@regretmuch . / starter call .
dee could not, for the life of him, understand why he had to be dragged along, just because his mother suddenly felt it was important to be part of their extended family's life. his dad certainly didn't care ; dee didn't even know the names of his paternal grandparents, or if they were still alive. he didn't know if he had any biological aunts or uncles on that side either, or cousins, younger or older. though, he never really asked. his father was a strange, secretive case, & dee was content with the weirdness of his parents, younger brother, and the family friends that acted as honorary aunt & uncle, respectively.
so, yes, he was less than pleased to learn he'd be spending his break away from school not only stuck with the family he sees every day, but with those who are essentially strangers to him. what's even worse, was that they lived in america of all places ; in some small, no name town. he was just lucky that his household made sure he grew up knowing both english & russian. he couldn't imagine his idiot younger brother managing to survive if he had to learn to read & speak in a different language.
it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that dee needed to sneak out. he did it plenty of times at home, just to hide away & experience the world alone, without his brother clinging to his sleeve or the peering, curiously expectant gazes of his parents sticking to his skin. & if he was being honest, it was exhilarating to walk through a lonesome cemetery in the middle of the night in a new country. the gentle pattering of rain helps hide his footfalls, & it wasn't coming down hard enough or persistent enough for the ground to soften into mud just yet. it was calming & exciting, & feeling so at ease while his earbuds play songs from one of his metalcore playlists is the reason he doesn't notice the girl crouched on the ground.
he knocks into her with considerable force, hitting what he thinks might be a camera on his way down. what some -- teen girl was doing, kneeling in the darkness of night, setting up camera equipment, was beyond him. he groans from the brunt of his fall & instinctively shoots this girl a glare. if he hadn't been so discombobulated ( & perhaps a bit embarrassed from being so caught off guard ), he might have thought she was cute.
"what the hell?" he scoffs, taking one earbud from his ear and rustling in the grass to find the other that had fallen from the impact. "what are you doing? are you - shooting some kind of amateur horror movie? who creeps around a cemetery after midnight in the rain, anyway?" like he was one to talk.