Everyone kept talkin' about how much they hated hospitals. Hospitals didn't really bother me that much. No one I'd ever known had ever been sick or anything, so I had no reason to fear or hate these places. The only think makin' me hate the hospital was the fact that my boyfriend was lying unconscious in one with wounds so deep, I was surprised the demon's claws hadn't punctured his internal organs or his arteries on their way through his skin. And if that hadn't done it, I was surprised the backward throw against the car didn't do it then.

He was okay though, that's what they kept saying. He'd be in pain for awhile, and he was probably going to have a couple Hell of a scars, but he was alive. And the damage was all surface, it was skin. He'd live, and he'd be fine one day which meant I wouldn't have to hate myself forever for draggin' him into this stupid battle. And I knew it wasn't stupid. It was the most important thing I'd ever done or been apart of. But it still sucked. My boyfriend was injured. As was one of my new friends, and so many other people. Lilly. God, Lilly was hurt so bad. And I knew that Tyler had to be feeling what I was feeling, except maybe worse somehow.

This was the part they hadn't prepared us for. They had taught us how to fight, and they hold told us that people would die. What no one said was that some people would live, but they'd be hurt so bad, your heart would hurt anyway. That you'd stand within the space of four sterile walls, just wishin' it'd been you instead. There are several people in this hospital right now that I would gladly trade places with. I hated this feeling. I hated not knowing.

I'd paced the room for so long, body bruised and still aching from the hits I'd taken. But it somehow hurt less to think about all the people who'd been hurt more. I only peeked my head out into the hallway to get updates from other passers by, going room to room or pacing wide swaths into the polished tile of the floor. I knew from Kennedy that Lexi's aunt was hurt pretty badly, but there wasn't much else to know about that. I also knew that Molly was okay too. Still hurt like Hell, but alive, and awake and that was great news. She didn't know anything about Lilly, and she was on her way to check on someone named Cordy who I hadn't met yet but had apparently gotten hurt in the fray.

After awhile, the halls became empty and quiet again, and people stopped moving from one room to the other. Closing Jude's door behind me, I crept back to his side, finally allowing myself to just sit and be still for a little while. Reaching over, I pulled his IV-laden hand into mine and I clasped my fingers over it, curving them around it as I leaned my forehead against the joining of our hands and began to cry softly, whispering apologies he couldn't even really hear.

Eventually, it all caught up with me and I fell asleep, still holding onto him like I might lose him the way I'd almost lost him today. They say to love something is to realize it might be lost.

I loved Jude.

((Jude...))

So here it was. The big day. The battle. I'd been barely doing this Slayer thing for a few months now and only spent a couple of those at the school. I was probably the most unprepared person for it. I kept thinking that, as they gathered us up in the the library and the grim look on everyone's faces told me they all knew or were at least half expecting death today. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting it. Maybe I'm just young and inexperienced enough so somehow believe I'll never die.

Once the older Slayers, and the witches and Angel and all of those people who were directly going in to that building were gone, they counted us off into teams. I ended up with Alec, who I knew a little bit from back when he was still Lexi's bodyguard and Lexi was still alive. Kennedy had pulled me aside to warn me that I might see her today. That I might come up against her for real and that I needed to be ready or else I'd be one of the dead for sure. I nodded like I understood, but the truth was, I didn't. I still had no idea what I'd do in that situation, so maybe I would be one of the dead today. I don't know, I don't really think you can go into a war thinkin' about how you might die. 'Cause then it's too easy to just give up. You need to go in saying you know you won't die. So that even if you do, you'll have fought with all the fight you had in you. I'd figured out that that's what we do. That's all we can do.

Before we headed out to our spots to wait out the army that was coming, I called Jude from my cellphone. There were lots of reasons, some of them selfish, but I really wanted him there. I told him since he hadn't ascended yet or whatever, that we could really use his powers in this fight. Just not to invite Caleb or anything because I figured fighting an entire war would probably age him until he looked like my grandfather. Jude said he'd be there and I told him just to slip in wherever because I already figured that by the time he showed, there really wouldn't be Team One or Team Two anymore. Just...Team Everyone Who Isn't Dead Fight Like Hell.

I stood there, on the battle line, holding up my sword the way that Molly had taught me, thinking maybe it had been a mistake for them to send me out here. Maybe I wasn't ready. But then I caught one look from her, one little vote of confidence and I strengthened my hold, nodding in return. I could do this. And if I couldn't? I'd die tryin' just like the rest of them.

The sky somehow split in two and there were demons like I'd never imagined coming out of this hole in the sky. They were all big and scary and really ugly lookin'. I didn't even know where to start, but they did. They just came right for us. I watched helplessly as the girl next to me, I think her name was Lynne, this demon sliced her in half with just one swipe. Seriously, he just...swiped her across the stomach and the top half of her fell over backward while her legs stumbled bizarrely for a minute before collapsing forward. I was covered in a spray of her blood as I looked up at him and swung, takin' off one of his claws. He growled horribly and swung the other toward me but I jumped back, turning around and raising my sword, I brought it down hard on his other claw thing, cutting it off too before decapitating him. One down, uh....about another million to go.

My eyes searched the crowd frantically for Jude or for Molly or for anyone I knew or was close to. I needed to know if he was here or she was still okay. But she wasn't. She had gotten sliced up pretty bad and my first instinct was to drop my sword and run to her. Until I got backhanded all the way to the ground by one of those uber vamps they'd fought in Sunnydale. I recognized it from some of the books in the library where I'd been reading up.

Jumping back to my feet in one fluid movement, I channeled all my anger, all of my fear and I punched the thing so hard, it actually staggered a little. From there, I just went through every demon I could find, cutting off head after head and stepping over the bodies to where more were waitin' for me. Bring it. That's all I could. Just friggin' bring it already. I didn't know if Molly was okay, or if Jude had gotten here and was already down for the count. I didn't know anything except that every single last monster here was gonna die before I left this stupid street. No matter how many times they hit me, or threw me, I was gonna get back up and show them how a war was really fought. And I did. 'Cause that's what Molly taught me.

I never did come across Alexia, even as the building she was supposedly in started to implode or whatever and plenty of other people were running from it. I never had to face her, and decide who was going to live, me or her. But somewhere in this fight, I'd already figured it out. If it came down to it, I'd kill her, just like any of these other demons. I'd put my own life on the line out here, just like all these other people. I'd put my boyfriend's life on the line. There was nothing and no one in the world that could keep me from seeing this through. Nothing I wasn't willing to lose if it meant that everyone else here hadn't fought in vain. Like I said, that's just what we do.

1 question...
1 chance...
1 honest answer...

That's all you get. Ask me one question. Any one question, anything, no matter how crazy it is. An honest answer. No catch.

Well, okay, there's just one. All comments will be screened so your question stays private between you and me, and only you will get to see my answer to your question. But I dare you to repost this and see what people ask you.

ooc: o hay, it's a pretend screen.

((Set after Molly and Kennedy are done.))

I missed Jude. Somethin' big and bad was apparently going down, and someone was targeting Slayers. My first instinct was that that something was a little person I liked to call my former best friend Alexia Osborn. Whatever. She's not former. She's still my best friend. It's just hard, since she'd like to make me like her and I'd like me to never be like her. Plus that would just be a really big conflict of interests. I mean, I'm supposed to kill vampires. If I become one, does that mean I have to commit suicide or something?

Anyway, Kennedy was pretty insistent that it wasn't Lexi doing the damage. Something about a war, and sendin' messages, and all this other stuff I wasn't too sure about. It all sounded pretty crazy to me. But Kennedy was the one I went to after Lexi had died and I had only just discovered what I really was and didn't know what I was supposed to do with it. I had no reason not to believe her when she said we were in danger.

Which left me stuck at her school, where I knew no one except a couple of people I'd casually met at my big beach party, sleeping in a room that was smaller and somehow darker than my room at Kaci's. A room Jude couldn't even be in, let alone sleep with me in. And I'd been so used to that. Now I felt more alone than ever, despite the fact that I was locked down with a bunch of people who shared my same destiny and probably my same fate if whatever was out to get us got past our defenses.

There was a weapons room, and it was way bigger than any of the bedrooms. I wasn't really sure what I thought about that, or what it said about Kennedy and Lexi's mom since they were the ones that ran this place. I just knew that if I was supposed to be fearin' for my life, I'd be sleeping with something sharp and pointy under my pillow while doing so.

Picking up a huge sword that was almost as big as my body, I slid my hand into the handle and twirled it upward, almost like a baton or something, watching the shiny metal point rise up above me. This would definitely work. But it was way too big to stash under my pillow. And also, there was a mild fear of decapitation if I shifted my body weight the wrong way. Yeah. This one wasn't gonna work.

I let it drop back down to my side, slicing my hand slightly with the blade as I went to put it back in place. "Ouch!" I whispered, immediately putting the wound to my mouth. It was kinda deep, but not too bad. And it would heal really fast anyway, right? Someone cleared their throat behind me and I turned to see a serious looking brunette standing in the doorway.

"Sorry," I said, backing away from the weapons. "Are we supposed to have permission or somethin' to use these?"

((Molly...))

"Shhh," I said, when Jude protested the new job I'd gotten. He kept insisting that he could take care of me. Kacie was never at the beach house, so even if his parents ever did decide to come home from Europe, I'd still have a place to live. He said that he'd pay my cell phone, and buy me clothes, and take me out to dinner every night so that I was never hungry. He was sweet like that. But I knew it wasn't realistic. We were 17. Eventually, we'd have to stop playing house and face the fact that there was a real world out there that we had to live in and life couldn't be this perfect little fairytale we'd been living in.

It was just waiting tables, and a nice little diner near the ocean, just a few nights a week to help offset the things my parents were no longer paying for since I wouldn't come home. I'd have to wait them out until I turned 18 and got my trust fund. Which meant I'd just have to learn to live on my own just a little bit earlier than most people. But hey, there were kids my age who went to high school and then worked and lived on their own and didn't get to live in a nice beach house like I got to. Especially considering I was never there anyway, and spent practically every night at Jude's.

"Shhh," I said again when I slipped on to his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck as I displaced the book he was reading, the soda he was drinking, everything that was in between us so I could kiss him. Again, he was protestin'. Not he was ever one to turn me down, but he'd been right in the middle of something. Not anymore.

I wasn't much for words lately, so we didn't say much. His lips enveloped mine as his hand placed firmly in the center of my back and he pulled me close. There was always something on my mind. Grief over what Lexi now was. Anger over who my parents had been all along. My head was always filled with more drama than I could take. So Jude took me away from it. He took my mind right off of it, every time and made it all better somehow. Sometimes I just needed that. Like now.

"Shhh," He said, and it was my turn to protest. "I think someone's at the door." He said, scratching his head a little while trying to catch his breath. With a pout, I climbed off of him, straightening my clothes. He gave me an apologetic smile as he went to the door, but my eyes were turned upward to where snow had almost covered the skylights completely.

Shhh, the wind seemed to whisper as a whirl of snowflakes blew in from the open doorway. Shhh.

((Open to Caleb & Jude))

The phone call has barely ended by the time the hard plastic of her cell phone is cracking, breaking against the hard ceramic tile in the kitchen floor. "Whatever you do, don't fall in the kitchen," Kacie had warned her. "The tile's imported. It'll crack your skull." But she doesn't even hear it. The mock echoes of bone breaking on foreign ceramic. It shatters into splinters of hot pink that scatter like hard, shiny confetti with jagged edges. Her hand feels numb and weighted, still holding something to her ear that no longer exists.

Still holding on to something that no longer exists.

Lexi can't be dead. Undead. Whatever she's become that she wasn't just a few days ago. When she was still Lacey's best friend. Even when they had that fight and Lexi was pretending like she wasn't anymore. Lacey knew better. She knew that neither one of them could ever write the other off so easily. Like now. She wasn't about to just accept the fact that her best friend was a vampire, and she was technically dead now, and that was that. It wasn't over.

It felt like hours before the world came back into focus and she realized she was still standing there in the kitchen. The same kitchen where they'd mixed up drinks all summer, like right before the big party they threw. The one where she got close to Jude. In reality, it had only been a very long few minutes. Maybe the longest few of her life.

But it was all it took for her to realize she couldn't be alone right now. No matter how hard she'd tried to prepare herself for the fact that that's exactly what she was, now that her parents had cut her off. She couldn't do this by herself. She'd never planned to. She was supposed to live with Lexi. She was supposed to have her best friend, now that it was going to be hard.

Lacey cried the entire drive over to Jude's. She had to pull over twice, just to regain enough composure to keep going. There was no plan now. Nothing to fall back on. And the only thing that kept her going was the long shot that her boyfriend could so something. He knew magic. Surely magic could fix things, right? But she didn't hold her breath. Lexi's aunt was a witch. If it could be fixed, it would have been fixed by now. She was just desperate, grasping at straws that weren't even there.

When Jude opened the door, she threw her arms around him without even saying a word and just held on to him so tightly, she was almost afraid she'd hurt him. But she couldn't help it. It was almost like, if she let go, she'd lose him too.

If there was really a God, and he had any mercy, that would never happen.

Again, she wasn't holding her breath.

"It's just temporary," Is what her mother told her the day that the entire world turned upside down and then came crashing down on them both. His double life was exposed because the truth? There's a thing you can't run from. No matter how hard you try, how much money you have, how well you lie. Eventually, it catches up with you. It all catches up with you. The world is too small of a place. Lacey realized that much the day her father's other wife, his whole other family, became part of hers. It was never supposed to be that way, but it happened all the same. And her mom, well she thought that it could be fixed. She was there first. Lacey was there first. Obviously in any contest, they'd win, right? Her dad would be forced to give up his second marriage and go back to being just theirs.

Except, winning wasn't an option by then. Her father felt as if he'd been freed from twelve years of hiding his tracks and staying just two steps ahead of his lies. He ditched both of his wives, moved on with his life. And what was temporary became permanent the day her mom stopped crying long enough to sign the divorce papers. He was still around, things just weren't the same and they never would be again.

After that, she stopped expecting anything solid from life. Permanence was forgotten, and she realized it was easier to just assume that everything would be over sooner or later. That no matter how real something seemed, how lasting it felt, there would be an end. Death was a guarantee, right? She accepted the world for what it was. Tenuous, at best. It's not the way she would have wanted it to be, but nothing really is.

But it works in her favor every now and then. Especially when suddenly neither of her parents are acknowledging her, and it feels like her best friend hates her. And everything she knew about herself was just a convenient lie until the truth of who she was, of what she was, was ready to surface. A truth she can't seem to live with, but living without them, her family, Lexi, everyone who matters to her is even worse than that. So she knows she has to find a way to live with it. If only to get the life she was already living back.

"It's just temporary," She tells herself, when it feels a little more permanent than she's used to.

Have I got any secret admirers out there? Leave me some anon loving. Keep it anon, though - the mystery's all the better. Wouldn't be a secret admirer, otherwise.

Tell me, something about me you like, something about me that turns you on, something about me that you just wanna get your hands on. How much you want to do me, or how much you want to date me, or how much you want to... you get the idea.

Just keep it anonymous.

"That's so not fair, Mom!" I screamed into the phone to no avail. She was being so ridiculous, and what was worse, my dad was being just as bad. They finally got on the same page about something, and it was this. And by this, I mean they were totally destroyin' my life.

"But why can't I stay in Los Angeles?" I demanded. "You and Daddy didn't even remember my birthday this year! No one did! So wouldn't you just be better off without me?" I suggested. "Not havin' to try and keep track of me when obviously that has become impossible for you." I was almost in tears, and she was screaming at me and I was getting nowhere.

"But Lexi's dad said it's fine if I stay with them! He's more of an adult than Kaci if that's your problem!" Though I think her problem was more that was being a mega bitch than anything else. God, I hated them. I hated them so much. I'd even tried to be cool about all of the screwed up things that they'd both done ever since they started fighting and got divorced and stuff. And if I thought for one second that either of them was sayin' no because they actually wanted me there because they wanted to spend time with me and not just to use me as the pawn in their stupid little game, I might understand a little more. But they didn't, and neither did I.

"I'm not coming home, so just... do whatever you want. 'Cause I'm not comin' back." Angrily, I pulled my Sidekick away from my ear, ending the phone call. Part of me wanted to throw it, needed to hear the sound of it breaking against one of the walls. But now that they were cutting me off as long as I stayed in L.A., I couldn't really afford to do that. God!

There was only one person I wanted to talk to right now. And I wasn't even sure I wanted to do any talkin'. Maybe some screaming, maybe even some crying, though I hoped not because I didn't want to do that in front of him. But mostly, I was hopin' he'd do a little something else to take my mind off it.

Once I was at Jude's house, I wasted no time. The minute he answered the door, I started spilling all over him.

"Oh my God, Jude!" I exclaimed, backing him into his house before he could even speak. He opened his mouth, but didn't even get a word out. "I'm havin' a total crisis here! Lexi threw me off a bannister and then she took me to a bar and offered me up to a bunch of vampires because I'm supposed to slay them and so I called my parents and asked them if I could stay here in L.A. and they said no but I told them I was gonna do it anyway and then my mom said that they both agreed that they're cutting me off until I come home which means no credit cards, no bank account, nothing." I gave a small, exasperated sigh before collapsing into his arms, my face against his chest.

((Jude...))

"Stupid luggage." I muttered, to myself, as I pulled the large Louis Vuitton trunk out from under the four poster bed I'd been sleeping on while staying with Kaci this summer. It wasn't the luggage's fault that my flight was already booked and I was finally leaving in a few days to go back to Shreveport. And that I didn't want to go. But inanimate objects were better to throw tantrums at than people, so I just did that. Threw a fit at my luggage for being... luggage.

It made sense in a certain way. Without luggage, how would I get my stuff home? And if I couldn't get my stuff home, then maybe that would mean I wouldn't have to go at all, right? Okay, stupid. My parents would just tell me to buy more luggage. Or they'd offer to buy me new stuff when I got home.

Home. Was it completely out of line that this house, the beach house my cousin owned but barely even lived in, was more of a home to me than either of my parent's houses? Ugh, this was so depressin'!

"Hey Lexi," I said, offering her a smile as she came into the room. I hadn't even heard her come in. Kicking the luggage to the side, I climbed up on the bed, patting a spot for her. She gave the room a suspicious look around, as if she didn't really recognize it without Jude bein' a permanent fixture in it, and I just sighed.

"I have good news." I informed her, as I leaned over to click on the lamp. The sun had long been setting, and now it was starting to get dark. "Kaci called. She said she's not gonna be back in town for awhile, like probably six weeks at least and that you're welcome to stay here as long as you want after I leave."

It always came down to leavin', didn't it? At least I wasn't leaving her with nothing. She'd have Caleb and Jude, and the beach, and this house, and all the friends we'd made. And I'd gladly trade places with her in a heartbeat.

((Lexi...))

Today was my best friend's birthday. But she really hadn't been in the mood to celebrate lately. She was really pissed off at almost everyone in her life. Mostly her and brother, but still. She said that everyone in her life had lied to her, and then she'd pretty much moved in with me except for the time that she spent with Caleb. Which, okay, was still a lot of time. Caleb and I shared custody of her. Which was a good thing, because she would have gotten sick of playing third wheel if she had to be around Jude and I all the time. And let's face it, Jude and I were spending a lot of time together these days. School was starting soon and we'd have that to deal with, so I guess we were just taking advantage of what little time we had left. I'd already overextended my stay here, and my parents were itching for me to get back.

Back. Shreveport. Louisiana. As in like a thousand miles from here. Everyone was trying to get me to stay, but I just didn't know that I could. And outside of a new best friend and a boyfriend I was already completely mad about, I didn't really have a reason to uproot my life and stay here. At least not one that my parents would buy. And since I had just turned 17, that meant I still had to have their permission to do anything. Especially move to Los Angeles. I was so dreading the whole thing.

To top it off, neither of them had remembered my birthday that was like a month ago yet. I guess it really was out of sight, out of mind. Some stupid, really young part of me secretly hoped that maybe they were downplaying it so they could surprise me when I got back. But I knew that that was only wishful thinking, and the situation was what it was: they were both busy focusing on themselves. Dad was finally free from all the lies that came attached to his double life, and Mom was free to find someone she could marry for a reason other than being knocked up. And now, at least for a few more weeks, they were free of me.

But back to what was important. Alexia, the Birthday Girl, wasn't home when I finally crawled out of bed. The boys had been over the night before and we got the celebration on a little early. Too much champagne. But that was the theme of my summer. And then my first instinct every morning was to have a taste of the snake that bit me. Mimosas were my morning routine. (If you could still call it morning half the time.)

I'd promised Jude that I'd go school shopping with him, and I didn't know how soon I'd be back or what her exact plans were, so I didn't want to miss the chance to at least make sure she got her gift. There were two boxes, wrapped in shiny pink paper. The one on the bottom was a shoebox, and the one on the top was much smaller. Grabbing my handbag, I pulled out the card I'd picked up for her, scrawling:

Happy Birthday, Lexi!

I know the bracelet is totally lame, but it's also true. You are the sister I wish I had. Don't worry, I will not be offended if you never wear it. It was more like one of those 'it's the thought that counts' things. Anyway, to make up for the supreme lameness of it, I bought you some Louboutains. Because let's face it, Louboutains make everything better and I know it hasn't exactly been easy lately. Anyway, so now when you stand still and look pretty, you can at least stand tall. (And super cute.)

Love,
Lacey

P.S. The cupcakes are for later. I've got the candles with me. <3

Tucking it into the envelope, I placed it on top of the two boxes before pulling a dozen of Sprinkles cupcakes out of the fridge and sitting them next to the presents. The glitter candles were still in my bag, which I took with me when I left.

The least I could do is sing "Happy Birthday" to her later, instead of leaving her leaning over an empty cupcake.

((Backdated to Sunday, July 22nd.))

"I'm miles from where you are,
I lay down on the cold ground
I, I pray that something picks me up
And sets me down in your warm arms..."

Seventeen years old.

It was already almost over, and yet it felt like it hadn't happened at all. We were in Greece, Lexi and Jude and me and a bunch of other people I'd mostly never met before. So, if I had to be abandoned by my parents on my birthday, what better place to be abandoned than a private island in Greece? Still, I couldn't get over it. Normally, they'd be all about tryin' to top each other. Daddy would buy me a car, and then Mama would take me shopping and invite all the girls out for lunch at whatever restaurant I picked. Normally, my birthday would be a week long competition between them. And despite the fact that I loved all the attention, it did suck that I knew they were only using me to get at each other. But at least then, they remembered.

Things hadn't been normal for awhile though.

It was kind of weird, spending my birthday out of the country where no one even knew it was my birthday. But I kep thinkin' at least my parents would call, full of promises of the things that would be waiting for me when I got back. Or trying to be the first one to get to me, so the other one was upstaged. It's just how they were.

By sunset, there had been no word from them. I'd even resorted to calling them myself, but no one was answering. It was just another day to them. Which meant it really was just another day. I guess it was unreasonable for me to be upset, but I couldn't help it. At first, I locked myself in the bathroom and cried until I felt like it was out of my system. But as I walked back out, saw everyone movin' around me, laughing and having fun and completely oblivious to anything that existed off this island, I felt worse than I did before. It made me realize just how miserable I was. So I headed away, down to a secluded part of the beach away from where everyone was hanging out. It wasn't fair to punish anyone else for my parents, but I just wanted to be alone.

There was a patch of wild grass bordering the sand, curving around a cliffside, just past the warmth and glow of where we were staying. Laying down in the grassy part, I stared up at the blood red sky, watching it turn darker. Part of me wanted to find Jude, knowing he could cheer me up. But I didn't want to bring him down with me, no matter how much I wanted him to pick me up.

So I just stayed, still and breathing, beneath the island sky.

((Jude...))

Lacey Collins
Original Character/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
458 Words

Kacie had left at like 2 that afternoon with her doctor-boyfriend who was takin' her to Las Vegas for the weekend, leavin' her Santa Monica beach house all to me. She tried real heard to pretend like she was givin' me the speech, the one about not having any parties while she was gone, no drinking, and definitely no boys. But I could tell, Kacie didn't care.

By 3, Lexi was over and we were busy setting up for the little shindig we were gonna throw that night. Nothin' too big. I invited a few people, she invited a few people, I think her brother Tyler invited a few people. That sort of thing. At least I hope that's all it was. I mean, I invited that guy Ryan that Kacie introduced me to. Lexi invited Lucy and Molly. Tyler invited Jude. Knowin' my luck, someone else'd get wind of it and pass out flyers.

We didn't even have to buy the alcohol. Kacie kept her bar stocked for when she entertained casting directors and producers and other no-name bigshots she was so sure were gonna make her a big star. All Lexi and I really had to do was catch a tan and then fix the place up a bit. String some lights up around the pool and the glass partition that divided the property from the beach. We set out cups and plates and trays of crap we'd ordered from some party place. There was a keg in the kitchen that I'd found in the garage, a huge tub of ice becide it. Some sodas for the non-drinkers. Or you know, for mixers. Plus, the cupcakes from Sprinkles I'd gotten for Jude's late birthday. Two tiers of them, all mixed up with red velvet, peanut butter chocolat, regular chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon sugar, mocha, and black and white.
And pretty much anything I could think of or that came to mind for Lexi.
All set, we headed up to the guest room I'd been stayin' in so we could change, considering people were due to arrive whenever.

"Do these Sevens make my ass look fat?" I asked her, as I came out from the private bathroom in jeans and a strapless bra, a sequined bebe top hanging from a hanger in one hand as I gave her a little twirl.

((Open to Lexi, and then whoever wants to.))

I'm not really supposed to tell people on the internet too much about me. Mama watches a lot of Dateline, and she's convinced some pedophile out there is gonna come after me if I'm not careful. She's kinda crazy right now though. Ever since it came out that Daddy had this whole other life in New York she didn't know about, she's had this real bad nervous condition. I think that's all it is, really.

Anyway, my name's Lacey Collins. I'm 17 - okay, so I'm 16, but I'll be 17 next month which makes me practically that old already - and I'm from Shreveport, which is in Louisiana for the geographically challenged. It ain't really much dependin' on whereall some of you might've been before, but it's pretty big for around here. Which, I mean, thank God. 'Cause it gets pretty boring in these parts. Not so much lately, with all the hurricane activity and then that Patriots player bein' found dead in Lake Ponchartrain. But I'm sure you can imagine that's not exactly an every day kinda thing.

My dad's a laywer. He worked with Johnnie Cochran a few times before he got all famous. Daddy's actually from old Southern money since my great-great-great (maybe a few more greats?) granddad was some kind of shipping tycoon. He formed the Collins Corporation, and they've done all kinds of things since then. Shipping, football teams, stock market. I'm not really all that interested in it. And my mom, she was Miss Louisiana once but now she just sits around the house consulting different Creole people to see if one of them can maybe whip up some nasty hoodoo against Daddy. (Like I said, she hasn't been right lately.) I don't know much about his other family, considering he left them too once Mama and everyone else found out about it. That other woman's probably sittin' around some penthouse in the city, tryin' to take out a hit with the mafia or something. I don't really know whose side I'm on with all that drama.

As for me, I'm fixin' to go to Santa Monica next month to stay with my cousin Kacie. She's out in California tryin' to be the next Reese Witherspoon or Heidi Klum. But the way she parties it up, she's probably more likely to be the next Lindsay Lohan. If she can ever get a role, that is.

I just hope that I'll get to make a demo or maybe play some kind of high profile gig. I'm a singer, at least I wanna be, and Kacie swears I could get a record deal if someone important heard me. Plus, I play piano and guitar, and I've been taking dance lessons practically my whole life, so I'm pretty much a triple threat. I know it's a hard town to break or whatever, so I'm not getting my hopes up too high. But still, a girl can dream, can't she?

Well, I better wrap this up. My friends keep playing text tag to figure out when we're gonna go see that movie Disturbia. I don't even really want to go. I tried to tell them that. See, I keep havin' these nightmares. They're weird and sometimes pretty awful. So the last thing I need is some creepy movie to make it worse.

Oh well, as long as it isn't a movie about vampires, I guess I should be alright.

Her mama says that she can never trust anyone, because you can never really know a person well enough. It's a sentiment that Lacey has heard all too often. Ever since the truth of her father's second life in New York came to light, it seems like Lynn will just never shut up about it. Like it's the only thing in the world that has ever happened to her, or like she's the only woman who has ever been lied to.

"Sometimes, I swear, the Lord should just strike 'em all dead, and then sort them out Himself." Lynn says. And she's not just talking about the cheaters. She has a newfound (or possibly a little old) bitterness for all of the male species.

Lacey often wonders if it's really all because of her dad, or if maybe it's because she's too old now. Too old to put on her little black shorts and her rollerskates and hope some rich guy's gonna pull into Sonic and rescue her. Too old to win another crown and a sash to display against her obviously fake breasts. She's not too old in a sense of age or wear. Plastic surgery and Botox have both been kind to her, even she's starting to fade around the edges. A lifetime of starving, whether intentional or by force, have kept her body trim and fit enough to squeeze into the Juicy clothing she buys in the Juniors department while pretending it's for Lacey so the sales girl won't judge her for it. (Even though anyone who looks at her, the crown of dark hair edging out the white-blonde highlights, the oversized and overpriced sunglasses last seen on Paris Hilton, the open toe shoes, anyone who can see her is already judging her anyway.)

Still, Lynn Collins is too old for the life she'd have rather had or that she'd like to try for again. She'll never be Julia Roberts, Cindy Crawford, or Tipper Gore. She'll never be another trophy wife, carrying the baggage of years, and a child, and a previous marriage. Being all that she'll ever be gets lonely when she's sitting in her big house with a memory full of years she can never get back.

Lacey once asked her Daddy if he was sorry for what he'd done to her. For not only hurting her and cheating on her, but taking away her youth.

The answer was no.

Lacey Collins
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
401 Words