∵ ♔ ∴

kingston carlisle. thirty-six. actor and owner of carlisle bakery & cafe.

[kingcarlisle]

KINGSTON CARLISLE JR. ACTOR & OWNER OF CARLISLE BAKERY & CAFE.

“That's the trouble with loving a wild thing: you're always left watching the door.”

GOOGLE DOC  ╱  ABOUT TAG

[kingcarlisle]

A M I N A

Amina leaned her head back against the pillows set up against her headboard as she focused her dark hues upon one of her best friends. “I just… It’s the only way I can hear his voice,” she said quietly as she thought about all of the times the three of them just hung out together when they were younger. She raised her hand up towards her eyes, wiping away the tears that were daring to fall down her cheeks. “I don’t know what to do, King.” She chewed on her lower lip. “I feel this…” She placed her hand on her chest. “Massive hole has been punched through my chest and I don’t know how to… even begin fixing it.” It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried to move on past Raj, ironically dating Elijah who used to date Raj’s wife and yet somehow the handful of times she did run into her ex after he got married it was always so… heart wrenching because looking at him just hurt and now… She inhaled as she raised her hands up towards her face, covering it. “I’ll never see him again.”

✩ 

listening to her, king slowly approached the bed and took a seat next to her, at the edge of the bed. how did someone even begin mourning, when it was just the other day that they’d seen that person happy, healthy? maybe not the happiest, king had been all too aware of raj’s marital status on shaky ground and his residual feelings for the woman on the bed next to him, but it was nothing that couldn’t have been fixed.. if he was still around. “i know,” he said, softly, reaching out from where he’d been wringing his hands together to gently maneuver her hands away from her face. king didn’t want her to hide her grief, to hide herself from him, when they were going through this together. and they would get through it, together. “we just have to.. keep him alive within ourselves. and he’s probably here,” and king paused with a crack of his voice, clearing his throat to stop himself from choking up further. he had to continue, though, wanted to try, at least, to lift her spirits some, “standing in this room as a ghost, just watching us be complete wrecks. with that goddamn mustache of his.”

[mndvx]

IMMORTALS (2011) dir. Tarsem Singh ››› Daniel Sharman as Ares

[kingcarlisle]

V A L E R I A

While Kingston had been the greatest appeal of Ithaca, she was learning to find love in friendly strangers. With her day off at a job she was overqualified for, she needed to get back to her roots of digging. She needed to learn about the people she was surrounding herself with, even if there would be no official story at end of it. It was an older artist in the middle of the commons that caught her attention. According to the woman, she’d been doing portraits for years and thought that Valeria would make for a good muse. With a wide smile and a thank you for the compliments that were being thrown at her, she’d nearly missed the calling of her name. For a moment and a moment alone, she’d assumed that it was meant for someone else. However, as dark hues fell on a familiar man, she knew that wasn’t the case. Excusing herself, Val sucked in a deep breath, her smile faltering as she pulled away and dared to close the distance between them. “Kingston,” she greeted softly, though there was nothing soft or gentle about the way her heart pounded against her chest.

✩ 

he wasn’t even sure how to approach seeing her again, stuffing his hands in his pockets as to not reach out to her. it’d just have made it more difficult, trying to keep his emotions steady. as good of an actor he was, king was not as good at being anything but himself off the camera. he was always see-through, features giving away everything, and the only time he was able to turn that off was when he was getting paid for it. “i thought i was imagining you, for a second,” king admitted, steeling himself to ask the questions he couldn’t keep from spilling out. “how long have you been here? have you been avoiding me?” he teased, though there was a hint of genuine disgruntlement in the question. 

[kingcarlisle]

A M I N A

AMINA’S APARTMENT June 23rd w/ @kingcarlisle​

Amina stared at newspaper article. How was it that only a week ago she was sitting in one of the cafes talking to Raj? How could he be dead? It didn’t make any sense. Her hand moved towards the cell phone on the night stand and picked it up, clicking on Raj’s name and putting the phone up to her ear, listening to to ring and ring until ultimately his voicemail box came up. Closing her eyes as she heard his voice, the woman didn’t know what she was going to do. She pulled the phone away from her ear, clicking the red button and put it on the nightstand, leaning back. She heard her bedroom door creak open, her head turning to look over at Kingston who was standing in the doorway. “What the hell is happening?” She murmured, raising her hands up towards her face as she leaned back into her bed.

✩ 

it was impossible to believe. how could someone begin to mourn, if they hadn’t even been given the time to let it all sink in? to come to the understanding that he’ll never see one of his closest friends again? and the fact that his wife was missing, too, it was just.. giving the town the impression that they may never be done hearing about this tragic event. with how close the three had been, it was only natural that amina and king would gravitate towards one another in comfort. he just couldn’t help but feel guilty, knowing he’d spent so much time away. at least he was here, now, able to help her. it’s what raj would have wanted. “called again?” he said, pushing off where he was leaning against the doorframe to walk over to her. “i keep.. thinking he’ll just show up here laughing, that they’ll say it was just some sick joke. but..” he trailed off, knowing that they were just unrealistic wishes. denial was the route he was going in his grief, he supposed.

[kingcarlisle]

closed: for @valeria-ruiz​

location: ithaca commons

for a moment, it was like he was standing in a memory, a vision of her he’d once seen before. it was like that sometimes, when he’d think of her, and it was so easy to believe that he’d simply stepped back in time until he realized that.. this wasn’t something he’d experienced back in la. it was different, new, completely bizarre, seeing her visage amongst his old stomping grounds, the brick of the mahogany grill standing out behind her, and. never had he thought he’d witness valeria in his hometown. things in la were so fleeting, nothing was easy to pin down and hardly ever did anything last longer than the time frame of an instagram story. but he and valeria.. they’d only ended things when he came back home, broke things off with the knowledge that she’d move on, that he’d move on.

now, he wasn’t so sure. and he couldn’t let her walk off without knowing that he hadn’t materialized her from his memory, that he hadn’t missed her enough that he was hallucinating her. “val?”