American Gigolo

"You know, now that I think of it." She began, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "I'm pretty sure I used those exact words to describe you once or twice before." The blonde said, with a small laugh before the server returned to their table. Axel thanked them for the cocktail before pressing the cold glass to her neck in hopes of cooling down just a tad. "I'm a firm believer in listening to your gut." She told him, as she knew when she'd found herself in a less than great situation every time. "No, not a gold digger. A very common misconception. I've always wanted the glamorous life, but I never quite wanted it from someone else. Easier to take away when it's not yours." Axel looked down at their hands, shaking her head. "No, not really focused on that right." She said, her eyes meeting his once more. "So you can keep that smirk all to yourself." She said, waving her free pointer finger all over his features. Axel knew the man in front of her far too well, knowing he was probably reveling at the sound of her currently being available despite the fact that he, himself was not.

Casey couldn't remember a time where he wasn't hyper observant, which served him well to this day, so his eyes were firmly on Axel, fixed on not only eye contact but all of her movements, so his eyes trailed the path of her drink to her neck, "You're that hot, huh? What's your gut telling you right now?" She was flirting with him and his eyes narrowed only a bit and following it up with a coy smile, "I'm not smirking. I'm just here, enjoying you enjoying holding on to my hand."

"He's in that phase." Axel blew out air, knowing that Casey was surely in for it. She remembered how she was at sixteen very well and that hadn't been an easy age for anyone near her. "But hopefully it's easier sailing for you when it comes to him. I still can't believe that adorable little baby brother of yours is sixteen. Where is time going?" She asked him. The blonde twisted her lips as he spoke, and he wasn't wrong. "Yeah, there's some really great memories there as well." She nodded, playing up her reluctance to agree. "It was not always terrible." Axel laughed as he brought up her failed engagement with Patton. "Well, we came to realize that we loved the idea of one another more than we actually did each other. Now, he's a great guy. Incredible, really. But I think had we gone through it, we'd have been divorced by now. Actually, I know it." Axel dropped her head down for a moment. "Most would say I was a sucker for just not going through with it, do you know how loaded the Addams are?" She asked Casey. "But I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if that's why I got married. Believe it or not, the rumors aren't true. I actually do care about love."

"Still better than me at 16 so I'm not gonna complain too much." He knocked on the wooden table, confident that the worst of Auggie's actions didn't touch what he had to do. "Nah, he's a good kid honestly still sweet sometimes too." He shrugged, then listened to her recount what happened with her engagement. "Really? Wow that's kind of crazy, but it's good though that you listened to yourself." He chuckled, "Yeah you mentioned it once or twice back then. I can believe though, your vibe was ambitious but not really gold digger. But not so much love right now though? Since you de-centered men and everything?" He smirked and glanced down at their still joined hands.

"It's so terrible." Axel said with a shake of her head. "Wait, your little brother doesn't go by Auggie anymore? What is going on, now a days?" She asked, as perhaps that was the biggest indicator that life had truly continued to move on way past her leaving Rosewood. "Little Auggie is now August. Excuse me." And almost as if the server knew that she needed a cocktail in that moment, they arrived and Axel asked for a signature frozen cosmo. "Well, you and I have a bit more history than the rest of them, so they sort of knew they had to back off." She smiled over at him. "Okay, you get this round and I've got the next?" The blonde reached over for Casey's hand. "Uhm... it's complicated. I like to think that maybe I can miss it here but there's just so much history, Casey. That's not even just including our shit. I did a lot of not so great things here, I lied. I kissed people's boyfriends, I broke several hearts... some a couple of times over." Axel sighed, knowing what she'd done to Casey. He'd always wanted her, and she had wanted him also. That was never in question. But this, Rosewood and a quiet life wasn't what she'd wanted. "There's way too much baggage here for me."

"He's 16 so calling him Auggie is apparently embarrassing now." Casey rolled his eyes, "Yeah I'll take that deal." Casey looked at Axel's hand, not registering at first that she wanted his, but he did let her take his and listened to her. Casey's history in Rosewood was anything but easy, but even he found himself missing the town from time to time, even if he didn't have any real desire to move back, "Yeah maybe, but I'm sure you've got a lot of good memories here too. I wasn't gonna ask but what happened with the guy you were gonna marry. You seemed pretty eager to go through with that."

"Don't joke about that." Axel told him with a bright smile. "You don't know how serious some people can be about getting places on time. Being late is like one of my biggest fears now a days." She shook her head, happy to hear that he'd been more than okay. "Thank you." She said, welcoming his kiss to her cheek. If there was something Casey would always be, it would be charming. "That and the fact everyone over thirty five is obsessed with AI." Axel rolled her eyes, as she began to sit down opposite of him. "Do I?" She looked down at herself before looking back up at him. "You've known me to always clean up nicely, this should be no shock to you." She laughed. "Oh, didn't you hear? I told them to give us the night. I think we deserve."

"Man fuck AI - it's such bullshit. I have to stay on Auggie to make sure he's not using that shit to do all of his homework, sorry it's August now." He rolled his eyes while he took a sip of his beer, "I didn't say I was shocked, I was just making an observation. It's gracious of them to give us our time. Did you want something to drink? I'll buy." Casey let himself get a good look at Axel, "So you don't miss Rosewood at all? It's LA forever for you?"

"I wasn't too late, was I?" Axel asked as she'd found Casey sitting out in the wide open bar patio of Friends of Friends. One of the summer hang out spots in town given it's aforementioned back patio. "I'm so sorry, there's no story to it other than time just slipped me by." She said, as she sat down opposite of him. Sure, she wasn't egeriously late. Maybe ten minutes, but given her career of choice. Being on time was engrained in her being. "It's so nice back here, like how is it hotter now than when I saw you earlier?" Axel asked with a laugh. ( @saunderscasey )

"You were very late, I was actually just about to finish this beer and leave." Casey said though a small smile was on his face. He was content there even if Axel had not shown up, Casey liked being outside which was a more recent development but it was true, "You're fine, Axel." He told her while he stood and gave her a quick kiss on he cheek hello, "Climate change probably, but it's not too bad. You look hotter than when I saw you earlier too. Should I ask your suitors to form a line to your left or right?"

"I am, have been for the last two-ish years." Axel knew that Rosewood would never be able to provide her with the opportunities Hollywood would— not unless she wanted to comment on the messy lives of her peers. But there'd already been a blog that'd done that job and did it pretty damn well. "I know, I know." She agreed, shaking her body as if to shake off the thought of that. "Yeah, plus I'd love to hear from her. She is my best friend after all." The blonde said, it felt good to refer to Jess like that once again. "I believe it. We know Jess far too well, there's no way in hell that she'd accept any bullshit. Especially from a guy." Axel nodded. "Yes, I'm referring to Jade. Yes." She was happy to hear that his significant other wouldn't have an issue. Her relationship with his girlfriend had always been an interesting one. They had never quite disliked each other— she supposed she could only describe their relationship as indifferent. "Okay, tonight it is. Do you need any help with that?" She referred to the bags behind him.

"Seems like the perfect fit for you honestly. You should have been born a California girl all along, maybe." They were more or less in the same boat when it came to Jess. While he hadn't dropped the ball completely with her, he had allowed her maybe a little too much rope to separate herself with. Casey and Jade were solid as a rock, there was nothing about how they felt about one another that was left to assumption and as a result their relationship which had never been cookie cutter still wasn't that, and jealousy was almost never a factor between them as they both knew they were #1 in each other's lives when it came to a partner. "Oh nah, you've got your workout, I've got mine." He grinned while he picked up his equipment, "My number is the same so just shoot me a text telling me where to meet you and I'm there. I'm assuming you want to hit the showers beforehand." He told her, motioning towards her state of being.

"I'm happy to see you too." Axel grinned, thinking back to the times where the mere sight of his face would send her day into a tizzy. Where she would have already been off plotting a way to make his day terrible just for sharing the same space... but here they were, enjoying a nice summer day together. "And you should, it's not a bad thing what so ever." She shook her head. "Plus, you've got Erica to keep you up to date on what's going on over on that side of social media." Axel let out a soft sigh as he spoke of his younger sister's feelings towards her. There'd been a moment there where the man in front of her had been her everything. Love of her life was a bit of an understatement, but her aspirations had driven a wedge. One that'd caused them a lot of resentment for the other for a long time. She hated just how much time she'd lost hating him. "Well, for whatever it counts, I've never hated Erica." The look on Axel's face let him know she entirely agreed. "Yeah, she is." She nodded. "I haven't exactly spoken to her in a bit. I got too caught up in the LA of it all, I'm almost scared to. Like, I have no clue who she is today." Axel listened to him, as that was about everything she'd also known about Polo. "Likewise, that and he's kind of really hot." She said with a small laugh. "Yeah, I feel better after that." Axel rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. I know there's a leash and I know exactly who it belongs to."

"It counts for a lot. She was a kid back then, we all kind of were." Casey said, bygones were bygones between them as far as he was concerned. He didn't think they would suddenly be best friends, but he wouldn't be mad for having a nice rapport with his ex. "You're living in LA? That's awesome but yeah, you shouldn't be scared to. I think it's no time like the present. I can feel her trying to slowly fade into the background of everyone's lives but we can't let that happen. I'm sure she'd like hearing from you." He rolled his eyes, "Don't care so much about that part but she says he's good to her. That's all I really need." Casey couldn't help but smile very aware of who he was alluding to. "Oh you mean Jade? Yeah I wouldn't call it a leash but I know what you mean. She's not going to have a problem. So I guess I'll be seeing you tonight."

"Do you?" Axel asked, crossing her arms as she didn't believe him for a moment. "Uh huh." She scoffed, but the small semblance of a smile on her features let him know that she wasn't offended. "You were allowed the one, I hope you got it out of your system." She said, nodding. "No, of course you don't. You're the oldest twenty-something year old I happen to know." And she couldn't say she'd hated that about Casey. He just never cared about trends and such, he'd always been confident in doing whatever he wanted. Which was the utter antithesis to the people he'd surrounded himself back in their younger years. Hell, Troy had been a living breathing Supreme ad. Probably still was. "Yeah, for the most part." She had to agree with him. Sure, some people weren't going to get a pass from Axel without giving her the well deserved apologies she deserved but at this point, she was so far removed from the day to day that she was more than okay with a blank slate. "I'll happily accept neutral. I'm pretty sure she hated me back when we were together. Or at the very least, couldn't stand my guts." Axel's eyes went wide as he spoke of going to see Jessie. "No way, you've never met him before? He's... very southside. Which apparently has a whole new set of guys running things over there?" She held her hands up as she truly had nothing to do with anything on that side of Rosewood. She'd scratched and clawed her way out of that side, and it'd been for a reason. So that she wouldn't have to look back. "I might have. Or is the leash on really tight now a days?" Axel smirked, holding up her index finger as that'd be her one. He could handle it.

"All out. I'm happy to see you." And he meant it, Casey was older and far removed from the heartbreak, all of those feelings that were so intense back then were nowhere to be found, "I wear the badge with pride, too many people have said it too many times. I can't beat the allegations at this point." Casey's sister was small but fiercely protective of her brothers, so the second she found out the blonde broke Casey's heart, Erica was his number 1 shooter when it came to Axel. She only hated you so much because she liked you so much when we were together." He shrugged his shoulders, "Jess is secretive as fuck. Yeah I know broad strokes but nothing concrete. He's part of the new guard that's about as much as I knew too." Casey always knew Axel wanted out of where they'd come from, he didn't have the same sentiment so it surprised even him when he left, but life was unpredictable like that. Casey took Axel's jab with grace, "There's your one. Out of your system?" He parroted her words back to her. "How do you know there's a leash at all, Axel?"

"Ah, of course. Well, thank you to the wedding industrial complex. I hope you charged them an arm and a leg, they can afford it." Axel let the man in front of her know. She spoke from experience. The blonde was no stranger to said industrial complex, herself almost getting married not too long ago to Rosewood's crowned prince of all things spooky. Oh, the stories she could tell about her time in this town and the list of lovers she'd accumulated while here. There was the gorgeous quarterback off playing in the NFL, the boy scout who she'd last heard was getting married himself, the party boy who still meant the world to her, the aforementioned prince of all things spooky and well... Casey. The one who she'd always found herself going back to. Well, until he found himself happily with the woman he'd always found himself going back to. "Why do I feel like there was a jab in there, somewhere?" She asked him, with a playful roll of her eyes. "No, I don't. I actually took the time to decenter men from my life and honestly, I've never been happier. I took all of my energy and put it into making myself a force in pop culture news. Deuxmoi, who? PopCrave, whatever." Axel's eyes went wide as he mentioned who'd kept him in the know as to what she'd been up to? "Erica? And here I thought she couldn't stand my guts." She said with a small laugh. "Well, good and busy really suits you." She said, her green eyes meeting his stunning blue ones. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Oh fuck yeah, absolutely." Casey had intimate knowledge of exactly how much the clientele he courted back here could afford and he had never been one to leave money on the table - not when it meant so little to them and so much to his livelihood and that of his family, less these days but still not zero. Weddings and the like were more a means to an end so he could pursue the kind of photography that fulfilled him comfortably. "No jab, I promise… not on purpose anyway and if there was it was very very small. Nothing you couldn't take." He snorted with a fond smile on his face because, "No literally, I don't know what any of that shit is." He shrugged, "Time heals, I haven't asked but if I had to guess I'd say she's neutral at best. We'll see what she says next time I talk to her and let her know I ran into you. Thanks, you too." He didn't expect her next question but Casey was typically up for whatever and if she was offering to hang out that could go really bad or really good. "Tonight uh… I was going to stop by Jess's place, meet the boyfriend finally but nothing really besides that. Are you asking me to hang out, Axel?"

"That explains that, huh?" The blonde pointed at packed bags behind him. "What was the gig?" She asked, the smile on her face bright as she still couldn't believe he was right there. "Yeah, I do." Axel hadn't really gotten around to checking in on her best friend, but she didn't quite know how to go about it either. Whilst she would always have a ton of love for Jess, it wasn't like they'd been all that involved in the others life as of late. "Suitors is crazy, I don't have the time for that." Axel's life had been quite the whirlwind as of late. Given the fall of E! media division, she'd found herself without a job but she'd taken that L and ran with it to create her own content and platform. In big 2026, with some great lighting, production value and TikTok— anyone could have been the next it culture reporter and luckily she was doing great in the space she'd craved for herself. "This place thrives on surprising us. It's what keeps the street lights on." Axel laughed. "I'm doing really good. How about you?"

"That was engagement photos. I have a boudoir shoot this evening and a wedding on Saturday and then I head back home right after." It was strange being face to face with Axel, but not painful; like seeing her reminded him of a wound he had that caused him a lot of pain, but he couldn't access that pain anymore because the wound was so thoroughly healed. It also made it easier to access the good memories between them rather than the bad. "You don't have time to date? Wow so you must be busy then, I think the last I heard Erica mentioned you have a pretty big following on Tik Tok or something, right? I'm glad to hear you're doing good and seeing it for that matter. I'm good too, busy but that's never not been the case."

For as much as both she and Casey liked to pride themselves on not bullshitting it seemed like neither of them could bring themselves to get to the point of his visit. Because she knew he didn't just happen to be in town, sure his work excuse seemed legit, but he had too many responsibilities on his plate to waste time hanging around Rosewood for no reason. "Coming from the guy wearing jeans so high waisted i'm surprised you're not walking around with a wedgie? I take no offensive. My sister lets you walk out of the house looking like someone's grandpa?" Jess sighed and nodded. "It gets to a point where we gotta just let them learn from their own mistakes eventually though." She pursed her lips. "My brother wants to act like some badass south sider then he's gotta learn to get out of shit on his own." She took note of the expression on his face when she divulged more details of her life. "Don't give me that look. It's not like I do anything with that money. I paid off my mom's bills and got her some new things. I donate to the domestic abuse programs and homeless shelters around here, you know shit that I know would help people that were in my family's situation back then. I'm not trying to be some saint either. I just don't want to take advantage of that money. It feels wrong." Her dad had done a lot of damage with his power and money and despite no longer getting to claim moral superiority she still felt the need to keep a balance. So she would keep making up for the damage that her family name left behind until she saw something better come from it. "Too much baggage here. I don't think leaving was your worst idea. Most of the people I grew up with left this place too. But yeah, maybe i'll visit when i'm done with school..." She trailed off, hoping her didn't see through her half assed agreement. "Please. You think i'd be dating him if he wasn't treating me good?" She asked in amusement, rolling her eyes when she realized he was trying to be protective of her. Though it wasn't as off putting as it would have been years ago. By now it felt like he had really earned a spot as an older brother figure in her life. "You can come by my place and ask him yourself."

Casey couldn't help but look down at his jeans, and he was not wearing them too high, "Your sister mostly calls me daddy and prefers to take my clothes off no matter what I'm wearing, Jess." He didn't so much slip back into his old self as it was just part of who he was, and he maybe had less of a filter because he and Jade spoke in a similar way more often than not. "Auggie's Mr. Popular but yeah probably. He'll be alright, just growing pains and shit." Casey nodded slowly, "That's cool but it's a job that makes you a certain amount of money. It doesn't make you your dad if you rent a place that makes you happy. You sound like you're paying penance and hey I've been there I don't know, you're gonna do what you want anyway. It's just something to think about." Somehow, Casey didn't feel like her non committal 'I'll visit' held any real weight and he frowned slightly, "Yeah okay I'd like that." He took a deep breath knowing it could go one of two ways, and he hoped for the best but prepared for the worst, "So what's really up. If this life is too much for you, you can walk away. You know that right? I know why you do it, but people who need the money are gonna find it regardless of if you're around or not."

"Oh my god," Axel had done a double take to realize who it'd been she'd just talked to. She just couldn't believe it was Casey. "hi, hello." But there he was, right in the flesh. "What are you doing here?" She asked, before playfully rolling her eyes. "Please, if I doubled back for every guy who gave me that line, my house would be packed to the brim with suitors. I'm okay. Actually, I'm great on that front." The blonde shook her head, taking a moment to take in the sight of him. "It's so good to see you."

He didn't really know what kind of reception Casey would have from Axel, there was about a 50/50 chance that hearing from him would be received well or it wouldn't. Luckily, the odds had been in his favor, that or she was in shock, had it really been that long since he'd been back? "Hi, hello. Working a gig and visiting Jess, just checking in you know?" He looked her over with a small smile, "Suitors is crazy but I'm sure you are. It's good to see you too. Can't say I expected it, guess I forgot how much Rosewood can surprise a guy. How are you doing though, aside from turning down suitors?"

"Oh sweetheart," Axel began, patting at the guy's shoulder besides her. She'd been enjoying a jog that afternoon— the weather was nothing short of beautiful, to beautiful to spend locked away on some stair master at the gym. But she'd found her attention pulled away from the Slayyyter blaring from her airpods because of a guy who just so badly needed to let her know how beautiful she was. Which in itself was a kind gesture, but it was soon followed by how he had to take her dinner. That he was exactly what was missing from her life. "not in this lifetime. Or even the next, but you have yourself a good one." She said, before turning to the person who just jogged by. "The nerve of some of these guys."

Casey had been nearby packing up his camera equipment after shooting some engagement photos in the park and he saw every gory detail of what had just transpired between his ex and a very shameless, very tactless man. "You were eating that up." He called out from the short distance between them, not having to amplify his voice very much considering. "You sure you don't want to double back? I mean he's exactly what you're missing from your life."

"Oh, my evil doppelgänger? Have you tried her secretary? You might have to set up an appointment." Jess joked like she literally hadn't been staring down her phone a moment ago. "So you came to spy. Is that how you talk to women now? Might as well have told me I look like shit." She rolled her eyes but couldn't hold back a smirk from forming, knowing he could handle her sass. "You say like you two weren't doing the same kind of dumb shit at that age. Sounds like karma finally coming around. Tell him I said hi and that if needs to be bailed out one of these days to let me know. Apparently that's my thing now. I just had to do that with my brother the other day." She scoffed, nudging his arm with her elbow. "Nah. It was a gift from my boyfriend. I'm still living in a run down place in the south. And doing a couple of shifts at St. Elmo's part time. I don't really like to use the money from the business to splurge on myself. I'd rather put it into other things. But you, hey, you're doing your own thing. You got out of here, you're living out your dream, keeping your family comfortable. What's more successful than that?" She pursed her lips, thinking of a good reason why she wasn't communicating with him or her sister much lately other than not feeling like she had a place with them anymore. Because she knew he would just tell her that was stupid. "Just been busy. No news is better than bad news, isn't it?"

"Yeah, heavy on the evil. You know I haven't tried that yet." She was doing a very Jess (bad) job at ignoring the matter of her going ghost but Casey wasn't in a rush, he could humor her. "I think there's still time for me to tell you that you look like shit if you want." Casey smiled, "I'm say it like I know I did worse at that age so I'm very aware he needs someone to keep an eye on him." He shook his head, "What the fuck did he do that he had to be bailed out? Guess he's your karma too." Casey furrowed his eyebrows but didn't say anything. He didn't understand why she would live in anything described as 'run down' when she was making the kind of money she was. He didn't expect her to live in a penthouse or her dad's mansion but she was still working for that money regardless of the way, why wouldn't she use some of it at least to improve her quality of life. "Two jobs on top of law school. No wonder you're stressed." He shrugged, "I guess yeah it's more than what I wanted, minus the getting out but that was good too. We miss you though, you should come see us soon. Is this boyfriend being good to you?" Casey was sure Jade knew more about him than Casey himself did. Really he only had the broad strokes like a name and the fact that he was some big deal greaser, which was surprising but he didn't consider Jess dumb, "Do I get to meet him? Or is he intimidated because I was your first love?" Casey smirked, unable to help make the ironic joke considering she could barely stand to be around him half the time when they were kids.

If it wasn't one problem she had to resolve it was another. When she had taken up her dad's business she didn't expect to be as hands on with it as she was. She thought she would just tag along in name, make sure business was settled within the group, and that Jade or Casey would take over. They knew more about the business and all the workers would have been in better hands with them than being pushed off on someone else who was gonna exploit them with no regard for their wellbeing. But then the two of them left and she wasn't nearly selfish enough as others believed that she would try to stop them, or try to drag them back in when shit went down hill with Alves. They were able to get out, they made a new life, and they seemed happy. And she was happy for them so she chose to leave her communication to a minimum. They didn't need any reminders of how miserable things could still be around Rosewood.

"That's pretty spooky because you look like somebody too. Only she would answer my calls and texts , hmmm you know her?" He asked with an easy smile that was a result of having eyes on her and seeing that Jess was okay - grumpy as ever apparently, but okay, at least outwardly. "You look stressed, what's up? Your sister and I were starting to get worried." He told her while he knocked his knee against hers, "She wanted to come too but she stuck around to keep an eye on Auggie. He's 16 but he's kind of devious when he wants to be, I don't trust him not to throw a party and get arrested or something. He says hi too. Also, you think I'm a hot shot? Pretty sure the bracelet you're wearing clears the cost of all of my camera equipment. "So what's up, why the radio silence from you lately?"