fake it 'til you make it

"Man fuck AI - it's such bullshit. I have to stay on Auggie to make sure he's not using that shit to do all of his homework, sorry it's August now." He rolled his eyes while he took a sip of his beer, "I didn't say I was shocked, I was just making an observation. It's gracious of them to give us our time. Did you want something to drink? I'll buy." Casey let himself get a good look at Axel, "So you don't miss Rosewood at all? It's LA forever for you?"

"It's so terrible." Axel said with a shake of her head. "Wait, your little brother doesn't go by Auggie anymore? What is going on, now a days?" She asked, as perhaps that was the biggest indicator that life had truly continued to move on way past her leaving Rosewood. "Little Auggie is now August. Excuse me." And almost as if the server knew that she needed a cocktail in that moment, they arrived and Axel asked for a signature frozen cosmo. "Well, you and I have a bit more history than the rest of them, so they sort of knew they had to back off." She smiled over at him. "Okay, you get this round and I've got the next?" The blonde reached over for Casey's hand. "Uhm... it's complicated. I like to think that maybe I can miss it here but there's just so much history, Casey. That's not even just including our shit. I did a lot of not so great things here, I lied. I kissed people's boyfriends, I broke several hearts... some a couple of times over." Axel sighed, knowing what she'd done to Casey. He'd always wanted her, and she had wanted him also. That was never in question. But this, Rosewood and a quiet life wasn't what she'd wanted. "There's way too much baggage here for me."

"You were very late, I was actually just about to finish this beer and leave." Casey said though a small smile was on his face. He was content there even if Axel had not shown up, Casey liked being outside which was a more recent development but it was true, "You're fine, Axel." He told her while he stood and gave her a quick kiss on he cheek hello, "Climate change probably, but it's not too bad. You look hotter than when I saw you earlier too. Should I ask your suitors to form a line to your left or right?"

"Don't joke about that." Axel told him with a bright smile. "You don't know how serious some people can be about getting places on time. Being late is like one of my biggest fears now a days." She shook her head, happy to hear that he'd been more than okay. "Thank you." She said, welcoming his kiss to her cheek. If there was something Casey would always be, it would be charming. "That and the fact everyone over thirty five is obsessed with AI." Axel rolled her eyes, as she began to sit down opposite of him. "Do I?" She looked down at herself before looking back up at him. "You've known me to always clean up nicely, this should be no shock to you." She laughed. "Oh, didn't you hear? I told them to give us the night. I think we deserve."

"Seems like the perfect fit for you honestly. You should have been born a California girl all along, maybe." They were more or less in the same boat when it came to Jess. While he hadn't dropped the ball completely with her, he had allowed her maybe a little too much rope to separate herself with. Casey and Jade were solid as a rock, there was nothing about how they felt about one another that was left to assumption and as a result their relationship which had never been cookie cutter still wasn't that, and jealousy was almost never a factor between them as they both knew they were #1 in each other's lives when it came to a partner. "Oh nah, you've got your workout, I've got mine." He grinned while he picked up his equipment, "My number is the same so just shoot me a text telling me where to meet you and I'm there. I'm assuming you want to hit the showers beforehand." He told her, motioning towards her state of being.

"Mayhaps. But I think things around here would have been awfully boring without me." Axel let him know, teasingly as she began to laugh. The smile on her face only grew brighter as Casey let her know he'd never changed his number. His being one of the rare few that she'd committed to memory. Why? Because she'd always known that no matter what. Even if he utterly hated her guts, he would always come to her rescue. A fact he'd proven quite a number of times whilst they lived in the town. "I'd say you're assuming correctly, even though I so make this work." She said, with a light shove to his arm. "See you tonight."

"It counts for a lot. She was a kid back then, we all kind of were." Casey said, bygones were bygones between them as far as he was concerned. He didn't think they would suddenly be best friends, but he wouldn't be mad for having a nice rapport with his ex. "You're living in LA? That's awesome but yeah, you shouldn't be scared to. I think it's no time like the present. I can feel her trying to slowly fade into the background of everyone's lives but we can't let that happen. I'm sure she'd like hearing from you." He rolled his eyes, "Don't care so much about that part but she says he's good to her. That's all I really need." Casey couldn't help but smile very aware of who he was alluding to. "Oh you mean Jade? Yeah I wouldn't call it a leash but I know what you mean. She's not going to have a problem. So I guess I'll be seeing you tonight."

"I am, have been for the last two-ish years." Axel knew that Rosewood would never be able to provide her with the opportunities Hollywood would— not unless she wanted to comment on the messy lives of her peers. But there'd already been a blog that'd done that job and did it pretty damn well. "I know, I know." She agreed, shaking her body as if to shake off the thought of that. "Yeah, plus I'd love to hear from her. She is my best friend after all." The blonde said, it felt good to refer to Jess like that once again. "I believe it. We know Jess far too well, there's no way in hell that she'd accept any bullshit. Especially from a guy." Axel nodded. "Yes, I'm referring to Jade. Yes." She was happy to hear that his significant other wouldn't have an issue. Her relationship with his girlfriend had always been an interesting one. They had never quite disliked each other— she supposed she could only describe their relationship as indifferent. "Okay, tonight it is. Do you need any help with that?" She referred to the bags behind him.

"All out. I'm happy to see you." And he meant it, Casey was older and far removed from the heartbreak, all of those feelings that were so intense back then were nowhere to be found, "I wear the badge with pride, too many people have said it too many times. I can't beat the allegations at this point." Casey's sister was small but fiercely protective of her brothers, so the second she found out the blonde broke Casey's heart, Erica was his number 1 shooter when it came to Axel. She only hated you so much because she liked you so much when we were together." He shrugged his shoulders, "Jess is secretive as fuck. Yeah I know broad strokes but nothing concrete. He's part of the new guard that's about as much as I knew too." Casey always knew Axel wanted out of where they'd come from, he didn't have the same sentiment so it surprised even him when he left, but life was unpredictable like that. Casey took Axel's jab with grace, "There's your one. Out of your system?" He parroted her words back to her. "How do you know there's a leash at all, Axel?"

"I'm happy to see you too." Axel grinned, thinking back to the times where the mere sight of his face would send her day into a tizzy. Where she would have already been off plotting a way to make his day terrible just for sharing the same space... but here they were, enjoying a nice summer day together. "And you should, it's not a bad thing what so ever." She shook her head. "Plus, you've got Erica to keep you up to date on what's going on over on that side of social media." Axel let out a soft sigh as he spoke of his younger sister's feelings towards her. There'd been a moment there where the man in front of her had been her everything. Love of her life was a bit of an understatement, but her aspirations had driven a wedge. One that'd caused them a lot of resentment for the other for a long time. She hated just how much time she'd lost hating him. "Well, for whatever it counts, I've never hated Erica." The look on Axel's face let him know she entirely agreed. "Yeah, she is." She nodded. "I haven't exactly spoken to her in a bit. I got too caught up in the LA of it all, I'm almost scared to. Like, I have no clue who she is today." Axel listened to him, as that was about everything she'd also known about Polo. "Likewise, that and he's kind of really hot." She said with a small laugh. "Yeah, I feel better after that." Axel rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. I know there's a leash and I know exactly who it belongs to."

"Oh fuck yeah, absolutely." Casey had intimate knowledge of exactly how much the clientele he courted back here could afford and he had never been one to leave money on the table - not when it meant so little to them and so much to his livelihood and that of his family, less these days but still not zero. Weddings and the like were more a means to an end so he could pursue the kind of photography that fulfilled him comfortably. "No jab, I promise… not on purpose anyway and if there was it was very very small. Nothing you couldn't take." He snorted with a fond smile on his face because, "No literally, I don't know what any of that shit is." He shrugged, "Time heals, I haven't asked but if I had to guess I'd say she's neutral at best. We'll see what she says next time I talk to her and let her know I ran into you. Thanks, you too." He didn't expect her next question but Casey was typically up for whatever and if she was offering to hang out that could go really bad or really good. "Tonight uh… I was going to stop by Jess's place, meet the boyfriend finally but nothing really besides that. Are you asking me to hang out, Axel?"

"Do you?" Axel asked, crossing her arms as she didn't believe him for a moment. "Uh huh." She scoffed, but the small semblance of a smile on her features let him know that she wasn't offended. "You were allowed the one, I hope you got it out of your system." She said, nodding. "No, of course you don't. You're the oldest twenty-something year old I happen to know." And she couldn't say she'd hated that about Casey. He just never cared about trends and such, he'd always been confident in doing whatever he wanted. Which was the utter antithesis to the people he'd surrounded himself back in their younger years. Hell, Troy had been a living breathing Supreme ad. Probably still was. "Yeah, for the most part." She had to agree with him. Sure, some people weren't going to get a pass from Axel without giving her the well deserved apologies she deserved but at this point, she was so far removed from the day to day that she was more than okay with a blank slate. "I'll happily accept neutral. I'm pretty sure she hated me back when we were together. Or at the very least, couldn't stand my guts." Axel's eyes went wide as he spoke of going to see Jessie. "No way, you've never met him before? He's... very southside. Which apparently has a whole new set of guys running things over there?" She held her hands up as she truly had nothing to do with anything on that side of Rosewood. She'd scratched and clawed her way out of that side, and it'd been for a reason. So that she wouldn't have to look back. "I might have. Or is the leash on really tight now a days?" Axel smirked, holding up her index finger as that'd be her one. He could handle it.

"That was engagement photos. I have a boudoir shoot this evening and a wedding on Saturday and then I head back home right after." It was strange being face to face with Axel, but not painful; like seeing her reminded him of a wound he had that caused him a lot of pain, but he couldn't access that pain anymore because the wound was so thoroughly healed. It also made it easier to access the good memories between them rather than the bad. "You don't have time to date? Wow so you must be busy then, I think the last I heard Erica mentioned you have a pretty big following on Tik Tok or something, right? I'm glad to hear you're doing good and seeing it for that matter. I'm good too, busy but that's never not been the case."

"Ah, of course. Well, thank you to the wedding industrial complex. I hope you charged them an arm and a leg, they can afford it." Axel let the man in front of her know. She spoke from experience. The blonde was no stranger to said industrial complex, herself almost getting married not too long ago to Rosewood's crowned prince of all things spooky. Oh, the stories she could tell about her time in this town and the list of lovers she'd accumulated while here. There was the gorgeous quarterback off playing in the NFL, the boy scout who she'd last heard was getting married himself, the party boy who still meant the world to her, the aforementioned prince of all things spooky and well... Casey. The one who she'd always found herself going back to. Well, until he found himself happily with the woman he'd always found himself going back to. "Why do I feel like there was a jab in there, somewhere?" She asked him, with a playful roll of her eyes. "No, I don't. I actually took the time to decenter men from my life and honestly, I've never been happier. I took all of my energy and put it into making myself a force in pop culture news. Deuxmoi, who? PopCrave, whatever." Axel's eyes went wide as he mentioned who'd kept him in the know as to what she'd been up to? "Erica? And here I thought she couldn't stand my guts." She said with a small laugh. "Well, good and busy really suits you." She said, her green eyes meeting his stunning blue ones. "What are you doing tonight?"

Jess had always been on the move, with something always on her schedule. It had always been that way since high school. She had always had a clear goal and plans for what she wanted to do and who she wanted to be, so she didn't have time to waste. Only a few select people knew that keeping busy was also her way of coping with her trauma, a form of blocking out the past by moving ahead, and one of those select people was the blonde she had almost passed by in her rush. Her best friend, if they could still be considered that given how awkward things had been left between them. There hadn't been some falling out but Jess had been in a bad spot and their lives just seemed like they were going in different directions at the time. And Jessie wasn't selfish enough to drag Axel down into her mess when she had so many good things going for her. "At least that one knew how to take no for an answer." She replied shyly. "He wasn't wrong though. You do look good."

Axel damn near tripped over her own two feet as she realized who'd it been she'd been talking to. And that's saying something, as the woman was as poised and collected as they came. But coming face to face with your oldest friend after quite some time of radio silence would prompt that reaction in anyone. "At least..." She said, shaking her head as she took in the sight of Jessie. "Oh, quit it. You've had years to get accustom to all of this." Axel teased lightly, playfully flipping her ponytail over her shoulder. "I would hug you right now, but I'm all..." The blonde ran her hand over her figure that was currently glistening with the well earned sweat of her jog. "Hi." She said with a bright smile. "I... I've been meaning to stop by. I promise." And she meant that, it'd only been recently that she found herself back in Rosewood. And with the town having become a distant memory these last couple of years, she'd been weary of how to integrate herself back into it all. "How are you?'

He didn't really know what kind of reception Casey would have from Axel, there was about a 50/50 chance that hearing from him would be received well or it wouldn't. Luckily, the odds had been in his favor, that or she was in shock, had it really been that long since he'd been back? "Hi, hello. Working a gig and visiting Jess, just checking in you know?" He looked her over with a small smile, "Suitors is crazy but I'm sure you are. It's good to see you too. Can't say I expected it, guess I forgot how much Rosewood can surprise a guy. How are you doing though, aside from turning down suitors?"

"That explains that, huh?" The blonde pointed at packed bags behind him. "What was the gig?" She asked, the smile on her face bright as she still couldn't believe he was right there. "Yeah, I do." Axel hadn't really gotten around to checking in on her best friend, but she didn't quite know how to go about it either. Whilst she would always have a ton of love for Jess, it wasn't like they'd been all that involved in the others life as of late. "Suitors is crazy, I don't have the time for that." Axel's life had been quite the whirlwind as of late. Given the fall of E! media division, she'd found herself without a job but she'd taken that L and ran with it to create her own content and platform. In big 2026, with some great lighting, production value and TikTok— anyone could have been the next it culture reporter and luckily she was doing great in the space she'd craved for herself. "This place thrives on surprising us. It's what keeps the street lights on." Axel laughed. "I'm doing really good. How about you?"

Casey had been nearby packing up his camera equipment after shooting some engagement photos in the park and he saw every gory detail of what had just transpired between his ex and a very shameless, very tactless man. "You were eating that up." He called out from the short distance between them, not having to amplify his voice very much considering. "You sure you don't want to double back? I mean he's exactly what you're missing from your life."

"Oh my god," Axel had done a double take to realize who it'd been she'd just talked to. She just couldn't believe it was Casey. "hi, hello." But there he was, right in the flesh. "What are you doing here?" She asked, before playfully rolling her eyes. "Please, if I doubled back for every guy who gave me that line, my house would be packed to the brim with suitors. I'm okay. Actually, I'm great on that front." The blonde shook her head, taking a moment to take in the sight of him. "It's so good to see you."