Cliff Parker
Cliff could barely get out a 'goodbye' to his mother before Lexi pulled him out the door and into the waiting car. He was smiling by now, and for what had recently become fairly uncommon, it was a genuine smile. As much as he enjoyed getting away from his Manhattan friends to recharge, once they reunited, he realized how much he loved them. Especially Lexi. She could make him laugh in his darkest moments and her crazy antics never ceased to entertain him. She was so alive, all of the time, and today was no different. The car ride to school consisted of light conversation and of course, physical affection from the blonde. Cliff leaned his head back against the head rest, but his eyes remained focused on her as she snuggled up against him and went on about her summer adventures.
Even with the normal New York traffic, it didn't take too long before they pulled up in front of Constance Billard. Cliff was interested in catching up with Lex and some of his lacrosse teammates, but he allowed Lexi to lead him over to her Annelise. Without realizing, he raised an eyebrow in intrigue as he caught sight of the petite socialite. Even though he had social media accounts and updated them on occasion, he hadn't seen any photos of Annelise post-hair change and he was pleasantly surprised with the change. She was definitely hot, and had now crossed over into the 'sexy' category. It was something he'd probably end up admitting to Lex later that night after a few beers at Annelise's party. When her eyes turned to him and she addressed him personally, he quickly readjusted his sight to be focused at her face rather than body. He tried to shake the thoughts from his mind, all while offering her a small smirk. "It took you long enough to figure that out," he joked in response to her comment about how he probably disappeared because he thought he was too good for them. "Nah, but really, I've just been all over the place. Word on the street - or should I say the 'web' - is that you haven't been hanging around here much either," he added. A gossip blog was probably the last thing that anyone would expect Cliff to read, but hey, was it wrong to just want to see what was written on it? He didn't have to believe any of it to find it amusing that someone would care about other people's lives so much to waste their own time making up lies about them.
Katherine and Kenna soon approached, and Cliff offered them both a friendly wave before the four girls began to talk about things that he wasn't interested in. He easily zoned out though and only returned to reality when Lex appeared in their circle. Cliff cocked his head to the side and grinned at the sight of his best friend. They didn't greet each other like the girls, with squeals and long embraces, but Cliff's grin was enough to know that he was happy to see Lex. He hadn't seen his earlier text asking if he was at school yet, and honestly, even if he had, there was a slim chance that he would've responded anyway. Cliff was known for "forgetting" to answer people's texts, even if he was very close with them. "My summer was alright. A lot of travelling and shit, but it was all pretty good. I'm kind of glad to be back, though. It's the beginning of the end, man. We've got to make this year count," he figured that he and Lex would go into more detail about what they had missed when they had the time, but for now, he figured that the simple explanation would be enough. "What about you? How's your mom's restaurant going?"