Hear the Rain (open)

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

Mew had seen Annie. He'd seen her several times, in fact. And each time he'd carefully turned around and walked in the other direction. He was still upset with her over Thursday afternoon, and he wasn't sure he could refrain from telling her off if he had to come face to face with her. Really the only thing that made the previous day the least bit tolerable was roaming the bookstore with Bree, and then grabbing coffee. He reckoned he was pretty lucky, dating Bree. She wasn't his first choice, exactly, but his first choice was an impossibility and Bree was hot -- as shallow as that was, it was really his biggest consolation.

He wasn't the only one doing some serious avoiding, however, as he discovered when he first crossed paths with Phil. He waved in greeting, only to find his best friend fleeing. He'd very nearly chased the other boy down in his effort to confront him.

"Don't pretend you don't see me!" He demanded once he finally caught up with the Asian boy. "You aren't going to start avoiding me, are you? You know I don't care." That was really a lie; he cared. But he was willing to put up with it, if it meant remaining friends.

Phil shook his head; Annie had exposed a weakness he'd been denying even to himself. "I can't. We can't be friends anymore. I like you too much. Annie could see it. I should avoid temptation, not hover near the edge."

"But I'm still on your side!" Mew insisted, upset that his loyalty was being so easily cast aside. "Do you know how many people I've heard say you were in the wrong yesterday?" He'd snapped at more than a few unfortunates. It was not Phil's fault! "And umm. I'm dating Bree now. So you should be happy."

Phil blinked, surprised by that development; he hadn't even realized that Bree and Mew were close. "When did that happen?!" He tried unsuccessfully to keep the jealousy from his voice.

"Yesterday. After everyone left. She's pretty, I like her okay. C'mon, we've been friends forever." The red-head cajoled.

But no amount of pleading would convince the still distraught and self-berating steampunk to change his mind. So it was a very miserable and unhappy Mew who threw himself and his Thermos of coffee into a chair without bothering to see whom he was sitting next to. A good boyfriend probably would have looked for Bree, but he didn't feel like explaining to her that he was upset because of a run in with the guy he was trying to get over. He'd already explained to her that he was bi, and he found her attractive, and they'd agreed that neither of them was particularly overwhelmingly in love. At least, he thought she'd agreed with that statement.

He was morosely nursing his Thermos of coffee when the person beside him spoke up. "Aren't you friends with that Phil guy?"

[Bree Marcus]

Bree had spent all morning fending off questions about the happenings at the park the previous afternoon. She knew if she was annoyed then Mew must be almost frantic about it. She didn't have the emotion investment in the affair that he did. She also had the feeling that Mew was the hide in plain sight kind of guy that nursed his wounds in silence. Well if that was his thing then he wasn't going to do it alone unless he asked her to leave him alone.

Heading into the cafeteria she forestalled and conversations, gossip or questions by one delicate hand held up and stern looks at any that tried to persist. She might only be a junior, but no one argued with her social standing. Finally she got a glimpse of an unruly mop of red hair that was a shade brighter than her own silky tresses. She headed over to the table in time to hear someone about to start it up with her new boyfriend. Her dark eyes narrowed in anger and she set down her books with a thump.

"Aren't you the boy who peed himself when they hung you wedgie style from the high jump pole in Freshman year, Meredith?" she asked pertly and slid in to sit next to Mew, showing no hesitation to press hip and thigh against his. "Hi Mew," she almost purred and kissed his cheek, close to the corner of his mouth.

She was grateful when the goon, former geek, melted away with his overdeveloped friends. "Want to share my lunch? The cafeteria stuff looks lethal and I don't think coffee is enough nutrition for the kind of day we're having," she offered, thinking he looked pretty down, but she wasn't going to pry, just take care of him. She set her insulated bag on the table and pulled out several containers.

Opening lids, she began to name foods that her housekeeper had packed for her as she was not very domestic in a practical way. "Hmmm let's see... there's California chicken wraps, tropical fruit salad and strawberry shortcake. Does that sound good. Maria always gives me way too much and unless Sloane comes along I throw away most of it, even then half goes to waste."

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

"Oh. Umm, hey, Bree." Mew turned red at the girl's very familiar greeting. He hadn't expected that they'd get to kissing so soon, especially in public. Especially since Bree had as much as told him she wanted to take things slow. Somehow, he didn't think kissing was slow even if it was a fairly chaste kiss, as far as that kind of thing went. Which was good, really, since he had very little experience. Actually, make that none. She said she didn't have any either, but here she was, kissing him in public. He was struck with the uncomfortable thought that maybe she really liked him more than she'd said, and this was more serious for her than he'd planned. Not that he didn't like her, or that she wasn't hot, but there was something decidedly uncomfortable about dating someone else when you'd been pining after someone else for years.

He shook his head when she offered her lunch. "I'm fine with just coffee. It has caffeine, that's good enough." Although her litany of food substances did sound enticing, but he felt that would be taking advantage. He decided to change the subject before she persisted.

"You started on any of those books yet?" Books were a safe topic. If she'd read any of the books he had, then they could potentially have an interesting discussion. If she'd read any of the ones he hadn't, he could ask for a review. Either way reality would be kept at a nice distance.

[Bree Marcus]

Having lived her life as a constant target, Bree was very sensitive to emotions. Mew had definitely not liked being kissed. She had kissed his cheek the night before and he hadn't seemed to mind, so it was that they were in school and he wasn't as comfortable having people know about them as he said he was. He didn't want to share her food and it was clear that conversation was to be confined to the mundane.

Dropping her long lashes to hide her hurt, Bree wondered if she should give Mew a break and let him out of their 'deal' before she got hurt. He seemed to already be regretting agreeing to this.

She moved aways from him without realizing it. "I started reading The Hobbit, I got through all the stuff concerning Hobbits. I think I would have been happy to be born one, living in a hole somewhere," she said as she began to tear half of the chicken wrap into small pieces, not even close to putting any of it in her mouth. Bree opened her water and took a sip, knowing it would ease the gnawing in her stomach.

Bree's eyes wandered around the cafeteria and lit on Tyler with Sarissa on his lap. He couldn't even spend twenty-four hours devoted to one person. Her eyes moved to Mew next to her. Then again maybe that went along with being male. Or maybe she was just completely unappealing. She thought perhaps she was too fat. Maybe her father had been right when he said fat girls would always be alone. She put her food containers back in her bag and set it on the floor determinedly. Water was enough.

"So how come hobbits can disappear, it doesn't seem like they have any other kind of magic?" she asked to keep the conversation rolling. Her father said being able to converse intelligently without simpering was important for a girl that didn't want to be alone.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

"It's not magic, disappearing. It's more like...like....a talent. An ability to be very quiet and to hide." He explained. "At least, that's my understanding." He was too intent on his own misery to really notice that she was uncomfortable. "I think you're right, being a hobbit would be great. Just eat and sleep and party and, ummm, actually I guess it wouldn't be as much fun if you were a Gamgee or someone, have to be lower-class. And then I wouldn't be on swim team. Unless I was from Bree."

He realized after the words came out of his mouth that Bree shared a name with the fictitious town and grinned, "Bree is a town. It isn't in The Hobbit but it is in The Lord of the Rings. The hobbits who live there use boats and swim and stuff."

He took another swig of his coffee, glad that the conversation was on something other than yesterday and that she hadn't asked about Phil, because he really didn't want to discuss any of that right now. "So if you wanna be a hobbit, I guess that's what you'll be when we make your DnD character. You can come over after school and we can work on it if you want." He offered.

[Bree Marcus]

Bree was relieved, apparently she was doing a good enough job hiding how upset she was. "I guess a hobbit would be good, though elves look kind of cool, at least they did in the movie. Arwen was pretty." The female hobbits hadn't figured much in that movie and she had no real feeling how they would fit in an adventure. Maybe there would be more about them in the book. She didn't know that the movie had built up Arwen's role considerably, giving her some of a male elf's role for whatever reason.

"That's weird that I share a name with a Hobbit town. Well... and a cheese if you look at it phonetically rather than by spelling. My mom just liked it. My dad always called me Aubrey, but allowed it because of my mom. Aubrey was a semi-lame sixties song, my mom always said. If I had ever said that I wouldn't have been able to sit down for a week, but he never gave her a hard time. He must have really loved her." Bree slammed her hand over her mouth, appalled that she was talking about things she had never been allowed to before. Her heart was beating wildly and her eyes were wild and dilated. What was wrong with her? Even though her father was dead, the terror was still there. Somehow he would punish her.

Forcing herself to calm down was hard, but small sips of water helped and she hoped that Mew hadn't noticed and thought she was a freak or something. She forced herself to calm enough to speak as he continued talking about hobbits. "I would like to do that. I am supposed to eat at Sloane's house tonight so I won't be able to stay too late if that's all right. She decided she needed her friends after all and if they started making out in front of her she would dump water on them.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

"Yeah, but Elves're more...distant...than Hobbits," Mew opined, then fell silent as she began going on about her name and all the things it meant.

"Huh. I didn't realize your name was a song. Who's it by?" He inquired. She seemed very on edge speaking of her father, though he couldn't blame her after what she'd told him yesterday. He opened his mouth to comment, say that just because someone treated others crummy didn't mean they didn't have affection for some other people, but she changed topics so quickly he could only blink and snap his mouth shut again.

He was slightly disappointed that she was declining dinner, but helping roll up characters was a small start. "Okay, cool. What time do you have to go so I'll know when to expect you? Or, umm, do you just wanna come over right after school? That would give us more time so I can help you understand the system and all." He offered. His family would probably try and give them a difficult time, of course, particularly Libby -- she had expressed incredulity last night when he'd told her he might maybe be dating one of the cheerleaders she so idolized -- but he hoped nothing that would scare off his new girlfriend.

[Bree Marcus]

Distant sounded like Bree, at least to herself. "Do you think I could be outgoing enough to be a hobbit?" she asked, not realizing that the rest of the world didn't know how hard she struggled to be social.

"It's a song by Bread. Its actually kind of pretty but very sad," she informed him and sang softly:

And Aubrey was her name,
A not so very ordinary girl or name.
But who's to blame?
For a love that wouldn't bloom
For the hearts that never played in tune.
Like a lovely melody that everyone can sing,
Take away the words that rhyme it doesn't mean a thing.

"He really wasn't a sentimental man so I am not sure why he loved it so much,"she murmured after singing the verse. Bree didn't have a performing voice but it was sweet and pleasant, something that would be perfect for singing lullabyes.

Bree smiled when Mew seemed disappointed that she wasn't staying longer. "Well I could stay later and go to Sloane's afterwards. She isn't that great of a cook anyway," she said and took another sip of water. She felt better since Mew now seemed to like her again. Her rocky self esteem was so used to looking for clues to her father's feelings that she was doing the same with Mew who was now the most important male in her life.