Ladies Who Lunch

[Taylor Dear]

<sup>Taylor ran her finger around the rim of her coffe cup somewhat impatiently. Not only was she bored, but the waiter was being rather sluggish in servicing her. She kept a mental countdown of his tip in her head. He was about to get dropped to 10% if he didn't show up with her cream in the next two minutes. So, maybe she was a little demanding, but it was unreasonable to wait seven minutes for coffee creamer. She looked at the gold and diamond watch around her right wrist, checking the time. So, the waiter and Jeremy were late. Some people will never learn to be punctual, she thought to herself. So, maybe she shouldn't have expected timeliness from Jeremy of all people, but he could at least make an appearance before Taylor skipped out on the bill and went shopping.

She rested her head in her and hands and evaluated the situation. She had a lunch date with Jeremy of all people. He, no doubt, was late, and she had ordered coffe to pass the time. She refused to drink the coffee without creamer, and by now it seemed that by the time she got it, the coffee would be cold and she would have to send it back, anyways. She was tempted to call Jeremy and berate him about keeping her waiting, when she was doing him a favor to hang out with him, but it was against her better judegemtn. Give him some time, she told herself. He may be one of Hunter's friends, but that doesn't mean he adheres to the same rules, she assured herself.</sup>

[Jeremy Stiller]

Of course, there were many places he’d be much happier to be at; at the present time, but instead, he stood here. And of course, he was late, but what more could you expect? Jeremy; Jeremy was a diverse character, a rebel, and a bandie. Sure, he’d never been anything special, but he wasn’t poor, dirty or ignorant. His dear family, Jan; his mother, who was now known as a Hotel Heiress, his first sister; Holly, a total cow, who saw herself as the best, and nothing below, and then there was Megan; his second sister; fourteen, and still such a pleasant creature. This was his family, his household, his everything. With no father, the family still sort of independent, and continued to rely on Jeremy for the support of a male. Over and over again, he had told his mother, well at least suggested that maybe she should invest in a partner; of the male kind, but she refused, it was as though she believed doing so would be betraying Jeremy, or something. As a child, or a toddler, his father had left, taking just about everything along with him, but after this catastrophe, Jan still didn’t understand the ways of the male brain, and once again was left with another child, and single. Though he did love his family, he still hated the way Holly acted as though she was Queen Bee, and how Megan still didn’t have a say in anything at all. But he supposed there was nothing he could do about it, so instead, he let it simply slide.

There she was, sweet little miss, known as one Taylor Dear. An Elite, of course. The closest of friends with Miss Madison Rockefeller and dating Jeremy’s mate; Hunter Mason. There wasn’t much more you could hold in a girl; her father was a powerful man; the head Marketing Manager for GMC, her mother; a Housewife, and her ten year old brother; well he was just a brother. Her looks were quite astonishing, but she certainly isn’t Jeremy’s kind, come to think of it, no one he’s met yet really tickles his fancy. Her parents are nice, though Jeremy’s only met them once, but they sort of disapprove of their wondrous daughter dating Hunter, which is strange, and certainly not understandable. But then no one really likes Jeremy, but they have a reason for that. Jeremy had known Taylor for quite a long time, as they both sort of grew up in the same area; Collingstead, though they were only really friends for the reason that she was going out with his close friend. There wasn’t anything about Taylor that Jeremy disliked, but she wasn’t exactly one of his best friends, yet still, they’d made a effort to meet each other for lunch.

Strolling casually into the restaurant, his stride suggested that he was perfectly on time, and nothing at all was wrong, yet only half of that was true. Jeremy; being who he was, had turned up to the address at least twenty five minutes late, but still, he didn’t at all feel guilty. This was his usual attitude towards matters similar to this, he tended to take the carefree approach to everything, nothing seemed to bother him that much. Striding gently over to the table he eyed, which was accommodated by yours truly, Taylor; he gave a quick nod, and pulled up a seat for himself. “If you’re expecting an apology Taylor, don’t hold ya’ breath.” He chuckled.

[Adalyn Hayes]

Adalyn loved to eat out, even if she was by herself, which in this case she was. She still hadn't made the effort to find friends since her move, which would have been nice in a situation such as this. Of course, most of the people in Collingstead were not among her favor. The overwhelming majority of the bunch were snobs, too rich for their own good. Ada was of course wealthy - how would she be here otherwise? - but had tried to never succumb to the disease-like greed found among the others.

She was seated with a dismissing huff from the waitress. The waitress waddled off to attend to others, leaving Ada to survey the lunchers. She found herself sitting uncomfortably close to familiar and unwelcomed face. It was that girl from the Country Club, the Botox Queen as Ada had dubbed her, the one who had so rudely teamed up with that Frenchman to insult her. She groaned softly and held her menu up to block her face, which wasn't hard considering the size of the menu. Of all people to sit by, it had to be her.

[Taylor Dear]

<sup>She shook her head in disdain, "Hunter would do you good to teach you some manners," she said under her breath, before smiling at her lunch date.

"So," she started, "are you sure that Hunter won't have a problem with me lunching with you? He's been kind of weird lately." She was genuinely concerned about things like this. She was constantly striving to do everything right in everyones eyes, and that included her boyfriend.

Much to her relief, while waiting for an answer, her waiter re-appeared with a small pitcher of creme. She would have said thank you if she wasn't perturbed at his faulty service or staring blankly out the window. She could easily see her reflection, it wasn't the brightest day outside. She was wearing a violet colored tank she had recently purchased at Saks, with a golden necklace around her necklace, a pendant in the likeness of a plane hanging from it. Her jet black hair was loose and slightly toussled, just for effect. It wasn't like she actually engaged in activites that would make her hair look windblown and rough.

She shook her head, drawing her attention back to the small restaurant, and she reached for the white ceramic pitcher, carefully pouring in cream. She stirred it lightly, still waiting. Her eyes drifted all over the small space, landing on an awfully familiar, poorly dyed blonde head. She shuddered. It was that dreadful, Spanish speaking girl from the Country Club. Oh, the blasphemy of it all.</sup>

[Jeremy Stiller]

With the female’s suggestion about changing, or modifying his unique and diverse behaviour, he nearly threw himself backwards out of the timber chair he was located it. How dare she improvise something so dreadfully dramatic about his actions? Purely disgusted, he slumped back in his chair, annoyed with her. True, he was only playing, but it was quality entertainment, so why stop? Another minx was present in the lonely, yet expensive quarters of the restaurant. Alarmed by his friends behaviour towards the other human, he guessed that they’d encountered before, and probably not on a happy, or well basis. They were both acting like this, both girls, they were treating each other like darn children. Stupid really. Childish behaviour was just an idiotic disease, caught by many though, especially the wealthier population of humans, and it was usually the girls. True, boys did happen to mess themselves up like the females, but not to that of a greater extent. And it was usually only over something small, and silly; for example cars, video games or such, but there was one thing that really fired them up, and yes, you guessed it; girls.

Just as the topic crossed his mind, Taylor spoke. Her words were twisting really, questioning her audience; Jeremy of whether her boyfriend, and his mate; Hunter, would disapprove of them meeting up. Jeremy didn’t see why it was a problem really, they were friends, going out for a meal, and it certainly wasn’t a date, simply a friendly occasion to meet up and share conversation over a meal. So being Jeremy, he lodged his opinion. “If you doesn’t trust us to just eat and talk, then he can get stuffed Tay. Simple.” Speaking, he them gestured for the waiter, or at this time; waitress to come over to their table. Truly, the service in this building was just horrid. After waiting for a few minutes, he waved gently again. Getting the complete wrong idea, a young teenager, blonde and as her hair colour suggested; stupid, waved back in a flirtatious way. Raising his eyebrows, he was quite alarmed, and sunk back into his chair. “Fuck it.” He muttered. Pure annoyance lingered in his voice as he scolded his own actions.

Hunger was something that was sort of always there, he could just never be bothered to do anything about it, but today was different. Strangely, the male actually did eat breakfast, but that was the last meal he’d had, and no he was absolutely starved, not to mention impatient. Starving for both food, and a smoke, he slumped deep into his cushioned chair and sighed deeply. Waiting upon the arrival of the slack waitress, he hummed to himself. Not once did he wander if Taylor was hungry, he supposed she was a full grown girl, and could simply defend for herself, so if she was hungry, she would order. Everything, in Jeremy’s eyes that was, was simple, and quite obverse, where others would go deep into thought, and question themselves about it many times, Jeremy would just sort of; assume, and that was good enough. Thinking; just sort of a waste of time really.

[Adalyn Hayes]

Adalyn felt ridiculous hiding behind the massive menu, but was reluctant to surrender it when the waitress returned. The snooty women gave her an extremely dirty look that made Ada want to throw something at her. Fucking bitch had no right to give her that look, especially since she was the one serving everyone.

Ada had sensed she had been spotted, and now knew there was no point in trying to hide. She stopped midthought and pondered the reason she was so worried by walking silicone, especially silicone that had let her top fall at the pool the other day. She bit her lip to keep from laughing at this thought. She topped this off with an obnoxiously polite smile directed at the girl, as well as the guy with her. She guessed he was annoyed by their display, but chose not to care. Everyone she had met in this town seemed to dislike her; why not add another to the list?

[Taylor Dear]

<sup>"Get stuffed. You speak so kindly about your best mates, don't you," she laughed, finally loosening up a little bit. She was never sure how to act around people. Sure, around Madison and...well, most of everyone else she hung out with, it was the hushed voices, icy glares, and the occasional laugh. With other people, like Jeremy, for example, she realized that she was free to, you know, speak so other people can hear you, smile, genuinely laugh, and other things like that.

She sighed. It was pretty sad how much her life revolved around making Hunter happy these days. Her parents hated him like no other, and he was pressuring her into joining the Peace Corps, which she really wanted to do. But, she was really averse to disobeying her parents to such a degree.

She suppressed a small laugh at Jeremy's apparent exasperation. "If it makes you feel any better, I waited a whole twenty-five minutes for this," she motioned at her coffee and creamer, "the service is pretty shitty for the amount of money they demand," she stated simply. It's not like either of them were poor, per se, so she had no problem making statements about money. She turned in her seat again, and stared at her reflection in the window. She played with her necklace for a bit, before returning to the present world, and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Want some," she offered, pushing her coffee cup and saucer towards Jeremy, after realizing that he hadn't ordered anything.</sup>

[Jeremy Stiller]

One again, she’d done it, make him feel really quite uncomfortable about his judgement, he didn’t give a shit though, it didn’t matter, he’d get over it. Yes, he was also like this, very anxious about what the Elites thought of him. It didn’t actually matter, but he still liked to think they saw him on a positive note. It was different with everyone else though; the preps, jocks and so on, they didn’t matter at all to him. The Elites were special though, without them, no one would really know where they stood in the line of popularity. Rebels; as people called him, they weren’t exactly nobodies, unlike the others. In the modern day society, or at least as Collingstead; the petty jocks and preps weren’t so much regarded as the best here, they were poorer than most, even some of the Rebels owned more than them; hence himself. But just having all the money, the flash car, and mansion, those weren’t really the ruling factors anymore. And it wasn’t even beauty, but that was certainly an advantage. Some of the Elites; like Taylor for example, weren’t even Caucasian, instead Asian, or such.

With a sigh, he cast a gaze over the whole interior, soaking in the surroundings. The girl still inhibited a lonely looking table. With no company, eating out could become a chore, finding the effort to drag yourself out from your own little hiding hole. Not even smiling, he turned back to Taylor momentarily as she spoke of the service. He nodded in agreement and then creased his lips slightly, showing a smile. Snatching the menu from the table, he peered inside, searching the pages for a simple dish. Something with meat would be good, yeah, he was that kind of guy. Peering sharply at the steak dishes, he decided to go for something boring and unadventurous for entrée. Deciding on something, he stuck his head up from the pages and looked around, spotting a waiter at another table. “Thanks Tay.” Smiling, he accepted the semi-steaming mug, and lifted it to his lips, sipping gently. “Shit that’s hot.” He laughed casually. “Ready to order?” He asked.

[Taylor Dear]

<sup>"Oh, eating hadn't really crossed my mind," she laughed, feeling kind of stupid. She'd invited someone out to lunch, and had forgotten that maybe she should eat lunch. Sometimes she wasn't sure where the line was between general confusion and blunt stupidity was with herself. "Mind if I look at the menu real quick? You go ahead and order though," she encouraged him. She wasn't at all sure what she wanted, and if he knew, she wanted him to go ahed. It could take her a notoriously long time to make up her mind about seemingly simple things. Like lunch.

She took back her coffee with a slight smirk, taking a sip of it while her eyes skimmed the menu. Nothing out of the ordinary, just your basic lunch fare in Collingstead. Steaks, fish, the occasional sandwhich. Boring, boring, and more boring. Her eyes rested on the salads. "Hm, the rustic salad looks good," she said to no one in particular. She put the menu down, as well as her cup.

She leaned forward on the table, and rested her elbows on the edge, completely disregarding any basic rules of etiquette her parents had almost violently forced on her. She clasped her hands, her bracelets making a light jingling noise, and her two rings clanging together. "So, Jeremy, what else are you doing today?," she questioned him, wondering if there wa anything she could intrude upon. Her parents were somewhere, giving her almost complete freedom for the afternoon.</sup>

[Jeremy Stiller]

Looking back at Taylor, he sighed gently as she spoke of lunch. Still thinking about what he wanted to order, he laughed gently, pondering on the topic for a minute. His eyes sort of circled his head, slowly travelling in a circular motion around and around a few times, still he thought. Finally, he decided for certain what he wanted; oysters. Ha, can him typical, or boring, but he hadn’t had seafood in quite a while, and it seemed like a relaxed and settled occasion for them. As the waiter waddled over, he gave the two a toothy grin. Glaring at the man, Jeremy cleared his throat, signalling for the man to ask them about their decision, nothing. Seriously, they waited on the spot for at least a minute, yet still the robotically minded stranger just stood in silence, lingering there. Tipping his skull from side to side, Jeremy shook his head in pure disgust of the man. “We’d like to order now.” Stone cold and stern tones came from the impatient male; Jeremy. Annoyed, he tapped the table with the tips of his fingers, representing complete and utter boredom. “Mhm” The waiter finally spoke. “I’ll have the oysters, and Tay will have the..” Waiting for the female to tell the man what she wanted, he paused.

[ well , that sucked , lol ]

[Taylor Dear]

<sup>"Oh, uh, I'll take a rustic salad, hold the walnuts, dressing on the side," she smiled, handing the waiter her menu. Finally, some somewhat decent service around here. She re-folded her hands, leaning forward on the table. Then, an all too familiar sound came out, muffled, from her bag.

"Excuse me," she rolled her eyes, pulling out her 'gaudy as hell' gold RAZR from one of the inner pockets of her bag. Her ringtone was embarassing, which was really the only reason she rushed to answer it. Currently, her phone was plasting some obscene rap song that someone had bought, and she had been too lazy to change it since. She blushed deeply, before checking the caller ID screen. She mouthed the word 'Hunter' to Jeremy before answering her phone.

"This is Tay," she droned, using the bored voice she used with her frends, "yeah, just out to lunch with Jeremy...oh, so that's where you are? Look, can I just talk to you later? Yeah, love you too," she made a disgusted face before snapping the phone shut.

"My apologies. Hunter calls for the weirdest reasons sometimes," she sighed again, toying with her airplane necklace.</sup>

[Jeremy Stiller]

Seriously, what was it with her today? Strangely, she was acting like she didn’t want to be a part of Hunter’s life anymore, this was sad. True, Jeremy had never really liked the fact that one of his best friends weren’t single anymore, it wasn’t that he was jealous or anything stupid like that, but more that Hunter became restricted, and didn’t really adventure out of his comfort zone anymore. For example; he’d never drink too much anymore, which was a disappointment, as the old, and single Hunter used to love getting drunk, and then doing highly idiotic activities while heavily intoxicated with alcohol, instead, now he’d come up with the over-used excuse of ‘what about Taylor?’ or ‘Taylor wouldn’t approve of this’. Yeah, but who cared? Taylor certainly didn’t, well Jeremy had never actually asked her, but he assumed she’d be sweet with it.

Smiling gently, he waited patiently for her to finish with her boyfriend. Alarmingly, she was able shut him up quickly, and return to Jeremy. With his eyes wide, he tried to laugh the situation off, it didn’t work though, and he ended up snorting in-between gasps of highly needed air. Sighing with a gently grunt, he looked down at the cloth draped so untidily over the table. Breaking the silence, he jolted from his chair, standing before explaining his sudden actions. “I think I need a smoke, you can join me if you want, if not, I’ll just be outside.” Abruptly, he spoke. It was true, he hadn’t had a cigarette in quite a few hours, and now was practically lusting for one.

Adjusting his figure, he pushed his chair back in and turned on his heel, not even waiting to see if she followed. Travelling outside, he found himself a spot by the front of the building, slouching against the stable structure of the restaurant, he dug around in his deep pockets for a packet. Retrieving what he desired, he opened the packaging and brought out of the cigarettes. Shielding the tip of the papery cover, he lit the frame, piercing it against the bud. Alight, the stick sat in-between his fingers. Sipping the substance up, he blew the excess mixture out his nostrils.

[Adalyn Hayes]

Adalyn gave a dramatic start at the sound of the phone, turning to look as the Botox Queen removed it from her bag. Mouth half open, eyebrows raised, Ada stared unashamed at the girl. Rap? Ada had pictured her as more of a Natasha Beckingfield, Shakira, Ciara, or Jewel type of person. But not rap, that disgusting jumble of slang and cuss. It wasn't even real music.

Ada didn't stop staring on in disgust until the waitress practically dropped her BLT and house salad onto the table. Ada jumped and turned to see the waitress towering over her with that same filthy expression. "Anything else?" she barked.

"No," replied Ada tonelessly, although after the waitress left she added, "Not from you, bitch."

She then had to bite her lip to keep from giggling at the guy's goofy laugh. She held it in all the way until he left, then burst out giggling.

[Taylor Dear]

<sup>"Don't mind if I do," she laughed, pushing her chair back behind her, and taking her purse with her. She slipped outside, but waved a wary hand towards their waiter so he knew they were skipping out. She took her place besides him on the brick wall, and withdrew her own pack of cigarettes, pounding on her palm, getting a cigarette.

She placed it in between her lips, and dropped the pack back into her purse, and then started shuffling around for her lighter.

"Can I use your light," she asked, her cigarette still inbetween her perfectly plum polished lips. She pulled her purple cardigan closer around her body, adjusting to the temperature differences from the inside of the restaurant, to the somewhat cooled air of outside.</sup>

[Jeremy Stiller]

With a satisfied nod of his head, he agreed to her question. Slipping the joint of tobacco from his lips, he fished his hand into his pocket to find the lighter she had requested. Finding it easily, he pulled it out with ease, and handed it to hr briskly. Returning to his own cigarette, he inhaled another sweet armoured breath of smoke and closed his orbs, enjoying every moment of the mixture. It was good; smoking, though he knew he shouldn’t, it didn’t stop him, nothing ever did. It was like this with drinking also, he wasn’t seen as an alcoholic, not in his own, or his mate’s eyes, but the truth was, he actually was quite addicted to the substance, in quite an illegal amount. He’d been caught many times by the cops, for a number of different offences involving alcohol, drugs, and occasionally borrowing without permission, also known as; stealing. This was much more common when he was younger though, he’s sort of matured since then, and the drugs weren’t such a big deal, only on special occasions would he issue them, and never anything serious, just a few joints of marijuana now and then.

Looking back at her, he smiled gently, sure, it was a little weird, you know, it’s not sort of everyday you get to stand there, in silence, just smiling at your best mate’s girlfriend, yeah, it was probably wrong, and a stupid thing to do, but he didn’t care, it wasn’t like he was going to touch her or anything. “So… how’s life Tay?” Asking, it was as though he actually showed an interest into her life.

[ sorreh , i'ma actually on the phone =P lol ]