you think that everything's wrong|reece

[calista riley ashcroft]

Callie walked down High Street. So many smells assaulted her, smells that would’ve made her stomach growl if she was still human. Instead, it had no effect on Callie, unless you counted the dizziness she felt from all the confusing scents. Normally, something like that would cause Callie to feel angry and bitter because she would be reminded of her human life. No, not today. She wouldn’t let anything bring down her mood. She had found a job at Dartmouth teaching dance and drama; almost all of her favorite things wrapped up into one. And on top of that, she had gotten a nice sized flat. Callie was shopping for furniture and decorations to make her flat feel like home.

But first, Callie wanted to go clothes shopping. She wasn’t one of those shopaholic girls who spent their money like water, but she had seen a store that caught her attention. See, she had a weakness for vintage clothes. Especially dresses. She didn’t dress in vintage clothes everyday or anything, but she loved to shop for them and wear them every so often. The display in the window had caught Callie’s attention when she first entered the small town, but she hadn’t had time to look at it. Now though, Callie had the time and the money, so why not?

The door opened with a pleasant tinkle of chimes and an older lady standing at the counter smiled at Callie as she walked in. The lady waved to Callie in greeting, so she waved back. I could really start to enjoy living here, Callie thought, feeling extremely happy. She wandered over to a rack of dresses and slowly looked through them.

[reece orson zephyr]

Reece actually didn't think anyone could be anymore uncomfortable then he felt now. It would have been physically impossible. And yet somehow he had an inkling that he could have probably managed it. Then again he always felt rough after a full moon, like his skin didn't quite fit. Well... considering what had happened only a few hours before... It made sense to say the least. The intoxicating smells of the high street did nothing to help either. Or the fact that Reece seemed to permanently feel hungry just after he shifted. He'd have done nearly anything for a steak and chips. In fact you could have just forgotten the chips and given him the steak and he'd have been happy. Shaking his head Reece attempted to refocus his attention on the street, eyes scanning the shops ahead of him.

Last nights shift had been slightly chaotic and he'd only just gotten to the woods. Wrecked his clothing as well. One of his favourite suits - sod that, one of his only suits. Well, that would teach him to attempt to plan ahead. And on the night he shifted, of all nights. There was ignoring what you were and just blatantly acting like you weren't in fact a blood thirsty monster by the moonlight. So he was in town to look for a new suit, for various evenings that required a more formal dress code and not just soccer shorts. To say he didn't go to the clothing shops all that often was an understatement, considering he'd never seen some of the shops there before.

But the vintage shop looked like a pretty good place to find clothes. And avoid the kids of the school who were no doubt shopping in somewhere slightly more fashionable to be seen in. For Reece as long as he got a suit for the more formal evenings at the school he didn't care. The less time spent shopping the better when it came to him. Grimacing at the sound of the chimes as the door opened, Reece attempted to then close it as quietly as possible, failing completely in the process. Well. At least in his brain it sounded like he failed, and he couldn't help but grimace again. He turned around again, smiling weakly at the elderly shopwoman at the counter. Before letting his gaze move across the room.

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[calista riley ashcroft]

Callie’s hand slid over a purple dress and the fabric shimmered slightly. This is just my color, she thought, taking the dress off of the rack and admiring how it hung on the hanger. She held the dress up to herself and looked in a mirror that was behind her. The dress did look good on her. It’d be nice for something formal, but it wasn’t like she went that many places that she’d need to be formal for. And after glancing at the price tag, Callie placed the dress back on the rack. She made a decent amount of money at Dartmouth, but she had other things to buy. Callie sighed, running her hand along the dress one time and headed towards more practical clothing.

The chimes over the doors jingled again, but Callie didn’t pay too much attention to it. It was most likely just another vintage fan like her. Callie slid shirts on the rack, quickly examining each one. She pulled one off and held it up, much like she had to the dress. But Callie happened to glance up this time and saw who had walked in the door. Her breath caught and she felt as though her heart skipped a beat. It was him, of all people. Him! Here! She looked again, just to make sure, it was. Callie dropped to the ground, partially hiding in the clothes and clutched the shirt she was holding to her chest.

Why was he here? Callie hadn’t seen him since that party in high school. She started to hyperventilate as she lost control over her normally calm composure. What was she going to do now? Callie shook her head, trying to calm back down. She wasn’t going to let him affect her like that. Callie started breathing normally, but stayed sitting on the floor. I’ll just wait until he leaves, she thought.

[reece orson zephyr]

Reece ran a hand over his partial stubble, glancing at bits and pieces of the clothing in the shop. Every now and again something would catch his eye but he would decide against it. He didn't see a real point in buying anything he really liked-- Jesus, like he could get anymore cheerful. He needed a nap. Might brighten him up somewhat, because God knows he couldn't have gotten any more down in the dumps. A hint of a smile played around his lips at the thought. Not quite reaching the eyes though. It was ironic. How cheerful he'd been before he'd been attacked. Now he was miserable. Even if he had been cautious when he was younger at least he'd been happy. God, he missed that.

Oh, God. He froze, eyes stuck on her. So familiar even now. His fingers clenched into fists, digging into the cloth of the clothing, and his eyes darted between the woman at the counter - who was busy with something else - and her. Callie. Reece hadn't seen her since... well. Since the night he... Fuck. He didn't even know if she remembered that. He'd heard something about a new teacher - dance or drama or something like that - but he'd never stuck around long enough to hear the name of the teacher. Damn. Damn. What if she remembered? Knew what he'd done. His fingers clenched around the fabric, and he swallowed quietly.

Reece felt sick to his stomach. Still felt too werewolf-ish, wasn't sure if he was completely himself. God. That was a load of crap, he'd never be completely himself ever again. He looked downwards, at the suit trousers in his hands. Unconsciously stepping closer towards the clothing racks. Further away from her. From what he did. His mouth had other plans apparently. "Callie?" Damn. Did he just squeak? No. He didn't. He was twenty-four, not a nineteen anymore. She couldn't affect him in that way anymore. Sod it. Maybe if he turned his back. Maybe she was looking for something... On the floor.

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[calista riley ashcroft]

Crap. He saw me. Callie thought. She had really hoped she had avoided him. She just wasn’t sure how to react to Reece. At all. All this time, Callie had told herself that she hated him. He had betrayed her and then he left. It was easy to just write off any feelings for Reece as hate. Anyone would’ve, had they been in her situation. It was the logical thing to do. But when Callie had first seen Reece, the first cracks appeared in her armor. And when he had said her name? Callie knew she was lying to herself.

Callie stayed on the ground, curling her legs to her chest and burying her face into the already wrinkled fabric of the shirt. She needed to control her emotions and then ignore them. Only then could she even begin to face Reece. She took a few more deep breaths before standing up, acting as though hiding in a clothes rack was completely normal. Callie attempted to brush the wrinkles out of the shirt and hung it back on the rack. She slid a few more shirts before looking back at Reece.

“Hi,” she said, trying to sound as though he being here didn’t matter, but she knew her voice came out as timid and scared. And it was completely out of character for her, but she couldn’t help it. Callie continued to search for clothes, acting like she was completely immersed in her shopping, but her mind wasn’t registering anything in front of her. Instead, all of her attention was focused on Reece.

What did he think of her? Did he still feel about her the same way he had years ago? Or did he hate her? Was that why he raped her? Why had he done that? Why had he changed? Callie lowered her head, trying to stop that line of thinking. If she continued along those lines, she’d start crying. It was something she rarely did, but just having him this close to her was affecting her terribly.

[reece orson zephyr]

Reece took an almost hopeful step forward, before grimacing again and stopping. She probably wouldn't wanna be anywhere near him. Considering they hadn't seen each other for something like four years-- Well, that wasn't really the only reason he felt uncomfortable near her. Didn't want to remember what he'd done. Didn't want to be near the girl he'd done it to. His old bestfriend. Hell. He deserved his very own hole in hell somewhere. She sounded scared of him, and in that moment he knew. Knew she knew. And his heart broke again. Into smaller pieces then before. He supposed he deserved that.

He swallowed quietly again, eyes looking anywhere but at her. The guilt eating him slowly up, but he had to fill the silence. Couldn't just stand there. Staring at a hideous Hawaiian t-shirt, like it was the most fascinating thing on the planet. He should say something neutral, something normal. Unfortunately his brain to mouth filter had stopped working. "Why are you here?" His voice cracked. It was a stupid question. But just when he'd thought his past had finally been forgotten she showed up. A flash of rage passed through his body but he clamped down on it. Adamant that he wasn't gonna be that monster anymore. At least not by choice. With gritted teeth, he put the trousers down in roughly the same place he'd picked them up.

Reece turned to face her, still not quite making eye contact. Feeling every inch the freak he was. It was just his luck to come across her. Though he supposed it was best to get it out the way now, even if the soul destroying guilt wasn't exactly gonna go away in the first week. It was better then having to do it during a staff meeting or something like that. Something embarrassingly public. "I'm sorry," He said quietly before pausing. Wondering briefly what he was apologizing for. Anger ripping through him again. Apologizing for raping her? Leaving without a word to her or his family? Or acting in a rude manner as soon as they encountered each other again?

As if he didn't already feel like crap. Not to mention emotionally, and physically hardwired into the electrical grid. Reece briefly wondered what she was thinking. Probably the quickest route to get away from you, he though sadly. His head dipping down, as he suddenly became rather interested in the floor, and the patterns of the carpet. Oh, God. Here came the awkward silence. The accusing silence that filled his head most of the time. Oh, yep. The kids were gonna hate him for the next month or so. He'd be the moody git teacher for the next four weeks or so.

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[calista riley ashcroft]

Callie stared the rack of clothing between her and Reece. It was acting like a wall or a barrier. And Callie felt safe behind it, like if she stayed here, she could pretend nothing bad was happening. All she had to do was duck behind the clothing again and wait until he left, because Callie was fairly certain he wouldn’t try to do anything. But Callie couldn’t do that. If she did, she’d just be avoiding the problem and making it worse. She needed to deal with it at this moment. And Callie wanted to know how much of the old Reece was still left.

So she came out from behind the rack to stand in front of it, her hands clasped behind her back. Callie had, for a few moments there, forgot that she was a vampire. Seeing Reece had transported her back a few years, into the time when she was human. But now that she was out in the open instead of half hidden, some of the changes should be visible. Her skin was pale. She had been on the paler side before, but it was still obvious. But Callie wasn't going to say anything. Instead, she was hoping against hope that Reece wouldn't notice.

“I’m a teacher at Dartmouth.” Callie said, hating how she felt so awkward. It just wasn’t her. Callie stared at a patch of sunlight coming through the window and watched the dust mites swirl. She was waiting for him to say something in response. She just couldn’t make her mouth work, unless she was talked to first. And normally it was the other way around. People usually couldn’t get a word in otherwise once she got into a conversation.

And then she heard Reece say sorry. She glanced up sharply, thinking she must’ve heard him wrong. That was one thing she had always wanted to hear from him. Well, that and she wanted him to explain what happened that night. But sorry was a start. It would never erase what had happened, but it still made a world of difference to Callie. She took a few steps toward Reece, closing the gap to only a few feet now.

Finally, she made her mouth work. “Um, what are you doing here?” It wasn’t anywhere close to what she had wanted to ask him, but at least she was getting words out. Callie found her gaze wandering, but she made herself look at Reece. She was going to confront things now. If he didn’t want anything to do with her, at least she’d know now.