Do you dream at all? ;; Justus

[HAILEY TEGAN]

[outfit]

After a long day filled with clouds and overcast, finally the sun had come out. The park was lit up with both the sunlight and the laughter of a few kids who ran through the playground and played on the swing set. A petite, pixie-like girl walked through the woodchipped ground and headed towards the other swing set, the empty one that was a ways away from the rest of the playground. It was an older set, and somewhat rusted, but that didn't really bother the brunette.

Hailey took a seat on one of the swings, her feet hovering above the ground in her bright red, beat-up Chuck Taylors. She squinted her eyes as she looked around the park, her hands resting on the metal chains that held up the swing. She smiled a bit, watching a few kids climb up the ladder to go down the slide. It was amazing how easily entertained kids were. She kind of missed it sometimes; the innocence. How the worst possible thing that could happen to you was that you lost your favourite pokemon card. Ah, the good old days.

Hailey looked down at her lap, kicking her feet on the ground to get the swing started. She swung back and forth slowly until she got the swing moving at a normal speed, trying to see how high she could swing herself. The entire swing set moved slightly as Hailey swung, and she doubted the safety of it. She was a very small person, and she hated to imagine what would happen to the set if every swing was filled. Hailey dragged her feet on the woodchips to slow down and finally come to a stop. Swings just weren't as amusing as they used to be.

[justus bellerose]

Oh, the weather outside was not so delightful. It was cloudy and dull, bringing Justus down with it since without the sun sparkling down on him he seemed to feel a good thirty years older. Yeah, Justus really wasn’t into this kind of weather. He liked his days to be sunny and full of… well, full of sun. Today was not that day. So for the most part he stayed cooped up in his bedroom, listening in on his sister and mom’s conversations from the kitchen where they were struggling through homework. When asked about his own work, Justus had announced to his mother that it had all been completed as soon as he had walked through that door. Just like she had told him to do it. Of course all she had in response to him was a nod and she was back to trying to get his sister to do her own work. At first he had planned on just leaving for a while. You know, stride around town, scope out some friends, and hang out for a few hours or so. Just until the sun fell behind the horizon and then he would be on his way back home. Maybe. Every so often he found himself staying out a bit later than usual. As long as he got home before his dad got home, he was fine. His mom didn’t seem to notice when he went out anyway. Where did she think he was? His bedroom? Yeah, maybe something like that. At least she wasn’t constantly freaking out about wherever Justus may be. It was more like ‘do whatever you want just don’t tell me about it’ kind of thing with them. Justus didn’t mind it… okay; he may have a little but not a whole lot. That was just how things were.

Eventually the day did clear up though. All the clouds moved aside to let the sun look down on the world with all of its wonderful golden rays. As soon as the light had crept through the blinds hanging in his window, Justus pushed himself up off of his bed to peek through and inspect the weather. It was likable now and that meant why not go outside? That way he wouldn’t have to listen to bickering and he wouldn’t be bored out of his mind with simply laying in bed. The ceiling did, in fact, get boring after twenty or so minutes.

After tying up a pair of black high-top sneakers and pulling a gray sweatshirt over his head, Justus figured he was ready to get out of here and see if anything around town was up. Before leaving his bedroom, he slipped his house keys into his dark jean’s pocket just in case. Then he had managed to slip through his door and close it quickly behind him while hurrying across the living room and out the front door. Yeah, he was just quick and quite enough so that his mom or sister wouldn’t notice him skimming across the floor. Hah- like they would really hear him or bother to look up in the first place! Homework was a tedious task when it came to his sister. That meant that he didn’t want them to see him for also the reason that his mom (and possibly his sister) would snap at him for being loud of interrupting. It was always easier blaming the passer by, you know? Unfortunately for them Justus didn’t feel like taking the blame for anyone. He wasn’t in the mood to get mixed up in arguing because it would result in… the obvious. People mad and not talking or looking at each other.

Strolling on down the streets didn’t seem to be striking his fancy one bit. There didn’t seem to be anyone poking around town and he hadn’t made any plans to begin with. Was this whole walk a failure? Eh, maybe it was. As he continued on, he did a full circle and then paused when he noticed that there were some happenings over at the park. And hey! It was a park so there must have been something to do… yeah, like sit on a bench, yippee? When you weren’t seven or eight the park did get a little… well, if someone saw you going down the slide they might raise a few brows. Or you couldn’t break something if you were too big. Then there was the whole thing of losing interest in playing on the equipment. But, in any case, Justus still knew that this was way better than nothing. He came here every so often anyways and was sure he got plenty of weird looks. Why the hell should he care? It was there problem if they didn’t like it. Not his. They didn’t have to watch him anyways.

A sly, half grin perked on his lips when someone on the swing caught his attention. He didn’t know many girls with that particular haircut so it wasn’t hard to figure out who she was. Justus took some slow, sneaky steps around the swing set and then grabbed hold of the chain links on the opposite swing. He leaned forward, tilting his head to stare over at her. “Mm, having fun on the swings I see?” he inquired innocently. “Or maybe you don’t have anything to do either?”

[HAILEY TEGAN]

Hailey hummed quietly to herself as she sat lazily in the swing, letting her thin arms hang by her sides, and allowing her entire body to slouch in her seat as she starred at the ground. She kicked her feet through the woodchips, digging up some of the darker coloured dirt underneath. She squinted as the sun hit her right in the eyes, and she raised up a hand, trying to block out the sunlight. Hailey suddenly wished that she'd thought to bring a pair of sunglasses along.

Sighing, the brunette tilted her head, resting it against the chain. Not the most comfortable spot for her head, but oh well. She thought she had heard footsteps behind her, but ignored it. Probably just some kid looking for his friends or his mom or something. Maybe he dropped his favourite toy car earlier and he was looking for it.

A smile formed on Hailey's face as she heard a familiar voice coming from behind her. Hailey turned her head, smiling fondly at the boy that she knew as Justus. She always seemed to get along nicely with him. He was a cool guy, she thought. More open-minded than a lot of the kids that she went to highschool with. Mm, having fun on the swings I see? Or maybe you don't have anything to do either? It was a little bit of both, really. The swings seemed like they'd be a lot more entertaining than they actually were. But, she had also been bored out of her mind earlier.

"Heeey," Hailey said, squinting a bit to avoid being blinded by the sun as she looked over at Justus. "Yeah, didn't have anything else better to do," she said, swinging her feet back and forth, as they didn't touch the ground. "How's it going?" she asked, very glad for his company. You could only sit by yourself in a park for so long.

[justus bellerose]

The smile that had stuck on his face softened up a bit now and Justus merely gave her a shrug in reply at first. All the while his hands climbed further up the chain links until they were well above his head. Then his grip on it tightened and Justus used it to lift himself up off the ground and through the chains to land in front of the swing. He had quickly sat back on it causing the whole thing to shake a little and him to grind his teeth with one of those ‘oopsie’ sort of looks crossing over his face. But once the structure calmed again, Justus went back to concentrating on the girl on the swing next to him. He quirked a brow at her and let his smile return to his lips while he tried to think up a proper answer to give to her now.

So how was he? Oh, he was doing just dandy to be quite honest. He wasn’t what you could call absolutely fantastic but that didn’t mean that he was feeling like he wanted to be six feet under either. Oh, no, no- Justus was feeling pretty darn good now that he had something to do actually. Nothing like some company to lift your lonely spirits, right?

“Ah, I’m doin’ just fine. Just glad I finally found myself some company here,” he explained while resting the insides of his elbows against the links now. He placed his feet firmly on the ground beneath him and started back a bit so that he was standing and more of just leaning up against the seat that happened to be behind him. After yet again wrapping his hands around the cool links, he looked down toward her with another easy shrug of his shoulders. “So how things been going for you?”

For some strange reason (that was honestly a bit beyond him) Justus kind of liked to know that he wasn’t the only one who was a little… bored. Whenever he was spiritless and drained, Justus always felt like he was suddenly just the most useless thing that this planet had ever witnessed. Bored truly did take a toll on people by making them sluggish and dull, in his opinion, and he definitely did not want to think of himself of sluggish and/or dull. If that happened then there would definitely be one of those silly conflicts going on in his mind that would keep up until he found something that made him feel like he had something to do that day. Useless: eh, it was obvious that he didn’t like that word to describe him.

Growing tired of standing with the seat to his backside, Justus finally lifted his feet and let the swing do its job of swinging him forward and back. All the while the swing set creaked and moaned. The young man bit at his bottom lip when he heard it and felt it quiver with his weight. His blue-green stare traveled up toward the bar going across the stop in attempt to see if the hinges were starting to get a little rusty. This ended up in failure since he couldn’t quite get a look at them with him going back and forth. Every time he went forward he had to crane his head back to try and see. So it wasn’t long until he gave up on that (deciding that he would possibly look up at it later). With a small puff of air coming from between his lips, his bangs flew up away from his face only to land back over the top of his eyebrows.

As his swing slowed he twisted around a bit to look over at her. Both of his brows rose up as he gave his two cents on it. In a sarcastic tone he spoke, “well this thing sure sounds safe.”

[HAILEY TEGAN]

Hailey nodded as Justus shrugged. She didn't take things like that personally anymore, that was just how he was. She looked over, watching as he hoisted himself onto the swing beside her. She smiled a bit, just glad that now she didn't have to look like a 17 year-old loser sitting on a swing set by herself. Though, she could probably pass for 12 if she really wanted to. She was short and skinny enough, and the haircut and lack of makeup only made her look like a little boy more, in her opinion. So many times, her mother had tried to convince her to let her hair grow out. She remembered the expression on her mother's face when Hailey couldn't put up with long hair anymore, and had one of her friends from school who was studying cosmetology cut it for her. She smirked a bit, remembering the "deer in headlights" kind of look that her mother gave her as she barely recognized her daughter.

Ah, I’m doin’ just fine. Just glad I finally found myself some company here.

Hailey smiled, tilting her head to one side slightly. She felt like she hadn't caught up with Justus in a while, and was glad to see that he was doing well. She shrugged, as he returned the question. Things were fine, she supposed. Nothing really new or exciting was going on in her life, but things were okay. Her mother was giving her the usual bullshit that she did, but by the age of 17, Hailey was used to it, unfortunately. "Not too bad," Hailey said, with a small smile in his direction. She couldn't complain, really. Well, she certainly could, but she was selfless enough to not dump her shit on every one of her friends, or any of them, for that matter. Venting was one thing, but Hailey couldn't really stand when people complained about virtually nothing on a regular basis.

Hailey wondered what had brought Justus to the park this afternoon. Probably the same motivation that she had. Boredom, it was a nice day, there was nothing better to do in Rutherford. Illinois wasn't exactly the most exciting place to live. Hailey would know, as she was a New Yorker by birth and by heart. After living in a city like that, everywhere else seemed dull in comparison.

Hailey chuckled a bit. The swing set did make her slightly nervous, but she didn't think it would collapse on top of her or anything. "The rust is certainly reassuring," she said, shaking her head as she started to swing her legs, getting the swing to move again.

[justus bellerose]

Not too bad? Well not too bad was going to go just fine with him because not too bad meant that they were usually doing alright. It was kind of a neutral answer, wasn’t it? Kind of like things weren’t wonderful but they weren’t great either but at least I’m still alright. It was something like that, wasn’t it? That was how Justus saw it at least and if he had been the one giving her that answer then he would have been referring to something like that. Things were good but they could be better. Or maybe things were horrible but they weren’t that bad. So, in the end, he guessed that the other person would have to make judgment of what one it was… for Hailey… Well, Justus wasn’t entirely sure but he was just going to go ahead and guess the first one. It was always much nicer to know that people were doing well instead of bad, after all.

By now, Justus has stopped his swing from moving back and forth completely and had tilted his head back to look up toward the old hinges keeping it attached to the top beam. From where he was it just looked like it was aged and had definitely been used quite a bit. Of course, if it had been used to excessively than that too could cause some kind of accident to take place. For example, the hinges could have been worn and ground to nothing more than slim strips of metal rather than strong pieces. Or maybe the beam had rust where the legs met it and it was preparing itself to collapse on top of them. Either case would end up being uncomfortable because no matter what you’d hit your ass on the ground and possibly have something following to hit you. Unless you had swung high up and it snapped off leaving you to just fall. For some reason, that was not sounding any better to him. But, strangely enough, after his long inspection of the thing with his eyes, Justus managed to deem it alright in his mind. If the thing had not killed them by now then he would trust it for a bit longer. The rust, like Hailey had pointed out, indeed was not comfortable to have though.

“Mmm, well, I think we’ll live,” he said pointedly. Since he put his faith in the swing set not collapsing on top of him, Justus let himself seat himself on it completely again so that he could now sway back and forth at her side. His eyes had long ago drifted from the rusty beam above and began to scan over the almost empty park. A few people were playing here and there but it was nothing big nor was it anything strange. Not to him, at least. He was used to seeing someone here every so often after all… “Heeey, where was it that you were from before here? I’m sure ya told me before but… I’m having memory failure as of the moment.”

Justus turned his light eyes over in her direction and gave her a crooked grin. It wasn’t anything mischievous though. It was honestly leaning more toward the apologetic side since Justus had apparently thought that he had forgotten where she was from. In truth, he wasn’t that worried about just coming out and asking her about it though. Yeah, he did feel a little bit bad about not knowing already but, hey, she was his friend and should be more than happy to explain it to him. It would give them something to talk about and Justus could probably stick it in his head a lot better than the last time that she had shared that particular information with him. If she even had to begin with.

[HAILEY TEGAN]

Hailey starred at the ground, hanging onto the chains that held the swing up, her feet barely skimming the ground as she swung back and forth slowly. It was really bright out today, so she tried her hardest not to look up. She smiled a bit, when Justus said that he thought they'd survive the swing set, and she shrugged. She honestly wasn't too bothered by how rusty and worn down the swing set was. If the chains gave, it wasn't like it was a huge height to fall from, but she was a light enough person that she didn't really think that the swing would break from her weight. She tilted her head up slightly, her eyes wandering around the park to the kids playing, fewer of them now, finally settling on Justus for a moment. She was still incredibly glad that he had randomly decided to come out here as well. She was still a little bored, but now at least she had someone to talk to to pass the time a little more quickly.

"New York, New York," Hailey said, in response to Justus asking where she was from. She wasn't at all offended that he'd forgotten. In fact, she wasn't sure if she had ever actually mentioned it before. She didn't have a really heavy accent or anything, though she did tend to stress certain sounds, but not enough to be really noticeable. She did have some traits of the "New York" personality, like being kind of impatient, especially in traffic. She was still pretty mellow, though.

"Don't worry about it," Hailey chuckled a little bit. It wasn't a big deal. She wasn't going to freak out and refuse to talk to him just because he forgot something like that. She looked over at him, chuckling a bit more at the grin on his face. "I kinda miss it," she said, shrugging. New York was exciting and busy. Illinois was nice and all, but a little blase for her tastes. She had grown up in one of the most well-known cities in the country, and it was quite a contrast to move to a little town like Rutherford after living in place like that for most of her life. She was proud of the fact that she was a New Yorker, though. Who knew, maybe she could move back there after she was done with highschool and all that other stuff. "You've lived here all your life?" Hailey asked, looking over at Justus briefly.

[justus bellerose]

Ah, so it had been New York that she was from! And not just any part of that state but New York, New York! Justus sort of liked to think that she hadn’t told him about it now because that would mean that he could get off the hook with forgetting. Because, honestly, how did you forget that someone was from a place like that? All his life he had heard about places that were full of action and what kid didn’t dream of being part of that action every once in a while? In comparison to the place that she was from, this town was just plain boring, wasn’t it? Justus sure thought it was and once he made up his mind on something swaying it was not going to come easily. There must have been billions of places more exciting than this one was and New York, New York sure as hell sounded like one of those amazing places that he just might have to put on his to do list to visit one day. Or he could just bug Hailey here about it all day until she was ready to smack him upside the head from all of his questions. He supposed that finding information on his own would be a good deal better than prying things out of people. Maybe he would just do it for Hailey’s sake. No need to scare off friends, right?

Justus gave Hailey a little, sympathetic frown when she had explained that she missed it. His frown was followed by a lazy shrug as he leaned forward and perched his elbows on his knees to stare over at her. He half expected her to continue on about the place and Justus was simply preparing himself to be all ears to her. But Hailey didn’t go and continue on about her home in New York. Apparently she wasn’t interested in talking about it, perhaps? Justus wasn’t really all that sure but before his mouth got to open up all the way to further question her he was beat to it by Hailey asking him a question instead. Of course, he highly doubted his answer would be very interesting to her.

The answer: yeah. He had lived her all of his life and knew nothing else about anywhere else because he hadn’t been anywhere else really. Family trips were just barely out of town sometimes and the most he knew about anywhere was through his dad since he was always going place. Justus, however, only knew Rutherford. Yup, just plain, old Rutherford, Illinois. Maybe it just seemed plain because he was here for so long? Nah- it was pretty boring here if you had to come sit in a park and hope that something entertaining hurried up and smacked you in the face. Getting into an argument was better than being plain bored.

“Oh, yeah. Here forever and for always,” he replied plainly while busying his fingers with the fabric of his jeans. A grin reappeared on his lips as he glanced back up at her. “Bet this place is nothing like New York, huh? Bet it’s a lot more interesting over there and you probably wouldn’t be hangin’ around at some lame park if you had the choice.”

[HAILEY TEGAN]

Hailey looked over, smiling slightly when Justus answered her simply. She didn't have anything against Rutherford. It was a lovely little town. Just a little bland, especially coming from somewhere like New York. In her opinion, the best city out there. There wasn't much to do here like there was in NYC. You could walk down the street to Times Square and spend hours just looking at the shops, or just sitting on a bench watching the varieties of different characters walk by. Rutherford...well. There wasn't much to do, which was why she was sitting on a swingset right now next to Justus. Justus definitely wasn't as boring as the town that he'd grown up in, however. He was one of the first people she'd met when she moved here, and she was glad that she met him.

Hailey smiled a bit. "There's not much else to do around here, is there?" she shrugged. She'd lived here since she was around the age of 12, so she was pretty used to it by now. Still, she was New Yorker at heart, and nothing could really change that. Sometimes, it was so quiet at night on Birmingham lane that she actually found it more difficult to fall asleep. She'd have to go and put some music on before she could rest properly. In New York, in a big cities where it was never quiet, she slept like a log.

"It's not bad here," Hailey shrugged. Personally, she would've loved to be able to move back to New York and live with her dad, but that just seemed unrealistic now. Her dad probably couldn't afford to take care of her anyway. Her mother, as nuts as she was sometimes, at least could feed and clothe her, and send her off to college in a year or so. She was grateful for that, she was, but she still definitely missed her true home. "A little bland, but it's nice, I guess," she said, shrugging again. "I like the people here, at least," she smiled vaguely.

[justus bellerose]

Boy, wasn’t that the truth? Okay, so it wasn’t completely. It was just mostly the week days that Justus couldn’t find any source of entertainment. Basically whenever his sister was busy he wasn’t busy. She did a very good job of keeping Justus constantly busy whenever she had the chance. And Justus always made room for her even when he was really kind of busy with other things. At least she managed to give him something fun to do. Not to mention keep him company and build a few good memories. He was lucky to have such a good relationship with his sister. Not a lot of people had what he had and he felt sorry for people who constantly fought with their siblings. Seeing parents argue with kids was perfectly normal to him considering his mom had her bit of agitation here and there with him. The difference with him and most kids was that he usually tried not to talk back to either of his parents. Consequences sucked and they were the two who had the most power over him. That did not mean that Justus had not argued back with them a few times. It just meant that he usually quit before he got ahead of himself. Didn’t think he was tough for not back mouthing his parents? Well you could just suck it. At least, that would be what he would tell someone who found him to be a sissy for being a good kid. He wasn’t great, yeah, but he was pretty good he thought.

So in reply that, Justus gave a shrug and that was it. He really didn’t have much to say on it since he half agreed and half disagreed. He hated it when he couldn’t make up his mind because it made him feel like he was losing his touch or something. You should have been able to chose one or the other and that was how Justus would always see things… even when he couldn’t pull it through one-hundred percent at the start. He’d get there.

A little bland? Oh, he highly doubted that this place was just a little bland in comparison to the big city. There must have been tons and tons of things to do there. This place was practically a dirt road in a lost town compared to New York, New York! Justus was sure that she knew that too. Why would anyone want to come and live here after that anyways?

“A little? This place ain’t got nothin’ on where you’re from,” he stated matter-of-factly. But he paused a second to consider the second part of what she said. Justus couldn’t help but smile a little over it but he was sure that there were plenty of people to like in New York too. There were tons of them so you could take your pick. Not to mention there was a huge variety there and that made it all the less bland. But, then again, he did kind of like having Hailey around here. And if she was still in New York that wouldn’t be possible, now would it? “I guess we aren’t all bad here,” he said with a small laugh. “But there are plenty of people I’m sure I’d like to… uh, strangle, I guess.”

Justus jokingly lifted his hands as if he were strangling something when he spoke but quickly dropped them back to his knees whilst shaking his head gently back and forth. Yeah, there were a few people that needed to be hit over the head. Maybe doing that would knock some common sense into them.

“So you like, miss any friends back there that you had? I would…”

[HAILEY TEGAN]

Looking at the ground, the short-haired brunette blinked slightly. She really did miss New York, sometimes. A lot of the time, actually. She fit in there, at least a lot more so than she did here in Illinois. She wasn't the small-town type of girl. At all. In fact, as soon as she was done with high school, she had plans to apply to at least five schools back around her home town. Sure, it was a lot more expensive to live up there, but it was completely worth it in her opinion. Just something about the big city, with flashing lights and non-stop action felt so much like home to Hailey. Rutherford was lovely and all, but it didn't really do justice to what she was used to.

Hailey smiled, as Justus almost read her exact thoughts. This place ain’t got nothin’ on where you’re from. She giggled slightly, swinging her feet back and forth. She was 17 years old and her feet still didn't touch the ground. Sad, really, as a lot of 13 year olds were probably taller than her now and still growing. Not that she minded being petite, but it was hard to pass off as being your age when even your mother told you that you looked like a twelve-year-old boy. Hailey never thought she was particularly pretty, but she never really thought of herself as boy-ish. It must've been the short hair. But, Hailey with long hair was just weird, in her opinion.

People that he'd like to strange. Hailey couldn't help but laugh a little bit. Way too true. Some people here just got on her nerves. In New York, everyone was so accepting. It was a wonder that they hadn't legalized same-sex marriage yet. You'd see 6'0 transvestites walk down the streets and not give them a second glance. Hailey admired people like that, who were so sure of themselves, and had that kind of confidence, and really didn't care what others thought of them. Hailey cared what certain people thought of her. Like Justus, for instance. She cared what he thought about her. And she definitely cared what Joss thought of her. People like them, her friends, she'd take their advice on things.

Friends. Friends back home...did she miss them? Hailey had more acquaintances back in New York persay than friends. Everything was so fast-paced up there that she didn't even really have time to make friends for herself. Sure, there were some things that she missed, a lot, actually, but friends wasn't really one of them. "Not really," Hailey shrugged. "I mean, I have a lot better friends down here than I did back there, actually," she said, shrugging again. She didn't know anyone like Joss or Justus back in New York, and they were some of the reasons that she was actually glad for the move.