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“Yeah I’ve heard that and I mean I get it, they’re pretty nice, and pretty comfy. I always hated the tie though, mostly cause my neck just feel irritated. I’m a real open buttons, showing off the chest kind of guy, yanno?” Which had really become something since he had a chest to show off and he felt like everyone just needed to see it because he was so amazed by it. “Amen to that. I don’t like to be a complainer but sometimes complaints are totally warranted. Well, Nova Lisbon, I’m Austin Rapp,” he told her with a wide grin and held out his hand for her to shake. “Your sister Tessa works at Magnolia’s right? She never gives me a judgemental look whenever I go to the counter for my like fifth piece of vegan chocolate cake.” He led them towards what he hoped was the bar, the one benefit of any Rosewood event was always how easy it was to get alcohol. “So in the interest of not bitching, what if we say..three good things that happened to us in high school? Like there’s gotta be three at least, right?”

She could feel a laugh getting stuck in her throat as she reached out to loosen his tie. “You could always just take it off, you know? I don’t think you’re going to get like a card for dress code or anything.” Her head tilted to the side, “thanks for supporting me in my complaining, Austin. You’re a real trooper.” She took his hand, linking their fingers as they walked toward the bar. “Yeah,” the blonde laughed, “That’s Tessa for you. She doesn’t have a judgemental bone in her body. She’s a real sweetheart, probably one of the most kindhearted people I know.” Her mind swam through her memories of high school, “can we take a shot for each one? I feel like getting wasted is either going to make me thrilled to be here or I’m going to go back to bitching - but at least it might be bearable.”

“Havoc? Looks like I found the right Lisbon,” she smirked. “Truly, the horror. You’d think I kicked a puppy with the way my mom gets when I don’t want to wear all the frilly shit she gives me. Like, this ain’t 1888, ma’am.” With a flourish of her hand she fluffed at her bob, accepting the compliment with a grin. As much as she didn’t care what anyone thought about the way she looked, she wasn’t going to turn down genuinely kind words. “Oh, yeah, for sure. I don’t think anything gets me as fired up as people trying to box people in. Like, why can’t I wear red lipstick and also prefer wearing pants and sneakers? Why can’t you like drawing pretty flowers and also… like… be a huge football fan? I mean, that’s an example obviously, but that’s what makes us so amazing, right? We can be anything we want, and we should be able to freely.” Realising she’d gone on a bit of a rant Serena exhaled and took a marker, “Hell yeah. I mean, I’m no artist, but I’ll give it a go.”

She gave a slight bow, “Nova at your service.” She nodded, listening as the other spoke. “I bet you could rock some frilly shit - especially if you cut off all of the frills. But trust me, my mom was almost the same way. Thinking that her homemade dresses were a God sent gift - even though I swear half of them looked like potato sacks.” She rolled her eyes, having a few very fond memories of cutting the dresses shorter when she’d get to school.” Nova grinned, her eyes seeming to light up. “Red lipstick and jeans is a whole look that needs to be respected,” and she lets out a laugh, “it was a good example, though not entirely accurate. I might have to try watching football now though.” But she cringed at the thought. “You’re inspiring, you know that?” The smile reappeared on her face, “I’d say we could get into some real trouble, but I’m not even sure where to begin. It’s not like we’re students anymore.”

“Shit, okay, you’re serious serious.” Jarrah shrugged a little, not entirely sure of how to react to that, it was a party after all. In his case, it wasn’t that deep. He’d been a normal kid for most of high school and then when he joined the band, he was able to just take his exams during summer to get that diploma for his parents. But he could say he enjoyed Rosewood in a lot of ways, life was way easier when he was walking these halls. “I’m okay, high school wasn’t bad to me. And I was only here for freshman and sophomore year, really. My career took off and I just dropped school to go touring and shit. Why are you not enjoying yourself, did you attend Rosewood?”

She sighed, “I shouldn’t be - it’s just... it’s weird to be standing here.” She seemed to cool off rather quickly, her frustration simmering. The one event that turned her sour seemed so long ago - yet it was still right there. Up until that point things hadn’t been all that bad for her, if she didn’t count up all the times her heart felt like it shattered. “Do you ever wish you could go back and do it over? Do you ever wish you had stayed?” Nova shook her head. “I’m a St. Agnes original. I guess I just - I fucked up a lot in high school.” She doesn’t explain any further, just leaves the statement hanging in the air.

“Well what words do people usually use to describe you, then?” He chuckled, “No, I just take me as some sort of heathen that would kiss somebody on the first date.” He winked at her in response, “So you’re saying that if we had sex you would just fall in love with me, is that it?” He listened to her and he had to admit, she was a little odd, but it wasn’t a bad thing. “Wow, you really gave this some thought huh? You don’t like it here?” Casey fixed Nova a look, he wasn’t interested in anyone’s pity, hell it wasn’t like he wasn’t doing the same thing even before his folks died. “Thanks, I’m pretty lucky to have them too though.”

“You know, annoying, lovesick, sometimes nice comes out - but I don’t think they really mean that,” though her tone was playful. “You can’t corrupt me, Casey. I’ll never forgive myself,” the thought made her laugh, knowing she was corrupted long ago. A shrug rolled off of her shoulders. “I might be saying that, I might fall in love with you before that point. Who really knows?” Nova studied him again, giving a shake of her head as he questioned her. “It’s not my favorite place in the world, I don’t have too many good memories here - let’s just say that. I’d rather free myself of it while I can.” She took his look in stride, running her thumb absentmindedly over his arm. “I feel like siblings are always the people you can count on no matter how shitty the world turns.”

“I was just thinking the same idea,” Austin admitted as he messed around with the tie, pretty much hating the idea of putting this uniform on again. It wasn’t until Ravenwood that he realized how much of himself he felt like he was suppressing when he was in high school or on the lacrosse team, or even early on when he had started transitioning and despite being an athlete, it hadn’t shielded him from the bullying and shitty comments. “I think it was put together by people who were wildly popular in their day or they see it as a way to fuck around with everyone else.” Austin turned to her for a moment and offered a soft smile, sure they had never been in school at the same time but he could feel the nervousness radiating off her. “You look nice though, is that a St. Agnes uniform? Better question, do you want to get a drink?”

Her eyebrows rose as he spoke, eyeing him. He seemed harmless enough, and was definitely not someone she should be directing her mood at. The tension in her body seemed to release as he kept speaking, “I definitely think it’s to fuck with everybody. That’s all this town seems to be about half of the time.” She doesn’t realize how bitter she is until the words are coming out of her mouth. Nova returned his smile, though on her end it’s a rather meek one. Glancing down at her uniform again she gives a nod. “Worst outfit I’ve ever worn,” she said with a laugh. “But thank you, you look nice as well. Always was a bit envious of your uniforms.” She glanced back up at him, “a drink sounds way better than standing here bitching all night.” Straightening herself up she shot another smile his way, “I’m Nova by the way... uh.. Lisbon.”

“Ah, so you don’t know who our hosts are?” He asked with a small chuckle. Jarrah shook his head and then shrugged as he took a bite of food from the place he’d been holding onto for the past five minutes. “They’re what people consider high school royalty. You know, popular, money, not a worry in the world. Of course they liked high school.”

Her jaw is clenched so tightly that she can feel the ache in it once she relaxes. “At this point I’d prefer not to, I have a few choice words for them and none of them are very nice.” There’s a conscious attempt to curb her anger, “and I was a myth in high school - but I don’t want to walk around reliving it. I have a feeling a majority of everyone here is doing pretty well for themselves anyway outside of these walls. Our lovely hosts included,” Nova gave the smallest of smiles. “Are you at least enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah? You’re too kind.” Casey joked and gave her a small smile followed by a kiss on the cheek. He wasn’t trying to be a creep but he couldn’t turn off the way he could read women and tweaked himself to cater to them, after so many years as an escort he couldn’t really turn it off “I mean I guess some people are better at separating sex from feelings.” He shook his head, “I don’t know…what do you dream of then? Since you’re the expert.” He looked at her hand on his arm then back up at her, “Yeah, ever since I was thirteen. Our parents died in an accident, I didn’t want us to get separated. On paper our grandparents were our guardians, but they could only do so much, they depend on  me. And you don’t have to feel sorry for me or anything. So don’t even think about it.”

Nova laughed, “kind is not usually a word people use to describe me.” Though the sudden contact of his lips on her cheek had her face heating up again, and she closed her eyes, wishing the moment would last just a little bit longer. “You must take me for some sort of heathen who would kiss somebody on the first date, but you might be right,” she teased. “I envy anyone who can keep that separation. It all just bleeds together for me.” Nova let out a hum, “of getting everything that means something out of my parents house. I want to learn how to be okay by myself, to feel free of this hell hole, but without leaving everyone behind. And there’s no real easy way to do that. And I want to get a dog, that’s probably the easiest one to achieve.” She listened to him intently, a frown forming on her face. “I-” she cut herself off, giving him a small smile and a nod. “It’s an awful thing, but if it’s brought you to be the person you are today,” she shook her head, trailing off. “They’re lucky to have a man like you in their lives.”

“All the best people came from this room, true,” she came back to the front of the room to admire Nova’s artwork, snorting at the memory of her mom finding out about her mid-class makeover. “Yeah, they called her. She lost her shit. All her hopes and dreams of me being a high society lady resided in my high pony, apparently. I don’t think there was any business for them to be in though. I’ve always been vocal about cutting it off because I was sick of my femininity being dictated to me. I like your flowers.”

“That statement is way too true.” A smirk appeared as she listened to the memory, “man, I should have been taking lessons from you. Maybe I could have caused even more havoc in my household. Not high society?” Nova pulled her best fake shocked expression, “the horror.” But it quickly faded to a smile, “I like your hair how it is now, anyway. Can’t really imagine you with a high pony, I think this suits you best. Are you still as vocal about it? Thank you, I figured the so-called troubled kids could have something pretty to look at. Or destroy, whatever best suits their mood.” She held out a marker, “wanna help?”

“Try to not sound as judgemental about it next time. I don’t know, not just to have something to do. I’m raising my siblings, I always have something to do but I don’t know, I get lonely I guess.” He shrugged, “Casual sex happens, I’m not hung up about shit like that.” He smiled, “I look forward to you trying.” He didn’t think he was poetic about it, but he wasn’t one to give himself much credit, “A museum? Yeah, I doubt I ever take a picture of anything that makes it into a museum. I don’t know, I’m still learning. It would be kind of cool to be a photojournalist maybe but I don’t know, I try to be a realist about things. My favorite picture, that’s hard I’ll show you one of my favorites, sound good?” He took his phone out of her hands and flipped through the gallery, and decided on one of his family at the lake. His youngest on the shoulders of the second oldest, the third oldest brother on a rope swing just about to let go, and his sister facing the lens, no doubt telling Casey to put the camera down and come into the water, “That’s my family. It was take 2 summers ago, it was magic hour, I like how this turned out.”

She held her hands up in mock defense, “my apologies,” she’s about to make a joke but stops - her face dropping as he explains further. As he admits he gets lonely there’s an ache that spreads through her chest. “Well, when I’m around you don’t have to feel lonely.” Nova let out the smallest of laughs, “I don’t know how people do casual things, catching feelings is way too dangerous.” Her eyebrows raised, “Now I feel like you have to have a photo end up in a museum - just because you doubted yourself. A realist, huh? My God, you sound exactly like Marina.” She shook her head, “You should dream a little more, or at least try to - especially right now. Nothing is set in stone, plus it’s fun to think of where you could go. Even if it’s not always the most realistic thing.” She nodded, letting her gaze rest on his face while he searched through his phone. Only glancing down when he starts speaking. “You take care of them?” Nova placed her hand against his forearm. “You’ve got a really cute family, Casey. There’s a lot of love in that picture.”

Casey could have lied but decided not to, not really seeing a point in it, “Not usually I guess, but I do have a profile, mostly when I just want someone to be with for the night. It’s whatever you know? Casual.” He shrugged, “I don’t know,  I’m just Casey I guess. I didn’t run with any particular crowd in school or anything.” He smiled a little, and blushed,  though he wasn’t going to call attention to it, “Thanks. Oh this one. This one is from when I went to the Northside not too long after the SoWood project went on hiatus. It was kind of this amazing impromptu block party around the building, felt like a win over gentrification and I just started taking pictures using the building in the background. I like how it kind of looms but they’re triumphing over it.”

Casual - the word barely registers in her brain at first, bouncing around like a windows screensaver before it clicks. “You just... sleep with somebody just to have something to do?” She gave a nod, “well then, just Casey. I guess I really do have a challenge on my hands to figure out more about you.” Nova’s eyes continued to scan over the picture, “it’s beautiful, and you’re so poetic about it. Have you ever thought about working for a newspaper or a magazine or something? Maybe getting into a museum?” She leaned her head to look at him, “I mean like, really, you could go somewhere with this if you wanted to.” She held the phone out to him, “Show me your favorite picture.”

“Well, hello old friend,” Serena sauntered into the detention room, wandering the rows until she came to her usual seat. Second row from the back, because the back was reserved for the real detention royalty like Bender and that Australian guy who fought a bear one time, Patrick or whatever. “Got thrown in here for cutting my hair off in the bathroom, fun fact. The way they were acting you’d think I went full Britney with the clippers, and even then, given Britney’s history you’d think they’d start by asking if I was okay rather than throwing my ass into detention.”

Nova let out a laugh, taking a pause from the drawing of flowers that she was littering the whiteboard with. “Detention was the only good part of high school anyway,” she turned. “Cutting your hair off is a good one, did they write home about it? And besides, would you have really wanted them that far into your business anyway?”

“Well you found me, don’t break my heart or anything.” Casey’s lips curled up into a smile as Nova brushed her fingertips over his cheek then he finished up his beer,  he had no idea this would be how he spent the rest of his day, but honestly after that talk with Erica he deserved it. “You’ve got a deal.” He raised an eyebrow, “Hold on, you’re telling me you don’t do dating apps then? You just do it the old fashioned way and pick guys up at restaurant bars? You know between you and me I’m not all that artsy. Do you want to see some of my photos?” Casey asked and was already getting up and moving his chair to sit next to Nova rather than across from her, then he pulled out his phone and accessed his cloud where he kept digital copies of all of his photos, “Knock yourself out.” He told her, handing Nova the phone while he put an arm around her.

Nova rolled her eyes in the most dramatic way possible, “I hope I’m not a cruel enough person to crush somebodies heart on the first date.” Nova laughed, “I may have rebelled against my parents, but dating apps are based on looks and how witty you can be in a bio - or how good you are at stealing someone else’s. I’d much rather meet someone and be able to know them right off the bat. Are you a dating app guy? I might have to take points off if you are.” She mimicked his eyebrow raise, eyeing him in disbelief, “not artsy? I’m surprised that you’d say that. What would you describe yourself as then?” Having had no time to protest - as if she would have - she took the phone from him, becoming engrossed in his photos. “Jesus, Casey you’re really talented.” She leaned back against him slightly, stopping her scrolling and pointing to a photo. “What’s this one from?”

“I’m sorry, I’m being a lot, I know. I’m gonna try to calm down, you’re just really…” He looked her over again, “You’re gorgeous and I can’t help but flirt with you, but  I don’t blush so you probably want to think of something else.” He nodded, “Yeah, I do actually, some of my favorite pictures came from just doing that. I want to do this photo series where I go to every state and take photos that capture the reality of that state.” He shrugged, “All weddings are kind of drama. People put a lot of pressure on it so I get it, but yeah.” Casey nodded at her, “That’s pretty admirable. He laughed, "Thanks for keeping that between us. So be honest with me. If you would have come across my Tinder profile would you have swiped right?”

Nova shook her head, “don’t be, it’s nice. It’s hard to find people like you around here,” she moved to the edge of her seat, leaning in ever so slightly as she brushed her fingertips across his cheek. Her head tilted to the side, “a challenge,” her lips curled into a smile before she dropped her hands to her lap again. “That sounds amazing! Whenever you decide to go cross country I could put you together a really good road trip playlist. But I expect to see the pictures once you’re back.” She smirked, pretending to think about his question for a good minute or so. “If I had a Tinder, which I don’t, I most definitely would have swiped right on the wildly good looking, artsy photography guy. Especially one who claims he has a wild side.” Nova leaned in again, “even if he’s annoyingly charming and he takes all my lines.” 

Tessa hoped Scott wouldn’t mind her talking to her sisters about what Ace had done to him, since it was clearly traumatic and they’d never tell anyone outside of their family anyway. “No, it was a greaser thing. I doubt it was a fair fight either, since he wouldn’t have been hurt like he is if it was. He’s never come home with more than a busted lip.” Not that she condoned fighting, but she’d rather he had the chance to fight back than be set upon by Ace and his goons. Nor did she condone hurting her sisters, which seemed to be exactly what she was doing by bringing up the idea. Tessa stroked a gentle hand over Nova’s hair, bending down to try and catch her eye, “Hey, no, I’m fine. They’re bad people, but their issue is with Scott, not me. Even the greasers have lines they don’t cross, and those guys are a minority.” Truthfully that might have been a lie, but she hoped it wasn’t. She’d only ever seen Ace Claymore from a distance and that was scary enough. “If you need me, I stay,” she shrugged as if it were that simple. “I need you too, you know. And if it wouldn’t drive Marina up the wall I’d just sneak Scott in here so I can have my cake and eat it too.”

Her arms folded over her chest, letting out the breath that she didn’t realize she’d been holding in. Of course, it was a greaser thing - wouldn’t trouble always lead back to that? With her mouth set in a thin line Nova willed herself not to bat Tessa’s hand away, meeting her gaze for a split second before looking away again. “There’s always an exception to the rule, and I don’t want you to be that exception. If Scott cares about you as much as he says he does then he can’t be the only one who knows it. Come on Tessa, it’s in like every cliche movie out there - you go after the main characters significant other to get back at them.” She finally met her sister’s gaze again, “I just worry about you.” And this time it wasn’t her usual reasons of being concerned about her older sister relapsing. I need you too, you know - those words felt like a sucker punch to the gut, and the younger Lisbon had to laugh. “What do you need me for?” Though when the words were out of her mouth she almost wished she could suck them back in, giving a shake of her head. “Not important.” She grabbed one of Tessa’s hands with her own, trying to dispel the jumble of thoughts that were running through her mind. “Anyway, driving Marina up the wall would be fun. I think you might have to have Scott move in here. If you guys leave, who’s gonna take all my Instagram pictures?”

“Brave of you to be so willing to experience all of me. What happens once you’ve made your final decision anyway?” Casey smiled, “I’m down with it. I get to spend a couple of hours looking at a face like yours, I don’t see anything to object to. Thank you, what are you trying to make me blush now?” He nodded, “Yeah, since high school. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I like taking candid pictures over portraits, but most of the business I get is for things like portraits, I’m getting more wedding gigs now, those can get interesting. Peer counseling sounds cool, are you a psych major or something? I don’t know about that. No offense to your sisters, but I think you’re pretty interesting.” 

She took another drink, “What can I say? I’m a brave person. I can’t spoil my secrets.” Though in all honesty she wasn’t really sure what she’d do when she made a final decision - she’d never really gotten that far with many people. “Then a second date it is. But I’m gonna need you to turn the charm down from a ten to about a two, otherwise my face is going to be on fire by the time we’re done here,” she teased. “I have to get back at you somehow, and making you blush just might be the way.” It was so hard for her to not fall back into old habits, taking her time with people was not her usual and she could practically feel herself getting antsy. “Do you ever just walk around taking pictures of people? I feel like you could do that people watching thing where you make up stories about them - but base it on the photo you take. Are you going to drama filled weddings?” She shook her head, “I haven’t really made up my mind on what I’m majoring in, exactly. I just wanted to help people.” Her eyes practically light up at his comment. “Thank you, Casey. I promise I won’t tell them you said that.”