helpless i am not

Maeve: Hopefully it wasn't disappointing.

Maeve: No worries. We were all stinky.

Maeve: Hey. I'm definitely feeling better with power back on. You?

Jeremy: Yeah, me too. I smelled bad.

Jeremy: Not that you needed to know that.

Very, very selfish. I should tell on you. I’m a bit picky of my stories, but when I find a good one, I can’t put it down. I always feel odd shopping in the young adult section, but dang it, I love young romance.

Tell on me? Dad would probably make me read a Bible story...Cain and Able? Bad example of siblings... Nothing wrong with young romance. We’re young. We can find romance. Maybe. You can. It might be too late for me.

Is that why you always have something new every time I see you? I regret not asking for this before! I didn’t know you had a secret gem up your sleeve.

Why, yes it is, sister of mine. A patient told me about it and I suppose I’ve been very selfish keeping it to myself. i need to remember you’re as much of a reader as I am.

I did enjoy the time away from stupid people on the internet, but I’m very pleased to have electricity back. Being away from social media that long makes you really not miss it at all. I do need new books now, after I start making a paycheck again.

Thriftbooks.com - some books on there are only like $4. Used, of course, but so far every book I’ve ordered has been in excellent condition. 

Welp, I guess thats unfortunate for all of us. Also I appreciate your optimism.

You’re welcome. I’m nothing if not optimistic. Maybe it’s time we get to know our neighbors or some psycho babble about embracing the human experience in a time of trouble.

“If you were Harry Potter and you didn’t introduce yourself as such, I’d totally get it. Wouldn’t want muggles climbing all over you asking for autographs. I totally love your work, by the way. Great job defeating You-Know-Who.” Maeve could tell jokes sometimes, but it was especially easy when she was scared or uncomfortable. It broke up some of the anxiety and worry she was so prone to in times of discomfort. 

When Jeremy touched the back of her hand to comfort her, she could almost feel her eyes bugging up out of her head in a cartoonish manner. Knowing that she was being ridiculous, she smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I know. But that doesn’t seem like something that officials and high up people would pull. I mean, kids and old people saw that. That’s traumatizing enough for us so what do you think it did to them? If the town is behind all that, they’re going to have a lot to explain to state and country officials.”

Jeremy could not stop the grin that was spreading across his face. He seriously doubted he could ever be compared to Harry Potter. He was more of a mix between Ron and Neville, honestly. Though, he had to admit, there were worse personalities to be compared to. “Ah, thank you. I accept gratitude in the form of chocolate frogs and anything from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.” It was easier to talk about Harry Potter than to even think about what was going on in their sleepy town.

Basic Information

Full Name: Jeremy Reid Wallace

Nickname(s): Jer, J

Age: 26

Date of Birth: May 18

Hometown: Granier, VA

Current Location: Granier, VA

Gender: Male

Pronouns: Him/He

Orientation: Bisexual

Occupation: Occupational Therapist

Living Arrangements: Apartment

Language(s) Spoken: English

Accent: slight southern

Physical Appearance

Hair Colour: Brown

Eye Colour: Brown

Height: 5″11″

Weight: 167 lbs.

Tattoos: None

Piercings: None

Clothing Style: Casual/Trendy EX: 1 / 2 / 3

Health

Physical Ailments: n/a

Allergies: Shellfish

Sleeping Habits: roughly 7 hours a night

Eating Habits: tends to eat what he wants

Exercise Habits: works out at around 3 or 4 times a week

Emotional Stability: 7/10

Sociability: prefers intimate gatherings but will be fine in a big group

Body Temperature: runs hot

Alcohol Use: Recreational

Drug Use: None

Personality

Label: The Boy Next Door

Positive Traits: romantic, reliable, responsible

Negative Traits: self deprecating, stubborn

Goals/Desires: falling in love, getting over his family’s death

Fears: dying alone, heights

Hobbies: watching food network, binging documentaries, searching random stuff online

Favorites

Weather: fall

Color: green

Beverage: sweet tea

Food: anything sweet

Animal: giraffe

Family

Father: Brandon O’Neil, deceased

Mother: Michelle O’Neil, deceased 

Sibling(s): Elizabeth O’Neil, deceased

Other: an older brother (adopted) and Davina Wallace (adopted)

Extra

Zodiac Sign: Taurus

MBTI: ENFP

Enneagram: The Helper

Temperament: The Phlegmatic

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff

Moral Alignment: Lawful Good

Primary Vice: Gluttony

Primary Virtue: Charity

“Right. Like, you’re up to date on the newest teachings and studies and you don’t have to go back to completely relearn something. That makes total sense.” Maeve nodded enthusiastically, grabbing a napkin from the dispenser on the table and cleaning off her hand. “You’re not static. You’re open to being dynamic which probably makes you a better choice in the long run because you’re not afraid to try new stuff when the tried and true methods don’t work. That’s awesome.”

Maeve’s stomach dropped when he mentioned the witches. She was genuinely scared of that outcome. Maybe the witches weren’t the scary fairy tale versions or the kind from horror movies and games, but some unknown kind that could lead to even more disarray and tragedy. “I…I never really believed in witches. I mean, I’m a little bit of a scaredy cat so I thought about it but I didn’t ever think I would really have to worry about anything like that. Now I’m here and I thought I was just moving into town like any other and it turns out that I’m living in the horror movie version of Hocus Pocus with no celebrity cameos.” She frowned. “What did the historically accurate version say? Can you tell me without like…summoning them? Are they like You-Know-Who?”

He probably should not have mentioned the witches. If this had been anything remotely close to a date he was sure he wouldn’t have been requested for another. But, this wasn’t a date, and he really did want to be friends with Maeve. Still, probably not a good way to make friends. He wasn’t the best with that type of thing, though, but he knew he would just try his best and move past it or something. It was the only thing he could think to do in the moment.

“You’re practically a senior citizen. Over the hill.” She shook her head. He didn’t really have too much of a baby face - she would have clocked him at a solid 25 when she first saw him and she knew now that it wasn’t too far off. That was a small victory in her book, being able to almost accurately guess his age. Something small but still something she’d done mostly right. 

“I don’t know. I don’t get why people would care that you’re young. Like, in your line of work I thought most people were young. I’d only expect an old man if you were a psychologist or like…an angry apartment complex maintenance man. Not that I’m speaking from experience,” Maeve said, giving him a look that said that she was definitely speaking from experience. “As long as you love what you do, I don’t think it matters if people think you’re too young. Just keep making dollars and loving life,” she advised, going back to her now-melting ice cream cone.

“There are young people,” he started, shrugging his shoulders as he ate his ice cream contentedly. “But, I guess like most medical fields they think age means experience and experience means expertise but I think the younger ones are the ones who are more likely to try new things. They don’t get set in their ways or think they are always right.” He got to the cone part of his ice cream, his favorite part, and took a bite. Jeremy chewed carefully. 

“Ooh, you’re older than me. I’m only twenty-four. It’s a weird age. I’m too old to feel like a young adult and too old to feel like thirty is a long ways away. It’s like, a quarter-life crisis.” She made a face. Being young and 24 felt like a lie to her - she’d already been through a relationship that had lasted a little over eight years, a marriage, a divorce…it was all stuff that was supposed to be for people older than her. But Maeve hadn’t been ready to settle down when she’d been swept off of her feet and had given in because she didn’t want to be alone and she’d thought that love would grow with time. That had been a mistake.

After a moment, she nodded. “Yeah, let’s start with basics. What do you do? Do you like it? Are you good at it?” she asked teasingly. “I’m a manager at a store in the mall. I used to be a sales associate back in Richmond, but they let me move up when I transferred locations. More importantly I go to school, though. I’m like two semesters away from finishing up my degree to be a dental hygienist and then I might go on to try and be a dental assistant, but I have to put in the time first, you know? Anyways. What do you do?”

He nodded his head, understanding where she was coming from. “No, I get it. I look back and wonder where my life went...but I’m not that old, not really. Some still consider me a baby. Which does make it harder on me. But I deal with it.” The boy smiled softly. He hadn’t been through much in his life, except the death of his parents and sister, but that had been when he was much younger. His older life had been a lot of school. His adopted parents had supported him the entire time, which he was thankful for, and he had siblings he adored.

Maeve took the photo and nodded at him with a smile. “You were, but you’re a little blurry. I put the focus on the cones.” She took her treat back and sat down with him. “I’m not like, huge on instagram, but sometimes you don’t want to pass a shot up. I like to scroll more than I actually post, just so I’m up to date on everything. I’m a chronic facebooker though. And twitter. I’m awful. I’m just like everyone else in our generation. Assuming you’re in the same generation as I am and you’re not like, 19. If so I am so sorry.”

Deciding to stop rambling, she cleaned the melting ice cream off of the side of the cone before she started nibbling at it. She was usually a licker, but it felt weird to just be licking an ice cream cone while she sat across from a guy she was just meeting for the first time while they hung out as friends with no pretenses. It was so unfamiliar to Maeve that she almost wondered if she was missing some sort of protocol or something. “So. What should we talk about?”

He chuckled and shook his head. It wasn’t like she knew anything about him, not really, but did he really look like he could be nineteen? Maybe so. But he wasn’t mad about it. It was kind of cool. “Nope,” he said, a grin on his lips. “Still a millennial. I’m twenty-six. If I was nineteen I’d be in college now and that’s six years I would prefer not to repeat.” He wondered if she thought he had his masters degree or if she just thought it took him six years to finish his degree. Not that it mattered whatsoever. College wasn’t a race. 

“As someone paler than you, I wasn’t too concerned. I’d win if there was a vampire resemblance contest.” She shrugged. “I look like I belong in a horror film. I couldn’t pull off romance. Maybe comedy, but definitely like sci-fi, horror, weird subgenres within those.” Maeve wasn’t sure how she got to discussing her potential as an actress (she was definitely not an actress), but sometimes words just came to her and she said them and then everyone ended up confused and when that was the case she usually just…well, went with it.

She looked at the flavors from behind the glass, her lips pursed as she thought. “You order first. I don’t know what I want yet.” After he ordered, Maeve decided to just go with the first two flavors that had caught her eye. “I just want a little scoop of the chocolate banana and then mostly vanilla on top. With the tiniest bit of sprinkles. Please,” she requested, smiling when she got it back and handing over money for it. “Wait, will you hold both cones for a second?” she asked. “This would be a cute instagram picture.”

“I doubt I could pull off romance, if my track record has anything to do with it at least, so you’re not alone. Comedy for sure. Horror is...it depends on the horror. Nothing too been there done that. I don’t think I’d like to be in that.” Jeremy tended to just go with what people talked about. He was easy to talk to because he could rattle off a conversation about any topic. It was partially why he had made the debate team. However, his propensity for not arguing was the reason he hardly ever actually debated. 

“New blood is such a creepy expression. Why do you need my blood? Can’t my blood just stay where it’s at until it’s absolutely needed?” She headed in the direction he’d pointed her in, continuing to talk as they walked together toward the ice cream parlor. “I honestly got here by looking at ads for apartments. I started searching like, 300 miles from home and then narrowed it all down based on price. It worked out pretty well. I mean there’s the whole weird town announcement thing that happened, but other than that this seems like a nice place.”

It was a nice place. She wasn’t lying. She didn’t necessarily love that there was apparently some deity that wanted to make her hang for her sins, but she couldn’t think of too many that she’d committed. Divorce, if that counted. Saying unkind words. Nothing stuck out that she could really think of, but the idea was daunting. Maeve didn’t particularly like sharing that she was a divorcee at 24, so that news getting out wouldn’t really do her any favors. It wasn’t life changing, though, so as long as it was a metaphorical hanging and not a literal hanging, she was fairly certain she would survive. Avoiding mentioning the question of what he meant by before just because it felt too heavy for ice cream, she grinned. “That’s gotta be good and bad. You’re in a holy home but also you have to get up early for church every week.”

“I was going to say new meat but that sounded like I thought you were either edible or just a sex object and I think neither...so new blood just slipped out. Maybe I should say...new personality? New friend?” The boy shrugged. “I promise I’m not a vampire contrary to what my pale exterior might suggest.” He nodded his head when she told him how she got here. It wasn’t like it was a strange reason to move to Granier. Rent wasn’t expensive and it was a pretty nice town, if a little weird considering it’s history, but over all a decent place to live. If you ignore the little display that had happened at the festival.

Quidditch?