F is for Forgiven

Lou Hiatt had arrived at the hill at about 4:59 PM. He was punctual. Usually. (His on time percentage in high school was 48% but that's a secret all his former friends knew.) Turns out, the boy did have a button-up shirt.

His butterflies nearly made him throw up his coffee. He didn't know if he was dreading it or looking forward to it. He kinda wanted her to like how he looked, because he had put some effort into it. He tried to iron his black shirt with a hot water bottle, and it seemed to work fairly well, actually. He found it the day before deep in his trunk he brought from Detroit, wrinkled like an old lady's face. He had to borrow a tie from a sibling, a classy silk red tie, tied neatly on his collar. He thought he'd had forgotten. Maybe it was like riding a bike, though.

His pants were fitted black dress pants with a red stripe down the sides, and he wore his brand new black Vans. And amazingly, he had his hair down, only slightly gelled into a purposely messy hairstyle, and his eyeliner was significantly less. It gave him a warmer look to have a single line on each lid.

What is color?

His leg tapped nervously, and along with the music blasting through his headphones. The cab he called was late. God damn it.

Mariasonia had run through her checklist fifteen times already. She knew very well she hadn't forgotten anything. She was just so frazzled, still racing though she knew she had miraculously made it. She had to stand in her cabin for three minutes just to calm herself down. Oversleeping would never be an option to her again.

Despite only having an hour or so to get ready, she'd managed relatively well. She'd dug up a black peplum dress with a lace neckline and used a blow drier to remove the few wrinkles that came from her neat little folding technique, as well as some black heels, thankfully bringing her up a few inches. Her makeup had been a rather wild endeavor, which eventually led to the complicated gold and black eyeshadow she wore, along with a generous dash of eyeliner and mascara, bringing out her brown eyes and highlighting the golden flecks in them. The look was completed with a light swish of blush to her cheeks, and some rosy lipstick that stood out marvelously against her pale complexion. She had been planning on pulling her hair up, but after spending so much time on her makeup, she had been forced to wear it down in long, silky waves that tickled her neck and annoyed the hell out of her.

All in all, she was showing more skin than usual, and certainly trying for a bit more attention, but she liked it. It felt good to step out of her classic mold, and knowing that it was something no one of her original family would approve of made it ten times better. She'd finally found a harmless way to get past that nailed-shut window.

As she neared the crest of the hill, she checked her watch nervously, moving her scattered bangles so she could see. 5:01. Perfect timing.

She reached the top of the green landmass, and, feeling slightly awkward and not knowing exactly what to say, cleared her throat slightly, shifting her weight from one leg to another.

"Oh, Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed, spinning on his heel swiftly. He slowed as his eyes fell upon Mariasonia, and the blood rushed to his face, giving him a nice blush. The girl really was beautiful. And bammin' slammin' bootylicious. But he'd never say that to her. Probably.
He stood staring at her for a good five seconds before snapping out of it. Willed his heart to slow. If he threw up now that wouldn't be too attractive.
"You look beautiful, Mary. Really." He gave her a soft smile, hoping to convey that he was serious. He looked behind him at the street, stammering, "Uh, sorry the cab isn't, here yet."
Then Lou turned back to her and grinned, returning to his usual self. "You look hot, babe. So, first, I say we get ourselves some show tickets. Then, as we wait, maybe a proper dinner. With the lap napkins and everything."

She blushed at his compliment, ducking her head and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear to try and hide the sudden rush of heat to her face. "You don't look too bad, either," She replied, stepping closet to him. She enjoyed this cleaned-up version of him a lot. It made her a bit more comfortable.

"Lap napkins? Oh, wow. I never knew you had such high standards," She joked, in an overall good mood at just being in the moment. It would no doubt be over soon, and she would no doubt try to convince herself that she had things to work on and needed to cram in order to make up for this night. The thoughts didn't even cross her mind, though. For a rare moment in history, she was completely genuine.

Lou smiled warmly at her and stepped closer to Mary, wrapping his arm around her waist. He saw the cab speeding up in the distance. He hoped the smell of smoke didn't follow him, hoped that it wasn't actually on everything he owned. She must have been used to it, but the weird sense of wanting to at least be decent tonight filled his head. None of it made sense.
Through his butterflies, he had no swelling, pink heart about to burst, nor did he truly have pink around the edges of his vision.
But he didn't realise. How would he know what that was like?
He thought perhaps a blush and a beating heart were the beginnings of something. He knew himself to know it might not last long, but he wanted to hang on to the pink-tinted idea for as long as he could. He was sick of feeling cold in his chest, but he never wanted to face why. Maybe he was just a sociopath and didn't know it. It's possible.
The yellow car beeped and pulled Lou from his reverie. "Oh," he whispered. "C'mon then."

She felt a small tingle run down her spine as he wrapped his arms around her, and she smiled, looking up into his face, which, due to her heels, wasn't such an impossible task. For a moment, and just a short one, she started to think that maybe she was something special to him, that she wouldn't get tossed aside, that she would be different. The thought was quickly interrupted, though, by a short blast of a car horn.

She jumped slightly, startled at the sound. She was used to the sound of pounding hooves, not blasting car horns. Then again, it had been six years since she'd gotten out, two of those spent outside of the camp. It must have just been the fact that it had been so long since she'd actually left the camp. In all of her four years being there, she'd only left six or so times, and only for short periods when she did.

She slid into the yellow cab's seat. The vehicle was just as dirty and torn up as the other few she'd taken, though she really didn't mind. She didn't want first class treatment, she'd received that for the first twelve years of her life. As spoiled as it sounds, it wouldn't feel special to her at all. She wanted something different, something she hadn't been raised to believe was right and proper. And if that meant a dirty cab, by gods, she would ride that dirty cab to China.

The cab took off once again, and Mariasonia kept her eyes drawn towards the surrounding environment that flew past her.

Ooc: Sorry, I had some random five minute breaks of free time so I kinda just added to it when I could without realizing how long it got xD

the dirty cab somehow calmed Lou down. the idea of going back to the dirty city, with the long, crowded streets and the anonymity (because no one really cares, they have things to do.) he had left detroit for new york, so why didn't he stay there? get a job, get an apartment. wasn't that his plan? new york was like this shining light of freedom, even if he did leave one city for another. so many great stories came from new york, great people. he thought maybe he could have one of those. he should have known a long time ago that wasn't going to be so easy.

but whatever. lou was trying to stay positive, right? he was on a date. a real date. it wasn't a novel idea to him, but he couldn't remember the last time he had a date that involved such.. domestic things. or the last time he had a date with someone who didn't smoke or do something physically self-destructive. well, sleep deprivation and obsession could be self-destructive, but mary was different, obviously.

the scenery rushed past them and lou almost got car sick, but instead turned to mary, and the world was in another dimension. the sun was going down, casting that beautiful grey tone of twilight on everything, and the moon is just beginning to rise and the streets lights have turned on even if it's too bright for them yet. those tones were the tones lou lived for, and they created the most peaceful moments. life stopped during those moments, even if it were just a second. cars could be getting in accidents and parents could be fighting and the cops could be blaring their sirens but once that moment happened, nothing mattered.

and just like that, the moment was over and lou found his way closer to mary, and brought her close to him. a hand on her waist, pressed together. simple. soft.

Mariasonia gasped slightly when she was drawn away from the beautiful view outside the window by the presence of someone else's touch against her. After quickly realizing it was only Lou, however, she allowed herself to be pulled closer towards him, keeping her eyes on the sky. Stars were just starting to appear, and she kept trying to convince herself that if she just watched one spot long enough, she could actually see the moment where one twinkled into existence. She'd done this all the time when she was younger, staring outside her window and waiting to see a miracle in the works.

Out of nowhere, or at least it seemed that way, a small hint of the glimmering buildings of a city crested a small hill. After a while, it was more and more visible, showing off a dazzling skyline against a faded blue sky.

"Wow," Was all she managed as she got the best view so far. True, she'd been to the city before, but she was typically too distracted too notice or it was too light out to really appreciate the view in all its beauty.

It always took his breath away. The lights. The darkening sky contrasted so much against the city, the lights creating their light pollution. If it were cloudy, it would be orange-grey and creating a sense of security. One that Lou couldn't describe.
He felt something warm stem from inside him. His utter love for the city. Its light and dark places. The sense of home despite never having lived there.
The cab stopped on a curb near Main Street after a while, and Lou handed the man at the wheel his due, which was kind of outrageous, Lou thought.
He took Mary by the hand and led her onto the sidewalk.

Mariasonia gratefully took his hand, sliding out of the cab with the kind of grace that only came from hours of torturous practice, taking a look down both sides of the sidewalk. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts as she gazed up at the large buildings and the lights, the cars racing down the road behind one another. That is, until some guy rammed into her back, pushing her forward into Lou.

She blushed slightly, pushing away lightly and brushing herself off. "Shall we continue?" She asked, keeping close to him so as to not get dragged off by the crowd.

Lou put his arm around Mary's shoulders, giving the man's back a dirty look. He held her close and he weaved through the crowd with expert ease. If he were alone, he would be already deep into the city, but he was with Mary, and he truly wanted to show her the beautiful city.
"Okay," he whispered to her, "We're nearly at Times Square. It's the best place to start, you're gonna love it."
Along with the crowd, they took a turn around a corner. The bright faces of hundreds of screens stuck out, flashing bulbs, beeping cars. Lou moved out of the crowd to stand behind a parked Mercedes, where the crowd to their right wouldn't bother them, and the wall of cars to their left wouldn't touch them.

OOC: CARINA I LOVE YOU STOP KILLING ME SLOWLY


BIC:
She had to say, she wasn't prepared for the sudden burst of color that entirely attacked her eyes with and assault of red, yellows, and greens. She'd been to Time Square before, years ago, and she hadn't imagined it could change much. But. Damn.

It certainly had changed a lot. Brick buildings were interrupted by towering skyscrapers with metal walls that looked light and dangerous at the same time. It was noisy. It was bright. It was distracting. It was filled with subliminal advertising and flashing lights. It was beautiful.

"Its so..." She began, searching for the right word. Pretty? No. Surprising? Not quite. "Bright," She finally decided, a bit of a laugh added into the word as it was as close as she could get to describing the radiance of it all.

Lou smiled as he looked around the square. "It is bright," was all he said. Looking at the lights would never be enough for him. He wished he could have the light inside his soul, or something weird like that. He wanted to keep the light forever.
He loved that city far too much. He tightened his hold on Mary a little bit more, snapping out of it. He missed it already, even though it was all in front of him. Lou looked down at Mary and smiled, seeing her face. That was adorable, and reflected exactly what he felt the first time, the second time, even now.

Mariasonia continued looking at the precious lights that somehow reflected warmth directly onto her, causing a rare, genuine smile to creep up and surprise her. It was odd how much it reminded her of candlelight, though they were near opposites.

She stood there for a few more moments, before remembering that the evening was still young and that they still had much to do. "You've set the bar relatively high, you know. It'll be hard to find something better than this," She commented, leaning back on the car behind them and looking up at him, crossing her ankles.

OOC: Sorry, super busy lately w shopping, working, and internet problems.

Lou just gave her a warm smile. "I know."
He took her by the shoulders and, delaying just a tad, shoved them onto the sidewalk, into the crowd. They were swallowed into the mass of beige and yelling and people of all sorts, even some that didn't smell too nice. If he was correct, Broadway was fifteen minutes from there, and Central Park fifteen minutes from Broadway. He wasn't too sure. He didn't have much planned, truly. "I said we'd see a show, right? Well," he spoke into her ear. He watched as the lights flashed over her cheeks and neck and shoulders. "I'm not much one for musicals, but they say that when you come to New York, you have to see a Broadway show. Were those around when you were.. Uh, young, right?"

She was overtaken by the crowd pretty quickly, though she hardly took much notice. A few horse carriages transporting excited passengers trotted down the street, and she watched them as she thought for a few seconds. "I don't believe so. They had theaters and the like, of course, but I've never really seen a show before," she replied, breaking her gaze off the horses and bringing it back towards him. To be entirely honest, she'd never thought 'Oh, I'd love to see a musical one day', but, as she pondered over the idea a bit more, it did seem strangely appealing.

At the same time, his closeness to her grew more and more obvious, and she was trying to decide between pushing him away and savoring it as much as she could. Of course, it was hard to have reasonable personal space on such a crowded street, and the first option would lead to awkwardness that she really wanted to avoid, so she decided that the latter was perfectly okay. Yeah. That's exactly the reason.

Lou gave her another smile as they walked along the street. The giant groud began to thin out as they passed a subway entrance. HE thought back to his first time on a New York subway. It was very unpleasant, but looking back, he had seen worse. It was crowded and hot and smelly but really not too bad.
The sea of black and beige and /boring/ flowed down undergound, allowing Lou to put some space between him and Mary. He followed her gaze towards the horse carriages and made a mental note to get one of those on the way back. Or the way to the park. Just, at some point. His lack of planning was starting to bite him on the butt.
The Broadway signs began to get closer as they walked towards the street, the green 'Wicked' posters standing out. All Lou knew about that was that is about the Wizard of Oz, and that it was supposedly really good. He had never seen the Wizard of Oz all the way, though. There were a few others that Lou wouldn't mind watching.
Looking around, something caught his eye among the rest of the organized chaos. The unmistakable shape of the heart grenade plastered on a small flyer with the words 'American Idiot.' His breath hitched. No way. No way no way no way. That would make musicals a million times more bearable. Look at him, he was made for that album.
But wait, it said 'final shows.' Dated for years ago. Off Broadway. Shattered dreams all over the place.

As the crowd thinned out, she glanced quickly at all the signs displaying the shows. None of them looked particularly interesting to her, something about a lion king and Aladapin or something. She stopped, though, at rather grey and creepy looking poster. "How about that one? The Phantom of the Opera," She mused, figuring the name sounded a bit strange and classical in comparison to the others.

"Unless you have something specific you want to see," She added, seeing his face fall at the site of something. She followed his gaze to find that he was either looking at a very sad looking trashcan, or a poster stating "Off Broadway". American Idiot? How odd. Mariasonia thought all Americans were idiots, outside of the few she'd actually had time to talk to. Why would you make a musical about being an idiot in America?

Lou just laughed and turned back to her, shaking his head. "No, Phantom of the Opera sounds fine. I've heard about it before." Out of all the shows, he thought that one was the best choice. Phantom is a ghost, right? So it's a scary show. Right? It sounded better than the Book of Mormon. Whose idea was that?

He took her hand and led her towards the sign that proudly blared "The Phantom of the Opera" above their heads. Like it was screaming to the sky "I AM HERE!" Something he used to do from the roof of his apartment building in Detroit. He'd sit out there, laying out on his back and watch the sky. There wasn't usually anything to look at. Just an orange sky. It was a good chance to think if he was calm. If he wasn't, he'd spend the night pacing and screaming. He wasn't quite so calm a lot of the time.

As they neared ever closer, Lou smiled at her and started hurrying a little, dragging her along. At the ticket window he payed (How much?? Do you take cash?) and thus escorted her inside.

Promptly after announcing the name of the show she was dragged inside the door and over to the ticket window. She was surprised to find herself laughing rather than stubbornly standing there and insisting they walk properly. She was happy and relieved and joyous and worried and sick of all of it at the same time, and it was the most confusing thing she'd ever felt. Then again, it was also the best. With Lou, she always felt like a fish out of water. She'd gotten the bait, but now she couldn't breathe. Fair trade? Probably not. Did she care? Not at all.

They entered the crowded theater quickly, heading to one of the areas farthest back in the large room. BY the time they actually found seats, the stage looked about half the size it had been before. She didn't really care, though. She was just happy to even be there. The majority of the people were all dressed pretty casually, she noticed, outside of the few in suits and full-out gowns who seemed to seemed to be moving up towards the very front. They kind of reminded her of when her father had taken the family to the opera house when she was eleven. She'd been forced into a stupid dress and jacket and had refused to leave the house. After half dragging her into the theater, she'd sat for five hours, twirling a loose strand of hair and purposefully slouching, a near impossible task due to how tight the dress was. Her sisters had loved it, of course, meaning they returned at least five times.

The lights began to dim and the stage was brightened as a voice boomed through the theater saying something about phones and enjoying the show. The curtains opened soon after, announced with the booming of an orchestra.

Lou followed Mariasonia to a dark corner of the theater, quite far from the stage. It was a good thing he had good vision (lie). The dark part of his brain began to take over again, the clarity he had achieved in Times Squares surrounded by lights was fading. A dark corner of a theater with a girl with that body. It was basically a teen movie cliche and he was going to eat it up.

The lights went down soon after he settled in his seat. He, of course, was courteous enough to already have his phone off, seeing as he didn't have one. Oops. The orchestra expertly began to play, the sounds echoing through the room. Lou put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her a little closer. His hand ran up and down her arm softly and he looked down her, smiling. "I'm looking forward to it." If it were not dark, he would be certain she could see the malice returning into his eyes.

As the orchestra kept playing their... set? Is that what it's called? Well, as the orchestra kept playing, Lou began to lean his head on hers, and started kissing her cheek. Was this happening a little fast? Maybe. He couldn't help himself. The city made him feel right in all the wrong ways. It may not be the best way to be, but he doesn't know any other way. And he didn't want to know any other way. He barely noticed where they were anymore, who was around them. All he payed attention to was his hand making its way to her waist and her lips.

Mare wasn't really paying much attention, to be honest. Mostly it was all driven to the fact that, now that the lights had dimmed, their seating area became significantly more dark. She felt completely and utterly alone, outside of the eyeshadow-crazed boy beside her who kept making her feel things she didn't want to feel and whom her father would certainly not approve of.

And then his arm was around her. She breathed in quickly and harshly, her already-strict posture tensing for a few startled seconds. And then he pulled her closer and it was all gone and she hated it. She hated that he could do that for no reason, that he was suddenly the thing that relieved her, and yet still made her feel so on edge. She hated it, despised it, wanted the feeling to be dead, but, at the same time, she savored it. Contact with him made her skin ignite and sent a pure rush of adrenaline through her, as if she were doing something she knew she shouldn't, and didn't care, because she was getting away with it. It was terrifying and amazing and dreaded and longed.

And then he was kissing her cheek. She tensed again, though this time closer into him, and she'd lost it. The self she'd grasped so desperately onto had slipped away into the back of her mind, screaming at her to stop or push him away or run, but she couldn't. His hand found her waist. Her lips met his. Her mind went blank and she felt as if she sat there for hours, just lost and moving closer into him. She knew people were probably trying to ignore them and that this entire endeavor was extremely rude and improper and she didn't care. She wanted more, she wanted to be so lost she couldn't even remember where she was, her name, her entire life--

A loud scream cut through the air, and Mariasonia broke away, heart racing as she looked for its source, only to find that it was a lady in a bustle dress (without a corset, she noted somewhere in the back of her mind, with a tinge of disappointment) backing quickly away from another figure on stage.

Lou nearly jumped right out of his seat, only very quietly letting out a small squeal of surprise, resembling something like a balloon losing air. That wasn't fair! He had her right there, he knew. He had her melting in his arms, her muscles tensing and relaxing under his touch, and his kiss. Exactly what he wanted to do with a kiss like that. This night was going more Mary- like than he had planned, but it was a city and it was it was infecting him.

But the scream tore him out of it. Tore the city out of him for a moment and he was forced to look the stage and the actress that was accountable. It's starting, he supposed. Hopefully it lowered his heart rate. However, he kept glancing at Mary, wondering what she was thinking.

Mariasonia leaned back against her seat, not even caring that she was slouching as she focused on  slowing her breath and steadying her heart rate. Oh, gods, sometimes she missed the bone-crushing pressure of corsets. It made it so much easier to calm yourself down when the risk of hyperventilation was so imminent. Until, of course, you become even more frightened at the risk.

When she'd finished her tirade on the usefulness of strict shapewear, her panting and pulse had slowed to a skipping drawl. Now her main concern was how to react to what the hell that was. Running away would leave her with no way to get home, as well as any sort of violence. Trying to talk about it would only result in an awkward situation leaving her even more confused. Eventually, she just decided to act as if nothing had happened at all.

The show came to a close, and Mariasonia could she enjoyed it in the second half where she'd been able to pay a bit of attention. Though not completely accurate, the music was nice, and the costumes were...okay. She figured that the cast and writer had tried, so that was something.

The lights slowly came back on and she immediately reached into her bag and pulled out her mirror. She refused to walk down the streets looking like a clown. After fixing her makeup (which was absolutely not half-smeared across her face), she prepared to leave, placing her bag over her shoulder and standing up, motioning for Lou to go ahead of her. Even if her hair was tangled and completely undone, she refused to be impolite.

As the lights came up Lou carefully rubbed this eyes as much as he could without smudging his eyeliner. That, of course, was important. He watched her move out of the way and smirked down at her as he passed. He paused for a moment to take hold of her hand in his right and escorted her back out into the street.

The show wasn't bad. He did fall asleep at one point, because come on. The seats were pretty comfy and he was tired of Erik's misery. Like dude, was any of that necessary? He supposed that they sang well, though, which was pretty much the point of a musical.

Once outside, he took Mariasonia to the side of the walk, letting other show goers pass to wherever they parked their cars. He took both of her hands in his and smiled. Then he brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, smiling. He leaned down and spoke to her, "Ready to go back yet?"