Skye smiled, looking up at her brother. His warm eyes reflected his kind words, the two hitting his sister like a sack of potatoes to the chest. The purple-haired girl felt her heart swell with pride that her brother had turned out to be such a good person, and joy that he was there, sitting just across the table from her, slurping on his orange juice like he always used to when he was a kid. Mom'd slap him round the back of the head and tell him to shut up as she took some aspirin to ease her hangovers. Tears would well up in his eyes. Skye would growl defensively towards her 'mother', wrapping a protecting arm around PJ. Yup, there was a whole lotta conflict flying around in that kitchen back in the day. "Cheers, darling." she replied, reaching forward to give her brother's hand a quick squeeze, noting the look of anxiety in his eyes. "Enough about me, though. How've you been ?" Pausing for a moment, she made direct eye contact with the boy. "How've you really been ?"

PJ looked up at Skye again, noting how she emphasized her words. He wandered his thought for a few second before he began to speak. His shoulders automatically shrugged. "I guess I've been okay.. I had a part-time job in Walmart for a few months before I came here. Didn't really enjoy stacking the shelves of alcohol because of.. you know.. But the money was good and it got me by." At this moment, PJ was looking down at the table. A rush of memories filled his head as the girl he loved began to wander in his head. It was his first serious girlfriend, they had done everything with each other. Until she was admitted to hospital. She had been diagnosed with Leukeamia at Thanksgiving. By Christmas she was gone. He took a deep breath and sat up. "I had a girlfriend for a while. It got pretty serious, her name was Hayley. She was something special to me, someone who I could call anytime of the night and she would be there. She knew that I would be the same way. But she died" His eyes met Skye's "Leukeamia hit her bad. But when she was with me, I knew she was my soul mate and we would stay friends forever, if not more than that. But I guess all good things must come to an end." His eyes wandered back to his orange juice and he took a sip. He flicked his hair out of his face and just thought for a few moments.

Skye's eyebrows raised at her brother's story, her paint-splatter green eyes widening. She watched as his appearance physically changed, slumping into the figure of a man tired of the cons of life. Concern radiated out of Skye's own posture, leaning across the table towards her brother, cocking her head to see his face under his mass of dark curls. Her ears pricked up slightly, listening tentatively to his words, wincing at the sudden bluntness of 'she died'. She looked into his dark eyes, reading all the pain, sorrow, despair, bereavement and build up tension inside the boy who knew her better than anybody else. She'd been in numerous serious relationships, but always wound up getting screwed over, and therefore came to the conclusion a year ago that the only guy she'd ever need in her life was her brother -- her only family. Tears welling up in her eyes, she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around PJ, melting into him like two lights fusing together. Sighing, she stroked his hair, feeling the warmth of his heart beating under his t-shirt. "Jesus, PJ. You should've told me. I should've helped. I'm s'post to look after you." She rocked him slightly, holding him as she used to when he couldn't sleep at night. Childhood memories flashed behind Skye's closed eyes, and she refused to let them go. Forgetting would mean acting like it never happened. And that's the thing. It did.

Feeling the arms of Skye around him made him feel safe. Like everything was okay again. Like he was home. But he wasn't. "Skye? I wanna start my life over. I wanna get a proper job which I love and really get involved.. but I can't find anything to do with photography so I'm stuck." His eyes met hers "Could you possibly help me in a way?" His hopes were high. Photography was one thing he felt he was good at and he enjoyed it. Capturin a art of nature or an emotion in one simple snap. It was a way to express himself other than playing guitar and piano. He really wanted to persue in his dream to become a photographer and he knew it would be hard to get there. But he was confident, if only Skye believed in him.

Rosie's eyes welled up as she watched the scene unfold. "That's so sweet!" she exclaimed. "Hey, Noel?" she called. "I know you're the master chef around here, but I think I'm going to decorate a cake for you guys, right now." She walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and selected a simple vanilla cake. Taking out some tubes of purple and yellow icing, she wrote, "Reunion!" on the cake in curly script. Then, she quickly pressed on a couple of pre-made purple roses and brought the cake out. "Free cake for everyone!" she called. "This calls for a celebration... What do you say, Pavlo?"

Skye's head snapped up, beaming over to Rosie as she whizzed into the kitchen. Holding PJ tight, she continued to stroke his hair, rocking him like a child. "Of course, honey. Anything." Pausing for a moment, she thought back to a few days ago. Suddenly, an idea struck her like a comet to the head. "Well, actually, there's a job opening at the parlour, if you want it. Jason wants us to build a half-decent portfolio of all the ink we do, so we could use a damn good photographer. God knows it'll take a miracle to make my work look any better." She pulled away from PJ, winking at him, her long, pitch black eyelashes brushing her cheek. Turning her face to watch Rosie coming out of the kitchen, her eyes lit up. The cake looked delicious -- yellow and purple icing, delicate purple flowers growing from the word 'Reunion !'. Standing, she quickly hugged Rosie, giggling slightly as she thanked her. "Wow, this looks delicious ! Thank you !" Looking over the table to the people across the cafe, she leaned towards them. "Cake, anyone ?"

The light tinkling of a bell sounded as the door swung widely open and the mop of orangey red hair bobbed into view. A smile was practically plastered across her face as she peered curiously around, one hand briefly resting against the door frame before Nikki stepped properly inside. Already she could tell she would like this place, the atmosphere was so friendly!

The seventeen year old had heard of this coffee shop from her dear twin brother, the guy planning on skipping lessons to come and visit here, perhaps bring his girlfriend if he could convince her. Of course, after hearing this, Nikki had put a stop to his 'evil plans', whilst planning herself to skip school today to come and visit the new coffee shop. It seemed like seconds after she arrived that the sound of
"Cake, anyone?"
Popped up from nearby. At once she grinned a little, shrugging off her jacket and draping it over one arm. "I could do with some if ya don't mind!"

[ Emily and Caitlin got ignored? o_o ]

Anderson listened to Noel speak, and then sort of smiled. "My sisters? They're all right, I guess. They irritate me a lot, but I still do love them. They just try to hook me up with their friends and random people all the time. Like I can't get a girlfriend myself." He sighed, pulling down an apron from one of the hooks and tying it on his neck. "Need help? Might as well do something," he said.

(( The "Cake, anyone ?" was directed at Emily and Caitlin. Just sayin'. ;D ))

Skye smiled at the ginger girl standing in the doorway of the cafe. She looked bright and perky, her voice had a slight accent, as though she'd grown up riding rodeo horses and milking cows. Texas, maybe ? Cutting a slice of the yellow and purple cake, she placed it on one of the napkins on the table and handed it to her. "Skye. Enjoy." Indicating towards an empty seat next to her, she added ; "Care to join us ?" Cutting up the rest of the cake, she pushed a slice towards PJ, and went to the counter to place a slice next to the cashier for Rosie, and another two in front of the two girls across the cafe from her. Smiling warmly to them, she sat back down and crossed her legs, waiting to see if anybody would make attempt conversation.

At the sound of sudden conversation between the two siblings the Greek looked up and smiled. He leaned his cheek on his palm as he watched the two. It may have been a smidge creepy, but he found it rather adorable. At the sound of his name he looked up. He realized it had been Rosie who called his name. Standing up Pavlo walked over towards them with a grin on his face. "ναι, should. It is a time too," he answered with a gentle smile. It was a great thing to have siblings and family. The dark haired male looked to the girl who had just introduced herself as Skye as well as the newcomer. "May I have a piece?" he asked her politely, "I am Pavlo, pleasure to meet you bunch."
---
Noel heard the commotion out of the kitchen, but she preferred to stay back in the kitchen. The sweets weren't going to cook themselves. At Anderson's comment about his sister's trying to hook him up she giggled. "At least it's your siblings trying to get you a boyfriend, and not your best friend who knows nothing about boyfriends... Though I don't know which is better.," she replied smilin Pressing the dough into the pie pan she heard the call from Rosie and nodded. "No worries, my hands are caked in flour right now, so I don't want to touch any treats," she called to her employer. Then her brown eyes looked up at Anderson as he offered to help. "Sure you can, at least someone besides me is going to work,"Noel teased. Getting a cutting board, knife, peaches, and strawberries she set them together. "If you could cut those up for me it would be great," she stated with a smile. Slowly she began rolling out the dough with her little pink rolling pin.

[ I must have missed that. xD ]

Caitlin jumped up with glee. "I want cake!" She squealed, leaving Emily behind to join the others across the cafe. Emily only sighed and followed her bouncing sister across the cafe, itching to tie her down and make her stay quiet for at least five minutes... or however long it took for those damn meds to digest. Emily snatched Caitlin's arm and held a hand out containing two white pills, which the other whined at, but took them anyway with a swig of water from Emily's bottle. Caitlin waited until she could get a piece on a napkin, and then sat in whatever empty seat was available. "Your name is Skye? That's so pretty!" She giggled between bites. Emily only stared, watching her sister do what she couldn't. Make friends.

"Caitlin. We're leaving after you finish that cake," Emily said, sticking on her sunglasses and looking out the nearest window. Why'd everyone go ga-ga over Caitlin anyway?



Anderson laughed, taking the knife and positioning the strawberries and peaches in a cute little line. "I suppose. They do know me better than any of my female friends do. They all pretty much judge me as the 'safe' guy. You know, the one that's always there if you need a shoulder to cry on," he laughed again, rolling a strawberry to the middle of the cutting board. Just as he began to cut, the knife stopped, hovering over the fruits. "Erm... Noel? I'm not exactly sure how to cut this thing. I mean, do I cut it in half, or...?" He said with a pause. "I don't usually cut up fruits."

Grinning lightly, she took the slice before glancing down in surprise as the girl offered her the empty seat. After a couple of seconds, Nikki grin grew even larger as she shifted to sit down. "Dun mind if I do! A pleasure ta meet ya Skye! Just call me Nikki, everyone does, much easier than me real name" She joked lightly, running a hand through her messy hair before taking a small bite of the cake. "S'delicious! Man I knew this place was gonna be good! Cake is awesome!" Nikki chuckled after she swallowed, glancing around before winking to Skye slightly. Knowing it was fairly obvious from her slight accent where she was from, Nikki had been over exaggerating her accent as she'd spoken, but now it slipped back, sounding almost normal again. "Is it someone's birthday then?"

The smell of cake almost made his mouth water and everything else he forgot for a moment. He hadn't eaten since yesterday and he had passed on the plane food. The boy smiled a bit as Skye handed him a slice of the delicious product. PJ took a bite of the cake, letting it melt in his mouth. Again, he smiled. "So.. a job with you? That'll be interesting!" A cheeky smile spread across his face "I'll have a good shot at it if you don't mind. Will I get paid? 'Cause.. I kinda need to buy a few things for my camera, like lenses and a tripod. Not like now, but in time." PJ looked up at Skye who was making everyone feel welcome like she always did. Again, it made him feel safe. He knew that if he found Skye again, his life would drastically change in a good way. And permenantly.

The dark haired female smiled and nodded as Anderson talked. "It's much better to be that guy, than another," she replied softly. Noel Filled pie pan with the dough and popped it over into one of the preheating ovens. When Anderson spoke up she looked at him and smiled warmly. "It's okay I'm not surprised you don't generally make pie," she teased with a wink. "I just need the strawberries quartered and the peaches need the skin taken off them, and then you cut around the core and slice them... It might just be easier if I show you," she explained with a small laugh. Pulling out another knife she picked up a strawberry. She cut the top off and put it in a scrap bowl. Then she took the strawberry and cut it into quarters. After that she picked up a peach and ran the knife around it to skin the peach then cut around the pit to create two halves. Taking the knife she pulled the pit out, and then she cut the peach into slices. "See, it's not so bad. But if you feel uncomfortable or need help, just ask,"Noel replied with a gentle smile.

[It's been a few days, and I still don't think this plot is going anywhere... Does anyone else want to skip ahead a bit?]

{doesn't matter to me =] up to you}

[IMGleft]http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo172/goceboz/clock.jpg[/IMGleft]The time is now....
12:00 noon