crushcrushcrush, Lilah and Ryder

[Alexander Shepard]

Alex turned his back on the crying blonde human and walked away. He had asked him to meet in a public place so he wouldn't do this. Wouldn't freak out when he broke up with him. The whole thing with Cody had been a mistake, anyway, he never really liked him, he just needed someone to control. And when he realized what he was doing with the idiot boy, he broke it off with him. He couldn't fall back into old habits, they weren't good. They were unhealthy for all involved.

He sighed and walked faster when he screamed after him, "Don't you walk away from me Alexander! You can't leave me!" He ignored him and kept walking. He hadn't even been with him for two weeks and he was acting like he divorced him.

Suddenly he felt angry. So angry. He turned and stalked back over to him. Cody looked mildly frightened and turned to run, but he caught up with the human and yanked him by his arm back to him. "I never even liked you, Cody," He said, being brutally honest. "I really can't stand you. Get out of my sight; I never want to see you again." He released his bruising grip on his arm and shoved him hard away from him, so hard the blonde fell to the ground. He sneered and walked off again, ignoring the fearful look. Cody had never seen that side of him before. Good, now he wouldn't want to see him again.

When he was far enough away, he calmed down, glad to be rid of Cody forever. Then he saw a mop of ginger hair. He smiled. New prey. And as he walked up to the redhead, he saw it was a girl. Okay, he could work with that.

"Hey cutie," he said, winking at her.

[Lilah Wilkins]

Lilah and Ryder had gone out to get food for her, because, of course, she was human and needed to eat to live. Ryder was a vampire, so they were just out for her. Ryder walked off to look at a sunglasses booth, where they were selling said items by the dozen. She shook her head, bemused. Ryder and his sunglasses....

Then she was approached by a smiling (really cute, she hated to admit) boy. "Hey cutie," he said with a wink. Lilah looked around her to see who he was talking to, but she was alone by the vegetable stand. "M-me?" She asked incredulously, pointing to herself.

He simply laughed and nodded. She blushed, hating every embarrassing moment. "I have a boyfriend..."

[Alistair Ryder]

Buying food for Lilah was essential to her staying at his place.
But of course, he left her to look at sunglasses. He loved sunglasses. So he took a while before deciding on a pair he really liked and had to have before heading back to Lilah.

"Hey Lils, what do you think?" he called before putting them on (he had forgotten to put sunglasses on before they left home), then of course he noticed the other guy checking out Lilah and almost stopped walking before he caught himself. Lilah wouldn't like it if he behaved badly every time she talked to someone else. It was like Jeremy acted when he talked to girls.

"I see you made a new friend already," he smiled a little. Thank God for sunglasses and being able to control his body language quite well. Nothing would be worse for himself than going at this new guy in jealousy over nothing. He wouldn't blame the guy, Lilah's new looks were even cuter than before.

[Alexander Shepard]

The poor girl looked shocked. "M-me?" He laughed and nodded. She was so cute. He smiled harder when she blushed. "I have a boyfriend..."

His face fell only a tiny bit. Then some guy walked up, reeking of vampire. A cute guy. Not as cute as the redhead, though. Besides, he was getting sick of boys, anyway.

"I see you made a new friend already,"

"Yo, I'm Alex."

The ginger haired girl smiled at him, still blushing (she must be shy), and shook his hand. Her hand felt nice... "My name's Lilah." Pretty name, too. He was a hopeless romantic, always falling quick. Cody had been the one exception in a long line of boyfriends and girlfriends throughout his twenty-four years.

He extended his hand towards the boy.

[Alistair Ryder]

"Yo, I'm Alex."

Lilah introduced herself next, leaving him room to think about this very quickly. He came to the conclusion he'd done earlier that it was best to be nice, and just hope the other guy wouldn't get too annoying.

"Pleasure," he smiled a little, "I'm Ryder," he shook the wolf's hand and looked over at Lilah. "Found anything you want yet?" he asked when he got his hand back. After all, they were there for food shopping, not to pick up wolves or sunglasses. Ok, so the sunglasses had been a must.

This guy was good looking, and he seemed interested in Lilah, which was a compliment to her, but he didn't like competition, and if Lilah like the cute guys, Alex would win for sure.

[Alexander Shepard]

"Pleasure,"

No it wasn't, he was apparently Lilah's boyfriend, damn him. Well, he was probably better for her than Alex was. Alex was still a little abusive, even though he tried to stop himself. And this girl looked so fragile, most of him didn't want to see her hurt. However, a tiny part of him wanted to leave bruises on her, to make her cry and beg for him to stop. He blinked, hard. No. He wasn't that guy anymore.

"I'm Ryder,"

Lex smiled back at the vampire. At least he wasn't the jealous type. Then the vampire turned to the human.

"Found anything you want yet?"

Oh, so he was trying to get rid of him already, huh? No way, he wanted to be at least friends with Lilah, and then maybe he could lure her over to him and away from Ryder. Stop thinking like that!

[Lilah Wilkins]

"Yo, I'm Alex."

Lilah smiled and shook his hand. "My name's Lilah."

Then Alex extended his hand towards Ryder. "Pleasure, I'm Ryder," Lilah beamed. She hoped they would get along, Alex seemed nice, and she could always use more friends. Besides, Ryder had to be nice, she wasn't sure she could handle any more of his outbursts. Well, at least not if they were against innocent people. She could deal with him fine when he went against her, what's the worst he could do, bite her? She liked that, so she was no longer afraid of him.

"Found anything you want yet?"

Alex raised a challenging brow before quickly wiping the expression off his face. She wondered what that look had been about...

"Well, I didn't really get a chance to look yet, but I see you have. I like your new sunglasses." She smiled up at him, love in her eyes. She missed the jealous look in Alex's eyes.

"Do you guys mind if I hang with you for a while, I'm trying to avoid and ward off an ex."

Before Ryder could say anything (he looked like he had been about to say 'no'), Lilah smiled at her new friend and said, "Sure."

[Alistair Ryder]

It seemed like biting down on everything worked perfectly fine so far, as Lilah was unsuspecting as far as he could tell. But keeping things to himself didn't make him a nervous wreck, he was used to that so he didn't mind. And Lilah really could use more friends, and he didn't mind new friends either. So this could be a good idea, even if he was a werewolf.

"Found anything you want yet?"

He wasn't trying to get rid of Alex, just wondering if Lilah had found anything she thought would be good.

"Well, I didn't really get a chance to look yet, but I see you have. I like your new sunglasses."

He beamed at her. Of course she liked them. She was so sweet.

"Do you guys mind if I hang with you for a while, I'm trying to avoid and ward off an ex."

"Sure."

He'd been about to say no when Lilah answers, and added to her statement "No problem" instead of a no. Alex seemed nice enough, if he'd just stop trying to hit on Lilah. But he figured he was getting back for the Melissa incident.

"Hope you don't mind finding some food for Lilah then," he smild a little. He'd had plenty of practice with being nice by now, and he didn't get angry as easily, probably because he hadn't seen his sire in so long and because Lilah was so nice to him.

But he didn't like the way Alex was looking at her. She was not someone he should try to steal away and win over. Wait. Ryder had tried that himself..

[Alexander Shepard]

"Well, I didn't really get a chance to look yet, but I see you have. I like your new sunglasses."

He saw the shared smiles, the love in both of their eyes. His own eyes smoldered with jealousy. He obviously couldn't have her, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. So he interrupted.

"Do you guys mind if I hang with you for a while, I'm trying to avoid and ward off an ex." Not exactly the truth, but it was the one that would probably make Lilah say yes. Ryder looked a little put off.

"Sure."

"No problem."

Nice save, vamp. And it had been a nice save, he had changed his 'no' to 'no problem' pretty smoothly. Alex was an expert at hiding things, though, so he caught it.

"Hope you don't mind finding some food for Lilah then,"

"Of course I don't mind," He said, smiling at them both. If he kept all his attention on Lilah, his intentions would be all too clear. They all turned to look at the vegetable stand, well, the two boys were looking at Lilah. She was so cute. And she was a redhead, to boot.

Lilah picked out a bunch of vegetables and pulled out her purse to pay, but Alex jumped in and paid before she could. Hey, he could be a gentleman if he wanted to.

She blushed. He smiled.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to."

"It's what any gentleman would do, so it was no problem." He smiled softly at her, just admiring her freckles and her pretty brown eyes.

[Alistair Ryder]

"Hope you don't mind finding some food for Lilah then,"

"Of course I don't mind."

It was very obvious, to him at least, that this guy wasn't going to go down without a fight. Not that he was going to give the guy one. It was still rather fresh in mind how he'd tried to win her away from Seth and that was not good. He had promised her he wouldn't leave, unless she asked him to, and if that was what she wanted, then he would. If Alex somehow won her over, he would go find something else to do. Hopefully something that would still keep him in the band, because they'd started to record by now.

Lilah seemed to find some vegetables she wanted to buy, but before she could pay for them, the bloody wolf jumped in and paid for it. She was so cute when she was blushing.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to."

"It's what any gentleman would do, so it was no problem."

He didn't like fighting, which was good for the wolf right now as he would've been hit by now if he did. He didn't make any sound or tense up, but his lip curled slightly, before he caught himself and smiled before Lilah could catch anything. Alex seemed a lot like him, and if he was, he'd most likely caught what was going on, unless he'd been too busy looking at Lilah.

Alex seemed like a nice guy though, and probably would be better for Lilah in a way, but he'd pushed her away too many times to let go just like that now that he finally had her where he wanted.

[Lilah Wilkins]

"Hope you don't mind finding some food for Lilah then,"

"Of course I don't mind."

She smiled at the two boys and turned to the vegetables, aware of two sets of eyes watching her. It was a little disconcerting, but she knew neither of them meant any harm, so she let it go. When she had plenty of vegetables picked out (she was trying to be healthy, after all), she pulled out her purse to pay, but Alex pulled out his wallet faster than her and paid.

She blushed while he smiled at her. "Thank you, but you didn't have to."

"It's what any gentleman would do, so it was no problem."

She blushed harder and looked away, just in time to see Ryder snarl for a millisecond. She blinked, confused. "Hey, what's wrong? He was just being friendly..."

[Alexander Shepard]

Apparently he wasn't the only one who saw Ryder's lip curl up at him. "Hey, what's wrong? He was just being friendly..."

Wow. She was pretty naive, wasn't she? Good, he could use that to his advantage. "I'm sure he's fine, Lilah, look, he's smiling." He could pretend he hadn't seen the snarl, maybe Lilah would like him more if he was 'innocent.'

He sent a confident smile at Ryder. The fact that Ryder reacted as he did meant he wasn't confident enough in his relationship with Lilah. That meant Alex had a pretty good chance of stealing her away. Ha. Alex was pretty pleased with himself and the situation. If Ryder wasn't confident in his relationship, maybe it was rocky, and that would make it so easy to take Lilah away from Ryder.

He just hoped Ryder didn't recognize the look in his eyes. He could tell Lilah didn't.

[Alistair Ryder]

"Hey, what's wrong? He was just being friendly..."

He laughed a little. "Of course he was," he said cheerful. She was so naive it was adorable. But highly inconvenient right now. Friendly like he wants you to himself.

"I'm sure he's fine, Lilah, look, he's smiling."

As if.

At the confident smile Alex sent him, he bit the inside of his lip to make sure he didn't say anything or snarl at the guy again. Hadn't he promised her he'd be good and behave? Then why did this asshole try to make him break his word then? And worse, why did Alex act almost just like he himself had done before kidnapping her that one time?

He shrugged. "Really, Red, it wasn't anything." He could excuse himself with several different things, but he didn't feel like lying to her so openly. After all, lying didn't exactly build bridges of trust.

"So, Alex, other than escaping from an ex, what brings you here?" He thought it best to direct attention to the other guy, because he knew Lilah was curious of nature.

[Alexander Shepard]

Ryder looked really, really put off. Alex couldn't control himself -- he smirked.

"Really, Red, it wasn't anything."

Lilah looked a bit irritated, and she opened her mouth to say something, but Ryder cut her off. She looked even more irritated. He grinned viciously, but quickly wiped the look off his face. Ryder seemed to have noticed anyway. Alex smiled innocently at the vampire, as if to say 'you hallucinated that.'

"So, Alex, other than escaping from an ex, what brings you here?"

He decided a little honesty wouldn't hurt, as long as he was careful with what he revealed. No, screw it, he would twist the truth. "Well, he took me out to a public place to dump me, I guess he wanted to humiliate me. This happened about twenty minutes ago, so I've been dodging him ever since. Really, that's all there is to it." He shrugged, silently applauding himself on his great acting.

"What about you two? Just here to run errands?" His eyes shifted over to Lilah. He wanted to hear her speak again. Unfortunately for him, he was disappointed. She was letting her boyfriend do the talking. Damn him.

[Alistair Ryder]

Of course Alex had to go and grin very obvious just long enough for Ryder to catch it, and smiled it off so innocently afterwards. It was frustrating. He didn't like this guy. They seemed too much alike as they were both very obviously hiding things from Lilah.

"So, Alex, other than escaping from an ex, what brings you here?"

"Well, he took me out to a public place to dump me, I guess he wanted to humiliate me. This happened about twenty minutes ago, so I've been dodging him ever since. Really, that's all there is to it."

Alex was good. Too good at acting. But Lilah didn't seem to notice anything and he was going to pretend he hadn't notice anything himself either. It was safest like that.

"What about you two? Just here to run errands?"

"Just stocking up on some food really," he shrugged. "Need to keep her healthy, you know," he smiled. Doing his best to be friendly.

In a very loving way, he kissed Lilah before smiling a little.

"We're actually headed to some friends' later to work on our music. You're welcome to come and listen if you'd like."