Re: The Story Begins Here: NYU School Campus

[JulietsCurse]

"Y-yeah.. um.. hi.."Alexis mumbled, wiping at her eyes and face quickly, keeping her legs against herself, almost protectively and grabbed her phone from her bag, just holding it. If nothing else, if the guy decided to do anything, she could bash it into his head.

[Tiger-Lily]

Brett smiled what he probably thought was charmingly. It might have looked like a leer. "Why are you so down? And out by yourself at this time?" He inched closer. "Didn't you know it's unsafe? Good thing I was around."

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis inched away slowly. "Got in a fight with a friend."Was all she'd give him as she gripped onto her phone tighter, contemplating calling Luke or anyone to maybe make this guy go away.

[Tiger-Lily]

Brett made a sympathetic face and placed a consoling hand on her knee. "Ah, that sucks, love. Want to talk about it? They say that helps."

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis swallowed in slight fear and played around on her phone to try and keep calm, moving her knee away. "Not.. really, I've done A LOT of talking today to be honest."

[Tiger-Lily]

Brett grinned wider and moved over. "Oh, well, I could help you out however you needed."

He lifted a careful hand and took Alexis', squeezing it.

***

[[from Freshmen Dorms]]

Seth checked his watch as he crossed the quad and the splashes of the fountain soothed his ears. He loved that tranquil watery splash against the hard background of city noise. It balanced in his mind.

He ran a hand through his hair, still unnerved by the strands of brown on his head. The longer locks fell into his azure eyes and he brushed them away in annoyance. He really needed a trim there.

He sped up a little, knowing leaving Lucifer alone at home wasn't the best plan. He had to get kitty supplies, unfortunately, since he kept forgetting those essentials and having to chase after his cat into other people's suites was not something he enjoyed.

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis felt what she thought was ice run through her veins, but it was in fact fear. She tried to pull her hand away. "Uhm.. please, stop.."

[Tiger-Lily]

Brett sat back but kept hold of her hand, grip stronger now. His eyes gleamed strangely as he smiled. "I'm just trying to be nice. You're a little uptight."

***

Seth nearly tripped and went flying facefirst because he paused to suddenly. He'd been daydreaming but the voice had broken him out of it.

He was positive he'd heard a not-so-tranquil voice. A girl. Somewhere.

Seth was an asshole at the best of times, but chivalry and morality were something that constantly fought on in his head. Morality won over his disinterest.

He veered left, around the fountain, eyes narrowing. It was all quiet out here. He'd thought it was. But this was New York. And just because there was a momentary lapse in the crowd, didn't mean it was deserted.

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis flinched and tried to jerk her hand away, starting to panic now. "Let me go, B-Brett."She said through her teeth

[Tiger-Lily]

Brett smiled and his smile was menacing. The crowd would soon erupt, he knew. "Now, you're just being silly," he chided her. He grabbed her wrists and tugged her toward him, eyes displaying lust.

***

Seth sped up, feeling some panic. He edged around benches and away from the fountain. There. Some couple sat by the closed Office. He sped up some more.

Was that Issues? What the....this guy wasn't her boyfriend, he was positive. This guy wasn't blond and lanky. Seth gritted his teeth, the city-dweller survival instinct overtaking him. The city was beautiful and deadly. Especially to stupid girls who wandered around alone.

***

Brett leaned over toward Alexis, her hands in his strong grip. "Don't scream," he said quietly. "You'll cause a panic."

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis struggled even harder, her heart speeding up in panic. "Let me go!"Alexis said louder, trying to get her legs up and kick him away, all the while trying to pry her hands out of his.

[Tiger-Lily]

Brett took her phone out of her hands and pocketed it, smiling widely. "You won't need this. We'll have all the fun when -"

"I beat the shit out of you," a furious male voice broke in. Brett's memory stirred but he gave it no heed.

***

"What the fuck are you doing out here?" Seth snarled at Alexis, reaching over Brett to snag the dumb girl's cell phone back. Fury pounded through him, surprising even himself. He was used to shit like this happening in NYC. And he never usually lost it. That was Rafe or Jake's job.

Brett let go of Alexis' wrists, growling, "What the bloody hell are you doing here, Andreasis?"

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis yanked back as Brett let go of her hands and fell back off the bench. Her back hitting the ground she flinched but scrambled away slightly, knowing she was more than likely shaking to hard to get up. She watched between the Creeper and the Psychopathic Pixie. Whom, shockingly, at the moment was her hero.

[Tiger-Lily]

"Warming up to kick your ass," Seth answered simply, bending down to grab Alexis' wrist. He yanked her to her feet roughly and turned his attention to his old friend. His anger made him see only one thing: take out the would-be-rapist.

"Who let you out?" he demanded.

Brett dropped the accent, Seth noted, when he replied. "I'm on parole." He had a slight Texan accent. Seth remembered it from his trip to juvie hall.

He pushed Alexis away from him, reaching down to grab Brett by the collar and tug him to his feet. "You want to go back there? Fuck, man, are you that lame you need an accent and brute force to get laid?"

Brett rolled his eyes. "I was playing."

"You weren't," Seth hissed venomously, memory stirring. "I know what you did to that girl. A year ago. What's her face, Rachel? Rhonda? Whatever-the-fuck, you played her and then you - "

He didn't see Brett's fist swing out. It caught him in the jaw and Seth, reeling back, reacted by grabbing the other boy's jacket and slinging him headfirst into the back of the iron bench.

A cold clang rang out as Brett slumped to the stone paving at their feet. Seth bent over, hands on his knees as he breathed in and out, trying to calm his adrenaline rush.

"Shit," he muttered softly. He wasn't sorry. He knew what Brett was capable of. And concussion aside, Brett would be fine in the morning.

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis stared in shock and slight horror. She felt like she was in some CSI or Law & Order show. She rubbed at her hands due to the throbbing that was going through them from Brett gripping at them so hard as she tried to figure out what to say, but right then all she wanted to do was cry.

[Tiger-Lily]

Seth finally calmed his breathing and straightened. He was more annoyed at the fact that he'd lost his temper than because he'd just been punched in the jaw. Losing his cool drove his heartbeats crazy and killed off all rational thinking.

He hated acting with his fists.

Seth brushed his hair out of his face, turning to examine Alexis. Her wrists, he could see, were an ugly raw-red. Brett could be pathetically single-minded and cold if he didn't get what he wanted easily.

Seth narrowed his eyes. Girls were so amazingly dimwitted sometimes, he was surprised they didn't all have inbuilt curfew systems.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing out here by yourself?" he snapped at her. "This isn't your hick-town. This is a damned city where the guy on the corner is as capable to kidnapping you as he is of selling you a frigging newspaper."

[JulietsCurse]

"I.. I just.. I.."Alexis stammered, not even noticing when the tears started to spill out and down her cheeks. She really really wanted to go back home, to Ash Creek.

[Tiger-Lily]

You gotta be kidding me. Seth bit his tongue to keep from saying it out loud. He ran a frustrated hand through his dark hair, turning away from Alexis. He'd admit it: he had absolutely no idea what to do with crying girls. He didn't have a sister; he didn't, unlike Jake, have close girl friends either.

Were you supposed to pat their heads like you did with sobbing kids? Or would they take it as offensive? He had no idea.

Seth rubbed both hands over his face, sighing. So maybe he'd been a bit too harsh. She'd just been almost raped. He should have probably taken into account that she was shaking all over.

But carelessness frustrated him.

Seth dropped his hands and carefully grasped hold of Alexis' elbow, tugging her away from Brett's prone form. "Come on," he muttered carefully. "You should probably cry it out inside."

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis' body continue to shake as she nodded weakly and let Seth tug her inside, feeling herself start to break down and cry more as reality finally set in ccompletely.

[Tiger-Lily]

Seth slowed as they got within view of the freshmen dorm building. The security guards stood outside it, watchful now that it was dark out. He ground his teeth in annoyance. Alexis' crying would be a serious red herring. With his stupid notoriety, they'd think he'd done something.

He stopped walking, squeezing her arm gently to get her attention. It struck him that she was a lot shorter than her roommate. Seth leaned down till he was at eye-level with her.

"Hey," he said quietly, and almost went on to call her "Issues", but remembered she'd probably not take it well. "Um, Alexis, could you...uh..." he trailed off. Could she what? Stop crying? He somehow didn't think it was as easy as that. Alexis, a generally tough girl, from the pool-cue incident anyways, was crying. He took this as an indicator that she wasn't having an easy time dealing with this.

And she was probably not going to get past it too quickly. Seth heaved a sigh.

He straightened up, gingerly resting an arm around her shoulders. He didn't know how he'd just get her inside without the stupid guards asking stupid questions.

That, and she was making him feel like scum for standing there uselessly while she bawled.

So he stayed still for a moment and draped his other arm around her in a loose hug, deciding to let her have her breakdown or whatever it was she needed, and then take her back into public scrutiny.

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis' hesitatingly gripped onto his shirt, out of a needing comfort habit, almost like a child as she finally let it all out, crying her eyes out basically, but didn't make a noise except for sniffling here and there.

Today, had to be the most horrible day she had, had in a very long time.

[Tiger-Lily]

Seth often did not turn to religion for much. He was skeptical about it as it was. But...

"Christ," he mumbled under his breath, patting Alexis' back awkwardly. He figured maybe talking would make this less painful for both of them. "I'm sorry I suck at this whole thing. I'm not, you know, a nice guy."

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis let out a weak 'hah' as she shook her head, sniffling and reached up with one hand, wiping away tears even though it didn't make much difference, tears still spilling out.

[Tiger-Lily]

He grimaced. Well, at least she could appreciate humor. That was a good sign. He resumed standing still and letting her use his shirt as a hanky. "Hey, snot and tears are removable. Sniffle away," he informed her, resting the hand he'd been using to pat her head on her lower back since the patting didn't seem to be doing much and was probably going to give her a huge headache when she woke up tomorrow.

[JulietsCurse]

"...T-thank you."Alexis mumbled, as she sniffled quietly, resting her forehead against Seth, forcing herself to calm down.

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