- - - last year's rent *

[jaeda renée cohen]

_{HOW DO YOU LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND WHEN IT KEEPS}
finding ways to get to your heart ?

» Being grounded sucked. It wasn't like Jaeda didn't know why she was grounded- she knew damn well why she was- she just didn't like it. No normal kid did, you know? She still thought it was completely worth it. Seeing her mother bald, freaking out because of her shampoo being replaced with Nair, was so worth it to Jaeda. And besides, with the grounding lasting only a week, it was relatively short. Jaeda got grounded a lot, and it was always pretty short- it was like her parents wanted to discipline her, but because of how ill she'd been at one time, they felt guilty and made it short. Jaeda didn't care- the sooner she was released, the sooner she could be up to her old shenanigans. Yeah, she would never quite learn her lesson.

» So, today, she was finally "released", so to speak, and took the opportunity to get out of the house. She didn't ask first, which she was usually expected to, but whatever. She did what she wanted, fuck the consequences. She stuffed a towel into her blue mesh backpack after donning her neon green bikini and putting on a random shirt and shorts over it. After sliding into some white flip-flops, she grabbed the aforementioned backpack, her phone, and the keys to her Jeep Cherokee, and ran out of the house. She peeled out of the driveway, and it wasn't until she was down the street and around the corner, at a particularly long red light, that she picked up her phone and sent a quick text, while keeping half an eye on the light. "Ungrounded. Beach. Now. Not optional." She sent it to Mitch, and just as she hit the "send" button, the light turned green. Naturally, she floored it, speeding toward the beach.

» Jaeda never really concerned herself with watching out for cops when she was speeding, like most people did. When your father is the chief of police, you don't have to worry about that stuff. The cops under her father's command knew what her car looked like, and- because her father told them- what she'd been through as a child. For speeding, they let her go. In the grand scheme of things, it was pretty low on the totem pole. Obviously, if she was doing anything really dangerous, or if she was driving drunk or something, they would pull her over. But if she was just speeding, as long as there was no immediate danger, they let her go without a second glance. "We didn't see anything."

» She arrived at the beach fairly quickly, skidding into a parking space haphazardly. It was almost noon, so the beach was pretty crowded. The only reason Jaeda found a spot right away was because someone was just starting to leave. Why in God's name they would leave a perfectly good spot at pique hours was beyond her, but hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. She killed the engine and got out of the jeep, locking it behind her. She wasn't going to wait for Mitch, because she knew she'd be here way before him. But she'd keep her cell with her, in case he called or something trying to find her. She wandered around for a little bit before finding an open section of sand, and spread out her towel there, dropped her backpack, and stood on top of the towel whilst attempting to take her shirt off. I say "attempting", because it was a bit of a struggle for her. As she tried to pull it over her head, she got kind of stuck, and started flailing around trying to get it off. She lost her footing- having stepped off the towel into the uneven sand- and tolled over, landing hard on her arm. "Fuuuuck," she whined, then finally managed to get free from the shirt of doom. She rolled back onto the towel and picked up her phone, to see if Mitch had called or anything to indicate he was actually coming. She had forgotten, as she sometimes did, about the scar on her side- the one from the kidney transplant- and the one on her shoulder, where the Hickman Catheter once was, both of which were no visible when she had only her bikini top of for a "shirt". The Hickman scar wouldn't be a surprise to Mitch- or shouldn't, since surely she'd worn a tank top or two around him before- but the one on her side... now, that was a different story. She'd never had a reason to take her top off around him before, and she'd never been in a bathing suit.

it reaches way down deep and
^{TEARS YOU INSIDE-OUT 'TIL YOU'RE TORN APART !}

tag » mitch ?!
status » finished ?!
word count » 777 ?!
outfit » click ?!
notes » sorry for the fail. i swear the next one will be better. ?!
lyrics » "rent" - rent movie soundtrack ?!

[mitchell leigh michaels]

_{^{Safety pins holding up the things
That make you mine
About your hair, you needn't care,
You look beautiful all the time.}}

BANG BANG BANG!

“Turn the fucking music DOWN!” Mitch reached over and gently twisted the volume knob on his stereo louder.

BANG BANG!

“I said turn it fucking down!”

“It’s broken!” the teen yelled back through the door.

“God FUCKING damnit!” He couldn’t hear the man walk away from his bedroom door over the music, but the banging on his door had stopped so he assumed his father had gone to either look for aspirin, whiskey, or the fuse box to turn the power in Mitch’s room off. Probably all three, in that order. Beside his computer, the teen’s cell began to shake and he mashed the ‘pause’ button on the stereo. It turned out to only be a text, but at least it was a good one. Some time out of the house was exactly what the brunette needed.

Without bothering to reply to the text, Mitch quickly changed clothes and dug out his keys. He was in such a hurry he almost forgot shoes, but managed to slip on a pair of flip flops before running out the door, only slowing down enough to call out “I’m taking the car!” as he pushed on his favorite pair of sunglasses. His father didn’t need to be driving anyway when he was so hung over. Mitch was really doing him a favor.

The traffic was terrible by normal standards, which equaled just a normal day in Miami. The parking at the public beach access was damn near impossible, but the teen eventually managed to secure a spot. The parking lot was full, but the beach itself was packed. The teen pulled out his cell and dialed Jaeda’s number, walking through the groups of sunburnt families with crying babies, coolers full of bear, and radios blasting annoying country or rap music.

As soon as Jaeda picked up the phone he spotted the other teen. “Hey, never mind, I see you.” Mitch snapped the cell closed and headed over, immediately slipping off his shoes and plopping down in the sand. “It’s fucking hot.” The brunette announced, leaning back and laying down in the hot sand. “Nice suit…reminds me of lime sherbet…I’m hungry.” Mitch normally wasn’t much of a talker, but he’d known Jaeda far too long to turn on the overly-sensitive mouth filter he had for most people. He was also always hungry, something he should have considered before he left the house with no drink or snack. The smoothie shops and restaurants near the beach were always extra pricey. Three bucks for a bottle of water his ass.

Mitch glanced over at his friend, realizing he’d never really seen Jaeda in such few articles of clothing. Something on the girls side caught his attention. “Hey, what’s—“ quickly the brunette realized this probably wasn’t something that should be brought up. He looked the other way, turning his attention instead to a nearby toddler who was growing increasingly frustrated with his inability to make the dry sand he was currently sitting in keep the shape of the sand castle he was attempting to build.

click meh

[jaeda renée cohen]

_{HOW DO YOU LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND WHEN IT KEEPS}
finding ways to get to your heart ?

» Jaeda was not the best driver. Everyone knew it. She knew it, her family knew it, and her friends knew it. Her road rage was terrible- she started honking if she was behind someone for more than half a second at a green light- she never obeyed the speed limit, and she never quite mastered the art of using the turning signals. Oh, and she couldn't park between the lines to save her life. All in all, as some people would say, she was a prime example of why women should never drive. Actually, Jaeda was surprised she was even allowed. Driving was, by nature, quite dangerous. There were any number of things that, while on the road, could kill her. And yet, she was allowed to get her temps and eventually her license right along with Alyssa and Lucas, who made up the other two-thirds of the triplet set. For them, it was a given. But for Jaeda... they were hesitant. But they let her anyway, as an effort to help her start living the life of a normal teen, which she was never quite able to before. But she still wasn't allowed to ride a bike.

» Jaeda was starting to worry now. Mitch hadn't texted her back. Maybe he was just kidding when, in that AIM conversation, he suggested going to the beach when she wasn't grounded anymore? And even if he did come, how was he going to find her? The beach was freakin' crowded. How was he going to spot her among the sea of faces? Well... She checked her phone again. Nothing. Sighing, she was about to give up and just get in the water without him when her phone rang. She picked it up. "Hello?" But almost as soon as she did, and realized it was Mitch, he indicated that he'd already seen her, so she hung up. She smiled as he approached. "You know, if you sit there too long, you'll be farting sand for a week." Jaeda talked like no girl should- she swore like a sailor at times, talked about bodily functions, and made dirty jokes. Around Mitch, it was okay, because he was pretty much the same. At home... it was just another excuse for her to get grounded.

» "It's fucking hot." Jaeda smirked. "It's fucking summer. What did you expect? Snow? Ice flurries? It's not Australia, where everything's the wrong way around." She rolled her eyes at him. Well, duh, it was hot. Too hot to be outside, really, unless you were planning on getting into water or something. Oh, he was hungry? "Well, we could get in the water. Maybe you'll run into a shark. You could kick its nose into its skull, kill it, and then fry it. It'll keep you full for a week." Or, alternatively... She turned, reaching into her backpack, and pulled out a little baggie of cheerios. "Never too old for cheerios." She opened the ziplock bag, took out a handful, and downed them, before offering Mitch the bag. She always carried some sort of food around with her, usually something light like cereal, because A; she didn't want to be one of those people that randomly dehydrates in the middle of something important, and B; she was too cheap to go to any of the nearby places. And of course, she didn't want to go running home every time she got a little hungry.

» “Hey, what’s—“ She raised an eyebrow at Mitch, glancing him over. What was- oh! She suddenly realized that, for the first time, the kidney transplant scar was visible to him. She needed to find a way out of this... Without skipping a beat, she rolled her eyes again, cupping her boobs (on top of the bathing suit, of course.) "They're called tits. God, I hope you never take anatomy..." Jaeda had an amazing ability to make it seem like she honestly had no idea, when she really didn't want to talk about something. She followed his gaze to the toddler. "Aww. Poor little dude." Then, supporting the general belief that Jaeda was incapable of self-censorship: "Hey, kid! You'll need to get it wet first! The dry shit doesn't work too well!"

it reaches way down deep and
^{TEARS YOU INSIDE-OUT 'TIL YOU'RE TORN APART !}

tag » mitch ?!
status » finished ?!
word count » 720 ?!
outfit » click ?!
notes » big fucking erect penis, mom! ?!
lyrics » "rent" - rent movie soundtrack ?!

[mitchell leigh michaels]

_{^{Safety pins holding up the things
That make you mine
About your hair, you needn't care,
You look beautiful all the time.}}

Mitch laughed at Jaeda’s Australia comment. “Fucking Australia.” The teen laughed harder at the next comment. Looking at Mitch, it was obvious he wasn’t going to be taking down any beast larger than a housecat. He was a lanky string bean that practically disappeared when he turned sideways. Pretty odd when you took into consideration how much he ate, and about ninety percent of what went in his mouth was sugar. The cheerios were a much more acceptable alternative and Mitch took the bag gratefully, tossing a small handful down and gazing out over the crowded beach.

While his accidental slip had been awkward, Jaena seemed to cover it well with her boob-grab. He stuck out his tongue at the girl playfully. “I did take anatomy. I just missed that lesson…” he joked. He watched the kid with Jaena but turned back to the girl at her outburst. “Damnit Jaena, you can’t say ‘shit’ to a kid! Watch your fucking mouth.”

It took until that moment for Mitch to realize how much he’d really missed hanging out with Jaeda. He didn’t have that many friends, really. Not to say he was a complete freak or widely disliked. The teen just preferred a few close friends, as opposed to a ton of not-so-close ones. And then there was that whole social-awkwardness thing that had been ‘just a phase’ since kindergarten. But him and Jaeda had always seemed to work around that.

Mitch stood and pulled off his shirt and sunglasses, leaving them with his shoes and sandals on the sand. “Come on. But if we see ONE jellyfish I’m out.” The brunette had been traumatized by a jellyfish as a small child and has long since decided that no amount of being called ‘chicken’ would change that. If they were at the beach that day, he wasn’t. The dry sand was hot, but once they reached the wetter stuff it was much easier to walk. The water was a crystal-clear blue in the hot sun, and the surf was full of kids and parents. A bit further out there were less people, a couple older kids messing around and beyond them a couple people sat on surfboards, though it was too calm a day for them to expect to get anywhere. Mitch assumed they just thought they looked pretty damn cool sitting in the water. He kind of hoped they got sun burnt for being so lame.

Mitch didn’t have to worry about sun burn. He was naturally tan, even in the winter, on account of being one-forth black and one-half Indian. All he had to do was think of a light bulb and his skin darkened. He’d probably be able to pass for nearly all black, except the teen spent a lot of time inside for somebody who lived in the ‘Sunshine State’. Usually watching TV or on his computer.

The water felt good, and Mitch waded out until it was past his hips before stopped to wait for Jaeda. He splashed the girl a little when he was in range, squinting at the bright sun and its glare off the clear water.

click meh

[jaeda renée cohen]

_{HOW DO YOU LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND WHEN IT KEEPS}
finding ways to get to your heart ?

» Jaeda never saw the point to censorship- especially self-censorship, since everyday speech (whatever didn't go on radio or TV or something) could not be regulated by the FCC, and therefore could not be stopped. And she definitely didn't see the point to not swearing around children, or the elderly. As far as children- they were going to hear it someday, somehow, no matter what you did. And for the elderly, they were really fucking old, and had probably heard every word in the Ebonics dictionary ten million times over. Why should she have to watch her mouth just because someone didn't want their "precious little baby" to be "tainted" or "exposed to foul language"? Maybe it wasn't her responsibility to teach others' kids the ways of the world, but why should she fiercely avoid it? At home, she really wasn't supposed to swear, but her parents had given up trying to shut her up a long time ago, and now had reduced their reactions to a simple glance- or a glare, if there was company around. She never bothered to stop herself no matter who was around, except at school where she tried to avoid it simply because she didn't want to get any more detentions. She rolled her eyes at Mitch. "Oh, come on. He'd hear it eventually." She looked at Mitch while she spoke, then over at the kid, whose mother heard her and was glaring in her direction. Jaeda took this opportunity to teach the kid another life lesson. "PENIS!" she shouted at him, then turned back to Mitch, giggling insanely. God, she was immature. and she loved every second of it.

» Then Mitch agreed to go into the water, which made Jaeda smile. "You're such a pussy," she said, rolling her eyes yet again. She thought his fear of jellyfish was absolutely ridiculous, but, you know... whatever. She had some pretty ridiculous fears, too. Like clowns. She couldn't even go to McDonald's without nearly having a panic attack. And she couldn't watch The Dark Knight, even though she was practically in love with Christian Bale, because of the Joker and his cronies. That probably seemed ridiculous to people- and it was, considering that clowns are generally harmless, and by nature meant to be humorous and fun. Jaeda couldn't explain why she was afraid, she just knew she was. "Fair enough," she said with an exaggerated sigh and stood up, sliding off her shorts to reveal a bikini bottom to match the top she had on. She dropped the shorts onto her towel and followed Mitch into the water- it came up higher on her than it did on him, because she was shorter. She quickly splashed him back, and was tempted to tackle him- though God knows how that would work- when a moderately big wave (not big enough to surf on, though) knocked Jaeda just hard enough for her to tumble over, and go underwater.

» As she came back up, she smoothed down her hair and laughed. "Awesome, now I'm going to have salt water in my hair." She didn't really care- after all she'd been through, she was just grateful to have hair. Besides, salt water wasn't nearly as bad as Chlorine, and all she really had to do was wash it when she got home. No big deal, right? Jaeda glanced around, and just happened to look down at her arm- the one she'd landed on when trying to get her shirt off- and frowned, noticing a bruise starting to form. Whatever- no big deal, right? Bruises happened to everyone. She only had to worry if it didn't go away... She realized she'd been staring at the bruise abnormally long, and shook her head, looking back at Mitch. Time for a cover story? Mayhaps. "Did you know that if you milk a jellyfish you'll get anal lube?" she asked, with a giant grin. Then, as if she felt she needed to have some sort of proof, to add validity to her story, she added: "They used to be called lube fish, but they changed it to jelly fish in the 19th century because 'lube fish' was too suggestive. Or, some historians think it's because some government officials wanted the naturally-occurring anal lube all to themselves." God, she was great at bullshitting her way through things. Sometimes people believed the outrageous things she came up with. Sometimes they saw right through the bullshit. It was actually exciting to Jaeda to see who believed her and who didn't.

it reaches way down deep and
^{TEARS YOU INSIDE-OUT 'TIL YOU'RE TORN APART !}

tag » mitch ?!
status » finished ?!
word count » 754 ?!
outfit » click ?!
notes » the game. ?!
lyrics » "rent" - rent movie soundtrack ?!

[mitchell leigh michaels]

_{^{Safety pins holding up the things
That make you mine
About your hair, you needn't care,
You look beautiful all the time.}}

Mitch burst out laughing when Jaeda yelled ‘penis’ at the toddler. He couldn’t help it, he was an immature teenage boy. The names of body parts had always and probably would always amuse him. Or maybe it was just that it was Jaeda, who was so crass and vulgar on the inside despite her petite, feminine exterior. Apparently not all body parts amused him, however, because it kind of irked him to be called a pussy. Mitch wasn’t a pussy, he was just….sensitive.

The water felt great. The teen stuck his tongue out at the girl when she splashed him, probably not a good idea because next she tackled him and he got salt water in his mouth. She didn’t manage to knock him over, but she did somehow dunk herself which caused Mitch to burst out into laughter. Once he calmed down he noticed the same burse that Jaeda was currently examining. He was about to ask her about it when she changed the subject.

The lube speech made him start laughing all over again, and his stomach was beginning to hurt from it. If Jaeda wanted to dunk him, she was getting her chance while he was trying not to drown himself. “Well, good thing for me they bottle that artificial stuff up for you now!” What Mitch had meant by that comment was that it was good because he didn’t like jellyfish…but he realized after saying it that it had probably come out sounding more like he WANTED anal lube.

Not it was Mitch’s turn to change the subject. “Hey, what did you do to yourself?” He grabbed Jaeda’s arm, holding it out so he could see the burse. “You’re so clumsy, I really hope you’ve given up on that dream to become a famous dare devil. You have the worst luck.”

Mitch suddenly smirked as he got an idea. It was something him and his sister often played in the water. He let go of Jaeda’s wrist and instead grabbed her around the waste, lifting her up to hold her bridal style. Out of water, this would have been easy because the girl was so tiny, but in the water it was like picking up a stuffed animal. “Let’s play the color game! Guess what color I’m thinking of.” It was a simple enough game, everything they guessed wrong, they got dunked. When they guess right, they got thrown into the water. When he played with his sister, it was usually be force and by the end she was trying to strangle him they’re mother laughed quietly----

Oh, yeah. They hadn’t played in a while. Not since their mom had died. Mitch hadn’t even realized that. He shock the thoughts from his head and smiled at Jaeda, waiting for her to make her first guess.

click meh

[jaeda renée cohen]

_{HOW DO YOU LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND WHEN IT KEEPS}
finding ways to get to your heart ?

» Jaeda could only smirk as Mitch responded to her ramblings about jellyfish. She knew he was kidding. What possible use could he have for lube, anyway? Or maybe she just didn't know him as well as she thought she did. But whatever. She was sure he was kidding. "But think of the money you'd save if you could just get the stuff that's already naturally-occurring. You could get a set of fuzzy handcuffs in every color." With anyone else, the conversation would have stopped there, or, more likely, stopped well before the term "anal lube" even came up. With anyone but Mitch, it would be awkward talking about sex, or even alluding to any sort of sex act. But with Mitch, she was perfectly fine with it- because she knew it would never happen. Sure they were together in a sense, once upon a time, but they didn't really get anywhere with it, and definitely never went all the way. It was more of an awkward "hey, I feel like having a significant other" type of deal, and ending it was a mutual decision. In fact, the entire conversation was pretty much "Uh, this isn't going anywhere", "Yeah, let's just... not." Truthfully, neither knew what they were doing. Obviously, it was a very amicable split, and personally, Jaeda was happier just being great friends. And unlike most post-break-up friends, there was no awkwardness (at least not for Jaeda), and none of that eerie sexual tension. They just... were. It was a nice little arrangement.

» She was about to say- or maybe do- something else when Mitch suddenly grabbed her wrist. She was a little startled at first, and looked confused, but then remembered her bruise must be showing, or something. She shrugged. "My shirt didn't want to come off, so we had a wrestling match and I landed on the ground." She grinned a little. "I obviously still won." It didn't worry her, this bruise. At least not yet. She'd been so healthy for so long... could she really go back to being so sick? It's not like it hadn't happened before fifty thousand times, sometimes even after years of healthiness. It would be just her luck, right? When she was finally having fun with life and getting her shit together? No. She didn't want to think about it. The bruise meant nothing, which is what she would tell herself until she was given a reason to think otherwise. Everyone got bruises. Most of them went away. Some of them didn't. Jaeda could only hope hers was the former kind, which would go away in a timely manner,

» Mitch picked her up, and all she could do was laugh. Had any other guy done this, she would have bitched about it, and probably punched him out. But with Mitch, she knew there were no outside intentions- he was either going to throw her in the water or threaten to unless she did something outrageous, either one of which would be perfectly fine with her. What color was he thinking of? How the hell should she know? Still, she did nothing but smile at him and take a shot in the dark. "Uhhh, blue?" Okay, maybe it wasn't a complete shot in the dark. It was actually, to her, a pretty reasonable guess. They were in water, which was supposed to be blue, and the sky was blue and her eyes were blue... But then again, there was the entire color spectrum that was also represented by various thins around the beach. She took a deep breath, preparing herself so she didn't get a bunch of water up her nose if and when Mitch decided to drop or throw her into said water.

it reaches way down deep and
^{TEARS YOU INSIDE-OUT 'TIL YOU'RE TORN APART !}

tag » mitch ?!
status » finished ?!
word count » 623 ?!
outfit » click ?!
notes » the game. ?!
lyrics » "rent" - rent movie soundtrack ?!