Lake Misadventures

[katalyie]

There was a pep in London's step as she headed toward the store where the whirlwind that was her connection to Anthony had begun. The day was sunny, though a few clouds threatened to roll in and dampen the sunlight which suited the angel just fine. Sunlight bothered her eyes anyway. She'd heard something once about lighter eyes being susceptible to some kind of rays and blah blah blah science talk. Jordan had mentioned it. She'd been eating cereal, though, so the sound of the crunching had drowned out his factoid.

The angel smiled fondly at that particular memory of her charge as she fiddled with her sunglasses that he insisted she wear. There was a mission to her outing today, or at least a destination. She was headed to the store to meet up with Anthony so they could go swimming, an activity which London enjoyed immensely but could rarely enjoy. Jordan had insisted that she get out of the apartment, so she hadn't needed to tell him where she was going. It was just grab her stuff and go. He wasn't planning on going anywhere and he had her cell if anything went wrong. Out the door and on her way, that was more London's style.

So that brought her here, walking down the sidewalk far too happily. Khaki shorts and an off the shoulder shirt concealed her swimsuit, which was just a deep forest green bikini. Not too fancy but the color suited her, so it worked. Sandals were good for walking and for easy removal when it came time to actually swim. In addition to her sunglass, London had swiped on some very minimalistic makeup and tossed a towel and some sunscreen in an oversized bag, which was slung over her shoulder. Casual, cute little ensemble, if she did say so herself.

Well, here she was. London couldn't help the smile that twisted her lips as she found a shady place to wait for Anthony. The spot she chose was under the awning of the store and had a clear view of the street. This was a good place to wait. Breathing a sigh of relief at having made it in one piece London hummed idly under her breath a song to which the lyrics had been forgotten. With any luck, Anthony would be there soon and they could have some fun. Anthony... The mental image that popped up made the angel's smile grow wider and the song to be hummed a it louder. If the red head was honest, she was way too excited for this little outing, but she'd do her best to hide it from her companion.

[adlohse]

London wasn't waiting long before Anthony and Kevin drove around the corner. They were just on time. At the sight of London, Kevin frantically rolled down the window to scream out of it like an excited little girl, being a complete dork. He had that right, considering he had plenty of time left before his voice would deepen and he'd be growing hair out his face like a cactus like his beloved older brother. His squealing ceased as the car rolled to a stop, not far from London's seated position. Anthony just shook his head and grinned widely, feeling a similar excitement as well, however, it was harnessed internally.

Anthony unbuckled his seat-belt and reached back between the seats, unlocking the car door, giving it a gentle shove open to let London in. After that he sat up to watch her with those big brown eyes of his, a smile edging over his lips. Meanwhile, Kevin bounced and squirmed in his seat, his legs flailing about, causing his blue sandals to fling off in random places.

Next to his brother, Anthony was like a boulder sitting against a splashing river. He had a way of staying calm and collected in most situations, even ones he should be distressed in. His brother would freak out over cute girls, dessert, and video games to name a few. As for Anthony, London was one of the few people that had actually witnessed some of his intensity. Strange men trying to forcefully pick up a frightened girl was not the route to his good side, and since that girl was London.. and happened to be spending time with him, the situation ended up backfiring on the guys.

[katalyie]

Upon seeing the car pull upon, London scrambled to her feet and made her way to the car about in time to have the door pushed open for her by Anthony. How sweet! Behind her sunglasses, London caught Anthony's eye as she got in and that only made the smile that was already in place glow. As she settled into her seat in the car, her voice rang out. "Hey boys. Great day for a swim, right?" The enthusiasm and general excitement that made her all jittery colored her voice slightly, but it probably wasn't even an issue.

To be honest, she was way too excited for this. Since leaving the amusement park last night, the angel had been unable to think of anything else really. Jordan had even questioned her a few times on the reason for her particular energy today, but she'd ignored him. It was easier that way. Didn't need the man who was basically her brother getting all protective over something that wasn't even anything yet.

Turning her attention back to the occupants of the car, London clicked her seatbelt into place and leaned back with a sigh. Time for such things as swimming was rare, so she enjoyed it when she could. "How are you guys today? Doing well?" It was easy for the angel to pleasant when she was in such a good mood. Considering what was in store for the day, it was highly doubtful that good mood was going to vanish anytime soon.

[adlohse]

Anthony would have answered if it wasn't for Kevin's mouth sprinting a mile a minute, so he instead decided to relax and let Kevin do all the talking. As London settled while they began to drive out of the parking lot, Kevin whipped around in his seat with a huge, gaping grin and wide, bright eyes, "Hi Miss London! I'm so excited you're going with us! Hee-hee!! We're doing great..!" He paused, briefly glancing over at Anthony as if to confirm, then back to London, "How are you-zah?" He spoke in a high pitched, childish tone, loud enough to be clearly heard over the upbeat dance music that flooded the interior. Kevin had personally requested it for the ride over. "I can't wait to get there.. this is going to be sooo fun!" Kevin rolled down his window and partially stuck his head out, his black hair tussling against the force of the warm air. It was another peculiar Spring day with elevated temperatures. Anthony unrolled his window further and turned up the music a bit more, enjoying the fresh air. The bass pulsed through the car, though not enough to the point where it was overwhelming. He hit a fine median.

A small chunk of time passed and they were inside the forest, nearing the lake. Sunlight spilled betwixt the towering trees, striping the road and car with slices of bright light. The road opened further into fair sized parking lot, with its stalls bordering the lake's edge. Anthony pulled up and parked, and before the engine was switched off, Kevin was already bursting out. Anthony wasn't the least bit concerned, he knew that once his brother burned off all that energy he'd be deadweight on the way home. He swung open the car door and stepped out, stretching his long arms over his head with a quiet groan, attempting to wake himself up from being cramped in the car all day with errands. Kevin rushed over to him and ceased him around the middle, gripping him tightly as he laughed, his face smashing against his torso. Anthony was caught off guard and being slightly on edge due to the female accompanying them, he huffed, his eyes shot open, and his arms tensed to his brother's sudden playful hug. Anthony relaxed a second later and while messing up his hair, he said, "You always know right when to catch me by surprise.." He chuckled and glanced over to London, shaking his head and rolling his eyes, as if to say.. 'oi.. siblings'. "Opennn the trunkkk.." Kevin whined impatiently, letting go of his brother. "Alright, alright..." Anthony rounded the car and popped open the trunk.

Inside there were water bottles, juice drinks, four spare towels, a blanket, some fruit snacks and beef jerky, and an open box full of clean ivory bones from some animal.. that sat in the back out of the way. Nothing too unusual, right? They both picked up a towel and put it under their arm in the same similar fashion, except Kevin let his drag carelessly on the ground as he skipped towards the docks. Anthony removed his glasses and put them in a safe case. He brushed back the hair out of his face. His eyes were more prominent and expressive again, and he looked upon her almost wistfully. His body turned towards her and he gestured with one of his hands to the supplies, offering them to her in case she wanted any, his other hand sitting perched on the top of the trunk lid.

[/justify]

[katalyie]

London was almost instantly enamored by Anthony's younger brother. So much energy, so much enthusiasm. She couldn't help but smile, even when she was just watching him. Since he had asked a question that required a response, London laughed in that strange sort of way of hers. "Hi Kevin! I'm glad you're doing great. You're right. This is going to be fun. I haven't been swimming in a long time, especially not with a handsome boy like you." Green eyes sparkled. It was obvious that she was attached to the boy already.

As they drove, London made sure to keep her eyes in neutral territory. She glanced out the windows, looked down at her hands, even stared at the seat backs. All the while, she wanted to just stare at Anthony, to see if he showed even a single sign of being as excited about this outing as she felt. Somehow, though, she managed to keep her gaze under control. Her mouth dropped open, however, when they came into view of the lake. "Oh, wow. This place is gorgeous."

When they had properly arrived, London hopped out of the car just in time to watch the brotherly hug. Well, that was just too cute. It was very obvious that Anthony cared for the kid. The angel could just tell in the way he mussed his brother's hair. She giggled under her breath at the look Anthony gave her, but her eyes followed Kevin as he ran to the dock. When the red head returned her gaze to Anthony, she found him sans glasses and looking right at her. A funny sort of shock coursed through her and the angel must have looked shocked for a second. Without his glasses, Anthony looked like a totally different person. She'd been able to learn that in the very short they'd known each other. But God, if he wasn't handsome.

Interrupting that line of thought before it could go somewhere dangerous, London gave Anthony a blinding smile as she grabbed a water bottle and a pack of fruit snacks from the supplies. "Thank you so much for inviting me today. This place is great and we haven't even gone in yet. Also... you know.... hi."The angel gave an awkward little giggle and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Shall we?"

[adlohse]

Anthony was oblivious to his attractiveness. Sure, other people had mentioned it to him, even blatantly, but he was just a man. He wasn't a model or an actor that had enough good looks, say to play heroic or romantic roles. He took care of himself, exercised properly and worked out, ate the right things in the right portions when he felt hungry, had fairly normal sleeping habits; to him, he was just a normal guy content in life, taking it a day at a time. He gained his confidence primarily from his accomplishments and capabilities, not from what he looked like. Consistent healthy habits had made him attractive, he wasn't exactly trying that hard, to him he was just respecting himself. Simple.

Anthony smiled warmly to her appreciation, nodding. His eyes shifted around slowly, watching the wind cause the tree branches to sway gently. Without his glasses his vision was blurred, but only to a slight degree that he would notice only immediately after removing them. "Hi," he said with a small grin, stepping closer to lean near her. He grabbed himself a fruit snack seeing her snatch one up made him want one as well. "Mhmm, just a sec.." he said, turning away to pull off his cotton shirt and toss it into the trunk. His skin was lightly tanned and his torso, broad shoulders and strong arms were moderately toned, though not extremely cut. It wasn't like he was some dedicated bodybuilder or something, but he was lean and in shape from swimming so frequently.

The trunk swung shut. He opened the fruit snack pack and emptied its contents all into his mouth, stuffing some of them in the side against his cheek as he chewed, that same grin never leaving his face. There was an evident playfulness in his eyes as he watched her for a moment, observing her. The way the light hit her face made her green eyes sparkle in a certain way that he found quite alluring, and he stood there, secretly gawking. Oh look, a mosquito.. landed on her.. "There's a bug.. on you.." He pointed at her, wiggling his finger in the general direction of her collar bone, resisting the urge to lightly brush it off himself.

A young girl screamed nearby, and Anthony's head whipped around, his eyes landing on Kevin, who was usually the instigator. His hunch was correct, and Kevin was looking guilty, perched on the edge of the dock with his legs dangling in the water, trying not to laugh. The girl that swam around in the water with her friends seemed agitated, her bottom lip stuck out in a pout and her eyes were narrowed and harsh... or maybe that was just the sun in her eyes, either way Anthony knew Kevin had something to do with it.

"Kevin.. stop.. " He smirked, walking towards him, easily nudging him into the water with his leg. "But girls are SO annoying! And she started it!" Kevin yelped, falling into the water. Surfacing, he threw his hands up in the air and made a funny face at the girls. They laughed and replied with equally contorted faces. "How's it?" Anthony questioned. "Awesome! Get in!!" Kevin shouted enthusiastically, slapping the water, dousing his brother. Anthony tensed as the cool water hit against his chest and stomach, oh yea.. it was real awesome. It felt like glacial water, but maybe that was just because of this unusual heat. He'd get used to it, he liked the cold. He glanced at London curiously before jumping off the dock into the lake, causing water to splash her way.

[katalyie]

"Ack!" Mosquitos were disgusting little blood suckers. Normally they avoided her, so finding one to land was a rare occurrence. She brushed it off with a little snort. They were stupid little bloodsuckers, but thankfully.. she didn't really have any blood to suck. That was useful, she supposed, but the bugs were still annoying.

London turned her head to the sound of the children at almost the same time Anthony did. They were rather adorable, teasing and playing without any sort of consequences. She remembered her won life when boys were icky little monsters, almost as icky as that bug that landed on her skin only a moment earlier. Of course, she had grown out of that aversion to the male sex and now found them rather interesting creatures including the specimen who had invited her here in the first place. Speaking of....

The angel watched as Anthony jumped into the water, sending water her way. "Hey! I am still wearing clothes. Watch the water. I have to put these back on later!" Of course her tone was teasing and that grin seemed to be glued to her face. Well, well, well, the water was nice, huh? Time to get in, it seemed.

London glanced to the water for just a second, deciding that attention wouldn't be on her so she could remove her cover ups. Turning away from the water, London dropped her towel onto the dock and began removing her clothing. She undid her sandals and slid out of those, stepped out of her shorts, and pulled her oversized shirt over her head. There was a moment where she was standing in her swimsuit on the dock, hands on her hips and lips pursed. Red hair caught the sunlight and stood out from her pale skin, gleaming. That moment passed quickly though, and the red head took a rather graceful dive off of the edge of the dock.

She imagined that the water must be cold, but she couldn't quite feel it. Annoying thing about being dead, all sensation was gone. Idly, she wondered how long she could stand under water now that breath wasn't necessary, but the woman decided that testing that factor around a bunch of humans probably wasn't a good idea. As she surfaced back into the sunlight, small hands pushed wet hair away from her face and she couldn't help but laugh. Great day already. "This is so, so, so great! Oh, and by the way? I'm going to get you back for that splash earlier." Though she meant the statement to sound menacing, London just sounded cute. Curse of her personality, she supposed.

[adlohse]

Leisurely floating underwater, reveling in the feeling of weightlessness, London's words were lost to Anthony, although Kevin whipped around and giggled loudly, tempted to splash her just because she had made a big deal out of wanting her clothes to remain dry. Even if they gluttonously soaked up a fair amount of the crystal liquid, they would become parched again within a matter of a few hours in this heat.

Anthony surfaced the water, exhaling and sucking in a gulp of crisp, fresh air. He wiped his inky, sheeny hair out of his eyes, slicking it back with one flip of his hand. Lo and behold, Anthony was powerless to avert his big brown eyes from London's beautiful figure. He swallowed hard and firmly relegated the thoughts that were spinning through his head to the back of his mind. Forcing his glance to shift, he cleared his throat and turned away, attempting to hide the warm shade of red that heated his grinning cheeks.

Hearing her retort, he swam closer to her. "Oh yea? Go ahead.." he said, openly challenging her. His eyes narrowed and a smile curled at the edge of his lips, resisting to let it pervade over the lower half of his face, from ear to ear.

It was obvious he liked her. Little did she know, women couldn't normally trigger this kind of playful reaction from him--however, he was certain there was something special about her. She seemed safe and uncorrupted.. unlike some of the unfortunately foolish women he had previously dated in his past, but then again, he had chose to get involved with them. With this red haired woman, there was more that he still was at a loss for what he was exactly detecting. Somewhere inside him he just knew.. that she was supernatural.

Kevin beat them to the punch, sending a wave towards them both.

[katalyie]

As Anthony swam closer, London found her breath catching in her throat. Something about him made her get all jittery and all of a sudden, it was like she was in fifth grade all over again. All paper hearts and sharing textbooks and sitting next to each other at lunch. It was equal parts terrifying and alluring and the angel found herself unwilling to move. That tone made her want to retaliate, make good on her threat but the smile on his face froze her into the moment. It was an odd contradiction.

Of course, the moment was shattered when Kevin sent a wave that caught the red head off guard. She was pushed forward and into Anthony and her hands found his shoulders to keep herself from going under. There was a milisecond of shock (since she was so close that their faces were mere inches away) but the shock was gone in the next. She used her positional advantage, the remainder of Kevin's wave and a slight twitch of her wings to give enough boost to dunk Anthony under the water. She skittered backward quickly, as to avoid also being pulled under and waited for Anthony to resurface.

"Thanks for the help!" She called to Kevin, a wide grin on her face. She'd warned Anthony that she'd get him back and he just haaaad to go and taunt her about it. Green eyes remained trained on the spot she'd pushed Anthony under, waiting for him to surface. She sort of hoped that he'd get her back and they could start a war. Those games were usually fun and meant a lot of close contact. Something in way he looked at her told London that he wouldn't mind being close, maybe closer than a friend would be?

Why did that thought continue to linger? Could she allow that to happen? It was so dangerous, potentially fatal to her way of life. There was the hurdle of explaining her situation and navigating that. Then there was Jordan to worry about, the only person who would care if she disappeared because of this choice. Shaking her wet hair, London tried to keep that out of her head for the moment. It was unnecessary to think about things like that. Not yet. When the time came, she'd worry.

[tyler]

Walking through the forest he had no idea about. This was either a stupid idea or a smart one. Not knowing the land was bad but exploring it and figuring it out was good. Tree limbs snapped and broke underneath his feet as he walked. Trying to figure his way out of this place was difficult. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his cigarette pack and pulled out another one of those different cigarettes and lit it. After taking a couple of large draws on it he continued walking. Smoking it here and there he started to feel better. He started to feel safe as if he was suppose to be there. Was he suppose to be there? Hell no he belonged back home watching his large high def 3-D TV.

Zane continued to walk and find nothing but it didn't matter to him anymore he was into exploring the forest now. Soon he heard voice, water shifting and laughter coming from the distance. He decided to check it out. Taking another long draw from his cigarette he put the roach back into his pack and stuff it back into his pocket. More twigs snapped under his feet as he progressed towards the noises. He stood there still when he saw two people. One was a man and the other was a female. The female was amazingly beautiful to him. He couldn't figure out if he wanted to approach them just find another way out of the forest. Deciding who the hell cares he made his way forward towards them.

As he neared them thoughts started to pop into his head. Some good some bad but none of them with bad intentions. All of them were of the best, well unless you where that other dude then It might not go so well for him if Zane had his way. Looking down at the two people he gave that charming light smile.

Hello.

[adlohse]

Anthony chuckled at Kevin and prepared to splash him back, but was taken aback by London who had caught his attention again. He grinned widely as she perched her hands on his broad shoulders to push him beneath the water. Since she propelled herself away so suddenly, he was aware of the direction she had escaped to. He however, hadn't noticed the brown haired guy approach them, considering at the time he was submerged underwater. Bubbles floated up and popped as they impacted the surface, Anthony wasn't coming up right away.

As he swam towards her, his fingertips lightly grazed one of her calves, and that was enough for him to find her again. There were no other people directly around them, so he was confident it was her. Her skin was so soft. He reached up and gently grabbed her around her midsection with an arm, quickly dragging her through the water to where he could touch the ground again. He held her firmly, in case she attempted to squirm away out of his grasp. Surfacing, he exhaled and took in a breath of fresh air. Kevin sent another wave of water at them both, laughing. With London so close and having a solid footing now, he decided to kill two birds with one stone and use her as a weapon to retaliate back at Kevin. He wrapped his hands around her small waist and pushed her up with his the strong arms and legs, easily throwing her towards him, in an area safe away from the dock. Course, she didn't come completely out of the water, but Anthony found it quite amusing to watch.

[katalyie]

London was sure she had gotten away. She'd moved quickly enough, or so she thought. Her ears hadn't detected the sound of anyone surfacing and she'd been listening intently as she tried to escape. Since the angel hadn't been expecting an attack quite yet, she was caught completely off guard when Anthony touched her leg. She had just enough time shriek rather loudly, when an arm had encircled her midsection. "Anthony! Let me go! Let me go!" She tried to sound serious but it was so difficult when he was dragging her through the water. Laughter was inevitable and it didn't help that water kept getting in her mouth.

For a split second, London was sure she heard a sound. Her eyes quickly scanned the area for the source of the sound, a habit acquired from training in protection. Green eyes locked onto a shape and she was about to say something to Anthony when he practically tossed her into the air. "Heeeeey!" The word was pulled into a scream as her body was propelled through the air, crashing back into the water near Kevin, who probably got seriously splashed. She was back to the surface in almost a second, head whipping toward Anthony immediately. Did he see the guy? What was going on?

Instinctively, London swam in front of Kevin. Anthony was too far away. Her mind had instantly gone into protection mode and there was no stopping it for the moment. "Hello?" She called in response, head tilted ever so slightly. "Were you talking to us?" It was a stupid question, because there weren't really any other people around. The man had obviously been talking to them, but London was nervous. Her brain sort of shut down in protection mode.

About a million thoughts crashed into each other and London couldn't decide on the best course of action. Perhaps the man wasn't dangerous. What did he want? Why was he here? The angel silenced her own mental processes to allow the man a chance to speak. Green eyes were clouded to protect her emotions, but she remained quiet from then on.

[tyler]

Standing still as if he were a statue. He watched as this girl was thrown through the air back into the water near another guy. Once she resurfaced he noticed that she was making eye contact with him. Her green eyes glistening in the sun as she continued to stare. “Where you talking to us?” she asked. However it didn't register at first, after all he was distracted at how angelic and beautiful she was. Then it hit him like a nuclear bomb that she had just asked him a question. Yet in her eyes he could tell something was up. It looked as if she didn't trust him or thought he could be some sort of threat. That couldn't have been farther from the truth, he was just walking around and happened to find them. In his mind though he was glad he did.

Yea I was. I was walking through the forest and I heard voices so I decided to explore and see where it was coming from. I'm glad I did though. Zane said with a charming smile. Looking down at the three people in the water he wondered if he should just walk way or try and keep the conversation going. The guys in the background looked as if they didn't like him, well either that or they just didn't really care for him all that much. He'd like the second one better personally, it'd make it a lot easier to talk to her one on one.

Walking over to the dock he took his shoes and socks off. Sitting down he dangled his feet off the edge letting them soak in the water to cool off his feet. After all he had been walking for hours in the sun so naturally he was hot as a baked potato. As his eyes set upon this girl again these mixed emotions kept creeping their way inside his head. Taking a chance he decided to speak up and hopefully if his planned worked he'd get that one on one time with her. Not to try anything stupid or with any attentions on crossing any lines she may have.

Zane looked as if he was going to say something but he was at a lost for words at the moment. Fighting the emotions in his head he tried to find the words he wanted to say. None came to him though. What was wrong with him? This had never happened before but he kind of liked the feeling, but it still wasn't something he'd want to experience every day. Finally figuring out what he was going to say he said it.

So what's such a beautiful lady such as yourself doing out here in the middle of a forest? After he said it he felt kind of stupid, knowing that they were obviously swimming. Wanting to bash his face into the dock over and over again he continued to smile that little smile of his.

[adlohse]

Anthony's face cracked open as he laughed at London's scream, witnessing Kevin getting splashed right in the face. His aim hit the spot for sure. Though despite his "victory", he felt pang of remorse for returning the favor to London. It wasn't exactly the right way to treat a lady.. though, then again she hadn't been acting very ladylike either when he was dunked. He was thinking again too much. They were both playing, nothing more. His body relaxed as he swam closer, increasingly curious now that her attention was directed towards the stranger. Where had he come from? He noted that she seemed rather unnerved, considering the way she was practically shielding Kevin. Kevin didn't take the hint that this guy might have been dangerous and London was protecting him, so he just hopped back into the water and nonchalantly swam towards the other kids, who were distracted with a colorful item on the beach, probably something weird that had washed up.. who knew. He didn't give it much thought.

Toned arms settled on the slick surface of the wooden dock next to London, his head peeking over it. It's fine. He could call her beautiful. He could woo her by telling her that the deeply blushing color of her hair was like the glowing radiance of a brilliant summer sunset for all he cared. All that mattered to him was if London flirted back. If she gave him an opening to step in. It was one of the very reasons why he took relationships slowly. They could go awry very quickly if you became involved with the wrong person. He strongly preferred to get to know people as friends first.. mingle, figure them out, see what they liked and disliked.. sincerely get to know some of their character before he dated them. It was a efficient way to eliminate any of the crazies before getting emotionally involved. He was choosy for a reason.

Anthony may have been the reserved type, but he wasn't stupid. He didn't have to be a mind reader to know what this guy was thinking. He was a male too and that was enough. He kept his cool and glanced at London, simply observing her reactions. He was interested in her, but he wouldn't push it if she was open to anyone's company. He wanted a woman that was loyal and if she was seriously interested in him, she would do well to be mindful with her time, where and with whom she spent it. But she didn't know Anthony very well, if at all, so it wasn't like she was aware of that, which I suppose is exactly the point.

"She's with us," Anthony said, watching the newcomer with a serious expression. Men didn't need to verbally point out the obvious for the other to get the hint of what they were really saying. The fact that London was on edge made him slightly on edge as well. He was sensitive to body language, and he didn't know this guy. Maybe she did. Maybe he wasn't someone friendly.

[katalyie]

This situation confused London to no end. Was she the only one who felt this... chill when she looked at the newcomer? Sure, he seemed nonthreatening, like he just wanted to say hi. Something in her head, though, it screamed danger. Still, as long as it remained unidentified, she couldn't really worry about it. It was obvious that she'd accidentally gotten herself into a situation. The more important thing was to get out of it gracefully.

Green eyes shifted to Anthony, who had come near her again. His presence made London feel safer, but she didn't visibly relax so that little fact wasn't projected everywhere for the stranger to see. Not that she would normally mind if a stranger knew she had a crush, it was just that... something still seemed off. The feeling about his was so familiar, as if she'd encountered it many times over. Kevin didn't seem to notice the man at all and Anthony seemed much more intent on watching her reaction. Why was it that she was the only one who noticed?

Ack! People had spoken and she had yet to respond. Her gaze lingered on Anthony for a moment longer before flicking back to the stranger. Beautiful, huh? Did he think that he could just waltz into a situation and whisk her away? Not likely. "Yeah, I'm here with them and quite happy about it! Swimming. I'm London, though." Excellent balance. Friendly, but not flirty. The difference was clear in her mind. Hopefully, the gents would see it the same way and she wouldn't have to intervene if something occurred.

Still, she felt... nervous... threatened.... in danger. All of these things at once. She rather wanted to just swim away and let Anthony deal with the man as he had dealt with those jerks at the fair. She could explain later that something felt wrong. That would be so rude, though. London, therefore, chose middle ground. She swam slightly closer to Anthony, though her green eyes remained fixed on the new man. What was it about him that bothered her so?

[tyler]

So many things happened in such a short span of time. Like lighting another thing happened, and it seemed to go on like a chain reaction. This one dude in the water started to get a defensive look on his face. It was clear he didn't like him being there. Maybe Zane was ruining his little chance to get inside her pants, or maybe he was just stupid, or maybe even high. Either way it wasn't the words that came out of his mouth that pissed him off. No it was the tone he used when he said it. This guy now made it very clear that he didn't want Zane sticking around. In his head he kinda laughed at the man for being so pathetic. So the first chance he gets he's going to put him in his place, and if he wanted to fight that was his choice, but Zane wasn't going to throw the first punch, it was either the other guy or nothing would happen. Still it didn't matter because the guy actually gave him the chance to talk back so he was going to take it.

Yet at the same time the girl he juts called beautiful still seemed as if she had a problem, but she wouldn't tell anyone that much he could see just in her eyes and body movements alone, also speaking as if she didn't want him there, but some how he got the impression some of it was an act. Rolling his eyes in his imagination, he smiled once more and responded in the following ways. Looking over at the dude who had just talked to him like had a chip on his shoulders, he was the first to get talked to. Smiling even bigger and sighed and started to talk.

Oh really, I couldn't tell. I mean after all when I got here just now I could only see London. NO!! It was pretty obvious that you here with her. So there's really no need to get offensive. But I understand If your getting pissy if I'm ruining your panty raid. Or if your just that insecure that's your own fault, sounds like a personal problem to me. Don't worrie though i'm not out to steal anyone way from anyone. I'm just exploring the woods and heard people. Sorry if me being pretty much lost is a problem.

Looking back over to London his facial expression changed from the angered one to the charming and sensitive look. Why he did that was simple. He wasn't mad at her, she had done nothing wrong. So taking out his anger on her was just the wrong thing to do. So with a smile on his face and and a sincere look he spoke again.

Ah that's cool. I didn't mean to interrupt anything that was going on. And if my actions just now where offensive or scared you in any way I'm deeply sorry, and you have my apologies. So if the fact is that no one where wants me around, I’ll take a hint and find my way out of the forest, hopefully.

Every word was true. If he wasn't wanted he wasn't going to stick around. That’s just trouble and trouble is bad. So he decided to play it safe. Now the only thing that was left to do, was wait on the dock for the answers of the other two. If they both still wanted him to leave. But if just one of them wanted him to stay he was going to.