Who: Thalia Grace & Luke Castellan What: Backstory When: ~The paaaaast~ Where: Connecticut Rating: Low Warnings: They are super gross and filled with the cute. Honestly, it is disgusting Status: Complete
For a while, everything was wonderful. It wasn’t perfect, but it was wonderful. Thalia didn’t sneak out to cause trouble or shoplift or do anything that would risk her good standing at the school anymore. She did continue to sneak out, though, because she had a boy she wanted to spend time with, and boys weren’t welcome at Westover.
She was welcome at his house, though, and now that she knew about his mom, she occasionally spent time at his place. More often than not, however, they went out. They explored the town in a way Luke had never had a chance to when he had to worry about his mom alone; they spent time in the woods, far away from the hustle and bustle that had characterized Thalia’s life; and they were free. They were young, they were in love, and they had the whole world ahead of them.
And then Thalia got caught sneaking back in - not once, but twice. And she was told that should there be a third transgression, she would be packed up and sent back to California. While Thalia didn’t care too much about the leading edge education she’d get at Westover, she did care about the fact that she was very unlikely to see Luke again if she were sent back to California. But if she didn’t take the risk of sneaking out again, she wasn’t going to see him again either. Neither was a good option.
She’d decided to sneak out again to talk to him about this dilemma. Whatever happened, he needed to know what was going on and what it meant for them.
“...so if I get caught again, we’re screwed,” she concluded glumly. She didn’t want to stop, though. She liked spending time with him too much. And right now, the sun shining down on them as she lay on the grass with her head on his lap, she felt like she could stay here forever. If only she could.
Luke had been happy. He’d been happier than he really ever figured he’d be. Thalia had been amazing, she was amazing. He hadn't been as comfortable with anyone else as he had been with her and he didn't want it to stop. It was only her school that really kept it from being a possibility. Well, that and his other responsibilities, but he knew that Thalia would be there no matter what. Even if she were around when his mom wasn't that well.
The weather outside was nice and the fact that Thalia was there with him made it even better. He idly ran his fingers through her hair. It was only her words that drew him from his happy thoughts. "What do you mean screwed? How screwed?" Because there were a lot of ways that this could go. He knew that her school was strict and that she wasn't really allowed out and boys were kind of against the rules when it came to the school, but surely it couldn't be as bad as all that. Maybe a few weeks would pass when they couldn't see each other. Those would be pretty terrible weeks, but they'd figure it out. He was sure of it.
“Screwed like me getting sent back to California or even to Montana,” Thalia mumbled. She didn't say it, but the implication was clear: it meant that wherever she was sent, they wouldn't be able to see each other again. Not with her in another state, and him stuck here, caring for his mom because his deadbeat dad couldn't be bothered.
It made her heart clench just thinking about it, but it was hard to be terribly upset when he was stroking her hair like that. It made her feel content. Happy. Like they could take on anything if they could just do it together. Maybe they could. Maybe they could find some way out of this if they put their heads together.
Luke's face grew a little more serious at that thought. If Thalia left, how could they see each other? He couldn't leave his mom, but could he really ask her to move wherever Thalia went just for him? She liked their house. It was a sobering thought. They'd be pulled apart until whenever Thalia could get away without her mom dictating what she could and couldn't do. "Why doesn't she just let you go to a public school or something?" It would be a lot easier. She'd still be away, but then she'd have to worry about having somewhere to stay, he guessed. "You can just stay with us." It was the perfect solution. Except her mom probably wouldn't agree to it.
He'd figure something out. They'd figure something out. They were a team now. "I mean, there's got to be a way to keep you from being dragged all the way back to California or Montana. We'll figure it out." It felt cliche even to think it, but he didn't want to lose her now that he'd found her.
Thalia let out a short laugh. “Lorelai Grace’s daughter in public school? Forget about it.” She took on her mother’s wide-eyed, breathless demeanour. “What would people think?”
Changing back to her normal tone of voice, she added, “And anyway, I don’t want to make you have to worry about both me and your mom.” She pushed herself up onto her palm and brushed a kiss on the corner of his lips. “Thanks for offering, though. I just...I just wish there was another way.”
Nothing was coming to her, though.
Luke laughed at the impression, shaking his head. Her mother seemed particularly special. His mother wasn't always there, but she wasn't the sort of mother that would fuss over things like him being in public school. He didn't see how it was a bad thing anyway.
He wanted to tell her that he'd have done it willingly, but he didn't know if this was the time for that. Plus, her lips were near his mouth and that sort of drove a lot of his thoughts out of his head. Even the briefest of kisses seemed to make his head feel fuzzy. It seemed ridiculous most of the time. Especially considering what he knew of relationships. He just felt that he could know Thalia forever and never want to stop knowing her. It was probably wishful thinking or something like it.
"I guess we'll just have to become runaways or pirates," he joked. "Maybe both."
“I could do that,” Thalia said wistfully. So maybe pirate wasn’t a really valid career choice these days, but a runaway? Yeah, she would totally do it. Go someplace where no one knew who she was, where she didn’t have to leave Luke before curfew, where they could just hang out for as long as they wanted, doing whatever they wanted.
She pulled back just enough to look at him - she could never tire of looking at him - and sobered. “I would, you know. I’d totally be a runaway with you.”
It was probably the most young adult story plotline that he could have thought of: running off with a girl because they might not be able to be together. At least they weren't so far apart in age that it would be ridiculous. But he knew how it sounded, how people would take it. He just couldn't bring himself to care about it. He had no idea what it would mean for his mom, though.
"I'd be a runaway with you, too," he said, frowning a little. "I just don't know what would happen with mom if I ran away. I guess I could talk to Dad. He has to do something eventually." He couldn't just stay a distant asshole all Luke's life and expect Luke to give up everything because he'd left and his mom wasn't always her best. Maybe if they had the money to get her treatment, it would be a different matter, but therapy and drugs were expensive and he hated to ask his dad for anything.
Thalia didn’t care about the age difference; she never had. It was just a few years, and while Luke seemed more mature because of having to be the adult for his mom, Thalia had grown up in an industry where kids were treated like mini-adults and made to grow up faster than their time. She’d always figured, even if she hadn't voiced it, that it made them even in terms of mental age. The rest was just people’s judgement, and she didn't really care about that.
She did care, however, about him. She knew how important his mother was to him, but she'd always wished he could have some freedom of his own. She liked his mother and thought it was too bad she’d been given such a hard lot in life. But Luke had it worse, because he'd had his childhood taken away from him so his mom could be cared for. Hearing him talk now about what he wanted to do, and the fact that what he wanted was to be with her, gave her a flutter of hope. Maybe this could work after all. Maybe they could be together.
“We could send money back,” she suggested. “We can find jobs, and I don't mind working. I'd do it.” She'd live in much more basic homes, too, if it meant she could be with him.
Luke smiled at that and he felt a warmth wash over him that had nothing to do with the sun and everything to do with Thalia. From the tabloids, you'd have thought she was a rash, unfeeling person or at least someone who didn't take anyone else into consideration. She was an entirely different person when you got to know her. She cared about a lot of things, but it was difficult not to have a hard shell when everything you did was judged and the things you wanted people to pay attention to were ignored.
"We can set it up so we can make payments on the computer." His expression was a mixture of determination and resignation. "And I can talk to Dad and tell him that it's his time to help. I guess he doesn't care if she is the way she is, but he can put his shiny presents into getting care for Mom." Luke would prefer that to any of those presents that his dad would send to appease him or win him over.
“Yeah,” Thalia said, warming up to the idea. He'd presented it as a joke, but the more they talked about it, the more she liked it. She wouldn't have suggested it herself, knowing how important it was for him that his mother was taken care of, but if they could arrange it so that his mother could be cared for, they could finally find the freedom they had both been searching for. They had both been trapped in their own ways: Luke by having to be the caretaker for his mother; Thalia by the lifestyle her mother wanted to live. But if they could escape, they could live however they wanted, wherever they wanted. And best of all, they wouldn't be alone. They'd have each other, and Thalia already knew that she'd rather spend the rest of her life in Luke’s company than go back to the glittering plasticity of the Hollywood scene.
“We could transfer payments, and just make money doing odd jobs here and there, and we could take off and go wherever we want, whenever we want.” She was growing more animated just thinking of the possibilities that lay ahead of them. “We could bum around the coast. Or even go overseas! I've always wanted to do Italy or Greece and hang out where the locals hang out, not where all the tourists go.”
The idea was better and better the more he thought about it. He was wary of leaving his mother, but if he could get his dad to help and he could transfer money to his mom to make sure that she got the things that she wanted. Maybe after they'd had time, they could visit. He was pretty sure that running away didn't mean that he could never come back. He'd get a phone with international minutes so that his mom could call him if she needed to. He would find a way. He wanted to be with Thalia and traveling the world with her sounded more amazing than anything that he'd planned out on his own.
"You've got it all planned out already, don't you?" He laughed a little, his fingers threading through her hair. "I don't even know where I want to go. I guess it doesn't matter if you're there, though."
“What can I say? I’m inspired,” Thalia said, laughing. She felt lighter than she had in a long time, and she didn’t have to be worried about not being able to see him again anymore. Now, she could think about all the things they could do with the fetters of their current lives. Being with him already made the world seem shiny and new. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would feel like to be able to really explore the world with him sharing each adventure with her.
She turned her head slightly, eyes closing in contentment as she let him pet her hair. “You don’t have to decide where you want to go right away. You can decide later, and we can make things work.” Because right now, with him beside her talking about running away together, it felt like anything was possible.
Thalia's laughter made Luke laugh again. This was the craziest thing that he'd ever considered. At least as far as he was concerned. It was possible that other people thought his previous plans to stay in Connecticut to look after his mom were crazier, but he wasn't concerned about them if he was being honest. He was just ready to do whatever had to be done. It wasn't like he had anything outside of his mother to hold him back. It was just a matter of making sure that she was taken care of, that they would be able to do whatever they needed to. That and making sure he had a passport if they were going to leave the country.
"Well, I figure there's a few things that need to be in place so that we don't have to worry and I have to make sure there's money, but that's fine. I can just work and save up everything I can before we leave." He let himself study her face, the way she looked at that moment. "We'll figure it out."
Thalia looked back at him, meeting his studious gaze with a loving one of her own. “Are we really doing this?” she asked with barely suppressed excitement.
When he’d first made the joke, she’d just gone along with it, thinking that talking about it was all they would ever do about it. But now they were making plans. They were problem solving. They were really, actually going to do this. The whole world was suddenly open to her, and it was more glorious than she could have ever imagined.
Luke hesitated for a moment before he smiled. "I guess we are. I wasn't planning on it before, but now...now, I think we're really doing it." He didn't think there was anyone else that he'd want to disappear with or travel with. Not that he'd ever had anyone that he wanted to do that with before. He'd had friends, but no one that he wanted to go on adventures with. Especially not ones where he didn't have an exact destination.
He was quiet for a moment before he said. "Do you want to get a map and throw a dart and then go wherever the dart lands?" It was the easiest way to go somewhere random, to just go. Maybe it wasn't choosing somewhere, exactly, but it was something just as good. It made the adventure more spontaneous. Or he thought so. If they wanted to choose somewhere to go after, they could. It would be great no matter what.
“That’s a great idea,” Thalia said enthusiastically. It solved the problem of figuring out where to go first, and it went with the whole spontaneous adventure theme of this idea.
She leaned to kiss him, then swung herself around so that she was straddling his lap.
“I love you,” she told him, cupping his face between her hands. “And I would be happy no matter where we end up going, as long as we’re together.”