#devrim ft. savannah

[cantfightmoonlight]

Savannah fiddled with the edge of her dress, her fingers tugging at a loose thread she knew better than to pull. But it gave her hands something to do, and lord knew she needed that right now. Her eyes darted toward Devrim, then away, like she’d been caught peeking through the blinds at something she wasn’t supposed to see. Her heart was thumping a little too loud for comfort, and she hated how easy it was for him to make her feel like that girl again — the one who stayed up too late waiting for headlights to turn down her drive.

"Hm?" Her head lifted. Her eyes briefly meeting his before they darted away once more. "Oh yeah, talkin', or somethin'," She murmured. Her voice was quieter than usual, lacking any playful edge. This was softer, like the worn cotton of an old t-shirt you just couldn’t bring yourself to throw away as she glanced down toward her lap and the way her skirt seemed to have hiked up when she had climbed into the driver's seat as if the words might be sitting there, waiting on her to find them. She reckoned she had a whole lot to say a minute ago, but now, all she could seem to manage was a shaky little laugh that didn't sound half as steady as she wanted it to and a small nod as her eyes seemed to drift back toward his lips. Well, butter her butt and call her a biscuit, she was screwed. She could barely tell up from down as is and, as her eyes lifted to meet his gaze, she realized that had been a mistake. A big one, too. His eyes had always done this thing where they looked at her like she was something important, something worth more than the weight she put on herself. She felt it again now, and it was like standing too close to a fire and was bound to wind up burnt. And yet, she found herself scooting a bit closer all the same. Her head bopped up and down, nodding once more, as she leaned just the slightest bit forward until their foreheads were merely centimeters away. "You, uh, you first?" She cleared her throat. Her gaze still fixated on his lips as she found herself biting down lightly on her own.

It felt like a dream just to see her face. One he didn't want to wake up from but feared he would. His alarm clock soon to blare and shatter the fantasy of her existence. He'd already lost her once. An agony he wasn't sure he ever, fully, grieved. During a time in his life of insurmountable loss and suffering. He'd stopped processing the pain at some point simply to survive it. It was only now that he realized how much he still missed her. The first love of his life. The only.

Their kiss left a tingly sensation on Devrim's lips that he savored as they rolled together. It was better than he remembered or any dream he'd had since their last. How cruel, he thought, that time could take the the intensity of something so incredible from his memory. In that moment, Devrim could've swore, he'd never forget what it was like to kiss Savannah again.

"Hmmm?" Head in a daze, stars in his eyes, as if he had just awoken from a dream. Not to an alarm clock, but Earth's sweetest sound. His name in her voice. He played it on repeat in his mind, almost missing what else Savannah had to say. "...sorry.." A mumble he barely got out, voice thick as the air around them. It confused him how strongly he felt about their kiss. A swell of emotion that made it feel as though no time had passed. Devrim didn't know how that was possible. He was a different man now, than the one he was then. They didn't even know each other, anymore, he woefully reminded himself.

There was no chance for him to clear his mind before Savannah pop kissed him and stunned Devrim into a stupor. He followed her through the crowd, occasionally stumbling a step or two. Not because of his injury but because he stole too many glances at her, half just to make sure she wasn't going to disappear again. The sight of her truck, the truck, hit him in the chest; knocking the breathe from his lungs. A flood of memories came rushing in and painted a tiny but permanent smirk on his lips.

They were supposed to be talking, weren't that? He suddenly couldn't remember what she'd said from just moments before. The tension between them in the truck thick enough to cut with a knife. He couldn't think about anything else. While the truck's bench seat hadn't been their first time, it was certainly the place they hooked up the most. He half expected to turn around and still see hand and foot prints on the back window. "So," His voice gave him away. Devrim's mind was far away, not at all focused on what he was trying to say. "We're supposed to be talking..." About what? He couldn't think. Not about anything but that dress. Its skirt as short as the sundresses she wore all the time during their summer together.

[cantfightmoonlight]

Savannah glanced at Devrim, her lips pressing together in a thoughtful line as she weighed his words. The unease in his expression tugged at something deep within her, softening the guarded edge she'd been trying so desperately to cling to and, yet, seemingly falling short.

"Okay," She finally said, tilting her chin slightly down into a small nod. Her tone gentle, but still hesitant as if she was trying to reassure them both. "We can go somewhere quiet. We can take my car, if you're okay with that? And after we're done with all the... talkin', I can drop you off?" Her gaze lingered on his face, searching for something unspoken, a confirmation of what she wasn't quite sure, but she also knew better than most how hard it was to talk about something that felt like it carved pieces out of you every time you brought it to the surface.

Only the next thing she knew, he was leaning forward, sweeping her up into a whirlwind of emotions that seemed to spin faster than she could grasp. Devrim's kiss was unexpected, yet familiar in a way that made her chest ache. For a moment, she didn’t pull away—she couldn’t. The taste of champagne still lingered on her lips, mingling with the intensity of his breath. It was as if the weight of their history, the summers past and the words unspoken, had collided in that singular, heart-stopping moment and when she finally pulled back, her knees felt unsteady. Her fingers curled slightly against the fabric of her dress as she peaked up at him. Her expression a mixture of disbelief and something softer just beneath the surface.

"Devrim..." she started, her voice barely above a whisper, carrying the Southern lilt she couldn't shake even in moments like these. "You can't just... drop somethin' like that on me." She pressed her lips together, her gaze flickering to the crutches he steadied himself on before returning to his face. "Lord, you don’t make things easy, do you?" She shook her head the tiniest bit back and forth in disbelief.

She needed to clear her head. She needed to sort out her thoughts from her feelings and broach the subject that seemed to be weighing down across her chest even now. The 'why didn't you call be back' elephant in the room that had flipped her life on its head and stopped him from getting to know his daughter. But, that would require a conversation she wasn't quite sure she was ready to have. So, rather than stay teethed down to reality, she let herself be swept up in the bubbles of the champagne and stepped forward to press another quick peck against his lips before she ducked under his arm. Taking hold of one of his crutches in her hand, she motioned for him to lean on her as they made their way to that god forsaken truck that only ever seemed to scream trouble.

Their summer together felt like a roller coaster. It moved fast and both scared and enthralled Devrim. Their exchange now no different. From stars in his eyes to fear in his gut with a tinge of dampness in hers. How they'd gone from one extreme to another he didn't know and was still piecing together her reaction when Savannah announced she needed to go. "Go?" He couldn't hide the disappointment in his expression or voice. Long ago, he'd resigned himself to the fact that she'd moved on, and Devrim would never see Savannah again. Reuniting in Lunar Cove, the hellhole that it was, was serendipitous. He wouldn't let the opportunity to know her again, so easily, pass him by. Not when he could so clearly see she no longer wore a ring on her finger.

"Why don't we.." He began to suggest but stopped short, as he watched Savannah almost back into a member of the wait staff. Instinctively, he went to reach for her to stop the collision but withdrew when he felt his body buckle on his crutches. When he was offered champagne Devrim declined, though it amused him how she guzzled hers. Was she nervous? He wondered but couldn't tell. Emotions were tricky business. Any attempt to discern how someone felt unless they directly told him was usually moot.

The details of his accident were not something Devrim wanted to disclose on a busy street. "I want to answer all of your questions." He reassured her. "Maybe somewhere quiet?" It was a difficult story to share. One that exacted an emotional toll every time he told it. An experience he didn't want to have in a crowd. "I can't drive right now," He frowned, thinking that was obvious. They could talk in her car. His house was also an option, though Devrim wasn't sure Savannah would want to come to his house when she seemed on the fence about whether or not she was staying or going. It made his heart race. The idea that she could slip through his fingers; again.

A fear that made Devrim, unusually, impulsive. He should've been a dead man, twice, since he'd seen her last. The present pressuring him to partake in what he'd once thought would only ever happen, again, in dreams. Slowly, so Savannah could see what his intentions were, Devrim leaned in for a kiss. An exchange that felt cataclysmic, like it was crushing his heart against his rib bones, and squeezing his lungs until all the air was forced out. He didn't care. If he had to choose, she was the way to die.

[cantfightmoonlight]

"Ah’m concerned, not stubborn," She scoffed, shaking her head back and forth as a brilliant smile danced across her lips. "And I got every right to be, the way you keep skirtin’ ‘round the subject," She reasoned. The teasingly looking in her gaze softened as her voice grew faint. "Seriously, Dev, what happened?" She gave him a pleading look as she guided her chin down so that their eyes could lock hold once more. "What is it you ain’t tellin’ me?"

Whatever it was, she figured she could handle it only for two words to shattered the ground beneath her feet in one go. I know. "Wha-" With her breath drained from her lungs, she found herself standing there speechless. Blue eyes beginning to tear up as the happy little bubble around them was all too quick to burst, though she kept her tears at bay. What d’you mean, you know? What d'you mean? "You knew? All this time, and you never thought to—" She cut herself off once more. Her lips pressed together and her nose crinkled up as she shook her head. Her blue eyes peeled up toward the ceiling as she let out a shallow breath and then another. ""I’m sorry, I... I should go," Her voice was all too frail and she had a feeling she likely resembled somewhat of a bobble head the way she kept on shaking her head in disbelief. She couldn't be here. She couldn't do this. Not now. Not when she already felt like a fish out of water. Not when her brain was running so fast she couldn't seem to catch up to it to form one coherent thought let alone try to explain why her stomach had just dropped out from under her.

Taking a few steps back, she spun around to turn on her heels only to catch herself before she nearly stumbled into an oncoming drink tray. All too thankful a drop hadn't split on her as she steady herself. "Champagne?" The server offered up. "No, thank ya—on second thought," She plucked up one of the glasses off the tray, downing half of it down before she sheepishly turned back around to meet Devrim's eyes again, looking more and more like a deer caught in the headlights than she did before. "I’m sorry to hear about… what kinda accident was it? Was it... was it bad?" She let out a shaky breath as she tried to push the urge to vanish into the crowd back down. "Are ya... gonna be okay? Gettin' outta here with crutches and all? I could help you to your car, if it ain't too much trouble? Or give you a ride or somethin', you know when the... champagne wears off?" Why in the world did she just have a drink? And was she actually offering to drive him home in the same truck they used to fool around in back when they were teens? What on earth was she thinking?

It felt like a dream he'd had before. Their names on repeat, like proclamations of gratitude for being reunited. It was magic, in ways Devrim didn't even know yet. The way Savannah entranced him. His eyes host to constellations, even as she persisted on having such a cumbersome conversation in the streets. "Still so stubborn.." He mused adoringly.

The step Savannah took back allowed Devrim to move forward, beginning their path out of the crowd and into a nearby coffee shop. He didn't pause at the mention of her daughter until she added the by the way. "I know." Only aloud did he hear how odd that might've sounded. He was quick to explain. "I was in an accident." A brief explanation, but a warranted one. He never thought he'd get to explain himself. "In the rockies, that summer." That summer. The summer they met. A moment in time that secretly lived on repeat inside his mind. He'd never been in love before Savannah nor since. "I looked you up, once I was better.." Devrim tried to smile, but it wasn't a memory that made him happy. "..saw you had a family. Thought you looked happy."

In a quiet moment of reflection, Devrim realized, "I hope you were, Savannah."

[cantfightmoonlight]

"Devrim," She drew out his name once more. Her hand reached up to cup his face in hers as her thumb subconsciously brushed its way across his bottom lip. "What in heaven’s name happened?" She lifted her chin higher so that her blue eyes could lock onto his to convey what they both already knew- she wasn't about to drop the subject. "Dev," Her brow raised a little higher. Her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth as she had to fight back her own juvenile smile at the way he was repeating her name over and over like some broken record stuck on repeat. "I got time," She chimed in, not about to let him change the subject that easily.

"Before?" Her brows creased as his sentence trailed off. It was only after he tilted his head up to look around them that she was reminded of her own surroundings. They were standing smack dab in the middle of a crowded audience at a costume contest on Halloween. Their daughter was around here somewhere and she couldn't exactly leave the establishment without letting Serra know where she was going. But, to do that would mean she'd have to verbally acknowledge the not so little fact that she had a daughter. Their daughter. They were no longer teenagers anymore and whatever spell that seemed to take a hold of them seemed to be breaking. She squeezed her eyes shut. A pained expression pulled across her brows as he rested his forehead lightly against hers. "Yeah..." Her voice was no more than a hushed whisper as the gut wrenching heartbreak and loneliness she had felt when she had waited by the phone hoping that he'd call her back when he never did came seeping back in. She had been so young and so scared with a baby on the way and no idea how on earth she was going to do it. She had needed somebody and, as hard it as it was, she had gotten over the fact that person she needed might not have been him. Hadn't she?

"I, uh..." She took a small step back as she lifted her chin up once more. A practiced smile that nearly seemed natural pulled across her lips as she took a deep breath and ripped off the bandaid. "I just need to text my daughter and let her know where I'll be is all. I, uh, I got a daughter, by the way." And you do too. Though she found herself leaving that last part out.

Savanna's touch, a poke, delicate but powerful enough to start a fire in his chest, spread warmth across his skin. A flush that visibly formed in splashes of red along his neck and cheeks. His eyes glistened like a man enamored before she even said his name, in that voice. It made him laugh, as he recalled the few times he'd heard it before. "Can't say I've been better in a long, long time.." Heart on his sleeve, stupid grin on his face. In hindsight, he'd admit to a lowering of his inhibitions. Both by her proximity and his prescriptions, though he considered the former a more effective form of pain management.

"Savannah." He liked it. The sound of her name. "Savannah." As sweet as birds, choralling, early in the day. It was a moment in time, for Devrim, experienced beyond circumstance. He forgot himself and his surroundings. Unbothered by the large crowd around them. Paying mind only to the tender and fleeting ways she touched him, until her abrupt recoil. A hum vibrated within his throat, as he collected his thoughts. His mind a mess of confusion he couldn't make right. "It's all a long story." He offered quietly. "A good weird.." Reassurance given with a slow nod. For the first time since fumbling through the crowd to catch her, Devrim assessed their surroundings. A crowd was the last place for a conversation like the one he imagined they were about to have. "We should get out of here before.."

Eyes on an exit in the nearby Starlight bar, his attention was brought back to Savannah by a breathy Dev. An utterance of his name that made him feel weak in the knees. A feeling that had nothing to do with his need for crutches, he was sure, as his gaze caught in the glimmering hue of her sapphire stare. "Yeah?" An echo of himself, Devrim followed with another, "yeah" and the return of his stupid, grin. He could've kissed her. He wanted to. Yet he withheld to appreciate the palpable electricity in the almost. "It's really good to see you, too, Canım (darling)."

[cantfightmoonlight]

Oh lord have mercy, She gulped. Her bright blue eyes widened as she stood there, starstruck. Her cheeks flushed a rosy shade of pink as she fluttered her lashes up at him like a damn fool and maybe she was. The last time she had seen him, he been a nineteen year old boy. Still just as handsome, but more unruly. His hair used to be swept messily back into place as if he had rolled out of bed before starting his day. His clothes thrown together just as haphazardly. He used to carry an air about him as if he was completely oblivious to his own show stopping good looks. But, the person standing before her now wasn't a boy, but a man and one whose compliment had managed to take her breath away. "O-only," She tried to carry on, despite how seemingly flustered she was now. "'Cause it was comin' from you," She reached out to give his chest a rough poke like she used to, only to find herself staring directly at a bare chest and one that was precariously popped up on a set of crutches at that.

“Devrim,” She clicked her tongue against her teeth. Her tone lightly scolding as she took the time to scan him up and down as if to access his wellbeing, among other things… “You’re on crutches for God’s sake, and last I checked, that wasn’t part of Indiana Jones’s whole shtick. So, what gives? Did ya take a tumble down the stairs that I should know ‘bout or what?" She pleaded with him. The worry further creasing across her gaze as her fingers brushed across his cheek. A sigh of relief escaping herself as she made a note that the bruises were at least made with makeup and not real. "Good weird, I hope?" She asked, dropping her hand from his cheek. Her fingers had unconsciously started to trace their way along the collar of his shirt, but she quickly stopped herself. She stood there awkwardly for a split second with one hand stretched out hovering just about his left peck before she recoiled her hand away so fast. ""Do I know what?" She cleared her throat to ask, not knowing where to stand or even look given that they were still lingering in the middle of the fairly crowded audience for the costume contest. If she took a step back, she'd stumble into a pair of Ghostfaces and if she look forward she would be once again confronted by his bare chest and that deep gaze of his that seemed to sear right through her.

"Huh?" She cleared her throat once more only to give him a small nod. "Yeah, sure. I can eat," The words came tumbling out before she could stop herself. Though, when his words fully registered so did the pit that was beginning to form within her chest. We have a lot to talk about. It was the understatement of the century and she wasn't sure she was in the right headspace to open pandora's box right about now. "Yeah, we do, but Dev?" She let out a shaky breath. Her piercing blue eyes locked back on his own as she promised him, "It's really good to see you." It was a sentiment he had previously shared, though she wasn't all too sure either of them might feel that way for long.

It was blinding. Her smile. Brighter than sun itself. More magical than the town they stood in was her laugh, a chorale of ethereal sounds. Suddenly, time moved in reserve and the man was nineteen again, standing in a beachside town, somewhere in North Carolina, staring at the first girl he'd ever loved. "One that worked, I hope." He really hoped, extra hard, as he watched Savannah spin. "Still the prettiest girl at the party." Entranced by their encounter he forgot himself. It wasn't like Devrim to flirt, especially with a stranger. Which she was to him, as he was to her, after their brief knowing then years apart. Yet, she felt like coming home. A kind of comfortable he couldn't explain, except for in the way he leaned into her touch.

"I'm great?" For a brief moment he lived outside the horrors of his home, reminiscing about good memories in an old truck, as Savannah fretted over him. "I'm glad to see you. It is.." His head shook as he fumbled for words through his haze of infatuation. "..it's weird to see you here? Of all places.." He mused aloud with a dark laugh. "Do you.. know?" Devrim hesitated to say anything that might be difficult to hear if Savannah didn't know what Lunar Cove was.

Unable to look away, Devrim silently appreciated every similarity and every difference in Savannah's face. Still as lovely as the first day he'd seen her. A treasure discovered miles from the coast. He'd nearly crashed his boat into the rock on which she sunbathed at the sight of her in a sundress. Devrim struggled, even now, to keep his head on straight. Her very presence enchanted him, but the sight of Savannah's ringless wedding finger reminded him why it was important he didn't get too caught up in the moment. "We have a lot to talk about." An understatement Devrim didn't know the depths of yet. "Can I take you to dinner?"

[cantfightmoonlight]

Savannah's cheeks couldn't help, but flush a rosy shade of pink as the blonde made her way down off of the stage. The gentle ripples of mirth escaped her parted lips as she found herself acting more modest than usual with a town's worth of strangers eyes on her and all. She had entered herself into the Costume Contest in hopes of meeting more people and of setting a good example for her daughter who had been complaining about not knowing anyone despite them being there for a less a week.

Serra and her had been butting heads a bit more recently, not that she could really blame her. Sav had packed up their lives and moved them up the coast to a seaside town no one had ever heard of. Serra now had to start all over in a new town with new friends. And the not-so-little fact that she might not be able to leave without forgetting that the world was filled with the kind of magic that existed in fairytales wasn't exactly help. Sav was pretty much as close to public enemy number one as one could get. Though, then again, wasn't most parents when it came to their teenagers?

Not wanting to dwell, Savannah reached out and nabbed a drink from one the trays passing through the crowd. She had just brought the rim of the glass to her lips when a low voice reached her ears. The pick-up line about Kansas and tornadoes only made her smile given that she was dressed from head to toe as Dorothy Gale. Her laugh seemed practically golden. The musical notes softening the air around her as she found herself asking, ""What kinda line is that?" Only as she began to twirl around, did she find herself stumbling a few feet over. The shock of seeing his familiar face sent her knees buckling and her parted lips falling even more open than they had been before.

"Dev?" She blinked over at him, standing there like some deer caught in some headlights as a million emotions washed over at her at once. "You're here? How in heavens name are you here?" She asked as she sat the glass she had yet to touch back down. Shock flashed across her piercing blue eyes. Her plump rosy lips pressing together if only to avoid her jaw hitting the floor. Then warmth began to break across her face. Memories they shared flooding through her mind. The heat of his fingers tracing lightly across her skin as they laid together, limbs intertwined in the back of her truck. The feeling of butterflies practically bursting out of her chest when he used to drag out the syllables of her name. The rare tenderness that would creep into his gaze that he’d try to burry down. But, as the nostalgic bliss subsided, reality set in. It had been years. They were no more than strangers to one another, besides the not-so-known fact that they shared a kid. She had spent months curled up in a ball crying alone in her bedroom when he hadn't called her back. And now? She knew better than to put herself through that again. Didn't she?

Her blue eyes fell down the length of him. Catching a quick glance the crutches he was propped up on, her hand almost instinctively reached out to cup his face. "You hurt?" She bite down on her bottom lip as her thumb grazed across his cheek.

closed starter for @cantfightmoonlight

Fresh out of the hospital, hobbling around on a pair of crutches, Halloween festivities were almost the last thing Devrim wanted to do. However, he preferred feigning interest in the looming holiday than spending another night in the hospital or being holed up in his house while a revolving door of people tried to care for him. Stubbornly holding out that he was fine, yet unheard in his protests. Coddled, he griped, as if he was a child when, Devrim insisted, he was a grown man.

Yet, a flicker of golden hair had his heart racing like he was a teenager again.

Savannah.

Perhaps he had died in that tank. Crawled his way out of hell and stumbled through heaven's gate. An angel captured in his gaze. As beautiful and magnetic as he'd found her on that very first day. One some fourteen years ago when he'd nearly crashed his boat into the rock on which she sunbathed. Fortune favored him that day, and all summer long as the first taste of magic he'd ever known found him beguiling.

The same winds of fate that had pulled the sails of his boat towards her that summer sent him stumbling through the crowd, on a chase. He bumped into strangers without apology, moving as fast as he could, half ready to chuck his crutches and crawl when he finally caught her. More than a decade had passed. A lifetime by the looks of the photos he'd seen of her and her family online. Ten million times he'd thought about what he'd say if he ever saw her again. Yet, he stood before her without a thought in his head. Only adoration in his wild eyes. A glimmer that slowly faded as he realized where this chance meeting occurred.

"We're not in Kanas anymore." Did she know what this place was? Devrim wondered to himself. For all he knew of her, Savannah was human like him. "A tornado drop you off?"