* / moment of weakness (open)

[cec]

Retail therapy. It was something Cecelia Reese was well accustomed with. The young woman often found herself in situations where she had such a strong desire to spend rather large amounts of money on pretty things just to sooth her soul. For some girls, chocolate and a movie made them happy; for Cecelia it was a diamond headband and a new pair of Jimmy Chu’s. It was rather lucky then, that she had the credit cards to support her lifestyle. Or, was that her way of life because she had the money? The old nature verses nurture debate. Cecelia liked to think that even without endless amounts of disposable income, she’d still have taste. Even the poor could appreciate Manolo Blahnik’s right? Even if there was no way you’d ever own a pair.

One thing Cecelia had as a complaint for Capeside, was that when it came to brand names stores, it was lacking. Of course, it had enough to keep her going. She holidayed in all sorts of places so could stock up on all sorts of fashion pieces then. For the mean-time, the hipster boutiques of the bay was enough to keep her fashion needs met. She’d discovered some rather lovely little boutiques of local designers that she was rasher fond of, and there was always shopping online. So life was actually rather wonderful. At least today it was. Any day she was putting a dent in her credit card was normally so. However especially today. People weren’t annoying her quite as much today, so that was nice and all.

With both arms weighed down with bags, Cecelia decided it was perhaps time to reward her hard days walking with a little treat. And what would you know, just up ahead was a Starbucks. Perfect. Heals clicking on the concrete as she walked, Cec changed her direction ever so slightly so she was headed right for the entrance to the rather well known coffee place. Normally, Cecelia would have chosen to take her refreshments somewhere a little more refined, but even she wasn’t above the tantalising taste of the iced refreshments they had on offer. She was a snob, but Cecelia Rose Reese was not an idiot, she wasn’t about to avoid Starbucks because it was a chain. Besides, it was actually rather trendy.

Once inside, the brunette stepped in front of the man in a suit who had been ahead of her, in fact just about to place an order. Smiling at the cash attendant’s confused expression, Cecelia glanced back at the man she had just cut in front. “Oh no, he wasn’t ready to order yet.” Cecelia wasn’t in the habit of waiting in lines, in fact she made it a point never to do so. Waiting wasted her time, and others didn’t seem to care so much so it was okay, really. Besides that, shop attendants never seemed to exert any authority over line cutting- and when they did, Cee Cee made perfectly sure they’d never consider it again.

Without even waiting for a response, she launched into her order. “I’ll have a caramel swirl iced coffee with whipped cream on top and caramel sprinkles. Oh, and I’ll be over there..” She inclined her head towards the table in the corner. “I have rather heavy bags and I simply don’t think I can carry it over there myself.” With a small smile, she turned to the man behind her. “Hold that.” She instructed, handing him some of her bags, so she could get out her purse to pay for her drink. “Oh, and I think I’ll take a custard tart as well.” Once the transaction was done, she re-collected her bags and moved over to her table. Pitting her things down on the spare seat before sitting down herself.

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[jonie]

Contentment came in a cup of caramel cappuccino. Many women knew this, even some men knew this, and Alice Jamison knew this. She smiled at her beverage as if it were the Golden Jubilee diamond. “Oh, sweet cup of coffee, you are the light of my life. You are the sugary embodiment of all truth and goodness. If it were not for you I would lay my weary head to rest and no longer wake. For what reason would I have to rouse if I could not taste your sweet kiss upon my lips?” Alice recited to the silent drink. She wondered in quiet if she could possibly make her ode to the coffee into a card but suspected that it would not have much of a clientele. She sighed and took a deep drink with great satisfaction and returned to watching the people of the café.

She was not impressed with what she saw. A beautiful woman burdened with shopping bags entered and cut in front a man. Then she successfully unloaded some of her baggage onto said man while she paid for the beverage. The only thing that could be ruder is if she insisted that the befuddled man behind her paid for her drink as well. Alice would have thought that someone who was so well dressed would have at least been brought up with some decent manners. ‘She’s probably just unaware of just how rude she was’ Alice thought.

It wasn’t out of bitchiness or righteousness that Alice stood up and cross the small café. It was out of innocent obliviousness that she stood at the table of the finely clad woman and smiled wide at her, happy to help the woman become more aware of her actions. Alice introduced herself in a bright voice, “Hello Miss! I am Alice, Alice Rhee Jamison. It is a very pleasant day to meet you but I fear that you do not realize what you just did. That man now sitting over there, he was actually in line before you.”

Alice wanted to give her the extra benefit of a doubt and as well give her a chance to explain what happened. Alice also loved that she had the opportunity to meet someone knew and bounced on her heels unable or unwilling to control her giddiness. She stared in wide-eyed curiosity at the response she would receive. This was certainly not the first time she called someone out. Sometimes people screamed at her, sometimes they acted as if they did nothing at all, some pretended she wasn’t there, and a few even apologized. Alice supposed that you could tell a lot about a person by their reaction.

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[cec]

Once comfortable, or well, as comfortable as one could be in such cheap furniture (honestly would it hurt if these sort of places invested in some Italian leather?), Cecelia slipped a copy of the latest ‘Vogue’ from one of her bags. While other people were satisfied with- ew- the act of people watching, Cecelia didn’t really find many people besides herself at all interesting. So it was really a lost sport on her. No, instead she opted for the glossy pages of a fashion magazine. At least in the re-touched photos of fashion models there was less for Cecelia to find fault in. She was such a judgemental person though, that there was sure to be something she could pick apart in the magazine, even if it was just silently to herself. Perfection wasn’t an easy task, and it wasn’t Cecelia’s fault so few reached it. It was part of who she was to endlessly pick out flaws, and if that offended you, well maybe you needed thicker skin. Or to just not associate with people like Cecelia.

The brunette had to stop herself from laughing snidely from behind her magazine as she heard Alice introduce herself. Really? Was this girl even for real? If Cecelia wasn’t already in an impatient mood, she might have found it more amusing. Really, it was just dammed annoying and actually kind of offensive to Cecelia. Who was this.. this thing to comment on anything Cecelia Reese did? She wasn’t even fit to serve the spoilt princess. With a sigh, Cecelia placed her magazine carefully down on the fake wood table top. A sugary sweet smile tugged on her lips as she eyed the girl. Mimicking Alice’s bright tone, she spoke. “Hi, I’m Cecelia Reese, and I fear” here, her smile slipped into a cold glare, and her tone turned condescending “that you don’t realize that I don’t care.” Looking the girl up and down, she shook her head. Really, the nerve of some people. Did Cecelia look like the sort of person who appreciated strange little oddballs introducing themselves then commenting on her behaviour? Did anyone appreciate that? If they did, they were nuts.

“Not that I owe you any sort of explanation,” she continued without waiting for Alice to respond to her first statement. Placing a heavy dislike on the word ‘you’. “However, he hadn’t completely decided yet, and I’m not accustomed to waiting for people to decide if they should break the diet and splurge on extra cream.” The young woman gave her female counter part another once over. Turning up her nose slightly. “You shouldn’t, by the way.” She said rather bluntly. “Break the diet that is.” Cecelia didn’t explain her comment. She didn’t feel she needed to. It was vague, yet the connotations were enough to upset any respectable girl. What was it with females and not wanting to be called fat? One of the mysteries of the world that would never be solved. “I’m tired of this conversation now, so unless you want to make yourself useful and collect my order, I suggest you run along.” Nodding her head in the direction of a table away from her own, Cecelia pulled on the same sickly smile she had started with. “It was a pleasure talking to you.”

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[jonie]

It wasn’t any of the reactions that Alice was accustomed to; however, it wasn’t much different from the one older lady who punched her in the eye after informing her that it was impolite to order people around, especially that she didn’t even know. Cecelia Reese didn’t actually have to expend the energy it took to lift her arm; she could just punch her in the eye verbally. Although verbal eye punching is much better than physical eye punching as it hurts a lot less and doesn’t leave you with a lot of explanation to people; don’t let anyone tell you words hurt more, because they don’t.

Alice didn’t reply right away. It wouldn’t have mattered though Cecelia continued to talk. Alice watched at her mouth formed shapes that allowed her to wage the oral assault. Alice briefly wondered in Oral Assault was the name of any pornographic films and if it wasn’t, it was pretty dumb of the porn industry to overlook. Alice gave her head a slight shake as she refocused her attention on the words she was making instead of the pretty lips that were making them.

“But I like the extra cream! It’s very tasty and sweet and good. Although I find weird that it leaves a waxy coat on the roof of your mouth, or is that just me? I wish I could taste inside of your mouth and know what it was like for other people,” Alice stared at Cecelia with her large eyes and the tiniest hint of a smirk. Her small innuendo wasn’t completely lost on her even if it wasn’t the true intention of her comment. “It’s very nice to meet you Cecelia Reese. You’re right though you don’t owe me an explanation, but I think you must owe yourself one because took such length to explain it to me. Are you reassuring yourself that you had right to do what you did?”

Alice turned to the counter and went to fetch the girl’s drink. The cashier gave her a look as if to say, ‘Are you seriously going to do what she told you to do, the girl’s a bitch and you should totally throw it on her. I would but I don’t want to lose my job.’ She smiled and inwardly laughed at the amount of information two people, even two strangers could communicate. Alice wasn’t even sure that the barista intended saying so much and that delighted her even more.

With light bouncing steps she returned to the table with the drink. Admittedly she did pause and take the barista’s look into consideration but decided against it. It would be a shame to ruin clothing over something like this. Clothing wasn’t always easy to come by. Alice knew it, especially on her miniscule budget. She placed the plastic cup on the table a slid it across the hard vinyl to the girl holding the fashion magazine. “I always thought it was interesting that attractive people could do unattractive things, it just doesn’t seem right. I would think that the prettier you were the nicer you would be… but then we might all have to leave because you’d be exuberantly nice and how could we compare? Still, it doesn’t seem right. You obviously have money, so you probably don’t have much to worry about. You couldn’t be rushing off to work so what need do you have to be rude?”

Curiosity always got the better of her. Despite Cecelia’s efforts to send Alice on her way, the less affluent young woman didn’t take the message seriously. Alice wanted someone to talk to and Cecelia interested her, even if she was repulsive. She felt the same way she did when she had to dissect a frog her freshman year: interested but disgusted. Cecelia was like her frog. A pretty, well-dress frog that didn’t know any better.

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[cec]

The brunette almost choked at the innuendo. It was actually the last thing she had been expecting to hear after her not so subtle insult about the other girl needing to watch her figure. It was enough of a shock to throw Cecelia off her game a little. In fact, it almost impressed her. Almost. She wasn’t impressed easily, but that was a good start. Besides, Cecelia was vain. Anyone even hinting at the fact she was attractive was a good thing in her book. Even if she hadn’t completely made her mind up as to if the person was completely annoying or not yet. This girl seemed to be tottering over the line. One moment Cecelia found her insipid and frustrating, then the next bearable as long as she kept the complements up. She guessed that was a good thing, at least for Alice. As long as she kept Cecelia guessing, it was less likely that Cecelia would get tired of her and send her along.

Cecelia merely shrugged at the suggestion she was trying to convince herself that the actions had been justified. She really didn’t have an answer for that. Besides, it was irrelevant. She’d justified herself, and that was what Alice had wanted wasn’t it? The reasons behind it didn’t matter. Any answer she gave would just start a cycle of ‘are you saying that just to convince yourself’ anyway, and Cecelia wanted to avoid that. It would just put her in a bad mood and hate the girl, which, despite her better judgement, she actually didn’t want to hate. Call her crazy, but she found Alice interesting. Perhaps not as fascinating as Alice found Cecelia, but still, there was something interesting about her. Even if it was just the fact that the odd girl fed Cecelia’s very large ego. Regardless of the reason, she wanted to like her. Well, at least not hate her, which was good as far as Cecelia was concerned. She didn’t throw her affections around easily.

An amused grin tugged on her features as the girl actually went and got her order. She was actually surprised. Not everyone followed her orders, and that one had really been very half-hearted. Darn, there she was almost impressing Cecelia again. This girl may just worm her way into Cecelia’s good books yet. She smiled as the coffee was put down. A real, honest smile. Not the fake and sarcastic ones the brunette had been giving. She was cunning, rude and often times mean, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to treat her minions well when they did good. Saying thank you was still bellow her at that point, but the smile was enough to show that she was at least a little pleased (and dare I say grateful) about Alice’s actions.

Ah. And there it was. The compliments. Of course, there was also things that were meant to be insulting mixed in too but you know, Cecelia just wasn’t upset by them. She knew she was a bitch, and really didn’t care. Instead she was just choosing to focus on the flattering words about her appearance. With a self satisfied smile, she brought her coffee to her lips, taking a long sip and sighing happily. “It would be ever so unfair of me to be gorgeous and a nice person.” She said with a smirk. “So really, I’m doing all the ugly but sweet girls out there a favour.” Still smirking, she considered Alice for a moment. Then sighed. “Well, if you are going to hang about like a bad smell you may as well sit.” She gestured flippantly to the empty chair at the table, her attention already waning as her eyes roamed over to the counter. “I do believe I ordered a custard tart.” Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t see it up there, do you?”

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[jonie]

“No, I don’t see a custard tart either, so I don’t think you need your eyes checked.” Alice’s smile developed back into a cocky smirk. She was nice but she wasn’t a dog willing to fetch anything at her master’s command; although, she might have considered it if Cecelia was wearing a latex teddy and thigh high leather boots… then she’d fetch that girl anything. Alice took a seat and leaned forward and unconsciously let her smile and glaze tell Cecelia that was wasn’t thinking the most pure of thoughts.

It wasn’t that Alice was a pervert. She just didn’t see the point in curbing a behavior unless it was hurting someone… and only if that person’s need was greater than that of her own. She didn’t consider sex, that was consensual at least, to be anything but completely good and natural… no matter how kinky. In fact she felt just the opposite, she felt that hiding and suppressing your sexuality was unnatural, disturbing, and frankly creepy and cultish. Sex felt good and it made you feel good. She thought if a lot more people were having sex there probably would be a lot less social ills in the world. Cecelia looked like she definitely needed to get laid and Alice would have no problem in helping her with that.

“So, it’s good to know you have perfect eyes to go along with that perfect smile. I see what you mean though; however, I’m sure I could keep you busy enough to although the ugly but nice girls find their soul mates. I also think that ugly girls have a lot more reason to be angry and rude though. I mean when you walk in a room you know everyone is looking at you. I certainly was. Ugly girls, like the two that walked in after you, only I and now you would notice if they were to suddenly disappear. Ugly girls have it so much harder: they don’t get laid as often, they have a hard time getting a job, people are less likely to talk to them, less likely to help them, less likely to like them. So really they should be mean, when they have all those problems. It’s amazing they don’t attack you on the street for being inadvertently the bane of their existence.”

She could really ramble. It didn’t occur to her that someone might not want to hear her opinions. She thought that if she wanted to hear their opinion then it should follow that they wanted to hear hers as well. Alice paused, bit her lower lip and then her face cracked with a full smile. “Besides, you might be revoltingly discourteous but I suspect in addition to being sexy you have very, very nice qualities about you, you’d be amazing at giving,” Alice unintentionally let her eye sight drop to the girl’s mouth.

“Your lips are perfect… are they natural?” Alice cocked an eyebrow in curiosity.

[cec]

Cecelia got enough sex, thank you very much. Damien saw to that. At least, she got some sex. Sometimes, Cecelia found herself so caught up in the little games they liked to play with each other, or hating him, she forgot why they even liked each other, or put up with each other. From the start they had promised each other that it was a purely physical thing, and that nothing else, no feelings, was involved. It was funny, then, that she spent so much time and effort yelling at the boy, and feeling things. That was hardly the point though. The point was she was getting sex. Just because she seemed like she had a giant pole up her behind did not mean she was not getting her other hole regularly filled. And it was actually really satisfying. Then, if it wasn’t, she’d have told Damien to get lost long before now.

The brunette wasn’t really paying attention to the glazed look on Alice’s features. So she remained unaware of the impure thoughts the other girl was having. She was actually more worried about where her custard tart was. Not that the tart was all that important to her, it was the fact that she had ordered it and it should be there. It was the principle of the matter. Besides that, Miss Reese just hated incompetent service. It was really not that hard to take the individual tart out of the display cabinet and put it on a plate. Cecelia could do it herself, well, if it wasn’t so beneath her. Shaking her head slightly, she sighed. That’s what she got for choosing such a cheap commercial chain for her refreshments. Next time she’d be sure to choose a place with the class that this one obviously lacked.

Returning her attention to Alice, Cecelia smiled mildly. Keeping her smirk mostly hidden. She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow, tilting her head to the side. “You could keep me busy?” The smirk broke loose a little, and she grinned almost devilishly at her coffee companion. “That’s highly overconfident of you my dear. It almost sounds like a challenge. I’m not easily occupied, you know.” At this point, Cecelia was mostly playing with Alice. She could tell the girl found her attractive, which Cecelia enjoyed immensely. She loved being wanted, being lusted after. Being that unattainable thing that seemed to be so closely in your grasp, tantalizing you until you couldn’t take it anymore you had to reach out and- Oh but no, she’s gone again. She fed off that sort of attention, and really it didn’t matter who it was from. While she herself liked males and had never really dabbled in the female thing, she wasn’t at all against the female attention.

Bringing even more attention to her perfect (as Alice seemed to find them) lips, Cecelia lets her tongue slip out to run slowly along her bottom lip. As if to be removing any residue of her drink that might be left there. She was evil, and she knew it. Perhaps it wasn’t fair, the way she delighted in people wanting her, but no one complained that her subtle seductive actions weren’t fun. Sure, they complained when they couldn’t have her, but that was a whole other story. “Oh they are perfectly natural.” She said with a shrug, pulling an innocent smile to her lips. “I’m sorry though, I didn’t catch what you said just now- I’d be perfect at giving what, exactly?”

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[jonie]

Cecelia was fun to watch. Alice wondered what she was thinking about as she watched faint expressions dance across the woman’s face. She was like a little puzzle that needed solving. The thing that Alice liked best about girls is that they were challenging; boys were well… a lot less challenging. Flirty giggles and light teasing was usually enough to get a man into bed, sometimes just offering it was enough. Girls were fascinating because no one thing seemed to work on them. For some girls the macho thing coming from a woman got them going, for others sweetly curious tempted them into the forbidden romances of Alice’s hands… and mouth… and well anything else Alice had at nearby. She didn’t like to brag… okay, maybe she did like to brag, but she was quite skilled with the ladies.

The girl was hard to figure out. She obviously like compliments but her game was very coy, which was mildly entertaining but a little bit more annoying. Alice wondered where this would lead. Would she be able to entice the girl into the sheets or was this a dead end street with a narcissist? Alice decided it didn’t matter if she got into this girl’s pants or not. If she did, well, then that was one less DVD closer to extinction. If she didn’t, well, her knowing ways weren’t limited to other women. Alice leaned back in her chair and got a good look at Cecelia over all. Again, Alice was impressed by the amount of money she had at her disposal, which might not be a bad benefit if she could manage to befriend her.

Absentmindedly Alice brought the knuckle of her thumb to her mouth and bit it gentle. She was aware that there was a growing awkward silence between them but she didn’t mind. She felt the need to assess the situation at hand. Cecelia had a lot of money, which afforded her all of the bags which she was carrying with her.

‘Is she just shopping for fun or because she feels bad?’ Alice asked herself. ‘If it’s because she’s happy why doesn’t she have a friend with her? Does she not have any friends? With that personality it’s really not surprising. Did she want to be alone? If she has enough money to afford these things than certainly she could afford to have them taken to her home and she’d have no need to carry the burden. Did she carry the stuff to get attention? To impress people? That would explain why she’s here getting her treat instead of somewhere fancy. You can’t very well impress other rich people, especially if you’re carrying your own bags. How can you show off your stuff if someone else has already taken it home? Was she that lonely she needed attention from strangers? On the other hand, if you’re wealthy who can you trust? Even I thought about how I could get my hands in her pockets. That’s so sad. It sounds so lonely. I don’t suspect there are really that many wealthy people living in Capeside. It’s such a resort it’s either you own the hotels or you work for one. ’

Alice leaned further away and sighed sadly. She stopped biting her thumb and rested her cheek in her hand. “Oh, it’s not overly confident by any stretch, if anything it’s an understatement. And I’m pretty sure you know exactly what you could do with those lips other than make snide comments,” Alice told her half-heartedly.

“But look, I’m gonna take off. I feel bad because I was thinking of how to either get into your bed or into your pockets or both. Usually I wouldn’t mind either, but something about you is depressing me and I don’t know…” She pulled a piece of folded paper out of her oversized jeans and tore a piece off of that. Again reaching into her pants she produced a pen and wrote: Alice 555-4348. She slide the piece of paper across the table in the same manner she had the cup.

“That’s my number. Call me if you ever want to do something, whatever it might be… or even if you just feel lonely… or angry… or whatever,” Alice shrugged her shoulders and proceeded towards the doors. She kind of doubted that Cecelia felt she needed someone like herself, and Alice kind of hoped she won’t call. Right now she felt bad for the girl, enough so that she didn’t want to try to get everything she could out of her; however, she might not always feel that way.