actually been involved with a dealer down in the Bronx. his heart clenched, and it was all he could do to not smash things in his office. It also helped that Candace had somehow tied him to his chair while he wasn't paying attention.

After reading and rereading Adeen's file, Rhys took the elevator up to his suite, and began to plan.

He'd vetoed ballet dancers holding baskets of pink, white and orange flowers on their heads as they danced, as well as wearing an 'I Love You, Idiot' t-shirt, but that was mostly candace's doing. Finally, wanting no more of the woman's tyrany, he'd kicked her out, and threw his cell phone at his radio.

And then he had heard it.

He had been frozen in mid-stride as some teenage punk belted out the exact feelings Rhys had rushing through him about the crazy ex-druggie that had sank into his heart like a parasite. He'd spent an hour finding a clean, studio of the song online, even in iTunes, downloaded it and burned it onto a cd. Teh same CD he had been checking incesstantly for the past hour.

Now, Rhys stood on the small lawn of 1523 Jacob Way, his massive CD player seated on the grass next to him. He'd had the sugar-happy techie that order 14 dozens of Gingey's Deluxe Treat Trays a week max out a small black stereo, so that the music could be heard for two blocks all around, if not further.

Finally, his watch beeped three oclock in the afternoon, and Rhys was ready to start.

He raised the speaker over his head, maneuvering the player's remote control into his hand so he could press the play button. The wind blew his deep blue leather jacket against the stomach of his plain white t-shirt as he clicked the microphone clipped to the front of his shirt on.

"Adeen!" The sound cut through the air like a whip from the speaker he held in his hands and the two other massive speakers he had had hidden near the corners of the building. He didn't see any movement behind the curtain that hid the inside of her apartment from the rest of the world, but that didn't matter. He gazed up the the door and tried again. "Adeen! I know you're in there! I have something I think you need to hear."
He pressed the play button, not caring that there was a small crowd gathering behind him. It was just a moment before the first keys of the song crept into the air.

There's a storm comin' up
And I gotta prepare myself
Cause this felling's
getting stronger everyday

Something's creeping inside
Everything is about to change
Gotta face the fact
That I can't walk away

This is critical
I'm feeling helpless
So hysterical, this can't be healthy
I can't eat or sleep
When you're not with me
Baby, you're the air i breath
This is critical, yeah
So stuck on you

[/center]

His eyes never left the glass patio door to what he knew led into apartment 201. Rhys refused to believe that this would not work. He absolutely would not let the woman get away.

It was critical that he didn't.

_________________________________________

Rhys' Song

[safetypinalert3]

Carpet pushed images of crowds into her mind, which made Adeen look up from over the counter. Carpet was floating figure eights from behind the curtain, attempting to get Adeen to pay attention. Something was happening that was definitely catching Carpet’s attention. That’s when she heard Rhys’ voice shouting at her. And her draw dropped, along with the plastic cup of water in her hand. How the hell…he found her. Everything was painfully quiet, except the sound of his voice.

Adeen didn’t touch the floor as she hovered over the counter, dipping through the bar. She hovered in the center of the living room when the song began to play. She wanted to laugh—Jonas Brothers? Really? But she found herself giddy, her heart racing. Carpet raced over to her, and collided with her face. She took his tiny tassels in her fingertips carefully, floating in a little mid-air dance. That’s when she realized that her windows were closed, and he may assume she was ignoring him.

Suddenly she felt sick to her stomach. How on earth did he even manage to find her? She floated to her back door, and carefully lowered herself flat to her slippers. She carefully slide them off her feet---if she was going to open that door, it would not be in pink, fluffy, bear slippers. She gripped the doorknob to her door, and took a careful breath.

She pulled it open, letting the sunlight shine in her face. Her brown eyes blinked, trying to adjust to the light. She was still hidden by the door. She sighed—she should have changed first. She tugged on her oversized pink sweater, and stepped past the door. She suddenly felt very dizzy again. She remained on her porch, staring at the sight in front of her. There was a small crowd, and it was carefully growing. The booming noise echoed through the entire apartment complex. Adeen’s face lifted up, looking as people were stepping outside of their porches, leaning out of windows.

All of them, staring at one man. On the small, apartment lawn. Rhys Sprinter. She couldn’t help but smile—he was a dork. Hysterical, really. Just as funny as he had been weeks ago. She had only talked to him for a few hours at the bakery and ice rink, but she had been driven insane these past few weeks without him. His voice echoing in her head, and the ache in her chest every time she passed by Gingey’s on the street. The fact that she had started placing ginger around her house again, simply to calm her nerves.

Used to have everything figured out,
But it’s different now.
When you came,
You saw,
You conquered my heart.

It’s your laugh and it’s your smile.
Wanna stay for a little while?
I don’t wanna go,
I just want you in my arms.

This is critical,
I’m feeling helpless…

The song floated, when she really listened to the song. Not just enjoyed the sound of Nick’s voice, or the beat of the music. But really listened to the words that were coming at her. The severity of it. The intensity of it. Adeen choked, her throat closing, her hands placed on her chest. Damn all these people around. Damn them all. Because all she wanted to do, was go to Rhys. She could fly, so much faster than her feet were carrying her now.

Adeen didn’t even think about it, there wasn’t a smile on her face though. Just a look of complete, and utter relief. Her mind was completely blank, all she could think was. Rhys. Rhys. Rhys. She ran at Rhys, her arms curling around his shoulders, crashing into him at full speed. Her nails clung onto his jacket, her arms curled around him tightly. Her face hiding between her arms and his neck. “Rhys. Rhys. Rhys. I’m sorry.” She jerked her head backwards, staring at him. Her eyes wide, her mouth gaping, “I-I totally didn’t…I’m sorry, I thought...I’m sorry.”

[RHYS SPRINTER]

The door moved an inch, and that was all it took. A surge of fire rushed through him and as the lightheadedness ripped through him he fought to stay standing. His heart was pounding in his ears, and his chest felt tight and empty at the same time. The stereo pulsed in his hands, and it was the only thing keeping him anchored to the ground.

And then the door opened all the way, and she came outside.

Rhys took in every inch of her frame, unconsciously guessing at what he couldn't see beneath her giant lumpy sweater. She looked like hell. It was the most amazingly infuriating and relieving thing he could have ever seen. What the hell had she been doing to herself? First chance he got he was going to stuff a muffin down her pretty little throat.

And then she was running again, but in the opposite direction from last time. Adeen was running directly at him, had sprinted off the dinky little slab of cement they called a patio and was running across the grass in nothing but little pink boxers and her giant sweater.

Like a skinny little freight train she crashed into him, mumbled apologies and working herself up. Flimsy lookign arms wrapped around him like iron bands and hands tugged on his jacket and Rhys couldn't comprehend anything other than Adeen was his,Adeen was his, Adeen was his.

A half laugh bubbled up from within him, and Rhys leaned slightly forward, pulling the smaller woman so tight against him half of his brain wondered if she might break. She clung to him, staring up with wide brown eyes, still apologizing. That wouldn't do.

Just like two weeks ago, he cupped her face in his hands, slipping his fingers into her hair. "Shut up." He gave a flash of a smile to take away the sting, then bent to kiss her.

Like a vacuum, all the sounds around them were sucked away, all sensation and thought that had existed earlier completely vanished;all Rhys knew, all he could feel, were soft warm lips pressed against his. Breathing was unimportant, blood was something he didn't even know existed, All Rhys knew was that this moment was too perfect for words, and there was nothing that could take her away from him.

Used to run and hide
Used to bend our love
But I can't escape this time
Oh no

This is critical
I am feeling helpless
So hysterical, and this can't be healthy
I can't eat or sleep
When you're not with me
You're the air I breath
This is critical

This is critical

[safetypinalert3]

Even after it all, she was nervous that his arms would reject her—if even for a second. But they simply just curled around her thin frame. As thin, and fragile as she looked, she wasn’t easily breakable. The usage was taking its toll on her, making her look a little bit more frail—and the lack of layers upon layers of clothing, made her look a little more wispy than normal.

Her lips stopped mumbling apologies when he had told her to shut up. Adeen reflected his smile, peacefully falling silent when his lips pressed against hers. He kissed her! Finally, he kissed her. Almost comically, a few people that had been watching the exchange were clapping, and even a few obnoxious teens hollered at the two.

With one arm curled around Rhys’ shoulder, the other one stretched out, flipping the bird to everyone teasing them. She drew back, and looked at Rhys. Close, and with an expression of wonder on her face. She raised her brows at him, “I believe, Mr. Sprinter. That I have made the biggest fool of myself.” She chuckled, before resting her head on his collar. Her fingers gripping his shoulders tightly, to hold herself up while she burst out in hysterically relieved laughs.

[RHYS SPRINTER]

She really was crazy, Rhys decided. Who else put a man through hell just to get you to look at him, and then collapsed into giggles in said man's arms when he'd moved heaven and earth to find you?

Crazy person named Adeen, thats who.

Rhys shook his head, not at all willing to let her go. Crazy she might be, but apparently he liked crazy. "I have no idea where you would get any of those ideas from. A crazy girlfriend? Honestly?" He didn't add that she quite firmly and completely held that title, at least not yet. He had that day, their first date, all planned out as well.

He'd done a lot of planning.

"I don't suppose we could go somewhere?" He looked down into her eyes, feeling a giddy crash of adrenaline rush through him. Of course, she'd probably stall, saying something about getting dressed, and that was completely fine. He had an hour set aside for just that, and enough time specifically for if he had to drag her out of her place for one reason or another. "We should talk, I think. Get everything out in the open. My heart honestly can't take another misunderstanding like that."

Not that Adeen needed to know all of that. He wanted everything to seem spontaneous and off the cuff. he didn't know how she would take the fact that he wrecked his brain planning outings for them to go on together for the next few weeks. Everything had to be perfect for her, and that meant making everything seem like a crazy adventure.

"Plus, I haven't eaten in about two weeks, and I'm suddenly famished."

[safetypinalert3]

“I don’t know!” She yelped, staring at him, “You’re like…” She lowered her eyes momentarily, frowning in that way that was only to keep a smile from coming across her lips. “Handsome. Well known.” She gestured to the stereo, “Extravagant. So, I assumed you had some sort of…crazy girlfriend who was out for blood, or something like that.” She explained with a shrug, adjusting his jacket. She smiled, relaxing in knowing there actually wasn’t one of those in his life…yet.

“I think we do need to talk.” She smiled sheepishly at him, “Wait, why—oh. Mall. Two…yeah.” She pressed her lips in a thin line, then took a step back. “Why don’t you uh…pack that up. I’ll go change, and we’ll go out for a late lunch, early dinner?” She questioned, “But I’m gonna need to go and change…cause.” She pointed down at her thin legs, bare for everyone else to see. Her boxers nearly hidden by her massive sweater.

“I don’t think this entirely correct to be seen in public…” Her lips tugged to the side, then she held her fingers up and backed away slowly, “Promise. I’m not running away again, I will be right back. I swear.” She teased, before quickly moving back into her house. The second the door shut behind her, her feet were off the ground. Her and Carpet raced to the bedroom. She quickly tossed clothes out of her closet, tossing them on top of the mini-carpet, who looked rather frazzled when he managed to wiggle out of the piles.

Adeen tugged on a pair of pink leggings, a denim skirt, and shoved her shoes in a pair of pink pumps. She didn’t bother changing her sweater—it was cute after all. And the ‘je t’aime’ that was written across the chest, seemed to fit perfectly. Instead of breaking her neck and running through the house in pumps, she flew out of the room, and settled on her feet by the door. She tugged the door opened, and quickly rushed out of the house, just to make sure that Rhys hadn’t thought she ran off.

[RHYS SPRINTER]

Rhys grinned, internally kicking himself over the small bit of relief he felt when Adeen came bounding back out of her apartment. She had said she wouldn't run away. There was nothing to be anxious about. And even if she did, he'd just track her down again. No biggie.

He slipped an arm around her when she got close enough, leaning over to press a kiss to her temple. "You're just a bundle of trouble, aren't you?" Of course, it was probably the wrong time to ask, but Rhys wasn't known for his tact. "I hope you like Italian, because that's where we're headed."

He led her to his car, parked around the corner so she wouldn't have been able to see it if she had happened to be looking outside when he came over earlier. Not that he thought she would remember what his car looked like, but it never hurt to be sure.

"In you get, madamoiselle," he chirped with a exaggerated bow, holding the door open for her. "Let us begin this mysterious journey...thing."