Alternate Timeline

"Drinks," I said quickly. "I'm parched." Maddie came over, notepad in hand. "Hey you two, what can I get ya?" My response was "Coke, no ice."

"Erm... Orangeade please? With a straw if possible?" Lauren said when Maddie looked at her.

"Sure thing," Maddie said, beaming as she walked away to grab them their drinks. "So, should probably ask Chris and Amy if they'd like passes to your concert," I said. "Seems like the polite thing to do."

"I think I remember offering it to them when I met them a while back." She answered James. "They would be very jealous if only you got a pass... You would get teased by them and I would too."

"Yeah, everyone would think I was your boyfriend," I teased. "Man, do people really believe that?"

"My Mother certainly thinks so." She responded with a slim grin. "Why? Would dating a English star be difficult for you?"

"No just.....we've only just met, and haven't even hung out that much," I answered. "Kinda soon to think we're dating.

"Oh?" Lauren arched an eyebrow at him curiously. "Not even my wealth changes that?" She chuckled quietly. "Okay we will have to hang out a bit more before we go on dates or confess to the world that we are dating."

"Money's not much of a factor for me if I'm looking to date," I said with an embarrassed smile. Maddie came by with our drinks, saying shed come back after she talked to one other table. "I'd love to hang out more though. You seem like.....no, not seem. You're amazing Lauren."

"Not interested in money well that explains why showing off all those expensive things back home did not grab your interest." She laughed heartily. "I would love to hang out more and thank you I try to be you are to."

Blushing, I looked away as I said "Thank you." Maddie came back for our orders, and I said "Turkey sandwich please."

"Your welcome." Lauren commented then ordered her fries.

While we waited, I asked "So, what songs are you playing tonight?"

"Ah now that would be telling." She took a sip of her drink. "Sorry cannot say just yet."

"Guess that means I only have one way to know, huh?" I said with a grin, taking a sip of my coke.

"Buy a ticket and wait like everyone else?" She joked playfully.

"Pretty much," I chuckled. Our food arrived, my sandwich down before me and her fries......okay chips, in front of her. "Maybe we should have gotten a large order for the table," I joked.

"Maybe." She replied spraying ketchup all over her fries. "Do you want to come round mine to hang out sometime?"

"To your house you mean?" I asked, before taking a small bite so I wouldn't need to chew for very long. Swallowing, I said "Hmm.....sure, I'd love to."

"Yeah though I don't think we would be able to go to my room." She ate one of her chips. "My Mother..." She sighed quietly shaking her head.

Going red now from blushing, I looked at nothing else beside's my sandwich. "Well.....not like I was going to get further than the living room. Watch tv or play games," I mumbled.

"Not how she'd see it." Lauren commented eating another one of her fries. "You'd be the handsome rebel who has come to ravish her daughter and steal her away from her, tempt me to bad things... And she wonders why I am single?"

I couldn't help it--I burst out laughing. "Seriously? I'm the rebel" I choked out. "Well.....okay yeah I was kinda one in the pat but now I'm better." Except for the nanomachines and running around being a vigilante.

Lauren laughed as well. "Yeah unless your in my band she assumes every guy friend I have is out to capture my heart." Her Mother was protective which she could understand. "Hey maybe we should go to mine with rings on she would faint." Lauren burst out laughing at the thought.

"Oh geez," I groaned, leaning back against the chair. "Before or after my sister's ghost strangles me? 'No getting married until you've got a good job and a house!' she'd yell at me."

"Time to call Ghost Busters in that case." She responded eating some more of her fries. "Getting married is on the list of things to do, provided it is in a romantic way and in Paris... Yes silly I know."

"Heh......same here," I mumbled, before going scarlet and saying rapidly "UhmsorryforgetwhatIsaid!"

Lauren's cheeks flushed with colour. She look down at her fries and chewing the edge of her lip nervously.

"Sorry......didn't mean for that to come out," I said, looking away from her. "Just a silly childhood thing, and blame Disney."

"Yeah... Okay." Lauren said taking a sip of her drink. "So... Who you proposing to? Is it Samantha?" She looked at him with a knowing smile. "You two would make such a cute couple, assuming she didn't kill you first."

"What? Oh, no, no I wouldn't......well okay when I say it like that..." Man I hated these damned if you damned if you don't questions. "I'd like to get to know whoever I'd be proposing to first. Know what they're like, live with them so I can get used to habits or whatever. If I wanted to jump into marriage I'd go to Vegas."

Lauren laughed with a hearty smile. "Aww I am sorry to hear that you don't want to marry her." She shuffled on her chair. "No jumping into marriage works quite well."

"Yeah, it does," I replied. "So uh.....how long do I have you for? Uh, I mean before you have to leave to get ready for the concert I mean, not that I'm keeping you here or anything."

"A couple of hours then I have to get back and get dressed for the concert." She explained to him.

"A couple hours?" I blurted, surprised at how much time we had. "Sorry it's just on the phone, you kinda made it seem like we had less time than that."

"Well it's two hours but a couple is a two-ish." She replied to him. "If it is a problem I can go back earlier but I thought you wanted to spend more time with me?" Lauren teased him before taking a drink.

"Oh no I do," I said quickly. "Just thought we only had enough time to talk, eat, and that'd be it."

"No they won't let me do any of the heavy lifting so I was just sitting around and trying not to get in the way." She informed him. "I need to head back in two hours so there is plenty of time to rehearse, get ready and all of that fun stuff."

"Cool.......well uh, since you have two hours off, wanna hit the arcade?" Wait really? An arcade? Lauren was not Chris or Amy. I had no way of knowing if she'd be up for playing VR gun games or mech based combat simulators.....

"Erm... Okay." Lauren answered after a moment of thought, she shrugged. "Why not?"

"Hey if not it's fine," I said. "We can go somewhere else. I can be your guide of where to go in Brooklyn."

"I don't know where to go in Brooklyn I feel like a tourist on a several year holiday." She laughed quietly. "Quite poor really since I have lived here for a while now."

"Well, have you ever seen the Brooklyn bridge?" I asked her.

"Not been on it but saw it from a street once, from a distance" She admitted. "It looks... Nice I guess for a bridge." Lauren was no engineer.

"Well it's one of the oldest bridges in New York, and one of the most iconic landmarks here for New York," I said. Thinking on it, I grinned a little and said "Wanna go for a walk? Should be close enough we can get to it and back."

"Sure." She replied with a nod of her head. "Provided that the rain doesn't pick up then we might have to get a rain check or purchase an umbrella."

"We should be fine," I said with a small smile. Of course, we had to finish eating and pay first, so for now we were still in the cafe. I had finished my sandwich, being a bit famished.

Lauren ate a few more of her fries before pushing the plate over towards James. "I'm full you can have the rest if you want?" She offered, it saved the food from going to waste.

"Really? Thanks," I said, smiling before digging in. I didn't eat much though, since really I just needed a snack and not a full meal. "Maddie, we're ready to check out!" She came over, handing us the check--$13 for the sandwich fries and drinks. Thankfully, Michael was giving me an allowance, so I was able to pay it off. Didn't leave me with much, but was able to pay it off.

"Do you want me to pay you back?" Lauren had rather a large amount of cash. Most of it locked up in a bank so tight that she doubted even she could get to it easily. Yet she never let her wealth change her or tried not to. "I mean I don't like owing people for things."