Little Talks (Carter)

[Jacelynn Heron]

Soon it will all be over, and buried with our past
We used to play outside when we were young
And full of life and full of love

You're gone, gone, gone away
I watched you disappear
All that's left is a ghost of you
Now we're torn, torn, torn apart
There's nothing we can do
Just let me go, we'll meet again soon

The song played on repeat, over and over again. Each time it struck her a little harsher than the time before. February was one of the worst months to her. Sure, it was filled with pink frilly things that she happened to love, but it also was filled with chocolate and gushy relationship stuff. Being single and someone who hated chocolate, well she wasn't a huge fan especially when it came close to the middle of the month. Valentine's day. A Hallmark holiday as far as she was concerned.

It was for everyone who had a special someone in their life, and for everyone who was single, it was to make them relive their loneliness at its worst. Due to her hatred of the holiday, she had even made her own shirt, a black swoop-neck shirt with 'V-day = D-day' in hot pink lettering and a broken heart. She was crafty like that and every year she wore it with her head held high and everyone looking at her thinking there goes another bitter, whiny single girl that can't find anyone to be with on Valentine's day. Those people, as far as Jace was concerned, could suck it.

Luckily the holiday passed quickly, but the aftermath was still lingering. Everywhere she looked on campus, couples were hogging all of the free space with their cutesy dates and whatnot. What was a girl to do? Go to the club and drink her loneliness away? Been there done that. She was sick of trying to forget how pathetic her life was getting. She couldn't go home though because her mother had decked out their house in hearts and stupid, cheesy quotes that went along with the holiday.

So she went to a place that was a little too cold for some people to handle, which made it quiet and solitary just for her. Only a week more and then the month would be over and she could go back to hiding her loneliness. Jace leaned against a tree trunk, her knees pulled up to her chest and her ipod playing softly in her ears. Tears collected in the corners of her eyes and she didn't both wiping them away. The benefit of being alone was that no one could see her cry, she could be left alone with her tears for as long as she liked.

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter wasn't sure what prompted him to go to the lake that day. It was where he'd met her, wasn't it? He couldn't remember anymore, not that it had really been that long. Still, Carter went. Valentine's day wasn't anything incredibly special; not in his books anyway. He understood that it meant more to some than it did to others. He was the latter. And he had his reasons for feeling such a way.

The song on repeat caught his ears, quiet as it was from the small speakers of an iPod. At first he thought he was imagining it, or that somehow that song ended up stuck in his head. But when he realised it was playing more than once, he ended up following it. Because why not? He always met the most interesting people in the most interesting ways.

But he'd met this one already.

"What are you doing?" Carter asked, adjusting his glasses and tucking his hands into his pockets. He wore them sometimes, though he wasn't exactly a fan of the forced framework. But he had a book tucked under his arm, so hopefully that provided explanation.

[Jacelynn Heron]

The words played once more and Jacelynn couldn't take it anymore. Finally she tossed her ipod aside and just curled up tighter, attempting to force the pain in as usual. She may have been alone, but she'd never been good at confronting how she felt. Which right now, she felt lonely and miserable. Kale was gone, Jackson had a kid, Sam left her, she was completely alone because she was constantly pushing people out of her life. It was funny how she constantly was telling people all of their problems when she couldn't even fix her own.

She sniffled, but didn't wipe her eyes. It would only smear her makeup and she didn't want anyone seeing her looking like a raccoon. Eventually she'd have to make her way back to the university and people judged her enough without thinking she was capable of crying. After all, she was just a skanky robot. It didn't matter what she looked like, she would always be judged.

Upon hearing footsteps, she tensed and frantically wiped at the tears that wouldn't smear her makeup. Once the wetness was mostly gone, her eyes wandered from the shoes and up. Based on the great fashion sense, the voice and the overall familiarity of him, she didn't even have to look at his face to know. His question was one she didn't particularly want to answer though. He had dealt with her upset only a few weeks before, she didn't need him to actually see it now. So instead of looking up at him directly, she looked out at the lake instead.

"Trying to find new spots to photograph," Jace answered simply. Her voice was all wrong though; it was quiet and the closest to monotone as she was capable. Still, she doubted he'd stick around long enough to notice anything. He may have noticed through texting, but it wasn't like he actually cared. He felt obligated if anything.

[Carter Chevalier]

Upset women were not Carter's forte. Unless they wanted sex to relieve that upset sensation. He recognised her, and she clearly recognised him. She turned her eyes away from him, as if hiding something. Or perhaps she just didn't want to look at him. Either way, it meant the same thing to Carter.

"That's a lie." Carter denoted. "I met you here."

Therefore, she knew the place already. He didn't even need to analyse her tone of voice. Perhaps she was a bad liar, or perhaps she was doing all this to get his attention. Unsure, Carter's hands curled into fists in his pockets, releasing shortly after. "Either your bad at it, or I'm too good to believe it. So don't lie. Not to me."

[Jacelynn Heron]

As soon as he called her out on it, she wished she had just ignored him altogether. Typically she did ignore people when she was feeling so out of sorts. She hated people seeing her upset, especially guys that she typically used to distract her. Carter being one of those guys, she definitely didn't like the way this was panning out.

Jace knew it was a long shot trying to lie about what she'd been doing at the lake. It just had to be him, had it been any other person they would have probably believed her. Still, she wasn't about to give in. Why would she? That would be admitting weakness. Once she was sure the tears were no longer visible, she looked up at him in a more defiant way.

"You didn't let me finish, I was looking for a new place to take pictures, but I didn't find any so I just came here. You know, since this is such a great place to take amazing pictures," She gave him a smirk. Jacelynn didn't expect him to believe it, but maybe he would give up the pretense of actually wanting to know and just get to the point of why he bothered coming over. It was pretty obvious to her that he didn't care either way so she didn't feel the need to tell him the truth.

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter wasn't particularly in the mood to beat around the bush. Whether it was because he was unaware of her issues remained to be seen, but being lied to more than once was a simple way to annoy the blonde French boy. He breathed a sigh, briefly searching his pockets for something to smoke in the lull between his accusations and her lies.

"To be frank, if you're going to continue to deny it I'm going to walk away." He pointed out, his eyes away from her and on the packet in his pocket. "I'm giving you a chance to be honest. Saying you don't want to talk about it is more honest than outright lying." His fingers pressed against the bud and drew a cigarette from the packet before he tucked the rest in his jacket pocket again. He pressed it between his lips, padding his back for a lighter. "There are quicker ways to get me to leave."

[Jacelynn Heron]

Jace winced when he spoke again. Not because she expected any less, but because she realized that she was being a bitch to someone who was at least asking what was wrong. He could have ignored her completely and though she had wanted to be alone, she knew if anyone was going to help cheer her up it was going to be someone who at least knew her in some way rather than someone who didn't know her at all.

She bit her lower lip and hugged her torso, whispering, "I-I'm sorry, Carter..." The last thing she needed was to push away someone who could be one of the only friends she really had outside of Jackson. Building up the courage to look at him again, she patted the place beside her, hoping that he would at least accept her apology and talk to her.

"I didn't mean to be bitchy, I'm just...I've got a lot on my mind and I didn't want to have to go to you again because you dealt with it not too long ago. I hate confiding in people about stuff like this because it makes me sound pathetic ya know?" She bit her lip and shook her head when she realized she was rambling.

[Carter Chevalier]

Upon finding a lighter secured from his back pocket, Carter kept his eyes to the flame as he lit the cigarette perched between his lips. Once successful, he placed the lighter in his pocket again and drew the smoke deep into his lungs. He caught sight of the way her hand pressed against the ground, as if signalling him to sit. For a moment or two he stared in confusion, eventually conceding to meet her halfway; he took a step in her direction, thereby standing in the space offered.

"Who have I to tell?" He asked openly. After all, he didn't know her friends or people, and she didn't know his. Carter briefly thought on what Dom would say if he knew about Jacelynn's behaviour. He would laugh at his twin getting involved in such a mess.

[Jacelynn Heron]

Jacelynn huffed slightly and ran her finger's through her hair. He had a point, but she still didn't want to be one of those girls that all guys feared due to their constant emotional meltdowns. And she was becoming just that. The old Jace wouldn't have been sitting here alone crying about how horrible life was treating her. She'd have gone out partying, gotten drunk and slept with someone to get over it. So what was happening to her and why was she acting this way?

One could only bottle it up for so long. But she still didn't understand why it was always Carter who had to hear about it. It wasn't like they were really friends.

"No one I guess. It's just, I dunno, I'm taking pity on myself due to the ridiculous Hallmark holiday, I suppose." But as soon as the words were out of her mouth she knew he'd pick up on the fact that there was more to it than that. Carter was there when she burnt the pictures of Sam. He was there when she got rejected by Lark. But he didn't know that it was her own fault that these things kept happening. He didn't realize that she forcefully pushed people away from her for fear of getting too close. "It's more than that, but that's the gist of it," She shrugged and looked down.

[Carter Chevalier]

Carter shrugged at the very idea of Valentine's day. It was a simple way to pick up people, if he really wanted to go that far. But beyond that it meant nothing to him. So when she talked about it, he wasn't initially sure how to react. The blonde looked away, out towards the lake as he enjoyed the intoxicating aroma of the cigarette he was powering through.

"Why take pity on yourself because of a ridiculous Hallmark holiday?" Carter asked, because to him the two didn't fit together. "If you don't care about the holiday, why is it inducing this kind of behaviour?"

[Jacelynn Heron]

Honestly, she wished she understood why this stupid holiday was causing her to react so ridiculously. It wasn't just the holiday though. The holiday had just been the tip of the iceberg before she lost her composure. It was the reminder of everything the holiday represented that got to her. She felt stupid for explaining that though. Hell, she felt stupid for saying anything to him about this. He probably thought she was just like every other lonely girl. Pathetic.

At least that made two of them.

"That's what's frustrating, I usually don't give a fuck in the world about this holiday. For some stupid reason though, things have just been piling on and this holiday just pushed it overboard with the annoying couples that suck face all over campus and are always just so happy with their lives," She shook her head in frustration. It had sounded stupid as she said it and she ran her fingers through her hair, "And yes I realize I sound incredibly cliche and pathetic. It's pissing me off feeling like this."