TOO*LATE // too*late

[selly]

Dodge.

Yeah. I got soul.

A tall-ish raven-haired girl skipped out of her house joyfully and slammed the wooden door behind her. As usual, the sound of a dish crashing to the floor and smashing into a gazillion pieces could be heard from inside the house, as well as a few muffled words from the parents who wouldn't care less about her.

Selene purposely stepped into the mud outside her house and walked all over the lawn before leaving the house to find somebody. That somebody was really truly very important to her. Without this person, she was nothing except a person without personality, without feelings. Okay, maybe she had exaggerated a bit, but still. This girl was important to her.

She was going to see Dodge.

She didn't know why, really. Maybe just that the last time they spoke there had been a massive argument about Aidan Connolly and how bad he was for Dodge, and for Dodge, how harmless and without bad intentions she was. She had this bad feeling that if they ever got married, she wouldn't be invited to the wedding. But knowing Dodge... maybe she would forgive Selene. She really hadn't meant to make Dodge so mad that she left school before it ended.

Her large, crystal blue eyes were complimented by the light blue shirt with beautiful long sleeves she had on. The sleeves had zippers. It was pretty nifty, because when it was hot, you could stuff them into your pocket. And the design on it was Medusa. How cool was that? Along with it were dark, almost black jeans that covered her worn sneakers. She looked rather innocent, like a twelve year old girl walking to school. On the contrary, she was not innocent at all.

Huh.

She wasn't quite sure where the inn was. Was it left there, then turn right, or right and then left and right again? Selene whirled around, trying to find a sign or even a tourist, although who would want to come to Sanglineé? and just decided to go with her gut instinct.

Hey. She had found a shortcut! Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was the normal road and Selene was being stupid, Did it matter? She had found it! Selene whooped in triumph and almost walked in, before remembering to wipe off the mud on the soles of her sneakers. She really had to think before she did. She scraped and scraped and scraped, then burst into the inn, calling Dodge's name.

'Dodger-Dodge-Dodge! I have a surprise for you!' Oh yes, she did. She had bought chocolates for Dodge. And if she took them she would have to share. And if she didn't take them... they belonged to Selene, then. She deserved them. Really. She had wandered around just to find Dodge and give her chocolates. She reached into her sling bag and pulled out many random things, like a dart board and a small frog. Then she took out the chocolates and crammed everything back into her bag.

And she hadn't bothered to look for Dodge. Not even at the reception desk. Lazy girl.

[Nona Constantine]

The last Voice Dodge had expected to hear echoing through the halls of the inn was Selene’s. She hadn’t really hung out with her since that day… about a very long five weeks ago. Dodge had lost her temper with her friend and blamed her exhaustion afterwards, but the two girls hadn’t really spent time together since. They saw each other in the classes they shared, but they were so intense (or so Dodge used as an excuse) that they didn’t have much time to talk about anything other than the topic at hand. Selene never came to the inn, and Dodge never had time to go to Selene’s… not that she wanted to, with her parents there. Dodge had spent the best part of the last five weeks studying, babysitting, hanging around with Brandon, or catching up with Aidan.

Perhaps that was another reason Dodge didn’t really want to talk very deeply with Selene. Aidan was the exact thing they had argued about back then, after all. So when she heard the girl’s voice now, on this bright Sunday afternoon, Dodge almost choked. The girl did always seem to show up when there was gossip to be had, and lord knows Dodge had gossip. Turning back to her computer where her fingers had frozen over the keys, Dodge typed out two messages before logging out of her instant messenger.

twilight.kisses: shut up Connolly. I’ll kick your ass later. g2g. x

and

twilight.kisses: If you find it let me know. It must have fallen off last night at some point. I have to go though, but I’ll text you later. xxx

Gossip, indeed.

Thankful that she had opted for her black sweats that day instead of her carefully hidden baby pink ones, and not really caring about the black and green Pocket Dragons t-shirt she was wearing, she made her way from her attic room and down the several flights of stairs to get to the front hall. She grinned at her friend, half expecting the taller girl not to be there by the time she get down. She was expecting some angry traces from their argument to creep up on her the moment she set eyes on Sel, but nothing but happiness to see her friend swept over her.

“Hiya Jelly Selly, I didn’t think I’d see you here!”

It was the truth. She couldn’t remember Sel ever coming here, to be honest. They always met half way between their houses, in the park or just in school. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least. Plus, now Dodge had someone to talk to about what had happened the night before. Surely (hopefully?) Selene would be thankful that it was Brandon she was shacking up with at least.

[selly]

SHORTNESS!

Selene almost bounced with happiness. They were speaking again! Her blue eyes filled with happy tears. A bit dramatic, but that was Selene in a nutshell. The happyhappy crazycrazy nutcase person. 'I have chocolate! There's caramel and nutmeg and hazelnut and almond and nougat and there's milk and white and dark and bitter and orangey and everything and it's German too!'

Then she took a breath.

'And there are seahorses and sea shells and fans and kimono designs! They're so awesome youhavetotry them.'

And then she stopped, watching Dodge with eager eyes.

“Hiya Jelly Selly, I didn’t think I’d see you here!”

Lene smiled. 'Me neither! I had no idea where this was so I followed my gut instinct and wandered around for 15 minutes or so trying to find the inn and then I found it. Awesome, right?'

It wasn't odd to find Selene rambling, really. But this time she was having verbal... how could you say it? Verbal diarrhea. Yeah. It was rare, and it didn't happen with almost everyone. Usually she could keep her cool and say very little. but this was outrageous! verbal diarrhea was badbadbad.

'ANYWAY. What's going on?'

[Nona Constantine]

Dodge bounded across the terracotta tiled floor of the hallway towards her friend and threw her arms around her shoulders. Everyone knew Dodge to be affectionate; perhaps overly at time, and with Selene there was no exception. She pulled her into a huge, tight hug and held her there for a moment or three before letting go. Well, she did bring chocolate! Dodge took a half step backwards and took the box from Selene’s grip. If the contents were as impressive as the packaging they were in for a treat. She carried the brown and pale green silk covered box to the reception counter, sitting it down on the old desk’s worn surface. She lifted the lid and her senses were filled with the scent of the sweet chocolates. It was that good a distraction that she almost missed Sel’s explanation of how she got there.

“That’s so cool… though you do know that you’re about the only person in San that doesn’t know where this inn is, right? Even the newcomers know where we are…”

It was the truth, but it was still funny. The inn was a little bit out of the way from the main parts of town. It stood clear of the centre, a good ten minutes walk from the town hall at least, was slightly hidden by a smattering of trees and backed onto Yellow Pine Wood. Still, everyone knew where it was and how to find it. Everyone except Selene, apparently.

“Selene!”

Dodge looked towards the open breakfast room door when Maddie’s voice called Selene’s name. Maddie had met Selene a long time ago, when the girls had started school and first met, probably, and every time Maddie had been back to the inn since then she had met Sel once or twice again. How could she not? It was an unwritten law of nature; meet Dodge, meet Selene. Dodge grinned as her young aunt made her way across the hall and wrapped Selene in a one-armed hug, slapping a kiss to the girl’s cheek.

“Oh yeah, Maddie’s home,” Dodge added unnecessarily with a laugh before turning back to the chocolates. The moment she did, she spotted a slightly tanned hand with chipped red polish on its short nails dove un front of her and snatched a couple. Dodge growled playfully as Maddie laughed in triumph and headed back to the room she had come from, her primary goal in leaving it obviously forgotten in the presence of chocolate. Dodge snagged a white chocolate – her weakness – and popped it into her mouth with a slight sigh of satisfaction. She chewed before speaking, half hiding her full mouth behind her hand as she looked to Selene again.

“Do you wanna go out for a bit or stay and watch some TV? Or a DVD? Or Playstation,” she added the last in a whisper. The coveted Playstation was something not many people knew about. It was hidden in a drawer under the TV in her room, and no one but her closest friends knew she had it for the simple reason that she was still in high school. Well, in a town as small as this having hobbies such as Playstation or playing football, for a girl anyway, warranted undesirable reputations.

[selly]

Sorry it took so long.

Before she knew it, Dodge was giving her a literally strangling hug. Selene made a choking sound, then tried to breathe. It was a moment later, when Dodge let go and took the chocolates from her, that she could breathe. Selene took a few deep breaths, then smiled slightly. She should have expected this from Dodge. Really.

“That’s so cool… though you do know that you’re about the only person in San that doesn’t know where this inn is, right? Even the newcomers know where we are…”

Selene laughed. It was funny, if you thought about it. 'Yeah, well. Not like I get out much.' She snorted and walked over to Dodge, who was looking at the chocolates which had been placed on the reception desk. She admired them for a second or so, before her name was called by a voice. She had heard it before, but she couldn't quite place it. Could it be-

Selene looked up, clearly shocked, and she looked even more so as her suspicions were confirmed. 'Maddie!' Selene grinned as the older girl hugged her with one arm. Selene returned the embrace enthusiastically, saying, 'It's great to see you again!'

At Dodge's remark of Maddie being here, Selene chuckled and pulled away from the blond. At that moment, Maddie stole the first chocolate - and a few more - from the box. Sel snorted with laughter again, calling after the girl, 'That first chocolate was mine!' Her light blue eyes gleamed with laughter. This day was shaping up to be a pretty good one after all.

“Do you wanna go out for a bit or stay and watch some TV? Or a DVD? Or Playstation?”

Selene's eye's widened. When you mentioned things like, Playstation, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, even the GameBoy Color, there was no need for deliberation. The answer was right there. Selene whispered back, 'Playstation it is!'

She could SMELL the aroma of 'i'm gonna win' already.