#* colette

Colette Roberts - Ozdemir Halloween bloc party

Wait for me, until the waves drag you out. Wait for me, until the waves drag you out.  Wait for me, until the waves drag you out. Wait for me, until the waves drag you out.

It’s all she can hear, over and over again as she stands at the rocky edge being assaulted by the anger of the sea. It plows against her legs with each wave that comes further and further ashore and she feels it like ice in her bones. Wait for me.. Wait for me.. Growing up on the island, one would think that she’d have long since overcome her fear of deep water, but the unknown darkness it held within it had constantly struck terror in her chest. Another wave strikes and her footing slips beneath the water, coughing and spluttering as the salt enters her lungs and she holds fast to the place she stands - waiting. Waiting for someone who never intends to arrive. 

Colette Roberts - Style

She was staring and she knew she was staring but it’d been so long since she’d seen him that Colette wasn’t entirely sure if she was seeing things right. It wouldn’t have been the first time she’d been mistaken in recognizing a familiar face, but much like herself in some instances, Carlos had seemed to disappear from the small town in Panama over night. “Carlos?” The last thing she expected was to see anyone she knew outside of the island here of all places which meant... did he know? About this place? About these people? “Sorry, I’m staring.. I know.. habit and all that but.. You’re here, on.. this island.”

There were fewer things that Colette had come to find more amusing than watching Eros be ravenously hit on. Over the few years that she’d known him, something about the attention he didn’t want seemed to put a bit of a damper on his usually spitfire mood, “I thought she was going to jump you right there and then,” Colette muttered with a quip of laughter beneath her tone, “Honestly, I didn’t think she had it in her after her husband went missing like, twenty years ago but.. maybe she’s still got a few years left in her.” Her shoulder came to bump gently against his side, her level of comfort around him unquestionable after so long. “Have you seen Royce anywhere? He made me promise him a dance, as if he thought I’d ever leave him out.”

Looking for someone at a party attended by what she was almost certain was the entire island was almost as difficult as she remembered it being. Though she’d spent her time away from Grand Manan skipping from one place to another, it wasn’t exactly of the norm, for her to be at a masquerade. Once she’d let Eros off the hook to go battle his way through the soccer moms and widows - a sentiment that became more amusing the more she thought about it, Colette set herself upon the task of really looking for Royce. It felt like hours since she’d seen him, and some part of her didn’t like that, in the least. The murmurs of a panic slipped beneath her fingertips as she flexed them against the grand bannister and overlooked the crowd - searching for that familiarity. There. She looked up, spotting him across the room on the second floor, looking almost directly at her. It took only a few moments for her to join him, her arm slipping into the crook of his elbow almost instinctively, “There you are, you know how hard it is to find someone in this place? I feel like I’ve been looking all night.” Leaning into the bannister, she looked down at the dancefloor below and smiled, “So, how are you finding the island so far?”

The main ballroom itself was enough to hold her attention for a few hours, mingling with long missed faces and finding herself introduced to a whole plethora of people she’d never seen. Colette had forgotten how much she missed the extravagant displays the island could offer, but in truth, she knew that there was far more to behold beyond the cellars of the mansion. Long, dank hallways lit with torches and flickers of invisible ink; shining in the heat of the flames brought her to the edge of the property, the hall rising from the depths to open into a grove. Brightly lit with lanterns and the small firepit, those not quite up for the occasion could find themselves better suited here. The drink in her hand was a little warm, the taste of vodka a little more prevalent than she might have liked, and yet, she drank the rest of it down in two large gulps, “Don’t hold out on me!” She called out, wiping her hand across her lesser lip, catching on the mask now slightly skewed on her face, “You’re falling behind and we’re gonna’ lose if you don’t skull that right now, Beau.”

Returning to the island after so long felt like some kind of a blur, the decision itself a now faded memory that didn’t seem to stick all too well, though that by no means meant she wasn’t happy to be back. It felt like home, even if the center of such a universe for her was a cold, desolate place. Home and family, had always been two very different things, and the stone that fell heavily into the pit of her stomach upon seeing her sister was one she’d rather break teeth on. Was it worth the argument if Toni was left in the dark? Then again, for all she knew, the eldest Roberts probably already knew. “Before you get into the lecture or.. whatever else,” a brow rose to it’s point and she sighed, casting hues back across the crowd - to a group of friends who’d thought to make the most of the night, “I thought I’d let you know that I’m not here for you.” A decision she’d made a long time ago, severing her ties to the people who shared little more than blood with her. “If we could continue on like we’ve never met beyond this, being back should be easy.”