(( o3o Oh Mai. xD ))

"Love it," Josh corrected her with a wink. He grinned teasingly, and took another bite of his ice cream. It was amazing.

It reminded him of the chocolate bunny his mom gave him on easter when he was 5. It was bigger than he was; Josh had spent an entire month sucking on the chocolate bunny. He took another bike, mind focused on that sweet memory, and blinked slowly.

Need to quit thinking about that, he told himself quietly. All I'm gonna do is make myself even more depressed. Quit. Happy thoughts...Happy thoughts... Josh looked up at  Caroline for a moment before he popped the cherry in his mouth, stem and all. After a minute, he spit the stem back out. It was tied in a knot.

He winked at her, clearly teasing.

((Dude. Awesome pick up line! xD Is it sexy in here, or is it just me? xD))

Caroline couldn't help but laugh. "That's grand," She said with a grin. Caroline ate her ice cream slowly.

Last time she had ice cream was with her father before he... Caroline turned her back to Josh, not letting him see the small tears falling from her face.  She quicklly wiped them away with the sleeve of her jacket. She put on an accurately fake smile and turned back.

"Sorry, I got something in my eye," She lied expertly. She munched on her ice cream and grinned back at Josh, wondering what he was thinking about.

(( LOL. It's definately sexy in here, Kink. Josh tends to set those kind of moods. xD))

Josh, who was an expert lier himself, could tell that Caroline was lying. But he didn't press, and tried to ignore the redness in her eyes that made him positive she'd just been crying. He ate his ice cream slowly, suddenly craving another chocolate-covered cherry. But he didn't move or say anything.

He cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the awkward silence in the little shop. Of course, he was a boy, so his mind was stating obvious facts that made everything sound so wrong, but tempting. All alone, in a closed-in private shop, nobody can see or hear us... He pushed that train of thought off the rail. He was NOT going to be some pervert with Carol.

Okay, yes, he had just tied a cherry stem in a knot with his tongue, which was undenyably sexy, but he was SO not ready to go there with Carol. In fact, he wasn't ready to go there with anyone quite yet. "So," he said, breaking the silence. "You ever had a boyfriend before?"

He kept his eyes on his ice cream.

((I can definantly see that! xD))

Caroline saw that Josh was looking at her in a way that made her squirmish, but in a good way. She never had that butterfly feeling, she didn't now either. Caroline thought about his question as she licked her cone clean.

She coughed before thinking about her past. "Well...Heh..." She blushed thinking about it. "I've never been in a serious relationship." She said after a moment or so. All those 'flings' she had couldn't count as boyfriends and she knew it. But still, they were fun. She couldn't help but smile at the thoughts of them. "Why?" She asked finally.

Josh shrugged, setting down his empty bowl of ice cream. He was craving another, but didn't say anything about. "Never had the time for a relationship myself," he explained with a stiffled yawn. He blinked lazily. "Too busy. Plus, half the girls I met freaked when they found out that I steal things for a living." He added in a more serious tone, "With my little strength condition, I don't think I'd make a very good boyfriend anyways."

He pulled another cherry out of the container, took the stem off of it and popped it in his mouth. He swallowed and grimaced. "I don't think that was a very good cherry," he muttered, looking at the ceiling through his bangs.

Despite his lying, Josh had been in quite a few relationships. But all had ended disasterously, due to Josh's lack in good luck. Once he had been caught stealing and was forced to move to another town. Another time, the girl just didn't like him back, so she dumped him in front of all her friends trying to be cool. He actually came back and strangled her dog for that one. 

And then lastly, there was his latest love scandel. He had already banished the girl's name from his mind; too much pain for him to remember it. It was summer of last year. They'd, of course, had the best summer fling with details best not put out on the internet. And then she'd gone and died. Gotten hit by a bus right in front of him.

Josh paled, and immediately stopped thinking about it. He struggled to keep his breathing proper and his heart beating right. He managed a weak smile for Caroline. 

"Uh huh," Caroline said, making it obvious she didn't believe him. She didn't say anymore on the subject either though. She watched as he ate the bad cherry. She had never been much of a cherry person. She liked rasberries better. Yet, she couldn't help but grin.

Caroline saw him pale but didn't say anything about that either. She heard the change in breath, it made her grin though she hid it well from Josh. She smiled kindly back to Josh before saying," Well... I could use another... I feel like getting sugar high." Caroline smiled to herself as she filled up a bowl with some more ice cream. "Help yourself," She added. "It's on the house."

((Woah... Intense. o-o He killed the dog! xD))

Josh looked like he was about to puke. "No thanks," he mumbled, eyes on the floor. "I've had enough." His last words had a clear double meaing to them; enough ice cream, and enough heart break. He couldn't meet Caroline's eyes.

Without saying anything, he pulled out twenty five dollars and set it on the counter. "I'm not feeling so good about this anymore," he said, eyes still on the floor. "Perhaps we should just go. It's getting late anyways." He grabbed another cherry, considering eating it, but his stomach said otherwise.

He dropped it and looked away from Caroline.

Carol couldn't understand what was wrong. She looked at the money on the counter back to him. She set the ice cream down, leaving it and opened the cash register with another key. She put the twenty five dollars in and looked back to Josh. She felt like touching his forehead, checking for a fever, but she resisted. He probably didn't want her to touch him anyways.

"You okay?" She asked as she closed the register. Stepping out the back door she waited for Josh. She didn't know what to do... or say for that matter. "You don't look to good..." She noted after a second of looking at him.

Josh shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets quietly. The stitches in the side of his face burned a little bit, and they kind of itched. He forced a smile, but it slipped off his face before it could stick. "I'm just...thinking about some things." He blinked, following after her in silence. "Maybe..."

He closed the door behind him, trying not to look angry, or sad, or anything. He looked completely emotionless for a minute. He was searching for the correct words to say what he wanted to say. But it didn't seem to come to him, so he stuck to the obvious. "Carol, I don't think you should hang out with me anymore."

The words crackled in the air between them like lightning. His eyes met her's for only a moment. Josh was just worred that if he kept hanging out with her, something bad would happen to her, like everyone else he got close to. Like the girl who got hit by a bus.

Josh bit his lip lightly. "You didn't do anything. It's just..." He frowned, looking for the right words. He sighed lightly to himself. "Look, Carol. I was just..." He frowned again, realizing those words didn't fit either. He finally muttered, "I just don't want to be near you anymore, 'cause the last girl I got close to..." He swallowed, feeling the blood drain from his face. "Well, she got hit by a bus. Right in front of me."

He ran a hand through his hair, pinching his eyes shut. He wanted to run away; run away like he did whenever something he didn't want to deal with popped up. That's all he ever did. "And I don't want that to happen to you." 

He looked her straight in the eyes, feeling a little hopeless at the moment. "Caroline, you're a really nice girl, which makes me really nervous that you're so willing to hangout with somebody like me. It's just not..." He blinked. "Right. It's just not right."

Sunni nodded "yea im dog tired".She cracked her neck and started to follow him her muscles ached and her back screamed in pain from the fall not that she would do something about it.She slowly walked up the stares and followed jace to his room

(i thought that you might want to describe his room))

Carol couldn't help but smile. He was worried about her health, how cute. She sighed and pulled one hand out of her pocket and put it on her hip. "Don't worry about me..." She said with a small smile. "I can take care of myself... Always have."

Caroline looked up at Josh with big eyes, eyes that said a message that Caroline didn't want to send. She wanted to touch him, touch his face wound, tell him she was fine and he would be fine. She wanted to kiss him, but definantly knew she shouldn't. She had known him all of 5 hours, maybe. She shouldn't have these feelings, but, he was like her. Just like her, and she couldn't deny the connection she felt with him. She shoved her hand back in her pocket and looked at her beat up Nike shoes. She needed some new ones.

Josh tore his eyes away from her's, trying to shove off the feeling he was getting just standing alone with her. He'd felt this way with the girl who got hit by the bus. He didn't want to feel this way again; not ever. But he did, and there was no way to outrun your emotions.

He bit down on his lip again, shaking his head. He had no clue how to tell her that he didn't want to get his heart broken again. He was afraid; afraid of commiting himself to something with his whole heart, and then having it ripped away. Because most likely, a chunk of his heart would go with it.

Josh knew exactly how he felt about Caroline, and he knew it wasn't right. They had hardly even know each other for half a day. It was hopeless; he was just going to have to start avoiding her. Another problem popped up; she could easily run as fast as he could. Darn.

"Caroline..." His voice was quiet; pained. "I just don't want..." He didn't want a lot of things. He didn't want to like her the way he did. He didn't want to get hurt again. He didn't want his dad to beat him. He didn't want to be a freak. He didn't want a lot of things.

But, sadly, Caroline was one of the things he did want in his life.

_______________

(( Thanks Rocca ))

Jace's room was large, and empty for a teenager's. There were no clothes on the floor, food crumbs, suggestive magazines or dirty posters. His walls were a creamy white, and the floor was a light brown hardwood. He had two beds in there; one pressed against the left wall, and one pressed against the right wall. Then, at the north wall, there was a large sliding glas s door that lead onto a balcony. "Well, it's not much..." He mumbled, flopping onto the bed on the left.

((Wow Moo... o3o You are a really good writer. I noticed it before, but I just had to say it. xD))

Caroline felt his pain, knew she didn't want to be hurt either. She knew how it felt to be hurt, to want something you couldn't have, and to see it with some one else. She knew how it was to get beat, to see things you didn't want to see, but had to. She suffered his pain without even knowing it.

"Josh..." She started, then paused. Caroline took a step closer, now within arms length. "I don't think I'm going to get hit by a bus." Another step closer. "I don't think I can..." Another step. "I know you don't want me to..." But she didn't know. Caroline looked up at Josh through her lashes. She paused to look at his every detail, easy because they were less than a foot away from eachother now.

Sunni's eyes twitched as she stood there wide eyed at the milatary clean standard at jaces room.She looked around everything was percect too pefect no pictures books clothes,nothing.She felt almost sad did jce have no happiness to her it felt that way it showed sadness almost.Sure it was beautiful and large looking over te ocean but it was empty of everything.Though Sunni's room was small it was full of pictures posters books cd's her clothes strew about.

She turned to jace "um do you live here!?!"She gave an akward laugh then looked at him again "no dirty posters...er anything? did yu clean up while i was in the bathroom?"She laughed again.She looked back "so um which bed is yours?"

(( Thanks Kink xD I'm not bad for a fourteen-year-old. ))

Josh, being the react-not-respond guy he is, automatically wrapped his arms around her. He wanted a hug. Wait, no, scratch that. He needed a hug right now. He felt hurt, and sad, and a flurry of other emotions he wanted to run away from.

But he couldn't run away if he wanted to. Because here she was, standing in front of him like the morning sun. Caroline. He whispered in her ear quietly, the lyrics to a song his mother used to hum. "Oh, sweet Caroline. Good times never seem so good..."

A smile spread across his face like butter on his morning toast. Warmth spread from his arms, which were holding onto her waist tightly, al the way through his body. It sent a shiver of pleasure through him, which he mistook for the chilly night air. Without warning, Josh took one hand, and tilted her chin upwards.

His lips met her's.

___________

Jace chuckled. "Yes, I live here. But the only thing I do in here is sleep, and stand on the balcony. All my other stuff, the stuff I actually use, is in my art room." A wry smile formed on his lips as he looked for his contacts.

"I usually sleep on the left side, but it doesn't really matter, actually." His voice was matter-of-fact. He added in a teasing voice, "And if you want to save trouble, you can sleep with me." He rolled his eyes before pressing his left contact into place. He winced, and then did the right.

(did kink reply to me? this rp is way fast.... and i can tie the cherry stem too... Anyways, i might quit... Its way fast for me..)