The Excuses Never End[Caleb]

[smoky]

Lydia stood alone on the stage in the concert hall, repeating the routine for the last time. If it didn't flow this time around, she was done with it, no matter what her instructor might say when she arrived back for a short summer vacation at home. This routine wasn't working out for her, though it might have had something to do with her mind being elsewhere. The ipod dock sat on the edge of the stage, as the piece finished quietly. She had it set to loop, so she stood ready for the piece when it repeated. She flowed through the beginning fine, her mind focused on the dance. The further in she got though, the less she knew the steps and the more her mind drifted to the other things on her plate. Summer vacation had just started, and things weren't going well between her and Caleb again.

She and the senior at Shifter Academy had started dating a year or so back, and they had a constant on again off again relationship. He spoke his mind and some of what he said really pissed her off, and then there were the things she did that got to him. She could be ridiculously overprotective of people she cared about, and she knew it bothered them. It didn't mean that she could stop that. They were in an on phase again, but it had been a short one and things between the panther shifter and the crocodile one were on edge again. Not to mention that she was sure more than once Caleb had caught her staring at one of her friends, Zero, from across campus. She and Caleb had plenty in common sure, but she couldn't get Zero out of her head recently. She shared plenty more with Zero then she did with Caleb. She had to keep reminding herself that she had a boyfriend, despite the fact that things were rocky again. She needed to put them both out of her mind. Why couldn't she just make it up!

She heard the door to the hall open, and she jumped. The music was off, and she had ended the routine as badly as all the ones that had taken place before it. She walked over to click the little player off before she looked up to see who had entered the hall. Well speak of the devil, wouldn't you know it? Caleb stood there, looking uncomfortable. The science guy didn't quite get her dancing, in the same way she didn't quite get his science. Why stare at the dead bodies of things when you could be moving your feet to music? They put up with each other, just another one of the things that had argued about before. His eyes told her enough, he needed to say something. She slipped off the stage, hopping down and landing on the balls of her feet quietly, the cat in her kicking in.

"Hey, you don't usually show up here. What's up?"

He wouldn't come here for good news, she didn't think. What in the world could he have to tell her?

[Caleb Hanson]

The Concert Hall. Ugh. Caleb avoided going into that place at all costs. He didn’t like the area, at all. There was always some stupid act going on. Loud music for practices or performances. He hated music. It was possible to hate music too, he just didn’t like it. There was no point to it, it was merely noise. Plus, the people who performed in there. Please. What kind of a career was prancing about on stage? Not much of one. He saw it as, go and have your ridiculous fun, twirling about. But, even if these students do make it, wherever they want to, it’s not going to last long. Woo, dancing, acting and singing. What was the length of that career? Thirty if you’re lucky? And then what? A has-been instructor? It just didn’t sound appealing and he obviously didn’t understand it, at all. So why was Caleb going to visit one of his personally most hated places on campus? To see Lydia of course.

He hated that she was in Dance. He would prefer her to do something more practical. But that was an ongoing fight and subject. One he wasn’t there to pick for today, but the setting would probably bring about the debate sooner or later. Anyways, they weren’t on the best terms at the moment. An on status, actually. But it wasn’t exactly stable. There were a few times he had been serious about them breaking up, and he figured Lydia had her share of moments as well. But then there were the breakups where he assumed they’d be back together. He wasn’t sure how she would take to the news he was going to bring to her. Because, he had gone against what she had wanted. She didn’t want him to visit home, the reason why he never caught on to. But he wanted to and he did. He had been gone for a few days but when he spoke to her on the phone or online for instance, he didn’t really mention that he was home… He said general things, like ‘I’m lying down’ or ‘I just got out of the shower’. See? He wasn’t lying, really.

As he entered the hall (slamming the door slightly) he was thankful the music wasn’t on. He also knew he could find her here and watched her form walk to shut off her music player as he made his way to the stage. He had a sour expression on his face, hating everything about the room. His eyebrows were furrowed and his arms were crossed. He looked as if he was forced to into a small enclosure with people he hated the most. No, that wasn’t the case. But he knew people he probably did hate the most visited this room frequently. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt with an outline of a white skeleton figure; it looked like a sketch really. Thankfully, he also had jeans on; it had been a while since the weather let him wear anything but shorts.

His dark eyes looked her over as she hopped off the stage, arms still crossed uncomfortable in the awkward room. “Nothing much…” he replied casually, with a look of dissatisfaction from the fact that she had to be here, of all places, practicing. He stepped beside her, leaning against the stage. “I just got back from visiting home- how much longer will you be here?” he asked strategically. Of course he spoke the first bit slightly quickly. He knew what he was doing though, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible. Of course she would hear what he said though and realize it. But she couldn’t get that mad at him… He had new reasons to be upset with her though, that (literal) Zero, he wouldn’t speak of just now. But he did let his expression lighten a bit, trying not to smirk as if to say, ‘You can’t blame me for visiting home’.

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[smoky]

There was a good reason for Lydia's paranoia, despite the fact that she knew it bothered Caleb. Here on the island, shape shifting was hardly anything out of the ordinary, but she knew from experience that back home, shifting was bizarre. Even she liked to forget about it for a time while she was there, just act like a normal teenage kid. That didn't last long though, with her big brother trying to harass her and her little devil of a sister making the normal seven or so attempts to kill her during a week long stay. When she was home though, she hung with her big brother and his friends most of the time, the guys she'd grown up with, some shifters, some not. She had dated more than one of them on her stays home, though that was before she had started dating Caleb. She didn't know if it was that way for him or the other students though, if they dated back home for a chance at being able to pretend they were normal, if only for a moment or two. And that was why she hated Caleb going home so much. Not that she told him that of course, but that was the real root to her problem. She was so protective of him on the island anyway, she didn't want to have to think about competition off the island. Still, it was a cause of another one of their many arguments. Sometimes she thought it was a miracle that she held on to the senior boy, when he could have gone after any other girl and likely gotten her. Well, if it wasn't for his attitude. He isn't even my normal type. There were also the days that she was certian that Caleb enjoyed fighting, for the sake of fighting.


She finally stopped to look at him, after she asked him her question. He stood there, obviously uncomfortable in the place. He stood there, shifting around on his feet with his arms crossed. He wore a black t-shirt with a sketch of something she didn't bother to look at and jeans. The opposite of her bright summer outfit today, a teal halter top and white shorts. Upset and depressed really. There was something there that warned her that he was looking for a fight today. It was the look in his eye, challenging though he hadn't answered her yet. The look turned to disdain as he finally answered, a simple nothing much seemed to suffice in his opinion. He was such a guy. Couldn't he at least give her a little more than two words to work off of? What came next though made her wish that she hadn't wish for anything else.

He had just gotten back from home! She hadn't been told that he was going, and now here he was flaunting it! She appreciated honesty, sure, but couldn't he have kept his mouth shut and kept her happy? Home?! Caleb, I asked you not to go! Then, his classic move when something upset her. Change the subject. She wanted to be pissed, but how could she after just thinking about Zero. Then something kicked in, her temper. Of course she had every right to be pissed! He had done something she had asked him not to. And there he stood, with his cocky "just try and say I did something wrong" expression!

For Pete's sake Caleb, can't you stick with one topic? I thought I asked you not to go home. And you told me you wouldn't. You've been giving me vague answers to where you were for the past frickin week, and you didn't ever take the time to mention that you were home?! You have zero right to be asking me how long I'll be here, when you can't even take the time to let me know that you aren't!