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calypsoff · 4 years ago

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Forty Six.

My hands behind my back just watching the men build a marquee, this is all Robyn’ idea and I trust her, but the house is ever so busy. Preparations taking place for the big day, Robyn didn’t want to build the marquee any earlier than the day before because she didn’t want people to see and notice what is happening, she wants it lowkey as possible, but I am just watching them work hard. It’s amazing to see how they are doing, they have covered the pool, it looks non-existent. I did think that Robyn would have wanted a very big wedding, with all the lights and famous people around. I expected the grand wedding, and I would be nervous but no, she wanted it close. She wanted it private and didn’t want the big wedding, I am shocked. I did assume that she would have wanted that, I think I prefer it this way, I want it private for us. The only famous face will be Drake and he is here for me, which is crazy, I didn’t think he would have come at first because he said he needed to be in America, but he ended up saying he can come, I will be meeting him tonight. I mean I can’t be here of course, can’t stay with Robyn the night before now “coming along nicely isn’t it?” I knew my dad was at the side of me, I just know his presence “it does look nice, it looks majestic. Have you seen my tan” looking to the side of me “damn, you are looking black as hell dad what you been doing?” my dad looked at his arms smiling “sitting outside, it’s so nice out there Chris. But yeah, I think the place looks great, I mean the house but also the marquee. Did you ever ask Robyn why she wanted it lowkey? She has plenty of friends and contacts in the business right?” nodding my head “she does, I think she doesn’t want the fuss. With it happening so quickly, she just wanted it quiet. What can I say dad, I am just arriving here” I shrugged laughing.

I am tired, I got woken up early because of the banging but it’s ok, I will sleep well tonight. I won’t have Robyn kicking my ass in the bed either “hi, Chris?” looking up seeing this white man just stood looking at me “uh hi?” I said a little confused “I am Dennis Leupold, the photographer for Rihanna’ wedding, the door was open. I am sorry if I was intruding but I was waiting for a while. Where is Rihanna? I am on time” I laughed nervously, I am not even sure what to tell this man because Robyn is not here, she is asleep still. Her sleep means a lot “oh ok, nice to meet you” I shook his hand because that is what I would do for anyone I meet, it’s respectful. Dennis smiled shaking my head “nice to meet you Chris, I don’t want to seem I am intruding, this is the first time meeting Rihanna so I am unsure on what to do” I chuckled “don’t be nervous is what I can say. I don’t think you should be anyways. Erm follow me, Robyn will be a while, but I will tell her you are here. Come with me, bring your stuff too” this man has his whole kit with him, he seems so nervous too. I feel for him “Rajad, this is Dennis. The photographer Robyn has hired, he will just be here so if anyone asks, that is who he is” Rajad just nodded his head, I am not sure if he took that in or he just accepted what I said, I think he just accepted what I said.

I was shocked to see Robyn actually out of bed “the banging is annoying” she just realised that “isn’t it just, morning though. I was just watching them build the marquee, already looks amazing” Robyn smiled lightly “I am glad you like it, it’s your day too” I shrugged closing the bedroom door “I am just turning up, I can’t wait to marry you though. Then we can get a home, I mean honeymoon and then a home. I just want us to have a base, I hate living in hotels. You know how horrible it is to not have a home, I hate it. Like going to Cali and there is no home, you know” kissing Robyn’ forehead “we will, you’re very big on that aren’t you? To have a home” walking to the balcony “trust me, I just want a base more then ever. I want our child to have a home, we adults now. We grown” looking down at the marquee being built, it looks huge “we will, I just need to shake off this nausea, I am going to be awful tomorrow. I feel like I am thinking about it too much aren’t I? This is why I am feeling the way I am; I am nervous because I want the day to go so well for us. I keep getting questioned on why it’s small but why should I invite the world, for what but yeah. Nervous, also emotional. I am marrying the love of my life” Robyn stood at the side of me, looking over at her “you know when we were speaking on last names, I know we had a little disagreement on it but you’re right, you need to keep Fenty if you’re bringing out makeup range and whatever and also the Puma thing, so you need too. So I will, compromise and say Fenty-Brown is perfect, I think erm for our kids we will do Fenty-Brown, I feel like your name is going to be big and I want our kids to have that, and it just carries on for us” Robyn wrapped her arm around my waist “I was a little nervous telling you, I just didn’t want you to be annoyed which you was, still” putting my head down laughing “I know, I can be hard headed but once I think about it, you’re right” I need to stop being a stubborn, I can just be so stubborn at times, it comes out of me.

Robyn groaned out as she came out of the bathroom “this is not happening Chris, look at me. I look puffy, my face is awful. And I feel bloated” staring at Robyn in confusion, she is poking her stomach like it’s nothing “stop it, you’re going to hurt pea drop” Robyn frowned “pea what? But Chris, it’s my wedding day I am going to look puffy and fat, will I fit into my dress?” nodding my head “you will, I know you will. And you will look so beautiful, I just know you will so stop poking your stomach, come here” waving her over “oh by the way. Dennis is waiting downstairs for you, whenever you’re ready. He seems so nervous to meet you too” I chuckled, Robyn stood in front of me, wrapping my arms around her waist and placing the side of my face against her stomach, I sighed out “peace” I mumbled “am I fat?” she knows how to ruin a mood “be quiet, I can’t wait for pea drop to be here. In my arms anyways. I just can’t wait to be a dad, like I didn’t at first, but TJ tells me all these nice things and I can’t wait for it” it’s so weird that there is a baby in here just growing, everyday it is just growing, and I can’t wait.

Since I have had my mobile back, I haven’t exactly been posting to my Instagram, I don’t think I really have at all. I just forgot about it because I have been busy because of the wedding and stuff so this is the first time I am logging in to see my timeline, I have missed a lot to be honest “are you taking my son with you?” looking up from my phone “for what?” I questioned, my sister needs to understand that I won’t be “because he wants to be with his uncle” shaking my head “no can do but I don’t mind seeing him when I come to the home, I will be out for a while. Drake is here so we are going out for a few drinks” I knew my sister was going to bite about it, so she went quiet “fine” looking back down at my phone, tapping on the plus sign. I think I will post a picture; it has been a while since I have. I will post the picture I took with Robyn on Christmas day; I mean I have posted it a little late but who cares. Tapping on the picture of us, adding a caption ‘First Christmas with my fiancé and the Fenty family’ I think Christmas was a good time, I really enjoyed it with the family. Pressing send on the post “we going!?” TJ spat, nodding my head. Drake has arrived here, and I want to see him “let’s make movements, I need to see Robyn. I will be back” locking my phone and getting up from the couch, I need to say bye to my baby of course.

Stood behind Robyn watching her go back and forth with one of the guys, I don’t know what has happened and what she is annoyed with, but I have been here for about five minutes now and she isn’t happy, I am guessing about the table set out “I will be back, just sort it out” Robyn said and turned on her heels “what is it?” oh she is not happy “relax that is what, things will be ok. Honestly, just relax, but I am going now. I think it’s time I make a move, Drake is here, and I want to relax with him for a while. Not like I can’t with you but, I will see you tomorrow where you will be my wife then” I didn’t want to offend her now “but where are you exactly going with Drake? It’s early still” licking my lips laughing “just have fun, a few drinks. That is it, don’t be like this. This is not you ok?” Robyn nodded her head “fine, just hate feeling like this. Bloated too, but you go. I don’t want to hold you up here while I argue” nodding my head “I love you so much, I will miss you” wrapping my arms around Robyn “I love you too but I am unsure about the missing part” well Robyn is feeling moody so of course she would have said that “I am joking, I will see you tomorrow down the aisle. You better be there Chris, I will haunt you” she is acting like I wouldn’t turn up “don’t be so stupid, I will be here” pressing a kiss to Robyn’ cheek “see my bloating body” here she goes, Robyn now has something to pick on about herself.

Drake got up from his seat at the bar “oh shit, if isn’t the future Mrs Fenty” dapping him laughing “nigga fuck you” hugging him “nah you good? I just want to say thank you for inviting me, it’s good to see you the way you are now. It really scared me, god bless” moving back from the hug “amen” pulling the chair back “scary moment for me, but I seemed to have pulled through. And you know what, my circle is small. The people that contacted me at the hospital, they the ones I am fucking with” sitting down as Drake said hi to TJ and Barry “there is too many fake people out there, when I found out I face timed you straight away. I said to Chubs, that is my brother he is s a good man. But look at you now, we in Barbados. We about to turn up and have fun, you’re marrying Rihanna. Life is good, we need to get you some drinks so we can start” Drake ain’t about to get me drunk “life is good, I can’t wait to just get back out there. Like you said, get out there and start taking my clothing above and beyond. I have been out of the game to far too long you see, but these niggas have kept it alive for me” Drake raised his hand to the waiter “I told you that your clothing line has potential and I will push that for you, you just need to keep producing and I will keep promoting” Drake is a good man, I can’t wait for the future with us.

#chrianna fanfiction #chriannaff #chrianna ff #chrianna #fanfic #fanfiction

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dispatchesfrom2020 · 4 years ago

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2020

What stories was I sleeping on?

So, what stories did I definitely miss before this project? Well, Atlantic Hurricanes and the Belarussian protests, for sure. Here are some of the other news I skipped out on during the year - or my recaps.

Ben Curtis/AP

1. Locusts Swarm

An unusually wet 2019 led to swampy conditions across the Horn of Africa and western Asia - giving rise to a nearly biblical swarm of locusts. There are photographs where they literally seem to black-out the sun. The culprit? Climate change. The warming waters of the Indian ocean led to stormier weather - essentially more and bigger cyclones. It’s the worst outbreak of the crop-devouring pests in a quarter-century and it threatens food security across the region. The pandemic grinds international trade to a stop - obstructing many countries efforts to buy pesticides, equipment or bring in expert help to curb the infestation. Throughout the year, these swarms ballooned in size, stretching deep into Asia and across the Pacific ocean to Argentina and Brazil. An estimated 20 million people could face hunger and starvation and the UN’s World Food Program estimates that recovery could cost upwards of $9b USD in Africa alone.

Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

2. The Tigray War

For three decades the Tigray people held the balance of political and economic power in the country, tightly controlled through the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), a Tigray nationalist party. In 2018 the Ethiopian election People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, led by Oromo Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, won control of the country’s government.

Animosities boiled over when the Tigray province persisted with the 2020 election, despite government orders to postpone voting until 2021 due to the coronavirus. Prime Minister Abiy cut off funding to Tigray, incising local leadership. In November 2020, youth militias affiliated with the TPLF killed six hundred villagers in the border town of Mai Kadra - and allegedly attacked Ethiopian military bases.

The government responded by shelling the Tigray capital of Mekelle. Ethiopia’s armed forces quickly took control of the city and surrounding towns, with the militias retreating into the mountains where skirmishes have continued.

With Tigrayan people facing violent retaliation - they have faced furloughs from jobs, had bank accounts suspended, faced arbitrary raids on their homes, and been refused permission to board airplanes or travel overseas. Many have faced direct violence, especially from non-Tigray militias.

The conflict has seen incursions from Eritrean forces. Abiy was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his work mending the relationship with Ethiopia’s former colony-turned-neighbour. They share a common enemy now - Tigray. Eritrean forces slaughtered church-goers at a religious festival in early December, killing children and elders indiscriminately. These shadow forces of Fano militias and Eritrean soldiers have committed war crimes - including extrajudicial killings and rape. They even looted the church that allegedly houses the Ark of the Covenant.

The Tigrayan refugees have only one option: Sudan. One journalist writes: “Several [Tigrayan refugees] told me that they saw dozens of bodies along the route as they fled their shops, homes and farms and took to the long road to the border... in stifling heat.”

The New York Times series on Tigray was helpful in understanding more about the conflict and its historical and ethnic contexts. But I have to say - I feel unclear about what comes next. Will guerilla warfare between the Tigray militias and Eritrean-Ethiopian forces continue? Will the country face international consequences for their move towards genocide? I guess 2021 will decide.

A SolarWinds banner hangs outside the New York Stock Exchange on the company’s IPO day in 2018 - Brendan McDermid/Reuters

3. The SolarWinds hack

I chose to write about icebergs rather than this story for a reason. I wholly do NOT understand cyber security. Like, at all. My eyes glaze over when somebody tries to explain Wikileaks to me. I tried. I really did - I read like three articles trying to parse the details and make sense of anything and here’s what I got:

Hackers - almost certainly Russian - got into the US government secure networks. For a lot of departments. For months. It’s really, really bad. The government has a pretty blasé response to the disaster. Trump blames China. Agencies are turning directly to Microsoft for answers rather than their own cyber security people. It’s a blazing hot mess.

I’m going to continue to not understand this one, sorry.

Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters

4. Civil Rights in 2020

The expansion of civil rights in Central/South America, with the legalization of abortion in Argentina in December and the introduction of gay marriage in Costa Rica in May, gave us something to celebrate in 2020. These new rights are the result of years - and decades - of organizing by activists in these two countries.

Costa Rica is the sixth Latin-American country to legalize gay marriage. Argentina joins a short list of places in Latin America where abortion is fully legal - just Cuba, Guyana, Uruguay, and two Mexican states.

Some couples rushed to wed on the stroke of midnight - magistrates stayed up late into the night to marry couples. Marcos Castillo (L) and Rodrigo Campos (R) waited until the following morning - and celebrated with a masked kiss after their ceremony.

Other notable moments in civil rights? New Zealand officially revoked their antiquated anti-abortion laws (which they’d been effectively ignoring for years anyway), Bhutan decriminalized homosexuality, Switzerland passed legislation that will allow people to change the gender on their government IDs, and Croatia struck down laws forbidding gay couples from fostering children. Albania banned gay conversion therapy - as did the Yukon, actually - and Barbados made discrimination on the basis of sexuality illegal.

Nicky Kuautonga/The Guardian

5. Oceania crushed the pandemic

Virtually all of the countries reported to be COVID-free during 2020 were Oceanic nations and island territories. Turkmenistan says they didn’t have any cases but they’re lyin’. -Tuvalu Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Palau all ended the year with no cases, while Samoa and the Solomon Islands reported a few isolated cases in quarantine facilities as they re-opened the border to repatriate their citizens abroad.

Some combination of strict travel restrictions, new hygiene rules, curfews, and early lockdowns kept most of these countries relatively untouched. While New Zealand and Australia experienced several flare-ups throughout the year, their targeted lockdowns helped eradicate community spread quickly each time, returning them to schools, workplaces and boozy brunches quickly.

Honourable mentions to Vietnam and Thailand - with 100 million and 70 million citizens apiece both have charted under 100 deaths to COVID - and Taiwan with only nine casualties.

Gulalay Amiri, a pomegranate farmer, surveys his slim haul. Fighting as worsened in many parts of Afghanistan after the United States announced they would withdraw from the country in 2021 - Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times

6. War in Afghanistan

In March the United States signed a peace-deal with the Taliban, promising to withdraw troops by May of 2021. The War in Afghanistan has lasted 19 years - the longest war in American history and the majority of my lifetime.

I don’t know how to feel about it.

During peace talks the Taliban refused to commit to recognizing the country’s elected government, disavowing Al-Qaeda or protecting women’s rights. They support limited education for girls - only up to the sixth grade.

I listened to a few podcasts by the Daily on the ground in Afghanistan with the current government’s security forces. Many of the young soldiers they interviewed were so young they’d never lived in a country governed by the Taliban - and they fiercely oppose the idea. It also appears that the Afghan government were often excluded from peace talks, finding out details of the American meetings with the Taliban through international news reports and Taliban statements on social media.

Since the Taliban’s deal with the United States, Taliban bombings and attacks have continued, targeting both security forces and civilians. The Afghan government has pointed the finger at the Taliban for mass shooting at a maternity ward in Kabul that killed 24 women and infants. “They came for the mothers”, said horrified eyewitnesses.

For almost two decades, the western world has supported the ‘new’ Afghanistan - but it feels very fragile. Will a withdrawal lead those people that assisted coalition forces vulnerable to retaliation? It feels likely. The fighting between the Taliban and the Afghan government has been fierce - and come with high civilian casualties. The year is punctuated, nearly monthly, with news of new attacks in Afghanistan.

It reminds me of the end of the Vietnam war. America withdrew and two years later the south was retaken by the North. In the final days of the Vietnam war the United States evacuated around 150,000 civilians who had worked with American on the ground. Nearly a million others left the country by boat, seeking asylum at refugee camps in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people who had collaborated with the US-backed South were sent to re-education camps where they were sometimes tortured or starved. Is this what Afghanistan will look like?

There’s no 'good’ solution - and for now the future of the war in Afgahnistan feels very opaque. I think I under-reported stories in the region as a result - it feels too complex to boil down into daily recaps.

Bobi Wine, 38, was detained by police for allegedly breaking COVID-19 restrictions while campaigning in Uganda’s upcoming presidential election - Abubaker Lubowa/Reuters

8. Ugandan election protests

Western media doesn’t seem to place a lot of importance on reporting in Africa - but what little attention they had for the continent focused on the anti-SARS protests in Nigeria throughout the fall. The attention on police violence in America raised the profile of these demonstrations - and the brutality of the government’s response, shooting at dozens of peaceful marchers gathered at the Lekki toll bridge.

But they were far from the only protests in Africa.

As Uganda prepared for an election early in 2021, the government forcefully cracked down on youthful dissidents - like presidential hopefuls Bobi Wine and Patrick Amuriat who were detained by police during the final campaign pushes in November.

Wine, a young musician, has been arrested numerous times since he announced his candidacy. One occasion police beat Wine so badly he temporarily lost his vision - they also killed his driver. They raided his offices, confiscating election materials, and arrested supporters. His bodyguard will later be killed after being struck by a military truck while helping an injured reporter escape tear-gas during December protests.

Police record 56 casualties as they violently put down the large-scale protests - though human rights group have suggested the real number could be dramatically higher.

Ariana Quesada holds a photo of her father, Benito. He died after an outbreak at the Cargill meat-packing plant where he worked. She filed a complaint with the RCMP, asking them to investigate conditions at the plant - Justin Pennell/CBC

9. Meat packing plants become coronavirus hotspots

Meat processing plants become super-spreaders - these often rurally-located factories see massive outbreaks across the United States and Canada. Their floors are crowded with employees working elbow-to-elbow, forced to shout over the loud din of machinery. The refrigeration - necessary for keeping the meat unspoiled - may allow the virus to live longer in the air.

By September of 2020, nearly 500 meat-processing plants had reported at least one case of COVID in the United States. And 203 had died.

At a Tyson Foods factory in Waterloo, Iowa, staff allege that management placed bets on how many workers would become sick - and die. Supervisors began avoiding the floor, relegating their responsibilities to untrained workers.

The plant reluctantly closed - by the time they re-opened two weeks later over a third of their 2,800 workforce had tested positive. Five workers died - including Isidro Fernandez, whose family is leading a lawsuit against the company.

In Canada, Cargill faces a similar lawsuit after an enormous outbreak in their High River facility that resulted in three deaths - two employees and one staffer’s 71-year-old father. They were: Hiep Bui, Armando Sallegue, and Benito Quesada. The company offered a $500 “responsibility” bonus for workers who didn’t miss any shifts - and discouraged employees from reporting any flu-like symptoms. Many of the factory’s workers are temporary foreign workers or new Canadians.

10. The Nazca Lines

I forgot about this and am shoehorning it in now, but Peruvian archaeologists discovered another ancient line drawing in the desert outside of Lima - this time in the shape of a kitty cat.

Of all the archaeology finds this year - remains at Pompeii, a mammoth graveyard in Mexico, and a wealth of sarcophagi in Egypt - this is my favourite.

#2020 recap #2020 in depth

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scornedlove · 5 years ago

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Chapter Twenty One

ROBYN

“Thanks for coming with me today.” Melanie beamed, showing her pearly whites as she arranged her photos on the display. Jermaine usually accompanied her during festival events she worked to keep her company, but since we were leaving for Barbados tomorrow, we made it a girl’s night. She was a vendor for “Jazz on the Lawn” this year, a cultural event for arts in the city. She brought sixteen photographs and sold half in the first hour we’ve been here, I felt like a proud big sister.

“Of course, you know this is my kind of shit; food, music, and art. It’s like we’re getting a head start for crop over, I wish Rayven would’ve came.” I frowned, thinking about how antisocial she’s been lately. She seemed to be back to herself, but different all together. She’s a lot quieter than before and a complete homebody. She doesn’t leave home, other than when we go to work. I never thought it was possible, but I’m starting to miss her smart mouth.

“She’ll get back to herself eventually, but I like the new Rayven a little better” she admitted with a shrug. "And this don’t compare to crop over, I can’t wait”

“True, but I swear this event is twice as big as it was the last time I came. When Chris and I used to come here together, I would lay out on a blanket and listen to the music while he sold his paintings, and it was never this many people” I reminisced aloud, while rocking along to the band currently playing.

“Un-un. You gotta stop doing that” she frowned, shaking her head.

“Doing what?” I asked confused. I was only doing a slight rock to the beat, if she was already embarrassed, she hadn’t seen nothing yet.

“Stop referencing him in every conversation” she criticized, before turning on her professional face and voice to approach a couple who was coming over to browse her photos. She talked as they browsed until they found one they both couldn’t walk away from.

“You gotta understand that it’s hard not to mention him, we were together for almost as long as I been here. He’s apart of damn near every memory I have, especially in the city” I explained, as soon as her customers were out of ear shot.

“I’m sorry sis, but it’s time to make some new memories. Have you talked to Dre recently?” she asked changing the subject. She swore he was the answer to my problems, but I begged to differ. He’s just as damaged as I am, only difference is he doesn’t even realize it.

“No. I’ve been so busy. Working non-stop. We’ll be dropping the uh winter collection for River Island soon” I stammered while playing with my hair.

“Excuses, excuses” she rolled her eyes, giving me a dismissive wave. “That boy loves you. You need to give him a real chance”

“What makes you think he ‘loves’ me?” I scoffed, entertaining her assumptions.

“Do you not remember me giving Jermaine the same run around you’re giving Dre? Look at us now.” she smiled, glancing down at her ring finger.

“So , now that you’ve been married for five minutes, you’re the love expert” I chuckled and she flipped me off.

“No, I’m not an expert. I took good advice from my sister and now I couldn’t be happier”

“You’re just happy to be getting consistent dick after that long ass drought” I snickered . It was still unbelievable that my promiscuous best friend somehow ended up married before me, so it was hard to take her serious.

“Laugh all you want, but you’re right. I get consistent dick, massages, conversation, and love in general. Let that sink in” she winked, leaving me to tend to her growing crowd, as a few more people came over.

The smell of food filled my nostrils while I watched and waited. Mel was working, so I found myself wondering off to find something to eat. The closest thing I found was a taco truck and thankfully there was only a handful of people in line.

“Lots of hot sauce please.” I gave the friendliest smile I could, encouraging the worker to give extra after handing me our food. I was so excited about the extra hot sauce he gave me, that I didn’t notice I was being watched.

“Let me help you with that!” someone called out, stepping out of line to help me balance the drinks, food, and my wallet, as I was about to walk past.

“Chris? What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to keep my face platonic. I wasn’t his biggest fan right now. Somehow, I inadvertently befriended his girlfriend. “I didn’t realize you still participated in this event.”

“I don’t, but I know several artists that are. I’m here for support” he shrugged, before taking the drinks I was carrying.

“Who are you here with?” I asked, praying it wasn’t Tae. She came down to the boutique a few weeks ago. We went over some ideas, then tweaked them back and forth through email for a few days. Eventually, we came up with a design that she loved for their bridesmaid dresses. I'm over her existence in general. All she talked about was how ‘in love’ her and her man were, and there was no way Chris was that into her.

“I came with Trey. He’s out looking for the beer, while I get the food.” he replied, before asking me the same thing.

“I’m here with Mel” I revealed, nodding towards her as I began to walk in that direction. Her crowd had died down and she was grinning from ear to ear while texting. That is, until she looked up and spotted Chris following my lead.

“Why am I not surprised?” she asked throwing her hands up and shaking her head at me.

"You're looking good too Mel" Chris nodded towards her, killing her with kindness. I knew he was still on her bad side, so I didn’t expect her to be nice or even hold her tongue around him.

"Yup" she retorted, folding her arms and refusing to look at him. He looked at me as if there was something I could say to change her attitude, but I stayed out of it.

“Trey’s wedding is soon, on the thirty-first. Are ya’ll going to make it?” he asked changing the subject while looking from her to me.

“Nope” Mel replied before taking her Coke from his hand and the plate of tacos from me, then dismissing herself.

"She'll come around ...I hope" I mumbled, frowning at her spitefulness.

"Speaking of coming around, T told me you came by the gallery last week. I wish you would've told me you were coming; we could've grabbed a bite to eat or something"

"Well I was in the neighborhood and it's been a minute so, I decided to see what you've been up to lately. By the way, I was not disappointed" I smiled, thinking of the piece I purchased. It was completely different from anything he’s ever done.

“Thanks. I’ve fallen in love with spray paint” he admitted, a broad smile spreading across his face revealed his dimples.

“There you are. I called you several times bro!” Trey interjected, coming from behind Chris and slapping his shoulder. I jumped back a little, then grabbed my drink so they didn’t drop it with all their roughing around.

“My bad, I ran into Robyn and got sidetracked”

“Robyn?!” Trey exclaimed, finally noticing me. He pulled me into a bear hug then playfully spun me around, making my shirt twirl. “You’re looking good girl”

“You look good too” I gushed. “Congrats on everything. I’m sorry I won’t be able to make the wedding but I’m so happy for you and Lala”

“Thank you. Who’s the lucky guy?” he asked, noticing the diamond on my ring finger. Chris’ eyes widened as he struggled to look around Trey and get a glimpse of the ring himself.

“Oh nah, that’s not that kind of ring” I explained, pulling my hand back. I could’ve sworn I heard Chris sigh of relief and his posture relaxed.

“Did you find the beer or nah?” Chris interrupted, getting between us.

“No, but check this out” he grinned, pulling a clear plastic bag from his pocket and holding it up to Chris’ nose.

“That shit nasty. I got a stick in the car. You trying to blow right now?” he asked, ready to smoke.

“Yeah, let me see if I can find us a couple of coronas first, then I’ll meet you at the car. It was good seeing you Robyn” he added, before disappearing into the crowd.

“So, Mama’s grilling on Labor Day this year” Chris stated, turning his attention back to me. “I told her about running into you and she wanted me to invite you.” he revealed, pulling off his cap and running his hands across the top of his head.

“Why doesn’t she invite your current girlfriend?” I probed, wondering what Ms. Joyce was up to.

“She did, but she won’t be able to make it. She has something going on with her family”

“I don’t know if I’ll be in the city then, but I’ll let you know.” I replied with a half shrug. “I’m trying to hit that blunt with ya’ll tho”

“Since when do you smoke?” he asked, raising his brows.

“Since I’m grown and do what I want” I snapped, throwing my hands on my hips.

“Damn, my bad. I didn’t mean to offend you. I never imagined you smoking weed” he grinned, biting his bottom lip.

“Well I’m not the Robyn you used to know.”

“That’s perfect, because I’m not the Chris you used to know” he replied, before leading the way to the parking lot.

We hot boxed two blunts of some of the strongest weed I’d ever had in Trey’s car and my high ass couldn’t stop giggling. No matter how corny their jokes were, Chris and Trey had me in the back seat in tears for twenty minutes straight.

“If I would’ve known you get like this after smoking, we would’ve been doing it together.” Chris confessed when Trey stepped out of the car to take a phone call.

“I'm not usually this giggly. Actually, smoking usually makes me horny” I replied when I finally caught my breath.

“We’re not even going to go there”

“Why not? We can’t talk about sex if we aren’t having it?”

“Hell nah, talk about that shit with Mel. I don’t want to hear shit about you fucking anybody else.”

“Who says I’m fucking anybody else?” I smirked, enjoying the jealousy on his face.

“So, you’re gonna sit here and tell me you haven’t had sex since we’ve been together?” he quizzed, tilting his head to the side.

“That’s not what I said. I’m not fucking anyone currently, but I’ve been with one person since you.” I admitted unapologetically, before opening the door and putting the blunt out on the ground.

“I’ve had my share” he agreed with a nod, refusing to give an exact number.

“Well, I bet none of em got nothing on me” I smirked, noticing the bulge in his pants.

“You sound pretty confident”

"Because you're happy to see me” I grinned, nodding towards his erection.

“My bad. It's not you- I mean, not like you don't look good, because you do." He stammered with bright red cheeks while adjusting himself. "It’s been awhile”

“Oh, your girlfriend got you on punishment? I’m sure you deserve it” I teased with a giggle. “What you do?”

“It’s not even like that” he paused, then sighed when he saw me waiting for him to continue. “she’s celibate”

“So ya’ll haven’t even...?” I gasped and he quickly replied with a shake of the head.

“Damn, you went from having your cookie and eating it too, to having a drought!" I laughed loudly as my phone started to ring.

It was Mel cursing me for leaving her for so long. I started to argue that she was being dramatic, but then I noticed we had been gone for almost an hour. I hung up with her and promised Chris we'd hang out again soon before we parted ways.

Surprisingly, Mel didn’t complain or have one negative thing to say when I came back. She sold everything she’d brought so we hung out for another hour before calling it a night.

Early the next morning, Rayven claimed she wasn’t feeling good and decided to sit out on crop over. I would’ve made a big deal about it, but I remembered the last encounter she had with her mom. That had to be the real reason she was avoiding BIM.

“The holidays will be here in no time; I’ll go then.” she groaned with her face in her pillow as I stood there with my hands on my hips. “Fine, I guess you can stay with Ollie and Pepe” I shrugged without a fight. I was glad I wouldn’t have to board my babies, and it’s not like I could force her to go anyway.

An hour later, Mel and I boarded the plane with so much excitement. We had fun people watching and talking shit, but it wasn’t long before she passed out and I was on my own. I wish I had that gift, but I was no longer taking the anxiety medicines that could help with that. I hadn’t even noticed I was taking less the past couple of months. Only, I was also smoking more and that usually did the trick a lot faster.

Instead of sleeping, I found myself catching up on some work. Fashion week was creeping up and there were a couple pieces that didn’t feel complete. I was being indecisive on some finishing touches.

I was also working on an event of my own. Last year, I was so depressed that I didn’t even celebrate the first anniversary of Robyn’s. This year, we’re going to begin an annual fashion show and I was keen to the idea of my very own catwalk. It meant more work, but I was more motivated than I’ve been in awhile and I wanted to milk this feeling as much as I can.

We were close to landing when I completed my plan and I felt accomplished. So much that I couldn’t wait to get back to put my ideas into effect. The moment we arrived, that changed. Work slipped my mind as the smell of the ocean filled me up and a satisfied feeling crept over me, we were home.

We spent the night at moms catching up with the family and getting ready for carnival. I talk to my family several times a week, but I never notice how much things are changing until I see them.

Rorrey was working on music at the studio. He and Lele were still going strong. They were three years in and so in love with each other. They had an innocent puppy love, but could still teach grown folk a thing or two.

Rajad finally had his first girlfriend so he was at her place. I had yet to meet her, but he sent me some pictures of them. She was beautiful and I've never saw my brother smile so big, so I knew she was good for him.

Mom and dad were also bit by the damn love bug. They kept stealing kisses, so I assumed they were on good terms. It bugged me, but I kept my opinion to myself.

Gran looked happy, but was frailer than the last time I saw her. I noticed Bravo being extra careful with her, as if she were a china doll. Nothing or no one could stop her from wukking up with us girls. She danced as island music blasted through the house until her feet hurt. Mel, Lele, and I wined and gave ourselves a warm up for tomorrow until the sun started to creep up.

Carnival was a blast as always. It came and went so fast. All I remember is wining on whoever was close enough and drinking with Lele as if our lives depended on it. I could always count on her to be my turn up partner. Today was no different and after barfing for the second time since we got to the beach, I had finally taken the edge off.

“See Rob? What I tell ya bout mixin that shit?” Lele cackled. I flipped her off and rolled my eyes at the same time. She hiccuped loud as hell, then threw her head back in laughter. She was laughing so hard, she almost dropped the cup she was holding.

While the waves crashed behind us, Mel, Ella, Le, Nita, and I were all huddled around a bonfire. We were smoking and vibing to Rorrey's latest music, while recuperating from today’s festivities.

“You know I gotta ask you Mel” Nita began with a smirk, after passing up on the blunt. “How’s it feel for ya pokey to be back in business?”

“It feels fuckin fantastic” Mel exclaimed as she proceeded to explain to us that her husband has a magic dick.

“But the best part isn’t even about the sex, Jermaine is a rare breed. He’s so attentive and supportive, things I didn’t even know I wanted in a man, I find in him.”

“Blasted, I need to be celibate” Nita thought aloud.

“That’s what all the hoes are doing now days” I teased, before falling into a laughing fit.

“What dat mean?” Mel asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“I found out yesterday that Chris and Tae are celibate.”

“Wait, you’re back on speaking terms with Chris?” Ella chimed in, finally taking her eyes from her phone since we got here.

“What the fuck? When did this happen and why?” Lele snapped, demanding answers. I gave them the quick version of how we got back in good graces, but Lele still wasn’t buying it.

“Look bitch, I know ya got history with him and all, but don’t you wanna try something new? Someone that ain’t horning when you ain’-”

“Chill! We’re friends”

“Don’t listen to dem Robbie, and don’t explain yourself. You can’t help who you love. If you think he’s changed and ya’ll wanna try again, do it . Fuck everybody’s opinions” Ella condoned.

“But watch it from dey” Nita yelled. “You just now gettin back to yourself, be careful.

“Everything ‘bout that situation woke my ass up from lala land. Ya’ll don’t have to worry about me. I will never be that dumb or naïve again. ” I reassured them, and I meant it. Lele was still skeptical, and even though Mel kept quiet, I knew she was too.

Still, I meant what I said. After all I’ve been through, I’ll always be on my toes and I refuse to tolerate any bullshit. My happiness is priority and any man that doesn’t agree and put forth the effort to prove it, isn’t worth my time.

As we sat in silence passing the blunt, my mind couldn’t help but wonder. I wondered if hanging out with Chris was a mistake. I knew where I wanted it to lead, but what if he were playing games with me once again. He agreed to be celibate for another woman, but couldn’t keep it in his pants for me. The thought of that made me jealous, but I can’t deny that I’m happy to see growth in him all at the same time.

“Don’t think about it too much” Mel uttered, pulling me out of my own mind. “Let it go. Don’t fight it, don’t stress. Whatever happens, happens.”

"I needed to hear that" I nodded in agreement, realizing she was right.

"I got ya back" she stated, throwing her arm around my shoulders.It wasn’t long before Lele followed suit, then the other girls. Before I knew it, we were all huddled on the ground in laughter with sand in our hair and clothes. We were in our happy place.

#robyn rihanna fenty #chris brown #ff #fanfic #fanfiction

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theessaflett · 6 years ago

Text

72 Hours (ish) in... MANCHESTER

Your friendly neighbourhood Essa has a look round a city best known for the industrial revolution, bees, and bad weather.

…The start of my trip to Manchester wasn’t the smoothest.

The only thing I could find to eat at Euston station for my tea before my 19:40 train were chips coated in some sort of suspicious chilli dust, so it was a very queasy Essa who arrived at Manchester Piccadilly a few hours later and wandered around trying to find the exit. (I had in fact been to the station before last October as part of a band tour, but as I was VERY sick and feverish at the time I had very little recollection of the place indeed!) I trundled my suitcase out of the station and off into the night - and my, what a night. 9.45pm on a Saturday night in Manchester is quite the experience, and as Google Maps took me down back alley after back alley I found myself humming ”Just keep swimming, just keep swimming” to myself with increasing speed. One particularly memorable back alley held two sad looking figures, one of whom was violently throwing up behind a bin.  “You alright, Tim?” called the other one, who was busy trying to use a wall to stay upright. Tim was almost certainly not alright. I left them to it.

After about 20 minutes of nervous trundling I arrived at Hatters Hostel. It turned out that Hatters was on top of a nightclub, opposite a nightclub, and instead of being part of the Hilton hotel chain as I’d originally surmised it was called “Hilton Hatters Hostel” because it was on Hilton street. I was beginning to regret some of the decisions that had led to this moment.

Looks nice, doesn’t it. LIES.

I tried to get the eye of the receptionist, was told I would have to wait as she was “doing the money”, and sat down on the only couch next to a man in gym clothes who had seemingly waited so long he’d passed out. Many minutes passed. In the end I passively aggressively opened and shut all the leaflets next to the desk - Manchester offers two walking tours and a make your own beer festival, incidentally - and once Sleeping Man had been woken up and his booking put through it was my turn. Sleeping Man had been asked for ID, and I nervously started my explanation that I’d forgotten my passport but had my 16-25 train card when it was cut off by the receptionist. She didn’t really care, it was just a formality. Also, where had I dyed my hair? She’d tried to dye it that colour but it had just gone green and her mum had made her cut it off because green wasn’t an acceptable colour for her sister’s wedding. But now it was purple which was also cool. I murmured positive words about purple, took the key card and headed for the lift, trying to ignore the fact that the floor numbers on the wall were peeling off. I found 104, glad that the door looked less battered than some of the other ones, and after the second time of trying, keyed myself into my home for the next three days.

…The Hatters Hostel website photographer deserves some sort of award for misguiding photography. And possibly to be sued. I was expecting a fancy room, plush and cosy. I admittedly got quite a comfortable bed, but I also was given a TV that had been installed at an angle that meant I would need to be the girl from the Exorcist to watch it in comfort, a broken heater, no main light, no kettle, thin, pathetic towels…and a hell of a lot of noise. Here’s the thing about arriving, at 10.30pm on a Friday night, into a room on the first floor directly on top of a night club and opposite several other nightclubs: it is astonishingly, awe inspiringly, horrifyingly loud. The vibrations shuddered through the floor and up my legs, and my suspicions about the sturdiness of the walls were confirmed when I laid a hand on one of them and felt vibrations shuddering through the brickwork too. Some optimistic soul had put in double glazing on the one, sad looking window, but it was no good: the pounding music was coming up through the bare linoleum floor and in the cracks between said floor and the walls. Friends, I am not so proud as to deny that I had a bit of a disappointed sniffle as I sat on the edge of the bed in the cold, listening to four different nightclub bangers (that all had driving dubstep basses…they sadly didn’t even merge into one pleasing cross-rhythm beat) and trying to reassess my accommodation expectations. The reason for the massive tub of free ear plugs on the reception desk was becoming terribly, horribly clear. After a bolstering call to my parents where I let them know I’d arrived and tried to elicit some sympathy for the damp boombox situation in which I’d found myself (“Well go down to reception and ask if you can get another room then, sitting there moping at me isn’t doing anything” is arguably the Scottish version of “Aw poor diddums” so I consider the sympathy bid a success) I mournfully trailed back to ground level and put on my best pleading puppy face. It was no good: there were no other free rooms for the whole weekend, he was very sorry, my heater should be warming up at any moment. (this was a lie. I am certain that I had no heating for the full three days.) I grimly stocked up on earplugs and, comforted with the paltry commiseration that the nightclubs shut at 1.30am, went back to my unappealing room. This was it, was it? This is what £264 got you for three nights in central Manchester? Bloody hell. Tried out the shower. It was cold. Went to bed and sulked. (To be fair, several Destiny’s Child and Britney Spears medleys later, the noise did mercifully stop at 1.30am. Which was just as well, as by that point I was fantasising about punching night clubbers.)

Day 1

My main reason for being in Manchester over the weekend was to attend a one-day writing course at the LGBT Foundation - 2019 may be a year of me writing lots of things but there’s still not much time for writing “just for fun” so I was looking forward to writing anything I liked for a full day! I blearily made my way out of the hostel - glaring at anyone who looked like they might have been making noise six hours earlier - and headed off to the Foundation, stopping at the “park” (a few trees and a bit of squelchy grass does not a proper park make, Manchester) Cafe Nero on my way. This proved a wise move, as soya milk has not yet made it to the LGBT Foundation so I was sadly under caffeinated for the day…

The LGBT Foundation

The writing day itself was lovely; I enjoyed the chance just to spend time tapping away on my laptop, the other course members were friendly and the heating was on. The only real disaster was lunchtime, when I ordered rice at a nearby Asian to-go place and got noodles instead. I can’t eat noodles. Ended up eating random selections of snacks and showing people my noodles whilst saying sadly, “Look, they gave me noodles!” (Received a satisfactory amount of sympathy from all.) The LGBT Foundation staff were friendly and it’s great that there’s such an extensive support centre in the heart of the Gay Village…my only quibble about the building would be that it was surprising and disappointing to see they only offered Male or Female toilets and there was no mention anywhere of the additional “IAQ+” that I’m used to London folk using most of the time. It would be a real shame if Intersex/Asexual/Non-Binary/Gender Queer young people used the building and didn’t feel like they belonged, when just a few posters and different bathroom signs would make the Foundation welcoming to absolutely everyone. (Alright, snowflake millennial moment over!)

After the course I headed over to HOME - stopping off at Pizza Express on the way, where a chatty waitress asked me if I was an artist…I considered creating a new persona but in the end decided I didn’t have the energy - to see the Old Vic production of Wise Children.

Part of the HOME complex

Although I felt like some elements of the production jarred (why must new plays always include grim scenes of child abuse, incest and/or rape?) and the ending was just bizarre, I thoroughly enjoyed the onstage music and the breath-taking stage design…and the fact that I knew one of the cast members! Paul Hunter from Told By An Idiot didn’t look very different to when I worked with him on Get Happy in 2013 and it was great to see him in action, getting belly laughs from the whole audience as he strutted up and down the stage in full-blown comedic idiot mode.

The brilliant stage design for Wise Children

Getting back to the hostel afterwards proved a little more difficult than anticipated due to a lost Uber driver and there being two Hatters Hostels (naturally I was delivered to the wrong one) but I eventually made it back to Purgatory Room and grimly waited out the Michael Jackson remixes coming through the walls by watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine clips with my head underneath the covers to retain warmth. By 1.20am I was passing the time by fantasising about how I was going to switch on both of my radiators in my London flat when I returned on Monday night and toast myself in front of the two of them until the heat was similar to Barbados in August.

Day 2

I groggily crashed out of the hotel at 11am with only one clear thought: CAFFEINE. Manchester decided to give me a true North of England experience: it was cold, grey, and miserably wet. I tried to find my cafe of choice with some urgency.

Teacup Kitchen Cafe

Teacup Kitchen was recommended as a vegan cafe on Yelp. This, it turned out, was not wholly accurate. Some of their menu was vegan. Very little of their menu indeed was gluten free, but it turned out that that at least was easily rectified as they did have GF bread. As I had clearly stumbled into the Manchester equivalent of Shoreditch the decor was brutally bare, the music was loud and everyone was dressed in black so it was impossible to tell who were the waitstaff and who were just pretentious. (I found this very funny until I realised I was also dressed in all black, at which point I found it slightly less funny and instead wondered when it was exactly that London had turned me into such a hipster stereotype).

Note the bare light bulbs...

I ordered poached eggs and avocado on toast, which, this being Northern Shoreditch, came with chilli flakes and raw onion for some reason. I pleaded for no onion but got it anyway, which led to some sad toilet trips later.

General Public Announcement: Food intolerances aren’t just fads, everyone!!!

Who would ruin a perfectly good avocado by dumping a whole load of onion on top of it anyway?!

Indignant with this most first world of first world problems, I paid an eye-watering £17.10 for what was essentially eggs on toast, a cup of tea and a juice (more expensive that Shoreditch?! Discuss) and trudged out into the rain once more. …Then hopped into Forbidden Planet, because Forbidden Planet!! For the uninitiated, Forbidden Planet is a magical world of deep nerdy joy.

If a non-geek person would react to an object by saying, “Oh that’s from that show you like, isn’t it…that’s nice…?”, they probably have it. That being said, they did not have nearly enough Doctor Who or Tim Burton merchandise for my liking and after wandering around having fun spooking all the nervous looking nerdy teenage boys (A woman!!, I could practically hear them whisper amongst themselves. The last time we had one of them in here was in 2009! Darren still hasn’t recovered!!) I headed off to the John Rylands library.

The (rather wet in this photo) John Rylands Library

Now, my understanding of the John Rylands library was that it was one, quite impressive, hall. This proved to be similar to saying that the Titanic was quite big. It was absolutely massive, with four or five main library spaces and lots of awe-inspiring corridors and staircases in-between, many of which I am certain have been used in Harry Potter films. By pure good luck it was a great time to be visiting, as there were two really interesting exhibitions on about the role of women in literature and society in general. The Women in Manchester exhibition in particular was fascinating and gave a brief but vivid idea of how crucial the women of the city were both in the Suffragette movement itself and in protests before and afterwards. The “Historical Bathroom” is worth a visit too (if you’re as curious as I was about that description, it turned out to be a ladies bathroom that had been preserved exactly as it was when the library opened in the early 20th century. It was fully functioning but very draughty), as is the main Historic Library.

The magic of the building overall was, for me at any rate, slightly dimmed with the knowledge that it wasn’t actually very old at all, just built in the style of earlier buildings by late-era Victorians wistful for an earlier “Utopian” age of social harmony, unnerved as they were by the unrest and turbulence of the Industrial Age in which they found themselves. I’m sure that most infamous of old-school folk song collectors Cecil Sharp, for instance, would have been delighted by the righteous pomp of the marble statues and stuffy regal halls, the library a grand symbol of an age and an Empire already on the way out when the building first opened.

That said, the John Rylands library is still beautiful, impressive and well worth a trip - just allocate more time than I did! I finished off my visit with an organic cola (would not recommend) from the rather chilly open-plan cafe then tried to decide what to do next. My initial plan had been to go to the Museum of Manchester, but a quick check of their website brought up the unwelcome news that due to renovations the only section still open was “Fossils and Meteorites”, which was not a gallery that exactly filled me with unbound excitement. In the end I decided to go to the People’s Museum instead - admittedly because it was only four minutes away and, after inevitably going the wrong way and walking round in circles for a bit scowling at Google Maps, I arrived at the brutalist museum in dire need of the loo and a plug socket for my fast-dying phone battery.

The rather damp looking People’s History Museum

They had both of those things, so we were already off to a good start when I guiltily ignored the “Use The Stairs, Save Our Environment!” sticker next to the lift and saved my aching legs the climb to the third floor. It became fairly clear very quickly that this was a museum where if you accidentally started the exhibition backwards everything was really quite confusing, but sadly that was what I somehow did on every single floor. (There are still some things that I’m puzzling over, and probably will be forever.) I also started off foolishly presuming that as I was on the 3rd floor I would be going chronologically back in time rather than forwards, but it turned out that there was no such clear organisational system in place for the exhibits: rather, photographs from the 1940s and propaganda posters from the 1880s rubbed shoulders in cheerful harmony. This only added to my overall confusion but gave a nice overall air of linear history being an unnecessary construct of our modern-day society. The writers of the Old Testament would have approved wholeheartedly!

The museum was truly fascinating, and quite shocking in how openly socialist-bordering-on-communist it was in its beliefs; lots of Karl Marx quotes on the walls and leftist liberal exhibit blurbs. I enjoyed it thoroughly - particularly the excellent section about the Votes for Women movement - and was delighted to find the cafe offered a proper cuppa and gluten free biscuits. This was the life. The museum sadly shut at 5pm (as do many, many things in Manchester) so I was turfed out to wander the wet streets once more. After an accidental detour into a very posh outdoor dining area complete with more decorative lightbulbs than you could shake an over-priced mojito at, I arrived in China Town. My main aim was to get a good photo of the famous China Town arch, but as I achieved that in the first five minutes I decided to also do something else, whatever that might be.

China Town’s Arch

I’m not sure what I was expecting from China Town, but I was expecting it to be big; instead, unless there were lots of shops hiding from me, China Town was largely just a square - bizarrely, a square built round a car park - with maybe 20 or so shops… and then that was pretty much it. Those shops were wonderful though, and I loved being an unabashed tourist and wandering round a seafood place full of giant tanks of lobsters, supermarkets filled with cans of things you never thought to pickle but apparently are in fact pickle-able… pickled mango was an especially interesting concept… and gazing hungrily at the menus tacked up outside the many Chinese restaurants. (I had no luck. Very not Essa friendly indeed.)

Instead I settled for a bubble tea from Chatime. I made several bad decisions and ended up with an apple tea with little ball things (??? Tapioca??? Whatever it was they were suspiciously savoury and worryingly chewy) and rainbow jelly. I gave up halfway through as I could feel my teeth beginning to rot.

Diabetes in a cup.

Chatime

After risking my life and health on some questionable 50p Asian sweets - they were covered in sugar and salt and my pathetic Western constitution decided it couldn’t quite cope with this final insult - I finished off my day out with a very nice sit watching the coloured fountain display in the “park” and then going off to somewhere I could confidently expect to be fed: Zizzi’s.

The very splooshy water fountains.

...They may have fed me undercooked, over salted gluten free pasta, but it was gluten free pasta never the less, and I trooped back to the hostel fed and happy.

After attempting to write my journal in the communal kitchen next to a group of very noisy Italian twenty-somethings making a very complicated meal that seemed to need lots of loud chopping, banging and semi-regular cheering, I relocated to the communal lounge instead and turned up Royal Blood to eardrum-bursting volumes to drown out the horror film the other two sofa loungers were watching. By 11.30pm even loud rock wasn’t managing to drown out the film and I was beginning to suspect the heating had been switched off as it didn’t seem much warmer than my own little ice box of a room, so I waved the white flag of surrender and beetled off to watch YouTube under the covers once more. Would it be too much to hope that Sunday nights at least were fairly quiet here in nightclub land…? My heading to bed was foiled, however, by the fact that the key card to my room no longer worked. I trailed unhappily back down to the ground floor and explained the situation to an unsympathetic receptionist who said, “Oh it always does that for 104, just try it a few more times” without looking up from his computer. I explained through gritted teeth that I had been trying it for five minutes, thanks very much, and he reluctantly came with me to see what the problem was. I passed the journey by mentioning how my heater didn’t work. “Oh, that heater,” he said without a hint of irony. “Yeah it doesn’t work, it’s just for decoration.” Apparently my room was meant to be heated by a magical vent blowing warm air into the room. I said grumpily that it did not seem to be doing that at all. “Well, it’s 104,” he said with a shrug. “It’s always cold and the door never works. Dunno why, it’s really weird.” As I contemplated the fact that I HAD BEEN STAYING IN THE POLTERGEIST ROOM THIS WHOLE TIME he swiped me through with his master and left me in my Spectre Apartment. I lay in bed in the dark that night pretending very hard that I wasn’t the slightest bit unnerved and listening to the pounding bass coming through the walls (one stubborn nightclub somewhere in the middle distance was subjecting its patrons to Sunday night indie rock) until 1.30am blessedly rolled around and Geoffrey the Ghost and I managed to get some sleep.

Day 3

By this point I was thoroughly sleep deprived and just generally over the whole staying-in-a-hostel thing, so it was with a happy song that I stuffed my belongings back into my suitcase. It was an uneventful exit from Hatters apart from one heart- stopping moment when a bit of the shower fell off at exactly the same second that the bathroom light went out (…It was just the timed light clicking off and me turning the wobbly thermostat wheel too firmly. But, hey - let me tell you: when you’re standing there in the pitch dark, naked and alarmed, “ARGH!” is the defining first thought rather than “I’d better wave my arms and get the light to switch back on.) I strode out into the Manchester streets and decided that as I’d had an improvised breakfast of snack bars I didn’t really need anything else apart from a cup of tea, which I could probably get at Chetham’s Library. Second library of the trip, here I came!

After a significant amount of lost trundling, sometimes round in circles, my suitcase and I finally arrived at Chetham’s, which is situated next to a very nice but sadly throughly fenced-off park and an absolutely enormous museum about football. I sat on a little stone pillar, tried to enjoy the park’s water feature despite the massive fence and munched on fruit I’d bought from the nearby M&S (it had occurred to me that I hadn’t really had much in the way of fruit or vegetables since arriving in Manchester, which is possibly a true representation of the Northern diet but it did seem a shame to get scurvy on my weekend off).

The very picturesque park with a very large fence.

It was all very nice but I needed the loo - an ever present theme in my life - so I decided to get a move on and go see the Library. This is when my day went horribly wrong.

I had not, you see, realised that the Chetham’s Library - unlike the Bodleian Library - didn’t have anywhere for visitors to dump their suitcases. Worse, the grumpy security guard refused full-stop to let me take my suitcase anywhere near the building whatsoever. What was I meant to do, I asked him with quite poor grace. I had the suitcase. I wanted to go and see the library. Couldn’t he look after it in his little security hut? What if it had a bomb in it? I assured him there was no bomb. No. Absolutely not. I had a suspicious unidentified suitcase. Hadn’t I seen the news recently? Maybe I could see if the station across the road had lockers.

It was an unimpressed Essa that stomped into Manchester Victoria on the hunt for a locker. There were no lockers. The Information Centre might have been a useful place to ask for advice about what to do next, if it had been open. I went to the loo (always a good thing to do in a time of crisis, I find), stared suspiciously at a very creepy statue of a bee in a dress and decided that as I seemed to have found the busy hub of tram travel I might as well get on a tram.

TRAM!!! I thought the trams were very exciting.

After trying to buy a tram ticket at a ticket machine for actual trains for an embarrassingly long amount of time I realised that the tram ticket machines were on the tram platforms and navigated the alarming open-track walkway to get to the right bit of the station. (Manchester runs its public transport system from the viewpoint that if you’re stupid enough to cross a walkway without looking left and right first you deserve to get mangled by a massive tram. I only nearly died once, which frankly is quite good for me all things considering.)

I bought my astonishingly cheap £1.40 one-way ticket, tried to tap my paper ticket on the machine for tapping in plastic travel cards and was puzzled for really an unacceptably long amount of time for a 23 year old before I figured out what was going on, and got on my first TRAM!! It tooted to another tram and I felt like I was living my best life. It would have been even nicer if the tram hadn’t smelt of weed and wee, but as most of Manchester seems to smell of weed and wee I accepted my fate. I realised I had previously been unfair on the “park” as we rumbled through it - there were considerably more trees than I had first thought and the grass looked less mushy. I admired the greenery, noted with resignation that the tram was making me travel sick and then realised it was time to get off! In a…deserted dark tunnel…? I really don’t know what I did, but I found out later there was actually a legit way to exit the tram station, with proper doors and a little escalator and everything, and I most definitely did not do that. I ended up wandering around a tunnel, nearly getting run over at one point when a tram unexpectedly came round a corner (told you I’d nearly got mashed) and finally finished my mini underground journey by being spat out next to the taxi rank. After some seriously bemused searching I found the train station, only to decide that it was actually just too draughty a place to wait out out a few hours and marched down the hill towards the Costa…that was about an 8 minute walk from the Hostel I’d left with so much optimism several hours previously. Ha. Ha. Ha. Isn’t life funny. As I was meeting a friend at Manchester Piccadilly I decided to just call it quits, buy several random Costa snacks to create lunch and have a quiet few hours in the warm before having to heave my suitcase back up the hill to the station for 3pm. Who says I don’t know how to live a wild life…?

After a very enjoyable catch-up I was back on the train and headed, feeling slightly battered, back to to noise and grime of Euston station. It had been quite the weekend, and I left still unsure of what I thought about Manchester. At times it had seemed ruggedly attractive, the several red-brick old buildings nestled in amongst all the mid-20th century concrete particularly eye-catching, and at times it had just seemed…wet. And a bit grey.

The whole “bee mascot” thing has, to an outsider, been taken to a slightly unbelievably wild extreme - there were bees everywhere. On walls. On doors. In restaurant and shop logos. On mugs. On bags. On posters. Even on street bins. As someone who doesn’t particularly like bees, this was a bit unnerving.

On the whole, I did like Manchester - and I would certainly visit again, which says something in itself.

Next stop: My mum and I’s trip to Berlin in April! Where should we visit?

What Essa saw:

Manchester LGBT Foundation

https://lgbt.foundation/

HOME Manchester

https://homemcr.org/

Teacup Kitchen

https://teacupandcakes.com/

Forbidden Planet Manchester

https://www.facebook.com/fpmanchester/

The John Rylands Library (free entry)

https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/

The People’s History Museum (free entry)

https://phm.org.uk/

Manchester’s China Town

https://www.visitmanchester.com/things-to-see-and-do/chinatown-p275031

Where Essa stayed (but does not recommend):

https://hattershostels.com/manchester-hilton-chambers/

#manchester #weekend #travel #lgbtq

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cocoooohkk · 2 years ago

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Food

Marc Haydon

https://www.marchaydon.co.uk/

● Secondary research

“Thanks for taking time to look at my website. I am Marc Haydon, a freelance food and still life photographer. I now work from my own studio in West London using a medium format Hasselblad camera, producing photography for food businesses, supermarkets, restaurants, magazines and more. I work with a team of talented food stylists, prop stylists and retouches to produce high quality imagery. I also work with other photographers in my studio for clients that need a higher output on certain jobs.

But if you've got as minute, here's the story of how I got here...

After graduating from the University of Gloucestershire in 2008 with first class honors in Editorial and Advertising Photography, I spent time working as a portrait photographer at Smart Photography in Oxford shire. My work involved photographing families, babies, and pets.

Then in 2009 I began the cruise ship years. Some of the best and worst moments of my life so far. I spent two and a half years on gigantic floating hotels photographing the passengers at every possible opportunity: At dinner, at parties, on the gangway, on the decks, in front of a dated cloudy backdrop, with the captain, on a tour... Any opportunity that we had, we'd take it. On top of that I got involved in filming events and places and producing a DVD. I shot on-board weddings, filmed weddings, worked in a photo lab, led an on-board camera club, presented photography seminars, gave Photoshop lessons, photographed our ship sailing through the Panama Canal and shot turtles in Barbados with an underwater camera to name just a few. Working seven days a week in 6 month stints was tough but all my free time was spent in some amazing places around the world so it was well worth it.

Eventually, I realized that I needed to get back on track because photographing British holiday makers wasn't exactly the plan. I finished up my last contract on a ship and headed to London in 2011.

I started working as a freelance photographer's assistant when I came to London but shortly after moving here, I got a job working for the online fashion retailer Net-A-Porter. Just over two years in Net-A-Porter allowed me to learn many new disciplines of studio and still life photography where I specialized in Fine Jeweler and Beauty product photography.

In 2013 I got a job as a Senior Photographer for fashion company Jack Wills. It was here that I got to work on more creative still life and model shoots which appeared on the website, in the seasonal handbook and in the shop windows.

Towards the end of 2014, I left full time employment to focus my skills on still life photography and to open myself up to a world of new opportunities. It was during this time that I discovered the wonderful world of food photography where I really found my fee.”

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noexit-ff · 7 years ago

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54. Part 2

Chris is awake before me, I must have slept through Junior crying, we do have the photoshoot but yet I am still in bed. I don’t feel like leaving the bed even though my phone is ringing, that will be Jen cussing me out to open the door. Yesterday was so draining, having to explain to people I don’t care about, to people that wanted me to leave Chris. I mean it needed to be done but I didn’t want to do it, I am just glad it’s over “your momma is lazy as hell” looking to the side of me as Chris walked in with Junior in just his diaper “did you take off his night clothes?” Chris and Junior are just a like, Chris walking around in his boxers and now Junior in just his diaper “well he did a stank diaper and I didn’t feel like putting his clothes back on so we chilling in our boxers” smiling at them both “oh I let Jen in” my eyes widened “in your boxers?” I spat, Chris nodded his head smiling “I mean Yusef is gay, Adam is gay, Jen loves me naked. It’s fine. She told me to go away after seeing me” rolling my eyes “my dick won’t stop being semi though” Chris holding Junior in one arm and then his other hand on his junk “like it’s annoying” he placed his hand down his boxers “just give me junior please, don’t be holding him after playing with your balls” holding my arms out “I want to cuddle him” Chris leaned down placing Junior on the bed “hey mommy’s boy” feeling Chris’ hand on my face “I can feel the heat from your dick on your hand, go away” slapping Chris’ hand away “come here” pulling junior up to me so I can cuddle him.

Yusef stared at Junior “he’s a little bald headed, we can probably oil his scalp” frowning at Yusef “you leave him alone” Junior is busy with his feet again “I mean he has hair but just not a lot, I think it’s the Chris Brown effect” why is Yusef annoying Chris “I have more hair than you baldy, the hell” Yusef laughed pointing at Chris “but you are catching up with me, you can just accept it and go bald” shaking my head smiling “and you have horse hair on your head so why are you smiling” I gasped “why are you attacking me Chris? I am just laughing at you both, you know what. My hair is done so you both can leave and take Junior with you, give him a bath Chris” seeing as Chris is walking around trying to annoy people and so is Yusef “come on, out!” I am not having these two here when I am trying to get ready “come on boys, you heard the lady” Jen said walking them out “and you too godson, sorry. Boys are out!” besides Adam he has to stay “Chris you better bath him, he needs to be in the photoshoot with us” Chris always ends up playing.

I breathed out a sigh of relief, silence. Yusef and Chris are both petty, petty and annoying for no reason. Jen closed the bedroom door “god, hear that. Silence, Adam how long till you have altered the dress?” Jen asked him, he is taking his sweet time “not long, perfection takes time. That is not my fault Rihanna decided to lose weight” rolling my eyes “I didn’t decide, it just happened thank you” getting up from my vanity table “so guess what Chris wants for Christmas?” seeing as Chris is not here I can tell my friends “go on? I bet it’s something to do with a car?” Adam said, shaking my head “incorrect” I said as I sat on top of my bed “he wants me on Christmas eve to dress up as Mrs Claus, he wants to role play. So I’m the bad Mrs Claus, being the naughty bitch I am, and he wants to fuck my brains out” Jen’ smile grew “he wants to role play? Have you ever done that before?” shaking my head pulling a face “I mean not like dress up as something else no, I mean I have dressed up sexy for him but he literally wants me to play it out” this is different “oh, like those Pornhub videos, the delivery pizza guy comes along and the girl is half naked. Oh Robyn you will be fine, you just need to figure out how to do this because your family is nosey, but you can do the most with this” she is right I can “I was thinking of Junior’ godmother to have him and then my family to go to Joyce’ house so we can have the whole house, but it’s Christmas eve and it’s difficult. I’m going to bake a cake and” Jen cut me off “and I don’t want to know, just stop” I stifled out a giggle.

I do have ideas but I am just trying to get my family out of the way “you know, it does worry me but not so worried about having another baby. I don’t mind being pregnant again, even though Junior’ head was huge and he was a very big baby but I enjoyed it. I want more kids but it’s taking time. We have sex, the only time I thought I was pregnant was when I went to Barbados but it never happened” Jen sat next to me “why don’t you just relax? You have Junior and I know god will bless you and if not, then there is things out there. How many babies you want crazy?” I smiled “erm, four. Three the least but I want to have more than two. I just feel like Chris and I deserve, Chris is fine now and I know he won’t ever fuck up on me like that again” Adam held up the dress in front of us “look what we have here and Rihanna, stop worrying. God will bless you my beautiful” I sighed out smiling “I am not worried because I have Junior but I do want to know I can have another baby, I want to have a big family, my family. It’s made even more happy to hear Chris is accepting of it” Jen rolled her eyes “you need to think about a tour, you need to work” me and work, I don’t want to work right now, I just have babies.

I froze seeing Junior and Chris “wait” I pointed, is that the photographer already taking the pictures “Yusef did Chris give him a bath, did either of them actually do anything?” Yusef is laughing his ass off “well no, Chris put his jeans on and then he came down. The photographer said let’s take pictures of you both like this, so they are outside” that husband of mine “I bet you think why the hell you are here for EJ” I walked by EJ and outside, my heart melted hearing my son’ giggle “awww there we are, Chris if you can just stand back and look at Junior in awe” this is so cute, look at my son loving it. He is in his zone, Junior loves being in his diaper so he is good and then Princess walking around him, he loves it “look at my baby” I said walking behind the photographer “Ey! No Junior, don’t pull her ears” Chris spat, Junior looked behind him and then fell back onto the pillows luckily “we are editing the pillows out but we just thought we would start, you don’t mind. These are the pictures” the photographer said “sorry, I’m Delray. I am so excited to work with you both but hey” he shook my hand, he seems nervous and happy “nice to meet you, let me see the pictures” he turned the camera to me, taking the camera from him. Sliding across the pictures, the picture of Chris behind Junior as Junior played with Princess, and the scenery. It’s actually nice “awwww, ok I like this. I want this in there” Junior is staring up at Chris giggling.

We are so lucky we got the pictures with Junior out of the way because he fell asleep in my arms “I am shocked at Junior being so good” Jen spat in shock “well yesterday he was moody so he was over it today, also he was having nothing but bottle milk, I gave him breast” Jen let out an oh “he won’t let it go?” shaking my head “Chris and Junior both can’t” Delray waved me over “here, just next to Chris on the couch. I want Chris to be looking into the camera, while you’re resting your head on his shoulder and looking up at him” Chris got changed again “but I think I should look into the camera, I have the eyes” I said as I walked over to Chris “you saying I got nasty eyes?” sitting next to Chris “no, I am just saying. I am joking, sensitive ass” pecking his lips “well the main cover is just going to be you both in your wedding dress and you in your suit on your wedding day. The picture Dennis took was beautiful and because this is about you and your married life it will be perfect” they got a point and it will make good pictures.

Opening my garage door, Lo’ car drove into my garage. Robyn said I need to get rid of these idiots but what can I say when they was outside my home, Robyn is upstairs getting the home set for the family coming “my man, look at you. Shit nigga, I ain’t seen you in weeks!” Lo closed the car door, he hugged me “yeah, I needed to go in hiding after that” seeing Fresh, Hood both come out of the car “good seeing you calm, to see you like this” dapping Fresh and Hood “you look way better than we last saw you” stuffing my hands in my pockets “yeah, I’m just blessed to be in my family home still. To be with my wife” Lo looks so impressed “that night with Mulan was crazy, I thought you was going to punch her. We was like don’t speak on his wife but Robyn has really fixed you up” rubbing the back of my head chuckling “hell yeah, I fucked up. I am a father and one day I will have a daughter and I would kill anyone like that. I fucked up, shit was wild” Fresh laughed “oh hey Mrs Brown” I froze, Robyn is here, she knows everything “hi, Chris I need to speak to you real quick” looking behind me “uuhhh yeah, one second” turning around and walking towards Robyn as she walked back into the home.

I know what she about to tell me, I took in a deep breath “why? I said I don’t want them here, I told you they are banned from our home. I told you that you need to make that decision, they are the people that sat and watched you rot, Chris please. Stop this, I told you and you are not listening to me. They are some bums, talking about you look good now bro, Rihanna really got you looking good, is this what it’s going to be always like? You want your dumbass friends and once they have fucked you over you come to me so I can heal you? It’s not happening and I promise you that. I told you that they are banned from my home because they are the same motherfuckers that bought females near you, don’t get me angry. Fuck! You are so stupid” rubbing my neck not knowing what to say “what now? Is this it huh? After I rode for you in that interview you want me to look like a stupid bitch, you chose them? I left you with that decision and you bring them into our home” shaking my head “I ain’t ever picked them, Robyn listen to me. They was already outside the home, I let them come in and I am about to tell them to go. I ain’t chose them, I want you. You know this, I am sorry. I should have met them outside” Robyn wants to slap me “you know what upsets me the most, I know for a fact they would have been there filling your cup up. They would have even watched you cheat on me and that is what you call friends, get them out of the home now. I mean it” Robyn stormed off, I didn’t think she would have caught me that quickly but she is forever watching me closely.

Sighing out as I walked back into the garage “look like your wife took your balls Chris” Hood spat, he ain’t even wrong “y’all need to go, I need to leave with Robyn somewhere so y’all need to go now” I said waving them off “we just got here bro, it’s been weeks” shaking my head “look, for me. Just go, don’t come to my home” they know for a fact my whole attitude as changed “you mean Rihanna is kicking us out?” I shrugged not answering Fresh “come on, that shit is wack, we had your back. You just letting your wife judge you, we been there when she wasn’t” Fresh said “see this is it with you all, y’all deep down got the same attitude as Sinko. You think my wife is making me do shit, she is pushing me to do things. None of you like my wife because if you did then you would help make sure I was good, you wouldn’t bring females and you wouldn’t egg me on, that’s not what friends do. That’s what people that need a name or a come up do. Least all of you got blog time, just get out” all three of them are ever so silent, they don’t know what to say because I am right.

I was going to go upstairs and see Robyn but she was already walking down with Junior, he is crying and I wonder why “Robyn, let me speak to you please. I didn’t mean it like that, I would never do anything to upset you like that either” she is way angry than I thought “why is he crying!?” I said half shouting over his cries, Robyn placed him in the high chair “we need to go and get my family from the airport and he’s crying because I said no to him” Robyn is angry at me so she may have taken it out on him, I mean she is angry. Robyn walked off “did momma shout at you?” he is having a full blown fit “you can blame me, I got her mad” Robyn came out of nowhere and shoved a pacifier in his mouth and held it there “you wanted to speak?” I breathed out, she is scary mad “well I wanted to say I am sorry, I am not ever going to fuck up. I promise you, I know you have chosen me over everything. I will not let you down, they gone. It was just going to be one minute. You’re a woman so I guess y’all know everything but I am sorry” Robyn moved her hand back from Junior’ mouth and he is quiet “doesn’t matter if it was one minute, they are banned from this home. I don’t want them being a friend of yours, I told you” nodding my head “I understand, I only got Mijo and you. I get it” Robyn ain’t fucking with me, if I fuck up she will leave.

Looking in my rear-view mirror, Robyn is sat in the back with Maurice. He is being annoying “does your boob work?” I questioned “works on you doesn’t it? Well he’s quiet but I really want to stop, I just want to stop this but he won’t let it go. With his teeth pushing through, his cheek are all red and stuff. I just don’t want to do it anymore” he’s attached to her boob “I would be forever on your boob, you can feed me. I won’t bite, promise” I grinned “you have done it before, don’t give me that” stopping behind the SUV “that was because you was annoying me, you holding off on me with sex. You better be doing something bomb as fuck in the bedroom, I want some sex” she won’t have sex with me, well she gives me hand or head but I want pussy “well my dear husband you said you wanted a very different Christmas present, you will get it. You’re rude as hell, you can never let me be in peace. Just can’t cuddle me” looking behind me “what!? That’s a lie, I do cuddle you. I may hump you but that is me, you playing. I can’t help that I have a sexy wife” Robyn waved me off “traffic is moving horny ass” she playing with all of that.

Then Jet has just arrived, running around the car as Robyn just got out. Hugging Robyn out of nowhere “what are you doing!?” She spat “hugging you, you playing. You acting like I don’t show you love when I do, you know I adore you” feeling Robyn push at my chest a little “admit it, you just wanted a hug” I ain’t finna let go “boy bye, I didn’t want no hug from you” squeezing Robyn a little more “say it, I love you Robyn” she needs to say it “fine! I wanted a hug from you” moving back “I knew it” I said, Robyn tried to not smile at me but she did “you’re actually annoying” that means she is happy and loves me “Junior is asleep so I will leave him in the car” she closed the car door, turning around and Monica was already walking down the steps “yes, I am back!! my baby!” Monica shouted, my smile grew seeing Lionel. His old frail self, he waved at the top like he on some king shit. Monica held her arms open for me and I opened my arms to her but walked by her to Lionel “excuse me” she spat, I stopped and turned around “I am playing, I would never do that to you” hugging Monica.

Lionel finally made it down “next time we will parachute you out of the jet, quicker process” he really took his time “come here you” holding my hand out for him to shake “you will end up giving me a heart-attack doing that” I don’t know where the strength came from but he yanked me into a hug “I am glad to see you smiling Chris, remember what I told you on the phone. And I come here and see this” he said in my ear, I smiled moving back. When I see Lionel I feel emotional he just gives me that male figure, he can laugh and joke with me but talks to me “I did it for Robyn, everything I been doing is for her. I learned to forgive like you told me, I ain’t get to forgive my dad” Lionel let my hand go “you only give the title dad to someone that is worthy of it, it will feel a little less painful to speak on it if you call him Clinton. We have lots to speak about, come. Look at my grandbaby” Lionel said seeing Robyn, I be taking all of his attention.

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soniawantthatwedding · 3 years ago

Photo

A Beautiful Bohemian Handfasting Ceremony in Barbados: Paula & Chris http://bit.ly/2uyJ0WT Wedding Credits / Photographer: Sara Monika Photography / Wedding Venue: Flower Forest, Barbados / Brides Veil & Dress: Monique L’huillier Via Kleinfeld’s In Toronto / Grooms Shirt: Scotch & Soda / Grooms Chinos: Blue Industry Via From Gotstyle / Brides Shoes: Loeffler Randall / Brides Headpiece: Olivia Headpieces And Hemma Katzka / Grooms Shoes: / Bridesmaid Dresses: Adrianna Papell & Two Birds / Bridesmaid Shoes: Roxy Flipflops / Hair: Tina Barrow And Assistant Jenny / Makeup: Makeup Design By Brittany Tuleja / Florist, Decor, Rentals And Day-of Coordination: Events By Giselle

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paniccord-ff · 7 years ago

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48. Part 2

I am on cloud nine right now, this cannot be real life. I am literally sat with Vera Wang and she is designing my dress “I am just a little sad that I am pregnant, I really didn’t want to wear a ball gown type but how you deigned it. It looks beautiful and it does hide the bump” she is so amazing “well I think it’s the best way to not expose too much stomach, I think the only thing I am concerned about is the crystals, having to hand stitch them. I think I will get this done but it will be so last minute, Chris is a darling though. He said I can come to the wedding but I need to shoot off, I am leaving you in good hands though. My team will be working with you every step of the way, they are taking the designs with them and will call you if they need anything” her team is big, I am so happy and excited to see my dress “I can’t thank you enough, I am so excited!” Maria held my arm “this is so beautiful Rylee, I cannot wait to see my best friend in the dress” I smiled at her “I am just happy you are here, this is such a blessing” I can’t wait to see Chris and thank him again.

Waving Vera Wang off as the car drove off with her team, I guess they have a lot to do now “I am so shook! Vera Wang bitch! Like, you have a picture with her too” Tamia spat, looking down at my phone “I still think I am in a dream right now, I can’t even deal” captioning the picture ‘When your man gives you a birthday surprise and has Vera Wang make your wedding dress, no other woman will have a dress like mine. I am so thankful, my birthday has already been great! Love you baby’ posting the picture, I have to show off what my man has done for me, why should I hide such a thing “you about to burst Maria, are you sure you’re ok here? What about your man?” I know she is ready to have this baby “oh, I have a few weeks left but he couldn’t get time off work but I do, so here I am” hugging Maria again “I am so glad you all are here” we can have fun now.

Kicking my feet in the water “does that thing kick yet?” EJ asked as he swam over to me “he’s not you know, I can at times feel him move but it seems like a very calm baby. Maybe the calm before the storm?” this makes me nervous “oh trust me Rylee, they will kick eventually. He thinks he is playing soccer, I will show you one time” Maria said as she sat down next to me “your bump is so cute! Where are the marks!? I ain’t showing you mine” I can tell, she is covering hers “the fact y’all vaginas are about to be destroyed by this” EJ pulled a face saying “who says mine ain’t already been destroyed” I retorted, EJ gasped as they all screamed out “we been done seen his dick print so I am not shocked, bitch he destroys you till this day?” EJ is so nosey “of course he does” Maria glared at me “I don’t know how you don’t get back pains? Wow” she said, EJ pointed at Maria “you saw his dick print too?” EJ asked, Maria’ cheeks turned red “you can say it” I said in case she thinks I will get mad “well, I mean it was there. I did look, sorry Rylee. I was on Instagram and it came up on my feed, it was those fans circling it” shaking my head laughing “it’s ok, I have not got back pains at all so it’s ok” giggling a little “it’s the man himself and the man that made the man” turning around seeing Chris and his dad.

Pulling the robe around my body “come here you” picking Royalty up and placing her on my hip “birthday to you!” she kissed my cheek “aww thank you” walking over to Chris’ dad, Chris never said he was bringing his family at all “hi Mr Brown” do I call him that, I am not even sure “you can call me Clinton” shaking his hand, he kissed my cheek “happy birthday to you, Chris has told me a lot about this wedding” letting his hand go “I hope it was all good things” smiling at Chris “nothing but praises” seeing Tootie behind his dad “oh my gosh, how are you?” opening my arm to hug her “how is you Rylee?” Chris should have said something “you are glowing girl!” Tootie said in my ear “you think?” moving back from the hug “you are” looking over at Chris’ nephew “hello” smiling at him “Royalty, you be making Rylee hold you. You shouldn’t be holding her” Tootie took Royalty from me “no, I want Lee!” Royalty wiggled herself out of her grip “but you can’t let her pick you girl” Royalty held my hand “I wonder who else Chris has got here” I am wondering now “oh god, Mijo” covering my face with my hand “this place is so dope Rylee!” Mijo is busy looking around the place.

Pulling the Balmain mini dress down, I am wondering if Chris chose this because it’s so beautiful. It is a little figure hugging but it’s nice “what do you think Royalty?” tiptoeing out of the bathroom, she always tells me the truth “you think daddy did good baby?” looking at myself in the mirror “I think daddy did good” Chris said out of nowhere, I jumped a little “Jesus, learn to knock but I want to know. Did you pick this!?” I questioned, he didn’t speak a word to me. Chris bit his bottom lip walking over to me “what is wrong?” he is being mad weird, Chris walked into me wrapping his arms around me. Placing his hands on my butt, feeling him squeeze my butt walking me back into the bathroom “Chris!” I yelped, he looked at Royalty “one minute! Just wait there” he spat, eyeballing Chris in shock. He kicked the door shut “I really want to have sex, you look so fucking sexy in this Rylee. Your thighs have got me, oh my god” he’s such a dog “stop rubbing yourself against me” I giggled saying, I gasped as Chris started kissing on my neck “daddy!” Royalty hit the door “I am trying to bust a nut, go away!” he spat “fuck Rylee, what are you wearing? You smell so good” he groaned out “you know you going to have to wait until tonight” he rested his head on my shoulder “I know” he mumbled, he sounds so sad “I am sorry baby” he is so adorable, an adorable freak.

Closing the bathroom door behind me “let’s go and get you dressed now” Chris got himself hard so he can get himself out of it, he need to masturbate himself now “Lee look” looking down at Royalty “lipstick gone?” she touched her lips “who lips?” she pointed at me “my lips?” touching my lips “oh, yeah. Thank you for letting me know, blame your dad” he never keeps anything on my face, I feel a mess now because of him. Hearing a slight knock on the bedroom door “yes?” I said, I wonder who it is “just me” EJ walked in “oh wow, you look so good” he rushed over “the sheer mesh panels, gold-tone studded detailing and figure-hugging silhouette. This is so beautiful, you are one beautiful pregnant woman” my cheeks feel all red now “stop it” waving him off “Rylee! You want me to put the cum in the glass!?” Chris half shouted, EJ’ mouth fell open “y’all are disgusting, I am out” EJ soon ran off “yes!” I ain’t saying no to it.

I am really happy Chris’ dad is here, Royalty will stay with him luckily. Sitting down on top of the toilet seat after closing it “how come you are back?” Chris said while pushing the shower glass back “do no splash me” I pointed at him, Chris continued to soap his chest “I won’t, you looking too beautiful baby” he complimented me, seeing the glass on the side “I actually came for this” picking up the glass “you came a lot this time, looks nice and thick” Chris chuckled “this ain’t no wine tasting babe” examining the cum in the glass, looking over at Chris. He has turned around under the water “look at your little butt and stick legs” I can’t help but tease those legs, I don’t think the cum is going to have the same taste as it would when it’s warm but here it goes.

Pushing Rylee’ seat in “look at you, gentleman” is EJ trying to be funny “I am so glad that those two are on the end on their own” he pointed “why is that?” sitting down “oh, I shall not repeat such nastiness but anyways. Doesn’t Rylee look so good!” I don’t even know what he is on about “my daughter looks so beautiful who got you the dress?” Rose said, placing my arm behind Rylee on the chair “Chris, I am not sure if he actually picked it out, did you?” Rylee looked at me “I did, I am friends with the designer so yeah” Rylee grinned at me, I kind of wanted to sit with my dad and Rylee’ dad. They look like they are having such a dope conversation, I guess I have to sit with the women because of my girl. She smells so nice though, I don’t know what it is.

Kicking EJ’ leg and looking away “I know you ain’t looking away like you didn’t just kick my leg” looking at EJ all confused “sorry?” furrowing my eyebrows “fuck you” he spat, busting out laughing “take a picture of Chris and I please” Rylee gave EJ her phone “you are shaving for the wedding yes?” Rylee asked me as she shuffled closer to me “yeah, I am just waiting it out and then I will shave it off” wrapping my arm around Rylee “do not make me look fat either” licking my lips smiling “I wish I could take a picture and look so perfect, I swear I hate you” EJ turned the phone to Rylee, looking at the picture “you look beautiful baby, you don’t look fat” staring at her phone as she posted the picture “I haven’t even updated my page in a while, I ain’t even been feeling it” being in Barbados has been wack so that is why.

Reading the menu, I don’t think I am even hungry. I just really want sex, I am feigning so bad “what do you want to eat?” Rylee sat back asking me “pussy” I openly said “seriously, stop it. Do you want to eat what I get? The same thing?” nodding my head placing the menu on the table, turning my head to the side seeing someone recording me on their phone. Smiling at the girl turning my head away “daddy, look” Royalty yelped holding my dad’ phone, picking her up and placing Royalty on my lap “I see you took grandad phone huh, what are you doing on this?” it don’t matter now, she switched it off “dad! You look lost?” I half shouted, he looked over at me “I was looking for Royalty, there she is” shaking my head, look at him losing my daughter “EJ take a picture for me, come here Rylee” passing my phone to EJ “y’all need to get a personal photographer” taking my dad’ phone from Roro “look over there baby, smile” I pointed, placing my arm around Rylee as he took the picture.

I actually love this picture, captioning the picture ‘My family, Happy Birthday beautiful. Thank you for being the best wife, step mother and mother. You inspire me to do better and is always there to catch me when I am falling #BrownFamily’ pressing send, Rylee got up from the her seat “Chris, come with me. I will be back” she announced “what is it?” Rose asked her, getting up from the chair with Royalty “give Royalty to your dad” I wonder what is up, I hope it ain’t her grandma, I don’t want to see that woman. Giving Royalty to my dad “mom, don’t worry. I will be back” Rylee grabbed hold of my hand, what is she up too.

Rylee is rushing and I don’t know why “what are you doing?” I said in a whisper, Rylee pulled me into the women’s bathroom “Rylee?” is she crazy, she pulled me into the cubicle and closed the door locking it “I want you, I want you right now” she said breathlessly, I grinned and felt a sudden rush of adrenaline “what changed your mind?” I whispered “I just looked at your face and I just wanted you inside of me, I saw your bulge and I just want you” Rylee announced, pride and lust in her eyes. Rylee caught my lips in a rough kiss, her tongue brushed over my lower lip and along the roof of my mouth. She moved back from the kiss “just do not ruin my dress” she rubbed my crotch.

Rylee turned around, I grabbed her butt and hoisted her up so we were level. I positioned myself and slowly fit my length into her “yes” I moaned out closing my eyes, I wanted to be inside of Rylee since I saw her in this dress. We eventually got a rhythm going, biting back my moans. She is so tight and I don’t know why “ah god” picking up my pace. The stall door rocked slightly back and forth, I squeezed her ass and she moaned loudly “yes Chris” I am dying to grab Rylee’ hair but I won’t, she will truly kill me.

Pulling my zip up stepping out of the bathroom stall “why is your dick so good, god I hate you” smiling at Rylee through the mirror, walking over to Rylee slowly “if you weren’t pregnant already I would be getting you pregnant again” pressing myself against Rylee “stop, we need to go back. This is so bad” hearing the bathroom door open, stepping away from Rylee rubbing my head. This random lady gasped “yeah, I will be outside” let me get out of here “I am coming” Rylee grabbed the back of my top giggling “oh my gosh” pulling open the door “I look ok don’t I?” looking behind me “you like beautiful babe” she always does “where y’all been?” I jumped seeing Blake coming out of the men’s bathroom, I froze staring at him “I went out for a smoke and then came to see Rylee” I lied, Blake stared at me all crazy “you got lipstick all on your face nigga, wipe it” Blake walked off, eyeballing Rylee because she never said anything to me.

I am sitting with my dad finally, I switched places with Kyrie but Rylee and I keep on staring at each other smirking. I want her again already “you have a good son right there Clinton, you raised him right” my dad put his hands up “honestly, I can’t take it all, his mother did most of it but I am very proud of him. He has messed up, he has called me and said dad I messed up plenty of times. When he called me about Rylee he said dad I got something to tell you, I was scared. He told me about Rylee but it is the way he said it, I goes boy, you are whipped. He goes I have met her parents, I am doing it the right way. She is just regular girl and I want to marry her, woah son. Just get to know her but I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter in law, she has been a blessing my son needed” it’s good to hear my dad say he is proud of me “I was the same, Rylee told me and I was like who? I don’t bother with the celebrity thing but people start talking, I did question Chris and he was so open. Not going to lie my friends at home keep on saying what it is like to have a famous son in law, I don’t see the difference” Harvey said “you keep praising Chris his head about to get huge” Blake nudged me saying, he right on that.

Harvey, Nathan and Blake all got up to go to Rylee, my dad shuffled over a seat to sit next to me “I do mean every word Chris, I am very proud of you” I sometimes need to hear this from him “Royalty, come here now” my dad waved Royalty over “has Royalty not mentioned Nia at all?” shaking my head “no, she has never mentioned the word at all. I don’t know why, she is just not missed I guess” I shrugged “she said something that took me back, when you both was sat down there. I am not sure if she has ever said it to you both, Royalty said mommy Lee” staring at my dad in shock “mommy Lee?” I repeated, my dad nodded his head “she said it, no lie” I have never heard Royalty say this to Rylee at all, this is crazy talk.

Holding Royalty swaying as we sang Happy Birthday to Rylee “Happy Birthday Rylee! Happy Birthday to you!” Royalty clapped her hands “yay!” she yelped, stepping away from the family not wanting Royalty to say the word mommy, I don’t know how Rylee will feel about that at all. I just don’t know what to say either “Daddy” Royalty pointed behind me “mommy Lee, mommy. I help mommy” I blinked at Royalty several times, where did this even come from “Roro” I said her name, I don’t know what to say and I am so glad nobody heard that.

#Chrianna #Chrianna FF #Fanfiction

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