in my blood.

Everywhere around her, things were coming to a close, but strangely enough, Lizzie felt whole. Despite her rocky beginnings at the camp and the deteriorating state of her relationship back home, her summers were a blissful release from all of her stressors. There was certainly something to be said about her camp friends — even if it was more just a camp friend, singular. Her and Adam, for two and a half months out of the year, were attached at the hip, and it’d been that way for the past couple of years.

But that was it — he was a friend, no pretty little prefix or suffix to make it something more than it was, though it didn’t mean that Lizzie didn’t think about it. A tantalizing treat she never dared to taste, considering she had a boyfriend. It would’ve been wrong.

So why couldn’t she stop thinking about him?

A vodka soda in her hand, she took a spot by the edge of the festivities, giving in to her tendency to watch over participate, despite the warm, woozy daze in her head from the liquor. It was no surprise that Adam followed soon after, the simple nudge of his shoulder sending electricity down her spine and the tops of her cheeks prickled with heat, getting his eyes with a hesitance only found in a woman scared of her bubbling crush.

“Hey,” she repeated, giving him a soft smile as she pulled her legs into her chest. In her head, she sighed, wistful for a touch that she couldn’t have, half-dreaming over what could have been, if she hadn’t been dating someone when —

“Oh,” she breathed. Had he really asked her that? Lukewarm soda cast aside, she bit her lip, baby blues focused on an imaginary spot two feet in front of her. “You’re…” One of my most trusted confidantes? Someone I think about all the time? A person I’m possibly in love with? “… my friend. One of my best friends,” she decided, swallowing. The conviction in her tone was suspiciously missing, and she looked away.

          While Adam certainly wasn’t someone who enjoyed watching people squirm at his words, he found it quite interesting to see how Lizzie reacted to his question.. and then what her answer turned out to be. Honestly, he’d been getting to her pretty well over the past few summers and was pretty certain that she was lying to him. Actually.. he knew she was lying. He couldn’t blame her for choosing to go down the safe path, however, figuring that he would have taken it too. But now, with the amount of alcohol he’d consumed over the course of the night, he was too curious to let it go.  

          “You wound me, Kennedy.”  Adam expressed with a playfully pained expression on his face and a hand placed dramatically over his heart,  “Just one of your best friends?”  If there’d been one ounce of sincerity in her voice, he would have been hurt for sure. But her voice had given the lie away. Her innocence was only making her more attractive to him, which would have been a huge issue had he been sober, but it was only egging him on now. 

          “And here I thought we would take this as an opportunity to reveal our deep dark secrets, Lizzie.”  He breathed out, taking a sip of his drink before leaning closer over to her,  “I think you’re the most beautiful girl in this camp. Easily. And not only on the outside. You have the whole package. Which makes it really fucking hard to respect that you have a boyfriend.”  Adam was rambling now, but he had to get it off his chest right? It was their last year here after all.  “But I respect you too much to make your life difficult, so I’m content being one of your best friends.”

BOLD what applies to your muse.

PLACE IN SOCIETY

financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty.

medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged.

class or caste: upper / middle / working / slave / unsure.

education: qualified / unqualified / studying.

criminal record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no.

FAMILY

married - happily / married - unhappily / engaged or betrothed / partnered / single / divorced / separated.

has a child or children / has no children / wants children.  

close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased.

orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s).

TRAITS + TENDENCIES

extroverted / introverted / in between.

disorganized / organized / in between.

close minded / open-minded  / in between.

calm / anxious / in between.

disagreeable / agreeable / in between.

cautious / reckless / in between.

patient / impatient / in between.

outspoken / reserved / in between.

leader / follower / in between.

empathetic / unemphatic / in between.

optimistic / pessimistic / in between.

traditional / modern / in between.

hard-working / lazy / in between.

cultured / un-cultured / in between 

loyal / disloyal / in between.

faithful / unfaithful / unknown.

BELIEFS:

monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic.

belief in ghosts or spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care.

belief in an afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care.

belief in reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care.

belief in aliens: yes  / no / don’t know / don’t care.

religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious.

philosophical: yes / no.

OPINIONS

pro-choice / anti-abortion /  doesn’t know or on the fence.

pro-marriage / anti-marriage / doesn’t know or on the fence.

pro-death penalty / anti-death penalty  / doesn’t know or on the fence.

pro-drug legislation / anti-drug legislation / doesn’t know or on the fence.

left wing / right wing / middle / doesn’t know or on the fence.

SEXUALITY + ROMANTIC INCLINATION

heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual.

sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favourable.

romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favourable.

sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious.

potential sexual partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all.

potential romantic partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all.

ABILITIES

combat skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none.

literacy skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

artistic skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

technical skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none.

HABITS

drinking alcohol: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.

smoking: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess. 

other narcotics: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.

medicinal drugs: never / sometimes  / frequently / to excess. 

indulgent food: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess. 

splurge spending: never / sometimes / frequently / to excess.

based on:  “What am I to you?” from the LOVE IS IN THE AIR meme

location: band camp, circa 2013 (flashback)  

         At the beginning of summer Adam made a vow to make this year, being his last year at camp being a camper, the best one yet. Next year there would be even bigger responsibilites when he’d come back as part of the staff. Naturally, Adam organized a secret get-together for senior campers, packed with snacks, booze and fast food. Being a teenager with a wide range of connections certainly paid off; even at band camp. Their chaperones were the ones who’d gotten the alcohol and fast food, which was usually expressly prohibited on or near camp grounds. They were also the first ones to be completely wasted, dancing in the light of the fire place in the midst of their make-shift camp ground for the night. 

         “Hey,”  Adam let himself ‘plop’ down next to Lizzie, nudging her softly with his shoulder as his eyes swept over the people who were dancing. Elizabeth Kennedy had surprised him a lot. For starters, he would’ve never thought to leave camp, saying she had been his best friend three summers in a row. Their friendship went further than the camp, though. His grandparents didn’t live too far away from Lizzie’s house on Catalina Island, so whenever summer camp was over, they’d even bump into one another on the island. Honestly, the girl was so full of surprises it wasn’t surprising that he felt drawn to her. Right now, completely intoxicated by the rum and coke he’d been drinking, Adam would probably follow her around like a puppy if she’d let him. For the entirety of their stay this year, he was sure that their silly banter was far more than just that, but being the coward he was, Adam never thought to act on it; another factor being the boyfriend Lizzie had back home. He wasn’t an asshole and he wasn’t going to be the one to potentially wreck their friendship and relationship. But he also couldn’t be totally silent anymore. He just had to know something, “Hey Lizzie, what am I to you?”

for: book club members / everyone ( @catalinastarter​ ) location: ventura coffee roasting co. date & time:  sunday 16th, around 10 am

Curse Valentines day and it’s stupid traditions. It took Maya the longest to find a location that she didn’t have much time to anything else, like the most important thing that marked a book club meeting, a goddamn book. She had thought getting the location of out the way would be quicker and easier than selecting one book to discuss, but she was extremely wrong. Maya blamed it all on the holiday, if it even counts as a holiday. She wished they could’ve had a more private location, a room just for club members, so they could mingle among themselves without the awkwardness of meeting patrons that frequented the coffee shop, but she couldn’t exactly book out the entire cafe for herself and her cause, something about a loss for the business or something inconsequential for her stopped her. Pink shit still littered the place, but it at least they had a place to gather.

She had sent out a quick mass email, informing them of the time and place and apologising that there will be no book discussion to start of with, but they were more than welcome to bring a book to discuss. It was her back up plan, and hopefully one that would work in her favour. Maya arrived an hour before the scheduled time, to put up signs letting everyone know what was happening, coffee in hand and a book in the another she settled into a corner booth and waited for the clock to strike ten. Not long after she had done that, she became engrossed into her back, only when she felt a presence next to her she looked up with a smile, “Here for the book club?”

          Ever since Adam officially moved onto Catalina Island, he’d been planning to join a club or something to get out of the house. Ideally, it should have been something to get him active physically, but of course, he would choose something chill and lowkey. Adam wasn’t even sure if he could find the time to actually read up on anything for a book club, but he could try, right? He would absolutely try because right now his library at home and on his kindle contained mostly books for children and only about ten percent were his. 

          Signing up had been the easy part, now came the scheduled meetups. For some reason, Adam was anxious to get it over with. At least he didn’t have to read up on a book before this and they’d talk about some options.  “Yeah, am I in the right place?”  Adam replied, a small but slightly confused smile on his lips as he’d just passed the Valentines Day decorations on his way inside,  “Also, I didn’t bring a book because I was sure nobody would find ‘How to train your dragon’ as interesting as my daughter currently does and it’s the only book I’ve held in my hands for two weeks.”

01.  “Kind of a depression question to ask someone just after Valentines Day, but I guess that’s why it’s fun, huh? Very single currently.”

02.  “Maybe? I don’t know. I can’t really comment on something when I haven’t had it happening to me, I guess. I believe all of the people who say they’ve experienced it, though.”

03.  “So I wanted to take out my daughter for Valentines Day, because that’s what I did every year since she was born, only to be told that she’d been asked out by a classmate. Long story short, I ended up taking Melody and her friend out for dinner at Chick-Fil-A, because that’s what the young dude could afford, chaperoned their ‘date’ and then paid for ice cream afterwards.”

LOVE IS IN THE AIR.

Location: IRIS & EVE ROOFTOP Time & date: Friday night 

“Can you explain to me how did you managed to do the one thing I specific told you not to? Come on Reynolds, I fucking — “ The conversation on the phone was interrupted by sound of the elevator arriving at the hall. Theo was so caught up in his conversation over the phone, he did not notice the person beside him. “Look, I don’t care if Jesus came to Earth and told you that you had the right to do what you did, fix it before I get back tomorrow or the conversation will be a whole lot different.” He finalized before hold the elevator door for the other. “Going up?” @catalinastarter·

          "Yeah thanks, man.”  His reply was uttered as he was breathing rather heavily from running to catch the elevator. Besides, it wasn’t like Adam wanted to get involved in whatever the other guy was just being pissed about. Not his style and definitely not something he generally liked. Why did his mom have to stay at a hotel rather than his house again? Didn’t make any sense to him whatsoever. “You good?”  Man, sometimes Adam wished he didn’t care about other people as much as he did and yet, he couldn’t help himself.