FLY A LITTLE FASTER {Pacey}

[HAYLEE EUNMI ROSE]

Haylee sat hunched over a sketchbook in the very bowels of the Academy library, her back against a wall and her knees drawn up to provide a hard surface for her to rest her sketchbook on. She'd come to the library with the intentions of drawing out a rough sketch for a painting she was planning as a gift for her parents' anniversary, heading into an aisle she knew people were least likely to come through so that there would be the least distractions possible until she finished. Instead, she'd spent the last hour and a half drawing random doodles across the page and getting absolutely nothing productive done. Well, that wasn't completely true. She'd started the sketch, been dissatisfied with it, and covered it with doodles. So there'd been some productivity in the beginning anyway, even if she had destroyed all the evidence that it had existed under a thick layer of pencil lead. Haylee set her sketchbook down next to her hip and sighed, stretching her legs out across the floor. This wasn't working.

Haylee looked at her mickey mouse watch, scratching her ankle with the opposite foot. It was still early. It felt like she had been in this library forever, but only a little more than two hours had passed. "That's it!" she said to herself, grabbing the sketchbook as she stood. "I need fresh air and sunlight. The library isn't working." She rubbed a kink out of her neck as she walked, glad for the break from being hunched. Walking to the grounds and finding a good place to stretch out and restart her attempts at recreating her parents' wedding photo would be just enough time for the soreness in her neck and upper back to leave for a while. As soon as Haylee stepped outside she was glad she had decided to leave the library for the outdoors. She loved the library, but the section she had been in had smelt like must, dust, and stale air. Outside it smelt like fresh air. Haylee looked around until she found a tree whose shade wasn't taken up by a gaggle of other students and then plopped herself down, stretched out on her stomach, and flipped open her notebook. Perhaps it wasn't the best position for drawing, but it was only a rough sketch anyway, right? It didn't have to be anywhere near perfect yet, anyway.

[PACEY LUCAS BAEK]

In his dorm with his laptop on... well, his lap, Pacey chewed absently on his lip as he typed away at what was supposed to be an essay for English. He'd gotten a good start on it, and it wasn't going to be due yet for some small while, but maybe this was the reason he felt absolutely zero motivation to do it. Thus far he'd gotten through the introduction and just about half of his first paragraph, but his mind was drawing a blank. He was so easily distracted... Instead he'd started surfing through the internet -- online shopping wasn't as badass as shopping in actual stores, but man, Pacey could just really use new sneakers or something. Okay, that was a lie, admittedly he didn't actually think he needed them at all, but things were so... so shiny, and it was hard to pull himself away from all that. It could be suggested that he had mild issues -- shopaholicism or something -- but his parents were just far too accomodating when it came to that kind of thing.

It wasn't good to stay cooped up in his dorm for all that time though, and he knew that he very well could just spend the remainder of the day poking around until he found something that he liked (or several things, which would be of some small concern). No... no, he should stop. He would find something else to do! Really he should actually work on this essay but... he still had time left and he would get around to it later -- his procrastination wasn't so bad that he really would leave it to the very last second, so right for this moment Pacey was pretty okay with leaving it. He did know himself well enough to know that he didn't generally work well under pressure though -- that just meant that he'd do it in the next couple of days. Plus he'd gotten a good enough start! Good. Convinced, Pacey swung his legs off his bed and slipped on his shoes, deciding to head out, but not before grabbing a bag of chips from his stash (hey, the boy liked food). He munched as he walked, heading for the grounds in general. Fresh air would be good, and considering the weather was better now he figured that he might be able to find someone he knew.

In the end, he wasn't disappointed, because outside under a tree he spotted Haylee. Grinning, he walked over, peeking over her shoulder to glance at what she was working on before he plopped down next to her and diverting his gaze up to her face. Sometimes people got weird about their artwork being looked at too early -- he didn't want to step on any toes. "Hey," he greeted, offering her the open end of the (very large) bag. "Want some chips? What are you drawing?" Pacey indicated the notebook.

[HAYLEE EUNMI ROSE]

Haylee was doing much better at concentrating while she was sitting outside. Which shouldn't have made sense, since there were a lot more distractions outside, but something about it helped her. Maybe it was just because she'd cooped herself up for the last couple days, avoiding the outdoors as she focused on school work. She just needed to breath something other than the air inside. Granted, concentrating for Haylee didn't necessarily mean that nothing but the draft was being worked on. There were still plenty of doodles around the outside, where she'd fill in the background on later drafts and the final process. For now, she was mostly focusing on getting the forms and faces of her parents right. She knew if she could get it right enough times on the drafts, her finished product would look it's best. And it had to be perfect. She chewed a bit on her lip as she looked over what she'd done so far. It was... okay. The lines were a bit off, but she expected that when she started drawing while lying on her stomach, and she clearly needed a better eraser when she worked on later drafts. But she could mostly recognize her parents, and that was the important part at this point. She'd have to get her brother's opinion later.

She continued sketching, and was beginning to fall into focus when she felt someone walk by her. She payed them little attention at first until whoever it was plopped down next to her. She looked up, frowning slightly in confusion, right as she was greeted. When she saw who it was though, she smiled. "Hey yourself." She grabbed a chip from the bag and nibbled on it a bit as she finished off the detail of the sketch she'd been working on, knowing as soon as the chip was in her mouth that one wouldn't be enough. Chips were dangerous. She ignored him a moment as she finished up the detail, and then pulled herself up so she was sitting with her back against the tree instead of laying on her stomach. "This," she finally answered, handing Pacey her parents' wedding photo. It was a pretty typical one, Haylee thought. It was just her parents, smiling at the camera as they hugged each other in a pretty typical pose. It wasn't professionally shot, just a picture from their wedding. But it was clear how happy they were together in that picture, and they both loved it. "I'm planning on painting a larger version of it for them as an anniversary present. This is just rough sketch, though, so I can plan out how it'll go on the canvas. Really rough," she added, glancing down at the sketchbook in her lap. She handed it over to Pacey. He'd shown up, so she might as well get an opinion from him. She wasn't happy with it, but she knew herself enough to know that she probably wouldn't ever be. She never was satisfied with her own work. The curse of an artist's soul, or so she'd heard. "What do you think? Be honest, I won't take it personally." She took a small handful of chips from him this time, eating them slowly as she waited.

[PACEY LUCAS BAEK]

Pacey grinned back at her, sitting and reclining back a little, leaning on his arms. Haylee seemed busy, which he should have figured, and he wondered if maybe he shouldn't have bothered her, but she didn't seem displeased to see him (once she figured out who it was) so he figured that this was alright enough for him. Then again, the girl really was just awfully nice -- he wondered if she'd even tell him that she wanted to be left alone... but he had known her for a few years at this point and he figured that he knew her at least well enough to tell things like this. Pacey just waited patiently until she answered. "Someone's wedding, huh? Your parents?" he asked, taking a guess. They didn't look like her in any way, shape, or form, but he knew that she was adopted. "Dude, it's so cute," he said, smiling as he handed the photo back to her. They looked happy for sure -- it reminded him of his own parents, their wedding pictures that they had up in various places around the house, along with bunches of other photos. One of them was also done up as a fairly large painting, but of course Pacey (lacking any kind of artistic skill) hadn't done that one for them.

He nodded in comprehension of this plan of hers. "When's their anniversary?" he asked kind of absently as he now took the sketchbook from her to look over it properly -- rather than glancing over her shoulder like before. To be sure, he could see what she meant by rough, but then again she did seem to know what she was doing, and he sort of... er, didn't at all, actually. Art had never been the kid's forté -- he was way better at more straightforward things, and he'd stopped taking any kind of Art classes as soon as he was able. Arts and crafts were still pretty fun he thought, but by high school the general opinion was that they should be able to do more than make macaroni portraits, and Pacey... uh, couldn't. "Well... not exactly an expert, but I think it looks awesome. Not that rough at all," he told her with another nod and a smile. "How big are you planning to make the painting?"

[HAYLEE EUNMI ROSE]

Despite having ignored him at first, Haylee truly was glad to see Pacey. She considered him to be a good friend, and it wasn't like what she was working on couldn't wait. She just had wanted to finish up the detail she had been working on, because she knew that it would look weird if she had drawn half of it in one sitting, and the other half in another. "Yep,"

[/b] she confirmed when he asked her about the photo. She hadn't even realized until after he asked that she hadn't offered up any information about the picture. She forgot sometimes that not everyone knew her parents' faces the way she did. At least Pacey knew she was adopted, so it wasn't like she had thrown him completely for a loop. "Right? I can only hope I'll ever be that cute someday." Not that Haylee thought she wasn't cute, or that she was in a rush to be in a relationship. She wasn't the kind of person who felt empty single, and she figured it would happen when it happened. She just hoped that whenever it did she could be half as happy as her parents were.

"Late July, so I've got time," she answered. "I just don't want to put it off, or it won't be done in time and still look halfway decent." She wasn't even sure if he was listening to her, or not, since he had taken the sketchbook from her and started to look it over. Which was fine with her, really. Haylee's plan was to start painting by June, mid June at the latest. Which would give her time to work on the painting, even with classwork, and still leave room for making and correcting mistakes. Haylee chewed lightly at her lip as she waited for his opinion, having run out of the chips she'd taken from him and not wanting to take any more. Waiting for opinions of her art always made her nervous. She'd loved painting for as long as she could remember, and was lucky enough to have some natural skill to build on and perfect. Once upon a time she'd considered painting professionally, but decided against it. She just really wanted to do something that would let her take care of people. Besides, only famous artists could live off of it, and she didn't want to do the whole starving artist cliche. The odds of her being a famous artist were low, and it wasn't a gamble she wanted to take. She'd have to marry someone rich or win the lottery if she wanted to be able to make a career out of art.

She smiled at his answer, when he finally gave it. It felt like it had taken ages, but she knew it had in reality probably been only a few moments. "Thanks," she said, meaning it. She hadn't expected an expert opinion or anything from him, so his opinion that it looked fine was good enough. After all, it wasn't like her parents were professional art critics or anything. They'd be happy just that she had thought to do it, the saps. "Um... Not that big, really. Just... Bigger than a photo album shot. I think the canvas I got is about a foot by a foot and a half?" She tried to think of something to compare the canvas to. It was a bit wider and a bit shorter than her open wall calender, but not all calendars are created equal, so she didn't think that was actually a good comparison. The measurements would have to do. She was pretty sure they were accurate, anyway. And she doubted he cared enough to demand the exact measurements anyway. Even she didn't care that much, and it was her painting. "So what are you up to today?"[/justify][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[PACEY LUCAS BAEK]

He glanced up at her and then looked back down to the picture, trying to imagine his friend here in the bride's place in the picture. It was difficult -- Haylee was so young, just his age! He didn't think it made much sense for anyone their age to be getting married, but hey, he had no doubt that many of them would end up married eventually. Some of them would be sooner than others, but that was immaterial. He shrugged it off and grinned. "No worries, you will be one day!" He was a pretty optimistic person. Then again, he wasn't very realistic, either, but Pacey had pretty huge aspirations for his future wife and family and... all kinds of things. He knew that they couldn't all work out, but it was just how his brain worked. Pacey had real plans, though, even if they were plans that he had accepted rather than come up with himself. He definitely wasn't complaining. It actually, in a way, saved his having to make an official decision himself -- because doing so would be incredibly scary. Pacey didn't want to be his own reason for his life being messed up at any point in the near or distant future. "Oh, oh, can I be a bridesmaid when the day comes? Or like, a brides...man." He laughed and leaned back on his hands again.

"Yeah, you definitely have time," he agreed with a nod. There was still the rest of May, then all of June... then most of July, it sounded like. He figured that it was good to get a head start on these things, though. Plus that was always good... good work ethic and all that! Pacey thought it was admirable at least, and the fact that she wanted to do something like this for her parents was awfully sweet. He had yet to do anything this fancy for his parents' anniversary... Maybe he should start, but sentiment wasn't really Pacey's strong suit, even when he really wanted to try. "You can do it! That's a really good start for sure." Part of this was his being a supportive friend, but also, Pacey really meant it. Haylee was pretty darn talented. "Nah," was all he said in response to her thanks, but he smiled. It really wasn't a big deal, though -- there was no use in thanking him for being honest. "That's still pretty nice! And best because you did it yourself," he added with a nod. "I think they're gonna love it." Again he wished that he could do something like this for his own parents sometime, but eh... Pacey was really no good with this kind of thing. He wouldn't even have come up with the idea, to be honest, but gifts for his parents were always the most difficult. They had so much already, and he didn't even have any of his own money to spend on them -- everything was theirs. He did think his parents deserved only the best, though.

He ran his hand through his hair with his clean hand and then grabbed a couple more chips with the other hand before answering. "Not much! Just got bored so I came out here. What are you up to?" They could find something to do, maybe! The world was at their fingertips.