Cidi (Cooper + Midi) |Three Star Diner|

[Middleton Blake]

Midi liked coming here on days where she didn't have too many afternoon appointments. It was one o'clock in the afternoon, and she didn't have another client until three, so she took the subway from The Bronx to Brooklyn to go to one of her favorite restaurants.
Three Star wasn't even her favorite because of the food — though their omelets were pretty fantastic, no matter what time of day — but because she loved to people watch here. She really liked the company in Brooklyn. She felt like it would be a nice place to live, but she just didn't have enough money to move out of the ghetto, and she didn't want to ask her uncle for any help.

She sipped her coffee at the bar — three creams, four sugars — and couldn't help but watch a little girl as she made a mess of her chocolate chip pancakes, getting the syrup all over her face and clothes.
Midi loved children. Not that she was in any rush to have her own just yet. She was still young, still single, and actually still a virgin. But that was just the way she liked it. Though some day she hoped to have her own little messy eater.

ooc:
If you do Cooper coming in and sitting down at the bar, I'll have her recognize him :3

[Cooper Reynolds]

Cooper actually didn't spend a lot of time in Brooklyn; why would he? He absolutely loved living in the Bronx and it would feel disloyal to want to live in this part of the city. He wasn't some rich little bitch like his sister! But, none the less, he had spent the night at number 147's apartment in Brooklyn so here he was totally ready for some nummy waffles!

Nummy waffles? God, he spent too much time with Cici!

He let out a heavy sigh before finding a seat at the bar and ordering himself smiley face pancakes which was his absolute favorite thing in the world! He didn't care what time of day it was! How could anyone not appreciate smiley face pancakes? Or really, smiley face anything?

His food came and he was well as excited as child over the cute face that he was about to eat. He was a drug dealer who enjoyed smiley face pancakes, totally normal! He was as eager to enjoy his meal as the little girl nearby was... possibly more!

[Middleton Blake]

Midi was halfway through her spinach and bacon omelet when she noticed someone sit next to her. He seemed a little familiar, but she didn't want to seem like a freak so she just kept to herself, while trying to figure out who it was.
Maybe it was just one of those guys with familiar looking faces or something. It was a big city, there was probably someone around who looked just like her, the chances of her knowing this person were ---

Shut up!

As soon as the man ordered smiley face pancakes, she knew exactly who is was. There was only one grown man in all of New York who'd be silly enough to order something like that.

"Cooper?" She knew it had to be Cooper Reynolds, it just had to be! He was pretty much her only friend when she went to Foxhurst Academy, and she was pretty good with remember faces and names. It was that beard that threw her off. If he'd walked in here clean shaved like he used to be, she'd have known as soon as she saw him.
"Cooper Reynolds? It's me — Midi Blake, from high school!" She smiled her big toothy smile at him. She couldn't believe she was running into him like this! She really hoped he remembered her, or else she'd look like an idiot.

[Cooper Reynolds]

Midi Blake?

Cooper sometimes wished that he was the type of guy knew the names of all of the women that he'd ever slept with off of the top of his head but well he obviously wasn't which was why he had the scrapbook! He was trying to put her face to a vagina until it all came back to him... They'd never had sex though he did find her quite beautiful. Why hadn't he ever dated her in high school? She was actually kind of gorgeous... Had she been this attractive in high school?

He realized that he'd spent an awkward amount of time staring at her without speaking so he decided to say the first thing that came out of his mouth, "You're so pretty... I mean.... beautiful... I mean... I mean yeah I remember you." He ran his fingers through his hair before looking down at his pancake, "How's it been going, Midi?" He didn't want to make this awkward!

Well... he kind of already did.

Was this as awkward for her as it was for him? He'd just called her pretty! What if she thought that he was like a pedophile or a rapist or something else along those creepy lines.... It wasn't exactly a compliment that people use to call him Creepy Cooper in high school although he had dated Carol so she was kind of hypocritical to call him that.

[Middleton Blake]

Midi blushed when he called her pretty. That was definitely not something you expect to randomly hear, but Cooper was never one who thought very much before he spoke.
She smiled at him, "Thanks! For a second there, I didn't think you remember me, and I felt like a total creep." She laughed a little and took a sip of coffee.

"I see you've been working on your beard? Looks good!" He definitely looked more mature than he had in high school, with the beard and everything. Almost sexy, but that wasn't a word Midi liked using very often, because she felt like you only called someone sexy if you wanted to have sex with them, which she really wasn't looking for right now.
Cooper was probably married with children or something by now anyway. She'd heard that most everyone from their graduating class was married, so he probably was too. Who was it that he was with? Carol something...Or did he just have a crush on her? She couldn't remember. She just knew that Cooper would always talk about that girl whenever they would hang out, so maybe they were still together.

She figured she'd ask. "So, how've you been, Coop? Married to that girl from high school yet?" She looked at his left hand, and saw that he didn't actually have a ring, so she seemed kind of stupid asking that, but she just smiled on anyway.

[Cooper Reynolds]

"How could I not remember you? You're Midi Blake!" Cooper was sure to put extra emphasis on her name to show just how awesome that he thought that she was back in the day; she was like the only girl at school that he never considered having sex with although he couldn't quite remember why nothing ever came of them romantically. She was gorgeous! He took a bite of his pancake before realizing that she wasn't eating.

Suspicion rose for a second that she had some sort of an eating disorder but it was quickly washed out of his mind; she wasn't anything like his sister. He frowned when she mentioned Carol or as she called her 'that girl from high school'.

"Carol Maree and I? Nah, she and I didn't get married." He glanced down at his hand and shrugged, "Things didn't work out between us because she totally manipulated me and made me believe that she wanted a relationship when she was really still in love with Wyatt Parks." He coughed into his palm before realizing that it was a tad awkward to say all of that.

"How about you? I bet that you're married to some hot male model with a couple of kids by now."

[Middleton Blake]

Midi wished she hadn't brought that girl up. She had no idea about any of that! She felt awful, and that Carol must be a horrible person to do something like that to sweet Cooper.
"Aw, I'm sorry to hear that. She must be a stupid girl to not know what a catch she had!" She elbowed him and laughed, drinking a little more coffee.

At the mention of her being married with children, Midi smiled and flipped her long hair back. "Well, if you must know. I'm actually engaged to a French underwear model and am currently pregnant with our fourteenth child, can't you tell?" She poked out her little belly and laughed.
"No, I'm now married, nor do I have any kids. I'm about as single as they come," she shrugged. "So what are you doing these days?" She thought back to what he liked in high school. "Do you still paint?"
She remember that Cooper was actually pretty good back in the day. Tucked away in some drawer in her little apartment she still had the painting he did of her just before graduation as a gift. Thankfully, he'd left out her braces and just gave her a closed mouth smile. She was so surprised at how much detail he put into it. He had to be doing something with his art by now.

Midi looked sideways at him, thinking to herself how nice his profile was. Somehow, the two of them never ended up dating. It was weird. They'd always had so much chemistry, they constantly flirted, and she definitely had a crush on him, but nothing ever happened. She almost asked him out on the last day of school, but her cousin told her that guys found that weird, and she was pretty sure he was still hung up on that nasty Carol girl anyway. So she never tried anything, and now looking at him, she kind of regretted it.

[Cooper Reynolds]

Some stupid girl? Carol was the first girl that he'd ever imagined himself really falling in love with and her choosing Wyatt over him was what made him stop believing in love. She was the reason that he stopped looking for 'the one' because he didn't want to risk having yet another girl change her mind about wanting to be with him since he quite obviously wasn't a good enough guy for anyone or at least that's how he felt after the whole thing.

Cooper cleared his throat and took a sip of his ice water, he actually believed that she would be engaged to some French underwear model and pregnant with baby number fourteen; how could he not believe that? She was Midi Blake! She was like the prettiest girl who'd gone to their school and he couldn't help but wonder how life would have been different if they'd ended up dating instead of him and Carol... Would they still be together or would they both be single and chatting awkwardly like this to other people in a diner? It wasn't that he never ever thought about dating her because he'd been mighty tempted to ask her out but he'd been too busy having sex with random women. He had an odd habit of touching his beard which he realized probably wasn't actually sexy and kind of stupid actually.

"You? Single? Midi! How in the world could you be single? You're the prettiest woman in this whole damn city!" Did he still paint....? He didn't honestly know how to answer that! "Um... Sometimes, I don't have a lot of time to paint anymore because I have a job and all but I do when I can. I sell some paintings every now and then but it's definitly not enough to live on or support my future son well kind of son. It's complicated. His name is Henley, Henley Noah Porgan." His expression brightened whenever he spoke about the unborn baby though he technically had no rights to that baby.

He was just a sperm donor! "This is him! Isn't he cute? I think he has my nose!" He was showing off an ultrasound picture of his well Gin's son.

[Middleton Blake]

Midi shrugged. "You know...some of the things I don't do make men not want to be with me." Mostly the sex thing. There was no man — at least not one that she'd met — that was willing to wait for her to fall in love with him to have sex. So she was just desperately single until the one came along.

She looked at the ultrasound picture and smiled, though she inwardly felt a little sad. He said he wasn't married, but if he had a child on the way... "So, that's your girlfriend's baby?" She looked him in the eyes, and then back at the picture. She tried sounded merely curious, and she was pretty sure it worked. She was really hoping he was single. Not that anything was going to happen between them but...a girl can hope, right?

[Cooper Reynolds]

Cooper actually forgot that it would probably appear that he was having a baby with a girlfriend given how excited that he was over the child. "Oh, it's my lesbian's baby." He didn't really know how to answer that in any other way. "I should explain." He laughed before placing the picture back in it's safe spot in his wallet.

"I donated sperm to my best friend and her wife so that they can be mothers so I guess that he's not really my son but I consider him my son. I have his name tattooed on my chest by where my heart is so he's always with me, you know? I love that baby even if he's not really my child. I've been saving to help out with him as much as Gin and Jules will allow."

He did hope to someday have children of his own but he didn't feel like it would be right given his lifestyle which was why he was strongly considering getting a vasectomy. Why would he want to make a child suffer with a drug dealer as a father? No child deserves that!

[Middleton Blake]

Midi sighed of relief on the inside. She was just going to guess that he was single, because most women wouldn't want their partner donating sperm, best friend or not. She thought it was really sweet how attached he was to this baby, even though it wasn't going to be legally his.
"That sounds awesome Cooper! Not many men would stick around for a child when they didn't have to." She smiled at him.
She always appreciated a family man, because it was such an interesting thing to her. Her uncle had adored his family, so it was surprising to her when she first moved in with them. Her father wasn't around at all, so knowing that there were people in the world — like Cooper — who love children, and would do anything for them, was a really nice thing for her to know.

"So what are you doing if you don't paint anymore? Like what's your job?" She felt like she was asking him a lot of questions, but she was kind of used to that. Being a counselor and all, she was always asking people how they feel about things, or what they think about things, because working with children...you just have to find ways to make them talk more. So this whole question thing came way too naturally for her.

[Cooper Reynolds]

"I'm a salesman." Cooper was so use to lying to people when they asked what his job was that it was just an automatic answer to her question but he felt strange saying it to her... It was just different telling her that. She didn't deserve to be lied to. He wanted to tell her the truth but then she could decide that she didn't want to talk to him anymore and he enjoyed catching up with her.

He wanted to tell her everything; his drug deals, his family shit, how lonely that it was sometimes in his apartment but he didn't. He kept his smile on his face and tried to look like he wasn't telling her a huge lie. "What about you, Middles? I bet that you're a big time model now, right? Your name is probably all over the streets of France and China or somewhere else to that effect." He laughed to let her know that he was totally and completely kidding; he didn't really think that she was a French model not that she wasn't attractive enough to be one.

He just saw her as the type who'd want to help people and modeling only helped people get eating disorders well and get off, he supposed.

[Middleton Blake]

Midi smiled at the old nickname. It wasn't like it was a complicated or exceptionally smart name, but Cooper was the only one who'd ever thought to call her that. And she really like it.
"You know, I actually just turned down a modeling contract for Ford Models. They wanted to pay me like three million dollars, but I decided to pass." She shrugged, and then laughed to show him that she was obviously kidding.

"I'm a counselor at the Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center. I work with kids from five to eighteen. I like helping people. Making kids see the positive side of things. You know..." she shrugged. She loved her job and the kids she helped so much. It was always a fun thing waking up in the morning, knowing that she was going to be helping someone that day. Especially those kids. She didn't have a very happy childhood, so getting to help a child or teen who was going through depression or something made her really feel like she was doing something good.

She finished her coffee, and then called the waitress over to bring her some more. When her cup was full again, she started to add the right amount of sugar and creamer.
"So a salesman, huh?" she smiled at him. "What do you sell? Are you like a door-to-door vacuum salesman or something? That must be exciting." She winked at him, and took a sip of her coffee.

[Cooper Reynolds]

"I sell....Um I sell..... I sell bibble! I am a door to door bibble salesman!" Cooper was trying to make that sound as believable as possible because he really didn't want her to question him and think that he was selling drugs or something which he was but she didn't really need to know that right now. "My job is boring." He said finally before taking a bite of his pancakes and ordering himself a little plate of bacon for him to enjoy. The waitress put it in the shape of a smiley face which he considered very kind.

"I'd much rather talk about you than me any day! I'm lame! But you... You're Middles! You're the cute girl that I use to like in high school but never made a move on because well you know how it is in high school. He winked before taking a bite out of a slice of bacon, oh sweet porky goodness! He was absolutely in love with bacon. How could anyone not love bacon? He just didn't understand....

It was meat! Delicious meat!

[Middleton Blake]

Midi blushed when he said he had feelings for her in high school. She completely dropped her next question as to what the hell bibble was because it sounded like some kind of code for crack or something.
"You used to like me?" She felt like a little kid again, getting all blushy and giggly about a boy possibly having feelings for her.
It took her a second to remember that high school was over, and had been for four years. He liked her. Past tense. They were adults now. There was no need to dwell on that.

But...she had to say something. It was kind of the perfect opportunity. "You know I almost asked you out before graduation? Rainer talked me out of it but..." she bit her lip and looked down at her coffee. "I guess we were both just too chickenshit to do anything, huh?" Generally, Midi wasn't one to curse, but she felt it was right in certain circumstances. And she had always been fond of the phrase chickenshit but had never had an excuse to use it until now.