Foxes Trots (CLOSED)

[TheStoicist]

"Yeah, sure Hell's Angel. Who even let you buy this abomination?"


Isaac grumbled as he unwound his arms from around Jacquelyn's waist and took off the helmet, suddenly more conscious of it and obviously much more bitter about having to wear the odd headgear than he'd like to admit. Then the tall boy slipped off the bike somehow more gracefully than most could ever manage and held out the helmet for Jacquelyn to take as he informed her,


"We're getting dinner, my apartment is pretty far from here and we're not eating McDonalds." He'd still not budged about his resolution to have Jacquelyn abstain from the deep-fried poison,


"Come on, I don't like making shopping trips longer than they have to be." It was true, shopping trips as a child for Isaac with his step-mother and three elder step-sisters were traumatizing an extremely lengthy, wether they were going for clothes or snacks. And somehow now he couldn't stand being in any store for too long. Isaac began walking ahead, figuring Jacquelyn could catch up.

 

[fatuglybutch]

She slipped off the leather jacket and grabbed the helmet, zipping the both up in the front storage. "I stole money from my mom to buy it in New York. I've only had it for a little while." She smiled, shaking out her hair before putting it up again with the pen, afterwards she jogged to catch up with Fancy Dude Bro. She noticed a kind of coldness now that they were off the bike but she mostly blamed that on the jacket.


She's never excited when it comes to shopping for groceries. When ever she goes she only ever buy's 50 cent spiral notebooks, $7 dollar ear buds, $2 dollar smokes, $12 dollar maxi pad and $5 dollars for every twelve dark chocolate bars with almonds. So whenever she buys those things she always feels weird about seeing everyone else getting vegetables, milk, and bread.


She looked up at him from her position hanging from the side of the cart "...Do you think I could get something...? She asked tentatively, smiling like a six year old who was hiding something. "Just for ooooone thing?" She was also starting to sound like a six year old who was hiding something. "It'd only be twenty six dollars...." Her smile widened.

 

[TheStoicist]

"What could possibly cost twenty- six dollars that you want?" Isaac questioned, not looking away from the lean cut of chicken he was inspecting, he was trying to see if the chicken was free-range or not. It was a huge deal-breaker for him.


Isaac had already piled up many other groceries in the cart, yellow squash, white onions, garlic, tomatoes, a head of non-GMO spinach, a couple of radishes, a cucumber, virgin olive oil, basil, and a couple bottles of water. And it had bothered him a bit, the way Jacquelyn was hanging off the cart like a toddler, she couldn't take anything seriously even if it killed her not to, but it didn't really obscure his control over the cart so he let her be. Plus she looked to be in a pretty good mood at the moment, and though he'd love to annoy her, he thought that perhaps if she was in a good mood she wouldn't misbehave too badly.


Her childish action was a little bit cute too, oddly. He didn't really understand his own notion. It just was and he kinda didn't like that he thought so. So he pushed the impression back as he finally set the chicken down in the cart and looked to Jacquelyn for her answer.

 

[fatuglybutch]

She jumped off the cart and started observing all the things he was putting into the cart. She couldn't even name most of it, but she did enjoy how he chose things like free range and non-GMO. "I'm just gonna buy some stuff. It's not really that big of a deal." She discretely pick pocketed his wallet and ran off, "see you at check out!" She called, heading for the alcohol isle. She was pretty good at pick pocketing, she usually does it do people she hates or rich people and I guess she figured Fancy Dude Bro fell into a little of either category.


Jack was waiting by check out line #13 with a little hand cart full of: ear buds, chocolate, maxi-pads, two packs of smokes, a pack of pens, a spiral, boxed red wine, and a case of diet cherry coke.

 

[TheStoicist]

Isaac swore after the girl as she took off with his wallet. And though he was ticked about it, he somehow trusted her not to run off with his debit card.


As soon as he caught sight of her with alcohol, never mind the unhealthy soda, in her basket at checkout Isaac glared, he hadn't caught sight of the cigarettes yet. He was not looking to get in trouble for trying to purchase alcohol underaged tonight. So he pushed his cart beside Jacquelyn and leaned over to say for only her to hear,


"No way shortie. Go put it back. You're not buying that with my money." Okay so it technically was his father's money not his, but that was almost worse. If his father saw that there was wine bought with that card, Isaac would be screwed. Of course Isaac wasn't sure that his father cared enough to check what was being bought with the debit card. Better safe than sorry though. And Isaac was beginning to realize that he was slowly letting this girl drag him into her flow, riding on her motorcycle, letting her go with his money, even giving her that pen was a sort of surrender. Suddenly Isaac felt very fired up again. He was not going to let this head-strong girl just have her way with him. He was the one who knew better.

 

[fatuglybutch]

"Come on it's just wine. I never get carded here we'll be fine." She said smiling, "wine is good for your heart. And has anti oxidants." She walked to the convener belt and started putting both of there things on it, sliding his debit hard across the little credit card swipe thing, then handing a fake ID to the cashier who was a pink-haired black lipstick type of girl and barely even glanced at it before handing it back.


So far, she had decided that Fancy Dude Bro was a very bad baby sitter, but a very fun little play toy. "It'll be fine," she re-iterated, still with ever-slightly sneaky smile of hers. "So are we going to you're apartment after this?" She asked. grabbing some of the bagged items.

 

[TheStoicist]

Isaac rolled his eyes at her comment about how wine was healthy, but didn't put up too much resistance, he'd deal with it later, he didn't need to draw attention for now.


"Sure, I'll bet it's cleaner than yours Ms. Day-old-tacos." He commented, a bit snarky, as he pulled the rest of the bags onto his long arms and walked out of the store.


He should probably let Oliver know that he was coming ahead of time, but with arms weighed down by grocery bags, he couldn't reach his phone. He'd just have to hope.

 

[fatuglybutch]

Jack stuffed all of the groceries into the storage compartments just after putting on her leather jack. It was a tight fit but at least they didn't have to worry about anything flying away if they were to have to hold it. She turned to him and sighed, handing him the helmet, "So where do you live Fancy Fly?" She asked, climbing onto the motorcycle and waiting for him while turning the engine on.


...She slowed into the parking lot off of his apartment complex and hopped off, opening up the storage spaces to grab the groceries. "Lead the way," she said, digging through one of the shopping bags before pulling out the pack of smokes and pulling one out along with tie die lighter from her pocket.

 

[TheStoicist]

"Jacquelyn." Isaac voice was low, abrupt, and dangerous, something that demanded attention, as if the name meant so much more than just a name should (of course this was only the second time he had ever actually called her by her name), and if looks could kill, the short girl would be six feet under by now. Isaac had stopped walking and his dark hazel eyes were steely and cold and narrowed so the boy looked like a predator eying it's prey. And it only took him a nanosecond to snatch the package of cigarette's away from her along with the one she was lighting right from her mouth before he began,


"I'll excuse you threatening to eat McDonalds and acting like a slob, I'll let you drag me around on a motorcycle that looks so old it should be in a museum and is speeding about thirty miles over the speed limit wearing a rainbow colored helmet, I'll let you call me Mr. Fancy and Fancy Fly, I'll let you get away with 'stealing' my credit card, I'll even let you purchasing a freaking huge case of red wine and Dr. Pepper with my money pass, but you will not smoke. Do you hear me?" And though some might consider Isaac's appearance imposing, large, noticeable. Nobody would describe it as scary or intimidating. Until now. Somehow he seemed to be sizing the short girl up, making himself appear looming and somehow larger than he actually was, and he was pretty large either way. He was not to be messed with was what his aura told others. These words he had just uttered were law. No one was gonna tell him otherwise.

 

[fatuglybutch]

"I can't quit. It doesn't work like that." She said, crossing her arms, not even attempting to snatch the cigarette's back. "And if you're really making me give up every single fucking vice I have than you should at least go slow. Don't expect the perfect dancing partner over night-shit face." She took out the second pack and hit it on her hand, not taking any out yet.


"Tell you what, this'll be the last time I buy cigarette's, I'll move down from this to a vape pen, then patches, then gum, yada yada yada. I'll only smoke outside and I'll never ever do it around you. Do we have a deal." She understood the seriousness in his eyes so she didn't want to challenge him but it was important that they come to at least work with this rather generous compromise.


Jack actually had a aura of her own, one of hard defenses and stubbornness.

 

[TheStoicist]

Isaac didn't break against Jacquelyn's own stubbornness,


"Jacquelyn. This isn't about wether I see it or not. This is about how your throwing away your health, a clean diet doesn't mean jack if you're a smoker. I know that you can't just stop cold turkey, but you're gonna die of lung cancer before you get off them if we do it your way. So this is what we're gonna do. You get this cigarette," he held up the one he'd pulled from her mouth. "Then once we get inside, the rest are going straight in the trash. You bought them with my money anyway so don't whine about it, their mine to toss. And then next time we go to the store we're buying nicotine gum and you'll only get so many pieces a day, after that we'll ween you off the nicotine day by day." Once again his eyes were unmoving and he only waited a few moments before adding softly,


"I'm not asking for a perfect dance partner over-night. I'm asking for someone who isn't just a liability. Because I won't sugar-coat it. As of now that's all you are. And you may not care that you are a burden, but you're gonna learn pretty quickly that life's a lot better when you get along with your partner. You and I are connected at the hip from now on." He was looking her directly in the eye, his lips drawn into a tight, serious line, his dark brow creased very slightly.

 

[fatuglybutch]

"Fine!" She barked, grabbing the cigarette from his hands and putting it between her lips again. "And fuck you." She dropped the groceries on the ground and stomped away, her leather jack still on and her bag still in the storage. She was going to go inside, smoke her cigarette, then likely get high. She was pissed off and waiting until she really blew up.


Fatefully though, she had no clue which apartment was his, so she was forced to wait for him to show her. She lit her cigarette and dragged, then blew it up to the sky. She took the pen out of her hair before shaking her hair out, then she pulled off her jacket and took another drag.

 

[TheStoicist]

Isaac sighed as he bent over to pick up the groceries she had just dropped on the ground, hoping none of the contents were bruised. He knew that he'd been a bit harsh with her, but he couldn't pluck up the empathy to care much. She was stubborn. And nothing was going to change if she only kept getting her way with him. She may not like it, but the changes Isaac was trying to initiate in her were beneficial to the both of them. After gathering up the bags onto his arms and pulling his keys out of his pocket Isaac followed Jacquelyn in,


"Alright Shortie don't get ahead of yourself. It's room 147." He informed her as if the whole spat hadn't been so bad and began walking down the hall ahead of her. Once he reached his door he set down a few bags to unlock and open the door.


But as soon as the door opened Isaac groaned loudly (and a bit melodramatically admittedly),


"Oliver, I swear." There his roommate was, shirtless, sitting on the couch or rather breathlessly perched on the lap of another male, his hair a mess and his lips swollen as he grinned sheepishly, his cheeks a bit pink,


"Hey Isaac. You didn't tell me you'd be home so soon." Isaac just snorted as Oliver slipped off of the other boy's lap, who was revealed to be his boyfriend Drake, and picked up his shirt off the floor and pulled it back on.


"Seriously though, I see this one more time and don't think I won't put you out in a box on the side of the road." Isaac bent over to pick up the bags he's set down,


"Okay, okay, sheesh, calm your tits prima donna." Oliver was still grinning, Drake on the other hand looked positively embarrassed, his cheeks flushed red as he stood, he was only about an inch shorter than Isaac, and apologized,


"Sorry Isaac, you know your just more easy-going than my roommate. So we kinda have to come here


"Drake, it alrig-"


"Seriously, who's more uptight than Warbucks Jr. here though?" Oliver interrupted,


"Wait have you not come out to him yet?" Oliver quirked an eyebrow up at his boyfriend, though he was still smiling,


"Uh... How-" Drake began scratching at his neck, but Oliver was ahead of him,


"Ah, you know what, don't worry about it babe, we'll figure it out." And Oliver stretched up to give Drake a chaste peck on his cheek, or at least more chaste than whatever the two had been getting up to a moment ago. Then Oliver turned on Isaac again,


"So where's your latest victim Mr. Darcy? Or have you driven her away already?" Oliver teased and Isaac sighed once again, turning to look back for Jacquelyn.

 

[fatuglybutch]

Jack watched the scene with great amusement, smoking her last cigarette slowly. "It's much more likely that he is the victim of me," she smiled, pinching Mr Frosty ass after stomping out the cigarette. She looked him in the eyes for a long moment before turning her attention to the guy lovers. "I'm sorry about barging in on ya like that, never ever meant to spoil sexy time." She started to wander around the apartment mindlessly." In fact I'd definitely smack a bitch down if some wild haired not-ball dancer asshole interrupted my sexy time." She muttered, chuckling.


"I like it here!" She called from Mr Foot Rubs room, then back to the doorway where the groceries were. "You need help unloading?" She asked, grabbing a couple of bags from him. She set them on the kitchen counters and pulled out the box of win, then hurriedly looking for any kind of cup she could get to first.

 

[TheStoicist]

Isaac glared after the girl pinched his butt and Oliver whistled as he watched Jacquelyn go, sitting down in one of the bar chairs near the kitchen's island counter, Drake was quick to join Oliver at the island, quietly watching Jacquelyn,


"It's fine kid, you didn't interrupt and Isaac means dinner and wow, she's a ball of fire isn't she Isaac?" Isaac rolled his eyes at Oliver,


"You don't even know, don't drink too much Shortie." He wasn't about to stop her from drinking a bit of wine after the outburst in the parking lot. So he just set about preparing dinner, pulling the squash out of the bag first before crossing the kitchen to retrieve a cutting board and knife. While Oliver finally decided to introduce himself formally to the girl,


"I'm Oliver by the way, I'm Isaac's roommate and in the hip hop dancing program, also the guy all of Prima Donna's dancing partner's tend to come whining to." Oliver's grinned widened, "I'm pretty gay too, if it wasn't obvious, and this one, Drake, is my partner-in-crime, he's a computer geek though, not a dancer." His gaze flickered to Drake's for a moment as if the two youth were carrying out some sort of telepathic conversation,


"Hey." Was all Drake said pleasantly, giving Jacquelyn a small, and awfully charismatic smile.


Oliver and Drake's personalities didn't quite seem to fit their appearances. Oliver was short, only about five-foot-four and had curly, brown hair, pale skin, big green-blue eyes with thick lashes, a small, straight nose, and a wide fiery grin while Drake was tall and a bit lanky with olive skin, a sharp jaw-line, up-turned eyes that were so dark brown they almost seemed black, piercings lining all the way up both his ears each one filled with a silver stud or ring, along with a single lip piercing also filled with a silver stud, and straight, pitch black hair that was styled in a very rebel-esque undercut. They were an odd couple no doubt, it was a curious story how they even met.


Then there was a loud mew and an orange cat with slightly folded ears waddled in on wonderfully stubby legs, followed by a very alert, yet arrogant looking grey and brown tabby. Drake snickered as they entered the room and Oliver sent him an oddly playful glare,


"Seriously, it's not that funny."

 

[fatuglybutch]

"Nice to meet you Oliver, Oliver's partner-in-crime. You can call me Jacqueline." She smiled, finding a mug with a rainbow flag stamped on it. She looking up at Drake and Oliver then chuckled before pouring a plentiful amount of wine into the cup. "I'm gay also," she said, running a hand through her hair, "I'm pansexual. It means gender is not a factor in what makes me attracted to someone." She drank almost half the cup before adding, "I've only ever dated girls though..."


"... And more importantly I'm aromantic. Meaning I don't really like close contact or generically romantic things. Or maybe I just don't think those kinds of things are realistic..." She took a deep breath and decided to change the subject.


She drank another glass of wine in the silence


Then another, then she filled it back up again. "You two are a cute couple though, very interesting not doubt about it." She crushed the whole glass this time before setting the cup on the counter and stretching. "Do any of you smoke pot?" She asked, running a hand through her hair, "and do any of you know how to french braid?"


She very much liked the presence of these boys, maybe she won't be as tough on them as she was on Fussy Butt.

 

[TheStoicist]

By now Oliver had picked up the short-legged cat and had it purring in his lap, he nodded through Jacquelyn's whole ramble, Drake made direct eye-contact throughout the whole thing, making short "mhm" sounds every so often. And now it was Drake who answered with a small, cheeky grin on his face,


"Isaac can French braid, also-" but suddenly Isaac interrupted from his place at the stove, grabbing Jacquelyn by her earlobe,


"There is no way I just heard that. We just worked out something about the smoking and now you want to do drugs? Absolutely not." Isaac's voice had taken on that assertive tone again, which was beginning to sound vaguely reminiscent of an exasperated mother. Oliver had begun watching the scene again by now, his lips quirked into an interested smile. He glanced at Drake once again and the two had another one of their seemingly telepathic conversations.

 

[fatuglybutch]

She spat in his face, pushed him away, then put a hand over her ear from the pain of him pulling it. "Marijuana is good for you too. It's for sound sleep, common colds, improved test scores. It's not like I'm a complete idiot."


She sighed,"pushing the stray hairs from her face. "Can you please just shut up a braid my hair than let me go outside with the other gays and 'hangout' on the porch for like ten to fifteen minutes...?" She asked, glaring up at him. This was one of those things she wouldn't give up either. "Oh, and also, it's good for menstruation cramps."

 

[TheStoicist]

This was about the last straw for Isaac and he began speaking in a scarily calm voice as he wiped his face,


"You know what else is good for menstrual cramps," he had five step-sister' she was no stranger to periods,


"Advil, heating pads, water, and exercise. You know what's good for a sound sleep, hard work or NyQuil. You know what's good for a cold cough syrup and soup. And did you know that if you want to get good test scores then you study hard on your own? Did you also know that marijuana can cause up to an eight point decrease in IQ if used for too long, causing issues with memorization skills, it can also cause heart attacks, depression, and anxiety, you can experience symptoms of withdrawal when trying to quit marijuana, one of which is insomnia. It also weakens your immune system. I have no obligation to do anything for you, in fact the only reason I've put up with your crap for this long is because I need you to- I need you. Sorry, but isn't about what you want, I'm not here to try my hardest to shape you up into something more than a slob who's addicted to not only smoking and drinking, but drugs and thinks it's cool sign up for a dance academy with no idea of how to dance and ruin someone else's chances of having what they've worked for, for nearly eight years of their life, just for you to mess with everything because you think it's funny." By the time he was finished talking his voice was intense and fierce and had risen almost ten times in volume. But then suddenly he took a deep breath and said,


"That's the thing about you Jacquelyn, isn't it? You don't think about the future, so you just throw away everything for the immediate pleasure. You have no sense of self-restraint or respect, for yourself or anyone else. I can't stand people like you." And then with one last glare, Isaac stalked heatedly out of the room, slamming the door behind him.


Oliver had slipped out of the room sometime during Isaac's outburst along with the two cat's, leaving Drake looking between Jacquelyn and the door worriedly,


"Man, I didn't see that coming." Drake voiced, probably knowing that he wasn't helping anything at all.

 

[fatuglybutch]

She had been frozen doing his spiel, looking up at him and not changing expressions, not breaking eyes contact, and not even breathing too deeply. She didn't realize that her bitchiness was basically ruining Isaac's life. But more than that... What he said about her was mostly true. She didn't care.. Especially not about the future. And she really couldn't even if she tried. That fact left a lump in her throat, and she wanted to cry. But she didn't. She never cried in front of anyone ever and wasn't going to.


She has memories of that feeling of motivation that kept the idea of her future close to her thoughts. She wanted to study philosophy, theory, and psychology. She also wanted to be a writer... But that idea completely ended just before freshman year. When she picked up cigarette's and started binge eating and sleeping.


She took a shaky breath before attempting to focus her attention on Drake. "Yeah... Me neither..." She felt terrible, and if she stayed any longer she'd completely fucking lose her mind. Her eyes started to water as she picked up her bag and ran out the back door.

 

[TheStoicist]

Drake could tell she was on the verge of tears, but he didn't follow her. He barely knew the girl. He thought it was probably better to let her go for now. So Drake rose from his seat, turned off the stove which Isaac had haphazardly left on, and figuring that it was best that he should go check up on Oliver, and went into the hall where Isaac was pacing at an dizzyingly fast rate, chewing away at his bottom lip.


"She's run off. Why?" Drake sighed and Isaac immediately halted his steps to look up at Drake with wide eyes,


"What?" Isaac's voice was hoarse and strained as if he himself was about to crack. A big difference from the intimidating, shouting youth a few moments ago.


"What did that girl do to deserve that?" Isaac's face darkened at Drake's words.


"She is the most infuriating human being I've ever met... And- and I think I'm just really stressed out lately." Drake nodded calmly as Isaac answered, not giving any answer to those words as he shifted the subject to what he really was more concerned with,


"You guys upset Oliver. You know." Isaac's jaw ticked and his eyes widened a bit, in a manner that might be comical if Drake himself weren't so serious at the moment.


"I'm sorry Drake-"


"I think it'll be fine, Jacquelyn brought it up anyway."


"Yeah, but I pushed it, and what I said was much worse than whatever she said. And I knew. I wasn't thinking about it."


"I know, I'm gonna go check up on him. He'll be fine, but I'm gonna spend the night okay?" At this Isaac smiled a bit, though his smile was weak and seemed to tremble under some sort of invisible pressure,


"I was planning on that either way." Drake flashed his little, charming smile back and continued down the hall to find Oliver in his room.


Isaac knew that he probably shouldn't have been so impatient with the girl. Jacquelyn was just infuriating though. She seemed to want to do whatever he told her not to do. It was like she was out to ruin his last chance. And really, he truly wasn't all that sorry yet for what he'd done. But the shocked and almost terrified look on her freckled face throughout the whole thing kept sweeping through his boiling mind and tugging at his strained heart strings. And Isaac knew that it probably wasn't long before he went to apologize. But for now to he had to calm himself down.

 

[fatuglybutch]

She climbed up to the roof, finding a mostly flat paneled ledge to sit on. She was very drunk at that point, and in her pocket was a small bag containing pot. that along with a pipe and a lighter. She brought them out of her pocket while crying quietly, wiping her eyes ever second or so. The sun was just beginning to set, the light was against her face while she loaded the pipe and readied her lighter, bringing both to her lips and flicking on the fire. She breathed in deeply, the smoke scolding her lungs, then she exhaled, coughing once or twist.


There were clouds over head, and it was just starting to rain. She could feel the little pricks of water on her arms and nose. She took another hit, exhale... Then another, exhale. And before long she was laying down with her eyes half closed.

 

[TheStoicist]

Isaac had sat down in the hall of the apartment and thought as he cooled down.


By the time he was ready to go face Jacquelyn it dawned upon him that she may have disappeared to her own apartment and he swore under his breath, that wasn't good at all. So he decided to go down to the parking lot and check if her motorcycle was still there. As he left the apartment, Isaac noticed that Drake had managed to coax Oliver out of his room and the two now sat on the couch, Oliver curled under Drake's arm, watching one of the scary movie's that Oliver liked so much to stash away in his room.


He was relieved to see that her motorcycle was still there and turned back around to figure out


Just where she had gone, hoping she actually was still in the building. He searched all the laundry rooms and corners and stairwells. And it probably took him nearly half am hour to check the roof. He thought that this was probably the place she was most likely to go to, he was a bit surprised that he hadn't thought of it before.


And when he stepped out on the roof, there she was laying across it like some weird starfish. Isaac had his suspicion, but as soon as he got close enough to see her heavily-lidded eyes he shook his head and say down next to her,


"Of course." Was all he said as he buried his face in his arms like a child, running a hand through his hair.

 

[fatuglybutch]

"I'm sorry." She decided that need to be said before anything else. "I know I'm an asshole, I now I'm not a dancer..." She glanced up at him. He was blurry, and her words were slurred. It was definitely to the point where she needed to be given a shit ton of water, something to eat, then put straight to bed. She actually wasn't entirely sure if she could successfully get off this roof. Or at least do it without getting horrible injured. She took a deep breath and sighed, looking over at him. "I'll try and stop all this shit. I want to not ruin your career." She frowned, looking up at the sky. Stars were just starting to show.


"I'm sorry." She repeated, looking up into the sky, reaching out a hand thinking that she could touch the stars. When she was finished with that she struggled to pull herself to an upright position and scoot close to Isaac. "Pot really isn't bad though," she mumbled, "I've done my research, I'm smart sometimes, and I know that small amount of it regularly are really good for you..." Not that she was smoking a small amount.


Her eyes started to water again, and she felt almost suddenly that same feeling that she felt whenever her mother looked at her. She was nothing. She was pathetic. She's a disappointment... And sooner than later, those thoughts forced a couple of tears to spill onto her cheeks.

 

[TheStoicist]

Isaac suddenly shifted a bit closer to Jacquelyn and winded his arm over her should. He'd noticed her crying. And he wasn't entirely sure if it was just her being high and he knew that she had clearly stated that she wasn't into physical affection. But he didn't really care about what she had said before, this was what felt like the right thing to do.


"Look your not the only faulty one here. I know I'm being selfish and harsh, I have a tendency to be like that. And I'm sorry for it. But stick with me a little longer and I promise, I will try my hardest to make the both of us the best we can be. Because that's kinda the beauty of what we're apart of. The fact that I need you. You are half of the pair and you are just as essential to my success as I am." And for the first time Isaac gave her a true, genuine smile. A reminiscent of the thoughtful, yet small smile that had graced his features earlier during class, and after a moment of somehow comfortable silence he asked, a bit sheepishly, but lovably,


"Now, do you still want me to braid your hair?"