• Curse Me Out •

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Becoming “Dr. Tylers” had been a goal of Zoe’s for as long as she could remember. Applying for endless scholarships to put herself through school, working crazy hours outside of class to afford textbooks, and spending more time studying than sleeping had taken years off her life she was sure, but it was entirely worth it to be able to sign her name with those special initials in front of it. She had given up so much of herself to achieve that childhood dream, and she could proudly smile at her degree hung in a place of honor on the wall. She had done it; she had reached that point in her life that she had strived tirelessly to reach and she now stood at the top of that mountain only to realize her climb was far from over yet.
Teaching at NYU had never, in a million years, been her intention upon getting her degree. She loved the hands-on work of being a vet, and it was a high unlike any other to realize a patient had been saved because of her treatment. Her whole heart was in the profession, thriving on the unique love that could only come from animals, and she wouldn’t have traded that for anything in the world. But, New York had been calling and relentlessly pulling on her heartstrings once again, and Zoe hadn’t been able to stop herself from being lured back into the maze of the city streets, even if it was to teach a few courses at her old school.
It felt a bit like walking backwards as she returned to the halls she’d roamed a little over a year ago. She hadn’t pictured herself returning when she’d graduated; she hadn’t really known what would happen, if she was honest. Her last time here had been before Romeo had raced down to Adams to propose, and before they’d planned a future together, and before she’d runoff only to regret leaving his side. Now, as she stood at the front of a lecture hall cleaning up after her class and preparing to leave for the day, she had to remind herself that she couldn’t go backwards. She had to keep moving forward, no matter what that path had in store for her.
Zoe forced the thoughts out of her head and slid the remainder of her lecture notes into her case. She was a professor now; she couldn’t afford to appear weak, even for a second, in front of any of the students on campus. She had to be a grownup.
She finished collecting her things and exited the lecture hall as the next round of students began pouring in. She was done for the day and headed back to the adjunct professors’ office to prepare her case studies for her class later that week, and her mind had already drifted to auto-pilot to create a checklist of the things she needed to accomplish before leaving campus for the day.
She walked down the hall to the elevator and pressed the button, checking her cellphone in the process to see if her sister had returned her text from that morning. Without looking up, she entered the elevator once the doors slid open and reached out to press the button for the floor she had memorized by now.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 607!
OUTFIT: HOT PROFESSOR!
LOCATION: The Elevator, NYU Campus
LYRICS: Empty Pack of Cigarettes by Joseph Angel
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo didn’t exactly hang out on the NYU campus like some of the college kids did. He didn’t have time for it most days. He had work, or plans with Ellie, or he just wanted to get home to power through his assignments while he had the chance. He felt like he had more responsibilities than some of the other students on his course, and Romeo had been through the experience once before already. The glamour of college and that first taste of freedom had long since worn off for him. He just wanted to get through the fast track course he was on to turn his English Literature degree into something he could use to teach with, and then get out into the world and make his dreams a reality. As much as he loved working in a bookstore, Romeo didn’t want to be trapped in Barnes & Noble forever. He was a city boy with city dreams. He hadn’t come from much, but he didn’t want his past to define his future.

It already felt like he was retracing his steps, walking back through NYU hallways. It had been years since he had first been a student there, but it felt completely different a second time around. Of course, Romeo was a changed person now. He was older, more mature, and was less interested in the making friends and clambering for a social life and all those rumoured college experiences. He had an end goal and he wanted to reach it as quickly as possible. It meant he went to class, got out of class, and got his work done. Sure, he spoke to people here and there, knew people who could become friends of some description, but Romeo had his life in New York City set up already. It was built and college wasn’t setting the foundations for it this time. Ellie was different. She was in the dorms, finding her escape and growing into a confident young woman Romeo was both proud of and missing. The apartment was quiet without her, and sometimes he wished she was that high school kid again, grumbling over her maths homework as Romeo hollered simpler explanations from the kitchen where he washed up the pots and pans from their dinner.

Romeo left the classroom after his seminar with a book in his hand. He had mastered the art of navigating a crowd whilst reading a long time ago, so it was no problem for him to slip between people while his eyes scanned the text. He moved from the fourth floor room down the narrow corridors that he had long since stopped questioning the size of, and turned to where the elevators were. Normally, Romeo would take the stairs, but he had tripped that morning and his knee kept pulling slightly. He couldn’t afford to take time off work and they had far too many big displays and deliveries due in the next few weeks for him to be resting in his office. He had to play it safe for a few days at least. He pressed the elevator call button and waited. Still reading, the ding of the doors alerted him to reality, and Romeo stepped inside without looking up, nestling himself in the corner near the door. “Ground, please.” He said, still not looking up, but knowing he wasn’t alone in the small box. He just hated leaning across people to press buttons, especially if they were already pressed.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 583!
OUTFIT! Bookworm Brit!
LYRICS! Break My Heart - - - Alex Preston
NOTES! I FINALLY GOT THIS POSTED.

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe didn’t want to teach forever, or even for a long time. She was only teaching a couple classes as a guest lecturer, maintaining her new fascination with not putting down long-term roots anywhere she didn’t have to. NYU was a temporary solution to a problem that she had created for herself, but she was enjoying being back in the city for the time being. It was strange to have people calling her “professor” and looking up to her as a role model when she had been in their shoes not too long ago, but she had always had a knack for helping people and teaching was really no different. She graded papers, wrote exams, and brought up gruesome photos from some of her most grueling cases to present for class. It was something fun, and it too up her time, something she had in abundance these days.
Boredom was her worst enemy since she’d run away from New York. Being bored meant her mind could wander, and that usually led to her sitting alone on a barstool in a strange pub where she fogged her head back up with one too many shots of tequila. Zoe hadn’t been handling her regrets well, to say the least. She was a kickass vet, and she’d regained many of her previous horseback riding skills that had been abandoned during college, but she wasn’t good at forgiving herself in the slightest.
She needed to find a new dream. Adams was too small for her wings now, and it felt more like a cage than a home; she didn’t belong in the tiny country town anymore. She craved freedom and adventure; she needed a place where she could fly without the fear of being pulled back down by chains. Traveling had been her band-aid placed over a bullet wound that broke open every time she tried to run too fast, but a wound that was slowly being stitched up as Zoe found herself in New York once again. Even if she was here for very different reasons, she had faith that she would find her way in the city once more. The crazy streets had helped light her path before and she was placing her hope on the idea that they would again.
Zoe spent most of her time on campus holed up in the adjunct office, only venturing out for class, lunch, or coffee. She didn’t crave the social connections she’d experienced in her early days of college and much preferred to hide away in silence where she could devote herself to finding her footing on a career twist she never would’ve expected for herself.
With how huge NYU was, it was rare that she would run into people she recognized from her past years at the school. She saw her students often enough, but old friends were few and far between. Zoe thought nothing of it as the elevator stopped on a floor, her eyes glued to her cell phone as she caught up on everything she’d missed during her class. She was chasing new leads for life after teaching, consulting on a mare’s pregnancy down in Kentucky, and trying to keep track of her siblings who were slowly being spread across the country just like her. To say the least, her email and missed calls were always a long list when she left her phone for too long.
Her fingers tapped furiously across the screen, freezing only as the voice of the newcomer sparked recognition in her head. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, her heart pausing as her eyes snapped up only to land on Romeo in a position she found as natural as any: with his nose buried in a book. Her breath left her throat in a rush and she could only blink for a moment as the elevator doors slid closed. What the hell were the odds?
Their conversation on the sidewalk immediately flooded her brain. She had stolen his cigarette, for God’s sake; it was an unforgettably painful experience. And now here they stood, trapped in an elevator together and the most alone they’d been since the day she’d walked out on him.
Seeing him answered one of the thousands of questions she had about him; he had stayed in school and it made her feel inexplicably proud of him. Zoe had always known he’d chase his dreams, and she was so glad she hadn’t ruined that for him. She wanted him to find every happiness in the world.
Taking a deep breath and pressing the button he needed, she said quietly, "I always wondered how ya managed to get so caught up in a book but still avoid trippin’ over the crowd.”

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 793!
OUTFIT: HOT PROFESSOR!
LOCATION: The Elevator, NYU Campus
LYRICS: Empty Pack of Cigarettes by Joseph Angel
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo had always wanted to teach. It had been his desire since high school. He wanted to take those kids who thought reading and Shakespeare was a waste of time and show them that it could be an escape, and open doors to worlds they could never, ever believe existed out there. He hadn’t come from a great place, but a book could take him away from all of that, show him that there was more out that there the dingy street with litter in the gutters. There was a chance for a kid like him to make himself into something great. Fate didn’t have it down for him to turn out just like his dad just because of where they came from and what little they had. He could be his own kind of hero for someone who needed it. He wanted to inspire others to think that way, to pass that message on to another kid who might have been just like Romeo once upon a time. He knew the world was full of them; he hadn’t been alone back then and no matter how they felt the kids out there weren’t alone now.

Ellie had helped him a lot, as much as he had helped her. She would probably never understand, but Romeo had matured for her. He was who he was because of his little sister. He wanted her to have as normal a life as possible, to experience all the things she was supposed to without having to worry about the problems he could remember from when he had been so much younger. Romeo felt like he had succeeded. She was so excited to be in college now, to be tasting her independence for the first time. Yeah, she messed up every now and then. Romeo had laughed until he cried when she called him in a panic over accidentally throwing a red sock in with her white laundry. And he couldn’t believe the photograph she sent of a spatula stuck to a frying pan. He was expecting a lot more of those kinds of mistakes from his little sister before she found her feet in the world, but Romeo knew that she could do it. He wasn’t worried about Ellie succeeding out there. That was why he didn’t feel the need to reach out to her between classes and why he was spending more time with books. The apartment was a lot quieter without her, that was for sure.

Romeo turned the page and started on the next chapter without missing a beat. He could probably have the book finished by the time he got back to the apartment today. That was a good thing given the never ending to-read pile Romeo kept, and the college work he had to do these days. He would have a new book started by bedtime and hopefully have done something to feel productive by the way of his class assignments. It was a task of juggling everything to keep on top of things and manage to avoid feeling completely stressed by everything he had to manage in his life. At the sound of that painfully familiar voice, Romeo’s eyes flicked upwards from the page, but didn’t look at Zoe. There was a beat where he swallowed and then Romeo was back to the words in his hand, though they weren’t being absorbed as well as a moment ago. “Yeah, well, I’ve ‘ad time t’ practice.” He said drily, momentarily wondering what the total would be if he had kept count of all the books he had read since Zoe had left. Being alone certainly granted him more reading time.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 614!
OUTFIT! Bookworm Brit!
LYRICS! Break My Heart - - - Alex Preston
NOTES! <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe’s siblings were some of the most important people in her life. She may not have been living under the same roof as them since she’d started her schooling in New York, but she made sure she was caught up on everything happening at the farm in Adams. Her family was still a vital part of who she was, a fact that would never change. They meant the world to her, no matter where she was on the planet at the time.
She was still as close as ever with her younger sisters in particular, and she tried her hardest to be a role model that helped prove it was possible to break the pattern that so many small-town kids fell into. Adams was by no means a terrible place to grow up and Zoe wouldn’t trade her roots for any others, but that place created a mold for life that was always expected to be followed. It was growing up, falling in love out of high school, and continuing the family business of farming or running shops in the little downtown space they had; it had been the same for generations and it didn’t seem to be changing any time soon.
Her determination to create her own life path had given her the drive to get what she wanted, her eyes always on the prize of a degree and being able to become a veterinarian that got to make a difference in the world of animals and animal lovers alike. She hadn’t had many distractions from that path, save one that had completely altered the course she’d envisioned for herself.
Zoe had never planned to fall in love with anyone, let alone the person she could see herself spending the rest of her life with. She hadn’t thought she’d have the time between work and school, but, somehow, that love had consumed her life in ways she’d never imagined. And it completely terrified her as she stood on the precipice of what would define both her life and career.
She had been raised to put family before everything else in her life; that was one of the biggest morals her parents had ground into her heart from a young age. She had rebelled against that idea completely by leaving for New York in the first place and, by doing so, had created a place in her mind that associated family with closed walls and chains. She loved her family, her Mama, and the loving childhood they had created for her, but Zoe didn’t want that yet. She wanted her freedom just a little bit longer.
But, she loved Romeo. He had managed to rearrange her life in only ways a true love could, stealing her heart and her focus from the one goal she’d had for as long as she could remember. After living without him for a year, Zoe knew she needed him as much as she did her career; one without the other wasn’t enough. She needed someone who understood when she was exhausted and would let her ramble about cases, even if he had no idea what was going on; she needed someone to come home to.
Zoe stood in the NYU elevator wishing she could tell him everything that had been running through her mind for the last year. She couldn’t though; she knew that. He wouldn’t listen anymore.
Her eyes lit with hope as his gaze came up, the fire quickly dying as he didn’t bother to glance at her. Why wouldn’t he even look at her? She couldn’t get enough of him after being away for so long. "’Out of his favor where I am in love,’” Zoe muttered under her breath, reciting the line with ease as it sent a small prick to her heart. She had read plenty of Shakespeare during their time together, and the plethora of lines floating in her head were still because of him, especially anything relating to Romeo and Juliet. She supposed they truly were star-crossed lovers now.
Her eyes looking back to him, Zoe adjusted her bag on her shoulder anxiously. She wanted to talk to him, but she didn’t know how anymore; he was so damn stubborn. With a deep breath, she said, "How are your classes going? Will you be leading New York’s next generation of Shakespeare lovers soon?”

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 728!
OUTFIT: HOT PROFESSOR!
LOCATION: The Elevator, NYU Campus
LYRICS: Empty Pack of Cigarettes by Joseph Angel
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo had put his life on hold for Ellie. It wasn’t something he regretted at all, rather it was quite the contrary. There were times when he appreciated having the extra time to enjoy his youth even with the combined responsibilities of caring for a teenager. He had time to think about his future, ensure he was making the right choices for himself. Romeo had gone back to college without changing his mind about what he wanted to do with his life, but he also gone back knowing that he wanted to help kids who might have come from troubled backgrounds like his own find freedom in places they might never have looked before. Too many people scoffed at books without even looking beyond the first pages. They had a reputation to be musty, nerdy things, but Romeo refused to accept that, and he would change how others saw them, too. In time, of course. Right now he was patiently getting through his classes and working his usual hours at Barnes and Noble, getting used to how quiet the apartment was at night.

Ellie was still around; Romeo doubted she’d ever be too far away even after college was over for her. It was just different now that she wasn’t leaving shoes laying around or complaining about what he had on the TV. After Zoe left it had been Ellie who picked him up and kept him going just by being the annoying little sister who nagged him when she was hungry, or when she wanted something. Once she had moved out it was like that suddenly stopped, which was strange after eighteen years of knowing very little else. Romeo had always been the one to cater to Ellie’s whims and argue with her when she was being demanding and having a tantrum about something weird and something only she could understand. He didn’t want to get inside her head and honestly didn’t think he ever could. It was a strange and dangerous place for anyone, and he wished luck for anyone who even tried to take on that challenge.

Romeo couldn’t make out the words Zoe muttered, but he could hear that she mumbled something to herself. He, in turn, huffed to himself and turned the page of his book, hoping to return to the world created between the pages just so he could escape this entire situation. When Zoe spoke again, Romeo felt his irritation burning up inside. He slammed the book shut deciding that he couldn’t enjoy the story anymore. “Y’ stopped carin’ when y’ bailed. So don’t try an’ act interested now.” He snapped. He was hurt badly by her when she left, and now she was back and just acting like everything was damn fine. It wasn’t. Things didn’t work like that, and Romeo wasn’t ready to just forgive and pretend like things hadn’t been awful when she just upped and left like she had done. Romeo was moving on with his life now, focusing on his future, but this was someone mocking him in the cruellest fashion.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 515!
OUTFIT! Bookworm Brit!
LYRICS! Break My Heart - - - Alex Preston
NOTES! <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe had never wanted to hurt Romeo. He had sacrificed so much for her and been her Superman in the best way possible, so leaving him behind was nearly impossible. Saying goodbye to him had ripped her heart in half, and she still carried that pain around with her every day. She could only imagine what her leaving had done to him. If it had been the reverse, and she had been the one left with broken promises and a shattered future, Zoe didn’t know how she would’ve coped. Then again, she hadn’t exactly been coping well at all.
If she had stayed, she wasn’t sure where they would’ve been now. She had loved him and had wanted to marry him; she just hadn’t been ready. What would that have done to their relationship? Would it have driven a wedge between them and brought on a divorce, or would they be living happily ever after? Those uncertainties had made her run and, a year later, they still scared her to no end.
Seeing Romeo in general was terrifying now. He seemed so much wilder than the man she’d left behind and even with her newfound confidence, Zoe still didn’t know what to say to him. She didn’t know what he needed to hear to make him look at her again and see her, not just the anger he had every right to feel. Zoe wanted to apologize with every fiber of her being, but, if it was going to fall on deaf ears, there was no point in wasting the words.
His harsh words twisted her heart. She had always hated fighting with him, and it was no different now, but he was so far from the truth. "You’re wrong,” she said back, trying to keep herself from snapping at the accusation. Her voice more tender, she added, "I never stopped caring about you; you’re pretty impossible to forget.” She had never ceased thinking about him, and she doubted she ever would. Yes, she had walked out because she hadn’t been ready for the whirlwind that was their engagement and planned marriage; but, no, her heart had never stopped longing for his brash accent and the comforting scent of his cigarettes and cologne lingering on his shirt after a long day. Zoe’s heart still entirely, completely, and irrevocably belonged to Romeo, no matter how far she’d run. He just needed to look at her and see it.
"I’m sorry,” she said sincerely, clutching tighter to the strap of her bag. Her knuckles were turning white from her grip, but she was too focused on him to care. "What do you need me to say for you to understand that? I’ll scream it from every rooftop in New York if you’ll just hear it, Romeo,” she pleaded.
She stepped closer to him, looking up at the eyes that had taken her breath away on more than one occasion. ”Tell me what I need to do for you to look at me again.”

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 506!
OUTFIT: HOT PROFESSOR!
LOCATION: The Elevator, NYU Campus
LYRICS: Empty Pack of Cigarettes by Joseph Angel
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo had let the city sink into his bones. He was sharper, jagged where he used to be softer, and in many ways it wasn’t New York that shone through when he was angry. It was home; it was Liverpool. It was a city that could never be taken away from him, his blood ran through his veins as dark and as furious as the River Mersey herself. His mam had commented on it though, but Ellie was on Romeo’s side too much to turn against him in the years that followed devastating heartbreak. He was just another city lad, coarse and rough, unpredictable and hurting. It would have been so easy for him to wander off down the wrong path and end up in trouble. Romeo knew enough to realise that if he hadn’t had Ellie and ambition of his own he probably would have done just that. It might have been fights, bad people, or just one bad choice, but he knew there was no coming back from mistakes like that. He saw it all the time, heard about it daily. Romeo didn’t want to throw his life away to become another tragic story befitting his name. He was already shifting into something dangerous to touch and that was bad enough.

Zoe being back in the city was not helping him. It was bringing all those painful memories back to the surface and dredging up the anguish he had felt, too. Feeling close to moving on was impossible when she was in front of him like a ghost tormenting him. If he gave into primal urges he would stalk out of the elevator, head to the nearest bar and get drunk enough to either take someone home with him, or get into a fight. None of those things were what he truly wanted to do. He knew he’d hate himself for it in the end. Romeo simply wasn’t that type of guy, but that was the sort of behaviour that might help him forget and release some of these pent up feelings that had been bubbling to the surface since Zoe’s return.

“Just easy t’ walk away from.” He said coldly, tossing a glare her way before finding the buttons of the elevator more interesting. Zoe had drove a dagger into his heart when she walked out of his life. It wasn’t something he could just let go of. Romeo was stubborn and often times a very unforgiving man. No one had hurt him like this before, and he needed to protect himself from feeling that kind of pain again. “I’m sorry just doesn’t fuckin’ cut it sometimes. So scream it all y’ like, but it ain’t goin’ t’ make a blind bit o’ difference.” In his mind, the time for apologies had long since gone. It would have been in the weeks after she left, not the years. Sorry didn’t take back the heart break, the confusion, or the suffering. It didn’t fix anything she had done to him. They were just meaningless words people threw about like they were some miracle cure to every problem. They weren’t. His lip curling, Romeo wished for nothing more than the ability to light up a cigarette in the elevator. “You’re not ‘er.” He said simply, hoping his words hurt. “An I’m not y’re bleedin’ Romeo.” He shoved his belongings about in his bag, frustrated, pushing them around in the hopes that some of his anger might be let out on the inanimate objects there.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 593!
OUTFIT! Bookworm Brit!
LYRICS! Break My Heart - - - Alex Preston
NOTES! I am not responsible for Romeo >.>

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe had loved horses for as long as she could remember. She grew up around them, always following her father to the barn and climbing on the gates to sneak the beautiful creatures leftover carrots or apples. Some of her earliest memories were clinging to her parents as they rode across the piece of property that had been in their family for generations; horses were as much a part of her life as anything else in Adams.
She had still been young when her father had given her Lizzie, her own horse and one of the things she missed most about home. Her love of freedom had come from riding, and she craved that high of being as fast as the wind more often than she admitted. Riding with the sun beating on her back, her hat falling off and her heart beating in time with cantering hoofbeats, was the freest Zoe ever felt. Horses had also shown her the natural instinct to run, and it went deeper than any other she had. She ran when she was scared; she ran when she didn’t see a way out; she ran when she couldn’t breathe in the prison cell of city sidewalks and towering skyscrapers. Zoe didn’t stay and fight unless she had no other choice.
"I didn’t walk away from you,” she retorted, the frustration clear in her eyes. "I walked to somethin’ else, somethin’ I always planned on doing before–” Zoe stopped herself, the words hanging on her lips. Before what? Before she’d made a life in New York? Before he’d proposed to her? Before she’d earned her degree? Her eyes softening, she finished, "before… you.” She took a deep breath, the list of horses and animals she’d saved running through her head. That had been her goal; that was what she had always, always wanted, and her heart wouldn’t let her live in peace until she had done it. "I wasn’t just sippin’ margaritas and goin’ to rodeos all year. I had to be a real vet for awhile, Romeo, before I came here and gave it up to work with boring dogs and cats. I had to be a country girl for a little longer and do what I was always suppos’d to do.”
She had tried to call him in the weeks after she’d left. His number had been dialed on her phone and she’d stared at the screen, looking at his picture and trying to come up with a reason why she’d had to go. But she’d always turn her phone off and force her mind somewhere else; she didn’t know what to say. Zoe wanted to tell him everything she’d accomplished in the last year and how she needed to go and finish this dream before she started her life with him; she wanted him to understand, but she didn’t know how to tell him that she needed this. She had needed to run for one last time.
The breath rushed out of her lungs at his words. It felt worse than any punch he could’ve thrown at her, and she could feel it sinking in as her heart ached. She knew this was her fault; she knew he was hurt because of her and it made the entire situation worse. That girl, the one who had run from him, was not the woman standing there now. If he could see that, would he be her Romeo again?
"You’re right,” she said quietly, "I’m not the same person who left. I’m not her, and you’re not the Romeo she loved. I just wish you’d let us get to know each other again because I’d really, really love to know you, no matter how much you hate me.” Zoe stepped away from him, pushing her curls behind her ear and looking back to the elevator doors.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 648!
OUTFIT: HOT PROFESSOR!
LOCATION: The Elevator, NYU Campus
LYRICS: Empty Pack of Cigarettes by Joseph Angel
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo wanted better than he had had. He wanted the chance to make something of himself, and he wanted to know that his future wasn’t going to mirror the life he came from. The fates could throw anything else at him and he would handle it, but that simple request was something he was going to make certain of. His family for the last few generations had been stuck in a poverty trap, toeing the breadline and struggling to make ends meet in the city he would always call home. He had been the first to go to university, and there were still cousins who were content to take minimum wage jobs in supermarkets and with long, laborious hours simply because they didn’t know how to strive to be better. That, or they couldn’t be bothered to break the cycle the Jervis family had been in for so long. Romeo couldn’t do that. One day he only wanted to walk into Barnes & Noble as a customer, and not as an employee. He needed something better in his life, a greater opportunity to do more. If his family had successfully shown him anything, it was that.

Romeo shook his head, chuckling not with humour but with disbelief. “It’s the same thing.” He said, defeated, knowing that all the words in the English language couldn’t change the fact that Zoe had gone and left him behind when she had ran off to chase her dreams elsewhere. His eyes clouded with constrained anger, and Romeo’s jaw tightened. “I’m sorry all I had t’ offer was borin’.” He said, barely holding back the snarl that he so much wanted to let loose at that moment. To hear that particular word after all their plans and promises felt like a stab in the gut; especially now when she had come back to New York of her own free will for a choice that had absolutely nothing to do with him. Their meeting had been pure chance after all. “The fact that you couldn’t fucking tell me any of this before is what hurts the most.” He sighed angrily, running his hands though his typically messy hair and turning away from her. That was what he couldn’t understand. Why couldn’t she explain all of this to him when they were still a couple? He wasn’t made of stone, and he wasn’t cruel or unyielding. She wasn’t bound to New York just because he loved the city and considered it the only place to call a home.

He shook his head and looked at the metal ceiling above them. The longest elevator ride of his life had to be over soon, surely? “That’s askin’ a lot when I’m not sure if I can forgive ‘er for any o’ this.” Romeo reached for his hair again, becoming fidgety now since he couldn’t light up in the elevator to help his craving for nicotine right now. The doors in front of him couldn’t open fast enough.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 506!
OUTFIT! Bookworm Brit!
LYRICS! Break My Heart - - - Alex Preston
NOTES! I am not responsible for Romeo >.>

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe had gotten out of Adams. That was a claim that only a handful of people could make, and those people were now scattered through various cities, professions, and generations. Leaving Adams wasn’t something that the small-town folk did; they stayed there, got married, raised babies, and continued the family legacy, whether it be ranching, running a local store, or some other business. People stayed in Adams; that was all there was to it.
In her approximately two decades, she had seen more of the country than half the town’s people ever would. It was something that still shocked her when she thoroughly thought through all the places she had been. New York alone was a terrifying place most of her friends and family would never dare set foot in, and they continued to call her crazy for living there in the first place; returning after being down south once more made her certifiably insane to those people, but Zoe wouldn’t have had it any other way.
She had accomplished the dream that had ruled her life for as long as she could remember; she had worked for it, achieved it, and was now figuring out how to find a new one while still living up to the standards her childhood self would have held her at. It was a lot, and it was so lonely without someone to share in the glory with. When she had first run away from New York, she’d often caught herself habitually making a mental note to share with Romeo some interesting tidbit from her day, only to find her heart breaking all over again as she remembered she no longer had a Romeo to tell those things to. And, God, did she miss that.
Zoe wanted to tell him everything she hadn’t been able to before. She wanted to give him the answers she should’ve known when she’d left him, but hadn’t been able to figure out until she’d been free of city smog and elbow-deep in her career. Standing in that elevator, her heart bursting, she wanted to keep him there and spill her soul out to him so maybe, just maybe, he’d realize she wasn’t completely evil. She was just scared of letting go of her dreams.
"That’s not what I meant,” she quipped back as he restrained himself, shaking her head at him quickly while she sighed in frustration. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a file that was far too thick for only a year’s work but one that held some of her greatest case notes and something she often referenced or highlighted in her lectures. She messily flipped to a photograph of herself in a doctor’s jacket intensely tending to a clearly abused horse, the lashes on its sides and visible ribs making a disturbing contrast with the light-haired woman tending it. Holding it up, she stared at Romeo, her blue eyes blazing with the passion that made her work so hard to become a veterinarian in the first place. "This. This is why I left,” she said, flipping to another photo, and another, holding them up each time to showcase a new scene of gruesome cruelty or injury that she was healing. "I have dreamed of savin’ animals like these for long as I can remember. They deserve to be saved, and that little girl who worked so, so hard for this dream wouldn’t let me give it up until I had done what I had always intended to do: heal every single one that I could.” Her eyes drifted to the photographs that depicted some of her proudest professional moments, but also ones that had dragged her away from the man and life she could have had. She had given up marriage and happiness in order to save lives, and not just the animals’; keeping a horse alive that was the last tie to a lost loved one, rescuing a cat that made a boy’s day bearable, treating service dogs that got hurt in the line of duty – all of those things impacted a human life as much as a furry one, and it made her so proud of herself for being able to help people.
After a beat, Zoe closed the file and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment, looking at the floor before forcing her gaze back up to Romeo. "I had to finish that dream before I started workin’ on new ones, ones with you. I didn’t know it then; I didn’t know how much I needed to complete that part of me and I will never forgive myself for not bein’ able to tell you that before, but I don’t regret leaving to save those lives. I just regret leaving you.” She ended in a painful sigh, trying her hardest to keep her composure in this goddamn elevator.
Zoe let Romeo’s words hit her hard, piercing right through her terribly vulnerable heart after her previous speech. She nodded at him, shoving her file folder and her phone back into her purse hastily to hide the tears welling in her eyes. She couldn’t spar with him any more today, not when he was aiming to kill. She just wanted to get out of here and to the safety of the nearest bathroom where she could spill her lunch and her tears in private.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 900!
OUTFIT: HOT PROFESSOR!
LOCATION: The Elevator, NYU Campus
LYRICS: Empty Pack of Cigarettes by Joseph Angel
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo only knew the city. It wasn’t something he regretted at all. The world might have been a big place, but he belonged in the concrete jungle. He felt comfortable listening to the sirens, breathing in the fumes, and falling asleep under a sky too obstructed to see any stars. It was the way he was programmed to be, he felt. Romeo didn’t feel like he was in his own skin when he was in a small town, or driving along a long open road. He needed to be swallowed by skyscrapers, feeling like an ant in a crowd of so many other people rushing along. He actually found comfort in the disinterest of other city dwellers, despite having manners himself. It frustrated the hell out of Romeo sometimes, but there was also something nice about being able to go from one place to another in your own little bubble without anyone giving a damn who you were or what you were doing. There were plenty of days when he didn’t want to stop for small talk with his neighbours or make idle chit chat with someone while he was waiting on his coffee order. The ignorance of city life granted him that solitude even when he was in a bustling crowd of people who knocked shoulders with each other and fought to get by quicker and faster with each step.

His eyes barely glanced at the pictures, but it was long enough a glance for him to take in what it was. Romeo didn’t care what she had to show him. There was no magical cure for what they had been through. Nothing could fix the hurt she had caused him. All the stories, photos and excuses in the world would never change the last year. “You sound like our El when she was six.” He said, not responding fondly. Did any little girl not go through a phase where they loved horses? He was mad. He was tired of this conversation and it had barely started. “I knew that. I knew that was what y’ needed t’ be doin’. It’s not an excuse for how y’ left.” He knew he couldn’t light up in the elevator, but he needed something. He pulled the pack from his bag and took his time counting the remaining eight cigarettes in the pack, counting seven when he pulled one out and held it between his fingers, ready for when he was outside and able to pull the lighter from his pocket.

“Just shut up. Shut up. I can’t listen t’ anymore.” He ground the heels of his hands into his eyes until he was seeing spots and then put the unlit cigarette between his lips, hoping that it would be enough to quell his craving until the elevator came to a stop and he got out of the building. With a floor to go, the ding that preceded the doors opening sounded like music to his ears. Without looking back he stepped from the elevator and turned right, heading for the large glass doors and the university quad, already reaching for the lighter in his pocket.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 530!
OUTFIT! Bookworm Brit!
LYRICS! Break My Heart - - - Alex Preston
NOTES! I FINALLY GOT THIS POSTED.

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Horses had never been a pipe dream for Zoe. She was not like the other little girls who dreamed about getting ponies for Christmas and doted on silly equestrian toys; she was a cowgirl and she would be until her last, dying breath. She had a trophy case’s worth of riding medals to prove it, and it only took getting her talking to realize how much she loved her country life. In all her time in New York, she hadn’t ever had anyone call her silly or childish for her passion, as she was clearly developing it into something much more than just a little girl’s fantasy. She was a veterinarian, for heaven’s sake, and could now proudly boast of her doctorate that gave her the credentials to confidently say that her dreams of working with horses had become a reality.
But to hear Romeo compare her life’s work to that of a six-year old’s fantasy was enough to break poor Zoe into a million pieces.
She was not childish. She was not some little girl stuck running around in the adult world. She had worked her ass off to achieve that dream, and she had saved countless animals along the way. Her life was not worthless.
The fire burned in her eyes as she glared at him, a new-found hatred boiling dangerously close to the surface of her usually composed face. It scorched her cheeks, turning them a red that he’d only ever been able to call up when he embarrassed her with sweet compliments. Now, she couldn’t understand why he’d ever fought to keep them together in the first place if he thought she was such a waste of space in New York. Trying her best to curb her tongue, Zoe spit, "Then why did ya propose to me? If you thought I was such a little girl with pointless dreams and her head in the clouds, why did ya come down to Adams to drag me back when clearly you thought I wasn’t going to be successful in my childish career?”
But she was successful and he would never be able to take that away from her, no matter how many times he threw it in her face that the way she had left was one of the biggest mistakes in her life. Zoe had made something of herself and she had sacrificed every piece of her soul in the process before returning to New York to chase more dreams once she’d completed her first ones. She was teaching now, something he had always wanted to do himself; she had conquered both her dreams and his in the span of a year, and she was not going to apologize for having the strength to climb those mountains, though she much rather would’ve had him at her side throughout the process.
The sight of his cigarette sent another wave of guilt through her as the image of their last encounter replayed vividly in her mind, memories of the sharp taste of nicotine lingering on her lips. She had never smoked before that moment in her life but she was overwhelmed once again to rip the thing from his lips.
Her rage still burning brightly in her heart, she marched after him into the quad and snatched the lighter out of his hands, not caring if she made a scene. Now, she could use the excuse of being a professor as she put on her best teacher-voice to snap, "Smoking on school property is strictly forbidden. You’d do well to remember that in front of a professor.” She turned sharply on her heel, the lighter still clutched in her palm while she marched back inside the building to the safety of her office.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 626!
OUTFIT: HOT PROFESSOR!
LOCATION: The Elevator, NYU Campus
LYRICS: Empty Pack of Cigarettes by Joseph Angel
NOTES: This thread is way too intense xD