if you can't hang [caleb]

[MONA FAITH LANDRY]

Mona's favorite place to go when she skived off class was the cliffs. She knew a lot others enjoyed using them, too, in their campaigns to be terrible students. No teachers came around here, or at least not normally. Someone could do whatever they liked up there, and not get caught. It was good for her needs as a matter of fact.

She took the pack of Marlboros out of her back pocket, the one she stole from Pearl. Her sister would eventually notice, but she didn't really care. It would be another thing to get yelled at for. She was sure her siblings were done with it. She didn't care about the older ones, but she did worry how the younger ones were affected by the relationship between Pearl and herself. It didn't sound good when they were always at each other's throats, threatening each other, screaming and slamming doors. Mona did it with all her siblings now, though, and sometimes she hated herself for it, when she was left alone to think.

Most of the time she didn't care.

She struck a match and lit the cigarette in her mouth before dropped it to the cliff beneath her. Sitting on a boulder close to the edge of the cliff, she was able to look down into the smooth water of the lake. It was cold, especially up this high, but she didn't really mind. She huddled into her threadbare jacket, thinking about who she was about to text. Her phone was old, a slider and she sometimes got embarrassed when taking it out. But the number in her contacts was one she wanted to talk to, even though she knew she shouldn't. Because if he showed up he would see her blush and she hated that kind of shit. That wasn't how she acted.

But she typed out the text quickly to Caleb, and sent it so that she wouldn't have time to regret it. "I'm at the cliffs if you want to skiv off. You'll have to find me." She slid it close and crossed her legs as she sat on the rock. That was it, it was done. Mona squirmed a little bit. She knew this shouldn't have happened. It should have been easy. Fuck and forget, that's how most people did it. And she thought she wouldn't be able to get attached to people, because she was just that tough. But the world took its time to convince her over and over that she was just a little girl and she needed time to grow up. She wasn't ready to believe it though.

She was antsy, wondering if Caleb would show up. Of course he should want to skip class. Who wanted to sit around when you can just do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day at school. Or just skip entirely. Mona could admit to doing that sometimes, she just did not like going to school anymore. Not that she was passionate about it before, just that...it had been different. And now her life was getting too complicated even for her. She picked up a pebble and threw it down, watching as it plopped into the water. Fuck that shit.

[caleb]

Caleb was sitting at his desk in class, and his problem was that he was too sober and awake to sleep. It was a shame. He was used to sleeping off hangovers in class, and when he couldn't do that, he was forced to pay attention. Caleb hated math. There would be nothing that he'd use in any of these. He didn't even know what he was going to do with his life, but he'd rather kill himself than do anything involving trigonometry. He'd rather kill himself than a lot of things, in all actuality. He just wanted to be young forever, and have all the adventures that he could. When he was older, he could really only see himself ending up like one of those insane writers: jotting down all of their life's events as they smoke another bowl. It didn't seem like a bad life, but it required none of the things that he was learning.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he of course took it out immediately. It was Mona, a girl that he'd met a while ago at a party. They'd slept together already, and he'd liked her enough to keep her around. It was rare that he ever wanted to see someone more than once, but she was easy enough to get along with. Most girls wanted to try to change him and make him into someone else, but Mona didn't seem to be bothered with that. They were just chilling with each other sometimes and sleeping with each other at others. It was the best kind of friendship. He stood up and walked to the door of his classroom. When the teacher asked where he was going, he replied "I'm just going to the - fuck it. I'm leaving." He was too sober for this. Subtlety would have been wasted right about now. He'd pay for it later, but that didn't matter much at all. He was used to detentions at this point.

Caleb made his way to the cliffs. He owned a car, but he didn't want to show up too early. Caleb wasn't going to let himself seem like he was too eager for this. He didn't want to seem like a bootycall or anything. Because that was what he did to other people, not what they did to him. He didn't like that he was asked to hunt her down either. She was playing Caleb-quality head games at this point, and he wondered if she was aware that she was doing that. It didn't make sense that he was letting her play him like this either. When it came down to it, Caleb was pretty easy to manipulate. All you had to do was put something that he wanted in front of him, and wait until he did what you asked. He finally arrived at the cliffs and began to search for the girl. He texted her back: "I'm here. You should find me instead." He wasn't going to play too much into her hand. Not at first.

[/size][/justify]

[MONA FAITH LANDRY]

She filled her time throwing rocks into the lake, watching the water swallow it up, and wondering what else was down there. She was sure that there had been urban legends about lake monsters in the Academy, just like there were legends about ghosts in the dungeons, but she had never put much stock into shit like that. Mona was far too grounded in reality to spend her time thinking of shit like that.

She flicked her cigarette and dropped the ash to the ground, watching the embers die before turning her attention back to the stone in her other hand. The Thunder girl was about to toss it into the lake, too, before she got a text back from Caleb. She rolled her eyes upon getting it, taking a deep breathe as she looked over at the cliff face. She didn't really need to think about it though, of course not. And the only thing she stopped to think about was how far up he must have been. It couldn't have been very high -- he would have passed her, there weren't many circuitous routes, but there were enough to confuse some people. Fuck him, she thought irritably as she stood, shaking out the leg that had fallen asleep while she'd been sitting.

Keeping the rock in her hand, she headed down the paths she had taken up, before deciding it might be best to go another way. That meant climbing over some boulders, and though she knew she wasn't physically fit as she should be, it meant that she had a little bit of trouble. She hadn't been eating as much as she should have been lately, and it was showing in how nothing that would have been easy a year before was easy for her anymore. It was rather depressing, actually.

When she finally found him, she threw the rock that had been in her hand. Mona made sure not to hit anywhere detrimental for the Fire student. "That's for making me look, asshole," she said calmly afterward. Clearly, she wasn't as put out as she made it sound. If she had been more upset she wouldn't have searched for him. She found another rock to sit on and asked Caleb, "What class where you in?" And while she made it a point to push away a lot of her friends, she was also genuinely curious about Caleb. She didn't want it to show. Don't be fucking transparent." She tried her best to be completely aloof and thought she succeeded pretty well.

[caleb]

Luckily for Caleb, Mona accommodated his request to be found. That was helpful. He didn't want to seem like he'd do much for her. When you did that, people started expecting things from you. And the last thing Caleb wanted was to be thought of as dependable. He was a wild card. A rogue agent. The kind of kid that was fun to keep around, but that you wouldn't expect to keep a secret. He always had his own agenda, and that was just what people expected from him. If she'd told him that he really did have to find her, he totally would have, but it was best that he didn't. It was best that Mona knew that he wasn't one to be controlled. And that he wasn't a booty call. If that was what she'd called him here for. Not that he wouldn't sleep with her. It was hard for him to turn down casual sex after all. He was just used to being the one who did the calling.

The rock bounced off of his chest and he rolled his eyes. She had a decent arm. That stung a little, but he wasn't going to call any attention to it. He wasn't one to seem weak, after all. Still, it led him to making a mental note not to piss her off any time soon. He had a way with woman. He'd charm them one second, and they'd be at his throat the next. It helped when he knew how strong their grip on his throat would be though. ”I'm sorry, was sitting alone more fun?” he asked, running a hand through his hair. Maybe she was up to something important, but he wasn't sure what that could possibly be that would make her want to see him at the same time. It didn't seem like there was any thing that it could be, though Caleb wasn't very creative at the moment. He took his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and brought one to his lips. Unfortunately, he forgot a lighter. While other fire students would just light their cigarettes with their powers, Caleb found that tasteless. "Got a light?" he asked, trying to keep the cig from falling out of his mouth at the same time.

Caleb sat next to the girl on the rock and leaned back on his hands. "I was in math. Fucking useless class," he stated with a sigh. "Any particular reason you decided to come to the cliffs today?" he asked her. There were so many other, better places to go when it came to skipping, at least in Caleb's opinion. Places with people. He hated seclusion. He liked being surrounded by strangers at all times, and to be alone at the cliffs was a little weird for him. At least he had one person with him. If he were by himself, he'd need some liquor. It was the only way he could stand solitude. "And since when do you cut school? I must be rubbing off on you. I'm so proud," he teased her with a grin. They'd never done this together before. He liked when people eventually got around to his way of life, but he didn't know how far a journey that really was for the thunder girl. He didn't know her very well for the time that he'd spent with her, unfortunately.

[/size][/justify]

[MONA FAITH LANDRY]

She respected that Caleb didn't bitch about her throwing a rock. There were a lot of ways to irritate her. Existing was one of them. And though Caleb irritated her a lot, he managed to bypass boundaries she had to wriggle into a spot in her life that shouldn't have been reserved for anyone right now. She was fifteen, her mother was dead, and she was emotionally unstable at best. Mentally compromised seemed more realistic at this point. And Caleb was someone she knew next to nothing about, if there was anything more to know about him. He was hot, made her feel like she wasn't shit all the time, and that was all that she needed right now. It was sick, sure, but it was the only thing working for her. She just wished that it didn't have to be like this, that she could just shrug it off. Easier thought than done.

Her tone was short, curt. "Probably." She resisted that ever present temptation to roll her eyes at him. Was she actually controlling herself? Did he mean enough that she was going to refrain from being a complete bitch to him. "Lucky you're so fucking adorable," she said scathingly, though less so than she usually was with people. She spoke around her cigarette and watched him pull his own out of his pocket. She took out her matchbook, but hesitated. A smirk settled on her lips. "You know, I think you have to work for it." Revenge, one could say. How much was a light worth to him, then? Maybe she would tell him to head around the entire cliffs, or dive into the lake. But that would mean sacrificing them, and though she could get another she would rather not.

She grimaced. Math. It had no place in her life, but then again, she had no goals, did she? The Thunder girl wondered if Caleb had any, but with how he was living, she doubted it. "Maybe I'm having an existential crisis and came up here to ponder it," she said, taking the cigarette between her fingers and blowing out as she looked toward the sky. "Or maybe I'm just fucking tired of class." One or the other, she wasn't sure. She bit her thumb between her lips, trying not to notice how close Caleb was. God dammit, I hate him, she lied to herself. Maybe if she could convince her mind, it might work. She looked at him, lifting her eyebrows but clearly teasing as well. "Oh yeah, you're just so important to my life, you know. I just gotta emulate everything you do." At the word 'important' her gut twisted and she looked around, sucking in more of smoking before coughing. Maybe this was a bad decision.

[caleb]

Adorable? That was a new one. Caleb wasn't sure how to take that. After all, puppies and bunnies were adorable, and he certainly was the furthest thing from one of those. He was a corrosive, carcinogenic catastrophe. A walking disaster, and a ticking time bomb. He constantly used people to get what he wanted, got in more fights than professional martial artists, and could bend fire to his will. Not to say that he didn't think that he was attractive. He knew that he had to be. He just figured that it was more sexy or hot than adorable or cute. The fact that he was being branded adorable now was throwing him off, because he wasn't sure whether it was a compliment or an insult. Especially with the way that the girl said it. He figured not to pay it too much mind though. He was here, she wanted him here, and they were on good enough terms. At least, he sure as hell hoped that they were. "You're not so bad yourself," he replied with a grin. That was Caleb for you: when in doubt, he flirted.

Caleb wished that he could've had a drink about now. He hated how much he thought when he was sober. It was unbearable. How did everyone get through this kind of thing? Caleb took the cigarette out of his mouth and twirled it absentmindedly between his fingers. "What? I can't just get by on my looks alone?" he asked with a cocky smile. She just told him he was adorable, and usually people were willing to bend over backwards for someone that they thought was attractive. Why did this have to be different? Still though, he was more than willing to play whatever game it was that the girl had in mind. If she'd been anyone else, he probably would have just lit the cig with his ability, but this could be fun after all. Not that anything would be more boring than the math class that he'd skipped out on. No matter what he did today, he was winning compared to what he'd avoided. "What do I gotta do?" he asked with a sigh. Hopefully it wouldn't be anything too strenuous. After all, he hadn't had a smoke yet. Making him do anything hard would have just been mean.

Existential crisis? Jesus Christ, the girl better have been joking. He didn't know if he'd be able to deal with someone who did that kind of thinking. He liked the alternative a hell of a lot better. So he decided that was what he'd pretend she was here for, regardless of which one was actually true. He didn't like the people he hung around to have emotional depth. It ruined things for him. Surface value. That was what he liked. That's all he showed, as well. And that was perfect, because who would want to get to know Caleb Cross as a fully functioning person? There wasn't a point to it. "Either way, good reason to spend your time cliffside." The cliffs were supposed to be a great place to think. Not that Caleb would ever know. He just came here when he was blitzed and trying to come down. Sometimes he'd come here with a bottle of vodka after a party to watch the sunrise. But otherwise, he didn't like how empty this place was. It was painful for him.

Had Caleb known that his proximity to Mona was frustrating her, he would have been even closer. He would have been all over her. Because that's the kind of guy he was, he liked messing with people, and seeing how they'd react when provoked or manipulated. Thankfully for Mona, he didn't know how she really felt about him, not yet anyway. "Of course I'm important. I'm the best person you'll ever meet," he declared with a confidence that may have meant that he actually believed the words spewing from his mouth. Sometimes it was a shame that he was so cocky, but this self-confidence had taken him everywhere in life. Even if he knew how to stop, he definitely wouldn't. Not now that he was doing so well with his life.

[/justify]

[MONA FAITH LANDRY]

Just as Caleb was doubtful of his status of 'adorable', she was very unsure herself. No, she knew she was not adorable. Or cute. She used to be, she thought. Back when she was catching frogs by lakes and smiling half the time. When her quietness was simply a part of her personality and not just because she despised everyone around her. But she liked hearing it from Caleb, felt butterflies in her stomach. God, fucking butterflies. Like she was one of those girls, the kind that chased after boys like nothing else. She had so far just been doing it for nights, for fun, she didn't want to settle. But she felt different about Caleb. "Thanks, I don't even try. I think it may have something to do with my uncontrollable hair." She also didn't try to let the feeling he gave her go away. It was both exhilarating and annoying. Even though she wanted him to call her sexy, or hot, or something that would give her a clue. But she couldn't kid herself, could she?

Caleb could probably get by on both looks and charm. He had that about him. Or maybe it was just her view of him that had become rather skewed. Either way, she didn't let this become known. "I'm thinking your future prospects are limited to hooker and model in that case." It was probably best not to talk about how attractive he was, because then she'd think about it, and it was all shot to hell then. At his sigh, she tilted her head upward. "Well, I would tell you to kiss me, but that's so juvenile." She wrinkled her nose. Of course, she wouldn't mind that at all. Tilting her head as if to further consider this, she said, "I think my choice will be determined if you can answer this question -- how much do you like me?" She tapped a finger against the matchbook, as if she could tempt him even more with that simple movement. It was a very damning question. She shouldn't have asked it. But still, the intentions behind her question were masked behind an unwavering facade.

Mona certainly had a lot of mini-crises in the space of a day but no one did that. She didn't surround herself with people who would care. Adam would care but she had burdened him enough the day her mother died. Did her siblings care? She wouldn't even be able to say whether they did or not. There was something very upsetting about that. Caleb spoke of him being a perfect person, and she looked at him with a dry look. "Could be...but you have this problem. It's called being an egomanical douchebag." He wasn't that bad, it was obvious, and she was teasing of course. Her teasing just tended to be pretty mean. She didn't bother to control it, though, because meanwhile she was trying to sort out exactly what she felt and whether she should be feeling it. "Maybe if you work on toning it down you might be as good as me." Putting two over-confident people together was not the wisest decision ever, that was clear. But she could make it work. Though a lot of the time, she couldn't help who she got mad at.

[caleb]

If only Caleb had known the effect that he had on Mona. It'd be a lot better for him than doing all the guessing that he was doing right now. Not to mention, it'd mean that he'd be able to toy with her better. And that's what it tended to get down to. He liked having the upper hand and the ability to bend people to his will. That probably made him a bad person, but he was more than content with who he was. Most of the time anyway. Even moreso, he really wished that he had a better read on her, because at this point he was convinced that she was trying to play him, and he didn't know how to respond to that. Caleb was easy to manipulate, and he knew it. He didn't ever know how to stop it from happening though. He hated not having the advantage, and this was one of those situations that made him uneasy. Still, if he didn't think about it much, this was a nice time.

Caleb smiled and laughed. His career options were model and hooker? Those both sounded so good though. No thinking involved, and a lot of whoring around - just like the rest of his life. "Hooker it is then," he replied casually. It seemed like less work than modeling. The only problem was that it meant that he'd probably have to work with people he didn't necessarily want to sleep with. Oh well. No job was perfect. Mona's next question caught him off guard. How much did he like her? That was a loaded question. If he said he didn't care much about her, she'd be livid, and if he said he liked her a lot, he was lying and setting himself up for more conflict later on. This wasn't his first time being trapped like this, and Mona offered him the perfect way out. He leaned in and kissed her softly. "I hope that answers your question," he said softly with a smirk. It didn't answer it at all, but he'd let her read into it what she wanted. As long as he got his matches and maintained whatever relationship he currently had with this girl, he was golden. This was a steep price for matches.

Egomaniacal douchebag. He usually had to do something terrible for words like that. Much more than just sleeping with a person with no hope of really dating them or anything. Usually he'd be sleeping with someone's sister, or trying to get into a threesome with girls that thought he loved them for that kind of comment. It didn't sound horrible when Mona said it though. It didn't sound like she hated him. Not like everyone else did when they said something like that. "If I'm so egomaniacal, why would I want to be as good as you?" he asked. This was why he liked thunder kids. They were always fun to talk to. They never seemed as loud to him as fire kids did, and they seemed to think more about what was coming out of their mouth. It made him value the element more. He probably liked them more than he liked fire for that reason. Luckily they were aligned, because he wouldn't want to have made that decision.

[/size]

[MONA FAITH LANDRY]

The prospect of being a hooker or a model didn't appeal to Mona. She didn't know exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up, but she wanted to get there using her intelligence. Possibly have a big cushy office overlooking the city. It's what she'd always wanted. But Caleb seemed perfectly content with his future job prospects. "Aren't male prostitutes usually for dudes, though," she said. Not that she knew a lot about sex work, but hey, it was always guys buying the hookers. "Then you'll have to fuck fat, ugly businessmen all the time with weird kinks like eating mustard off your dick, and that doesn't sound like a fun career." Sex was fun, but when it was with someone disgusting? Mona honestly didn't understand work like that. No matter how bad off she and her family was, it did not even cross her mind to get money like that. She couldn't say the same for her sister, but she wasn't very nice about the girl.

While Mona did say that a kiss would be too juvenile, she really was lying. Could you blame her? Of course she wanted Caleb to kiss her, teasing him like this wouldn't be very fun if she didn't expect to get something like it out of this. But a larger part of her wanted to know what he felt. And should she tell him how she felt about him? A dilemma pushed into the forefront of her mind. What could she do to make it known that she wanted more than just his body without being totally uncouth about it. Or maybe she needed to be straightforward, to not play any games. She had never done anything like this before, she didn't know. After dropping her cigarette to the ground and snuffing it out, her thoughts were pushed to the side when his lips pressed against hers. She smiled into the kiss, the butterflies fluttering around in her gut. With the hand holding the matchbook, she pulled back his waistband before tucking it inside. Pulling back, she told him, "Answers enough to get you the prize," she complimented him. "I'll need those back." She could barely even get herself a lighter unless she filched it from someone else, asked to borrow it and then never return it.

Mona tried not to consider all her feelings, but she couldn't help it. She didn't view the boy the same way she said she did. Of course not. In her mind she had put him in a different light, and that was the concerning thing. Caleb made a very good point in what she had said. "Oooh, you caught me." The Thunder girl said it with a wince as if she had been trying to hide her mistake. She bumped her arm against his then, a smile curled across her lips. "See, what I really think is your a sexy ass motherfucker but I couldn't just tell you that." Now she could get less and less subtle about the things she said, but she was still searching for a way to tell him how she felt without being completely out there with it. "How is it that I'm able to tell you how much I like you and all you can give is a kiss. Huh." She shook her head as if very disappointed by the fact. And she was, but she didn't want it to seem very serious, what she'd said. Then that would appear very desperate. She may have been many things, but she refused to be viewed as desperate.

[caleb]

Maybe he hadn't thought the whole prostitution thing through. He would have been fine with sleeping with a few ugly women. Well, he would have as long as he had a handle of whiskey beforehand or something. But men? Even when he was drunk, he only slept with the prettiest of boys. The ugly ones just couldn't get the time of day from him, because he valued himself too much for that, even when heavily inebriated. "You've clearly thought this out more than I have. Nevermind, I guess," he replied to the girl, making a face of obvious distaste. The things that she was talking about were making him cringe. Mental images of obese, disgusting men fetishizing him was enough to make him want to vomit. Were Caleb smoking or drinking at this point, he probably wouldn't have batted an eye, but the fact that he was left alone to his own sober thoughts was enough to make everything awful. Mona was probably enjoying messing with him like this.

Anyone who wanted to know what Caleb felt certainly didn't know Caleb very well. He didn't know how to describe his emotions well at all, and half the time he wasn't sure what he was feeling on his own. That was fine with him, but most people couldn't leave that alone. Everyone tried to play the role of Caleb's psychiatrist, trying to figure him out and try to make him a better person. It didn't work. He didn't want to share, and he didn't want to improve. His own inertia was fine with him, and that was perfect for him. Luckily, Mona wasn't pressing the question any further. If she had, nothing would have ended well. She was pulling on his waistband a second later, and he was a little surprised to find that all she wanted was to put her matchbook in there. Treating him like the manwhore that he'd just expressed interest in being. He almost immediately pulled the matchbook out and lit the cigarette, bringing it back to his lips and taking a drag. When Mona told him that she'd need the matches back, he smiled around the cig. "I think you'll have to work for it," he joked, holding it out of reach. "How much do you like me?" He was obviously teasing her, but knowing how she actually felt would put the ball back in his court and give him the upperhand over her again.

Caleb was convinced that the girl was joking as she told him that she thought he was sexy. It seemed like the kind of teasing that she tended to dish his way anyway. Not that he didn't think that he was sexy. Caleb viewed himself as irresistible. It was just that Mona didn't act like she wanted him much. Unless he just wasn't picking up on things, but he was usually pretty observant with that kind of thing. Most girls weren't like Mona though. And then she asked why he couldn't just tell her how he felt, and he didn't know how to respond. Did she really want a response to that? An explanation of how he was emotionally crippled and unable to share his feelings with others? She wasn't getting that. No one would ever get that level of intimacy from him. "I'm sorry, would you rather I not have kissed you?" he asked with a smirk. He wasn't going to take this seriously. He refused to.

[MONA FAITH LANDRY]

Mona did spend her time thinking about shit like hookers and deviants to society. She really was having all these crises that she only joked about, but there was a seriousness underneath. Because she had to wonder where she fit into society, and all the people who seemed to have figured it out. She was only fifteen, but she didn't feel pressured by the people around her, that's not why she wondered about these things. She had always pressured herself. To be responsible, to be intelligent, to be in charge -- she had just let it go to become something else, something worse. She knew her siblings understood it, would say something about it. And Adam knew something about it, could tell what had happened. She was spending less time with him, and she hated herself for it. He had always been the one person she knew she could count on, even when she couldn't count on her family. And she had pretty much abandoned him for the scene that was full of people she could never consider friends.

Mona should have counted on that. She placed her hands on her hips, like she wouldn't do anything to get those matches back. It was a sign of her stubborn nature -- she usually wouldn't have done anything. But not only did she wanted to play this game, but she wanted to play it with Caleb. So she drew closer, her hands resting on his shoulders, mouth on his neck, sucking at the skin. "I don't know, you tell me," she said when she lifted her mouth to his ear. She could have said a lot more with that question, she could have admitted everything. But she wouldn't allow that just yet. She was still trying to figure it out, meanwhile she didn't understand just how her body connected to her mind. That the only reason she really wanted him to herself was because of the sex and because he was the mysterious bad boy all the girls wanted -- she used to scoff at ideas like that. Now she understood, even if she was unwilling to admit to herself how hard she'd fallen in every single way.

Mona knew she had to phrase her next question careful. She bit the nail of her thumb, wishing she hadn't disposed of the cigarette. She'd started smoking because that's what everyone around her did, that's how she felt that she would belong. Now, it had become the addiction her mother had always warned her about. Thoughts of her mother always led down an unruly path, so she didn't think very hard on that at all, instead let the thought float away. Her eyes squinted, but she didn't look at him. Her way of looking completely aloof and disinterested. "What do you think about a relationship with me? You think I'd be good at that?" It was rather underhanded, the way she was going about this. Usually, she was much more honest and upfront. Brutally frank, and yet now she couldn't even properly phrase this question. She was antsy. Curious. She didn't know what she wanted to do about this, but she knew what she wanted from him.

[caleb]

Caleb didn't tend to wonder where he'd fit into society. He surely couldn't keep going the way he was forever. It just wasn't humanly possible. He'd die. But in the words of Tyler the Creator, Caleb would "rather be happy than be fucking forty." That was just a fact. He didn't have the Peter Pan complex where he feared growing up. He just wouldn't necessarily mind if he died before he reached the point in his life where he was expected to man up and take responsibility for himself. And that was fine with him. Most people around Caleb completely accepted the fact that he'd probably die within the next few years, and it made them value him more, or stay away from him. It was a good filter system for friends. If they stuck around, he'd keep them close, and if they left, well that was fine too.

She was playing his game, but she was playing it better than he was. He had to wonder if she was as insecure as he was. Was that why she couldn't answer his question? Or was she just teasing him the way that he'd teased her? He wasn't sure. Either way, it made her more able to relate to than he wanted her to be. After all, Caleb didn't like comparing himself to other people. Other people were always better than he was. Well, except in bed. He'd always probably be the best in Maple Hollow when that became his arena. Which was why it was hard to resist taking Mona here and now when she sucked on his skin. He'd probably have a hickey for a while too. That was a pain. He tried not to get those for fear of people getting the right idea about him. It meant that he either had a girlfriend or slept around, and that made everything a little more difficult when it came to seducing other girls. Still, he didn't want her to stop. "Enough to win the prize, I guess," he replied, handing the girl her matches. It was a shame that he didn't get a real answer, but he wasn't complaining.

Caleb hadn't started smoking because of peer pressure. He'd done it because he'd never turned down something that someone offered him. Rarely did Caleb Cross ever say no to anything, and that was why he was so likable. Or hateable, depending on who you asked. There were, of course, a few exceptions to this rule, and getting a girlfriend was one of them. He didn't like being tied down in monogamy, and he hated relationships in general. People tried to change him when he entered a relationship, and he couldn't deal with that. Caleb loved who he was, and hated whoever tried to make him into someone else. Everyone kind of knew that about him though. Word spread around town after all. Which was why the words that came out of Mona's mouth next kind of threw him off guard. "Are you asking me out?" he asked, hoping to clarify. Maybe she was just insecure and talking about some other boy. Even though he hated playing therapist, it was better than the alternative. He did not want to have to turn this girl down. But he definitely would if it came down to it.

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[MONA FAITH LANDRY]

Mona smiled as she got her matches back, tucking them into the pocket of her jeans. She felt successful, and it was pathetic because this is how she's getting her kicks nowadays. This was her fun, skipping school and hanging out with guys who she would have turned her nose up at were she in middle school and too-confident in herself. Even back then she didn't have many friends because she liked to boss people around, was brutally honest in her opinions of them. She didn't ever consider herself a nice person, but it changed when she was flirting with someone. She knew the tricks of the trade, it was all simple really. A scientific equation could possibly boil it down to well-placed touches and smiles and jokes and laughing even if the other person's humor was not top-notch at all. She thought that it was her getting what she wanted, when really she was just giving other people what they wanted from her. It didn't really matter anymore, and right now she didn't want to put herself in a bad mood thinking about why.

He asked the question, one she didn't really know how to answer. She was checking a lot of firsts off her list lately, asking someone out being one of them. She shrugged her shoulders. Like it was no big deal. Take it or leave it, when she really wanted to be with him. Try this relationship deal out with him. It didn't cross her mind once what kind of person he was, whether because of her naivete or that she'd been blinded by her affections. She turned her head to look at him, studied his expression. "I don't know depends on whether it's a yes or no from you," she told him, a smile spreading across her face. She stood up then, hands crossing her arms as she leaned back the cliff side. "I mean, thinking about it now, I could be pretty good. No jealousy, because you're not going to get better. I have a life so it's not like I can cling." That was a usual thing boyfriends didn't want, right? The clingy, jealous girlfriends who didn't have a life outside of their significant other so every thought and idea in their head was about the guy they had snatched up.

The reason she wanted a boyfriend, if not to show him off? She figured that's what happened. If she felt something more for Caleb than just wanting to hump in all the time, this was a way of getting closer. She didn't acknowledge that the Fire elemental was not someone she could get close to, didn't take in consideration that it was a possibility. "And hey. A lot of fucking any time, that's a plus. How about it?" She put on a light, joking tone spreading her arms out and shrugging. What could go wrong with that? Painfully naive, she didn't understand all that went into a relationship, what it meant. She had had friends who dated before she did, back in middle school when she was focused on doing chores around the house and watching out for her siblings. Pearl had boyfriends, she knew that when she was kicked out of her room some nights and forced to sleep with Brian and Sibill. Other than that, she had no clue about the workings. It was all wild guesses and assumptions based on what she'd seen.

[caleb]

This was bad. Really bad. Caleb hated having to turn people down when they offered to date him. It wasn't so much that he felt bad, but it was a question whose answer would fuck everything up. No matter what, a no meant awkwardness, and a yes meant slavery. So which did he choose? Couldn't they just keep going on the way that they were? Fucking and having fun with no strings attached. That was the best way to interact. Caleb's favorite people were the ones who would ride him all night long and recognize that there was no affection involved. Caleb didn't feel. At least, not that he'd ever admit. That's why he drank, too. To get rid of those pesky emotions that managed to bubble up to the surface. They were never romantic feelings though. He didn't operate in that capacity, and he had to wonder if Mona knew any of this. Word had spread, after all.

It sounded like the girl was making a business proposal, and he sat back and listened to the entire thing. It wasn't necessarily a bad offer, and if Caleb were any other guy, he probably would have taken it in a heartbeat. But Caleb was Caleb, and even though he was being offered a relationship with no jealousy and no clinging, he couldn't say yes. The offer for sex any time was even more persuasive. She should have led with that, actually. But he still couldn't agree to her terms. Why buy the cow when you got the milk for free? It was a time old question that he couldn't answer for the life of him. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not the kind of person you wanna date," he said, shaking his head. This was an experiment. He hadn't been asked out in a while, and still wasn't sure how to handle those kinds of situations. Maybe if he could keep her on the hook, he could continue to use this girl the way he'd been for a while. "I'm not saying no. I'm just saying not now."

If Caleb's newest theory worked, she'd be determined to please him now. She'd attempt to convince him to do whatever she could to turn that maybe into a yes. Of course, this was all theoretical, and he probably thought too highly of himself for that to possibly have been true. After all, she could have just moved on to another boy in a heartbeat, and that really wouldn't have been much of a loss, except that he'd have one less person to sleep with regularly. Still though, if this worked he'd be well on his way to some kind of glorious discovery that would make him the hero of kids like him. If he wasn't already.

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[MONA FAITH LANDRY]

Mona took a leap of faith, saying what she did. Usually a secure person, someone who kept all her secrets locked up safe, she didn't tell people how she felt or thought about them. That was all her business. But she took a chance, and she had the feeling that she would regret it, even before he spoke his next words. And when he did, it was a twist in her gut. She blinked. Huh. So he wasn't good at relationships? This is where every girl's thoughts went wrong, whenever they went down the path of I can change him instead of getting out of here. However, his next words quieted some of those thoughts. Not now. She squinted her eyes, before relaxing her expression soon after. Was this playing hard to get, or was she convincing herself of things to make her feel better? It was easier to pretend when she didn't know for sure.

Her hands fell from her hips. There was several ways she knew she could have responded to that, and surprisingly for once, anger wasn't one of the ways. "Eh, forget I even said anything. I guess I'll ask some other day." She waved her hand, as if to brush off their previous answers. She wouldn't whine. Neither desperate nor willing to debase herself like that, the best response she decided would be to shrug it off. Did that mean she would stop pining after him. The answer stuck fast in her mind as a simple fact. No. But now he knew how she felt. She felt discomfited with the idea. She didn't give pieces of herself away easily. Or that's what she thought. Mona didn't know anymore. She had become this new breed of herself, she was a clone in look but not in behavior. In her mind, she convinced herself that he wouldn't do anything about it. It comforted her, convinced her that she hadn't made a mistake. Because he said not now. Goddamit, she hated feelings.

Mona sat back down on the rock, sighing and noticing that her breathing came out in wisps. She was getting colder. "But you know, if it turns out you get a girlfriend, I'm gonna be pissed. Not jealous girlfriend pissed, but rejected suitor pissed." She arched her eyebrows, like it was a warning to him. That went without saying, though. Of course she would be angry after being rejected, he turns around and has some chick on his arm. But would that happen? As usual, whenever ponderings about him crossed her mind, she couldn't properly discern the truth. Rubbing her hands together, she said, "You going back to class today?" If he was, she would probably leave and go back inside to get warm. But if he was planning to skiv off the rest of the day, she figured that they could go somewhere a little more interesting than the cliffs.