Easy Living(Nell)

[ceage]

The lake was hands down Caleb’s favorite place to be during his time off. He could do virtually anything here. A nice jog, or swim in the lake to get the blood pumping, or even what he was doing right now; contently sitting towards the edge of the lake. Every so often Caleb would mindless skim a rock or two across the lake of the lake just to see the surface break.

Grin in place Caleb threw his back onto the grass and stared up at the sky. It wasn’t often the boy wasn’t moving around, but today was a unique kind of day. Back in his hometown in upstate New York he knew his sister was celebrating another birthday without him. She would be eleven years old today and this would be Caleb’s third time missing out on her special day. He had started off upset, but quickly turned his mood around when he checked his mailbox today. In true Jaclyn fashion she had sent Caleb a letter and card to make sure he didn’t turn into a huge mope.

The boy let out a small chuckle as he closed his eyes and visualized Jaclyn at home drawing up the hand made card that was now stored in his dorm. Rightly so, anyone who was nearby probably thought Caleb was off his rocker a bit, but he felt invincible. He was on top of the world and no one could bring him down. Even the sand that was getting over his modest outfit of jeans and t-shirt didn't seem to bother him right now. Caleb sat back and enjoyed the sounds of all the activity going on around him.

[NELL DOE DALE]

nell didn't know if she understood what the word 'break' meant anymore. it was like a lost childhood memory, something that danced on the edge of thought. yet she could never reclaim it. she entertained these thoughts in a half-awake brain fueled simply by cold pop tarts and black coffee. she knew it was hypocritical how much she preached a healthy diet, but sometimes she just did not have time for a balanced breakfast every morning. such was college life. or rather, such was college life of a girl who worked as a blackjack dealer and a police informant. she knew that she had a lot on her plate, but there was no way she could stop what she was doing. she needed the job because she'd been working ever since she came to canada, and there was no way she was going to let jane hurt her family. even if she got hurt in the process. it was a risk she felt she'd been forced to take.

one nice thing about college classes, however, was that they ended before high school ones and she had some spare time to herself. though her spare time was spent writing a paper, which was all she seemed to do. she took a lot of psych courses upon finally deciding her major, but luckily she did not mind it. english had always been a favorite subject, along with history, and psychology was something she was very interested in. sometimes, when she actually thought about it, the subject matter make her stomach twist because of her personal experience with what could happen to the human mind. luckily she was a strong enough person to not put too much thought into it other than to actually researching the topic. she finished it up in the library, typing it up on the computer and printing it.

afterward it was nice to just go outside and have a breather. she had work later, but that wasn't for a few hours. and nell felt that she deserved to have those few hours to do what she liked. and so the girl headed to the lake to see if she could find any of her friends. she hung out with a lot of people, earths and waters alike, even winds. she just liked talking to people in general and so it was not often that she could be found alone. she found one such friend relaxing by the lake. she stopped by his head, leaning over and blocking the sun as she smiled. "aren't you worried someone will step on you, calito?" nell asked, using the affectionate petname as a sign of her joking. not like anyone could miss him, he wasn't a small guy. "i guess classes are over for you huh, young blood." she heard the final bell ring and so she figured that he was all done. she felt the temptation to rub her morning classes in his face, but she was far too nnice to actually do so.

[ceage]

A voice pulled Caleb out of his reverie. Opening his eyes, he peered up at one Nell D. Shepherd. What the 'D' stood for? He had no idea, but seeing her tower over Caleb made him beam. Was there any way for this day to get better? Caleb’s arms lightly grabbed Nell’s ankles for a brief moment. As gently as he could he gave Nell a shake before removing his hands from her. ”What’s up Nellie Bean?” he chuckled at his own joke. Nell was one of the few people he didn’t mind interrupting him during his rare moments of inactivity. Unlike a lot of High School students, Caleb preferred mingling with all sort of characters regardless of age. He was definitely the kind of guy that put himself out there. Elemental association was a completely different story though…

Thankfully Nell was an Earth elemental and the two got along fairly well. She was usually up for a good talk whenever she was free. Nell also was able to pull Caleb back to reality without sounding like a nagging mother. What was it about those Earth folks that made Caleb think they had everything all squared away in life? ”I’d love for you to block the sun for me all day, but I think the spot next to me is calling your name.” Putting on a bit of a show he groaned a bit as he sat back up.

"I've got no more classes for the rest of the day and I still haven't done my homework, but who cares. You can't let a beautiful day like this pass on by," The sun was out, the was a nice little breeze, and the water looked almost too perfect in Caleb's opinion. The boy picked up another pebble and chucked it as far as he could out into the lake. In the distance the rock created a small splash as it sunk into the water. "What about you Nell? Any of that crazy college work getting the best of you yet?"

[NELL DOE DALE]

nell blinked when caleb grabbed her ankles. she had a sudden thought that wow, her friends were weird and she wouldn't prefer it any other way. after all, was there really such a thing as normal? she playfully rolled her eyes at the nickname, glad that she wasn't shaken off balance even though she was about as weak as a twig. she liked that one, but instead of telling him this she said, "ohmygod, gas prices, have you seen them lately? oh wait, can you even drive yet?" it was a gentle ribbing, because she couldn't honestly make fun of anyone. as in she literally did not have the insults in her repertoire to be mean. poopiehead was the best she really had, and she doubted that she could hurt anyone's feelings with it.

the girl did have to wonder what brought him to that spot. she just accepted it as caleb behavior, though, in his natural habitat. next to a lake. he was like a pokemon that she had stats on and everything. but like every pokemon, there was mystery about him. i need to sleep, she thought plainly, realizing just how exhausted she was when her thoughts started to consider pokemon seriously. it even took her a second to respond when the water boy spoke of the spot next to him, and she looked at as if considering the offer. "i don't know, i have busy college things to do..." then a smile brightened up her face and she plopped down next to him, pulling her knees up to her chest. she couldn't have caleb groaning around, after all! nope, caleb was not allowed to be unhappy with her. "buuutt i'd love to keep you company." and she had finished all her work for that day. she was feeling pretty accomplished, even though she knew it would just load on again. and this was sophomore year, supposedly the easiest year. lies, all of them said lies.

she listened as caleb spoke, enjoyed his regaling of high school life, the life she only experienced for one year. and it had been more like work overload years with all that she had to catch up on. it wasn't often that she yearned for the education she never had as a child, but sometimes it came to her in the oddest of moments. "you haven't done your homework?" she asked with a shock gasp, holding a hand to your chest. "what would your mother say, mister, i am so disappointed in you." truthfully, nell did not like procrastination because she hated the feeling of something being left undone, like there was something she was supposed to be doing. it bugged her, one of the few things that did. "what you don't know, c-dub, is that right now i'm not even conscious," she told him as he threw the rock into the lake. "i've gotten about two hours of sleep in the past week. finished a paper while unconscious, too. are you ready for college years? are you ready to become a zombie?" yeah, she was a little out of it, but she was speaking the truth. it was like she moved around as a zombie nowadays. work was killing her, but she couldn't complain and she didn't even have the ability to do so without joking about it.

[ceage]

”Whoa below the belt there Nell. You didn’t hear me pulling out the punches and asking about your new senior citizen privileges, did you?” Boom! He could dish a good joke just as well as the next guy. Age was just another hot topic the two could easily joke about. Some days the fours years felt like nothing, but then there came times when it was rather obvious. ”I’ll have you know that I have my permit for the great state of New York and come this March you better watch the roads, cause Caleb will be all over them in some crappy car with a lot of miles already put in it.” One well loved Jeep Cherokee was ready to go back in his family’s garage once he past his driver’s test next year.

Caleb was almost desperate enough to plead with Nell when she told him she was busy, but his dignity was saved when the girl sat down. Dignity or not, he was not above a good groveling when it came to socializing. He was quickly over the self imposed isolation and Nell was here to fill the gap. ”Damn straight you like my company!” the boy proclaimed. ”And don’t get me started on my homework. You know as well as I do Momma Wright would be flipping out,” He scrunched up his face a bit and puffed out his chest. ”Caleb, I did not raise you to sit around and neglect your responsibilities,” He did his best to make his voice sound like an angry woman but how successful it may have turned out was up to Nell to decided. He thought he did a fine job.

Caleb brought his hands behind him and placed them firmly on the ground so he could comfortable lean back a bit. The further Nell seemed to continue her education the less time she seemed to have to just enjoy herself. Or at least that was how it would appear to Caleb. She also was managing to keep up with a job on top of her studies and social life. The only thing Caleb had to worry about at the moment was handing in assignments on time. ”What if you’re really still sleeping? How do you know that this isn’t a lucid dream?” he teased. Nell had dropped the ‘C’ word. College. Caleb still had to get through eleventh and twelfth grade, but before he know it, he might just wake up and realize how fast time really goes. ”Me, a zombie? No way. I’ve got so much energy in me I don’t think I could ever run out. I’m like the energizer bunny.”

[NELL DOE DALE]

if this was a serious conversation, nell would have been babbling out apologies. she honestly did not have a mean bone in her body. well, she couldn't say that now she had met people who really pushed her past her limits. rafael and bryce came to mind, but they were family. she was never good with family, and as sad as it sounded she didn't want one. she'd made her own that had always been much better to her, and caleb was apart of it. she opened her mouth in an o and laughed incredulous. "oh snap, no you did not," she said shaking her head. "that's it, you're out of my will. and you were going to get my millions." yeah right, like she had millions in her bank account. she wasn't the one with the money, josh was. or rather, his family. when he became a doctor, though, he would be making paper. not that it mattered how much he made, as long as he was happy, she'd be happy. she was content with her job at the casino right now. it was much better than her old job. that was mostly because of jane. the work itself had been fine, she could handle it, she just did not want to work around jane. but she ended up doing so anyway. that was another cause of her exhaustion, but she would not be sharing it with caleb. she trusted him, of course she did, she just was not one to talk about things. because then everyone would know that she was a murderer who'd once been an illegal alien who was now working as a mole for the csis against her mafioso aunt. and that just sounded like an action movie. except she had to deal with the truth behind all those subplots and there was no glit or glamour.

nell rolled her eyes at his exclamation, always playful and joking. it was probably why she got along so well with the waters. "that's it, i'm not feeding your ego anymore." though what she loved was feeding people's egos. she loved making people feel good about themselves. she laughed ridiculously loud at the imitation of his mother, rocking back a bit as she held a hand in front of her face. "vato, if your mother sounds like that i suggest you run away. far away." sometimes she wondered about conversations with friends who knew about what she'd done to her own mother. there weren't a lot. but if mothers were brought up, she was sure they got a little nervous, like the topic should be taboo. along with murder, but again, most people who knew didn't stay friends with her. that's why she didn't want anyone to find out, though it always hurt to lie about everything. she couldn't help it. her past was not something to be discussed freely with other people. and she would not like caleb to find out whatsoever. unless he already knew, and just didn't say anything about it. that always made her paranoid, standing in a room full of people and wondering how many people knew who she was and what she had done.

nell honestly should not have even been allowed to think at that point. everything caleb said was funny. okay, he was a funny guy, but this was beyond the parameters of normal. she was just grinning, listening to him when he talked about her still being asleep. "inception," she said, waving her arms around exaggeratedly. "you just completely mind freaked me, i don't think my world will ever be the same." even though she was saying it jokingly, it gave her a moment of concern. what if she was still asleep and just didn't realize it. oh god, what should she do? i need a kick. but then, what if she was like mal and went crazy and she was just about to curl herself into a ball. "this is college, bro. there should be a simulator for you to find out what it's like, because you think you have energy now. oh ho ho, you are not ready. but i'll be there for you." she patted him on the arm reassuringly before asking him, "are you even planning on going to college?" she was invested in her friends' lives, but this was a tidbit of information she did not know.