Immortality // Taiylor Wallace & Jealous Angel D

[Jealous Angel D]

With a ‘whack’, the light blue tennis racket rammed into the tennis ball. The green flew across the net, bounced once and then flew past the racket that reach out of her. A yell of frustration filled the air at the moment, followed by laughter. Evelyn rested her racket upon her shoulder as she grinned at her frustrated friend. “So I believe that means that you owe me a strawberry sundae,” the blonde stated.

All that she got in response was a grumble. Evelyn Valentine laughed again as she walked over to the bench and grabbed the towel that was there. The sun was now high in the sky, and the temperature definitely made it’s point that it was a hot summer day. But that’s why she and Jessica had started their practicing early in the morning. Taking a long drink of water, she turned to look at her pouting friend.

“Hey, don’t tell me you’re backing out of your bet,” Evelyn frowned as she brushed her chair length hair behind her ear.

Jessica shook her head as she sat the racket down. “No,” she let out a long sigh. “Just remind me not to take you up on another bet.”

Evelyn laughed, “Got it.”

[Taiylor Wallace]

It was a day like any other, but that would change soon enough. New York was bustling as always. Honest businesspeople flooded the streets with cars or foot traffic, not-so-honest people called up contacts and clients for their illegal dealings, and so on. It was just the usual New York City pace.

But one thing was out of rhythm with the rest. A man who went to his own beat. The beat of Coldplay in his ears from his iPod as he was perched up in a rooftop garden high above the tennis court. He'd just finished his usual morning exercises of parkour free-running, and he felt good. He felt like he was ready for his mission. To anyone else, he looked like an average 28-year old with a fit and atheltic body, out on a morning run in his black t-shirt and tan cargo shorts.

He adjusted his armband that his iPod was attached to, switching the song to 'Adagio for Strings' by DJ Tiesto. He ran his fingers back through his shaggy, short, coal-colored hair, covered his electric blue eyes with sports sunglasses, and began his parkout-style descent. Target acquired, he thought laughingly to himself. He slid down the first rail of the fire escape, flipped over the next and down, creatively twisting, sliding, leaping down until he hit the ground. With a kong-style vault, he was over the fence leading to the tennis court. He bolted across the way, side-swiping the blonde tennis player (on purpose, but she'd never know, he was sure), and he hit the court rolling.

"AH! Shit!" He came to a halt, his iPod smashed under his arm. "Ugh... hey, you okay?" He looked up and over at the girl, picking himself up and seeing that his arm where the iPod had been was scraped and had a chunk of sharp plastic sticking out of it. But he pretended not to notice. "Jesus..." He grumbled, stepping over to her to help her up. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention." His accent was clearly Greek, and his dark tan skin and black hair only supported the Greek that was clear in his features. His sunglasses had fallen off, revealing his striking eyes.

[Jealous Angel D]

Before she knew it, she was knocked off balance and came crashing to the ground. Her water bottle rolled across the ground as it escaped her grasp. Her skin scrapped against the court as she rammed into the ground. A curse escaped her lips as she looked at her red hands and shook them to get rid of the sting. The pain was nothing, definitely when compared to worse that she put herself through. However, she’d have to live with the unpleasantness for a little while. She shook her head as she tried to remember what had caused her to even crash upon the ground.

The voice of a man caused her to life her eyes and she stared up at the man who was apologizing to her. She took the hand that she offered, nodding in response to his apology. “I’m not hurt,” she stated as she brushed the dirt off the tennis outfit that she wore. “So no harm down.” Her blue-gray eyes moved from examining the unfamiliar face to the blood that ran down his arm.

“You on the other hand, didn’t come unscathed,” Evelyn pointed out.

She hear her friend behind her swear, “Sorry Evelyn. I just remembered that they asked me to come in early. I’ll see you later.” And just like that Jessica was grabbing her tennis bag and was making a getaway. Evelyn’s mouth hung open in disbelief before she turned her attention back to the man. “I’ve got some bandages in my bag, if you wish to wrap it up until you can get to the hospital, but then again, you should leave it up to the professionals to get that glass removed from your arm – it looks like quite an ugly wound.”

[Taiylor Wallace]

Those electric blue eyes moved to the shard of glass in his arm. "Oh... It's not that bad. In fact, it's not bad at all. I'll take those bandages if you don't mind, but I can take care of this." He turned away from her so she didn't have to watch him pull the shard out. Then he reached into his cargo shorts for a small bottle of water he always carried, washing the wound as if he did this everyday. It was nothing to him. Oddly, the wound seemed to slow its bleeding rather quickly.

"I'm okay," he smiled good-humoredly to her after picking up his sunglasses. He seemed like the kind of person that coasted through life, not worried about anything.

[Jealous Angel D]

Evelyn bent down, picking up her things from the ground as she turned towards her bag. First she pulled out the protective cover to her racket. She slipped it over the object before she reached further inside to find what she was looking for. She always kept bandages in her tennis bag, as one could never predict what might happen on the court. Usually a few scrapped knees, or perhaps a sore wrist. However, today they were indeed being used a little differently.

“Well if you say so,” she answered as she held up what she said she could offer him. She crossed the space between them as she looked at the wound. “I’d say, ‘do it yourself’ but wrapping one’s own arm is a little tricky. Do I have permission to at least wrap it up for you?” Sure any normal person would have insisted on taking care of a stranger in need. But Evelyn much more preferred giving people and option. But that was probably because she preferred to treat her own wounds than show up at a hospital because she knew what was going to happen. And it annoyed her when people tried to fix her when they didn’t know a thing about the situation she was in.

[Taiylor Wallace]

"You hardly need to ask, but yeah. That'd be great." He held out his well-toned arm for her, blood no longer flowing at all. "Hey, let me buy you coffee or something. Seriously, my bad, I kinda lost myself in a daydream. I'm not used to this new route I picked for parkour either." He seemed sincere and kind enough. No one would even begin to think that this was all on purpose and that she was his target to gain immortality from or by.

[Jealous Angel D]

The wound had looked much more serious, but she shrugged off the observation as she wrapped the bandages around the wound that was no longer bleeding. “Well being lost in a daydream while doing parkour doesn’t seem like the smartest thing to do,” she pointed out.

Evelyn considered the offer. Well seeing as how her friend had just bailed on her, it would be nice to go grab some coffee with someone. “Sure, I’ll take you up on your offer.” She then returned to her bag, as she lifted it up from the ground. “A cup of coffee would be nice, or ice cream. Whatever you desire.”

[Taiylor Wallace]

"Get whatever you like, my favorite cafe's just down the street." He turned to the entrance of the tennis court, vaulting the fence instead of just walking out. He was pretty smooth. "The name's Lauren, by the way. Lauren Volos." As they went, he tossed the broken pieces of his mp3 player in a street trashcan. They were approaching a small, local cafe called Maggie's, owned by a spunky Scotswoman of about sixty years. Lauren opened the door and called, "Maggie!"

"Lauren, ye little scoundrel, yer-" She appeared out of the kitchen and paused at seeing Evelyn. "Ah, bringin' yer girlfriend, ey?"

"No, new friend. Literally just ran into her at the tennis courts."

"I see. What can I get ye, darlin'?" Maggie smiled sweetly at Evelyn. She had moxie for sure, but she was a lovely Scottish grandmother with a heart of gold. She was a larger woman and a touch on the short side, dressed in a deep green blouse, black pants and a white apron.

[Jealous Angel D]

Introductions did always find a way of not becoming a priority if something brought people together besides a formal meeting. How many times had she walked away from a good conversation with a stranger and suddenly realized that she had no clue what the guy or girl’s name was. It happened far to often. “Evelyn,” she introduced herself. She suddenly realized that if the man had been paying attention that he would already no such a thing thanks to her friend. However it was still best that she introduce herself. “Evelyn Valentine. It’s nice to meet you, Lauren.”

So she followed him down the street towards the small café. She did try not to laugh when almost instantly the owner of the place tried to lecture the person she was with. Apparently running into people and causing trouble was normal for him. As the question was posed to her, Evelyn had to quickly make up her mind on what she’d even allow Lauren to buy for her. “Just a cup of coffee,” she decided. “Black, if you would please.”

[Taiylor Wallace]

"Nuthin' else? Make the bugger pay," Maggie laughed. "What about you, Volos, usual?"

"If it's not too much trouble," Lauren grinned like a mischievous kid.

"It's always too much trouble with ya around." Maggie turned and walked behind the cafe counter and Lauren sat down at a booth with Evelyn.

"Sweet lady, huh?" He chuckled, "She knows me too well." It was odd that he knew Maggie so well. Maggie's cafe had been there for decades, but Evelyn had never spotted Lauren around previously. "So are you from this area?" He looked over at her with seemingly genuine curiosity.