donnyvibes

[donnyvibes]

Donny stood awkwardly for a moment, before leaning in to wrap his arms around her for a long moment. He couldn’t imagine what she could be talking about. “I understand, but that doesn’t mean you… need to be alone while you’re getting away from those things, does it?” He wasn’t trying to help the woman, if she didn’t want/need it, but he still wanted to be with her. Of course, he wanted to know more, but felt like it would be even hard on the woman to talk about. 

Donny stayed by the door. He already felt like an uninvited guest, as it was. Upon her return, he saw the birthday gifts, but still looked as confused as before. His eyes went wide, shaking his head at her panicked words. “Mila. No, no. I did write it.” He took the birthday card. “But, um…” He dropped his shoulders. “Mila… It’s a night light… with a heart.” His voice was matter of factly, but soft. To Donny, it felt no different than sending her a good morning message with a heart emoji, or making a ‘heart hand’ over his chest. “I heart you!” Hearing it out loud, it was a little out of place, but… 

“And this…” He raised his hand holding the card. “Doesn’t translate to ‘I love you’.” A pause. “It means ‘I like you a lot’,” clearing his throat. “‘Te amo’ means ‘I love you’.” He spoke with confidence, but still scratched the back of his head, a little awkwardly. There was a long pause as he thought of what to say next. The only thing he could come up with was to actually express his feelings. "I like you a lot, Mila." He repeated. "That's all I wanted to express here." He gestured at the card and light. Another long pause. "I don't even know what love is... That love that seems to scare you... I don't know what it feels like, but I'm sure I would know if I, uh, felt it." He cleared his throat. "But if I actually felt it, why shouldn't it be easy to say? Why does it scare you to the point of traumatization?" Referring to her earlier words. "Was it just because you thought I might be insincerely writing it in a card? Or because it was too soon, or something?"

Mila sighed and suddenly felt a tear fall upon her cheek. It was hard for her to get anything out. "Yes. There are just...things that I'm trying to get away from and I can only do that on my own. Things that I'm not proud of and things that you can't help me with," she shook her head.

" Donny.." she started as she quickly wiped her tears away and walked back into her room. She went to go fetch the things he got her for her birthday abit ago to show him. Mila walked back to her boyfriend and sniffed to clear up her throat and everything before speaking. She held up the 'I love you' night light " The I love you night light and then..." she trailed of to pick up another. Mila held up the card he got her and then turned it around to read it " Te quiero mucho is I love you very much en espanol in handwritten. Why would you send me that and then act so clue-" she cut herself off. Mila's eyes widen and she looked around abit because she was starting to panic. " Wait-unless...did you not write this?!" she asked him. ALready panicking because she was starting to believe it was written by someone else and she was looking like a straight fool. " No, no,no...this can't be happening," she mumbled as she walked away from him. She started pacing back and forth, looking out the windows abit, and suddenly started to feel her breathing get heavy.

[donnyvibes]

"Marshmallows, and live with no regrets. Like me." Donny answered easily. Feeling confident in his answer.

Patrick stood frozen in front of the cereal aisle at the grocery store, staring intently at two boxes of cereal in his hands. “Okay, hear me out,” he said, turning to the nearest person. “Do I go with the one that has marshmallows but probably tastes like regret? Or this one, which is healthy but makes me feel like I’m chewing on sadness?”

He held them both up like he was presenting a game show prize. “Help me out here—this decision is shaping the whole vibe of my week.”

@rededgerpstarterblog

[donnyvibes]

“I refuse to comment until you’ve told me what you’ve been up to. I feel like I haven’t seen you since summer, when I was trying to set you up with Freya.”

"So how are you liking this new batch of whiskey?" He asked as he took a sip from his own glass. @rededgerpstarterblog

[donnyvibes]

“I heard a thing about how life moves faster the older you are. And you know how they say time flies when you’re having fun!” He smiled, pushing hair out of his face.

"God I feel like January just started and now it's about to be over. I don't know if that means the rest of 2025 will fly by or not." @rededgerpstarterblog

[donnyvibes]

The look of confusion seemed to grow on Donny’s features. Not just at the overall situation but at her specific words. Since they’d started dating, Donny always felt like the distant one and in his own world/issues. Now it sounded like it might have been both of them. He shook his head slightly, because he truly hadn’t realized she had a lot going on. Well, she was a business woman, so he did acknowledge and understand that. But was there more going on? “Are you talking about more than your career?” Donny cleared his throat.

There was a strong furrow of his brows when the woman mentioned ‘love’, taking a pause at her words. He let her finish however, because he truly wanted to understand where she was coming from here. Also, because he wasn’t the type to just interrupt. He couldn’t deny that there was a sting of rejection at her words. But before he let himself feel that too much, he took a breath. It seemed this entire situation had developed from a fallacy…

“I… when…” A truly genuinely confused look on his face. “When did I say the words?” He scratched at his arm, a bit awkward. The woman said he’d also written it down, so he scrambled to try to remember; had he said it in text messages or something? It wasn’t unlike him to use the word casually without it meaning ‘I’m in love with you’. But he waited for a response… trying to better understand.

Mila felt his arms wrap around her for a hug and she immediately sunk into it. She felt the warmth and the love that was radiating from his hug and just felt safe in his arms. She closed her eyes as he held onto her, to enjoy the last few seconds before he pulled away to speak. She looked back at him as he spoke and distanced herself from him abit as she fiddled with her fingers alittle. “ Donny… I’ve got a lot going on and I’m sure you’ve kinda realized that when you first started dating me,” she started. She sighed, trying to figure out what to start with first and the option for the love part sounded like the less worse but best one to choose. “ But you said…you love me. You said it and wrote it down like it was nothing. Like it was easy and…I just-I just sat there for a week kind of traumatized by the words. I didn’t know what to say or do except that I was busy-WHICH I was! But I could’ve said something, I could’ve taken the time out of my day to say anything. But I didn’t…I didn’t because I was scared to. I just think that I’m not ready for that or capable of doing that and I’m sorry,” she shook her head as she bit her lip.

It was the hardest thing to say to him because she knew how he felt about her and she knew how she TRULY felt about him. She did love him but she was scared to actually admit it because she felt things would go south quick. She felt that someone or everyone would get hurt by hearing those words coming out of her mouth. Mila thought about her past relationship, those letters, and the fact that she still had somewhat of interest in Paco in the back of her mind. She couldn’t understand it because she hadn’t seen him in months and yet he still lingers around in her brain from time to time.

[donnyvibes]

“I’m gonna chuck it up to some bad karma.” Donny shrugged. “We all had to learn the hard way.”

"Someone needs to take technology away from Boomers and older people. I just heard this woman at one of the shops say that the Facebook told her that she was going to win money because of her profile being randomly selected by Mark himself." @rededgerpstarterblog

[donnyvibes]

“I appreciate it wings. That’s what I came here for anyway.” Donny smiled, taking one of the wings. “Thanks. How long you bowled, Jeremy?”

Jeremy slid the plate of chicken wings across the table with a grin, eyeing his friend’s bowling score. "Here you go—fuel for your next round of gutter balls. Maybe the wings will give you some actual wings, ‘cause you’re gonna need divine intervention to beat me tonight." @rededgerpstarterblog

[donnyvibes]

“Not sad. I haven’t had it in a while either. Ever since I started learning to cook, I’m eating gourmet.” Donny chuckled.

"Pizza was such a good idea." She looked at the person she was out to lunch with. "I honestly don't know the last time I had it, is that sad?" @rededgerpstarterblog

[donnyvibes]

Donny took the woman's movement as an invitation to enter her home. He couldn’t be certain if this had been her first lie. Mila hadn’t admitted to anything, but her answer didn’t fill him with much promise. Biting his lip, he pulled her into a soft hug. He should be upset here, but he understood lying was part of life. He wanted to hear her out. “Time to figure out why you lied?” Casual tone, trying to keep the mood light. The only other place his mind went was that she was asking for time apart from him. Like, time apart from the relationship.

Mila took a good look at him and sighed as she stepped aside to let him inside. She didn't want him standing outside to where the whole neighborhood could hear. But she will admit it was good to see his face again and how good he looked. She really had missed him since she been gone.

She closed the door behind him and walked up to him slowly. " Donny...I can't-it's not that simple for me to explain. None of it is. I just-I need you to give me some time okay?" she asked him. Knowing that he's going to want more than just that for an explanation. There was so much going on that she wanted him to know so badly. The bakery in France, the gift of his love, and the secret notes that she had been receiving from time to time. Which would she even tell him him? All or one of them?

[donnyvibes]

Donny frowned slightly as she continued lying, but now to his face. Now, Donny didn't think lying was a big deal. He understood white lies and he understood having to lie for certain reasons, but it was hard to watch someone try to cover up a lie with more lies. Especially after being caught. As he looked back to the last few weeks, he realized how much their time together had been cut. Which already wasn't a lot, but that was not the point. He had always respected when she had to put her career first, but today the career was just an excuse. "I'm not upset." He repeated. "I'm just hoping I can get an explanation here. A real one? Because it feels like this isn't the first lie..." Looking down at his outfit, he felt silly. Wearing a button up, and dark dress pants. The reason he wanted to come over was for a sexy birthday surprise. Even though his outfit didn't show that, what he was wearing underneath did.

Mila looks down at the phone and takes a deep breath before answering. “ Hey babe,” she answered with a slight smile. She waited for his reply back and listened to him carefully before answering back. “ Wait…you’re at my door?” She asked him for reassurance as she bit her lip and looked over at the front door. She went over to the door and looked through the peep hole to see him standing there, replying back to her question. She removed her eyes from looking through the peep hole and placed her hand on her forehead like a dummy. Then opened the front door to see him standing there on the phone. “ I…I can explain,” she nodded before hanging up the phone on her end as she looked at him.

Mila knew now that she had to tell the truth because she wasn’t a very good liar when caught in the act. “ I mean I was at the bakery and…I was going to go back to do the inventory,” she nodded. When she was completely already in her short silk blue night gown, hair pinned up, and with fuzzy pink slippers on. She saw him take a glance at her attire and sighed. “ I’m sorry,” she said as she closed her eyes and shook her head in shame.

[donnyvibes]

Donny: Do you like jello? Donny: I'm going to be 27. Which is basically 30. So, we gotta throw a big party.

Emma: I'd never lie

Emma: Lmao, man you start early!

[donnyvibes]

"Tell me about it. I almost didn't make it!" He chuckled, though he was half serious. "Yeah, I've come to appreciate all the trips the mayor takes us on. Plus, it's hard to leave when you have a lease." He joked. "But yeah, it's a sweet little town." Donny added, happily. "So, who's the pick me they were talking about? Oh, was it not a good year?"

"Oh shit did you really? That's awesome Donny, congrats for being in Red Edge a year, that's an accomplishment." Shane smiled and looked at him. "I'm assuming you like it if you've lasted a year?" He ased with a chuckle. "Hey, I will take those classes because I was so damn confused. I'm good. I'm happy that this year is coming to an end to be honest and I'm excited for what 2025 will hold."

[donnyvibes]

Donny: *ring a ling ding*

Donny breathed in as he heard the ringing on his side. "Hey, so..." He clears his throat. "I was just at the bakery..." A pause. So, he knew she wasn't at there. "So, I assumed you'd be home and free for the rest of the night. Which is why I decided to drive up here and... you were suppose to say 'sure, come over', and I'd say 'surprise, I'm already here', but you didn't. So, I'm assuming there's another reason other than you being crammed at the bakery, unless you meant that as euphemism."

Mila: Oh um..okay then what is it?

Mila: But yeah that's fine.

[donnyvibes]

Donny: No, no. I could never be upset that you're focused on your career, but...

Donny: Can I call you?

Mila: ?

Mila: No?

Mila: Im sorry but Im trying to make some time for you as much as I can.

[donnyvibes]

Donny: ...

Mila: Aww I miss you too Donnie bear. I'm sorry babe, I can't tonight. I'm literally crammed at the bakery and I have to finish inventory. But maybe we can later this week!

[donnyvibes]

"Nice! You should give me your card, I know several people who might need a photographer." Donny snatched the phone from Patrick. "Uh..... How about I show you instead. Don't want any bad ones to pop out."

"I do a little bit of everything, but mostly landscape and portraits" He answered Donny's question as he flipped through Donny's pictures.

[donnyvibes]

Donny: why lie?

Donny: Lol of course! We gotta start planning our next birthday

Emma: You in a "sexy costume" is gross always !

Emma: I seriously bought that one, you're a jerk!

Emma: But also you're not a jerk cause you pick me over her!!! <3