I'm Goin' Crazy .Aria.

[*James.Michael.Evanson*]

Sighing, James flipped through another page is his worn out paperback book. It was probably his tenth time reading the damn thing. His was lying down on a dusty pew, waiting patiently for his “roommate” to finish getting dressed for the day. It wasn’t like they were doing anything in particular. They both had planned to go trading in the city limits today. Usually they would alternate weeks to get supplies. But a couple weeks ago when it was Aria’s turn, things got a little out of control. She had wandered into the city and almost got capture by some plagued. Luckily James had picked that week to follow her into the city limits; and saved her. Ever since then James didn’t trust her going alone. So they both agreed that when it was time to get more supplies that they would both go. Somehow they figured out how to hide their stuff in the church, so hopefully nobody would find it all. But just in case they agreed to carry their most valuable things. Which wasn’t much since both of them had gotten used to the idea of dropping everything and leaving. They had very few items they couldn’t live without.

James groaned as he threw his worn out book to the side. Normally it didn’t take Aria this long to get ready. She wasn’t the typical girl that took hours to get everything perfect. She knew how to be fast and efficient, and still manage to look attractive. Though James would never openly admit that. Then again, neither one of them had cleaned the clothes recently, so she was probably struggling to find something remotely clean to wear. Another con to living in an abandoned church with little to no resources. He told himself that he would wait ten more minutes before he made a surprise appearance by the lake. Where she would most likely be “taking a bath”. Aria had been the only girl he had met that he had not seen naked. He almost did once, trying to spy on her, but then he got shot at with one of her pistols before her shirt even touched the ground. Not even giving him a small glimpse at her. She was the only woman to reject his many advances. It drove him nuts for the longest time, still did. But after a while he realized that he liked having her not be the only girl he slept with. She was his best friend.

Which is why James had started respecting her privacy. Until now. It wasn’t that he was impatient. Oh no. But the longer he laid there the bigger his curiosity grew. What was she doing that was taking her this long to get ready? Then an eerie feeling crept up in him. Unless she snuck out… No way she could have walked past him with his super hearing. But she could have snuck away after she “got ready”. James wouldn’t put it past her. She was a proud and stubborn woman. He was just about to spring to his feet to find out when the sound of the back door opening echoed in the church. “Get lost?” he asked, sitting up and peering in the direction of the back door.

~:~

Status;; Completed

[.:Aria.Rhea.Hawkings:.]

I’m Goin’ Crazy

Aria grabbed the ratty, over used towel from the tree branch and quickly rung out her hair before wrapping it around her small frame. She plopped down on the grass as she quickly brushed out her black hair. She grimaced as the brush got caught on a knot in her hair. Stupid thick hair. If she didn’t love it so much she would have cut it off a long time ago. Pulling it back into a braid, she crawled over to the small lake and looked at her reflection. My god, she was white. A mental image of her half-sister quickly flashed into her head. How on earth were they related?! The other woman was tall, curvy, tan, and, well, had assets Aria lacked. Neither one of them looked like each other. In fact, standing next to each other people would never guess they were related. The only thing they really shared was their mom. Sighing, Aria grabbed her old eyeliner and mascara and quickly applied the makeup. It was the only makeup she would allow herself to wear. It was easy and simple. Aria walked over to the clothes she had picked out for the day. It had taken her awhile to find anything to wear since virtually nothing was clean.

She tugged on her dark blue shorts, and quickly grabbed her ruby red tank top. Aria fixed her braid slightly before she fastened a black belt around her waist, completely ignoring the belt loops. She grabbed her black vest and black combat boots. After making sure she had everything on, including a leather wrist band, Aria tucked her pistols into her boots. It was amazing that she ever found any room on her to carry the things, especially since she only really carried one bag on her at all times and never used it for her weapons. It was either her black tote bag or black messenger bag. Either way her babies were never carried in them. They were strapped onto her person if they were brought with. Which, again, was a miracle. Grabbing her old clothes and worn out towel, she quickly made her way up to the church. Aria knew she was taking forever to get ready today. But she was making her roommate wait, since he was forcing her to bring him with. All she was going to do was barter today. But due to one slip up, she was deemed unfit to take care of herself. So she was going to make him wait. Honestly, Aria had thought about sneaking out while she bathed. He couldn’t have heard her run through the woods, and when he realized she was gone it would have been too late. Aria would have done it, but her desire to prove that she was fine was stronger than her independent nature. At least it was today.

She heaved the large back door open, and lightly threw her dirty clothes into the massive pile. She groaned as she looked the reminder of her soon to be chore. Why couldn’t clothes wash themselves? It would make life a little bit easier. Aria chuckled to herself before she continued into the church. She heard her roommate’s voice from one of the pews. Glancing around, she caught site of the muscular man. Aria stalked over him and leaned on the pew in front of him. “Are we a little impatient today?” she asked in a mocking tone, as she cocked up an eyebrow. Noticing that he was in a position to get up and go, she gawked a little. “Were you coming to check up on me?” she asked, and then glared at him. Did he really think she couldn’t take care of herself? She was doing fine on her own before she saved his sorry butt about a year ago. Then again she was in a group of survivors before meeting him. So she wasn’t completely on her own. Though none of those people seem to think she was incompetent of taking care of herself. Then again, she never really gave them a reason to think this way. Rolling her eyes, she pushed off the pew and crossed her arms over her chest.

[*James.Michael.Evanson*]

James caught site of Aria and her visible skin. Her pale skin practically glowed in the light. Poor girl. He gave her a cocky grin as he watched her walk over to him. Something about her today was extra attractive. It must have been the extra exposed skin. She was wearing one of her few shorts. And even though she was a tiny girl, her legs…they were pretty nice. James’ eyes traced over her features as she leaned towards him. “Not impatient…just a little worried. You keep me on my toes,” James stated in a flirtatious tone. It was one of those rare moments were James would genuinely flirt with her. Most of the time he did it on accident, or so he would claim. This was one of those times where he would openly admit to flirting with her. And he didn’t mind. James was a natural flirt and Aria just made it so easy for him at times. Even though the girl made it clear that the two were just friends, there was some sense of something between them. James was willing to admit it.

The moment quickly became hostile though, something that also happened when dealing with Aria and James. “No,” he lied, knowing very well that was going to get him into more trouble. The two already had a fight over him ‘not trusting her to handle herself’; he really didn’t want to start another one. “Would you just relax? I sat up when I heard you come in. I swear.” More lies. Normally the guy was honest especially with his best friend, but today was a special case. He sighed as he watched her cross her arms and practically kill him with a glare. He leaned forward to get closer to her. Why did she have to be so damn difficult? Before this whole plague, James did not picture his life to be like this. Before he was a human bachelor. He was a bartender that slept with a different girl every night. Now he can’t seem to get one girl to act remotely sane around him.

James stood up and grabbed Aria by the shoulders. He wasn’t sure if she was going to push him away or let him stay there. “You are going to drive me nuts,” he stated, letting out a small laugh. James knew he was going to get hit at one point today. Might as well get it out of the way now. Of course there was never a limit to the blows he received from his roommate. One day she hit him at least ten times. The werewolf didn’t think it was called for. He was innocently walking around the church, how was he supposed to know Aria was changing at that exact moment? It wasn’t like they gave each other a play by play of their lives. Though due to the encounter he caught a glimpse of a unique birthmark on her stomach. Something he consistently brought up that day.

~:~

Status;; Completed

[.:Aria.Rhea.Hawkings:.]

I’m Goin’ Crazy

“Liar,” Aria spat at her roommate trying to sounds angry. Which she was but due to the closeness of the two her anger was slowly diminishing. No matter how hard she tried she could not stay mad at the man. He had this ridiculous power over her that drove her nuts. But that never stopped her from acting angry around him. She sifted back a little bit, so the closeness was so…close. “You know I don’t know the meaning of relax.” It was too true. The girl was always on edge. Always alert. Maybe not always focused, but she never was relaxed. The world was not meant for someone like her to relax. Even before the plague, Aria was on edge. Being an orphan thief was not a relaxing life. So the lack of relaxation came easy to her. Being on edge and alert was not a new thing. But all James did was relax. You swear the boy had no cares in the world. A group of plagues would bust through the door and the boy would lounge on the benches with no worries.

She quickly shook his hands off of her shoulders before walking to the preacher’s stand. She pulled the cloth over and reached under. She felt around until she grabbed her messenger bag. “Let’s get going, the sun will be going down soon.” She threw her bag over her shoulder and adjusted it to her liking. It was early morning and they did all day but Aria didn’t want waste any time. It wasn’t like shopping took long you never know what the day may bring you. Opening her messenger bag, she quickly took inventory of all the things she was going to trade. The night before she had filled the bag while James was asleep. Aria wasn’t one to sleep and when she did she normally woke up screaming a couple hours later from nightmares. So other than health reasons, there is little sense in the girl sleeping. “Do you have what you want to trade?” She looked back at her roommate, who no doubt was scrambling to find some useless things to trade.

One time he did that, he traded his knives and Aria had to hunt them down later that day. Tracking them down was the easy part. It was getting them back that pissed Aria off. She had to trade her favorite shirt and the cookies that took her forever to get too. It was not a day she would like to repeat. It was a long and grueling day. She let out a sigh and glanced at the front that was closed. Aria squinted her eyes to make sure her makeshift lock still worked. She wasn’t the only thief out there and certainly wasn’t the only threat. “Maybe I should go by myself…” she muttered, trying at yet another attempt to go alone.

[*James.Michael.Evanson*]

James suppressed the urge to smirk and roll his eyes. It was plain as day that Aria couldn’t be truly mad at him. Especially when they were so close to each other. “Maybe I should buy you a dictionary,” he whispered, trying to make his voice deeper than what it already was. He was surely going to get hit. Aria’s anger would be at bay for so long before she finally snapped. He tried not to sigh loudly when she stepped back a little. He was still in hitting range but he was no longer in controlling range. He subtly shifted his feet when she shook his hands off of her. James didn’t want to admit it but this girl had some control over him to. Granted it wasn’t as visible as his control but he had changed a lot since they met. By his estimate it was Sunday, back when he would be recovering from the night before. Saturday nights were always his wildest. But now he stayed in and just hung out with one girl. A small girl that he hasn’t even tried to get into bed with. Yeah, she controlled his sexual urges. Not in the obvious way but in a more subtle way. James was still a hormonal man, but he was able to keep it at bay. All his attention went to protecting and befriending this one girl.

James let out a chuckle. “It’s still morning, we have all day.” He walked over to the preacher stand and grabbed his brown duffle bag, that he carried with him on the days they traded things. He carried all his useless junk in there. It was something he started to do after the whole knife incident. “Yes, mom,” he sighed lifting up his bag as a dramatic gesture. James glanced in his bag briefly, just double checking his supplies. All his useless things were in there. Well they weren’t useless things, they were just things he wouldn’t need to survive in the church. A church. That’s where he now resided. It was ironic considering he was practically a creature from hell now. Not to mention all the sins he committed before the outbreak. Sex before marriages, underage drinking, sex with married women, and so much more. Once James had left his family, he didn’t really try to stay could. As long as he had a job and was living happily, James was satisfied. The irony was not lost on James especially when he reflected on the good old days.

Sighing angrily, James pushed off the stand and walked back towards the pews. He stared at the thick coat of dust that would on the furniture. “Aria…” he muttered in a husky voice. He stayed quiet for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to word his next statement. Avoiding an argument was key at this point. “I have some things I would like to trade; it would be smart to just go together instead of separately. Gives us more time to get the things we need.” It seemed like a reasonable statement. James’ attention focused on the pews some more as he waited for her argument. It didn’t matter how reasonable he was, Aria would still find something to argue about and their whole day would be ruined. There wasn’t much harm in letting her go by herself; she was capable of protecting herself from the world. He trusted her. However he did not trust the world. And that alone kept him firm on his argument.

~:~

Status;; Completed