The Right One - - -

[Lexi Piper Ryanne]

The card with the numbers on had been sitting carefully in Lexi’s purse for some time now, catching her dark eyes whenever she opened it up. This time was no different and her eyes were fixed on it as she handed the cash over to the barista who served her the vanilla latte she had ordered. Biting her lip she pulled the small rectangular piece of card from the slot she had pushed it into and ran her finger over the number written there.
She proceeded to have the same internal argument with herself that she had been having for near enough a week now; to call or not to call. She’d had no side effects from her accident in the park other than just a nasty lump on her head for a few days that made styling her hair a bit of a nightmare. However, she did want to see Denver again. There was something so relaxing about their last encounter that she wanted to relive it without the tears and the bumps this time. Plus, she hadn’t forgotten about the flirtatious thoughts that had flicked through her mind when he was around.

She adjusted the bag on her shoulder and then left the coffee shop, still holding the card in her hand as she sipped from her beverage. Finally, she came to a decision and pulled her blackberry from her bag, quickly typing in the number with her nimble fingers and decided to send him a text. He might be busy at work, after all, not everyone was lucky to get the afternoon off. She had been going to hit the library and was dressed comfortably for it, but this seemed like a much better idea and the books would always be waiting for her if he couldn’t make it. She just hoped it didn’t come off as creepy.
Hey, it’s Lexi. If you’re free do you fancy meeting up for a coffee or something at the Rockefeller? No footballs and tears this time, I promise! X
She ignored the fact that she already had a coffee in her hand and hit ‘send’, carefully adjusting the glasses on her nose. Usually, she wore contacts when she was out, but her eyes were dry today and not appreciating the fact that she had fallen asleep with them in the night before after crashing from a killer essay on the French Revolution.

She kept her phone in her hand so that she might hear the reply and then walked around the centre at a relaxed pace. Her friends were already planning on hitting the clubs tonight, but Lex wasn’t in the mood for it; another reason why she had chosen now to text Denver. He could be a perfect excuse to escape it, even if her friends interrogated her at a later date. Leisurely, she window shopped, her eyes occasionally falling on a nice skirt or dress that she could easily afford if she wanted it badly enough. She did like the blue of the bandeau dress in one particular place and quickly hopped in to buy it, checking out her size before moving to the register, her phone beeping with a reply just as the assistant bagged it up for her. Lexi took a deep breath before glancing at the message, hoping it would be from Denver as she pushed the thin metal frames up onto the bridge of her nose again; she really needed to get her glasses tightened.

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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 614
OUTFIT! Pretty Little Thing!
LYRICS! I’ve Got This Friend - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

Denny was at his second home, the hospital, running through some of his paperwork before doing his rounds. He was supposed to have the next day off to pick up his sister for an impromptu vacation away from her parents. Sarah had been having some troubles at school and Denny, being the slightly overprotective brother that he was, gave her an out quickly enough. He didn’t get to see his baby sister nearly enough and any excuse to fly her out he would grab at. He checked his phone for the time, signed off on whatever papers needed his John Hancock and pushed his chair away from the desk. He’d spent enough time locked away in the office; it was time to see the kids. Denver slipped the white coat he had thrown on off his shoulders and exchanged it for the sweater tossed haphazardly on the back of a chair set in front of his desk.

When he saw the kids, he didn’t like giving them any more reminders that they weren’t exactly in the best of situations. He preferred to meet them and check on them wearing his street clothes. It made them feel less nervous and they tended to forget about their surroundings during their chats. Den stopped at the nurse’s station for a quick minute; learn if there were any significant changes in anyone in particular. And hearing nothing of note, carried on to the first room. He was sitting back and chatting with his third and final patient of the day when the text came through with a sing-song happy beep. At first, he wasn’t going to answer it; it was rude. But his patient was sixteen and was only recently diagnosed, so she still remembered what it was like for texts being important. He laughed when she told him to take the message, she’d wait. He knew why, he had a sister; she was going to interrogate him if it was anything personal.

He didn’t mind though, he couldn’t really when she reminded him so much of Sarah. Her illness hadn’t brought her down, and Denny didn’t think it would. She was smart and knew the risks and the treatments. So, he helped bring some normalcy into her life, and the others as much as possible. Den lifted his hip to dig the smart phone out of his pants pocket and check the message and smiled once he read the sender; Lexi. He hadn’t heard from her since that day at the park, but he’d wanted to see her again, and wasn’t below checking out her records for a phone number. But he hadn’t done that, he wasn’t quite there yet, as much as he said he was. Natasha, his patient was just as observant as Sarah apparently because she started laughing at him. He didn’t answer the text right away, but snapped his head up to look at her instead. The young girl who didn’t look as sick as she was just smiled and he couldn’t help but relay the message.

Laughing she told him to reply to her before she thought he wasn’t interested. Laughing along, Den typed in a quick message: Give me 20 minutes. And I’ll hold you to that. Xo, D. He hit send and slipped the phone back into his pocket before sitting forward with his forearms resting on his knees. “Alright, Miss Intelligence, don’t give your nurse’s a hard time. And please stop offering to teach them how to apply makeup or you’ll wake up looking like a clown,” he warned with mischief in his dark eyes before standing. “I’ll see you later, Nat,” he said as he walked out of the room and back to his office. He grabbed his wallet; made sure his computer was logged out and left again, this time for the day. He wasn’t, technically, supposed to be in that day either, but because of Sarah’s arrival the next day, he went in to get the paperwork out of the way.

Out to the parking lot, in his car, he checked the time again as he started the vehicle, pulled out of the spot and sped off the hospitals’ property. He probably should have told her to give him a bit more time, that he was at the hospital and it would take him a bit to get down to the center, but traffic, for once, was actually cooperating with him and he zoomed through the big city’s streets in record time. Denver wasn’t about to take a chance with parking and when he spotted one, about a block and a half away, he took it and almost jogged the rest of the way to the center; he really didn’t want to leave Lexi waiting on him. When he got there, he sent a quick text: Where’s our rendezvous point? Xo, D.

_{•Tag• Lexi <3
•Words• 810
•Location• Rockefeller Center
•Clothes• The Doctor’s in
•Lyrics• I'll Be There For You//Bon Jovi
•Notes• <3 <3 <3}

[Lexi Piper Ryanne]

To say that she’d been thinking 24/7 about Denver would be a lie, but he did slip into her mind whenever she opened her purse and saw his card staring back up at her. It just reminded her of that afternoon and how he had managed to cheer her up when she thought the sky was about to fall in. It was a nice ending to what had been a horrific day in the twenty two year old’s life. So, who could really blame her for wanting to see him again? Although, usually, she wasn’t brave enough to initiate a meeting like this one, but she didn’t recall giving him her number when they had parted ways so she was really only left with one option and that was to step up to the plate and give it a shot. If he was busy or didn’t want to see her than it was private enough for her ego to recover without anyone else finding out.

Luckily, she never had to deal with the latter and with a soft sigh she released the breath she didn’t realise she had been holding and a smile crossed her lips as she thanked the assistant and took the bag from her hands. Twenty minutes she could do. It gave her time to finish the coffee she had already bought and time to make sure she didn’t look like she had been hit in the head with a football; New York weather was not always in her favour.
She exited the store and then glanced around, deciding where to go next. She figured she should head back towards the busy streets so that she could see Denver when he arrived, rather than having him chase her around the Rockefeller, especially when she would probably either end up standing in the wrong place or drifting in and out of places, wondering if he got confused about where they were meeting – which had yet to be decided, also.

Lexi sighed softly, draining the rest of the latte from the take out mug and then threw it into the nearest bin, before digging around in her bag, moving textbooks from one side to the other until she came across the small white bag that contained her ‘necessities’ for leaving the apartment. She pulled the tinted gloss out and quickly swept the wand across her lips in an expert fashion before dropping it all back in her bag and switching for her compact to make sure that none of her hair was on the wrong side of her head. It was a little foolish, she felt, to be fussing like this, but after all these years it was almost a force of habit. She checked the time on her phone and then re-read his text, smiling at it fondly before sliding the device back into her bag and beginning the walk she had chosen to take. Maybe she could’ve afforded the detour to her parked car to drop off the evidence of her impromptu shopping trip, but that seemed like an awful lot of effort for something entirely unnecessary. It was only one small bag and it was hardly like she was out of control or anything and felt the need to hide it from Denver, who, last time, had seen her with smudged eyeliner, bloodshot eyes and with a giant bump on her head. She was sure this alone was improvement enough on their first encounter.

She heard her phone chime again from the depths of her bag at the same time that her dark eyes fell on a familiar and welcomed figure. He didn’t seem to notice her yet, but she smiled all the same and pulled the Blackberry back out again, noticing that it was from him. Instead of replying, she returned the phone to the depths and jogged over to him, her heels clicking loudly on the concrete as she slowed to greet him. “I think right here makes a rather good rendezvous point, don’t you?”

[/color] She said with a warm and playful smirk on her lips, hoping that she wouldn’t startle him too much.
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 727
OUTFIT! Pretty Little Thing!
LYRICS! I’ve Got This Friend - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

Denny had only been to the Rockefeller a handful of times. And that was usually with friends and during his schooling. He’d only been back after he graduated a couple times and they were with Sarah on her trips to the city; especially those in the winter when he took her skating. It wasn’t like the rinks back home, or the lake they used when they were kids with their friends but it was a close follow-up and it worked to make her happy when she was upset. If Denver were being honest with himself, he’d probably admit that he’d much rather have Sarah living with him full time than with their parents. Both their mom and her dad were rarely home with work and their own social lives, so Sarah was left alone most of the time in a big old house. At least Denny was around a lot, and with all his friends in the city that thought of the pretty teenager like their own sisters, she’d be well taken care of.

But of course, she would never agree to that until she was finished high school. But he was going to put Sarah out of his mind, as much as he could, and enjoy the time he was stealing to be with Lexi. He’d thought about her often in the last week. Sometimes she would just pop into his head when he was sitting back and relaxing. Her laugh was infectious and he adored seeing her smile; he couldn’t get enough; which is why he would have pushed his paperwork out of the way to meet up for coffee with Lexi, with or without Natasha’s sisterly pushing.

Den ran his fingers through his massy, too long hair and Denny had only been to the Rockefeller a handful of times. And that was usually with friends and during his schooling. He’d only been back after he graduated a couple times and they were with Sarah on her trips to the city; especially those in the winter when he took her skating. It wasn’t like the rinks back home, or the lake they used when they were kids with their friends but it was a close follow-up and it worked to make her happy when she was upset. If Denver were being honest with himself, he’d probably admit that he’d much rather have Sarah living with him full time than with their parents. Both their mom and her dad were rarely home with work and their own social lives, so Sarah was left alone most of the time in a big old house. At least Denny was around a lot, and with all his friends in the city that thought of the pretty teenager like their own sisters, she’d be well taken care of.

But of course, she would never agree to that until she was finished high school. But he was going to put Sarah out of his mind, as much as he could, and enjoy the time he was stealing to be with Lexi. He’d thought about her often in the last week. Sometimes she would just pop into his head when he was sitting back and relaxing. Her laugh was infectious and he adored seeing her smile; he couldn’t get enough; which is why he would have pushed his paperwork out of the way to meet up for coffee with Lexi, with or without Natasha’s sisterly pushing.

He turned as clipping shoes approach as saw the girl he’d been waiting for appear beside him. He laughed, nodding his head. “It does, indeed,” he agreed, smiling. She looked pretty than before, if that were possible. Okay, so that last time they’d been together, she’d just been hit in the head by a fly away football and then had met the cement of the pathway. “You look fantastic, Lexi,” he said, attempting- and probably failing- an unobtrusive once-over; double checking her forehead for the bump he knew would still be there. He wasn’t going to mention the football incident. Instead, he held out his hand for Lexi as he turned slightly to stand beside her.

_{•Tag• Lexi <3
•Words• 687
•Location• Rockefeller Center
•Clothes• The Doctor’s in
•Lyrics• I'll Be There For You//Bon Jovi
•Notes• <3 <3 <3}

[Lexi Piper Ryanne]

The Rockefeller was a place that never got dull to Lexi. It was where she came when she was alone most of the time, with some spare hours on her hands. It was only a short walk from where she worked too, which meant that it was the easiest place to stroll around in between shifts at the store most girls simply swoon over. She always found the atmosphere inviting and refreshing and after a long day it was sometimes what she needed to escape the busy world she often found herself circling in. It was one of those places that appealed entirely to her senses and her occasional boredom; with so much to do and so many things to choose from, it wasn’t like she could show up and find absolutely nothing to entertain her.

Okay, so maybe she should be in the library researching her next assignment, but after crashing at her laptop last night, the last thing she wanted to be doing was anything related to school work. The essay had drained her and whilst she did have good intentions that morning, they were quickly blown aside with the idea of coffee and spending time with Denver. It really was a tough life when a girl had to pick between history and a handsome doctor! Although, if she had woken up that morning knowing she was spending time with him, then she probably would’ve dressed a little more feminine, though there was nothing wrong with the casual jeans and shirt she wore now; she just was more prepared for hours curled up in a library chair with her notebook than an afternoon socialising.

God, she had to stop being so paranoid about her looks and her outfits. Sure, she loved fashion, but she was never like this; living with Chelsea was slowly destroying her. Lexi almost had to stop and remind herself that last time she had still been wearing a t-shirt soaked with milkshake when she had stumbled into Denver. None of this mattered though, and she knew that, deep down. It was just the socialite side of her peeking through after spending so much time with her mother and sisters over winter break, dealing with galas and dinners and things that Lexi rarely took the time to understand. That was her parent's world, not hers.
Lexi would much rather be doing something like this than faking smiles and polite conversation at one of the fundraisers, but it was for a good cause, and it was how she had been raised, even if it wasn’t her favourite thing to be doing. Lexi always felt like she owed something to her family for what they had supported her through and turning up, behaving and being charming was how she paid them back.

The brunette pushed all thoughts of her family out of her mind and instead tried to ‘live in the moment’. Hell, that had been what she was doing when she had sent that message to Denver in the first place, so why pack it in now?
She smiled up at him when he noticed her; happier than she had thought she’d be to see him. She was less stunned and aching this time around, which was a bonus, she guessed. A soft blush rose to her cheeks and she could feel her skin burning from it as he complimented her. Of all the talents in the world, taking compliments well, without being rendered silent was not one of Lexi’s. Finally, after gazing down at the concrete and almost allowing her glasses to slide off her nose, she found her tongue. “Thanks, though I did promise no footballs and tears. I’m all better now.”

[/color] She joked softly, shyly looking up to meet his eyes as she took his outstretched hand. She felt like some giddy school girl all of a sudden and had to resist the urge to slap herself into remembering that she was twenty two and not entirely a stranger around guys, even handsomely charming ones like Denver. “So, any preferences? We could grab a bite to eat if you’re hungry?”[/color] She offered as they began to retrace the path which she had come from.
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 739
OUTFIT! Pretty Little Thing!
LYRICS! I’ve Got This Friend - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

He should have been home, cleaning his apartment so his little sister wouldn’t start laughing at how much of a guy he was, leaving clothes and things all over the place. But he wouldn’t have missed an opportunity to see Lexi again. If that meant he’d be up half the night cleaning his apartment until he could see himself, than that was exactly what he’d do. His sister’s flight wasn’t getting in until mid-afternoon anyway, so if he didn’t get it done, there was plenty of time in the morning to finish it all up, and run down to the market for some actual food.

The blush that rose on Lexi’s cheeks at his words was too endearing. It made him want to compliment her and just hold her against him. She was nothing like the girls he knew; not that there were many of them. But she was nice and seemed shy, or maybe that was the circumstances of their first meeting. He wasn’t sure but he knew he wanted to know more about her. The glasses she wore now hadn’t been perched on that pretty little nose before, but they looked good on her; a little loose, but cute. “You’re welcome and I’m glad you’re all better,” he said, honestly. Thinking about finding her in the ER wasn’t a daily thought he’d like to continue having. He tried pushing Lexi to the back of his mind, but he knew too well what a little bump to the head could do; even if he wasn’t exactly old enough to remember anything at the time. Denver laughed, squeezing Lexi’s hand. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?” he asked, smiling. “Where do you want to go?” he asked, bumping his shoulder into hers lightly.

The Rockefeller Center was packed, as usual with tourists and New Yorkers alike, shopping, eating, everything and everything that could be done. A group of tourists were gathered around for a picture in front of the rink; which reminded him of the first time Sarah came to visit. It had been her winter break, so they’d gone skating at the Center, and she’d brought her camera to take pictures of their skating trip. Denver fell twice thanks to Sarah pushing him, but it had been a fun day and his little sister had managed to take more pictures than he even though the memory chip could hold. Shaking his head, Den wondered if Lexi ever went skating at the center. She clearly visited, or chances were they wouldn’t have been meeting up there, if she hadn’t already been there in the first place. “So, what were you doing around here? A little shopping, perhaps?” he asked, interested as they continued on their way through the center.

•Tag• Lexi <3
•Words• 461
•Location• Rockefeller Center
•Clothes• The Doctor’s in
•Lyrics• I'll Be There For You//Bon Jovi
•Notes• <3 <3 <3

[Lexi Piper Ryanne]

Spending time with Denver definitely made every other option Lexi had seem so unappealing to her right now. History, shopping, working…they all sounded so exceedingly dull and mundane when she paired them alongside spending an hour or two with the devilishly handsome doctor who had ‘saved’ her in the park on what had been the worst day of the year so far, even if Lexi was being a little melodramatic dubbing it that. Luckily, she wasn’t in work today anyway and shopping could be done at any time. As for her history studying, she could do that later, or during her free periods tomorrow; there was no dire rush for it and she was only twenty two which meant she was entitled to have fun! If that fun happened to be hanging out with a cute guy then that was just a bonus.

Lexi smiled once she had regained her composure and felt the heat leaving her cheeks. At least now she knew that she never needed to use that rose tinted blush Chelsea had bought her for Christmas whenever Denver was around! “It went away pretty quickly in the end.”

[/color] She said with a casual shrug of her shoulders. “It must’ve been your healing touch that made me better.”[/color] She added with a playful smirk and a flirtatious twinkle in her dark eyes.
Thinking for a moment, her mind drew a blank and she laughed almost nervously. “Yeah, I invited you out and didn’t think of where to go. God, I can be such a scatterbrain at times!”[/color] She confessed, trying to fight away another heated blush. However, she loved it when he bumped her with his shoulder. It was such an innocent and simple gesture, but that was why she liked it so much. Plus, it reminded her of the unorthodox meeting she no longer wished to forget. “Um, I suppose if you’re hungry we could go to a café or something? I know I said coffee, but I actually had one when I sent you that text and I think another dose of caffeine may tip me over the edge.”[/color] Oh god, she was rambling! Lexi bit her lip to silence herself and then dipped her head, letting her hair hide her eyes, but probably not the red of her cheeks, again.

The brunette enjoyed how comfortable she felt around Denver, even if he did make her face as red as a tomato on a regular basis. Lexi was sure that was something that wouldn’t be permanent though and smiled to herself as she felt his much larger fingers around her own small hand. This was nice and a lot better than taking a football to the head and then greeting the concrete with a kiss. Without realising it, she walked a little closer to Denver, her thoughts taking her elsewhere until his words and adorable accent snapped her back to reality. She blinked twice and then responded with a loud ‘oh’. “Actually, no. This is going to sound ridiculous, but the Rockefeller is where I come when I just want to be alone and leave the stress of everything behind. I love the atmosphere and it reminds me that there’s a lot more to life than petty drama and books.”[/color] She swung the bag with her new dress out so that he could see it. “This is just how I passed the time when I was waiting on you.”[/color] Jokingly, she leaned closer, that twinkle still in her eyes as she smirked again. “My bank account thanks you for the new dent in it.”[/color] She teased playfully.
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 644
OUTFIT! Pretty Little Thing!
LYRICS! I’ve Got This Friend - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

He really didn’t want that heat on her cheeks to leave, but Denver couldn’t have everything he wanted. At least he could claim spending these few hours with the stunning, quirky brunette. She was intriguing, like a puzzle he wanted to solve. Everything there was to know about Lexi, he wanted to know; a bit too soon after one meeting? Probably, but that single meeting had been hard to forget. He did want to check out her bump or lack thereof himself, but he wouldn’t push a subject like that. Besides, she knew her body better than any doctor could; if she said it was fine, than it was. And it would be dropped and erased from his mind. He chuckled, nodding his head. “I suppose it’s a good thing I turned to medicine then, or my super powers would be gone to waste!”

Denver shook his head, smiling. “It’s alright. The hospital can get very depressing and getting away, whatever the reason, or lack of, is always welcome. Besides, I think it’s cute, and boost the ego a bit,” he said jokingly. It was a spur of the moment, and that she wanted to spend this free time she had on her hands with him just about melted his heart. He never claimed to know anything about women or relationships in general, but it had to mean something when a pretty girl sent you a message to meet up spontaneously, right? “That would make two of us. I’ve got enough caffeine running through my veins to keep me awake for a year, I’d guess. But it was really bad coffee,” he said laughing, remembering the sludge in the doctors’ lounge that was being passed off as coffee.

“But a bite sounds good, anywhere around here you like?” he asked, having no clue about the restaurants, cafes or deli’s around them. He really needed to start spending more time at the Rockefeller Center. He probably would have if he hadn’t been so focused on finishing school early, getting an internship and residency all before his age deemed proper timing. What could he say? The Canadian man was an overachiever at heart. But now that he had all those things under his belt, he had more time to play with. He was only twenty-four; there was still so much life ahead of him that he could play hooky for a day or two or at least a couple hours with a pretty girl.

Denver stopped in his tracks to turn and face Lexi. God she was cute, rambling or speechless, she was just adorable. Hesitantly, he pushed her hair behind her ear, smiling down at her as he hooked his finger under her chin and raised it so he could see into those mesmerizing dark eyes. “There’ll be none of that. No hiding from me. I think you’ve passed the being shy phase when you met a nice little football, who introduced you to the ground,” he said, making light and smiling with laughter just restrained. God, she was great. Squeezing her hand again, Denver turned and continued walking; his fingers twined with her much more delicate ones.

Back on track, Denny waited for Lexi to answer his question. He could only hope that Sarah didn’t want to venture down here, with all the clothes on display in the shops, she’d want to spend all her money- and his on clothes that had little to no chance of her father letting her wear. They would just add to the growing pile in the spare rooms’ closet so she could wear them whenever she was in town. The plus side to travelling for her, she didn’t have to pay a million dollars on luggage when she just needed a carry on; she had enough clothes in the spare room to fill an entire store in Denny’s mind. “I see. You run to what has to be one of the busiest places in the city when you want to be alone. Makes perfect sense,” he said smiling. “I run to the harbor,” he said, telling her something not many people knew about. He ran there whenever he had problems with, well, anything in his life. He could go and lean against the railings or sit for hours, looking out over the water. Den laughed at the joke. “Well, you can tell your bank account that I’m sure it was well worth the dent,” he said

•Tag• Lexi <3
•Words• 742
•Location• Rockefeller Center
•Clothes• The Doctor’s in
•Lyrics• I'll Be There For You//Bon Jovi
•Notes• <3 <3 <3

[Lexi Piper Ryanne]

Lexi was a closed book to most people most of the time. Even her closest friends knew very little about her life or her history. She didn’t like mentioning the social status of her family and usually cringed when someone recognised her name. Then, obviously, there were the teenage years that were majority erased from any old tales that she actually told. No one seemed to question it and Lexi kept all details vague and brief, just so that she could avoid any awkward memories. It wasn’t something she was running from, just something she didn’t want to ruin her future. With Denver being a doctor, she didn’t want him to find out about her past too soon in their friendship, or whatever it could be. She’d seen the way doctors looked at girls like her and the thought of him doing that was enough to make her want to run away right now.
She pushed those thoughts away though. He was here now and he was holding her hand, which did make her feel like she was thirteen again, even if no one did hold her hand back then. “I’m sure you’d still look good in a cape and spandex.”

[/color] She said innocently, smiling sweetly up at him, nudging her glasses back into place when they slipped.

She smiled sadly, squeezing his hand when he mentioned the hospital. Lexi still couldn’t wrap her head around his job, but more the fact that he cared for the kids there. It was just one more thing about Denver that made Lexi want to wrap her arms around him. Though, she was sure that would be a little weird at this exact moment. Then, the demon that haunted her face returned in full crimson burning fury and she bit her lip, letting out another nervous laugh. Oh god, he had picked up on her spontaneous planning and took it the way she had actually meant it. Only, Lexi had hoped it would be a little more subtle than this. “Well, I’m glad to be of service then.”[/color] She mumbled lamely, pulling a face in embarrassment at how stupid that sounded. “I hate bad coffee. I don’t even like my own when I make it.”[/color] She was a little quieter now, not wanting to make a fool of herself again.

Her brown eyes flicked up and she scanned where they were, trying to remember the various places to eat that were close by. Then, as though a lightbulb went off in her head, she stopped, stood up straight and tugged on Denver’s hand to pull him back before he walked on without her. She stumbled a little with the sudden move of her subconscious and then recovered with a smile and a question in her eyes. “Do you like Italian? I know a really nice little place near the entrance.”[/color] It was one of her favourite places to eat and rarely shared it with anyone, out of the fear it would no longer be ‘her’ place when she came here. The last thing she wanted was to one day walk into that place and have all her friends already eating there, especially not when this was her ‘down time’ place. She’d share it with the gorgeous doctor though.

At the feel of Denver’s fingers moving her short hair from her face, Lexi froze. She could feel her heart pounding beneath her chest and the second her eyes met his, she could barely breathe. At least she was in the company of a doctor if she suddenly collapsed, though the irony would be that he would be the cause of her faint too, as well as a her saviour…again. Another damn blush flooded her cheeks, but Lexi fought against hiding her face this time, as much as it killed her to keep her self-restraint intact. “Easy for you to say when you weren’t the one who looked like an idiot.”[/color] She said, returning his smile, but still blushing at the memory and the tingling sensation he gave her when his fingers brushed against hers as they moved.

Lexi sighed to herself and bit her lip again. “I told you it was silly and ridiculous.”[/color] Her voice was much quieter and meeker this time. She knew running into a crowd when she wanted to be alone made no sense, but this was one of the few places where she could be calm and unwind. “The harbor’s a nice place. I just…I don’t do well when I’m actually on my own. I think too much and that’s never good with me.”[/color] She said, as though she felt she owed him that explanation. That was when little things got to her, broke her down and threatened to push her to the edge. At least in a crowd, but alone, she felt safer, more secure. It was stupid! She knew that and now she felt silly for saying it. She moved closer to him again, just needing a second to regain her composure before nudging him back and grinning. “My bank account has seen much worse damage, believe me. Mainly shoes.”[/color] In fact, her outfit today totalled more than the dress in the bag, which probably would not be a good thing to admit to anyone, unless it was another socialite or rich girl with daddy’s credit card.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 923
OUTFIT! Pretty Little Thing!
LYRICS! I’ve Got This Friend - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

Den felt like his palms were on fire. A good fire, but fire nonetheless. He hadn’t felt that way since he was a teenager going on his first date. It was kind of awkward and yet it was exciting. He wasn’t as nervous as he was back then, and maybe that was a good thing. He hadn’t really ever felt comfortable around that girl, and with Lexi, it was so easy. “No one looks good in spandex,” he said, shuddering for emphasis. He wasn’t the type to keep things locked up inside, but he wasn’t the type to spill them to the first person that would listen either; not that he had much to tell. The only thing he really kept secret was how his father passed, that was it.

“Sarah actually went out and bought this monstrosity of a coffee maker one of the last few trips she’d made because she couldn’t stand the stuff I made. Not that I blame her, I can’t make a pot of coffee to save my life,” he confessed, laughing at himself and the look on his baby sister’s face the first time she actually got up later than Den and had to drink the horrible concoction her brother made. Even he had troubles swallowing the dark liquid. But with this mechanical artwork sitting on his kitchen counter, he had to admit his coffee before was atrocious.

Denver stopped at the tugging. He wasn’t entirely sure where they were going, but since this seemed to be one of Lexi’s places, he’d put his trust in her and see where they ended up. “I love Italian,” he said, not sure if that was completely true. He loved spaghetti, and that was Italian, right? Den was going to make sure he read over the menu. “Lead the way,” he said, sweeping his hand out in a grand gesture, wanting to make Lexi laugh. He couldn’t get enough of her laugh the last time they were together and he managed to coax it out of her and he wanted to hear more of it now.

“I routinely make an ass of myself by putting my foot in it. I may not have taken a tumble the exact way you have yet, but I’m only twenty-four, I’ve got plenty of time to cross that off my bucket list. And I’ve fallen off a bike, and out of a tree, so I think I’m winning” he said, chuckling. He didn’t want her to think she was stupid or something for tripping up on a bad day. It happened to everyone at least once in their lives, and like most of them, he knew Lexi would overcome this and be better for it. And hey, at least now, when that time finally passed, she would have a great story to tell.

“What you feel is never silly or ridiculous and I was being serious. Often the bigger the crowd, the more we feel alone and the easier it is to think, or not.” Finally that single psych course he taken to try out was paying off. He knew even before signing up for that class back as a freshman that he wanted to be hands on and not sit in a plush chair all day talking about feelings and phobias. But the course looked good on the resume, so he’d added it willingly. “I only go to the harbor because it reminds me of home, which is probably ridiculous because when I was home, I used to run to the mall.” That place was always packed full of people and worked to keep everything at bay. “What is it with women and shoes? They’re like crack to your kind,” he said joking. Denver swore nearly half the calls he made to his sister often had the line “so, I bought a new pair of shoes today” hidden in there somewhere.

•Tag• Lexi <3
•Words• 651•Location• Rockefeller Center
•Clothes• The Doctor’s in
•Lyrics• I'll Be There For You//Bon Jovi
•Notes• <3 <3 <3

[Lexi Piper Ryanne]

Lexi enjoyed how at ease she felt around Denver. He wasn’t like her other friends who could quickly judge someone on face value and not on what really mattered. Lexi wasn’t usually like that either, but there were lapses in her judgement when she was influenced by some of the bitchier of the girls she socialised with. With money came the desire to be the best and some of the girls she knew took their ‘privileges’ a little too far; Lexi was far too passive to mention that to them though. Denver was nothing like that though, and none of her friends got her cheeks burning the way he did, or send tingles up her arm every time his fingers squeezed hers gently. “I’m sure you could work it well.”

[/color] Lexi teased, sticking her tongue out playfully when he shuddered in mock.

She laughed at the image of some killer coffee machine confronting Denver most mornings and then nodded her head slowly in agreement. “Chels did the same with our apartment. My sister has what she likes to call ‘delicate taste’ and so nothing can taste cheap. Ours is some high-tech thing that makes any coffee you could possibly imagine. I’m scared to try some of them.”[/color] Lexi told him with a soft tone, her memory of the day Chelsea had flirted with the delivery guy to carry it up to their apartment, the poor guy almost collapsing under the weight of the unnecessary machine.

A huge grin took over her face when she realised that she got to take Denver to her favourite Italian and, quite possibly, her favourite restaurant in the whole of New York. She bit back the girly squeal she was dying to release and instead pulled him along, playfully crashing into him after his ‘dramatic’ gesture before laughing softly. “This place is amazing. They do the best carbonara I’ve ever tasted.”[/color] She told him happily as she pulled him through the door, into the restaurant, requesting a table for two when the host smiled at her. Keeping hold of his hand, she followed the petite blonde to the table, reluctantly letting Denver go when she realised they needed to sit down. “Do you speak Italian at all?”[/color] She asked randomly, flicking her dark eyes to meet his again, still smiling. The menu was written in Italian for the most part and she had seen people struggle to understand what to order in the past.

She supressed a small chuckled and then raised her eyebrow at him in a rather telling manner, but with a slightly flirtatious twinkle hidden in the dark glow of them. “Falling off a bike and out of a tree make perfect sense. However, considering how co-ordinated I usually am, the incident in Central Park was a lot more appalling than you think it to be.”[/color] She imitated her mother’s voice and then laughed, leaning closer to whisper a confession to him. “I don’t even remember scraping my knees as a child.”[/color] She had always been careful, her mother drumming something about debutante behaviour in her head when she was a toddler. She rarely ran about or tried to climb fences or walls. In a way, she felt she had missed out on some things, but she was thankful for no nasty accidents in her youth.

Lexi rolled her eyes. Not in an annoying way, or in a manner that would suggest Denver was irritating her, but in a way that was directed at herself for being so silly to think that he was mocking her. Of all people, she knew he would never do that; not in a horrible way, at least. “Yeah, I’ve been told that before.”[/color] She said quietly, remembering the reason why she lived with her sister. If there was one thing therapy tried to embed in her it was that she shouldn’t be alone if she felt like she would relapse. Her family interpreted that as she shouldn’t be alone ever.
Smiling at his explanation, she nodded in understanding. “I used to sneak off here ever since I was a teenager. It’s a little less overbearing than my old neighbourhood and hardly anyone recognises me here.”[/color] The freedom from her name and her family was what she needed when she was younger and even when she was ill, she always felt safe here at the Rockefeller.
Lexi laughed and shook her head, biting her lip in thought for a moment before confidently raising her eyes to look into his. This was something she could talk to the death about if pushed, and whilst he was able to examine her head a week ago, this was her area of expertise, aside from ancient history. “Guys never get it. There’s so much power in a pair of shoes that they can change the outcome of a whole day. A great pair of shoes make a girl feel empowered and confident, more so than usual, and even if she’s caught in the rain, the strap on her favourite bag is broken or some asshole has arrogantly hit on her, it’s the shoes that’ll get her through that, regardless of if her feet are blistered by the time she gets home.”[/color] She paused for breath and then her smile widened. “They make a girl look and feel prettier to herself and sometimes that’s all we need.”[/color] She explained, biting her lip again as she finished, another blush rising to her cheeks as she realised how passionately she had just spoken about shoes.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 967
OUTFIT! Pretty Little Thing!
LYRICS! I’ve Got This Friend - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

Denver had never met a girl he felt so comfortable with. But Lexi wasn’t like most of the girls he’d ever had in his life; which weren’t many. She was different, she made him think and he couldn’t get over how sweet she looked when she blushed. He wanted to keep saying little things to keep the tint there. He’d never felt like that before. He didn’t know where this was going with Lexi, but at this point, it didn’t matter to him either, as long as she was around, that was all that mattered. Denver laughed, “Halloween is coming up soon, isn’t it? Maybe I’ll find myself a Superman costume and parade around the city in that. We’ll see how well I can play it off then,” he considered.

Denver bumped his shoulder playfully into Lexi’s. Any form of contact sent shivers through him. “Don’t laugh! That machine was intimidating when I first saw it. I still don’t know all the drinks the things can make, and like you, I’m a little scared to find out,” he admitted, laughing himself. He’d come home from work to find his sister sitting at the breakfast island, sipping at something from a mug he’d later found out was a latte, with this machine sitting on the counter behind her; and her looking all sweet and innocent like she hadn’t gone out and spent a small fortune on a coffee maker.

Before he realized where Lexi was dragging him, they were already slipping through the door to the little Italian place she’d mentioned. Den didn’t think he’d even heard of the place. He’d definitely never been there, but if Lexi said it was good, who was he to deny? Besides, he liked Italian and spending time with Lexi, so combining the two would be fun. “Carbonara sounds great,” he said as they followed the hostess through the restaurant floor to their table, only letting go of Lexi’s hand to pull her seat out for her, and then sit down himself. He smiled, “Only the basics, why?” he asked, confused but amused, too. If the menu wasn’t in English, it looked like Lexi would be ordering for them both.

Denver leaned back and gasped mockingly. He couldn’t remember a day, when he wasn’t out with cold or the flu that he hadn’t been outside. Winters in Corner Brook weren’t the greatest, but they weren’t as cold as other places; though most people thought it would be because of its proximity to the ocean, but winters there were pretty mild. They got a ridiculous amount of snow, but not freezing cold. There were always sports, especially hockey, snowboarding, skateboarding. Denver hadn’t liked being indoors when he was growing up. If he was home, there was usually something wrong. Even when he’d had a girlfriend, or that single boyfriend back in his sophomore year, he’d been outside and rarely did anyone other than his mother, Sarah or close friends even see the inside of his bedroom. If there was ever a reason he was indoors, like a serious storm, he and his friends hung out in the “play room”. “You were seriously missing out if you hadn’t scraped your knee at least once playing around. And falling out of a tree, where I’d been, could have turned bad,” he said, not thinking. He’d never told his mother exactly where he’d fallen out of that tree, but she’d always guessed it had been the forest just outside of town. “A stranger in a sea of people,” he said, getting that. Whenever life just got too much it was always welcome to go somewhere no one knew who you were and you could just be another face in the crowd.

Denny never knew there was so much behind a simple pair of shoes. Sure, he thought they were stunning, and usually made him drool when a girl was wearing a nice pair of heels. He still couldn’t think about guys having the same thought patterns as him when it came to his sister; it was just too weird. He knew Sarah was old enough to wear heels and makeup but as much as she grew up, he kept thinking about the little girl who had trouble with her multiplication; the little girl who science stumped more often than not. She would forever be that little girl, even as she grew up before his very eyes. It almost made him nervous to pick her up the next day. Would she be the same girl he saw only a few months before? Or would she have changed completely? He was thinking, and admittedly acting, like a father; which he was far from. But it was his nature to care about the people in his life. “So much behind a shoe. I won’t say I’ll never make fun of Sarah again, because as her doting big brother, it’s in my contract, but I’ll poke fun less about the shoes,” he said, kind of understanding. If you looked good, you felt good; it was basic psychology.

•Tag• Lexi <3
•Words• 844
•Location• Rockefeller Center
•Clothes• The Doctor’s in
•Lyrics• I'll Be There For You//Bon Jovi
•Notes• <3 <3 <3

[Lexi Piper Ryanne]

Whenever Denver was around, it was almost as if any problems or worries Lexi had just faded away, into thin air. She didn’t panic about grades, worry about social appearances or care about what the rest of the world thought about her. It was a breath of fresh hair for the young brunette and one that was most welcome, especially after a long night working on an assignment about three centuries out of date. Moving her hair from her eyes, she flashed Denver a small, teasing smile. “I’ll be sure to hang around with a camera to capture the moment. Maybe I’ll even be able to convince some magazine or newspaper that you’re the real deal. After all, you’ve already gone and played the hero.”

[/color] A delicate blush crossed her cheeks, but she didn’t shy away like she usually did. Maybe there was a hint of flirting there and maybe it would be the stupidest thing she ever said to him, but now it was out there, and right now, she didn’t want to take it back.

Another chuckle passed her lips, but Lexi tried her best to keep it hidden well. Shaking her head softly, she rolled her eyes. “Everyone tries hundreds of different coffee and then, once they find the one that they love, they stop trying. Personally, my search ended at ‘vanilla latte’.”[/color] She said,the taste of the hot beverage still lingering on her lips, even now. “So, are you a plain Joe when it comes to your caffeine or is there some coffee connoisseur hidden deep with you?”[/color] She joked, a little flirtatious plan forming in her mind that she could put to use at some point in the future if today went well.

She was still a little giddy from the very idea of bringing Denver here and the smile seemed to be fixed in place by the time they were sitting at their table. She rested her bags by her feet and opened up the menu, though she had to agree with Denver; Carbonara did sound great right about now. However, there was no harm in looking over the rest either…god, it all sounded so delicious as her eyes danced over the menu excitedly. “Oh. Um, the menu is pretty much all Italian…”[/color] She bit her lip as she glanced across at Denver, studying his reaction carefully. “Most of the stuff you can kind of guess but there’s a lot that’s kind of incoherent if you don’t know the language.”[/color] Maybe this place wasn’t the best idea she had ever had and she didn’t want Denver to feel awkward or uncomfortable. The only reason Lexi knew Italian well enough for this was because she ate here often and because her family often vacationed in Italy when she was younger.

Lexi shrugged, blushing slightly at what he said. “I didn’t really play around much outside of my bedroom and my dolls. I much preferred to be in the library or something with a good book, rather than play outside as a kid. I was even shier back then.”[/color] Mainly because, back then, she looked nothing like her sisters, who were all well on their way into blossoming into beautiful young women when Lexi was still dealing with unmanageable frizzy hair and a nose that seemed too big for her face back then. Still, she grew into her features eventually, it just took the wrong path to get her to a point of acceptance; something she still walked along delicately, careful not to fall into the fire of her own self-consciousness. “What exactly did you do?”[/color] She asked in relation to his incident with the tree. She was curious, yes, mainly because she had never attempted to climb a tree, let alone fall from one. It always seemed so unnecessary, plus she was never really prepared for such climbing occasions.

She smiled softly. One of the things that she adored about Denver was his love for his sister. Amongst siblings it seemed so rare to find a relationship quite like theirs and she remembered from their introductory meeting how often he mentioned Sarah then too. It was nice to see that he still thought of her often, even though there was quite some distance between them both. Lexi valued traits like that and honestly didn’t believe that there was enough of it in today’s society. “Then, I think that as your little sister, she will appreciate it. Plus, if you stopped teasing her altogether, she may worry what happened to you.”[/color] At least his was always in good nature. As far as Lexi could remember, if her siblings teased each other it was usually spiteful and catty. There was something animalistic about girls that hadn’t quite seemed to pass onto the guys entirely, but there was definitely a terrifying level of loathing, bitterness and revenge that seemed so primal to her that she couldn’t quite understand its origin today. “I don’t want her hunting me down, wondering what I did to turn her wonderful big brother into a shoe appreciating hermit…or something.”[/color] She crinkled her nose as the thought escaped her and then laughed almost silently, putting the menu down on the table and leaning back slightly in her seat.
[/blockquote][/blockquote][/size][/justify]

• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 928
OUTFIT! Pretty Little Thing!
LYRICS! I’ve Got This Friend - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

Denver shook his head, seriously cringing even thinking about wearing a superman costume. Oh, it would be hilarious seeing him all dressed up with underwear on the outside of a pair of tights. Alcohol may have to be a factor if he was going to do that; or maybe not, if Lexi was going to be there, if it was going to make her laugh. “You’ll have to take lots of pictures if you want to remember that. I’ll be pulling a Clark Kent as soon as I get the chance that night,” he said tugging her closer and wrapping his arm around her shoulder with affection. He wasn’t sure where that move had come from, but he liked having her close to him, next to him. He laughed, faking a disgusted look. “I absolutely cannot stand plain old, black coffee. I don’t even know what black coffee is anymore thanks to that machine. And my personal favourite is a caramel Macchiato, heavy on the whipped cream and caramel,” he confessed, laughing.

Sitting at the table, Den opened his menu to see for himself. Sure enough, everything was Italian. And he couldn’t read a word of it. He closed his menu and set it aside, smiling. “Looks like I’ll be putting my culinary fate in your hands. Please don’t kill me,” he said jokingly. Really, it didn’t matter what he ate, there were no allergies he had to be conscious of. And with Lexi ordering, he could listen to her switch from one language to another. “Tell me, Miss Know it all, where did you learn Italian?” he asked, teasingly. It was something not many people knew unless they were Italian, or visited the country. Or maybe Lexi was just one of those people who loved languages and learned as many as she could. Either way, it was cute.

Denver smiled, “I just want to say, you were missing out,” he said, wondering if that were even true. “But, I would have loved to see you sitting around, playing with your dolls. I bet you were the cutest little thing around,” he said, smiling before taking a deep breath. Of course, she’d want to know what happened and of course, he was going to tell her. “There’s a bit of a story behind it, so bear with me for a minute, or you know, twelve. I’ll try and cut it down for you, but you’re probably not going to like it, and please don’t think any less of me for being terribly stupid,” he said, chuckling. There was no way he could retell the entire story in one sitting. It would take hours, and there would be a dozen questions. Hell, it had been seven years and he still had questions about that afternoon hike through the forest.

Thinking about it now, what he and his friends had done was just down right stupid and reckless; which was exactly the reason, and thought process he’d had back then than made him not tell his mother. But with Lexi, he felt compelled to relive the adventure of that day. If Megan Sawyer-Hendricks ever found out what her seventeen year old son did, even now at twenty-four, she’d still lay a beating on him. “A few friends and I were sitting around my backyard, bored with nothing to do. Our lacrosse game wasn’t starting for a few hours and we had nothing really to do to pass the time. So a buddy, Chris, thought it’d be good to work up the adrenaline or whatever before the game by going for a hike. So the four of us piled in my jeep and drove out of town for the closest forest. We had the music blasting and Tommy was singing along, completely off-key- he was a terrible singer but thought himself the next Bon Jovi or something.” Denver could still remember the day as if it had all happened yesterday; the breeze through the jeep with no doors or roof, the music at decibels loud enough to burst eardrums, joking about old Native stories of the forest.

“We stopped at the landmark, the man in the mountain. It’s really cool actually, once you find it. About 10 or so feet from the top of this ridge there’s a face of an old man with two feathers sticking up in his hair made out of the cracks and crevices. It’s amazing,” he said, running down memory lane and how the first time he’d gone there with Sarah, she couldn’t find it and he had to point it out to her. Denver shook his head, smiling at the memories. “Anyway, we parked there, got out and went around, to the flat part of the forest. One thing lead to another and it turned out, when we thought we were going away from the ridge, we were actually going towards it. I hadn’t been keeper of the compass, Henry had been, and he can’t tell his left from his right, so bad choice right there. But we were kids and it was all fun and games. And of course, Chris, being the group idiot, decided to dare us all to climb one of the huge, ancient trees up there. And, naturally, being guys, we were all in. I chose one at random, with tons of branches, easy to climb. I was probably only a quarter of the way up when Chris claimed defeat, then Henry and Tommy. I started to climb down, but Tommy got stuck, he foot got caught and he ended upside down on his tree. I stopped concentrating on getting myself down, to look over and check the damage. I missed the next branch, met air and since I’d already had one hand free to catch the next holding branch, fell. The tree branch I’d been holding onto was really thick and I couldn’t get a proper grip on it. I only fell five or six feet and normally, although it would hurt, it wouldn’t seriously maim. But then I started to roll when I landed. I managed to stop myself just before I fell over the edge of the ridge. None of us had known how close we really were to the top. The trees were so thick and dense that they were still growing right at the edge before the drop, there’s not a single clue to let people know if they keep walking, they’ll fall to their deaths.”

They were seriously lucky that day. The boys had gotten Tommy down off his tree and they’d all managed to walk out of that forest with nothing more than a few scrapes, bumps and bruises. He could have lost his life, but he hadn’t. He’d never told anyone before, but he’d always thought it wasn’t him who managed to stop himself from falling off the edge, but his father looking out for him. He hadn’t told, but mainly because at the time, he hadn’t wanted anyone to think he was crazy, and he definitely didn’t want his mother to find out about it all. She would have grounded him until he died of old age! He sat back, gauging Lexi’s reaction to the story from his teenage years.

Denver knew how annoying it often got with him constantly mentioning his sister. But when he’d still been in Corner Brook, he’d been all Sarah had really. Their mom spent the night at the house, but then was up and out before the crack of dawn and back at her office. And her dad travelled a lot for work so it was rare for him to be home more than the weekends. Denny was the one that dealt with every little problem Sarah had, whether it was boys or math and science homework. Hell, he’d been the one she ran to when she had “girl problems” as she’d said to him that first time. He was practically playing parent and not having a damn clue what to do about it; especially since by that time, he was already in New York at school. But he still had friends in Corner Brook and had called up one of the girls he used to hang out with, whom Sarah had trusted back then and she helped a lot with all the issues Denver was clueless in. Denver leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “I’m really sorry about mentioning Sarah all the time. It was hard growing up for her. I was really the only one around when she was little. But, I know it gets a little annoying when I go off on memory lane,” he said chuckling. “I doubt she’d hunt you down for that. She’d probably thank you for giving me a lobotomy.” There were worse things in the world than changing a little bit for a girl you enjoyed being around, and especially one that didn’t mind you rambling on about your little sister as often as Den did.

•Tag• Lexi <3
•Words• 1 498
•Location• Rockefeller Center
•Clothes• The Doctor’s in
•Lyrics• I'll Be There For You//Bon Jovi
•Notes• <3 <3 <3

[Lexi Piper Ryanne]

She smiled at him, trying to picture him in the Superman costume. Lexi genuinely thought that he could pull off the whole Superman persona. There was something about him that would just suit the type so well, but then maybe she was biased after their first meeting in which she still insisted that he saved the day. Maybe not literally, but he had cheered her up when she thought nothing could do so and she’d been in a rather happy mood for the rest of the week, her mind constantly replaying their time in the park as though it was some old movie on a reel, embedded in her mind. Fake pouting, she looked at Denver with wide eyes. “But where’s the sense of daredevil in that?”

[/color] She chuckled, an almost silent gasp slipping from her lips when he pulled her closer. She didn’t fight against it though, the shivers his touch sent through her silencing her thoughts and words for a few seconds as she settled into the sensation of having his arm around her. Her head rested on his chest for a moment as she welcomed this new hold and then she brought herself back to the conversation. “Sounds like someone has a sweet tooth.”[/color] She teased, gently elbowing him in the side. At least she now had a way of surprising him at the hospital if she wanted it. She could bring him his favourite coffee and put it down to being kind-hearted and not just searching for an excuse to see him.

Lexi bit her lip and watched as he looked over the menu with a confused expression. She should’ve thought about this earlier, but she was too wrapped up in the excitement of sharing this place with someone that she forgot all about it. “I’m not capable of murder and how horrible a way would that be for me to say thanks?”[/color] She said with a small laugh and a faux expression of hurt. “Okay, we’ll play it safe and I’ll order you the carbonara. It really is the best I’ve ever had. And then…I’ll get us an appetiser to snack on while we wait.”[/color] There was something about how creamy the sauce was that just made Lexi melt in her seat whenever she had it, but her stomach was growling already and waiting for it to cook would feel like a lifetime.
Blushing again, she looked down at the tablecloth and then bit her lip as she looked back at Denver. She was about to answer his question when the waiter came over and lo and behold, it was one who knew her. He smiled warmly and then looked between her and Denver. Lexi famously came here alone and now she had been caught by the staff with a guy. Before he could say anything to her though, she jumped in with their order; she blushed enough when Denver was around without needing Italian help. “Buon pomeriggio, Anthony. Per antipasto vorremo crostone con pomodoro, aglio, basilica e olio extravergine di oliva. Per primi vorremo spaghetti alla carbonara, per favore.”[/color] She smiled up at him and then nodded her head when he asked if that was all.
Blushing, she turned back to Denver and then chuckled nervously. “My family like their vacations, but my dad likes us to know the native language of the places we visit. Italy was one of his favourites when I was younger. Plus, I’m a historian. Kind of comes in handy to know a few other languages besides English.”[/color] She explained. It helped terrifically when she wanted to specialise in European history and artefacts and Italian, Greek, Latin and Spanish were all amazing languages to know for her dream to become a reality someday.

Shaking her head, Lexi nervously met Denver’s gaze and held it surprisingly well, considering how uncomfortable she usually got talking about her childhood. “No. I was far from cute. There’s a reason my mother hides the childhood photos of me in our house.”[/color] Most of them were hidden, but they were mainly hidden because Lexi had requested it. She didn’t like remembering what had drove her to such extreme measures when she was younger and therapeutically had almost demanded that they were removed, save a few family ones that she simply didn’t look at whenever she visited the family home. “But I do feel like I missed out. Books can tell you things but they can’t give you the experience of them.”[/color] That was why, after graduation, Lexi wanted to travel for the summer and look at some of the wonders that her books granted her access to, but needed to be seen up close to be fully appreciated. Plus, if she’d socialised more as a child, maybe people wouldn’t have bullied her in school and maybe she would have had a happier teenage period.

“I’m listening.”[/color] She smiled, leaning closer to hear the tale he had to tell. Whilst she was a very private person, others did spark her curiosity and she always longed to know more. When it came to Denver, she kind of wanted to know everything, even if asking questions was just a way to hear his deep, soothing voice for a long period of time.
As his story grew to a close, her jaw fell slack and her eyes were wide. Even her glasses had slipped down her nose again, but she made no effort to put them back into place. See, she had messed with her health, had the death warnings too, but never had it been so…real, like his seemed to be. Finally she found her tongue. Her hand found his on the table and her fingers wrapped around it, almost reassuringly, but for what reason, she didn’t know. “You could’ve died. Suddenly my recluse childhood seems a lot safer than I gave it credit for.”[/color] Her heart was thumping at the thought of what could’ve happened to him, even though she didn’t know him back then. “I’m so glad you were alright, but maybe you should lay off climbing trees in the future. Stick to something safer, like pool.”[/color] She smiled softly, “The best I could do if you fell from one now would be to panic.”[/color] She didn’t handle blood and guts at all well.

Smiling affectionately, Lexi shook her head and squeezed Denver’s hand again as her dark eyes met his. “Don’t apologise. I think it’s sweet how much you care about her. Too many siblings waste their lives fighting all the time. She’s lucky to have you of all people for her big brother.”[/color] She told him sincerely, smiling all the while. He really was a great guy and a rare find in New York. “I’ll take it all back if it’s going to lobotomise you! I don’t want to be the girl who does that to you.”[/color] She laughed warmly and then shrugged lightly, thinking about how she should probably pull her hand back before their appetisers arrived. “You’re great the way you are.”[/color] She smiled nervously and began to move her hand back across the tablecloth, suddenly growing very self-conscious about everything and anything.
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 1,254
OUTFIT! Pretty Little Thing!
LYRICS! I’ve Got This Friend - - - The Civil Wars
NOTES! <3