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Post by Ellie Tyler on Jan 14, 2016 2:26:25 GMT
Sloane looked down at the remnants of the drink that he had gotten for her, looking up at him for a moment with a coy grin. "I trust you're incredibly creative yourself, and I'm sure that whatever you're thinking of is right in line with what I was thinking of. I mean, that is if you were thinking that we should find a private place for the two of us for a few moments."
Sometimes Jamie forgot that not everyone's family was as open or flexible as his own family, or his friends' family, and so while he had been a little surprised to hear her say it, it was a little refreshing to hear. "I'd be happy to keep you company," he told her with a nod. "No obligation. I've been enjoying your company, AJ."
Ellie grinned brightly at Everett, "Thank you," she said, brushing a wrinkle out of her dress absentmindedly. She had promised Everett that she would have tried to continue to be patient when it came to waiting for their relationship to progress, and so she had come with him to the New Year's Eve party with the expectation that they were going to continue to take it slow. She followed his gaze out to the two people that he had mentioned and she frowned softly. "Maybe a minute? It depends on how many dark corners we can hide in without getting caught."
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Post by A.J. Dogherty on Jan 14, 2016 2:43:59 GMT
AJ smiled at him and nodded, taking another long sip of her soda and nodded at him. "Well, good. I enjoy yours, too," she told him, blushing a bit. She wasn't often used to talking with attractive boys, so she wasn't quite sure what was to happen now. Given how eager she would have been to leave with him had she thought she could get away with it, she was even a bit surprised with herself in how easy it seemed to get caught up in spending time with him. With three older brothers, boys her own age didn't often pay her much mind, especially given that typically at school, she was much more introverted.
Everett grinned at Ellie, "Dark corners, hmm?" he questioned. "Not a bad idea." He was distracted, however, when an old acquaintance from school walked over to say hello. Greeting him politely, Everett gestured to Ellie. "This is my girlfriend, Ellie. El, Sam and I graduated high school together," he informed her with a smirk before going back to polite small talk for a few minutes. Sam filled Everett in on where he was going to school, asked Everett how his year abroad had gone, and they both agreed to catch up soon. When Sam walked away, he chuckled, "Kid said ten words to me in high school, probably won't see him for another year," he joked.
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Jan 14, 2016 3:00:28 GMT
Jamie smiled at her, glad that she was enjoying spending time with him as well. Color had risen to her cheeks and he noted how pretty she was, which in turn caused him to immediately start thinking about what would have happened had she opted to come to his apartment and watch a movie with him. In his parents' absence, he wasn't sure how much time they would have had together, or what she would have even been comfortable with, but he knew for a fact that he would have kissed her. In fact, even now, he wasn't convinced that he wasn't still going to kiss her. "Thank you again for keeping me company tonight," he told her.
"So, AJ - what should we do now?" he asked curiously, still smiling softly at her.
Ellie had grinned at his response to her suggestion of finding a dark corner to hide in, but as soon as a former classmate of his arrived, she found her grin quickly replaced by a look of surprise. "Girlfriend?" she questioned, unable to focus on anything else that he had actually said after that. "Is that so?" she questioned. She had known that it had always been part of his plan, and she knew that he had the intention of speaking with her dad about it, but she hadn't been aware that he had reached that point already.
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Post by A.J. Dogherty on Jan 14, 2016 3:15:15 GMT
AJ shrugged softly, looking down at her glass for a moment. "We can just keep talking, tell me something else about you?" she asked, trying to think of a more specific question for him. "What's your family like?" she asked him, having already mentioned her brothers. "Do you have any siblings?" She plucked another cherry out of her cup and ate it, finding that she actually wanted to know as much about James as possible, even if she might not see him again - she already thought that he was easy to talk to, sweet, and very attractive. She figured why not live life on the edge for just one night?
Everett smirked down at her and nodded. "Oh, yes. About that, I spoke to your father the other day," he explained. "It could have gone better, but I made it clear that I'm serious about being in your life and want to prove to you and to him that I can be good for you to be around," he chuckled. "I just sort of wanted to see your face when I said it, I'm sorry, El," he grinned, though her reaction of surprise had been entertaining enough to make it worth it.
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Jan 14, 2016 3:34:33 GMT
Jamie grinned thinking about his family for a moment. His family had actually been the reason behind why things had ended so poorly with Kensi, but the importance that they had in his life overshadowed the problems that he had with Kensi. "My family is pretty normal, I suppose. You sort of met my mom already, and my dad can sometimes work a lot, but they've always been really fantastic. They try to travel a lot which is kind of nice for me since I've gotten to go on some pretty great family vacations with them."
At the question of whether or not he had any siblings, he hesitated just briefly, remembering how much of a role Melanie had played in his issues with Kensi. "I do have an older sister, actually. Her name is Melanie," he added. "She normally would have been here tonight but she's at a party with her boyfriend tonight instead."
Ellie grinned at him and stepped closer to him, leaning up to kiss him quickly. "Don't apologize," she dismissed. "I'm just glad that you've finally decided to make it official." Biting her lip, she contemplated telling him that they should actually find a dark corner to hide in for a while though this time she figured it would be less in avoidance of the rest of the party and more as an opportunity for them to have a few moments of alone time together. "Say it again," she told him before pressing herself against him again, kissing him once more.
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Post by A.J. Dogherty on Jan 14, 2016 3:47:55 GMT
AJ smiled at James, enjoying hearing about his life a bit more. "What sort of places have you gone? And do you come to the same party every year for New Years?" she asked curiously, wondering if this was a yearly tradition. "How much older is Melanie?" she added. "Do you like her boyfriend? I'm sorry that's so many questions in a row," she winced a bit and then laughed.
Kensi had enough of watching Jamie and his new little friend from across the party. She spotted Ellie and Everett standing nearby and, stealing a drink off of a passing tray, she walked over to them and huffed. "You guys," she said, barely giving much of a greeting. "This party blows," she said, gesturing over her shoulder. "Can you believe that? I came here to apologize to him and he totally blew me off to hang out with her, I've never even seen her around before."
Everett smiled down at Ellie, but heaved a sigh when Kensi joined. He wrapped an arm around their short haired friend. "Hey kid, glad to see you're in the holiday spirit."
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Jan 14, 2016 4:11:03 GMT
"All sorts of places," Jamie nodded. "My mom is an editor for Harper Collins and so she's always loved visiting places with a lot of rich literary history. Plus, both of my parents seem to be fond of warm and sunny vacations, so that's always been nice." That had always been his favorite part of family vacations, he supposed, the part where they not only got to visit places with a lot of historical or literary significance but also that they had gotten plenty of beaches out of it too. "And yes - we come here every year. It's kind of... a family obligation, I guess." He didn't want to sound like he was bragging about his father owning the hotel, but he also didn't want to purposefully lie to her about it either, so he decided to leave it open.
He smiled at her. "Melanie's actually six years older than I am. Which has been kind of fun growing up. She's really kind of a great older sister," he admitted. "But we're definitely a little different." Shaking his head to dismiss her apology for so many questions, he continued. "Her boyfriend is okay. He makes her happy, which I guess is the important part."
Ellie frowned at the interruption but forced a smile at her friend. "Hey, Kenny," she greeted. Having heard about what had happened between Kensi and Jamie, she hadn't been entirely certain whose side she was on. On the one hand, she was close to her own family and so she understood Jamie's anger over the things that it sounded like Kensi had said, but having seen the way that Melanie treated people, she could understand Kensi's frustration too. But the fact was, somehow she had reached common ground with Melanie and felt like she needed to be more understanding of the older girl's actions.
Looking over at Jamie, she shrugged. "It might not be anything."
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Post by A.J. Dogherty on Jan 14, 2016 4:27:29 GMT
AJ smiled at him, listening to him talk about the vacations that they went on. It occurred to her just how different her own life differed. She had never even been to Disney World, in fact she'd only been as far as New Jersey once for a football game. She thought traveling must have been interesting and thought that one day she would like to travel. "My oldest brother is seven years older than I am!" she told him, "It's nice though, having an older sibling with that much of a difference, I think. They all went through phases where they were too cool for me, but never all at the same time," she quipped. "The party is nice, I mean I'm awkward at parties, but if I weren't - this party would be great," she flashed a thumbs up, rambling awkwardly.
Kensi frowned at Ellie, "I went to talk to him to apologize and he barely let me say anything." Shaking his head, "Instead he ran off to talk to her some more, especially after he saw her talking to Will. I can't believe he moved on so quickly, it's like nothing about our relationship mattered," she grumbled.
Everett sighed, plucking the drink from Kensi's hands and placing it down away from her. "Maybe you should just move on, Kens."
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Jan 14, 2016 4:43:55 GMT
Jamie was glad at least that his sister had never reached a point where she had thought that she was too cool for him, at least, she had never outwardly admitted it to him. Though he supposed that maybe their situation was a little different still, considering everything that Melanie had gone through even before he had been born. Laughing softly at her, he found that he was actually enjoying her company much more than he had ever thought that he would, and much more than he had given credit to before. "Thankfully Melanie hasn't realized that she's too cool for me, yet. Though, at this point maybe I'm too cool for her, I'm not even sure anymore." Truthfully, Melanie hadn't been around as much lately considering everything that had happened between her and their dad, though he made a mental note to reach out to her soon to see if she wanted to do something - if only so that he could check in on her.
"Yeah, this party is okay," he gave a little shrug. "I always find these things a little awkward anyway. You're either forced to talk to the same people every time, or you get lucky and get to meet someone new, but you have to go through that whole awkward getting-to-know-you phase beforehand. Which," he stopped for a moment, grinning at her, "I have to thank you for making it considerably less awkward."
Ellie frowned at her friend again, not sure what she could say to really make the situation any better. She felt bad that Kensi was hurting, but there was still a small part of her that just wanted to dismiss her as quickly as possible so that she could take full advantage of her new boyfriend in private. Still, she figured that being a good friend was more important in the moment than dragging Everett off to a secluded area where she could show him how much she liked their new labels. "I'm sure your relationship mattered - I just think that maybe you two weren't right for each other." She blamed herself a little for it all, considering the fact that she was the one who had introduced them at prom last spring, but she tried not to dwell on it. It wasn't her fault that they had problems, she supposed. "Who is she, by the way? Why was she talking to Will?" She asked more out of curiosity than anything, though she couldn't help but wonder if Will was playing at something.
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Post by A.J. Dogherty on Jan 14, 2016 4:56:55 GMT
Kensi crossed her arms in front of her in irritation. "I don't know who she is, she just sort of showed up. And I don't know, Will was talking to her for a bit and then Jamie went over - she walked away, only Jamie followed." She shrugged, she hadn't really been keeping tabs on Will so much as Jamie.
Everett wanted nothing to do with any of this drama, but he still certainly sympathized with Kensi, one of his oldest friends, for how she felt. James, after all, had been the one to break up with her and also now seemed to be moving on. He didn't know all the details, never being the type to ask or pry, but he dislikes that Kensi seemed upset.
AJ smiled happily at him, blushing again. "You don't have to thank me," she told him. "It's been nice having someone to talk to during this shindig," she told him. Chewing on her lip, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, too," she said when she pulled away before letting out a small nervous chuckle.
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Jan 14, 2016 5:09:02 GMT
Ellie considered it for a moment, wondering if there was more at play here than it seemed on the surface. Before anything had ever happened between them, Ellie would have liked to consider Will to be a friend of hers, and as such she thought that she knew him well enough to estimate what his intentions might have been. What she was coming to realize is that, in terms of this unknown girl, they probably weren't good. Having been on the receiving end of not only his version of drama and gossip, she had to hope that Jamie's interference was for the girl's own benefit and not a desire to beat Will at his own game.
"Kensi, it's probably nothing," she tried to reassure her friend. "But Everett's right, maybe you should just move on. I'm sure there're dozens of guys here who would love to get to know you. Or even more casually, would love to be your midnight kiss." Simply saying the words "midnight kiss" out loud reminded her that she certainly had every intention of finding an abandoned alcove or something in which she could properly welcome the new year with her boyfriend. She was trying very hard not to get caught up in her own things but she had to admit that Kensi's timing hadn't been ideal.
Jamie looked at her for a moment, trying to assess the situation as quickly as possible before deciding on what his next move should be. Feeling his attention drawn to her lips, he leaned toward her again, lightly brushing his lips against her own.
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Post by Kensi Cavanaugh on Jan 14, 2016 5:25:32 GMT
Maybe it had been the few drinks that she'd been sipping on before she saw Ellie and Everett. Or maybe it was how Everett seemed to stand so close to Ellie and how both of them seemed to think she should just move on. But it was definitely also the fact that she looked over at Jamie just in time to see him kissing the new girl in question. Scoffing for a moment, she decided to ignore Ellie and Everett's reasonable advice, she reached for the drink Everett had tried to take from her. "I'm going to go freshen up my drink," she muttered, starting towards the bar directly towards Jamie and his new friend.
Everett sighed, watching their friend go. "I love Kens, but I hate to say it - she really needs to get over it. Is it mean that I just wanted to enjoy our date?" he asked Ellie with a sheepish smile, leaning down to kiss her quickly. However, he looked back up just in time to see what was about to transpire and connected the dots. He cursed under his breath.
AJ sucked in a deep breath when James leaned into kiss her, she kissed him back gently and hesitantly, unsure of how it worked to meet a boy and kiss him all on the same night. She pulled away and looked away, her face burning red as she smiled. "Wow," she started and was about to say something, but was quickly interrupted when someone - apparently James' ex-girlfriend from earlier - had 'tripped' and sloshed her drink all over AJ on her way towards the bar where they'd been sitting. AJ gasped, looking down at herself and freezing for a long moment.
"Oh my God," Kensi said. "I'm so sorry, I tripped." She watched as the other girl frantically reached for some napkins to wipe her dress. "Oh, with fabric like that you should really dab, not wipe."
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Jan 14, 2016 14:49:27 GMT
Ellie smiled softly at him, still feeling as though she wanted to help her friend get over whatever heartbreak she must have been feeling. Ellie could sympathize about what it felt like to get your feelings hurt by a boy that you liked, having felt in twice in the last year, but she wasn't sure what to do to help. She wasn't even sure if this was the first time that it had ever happened to Kensi. She knew that Jamie had been the first person she had ever really, truly dated, but she wasn't sure that has as much to do with it as she might have thought.
Had she had any idea what was about to happen, Ellie was certain that she would have done everything in her power to keep Kensi from going anywhere near Jamie and this new girl. Regardless of whether or not he was dating someone else, regardless of how Kensi felt about the entire situation, she felt an immediate surge of sympathy for the girl that Jamie had just kissed.
"Should we do something?" she asked, feeling as though she was standing there with bated breath, hoping that things didn't get worse than they already were.
Jamie had smiled at AJ for a minute after she had pulled away, feeling torn between wanting to apologize for taking advantage of the situation and wanting to take advantage of it again. It wasn't really his style to go around kissing girls on the first night he met them, though he wasn't feeling any regret about it at the moment. He had decided to do it again and was abruptly stopped short by a brief shower of Kensi's drink all over AJ. No matter how she tried to make it seem as though it had been an accident, Jamie couldn't believe that anyone's klutziness could have such great aim.
"Kensi, what the hell?" he snapped at her. "Don't make me have to have you removed," he warned her. "Just, please, leave us alone." He emphasized the latter portion, making it clear to her that he wasn't going to give her an option - she either left them alone, or he was going to have her removed from the hotel by whatever means necessary.
Turning to AJ, he frowned. "Are you okay?"
As much as she hated to see someone getting the best of anyone in her family, Sloane did have to admit that there was a little bit of amusement in the situation. She had never expected drinks to get thrown or an ex-girlfriend to come into play so beautifully when she had started to think of how she could get AJ to step away from her graphic novel and come play with the rest of the group.
"Looks like we might still be on duty after all," she mused to Will.
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Post by Kensi Cavanaugh on Jan 15, 2016 2:04:58 GMT
Kensi blinked at Jamie, feigning innocence. "Geez, Jamie, I'm sorry, I tripped." She gestured down at her feet, "Mom insisted I actually wear heels tonight," she told him matter of factly.
Everett looked in the direction of the bar, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. "One night with my girlfriend, honestly all I wanted," he looked at her, kissing her gently. "Maybe we should talk Kensi into leaving though before this gets much worse?" he suggested, looking back in the direction of his friend.
Will watched the scene unfold with amusement. He and Kensi had never gotten along very much at all, especially due to her friendship with Ellie Tyler, but right now he could have hugged her. He smirked at Sloane and shrugged his shoulder up, "I'm almost entirely convinced we'll barely have to involve ourselves at all. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, it would seem," he nodded in Kensi's direction.
AJ looked down at her dress, still in a bit of shock. She barely registered James threatening to have Kensi removed from the party. "So much for trying to return this in the morning," she muttered, examining the stains on the dress that had cost more than the rest of her wardrobe combined. While her aunt had said she could keep it, AJ wasn't sure how she felt about hanging onto one absurdly expensive item of clothing. When James asked if she was okay, she chewed on her lip and looked between him and his ex-girlfriend. "I think I should go," she said softly.
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Post by Ellie Tyler on Jan 15, 2016 2:33:44 GMT
Jamie glared at Kensi, not believing for one moment that it was as simple as her shoes being at fault for what had happened. There was no doubt in his mind that it had been an intentional action on her part, and if she thought for one minute that it was going to make him feel as though there was a chance for them again, she was sorely mistaken. Turning from her and ignoring her entirely, he instead turned his attention to AJ. He felt horrible about what had happened, he actually felt embarrassed that he was the one that had gotten Kensi somehow involved in AJ's night, but he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do to help - or even how he was supposed to apologize. "I can go with you?" he offered, unsure of what her answer would be. "At the very least, let me help you dry off - I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to go see if we can get it dry cleaned in the laundry room, or whatever you would do to fix something like that." Remembering what she had said about not wanting to leave because of her parents and her extended family being in attendance, he quickly added, "We could probably be back in an hour or so if it helps?"
Sloane gave a slight frown. It was the woman scorned that she was sure was causing problems that she hadn't anticipated. "She's still my cousin," she argued. "And no matter how much I will thoroughly enjoy playing games with her, that doesn't mean that I want to see anyone toss a drink at her." Still, she hesitated before barging over there and taking charge of the situation. There were possibilities here, possibilities that weren't necessarily all bad, for things to become much more interested. Staying rooted in place, she opted to wait and see if something else were to happen before she interfered on her cousin's behalf.
Ellie wrinkled her nose in thought, trying to decide what exactly the right move was at the moment. There was a large part of her that wanted to just walk out of the room, abandon the party altogether and just find somewhere else for her to spend some time with Everett. That was another large part of her, however, that knew that it was best to try and retract her friend from the situation. Though she wasn't sure if it was safer to get Kensi to leave or Jamie. "We probably should," she agreed, nodding.
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