been up all night staring at you */

[rowan]

- - - - - -

---THE YOUNG WOMAN

[/size] snuck down the empty hallway stealthily, careful to make sure none of her supervisors were watching. her classroom was about twenty feet away, and she was sure she could make it. thank god she hadn't worn heels or the noise would have her jumping and drawing attention form every direction. "mhmm," she whispered into her phone, closing the distance between the classroom door, "yes, love," she laughed quietly, finally walking through the doorway of the room, "okay jas, love you. i'll see you then." she hung up the phone, kicking the door stopped away and allowing the wooden door to close shut, "well hey guys!" she crooned a little too eccentrically. a girl got up out of her seat, rolling her eyes, "uh, rowan, you're late, again," she said, handing over the keys to the classroom and grinnig coyly. rowan callaghan laugh airily, "that's miss callaghan to you, lauren." she retorted simply, making her way to the front of the room. "jasper is your boyfriend, right?" another girl questioned, a smug look on her face. rowan just nooded, adjusting the capo to the right fret on her guitar. "will you please break up with him? he looks like a male model! it's not fair to keep that all to yourself!" she suddenly gushed. laughter broke out in the room, other female students crying out in agreement. a boy snorted, "oh shut the hell up, jen, let's get to playing." rowan's eyebrows knit together, her eyes narrowing, "guys, settle down. i'm your teacher, remember?" a kid laughed, "the only one that let's us joke around!" she shrugged, grinning crookedly, "get out your guitars boys and girls."

rowan primrose callaghan was used to her students being so open with her. she didn't mind it, really. she was a pretty light-hearted and mellow when it came to them. they were like her own kids, really, though they could sometimes be a little too much. they respected her though, so it never really got out of hand. it was an ideal to her. let the students have a little free reign and they don't misbehave as often. teachers who crack down on their kids tended to be universally hated, even by the other teachers. rowan didn't like the idea of being disliked by anybody, so she was fairly easy going when it came to her lesson plans. sure, it probably helped that she wasn't teaching some boring, loathed subject like math or physics. she was a music teacher; mostly teaching choir classes and two guitar instruction ones. it was easy to be loved when you were teaching lovable subjects. kids didn't take her class if they weren't interested in singing or playing the guitar. she got students who were passionate about things she was adoring of as well. that automatically gave her something in common with every single person she taught, and that made things easy and relatable.

the eccentric music teacher was never your stereotypical educator either. she was the one who subtly broke the rules, not following specific protocols that weren't complete necessary to her learning environment. she never even dressed like the professional she was supposed to, typically just wearing casual clothes. she was too likable for her boss to fire, not to mention the kids would throw a riot, so all she ever got were continuous warnings and reminds to dress appropriately. it didn't make sense to her, why the academy was so stingy about its employees and its attendings wardrobes. as long as the kids weren't dressing like fourth street hookers or a compton gang member, rowan really didn't see anything wrong with allowing students to dress outside of their specific uniforms. clothing was a way kids were allowed to express themselves, to show who they were. colors, or lack of colors, sparkles or vintage, ties, v-necks, they all gave a sense of who a person was. rowan loved clothes, and she figured the students should have a right to dress in them as well. then again, it wasn't unknown that the academy was the eptiome of stereotypes. the scholarship kids wouldn't live through the day if the money hoarders saw what they wore under a daily basis, so it was a logical decision, the uniforms. sometimes, well, they were simply an absolute bore.

the teacher liked to keep things fresh, though. every once in a while she'd break away from the normal routine and offer a project where the kids wou get the opportunity to write and perform their own song for extra credit; silly or serious. there were other various things she allowed and made into traditions. she was the teacher that all the students loved, that the majority of them would reply "miss callaghan is my favorite teacher, hands down," without a second thought. she let the kids out of detention early, would sit in her room her entire lunch period just to talk to her kids. some of her students would take bathroom passes during their other classes just to come hang out in her class for a while, and she allowed it. kids would tell her about their problems, talk to her like she was their best friend. she liked being adored, it was the simple life she'd always wanted, to be the "cool" high school teacher in a small town in california. it was what she dreamed of since she was a kid. rowan couldn't ask for anything more; the boyfriend, the daughter, the job, the lifestyle. it was all she ever wanted.

the period passed quickly, and then the bell rang for lunch. the kids laughed and called out goodbyes as they left the classroom. rowan hurried to her desk, packing away her essentials into her purse. she'd made a lunch date with jasper and everleigh just before her last class had began, and she was to meet them asap. she locked her class, and took the backdoor off campus. being sort of an environmentalist, rowan refrained from using her car when unecessary, so she was going to walk to her lunch date. the pizza place she was too meet her dearly beloveds at wasn't too far, so it really wouldn't be a problem. not to mention the day was nice, the sky was blue, the air was clean, and the birds were singing. sure, the walk used to be a little more scenic prior to the earthquake catastrophe, but life was about embracing new things. she walked at a steady pace, fast enough that she would get there in time, but slow enough that she could enjoy the view as she went. there weren't a ton of people out, but that was because school was in session and most people were at work. a couple cars drove by of people she knew - neighbors, friends, etc. she'd waved happily, continuing on her way. walking was always so refreshing.

it took about twenty minutes to get to fire pit pizza, the exotic local of her date with jasper and everleigh. yeah, it wasn't exactly the most romantic place, but when you were raising a little kid, pizza or mcdonald's were usually your best options, and today the choice was pizza. rowan walked in, smiling as usual. the bell rang on the door as she entered. approaching the counter, the cashier greeted her, "hi there, how about a large pepperoni pizza?" she asked. pepperoni was pretty neutral. good for kids. the guy nodded, and she went to take her seat. there were a few other women with their kids there, and a few students from the schools around town, but otherwise the place was relatively empty. rowan took her seat in a booth next to the window. it was often that she beat jasper anywhere, considering she had never exactly been the most punctual person. it gave her a sense of accomplishment, pride, and astonishment. the young woman looked down, tampering with her cell phone as she awaited the arrival of her food and company. it was nice, to not feel rushed. she had a prep period right after lunc, so there was no hurry to get back.
[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

status•finished.
tagged•rowsper <33
comments•yayay! still getting a feel for her!
clothes•click!
credits•format inspired by vsiders. banner goes to lainey.

[jasper grey richardson]

JASPER GREY RICHARDSON
DEAR, IT TOOK SO LONG JUST TO FEEL ALRIGHT
REMEMBER HOW TO PUT BACK THE LIGHT IN MY EYES

. . . . . . .

There were many things Jasper regretted in his life. He regretted the way he went about with himself after he came back to Valkyrie, the way he slugged around as a weary, unshaven mess. He regretted how, for over a decade of his live, he was basically a trained missionary, was hired to kill by his family and the mob they were a part of. There was also the regret he had when he said a few select words to Wendy Hughes over five years ago. However, no matter what he regretted, he never could regret love. He didn’t regret loving Wendy with what he thought was his whole heart, but can something broken be really called ‘whole?’ He didn’t even regret it when she began to accuse him of trying to change whatever the hell they had. He might have yelled at her, but Jasper couldn’t remember. It was a haze, what he said to her, all was blurred except when he said ‘I love you.’ he remembered that, remembered it as clearly as if it just occurred right this second. Even five years later, he still felt raw when it came to such strong emotion, like he was still split apart at the seams, a reoccurring hurt. like his mother would say, without pain there would be no compassion, and oddly he was grateful to Wendy, the way she managed to tear him apart beyond repair, because in his darkest hour Rowan found him and saved him. It was a miracle, a true angelic occurrence when his now live-in girlfriend let him back into her life and in the shape he was in. He was a hot ass mess, and that wasn’t even describing the majority of it. Sleep and shower deprived, Jasper had driven from Chicago back to Valkyrie, which was about thirty two hours, with six hours of sleep. Sounds like death and it pretty much felt like it too. Normally, if he was thinking clearly, he would have never done that to Rowan. He up and left, no phone calls, no letters, nothing; he just left like he was a ghost all along.

He left her and Jasper didn’t expect anything but a door to be slammed in his face when he showed up at Rowan’s door at 2:45 in the morning. But much to his surprise, she let him in and he slurred his apologies as he collapsed on her bed, the toll of the world finally catching up to him. And then he slept. Sleeping for what he felt as days on end, he was in a state of disaster when he finally awoke. However, through that whole time, Rowan never left his side, never questioned him nor pried at why he had turned into such a shell of a human when he returned. During that entire time, all he could do was think. Jasper’s thoughts swirled in his defeat, how he so willingly let himself become vulnerable and much to his surprise get shot right to the heart. The boy then thought of what happened in Chicago and again his brain couldn’t possibly function normally but rather in a fog, ideas, ‘what ifs’ jumping along the neurons like sparks from a firework sputtering into the sky. He didn’t know when he sort of came out of that slump, how he managed to try to be human again, to go back to school, starting working and providing for his family, but he did.

It was as if it was all a bad dream, something that never really happened and after a while, Jasper began to believe that too. Rowan was the sun, bright, warm and welcoming, the light he began to follow after being in the dark for so long. Five years later, on a nice sunny day, Jasper was playing the role of doting father, giving his sweet little girl a bath. After living together for a period of time, they were pregnant, it was unexpected but Jasper couldn’t be more excited. At first he was mildly concerned over his parenting abilities, but all those fears and doubts melted away when he first saw his baby, a few minutes after birth. She was a breath of fresh air, calming him the moment she was in his arms. It impressed the man at how curious Ever was at the age of one, getting into the garden in the back, exploring the vegetable patch, totally unaware of the mud that encrusted her fingernails or the globs of earth stuck in her golden curls. Jasper washed her hair with a close precision, cautiously avoiding her eyes regardless if the shampoo was tear-free. It bothered him when she cried, he couldn’t stand it when she was sad. Luckily, Ever was just like her mother in that sense, almost always happy and smiling, so very much unlike him. He was dark, damned by his past and he was grateful that his child was in no way like him. Sure she would get shy around new people, was quiet sometimes, but honestly, Jasper couldn’t help but be relieved that his daughter was nothing like him. It calmed him almost, and for that he smiled all the time when he was around Ever and Rowan.

Speaking of which, as he rinsed the bubbles from Ever’s hair, he dialed to his girlfriend, ”Hi darlin’, so I was wondering if you were free for lunch? I was thinking pizza...“ He asked, cradling the phone in the crook of his neck, suspending it between ear and shoulder. His arms were full of their daughter, just wrapping a fresh towel around her as he held her. ‘Daddy, I want down. Now, now now!’ Ever spoke, trying to maneuver herself from his grips. She tried to noodle, her entire body went limp for twenty seconds before she started to kick and flail again. Placing his daughter on the bed, he smiled into the phone, ”Great, we’ll see you then.” Jasper smiled as Everleigh covered her own face with the towel and then mildly began to worry if she would ever see her Dada again. She was the rare thing that melted Jasper’s ice of a heart, the way his freshly turned one year old daughter would make him smile at the simplest of things. Momentarily forgetting that he was on the phone, he began to play peek-a-boo with Ever, laughing every time she would giggle; and then Rowan said ‘I love you.’ She would always say that, in that quiet voice, in which he knew that she meant it. But Jasper couldn’t make himself to say those words. It wasn’t as though he didn’t feel very strongly for Rowan, and it wasn’t like Rowan was a terrible person, she was quite the opposite actually. It was just what happened the last time he said those words and meant them... the last time he did such a deed was when Isabel just died and he confessed to...It was still burned in his mind the way Wendy reacted and quite frankly, it broke him. ”You too, see you soon, babe.” he said, reaching for Ever’s clothes in the dresser. And just like that he avoided the situation, and again Rowan never questioned it. She went about her day as if he was always a complete person to begin with, which he subconsciously thanked her many times over.

After lacing up the tiny shoes on Ever’s feet, he carried her out the door. It was such a good day, sunny and warm that he didn’t bother to take the car. He hardly ever drove anymore. Anything that they needed was just a few blocks away, and quite frankly, Jasper preferred to be on foot rather than being stuck in a car for a prolonged period of time.”Let’s walk to mommy, angel?” Jasper asked Ever as she began to squirm in his arms again, ”walk, walk, walk!” Lowering her down to the ground, Jasper watched as she began to attempt to run away. It was more of a waddle, a fast walk really, but hey, he wasn’t going to judge a one year old. They eventually made it to the pizza parlour; Jasper scooped his girl up in his arms before pulling open the door. they quietly approached the booth where Rowan sat as Ever squealed, ”Mommy!”as he rolled over a high chair before he greeted his girlfriend, “Hey Sweetheart,” He spoke softly, kissing the crown of her head. He grabbed the high chair singlehandedly and slid their daughter in it before he sat down also. “How was class, I didn’t get you late, did I?” Jasper asked, slipping the leg of his glasses into the collar of his shirt. This was nice, normal even, something Jasper would have never expected for himself especially with the things he had done in his past.

. . . . . . .

NOTES: yay! they're so cute.
STATUS complete!
TAGGED rowsper <3
ATTIRE jasper
CREDITS format to yours truly. but since I'm a lazy fuck, I got the graphic from 'lovely (heartless)' from a thousand fireflies.
LYRICS 'jar of hearts' but christina perri