#Caiden Eleven

[vodkassassin]

my son, who was probably my very first OC ever in my life, that I made when I was like, 7 years old. His name is Caiden, he’s my rougue from DragonFable by ArtixEntertainment a la battleon.com (my favorite game when I was a kid) ft. a slime monster uwu

[sassypandacandy]

Eleven Q’s Tag

Thanks for the tag, @wisedom-for-an-eye! This is a new one for me, I think.

1. How long have you been writing?

For about ten years. I started writing short stories in my Creative Writing class when I was 19, and then started my first novel that same year. In that time I’ve completed 9 different books and maybe a dozen short stories, and I have plans for loads more!

2. What are the major themes of your current wip?

A Day Out of Time: After/Effects deals with consequences, and the ways in which our choices affect each other and the world at large. A secondary theme would be the idea that we are not responsible for the bad things that others choose to do, even if our actions indirectly lead up to it (i.e., if you stand up to bigots and they pull out a gun, you are not to blame).

3. What do you want people to take away from tour story once they’ve read it?

That no one is an island. We all affect and influence each other, even in minuscule ways. Another interpretation is that no one is truly alone, and sometimes we have problems that we need help to address.

4. Would you be excited if people write fanfiction about your wip(s)

No comment

5. What is your go-to writing beverage?

6. Who is your favorite OC? Tell me about them!

7. Do you feel mistakes are important learning tools in the writing journey?

Definitely. I think mistakes are a great way to remind us of how far we’ve come, and what we need to work on in the future. I recently opened an old MS that I hadn’t worked on in over three years, and there were definitely cringeworthy parts. Info-dumping, an over-angsty protagonist, a female friendship plagued by toxic dynamics, a total lack of diversity - this first draft was guilty of all that and more. But I made it better, and I couldn’t have done that without first looking those mistakes in the face.

8. Rank your OC’s by their capability in a foot chase (either running from something or after something)

I have to stick with OCs from After/Effects: 

Petra ranks first in running after something. She’s big (think Gwendolyn Christie) but absolutely unstoppable. Opal comes next because they have a good combo of speed, height, and strength. McNab and Fahd have similar body types and levels of endurance, and its their job to chase things down sometimes. Mia is most likely the fastest, but she’s small, so big obstacles would impede her. She’s tenacious though, so I wouldn’t knock her out completely. Briar hasn’t had any training, so she would be great at hiding, but not so great at actually fleeing. And Emblyn comes dead last, because she wouldn’t run from anything, and she sure as hell wouldn’t chase anyone.

9. Does your wip have romance? Tell me about it! If not, tell me about a friendship/ important relationship in your wip.

Mia and Fahd have been together for something like 9-10 months, and they’re very firmly in love, but this story only features their relationship at the beginning before their plot lines diverge. Still, I love them because they have one of those fun, supportive relationships. No angst to be found here; just fluff.

10. Do you believe in the advice killing your darlings?

I’m not afraid to kill a character, but if I do it’ll be deliberate, and it’ll fit with the theme of the story. A Day Out of Time is mostly a ridiculous adventure story, and while it does have small moments of heartbreak, I could hardly kill someone important in a bloody way and then try to write a fun romp again. My dark fantasy series, though? Oh yeah, all bets are off.

11. Do you prefer worldbuilding or plotting and why?

I enjoy worldbuilding and doing research, but I also like when plot points come to me organically. At some point, worldbuilding does get a bit tedious.

Tagging @caiden-is-writing @alinakerrin @leave-her-a-tome and @crazybunchwriter

[brittonskye]

brown.

All of my life, I was told what to wear, how to style my hair, what products to put on my face. I was told where to be and when, and I showed up. I never tried anything different. I never strayed from the path I was so clearly on. Whites. Baby pinks. Baby blues. Pastel greens and. yellows and purples. Never red. Never black. No dark colors. Blonde hair. Always straightened or curled. A low bun was okay, braids on special occasions, no pony tails, pigtails, or hats. A pair of stud earrings, a dainty necklace. No bracelets, no rings except the purity ring that every young Plumfeld girl donned on her ring finger. Church. Home. The Pastor’s house for a Bible study. The grocery store to help the First Lady prepare a meal. Nine AM. Eleven AM. Seven PM. Five-thirty PM.

I thought of all of these things, sitting in my desk chair. I felt like a young girl living in Ms. Nora’s house, but in a good kind of way. I felt like I was growing up in the way typical girls did. A room with posters on the walls, pen and marker markings on the top of their desk, bags and jackets and shoes piled up in every corner. Since arriving at Ms. Nora’s, I had transformed from my braids-and-low-buns, white-and-pastel skirts and blouses to air-dried hair, bare-face, reds-and-blacks jeans and tube tops. Granted, I loved my curled hair, made-up, baby-blue dress self as well. But here, no one told me what to do. 

I kissed Caiden in Hawaii, and though it had been months and we had kissed a dozen times since, it still made me giddy to think about. He sat on my bed, and I in my desk chair. He was reading a book, and I was writing my thoughts in my journal. I caught a glimpse of Evie that sat on my desk. She was getting so big. Nearly thirteen now, and somehow, she still felt like my baby. I missed her every day, but I knew it was better for her where she was. She had grown so much. She was too little--one of Pastor’s youngests. 

I didn’t go unscathed in Plumfeld. Pastor had some unmentionable moments with me, and the shame that had built up around it prevented a lot from happening in my current life. I sometimes wondered what my life would be like if I had stayed, what Pastor Plumfeld’s abuse would have turned into, and what Branson would be like running the town. I’m sure much better than his father. Though Branson was raised by a monster, he was a good man of faith. It was one of his most redeeming qualities. 

I looked over at Caiden, and nudged him with my foot. He looked at me, and I looked at him. I gave him a small grin, and he leaned in to kiss me. We had just watched Sweet Home Alabama the night previous. My favorite part was when the kid-versions of Melanie and Jake are talking, and she asks what he would want to marry her for, anyhow. And he says, “So I can kiss you anytime I want.” That’s how I felt about Caiden. He was a sweet boy, and my therapist was trying to convince me that I deserved a sweet boy while acknowledging the fact that I had a sweet boy before him and that it’s okay to move on. 

“I wanna do something a little crazy,” I said to him. His eyes lit up, but before I could say anything, I went on, “I want to dye my hair brown.”

It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. I had thought this all out. I had discussed it with my therapist. Everything, my entire life, had been controlled. I had been dying my hair blonde since I was a little girl to ensure that I kept up the “look” Pastor Plumfeld held for me, and I was done with it. I didn’t want it anymore. That version of Britton died with my parents that night. No matter how hard I tried being the same girl I was, how long and how hard I held onto my relationship with Branson, I couldn’t make it work. Because in my life, there was a Before and an After. My body was living in the After, but my spirit and my soul hadn’t quite caught up. 

“I already booked an appointment with the lady that does Ree’s hair,” I said. 

Without my license, I got in the passenger side of Caiden’s car. He drove me to the salon, waited with me while the dye set, watched as my hair was trimmed and then styled. I actually forgot he was there a couple of times. I kept great conversation with the hair stylist, which I was proud of myself for. When she was done, she turned the chair around and I had a Princess Mia moment. (I had watched the Princess Diaries the week earlier with Ree and Alice!) I ran up to Caiden, who was sitting in the waiting area, and I threw my arms around his neck, kissed him on the mouth, and gave him a little squeeze. 

“You look beautiful,” he said. 

“I know,” I beamed. “This is so much more me.”

Goodbye blonde. Hello brunette!

[herebewvxen]

At birth, she was the fourth, and only the youngest for a year. The problem with growing up in an ever-growing family is that the youngest are always squabbling for attention while the oldest find solidarity in existing together loudly. But what of the in-betweeners? What of the fourth of nine, the perpetually caught in the middle; what of Pandora? 

Well, she joined in the noise. She talked over Cynthia and bickered with Maddox and maintained the peace while Caiden and Lia fought over toys. By ten, she was a master negotiator and all but running the home during the school year while her parents spent their time fighting and falling apart and splitting and falling back together. It’s true that her parents meant well, that they loved their children, that they wanted the best for them. It’s even true that they gave their children all that they could--but sometimes, that wasn’t enough. 

At eleven, her parents were falling back together. The last thing she did before leaving for Hogwarts was move her things back into the house. All eleven of the, under the same roof for a brief few days. The noise never stopped. The Hogwarts Express was really no different, nor the Great Hall. But in the Ravenclaw common room, Pandora found something wonderful. 

She found silence, and what a treat that proved to be. In the years following, she pursued silence when she could--taking up space in the library, spending time at the homes of friends with smaller families, and ultimately settling on a career that required a degree of quiet, just to get it done. Uriah went on to be an actor, Jessabelle to a teacher, Cynthia to a quidditch star, and so on. And yet Pandora settled definitively on alchemy, and within it, she thrived. 

Now, all these years later, she doesn’t have to fight to be heard. There’s no quarreling for space, for attention, for the space to say what’s on your mind. Now, in their little rook-shaped-home, Pandora shares her thoughts regularly, openly, fluidly, with Xenophilius. There is no bickering over the time or whose turn it is to tell a story, just the steady flow of one to another. The two of them take up the same space eagerly, sharing everything they can, talking for hours just to get the words from their brain to someone else’s ear. 

At birth, she was the fourth, and only the youngest for a year. At present, she’s the fourth, but she is loved and she is happy and she is heard and hearing and loving. At present, and for the foreseeable future, in every conceivable moment, there is nowhere else she would rather be. 

[caidensommers]

QUARANTINE PROMPT #1:  Prompt: Write an adventure (you can interpret this any way you'd like) one of your characters went on alone or before they arrived to Nora's. Challenge: Write it on a character that didn't come to mind when you read the prompt.

“Ma, ma, look at me!” Freckled-faced and sun-tanned Caiden smiled from the monkey bars, dangling a few feet in the air. 

“Caiden Andrew, you better not break an arm before your flight!” His mom answered, parenting her only son with a smile still on her face. 

“I won’t!” He grinned, “I’m just building up my battin’ arms!” 

This year, Caiden would be turning eleven. While some of the boys in his grade had graduated from playing on jungle gyms, Caiden still liked it. His mom was raising him to be a good boy, to be well-mannered, and to not grow up too quickly. If he wanted to still do the monkey bars instead of Google “boobs,” well then his mama was going to make sure she took him to the park whenever he wanted, even if it was the night before his very first airplane ride. 

Little did he know, his mom had saved up three paychecks just to afford his airplane ride and hotel accommodations. Caiden was a good baseball player. No, he was a great baseball player. He was the second best batter on his team, right behind a boy named J.J, and he was a first baseman. He was the only boy on his team who could throw the ball from first base all the way to third, and he’d catch and throw double strikeouts on his team more than anyone else. So when his baseball team made it to a championship tournament all the way in Orlando, Florida, well, Caiden’s mom couldn’t let him miss out on that great adventure. She worked hard for her boy, but he loved her back just as hard. 

“Okay, let’s head home, baby. We don’t want any mosquitos biting you!” Caiden’s mother called, wrangling up her excited son and heading to the bus stop. 

The Sommers were poor. Not dirt poor, but poor. Try as she might, Caiden’s mom could never get them living above what they needed, which is why this trip was so special. So important. Granted, she wouldn’t be there to see if Caiden hit a double or if he caught a perfect fly ball, but he was able to go, and that was something she never dreamed would happen. That evening as his mother tucked him into bed, Caiden was struck with a pang of fear. Anxious, bubbling fear.  It settled as a lump in his throat, and his ocean blue eyes watered as they finished their prayers. 

“Ma,” He look at her, “What if something happens and you’re not there?” 

“Oh, no. Don’t you worry about stuff like that, pal,” Caiden’s mom was truly his best friend, “This is your first great adventure. Your biggest baseball tournament. You were born to be a star, my slugger, and not God or anyone else above is going to let you get hurt.” She kissed him on the forehead, “Now get some rest, you set flight for your dreams tomorrow.” 

‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧

Caiden sat alone in his seat, biting at the skin around his fingernails. A couple rows ahead of him sat some of his teammates, he saw their bright red hats bobbing up and down as they talked to each other. He would’ve said hi, but he liked to follow the rules and his mom said sit and stay in his seat until Mr. Mason got him at the end of the flight. The Mason’s were a good family. There was Mr. Mason, Caiden’s coach, Mrs. Mason, the mom, and Alex and Lucas, two of Caiden’s teammates. They did everything together, and Caiden was sorta jealous that Alex and Lucas had a dad and he didn’t. Caiden never knew his dad, but sitting there on the airplane surrounded by his teammates, teammates families, and random, excited strangers probably heading to Walt Disney World, Caiden wished he knew him. He wished his dad cared enough to know him too. 

Before Caiden could give his dad too much thought, the flight attendant came on the loud speaker. She stood way up at the front of the plane and was blonde, just like him. Caiden remembered his Mom told him to chew gum as the plane took off, so he grabbed his pack of Big League Chew out of his backpack and tossed a whole bunch of shreds in his mouth. The woman kept on talking, and soon enough, the plane was ready for take off. As Caiden made sure his seatbelt was fastened, he saw his hands shaking a little bit and hoped the girl in the row next to him didn’t notice. She was a brunette with her face already in a Twilight book, but she was really pretty. Probably too old for him, of course, but pretty nonetheless. 

And then, the plane started picking up speed. Caiden heard a bunch of unfamiliar sounds, watching out the window as it went faster and faster. And then just like that, he was flying! Well, he wasn’t flying, the plane was flying, but still. It was unbelievable! Caiden watched as the buildings got smaller and the clouds got puffier. He wished he could open up the window and just touch one. He bet it felt softer than cotton candy. He took out his cell-phone, it was an old phone that he was pretty embarrassed by, but he couldn’t help but take a picture of the sky. It was so big. There was so much to see. For a while he believed there wasn’t much of a world outside of his little hometown, but here everything was so vast. He wanted to see it all. To experience it all. To delve into a world so different than his own. 

After staring out the window for an hour, Caiden munched on the crackers that came in the snack cart. He also drank a 7UP. He knew if his mom was there she would’ve insisted on water, but soda’s were a rare treat in the Sommer household and so Caiden took full advantage of the limitless sugary beverages. He reached in his backpack for the pack of word searches his mom had bought him from the Dollar Store, and instead, Caiden found a note. It was in his mother’s handwriting, of course, so he took another sip of soda and then opened it up...

Dear Caiden, 

I am so proud of the young man you are becoming. You are strong, brave, and kind. I’m so sorry I couldn’t come along with you on your baseball trip, but I know that this will be a great time for you to bond with all of your teammates. Remember to never leave anyone behind and to always say good job to the other team. Also remember to hit those balls out of the park and score a home-run for me! My dear Caiden, life is short but the world is so wide. I pray that this will not be your first and last adventure. I hope many will come for you later in life, whether that be with me, or when you’re a grown man living in a beautiful home with a beautiful family. I’m so very proud of you, my boy, now go get lost in paradise. 

Love you always,  Mom

[salleykate]

Quarantine Prompts | Sixteen Prompt: Write something that begins and ends with your character looking up at the stars. Challenge: Your character must be with someone in the beginning, and alone at the end. 

As a kid, Salley Kate thought the moon followed her. Wherever they went while it was dark, Salley Kate thought that the moon was following her, not wanting to miss out on any adventure. From her first walk home with the big girls after nightly mass to the first time she snuck out of the house and skipped nightly mass all together. Salley Kate remembered looking up to moon every night. She thought of it as her very best friend. After the first time Pastor Plumfeld had asked to see her privately, she couldn’t find the moon on her walk home. She didn’t understand moon phases, then, but she did now. 

Salley Kate laid on her back in the backyard, her feet in the pool. The sun was getting warmer, the days were getting longer, and it would be summer before you knew it. She hadn’t wasted any time making friends in Brooksville, and she was the hardest of the Sheppards to get to stsay home. And that was saying something because Ilia was a workaholic and constantly on the move. Though, it did make sense. She hadn’t made any real friends in Nora’s house, and with Cal fawning over Maisie, Britton with Caiden, and Sunny and Preston practically joined at the hip, it was easy to understand that Salley was looking for connections in other places. Hell, even Jaci Mae had a friend group in Nora’s. 

That night, Salley Kate’s friend Jay was over. His feet were also in the pool and they were watching the stars together. Jay told Salley that he lived in Brooksville his whole life, and that his older brother used to pick on Nora’s kids all the time. Salley said that she was happy he wasn’t like his brother and asked if Nora always had this many kids. Jay confirmed, and he told a story about how Gianni used to get caught drinking all of the time. Salley laughed, knowing Jay must’ve been just a little kid at the time because she never knew of a Gianni in the house. 

“Look, Jay!” Salley said quickly. “A shooting star!” 

The star traveled, leaving a trail blazing behind it. Somehow, Salley felt closer to the stars in Brooksville than she did in Plumfeld. Maybe it was freedom or security. Maybe it was because there wasn’t an urge to always be running away. Running and hiding and rebelling weren’t things she needed to do in Brooksville at Nora’s. She explained this to Jay during their conversation about Nora’s house, but he didn’t seem to understand. It’s easy to not understand when you’ve never lived it. 

“Do you ever miss your folks?” Jay asked. 

Salley turned her head to look at Jay. His dark skin covered his entire body, and it constantly looked so smooth. His eyes were a dark color too, and deep. For a moment, she wondered what he thought of when he looked at her. 

“Yeah,” Salley said. “A lot. But I know they’re out there somewhere. Fighting the good fight”

Jay didn’t push any more questions on her. She didn’t feel like talking about them, otherwise she would. Though Salley seemed liked a sweet girl from the outside, she was very direct and honest in her intentions. If she wanted to talk about something, she wasn’t going to be curtious and wait until you ask about it. Her mother always hated that. Well, not hated, but it definitely got Salley Kate into some trouble back in Plumfeld, and it was the trouble that her mother hated. Britton hated the trouble too. So did Cal, but Matty didn’t mind. That’s why they were always the closest. 

“I should be getting home,” Jay checked his watch. 

It was 10:11pm. He sat up and picked his feet out of the water. Salley followed short behind, her toes looked like raisins. Salley offered to walk him home, and he agreed, though he didn’t feel comfortable with her walking back home by herself. Brooksville wasn’t a bad place, and she would be fine. Besides, she enjoyed the walk between their houses. It wasn’t too long, but it wasn’t that he lived right next door. Sometimes, at night, she would cut through Mrs. Musgrave’s backyard. She would never know because she went to sleep practically at the same time the sun did. 

They walked in silence, mostly. Just the sound of their feet hitting the concrete. Salley Kate took her shoes off at one point to walk barefoot, and Jay teased her. It was a benefit of growing up on a farm--tough feet. Jay challenged her to a race, but of course he won. Salley, though adventurous and playful, wasn’t very fast. 

Salley stopped walking and pointed to a small trail that was nestled inbetween some trees. “I’ve never seen that before, where does it go?” 

They were just a street over from Jay’s house, but he figured it would be okay to walk down. So the two explored, not knowing of this trail before. They must’ve walked for a mile into the woods, but they didn’t find anything, so they turned around to start heading back. Before they did, Jay grabbed Salley’s wrist. For a moment, she held her breath, scared of what was going to happen. She hadn’t been held that way since the boys held her down at the river and played “Pastor Plumfeld” with her. She hadn’t told anyone about that. She didn’t figure it was important enough to tell. Then when she looked at Jay’s face, she let her breath out. He looked small and fragile for a moment. Bashful, even. 

“Salley Kate, I...” he started. He let go of Salley’s wrist and she stood in front of him. “I just like being your friend a whole lot.”

Salley grinned and punched him in the arm, playfully. “Shut up.”

“No, I do,” Jay said, stopping her from turning and walking off. “And, I sometimes think you like being my friend a whole lot.”

“I do, Jay,” Salley said. It was starting to get cold, and it was nearly eleven by then. “Let’s go, I’m getting cold.”

“Wait.”

Then he held her face in his hands, large and soft, just as she had imagined. He pulled her in and pressed his lips against hers. She hadn’t been kissed since that last night in Plumfeld. She had a husband, of course. No kids, as infertility tended to be a problem in the Sheppard house. But that last night, her husband kissed her real good. He said that she was going to be coming back to his house after mass, and they would be trying again. And though she wanted to, it would never end up happening. 

Salley Kate pulled away for just a moment and looked at Jay’s eyes and his nose and at his lips. She kissed him again and again, in the middle of those woods, seemingly lost. She didn’t know which way they came in and how to get out, but she was going to trust Jay when the time came. For a moment, she wondered if she was even allowed to be kissing him. He held her body in a way that her husband, whose name was Gerard, never did. And as much as she wanted to keep going, the fact she was in the woods spooked her. 

After a few more tender kisses, they walked out hand-in-hand, and made it to Jay’s house. They kissed one more time under the porch light, and said goodnight. Jay offered to drive her home or let her borrow his bike, but she refused. She listened for the door to lock, and then she headed back on her way home. 

On her walk, Salley Kate looked up to see if her friend, the Moon, was still with her. And there he was. Shining as full and as bright as ever. Salley Kate felt close to the stars in Brooksville, but that night, she felt especially close to the moon. 

[brycolb]

Pork Chops

It had been a while since Bryce and Issy had a mommy-daughter date. They’d spent time together with the family, and they’d play together every night, but they hadn’t had a day just to themselves, leaving all the boys at home to fend for themselves. Issy was starting preschool that coming Monday, and it was the last time Bryce would have her at home whenever she wanted, to do whatever they wanted to do. Soon, Bryce would have one of her babies in preschool full time and one in the half-day program at the daycare. She wasn’t quite ready for that yet, so Bryce took her opportunity to take Isabella out for the day.

Isabella Kamalei Okalani was Bryce’s miracle baby. Bryce always looked at her as if she was a piece of heaven on earth, and she always called her Brooksville’s saving grace. If it weren’t for Issy, Bryce would easily be buried, six feet under along side Cece and Marina. But she wasn’t. She was alive, and she was so happy she was. Issy was the sweetest and sassiest four-year-old Bryce knew of, and she wouldn’t change a bit about her daughter. She wouldn’t change a moment of how or when Isabella came. Bryce loved Jack too, but in a different way. 

Jack and Bryce had the true mother-child bond that you saw in movies and in Pampers commercials. Bryce had a strained version of that with Issy, but things happened in Isabella’s infancy that caused a link or two to just be missing. However, that didn’t discount how bonded they were, now. Issy was a total Daddy’s Girl, but when she was sick or had a bad dream, it was Bryce who Issy came to. Bryce was the one that kissed the booboos, held her while she cried, and fought for her to be accepted into the preschool she was registered in.

So, that Friday, Bryce packed a bag for the two of them and grabbed a few snacks from the kitchen. “Hey, Ry,” Bryce called, searching for the box of Clif bars, “Do you mind making dinner tonight? I’m thinking we could do pork chops.” Ryder questioned this, for good reason. When Bryce was pregnant with Jack, she couldn’t even say the word pork without gagging. “I don’t know, I’m really craving it,” and that was also new. She hadn’t nearly been as nauseous as she had been the last time she was pregnant. 

Pregnant. She hadn’t said that word around the kids yet. She wanted to surprise Issy with the information. Issy loved babies. She would greet all of the babies at Nora’s with kisses and hugs and she carried a babydoll every where. When Jack was born, she didn’t want to let him go. She could have easily had a viral video on Facebook if Bryce was a Facebook mom. Of course, Bryce would tell Jack too, but he wasn’t even two, yet. He wouldn’t quite understand what it would mean for Mommy to be pregnant.  

“Okay, we’re leaving,” Bryce said, throwing the bag over her shoulder. She crossed from the kitchen to the living room, kissing Ryder sweetly on his lips. She felt a rush of electricity jolt through her body, and she leaned in for one more. “Mm,” she hummed. “Let’s put the kids to be early tonight,” Bryce whispered, just centimeters from Ryder’s lips. She smiled and gave Jack a few kisses as he was playing on the floor with his trains. “Bye Jacky, I’ll be back soon, okay? Be good for Daddy and Uncle Joey.” And of course, he burst into a puddle of tears. Issy might’ve been a Daddy’s Girl, but Jack was a TOTAL Momma’s Boy. 

“Shut that baby up,” Issy said, walking into the living room from the room she shared with Jack. That was another thing. Soon, there would be a third little Okalani baby running around, and they were quickly outgrowing the two-bedroom apartment that Bryce, Issy, and Caiden had moved into a few years back. But that was a conversation for another time. 

Immediately, following Issy’s remark, both Bryce and Ryder retorted, “Hey, not cool.” Issy apologized, kissed Jack goodbye and gave her dad a big hug. Then she took Bryce’s hand and they walked all the way to the car that way. 

Bryce had an entire day planned. First, they’d get their nails done. Then they would get lunch together, and then they would go spend some time on the beach and get ice cream and feed the pelicans. The nail salon Bryce liked to go to wasn’t too far from the apartment complex, so the two girls were there within minutes. It was a slow morning at the salon, but Bryce had made appointments for them anyways. They were just going to do their toes. It was Issy’s first nail appointment, so of course Bryce was taking a thousand photos of her. Issy picked orange as her color, and Bryce thought it was on-brand. 

Issy was the kind of girl to wear a superhero cape with her princess dress or a crown with her Christmas pajamas in the middle of the summer. She was the perfect mix of girly and adventurous. Having a little brother really helped in that department. Bryce liked that her ballet-loving little girl also loved splashing in mud puddles and wanted her toe nails to be orange. 

The women at the salon were sweet and gentle and did everything that Bryce asked for and told Issy exactly what they were going to do before they did it. There were moments where Bryce caught herself with tears in her eyes, wondering how her 5-pound, 19-inch long baby girl had gotten so big, so quick. It made her nostalgicy yet excited about the little bean in her belly. Bryce had only had one appointment with the doctor, to confirm that she’s pregnant and to give her a rough estimate of how far along she is. At the time, the doctor said just over nine weeks. It was almost eleven by that point, nearly out of the danger zone, so Bryce had been telling people. Her children were the last to find out. She had a follow up appointment coming soon, her first ultrasound appointment to see the baby, all she had so far was a quick blood test and a heart beat monitor. 

Finally, the girls got to the beach, and that’s when Bryce needed to tell Issy. They were sitting on the blanket, enjoying some ice cream. Bryce had gotten a small bowl of vanilla for herself, not really enjoying dairy products too much at the time, and Issy got a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough that was going to completely ruin her dinner. Bryce cleared her throat and then said her daughter’s name. 

“You never call me Isabella.” Her voice was raspy in the sea air. 

“I know, but that’s your name,” Bryce said simply. 

Issy giggled, “I know.”

“So, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Bryce said, swirling her spoon in her cup, remembering Ryder wanted a video of her reaction. 

“What it is?” Issy said. Sometimes she got her words mixed up or said them out of order, but Bryce thought it was too cute to correct, so she let it slide. 

Quickly, Bryce propped up her phone and hit record. Issy started saying something about the seagulls, and Bryce took a deep breath in. She didn’t know why she was so nervous to tell her. 

“Do you remember before we brought Jack home from the hospital how he was inside Mommy’s belly?” Bryce hated when parents referred to themselves in the third person when talking to their kids, but sometimes, it’s what you had to do to get through an uncomfortable situation. Not that this was necessarily uncomfortable. It was just... awkward. And exciting. And nerve wracking. And emotional. Bryce was feeling a lot of emotions. 

“Ah-huh. You got real fat,” Issy said, and Bryce giggled. She technically wasn’t wrong, Bryce did get big, but she was big with baby, not big with fat. 

After a bite of ice cream, Bryce said, “Well, guess what?”

And you could see the wheels turning in Issy’s head. She grinned and whispered, “What?”

“I have another baby in my belly,” she smiled. 

Issy’s smile widened and she said, “Really?” Bryce nodded and Issy erupted into a thousand questions, “You’re going to get fat again, right? What’s the baby’s name? Why is there a baby in your belly? How did it get there? Is it a boy or a girl? Is it going to live with us? Can I name her?” And then she got scared, “I don’t want to share my bed with a baby!”

Bryce tried to answer her questions and calm her worries. But at the end of the conversation, Issy hugged Bryce and kissed her belly. “Mommy, I think the baby kissed me too.” After another hour and a half, Bryce carried a sandy, sleeping Issy all the way back to the car, got her buckled in, and drove home. 

When they got home, Issy pushed the buttons on the elevator and swung the door open to the apartment and announced,��“MOMMY’S GETTING FAT!” And Bryce laughed. Ryder greeted them both at the door, and Joey nearly spit out his drink from laughing. Bryce noticed that Casey and Stone and all of their kids were at the house too. 

Ryder, with an arm around Bryce, said, “Don’t be mad, but they came over to celebrate the adoption, and so I decided to make spaghetti and meatballs instead of pork chops.”

Bryce scrunched her nose, “Good. Just thinking about pork makes me want to gag.”

[caidensommers]

Caiden Sommers u p d a t e . 

{New} backstory → 

Grew up on a military base right on the water. His father was a Navy Seal and his mom was a stay at home mom. He was raised without any siblings, and was brought up to be an upstanding young man. Caiden loves anything water related, and learned to sail when he lived on the military base. He also picked up guitar and singing along the way. At thirteen, his mom developed a really fast-moving form of cancer and she passed away within eleven months. And at fifteen, Caiden’s father drowned while on duty. Just a few days later, he was at Nora’s and that’s where he’s been since. He also just recently turned twenty-three. 

Life since then → 

Since he arrived at Nora’s eight years ago, Caiden has done so much. He’s finished up college at BCC and received his Bachelor of Art’s degree which allows him to do anything music + arts related. I think he wants to be a musician first, and then ultimately a talent agent or manager alongside Eli. Him and Eli are still BFFS. I think Caiden’s had a few rough patches, and his Bryce drama is the icing on the cake, but he’s getting by. He’s really diving headfirst into his music and with Eli as his best friend, he’s destined for fame. We’ll see how far he pursues it, but in the mean time, I imagine he teaches sailboat lessons in the summer, and all year through he works at a radio station.  

[brycolb]

brown eyes.

Three years. Eleven months. Thirteen days. That’s how long it had been since Bryce first laid eyes on the half-naked, tanned and shaggy-haired kid, sitting on the counter in the kitchen, calling himself a king. Bryce kept track of days like that. She was very particular. In just a few short months, Bryce and Ryder had an epic love story. She fell hard and she fell fast, and though Ryder was hesitant to fall, she knew he had a bit too. Within just a few month of knowing each other Bryce was pregnant. Though, honestly, it wasn’t that shocking. Bryce lost her virginity to Ryder two weeks after they met. (If that---it wasn’t a date she kept up with.) It wasn’t shocking that within their four years of life together, they’d have two children together. Baby RJ was going to be there within three weeks, and Bryce’s life would be flipped upside down. However, it was going to be flipped upside down a lot sooner than she had been expecting for word had finally gotten around. 

For weeks, months even, rumors flew about Ryder and Bryce’s magical Christmas hook up. Rumors spread that baby RJ (who was literally named after Ryder) was a little Ryder Jack Junior. Bryce didn’t mention it to Caiden, and Caiden didn’t go back into the house often. But Travis. That damn Travis Beck. He just had to say something. Or maybe it was a producer-induced conversation. But before Bryce found out who had told him or what had been said, her face was bright red, her fists were clenched, and Isabella was crying in the corner of the room. Fighting with Caiden wasn’t what Bryce had planned for August 29, but life had a funny way of playing games on her. 

“How could you do that to me?! I’m the only person who’s ever been there for you. Through it all, Bryce. Through everything. Through the shit, through the good. From here to Santa Fe to New York....” Caiden yelled. 

There was hot, tense air in the few feet between the two young adults. Bryce tried to fight through it, but her body produced tears best in hot, tense conditions. With her jaw releasing from clenching so hard, all the words she could form were, “You don’t get it!”

“I don’t get what, Bryce? How you were going to sleep around with every fucking guy on this planet, get pregnant and then expect me to raise it? No! Hell no!”

“That’s not how it was!” Bryce’s voice was breaking, she was screaming so loud. 

The camera crew was set up in the kitchen of the apartment. They’d followed Bryce to her doctor’s appointment to check up on the baby, and then back to the apartment where Caiden was waiting to fight with her. Issy was also staring at Bryce and Caiden fighting. She had stopped playing in the corner of the room and cowered behind Caiden’s recliner, peeking out. That day she was dressed in pink corduroy overalls with a patterned blouse Bryce had found at Goodwill. Her hair was cut short and her shoes didn’t match. But she was rocking her style. Bryce loved seeing Issy dressed up in clothes that didn’t match perfectly. She knew how to dress Issy, she didn’t know how to dress boys. Which made her anxious for RJ. 

“Then how was it?! Huh? Tell me. Enlighten me.” 

“I... It was... I.” Bryce was at a loss for words. What was it like? It wasn’t spur of the moment, there had been tension all week. They’d been flirting. It was... they both wanted it. “I didn’t mean to go there and hook up with him! We were just visiting. Giving him a present for Christmas. For him to see Issy! I didn’t mean for it to go like that!”

“No, Bryce, you didn’t mean to get fucking caught.”

“Stop cursing! Issy’s right over there.”

And that’s how it went. It went on. They called each other names. Bryce wanted to hit him, Caiden threw a half full bottle of Gatorade at a framed photo they had up on the wall. The glass broke and the photo fell off the wall. Bryce tried ignoring him and he kept following her around, yelling. The producers and camera crew and sound guys watched, quietly. Issy screamed and cried in the corner. And finally, after probably thirty minutes, Bryce gave up. She had been sobbing, Caiden had been sobbing, and Issy finally went to hide in her room. 

“I... I can’t do this, anymore,” Bryce cried. 

The room’s warm tenseness had faded to a humid strain. The sun had been covered by clouds, and the only sounds between Bryce’s sporadic words was sniffling between the two young adults. Their apartment was clad in framed photos that had been professionally taken of the three of them. 

“I’m tired, Bryce. Not just of fighting. But of everything. And I hate to say that to you. You’re my everything.”

“You’re my knight in shining armor.”

“But I’m not your prince or your king. I’m not the father to your children. I wish I was. I love that little girl more than anything in the world, and you know how excited I was for this baby. Our baby.”

“I’m sorry,” Bryce cried. “I’m so sorry I lied to you. I wanted to be a family with you. I thought we could. I thought if I wished it hard enough, this baby would be yours. I thought we could fall deeper in love with each other and with this baby and we’d be a happy family for the rest of forever. I don’t even know if I can ever achieve that with anyone. If I can’t get it with you...” Bryce rambled. “You’re the only person who’s ever been here for me. Through it all. Through hospital visits and bad days and days I didn’t feel like eating. I just....”

“I know,” Caiden said. 

And the room fell silent. 

So silent. 

So quiet, you couldn’t hear anything besides the silence ringing in your ears. 

And then. 

Ever so quietly, a small squeak came from around the corner. 

And a small, round, freckled face appeared in the doorway. 

“Mommy?”

Bryce wiped her face. Put a fake smile on, and looked her baby girl in her big, round, brown eyes that came straight from Ryder. Ryder was written all over Isabella’s face. If Issy was any indication of how RJ was going to look, maybe it was better that Caiden found out then as opposed to on the day he was born. 

“Hey sweetheart,” Bryce cooed. 

Issy ran quickly to Bryce, her little arms just’a pumping. Her hair bouncing and flowing. And Issy wrapped her arms around Bryce’s neck. Bryce pulled her daughter into her lap, and there the two girls sat. Eyes closed, not talking. Just breathing each other in. RJ was moving ever so slightly. And Caiden? Well, when Bryce looked up, he wasn’t there. 

It had been 2 years, eleven months, and one day since Isabella was born. Bryce kept track of days like that. She was very particular. Baby RJ was going to be there within three weeks, and Bryce’s life would be flipped upside down. Then again, it already had been, for the next morning, Caiden’s things were gone. His key sat on the counter, a letter explained where he would be for the next few months, and an engagement ring that Bryce would never have the honor to wear.