. rolling in the deep ,

[samuele vitale.]

sam drummed his fingers on the table top, the chatter on the restaurant the backdrop to his little tune, his dark eyes moved over the rest of it's occupants a few families with children that were barely school age, college kids, local retirees, and the requisite tourists. conversation was steady and laughter frequent, basically everything bespoke of a causal, fun, laid back environment, this wasn't a place you took a date, not one table - apart from his own - boasted a party less then three people. which was why na'ima had picked it, why she'd opted for meeting him there, none of this was meant to seem like a date. he chuckled to himself a little, still unsure if he should've been insulted by her reluctance to take things further with him or complimented by the lengths she was going to remove the temptation of taking things further with him. he was what na'ima really needed now though, whether she wanted to admit it or not, she needed a rebound, nothing serious, just... a palate cleanser. he was more then willing, even though he had the ongoing and ever more complicate relationship with aris, nai needed someone to fuck around with a for a few weeks and sam liked a simple benefits only arrangement as much as the next whore-monger. basically coming here today was all apart of convincing her of what a good idea it was, but the was before floriana showed up and the wounds opened right up again and he remembered what it was like to be na'ima, the betrayed. the nicer side he'd had before he'd been like na'ima kicked in, he was sure it was mostly because of the medication his doctor had prescribed, he hated feeling like he was crazy but he had to admit there had been some improvement. the fact he hadn't ratted his sister's sex life out to their father or that they could even be in the same room together without fighting showed improvement. it was a plus he'd enjoyed, amalia and him had never been particularly nurturing siblings they had always fought but their relationship had once been better then the crumbling one they'd had since around the time of her accident. he was back to keeping secrets for her while she'd never stood down in her faith in him, it had made him feel like shit, once the drugs kicked in, that is. amalia had never seemed to lose faith in him, she'd fought with her friends, her boyfriend, even their parents for and about him and he'd spent much of the last few years working against her. sam cleared his throat, trying to ignore these thoughts, they pulled him down and while he wasn't as resolved on getting na'ima naked as he had been when he'd contacted her a few days ago it didn't mean he didn't still want to be charming in case there might have been a chance he'd get her naked.

na'ima had always been a challenge, he'd been impressed with gabriel had landed her, but he figured being so out of sorts with the news of her fiance cheating on her she'd be easier to take a go at. most women were. it was never a technique he really had to rely on though. even with his general douchey behavior he hardly ever got turned down and when a girl turned him down one night it wasn't a week or two later that he was waking up next to her, ducking out of her apartment and trying to hit on her roommate as he left. fuck, he'd pulled that move barely a week ago. now, though, most of his intentions with this lunch were honorable, he knew exactly how she was feeling and why he was afraid he was showing his vagina in wanting to help na'ima he justified this that by showing the blond he had a heart he might be able to fuck her that afternoon, maybe even get a hold of her himself. he still had aris, it was kind of sleazy but he was breaking up with her soon anyways, especially with the coming of her graduation so soon, she'd be on his dick all the time and not in the good way. agreeing to date her to get her to stop bugging him about it hadn't been his smartest move, yeah, he'd developed some fonder affections for the teenager but it felt too weird, she was the same age as his sister until january brought her eighteenth birthday and she was just so desperate and clingy, the sex may have been pretty good but it didn't excuse the neediness. taking a lazy sip from the coffee he'f ordered he reached for his cellphone checking the time and seeing a text from aris, wondering where he was and while he resisted the urge to be a total smart ass he did a quick bullshit response. this totally needed to end before people really found out about who his mystery girlfriend was.

moving a hand over the curls that had grown out exponentially since his last hair cut he cast another glance around the restaurant, eyes falling on na'ima coming through the door, a little flushed and blond hair not as polished as it normally was, her blue eyes darting around the restaurant until she caught sight of his lazy grin, smiled and brought her hand up, he stood as she made her way between the tables, pausing not and again for people that were taking advantage of the "walk all over me" vibe she exuded, "you came," he said, an amused smile but a genuine note of surprise in his tone, nai struck him as the type of person who didn't go back on her word but considering it was him he wouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't shown, he took her hand before giving her a hug, and a kiss on each cheek, they may not have been real friends but this greeting was standard fair, his upbringing and the expectations of the business she'd just extracted herself from, he held his smile as she sat, taking his seat soon after she did, "you look good," he told her, even though it was obvious, he was positive she was one of the few women who could actually wear absolutely anything and look good. samuele examined her face, she didn't look much different then any other time she'd seen her, maybe a little less make-up but there was something strikingly different, her smile wasn't as genuine and he knew it had nothing to do with the fact she was sitting across the table from her, and he could see she was a little puffier around the eyes, either she'd been crying sometime that morning or she'd cried herself to sleep, which he thought might have been more likely, his smile almost fell a little, "i ordered you some tea," he said pulling his gaze from her face to the table in front of her, motioning to the waitress who'd flirted with him while taking his drink order, "it's just what you got last time we'd all been out to dinner, so, i hope you had liked it." he told her with a chuckle, taking a sip of his soda as the waitress set down nai's drink on the table clearly checking her out as competition and slinking away without so much as a glance at sam - apparently nai had won.

TAGGED na'ima vanderbilt.
WORDS enough.
CLOTHES i'll get to this.
MUSIC lady gaga - judas.
NOTES total crap.

[na'ima vanderbilt.]

-------------na'ima pulled at the ends of her hair, weaving the damp strands into place in her fishtail plait, brows pulling in as she watched her fingers in the mirror. perfecting that braid was her distraction for the past few days. it was pathetic but instead of tackling the dissolution of her engagement and relationship she'd been doing everything in her power to forget about, moving in temporarily with a friend, throwing herself in apartment hunting not only for herself but for isolde, helping noni pack to move back to london, painting tinsley's kitchen with her, anything that kept her mind from gabriel and the morning she forced him to admit to sleeping with jess. it was something she hadn't decided if she regretted or not, half of her would've liked to stay on in willful ignorance but another half was proud of herself for not being like other women who ignored it. it was just one time though, was she overreacting? how likely was it that it would happen again? nai sighed at her thoughts, it's the same argument she'd had with kelia and nya via oovoo, both telling her that all it took was once. maybe it wouldn't happen again, but it was likely that it would, that it'd happen over and over and over again. it's not like nai hadn't seen the same thing among her friends - lucy had ignored charlie sleeping around on her once and suddenly charlie had seen it as permission to keep it up, as long as she didn't bring it up and he didn't think she knew it wasn't cheating. nai pulled her thoughts back on course, weaving the last few strands of her hair and tying them off with a clear rubberband, and examined it in the mirror, it looked decent enough. it really should't have been too much of a worry, it wasn't like samuele was going to be paying attention to her hair, or like she even needed to impress samuele. all of this was a ploy for him to get into her pants, but one lunch also meant he'd get off her back, or so he'd promised in a text the day before.

-------------the blonde was pretty sure this was not one of her brightest ideas but, again, it was a distraction and got samuele off of her back for a little while. she was ninety-nine percent sure their definition of "awhile" varied drastically but a day or two in the grand scheme of things was alright. it's not like she disliked samuele, even though he was such an easy man to dislike, but the constant innuendo could wear her nerves. especially at a time like this, being hit on was the last thing na'ima wanted right now. most girls would've been trying to move on as quickly as they could and maybe that's what she should've been doing. she did want to move on but it felt too soon and she really don't know how to move on just yet. it was all too fresh there was no way she could just throw her self full force into another relationship like that. samuele wasn't looking for that kind of relationship though, he had one and he still wasn't looking for that kind of relationship. which was even better - according to nya, who believed that sam was exactly the kind of thing nai needed right now; a cheap no strings attached decent fuck. which was exactly what samuele was always offering. she never thought of it twice because she couldn't sleep with her former fiance's cousin, under any circumstances. or, at least, she didn't think she could. trailing her eyes over her reflection in the mirror, she pulled her brows in together. no, there was no way she could see herself getting in bed with samuele. he'd certainly been showing a different side of himself lately but he wasn't so different she could see herself allowing him to cheat on his girlfriend or even pull such an incestuous move. samuele and gabe may not have been related by blood, but emotional bond was just as thick as anything blood bond was, it was obvious in amalia's affection for gabriel.

-------------her stomach clenched around his name, god, she tried too hard not to think of gabe lately. it was sign enough for her she wasn't ready to move on. crying herself to sleep almost every other night only further compacted this, it was a little pathetic, yeah, but she'd never been the emotionally toughest person out there. no one would ever argue you that. it normally wasn't a problem because on top of it all she was also very guarded, it took a lot for the blonde to learn to trust you. shyness and this defensiveness was often mistaken for being stuck up and standoffish, eventually the reputation faded but it took awhile and it only helped weed out the people that she knew she could rely on. the people who had given her the chance despite the rumours were the people she tried to befriend. nai hadn't anticipated this though, gabriel had his faults, sure, but this? yes, he had been drunk, but he wasn't drunk when he decided to try and hide it from her. she'd let him hang himself over a few weeks but he could've been a man and owned up to what he'd done. she had a feeling she probably would've felt better about him had he just told her straight off, she probably even would've let him slide on it. she'd be angry for a few days but she'd find some way to understand, find some way to let him off the hook. probably blaming it on stress and the alcohol and the nostalgia of it all, it could've brought the greatest man down. nai felt her stomach turn again and hot tear fall down her cheek, her eyes flicking up to the mirror she hurriedly patted away the tear. she'd already spent most of the night before crying she didn't need to keep up with it this morning. plus, she had something fun to get ready for, something that she didn't need to show up to puffy eyed.

-------------making sure her eyeliner hadn't taken a hit from the stray tear she moved towards the small closet in her room at lana's, piano-long fingers moving over the items on the hangers, stopping to peruse them every now and then, chewing on her bottom lip and brow denting, muttering under her breath every now and then about the down falls of whatever item her fingers moved over - "too much cleavage" being the popular turn down. sighing, she pulled a beige romper from a hanger, for a lunch with same there was much too much everything but she was going to have to deal with his comments either way, she might as well be comfortable while doing so. rushing through the last of her getting ready she pulled her purse from the hook in the hallway, waving to lana as the brunette chattered on the phone with the agent they used to share. the agent who upon hearing of gabriel and nai's split had been offering to get nai plenty of distractions, distractions that she could use to get out of the country and distractions that could get her all kinds of retail therapy. nai smirked to herself a little, rolling over the last offer as she stepped out onto the street, some kind of editorial in belize. she loved belize and she loved the model tanner who would star opposite of her. tanner was the quintessential sassy gay friend. location and company was tempting but nai wasn't sure that just because the emotional wear of not having to be away from her fiance so much was enough to make her want to put up with the rejection and cattiness of the industry she'd loved since she was a child. a sigh pushed through her full lips as she crossed the street and hailed a cab, chewing on her nails on the way to the wharf, checking her phone for the time every now and then, worried she might be late. dropping her at the end of the crowded block, nai quickened her pace to make it down the storefronts to the restaurant she'd chosen to meet him at, looking over the semi-crowded tables her eyes fell on the familiar mop of dark curls. a smile turned her lips and she tossed him a small wave. moving towards the table she smiled at his words, as he took her hand into one of his, the warmth of his palm spreading through her own, she returned his kisses with a chuckle, "i told you i'd come, so i was going to come." pulling back from his hold, she sat down, shrugging her purse off and pushing the bangs that had fallen out of her braid from her face, blushing a little at his words, "well, thank you. you're not too shabby yourself..." she told him with a small grin as her fingers moved over to the menu, looking up for a brief moment as he mentioned the tea, "oh, thank you, yes, i loved it. anytime i'm down here i come in just for a glass, i can't have the thai tea at any other restaurant now, it just doesn't compare." her grin widening as the two toned tea was now set before, nodding her thanks to the critical waitress before she turned her attention back to samuele, trying to keep her smile up as best as she could. as much as was trying to distract herself with all kinds of things, it didn't get easier to keep up a show. "you've just finished your finals, haven't you?" she asked trying to make small talk as she began to stir her tea, "exams are the one thing i'm not looking forward to about going back to school in the fall."

------roleplaying with, emilyy - samuele vitale .
------listening to, the tudors .
------rocking these threads, click here .
------dear emily, it was fiiine .