Survival Of The Fittest

((Sophie McDowell continued from The Labyrinth))

"Hey, I'd like a venti black sweetened iced tea please," Sophie said to the woman behind the counter.

Sophie was in line at Starbucks. It was a lovely day outside, so she decided to play guitar outside the shops that lined the marina. Something about playing guitar near the bay was nice. The breeze, the sun, the sound of seagulls. It reminded Sophie of the mural she touched up last year. Plus, it allowed her to play an array of music that she felt was fitting to play on the waterfront, like Sinatra's "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" and Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay."

Sophie paid the cashier and stepped to the side. She began to shrug her shoulders. She had her cloth guitar sack strapped around her shoulders, and the strap was beginning to get irritating. Once she got it adjusted, she held her hands behind her back and waited for her drink order to be ready.

Man, I'm parched. Still, a quick drink will help, then I can go back out. Let's see, what should be next on the set list? I should play some Beach Boys. I should've learned more than "God Only Knows." Well, that's not a bad song, I can easily play that. I guess "California Gurls," might be a fun song to play, even though we're pretty far from California.

Sophie began to look around the shop. There were a lot of people at Starbucks today. Maybe she'd see someone she knew.

Maybe they'd have some song requests.

((Nina Clarke continued from The Labyrinth))

Nina hated waiting in lines.

She knew that it was basically a good idea, because there wasn't much one could do to improve on a line.

Except, of course, shorten the line. But Nina had no control over the other people who wanted coffee, so she just had to wait.

Nina was exhausted from her gym workout; her shoulders were slumped as she waited. She'd gone home, showered, and now she needed coffee. But still, it wasn't like she could barge to the front and yell "Coffee, NOW" like a deranged cartoon character.

As the line trudged forward, Nina ordered her coffee (shot of turbo, non-fat milk) and moved over to let the other people order. With a sigh of fatigue, she trudged over to a nearby table, and took a breather.

Then she saw S-fuck, what was her name? Sonja? "Hey, uh...So*mumble*!" Nina called out. Then she gritted her teeth as she remembered. "Hi Sophie!"

Gray pushed his foot off the pavement to keep his momentum up as he rolled along the waterfront on his skateboard. He'd been drifting around aimlessly for the better part of a half-hour. He'd left the house to buy a couple of DVD's and see what t-shirts and hoodies were being sold in some of the stores around town. Gray had ended up at the Waterfront at some point during that time and had just gone with it. After all it was a nice day out and when it was that sunny it would've been stupid to waste his time indoors. The thought of checking Elysium out of boredom had entered his mind but he'd decided against it. Instead he just decided to head into Starbucks the idea of a drink and a fresh cookie appealed to him.

Gray jumped off his board and slid it safely into his bag before stepping into the store. Almost immediately after joining the line he regretted his decision. The line was moving pretty slowly and Gray debated on whether it would be quicker for him to just leave and get a drink from a different store. In the end he decided against it, since he was already in the Starbucks; eventually he managed to get to the counter and ordered a Cool Lime Refresher as well as a cookie.

As Gray paid he heard the girl who had ordered before him greet someone called Sophie, her voice sounded vaguely familiar to him so he turned his head to have a look at whoever it was. He was surprised to see that it was Nina Cl...Clarke. Gray had forgotten her surname for a second but the splint was a giveaway. The reason he had forgotten her surname would've been because Gray hadn't interacted too much Nina before; he knew she'd broken her hand though, like everyone else at Aurora. Deciding it would be better to at least try and be social rather than just get his drink and leave Gray moved to where Nina was waiting for her order and greeted her.

"Hey Nina, how're you?"

"Sophie!" the Starbucks employee called out.

Sophie moved forward to the counter as the employee placed Sophie's drink on the counter. She grabbed her iced tea and a straw and began to unwrap the straw.

Oh man, this looks really good. I hope it's got the right amount of sweetness to it.

As Sophie put the straw in the lid, she heard a voice call out to her. She turned and grinned. Nina! What a surprise! Just a short time after their trip through the maze and they were already running into each other in a less confusing environment.

"Nina! It's so good to see you. How are you today?" Sophie said.

Sophie heard someone else call out for Nina. She looked over and saw Gray Emerson. Sophie hadn't really interacted with Gray before. She knew he was one of Aurora's skater kids, one who was a bit prone to accidents from what she heard. Still, he was kind of cute, and he was a pleasant guy from what she heard.

"Hello Gray," Sophie said.

She brushed some of her long bangs out of her face. This looked like it would be a good break from busking after all.

((Eh, short post is short.))

Nina smiled at Greg. Oh, wait, it was Gray. She didn't really know him, but she guessed he was nice enough if he was going to greet her.

"I'm doing well, thanks." Nina replied. "Tired, I just did a lot of treadmill work at the gym. I showered, though," she added with a chuckle. She knew better than to go from gym to public area; that kind of thing was a little gross.

When Sophie came over, Nina smiled at her too. "Nice to see you again, Sophie. I see you've got a-" she cocked her head to look at the slung over Sophie's shoulders. "Oh, is that a guitar? Were you just playing?"

Nina suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. If Sophie was busking, would Nina be expected to pay her? She figured that they were friends, so Nina probably wouldn't. Still, it was a bit of an awkward position for her.

It turned out Nina had been at the gym before heading to Starbucks. Working out was something that Gray didn't really do, apart from the period of physical therapy he'd done after breaking his leg, which hadn't really helped any. But that was different from exercising as a hobby. Nina also added that she'd showered which Gray assumed she had done but it was good to hear anyway otherwise it would have been a bit weird.

"Cool. Must be annoying not being able to exercise properly. With your arm and all."

Gray had been through a similar deal when he'd been unable to do any skating. It had been an incredibly boring and depressing time in his life but his dad had been there to take him to Centennial Park almost every day so it hadn't been as bad as it could be. It was also the reason why Gray liked the park so much, at least that's what he assumed since he couldn't really think of any other reason he'd like it.

It was at that point Gray became aware that Sophie McDowell was standing just behind Nina. He hadn't noticed her at first because Nina had started talking to him almost straight away. Gray hadn't talked to Sophie all that much but he knew she was very musical the guitar on her back was a give-away as well.

"Hey Sophie." He said as he gave a small wave. He was momentarily distracted when he had to collect his order from an employee and when he turned back around Nina was asking Sophie about her guitar. He took a sip of his drink through the straw as he listened to what Nina was saying. It sounded like Nina was asking if Sophie had been busking. Gray didn't know what type of music Sophie played but he assumed that people would give you money as long as your busking was good. He moved out of the way of the counter, making sure the part of his skateboard that was jutting out of his bag didn't hit anything as he did so.

His mind immediately wandered to whether Sophie could play "Swing Life Away". Mainly because it was one of his favourite songs he reminded himself to ask Sophie about it at some point, couldn't hurt to ask after all.

"What style of music do you play Sophie?"

Nina had been to the gym and Gray seemed to have been skateboarding. Looks like Sophie was the least physically active of the three. Oh well, she stood on her feet for a few hours. That had to count for something.

Nina asked about the guitar, and Gray asked her about the type of music she plays.

"Oh this?" Sophie said, shrugging her shoulder. "Yeah, it's a guitar. I like to play on the streets on nice days like this. Mostly a bit of pop and rock, both modern and classic, but I try to mix it up if I can, like acoustic arrangements of songs not normally performed on guitar."

Sophie looked around the coffee shop. She put her free hand around the strap of the guitar case and turned back to Nina and Gray.

"Say, you guys want to get a table? There's one in the corner that's open. Unless you've got to be somewhere else that is."

Nina shrugged. "I guess not. I've got some free time since I can't play piano or anything." Nina held up her splinted hand. It didn't hurt too bad anymore, but she wished it was gone so she could actually do stuff. "Oh, and on that topic, Gray, my hand's been doing better, but it does kinda suck."

"Oh yeah, a table sounds good." The barista called out her name, and Nina quickly added, "One sec, sorry" before stepping briskly around the other patrons to grab her coffee.

Gingerly taking the coffee cup in her right hand (damn her injury-prone self!) Nina walked back over to Gray and Sophie.

"So Sophie, guitar is neat. I play piano. Or, I used to." Nina sighed. "I should be outta this thing soon, and then I'll be fine." Nina knew it would be much loner with physical therapy accounted for, but she decided to not dwell on it.

"So, how have you two been?" Nina smiled, and tried to take a sip from her still-steaming coffee, but had to back off from the heat. The aroma was tempting, but Nina would just have to wait.

Continued from The Labyrinth


It had been a long day, and Ray was exhausted from walking. After going through the maze the day before, he had decided to walk around town with no specific destination. He didn't want to go home yet, as he wanted to be out. Senior year was already becoming stressful, and he needed the time to be alone. To his right, he saw inside the local Starbucks coffee shop and suddenly became thirsty.

I really should've brought a soda with me. Guess I could get a coffee since I'm here.

He checked his back pocket, pulling out his wallet. He opened it, realizing he had a new looking twenty dollar bill inside.

Can't believe I forgot I had this bill in here. Lucky damn me

He grinned, looking inside again seeing a small line in front of the cashier's counter. He approached the double doors and was getting ready to walk inside when he stopped Nina and Sophie at a far table.

Great. Who would've thought we'd meet again this quickly. If I knew they'd be here, I'd at least wash up alittle bit specially after being such a dumb-ass back in that maze yesterday. Dang, they'd probably already noticed me since I'm right at the door. Maybe this is fate giving me a second chance to make a good impression... Or more like a sick game it's playing with me.

He opened the door, feeling a cold breeze brush across his face as he entered. The smell of hot coffee and donuts only intensified his hunger and thirst the longer he stood there.

I guess they hadn't noticed me, which I guess is a good thing. Or maybe they're too distracted by that guy they're talking to. I got to get a grip, I just met them and I already feel like they replaced me. You are being foolish, Ray. Real foolish.

He walked to the front counter, standing in line behind a young woman and an elderly man. He took a sideways but quick glance at Nina and Sophie at the table, and realized it was Gray Emerson - the skateboarder or what Ray calls "The Stunt Man" as he always seem to hurt himself on his board.

Gray nodded in agreement to Sophie's suggestion that they should grab a table. He would've suggested they go outside but Nina had beaten him to a reply so he went along with the girls.

"I've got nowhere to be."

As it turned out Gray was the only person in the group that wasn't musical in the little group they had formed. Well he couldn't play any instruments but he definitely enjoyed listening to music. He sometimes wondered if he'd have been able to learn an instrument, after all he'd have had plenty of time when his leg was broken. Then again his parents probably wouldn't have been so hot on the idea of him picking up yet another hobby, plus most instruments tended to be expensive from what he had seen. Which granted probably wasn't a good indication of the actual price overall once stuff like amps, lessons and the like, although Gray would have skipped on the lessons and just taught himself...eventually. In the end though none of that ended up happening because he'd jumped straight back on his board as soon as he could, but hey he could still imagine what could have happened.

Gray took another sip from his drink as he sat down. He'd essentially bought caffeinated lemonade but it wasn't actually that bad. True he had bought the cookie as a safe bet in case the drink had ended up being disgusting so that'd he'd at least have something decent it just ended up being a win for him though, since he had a drink that actually tasted nice and was refreshing and a cookie.

"I've been doing good. Filmed a demo tape the other day so I'm glad that went well." Gray said with a grin. "Managed to avoid injuring myself."

It felt like he'd been talking about the demo tape for ages, but he had been genuinely excited about making one. It helped when the person who would be filming and editing it was Claire, who Gray knew was good at anything like that. So it was bound to look awesome. The other thing that had him excited about it was that he'd been landing everything he'd attempted that day...which made a change. He couldn't remember the last time he'd landed everything he'd attempted but it was always a good feeling to nail and hard trick. The fact that he'd nailed everything only made him feel that much better about asking Claire for help in the first place.

Then again it could all be traced back to what Andi had said to him that day. He still wasn't sure what to think of that.

Sophie sat at the table with Gray and Nina, leaning her guitar against the wall. She listened to the two speak about their days. Nina apparently played piano, or would if it weren't for the injury around her arm. Gray apparently had made a demo tape, whatever that was. It must have had to do something with skateboarding.

"I'm doing great," Sophie said. "Came out to the Waterfront, played music for a while, probably made about $6 in the two hours I've been playing. I might go play again later, but I'm in no rush. It's not like I'm going to be tipped $10 like that one day in Centennial Park."

Sophie took a quick sip of her drink.

"So Gray, what is a demo tape, exactly?" she asked.

Nina nodded, and blew the top of her coffee. It was still boiling hot. "That's nice, Sophie. I'm glad you're doing well."

When Gray mentioned a demo tape, Nina was slightly confused, as apparently Sophie was. "Yeah, can you go into a little detail?"

Moving her had to scratch her neck, Nina suddenly bumped her coffee. "Shit!" She cried as the coffee tipped over, pouring onto the table and running off the sides.

"Hold on, I'll get a napkin!" Nina jumped up and ran over to the napkin stand. Dumbass she thought to herself. She could be so goddamn clumsy, and it was so stupid!

Ray had just gotten his hot cup of coffee, and its aroma intensified his thirst even more. Nina and Sophie hadn't seem to notice him, so he figured he would just leave the shop and continue walking around the city. It had been a pretty busy week, and he thought that walking around would be enough to relax him. He stepped out of line, and walked towards another counter to grab a straw and a napkin when he saw Nina walk towards him. He noticed she was rushing, and realized quick that she had spilled something on her clothing.

Well, I can't just stare at her. Got to do something other than stand here looking like an idiot.

"Um, hello?" he said to her, as she approached the counter.

Nice job. Any louder I'd be just loud enough above a whisper. How do I expect her to hear me?? I got to get better at this talking thing, I swear I do.

Ray just stood there, not knowing if he should repeat himself for Nina to acknowledge him. He shook his head, and reached over the counter grabbing a straw and two napkins trying not to draw any attention to himself. Last thing he wanted was to be awkward around her, however it seemed like that plan was backfiring.

Of course as soon as Gray mentioned the demo tape both Sophie and Nina asked him what it was. He really should have learned from every other time he'd brought it up. No one seemed to know what a demo tape actually was. He was starting to get bored with having to explain it too. He had gotten the explanation down to a fine art though so that was a positive.

"It's a video that-"

Almost as soon as Gray started speaking Nina knocked her coffee over, causing the boiling hot water to pour all over the tabletop. Gray pushed his chair back out of the way and pulled his bag out from under the table. As Nina jumped up to go and get napkins the coffee started to spill over the sides of the table and onto the floor. Gray took the napkin he'd been given along with his cookie and tried to mop up the worst of it. Instead he just ended up burning his fingers.

"We should've gone outside." He said with a smile as he shook his hand off.

Before Gray could explain what a demo tape was, Nina accidentally tipped over her coffee. Sophie quickly stood up from her seat and grabbed her drink. Nina quickly went to get some napkins.

"Oh man, what a mess," Sophie said.

Gray made a joke about sitting outside instead.

"Eh, we'd still have to clean it up. You know, out of obligation."

Sophie took a quick sip out of her drink. She then felt something hot on her foot, causing her to wince. Some of the coffee dripped off the table and landed on her foot. She moved a few inches away from the table and knelt down to wipe the coffee off her foot with her hand.

Yikes. What a bad day to wear sandals.