Cafe Readings ( Reagan Tag Any )

[Reagan Doyle]

Reagan couldn't stand hearing her mother cry and lately it was a normal occurrence after she returned from work. She had done everything she could to help her and she wished there was more she could do but there wasn't. Everyone had suffered a loss but her mom was the only one who stepped out on her family, at least that is how Reagan felt. She wasn't just cheating on her dad she was emotionally cheating on the whole family.

Taking her books and bag from the floor in her room she knocked on Gavin's door and told him she was leaving before starting up the car and heading towards town. She wasn't sure where exactly she was going til she got there and pulled slowly into one of the small parking spaces.

Stepping up to the register she ordered a venti mocha and paid looking around for a place to study. The cafe was more then a little empty as she took a seat at a couch in the back setting her laptop up on the table in front of her. She figured she would knock out her homework while she was gone and maybe get some dinner in the process. By the time she got home it would be time to figure out what she was wearing to school in the morning and head to bed. She hated feeling like she was hiding but in reality she was, hiding from what her mother had done and letting it slip in anger when her father arrived home.

[Ben Patridge]

Ben was sort of a mess. He'd been up at the crack of dawn per usual for a surf. Then on to school. And per usual he'd smoked up before school, during lunch, and after school. The problem was that sometime during the time that his high was slowly fading away he realized that he had a massive report due tomorrow.

"Shit," he said to himself, standing up in his room. He needed to sober up...needed to wake up since the pot had made him so mellow he was ready to drift off to sleep. He made his way to the kitchen, barefoot and dressed in a pair of plaid Volcom shorts and a light blue T-shirt. He started eating some chips that were out but what he really needed was caffiene. He looked for soda...he looked for coffee...he looked for red bull...he looked for anything caffeinated really but found nothing. The Patridge's had never been very good at keeping food in the house.

Another yawn...this wasn't going to work. He didn't really care about getting a good grade, but he didn't want to fail. He needed to pull himself together. He walked back to his room and slipped on a pair of flip flops and grabbed his cellphone and wallet, stuffing them into the pockets of his shorts. Car keys were next...those were a bit more difficult to find as they'd slid in-between some couch cushions... It had taken him a good 25 minutes to get himself together but he managed.

He made his way to his car automatically. He was still a bit high to be driving but he paid no attention to this as he climbed into his jeep and turned the radio up loud. He started to drive...driving until he saw his next fix, which was coffee. A large coffee.

He parked in the lot and made his way inside, thankful there was no line. He ordered a large coffee with extra espresso shots in it. He would need it. He moved to the back of the place figuring he'd sit down and sober up a bit before attempting more driving. There was an empty spot on the couch next to a cute girl, so Ben figured he'd go for that one over the other empty seat which was by some 40-something balding guy.

He yawned again as he sat down next to her before taking a sip of his coffee...just what he needed. "Hey," the blonde boy who smelled lightly of pot said, smiling, as he glanced over at her.

[Reagan Doyle]

Addison smelt the guy before he actually sat down next to her as she took another drink of her coffee. It was a more then familiar smell to her with her brothers history and she knew what he had been up to. He was cute, blonde shabby hair, a smile to die for she was sure, she was more then positive she had seen him before.

" Hey. " she said giving him a small smile and trying to sound a bit more friendly then she really felt. It wasn't hard for her to be friendly to people, she just usually wasn't the one to open up a conversation. Most recently though she just kinda kept to herself knowing she was a little on edge about the home situation.

" Sorry about the mess," she said moving her things over on the table so he had a place to set his coffee. She stacked her books and moved the laptop over another foot or so. She loved this coffee shop but there wasn't a whole lot of comfortable seating. A few tables here and there, and two small couches. One of which they were now occupying.

[Ben Patridge]

While Ben wasn't shy by any means, he also wasn't a guy who went around talking to random girls all the time either. Sure, she was really pretty, but he just wasn't that guy...who saw a pretty girl and pounced. But given the situation as he had sat down next to her, it was easy for him to be friendly. He took another sip of his coffee and she returned his hello and placed his cup down on the table when she moved her things.

"It's alright," he said about the mess, glancing at her books he saw that they were some of the same ones that he used in classes. "You doing homework here?" he asked. "I have like a ton of homework to do, but didn't bring it with me. Need energy first," he smirked. He could tell that she was likely a junior just by the books, since that was what he was, but she certainly didn't go to Gould. He tried to remember if maybe he'd seen her around though...maybe she was a Silver girl. Ben wasn't so good and keeping track, probably due to his affinity for getting high during school.

"What school you go to?" he asked. "I'm at Gould High...of and Ben...I'm Ben," he said, laughing at his own butchering of the sentence. "I think I need more of this," he smirked, grabbing his large paper coffee cup and bringing it to his lips once more.

[Reagan Doyle]

Reagan glanced at her stack of books again when he asked about homework. She usually had it done well before but lately it was her escape and she just brought it home with her and took her time. This cafe was the only other place besides home she usually came to do her work unless it was studying at a friends house.

" Yeah. Sometimes its nice to get out of the house for a while. So I come here for a coffee and some study time." she finished the problem she was working on before shutting her notebook and placing it on the table in front of her.

" I went to Silver I guess I should say. Since they have combined the schools there really isn't a difference anymore I guess. " she laughed lightly. It was taking some adjusting but maybe the extra students wouldn't be so bad. It would be easier to be just one in a sea of faces and keep out of the throngs of trouble or gossip.

" and I am Reagan. " she smiled again shutting her laptop and sliding it back down into her book bag. It seemed like suddenly her mind was elsewhere. Not because he was there, but for some other unknown reason, he was just an added distraction. Everyone knew it would be finished more then on time anyways.

[Ben Patridge]

"I see...I suppose this is more fun than say a library," Ben reasoned, "I don't think you can drink coffee in the library." Or maybe you could. Ben didn't know to be honest. He didn't spend much time in libraries. Ben wasn't a bad student but he wasn't exactly a good one either. He was naturally smart, sure, but due to lack of effort on his part his grades usually settled with a mixture of B's and C's sticking him right in the middle of everyone. Not that he minded. Ben didn't exactly plan on going to college so to him it didn't matter. He'd get the same diploma as everyone else whether he had straight A's or not.

"Silver...yeah, I'm at Gould," he said. "Although I guess we both would go to the same school now. I've gotten to know some of the people who came over from Silver but its hard to remember everyone," he admitted. Not to mention that Ben wasn't exactly Mr. Popularity. He tended to keep to himself and his friends. He had no desire to be the center of attention or anything like that. "You're a junior then?" he asked. "Or at least in the junior class," he said, motioning toward her books. "That's what I am," he clarified in case she didn't put it together although seeing she was into studying and all that, he reasoned that she was probably pretty smart.

"Nice to meet you," he said when she gave him her name. He watched as she started to pack up her things. He sipped on his coffee wondering if he was bothering for a moment...maybe she was going to leave and check out that library thing...but she didn't seem to be going anywhere... "I'm sorry, you can like keep going...you don't have to stop your work for me," he told her. "I can be quiet....promise," he said with a smile, although admittedly it would probably be more interesting to talk than to watch her do homework.

[Reagan Doyle]

" Yeah, I am a junior too as well. I wouldn't have suspected you would know me anyways. I don't usually do to much to be noticed." she said kind of surprised he was that observant. The switch had classes all mixed up and everyone used different books and had classes here or there, with their original teachers and with new ones. It was a big mess was all really, adjusting to the change had been a bit hard on her at first being someone who was usually organized and on top of things.

Reagan sort of stopped in her tracks for a second not realizing that it may have looked like she was leaving or stopping like it was his fault. It really wasn't, at this point had he come along or not she probably would have stopped, he was just something she would use for herself as an excuse later.

" No. It wasn't you or anything if that is what you are thinking. My mind is just , " she trailed off not sure what to say or how to put it, " elsewhere at the moment I guess. " She shrugged her shoulders and finished the remainder of her things that got packed in her bags setting it against the leg of the table.

[Ben Patridge]

Ben smiled when she mentioned that she wasn't the type of person who went out of her way to get noticed. "Yeah, me neither," he admitted. Ben supposed he was still a bit more known though just because most people in school knew about his parents being famous and while he didn't hang out with his best friend too much during school, he still did from time to time, and his best friend, Jett, was a popular football player. Ben just didn't like the popular kids...he had no desire to be one of them or the center of attention or anything like that. Being friends with Jett was one thing, after all, they'd grown up together, but befriending his other friends, well, that probably wasn't ever going to happen. "If I could just blend into one of the lockers I'd probably be happier," he joked, "although then I'd have to wear that awful yellow color, that would probably stand out any time I wasn't by the lockers, so really it would be counter productive anyway," he pointed out, still joking.

Ben smiled once more when she said that her mind was elsewhere. "Prom fever?" he guessed. It seemed to be all anyone was talking about in school anyway...especially the girls. All the girls seemed to go on for hours talking about their dresses and how they were going to get their hair done...what shoes they were wearing...boring stuff like that. The guys were mostly focused on the after parties...getting hotel rooms...who thought who would get laid afterward, stuff like that. Ben wasn't going to prom. All of his friends were going, sure, but they were all coupled off now and while Ben usually didn't care about being the fifth wheel when they were hanging out, he figured it would be pretty boring being one during the prom. Sure, he could ask some random girl, and maybe she'd go with him, but Ben was more the type to either go with a friend who he knew he'd have fun with anyway, or go by himself. And since his friends were coupled off, he'd decided to give the couples their night and just hang out at home.

He took another sip of his coffee, already feeling the effects of the caffeine, thankfully. Hopefully he'd be fully awake in no time and able to punch out the stupid report that was due. He was sure he could do it at least half decently last minute, not that he was to worried as long as he was able to keep his eyes open.

[Reagan Doyle]

Reagan made an awkward cringing face when he mentioned wearing the nasty yellow the lockers in the high school halls were painted. She wasn't against yellow but they had to have picked the most disgusting looking color they could find. " I think I would have to agree with you on being counteractive." she said being rather agreeable.

Not surprising he suggested her mind being off on prom details as if she was going. Which of course she was not but who was he to know that. He probably was picking out a matching corsage for his date already that evening and ordering a limo to escort them in style or something.

" No, " she paused shaking her head with a light laugh. " Not prom at all. I am not planning on going actually. " she said honestly. She had no reason to go she had decided early on. It seemed like a lot of work just to go stag and end up like the 5th wheel in any circle of friends or people at a table she might sit at.

Reagan finished off her coffee and stood turning to place it in the trash can beside them before going back to the couch and her things. " I am curious though how they have worked out the two schools joining and doing prom. Two different committee's. Who probably had two different ideas, and venues etc planned. " she shrugged her shoulders. " Glad I wasn't a part of that drama."

[Ben Patridge]

Ben nodded when she said that she wasn't planning on going to the prom. "You are the minority then...it seems that that is all anyone in school is talking about right now," he said. "I even think half of the underclassmen have the whole prom fever and most of them aren't even going," he said with a laugh. Although he reasoned that there would be a number of sophomores there escorted by older guys.

"I'm not going either," he said, "but it seems like everyone else I know is, so I still get to hear all about it," he told her, shaking his head. He was sort of sick of it all anyway. He wasn't anti-prom, he was just anti-bringing some random person for the sake of going and having an awkward time because of it. "It seems like everyone in my main group of friends has coupled themselves off," he explained, "and I normally don't mind it, like I don't get excluded or anything because of it, but I think the whole prom thing is different," he said with a shrug. "Oh well, I doubt I'm really going to miss much," he said. He was sure it was really just going to be like any other dance only perhaps the girls would be dressed fancier and perhaps it was a little longer and held in a bit of a nicer place.

"Yeah, I have no idea how they did all that," he said. "I'm just glad I wasn't involved I can just imagine the girls that do all the prom committee stuff were at each other throats...but I guess we've all been combined long enough now that everyone knew it was coming," he said with a shrug, watching as she tossed out her empty coffee cup. He still had a bit left his his and took another sip, altogether feeling much better about the whole being awake enough to do a report thing.