Drove all night to see you {ELLIA}

[riley]

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Riley eased the old beat up truck into a parking spot and switched of the engine, smiling to himself softly. Well. Who would have thought that a simple landscaping job would lead to the young man not only making some new friends... but also getting himself a girlfriend, or rather the young woman with whom he was becoming quite fond off would get herself a boyfriend, seeing as she had been the one to make all the moves that night. Well, he had not exactly hidden it from her that he was a terrible flirt now had he? Still, if nothing else it had been a fun night, the night the two of them had met, and now here he was, pulling up outside her motel to drive to DC with her.

Something told the young man he should probably be thinking more about this, as he stepped from the truck and shut the door behind him. The truck itself was an old pick up, with most of his gear haphazardly slung in the back. Though it looked old and dented, the engine ran like new – one of the little perks of working as a mechanic for the last few years. But yes... maybe this was moving a little quick for the young man, after all, he had a tendency to only date girls he had known for years, but he was enjoying the ride and Ellia’s carefree spirit.... would it be such a bad thing if some of it rubbed off on him? He didn’t think so, and neither did Astrid, his youngest sister, who had rang him the night before to see if he would be home any time soon, and if so, would he try and convince dad to let her have a car again.

He grinned, and tugged absent mindedly at the sweatbands on his wrist as he passed through the hotel door. He smiled and offered the receptionist who was growing to know him quite well, given the number of nights Riley had accompanied Ellia home, and took the stairs up to her room, bypassing the lifts out of pure habit as he quickly ascended the formed concrete.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and Riley paused a moment before entering onto the landing to check it, and laughed aloud to himself, pushing the small black phone back into position on his thigh. Astrid no less, wishing him luck on hanging on to his carefree girl... cause apparently if she had any sense she would dump him in D.C. Well. It was nice to know you had the support of your family and friends, eh?

Within a few seconds of entering Ellia’s landing, he was outside her door, rapping softly on the wood with his knuckles. Done, he took a step back and cracked his knuckles, rocking slightly on the balls of his feet.

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[Ellia St. Claire]

Ellia checked and rechecked her bags, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything.

Satisfied that all of her things were accounted for--particularly her assortment of instruments, all packed cozily in their travel cases--the young woman allowed herself a moment to relax. Collapsing onto the bed with a sigh, she covered her eyes with her arm, a faint smile upon her lips. This had certainly been an interesting stop for her, that was for sure.

Initially, Ellia hadn't really expected anything major to happen during her stay here. She figured that, as always, she'd just wander about for a while, taking gigs where she could to make a few bucks, then move on when it seemed that business was slowing down. That was how she lived her life, living week to week, moving around from place to place without any real plan as to what came next.

She'd been surprised, and pleased, to have run into an old friend on this particular visit, though, and she wished that the two of them had had more time to catch up. It just hadn't been possible, really, and she understood that. Life sometimes just got in the way, there was nothing to be done about it. Still, it would have been nice to have spent more time together, but Ellia wouldn't dwell on it, not when there was so much more to keep her attention...

Riley.

Her smile brightened when she thought of the shy young man that she'd somehow managed to drag away to her hotel room that first night in town. She'd really managed to surprise herself, truth be told. Hooking up with a guy and sleeping with him all within a few short hours wasn't generally her style. Sure, she was a notorious flirt, but that very rarely led to anything serious, even as serious as just a one night stand. But it had just been so long since she'd been with anybody, and Riley had seemed so gentlemanly and sweet, that she'd found herself falling for him pretty easily.

And, much to her delight, it hadn't ended after that first night, either!

Ellia was still overjoyed that Riley was letting her tag along with him to D.C. The location didn't really hold any significance to her, of course, seeing as how she flitted around from place to place so much, but the fact that he'd agreed to let her travel with him meant that they'd be able to spend more time together. Ellia was totally fine with that, for more reasons than one...

A knock at her door snapped her out of her introspection, and she sat up stretching, stifling a yawn. Sighing, she stood to her feet, ran a hand through her hair, and made her way to the door, looking through the peephole even though she had a pretty good idea who it was. Yanking the door open, she leaped up and wrapped her arms around the much taller man's neck, grinning and kissing him. After a moment, she let herself drop back down to the floor, leaning in the door frame and fixing him with a bright smile.

"So, you haven't changed your mind after all, I see. Lucky me, huh?"

[riley]

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Whilst he waited for her to open the door, riley ran a hand through his shaggy hair, hair that could quite probably use a cute, but he was undecided as to whether he liked the shaggy style, or if he should cut it short. Perhaps he should ask Ellia. His hand dropped to his side when he heard the door click and he grinned, though he was somewhat surprised when she threw her arms around him. Grinning and returning her kiss quite happily, Riley het his eyes fall shut and wrapped his arms around Ellia’s waist, keeping her feet suspended in the air for the duration of their embrace. He released her as she released him, and looked a little dazed for a second as she leaned on the door frame – took him a second for her words to compute and make sense in his head, and even then he only maintained his grin.

“You know, if this is your way of saying you don’t fancy it any more, you don’t have to make out that I didn’t want to take you”he teased her, stepping forwards and slipping his hands around her waist again and looking down at her. So what... he had become perhaps a little braver in his advances, and the young man truly was useless with his words, and upon recalling his tease he had no idea if it even made sense. For now at least he ducked his head and kissed a possible retort away, a brief embrace of her lips before he pulled away, wandering into her room and looking around at her luggage. It was true that most were the tell tale cases of her instruments, but he was still mildly surprised at the sheer quantity.

“Why would I change my mind anyway?” he asked, turning round to look at her again, still smiling as he cracked his fingers – it was habit born of boredom, nerves, but needless one he now partook in without actual conscious thought. Surely, if you pointed it out to the young man he would simply look surprised as he studied his fingers, as was the way when he cracked any of his limbs. Often however, you would find him cracking his elbows... it was easily don, and quite discreet when disguised as a yawn.

“so... ready to go?”He asked, flexing his fingers before shoving them into the pockets of his jeans. “What do you want me to grab?”

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[Ellia St. Claire]

Ellia stood up on her tip toes and managed to just barely lay a soft kiss on Riley's chin.

"You're very sweet, you know that?" she asked, smiling up at him. "And feel free to grab whatever you want," she added, looking back over her shoulder at the baggage. "I mean, its all going to the same place, right?" With that, Ellia turned away from him and went over to pick up a large black bag that was nearly as big as she was.

She still couldn't believe that she was going to be hitting the road with Riley. Really, they'd only known each other for a few days, not exactly long enough to be sure he wasn't some kind of sicko. Her brow furrowed as she thought, He was pretty good at tying those knots the other night... The memory made her grin, and she realized that he might be thinking the exact same thing as her. The truth was, though, that she didn't get that weird vibe from him that she'd gotten from some guys--and even from a girl or two--that had turned out to be a little bit scary.

And she could defend herself, if she had to. Ellia hated fighting, and she wasn't particularly good at it, but she did have an especially potent ability, even if she preferred not to use it. The fact was, though, that she had used it before in the past. Her voice held a great power, and when focused correction, she could surround someone with illusions of their greatest fear and envelop them in a miasma of terror and hopelessness that was usually enough to get anyone to back off.

She hoped it never came to that with Riley, and honestly doubted that it would. And she'd have to be careful around him too, because she didn't know what he'd think if he discovered her gift. Sometimes it was just easier to let those who were ignorant of such things remain that way. Ellia certainly didn't want Riley thinking she was some sort of freak.

"Hey," she said, dragging the bag toward the door. "If you don't want to lug all this stuff around, I can always just follow you in my car, you know. I don't mind."

[riley]

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Could Riley ever hurt anyone? Well the simple answer to that question was yes. He knew he could. He had – hell he’d been lucky to escape Juvy, and even then it was only because of his father’s influence. The question however now was were attune to whether Riley would ever want to hurt anyone – and would he ever willingly, wantingly, or purposely hurt the tiny blonde trying to pull a bag out of the room that looked like she could use as a tent. The answer to that one was no. No... he would never try to hurt her – she was as safe with him as she could be with a toy poodle, who had his teeth removed. And claws too. Not saying that occasionally he might leave a mark on her body... but he was pretty sure the one fading on her collar bone wasn’t exactly painful.

He grinned at the thought, and the mental images he now tucked away in the recess of his brain, and turned to grab one of the bags she had laying around, slipping it over a shoulder and across his back before eyeing the one she was trying to carry. Smirking to himself, he took a hold of the strap. “Here, let me grab this one, and you grab one of your instruments.... i figure i can do less damage to your clothes than i can to your guitar.” he didn’t wait for her answer, slipping it from her grasp and slinging it over his shoulder as well, laying a kiss on her nose with a grin.

“No, it’s fine. We’re only going to be in Dc for a few weeks... then i have to come back here anyway, so there’s no real point in taking both of the cars when you can just use the truck during the day.” Perhaps he was being a little optimistic in his assumptions... they had not being going out long and technically, they had not yet even made it past the man’s three date rule. But Riley had learnt a long time ago that sometime optimism was the way forward. Pessimism never really turned out well, neither did dwelling on the thing that might happen, when the most chance was, it never would.

He brushed a finger across her cheek and grinned again. “Right, i’ve got these two, and this one-” he said, picking up another near the door, “And you realise i insist you sing for me on the way, right?”

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[Ellia St. Claire]

Ellia couldn't fault Riley's reasoning.

Nodding, she let him take the heavy bag and headed back toward the bed, picking up a pair of black plastic carrying cases, each one housing an instrument. These particular two were her flute and her violin, and she made sure to be incredibly careful with them both, though it probably wan't all that necessary. These cases were made to take a lot of abuse, and nothing short of a bomb going off right on top of them would do any damage to her precious instruments.

"I'll have to make another trip for the rest," she said, gesturing back toward another pair of cases, each one looking the exact same as the ones she carried, except in size. "I'll need to get my lap harp, and SweetSong--my guitar." Slipping past him, she headed down the hall toward the elevator, turning around to make sure he was following.

Ellia still couldn't believe that, after so much time on her own, she'd managed to hook up with someone as great as Riley. She'd dated plenty of people before, some seriously and some not, but she'd yet to find a guy as sweet and kind as him. Sure, there'd been Abbie Brennan, but Ellia sort of expected the whole sweet and polite thing from another girl. It just seemed harder to find it in a guy, that was all. She didn't know if this thing with Riley would really end up going anywhere, but at that moment she really didn't care. Ellia had never been one to dwell too much on the future, always preferring to simply live in the moment, and at this particular moment, she just wanted to enjoy her time with Riley.

No matter how long or short that time might be.

"And I'm not sure you really want me to sing all the way to D.C. I mean, you're bound to get sick of hearing me eventually, right?" She grinned at him, pushing the button for the elevator and leaning against the wall.

[riley]

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Riley adjusted the bag on his shoulder and followed her out, waiting patiently for the lift once she had pressed . he frowned at her words, as if mulling them over and then shook his head. ”N’aaaaw” he answered as the door opened. He motioned for Ellia to go first and followed her in, shifting slightly to make sure the bags were in as the lift doors shut behind them. ”I don’t think I could easily get sick of listening to you sing. It’s almost as good as your neck rubs for making me relax.”He grinned at her, his smile softening as he remembered the last time she had wandered her hands across the tense muscles in his shoulders and neck. Damn, she had magic hands, and the knots caused by carrying wood, cement and all manner of gardening equipment around all day had melted under her fingers.

The lift hit the ground floor and Riley back out, checking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t about to back up into anyone and twisted round once he was sure there was no one in his expanded smack zone now that he had the two large bags strapped across his shoulders. ”i Mean... Your amazing Ellia... and if you listen to some of the crap i hear when i’m driving... i think you might see why i’d rather listen to you. But.. i guess we can talk too. ”he smirked, dropping into pace next to her whilst he lead her out and towards his truck. It didn’t take them long to cross the small expanse of asphalt, and Riley put the bags on the floor whilst he unhitched one side of the tarp he had pulled over the gear in the pack and tossed it to the side.

He had a box in there, hard shelled, where he kept his own stuff given that the front of the truck wasn’t big enough for the two of them and their stuff, and he quickly put her stuff inside, smiling as he took it from her hands and stealing a kiss from her cheek for the hell of it. Done, he closed the lid, and leant briefly against the side. ”Want me to come back up with you?”

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[Ellia St. Claire]

Ellia grinned when he kissed her cheek.

It was strange, really. She'd had plenty of partners--male and female--and had been kissed on the cheek many times, but whenever Riley did it, he somehow managed to get a bright smile out of her. In fact, in just the couple of weeks since they'd been together, Ellia felt better than she had in a long time. The truth was, after her relationship with her last serious girlfriend had ended, Ellia had spent the last year or so alone. She just didn't have the drive to go out and find anyone again, but that was alright. She was content to be by herself for a while.

Well, that certainly wasn't the case any more. Ellia was quite happy with Riley. And she was even happier that he'd agreed to readily to let her accompany him to D.C., even though there hadn't been a real reason for him to do so. It bode well, she thought, and she hoped that it meant Riley was really interested in her and not just in a fling.

Good.

"Yeah," she told him, "you can come back up with me. Besides, I"m sure you'd just waste away without me, right?" She laughed lightly, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his chest. "And if my singing relaxes you so much," she added, "maybe doing it while you're driving isn't the best idea? I mean, I'd hate to die in fiery accident, wouldn't you?"

She kept her arms around his waist as she pulled away a bit, taking a few steps back toward the elevator and dragging him along. Looking up at him, a mischievous glint in her eye, she smirked and spoke in a low voice.

"Besides... There's so much fun to be had in an elevator, don't you think?" Grinning and giggling, she took his hand and pulled him away from the truck and making for the elevator, practically skipping the entire way.

[riley]

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Flings? Perhaps Riley was different to most others in that he didn’t do flings. He was too shy, too retiring generally to even contemplate asking a girl out whom he didn’t already know, and whom he hadn’t known for a while, let alone ask someone he had just met for a drink or anything of that sort. And besides, he liked Ellia. He liked their contrast, and how easily they got on, among various many other things that his mother would eye him for should he mention them in polite company, so no... a fling was not even something he had contemplated.

Smirking as she pulled him back towards the hotel and of course, the lift purposefully resisted slightly, as if each foot also had a lead weight attached to it. ”Lots of fun” he agreed, easily keeping pace with her skipping with his own long strides as she swapped from his waist to his hand. He laced their fingers, squeezing her hand for a second as he was dragged between the slowly closing metal doors, only to the use it to pull her to him, wrapping hi arms around her waist and leaning down for another kiss.

”Lot’s of fun” He agreed, pulling away for a moment and dragging her bottom lip gently through his teeth. ”Though, who would have thought it?”

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[Ellia St. Claire]

A while later, Ellia emerged from the elevator, grinning.

Her hair was a bit mussed, and her clothes rumpled, and she absently tried to smooth them as she looked back and smiled sweetly at Riley, who was just as disheveled as she was. Laughing softly, she turned around to plant a lingering kiss on his lips before pulling away and heading down the hallway toward her room, a distinct swagger to her hips.

Honestly, she hadn't been sure that Riley would even be up for such a thing. When she'd pulled him into the elevator, she figured that there'd be some protest, and that was alright. Ellia knew that not everyone was as brazen as her, and she wouldn't have held it against Riley. But it seemed like he'd been just as eager as she was, and the memory of it still brought a grin to her lips.

She wondered if she was rubbing off on him, and in more ways than one...

That was both good and bad, though. She liked Riley for who he was, for his shy personality. So while it was nice to see him becoming a little more carefree, she didn't want to change his nature either. It would still take a little more time to see what the final outcome would be, so she wouldn't worry about it just yet. For now, she'd just do what she was so good at: live in the moment.

"Well, that was fun," she said, looking back over her shoulder at him, smirking. "And a pretty nice way to start our trip, I'd say, huh?" Giggling, she opened the door and went to the bed, gathering up her last couple instrument cases and turning to go. "Well, this should do it. Sure you're still up for this?" she asked, a mischievous glint in her eye. "You realize you may end up picking up some bad habits if you spend too much time around me, right?"