Long Time No See (Zach)

[Deleted]

She looked so happy to hear his praise. Despite her associations with Kai’s sister, Carleigh seemed like a very nice, honest girl. And a bright one as well. Was it too much to say that this little talk of theirs had inspired him to start writing again? Like, really writing and not just the simple structured stuff that anybody could put out with a little bit of effort and common sense. Creative muse was something entirely different and given that Zach hadn’t felt up to doing the most basic sort of writing for the past several months, he was more than thankful that Carleigh had decided to be “nosy” and start up a conversation with him.

His fingers flew and words appeared on the screen at a rate that was fast simply so he could get down the details he was forming before they faded away. Muse tended to do that as well…swell up when you didn’t have time, and wane when you finally had a free moment. It was annoying and aggravating and Zach would kick it if it was a tangible thing.

Luckily this girl was patient. Well, patient enough to wait until it seemed like he was done with his little notation. Zach nodded. “Yeah, I uh…I write for the newspaper. Just a small column really….” His idea didn’t exactly fit with his regular column, which was supposed to be creative writing based, but maybe he could convince Jade to publish this story anyway? Couldn’t hurt to try, though knowing her she’d be all for supporting an innovative change to an inefficient system.

But then the topic took a drastic change in direction and Zach was…awkward was a way to put it. Especially when it came to talk about that she-devil, Sera. Zach shook his head. “No, I didn’t, but….” How was he supposed to explain the whole of the situation to her? Should he even? Was it his place to? Zach averted his eyes, focusing them on the table as he considered.

He looked visibly surprised, though, to hear that Carleigh and Sera got along rather well, considering Carleigh seemed to be the furthest thing from a bitch. “Fashion…ha ha, seems to run in the family, I guess? Kai’s really into too. He actually modeled for a few things at the store he used to work at.” Zach’s eyes had brightened when his talk turned to a small boast about his boyfriend. It faded a bit when the subject turned back to his sister, though. “I…can see that. I’m pretty sure she’s hated me ever since—“ Well, ever since she found out about him and her brother. And then about Vanessa. The mother of Kai’s child never stood a chance. He nodded, not wanting to speak too blatantly sour about the blonde’s friend. “It’s…nice to know she can be normal around some people….I guess…”

Zach lowered his head again in his guilt. “Yeah…like I said…sorry we got you involved in all that. There’s a lot going on there, and I’m not sure how much of it I should tell you….” It wasn’t her business really…but he felt like he owed her an explanation.

[Carleigh Davidson]

Quickly, the blonde glanced towards the clock. Soon, Carleigh would have to go back and join the rest of her high school peers and continue the boring school tour. Now that she was here and actually interacting with a familiar stranger, she didn't want to leave. Why would she? This was way less boring than random trivia facts about the university and walking around the same loop. To say Carleigh was bored was an understatement.

"Oh, sounds fun." While she lacked the skills and drive to write as a hobby or profession, Carleigh had to commend Zach for it. Ideas needed to be written down and without someone to do that, nothing would get accomplished. "Still, it's part of something." A community of writers, all sharing their thoughts under one newspaper. Pretty cool, if you asked her.

Carleigh didn't notice the change in Zach's expression when she mentioned that her and Sera got along. "Oh yeah, I think I remember her saying something like that. How her brother worked at that fancy store in the mall, anyway. That's pretty cool though." Modelling was fun, or at least the idea was. Carleigh couldn't say from personal experience. "Yeah. People can change depending on who they're around. Must've done something right." Thankfully. The blonde didn't want to think of the consequences of ending up on Sera's bad side.

"It's okay." She accepted the apology with a nod. "It's not like you intentionally meant to. I hope, anyway." Carleigh looked across the table to Zach. "Whatever you feel comfortable with. I don't want you to feel forced to say anything." Leave it up to him to decide.

[Deleted]

Zach nodded, lowering his gaze somewhat in modesty. He never knew how to take sincere compliments from strangers. Not that Carleigh was a stranger, but they didn’t exactly know each other well. But that seemed like it could change quite easily, Carleigh seemed to be a much more friendly sort than the cold brunette that had brought her along on the camping trip. “Yeah…it is…I just….” Yeah, he didn’t know how to say that it wasn’t anything special without completely shooting down her opinion. Because what she said was basically true. It was a part of something, and it was fun. For him at least. When he wasn’t in a writing slump. There was a reason why he chose writing as his major. He wouldn’t have even considered it if it weren’t something he enjoyed thoroughly.

“Yeah…It’s nothing much, but…it is fun. Jade…my boss…she kinda asked me specifically to start it…I don’t think the column was…was there before I started it…” Great, so much for modesty, now Zach felt like he was bragging. Though that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. Jade had pretty much scouted him for the column. Or rather, dragged him into it with nary a chance to say yes or no…and he’d been doing it for about a year an a half now. Amazing how time flies…

Zach nodded as Carleigh gabbed about her friend, Kai’s sister, and what she knew about Kai and his old workplace. “I guess…” The store was too expensive for his taste, honestly. Kai had forced him into a wardrobe of their clothing once, and Zach nearly exploded at him over it…no, he did explode. “He doesn’t work there anymore, though. Kai sorta graduated…and wormed his way into something…I’m not sure exactly…over at Hammel…” The research department, apparently. He had to agree, though, that people changed based on who they were around. Zach was a completely different person when he was around Kai privately versus when he was around…well, anyone else. He just nodded at her statement, though.

“No…I didn’t…we didn’t…” They hadn’t even known the girl was going to be on the trip…in that they didn’t know who Sera’s friends were that she was going to be bringing. He nodded again and gave a flat, awkward smile when the choice was left up to him in how much he wanted to divulge. Zach wasn’t sure entirely… “I guess…it’s not really a secret, anyway,” he started, clasping his hands out in front of him. “Well…to start with, Vanessa, that other girl who was with us? She is….her kid…is Kai’s kid….basically.” How else was he supposed to say it? Was there a delicate way to put it? “And……….Kai and I….are dating….so there’s that….” He looked down to watch his thumbs fiddle with each other. “And that’s basically it….it’s all pretty complicated and I don’t think Sera is really supportive of the situation….” Zach didn’t really blame her…but he did anyway, because there was only so much bitchiness he could take from someone.

[Carleigh Davidson]

As Zach stammered out a response, Carleigh kept her gaze on him, a little curious about his nonchalance towards the newspaper. Maybe that wasn't the right word. But he was definitely downplaying his achievements. She didn't say anything, tilting her head slightly to the side as he talked a little bit more about the paper and how his column got started. "And having fun is important. You get to write and not feel bored to death." She added optimistically. It always seemed like college killed former hobbies and made it feel more like a chore; which was another reason for her apprehension towards education. Until she could better understand herself, at least.

"Oh that's cool. I haven't seen him around the school but I'll have to keep an eye out." Maybe Carleigh could catch up with him too. Really, the older group of adults from the camping trip didn't seem that bad. They all seemed pretty nice. She didn't know if she would ever really become friends with any of them, but it didn't mean she couldn't be friendly towards Zach or Kai or the girl, Vanessa.

She folded her hands together on top of the table, mirroring Zach's action as he began to explain the situation. To clear up any confusion about why both parties were so tense around one another. "Oh.. wow." The blonde blurted out with a frown. "That sounds pretty dramatic." Good thing she wasn't a part of it. "I don't get why she cares though, I mean, it doesn't really involve her, right?"

[Deleted]

Zach nodded, agreeing with her completely. “Yeah…it’s important to like what you’re doing.” If he didn’t love writing as much as he did, he would always think of it as a chore whenever he had to do it….though, he still often thought of it as such when he had to do it for a class. And during his slump, just doing any sort of writing(even his online stuff that nobody knows about, shhh!) was feeling like that. Like he was only keeping it up because of routine and not because he actually felt like writing. He’d go back and re-read some of the things he’d written then and collapse at his computer in shame for coming up with such drivel.

Maybe he should give himself more credit, like Carleigh was thinking. It was certainly just a school newspaper, but keeping it up constantly took stamina that he sometimes didn’t have, and yet he did it anyway.

He smiled as they spoke of Kai and him now working at the school. “You should,” he said absently, but then… “Ah….well…I guess you could, just…be careful….” Zach mumbled and trailed of the end of that sentence as he realized how horrible it was for him to even suggest that Kai would try to flirt with and go after a high school girl. Did Zach really have that low of an opinion of him?

The simple answer was ‘yes’. He did.

Zach mentally kicked himself for that. Kai was his boyfriend. He was supposed to have a higher opinion of him than that. That’s why he was going out with him, wasn’t he? Well, that’s what logic said…

But it was those tendencies of Kai that got them all into that awkward situation in the first place. Kai and Vanessa had their one-night-stand. That made a baby. Sera was….she seemed to have a big complex over her brother for whatever reason. Carleigh was right, it wasn’t something Sera should have involved herself in, and yet she made it her mission to disrupt Zach and Vanessa as much as possible. “I guess….she just really loves her big brother,” he said with a sigh. Honestly, Zach could picture Savvy doing something similar to anyone Zach dated if she disliked them enough. Something told him she was content with Zach dating another man moreso than she would have been dating a woman, like Noa, for instance. “….do you have any siblings?” he asked Carleigh. If she didn’t, that might be why she couldn’t get into that perspective? Maybe…

[Carleigh Davidson]

Out of curiosity and confusion, Carleigh tilted her head to the side when Zach made the comment about being careful around him. She wanted to say something and press further but decided against it. Zach was already being nice enough, allowing her to interrupt his writing time when she could have been bothering someone else. So she didn't want to push her luck.

"And if it doesn't involve her then she shouldn't care so much." At least, that's how she felt. And sure, her and Sera got along well enough with each other, but it didn't mean Carleigh had to agree or be on her side for everything. She snorted at Zach's statement about loving her brother; since Carleigh had no idea what was going on in her older brother's life, she couldn't imagine caring that much about the personal details or about the relationships he had. "But yeah, I guess she really does care for him and is maybe just trying to look out for him."

"And yeah, I have one. Older brother," She paused. "Don't really see him much, though." Carleigh finished with a shrug.

[Deleted]

Yeah, he shouldn’t have said that. Zach wouldn’t have been able to explain what he meant properly anyway and it probably would have led to a very big misunderstanding…or worse, it wouldn’t. So he let it drop, as she did.

He nodded, agreeing with Carleigh’s opinion of the situation. “She shouldn’t. I don’t know, I guess it’s also none of my business to say how much she’s allowed to care about her brother.”

Zach smiled softly, thinking of his own younger siblings, when Carleigh mentioned her own brother and how little they saw each other. He shook his head, his smile growing broader slowly. “Now…I have…a lot…of siblings. Even when I moved out, they always found a reason to drag me back home…for…for something. I can’t imagine going very long without seeing them….So I guess….I can sort of understand her a little, but…” He frowned and creased the space between his eyebrows thoughtfully. “But….it still doesn’t mean it’s okay….to get that…involved.” Zach would pop a vein if any of his younger siblings interfered that much with his relationship with Kai…but then, Kai only propagated it by giving them money….jerk….

He reached a lull on his end of the conversation, feeling unsure of where to take it from there. Zach casually glanced back at the mostly empty white page on the screen of his laptop and sighed. “I….I should probably stop stalling and get back to working on this…” he said with an utter lack of enthusiasm. “Not that I’m trying to get rid of you or anything, but….” He chuckled uncertainly. That wasn’t too offensive, was it?

[Carleigh Davidson]

"I suppose so, yeah." Carleigh said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I guess it's just... one of those things where everyone thinks or feels one way and can't really tell someone else that their way is wrong."

She laughed, the corners of her lips curling up when Zach mentioned that he had a lot of siblings. She could see that. "And by a lot you mean how many?" She asked, not caring if it was slightly off topic. "But yeah. There's a certain line. Like, it's important to be involved in each other's lives but it's also important to have one of your own." And for Carleigh, she took that a little too far when she manifested her ability and refused to go home to visit her family ever since. She felt a pang of guilt in her stomach, solely keeping in minimal contact with her dad so she could continue to receive financial support. But that was all gonna change as soon as she found a job; then she would be self-sufficient.

Mind wandering, Carleigh focused back to the conversation and looked at the clock. "Yeah.. I should probably head back before they report me missing from the group, or something." Had anyone even noticed her presence? "Well, thank you Zach. It was nice catching up with you." She said with a smile, making a move to stand up from the table.

[Deleted]

Zach nodded. “Yeah…like. People probably would’ve told my mom she was raising her kids wrong. But we thought it was just fine.” Everyone had an opinion about the things other people did. It didn’t mean that either way was wrong, just that they do it differently. He put on a pensive expression. “Though…Sera seems to be just a little…obsessive….but that’s just my own opinion. If Kai is fine with that, then I can’t really say anything either.” Though Kai didn’t seem fine with it all the time. Just some of the time. Which was still weird.

Zach laughed, reflecting Carleigh’s and shook his head slightly, raising his eyebrows as he considered the number that often got looks of ‘wut?’ from those who heard it. “Um…. well…. Somewhere in the ballpark of eleven.” That depended on if you counted Claudia, officially their cousin, as one person, and if you counted JJ, technically the same person, as two. He didn’t disagree with her, though. “I try to stay involved as much as I can…but for the most part, they’re free to make their own choices.” For the most part. Zach still kept an eye on the guys who were eyeing his little sisters, though. He had a role to play as the protective older brother, after all.

Zach felt like he was trying to get out of continuing the conversation, but….well, it was true he had to get back to work. Not that he wanted to. Or would be able to. But many he’d find some muse after taking the break he needed. “Yeah…sorry to chase you away, though. It was…really great talking. Actually.” Really. He gave her a nod and a smile to see her off. Zach would turn back to face his computer once she left and put his fingers to the keys.