I'm not a little girl.

Easy on the nicknaming, some people find it offensive. Parker gave a small smile. I don’t, but lets keep it to a minimum anyways. C’mon and try to keep up, shorty. The brunette laughed, leading the way as told.

Grace sighed and followed the older man,jogging a bit to keep up. "Well, can I call you dimples? I think it suits you... that or curly." She beamed as she wound up at his side. "Besides, you just called me shorty."

And I'm a woman. I'm almost seventeen, fuck you very much. Legally an adult in a couple of states and most countries.

Well it’s simple. Make it your choice.

You gonna give me something worth breaking the rules for?

Running her hand down the back of her sister’s arm she mischievously asked. “Did I forget to check the shackles?.” Becca was doing her best to keep things light because life seemed to be anything but as of late.

Then don’t make yourself ‘tethered’ to it.

I'm not making myself tethered... it's not a choice. Duh.

What Julian doesn’t know won’t hurt him. I’ll have you back before he even notices you’re gone.

Hm... sounds good enough for me. Besides, I somehow doubt he'd yell at you! Grace grinned and stepped forward, practically bouncing over to the other man. It's not too far anyway, right?

I’m headed to the lake to fish, you’re welcome to join me.

That'd be great... but I'm not sure Jules will let me leave.

You’re a woman? You’re a woman?

And you call yourself a man? You've got to be shitting me.

"Obviously, then again they say the messiest people are the smartest." Jonah said, voice serious. "You should have seen Julian’s room when he was sixteen, god it was like the beginnings of a hoarder."  He shrugged his shoulders. "Lucky me." Jonah muttered. "Well, I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. Julian is expecting us to get along."

"Yeah, because we haven't got time to clean up. We're too busy being brilliant." Grace grinned. She was just joking, she knew she was smart but not exceptionally so. "Weren't you like six? Were you a neat little six year old?" Gracie crinkled her nose and smiled amusedly. "I can just see you being the opposite of him..." She paused, thinking about whether or not she should indulge the handsome man before her. She agreed, nodding, "Okay... what do you wanna know?"

Giving a sadden laced smile she moved some locks of Grace’s hair with her nose before she kissed her temple. Their parents had always been incredibly affectionate and the sisters kept the behavior with each other.  ”You’re so strong, and just as smart. Over the course of last year you’ve proved it everyday. I’m going to do my best to share as much as I can. It’s hard for me though. I’m always going to have this intrinsic need to protect you. I love you too…so much.  It’s while I hold on so tight.”  Standing up she reached out her hand to her sister. “Why don’t we head back to camp? You can tell me all about your new friend… Topher that guy I keep seeing you hang around.”

"Someone you have a lot in common with, which means he’s a… good friend? Puh-lease, Grace, let’s be real here. Who is he? Tell me! I’m supposed to be your best friend, come on! Give me something juicy!" Taking a hold of her friend’s arm, Charlie gave her a little shake. "Yeah, but he’s kind of cool with it now, I guess. Not like, proud, or anything, but I think he’s over it. Do you… do you really think we’d be that hooked by then?"

"Hey, at least he’s fucking trying, right? I never even had that shit and people got paid to pretend they were my fucking parents. I swear to god, half the foster parents in this country were fucking money hungry goddamn losers. "Yeah… Becca… How is she doing, anyway?" The two had been so close before and Fair missed her fair haired almost lover, but she kept her tone as casual as possible. "Me? I don’t fucking know. Because I got the mouth of a trucker, and I used to be a ‘sex trade worker’ whatever the fuck that means, because in general I didn’t fuck the patrons of the club. I never would because most of them were creepy as fuck." Waiting on another shot after Grace had taken hers, Fair grinned at hte younger girl. "YOu think so? Top model, pretty? Never thought of that, fuck I should have been a model instead of a goddamn stripper. Where were you to tell me that like fifteen years ago. Oh yeah, you were a fucking baby." Laughing at her own little joke, Fairground blinked, looking over at Grace. "Help? Seriously? Fuck, sure. Can you teach me to do all that math shit, too? Like multiply and shit? To be honest, the most I can do is like add and subtract shit."

I don’t know, he just… said stuff about how I tried to… you know. And that he’s better for Lukem I guess. I don’t remember word for word but that’s like… the gist. I mean- I wasn’t the nicest, but I was trying, you know. He just wouldn’t let me walk away and then I just sorta lost it. 

"No, come on, who is it? I mean, common, there is a guy isn’t there" Charlie teased her friend as they went, grinning over at her. As soon as the trees closed around them, Charlie pulled her pack from her pocket, pulling one out for each of them before handing one of them to her blond buddy. "Luke was pretty upset when he found out I was smoking, but he seems okay with it now. Which is good, because it does feel so good."

Grace snorted and shook her head, "No... there's no guy. Just someone I have a lot in common with... which means... he's just a good friend." She smiled, tacking on a playful shoulder shoulder punch. She took the cigarette from her friend and let the girl light it for her. "I bet... he's your big brother. I bet Jules and Becca would be mad at me, too. Shit's gonna suck when we run out."