• When the Earthquake Happened •

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe had always hated being on campus at night, even back when she was a student and not an exhausted professor just trying to make it home after a long day. The empty classrooms were eerie, and the dark offices made her walk a bit quicker as she finished up her last lecture of the day. She had been forced to teach at least one nighttime lab session so, once a week, she found herself on campus until the late evening hours, long after most working professionals had quit for the day. She was tired, the students were tired; it was a miserable occasion all around, even with her best efforts to make the time engaging. It made her miss working on the ranch where peaceful stars would greet her instead of flickering neon lights. She was already looking forward to the next step in her career when she wouldn’t be trekking across NYU at all hours of the day. Maybe, a long time into the future, she’d consider coming back to teach again but she was longing for more action instead of just reliving her own experiences. She was always excited to share the work she had accomplished and had been welcomed into some faculty research opportunities on campus, but her heart was not here; she belonged in the field, not teaching the next generation.

She felt defeated today; that was the best way to put it. She’d given an exam during the session tonight and had collected lab notebooks to review the work her students had been doing, and all of it felt like going through the motions of a life she didn’t want. It meant more grading and more corrections for things that should have been corrected in much earlier classes, and all of it gave Zoe a headache. She was tired of feeling like she didn’t fit in anywhere; she was so sick of drifting.

Not feeling energized enough to walk back to her office, she decided to bring home the lab notes and exams to deal with later. She was finally getting settled into a new apartment; something with a month-to-month lease, but it was much better than the temporary places she’d been staying for the last year. She had paid a company to bring up the boxes from her parent’s ranch, and it felt so good to have her own things back. It was still a process to make the small studio feel like home and she had only requested half of the things left in storage but, right now, she wanted nothing more than to curl up on her bed with a glass of wine and forget that today had existed.

Zoe walked out of the academic building, balancing a dangerously large stack of notebooks in her arms as she tried to navigate the streets. She was familiar enough with this area and had all of the fastest routes memorized back to where she’d once lived, but she was still learning the new shortcuts for her current place. She refused to look like a tourist and pull out her phone for her Maps app, so she confidently headed towards the sidewalk she thought was correct and hoped for the best.

Being almost unable to see over her pile of notebooks, she failed to notice the man on a bike barreling straight towards her as she came around a corner. He swerved and shouted something obscene at her, which she promptly yelled back as she was forced off the sidewalk. Her heel caught on the curb, causing her and all of her students’ work to go crashing to the ground. She caught herself on her palms, but her pristine lab coat was quickly etched with grime as she stayed on her knees to rescue the notebooks that held half a semester’s work.

Sitting in the chaos of three dozen dirty notebooks, scattered ripped pages, and the blood slowly seeping from her scratched palms, Zoe once again wondered what her life was coming to.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 669!
LOCATION: Around Campus, NYU
LYRICS: If the World was Ending by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo didn’t mind being on the campus at night. He actually liked watched the crowds of the day fade away. Plus, with his work schedule he had to take a few evening classes if he wanted to graduate on time. He preferred those classes, if he was honest. The students in there seemed to have a stronger work ethic than a few of his midday classes where there was always one guy snoozing through the lecture and where three other girls seemed to spend the two hours just whispering and showing each other things on their phones. He felt like a grumpy old man at times when he frowned at them. It wasn’t all that long ago that he had been that young, and there had been countless nights when all he wanted to do was go to a party and stay out until the next day. The library had seemed like the most boring place on campus, and even when he earned some of the top marks in his class he wondered what he might have missed out on earning those grades.

It was a silly way of thinking, but it was hard to ignore all the fun when it was happening around you. Not many people had a younger sister who relied on them, who needed dinner on the table and help with homework. Of course, Romeo had found time once or twice to go and party, and celebrate with his friends, but when some in his close circle rarely saw their own beds between Friday afternoon and Monday morning, he had to wonder just what else he could be missing out on. Ellie hadn’t been living with him through college – at least not permanently – but she spent many nights in his small apartment, and he was looking after her long before he had guardianship over her. He had actually given up a great deal of things in his life to care for his younger sister. Romeo regretted none of it, but he did wonder if that had made him more cynical than most by now. He didn’t always mean to be, but he was. He had seen too many hardships and experienced too much of the struggle that came with the poverty line to ever be that eternal optimist many of the college freshmen seemed to think of themselves as.

Romeo lit his cigarette, trying to chase away those miserable thoughts with that first, long, drag. He exhaled as he turned the corner, the smoke drifting off behind him, back around the red brick and into the evening shadows. He heard the commotion, but at first thought little of it; every street in New York City had someone yelling at someone else almost every minute of the day. The first thing Romeo actually saw was the scattered papers. He sighed, wondering why the city was as hellish as it was beautiful and left his cigarette hanging from his lip as he moved to help the fallen women collect them together. It took him another moment to realise it was Zoe. The familiar pang in his chest followed, the feeling of a shard of glass digging deeper in his heart. He had been hurt by her, but unlike some other types of people, Romeo got no pleasure out of seeing her struggling. He held out his hand to her, forcing himself to keep looking her way. “Y’ alright?”

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 572!
LYRICS! The Game is Over - - - Evanescence
NOTES! Sorry this took forever – life got WILD <3 <3 <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Even back in undergrad, Zoe had never been the party type. For one, she had worked too much to have enough free time for wasting away her weekends. Those precious hours brought in more tips so she could afford to even attend the school and, when she wasn’t working, she had been studying to keep her grades up. She had been tempted out to the bars a few times, particularly after meeting Ember, but very rarely did she let loose and engage in the typical college behavior so many expected of young adults.

Since coming back to New York, Zoe had had no interest in going out on the town. She had spent her lost year drifting in and out of bars, waking up with hangovers she had finally learned how to handle. Her world had been work, alcohol, and crashing in random places until she moved onto the next job in the newest town. It was dark and lonely; it was a place she was glad she’d been able to escape. She knew what that life was like and she never wanted to see herself back in that place again, so she worked hard in New York to pull herself away from the bad habits she’d relied on for survival. That wasn’t the Zoe she wanted to be, even if the experiences had taught her a lot about the person she still hoped she could become.

She had had the southern charm burned out of her after living in the city long enough, so yelling back at strangers on the street no longer seemed like her worst nightmare. Zoe had become more of a New Yorker than she would ever admit and she found comfort being back in the places that allowed her to feel home again. Adams would always be somewhere she returned to when she felt like she needed a good dose of homegrown roots, but the city streets and chaos were becoming more a part of her with every passing day. It had taken over her heart so slowly she hadn’t noticed until she’d been gone for a long time, but seeing her favorite local stores again or being able to walk up and order the food she was desperately craving brought a smile to Zoe’s face that no other place could. She was learning it was okay to call two places home; she was realizing that she could have the best of both worlds if she was brave enough to embrace it.

Living in the city came with many perks and many downfalls, like having to peel soggy paper off the disgusting sidewalk while getting grime onto a freshly cleaned lab coat. Zoe was still swearing under her breath, trying to push the dirty notebooks and student exams into her already filled tote bag when she heard footsteps approaching her. Most New Yorkers were oblivious to the chaos around them; they had been conditioned to ignore it. The shoes weren’t what caught her attention though. It was the heady cigarette scent from a brand she recognized only too well; the one that lingered on t-shirts she longed to cuddle into on cold nights and the one that made her chest tighten with regrets she would carry until the day she died.

Zoe looked up, papers fanned around her and sticking haphazardly out of her bag, as she took in the outstretched hand. She would know that hand anywhere; it had stroked her hair as she’d fallen asleep, wiped tears away from her eyes, and been a lifeline in more scenarios than she could even remember. Her wide blue eyes moved from those familiar fingers to study the face above them, her stomach tightening as she met Romeo’s gaze. Of all the ways to get him to finally look at her, this was not how she thought it would happen. She wanted nothing more than to take his hand and feel the comforting embrace of his fingers touching hers, but the stubborn part of her heart reminded her that she had more pride than to be the damsel in distress for a man who didn’t want her anymore.

"Uhm, yes,” she managed to choke out in response to his question. Zoe quickly diverted her gaze back to the ground and hugged what papers she could hold tight to her chest. She hastily shuffled them into a pile and tucked them under her arm, wiping her palm across her lab coat and leaving a fresh streak of red blood to mix in with the dirt. "I should really invest in a better teacher bag. Mine isn’t up to task for a professor.”

With as much grace as a newborn filly, she pushed herself onto her feet and pretended to be very interested in organizing the obviously destroyed papers. As she placed weight back onto her heels, she immediately felt the crack run down the sole of her small kitten-heeled shoe. She had been wearing them to appear professional for students, but they had already become her biggest enemy after spending a night on her feet teaching. Now, between the frequent wear and the crack in the curb catching wrong, the shoe gave in and completely snapped, causing Zoe to almost lose her balance once again.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 880!
LOCATION: Around Campus, NYU
LYRICS: If the World was Ending by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo was no stranger to hard work. He had taken care of a lot of the household chores when his mum had been sick – before her diagnosis. He had looked after Ellie and kept her out of harms way, and that included helping her through her homework while also trying to do his. When he had been in high school it wasn’t uncommon to find himself using a torch at midnight to finish some math questions, or waking up early to try and complete a science worksheet that was due at nine. Since it had been his life for so long, Romeo found it easy to balance work, school and play. Of course, there were nights when he passed out on his couch from exhaustion, too damn tired to make it to his own bed, but they were rarer than they seemed. He may have looked perpetually tired, but that was just how genetics and life had shaped him. He had colleagues shove mugs of coffee in his hand some days, convinced the bookstore supervisor was going to fall asleep on them; he had to find a nice way to explain he’d actually slept great for nine hours, and the bags under his eyes were just naturally there. He joked he’d lived a long, hard life for someone still in their twenties, but he didn’t think anyone there knew the full details of his life.

Romeo liked his privacy. He didn’t want people whispering in corners about his life story. Ellie seemed a little less concerned with things of that nature, but she was a firecracker who would likely face down anyone who even dared to gossip about her now. Romeo was proud of the woman she was becoming, but he was content with keeping to himself, too. He worked hard to have a decent apartment, and to be chasing dreams far too long in the making. The last thing he wanted was the sympathy of strangers, or their praise for looking after his own sister the way any big brother should do, in his opinion. Families could fight, there could be rifts between relations, but siblings – to Romeo – should ultimately be there for one another. There were times now when he didn’t agree with something Ellie wanted or was doing, and even though they could have an argument so loudly it would attract attention they would still have dinner on the Friday evening and message each other daily with stupid things. They each knew that they agreed to disagree, that they were both too stubborn to convert to another way of thinking, and that was fine, because at the end of the day they were best friends, blood, and, at times, all they had in the world.

He didn’t really know what to do or say right now. It was in his nature to help someone out when they were in trouble, but whenever he saw Zoe all Romeo really wanted to do was to get the hell out of there. This time was no different, but he couldn’t bring himself to walk away if she was going to be left struggling. Why the hell did she think carrying all of this was a good idea in the first place? He listened to her talk, not really having much else to say back. If he opened his mouth it would have only been to ask how in the hell she thought walking with this much stuff was a smart idea. He may not have been keen to be around her, but Romeo wasn’t going to be rude to her; she didn’t deserve that. Besides, being rude was something Romeo reserved for assholes with no manners and people who would give their life for “the customer is always right” mantra they spewed at him when a nervous employee called for him to come to the checkout in Barnes and Noble.

When Zoe lost her balance again, Romeo was quick to reach out, wrapping his fingers around her wrist to pull her steady, settling her with another hand spread across the middle of her back. Some of the papers he was holding got a little crumpled, but he wasn’t paying them much mind. “I’ve seen drunken freshmen in better states than you right now.” He said with a sigh, annoyed that he couldn’t just leave her be and walk away again. Despite all she had done, Romeo was still a good guy – he’d still help her.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 747!
LYRICS! The Game is Over - - - Evanescence
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe was the first person in her family to earn any sort of college degree, let alone a doctorate. She came from generations of farmers and ranchers whose lives were dedicated to raising crops or tending to horses; they were never rich, but they worked hard to provide for the families they had. Her roots went deep into the community where she was raised, and it wasn’t hard to find cousins or relatives that somehow tied back into her family tree. But very few of them had dared to break out of the mold and pursue what they were passionate about.

As she’d been working through her college education, Zoe hadn’t had anyone she could turn to and tell about her exhaustion. Her family was infinitely happy she was doing something with her life and they would do everything they could to support her. They could be her cheerleaders and say time and time again how proud they were, but they couldn’t understand what it felt like to study for weeks for an exam to only get a C. They didn’t know why she spent so much time in the library or invested in the expensive textbooks that were now constant resources for her professional life. None of them could comprehend how good it felt to finally sign her name “Dr. Zoraline Tylers” because that title came with years of sweat, tears, and hard work that had finally paid off. Being alone in that journey had been one of the hardest fights of her life, and it was why she’d clung tight to many of her friends in New York who could see the toll it took or were in the similar programs as her. They got it; they got why she sacrificed a simple life in her hometown to be the vet she had dreamed about.

Zoe had learned how to internalize her problems quickly after she’d moved to New York. She didn’t want her parents or siblings to worry, so it had become a habit to downplay or shrug off huge parts of her life in order to appear like she was living the dream. And, as Romeo had found it, that carried over into more than just her relationship with her family. She hid things because she didn’t want to burden someone else; she had gotten so used to solving everything on her own and shrinking down to take up less space that it had become instinct to ignore the fears eating away from the inside. Zoe flinched away from being helped by others, though she would give her heart to save those she loved; she would give up everything to make sure they were happy, as long as she didn’t have to explain what was going on inside her own head.

It was why she didn’t take Romeo’s hand when he offered now, and why she desperately tried to gather her papers without brushing his fingers. She didn’t want to hurt him more than she already had done; she also didn’t want him to ask what was wrong or why she looked on the verge of dropping everything in the street to run away. She was fine; she was always fine until she wasn’t.

Her shoe breaking was the cherry on top of a series of unfortunate events, and the swear word that slipped by her lips indicated it. She tried to catch her balance and was almost thrown off again when she felt Romeo’s hands supporting her with an embrace that felt like a teasing whisper of the way he used to wrap his arms around her without a second thought. Zoe pushed the thoughts away but didn’t step out of his hold, instead letting out her own sigh and helpless laugh. "I’d much rather be a drunk first year than the one grading papers.” She tried to play off her broken shoe, standing on her toes and pushing the stack of papers from her arms into her bursting bag. Zoe’s eyes widened at the sight of her scraped and bleeding palms, but she tried to shove the insistent stinging away, adding, "I knew I should have left those in my office. Guess I overestimated my ability to make it home.”

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 710!
LOCATION: Around Campus, NYU
LYRICS: If the World was Ending by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo didn’t dream of fame and fortune. He’d be happy enough to make simply enough to get by and provide for whatever kind of family he ended up with. He’d been doing a pretty good job when he’d had Ellie to take care of, and now the money he was saving was a little bit more since she had moved on out as soon as college started. It was probably a good thing, since Romeo had made use of his employee discount to curb the expenses of his own textbooks, and he still wanted to help Ellie out should she need it. She might have moved out, got herself a job and began living more independently, but Romeo was still her big brother and he still wanted to be able to be there for her whenever she needed him. It wasn’t as though he could turn that feeling of responsibility off at the drop of a hat – not after so many years of taking care of her.

Romeo didn’t need fancy titles or heaps of praise for his work. He didn’t see the point in it. It had never been something he craved, not even when he was a kid in school. A quiet show of appreciation, respect and understanding was all Romeo wanted from those he worked for and with. He considered himself to be a fair boss, understanding but not the type to let people take advantage. Most of the people who worked under him were students anyway, stuck in the grind of retail because of the flexibility and the easiness to the job; very few required previous experience or specific skills. It was just something that paid enough to keep their heads above water, and Romeo liked to think it toughened some of them up for what laid ahead; nothing builds character quite like a disgruntled customer who didn’t like to be told they’re wrong. And on that note, whoever thought up the idea that the customer was always right needed a swift punch to the face, repeatedly, from every poor soul who had ever worked retail. Romeo took to counting down the months until he was done with school as a way to cope, especially during the holiday season.

His road was a long one, and for the most part he had walked it shouldering his burdens alone. He had always been the strong one simply because it was the role that he had needed to fill in the Jervis family. They had needed him to be the defender, the responsible one, the selfless one – and he had been. He didn’t regret any of it, not even when he saw old friends much further ahead than him in terms of their careers and families. Everyone walked a different path, and some were more mountainous and filled with obstacles, whereas some people got lucky and had blue skies and flat earth to tread upon. There were times when it was hard, when he found himself wondering what his life might have been like if he hadn’t put it all on hold. He’d had the option, of course, to continue his own education while also looking after Ellie, but he hadn’t wanted them to be on the poverty line, both exhausted and living off the cheap, bland food that could be bought in bulk. Romeo still had a slight distaste for pasta after his former college years when it was one of the few things he and his roommate had bothered to cook on a regular basis.

“Yeah? Well y’ look like y’ might need t’ get drunk.” Alcohol was not the answer to anyone’s problems, but there were times when it was the temporary break a person needed from the shitshow that life could tumble into. Romeo could certainly do with a dozen drinks right about now after these last few weeks, but instead he had planned to go home and eat pizza instead while re-reading The Divine Comedy.

He noticed the scraped palms, sighing softly when he realised he wouldn’t be walking away quite so soon. He slipped his arm back from around Zoe once he felt she was steady, offering out the few papers he had in his hand before they were misplaced entirely. “Y’ need t’ get cleaned up first.” He stated, knowing that gravel and dirt was typically the least helpful thing for an open wound. “And, unless y’ plan on walkin’ home barefoot, y’ ain’t gonna get far at all.” Romeo had never tried to understand women’s fashion. It made little sense to him; the man who was happy in a hoodie and jeans and some scuffed up sneakers.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 783!
LYRICS! The Game is Over - - - Evanescence
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

On the start of her academic journey, Zoe hadn’t been interested in the actual title of becoming a vet; obtaining the degree was a necessary component of being able to successfully do her dream job, so she had seen it as another milestone along the path of her professional path. When she’d been an undergrad, it had been a far-off whisper and the real goal had been the work coming after its completion. However, when she had finally had the diploma in hand and been able to cross the stage for the final time, she understood why people were defensive over the title and proudly displayed their doctorate every chance they got. This was not something lightly bestowed for obtaining a fancy paper; this was a reward for enduring clinicals, endless hours of studying, usually disgusting labs, and more that came with the years of training and testing it took to be a veterinarian. That title was earned in every sense of the word, and it reminded Zoe that she had accomplished a feat not many people could claim. Even if she hadn’t gotten to change her title to “Mrs.” yet, being Dr. Tylers felt almost as sweet a victory.

Zoe’s definition of providing for a family looked different than many people’s, especially those she had met in New York; it went beyond a comfortable home with delicious food on the table. Providing meant being there emotionally and physically, even on the rough days where nothing seemed right. It meant coming home to a kiss on the forehead and crashing on the couch after putting the kids to bed late. She had seen first-hand how exhausting family could be, especially with six kids to manage, but she had also witnessed how rewarding it was too when successes could be celebrated together. Providing for that, all of that, was part of the reason she had been absolutely terrified of marrying someone.

In parenthood and running a family, Zoe’s mom had always been her role model and that woman made a full-time career of it. As Zoe had entered the career she dreamed of, it was petrifying to think of all the ways she could be a disappointment to not only her family but the one was she trying to start with someone else. She wanted to be there for it all and provide for them the way she had been taught; to be there for the first steps, the homecooked meals, the homework sessions on a kitchen table. Doing that while being able to succeed at her job had seemed impossible because she had been looking at it in the wrong light; she hadn’t been viewing it as the partnership it was supposed to be, even though she knew without a second thought that Romeo would have been the best teammate she could have asked for in that arena. She was so used to being independent in everything that relying on someone else, even the person she loved more than anything, was a daunting task. Being alone after losing that support system had made her realize how wrong she was; it had never been her burden to be perfect on her own so everything could run smoothly, but it had been her job to be a partner and to contribute to building a marriage that reflected two people’s love of each other.

Standing in front of Romeo now, the fallen strong and fearless career woman who had absolutely nothing together like she was supposed to, she was reminded once again how selfless he was. He had saved her in more ways than he understood, and only ever tried to help her even when she jerked away time after time. After all the heartbreak she had put him through, here he was peeling her dropped paperwork off the sidewalk and keeping her from tumbling back to the ground. She was selfish for hurting him and loving him, and continuing to love him despite it all.

Zoe’s awkward laugh from being startled quickly turned into a genuine one at his words. She looked up at him, blue eyes sparkling with confusion at his kindness and the joy that he only ever brought out. "That sounds like a mighty tempting offer after the day I’ve had, she said, pulling her attention from him and back to her papers. It was a lost cause trying to organize them, but it gave her an excuse to not stare at his face while trying to memorize all of the favorite features she’d missed. She’d missed him more than she would ever admit, even to herself.

She carefully took the papers he offered, shoving them into the pile. Tomorrow, she would be cursing herself and piecing together the remnants of this disaster to grade everything. For now, she was cautiously interacting with the man before her who, for the first time in weeks, didn’t seem to be running away. "I’ve had much worse,” she shrugged in reference to her palms, kicking herself for pushing away his help. The mention of her broken shoe had Zoe’s cheeks flushing a shade of pink they hadn’t turned in a long time. In her entire life, she had never been someone who wore heels. She picked a job where scrubs and sneakers were the standard; at least, that had been her standard until she’d become a professor. "Boots never break like these stupid heels. That’s what I get for dressing up for class,” she said with a frustrated sigh. "I was never cut out to be a teacher like you, and that includes the wardrobe. Flannels and a cowboy hat are much more my style.”

Zoe shifted her bag on her shoulder, giving up on her balancing act and letting her weight onto her broken shoe. The few inches of height difference left her lopsided and she couldn’t help laughing again, "I’m just up around the corner now. It’s only a few blocks, but I’m sure I’ll get a few stares hobbling along like a pirate.”

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 1010!
LOCATION: Around Campus, NYU
LYRICS: If the World was Ending by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo had stopped comparing his life to others many years ago. He didn’t have the poster family upbringing, and he was oftentimes doing something different than his friends. Mostly, he was looking after Ellie, making sure she wasn’t neglected or struggling. Romeo had been happy that Ellie had experienced a lot of the normal things growing up. He made sure she could go to the movies, hang out with her friends at sleepovers or after school. Romeo was surprised when he realised that he didn’t care he had been missing parties or going home without grabbing drinks with his friends. Maybe it was because he had been used to being the responsible guy, or maybe it was just because he had a good amount of fun having pizza and a movie night with Ellie. What Romeo noticed most though was that his friends went on vacations, fell in love, earned promotions and were buying their own homes now. Romeo was back in school, finally taking the steps he needed to become a teacher.

It wasn’t the wildest of dreams, but Romeo didn’t have those kinds of dreams. All he wanted was a simple life and someone to share it with. He had seen his fair share of drama, experienced all the wrong kinds of excitement, and was now quite happy to avoid all of that. Those people he had gone to college with the first time around seemed to have their lives sorted. They had strong, healthy relationships, knew where they wanted to be in five years and believed achieving it was totally doable. Romeo didn’t believe in those plans. They only ever set a person up for disappointment when life didn’t turn out that way. Romeo wasn’t going to be so naïve to believe in something like that again. He had been tricked into the idea of dreaming of his future when he thought he’d be married, maybe living in a nicer apartment, but instead he was alone every night, still in the same place he had called his own since he was a Sophomore. The only thing that had changed was that Ellie had moved out, though her bedroom still remained for when she needed somewhere to crash, or for when they had a movie night that left her too tired to travel back to her dorm.

Romeo felt awkward during this exchange. He found himself wishing that he was like so many of the city dwellers who would have easily walked past Zoe and carried on with their business like they had never seen her fall in the first place. Romeo came from a city where that kind of attitude didn’t sit well. Everyone helped each other, even if it didn’t seem like they would. Liverpool was built on the decency of others, and rivals came together when they needed to without anyone having to ask or encourage them. Romeo kind of regretted that now, since he wanted to walk away but found that he couldn’t – not without his stomach twisting in knots at the idea. He tapped the scuffed toe of his sneaker against the concrete and cleared his throat. “Well, it’s not like I’ve got to worry about ridiculous heels or pencil skirts.” Romeo barely gave his wardrobe any thought at all, and he cared even less for fancy designer labels and the cost of them. Sighing softly, Romeo flipped the keys in his hand and pressed the remote key that unlocked the black Nissan Sentra on the edge of the lot. “There’s books on the passenger seat y’ can toss in the back.” He mumbled, looking everywhere but at Zoe as he walked slowly towards the car. “Y’ walk home an’ you’ll get bloody tetanus or somethin’.” Ellie wouldn’t be thrilled to hear about this, but Romeo had no intention of telling her, or of thinking on it more after he dropped his ex-fiancée off at her home.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 660!
LYRICS! The Game is Over - - - Evanescence
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe came from a place where it was common to spend an extra 30 minutes at the general store so you could catch up with the neighbor from two farms over. She grew up in a world that revolved around church on Sundays and big town dances where even the oldest of grandparents made their way out onto the floor by the end of the night. People knew each other’s names, and all of the business that went along with them.

Living in New York had taught her to revel in the anonymity that a big city provided. She could go grocery shopping without having to worry about bumping into every person she knew, and she could peacefully disappear into the crowds at Central Park when she wanted to be alone. It was a freedom she had grown to love, and one she missed whenever she was back in Adams beneath the microscope of neighbors, family, and old friends who loved commenting on every aspect of her life. In New York, no one questioned her about why she had shattered her engagement and the life plan that seemed so perfectly pieced together last year. No one asked why she ran from all of the promises and commitments she had been so sure about before. She was just another person struggling to hold every broken scrap of herself together, and she knew better than to judge someone else’s unfinished puzzle because hers was far from being completed anyway.

Most of Zoe’s friends back home had families of their own now, with kids old enough to be in elementary school. They had marriages and farms that were all their own, with Sunday dinners at the in-law’s and fall harvest festivals to celebrate; they had the life that everyone else in Adams dreamed about achieving. She couldn’t tell you how many wedding invitations she’d gotten while living in New York, many of them for people years younger than she was who reminded her with their smiling faces and glittering rings that she didn’t want to be trapped in that world. She wanted to be Dr. Tylers and have her own practice one day so that she could save the creatures that had shaped her into the person she was today. She wanted the career and the excitement of pursuing a life that never felt boring; but she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t lonelier than she had ever anticipated.

"You never did like it when I wore heels,” she said with the ghost of a smirk at his comment. Even centuries ago on their first date when he’d taken her on a surprise stroll through her favorite place in the city, he had made fun of the horrid shoes and the blisters aching on her feet that she’d endured to make herself beautiful for him. She had tried so hard to be what she believed he wanted instead of being herself, always thinking she wasn’t enough for someone as intoxicatingly wonderful as he was. Maybe if she had worked on communicating instead of jumping to conclusions, they wouldn’t be dancing around each other now, drowning in awkwardness and unresolved feelings. "I’ll be back in scrubs soon enough, but I figured I’d try to look like a professor for a bit. Have to at least pretend I know what I’m doing,” she added, sighing as she looked down at the chaos of her student’s work. In reality, she was doing her best but teaching would never set her heart on fire the way actively working in a clinic would. This was temporary, until she found a job that made all of the past mistakes worthwhile.

Zoe’s bright blue eyes moved to his fingers as he clicked the keys, her pupils widening in confusion as he started moving towards his car. He was offering to drive her home? The idiot who had broken his heart? Panic and guilt set in as the confusion fled her face, and she shook her head quickly. "Romeo, no that’s really okay I can’t ask you to do that,” she said, giving him an awkward smile. "I’m not gonna trap you in a car with me just because I’m incapable of wearing heels like a normal human. I can make it home alone.” She clutched her bag to her side, doing her best to put back on her professor face and pretend that everything was fine. Everything was always, always fine.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 746!
LOCATION: Around Campus, NYU
LYRICS: If the World was Ending by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo didn’t have the time to spare chatting with people when he bumped into them. He was busy, usually from the moment he woke up until the moment he stumbled through his apartment door and tossed his keys into the dish on the shelf. He worked long hours even with his schedule as a student again, and put in as many hours as he could in the college library, getting ahead on his studies and assignments. He didn’t have the luxury of parents willing to send him money when he was struggling, or a trust fund just sitting pretty for whenever he needed it. He still wanted to support Ellie as she found her independence, and he knew there would be some hurdles along the way for the young woman that were just as bad as smashing up a professor’s office in an act of defiant rebellion as she defended her older brother. Romeo just hoped he wouldn’t be posting bail for his sister someday.

He also hoped that his future – whatever it may be – would be different from the past he had known. He didn’t want to live from month to month for the rest of his life, making sure the money stretched out to pay the bills and put food on the table. He’d like to be able to treat himself, and whoever was in his life without needing to count out the change in his wallet. Romeo didn’t need ridiculous riches, but a home to call his own would be nice, and the chance to go back to Liverpool would be even nicer. He didn’t envision moving back there, but he wanted to visit, and not just to his hometown, but places around the globe, too. He had friends from college – the first time around – who were settled in their careers, some had families now, and others were still enjoying the freedom of youth, but they were plastering social media pages with pictures of vacations and trips they had once only dreamt of. Romeo was the same age as most of them, but felt like he had been held back, trapped in a limbo he had yet to escape from.

Romeo kept telling himself that it would be worth it in the end. That one day the hard work would pay off and that the years he put his life on hold for would feel like mere days. He supposed he felt it worse now because Ellie was gone from the apartment and the space felt too quiet without her. He had to remind himself that he hadn’t been twiddling his thumbs for years, that he had actually been doing something worthwhile, even if it didn’t look like that to the strangers of the outside world.

He scoffed. He had never understood half of the fashion choices women made, but then he wasn’t a woman. He hated dressing up himself, often grumbling and cursing why he couldn’t just get away with jeans and a hoodie for every occasion. Life was never that simple, and he supposed a button down was far less complicated than the many, many strange things he had seen Ellie come home with after a shopping trip and show Romeo. As she grew older he grew less comfortable with the shorter, tighter outfits, but he knew she wasn’t the type to parade around in them like some people – Ember sprung to mind first – but then in other ways she was like Ember. The short temper for a start, and the refusal to bend for any man. If she had to have anything in common with that particular blonde, he supposed he could live with that. “There are professors who walk ‘round in jeans an’ trainers.” He replied, knowing for every one who dressed like they were on a catwalk, there were at least two who looked like most of the students.

Romeo tugged open the car door, leaning against it as he peered back at Zoe. “An’ ‘ow many of those papers are goin’ t’ make it back with y’?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Yes, this would be awkward, but there was a radio to drown out the silence, and Romeo was still a foolish gentleman who for some reason couldn’t walk away from a damsel in distress. “Your shoe’s uneven, it’s gonna wreck your ankle or somethin’, n’ someone is bound t’ crash into y’ – or ‘ave y’ forgotten no one ever looks where they’re goin’ in this city?” He loved New York, he really did, but beyond the siren call of the bright lights and the tourist attractions it was gritty and impersonal. People lived in their own bubbles thinking nothing and no one else mattered. “So get in already.” He didn’t want to have to argue about it, least of all with Zoe.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 811!
LYRICS! The Game is Over - - - Evanescence
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

Zoe longed for the day when her life would be settled. She’d have a career that she loved and a permanent address, with a house full of things that belonged just to her and weren’t hand-me-downs or thrift finds from the curb. She would have roots again, planted firmly in the ground to hold her steady as she enjoyed every second of her happiness. There would be summers down in Adams and she’d have her parents up to New York for the holidays so they could experience the city on New Year’s Eve; it would be the life she earned with years of sweat and tears.

She had been taught a long time ago that crying was weak, and showing weakness wasn’t acceptable in most company. She grew up busting her behind to keep the family farm running and there was no crying out in the barn; there was hard work, hay bales, and maybe some scrapes occasionally, but complaining was not an option. That was saved for Mama’s shoulder, otherwise you bucked up and carried on because that was what the Tylers did. There was no other option. It had left her hard-hearted and stubborn in the worst way while teaching her to work for everything she wanted. Whether it was sleepless nights studying or hours in a pasture training a new horse, Zoe shouldered the work and did not complain until it was entirely unbearable. She only broke down when she was so far over the edge there was no turning back anymore. It made her the worst kind of emotional bomb that stayed silent while ticking away to an explosion.

Romeo had taken more than his share of that burden from her, and she now regretted every instance whenever they came back to haunt her nightmares. He had shown her nothing but patience time and time again while she’d challenged the morals and values that had been ground into her soul by a conservative southern community. It wasn’t easy unraveling years of teachings and ridiculous expectations, but they had been weathering it together mostly. He showed her that love could be more important than anything. She had repaid him for that kindness by doing the one thing that disappointed everyone in her life the most: she blew up and then she gave up.

There was confusion in her blue eyes as he leaned on the car she recognized only too well. How many times had he opened the same door for her, only with a smile on his face as they’d headed on out some date night or other? She hated driving in the city, but she’d always found solace in his passenger seat since the first time he rescued her out on the street. Back then, his chivalry had been for a girl who fell in love with him between the book stacks of his job; now, she had no idea why he was being kind to her. He hated her, as was proven by Ellie destroying the young professor’s office. "Only if you’re sure it isn’t too much of a problem,” she countered, taking one hesitant step towards the car while looking up to meet his gaze. She had once known had to gauge his every mood and had provided the solution when he was having a cloudy day; now, she wasn’t sure who he was. Time had changed both of them in unimaginable ways.

Clutching her bag and the wrecked papers close, Zoe easily ducked into the car and sank into the familiar seat.

She had been in this spot more times than she could ever remember. It smelled like him; the intoxicating scent of cigarettes and cologne that almost made her heart break as she inhaled. She had missed that scent, the way it would linger on her jacket after he’d dropped her at home for the evening. They used to hold hands over the center console, or she’d sneak his hand to her lap to play with his fingers as he drove. She could remember debating books while they were stuck in traffic on the way to dinner, and then arguing dessert options on the way home. So much of their history took place here, from the lowest moments to the happiest, and Zoe slammed into each memory like a brick wall as her heart broke time and time again.

She could have spent the last year in this passenger seat, twisting his wedding band on his finger as they went to pick up their favorite takeaway. He could have dropped her off at work so she wouldn’t have to take the subway, and she would’ve come home at night telling him all of the gory patient details from the day. She could have given them both a very different story if she’d only been able to say what she was feeling back then, and allowed herself to be vulnerable with the man who still completely and irrevocably held her heart.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 830!
LOCATION: Around Campus, NYU
LYRICS: If the World was Ending by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo was done with dreams. All they did was give a person false hope for the BS that was to be. The only people who ever truly got everything they ever wanted paved the way with wads of cash no normal person had to burn. He supposed people could be happy eventually, but dreams were redesigned, twisted into new shapes and ideas. No one ever really lived the life they thought they would when they left home. Hell, Romeo had been teased by friends for having the most mundane dreams and even they had been so far out of reach it was a joke. No, he was done making wishes on stars and pretending that the lies sold by Hollywood were even attainable by some bloke who lived in the real world. He’d simply get on with whatever came his way and hope that some day he’d have some semblance of a life that was maybe worth feeling proud of.

Instead, he had hopes that Ellie would avoid the car crash mistakes he had made. He knew the break up had left her jaded and reluctant to forge any bonds that might not last a lifetime. She had instead embraced the familial temper he had hoped she’d reject and was hellbent on using it to burn a hole in an ever changing society. Romeo didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing; opinions changed so quickly these days, and the popular vote on Monday was condemned and executed in the court of public opinion by Friday. He felt too old to even try to keep up with most of it. All he could do was mask his own anger and anguish and do his best to convince Ellie that she didn’t need to be as reliant on her temper as she currently was. Romeo had been the same at eighteen. He had been convinced his passion could change the world, but ten years later he was just tired; tired and feeling older than he expected to feel before his thirties.

“I wouldn’t have offered if it was.” He pointed out simply, toeing a fine line with his own feelings right now. It had been a long time since Zoe had been in his car, and things were very different since the last time, but as he walked around to the driver’s side it was almost like stepping back in time, too. A lot of things had changed about Romeo, but materialistically, everything was the same. His car was the same, his apartment was the same, and even the jeans he wore were the same. He didn’t waste money, and college was enough to burn a hole in his pocket. He expected to drive his car until the engine fell out of it, in all honesty.

Romeo didn’t expect to feel completely comfortable when he sat in the driver’s seat – not with Zoe so close by. His stomach was tight, his chest just the same. His instinct was to reach for the cigarette packet in the console, but he held off and instead knocked the dial to turn the radio on, keeping the volume low enough so that it didn’t seem like he was trying to drown her out should she try to talk to him. He just didn’t want the car ride to go ahead in total silence; it was awkward enough without that. He cleared his throat, starting up the engine as he checked the mirrors to make sure it was safe to ease the car out into the controlled chaos that was New York traffic. It may not be what most people found relaxing, but then Romeo was a city kid and he found solace in the bumper to bumper mayhem that was New York rush hour. “You’re going have t’ direct us ‘ere.” He pointed out, sinking back into the seat, tapping his fingers against the worn leather of his steering wheel.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 662!
LYRICS! The Game is Over - - - Evanescence
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

When they had been wedding planning together, Zoe could remember dreaming with Romeo. It felt like a lifetime ago and, as she again sat in the passenger seat of his car, it felt like only yesterday. During the all too short time when they’d been living together, she could recall nights where they’d stayed awake in bed talking. She would be curled up on his chest while drowning in one of his t-shirts, laughing as they joked about floral arrangements and what type of cake to have. Some nights it had been horrible names they would never give their kids; others it was arguing where to put her vet books so they didn’t interfere with his extensive personal library. They had made plans for years down the line when they’d both be settled into careers and ready to tackle the world together; they talked about kids and how much Zoe wanted to someday own a place in the woods where they could escape to for weekends so she could be back in nature just for a bit. It had been beautiful promises then, ones that danced in her dreams as she fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.

So much had changed since they were those people.

As Romeo walked around to the driver’s side, she couldn’t help picturing him on their first date. He had been breathtakingly handsome just for her, the country mouse that still couldn’t believe he asked her out at all. That was the first time he’d opened the door for her, and it had turned into a game of stealing a kiss every time after. From the street outside her old apartment to the dusty gravel of her parents’ home down in Adams, she had watched him make that walk countless times and each one made her smile at the simple caring gesture. Back then, it had been done out of love; now, she wasn’t sure if it was obligation or a desire to get her out of New York even quicker.


There was a sinking feeling in her stomach when he asked for directions to her new place. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had to give him directions for anything, let alone to her apartment; after the first night where he’d taken her home during the ordeal outside the bookstore, he had always known where to go. Now, it was another wall that had been built between the two, but Zoe was nervous to break it down.

Would he tell Ellie where she lived now? Zoe could handle the teenager well enough, but that apartment was her small piece of sanity in New York. It was lonelier than ever and hardly any of her things were there, yet it was the most permanent home she’d had in over a year. She didn’t want it shattered to pieces the way her office had been; she wanted one place that was safe.

"Of course,” Zoe replied, shaking the thoughts away quickly. She could handle Ellie, even if the encounter did result in another twisted ankle and broken computer. It wasn’t Romeo’s job to keep her safe anymore and she would do just fine handling his sister on her own. With a quick breath, she said confidently, "Take this down six blocks and turn left at the light.”

She pulled her bag closer to her, trying not to take up too much space in the car. The air between them was uncomfortable enough without her getting mud and street grime everywhere. Grasping for something to break the silence she said, "I’m not too far from campus now. Much better than when I was actually a student.” Trying to keep her eyes on straightening the crumbled papers in her lap, she added, "Thank you for helping me. You didn’t have to; I’m sure my students would have loved a free pass on their assignment.”

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 653!
LOCATION: Around Campus, NYU
LYRICS: If the World was Ending by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
NOTES: <3 <3 <3

[romeo jackson jervis]

Romeo had been left with the ghost of memories. Zoe might have fled New York to start her new life, but he had been left in the ruins of what could have been with no way to turn his back on it. He didn’t have the means for it. What money he had was already put aside for bills, for his return to school, and for the future that was supposed to have been theirs. He couldn’t leave the apartment where the story had found its roots, he couldn’t upgrade his car when bits needed replacing, and he definitely couldn’t think about starting over in another city. Romeo was stuck, haunted by ideas of the future and memories of times he wished could be exorcised with a bottle of Jack and half a pack of cigarettes. It made moving on painful, almost impossible sometimes, and if he didn’t have El still nearby to give him a good push every now and then he didn’t know what kind of rut he might have found himself stuck in with the pieces of his still broken heart.

Even now, remnants of those former times swirled in his mind, unwelcome as ever. He was just trying to be a half-decent human, trying to do something considerate and his own brain was forcing him to recall every trip ever taken in his car with Zoe in the passenger seat. Romeo did his best to block it out. He didn’t need another trip down Memory Lane; he’d had enough of those to last a lifetime over the last few years. Instead, he focused on the traffic, on the bright lights he had become so used to, and the noise of the city muffled only slightly by being inside his car. It was barely enough to keep the memories at bay, but it was a distraction that stopped them from overwhelming him like they could have done.

Romeo nodded in acknowledgment of the directions, keeping an eye on the lights and the blocks he was passing so he didn’t accidentally miss the correct turning. He knew this area of the city pretty well, but most of the time he was driving to places on auto-pilot, indicating almost without thinking about it, switching lanes when he barely needed to focus on it. “Maybe, but I’m sure the ones who put hours into it wouldn’t be too pleased.” Romeo was often that kind of student, the one who worked until the sun came up after balancing work, home life and school. He had been that way even when he was younger, and while it was nice for a professor to cut them some slack, he often appreciated it before the long study sessions – not after them. “Must be handy bein’ so close – at least, when you’re not breakin’ heels an’ can actually walk it.” He acknowledged, unsure of what else he could say to her. It was strange having Zoe back in his car, especially when their last encounters had just been one long running argument. Romeo was tempted to knock on the radio, just so they didn’t have to fill the silence with such awkward small talk.

• • •

TAGGED! Zoe Diana Tylers
WORDS! 533!
LYRICS! The Game is Over - - - Evanescence
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Zoe Diana Tylers]

The pain in her chest was a familiar one, echoing in the lonely heartbeat that had once been a symphony conducted by the man sitting beside her. Her heart ached with the memories slamming through her, each one another car of the freight train she had driven off the rails. There had been so many laughs in this car, promises of a lifetime filled with even more before she’d shattered the person who was more a stranger than a lover now.

It didn’t help that her necklace felt tight around her throat, the engagement ring and horseshoe pendant in a constant war even on their shared gold chain. Romeo had fought with her about wearing his ring around her neck, dismissing the fears she tried so hard to keep completely out of his sight. She had felt stupid and terrified and frustrated; and she’d never told him why for fear that he wouldn’t love a fragile country girl that couldn’t handle life in the city with him. She hadn’t told him a lot of things in an effort to protect him and give him space to focus on all the exciting new things coming into his life – and it had nearly broken her.

She wished she could show him now; tell him everything that could build a path through the destruction their relationship had turned into. But, they weren’t the same people who had been so in love they were willing to uproot their entire lives to be together. They didn’t even know each other now.

None of that was on her face as she forced a smile, her knuckles white while she clutched the bag to her chest as tight as she could. She wasn’t scared of him anymore, not in the way she had been a year ago, but she wanted to make this as painless as possible for him. Zoe always knew she was safe with Romeo, even now when their forced conversation was almost nonexistent; she had been scared of the way he made her feel. The way she loved him was all-consuming in a passionate, scream his name from the rooftops, travel to the ends of the earth kind of way. She loved him so much she was losing who she was; at least, she thought she had been. In reality, she had been on track to become something even better – she had been growing from Miss Tylers into Mrs. Jervis, into a partner and confidant and wife that would have been everything she ever wanted had she trusted herself enough to follow through.

"You’ll be a much better teacher than I am,” she smiled at his comment, nodding. She enjoyed her students well enough, but running labs and lectures for them was nothing like helping save an animal. In those moments, especially the complicated cases that required research or collaboration, she felt challenged in the best way possible – she felt like Dr. Tylers had a true purpose beyond anything she could be as just Zoe, the country mouse. "Do me a favor?” she joked, trying to keep the conversation light and friendly. "Stay out of my labs, yeah? I saved you from all the blood and gore when I was a student, and I don’t think your Shakespeare sonnets could handle it.”

She nodded at his statement regarding her apartment. It was nice enough; it was more permanent than what she’d been in as a travelling vet. She worked where she was needed, taking on the hard cases that pushed her beyond any limits she had ever known she’d had. Back then, all she’d wanted at the end of the day was a bed to crash in. "It’s good enough for now,” she smiled, trying to make her voice sound like she wasn’t lying. She missed her old New York apartment, the one that had truly felt like home in the big city. She missed all the photographs and memories there; she missed who she’d been in that cramped little space that held such a large part of her heart.

• • •

TAG: romeo jackson jervis
WORDS: 680
LOCATION: Around Campus, NYU
LYRICS: If the World was Ending by JP Saxe & Julia Michaels
NOTES: <3 <3 <3