Title: the P H R A S E that P A Y S
Description: tag; lily
julia jackson - July 13, 2007 10:05 PM (GMT)
“Cash or credit?”
“Credit,” Julia answered, handing her visa card to the bored-looking college girl behind the counter.
“Thanks for shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch. Have a great day,” she droned, giving the card back to Jules and pushing the several bags toward her.
Taking a few in each hand, she walked out of the store, wondering why she’d never shopped here before. Though she really didn’t enjoy shopping as much as other girls did, and she’d completed her conquest of the store in a mere forty-five minutes, she was impressed that she was able to find so many things she liked. Maybe she’d have to shop more often, especially with the credit card her mom had so generously supplied her with.
Spotting a vacant bench outside of the store, she sat down and laid her bags beside her. Obviously, there had to be a great reason for Julia Jackson, the total and complete tomboy, to be at the mall. It wasn’t like she’d been in a sports store, either. Abercrombie & Fitch was hardly a sporting goods vendor.
Since the boys were home, Julia had decided that she needed at least one new outfit. In fact, she’d only intended to buy some plaid shorts and maybe a few tank tops, but she’d ended up splurging and buying jeans, three new polos, a pair of fleece shorts, five tank tops, and a hoodie, three nice shirts, two pairs of plaid shorts, a pair of denim shorts, and even a skirt. She didn’t even know if she had enough space in her closet for all the stuff she’d bought.
Completely and totally satisfied with her purchases, Julia pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and checked the time. It was only eleven thirty? Why, then, was she so incredibly hungry? Sighing, she slid the phone back into the rear pocket of the khaki capris she wore. It looked like a trip to the food court was in order.
Once again taking her bags into her hands, Julia was about to stand up when she saw a rather irritating brunette coming in her direction. “Fuck,” she groaned. She really didn’t enjoy seeing Lily, especially when she hadn’t yet gotten her daily dose of caffeine.
ooc: Wow, darling, sorry that pretty much blew.
lily jeffery - July 15, 2007 02:04 AM (GMT)
The mall. The breeding ground of teenage life; or at least, that's how it seemed in St. Peters. Lily Jeffery had never even stepped into one of the few malls that had been in Manhattan. Malls were just so Westchester. And without a doubt, Lil was not a Westchestenarian but a true New Yorker. I mean, who else in St. Peters, outside of her family, knew how to hail down a yellow City cab with a not entirely deranged driver while holding her phone to her face in one hand and bags from various clothing stores in the other? It was a true feat, if she did say so herself.
Although, it's not as if you need that skill here, Lily thought wryly as she stopped walking through the mall to look into one of the window's of The Gap. She had been hoping to see some nice leg warmers somewhere in the store; to her dismay, there were none in plain site which meant that there were none at all, or at least none that were worth buying. She continued to pace down the row of stores, looking into one or two windows here and there.
Moving away from the window, Lilly changed her pace from a brisk, totally un-Lily-like into a nice swift almost skip, but she restrained herself from actually skipping through the mall, Once she bought something absolutely thrilling, then and only then would she skip.
Passing over a Hot Topic store as Lily wasn't really a Hot Topic type of Girl , although she occasionally did venture in, Lily saw the large entrance sign of an Abercrombie and Fitch and wanted to cringe. God! That store was so irritating! The sales people never could find you anything larger than a four, ever! Sorry people, but I'm not a four in everything! Don't you know that the average woman's size in the United States is not a four but a fourteen? ((Note: I read that in Allure today, lol.))
So she planned on walking past the heaven of preppies and then stopped short upon seeing a Miss Julia Jackson. Great... But this was a small town and if anyone saw her ignoring Jules, there would be talk. And talk would reach Turner. And Turner was her best friend and secret crush, so she'd be screwed if he turned on her.
"Good morning, almost afternoon, Julia," she said, skipping over to the tomboy. "Anything nice in A&F?"
((If any A&F is not like that, it's not here in Westchester, so forgive me for my bias opinion of it. And I apologize for not making Lily all dreamy. I just started typing and she wouldn't act dreamy! It's my mood, I'm really sorry. ))
julia jackson - July 16, 2007 10:13 PM (GMT)
Fighting back the horribly pained expression that threatened to take over, Julia forced her features into a smile. She wasn’t about to give Lily the satisfaction of knowing just how much she bothered her. And, as Jules reasoned, she should at least attempt to be somewhat nice to Turner’s best friend, even if it was extremely painful to do.
“Hello, Lily,” she said, her face set in a painful sort of smile that looked a lot more like she was grimacing. Teeth bared, jaw tight, her words seemed rather forced as well. “I found some nice things. It’s all quite expensive, though. I suppose I wouldn’t be able to afford all this if we weren’t as rich as we are,” she stated simply; after all, it wasn’t boasting when everyone knew how well-to-do the Jacksons were. Gesturing to a bag, she added, “Never really went there before, but, then again, I’m not really a ‘mall person’.”
Tilting her head to the side, she looked over Miss Jeffery. Frowning slightly, she wondered if this... fifteen-year-old really was competition for Turner’s affection. ‘Ew,’ Julia thought, ‘she’s skipping. Fucking skipping.’ If her boyfriend found an annoying skipping girl more attractive than dear Jules, then maybe he deserved Lily.
“So,” Julia began, raising an eyebrow slightly, “Why are you here?”
Shifting all four bags into one hand, she folded her arms across her chest and let her weight fall on her left hip, crossing her right foot in front to rest the toes against the floor. Looking over at the other girl, she waited for a response, but then her phone vibrated loudly in her pocket, pulsing a few times. Uncrossing her arms, she pulled out her thin cell and flipped it open, quickly answering the text she’d received. Not looking up, her lips twisted upward in a smile. ‘Hey Jules babe,’ her text message had read, ‘what r u up 2 2day? want 2 come over?’ Ah, Turner. Sliding her phone back into her pocket after sending out a quick reply (i’m @ the mall, talking to lily. i’ll come over in an hour. xo), she resumed her crossed-arms position, watching Lily.
lily jeffery - July 18, 2007 12:35 AM (GMT)
Lily heard every little thing that Miss Julia Jackson said in regards to her wealth. And every little thing that she didn't say as well. Did she think that just because Lily was a dreamer she wouldn't understand what she implied? Darling, you've never dealt with a true blue New Yorker before, obviously, Lily couldn't help but think to herself. Julia had obviously never had to put up with everyone thinking they were better than you because your apartment only cost two million and not three point five. "Huh, if you think Abercrombie is expensive, you should try shopping on Fifth," she said. "The stores there are, well were, I guess since Manhattan is now pretty much rubble, just the best. It was especially extremly fun to shop there after I befriended a few of the modelquins in a bunch of stores." Just because my brother dresses like a hick and my father pretends to be a farmer, it doesn't mean his partnership in Ropes & Gray earned us pennies. And unlike someone, we actually had to leave our home a few years ago for a new one where my father couldn't continue his job that well. I mean, it's not as if the government is going to let any of it's soldiers declare bankruptcy and what use is a bankruptcy lawyer without clients?
"Personally, I never liked Abercrombie and Fitch. I can hardly even pronounce the name, for one thing!" Lily said, and then repeated the name. "'Ab-errr-cromb-bee'? What's up with the name, anyway? I don't care if it's someones last name, why isn't it just something normal like 'Ralph Lauren' or ''Tristan & America'? At least people can pronounce those!" Then as if it were a side note, Lily added ,"and the clothes look really preppy. The only thing that I find nice in there are the guys sweatshirts. The girls clothes are made for anorexic chicks anyway. And I don't think any guy in this town, least of all Turner, would like an anorexic girl one bit." Oops... She hadn't wanted to mention Turner. But Turner was Lily's best friend and it was normal for her to comment about him to his girlfriend. It's not as if she did anything truly wrong, right? Even if she did like him...
But the last comment of Julia's made Lily want to writhe. Comments about wealth and the implication of the lack of were one thing. But asking her why she was at the mall, making it sound as if she had no right to be there? That was just full out disgusting. "I'm not allowed to shop now?" she asked. The brunette opened her mouth to say something else, but then heard the opening lyrics of 'Alfie' by Lily Allen. Reaching into the black Coach bag that she was carrying, Lil pulled out her cell phone and put it to her ear. To hear Turner greet her. She turned to face away from Turner's girlfriend, but then said, "hey... No, I can't go with you tonight. My mom wants a family thing tonight. Sorry, see you later, though, kay?" She laughed at something and then said, "God Turner, don't be so crude! All right, I'll talk to you later, bye. I said bye! Go answer that text message! She hit the end button and turned around to face Julia. "So, seen anything in any other store here that's nice? I just got here," she said in explanation to her question, trying to just ignore the phone call she had just received, although she was pondering why Turner hadn't called his girlfriend, but her instead. Maybe he was having troubles with Julia? Hmm...
julia jackson - July 18, 2007 02:06 AM (GMT)
Julia couldn’t help but roll her eyes as Lily went off about how New York was so much better, etc., etc. Frowning, she said dully, “Then why don’t you go back there? I’m sure you could root around and find a few shoes or something that haven’t been destroyed.” She thought that moving back would be a great idea for Miss Jeffery. She would be out of Julia’s hair and away from Turner. Maybe she’d end up being buried under debris or something. That would be rather pleasant unfortunate.
Smiling, she added brightly, “Compared to the usual clothes I buy- thirty dollar shorts and twenty dollar shirts, this was pretty expensive. Though, I have spent over two-fifty on shoes and another fifty on inserts for those shoes, so I suppose it sort of evens out.” Oh yes, she was actually attempting to be nice, and it wasn’t coming across as forced any more.
And then Lily had to go make the anorexic comment. Okay, so Jules was naturally thin. And, she didn’t eat all that much because food really wasn’t something she was preoccupied about. And, she exercised quite a bit. So, of course, she got the occasional ‘anorexic’ comment. But her friends were the ones who said it. ‘Julia,’ they’d say, taking on a joking parental tone, ‘you haven’t eaten your second slice of pizza. You’re not becoming anorexic, are you?’ Then they’d laugh, and that would be the end of it.
But Lily wasn’t her friend, and she definitely didn’t mean it as a joke. For one, she had said it rather rudely, and then she had to go on and add Turner to the situation. What a fucking bitch.
Pushing any nice-ness, as faux as it may have been, aside, Julia pushed her shoulders back and began venomously, “You would consider me anorexic? Well, my dear, I would have to consider you fat. Abercrombie makes clothes up to size ten. Fucking ten. If your ass is huge enough that you need double digits to fit it, then you probably shouldn’t be out shopping. You should be at home running on your treadmill or doing several squats. And maybe you should be looking into some sort of surgery, like lipo or gastric bypass. Also,-” she began, though she was cut off by Lily’s rather irritating ring. Obviously someone wasn’t intelligent enough to figure out how to put her phone on vibrate.
Waiting as Lily answered the call- ‘It’s probably Coralee calling to discuss something trivial’, she thought- Julia re-adjusted the way she was standing, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. And then it happened. ‘God Turner, don’t be so crude!’ WHAT. THE. FUCK?
She simply stood there as Miss Jeffery ended the call and said something. Jules really didn’t hear what she’d said, as she was a bit preoccupied by the blood pounding in her ears. Her vision was going slightly out of focus, and she was suddenly feeling more infuriated than she’d felt in a long time. “Turner?” she asked, her voice cracking slightly. “Turner was on the phone with you?” And then her phone pulsed in her pocket and she was suddenly even madder. She didn’t want to read what he had to say, she didn’t want to go over to his house in an hour, and she really didn’t want to be here with Lily.
“So,” Julia began, her face reddening slightly in anger, “you come from the big fucking apple, intrude on life here- which was fine, thank-you-very-much- and then you decide that it might be fun to try and steal other girls’ boyfriends? Well, you’re going to have to learn a thing or two about how we get on in St. Peters.” Wow, maybe Jules needed to listen to herself. Wasn’t she doing the same thing to Coralee’s boyfriend? Granted, she wasn’t flirting with him so blatantly, but it was fundamentally the same thing.
lily jeffery - July 18, 2007 02:45 AM (GMT)
Lily wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry after hearing Julia's nice long... Tirade about her. God, this girl had issues if she really thought Lily was out to snatch boyfriends. Invasion of the Boy Snatcher, BEWARE Lily thought wryly to herself, envisioning a large flashing sign in front of Julia. And maybe Lily shouldn't have made that comment about the Abercrombie and Fitch clothes. She hadn't truly meant to imply anything, but then again, every little thing is in an implication when someone thinks that they're on the receiving end of it. And perhaps she was waxing New York a bit too much. But she really was just emphasizing the fantastic shopping. She could do without the rats in the subways and all of the homeless people; she just wanted Fifth Avenue, a black AmEx card, and a few modelquins to chat with in the stores while she shopped... And Starbucks...
"Look, for starters, if anyone has a problem with their weight, it's you for thinking of such procedures. Sorry doll, but the boys like me well enough this way," Lily said calmly, in a bit of a dreamy tone. "Second, as much as I love New York, I'm here to stay for a while, so you may want to get used to it. Trust me, if I had a say in it, I wouldn't have come to St. Peters with all of it's oh so lovely people who have to find drama between every crack in the sidewalk or else they flip out and are unsure of what to do so they make even more drama. Such as pissing off one's boyfriend because one suddenly decides that she doesn't like him anymore and gives some other boy a much nicer hello then one gives ones own boyfriend. But hey, I'm a New Yorker. We don't have emotions half the time, right?" Sadly with Lily it was true; when one would look at her while dreaming, she'd have little or no emotions on her face.
And then Julia just had to comment about her phone call. But what could Lily really say? She hadn't been the one to call Turner, first off, so it wasn't her fault. Second of all, she had never tried to steal Turner from Julia. Lily actually believed in something called love and she would never take an opportunity away from someone else. So what if Turner and Julia don't really suit one another? That's not Lily's decision. Yeah, Turner is great, but for now, she wanted him just to be her friend. But Julia would never believe her if she said this!!!!
Lily inhaled and tried to smile softly at Julia. "If you think that, you sorely misunderstand me. I don't want you and your boyfriend to break up. You're doing a fine job on your own and anyway Turner's a friend of mine; that's all! If you think otherwise, that's your prerogative. But Tuner and I are just friends for the moment. And when a friend wants to talk, I talk to them. If you have a problem with it, tell Turner. I'd love to see his reaction," Lily paused here and was about to turn to walk away. "I may be relatively new still, but unlike you, I know that if you really liked Turner and Turner truly liked you, you wouldn't be worrying about me."
Without saying a word of parting, Lily did turn around and start to walk away; this wasn't worth a trip to the mall. But then something stopped her and she turned around, "just so you know, I'm glad Turner had someone to look forward to while at war. But if you continue to play with him, I will do everything I can to make sure he hurts you most fiercely."
Loyalty, thy name is Lily.
julia jackson - July 18, 2007 03:01 AM (GMT)
Julia really didn’t know what to say.
So maybe she had overreacted, but it was in her nature to do that, and you really couldn’t blame her. With their relationship as tense as it was, every little thing set her off a bit. She was sure even hearing Turner mention Lily would upset her, but him calling her? He hadn’t even bothered to call Julia. He’d sent her a fucking text. And he had unlimited texting. Which meant that he’d rather waste his minutes on Lily.
Jules pulled her phone out of her pocket and did her absolute best to ignore Lily’s comments that had undoubtedly been aimed at making her feel guilty for her feelings toward Johnny (which really weren’t her fault, so she shouldn’t have felt guilty). After reading Turner’s answer, she couldn’t help but laugh. ‘o well i hope ur having fun. ill call u l8r.’ Yeah, as if calling her later would make up for not calling her before.
Giving Lily one last glance before she headed for the mall’s exit, Julia called in a pleasant voice, “Bye!” pausing for a moment she added, “Oh, and fuck you, Jeffery.”