A Chance Meeting in a Not-So-Central Park

[Clark Dupont]

Clark remembered that on his first tour of the school the Castle Prep kid had said that there was a park that was just like Central Park nearby. It had been one of the many deciding factors that had led to his choosing Castle Prep over Westfield Academy, that and, of course, the fact that Lydia had insisted that the two of them attend different schools. She had told Clarissa that she wanted her space. Ha! Clark still never ceased to believe the large amount of bullshit that Clarissa just let slip under her nose. He had never gotten along with his mother, neither had Lydia either when they were younger. The two of them had always felt closer to their nanny Alisa, than to any family member that they would come to know. At first, he hadn’t seen anything strange about their living situation, but once he began to read he started to understand that he was not living the normal picture-book lifestyle that he had always thought he had.

It was one that beautiful Monday afternoon that he remembered what his tour had said about the park, and he was simply itching to check it out. After school he had his friends would almost never go straight home, or even to their extracurriculars. Central Park was like their haven, a place where they could sit, relax, and basically do anything without the prying eyes of authority figures. It was sort of like a chaotic, yet somehow paradoxically organized, anarchist commune. He missed his park, almost as much as he missed the city itself, and he made the firm decision to check out this so-called ‘Roosevelt Park’. However, he first made a quick pit-stop back at his dormitory in order to snatch a cardigan. Who knew California could get so nippy?

The moment Clark set foot in Roosevelt Park he knew his tour had been lying. Perhaps it was that nothing could fill the void that was left where Central Park had once been, but Roosevelt Park was just not cutting it for him. To start with, it was less than half of the size of his beloved park, and well, it just didn’t have the same feel. Where was the Great Lawn, Belvedere Castle, Sheep’s Meadow, or even, dare he miss it, Cleopatra’s Needle? His face broke out into a grin as he remembered the last time he had been anywhere near Cleopatra’s Needle. He and his friends had decided to take a spur of the moment subway up to the Upper East Side one night when they were piss drunk after a show, and they had somehow made it all the way up to the 79th street entrance of the park. Rowan had the bright idea of going to throw things at the museum windows, but Clark had stopped them because of all the cops he saw parked around it. They decided to go to Cleopatra’s Needle instead, though it didn’t really matter in the long run because Rowan had decided to pee on the outside of the small precipice that the Needle looked out on, right in front of the cops that they had just tried to avoid. It was the fasted Clark had ever run in his life.

He was still chuckling to himself when he caught a familiar sheen of bouncing blonde hair—Diana. His heart seemed to rise as he thought of the girl he had met a couple of days earlier. She had been on his mind lately, and he was hoping to run into her sometime soon. He really could use some more friends. “Hey!” he called urgently as began to run to catch up with her, “Diana!” He turned off his headphones and hung them around his neck. He finally caught up with her, which wasn’t too hard for a boy of his height, and he gently grabbed her arm in order to stop her. “Hey, I believe we have a serious problem” he said sternly as his characteristic lopsided grin stretched across his face, “How do you expect me to ever find my way around this place if I don’t have your number, your address, or some sort of tribal smoke signal that I could use to reach you, so you can answer all of my directionally challenged questions?”

[Diana White]

Diana grinned widely as someone cracked a joke. The bunch was a funny lot, she would give them that. 'Scene kids', people had called them, but she didn't see anything 'scene' about them. clad in only a pair of dark skinnies and a longsleve shirt, Diana had to pull her pea coat tighter around her. Her hair was slick straight, perfectly straightened and down. She was rather chilly at the moment, and was having a tough time getting warm, but it could have been her thin flats. She had a few city kids around her, they were all laughing and having a good time. There must have been two or three girls, and about five boys. Some of the boys had beer bottles in paper sacks, sipping discreetly, and others had a cigarette lit. Diana herself had a menthol in her right hand - her dirty little habit. She was no chain smoker, and probably only had about one a day, but could have up to three if she was stressed, or with friends. During school she cut back, too. But not now. These kids were too much fun.

She grinned at a joke some kid named Chris made, before feeling herself being pulled by one of the girls to the bathroom. She had to pee, and didn't want to go alone. Dee went with her, of course, but the smell of the toilets sent her out into to cold again, taking a few more drags of her cigarette. She loved to watch the tip burn all the way down, like watching a mini-fire. She was so engrossed in this that she didn't even hear a boy, calling her. But as soon as she heard her name, she discreetly hid the cigarette. She really didn't want to get caught with it, so Dee was pretty good at hiding it. An arm on hers, and her looked up into a familiar pair of piercing blue eyes. She subconsciously smiled. “Hey, I believe we have a serious problem,” She giggled slightly. "Do we now?" Dee asked, raising her pale eyebrows. She scanned the park again, and after seeing only her friends by the trees, and the rest of the park, she pulled her cigarette from behind her back and took another hit, letting it out with the wind as Clark spoke. She wished she had some gum - See absolutely hated how her breath smelled after these things. And she was only halfway done!

“How do you expect me to ever find my way around this place if I don’t have your number, your address, or some sort of tribal smoke signal that I could use to reach you, so you can answer all of my directionally challenged questions?” Diana found herself laughing at the later part, her hand touching his arm, almost flirtingly. It was natural for Diana, who didn't stop to think about if such a thing made others uncomfortable. "Well, give me your phone and I'll put my number in. Here, here's mine." She said, and handed him her Instinct. "You don't mind, do you?" Di asked him, gesturing to the cigarette in her hand.

Just then, the other girl with the long, black hair came out of the bathroom. If Diana remembered right, she went by Linds, and the girl was her favorite person in the group. But how long did it take you to pee, really? "Hey Diana." Linds spoke, teasing her with the British accent. but when the girl caught a look at Clark, she grinned slyly. "See yah later, Dee." Linds said, and rejoined the circle. A few looks went her way, and a few smirks from the girls, but Diana tried to ignore it.

[Clark Dupont]

Do we now?

Clark grinned at her. There was something different in her voice that he hadn’t really heard before. It was more coquettish than she had seemed to be during their first meeting, and he would be lying to himself if he said he didn’t like it. There was something promising about it, as if it foreshadowed things to come. He felt a bolt of lightening strike his spine as she rested her hand on his shoulder. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something about this girl that really got him going. Perhaps it was that he just couldn’t seem to figure her out. Back in the city everyone pretty much fit into some archetype, even the people striving to be ‘unique’, and he was able to read them like books. However, Diana wasn’t like that. He couldn’t seem to quite get a hold on her, an aspect that he found both refreshing and intriguing.

Well, give me your phone and I'll put my number in. Here, here's mine.

“Well,” he said as he grabbed her phone, “problem solved then.” He carefully typed in ‘Clark Dupont’ followed by his cell number. He was able to type out his number perfectly in less than two seconds—917… “Hold on,” he said as he handed her phone back to her and reached into the back pocket of his jeans. He whipped out his black env2, flipped it open, and found the new contact section. He typed in ‘Miss Dee’, before handing her his phone.

You don't mind, do you?

He laughed as he flashed his dimpled lopsided grin. He loved how she was acted like a runaway convict as she sneakily hid her cigarette behind her back and shiftily looked around as she held it out in front of her. Her nerves were adorable. He didn’t answer her question; instead he raised his eyebrows suggestively and began to hum as he reached once more into his back pocket. He pulled out a package of Marlboros and tapped it against his hand as he yanked out a cig. “Buh-da-da-duh,” he continued to hum as he pulled her in close, and used her cigarette to light his own as he held it firmly with his thumb and forefingers. He then stuck the cigarette loosely between his lips and let it dangle slightly as he backed away. “Not at all,” he mumbled as he let his own cigarette bounce around his lips.

A girl with long black hair came bounding up to Diana, and they seemed to know each other. She began to talk to her, but soon discovered Clark’s existence and shot them a knowing look. He took a deep drag of his cigarette as he looked darkly from the girl to the rest of the group that Diana had been hanging out with. They were a different group than he was used to in California, they kind of reminded him of the incoming freshman at NYU—they thought they were incredibly trendy but didn’t quite work everything out yet. Either way, they looked alright to him. “Those your friends?” he asked as he gestured to the group of people, it was his own way of asking her if she’d rather go off with them than stay and talk to him. Although he didn’t realize it, Lydia’s psychological warfare had taken a toll on him, and he never truly believed that people wanted to be with him.

[Diana White]

Diana never really tried to be unique. She didn't pride herself for being different, she was who she was. Though, her real secret was that she just didn't try to fit in. She did what she wanted to, and if people liked it, good for them and good for her, and if they didn't - oh well. It was something she had learned from her mother, who' books had been dragged through the mud before becoming bestsellers. Of course Diana cared about what her friends thought about her, but only for things such as her attitude, and her personality. There was nothing else more important to be judged. She noticed a bit of this in Clark, as well, a reason that she liked him. “Well, problem solved then.” "Exac'ly." She replied, and took his phone in return as well, giggling at her contact name. 'Miss Dee'. She entered her number easily, having had it since she was twelve.

He laughed at her a little, and she found herself smiling. people's laughs were always infectious, even if they were laughing at her. But Clark pulled out his own Marlboro. “Buh-da-da-duh,” Diana grinned, placing her cigarette between her lips, grateful that he didn't care. But she was taken by surprise when she pulled her close on the cold, using her cigarette to light his own. She'd done this with several different people in her life, but when Clark did it, her eyes widened, her lips curling as she thought of what Linds called it. A Cigarette Kiss. “Not at all,” "Good." Dee told him, watching as the red line etched closer to her lips. She'd been called a 'slow smoker' before.

Diana merely grinned as Linds bounced away. She was tall, yet incredibly skinny, and when she walked it was like watching someone dance. She almost envied her, until she found out that Linds envied her hair color, and 'pretty eyes'. Dee couldn't help but see Clark's eyes follow her to the group, who were checking him out as well. Diana giggled, and shook her head at them. They'd hung out with her since the start of summer, and she knew a few of them from her old schools. “Those your friends?” Diana winked at the lot, before turning her attention on Clark. "Yeah." She told him. She didn't know or care that he was asking her in different words if she'd rather be with them. "Want to go for a walk? I'm freezing."

[Clark Dupont]

Clark couldn’t keep his eyes off of Diana as she smoked. He was memorized by how slow and methodic her drags were. There was something so erotic about the situation, and he couldn’t help but be drawn to her watching her lips. He began to wonder what it would be like to feel her lips on his, and what it would taste like. He was rather odd, and always found kissing smokers to be somewhat pleasant. There was something so satisfactory about the charred aftertaste that he always found intriguing. He took a drag of his own cigarette as he thought of something to break the silence, surely she would begin to think he was creepy if he just stared at her? “How long have you smoked for?” he asked in almost disbelief. He hadn’t pegged her for a smoker, she had seemed far too innocent for that. Although in a way, he guessed her bouncing from the borderlines of innocence and indecency was one of the things that made her so appealing.

Clark smiled nonchalantly as her friend got up to leave. She was quite pretty, in a Amazonian unconventional way, and he couldn’t help but let his clear blue eyes linger slightly on the back of her carefully sculpted skinny jeans. Clark turned his attention back to Diana and smiled sheepishly. He took another drag of his cigarette and wondered if she noticed him involuntary checking out her friend—he sincerely hoped not. He didn’t want to make her upset, especially since he had no real intentions on pursuing her friend. It was just the way that his mind had been programmed for so long. His romantic life had always been ‘see a girl you like, invite her to a show, sleep with her’, and it had never gone any further than that, and he really never wanted it too. That was until he met Diana. After Constance, she was the first real girl that had captivated his interest more than just physically. He had decided that he definitely wanted to try and get to know her, and that thought terrified him.

Want to go for a walk?

Clark’s face lit up like a first grader who had just been congratulated on a particularly colorful crayon creation. Diana had chosen to stay with him rather than go on with her friends, that was something, wasn’t it? He already had a foot pointed out in the right direction. Now all he needed to do was focus on trying not to make a fool out of himself. He had never really needed any sort of seduction moves in the past, for the girls had all been willing without much effort, and he really had no idea how to correctly woo a girl other than just be himself. It was partly why he was so nervous. Ever since Lydia had destroyed all of his close relationships in the span of two days, he had always been a bit uneasy about being himself in front of girls. It was much easier to get over rejection if the person being rejected wasn’t a pure form of his personality. “Lead the way m’lady,” he said as he made a rather sarcastic bow to her and tossed his cigarette.

I'm freezing.

Clark looked down at her, and he noticed a slight shiver shaking her petite frame. She looked rather endearing, like a small lost kitten, and he was suddenly overcome by and impulse to pull her close and keep her warm. “Oh,” he said as he laughed at how adorable she was, “we can’t have that now, can we?” He grabbed one of the sides of his cardigan and wrapped it around Diana’s side that was opposite to him and pulled her close to his side.

[Diana White]

Diana couldn't help but notice her eyes on her lips. It felt odd, but more sensational than anything. She liked that he was staring at her as she inhaled slowly, letting the calming smoke fill her lungs, before exhaling into the wind and away from Clark. She had always considered it extremely rude to blow smoke in someone's direction, something almost unpardonable. “How long have you smoked for?" Clark asked her, and she felt her lips curl up into a smile. "On and off for three or so years." She replied easily, casually, as they continued to make small talk. She received her phone back, and handed him his, but didn't put it in her pocket until she changed his name to 'Mister Clark', her cigarette, dangling from inbetween her first two fingers. "An wha' about yourself?" Dee asked curiously.

And of course she noticed how his eyes roamed over Linds as she walked away. Her body warmed, mortified, but she pretended not to see. Linds was a pretty girl, surely boys noticed her. Diana had never really considered herself pretty, maybe average, but she felt a tinge of rejection as he looked at her, and she looked away from him, feigning indifference. Diana's romantic life had been a sharp contrast to Clarks. With her, when she found a boy that she liked, who met up to her standards, they were mostly always taken, with no plans on becoming single. Of course, there were the others who flat out didn't like her that way, which had hurt her more that she would like to admit. Dee was quite used to feeling rejected, yet she kept her sweet, innocent nature, not afraid to try again. And Diana had to admit, Clark was definitely catching her attention.

“Lead the way m’lady,” Dee smiled at him, her gaze following his bud. His bow made her giggle slightly, and she rolled her eyes at his spectical, bumping him with her elbows in a 'hurry up, enough with the show you goof' kind of way, before they set off. "Yes, sir." Came her own quick reply, laying the honey tone on thick. As soon as the complaint left her mouth, she found herself being warmed up instantly. “Oh, we can’t have that now, can we?” Clark said, and wrapped his cardigan around her, pulling her close to his side. She could feel his body heat through his shirt, and so it wouldn't be awkward, she wrapped her arm around his waist, snuggling up into him. "You're warm! I swear, sometimes I think I'm cold-blooded." She told him, and let out a small laugh.

"So you-" Diana started, but stopped when she felt her leg tingle, knowing that her phone was vibrating. She sighed, pulling out of her pocket, before reading the caller-ID. Normally, she'd never take phone calls if she was with friend, but it was her father. "Oh, I'm so sorry, let me just take this really quickly." Diana apologized, ducking her head as she pressed the answer button. "'Ey... Yeah, I'm at the park.... Yes, I'm fine dad. Okay, I'll talk to him tomorrow... Oh! Hi mum... Yeah. No, the-yeah... Yeah, for a while... Yes... Okay. I'll see you both Tuesday. Kisses, love you too. Bye." Diana spoke, her pace rapid as she spoke softly, trying not to be too loud. "Sorry about tha'. So, where were we?"