Stranger things... Christophe (open tag)

[christophe]

Thursday evening and no one to share it with. Of course, that could only be worse if today was a Friday or - worse still - the weekend. That said Christophe's Friday was going to be exactly the same as this and while he had the Prom on saturday and the wedding up at the reservation on Sunday it was rare for him to have a full weekend. Come the next one things would be back to normal. As normal as they could be when spending them alone.

He still had heard nothing from Lia despite him trying to contact her. Christophe took that to mean one - or all - of a couple of things. She'd changed her number or (and?) didn't want to talk to him. Well, screw her. He scowled down at his boots as he prowled the sea front.

He pushed his hands deep into his pockets, the light sea breeze blowing his longer than average hair back from his face. At least Ella was keeping him sane. Sure, Sarissa was trying to but how could he feel completely at ease around her? Maybe in a few months time or so... or if he found himself a girlfriend.

"Like that's going to happen," he muttered beneath his breath. So far his 'frriendships' had included a girl who had run away from town to escape him, a girl - who he liked more than as a friend - using him to keep a guy - who SHE liked more than as a friend - out of her bed. Confused yet? And the other friend was a girl who he gopt on seriously well with... who preferred other girls to boys.

He was doing so well.

He huffed a breath born from sheer frustration and puched his hands deeper into his pockets. He'd graduate soon enough... Maybe university would be kinder? Hell, it couldn't be anything but!

Christophe headed down onto the beach itself. Maybe he'd run into someone he knew? Stranger things had been known to happen, after all!

[Sawyer Lee James]

Yes, she was indeed grounded. And yes she was literally frolicking under the sun at the beach despite her situation. Sawyer was never one to listen to anybody but herself so it wasn't exactly a surprise when she didn't go home straight after school. And the good thing about it was, she didn't have her cell phone on her. Although she did leave a note personally for her dad to tell him that she was safe and she was just not going to get used to her mother's rules for her. She knew he'd get a kick out of their old coding system she used in the little blue post it note.

The sun was beginning to set as she found a perfect spot to lie down. The crowd on the beach was beginning to thin out and she threw the little beach towel she had packed in her bag on to the sand and proceeded to lie down on it. She began to trace the clouds with her fingers while humming a chart topper she didn't even like but it had caught on and had played everywhere she went.

School was about to end and she was grounded. Sawyer scoffed at the idea of being detained in her own home by her mother for a whole month. She was a freshman! She shouldn't know consequences yet! Or so she thought anyway. Besides, she should be enjoying her freshman year because of all four years she had to be in high school, freshman year would be the easiest before she had to suffer through the rest of her school years.

And as her less than complicated thoughts ended in her mind, her cloud shaping halted when a shadow blocked her view. She sat up straight and looked to see who was the incriminating offender who had stopped her from completing a cupcake shaped cloud and found herself having to look up and up and up at a Gould Senior she had seen around campus. He was quite possibly the only French student in school so it wasn't so hard to remember his name.

"Christophe Broussard!" She yelled, probably scaring the boy to an inch of his life. She laughed at the thought of a guy like Christophe being scared. "Doubt it," she told herself before waving enthusiastically at the boy. "You probably don't know me but I kinda maybe sorta know you! You're like, the only French person in school!" She beamed at him.

[christophe]

His hands were deep into the pockets of his loose-fit jeans and, as a result, that forced them low onto his hips. The hem ends trailed neatly in the sand, gathering enough up with them as he walked to build a reasonably decent sized ant-hill. Ok, not so much decently sized as pretty tiny but the stuff was being collected regardless. He made a vague mental note to kick the sand out again before heading home or incurr the wrath of one Madame Broussard!

So far he'd seen no one he knew. Then again, as that would entail the other person lying flat on the sand due to the fact that the French boy's eyes were currently rivetted on a spot a handful of inches away from wherever his boots were at that moment, seeing anyone was an unlikely improbability.

He paused in his thoughts.

Unlikey... improbability... Two negatives. Didn't they equal each other out and make it a positive? That meant he WOULD see someone he knew... Didn't it?

It was starting to make his head ache!

His theory, though, was soon proven... and to be right... when he heard his name shouted (make that bellowed) from a spot on the beach just off to his left. His head jerked up and the light breeze blew his hair back from his eyes, allowing him to squint at the bellower.

(was that even a word?)

A girl.

(Got that already from the bellow)

Pretty.

(Very. Impossible to have known that from her shout)

He frowned slightly. She knew him and yet... There was nothing for it... Christophe was going to have to look a totally ignorant fool... and ask her for her name.

Her smile, though, was infectious and he grinned down at her.

"Hi," he greeted and he dropped down to squat in front of her. "I have seen you at school a couple of times but have yet to discover your name. After all, I should know that of the person who just tried to give me heart failure, non?" he teased.

[Sawyer Lee James]

His grin made her grin even wider, if that was even possible for Sawyer, who had a perpetual smile on her face. As Christophe squatted in front of her, she waved at him, despite them being at such a close proximity with each other. "Hi!" She greeted him in return. "I'm Sawyer Lee James, nice to officially meet you!" She looked for his hand and when she discovered it, she pumped it vigorously. Despite being fifteen years old, Sawyer's behaviour was of half her actual age. This was of no fault on her part, being raised by a man who was in certain situations a kid himself. But in general, Sawyer was just a really happy and excitable person. Especially when she gets to meet new people and introduce herself.

Sawyer laughed at his teasing comment about giving him heart failure. "You're funny!" she giggled. A sudden gust of wind blew her hair into her face and mouth and she coughed it out, careful to do it away from the handsome senior's face. "You looked down before. Care to share your grievances?" It took a beat of a second for Sawyer to realise that she had sounded serious before she laughed again at her choice of word. "Grievances." She gave out a bark of laughter. "Trust me to use a word like that," she slapped her forehead jokingly before laughing again.

"Why are you here alone anyway?"

[christophe]

"Nice to meet you, Sawyer Lee James," he replied shaking her hand with a short laugh. "Mind if I cut that down to just Sawyer?" he asked with a grin. "All of it toigether is bit of a full mouth for me."

Sawyer giggled. "Mouthful!" she corrected and he laughed along with her.

"As you can see I am still learning the finer parts of the English language but..." Christophe's shoulders lifted in a typically Gallic manner, "... I am nothing if not keen to know!"

"Ah but I see you aren't only out to try and stop my heart but also of a cruel nature!" he teased. "Why else would you laugh at my impending death?" He clutched dramatically (and in a completely over the top manner) at his t shirt... The area that lay over his heart. Adopting an agonised look he pretending to have his heart failure and he dropped back to sprawl on the sand.

He cracked open one eye. "And still the heartless girl laughs. Mon dieu! What do I have to do to get some sympathy!"

He rolled over onto one side, sand clinging to his long hair. He neither noticed nor cared.

"I was feeling in low spirits earlier," he admitted, "... but thanks to a cruel - yet pretty, let me add - girl those same spirits have now been restored. How can I feel miserable in the presence of such a wirlwind of smiles and giggles?" he asked with a most definitely genuine look of pleasure on his face. "So tell me, Sawyer... How come I haven't met you before? I mean, my mood could have used your magical touch on many occassions before this one... And I was in my sorry state *because* I am alone," he told her. "My luck with girls is... well... it doesn't exist!"

[Sawyer Lee James]

"Well you sound fine to me apart from not knowing mouthful." She shook her head in amusement. Christophe was hilarious! He was surely an awesome friend to have. That is if he was so inclined to have a freshman as a friend! Seniors were usually not too friendly with freshmen. They were rather...indifferent really. But Christophe was actually talking to her now so there was hope!

And as he went down in a very over the top manner, Sawyer closed her mouth with one hand and shook in a fit of giggles. The silly boy. He should try out for the drama club! "You really should try for the drama club. You'd fit in rather nicely. Like Jim Carrey! He did almost the same thing in Liar Liar!" She cocked her head slightly to the left and regarded the French boy as he spoke about his...feelings.

She hardly noticed her blush when he called her pretty as she chuckled when he called her cruel. Perking up at his compliment, she ruffled his hair, making sand fly all over them. "Well good then! I aim to please. You're easy to please too!" Sawyer's grin was rather infectious. Her head once again cocked slightly, this time to the right. Christophe didn't have any luck with girls? That couldn't be, could it? He was charming, funny and come on...who could say he wasn't good looking uh?

"You're kidding me!" Sawyer exclaimed in an exaggerated horrified look. Although she actually was surprised that Christophe had girl troubles. It was kind of odd to Sawyer. But she wasn't the expert in that since she had never had a boyfriend, nor had she ever been kissed or had a crush on anyone or was she ever crushed on so really, she really didn't know anything about girl troubles, despite being a girl herself. Did girl troubles really mean she should have more expertise since she was a girl?

"Well. To answer your question on how we've never met before...well I honestly have no idea." She shrugged with a grin. "Maybe it's because you never made the effort to find me," Sawyer teased, wriggling her eyebrow. "It doesn't really matter anyway. We're here! We've met! Now you can use my magical touch any time you want!"

[christophe]

As he'd hoped his antics made Sawyer laugh. All of a sudden he felt like doing the same. That had to be the first time he'd wanted to do that since Lia had left him. Did that mean he was over her? No... he'd felt that way for some time... Just that her actions no longer had the ability to hurt him. The same could be said for Sarissa and he threw the girl who had shown him that a bright grin as she ruffled his hair. He ignored the particles of sand that fell from it. A shower when he got back home was definitely called for!

"Kidding you? Mais non!" protested the French boy. "If I had been joking I would have said something like an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman walked into a bar. The barman looked up and said 'Is this some kind of a joke?'..." Christophe shrugged slightly. "Sadly I was being serious when I spoke of my luck with girls. As in not having any! Luck OR girls," he finished with a wry laugh. He had to laugh as the alternative wasn't worth contemplating!

"But," he continued, "... destin... fate... she has decided we should meet and it is said something like better today that not at all... or something... right?"

Sawyer nodded and Christophe dropped back down onto the sand, one knee bent slightly upwards and hands thrust behind his head to form an impromptu pillow.

"So with your magical touch can you tell me why I am spending my Friday evening alone?" He turned his head a little to look at her. "Until now, of course, and for that you shall have my eternal gratitude!"

[Sawyer Lee James]

Did they really just meet like ten minutes ago? It felt like they've known each other forever. Christophe was like a brother Sawyer never imagined she'd ever have. Only better! Too bad they weren't related. But then, that meant they could really be friends now! Yay for making friends! Apart from Roxy, Sawyer didn't really have that many friends she hung out with so if things went well with Christophe then she could add him to the friends list!

Christophe's stale joke didn't work for Sawyer but she laughed whole-heartedly anyway just because she could. No joke was too small for the Silver freshman. It wasn't like she could even discriminate against jokes. Jokes were jokes no matter how lame, how tacky, how crude or how old the joke seemed to be. "Well, from now on you have one girl in your life and that is me. Guaranteed." She tapped her chest where he heart was solemnly before breaking into a grin.

Her eyebrows knitted together when he spoke about destiny and today or something to that effect and she nodded slowly, not entirely sure what he was talking about. She adjusted herself on the towel that was just big enough for her and pulled her knees up to her chin, resting it on her knees as she looked at him. My oh my he really was handsome.

At his question, she put on a straight face and waved her hands over Christophe and mumbled some hocus pocus with little giggles here and there and finally she opened her eyes and looked at Christophe. "That is probably because you keep meeting the wrong gals. You're lucky Lady Luck is looking down upon you tonight in the form of me." Sawyer chuckled. In all truth, Sawyer really wasn't the type of girl who was full of herself but for the sake of making Christophe smile, she couldn't help it.

"Or, you have found the right girl but you didn't realise she'd rather be with you right here right now than sitting at her home waiting for your call. Are you absolutely sure you don't have a girl doing just that right now?" Sawyer narrowed her eyes at Christophe, her lips pouting in disbelief.

[christophe]

Christophe's forehead creased slightly in bemusement when he caught Sawyer peering intently at him over her knees. He must have more sand in his hair than he realised and probably looked a total idiot or something! A shower... for sure!

He sat up laughing when she waved her hands at him and mumbled something, pretending to cast some sort of a spell. She opened her eyes and they both chuckled at her actions. She really was something else and Christophe thanked destin from the bottom of his heart for guiding his boots along this particular stretch of beach.

"Meeting the wrong girls..." He nodded with a wry smile. He would have to agree with her on that! He also concurred with Sawyer's next comment. "You are right," he stated. "How can I be so miserable today when it has ended with me meeting you? A more perfect day surely can't be found, hein?"

He nudged her sideways with his shoulder as he spoke.

But Sawyer hadn't finished.

"No... One of them has left town to avoid me," he told her. "You can't be much clearer than that and she hasn't answered a single of my texts. She is out of my life. And the other..." Where did he start to explain about her? "She only sees me as a friend." And one she can use at that. "So I am positive beyond a glimmer of doubt that no girl is sitting at home waiting for me to call... Unless my maman counts as I told her I would be home long before now," he finished with a brief wink.

"But I have a good friend in Ella," he continued. "She is going to go with me to the prom so I'm lucky in that I can call bother her and now you friends. That's twice as much as I could claim twenty minutes ago! Do you know Ella? Ella D'Agustino... You'd like her!"

[Sawyer Lee James]

"Of course I'm right, Christophe! I've got the magical touch, remember?" She teased with a tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. She wasn't aware that she was openly checking Christophe out. She wasn't even aware that what she was doing was checking him out but she dismissed it as trying to read him, like she always did with new people. She liked reading people even though she always ended up being proven wrong.

She held up two thumbs at Christophe when he exclaimed of this being a perfect day. To her, a perfect day would be pulling a prank on someone over a strawberry smoothie and an ice cream cake. With gummy bears. Coke flavoured gummy bears. And chips with cheese salsa dip. And rootbeer. With three scoops of vanilla ice-cream. Mmm...now that would be the perfect day for Sawyer. But she wasn't going to disparage Christophe's idea of a perfect day. If he didn't like a day filled with binging, that was his prerogative.

As she listened to him talk about the girls in his life, Sawyer figured the girls were complete loonies to have done that to Christophe. What were they thinking? Well, they didn't deserve Christophe's friendship, did they? Their loss was her gain! At the mention of Ella, Sawyer perked up and nodded. "I know Ella! She invited me to her party before. She's like super awesome and super nice and I like her very very much!" She grinned widely at Christophe. "You're very very lucky to have her go with you to the prom. You two would look way cute together!"

Then the words Christophe had uttered before finally came to Sawyer and she bit her lip before giggling. "Speaking of mamas..." she slapped her forehead. "I'm supposed to be grounded right now." She closed her mouth with one hand and giggled. Oh she would probably incur the wrath of her mother sooner rather than later but her father knew where she was. It wasn't like she ran away or anything.

[OOC: I totally just pimped my character out >.<]