Since no one is reading Star, (except Gemz, but not on here. You're my lovely exception dearie) I've decided, on a whim, to post up the start of my new story idea. It may never end, but I think the beginning is okay. :)

As the coca cola parrot used to say: 'Enjoy!'

please R&R, as they say in fanfic...

It was crowded in the club tonight, but it was hardly unusual. Astrid pushed her way through to the bar, armed with her little pink handbag and her elbows. When she reached her destination, she gave a little sigh of relief and then started sorting through her handbag in search of her money. It was only a small bag – tiny even – but it was incredible how much stuff she had in there – lip gloss, keys, mirror, mobile…where was her money?
A man walked up next to her and put his empty glass on the bar. “Just give me something good, Steve,” he said, and the barman took the glass and filled it up. “And…something for the lady?” Astrid looked up from her search for the missing money. The man was looking right at her. A lock of unruly dark hair flopped over his eyes, which looked grey – or maybe blue – she couldn’t tell in this light.
“Uh…” the barman was watching her too. “A Smirnoff Ice please,” she said after recovering from the initial shock.
“Which flavour?” Steve the barman asked her.
“Oh, anything.” he duly produced the drink for her and the man next to her handed over the money for it. Then he turned his attention back to her.
“May I ask you name?” She could feel a pull toward him already. She was in luck! He seemed to be interested in her. She hadn’t had a boyfriend for months.
“Astrid,” she answered him. He gave this a little thought.
“Divinely beautiful.”
She couldn’t help it, she blushed. “Let’s take things slowly, huh?”
“No, it’s the meaning of your name.” Crap! Utter embarrassment.
“Oh.” Astrid was mentally bashing her head against the bar.
“Although I do agree with it,” And her confidence was back again, her head removed from the mental bar bashing. Astrid has scored! She almost pulled her top over her head and ran around the club in triumph. And it was a pretty good score too. Right past the goalkeeper’s hands. He was gorgeous – at least in club light. Yum.
Someone grabbed her arm. “Twinkle,” said Marianne, her best friend, and – at this moment – worst nightmare, using her nickname for her. “Come on, Rob’s saving us a table.” Astrid was pulled off through the crowd with an almost audible ‘yoink!’
“But…but…” Too late. Cute guy was gone, having vanished behind the crowd of dancing drunk people. Marianne released her when she reached the table to snuggle up to her boyfriend – you guessed it – Rob.
Astrid was pleased that her friend had such a great guy for a boyfriend, and such a good relationship going on – thrilled, even – but it did kinda rub in the fact she was single when they played cuddly couples right in front of her.
“Gee, thanks,” she said, her tone dripping sarcasm, “I sure wouldn’t have found the table without you.” It was the table they always sat at. Every time they came. And they came pretty damn often.
Marianne gave her a hurt look. “Hey, it could have been taken. Its been taken before.”
“And you scared the poor people off! How am I ever going to get a boyfriend if you drag me around and growl at the poor guys like a cross between a tiger and a chaperone?” she demanded.
“A very sexy tiger, though,” Rob added. He received a share of Astrid’s glare. “A very sexy tiger in the–”
“Not the time or the place, Robbo-boy,” Astrid warned him. He raised his hands defensively.
“Fine. But all compliments aside, she’s right Marz,” Marz was Marianne’s nickname. The irony that it sounded akin to the name of the Roman god of war was not lost on Astrid – and Rob. “You should really cut the girl some slack.”
“And let some creep like ‘oh-I’m-so-not-ready-for-commitment-Pete get near her? As if!”
“Some guys need time, Marz.”
“Three years?!”
Rob backed off. “Point taken.”
Astrid sighed and slumped down onto the empty seat opposite her crazy and slightly deranged friends. She took a sip of her Smirnoff Ice and let a little sigh escape her lips. Well, this drink was all she was going to get from a guy this night out; she may as well savour it.

rest is rather large, so am only posting up this much so far. R&R, people!

*hurt look on face*

I was reading Star as well, what you posted up anyway. If you like, you could e-mail me the rest .

This is good, modern stuff. The style reminded me alittle of Alley Mcbeal (i've no idea if i've spelt that right, but hopefully you get my drift). Can't really say more then that at the mo, but post some more up and I'll read it. :D

Star's on here? D'oh!

*runs off*

Anyway, very good, DL! Would go into more depth, but i'm no good at this reviewing thing.

DUH!

aleana, thankies! Never watched ally mcbeal or whatever, tho. Is just set in modern times. But don't worry, wilm, progress to strange things...if I can be bothered

It's good and what do you mean not reading star...am i no one? and hey when u gonna send that to me neway?

I've sent it to your yahoo addy, demon. It should be there, i got no error message :D

and I know you read Star, but if I say no one is reading it, I make Batch feel more guilty >:D

They left the club at half eleven – they all had work tomorrow and sleeping was not part of the job descriptions. Rob and Marianne hopped into his car, and Astrid declined a lift, preferring to finish her drink and perhaps walk home. Or, on second thoughts, get a taxi; she thought when she saw how dark it was outside. She drained the last drop of her drink, picked up her little pink bag and made her way out of the club.
It was raining. Pouring was a better word for it. Great. Just great. Fantastic. Rain. Just what I need, she thought. Gingerly she reached out her hand to see if it really was as heavy as it looked. Her palm was utterly bombarded with very large, very wet raindrops. She sighed. Better get a taxi home, then, she thought, although I’ll get soaked waiting for one to turn up. Why are there never any taxies around when you need one, but three all try to run you over when you’re trying to cross the road? It was one of life’s mysteries.
Idly she wondered if the rain was ever going to slacken off. As if in answer, the drops started pounding the pavement even harder. “Ah, crap.” she said to herself.
“Would you like a lift?” someone said to her. She turned around and looked up at Cute-guy-from-bar. She generally, as a rule, didn’t take lifts back home from random strangers in case they became obsessed with her and stalked her or something. Not that she thought she was that attractive, but there were some strange people around. But it was pouring with rain, and he looked even cuter by the lamplight. Wow, she thought, what are the chances of finding him again? Maybe I could get his number.
“Thanks,” she replied, “I’d appreciate that.” He smiled and looked at her, kitted out in her clubbing gear – strappy pink top, little black skirt (hey, it had been sunny when she left home!) – and offered her his jacket. She examined it as she put it over her head and wrapped it around her shoulders. Hmm, casual-type black jacket. Nice.
She was glad of the extra protection, as her hair sprang up like a wild jungle when it came near too much rain. And then it got soaked and hung down her head like rats tails, with the odd bit spiralling upward in an attempt to make her look like a teletubbie. Hardly attractive. Except maybe to another teletubbie. Until they found they couldn’t watch TV in her stomach. She pulled her mind away from the rapidly-becoming-weird thought and let the cute guy lead her around the back of the club to his car.
Instead of the usual flash looking car she was used to guys bringing to the club – which, she suspected, most of them rented for the night – she actually followed him up to one that looked like one of the well looked after cars you see at antique car fairs. It looked in such good condition that she almost thought that retro fashions were now extending to the motor industry, but the numberplate wasn’t a new one. It didn’t even look like an old English one. How strange.
He took a set of keys from his pocket and opened the passenger door for her, holding it open while she climbed in and shutting it after her. That was nice of him, she thought. He opened the driver’s door and got inside quickly, slamming the door shut. Then he looked out at the rain. Astrid could swear that the hammering sound on the pavement had got heavier whilst she was outside in it.
Her companion turned from the window to her. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I never told you my name, did I?” She shook her head. “It’s Luc,” he said, “spelt L, U, C, like the French, er, only, I’m not. French that is.”
She smiled at the awkward way he explained it, “Well, I’d say you have a pretty good English accent if you were French.” What a stupid, stupid, thing to say, she thought to herself.
He started up the car engine and said, “Thank you, I‘m not English either.” He smiled and took a sideways glance at her to see her reaction.
“Er…you’re not? Really? Are you, like, Scottish or Welsh or…?”
“I’m not British, if that’s what you mean.” He came to the car park exit. “Which way?”
“Left. So, where’re you from?”
“Originally?” A nod. “Romania.”
“Wow.” Silence. “I hate to sound like a dumbass but where’s that? I only really know where France, Spain and America are. Oh and Australia. Um, and–” She decided to stop there. “So, er, where is it?”
“East of Europe.”
“Is it in Europe or just east of Europe?” God, girl, you’re so stupid!
“In it. Where now?” They had reached a crossroads.
“To the right.” The rain was beating down on the car roof and it sounded almost like it was going to break though it. Just my luck, she thought, it’s going to go all over me. “Now left,” he turned down a road and she stopped him in front of some flats. “Here we are,” she said, “and it’s still bloody raining. What fun.”
Luc smiled at her, got out of the car and went around the other side to open her door. “Come on,” he said, “we can make a dash for it. I don’t mind a bit of rain.” Astrid was going to ask him if he was sure, but he was getting soaked just standing there so she slung her handbag over her arm, pulled his jacket back over her head and ran to the door of the flats with him.
She opened the front door with her key and stumbled inside out of the rain, Luc following. Astrid removed his jacket from her head, aware that her hair would be all mussed up now on top. “Thank you so much for the lift,” she said to him, “I was going to get a taxi but I swear they overcharge you when it rains. They know you’ll pay them, dammit! Grr…”
Luc smiled at her conspiracy theory. “Well, I’ll see you around,” he said. She gave him back his sodden jacket.
“Hey,” she said, “You going to the club tomorrow?”
“Are you?” He asked her. She nodded. “Yes, I am.” That made her smile. “I’ll just have to keep hold of you so you don’t get pulled off through the crowd this time.”
“Oh, God.” Astrid exclaimed, rolling her eyes. She leant against the wall of the flats entrance area. “Marianne really has no idea when not to attack me.” She wiped a raindrop off her cheek, glad that all her make-up had been waterproof and was not currently streaming down her face.
Luc smiled and headed towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said, “at the bar?”
“Okay,” Astrid really didn’t want him to leave. He was so gorgeous. Well, in her humble opinion. Marianne would probably be all like ‘I don’t know what you see in him. Blah, blah, blah…’ as she was so overprotective of Astrid she was basically her mum in the clubs, keeping all the guys who were interested in her away. “Luc, wait!”
He paused at the door, his hand halfway through opening it and looked back at her. “Yes?”
“Do you want to come in and dry off or something?” she asked him.
“No, I’m okay. I’ve got to get back and I’ll get soaked going back outside anyway.”
Nonononono, come back here! How can you leave me??? “Oh, okay, sure.” Nononononooooooo! “See you then.”
“Bye Twinkle.” He said, and walked out into the rain. Astrid’s jaw dropped.
“Y’what? Hey! You come back here!” She ran up to the door of the flat in time to see his car drive off. There was no way in hell she was going to chase him just for that, not with all that rain. It was coming down so hard she could swear she was going to get a bruise from it. She sighed and headed up to her flat.
On the way up, her neighbour, Mr. Greene, opened his door. “Hey, that your new boyfriend?” Even though he was like, seventy or something, he was still interested in talking to Astrid about her love life, (though she never went into details…talking to old men about her sex life or anything related to it was strictly against her morals) and also listened to her moan about Marianne’s hands-on approach to keeping her single and away from men.
“Nah, just a guy who gave me a lift home. It’s raining so hard I though I’d get hammered into the pavement.”
“Pity.” he said.
“Yeah, I kinda like a nice walk home.” she said thoughtfully. And window shopping along the way…Heheheh, she thought. ‘I’d have that and that and that if I were rich’ and so on.
“No, the not-boyfriend thing. He not interested?”
“Um, I don’t know. I didn’t get too much time to get to know him. Give me time, though, give me time…” Astrid rubbed her hands together wickedly.
“Er…I’ll go now, before you start with the cackling laughter,” the old man said, making Astrid smile. He shut the door and she walked up to hers and opened it with her key. Mr. Greene and his wife had been together about fifty years. She wished that she could get a guy who’d stay with her that long. Without being a jerk.
She threw her handbag onto the couch, showered and got into bed, her last thoughts before she drifted off to sleep being about meeting Luc again tomorrow. Yay!

um...if I have any facts about Romania wrong , here, people, tell me. You've probably guessed most of the story by now...but hopefully not. Will now upydatey Star...R&R!! :)

I really like this story. Its full of whitty similies (sp?) and the character of Astrid is really starting to develope.

Its quite late now, so I'll read Star when I nest come on here.

And I'm sorry but I know next to nothing about Romania. Is that the country that has lots of ophanages? Though I think it is in Europe.

Thats it keep typing more DL4 or I will be standing over you with a whip one of the ones with the nine thingies,

oh and it this the one that you said was mine and aine fault for getting this idea into your head?

cat o' nine tails

yes, it is

here's more:

Thankies for the reviews!

The following morning she was actually up, showered, dressed and finishing off her toast when Marianne knocked on her door. Balancing her toast precariously on her plate, she made her way to the door and opened it, only to be confronted with an outburst that went a little something like this: “Omigosh, Twinkle, when the rain started I felt so bad! We were going to turn back but Rob said you’d get a taxi, were you okay?”
“Uh… fine.” Astrid picked up her toast again and took a bite. Mmm…cherry jam… “Sho,” she said with her mouth half full of buttery toast and jam, “you got the car today Marzsh?”
“Don’t speak with your mouth full m’dear,” Marianne said absent-mindedly. “And yes, I do. Rob’s got a ‘meeting’–” she made little quotes with her fingers, “–down the pub here. As if beer has anything to do with banking, but hey, who am I to argue? I get a comfy drive to work and back.”
“Great!” Astrid said after swallowing. She drained her cup of tea and grabbed her coat and bag. “Let’s go then! We going to Burger King for lunch?”
“Yeah, but it’s got to be different times, remember? I’ll pick up your usual on my break, as I’m always first.” Marianne said as they walked out of the flat. Astrid pulled out her keys and locked the door.
“That is so unfair,” she complained jokingly, “I don’t see why you should get a bacon double cheeseburger before me!”
“Hey, I don’t indulge in your grease filled meat feast. I’m trying the veggie ones; hopefully they’re healthier. I don’t want to be a podger like you,” Marianne said, and then dashed down the stairs.
Astrid quickly took up pursuit, “I heard that you meanie!” she shouted down at her friend, “I’ll get you!”

When they got in the car, - after Marianne had been chased for a while and had apologised – Astrid pinched her stomach and peered down at it. “Am I really a podger?” she asked Marianne.
“Of course not, Twinkle, I was joking! Honestly. You’re normal size for a girl who exercises at the gym and then runs off to get a burger.”
“Is that a good size?” She asked her as Marianne started the engine of Rob’s Ford.
“Astrid! Since when have you ever been worried about that?” Marianne’s eyes narrowed. “There’s a guy, isn’t there? He told you that you were fat, didn’t he? How could he? I’ll beat him to a pulp!”
“Uh, Marz. I hate to rain on your man-beating parade, but there was no guy who told me I’m fat or anything that implied it. I was just wondering, you know?” Marianne shook her head and turned out of her parking space, heading off to Kimberly-Anne’s, the small clothing store they worked at.
“You are so hopeless at times Twinkle.”
“Well sorry if I interrupted your man-thrashing fantasy. God, I don’t want to know what you do to Rob…” Marianne laughed as they turned around a corner.
“Oh, he loves it really.”
“You utter freaks! I’m never going to look at you in the same way again!” Astrid exclaimed. Marianne manoeuvred into the parking space she had found and grinned at Astrid.
“I love winding you up at times, you know. Come on, or we’ll be late.”

“Hmm, I don’t know, “said their manager Liz and they entered the shop, tapping her watch, “you’re about two seconds late, I may just have to dock your pay,” Astrid and Marianne stared at her, unamused. “I'm joking, ladies, cheer up!” Marianne took Astrid’s bag and coat and put them in the little staff room around the back of the store and Astrid went to count out the float in her till.
“The pay jokes never get a laugh, for some reason,” she remarked, opening a bag of pounds and pouring them in the desk. She started flicking them into her hand, counting under her breath, as Liz wandered around the clothing racks, straightening up a few articles that had been missed last afternoon during closing time.
The day seemed to drag, what with her knowing she was getting a burger for lunch, and then meeting up with Luc later. It always did, if you had something good planned. She did her best not to show her impatience, though, in case Marianne picked up on it. If she asked Astrid directly what she was so fidgety about, she would have to tell her the truth; she couldn’t lie to her best friend. She could, however, neglect to bring up subjects. It made her feel a bit guilty, but the thought of Marianne beating up Luc and chasing him away from her quelled that.

R&R!!

And i still like! You can relate to the characters as they are just everday people.

Post more!

here's the next bit...It's a bit small but I haven't finished the next section...here you go. R&R!

After work, Marianne drove her home and dropped her off that the flats. Still thinking about that delicious burger from lunch – thinking of it kept her occupied during the day, and she could look forward to her next one too – Astrid bounced up the stairway and into her room, and then collapsed onto her sofa, allowing herself to think about her aching feet. She floundered about for the remote, then flopped onto the floor, crawled across to the TV – careful not to put weight on her feet – and switched it on. The time, 18:41, lit up on the video.
Back on the sofa, she turned on her DVD player via the remote and flicked through the episodes of her Will and Grace DVD until she found one that she hadn’t watched in the past two days, and sat back and relaxed, kicking her shoes off.
After one episode, she left the DVD running and cooked herself a jacket potato, mixing the fluffy centre up with cheese and bacon, and then crisping up the top under the little grill she had. She put it on a plate, and heaped salad around it to make herself feel healthy (despite the burger at lunch).
She had cherry yoghurt for dessert, and then had a soak in the bath. It helped her to wash away the day’s work and get ready to go out. Especially with this mango and peach shower gel, which smelt so good she always got close to eating it.

She emerged from her beautifying session at eightish and started laying outfits on her bed. This was a ritual now, and at its most extreme, could take up to two hours. That was in the summer, when she got out all her strappy tops and little accessories. Now it was progressing on to autumn, her smallest clothes had been packed away, and she would freeze if she went out at night in them. She chose a classy skirt in black, a strappy sequinned top and picked up a thin jumper to wear outside, then sat in front of her wardrobe and stared at her shoes, trying to decide which ones would go best with her outfit. Ah hell, she thought to herself, it’s not like anyone can see them when you’re in the club, and picked up her favourite black strappy pair.
She picked up her bag, looked at her sexy little watch that she’d bought from Argos but wasn’t going to tell anyone that, and stumbled out of her bedroom. Eight-forty-five! Whoops. She should be out by now. As she reached out for the door handle to exit her flat, her mobile vibrated in her bag. She looked at the caller ID: Marz.
She answered it, “Hello?”
“Heya. Where are you?” Astrid cringed.
“I think I was choosing shoes for too long. I’m just coming out.”
“We got our usual table.” A pause. Then, “I was so worried about you Twinkle! I thought you’d been like abducted or stolen by crazy scientists or…” Astrid wedged the phone between her shoulder and ear as Marianne ranted away, shuffled outside, locked her door, and trudged down the stairs. “…don’t know how scared I get when you’re late. And you didn’t answer your phone last time I rang.”
“It was on vibrate,” Astrid interjected, “and I was shoe-staring. Sorry Marz. Look, I’ll get you a drink.”
Silence. Then, “…okay.” Astrid grinned. It always worked. She headed off down the road toward the club.

Okay, I've changed this now if anyone's reading it. I thought it was going too fast 9and made Luc look like a total stalker) so i've edited the above posts. Don't worry, i've kept the old stuff, it was good, just too soon.

She found herself using her elbows as weapons again tonight, and wondered about checking them for bloodstains when she reached the bar. She could swear it got more crowded when she really needed a drink…or maybe the people got bigger. Although that was less likely. But you never knew. She reached into her little bag for her purse when the Steve the bartender placed a Smirnoff Ice bottle in front of her, but when she offered her money to him he held up a hand.

“Already paid for, love.”

She frowned, and he pointed off to her left. She looked. Luc raised a hand from further down the bar and gave her a little wave. Astrid melted and tried to smile sexily. It never looked good whenever she tried it in the mirror, so she cursed herself for doing it about a second later. She picked up the drink and walked over to him. “Thank you,” she said, gesturing with the drink in hand.

“Not a problem. I’ve been waiting for you. Lurking at the bar like a…” he frowned, searching for the right word.

Astrid couldn’t help it. “…pervert?” Inside, she winced. That was the kind of thing to say to scare people off. Well, she supposed it would be a sense of humour test.

He laughed. “Yes. Exactly.” Astrid relaxed. Luc turned to face her, leaning on the bar. She looked up into his pale eyes. He was just the right height, about six inches taller than she was. Not that I have a thing against short guys, added the politically correct part of her conscience. “So, do you have your bodyguard today?” he asked her.

Oh God. “She’s here, but she hasn’t seen me yet,” she replied.

“Then we have precious little time to talk, because last time we met she seemed to have some kind of a Twinkle radar,” he said.

Oh God oh god, he’s picked up on the Twinkle thing. Astrid cringed. Best to make a joke out of it, or just ignore it. “You’re probably right. She’s probably microchipped me when I wasn’t looking.”


“She’s found you,” he said suddenly.

“Wha’?” Astrid started.

“Omigosh Astrid there you are! You worried me!” said Marianne, and then noticed Luc. She glared fiercely at him, then grabbed Astrid’s arm and pulled her off toward the ‘Marz table’. “Good thing I'm here to keep creeps away from you.”

“But…” he’s not a creep. He’s sweet to me. Astrid looked back in time to see Luc raise a bottle to her as a goodbye. Automatically, she checked her own drink. There was a piece of paper rolled up and slipped into the bottleneck. She curled up on a seat away from Marz, pulled it out and read it under the table: I’ll be waiting, it said, and down the bottom, a mobile number. The inner Astrid squeaked with excitement.

******** (I put this to distinguish between sections for you)********

The evening seemed to pass slowly for Astrid. She didn’t feel much like dancing, mainly because a) Marz would punch any guy who tried to dance with her and B ) the guys who tried to dance with her weren’t Luc. Where was he? Did he just wait to give her his number and then leave? That would be really quite sweet but it meant she was left here feeling a bit useless.

She propped her head up with one hand and stared at her drink. This was her third one and she still wasn’t feeling very happy. Astrid knew alcohol didn’t solve life’s problems, but it often solved her dancing problems. She looked up as Marz and Rob stopped by their table to take a drink – she was watching theirs as she was ‘being boring tonight’. Apparently.

“I might head home now guys,” she said to them.

“Yeah,” Marz gave her a half-hug, “I think you need to get some chocolate down you m’dear. You look a bit under the weather.”

Maybe because of my lack of boyfriend or even any man to dance with. You eat them if they look twice at me. Astrid swallowed the words the irate part of her wanted to say, hugged Marz back, and headed out of the club. She looked up and down the road for a nearby taxi.

“You missed the last taxi by just a few seconds,” said a familiar voice. She looked around to see Luc leaning against the wall off to her right. He gave her an ironic smile, “Look, you’ve got me lurking like a pervert again.”

Astrid smiled. “Is this what you meant by ‘I’ll be waiting’?” she asked him.

“Well, both this, and, if you came out with your bodyguard, waiting for you to call.” he walked up to stand beside her.

“She is not my bodyguard.”

“You’re right. She didn’t seem to have a gun to shoot me.” Astrid tried to protest about Marianne’s violent tendencies, but Luc held up a hand to stop her, “It’s okay. Would you like to go anywhere? Or are you heading home?”

“Well, I was heading home, but I wouldn’t mind grabbing something to eat. As long as it’s okay with you.” she added.

“Why would I ask if I didn’t want to go anywhere with you? Do you know somewhere that’s open now near here, or do you have a place in mind?”
Astrid’s mind fought with her stomach and won. Not a burger. She’d already had one. Dammit, but they were so good! Think of your figure girl, she mentally scolded herself, and headed off down the road with Luc.


********************

She ended up leading him to a chip shop. Well, okay, maybe not the healthiest thing to eat, nor the best for her figure, but it wasn’t another burger, right? Right? Luc insisted on paying, which made her feel guilty. It wasn’t as if she could pay him back; he wouldn’t let her give him the money, and if she tried to go on a date with him, Marz would probably scare him off. Or beat him into unconsciousness.

He offered her his coat again today. This time it was a long, black, slightly tailored one. She looked at him, “Do you always wear black?” she asked him, regarding his outfit: black shirt, black jeans, black, black, black.

“Yes. Always have, always will do,” he replied.

“Any reason why?” she asked him.

“It’s become a tradition,” he said with a smile, then shrugged, “and it would mean putting thought into colour co-ordination.”

“Do you seriously have no clothes that aren’t black?” she asked him incredulously.

“Yes. I was considering branching out into red at one point, but it never happened,” he said matter-of-factly.

Astrid laughed. “That’s a bit daring, isn’t it? From the darkest colour possible to a bright one like red.”

“Hm, a bit like rebelling against my own dress sense.” He grinned at her, “Think of it this way. Black goes with anything, so whatever you’re wearing, you can always borrow my jacket.”

“I'm probably making it smell of chips right now.” she said.
“As long as you don’t literally rub them onto it, that’s fine,” he said, making her giggle at the mental image of her smearing chip grease all over his jacket. “At least it wouldn’t show up on the black,” he added, making her laugh even more.

Ah romance...or, er, chips :D TF, if you're reading this I hope you're taking notes on character development, since you wanted to learn.

awww, so sweet. This story is really good :D

yey! A reply!

I love love. Maybe that's why I love character orientated writing. :D

The time passed much to quickly for Astrid and she found herself staring up at her block of flats. She turned and looked at Luc. “Would you like to come on up?”

He looked at her, surprised. “Well, I wouldn’t want to keep you up,” I certainly wouldn’t mind, thought Astrid as he looked at his watch. “Oh, it’s only ten o’clock.” his eyes flickered up to meet hers, “Unless you need an early night.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Come on.” she opened the door to the building, “What are you anyway, my dad or…er…you?”

“Astrid,” Luc put on a deep voice and said in her ear, “I am your father!”

Astrid briefly enjoyed the sensation of his breath on her neck, and then pushed him away. “Oh stoppit!” You flirt you, she thought to herself.

He grinned. “It was a cultural reference.”

“It was a Star Wars fanboy reference,” she argued, “now come on in before I change my mind and shut the door on you, Darth.”

He smiled and followed her inside, and then chased her up the stairs. Astrid reached her door out of breath but laughing. She hadn’t had this much fun with a guy for ages. She pulled her keys out of her little bag, and as she slipped them in the keyhole she felt Luc’s arms encircle her middle. She also felt her heart pound. She twisted round to end up face to face with him, almost touching. So close.

She looked into his eyes, and noticed that they were grey. She had never been sure which colour they were since every time they had met had been in poor lighting conditions. Grey made sense, really, what with his addiction to monochrome clothing and his black hair. Jet black. Raven black. Astrid ran the adjectives through her head. Midnight black. That one seemed to suit it best. She reached up and ran a lock through her fingers.

“Is you hair naturally this colour?” she asked him. Her voice sounded distant, as if someone else was talking. All her brain could register were his arms around her.

“Yes,” he replied, “why?”

“Oh, it’s just…” Astrid tried to force her mind back onto the conversation from where it had been dwelling on his close proximity, “…just rare I guess. I mean at college there were a whole bunch of people with black hair, but it was all dye.” She squirmed round in his arms to face the door again. “I suppose I should open this, really.”

“Sorry. Was I…?” Luc pulled away from her.

“No! No, it’s fine.” Astrid protested as she opened the door and returned the keys to her little bag.

“I'm such an amateur,” she heard Luc moan to himself.

“No, it’s…fine. It’s…well…quite sweet really.”

He stared at her. “Never in my life has anyone ever called me sweet.”

“I'm sure your mum did,” she said, walking into her flat.

Silence. Oh God. Had she hit a sore spot? Maybe his mum had died or left or abandoned him at birth or… She turned around. Luc was still standing at the door, staring into space.
“Omigosh!” she said, “I'm so sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
He looked up at her. “Forget it,” he said, “I just never knew her, that’s all. So I was just wondering if she ever did call me…sweet.” He said the word as if it was a strange foreign language.

“I-“

“Astrid, it’s okay.” He walked up to her side and cupped her cheek with a hand. “I said forget it, didn’t I?”

Astrid could only mumble an affirmative noise. She couldn’t put together a sentence because all her that was running through her brain was kissmekissmewhyaren’tyoukissingme? Kissmenow. She wanted to fling her arms around his neck and jump on him right now. So this is real chemistry, she thought, I never really had this with a guy before. She was rather disappointed when he pulled away.

“I'm sorry,” he said, “you pay me a compliment, albeit a strange one, and all I do is make things awkward.”

“No, Luc, it’s…I…er…”

He smiled at her. “It’s fine? Is that what you mean to say?”

“Um…yeah. But I say that too much. Marz gives me a whack every time I say it now.” She grimaced.

“Well, it’s fine by me that you say fine. In fact, it couldn’t be finer.” He said, a wry smile on his lips.

“Oh shush,” Astrid was well aware when she was being teased.

“Sorry,” he said, “tell you what, I’ll get you a thesaurus for when I next see you.”

Astrid folded her arms and turned her back on him. “You’re pushing your luck now matey,” she said jokingly.

“Oh, I'm sorry Astrid, I couldn’t help myself.” he said, right behind her left ear. It sent warm shivers up her spine.

She turned around and ended up almost nose to nose with him. “Eep!” she squeaked and almost fell backwards, catching herself just in time.

Luc gave her a confused look, “I didn’t think I looked that scary,” he said.

Are you kidding? You’re so gorgeous I could just eat you up. Astrid shrugged his coat off her shoulders and laid it carefully across the arm of her sofa. “So, um, would you like something to drink or anything…?” she asked him.

For a moment she could swear a strange expression crossed his features, but it happened so quickly she wasn’t sure if she had imagined it. “Oh, sure.” He replied.

Astrid searched the chaos that was her fridge for drinks. Ew, she should throw that cheese out soon. “I'm afraid I’ve mainly got girly drinks,” she said.

“Such as…?” She looked up to see him standing over her. Surreptitiously she prodded the scary cheese further back into the fridge.

“Oh, um, Bacardi Breezers, Smirnoff Ice. Hang on, I might have a beer in here in case Rob comes round..." Poking some ham aside she found one. “Aha!” Luc took it from the hand thrust upward from the fridge. “Oh, and Rob is Marz’s boyfriend, if you’re wondering.”

“Ah, okay,” he said, and helped her up from the floor.

“Would you like a glass for that?” she asked him.


lol, I'm too much of a romantic at times :P FEAR THE CHEESE!

And now I need to write more

sometime.

yes you do have to write more!

The cheese bit is funny, and things like that make Astrid a believable character.

Those two are just so sweet together ^_^

I love characters!!!!!

*hugs them*

CUUUUTE!! :wub:

lol. heh. well, its not going to be a romance novel, that's for sure.
Ye shall see....