everybody loves me

One lap. Two laps. Three. By the time he finally stopped to take a break, at least another seven had been added. He loved doing this, especially on warm summer days. Just going to the lake and swimming for a while. It was a big lake, and Alec only took up a small corner, so that didn't usually bother anyone. They still had plenty of space to swim, chill, play, whatever it was the large number of people who came during the summer did. Plus, it made him relax.

And keep up his shape, of course. He couldn't forget that. Not when he pushed himself off the water and made his way past a group of girls to get his towel and found them staring. It was strange to think about it, but he had changed in a year - physically and mentally. Sure, he had always been 'good looking', but now he looked more like a man than he ever had. He was sixteen, after all.

He winked at the group of girls, just to see their reaction. It made them giggle and whisper to each other, and he smirked at himself. He enjoyed knowing he had that sort of effect on some people.

For all his good looks, Licky was sort of a douche.

Karma gave a small smile as she ran up behind the group of girls, black sneakers instead of boots on this time. Her running shorts were green - not emerald, but certainly not anything neon - with black vertical stripes that stopped at her knees, and her shirt was black as well. Both were fitted to show her newly developed curves and muscles, and while neither of them were designer, it was clear that a pretty penny had gone into making them. With her hair up in a high ponytail, she looked almost... preppy. Then again, no one who'd ever called her that had lived to tell the tale.

Moving past the group at a speed that was less vampiric and more sprinter, she thrust her hands forward, shoving the boy with enough force to send him sprawling to the ground, but not enough to get him seriously injured. Or injured at all really, unless all the brawn was just for show.

Sitting on his back, she gave a yawn, pulling a bottle of water from her running pack and taking the time to unscrew it, raising it to her lips before she paused. Raising an eyebrow at the girls that clearly dismissed each and every one of them, she continued to drink as if they didn't exist.

"Hey there Sir Licks a Lot."

It made him feel better, he guessed that was why he did it. And, frankly, he should do it more often if it got him off his bad mood. Maybe that could be what Grayson had mentioned. . . would flirting with girls be considered a hobby, though?

He was nearly turning around to chat up those girls when suddenly he was on the floor. He frowned, wondering how he had gotten there in the first place. It wasn't like there was anybody behind him, but perhaps he was too lost in his thoughts to pay attention to his surroundings. All he'd felt was a shove.

He got up - or, well, tried to. The weight on his back made it hard for him to do so, and when he realized it was a person, he stopped trying.

A small grin appeared on his face at the sound of the familiar voice - really, he should've known. He didn't think he knew anyone else who'd do such a thing. "What is it I lick, exactly, Miss Karmander?"

Karma made a face. "Why would I want to know that?" Her voice clearly showed that she was above knowing anything of that sort. She wanted to know nothing about what went near that dastardly mouth of his, and since she'd been hearing word that he wasn't exactly quiet on the western front, she really didn't want to hear it.

"Anyway, Sir Licks a Lot, if you're done prancing about like an American Pop Star, I thought we could-" Her voice faltered, and she frowned slightly, though her expression would be invisible to him. Shaking her head, she moved slightly, changing her weight so that she was now sitting beside him, giving him enough room to at least roll over, though her legs were still thrown over him. Cooling her expression, she tossed her hair, trying to seem as uneffected as she should have been about events beyond her control. "-I dunno. Spend a few hours together or something?" She shrugged a shoulder, grasping for the cool and collected person she had been before she left.

She had missed him.

Alec shrugged, as best as he could with his shoulders on the ground and Karma on top of him, "I dunno, you've always been interested in my mouth, haven't you?" He laughed, recalling their days as children. She'd always been more mature than all the other kids, of course it would've been her to pull him in for his first kiss.

"American Pop Star? I'm offended!" he protested, rolling over to lay on his back, propped up on his elbows. He thought he'd heard something change in her voice, though he figured she was probably just tired from running. Karma had always been independent, she'd never really needed anyone. "I was beginning to think you were too cool to hang out with me, that you preferred your British mates," he said, with a terrible accent, and added, "Or maybe you were just ignoring me because of my good looks."

He grinned, "I'd love to spend some time with you, Kitty."

Karma snorted, rolling her eyes. "I just had to get there before any french whores - or worse, british ones - got near enough to taint you. I mean, we were only... what? Eight? Just before you became the dashing player we all know and love." Reaching out a hand, she mussed up his hair, frowning at the way it slipped through her fingers. Had it always felt this way? Odd. She wasn't sure she had ever thought about it before.

"You were supposed to be offended, doofus, it wasn't a complement." Rolling her eyes, she moved to stand, having to move back across him to get up. "Don't you pay any attention? I was away. Training." She shrugged a shoulder as she stood, extending an arm to help him up.

"What good looks?" She teased. "Maybe I wasn't avoiding you at all. Or, you know, perhaps your face gets annoying after a while."

"Of course you would, I'm me." She stuck out her tongue and gestured to the ground around them. "We could be lying around doing nothing and it would still be a good time, because I'm me."

"Ah, yeah, I'm sure that was the reason," Alec joked, a teasing smirk on his face, "Why can't you just admit you were in love with me? It's alright, I mean - isn't everybody?" He wrinkled his nose when she messed up his hair and, automatically, a hand came up to fix it. Merlin, why did people always insist on doing that? "I'm not a player," he said with a roll of his eyes, "I'm just. . . a teenage boy. I've got hormones, needs."

He accepted her hand and got up, putting an arm around her shoulders to lead her to where his bag was, "Training? Where? Well, forgive me for not knowing where, exactly, you are. You seem to go from Russia, to the UK, to France like it's right across the street. Which, I suppose, it is, with Azorat and all that. . ."

The boy stopped in his tracks and made a 'seductive' face - or what he assumed was one. "Haven't you heard? I'm gonna become an underwear model," he told her, and continued walking, "It'll be raining girls - and money. Can it get any better? Plus, models do basically nothing. It's the perfect job for me."

He let out a laugh and bent down to pick up his towel, "Well, I must agree. Things with you are always fun, no matter what. But, please, don't let it get to your head."

"So, what do you wanna do today?"

Karma smirked, ruffling his hair again before he could stop her and grinning innocently. "Maybe it was the reason." She teased. "You never know." She gave a look of exaggerated disgust and covered her ears. "I don't want to hear about your playboy needs, Licky. Really, it's alright. I can live without being scarred."

She wound an arm around his waist as they walked to his bag, silently reveling in the contact. Not a lot of people were as affectionate toward her as Licky was... at least not any of the people she'd hung around lately. "Don't feel left out or anything. No one knew where I was... well except Liks but that was because I found him there."

Karma tilted her head back and bit her bottom lip, looking as awestruck as she could while trying to keep from laughing. "So you're going to be prancing around half dressed now?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "Does that mean I can sell your clothes to charity?" Wrinkling her nose, Karma shook her head. "And raining girls is all well and good until you realize that they'd die when they hit the ground. And probably splatter too. That's one hell of a photoshoot." She made a face. "Plus, all that blood and guts would probably ruin all your money. Gross." Pretending to think about it, she mock backtracked. "Unless of course you're into that sort of thing... which probably makes it worse."

"Too late for that, I'm afraid." She shrugged, spreading her arms in a 'what can you do?' gesture. "I'm too amazing for my own good, really."

Pausing, Karma frowned. She really hadn't thought that far ahead, or maybe she wasn't banking on him actually wanting to spend time with her. Whichever it was, she surely wasn't expressing it out loud. "Dunno." She said with a shrug. "I'm just bored. What do you want to do?"

"Liks?" he echoed, raising an eyebrow, "Who's that? New boyfriend I should be worrying about?" He joked, asking more out of curiosity than anything. If there was one person he knew could stand up for herself, no matter the situation, it was Karma. Like she'd ever let a boy take advantage of her.

"You don't sell clothes to charity, that would just defeat the whole purpose of it," he said, and added, "But no, you can't give them either. Gotta save the abs for those who pay - what's the point in getting paid to model if you're just going to walk around with everything showing for free?" He stopped for a second, frowning and wrinkled his nose, "Ew, gross. Never mind, I'll just make it rain money. And with that money, I'll drive around with girls."

He grinned and rolled his eyes, "And they say my ego is big."

Wiping the towel around his body, he shrugged and put on his clothes. "Dunno. I'm just bored," he repeated her words.