little lion boy;

louis whaley. 17. yeah, i don't know where the hell we're going either.

[whaleyisms-blog]

“Does anyone want to go with me to get some more water bottles? I think we’re running low...” And halted in the middle of the desert, that was one thing he didn’t want them to run out of. 

[devin-jameson]

Oh what’s the fuss, everyone has nothing to worry about. I say if Bradford’s too weak to buck himself up, we leave him for dead, and I’ll drive to the next location. End of discussion, yeah?

[whaleyisms-blog]

You’re an ass, Devin, no one’s leaving anyone behind. And you’re definitely not driving, so don’t even think about it. 

[codybradfords]

“God, this is — this is a mess. Look, maybe this is just… how it’s supposed to be, you know? Drop me off at the nearest hospital and I’ll tell the cops the rest of you got away, send them on a goose chase to Canada or something. It’d buy you guys some time, at least…“

[whaleyisms-blog]

“...You’re joking, right? We’d rather go back St. Clair’s than leave you behind...actually, maybe we should all just go back to St. Clair’s...”

[imogenekelley-blog]

“Just saying, you just do things to me, Louis,” Imogene teased. “See?” Without waiting for his consent, she held out her arm until it hovered just inches in front of his nose. “It might feel better if you gave it a kiss, even.”

[whaleyisms-blog]

“I-Imogene!” he exclaimed, backing as far away from her as he could in his seat, eyes wide, “you’re being ridiculous. Stop it. I’m not going to kiss it, not only would that not help your chances of developing an infection, it could also transmit the bacteria to me, so really, we’d both lose,” he rambled. Naturally, his complexion was betraying him with a deep shade of red, and although he despised Imogene with every fiber of his being, he never knew what to do when he was given that sort of attention. 

[itshanakim]

Nobody panic. I can drive.

[whaleyisms-blog]

Wait, what? You have a license? Why didn’t you say something sooner? And by sooner I mean when we left St. Clair’s because we could’ve used some better drivers a long time ago...

[stokesleighann]

Just give me a sec, okay? There’s a way out of this. There’s an easy solution — I know it. I just need some time to drum it up.

[whaleyisms-blog]

There is no easy solution to this or we would’ve thought of it already -- we’re screwed.

[janedoejr]

          “Like a piggy bank: a coin for the forest, a coin for the beach, a coin for vegas, a coin for the canyon — four cents, twenty cents, forty cents, or a whole dollar depending on what memories are worth. More than thoughts, I’d think.”

[whaleyisms-blog]

His brow furrows, “Um, yeah...I guess, I mean, I’d like to think that all of this is worth something. Though I don’t know whether you can equate memories to any sort of material value. They’re on a scale of their own entirely. Don’t you think?”

[imogenekelley-blog]

“Fine yourself,” she said with a shrug of her own. The bleeding had stopped by now and the sting was barely noticeable, what with the distraction that Louis had offered. She grinned and punched him in the arm lightly, her own obscure way of appreciating him. “Don’t need a bandaid now, I guess. You made it feel all better,” she purred, baiting him to react in any way but the usual way he carried himself.

[whaleyisms-blog]

She’d gotten his attention again, not that she’d really lost it in the first place (he’d just pretended that she had), and he frowned, slightly confused. “I -- I what?” he supposed she was flirting, but only to annoy him. It was working. “You’re welcome, then, I guess.”

[janedoejr]

          “Maybe not,” Jane considered, looking down to pick at a loose thread on her shorts; she’d pick, but never yank, for fear that it’ll all come undone. “I like to share.”

[whaleyisms-blog]

Louis shrugged, “Well, when you can share all of this with him whenever we meet up. Right now, you’ll just have to save it all in your head so you can remember it later.” He doesn’t really believe they’re going to see Alfie again. But he couldn’t bear the look on Jane’s face if he were to say that to her. 

[janedoejr]

          “Mm-mm,” Jane mumbled in the negative, shaking her head by way of assuring him that no, there wasn’t a blur insight; tossing away her imaginary camera in favor of returning her attention to the view, crossing her arms. “It’s too bad we don’t have an address for Alfie, to send him photos, write him back — but I guess that’s the point,” Jane contemplated, glancing over at Louis as if to check that she was doing this ‘logic’ thing right. Ironically, he was the only one she felt safe enough with to come back down to earth around; or to try to come back down to earth around, but it was something. 

[whaleyisms-blog]

“Yeah, I suppose it is,” Louis nodded, “though I don’t really know if he’d care...” He trailed off, looking down into the canyon before finally glancing back over at her. “But at least we’ve got these memories, we don’t need to share them with anyone else for them to be important.”

[itshanakim]

“It’d make for a pretty interesting group funeral,” Hana mused darkly, though she grinned. Oddly enough, she didn’t mind Devin’s driving all that much, but it did leave some room to be improve. “That’s a cheerful thought. While we’re at it, why don’t we just stand the whole trip.” She deflected the bottle neatly, slapping it onto the ground in front of them. “Then consider this me filling my quota for the day.”

[whaleyisms-blog]

“If we had a funeral, it’d be pretty sad,” he laughed bitterly, “no one would show up.” They lurched forward again, and he gripped the seat with one hand, Hana’s arm with the other. He immediately drew back from her again, mumbling, “Sorry. I just keep thinking we’re about to die.” 

He scratched the back of his head, “Yeah..consider your quote filled.”

[devin-jameson]

Devin took a step forward with both his hands tucked into his pockets — now standing in line with the younger male, soon lifting his head up to have his eyes wander around the beautiful scenery in front of him. “You make it sound as though we’re on some fucking tour and Alfredo’s planning the entire itinerary,” he bluntly commented, keeping his eyes ahead. A small playful smirk grew on the tip of his lips as a sudden thought for pranks entered Devin’s mind and though he knew Louis would be used to his unpredictable plans by now, he had always found the younger male’s unexpected expression to be quite entertaining. Carefully, he sneaked one hand out of his pocket and lifted it up behind the boy who seem to be fascinated to pay any attention on him; and without warning, Devin gave the boy a small harmless and forceful push towards the edge, his eyes searching for any response.

[whaleyisms-blog]

“Isn’t that what it is?” Louis asked, “I mean, simplified, of course. I don’t trust him a bit, though, I still think after this, we should turn back...But damn, it’s beautiful out here, isn’t it?” He didn’t even glance back at Devin as he spoke, to preoccupied with the view to notice whatever Devin was up to. A tragic mistake he’d made many times before. And one that he would probably continue to make. So, naturally, within milliseconds of Devin’s hands pushing him forward, his heart was in his throat, and instead of thinking about how angry he was, he spent the next few seconds thinking about his imminent death and terrible but quick descent to the bottom of the canyon. Oh, he realized, I’m alive. And with that realization, he turned around, cheeks redder than his hair. “What the hell was that for? I might’ve tripped! Are you trying to get me killed??”

[katewaliss]

“Gross. Leave it to Whaley to spray the front of his shorts over nature’s port-o-potty. Is your heart fluttering? Are you cheeks flushing because after years at St. Clair’s, being the little waste and shit you are you’ve finally found a place that you can call h o m e ? “

[whaleyisms-blog]

Normally, he would argue. He would tell Shaye to shove that attitude back up her rear end where it came from and to leave him alone. But right now, he can’t. The only words he can muster are; “You don’t think this is amazing? How?”

[imogenekelley-blog]

“Not really true, but whatever you say,” Imogene said flippantly. “Maybe,” she said noncommittally, even as she thought it would be a rare day when she didn’t get annoyed with Leigh Ann.

[whaleyisms-blog]

“Alright, fine then,” he nodded, turning away from her. Louis knew she hadn’t payed attention to a single word he’d said, but he also knew that was no convincing her of anything she didn’t want to be convinced of. And he wasn’t too fond of Imogene, so he wasn’t interested in wasting his time.

[donaldredgrave]

“I can live with that,” he replied quietly, awaiting his reaction to the view. Donnie could have sworn the sun had splattered its color and melted all over the hills and cliffs and edges that composed the endless scenery before them. He let the moment live in silence until he spoke in an absent minded manner, as though by accident. “It almost makes me hate Alfie less.”

[whaleyisms-blog]

It looked like a painting. It didn’t look real. It was impossible that something so lovely could have been composed by the universe, a total accident -- none of the jagged edges, none of the rich colors, nor the wide open sky had been composed by any man. It was enough to make you believe in anything. “Yeah,” Louis chuckled, “I didn’t expect that, that’s for sure. But I guess...he can’t be all bad.”

[stokesleighann]

“Oh, you know I don’t mean it like that,” she admonished, though she knew he was joking. “It’s really weird, I know — but I like that the scene never changes. The highway is never-ending, and so are the trees. I’m sure it doesn’t make any sense, but it comforts me to count them knowing that I’ll never have to stop. Keeps me preoccupied.”

[whaleyisms-blog]

He listened to her, nodding, “Yeah, I get that. It is kind of nice, to keep going and going. It’s hard to think about someone catching us as long as we keep moving. We don’t have to think about where we’ll end up or that we have no idea what we’re doing...”

[imogenekelley-blog]

“She just needs to relax,” Imogene said with a sigh to indicate just how tired she was of the conversation already. Boring. “All of you need to relax.”

[whaleyisms-blog]

“There’s a difference between relaxing and completely losing it, you know,” he offered, “I know that...you don’t like her, I guess, but we’re going to be in this van a while, so. Maybe you should try.”