All great art is born of the metropolis

[Elliot is on the edge.]

The main building of the NY Public Library was peculiarly deserted, especially the reading room, much to Elliot's quiet joy. It was early afternoon on a lazy Wednesday and her Social Theory class had been canceled for the day, so she had caught the train and here she sat. She was reading The Spirit of Romance by Ezra Pound, because she had always loved his poetry but felt it was time to seriously delve into his mind and now fifteen pages in, all thoughts of putting the book down had dissolved from her mind.

Turning the page, she looked up at the massive window that stood in front of her just in time to see the first inklings of rain pour down on the outside of the building. She smiled quietly to herself, thinking that it was simply a sign to keep her in the library for the remainder of the afternoon.

Elliot had a peculiar relationship with the rain. The smell and sight of it faultlessly reminded her of gray, rainy London afternoons of childhood spent indoors with familiar books, a darling sister and her disgruntled cat, Brutus. That pitter-patter noise, however, always seemed to bring back days locked in a Seattle hotel, crippled and lonely as she listened to the rain fall outside while wearing her Father's old shirts. In the end, she found it a phenomenon both sad and lovely, something to be revered but not necessarily anything worth ruining her hair over anymore.

Turning her baby blue gaze back to the book she had propped in her lap, the blonde sighed contentedly, never taking for granted how the littlest things, like a morning downpour and a wink-backed chair could make her smile these days.

[Eiji Almasy.]

Eiji, who unwittingly was only a few blocks away from the library, was sitting in one of the many Starbucks cafes across Manhattan, trying to come to terms with the conversation he just had. Opting to skip his classes entirely, something that he would come to regret later, he had spent the entire day trying to fix the sudden and unwelcome crisis in his life. In a turn for the worst, his whole family along with his own father, had decided to cut him off from the financial support he had been receiving up until two days ago.

'You spend a ridiculous amount of money for one person,' the older man had told him, to which Eiji had felt necessary to mention the girlfriend and the number of dependants he supported – which, evidently, no one really cared about. Not our problem, was the response and his own choice words back at the old man hadn't been met well either. For him, it truly was an inconvenient time to try and teach him an apparently valuable life lesson.

Of course, he called his accountant right away. Everything with his name had been frozen except for a single debit account he always managed to overlook. His tuition fees till the end of semester were already paid for, but if he wanted to continue studying, he needed cash for the following term. The rent wasn't due for a few more weeks, at least, but the cleaning fees were and he always took care of that; money that had always come easily to him was suddenly unavailable and in its place were bills and expenditures he couldn't remember having before. He supposed this would all be rather normal for anybody else, and the irony he was now experiencing didn't escape him. Aside from getting a job, the only other suggestion that was offered was to sell, but he couldn't possibly consider that either.

The public setting curbed his desire to make a scene, instead he settled for a moment to stare at the phone he couldn't break because it was stupidly expensive now, who's phone bill was going to come up soon and he couldn't afford another one. Without having to think about it, he flicked open an old message (the closet smells like dog pee, to which he swore and decided he would give up his pets) and quickly typed, 'where are you?'

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"All my life I believed I knew something. But then one strange day came when I realized that I knew nothing, yes, I knew nothing. And so words became void of meaning. I have arrived too late at ultimate -"

The thought was stopped short when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, the jolt pulling her sufficiently from the well-crafted world she held in her hands and forcing her back into the real one. Her smile dimmed just a touch, because she was sure that the text was going to be a superfluous one; Peyton had just seen another man proclaiming that it was the end of the world!, or Draco wanted to know what color tie to wear later even though he never took her advice. Folding the book in her lap and extracting the cell from her dress pocket, she slid it open to be curiously greeted by a smiling picture of her boyfriend, his short message typed beneath it.

I'm at the library. whats up? p.s. you rly shouldn't txt during class bby ;]
She pushed send and slid the mobile closed, smirking because she knew that she would simply sit and patiently wait for his reply, instead of resuming her reading again.

[Eiji Almasy.]

To be honest, he was a little nervous. Not anything like the times he had done something particularly romantic; she'd taken all his ridiculous gifts but he still ducked his head in embarrassment whenever he thought about them. He was nervous maybe because he really should have been in class, especially now that it was all going to be out of his pocket since he couldn't remember ever being qualified for a loan, but because he told her he would go too. More really, he was nervous because he didn't know how to tell her that he only had enough money to support them for, well, a few months, if he was smart about it.

He paused before replying, wearing the slightest smile as he looked at the silly emoticon on his screen. Money didn't define him, hadn't he always stressed that? The number of times he told his less affluent friends that he could deal with being normal and not excessively bankrolled came to mind, and he pulled a face because it was always easier said than done. He had felt comfortable knowing he could take care of the people important to him. It was a stupid guy thing.

Butler or public? Ps. not in class need to see you[/size]

[Elliot is on the edge.]

Public. are you alright? where are you?

There was the part of her that was frustrated that he wasn't in class, the little voice that popped up to say he promised! he skipped a few hours last week too! but the Davis side always squashed the Williams side of her psyche and in the end she was just a touch worried and more than anything, left wanting to see him. She had never boasted perfect attendance herself, so who was she to complain?

Sometimes she scrutinized, wondered - perhaps even marveled - over the way they always seemed to be out of class at the same time or running into each other in the same restaurant, without any previous plans. It went deeper on occasion, with the way they would feel the same thing - dejected or excited, perhaps nervous - when they were miles apart, or the way exact mirror thoughts would pass though their minds at random intervals, seemingly out of the blue. It was these little cosmic touches to their routine that made her take notice of the universe's song more clearly.

Mae would say something like; 'cus you two are freak stalker aliens.
when Draco would reason; it's because you two retards are soul mates.

Standing up, the blonde slipped the anthology into her book bag and straightened her dress before heading for the door. She raised her hood just before stepping outside, mindful of the rain no matter what else was on her plate.

Dialing the boys number, she raised the cell phone to her ear, already wishing to hear the sound of his voice.

[Eiji Almasy.]

He'd been to New York before, thank God, but it had been when he was much younger which wasn't much for memory at all, but he'd come to the city once when he was 14 with his father, and once two years ago to meet Valentino. The first thing he had done after New Years and any mandatory post-holiday celebrations, was to get himself acquainted with the city. It wasn't as hard as he thought it to be and he found that it was a lot like London if he were to make comparisons; a bit more hurried and tall, but it did remind him of home. It was the only consolation he could feel as he sat at the back of the coffee house, a hand through his hair as he waited for the reply, wishing he hadn't drank so much caffeine before so he could at least try and think of what to say to her first.

He typed 'I'm fine sitting in starbucks on'[/size][/font] before the phone vibrated in his hand and her picture came up. It was from a night where he had been dizzy and infatuated with too much time on his hands, taking to his phone and saying stupid things to make her smile; she wore a quirk, her eyes were a bluewhite from the flash, and he knew, despite all his worries, that she wouldn't care if it turned out that one day he would no longer have a cent to his name.

"Hey," he answered, briefly wondering if it was corny that he wished she was right there, right then. Draco would probably say it was. He was so whipped, and nearing broke that it sucked.

"I'm on 54th and Broadway, near the David Letterman studio," he said, managing a grin because he had some kind of crazy adoration for the old talk show host, "where are you?"[/color]

[Elliot is on the edge.]

The sound of his voice always made her smile.
"Standing on the steps of the Library." She tilted her head to cover her phone from the rain, already heading down to the street. "I can come meet you?" Elliot knew her way around the city well enough to get from here to there, but truthfully it still intimidated her at times; and not just it's size. There was a silent mood to this city, the way that Vegas was always drunk and jovial, and how London was polite and sad. Elliot had always suspected that she would absolutely love and adore NY from the first moment she set foot there, as both Noah and her sister had. However, she found that overall it was loud and harsh, though still quite lovely - a phenomenon, like the rain, that would require more inquiry on her part someday, but not anytime soon.

"I could use a coffee and then maybe we can go for a walk?" Her blue gaze moved toward the sky as if she could somehow scowl away the grey afternoon, but unfortunately, no luck. The blonde was wondering about all the things that could be on Eiji's mind. What he had been doing, why he needed to see her. It was curiosity more than panic that churned her thoughts, made her wonder. Even after this long, her boyfriend continued to intrigue her and that was something she never took for granted.

She crossed a street, carefully maneuvering around the puddles in her Converse. The girl had already learned the hard way enough times that as durable as Chuck Taylor's were, they were not water-proof. Someone behind her honked and she merely gave them the finger, not even bothering to look over her shoulder.

(sorry. could have been better/longer (that's what she said!) but i'm on a time limit and i wanted to get something posted tonight.)

[Eiji Almasy.]

The rain always reminded him of her. It used to be that he automatically thought of his home in England, then summers in Ireland. He did still think of these things whenever he looked out and saw it raining, particularly when it was just a drizzle, and if he opened the windows, he could taste it in his mouth. He thought of Seattle too, mostly because it was only a year ago and that kind of time frame wasn't the easiest to ignore, but while it wasn't his favorite memory, he felt that it was important to at least not forget it. It was their second meeting that came to mind though, that and a day when he got caught in the downpour and just happened to catch her in the library; she'd been reading War and Peace, wearing the kind of jeans he hated and a striped sweater. He wondered if she could hear his smile through the phone. He thought about her too much.

"Okay," he agreed, casual even though he hadn't seen her since morning and their last text had been from the night before. It wasn't like he was on the verge of freaking out or anything either.

"Will you catch the subway? Or I could pay for a cab," he offered, simultaneously feeling a heavy weight settle in his stomach for the stupidity of his words, as well as pressing a hard hand against his head; telling himself he could fix things wasn't working as well as he hoped. He had been the one to take care of them for so long though, that losing it and going on to make her pay for her own cab fares wasn't an idea he even remotely wanted to consider.

[Elliot is on the edge.]

She could feel his smile against her ear, almost laughing at the stupid, contagious effect he always had on her expressions. They weren't even five blocks away from each other, he knew this, and even though New York blocks were a bit bigger than they were used to it still wasn't anything she couldn't walk in the span of a few minutes. It would probably take longer for her to signal a cab and then watch it try to hump it's way through the vicious afternoon lunch traffic than to simply hoof it, but he liked to take care of her far too much, and worried just enough.

"No and no. I'm already walking, it's fine." She wanted to add and I can pay my own cab fare anyway, but she refrained. They had held that argument over and over in every possible form and it always ended in a stalemate. Elliot had never possessed the fiercely independent spirit of someone like say, Eve, but the girl still did her best to try and stand on her own two feet - especially after Seattle.

"Don't worry, no one's going to abduct me in broad daylight, and I don't have enough cash worth getting robbed over." She laughed, the playful noise echoing over the line as she stood on the street corner, waiting for the light to change. "And if anyone tries to mug me then they're going to get their ass maced," she emphasized the word, chuckling again, "because no one is parting me from my new books."

[Eiji Almasy.]

"Okay," he said again, and his knee began jiggling underneath the small, round table; "but hurry up."
He had extremely little patience for anything, even ramen noodles or easy mac and cheese posed the problem of waiting to him; there wasn't really anything he could do about her walking, except maybe continue to drown himself in coffee. He was tense, he realized, and coffee wouldn't help at all; he'd only find himself even more jittery than he was to start off with.

He was leaned low across the table, elbows on the surface, one hand up against his ear with his phone and the other holding his head up. He looked like one of the many young people who sat in coffee stores hoping for some privacy. Talking to her helped, at least, and it looked like they would spend the rest of the day together before going back to the penthouse they shared with Draco and Andrew where admittedly, quiet didn't exist.

"You're such a nerd," he laughed, which was unbidden but welcome all the same. He had to have said that to her so many times already, and sometimes he teased her that she loved her books more than she did him, which was a stupid thing to say and he hardly ever meant it when in all actuality, it was honestly one of her better qualities.

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"I'm hurrying." His impatience made her smile, because she liked to imagine that it wasn't just a natural quality of his persona, but that instead he was really just going crazy with missing her - which was half true. Mostly though, like Draco, her boyfriend still carried a small child deep within him, and the qualities shown through in their small, daily ways. Sometimes it was immature, like when he insisted on cartoons on Sunday when she wanted the news, or how he drank milk from the carton and spilled it on his shirts. Generally though, she found it was just charming and fiercely enduring.

There was only a block between them now, and she clutched her book bag a little bit closer to her side as she picked up some speed, weaving amongst the lunch crowds as she tried to ignore the smell of street vendors and the sound of her stomach growling. Stupidly she had skipped breakfast, and in the back of her mind she knew that a coffee was only going to make things worse, but in the front of her mind, she knew that wasn't going to stop her from ordering one either. She could see the Starbucks at the end of the street, and she tried to imagine where he was sitting, how he looked, before she could actually get a look at him. She knew he would be near a window, his hand curled over his cell as if that could somehow protect the privacy of their conversation; as if his hunched shoulders to block out all the nosy hipsters and tired yuppies that probably occupied the rest of the coffee chain.

"I'm not a nerd!" Elliot exclaimed suddenly, mock-indignant as in perfect timing, her reading glasses slid down the bridge of her nose. "I'm intelligent, which is more than you can say for most of your romantic history." A little bit of a low-blow, but the smile in her voice was obvious and truthfully, neither one of them could boast a particularly impressive or untarnished roster of past sweethearts.

She crossed the street and the book bag thumped against her leg as she jogged. Her sneakers met the curb and she glanced inside the building, grinning as she spotted him inside before reaching for the door.

[Eiji Almasy.]

Her two word response to his impetuosity was in the same tone as when he slept in too much before a class and only had time to pull on a clean shirt in place of his usual hour long showers and general impeccable dress, where she had to point to him that he was wearing it inside out and he could probably use a brush through his hair. He loved her because while he normally forgot to take care of himself, she didn't.

He murmured something in acquiescence and tried to pick out where she was from the noises coming through the phone; by some miraculous intervention, he could normally hear her walk if she was wearing boots, but the converses were light on the ground and to be frank, all of New York eventually melded to sound the same. He thought then, that luck would at least have them in a place where realty was a little bit cheaper, but then he couldn't think of any place better to find a job/start a career, other than home.

"Hey," he started at her comment, and the sudden mar in expression could probably be felt over the phone line; he hated having to think about all the girls before Elliot. They all ended for bad reasons and to revisit each of them annoyed him like nothing else, mostly because he couldn't stand those girls anymore and even more because it made him think of all her past boyfriends in turn. The slight frown he wore was particularly noticeable as he sat up, his sudden movement attracting attention even though his eyes were unseeingly focused on a part of the wall.
"Like you can say anything better about yours," he said, his displeasure expelled by the last word because he never liked to dwell on the topic for too long, or at all.

"And you are too a nerd," he told her, peering out the window to his left and missing her entirely because his back was to the door, and so to the curb as well.
"You own as many books as I do clothes." That was a bold statement, though he owned 50 white shirts alone but that number wasn't even a fraction of her literature collection.

[Elliot is on the edge.]

Elliot could sense the little raincloud in his tone, the quiet implication of I don't like to talk about this, and in spite of him she chuckled. The blonde was - and would probably always be - mortified and a little shameful when it came to her past track record. It wasn't so much boyfriends, because there had only been a few and for the most part they had all been darling, but more her long list of transgressions against her own morals and other boys hearts that made her wince. Especially in light of who she had become just before her Father's death, and the realization that save for one impressively charming Christmas Eve, he had never met or seen her happy with a proper boy.

Still, she had Eiji now, who was her one and only, and with him in her life she felt like she had finally done something right again, and so in the end, she could only smile. "Awh," She cooed "You're right, and I was a fool for wasting my time with a single one of them."

She reached the door and hiked her bag further up onto her shoulder before stepping inside, the cell cradled against her shoulder for a second as she set eyes on him once more, her smile likening to the Cheshire Cat. "And my entire book collection cost a third of what your shoes are worth."

Elliot wove her way around the line stemming from the counter, doing her best to stay to his back until she was right behind him. Leaning forward, the blonde pressed a kiss to that spot just below his ear, her golden curls falling over his shoulder. "Hey handsome." She breathed, hanging up her phone as she smiled into his neck.

[Eiji Almasy.]

In the two years since that strange, first night back in March, she knew him better than anyone else. She knew all his nuances and habits, his love for chicken and old, English sitcoms. He was a little more than just amazed at how she could read him even over something as precarious as a phone line. Her laugh was met with a wry grin; if she was amused at his expense then he wouldn't really stop her, and she knew that too.

"I hate it when you butter me up," he said, but the grin he wore was charmed and any previous unsettlement was forgotten; she had that calming affect on him.
"It works every time."

His expression flickered a bit at the comment about his shoes, and he looked down, drawing idle shapes on the table. He thought about telling her then that he was thinking about selling his belongings all together, but it was a combination of reluctance to part with six successive seasons of utterly priceless shoes, sunglasses and clothing and the subtle desire to do it in person. He was such a diva.

Eiji felt more than saw her approach, a peculiar sense harrowing him starting from the bottom of his spine; it was something like knowing he was being watched and something else entirely that he'd developed just for picking her out from a room full of crowded people. Her kiss gave him a particularly extraordinary palpitation that he blamed on all the caffeine that he really wasn't allowed to consume. Having her near still felt like the first time, every time.

"Hey," he greeted, trying to hide his smile as he disconnected the call and dropped his phone on the table. Eiji stood up and his jacket that was hanging on the back of his chair fell off, but he didn't care, eyes electric when he looked at her, carrying the exact kind of feeling he never had to describe. He felt like a dork, but he loved her and it couldn't be helped.

"That took a while," he said, but he was grousing for no reason and not even serious at all, and really, he was too lit up to mean any of the nonsense he usually said. He took a step toward her and thought that if he had to note anything of that moment, it would be the way she smelled, before wrapping her into a massive hug, pressing a kiss right against her temple.

[Elliot is on the edge.]

She leaned into his kiss, smiling at the contact as he pulled her into a hug. Height-wise, they really weren't very different, but whenever he hugged her she loved the way he seemed to totally envelop her. Eiji aroused all sorts of feelings in Elliot, but the one she treasured the most was safety. It never seemed to matter how close the world was to crashing down around her, whenever she was curled up in his arms she felt almost bulletproof. The quiet sigh of relief that escaped her then quietly said I missed you against the crook of his neck.

"Sorry," and it sounded sincere and maybe even a little distraught until she added with a coy smile, "I only have two legs."

They separated but her hand lingered on his hip as she bent down to pick up his jacket. Dusting it off, the blonde tossed it back over his chair before turning her gaze back to her boyfriend. He was so charming she realized, all smoldering eyes and quiet smiles, even when he was anxious. Giving his side a small squeeze, she looked over her shoulder at the line at the counter and wasted no time in deciding it was far too long for her to bother standing in just for a latte. Looking back to the boy once more, the blonde cocked her head to the side.

"What's up? What are you doing out of class?" Her eyebrows knitted together as she tried to decipher what exactly was working behind his familiar eyes. Something was under his skin, that much was obvious. And standing in the middle of a Starbucks probably wasn't the place he wanted to delve into it. "Do you wanna go for a walk?" On the other hand, the weather hadn't really slowed down, in fact it was more of the opposite, little raindrops bouncing off the city streets as people opened up their umbrellas and shielded their lunches. Briefly, she wondered if he had brought his car. Since their last move, Elliot hardly ever drove, preferring, like most of the city natives, to either take the subway, a cab or simply hoof it.

And while her sigh earlier had translated quite clearly into I missed you, as she looked up at Eiji with that familiar little grin now, her smile glowed obvious with I love you.

[sorry. i made you wait forever and it's crap. ;_;]