Re: The Story Begins Here: NYU School Campus

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn stood stunned, unable to comprehend. Had he seriously...

She felt her hands clench. Any momentary chemistry was put on pause because Evelyn drew back her fist and punched him where she'd hit Jake (countless times). Right on the jaw.

Holy shit, that hurts! Evelyn bit her lip, hearing her knuckles crack in response as she drew back.

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis continued to squeeze the life out of her best friend before letting go as she heard her wheeze weakly for breath. "I missed you! I can't believe I haven't seen you since you've been here."

Rosemary grinned and ruffled Alexis' hair, a little taller then her. "Hey- you've been busy with that mystery man apparently."

"..Who?" Alexis said confusedly, furrowing her eyebrows.

"That mystery guy you were going on about and wouldn't tell ME who." Rosemary replied, giving her a look of confusion as she pulled her bag around her shoulder more. "Don't act like you don't know."

"I have no idea what the hell you are talking about, Rose." Alexis said truthfully, staring at her. "Are you feeling okay? Like.. no cold?"

"Dude- are YOU okay? It's all .." Rosemary trailed off, thinking.

[Guest]

James' head snapped to the side, he was expecting that, it had hurt but no way would she ever know that he wasn't going to give her that satisfaction.

"Yeah that really hurt me, I'm crying Evie. You really know how to punch a guy." He said smugly, sneering at her.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn had been given this exact same bait by Jake. She retorted simply, "Explains that lovely bruise you have there. But hey, us girls like a few scars." She flashed him a fake smile and dusted all the bills off of herself. She bent and picked them up, annoyed further because their antics had scattered them around wildly.

[Guest]

James watched Evelyn as she bent over to pick up the money that they had both decided to throw at each other like it was snowballs or confetti, he simply retorted by saying, "Why Evie, its still light out, I thought you worked when the sun went down, and generally on a corner."

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn stopped breathing for a moment, unable to find a single thing to say. Her insides lurched painfully. The James she feared was emerging.

She bit her lip hard, already feeling her eyes burn, and kneeled, scooping up as many of the bills as she could. The only thing she said was, "You lost the right to call me that." Because that was the only thing that didn't burn her from the inside out.

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis frowned, staring at Rose with questionable eyes. "Rose, what's going on?"

"...Can I see your phone, please?" Rosemary said calmly, holding out her hand and didn't quite look her in the eyes.

"Uh.. sure.." She hesitatingly grabbed her phone from her purse and held it out to Rosemary, watching Rose go onto the net and then turned away from Alexis, reading over the posts again.

Some of it sounded like her. And some of it didn't. She frowned and took a deep breath, slooowly turning around to look at her dark-haired best friend again. "...I think you should check your facebook.." She said quietly.

Alexis frowned but took the phone back from Rose when she handed it back, and logged out of Rose's account before logging into her own. Her eyes went wide, in shock.

[Guest]

James felt like his insides were on fire, but they seemed to be freezing over at the same time, he kneeled down to her level and stared her straight in the eyes, "You lost the right to punch me when you fucked Jacob and sent it to me." His voice like ice, he stood up, and turned to walk away.

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn inhaled sharply, almost wishing he'd kicked her instead. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of her and she stared up at him as he straightened, too horrified at his bluntness to find a comeback.

"I didn't," she mumbled instinctively, feeling her voice wobble. She suddenly snapped out of her shock. She wasn't going to tell him. She finished picking up the bills and straightened, unable to say anything else. Her head whirled. She felt bile come up in her mouth and choked it down.

[Guest]

James halted in his tracks, he heard her feeble "I didn't" and as much as he didn't want to turn back and react, it was exactly what was happening he couldn't control it.

"Didn't what?" He said his voice shaking slightly, "Didn't take my heart rip it out and fucking step on it?" He said his voice growing loud and he could feel the stares of a few students passing by on campus but he didn't care.

James stood his ground, his eyes darkening as he glared murderously down at her, "Keep your fucking money, because the last thing I need is anymore fucking reminders of you! I don't want it!" He shouted.

[JulietsCurse]

"Oh.. my.. fucking.." Alexis breathed and quickly went to fixing the damage as much as she could on a phone. "I'll kill him. I'll ki-" She blinked and looked over as Rose did, hearing the shouting from James.

Alexis stared, blinking away the clouding thoughts of murder in her head as she straightened up. "... Shit." She breathed, staring at the scene a ways away from them. But James could shout and Alexis was positive it was them.

"Is that..." ROsemary raised her eyebrow, and shook her head. "Nah."

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn felt the blood drain from her face.

It was worse, she reflected, than the guilt of knowing that you had wronged someone, to know that you didn't deserve all the hate they threw at you because you were innocent. It was suffocating, oppressive and brought you down like nothing else.

She felt two inches tall right then. But she managed to raise her head, meet James' angry eyes and say coolly, "I don't want to owe you anything."

She held the wad of bills back out to him. "This is yours. If you don't want to be reminded you lent it to me, you'll take it."

[Guest]

James lowered his voice, and his eyes to her. He didn't want it, he didn't want any of this money because it would just sit there and remind him of everything and he wanted it to be over with.

His voice low so now only he could hear her and not all of New York, "You take this money, because you owe me nothing. I don't want anything from you anymore. I don't care what you do with this but I do not want this in my possession throw it down a sewer for all I care, I just don't want it."

James pushed the money away from him for the final time, and turned and started walking away this time making sure not to look back. His head was pounding along with his heart, he needed to just get away from here before he did anything else he'd regret.

[Tiger-Lily]

"It's all about your piece of mind, isn't it, you insensitive piece of crap!" Evelyn snapped at his back before she could stop herself.

She was so freaking fed up. Fed up of trying to help him, of hinting she was done, of driving him away by destroying every value she held close. She'd made a whore of herself in front of everyone, had made so many people distrust her and now, he wouldn't just give her this reprieve?

[Guest]

James ignored Evelyn, he didn't want to hear anything else she had to say because like he told her on the phone she was dead to him and he honestly meant it now.

James stormed off campus and towards the subway, he just wanted to go home.

[[To Luke and James apartments]]

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn didn't know what flicked that switch in her brain. That I-hope-he-gets-run-over-by-a-freaking-subway-train-and-fried-on-the-lines switch that geaered her into turniing around and walking toward the administration building.

She stepped inside, ignoring the gaping crowd around her, and dumped the cash in her hand into the charity box nearby. Then she turned and silently walked back to her suite, not noticing her roommate a few feet away.

She couldn't notice anything. Not the people, not the city sounds, not some guard yelling at some frat boy, not a wolf-whistle some douche aimed at her. Her head was clear, but she wasn't thinking. It was a weird state, kind of like when you woke up in the middle of a violent dream and were caught suspended, unable to understand if you were back in reality or still stuck inside your head.

She glided unfeelingly back through the lobby and up the elevator to her suite.

[[Evelyn to Dorms]]

[JulietsCurse]

Alexis and Rose just looked back at each other, mumbling something about "awkward turtle" before going back to their own topic.

"Come on. We're going back to my dorm." Alexis said firmly, grabbing Rose's wrist and dragged her off.

"Wha- why?"

"I have someone I need to kill and you have to help me hide the body." Alexis said, storming off to the dorm with her red-headed BFF following behind.

((Alexis and Rose to dorms.))

[AaezRaza]

((Tiffany and Evelyn from Freshman Dorms))

"Oh yeah, the sex tape fiend!" Tiffany exclaimed, "Red could be like your porn star name. Since thats where we're probably headed. I"m just kidding."

She reached into her handbag, and pulled out her phone once again.

"So Evelyn," She continued, "What about Ashlee? Where is she? And...how is she? She's not still not mad at me right? Because that would just be weird."

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn was laughing at Tiffany's premonition of their future careers. James would agree, no doubt. She glanced over at the brunette, grinning. "I don't think she's mad at you, no. It'd be a bit weird if..." She tilted her head, glancing back to the front. "Do you still have a thing for Lucas? Because she doesn't anymore."

[AaezRaza]

"We'll find that out when I see him," Tiffany replied, "Because right now I can just say I'm completely over him. BUt then I might see him and remember how amazing he is, and then I'd melt. So I'm waiting to see him, so that I can figure out if I still have feelings for him. But most of it might be nostalgia. I hope I don't get confused. You know?"

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn lowered her gaze to where Nova was waddling off to sniff at some guy's sneakers. "Venir, Nova," she said firmly, and he trotted back to walk by her side.

Evelyn swallowed. Nostalgia... "Yeah," she looked up at Tiffany, smiling grimly. "I get it. You know, Luke went out with my roommate. But it didn't work so well with them. He hasn't really, um...made much of an addition to his lovelife after high school."

[AaezRaza]

"Aww, well that sucks," Tiffany replied, "I was hoping after I had left, Luke would be finally like...free from the torture I was making him go through. Poor guy, I hope things get better for him."

She knelt to pet the little dog.

"How far away is that cafe you were talking about?" She asked, "Think we can call Luke over there as well?"

[Tiger-Lily]

Evelyn stopped for a moment, leaning against the back of a nearby bench to catch her breath. She was already feeling worn out. "It's just up ahead." She pointed across the nearby road to a bakery/cafe just off campus. "Yeah," she exhaled. "We can call him. He'd be thrilled. Do you have his number still?"

Nova meanwhile, was being petted by some older woman. An instant later, Evelyn heard a feminine yelp. She looked over to see Nova gnawing on the woman's finger playfully while she attempted to pull it out of his mouth.

[JulietsCurse]

((Alexis and Rosemary from Student Dorms.))

Alexis ran her fingers through her hair, looking around the campus area as she and Rose walked with Frankie. She figured that her and Rose could drop the poor dog off at Connor's friend instead, since that was bound to be what would have to happen, unless Connor wanted to be kicked out and be homeless for the time being due to an overly-large dog. He'd from now on have to visit Frankie at Adam's.

Alexis drowned out Rosemary's humming which faintly sounded like 'If I Had You' by Adam Lambert. Usually when she was around Rosemary, she was actually in a good mood, but not today. And she had a feeling why.

Her thoughts kept trailing off to everything the past week? Month... fuck, how long HAD it been? The days were horrifyingly to long, and way to much happened within 12 hours or more. AND, she needed to make a mental note to lose her facebook password from now on or something because that thing was just a promise for a bad mood or to depress you.

Tiffany was back in town, and, really she didn't hardly know Tiffany and she really didn't like her from what she could tell...

Stop judging. Alexis corrected herself quickly, biting hard on her tongue, cringing when her tongue piercing cut into her a little and flinched at the coppery taste. She's probably a nice girl, who's just wealthy and... ugh. Alexis rolled her eyes, hitching her bag over her shoulder more as she walked beside Rose, who had apparently noticed either Alexis' facial expressions or her distance with the present.

Rosemary nudged Alexis' shoulder hard, till she looked at her before frowning deeply at her. "Okay. Tell me what's up. Vent. Rant. Scream. Bitch. SOMETHING. You are worrying me."

"What?" Alexis frowned, before shaking her head. "Nothing's "up", Rose. Just thinking."

"Exactly! Something HAS to be wrong because you are flinching and cringing, scowling, and more bitchy then usual! Usually you are "sarcastic-bitch-girl" but now you sound like "bitter-bitch-girl"." Rosemary stopped walking and crossed her arms tightly across her chest, waiting till Alexis stepped back and faced her before she leaned in close. "Now, tell me what's up."

Alexis eye'd Rose, licking her lips nervously. Rosemary was her best-friend from the beginning, probably knew her better then she knew herself, and vice versa. Rosemary would probably be the last person to ever judge her THAT way right? Right... or so she hoped.

"... Okay. I'll tell you "what's up". I'm tired, Rose. Dead tired." Alexis said, putting her bag down so she could pace. She didn't know why but pacing seemed to help get thoughts out. It was like a bad evil genius would do, he'd pace to get evil thoughts. But this was to GET thoughts out.

"Then.. sleep?" Rosemary said confusedly, crinkling her nose as she let her hands drop back to her sides, watching her best-friend pace back and forth like a mad women, only... looking more stressed then anything.

"No. Not physically, mentally. I'm fucking literally biting my tongue to watch my words, AND my thoughts. I'm a judgmental bitch- and you have to agree with that. And, just so you don't get lost, I'm using bitch as a BAD term this time. Because see, I play the victim and by saying this I make myself SOUND like the victim too because I'm saying everyone is accusing me of this, so I can't say this because it'll make the term even more so true, and everyone will get pissed at me, and something bad will happen again. Which, probably WILL be my fault, because I'll open mouth and insert fists instead of being good and keeping my mouth shut." Alexis took a deep breath, gripping onto her hair a little.

"Wait- Alexis you've never been one to keep your mouth shut. I don't think you ever learned HOW. And no. You're not a judgmental bitch. Somehow THAT came along the past couple of year.. years.. whatever. You were really happy at one point, what happened to that? And how are you the victim? I'm so fucking confused right now." Rosemary chuckled weakly, rubbing at her arm as she watched her friend with concern.

"You're right- I never did learn but now I NEED to learn, like, I must. And yes, I am judgmental now, and happy is gone right now, okay? Okay. I'm NOT the victim- GAH! Everyone is SAYING I'm playing the victim and from my point of view, I can't see it, which is why I tell everyone I'm not and accuse them of accusing me, which MAKES me the victim, so yeah, I'm pretty damn confused too." Alexis threw her hands in her air, frustratedly before turning to look at Rosemary.

"And- see- I've fucked up any social being with any friends because NO ONE wants to be around me at this point-"

"I want to be with you, you're my best friend." Rosemary interjected quickly, before going quiet again to listen to go.

Alexis let out a breath, and gave her a weak smile in thanks. "Okay, ALMOST NO ONE wants to be around me at this point, and I honestly don't blame them because I take sooo much out on everyone, like I'm doing to you now with this. EVEN IF YOU ASKED." Alexis said firmly, seeing Rosemary open her mouth and then continued when it re-closed.

"I went on one date with a really sweet dimpled guy and then I fucked it up, somewhere along the lines. I guess- with hanging out with that pixie dick-head who can go die in a ditch somewhere in Arizona." Alexis scowled, clenching her fists and continued on her monologue. "Because at one point Seth aka Pixie Dick-Head was protecting me from someone who had their way with me anyway. So Dimpled-Guy basically wants nothing to do with me and even though we're "restarting" or whatever, he doesn't seem to thrilled about it, so I guess that's just a dry-spot that doesn't want to be touched."Alexis scoffed quietly and turned to look back at Rosemary from pacing again.

"And you know- AGAIN I feel like a judgmental bitch because earlier I thought that He was probably to busy wondering on how to get a damn date with the beautiful, wealthy.. Trisha, that he's closer too. I mean, he's not USUALLY like that, but hell what do I know? I left them alone for almost a year to some other guy who "stole my heart" or whatever. Which in lies my real problem! This ALL started way back when Joel came into the picture and my stupid self decided to THEN act like a teenager and catch up to me." Alexis groaned and rubbed at her face a little, but was careful of her make up.

"Is this all because of JOEL?" Rosemary quickly said, reaching out and grabbed Alexis' arm, pulling her closer.

"No! For god sakes, this isn't all about Joel! I mean, yes, I miss him a lot lately which is really weird and I don't like it, because we're done, over, whatever. He could be in Miami or whatever and I couldn't know or care at this point." Alexis shook her head, letting Rosemary hold her there.

Alexis let out a breath before looking up at her. "Because- I'm moving on too, somehow. He wanted to break up so we did. I miss his comfort, his understanding for some things and how caring, silly and whatever he was, but yeah. Whatever, ya know? He's moved on an so have I." Alexis nodded firmly.

"You would care if he was in Miami, because ex or not, you two made good friends, sorta... once you loosened up. And you know, maybe you just need to slip back into THAT Alexis, just a tiny bit, to be.. more relaxed? You were really happy at that point, Alex. You were relaxed, and all. And yeah, you did forget about your friends, but at some point they will have to forgive you because you've realized what you did, and that person isn't even in your life anymore. YOU aren't even near that sort of person like you were then anymore..." Rosemary said calmly, looking Alexis' dead in the eye.

Rosemary moved some hair behind Alexis' ear. "You are stressed, tense, on-edge, snappier then usual, ready to take something out on someone, to hurt someone. I know I haven't been in the loop at all, and I know I got here late, but I know this ISN'T my best friend. I know you are worried about your dad, and even though you've been through.. stuff.." Rose cringed as did Alexis, avoiding the actual word. "This isn't her."

"I FEEL.. I kinda.. feel like this is me, Rose. And everyone is telling me that it isn't, or how bad I am, or what wrong I keep repeating and I feel like I'm the last person who anyone SHOULD be around. Like I have a small self-esteem but not when it comes to personality or whatever. Where it counts? As cheesy as that sounds." Alexis laughed weakly and moved to let her forehead rest against Rosemary's shoulder, deciding maybe it was best to leave the "James" topic of it, on how she was afraid Rose would get mixed up with him, because right now Rose was all she had to listen to all this, and so far, she wasn't really judging. She just sounded worried.

"Theeen... maybe you should come down with some freak medical accident where you can't speak for a month or two, so you don't have to talk to anyone or listen to their crap. Because hun, it sounds like you need a break. A major one." Rosemary said, petting Alexis' hair gently as she kept her voice calm. "Because I've never actually seen you this stressed. And there might be a lot of more trouble that isn't my business that lays under the book's cover but at some point YOU will have to take care of that. Not me. And ranting around it won't do anything. But for now, just relax before YOU end up in the hospital." Rosemary pulled Alexis back up to look at her. "Kay?"

Alexis stared at her best friend for a long moment before nodding and pulled her into a tight hug. "Kay.. thank you.. so damn much, Rose. I've said this before and no one has actually just .. listened instead of judged. I got the point already about all that... I just needed someone to LISTEN for me..." Alexis mumbled, before hugging her even tighter, going quiet as she did.

[AaezRaza]

"Like, ohmyGod, let's totally meet up with him!" She spoke in excitement.

She pulled out her cellphone, "Well, unless he's changed his number, I think I still have it." She continued.

She dialled the number and waited for a response.

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