Not a fan of the mall (Ben tag LizBeth)

[Ben Patridge]

Ben wasn't exactly a fan of the mall. He just didn't really care about shopping. He shopped if he had too...but it wasn't something that he usually did voluntarily. But he'd bought a new pair of shoes to go with his suit for Izzy and Jett's mom's funeral since his old pair had been all scuffed up, only he hadn't felt like trying them on and they hadn't fit right and he ended up wearing the old ones anyway.

So, he was at the mall to return the shoes. He would have thought that choosing Saturday morning it would be less crowded, but it seemed that the mall was always crowded. Whatever, Ben was returning his shoes and getting out of here!

He located the store and made a beeline for it, pushing past some family with strollers he was about to step into the store when he collided with someone. He wasn't sure how it happened...if he walked into them or vise versa, but Ben found himself taking a step backward to assess the situation.

"Sorry," he said. "Sorry...you okay?" he asked, hoping this wouldn't take too long. He just wanted to get out of here.

[elizabethlivingsto]

Now that she wasn't in a school that was the bane of her existance, Liz was almost in a good enough mood to be human to other people. Spencer had allowed her to have the car today, why did she feel as if she wer eunder house arrest with him, honestly. Just because he was her guardian did not mean he waas lord and master over her, not even close. The older gentleman was just concerned that she would bail ship and sneak a flight back to London. Hard to do that when he held her passport in his office safe. Jerk.

Though, she had to admit, it was a good morning. After getting home the night before, Liz had found a text on her mobile from Fefe, asking her to dinner tonight. She'd replied with *How dare you think you can ask me out over a cellphone..proper manners..honestly, is this how you court a girl in Brazil?.....pick me up at 7.* Of course she was going to accept! He made her smile, despite being opposite everything she had ever been interested in. Needless to say, despite the fact that she had enough clothing to cover a small army, she wanted something new.

Clad in a toned down version of her prep school outfit, a short black pleated skirt that only hit mid thigh, a sleeveless white blouse that was only buttoned from the 4th button down, giving a peek at a black lace something or other under it. She wore a pair of sheer silk thigh high stockings that shimmered just a touch of silver before the outfit ended in a pair of black leather wedge sandals on her feet.

She detested regular malls, but at the moment, that was all that was open to her. The designer shops didn't open for a few more hours, though one would think with who Liz was, they would roll out the red carpets for her. She had already found an outfit that would suffice for tonight, and with the bag in hand, the British aristobrat was on her way toward the exit doors.

Someone had the audacity to knock into her, sending her sprawling to the floor. How dare he! "Bloody hell...honestly, are all you yanks a bloody hysterical mess and can't get out of your ass way?" She asked, holding up her hands for help, whether he liked it or not. It was then that she caught a look at the offender. "Hello salty goodness...is it wrong that I want to lick you right now?" She asked.

[Ben Patridge]

Ben blinked a few times to make sure this was really happening. First off he'd completely knocked a girl onto the floor...smooth Ben, real smooth. Secondly, she sort of looked like an extra from a Brittany Spears video...sexy as hell, but still, the look wasn't something he was used to seeing. Thirdly, she was yelling at him and British...okay... And then finally, as he reached down to help her up...she began to hit on him? Salty goodness? Ben ran his fingers through his long blonde hair. He had gone surfing that morning, like most mornings, but he'd showered...did he still smell of salt water?

And she wanted to lick him. If was like something out of a porn...oh wait...was this a prank? Were perhaps Jett and Eden pulling a prank on him? Was that why they'd been spending time together. He looked around to see the faces or his friend and sister laughing at him but they were nowhere to be seen...

Ben was trying to figure it out. He knew he was good looking, or at least he thought he was okay looking, but he usually wasn't too popular with the ladies. Probably because he usually didn't try and most girls wanted someone who was super attentive, which he wasn't. It did have his downsides though, if he was more attentive, perhaps he would have been laid by now, but no, he was still a virgin, which wasn't something he was exactly proud of. And then here was this random girl in a mall wanting to lick him...hmmm...

"For real?" he asked. "You...want to...lick me?" Perhaps most guys would have jumped all over that, but this surfer/stoner boy didn't know how to handle a girl being quite so forward.

[elizabethlivingsto]

Liz couldn't help but smirk. The boy looked utterly and completely confused. She had only gone off at him slightly, though it was not one of her serious rants, but mor of a comment, but then she had taken notice of him and commented on it. Her attitude often changed like her shoes...all the bloody time! It was more fun to keep people guessing anyway. Never let them get too close, things tended to go bad when they did.

There was a laugh, gentle and amused, by his question of if she was for real about the licking. "Only if you wanted it..I never lick without permission." She answered, smoothing down her blouse and skirt gently, making sure that her stockings were up where they were supposed to be. Wait..had he gotten a look at her knickers when she fell? Oh well if he had! "Do you normally run into people like this when shopping here?" Liz asked him, holding up a finger to him as a young man stepped up behind him. She had *borrowed* one of the younger sons to Spencer's landscape crew to help her with her purchases.

"Marco, Por favor, tome estos al coche, a continuación, coger el coche y llenarlo con gasolina y comprobar la presión del aire. Se sentía un poco bajo antes. Gracias."

The young man nodded, took the bags from her hand as well as her car keys and headed toward the exit. He would do as he was asked, putting the bags in the car, filling up the gas tank and checking the tire pressure. He knew that pleasing the lovely Brit meant that it kept her happy, which meant that his father would keep his job. Not to mention Elizabeth tended to be generous when she wanted to tip for work well done, and with several brothers and sisters at home, his family needed the money.

"You attend the schools here?" She asked, turning back to Ben. "I don't remember if I saw you yesterday at Gould."

[Ben Patridge]

So...she was serious about the licking thing? Ben wasn't all too sure how he felt about this. Okay, yes, very hot girl...but also very forward girl, which he just wasn't used to. "Oh...no...well, hopefully not," he said about knocking people over. "I guess I was just in a rush. Not a big fan of the mall...just wanted to return these and get it over with," he said with a shrug. It was his own fault really, had he not waited until last minute he could have just gotten shoes sent to him. All he'd have to do was ask. Due to his parents both being famous they constantly were getting designer samples sent to the house and all it took was one call to their publicist and he could usually get anything he wanted.

Next thing he knew, she was speaking Spanish and seemed to have some guy working for her...who she was speaking Spanish too. Was this really happening? Maybe she was really rich or something...her clothes looked expensive after all and why else would someone have someone carrying around their stuff like that? Ben too was rich, but he didn't really take advantage of it. He was way more low key. Even if car was completely normal, a new model, yes, but nothing overly fancy or impressive. Ben never really saw reason to go out of his way to impress anyone, in fact, he usually preferred that people didn't know about his family or wealth or anything like that.

"Gould...yeah, that's actually where I go," Ben said. "I'm a junior there," he told her. "I'm Ben by the way...and really sorry about before...didn't mean to knock you over...really," he said, looking at her. Was she going to ask to lick him again because if he really thought she was serious...maybe it was worth going for... Ben might have been one of the good guys, but he was still a guy, and it wasn't as if a million girls were offering themselves up to him daily or anything...

[elizabethlivingsto]

Liz smiled, not one of the fake *I am trying to get the hell out of here before things get tense* but a real one. "Don't blame you..." She said, glancing around. "This place smells of...retail...and clearance...two things I very rarely venture into..." Nope, she either hit the designer shops, ordered her stuff online, or sent someone out for it. Yes, she was spoiled, yes she would admit it too!

This guy seemed a little surprised, taken back by the fact that she had Marco hauling her purchases. Somehow, that didn't surprise her. His clothing suggested possible street or beach urchin, but that seemed to be the normal around here anyway. She was so far away from home right now.

"Liz, or LizBeth, either is fine." Liz answered, giving her own name. "I'm sure you didn't, but you didn't break anything, neither did I, so let's call it even." She smirked slightly. "Gould junior as well...is that other school...Silver? really there because of rats?" She asked, wanting to know if Fefe was pulling her leg.

"Too bad you weren't the one that showed me around yesterday..you might have been lucky enough to get a date this weekend..." Would she have given up her time with Felipe? Not a chance...was this blond bit of yummyness worth a second look...perhaps...he did seem to possibly be interested. "So Ben...what are you doing after this?"

[Ben Patridge]

"Yeah...I just don't really like shopping," Ben said with a shrug. "I really only do it when I have to." In fact, he probably should have just ate the cost of the non-fitting-right shoes, however he'd sort of wanted to get out of the house too. Both of his parents were in town, they'd both come in for Izzy and Jett's mom's funeral and he wasn't sure how long they were planning on staying before they had to get back to filming. They were both shooting different projects in different locations. Not that it mattered to Ben, he sort of liked the whole quiet that came along with them being gone, when they were here he had to worry about photographers and the like stalking his house.

"Yeah, rats," he confirmed. "Who was your tour guide then?" he asked, "I can't say I'm not a little sad about the date, but then again, I don't think I'm a very good tour guide," he said, with a smile, attempting to flirt a little. He was usually high for at least part of the school day, so he actually was very aware that he probably wasn't a good tour guide. He wasn't high right now though although he did have a stash in his car. He always did. In fact when she asked him what he was doing, that had been his plan...go home and smoke up, or smoke up and go home, he hadn't decided yet.

But he wasn't sure he should really admit to Liz that he was such a stoner. She seemed like she wouldn't be into that sort of thing and while Ben usually wasn't one to go out of his way to impress anyway, he figured there was no harm in seeing where this went. It was far more interesting than just going home after all. He shrugged. "I didn't really have any plans. What about you?"

[elizabethlivingsto]

"I probably shop too much honestly, it it's pretty, I need it." Liz grinned, resting her hands on her shapely hips. Then again, the actual shopping didn't really happen too often with designers sending she and her mother stuff. They LOVED having their designs on royal bodies, the press alone was usually better then movie starts or models..everyone was interested in the royal families.

Tilting her head, Liz took a long hard look at Ben for a moment, almost as if she were studying him somehow. "YOu look familiar..." She left the rest trailing off as she tried to place where and when she had seen the boy before.

There was a visable shudder that ran through her at the thought of rats in school. "God, i cannot even fathom the thought of rats on campus..if that had happened at my prep school..you'd have a student and parent uprising...cost enough to go there..but I suppose with public schools..you gotta take it as it is.."

He asked about her tour guide, and she couldn''t help but smile warmly. "Felipe Vila Nova..do you know him?" She asked him, tossing dark hair back over her shoulders, the silky strands gleaming even under mall lighting. Her lips curled as he said he couldn't say he wasn't sad about the date. "You wanna go out...ask nicely...you might get lucky.."

"My plans?" She asked. "Other then a date with my tour guide tonight...and an hour of prep time before that...I don't really have any..." Liz replied easily.

[Ben Patridge]

Ben didn't know what to make of this girl. She seemed kind of full of herself and spoiled...things that Ben did not like. But there was still something about her that he couldn't shake...probably the whole licking comment. He was pretty sure she'd go for it if he said the word.

"I look familiar?" he asked with a shrug, "Maybe you did see me in school," he offered. It honestly didn't occur to him that it could be anything else. After all, it was his parents that were famous, not him. Sure, sometimes pictures of he and Eden got leaked into the press, but for the most part, they tried to stay out of it. Sure, there had been some pictures snapped of his entire family heading to the Chen funeral, but he didn't read tabloids and doubted anything like that would make it in there. However, he wasn't really thinking about the fact that it had been the first time the entire family was seen together since the very public divorce of his parents when he was a kid. Rumors that his parents were back together were the last thing on his mind because he knew it wasn't true...its really too bad that the press could make a story about anything.

He shrugged about the schools. He'd always gone to public school, but that was because his parents had once been hippies who didn't see the point in private education. By the time they'd grown up enough to change their minds, Ben and Eden already had friends and didn't want to leave their schools. "Well, we don't really pay to go there so I guess there's nothing we can do," he said simply.

He shook his head about Felipe. "No, I don't," he said simply, surprised when she pretty much told him that he could have a date too. But did he want one...his idea of a date was maybe a bonfire on the beach or dinner at a place that was over the water, not necessarily a fancy place. This girl seemed like she liked fancy. But who knew...maybe she'd like something more low key if she tried it. "Okay...I'm asking nicely," he said. "Wanna go out sometime?" He supposed there was a good chance she was just messing with him...that he'd get shot right down, but why not try. She was giving him some strong signals (or at least he thought so) so he figured he had nothing to lose.

"I see," he said, wondering if he was supposed to offer to hang out now. "So you're like new around here...is there anything you haven't seen yet that you wanna see? Maybe I could show you around," he offered. "I grew up here, so I know my way around..." Somewhat...Ben tended to stick to his territory which was the beaches. He didn't really know much about the tourist areas, but he figured he could fake it for a bit.

[elizabethlivingsto]

LizBeth was an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, surrounded by curiousness. It was clear to see it in every pair of eyes that looked upon her. Ben had that same look, as if he were trying to figure her out, even if just a little bit.

"I might have, there were so many people there yesterday, that might have been it." She didn't think it had been, but there was a chance. There was a larger chance that she had seen him somewhere else, a news clipping, a telly report perhaps? She was the same way however, the press always eager and drooling for a shot of any of the royals, no matter who they were. The Good Queen herself, or a simple Lady, or as with Liz, the next Duchess of Hertford.

"No, I don't suppose there is anything you can do about it." Liz scrunched up her nose in distaste at the thought of rats or other vermin running around under their feet. "Forgive me, public school is new to me, I have always been a boarding school sort, so the thought of intermixing with publics..." She shrugged.

Ben had taken the biat she had dangled and asked her out. She was pretty sure that he was not going to take her to any of the same places that Fefe might, but it would be interesting to see what he could come up with. "Sure..." She said, her hand snaking into her purse, which had been laying at her hip gently. Fishing out a pen, Liz took his hand and scrawled her cell number across the back of his skin.

"Honestly, I haven't seen a lot of the area, I don't really want to...tourist areas and the sort of skaggy people that hang around there..." She shuddered again. "But if you want to show me some of your personal favorites in town..I'd be up for that..."