time goes by so slowly [mia]

[BECKETT MASON CARLISLE]

Dead ends. For so long, for almost eight years, Beckett had been holding out hope that somehow, some way, he could be reunited with his best friend again. Even though he'd had a happy enough childhood – at least, before he was thirteen – he could directly relate all that happiness that he'd known to Mia, and the weekend that her parents moved in, even as a boy, he could tell that something amazing was on the horizon for him. When she left, even though he could completely understand her reasons for leaving, it was like the sunshine got sucked out of the sky and left him with nothing but emptiness and memories that hurt him to hold onto, but hurt too much for him to let go. Coming to Manuka had been a risk, and he'd known that going in, but it was the best 'lead' he'd had since he got out of juvie. Beckett bought himself a car that would make the journey from San Diego, California all the way out to Maine and was pretty much flat on his ass broke, but he had hope for the first time since he got sentenced to spend what should have been the prime years of his adolescence in a juvenile facility with a bunch of other boys that, quite frankly, his life could have gone without. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, right?

It had been two days since he arrived in Manuka, and his car was basically running on fumes. Soon enough, he'd have to fill the tank, but he didn't want to drop a whole bunch of money that he didn't have when he could easily walk places. Or run, since Maine was surrounded by a lot of really great forest and that just made the animal in him so happy. Green trees, hot summers – this should have been enough to make him happy, but it just wasn't. Even now, Beckett was living in a world without sunshine, but there was at least hope that something good would turn out here. He hadn't found a place to stay, so he'd been sleeping in his car and taking 'whore baths' at various gas stations and truck stops with the almost empty bottle of shampoo and other basic hygiene products that he'd brought with him, and while he was pretty sure it wasn't completely sufficient, it would do. Beckett was pretty sure that he needed a real shower, a real bed, and a shave – he was looking a little scruffier than usual, even for him – but with a little under a thousand dollars left to last him for however long, he'd need to save his money wherever he could.

Which was part of why he was kicking himself as he walked into the door of a tavern called The Ol' Fisherman's Pub. Beckett was just hoping to get a few cheap pints of beer before he'd have to walk the mile, mile and a half back to his car that he'd parked near some RV spaces in a little park area. It wasn't a fancy lifestyle, but at least he wasn't on the streets or sleeping on a park bench. Beckett took a seat at the bar and smiled as best as he could at the pretty woman who asked for his order, and he took out his wallet, thumbing through what he had and trying to make a smart decision. His life hadn't exactly been full of those lately, but he wasn't functioning on logic. ”What's the cheapest beer you have on tap?” She made a suggestion, and he was more than willing to go with that because beer was beer. Beckett never drank to get drunk, especially after what Mia's stupid father had done, but he did enjoy alcohol on occasion since he'd been legal to drink. The woman brought back his beer a minute later, and he paid, taking that first sip and sighing before his every sense perked up.

Beckett sniffed the air, trying to be subtle because yeah, it was a habit – a dog thing, but really... that was something. He turned, and his dark eyes caught onto ones that he'd never, ever forget. Completely forgetting his beer, Beckett stood up from his stool and practically floated over to her. ”Mia Suerez... is that... god, is that really you, or am I legit hallucinating now?” He chuckled, a little bit nervous, and then crossed his arms.

”I guess I shouldn't be totally offended if you don't know who the fuck I am, because it's been almost thirteen years. Half a lifetime. It's Becks... you remember me, don't you?” His heart sank a little, because for the first time in his entire journey, he had the crippling thought that maybe, just maybe, she didn't remember him. Maybe he hadn't made as big of an impression on her life as she'd made on his. Or maybe he was hallucinating. There was always that, too.

OUTFIT:

[/b] Here![/blockquote][/justify]

[MIA ISABELLE SUEREZ]

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too much time passed

Originally, Mia had been planning on staying upstairs all night. It was her night off and she hadn’t had very much sleep in the past couple of days. But she found herself getting restless and she needed to be around noise. She knew she could sing to herself or have the television on or something, but there was nothing good on and the reason she had today off was because her voice was gone and she was unable to sing as she normally did. She had come down with a 24-hour bug or something. But it wasn’t anything that would make her become a recluse. So she had gone downstairs, greeting Lea as she always did, and ordering a Bud Light. She went and sat at an empty booth alone and watched people come and go. Even though Mia liked to be alone, it was nice not to actually be alone. Having strangers around her somehow made her feel a little safer, especially because of the random attacks going on around town. She had no idea what was going on, but her apartment had been broken into last week and since then she didn’t really like being there a lot when she was alone. Even though she could take care of herself, she still feared that if someone broke in again, something would happen to her.

So being in the bar was good and made her feel safe. Lea had been really great about the break in and had gotten her another lock to put on the door, which Mia appreciated a lot. She was actually grateful for having Lea as a landlord. Lea was one of those people who actually gave a shit about how comfortable her tenants were and whether they were satisfied with their apartment, which Mia really was—especially because it cost so little to stay there. And the apartment was worth a lot more being in the downtown area where everything was. She had absolutely no complaints. The one-bedroom one-bathroom apartment was perfect in every way for her because when she wanted to go out for the night she could do so without having to drive or ride a bus anywhere and bringing a guy home was easy because she lived near every club and bar in town that was worth going to; not that it had recently happened or anything.

Mia snapped out of her little trans when the door opened and in walked a tall guy with dark curly hair. He struck her as familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on where she had seen him before. He had probably come into the club once or twice. Usually she never paid much attention to people who came into the club. Only one occasion had she actually paid attention, and that was with Connor. That was a unique encounter though and she hadn’t seen him since. He looked too… nice? innocent? Something. She figured he probably hadn’t come through there. So it must have been something else.

She looked across the table at the empty booth and racked her brain to try to figure out where the hell she had seen him before. Then, to her surprise, he came over. He said her name and she looked up at him with her eyebrows shot together. Obviously they knew each other. She didn’t return his smile or giggle, but instead gave him a once-over and looked back up at his eyes, which were kind, familiar. Thirteen years? She counted backwards in her head. She was just a kid back then. Becks. Of course. Mia’s eyebrows shot up and a wide grin spread across her face, lighting up her eyes. She jumped out of the booth and threw her arms around him. “Jesus, Becks it’s been forever!” He had really grown into himself and gotten really damn attractive, but she kept that to herself. If she remembered correctly, he had had a thing for her when they were kids, but that was just a crush as far as she remembered.

“When did you get here?” she asked, finally letting go of him. “Here, sit,” she sat back where she was and moved her bottle to the side of the table. “You want a drink or something?” Mia was never a hospitable person, so it felt a little weird asking him if he wanted a drink. Tonight was just full of surprises though, she supposed.

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TEMPLATE BY tennyson ! @ CAUTION 2.0

[BECKETT MASON CARLISLE]

Even though he had been waiting for this moment for... god, forever, it had still taken up quite a bit of courage for Beckett to even walk over and say a simple 'hello' to Mia once he'd spotted her in the bar. There were a number of reasons for that, of course, but most of them could be traced back to his crippling insecurities and doubts about how she'd react. Memories were a tricky thing, and just because someone had a profound effect on your life doesn't mean it was necessarily returned in the opposite. Beckett could remember lots of little details about their childhood friendship, and remembered things about Mia that he knew he could never forget, but they were kids then. Life had interfered in a number of ways and caused both of them to grow up too fast, too soon. His path had taken him to into a juvenile delinquency system and forced him to live in a special home for boys because of something he'd done that, to him, seemed like the right thing to do, given the circumstances. Not many thirteen year old boys would go after the abusive, alcoholic father of their childhood best friend and beat his car into a pile of busted glass and metal before turning it on the man himself, but as soon as Beckett heard the harsh rumors that were being spread about Mia and knew that his friend was gone, he had been filled with a rage and a loss that had never been duplicated since that day. Other than the one incident, he was a pretty mild mannered, good-natured person who didn't want to cause harm to anyone. Unless that someone hurt Mia, apparently. That was his trigger point.

At Whitewood Creek, therapists and other court-appointed officials were brought in to examine him to determine whether or not he might run the risk of being a 'repeat offender' or become a violent criminal after he was eighteen and got released. Those people always wanted to talk about Mia, since she was so connected to his crime. Every time they spoke of her, Beckett knew that he held nothing but fondness in his voice – there wasn't even resentment for her leaving, even though she had gone away from him. Even when he was locked away, Beckett wanted the best for her; he wanted to know that she was safe and happy somewhere, and not knowing was the only pain that continued through the years, following him like a shadow because even though he desperately wanted to be a part of her life, he'd rather just know that she had found something to make her happy. And now that he'd followed her to Manuka, he had a real chance to get some closure and see just how the years had treated her. Hopefully, she had a better outcome than the cards he'd been dealt, even though his life had picked up significantly since he got released from juvie.

It was that need for closure that brought Beckett over to Mia's table and forced him to say hello, even though he was worried about the chance that she might not remember him, or share such fond memories of her childhood, even the parts that had included him. Beckett even considered that she might think it was creepy and sort of stalker behavior that he had basically pined after her since the day she left, and spent a good chunk of his savings to purchase a vehicle, food, gas, and hotel rooms to get him all the way from San Diego, California to Manuka, Maine. But, optimistic as he tried to be – though he wasn't always blessed with optimistic qualities – Beckett hoped that his risk had been worth it. It took her a minute to figure out who he was, but hearing the nickname she had given him as kids – Becks – caused his heart to soar. Her smile was infectious, and even though he didn't smile that often, his own face burst out with a look of pure joy. Then, she wrapped her arms around him, and Beckett tightened his own strong arms around her smaller frame, holding her close and just breathing her in for a moment. Even though the years had forgotten both of them, he'd never forget this moment. ”Yeah... forever.” It had seemed like an eternity, and then after a moment of hugging, he released her and joined her at her table, still feeling like this entire thing was too surreal, and he was going to wake up, alone in his car at some truck stop, and have dreamed up the entire thing.

”Um, two days ago?” He'd lost track of time, sort of, because he had been so focused on just getting there. Then, once he got there, he lost her again because even though he tried to ask around, nobody seemed to know who he was talking about, and for a moment, he'd thought he'd stumbled across another dead end. ”Folks back home were saying you'd ended up out here, and I... I don't know, I wanted to see how you were, see if you'd finally gotten your shit together.” He teased her a little, laughing at his own silliness because even to him, it sounded a little crazy, but he hoped she'd think it was sweet. Then, she asked about a drink, and he nodded over to the bar. ”Actually, hah, I left mine over there when I saw you. I'll be right back.” Reluctantly, he got up from the table, retrieved his beer, and then made his way back over and took a seat, just looking at her for a minute and then the words left his mouth in a jumble; he was a little embarrassed for his lack of self-control, but his words were honest. ”You got... you are really beautiful, Mia.” Beckett nibbled his bottom lip a little, then tossed back his beer nervously, because he didn't want to be like all the other jerks in her life. Even some he probably didn't know about, because there was likely no shortage of men in her life. Beckett just wanted to be one of them. ”So, I don't know – spare me from talking like a idiot. How have you been, anyway? Are you happy here?” That was what he really wanted to know – because if Mia was happy, then all was right in his world.

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[MIA ISABELLE SUEREZ]

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too much time passed

It seemed as though the world was telling her something. What exactly that was, she didn’t know. But in the past few days she had made a new friend, Luka, and now Beckett was standing in front of her. And Beckett had been her best friend when she was a kid. She could tell almost instantly that it was going to be easy between them. Mia, when she was with someone whom she was comfortable could be completely different than if she were just meeting someone. Beckett had been there for her when she was a kid. He had always made her forget about her parents and especially her abusive father. He had never told him of her home life though because she never wanted him to look at her as if she were vulnerable or feel sorry for her. Mia wasn’t the kind of girl to ask for favors or let people pity her. If Beckett had even once given her the “you poor girl” look, she would have punched him and told him off. But since she never let him in on her life he had never gotten the opportunity to do so.

Mia wondered what he would have done if he had ever found out about her dad or if he ever did. He certainly wasn’t giving her a look of pity so she doubted he ever happened across the information. Her mother was like Mia and never spoke of it. Her reasons were of course different than her daughters because she was too weak to face the fact that what was going on in their household was twisted and disgusting. But her mother never did anything about it. Mia had tried a few times and had only been beaten more, but at least she had put up a fight. Maybe she shouldn’t have left her mother alone with that wretched man, but she couldn’t take it anymore. If she hadn’t left that house when she had Mia would have gone crazy—and she would also have been beaten senseless. She didn’t want to think about what her mother had to endure when she had gone, but she had survived and never once yelled at Mia for leaving. It was a little shocking to Mia, but she would have understood.

A smile hadn’t left her face since she realized it was Beckett standing in front of her. It was an unfamiliar feeling being able to let her guard down so quickly and she hadn’t realized how good it felt to not have to keep someone at arms length. Mia took a sip of her drink and set it down. “Where are you staying?” she asked. She knew about pretty much every place in town by now and wondered if he had found a nice hotel or something to stay at or if he was planning to move here or just visit. A lot of questions were buzzing around in her mind, but she kept her mouth quiet so that she wouldn’t overwhelm him. It took all her strength not to ask him a million questions like how he had gotten here and how his parents were back home and if he had gone to college and if he had a special someone back home waiting for him to get back. She had to keep taking more and more sips of her drink so that she wouldn’t burst.

Her grin widened when he said that he wanted to check on her. “You were always sweet, Becks,” she said. “How are your parents anyway?” she wondered, relieving herself of that question since he had brought them up. They had always treated her so kindly and never wondered why she didn’t spend more time at home with her own family. They kind of just accepted that she’d rather spend her time with their son than with her parents. If they had ever found out about her parents before she had run away they would have likely done something about it. But Mia never asked for help. It was one of her biggest downfalls. She was independent to a fault and knew that it sometimes annoyed people, but she had stopped people from getting her hopes up since she was just a kid. It was basically wired into her that she didn’t need anyone else in her life to make her happy and she could live with that.

“Okay,” she said when he slipped away to get his drink. She finished hers off and waved for another drink. When Beckett came back he just looked at her. Then his words came tumbling out and she stared at him. No one had called her that before. People in the club had called her things like “sexy” or “a hot piece of ass” but never beautiful. It took her time to recover before she finally said a weak “Thanks” and took her empty bottle in her hands, not remembering that it was empty. Mia could faintly remember that he had had a little crush on her when they were kids, but thought he was just being nice.

She laughed a little then at his next words and nodded, sparing him. “I guess I’m happy. I don’t really know though,” she confessed. “It’s been home for a while and I like it here so that counts for something.” Mia had never truly felt happiness since she had been with Beckett. She had never thought about it either until now and deep down inside she felt hollow. She refused to let herself think of that and decided to move away from the subject of herself and talk about Beckett for as long as he’d let her. “How about you, how have you been? I’ve thought of a hundred questions to ask you, you know.” She smiled at him as another bottle was put on the table for her. Mia didn’t even look to see who it was; she just took it and drank a few sips. Seeing Beckett was too good to look away from.

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TEMPLATE BY tennyson ! @ CAUTION 2.0

[BECKETT MASON CARLISLE]

A thousand times, he had envisioned what it would be like to see Mia again. Scenario after scenario, and Beckett had hoped that he'd be a little more... suave when he actually was in the same room as her again. Yet, now that she was in front of him, more beautiful than he could have ever imagined, and being nice to him, it was kind of too much, and even though he was desperately trying to be cool, he couldn't help but feel the nerves settle into his bones. So, he tried to rely on the alcohol he was drinking – although cheap beer would only do so much – and stuck to answering her questions as she gave them. Mia was always an inquisitive kind of person, needed to know everything about everything, and Beckett was more than okay with that. For hours, he could have happily just laid on the grass outside his house, in the backyard, gazing up at the clouds in the sky and listening to her sweet voice talk about everything and anything, just content to be lying next to her. Now, listening to her would only suffice on a small level, since she was asking him personal questions, and he kind of thought that she deserved answers since he'd basically gotten a lead and followed her across the country, just for a shot to... wow, he didn't even know, be friends with her again? That was what Beckett wanted, but sometimes time was just too much. Maybe they wouldn't get along anymore. Maybe she'd end up thinking he was a creep, especially if she learned what he'd done to her dad after she ran away. So, for the moment, Beckett decided to just be honest and answer her questions. Catch up like normal people... even though neither one of them were really 'normal.' But then again, who really was?

”Staying... um, well, my car's super comfortable. There's a park a few blocks from here, nice shady tree, cops don't bother me... got plenty of leg room.” That hadn't meant to sound weird or desperate, but Beckett kicked himself internally for saying so much, especially because he didn't want her to feel bad for him or anything. The truth was, he didn't have enough money to rent another hotel room or put down a deposit for an apartment. Eventually, he'd get a job again and start saving up money, and he had prepared himself for sleeping in his car, doing laundry only when necessary at the laundromat, and 'showering' in gas station bathrooms until he got back on his feet. Maybe in Manuka, but maybe somewhere else if the worst case scenario happened and Mia just didn't want him around, which kind of made him sick to his stomach to even consider. ”Don't worry about me, though. I'm getting along just fine.”

She was more important, anyway. Her health and her happiness, that was what Beckett wanted to talk about, and she wasn't disturbed – at least, he thought – by his confession that he'd come out there to see her and see how she was. Some people might have freaked, but she didn't. He considered that maybe, just maybe, this whole thing hadn't been so crazy after all. ”My parents are good. They were a little worried when I told them I was driving all the way out to Maine, but when I told them why... they, um... they got it. They're cool with it, and they told me to tell you hello, if I found you. And I did! So.” Then, he had to get up and get his beer, since it wouldn't exactly be working from a distance, and he kind of needed the alcohol to loosen him up, make him less frantic and slow his brain down from the thousand miles an hour it seemed to be determined to go. Beckett excused himself and came back, then noticed that Mia's bottle was empty, even though she kept playing with it. ”You want another one? I can buy it for you, if you want.” He didn't have a lot of money, but it was Mia, and he'd do anything for Mia.

Finally, they got around to the question he really wanted to know: was she happy? Beckett nodded as she talked, listening and hanging on her every word just about, feeling his heart thump in his chest a little bit painfully as she spoke. She called it 'home,' which meant something to Mia – he knew that because sometimes she used to tell him that she never really felt at home in California, except when she got to spend time with him. ”Yeah, I'd say that counts for something. You deserve to be happy, you know? And from what I always remembered of you, you're not the kind of person who gives up until you have everything you want.” It was his way of being encouraging, which he wasn't very good at, but for some reason, he just wanted her to know how amazing she was. Ever since he'd met her, Beckett had seen so much life and vibrancy in everything she was and everything she did, and that was part of why... well... why he loved her. She was perfect, and had so many talents and potential that she didn't even realize, and even though he was sure that she'd changed a lot in the many, many years that had passed, she had likely only gotten more ambitious and talented. So, he wanted her to know she was worth something, and if that was all she took from the conversation, Beckett would consider it a win.

Beckett laughed a little when she spoke about all the questions she had for him. Really, there was that much that she wanted to know? He took another sip of his beer and shrugged. ”There's not that much that's interesting about me, but you can ask me whatever you want, Mia.” He got the urge to be playful then, just to see if they'd be able to fall into the joking rhythm where they could make each other laugh like they used to. ”Now whether I tell you or not... that's something entirely different. But you're free to ask, floor's open.” The shifter had no idea what she'd ask him, and he'd probably end up answering most or all of her questions, but there was that nervous knot building in his stomach because he wouldn't lie to her... no matter what she wanted to know.

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