Surprise, Surprise {Cleo}

[JOEY ROOKS]

It was somewhat refreshing to be back in New York City. A little scary in some sort of sense. But when Joey looked down at the giggling face down in the stroller in front of her, she felt a smile on her own lips. She was a new Joey, and it was definitely refreshing. Lifting her head, she pushed the stroller down the pathway through the flowers. Quite hilariously--Joey looked like part of the colorful flowers. Yellow, teal, and pink. Some things never change--much like Joey's apparent color blindness.

Ariel gurgled in her stroller, little chubby legs kicking before her stumpy little fingers grabbed her shoe. "What are you doing kid?" Joey asked curiously, watching her daughter try to shove the shoe into her mouth. "Lunch time? I got somethin' better than that." Her brows lifted towards her striped hair, before she shifted the stroller to head towards the picnic tables.

It wasn't easy, is wasn't a walk in the park. Especially with Edie and Benny further upstate. That had been the hardest part about leaving; Joey leaving her new adoptive parents, Ariel having to leave the only grandparents she would have in her life. But sometimes visits were had, and she managed to take a weekend to go see them. But it wasn't the same as having them just a few feet away.

Parking herself on a bench, she tugged the stroller in towards her knees, and plucked the black diaper bag from the undercarriage. Both of which contained her own lunch of a chilled sandwich, and strained peas mashed in a jar for the mini-ginger. Managing to grab a bite of her sandwich before pinning the bib onto Ariel, and prying open the jar--lunchtime began.

Luckily, Ariel wasn't as persnickety as Joey had been warned. Carrots weren't quite her favorite, but thanks to Edie, they learned that smashed peas would go missing from the table if no one was looking. With the only evidence being mushy green fingers, and a brand facial for the baby. Ariel didn't protest the tiny spoon going into her mouth, her own little jaws mashing the green mush while Joey managed to grab another bite of her sandwich.

Birds chirped above the gardens, with the sunlight filtering in. Benny suggested that Joey take her to the gardens. It would be good to introduce her to more sights, smells, and may-haps let her crawl in the groomed, safe grass. And Joey had agreed. Plus, it seemed like a relatively safe place for herself. The chances of running into someone she wasn't prepared to see were quite low here. A peaceful place for mom and baby to enjoy a nice little day.

Joey had been leaning a little too close to the stroller when she went for her next bite, and managed to have a chubby little fist pull at the pink side of her hair, brows furrowed over bright blue eyes. "Man, kid. Did you chew at all?" Resting the sandwich in her lap once more, Joey offered another spoonful of peas into the cavern that was Ariel's mouth, and in return--her daughter released her hair and clapped her chubby hands together.

Joey wrinkled her nose at the infant, before taking the long overdue bite of her ham and cheese, lifting her gaze for just a moment to look away, and up towards the flowers. They'd definitely come back here. It was peaceful, calm. Away from prying eyes who tried to look at Joey a little too closely, and away from any risks. Though she felt really good about the way her life was going--Joey wasn't entirely sure she was equipped to handle a surprise just yet.

Outfit

[CLEO EVERETT]

Cleo was definitely freaking out.

It might have been that her friends were going through some pretty bad stuff right now, or it could’ve been that she still wasn’t used to not being in school, or maybe it was that she was having withdrawal symptoms. It was probably all of them together, but going a week without sweets was really getting to her. The only reason she was doing this was because somebody had dared her, and they had all been drunk, and it was universally proven that drunken dares were much more serious than sober ones. Cleo regretted it the second she’d woken up the next morning with a hangover, mostly because sweets were her cure to a hangover. The worst part had to be that she’d had to drink coffee, but even that was awful because she hadn’t been allowed to pour eight cups of sugar and creamer into it. Yeah, the rules of this dare had been very strictly established.

But ignoring all that, her friends were going through some pretty serious stuff. Joey Rooks had left, Jamie Shoemaker wasn’t taking it well, and Jemissa Crocket was stuck somewhere in between. At least, Cleo had to assume these things. She’d picked up on the awkward love triangle going on between the three of them (and she’d sort of laughed because it was about time other people realized what she’d loved about Jamie so long ago). The happiness of her friends was all that mattered to her, so she didn’t really care who ended up with Jamie. They were both great options, but she had to say that Jiminy Cricket with Pinocchio was both creepy and really cute. However, none of her friends were happy because Joey had left and left this whole thing behind her. Cleo didn’t completely blame the other girl, but she at least wished that she could get the whole story.

To keep her mind off of not being in school and not eating sweets and not knowing how to help her friends, Cleo had decided Central Park was a good place to go and distract herself. She hadn’t had luck with the place before. She either got lost, or had money stolen from her by a ferret, or had her ex boyfriend appear like a genie out of a lamp. … Wow, she lived a weird life. Trying to ignore the things that had happened to her the last couple of years, Cleo kept on walking. The only destination in mind was the Conservatory because if one thing could successfully distract her, it had to be pretty flowers. To her surprise, it was a lot emptier than she thought it’d be. Then again, this was New York City. People were much more fascinated by manmade things over natural.

Cleo took a deep breath and inhaled like she did at pools to get her nose full of that chlorine smell. All the different scents was almost overpowering and headache inducing, but it cleared her thoughts. There was something about Cleo, though, that meant she was never good doing things on her own. She needed to be with somebody at all times, and that was why she made an almost immediate beeline for one of the only people she saw in the Gardens. The girl’s hair was half pink, half orange, and that right there was enough reason to approach her. Cleo couldn’t see her face, but she could see the absolutely adorable precious baby tugging on the woman’s hair. Knowing better than to get too close to a mother and her child without permission, Cleo stopped a few feet away and, unable to help herself, squealed.

“Wow, ohmygoodness! Look how precious she is!

” Cleo directed her gaze to the woman and—holy shit. That was Joey. That was totally without a doubt Joey Rooks, here in New York City, feeding her baby. … Her baby. Cleo started to say something and then she choked on the words, looking at the baby again and realizing that she’d know those eyes anywhere. “Ohmygod.[/color]” As if she could go at this any better, Cleo actually moved to the table and collapsed on the bench opposite them. “I’m sorry, Joey. This is probably the one thing you were hoping to avoid.[/color]” She was apologizing without meaning to, but entirely knowing she had to. “I could not be more of a horrible person right now.[/color]”

Cleo was definitely freaking out.


notes; template and outfit later
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