Shy First Steps

[KingKamor†]

Ridley kind of wanted to hold her hand, but just a few days ago, he had been her good friend, so it was pretty awkward to him no matter what he did. Once he thought about it, however, it might not have been awkward at all from Raine's end. She was the one who asked him out, so she might have been hoping for a little closeness or intimacy from him in the first place. He didn't want to be too assuming, though, so he stayed put.

"Yeah, indulging yourself can be good. I tend to do it a lot when I go on a downloading splurge on the internet. Good times..." He smiled and slowed down a bit so that he was walking alongside her.

[chibinanashi†]

Raine tilted her head to the side, trying to read the look on his face. Ah...so he was a little nervous wasn't he? She reached out and brushed her hand against his, not taking it, but showing she didn't object to the idea of holding hands. The choice still was his.

"I don't download much from the internet myself...I usually log on to check my e-mail and maybe do a few quizzes. Did you know...If I was a flavor of ice cream I'd be just plain old vanilla?" Raine commented with a laugh.

[KingKamor†]

The brush against his hand confirmed his suspicions, to say the least. As if her asking me out at all didn't. He thought to himself. "I check e-mail and the like, too, but I go on dozens of sites daily. If anything, I think that I'm addicted to, let's see. One: The internet. Two: Video games. And three: Anime and manga."

At her comment about her being vanilla, he responded, "Those quizzes are just scams for the sites to get hits. To me, there's no real point to take them unless you get a graphic or something after you finish depending on your score."

As they walked through the front entryway, and rush of cool air-conditioning blew into their faces. Ridley, personally, welcomed it with open arms... which he did, spreading his arms to either side to fully take in the effects of the cool air.

[chibinanashi†]

"Yes, but it's still kind of fun to see what you might be, right?" Raine replied back to him. When he listed off his addictions, Raine was a little surprised. He didn't seem to be the type to be into the things he listed, but it was a refreshing change from what she was used to.

When he opened his arms up when the air conditioning hit them, Raine watched with curiousity. The cool wind felt nice on her skin. She only shivered slightly due to being out in the hot heat and suddenly going into the cold. "I like to read too and occasionally I'll play an arcade game. Despite not having a license, I'm good at racing games." Raine added to the conversation.

[KingKamor†]

Once he was finished taking in the air conditioned interior, Ridley said, "Yeah, I guess that they could be fun, but the choices are usually so obvious that you can just guide yourself to a particular result for the test to churn out. But enough of that."

He was a little surprised that Raine played arcade and racing games. "I had a pretty fun racing game for the Gamecube back in the day. It was really fun. I think that the title was Xtreme G Racing III or something. It had futuristic motorcycles armed with all kinds of weapons and the like. Great fun." He paused so that they could make their way to the food court a little bit. "But these days I usually play role-playing games. That shit's fun as hell."

The Starbucks was right on the corner of the main food court, and he was hungry enough that he was already able to taste the cookies.

[chibinanashi†]

"It's usually the arcade ones I play. You get to use a gas pedal, brake pedal, gear shifting and of course the steering wheel!" Raine explained to him with a wide smile. As they approached the Starbucks, Raine sniffed the air and began to look on the menu trying to find the product that matched the smell.

"French vanilla smells so good..." She whispered with a grin.

[KingKamor†]

In the face of so many other pastries, Ridley could care less about vanilla. The only thing on his mind was getting his hands on one of those delicious peanut butter cookies and possibly a water.

"What'll you have?" One of the teenagers at the cashier asked.

"Gimme a minute," Ridley said without looking down from the menu of different coffees and treats. He didn't care if he was being rude or not-- he was hungry. "I'll just have a peanut butter cookie aaaand... a water aaand..." he pointed up at the menu and let his finger follow where he was looking on the board. "That'll be it, I think."

The cashier typed the things into the register and went to pick up my things. Once he had them, he told Ridley the price, to which he responded with a five dollar bill. "I'll go pick out a table," he told Raine.

[chibinanashi†]

"All right." Raine replied with a nod of her head. Ridley must have been very hungry to be in such a rush. She went up to the counter. "Umm...a small french vanilla and one of those blueberry muffins please."

Once she had finished paying, Raine turned to follow Ridley to their table. Once it was picked out, she sat down and looked over to him. "Besides food, is there anything else you'd like to do today?"

[KingKamor†]

By the time Raine came to the table he had chosen, Ridley had already taken a bite of his cookie. His delicious peanut butter cookie. At first, he wasn't able to understand what Raine had said to him due to the level of noise in the food court, but once it clicked, he said, "I just kinda wanna look around, you know? I don't come here very often, so I hardly know the good stores, but yeah."

He took another bite of his cookie. It was still delicious. His mouth was feeling a little dry, though, so he cracked open his water bottle and took a swig of it. "How about you? Anything in mind?"

[chibinanashi†]

Raine nibbled on her muffin as Ridley spoke. Quietly, she glanced at him a few times. It was times like these she really felt relaxed. At school she was always looked upon as odd and weird and totally unapproachable. Raine had been working to change that and it seemed to turn out good in the end for her. After all, if someone were to ask her if she had a boyfriend, she could say yes I do!

Of course, when it came to how far you got with your boyfriend she would be speechless and possibly faint.

"Well...if you don't mind..." Raine spoke slowly before sipping at her french vanilla. "I would like to check out some of the clothes they have here. I need a new skirt and if you could help." Raine blushed deeply, avertiing her gaze to the table. "...I'd appreciate it."

[KingKamor†]

As Raine spoke, Ridley took the chance to take another bite of his cookie. He didn't expect her to want to go shopping for clothes. He didn't need anything as far as clothing went, but it wasn't like he had anywhere better to go.

"Alright, I can help if you want." He said. Ridley knew that Raine was a shy person, but when he saw her blush at the mention of him helping her pick out clothes, he couldn't help but smile.

[chibinanashi†]

Raine couldn't help but smile when Ridley did. It was so contagious in a way. She just had to comment. "Your smile...I don't know why, but I feel such a comfort from it. Like...everything is A-Ok!" She explained before distracting herself by finishing her muffin and french vanilla.

She waited there for him to finish.

[KingKamor†]

He laughed a little and said, "That was pretty cheesy comment, but I'll take it." He took another bite of his cookie, which was almost gone by that point. "I think that you need to loosen up a little bit. Y'know, joke around a little, be sarcastic... It's how I got over my own shyness. I've found that being a little less serious can do worlds for your self-esteem."

He was wondering if he was being to condescending to her, and decided to stop what he was saying for the moment, and took the final bite of his cookie. "Ready?"

[chibinanashi†]

Raine stood up from her chair, slowly taking what Ridley said into her. "You're right. Be more sarcastic...be less serious. Starting now!" Raine spoke with determination in her face. "Let's hope all the other size ten girls didn't get the cool outfits!"

...

"Was that good?" Raine asked him, a little worried.

[KingKamor†]

He looked back at her for a moment before saying, "Eh, you're getting better." They continued down the crowded hallway of the mall towards one of the clothing stores. For a little while, there were so many people that Ridley wasn't able to keep track of where Raine was. During that moment, he looked back at where she was walking and grabbed her hand.

"Let's get off to the side more!" He yelled over the noise of the crowd as he made his way through it.