Strangers in a cafe [Emily]

[Emily Ayiana Locklear]

E mily pulled a face, “I don’t think you’re quite the waitress’ type,” she chuckled…the waitress was a sad, sorry looking old lady, probably bored stiff of working in a dead place like this. Either that, or she enjoyed the quiet so much that Josh and Emily had been more of a burden than wanted customers. It probably was the latter. “I can always get her number for you though, if you want?” She smirked, that would have been something Emily would pay to see. “You’re a pale face, you don’t have feelings?” She chuckled, before placing her arm out to sit next to his in comparison, “besides, are you really going to argue that you’re not pale? Because I beg to differ.” Emily raised her eyebrows, a small smile dancing across her lips. She genuinely didn’t care about race, everyone was the same it her eyes, it was just funny to watch people squirm when they didn’t know what else to say - people weren’t wanting to offend but often wanted to retaliate. Only the ballsy ones bothered to. “Ah, that would be the alcohols fault I’m guessing,” Emily had had secret hangovers hidden from her mom on a number of occasions, though it looked like in this small town that was going to be harder to achieve. Everyone was just so…good. Emily blinked, “but green tea is just tea…” she knew what he was getting at but really Emily wasn’t all that passionate about tea. Now if he’d said something like a motor bike is the same as a car or something, then she would have something to say. But she didn’t want to come across as too butch just yet. Her secret passion for cars was another story. She nodded in agreement, “fine, fine…we will wait and see what happens, if I ever decide to take your advice,” New York was definitely on her list of places to go. Emily laughed at his observation, it seemed like he was used to the same kind of girl she usually came across. Salad, tasteless garbage. Who wanted to eat like that? Food was to be enjoyed! “You wait, it’ll be the next biggest trend in Vogue!” Imagining how that would look on the front cover, Emily grimaced. Maybe not. The smell of her food arrived before the plate, her mouth was watering. She was starving. Eyeing the plate as it got placed down in front of her, she grinned. Food. “Now this…looks good!” Picking up a fry, Emily began to slowly devour her food. It wasn’t going to last long that’s for sure. She shrugged at Josh, she wasn’t exactly a rebel though her mom would say otherwise. “Not really, I just don’t like all the classes so why bother?” It sucked they couldn’t just do solely what interested them, Emily would choose all the creative subjects - naturally. She rolled her eyes, “yes yes, whatever…tell me, what did you graduate high school with?” Emily raised her eyebrow at him, now this was going to be good. WORDS; 546 TAG; Joshua Michael Cazalet

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Joshua Michael Cazalet]

"CARRY ON MY WAYWARD SON "

Josh crinkled his nose at Emily's comment about getting the waitresses number. He wasn’t a stranger to getting women’s phone numbers; usually he was able to get them himself, without a wing man – or woman. ”Pass, I’m not into cougars,” Age was in fact nothing but a number… but the idea of dating an older woman just didn’t float his boat; a couple of years’ older, maybe, but no more than five; and the waitress was definitely pushing late fifties, if not early sixties. It would be like dating his grandmother. As if sensing they were talking about her, the waitress glanced over from behind the counter where she was busying herself making their orders. Josh gave her a small not, before looking back at Emily and pulling a yeesh, awkward face. (Just like this).

Josh rolled his eyes and scoffed loudly. ”Hey, just because you’re mixed race doesn’t mean you get to sit there and spew out racial slurs. I don’t make a habit of introducing myself as white or pale or even peach to people I meet, just like I don’t make a habit of pointing out when someone is black or rainbow coloured!” The contrast between their skin colours was evident, but it meant nada. ”I made no dispute that I’m pale… I was just saying calling someone pale face isn’t exactly politically correct. If I went around calling you brown faces, there would be a huge issue!” The world of political correctness had gone mad and it was a complete minefield with a lot of double standards. It was usually a topic he avoided talking about; after all, people always warned to avoid talking politics and religion with anyone. ”Incorrect. It’s the fault of every single street in this place looking exactly the same. I drove here this morning, parked up and now I can’t find it! It’s by some houses and shops… oh wait, that’s all there is on the front.” Josh did however have a hangover starting to kick in from the night before. The caffeine was killing off any trace of alcohol in his system and replacing it with a headache.

Emily was a lost cause apparently with trying to understand that a hotdog wasn’t just a hotdog. Josh huffed and decided to let the topic drop. It was a stale mate. They were too far away from New York for them to be able to prove it right now anyway. The topic of food they could currently eat though, that was a safe topic for two strangers to be able to have. ”I’ll have to take your word for that or you’ll have to let me know, because you know… I don’t read vogue.” He was however familiar with female supermodels, and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t imagine Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell with a food baby. They were definitely salad pickers rather than bacon burger eaters. Josh gave the waitress a ‘thanks’ as she popped their food onto their tables and shuffled away; she also noted that his coffee mug was empty and refilled it. What a gem. ”Mmm that we can agree on,” Josh shook the salt shaker over his food, before shovelling fries into his mouth. This place wasn’t exactly hopping with customers, but they sure did make good fries. ”I’ll take this and a food baby over eating grass any day of the week.” he said between bites of his burger.

”Tell me, which classes do you like”? None of them particularly caught Josh’s interest. He was fascinated with history and of course geography, but the classes were dull and uninteresting, so he didn’t try. He’d finished high school almost ten years ago, so he had to think for a moment what he managed to graduate high school with. ”Umm..” As he thought, he continued to shove fries into his mouth and wash it down with mouthfuls of joe. ”Umm.. I think my GPA was something like 1.3.” The lowest passing grade possible.

Emily Ayiana Locklear

MADE BY ★MEULK OF THQ

[Emily Ayiana Locklear]

H is reaction was better than Emily had imagined, at least he could actually…you know…get a joke. Some people just took offence to her jester-ish behaviour. “That’s a shame, I bet she’s got some miles left in her too…” Emily chuckled. Looking at the waitress, she couldn’t help but mirroring Josh’s reacting. The woman looked old enough to be her grandmother and wasn’t at all bothered about being at work. In fact, Emily was sure she was only trying to look busy to avoid having to actually serve people. Smart move. Emily gave a mock gasp as her hands flew to her mouth, “Joshua…whatever your last name is…did I actually offend you? I’m so sorry,” she winked… “maybe if you got a tan, if the sun ever comes out, it wouldn’t notice so much. You could blend in,” he was very pale…but so was everyone in this god-forsaken town. She held her hands up and dropped the subject, taking a small sip of her green tea. At least she hadn’t bought up politics or religion, they were big no-go subjects in her book. She didn’t believe in religion and she couldn’t vote yet, her opinions were null and void. Emily laughed, “I bet I could find it easy, what car do you have anyway?” Cars. Now they were talking. She loved anything that had an engine, if she could make it faster she would. Definitely breaking out of the girly-girl stereotype most people had her placed under. She picked up her burger and grinned at Josh, before taking a huge bite. Man this food was well worth the wait. Chewing slowly, Emily revelled in the taste, there was no way she could ever be vegetarian, those people were crazy. “You should read vogue, it’ll make you understand the female psyche more…” she said matter-of-factly. “And I’m sure you could do with some pointers,” he didn’t come across as well versed in what girls actually liked. More of a love em and leave em type. Well, that was most men in reality, but still. He was older, surely he wanted to settle down by now. Emily took another bite of burger and paused, did she let him in on her little secret? “Well I like creative subjects like art, and shop – you know, fixing up cars and stuff,” the rest were boring in her eyes, she couldn’t stand Math and English only grabbed her when she wanted to pay attention. “You graduated with a 1.3? Congrats, that’s an achievement,” hats off to the dude, he was probably worse off than she was – but at least he’d graduated already…she still had a year left to flounder. “Maybe when I graduate I’ll try and match you with that…” Emily grinned, her mom would definitely kill her. WORDS; 462 TAG; Joshua Michael Cazalet

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Joshua Michael Cazalet]

"CARRY ON MY WAYWARD SON "

”Hey, you seem to be keen. Should I try and get her number for you?” Josh teased back, with a raise of his brows. He wasn’t one to judge someone’s life style, love is love and all that…. And for all he knew, Emily was into chicks just as much as he was. He didn’t think she was, but who knew. Anyway, it was fun to tease her and a bit of entertainment was just what he needed to help his hangover. That and lots of carbs.

He almost physically cringed at the use of his full first name. He never went by it, the only people that got away with using it without his retaliation was his sisters and even they rarely used it because they knew how much he hated it. He wasn’t about to correct her though. He knew from his own sense of humour and through experience, that if you let on to people who were wind up merchants that you didn’t like a name or a word; they tended to use it all the more. He was guilty of it himself. He wasn’t about to give Emily that ammunition. ”Trust me, kiddo, you’ll have to say worse than that to insult me,” he roll his eyes and took another mouthful of his coffee. ”and get skin cancer? I’ll pass thanks,” he muttered sarcastically. ”I don’t plan on sticking around Washington State long enough to worry about blending in anyway,”. Josh had never been one to worry about blending in anyway; he wore what he wanted, he listened to the music he wanted. Hell he did whatever he wanted. ”I’ll buy your food for you, if you can find my car. It’s a black Toyota Cressida. Old school and cheap,”.

Josh continued to shovel his food into his mouth, enjoying the rush of fat and carbs soaking up the remaining alcohol that was sloshing around in his stomach. After this, he’d probably feel human again and be ready for another night out. ”And that’s exactly why I don’t read Vogue,” he replied, through a mouthful of fries. ”Plus, you’re assuming I actually care about the female psyche. Which I don’t.”. Josh loved women in the sense he loved sleeping with them and looking at them. But anything else? Nah. His mom had continuously let him down his whole life, and the first women he opened up to and trusted not to hurt him, broke his heart and left him with a heart of ice towards anything romantic. He didn’t give two hoots about their psyche. He knew what they wanted to hear and what they wanted in the bedroom, and that served him pretty well. ”I’ll stick to playboy, if I have to read a magazine.”

The whole fixing cars comment threw Josh for a moment. She definitely didn’t look like the car fixing mechanic type. ”You’re into cars?... Like actually fixing up cars?” he questioned dubiously. It completely distracted him from the conversation they were actually having about school. Other people would have been mortified at the low GPA score, but Josh didn’t really care. It was just a number. He knew that he was actually pretty smart, and hell his teachers had known that, he just hadn’t applied himself at all. But that was years ago now. ”I had New York City as a distraction… you have La Push. So good luck with that,” he laughed. If he had grown up here, he may have actually applied himself out of boredom… maybe… probably not...

Emily Ayiana Locklear

MADE BY ★MEULK OF THQ

[Emily Ayiana Locklear]

G awping at him slightly, Emily laughed, "Sorry she isn’t exactly my type…like at all, definitely a guys girl,” she narrowed her eyes at him, “but thanks for the offer,” Emily hadn’t had a huge amount of boyfriends in her lifetime, in fact she actually had more boy…friends than boyfriends, but she hooked up with the odd random from time to time. It was more of a challenge to get her settled into a relationship, and Emily preferred it that way. She got bored WAY too easily. The sight of Josh cringing at his name made Emily feel a small win over him, so he didn’t like the use of his full name? This was going to get fun, whenever he annoyed her that’s what she’d do…making a mental note, Emily smiled sweetly at him, “we have plenty of time for that I’m sure,” she laughed. He had no idea who he was messing with, Emily was the class clown and insulting was one of her favourite tricks. Rolling her eyes at his skin cancer comment, Emily shook her head. Pale faces were always so worried about the smallest things. “Or get a spray tan?” Giving him a bit of a curious look, Emily frowned slightly, “nope, you’re not taking off that quickly…you can’t leave me here.” The idea of being stuck in this small ass town with no friends would completely suck, Emily started to feel a slight panic rise in her, she didn’t like being alone and finally she’d met someone who she actually got on with. Shrugging, Emily nodded, “alright, you’re on…I bet I can find your car super easy in this town.” Plus, a free meal would be insane! She was always a sucker for a deal. Emily polished her burger off in double time, the taste of that beef patty was too good to let go. She was way too into junk food, one day she was sure a heart attack would be the end of her. Having taken a sip of her milkshake, she very nearly spat it out all over Josh at his comment. She started laughing, “dude, seriously…you need to learn about the female psyche if you’re even going to try and figure out how to play a girl, let alone actually date one,” this guy was clueless when it came to women. “Playboy, really? What are you, sixteen?” Emily thought for a moment, “I bet I can be a better wing woman than any guys you know,” mainly because she knew girls, you know…being one and all. She shrugged, “well, yeah I guess…you know I like to play about with engines, see how fast I can get something to go,” she kind of mumbled it - slightly embarrassed, no one had really ever taken an interest in her little hobby. “I guess that’s where I want to go, you know? Stuffy offices I can’t deal with…but give me a crappy engine and I’ll spend every waking hour trying to fix it up.” La push really wasn’t a distraction, like at all… “yeah thanks for reminding me,” Emily grumbled, why couldn’t her mum be like a cool mum and let her finish school back in Seattle? Glancing at her empty plate, and then outside at the rain, Emily sighed, “so I guess you want me to find this car of yours?” WORDS; 590 TAG; Joshua Michael Cazalet

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Joshua Michael Cazalet]

"CARRY ON MY WAYWARD SON "

”Hey, well… you never know,” he said, holding his hands up innocently and grinning at her. Josh wasn’t one to judge some ones’ personal interests. As long as people didn’t shove their sexuality down his throat, straight, homosexual, bisexual or whatever, he didn’t have a problem, love was love. ”For the record, women are pretty awesome. You don’t know what you’re missing,” he teased with another laugh and wiggle of his eyebrows. Josh had been with his fair share of women, and a couple other men’s share of women too. It was a fact he was a bit of a man whore. But it was a defence mechanism for him; he left women before they could hurt him. The direction of his thoughts was starting to enter dangerous territory that he tried repress. Instead, he focused on Emily and what she was saying. ”hit me with your best shot,”

Josh rolled his eyes at the young, naïve girl sat across from him who apparently took some things very literally. Leaning in towards Emily, he lowered his voice. ”I don’t mean right this second… unless we’re gonna do over this old lady and empty her cash register. Then maybe I’d leave right this second.” His words were dripping with sarcasm, but the held a slight hint of truth. Not that he was thinking of stealing from the old waitress, but in the past, he had be known to help himself to five finger discounts and steal money before now. He wasn’t proud of it, but not exactly ashamed of it either. ”Could always tag along with me,”. Having a minor with him at all times did not seem appealing at all; he may through caution to the wind with stealing and taking drugs, but abduction of a minor was a big no no. But Josh was honestly interested to see what she’d say. He thrust his hand out in an offer to shake. ”Deal,”. He could afford to lose a few bucks if it meant he could find his car.

Placing the napkin over his now empty place, Josh lent back in his seat, resting his hands behind his head. He was definitely starting to feel more human now the carbs had soaked up the remaining alcohol. ”Pccccht, please. You speak as if I have no success with women. You know nothing! Me and dating don’t mix anyway,”. He actually had a way with women, he was good at telling them what they wanted to hear in the moment and getting them to give into him, plus it helped that he was actually quite good looking. ”Those who have to study the female psych are already on a path to fail.” Women weren’t pop quizzes that needed to be studied. The more you read into things, the more complex it became, and Josh just wanted an easy life. ”Hey, honey, boobs are boobs. Whether they’re in playboy or Sports Illustrated”. In actual fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually picked up a playboy magazine, probably when he was sixteen. But that was beside the point. For a moment, ”When you’re twenty one, we’ll put that theory to the test,”

Most girls – women – that Josh came across were the complete opposite to Emily. They were always trying to play coy and impress him, they didn’t get his sarcasm and they sure as hell didn’t give him any in return. That was probably why it was so easy to leave them the next morning… but Emily gave as good as she got, and he respected that. The fact that she liked to get down and dirty with cars too was pretty cool. ”How does a pretty little thing like you get into playing with motor oil and engines?” It just wasn’t connecting in his brain. Girls tended to know nothing about cars. A sexiest belief, maybe, that’s what he usually found. Put it this way, he’d never visited a garage and had his car serviced by a woman… But he did understand the desire to do anything other than being stuck in an office or behind a desk for hours every day. The idea made him feel like he was going to bring up his burger. With a groan, Josh looked out of the window at the rain that was still falling heavily from the sky. ”Ugh, fine, let’s go get drenched by the rain and find my shitty car.” Fishing out his wallet, he dropped two twenties on the table and headed towards the door and opened it, motioning for Emily to go first. See, he could be a gentleman at times. He called thanks to the waitress as he stepped out into the freezing cold wind and rain.

Emily Ayiana Locklear

MADE BY ★MEULK OF THQ

[Emily Ayiana Locklear]

S he pulled a face at him, not that she had anything against peoples preferences - she was all for gay marriage and freedom to love who ever you wanted…but she was well a truly a guys girl. “That’s because we don’t aim to toy with your emotions…” rolling her eyes at him, Emily got the idea he was somewhat of a player. Not that he came across like a jerk…most of the time she got that jerk vibe…but more that he didn’t seem down to settle. Raising her eyebrows, Emily grinned, “is that a green light to the spray tan?” This was gold, she was going to have so much fun with this. Emily laughed, he’d taken her way to literally. She knew he hadn’t meant that he was going to up and leave right that second…but she did wonder exactly how long he planned to stick around. It would sure be nice to have a friendly face around, even if that face did come with a dry sense of humour and fresh stack of insults. She mimicked him, leaning in toward him and narrowing her eyes, “Oh sure, I’ll take her out - you grab the money and lets run!” Her voice was dry and sarcastic, matching his very sarcastic tone. “Because my parents would love that,” Emily sat back in her seat with a huff, her mom would freak just at the fact Emily had decided to make friends with a guy far older than she. She shook his hand and nodded, this was going to be the easiest free meal she ever had! Cocking her head to one side, Emily frowned at his comment. “You mean, you’ve never actually dated a girl…like in a relationship sense?” Sure, she wasn’t exactly ‘experienced’ but she was only seventeen - plenty of years ahead to make numerous mistakes with relationships. And it wasn’t like she had never wanted one…they just never really interested her enough, or they were intimidated by her. “Ha! I’ll never understand the man obsession with boobs, don’t you realise how annoying they are?!” Wow, was she really about to enter into this conversation with a guy she had just met? Hoping it kind of freaked him out, she bit her lip in a nervous way and fidgeted in her seat. “Because there is no bar around here that may or may not sell alcohol to someone with a fake I.D.?” Sarcastic innocence clung to her words, it wasn’t that she always went out and partied…but it came in handy, especially in Seattle. Girls and cars apparently never went together in every single male mind she’d ever come across. Emily shrugged, was it really that big-a-deal that she preferred to fix up cars over fixing her nails? “It’s just a tad more interesting than say…cheerleading?” She had tried to the cheer team before, and had gotten in…but it wasn’t long before she’d dropped out and moved swiftly onto cars. The girls she’d met there were by far too high maintenance. “Besides, it’s a useful skill…” should she ever break down, Emily knew the important things to check as well as how to change a tyre with ease. Emily pushed up out of her seat and headed toward the door behind Josh. Heading out of the open door, she sighed and glanced left to right. Right would take them toward the beach and that was no where near civilisation, so left it was. She motioned to the left and started running down the road, wanting to try and keep out of the rain as much as possible. As she reached the street corner, she ducked into a doorway that had the smallest bit of cover. “I can only imagine its left here, then left again at the next street” she called out to him, signalling the way as she spoke. Damn, it was cold…she hadn’t dressed for this weather. WORDS; 689 TAG; Joshua Michael Cazalet

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Joshua Michael Cazalet]

"CARRY ON MY WAYWARD SON "

Messing around with girl was just a physical act for Josh, and he always ensured that the women were sure of this before anything happened. He didn’t want to lead them on; after all he had been that person being strung along before now… He just liked women and enjoying their company occasionally; just on her terms. ”I meant awesome to look at. Don’t read too much into it, Emily.” It was a common thing that women used to do, think that men meant something deeper than what they were actually saying. When in reality, men didn’t have any layers. Usually what you saw was what you got. Josh laughed and shook his head, ”No, definitely not a green light to any spray tan.” The closest he would get to that kind of personal beauty activities would be a haircut and a shave; and a shave was only when he could be bothered these days, he quite liked the shaggy shadow beard look.

Josh nodded his head in a agreement, his face completely serious as if he was actually considering this plan. He was sure however the only money that was in the register was about ten bucks in change in case of a customer. It wasn’t exactly a busy café. ”Make sure you take her from behind. She won’t know it’s you then,” Josh winked at her before a grin crept across his lips. He liked her, she got his humour. ”Yes, and I’m sure you do everything that your parents would love,” he muttered, sarcastically. Growing up, Josh had done a lot of things to piss his parents of; well specifically his mom. But most of it hadn’t been intentionally to annoy her. He’d usually done whatever he wanted to do and it happened to have the added bonus of getting her riled up. It wasn’t that he was a bad son; she had just been a terrible mom. There was no desire to please her if it made him miserable. He looked out for himself and his wants. Taking off and travelling had made him happy.

”Of course I’ve dated,” he snorted, his fingers giving the word dated the air quotes it deserved. ”It just isn’t for me. I tried it, and it didn’t stick. Hook up’s are the way forward.” He didn’t do girly quotes or sayings, but one that someone had said to him before that had rung true was; “the only way to protect your heart from getting broke, is to pretend like you don’t have one,” And that’s basically how Josh tried to live his life these days. He didn’t like putting roots anywhere or with anyone, the last time he had, he’d gotten his heartbroken. He was keen to drop this conversation now; it was prodding his need to flee into action. Welcoming the distraction, he frowned lightly and shook his head. ”Funnily enough, I don’t know how annoying they are because I don’t have them myself… So I’ll take your word for it…” Honestly, he couldn’t see how they could be annoying, then again his mind always ended up in the gutter when he started thinking about them… so it wasn’t something he’d actually ever considered. Josh grinned at the sarcasm that dripped from every one of Emily’s words. ”Ooh, check it out we have a rebel in the house,” he said, leaning into his chair. ”I’m not one to promote underage drinking or partying… then again. I’m not one to discourage it either.” Taking a seventeen year old out to a bar probably wasn’t the most sensible idea ever, but it wasn’t one he was doing to discard straight away.

Josh wasn’t really into cars himself… as long as it drove him from A to B, that’s all he cared about. He was a little more into motorbikes, but even then that was only a small hobby. He wasn’t ever in a place long enough these days to participate in hobbies. Coming across a girl that was into fixing cars and stuff was… different. Something that he’d never come across before. Which was one of the things that Josh loved about meeting new people; none of them were the same. ”I guess it is a good skill to have… How did you get into cars? Not something that most city girls find themselves drawn too… well the ones I’ve come across anyway.”

Jogging after Emily, Josh kept his head down in an attempt to keep the rain out of his eyes. His shirt was once again soaking and sticking to him from the down pour and his hair was plastered against his forehead. Why did he think it was a great idea to explore a place famous for its wet weather without a jacket?! As they made their way down the street, he kept trying to find anything that looked familiar, but it under the grey colour from the sky; it all looked the same to him. ”Lead the way then Columbus,” he called to her. ”Though, I was at the beach before it started raining… and I hadn’t parked too far away from it… I don’t see no beach around here.

Emily Ayiana Locklear

MADE BY ★MEULK OF THQ

[Emily Ayiana Locklear]

E mily shot Josh a sarcastic smile, she knew what guys like him were like. All the same, stringing along for a bit and cut loose when they got bored. Man, growing up sucked. At least in high school everyone knew where they stood. Those so-called ‘childhood sweethearts’. Either that, or you knew if the guy was a tool. She pouted at him, “Oh, but you’re so pale - you would suit a spray tan!” Emily just wanted to see if she could convince the guy to let her have some fun, it was always more like a game to her. Besides, she was so bored - anything would be more fun than like, school. It wasn’t that Emily always went out of her way to defy her parents. She loved them both unconditionally, even if they did get on her nerves. But the rules they set were just sat there asking to be broken. Besides, none of her friends had had to put up with rules and boundaries - they had totally cool parents who let them act like adults. It was so unfair. “No but I try and limit the amount of damage I cause, being grounded isn’t the one,” she genuinely couldn’t wait to be an adult and be in charge of her own life. Travelling around the country, being totally free and in control. That was way more appealing. “Oh of course you’ve dated…” she rolled her eyes. He was such a typical dude, playing it off as cold and as if he didn’t care. Sure. “I’m not buying it but, whatever,” Emily smiled, he wasn’t the person he was pretending to be. She could see through it. But hey, if that’s what he wanted right now, she would play along. Emily shrugged, he called it - there was no way he could realistically comment on something he didn’t have. Besides, most guys got completely freaked out by ‘the boob talk’ and ended up trying to back out straight away. Watching people squirm was way too funny. It wasn’t that she was a rebel, but being seventeen in a town like this was too much work - you needed to get your kicks somehow. “So its agreed, I’ll be your wing woman with style,” she flicked her hair casually in an over dramatic way, and wiggled her eyebrows. Of course, she was only toying with him, but it was fun. It had started at a young age, her Dad had always being tinkering with the car and Emily had always sat and watched, joined in when she was old enough. In the end she’d just picked things up slowly and then chosen to take it on in high school. “Ah, I just kind of fell into it, my Dad used to mess around with the car, so I guess I just took an interest,” she smiled, thinking back to when she was little always made her wonder when her parents had changed. They were always so hard on her, her brother got away with murder but she sat there and literally breathing too loud got her in trouble. She waited for him to catch up, and rolled her eyes. He obviously hadn’t been in the town very long or taken notice to anything around them. “Follow me,” Emily ducked back out into the rain and followed her own instructions. Parked up outside the small row of shops were four cars. “Row of shops with cars parked outside,” she took a bow and laughed. It was still pouring but already soaked through she just stood in the rain and shrugged. Having a cold in the morning would mean no school, so who cared about a little rain? WORDS; 633 TAG; Joshua Michael Cazalet

credit to nat of adoxography.

[Joshua Michael Cazalet]

"CARRY ON MY WAYWARD SON "

Growing up with disasters as his parents, he didn’t have exactly great role models to base his relationships on. Even before he had met Melissa, he hadn’t exactly held down steady relationships. His pattern had always been somewhat the time, have fun with a girl and have dates until they weren’t having fun anymore, then go their separate ways. The difference now though, was that he had no intentions of letting them attached to him and avoided official dates at all costs. The only time he was out with a girl was when he met them. Josh set his mouth in a firm line, and shook his head. There was absolutely zero way he would ever get a spray tan. ”Too bad,” No chance of him changing his mind on this, no matter how many times she called him pale. He’d rather look dead than get a spray tan.

For a moment, Josh reminisced about his own experience of getting into trouble and defying his parents. They’d tried everything; from grounding him to threatening him with military school… none of which had worked of course. Whenever they grounded him, he’d walk straight out of the front door ignoring their calls urging him to get back inside. Sometimes he’d stay at a friend’s place for a few days to cool off, or sometimes he’d get himself into a fight due to being so worked up and the cops would end up dragging his ass back to the apartment. It was the only thing he had felt in control of; how he acted. When he was mad, he wanted everyone to be mad and know he was angry. And all of the time he was angry with his mom, so acting out was his way of showing it. ”It’s cute that you’d adhere to the punishment when you were just having some fun.” he laughed. If you were going to break the rules, why bother accepting the punishment when you could just break that too?

”It would be weird if I was a twenty five year old guy who hadn’t dated, wouldn’t it?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. Even if he hadn’t had his heartbroken, right now, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to be tied down anyway. Those eighteen months of being with his ex had put a halt on a lot of his travel plans. He liked being free and able to take off as and when he wanted, with no commitments to worry about and no one nagging him about coming home or saving for a mortgage or whatever. ”You don’t have to buy it, I’m not trying to sell it.” Josh was never one to really care about what people thought of him.

Josh laughed, dragged his hand through his hair and sighed in a resignation kind of way. ”Okay, fine. You gotta earn that title of wing woman though. You can’t just say you’re it. You can talk the talk and now you’ve gotta walk the walk.” It wasn’t the most sensible thing that the guy had ever agreed to, but then again it wasn’t the worst either. Emily seemed like a decent kid, someone who was trying to find herself and try out this whole papa don’t preach attitude. But deep down Josh knew he probably wasn’t the best person for her to be hanging around with.

It was hard for Josh imagining what it would have been like if his own father had been around to teach him things about cars and give him other fatherly advice. Whenever someone spoke of fond memories with their parents; honestly he generally switched off. He couldn’t make the connection himself and he didn’t understand. Not only did he have no fatherly figure outside of the endless guys that traipse in and out of his mothers bedroom, he also had no real motherly figure to nurture him. For some reason though with Emily, he thought it was sweet. Maybe because it wasn’t your typical girly story; young daddy’s girl playing with Barbies or whatever. ”That’s fair enough,” he said, returning her smile. ”Still mess around with cars with him?”

The rain continued to lash down upon them both, freezing him through to the bone. Man, when he got home he was going to take the longest hottest shower that his crappy shower would let him have. This town was like something out of movie; everything to him looked the same. He was used to seeing different buildings with unique features not clones! ”I swear if you start telling me to do a U turn, I’m going to start calling you TomTom,” he joked, following Emily down the street. And of course, as they rounded the corner, there sat his battered little Toyota. ”Congratulations,”. Not wanting to stand around in the rain any longer, Josh dashed across the road and opened the car. ”You getting in, or are you enjoying standing in the rain?” He wasn’t sure what his plan was, whether she’d just want to go home, or if there was some form of grand adventure to be had in this sleepy little village. Not waiting for a reply, Josh ducked into his car, sinking into the drivers seat and turning on the engine, letting the hot air conditioner fill the car.

Emily Ayiana Locklear

MADE BY ★MEULK OF THQ

[Emily Ayiana Locklear]

E mily shrugged, her dad did still like to mess around with cars but not the same as they used to. “Sometimes, but I think he’s too busy these days…” either that or he just wasn’t into it the same way Emily was anymore. Still, it meant the two of them had a little to talk about. “Either way, at least I can now change a tyre at the side of the road better than any other girl in town,” she let out a weak laugh - it wasn’t exactly the best skill to shout about but hey, it meant road trips would be much easier for her. “That isn’t a bad nickname,” Emily called behind her with a laugh as they made their way through the streets in the rain. She’d been called a lot worse that’s for sure. “See, I’m not all that useless,” grinning, Emily took a bow. She shrugged as he offered her a ride and jumped into the passenger seat, and shook her head, spraying rainwater everywhere. She was soaked through, her mum was going to be furious. Glancing around the car, feeling the warm air blast out through the vents Emily nodded appreciatively, “not bad, not bad…could use probably a bit of a spruce up and some TLC but still a pretty good ride with the right attention.” Not that she was offering but it was always fun to have a project like a beat up old car to work on. Looking out at the weather around them, Emily scrunched her face up. “I can’t see this weather getting any better, and my mom is going to be pissed if I turn up soaked, dripping water all over the house,” her mom was super house-proud. Always cleaning and tidying, and when it came to Emily’s room having a fit at the sight of all the clothes strewn over the bedroom floor. Well she was a teenager, what did her mom expect?! “What’s the plan batman?” She looked back at Josh expectantly, waiting for him to make a decision of where the pair were headed, or if he was just going to drop her off at home to face the music with her mom. Either way, her dad wasn’t going to like an older guy dropping her off - especially when it wasn’t someone he knew. Besides, Josh was much older…this meant that her parents would sit her down for a lecture for sure. She rolled her eyes, Emily wasn’t prepared to face that one just yet…realistically she hoped Josh would let her hang about for a bit longer. WORDS; 449 TAG; Joshua Michael Cazalet

credit to nat of adoxography.