LET THERE BE LOVE [lisa]

[CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT]

Caitlyn was kind of a stickler for time. She didn't generally mind when people were a little bit late, because she was late sometimes too and things happened (she kind of knew that better than anyone) but on the whole, she tried to stick as close to her schedule as she could. Doing this kept her sane, really -- when she had so many things to do and places to go, it was difficult to keep them all in order unless she was that serious about the times on the schedule. Often, this meant running from place to place kind of haphazardly, very frazzled and a little bit rushed all the time. Caitlyn thought she did a pretty good job of managing her schedule, all things considered. Either way, she figured that the times were there for a reason and so she should really just follow them, and save herself the panic later of messing or being late for something.

Sleepovers, of course, were a little less serious than her general schedule: class, work, sometimes volleyball, otherwise more work, homeowrk, sleep and eat if she got the chance to. She wasn't quite crazy and anal enough to have a schedule planned out just for hanging out with friends, but she did of course like to have estimated times of arrival, so that she knew when it was time to at least put away her studying and clean things up a little. She had gotten this all done relatively early, anyway. The apartment still wasn't what most people would call neat, but at least her things were put away and what-not. Truthfully she didn't think Lisa would care too much, but still, she would try to be a good host. Lisa was supposed to be there at half past two, so by around 2:20 or so Cait was ready and just relaxing, sitting back and idly watching some kind of show that she didn't know the name of on TV.

The show ended, however, and then there was another show, and really, even Caitlyn would think she was neurotic or something if she started worrying about Lisa's location when it was just five minutes late. Then it was half an hour late, though, and Caitlyn frowned a little bit. Well, that was a little confusing, but not too bad. Soon enough, however, it was a few minutes past three thirty, and Caitlyn turned the TV off and went to fetch her phone, a look of deepest concern on her face. Where was Lisa? Sure, she was late kind of all the time, but this was really late and Caitlyn generally liked to at least hear word when people were running late or something. As feared, there was no such message on her phone when she checked it.

What if she got lost? Or kidnapped?! The thought was more than a little disconcerting and she tried to shake it off as best she could, but it was Lisa. The girl was intelligent but, Caitlyn thought, pretty naive, and oh my, that was just bad news. Cait didn't live in a dangerous part of the city or anything, but oh no, anything was possible. Her eyebrows knit together as she scrolled through her contacts to find Lisa and then hit 'Call'. She hoped the girl would pick up... She was disappointed, however, when in fact Lisa didn't. Caitlyn stared at the phone blankly for a second as if expecting it to burst into flames, then shook her head and decided that the only good course of action would be to try again. Luckily, this time her friend actually picked up the phone. "Lisa!" The relief was obvious in her voice. "What's up? Are you okay? Did you get lost?" Okay, so Caitlyn worried a little too much sometimes. She actually normally didn't, and just left people to their own devices, but sometimes she felt like she needed to check in on Lisa. The girl was lovely and sweet but not necessarily... uh, dependable.

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Lisa was horrible with keeping track of time. She rarely was ever able to focus on her surroundings! It was a habit she figured she needed to fix, especially at her age. Lisa just never seemed to stick to it; she either forgets, blows it off as something unimportant, or convinces herself her habits didn’t need to change. But they did, so badly. Especially now, since she’s been standing in the ice cream aisle for over twenty minutes, trying to decide between strawberry, chocolate, or all the other wacky flavors there were in the world. She preferred the classics herself, so mint chip or cotton candy didn’t seem appealing to her. Lisa should probably hurry up. Even in her state of daze, she felt a small sense of urgency tugging at her in the pit of her stomach. What was she supposed to be doing right now? … oh, yeah. She was supposed to be at Caitlyn’s house… oops, ten minutes ago. Oh, well. Caitlyn could wait, right? Wrong. Lisa giggled to herself as she corrected herself immediately. Caitlyn was rather… how do you say it? Punctual. Everything had to be on time or else she’d go nuts with worry, which always happened between the two of them. Lisa never really understood it and most times she liked to joke around with her friend for being purposefully late to their plans. You’d think that she was trying to give her friend a heart attack.

Strawberry? No. It was a bit too sweet. That’s what the point of ice cream was, right? To taste sweet in your mouth. But then again, chocolate. A classic favorite, but because it was classic and predictable, Lisa hesitated to buy it for her and Caitlyn’s slumber party. What kind of ice cream did Caitlyn like, anyways? Did she even eat ice cream at all? Sometimes Lisa worried for the girl. Being as busy as she was, she rarely ever ate and that just wasn’t healthy, which was why Lisa, too, worried for the girl. It was a circle of looking out for each other and also stressing over the other’s habits. But hey, that’s what friends did.

She paid no mind to the buzzing in her pocket as she was too focused on the ice cream. Should she just get both? That would solve her dilemma. But what if they didn’t finish it? Decisions, decisions, decisions. Lisa was never good at making them. Hmm. Maybe she should’ve picked up Caitlyn and they could’ve gone shopping together. Caitlyn was her rock. She made the decisions, quick and easy. Lisa just stood there, unsure of everything. Another buzz in her pocket did pull her from her thoughts, however, and slid open her phone, pressing it against her ear. “Hello?” she greeted absentmindedly, her eyes scanning the ice creams again, though she cringed when Caitlyn called her by Lisa. She knew things were about to get down when she used that name. Lisa was right, too, as she heard the younger Earth’s frantic voice over the receiver. What, was she that late? “I’m just a little confused,” she said honestly, though in this context it could be taken various ways. She just meant it in “what kind of ice cream should I get?” kind of way. “Perhaps I should—oh, wait! Maybe this gentleman can help me!” And she hung up her phone, approaching an employee. Maybe they can help, yes? Decisions were best made with two heads, after all!

After successfully buying vanilla ice cream, she headed to Caitlyn’s apartment. Hmm. She probably shouldn’t have hung up on her like that; she sounded really worried. Lisa giggled to herself again and knocked on the door, waiting patiently, wondering if there were anymore ways to freak her friend out even more.

[CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT]

She was relieved that Lisa picked up the phone at all, but the worry was still evident in her voice, and she frowned when she heard her friend say that she was just confused. Confused? Okay, so it sounded like the girl was just lost, or something like that, though in the background Caitlyn couldn't hear anything that would indicate her location -- traffic going by or anything. Actually, she was pretty sure that she could hear something like music in the background, but it was hard to tell. She frowned. "Wait, Ellie, where are you?" she asked, her eyebrows knitted together as she tried to figure it out. This was all just very confusing and, much as she loved Lisa, Caitlyn seriously didn't even know what to do with her sometimes.

The next words, therefore, were nothing short of alarming. She didn't know where Lisa might be, of course -- it could be that the girl was wandering down some dark alleyway or something! Okay, so maybe that was way, way out there, but sometimes it was hard to tell, and Caitlyn got worried. Who the heck was this so-called gentleman?! "Wait wait wait, don't talk to any strangers or --" The call was ended, and Caitlyn gaped for a second, finishing her sentence quietly. "...or mysterious gentlemen." She realized that she was still holding the phone to her ear a few seconds later, and then she dropped her hand and stared at the phone like it had come to life or something. She wasn't quite in panic mode, but there was definite alarm as she stared at the phone. Should I call back? She tried to calm her nerves, but all that happened was that she stared at the phone for a few moments more.

She paced back and forth between the living room and kitchen, maybe possibly freaking out a little bit. Her thumb kept hovering over the Call button again, wondering if it would do any good to call Lisa or if that would just be bad news -- seriously, she had no idea what was going on anymore and that wasn't good. She had finally decided, after a few minutes of pacing, that she should just call anyway, and was literally just about to press the button when she heard a knock on the door. Caitlyn nearly tripped over her own feet as she scrambled for the door, throwing it open (a little bit panicked, okay, shhh) and staring at the person standing there with wide eyes. "Lisa Sarah Grace!" she said once she laid eyes on her, her gaze shifting between relief and frustration all at once. Full names were being pulled out -- things were getting serious. "Where were you, what happened?" she asked, allowing the relief to take over as she stood aside to let her friend in. She took note of the tub of ice cream. "Wait... ice cream...?" Though perhaps a little bit flustered, Caitlyn was still pretty darn smart, and she was able to at least put two and two together. Don't tell me you were just buying ice cream for that long.

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Lisa blinked, silent for a moment. Where was she? At the market of course. But what was the actual name of market? Lisa rarely ever paid enough attention to the big, red sign outside the store to actually remember it. Hmm. “… I don’t know, actually,” she replied honestly. A second later she figured that ‘market’ was probably a much better option to say, but it was already too late and Lisa was already distracted. She had no idea her friend was about to have a mental breakdown from her vague and scary answers to her questions. Oh, well. Lisa was almost done with buying groceries, so Caitlyn could wait until then. Besides, she was very capable of taking care of herself as long as she didn’t get distracted along the way. She faintly heard her friend’s frantic advice as she hung up and she blinked at the phone, contemplating if she should call back. It was probably a smart idea to, but Lisa tucked it back into her pocket, presuming her thinking process. Ice cream was important right now! Or would Cait prefer yogurt… sigh. At this rate Lisa would have to start all over again—or end up wandering around the market aimlessly before someone spotted her and ask if she was okay—which she was, but to most people, Lisa was a programmed zombie without the grotesque features and rotting flesh.

Lisa jumped as the door flew open, revealing her friend who was evidently very worried. She just smiled at her, though it quickly disappeared when Cait called her by her full name. Grimacing, Lisa let herself in, plopping the ice cream on the counter and her purse full of clothing on the floor. “Must you call me that?” Lisa despised her name. It was so plain and simple and bleh. She just envied her older brother. “You sound like my mother,” she giggled, turning towards her as she smiled. “Yes! Ice cream! I got vanilla, though I wasn’t sure if you wanted chocolate or strawberry... so I got vanilla!” Lisa explained, innocently blinking at her friend. She could sense the tension radiating off her and walked over, putting her hands on her shoulders. “Breathe, Cait, you’re going to have high blood pressure in the future.” And Lisa fully believed she would, too, considering the amount of worry her friend did. Granted, she was the cause of it almost half the time, but those were just details.

[CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT]

Caitlyn winced as if in pain when Lisa said that she didn't know where she was. Oh, no. She could literally be anywhere between her place and Cait's apartment -- and maybe not even then, if she had wandered off somewhere, since Cait was sure her friend did know the way here. It was more likely that she'd wandered off, yes, and now... that was a serious problem. "Why do you not know?!" she asked, sounding aghast and highly confused and very concerned all at once, but before long Lisa had hung up the phone and all Caitlyn could do was, uh, try not to panic, really. That girl had better not have gotten herself kidnapped or something. There were so many possibilities and horror stories, though.

She was, therefore, highly relieved when her friend showed up at the door only a little bit later, though she just sighed when the first thing Lisa did was tell her off for the use of her full name. "Only when you deserve it!" It was a joke, but probably not a very good one -- Caitlyn was still a little rattled here, but at least Lisa was there in the flesh, probably not having been kidnapped. "And sometimes I feel like your mother." She returned the smile, albeit tiredly. Though not usually the type to worry for no reason, she couldn't help but worry for Lisa and her well-being and sometimes her state of mind, because one of these days she was pretty sure the girl would wind up in some kind of trouble, and Cait didn't want to only worry when it was too late.

Admittedly, it helped that Lisa was just too darn cute to be annoyed with (which should really be cause for more worry, honestly). "I like vanilla," she told her with a nod, and she couldn't help but grin a little. Going to the store to pick up ice cream was just way too innocent and, had it been anyone else, she probably wouldn't have believed their phone conversation had just been caused by an ice cream run. Since it was Ellie, however, it... wasn't even surprising at all, she realized. "Is that why it took you so long to get here? I mean, it's okay, but I was worried!" She tried to give her friend a stern look, which probably didn't help the whole sounding like a mother thing. However, Cait deflated pretty quickly once Lisa's hands landed on her shoulders. "I'm breathing!" she protested weakly before letting the tension down off of her shoulders. "I was just worried," she repeated one more time, but it was more resigned than anything this time. "But at least you're here and okay."

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Only when you deserve it. Lisa blinked, the pout back on her lips. “What did I do?” she asked, legitimately curious. Her brain couldn’t comprehend why she deserved to be called by her first name anyways, and she really wasn’t able to keep track of time. It most likely was deserved. “You worry too much~” she said nonchalantly, hopping onto the counter as she did so. One of Lisa’s goals in life was to get Cait to live a little, let loose. She was too stiff sometimes. Lisa snorted at her friend’s next comment, returning the smile as she wiggled off her shoes. “You’re going to be one of those nagging mothers, I can tell,” she teased, though it was more true than anything. Caitlyn liked perfection, getting things done, and was always busy. Sigh. It’d be both scary and endearing to have little mini clones of her running around—Lisa for sure would be lectured by kids that were a fraction of her age, and Cait would be standing there proud; the ringleader.

Yeah. Lisa didn’t like thinking about that.

“Good!” she sighed, relieved. Lisa worried about the most trivial things as she hated making decisions (or rather, was just plain horrible with them) so finding out she got one right for once made her happy, even if it was just ice cream. “… noooooo,” Lisa replied back innocently, avoiding Caitlyn’s gaze. Okay, that was the reason why she was so late; but the younger Earth should be able to expect that now! “Okay, fine, yes!” Lisa blurted out. She was always horrible at lying, so doing so right now made her feel horrible. “You make me sound like I’d willingly be kidnapped,” she laughed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ve got pepper spray, you know!” Lisa said that bit a little too cheekily, but at least she was armed against any attack. Her father had given it to her after witnessing Lisa’s… distracted nature. She didn’t feel like it was necessary to carry around—she did have her elemental powers after all—but she did anyways to give her dad a peace of mind.

[this post… is incredibly horrible. D: i’m sorreh!]

[CAITLYN AUBREE SOMMERLOT]

She could only sigh, because she knew that -- truthfully -- Lisa hadn't done anything to actually warrant this, and all she could do about it was shake her head. "Nothing, I guess," she said finally, resisting the urge to sigh yet again. "You were a little late," she explained, the words casual enough even though Lisa wasn't a little, "oops, I left about five minutes late" kind of late -- no, this was exceptionally late. She didn't say this, however, nor did she let it show in her face -- much as she was going to bother Lisa about this, she wasn't mean enough to actually hold it against the girl. She knew what Lisa was like. Cait couldn't help but smile a little at her next words. "You think? But a good mother, right?" These were the things that concerned Caitlyn about the future, but she didn't actually think about kids very often, or getting married, or anything like that. She was more... self-concerned at the moment. When it came down to it, though, she hoped she wasn't a lousy parent -- she was adopted but her parents were the best. "And the kids will call you Auntie Ellie. And also nag you all the time when you're late for play dates." She grinned. Her kids, down the road, would have her younger siblings as aunt and uncle, but in fact, Lisa looked vaguely more like she could be related to Cait than the twins did in all their blonde glory.

She thought that she might have to fix Lisa with "a look" in order to get her to be honest, but as it turned out that wasn't even necessary -- it didn't take but a few moments for the girl to fess up. Caitlyn just blinked. "Don't lie to me!" she warned anyway, though there was a smile on her face. Lisa was too adorable, even when she was being silly like this. Maybe it was just especially when she was being silly like this. "That's what I thought." Her voice was soft, however -- not as accusing as the words may have sounded coming from another person. "I'm not trying to say that at all!" she protested, shaking her head. "I'm just saying that you trust people really easily sometimes, so..." It was possible that she would just be snatched up one day, but it wasn't that Caitlyn thought so poorly of Lisa that she genuinely believed that would happen -- no, she knew Lisa was probably smarter than that. She couldn't help but worry on the odd occasion, however. "Wait, why do you have pepper spray?" That was frightening.

[LISA SARAH GRACE]

Lisa knew she could be a bit of a handful sometimes. She’s been told that the majority of her life by her father, because she was just like her mother, just a bit more distant and peculiar in her mannerisms. Perhaps that’s why she didn’t have many friends that could deal with her; heck, she was surprised that Caitlyn stuck around, considering they were complete opposites. “Really?” she asked excitedly—Lisa was never a little late. No matter what she was doing beforehand, Lisa was always very late. She didn’t do it on purpose, she just wanted to make sure everything was settled and perfect for her friends. Her thought process just tended to trail off. “Of course!” Lisa agreed, a smile on her face. “A nagging mother with good intentions. Maybe it’d be good for my children to be around you,” she giggled, just imagining the thought of her kids turning out just like her—she didn’t see it as a bad thing, but it’d probably be one too many for Cait to handle. “That’d… be slightly terrifying.” Lisa crinkled her nose in playful distaste, teasing her friend. “I’ll be sure to lay down the rules for your future husband~”

It wasn’t a secret that Lisa was a bad liar—a really bad liar, so she smiled back at her friend sheepishly as an apology. Some things were just better left unsaid. Lisa was also horrible with apologies. “I have common sense,” she pointed out. Yes, it was true Lisa did trust strangers all too easily—but she knew not to follow them into dark alleys or strange white vans. “C’mon, Cait! Have a little faith in me!” She nudged her friend with her elbow lightly, a small pout on her lips. Heck, she was twenty-one for Pete’s sake! “My dad~” Lisa said nonchalantly, jumping off the counter and twirling in her spot, watching her skirt circle around her. “I’m pretty sure it was a joint gift with Gelo. Do people not trust me or something?” she giggled to herself. The men in her family were very protective, but she couldn’t hate them for it. It was very sweet.