A Different Kind of Shopping

[Isabella Chaos]

Now that Isabella had graduated from school she wanted to move out of her house. She had never thought of moving out of her house, especially since the past seven years she had hardly lived in it due to school, but now she had the sudden urge to move out, to experience truly living on her own. However, the most shocking part to her was that she didn't want to live in her home country, Italy, but rather New Zealand where she had spent the majority of her school years.

So today Isabella was on the hunt for a new place to live. She got dressed in all black not caring whether or not she looked like a moody artsy kid. Isabella had been searching for a home for a few hours now, though she had been stupid to think that she could just buy a house willy nilly. She didn't realize all the paperwork that came with it, as well as the money. Although she was still supported financially from her family very much so, part of living on her own meant she was trying to stray away from the dependency of her family's money. Thankfully she had saved up enough over the years since her dad had suggested she invest her money very young. At the time she had no idea what that meant and was always grumpy that a percentage of her allowance she wasn't allowed to spend, but now she felt so grateful to her father.

Unfortunately if she wanted to live in a house, that would empty her of her entire savings, and she would be left with nothing so Isabella decided to look a bit smaller. Now she was officially on the hunt for an apartment. It was weird for her to think of living in an apartment but then again she had lived in dorms for the past seven years so it was an improvement from that at least. But after walking around for hours on a pebbled ground in heels, her feet were exhausted so she decided to take a breather and sit down a while. She walked to a bench and sat, closing her eyes momentarily to allow the coldness of the winter take over for a while.

At first the peacefuness felt nice, but after a while her mind drifted and she forced her eyes open. She tried people watching to keep her mind occupied but it didn't help - she hated this. This is why she always kept herself busy, this is why she had decided to look for a home, to escape this painful memory, but at times when she allowed herself to rest and not think of anything, it always came back to haunt her. Isabella sighed and lowered her head, trying to compose herself before she had to get up and keep herself busy again.

 

[Matthew Reed]

To be back in New Zealand was a surreal thing, after spending the best of two years in New York City, places like Obsidian Harbour and Brightstone Village seemed miniscule, unimportant, but they still held a special place in the heart of the aspiring muscian. He didn't know really know why he felt so connected to the quaint villages, it wasn't like he was born in New Zealand, hell, it had only been about three years since his parents decided to move to the country. But he guessed there was always going to be a certain sense of home here which is why he usually apparated back whenever he could grasp a couple of hours from his hetic lifestyle. A lifestyle he so willingly signed up for, although recently began questioning wheter or not he had thought it all through realistically. Sure, living in New York and making it big in the music industry sounded amazing, but the expenses and lack of progress of the band had begun to weigh down heavily on Matthews shoulders. They hadn't really made much progress since their record label fell apart over Christmas, leaving the four band members pondering about their next step.

Coming back to New Zealand made the nineteen year old really appreciate the smaller things in life, things he would have originally taken for granted. Wheter it was a homely fry in the morning, chatting with Jessica into the early hours of the night or even just watching a muggle baseball game. Things he rarely did in New York, in his dingey apartment where his time was usually spent arguing with his band mates or trying to take a couple hours aside to write some decent music, something which he hadn't done in quite a while. Of course on top of all this, Matthew would usually be hungover....or maybe still a little drunk which of course did not help the situation. He often wondered though, was it even all worth it? When this question crawled back into his head, Matt liked to change the direction of his thoughts and so today was no different. His silvery blue eyes studied briefly each person that passed him by while he took a long drag from his cigarette, his footsteps where lazy on the cobbled street and as he exhaled the small cloud of smoke, he eyed a bench not too far from him with a girl occupying half of it.

Being able to wander about Brightstone wasn't the exact reason he apparated back last week, but it was one of those small pleasures he rarely got to do in recent times and so he strolled over to the bench, peering at the girl through his glasses although only managed to get the top of her head as she slowly bent her head down and so only getting the top of her hat. From that small glance at her, however, she didn't seem the type to be all that happy to have someone join her on the bench, but to be perfectly honest, he always hated it when someone sat down next to him on a bench so he wasn't really one to talk. It was just one of those things that irratated him but of course, still didn't stop him from casually slotting himself in beside her. He took another drag from his cigarette without even looking at the girl, his gaze remained in front of him, fixed on nothing in particular. Matthew exhaled the smoke through his nose and with the cigarette held loosely between his forefinger and his thumb, he gave it a small flick, shaking off the tail of ash off his Marlboro. His eyes strayed to the trash can beside him, and in it, a small brightly coloured leaflet caught his attention, with in bold block lettering had the words, 'The Mash'. Taking the crumpled leaflet from the top of the pile he found that with closer inspection it was advertising a local band, not unlike himself, playing in Makutu Mall. And so he sat staring at the leaflet, amused by this bands effort to make it, although all the while began wondering what on earth had him so arrogant when he couldn't book a single gig in New York for his band. The real reason that had him so bored on a friday afternoon, in the deserted village in New Zealand.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

With her head lowered and the Slytherin graduate chipping at her red polished fingernails, Isabella didn't notice that someone had sat beside her right away. It was also probably due to the fact that she was lost in her thoughts, a usual thing lately. Though it didn't take long for her to realize someone was there, especially when the person was smoking.

The brunette looked up at the stranger, a boy, no that sounded so juvenile, a man?, that sounded so old, a guy she settled upon. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he sat there so nonchalantly, as if they were friends simply hanging out together, though she had never seen this guy before in her life. She wouldn't be so bothered by the stranger sitting beside her if he hadn't been smoking. The wind had caused the guy's cigarette smoke to blow in her direction. Isabella wrinkled her nose in distaste, knowing that if he continued to smoke around her it would seep into her clothes and that was never attractive. Isabella had to admit that the smell of smoke was sometimes attractive on guys, especially ones with this sort of look that the guy was sporting - but on a girl? Never.

"Do you mind?" the eighteen year old said, trying her best to refrain from scoffing and remain polite; though he had already flicked the remains of the cigarette away. Well, now that he was no longer smoking at least, she could just sit here not talking to him in peace. The girl crossed her right leg over her left leg and tried to shift her body away from him subtly and placed her hands in front of her, trying to remember the address of the next apartment complex she was supposed to go visit next. The fashionista looked down at her hands with her chipped nail polish and cringed at the sight. In her earlier years she hated having her nails so short and especially wearing chipped nail polish so she always went to go get her nails done (except during Quidditch season), however after the past year, she had simply stopped trying. She had been through so much emotionally draining pain, she had given up the effort to look her absolute best, and even her appearance today, with the lack of color or creativity and given that her hair wasn't perfectly coiffed, this was her trying her hardest which was not her best given the way she used to be.

Isabella couldn't help but look over at the guy who was still sitting beside her as he displayed an amount of amusement and feared it was at her poor expense, however he was staring at a flyer she had just seen in the garbage. Again, the typical Slytherin raised an eyebrow at him and said aloud, "You did not just dig that from out the garbage right?" She knew the answer already, but she was simply asking as a means to show disgust, and deep down she was hoping maybe, just maybe, she was wrong, though she doubted that.

 

[Matthew Reed]

Matthew had just about shot the girl a look as she made a snide remark, it wasn't something new to him which was why he didn't properly retort. Although, the sides of his lips did curl slightly creating small dipples on his lightly stumbled cheeks. While it appeared that he was looking directly in front of him, Matthew was in fact watching the girl at the corner of his eyes as he took a final drag from the remaining bud of his cigarette and tipped it into the bin next to him. Remarks on smoking were not something new to Matthew, he got it lashed into him all the time by his family and...well, really just his family. But would of course get the over-exaggerated cough by a pompous stranger behind him in the throngs of people which flooded the streets of New York. And it looked like there were pompous strangers wherever he went.

The band on the leaflet held Matthews attention for a little longer than expected as he thought much deeper into his life and his career. He was sure this unknown teenage garage band had no idea that a simple leaflet would have had such an effect on a guy like himself, he didn't think it would either. The fact remained though, this small advert was symbolic of all the thousands of other bands trying to make it, all the competition that he had to compete with and really, that he was no better than the rest of them. The whole thing was pretty disheartening and if it wasn't for the next remark, the girl beside him made, he would have tossed it into the trash, although not without violently scrunching it into a small ball first. Her comment didn't fail to amuse him and as he turned his head to have a proper look at her, he could instantly tell her type. Arthouse, pretentious, snob. He saw them every day, trapsing around in their heels under the illusion that they were that much above everyone else. He lowered his gaze to the wrinkly leaflet in his hands, aside from the overall tattiness and the small brown stain in the corner of the bright yellow page - which he could only hope was a coffee stain - there was not much else that gave away the fact it came from the bin.

He shifted slightly on the bench so he could properly face this girl, his left arm now draped across the top of the bench, his hand close enough to touch her shoulder. "Technically, it was at the top of the pile. So I didn't dig it out." He explained with a tone that hinted there was a smart comment to follow-up. And of course, there was. "I only dig up the garbage when there's no one around." Allowing that smirk to finally push its way onto his handsome demeanor, Matthew glanced back at the leaflet in hand and then back at this girl. There was no mistaking her beauty, her dark brown hair simply highlighted the flawless skin on her face and accentuated the chestnut hues of her irises. And if she wasn't so arty-farty, Matthew might have considered pulling a move on her. "A fan of, 'The Mash' are we?" His deep American accent was soaked in sarcasm. There was no way in hell that this girl could be a follower of cheap pubescent punk. It wasn't all that common that Matthew would slot a person so ignorantly into a stereotype, but he didn't exactly have to have known this girl all his life to know, that a 'Mash' gig would certainly not be her scene.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

Despite the fact that Isabella had originally tried to move her body away from this stranger she couldn't help but turn and shift her body towards him right when he happened to put his arm around the top of the bench. It might've seemed as if she were leaning in to him but in the moment she didn't realize it. The Slytherin crossed her arms over her chest reflexively every time she was going to get heated up, or in a quarrel. It was just in her nature. "Either way it is still gross," she responded with a wrinkle of her nose to show her obvious disgust.

As she was finally closer to the guy and able to look at him head on, Isabella couldn't help but notice how handsome he was. His eyes were a stunning blue and she had to admit the stubble on his chiseled jaw was hot. Isabella wasn't usually attracted to "his type", she preferred guys that were more clean cut and proper, but she was surprised at herself that the first word that popped into her head when seeing this guy was hot. This judgment was obviously based on looks only and the brunette assured herself that if she continued talking to this dirty stranger, her perception of him being 'hot' would change.

When he asked her if she was a fan of The Mash her immediate response was, "Who?" Given her Slytherin core, the simple word rang out maliciously. "Oh wait, let me guess, it's your loser band, isn't it?" she said with a smirk, not having noticed his reaction to the flyer entirely. She figured the reason he had fished the flyer out of the garbage was because it was one of his band and the fact that he had found it in the garbage meant people obviously didn't think much of his band or music.

 

[Matthew Reed]

It was only as he studied the girls face that he realised, she too, was staring right at him which automatically made him feel slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't like he could exactly turn away from the girl, the bench was pretty small, there wasn't really anywhere to turn to and so Matthew just casually pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, further than what was comfortable really but it gave him something to do. "Who?" Her tone of distaste was only something to be amused by and so a quiet raspy chuckle breezed from his lips. The name of the band was enough to cause a reaction like that but it was the fact it was coming from this type of girl, meant the reaction was over-exaggerated enitirely. Which had in turn, made it so amusing.

"Oh please." He said with an brief eye roll, adding to the distinct snobbery in his voice. It was an immediate reaction to what she had said but now, as he looked down, under the rim of his glasses, at the bright leaflet in his hand that same sinking feeling came back to him. Welling up inside him like a glass being filled with water until it overflowed. It overflowed in his voice as he slowly added, "No, my loser band is in New York sitting on their asses." He didn't mean for it to sound so obviously disheartened but it was a sensitive topic at that moment and he honestly couldn't help it. Matthew wasn't looking for sympathy, Merlin knows he wasn't going to get it from this girl even he was, he didn't even want to talk about it or remember the fact that his band was going absolutely no where. His parents were right in warning him about dropping out of Salem, although he didn't want to admit that to himself just yet.

Matthew turned his head just slightly to look at the girl, he didn't offer her a smile nor did he even speak, he just looked at her, and then looked away. His blue eyes trailed down to the leaflet and without looking anywhere else but the tatty bright yellow page he said, "Besides...we only print on bright red paper." His voice held a certain amount of light humour which contrasted completely to how he spoke just a few seconds earlier. He waved the tired paper slightly, a forced smile playing on his lips and it wasn't long before Matthew hastily scrunched up the leaflet in his large hand and tossed it back into the bin.

 

[Isabella Chaos]

The smirk that the eighteen year old wore on her face immediately got wiped off once she heard the slightly bitter, disheartened tone of the guy. Isabella felt like an inconsiderate jerk after making a comment like that, but how was she supposed to know his band was failing or something along those lines, she assumed by his comment anyway. She uncrossed her arms now that she wasn't in the mood to argue, and looked down at her chipped nail polish again, but quickly looked back up at the guy since her chipped nails weren't a pretty sight for the fashion-obsessed girl. The two seemed to have caught each other's eyes but as soon as he averted his gaze, Isabella did the same.

The guy then tried making a joke about the color paper on which they printed, and Isabella decided to play along. "Well, clearly you're printing it on the wrong paper, seeing as yellow caught your attention enough to dig it out from the garbage," she teased, knowing he had already corrected her on saying he didn't dig it just simply picked it up from the top. As Isabella leaned back on the bench and thought of his earlier comment laced with a bit of sadness or disappointment, a thought came to Isabella. "Wait, why are you here in New Zealand...if your band is in New York?" she questioned. She knew it wasn't really her business but the question had come out before she could stop herself.

Out of Character:

Sorry I'm sooo rusty at RPing

 

[Matthew Reed]

He really had no intention on creating such an atmosphere between the two strangers. But it just sort of happened and he was a little relieved that the girl added her own light humoured comment which helped let the moment pass with a lot less uncomfort than he had originally expected. Having known this girl for only a couple of minutes, he really thought she would have took advantage of his vunerability, but that's not what happened at all. Her quick wit in fact brought a smile to his face and allowed him to build back up that internal wall that so securely protected Matthew's vunerability which had flashed through for just a second. He quickly looked over at the girl. "Clearly," He said through his smile with an added nod.

His smile slowly started to fade as the moment began passing, his eyes still on the brunette across from him all the time. It was only as she composed her next question that made his gaze fall to his lap, his hand began to straighten the small creases that had formed in his jeans and his mouth opened just a little as a quiet, "Ah.." ecaped. He withdrew his arm a little from its stretch across the top of the bench, and with his elbow still perched on the wooden slab, his fingers laced through his hair. He tried to think of a way to answer the question without really spilling his whole life to this perfect stranger. Although, a question deserved an answer not a simple shrug like he was planning on giving her.

A short sigh breezed from his lips, "Eh...well family is here and....I really just can't handle New York right now. I mean, have you ever been? It's... it's not exactly like this." He said with a wave of his hand towards the peaceful surroundings around them. He briefly looked up and glanced at the girl with an amused look written clearly on his face. He loved New York sure, but he really needed to clear his head, blow off some steam and New York really wasn't the place to do that. Especially living with three other guys in a cramped apartment that smelled of beer and stale smoke. Yeah, New York really wasn't the best place to make a life changing decision.

Out of Character:

Not at all! Besides, I haven't RP'd with Matthew in aaaaaaaages, I'm just as 'rusty'

 

[Isabella Chaos]

Isabella could tell by his body language that she had posed an uncomfortable situation for him, yet again. It was at this time that she really wished she hadn't witnessed him running his hand through his hair, not because she didn't want to see him feeling uncomfortable, but because with that swift, effortless motion, Isabella found him so much more attractive. To avoid revealing anything on her face, the brunette looked down at her lap once again and kept herself busy by uncrossing her legs and then crossing them over the opposite way.

After a small understandable sigh, the stranger then answered her question and Isabella couldn't help but think of her own reason why she was in New Zealand and not Italy. In a way, her answer was similar to hers, except she didn't have much family here. She had only been to New York once, and she had loved all the glitz and glam she had gotten to see, but she supposed actually living there was completely different. Tourists only saw the face of New York, only its appealing sights; people who lived there saw it differently. "I understand how you feel," Isabella nodded with him in agreement. She looked up at him and gave him a small encouraging smile. She knew why she was choosing to settle in New Zealand, because her school was here so she had grown to love this place, but she didn't remember ever seeing him at Hogwarts, so she had to wonder. "Why New Zealand though? Why here, why not anywhere else that isn't New York?" Because if he were just looking to get out of New York, he had a billion places to choose from.

Again, the probing questions continued without lack of thought. Isabella didn't know why she was so curious, but she supposed it was from being cooped up at her home in Italy for nearly two years and her friends not taking to kindly on her unannounced return. She just wanted someone new to talk to, someone to distract her from it all.