We're Falling Apart To Half Time [Evie]

[Mark Aaron Simmons]

When it came to trying to ignore problems around him, Mark was the king.

His parents' marriage, having trouble? Pssh, it was nothing. Every couple had spats every once in a while. Evie's penchant for getting herself into trouble, and turning to the bottle and drugs a little more than necessary? She could stop at any time. She was just having fun, the way he did every once in a while. Sure, she partook in these activities more than he did, but he didn't consider it that big of a deal. At least, not until recently.

Even Mark Simmons, the king of denial, realized that something was wrong when news about Evie surfaced. The Wizard's notes hadn't bothered Evie so much, and thus they hadn't bothered Mark. Besides, The Wizard targeted quite a few people in the school. The Wizard had also called his younger sister a lesbian, which was laughable in Mark's opinion. His sister was in no way a lesbian, and that seemed like a silly way to explain her outspoken and feminist nature. Her first kiss had been at the age of five, with what was then his best friend. Chelsea liked boys, he had no doubt about that. He also admired the way she was able to blow off such rumors as though it were nothing. Mark, being the type of guy that he was (i.e. too concerned with his reputation, to the point where he sometimes partook in activities he didn't always enjoy as much as he let on because it was 'cool'), would not have taken rumors that he was gay that easily. He likely would have lashed out, demanding to know who did it and threatening to beat them to a pulp, rather than laugh it off and post a rebuttal on his facebook the way his sister had.

The way Evie reacted to Tamara's youtube audio posting was different. She'd called him up in tears. Mark didn't really care either way about these keys - RSOR was RSOR, probably some academic club judging by the fact that his sister was in it (then again, so was Evie, which was kind of odd). Regardless of what kind of club it was, Mark simply didn't care that much. It was their business. He certainly didn't agree with the idea of airing his girlfriend's dirty laundry out for everyone to hear. It was also clear that people were very upset over what Evie had done, selling a key to Tamara, which meant that what she had done was a big deal. And if she'd done it for drugs? Well...that was a problem. She knew what effects this would have if it got out, and she did it anyway because she needed the drugs. Even Mark realized that there was a problem. He stopped outside of Evie's dorm, knowing that Chelsea was not there (though Valentina, her other roommate, might have been for all he knew) and knocked. He'd promised Evie that he would come down, after all. Though he wasn't the most reliable guy in the world, he usually did try to keep his promises, especially to those that he cared about.

Word count: 529
To: Ali/Evie
Notes: I thought these two should have another thread.

[Evie Jeanette Lefevre]

It was because of Tamara's dirty trick that Evie had started to realise what a mess of things she had made.

What began as having a 'good time' had now left the senior almost friendless and ridiculed. Evie was too ashamed to leave her dorm, only doing so when she had to go to class or having to nip out to get some food (although Valentina had taken to doing the latter a lot to save Evie the hassle of being laughed at). When she did step out, she faced only slander and dirty looks. Crueler people thought it was funny to shout things at her in the hallways such as 'cokehead' and 'druggie', leading Evie to start believing that she was never going to amount to anything else as long as she stayed on the drugs. The worst part was having to face the other membes of RSOR on a daily basis. There were a few such as Freya and Raven who didn't seem to care too much and were behind her. There were others who hated her guts for what she had done. Even Chelsea couldn't stand to face her at the moment, having left the dorm for a few days to calm down.

That was possibly the worst bit for Evie. She had let down so many people, not only in this lifetime but in her previous lifetime as well. After what had happened to her back in the 18th Century, she had always made it her number one priority to never let people down again. She had now failed at that and it was ruining her. She was surprised that Isa hadn't tracked her down yet (although she knew it would eventually come) and was rather grateful. Death by a sharp blade was certainly not the way she wanted to go again.

So who could she turn to when hardly anyone was willing to pick up the pieces at the moment? Mark of course! She needed cuddles and kisses and affection and somebody to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay eventually. Which is who she had reached out to as soon as the scandal had hit the bulletin board.

A knock on the dorm door brought her out of a slight trance that she had been in for a while now. She pushed herself up of the bed and made her way towards the door, albeit a little warily. It was now not unknown to her that it may just be idiots playing tricks on her to annoy her. That was quite a frequent sport for the dickheads of Riverdale. There was even a moment when she thought that it may be Chelsea, and while that thought comforted her slightly, it also terrified her. She didn't think she was ready to face Miss Simmons wrath yet. A quick look in the peephole told her that it was none other than Mark and with that she quickly fumbled on the handle and opened the door.

"Hi." The way she greeted him resembled the way she looked. She had no make up on, and her hair was pulled back into a messy bun. Dark circles ringed her eyes and the clothes she was wearing hung of her and didn't match, giving the look that she not been bothered with her appearence recently. All in all, she wasn't looking very pretty today. She might have sounded like she would rather be alone, but inside she was ecastic.

Tags: Mandee/Mark
Listening to: We Are The Ocean
Thoughts: ^^^^^^^ I GOT INTO POTTERMORE ^^^^^^^
Word count: 635

[Mark Aaron Simmons]

If Mark had known of Evie's past life, he'd see the true extent to which this was bothering Evie. That was the unfortunate part. He wanted to console Evie, but he couldn't provide some of the words that she truly wanted to hear because he had no idea that she was actually Marie Antoinette.

When Evie answered the door to her dorm, he had to admit that she didn't not look to be at her best. She was worse off than she was at the prom, he had no doubt about that. She looked as though she'd spent the last several days crying, and with that Mark was seized by the urge to grab Tamara by her throat and push her into a locker. He wouldn't do that, though. It was a nice thought, however, and did offer a bit of relief. He was sure that if he shared the thought with Evie she'd probably be thrilled to hear that someone wanted to do that to Tamara as well. He couldn't even fathom what he'd do if he were in Evie's situation, especially as to him, his reputation meant everything. He'd taken after his father in this way.

"Hey. Hope you don't mind that I dropped by."[/color] He doubted that she would, honestly, but seeing her in the state she was in made him want to tread carefully on everything that he did. He knew his sister had not come back to the dorm yet, which he knew was grating on Evie more than she was letting on. Mark wanted to talk to his sister, but she'd even been giving him a wide berth lately. It was as if she knew that the conversation was coming and wanted to delay the inevitable.

Mark retrieved a chocolate bar and held it out to Evie. "I realize it's not much, but it's chocolate. Chocolate's supposed to make people feel better, isn't it? I don't know, I think I missed that day in health class."[/color] He smiled a little, waiting for Evie to take the still wrapped Hershey's bar. He wondered if perhaps this was enough, and found himself wishing that maybe he'd stopped for flowers or something. Yet he didn't exactly see Evie as one for flowers. As for chocolate...well, who didn't like chocolate?

Word count:
To: Ali/Evie
Notes:

[Evie Jeanette Lefevre]

Before any of this had happened, Evie had been the type of girl to not give a damn on what others thought of her. For example, if this had been a year ago the trick Tamara had pulled would bother her, but it would only have bothered her for a couple of minutes. She wasn't quite sure on what it was that was making her react this way. Her past life was playing a huge role in it of course but perhaps it was the drugs that were making her sketchy and paranoid as well. She certainly believed that she'd be a completey different character now if she wasn't hooked on illegal substances.

One thing she did realise when she answered the door was how much she needed Mark right now. Before she had set eyes on him her head was a mess and she was jumpy and twitchy. Now she could feel her body relaxing. She felt more like herself in these few seconds than what she did in the past few days. It didn't take long for her to step back and pull Mark in by his arm. There was a slight manic look on her face as she looked over his shoulder to check there was no one out there. It was probably a big giveaway to how she had been treated so far. She didn't know if she could handle anymore abuse at the moment. The coast seemed to be clear and she felt safe again, safe enough to close the door slowly.

It took a few moments to calm and console herself. She used these spare seconds to pace up and down the dorm, starting from the door, pacing the small kitchenette and even venturing to and pacing in the bathroom. She came back out, her hands running circles around the other and fidgeting and pulling at the skins on the back of her hands and wrists. She finally sat down feeling calm enough again. "Thanks for stopping by. Means a lot."

The girl in front of Mark was acting rather strange and off. But if one looked at her eyes they could tell that she was stone cold sober. It was an odd thing seeing Evie Lefevre completely sober and on the straight and narrow. It was perhaps a good thing that Evie didn't seem to have taken anything but in reality she was not going cold turkey because it was the right thing to do. She simply refused to leave the dorm, thus not being able to go and purchase anything to calm down with. She was not stupid enough to ask Valentina to collect stuff for her either. Valentina had been a great roommate and a good friend during this, but she knew that her helping hand would draw the line at feeding the druggie her addictions. She couldn't lose another ally. So she suffered.

There was something in Mark's hand that grabbed her attention. She recognised the packaging and smiled at the fact that Mark had bought her over some chocolate. Hey it wasn't a bag of coke but...the thought was there anyway. "Thanks. Thats sweet of you." She took the chocolate from his outstretched hand and opened it taking a small bite out of one of the corners, letting the sweet taste ensnare her senses. She was being a lady of few words today but she didn't want to appear rude. She just had no idea what to say or how to explain herself. Although the inevitable questions were certainly coming...

Tag: Mark/Mandee
Listening to: N/A
Thoughts: FINALLY POSTED!!!!
Word count: 649

[Mark Aaron Simmons]

It was actually strange and a bit uncomfortable to see Evie this troubled. Then again, he knew exactly what he was getting into when he walked up to her at prom and comforted her when she was in tears. He didn't like to see Evie upset, so this bothered him a lot. He could ignore problems around him all that he wanted, but when someone he cared about was upset, it made him snap to attention. It was unfortunate that it usually took something like that to gain Mark's attention, but there it was.

That said, he was still having a hard time bringing the subject up with Evie, and was going to try to ignore it as long as he possibly could during this conversation. Really, he wished that he could just hang out with Evie and make all of her worries vanish into thin air. He wasn't that good at this 'comforting' thing. He was better at the 'distract yourself from it and it'll go away' camp. Unfortunately, this wasn't something that was just going to go away. While Mark still had a self-instated mental block when it came to this, there was also a nagging feeling at the back of his head that he knew he couldn't ignore forever. He hated feeling like this.

When Evie thanked him for stopping by, Mark smiled at her. "No problem. I couldn't let my girlfriend spend the day by herself..."[/color] Damn, it was hard to even admit that he knew that she was upset. What he didn't say in words showed in his expression, however, as he could not help but look at her concernedly. He knew her more than well enough to recognize that something was off about her, and that it wasn't the fact that she was high, but rather the fact that she was not high. If Mark knew his druggies better, he would be able to discern that she was having symptoms of withdrawals, but sadly, he did not. He might have participated in the party scene but he was nowhere near as deep as Evie. The kind of stuff that she was involved in would surprise even Mark.

He watched quietly as Evie took a piece of chocolate and nibbled on it. This wasn't going as nicely as he would have liked...in all honesty, he half expected her to let out a squeal of delight and throw her arms around him when she saw the chocolates. Again, his mental block trying to paint over this and tell him it wasn't as bad as it was. Trying to collect his words, Mark found it easier to set his gaze on the box of chocolates than at Evie's face. When he returned his gaze back to his girlfriend's face, it was a sign that he was about to speak directly to her again. "Well, I'm crap at this, but I think you've already figured that out for yourself. So...I guess I'll just say this - If you need to talk to me, I'm listening. If not? Well, I may or may not have a stuffed animal in my car that has your name on it."[/color] No, he wasn't the most skilled at this, but it was the effort that counted, right? Or so he hoped.

Word count: 562
To: Ali/Evie
Notes: Good, it got longer. xD

[Evie Jeanette Lefevre]

"No problem. I couldn't let my girlfriend spend the day by herself..."

She straight away understood the meaning of these words. She didn't need his look of concern to understand that he meant that he was worried about her. And this perhaps is what finally relaxed Evie enough to be more like herself than she had in days. He was not here to give her an ear bashing (he would likely mention how bad drugs were etc)...he was here to be support and to be a boyfriend to her. She finally showed him a true smile, just as the weight of all her worries were slightly lifted from her shoulders, giving her enough space to breathe and to feel more calm and content. This was a blissful and beautiful feeling, something she had forgotten over time. Contentness and the feeling of being at one with yourself.

She could see that he was struggling at this too. She knew Mark well enough to know that these sort of situations were uncomfortable and that he would much rather bury his head into the sand rather than face and tackle a situation head on. Although he was like Chelsea in many ways, there were also traits in his personality that were completely different. Where Chelsea was ultimately offended at the fact that Evie had lied to her, Evie had also betrayed Mark in the same way, and yet here he stood with chocolate wanting to cheer her up. She was still waiting on Chelsea to get in touch (yet didn't blame her) but so far she had had hardly any contact. Perhaps it was because that Mark already knew about some aspects of the party lifestyle, whereas Chelsea didn't and so Chelsea disagreed with it more.

And then Mark took the situation into his control and decided to get straight to the point of why he was there. She sat for a few moments and looked at him after he had said his piece, not even knowing where to begin. She wanted to talk truly, but there were problems she couldn't admit to herself, let alone to anyone else. She desperately wanted to choose the teddy bear option, but then would there ever be another chance for her to get some sort of help? If she didn't talk now, Mark might walk away and leave her, Chelsea would never talk to her again and her life would just be a shambles. So she took a deep breathe. "I'm so sorry Mark. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you exactly what was going on and that I let it get to that extent and I'm sorry for hurting you and Chelsea and for lying to you for so long!" She took a deep breathe after this and looked at him, waiting for him to reply to, what she felt was, an awful apology.

Tag: Mark/Mandee
Listening to: ...
Thoughts: Pizza and a real post. WOWSA'S!
Word count: 539

[Mark Aaron Simmons]

Giving Evie an ear bashing was the last thing that Mark wanted to do. As a matter of fact, he just wanted to put the whole thing behind him. He wanted to pretend as though nothing had happened, and he and Evie were just meeting up to head out on a date (on a date, because the idea of doing anything else in the room that Evie shared with his sister was a little unnerving, even for Mark, especially now that Mark and Evie were truly dating.

Deep down inside he realized just how serious this was, though, and couldn't brush it off entirely. And neither, apparently, could Evie.

Mark also followed a lifestyle similar to that of Evie. He preferred to live in the moment, and worry about the consequences later. Even so, he wasn't as bad off as Evie. Even he drew limits before Evie did. While he engaged in the party lifestyle when he could, he also knew how to keep it under wraps so that his parents wouldn't find out. He'd never admit it to any of his friends, but his parents' opinion meant a lot to him, especially his father's. That said, what they didn't know didn't hurt them. A point of view that his father, unbeknownst to Mark, happened to share.

The junior didn't know what to do when Evie finally blurted out an apology, and it showed in his facial expression. The normally confident Mark looked completely bewildered and out of place. It was one thing to tell Evie to ignore the pranks of some assholes he wanted to make her look bad, but it was a lot harder to comfort her when the negative messages came from within. Well, not just from within - Mark was aware that his own sister was refusing to stay in the same dorm as Evie out of protest. Mark thought about going to Chelsea and trying to talk some sense into her, but he knew Chelsea, and he knew how well that one would go. Chances were she'd come around anyway...they'd just have to give her time. Yes...they. Because Mark, once again, intended to make sure that Evie knew that she wasn't alone in this endeavor. "It's okay Evie. It's all in the open now. Now the best we can do is try to make things right...right? I don't know why people are making such a huge deal over that key anyway, it's not like you handed them all fifteen keys for access into the RSOR room..."[/color] Of course, Mark was also completely unaware of what RSOR truly was, and wasn't actively trying to seek it out, so it was easy to brush that aspect off. "Still..."[/color] Evie seemed to have known the implications of what she did, yet she still did it. That worried him.



Word count: 562
To: Ali/Evie
Notes: Good, it got longer. xD

[Evie Jeanette Lefevre]

It was nice to hear somebody giving her words of consolidation rather than telling her off for all the problems she had caused. It was one thing for people to be angry with her but it was another for the whole of RSOR to be disappointed in her. That was one feeling Evie had wanted to avoid in this life. It was bringing the memories of her last years as the ill-fated Queen of France back to the surface, and she didn't like it one bit. Once again she was 'Madame Deficit'. She remembered the way revolutionaries hissed and jeered at her, the way people splashed her with their carriages as she was walking, the cartoons spread around France and Europe about her being sex obsessed and evil. It was feeling as though history was repeating itself once again.

She wished that she could truly share her feelings with Mark, describe the way in which she felt that she was doomed...that she was going to go the same way as her past self. She needed Chelsea. And Chelsea was not there...

But Mark was. And he was willing to stick at her side and help her get the help she needed. And she so desperately wanted and and needed it. Tamara had seen to that and brought her sensible head to light. Maybe in a few years when she was completely clean and tee-total she would thank the girl who tried to ruin her reputation (and suceeded in some ways). "Right." She replied to him. "I haven't seen a doctor yet...I haven't been out of the dorm for a few days." She didn't have to say it but it was obvious what she meant when she referred to not leaving her dormitory. She was nervous to go outside incase she was jeered at. That was one thing Evie couldn't stand.

Evie's eyes shifted from Mark's face the instant he mentioned RSOR and the fifteen keys. He had never been that interested in the going on of the super secret club and so she was hoping that he would drop this bit of conversaton after a few moments. Still after everything she had done and selling out RSOR, she didn't want to mention anything incase she accidently gave the game away. She was notorious for not watching what she was saying, especially in front of Mark. The amount of times Chelsea had hushed her or stepped on her foot when she had accidently said too much. Evie kept her eyes averted from Mark's eyes and guided him to another conversation, even though the subject hurt her. "Have you spoken to Chelsea recently? I haven't seen her for a while. She won't answer me texts or answer the phone when I call her. I just want to tell her I'm sorry but she won't listen. It's so frustrating!" She had said more than she wanted to on this subject and could feel herself getting upset again.

Tag: Mark/Mandee
Listening to: ...
Thoughts: FOOOOOOOOD
Word count: 561

[Mark Aaron Simmons]

Regardless of the fact that Mark was not aware of Evie's full history, he knew that this wasn't good for her. It wasn't good for someone to feel as though they were completely alone. He could be a jerk sometimes, but he wasn't that much of a jerk. What Chelsea was doing to Evie was bothering him, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to do anything to step in to fix it. Chelsea was his sister and Evie was his girlfriend. They were both important to him. At the same time, though, he thought Chelsea was overreacting more than she should be. He didn't know the full story, of course, which didn't help, but he still thought it was completely uncalled for to go to an entirely different dorm.

And yes, he'd heard about that. Who hadn't? Word spread fast in Riverdale, especially about this. Mark wouldn't be surprised if Tamara orchestrated that reveal as well.

Mark raised an eyebrow when Evie made a remark about the doctor. "The doctor?"[/color] The only thing he figured she might need to go to the doctor for would be for the drugs...which would mean that he would definitely have to acknowledge what Evie was going through. She needed someone there for her. Someone who wasn't ignoring every single problem that she had. It was easy when it was something small, like those guys who'd played a prank on her at the prom. Not that it had seemed small at the time, but this was an ongoing, larger problem that was more engrained in Evie than one absolutely terrible night (that turned out to be a fantastic night at the end).

The junior had no problem with the subject change. No, he usually didn't get himself involved in the happenings of RSOR and Anti-RSOR. It was all fine and dandy for those clubs, but they were just that - Clubs. Chelsea didn't bug him every day about what he did at hockey practice (though, mind, non hockey players usually weren't banned from hockey practice), so why should he care what they were doing in the attic? Again, he just assumed they'd gotten into the club for something, something that he didn't have, and left it there. Evie did, however, mention Chelsea, which caused Mark to furrow his brow and sigh. "I haven't said too much to her either, but I can't say I'm surprised. She wouldn't talk to me for a week after I broke her favorite toy when we were kids."[/color] Granted, he had done it intentionally, as a typical older brother tease, but he'd learned his lesson to never do it again if he didn't want Chelsea walking away every time he tried to talk to her. Especially since, at that point, Jill and Will weren't even around. "She'll come around eventually, I'm sure. Just have to keep bugging her about it. She'll eventually cave. She's stubborn as all hell, but if you keep bothering her she'll have no choice but to forgive you to make you shut up."[/color] Mark managed a grin at this. Well, it was worth a shot at least. What did Evie have to lose?

Word count: 548
To: Ali/Evie
Notes: Great solution there, Mark. XD