welcome

[Blake Carson]

It was probably strange that someone like Blake enjoyed libraries. He had never cared about any of the things people usually went to libraries for: research, quiet time, etc. But he did like to read. Mostly fiction, actually. He enjoyed many of the classics, and English was the only class in school he had ever not had to really work at to make the grades he did. He was just always curious about the books they assigned, which meant he read them, and often even enjoyed them. Writing papers about them had sucked, of course, and he had never done so well on those, but passing the "did you actually read it" quizzes had been incredibly easy.

And now, he was twenty-four, and still hadn't read every fiction book in the downtown library. One of these days, he was going to be able to say he had, but he suspected that was a long time coming. Actually, Blake was quite certain that would never happen, if for no other reason than that he rarely had time to devote to simply sitting down somewhere and reading a book. He only managed this one branch of his father's company, and he was already swamped; what was going to happen when he took over the whole thing eventually? He knew that was Barry's plan for him, he just couldn't decide if he wanted it for himself or not.

Both his parents had always been workaholics, so he supposed it was in his genes, but somehow, it didn't seem like his style. He didn't think he was very much like either of his parents, and he had heard them both wondering how their own son could be so simply different from them. In his more bitter moments, Blake liked to blame it on the fact that he had been raised by nannies; nature vs. nurture and all that, but that wasn't fair, and it wasn't entirely true, either. They had been around enough, more than he wanted them around, to be truthful, and it was only when he was feeling vindictive that he even brought it up.

Which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he was currently sitting in a slightly hard, worn armchair in the Louisville library, reading whatever book he had pulled off the shelf on his way in. He hadn't even paid attention to the title before he grabbed it, and all he knew, after reading the first couple of chapters, was that it was told from the perspective of a sixteen-year-old girl, cerca 1875. It was different, and Blake hadn't decided yet if he liked it or not.

[Audrey Woods]

Audrey had decided to go to the library in hopes of finding a book that could keep her mind off of the fact she was back home. The one place she thought she never would have to go to again. So she had wondered around until she had found the library, surpisingly she never went to the library when she was in high school. So when she had arrived at the library she didn't know where to go.

She then saw Blake, looking at a specific spot in the library. So she decided to spy on him a bit, she hid and watched him for a bit. Then he sat down in a chair and began reading. This is where she kind of zooned out, only to be snapped back to reality when a little kid walked where she was. So she decided to go say hi to blake, and actually snuck up behind him. She covered his eyes with her hands, "Guess who."

[Blake Carson]

Now, it was not hard for Blake to figure out who it was behind him, covering his eyes. There were not a lot of people with whom he was close enough for that to happen. If it had been any of his business associates, they would have simply said hi, shook his hand, and maybe sat down beside him if they wanted to talk. And he didn't exactly have a lot of social friends who were that familiar with him. So the fact that it was Audrey was pretty obvious. Still, if she wanted to play games..."Ah, Molly?" he asked, sounding as though he wasn't entirely certain. "Or Diane. I know it isn't Laney, because I'd know the feel of her hands anywhere. Let's see...I think I'm out of options. Molly or Diane? Tell me," he teased.

Now, Diane, Molly, and Laney were all random names he had pulled out of his ass, hence, the joke. But she had covered his eyes, thus preventing him from reading, so as far as he was concerned, she deserved what she got. And what she was going to get in this case, was a little teasing in return. Smiling, he reached for her hands, bringing one down to his mouth so he could kiss the palm lightly. "In all honesty, I would have expected this more from your son than from you," Blake admitted, still amused.

[Audrey Woods]

She took back her hand, and walked around. She had a slightly angry face on, "Molly and Diane. Oh, and Laney." She said, she rolled her eyes. "because I'd know the feel of her hands anywhere" she said with anothe roll of the eyes. She hit his arm.

She sat down next to him, and looked at the book in his lap. "Interesting?" She asked with a raise of her eyebrows. It looked like sort of boring, but then again. Audrey usually didn't read books about the past, since well she hated history class. She perfered Sarah Dessen or Meg Calbot, or someone along those lines.

[Blake Carson]

Blake laughed at her outraged reaction until she hit his arm. He stuck out his upper lip in a pout that he had been told more than once was cute in a scoundrel-ish way. "Hey, now! That wasn't very nice," he frowned, rubbing his arm where she had hit it. "And you snuck up on me. You deserve what you get. It's not fair asking a man who you are when he can't see you," he teased. Of course, the slap hadn't hurt, and he'd been able to identify her from the beginning, but that wasn't the point.

He looked down at the book as she drew his attention back to it, and cocked his head to one side. "Yeah, I guess. Not the best book I've ever read, but it'll do,' he answered with a shrug. Of course, if Blake had known the kind of books she read...well, he might have just up and died right there. He didn't know who Sarah Dessen or Meg Calbot were, but had she described the genre, he would have instantly bought her a handful of books and told her to read them. She absolutely HAD to get some culture on her reading list.

[Audrey Woods]

She crossed his arms across her chest, "Well you calling thinking i was diane or molly, wasn't very nice either." She said returning the pout. She had a seven year old, pouts didn't affect her...much. She sighed and grabbed a magazine off a table. It was one of those boring unclutter your spaces and how to eat right magazines. First of all, she liked her things cluttered. She liked being crowded with useless junk. And second, she didn't need to eat right, she was in perfect shape. Besides junk food is good for you.

She hoped he wouldn't start in about how she NEEDED culture in her life. It was like he was a teacher. UHHHH, she hated teachers in school and now she just kind of hoped they would stay out of her life. Although if one was cute and flirted with her, she wouldn't ignore him. That would be rude.

[Blake Carson]

Yeah, Blake probably should have known the pout wouldn't work. But he could still be cute, couldn't he? He dropped the pout at her words, melting into a short guffaw that earned him some very strange looks from some other library patrons. After all, weren't you supposed to be quiet in the library? Granted, there was no forty-year-old spinster hissing "shh!" around a finger at her mouth, but there were still annoyed people wishing he would keep his voice down. "You realize I didn't actually think you were any of those girls?" he asked, the fact that he thought it was obvious evident in his voice. After all, she had to know him well enough to know that she was the only girl for him.

Well, except for those two times, but she didn't know about those, so she couldn't hold them against him. Both were events he would be ashamed of probably for the rest of his life. Blake had always been the type of guy who dated a girl, and then after a month or so, started dating another girl, and dumped the first one who got boring. The fact that he and Audrey had been together for over a year now was a miracle. And the fact that he had screwed up twice not a very big surprise. In truth, he had been drunk the first time, and they had been in the middle of a fight the second. These were not excuses, not by any means, just the circumstances under which he had screwed up. Badly. All Blake knew was that, once he proposed, if he ever cheated again, he would probably bash his own head into a wall. After all, what would his mother say? She had always hated men driven by their sex drives or what she liked to call "male" tendencies. So how had her son ended up such a freakin' womanizer?

[Audrey Woods]

She smiled, "Of course i know that. But you would tell me if there were other girls," she said. She would have thought that he would, after all they spent a whole year together. And, she would get really upset if he had slept with other girls, she never cheated on him. Besides she hated cheaters... and people who left but that was a different story. But then again, he was a guy. "wouldn't you?" She asked, she could hear the innocence of her words and wished she hadn't sounded so innocent. But it would really hurt if he had.

But if he said he hadn't slept with anyone else. She would probably spend a while wondering if he had been telling her the truth. Her mom had always said that guys cheated, guys were sleezeballs. But she thought Blake was different, he was really sweet. To both her and her son, Jamie. She flipped through a few more pages of the boring magazine. Then she stood up and went to a table and grabbed a celebrity gossip magazine.

[Blake Carson]

Blake leaned over the arm of his chair to kiss her lightly on the cheek. "Of course I'd tell you, sweetie,' he told her softly. Why did he lie so easily? More to the point, why was he so damn good at it? He felt as though he shouldn't be able to lie to her, as though she ought to be able to see through it, or he ought to be worse at lying to her than at lying to other people. Something, anything that meant she was different or special. But he knew she wouldn't be able to see through it.

And then there was the stupidity of that question to be thought about. He knew she would be furious if he told her about either of the girls he had slept with. He knew she might break up with him for it -- that was the reason he had kept the incidents to himself to begin with. Why would he tell her something that he knew might destroy the relationship? He felt bad about it, and he was working to change it. Hell, it had been over a month since the last time Blake had set foot in a bar or a club without her. He had even been forced to blow off some business associates because of that rule. But the point was, he was trying to fix it; why wasn't that enough?

His attention was redirected back to his girlfriend when she got up to grab a new magazine. He watched her walk to the table, watched her ass sway from side to side as she walked -- what? She had a nice ass; was he supposed to not appreciate it? And then Blake winced as he saw the magazine she had picked up. "Aw, come on, Audrey, you're so much better than that. Why do you even care about the lives of people you'll never meet? Especially since that thing's full of lies, anyway," he cajoled. It was the one thing he didn't like about her; her interests were just so shallow. It wasn't that Audrey herself was shallow, because she really wasn't. Just...why did she read that trash? Shaking his head, Blake couldn't prevent the thought that ran through his mind: What a waste.

[Audrey Woods]

She nodded, biting the side of her lip. She gave him a smile, knowing he probably would want a smile. "I know." She said. But still she couldn't help the thoughts that he could be lieing. But she shook it off.

She looked over at him, as she continued to flip through the magazine. "Its people magazine. There is barely any lies in here. Besides i just want to see if anyone is wearing one of my designs." She said, it was an exciting moment for her whenever she saw someone wearing one of her designs. Nicole Kidman wore one of her designs before, and it had looked gorgeous on her. Well, every Audrey Wood design looked gorgeous. But it was different on Nicole, because well it looked like it had been made for her. Nicole had come into her store personally and told Audrey that she loved it. Then she bought it, for an award show. A week later, she called and said she had gotten so many compliaments she would buy designs from Audrey whenever she could. She said she had also recomended the store to her friends. Which had made Audrey's month.

[Blake Carson]

Of course Blake could be lying. He knew that thought was going through her head, but then, after what she had been through with Jamie, how could it not? He was actually very impressed that she was still as open a person as she was, with the way she had been treated by men in her life before. The fact that she had the paranoia, that heart-wrenching feeling like men were assholes and generally just out to screw her (literally or figuratively), but was still able to get past it was frankly...admirable. He knew she would be worried about him. But there wasn't anything he could do about that, save making sure he was blameless. If she had no reason to suspect him of anything, she was a good enough person that she wouldn't get all paranoid for no reason.

And looking for her designs was actually a good reason to read that trash. He hated to admit it, but she did have a point on that one. It was the reason his own mother had a similar habit, though with her, it was mostly to keep up with what was going on, because she actually lived in that world. Still, he couldn't help but roll his eyes when she said there were hardly any lies in there. Granted, it was one of the more legitimate gossip magazines, but still...why did they have to bother those poor people just because they had their faces on the screen once in awhile? Didn't they realize that celebrities were people, too, and as such, deserved the same privacy the reporters themselves would expect? Blake shook his head in Audrey's direction. He was a very private person, himself, and he was not looking forward to the day he took over his father's company, and the magazines decided he was worth watching now. Maybe he was a little biased. After all, he had grown up having to be careful of where he did and said things, having to watch for reporters. With both his parents taking turns in the spotlight, well, it gave a boy a reason to hate the invasion of privacy.