OUR OLD RECKLESS WAYS [josh]

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

The weather was still pretty cold considering the time of year, and Skye wrapped her hand around her half-empty cup of coffee -- Starbucks just for once, instead of Tim Hortons, because someone had decided that a gift card would make a nice Christmas present, and it'd spent months just sitting in her wallet before now. Okay, it wasn't even really coffee, it was a mocha latte with copious amounts of extra chocolate added, but Skye had a feeling that, given the circumstances, she would have wanted something warm and sweet for the day. It was a weekend, a little bit past noontime. Sophomore year had given her a break for the first time in a couple of weeks, and this was supposed to be a weekend that she was able to enjoy, but of course this wasn't the case. Skye had... things to take care of first that she'd kind of been thinking about all week, but this was her first opportunity thus far to discuss it with... well the only person of importance in this situation, actually.

That was a little disheartening in itself, because Josh was a friend and there was no reasonable explanation for her not being able to just walk up to him and talk this through like an adult. (When had they gotten so old?) Either way, it would have been nice to do, but unfortunately she didn't think this was going to be very likely considering everything that she'd heard as of late. Skye's personal opinions aside, because they were messes only in themselves, she knew that, to the Academy, betrayals were a big deal -- a very big deal. It wasn't necessarily something she wanted to deal with all of the time, but for the most part, in order to keep a vicious gang of clumsy fourteen-year-olds from ripping her apart, she'd just generally kept her head down since arriving at the Academy. Or, well, that probably wasn't the right way to put it, but she never caused trouble for the alliance system, anyway, so when people did, Skye had always kind of side-eyed them. Was it worth it?

She sat up on the bench when she saw her friend -- friend? rather? with a question mark? -- approaching, giving him a small wave. She didn't look angry, because there was no need for some kind of temper tantrum, and Skye was just never the type to have a fit. She was a Thunder, mostly full of quiet judgement and snideness, if anything. "Hey, Josh," she greeted, nodding a little bit at him, gesturing to the spot on the park bench beside her.

The park had seemed like a good enough place for them to meet -- she had considered Tim Hortons or something, somewhere where they could sit and have some food or drinks or something like that and talk for a bit, but in the end, the park had seemed a better option. Sitting down and having something like a meal, or even just some coffee together, seemed like something so... committed, like she would have had to sit there for a while. Parks were different in that it was easier to get up and walk away at any point -- it wasn't that Skye expected this day to go poorly, but okay, there was a pretty high possibility, to be honest. She liked Josh, she really did -- he had been a really good friend for years -- but this was serious, almost beyond her. "So talk to me. I'm guessing that the ninety-five percent of the school population spreading rumours isn't completely wrong." No, she was pretty certain they were right -- Joshua Dale had switched sides in at least some capacity. She just felt that maybe it wasn't too much to ask to hear it in person from a friend.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

The last week had been hell. He had not quite realised in making his initial choice that the backlash would be as powerful as it was. He had not thought much beyond the fact that Nell was sweet, not the type to murder someone in cold blood, and that he owed her something for the fact that she had saved his life. He felt like it would be bad karma to do anything else.

Besides, he liked her.

The idea was meant to repulse him. She was an Earth elemental, a study partner and nothing more. The thought of a friendship with the peaceful flower children of the Academy was one the former leader should have cringed away from. Yet he couldn't forget the way that she'd insisted upon sitting with him at lunch even when friends at another table had beckoned her on. It had meant something to him. He only wished that there weren't so many consequences. He had thought that his friends in Fire and Thunder would understand if he simply explained that he thought that they were mistaken but things had escalated and gotten out of hand. They spat vile words like traitor and betrayal, wouldn't let him into the Fire dormitories. He'd always been a loner—his 'friends' were mostly tolerant acquaintances—but even those who had taken the time to get closer to him were turning their backs. He didn't know what to do with it all.

Which was why, when Skye sent him a message telling her to meet him in the park, he hesitated. They'd been friends for five years now and he'd considered the Thunder girl to be one of the true friends that he had. But that was just it—she was a Thunder. Vindictive, judgemental. Earth were Thunder's prime enemies in the way that Waters clashed with Fires. What did she think of him? I don't care, he thought stubbornly. It was a lie. He did care, and that was why he spent five minutes thinking it over before he sent a simple text back. 'Sure' was all it said.

His expression was its usual intimidating mask as he approached his friend, not so much as a lip twitch betraying their status as friends. It was typical of him and nothing that should cause alarm but even if he had been an expressive person, he did not think he could bring himself to smile. "Hey." He nodded in response to the wave, a minute gesture, then sat down on the bench when she indicated it. He was uncomfortable. It did not show but he sure as hell felt it. It was making it very hard to concentrate. He bristled as she brought up the very thing that he'd been dreading. "You really beat around the bush, don't you?" His words dripped with a cold sort of sarcasm. Not even a 'how are you?' It was not something that would normally have bothered the Fire, being so quiet himself, but in the current context it annoyed him greatly. "If you're so keen on rumours I'm sure you know exactly what happened." He did not elaborate, the anger colouring his tone. Gray eyes smouldered and his shoulders were tense. He did not like this at all.

[Hi red colour, s'been a while >>]

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

Skye could remember the day she and Josh had met, somewhere dimly in the back of her mind -- during a class or something, she was pretty sure it was French, way back in ninth grade -- but she couldn't remember how they'd actually become friends. It was something that had kind of just happened eventually, somewhere between the somewhat monotone conversations and perpetually stoic expressions, but that was kind of the people they both were.

Josh had always been on the quiet side, possibly even a little more irritable than her, and certainly quicker to anger. He was a rather close friend at this point, though, after their high school years were done and they'd both chosen to attend college here, and Skye... was pretty used to the way things went with him. The expression (or lack thereof) on his face when he walked up, therefore, didn't really surprise her at all, but it did leave her sitting on some kind of vague thought about how different he was from the Earths and, by extension, Waters. She would never say it out loud. That was awful even by Skye's standards -- she had called him out here, fair enough, and she didn't expec it to be a happy and bright encounter, but she had no intentions of being needlessly bitchy. We don't need that. Things were pretty messed up already.

"Hey." The monosyllabic greetings weren't much but, then again, they weren't much of conversationalists. Usually, in Skye's case, it was because there was nothing to discuss, nothing she wanted to share with people -- but today it was probably for a different reason. She tried not to be too tense -- Skye was rarely an anxious person, but this was a pretty delicate situation as far as she could read it. She just wanted to hear it coming from Josh himself, though. Her face remained composed even though in her mind she flinched at the coldness in his voice. "Nice." She didn't use his name. That was a bit too personal. "I'm sorry. How was your day?" That sarcasm was probably just as unnecessary as his was. Skye didn't care. Maybe it was because she was already in a bad mood, but he was being a douchebag today.

She considered his next words, trying to articulate the thought properly to avoid further sarcasm. That wasn't going to get her anywhere. She had an actual purpose for being here, even if it was partially obstructed right now by the kind of awful attitudes they both had. "I have a general idea," she said finally, her voice more curt than anything else. She met his gaze evenly as possible. It was always a good idea to make eye contact. "But I'm sure there's more to it. And that you put more thought into it than I'm gathering from the rumours." Actually, she hadn't heard very much compared to all that she was sure there was flying around -- Skye wasn't as much of a gossip monger as others. "Or was it really that easy for you?" The last part was something that she really shouldn't have said, said mostly in anger. She was sure that it really hadn't been easy for him, but what the hell -- one day he was sitting all content and smug as anyone else with the Fires, the next he had switched sides. If she didn't have a clue about how these alliances and what-not worked, she would guess that yeah, it'd been a pretty easy choice.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

His neutral expression slipped into a scowl for a brief moment, anger clouding gray eyes as they narrowed. Very funny, Skye. He was not in the mood for any of this. The war had made him tense and so he was more easily irritable than usual. He felt like a moody preteen thinking everyone on the planet was against him but could he really be blamed when his friends and allies had turned their backs? True, it had been Joshua who was the real traitor in the situation but he had thought that he was doing the right thing. Oh, this whole ordeal gave him a headache.

If he were to take her sarcasm seriously and make an attempt to answer, Joshua was keenly aware of the fact that he would have to lie. He didn't open up to people and so the fact that his day, and the rest of the week that had preceded it, had been absolutely awful. A wreck. Turmoil. He wouldn't admit that aloud. Perhaps Skye could guess by the way his entire element had rounded on him but he would not give any confirmation. So rather than snapping at her or responding with more sarcasm, Josh chose to say nothing at all.

Though he was far too irate to give credit where credit was due, Skye met his gaze without flinching and did not look away as she spoke the words of accusation. Some would have quailed in the face of Joshua's glare and others would have refused to confront him at all. She had guts. His cold stare did not waver as he pressed his lips tight. The nerve! "Sounds like your mind's made up." His fingers flexed and curled into a slight fist, though he made no move to strike her. He was mad enough to spit but he didn't plan on this getting physical. He only hit a girl if severely provoked or if she hit him first. He only hit a friend if he felt they deserved it. Angry as he was, Skye hadn't reached either of those points.

Lifting his chin, pride and defiance sparked in his gaze as he gave his answer. "I don't have to justify myself to you. I had my reasons." Those reasons made little sense even to Joshua himself in retrospect. He'd abandoned the element who respected him and the friends who'd stayed loyal to him for years in favour of a girl that he'd only known for a couple of months. She had only just gained the status of an awkward new friend and most of his loyalty lay in the fact that he felt indebted to her. She'd saved his life. He'd have died if she hadn't picked up her phone, drove out to the rough part of town and called an ambulance. He couldn't tell Skye all of that. He couldn't even tell his own parents. So he'd settle for acting the way he did—like he was confident in his decisions and that he had a perfectly good motive. He only hoped that no one would see through this lie.

[SKYE JESSICA FORD]

The hilarious thing was that, as far as Skye was concerned, there was never a wrong or right side when it came to the alliances. There were right and wrong actions, in the eyes of society at large (assuming, of course, society at large could somehow learn about these things, which it couldn't) -- but from the inside, there was no right or wrong side because both were so concerned they were right. Skye liked to remain impartial, really, and tried to be as often as possible, but both sides of the alliance had their faults. Admittedly, the Fires and Thunders really were more antagonistic, more likely to be the ones in the wrong in any given situation. Skye knew this as someone who had stuck on their side anyway. Was there a right and wrong, though, in the sense of good and evil? She didn't think so. She wondered if that had been Josh's train of thought when making this decison, and she hoped not, because the sheer stupidity of it would make her want to give up on him completely.

The temperature had to have dropped when he finally gave his response, that he didn't need to tell her his reasons. It must have dropped -- that was cold. It was proud as ever, though, and if Skye were to be honest with herself, she knew that she shouldn't have been surprised. He had always been like this. Usually it was something that she was able to put up with with relative ease, but today, Skye was already angry. Well, "angry" was probably the wrong word for it, because she rarely displayed anger in the same way as Josh did -- she looked down at his fisted fingers with nothing but coldness. Was that necessary? She couldn't remember the last time she had personally made him angry like that. Her jaw clenched but her expression barely shifted.

"I know you don't," was all she said at first. She wanted to see if this would elicit some kind of response from him -- if maybe he would see her reasoning and offer the information up himself, willingly. Of course she knew that he didn't have to justify himself -- it was his life and he could do whatever he wanted with it, but it would have been a nice gesture to just tell her. She was asking for innocent reasons; she had no intentions of running off and spreading the word around to the rest of her alliance members that Joshua Dale had gone soft or something. Maybe that was what he thought -- but she doubted so anyway. No, that wasn't the reason Josh refused to be a little more forthcoming -- he was doing this because he was stubborn and because, in his stubbornness and under the pressure, he was acting like an asshole.

Now that she actually thought it, it spurred her into further action, not waiting for his answer anymore. Her neutral expression slipped into one of annoyance. "No, that's right, because you don't have to tell anyone anything, ever," she said, eyes still boring into him. "Because you don't even have to tell your friends when you make these huge decisions, isn't that right." It wasn't a question. He had made his answer perfectly clear. Skye clenched her jaw back so that she wouldn't say anything else after that -- she hadn't even meant to say that at all, but now that she had, she knew that it was a fairly significant part of what had bothered her in the first place and what had made her call him out here, even though that reason was stupid and sentimental and she hated it and would have much preferred to say that she just thought his choice was stupid and irresponsible. They were friends -- she'd thought good friends. This was a very big thing to have done without so much as a word to one of the people he was voluntarily walking away from.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

No longer did they feel like friends. Sitting here on this uncomfortable park bench and staring at the girl that he'd known since ninth grade, she felt to him like just another member of his ex-alliance staring him down. He was used to it already—tired of it, as a matter of fact. It hadn't been all that long since his betrayal and already the aftermath was wearing him down. He'd lost his friends and his elemental kin all in one go and now he only had an Earth that he barely knew for company. Did Skye think he was happy in his current position? Did anyone think he was happy? They don't understand. He felt like a preteen resenting his parents but the childish defence refused to let up. That was how it felt.

He did not reply immediately, settling for a sour look instead. If you know, then why the hell are you asking? He had never liked questions. A very secretive and reclusive person, Josh kept to himself and rarely shared the time of day with others, let alone his thoughts and feelings. He liked it that way. There was a certain safety in secrecy, when no one knew anything that could be later used against you. Even your friends. Perhaps knowing Skye for half a decade should have allowed him to place enough trust in her to let her in on his reasoning but that was not how Joshua worked. His childhood friends had no idea about the turmoil he'd gone through with the gang. They got the same response as everyone else about the scars: "I got into a car accident. Drunk driver. It's nothing serious." A lie.

Did he plan to answer her at all? Before this became clear, Skye seemed to make something up in her own mind as her expression shifted. His own remained stoic and chilled as his lips pressed tight with frustration. This time his response was immediate and heated. "That's right, I don't." Gray eyes were devoid of warmth and friendship as he held her gaze. Her stare was penetrating but he was not intimidated in the least. The only elementals who frightened him were the Waters of superior skill and even then, his temper would not allow him to back down until he was beaten to the ground. "Hah," he laughed, the sound dry and brittle, "right. Because I really owe you an explanation, don't I? Oh, please accept my apologies." Sarcastic venom dripped from his words and it was at this point that he stood up to his full height. The anger was coursing through his veins, making it hard to sit still and stay calm. He was anything but calm.

He shook his head once, a sharp movement. "No. I don't owe you—I don't owe any of you shit." He was on the defensive for real now. He would not own up to any mistakes he might have been making and he certainly wasn't going to apologise for his behaviour. Instead he narrowed his eyes, already blazing, and shook his head once more in disgust before turning around and heading back toward where he'd parked his car. He was done. He had nothing more to say.

[o.o He was just like "I'm out." She can say something else or we could figure something out over Skype? ^^]