Rosamunde quickly turned to look at Stacey. "No! His cousin." Rosamunde chuckled and smirked. "Why, you think he's cute?" She playfully jabbed Stacey in the ribs with her elbow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bridget opened the door for Justin. "Thank you so much for helping. Just set everything inside the front room. I'll go through them later. I just want to get them inside in case it rains..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sydney sat down across from Declan and said, "Wow, that's a lot of food...You're gonna eat all that?"

Stacey laughed, not noticing how upset Ally was looking. "Well, I think his humor is cute. I kinda like Logan, though, but I could go for Declan. He's a lot funnier than most people I've been around."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin thanked her, setting the box inside the front room. He went to grab some more boxes, trying to make sure Maralyn doesn't bend over too much or lift anything more than a pound.

Bridget saw how worried Justin was over his young wife. She smiled as she called, "Maralyn, do you like interior decorating?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rosamunde laughed. "Yeah, my cuz is definitely a funny guy. Which is weird, considering his parents are timid and quiet people. I think Declan and I are actually twins, separated at birth and my parents are actually Declan's parents too."

Stacey said, "Well, on soap operas baby mix ups happen a lot. Maybe you really are twins!"

Rosamunde burst out laughing. The man at the register gave her a weird look and she handed him $20. "It was funny..." Rosamunde said with a shrug.

"In mere moments this," Declan said pointing to his plate, "Will be devoured and I will be begging for more."
Declan took a bite of one of the egg rolls and hot steam rushed out from inside the roll, "Awesomeness within a small bundle of joy, could my day get any better?" Declan suddenly noticed that he was being rude to eat in front of someone without food, "I'm sorry, would you like some?"

Sydney smiled. "No, no, it's fine. I'm having pizza."

She grabbed one of his extra fortune cookies. "I will take one of these, though. Not that I believe in fortunes, but they're fun to read."

As the group talked and ate, they were unknowingly being watched by a young woman sitting, not inside the food court, but on a bench just outside it.
She slowly scanned every face in that group, studying them carefully. Whenever she suspected one of them might have noticed her watchful gaze, the young woman quickly turned her eyes to the ground, pretending that she took no notice of the group whatsoever. She bounced, up and down, a young child on her knee.
The child -- a six year old girl with flaming red, frizzy hair; sweet yet defiant brown eyes; and a round face with odd, somewhat elf-like features -- sat quietly on the woman's knee, saying nothing, almost as if she were in a trance. She always looked that way when she was deep in thought. She also stared at the group. But unlike her adult companion, she never turned her eyes away. She didn't care if they noticed her stare.
They were both waiting for someone. Someone who didn't know them -- Not yet.
The woman sighed. "And they won't know us," she thought. "At least, not the real us. Not right away."

Sydney smiled. "No, no, it's fine. I'm having pizza."

She grabbed one of his extra fortune cookies. "I will take one of these, though. Not that I believe in fortunes, but they're fun to read."

"Ah, Pizza." Declan said, "That stuff is good."
Declan watched as she grabbed one of the fortune cookies, "Same here, I also enjoy learning a Chinese word that they always have on the back." Declan said with a smile. "One of these days I'll be able to watch the non-translated version of Way of the Dragon or Jet Li's Fearless by just reading fortune cookies."

Logan got a slice of pizza from the pizza place, and joined his friends. He sat next to Emmy, who was sitting contentedly without any food. "Emmers, where's your food?"

Emmy shrugged, "I'm not really hungry right now."

Logan looked at her like she was crazy, but then just shrugged. "Alright, whatever." He took a bite of his pizza, and then turned curiously to his sister again. "So, how'd Jen get you to come, anyway?"

Emmy sighed, not really wanting to talk about that with him right now. "It doesn't matter."

Logan chuckled. "Come on, I gotta learn that trick. She managed to turn you around mid storm-off."

Emmy stood suddenly, pushing her chair back so quickly that it made a loud scraping noise which cut Logan off. "You know what, I think I will get something to eat," she said, wanting to end the conversation. She gave her twin brother an non-genuine smile, and then left the table to get some food.

Logan chuckled a bit, humored at the reaction he got out of her. Then he continued eating his pizza and chatting with his friends.

((OOC: This may or may not be my last post before I leave for more than a month soon... so, ya'll can just drag Logan and Emmy along if need be. 'Kay?))

The young woman sitting on the bench began to get restless. She had to meet that group somehow. But what would be a good cover?
The woman looked around her, noticing that tables in the food court were starting to get pretty scarce. An idea occured to her. It was a small chance -- but her only one.
Putting the child on the ground, she stood up, trying to gain courage. Finally, with one last sigh, she took the little girl by the hand, and walked over to the group's table.
"Hi," she said, trying to make her voice sound as friendly as possible. "There's no available tables around here, so I was wondering if it was ok if we sat here with you guys? My name's Karver, by the way."

Peter noticed a young woman and a somewhat deformed (in his opinion) child wanting to sit at their table. Since there was plenty of room, and he really didn't mind meeting new people, he answered, "Yeah. you can sit with us."
Curiously, he asked, "What's yoru little girl's name?" Then, the thought occured that the two looked nothing alike. Yet, she was so nice to the child so far. She couldn't be a kidnapper, could she?

"If you want to know my name," the little girl spoke up, "you should ask me myself." She didn't say this in an angry or sarcastic voice. She just said it as if it were a fact.
"Weydon!" Karver exclaimed. "That was an extremely rude thing to say!"
The little girl looked up at her in surprise, unaware that she had been rude. Her eyes, filled with regret, looked up at Peter, then turned to the floor. "Sorry," she mumbled.
Karver sat down at the table, placing the child once again in her lap. "Thanks for letting us sit with you!" she said with a friendly smile. "As you heard, her name is Weydon. She isn't my little girl though. She's my babysitting charge. Being a shoe-store clerk doesn't pay all the bills, so I make some extra money babysitting."

Peter figured they weren't related and was shocked by the rudeness in the little girl. Then again, he was a lot ruder at her age. So, he accepted the apology. "Well, I'm Peter. So, you from around here?

"Well, I suppose I am now!" Karver said with a laugh. "I'm new in town. Just got the shoe-clerk job last week. And my apartment the week before that. Little Weydon's parents are actually living in the apartment across from mine, so as soon as I moved in, I had a babysitting job just waiting for me. That was a stroke of good luck!" She looked around the food court. "Say, which of these restaurants would you say is the best? Like I said, I'm new, so I don't know where the best food is yet." She laughed again.