raised on it

       “Where did I put it–oh..hey I didn’t see you there, have you read this book…it’s uh…rather interesting?” Isabelle glanced down at the cover and quickly place it back on the book shelf. “So! What brings you around?”

“Look, if you could just start over quieter and slower, the odds of me hearing you this time around would increase by like one thousand.” 

“I said it’s amazing that in just a few months, I’ve gained a sister and a brother. . .in-law. And a nephew. Never thought that would happen to me.”

“I tried to get a job but it turns out they don’t have tea time any time of the day, that’s outrageous. In Paris they can have lunch any time they want for however long they want.”

“What kind of job are you looking for? I bet the cafe would be a great spot, that way you can have tea whenever you want.”

“—Oh, Pardon?” Alma inquired, only realising the figure behind her frame had been speaking to her, “I was off in the clouds.”

“I said you look familiar. . . and kind of lost.”

“Been and went.” She answered, ignoring the question of her stay on the island. His voice didn’t ring pleasantly in regards to the girl’s ring, at least not in the star-struck tone Scout found to be intimately related with her gag-reflex. “But let me guess: old boyfriend, just now realizing his undying love for the newly devoted, ready to prove his worth – or, less theatrical, an un-thrilled… sibling? Co-worker?” A smirk tugged her lips lopsided, eyes returning to her book only to realize, her attention was now back with him, waiting for an answer.

Trace nodded, finally taking a seat on one of the stools. His hands fiddled together while his legs bounced anxiously against his stool’s foot rest. He was normally quite a friendly man, but when his nerves took over there was no hope in distracting him. “Sibling, I guess.” It was still weird for Trace. As a teenager, he knew he had a sibling somewhere out in the world, but now that he had met her, everything was different. His cheek rested against his fist until he came to his senses, sitting upright and extending his hand for the other to shake. “Sorry, I’m Trace.”

Scout sat on the edge of her barstool, flipping through a battered copy of The Case Against Perfection. The white noise of daytime visitors proved strange comfort, considering actual engagement in conversation was opposite of what Scout sought from the burrow. She figured she’d presented such an inclination thoroughly, her slim figure turned from the mouth of the room, books far enough to her side that they seemed obstacles, but nonetheless, a body settled close. She regretted, almost instantly, wearing her City of Helios: Researching the Future!, shirt, gifted during orientation. The slogan had only been her acquaintance mere days, but already struck as nauseatingly trite – as well as, in some ironic form of karma, proved to be a grand conversation starter.

Entering the musty bar, Trace approached the counter in search for his sister. The sister he was still getting to know, the sister who was getting married, the sister who got what he didn’t. Trace shook the jealous thoughts from his mind. He was in no place to judge or despise Isabelle, neither of them knowing why they were separated in the first place. Trace rested his folded arms on the countertop, leaning over slightly to see if his sister was in the back. “Has a bartender been around yet? Preferably the short one wearing a big rock on her finger?” he asked more to the open air than anyone in particular, but when he looked to his right he noticed the other brunette with her nose in a book, instantly remorseful for interrupting her. “S-Sorry...uh,” he paused, getting a quick glance at her shirt. “Are you...new? Here, I mean.”

“I was going to tell you, when things were okay between us..”

“Well not talking with each other isn’t going to solve that.”

“Trace…well…a few months.”

“Were you ever going to tell me? Or is it just for your family?”

“Hey–sorry I haven’t been around. Lots of wedding planning has taken up my time and thoughts. What’s new with you? Anything exciting happen while I was stuck in the world of flowers and color schemes?”

“Wedding? Yours? Since when?”

“Like finding out their sister lives twenty feet away from them?” Courtney asked softly, toying with her fingertips in one hand. She opened and her cabin door and gestured for Trace to come in. 

“I wouldn’t call that a disaster...more like a dilemma.” Trace shrugged, bringing his hands out of his pockets as he entered the cabin.

TRACE WILKINS MOODBOARD #002