(cmplctd) a drop in the ocean

[Kiersten Mollie Bannon]

Kiersten stood in her room wearing a pair of cotton shorts and tshirt. That wasn't what you wore on a date. What on earth did people wear on dates? She wouldn't know, she'd never been on one. And now Lance was taking her on one. And said he liked her. And he didn't want he to date other guys. She was still in the, I-can't-believe-this-is-happening stage of things. She known Lance for almost a year. She didn't think he saw her that way. Of course she'd had a crush on him for months, and how could she not? Look at the guy, he was adorable in every way possible. She just didn't think he'd return the feelings. Which she'd pretty much accepted because he was her best friend and she didn't want to make things weird. He'd just shown up in her life at a good time, when she'd needed reassurance that all guys were not scum. He'd proven not to be. And it wasn't as if she didn't think she deserved him, or that she was afraid if it didn't work out then she wouldn't be able to go on or how can other guys ever compare to him, he's so amazing and blah blah. It was just. He was like, her rock. If things got weird between them, how was she supposed to even trust guys? Lance reminded her that some guys were okay. But if she didn't have Lance to show her that, she would never find anyone to spend anything with. She was just far to skeptical and untrusting of men in general. And if this didn't work out, would she still see Lance the way she did now? What if this ended badly and she didn't think he was so decent after all? She probably be single forever and have a lot of cats. Ugh, too much to think about. How did Mack do this? How was her sister so gosh darn trusting of people? Ad all knowing of what to wear on dates? Kiersten looked up when she saw her cousin standing in the doorway, "Are you going out?" she asked, leaning against the door frame. "Yeah... but I don't know about this." Kiersten didn't even know how to explain this. "Is Lance taking you out on a date? Because if I were you, I would definitely not pass that up. He's sexy." "Okay, thanks for you're input. But I have to get dressed now," Kiersten moved to the door and went to shut Ellie out when Mack stormed into the room, "Hey Elle, wanna go entertain Riley and Lily?" Ellie smiled, "Uh... yeah you're right I don't want to help you create a monster."

Kiersten shut the door, looking at her sister, "I can't go on a date with Lance, he'll realize he doesn't like me and then I'll have to get a lot of cats." Mack looked at her, raising her eyebrows, "You're just stupid. Lance is like in love with you. Every time you walk in the room he just watches you. Here." Mackenzie threw a pair of jeans at Kiersten, her favorite Miss Me's. "Wear those. Hang on." Mack went to her over sized bag, fished a sequined tank out of it and tossed it to Kiersten and then dug threw her bag some more, "With that tank. And here, I'm being the best sister ever, I'm letting you wear my favorite Christian Louboutins." Kiersten tugged on her jeans and buttoned them and then picked up the tank top, sighing. Mack sat down on the bed, "Now seriously, why are you freaking out, honestly. How many times have you had sex with Lance and you can't go on a date with him? Explain it to me 'cause I don't get it. I mean, I know guys scare you, is that it? Because you know you don't have to be scared of Lance." Kiersten pulled the shirt over her head, "I'm not scared of Lance!" "Then what? You think if things don't work out it'll ruin your friendship? That's not gonna happen. And like I said, you already slept with him. Multiple times, so there's nothing you haven't done." "Is that what you think?" "Well, I don't know, you've probably kissed him a gajilion times so its not something to be nervous ab-" "No I haven't" Kiersten placed her hands on her hips, now wearing at least pants, a shirt, and shoes. Mackenzie looked at her, a huge grin spreading across her face. "When was the last time you hooked up with him?" "I don't know, a while ago, why does that matter? Why are you so nosy?" "I'm not nosy, I'm gathering information. So all that time it was just sex. You never kissed him or anything!" "Well, just a kiss on the cheek here and there, but he's like, British!" "Oh my god, it's like you've never been kissed!" "So what?" "So! It's so cute!" "I hate you." "You love me. And here, you can wear my charm bracelet, and where's that ring Lance got you? Wear that, he'll notice. Oh my gosh its like, you've never actually been intimate with him, how does that work..." Mackenzie murmured to herself. "Okay now smile and look cute I want to take you're picture so I can send it to mom. I won't even take your picture when he gets here, i swear." Kiersten rolled her eyes, giving a quick smile, "Okay are you done now. What purse and I supposed to carry?" "Uhh don't. You don't need one. Just stick your phone and chapstick in your pocket. He's paying for everything anyways." "He doesn't have to pay for everything." "What? Yes, it's a date, that's what goes on, you look cute, he pays for everything." Kiersten stood nervously, wringing her hands together, "Well what if it gets cold, what jacket should I bring?" "It's August, you don't need a jacket. And if you get cold Lance is supposed to give you his if he's wearing one. It's a rule." "How do you do that?" "Do what?" "This. Putting on an outfit and going out with a guy. I've never been on a date. And I have never actually properly kissed anyone, I am the saddest excuse for a girl." Mackenzie hugged her, trying not to laugh, "You'll be fine, and so help me god Kiersten Mollie if he kisses you you better kiss him back or I will ring your neck. Come on I think I hear him in the living room, let's not keep him waiting."


Outfit

[Lance James Renner]

“Mate,what are you doing?I’ve known you for over a year. We eat dinner together every Sunday.”” I’ll do the talking here. What are your intentions?.... Talk dude”” You told me not to talk,” “Are you being smart?” ”Well I’m not being stupid. A bit how you’re acting.” ”Are you nervous?””No,” “Why not?It’s Kiersten”. “ Exactly.” “So why aren’t you nervous?” “ Cause it’s Kiersten,” “ I know who it is, I’m the one that said it’s Kiersten” “Right,” “ What?” “ Wow,mate”” Don’t try to get fresh with her” “Already slept with her.Sort of takes the edge off” ‘Hey hey hey…. Don’t talk like that in front of my kid,” ”…Right.” “ So you guys sleep together a lot?” “Not talking about that in front of the kid, remember” “She doesn’t know” ” You’re a strange fellow, you know that?”’ “Yeah I’ve been called worse” “I know you have,” “ What’s that supposed to mean?” ” Why are you here?” ”To give you the third degree…and so Mackenzie can take pictures,”” You’re doing a stellar job” ” Thanks, I’ve been practicing for when Lily gets older,” “ It shows” “ Are you being sarcastic?” “ Never been sarcastic a day in my life” “You’re a lot like that other Renner” “You mean the one that’s your best mate?””Mhm,that’s the one”. “ Been told that a time or two,”. “ You ready to date a Bannon woman?” “ Well I know whatI’m getting into and I still asked her. You don’t even remember Mackenzie and you’re dating her” “Fair point” “ I don’t tend to make bad points. That would make me an idiot””…..Another fair point” “ Still doing great by the way””Am i? I thought I might have lost my mojo there for a little bit” “ Didn’t sense it””If you hurt her, I have to physically hurt you by default’”Kiersten could probably physically hurt me more than you could””That’s probably true. Alright,well good talk”.

Lance shook his head as he sat down on the couch. People were seriously freaking out over nothing. Him and Kiersten hung out all the time, nothing was really changing here. And if they all “expected”it then what was the big deal? Honestly? It wasn’t like they were really doing anything that wasn’t considered dating beforehand anyways. They hung out all the time, he always paid for everything, they were sleeping together. The only extra thing that ‘dating’ really offered was what…actual intimacy? But as long as Kiersten didn’t freak out over the ‘label’ of it then they would be fine. How many times had he taken her out beforehand? He looked over at the stairs. If Riley was here that meant Mackenzie was here. Upstairs. Working on Kiersten’s outfit. He just hoped she didn’t come downstairs looking different than she normally did. He likedher for a reason. Who the hell was this Claire person anyways? Coming into their little group and asking questions. Yeah everyone in their group knew what was going on with everyone but they didn’t like..confront them about it. Shane was going to have to break this chick in. Lance puffed out his cheeks and sighed as he waited, looking down at his phone for the time and to send Joel a quick text message back.

Outfit

[Kiersten Mollie Bannon]

Kiersten stared at her sister and then led the way out of her room, Mack following her but then lost her nerve and turned around and ran smack into her sister. "Stop it." Mack said turning her around and pushing her toward the stairs, "Who's ideas was this anyways?" "Uhh, his?" "Right." Mack grabbed her hand at the top of the stairs, whispered, "Hey, just be yourself. He already likes you, as if it weren't obvious enough, just let yourself do what feels right. Stop thinking and just go with it. You're making me annoyed with you." "Sorry, I'll try not to annoy you princess." "Good." Kiersten walked downstairs and stopped in the living room, seeing Lance. God, after all this time of being best friends and sleeping together he still made her nervous. She got butterflies just thinking about him. It was kind of annoying, why would she get nervous? He was Lance. But at the same time he was Lance. Her best friend who she'd been crushing on forever. She was still just shocked that this was happening all so fast. Barely an hour ago everything had been normal and now everything was like a whole new game. Things were about to get different, but at the same time there was stuff she hoped would stay the same. Like flicking peas across the table with out Parker noticing.

Kiersten cleared her throat, "Hi." She looked at Lance, and then at Riley. Oh my god, was Riley giving him the third degree? If she wasn't so nervous she'd find that funny. Ellie looked up from the couch, "This is all very entertaining. You look cute." Kiersten just looked at her, blinking a few times. She should just grab Lance and get out of here. "Okay, let's go before my sister whips her camera out and Riley starts giving me a curfew." Kiersten stood there, waiting for Lance to get up so they could leave bu she figured, oh whatever. She walked over, calmly grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door which she opened, pushing Lance through it gently and ten closed closed it behind her, sticking her head inside for a split second longer to give the three of them a look that said, do not make this more then it is. "Have fun!" Mack called, before Kiersten shut the door, turning to Lance. "Umm.. okay. Now what?" What kind of question was that? She was so dumb. She needed to get her head in the game.

[Lance James Renner]

Lance slid his phone back into his pocket once he finished texting Joel and looked back over at Riley, who was trying to give him a staredown. “ You look constipated” he said, shaking his head before he looked up in time to see that Kiersten was coming in. He made a slight face as she greeted him so awkwardly.”Hi,”he said back to her, standing up just as she was grabbing his arm. Lance moved outside quickly as she gently nudged him out the door but then he made another face at her as she peeked back inside and shut the door again. “First of all, you do look lovely,” he said honestly,smiling at how pretty she looked. But that really wasn’t anything abnormal.She always looked pretty in his opinion. “ Second of all… you’ve gotta relax” he said, laughing slightly before he headed over to his motorcycle and picked up the helmet for Kiersten.

‘ How many times have we hung out?’ he asked her, unclipping the strap that was at the side of the helmet and holding it to the side. “ And I’m not telling you what we’re doing. You’re just going to have to trust me,” he said, hinting towards the rest of the evening. He watched her for a few more minutes before he leaned his arm against his motorcycle and looked back at her. “ It’s just us, Kiersten… don’t freak yourself out more than you need to”. Lance looked over his shoulder and back towards Kiersten’s where he saw Riley quickly move from the window and pull Mackenzie with him. He laughed quietly before he looked back at Kiersten and shook his head. “Come on,” he said, tilting his head to the motorcycle and leaning his arm off of it.

[Kiersten Mollie Bannon]

Kiersten looked at him, waiting for a response that would make this okay. Not that she doubted things could work out, it was all just happening suddenly, she didn't even have to process it. She just needed a second to collect her thoughts. Okay. First of all, she liked him so there wasn't a question there. Second of all, he liked her, so that wasn't something she had to wonder about anymore. And third, they were doing the real date thing, and that was the way things should be. So even if they'd done everything in backwards order before, this was a good opportunity to be like normal people for once. She smiled at him when he said she looked nice, "Thank you." He looked nice. He probably looked nicer then her. Too cute for his own good, that's what it was. She laughed, following him to his motorcycle, "I am relaxed, more so then five minutes ago..." she trailed off, watching him. He had such nice... arms. Ugh she needed to focus. He asked how many times they'd hung out, handing her a helmet, "A bunch..." she said, answering his questions to humor him, but he was missing the point. How was he not phased by any of this? She shook her head, smiling anyways when he said she just had to trust him, "You know I always do." She tilted her head, looking at him, smiling. "I'm not freaked out, I'm just... an hour ago we were a couple of friends, and now the whole game has changed. It's just happening so fast. I'm still in the, 'is this actually happening' train of thought. I'm shocked you feel this way, you just caught me off guard, that's all." She just didn't want things to get all different between them, but they already were. She put her helmet on, and got on the bike behind him, "Okay let's go. I'm trusting you if you think this is a good idea, so i'll take your word for it."

[Lance James Renner]

“ Ohh..” Lance said wiping his hand across his forehead dramatically. ”An hour ago we were just friends? Thank God.. I thought that maybe you had feelings for me. But lord.. it sounds like you’ve just caught yourself a playground crush.” . He smiled before he shook his head and walked over to her where she had sat on the motorcycle. He placed his hands against the edge of her seat and the back tired. ” It’s been more than an hour that this has been happening,” he said, giving her a small smile. She looked so cute in her little helmet. “… Riding on a motorcycle gets pretty cold,”he said as he reached up and unzipped his own motorcycle jacket. Lance moved the jacket off of his upper body quickly before he reached around Kiersten’s shoulders and placed it gently on her. “ You forget Kiersten, that I know you better than you know yourself,” he said as he smiled down at her.
Lance brought his hand up to where her helmet was and unclipped it before he took it off of her, just for a few moments. He slid his hand into the side of her hair and leaned down, careful to not move her much against the motorcycle. “ Stop being in your head so much,” he said, before he flickered his lips just slightly into a smile and leaned down to kiss her. Lance lowered his other hand to wrap around her waist slightly and pulled her against his body without moving her away from the motorcycle. Lance dropped his hand from being in the side of her hair and rested it against her neck. “ Now..I have somewhere to take you” he said, smiling before he leaned down and casually kissed her again. Lance got on the motorcycle, offering Kiersten her helmet before he kicked the motorcycle to life . Lance waited for Kiersten to hold onto him before he took off for the streets of New York.

[Kiersten Mollie Bannon]

Kiersten sat on the seat watching him. He was right, this had been going on for a lot longer than the past hour. "I think a lot more happened in Vegas then a couple of drunk marriages." She smiled softly. Vegas was when things became way more then just friends. She'd liked him even back then. He mentioned being cold, giving her his jacket. Damn that Mackenzie, she'd called that. "Well, good thing you're here, it doesn't look like I'm going to freeze." She sat with his jacket wrapped around her, he said he probably knew her better then she knew herself. "Probably." She shrugged, shaking her head. Just like that, he had moved closer to her and leaned down, kissing her for the first real time. For just a second she thought she couldn't breath, but it was perfect. He was perfect. Damn him and his perfectness. She kissed him back, smiling to herself. He pulled away, all too soon in her opinion, but she smiled anyways, "Okay, take me away. Wherever." She pulled her helmet back on, wrapping her arms around him before they drove away. She leaned into him, sighing, looking at the people zooming by, and she stifled her laughter as she made faces at people, trying to get a reaction out of them. Some people waved, some made faces back, some made faces, but not on purpose... She already knew by the time this date was over, she wouldn't want it to be ending. She didn't want anything they did to ever end. Really, nothing ever did. Because there was always the next day, when they had something else to do, some other place to see, always doing it together. She wondered if things would really be much different, if being a couple would make him not want to hang out with her as much. But he was right, she needed to get out of her head, at least for tonight. She was done thinking.

[Lance James Renner]

Lance grinned as Kiersten tightened herself around him as he drove through the streets and he found himself whizzing inbetween cabs that were stuck in traffic. The Symphony hall he was taking her too was just off of Times Square , and this place was busy no matter what time of day it was. He drove more carefully since she was on the motorcycle with him, but it still didn’t stop him from moving through traffic that was completely stopped. After a few minutes Lance pulled sharply into an ally behind the symphony hall and cut off his motorcycle before standing up. He lifted his hand to his hair and shook it out, always hating the way his hair felt after being on that thing. Lance climbed off of it carefully before he turned and helped Kiersten get down. He looked back at the door and saw a chain around it, giving a small sigh. He looked up at the set of stairs that needed to be dropped down, but of course they were locked in place by a pin and too high for him to jump. Lance looked down the ally until he saw the dumpster and walked over to it. He kicked the brake off of the wheels and pushed the dumpster over towards the hanging stairs. As he placed his hands on the dumpster he pushed himself up until he was standing on it. With a jump he grabbed onto the bottom of the stairs and had to do a pull upto pull himself up onto the ledge. He unlocked the staircase before he dropped it down and climbed back down them. He was not going to have Kiersten hop onto a dumpster to do what he just did.

After pushing the dumpster out of the way, Lance went back to the stairs and pulled them all the way down now that they were in reach. He smiled as he looked at Kiersten. ‘ Follow me,”. Breaking and entering. One of the many things he had learned that led him to get his ass sent to boarding school in England. He climbed back up the staircase and headed over to window that was sealed shut. He looked at the markings of it for a moment before he took out a switch blade and cut across the paint that was across the seams of the window. He worked with the window for a little bit before he opened it just a few inches and waited to listen for alarms. After a few moments he lifted it all the way and climbed inside. Lance turned to help Kiersten inside before he dusted himself off and looked around in the darkness. He took Kierstens hand in his own as he made his way down the hall and began to look for the stage. It took a few moments but as he saw it he couldn’t help but grin. Lance led Kiersten onto the stage and over to the piano before he smiled at her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and sat her down at the piano bench before he went off to the side to look for the light controls. He read through all of the options before he pulled the switch to the side to turn the spotlight on over Kiersten. He smiled as he looked out at her. Lance took his hands out of his front pockets as he made his way over to her and stood by the piano. He planned on sitting down next to her, but not yet. He wanted to let her get a feel for it.