the results of cabin fever (open//Carmen)

[Caelan Leavitt]

Caelan was bored. Bored half out of his mind, in fact. He’d been sitting at home playing Spyro on his Playstation, but that was only entertaining for so many hours… Especially when He was stuck on the fourth boss and couldn’t seem to defeat him… Which was just slightly irritating. In any case, he was starting to get restless, and decided that it would be a good idea to get out of the house for a while. For a little while, he considered calling Justin and asking him if he wanted to go along, but he was at work right now, and on top of that he’d probably say no in the first place even if he wasn’t busy. Caelan sighed at that thought, but didn’t stop getting ready to leave the house. He had been in his pajamas all day, but he didn’t particularly feel like changing out of them. So, he left his light grey sweatpants on, changing only his shirt. He put on a bright yellow tee shirt with a smilie face on the front, then pulled a white hoodie sweatshirt over his head (which had blue writing on the front that said “Old Navy”). It wasn’t extremely warm, but it would be enough for his trip from the house to the car and from the car to the… Wherever he was going.

Speaking of which, where was he going? Caelan thought about it a bit as he pulled his white tennis shoes on. It was midday, so there was little point in going to a bar… He didn’t particularly feel like going there anyway. What about the library? No, too quiet… He wanted to go someplace with people. The rec center? Nah. He didn’t feel like expending that much energy at the moment. What did that leave? Maybe he could go shopping a little bit. The mall sounded like a good idea. A little wandering around, stop to get a snack, maybe hit the cinema along the way. That hadn’t been too hard to figure out. The mall might be busy today since it was Saturday, but it would still be a fun place to visit nonetheless. Now, to find the car keys… That alone took Caelan about ten minutes. Apparently he’d left them on top of the small pile of clothes in the laundry room. It didn’t really make sense, but oh well.

He had the keys, he had reasonably warm clothes, and he had the car. It was time to get going. Caelan ran out to the car, shivering in the cold, and yanked open the door. He got inside and started the engine, putting the heat on full blast. It was blowing cold air for now, but it would warm up soon enough, so he didn’t really mind. The drive to the mall didn’t take too long; only about fifteen minutes, and by that time the car was roasting thanks to the heat being on full the whole time. He really would have preferred to step straight from the car to the inside of the mall, but that didn’t seem to be an option. Not only that, but the only parking spot he could find (or the closest one in any case) was almost all the way on the other side of the lot. Cursing every now and then and complaining the whole way, Caelan jumped out of his car and ran towards the mall entrance, cursing all the more as he reached the doors and accidentally tried a locked one. There were more right next to it, of course, but that didn’t stop it from being irritating.

The lingering cold didn’t last long once he got inside. In the mall, it was warm and smelled like food (he’d entered through the entrance nearest the food court). Caelan debated on whether he should grab some food now or not, but eventually decided against it. He could get something to eat a little later when he was really hungry. For now… It was off to the arcade for him. He wasn’t generally very good at arcade games, but Caelan enjoyed playing them regardless. The only one he was really good at was Dance Dance Revolution. He could beat almost anyone at that game. It was a useless skill, of course, but it was fun, so what did he care? In any case, he didn’t feel like playing right now. It required just a little more energy than he really had in him at the moment. So he headed over to the snowboarding game instead and stuck a couple quarters in, sliding down the virtual hill next to the challenger who’d been there before. He lost, of course, but he stuck around to see the outcome of the next match anyway. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to go at the moment.

[Carmen. Downs.]

Carmen ran through the parking lot and into the mall. It was a bit chilly and she didn't need to end up sick again. She hated being sick more than anything. It always made you feel all nasty and icky. She had always been sick as a child and didn't want it to be like that forever. Throughout being a teen she usually only got colds or something minor like that. Otherwise she was clean and healthy. At the moment she didn't know why she was at the mall because it seemed pointless to her to go there without a friend anymore. You got weird looks for being there alone unless you looked like a normal person and just hadn't had anyone to come with at the time or it was just a spur of the moment thing. Carmen just looked totally out of place. It wasn't natural to have pink hair. It wasn't natural to dress the way she did. Hell, it wasn't natural to be her. It just wasn't and she couldn't change that. All through her life she had tried to fit in at different times and she had always failed. Maybe it was time that she loosened up and just let people accept her for her. Maybe, just maybe, it was really going to happen this time. Everyone was going to be happy with her and she wouldn't have to deal with anyone looking at her oddly again. Oh yeah, that'd be the day. That would be the day when world hunger would end and world peace would truly begin. Not that fake shit they try to place in front of you to cover up the bad. She hated it when people did that. She was still walking aimlessly through the mall and finally decided to stop in the arcade. They had Dance Dance Revolution there, and they had a couple other games that she enjoyed. Maybe it was time she had some fun. Real fun.

Walking into the arcade she noticed a few people in there, but no one really looked too interesting. Of course she didn't know anyone either. Slowly walking towards the Dance Dance Revolution machine she took out some quarters and placed them in the coin slot. No one else seemed interested in playing so she stepped on and did single mode. She quickly grew bored of it being she had the PlayStation version at home. Carmen stepped down and walked around the arcade glancing here and there at people. A few people smiled back when she did, but the most of them just glared. It sent chills down her spine when they did this because it made her feel like a total outcast. It wasn't like she didnt feel that already, but oh well it just made it worse. She stopped and watched two people on a snowboarding game. One person looked familiar. Vaguely familiar.

[[ooc;;; sorry it sucks majorly. next one'll be better though. i just suck at the first post. =X]]

[Caelan Leavitt]

Post coming soon.

[Caelan Leavitt]

For a few minutes, Caelan stayed near the snowboarding game, watching the two new players race down the grainy virtual slope and land jumps that would have destroyed any real human being’s limbs… Or so it seemed to Caelan. He’d only been snow-boarding once, and that was with Oz when they’d gone on vacation in Canada. Oz was fairly good at it, but Caelan… Not so much. He’d managed to get on the ski lift after the second try, but getting him to go down the slope was another story entirely. It seemed so incredibly steep, he couldn’t bring himself to start sliding down the ice out of control. He’d hit the ski-rental hut at the bottom, surely. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to stop once he got going again. The only thing that would stop his momentum would be an immovable object in his way. Caelan had no death wish. Still, Oz helped him get over his fear somewhat, and they eventually went down the slope together. Caelan rode stiff-kneed, and barely held his balance on the way down. Actually, he fell about halfway and was helped up by one of the other people on the slope. After that, Caelan decided to watch from the safety of one of the benches at the bottom, where he cheered Oz on while drinking hot cocoa to keep warm.

That was his entire experience with snowboarding. Watching the video game brought Caelan back to that memory somewhat, and he started thinking about Uncle Oz again. He hadn’t called him in over two weeks… Oz had come over for a few days between Christmas and New Years, but the last time they’d talked was on the 4th over the phone… Maybe he could go down to California again for a few days… They would be fun. Getting away from the cold weather, performing at Tim’s club again next to Oz… Yeah, he’d definitely have to call at some point tonight. As a matter of fact… Caelan pulled out his cell phone and started clicking away at the buttons, leaving himself a reminder for 5:00 in the afternoon to give Oz a call. He was probably performing tonight, which would mean that he’d start getting his makeup on at 6:00 in order to be completely dressed and warmed up by 8:00. That would give them plenty of time to chat and maybe plan a trip.

While he poked away at his phone, Caelan had wandered away from the snowboarding game and towards the Dance Dance Revolution platforms. No one was playing at the moment, oddly enough, and Caelan didn’t really feel like doing a solo game, so he wandered in the other direction instead, looking for a game that he might be interested in. Today was a perfect day to blow twenty dollars or so on games for absolutely no reason, and that was exactly what he planned to do. There was a racing game that seemed halfway decent, so he stuck a couple quarters into that and zoomed around the track a few times. To his credit, he only crashed three times during the course of the game, which considering his usual record as far as racing games went was not so very terrible. In fact, it was pretty good overall. Needless to say the high score table didn’t come up at the end with his name on it.

Another two or three circuits around the arcade brought Caelan back to the snowboarding game. There were new people nearby now (apparently this was a popular game today, for some reason), and a couple of them seemed to be pretty good. He stuck around for a while as new people got up, did a track, loser left, etcetera. When one of the best ones decided to leave, a new guy stepped up and Caelan decided to give it a try again. He glanced at the other guy playing, who was giving him a bit of an odd look. However, Caelan ignored it, and instead simply stuck his coins into the machine. ”Take it easy on me.” he said with a grin. ”I kind of suck at this game.” True to form, he lost spectacularly. He fell a few times, hit a tree, ran over the wrong ski jump, and fell off cliff in the course of the race. Overall most definitely not his best game, but hey, he was just there to have fun, not to win anything. Anyway, this arcade didn’t give out tickets or anything for winning, so what did it really matter? He hopped off the platform, side-stepping to allow a new girl to get on in his place. He was going to stick around and watch the next couple of games, but someone off to his right in the group was muttering to a friend, and Caelan caught the word “faggot” stuck in there somewhere, so he decided it was time to move on to another game. He never changed his expression though. That particular insult had long since lost its sting for him.

As he turned away, he spotted a kind of punk/emo-looking girl walking in his direction. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t have spared her more of a look than he did for anyone else, but he was sure that he knew her… But from where? He’d been familiar with her before, but for some reason he couldn’t remember her name or anything… Wait… His face lit up as he finally remembered where he knew her from. About five years ago, he had dated her ex-boyfriend for a little while as a bit of a casual fling. She had been something like 16 or 17 at the time, and her ex had been 22. Caelan had been 25. Why was he always the oldest one in the group? He hated feeling old… Either way, she looked different now than she had before, but he still recognized her. What was her name again? Carla? Kaylee? Kimberly? No… Carmen! That was her name! She was looking at him too. She must have remembered him (if not as well as he apparently remembered her, which was no surprise). He smiled broadly, bringing his arms out to either side in an enthusiastic greeting. ”Carmen! I thought you were in another state. How have you been, darling?” He left his arms out in an offer of a friendly hug, but wouldn’t have been hurt if she didn’t want to hug him. After all, she hadn’t seen him in years, and they hadn’t been more than casual friends then.

[Carmen. Downs.]

Carmen smirked at the crowd that was growing at the arcade. 'Always so typical,' she thought to herself as another person bumped into her. She hated when people did that because it made her feel horribly uncomfortable. That was one thing that made her even stranger. Most things about her made her strange though. She had grown to accept them all though as what made her, her. She was Carmen Downs and that was all that she would ever be. The familiar man started walking towards her. She tensed a moment until she heard his voice, ”Carmen! I thought you were in another state. How have you been, darling?” It was Caelan. She would never forget his voice. Her ex had also been his ex. It was crazy how small the world was. Running into someone that she hadn't seen in ages, and never planned on seeing again because she had always been running from her past. What were the chances of the meeting again. It was all so strange, but it was nice. Very nice.

She smiled and walked into his outstretched arms and hugged him. Carmen loved this boy. She could tell him anything and he would always keep it a secret. He could always make her laugh and he was always there for her when she needed him. All of this was crazy. It was amazing though. "I'm still running from everything like before.. I'm better now though! How have you been, Caelan? Oh, I never thought I'd see you again!" She was ecstatic at this point. A friendly face! Someone who she didn't have to become friends with because she already was friends with them! It was crazy. It was almost too good to be true. It was real though, so it couldn't be a dream. Carmen brushed some of her hair out of her eyes and smiled at him. It had been forever since she'd seen him and she was still in shock. They would definitely have to have a night out on the town and tell each other of their many journeys soon. Very soon.

[[ooc; muse is dead. if you would like for me to add anything just tell me.]]

[wowposter]

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