InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Muffins are love."

Genevieve Sommers (sommers_wind) wrote in lineof_fire_rpg,
@ 2008-01-21 19:38:00

Meeting up a few years later. And not the reunion she pictured.
Who: Gen and Lucas
What: Meeting up again, and Genevieve freaks.
When: Sunday afternoon at the salon
Why: Lucas comes to get input on a gift for Antoinette
Rating: PG, some emo
Open: to

spencer_nomore only

Genevieve was sitting in the back office, going over the notes she kept on her clients. She made small notes, points of interest in their lives, how they last got their hair cut including a small sketch, and how much they'd tipped her. Genevieve was over-organized as a stylist, and felt the urge to keep some kind of records to supplement her memory bank.

She shuffled the papers into a neat stack and shoved them back into her laptop bag, making sure the stack stayed neat. Gen sat back in the chair, resting her palms on her eyes and giving her aching back a good, long stretch.

The intercom sounded, and the new front desk girl's voice came through the room. "Gen, there is a guy out here," she paused, and Genevieve could hear a man's voice muffled in the background. "Lucas, he's here for," the man's voice came again, "Antoinette? He wants to get a gift package for her, but wants to know what she'd want." Genevieve leaned forward and smiled, pressing the button on the intercom. "Okay. I'll be out in the second." Genevieve shook her head, once again jealous of the man that Antoinette had under her thumb.

On her way out of the office, she picked up her appointment book, flipping through the pages and looking over her schedule for the next few days. It looked like mostly regulars, with a few new people thrown in for good measure. She'd be busy.

She approached the front desk, and glanced briefly at the male figure waiting for her. She smirked to herself, then started to speak. "So, you're the man Antoinette talks about. You must be Luca--" She raised her eyes to him, and her voice died in her throat. Her heart raced, and the appointment book fell from her hands, a few pages detaching as it hit the ground. Her breath hitched in her throat, and her eyes welled.

It was years ago suddenly, and she was standing on a football field, staring at the face that made her heart stop whenever she looked at it. Her Lucas was standing in front of her. All she wanted to do was race to him, throw her arms around his neck, lay kisses all over his face.

He was older now, and she couldn't take looking at him, knowing something had changed. Her eyes broke away from his face, and she darted out around the desk, pushing the front door open and running into the open air of the parking lot. She stooped, her hands going to her knees. She couldn't breathe.

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spencer_nomore
2008-01-27 05:29 am UTC (link)

Lucas could do nothing but stare at her for more than a few moments. He just...couldn't think of anything that sounded right. He wanted to grab her and hold her, if only to convince himself that she was really real, and not some figment of his imagination. Instead he just stuffed his hands further down his pockets, gripping at the warm fabric there.

"I um..." He shook his head a little, completely at a loss for words. It was so different. Gen was the one person growing up he could always talk to. Now the way she talked to him made a literal wince flashed across his face as if she'd out right slapped him.

Jumping right into it felt weird, to just say 'I'm sorry I left, but I kind of had to get my dad's blood off my hands' would not suffice. "I just...you're here...and I don't want..." He trailed off again, huffing out a loud sigh and shaking his head. He reached one hand to rub the back of his neck, something he did when he was uncomfortable. "I don't know what to say to you...I just...I thought about calling you so many times but ... I guess, you know what happened." He said, his voice trailing off at that moment.

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sommers_wind
2008-01-27 06:03 am UTC (link)

The way he seemed to not know what to say or how to act made Genevieve feel at least a bit better. She'd always known that his decision to leave couldn't have been an easy one, but to physically see the reaction he was having set her mind at ease that her assumption had been correct.

She smirked slightly when he said he'd wanted to call her, and before she could stop herself, she responded. "Why the hell didn't you call, Lucas? Yes, I know what happened. I never cared." The emotion in her welled to the surface and crashed over. Tears slid down her cheeks, and she averted her eyes from him once more, swiping at the tears with her arm. "I love you Lucas." She paused, her heart galloping in her chest. "I mean, I loved you."

Genevieve shook her head, taking in a deep breath, trying to sort her thoughts before she just ran away again. "I understand why you left." She looked back at him, her eyes red. "I don't understand why you left me. I would've followed you anywhere." Her voice broke to a whisper, and a sob choked forward from her chest. She stopped, not sure how to continue anymore.

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spencer_nomore
2008-01-27 06:36 am UTC (link)

His brow furrowed as he looked at her, feeling as if someone had punched him so hard in the gut that his breath had completely left his lungs. He bit down hard on his lower lip, sucking it into his mouth as he listened to her. He wanted nothing more than to cup her face in his hands, brush her tears away with his fingers and tell her everything that had suddenly filled his heart.

His heart lurched a little in his chest when she spoke in present tense, his face flushing hot as she spoke it. "I..." He started, but swallowed his words, shaking his head a little. He had dialed her number so many times, times when he was alone, times when he was living wherever he could sleep at night, even if that meant some broken down movie theater he had to break into. More than a few times he had dialed and just listened to her voice, taking in that tiny bit of comfort. He couldn't see himself being the same for her. He was a monster, a murderer, and he'd only gotten worse as time had passed. He couldn't have expected her to love him, not who he was then, and not who he had become. It was bad enough he had one woman in love with him, and all that he was.

Her last statement is what got him, his face falling into one of real, physical pain. He took a step forward, but stopped short, unsure whether or not he should attempt to comfort her. He was the cause of this hurt. "I didn't want to leave you." He said, swallowing hard as he said it. His own eyes seemed dead set on filling with tears, but he held them back. "I was...nothing about me then, was good for you. You... you were the most perfect thing in my life, and I couldn't stand to see me in your eyes...see what you had to have thought of me." He figured as long as he had time with her...honesty was the best thing.

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sommers_wind
2008-01-27 06:54 am UTC (link)

Genevieve nearly flinched as Lucas moved into her, stopping short of actually holding her. She stood her ground, but nearly felt physical pain in the longing that took her over as he stood so close.

Hearing his words, seeing the pain in his face, Gen shook her head. "I could never see you as anything other than my Luc, Lucas." Using her nickname for him made her heart ache, and made her want to move into him, bury her face in his chest, and let go of all the pain she'd stored up for so long. She couldn't bring herself to move though, and stood there, tears flowing freely from her eyes now.

"I missed you so much, every moment of every day, and all I wanted was to hear from you... I found Lyndsey, and I'd hoped she'd tell me what was going on... But she said she didn't know where you were... And..." Gen trailed off, not sure where she was headed with any of it. A couple muffled sobs came, and she broke eye contact with him, it all becoming too much.

"I needed to know you were okay. And I never did. I thought you'd died. I thought you'd gone somewhere and never made it. When I'd get those hang ups in the middle of the night, I'd wish it was you, and that you'd just say 'hello'." Her voice was strained, and she was babbling. "I just missed you. I..." She trailed off again, her face crumpling and her shoulders shaking. The shell had crashed down around her, and she was standing there, unprotected against the one thing that had caused her the most pain in her life.

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spencer_nomore
2008-01-27 07:19 am UTC (link)

Each beat of his heart seemed to tear open a wound inside of him. He hated that he had caused her this much pain. He had left her, and he hadn't allowed himself to wonder how that had seemed to her. She wouldn't be able to see it as him protecting her from himself, but rather, she thought he had made the conscious decision to leave her. He winced again when she used the nickname 'Luc', a flood of memories hitting him like a tidal wave. "You don't...you don't know what happened that night." He said quietly, shaking his head. He had become something...something so brutal that for weeks, he was convinced he'd turned into his father.

Watching her cry just broke his heart even more, and it was all he could do to stop himself from wrapping her up in his arms and never letting her go. He flinched a little at her mentioning of his sister, and he shook his head. "I couldn't go back there. I just, couldn't..." He said quietly, an odd tone of voice taking over his normal gruff tone.

Watching her break down did it to him, the last straw. Tears spilled out of his eyes and he quickly closed the gap of space between them, quickly enough so she couldn't pull away. His arms wrapped around her, forcing her into him as he held tightly to her in case she pushed him away. He inhaled deeply, taking in that normally intoxicating scent that he remembered so well. He bowed his head against her shoulder, hugging her tighter, but careful not to crush her in his arms. Tears spilled out of his eyes, and it wasn't like he could freely stop them. He just hadn't known all of this was still buried inside of him. "I'm so sorry...I never meant...I'm so sorry." He whispered against her ear, his words muffled by her hair as he held tight to her. His words were soft, almost like a prayer, begging for her genuine forgiveness.

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sommers_wind
2008-01-27 07:27 am UTC (link)

"Luc, I don't care what happened that night. I never have." Her voice was nearly pleading with him, trying to get him to understand that no matter what he did, she knew part of him that would never change to her.

Her breath hitched in her chest and she unwound her arms from her chest, wiping at her eyes. She was off guard, and felt his arms wrapping around her. Genevieve collapsed into him, burying her face in his chest and letting out the tears that couldn't be stemmed anymore. Her entire body shook, and she looped her arms around his waist, clinging to him as she sobbed.

His voice in her ear added to the raging torrent of tears, and it was the only thing that could've lightened her heart at all. Hearing the apology, it brought something to light in her. She pulled back a little from him, her arms still tight around his waist, but she looked at him. "It's okay, Luc." She released his waist and brought her hands to his face, pushing away the tears that wet his cheeks. "It's okay." She circled her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tighter than she'd ever hugged anyone in her life, not wanting to let go.

"I'm glad you're alive." Her heart raced in her chest, and she felt the urge to cover him in kisses, and her heart ached when she remembered he was no longer hers, and that it was years later. He belonged to someone else now.

Still, Genevieve held to him, tears still flowing openly.

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spencer_nomore
2008-01-27 07:49 am UTC (link)

"You should care." He said softly, his tone of voice betraying exactly what he thought about himself there. If monsters existed in reality...he would be one of them. He was a murderer, one in which it still baffled him that any woman could actually love.

He heaved a little sigh of relief when she collapsed into him, his arms hugging her a little more securely now that he was reassured she wasn't about to wrench away from him. He bowed his head when she cupped his face in her hands, shaking a little as he shook his head. "No...It's not." He murmured, looping his arms around her again. He'd never addressed this. What had happened. He'd never talked to anyone about it, or let anyone in enough to dig up all this shit. But she had been in it, she had known everything, and her forgiveness and understanding overwhelmed him.

"I'm sorry I didn't call." He said in response to her comment, shaking his head again. He never even thought... He didn't mean to worry her, but that was in fact, exactly what he'd done to everyone who loved him.

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sommers_wind
2008-01-27 08:05 am UTC (link)

She shook her head against his slightly in response his apology again. The relief washing over was something she didn't expect, but welcomed none the less. "Luc..." Genevieve had no words beyond that, but a soothing tone came into her voice. Her fingers pet at the back of his neck, her hand rubbing over his shoulder.

The tears seemed to subside some, and Gen pulled back again, an unconscious gesture of pressing her forehead to his coming. Muscle memory had taken over, and she wasn't thinking about the present tense of anything. It was all past come back to life, and Gen had to snap herself out of it. She pulled back further from him, realization coming that he was Antoinette's now, and being that close to him in that moment was unacceptable.

She took in a deep breath, sniffling and letting her arms slide off from around his shoulders. Her hands braced on his arms still wrapped around her, and she looked up into his face until she caught his eyes. "You look really good." She laughed a little, her eyes running over his face as she took him in. She sniffled again, then reached a hand to his face, running her fingers over the small lines that time had etched into his skin. "You look really good. I'm glad." She smiled at him, the first full smile she'd been able to manage.

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spencer_nomore
2008-01-27 08:18 am UTC (link)

His name coming from her lips caused a little twitch of a smile to tug at the corner of his lips, but it soon faded again. He allowed her to pull back, however reluctant his arms were to let her go. He took half a step back, enough to give her space, but still keeping her close, just in case she decided to turn tail and run. He wasn't so sure he could out run her.

A genuine smile crossed his face at the way she laughed. There was some flicker of the girl he had loved in there, and that smile brought that old Gen back full force. "You look really good too. Older." He said, smiling a little bit at her. He was still guarded, afraid to completely let her go, lest she evaporate from his hold. His eyes fluttered closed for a moment when her fingers brushed over his face, his skin feeling warm wherever her fingers touched. She was still her. She was still Gen, the one he had loved so much so many years ago...He was so different, so changed from the boy he was. It was a wonder she even recognized him.

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sommers_wind
2008-01-27 09:48 pm UTC (link)

Her fingers lingered against his chin, then she let her arm drop away from him, pausing to brace on his arm and give a gentle squeeze. Genevieve managed another small laugh at his comment that she was older, and nodded. "You really know how to state the obvious today." She smiled at him warmly.

She let her arms drop to her sides, then, not knowing what to do with her hands, she crossed her arms over her chest again, but kept the same distance. It was more out of awkwardness than any need to really comfort herself now.

Her face took on a look of resolve, as she'd made a sort of decision in her mind. She was going to keep Lucas in her life, from now on. Sure, he was with Antoinette now, but she wanted him to be around, near her. They were best friends at one point, before they even started dating, weren't they? They had a connection, through a shared past, that had to be rekindled.

Genevieve looked him over, then looked down again, catching a glimpse of her watch. She had a client coming in in the next few minutes, and knew she had to get back inside. As reluctant as she was to leave Lucas' side, she knew he'd be willing to give friendship a shot.

"I have to get back in there." Genevieve failed to stifle a frown coming over her lips. "But I want to keep in touch." She nodded, then pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. "I'll give you my number. We should get together, soon. Maybe see a movie or something. I know neither one of us really wants to rehash the last few years, so we can just hang out and laugh and... I don't know. I just want to keep in touch." She looked at him hopefully, knowing that he may have been too guarded about his new life to let her in. She hoped not, but was at least slightly prepared for that possibility.

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spencer_nomore
2008-01-27 11:02 pm UTC (link)

A bit of a crooked smile curved his lips and he nodded, bowing his head a little after she pulled her hands away from his face. "Yeah well, you know me..." He pursed his lips together in a tight line after he said it. She didn't really know him anymore, but he wanted her to...surprisingly. He didn't let anyone get close. Aside from his 'family' members and the few friends he had, but letting her in, he felt, would be something entirely different.

Leaning back a little, he realized how close they'd been to one another. He swallowed hard at the lump in his throat and stuffed his hands back into his pockets. He studied her face, watching for any flicker of doubt or fear, but seeing none. He suddenly wanted to tell her everything, tell her what had happened to him after he ran, what happened that night. Everything he'd kept so deep inside of himself, that he couldn't allow himself to tell anyone. But then this was Gen, and even before he'd fallen in love with her, he could tell her anything.

His eyes glanced away from her face and back toward the salon. He pursed his lips together, feeling at a loss that he wouldn't be in her company anymore. Her cheery expression made him smile, and while he was slightly taken aback that she was so willing to just jump right back into spending time with him, he wasn't going to question it. "Yeah, I uh, I'd really like that." He said, smiling a little as he took out his own phone. There were about six people who ever called him, and he hoped she wouldn't have second thoughts about her promise to want to hang out. "I'm usually free during the days..." He said, trying to think when would be a safe time to be with her. Usually nobody needed taking care of during the day.

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sommers_wind
2008-02-04 05:08 am UTC (link)

Genevieve took Lucas' number and gave her his, then closed her phone. She looked at him for a moment, unable to really take her eyes off him. She could sense the change in him, she really could, but all of it seemed masked by the old Lucas she still saw, the one she missed so terribly.

She had no idea how she'd be able to face Antoinette next time she came in, but she didn't much care, either. Genevieve had her Lucas back in her life, and that was all that mattered.

"Okay. I'm going to go." Genevieve smiled at Lucas, feeling something inside of her she hadn't remembered feeling in so long, something she would've sworn an hour ago was dead. But there it was again, embodied in the man standing in front of her.

"I'll call you, soon." She reached out and squeezed his arm, then moved into him, hugging him tightly to her. She breathed him in, then sighed, moving far enough away that she could place a brief kiss on his cheek, something she couldn't stop herself from doing. Genevieve moved away before it went any further than that, and took a step toward the salon. She picked up a good pace, then glanced over her shoulder, smiling into her shirt and waving goodbye to him.

She'd call him soon, very soon. She needed to hear his voice again, and wasn't ready to wait very long for it.

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spencer_nomore
2008-02-04 06:26 pm UTC (link)

For the moment, Lucas dropped his normal tendency to over-think things, and just went with it. Gen was here, really, truly, in the flesh, and she wanted to see him. Part of him knew he should probably feel guilty about this, or at least that he should tell Antoinette when she got home, but the part of him - the part that won out, was selfish. He had missed her, and that was the only way to put it. She was, once upon a time, his best friend, and while Raul and Niccy served their purpose as good, even best friends, it wasn't the same. Lucas was the responsible one, at all times, and never really had anyone around he could just let himself be goofy and fun with. That wasn't who he was anymore.

"Yeah, okay." He said in response, nodding a little as he watched her. He couldn't help but mirror her smile, a feeling that felt foreign to him. His eyes closed for half a second when her lips brushed against his cheek, and he had to inhale deeply and hold her a little tighter for one more moment before he let her go.

"I'll see you." He said simply, finding it hard to find words that might mean anything at the moment. This whole thing, having Gen here, in Boston, and what's more, willing to see him ... that still had the effect of making him feel like the wind had been knocked out of him. He wasn't about to question it, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to get her out of his head now that she was back.

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