sea to the sky ,

[jackson noah sharpe]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 340px; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding: 30px; border: #4e1919 solid 30px; ] DEEP BENEATH THE COVER OUTFIT: CLICK TAGGED: JUDE!! NOTES: heehee <3 ---SOMETIMES, jack wondered how he got into certain situations. was it because of his charm? the fact that he had a hard time saying no? nevertheless, he got roped into going to the mall because jude wanted to go shopping. they were on better terms since they were nearly blown up at china wok. jude made him go feed her bird every morning while she had to stay in the hospital. if that was all he had to do to get back in her good graces, it had been easy enough. he brought her food in the afternoons so she wouldn't have to eat the hospital food. it was the least he could do considering he essentially called her a whore without actually saying it. jack knew he had been in the wrong, and he felt bad for even saying it. he, of all people, should not be judging someone's career choice. look at him. he made a career out of robbing banks. if anyone should be judged it should be him. they were going to be doing another job soon, which was where jack's mind was most days now. especially since it was going to be in valkyrie. some people would call it home field advantage, but that was not the case. it was trickier doing it in the city you grew up in. you knew people. and there was always that chance you'd see someone you knew when you were robbing them. the nervousness alone could screw things up. and since will had a habit of ignoring his plans, he was probably going to get them all killed at some point. and since jack preferred to keep all his body parts intact, he would just have to get it through his friend's thick skull that following the plan was necessary for not only their safety but for everyone else's as well. the valkyrie mall was pretty busy today. more than usually but since it was the weekend, the mall was more populated. families and groups of teenage girls wandered the mall going in and out of stores and coming out with bags. jack was never a regular at the mall. he'd been there with his mother and viv, usually around the holidays. when jude called him this morning, jack had already been up, going over the newspaper and reading about the local crimes. it was a strange ritual he did every morning. the best criminals were those that knew what else was going on. he could rarely sleep in anyway. he was the one that always woke up a minute before his actual alarm went off. his apartment was pretty nice. heist after heist, jack seemed to upgrade the decor. from the television to the furniture, jack liked buying the latest and the greatest. he wasn't materialistic, he didn't care about names. he bought it because he could, it was that simple of an explanation. the money he used wasn't even his, technically. he worked hard to earn the cash, of course, but it still wasn't his. jude had pretty much told him that he was going with her so jack told her he would pick her up. jack was very aware that jude could be a dangerous one. not a violent psychopath or anything like that, but jack had a very hard time saying no to her when she asked him things. and that, was dangerous. his mother had been asking him who he was 'seeing.' not 'are you seeing anyone, jackson?' which was a usually question. apparently he was on the path to become a bachelor for the rest of his life, according to his parents. they always liked to constantly remind him that it had been a few years now since he had been in a serious relationship. which was true. jack actually had no problem with commitment. he had been dating a girl in los angeles and it was pretty serious. it had been serious up until she dumped him after he was left with nothing. no money, no connections, no reputation. and that was that. but the past three years, it was hard to get into a serious relationship when you were breaking into banks and stealing money. case in point, look at everyone on the team. none of them were in serious committed relationships. one night stands and flings was the most serious they were. maybe someday that would eventually change. they'd find someone, marry that someone, have a family with that someone. jack would be a part of this team even if they ever got caught. there would be that one spouse that didn't want someone on the team to participate anymore because it was dangerous, and they could get caught. but, it was hard to think it was dangerous when no eyes were ever on them. but a couple days ago, his mother just asked him, 'so, who are you seeing?' like it was obvious. even though it wasn't. he'd tell her that he wasn't seeing anyone, which was the truth. his mother's mind was that of an elephant's and she asked whatever happened to that girl william had set him up with. all he said was that they were hanging out. and that seemed to suffice his mother's prying for awhile. little did anyone in the family know that the girl had been to their house many times and had eaten dinner with them and slept over at their house. and that was all him and jude were doing. they were just hanging out. of course, he did like her and she knew that. but the team had a job coming up and a distracted jack was definitely a catastrophe. but, jacked liked her more than just a night, so it was a nice change from his regular m.o. jack told her that he would go to the mall with her under one condition. if he had to go, he would be useful and pay for everything. he told her his reasoning behind it was, it was much more fun going on a shopping spree when you weren't spending your own money. jack knew that she wasn't completely on board with that, but he insisted. when you have all this money, he wanted to spend it on someone else for a change, instead of just himself. so, he had picked her up in his car and now they were at the mall. "so, where to?" he asked her and put his hands in his pocket as he walked beside her but was mostly following her. she was the one that wanted to come here, and dragged him along with her. OF ANOTHER PERFECT WONDER

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN @ CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS

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[jude maureen endsley]

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---PERSPIRATION BROKE OUT ON HER FOREHEAD, her body tossing and turning to either side of the bed. her eyebrows were knit together, her delicate nose pinched between her flushed cheeks. it was a dream that plagued her, or more accurately, a nightmare. she was back in the china wok building, sitting there at the table. mr. tall and handsome from los angeles was nowhere to be seen, and the restaurant was empty, but she could still hear everybody's voices. as she looked around for a waitress she spotted jack, outside of the building. he made eye contact with her, but just stood there staring. she wasn't sure what was going on, so she walked to the door, but when she tried to open it, it wouldn't budge. jack suddenly looked confused and tried to open it as well from the outside. nothing. panic began to bubble inside her, "let me out!" she screamed. he seemed to try and say something back, but nothing came out. she couldn't hear what he was saying to her, none of it. his words were lost behind the glass she couldn't break. suddenly everything was silent, the voices were gone. "jack?" she yelled, knocking against the glass. he was just standing and staring at her, perplexed. and that was when the eerily familiar voice rang through the empty restaurant, "why are you asking for him, dear little jude?" she shivered at the sound of her name coming out of those lips. she turned around to see her dad there, just how she remembered him. he was dressed casually, one hand jammed into his pocket, the other with a box of chinese food in hand. he was frowning, like usual, and his eyes were bloodshot. "shouldn't blood come first?"

[/b] he asked again. jude turned around to the glass, jack was still there, but he was frowning now, "who are you?" he asked repeatedly. she could hear him talking now. "what have you become?" he said. her father joined in too. both of them chanting it. and then suddenly jack was gone. vanished. and she was left face to face with the one man she hated more than anything in the world. "what do you want from me?" she managed to ask. he just laughed and pulled his other hand out of his pocket. pinched between his fingers was a lit match. "i want you to never forget," he said simply before dropping the match on the ground. suddenly the ground lit up, the floor of the restaurant ablaze, traveling rapidly toward her. she was going to die, this was it. the smoke infiltrated her lungs and she began to cough, and just when the fire leaped to consume her, the restaurant exploded.

she flew forward in the bed, choking for air. henry was squawking wake up over and over again, rattling the cage with his beak. her chest rose rapidly, falling with equal haste as she panted, eyes wide. she was staring intently at the bed. the print was light, quiet. it wasn't outlandish or creative, just a simple dull blue of a vintage print. she could feel he sweat slowly racing down her cheek, and automatically rubbed her eyes, perceiving them as tears. it was just sweat though, which wasn't surprising. she had not cried since she was a kid, not once. slowly the blonde pulled the blankets off of her, swinging her gangly legs over the side of the bed, "shhh," she muttered, running both hands through her hair as henry continued to screech nonsense. she sauntered towards his cage, opening the latch and proceeding into the bathroom. he could get out by himself from there. the nightmare had her shaken, so she was still in a haze as she went throughout her morning, showering and the usual. she needed something to distract her. something shallow and materialistic that she could focus on, because hey, that was how jude solved all her problems these days. maybe she would call up tristan, they could go do something. if anybody was interested in shallow materialism, it'd be her. yeah, calling tristan sounded good. but when she picked up her phone, she suddenly had the impulse to call jack instead, and she did. she needed some new clothes, or well, no she didn't, but she wanted new clothes, or lotion, or garage tools. quite frankly, she didn't care, she just wanted to go shopping. jack agreed, but only under the condition that he pay for it. that made jude sick to her stomach, her heart was clogged up inside her throat and she wanted to suddenly get the stomach flu and cancel the outing altogether, but she didn't. she grudgingly consented. the entire idea bothered her though. why did he want to pay for her? she was perfectly capable of paying for herself. she had loads of money, she could cover any expenses she wanted. it would take him a while to get out to her house, considering it wasn't in the main hustle and bustle of valkyrie, sort of standing on its own in the outskirts in the hills. so she took a moment to lay back down in bed, wet hair and all, and think.

the reason him wanting to pay for her bothered her so much was because it made her feel weak. she wasn't one of those feminists who wanted to pay for everything on their own, quite the contrary. her entire career was built upon men paying for her... services... in exchange for pretty necklaces and silk dresses and money in general. her fiancée had bought her presents all the time, and not once had it ever bothered her. but none of those people knew about her past. they couldn't pity her because all they saw was lust and a beautiful blonde. jackson sharpe had seen the worst part of her life first hand though. he'd seen the same dress she had to recycle, the bruises. as a child she didn't understand the pity people had for her. when people were nice, that was it, they were simply being nice. vivienne's family was nothing more than her best friend's family in her eyes, just some family she'd wished she had been born into. she didn't see the sad looks people gave her when she turned her back. but as she got older, she began to understand it more. but by then she'd had jobs, she bought new clothes, and makeup to hide the bruises for the most part. she was determined to be somebody that the world couldn't pity anymore. and she was, as far as she was concerned, but jack offering to buy her things? it made her feel like the bruised little girl again, because she knew that he knew. granted, he was probably just trying to be nice, which was a whole other problem since that was because he "fancied" her and she was sure he just hadn't come to his senses that she simply wasn't relationship material. not a real relationship anyway. but him paying for her? it made her self conscious, something she rarely felt anymore. it made her wonder if he still saw her that was, as helpless. if he just still felt sorry for her. because if he did, she was done, she would cut off all communication. maybe she could make a bargain with him to at least pay for lunch. she would fight him for that one or refuse to eat altogether. if he bought her food, she would throw it away. consenting to him buying her clothes was already bad enough, he wasn't going to cover any other expenses. over her dead body. she remembered that he could be there anytime, so she quickly threw on an outfit and a purse before doing her makeup and blow drying her hair, adding some curls to it. if there was one thing jude loved about herself, it was her hair. it was so cooperative, and she was willing to indulge in the fact that it always looked good.

jack picked her up and they made small talk in the car until they got to the mall. jack asked her where she wanted to go and she walked a little further ahead, turning to shoot him a cheeky grin, "it'll be an adventure!" she chirped, turning around completely and grabbing his hand to pull him forward briefly. she let it go though, fingering the strap of her purse as they sauntered through the mall. it was pretty busy, throngs of people moving this way and that, while she was just grateful there was nobody she knew around. then again, jack hadn't recognized her when they first met, so nobody else should either. she spotted a boutique with a fancy french name and grinned, "come on," she gestured toward it with a nod of her head, wandering over to it and inside. she began to look at dresses, "aw, these are so pretty," she muttered to herself, hardly paying attention to jack. he was a trooper for agreeing to come at all, "i think i'll try this one on?" she held up a white dress with a sort of faint, floral pattern. white always brought out a tan. plus a blue headband? she could picture it now.
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(STATUS) finished. (TAGGED) jade<3 (WORDS) 1,575 (OUTFIT) here. (COMMENTS) loooovethem. (CREDITS) lyrics; "come home" one republic.

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[jackson noah sharpe]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 340px; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding: 30px; border: #4e1919 solid 30px; ] DEEP BENEATH THE COVER OUTFIT: CLICK TAGGED: JUDE!! NOTES: heehee <3 ---MONEY was money to him. and honestly, it had been a part of his life since he was born. but he didn't flaunt his wealth by acting superior. his parents had always been hard on him and his sibling while growing up, telling them that money wasn't everything and that they were lucky to even have food on the table. they lived in a nice house in a gated community, but his parents never hired maids, nannies, or cooks. the sharpe's maids were their children, their nanny was their mother, and their cook had always been their father. he even remembered a brief summer when his parents entertained the idea of moving into more of a suburbia neighborhood in valkyrie, but decided that the gates community gave security, and when you were a criminal defense attorney, his parents felt safer if there were any sour clients. it was funny that his father was a defense lawyer. he usually represented high profile criminals. though his stats on getting clients off, insanity pleas, and lesser sentencing was high, there were always those few cases he lost over the years and clients blamed him. hmm. maybe if he and the team were ever caught, his dad could represent them. bargain away a life sentence or something. little did thomas sharpe knew his own son was a criminal he could very well need to represent one of these days. he first did it out of revenge. technically, did he need to steal money? no. but he had too much pride coming back to valkyrie after he lost everything. he lost the apartment in a skyscraper, he lost a girlfriend, he lost a job, and he lost all his money that he had earned. his hard earned reputation was destroyed, his ego took a major hurt and couldn't recover. the last thing he wanted to do was going running back to his parents. no. he wanted to get back the money he had lost. he had long since done that, but he really wanted to find fitzgerald now and really get something back from him. make him suffer like jack had. though, jack knew as well as anyone that business like his couldn't be personal. too many things could go wrong and he could get caught. whenever he watched murder shows on television and he'd see boyfriends or husbands killing that girlfriends or wives, or vice versa and it was too obvious if you killed someone you knew, you'd be discovered faster. same went with robbing. you can't rob someone you know. jack truly wondered sometimes how detective or the cops would catch them. they had yet to get caught by the cops on their getaways. the security cameras in the banks shows no faces. he, will, and rocky always had masks on and chance always looked different. jack would guess there was an investigating team that had related the bank robberies together. every heist they pulled off was too sophisticated for common criminals thinking they could rob a bank. everything was thought out. they had a back up plan to the back up plan, that was how much jack made sure all their bases we covered. the investigators probably knew they had outside help from a hacker. they knew the place even more they went in. they had eyes above them, eyes inside, and eyes outside. it was the perfect crime pulled off flawlessly every time. the best thing was that they were unpredictable. no one could guess the next time they would strike, no one knew what was going to be the next hit. a bank? an armored truck? a diamond on display at a hotel? for heists teams, their opportunities were endless, and all the success they garnered so far was from only california. there were hundreds more opportunities in the other forty nine states. you always had security for certain things that could be targeted, but that security never knew it might happen this very day. what jack learned from all the jobs he experienced, it came by surprise, and you use that emotion to your advantage. jack analyzed ants marching along the sidewalk from the undercover cops trying to blend in. he noticed every minute detail and knew strategies before they were strategies. jack was convinced he used more than eight percent of his brain like studies led the average person to believe. when jude grabbed his hand a pulled him along through the mall briefly, jack didn't expect that since she hadn't been like... that towards him at all. but, she let go and pulled on the straps of her purse. jack knew jude had a problem with him paying, she didn't even have to say it. he didn't understand why she was having a problem with it now. she lived in a big empty mansion with a bird, she knew he knew she had money of her own. he knew all of that. he'd been in her house when she was in the hospital to feed henry. it was a nice place. jack would understand why she wouldn't let him pay if it was like... ten years ago. she'd think it was charity or pity or something. when he came back from los angeles with almost nothing to his name, his parents had wanted to help him out, and he refused. he wanted to make his own money and feel good about it. so, it ended up being stolen money, whatever, still was his... technically. "i know you have a problem with me paying," he started as they headed towards a store he recognized because his sister and mother often brought bags home from the same store. "i just don't believe feeding henry and bringing you lunch constituted as accepting an apology from me. look. you can come back return everything and buy it back with your own money if you really want to. just... entertain the idea for me for a couple hours. i want to do something nice for you, i don't mean to belittle you." he put his hands back into his pocket and shrugged. "the restaurant sucked for all of us. and you were in the hospital because of it." jack followed her into the store and she started thumbing through the racks. he looked at the dress that jude picked out. it really dawned on him that this was a little odd. shouldn't one of her girlfriends be taking her out right now and shopping together? besides his mother and his sister, he never went shopping with a girl looking for clothes. why did she ask him to come with her? yes, his infatuation with her was quite obvious. he didn't want to press it though because jude had been pretty stone-faced when it came to him. she was the hardest person for him to decode. it was frustrating. though, it was telling that she dragged him to the mall. telling, how? he had no idea, but he was taking it as she wanted to see him. jack leaned against the rack she had pulled the white dress from. he was looking at her, his expression puzzled as his curiosity got the best of him, "i have a question. why did you want me to come along today?" OF ANOTHER PERFECT WONDER

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN @ CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS

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[jude maureen endsley]

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---IT WAS NO SECRET THAT JUDE ISOLATED HERSELF. anybody who knew her, really knew her, could tell you that. there were very few people she had allowed into her heart throughout the course of her life. from the day she was born she had been set up to create a steel barrier around her fragile, glass heart. her heart was fragile, because once she gave it to somebody; the glass was beautiful and colorful, but thin. it would only take the smallest amount of pressure to crush it, shattering the once beautiful delicacy into a broken mess. the steel encasing protected it from the outside world, the corruption and the pain. however, it also contained whatever warmth was left, only radiating cold and darkness. she couldn't help the ways he came off, but she was a wonderful actress, and that was what kept her business going strong. if she had acted the way she did in the presence of no one, well she wouldn't have been quite a catch, but she was. she was all smiles, all flirtatious mannerisms and seductive eyes. she knew exactly how to make men lust after her, who was odd considering her all too innocent appearance. she really did have the girl next door look; blonde, blue eyes, nice body, charming smile. people who met her today never dreamed of where she had come from. they assumed she had wealthy parents whom had given her everything she'd ever wanted. she was a spoiled brat, she had gotten all the boys in high school, and she’d been the mean girl. jude wasn't a genius by any means, but she wasn't stupid either. she could see the looks, the stereotypical glances of askance poised in her direction. it wasn't surprising, and it wasn't upsetting. she had learned to ignore what people thought of her a long time ago. how else would she have survived her childhood?

but her childhood was exactly why she isolated herself. it was why she had spent years perfecting the steel prison she cocooned herself inside of. she spent eighteen years being controlled and abused, both mentally and physically. she spent eighteen years hating the person she saw every day in the mirror. eighteen years hating the people who brought her into this world. and eighteen years of bitter resentment to everybody who had it better than she did. it sounded like a pity party, and in a way it was. she wouldn't deny that she used to feel sorry for herself. but those eighteen years made her cold to the touch. she had a hard time trusting anybody, and despite having close friends, she had never opened up completely to them. not once did she even choose to talk about her parents or her home life. why would she want to corrupt what few happy moments she got to partake in with memories that would only plague her with loathing and despair? when she left valkyrie, she was determined to never let somebody hurt her again. the whole "it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all" was completely false. she was calling bullshit. in her opinion, it was better to never even feel the pain. jude didn't want to be that girl who was broken so many times she couldn't be fixed, that had fallen so far she had lost her way for good. jude had found her own way, made her own path. she had mended her wounds and nursed herself back to health. she was independent, and she liked it that way. people weren't worth the effort. just look at her fiancée. granted, she hadn't been in love with him, but as much as she hated to admit it, she had loved him. he loved her too, she knew that. but he hadn't been in love with her either, he loved women altogether. he wasn't ready for commitment and he ended things with her in an awful manner so he wouldn't have to admit it. jude had been through worse, much worse. and thank god she hadn't been head over heels for him, or it probably would have broken her. her heart would have shattered into a thousand pieces. she would have died, or fallen away into a forgotten place where jude endsley was nothing more than a mere memory, faded and bleak.

that was why she wasn't willing to reciprocate jack's feelings, at least not openly. it had nothing to do with what his family would think, or what one of her best friends, vivienne, would think. sure, that weighed on her mind sometimes, but it wasn't the deciding factor by any means. what really pushed her away from the idea was that she might actually, genuinely like him. he was nice, and he didn't look at her like a piece of meat. he hadn't been the one who paid her to go on a date with him; it'd been one of his friends. he actually seemed to like her too, despite everything. he knew the worst parts of her past, maybe not in detail, maybe not completely... but he was vaguely aware. nothing about her fazed him. nothing he knew, anyway. that scared her, terrified her even. she didn't like the idea of attachment. i mean, they had seen a lot of each other lately; obviously there was a bit of sexual tension, and then regular tension as well. he was very open about how he felt about her. yet they still hadn't even kissed. it wasn't jack's fault; he wasn't the one with the ten foot thick iron wall between them. jude was the wary one. a part of her was positive that this couldn't work. she wasn't the get married and have kids and live in a suburban house and become a soccer mom kind of girl. hell, with the examples she'd been brought up with, jude figured she'd be an awful parent. she wasn't ideal, and the fact that jack was interested in more than her lady parts was... it was unfathomable. she wouldn't let herself believe this was anything more than friends. if even that. she wanted to just cut off communication before anything happened, because she felt terrible. she was leading him on, and a part of her was scared that if he knew everything about her, he would turn and walk away. if he saw her dark side, he would leave. she wouldn't blame him. he didn't know how many men she'd slept with, how many men she'd used, how she did everything out of selfish desire and chose money before anything. he couldn't see the ugly truth beneath the perfect skin. he didn't even know she'd been engaged just a few months earlier, and the only reason she was here and single was because he'd ended it. he didn't know any of these things. would they upset him? she didn't know, but she didn't want to find out. she didn't want to hurt him, and somehow it seemed inevitable. she should have made it clear from the start that they shouldn't see each other. they shouldn't even be friends.

but that was hard, for some reason. she just couldn't stop talking to him, or wanting to be around him. even after he'd called her a whore, though not exactly in those words, she still wanted nothing more than for him to sit next to her in that hospital room. it was completely selfish, but she couldn't help herself.

as they walked toward the shopping center together, she forced herself to swallow her doubts. why had she asked him to come? she was stupid. she was cruel. and yet she couldn't think of somebody she'd rather be spending time with right now. the moodswings were absolutely infuriating. they were walking into a store when he got all serious, explaining why he felt compelled to pay for her. jude didn't look at him; she thumbed through the racks of clothes while he spoke. she looked like a little girl avoiding her parents' lecture, but she wasn't good at sentimentality. it wasn't one of her strong points. "okay," she said as lightly as she could manage at the end. she allowed for a few moments of silence before sighing and turning around. she fingered the strap of her purse again, looking towards the ground, "i'll... look, i'm not still mad. really, i'm not. you don't have to keep trying to make it up to me. but fine," she rolled her eyes, making eye contact with him finally, "i'll indulge your chivalrous fantasies. but this is a onetime thing," she through her index finger in the air briefly before turning around and continuing to look through clothes. when she asked his opinion on the dress in her hands, he didn't even acknowledge her. instead her retorted with his own question. a worse one. the grin faded from her face and she clenched her jaw, looking to the side. wasn't it enough that she wanted him to come? why was he going to torture her by making her explain herself? she put the white dress back onto the rack, "i have too many whites anyway," she grumbled, continuing to look through them. she was reeling over possible answers in her head, but she just couldn't think of anything that would satisfy him. maybe she should just tell him she was a selfish bitch right now and only wanted him here for her own convenience. because she wanted it right now, in this moment. something she might not feel tomorrow, or next week, or in a month. maybe she should just tell him right now that he couldn't count on her if he wanted something serious, that he could easily find some other girl who was a much better match. but she couldn't say any of those things, because it was more than that. "look," she sighed, turning around, speaking softly. honesty was the best policy for now, right? "i can't give you some darling answer you want, i can't," she briefly met his gaze before looking away, twisting one of the rings around her finger, "can't you just accept that i want to be here with you?" she shrugged, feeling a little stupid, "i'm not, i don't," well played, jude. but she sincerely couldn't think of anything to say. "i don't know how i can explain something to you that i can't even explain to myself, can we just leave it at that?" she chewed on the side of her cheek, focusing her eyes on a button of his shirt.

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(STATUS) finished. (TAGGED) jade<3 (WORDS) 1,771 (OUTFIT) here. (COMMENTS) gahaaaahahhaha i love them! (CREDITS) lyrics; "come home" one republic.

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[jackson noah sharpe]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 340px; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding: 30px; border: #4e1919 solid 30px; ] DEEP BENEATH THE COVER OUTFIT: CLICK TAGGED: JUDE!! NOTES: jack's muse is a revolving door, i swear --- HIS last serious relationship was over three years ago when he was in los angeles.it had been the era where the unattainable was inches away from him. and los angeles itself is a very provocative city. he had been working at the corporation for a week when he met her, somewhere downtown. jack, in all his cocky glory charmed her all the way back to her apartment. she liked what she had heard. his "starter" job was a six figure salary. but she wasn't only obsessed with the money he made, she was just obsessed with him. yeah, jack loved her, and they had got along so well. it was a extremely serious relationship for him. and he just showered her with affection in the form of jewelry, roses, clothes, everything and anything. it was what jack knew how to do. and it never had been because of the money, it was always because he wanted to see her happy, he looked forward to those genuinely surprised faces she gave him every time he brought something home. in his job, he might have been handed a lot of responsibilities he had to keep up with, but he also had just as many benefits as well. the company car? ok, how about driving around california with the top down going as fast as they could? the company jet? let's go to new york for dinner tonight... don't worry, you'll be back before work in the morning. pack your bags... we're going to milan this weekend. i need to go to tokyo to finalize a business transaction, you coming with? the things he was able to do. jack had been on the fast track of living the american dream. his apartment there in los angeles was unlike any twenty two year old should be living in by himself. he had been able to see the entire los angeles skyline from his bedroom floor-to-ceiling windows. when his family would come visit him, even they couldn't get over the unrealness of his situation. his father had been so proud that jack was doing well for himself. all his parents wanted for their kids was for them to become successful and love their jobs. jack said he was very happy. the latest electronics were sent to him because the company didn't want their higher-ups to be seen with old models of anything. jack knew he had grown up in a nice home where if he needed something reasonable he knew he could get it but there in la... he was like a kid in a candy store every day. each day was a surprise, sometimes he had to pinch himself. one day, he could be sent to go golfing with some other business men where he had to use his charismatic sale pitches and his only goal that day was to gain a new client by the end of the eighteen holes. his girlfriend eventually moved in with him, his family loved her. by twenty five he was perfectly content on continuing his life like this. of course, we all know the end of this seemingly happy story. one day he was closing international deals, the next his face was on every newspaper and internet blog claiming how he was making dirty deals with land property and stealing from clients. people were shocked, but jack tried to explain he had no idea what hell kind of allegations these were. but his asshole boss who he thought was a friend was the dirty bastard behind it all and threw jack under the bus because jack had been an easy out. he could have been arrested and had to stand trial. but the corporation decided to pay clients back with their own funds and just let jack go. his apartment was cleaned out, his car... well, what car? everything he had was the company's. it was their own personal way to say 'fuck you' to him. the worst of it all was that suddenly being broke, he wasn't good enough for his girlfriend. she believed the news, which was the terrible thing. she blamed him saying, even if he was innocent, it was hard to believe since he acted like he was larger than life. well, goddamn. yeah, maybe some days he had felt like the king of the world, but he was still... normal. now, jack had an ego, he wouldn't deny that, and it was deflated when he returned to valkyrie with his tail between his legs. he wanted to die when his parents wanted him to move back in. he went from living his life in los angeles to living to see the end of every bottle. he was so embarrassing. but, jack had to say that becoming the professional criminal he had become was better than being a hotshot cfo-in-waiting. jack wanted to so badly get back at fitzgerald, his boss. steal back the money that had been rightly his to begin with. jack knew he could do it, but then it would be personal, and you can't do personal in this line of work. people commonly made that assumption. when you made a crime personal, you were setting yourself up to get caught. jack did want to return to los angeles though, even if it was just for a weekend. find the asshole and just be like 'look at me. i'm all right.' he worked for himself now. and as sweet as that career had been with all the opportunities and the money, jack made more robbing one bank than he would have one year at the company. funny how things work out don't it? he'd even like to run into his ex. he could buy her a tiger or something now. fuck it, he could buy her an entire goddamn zoo. and of course, with what he had now, he would suddenly be good enough to date her again. but, too bad. if she just would have waited... he smiled when she gave in and said she would indulge this one time only. he nodded. "looks like we got to make the most of it," he gave her his crooked grin, slightly joking with her. even if he was in a happier mood, when he asked her about why she wanted him to come along her expression deflated and she turned away from him to look at another rack. well... guess he wasn't supposed to ask that kind of question. jack was silent behind her as he followed her. he was definitely waiting for an answer. if she wasn't so damn confusing to him, he wouldn't even need to ask this question. they were friends... he knew that. but there was just that unresolve-ness they put the friendship in the gray area. jack didn't know how to put it, and it irritated him that he didn't know how. he always knew... everything! there wasn't a rock he hadn't overturned, there wasn't one girl he didn't know what was thinking. and here was jude, in all her cold coyness unintentionally tempting him to crave more. she could quite possibly be the worse person for him to be around. he should quit while he was ahead. too bad for jack, he was probably at least ten steps behind. jack was just trying to understand. "can't you just accept that i want to be here with you?" jack stopped walking. yeah... he could accept that, but ugh, there was that damn nagging question of 'why?' he really wanted to ask but knew better than to ask it, since she wanted to avoid the last question she asked. "i don't know how i can explain something to you that i can't even explain to myself, can we just leave it at that?" he put his hands back into his pocket. "yeah... sure," he ended up saying. two short words, though he wanted to say a lot more. why couldn't she explain it to herself? jack was just coming to the conclusion that he needed to cease asking any questions that required her to answer anything involving him and her. it killed him because he wanted to keep pressing it. he felt like they might finally be getting somewhere. "what about this one?" he asked pulling a red dress off the rack. his attempt to help was like any man shopping, but he was trying. he followed her around the racks nodding or shaking his head when she showed him something. an associate came by, smiling at them taking some of the clothes from jude 'to start a dressing room' for her, the associate explained. what a sales scheme. keep a customers hands free so they took more. they continued to look before jack decided to open his mouth again. "so um... that los angeles guy," he started referencing the probably frat bro in the china wok that night jack found jude there. no big deal, jack basically saved the guy's life. "you hear from him since that night?" OF ANOTHER PERFECT WONDER

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN @ CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS

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[jude maureen endsley]

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---JUDE WASN'T USED TO THIS. she had spent the last few years surrounded by men. they thought she was beautiful, they paid for her services, some more than others, and she did the work and she did it with her most winning smile on her face. she could work her looks, because her looks were her magic. that was all anybody ever cared about anyway, how her hair was curled and if her makeup was right or if she smelled nice. those were the things they cared about, it was all anybody ever cared about. nobody ever asked serious questions, nobody ever asked anything about her because well, they didn't care about that. she didn't blame them. that wasn't what they paid her for. they paid her to shut up and be pretty, to be an actress, and she was a good one. somehow hiring an escort was more intimate than hiring a hooker. it was a night of pretending, rather than just a romp in the sack. that didn't mean they cared though. jude wasn't used to jack asking question or wondering why. nobody ever asked her why. when she'd been engaged, they had never talked about anything serious, or their feelings. they joked around with each other, they discussed certain things and aspects of the marriage, but nothing substantial, not the types of things you're supposed to talk about when you're about to get married. then again, when most people make that commitment, they're in love. they want to talk about those things. jude wasn't in love with her fiancée, and he hadn't been in love with her. they weren't the type of people who fell in love, neither of them had been. in a way they had cared about each other, but in a friendly way. nothing more than friends. they weren't the sort of people who gave way to commitment because they didn't believe in commitment. the only difference was that jude had been ready for a fake commitment, and he hadn't been. they could have worked a few years down the road, when he was ready to give up his promiscuous lifestyle and settle down as the heir of his father's company, but he was still young, he had a life to live. she didn't blame him for doing what he did, because in a way she had expected it.

what she hadn't expected was jackson sharpe.

the entire thing with him was a mess, and he didn't seem to understand that. people ran away from her like she had the plague, and she knew, she was sure in her heart that if he could read her mind or see through her that he would be running for the hills too. she didn't trust men, and she had been quite content with the idea of growing old with henry, because he was her best friend now. he was the one who she could talk to uncensored and never feel a breath of judgment. it was a little insane, a little crazy cat-lady, how much she loved her bird. it was genuine though, because she trusted a bird more than she trusted people. if it wouldn't be completely absurd, she would put him down as her emergency contact because quite honestly, she didn't know who to put down for that sort of thing. but here was jack, despite all her passive cynicism, despite her subtle attempts at pushing him away, he was still there. she wanted to hate him for it, she did, but she couldn't. why had he affected her like that? it was infuriating, because she felt like she was losing control. now she was allowing herself to hope for a life she knew she couldn't have, a life she wasn't fit for. hope was the most dangerous, sinister, vile thing in the worst. hope was the sort of thing that constricted itself as tightly as possible around you, it continued to wrap itself around your body, again and again. it slowly gained power, the power to cripple you. losing hope was something that could break a person, it would wipe them into oblivion. jude had allowed her hope to be washed away. her only aspirations had involved money for the past few years. all she had wanted was money. whoever said money couldn't buy happiness was obviously poor, because while the happiness was temporary, if you had enough of it, the temporary happiness could keep her going until she found something new and shallow to keep her materialistic heart at bay. every relationship she'd ever witnessed had crumbled. she could think of various times she had been approached by married men, that she had worked for married men. marriage was one of life's biggest illusions, because if you loved somebody, truly loved them, well it was unfathomable how that could be the case and still things like her own childhood happened. jude couldn't imagine being in her mother's shoes, and having a child, and not doing everything in her power to remove the child from the situation. that was what scared her though, that she could be exactly like her mother. her mother probably hadn't grown up dreaming about the life she'd ended up with. life just happened. the only thing was that jude didn't want life to happen to her. she wanted to be in control. love made you lose control. jude wanted her control.

and that was yet another irony to why she was here at the mall with jack. she was already losing control, because if she had it she would have walked away by now. but she couldn't walk away. it was like a magnetic field pulled her in and she had no resistance to escape it, no way to fight it off. this couldn't go on forever, though, she knew that. jude endsley wasn't bright and cheery, she wasn't the happy go-lucky girl. jack was going to need somebody bright and cheery, some good, normal girl who could stand by his side and be supportive and not always be running away from him. he needed a girl who could have children, a girl who was willing to have children. he needed a girl who could be a good mother, who would never slip up or have any doubts. jude wasn't that girl, she wasn't ever going to be that girl. she wasn't a team player, and she never had been. he needed a team player. jude didn't want that conventional lifestyle, she didn't want kids. she felt like she was some sort of poison, and everything she touched was infected and died. that was how she felt, and she felt like she was slowly infecting jack with her problems. that alone made her hate herself more than she already did, that she was stringing along a good man for her own personal desires. she was awful, that was all she could think about the entire situation. she wasn't eloquent or smart, she wasn't much more than pretty and damaged, so she didn't know why jack bothered anyway. it was like he was setting himself up for failure. maybe he was using her just as much as she was using him, except she didn't feel like she was using him when she was with him. she felt like he was her friend, that was it, he was her friend. she liked being with him, and when she was all the doubts seemed to wash away for a while. and when she wasn't with him she was tormented by her own self-loathing because all she wanted was to be with him at that moment. then there were other times that she could convince herself she was glad he was gone, that he wasn't with her because she could think clearly. but when he finally came around, she was hopeless to send him away. it was sick and twisted and selfish, but did he expect anything less? the only thing that could calm her conscience was that she did genuinely feel like he was her friend. he was, right? her friend. she was allowed to be his friend, that was harmless enough. it was an excuse for what she was doing, but it was true. they were friends.

he brightened up after she consented to his day of pampering her, and she only frowned mockingly at his smile, rolling her eyes before wandering off to a store. "i'm buying lunch though, no arguing," she announced, her index finger in the air behind her as if to quiet whatever he may or may not have said in protest. she didn't care, but if he wouldn't let her buy lunch, she wouldn't eat. friends traded off right? friends bought each other lunch. she enjoyed light and airy conversation, because they were easy. no questions had to be asked about them, it wasn't something you stayed up all night trying to figure out or overanalyze. but of course, jack couldn't just stick to unimportant ramblings or miniscule disagreements about money. he wanted more, which only reinforced that he needed more. somebody better. he had to know that though, he had to. he was smart. she'd tried to put off answering, but he followed her around in silence, shadowing her. he wanted that answer. so she gave him one, and he seemed to accept it, though she knew he wanted more than that. she knew he'd rather they have a conversation and explain it. but she wasn't about to do that. she didn't want to have this conversation, because jude wasn't the girl who told people how she felt, she wasn't the one who let people in. she never really had been. even as a kid she never talked about how she felt. it was just how she had been her entire life, and she wasn't going to be able to change that all of a sudden, or ever even. but they especially weren't going to have this conversation in the middle of a shopping mall. how twisted was it, that they both probably knew they were wrong for each other, yet here they were, continuing to do whatever it was they were doing despite the red flags. like she said, the control was just beginning to go out the door. but jack put aside his questions, for which she was grateful, and began trying his best to help her with the shopping, suggesting dresses and negating the ones he wasn't fond of. he suggested a red one that actually wasn't that bad, "yeah, i actually like that," she murmured, a little surprised as she added it to the small collection on her arm. it was then that an associate, a teenage girl by her guess, came by and offered to take her clothes and add them to a dressing room for her. jude accepted and continued to thumb through the racks. then jack decided to ask another question. as soon as he'd began she groaned internally. why couldn't he ask her how the weather was or something. "jack, why can't you ask questions that don't make me want to punch you in the face?" she said, turning around with a tight grin, "why can't you ask things like where i'd like to visit, or my favorite hobby?" things about me that i can answer without wanting to dig myself into a hole, things about me that don't remind me of what i hate about myself. the real feeling remained in her head however. "for example, i can speak italian. did you know that?" she looked at him expectantly, her hands on her hips, "of course you didn't, because you are standing here asking me about some guy," she stared at him for a second longer without saying anything before turning around.

she'd picked up a few skirts and blouses before the associate returned and asked if she'd like to get started, "yes, please," jude said with a smile, following the girl to her assigned dressing room. the girl unlocked it and let her in. jude looked back at jack briefly before shutting the door behind her. she was in the process of sliding off her own dress when she decided to pause and answer his question, assuming he was still waiting by the door, "and no, i haven't spoken to him since. i think you scared him," that and she hadn't answered her phone since before the accident. her house phone had some odd thirty unheard voicemails on it. the only time she ever talked on the phone was when she called somebody else, but she never answered it. she'd been busy watching movies and eating ice cream and trying to figure out why somebody would blow up a building. every time she closed her eyes she could still see the mother crying over her child. the disregard for human life was still upsetting her. she was ordinary, she wasn't clued in on whatever had been going within valkyrie's underbelly of dark secrets. the explosion was shocking, and she didn't understand why. it was okay, right? that it had continued to upset her. she was mildly depressed over it. only mildly, but nonetheless. "so do you feel better now? because i haven't spoken to him since that night." she rolled her eyes leaning against a wall in the dressing room and running her fingers through her hair before proceeding to take off her dress, deciding which to try off first.

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(STATUS) finished. (TAGGED) jade<3 (WORDS) 2,246 (OUTFIT) here. (COMMENTS) yeah. he can hide with her while she's half naked. xD sorry it got long too. it just happened. (CREDITS) lyrics; "come home" one republic.

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[jackson noah sharpe]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 340px; background-image:url(http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss279/legendskseeker/fk5qwnjpg.png); padding: 30px; border: #4e1919 solid 30px; ] DEEP BENEATH THE COVER OUTFIT: CLICK TAGGED: JUDE!! NOTES: jaaaddeeee ---"JACK, why can't you ask questions that don't make me want to punch you in the face?" he grinned but dropped it when she turned to look at him. he knew she had a little fight in her. he touched a nerve. she was pissed that he mentioned the la guy. whatever. he wanted to know. jack essentially saved this guy's life, didn't he? when it came down to it. he wouldn't be walking around downtown los angeles with a feather in his ass right now if it wasn't for dear, old, jack. did the asshole even know how close he was to death? he missed it by mere seconds. what jack didn't understand, as we know doesn't come often, is that jude was so willing to go give other guys a chance. sure, she was getting paid for it, their first meeting was basically jack as the client. will paid her to go on a date with him. yeah, that sounded so shallow because he didn't want to sound cocky, but he was fine with finding dates on his own. will did it as a joke. too bad all... this had stemmed from it. jack was unsure if he would end up caring this much if he didn't know who she was before. and there was the explosion, which even if she didn't want to admit it, tied them together somehow as they both experienced something traumatic. jack believed in fate, he truly did. there was a reason he got into a fight with his siblings that night, there was a reason why he walked pass the restaurant to get to the bar where his friends were drinking, and there was a reason he spotted her and he stupidly flew off the handle, but there was a reason for that too, because if he hadn't, he would have shrugged and walked on by. it was still all a mess, but here was jack, wanting to hang out for her, not for her... services, and she wanted everything yet nothing to do with him all at the same time. like he said before, she was dangerous. "italian. good to know," he said to her. unfortunately, jack was just an english-speaking man. there was a brief time when he was learning mandarin in los angeles. a lot of his clients had been asian and it just gave you extra points, but just like learning spanish in high school, you forget it when you don't use it over a period of time. jack followed her back towards the dressing rooms at the back of the store. the associate smiled at him and he just took a seat in one of the chairs close to her room and across from the big mirror. "and no, i haven't spoken to him since. i think you scared him." he grinned. "good," he said only low enough for himself to here. he crossed his legs and sunk deeper into the plush white chair. "that's too bad," he told her, now speaking loud enough for her to hear. an associate walked by him again, maybe trying to get his attention, he had no clue, but his phone buzzed so he distracted himself with a text from his mother. talking about dinner and if he had plans. he knew when his mother was asking him to come to dinner it really was a guise to try and shovel some information about his secretive life. but what she would always say was , "jackson, we don't see you a lot anymore. you live here for pete's sake. we're getting old you know. and when are you going to give me some grandchildren." she always threw that last comment in every conversation he had with her. he'd remind her that she and his dad were not old at all, early fifties was not an age where you started hanging up your hat. the only point that his mother made that was true was that he did indeed live in valkyrie and he didn't always see his parents as often as he probably should. his attendance at family gatherings was spotty and he always seemed to be doing better things than attending polo matches and horse races on the weekends, because yes, his parents still did that. though he might be seen as the lost child of the sharpes with no real direction anymore, jack really had all the direction he needed. he wasn't lost. no, far from it. he was finally living a life he, personally, was proud of. the jury was still out if anyone else would be proud. jack was about to text her back, but stopped when jude started talking to him again from behind the door. "so do you feel better now? because i haven't spoken to him since that night." he contemplated this for a moment, the obvious answer to this question was yes, but he couldn't say that. "any answer i give i'm sure you won't like. and though i would like to see the day you actually punch me in the face, today is not the day." he wish he had the newspaper right now. he liked being distracted. jack was unsure whether or not she would be coming out and showing him the dresses. he honestly could not do that as a friend. what was he supposed to say if she was showing him. 'looks good?' that was lame. whatever. "so, where would you like to visit?" he decided to ask her referencing what she just told him about how he doesn't ask her normal questions. jack put his phone back into his pocket and looked up into the mirror that reflected towards the rest of the store behind him. he stopped. he could see perfectly well that his sister just walked into the store. it was definitely one of those 'oh shit' moments. jack was back by the dressing rooms, his sister would think he was seeing someone. but then her best friend pops out of one of the rooms? it would be too coincidental. fuck. what was he supposed to do now? he couldn't even leave because jude wouldn't know where he ran off to, and he was sure to get caught on his way out of the store. he looked back at jude's dressing room. well, when you can't get out, go in? without thinking, he took the few steps to her dressing room, hoping that the door wasn't locked. he pulled open the door and shut it just as quickly behind him. now, jack was blindly concerned with his problem on the other side of the door that he didn't quite see the problem he had inside the dressing room, not yet at least. regardless he brought his finger to his lips and quickly covered her mouth with his other. screaming or shouting wouldn't help there case and it only now occurred to jack that there would be a bigger problem if he was caught...in here. "shhh..." he said backing her up to the wall. his own body ever so lightly brushed hers as he leaned closer to her to look out the gap in the door. "my sister just walked in," he whispered. because that pretty much explained everything. he could see viv in the middle of the store. he looked back at jude, removing his hand from her lips. "i didn't think... for once," he admitted. though, he almost wanted to point out that he sometimes didn't think things through when he was around her. the entire night of the explosion proved this. and then the adrenaline came to a halt as he slowly realized what he did. walked in on a girl, in a dressing room. he didn't want to look, out of respect or something... but he did, his head slowly turning to the mirror in the dressing room. jack, a fully-clothed jack, stared back at him. jude, though, had to of been in the process of putting on clothes, since she was standing right in front of him half naked. "shit, i'm sorry," he said keeping his voice down. he still had the associates to worry about. he covered his eyes with one hand, even if the damage had already been done. "i just saw viv and i didn't know what to do." this wouldn't be weird at all if jude was just some girl living in valkyrie. but, because she had a connection with the sharpe family, they were just... secret friends or something like that. he removed his hand from his eyes. tentatively and cautiously he looked back at her. yeah, jack knew it was basically like wearing a swimming suit, but it also basically wasn't. and she looked beautiful and sexy standing in front of him, but she'd probably slap him if he said something like that. because he was a friend that she wanted to be around but she couldn't explain to him why. why why why. jack wanted her to figure it out. it was like she wrote them off before even giving him a chance. at least he wanted to prove to her that he wasn't what she thought he was at all. well, in more ways than one. in her mind, there were doomed to fail. sure, maybe in actuality they were, but jack's mind didn't immediately go to the negative doom and gloom answer. but whatever he told her would fall on deaf ears. he was beginning to think that he couldn't change her mind. jack leaned in once again, but not to check to see if his sister was still in the store or if an associate was wondering where he went. instead, he kissed jude. his hand held the base of her neck, slightly pulling her to him. and then his mind caught up with his actions. she was probably going to hate him for this. "i'm sorry," he said but then paused. "actually, no, i'm not sorry. i've wanted to do that for awhile." OF ANOTHER PERFECT WONDER

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TEMPLATE BY KHRISTIAN @ CAUTION 2.0, LYRICS BY RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS

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[jude maureen endsley]

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---JACK HAD THIS UNCANNY WAY OF GETTING UNDER HER SKIN. he was like a parasite or a leech, and she simply couldn't shake him no matter how badly she may have wanted to. she felt slightly mocked when he remarked on her italian, but maybe that was just all in her head. she was on edge all of a sudden, especially talking about another guy and her work life with him. that wasn't something she wanted to discuss with jack. jude loved her job, and she had never really been embarrassed to talk about it until it came to jack. she was almost too ashamed to discuss anything of particular importance with him. she ignored him, biting her tongue from saying anything more about the los angeles guy. he was probably spooked about the ranty drunk guy who burst in during the middle of a business transaction, and then the fact that the very restaurant exploded only moments later. sure, jude could be dead, but he hardly knew her. he wasn't obligated to check up. jude couldn't say she wouldn't have shown the same indifference in his situation. it was only a second before jack offered his condolences. "yeah, i'm sure you're real torn up over it. he was quite a catch," she muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes. poor... oh, she couldn't even remember his name anymore. she wasn't about to mention that however, it wasn't like she needed anymore air to go into jack's head because pretty soon she was going to feel obligated to deflate him herself. she still didn't really enjoy this topic. her life in new york was a world jack had never been a part of, it wasn't a life she wanted him to be a part of. people in jack's social circles didn't fall into jude's line of work. it was what desperate girls did, or even middle class social climbers. rich girls, however, weren't real the top of the crop in the land of escorting. it just wasn't something she felt like jack would understand; in fact she was sure he wouldn't after his reaction at china wok. it wasn't a pretty business, especially at first. when you started out you were a lot less picky and a lot more compliant with what the customer wanted. you didn't get to have a say in the matter unless you were somewhat renowned, not if you wanted to get paid. that wasn't something she wanted to discuss with jackson sharpe. there were plenty of other things in this world they could discuss, right?

she was a little relieved to be in the dressing room because it was the perfect excuse not to look at him, considering she couldn't see him to begin with. "why, you have a hot date tonight? can't mess up that pretty nose of yours, now can we?" she joked casually as she fingered through the clothes she'd picked out and decided what to try on first. maybe the red one he had handed her, it looked like it had potential. she heard jack say something again, referencing her remarks only minutes before. she smiled behind the door, "um," she paused, pondering the question. there were so many places she could discuss but she didn't know where to start. "well, i'd like to-" before she knew it jack had walked right into her dressing room and put his hand over her mouth as well as his finger to his lips. well, bird brain, it's not like she could really speak anyway, right? one or the other would have sufficed. but she couldn't tell him that so she only glared at him. then he backed her up against the wall. for a second, just a half a second, she thought he might just be trying to rape her considering she was standing there in her underwear. but then again, even if he had been some psychopath this wasn't exactly the ideal place for that. he ended up explaining that viv had entered the store, and jude's glare quickly turned into a look of surprise, her eyebrows raising a few inches as she tried to spot her through the crack in the door, but before she could really get a look jack was talking again and decided to keep his hands to himself. jude tried really hard to keep her expression composed, but all she wanted to do was snort loudly, "for once? please, darling, don't give yourself so much credit," she rolled her eyes again, waving her hand in the air like it was no big deal. she'd almost forgotten she was in her underwear until jack reminded her. she covered her mouth his her hand, trying to restrain from laughing. she wanted to laugh half because the situation was funny, an half because she simply laughed when she felt awkward. she looked down at herself. basic off-white bra with basic matching underwear. "well, at least i somehow managed to match today. it's not like i'm wearing anything sexy, pretend it's a bikini," she managed between tight lips in order to avoid laughing. she was trying to remain very business like. she'd be more upset if he'd done this for no reason, but she could understand because it was vivianne. although, jude was sure if she were in the same position she could easily have made up a lie. we're just buying you a birthday present. jude wanted to get you a present since she hasn't seen you in forever but didn't know what you liked because she's been gone so long. jude had a feeling vivianne would probably believe that over their odd little friendship anyway.

she wasn't really to preoccupied with getting dressed at the moment, so instead she peaked out the crack to look for viv. she could see her in line at the register. it looked like she had picked up a pair of new shoes, or some other accessory. jude grinned against the door, it was probably fun to go shopping with vivianne. yeah, she had sort of been avoiding her because she didn't want to discuss the important stuff quite yet, something you sort of had to do when you were with your best friend. although it seemed like hanging out with jack wasn't much easier because it wasn't as if he was up to have light, airy conversations. jude turned back to give him an update only to see him closing in on her. at first she figured he was just going to check for himself, completely oblivious. then she felt his hand on the base of her neck and his lips against her as he pulled her to him. her head was spinning, she had no idea how to react to this. she could feel her blood rushing to her cheeks, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was angry or embarrassed or a third party entirely. at first she wanted to scream because she didn't believe in these movies moments that ended happily. she didn't believe in fairytales and jack did. or at least he was more of a believer than she was. she wasn't cut out for this, and she was surprised he'd even stuck around this long. wasn't he annoyed yet? but all those thoughts were washed away once she closed her eyes. her body seemed to reject the idea of pulling away, so she went with it, going along with the kiss. what base was this? kissing in underwear? must have skipped one along the way. there was another part of her that wanted to burst out laughing again. she'd never expected this. not in a million years. jack knew next to nothing about her, just where she was from and where she had gone and that she had come back. he knew about her job, and that she spoke italian, but aside from that he was virtually clueless. there was only so much you could know about a person just spending time with them. then again, there were always those perceptive people who had a knack for catching on to every detail. jack was a detailed guy. but still, what did he know?

jude had yet to let her guard down in front of jack.true, he was probably the closest she had been to an actual person since her ex-fiancee, but that didn't mean she let loose in front of him. there were plenty of things he didn't know about her, like how she could out eat half the men she knew, but she'd gotten used to eating like a polite little pixie in public. she also had a nasty habit of cursing at inanimate objects. watching her get ready in the morning would probably be a rated r movie just because of how many f bombs she would drop throughout the process. that and she always threw a nice concert for her showerhead every time she got in for a good wash. she loved reading, especially older literature, and especially old journals. and in new york she had been quite a broadway fanatic. she had gone quite often, as well as seen every musical you could think of as well as sing along to every number. or how she was actually pretty damn skilled at snowboarding. by no means was she a professional, but she was good enough to not fall. she had a lot of odd hobbies that most people didn't really know about. she hadn't even really known about them herself when she'd lived in valkyrie because she had never really had the time to discover what she loved when she lived with her parents because she had been too busy throwing herself into school and work. but after she left, especially when life first started out in new york, she had a lot of down-time. people fall in love when they have nothing better to do, although she was busy falling in love with paintings and movies. and while she worked, she really didn't talk about herself. the point was to please the customer, and they didn't care. even when they asked, she lied. aside from people she worked with, there weren't many others she had the time to talk to. yet here was jack, totally oblivious to the things that made her... her, and he was kissing her. unapologetically kissing her. it didn't make sense. how could he be so interested, genuinely interested, when he virtually knew nothing aside from her obvious perks and quirks? it made her light headed, or maybe that was just the fact that he was kissing her. regardless, she felt dizzy, and as much as she wanted to pull away and ask him what the hell he was doing, she couldn't. she was like putty in his hands in that moment.

it was a few seconds before she could gather her wits and catch up with what was going on or process what he was saying. immediately he apologized, but before she could react he took back the apology and confessed that he'd wanted to do it for a long time. jude's eyes were still closed and she inhaled deeply, leaning back against the dressing room wall before exhaling slowly and opening her eyes. there was a blonde curl hanging in her face, so she slowly swept it behind her ear, just looking at jack. she hadn't made this much eye contact with him since their first date when she was actually being paid to be charming. she opened her mouth to say something, but she had no idea what to say, so she simply clenched her jaws again and looked at the floor, her lip portruding slightly and frustration enveloping her features. she had no idea how she felt about that, as if she already hadn't been incredibly confused. honestly, her immediate reaction was to kiss him again, but she had enough self control to refrain from the impulsive desire. instead she stared at the ground for a few moments. "i changed my mind about lunch," she blurted out suddenly, "you can pay for lunch." he was probably punching her with his mind right now, because she was so skittish about this sort of thing, but she honestly couldn't think of anything else to say. in her mind, allowing him to buy lunch was her way of saying "alright, you win this time." it was only then that she remembered she was in her underwear and she couldn't help but grin, "now turn around. i need to get dressed," for somebody who had slept with men for money, she really was quite the prude, but the thing was that this wasn't for money, and jack wasn't some guy she barely knew. she couldn't manage to bring out the sexy seductive side around him. that was the side of her people paid for. it wasn't natural. her eyes peaked out through the dressing room door only to see long brown hair turning out of the main door to the store, "actually, just get out, because you still need to buy me clothes and i don't want the associate lady getting mad," jude quickly pulled up the red dress he had handed to her a little while ago. at least that way it would look like he was helping her. her head was still spinning though, and as soon as he got out and she put her normal clothes back on, she was ready to get the hell out of this store.

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(STATUS) finished. (TAGGED) jade<3 (WORDS) 2,253 (OUTFIT) here. (COMMENTS) sorry it’s kind of lame. (CREDITS) lyrics; "come home" one republic.

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