you've left them far behind */

[nina dalisay malaqui]

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It had been far too long since nina had gone and treated herself to a nice hot coffee from starbucks. in fact ever since she'd moved across the globe four years ago she'd been pouring all of her coffee out of her own coffee pot or going to small coffee shops down the street with her girlfriends. there were definitely starbucks shops around nina's new hometown of manila but the prices were generally better at the smaller cafes and now that nina was no longer reliant on her dad's credit card, cheaper had become the best option. so nina went several years without a good starbucks which was a little depressing since she used to barely be able to go a week without it. but of course a lot had changed since nina's old days in valkyrie, not just her coffee preference. that was probably the most minor of all of nina's changes in fact. during the last few years, not only had nina stopped drinking starbucks but she'd traded her prada wardrobe for (gasp!) target and swapped her crazy party-girl persona for the pleasant and fairly un-interesting wife of a banker. basically she'd become exactly the kind of person her mother had hoped she'd turn out to be. she rarely drunk alcohol much anymore unless it was a small glass of wine when out for dinner and she certainly didn't go out and party hard. that was not who she was. not anymore.

But now sitting in her parent's kitchen surrounded by rubble that was yet to be cleared up, nina couldn't help think it she was just has untrue to herself as she had been when she was the latest hot mess of valkyrie. it was a little sad really. but the most important thing on nina's mind right now was starbucks, as if to prove to herself that she was still the same girl she had always been and some things would never change. so with that thought nagging in her brain, nina grabbed her navy jacket that she'd found hiding in her old wardrobe, an item that had been too gorgeous to abandon permanently so she'd left it behind to be worn when she returned, and her cream clutch with just enough cash to get her through the day and jumped in her car. honestly, besides really wanting a starbucks coffee, the real reason nina wanted to get out was because being in her old house, not to mention the fact that there were piles of rubble everywhere and a hole in the ceiling above the lounge yet to be prepared, just felt too weird. when she'd first arrived in valkyrie nina knew it was going to feel weird but now that she was actually in the place she used to call home, she'd never felt more out of place. the banter going on between her parents and alex reminded her of when she had been the wild teenager, not that alex was super wild like she had been of course. but still, it made nina miss the old days. instead she was sitting like an outsider at the dinner table, a stranger to all of the inside jokes that had formed while she was off adjusting to marriage. it was weird to say the least.

So that called for an escape and that escape was her old second home, starbucks. the minute she stepped into the slightly crowded cafe, nina took a breath in and inhaled the scent of the brewing coffee surrounding her. already she began to feel more relaxed and let a tiny smile form on her slightly chapped lips. after ordering her old usual decaf espresso roast, she sat down at one of the few empty tables near the window. how there was an empty table near a window nina had no clue since they were generally the popular spots but maybe things had changed since she'd left. still, she didn't spend too much thought on that, being too occupied with taking a sip of the coffee she had yearned for almost five years now. as soon as the hot liquid reached her lips nina felt an odd sense of relief, like a weight had been lifted. it was almost like proving that despite her personality and looks changing, she was still the same coffee loving girl. nina hadn't even realised how tense her shoulders had been until they were suddenly relaxed.

Now that nina was feeling much more relaxed, she had time to glance around and do a bit of people watching. all around her she could see couples sipping on their coffee, heads close together as they held their own intimate conversations, girlfriends leaning back and chatting loudly about their weekend plans and students leaning over textbooks and writing furiously, their coffees long forgotten. nina felt a little nostalgic as she looked around. it felt like forever since she sat in this very same cafe with paisley on a saturday morning, nursing friday night hangovers and having their amazing d&ms, or sitting in the back seats with jules arguing over trivial things like they always did. it all seemed to long ago and distant now though. like another world. indeed the last time she'd seen paisley she had been even more reminded of that. time didn't wait for anyone and of course she couldn't expect it to stay still just because she felt out of place now. nina hadn't been the only one to change over the last few years. not even counting the earthquake that had obviously changed everyone's lives, nina had noticed that a lot of the people she used to imagine knowing forever had long gone and the people that were still around seemed like completely different people. taking another sip of her coffee, nina couldn't help a little sigh. maybe it had been a bad idea to come back after all.

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TAGGED TO; paisley !
TIME/PLACE; midday, saturday / starbucks
CREDITS; lyrics from spring awakening
OUTFIT; here we go.
NOTES; bit short but yay finally their happy reunion xD

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[paiselyparker]

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…it'd been weeks since the earthquake happened. since she'd finally come home. since gale had dropped the army, at least temporarily. since bailey had moved in. since her mother died. since... since everything. it'd been weeks, or maybe only a few weeks. paisely parker had gotten a little lazy with keeping up with the time. it really hadn't been all that long, and the evidence was all around her. people were still hurt, crowding the hospital rooms. funerals were still in procession for those who had been lost. building were broken, some being cleared away entirely so a newer version could be placed in its stead. there were still planes coming in with a plethora of people who'd come to support and take care of their families and friends. the aftermath of the earthquake was all around, and for some reason, it comforted paisely. she was ashamed to ever admit it, but she preferred the chaotic gossip of valkyrie's demise over her own personal fall from the pedestal of worship.

…paisely had done a good job at blocking out the past six months. she was good at blurring faces in her memory, and darkening those horrific moments from replaying over and over again right before her eyes. for her, it was like she'd never left valkyrie, or at least that was the mindset she was trying to engrave into her brain. she wanted so badly to go back to when she was in high school and her only problems were that joana heart was trying to steal her boyfriend, or that scandal star had caught her and nina going a little too crazy at a dingy shak party. those were the days that she would love to have back again, when she was miss gorgeous, lively paisely parker. she missed her quartet friendship; nina, bailey, shay, and herself. she missed all her siblings still living under the same roof, before they'd gone away and gotten married and started new lives. ther were so many people from her adolescence she'd give anything to see again. her high school volleyball team, the teachers who'd encouraged her through all four years, the boys who'd treated her like a person and not like a piece of meat. back then, everything seemed so complicated, but after everything the girl had gone through lately, it seemed like absolute bliss. ignorance is bliss, right?

…the shell of the girl who used to be paisely parker was making an effort, though. she wanted to get back on track, to feel better, to see that sweet silver lining on this doomsday cloud she couldn't find her way out of. paisely was trying to heal herself. deep down she realized that she would never be in perfect condition again, but she could be close. there was always that shadow of hope that things could go back to normal. these were things paisely stayed up all night trying to convince herself of so she could keep the nightmares away. it never worked, but trying was he only thing she could do at this point, and so she was going to start resuming a normal schedule, start going out again, alone. most of the time, these days, she wouldn't leave the house without an escort; gale, bailey, one of her other siblings, her dad. today she was going to force herself to take another step, to go out of the house alone. she'd done it a million times before, but after the kidnapping, every little sound would make her jump or shiver. the girl had always been strong too, strong and hard-headed. she was determined to force herself into a healing process, though she understood that wouldn't fully begin until she had spoken to somebody about her issues, which she intended on doing... just later.

…getting ready to go out was always such a pain, but paisely could admit it'd gotten easier since she was taken out of the wheelchair and her arm was now strong enough to be taken out of the sling. her ribs weren't fully healed, but what can you do at that point? it just felt like they were bruised a bit anyway. but it was progress, wasn't it? physical healing meant mental healing, right? so the girl slid into a simply outfit, strapping on her leg brace, and getting ready to leave. had to put on the appearance that she wasn't a broken person, though most people saw through it just by the expression on her face and in her eyes. well, hell with everybody. what did she care if they believed her or not. paisely finished getting ready, and went out to the garage. gale was off somewhere with rocco, probably playing ball at the park or something. bailey was, well who knows. maybe visiting jules? paisely shrugged. she approached her flawless black focus, her lips twitching a little. she hadn't driven that baby in a while. suddenly she thanked the lord it was her left leg in the brace. she got into the car, and started it up. it was almost foreign feeling to sit in the driver's seat again. she was so used to be driven around or hitching rides. this gave her an unfamiliar sense of freedom.

…driving was like riding a bicycle, you never forgot. paisely loved being behind the wheel again, remembering how much she loved speeding, though she refrained for now. her first stop; starbucks. it'd beena while since she'd gotten her strawberries and creme frappacino. she remembered exactly where it was, too, though it took about ten minutes longer to get there with the detour caused by the earthquake. upon arrival, she pulled into the parking lot, and turned off the engine. she always loved starbucks, from her heart to hearts with nina in high school, to her ten minute four-one-ones when she saw shay in new york. getting out of the car with some effort, paisely grabbed her bag and walked in. there wasn't much of a line, but the place was crowded with people. she walked up to the cash register, laughing to herself about the time her and nina had tormented the poor cashier boy with the mountainous terrain of much need proactiv face. she ordered her drink, and picked it up when it was finished. as soon as she turned around, she saw none other than nina suresh. small world.

…asheepish feeling overwhelmed her suddenly, remembering her and nina's meeting in the airport. paisely hadn't really been all that friendly, but in her defense, neither had nina. they'd both been dishevelled and just gotten off their flights to come home. paisely smiled a little tentatively, approaching the girl who was once one of her all time best friends, "hey nina," she said with a catty grin, raising her starbucks signature cup, "cheers?" she shrugged, feeling quite awkward. paisely had been thinking about nina a lot since she'd gotten home. she wanted to reconnect with her, especially since she was the one out of her three friends that she hadn't kept in touch with. she wanted her friend back. "wanna sit?" she asked casually, gesturing towards an empty table for two next to a window.

status•finished!! tagged•pina! <3 comments•yay! attire• plus a black boot plus leg brace. credits•banner and format to me.

[nina dalisay malaqui]

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Nina had to admit, she had completely forgotten just how good her old decaf espresso roast tasted. as the petite brunette, who had still barely grown since graduation, took a long sip and let the taste soak in her mouth, she suddenly wondered how on earth she'd put up with coffee back in the philippines. the coffee there was much more bitter for reasons nina could not even begin to fathom coffee had always been one of nina's staple essentials that she practically lived off. it wasn't healthy but then again nina hadn't exactly lived a healthy life in her teens. with the brief period of depression which led to the wild partying every night, the dramatic fights with her mother every other night and her unstable relationship with her now ex-boyfriend jules, it was a wonder she'd made it out of high school alive. but somehow nina had managed to scrape through with some decent end of year exam results and although she'd lost the boyfriend, she'd gained the relationship back with her mother once she accepted the fact that she was destined to be married to a man she would never love like she should.oh nina could still remember the weeks leading up to her wedding with marco. her mother had been absolutely over the moon and completely in her element. finally her daughter was the young lady that she had feared she'd lost forever. a slight overreaction if you asked nina but at the same time it was nice to be on calm speaking terms with her mother after spending the majority of her high school years either ignoring her mother or participating in screaming matches with her.

It wasn't only nina's relationship with her mother that changed though. over the course of a few years, nina had also grown a lot closer to her elder cousin carlito who had briefly lived with her and the rest of the suresh clan in valkyrie in nina's junior year before his sister leti passed away from a terrible influenza. it had been tragic really, to see carlito after he found out. the guilt that he had carried for a long time afterwards was almost too much for anyone else to even comprehend. the worst part had been that leti had been planning on coming across to america as well but the first signs of her flu had revealed themselves and she'd been too sick to fly across. and yet carlito had still flown across, assuring himself that leti would be fine. but of course she wasn't. and silly proud leti had refused to mention her illness whenever she spoke to carlito and nina on the phone. in fact no one in the family was allowed to inform carlito about how leti wasn't getting any better. according to them, she was totally fine and making a great recovery. so naturally when carlito suddenly got that tragic phone call from his parents telling him that leti didn't have long, he was more than shocked. he'd flown back home literally that night, leaving most of his things back in valkyrie save for the main essentials and whatever he could pack in time. nina had flown over briefly with her parents for the funeral after that and even though it had been roughly two weeks since carlito left america, nina had barely recognised the scruffy, unshaven cousin standing in front of her with red eyes. and then there was trying to comprehend the fact that her cousin was never going to sit around chatting about boys, or drag her out shopping again. it had definitely been a tough trip back and once nina flew back again at the end of graduation to prepare for the marriage, she had to admit she'd felt quite guilty. since the funeral she hadn't even bothered to call carlito. she'd only remembered to call him when she was getting off the plane in manila.

Despite feeling like a terrible cousin for all of this though, she was extremely glad that carlito seemed to have either forgotten too or he was just super forgiving. she'd been a little worried about how he would be considering the last time they'd seen each other but somehow the tall dark filipino had managed to recover from his grief over the last few years. he had a decent job now and he smiled a lot more and he'd been so insanely supportive and helpful to nina during the wedding preparations that she honestly couldn't have imagined getting through it without him. and since the marriage he'd been great too. he knew nina better than almost anyone else which meant he knew which flaws to warn marco as the malaquis began their life together. he'd warned marco about nina's coffee cravings, resulting in marco buying nina a fairly expensive coffee machine which had been quite sweet. that or carlito had mentioned the crankiness and random fits of rage that tended to occur if nina was deprived of either sleep, coffee or god-forbid both. either way nina got a coffee machine out of it. the only problem was that it still made pretty shitty coffee which was why nina had slowly been forced to ween herself off coffee until she'd completely forgotten the taste. until now of course. not to mention she'd almost forgotten the comforting feeling she automatically got when she entered starbucks. there was something about the smell of the coffee beans along with the hum of conversation around the cafe that just instantly soothed nina.

Well that's how nina remembered it at least. however it was a little hard to feel relaxed and soothed as she heard the door swing open and saw one of the last people she felt like seeing today. or for a while actually. as paisley parker made her way to the queue to put an order in, nina instinctively ran through a bunch of exit strategies in her mind. it seemed kind of mean but nina just really didn't want to handle any awkwardness and her last conversation with paisley had been the most extreme level of awkward considering they'd basically lost touch completely in the last few years. while nina had re-bonded with people like her mother and carlito, it seemed that this meant losing a few friendships and that had tragically included paisley. nina hadn't meant to lose touch with the blonde that she'd once considered to be one of her best friends but it was just one of things that completely slipped her mind among wedding dress fittings and hair trials and arguments with her mother and stressing over seating plans for the reception. between all of that stress, the idea of calling her friends back in valkyrie just hadn't occurred to nina. plus what was she supposed to say? "hi sorry, i'm busy getting married." no, nina couldn't handle that. instead she took the easy way out.

Unfortunately there didn't seem to be any easy way out in nina's current situation. as soon as she decided that the best thing to do would be to keep her head down and hope paisley did the same, she heard that familiar voice extremely close to her. "hey nina." shit. shit shit shit. looking up at paisley, nina gave a small smile. "hey." well this was just a tad awkward. but obviously paisley was in a better mood than she had been as she invited nina to sit at another table for two. nina hesitated for a brief second but as soon as she did she cursed herself mentally. here was her old friend giving her a chance to make amends. she needed to take this. "of course." she replied, her smile widening slightly as she moved across to the table with paisley. "so..." nina ran a finger lightly around the rim of her cup as she tried to think of what to say. clearing her throat, nina started again. "i guess we have a fair bit of catching up to do, huh?" nina bit her lip as she finished, glancing at paisley to try and determine her mood. god, paisley was probably just waiting for some sort of apology from nina for being such a lousy friend but that would require an explanation and nina still needed to figure out how to start. so she ended with that, crossing her fingers under the table that this meeting with paisley would end on a higher note than their last reunion.

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TAGGED TO; paisley !
TIME/PLACE; midday, saturday / starbucks
CREDITS; lyrics from spring awakening
OUTFIT; here we go.
NOTES; blah sorry it took forever. and it's kind of lame. my muse for nina ran away ><

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