IT'S THE FINAL CRUST DOWN! | dadadadaaaadadadadada

[Crysta Ericson]

<sup>Crysta let out a small scream of excitement when Rusty said he'd been held back a year, 'I was held back a year too!', she said, more excited that someone should be to share that information. Truth was, it really sucked being older than the rest of the kids in your grade, even if it was only by a year, it was easy to tell. For instance, today in her English class Crysta had actually witnessed the full length of a couples relationship. It started with innocently passing notes, then they announced they were boyfriend and girlfriend, there was a pretty heavy make out session while the teachers back was turned, and then by the end of the class they were broken up and moving on.

'This is so crazy, like, crazy awesome though', Crysta said, basically bouncing with happiness.</sup>

[Rusty McConaughey]

"Dude for real? That's awesome! I felt like a total dick being the oldest one cuz I make fun of all them. But now you can make fun with me!" Rusty laughed, swinging his arms through the air with excitement. This was honestly one of the best things that had happened to him in the past couple months and he was beyond happy to have met up with such a great friend.

"Man. This is insane! Do you wanna like.. do you wanna go get a coffee or something? Catch up? Its been so long I don't wanna just lose you again," he said the last part softly, kind of in a sad tone. He didn't mean for it to sound so blue, but it was true. He really didn't want to lose her again. She held so many memories of him, and he held so many of her. Shed been a very important part of his life and finding her again like this was a sign he didn't plan on just letting slip away.

[Crysta Ericson]

Crysta laughed, loving the idea of picking on Juniors with Rusty, she hated doing it alone, and mostly inside her head. This day was really shaping up to be a good one, if only she had run in to Rusty earlier that day. It actually surprised her they hadn't been in any classes together, but then again, she had missed a couple when she was being shown around the School and its grounds.

'Yeah, coffee sounds good', Crysta replied cheerfully as she stood up, when she looked back at Rusty he looked sort of down so she gave him her widest grin, 'Cheer up puddin' cup!', she joked, grabbing his hand and pulling him up.

[Rusty McConaughey]

Rusty willingly stood as Crysta tugged at his hand. He tried to offer a smile, but it was subtle and solemn as he looked at his shoes and kicked his board to his knee. After catching it, he turned to clip it to his backpack and slung the whole thing over his shoulders. "This is so weird," he said to Crysta, turning his head up to look at her again. "Its like the Lion King. Y'know like.. when Nala finds Simba in the jungle and they're all like 'omg i missed you'. Its like that," he joked, but was half serious. He only connected it to the Lion King so it didn't seem so sappy.

As they walked, Rusty tried to make a little small talk. He wasn't very good at it, though, so just ended up closing his mouth and ignoring the fact that this was probably turning into a very awkward walk to the coffee shop. "Are you cold? I mean.. its kinda chilly out here.." he said after a moment, gesturing to her arms where she seemed to be shivering a bit. "I've got another hoodie in my pack if you want it," he offered, pointing his thumb back over his shoulder before stopping and slinging the backpack off of one shoulder so it was in front of his body now. "Here," he said, unzipping it and removing a black zip up hoodie. "Just looking at you, I'm getting cold."

[Crysta Ericson]

<sup>'It is sort of like Lion King', Crysta mused, liking the comparison. It definitely felt odd to be walking along with someone she hadn't seen in such a long time. Even though they had a lot to catch up on the most either of them seemed to manage was small talk. Crysta hoped that when they got to the coffee shop they'd have a real conversation, she had so much to tell him!

Much to her dislike Crysta found herself blushing as Rusty handed her his spare jacket, she wasn't even sure why she was blushing, it wasn't that big a gesture, but her cheeks turned pink nevertheless.
'Oh, thanks', she smiled, pulling on the jacket and zipping it up. It was comically large on her, the bottom almost coming to her knees, she waved around the excess sleeve and laughed childishly, 'I'm too small for this borrowing boyfriends clothes thing', she said, 'I mean, not that you're my boyfriend but it's the same principle 'cause you're a boy...', she added quickly.</sup>

[Rusty McConaughey]

Rusty laughed and dropped his head a bit, trying to hide the blush. Blush? What was this? Must've just been because he hadn't seen her in so long. That was probably it. All the nerves and memories, they were flooding.. into his.. cheeks...

"I'm a boy. That's a friend. A boy-friend?" he shrugged, trying to make sense of it but just ended up laughing again and punching her in the shoulder lightly just as they rounded a corner. Stopping, Rusty grabbed the handle to a small shop and opened the door. "I can smell the BEANS already!" he said, adding quite a bit of unnecessary emphasis on the word 'beans' as he waited for her to enter.

There was so much to tell her. He didn't really know where to start, and he didn't even know if there was all that much to tell her. But he felt like he had his entire life story to talk about. Rusty wanted so badly to just sit her down in front of a movie screen and have his entire life play out for her. He wanted to relive all the memories he had with her. The tire swing by the creek and how many times they'd pushed each other off of it; the dirt in their shoes and on their faces after a friendly game of tag; all the family meals they'd shared. He wanted it all back.

[Crysta Ericson]

<sup>'The BEANS!', Crysta cried loudly as they walked in to the cafe, a few people turned around to glare at her but she barely noticed as she was already at the counter eyeing up the drinks. Crysta had never been much of a fan of coffee, which most people never seemed to believe, because she was always to full of energy. Truth was most of her energy came from Red Bull, she'd probably only had a couple cups of coffee in her life. With this in mind Crysta ordered a hot chocolate with marshmallows and went to stand at the end of the line to wait for her drink.

'So, me, Matt and Tyler started a band', Crysta said, unable to keep the information in any longer, she hadn't wanted to seem like she was bragging, 'It was pretty big in Franklin, and we're gonna start doing shows in the city I think', she added with a big grin as she was handed her hot chocolate.

{ Maggie Let me know when you're gonna be online so we can both get on and finish this coffee rp so we can move on to bigger and better things! Not that this isn't good, it's great, but I have many ideas for Crusty activities! }</sup>

[Rusty McConaughey]

"Holy fuck!" Rusty almost shouted, but quieted himself when he got a couple dirty glares from a few of the shop's older customers. "I mean.. holy cow.. that's really freakin' awesome!" he tried again, a bit quieter now as he approached the counter and ordered a dark hot chocolate. Once it was set, he joined Crysta a the opposite end of the line to wait for his drink.

"Man I remember you singing a little back when we were kids.. but do you play something, too?" he asked, leaning an elbow against the bar as a man brought Crysta her drink.

[Crysta Ericson]

<sup>'I play guitar, but not while I'm singing', Crysta replied, leaning her back against the counter her drink clutched in her hands, 'I'm not really that good at guitar, that's Tyler's job', Crysta admitted taking a sip of her hot chocolate and getting cream all over her nose.

'When we do a show you should come and watch us, it'd be really cool', Crysta carried on, wiping the cream off her nose with her sleeve, before quickly realizing it wasn't really her sleeve to be wiping things on, 'Woops, sorry, bad habits die hard', she apologized, wiping the excess cream on her jeans.

'What are you doing these days anyway? Job? Girlfriend? Kids? Dogs? Unicorns? Still skateboarding?', Crysta asked tucking her hair behind her ear and casting a smile at Rusty waiting for his reply, well aware that she was probably speaking too much.</sup>

[Rusty McConaughey]

Rusty nodded along as Crysta spoke about playing the guitar and grabbed his mug when the man brought it by. "That's really cool, man. I wish I could play an instrument," he laughed, taking a sip before wincing as it was far too hot. He blinked hard, fighting the tears that had unintentionally began to well in his eyes. "Oh man please, use that for anything. Just don't wipe your ass, that's weird," he teased as Crysta tried to get the cream off the sweater's sleeve.

"What am I doing? Huh," Rusty sort of snorted and tried to think of something impressing to say. His life really wasn't all too exciting. There was nothing going on. He didn't work because he didn't have to; his parents paid for everything and anything. He didn't have a girlfriend because clearly the ladies couldn't handle how hot he was. Skateboarding tho.. that he did. After a hearty laugh, Rusty smiled at Crysta and nodded. "Yea man, still skateboarding. Its kinda all I do. Don't have a job, don't have a girlfriend, definitely don't have a unicorn and don't really have any friends. Skateboarding is about all I do. 'Sides study and.. yea study."