Normalcy is Restored!

who: Jamie and Caleb
where: Nevermore
when: mid to late afternoon

Caleb had been busily scribbling in his journal for a while, but had stopped that and had put some things away...then had gone back to sitting behind the counter again. He'd brought with him the sketch book that Ten had given him, and he was lightly sketching. Today it was windows. The view of Jamie's window from both the inside and the outside, and his own, with Ten's shadow hopping down from it like he saw her in the mornings when she left for work. He was just working on putting Jamie's shadow into the inside shot of her window, like she was standing just far enough back and gazing out of it that not much light was hitting her.

Jamie had had enough time after the catastrophe that had been band practice to settle down. Well, to puke up breakfast and make Caleb lunch, at any rate. She was far from feeling normal. Guilt was churning along with misery and... well, she just wasn't going to think about it right now. She had things to do. Caleb needed feeding (hm, maybe she did treat him a little too much like a puppy), books needed to be bought, dinner made, the bathroom cleaned... She'd cry at bed time. Repressing was what she did, and she did it very well.

She headed into Nevermore, glad that this had been the same store Chrissy had dragged her to a few months before. There were a few bookstores in town, after all. It wouldn't do if she went to the wrong one. She spotted Caleb immediately behind the counter, and managed to call up a tiny smile as she approached. "Working hard?" she asked softly, her voice teasing.

Caleb looked up and saw Jamie, which pretty much had him immediately putting the sketch book beneath the counter on the shelf there. "Hey." he said, sitting up straighter, and sticking the mechanical pencil he'd been using on the counter. How did someone greet their girlfriend? Especially after the incredibly weird ride it had been in so short a time? He had no idea. Witness him internally flailing. He did smile back though!

Well, that was amusing. The whole sitting up straighter thing. She was not going to comment aloud about how that was, again, puppy like behavior. No, she couldn't imagine a tail behind him wagging. She also didn't imagine giving him a pat on the head, either. Nope, not her. Her boyfriend did not act like a puppy.

...and even if he did, she wasn't going to tell him so.

"Here you go. The food I promised," she said cheerfully, depositing the lunchbox on the counter. "Nothing fancy. Chicken noodle soup, ham sandwich, some chips and a coke. I don't know what you like yet," Jamie explained, shrugging her shoulders. Once she knew, he'd definitely be getting better food.

He blinked. "Thanks." he said. Yes, he was still way new at this whole being looked after thing, so it still threw him off massively. Buuut he was trying. "It's fine, no problem." he added. He wasn't terribly picky. He was, however, still mentally flailing. He didn't quite know what to do with himself. She seemed to be acting...normal. Which was weird to him. Especially after the freak out of this morning. "You um...you okay?"

Her face fell, just a little. She had promised she wouldn't hide things from him, but... It was how she dealt with things. She didn't talk about them. "I... yeah, it's just..." Jamie's voice trailed off. "It didn't go over well. With Isaac. But it's taken care of. I'm okay right now." Well, okay as she could be after twisting the knife as she had. The guilt was overwhelming. And she'd lost two awesome potential-friends in one day... And she wasn't going to think about it now. She had other things to do today. Breakdowns were for bedtime.

Caleb winced. "I'm sorry. How bad are we talking on a scale of not taking things well?" he asked. Some guys didn't take things well then got shitty about it. And vindictive. So, he was worried. He looked her over, mostly just trying to assess how she was really doing.

She toyed with her hair, not meeting his gaze. "I left very abruptly," she said softly, eyes dimming. "I think I hurt him pretty bad. I don't know. I don't really want to talk about it." What else could she say? She didn't know how Isaac was taking it now, not really. He had been angry when she left. Hopefully, he'd stay angry.

Caleb was quiet for a moment, as he looked at her. For all intents and purposes, she looked like she wasn't dealing so well. "You sure?" he asked quietly. He didn't really want to push her too hard right this second, for a lot of different reasons. Not the smallest being he wasn't up for a fight right now.

Jamie rubbed unhappily at her eyes, suddenly fighting back tears. Damn him and his quiet soft concerned voice! "I can't. I have a lot of stuff left to do today. I can't break down right now. I will later." It'd push back her whole day to do it now, and then the bathroom would never get cleaned. Somebody had to clean the bathroom! There were no magical fairies who did that as a favor to stressed out teenage girls! ...as far as she knew, anyways.

Gee, didn't that make him not feel better. In like ten million different ways. "Maybe you should take a day off." he said, still watching her with concern. "You really are too hard on yourself, and do too much..." Take a fucking break. And of course the 'later' part worried him. So she was just going to go home and freak out by herself later? Was that supposed to be a good thing?

She made a soft, unhappy noise at his suggestion, dropping her hands back to her sides to look at him miserably. "Caleb, there aren't days off in my world. They don't exist. I can't just call in and tell Grandpa to make his own dinner." And I have to clean the fucking bathroom!

"You said you had a bunch of stuff to do today. I'm sure not all of it is dire and can't be put off." he pointed out. He kept his voice soft though, so they didn't start getting into an argument. "You keep treating everything like it's all life or death. Trust me, it's not."

Yeah, well, he hadn't seen the soap scum build up in the tub. "There's... one thing," Jamie relented, very reluctant. Vacuuming could wait until tomorrow. She hadn't put it off before today, so it wasn't completely out of the realm of acceptable yet.

Caleb leaned both arms on the counter and leveled his gaze at her. He gave her a very edge of amused barest hint of a smile, and arched a brow at her. "Just one thing." he said. "Really. Everything else is of such dire importance that the fate of humanity and all involved hangs in the balance if you don't do it today."

She frowned at him, petulance creeping up to turn it into more of a pout. "The soap scum is going to become sentient if I wait another day," Jamie insisted, crossing her arms defensively across her chest. "It's much harder to clean the bathroom if I have to wage war with living creatures while I'm doing it."

Something about her phrasing seemed to make him twitch a little bit, and he glanced away. He drew in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I think your idea of what's important and mine are different things." he said eventually, since he realized he really had to say something.

That was obvious enough. "Duh," she agreed, nodding. Hadn't they already established this morning that she was insane? Were they going to have to go over that again? ...or was now the part he realized he'd made a huge mistake last night?

Jamie sighed a little, looking over at the books. "Why I came here today is more important than the house being cleaned," she stated calmly, changing the subject. "I need books on this stuff. Do you have any suggestions?"

Caleb shrugged, and looked around at the shelves since it was easier to look at than her. "I'm not so sure that you should look." he said. Not that he could stop her, but her whole thing talking about cleaning and the like...that was really giving him major pause. Even more so than before, which should have been weird, but it was a really clear picture of perspective. In Jamie's world, cleaning the bathroom was an all consuming terribly important thing. In his, not getting himself killed on a fairly regular basis was. They really didn't go together. At all. You didn't worry about shit like how clean the bathroom was when you were a little dizzy from blood loss, now did you?

Jamie felt a little stab of frustration. Of course this wouldn't be easy. Saturday from hell, after all. "So noted," she murmured, heading for the section conveniently labeled magic, and beginning to browse. Ugh, why did all of these books look hokey? She didn't need a book on love spells and beauty charms!

Caleb groaned, and put his head down on his arms for a moment, his right giving a twinge of pain from the stitches he had there. He gave himself a minute, then went around the counter to follow her. "I'm serious, Jamie." he said. "This stuff...look. You worry about shit like cleaning the bathroom, like you just said. That's what's important to you. To the point where you won't even take a day off to take care of yourself. That's where your priorities are. Mine are...different. And you can't very well start learning this shit and helping me if you can't be bothered to even take care of yourself."

She bit back a groan herself. They were arguing again, weren't they? Wonderful. "Caleb, on the grand scale of things? You, and this?" she gestured towards the magic books, though she kept her gaze locked on him, "are a million times more important to me than my house being clean. The bathroom being clean? It doesn't matter. It's not life or death. I know that. But it's my responsibility," she attempted to explain, rubbing at her forehead. Wonderful, she was getting a headache. "And I don't back down from things I'm responsible for. Even if it's just stupid shit like fighting back a soap scum rebellion."

"Well, you've made it really damn clear that you're responsible for anything and everything around you including your house, so you know what? You can't really do both. You can't start fucking around with this shit, and stress yourself out over the little shit. It won't work. You'll have a breakdown before new years." he said. Not that he expected her to listen. He just hoped he'd make his point, or she'd at least think about it. He reached out to turn her shoulder so she was facing him more, then dropped his hand. "You can't do everything."

Her eyes narrowed at that, and she frowned at him. "And what would you suggest I drop, then?" Jamie asked lightly, quirking a brow at him. "And here's a hint, don't suggest yourself or I'm going to hurt you, Caleb." She paused, and added with obvious reluctance, "I keep the house clean for a reason, you know. Surprise social service visits go a lot more smoothly if the house is tidy."

"Then maybe you should stick with that." Caleb said. "Normal stuff, day to day stuff...though I still think you can let it go more than you do. You still don't take care of yourself. You're more important than everything else. And besides, I've seen your house. It's clean. It's one of the more tidy places I've ever been, it can stand to be slightly less stress-worthy than you're making it." He sighed and leaned his shoulder against the book shelf, feeling his shoulder twinge, but he ignored it as usual. He was looking at her, and things were sort of falling more into place. Her behavior on a whole and the way she'd acted last night as well as this morning. From a viewpoint that wasn't caught up in the middle of all of it, it all seemed to point to the same thing. He just wasn't happy with what it pointed at.

Jamie turned to scan her eyes back over the book titles, ignoring the continually worse sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. It took a long time for her to get her mouth to work, and in the mean time she'd picked a few promising looking books from the shelves. They didn't look like they oozed bullshit, for one. "Is there something else you're trying to say here?" she asked quietly, not looking at him.

He blinked at her, a little confused. "...um...that you need to take care of yourself? That you can't hold up the whole world and still expect to keep picking up more shit?" he suggested, obviously not entirely sure what she might be getting at. He sort of felt like he was missing something.

She shot him a wary look. Maybe she really was just paranoid. He knew more about her issues than anyone else, after all, so it was only natural she kept expecting for him to bail. Stupid abandonment issues. "I drop certain things when I pick up stuff, you know," she murmured, heading for different sections to browse now that she was satisfied with the spell books she'd selected. Of course, those mentioned 'things' were alone time and relaxation time, but... well, he'd already figured that out, hadn't he? And she'd chosen magic over music, too. Of course, music couldn't save lives...

"Says the girl who was just bitching about cleaning and having a full schedule." Caleb said, frowning after her. "I'm not stupid, you know." he added in a mumble. "You can play entitled all you fucking want, I'm not stupid, and you've made how you do shit really amazingly clear for anyone who cares enough to pay attention, which I happen to do."

"You really make me not want to tell you things, you know," Jamie muttered under her breath, picking up a promising looking title on supernatural entities. "Every time I actually say what's on my mind, we end up arguing over it." Her eyes continued to skim, lingering over a book on... elementals? What were those? Hm, sounded a little hokey... "I know you aren't stupid, Caleb," she said, her voice returning to normal volume. "I cut out relaxing for all of this stuff and we both know it. But if I hadn't met you? I still would have met Thom and Isaac. I would have joined their band. It would have stressed me out just as much, just in an entirely different way. I'd rather do this, and possibly help people," she affirmed, picking up the book on elementals to read the summary on the back.

People who had control over the elements? Lame. Back on the shelf it went. She still had a budget to keep in mind, after all.

Caleb stared at her, jaw setting and he crossed his arms, trying not to get upset. Wow was that ever not easy. "Well, tha's bullshit, Jamie." he said, and there was more of an edge to his tone than he'd intended, but he couldn't help it. "Fuck you if you think you're just going to stand there and act like it's nothing, and oh whatever, you're going to up and decide that you're not only not going to take care of yourself, but you're going to do even less of it than you had before! No, then, you don't get to help. Besides, you can't help if you don't take even the slightest bit of care of yourself. You won't be able to do it. Magic takes something out of you, you know. It's not bullshit you can just wave your hand and do, there's more to it than that. So if you don't do anything to help your own situation, you won't be able to pull it off, regardless of what I say. Not that you seem to care about that anyways."

She sighed, shifting to look at him, her gaze weary. "What are you going to do to stop me, Caleb? Not sell me books? There are other stores in town that cater to this stuff, you know." Jamie turned back to the shelf, frowning a little in thought. The second part of what he'd said did make sense, however, and that? Was troubling. But if it were true (and why wouldn't it be? it was perfectly logical in every sort of way), she'd need to make a change. Somehow she'd have to... well, what? What could she do differently? There wasn't anything in her life she could drop completely, not anymore. Groceries had to be bought, the house needed to be kept decently clean... It was really the one thing she could afford to relax more on, the housework. Fuck.

"God, what the fuck is wrong with you that you are incapable of giving even the tiniest bit of a fuck about yourself?" Caleb finally said, utterly exasperated. "That you're so fucking adamantly against it, that you're deliberately running yourself into the ground? Do you have any idea how hard that is to deal with from this end? I have news for you, it's not me dropping to my knees to shower you with praise for being so selfless. It's me wondering just how far you'll go before you drown yourself and if you even care what that'll do to those people you're so fucking determined to support."

"Oh yes, because that is why I do this. For praise and attention. The girl without friends runs herself ragged for adulation," she remarked dryly. Jamie picked another book, this one about demons. Demons were probably an important thing to learn about. It just made sense, really. "Has it ever occurred to you that I am the way I am because it's all I know how to do? I've never done anything differently, Caleb. I've been this way since I was a little girl. I take care of other people. It's what I do. It's what I've always done. It's what I plan to continue to do until I die," she explained, her voice surprisingly steady as she spoke. Nothing anyone could say could ever call that part of her into question.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm happily planning to let the housework slack for magic's sake. It's more important, after all. If it needs more energy, then I'll have more energy." And she would. Because she had to. This was officially insanely important to her. Other things had dropped down her importance list after last night's demonstration.

"Well maybe it's time you learned something else, because I don't really want to watch you self-fucking-destruct. Not even in the name of 'taking care of others' when you neglect yourself universally. It's bullshit, and it's painful." Caleb snapped, and he walked away. A moment later there was an abrupt clatter as a chair got kicked over, and he had to tell himself he couldn't actually leave the shop. He was working, he couldn't bail right now even if he wanted to. He just couldn't see at all what the fuck she was doing. He'd known before that it was rough to get her to do anything to help herself, but this was getting ridiculous. Or maybe it always had been, he'd just been able to force herself into having fun once in a while, or relaxing. He just knew he couldn't do that every fucking day. He didn't really have it in him to fight with her tooth and nail on it every fucking time. And with the way she was talking? She planned on making him. In that entitled, 'it's for everyone else's good!' sort of way. Did she not get that seeing her like that pretty much did the exact opposite? And that she couldn't keep up taking care of everyone when she didn't take care of herself? She'd crack, then...who knew what.

Hurray, arguments. She browsed a minute longer, giving him time to cool off and giving herself time to gather her thoughts. When she thought she had a good idea of what to say next, she approached him, carefully depositing her books on the counter. Jamie watched him for a minute, still considering her options. He was worried about her; genuinely worried, and upset. She didn't like that. It went against her nature to hurt other people, and her habits apparently bugged the shit out of him. She propped her elbows up on the counter, resting her chin in her hands, a thoughtful forming on her face. "I'll take off one day a week, and I won't do any chores on it," she offered quietly. "Just dinner stuff."

"You're sixteen. Not forty." Caleb said, nearby but he wasn't looking at her, he was glaring at the floor. Better the floor than her. "That's less time than people who work full time have. What the fuck are you doing that takes all day every day and you can't take any time for whatever you want to do? It's like you find responsibilities to pile on yourself." He wondered how she even managed to have time for him. Maybe she didn't, and he was just figuring that out now.

She grimaced, unhappy. "I'm not this busy all the time, you know. It's been a crazy week," Jamie pointed out, rubbing tiredly at her forehead. "I don't have full days like this seven days a week. Everything's just sort of piled up on me lately. I do take little breaks during the day. I spent hours with you on Wednesday acting my age, remember? Some days the most I do is vacuum and do the dishes. You've just seen me at my worst." And she was starting to think he couldn't handle it.

"You just said you'd take one day off." Caleb pointed out, finally looking back at her. "Like you couldn't possibly have time to do that more often. And I'm pretty sure that you meant that as in you'd do that only to make damn sure that everything you didn't do that day, you'd shove into another day." He stood there and looked distinctly unhappy at her. "Yeah, you spent time with me and managed not to behave like a mother for ten minutes, and now you're stuck stressing yourself out over everything today. Maybe I am just seeing you at your worst, but either way, it needs a serious overhaul."

Frustration welled up in her then, and she shook her head. "Then what do you want me to drop, Caleb? What do you want me to not do? Sure, I can let the housework go a little more. I already said I would do that, unless you just completely tuned me out when I said it. But I can't let it go completely, because there's nobody else to do it. I can't not make dinner, because, again, there's nobody else to do it! The checkbook has to be balanced, the bills have to be paid on time, thank fucking God Grandpa has a retirement fund and gets social security because otherwise I'd need to have a job! His medicines have to be picked up, someone needs to make sure he takes them, there's doctors appointments to think of, and on top of that I'm trying to get decent grades in school! None of that is optional! What would you do?" Jamie snapped, glaring at him. "What magical solution do you see to my problems, oh knight in shining fucking armor?"

"You need help." Caleb said. And not in a 'men in the white coats' sort of way. "You can't do it all yourself. And maybe you think you can, but you can't. Jesus, you're sixteen and you were so tense the other day you couldn't move. Do you think that's normal? In the remotest sense of the word? Because it's not." Not that he was a shining example of normal, but then again he wasn't human, either, now was he? "The medication stuff. You can have that shit sent to your house. That'll cut out one thing." he said. That was the first thing he could think of that had a solid solution.

"Okay, that's one thing," she agreed with a nod. Jamie scrubbed tiredly at her eyes, miserably unhappy. Why did they always argue? It just made her feel worse about her day... God, she just wanted to leave. But she wasn't going to, not without the books first. Nuh uh, she was standing her ground there. She had to have those, and she wasn't going to leave until they were hers.

He sighed heavily, and looked at her for a long time before he relented some. "I'm worried about you." he finally said, voice quiet. He hadn't gotten any closer to her, but he looked less angry. Mostly because he was worried. That's where it all came from. It wasn't based in agner to begin with.

"Which is why I haven't told you to go fuck yourself," she sighed, looking at him with sad eyes. "I know you're worried, and I don't like that, so I'm trying to make you less worried. I'm trying to compromise. I'm listening to what you have to say, Caleb, if you haven't noticed that yet. Less housework, get the meds delivered to my house. I can do those. I can even manage a day off a week, minus dinner stuff." What else could she possibly do?

Caleb walked up closer to her, half leaning on the counter next to her. "Two." he said. "So then you at least have some semblance of a normal work schedule. Two days and that other stuff and I'll be happy." For now. That was subject to change, but if he could get her to agree to that, then it was a start.

She hesitated at that. Two would... be really bad. She'd be a lot busier on the days she didn't have 'off'... And... "I won't be able to do that when school starts back," Jamie murmured, reluctant. But she was going to be honest, damnit, and telling him that was honest!

He sighed. "But can you til then?" he asked, looking over at her, brown eyes settling on hers and remaining there. Absently, he was scratching at the slashes on his left wrist. He usually poked at injuries or the like when he wasn't paying attention, his concentration somewhere else. Like now it was on her.

Jamie reached out to grasp the scratching hand in both of hers. "Stop," she murmured, running her thumb along the back of it soothingly. Her eyes dropped down to the floor, to gaze at her sandalled feet and his shoe cased ones. She wiggled her toes absentmindedly as she considered his request. "I can until school starts," she finally agreed, her voice soft.

He twitched, but didn't try to take his hand back from her, reminding himself that that was normal for her to be doing, and all that shit. "Okay." he agreed, letting it drop at that. It was something, and that's what he'd wanted. So...okay. "Thank you." he added quietly.

She leaned forward and planted a soft little kiss on his cheek, then dropped his hand and took a step back. He liked space, and didn't like touching. She wasn't going to push it. "S'pose tomorrow's my first day off, then, since I already did chore stuff today," Jamie murmured, drawing her brows together in thought. But I'm supposed to cook with Anne tomorrow. Does that count as a chore? she asked herself.

He half leaned into her wake a little, just the slightest bit. He let her go, though, after she walked away a bit. His eyes followed her, however. "That's good then." he said. "What do you want to do with it? Nothing? Nothing's good for days off."

If she noticed the lean, she didn't comment. "I suppose so," she replied, shrugging lightly. It wasn't like she had friends now. Caleb was her only real social connection, now that she'd gone and completely destroyed her friendship with Isaac. "I don't know what else I could do. I guess I'll just read." And she didn't want to pull the clingy girlfriend routine on Caleb. Guys hated that shit, supposedly. Besides, he obviously had other friends, and she didn't want to mess with that.

"You could do anything you wanted." Caleb pointed out. "There's thins place called 'outside' too, it's neat, you should go there sometime." he said, light hint of teasing in his tone, and he gave her the hint of a smile. "Or swimming, there's a big lake around here somewhere. Or walks are good. Movies are too."

Jamie made a cute face at him, sticking out her tongue as she did so. "I know that!" She just... didn't want to do any of those things alone. Not really. Reading at home alone was okay. Going for a swim or to the movies? Not so much fun by yourself.

The face she made got him to smile more at her. "Well, you just seemed to have not a lot planned, so I thought I'd give you some options...but okay, if you don't want to go to a movie with me, I can't force you. It's your day off..."

She blinked at him in surprise, feeling suddenly warm all over. "You... really?" Jamie asked, pleased and eager and amazed all at once. "Of course I want to go!" I just didn't want to go all clingy girlfriend on you...

He laughed a little bit at her reaction. "Yeah, I really want to go..." he said, shaking his head at her. "Why is that so amazingly surprising?" he asked curiously, head tilting to the side as he regarded her.

She hesitated again. "'cause I've been so crazy today," she admitted, her voice tiny. "And I didn't want to do the clingy girlfriend thing and ask to see you tomorrow," she added, fidgeting and suddenly feeling very silly. "Guys like space, right?"

Caleb shrugged. "I don't know. I don't have a lot of experience." He didn't point out that he thought Jamie's idea of guys in general seemed utterly whacked to him. He couldn't exactly say he was an expert on women, either now could he? Nooooo. No he couldn't. Thinking about her statement, about the being crazy today, he had to agree. Things seemed...weirdly normal now or had until the fight--but then that had been about something they'd fought about before so maybe that was normal too. For them, anyways. It was a theory.

She felt oddly relieved now. They weren't fighting, he had smiled at her, and even laughed... Things seemed... normal. That was good, right? "Okay, so... movies tomorrow." Jamie beamed at him, feeling oddly giddy. And girly. Oh God, what was she gonna wear? It was her first real date, after all...

Caleb walked up closer to her, then leaned in, til he gave her a little brush of a kiss on the lips. Then he leaned back again, heading behind the counter once more. "Anything but a romantic comedy." he added as his condition.

Ooh, happiness. If little hearts could fly from her head, they so would have. Jamie leaned back against the counter, propping her chin in her hands as she watched him curiously, a faint blush on her cheeks. "I wouldn't do that to you, honey. I can be nice on occasion," she assured him, a happy little smile playing at her lips. "Scary movie? Or something with explosions? I don't mind either..."

Making a face at her, he started looking at the books she'd picked out. "Either works for me. Though most horror I find more funny than anything. After a while of knowing what's out there...a lot of it's pretty laughable." And after staring down shit that you really thought was going to kill you (and nearly did) somehow seeing things on screen that were supposed to be scary monsters n shit just didn't work well.

She smiled faintly at that, expression a little sad from the reminder. "I guess that makes sense," Jamie agreed, toying with her hair. She didn't really care for scary movies anyways, unless they were the psychological horror types. Gore was boring. "I can watch just about anything but romance. Chick flicks make me gag."

Caleb smirked at her. "Hey, we may have found something we won't argue about." he said, teasing. They argued about everything else under the sun. Might be nice to have something they were in whole hearted agreement on.

She laughed a little at that. "Well, so far we've only argued about important stuff. Makes sense that we click on all the little things, right? If we argued all the time, well, we'd eventually crack and kill each other." She paused, her expression growing somber though her eyes grew playful. "That would be very bad. I don't think you'd like me to stab you."

"Not particularly, being stabbed sucks." Caleb said. And unfortunately, he knew that not just from having an IQ higher than 5. He knew that because he'd been stabbed before. There was a whole lot of sucking on that. "So let's skip that part. Unless you were going to stab me like, in my sleep. That might be okay, but it would have to be the kind where I didn't wake up, one blow, dead. I think that works."

"Babe, if I ever did get mad enough to kill you? Trust me, I would not be merciful enough to let you go in your sleep. I would make it as painful as I possibly could," Jamie assured him with a little grin. "I am nowhere near nice enough to let you off easy."

"I didn't figure I'd be lucky enough to ever go in my sleep anyways." Caleb said, still smirking at her. Yeah, he'd die in a brawl sometime, either out gunned by something better than he was, or backlash. Either way it wouldn't be pretty or peaceful. It'd be much more likely to be a 'had to be identified by dental records' sort of thing.

Sigh. She could tell, even despite her joking, that he wasn't. "You're being morbid," she accused him lightly, reaching out to poke him between the eyes. "Stoppit." And then she changed the subject. "I tried not to pick any bullshit books. What do you think? You know more about this than I do, obviously."

He made a face at her. "I'm allowed to be morbid. I'm always morbid. It's my lot in life." Caleb said, then he looked at the titles of the books she'd picked out, and even flipped through them. "They don't look too bad. I don't know for sure, Dorian would be better able to help you pick stuff out that was more useful, but they don't look like they're overflowing with money spells or love spells. Bullshit like that."

Jamie shuddered at the thought. "Ugh, love spells. What are people thinking?" she complained, frowning. "God, I wonder if my mom ever tried anything like that. She'd do anything if she thought she'd find her soul mate," she muttered under her breath, eyes darkening. "Especially if she thought she'd find her soul mate, actually..."

Caleb continued glancing through the books. "What, you saying you wouldn't want to find your soul mate if you thought you could?" he asked, glancing up at her. His eyes remained on her for a few heartbeats before he returned them to the books.

"No. I'm girly like that. I want true love and my soul mate, and I believe in it, too," she admitted without hesitation. "But it was my mother's life goal. For her, it was everything. Nothing else mattered except for finding him." Jamie shrugged her shoulders again, sighing. "And she never did. Spent her whole life looking, and then she died." Killed herself. "I don't think you can find anything like that by actively looking, or doing some hokey little spell. It just... happens."

"There's a lot you can do with magic, so don't immediately discount shit on being hokey before you see what it's actually capable of." Caleb said. He didn't know what to say on the soul mate thing. He still wasn't clear on if he even had one as a half-demon. Though Mathias probably thought so. Or did. Something like that. The jury was still out for Caleb, though.

"Even if you could, though... should you do something like that?" Jamie questioned, raising her eyebrows. "Is it an unnatural method of finding love, or is it just destiny that you were supposed to cast the spell at that time and meet with your soul mate?" She shrugged, a little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "It's interesting to think about, I s'pose. Depends on a lot of stuff, like if things really are predetermined to that degree... And if there is such a thing as soul mates. Maybe love spells just attract someone compatible to you? Maybe it's not that real, true, bone deep soul mate love." She paused, shooting a considering look at the spell books. "Suppose, really, the only way to find out would be to try it for yourself."

"Well if you're looking at it like that," Caleb started, eyeing her. "Then everything magical is unnatural. Say you put a protection spell up and it works. What if that person was supposed to get invaded by vampires and killed horribly? Wouldn't it be unnatural to have saved them then?" he asked. He smiled a little. This was the kind of discussion he could get into and reminded him of the one they'd had about religion. Talking--part of the reason he liked her in the first place.

Jamie paused, considering. "That's a good point... but technically you could argue that a vampire is unnatural in the first place. So would the unnaturalness of the magic spell be canceled out by the unnatural prescence of the vampire for balance?" she questioned ponderously. It seemed very strange to be discussing supernatural philosophy, but it was nice to actually be discussing something instead of arguing.

"That would depend on your definition of unnatural." Caleb said. "They're around. Have been. Who's to say they are unnatural? They might not be. They might just be a facet of the world that most people don't understand because they've been taught not to believe in it. Okay here's a question. Take demons. Would you consider them unnatural?" he asked. He focused his full attention on her, not really showing that the question was important to him and not strictly speaking hypothetical.

"No." She shrugged her shoulders, silently wondering just what really did exist in the world. She was starting to think it was a very long list. "Why would demons be unnatural? If you call demons unnatural, you'd have to call angels unnatural, too. They're two sides of a coin, aren't they? They bring balance. I was thinking more along the lines of vampires being unnatural since they're technically dead."

"Exactly. They wouldn't be. And so they're dead. A lot of things are dead. Spirits are dead too. They're not unnatural. They're just something that happens sometimes. Depends on your point of view. Would you say werewolves are unnatural?" he asked. How'd they get on this topic again? He couldn't remember. At least it was interesting.

She prodded him lightly in the chest with her finger, trusting her memory not to jab him in an injury. She'd practically mapped his chest in her head last night, anyways... "Now that's an unfair question. Are we talking movie werewolves here?" Jamie questioned. "I don't know as much about this stuff as you, but if werewolves are the same in life as in movies, with the biting kind of lycanthropy, that seems a little unnatural to me. Not that I'd scream and run away from a werewolf or anything. It's not like they asked for it."

"If werewolves were like they were in movies, you'd be stupid not to scream and run because they'd be chasing you down to gut you." Caleb pointed out. "And again, same thing. Something passed on. But so are colds." he said, he was giving her a grin now, enjoying the conversation.

Jamie laughed, grinning a little herself. "I meant the human form, dummy. I wouldn't scream and run away from the human form of a werewolf, but I would run from the actually werewolf form. I'm not going to try to pet something that's going to want to eat me!" She made a little face at him for the 'colds' comment. "I somehow think a werewolf would be very offended to hear that comparison."

"I dunno, depends on the werewolf." Caleb said. "The theory's still sound. Movie-werewolves get it from a bite, so do vampires. Passed on like a virus. That's just fact, it's not like I'm making it up." he said, chuckling. "That said I don't know that much about werewolves 'cept that they exist, and you do not want to fuck with them."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "So you're not secretly a werewolf or anything like that, right? You'd tell me if you were?" After a pause, she added with a little smirk, "Obviously you're not a vampire, unless the movies lie and they can walk around in the daylight. And there was a distinct lack of blood sucking on your part last night, unless I've been hypnotized to forget," Jamie said teasingly.

Caleb smirked. "Did you forget the part where I've got a heartbeat and there's breathing and blood flow and everything..." he said. "No. Not a vampire. I was attacked by a few in my time before though. So that sucks. I don't recommend it. I'm also not a werewolf. If I was, I'd have a pack or something, I think. The ones I saw back home traveled in packs." Which was something you never ever messed with. One werewolf was bad. A whole pack? They'd be picking up what was left of you with a sponge.

Jamie prodded him again, more playfully this time. "It could have all been an elaborate illusion to trick me into being your main nibble for all I know. I'm a supernatural virgin, how would I know what a vampire can do?" she asked, innocently batting her eyelashes.

That struck him for some reason. The little innocent act. Even if it was total bullshit? It was...compelling. He snatched her hand, since she kept poking at him with it. "My main nibble?" he asked. Technically I think they're referred to as 'blood dolls'. he thought, but didn't add. He didn't want to be accused of being morbid again. He leaned part way over the counter to eye her neck critically, then reached out with his free hand to push her hair away from it. "Hm. You do have a pretty neck." he conceded. "If that's what I'd been trying to do, would you have let me?"

That sent a little thrill all through her. She tilted her neck obligingly to give him a better view. "Sure, why not. A vampire's gotta eat, right?" she asked teasingly. And hopefully this wouldn't turn into an argument about whether or not she'd offer herself up as food to some random vampire on the streets. Hopefully he wouldn't believe her to be that naive... "And I happen to be quite fond of you. I think I'd be jealous if you went out to nibble on another girl."

Caleb had to bite back a laugh at that, and he leaned farther over the counter to breathe along her neck. Just a little, not making contact at all. "Yeah? You'd want me to starve unless I was feeding off of you?" he asked, light amusement in his tone. "Interesting. But you would let me. It'd probably hurt, you know. and you'd have little marks...right about here-" he said, and brushed the lightest of kisses over her neck by where her pulse beat. "And here." another, just a tiny bit farther up her neck.

A shiver went all through her at the contact. Ohh, he was so not fair, doing that in public, in a bookstore! His brother would so not appreciate it if they made out behind the counter. Well, she was assuming he wouldn't, anyways. "I'm possessive like that," Jamie murmured, eyes sliding closed. "And marks wouldn't bother me. If you were a vampire, and I was your main nibble, I think I'd be pretty proud of them, actually..."

Caleb smiled just a little. Then he paused, before he tasted her skin, right where he could just barely feel her pulse beneath her skin. Then, before she could say anything, or do something silly like move, he nipped at her neck. Pretty sharply, actually, before he pulled back entirely, grinning at her. "Think so?" he asked, his turn to play innocent.

A little gasp escaped her, and when she felt teeth she had to bite back a full moan. It'd sent an intense jolt of heat directly into her belly, just that little nip. "Bastard," Jamie managed, opening her darkened eyes to glare at him playfully, though there was heat just under the surface. "You're not allowed to do things like that in public, ever again." Mostly because she wasn't going to jump over the counter and retaliate. Even though she really wanted to.

"But that's the fun part." Caleb complained, fully smirking at her now, evil little glint in his eyes. He liked the way it had made her look, a little color rising to her cheeks, and for just a second, she'd been quite clearly effected. "Out of curiosity, why not?" he asked, leaning back against the wall behind the counter, arms crossed over his chest as he regarded her.

She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring and pouting at the same time. "Because I'm not going to jump you while you're working, that's why. I don't think your brother would approve if a customer wandered in with us doing things behind the counter. Normally I'd retaliate for something like that, but I can't now so it's not fair!"

He laughed. "Jump me?" he asked. Then he shook his head. "You are a crazy girl, Jamie." he added. "I'll just have to look forward to seeing what kind of payback you come up with some other time then, I suppose." he finished, leaning forward again to eye where he'd nipped at her neck. He hadn't left a mark or anything, or well. Wouldn't. It was a tiny bit redder than usual at current, but they'd fade before she even left the store.

Jamie flicked his forehead lightly with her index finger. It was very small consolation, however. What was mild annoyance compared to him getting her all worked up in a book store? Ugh. "Count on it," she grumbled, traces of a pout still on her face. She wasn't so cooperative with her neck this time and didn't tilt her head for him. As if she was going to invite him to do that again! Hmph.

...well, she wasn't going to in the store...

He reached out and barely traced his fingertip over the line of where he'd bit her. "You know you'd have to wear a choker, or you'd have to answer all sorts of questions." Caleb said. He might have said something about her continual obsession with poking him but didn't. He was having too much fun playing with her.

She considered that, stamping down viciously on her urge to tilt her head to give him better access. No! She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. And she wasn't going to make any happy noises from the touch, either. She did, however, slide her eyes closed again. It was the only outward sign revealing how pleased the touch made her. "Hm. A choker, huh? I'd have to get one... I don't think I have any."

"Yeah, a choker. To cover the marks." Caleb said. "And if we're going cliche vampire groupie type style, it would have to be a gothic looking thing, with a wide..." he paused as he eyed her consideringly. "Black velvet band and like a bat, or a teardrop at your throat." he finished. "Or maybe a heart." Though the heart he thought of wasn't a valentine's heart. It was something a little...different. He did ghost his fingertips up her neck again then back down, smiling in amusement at her closed eyes.

A happy, quiet little hum escaped her, but she didn't really notice it, or the shiver that ran through her. "Sounds like you're planning something," Jamie noted vaguely. "Either that or you have a very active imagination..." That made more sense. Wasn't it a little early for gifts like that? Maybe she really didn't understand guys.

"Could be a little of both." Caleb said with a smirk. "I have a very active imagination." he added. "And I have been known to plot things." He shrugged. "Though the failing point is that I'm not a vampire, so I won't be marking your neck up. Unless of course you ask very very nicely."

Her eyes fluttered open and she turned to look at him with curious eyes. "I have to ask nicely? You mean you don't want to mark my neck up on your own? It has to be a favor?" Jamie asked, a playful pout forming. "Aw, I'm crushed."

Caleb smirked at her. "I try to curb my more animalistic tendencies. Are you saying you would actually want that?" he asked. Yeah cuz he hadn't noticed the reaction she'd given when he'd bitten her neck or anything. Really. Psh. He'd have had to be blind to have missed that.

She shot him a Look for that, crossing her arms over her stomach and leaning in close. "Gosh, I wonder," Jamie murmured dryly. "Honestly, Caleb, do I really come off as that vanilla that I wouldn't like to be nibbled on?"

"You realize that most girls wouldn't, right?" he asked. "That most girls want like, flowers and candy and teddybears and sweet things, and a guy to be all nice and sentimental..." Caleb liked the look. He stared tucking her hair behind her ear, making sure he brushed his fingertips along her jaw and down her neck again. "But apparently, not you." Then again, she'd also nearly jumped him the other night, so that whole 'nice girl' thing was already out the window.

Jamie smiled faintly, holding in a shiver as she planted a quick kiss on his cheek. He was in a good mood, and it seemed there was a green light for affectionate touches. "Well, I have to admit, I'd go all girly sentimental for some of that stuff. I'm a sucker for flowers," she admitted. "And you do have your nice, fluffy moments. But I'm really not like most girls." She was a hell of a lot more crazy, for one, but that fact had been established between them already. "I like the way we are."

He was under the impression that they were still figuring out the way they were. Unless argumentative, intense, playful, frustrating and insane were what they were going with. "No, you're not like most girls. You still don't quite look like the type that would be all for being bitten, though." he added. That sort of made him wonder what else she might be all for. Don't start thinking about that now. he told himself firmly. Caleb eyed her neck once more, then finally tore his gaze away to settle it on her eyes.

She ran a hand through his hair lightly, then ran a finger down his jaw, lingering for a long moment. She loved touching him, when he let her. "Looks can be deceiving, can't they?" Jamie pointed out, with a little half-smile on her face. She was under the impression he'd be quite surprised at what all she'd be willing to try. He did continue to underestimate her tolerance for craziness. Why would her tastes in relationship stuff be any different?

He nodded. "Yeah." he agreed. They could. Take him, for instance. He who could cause a shit load of trouble, and still possibly get out of it because people didn't really look at him and think 'troublemaker'. They overlooked him entirely or possibly thought he was harmless. He turned more towards her, then tipped her chin up, pushing down the slightest bit on her chin to part her lips, and he kissed her. Hard to resist with her right there, and of course with all the flirting going on. That was fun.

The kiss surprised her, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise. She cupped his cheek with her hand as she kissed him back, feeling that pleasant warmth fill her again. Thank God there was a counter between them. It saved her from having to worry about her brain melting and her doing something incredibly stupid like she had last night.

He deepened the kiss, in a slow sort of way, drawing it out, taking his time with it before he made sure he got a taste of her. Caleb tugged her a little closer via his hand having slid to the back of her neck, into her hair. She couldn't get a whole lot closer, obviously, but hey. Closer was closer.

Mm, she loved it when he did that. Jamie pressed up against the counter to get as close to him as she could, her thumb brushing lightly against his cheek. A soft, pleased little noise escaped her as she brushed her tongue invitingly against his. Kissing was officially one of her most favorite things to do. It definitely trumped breathing.

The sound she made almost did him in. Why that was so striking he didn't know, but it most certainly was. As the kiss he'd fully intended to break off by now and keep as something kind of light and slow went the completely opposite direction and got harder and more urgent, Caleb made an answering sound of his own, even if he wasn't necessarily trying to. It just happened, breathed into the kiss as his fingers tightened in her hair a little.

A little moan escaped her, and oh God she didn't want to stop, but... Jamie drew away reluctantly, as carefully as she could with his fingers so tight in her hair. She strongly suspected if the counter hadn't been between them, she wouldn't have been able to stop herself. She planted a softer kiss on the corner of his mouth as an apology, before turning her face to nuzzle against his neck. "We shouldn't do this here," she murmured softly in his ear.

He hadn't actually meant to have that get heavy. Really he hadn't. Oops. "Whispering into my ear doesn't really do much to deter me." he murmured back. He didn't move though, because yeah, really shouldn't be doing anything of the sort in the store. Though he didn't know if Dorian would really give him hell for kissing his girlfriend. Either way, though...yes. Bad idea, witness him stopping now. After he brushed another kiss over her lips, and one more, and he just managed to hesitate and not give her a third.

When he hesitated, she brushed a third kiss over his lips, then paused herself before giving a fourth. She let it linger for a long moment, desperately not wanting to stop before she pulled away completely and took a step back. She was starting to think she was an addict. "There. Self control," Jamie stated softly, though her voice shook a little. Going around the counter and pressing up against him was a very tempting idea right now. But she could be good! Really! Witness her not doing that.

Caleb made a little growl and thunked his head down on the counter. "Remind me not to do that again." he said, voice slightly muffled from his face being against the counter. He'd been frustrated as hell twice the other night, and he was being sharply reminded of that right now. "Self control." he repeated, giving a thumbs up sign, then finally looking up again with a sigh. "I should probably get around to ringing the books up, shouldn't I?"

Jamie stepped back up to the counter and ran her fingers through his hair again, soothingly. "'msorry," she apologized softly. She really wished there was something she could do for him. Something he would trust himself (and her) enough to let her do. But obviously, that wasn't going to happen in his brother's book store anyways. "But yeah, I guess that'd be a good idea," she agreed, smiling faintly, though there was still an apologetic edge to it.

He looked up at her then gave a little rueful half smirk. "Don't be sorry." he said. It was his own damn fault anyways, now wasn't it? Yes, yes it was. He pushed himself back up right and started ringing the books up. "Hopefully these ones won't be bullshit. I'll ask Dorian though, if there's anything else you should have." he continued. Talking! Talking and not at all thinking about other things. Really.

She smiled a little, though it was hesitant. It worried her, that nearly every time they kissed, something like this happened. What if she killed him with frustration? That would be bad. Very bad. Hopefully they'd figure out something... "That'd be great," Jamie agreed with a nod, wondering exactly what he planned to tell his brother about her.

He got all the books rung up and put them in a bag for her, telling her the total. And thankfully, he calmed down again. Note to self. A bunch of flirting topped off with heavy kissing isn't good for your health. he told himself. Really it wasn't. "You going to be taking off?" he asked.

Jamie handed him a credit card, propping her elbows back on the counter and watching him curiously. "You still need to eat," she pointed out with a little smile. "I'll leave after that." She wanted to make sure he didn't forget. Of course she knew he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, but it was just one of her mother henning things. Besides, she liked feeding people. It made her happy.

Caleb ran the card then handed it back to her, letting her fill out the receipt and all that noise. He then started in on eating...since he had actually forgotten about it with the distraction of her being there. But hey, lookit that. Food. Good food, even, which he informed her. "You really like feeding me, don't you?" he asked. Breakfast, now this...

She beamed sunnily at him, very pleased. "Yep! I'll probably feed you all the time, if you let me," Jamie said happily, leaning fully against the counter to watch him. "I'm all domestic like that. You'll just have to deal with it."

"You are the weirdest girl." he said, though it was an affectionate sort of statement. "You want to be bitten on the neck, and yet you also want to be domestic and feed me. I'm not sure where that evens out." Caleb remarked. "By the way, with the neck thing, you sure you want to stick with me? I mean I'm sure some vampire out there would just love to get their fangs in you." Mentioning that had him remembering that he knew what her blood tasted like.

She laughed a little, pleased. "I think I'll stick with you, thanks. I like mine warm and snuggly, not cold and old." Jamie smiled warmly at him, content to watch him eat. "And before you argue with me on it, yes, you are snuggly, when you aren't twitching yourself into a coma."

He had opened his mouth to argue with her, then he shut it and made a face. "I am not." he protested. "Not snuggly at all." Okay well maybe occasionally. When he was off guard. And that wasn't very often! Definitely not enough to consider him snuggly!

"You're snuggly," Jamie teased. "You so are!" She winked playfully at him. "Don't worry, honey, I won't tell anybody your secret. I'll tell everybody how much of a badass you are, not how cute you are when you're waking up in the mornings."

He groaned and thunked his head down on the counter again. "You're just mean." he complained. "Do I have to remind you that I'm not a puppy?" he asked. He didn't figure she'd ever remember that bit.

She smiled faintly, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "I know you aren't a puppy. Puppy kisses are a lot more sloppy and a lot less intense. You do growl like one sometimes, though."

Caleb looked up at her, giving a rueful little half smile. "Gee, thanks." he said dryly. "But you're right. Puppy kisses don't have that intensity. And if they do, I don't wanna know about it." he finished firmly.

"Ewww," Jamie said with a laugh. "That's gross." She made a face at him, though she was more amused than disgusted. "What do you think I do, go around kissing everything with a cute growl? Gosh." She did grab the bag off of the counter, though, finally. Progress! Maybe she'd eventually leave in time to make dinner.

He eyed her critically. "I don't know, do you? Or am I just special?" he asked. "When did you first want to kiss me?" he added curiously, not sure why he asked but there it was. Curiosity and all that. And since they were on the subject....

"Are we talking on the cheek or on the mouth?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows. Because that totally made a difference here. "And I do not go around kissing random growly things. You're the first person I've ever kissed, you know!" she grumbled, prodding him playfully in the forehead.

He swatted at her hand. "Knock it off, or find a different place to poke." he said. Then eyed her. "Both." he clarified. Because he did want to know. It was sinking in slowly that she said he was the first person she'd kissed, which had him sitting up straighter and blinking. "Wait, what?"

She sighed. It wasn't fair. Where else was she supposed to poke him? He was behind a counter, darnit. "I didn't date, Caleb, remember? That sort of rules out random acts of kissing, too, you know. I mean, kissing my grandpa on the cheek so doesn't count. You? First kiss. Ever." Jamie drummed her fingers on the counter, considering. "First time I wanted to kiss you on the cheek was in the grocery store, in the ice cream aisle... First time I wanted to kiss you on the mouth was in my bedroom after the bath incident," she mused. Those sounded right to her.

"Yeah, but c'mon, you never kissed anyone? Not even parties or the like?" Then he rolled his eyes at himself. "Nevermind, you didn't have time for things like that. Still. Hard to believe." he added. She looked kissable to him. Nowish, even. "Good to know." he finished.

Jamie's eyebrows rose at that, and oh was she now amused. "Good to know? Why is that good to know?" she questioned, and oh she was so not going to let him evade the question, either.

He made a face at her. "What? I just wanted to know when this might have stared for you, that's all." he said, looking fidgety and evasive. "A guy can be curious, can't he?"

Ooh, he was fidgeting. That made her feel sadistically gleeful. She was so mean to him sometimes... "Sure, but so can a girl. When did you first wanna kiss me?" Jamie asked, keeping her eyebrows raised. "And you weren't saying 'good to know' about me only ever having kissed you, were you?" she questioned, wanting clarification on that. Because she knew some guys were just insanely possessive like that and found that quality endearing, or something. It'd be nice to know early on if Caleb was that type of guy.

"Maybe." Caleb said evasively. "And I don't know. I don't think there was a specific moment, just...something there." he said thoughtfully. He couldn't pinpoint it. He supposed maybe he should be able to, but alas no.

"Maybe? Do you really think I'm going to let you get away with a maybe?" Jamie asked, now quite obviously amused. "I thought you knew me better than that, honey. I'm a little hurt."

"You're the one who told me about all the guys who randomly groped you." Caleb pointed out. "And sorry, it just seems weird to me, okay? Don't take it personally, you're a hot sixteen year old. I really probably shouldn't be the only guy who's ever kissed you. Not that I'm complaining."

"Random gropings, yes, but anyone who made a move for my lips got kneed," Jamie explained with an amused little smile. "I suppose I wanted to be possessive with my first kiss, or something. It just seemed like something worth saving for someone I cared about."

He looked at her for a long, long moment. "Was I worth it?" he asked. He made sure that his tone was unreadable, he wasn't jading her answer in any way. In truth, he really just wanted to know. And the honest answer, not anything more.

"Yep!" she answered cheerfully, without the slightest bit of hesitation. "I'm glad I waited." Because in her opinion? Nothing could have topped their first kiss. At all. There'd been nothing awkward or fumbly or gross about it at all. "I don't think I could have asked for a better first kiss, actually," Jamie added, her voice thoughtful.

That had him looking at her in that assessing sort of way once more. "Really?" he asked. "I figured you'd be the sort who would have pictured your first kiss to be something...sweeter than ours was. Y'know, something that involved being walked to your door after a date, not shoved up against a wall."

Jamie wrinkled her nose, displeased with the mental image. "Um... maybe that's what I wanted when I was thirteen, yeah," she said slowly. "But it would have been all fumbly and awkward, probably. And guys who kiss like that? I don't think I'd be able to consider any of them 'equal,'" she pointed out. "Not if they thought I couldn't take a real kiss."

"So, sweet sort of kisses aren't real?" Caleb asked, now chuckling as he was amused. "But what I did was." he clarified, finding this damn amusing. "How's that work exactly?"

"They're real, just not... intense, I guess. Passionate?" she mused to herself, not really sure how to explain it. "I can't see a sweet little kiss on my porch being as memorable as you pushing me up against the wall and kissing me breathless. And it wouldn't be anywhere near as intense, either."

Caleb listened to that and let it sink in, eyeing her with a little smirk. "So intensity and passion's what gets your attention. Anything else is bullshit?" he asked. Yeah that had his attention and he was far, far too amused. He thought what was truly memorable about their first kiss was it hadn't actually stopped. Like it hadn't been something that had hesitation to it, or pausing or much of anything, it just was...there.

She rolled her eyes, a little frustrated, but equally amused. "No, but that's what I wanted for my first kiss," Jamie clarified. "I didn't want some awkward, fumbly, shy kiss to be my first. I wanted intensity, and that's what I got. So I'm a happy girl." She propped her chin in her hands, eyeing him (and the smirk, ooh, so not fair!) closely. "I like our soft, slow kisses, too. I like all our kisses so far. Maybe I just like kissing you," she pondered aloud. And yes, now she really was being mean and retaliatory. Hopefully she'd get a twitch out of him for it.

"I can live with that." Caleb said. Though he was now rethinking this subject. Because it made him want to kiss her again. Which hey. She put herself into range what with the leaning on the counter thing. Therefore he thought that all was fair, considering. So he leaned back across the counter again, grabbed a handful of her hair at the back of her neck and gave her one of those aforementioned intense kisses.

Well, that hadn't been a twitch. It was much more pleasant. Jamie gasped against his lips, surprised by how sudden it was. Wasn't he just full of surprises today? From habit she moved as close to him as she could, pressing against the counter as she returned the kiss eagerly, matching his intensity.

He kissed her until he had to breathe, then gave her one more, before he released her and stood back again. A satisfied little smirk was on his features as he eyed her. He didn't say anything, just leaned back, arms crossed over his chest.

Jamie glared up at him, crossing her arms across her chest as well. "Bastard!" she huffed, but any anger in the word was negated by the pout on her face. "That was incredibly mean of you."

Caleb of course looked wholly unrepentant. "Why?" he asked. Nevermind that he'd told her what, like ten minutes ago? To remind him not to do that again because of the frustration factor. Which was of course fully back in swing, but he'd just not been able to resist.

Her cheeks flushed as she looked away from him. He wasn't the only one frustrated. "Oh, nevermind. I'll get you back for this," Jamie muttered darkly. "You just wait." Now she just had to come up with something equally or more mean...

He almost laughed at the blush, and her averting her eyes. "You know I think you've threatened that before and haven't actually got around to it." he pointed out. "But okay. Sure. You'll get me back some day. I'll keep that in mind." he said, not sounding scared in the least.

Grr. Jamie glared at him, for real this time, and dropped the bag of books on the floor. She walked calmly around to the otherside of the counter, grabbed him by his shirt and pressed him against the nearest wall. She paused long enough to offer him a sweet but sultry smile before pressing her body against his, and then she kissed him; slow and lingering, though no less intense than their others.

And before he could move to grab her or return it? She darted away from him, laughing gleefully to herself all the while. Payback was a bitch. Teach him to be mean to her!

Caleb decided that had in fact, paid him back. Because that hadn't even been mean. That had been down right cruelty. He groaned and looked at her, wincing. "I think we're even again." he said, refering of course to the score that they had going, which generally speaking did keep pretty even. Yeah. That really did level the board again. Jesus.

She smiled, very pleased with herself. Of course, there was a tiny bit of disappointment he hadn't grabbed her back, but they were in a book store, after all. And they were trying to slow things down, right? Right. So all was good, she'd gotten her revenge (and oh had it been sweet!) and clothes were still on bodies. "Teach you to be mean to me," Jamie scolded, wagging her finger at him playfully.

Pulling her back he was still considering. Seriously considering. It was less them being at the book store where anyone could come in any time and more wondering just how badly he was willing to frustrate himself in such a short amount of time. That was really a rough, rough question to answer. "Consider me taught." he said. "But c'mon. You wouldn't really want me to stop, now would you?" he asked. Quite distinctly, his memory recalled times when she'd told him specifically not to.

Jamie eyed him warily from her position a short distance away. Just out of reach, but she hadn't gone around to the other side of the counter yet. It wasn't really like she wanted to escape him entirely, anyways. "That's true," she admitted. "I do like it when you're mean. Sometimes," she amended quickly. "But sometimes it makes me want to hurt you. Fair warning. I might get mad and punch you next time you do it."

"Isn't that considered abuse?" Caleb asked, grinning at her. Not that he thought she'd do it. Or that she'd do any damage if she did. "Because that's illegal. And mean. What if you gave me a black eye? Would I have to start telling people I fell down the stairs?"

"Your face is much too pretty for me to punch you there," Jamie corrected him. "I was thinking more in the arm or the shoulder." And since it looked like she would be staying for awhile longer, she leaned against the counter again, her eyes roaming what lay there with mild interest. And, of course, she spotted the sketchbook right away. It was open, after all, and one of those windows looked suspiciously familiar. Hmm, interesting...

"Oh jesus fucking christ tell me you didn't just call me pretty." Caleb protested. Then of course he saw where her eyes had gone, and he moved quickly, stepping in front of it and putting his hands on her shoulders to try to direct her out from behind the counter...maybe she'd not ask or something.

Jamie dug in with her heels stubbornly. Oh hell no, he wasn't going to chase her off that easily! "Yes, I called you pretty. If I'm hot, you're pretty, deal with it. And this is so not working, I already saw it! Spill, mister! You know I sing, why can't I know you draw?"

He winced. "Yeah but you are hot. That doesn't mean I'm anything, and definitely not anything that goddamn girly. I'm not girly. I am anti-girly. I'm even anti-girly with girls. Why do you think I like you?" he asked. "And...it's just sketching, it's nothing, can you drop it now?"

"You are anti-girly," Jamie agreed. Really, she'd called him pretty to mess with him. Apparently, it had worked. "You're quite handsome, though, so shut up," she added sweetly before reaching around behind him for the sketchbook. "Why don't you want to talk about this?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows curiously.

He immediatley moved into her way, back to the counter to block her and he tried to snatch her wrist. "Because it's stupid?" he suggested. "It's nothing interesting, I'm not even that good..." he continued.

She frowned intensely at him, allowing him to grip her wrist. She wasn't going to risk upsetting him by making another grab for it. "Why is your sketching stupid, and my music not?" Jamie questioned quietly. "They looked good to me," she insisted.

"Because your singing is amazing, and drawing is just something dumb I do when I'm bored?" he said. "Besides. Singing...that's something you can do. You can share that. My shit is just...lame. Trust me." he said. He was glad she'd stopped trying to get it though.

"You can share sketches, too, you know... if you'll let people see them." Jamie reached up with her free hand to run her fingers through his hair. "I don't think I'm going to trust you when it comes to you knocking your own shit. If I listened to everything you said, I wouldn't be touching you right now," she pointed out.

He looked down at her, sighing just a little. "It's lame." he tried once more. Not that he thought it would work, but it was infinitely more difficult to actually refuse her when she was that close, and doing something like playing with his hair, which he wouldn't admit but he kinda liked.

She smiled softly at him, twirling a strand of his hair around her finger. "Nice try, honey. Now gimme. I want to see." But she wasn't going to push him on it. If he really, truly, honest to God hated the idea of her seeing his work... she wouldn't push. She didn't want to risk upsetting him over something that was obviously important to him.

He sighed, and looked away, then let go of her wrist and moved away from between her and the counter, letting her take the book out if she wanted to. Caleb still didn't really want to let her see, but he didn't like people seeing in general. It was just the way he worked. Most people didn't know he drew in the first place. Ten was about it on that score. The sketch book she'd gotten him was nice though...it was the one he had there now.

Jamie picked it up carefully and moved to stand beside him, resting her head against his shoulder as she looked carefully at the sketches he'd worked on most recently. She recognized her own window, of course. She reached down with her right hand and threaded her fingers through his, hoping it would reassure him. "These are really good," she stated softly, giving his arm a little nuzzle with her forehead. "Why do you hide this? From anyone?" she questioned, brows furrowing lightly. "This is my window, right?" she asked, eyes moving to the one she recognized. Secretly, it thrilled her that he'd drawn anything related to her. It soothed away the last bit of doubt she'd had that he'd stuck with her only so he wouldn't upset the crazy girl.

He was really surprised about her being all...well, close and affectionate right then. He couldn't work out why exactly. He didn't necessarily mind, though. When she took his hand, he let her, telling himself not to twitch over the close proximity and all that, and he managed to keep it back. Nodding to answer her question, he sort of half looked down at the drawings over her shoulder, and tried to tell himself that taking the book and shutting it wasn't productive. "I don't know. It's just...stupid."

"It isn't," she insisted with an unhappy little frown. "It's really good, Caleb. I don't know a lot about art, but this? Is good. You have talent. You shouldn't hide it like this." Not that she was going to go all Nazi on him and go plastering his art all over town, oh no. But she'd maybe pester him to see what he'd been working on lately. It was her duty, both as supportive girlfriend and as a crazy girl with insane maternal instincts. She was a nurturer, damnit.

"Thanks." he said, a bit embarrassed, and the blush gave him away on that. It was faint, but present. "It's just something I do when I'm bored, or...I don't know." Brooding. Because he definitely did a lot of it when he was brooding.

She smiled faintly, reaching up to plant a kiss on his cheek. "I'm going to pester you on occasion to see some of your stuff," Jamie warned as she handed him back the sketch book. She figured he was already traumatized enough for the day. "Be prepared for it. But if you want me to keep it a secret, I will... even if I do think you should show other people."

He dropped the book on the counter, and flipped the page back so she could see the one he'd done earlier that morning. It was another window of course, since that had been the day's theme, this one was of an abandoned church in New Orleans, though. The stained glass window was broken in some parts and the bars twisted, making it look all wrong. Inside, there were dark shadows and the suggestion of a broken crucifix. He'd gone by that place a lot, even though it made him unconfortable. Caleb had really just...liked the window.

Jamie kept her head rested against his shoulder, offering him another little nuzzle as she gazed down at the sketch. "That's so... well, it's creepy as hell," she laughed softly, "but it's really cool, too. I can't believe you don't show this stuff off!" she murmured, amazed. "It should be a crime to hide this."

Caleb groaned a little and knocked his head down against the top of hers. "Now you're just saying shit." he said. "It's not that good." At least, he didn't think so. Definitely not as good as other people's could be. Hell, comic artists made a living with that shit, and theirs was way better. Or, some of them. Maybe not all of them. But still.

She reached up with her free hand to tug playfully on his ear. "Nuh uh. It is, so! Maybe if you'd show more people and get a few more opinions, you'd know I wasn't lying. And you're still young, too, so there's still potential to get even better with practice." Jamie gave his hand an encouraging little squeeze. "If you like drawing, you should go for it."

"I'm still young? What are you, my mother?" Caleb asked, rolling his eyes. He pushed her closer to the counter, shifting to more behind her. He drew in a deep breath of her hair, then reached up with his free hand to pull it over her shoulder off of her neck. He nuzzled at a spot on the back of her neck, then brushed a kiss over it. "That was the creepiest old church. Half of it was flooded, sunk into the earth. I liked it."

"If I'm your mother, what you're doing is illegal in every state but Mississippi," Jamie murmured, tilting her head obligingly for him. That felt very nice... "New Orleans?" she questioned, despite how very distracting he was being at the moment.

He nodded, using the motion to nuzzle her neck again, taking in the scent of her skin. "Yeah. It wasn't that far from where I lived. I used to go there pretty often. Usually when I wanted to be alone." At least during the day. The church wasn't exactly abandoned at night. Lots of shit went down there. Caleb pushed her a little more firmly against the counter, hands coming to rest on her hips. He kissed the back of her neck again, a brush of a kiss, but definitely there. Stop it stop it stop it...

Was he really expecting her to be capable of holding a conversation at this point? God, she hoped not. Her hands slid down to rest atop his, and a soft, pleased, incomprehensible murmur escaped her at the feel of lips on her skin.

He wasn't, in fact, expecting her to hold a conversation. He pushed against her just a little, and kissed her neck again, with the lightest scrapeing of teeth against her skin. Yeah. Really really really he needed to quit this. Like, nowish. And he would! In just a second.

She was beginning to notice a pattern here... namely her being pinned between him and immovable objects, such as walls and counters. Not that she minded, because she was definitely enjoying the feel of his body against hers. And she had absolutely no escape plans, so this was very nice. A throaty moan slipped out of her when she felt teeth. Oh, that so wasn't fair! She clutched onto his hands tightly, leaning back against him for more physical contact.

Okay he was enjoying this far too much. Way, way too much. For some inane, stupid reason this was all striking him as incredibly erotic and yes--stopping needed to happen now. He didn't actually do that, he repeated his actions once more. And really probably would have done more, like bite her harder but then the door to the shop opened up, and he backed off fast, back against the wall behind the counter. At least the counter couldn't be seen immediately from the door...and the person who'd come in was digging through her purse. Godfuckingdamnit.

The sound of the door had her jumping and her heart leaping into her throat. But damn, if Caleb wasn't fast. He was nearly a foot away before her mind could even register what had happened. Jamie felt heat very quickly flood her cheeks as she turned around to face him, a guilty look on her face. That was way too close for comfort. Uh, yeah, she was going to take that as a sign that she needed to get going. "I should go anyways," she murmured quietly, pressing a very quick kiss on his cheek and darting to the other side of the counter to grab her bag.

And to try to pass herself off as just another customer, and not as the guy behind the counter's very flustered girlfriend. Of course, anyone with a brain and two working brain cells could put together from her reddened cheeks that something had been going on between the two of them.

Caleb sighed and took everything back off the counter to put beneath it again. "Later, Jamie." he called after her. Working. Yes. Right. Damnit.

She gave him a little wave. "See you tomorrow. Stay out of trouble." Jamie made it to the door before pausing, looking over her shoulder at him in contemplation. "Or else," she added, loudly enough for him to hear her over the distance. And then was out the door, heading for home and trying to calm herself down. Well, at least she wasn't the only one having trouble controlling herself...