Dollar Short (open)

[morg]

"D**m right I am," agreed Morgan, grinning. Honestly, she couldn't tell if Elliot was kidding or not. For herself, Morgan was on the fence. Part of her could see herself dressed in leather and holding up banks in the near future. Another part wondered how well that would go over, and it if would really be the best route for her to take.

"I'm betting most poor girls go through a shop-lifting phase," offered Morgan. She drummed her fingers on the table, thinking for a few moments. Had her sisters done that? Well, sister. And no, Bridget had been too stiff-necked to even consider shop-lifting. If her sister even found out that Morgan had done it, then the youngest Cavan would probably find her skin removed via tongue lashing.

"Certainly sounds like we have the right backstory to go a robbing," mused Morgan. "Younger siblings desperate to outshine... I'm guessing your sister's older than you."

She smirked then, figuring she'd pegged that much. Besides, if memory served, she'd heard as much somewhere. But Morgan hadn't cared overmuch about what she'd heard about Elliot. It was a lot harder to hate a person then the image you'd drawn up in your head.

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"We certainly do." Elliot smirked, leaning back in her chair as she wrapped her hands around her drink to keep them warm. "I think society has obviously disposed us to a life of crime. We can use that excuse if they ever catch us." She raised an eyebrow, looking around the cafe with mock suspicion before setting her sights back on Morgan. "Which they never will."

Her wink then was unmistakable and Elliot suddenly found that she was feeling much more light-hearted then she had been upon leaving the school that morning.

"Yeah, she's older. It's just the two of us and dad." She tucked away a loose curl, suddenly looking for some sort of distraction. Elliot's father was everything she loved in this life and conversation about him came easily, but it was a different story when Mae and their mother came up.

"Maybe we just need to bag us some rich sugar daddies?" The laughter flooded back into her eyes at this and the image of Morgan and herself becoming professional gold diggers. It was an entertaining idea, but nothing even near realistic. She couldn't imagine either of them slinking around with a guy purely for the money; besides, thievery just sounded like too much fun.

[morg]

"Please, I'd so turn myself in and then blame my brother. Let them try to figure that one out," joked Morgan. She took another sip of her cooling coffee, smiling around the drink. Why exactly had she held dislike for Elliot again?

Oh yeah, because of the whole "judging people before you get to know them thing." Not to mention the intense Eiji-jealousy. Though that latter had dimmed considerably, as Morgan's affections wavered between Jon and Noah.

"You know, I'm not sure which is worse, having a ton of siblings or just one that you can't stand," offered Morgan, "I mean, at least I get Desmond and his wife; and Kennedy's not bad all the time..."

Morgan shrugged, grinning. "Mom hates me, but meh..." Another shrug, "Another excuse for a life of crime."

She raised her cup in mock salute, then had to smirk at the sugar daddy comment. "What do you think I was doing in England, El? I'm a horrible gold digger. Comes from never having much." Morgan lowered her drink, looking speculatively. "Of course, I'm dating Jon and ogling another poor guy, so that hardly stuck."

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"It is a tough choice. For the most part, Mae and I get along pretty famously. It's just when she gets near my friends, or anything with a penis, that I want to run her over." Elliot and Mae had grown up by themselves for the most part. Their mother had left when they were young, and their father was so engrossed in his words that they two sisters had spent years inseparable. It was only once they had both started attending school, and adolescence had descended upon them with a vengeance, that everything had become competition. Still, when it was just the two of them, Elliot had her best friend back.

"My mom hates me too. God, we have too much in common." She grinned, taking a deep sip from her cup now that the drink was beginning to cool, an action which also allowed her a moment to muse over the concept that was her and Morgan. They had started out on shaky ground and it had only gotten worse for months, fueled by all sorts of jealousy and petty dislike. Now it felt like they were starting over and Elliot was glad for it.

"Well, I think poor boys feel the need to try harder. Especially with boys like Eiji, Draco and Andrew running around." She ticked them off her fingers, and even though another came to mind, she held her tongue, finding it hard to even speak his name these days.

"Who's the other boy? You have to tell me." She smiled deviously now, suddenly terribly interested in gossip. Elliot didn't hang around girls, and so the urge to be giggly and scandalous rarely overcame her. But now she was terribly interested. "Come one, super villains don't keep secrets from each other."

[morg]

"Entirely too much in common, probably why we avoided each other for so long," agreed Morgan, nodding. "I'm betting you've got a secret do-gooder brother stashed away somewhere, don't you?"

she had to laugh at that, just picturing Elliot dealing with someone like Kennedy. Her brother would make a horrible Davis, even worse so then he did a Cavan. The image entertained, nonetheless.

"The poor boys probably do, but they hardly need to," Morgan pointed out. "A lot of the rich boys are way too full of themselves. I love Eiji dearly, but he's a cocky sonuva b**ch."

She tapped her fingers around the rim, remembering several conversations with Eiji. Yes, she wouldn't take back the words, even knowing that there was much more to him than that.

"My dad set me up to be hated by my mom though," she offered, "he named me after the one woman he ever loved, and then proceeded to make me his favorite child."

Sighing, Morgan shook her head, then looked outside. Boys, boys were a much safer subject, and a lot more fun than this. Then again, sitting in a dentist's chair would be more fun than this.

"Noah," she offered, looking back to Elliot, "Copeland, I think. He actually saw me at my worst and still flirts with me. 'sides, I think he actually likes me, though God knows why."

She leaned forward, looking into her coffee cup. Seeing the beauty that is Elliot would again play havoc on Morgan's poor self-esteem, even as the littlest Cavan began to see the flaws.

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"Oh, definitely. Can you imagine me being as self-destructive as I am if I had a madly overprotective brother hiding behind the scenes?" She grinned at the idea nonetheless, and Elliot found herself wishing that she could turn her sister in, exchange her for an upgraded model that came without boobs, but with a heart. Would she have ended up like this without a sister to destroy her confidence? It was a thought, and certainly if she had been born with a brother, it probably would have avoided that part where her sibling stole her first boyfriend - which had been the fiasco that led to most of Elliot's current problems.

"Hey, at least you were named after a girl," she smiled into her coffee, blowing off the last remnants of steam before taking a sip. "Though, my sister was named after my father's first real love too - Mae West - and I know she isn't his favorite." Mae and Elliot were both reminiscent of their mother, but Mae seemed to be all the things Wyatt Davis hated, while Elliot had adopted all the qualities of their mother that he still revered after all these years.

As Morgan dropped Noah's name onto the table, the blonde found herself lost for words, though her stuttering soon grew into a smile, something halfway between amused and simply joyful. They were nearly a perfect match, and as she started to think about it, Elliot realized that her friend had indeed, mentioned Morgan in passing conversation. "Noah, huh? As in Jospeh, Noah Copeland? About six feet, really hot, great smile, flight and out-of-this-world charming?"

She laughed, playing with her cup and thinking about her friend for a minute. Obviously, Elliot held the boy in the highest of regards, simply because he was one of the few ones left and it was rare that a boy ever treated her as good as he did without expecting something in return.

"Noah is a really good guy, probably the best. Honestly, I think whoever ends up with that boy is going to be one of the luckiest."

[morg]

"Still not a girly name," Morgan argued, though with little vigor. Morgan was a good deal better than Elliot, after all. Though if you turned out to be someone like Elliot Davis, a little thing like a boy's name only added to your charm. Who knows, maybe Elliot wouldn't be the incredible ball of destructive charisma and charm she was were it not for her unique name.

That smile... so, Elliot knew Noah? Well, the description certainly matched. Now Morgan pictured the boy, smiling at her, as usual. Suddenly her hand had to push back a curl, which had gotten into her face for some weird reason. Odd, no?

"No kidding," she agreed, "I can't help but laugh every time I'm around him. I'm already jealous of the girl who winds up with him."

Too jealous for a girl who happened to be dating someone already. Someone sweet and caring. Who she should be focusing on, right now. Not cooing and giggling and hair-twirling as she thought about a guy who was not her boyfriend.

She should just date them both, get what she wanted.

Morgan took a drink of her coffee, trying to think of a new direction to take the conversation, despite her strong desire to simply talk about Noah a while longer. The indecision momentarily silenced her, and all she could do was drink.

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"Besides Draco, Noah is probably my best friend." Elliot smiled against her drink, obviously terribly amused the coincidence of the whole situation. "He's great, and just between you and me," her bright blue eyes flickered to their left and then their right before settling back on Morgan, as if checking for prying ears, "a hopeless romantic."

Noah's parents had painted a great love story in front of him, and Elliot knew there was a part of her friend that ached for the same thing. It was ironic, for him to be such a flat-out good person, the sort of boys that day dreams are made of, and still, he seemed to end up with the worst luck in women and life; though, it never dampened his spirits.

"How are you and Jon holding up?" Relevant enough, Elliot had found herself wondering if Morgan was thinking about straying because of some rocky relationship times, or if she was just crushing on Noah that bad.

[morg]

Small world after all. Random girl Morgan's been jealous of is nearly best friends with the boy she's been crushing on. Wait, didn't that mean that Elliot knew all the boys Morgan was attracted to? The thought made Morgan frown for a while, before she realized that this just meant that Elliot clearly had good taste in men. Well, rumor had it that she hung out with Nate Wakeman, but you had to excuse temporary lapses of judgment.

Morgan had to associate with Kennedy, after all.

"Jon and I?" she repeated. Morgan averted her eyes, suddenly quite interested in her drink cup. You'd think there was buried treasure at the bottom, or possibly a winning lottery ticket. Or someone had made the coffee out of Heavenly clouds and angel-dust.

"We're doing... alright," half-lied Morgan, shifting. Sure they were doing alright, for two people who weren't quite moving at the same speed. Oh, and the girl's busy staring at other guys and setting dates up behind the guy's back, all while wondering if she made the right choice.

"Really ought to just break up with him," mumbled Morgan, barely audible. she played with her cup some more, then looked at Elliot.

"Who'd you wind up with again?" she asked, knowing it came out half-catty. "I mean, I know about you and Dorian..."

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"But you don't want to." Elliot smiled a little bit too sweetly, and even another covert sip from her drink couldn't hide the expression. She had been in Morgan's shoes more times than she would like to admit, and it just seemed to be one more silly thing they had in common.

"I'm the very definition of a commitaphobe. And yeah, a huge part of it is just that I'm insecure and afraid and things have gone really, really wrong in the past," but she was trying so hard not to think about that right now. "But also, I just never liked to narrow down all my options like that."

It was a terribly selfish way to be, but Elliot had spent enough time raking in compliment and attention from boys, that there was a part of her that had always been scared to give it all away for just one. What if the perfect one, Mr. Right, as Hollywood would call him, came along while she was tied down to Mr. 'You Can't Look At Another Boy, Ever'?

"Dorian and I," she faltered, and there was something pained in her eyes, "were always complicated. Hell, word spreads fast around this school, huh?" Injecting a little buoyancy into the subject caused her to smile as she drained her coffee cup and skillfully avoided the question all together with a well places pout.

"Damn, drinks all gone."

[morg]

"I'm not a commitaphobe," Morgan narrowed her eyes, but directed it at her coffee cup, for some reason. Shifting she looked away again. "I like Jon, I'm just... it's just..."

She shook her head, looking back at Elliot. Morgan smiled sadly. To think, she was empathizing with Elliot Davis of all people. A handful of hours ago and Morgan would struggle to find nice things to say about the other girl. Well, forgive and forget, she supposed.

"Elliot, the word's not spreading that fast around school, even with Kenneth," offered Morgan, shrugging. She dared look the other girl in her eyes now, and empathy showed in that gaze. "I'm dating one of his best friends, remember? And Kenneth's a quasi-friend, of sorts. You know, as much as Kenneth has female friends he's not interested in."

Morgan shrugged again. Her eyes fell to her own cup, and frowned. Somewhere along the line, she too had finished her drink.

"Yup... all gone," agreed Morgan. She smiled up at Elliot. "Sorry about that... bit under the belt..."

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"You just like Noah too." Elliot smiled, trying her best not to sound rude, because that was the last thing she was feeling. "Stay with Jon, as long as he makes you happy, because otherwise he's not worth giving up." The blonde laughed, hating how she sounded like Dear Abby or some other terribly weekend advice columnist. It was true though, that in the field of boys and dating, few knew more than Elliot Davis.
"Noah will be around, trust me."

"Don't worry about it." She smiled in a way that she hoped came across as apologetic and after a moment, pushed away from the small cafe table and stood up, grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair.

"Well, we should probably head back to the school. The last place I want to be stuck after dark is the back alley's of middle America." Sliding her arms into her jacket, Elliot laughed once more, pushing in her chair.

"At least, as long as I'm not wearing my crime mask and all."

[morg]

"Gah, you sound like my mother," joked Morgan, pulling a face. She shook her head, slid off her seat, and pretended to brush off her pants. "Scratch that, my mom's a b**ch. You sound like my sister."

Now Morgan favored Elliot with a smile. Surely the compliment embedded within those few short words was quite apparent, as well as the gratitude. Elliot wasn't likely to get much more from Morgan, and you'd have to try hard to get a better compliment.

"Please, I have the Gift of a**kicking," said Morgan. She grinned cockily, striking a matching pose. You only had to hear rumors about the girl to realize that her statement was not far from the truth. Of course, such knowledge probably accompanied the fact that trouble followed Morgan wherever she roamed.

"Still, we should head back. Last thing we want is a search party or something," Morgan pushed her own chair in, grabbed her bag, and took a few steps toward the door, pausing for Elliot to catch up. Naturally Morgan would match pace with her new friend, and walk with her as they exited Joe's and walked onto the streets of Masonville.

[Elliot is on the edge.]

"I'll take that as a compliment," Elliot returned the smile, finding the contrast amusing. If she ever compared someone to her sister it was hardly a good sign, but she could surely give Morgan the benefit of the doubt - probably because she was so eager to be given the brunette's stamp of approval. Elliot laughed then, watching Morgan strike a half-second pose before they headed for the door.

"Yeah, but imagine a search party that came across us, hanging out civilly, all by ourselves." Buttoning up her jacket as they left the little coffee shop, bell tinkling overhead, Elliot grinned against the collar of her coat. The two girls didn't exactly have the best track record in the past, and she had to imagine that anyone who would realize them both missing would picture the two Almasian's fighting like cats in a ditch or something equally ridiculous.

[morg]

"Searchers would have a heart attack," offered Morgan. She flashed a grin at Elliot, clearly reading at least a bit of the other girl's mind. Yeah, the two of them got along like two cats in a sack; it only made sense that someone would faint if they saw them together.

"You know," mused Morgan, continuing, "unless they actually knew us. So..."

She grinned and winked at Elliot now, "Eiji, in other words. Maybe Jon or Kenneth. Ooo, or Noah!"

A giggle followed this last statement. In four short names, Morgan had just about tallied everyone she'd even looked at since she transferred to the Academy. Even Elliot should know that much. Especially Elliot, now that Morgan recalled a certain moment of drunken truth.

"Shame to ruin our secret identities so quick," said Morgan. "Maybe we shouldn't associate with each other unless we're wearing tights. Hate to have someone attack Kennedy. Poor guy couldn't handle it."