Elizabeth was usually quite good at handling situations under severe stress. She'd lived on the streets for half her life, for goodness sakes. She'd protected her childish younger sister from trouble countless times and sacrificed her own morals to give them something to eat and a warm, dry place to stay. Yes, she was certainly a master when it came to sticky situations. But she'd never exactly been in a situation like this. It wasn't what she'd expected to happen at all, even if this guy had seemed a bit queer before.
He was currently curled up at the floor near Liz's shoes, sobbing loudly and attracting the attention of many of the party-goers. Raised eyebrows, laughs, and many open mouthed stares were directed at the two of them in the corner, and Liz simply stood in utter disbelief, her own mouth forming an 'o.' He continued to beat the ground with his pale, clenched fist, moaning about symmetry and the horrible stripes in his hair, how he was trash, horrible, horrible trash.
Liz collected herself after a moment, snapping her foot away and whirling around to face the people gaping at them, "Well, what're you looking at? Didn't your mothers tell you staring is far from polite?" She barked, a hand on her hip and her blue eyes cold.
Although she did receive quite a few disaproving mumbles and gripes, the majority turned back to their dancing, chatter, and delicacies, leaving Liz to deal with this peculiar boy, whom she'd just met a moment ago. She wasn't sure at all how to approach him, but after a bit of internal debate, she knelt down, the sheer material of her dress pooling around her feet. Her hand tentatively found it's way to his quivering back, and she gently rubbed, biting her lip and cringing as she did so. A simple back rub had always helped her sister when she was upset or hurting, which was rare, but certainly did happen.
However, right now, a back rub alone wasn't serving much purpose. Kid continued whimpering on the ground, much to Liz's despair. She was too much of a softie to just get up and leave him a mess on the floor, but she swore to herself that if this got any worse, she'd have to smack the sense back into him. Last resort, maybe, but at this point, Liz was pretty sure it was going to happen. Five minutes of coos and rubbing hadn't done a thing.
"Kid...your hair looks, um, fine," she mumbled, more to herself then him, her chin tucked against her collarbone. Her eyes flickered, remembering her days spent on the streets comforting Patti, and all of a sudden, she pulled her hand away as quickly as possible,"I..I've got to go," she stood up abruptly and turned around, leaving the room swiftly, heels clacking, the light caught by their glitter. She didn't turn to see Kid look up, didn't see him stand and hesitate, didn't see him decide to follow her.
Liz slammed her palm against the revolving door, emerging into the cool night air. She let out a heavy breath and leaned against the building, unshed tears glistening in her eyes. The same eyes that had watched the horrors that had happened to her sister, the same eyes that had been subjected to seeing more pain and death in ten years then most people in a lifetime. Liz allowed one single tear to trickle down her cheek, disguising it with a heavy cough.
She'd had these moments before, where the smallest thing triggered memories that caused her to forget everything and just break down. It was pretty unnatural for the street hardened woman. She slumped agains the bricks, her knees hitting the icy pavement, unregistered pai shooting through her kneecaps and thighs, jarring her hipbone. She didn't care. She didn't care.
It was only a few precious moments before the door burst open again. Liz heard and took note of it, but didn't bother looking over. She kept her blue eyes trained on the stars above, burning like coals in the smoldering black sky. The beautiful sight brought a faint smile to her face, and, feeling a bit more peaceful, Liz sighed in relief.
"Liz?" His voice, masculine and admittedly, quite attractive to Liz, cut through her bubble of happiness, louder than the honking of horns, yelling, barking dogs, or overall suburban noises. Maybe it sounded louder to her because it was appealing, or maybe he was yelling at her. She couldn't tell, but she unshielded her face with a slight wince when she realised she'd bit her lip hard enough for it to bleed.
"What do you want?" Liz said, her voice strong, albeit a bit shaky. The blonde struggled to keep herself composed, taking in sharp breaths of midnight air, her gaze trained on the man standing abov her.
It took him a moment to respond to her, and for just a moment, golden cat eyes and blue angel eyes met, but Kid ripped his gaze away before anything could happen,"I just wanted to apologize," he grunted, clasping his hands together and wringing his wrists.
"Oh. Well. Apology accepted," Liz responded. She braced her hand against the rough wall of the building and stood to her full height, stumbling on her heels as she did so. As a reflex, Kid's arm shot out and steadied her, his fingers curling around her shoulder and holding her up. Liz pulled her arm back, and Kid slowly dropped his own arm.
"Uh, sorry," He said again, running a hand through his black hair, the three white stripes rumpling as he did so,"Reflex, y'know? And falling like that...threw off your otherwise perfect symmetry," he trailed off on the last part, Kid's embarrassment growing, his face bright red and heat practically radiating from his body.
Liz didn't answer, only offered a curt nod as she straightened up and brushed off her dress, the plinking noise of gravel falling off of her body the only noise that passed between them for a moment or two,"I'm perfectly symmetrical?" She giggled softly, her hand over her mouth, "I've never gotten that before."
Kid offered her a guilty smile,"Yeah, that's what most girls say."
Chapter two. Woohoo me! Happy New Years guys. May 2013 be awesome for all ya'll. Shout out to Mrs. Colabeilshmidt and Lexi! Love you guys, and love reviews!