Fade Away • •

[billy ellwood vargas]

Billy was used to people looking at him. Even when his arms and legs were covered like they were today, there were still plenty of tattoos on show. He was proud of his ink though, so he thought nothing of it, and if anyone had anything to say he never heard it. On crowded, noisy streets he turned his hearing aids off because it was too much to focus on. He could handle the muffled noises better, and it wasn’t like anyone who knew him was going to shout his name down a street anyway; they knew better than that if they knew Billy at all. He didn’t conceal his partial deafness or how he had ended up that way. He didn’t see the point in it. He also told people not to bother with the pitying looks, or their sympathetic comments. He was fine, and he was living exactly the life he wanted to live. Billy knew he could have come out the other side far worse or not at all. He wasn’t the type to complain about the hand fate had dealt him when he knew how lucky he had been in the grand scheme of things.

He wasn’t due at Casablanca until later that night, so Billy had packed his day with plenty of things to keep himself busy. He had spent the morning at the skate park making sure he didn’t get sloppy. Skating had been a hobby since he was a kid, but his skateboard had been a unique apparatus in his recovery from meningitis. His balance and coordination had been damaged, but his need to get back on his board, and his existing talents helping him tremendously to make a quick recovery when doctors and physiotherapists had expected more months of work in the hospital gym. Billy would not be kept off his wheels if he had anything to say about it. Even now, as a grown man, he still had tricks to practice and a need to blow off steam in the heavily graffitied park with his friends, and the kids who would from time to time ask him how he did something without landing on his ass. He was happy to offer advice and teach them what they wanted to know. He remembered being in their shoes himself, and the only way to learn was by asking and practicing until bruises were black and everything hurt. Still, it made it feel so much better when something went right though.

He went home, showered and changed before heading out to do some shopping and grab some lunch. Billy liked to try to keep it as quiet as possible when he went out and about New York City. Some stores blasted music, whereas others were deathly quiet, and he hated adjusting his hearing aids, which was another reason why they were not on his person right now. It was a hassle, and sometimes hurt his ears more than it was worth when he was caught off guard by a security alarm, or a speaker being right by him. With his mom’s birthday coming up, Billy was out looking for a couple of things to send back to LA for her. He was in one store, eyeing up a quirky set of candle holders when someone bumped his back. It wasn’t enough to make him stumble, but he still felt it and glanced back at the man, who appeared to be trying to blame Billy – who hadn’t even moved – for the minor collision. His words were muffled though, and Billy couldn’t quite see his lips from the angle he was at. He wasn’t looking for trouble, and he wouldn’t start something over such a tiny thing. He could be bigger than that. Instead he just walked around the shelf, making a note to circle back to the candle holders if he saw nothing else once the rude idiot was gone from there.

• • •

TAGGED! Utah Maisie Parrish
WORDS! 657!
OUTFIT! Hip Hunk!
LYRICS! Diamond Days - - - Kids in Glass Houses
NOTES!

[Utah Maisie Parrish]

It was no secret among her family and friends that Utah liked quirky things to scatter around her room and the rest of the house she still shared with her parents. She loved eccentric things and having a laugh with her mother when her daddy stumbled upon a new something or other in the house. It was a trait she shared with her mother and one of her sisters, further proving the petite and feisty blonde was where she belonged. As it was, the house and the garden were full of throw pillows and those huge sitting pillows. She liked them better than the couch or her father's recliner that they were only allowed to sit in when he wasn't home. It was the only chair in the house Utah had ever fallen asleep in, loving how it smelt like her daddy's cologne. It was comfort and the place she'd been sitting when they asked her to be their daughter. She'd been curled up in the man she now and would forever call daddy's lap, scared they were going to send her away. He had been all she'd known in the outside world. As far as she had been told as a child, this world had been nothing but savage lands, nothing but wild animals roamed and that it was all extremely dangerous. Utah liked to think she wasn't so gullible now but she still caught herself believing things only to turn bring red when she finally figured out it was a joke.

It made her angry that she didn't clue in faster but she'd had a bit of an awkward childhood and all these things like sarcasm and fairytales weren't things for her. All these things had to be explained and it occasionally still took her a few minutes to work out if it was real or not. During school it wasn't too bad, she let the other students just think she was slower than them. She wasn't but because she'd missed all those years of school, she was very behind in some aspects and almost insanely advanced in others. It had all lead to special classes with a one on one teacher to bring everything up to where it needed to be. Not once though had Utah let it get her down. So whenever something did bother her, her parents had brought her out and let her pick out some things to brighten her mood. It was always the oddball and quirky things that appealed to her, which was why most of the house was decorated to fit her fancy whilst still having bit of her parents around. It calmed her and even though she'd grown enough to have things pretty much where they needed to be for her age, she still had her moments.

This time she was in one of her favourite stores because it was her mother's birthday and she hated buying something ahead of time only for her to find it putting the laundry Utah had left in the dryer in her room. With her Iced Caffè Mocha in hand and her headphones in her ears with the music on low, Utah made her way through the shop slowly, taking in everything. She was very particular when she was picking out gifts; especially ones for her mom. They were special and though Utah knew her mother would love anything her children got her, they all liked to pick out something different. After sending Brett a quick text to see if he'd gotten her a gift yet, Utah slipped her phone back into her pocket and continued through the shop. She picked up an elephant statue, something she knew was meant to mean good luck but dismissed it a minute later. Her mother liked Armadillos, or at least that was what Brett had told her. Even after all this time, Utah had no idea if that was actually true or a prank that was still going on and it didn't matter. Dismissing the statues, Utah moved to another area, sipping her drink as she reached to pick up a decorative bowl. Instead of the bowl however, she grabbed a hand instead. Quickly releasing it, she tugged her headphones free even as she looked up at the owner of the other hand. "I'm so sorry, go ahead." She said with a nervous giggle and a wave towards the bowl.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || billy ellwood vargas
Words || 733
Clothes || Daydeam Believer
Music || Road Less Traveled --Lauren Alaina
Notes || <3

[billy ellwood vargas]

Billy wouldn’t say that getting sick was a good thing. His memories of the hospital were hazy at best. He had slipped in and out of consciousness for a worrying while. The damage caused to his body was irreversible, and his life was forever changed by the time he was starting to feel healthy enough to simply sit up in the stiff hospital bed he was desperate to leave. Billy was just thankful to be alive, and the rest he could make work. He had been younger and frustrated during the physiotherapy, but his skating had oddly been the clue to helping him regain his balance. It was strange to find that a hobby he was often hurt doing turned out to be the thing that made him better quicker. He might never hear properly again, but Billy could get around, he had his hearing aids, and he knew how to live with that by now. Billy had never been the type to plan his life out five years at a time. There hadn’t been some grand plan ruined when he was struck down by the meningitis. Instead he had just been able to make his plans as the time came, work with the hand fate dealt him. In no way did he feel hindered or troubled by his circumstances.

He held down a job he loved, had friends he considered to be loyal, and spent a fair amount of free time at the skate park, board in hand. Billy was content with his life, and was in no rush to race towards his future and all the things other people already seemed to have. He wasn’t in a rush to make a baby with a pretty girl, or slip a ring on her finger and see if she’d take his name in some lavish ceremony or quick elopement. The big old American dream didn’t call out to him like some cursed siren. He was happy to take each day as it came, face the challenges with the best of his knowledge, and revel in the plot twists and surprises that life managed to throw at him. It was how he stayed on his toes, and a typically routine that kept him doing the same thing day in and day out would probably kill him, slowly and painfully.

He was too laidback for routines, and often couldn’t be bothered with stressful drama like some guy blaming him for a simple accident that Billy really had nothing to do with. It was easier to walk away, especially when he couldn’t even hear what the hell was going on. It was like being underwater, straining to hear what was going on back on the surface. Billy felt the hand close around his and blinked in confusion at the smaller blonde who had briefly gripped it. His eyebrows were furrowed as he caught the end of what she said, his eyes focusing on her lips to make out the words. There were times he regretted not having his hearing aids in, even if he did dislike them. This was suddenly one of those times. “No, please.” He pretended to be interested in a marble ashtray on the top shelf, even though he wasn’t going to buy such a gift for his non-smoking household. The girl at his side didn’t know that though.

• • •

TAGGED! Utah Maisie Parrish
WORDS! 561!
OUTFIT! Hip Hunk!
LYRICS! Diamond Days - - - Kids in Glass Houses
NOTES!