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 Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 9:17 pm
 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxｗｅ＇ｌｌ xx ｄｒｉｖｅ xx ｕｎｔｉｌ xx ｔｈｅ xx ｃｉｔｙ xx ｌｉｇｈｔｓ
xxxxx _________ xxxxxturn into clear country skies - all for you
No matter a person's looks; no matter their background - tall, skinny, short, muscular. There is always a home for that person in the heart of another. In the gazes of a lover. In the soft touches of a partner. Each day of our lives we search for our home. Each day of our lives we return to a place where our hearts can take a deep breathe and rest. Rest for another day of searching, of longing. A home away from home.
But there are times where our tiny hearts give and can only take so much to be greeted with nothing in return. We get cast out of a home we've made for ourselves, only to find it was a resting place in our journey. Two hearts; one place. The singing of cicadas and birds greet your ears, here. The company is warm and small, but they make you appreciate all that you have. The people make you stop for a moment a wonder where they've been your entire life, here. Here is where you smile despite the adversity, despite the longing.
But somewhere along the way, you forget when - you're no longer trying to smile. Because you meet a person that can make your heart smile with you.
A city's lover and field's child will never be the same again, not after this summer. For their souls will find a home in new experiences and feelings, ones that pave a path to an unexpected home away from home.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 9:18 pm
❝ If there every comes a day where we can't be together
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - keep me in your heart.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I'll stay there ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ. ❞
Up in the morning at the crack of dawn, awoken not by an alarm clock, but the crow of a rooster. It might've just been habit, too. Jude sucked in a deep breath and pulled the thin covers away from his bare body, running a hand through his messy hair. He went into his tiny bathroom and urinated, then started the hot water. Ol' Bessy, their heater - bless her heart but she was getting slow and there wasn't anything Jude's father could do about it. After three or four minutes, the water began steaming. The farm boy took off his sterling silver cross necklace and began brushing his teeth when he stepped in, letting the hot water ease his tense muscles and tousled hair. After a lifetime of work and being busy, the man had learned to shower quickly. He took care of his business and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waist, going into the kitchen for some milk. As always, he was greeted by his old mother.
"Good morning, Jude. Are you well?" She asked. He smiled and gave her a hug, nodding. "I slept well. I'm going over to Susan's house this morning to give her the rest of that Gel pappy bought home a few nights ago. Is this alright? She was complaining of some back pains the last time I gave her some sugar and I figure it must be hard for her, all alone." Anna smiled lovingly at her son and kissed his cheek. "You're a dear. Of course. Don't forget to bring her some eggs and fresh pancakes. I'm sure she'll enjoy those." Jude hummed quietly and drank down his milk, returning to his room to get dressed in a grey flannel and blue jeans, along with his customary work boots and straw hat to shield his head from the burning sun on this hot, bright day. Lastly, he put on his cross necklace and returned to the kitchen to see his father bringing in the eggs and oranges. The two men got settled at the table as Anna worked on the food. When all was well and done, pancakes made, oranges squeezed, butter & jams brought out, they said grace and dove in.
"The food is great, ma," Jude commented as he cut into his pancakes. "Aye," His father agreed, kissing the palm of his wife's hand. The farm boy smiled at the warm gesture, swallowed his food and then asked, "How is the ointment treating y'all? Is it helping any?" "Jud, it's workin' wonders on my back. Anna feels 10 years younger." Jude grinned and nodded. "Well, alright then. The next time I see Lucy I'll tell her we'll get some more. She seemed to enjoy our apple-butter jam last time I saw 'er," Another fork of pancake was deposited into his mouth. "She's a dear. Her niece is thinking about bringing her family, that seems like fun." His mother said this absentmindedly, drinking her orange juice. "I'm sure it will be, dear. Always nice to have some company." They all smiled and conversed among themselves until the food was finished, and Jude's mother handed him a basket. "Be sure to pick Susan some fruit. She says your apples are sweeter than your smile." He smiled flushed lightly. "Now, I ain't so sure about that..."
The basket was soon filled with a mason jar of fresh apricot jelly, oranges, lemons, apples, and mint. Along with them were pancakes wrapped in aluminum foil, and a vial of light green topical ointment. Jude double inspected everything to make sure he didn't forget any produce, and set off on the moderate walk to their primary neighbor, Susan's house. He crossed a corn field and grain silo owned by the old woman's family, then rounded the front porch, rapping lightly on the door. "Mammy Susie?" Jude called. The woman inside let out a coo hearing the voice on the other side of the door. "Jud! Come in, my boy!" He opened the door to see the woman hobbling slowly around the kitchen, preparing all sorts of things.
"You look awfully busy, ma'am. You want me to come back later?" "Heaven's, no! I'm preparing for a new guest. My granddaughter is coming to stay with me for a while. It's going to be so exciting. I haven't seen my little girl in too long. She should be here soon!" The old woman looked so incredibly ecstatic, with her cheeks rosy and clothing gilded in the morning sun. Jude smiled at her, and set his basket of things on the table. He knew Susie had a granddaughter, she'd mentioned it before to him once or twice. He couldn't remember how old she was, though. By the way she spoke of them, they seemed like a child.
Coming out of his thoughts, Jude blinked in surprise to see Susan pointing to his basket of things. "What've you brought this morning, darling?" His charming smile was back. "Just the usual. It's good you're getting a guest. I brought a little more than what I normally do - you can share with her. Mom made that apricot jam you like s'much. And it's great with the flapjacks." The old woman cooed again and hugged Jude. He pat her back. "Help me put them away, darling? Or do you have things to do?"
The farm boy shook his head. "I worked late yesterday so I could have a day off. I'm all yours if ya need me, Mammy Susie." "Ooh, goody! Hm, what's this?" She pointed to the tropical cream. "Ah!" Jude nodded and opened it up, offering it up for her to smell. It was pepperminty with a hint of lemon. "Lucy's daughter makes lotions and creams, remember? Well, she just sent in a big box of these joint gels. Mom and Pop tried em', said they feel 10 years younger. You're always groanin' bout' yer back, ma'am, I thought I should bring some to you."
She hugged him again. "Phip, you are just as thoughtful as ever. Bless your heart! I heard on the telly it's going to be awfully hot today. Would you like some lemonade? We can go out on the porch and listen to ol' Johnny while my darlin' makes her way over. It'll be grand. How bout' it?"
Jude affirmed happily, helping her get some fancy glasses off of the top shelf to put the lemonade in. From there, she brought a tray of lemon squares and served them on the table next to the paint faded parlor chairs overlooking her front porch, both filled with flowers. While she sat and got comfortable, Jude reached over to her telly and flipped through the static channels, stopping when he heard Dolly Parton's voice. He paused on the radio there, knowing Susan loved Dolly Parton. Jolene played faintly in the background while Jude's company hummed quietly along, sipping at her lemonade and nibbling on a tart.
"I think you'll like 'er, Jude. She's a beauty. God bless er'." The farm boy nodded and took a gulp of his lemonade, finding it incredibly refreshing. The old woman continued. "She just turned 20. I think it'll be fine for her to get away from that hossle and tossle of the city. Darlin' don't know her own family like the back of 'er perfect meenicure hand." She mispronounced 'manicure' because she didn't know any better. She had never gotten one.
Jude smiled softly and simply said, "Now, I ain't so sure what all this meenicure business is, but I know there ain't nothing prettier n' a pair a dainty little calloused hands wet and dirty from some garden work." Susan smiled and shook her head. "Jude Phillips, you are too much. You could teach her a thing or two. Maybe she'll listen to a handsome young man rather than a gran' old mammy." He simply shook his head, absentmindedly clutching his cross necklace. "Y'ain't old, mammy. It's just like em' city folk say, yer 'finely aged.' Like em' fancy wines they drank all the time. Me, I prefer a nice beer after some work in the corn silo, but I wouldn't mind tastin' some grape juice gone bad once in a while."
The woman began to howl in laughter and slapped her leg, giggling. "Oh, my lord Jud. I think you both will get together just fine. Just try not to be too charmin'! You'll have 'er drop dead with that smile a'yours!" Jude's flush from earlier came back and he timidly took another sip of his lemonade, eating a lemon square in one bite. "Little darlin'll be here to spend time with her mammy, not me, Susie. I ain't so interesting to them city-folk. I just work with my family and pray the lord will bless us and give us strength to do well another day." His words were muttered softly, and it caused the woman to lay a gentle hand on his shoulder. She smiled kindly. "God bless ya, child. She's an honest soul. She ain't deserve lotta the things goin' in her life now, but I know 'fer sure she take any affection with open arms. It's hard for her family, just like it's hard for the lot of us here. But we's happy. That's all that matters." Jude nodded, and Conway Twitty's Hello Darlin came on the telly, making him grin. "Oh, my Lord, what a man with a voice," Susan chimed, whistling. The farm boy chuckled huskily, eyes resting on the lovely flowers in her yard.
New company...It sounded foreign to him, but just as he'd been taught, it was a gift of a new experience, which meant he needed to treasure and accept it. Gifts on the farm were rare, so when you received, you were thankful for it. He just wasn't so sure what to expect, is all. Jude never met city-folk. He heard the rumors of their high noses, fancy technology, and strange fashion. Of course, it was obvious people just were picking fun at all of them. Jude didn't take any of those words with a grain of salt, he wasn't judgmental like that. Beyond that, though, he still looked forward to meeting someone his age for once. For miles and miles, the only company he had were middle aged to elderly women and men. The occasional toddler, too. But no one in the "prime years," so to speak.
It made it incredibly lonely, and his parents knew that. His parents always hugged him and apologized for not having anyone there to truly speak to him, to hold his hand and spend some nights with. But he'd always smile and hug them back, and tell them that it was alright. That he had his family and God, and that was really all that mattered. But even he knew, along with everyone else, that it was hard, in that sense. That each Sunday, after church, when everyone gets together for bingo in the house, when Jude is left alone in his barn, he'd open up a beer and toast it to his lonesome self, and silently pray for a companion. Though, it was hard to say if "a companion" could be made out of this girl's visit. As it was simply that, a visit. He reckoned a town girl wouldn't make much out of his mannerisms in the first place, that it'd be kind of hard to get along if they were so different. But still, he held out hope. Even if it was just a cute girl to talk to once in a while, that'd be alright.
___________________________________________
How lucky I am
xxxxxxxxx to have someone
that makes saying
"「goodbye」"
so hard. xxx x
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 12:18 am
 ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Iᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇ ᴏғ ʟɪғᴇ ↘↘ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ
███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Cassidy sat on the seat of the train, one foot perched against the back of the seat in front of her, the other stretched out across the floor space below. Her earbuds were tucked snugly in her ears, blasting some new dance music her best friend Megan had tweeted about earlier that day. The brown-eyed girl had promptly downloaded the album so that she could chat about it with her friends on the less-than-riveting ride to Timbuktu. "This is it, Megan. This is where my life ends. See you in 8 years." The twenty-one year old typed out dramatically on her touch-screen phone as the large metal deathtrap she had been sitting on for what seemed like ages finally slowed to a halt. Cas looked up out of the window to see a few wooden posts and nothing but dirt and green. The girl scowled, hitting send, and then tucked her phone into the butt pocket of her shorts as she stood from her seat. She looked around, slightly hopeful that someone might come to help her with her bags, but as the train was mostly empty - other than the scattered few continuing further along on the contraption - she finally realized that this would not be the case.
Cassy looked up at the compartment above her seat with a heavy sigh. Then, standing on tiptoes, grabbed at the handle of her suitcase with her fingertips. It took a moment, but she finally scooted it forward far enough to get a good grip on the handle and tug it out to the ground with a thud. The short-haired girl promptly pressed the button on the handle that made it extend, and then turned to make her way off of the train, pulling the large case behind her.
Stepping off of the train and onto nothing but a wooden platform in the heat, the girl shielded her eyes to take in the landscape. It looked like there was nothing in the immediate area but dirt and, for a brief moment, Cassidy Jones thought that she might actually have a heart attack. Composing herself, she focused her eyes on the one thing that proved signs of life: Her aunt. The middle-aged woman was waving excitedly from a pickup truck parked just a few feet away from the platform. Cassidy faked a small smile, preparing herself mentally, and then stepped off of the wood of the "train station", and into the gravelly dirt road. She made her way towards her aunt Babs, trying desperately to pull the rolling bag - that was made for concrete and tile and wood - across the ground, only to give up and carry the thing the rest of the way to the car. This was already a rough start.
"CASSY!" Her aunt chimed excitedly as the younger girl reached the vehicle. The woman took the luggage and tossed it into the back of the truck, earning a small flinch from her chocolate-haired niece. Her whole life was in that bag, and it was just being thrown around all willy-nilly. Rather than comment on it, The younger girl opened her arms to receive the hug that was clearly going to be bestowed upon her whether she wanted it or not. "Aunt Babs... Nice to see you.. It's been.. A while." The girl replied, trying to be polite to her aunt. Though rather than a genuine kindness, it more resembled the way a barista in a coffee shop asks you how your day is before taking your order. The excited woman didn't seem to notice, however, and just nodded with a light chuckle as she opened Cassy's door before going to climb up into the driver's seat.
Cas did as she was sure was expected, and yanked herself up into the high off the ground pickup, slamming the door shut behind her. It seemed as though it might fall off, and the girl felt like she was sitting on as much dirt as there must have been covering the ground outside. Making a face, she pulled her phone back out of her pocket, sliding open the lock screen. Her scowl deepened. Out of range. Tap to resend. Said the error message below the final cry for help she had sent to Megan. Cas tapped the message. The circle spun for a moment, as the phone tried to process, only to come back with the same response. She sighed and dropped her hands into her lap as the engine roared to life and Aunt Babs started off down the dirt road, passing what seemed to be endless fields and chattering mindlessly.
Cassidy stared out the open window of the pickup, the warm air in her face as they passed a whole lot of nothing. At least the weather was nice. She nodded as her aunt chatted on, placing the "mhm's" where she thought they should be.
After a ride that seemed as long as the trip from the city to the platform, a house finally came into view. It looked quaint, but there was a large porch and fields surrounding the building. In the distance was a tower-like structure that Cas couldn't quite place the name of. As minimal as it was, the girl perked up slightly at the sight of civilization. "Well, here we are." Her aunt stated proudly, pulling up in front of the house. On the porch sat two figures in chairs, sipping lemonade like they do in the movies. She found herself oddly fascinated at the accuracy of that detail. Her aunt came around and pulled the suitcase back out of the truck, placing it on the ground and turning to head towards the porch. "Hey, Jud! 'M back, Ma!" Aunt Barbara called out, not bothering to wait until she reached where the two were actually sitting.
Cassidy stood in her place a few moments longer, looking around at the corn fields that seemed to stretch around them. Was this really it? She was expecting to see more... houses. And people in general, for that matter. Taking another quick glance at her phone just to be sure the signal hadn't returned, the girl took hold of her luggage and hoisted it off the ground, following Babs reluctantly to the porch where the lemonade-drinkers sat. Music that she didn't recognize made itself known as she approached, and Cas raised an eyebrow at it, setting the large bag back down on the steps as her aunt beckoned her closer.
She hadn't really taken the time to look at the people seated on the porch before now, but as her aunt placed an arm across her shoulder and gestured around happily, the city-dweller finally graced them both with her gaze. Her grandmother sat closest to them, eyes lighting up at their arrival. It was hard not to smile back at the wrinkled old woman, though Cassy could barely remember the last time she had seen Grandma Susie. On the other side of the table sat a male that had to be about her age, wearing a grey flannel and a straw hat. She scrunched up her nose, studying him. People actually wore those things? The girl made a mental note to tell Megan about it the second she regained cellphone service. She didn't pay too much more attention than that, for the time being, as she was quickly distracted by Aunt Babs whisking her luggage away off the porch and in through the front door, with an "I'll be back".
This left Cassidy to stand awkwardly on the porch with a grandmother she barely knew, and a straw-hatted boy she had never met. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her long sweater, tapping the toes of her shoes together and trying to come up with something to say to the two of them. She drew a blank. "Hey, Grandma Susie." She finally muttered, giving the old woman half smile.
ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛᴏᴘ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ɪᴛ
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:08 am
❝ If there every comes a day where we can't be together
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - keep me in your heart.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I'll stay there ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ. ❞
Jude was too busy listening to the music and tracing his eyes along the scenery to notice a car pull into the driveway. The noise is what garnered his attention. Also, Susan's squeal. "Baby girl!" She shouted, grabbing her cane and practically running down the porch steps to give her a gushing hug. Barbara chuckled from the car and was pulling out, but stopped in surprise seeing a familiar man. "Jud Phipps? Is that you, boy?" The farm boy offered an awkward wave, stepping down and into the yard. "Good Heavens! Look at the arms on ya! What've you been drankin' these past years? You're even more handsome than your pappy! C'mere so's I can get a good lookit yer' face."
Jude chuckled and shrugged, approaching and recognizing this woman now. Barbara was Susan's bingo buddy. He remembered because they'd make him handle all the chips and count them when he was seven. Then, Barbara had to take over the General Store outback, and Susie would only talk to her occasionally. She also visited the city often to see her family They were still extremely close, though, it seemed. "How you been, aunt Babs?"
"I been pretty good, reckon I'd be better if I had a little of what yer' havin'." She whistled and raised an eyebrow, looking over at Susan. "You keep a leash on that boy, Susie." Both women laughed but Jude only flushed and shook his head. "How yer' parents been? Anna still doin' alright?" "God willing, yes ma'am." Jude answered very politely, nodding his head proudly. She smiled and stuck out her hand, rubbing his smooth olive cheek with her calloused hands. "I'm happy for y'all. Come down to Lee's once in a while. I wanna see that purty face s'more. Long wit yer' new friend Cassy here, too. Treat her well now, y'hear? I still got my leather belt, I ain't fraid' to use it, no sir not even on a warhorse like 'yerself."
He only pat her head in response, biting back a blush. "Yes'um." Luckily, Susan saved him from his embarrassment.
"Don't you be like that, Barb. A grizzy teddy bear's all he is - just like his diddy. Smiles like his mama. You seen it, 'member?" "Yeah, yeah. " Jude watched her until she disappeared into the house, turning to the two women next to the mailbox giggling and conversing.
"Cassy my darlin', how are you? I remember yer' tiny little face when you were just a cute bundle in yer' pappy's arms...You've grown so much! How was your schoolin'? You know your maths?" She hugged her tight. "Do you like lemon squares, hun? I've got em' served with some juice if yer' hungry." It was then the old woman noticed Jude still standing on the porch rather awkwardly.. "Oh, my goodness. Jude, git over here and introduce yerself! Were you raised in a barn? Where are your manners, boy!"
He grinned and pat the woman on the back, approaching Cassy and holding out a firm hand for her. "Howdy, it's nice to meet you. My name is Jude, I live right across the street." There wasn't really "street." More of a corn field. The woman clicked her teeth and gave his muscly arms a light slap.
Susan wrapped her arm around Cassy's while leading her inside, blabbing on and on. "Oooh, I wish yer grandpappy was here to see you. Bless his heart yer' grandpappy would've been so happy. I brought out the baby pictures for you to see, it's gon' be so excitin'!" Now the woman left the girl to hobble around with her cane to go into the house, trying to find said pictures.
Jude watched her go, smiling. He followed Cassy inside. "Never seen 'er so peppy fore'...I reckon 'yer one special girly, Cass." The charming smile was back, but then Jude realized something and corrected himself. "Oh, pardon me, if yer' okay with me's calling you Cass? I don't wanna be disrespectful or nuthin'."
Aunt Barbara emerged from a room with empty hands, having left Cassy's things in her room. She stood next to Jude and gave him a good once-over, looking back at her niece. "Cass, I reckon you and Jud are the youngest people round these parts for miles. You get along now, y'hear? I ain't want no fuss between y'all. Cass, you specially. Ain't no cell service or internets ." Jude looked down at Cassy, taking in her height a subtle features. She had very expressive eyes, but her temperament seemed a little off. It didn't seem like she was shy at all, moreso uncomfortable to be there. He would've been in the same situation if he had been shipped off to the city.
Susan came bag with a giant picture book and thick rimmed glasses, her cheeks rosy from happiness. "I've got yer baby photos! Lookit this one with yer pappy holding you after your baptism! Oooh, you were the cutest little thang!" Jude looked over Cass's shoulder at the pictures, smiling to himself. Barbara suddenly spoke up about something suddenly. "Oh, that's right, Jud! Susan and I will be up at the crack a'dawn tomorra for church. Cass is used to sleepin' in, could you be a dear and bring her breakfast."
The bright eyed boy gave a big nod and smile. "Of course, Auntie. I ain't mind helping her get the ropes and things. She can come over to the orchard and pick 'er own fruits, too, if she'd like." Jude looked down at Cassy for confirmation. "Plantin' and harvestin' season is comin' soon, too. Ain't nothing better than fresh blackberries and strawberries with some sugar and cream. My mammy makes the best berry pie out of em', too. After church I could show you round and we's can work on bakin' one, if you's okay with that."
___________________________________________
How lucky I am
xxxxxxxxx to have someone
that makes saying
"「goodbye」"
so hard. xxx x
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 4:27 pm
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Iᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇ ᴏғ ʟɪғᴇ ↘↘ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ
███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Cassy practically jumped out of her skin at her grandmother's squeal of joy. She hadn't been expecting such a loud voice from such an old woman. She thought of old people as fragile and stuffy. This woman seemed quite the opposite as she threw herself down the steps to where her granddaughter stood, wincing as the old woman squeezed her so tight she thought she might burst. Had her grandmother always been like this? The last time she had seen her, the girl had been too young to remember much more than that her grandparents had visited.
Almost as suddenly as Grandma Susie had bounded down the steps, Aunt Babs was gushing over the boy that was still seated at the porch table. The one that wore the straw-hat. Straw-hat boy waved, almost shyly, and stepped forward to where Barbara stood by the luggage. He seemed sort of awkward, but also oddly comfortable among Cassidy's middle-aged aunt and glowing grandmother. The girl assumed that he must know them fairly well. He spoke politely in response to Barbara's pestering, and Cas caught the drawl that matched that of her relatives.
Grandma Susie finally released the much smaller girl from her bear hug as Aunt Babs whistled and told her to keep a leash on straw-hat boy. The two laughed loudly, and Cassy winced slightly again at the noise. She didn't think she had heard this much mindless banter since grade-school. The brown-eyed girl crossed her arms and frowned as her aunt continued to quiz the male. She felt so out of place among these people that she didn't even feel she could join in with their chatter, despite the fact that they were her own family. Catching her name being mentioned, Cassidy snapped out of her frustrated thoughts and glared at her aunt. Friends? She didn't plan on making any "friends" here. Her personal agenda was to find a place with some WiFi and camp out there for the majority of her stay. Or sit in her room with her music. Definitely not making friends. She had as many of those as she wanted back home.
Her grandmother saved her the trouble of having to intervene with her aunt's shenanigans, however, stopping the conversation long enough for Aunt Babs to disappear into the house. Then, she turned the firing squad onto Cassy herself, rattling off questions one after the other and barely giving the girl time to gather her thoughts. The brown-eyed girl furrowed her brow, trying to keep up with the questions. "I'm good." She tried to say, before her grandmother was on to how much she'd grown. How had school been? Miserable. She thought, before speaking aloud. "I suppose I did alright in math. Better in English, though-" She admitted to the woman, the end of her sentence being muffled slightly as she was tugged into another large squeeze. "I've never tried them..." She then tried to say, responding to the question about lemon squares, but being overridden by Grandma Susie's loud voice haggling the awkward male once more. Born in a barn? I reckon you all were... Cassy thought to herself in a mock southern accent. They were nice enough, but they were all so rowdy compared to the peace and quiet of her own house. Then again, it was hard for anyone to make noise when no one was ever there.
Straw-hat boy approached at the new round of hassling, grinning and giving the old woman a pat on the back. After that, he turned his attention to Cassy and held out a hand, offering up an introduction. The girl stared at it for a brief moment, trying to decide whether or not she thought the male was covered in the same amount of dirt as the ground around them. Finally, knowing she had made too long of a pause, she took his hand awkwardly and shook it. "Cassidy... Nice to meet you... Jude." She replied as politely as she could manage, unable to help thinking of The Beatles song as soon as he mentioned his name. She then glanced behind her as he stated that he lived across the street. All she could see were fields. Clearly "across the street" meant something completely different in the countryside.
She released the boy's hand as her grandmother's arm wrapped firmly around her shoulders, leading her into the house with purpose as she chatted on about how exciting the visit was. Well, that makes one of us... Cassy thought, unable to say that she shared her grandmother's enthusiasm about this stay in the middle of nowhere. She nodded with a slight look of disapproval as Grandma Susie announced that she was bringing out baby pictures. The girl rolled her eyes as soon as the woman had disappeared around the corner to search, before turning to glance at Jude again, who had apparently followed them into the house. Was he planning on sticking around for this portion of events? She couldn't help but feel a sense of dread at that idea. The male stopped beside her and spoke, calling her Cass. It caught her off guard, but she waved it off as if it were no big deal. "Call me whatever you'd like." She replied nonchalantly, stuffing her hands back into her sweater pockets. She looked in the direction that her grandmother had gone off in, though, thinking about what he said. Was she really more excited than usual, or was the straw-hatted boy simply saying that to try and make her feel better?
Cassidy returned her gaze to him just in time to catch his smile. She didn't think she had ever seen a smile so genuine in her whole life, either. Taking her first real, good look at the face underneath the shadow of the hat, Cassy realized that her Aunt had not been exaggerating about his looks. It made her feel a bit self-conscious, as no one had fawned over her own appearance when she arrived. The girl looked down at her feet as Aunt Barbara decided to return from the depths of the farmhouse, focusing her attention on Jude again. Cass pulled her phone back out of her pocket again, trying once more to connect to anything possible as her aunt told them to try and get along. Almost as if she were reading her niece's mind, she directed the next line at the twenty-one-year-old. No cell phone or internet? You've got to be joking. "Are you serious??" Cassy exclaimed, just as the error message reappeared on the screen before her. At that moment, she decided to make it her sole purpose to find some area of land that allowed for satellite access. Even if she had to climb a tree to get it. The girl shoved her phone back into her pocket for the third time, clearly much more frustrated now.
As if to save the room from a meltdown, Susan reappeared, carrying a large book in her arms. Without even bothering to sit down somewhere, she came up beside Cassy and flipped it open, pointing things out in each photo. The girl scrunched up her nose again. "I was baptized?" She asked, almost sounding surprised. She hadn't taken her parents for the religious type, but then again, they never spoke much about life when she had first been born. Cassy didn't remember ever attending church in her life, but she supposed they could have done more of those things before they had their high-paying office jobs. Now that she thought of it, she thought there was a cross hanging in the doorway of their house. She had just never given it much attention. Cassidy glanced back slightly, becoming unnervingly aware that Jude was peeking over her shoulder at the photos. However, before she could comment on it, Barbara took his attention away once more.
Cassy was about to protest, saying that she didn't need anyone to bring her breakfast -- she was sure she could handle cooking an egg or pouring a bowl of cereal -- but the look on Jude's face stopped her. He seemed more than happy to accept the task, much to the brown-eyed girl's surprise. She couldn't help but wonder why he would have any desire to come all this way if he didn't have to, but she supposed that just because she wasn't too close to her relatives it didn't mean that other people weren't. Her look turned into a frown again as he continued on, however. Picking her own fruits? They didn't think they were going to turn her into some kind of farmer, now, did they? Why pick them herself when she could just go buy a bag from the store?
Furthering her discontent, Jude went on even further to suggest making a pie. Although she couldn't say she would refuse to eat it, she never did much cooking at home. "Er... I can't say I'm much of a baker..." She said, her eyes flicking back towards the floor again. Not that she even wanted to bake, but everyone around her looked ecstatic at the idea, and so she added to the end of her statement, trying her best not to be rude. "But I can give it a shot, if you want me to..." She was still rather quiet about her words, aside from her outburst at the lack of internet access. She by no means felt comfortable with these people, yet, but she supposed it couldn't hurt to see what else was around her grandmother's house. Who knows, maybe Jude's place has better cell service... She couldn't help but think to herself. She looked up at the male again, this time with a bit of curiosity. She couldn't understand how someone her own age could seem so content with this place. Didn't he ever get bored?
ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛᴏᴘ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ɪᴛ Quote: OOC: She'll get more talkative as things move on, I promise xD Also, sorry this is so long haha
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:45 pm
❝ If there every comes a day where we can't be together
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - keep me in your heart.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I'll stay there ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ. ❞
"JUD!" A voice howled from the distance, causing Jude to look over towards it in surprise. Meanwhile, the two ladies were still fawning over Cassy. "Yes ma'am, you were baptized. Ain't nobody here in this town not baptized, not one of em'! Almost all of em' done by pastor Jonah. I reckon you'll get to meet em' tomorra hat church." Grandma Susie looked extremely proud to be able to say this, as if she thought it was more special than diversity in a town where other Christians were not in fact baptized. They were pretty catholic over here, so anything less should've been more surprising to Cassy. It just went to show how much she didn't know about her own family.
After replying to Cassidy's comment about baptism, the older woman turned in Jude's direction and slapped him on the arm. "Jude! That your momma? You heard what Cassy had to say?" The farm boy nodded absentmindedly and turned to look down at his new friend, smiling that charming smile of his. "I'm sorry. Mam's callin' me back. Probably to help with lunch. Anyway, I think it's just fine if you ain't much of a baker. There's plenty of other things we can do. But I wouldn't wanna tear you way from yer' family. Speaking a which..." He tipped his hat and gave the two older women pats on the shoulders, turning to head down the porch steps. "You know how momma gets if I ain't there to help her. She'll send Blue after me if I don't go quick." Aunt Barbara smiled brilliantly at Jude, approaching Cassy's side. "You go on, Jud. Y'all can talk tomorra." They both began waving him off and Jude did the same, though almost particularly more pointed towards Cassidy.
He began about the one and a half mile walk through corn fields back to his house, and about halfway there, their dog came charging at him with enough speed and force to put a professional football quarterback to shame. Jude grinned and gladly accepted kisses and hugs from his dog, jogging his way back as an apology for loosing track of time. When the country boy arrived at the house, he took his hat off and hanged it near the door, giving his hard-working mother a hug from behind the stove. "Hey momma. I'm sorry I'm late." Anna looked back at her tall son and smiled, bopping him on the nose with a wooden spoon. "Ain't no thang, sweetheart. Your pappy is out helpin' pick supper. Could ya lend him a hand? Also, you need to pick out your church fittins."
"Yes, momma." Was all Jude replied as he retrieved his hat once more and left the house, trudging back to their expansive crop fields. He spotted his father painstakingly plowing and picking out an assortment of vegetables. They worked together for a good while, stopping when Anna called for lunch. When it was time, they went in and sat down at the table, said grace, and dug in. Small-talk consisted of what they would do tomorrow at Bingo after church, the new arrival, and what sort of work needed to be done before next month. After everyone finished, Jude's mother cleaned the table and sweeped the floors, Jude washed the dishes, and Jude's father dried them. The couple went into the living room and turned on the radio. Jude's mother began crocheting while his father brought out a shaven wooden block and began to whittle. They listened to their music with an occasional broadcast from the people who ran the radio station, which the family just happened to also know and comment on. Jude checked on his family after finishing up in the fields, then headed to his barn to feed the horses and let them along with the rest of the animals out to graze.
After watering the plants and doing a check-up on the tractors and other machinery, the country boy checked the time to see it was almost supper. He called the animals back in, helped his father with one last crop check, and they repeated the ritual again. Only this time, his parents went up to their rooms where they would read until they fell asleep, and Jude went into his room to set his alarm, pick his clothing, and think about what he would do the next day. By the time all of that had been done, it was late and he was feeling tired. Into bed he went. It seemed like the minute Jude closed his eyes, his alarm clock began to ring.
With a groan and grumble, he sprang up and turned off the alarm, walking robotically to the shower, standing there awkwardly for 10 minutes while the water heated up. He stepped in and quickly did his business, putting on his church clothing and cross necklace. This consisted of brushing his hair back nicely, a light blue collared plaid shirt with clear buttons, brown belt, khaki pants, and brown dress shoes. His cross necklace was put on with a leather watch. Downstairs, his mother hand prepared a nice breakfast basket for the neighbors next door, along with leaving some for Jude. The country boy happily ate it up, brushed his teeth, and called his dog to come along on the walk to Cassy's. By now, all the adults were at church conversing among themselves, setting up for bingo, inviting people to brunches, evening greets, and other things of that sort. He and Cassy would likely be the last ones to arrive, along with the town pastor who was a very, very busy man.
Donning no hat but a very kind smile and gentlemanly attire, Jude climbed the porch steps and placed the breakfast basket on a chair, rapping on the door. "Uh, Cas? It's Jude. I brought some fixins' if yer hungry. We's still got some time fore church so you's can take yer time if ya need it!" He said this just loud enough for her to hear within the small house, and looked over at the basket. Within it was a mason jar of freshly squeezed orange juice, milk, steaming biscuits, hot blueberry muffins, fresh fruit, bacon, jam, and butter. Almost customary breakfast every day at his house, and they made sure to cook extra for the people who often came by in the morning, or to give away to those who were too busy to cook up their own.
___________________________________________
How lucky I am
xxxxxxxxx to have someone
that makes saying
"「goodbye」"
so hard. xxx x
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Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 1:03 am
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Iᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇ ᴏғ ʟɪғᴇ ↘↘ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ
███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Cassy tried to keep up as her grandmother and aunt continued to fuss over the pictures and explain that of course she had been baptized, as though it would be totally preposterous for her not to have been -- which apparently was the case in this town. She furrowed her brow a bit as they talked about taking her to church with them to meet the pastor. She was going to protest about going, as her parents had never made her do anything of the sort, but she was unable to even get a word in between all of the fussing. Suddenly, the old woman turned and slapped Jude on the arm, startling Cassy slightly and causing her to jump a bit, yelling at him to go back to his mother, who the brunette had completely missed shouting to the boy in the midst of the photo explanation.
Jude smiled down at her, and she tried to focus on his words again now, just barely keeping up with the events taking place around her. Despite the quieter outsides of this place, the insides seemed much more chaotic than her home life. Like what?? The city girl thought, rather crudely in her head when the farm boy said that they could do something other than bake if she'd like. It didn't exactly seem like an area conducive to people their age. Cassy tucked some hair behind her ear and glanced back at the pair of older women behind her when he stated that he wouldn't want to take her away from her family. Rather than risk saying anything rude, or unnecessary, Cas simply nodded at the male as he tipped his hat to her politely before going to bid the older women farewell for the day.
Aunt Babs came up beside Cassidy to tell Jude goodbye, waving the boy off, and Jude waved back, though the city girl thought that the goodbye seemed directed more towards herself than to two older women. Just in case she was right, she gave an awkward wave back, not wanting to be rude. "See you tomorrow, I guess." She mumbled under her breath, glancing up at the roof of the porch from the doorway thoughtfully.
The rest of the day was spent eating food that her grandmother and aunt were tossing at her left and right, and pouring over what seemed to Cassy to be trillion photos -- most of which she had never seen, and didn't even know about. She hadn't realized that her own parents had grown up in this town as well. Perhaps that was why they always seemed so eager to get out and travel... She could see how growing up in a place like this could do that to someone.
Finally, after supper had been finished and the dishes washed -- Cassy helping where she could, but mostly just listening to the chatter of her older relatives -- Babs and Susie went off to bed, showing the younger girl to her room first. "Hope you'll like it alright." Aunt Babs said from the doorway before saying goodnight. Although Grandma Susie had already said goodnight as well, the woman still called one more from down the hall before she seemed satisfied. Barbara gave a beaming smile before heading off to her own room and leaving the exhausted Cassy to her own devices.
The city girl felt overwhelmed and slightly frustrated as she nudged her suitcase to the side with her foot and collapsed onto the bed in front of her. She didn't feel that she could be frustrated with the people at all, as they had been nothing but kind and welcoming to her. However, despite all of their efforts, this wasn't exactly Cassy's cup of tea as far as lifestyles went. As if to prove her own point, justifying her thoughts, the brunette finally pulled her phone from her pocket again and stared at the bars in the corner that showed her lack of signal. She wasn't sure she could make it a second day without a text from Megan making a single tweet. Making a grumbling sound into her pillow, Cas tossed her phone across the bed with an unsatisfying thud. She laid there a moment longer before rising once again and going to her suitcase. She pulled out a pair of pajama shorts and t-shirt to sleep in, and then dug around for her toiletries. Once she found them, she changed into her sleepwear and hunted down the bathroom -- which was just diagonal to her own room -- to brush her teeth before bed. Once this was done, she returned to the room, leaving her things by the sink, and collapsed again onto the bed. This time, however, she fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Cassidy Jones woke up in a confused daze, with the sun streaming into her face from the window. For a moment, she completely forgot where she was, and so the knock at the door startled her. What time was it? Her phone had fallen off of the bed and onto the floor at some point in the night, and she was too asleep still to try and look for it. Hearing the male voice calling from somewhere outside helped everything to click back into place, and realizing that she had forgotten to set an alarm, Cassy hurried to pull herself out of the bed and sort through her luggage for a sweatshirt. She pulled it on clumsily and then stumbled out to the front entrance to answer the door so that the farm boy wouldn't have to wait outside for her. He had said there was plenty of time for her to get ready, but Cassidy just wanted to crawl back into bed. It was far too early in the morning for her.
Taking a deep breath, the barefooted, pajama clad girl clicked open the lock and twisted the door handle, letting it swing open. She stepped to the side and gestured sleepily for Jude to come in, if he wanted. "What time is it?" She asked, rather than giving the customary "good morning" and sounding rather grouchy. She still had not checked her phone clock before coming out of her room. It had to be early enough that she would cringe at the response, she was sure. Having let the male inside, she then made her way into the kitchen for a glass of water, hoping it would make her feel less groggy. "What did you bring?" She asked about the food, a bit more curiously now as she searched through the cupboards of her grandmother's kitchen for a drinking glass. She frowned into each cupboard. First were plates, then some pans. The next held spices and other cooking ingredients like flour and oil. Finally, she opened the one containing the glasses and picked one at random, standing on tip-toes to reach it. Cassy filled it full with water from the sink, studying the liquid for a moment as though it might be contaminated before taking a few gulps.
After this had been done, she looked back towards Jude, who she had assumed would follow, given the go-ahead to come inside -- not to mention that he seemed even more comfortable in her relatives' home than she did. In her state of having just woken up when she opened the door, she hadn't noticed how nicely he was dressed. In addition, the straw hat had been left behind this time, so Cassy could see his face better. His hair was brown, and rather fluffy looking, though combed back nicely. The city girl studied him silently for a moment before speaking. "You people really take church seriously, down here, don't you?" Was the first real thing to come out of her mouth. Not "You look nice" or a friendly "how's your morning going". She regretted it almost instantly, not meaning to be rude. Of course she didn't mean to say that it was a bad thing, she just hadn't expected all of the dressing up and going out early. It was too late now, though. Her mouth was already getting the best of her, and she had only been here a day. The short-haired girl took another few awkward gulps of her water before turning to place the glass in the sink behind her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that." She added after a moment, rubbing her eye sleepily and looking down at the ground. She wasn't sure what else to say to a young man from such a different culture than her own. She doubted they had much in common, and she was still too sleepy to say something intelligent, so rather than dig her grave further, she moved to peek into the basket he had brought, still waiting for him to explain what all was in it.
ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛᴏᴘ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ɪᴛ
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Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2016 4:43 pm
❝ If there every comes a day where we can't be together
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - keep me in your heart.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I'll stay there ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ. ❞
Cassy's appearance at the door wasn't anything out of the ordinary, save for her outfit. Jude glanced at her pajama shorts, then up to the sweatshirt that loosely wrapped around her tiny frame. He flushed and looked straight ahead into the home. She wasn't decent, it really wasn't okay for Jude to look too long at her while still in pajamas. When Cas gestured for him to come in, he thanked her politely and grabbed the basket, heading into the kitchen to place the food on top of the table. He stood there rather awkwardly, staring down at his feet. She obviously just woke up. Jude felt bad.
He would not blame her for still being sleepy. It was difficult to get accustomed to getting up early like this. The change from sleeping in and getting out of bed whenever you wanted to hopping up early to shower and work in the fields would take some getting used to. Jude had not experienced the former. Out of habit and simply culture, he loved the latter. To him, there was nothing better than seeing the sun rise along with the birds. Their morning songs were perfect for starting out the day. Plus, there was an added bonus of eating muffins straight out of the oven, and fruit hand-picked from the plants. Staying in for a few more minutes couldn't ever top that. "It's seven. Service starts at nine. The walk takes about thirty minutes." As the country boy spoke, he uncovered the basket, expecting to look up towards her face once more and tell her what was in it, but she had disappeared.
Jude blinked in surprise and turned around, smiling in relief as she was just behind him drinking from the tap. After the glass was filled and water ingested, she asked him an interesting question. It was pretty much the first interaction they had this morning, and though it startled him, he didn't take it badly at all. In fact, Cassy's reaction to asking it worried him. Did she think she came off as rude? That wouldn't do at all. "You ain't gotta worry about comin' off as rude or nothin', I don't mind. I'd have a ton of straightforward questions if I were stuck in the city. It's really alright. I ain't s'sure how worship works in the city, but we's pretty religious round here for good reason." Jude paused his speaking to look outside of the window above the stove in the kitchen, past the corn silo into fields of green.
It was just like he'd said before. Jude did his best to work with his family so they could provide for each other, and he prayed each day for the lord to give his loved ones strength to go on another day. Days were long and none of it was easy. Sweat, blood, lack of sleep, frustration, and plenty of loneliness were common experiences for him in his home. It all was part of it, especially being his age. There weren't any women to hold his hand, give him a kiss, provide any of the type of comfort a normal boy his age would experience on occasion. There weren't any bros to talk to and make up nonsenese with. He had his family, and on the farm, it didn't end in blood. The youngest person he knew here was 3 years old. From then on, there were 7, 8, and 9 year olds. The jump was then made to him, middle aged people, and the elderly, which made up most of the population there. There was a natural correlation between old people and religion, which was just one contribution to why church was rather pertinent. There was also the factor of culture. He grew up going to church. That wasn't going to change halfway through his life.
"We get up real early everyday, get straight to work, sleep late, and start the cycle all over again. We's can't just call in and say we don't feel too well and need to take a day or two off. Farmin' is needy and heavy work. Ain't no one there to take your place, either. We all have our own responsibilities. Everyone here's got great family and support. I think most of the time, just about for everyone, that's enough to keep us smilin'. God inspires us to work another day. We do it for ourselves and for the people we value most. But when them's not enough...it's just...it's really nice to feel like there's somethin' bigger outta your control. Someone watchin' over you who understands yer strife."
Jude pressed his lips together and clutched his cross necklace. "You work for what you have. Ain't very many gifts given 'round here. So we show our appreciation the best way we can. For the lord, someone who walks beside us, gives us fortitude to go on past hardship - we show our appreciation through daily prayer and worship. That includes church. It ain't just sittin' in a pew and wishin' you were back in bed. I go to see the people who give me a reason to smile everyday, and I do it for the lord who provides the strength to take those steps in the first place."
He released the necklace and looked back at Cassy, vibrant and content. "I also think church sometimes gets a bad wrap from folks. We do it a little different 'round here, mostly because everyone is just so friendly. Don't worry too much about it. I'm confident you'll enjoy it, and even if you ain't, you always got my ear to complain in, I don't mind, haha." He shrugged without a care in the world, watching happily as Cassy approached the basket. "We was also not too sure if you had one of thems allergies with nuts, so mammy opted for blueberry muffins instead of banana-nut. Anyway, we also got some butter biscuits with jam, plenty of fruit, orange juice and milk, and bacon. I got some fresh eggs this mornin' from the coop and washed em' off 'case you wanted to cook em', too. Sides that, I do take requests. Most of that fruit is what was closest in the orchard to pick. There's some others I could get'cha if yer cravin' it..." Jude shuffled almost uncomfortably in embarrassment, not sure what else to say. "Uh..A-Also, after um, after service everyone gets together to play bingo or do some brunch. I usually just go back to my barn and take care of the animals...If you'd like, you can join?" His invitation was extended rather awkwardly, but that smile of his just seemed to whisk any nervousness away.
___________________________________________
How lucky I am
xxxxxxxxx to have someone
that makes saying
"「goodbye」"
so hard. xxx x
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Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 2:51 am
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Iᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇ ᴏғ ʟɪғᴇ ↘↘ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ
███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Cassy hadn't thought anything of her appearance upon waking up, other than to throw on a sweatshirt, and didn't even notice that Jude seemed a bit off-put by the small girl still being in her pajamas. Where she lived, half the time people went out to the grocery stores and to school in their pajamas. It wasn't even close to uncommon for one to simply answer the door in them.
Cassy yawned as Jude spoke, stating that it was seven, and that she had about an hour and a half to do whatever she needed to do. The female looked startled for a moment. "It's only seven??" She exclaimed, sounding as though she had been completely woken up by pure disbelief. Eight or nine were considered early, by her standards. Seven was completely unheard of. The city girl groaned as though she were in physical pain at the thought, and rubbed her face, trying to come to terms with it, but wanting nothing more than to crawl back into bed for a few more hours. Or even the entire day. The events of the day before had already exhausted her enough for a lifetime. Should she fake feeling ill so that she could go back to sleep? Though, Jude had already come all this way to get her... The male spoke again, snapping her out of her thoughts. She found it ironic that he was telling her not worry about coming off as rude, just as she was debating whether or not to be incredibly rude and blow everyone off for some extra sleep. With that, she decided to push the idea out of her mind. After all, she was already up.
Cas pulled out one of the chairs and sat down at the table as Jude continued on, explaining why church was so important to them. Ordinarily, she might be inclined to tune out a discussion like this, finding it rather boring -- especially when she was still half asleep. Instead, she found herself listening quite intently to what the farm boy had to say. She supposed it was in an attempt to understand him a bit better, seeing as he was the only other person close to her age around here. She thought about what he was saying, thinking back to how comfortable he seemed around her aunt and grandmother. She remembered thinking that the three of them acted more like family than Cassidy and her own family did. Was that how this entire town was with each other? You work for what you have. That statement really hit Cassy as she sat there at the kitchen table. She had never worked a day in her life. Not even a chore in the house. She knew how to do so little in the real world that it was a wonder she had even survived all of her parents long trips.
Cas looked down at the table, feeling a bit foolish next to this farm boy. Compared to him, she felt like a real piece of work. All she ever did was complain and judge. If something went wrong, it ruined her day, rather than her trying to "look on the bright side" or content herself with praying for the next day to be better. As if he completely understood that this was the kind of person she was, Jude stated with a chuckle that he didn't mind lending her an ear to complain in, if she really had a problem with the church service. Cassy turned slightly pink, feeling a bit embarrassed. Of course, she knew he meant it well, and could even have been joking, but the chocolate-haired girl knew that likely, that's just what she would have done, and it made her feel just a little bit ashamed of herself. She tried to cover this up with a small smile in response, but she sunk just a bit lower into her chair.
She was terribly grateful for the change of topic back to the food on the table, after having thoroughly put herself down, and reached out to take one of the blueberry muffins he pointed out as he continued to go through the contents of the basket. "Banana nut would have been just fine." She assured Jude with a smile. "Though I appreciate the thought." She added, before biting into the muffin. It was soft, and tasted very fresh, and Cassy suddenly realized that she had never eaten a homemade blueberry muffin in her life. As she had stated earlier, she had never been much of a baker, and neither were her parents. She finished off the muffin much more quickly than she had meant to, and was surprised with herself. Looking into the basket again, Cas reached in and pulled out an apple this time, biting into it as Jude shuffled awkwardly in front of her, having finished his explanation of the breakfast options. The city girl knew that she wouldn't eat too much, as her stomach filled quickly, but she was sure her aunt and grandmother would be perfectly happy to eat whatever she didn't.
As she swallowed the bite of apple, Jude began to speak again, sounding much like he had no idea how to ask someone his age to come and hang out with him. Cassy couldn't help but give him an amused smile in return -- the first of the trip that seemed even a little bit genuine -- and nod. "Why not? I'm sure that would be more exciting than sticking around for bingo." She admitted, though a barn sounded quite dirty in comparison. However, spending time with someone her own age seemed more appealing than bingo with the old folks for who knew how long. Cassy finished off the apple, and then stood from the chair, going to toss the core into the trash can before turning back to Jude. "I suppose I should probably get ready to go, huh?" She sighed, knowing that her own morning routine was not necessarily a quick one. "From how you were around here yesterday, I assume you'll have no problem making yourself comfortable for the time being?" She said, giving him another small smile. He seemed to know his way around the house, at least, and even if he chose not to get comfortable while she was down the hall, at least she had played the part of the decent host for a few minutes. "I'll be back out in a few." She said, before disappearing back to her bedroom.
Having only just woken up with Jude's knocking, Cassy had yet to shower and change and put her makeup on. She dug through her luggage for something decent -- if everyone else was dressing nice, she figured that she probably should too -- and found a sun dress buried in the bottom. She pulled it out and crossed the hall once more to the bathroom. She went through her usual routine, finding a towel neatly placed on the rack for her already, and then dried and dressed. She did her makeup as quickly as she could allow herself to go without messing it up, and then looked herself over in the bathroom mirror with one final nod. The dress she had packed was an off-white, with little blue flowers printed on it. It tied around the waist with a ribbon. Finally, Cassy ran a brush through her short, wavy hair before she decided she was satisfied with the outcome.
Having done all of this in a little under forty-five minutes, she knew that left little time for much else before they would have to leave. Cassy came back down the hall into the other room where she had left Jude waiting for her. "Alright, we can head out whenever you're ready. Just say the word." She said to him, going for the basket of goodies again and pulling out a second blueberry muffin for the road before slipping on the sandals she had left by the front door. She sounded far more awake now than when the male had first arrived, despite the fact that it was still quite early.
ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛᴏᴘ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ɪᴛ
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Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2016 1:12 pm
❝ If there every comes a day where we can't be together
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - keep me in your heart.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I'll stay there ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ. ❞
Makeup wasn't something people wore out here. Firstly because there weren't women young enough to put effort in cosmetics. Secondly, there was pretty much nowhere to get it and buy it. The people who did either payed someone to do it for them, or were coming in from out of town. When Cassy came out from her room in a sundress that matched her pale skin and chocolate eyes perfectly, Jude just sort of stared. He noticed the small addition of makeup, which brought out those spectacular orbs. Her lips, too. The country boy hadn't really taken a significant interest in them until this moment. And now that his attention was indeed grabbed, he became embarrassed. She was real pretty. Pretty before, of course. But now he realized the full spectrum of her beauty, and could only now look down at his feet.
He had been so ready to respond to her statements before she went off to get changed, having only given her a few nods as to save time. "Ah, lemme just put summa this stuff away, then we can head off..." Jude walked over to the fridge once his friend retrieved the remaining food, just resolving to put the basket in the fridge. He turned around and caught a glimpse of Cassidy again, pressing his lips together and flushing. "Uh, I don't mean for this to come across as bad or nuthin', but you look nice in that dress. Everythang sort of just brings out yer features and...w-well, I just think it looks real cute on you." Jude looked at her face with a shy smile, shrugging his broad shoulders nervously. It was the only action he could think to do in order to justify his words and awkwardness.
He walked towards the door and opened it up for her, gesturing out. "Shall we, then?" As soon as they left the porch steps and got on the main dirt road, Jude tried to make light conversation in hopes of getting over the residual embarrassment of hanging out with such a pretty little creature. "Your mammy's house is sammiched 'tween two houses, mine and uncle Jimmy's. Your family grows a lotta grains for us, and Jimmy handles a lot of the animals and butchery. We's focus more on fresh produce like fruits and veggies, but mainly our orchard. Mom and Pop always make sure our neighbors have some of what we have, and they do the same. It's nice havin' people lookin' out and sharin'. It means more of us get somethin' we ain't used ta. Sides, if ya ask me, ain't nothin' better than yer ma-maw's grits. Everybody in town hollers for em'." He stopped talking for a moment as they continued walking, leaving just enough silence until some new buildings appeared in the distance. Strong arms went up to point out each individual lot, as if he knew them by heart. In reality, he'd walked these roads so many times, he did.
"Over there is the church. Behind it is a big town hall and cafeteria, as well as the elementary school, middle school, and high school. Right behind that is this nice open field of grass. It's so nice and pretty in the summer, with the lightnin' bugs flyin' all around. Sometimes I just like goin' there at night if I can't sleep to clear my thoughts." Jude let his hand fall to the side, hand going into his pocket. They passed a group of flowers that seemed to match Cassy's sundress perfectly. He felt it would've been shameful to pass up the opportunity. Gently it was plucked from the ground, examined for dirt or bugs, and tucked in the crevice of her ear. Taking another good look at Cas's face surely made him blush, but he overcame it with his smile. Once the exchange was made, Jude silently cleared his throat and motioned behind her, absentmindedly brushing their hands together. In his focus to explain what was across from them, the country boy didn't register the action.
"On the other side of the church is Letty-May's home. She tailors and crafts. Shoes, baskets, you name it. Her shop is a bit more down the road. It's all real nice. Letty-May's sister helps her with flowers. Then there's the Dana and Richard's restaurant, Philip and Piper with the library, Lee's repair shop, Billy and Hannah with the radio station, and at the end of the street is Bob and Mamry's general shop. We go there to get a lotta the stuff we can't make ourselves here. Like salt, sugar, y'know - the other fixin's. If ya need anything, you can usually find it there. They'll even order somethin' for ya if ya ask nicely enough." Mosquitoes attempted to swarm around them and funnily enough, targeted Cassy. Jude was quite used to it. It had gotten to the point where he didn't care about the bugs and the bugs didn't care about him. What's more, most people just learned to wear lotion or use soap that the bugs generally didn't like unless they were especially tempted.
___________________________________________
How lucky I am
xxxxxxxxx to have someone
that makes saying
"「goodbye」"
so hard. xxx x
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Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:43 pm
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Iᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇ ᴏғ ʟɪғᴇ ↘↘ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ
███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Cassy saw Jude staring out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't think much of is as she stood waiting by the door. She only assumed it was because she was a face that was out of the ordinary. However, it was quickly made known that this was not the reason, as the country boy went to put what was left of the food she hadn't finished into the fridge. Cas looked up to meet his gaze for a moment, rather startled by the compliment as she hadn't expected it. She felt her cheeks heat up just the tiniest bit, though she wasn't sure how noticeable it would be. "Oh! Um... Thank you..." She said, trailing off. She wasn't too used to compliments like that. In the city, many of the boys were quite rude about it, and so it sort of threw her off that Jude's was so polite. She offered up another small smile, trying to show that she hadn't taken it badly as the country boy came up beside her and opened up the door.
She nodded to show her thanks as she passed through the door, holding her hands behind her as they stepped out into the dirt road. She listened to him explain where everything was, making a face at how barren it sounded. In all this space, there were only three houses nearby them? She had assumed there would be more than that buried somewhere in all of the fields. However, she continued to listen politely rather than comment on it, as he sounded quite pleased with their neighborly sharing. She couldn't help but smile when he brought up her grandmother's grits.
Cassy let her arms fall to her sides from behind her as they took up a steady pace, continuing on down the road. She looked up curiously again as new buildings appeared in the distance. This time it was a bit more interesting, as it resembled more of a town than the homes behind them did. He listed the different establishments that made up the town, pointing them out, and reminiscing. Cassidy, on the other hand, made a face at the mention of lightning bugs. She had never seen them before, in the city, but pretty or not, bugs creeped her out. The girl stuck out her tongue and was going to say something to that affect, but was stopped in her tracks as Jude paused to retrieve a flower from the ground. Cassy hadn't even really noticed them there, and wondered why he would bother stopping to pick flowers. The girl raised an eyebrow as the country boy rose again and tucked the flower behind her ear. She felt her face turn a bit pink as she quickly turned and began walking again, trying not to let something so silly get to her.
She started ever so slightly as Jude's hand brushed against hers, though he didn't seem to notice that it happened, and her tiny jump had barely been noticeable. She was sure he was too busy pointing out the next set of shops to register her reaction. Cassy tried to pay attention, but she was distracted by a swarm of bugs hovering in the air in front of her. As Jude spoke, two of the things buzzed around her face. She tried to swat at them, thinking it would be enough, but quickly they came back, and soon they were passing directly through the cloud itself. Cassy seemed to bear the brunt of the assault, and -- being already on edge from the interactions that had just taken place with the farm boy -- she gave a little squeak and jumped out of the way a bit trying to free herself of the cloud of mosquitoes. It all may have been a little bit exaggerated, as Cas was in no real danger, but she still lunged forward away from the bugs and batted at her arms with her hands to make sure there were none on her. The girl put her hands on her head, trying to catch her breath from the mini, but over-dramatic heart-attack she had just had. She made a disgruntled sound and then sighed. "What's with these things??? They're all over the place!" She complained, looking behind her at the looming swarm they had passed through. "Please tell me that's just a one-time thing...." She muttered, looking back towards Jude, fully forgetting about how fidgety she had felt just a moment ago in the face of a new threat.
ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛᴏᴘ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ɪᴛ
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Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:14 pm
❝ If there every comes a day where we can't be together
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - keep me in your heart.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I'll stay there ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ. ❞
"Do y'all not get very many bugs out in the city? Them's just mosquitoes. Y'see em' all the time 'round here. Ain't nothin' to it." Jude was very surprised at Cassy's reaction to walking into a simple swarm of bugs. The most anyone from this town would've done was frown and crinkle their nose. Sure, they got bitten once in a while from walking around and working in the fields, but everyone was taught from a young age not to scratch and just ignore it. Bug lotions were readily available, too. People laughed if you used bug spray. It was like giving candy to a child so they would stop bothering you about their sweet tooth.
Moving on from the topic of insects and Cassy's obvious disgruntlement, the two were fast approaching the church. It was one of the fancier looking buildings in the town with a garden and beautiful field just behind it. Everyone in the town got married as well as baptized here, and 5 miles in the distance was the graveyard where everyone got married. "Well...here it is." The doors were wide open, grounds finely groomed and inviting. Jude looked down at Cass and smiled warmly, allowing for her to enter first.
Sitting in the pews were elderly folks and their middle aged kins. Occasionally you spotted a small child sitting quietly or studying the bible, being exceptionally polite. When Jude and Cass walked in, it was like a family renuion. 'Jud!'s and 'Jude's and 'Phip's were shouted. The country boy could only grin and wave, taking Cass along with him as he rounded the group. "Howdy Uncle Jim-Bob. Nice to you see you again. G'mornin' Lucille!" It didn't matter who he saw, he was just as excited to greet them as anyone else. The list of people Jude had told Cassy on the way was coming undone once more, only people's spouses, siblings, and children were being added. Jude introduced Cas to every person, and they greeted her very warmly.
"Heaven above Jud, c'mere and gimme a hug!" One of the younger women practically screeched this and Jude smiled brightly at her, doing as he was told. She was only about an inch or two above Cassy's height. Her husband and daughter were sitting next to her, talking amongst on another and waiting their turn to speak with the local boy. "Good mornin', Mamry. How you doin'? Her gold and grey locks were tucked behind her ear, plaid yellow dress faded and well-worn. "I'm doin' well, Jud. I'd be better if you came by more often. I ain't see yer face but once a week. You're so handsome I just can't help but ta miss ya!" His cheeks darkened and he smiled shyly, shrugging. "Well, maybe I'll find a way down there sometime soon. Bobby, Willa! How are y'all doin'?" The two of them finally joined and greeted Jude, and the boy reciprocated. "It's real nice to see y'all. Lemme introduce you to Cassy. Cassy, this is Mamry, Bobby, and their daughter Willa. They're the ones that run the general store I told you about before. Anywho, Cas here is bein' real nice comin' down visitin' family. Mamry's eyes were glittering and bright at hearing this information. "Cas! God bless! What a gorgeous name for a gorgeous girl. You're Susan's granddaughter, ain't ya? I remember your momma and diddy. You's a spittin' picture of em', I tell ya what. Only you are just so much more darlin'! I love your hair and dress, hun!" Mamry pulled her in for a big hug and kiss on the cheek, and their daughter shook her hand shyly. She opened up a bit more with Jude, and was one of the only children here. Willa looked to be about 7 years old.
"Willa m'dear, you are just as cute as ever!" He bent down to her level and hugged her, picking the girl up effortlessly. "That the dress you told me Letty-May was gon' make you? Is that it? 'Cause it's gorgeous on ya." Willa giggled and hugged Jude's neck, speaking softly. "Yes sir, it is! I think the color lavender is real purty...I was so excited when she brought it in and fitted it. I thank I look like a princess. Momma wanted me to put it on' today 'cause I'm sangin' after sermon today! I'm real nervous but I been practicin' a real long time and I thank everyone is gon' like it..." Jude kissed her forehead. "Willa, I thank you's just the best lil' sanger here in this town. Ain't nobody got an angel's voice like you. And that's sayin' a lot girly - I'm a real Johnny Cash in the shower." Bob laughed and Mamry giggled along with her daughter. "But that ain't count, you silly! Ain't nobody can here you in there! Just you and God!" Jude laughed along with the family and shrugged, putting her down. "You know what, you're very right about that. But I's also think God blessed you with sharin' yer voice with others, not just him. You go up there and you sang yer' little heart out, y'hear? You gon' be the next Dolly Parton, I'm convinced." Willa's cheeks were rosy and full of confidence. She hugged Jude out of thanks, a new-found strength in her.
They left the family after exchanging words of encouragement and good health, finishing up Cassy's introductions to the rest of the people in the church before coming back to the last pew where Jude's mother and father were sitting next to Barbara and Susan. "Mom, Pop, this here's Cass. She's stayin' next door, 'member?" Anna hugged Cas and brought both of her hands together endearingly. "God bless. It's wonderful to meet you. I hope Jude's been treatin' you right and you enjoyed the breakfast. It's real nice to have you here, Cassy. I sincerely hope you enjoy your stay." Anna's voice was calm, soft, and extremely genuine. It sounded like she was talking to her very own daughter. Jude's father greeted her with similar words and tone, only he joked and apologized about his son, and pretty much everyone there not being able to identify with her culture.
They sat together and Barbara complimented Cassy on her pretty makeup and dress. Barbara just ogled at her beautiful her granddaughter looked, along with how perfectly she and Jude seemed to get along. Jude had to hide a blush hearing this. Finally, a small hymn was played on a large piano up front, leaving everyone quiet. A man in white robes rose from the piano and walked to the altar, calling upon everyone to stand and pray with him. He gave acknowledgements to everyone in this small town, even going so far as to have everyone pray for the safety of their newest guest and family member. Some people looked back at Cassy, offering gentle smiles.
The church session went on for about an hour and a half, with intermediate 5 minute breaks for candle lighting, prayer, and bible reading. There were 5 total songs sung between everyone, the people knowing the lyics by heart. Lastly, the pastor invited Willa up to lead them in their their final Hymn: This Is My Father's World. Her voice was light and perfectly pitched, and was very impressive. People clapped when she finished, acknowledging the girl for her accomplishments. Before the service ended, pastor Jonah told everyone to watch out for rain later in the evening. One group left for the cafeteria and town hall, and the other to the library for bingo. Barbara and Anna both stopped before Jude and Cas before they went off. "Y'all know where we'll be until supper. Come over if you need anything, y'hear?" Jude nodded and they made their way off, Willa and her family being the last to leave as they were speaking with the pastor. The country boy high-fived his young friend. She looked happy enough to burst.
On the walk back, Jude kept relatively quiet until they were about halfway between both houses. "I, uh, ain't s'sure how religion works in the city, but we're pretty religious. It ain't everybody's cup'a sugar, so I understand if you thought it was a bit t'much." He nervously smiled at her, trying to be sympathetic. Church was a large part of his life and would continue to be so independent of whether or not Cassy liked it, so it made it difficult for him to express sentiment. "Anywho, I was wonderin' if you'd like to come over to the barn with me? I was fixin' ta feed the horses, and maybe you can' ride one if you'd like." Jude stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled brightly in relief that she was willing to spend time with him. They made their way through a path formed in some corn fields, to open green fields which was basically their backyard. In the distance was a large barn about the size of their house, with a shed accompanying it.
He unhinged the bar keeping the door shut and opened the door up for them, showing the expanse of Jude's "man-cave". On the far, far right side separated by a wall were the horse pens. The only way in and out of this section of the barn was a large door. He lead her in and revealed two horses along with their child in an enclosement. In there was very clean and organized, with water and food readily available for them. Jude opened the back door of the barn that allowed for them to exit and roam freely. They took their chance and walked around, knowing to look for snacks Jude usually left out for them to discover. The country boy watched them play and roam, smiling softly.
He closed the main door to the pen section of the barn once the two adults left, showing off the place he spent most of his time in. There was a far room holding a tractor, and the separated room next to that held a massive amount of tools. Next to that was a room filled with seeds vegetation. All around were hooks and pillars that had flowers or hanging plants, giving the place color and a homey feeling. The windows were colorful stained glass in no particular pattern, letting in plenty of light and beauty. Separate from all work items were three rooms parallel to that of the aforementioned ones. However, unlike the ones on the other side that were separated by gates and half-walls, these had barriers removed so it was one large space. Wood attached to the side creating a long desk. On this desk were all sorts of crafts, books, and supplies. On the wall above it were pictures painted by the children for him, and a homemade calendar. He had a small fridge and "pantry" of fruit hanging from hooks on the ceiling. The ceiling was just high enough to account for Jude's height, as there were second parallel levels you get get to via ladder that just had hay, sacks of flour and salt, seeds, wood, and more. A third tier was formed through the two high levels, forming the attic and a definite ceiling.
"So, here it is. Home away from home. My little hideout. I spend most of my time here, readin' or workin' on thangs..." Within her vicinity was a cute little jewelry box being crafted from wood. There was a handy radio, too. Next to it were paint brushes and sandpaper. "D'you need anythin'? Service lasted a little longer than usual, if yer' wantin' somethin' to drank or eat." He went over to the fridge with stickers and finger paintings all over it, opening it up to retrieve a pitcher of water. Above the fridge was a box of clean mason jars for drinking out of. "What do you think? Jude asked while pouring some water and dropping ice in from the freezer. It was hot today. "Ain't so bad, really. We find things to do 'round here."
___________________________________________
How lucky I am
xxxxxxxxx to have someone
that makes saying
"「goodbye」"
so hard. xxx x
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Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 2:33 am
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Iᴛ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴜʟᴇ ᴏғ ʟɪғᴇ ↘↘ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ
███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Cassy shuddered slightly as he asked whether they got many bugs in the city, and promptly stated that one saw them all the time around here. That did not sit well with her. Of course they had bugs in the city, but not in such large quantities, and she hated them just as much there as she was sure she would here. "Oh we have 'em, alright." She muttered, crossing her arms as she followed Jude the rest of the way up to the church. It seemed a bit larger and nicer than the rest of the buildings, but she supposed it would have to be to support an entire town of people each Sunday. It had a garden, and just beyond, a large field, and Cassy once again returned to the fact that she didn't think she had ever seen so much barren flat green field in her whole life as she had here. It seemed like half of what they considered part of the "town" was grass. In the city, they would have wasted no time filling all that space right up.
Jude stepped to the side as he spoke, allowing Cassy to enter the open doors into the church first. She furrowed her brows together as he gave her a warm smile. Though the walk had been pleasant enough -- aside from the bugs -- the chocolate-haired girl still wasn't so sure about the whole "being at church rather than in bed on a Sunday morning" thing. Finally she closed the distance between herself and the doors, stepping inside and out of the morning heat. The pews were filled mostly with older people, and only a handful of children, though none of them seemed even relatively close to Cas and Jude's age. She frowned as a chorus of Jude's name broke out among the people present. The country boy pulled her along as he passed by everyone, giving friendly greetings and matching faces to names. However, Cassy felt far more overwhelmed when faced with all of the excitable people than she had simply hearing him list them off. Jude introduced her to each and every person in the room, and by the end the girl felt a headache coming on.
She winced, hearing a woman practically screech out at her newfound companion, however Jude didn't seem nearly as off-put by the sound as Cassy did. She carefully took a step back as the woman chatted joyously with him. Again, she was feeling way out of her element, and even looked a little startled when she was brought into the conversation. She gave a slight wave to the three of them, and turned slightly pink at the compliment on how nice she was being. In truth, she wouldn't have come at all if she hadn't been forced. She turned even brighter red then as the woman perked up at her, fawning over her appearance and happily exclaiming how she was like her parents. She crinkled her nose again but gave the woman a small smile. "Thanks..." She muttered into the woman's shoulder as she was once again pulled in for a hug by a stranger, though she didn't necessarily sound like she meant it. She was far more willing to turn her attention to the little girl who came up to shake her hand. Cassy gave the girl a more genuine smile than she had been giving everyone else in the room, but the girl quickly turned her attention towards Jude.
Cassy was only too eager to step to the background again as the girl -- Willa -- chatted with Jude excitedly. She had to admit, the girl was precious, even if she hadn't really begun to appreciate anything else in this town yet. She couldn't help but feel a bit warmed by the little girl, but then just as quickly as the interaction began it ended again, and they left with Jude giving some parting words. They passed a few others, and Cas continued to give half-hearted responses to everyone until finally they reached an older couple at the back seated beside Cassy's Grandmother and Aunt. The city girl realized quickly that it was Jude's mother and father and, as if she hadn't had enough hugs already today, this woman stood to hug her too. Cassy tried her best to be polite to Jude's parents, though really by this point she was tired of greeting strangers, and longed to be back in bed. Not the bed at Grandma Susan's, but the bed back in the city. Her bed. With her WiFi and her traffic noises.
However, Cassy put on as brave a face as she could and smiled tiredly. Only Jude's father finally got through to her for a brief moment, apologizing for how different everything was here. She let out a small breath, giving him a look that said "You don't know the half of it", but added a small smile as well, grateful for one person who seemed to get her position, even if he couldn't necessarily identify with her either. After that, they scooted in beside everyone, and Cassy rolled her eyes a bit at her own family fawning over her all over again. This was fairly normal wear for her. She didn't notice Jude blushing, or the chatting. She was too busy pulling out her phone again, just to be sure the reception wasn't any better from inside the church building. With a little huff upon realizing it wasn't, she frowned, and music started up to signal the start of church. A man in fancy robes did some talking, and Cas looked startled again as her name was mentioned. She hadn't expected to be included. After that, the rest of the service took place, and by the end of the thing, Cassy thought she may have actually dozed off once or twice. An hour was an awfully long time for a sleepy city girl to sit quietly early in the morning.
The only thing that finally caught her attention was the little girl they had seen earlier coming up to sing. Cassy made sure she was extra careful to stay awake during that part, even if she had spaced out through almost everything else. When it was over, Cassy's Aunt and Jude's mother stopped them just to send them off, and the city girl followed Jude back towards the doors. He gave Willa a high five on the way out the door, and Cassy gave her a thumbs up. However, as soon as they exited the building she let out a long sigh. "I think I would have been better off in bed." She admitted, sounding a bit cranky. It was true, though. She fit in with her sheets much better than she did among these people.
They were quiet for a while, until they were coming closer to Jude's house. He seemed like he was attempting to understand things from her point of view, or something. Cassy looked up at the country boy and his nice smile with a shrug. "The music wasn't so bad, I guess." She told him, trying not to completely shoot down what everyone seemed so passionate about. The truth was, though, that she had found the whole thing rather difficult to sit through. "It was just so.... Long." She added after a moment, admitting that he was mostly right about it not exactly being her "cup'a sugar", as he had said. He quickly changed the subject from church, though, to asking her if she'd like to come with him to the barn. The girl crinkled her nose again -- as she seemed to be doing quite a lot so far today. She liked animals, sure, but she didn't think riding horses would be her thing, and a barn just sounded kind of dirty. She nodded after a moment, though, knowing Jude was really the only person she had to hang out with around here. "Couldn't hurt, I guess." She agreed, but she then added with a brief grimace, "I don't know that you'd want to see me try to ride any horses, though." She followed him all the way back until a large barn appeared in the distance.
They arrived at it's doors soon enough, and Cassy braced herself, preparing for the worst. She was surprised to find it wasn't quite as bad as she had expected, though the smell caused her to make a face, and she jumped again at a few flies that buzzed around her face. She grunted slightly as she bounced away from them, only to have the things follow. Swatting slightly and giving a look of annoyance, she continued to follow Jude through the barn. It looked like there had been an attempt to liven it up a bit, and everything seemed fairly organized, but to Cassy it just kind of seemed like a large room with a bunch of junk. She didn't know what half of the equipment even was, let alone why anyone would need it. They finally entered a little space that looked like it was supposed to be some kind of "rec room" inside of the barn. Jude then confirmed this, saying this was where he spent most of his time. She had to admit that she preferred both the smell and comfort of her own bedroom back home, but she supposed to someone in the middle of nowhere, this would do. It made her think of some kind of fort she would have made with friends when she was a child.
Cassy was distracted from her thoughts for a moment by his question, but she quickly answered. "Oh! Um... I guess.. Some water, would be nice." She suddenly realized she was very thirsty from all of the walking and the heat. She listened to him finish talking as he took out a pitcher of water from the fridge and began pouring a glass. Or rather, a jar. "I mean, I suppose it's not quite as plush as my room back home, but it'll do." She said, looking around and guessing she wouldn't be getting much better than this while she was here. There were lots of little projects and things sitting around, and it looked like Willa wasn't the only kid around that seemed to like Jude, as his fridge was covered with "art". "So er.. What kinds of things.... Do you find..? To do...?" She added hesitantly after a moment. He may have been hoping for more of a reaction, but it was the best Cassy could come up with under the circumstances. She hadn't quite figured out what the fun of being in the countryside was yet, and so far everything just seemed buggy and smelly and barren. "For fun, I mean." Obviously they spent a lot of time farming, but she wanted to know what happened when there was free time, like now.
ᴄᴏᴍᴇs ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sᴛᴏᴘ ʟᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ɪᴛ
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