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theycallmebeccawrites · 6 years ago

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Chris & Ellie Series: Episode 1

With Tumblr holding my original writing blog @beccaheartschrisevans captive (aka flagged as explicit), I have made a secondary writing blog and may end up closing the other all together. In the meantime, I am reposting all of my stories on my new blog.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Ellie Spencer (OFC)

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: graphic sex, oral sex, playful spanking, language

Episode Summary: This episode takes place in May 2016. Chris has just returned home from the Captain America: Civil War promo tour.

Note: This episode takes place the same day as Chris, Gwyneth and Robert visited Ryan Wilcox so that is what Chris & Ellie are referencing.

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not to be reposted, used or translated without my permission.

The Chris and Ellie series is primarily chronological. It begins with a flash forward to 2016 and has a few other scenes in the future. However, the majority of their story is told in chronological order starting in 2013 and going through 2017. Each episode starts with a date to help you place it within the story.

The Chris & Ellie Series Masterlist | Chris & Ellie Masterlist

Episode 1: May 23, 2016

Ellie Spencer stood in front of the sink, her hands encased in yellow rubber dishwashing gloves as she cleaned the dishes she’d used that night for dinner. It wasn’t that she didn’t have a dishwasher–there were actually two in the fancy-schmancy kitchen of the Los Angeles home she shared with her fiance–she just didn’t see the point in using the machine when she was eating alone. Again.

Her family and friends–including her beloved, soon-to-be in-laws–had taken turns visiting her over the last several weeks, but now she had the house to herself until her fiance got home from the final leg of the promo tour. When that would be, she wasn’t sure; he was remaining tight lipped about when he would get home.

Sighing, she set the last dish on the dish drying rack–the one she’d brought with her when she’d moved back into his place from her little closet of an apartment–and pulled off the rubber gloves. She turned around and screamed of fright when she saw someone standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway. It took her a second to realize who it was.

“Chris!” she exclaimed, grabbing one of the rubber gloves and throwing it in his direction only to have it land on the floor with a splat half way between them. “Gah! I hate when you scare me like that!”

“I couldn’t resist,” he replied, chuckling.

She wanted to run across the room and throw herself into his arms, but that would just be rewarding him for scaring her. Appraising him, she noticed the dark circles under his eyes and that his shirt was a bit tighter in the tummy area than it had when he’d left; no doubt thanks to his family in Boston making him anything to eat that he wanted.

Smiling, she finally started towards him, but stopped suddenly as she realized their two loud, noisy dogs had yet to make an appearance. “How did you sneak in here without alerting the dogs?” she asked.

“Ninja training,” he replied, closing the distance between them. “And I wasn’t trying to scare you, honest, you just looked so pretty with the light over the sink casting a beautiful glow on your -”

She cut him off by grabbing his lips and pushing them together to create a duck face.

“It’s hard,” he said, his voice muffled and his words slurred. “But I can still talk.”

She smiled and then let out a whistle that had their two dogs sprinting into the room moments later. The second the dogs spotted him, they started barking loudly and jumping around his feet. She was forced to let go of his lips and take a step back to not be trampled by his mutt, Dodger, and her English Bulldog, Daisy.

“Hey kids,” he said, laughing as he got down on his knees to greet the excited pups. He gave Dodger a hug and then rubbed Daisy’s belly when she rolled onto her back. “Your momma isn’t being very nice to me, Daisy.”

“You could have called to say you were on your way home,” Ellie pointed out. “A text wouldn’t have hurt either.”

“I just wanted to surprise you,” he replied, looking up at her. “Besides, I didn’t know until yesterday afternoon that I was even coming to California today. It was kind of a last minute thing.”

Ellie’s expression softened as she recalled the photos that had been sent to her today. Her fiance had the biggest heart and loved making people smile. Reaching her hand out, she helped him off the floor and then wrapped her arms around his waist, settling her head on his chest. “I’m so happy you’re home.”

“I’m happy to be home,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “Six weeks is a really long time to be gone.”

“Way too long,” she agreed, breathing in the spicy, woodsy scent of him.

They had experienced longer absences, but they hadn’t been engaged let alone dating. She had just been his housekeeper; the one his mom had hired behind his back for his home in LA. She recalled that during her interview, his mom had explained that she wasn’t impressed with Chris or his brother Scott’s inability to clean up after themselves and that she was tired of showing up for vacation to find a messy house.

Chris had been understandably annoyed with his mom’s “underhanded approach”, especially since she’d hired an attractive young woman in her late twenties, but then he’d gotten to know Ellie and there had been a spark. His mom always claimed to have a sixth sense about things like this and he knew she would never let him forget that she had hand picked her only daughter-in-law.

He knew that Ellie was his mom’s dream daughter-in-law, too; mostly because she loved to completely redecorate a room as much as his mom did. Ellie had just moved in with him, permanently, before he left to film Captain America: Civil War and his mom had stayed with her for a couple weeks. He’d come home to find his, rather their, bedroom completely redone. He’d liked what they had done and he’d be the first to admit it looked a lot better than what he’d originally had. But it was only thanks to his brother and Ellie’s uncle that he hadn’t come home to the interior of his house painted with brightly colored accent walls. The only room with that special treatment was the breakfast nook that was a “sunny shade of yellow” as Ellie described it.

“Alright, so what did you and my mom do while she was visiting?” Chris asked Ellie. When she tried to dodge the question by drawing herself up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss, he stole her duck face move and did it to her. “What did you do?”

“We redid the basement,” she replied, her words just as muffled and hard to understand as his had been earlier.

Chris held her lips together for a second longer before dropping his hand and grabbing hers. “Alright, let’s go see what you two did.” He led her down the stairs to the daylight basement, with the dogs following at their heels.

What he found stopped him in his tracks, forcing a bumper car like collision behind him with Ellie and the dogs. What had once been a long, narrow room with his home theater system in the very center and boxes piled up on the far ends, was now a smaller movie room with two walls splitting off, what he assumed, were two smaller rooms.

“They’re retracting walls,” Ellie explained. “My craft room is to the left and your office is on the right.” She slipped past him on the stairs and made her way to the wall that separated her craft room from the rest of the room. She unlatched a couple hooks then grabbed a hidden rod and started walking backwards. As he watched, a small, yet functional craft room was revealed. Then she crossed the room and removed the wall that separated his office from the larger room.

“Ellie, this is fantastic,” he said, noticing that he could easily work from his desk and watch TV as well as watch her working in her craft room. “It’s perfect.”

This time when she came looking for a kiss, he didn’t deny her. Their kiss was filled with six long weeks of being apart; wait, scratch that, seven weeks, as his family and friends had been here and they’d been too tired to do anything but sleep at night. The last time they’d been together had been a few hours before his red eye flight for the Asian part of press tour and it had been limited to a quickie in the shower.

Filled with need, he picked her up and carried her to the large island-style work table in her craft room. Setting her down on the edge, he quickly found that it was the perfect height for her to sit on and him to stand between her legs with their most needy parts front and center. It made him wonder if it was just a coincidence or a purposely designed that way.

“Your desk is the same height,” she whispered in his ear and then scraped the lobe with her teeth.

“Fuck,” he groaned as he grabbed hold of her left knee with one hand, placed his other hand on the small of her back then pulled her body closer to his, letting her feel the hardness hidden in his jeans.

Hungrily, their mouths met again and their kisses grew heated quickly; the time they spent apart enhancing every feeling and need. In no time at all, her hands slipped from around his neck to the buttons of his shirt. His mouth left hers and he kissed down the side of her neck to the exposed skin of her wide-necked sweater.

After undoing the last button of his shirt, she pushed the sleeves down his arms where he finished the job of taking it off. With lust filled eyes, she took in his chiseled chest, brushing her fingers over his many tattoos and loving the way his chest hair felt against her fingers.

“God I’ve missed your touch,” he said, huskily. He breathed in deeply, taking in the fruity smell of her perfume and the natural essence that was her. “And your smell.” He kissed her neck. “And your neck.” He pulled down the front of her shirt, revealing the cleavage of her ample chest. “And, fuck, your breasts.”

She sunk her teeth into her lower lip as he pressed his face into her cleavage, nipping and licking at her sensitive skin. When one of his hands moved down to the hem of her sweatshirt and started pulling it up, she grabbed the other side and helped him, revealing a lacy, black bra.

The sweatshirt fell aside as her self-proclaimed “ass man” of a boyfriend cupped her breasts and licked his lips. His thumbs found her nipples over her bra, making them harder than their already pebbled state. Moving his hands to her back, he undid the four hooks of her bra and then slipped the straps down her arms, freeing her breasts.

His large hands touched her newly exposed skin with care, taking the time to tease her nipples while also letting his fingers wander, sending shivers down her spine. She wrapped her hands around his head, locking her fingers together when his mouth joined the fun.

With heat pooling between her legs and unable to sit still any longer, she dropped her hands from his head down to the waistband of his jeans. She popped the button then slid the zipper down and slipped her hand into them, wrapping her hand around his already hard cock.

“Fuck,” he groaned, breathing against her breast. He allowed her to jerk him a couple times before he grabbed her wrist and forced her to let go. “Seven weeks, babe. I want to come inyou, not on you.”

“Less talk, more action,” she replied, giving him a heated look.

Smirking, he grabbed the waistband of her yoga pants and pulled them down, forcing her to lay back against the cool table top so she could lift her hips to help. He pulled the pants down her legs and dropped them on the floor. Then he ran his eyes up her body, starting with the sexy black booty shorts she was wearing and up her curvy body to her smiling face.

Reaching up, he gave her left breast a playful squeeze and a little shake, making it jiggle for his pleasure. Then he got back to business and slipped his hands under the waistband of her panties. She raised her hips to help him get them over her ass and then he pulled them down her legs.

He licked his lips as she parted her legs, revealing the pink heat that he’d dreamt about since the quickie in their shower. He wrapped his hands around her knees and pulled her forward so her ass was just on the edge of the table. He felt her body tremor as he slowly moved his hands from her knees up to her thighs and to her apex.

“Chris… please…” he heard her whimper.

She cried out when his hands finally touched the outer edges of her sex and then slipped between her already slick folds. She rocked her hips forward to encourage his movements and he obliged by brushing his thumb against her clit and then circling around it. Her hips bucked off the table top when he did it again.

She let out a breathless whimper when he slid his long fingers through her folds and finallyslipped one into her sex. She rocked her hips forward as he fucked her with his digit and then a second.

“FUCK!” she cried out as he swiped her clit with his tongue. Her body shook as he pleasured her with his fingers and tongue. She threw her hand down to grab his hair, temporarily forgetting that he’d shaved off the locks. “Oh god… Chris…. Please, just fuck me.”

He gave her clit another swirl with his tongue before he righted himself and pulled her in for a kiss. He felt her hand slip between their bodies and take ahold of his throbbing cock. She guided him to her entrance and he pushed his hips forward, slipping into her sex. Their kisses continued as their bodies rocked together and she clung to him, her fingernails biting into the skin on his shoulders.

She soon found herself being pushed backwards so she was laying on her back with him leaning down over her; the pace of his thrusts speeding up with each one. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held onto him as he pounded in and out of her.

The weeks apart and his earlier teasing had her falling apart first with her body stiffening all the way to her toes as she came. Just as her body began to relax, his tightened above her and she felt the small jerks of his body as he came inside of her.

Breathing heavily, he rested his face against her breasts and closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of being enveloped by her. His legs felt a bit rubbery and he hadn’t thought about the post sex positions, but he refused to move until he absolutely had to.

“I think your office chair and desk will be more comfortable,” she said with a laugh a few minutes later.

“I don’t know, I’m pretty comfortable right here,” he said, rubbing his bearded chin against the skin of her breasts.

“We’ll both be comfortable in our nice big comfortable bed,” she replied, running her hand over his buzzed hair.

“Alright,” he said, sighing. He pressed a kiss to her lips and then they parted. He didn’t admit it outloud, but his back twinged a bit as he straightened up.

“You going to need a massage tomorrow?” she asked with a knowing smirk as she rolled her neck one way and then the other. “Should we call Robert?”

“Shut up,” he replied as she hopped off the table. He watched as she bent over to grab his shirt off the floor and he took the opportunity to smack her bare ass playfully.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, standing up quickly. “Two can play that game you know.”

“That’s a game you know I like,” he replied, wiggling his eyebrows at her. “Day or night.”

“Oh I know,” she said smirking as she pressed her body against his. “So here’s what we’re going to do.” She bit her lip and looked up at him. “Are you listening?”

“I’m all ears, babe.”

“I’m going to go upstairs to our room and get in the shower,” she said, moving one of her hands around his waist and settling it on his tight ass. “And you…” she drew her tongue along the tattoo he had on his clavicle. “…you’re going to let the dogs out to go potty.”

He groaned as she pulled her body away suddenly and he watched as she slipped his shirt on then left the basement with an extra sway in her step.

He took a few deep, calming breaths and then gathered their clothes from the floor, knowing he would be sent back down to get them if he went to the bedroom without them. Using the clothes as a cover for his half-aroused cock, he opened the sliding door and let the dogs out to do their business.

Once they returned, he took time to properly lock up the house for the night and then headed up the stairs to the bedroom he and Ellie shared. The dogs made to follow him into the room, but he stopped them in the doorway. “Sorry, kids, not tonight. Mommy and daddy need privacy. Go lay on your beds.” Both dogs gave him sad looks but retreated to the small alcove in the hallway that Ellie had converted into a small reading nook. “Good dogs.”

Closing the bedroom door behind him, Chris tossed their clothes into the hamper in the walk-in-closet and then made his way into the bathroom. The glass surround of the shower was already steamed over as he opened the large door and slipped into the shower behind her.

“I love you,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“I love you, too,” she replied, turning in his arms to kiss him.

Episode 1.5

Want to find me off tumblr? I’m @beccatheycallme on twitter. I also post my stories on AO3.

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#chris evans #theycallmebecca #beccaheartschrisevans #theycallmebeccawrites #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fan fiction #chris and ellie series #chris and ellie #chris evans x ofc #chris evans x original female character

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arc-17 · 8 years ago

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Ficlet snippet. Input needed

Okey folks specifically @hollyashton , @stephschoices and @misha726author , who I consider some of the most amazing writers out there and who’s work inspired me to join the fandom here. Had a question. Been working on a journal if you will for my MC Sienna in Endless Summer. Now at one point I did do as an excersise since my writing had gotten rusty, more of a story but heavily transcribed from the amazing talent at Pixelberry’s work. Basically just editing work I guess. Anyway, like your thoughts on all this and or should I stick with the journal? (To see the Journal so far check the #Endless Journal or #fanfiction tags on my writing blog @shadowrebel-17 ’s page)

Anyway, here is a snippet from one of my fav parts of the series. The plane ride. Especially when she meets Jake. Followed by the same scene, in Journal form. Please please compare and give me feedback! Sorry its kinda long.

…..

She works her way farther forward, leaning into the open doorway to the cockpit, thinking to her self about the trip so far. ‘Definitely a better way to fly then with an airline ‘

The pilot lay back in his seat, combat boots up on the panel, hands folded on his lap.

Sienna cleared her throat. “Excuse me, it’s Jake right?” weren’t we supposed to have landed by now…?”

Nothing…

“Wait?! You’re asleep!?” she says in shock.

“Hrn?” he jolts awake, then blinking he turns, shifting in his seat. Eyes meeting hers.

‘Ohmygod… he was in that dream too…’ she stares a moment lost in thought.

“Listen, Princess, don’tcha know its rude to wake someone who’s taking a nap?” he drawls out with a southern twang in slight annoyance.

“Princess?” she blinks.

“What can I say?” he smiles “I give nicknames to people who annoy me”

“In that case I’m calling you Aragorn” she retorts with a smirk.

He blinks. Startled by her quick comeback. “Aragorn? I… don’t know what you’re talking about.” He briefly runs a couple fingertips over the week old stubble on his face.

She nods, indicating his features and the unkempt surfer hair.

“You know, Lord of the Rings?”

“Never heard of it” he deadpans but the smile tugging at the edge of his mouth breaks the façade.

“you’re a bad liar…” she grins knowingly.

“…fine” he smiles. His opinion of her going up visibly.

“Call me Aragorn. I like it. That man was a bad-ass. Anyway relax, we ain’t landin’ ‘till—“ he turns back towards the control panel. Then pauses.

“The hell? That time ain’t right.. and that ain’t right either!” he says giving the instruments a few hard whacks.

Sienna’s grip on the doorframe tightens a little more. ‘Maybe I should have called him Han Solo…’

“You sure you know what you’re doing…?” she says glancing around the cockpit, suddenly feeling like she was in that ‘piece of junk’ as Luke Skywalker had called it.

“Princess if you knew half the things I’ve survived you’d bet on me to get you through anyth—“

Out of nowhere sudden severe turbulence shakes the plane, throwing Sienna against the cockpit wall hard. She winces, gasping in shock and pain as she attempts to get her footing back, hands gripping the co-pilot’s seat in a vice grip. Watching out the windscreen as the sky grows quickly black, the darkest storm clouds she’s ever seen rushing towards them.

“Aww that’s just great! that stormfront’s moving in quick!” Jake mutters, Jockeying the controls as he shuts the auto pilot down and resumes manual control, slowing the plane down just slightly as all the dials are swinging every which way. Alert tones sounding off and red lights flicking on.

“Get your ass in a seat, hear? And tell the others to buckle up!” he grits out.

“But….” She starts to say, a tremble in her voice.

“Now princess!” he barks with the air of command.

Her muscles respond almost on their own accord quickly taking her from cockpit and back to the main cabin, the close walls the only thing keeping her up as the plane rocks violently. Fellow passengers yelling amidst the chaos.

“Oh I am reaaally regretting that Airport Chipotle!” a big guy groans out. “Don’t puke bro! If you puke, I’m gonna puke!” the foot ball player next to him yelps.

“Where the hell this storm come from, it was a clear day!” another blond girl, growls angrily.

“It happens okay? This is totally normal!” Jake the pilot yells out of the cockpit to the others.

“Yyyeah sure… THAT looks normal!” another person points out the window.

Orange and yellow balls of electricity and lightning coalesce from the sky, exploding around them in bright showers of sparks and bolts.

Sienna’s eye’s go wide as she grips a seat near Sean and another girl.

“It looks like ball lightning…” says one of the students who had been quiet to this point, a very petite girl in an orange sweater says in a mixture of awe and fear. Adjusting her glasses as they tried to fall off “But I’ve never seen anything quite like this!”

“This is all wrong! I cant die here surrounded by these morons!” the pale Aleister wails, gripping his arm rests for dear life.

“Everyone just breathe! We’re going to get through this!” Sean Gayle’s voice booms out above the others, looking to the red-headed girl in the seat in front of him.

“Oh god oh god oh god…” she whimpers beside where Sienna had paused.

CRracKoOm!

Blisteringly loud thunder deafens everyone, white light shocking the plane as lightning strikes, sparks and a few curses swirling in the cockpit.

The jet like whine of the turbines outside the plane rise before stuttering then fade to nothing. The propeller blades slowing to windmill uselessly in the air.

“Welp, engines just lost power.” Jake says in a collected focused tone above the din. More alarms wailing in the cockpit. “Bringin’ her in manually. Everybody hold on!”

The shouting grew louder as everyone starts to panic after that. Clinging on to the seat, frozen in place Sienna glances back, looking for Diego and spots instead, one person who’s not panicking.

A girl with her dark hair in a tight ponytail and a long scar across her eye sits alone in the back of the plane. Her face silent and unfazed.

Staring, not remembering meeting her yet Sienna is suddenly shook as a hand pulls on her shoulder, Lila, the tour guide trying to get her attention. “Sienna! Safety first! Please find a seat!”

Sienna quickly looks down and takes the seat beside her, the plane lurching up the seat to meet her as she tumbles in, fumbling with her belt.

Next to her a girl sits still as a statue, face drawn tight. Skin pale as she doesn’t turn, face forward as she clings to the arms of the seat.

“Just Breathe, it’ll pass.” Sienna says, trying to channel the courage she’s seen in the pilot, Sean behind them, and even the spooky girl in the back.

“This can’t happen… not yet… it’s too soon…” she manages out. Her chest rising and falling shallowly, not breathing well. Cold sweat making her long red hair cling to her face and neck.

Biting her lip, Sienna gets an idea then smiles, “hey, why couldn’t the melons get married?”

“wha… what? I.. have no idea?” she stammers. Looking over at her for the first time.

“Because they Cantaloupe!” Sienna grins in a cheeky fashion. She stares back at her blankly for several long moments before speaking “Because… they can’t elope! That is the dumbest joke I’ve ever heard.” She attempts it stifle a giggle, but fails breaking out into the most infectious laughter Sienna had ever heard. ‘mission accomplished’ Sienna smiled to herself.

“Are you positively mad? This isn’t the time for jokes!” Aleister snarls.

Sienna is about to give a sharp retort when the girl interrupts “no, this is the perfect time for jokes!” she smiles back at Sienna sweetly, taking her hand, color returning to her face as she is breathing normal again, the din seeming to fade for the moment around them.

“I’m Quinn.”

“Sienna.”

Outside the blasts of wind, lightning and energy is reaching a fevered pitch.

“I think we’re almost out… hold on!” Jake grits out. Knuckles white as he works the yoke hard, trying to hold course, feathering the blades to stop them from spinning.

An eternally long moment later they break out into a clear dazzling blue sky.

“whohooooo! We’re alive!” the big fellow, Raj bellows out, fist pumping the air as other cheers and applause or signs of relief fill the air.

“Sienna look… there it is!” Quinn says looking out the window.

“Get a good look now cause we’re coming in fast” Jake calls back. “Welcome to La Huerta!”

Outside seeming to rise mythically out of the sea is a large island covered in rich emerald green life, glistening streams and long beaches, dominated by a massive mountain volcano in the center, a column of white steam rising into the air.

“La Huerta Tower this King Air X-ray Charlie Delta Mike Kilo requesting emergency priority to land!”

Jake waits several long moments with no response as he maneuvers the gliding craft towards the airport.

“Carlos! Pick up you lazy bastard. It’s Jake!”

Nothing…

“Ignoring me won’t make me forget the hundred bucks you owe me. Like it or not we’re coming in.”

A while later, smooth as glass the plane sails into the airport. Landing roughly on the dirt runway and coasting fast Jake jigs it into the empty hanger then stops.

If anyone had been a pilot they would have noticed the remarkable skill that took with out power but alas for Jake. No one seems to have cared at this point. “Meh” he mutters. Unhooking his headset and shutting down the systems.

One by one the passengers descend the stairs and into the warm tropical sunshine.

…..

And now same scene in the Journal.

……

So after that we noticed that the flight was taking longer than expected so I went up to check what was up with our pilot.

On the way met some of the other ten winners talking with our tour guide, Lila. Who might I add is… ok remember “tour guide Barbie” from Toy Story 2? Yeah that’s her. Perky and sunny as a Pina Colada. Great… now I want one.

Ok so anyway I go to ask the pilot and….. he’s totally asleep. Yep. Feet on dash, head on chest. And probably I would have flipped out if… if it wasn’t for the fact that I got distracted by the fact that HE was the beach-boy soldier in my dream earlier. Yep. Well… that and the fact of that southern drawl, blue eyes and that smile…

Oh yeah and apparently he gives nicknames to people that annoy him. So I’m “Princess”

Honesty, I… kinda like it. And because he seriously looks the part of a scruffy ranger I called him Aragorn.

Yeah and I may have a crush on him too… did I mention those eyes? He’s like, part Han Solo, part Aragorn, part Colonel Jack O’Neill from SG-1.

Anyway, right after that things got… scary like, frickin’ terrifying.

This big, black storm front hits, and throws me into a wall. And its bad. Like fire ball lightning and deafening thunder, Armageddon like bad.

I kinda got the sequence of things a little jumbled in my memory, honestly for the first half of it I just clung to a seat in shock, taking it all in ‘till Lila shook me out of it and helped me to a seat.

Somewhere in there the plane got hit and the engines died, people screaming and all that. All but one. There’s this girl with us, with a blue hoodie and she’s got a scar across one eye and has these dark eyes. There’s something off about her not like… bad just… she wasn’t afraid. if anything she looked… determined.

So yeah pretty much beside her it was Jake, he’s the pilot and Sean that kept their wits about them. The girl in the seat next to me, she… she looked worse then me at this point. About to have a panic attack. I cracked a joke like, a bad one, you know. The Cantaloupe one. Yeaaah… hey I did pretty good for short notice!

Anyway, I think it helped. Cause, like she laughed and started breathing again. And let me tell you… that laugh. Her grin. Okay yeah we helped eachother keep our nerves. She held my hand tight as did I in return.

Oh her name is Quinn and you have got to me her. Bright, bubbly, long sweeping red hair… looks like a Disney princess. And just as easy to be with.

Okay fine I like her too. A lot. Do I sound desperate?

Like… three people I’ve just met and I wanna spend more time with them? Maybe it’s the air here. Magical.

Okay I digressed. So somewhere after that Jake breaks us out of that storm and its as brilliant blue as it was before. Like… almost never happened. Except for the engines still being dead as you and I after that party Kaitlyn and her roomies threw last semester.

Honestly? Jake is one hellova damn good pilot. Like Tom Hanks in the movie Sully good.

He, without engines, got us on the ground AND parked in a hanger, coasting through it all. No one answered at the tower though. Which was spooky and it gets weirder later on.

But he got us down in one piece, and Oh My god this island is STUNNING! Green as an emerald gem from the air, caught a glimpse of crystal rivers and waterfalls on the way in and this big ol’ smoking volcano in the middle.

**** Feed back please! Thanks all!

#choices #choices stories you play #endless summer #@shadowrebel-17 #endless journal

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mastcomm · 5 years ago

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Last Call for a Beloved Fixture of the Marais District

PARIS — On a recent evening, Amar Sitayeb squeezed behind a tiny counter at the minimart that he and his older brother Ali have run for more than 35 years in the Marais district of central Paris. A plump gray tabby cat prowled the floor, and faded photos of neighborhood babies, many now grown-ups, were taped to an old cash register.

A stream of regulars filed in, grabbing potato chips, gum and soda, and lingering to exchange gossip and pleasantries. One neighbor with the sniffles bought honey and tea. Mr. Sitayeb fished mint for her from a refrigerator. “This should help,” he said.

Ten minutes later, she returned and asked for rum. “That’ll attack the cold quicker!” he laughed, pulling a bottle from the shelf.

The purchases were mainly an excuse to spend precious moments bantering with the Sitayeb brothers, known to residents around the rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie, a boutique-studded Marais street, as the eyes, ears and unofficial mayors of the area.

For soon, the unthinkable is set to happen: On Jan. 31, their store, Au Marché du Marais, will close, swept away in a tide of moneyed gentrification, like nearly every other independent shop and cafe around them.

“We know everyone here, we’ve lived our lives with them and we’re sad to leave,” said Ali Sitayeb, a fatherly figure who recently turned 70, but exuded a much younger energy. In place of the daily necessities that his store offers, like toilet paper and freshly-squeezed orange juice, he announced, a Princesse Tam Tam lingerie chain would be installed.

When I first heard the news, I was stunned. I had settled near the épicerie after moving to Paris in 2000. Since then, an incursion of designer boutiques had accelerated, turning the area into an outdoor shopping arena that draws thousands of visitors.

The brothers, who originally came from Morocco, remained steady fixtures throughout, greeting me on my way to work, dispensing witticisms and advice, and peppering me with questions about a succession of American presidents.

My neighbors were in mourning. The épicerie was a rare gathering spot, and the brothers, with alert eyes and sunny mustachioed faces, kept vigil over everyone. They held people’s keys and knew all the latest news on marriages, divorces, children, thefts, rivalries, real estate deals — the list goes on.

Theirs, however, is a tale of a rapidly changing Paris. And the closure of their shop, on a street where boutiques now sell 585 euro designer sneakers, has sparked angst among residents who see a warning in how big money-backed luxury brands aimed at wealthy tourists are consuming neighborhoods and eroding cultural identity.

“This changes everything,” said Eva Beau, a doctor who has lived near the shop for 20 years. “I feel like breaking all of this — it’s too sad,” Dr. Beau added, her eyes brimming with tears as she scrutinized the luxury storefronts.

Dr. Beau used to lower a basket with a rope from her fourth-floor apartment, into which the brothers would place coffee and other orders. “The neighborhood doesn’t need more boutiques,” she said. “We need the human contact of people like Ali and Amar.”

The brothers had long debated when to retire. When an electrical fire ravaged the shop five years ago, support from neighbors was so strong that they decided to keep going. But then the lingerie chain, run by Fast Retailing, a Japanese retail giant that owns Uniqlo, Theory and Comptoir des Cotonniers, made an advantageous offer for the space.

The pattern is playing out in cities across France. From Aix-en-Provence to Reims, Tours and Strasbourg, bakeries, cafes and shops are increasingly being taken over by retail conglomerates with vast financial resources. The stores look like quaint boutiques, yet the money behind them is formidable.

Near the Sitayebs’ shop, the Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot clothing chains expanded under the ownership of the American private equity firm KKR before being taken over by the Chinese textile giant Shandong Ruyi.

Lacoste and Kooples, which replaced a bakery and bookstore, belong to Maus Frères, Switzerland’s largest privately held retail group. Chanel and LVMH Moët Hennessy opened perfume and makeup stores, intensifying a surge in Marais real estate prices.

Adding to the pressure is the rise of late-night convenience stores backed by the supermarket giants Casino Groupe and Carrefour. The increased competition has shuttered scores of corner shops in Paris, many run by immigrants from North Africa.

“It’s money that makes the laws,” said Ali Sitayeb’s son, Tariq, 34, who helps run the épicerie but no longer counts on taking over.

The Sitayebs left Morocco in the 1970s as teenagers to earn a living as waiters and dishwashers in Parisian restaurants. But they found they could prosper more by operating a convenience mart well past the traditional 7 p.m. closing time of French retailers.

When the brothers opened the shop in 1984, François Mitterrand was president, prices were in French francs and the Marais, the historic Jewish quarter of Paris, was evolving from a gritty working-class textile and metal factory district. Butchers and boulangeries honeycombed the area. Yiddish was heard everywhere along the rue des Rosiers.

As cafes, bars and artisanal boutiques moved in, the Marais became the center for Paris’s L.G.B.T. community, drawing more visitors and prompting an ever more vibrant makeover.

While the Marais had already developed when I arrived, the influx of luxury storefronts has exploded since Europe’s economic and debt crisis ended in 2012, squeezing out residential and L.G.B.T. commerce, and taking over the historic Jewish center.

“This used to be a real neighborhood, with families and kids,” Amar Sitayeb said, as crowds of tourists strolled past on a recent weekend. “Now all that’s disappeared”

Jean Luc Rouillard, 67, a denizen since 1980, chimed in.

“The Marais has lost its soul,” he declared.

“That’s closing,” Mr. Rouillard said, pointing to a 45-year old antique shop being dismantled for a luxury hotel. “And that’s closing,” he added, eyeing Au Rendez-Vous des Amis, a neighborhood cafe that had just shuttered to make way for a hamburger joint.

“That too,” he continued, nodding to Les Mots à la Bouche, the oldest L.G.B.T. bookseller in the Marais, rumored to be converted soon to a Doc Martins shoe store after the lease became unaffordable. “It’s dramatic,” he concluded.

As locals contemplated the end of an era, they arranged a surprise party for the brothers on a recent weekday at Le Point Virgule, a small comedy theater next to the shop.

Neighbors filed in silently: Dr. Beau and her daughter Manon, 21; Vincent Douget, a former chef at the cafe; Henriette Delyfer, an art boutique owner who knew the brothers since she was a child; local police officers who had dropped in regularly to chat over orange juice.

At last the brothers arrived. They were speechless at the surprise. Tears misted their eyes. While they were looking forward to spending time with their families, “it’s very hard for us to go,” Amar Sitayeb said.

“They were the heart of this area,” said George Fischer, a retiree who has lived next to the shop for two decades.

Back at the épicerie, Tariq Sitayeb had prepared a potent rum punch and Moroccan pastries to welcome a growing crowd.

Ariel Weil, the mayor of Paris’s 4th arrondissement, appeared and shook Ali Sitayeb’s hand. A circle formed as neighbors lamented the Marais’ latest transformation.

“It’s just clothes, clothes, clothes,” Mr. Fischer said. “How is a bra going to replace my orange juice?”

“On a personal level I’m sad,” Mr. Weil said. “And as mayor, I’m worried that we can’t find a solution to keep small businesses from leaving.”

Ali Sitayeb looked at his watch and sighed. It was his brother’s turn to man the register, and he had to get home to rest. Tomorrow, they would continue the sobering task of winding down the store.

“People don’t want things to change,” said Tariq Sitayeb, as his father faded into the dark night.

“But a page is turning.”

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biofunmy · 5 years ago