Above and Below

[christina jazsmine w. hently]

CJ was back in town from handing off Milo to her father; there's no way she would have been able to handle having him around right now. It had been a rough couple of weeks, and after the news she had taken off rather abruptly. Milo didn't need to be told right away. Not when she knew that Milo wouldn't be able to handle the answers to his curious questions. Not when she knew that she wouldn't be able to look him in the eyes and tell him that his daddy was gone. Her own father had convinced her to stay in England for a week, try and straighten out her thoughts before going back. Hell, MaCe had tried to convience her to stay not go back at all; but she had a job there, and she wasn't sure she could just uproot like that again. She couldn't keep running away from things that hurt her; even if that was the reason they had moved there in the first place. To get away, start all over, her and Seamus and Milo. But now there was no more Seamus. Her husband was dead and she was just a shell of the CJ she once was. Could things get any worse? First her brother, than her mother, now her husband? The funeral had been planned and she was to attend it alone.....Seamus's parents had arranged with the police to have the body sent back to them.

CJ didn't want to think of how she was going to be alone. She had never been alone, not since she was in high school and whoring it up. Even then....there had always been someone. Milo had been confused, when at the end of the week she packed and he didn't. And it shattered her already broken heart to see her son cry as he said goodbye to her at the airport. Mace of course had picked him up, cuddled him and told him that they would have fun. She swore to call him every day, all the time. She had even bought him a phone specially for this trip. So what if he was only seven years old? It didn't hurt to give him a way to get a hold of her. It was more for her sake anyways; she could now talk to him whenever she wanted. It didn't matter that the charges would be outrageous. She'd pay for them with little to no second thought. CJ was standing in line now, waiting to get coffee at the star bucks. She couldn't force herself to go back home, at least not by herself anyways. If you could call the now empty house that. She would never come out again if she had....CJ being the emotionally dominated person she was, she would have ended up passed out on the couch from crying so hard. She had yet to have a good cry, had stayed strong for Milo. He would have known something was wrong if she had broken down into tears. Hell, the two days after she had found out, before she and Milo had gone to England she avoided her own bed like it was going to kill her.

She had gotten a room at the hotel in town and would be staying there until she could force herself to go back. She would have to eventually.....everything she owned that hadn't been taken to England with her was there. Satin had been kind enough to pick up some things for her, so CJ was covered for now. She was dressed in a pair of jeans, a pretty blouse though you couldn't see it under her zip up crew jacket, and of course her knee high boots. She looked....well, like she hadn't slept in a week. And to be honest, she hadn't; her thoughts had kept her up, even while she had cuddled with her little boy. Being 4,000 and then some miles away from town didn't stop her from thinking about everything. Her hair had knots here and there, though she had brushed it out just enough to make it look half way decent. Though she could care less if she ran into anyone, as the people who mattered knew. Both Eric and Celia had offered to come stay with her, and she had declined. Hell, even Luc, Celia's twin brother, who she hadn't heard from in forever had offered to take a break from his art studies in France for her. But who was CJ to let other people give up so much for her? Selfish as she may have been in the past, she was almost determined to see this through with whatever bit of grace she had left in her torn and shattered soul.

Having gotten what she wanted from the line, she paid and thanked the cashier; as soon as her back was turned though, she could hear whispers, Isn't she that model? Oh my god, she's gorgeous. At first, CJ had wanted to turn around and tell them they were wrong, that she wasn't who they thought. But she couldn't, since she of course, was. While in England, she had done a shoot or too, well, been pushed into it anyways, just to keep her mind off things during the day. Keep yourself busy, that's the only way to not break down. So busy she had been. On her return into town, she had done a commercial for some random company that had come looking for her. Maybe it wasn't the healthiest thing to do, since she would need to grieve and face facts sooner or later, but it was what she had been raised to do. Ignore and push through. Her eyes had been on her PDA, trying to look at what she was doing for today when she ran right into some one. Collided with them so hard that she dropped the hot coffee she had been holding. Shit! Oh my god, I'm sorry. If she had been paying any attention, she might have noticed that she recognized the person. Even just a little bit. She might have noticed that the person she had sent about ten meters back, was none other than Mike Peters, the guy who had walked out on her months before hand when they had met yet again at the dinner. But of course, CJ was just worried about the fact that she dropped scolding hot coffee on some one, though she never looked up to see who. Let me get you a napkin or something, I'm sorry.

Tag: Mike
Count: 1143
Notes: hah. Welcome back

[mike ryan peters]

The last couple of months for Mike were categorized into days that sucked and days that REALLY sucked. Today was already a day that REALLY sucked and it barely even started yet. The price on his favorite whiskey had gone up. Now there was a line at the Star Bucks he went to almost every morning. “I have some amazing karma” he said to himself

Mike had left from his home town of Hampshire Hills to move away from CJ Williams. The first couple weeks were good; until he saw her here then everything went downhill.

After he left her standing at the diner, Mike lost his business. So he was rich and unemployed. At that moment, it didn’t really bother him. He still had money, he could survive. Then his mother and father became ill. His sister was 7 months pregnant and couldn’t fly over to England, so that job was left up to Mike to take care of them. Even then that didn’t bother him. It was his family.

His mother ended up getting better but his father died 2 weeks after his mother had gotten better. Because his father was an American and his mother was British, there were some issues where he was going to get buried. His Aunt Carol and His Uncle Dean said that his father’s grandfather had bought plots for the whole Peters family. His mother on the other hand wanted him to be cremated and it was up to Mike to sort everything out. After long plane rides back and forth from England to Seattle and some bribing, everything got sorted out and Mike headed home.
At home, there were messages from people. The Credit Card Company, Electric people, TV people and one phone call from his old band mate Roger Dell.

In the message, Roger said that they were going to tour, but without Mike. Roger went on to explain since he moved to America, they thought that he wouldn’t be interested in doing a tour in the future and didn’t even ask him. So The Mike Peters Band was going on tour without Mike Peters. Roger also said that they wanted to use some of Mike’s songs on tour. After Roger said that, Mike was angry. Mike called Roger back and yelled at him, Kevin and Neil. Mike also sued them. Mike ended up winning, but he lost his 3 of his closest friends and earned a bad rep with the press.

His sister had her baby. A baby boy; whom she named David Michael, after their father and him. Mike flew to California to see the little guy. While down in California, Mike’s vintage guitar collection was stolen and the insurance company was going to give him $2000 for 6 guitars worth over $50,000. Mike was pissed.

The credit card company had cancelled his credit cards. His cell phone was gone, along with his electric. The only thing he had left and was willing to pay for was his apartment.

Mike gave up on looking presentable. His hair was long and he had a beard. He stopped showering, so there was odor. And Mike began to drink because he was so unhappy. And he began smoking marijuana again. He justified that by saying to his mother and sister “I am a musician, this is how I get my inspiration.”

As he was waiting in line to get his coffee (which he would make Irish when he got home) someone bumped into him, causing him and his whiskey to the ground.
“Jesus Christ” he said in a very loud voice “can this day get any worse.”

He then looked at who had caused him to fall to the ground.
It was no other then the person he was trying to run from; CJ Williams. Even before saying “Hello”, Mike said “I’m sorry” in attempt to square his karma and so everything would be alright again and not crappy like the past few months had been.

Tag: CJ
Word Count: 675
Note: Didn't take as long as you to write this.

[christina jazsmine w. hently]

Karma had a way of sneaking up on you. The universe didn't like to leave things unfinished. It had always been her thought process that no matter what she did, she wouldn't be able to make everyone happy. And of course she was right about that; no one could ever please everyone in their life. She couldn't help but think, that there was one person she had screwed over on more than on occasion the most. Mike had been the first guy she had ever really loved. He'd been her best friend back in grade school and even in high school. He'd been her rock, her confidant. When the gang got together, she'd always drag him along. Back in her dares as a hard ass, he'd always be the one to haul her away when she got into a fix. Though Eric and Celia and Jesse and Luc were the bread and butter, Mike had been the first guy she had ever really fallen for. They had been tight knit, and if it weren't for the fact that back when he wanted to get serious, her mind was on being anything but, she most likely would have been Mrs. Peter's a long time ago. She had figured, that after their last few run ins over the years, he'd figure out that she was just no good for him. They had met up again after their break up after sophomore year in high school. They'd met after he'd left and came back, again after they graduated and she got pregnant and married Seamus. It seemed like someone up there was just determined to keep throwing them together. They had met so many times, and each time, she had broken him just a little more. She didn't think anything hurt more than after the time they'd met before RJ died, back in Hampshire Hills. He'd a music store, and it seemed like things were going to be alright again between them. And then that stupid night happened, and they'd kissed and she'd once again shattered him. The look in his eyes that night when he had told her he loved her, most likely always would, and she couldn't say anything back to him. Well, once you've hurt someone like that so completely, you'd think there'd be nothing else.

And yet, the very last time they'd met, after they had both been hiding from each other, without even giving her an answer, he'd left her standing there at the dinner, now that had hurt more than she could imagine. A look of pure shock came over her face when she looked at the guy there. When she started to recognize the features under the too long hair and wild beard and finally when she heard the voice that had both haunted her thoughts and made her chest tighten. No. Nah Uh, no fucking way. Was fate trying to rub it in her face, she'd lost her husband, and now it would show her that she could never be happy again? Mike had to hate her, despise her with every beat of his broken heart. There couldn't be any bit of affection left for her, at all. Why else wouldn't he have called her? Why else wouldn't he have returned the messages she left for him, months ago after their original run in. Oh yes, Karma was a bitch indeed, and this was the biggest and worst form of pay back it could come up with. Son of a.... she muttered, unable to stop herself from freaking out and wanting to throw something. And then she took him in, really took him in, Mike? What the hell happened to you....? Of course she was causing a scene, she'd not only knocked him over, spilled coffee on him, but now she was about to start yelling. CJ saw red, than purple than green, and a sicking smell came up and tortured her senses. And still, her eyes never left his figure. What had he said earlier? I'm sorry? He was apologizing? He should apologize! But why was he apologizing? Her mind was in pure chaos.

Count: 725
Tag: Mike
Notes: Shut up. lol, that was my first CJ post in months.

[mike ryan peters]

He had apologized and she was yelling at him? She was yelling at him. The fact the she was yelling at him didn’t compute with Mike. He got up and looked at her as she yelled at him.
“Shut the fuck up” he said to her. Mike got up the courage to say what he had wanted to these past months to his childhood sweetheart. “I’M SORRY I IGNORED YOU THAT ONE DAY OF YOUR LIFE. I’M SORRY THAT NO ONE HAS EVER IGNORED YOU BEFORE. BUT HONEY LISTEN TO ME, THAT ISN’T GOING TO BE THE LAST SO GET OVER!” he yelled back at her. Mike cut the line ordered his coffee and left the building.

When he was outside, he sat down at a table and opened the bag that contained his whiskey. He needed is coffee “Irish” now and not later. He opened both the lid of his coffee and his bottle of whiskey and combined the two. “Now that’s good” he thought to himself. He then began thinking about CJ.

It had been a long time the two had known each other. They met in grade school and Mike knew he was in love with her from that moment on. They were best friends through junior high and they even dated a bit. After the break-up, the two friends weren’t close friends anymore. He didn’t even tell her when he lost his virginity that summer in England.
He spent his junior year in England and came back for his last year in Hampshire Hills, hoping to win CJ back. She shot him down twice that year; once at the beginning of the school year. The other time was when they graduated. He had asked her to marry him that time. He had a ring sitting in his pocket when he asked. Regardless of what she had done with other guys when he was away and when they weren’t talking, he looked past it. She still said no and went off with Seamus.
But to be fair, Mike had become a bit of a stoner. At the parties, Mike would always be lighting up. It was CJ who actually told him to quit.

To get over her, he moved back to England and started his band. When the band broke up, he moved back home, thinking that he was over her. Oh how wrong he was. She was married and had a little boy. Mike always felt that it should have been him instead of Seamus, but hid the pain until CJ and him kissed at his store that one night.

He asked her to leave her husband for him. Milo, CJ and him could live together, happily. And CJ once again declined him. She wanted to stay with her husband for her little boy. And that’s how Mike ended up in New Jersey.
Mike reached into his jacket and pulled out his lighter and a joint he had been saving for later.

“Screw her” he said to himself as he stuck the joint in his mouth and began lighting it "I'm already messed up because of her"

[christina jazsmine w. hently]

The son of a bitch yelled at her! Even though....to be fair, she had yelled first. She saw that as no excuse! CJ's quick temper, grieving or not, lite like the flame under a stove. She didn't stay standing there in shock for long. Oh no, as always, her temper lead her outside to make more trouble for herself. Its just what it always did, took her straight to the source for a bigger mess. The rest of the coffee in her hand, she marched out of the storm fuming. As soon as she found him, she stopped thinking. Her eyes locked on him, her feet started moving and her arm reacted to her emotions. And that's how she ended up throwing coffee at him. She didn't care that it was hot. She didn't care that she would regret it later, much like she regretted saying no to him so many times. Much like she regretted having stepped foot out of her hotel room this morning. She was crying now, that's just how angry she was. CJ's emotions were wired straight to her tear ducks, and thus, whenever something was surging through her, so were the tears. You are such an asshole! How dare you, that was rude. I don't give a shit how mad you are, you don't do that kind of crap. Not to someone who fucking cares about you.

Of course she was in no place to judge, she was in no place to point fingers and call him names and yell. She had started it; she always did. Maybe she just wanted to be the one to finish it this time? You have no fucking idea, how worried I was about you. None what so ever, because you never called back. You never answered your e-mails. I thought you were dead, jerk! If CJ had looked like hell before, she was its spokes person for damn sure now. Her face was red and screwed up into an expression that now even she would have recognized had she looked in the mirror at that exact moment. Her eyes were wet, filled with tears, and her cheeks held the evidence of her anger as they flamed up and showed the streaks of her tears. Its really fucking mature Mike Ryan Peters, to ignore someone like that. I don't give a flying flip if you hate me, but you don't ever worry me like that again. Her emotions were raging and rare, none of them made sense. Her mind was telling her to get the hell out of there, before she made things even worse than she already had. But her feet stayed glued to the spot in front of him. This time she wasn't going to let him run. They had both done that enough.

Count: 487
Tag: Mike
Notes: Bahahaha

[mike ryan peters]

Mike wiped the coffee from his eyes, put his joint out and placed it in his pocket. Mike stood up, and looked down at CJ with a disgusted look on his face. How dare he not call her? She was the one who didn’t want to sleep with him and she was the one who didn’t to marry him and she was the one who didn’t want to run away with him. How dare he? It should be how dare HER! Mike was going to know how sorry she was going to be.

“Go screw yourself CJ” he said “I really do not give a shit what you think anymore. You have broken my heart so many times now. It’s ridiculous how many times I came back to you. You didn’t want to sleep with me when we were dating, one of the reasons we broke up in high school. I come back and find out you’re the school slut.” Mike liked being taller than her. It gave him more power to stand up to his friend/nemesis/lover. Mike took a step closer to her, making him look like he was more powerful.

“And when I wanted to marry you, you said no. Then I came back, I find you married and you have a kid. It made me think that it was me. You wanted all those things but not with me.” He said the last part quietly.

“Maybe I didn’t want to call you because you hurt me. I am trying to move on with my life. My life without you in it. I don’t want to be Uncle Mike to your kid. I wanted to be the father of your child. Or maybe I don’t want a fucking tease in my life anymore.”
He knew his words were going to hurt her, but in his opinion she needed to be hurt so he could move on and feel good about it.
“Don’t talk to me about being fucking mature. “Oh Mike I love you, but I love my husband and I won’t leave him even if he has fucked another women. But I still love you.” Yeah I am immature one.”

Mike began to walk away from CJ. “Go back to Hampshire Hills. If you don’t, I will. I am trying to get away from you. Go home to your fucking husband.”Mike walked towards his apartment without looking back once.

[christina jazsmine w. hently]

She winched when he told her to go screw herself, oh yeah. He was only proving now, more than ever, that he was so immature. If I’ve broken your heart so many times, why do you keep coming back? She really did want to know. If she had been hurt so badly by someone like that, she would have tried her damn hardest to stay away from them. And she supposed that he had figured out by now, what she had always known since they were kids. That she was no good for him; yet for some reason, they were always brought together some way or another. You bastard. I didn’t sleep with you then, because I was scared. And ya know, I was right not to. I mean seriously Mike, we were kids. And your still holding that against me? Its not like you didn’t have you way with those whores. That’s right, I know all about them. As a musician, the girls that follow bands around would do whatever it takes to get noticed. Including whoring it up with everyone. And CJ knew for a fact, that there were more than enough whores to go around. Mike was a guy, he would have whored it up with them. And she never held it against him; hell, she remembered once hoping that he was having a good time.

Rolling her eyes she crossed her arms and tried not to take a step back when he took one forward. She hated how he seemed to be so bad scary; was he always this tall? Was he always this menacing? The closer he got, the easier it got for her to take him fully in. What the hell was that, had he been smoking again? A disgusted look came across her face, Did you expect me to believe that? You’d been gone for more than a year. Damn it Mike, you can’t claim to love some one and then disappear. You just can’t. She was getting angry now, angrier than she had been in a long time. How dare he come back and dig out all of these old emotions. HE was the one that had left, he was the one that had run away each time after she had tried to make amends. Her face screwed up more, getting redder and she felt like she was going to explode. Fuck you Mike! Did you honestly expect me to drove everything and run away with you? It should have occurred to her that he was drunk. And not only that, but if it was indeed smoke, he’d been smoking pot again.

Now she was mad enough to do more stupid things; Did you expect me to put my son through the bull shit I went through as a kid? A nasty divorce, a custody battle that would have wounded him more than anything else in his life? Well excuse me for taking my responsibilities a little more seriously than other people. Excuse me for thinking that maybe my son shouldn’t be torn apart at six years old. She was shaking now, and the mention of Seamus just furthered her anger and hurt. Well you know what, at least my husband fought for me. He didn’t run away like you did. Her words would either mean nothing or hurt him more. It all depended on how serious he was about these threats.

Of course she had been hiding behind Milo; though everything she had said was true, and she had felt very strongly about all of this. She was the product of a nasty divorce. Her mother and father splitting right after the death of her brother. Her family had been ripped apart, so of course CJ had taken it hard, she’d been twelve. I wanted all those things and you. she shook her head violently, But you never stuck it out long enough to convince me you we worth it. She pushed her fingers through her hair angrily, Yes Mike. I loved you. Ugh, I can’t believe your dropping this on me now. She could no longer think clearly, There you go again! Running away, as always Mike, run away. Drop something like that and then run. Its what you do best isn’t it? Then you get angry at me for not going with you. Hah. Fine Mike, leave.

[mike ryan peters]

Mike stood there listening about the so called "whores" he had slept with. When he lost his virginity, it was to a girl whose parents where friends with his parents; and when he was on the road. Sure he had the opportunity to sleep with the groupies but he only did that twice. One was after he found out that CJ was getting married and the other time was when his fiancé broke up with him. He stood there shaking his head and rolling his eyes. She knew nothing of his life on the road. She only knew what the press had released. “And you never slept with your photographers?”

When he walked away, he could hear her still yelling at him as he walked.

"There you go again! Running away, as always Mike, run away. Drop something like that and then run. Its what you do best isn’t it? Then you get angry at me for not going with you. Hah. Fine Mike, leave."

He stopped walking when she said it was what he did best. He turned around and looked at her. “When I leave, it always has to do with you.” He yelled back “Every single time. You think about that.” Mike began to walk back to his apartment again.

He pulled his joint out of his pocket, lit it and began smoking again. CJ had totally wrecked the buzz he had. He looked down and realized that he forgot his whiskey on the table along with his coffee. Mike let out a sigh and turned around to go get it. He was not going to let a $50.00 bottle of Irish whiskey go to waste. Mike headed back with his joint in his mouth and planning on ignoring CJ.

When he reached the table he grabed the bottle of whiskey and turned to CJ “Nice seeing you again. Don’t call me I’ll call you.” He said before heading back to his place once again.