, hanging by the moment {tessa}

[chani]

THE WORLD IS SPINNING ROUND AND ROUND

OUT OF CONTROL AGAIN

The alarm clock began to ring again. Beep, beep, beep, beep. Continuously, it rang out into the small apartment Dechlin called his home. His blue orbs were open now, staring at the speckled ceiling above. He listened to the beeps without much focus. Finally, the noise began to irritate him to an extent. He groped the dresser, covered with a select few items, until his hand pressed on the ‘snooze’ button. The rings stopped abruptly, and the twenty year old willed himself to throw off the sheets from his body. On a Monday afternoon, the young man would much rather sleep a tad longer, but he knew very well he mustn’t. He didn’t have class today, but rather a meeting with the editor of Say, Massachusetts! Magazine. For the year and a half he’d been with the magazine, he’d made it a custom to be punctual. Ethics happened to be something he cared quite a bit about. It was the solitary thought that propelled him into the bathroom to bathe in a luke-warm shower. The same thought allowed him to shut off the water and hop out to finish dressing. He pulled a clean t-shirt from his closet and a pair of dark jeans. He slipped on his wristwatch and combed his hair in its usual fashion. The mop of brown hair often looked scruffy. The locks were hard to tame. Granted, he’d never thoroughly tried to tame them in the first place. He had other much more important things than a couple of tangles in his dusty brown hair.

As his gaze moved towards the red, illuminated numbers on his alarm clock, he realized he was running a bit late as it was. The clock read: 2:57. He was scheduled to meet the editor at 3:45. If he jogged, he would be able to make it in plenty of time. That was, of course, assuming he left that very instant. He quickly slipped on a pair of converse, lacing the tops in a clumsy knot, before he picked up his portfolio from the cluttered coffee table and fled out the door. He was nearly halfway done his hall when he realized he had neglected to even lock his door. “Damnit,” he muttered with a scowl before he turned around. He was already behind schedule. He would hate to face the wrath of his editor when she realized he was tardy. Dechlin had only been late once before and he had specifically promised it’d never happen again. Best case scenario, the middle-aged blonde had forgotten all about his little vow. If not, consider him screwed. If it so happened he was fired for a tardiness, it was really her own loss anyways. Dechlin had plenty of wonderful, unique ideas. By a week without his presence, the female would be begging for him to come back. Of course, he would. He would, unless he had found a better opportunity, one that matched his worth more so than his current internship. What a perfect opportunity that would be. Preferably back in the city of Boston. He missed it there.

When he pushed open the doors of his apartment complex, he was disgruntled to find the wind wasn’t nearly comfortable. It whipped around him, pressing the cloth of his shirt to his chest. He contemplated going back in and grabbing his coat, but he really had no time. He supposed the wind wasn’t incredibly unbearable. The goosebumps upon his skin indicated the chill going about his body, but he pushed forward with his head bent down the main street sidewalk. The clouds were heavy with precipitation. The only indication was its dark coloring; plump and gray—eerily gray. Would the clouds begin to spill its tears? The vicious wind seemed enough of a clue in, but a man could not help but wonder. Dechlin wasn’t ignorant of the weather conditions. The Storm Watch was all over the news, scrolling at the bottom of the screen in capital letters. It went as far as interrupting his favorite political program to further warn the residents of Capside, Massachusetts about the high winds and showers to be expected. Dechlin never much minded the unfortunate weather conditions, but the wind was beginning to make him regret not going back for that jacket. It probably hung comfortably on the back of a chair. Dechlin could imagine it there, motionless.

His mind occupied, he was almost completely oblivious to his surroundings. He was about to check both ways to cross a busy intersection when he practically ran into a petite, young girl. She held a guitar in her hands, although he hadn’t a clue why she would do so. As she began to falter, he quickly grabbed the nook of her elbow in a firm grip. When she was stable, he let go and raised his eyebrows. “You should probably be a bit more careful,” he told her. “You’re lucky I was able to catch you.” He had half a mind to remind her a city was a busy place full of too many dangers, but something else distracted him. It started off as a few specks of liquid mixed with the thrashing wind. A nearby tree swayed with the powerful force. He could feel the wind gaining power. The rain began to pour harder, almost like that of a bad movie effect. What was just a sprinkle less than a minute ago, was buckets of rain falling upon them. Each drop wet him further. His head swung side to side as he watched people retreat into the nearest buildings. The close roar of thunder was enough to grab the small girl by her damp arm and take shelter in a small accounting office on the corner of the street. The office smelled strongly of ground coffee beans and printer paper. The news was on mute in the corner. Across the bottom, the subtitles displayed a message: Residents are advised to stay indoors. “I think I just saved your life… Twice in less than five minutes.” His blue eyes peered down at the girl and a look of amusement filled his features.

words » 1,027 words
tagged » tessa<3
outfit » hurr
music » halfway gone - lifehouse
notes » first post ever?! hope it's okay.
lyrics » homecoming - green day
credit » holly @ caution

[tessa]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,300,true] & maybe i know, somewhere D E E P I N M Y S O U L ( that love never lasts ) A final A major seventh chord was struck again and then silence filled the room. Sighing, the brunette looked down at the notebook in front of her. The page was filled with scribbles of writing in a kind of format that only she would ever understand. Picking up the ball point pen, she wrote down one more line to the song and then held the notebook up, inspecting her work thoroughly. She was not quite sure if she even liked the song but it had sounded good at that time. Yawning, she looked over at the clock. It was only around two in the afternoon and already she was growing tired. She had been up rather late last night and found herself up and awake very early that morning. It was really not natural for a girl to be getting only a few hours of sleep and she knew that eventually it would start to affect her in horrendous ways. Still, Tessa had to work and she needed to get everything done on time or she would never earn enough money. The morning had been spent at the café, and the middle of the day writing songs. Now it was time for her to actually go and perform those songs, to try and test run them and see if the general public even liked them. Shoving her guitar into the case Tessa picked up her notebook and slid that in too. Noticing the slight wind outside she grabbed her black leather jacket and threw it on, grabbing her phone and keys from her dresser. Slinging the guitar case onto her shoulder she walked out of her bedroom. Her father was sitting on the couch in the television room watching an old program that she did not recognise. “Bye daddy,” she called as she headed for the front door of their apartment. She walked out and shoved her hands into her pockets, heading down the stairs. Taking the stairs, she thought, was a better option as it would increase her fitness, something which she believed she had to work on. Laziness was one thing that Tessa frowned upon. The wind seemed a lot stronger as she found herself outside. It whipped her hair around and she felt around her wrist, searching for an elastic band to tame the wild waves. Of course, she did not find out and so instead she was forced to keep her eyes down and try to focus on where her two feet were taking her. She knew that she had to get to her usual spot near the café by the next hour or she would certainly lose many of her usual viewers. Many of the people that came to watch her were the elderly, the men and women who went out on walks during that time of the day. They were always so sweet to her and, more often than not, gave her generous donations for the music. She liked it that way, her entertaining them, and them paying her just a small fee for her efforts. It was the perfect harmony, unless she was late. If she did not get there in time they would have all passed by that spot and they would all miss her. Then she would not receive the needed money. A chain of other things followed on to that one statement which led to the girl hurrying even more. Thick clouds hung overhead, grey with oncoming rain. At any moment they would lose their hold and release the torrents of water, soaking all that remained below. Many sensible people were already heading inside but Tessa kept on walking, desperate to make it to her destination as fast as was humanly possible. The girl wished that by some miracle Superman would come down and fly her to her usual busking area. Or perhaps Edward Cullen was available to zoom her across the city. Although she was not particularly fond of the Twilight series she had to admit that Edward Cullen, or Robert Pattinson, was quite good looking. No one in the world would be brave enough to actually admit that aloud and Tess simply kept that piece of information to herself. She would be resigned to watching Twilight alone and keeping it a dark secret from the rest of the world. Of course, she was never really one to follow the pack anyway. During her small reverie, Tessa did not notice the small piece of pavement sticking up. Before she noticed it she was falling and then, she simply stopped. Tessa closed her eyes, expecting to feel her face hit the pavement. When it did not, she became suddenly aware of the fact that something, or someone, was holding onto her elbow. Opening her eyes, she looked up to see a man, not much older than herself, who quickly let go of her. Straightening up she looked at him with widened eyes. It was confusion that struck her most. She did not understand why the man had helped her. Most, she assumed, would simply have let her fall. But for some reason, he had stepped in and saved her face from the bruising that would have followed the fall. Mouth opened, but no words came out. Slowly, the petite mouth closed again and she blushed. She tried to speak once more but once again, could not quite find the words. Eventually, the pink grew to a slightly more crimson shade and she just dropped her eyes to the ground. It seemed to her as though the man thought he was some big, brave hero by catching her. That thought sent a wave of annoyance through her but she could not find the words to help her voice it. Instead, she just remained silent and kept her gaze glued to her own two feet. Her hair continued to blow around but she started to notice something else. There was a slight wetness that covered her hair, and was now starting to cover the rest of her. Looking up, she watched as the heavens opened above her, and the man who was still standing in front of her. Before she knew it, the hand secured around her wet arm once more, just as thunder rumbled through the heavens. The sound made the brunette shrink down her head lowering on her neck. She hated thunderstorms with a passion. In all honesty, they frightened her right to her core. The sound almost made her freeze and if it weren’t for the man, she probably would have remained in the one spot, frozen in fear. As they entered a small office, she looked around her, eyes still wide from the sound of thunder. Without noticing it, she pressed slightly closer to the man, trying to find some sort of protection. He spoke again and she simply looked up at him, her face clearly displaying the distress. All she could do was look down at her feet and blush. Somehow though she managed to whisper a few words but she was not sure if he picked them up over the sound of the storm. “Thank you.” ( w o r d s ) one thousand one hundred and ninety ( t a g ) dechlin <3 ( o u t f i t ) click ( s t a t u s ) complete ( m u s e ) amazing for ten at night ( n o t e s ) haven't posted in the thousands in an age. and tess is quieter than usual i think

[chani]

THE WORLD IS SPINNING ROUND AND ROUND

OUT OF CONTROL AGAIN

Outside the window, only a few people scurried outside, looking for shelter. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of his editor and her rage when she realized her let a simple force such as a rainstorm prevent him from coming. The girl he’d run into seemed terrified. Of a storm? How pathetic. His eyes flicked back over the news playing. The subtitles continued to describe the storm. His mood dropped further as the advisory of residents staying indoors appeared again. It looked as if he wasn’t going anytime soon. In the meantime, he had the girl and the nerdy-looking accounting officials to keep him company. Yet, it wasn’t enough. “Thank you,” he heard a small voice. He peered down at the girl again. “Don’t mention it,” he replied casually. After a moment’s hesitance, he held out a hand. If he was going to be spending however long this storm would last with her, he wanted to know her name. “I’m Dechlin,” he told her. “You are?” Introductions were easy-coming to the twenty-one year old. Although he was notorious for his first impressions, he really didn’t have the energy to try and be oh so charming towards a complete stranger. He doubted after this day he would ever see her again. He certainly didn’t expect any greatness from a random brunette carrying a guitar. Thinking of which, what was up with the guitar, anyways? Why was she lugging it around on a stormy day?

Another flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder to accompany it shook Dechlin out of his thoughts. He gazed back outside at the soaked sidewalk. Cars remained driving across the intersections. The green of a stop light shone out in an eerie kind of way. Dech’s brows fixated the top of his head as he contemplated something. If he’d had known he’d be caught up in a storm, he would have had the sense to at least bring his laptop with him. He had already finished any of his classwork to do for his Journalism course, but studying never did any harm. It wasn’t as if he was going to get a conversation out of the mime in front of him. Could she speak louder than a whisper? He turned away from her to watch the news again. He was able to lower himself into a wooden chair with a hardly effective plaid cushion. Well, that least they tried, he decided. The piece of junk building probably had a hard time affording a simple ceramic cup to hold coffee. The storm watch continued to scroll beneath the news anchor. The subtitles talked aimlessly about war efforts in Iraq and then more on the Egypt situation. Dechlin would be more than happy to sit and lounge while watching current events. It was the gossip crap they insisted to play on the television that annoyed the hell out of him. He sat silently in the chair for a matter of minutes, hardly minding the guitar girl as he did. That was, until a rumble shook his stomach.

He hadn’t eaten anything. He glanced over to the way of some of the accountants. “Do you have any food?” he asked once he caught someone’s attention. The man seemed to hesitate, but eventually, he replied, “If you go down the hall and to the right, you’ll find a kitchenette. There’s a vending machine and I think someone put out cookies.” Dechlin nodded, standing upon his feet as he went and ventured towards the said kitchenette. It wasn’t hard to find it. Only an ugly white archway separated the room from the hallway. Inside, there was a fridge. He figured that was basically for employees, so he stayed out of that. The cupboards had coffee filters, plastic cups, and plastic stirs. He was right. They couldn’t even afford ceramic cups for their coffee. He chuckled mostly to himself as a middle-aged worker stepped into the room. He ignored her existence, pouring the hot, black coffee into a plastic cup before he mixed in creamer. He caught the glances she shot his way, but he thought nothing of it. Instead, he searched out the platter of cookies. They sat on the yellow-tiled counter, nearly half-gone. Oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, or macadamia nut? In the end, he grabbed three chocolate chips and headed out towards the waiting area once more.

The rain was still falling in a cascade. He breathed a sigh and set his cookies on a tissue. He struggled to fish his phone out of his pockets. He needed to let her know why he was absent. A little rain had never stopped him before. Unfortunately, he’d neglected to charge the phone and it was at minimum battery. He had dialed her number, but as soon as she heard her brisk, Hello?, the phone had the nerve to shut off on him. Frustrated, he shoved his dead phone in his pocket and turned to face the petite girl again. “Do you want a cookie?” he offered. Turned out, he wasn’t in the mood for a cookie and he had already eaten the other two. “It’s chocolate chip, but there’s a couple other kinds in the back.” He shrugged his slender shoulders casually, sitting back in the chair he had occupied before. He hoped he wouldn’t be stuck here for too long. He had much to deal with the article. On top of that, he wanted to try and study for the test they were taking in his class the upcoming Saturday. All of which couldn’t be done without his laptop and a textbook. Consequently, being in this small, drafty accounting office was only a waste of his time. “How long do you think the storm will last?” he asked to no one in particular.

words » 1,027 words
tagged » tessa<3
outfit » hurr
music » new perspective - panic! at the disco.
notes » eh cookies?
lyrics » homecoming - green day
credit » holly @ caution

[tessa]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=cellPadding,0,true][atrb=width,300,true] & maybe i know, somewhere D E E P I N M Y S O U L ( that love never lasts ) Glancing up at one of the few televisions, Tessa noticed the numerous warnings about the storm. The warnings worried her just slightly although she was more aware of the booming thunder all around her. Her attention was pulled away from the television as the boy who had brought her inside spoke again. Grasping his hand lightly she shook it in her usual soft way. “I’m Tessa,” she murmured. Recalling that her father had always told her never to talk to strangers, she wondered if this was an exception to the rule. Dechlin had, after all, just saved her from, well, not extreme peril but a small danger nonetheless. She simply assumed that this was a different case, talking to this man could do no harm. Besides, after the storm had passed they would go their own way and probably not cross paths again. At least, that’s what she thought would happen. So, therefore, speaking to him now would be perfectly fine. The thunder was growing increasingly louder and Tessa did not like the sound of it at all. It was difficult not to jump every time she heard a loud rumble echo through the skies. Growing up, Tessa had always been afraid of thunderstorms. It was probably the fact that the loud thunder often reminded her of her parents’ constant fighting. The thunder echoed the screams and shouts of her parents that ran through the house like a hurricane. Any loud noises freaked her out but it was thunderstorms, above all else, that she hated. Noticing the man sit down she looked around at the other chairs. She opted to sit beside him, on another wooden chair. The cushion that was on it was hardly what one would call soft but Tessa was not the type to complain and so she just sat silently. She let her guitar sit beside her, leaning on her chair, with a protective hand placed over it. This guitar was very special to her and she was not in the mood to lose it. Her father had given it to her for her birthday a number of years ago; it was the first guitar she had ever owned. It was only natural that she would be protective of it. Being in a building full of strangers – and Dechlin – was putting her slightly on edge and making her even more protective of the guitar that was perched beside her. Dechlin spoke again but Tessa was in a daze. She wondered if her father was okay, what he was doing, whether he was inside and safe. If anything happened to him, Tess was not sure what she would do. Watching out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dechlin disappear somewhere. All alone, she looked around herself awkwardly. She was not sure where Dechlin had run off to or if he was even coming back. He had probably just decided that ‘saving her life’ was enough work for one day and had ditched her for something – or someone – else that was more important. “Just my luck,” she murmured as she started back up at the television. There were no more warning titles but instead it was focusing on something else that was happening in the world. Obviously Capeside was not a very important town. Feeling around in her jacket pocket she whipped out her phone. She dialled the number that had been drilled into her head over a number of years and then placed the phone next to her ear. It rang twice and then a voice answered. “Hey dad, it’s me,” she whispered into the phone. “Darling, are you okay?” The reply had the tone of dire urgency in it, which made Tessa smile just a little. “I’m fine, but I think I’m going to be stuck in this damn building for a while. Some guy dragged me in here. Just stay inside, there might be a blackout so find some candles. I love you dad and I’ll be home as soon as I can.” Tessa’s voice shook slightly, more because of worry for her father than true sadness. “Alright honey, I love you too.” Pulling the phone down from her ear, she pressed the end call button and shoved her phone back into her pocket. A sigh escaped her lips as she felt a lot happier knowing that her father was safe. Now she could focus on her own placement in the little office, the storm moving closer every minute. Due to the loudness of the storm, Tessa did not even hear Dechlin approach her again. However, she did hear his voice and she turned towards it immediately. “Thanks,” she murmured, a slightly puzzled look upon her face. So that’s where he had disappeared to. She had to admit, hunger was starting to make itself noticed and she was certainly glad for the cookie. She nibbled on it slowly as Dechlin sat down beside her again. They had known each other for ten minutes and now they were probably going to be forced to spend the next few hours together. The one thing that puzzled her the most was the fact that Dechlin had come back. He could have stayed in the kitchen and maybe found someone more interesting to talk to during the storm, and yet, here he was, with her. Turning back towards Dechlin as he spoke she offered him a small shrug. “If the news reporters are right then it’ll last for quite a while. They’re expecting blackouts too.” Just then, she noticed that he wasn’t actually looking at her. It seemed as though he had simply asked the question to the air before him. Blushing she looked away and tried to focus her attention on something else. Her hand brushed her guitar again and she grinned. Pulling it onto her lap she started to undo the zipper. “How about I play you something, to pass the time?” Tessa grinned at Dechlin. Obviously the chocolate on the cookie had taken its toll. She decided that if she was going to be caught in this storm, she might as well try and be just a little friendlier, and Dechlin seemed like a good way to go. ( w o r d s ) one thousand and thirty four ( t a g ) dechlin <3 ( o u t f i t ) click ( s t a t u s ) complete ( m u s e ) pretty good ( n o t e s ) sorry for the wait chani