hold me down | closed

Chris had tried his hardest for the past year to try and put the events of the mountain behind him. While there are days when he breaks down at the simple thought of Blackwood Pines, Chris knew he had become stronger. A big step he took was breaking up with Ashley; and removing himself from the city he grew up in, having too many memories that reminded him of the mountain's events.

Currently, he sat in a coffee shop delicately sipping his mocha. He loved this coffee shop - nobody knew him, nobody there to bring up the past... His earbuds were in, and he was lost in the music (as per usual). With the occasional tap of his fingers against the cup, Chris found himself observing everyone; something he did frequently when lost in his thoughts. Nobody seemed to be out of the ordinary in the coffee shop - and even thought he had only been there a week, he could already rack up a sense of what they did in their lives.

The guy who always sat by the window was, to Chris, a business man who had a shit social life as he always was in a suit and on his phone. A woman and her child always sat at the center of the shop, and the child had a sweet tooth - judging by the fact she always asked for a hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles.

The door chimed, which he heard even despite his music, and looked up and saw a woman with chocolate brown hair... He hadn't noticed her before - he was sure he would of noticed her.

---

Abigail was sat on a park bench, sketchbook out and frantically using the charcoal in her hand to sketch the scenery. The young woman recently moved to the town due to her wanting to escape her past, and she heard some good things about the views here. So, that's why she spent most of her time in the park, sketching the trees and the ponds scattered around the lush green grass.

She normally sat on the ground sketching, and there was always this boy who sat on the bench across from her. Abigail wanted to sketch him sometimes, he was always looking up or around at the park; but, despite how sketch-able he looked, never did it because she was never close enough to capture his features.

Now sitting on that very bench, she looked up briefly to capture the shape of the small pond, before returning back to her sketching. Out of the corner of her eye she saw somebody sit down, but ignored it, knowing she was best off keeping her mouth shut.

But, the silence killed her, so she opened her mouth. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" Her British accent coming through in her words, she used up the last of her charcoal before wiping her hands on her jeans and reaching down into her back for some colored chalk.

@ broken troubles

Lillian walked through the coffee shop to get to the counter. After ordering and receiving her latte, she began to look around, wanting to a place to sit. The main reason why she came was not for the coffee, but to be able to use the wi-fi since it was currently out at her own apartment. Running a hand through her hair, Lillian let out a small sigh as she noticed that all of the tables were occupied. Now the question was who would she actually be okay with sitting by.

Any small, two person tables were out of the question and Lillian wanted to avoid tables with large groups. Which only gave her three options. One of them was a business man by the widow, and the mere fact that the man seemed a little stuck up striked him off of her list. That narrowed it down to the man listening to music while drinking his coffee and then the older gentleman who was eating his lunch. She felt like she would have better luck with the music guy.

Lillian walked over to the rectangular, four person table and smiled over at blonde gently. It seemed like he wasn't waiting for a group of people- or rather she at least hoped that he wasn't. Shifting the backpack on her shoulders, Lillian then pointed to the seat that was diagonal to him. "Are you saving this seat for anyone?" She wasn't sure if he would be able to hear her with the headphones on, but she hoped he at least understood what she wanted.

---

Joshua lifted his head up when the girl next to him started to speak. He looked over at her in surprise. First of all, surprised that she wanted to just start a conversation with him. And secondly, her accent threw him off a bit. Usually, Joshua didn't run into a lot of British people so it was just unexpected.

He took a moment to look around the park and see the beautiful day that she had mentioned. Joshua had been too lost in his own thoughts to really notice the weather. It had been only a little over a year ago after everything that happened on the mountain...and to his friends. And while Joshua did try to push it all behind him, the memories would still creep up. And it was difficult to not thing of the friends that he had lost and the things he had seen...the things that he had done. It had taken him a long time to just get to the point where he was more emotionally stable. A lot of therapy and medication too.

"It is nice enough out." Josh told her with a light shrug. He then leaned back into the bench, trying to relax. As much as his mind seemed to always been on the mountain, he did try his best to be more present in what was happening around him. His eyes looked over to the sketchbook that the girl was focused on. "What are you sketching?"

Chris looked up when he saw a pair of feet by his table, and took his headphones off in confusion after not hearing what she said. When he saw her pointing, he felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Letting out a small chuckle, he nodded his head. "Sure, go ahead.. I was afraid that you came over to tell me my music was too loud or something."

With a delicate smile, he took a singular sip of his mocha before placing it down on the table. Ever since the mountain, he's always expected the worse - the reason why he thought she came over to tell him it was her seat or his music was too loud. However, some ounce of the normal Chris remained - the goofy, technology-obsessed nerd that everyone loves.

"I'm Chris, your favorite neighborhood geek." Chris thought it would be nice to introduce himself, but not in that way. Mentally, he was slapping himself. What kind of idiot quotes spider-man for a first impression? For a sense of security, he took another long sip of his mocha, almost hiding behind the mug as he took his sips.

---

Abigail smiled when the person spoke to her - too many times had she tried to strike up a conversation with someone and they'd just ignore her or move away from her. "I'm trying to get the perfect angle of this park; and I think I've finally found the perfect place to capture the character of it.." Pausing for a moment, she turned her sketchbook towards him and showed him her picture.

This was the dude that always sat here.. Wait, was she in his spot? No, he normally sat on the left side of the bench, never the right.

"What do you think? It's not the best; charcoal isn't my most loved tool, but it's the only thing I found to use today." Bringing the book back onto her lap, she looked down at the piece of art, before back up at the scenery. Soon after she looked back down, almost as if she was trying to find something. "Ah, shit... I added an extra tree. Great!" Letting out a breath, she rubbed her temples with her slim fingers. "Don't worry, it's fine; you can just erase it." She mumbled seemingly to herself, before she looked at Josh. "Ah, shit - manners. I'm Abigail." With a soft smile, she closed the book before shoving it back into her bag, having enough of drawing for one day.

Lillian let out a light laugh as she slid into her seat. "Well hello Chris, neighborhood geek." She said, smiling at him widely. His introduction had been rather funny, and a little adorable too. Especially with how he seemed embarrassed after saying it. "I am Lillian. Though I can't say that I have a neighborhood title yet since I just moved here a few weeks ago. I guess it will have to be something I work on."

Leaning back into her chair, Lillian pulled out her computer and set it down on the table. She opened it up and connected to the wi-fi there. Oh it was so good to finally have an internet connection again. It had been almost a week since her apartment's internet had broken down and it was taking the building and the internet company forever to fix it. Lillian wasn't sure what she was going to do if it wasn't working soon. She didn't want to have to spend all of her time in the coffee shop...

Taking a sip of her coffee, she then looked back at Chris. He was cute. And his glasses definitely did give him a bit of a nerdy/geeky vibe. Lillian wanted to keep talking to him. "So if you don't mind me asking, what kind of music are you listening to?"

---

Joshua glanced down at the sketch that Abigail showed him. He looked at it until she put it away in her bag. His eyes then went up to the girl sitting next time him, giving her a light smile. "I think that it looks like with the extra tree." He told her before giving her a small shrug. "Though I guess I don't know much about art so maybe don't take my word on it."

Joshua started to run his hand through his hair. He wasn't quite sure what to do with this stranger. It was nice that she wanted to talk to him, and he did appreciate the fact that she did. Though he felt awkward about the whole thing...and it had been a while since he talked to people outside of his current circles. It was just hard to relate to people anymore. They had never been through what he had, many of them never even feeling what he had.

"My name is Joshua. Though you can call me Josh." He said, introducing himself to her. What should he do now? Abigail seemed nice, and friendly. Plus she was rather cute. Joshua then moved his hands onto his thighs, pressing them down. "So are you an artist full time or is it just something that you do for fun?"