ALIAS: Celine King AGE: Twenty-Four BIRTHPLACE: New York NEIGHBORHOOD: Cathedral Heights EMPLOYMENT: Graduate Student at the University of Washington at Bayfield FACE CLAIM: Zoey Deutch
She was born to an unlikely couple: a new york socialite and a man trying to make a name or himself. It was lust at first sight and nothing else — her mother was gone shortly after she was born. It wasn’t a conventional childhood. Drug deals in the park substituted play dates and the closest company she kept were the miscreants that her dad employed. Books became her peers; she was a voracious reader who could escape into whichever world suited her that day. Business was good until her 13th birthday, when a crucial drug deal went south. It was supposed to be quick, painless, and the most money her father was ever going to make. At night, she can still hear the dull thud from the back room, can still see the blood streaming through the tiles if she shuts her eyes tightly enough. Her father made a deal that sealed both of their fates that day: twenty years in prison for him and witness protection for his little girl. The rest of that day is a blur. Her long hair was sheared off as she stood, helpless, as she watched chestnut locks flutter to the floor. Her things were all packed before she could even step foot in her room, carelessly tossed into boxes by the police officers crowding her home. The car door slammed as she was escorted out of the building, tears welling up in hazel eyes as she watched the last vestige of her life crumble. A part of her died that day, still floating in limbo somewhere along Central Park. So she christened herself anew. Celine, she would be called. Untouchable, like the stars in the night sky. The only thing that she had in common with her father anymore.
Bayfield became her new home, if you could call it that. Her grandparents, on her mother’s side, were nice enough considering they never cared enough to meet her. They told her she looked just like her mother and sometimes she couldn’t tell if that was a good thing. Mythology became her comfort. She would lose herself in the adventures of the goddesses, in the idea of a homecoming at Olympus. At school, Celine kept to herself mostly, trying to keep this new identity together, while her peers regarded her as a snob. Until Kaiden Lockwood swooped into her life and befriended her without a second thought. If you asked her now, she couldn’t tell you exactly how they met but she can tell you that everything changed — for the second time in her short life. He brought out a side of her that she had never gotten the time to cultivate. It’s been a year since his death and she still sees Kaiden everywhere. Laughing in the quad at the university, his laugh whistling through the trees. He’s taken up vigil next to her father, whose memory becomes fainter every year. Until a few days ago when her grandmother passed her the phone wordlessly. From the moment the cold receiver touches delicate skin, she knows. It’s the first time she’s heard her real name used in years and she feels like a child again. I’m getting out. It’s those three words that sends chills down her spine. It’s those three words that tell her nothing will be the same. I’m coming for you, baby girl.
He could leave, find reason to politely excuse himself and find his own refuge from demons and picturesque memories that threatened to impale him upon meeting with someone who knew his own brother just as he had. His every defiance tainted and twisted what he held, but he knew that if he continued on that way, he could keep such things to himself - for himself. Even if he knew the already darkened tunnel like abyss he could so surely fall down. It pressed brows together tightly for a fleeting second before he could surely right his own train of thought. “Sounds about right, honestly, he’s got most people wrapped around his tail. Whoever said owners were the final word clearly never had a dog they could never say no to. I don’t think I’ve won an argument with this guy since the day I brought him home. He just lets me think it.” It’d never been his idea to get a dog; he’d always figured he’d be away in college or might have moved to the city by now, but it’d always been Kaiden’s insistence they have a family dog to replace the one they’d lost when Oliver had been too young to remember.
“For forever? What’d you do, dodgeball someone to death?” A tasteless joke that simply slipped out, but one he stuck with, a hearty laugh blossoming on his lips. “Maybe you should just stuck to ..– track or something. Any coordination beyond one foot in front off the other not required, no form flying objects, just stay between the lines and you’re good — like coloring.” The lump that’d formed in his throat proved harder to swallow than he thought, Ollie subsequently coughing it back as he continued to look to the street beyond, the click of his fingers brought Blink to heel by his side. “Responsible ownership and all that, this guy doesn’t really let me breathe until I walk him most days. It’s about as much for my own sanity as it is for his need to relieve himself on every single tree he finds.. which was.. a really weird way to put that.”
from the outside looking in, this looked like a normal, albeit slightly awkward, interaction. two familiar faces brought together by a chance encounter. but none of this felt normal to celine. she wasn’t sure if the dissonance she felt when she looked at ollie would ever subside, if he would ever be able to stop looking at her with all that guilt in his eyes. she racked her brain for something to say assuage the discomfort. her fingers wanted to reach for him, to trail over the rough edges and smooth them out. to quell the complex mix of emotions that she knew was bubbling beneath the surface. she had often wished she had the ability to heal. but now, it seemed like she was making it worse. was she? a smile ghosted on the edges of her lips, hazel hues fixing back on the dog. “yeah, bet he’s a total chick magnet too. he must have all the volunteer fire moms running.” she knelt down, carefully, to run a hand through his fur, ensuring that blink was okay with the interaction. he had seemed to warm up to her a little more than his owner was.
celine thanked the powers that be that her head was ducked, auburn curls cascading over her shoulder because when the laugh hit her ears, it was all she could take not to hit the ground. it hurt. she heard kai’s laugh everywhere. and now it was here, in front of her. she forced the smile back onto her lips, running a hand down her yoga pants as she rose to full height, still having to look up at him. “it’s better if i have my attorney present to discuss the matter. as for track — so long as we keep the hurdles at a safe distance, we’ll be fine.” her leg was twitching again, urging her back onto the road. back into motion where she could leave it all behind her. “well —i should let you go back to your business. pun not intended, i sincerely promise.”
He would be lying if his gaze didn’t draw directly towards the soaked front of her shirt. The wet cloth curved over her breasts, despite the fabric being stretched out. A sloth-like smirk drew on his lips as he tilted his head back. The edge of his vision fizzled as he tried to focus his best on his shoes. “Yeah, can you believe the dude was only slugging beers? You would think we’re in fucking high school.” Jo joked, knowing he was infamous in town for doing that very thing. He was a party king, wrapped around the world in a delicate spin between booze and late nights with his best friend, Leah. Now, he was alone – holding the title alone in some mixed group party. “Some people can’t hold their liquor.” He shifted his shoe over the sink and slopped it down on the floor. Sliding his foot through the checkered Vans, he looked up at her. “Oh, shit. Someone really got you, huh?”
“beers, pfft. unbelievable.” she nodded along with him, feigning some sort of knowledge of this. celine wasn’t too well versed in the house party scene. she’d been to her fair share but she could never truly shed her inhibitions. maybe that had something to do with the fact that she didn’t really drink, not copiously, anyway. the last time she had drank to excess, kai had to cart her home, with her own vomit stain colouring someone else’s shoes. needless to say, it had been awhile. the scrubbing against her shirt had worked moderately and she let the paper towel fall to her side with a sigh. it was white, of course, and you could just make out the outline of her bralette. great. she crossed her arms over her chest, catching his eye. “oh, yeah. you should see the other guy.” her face grew somber for a moment. “he passed out immediately after.” she swirled the contents of her own red cup, a mixture that had been pressed into her hands by her now busy friend. “oh, bung it,” she muttered, taking a sip of her own and wincing as warm liquid roared down her throat. “oh, boy. so you come here often? — i mean like parties, you know. here. in this… general area.”
Helena was looking over her written paper before setting it down, looking over at Celine with a smile slipping onto her face, although she knew her brothers would be upset if she didn’t return home like she promised, she wanted to do something else. “You know what we should do Cel? I think we should go hit the bar, have a few drinks and forget about finales…even if it’s for an hour or two.”
if it weren’t for caffeine, celine would have passed out on her books hours ago. she had been having problems focusing lately, something that she had never encountered before. school had always been a solace, a way to bury her head in the sand and not come out. but her mind had been wandering lately, to places she’d rather not visit. her pen had been tapping against the desk for the better part of a few minutes, trying to read the same line over and over again — and failing. with something akin to a sigh of relief, celine shut her book. “y’know, i can’t believe i’m saying this, but that sounds good.” her eyes darted down to her leggings, hastily thrown on this morning when she had set out for the library. “i don’t know if this is proper bar attire though. — is there such thing as bar attire?”
It threw a tremor across his spine: she threw a tremor across his spine. Recognition and guilt long since settled in his stomach kicked up like a dust storm to choke him from the inside out even as he calmly ran his fingers through his dog’s fur. Ollie had done all he could, whenever he could, to avoid those entwined with the life now gone. Out of habit for the sake of his own self preservation; he’d always found himself expecting to see his brother roll around the corner whenever someone once close to him stopped to swap what could barely be considered an actual conversation anymore. He simply couldn’t swallow it back easily enough. It didn’t slip by him, hesitance that he saw in even his own parents memorable hues in the months following the settle of ash and flame; he’d known it well before too. Still, he offered a smile that didn’t quite reach sienna hues for the weight of lacking reprieve of the awkward shift of atmosphere. Ironic, that they’d barely be feet from the gated entrance to the cemetery, a place he’d avoided and only drawn so close by the off kilter behavior of Blink at his feet. “Wouldn’t put it past him, honestly. You’d think he never got fed with the way he acts sometimes.” His tongue flicked out over his lesser lip as he rolled them together in some ploy to buy himself time as he cast eyes around the street. “You uh..– running?”
unbidden, a mirror image of the man standing across from her popped into celine’s mind and it was all she could take not to squeeze her eyes shut against the intrusion. kai had been the first person to befriend her at school, to see beyond her silence. he had plopped down beside celine on what had become her customary bench, coffee and a book haphazardly balanced in her arms, and immediately struck up a conversation. it had taken her a few moments to process what was happening, hazel eyes widening in disbelief. but it hadn’t phased kaiden in the slightest. from then on, her bench became their bench, despite him being a little older and them not having that much in common. it had always worked, somehow. or it had worked, at least. until his world had ceased to exist, leaving a gaping hole in hers. he had left as quickly as he had entered. and celine hadn’t realized what was missing until she had it. and there was nothing she could do. a strong sense of shame overpowered her. she was having a fucking pity party while his brother stood mere feet away from her. it was then that she noticed that he was having as hard a time looking at her as she was at him. if only kai could see them. he had always joked that he would set them up one day, despite celine’s furtive blushing. her own love life had never been her strong suit. “i’m telling you, he’s got all the angles covered.” she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her nodding at his question a little more aggressive than intended. “yep. i thought about taking up, like, tennis or something but y’know, i have no hand eye coordination. and i’m banned from dodgeball for forever, i think, because of a nasty competitive streak. though, i swear, last time was not my fault. i swear some refs just don’t call fouls. i don’t care if jimmy is in third grade.” she stopped herself before the rambling could continue and prayed that maybe he would get some very temporary retrograde amnesia and forget this whole conversation. “you’re — walking?”
A huff blew through his nostrils as he positioned his shoe over the sink. He stood in the kitchen with only his socks on as music vibrated the walls. It was supposed to just be a house party. He didn’t expect anyone to get too wild, not when cocaine was the only substance of worth in the shit smacked house. Jonah pushed a hand over his sneaker, scowling at the slop of vomit on his shoe. “Look, before you ask – it isn’t mine.” He said in disgust, turning the shoe over in the water as it all washed down the drain. “I have half a mind of stealing a bag and leaving. Shit.”
truthfully, celine hadn’t wanted to come to this party. if she had it her way, she’d be curled up with the newest margaret atwood and a spiked coffee. but, here she was with a brand spanking new jungle juice stain on her top. she looked around for a moment, stunned into momentarily silence as she looked for some way to clean up. miraculously, she was able to fish a roll of paper towels discarded beneath her designated driver, who was now three jager shots in and was currently being nearly swallowed whole by a frat boy with severe beer breath. she began dabbing at the front of her shirt gingerly as she made her way into the kitchen, stopping abruptly when she saw vomit slosh into the sink, her eyes travelling upwards to his face. “ — oh. i believe you. i think i saw someone projectile vomiting out there. it’s like a public service announcement for staying sober.” she realized that she was now rambling while holding a damp piece of towel against her shirt. “here, can i help? club soda’s your only hope at this point.”
