callmeemily | Holy crap, there's a new business in town.

Entry tags:

open to everyone!

Holy crap, there's a new business in town.

Nevermind that it looked pretty run-down. Nevermind that there was a thick layer of dust on everything, that there was peeling wallpaper, that the floors had peeling linoleum.

This.... this was going to be home. Raleigh knew it the moment she and Joel had walked inside; the run-down storefront had been a cupcake shop three years ago before it'd gone bust, and it already had some of the requisite items for a bakery - luckily, a lot of the most expensive ones like a walk-in fridge. It just hadn't had a tenant since 2011, but Raleigh'd managed to cut a deal with the landlord; she'd fix it up, no rent was due until they opened, and she'd have a discounted rate for a year.

It was more than she could have hoped for, although that meant that her days would be full of dust and elbow grease for a while. The doors and windows were wide open, country music pouring out onto the street as Raleigh - in a tanktop, cut-offs, work gloves, and sneakers - perched on top of a tall ladder. She was stripping off wallpaper in big swathes, letting it fall on the floor - not caring that she was a sight, with dirt smearing her bare legs and arms. It felt hot as hell in the tiny store, but that probably had a lot to do with what she was doing.

She's singing to herself as she pulls free more paper, but her glove catches on a nail and she frowns. "Hey!" She leans down a little as she sees somebody passing by, even though from how high she is, she can't see who it is. "Can you pass me that hammer?" It's on the floor, and she doesn't want to have to get down if she doesn't have to.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sounds like a great plan," he said with a nod. To be honest having some relaxing down time would be nice. The first chance he got he was going to invite Raleigh over so they could just relax and turn their brains off. At least as much as they were able to, but hot tubs and booze were great for that.

"Well, as far as I know there hasn't been an assault charge filed, but I could have just not heard about it. Are you worried the reporter is going to come after you again?"

She needed it, too. It's been a hell of a few weeks, and she's still working on getting her head on straight from it all. She nodded, too, but then he talked about the assault charge, and she actually paled because she never even realised that could be a problem - but Fabrice had swung first, so...

"I don't think so? I mean- He, uh. Sort of acted like we were on a date and didn't tell me he was a reporter, until he started asking me what it was like to be-" She paused, her voice sort of... tight. "Kidnapped with Corrine Flynn. You know, don't I resent her, all that kind of... stuff." Trying as hard as she can to make it sound like it's not a big deal, Raleigh knows she's only sort of succeeded. "So I don't think he'd try again? He said some pretty bad shit trying to get Fabrice to say or do something until he punched him."

Levi's jaw clenched as he listened to what she was saying, outraged at what the reporter had done. He'd heard of some shitty tactics by reporters before but that was really messed up. It was the sort of thing that he really wished was illegal but unfortunately dating someone under false pretenses wasn't a crime.

"What was the reporters name?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice calm.

You'd have to be blind to not see that Levi was upset, and Raleigh shook her head. "It's okay, Levi. He's- He's trash, he's already got a bloody lip and a black eye from Fabrice, and I'm sure as hell never going to see him again. He's one of the ones that're following the Coombs."

Levi- it's weird, she's not as close to him as she is with Spencer and Joel in a lot of ways, but in other ways... he's so much closer than they are. She can joke with him and have a good time, but he's seen her at her most vulnerable more than once; she values him, values what he says and what he does, and he's not just a friend but he's the sort of friend that Raleigh will just help, without pause or thought or consideration, if she ever knows he needs it.

Honestly, she'd say he's family, almost, but she doesn't know if that's just because of this weird habit she's fallen into of finding these amazing men and shoving them into older brother roles, or what. But he asks his name, and she just sort of hesitates, her voice smaller as she tries to decide if she should tell him. What he'll do.

"He said it was Richard, I don't know, now, if that's true - but probably all you have to do is keep an eye on the papers." She said that part quietly, too, because she doesn't know what'll be written about her, about Fabrice, and she's sort of dreading it. "But you don't need to do anything, Levi. Okay?"

Levi had to agree with her assessment that the guy was trash, pleased that she could see at least that much. Still, to do something like that to Raleigh wasn't okay. He didn't know a Richard with the paper off the top of his head but that didn't mean much. Despite what she said, he was going to find out who the guy was, if to keep an eye on him if nothing else.

"I'm not going to go after him," Levi promised her. At least he wouldn't physically attack the guy, no matter how badly he wanted to. But he could absolutely make sure the guy was watched very carefully. If 'Richard' was willing to lie like that he was probably willing to do something illegal as well.

"But I'm glad the guy got punched."

"It'll make things harder for Fabrice," she said quietly, rolling her shoulders up into a shrug. "I.... I mean, I don't want things to be harder for him. But- I mean, I'm grateful. And-"

She just stopped, then, sucking in a breath.

He really, really didn't need to hear her complain about her lack of a social life. "And it's over," she finishes. "That's the important thing, that besides him writing something? It's over." Right? That was the important thing? It was. It had to be.

"We're like- You and I, we're friends. Like, good friends, right?" She doesn't exactly know why, but she expects him to be honest. like he'll tell her, if she's wrong.

"The reporter has up to a year to file assault charges, but if he hasn't filed them by now it's unlikely that he will," Levi said. He wished that he could have told her that everything was fine and over with but he didn't know that for sure. "Even if he does, at most Fabrice will have to take anger management courses or something similar."

It wouldn't be a huge issue though, he was sure about that. The reporter might use it for leverage somehow but if Fabrice pleaded guilty and could get a lesser sentence then it would be over.

"And of course we're friends. You're one of my closest friends."

He says that the reporter's got a year, and Raleigh runs her hand down her face. "And if he files charges, it'll be in all the papers." It's quiet, almost resigned, and she shakes her head. "I wish- I mean... what he did was-"

She stopped, and just shook her head. "I wish that it wasn't the sort of thing that could just mess up everything."

Sitting on one of the ladder rungs, Raleigh looks up at him. "Can I- I have a weird... question. Which is- I mean-" She's having problems actually spitting it out, and she swallows hard. "Listen, do you want to like... get a cup of coffee, or something?" She was covered in dirt, the place was (still) a mess, but there was something that'd been sort of eating at her for a while, and he's the only one she knows she can even sort of ask.

"The negative press probably won't be worth it. Reporters want to report the news, not be it. Try not to worry."

Levi was pretty sure that she would but he would do his best to reassure her that it wouldn't happen. If it did, well, it wouldn't really be that big of a deal. Fabrice would probably have some consequences but he HAD punched someone.

"You can absolutely ask a weird question and we can get some coffee," he said, giving her a smile. He didn't mind how she looked, it was kind of cute actually, and it seemed like she was really anxious to ask him something, which made him very curious to hear it.

"He was trying to get him to punch him.... I don't know." She is worrying, that's plain enough to see, and Raleigh rubs the back of her neck with one grimy hand. Still, there's nothing she can do about it, and that's why she just sort of.... sighs, and she grabs a wet wipe to at least get the dirt off her hands as they walk.

"I have sort of.. a... law... question. I don't think I'm breaking one, but uh- if I am, can we just assume it's in hypotheticals?" Her brows furrow together, and she looks over at him, her voice low. "I'll fix it, if I am. Okay?" She knows she can trust him, but she doesn't know how else to frame the whole thing. To start, somewhere.

"Alright, a law question I can help with," he said with a nod. He had a guess that this had to do with her not using any of her personal information in the city to avoid being tracked down by... he wasn't sure. Levi was tempted to look into it but the problem was that if it was someone in the law enforcement community that was looking for her a search would send out an alert.

"And I promise, it's all hypothetical as far as I'm concerned."

"I... uh." She looked over at him, and she swallowed thickly. "I have a... worry." She said it quietly. "I... uh." She paused. "So, when I- Boston. When I left Boston." She rubs her hand along the back of her neck. "I.... I think-" Her brows furrowed, her shoulders tight with tension.

"I think they assumed- I mean, I don't know. I don't know if they looked for me, but it's- it has to have been- It's months, and-" What she's not saying, what she has to force herself to say, is-- "I think they may think I'm dead?"

Raleigh runs her hand down her face, and she rubs her arms with her hands, like she's cold even though it's hot outside.

"I don't know, and I don't know what to do."

"You should let them know as soon as possible that you're not dead," Levi said, knowing exactly what she was dancing around before she said it. If he had known that her family thought that he would have told her to talk to them immediately. Thinking that a family member was dead or missing was just... it was awful.

"Raleigh, you have to let them know."

"How?" The word just comes without her even thinking about it, and she rubs the back of her neck, turning to look at him. "It's been so long, and- I mean-"

It's the stupidest thing, what she thinks. It's the stupidest thing, and she knows it makes her a bad person. She knows it is.

She doesn't want to go back.

There's no way that she can hide how upset she is, just by those words, even if he wasn't able to read minds.

"I- Uh." She finally nods. She nods, and she's trying just to seem normal even though she's failing spectactuarly. "Could I go to jail?" She pressed her fingers to her mouth after that, like she's trying to stop a slew of words from escaping.

"Calling them would probably be a good idea," Levi pointed out. Even as much as he didn't care for his family he couldn't imagine letting them think that he was dead when he wasn't, not unless it was absolutely necessary. From what he understood, it was necessary for Raleigh to hide for a while but she could at least let her family know she wasn't dead.

"And no, you can't go to jail. You're a grown woman, you don't have to contact your family if you don't want to."

"But-" She chewed on her lip, her brows furrowing. She was so afraid, so scared that this was- this was the beginning of it falling apart. Of losing her life here. "I mean, if the police looked for me, isn't it like- it's a crime or something? For me not to say that I'm not kidnapped? I mean, I chose to leave."

Even though she hadn't, really. She hadn't had much of a choice.

"I mean-" She rubs her hand along the back of her neck.

"How do I even know? If there's- I'm too scared to even Google myself," she said quietly.

"If you had faked your death then that would be a crime. If you just disappeared though? That's not. Just because the police looked for you doesn't mean you did anything wrong. Raleigh, I guarantee you calling your family up and telling them you're alive would be the happiest resolution to this for them."

By this point they might even have given up hope, they might have just started to wish that instead of hearing her voice that her body would just be found. He can only imagine what her family must be going through but he trusts Raleigh that she had a good reason.

"I understand. I've been tempted to try and look up what might have happened to you but I haven't because one, if you wanted me to know you'd have told me and two, if there was some sort of alert on the law enforcement database for your name I wouldn't want to set it off."

Shaking her head, Raleigh's voice cracked when she asked, "How do I tell them? How do I tell them-"

Her face just sort of crumpled and she started to cry, and she shook her head. "I- I'll call them, okay? I'll-" Scrubbing at her cheeks, Raleigh forced herself to nod. "You know, I don't need to talk to you about- I'll call them."

"I just- I just need to... go-" She can't just... be calm, right now. She's tried to just calm herself down; she's tried so many times and it usually works, but this... this wasn't the same, and she shook her head. "Thanks, I just- I need to go." The thought of the pure reason that she'd stayed out here - that she'd not called already, that she has to find some way to tell her mother that she'd left, why she'd left, that she'd stayed away because her life was better here, and it was so incredibly selfish.

And the fact that she didn't want to leave, that the last thing she wanted to do was leave - that was so much worse.

Edited 2014-09-11 05:30 (UTC)

"Raleigh, if you need to go you can go, but you don't have to. We can talk about something else if you want," he told her. Her mind was a mess, everything jumbled and screaming and making his head ache but he wasn't going to ditch her now unless she really needed to be alone. Generally though she seemed to do better when Levi was around for whatever reason.

"You know I'm here for you, no matter what."

"No, I just- I don't know what to do. I don't- I don't want to leave," Her face twisted unpleasantly, and she's trying to figure out what she's doing, what she's thinking. "Levi, I- I don't know what to do, I just-" She doesn't know what to say, she doesn't know how to fix this, it's just... it's a mess. Everything's a mess, and no one can fix it, no one can make it better.

"I'm a bad person," her voice breaks as she says it. "I know that. I know that, I know that what I did was wrong, but- you don't..." She doesn't know if he'd ever understand, but she tries to explain anyway. "I have never been able to just- have a life, to do what I wanted. I was in med school, I didn't want to be a doctor. I- my leg is because I had to work, and-" She shakes her head, her voice is pitchy mess, and she's just- she's a mess.

There's so much that Levi doesn't know about her, that she hasn't told him because she's scared and ashamed of it. She hasn't even told Spencer or Joel all of it, and she lives with them, but she doesn't know what to do, now.

Edited 2014-09-13 22:13 (UTC)

"You're not a bad person," Levi said, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her in a hug. He didn't know why he did it, he didn't really think about it, but he knew when he had felt so lost and confused as a kid he had wished someone would have been there to give him a hug.

"You're not. And you're here doing what I hope makes you happy. If talking to them would ruin that then don't."

Raleigh just sort of folded into him as she cried, and she can't help the way she just- he's safe, somehow. She needs to pull herself together, to talk to him, to actually speak, but all she can do for a minute is lean on him, to let him be there for her even if it's just him hugging her in the middle of the sidewalk.

"How can I talk to them? How can I not?" She pulls back just enough to look up at him, to have someone - anyone, give her an answer. "How does it not- You know what must have happened, right? The reason I haven't googled myself? Either everyone noticed and it was a thing, on the news and in the paper and people who I didn't even know were looking for me and now they think I'm dead, or-"

Or.

Or no one noticed.

"I don't know what to do." She said it again, and she shook her head slightly. "I'm... bad. I'm bad because I didn't look, I didn't try, I just- I did what I was told and kept my head down until I got kidnapped, and since then, I've been living this- this amazing thing, and-"

She's not talking about how hard it's been. About how she had to physically recover, that she'd not mentally recovered, yet. That she's literally been tortured, that she's only now found a stable home, that she was on the cruise ship from hell and she's not even acknowledging how that's impacted her.

All she can see right now is her mother, thinking she's dead. Her mother, when she finds out that Raleigh's alive, but then what she's been doing--

The thought is honestly almost paralyzing all by itself.

"You did what you thought was right at the time," Levi said, glad to be holding her close just so that she couldn't see him wince in pain. His head was killing him, her thoughts so loud and all over the place. He needed one of his pain pills so badly but until she pulled back a bit he'd just have to put up with the pounding in his head.

"And you definitely should not feel guilty about enjoying your life, Raleigh. Not at all."

He wondered how much of it was that, that she was doing things that made her happy and she wasn't used to that. A lot of people grew up in situations where they were taught that if they weren't always trying to please other people they were a bad person.

"But you just-" She's even more confused now, because he'd just said that she should have let them know, that she should reach out to her mother. It'd been so long. So freaking long, and it got harder as time went on.

"I don't know what to do," she said after a second, and when she does pull back a little, when she looks up at him her eyes are puffy and red. "I guess- I guess I just need to think about it. Really think, and just- I guess see what happens. See what I... what I'm going to do?" Shrugging her shoulders, Raleigh rubbed her hand over her face yet again. "I guess I'll see." Her voice lowered, and she nodded - both to him, and to herself. It wouldn't be an easy choice, she knew that. But still... he wasn't wrong. She should let them know.

"You'll figure it out," he reassured her. Levi was sure that she would. The truly difficult part of it would be to actually make the phone call or write the letter or whatever it was that she decided to do. But Raleigh was good at doing difficult things, if nothing else. Levi knew that she hadn't had an easy life to far but she didn't dive up.

"In the meantime, we can do something to take your mind off of it."

(no subject)

callmeemily - 2014-09-21 18:31 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

tarnishedbadge - 2014-09-24 04:53 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only