And It's Not Easy To Be Me

“I mean, I did too technically. Although, I am just taking photography so it’s pretty chill for the most part.” Kathryn replied, letting out a small laugh. She loved photography and going to school for it had been her escape from London. The situation was complicated, but she was glad that she had made it. “It would surely do you some good. I’ve only been here a couple of months, but I like it here so far.”

Noah smiled, “Well, that’s cool. I mean, I really enjoy what I’m studying too. I don’t know, maybe I’m just too easily sidetracked right now.” he said. There had been a lot on his mind lately, and it was proving a little hard to focus. “That’s good. So what are some of your favorite places? I’ve been here about a month too, but I’ve kind of played hermit for most of that.”

“Your brain will thank you later.” Mason agreed, nodding at the younger man.  He could still remember the long nights that he had spent in the Julliard library. By the time he was done his degree he was prepared to try to avoid studying ever again. Granted, that hadn’t happened. “Reading all summer doesn’t sound pleasing, but sometimes it isn’t the worst idea.”

Noah nodded before laughing softly, “I mean, I did read most of the summer. I like reading. I just ... haven’t been doing much of the paper-writing part of things.” he explained with a small shrug. “Maybe next summer I’ll give myself a personal project to write about. It could be fun, even.” he added thoughtfully.

“So this kid has written in their homework essay that Ahab’s obsession with finding the whale in literary classic ‘Moby Dick’ is because he ‘needs to get laid’. How do I even go about marking that?” She sighed deeply. “You know finding homoerotic subtexts in texts is actually pretty astute, maybe it’s an automatic ‘A’, what do you think?”

Noah couldn’t help but laugh at that statement, “Well, I’d say that it depends on how well they made the argument, but I’m thinking if ‘he needs to get laid’ is a direct quote that it was ... probably not that well. Sounds more like they’re really reaching ... or maybe like they didn’t actually read it and just made something up?”

Ryke ambled through Devinstone with a slight annoying pain clinging onto his knee from his injury. He didn’t care if it was burning because all he wanted to do was to explore the town he used to call home. The nostalgic town brought back both good and bad memories of his glory days in high school. Some things were still the same, but with time came the inevitable thing called change. People move on and the past is forgotten– just like him. It’s now been a few days since he’s back in the quaint town. but the only thing that could occupy his mind was the topic of how he was going to approach his parents– the ones who resented him for leaving and pursuing his dreams. The ones who ignored him for the last decade. As these thoughts were running through his mind, Ryke looked down at the pavement before he crashed into someone. He instinctively reached out to make sure the other person didn’t fall due to his large frame. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t see where I was going.” he quickly rambled out, as he tried to regain his balance.

Noah smiled softly as he walked through the town, truthfully the more he explored, the happier he was to have chosen this place to move to. Something just felt right here, safe. And it certainly helped that he had taken many steps to ensure that his ex had no idea where he was. No, she couldn’t cause any trouble here. This could really be a fresh start, and Noah was deeply grateful for that. He had managed to get completely lost in his thoughts and in admiring the town, thinking of how it reminded him of a place in a book he’d once read when he suddenly collided with someone and he jumped what felt like several feet in the air before blushing heavily as he looked back over at the other, “No, no, I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention either. Sorry. I’m, I’m usually much better about that.” he said quickly, “Are, um, are you alright?”

Danny was walking back from work when she thought she glimpsed something around the corner. She knew in this part of town, the smart thing to do would be to keep walking, but the detective in her, that urge to investigate, was stronger. She looked for the source and stumbled into a trashcan. “Shit.”

Noah had been out for walk, simply trying to explore the town. He hadn’t taken much time to do so since he had moved in, but he wanted to get a better feel for everything now. When he heard a commotion nearby he jumped, startled, before looking around and spotting the woman, “Are you alright?” he questioned.

‘’Go ahead.’’ Nathan nodded his head, letting the boy pet his pup. Ella was well trained by him. The man had watched a couple of videos on how to do it and figured the rest by himself. Nate was independent and liked to do things on his own. So when he adopted Ella a few months back, after letting her get used to her new environment, he started training her like a service dog. The boys at the fire house also loved her as much as their chief and as soon as he brought her in, everyone forgot their duties. ‘’She’s very kind. I trained her myself.’’ he boasted, proud of his little dog.

Hearing that he was planning on teaching made Avi perk up. That, at least, was something he could talk about. “I’m a high school teacher,” he said, putting the jokes about facial hair aside for now. “Could be worse, but it’s not great. Teaching college sounds much nicer, in my opinion.” Avi would never be able to teach at that level, considering his lack of qualifications, but it was a nice thought. “I teach music though, so what do I know? English is a whole ‘nother animal.”

“I do not miss school stress, honestly.” Kathryn replied, knowing that the photography courses she was now taking were far less stressful than university had been. “A break will do you some good. Your brain needs a break.”

Noah laughed softly, “I’ve signed myself up for several more years of it actually ... and then I’ll just be teaching.” he shared, “But honestly, I don’t usually mind it. I guess I’ve just gotten out of the habit a little bit, I just need to work my way back into it. But you’re right about the break, definitely. Maybe I should just ... go look around town more? I haven’t really explored much yet.”

“The best thing to do is to not do too much in one sitting. Your brain isn’t used to it at the moment.” Mason replied, knowing that personally he had always been better off when he took breaks. Otherwise he tended to get a little overwhelmed by everything. “Hopefully things will be normal soon.”

Noah nodded, “Yeah, you’re probably right. It might help to just ... leave it for a little while and come back to it.” he agreed, “I’m sure it will be, it always does. I guess that’s just what happens when you get out of the habit of writing like this. I shouldn’t have let myself get so distracted this summer.”

“Moms have no concept of boundaries or when they’ve crossed them.  At least mine doesn’t.” He chuckled slightly.  His mom, to this day, even though he is closer to thirty than twenty, is still constantly nagging him.  About what?  Pretty much everything.  What is he eating?  Who is he dating?  Where is he hanging out?  How often is he doing laundry?  “Now the question is did you really think moving across the country was going to get your mom of your back?  Because if so, I’m sorry to tell you, but that was a gross miscalculation.”

Noah sighed, “Yeah, mine’s the same way. She means well. She does, but she’s just ... a lot to deal with.” he said, shaking his head softly. She was overwhelming, and still a little too controlling, even if he knew she thought it was all for his own good. He laughed a little at the next commented, “Yeah, I’m starting to realize that. But I’ve moved in with my cousin now, I thought maybe she’d decide we were at least capable of taking care of each other.”

“–Not gonna lie, I didn’t catch a single thing you just said. I just made myself a Snapchat and I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m obsessed with the filters,” Maggie looked up from her phone, flashing the other person an apologetic smile. “Tell me again, I swear I’m listening this time.”

Noah laughed softly at that statement, “I keep hearing about that but I haven’t gotten one myself yet either.” he admitted, “But it’s alright, honestly, I was only complaining about one of my professors, honestly, I’m sure it was pretty boring.”

Warren preferred to go to the gym early enough to beat the evening rush and be home in time to eat dinner and catch the Sports Center highlights, but it seemed things weren’t boding well for him tonight when he exited the facility to find two cars had blocked in his truck between the curb and the street. “Seriously?” He sighed, allowing the dufflebag to drop from his shoulder onto the pavement. “What is wrong with some people?” His hair was disheveled, still damp from working out, as he ran a hand through it in frustration and mulled over the options which didn’t involve getting his tow bars and moving the car himself.

Noah had just left the gym and was trying to pretend like he wasn’t completely exhausted at this point. He was just looking forward to going home and reading one of the new books he had just gotten for a while before bed but he spotted someone else staring at a couple of cars and he walked over, frowning when he realized what had happened. “I don’t know.” he said with a small shrug, “You think they’re in the gym too? You could go inside, have the owners paged to move the cars? If nobody comes you could probably get them towed too.”

     NIKOLAJ couldn’t help but sigh slightly as he read an email sent to him. A small smile worked onto his lips as he said “Mild annoyance of the day: projects trying to hire you to come work on their set for ‘experience.’ Not to seem like an asshole, but unless you’re paying me then I’m not going to waste my money coming to you, using my kit that I’ve poured countless dollars into to have a pat on the back and another thing on my résumé. Wouldn’t ask a plumber to work for experience, why are people in the arts supposed to? Blegh.” The noise being quickly followed by a snicker, he put his phone into his pocket and turned his attention back to the person he was speaking to. “– Anyway, sorry about that. What were you saying?”

          Remy liked todays like this. It was the perfect fall day. The cafes were all starting to sell their fall drinks, which was a favorite. That’s why she found herself at one of the coffee shops in town. “I can’t wait for Halloween!” Remy exclaimed, a bright smile on her face. “Best time of the year, you know.” 

Noah smiled as looked over and spotted Remy. They usually met for tutoring sessions, but he liked her and it was nice to run into her at the coffee shop. “I guess it is pretty nice, I’ve always been more of a Christmas person myself, but Halloween is fun. Are you going to dress up for it?”

“Best of luck, honestly.” Kathryn replied, sending the man a small smile. School was always fairly stressful, and sometimes getting ahead was impossible. There was surely times where she had barely been able to stay on track, let alone anything else. “Just try not to stress yourself out too much. It won’t do you any good.”

Noah smiled softly, “Yeah, I’m trying not to.” he said, though honestly he knew that finding ways to stress himself out was possibly his greatest talent, “Maybe I should just try to take a break and come back to this later on today?”

“I can understand that, honestly. Getting back into school is the worst.” Mason replied, remembering his days as being a student. It had been a few years now but it wasn’t a feeling that he was going to forget. “Your best bet is to probably just try to stay on track and try not to stress yourself out too much.”

Noah nodded, “Yeah, I mean, I enjoy it, I do. I’m just having trouble focusing on all of it again. I just keep getting distracted.” he admitted with a small shrug, “I’m sure I’ll get back into the habit of it all soon. I just ... have to keep going, like you said.”

Avi didn’t bother to hide his surprise, the kid looked way too young for either of those things to be true. But by his response, he got these types of questions a lot. That, at least, was amusing to Avi. “Well, maybe for Christmas this year, Santa will give you some stubble,” Avi said, smirking at his own joke, which in his opinion, was hilarious. “What are you studying, anyway?”