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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Oct 27, 2010 19:32:30 GMT 10
Jeremy Desrosiers shook his head, violently, brushing his hands through his hair as he did. Almost a beach worth of sand came sprinkling out and onto a little pile. The boy stood back on his heels and looked out across his three square metre plot of sand that he had claimed as his own, and his work for the day. Jem smiled his toothy smile and stood up, careful not to squish the drawbridge with his foot and stepped backward, to further examine his work.
The sandcastle was a big one, not tall, as the autumn sand was still too dry to stick together properly, but very wide. It had few turrets, but long curtain walls with parapet walks for the guards to keep watch from. At the northern most side was the keep, and the barbican was connected to where the drawbridge would be.
Jem stuck the little stick that he was using behind his ear and smiled again, pulling his shorts back down to his knees from where they had ridden up. The boy sat, just a little way off from his bag and pulled out his log. He pulled the pen from its spine and logged the time of completion, the date and the type of castle he had built, along with the weather conditions. Finally, the short boy snapped the book shut, put it back into his bag and pulled out another book, this one being a large volume of Sir Arthur Conan Brian’s Sherlock Holmes shorts.
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Oct 27, 2010 20:27:25 GMT 10
After spending much of her Saturday morning walking around the school grounds looking for something to do, Eliza had become bored of the same scene, the same people and the same smell. The school had a distinct smell of flowers, which Eliza didn't mind so much, but after spending hours trying to get away from it, she became sick of it, needing not only a new aroma to fill her nostrils but also a new sight to grace her eyes.
She left the school through the front gate and walked along the footpath, her shoes scraping on the ground as she took each step. Eliza wasn't sure where she intended on going, but the sound of waves crashing only about 50 meters away enticed her. The school was only two blocks from the beach front and Eliza liked the idea of having the smell of sea water fill her head for a good few hours. As she got closer to the beach, she began to walk faster, her excitement and anticipation of the beach growing, the look of the bright blue water so very inviting.
After crossing the road, which ran along the beach, Eliza skipped onto the sand, the sun having already warmed it up after the morning of a clear sky, very unusual this time of year, or so Eliza thought. She didn't mind though because she knew she'd need the warmth after walking through the water which she fully intended on doing as soon as she got closer.
However, this desire to dip her feet in the water disappeared incredibly quickly when she was a familiar figure sitting on the beach about 30 meters from her. Eliza squinted, her eyesight very poor, and assured herself of who she was looking at. There was no mistaking it, her brother, who she hadn't seen in months, was sitting on the sand, a castle in front of him and a book under his nose. Typical Jeremy, Eliza thought to herself as she began to walk towards him, fully intending on giving him a small fright.
Eliza walked up to the top of the beach, closer to the road, so that she could approach her twin from behind, hoping to catch him off guard, and if he was reading an enthralling book she was sure he would be very much distracted from his surroundings, thus gaining Eliza the full opportunity of a scare. Once in line with him from behind, Eliza quietly yet swiftly walked over to her brother, being sure not to make any noise as she stopped behind him. She silently bent down and leant in next to his ear.
"Haven't you read this book a thousand times before?" Eliza asked quickly yet with much diction. Her words were loud, at least when right next to someone's ear, and she hoped she made his heart stop, just for a moment, as a wicked smirk formed on her lips.
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Oct 29, 2010 15:10:08 GMT 10
As soon as his twin sister spoke, Jem snapped his book shut and cast it aside. He stood and quickly spun, throwing his arms around Eliza as soon as he could get her.
“Ellie!” He cried, ecstatic that he was with his sister after seven long months of emailing. “I missed you!” Jem squeezed his sister a little tighter and finally let her go, collapsing onto the soft sand, intending on having a catch-up conversation with her.
Even when he was a little boy, Jeremy never worried about showing his affection in front of others. He warmed up to people quickly, and loved hugs, something that he was teased about often before he came to his dad’s school. As soon as he entered, people backed off. It was sad that a lot of the other students were afraid because he was the head master’s son, but there were also the few that didn’t care. Either way, Jem was glad to finally see his sister again, and hoped with all his heart that they could be as close as they were when they were younger.
“How are you? How’s mum? How’s Australia? I missed youuuuu!” Jem was talking faster than usual, in a higher pitched voice than usual, and clinging onto his sister’s hand, trying to pull her down onto the sand beside him so that he could look at her pretty eyes again. Suddenly he stopped and realised something. “Why did it take so long for you to come and see me?”
Jem let go of his sister’s hand and crossed his arms, feigning rejection, with a pout.
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Oct 30, 2010 0:33:38 GMT 10
Jeremy's reaction only made Eliza smile even wider. His excitement to see her very much reflected Eliza's own joy and she was glad to see that he hadn't changed one bit. As he wrapped his arms around her, Eliza returned the hug, excited to have her brother so close to her again after feeling so distant for so long. Before she knew it he was rattling of questions and pulling her towards the sand, but before she got a chance to reply to any of them, he suddenly stopped tugging and asked a question with a much more serious tone. A rush of guilt fell over Eliza.
"I'm good, better now, mum's her usual frustrating self, Australia is beautiful," Eliza replied each of his questions as she sat down in the sand next to him and crossed her legs, taking a hold of his hand again, chuckling at his expression. "And because every time I seem to call you your phone is off, or the guys in your dorm tell me you're out or in class. They're pretty sick of hearing my voice, I can tell you that!"
Eliza let out another small chuckle. She had spent the entire week calling his dorm room only to have one of his roommates answer each time with the same bored and over tired tone. This obviously told Eliza that they were no good at passing on messages.
"Plus, you know I never eat breakfast and I know that you always have an early dinner so that you can go out for a dig before bed, so we've never crossed paths in the cafeteria I suppose," Eliza shrugged. "But it doesn't matter, because here you are!" Eliza almost squealed as she flung her arms around her brother's neck and pulled him in tight, so glad to have him back.
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Oct 31, 2010 0:06:42 GMT 10
Jem nodded as his sister spoke of their mother, and Australia. He frowned a little when she talked about the boys in his dorm, but then nodded. It was true, none of them were good at passing on messages, but that was because they stayed up all night studying and were tired a lot of the day. They were nice people though, all quite quiet, but sometimes Jem missed the noise.
When Eliza hugged him again Jem could feel himself smiling again. It was uncharacteristic of his dear sister to be so affectionate, but it was a common thing between the two of them, or at least, it was. Jem vowed that it would be that way again now that they were at the same school. It seemed like they had missed so much time that they could have spent together, as twins are supposed to. It's in their nature to want to be together, and it was in Jem's nature to wish he had his sister around to look after him when he got bullied. When they were little, Eliza would ward off the older male bullies, even though she was smaller than them, just because they had knocked Jem down. She was his lifeline, and being without her for so long was hard.
"Ellie, I missed you." Jem said again, as if he couldn't stress the point enough. It was obvious by now that Jeremy Desrosiers felt like he was invincible with his twin by his side, and he hoped she felt the same.
"How have your classes been so far? Have you talked to daddy much? Have you made any friends?" Jem thought for a second after the last question and gave a little giggle. Eliza was too headstrong for most people, but she was a valuable friend to keep.
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Nov 1, 2010 22:48:48 GMT 10
Eliza simply couldn't wipe the smile off her face. She was back in the presence of her brother and there was nothing in the world she wished for more. His companionship and added personality to her own was what she craved and longed for. Her brother was never mean, rude or unkind to her and although it was in Eliza's nature to be quite stubborn and hard, her brother softened her and had much influence on her. It was as if they completed each other when together; Eliza became kinder and more open while Jeremy became somewhat protective and in charge when others were around. Although Eliza had always been the tougher one as a child, every time they were together as older teenagers Jeremy always kept a watchful eye over her and Eliza was forever grateful for that and just the thought of her brother brought a smile to her face.
The moment Jeremy mentioned their father, though, her smile dropped. Eliza didn't have any intention on talking to their father. If he wanted to see her, he could come find her, even if she insisted on hiding sometimes. She became slightly more light hearted at his next question though, which caused Eliza to roll her eyes and push her twin lightly, knowing he was trying to tease her. "My classes have been good, the music classes here are great, I just wish I was in a class with you. I picked English Advanced, hoping you'd do it, but I suppose we weren't put in the same class," Eliza shrugged lightly, slightly disappointed about that arrangement. "As for dad, I'm keeping as far from him as possible, I've only had to see him once, thankfully."
Eliza quickly got off the subject of their father, grabbing Jeremy's hand again and continuing to answer his third question, despite his teasing intentions. "I've met a couple of people, one meeting may have been slightly out of bounds, but oh well," Eliza chuckled, referring to her interesting piano session in the auditorium. "I met a girl too who said she knows you, Adelaide something, she was very upbeat and.. headachy." Hopefully Jeremy would empathise with Eliza, very much knowing her distaste for overly loud people, especially when in a relaxing context. Although she wouldn't quite call them friends, they were definitely acquaintances and Eliza was glad to have met them.
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Nov 20, 2010 19:54:55 GMT 10
Jeremy frowned slightly when Eliza stopped smiling. He was upset by her reaction to his mentioning of their father. While their mother had taken Eliza back to Australia with her, Jem stayed with his father in France and they grew into a routine. He would visit Victor to have dinner with him once a week in his office, and they asked about each other’s day. It was all quite polite, if not a little stiff, but it was the way his father wanted things, so Jem had no choice to oblige. He couldn’t help but feel a little abandoned by his mother, but he knew her needs would have to come before his own, and the best he could do was to call her every few weeks or so. It was saddening that Jem tried so hard to keep his family together, even though it seemed that they were forcing themselves apart. All Jem wanted was to have his mother and father together in the same room for his and Eliza’s eighteenth birthday without verbally ripping into each other.
Just as Jem opened his mouth to protest Eliza’s stubbornness on the subject of their father she quickly continued on to reply to his joke about her meeting people.
"I've met a couple of people, one meeting may have been slightly out of bounds, but oh well," His sister said, "I met a girl too who said she knows you, Adelaide something, she was very upbeat and.. headachy."
Jem couldn’t help but laugh. He had only met Adelaide once, but he knew that just a conversation with her would reveal almost everything about who she was. Adelaide was loud and friendly, two traits that made Eliza hesitant to get close to. Jem wasn’t surprised one bit that Eliza didn’t instantly like Adelaide, but he knew she wouldn’t give up on trying for a friendship, and he knew that Eliza wouldn’t be able to reject Adelaide forever. They had a lot in common after all, even if they didn’t see it right away.
“Adelaide is a nice girl,” Jem began. It was his usual speech to his twin, chiding her on her reclusiveness. “You’d do well to have some friends. Most of the people around here are very nice. We rarely see each other, so you should get to know someone. It would be good for you.”
Jeremy wanted his sister to see what she was missing. They were twins, but were definitely polar opposites when it came to people. Eliza was defensive and closed-off, where as Jem was open and friendly. If there was anything that would be good for Eliza, it would be a close friend who could be there when Jem wasn’t around.
“Anyone who you can find who makes you happy,” Jem said, “is good enough for me. Now, tell me about you. Are you okay with coming here?”
Jeremy was worried for his sister. He knew that she disliked their father, and seeing Jem wasn’t going to be enough for Eliza to be happy at the school.
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Nov 22, 2010 0:04:17 GMT 10
Eliza's smile slowly came back as Jeremy spoke of Adelaide; she was sure Jeremy and Adelaide's meeting would have been an interesting one, and knowing how open and upbeat they both were, Eliza imagined them to have gotten on like a house on fire. Eliza liked the idea of someone making Jeremy happy, considering for the past 7 years or so she was unable to do so due to their geographical distance. She had hoped he'd made lots of friends who made him happy and wasn't too angry with her moving with her mother all those years ago, even though she didn't have any other option.
Granted Eliza was trying to open herself up to different people, she didn't have much luck of finding anyone she would actually want to be friends with, but now that she had her brother again, that didn't bother her in the least. Jeremy was all she really needed.
Before attempting to reply to his statement, Jeremy asked her a question, one of which had many answers, and she had to be careful with what words she would to use. "I'm... on the fence about it," Eliza said finally, looking down at their still intertwined hands. "While I'm beyond excited about being able to see you every day, the fact that I have the chance of running into dad as well doesn't make me so thrilled to be here. I haven't really seen him yet though, we've only had one meeting and that was on the day that I arrived. He's still just a stubborn and hard as ever, isn't he?"
Although Victor had attempted to buy back Eliza's affection, he became annoyed and frustrated when things didn't go his way and she did reciprocate the feelings. It was ironic really; he'd do almost anything to get back on track with her, but the moment things started to look negative, he'd become annoyed and simply start to push her away. It was clear to Eliza where she got her stubbornness from.
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Dec 15, 2010 0:57:05 GMT 10
The space between Jeremy’s eyebrows creased a little as Eliza spoke. She seemed to be focusing more on the bad things about being at the school than the good things. She cared too much about their father, and she wouldn’t open up her eyes to how much use being there would be to her career. She finally asked about how their father was, although it was more about whether he was still stubborn and hard, Jem took it to be a sign of interest and smiled again.
“Yes.” He said, simply. “He’s still stubborn, just like you. We set up a regular meeting, and outside of that he doesn’t really bother me. He never really bothered me.” Except when Mum and Dad screamed at each other. Jem thought, remembering a time when he was really little and had to have Eliza cover his ears to stop the sound of their parent’s crumbling marriage break his heart. “Just go and talk to him. You don’t have to stay in there for long. Just say how you want your relationship to be different.”
Jem suggested these things, though he knew that his sister had no intention of repairing her broken relationship with their father, so he just sighed and looked down at the sand in front of him. Sometimes he wished that he could just tell Eliza everything she needed to know and for her to listen for once.
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Dec 17, 2010 17:13:24 GMT 10
Eliza chuckled lightly as Jeremy mentioned her stubbornness, knowing full well that she was as stubborn as a mule, or so the saying goes. As Jeremy suggested that she go and talk to their father and attempt to mend the relationship, however, Eliza replied with a raised eyebrow and a 'are you serious' look, knowing that Jeremy understood the fragile relationship Eliza had with her dad.
"I don't really want the relationship to change, I'm quite happy with ignoring him," Eliza shrugged, letting go of Jeremy's hands and running one of the through her wavy, tangled hair. "Anyway, it's not my job to fix the relationship, if he wants it to change he can make the first move. He's the one who ruined it anyway."
Although she thoroughly disliked her father's company, Eliza didn't mind the idea of him groveling and begging for her forgiveness. It was quite delusional of her to think that he would actually beg her to accept his apology, but she liked to let her imagination run a little wild sometimes, even if some of the scenarios she came up with were somewhat ridiculous.
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Dec 31, 2010 0:28:33 GMT 10
When Eliza flat out refused to go and visit their father, Jem shook his head a little sadly. He knew there was no point in trying to make them a family again, but he was going to keep on going, but perhaps it could wait. All he wanted was to have a conversation without Victor making a suspicious segue onto the topic of his daughter, and asking if she had said anything about him. All Jem wanted was for one of the two, or both, to swallow their damn pride and fix what shouldn’t have been broken in the first place.
“It doesn’t matter.” Jem mumbled, quietly as he thought about his family life, or lack-there-of. “Anyway, would you like an ice cream or something?” He was more preoccupied in finding a distraction for his sister than talking about what actually mattered to him.
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Jan 3, 2011 14:29:19 GMT 10
Although she was so very excited to see her brother, Eliza was slightly disgruntled that Jem brought their father into the conversation. She knew that Jeremy was only trying to make it right between her and her father, but she was sick of hearing, and talking, about Victor. That's why when Jem changed the subject, a small smile formed on Eliza's face again and she realised why she was happy to be in France again.
"Ice cream sounds like a wonderful idea," Eliza smiled, answering him enthusiastically, putting her hands in her lap. "Is that good ice cream place still down the road?" Eliza hadn't been to Nice beach in many years, but she always remembered there being a small ice cream parlour somewhere along the beach front which had the best Hokey Pokey ice cream. The idea of sharing such a beautiful scene with her brother, however, excited her much more than having the delicious treat again.
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Jan 3, 2011 22:15:48 GMT 10
When Eliza responded positively to Jeremy’s proposal for ice cream, he smiled. He didn’t want to change the subject, but she was obviously unhappy with talking about their father, and though Jem intended to pick it up later, for now he dropped it. It wasn’t fair having to listen to Victor’s questions relating to his ex-wife and daughter. He was just so frustrated with the way his father was acting. Instead of approaching Eliza, branching out and trying like he used to, he locked himself away from her and only knew about what she was up to by asking Jem questions about how she was. He was sick of it. He knew that if he kept on badgering her for a while, eventually she would give it a shot, but he didn’t expect it soon, and he didn’t expect it to work. Eliza cared about his opinion, but she was much too stubborn. It would take a long while.
“It’s still there,” Jem replied, “But the old man who used to run it has retired and passed it on to his nephew. And don’t worry; they still serve hokey pokey.” He grinned at Eliza, knowing instantly her favourite flavour of ice cream. “They stopped serving pistachio, but they changed the strawberry they were getting and now that’s my new favourite.”
Jem stopped, suddenly, realising he was rambling about ice cream. “How about instead of me telling you, we go over and get some?” He got to his feet, unsteadily, before reaching out a hand to help his twin up.
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Jan 8, 2011 21:46:32 GMT 10
The moment Jeremy mentioned the hokey pokey ice cream, Eliza felt a layer of saliva coat the top of her tongue, unable to help the way even the thought of the food affected her. She could remember the way the sweet, cold food tasted against her taste buds and rolled down her hand when the sun was melting it faster than she could eat it. This was when she would vow to never eat it from a cone again, and would order it in a cup from now on, but the next time she would order a waffle cone, unable to help herself. That ice cream shop had always been a highlight of coming to France, but she hadn't been in what felt like forever, and she couldn't wait to get more of that delicious substance into her stomach.
"Sounds like a great idea. And, really, as long as they still have hokey pokey, I don't mind who's running the joint," Eliza grinned, taking her brother's hand and pulling herself up. "I do have one problem though, I don't seem to have my wallet on me, it's in my room. Do happen to have some change on you?" One thing about the ice cream shop was that it was relatively cheap; a single scoop in a waffle cone usually only costed about $3.00, which was practically stealing it, so one could generally get one with the change that was in their pocket. Eliza hoped and prayed that her brother had a few coins in his pant pockets, at least enough for them to share a cone.
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Jan 10, 2011 22:01:45 GMT 10
OOC: I know it's boring, but I wanted to use my knowledge of the currency of France somewhere. IC: Jeremy smiled when Eliza was obviously overtaken by the idea of having hokey pokey. He helped her up just as she asked if he had any money on him. Jem stuck his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled out a crumpled ten Euro note, along with some coins. “Yeah,” He said, using his forefinger to poke the coins around on his hand, counting them, “We’ve got plenty. Enough for both.” Jem pushed the Euros back into his pocket and picked his little black backpack up off the sand and slung it onto his shoulders. “Let’s go.” He said, and began to walk down the beach the short distance to the ice cream shop. “Speaking of money, I still have to send in the little stash of Francs that I have, change them to Euros. I have to remember to remind Dad to send his in too. Next year is the cut off point where we can’t send them anymore.” In France the Euro was introduced in 2002, pushing out the French Franc, though many people used them for a while, and still did. Jeremy had never gotten around to changing nine years of birthday and Christmas money into Euros, but he had better get in before he was stuck with it. Knowing full well that his father always sent Jeremy along with Francs for her birthday money when he went over, Jem asked Eliza, “Have you got any Francs left? We could send it in together?”
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Jan 12, 2011 11:11:14 GMT 10
"Great," Eliza replied, walking alongside her brother as they started on their way to the ice cream parlour, a light bounce in her step as she linked and arm through her brother's as he put the money he had examined back in his pocket. Eliza hadn't even thought of changing her money over as she hadn't been in France in such a long time. She had exchanged dollars into euros back in Australia, but the stash of francs she had in her piggy bank which she had since a child was still untouched and unchanged. She was glad her brother had thought of changing the money.
"Yeah I do actually," Eliza replied glancing at her brother before looking at the ocean, keeping her distance from the crashing waves to her left. "I didn't even think to exchange them, I completely forgot about the swap of currency. I've got an entire piggy bank full of francs which need to be sent in. So yeah, that would be quite convenient if we could send them in together."
Eliza could always rely on her brother to remind her of the important- and forgettable- things in life. He had always been like that; reminding her to take her lunch to school, to pack her sleeping bag on trips and to always brush her teeth before bed. She was very thankful for his good memory and intelligent ways.
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Feb 13, 2011 19:24:14 GMT 10
Eliza seemed so very happy to be with Jem again. He could tell from the way that she bounced along lightly, linked arms and gazed at the ocean. He hadn’t seen her this way for a long while, and he missed it. When she was in this mood, only certain things could get her down, and Jem wasn’t in any mood to try and convince Eliza to talk to their father again, so there was no chance of ruining her mood.
Jem reminded his sister of the Franc changeover, and she replied affirmatively, so he made a mental reminder to himself to get her Francs and his own and send them in.
They walked the beach fairly quietly, listening to the push and pull of the tide and the squawking of the few seagulls that actually frequented the beach. Within minutes, the beachside ice cream shop came into view, and Jem became excited for Eliza’s reaction. The last time they had come to the shop together, it had been a pale cream colour, the paint flaking away from the wood. With the changeover of management, the shop got a fresh coat of pale green paint, and was called “Glace Traite sur la Plage”, translating to “Ice Treats on the Beach”.
“There it is.” Jem pointed towards the shop.
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Feb 21, 2011 14:44:17 GMT 10
As they walked along the beach, the small smile on Eliza's face could not be wiped away, and the moment she saw the ice cream shop it only grew even more. The last time she saw it the paint was peeling and the name was different, a few of the letters skewed on the sign, but it had clearly had a refurbishment because it was painted and had a new name. Eliza let out a little, high pitched squeak and squeezed Jeremy's arm before trotting off ahead of him, looking into the window of the store.
"Jem, they do still have hokey pokey!" Eliza called out to him, glancing behind her before looking back in the window, feeling very much like a child again. Eliza was overly excited to eat the ice cream and she only wished her brother would hurry up and walk a little faster. "Hurry up slow poke!!
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Post by Jeremy Desrosiers on Feb 28, 2011 21:37:18 GMT 10
Eliza seemed happier than she’d been in a while. The ice cream shop was a good idea, and Jem could tell just from the way that she was acting that his sister was happy to have a memory she could return to. When she ran ahead with a little excited noise, Jem couldn’t help but laugh. Most of the time, he had been the childish and cutesy one, but when Eliza felt like it, she could be so very adorable.
She called out for him to hurry up, happily looking in the window, so Jem half-jogged forward, knowing that if he delayed his twin’s iced treat any longer that he would sorely regret it. Eliza smile was one that Jem rarely saw, but it seemed that she had smiled during their whole meeting today, and he was glad he could have such a strong effect on his sister.
“I’m here.” He said, pushing the door open and holding it for Eliza to walk through. As he opened it, a bell ran from above and the man at the counter looked up and smiled. It seemed he recognized the twins.
OOC: I figured we could both control what the ice cream shop owner says and does. Is that okay?
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Post by Eliza Desrosiers on Mar 5, 2011 23:13:11 GMT 10
As Jeremy pushed the door open for Eliza, she smiled at him, giving him a little poke in the stomach before slipping into the store, making her way to the counter and searching for a delectable flavour to go with her hokey pokey. She always got chocolate with it, but Eliza felt like something a little different today, as if to turn over a new leaf. Licking her lips, Eliza looked up at her brother, smiling broadly.
"What are you going to get?" she asked him as she turned back to the case of ice cream in front of her, thinking that perhaps cookie dough would be a good mixture with hokey pokey. Eliza could literately feel her mouth filling with saliva as she looked at all the flavours before her. She was in heaven.
OOC: Sounds good to me!
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