[M]Austere IC

[AliceMalice15]

Aiden smiled as he watched Gina walk back to her mom. He was glad that he had met-almost ran over-them. They were nice people, and it made him feel a little less apprehensive in this new town. Not to mention Gina was kind of cute....kind of. Aiden blushed at his thought and scuffed his shoe on the ground. He hadn't even thought of Trisha since he'd left home. Maybe she wasn't who he wanted after all. She had been his friend and then his girlfriend for a really long time, but maybe he was just settling because she was all he'd known. Aiden frowned and reached into his pocket pulling out an old diamond wedding ring.

It had been his grandmothers and he had intended to propose to Trisha with it, but he'd left before he did. He'd managed to wind up here in Austere with out any idea why and run in to Gina, and intelligent, strong, unique, kind girl, and her mother. Trisha was so plain in comparison to what Gina was like. She had been so quiet and complacent like a dog or a rag doll. She didn't seem to have a mind of her own.

Aiden grimaced at his thoughts. How had he fallen for someone like that?! How could he fall for someone so mindless, someone who was almost servile?! Aiden turned his head and glared at a corner. He felt disgusted with himself, with Trish, with everything. He'd been so sheltered by his own ways. Now wonder his grandmother had only rolled her eyes when he'd told her about marrying Trisha. She knew that he wouldn't be happy with her. That he wouldn't want to be in charge all the time. That he'd end up like his father. Aiden shuddered and rubbed a spot on his chest distractedly.

Sighing he looked back at the table and saw that the two girls were done talking. Putting on a smile-yes, even he used a happy facade sometimes-he sauntered back over to the table.

"So I take it we're all going to the pub tonight," he said cheerfully, "if you will excuse me then I need to find a room for the night. It was nice meeting the both of you and I will see you tonight. Oh! And thank you for letting me buy you drinks. It really has been a pleasure."*

[Azazeal849]

"Sure, that sounds lovely," Jenny said, a bigger, relieved smile crossing her face now, "And that's quite alright, Georgie."

Georgina felt an indignant retort rising up in her throat as her mum casually passed the blame, but it petered out when Jenny winced almost immediately after she had said it. It was just her mum speaking before thinking, yet again. With an effort Georgina swallowed her words, not wanting to become guilty of the same fault. She softened slightly as Jenny continued to look pensive.

"Georgie, honey?" Jenny said softly, not wanting to leave everything unsaid, "I.. I'm sorry too, okay. And we will talk about it, later on. Alright?" There was just the smallest hint of desperation in her voice, as though a part of her was not consoling, but pleading with her daughter to tell her that everything was alright.

Gina picked up on it, and it made her feel slightly guilty. The mother was an absolute master of inspiring that emotion in her daughter, and Gina had often unfairly claimed that she did it intentionally.

“Alright, mum.” she confirmed, managing to raise a smile. She turned round to see Aiden coming towards them, having judged that it was safe for him to rejoin the conversation. Once again, she was grateful for his tact.

"So I take it we're all going to the pub tonight," he said cheerfully, "if you will excuse me then I need to find a room for the night. It was nice meeting the both of you and I will see you tonight. Oh! And thank you for letting me buy you drinks. It really has been a pleasure."

“You too.” Gina smiled, “See you in a bit.”

As she and her mum pushed their chairs back from the table, she reflected that in spite of all their problems, things could be a lot worse. She was suddenly reminded of her favourite band Kasabian, and something their mouthy but occasionally insightful front-man had once said in an interview. Be positive about life. You've been brought up well by your parents, so don't sit around in your bedroom moping. Grow up. It seemed particularly relevant right now.

******

“Oh god, sorry,” Gina said as she stifled a yawn, “I tell you what, I'll be glad of the extra hour in bed when the clocks go back tonight.”

It had been coming up for six o'clock when they left the café, and the autumn sun was long gone. Without the daylight to fool her body clock, the jet-lag was beginning to hit Gina hard. As far as her brain was concerned, it was now about 1AM. Staying up that late on a Saturday was nothing new for her, but in this case she had the additional stress of travelling to contend with, and was without the somewhat self-destructive mix of vodka and red bull that she usually used to keep herself going on nights out.

The band was due on any minute now, although Aiden hadn't reappeared yet. Georgina and her mother had been welcomed somewhat tersely by the landlady – a tiny woman with a preoccupied manner and permanently suspicious eyes – and had found a seat in one corner before the bar had begun filling up in earnest. Despite the landlady's unfriendly attitude, the food was surprisingly good, although Gina had had to leave almost half of her meal on the plate. It seemed even small town America was very generous with its portion sizes compared to what she was used to back in Britain.

The conversation between Gina and her mum was stilted at first, as it had often been lately, but gradually they began to regain something of their old rapport. They talked about their first impressions of the town, the new school that Gina was due to start at on Monday, how Jenny reckoned she'd get lost during the commute out to her work in the town five miles beyond the forest that surrounded Austere. Gina deliberately avoided anything relating to back home in the UK, not wanting to sour the air between them when her mum looked like she was just beginning to enjoy herself. Their new friend Aiden came up in conversation more than once. Considering that he had introduced himself by nearly running Georgina over, Jenny seemed to like him. Georgina liked him too, and she looked forward to trying to suss out the young man with his seemingly contradictory mix of hospitality and shyness; awkwardness and astute perception.

She put down her fork and leaned back in her chair as the bar patrons began to applaud a long-haired man who had just appeared on the stage at the back of the pub.

[Extraordinaire.]

-ignore this.-

[AliceMalice15]

Aiden walked out of the café with a skip in his step, his thoughts of Trisha pushed toward the back of his head. In an odd way, coming to this town had opened so many doors for him. He'd left his home in search of something, and he'd found so much. Aiden looked up at the sky which was now tinged with red and gold. Shoving his hands in his pockets he started walking toward his bike whistling the tune to "Golden Afternoon" from Disney's original version of Alice in Wonderland. Time to find somewhere to stay for the night. Heck, maybe he'd camp out under the stars tonight.

-----------------------------------

Aiden sighed as he walked down the street to the pub. He'd had absolutely no luck finding an affordable place to stay for the night. It wasn't so bad, he supposed, at least he knew more of the city now. Aiden started thinking about home again and why he'd left when BAM!!! He was shoved into the side of a building.

"Hey," he called after the offender, "watch out you could have-"

Aiden caught sight if the pink haired girl he'd seen at the café and something about her made him stop. She looked terrified. Like she had seen something terrible.

'Or did something terrible'

Aiden's thought made him jump. It was a terrible thing to think of someone he'd never even met. Aiden shook it off as the girl disappeared out of sight. Giving a small shrug he continued to the pub and stepped inside. Spotting Georgina and Jenny he smiled and *slid into a seat across from them.

"You two look kinda sleepy," he chuckled amicably, "jet-lag catching up with you?"

Tousling his hair Aiden smiled and ordered a coke from a passing waitress. The band on stage was still plugging up and doing some fine tuning, buzzing and random notes coming put of their speakers and instruments. Tonight was going to be great. He could just feel it.

[Azazeal849]

"Just a bit." Gina admitted, pushing her plate to one side so she could rest her arms on the table, "How did the flat-hunting go?"

[G]

Jenny was still slowly making her way through her dinner when the band alit the stage. It always amazed her how quickly her daughter could demolish food, and wondered, not for the first time, where Georgina carried it all in her small frame. Thankful for the easy, comfortable flow of conversation, she was in an exceedingly good mood despite her exhaustion, beaming at Aiden as he arrived and took a seat across from the ladies. She had to hide a grin at Georgie's casual response to Aiden's greeting, noting that her daughter, as well, looked very pleased to see their new friend.

"Yes, it's a small town. I don't imagine there's a lot of flats going. We had to organise ours before we arrived, didn't we Georgie."

The band had struck up an upbeat, catchy melody to start off their set, and it provided lovely background music, surprising Jenny. From the frontman's appearance, she had imagined some horrible caucophony of sound that would drown out any chance of conversation. But the night was young - give them time, and she was sure they would get there.

[Azazeal849]

"Yes, it's a small town. I don't imagine there's a lot of flats going. We had to organise ours before we arrived, didn't we Georgie."

Her daughter nodded. "And even then some rich kid was there trying to negotiate for it when we arrived!"

[Azazeal849]

<OOC - Just so the Mods know that this thread is in fact still active. Text in red belongs to Alice, text in blue belongs to G, aka The Informative Gangsta>

She paused, gathering her hair over one shoulder as she often did when she was talking.

"So did you manage to find a hotel or something?"

Aiden rubbed his neck and sat back in his chair.

"Eh, actually no," he said nervously, "Everything was booked or too expensive. I-it's ok though. I'll probably just sleep outside. I don't mind a little bit of bugs and dirt. Besides, I like sleeping out under the stars. Doesn't bother me any."

Smiling Aiden tried to shrug it off but inside he was groaning in despair and begging for them not to make him sleep outside. He didn't want to impose though. That would just be rude.

At first Gina laughed. Then she realised that he really wasn't joking. There was a moment of intensely awkward silence, through which the music and the background chatter continued obliviously.

"Are you actually being serious?" she asked him, "It's the middle of November and it's bloody freezing out there."

It was ridiculous, but Aiden's characteristic shyness somehow stopped it from being funny. Gina hoped he wasn't trying to manipulate them into feeling guilty. As both she and her mother knew, Gina was a sucker for that particular emotion. But looking at Aiden, she could detect nothing but awkward sincerety behind his eyes. Despite his perceptive nature, she realised, Aiden was still hopelessly naive. Why hadn't he sorted something out in advance of coming to the town, and why would he just passively accept sleeping on the streets as an option? Just how had they treated this guy in his hometown? Gina bit her lip.

"Mum," she asked, turning to Jenny. She wondered what her mother was making of all this. "Do you think he could stay with us for the night?"

She had hoped that she and her mum would have the house to themselves tonight so they could finally work through their issues, but like hell was she going to leave her new friend to freeze to death. No matter how ridiculously naive he was. She just hoped that her mum wouldn't clam up again next morning and leave them back at square 1 as soon as Aiden left.

"Of course!" Jenny replied, smiling at Aiden, "We can't offer much besides a couch, and we've barely begun the unpacking, but it'll be a lot more comfortable than sleeping under the stars."

Inwardly, she was cringing at the idea of this nice young man sleeping on the street, but Jenny felt it would be impolite to say anything - she didn't want him to feel like she was judging him. In the same breath, she couldn't help but feel put on the spot by the way Gina had so blatantly asked her, in front of Aiden, if he could stay. She would have said yes anyway, of course, but it didn't really leave her with an option, when he was sitting right there.

She shook her head, trying to remove the thought from her mind. She would have said yes anyway, so why did it matter?

Slightly annoyed at herself for making an issue in her mind unnecessarily, Jenny was silent for a moment, turning to watch the band. Really, she was happy that her daughter had made a friend so quickly. Really, so had she.