Where's My Angel//James

[james thomas leroy]

James just smiled at her. He had done his part. He was here when she woke up. He had actually kept his promise though what still eluded him was 'why'. He didn't know yet why it was so important but James was certain that it could wait for as long as this lasted. Where once he would have over analyzed, he was now letting it be.

"No, not long," he told her. He had just enough to be quick and get dressed and ready for the day. Her sleeping in was actually a good thing since it had given him that extra time.

It was quite the accomplishment though. Having a girl who was Androphobic to sleep in his bed with him there, when she had heard all about the things he had done and tried to do. It was a very big accomplishment and one that James would revel in but for now it just barely registered. He was happy to go along with it and not think of what he had managed to do and how quickly things had turned around.

"Sure," he said with a smile. He could do with some food and he had heard all about her apparently skills in the kitchen. Now would be as good a time as any to put it to the test and see what the results were for himself.

[emmalise]

Nodding her head, she smiled slightly. Knowing that he wasn‘t awake long made her feel slightly better. She would have much rather preferred waking up first, but she was some what content with how things went down. She was quite impressed with herself, having been able to stay in the same room as another guy, let alone the same bed. But he hadn‘t tried anything, which was probably why she was so okay with it.

Reaching for her sweater and bear, she slipped the sweater on over her arms and pushed the covers off of her legs. ”What do you like? For food, I mean. I don‘t want to make anything that wouldn‘t enjoy.” She stretched, lifting her arms over her head and curving backwards. Having remembered what he said, him being OCD, she quickly turned toward the bed and began making it. She placed the pillows at the top, tucked the sheets around them as well as the bed itself, and placed the cover neatly on top of it all.

Emma patted the perfectly made bed and smiled to herself. She was good at making beds…. She was good at cleaning. Hell, she would make the perfect house wife when it came down to it. It was as if she were trained for it. And in all reality, she was. Cinderella style. But nonetheless, she didn‘t mind it. The majority of what she had learned, or was beaten into her, actually came in handy. Like now for example. She enjoyed things neat and tidy, occasionally with something out of place, and James was OCD about it. She could work with that.

Turning toward him, she held her bear in one hand and played with her braid with the other. ”I should probably get dressed first though…. If you don‘t mind.” She pulled her sweater around her, noticing how little clothing she was wearing. Last night she was so wrapped up with not wanting to be alone and needing someone to comfort her, that it completely spaced. Looking down at her legs, she shrugged lightly before looking back up at him.

[james thomas leroy]

James felt a little like he had reached a bit of an impasse. He wasn't sure where he wanted to go with this. At first he was very much interested in simply testing his skills. He had enough of an understanding of people to manipulate them and that was exactly what he had done. He was rather proud of his accomplishment but now that she trusted him, what else was there?

James thought about it. He really had no preference. He would eat whatever was there but most people did have a favorite would or at least some idea of what they liked to have. "I'll have whatever you like," he told her. Whatever she preferred would be fine with him. He was doing this purely for her benefit after all, letting her know that he was safe to be around... James paused at the thought. For her benefit? Surely not. The things that James did, he did for himself. Watching her turn and start to make the bed, he smiled. He decided that he could think about it later.

"You really don't have to..." he said, letting the sentence drift off before standing up and helping her. She remembered the OCD, he knew she would and perhaps it could be useful or at least nice in a way. "Thanks," he said appreciatively when she was done. She had done a good job, most of the people here wouldn't do anywhere near as good a job as she did.

"No, of course not," he said, of course he wouldn't mind, in fact it was practically necessary. Going down to the kitchen in your pajamas in the morning might be okay for some but not everyone was that lazy about it.

"I can meet you down in the kitchen if you want," he told her. She could go off and do that and he would see her down there and proceed to get breakfast sorted for the day. James decided that it would probably be good to have some time to think.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Having had a bit of time to himself, James had come to a frightening possibility. He was looking for a reason to keep her around. Apparently simply wanting to be normal for a while and wanting someone to be normal with. It was such a difficult term to pin down but he knew what he meant by it and that was good enough. For James, normal meant fitting in. In this case, it was having an acceptable problem and simply going unnoticed by most.

So far James was doing a good job at it, at least after the whole chat with Leo thing. The problem still remained, what was he doing with Emma? He wanted her, he wanted to keep her around yet he had no reason for it. Eliza had been almost the same except he kept her because he could hurt her and she wouldn't care. With Emma, he didn't want to do that.

Getting to the kitchen, James once again had to leave his train of thought for later as he entered. He would just have to go with the flow for now and see what happens, a thing that James just wasn't used to doing.

[emmalise]

Emma nodded her head and smiled at him, holding her bear to her chest. She knew that she didn‘t have to make his bed, but she didn‘t mind it. Especially for him. ”I‘ll meet you in the kitchen then, James.” And with that, she turned on her heel and headed out the door. She held her teddy bear to her chest as she walked through the halls and toward her dorm room. It was weird to be honest. She had never stayed in a room that was not designated to her. She felt a bit like she were doing the ‘walk of shame‘. Granted, no one was there booing and cheering her on like they did in the movies.

Upon arriving at her room, she found that her roommate was already gone, which wasn‘t anything new. Making her own bed really quick, she tossed her pajamas into her laundry basket and went to her closet. She pulled on a pair of faded skinny jeans and a pink silk button up blouse. She kept her hair in the side braid, but added a white bow at the base. She slipped her feet into white ballet flats and pulled on her white knitted sweater again. Dabbing her lips with a light pink lip gloss, she put in a pair of diamond stud earrings and dusted her chest with her favorite purfume, Forever Sunshine.

Making her way toward the kitchens, she had the cook book James had gotten her and was flipping through the pages. She hadn‘t the slightest idea of what she was going to make, but she wanted it to be amazing. She wanted to make James both happy and proud of her. She paused on a page and smiled. Crepes were an excellent idea. Especially Hungarian crepes with their sweet almond and chocolate filling. She bit down on her lower lip and smiled to herself. It would be perfect.

Once in the kitchen, she had the open book propped up against some bananas and was leaning on the counter, hovering over the book. The only thing that she figured she was missing was the rum, but that wasn‘t a necessary ingredient, it was merely for flavor, one that she could easily find a replacement for. Hearing the door open, she turned her head to see James walk in. Grabbing the book, she skipped over to him with the book facing him. Emma pointed at the picture and smiled, ”What do you think? Hungarian crepes? The kitchen is fully stalked too!”

[james thomas leroy]

James could smell the perfume before he saw the girl. Usually James wasn't a fan of anything too sweet but on Emma it was perfect because it wasn't over-powering. It was enough to draw you in and keep you interested with a hint of citrus. The citrus made all the difference, it made it nicer and James decided that he liked it.

Seeing her skip over to him, he smiled, taking in the details as he always did. Most let it slide by but James had a habit of remembering the littlest of things. You never knew when something could prove to be useful. A bit of information might seem mundane and boring but then you might learn something that would help later on.

For example, when his he was about 16 years old, he remembered looking out the window to see his neighbor's wife kick a leaves from the sides into the pool. It wasn't particularly interesting until the pool boy showed up two days later and spend three hours there but only a total of one hour outside. It was interesting what you could learn from little details.

She seemed so excited about this, almost as though she really did aim to please. She seemed to have done a few things now then immediately look at him for his reaction. That sort of things wasn't easy to find, unless you happened by someone with Dependant Personality Disorder. Emma didn't have that though, she was here for a phobia, one that barely even seemed to exist around him.

It was strange though. She should be afraid him and more so with all the things he had done, yet here she was believing every word he said. Should he warn her about him? James couldn't think of why he should but the thought remained there, oddly out of place in the back of his mind.

"That sounds perfect," he told her with a smile. It was something he had never tried. At home it was always bacon and eggs or cereal. Never anything interesting and only everything that was common and boring. This, he found, he was actually looking forward to.

"Have you seen the list for the Valentines' Dance?" he asked, wandering if she might have seen it yet. They weren't paired together but that was fine with him, it was less to explain. In fact he had gone out of his way to change who she had been paired with.

[emmalise]

Hearing him say that it sounded perfect made her eyes brighten up and her smile grow. She was a people pleaser, and when people were happy, especially guys, they were nice to her and they usually left her alone. Which meant she didn't have to worry about being beaten or taken advantage of for awhile. Even though James had been so nice to her and treated her so kindly, she still knew about his slight anger issues brought on by frustration. Or at least that was what he told her. And by knowing this little piece of information, she was going to make him happy no matter what it took in order to not see that side of him. Especially if that side of him was aimed toward her.

Skipping back toward the counters, she propped the book back up and began pulling out the ingrediants for the chocolate almond filling. Instead of the rum, she grabbed for a small container of white grape juice instead and poured two tablespoons into a small bowl before putting it back. Turning on the stove, she set up a pot of water to boil in order to heat up a few chocolate chips and melt them. She mixed a few ingredients together, mainly the extracts and flavors and such.

Hearing his next statement, she nodded her head slowly and shrugged lightly, "Yes, I've seen the list. I know it's supposed to be random, but I ended up with a girl. Which is really nice of the school actually. Because if I was set up w-with another guy..." She paused and swallowed, atempting to get a hold of herself. "I-I'd likely be a complete mess." She stirred the filling slowly as she thought it over. The only person she was really comfortable with was James. And if she couldn't go with him, she could at least suck it up and go with her female date. It was better than nothing at all.... Not to mention that she would feel completely horrible for making her partner's night miserable. No, she wasn't going to be a downer.

Turning around to face James, she played with her braid and looked at the floor. "Who are you going with?" She was actually curious... and perhaps even a bit jealous of the girl that got to be his date. She was in for an excellant night though. He was a great guy and treated women well from what she could tell. Or maybe she got lucky and he was paired up with a guy and they could perhaps trade dates. She smirked to herself at the thought, yeah, if only, if only.

[james thomas leroy]

James smiled. She seemed happy about this, well good, she should. He liked seeing people happy about getting his approval. It was a feeling of importance, having that kind of influence over someone was nice and James probably liked it more than most considering his love of control and being in charge.

Moving behind her, he leaned back against one a row of cupboards, just watching her work for a little while. He had heard about her abilities in the kitchen but had yet to experience it for himself so this was going to be good and James found that he was actually looking forward to it.

"Yeah, that is pretty lucky," he told her. Yeah, right. James had set her up with the girl. She may be afraid of spending the evening with some guy but he just plain hated the idea. If she had been stuck with a guy and James couldn't simply come and get her away from him then he would no doubt kill the guy. Jealousy was something that he hadn't quite learned to deal with yet and with her being afraid of guys who weren't him.. It was just too perfect.

"If you did get set up with some guy, I would definitely try and swap dates with him or something," he reassured her. He could have gone with 'I'd stab him with my Smith & Wesson Bullseye Search and Rescue Knife' but that wouldn't have gone down well. Course, James was hardly ever without at least a switchblade or occasionally a boot knife. The last time he used one though was the switchblade when he stabbed Eliza with it.

James would have grinned his usual sadistic grin when she asked who he was going with but he didn't, instead to chose to look just the slightest bit annoyed at the answer the had to give. "Some girl named Lillian," he told her, sounding like he didn't like the prospect of going with that girl, especially since he didn't know her and all. He wanted to see what Emma's reaction would be. It would be interesting to see how jealous she might get and if she would actually say anything. James knew right off the bat that she would get jealous, what he wanted to see is what she would say about it.

"All I've heard is that she's a sex addict and apparently an alcoholic, drug addict too," he said, sounding like this was something horrible. He made sure to mention the 'sex addict' part to see what Emma would say. There was no way of getting out of it this time and he knew that Emma would be aware of that. He would at least have to dance with the girl, just to be polite. Still, James was concerned about keeping an eye on Emma than actually socializing with this 'Lillian' person.

[emmalise]

Her cheeks grew heated as she listened to him speak. He would switch dates for her if she had had a male date? Smiling slightly to herself, she continued to stir up the filling before setting it aside and began working on the crepe mix. As she was mixing in the flour with the eggs, she paused at the name that he had told her. She knew that name. Granted, there was a possibility that there were more than one Lillian at the school. But the likelyhood of that was slim to none. Even she knew that. She bit down on her lower as she tried to figure out how she felt about it. All she could really manage to say was a soft, "Oh..."

Needless to say, she wasn't exactly pleased with what she was hearing, but at the same time, there wasn't anything she could do. She stood there slowly mixing the crepes and chewing on her lower lip. When she heard that Lillian was a sex addict, as well as an alcoholic and drug addict, her heart dropped a little. Humans were sexual beings, she knew this from biology, but what if Lillian tried to get James to sleep with her? Would he do it? And where would that leave her? It wasn't like he hadn't tried anything with her, and he was such a nice guy. She couldn't blame him for sleeping with a beautiful girl that was willing.... But still, she was uncomfortable with it, even though she shouldn't be.

Looking over at James, she smiled slightly, her cheeks still a soft red. "You... you'll at least say hi to me during the dance, right?" Lillian was likely much better than her, and this made her think that James would forget about her. It wasn't like she was really worth anything other than cooking and cleaning. To say the least, she was actually quite devastated, even if she had no reason to be. Without thinking about it over, she turned and wrapped her arms around her his waist and placed her cheek against his chest. It was just a simple hug, but it was what she needed. James was the closest thing she had to a friend, and she didn't want to lose him over some girl who loved sex and the attentn she got from it.

[james thomas leroy]

James watched her and heard that quiet 'oh'. It was was obvious that she wouldn't like it but James wanted a better idea of what it was that she was thinking. That was one of the thins that appealed to him, trying to figure people out and to get inside their heads. It was what kept him occupied and he enjoyed doing it.

He watched as she stirred and mixed. She seemed like she was thinking about something and James had an idea of what it was about.

"Say hi to you?," James said, repeating her words, as he moved up beside her. He leaned against the side, hunched forward a bit so he wasn't quite so far from her. Placing a hand gently on her shoulder, he spoke. "I'd hope for a dance too if that's alright with you," he said with a smile.

"Emma," he said quietly, holding her when she turned around and put her arms around her waist. He had a smirk, but only because he knew she wouldn't see it as he held her close.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly, trying to comfort her, despite knowing that he had practically been the cause of her reacting this way in the first place. James was far from being a normal guy. He may have liked keeping her around but he took pleasure from upsetting her and watching her reaction too. It just made her come back to him. He told her about Lillian and she does this. It definitely wasn't the least bit discouraging either.

[emmalise]

Emma stood there with her arms around him for a few moments and thinking it all over. He sounded sincere about wanting to know what was wrong, like he usually did. And after hearing him say he was hoping for a dance, she sighed softly. Turning her head to look up at him, she rested her chin on his chest and spoke softly, "Of course you could have a dance... or two. It's just... Lillian is more on the popular side of things.... Quite unlike me. A-and, she likes...." She swallowed and shrugged, "Oh, I don't know.... I just don't want you to ignore me because you're with her and being polite.... I'm being selfish, I'm sorry."

She looked back toward the stove and saw that the pan was ready for the crepes. She gave him another squeeze with her arms before letting go and turning back toward the stove. She grabbed a big spoon and scooped a bit onto the pan, spreading it out with the back of the spoon. Reaching up above her where a couple of the spatulas were hanging, she stood up on the tips of her toes and extended her fingers as far as they would reach. Not quite reaching it, she used the counter and jumped up, smacking one off the hook and catching it before it in mid air. She had grown used to doing this and had actually moved on flipping the crepe like it was nothing.

Sliding the crepe onto a plate, she scooped a bit of the filling into it before folding it. Drizzling some chocolate on top, she turned quickly toward the fridge and pulled out some blackberries. She arranged a couple of them on the plate before turning toward James and holding the plate out toward him. "I hope you like it." She smiled up at him as she used her free hand and started up on one for herself.

[james thomas leroy]

James had to work very hard to not let that comforting smile turn into a sadistic grin. He was being cruel and he knew this was what others might think but he didn't think it. To him this was just fun and Emma was fun to play with and he would very much like to keep her. Although it wouldn't be for any conventional reason, he still felt that it was justified.

"It's not selfish at all, Emma," he told her, pulling her in a little closer, without gripping too tightly. "It's entirely understandable. And I guess she would be pretty popular especially with her addiction," he said, sounding like he could completely understand where Emma's fears were coming from and also agreeing with it, something most guys who genuinely liked the girl wouldn't do if they were smart. No guy who knew better who imply that a girl would obviously be popular if she slept around, at least not on purpose and not to the girl they supposedly like but James wanted to push it a bit, he always did. James liked testing the limits just to see how far he could get.

"But you know what, I still think you're way better than her," he said with another smile as Emma turned to check the stove. he let her go and stood back as she cooked up the crepes. There was such skill and careful certainty, pouring the right amount of each ingredient on. It was almost like a fine art and James could actually relate to that. He was the same way with things that interested him, like anatomy, science, biology, medicine and his knives.

"It looks great," he told her, picking up the fork and digging in. It tasted good too. Definitely nothing as good as what he used to have. His family were pretty average when it came to food. It was always the same common things. Meatloaf, casserole, pizza, spaghetti,nothing all that interesting and for a guy who needed to keep things interesting, lest he turn homicidal and go on a rampage, it just wouldn't do. In fact it probably added just a little to what drove him to burn the whole house down. He was bored and friends weren't even an option, no one thought about things as much as he did. In fact the only thrilling conversation he had ever had in that town was with a veterinarian about a few medical procedures. The man thought that James was a rather gifted young man but it wasn't long before he thought that something might not be right, that he might have been just a little bit too interested. The doctor had left him alone though, no saying a word about his worries to anyone else which was good because who knew what a 14 year old James might have done if a 16 year old one wouldn't think twice before trying to kill his own family.

"This is amazing," he told her with a smile, and so the show went on. Still, he wasn't sure why he was so fixated on the girl but he didn't care. James could probably go forever playing this game with her, being the perfect friend, and perhaps in the future, the perfect boyfriend. He could do it all and with such ease, the idea surprised him though. He never thought he would be able to be quite so interested in someone but he was.