begging me to stay*[TRACE]

[HARPER NICOLE WAY]

[style=width: 400px; font-family: georgia; text-align: center; font-size: 30px; line-height:40px; letter-spacing: -1px; text-transform: uppercase; color: firebrick; border-bottom: 1px dotted firebrick;]the hit and run

get back to old days and old ways

[/style]
[style=width:415px; border-right: 4px solid firebrick;]
[style=width: 395px; font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: white; text-align: justify; padding: 5px;]
Just because she wasn’t going to be able to fall in love and all that stuff didn’t mean that she gave hope all around the board. Her friends were going to be able to. She occupied most of her broken fantasies with the thought of her friends going through it. Whenever something was said, she just wanted to grab a bag of popcorn and munch intensely as she watched this romantic story take place. Harper wouldn’t have considered herself a hopeless romantic at the least. Oh no. But she wasn’t a cynic. She believed something special was out there. It was just super enjoyable whenever it happened in real life instead of having to read the fake stories to satisfy her. Even though her biggest ship was down the drain, and it broke her heart to about a billion pieces. Kentley was a wonderful woman that was taken very hard advantage of. Harper understood where the girl had been coming from. Then Kent met this great, great man named Trace. Who was all full of happy awkward- very similarly to Harper- kind of guy. That’s who she was meeting up with today. She would have spent her crazy mood with Kent, but she wasn’t in the mood. Harper only came when called at times like those. From first experience, she knew how annoying it could be when all you wanted to do was be alone and there were millions of people poking and prodding, ‘need help? Need help?’ For Harper, if she wanted someone, she would ask.

Hopefully Trace would be able to find this place alright. Harper actually had never heard of it, as she had always been the faithful to the bakery nearby, but she walked by this place and thought to give it a chance. Harper was no critic. She was basically good with anything that tasted good. There was no comparing or ‘technically this has too much sugar’. If she put it in her mouth and wanted to finish it, it was going to be on her visit list. Currently, she was nibbling on a chocolate chip cookie. Like most bakeries, the cookie was bigger than the normal sizes your mother used to make. Not that Harper was complaining. The redhead was quite content munching lightly on the cookie until Trace got there. In which she would probably ask him to bet her another one. Although her parents were helping through college, she still wanted to become more independent. Especially with the history between her parents, she didn’t want them supporting her. If she was going to be out of the house already, she wanted to be out. As soon as she went out of college, she was going to get married and have kids and such. She needed to be able to provide for herself. If the man thought she was going to turn into a housewife, he was greatly mistaken. Though he didn’t picture Kaleb doing something like that.

Well. Her cookie was gone. She looked at the sad small scattered crumbs on the table she was sitting at. Trace wasn’t late. It was just she knew how to arrive early to everything. She was usually the first one that went into class. The first one to leave. Most nerds found that the thing that they lacked the most was times. She agreed with that. Harper hardly ever got even a wink of sleep. That was the typical life of a college kid, but it would be nice if she could just close her eyes for a couple of seconds. In high school, she hadn’t needed to study at all. All that have been easy that she could have been absent, walk in, and take the test while still acing it. No, she didn’t mean to brag and sound like a big shot, but that was how it went. Not anymore. When she went to college, it was the first experience she dealt with in trying to study. Just reviewing only the entire chapter and a half. Plus, she was one of those over achievers that read what she was supposed to.

Though you would have never guessed that was how she was by appearance. In this cold weather, she decided to wear teal skinny jeans with a navy and white striped shirt that gripped what little figure she had. Complete with giant glasses on her face. Her hair wasn’t really working with her that day, but she managed to tame it a little bit. It was super wavy and thick, but there was nothing to say that it was frizzy like it had been in her high school years. What outfit wasn’t perfected with a pair of converse on her feet? If anyone called her a hipster, she was going to kill them. Even if she had been that stereotype or whatnot, she refused to think of herself as one. Although, most hipsters didn’t think of themselves as hipsters. That was just how trends went though, she supposed. Stupid people.

Well it was coming around that time. So she put her phone away and looked out for Trace. She was sitting right by the window, in case she had to knock on it. It was easy to walk past, but so far she liked the little place. It had a certain feel to it. Made her all warm and fuzzy inside, which was defiantly something that Harper needed.

TAGS: CIRCE/TRACE || NOTES: This is pre-cheating Harps! || WORDS: 905

♥thanks

[/div]

[/style][/center]

[TRACE ZACHARY LEWIS]

you don't know what's in store

[/i][/b][/size]
BUT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE HERE FOR[/center]

This had to a new world record for Trace, because this is the first time he had left his house to actually go see someone in weeks. He had locked himself away in his room to wallow in his own self pity. The only time he saw the light of day is if Kenna decided to come by or Xan wanted to remind Trace that he was being a lazy fuck. Trace had been a little reluctant to accept Harper's invitation only for the reason that he didn't want to leave the house, but he would feel like the biggest douche if he had declined. Who could say no to a person like her anyways? Trace figured he needed to be around someone who was a chipper as he usually was. He needed a pick-me-up as much as he needed to breath. Trace knew he was being a bit of a bitch with how he was dealing with all the things happening around him.

First him and Kent had abruptly broken up which had hit him like a million bullets. He had lost a girl he truly cared about and his best friend. She was pissed at him and it was painful to even see her around the apartment. They were only just starting to be friendly with eachother. Trace felt like kind of an asshole because he had technically cheated on Kentley with Farah, who had kissed him and it was all making his head pound. It felt like he woke up with a hangover everyday even though he hadn't had one sip of alcohol in awhile. Trace needed to stop crying over his life because a ton of other people had it a lot worse. He had no idea what happened to positive, optimistic Trace. He had died a long time ago as soon as his ex-girlfriend had come to Manuka. Also it didn't help that she had gone missing again. She never could stick around for too long it seemed.

After finally pulling himself out of his messy bed, he dragged himself to the bathroom to jump in the shower. Fifteen minutes later a fully dressed Trace was heading out of the door with his car keys in hand. Trace honestly had no idea where this place was that Harper had wanted to meet up at and he had been in Manuka for quite awhile. It had to be one of those hole in the walls. He drove through Manuka with his music loud to try and wake himself up. Harper was used to silly and happy Trace and he didn't want her to see him acting like a sloth. She had been the only person to be able to drag him out of his apartment. Not even his own brother could get him out of bed and usually Blake knew just the right things to say to make him feel less shitty, but even he was at a loss for words. Xan couldn't get him out of bed either and that was surprising. Now it was time for Trace to stop being such a whiny bitch and try to go on with his life.

He pulled into a spot on the street that the building was on and climbed out. Trace began to wander up and down the street, trying to spot the building. It took him quite some time, but he spotted a glimpse of red hair in a window. Trace walked in front of the window and waited for Harper to notice him. He pressed his nose against the glass, pushing it up to look like a pig's nose. Trace looked up and noticed one of the workers looking at him with a weird expression. He pulled away from the window, his face turning red as he began to laugh. Trace walked over to the door and made his way into the bakery. The smell of cookies instantly hit his nose and he felt his stomach rumble in response.

Trace plopped down right across from Harper and took in her appearance for a second, a cheesy grin on his face. He always acted like an idiot around her because no matter how hard he tried he could never stop smiling even if they weren't saying anything. Trace glanced down to her finished cookie crumbs,"What? You couldn't even wait for me? I'm hurt. Dagger to the heart. You know how much I love food." He placed his hand over his heart and put a look a sad look on his face, but he quickly felt his lips turn right back up into a smile. Trace felt his stomach rumble loudly again."I think I'm pregnant with a demon baby. I'm hungry as shit, you want me to get you anything?" He puffed his stomach out and held it as if he really were a pregnant man. Trace then allowed himself to take in his surroundings. For all the years he had lived in Manuka he had never heard or seen this place. It was a nice little place and it smelled like heaven. One thing that Trace loved more than anything was sweets. He was surprised he didn't have a million cavities from all the candy and sweets he ate or that he didn't have diabetes.

Hanging out with Harper for a bit would be good for him because he had let himself bask in negative energy for weeks. He needed a break from himself and she was a good distraction. She always made him laugh and visa versa. Trace could already feel himself feeling a bit better, but he knew as soon as they parted ways he'd go right back into that hole of depression. Trace wasn't depressed, he was just unsure how to deal with anything going on. He wished he had someone to talk about it with, but he didn't want to be bothersome to others about his soap opera life.

[/blockquote]

[HARPER NICOLE WAY]

[style=width: 400px; font-family: georgia; text-align: center; font-size: 30px; line-height:40px; letter-spacing: -1px; text-transform: uppercase; color: firebrick; border-bottom: 1px dotted firebrick;]the hit and run

get back to old days and old ways

[/style]
[style=width:415px; border-right: 4px solid firebrick;]
[style=width: 395px; font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: white; text-align: justify; padding: 5px;]
Sometimes the most awkward parts of Harper were the ones when she was trying to be confident. The girl was relatively confident. She was smart enough to know that she was no beauty Miss America woman walking in high heels, but she knew that she was cute. Small face and big eyes. She probably cared less because she wasn’t trying to impress anyone. As much as being engaged put weight on her shoulders, she did have to admit that it was taking the slightest bit off. No awkward dates. No staring at the attractive man across the room trying to think of cute and adorable giggly lines and coming up with nothing. Then the guy would finally make eye contact and be insanely creeped out. Not that she didn’t do that, but it was less of a dummy move on her. Didn’t matter if he thought she was a creep. Maybe she was. Harper sighed. She forgot that people didn’t know her and her generally awkward tendencies. When she was trying to comfort someone, all she could do is listen and nod ‘oh… I’m sorry’ with nothing else. She was completely useless. Why did people talk to her again?

Harper happened to look out the window and was surprised to see a face pressing against a window. Reminded her of her whenever she was in the pet store. Harper started giggling to herself before puffing out her cheeks and widened her eyes in order to make a face at him back. The fact he was looking up was even better. Then he caught sight of something else and broke. Harper turned her head over to one of the workers and glared at him for the matter of a couple of seconds. People were so cynical. Just mind your own business. Then another thought came to her. Yeah, that was probably the guy who had to clean the windows. Oops. Harper saw him walk in and waved at him for whatever reason. He already saw her, but she felt the obligation to direct him once again. As he approached, he seemed very happy, but there was a vibe she was catching that said there was something different. Well duh, Harper, his ship went sinking down too. She ignored her own thoughts and focused on the fact that Trace at least looked happy. Like he was getting over it.

She tilted her head down and looked up at him, attempting some type of puppy look though it probably looked like a red marshmallow with eyes from the angle she was putting it. Her bottom lip perked out as she looked down at her crumbs in shame. Then she perked her head back up, ”I swear I was going to get you one when you got here, but I didn’t know what you wanted!” She exclaimed, putting both hands on her head, tangling her fingers in her hair. At that moment, her glasses slipped down to the tip of her nose to where everything suddenly went as blury as anything. She lifted her nose so that she was able to look at Trace without him being a giant blur as well. It was something that one of her old high school English teachers did. Had her nose way down and then had to tilt it up so high that all Harper saw was the inside of her nose. Yeah, she didn’t like that teacher. Harper pushed her glasses back up on her face and giggled, getting up and doing what she promised. Getting him food.

Part of her had been worried that Trace would be different, but he looked just the same. Not to say she wouldn’t have welcomed whatever was eating at him, but no one liked to see someone sad. Harper had to do a paper on emotions her freshman year, and that was probably the paper that had taught her the most out of all of them to be honest. Though one of the books she had to research from was a pro-Buddhist book that suggested she go and meditate to solve any problems. Maybe should could recommend that. No, wait, she was weird enough. Harper looked down at Trace’s stomach in question, making a face that curved her mouth into an upside down ‘U’ ”Demon baby? Damn, didn’t I tell you to stay away from those?” She teased lightly. To this day, she didn’t know if he knew about supernaturals or not just because it had never come up in conversation. The more she put it off, the more she didn’t talk about it. Maybe now was the time to find out. If he did, he’d know she was a werewolf. If you knew supernaturals, you knew the families. It was just a rule of thumb. ”No. My cookie was super big. Like bigger than my face.” She used a teasing snotty tone to mess with him, flipping her hair back dramatically. Yes, this was the exact kind of thing that she loved and needed. Like good guys really did exist kind of thing. Gah, why did they have to break up? They were pure perfection. Harper’s fangirl was screaming and crying at those moments, but she trapped them all in. she’d spazz later. It wasn’t exactly easy for him. Actually now thinking about, should she make jokes like the one she made earlier? Oh way to go Harper Way. Can’t say that she surprised herself. This was bound to happen. The subject by the end of this, no matter how much she didn’t want it to, was going to come up.

TAGS: CIRCE/TRACE || NOTES: <3333333 || WORDS: 933

♥thanks

[/div]

[/style][/center]

[TRACE ZACHARY LEWIS]

you don't know what's in store

[/i][/b][/size]
BUT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE HERE FOR[/center]

The human always wondered if he'd ever feel normal again after all the shit that had happened to him. Trace had been all fine and dandy until F-Girl (as Kentley and Xan liked to call her) came back into his life out of the blue. He could not explain the amount of self pity he was sitting in and he wished he could just step out of it. Trace hated that she was all he thought about, but that was love he guessed. He wasn't even sure if what they had was love. Trace hadn't a relationship with another person until Kentley and he didn't feel emotions as strong as he did with F-Girl. He did like Kent a lot because he always had deep down because he had initiated that random ass first kiss they shared at the park that was more than innappropriate. She was dating that Hayden guy or whatever his name was. Trace tried his best not to remember any of her exes because they all just screwed her over and that pissed him off. Unfortunately Trace was one of those exes who did the exact same to her.

He hated himself for what he did to her. No person should have their heart stomped on like that. Trace should have known how to treat her like that from experience. He cheated on her with the same very girl who "cheated" on him. Even though F-Girl didn't cheat, the betrayal and feelings were still there when he thought she did. Trace had fucked up trust issues for so long until he finally decided to open up again, which only made things worse for him. Any person who was even remotely nice to him became his best friend no matter how bad they treated him. Trace wanted everyone's approval and he didn't know how to shake that off. He met a ship load of people who were good to him, but there were those few he kept around even though they only spoke to him for selfish reasons.

For a few years Trace had been a bitter, mean asshole to just about everyone to crossed his path. He kept to himself and spoke to no one. It took a long time to find himself again after he buried his personality under all that anger. Trace would fight just to fight. He had faint scars on his knuckles to prove it. He never shared that part of his life with anyone. The only ones who knew about that side of him were probably his family and his dead friend, Lionel. Those were the years he drank to numb his pain. He blacked out nearly every time he drank and the morning after was never pleasant. Trace talked about that dark place he was in sometimes, but nobody ever truly knew what he went through. Now he barely put himself near alcohol. Only up until last year when Xan finally made him give into peer pressure did he drink again and let go.

A few times he blacked out, but it was never as bad as it was before. Trace shook out of his thoughts to focus on Harper. She would definitely brighten up his dark mood. There were just those people he could just hear their voice and they could completely turn his mood around for the better and Harper was one of those people. He hadn't known her for long, but she was an amazing person and he would make sure to keep her around. Trace made a dramatic outcry of mock anger,"I will literally eat anything someone puts in front of me, so that is no excuse, Harper. Shame on you." He broke into a cheesy grin immediately after he finished. Trace was the master of teasing and banter with others. He watched her in amusement as her glasses slid down her face. She looked like one of those stereotypical librarians from movies for a split second. Harper always managed to look gorgeous no matter how she looked. He knew girls probably envy that about her.

Some of this shit he said around Harper was more random than ever. She brought out the Trace he wished he could be again. Trace missed when he could do a random shoot out with a girl he just met. His stomach tied in knots at the thought of Becca. He felt his whole face flush for a moment, his emotions about to get the best of him. Trace quickly tried to push his mind back into reality before he could let the tears even think about forming. He chose not to think about what happened to Becca or his depression would be far worse. Trace was extremely good at hiding his emotions when it came to things like that. Yet, for some reason he could be read like an open book when it came to F-Girl. It was all a fucked up mess.

Trace pushed his stomach back in, because he was getting a look from a girl from a table nearby. He chuckled and looked back at his friend,"But they're all so beautiful. They make my inner slut come out." Trace laughed and quieted for a second while she spoke again. He gave her a funny look,"I don't think anything is bigger than your head." Trace joked with her and stood up to go buy himself something before she could even respond. He turned his head to make a face at her when he was walking up to the counter. Trace came back with a cinnamon roll a few minutes later and plopped right back down in the same place as he nibbled on his sugary treat."Why is this shit so expensive? Do I look like I have that type of money? I swear, I'm starting to consider taking up stripping." He shook his head, taking a large bite out of the roll. It would probably help if he actually had a job instead of mooching off of his parents still.

[/blockquote]

[HARPER NICOLE WAY]

[style=width: 400px; font-family: georgia; text-align: center; font-size: 30px; line-height:40px; letter-spacing: -1px; text-transform: uppercase; color: firebrick; border-bottom: 1px dotted firebrick;]the hit and run

get back to old days and old ways

[/style]
[style=width:415px; border-right: 4px solid firebrick;]
[style=width: 395px; font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: white; text-align: justify; padding: 5px;]
If Harper knew what was going on inside of Trace’s head, she’d be attempting to help. There was so much going inside his head. Harper knew should have been asking how he was doing with all of that, but she didn’t want to bring it up. She was sure that he didn’t want to talk about it. Harper didn’t want to see him in that much distress. It was a good match. The only job of hers was to make sure that he smiled and laughed. So far, he was doing that. She was probably giggling enough for the pair of them. Her giggles were mostly quiet and hidden though. Not like some that threw their heads around like they were having a seizure. The only reasons she criticized those giggles was she found nine times out of ten it was because there was a male around. Why did women have to dumb themselves down in order to impress someone? For Harper, she hated talking with not intelligent people. Her more aggressive side came out because she wouldn’t be able to believe it. Maybe that’s why she never liked jocks. It was only a miracle on itself that Wyatt was able to have those kinds of intelligent conversations.

Like any boy that Harper knew, Trace would really eat anything put in front of him. She actually couldn’t say that she was any different. Harper loved her food. She wasn’t particularly picky like some of the critics you saw. Anything that was sweet or was relatively delicious was worth her time. She had to make herself less picky when she joined college. Although she was half funded by her parents, the strain between her parents and herself made her not want to rest too much on them. Her mother especially. Maybe if the money just came from her dad, she would be able to handle it accordingly. Plus, she thought that they should be focusing on giving money to her other not as fortunate siblings. Not to say they were dumb by any means. No, the Way family tended to breed pretty smart cookies. It was just that Harper had a very high up ridiculously smart kind of IQ. So anything compared to her was different. She didn’t like to sound so cocky, but statistically, that’s kind of how it ended up being.

With a sigh, she continued with her almost trying for a puppy look, ”But I wanted to get you your absolute favorite! Cause I love you that much.” All excuses. Harper looked at the small pile of napkins she picked up, figuring that she had crumbs and frosting all over her face. No wonder the puppy look didn’t work too well. Her face was a mess. Harper had no idea how she got so much damn food on her face. When she tried, she knew how to eat properly, but when she wasn’t paying attention in the least bit, it ended up being all over her face much like a baby might have had it. It made no sense to her. Eating M&Ms got chocolate at the corners of her mouth. Harper picked up the napkin and quickly spread it all over her face, grabbing the rest in case Trace ate anything like her. Especially with what it looked like he was getting. Her eyes looked over a glazed cinnamon roll. God, that looked good too. She should probably stop eating. Why she wasn’t five thousand pounds by now, she had no idea. Harper hadn’t even gained the Freshman 15! And that was when she was doing some partying.

Harper couldn’t help but make an outburst of laughter. She sometimes cared where her voice carried off to, but with the people she was currently surrounded by, it didn’t bother her all that much. Trace had probably heard that laugh more than once. Out of habit, she tried to cover up her mouth more, but it was a failure all around. God, why was Trace so funny? Harper wished she had that gift of clever outbursts such as that. ”It’s called self-control Trace. Or am I going to have to tape your legs together?” That was something that her friend used to tell her. Of course, Harper at that time had been a blubbering idiot (or more so than she was now) so she just blushed and giggled uncomfortably, shaking her head. It was a good line. Harper wondered why it hadn’t been used more often on her part. Girls that slept around (even if she went through her stage) didn’t have a lot of respect from her. She was pretty good at not judging people, but sometimes man, could you just sleep by yourself for once?

”Said every college kid ever.” Being drop dead poor in college was the biggest joke that was not far from the truth. There was always that one kid who had more money that the lord himself that flaunted around with pride. Other than that, most college kids were running on the same boat. It wasn’t as bad once you started growing up and managing budget a little better, but it was rough for a while. Harper just hoped her being a woman in the science department would give her an edge later. ”Maybe its cause you look like a stripper, so they assume you’re already one.” She shrugged casually, trying to hide her smiling, ”Might as well make it official. No prostitution though- that’s just slutty.” It was funny how people joked about that all the time, and Harper had yet to see one. She saw many that looked like they might as well be, but nothing really official. Harper saw him take a bite, and she automatically put the napkins in his other hand for him.

TAGS: CIRCE/TRACE || NOTES: <3333333 || WORDS: 965

♥thanks

[/div]

[/style][/center]

[TRACE ZACHARY LEWIS]

you don't know what's in store

[/i][/b][/size]
BUT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE HERE FOR[/center]

He hoped as soon as the two friends parted the happiness he felt when talking to her would linger for awhile before he the lingering sadness came back. Trace knew he just needed to suck it up and get over it, but that just wasn't his personality. He would eventually be fine. It would just be a long road ahead. Trace would smile, nod, and act as if he was okay for as long as it took. He was great at hiding his emotions. Over the years he had to to keep from getting hurt again. He used to wear his heart on his sleeve and look where that got him. Twice. Trace just needed to get away from it all. Everywhere he looked he thought of her. He doubted she even thought of him twice after she just disappeared. Trace would just let his anger fuel him for the time being so he wouldn't completely crumble into pieces.

He blamed his mom for making him the way he was. Of course Trace didn't want to be a complete douchebag and act as emotionless as Kristen Stewart, he just hated how he overreacted to certain situations. His mom raised him to be in tune with his emotions growing up and not to be ashamed of them. Now he found himself acting like a girl and balling his eyes out while eating everything in his sight in his bed while he was on his laptop. Trace was just in a stump and he was at least attempting to get out. Meeting Harper was the first step and it actually felt really good to be out of the house. Actually eating something that he didn't buy from the dollar store that could be heated up in the microwave in under six minutes. He did miss interacting with people. Trace would just have to keep his mind distracted with being the old sociable Lewis. As long as he was on the go he could forget about it all. Forget about how guilty he felt about Kentley and how fucked up the situation was. If Farah had even stuck around, maybe he wouldn't feel as bad. It was all just a train wreck of emotions. Harper could keep him away from those emotions for the time being.

Trace wished he could be as happy go lucky as her. She always had a smile on her face. The werewolf didn't let other people bother her really. Well, the people that didn't matter to her. Everyone in the Way family was that way. They were just nice people altogether. His little family of humans were just fucked up. His mother was a control freak, his dad was weak as Trace was, his brother practically the same, and Chase was becoming more and more like their mother. Women ruled the house in his family. There was no question about it. Maybe that was why he was so feminine. Trace couldn't even be angry at his dad for just letting his mom do everything. She was a scary woman. Very judgmental. It was sad of how much she rode on Blake to do better when he really was trying his hardest. Trace would step in and help, but he really didn't want to get his head chewed off. Yes, she was that scary of a woman.

He put his hand up dramatically as if he were trying to silence Harper."No, speak no more. I do not want to hear more of these LIES." Trace eyes widened as he spoke, laughing at how ridiculous he sounded and looked. He had no idea what others were probably thinking as they watched the two talk. They were barely making any sense and were all over the place. It was like a game of table tennis. Trace didn't know where all this energy came from, but he was taking advantage of it before it died out again. He hadn't smiled that much in a bit and his cheeks were starting to physically hurt.

The grin on his face seemed to spread even farther as Harper laughed aloud. He probably looked like the Joker or something. Trace couldn't help but laugh himself when she spoke. There was no way he could have self control. Even through the joking of it all he really had been sleeping around quite a lot. Before Kentley of course. He even had asked Kenna to stop coming around and that said something. Trace just knew he would not be able to keep his hands to himself if he was around her and he didn't want to disrespect Kent because he really did love her. He wasn't necessarily in love with her, but he did love her. Trace didn't want to hurt her more than he already did."Not even the strongest of tape could keep these legs closed, my darling." He joked, nearly hurting himself from trying not to laugh. Trace was really, really bad at keeping a straight face. He had tried to do theater in high school and that had been a complete fail. He just kept laughing whenever he had scenes with his friends and that was literally every scene. Trace was just asked to quit and give up his role. He honestly didn't care because he would have ruined the whole play. Trace just stuck with his swimming and diving.

Trace nodded ferociously. He had tried college and it wiped out most of savings and he was still struggling after he dropped out. It just wasn't for him. Trace continued to listen to his friend as she spoke. He laughed loudly when she told him he looked like a stripper. Trace shook his head, putting his face in his hands to hide how red his face was turning. When he calmed down a bit he took a deep breath."Believe it or not, but I've been told I look like a porn star. A gay porn star,too." Trace was still struggling with his laughter. He wiped a tear that fell from his eye."I think it's the tattoos. He shrugged. Trace took another big chunk from his cinnamon roll and patted his stomach again. He knew he would still be hungry after that and he would buy another, but he needed to stop wasting all his money on food.

[/blockquote]

[HARPER NICOLE WAY]

[style=width: 400px; font-family: georgia; text-align: center; font-size: 30px; line-height:40px; letter-spacing: -1px; text-transform: uppercase; color: firebrick; border-bottom: 1px dotted firebrick;]the hit and run

get back to old days and old ways

[/style]
[style=width:415px; border-right: 4px solid firebrick;]
[style=width: 395px; font-family: arial; text-transform: lowercase; text-align: justify; font-size: 10px; color: white; text-align: justify; padding: 5px;]
The geeky nerd hadn’t found herself in many drama situations. It was really hard to be in a drama situation where most of the time, you were just observing other’s mistakes. Most of her friends were about as nerdy as she was. The only time she really fought with them was when one of them was a sore loser. Something stupid, silly, childish, and small. Nothing like ‘you slept with my best friend’s boyfriend, how could you?’ type of stuff. Even when she went through her small phase in college, it wasn’t as if she found herself in plenty of drama. During that time, she was the one causing herself most of the damage. What she could offer, perhaps , was what she saw with others. Being the quiet girl in the corner, it was easy for people to just look over you. When people did that, it was easy for them to feel like they were able to talk about anything in a loud range. It would amaze people with what she knew. Not that she would ever tell another about it. That was one of the things about most girls Harper couldn’t stand. Why did they always feel they had to at once tell someone else what was going on? Why couldn’t they just keep it to themselves.

Not to say she hadn’t wanted to talk about something. But those somethings were usually about her. They weren’t ratting on someone else and figuring that out. Under that logic, she would have told someone about her mother, but she was burying that secret. Harper honestly wished that she could forget that secret. She thought once about getting one of her witch or warlock friends to make a potion for her to see if she could forget that part, but that frightened her. It was like medication. What if something went wrong and it got rid of the wrong memory? Would it affect her ability to remember every single detail she saw? Yeah, no. Her brain was not something to mess with. It was her entire life, future, and most importantly, the smart brain was what made her different from the rest of her family. Being smart might have been a common thing to some people, but for her- the Way family always had their own title. She was glad to have that title.

Perhaps she would have been labeled as the weird one if she acted the same way here as she did with the rest of her friends. With her family, she was more in control with the adults. Modest and polite, the way she was raised. Right now, she was being… Harper. And trying her best to keep that smile across Trace’s face. ”May I appeal?” She asked, remembering it was one of her teacher’s mottos whenever they would yell at a student and it turned out it wasn’t their fault. Needless to say, that wasn’t used very often. When it was used, it wasn’t won. Teachers were way smarter than most students gave them credit for. Another reason she wasn’t going to be a teacher when she grew up. Dealing with high schoolers was enough the small, short time she had to do it. She couldn’t really imagine everyday again. Not to mention she really didn’t like speaking in front of crowds of more than five. That caused a problem when teaching.

She was glad that he was smiling at that. Most guys would have been looking at her funny since most men were whores. She hated to be all sexist and such, but let’s face it- it was praised in the male world. So they did it more. Women were all shameful on the subject, so they did it less. Then there were those who didn’t care. While Harper was one of those that shunned girls, it wasn’t as if she didn’t care about guys too. Manwhores were not something to be admired. ”It’s like you’ve never heard of duct tape. That’s the strongest stuff in the world. We’ll have to try it. We could get you the decorated kind! Then no one would ever question it.” That was a phase she never really got into until college. Then she discovered that when her loft bed was looking a little sketchy, just put duct tape over it, and it was going to stay for life. All these things that ripped apart and broke were magically fixed by this amazing invention. Now that they came out with something a little more colorful, it was easy to become addicted to how it looked. She was pretty sure her room would be covered if it wouldn’t have covered up all the other things on her wall. Like a true fangirl, her walls were covered with everything that made her smile. Or cry, depending on the episode she just watched.

Trace was indeed attractive. Even to Harper, who’s type was big, built, and muscle man type of guys. That was one of the good things with her fiancé. When that time would… come- something she lost sleep over- he was at least attractive. It was surprising to her that she found Trace like that, but she totally did. Not that she would stare and secretly want him or something. It never really crossed her mind until times like these. His structured face, his brilliant smile, his hair. Oh his hair. At the gay porn star, Harper ended up laughing, ”My favorite kind of porn.” She giggled. She couldn’t even hold in her laughter. How could she even try? ”Yes, you have so many.” Tattoos weren’t something she frowned upon, but she’d never get one. She was scared of needles. ”What’s the story behind most of them? Where they just slowly added onto? You’re like the only guy with lots of tattoos I talk to.” She saw plenty, but she was…. Well she was Harper. It wasn’t surprising.

TAGS: CIRCE/TRACE || NOTES: <3333333 || WORDS: 988

♥thanks

[/div]

[/style][/center]

[TRACE ZACHARY LEWIS]

you don't know what's in store

[/i][/b][/size]
BUT YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE HERE FOR[/center]

Keeping a positive mind was a lot harder than he thought. He just distracted his sad thoughts with tv shows and food like any normal person who didn't know how to deal with emotions. Trace was so self absorbed these days, he was becoming annoyed with himself more than usual. It was good to be selfish at times, but he was reaching an all time high the last few months. Trace just wanted a new start. The question was when would this new start begin? There was no way he'd just wake up one day feeling like a whole new person. It would be a long process that he needed help with. Trace didn't know where to start.

Maybe it was time to listen to his parents and apply for some classes to take up at the college in town. Was there even more than one college? He didn't have a clue. Trace knew he wasn't made for school. He could barely even get a job from all the tattoos he had. The last job he had he was told to wear long sleeves everyday even though it was fucking summer. That was years ago and he was still scarred for life. Trace was in that point in his life where he didn't want to do. He bullshitted everything his whole life and now that it was time to make some decisions he was at cross roads. He didn't even know who to turn to either. That freaked him out even more.

Trace wanted to go back to days when all he had to worry about was cleaning his room and getting at least a B in a class. He wasn't cut out for this adult life shit. Trace snapped out of his thoughts to focus back on reality fully. He had no clue why he was having these deep, insightful thoughts during a light hearted conversation. Trace knew he had been in the house too much then. He really was going to force himself to get out and socialize more. Trace used to just strike up random conversations with people who seemed interesting. Now here he was wallowing in his sorrows in the darkness of his apartment. Nope. Not going to happen anymore.

He had been such a roller coaster over the year. Trace had went from being completely happy, to crazy over F-Girl, to sleeping with any girl with a pulse, and now a heartbroken mess. Heartbroken over two girls. What a mess he got himself into. It was an interesting story to tell that grandkids that was for sure. He had more than enough stories for them. Trace would be one of those wrinkly old men with tattoos all over his bodies. He could already imagine how bad ass he would look when in reality he could cry over The Notebook any day. A true man could admit that he cried at least once during a movie. Trace hated sad movies because they affected him for days, so he tended to avoid them. It was a good choice.

Trace scoffed,"Appeal?! You can't do a dang durdly thing, young missy. I ban you from talking." He didn't even know what he was going on about anymore. Sometimes he just spoke before thinking. Trace knew he needed to change that before he ended up saying something that would really ruin him. He had gotten slapped a fair share of times for a girl mistaking a compliment for something crude. Well, those were his teenage years so nobody could blame him. He had complete good intentions. Trace always had good intentions.

As much as he was joking about what a man slut he was, he was sad to admit it was starting to become a little too true. He had definitely toned it down a lot. Trace could easily go into clubs with Xan now and pick up a girl if he wanted. It was scary. A big difference from Trace a year ago. Now he just had Kenna. Trace loved that there was no type of attachment with her. At first it was just sex and it slowly molded into friends. It was fun being around her. She was so blunt and spontaneous and confident. It made her even more attractive. Things were just easy between them and Trace wanted to keep it that way.

Trace's smile was not fading one bit as he continued speaking with Harper. He let out another laugh at the duct tape comment."Ooh! How about One Direction duct tape. Then everybody will know I mean business. Nobody will be getting this D." As old as the two were they had the most immature conversations. Trace's conversations were never appropriate, so what was there to expect? He doubted he would ever fully grow up. He'd always be this childish, immature, sarcastic mess.

He nodded, trying his best to hold back his laughter."You can never go wrong with gay porn." Trace glanced down at his arms as she ask about his tattoos. Yeah he couldn't even remember how many he had anymore. The first one he got he was a freshman in high school and he met a guy who did tattoos out of his house. Trace met eyes back up as she continued to spew questions. He shrugged with a small smile on his face."Most of them aren't really deep meanings. I got this one," He pointed to the spider web on his elbow."Because I like spiders. A lot of them were spur of the moments and I just liked them. Do you have any?" Trace just like the concept of tattoos. It was art on your body. He loved loud art and that was what he got on his body. Trace honestly didn't have any stories behind most of the tattoo. He got the flower on his arm for his mom. That was probably the only one with a real story. Yeah, he felt lame about it sometimes compared to others who had these moving stories about theirs. He just liked tattoos. Simple as that.

[/blockquote]