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artificialqueens · 4 years ago

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You're All I Want (for Christmas), Final Part (Branjie) - Kiki

A/N: This story is complete! I want to wish every single one of you a happy holidays and I hope that 2021 is an amazing year for all of you! 2020 has been so bad and reading everyone’s submissions on AQ throughout the year has brought me so much joy and distraction so thank you to everyone for that. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: A classic Christmas past, present and future fic. Brooke deals with the aftermath of the breakup and Vanessa has to move back to New York. Will they reconnect?

14th of January 2020

When Brooke was feeling upset, she usually turned to two things for comfort: her friends and food. That’s why as soon as Nina had suggested getting brunch that morning, Brooke jumped at the idea and was ready to have an afternoon of fun and laughter with her friends. It was just the kind of distraction that she was looking for and desperately needed.

Although as soon as she got there, she realised that she was not going to get what she wanted. The whole situation was just awkward. They were dancing around the topic of Vanessa and no one wanted to be the first one to bring her up. Brooke hadn’t seen Nina and Detox since before the breakup because of how much she had thrown herself into her work and now she was regretting saying yes to Nina’s invite.

Nina and Detox had no idea what to say to Brooke. Obviously they were both still friends with Vanessa and had kept in contact with her over the last month. They wanted to be there for Brooke but they didn’t know how they could do that or even how she was feeling since she refused to even talk about it.

Brooke could feel herself growing more and more frustrated with the entire situation. She had thought she was going to get a morning of distraction where she could stop thinking about Vanessa for a couple of hours. But no. All she was able to do in that restaurant was think about Vanessa. Eventually, Nina broke the silence.

“Maybe you should just text her, Brooke. Maybe if you two could stay friends then it wouldn’t have to be such of an uncomfortable situation for you both.” Nina said sympathetically and deep down, Brooke knew she was right. She should text Vanessa. Make sure she was okay…see how she was getting on in Chicago. But there was no point, Vanessa wouldn’t reply anyway. Brooke was confident that she wouldn’t reply. After all, she did tell Brooke that she hated her.

“Nina, shut the hell up. That’s the worst advice ever and you know it,” Detox stated before looking Brooke straight in her eyes. “You need to get your ass on a plane to Chicago and tell Vanessa how much you fucked up and that you made a mistake. What’s the point in sitting here miserable when you could go and get her back?” Brooke immediately rolled her eyes at her friend’s comment. Detox had no idea what was going on. Why they actually broke up. Brooke presumed she had only heard what Vanessa had told her.

“Detox, I just wanted one fucking day where I could not have to think about this, can we please just talk about something else?” Brooke tried to plead with Detox but she was having none of it.

“No, Brooke. I’m not just gonna sit here and watch you ruin your life! It’s stupid and it’s embarrassing!” Detox replied and Brooke had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

“If you don’t stop fucking talking about her, I’m gonna leave.”

“Come on, Detox, just leave it for now, yeah?” Nina said calmly, trying to mediate the situation.

“No, Nina! Don’t act like you weren’t saying this was all a mistake too! You should be backing me up here.” With that, Brooke had heard enough. She took some cash out of her wallet and placed it on the table before storming out of the restaurant. All she had wanted was some pancakes, a nice conversation with her friends and maybe a few cocktails. But no. It seemed like Brooke couldn’t have anything she wanted these days…and she was just going to have to learn to live with that.

—

20th of February 2020

Vanessa was out in a club for the first time in almost three months. She was out with friends which was such a relief because she was starting to think she wouldn’t make any. Kameron and Aquaria were two girls who worked in the Chicago office alongside her. They were told to work on the same project together and the three of them hit it off immediately which made Vanessa very happy.

As Vanessa placed an order for another cocktail, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. As she turned around, she saw a beautiful girl with long black hair and gorgeous blue eyes. Any other time, Vanessa would have hit on her immediately. But she couldn’t right now. Not after everything that had happened with Brooke.

The girl asked Vanessa to dance with her and as much as Vanessa wished she could say yes, she had to say no. Kameron and Aquaria shared a confused look between them.

“Why the hell did you say no, Vanjie? She’s fucking stunning!” Kameron exclaimed and Aquaria nodded in agreement. Vanessa hadn’t told the girls anything about Brooke yet but she figured being drunk in a club was the perfect place to have that kind of conversation with her new friends.

“I guess I have this ex back in New York that I’m not really over yet,” Vanessa began with that which immediately interested the two girls so Vanessa ended up telling them the entire story: how they met, how they got engaged and how they broke up. When Vanessa finished her story, Aquaria had a mischievous look on her face. “What are you thinking, Aqua?” Vanessa was both intrigued and scared about what made her friend grin like that.

“Have you never wanted to make her jealous?” Aquaria asked with her eyebrow raised slightly. Vanessa shrugged and began to think about it. Did she want to make Brooke jealous? She did want to hurt her slightly just so she could see how much it hurt when she dumped her. But that would take a lot of effort and energy that she didn’t have. She came to Chicago to focus on her job, not to keep dragging up her past relationship.

“I mean I guess I would? But I dunno, I wouldn’t even know how do it. I’m here and she’s all the way in New York.” Vanessa explained, hoping that the topic of conversation would move on to something else but knowing Aquaria, she had a plan up her sleeve.

“Easy. Kameron’s your type, right?,” Aquaria asked while Vanessa blushed feeling slightly embarrassed. She guessed Kameron was kind of her type. She was tall, had blonde hair and was kind of quiet until you got to know her. She also had an awesome resting bitch face. Vanessa nodded and Kameron seemed happy to hear it. “I’ll take a few pictures of you two, you pose and make it look like you’re on a date or that you’re all loved up and post it to your Instagram. Then Brooke won’t be able to take her mind off of you for days.” Aquaria explained it all like it was easy and not a big deal but Vanessa felt like she was about to commit a crime. Needless to say, she said yes to Aquaria’s crazy idea and so did Kameron, so they began taking pictures.

Vanessa gave Aquaria her phone to take the pictures on and Aquaria turned into a full on photographer. She was telling them how to pose, where to look, where to put their hands. After a few minutes, they got the perfect shot: Kameron had her hands wrapped around Vanessa’s waist and was kissing her cheek while Vanessa grinned into the camera.

As soon as it was posted, Vanessa put her phone back down on the table and continued talking to her friends. Within two minutes, curiosity consumed her and she had to check if Brooke had seen it. Funnily enough, there were only a handful of people who had seen it, but Brooke was one of them. Vanessa wondered if she still had her notifications turned on for Vanessa’s posts. That would explain how she had seen it so fast.

Vanessa smiled as soon as she saw that Brooke had seen the post but more than anything, she wished she could’ve seen Brooke’s reaction to it. To Vanessa, the fact that Brooke had seen it so quickly meant that maybe Brooke still cared about her. Or maybe she had just happened to be on Instagram when Vanessa uploaded it. Either way, she knew that Brooke wasn’t in love with her anymore, but the fact that Brooke had viewed it so quickly made her happier than she cared to admit.

—

12th March 2020

It’s crazy how things can change in a year. Last year, Detox’s birthday had been an amazing night of celebration for everyone involved. This year, Brooke had turned back into her past self: not wanting to go to her best friend’s party at all.

Thankfully, Detox had chosen a different club to go to this year so Brooke wouldn’t have to be reminded of meeting Vanessa for the first time. But let’s be honest, it had been on her mind all day and Brooke felt heartbroken about what this day in particular signified for her. She was trying her best to push it to the back of her mind and actually at least appear that she was paying attention to what was going on around her.

Brooke had finished a bottle of wine while she got ready so she was already kind of drunk when she turned up to the club. She wished that Vanessa would come to the party, after all, she was one of Detox’s closest friends. But Detox had already told everyone that Vanessa was too busy with work to fly back for it, much to everyone’s disappointment. Seemed like everyone loved and missed Vanessa.

After about forty-five minutes of everyone chatting and joking around with one another, a round of shots was brought to the table. Everyone was confused because no one had remembered ordering them but the waitress just pointed to a note on the tray. It had a phone number on it and said: For the hot blonde in the red dress, enjoy. Brooke didn’t want to deal with this right now. She just waved to the girl and said thanks awkwardly and took the shot.

“You should go talk to her, Brooke! Say thank you!” Nina suggested and the others agreed.

“I don’t really want to, Nina.” Brooke mumbled and Detox rolled her eyes.

“Why the hell not? She’s so hot!” Detox argued and Brooke could feel all the alcohol hit her at once. She hadn’t been this drunk in a long time.

“Because she’s not Vanessa, why would I waste my time on someone that isn’t Vanessa?” Brooke knew she was saying things she wouldn’t say if she was sober. But right now, she didn’t care. She was willing to talk to anyone who would listen.

“Then why won’t you go fucking talk to her? I swear to God, Brooke, I’ve said this a thousand fucking times, just go and talk to her!” Detox yelled and Brooke was starting to get emotional. Her drunken mind didn’t like people yelling at her.

“I can’t!” Brooke responded whilst trying not to appear sad but miserably failing.

“Why not?” Detox asked and Brooke looked at her like she was stupid and was missing something really obvious.

“She’s clearly moved on, D! Haven’t you seen her Instagram story with that girl?” Brooke said while she grabbed another glass of champagne from the table and started to drink it quickly. Detox looked at Nina and Nina just giggled, the two of them clearly knowing something that Brooke didn’t.

“Shut the fuck up, Brooke Lynn! She’s not dating anyone, that’s her new work friend who is straight, you absolute idiot!” Nina and Detox laughed and Brooke couldn’t help but smile. That picture had been burned into her brain for the last month and she was so happy that Vanessa was still single. She had no right to be happy about it, but she was. She just couldn’t help herself.

—

24th May 2020

Vanessa had been in her office for the last four hours finalising a new design for her company’s upcoming collection. She had been working on these designs with her team for the last six months and she was so proud of them, she really loved what she was doing. It was nice to be able to throw herself into her work, considering everything that had happened in New York. It was just an added bonus that she absolutely loved what she did. She was so in the zone that she didn’t even realise that her boss’s assistant knocked on the door and entered her office.

“Hey Vanessa, sorry to interrupt but Bianca wants to see you in her office. She said it’s important.” The assistant left the room immediately after saying that which made Vanessa’s heart rate increase. She had been working so hard recently. Her designs were amazing, everyone on her team was contributing to the best of their ability and she was sticking to the timeline she was given. What could possibly be the problem? She put down her pencil and left the office, walking to her boss’s office with a pit in her stomach.

“Hey Bianca,” she said as she knocked and opened the door to Bianca’s office. “What’s going on, is everything okay?” Bianca pointed at the chair opposite her own and Vanessa immediately took a seat and began to mentally prepare herself for the worst.

“Everything’s perfect, Vanessa. Actually, I’m really happy with the work that you’ve been doing recently.” Vanessa was waiting for the punchline after Bianca finished speaking. Usually, Bianca didn’t give compliments and when she did, you could almost guarantee that there would be about ten insults to follow after.

“Thank you, Bianca…” Vanessa responded and Bianca laughed at her confusion.

“The reason I called you in here is because I think that you can handle more responsibility within this job. I was talking to corporate and they were thinking that you should move back to the New York office to be the head of design there,” Vanessa was stunned. She had just gotten promoted to the top level of her company’s New York branch. If she had this job, she would be on the same level as Bianca. She would be the boss of everyone, including the people she used to work with. She would get to be back in her favourite city that she had missed so much…the same city as Brooke.

Vanessa’s mind was immediately made up the moment Bianca offered her the job. Chicago just hadn’t been the right fit for Vanessa. She missed her friends and she just missed the city in general. But she couldn’t help but notice the irony of having to move back to New York after only staying in Chicago for six months, considering it’s the entire reason that caused her relationship with Brooke to end. She couldn’t help feel a bit upset about how this had all happened. But in that moment, all she wanted to focus on was the fact that she was finally getting to go back home. Back to where she belonged.

—

12th of June 2020

Vanessa was finally back in her happy place. She was pleased to find out that New York hadn’t changed at all since she had been gone. All of her favourite restaurants were still there, the baristas in her favourite coffee place right by the office remembered her name and she was finally back in the same city as her sister and her friends.

Her new apartment wasn’t the best but she told herself she would find a new one once she settled back in to her work. It was, however, pretty close to where Detox lived which meant that they could hang out more outside of working hours, even though she was so happy to be working with her again.

She had gotten back to New York last week after wrapping everything up in Chicago and this was her first time hanging out with Detox outside of the workplace. They were going to get lunch in one of Vanessa’s favourite cafes and while she was excited, she was also full of dread as she knew that Brooke would undoubtedly be a topic of conversation. The only person she had spoken to about Brooke Lynn recently were Kameron, Aquaria and her mom and they were all on her side, even though there weren’t really any sides to take. She was interested to see how talking to Detox about it would be considering Brooke was one of her best friends.

She had to meet Detox in an hour which left Vanessa with a bit of time to do whatever she wanted. She decided to go to her favourite farmers market and stock up on some fruit and vegetables for the week ahead considering she probably wouldn’t have time during the week when she was working. She had been living off of takeout food and leftovers and knew she had to change that.

As she paid for some vegetables, she heard a familiar voice at the stall behind her asking for some strawberries. She turned around and to her surprise, it was Brooke Lynn…standing right in front of her. Vanessa didn’t know what to do. She was frozen. Should she go up to her and say hi? Should she walk away and pretend she never saw her? She couldn’t stop staring at her. Before she had a chance to make a decision, Brooke turned around and they immediately locked eyes. Brooke was also frozen in her spot and Vanessa decided to just bite the bullet and say hi to her ex-girlfriend.

“Hey Brooke!” Vanessa said awkwardly, not knowing if they should hug or not. She really didn’t know what the protocol was for accidentally running into your ex.

“Hey…what are you doing back in New York?” Brooke asked in what Vanessa could only describe as a nervous tone. Clearly their interaction was affecting Brooke as much as it was affecting Vanessa.

“I got another promotion so I had to move back…”

“Wow, congratulations V! That’s amazing!” Brooke said genuinely and Vanessa could feel her heart fluttering from Brooke’s compliment. They decided to catch up for a bit and walked around the market aimlessly. They talked about Chicago, their families, Thackery and Brooke’s job. It was then that Vanessa found herself thinking about unanswered questions and she was unable to hold back.

“Would you have broken up with me if I hadn’t been offered that job in Chicago?” Vanessa asked quietly and Brooke looked shocked that Vanessa had asked her that. She also looked extremely unprepared.

“I’m not sure.” Brooke replied slowly, unsure as to what direction the conversation was heading in.

“How long had you been wanting to break up with me for?” Vanessa knew that she didn’t want to know the answers to the questions she was asking but damn, it felt good to ask. It felt like a weight was being lifted off of her shoulders at the thought of finally getting some answers from Brooke Lynn.

“I never wanted to.” Brooke admitted quietly and Vanessa could feel her blood starting to boil.

“What do you mean you never wanted to? Then why did you do it?”

“I had to, V, you don’t understand.” Brooke looked like she was trying not to cry and Vanessa really wanted to feel bad for her but at that moment, she didn’t care.

“Yeah of course I don’t understand! How can I understand something if you don’t fucking explain it to me?” Vanessa stopped in her tracks and had her hand on her hip, demanding an answer from the blonde. But Brooke couldn’t handle seeing Vanessa and having her be angry like this. She had to get out of there. She was so overwhelmed.

“I’m so sorry Vanessa, I can’t do this right now.” Brooke walked out of that market with such a fast pace that Vanessa knew there was no way she would be able to catch up with her. All she knew was that Detox was going to get a big long rant about Brooke Lynn as soon as they sat down in that cafe.

—

14th of July 2020

Nina had just bought a new house around the same time as her birthday so she decided to put two celebrations into one and have a housewarming/birthday party. Both Brooke and Vanessa were of course invited, making both of the girls slightly nervous considering how their last interaction had ended.

When Vanessa arrived, Brooke was talking to Detox in the kitchen. To make sure things weren’t awkward, Vanessa said hi to both of them and used going to find Nina as an excuse to make a swift exit. It technically wasn’t a lie; she did have a gift to give to Nina after all. She found Nina in the living room with a bunch of her colleagues and they started talking as soon as Nina saw her.

“Are you gonna be okay, honey?” Nina’s maternal side was showing and Vanessa loved that about her.

“Yeah of course, I’ll be fine!” Vanessa tried to reassure her friend but Nina didn’t seem to be buying it.

“Okay but I’m here to talk if you’re not, okay? Just come and find me.”

“Shut the hell up, Nina, it’s your birthday! You don’t need to be worryin’ about me tonight!” Thankfully, Detox came over to them with two glasses of champagne and ended the awkward conversation that they were having.

There were a ton of people from Nina’s office there and Vanessa decided she might as well introduce herself to some of them so she had people to talk to who weren’t Brooke Lynn. She was just sitting around talking to a group of five people, joking around about Nina and how nice she was while they kept giving her glasses of wine and champagne and whatever else was in the house. Vanessa hadn’t even got off the couch in the last hour but had somehow finished six different drinks and it was definitely hitting her now.

As she looked out into the garden, she could see Brooke sitting alone on the garden furniture. She could tell that Brooke Lynn was quite tipsy herself from the way that she was swaying slightly and had taken her heels off.

Vanessa’s drunken mind decided that it was the perfect time for her to go and talk to Brooke. She missed her so she might as well go talk to her, right? She plopped down on the sofa beside Brooke and they started talking as if nothing had ever happened between them. They were just talking like old friends. Vanessa swore that she hadn’t seen Brooke so carefree in such a long time, probably not since they got home from Mexico. It made her really happy to see Brooke relaxed for once.

Vanessa was absentmindedly stroking her ring finger where the engagement ring used to be. She had made that a habit when they were together: anytime she felt happy or loved, she would touch her engagement ring, kind of like a reminder that Brooke was going to be with her forever and how happy that made her. She started to feel strongly overwhelmed about her love for Brooke all at once and she longed for nothing more than having Brooke back in her life.

She looked at Brooke and was in awe of how beautiful she looked. She had cut her hair slightly since the last time she saw her. It wasn’t short, just mid length, but it really suited her. She was wearing a nude lip gloss instead of her usual matte red lipstick and overall, she just looked really good and put together. Vanessa had to tell her.

“You look really pretty tonight, B.” Vanessa said shyly and Brooke’s eyes widened in response to the compliment. She recovered quickly enough to reply to Vanessa.

“You always look beautiful, V. Every minute of every day.” Vanessa was grinning so much at this point that she was grateful for Detox interrupting them in case she accidentally said something about how much she loved Brooke in that moment. She would definitely regret that in the morning.

“Sorry to interrupt but I just found the hottest guy and I really wanna go back to his place, are you cool to make your own way home, B?” Detox asked, practically begging Brooke to say that it was okay for her to leave.

“I guess I should probably go too then, I do live a lot further away than you guys.” Brooke said sadly and Vanessa couldn’t bear this being the end of their conversation and their time together. She had to do something.

“You can stay in my apartment tonight, I don’t mind.” Vanessa offered, not thinking before she spoke, as usual.

“Really?” Brooke asked in shock and Vanessa couldn’t tell by Brooke’s reaction if she had fucked it up or not.

“That’s a fantastic idea, Vanessa! You’re so smart, thank you so much!” Detox said and immediately walked away, taking the hand of some random guy and leaving the party altogether.

“I mean if you don’t want to it’s completely fine, I just thought it might be easier for you—”

“No, it’s perfect. It’s really nice of you to offer, thanks Ness.” Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief that Brooke was okay with it and internally screamed that Brooke had called her ‘Ness’. She hadn’t heard that nickname in so long and she didn’t realise how much she had missed hearing it until now.

They spent the rest of the night outside talking and at around three in the morning, Nina started to kick people out so that she could go to bed. They were silent in the uber back to Vanessa’s apartment and when she opened the door, Thackery almost died of excitement as soon as he laid eyes on Brooke.

Brooke immediately picked Thackery up and cuddled him close to her and she started to cry. It reminded Vanessa of how she had reacted when Brooke had first surprised Vanessa with the cat, she was so overjoyed and fell in love with him so quickly. Vanessa couldn’t even dream of having to be away from him for as long as Brooke had.

After playing with Thackery for a while, Brooke started to yawn and Vanessa started to think about their sleeping situation. She apologised to Brooke because her guest room was currently occupied with unopened boxes so it wasn’t able to be slept in. Vanessa decided she would take the couch even though it was probably the most uncomfortable couch ever made.

“No, come on Vanessa, I’ll take the couch. It’s your bed, you deserve to sleep in it.” Brooke argued and Vanessa knew that realistically, neither one of them was going to be sleeping on the couch. Better to just admit it now and get that awkward bit of the night over with.

“We can just share my bed, B. it’s a lot comfier than that awful excuse for a couch, plus Thackery will be so happy to cuddle into you all night.” Vanessa added that little bit in about Thackery for good measure but in reality, Vanessa would love to be the one who could cuddle up with Brooke. Brooke agreed with Vanessa’s logic (of course she did) and they brought Thackery into Vanessa’s bedroom and laid down on the bed. Within minutes, Vanessa was asleep. Brooke was left watching her and Thackery, probably the two things she loved most in the world, while they slept. As she drifted off into a deep sleep, she realised she hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time.

15th of July 2020

Vanessa woke up with Thackery lying on her legs and with Brooke’s arm around her waist, snuggled up into her from behind. For a moment, she genuinely forgot that they had broken up. Waking up like this felt totally normal to her and she really didn’t want it to end. She figured there was no harm in pretending to still be sleeping so that the cuddles could last for a longer time. No one would ever know.

After almost an hour, Brooke woke up and felt so peaceful. She woke Vanessa up (which didn’t take long considering she was completely faking it) and they said good morning to each other. Somehow, it wasn’t an awkward situation for them. Brooke figured waking up in your ex-girlfriend’s bed all cuddled up to her should be a bit of a weird experience, but it felt completely normal.

“I haven’t slept that well in a really long time.” Brooke said with a raspy voice, still not fully awake yet. She hadn’t attempted to move away from Vanessa, her arm was still wrapped around her and Vanessa was internally praying that she didn’t move it.

“Me too,” Vanessa said with a yawn and Thackery ran up the middle of the bed to push himself in between his two moms. “You know I really missed you, B.”

“I missed you two Ness…so much,” Brooke said in almost a whispering voice and began stroking Thackery. “We really should hang out more now that you’re back in the city, at least try and be friends, you know?” Vanessa nodded in agreement and they spent another thirty minutes just talking and playing with the cat. They made plans to get coffee in a couple days in a café they used to go to all the time and they were both really looking forward to it. After a while, Brooke decided that she had to get up.

“I should probably go to work.” She announced and Vanessa forgot all about that. It was already ten o’clock in the morning, Brooke should’ve been there almost two hours ago.

“Damn, aren’t you already super late?” Vanessa asked and Brooke nodded as she grabbed her belongings.

“Yeah…but it was worth it.” Brooke smiled to which Vanessa grinned in response. Brooke was actually prioritising Vanessa over her work and they weren’t even together. Brooke kissed Vanessa on the forehead and gave Thackery one last cuddle before she left and Vanessa swore to herself that she would be back together with the love of her life before the year ended.

—

29th August 2020

One month later, Brooke and Vanessa were back to being how they always used to be: inseparable. They weren’t in a relationship or anything (even though Vanessa had been manifesting it on a daily basis) but they had been hanging out multiple times during the week. They were either getting coffee, going to the movies or just hanging out in each other’s apartment…just friendly things. But recently, things had gotten to be more flirtatious between them.

Vanessa would catch herself flirting with Brooke out of habit. She slipped back into how she used to act as Brooke’s girlfriend whenever she was around her. Thankfully, Brooke always reciprocated it so it wasn’t one-sided. Vanessa also noticed that Brooke had been complimenting her a lot more recently. She was always saying that she liked Vanessa’s hair that day even when it was the same as how she always did it. Or that she liked her outfit when Vanessa was just wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She also talked about things that Vanessa loved a lot, like she would always pick movies to watch that she knew were some of Vanessa’s favourites and she would pick all of Vanessa’s favourite restaurants and cafes to go to. Vanessa figured that must be a sign that Brooke was still feeling the same way about her. Brooke must still want to be with her.

Brooke was coming over to Vanessa’s apartment that evening to hang out. They were probably just going to order Chinese food and watch a movie. Vanessa wanted to ask Brooke out tonight but she didn’t know how to do it. How do you ask your ex out on a date? She felt so unprepared. Brooke showed up exactly on time and as soon as they sat down on the couch, Brooke had something she wanted to say.

“Look, if I’m picking things up wrong and you’re not feeling the same way then I’m so sorry for making this awkward, but…I really wanna take you out.” Brooke said all at once and at first, Vanessa didn’t think she heard her correctly.

“What…like on a date?” Vanessa asked which made Brooke laugh in response.

“Yeah…like on a date.” Vanessa immediately accepted and Brooke told her to be free on Saturday night so she could take her out. Vanessa was so excited. She was already planning outfits in her mind, thinking about what colours are Brooke’s favourite and what outfits she had worn in the past that Brooke had loved.

They spent that evening watching The Notebook (another one of Vanessa’s favourites that Brooke suggested) and Vanessa ended up falling asleep in Brooke’s arms. Brooke didn’t have the heart to wake her up so she ended up staying the night, yet again.

—

15th September 2020

Brooke didn’t know how this had happened but somehow she had managed to go on six dates with Vanessa in the space of two weeks. They didn’t even go out that much when they were in a relationship. They’ve been for dinner twice, Brooke planned a picnic in the park for them, they’ve had a couple of movie nights and the most recent one was when Brooke asked Vanessa to come along to a work party as her date. It was weird for Brooke not being able to introduce Vanessa to people as her girlfriend, especially since some of the people knew Vanessa from when they were engaged.

She decided that waiting around wasn’t fun for either of them and she wanted to make it official with Vanessa as soon as possible. She invited her over for lunch that afternoon with the intention of asking her to be her girlfriend. When Vanessa arrived, she was wearing a sundress that she had worn on their vacation in Mexico and Brooke thought that she looked amazing, even better than she had back then. Brooke was overwhelmed with love for her again. She was taken back to how she felt when she proposed to her, which was only one year ago. As soon as Brooke placed their plates of food on the table, she asked her.

“Ness, I’ve been loving spending time with you recently and I know that we’re kind of in a strange situation here but…I really don’t want to lose you again. These past few months have really made it clear to me that my life is a million times better with you in it and breaking up with you was the worst decision I ever made. Will you please be my girlfriend again?”

Vanessa practically screamed in excitement and of course said yes. She had a feeling Brooke was going to ask her that today so she decided to wear a dress that Brooke had loved just to really seal the deal and make herself irresistible to Brooke. Vanessa ran over to kiss Brooke immediately and they spent the rest of the day together, relaxing and making up for lost time.

That night when Vanessa went home, Brooke went to the back of her closet and took out a jewellery box she had received as a gift last Christmas. She had put the promise ring Vanessa had gotten her back on the necklace and shoved it in the back of her closet to try and forget about it. But now she got to take it back out again. She couldn’t be happier.

She took it out of the box and put the necklace back on. She made a mental note to keep it under her clothes so that no one would see. She didn’t wanna freak Vanessa out by wearing it so soon but it just felt right. She was finally with the girl she loved again and all she wanted to do was be the love of Vanessa’s life forever.

—

25th December 2020

Christmas Day had come around again and the contrast from how the girls had spent their Christmas last year to this year was amazing. Last year, both of them had been alone and miserable. This year, they were back were they belonged: with each other.

Vanessa’s mom was flying into New York on the 26th and Vanessa was beyond excited about it. She couldn’t wait for her mom and Brooke to reconnect again. Vanessa had originally wanted her mom to be here for Christmas but Mrs Mateo insisted on flying out the day after so that the couple could spend Christmas together for the first time again.

They had already exchanged gifts and completed their usual traditions in the morning (Vanessa had woken Brooke up at 7am again) and after they had eaten some food, they decided to watch a Christmas movie.

“Before we watch this, I actually have one more surprise for you,” Brooke announced and Vanessa was immediately excited. There was nothing she loved more than surprises. Brooke walked into her bedroom and brought out a small gift bag. She sat back down beside Vanessa and took out a small box and handed it to her. Vanessa opened the box and inside was a key. “I know you don’t like your apartment that much so I figured you might like living in mine a bit more.” Vanessa squealed in delight and hugged Brooke, saying she would love to move in with her. Vanessa loved Brooke’s apartment and she was so happy that she could call it her home now too.

“But wait, that’s not the only surprise I have for you,” Brooke took out another small box and Vanessa recognised it immediately. It was the box that her engagement ring came in. Vanessa couldn’t believe it. Brooke wanted to propose to her again. She couldn’t see what was happening because her vision was clouded by her tears. She was so happy. Brooke took her own necklace with her promise ring out of her sweater to show Vanessa that she had been wearing it all along. At that point, Vanessa was full on sobbing. Brooke tried her best to get Vanessa to stop crying to that she could actually propose to her properly and after a few minutes, she was successful. “Not having you in my life was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I’m sorry that it took me so long to realise that, you deserve so much more than that and I promise to spend my entire life making it up to you. But there’s one thing I’m certain about, Ness. The love we have for each other is so strong and we will always find our way back to each other, no matter what. I don’t know how I thought that a job was more important than our relationship but I’ve now come to realise that my job means absolutely nothing to me. You are the only thing that matters to me in this world. I don’t care about dream jobs; my only dream is to have you as my wife. I know this isn’t as special as the first time I asked, but Vanessa, will you marry me?”

“Yes!” Vanessa said as she kissed her fiancé with tears streaming down both of their faces. “Nothing would make me happier.” They spent the rest of the day in their own little world, completely loved up and excited for the future. They talked about how they wanted their wedding to be, who they wanted to invite, where they wanted to live when they got older. Basically, all the conversations that Vanessa had wanted to have over a year ago when the only thing Brooke would focus on was work. Vanessa felt like her entire life was on track again. She had her dream job, she had Thackery and as of today, she had a gorgeous new apartment and a beautiful fiancé. Nothing could ruin that for her.

What they didn’t see was Thackery up on the kitchen counter knocking over all of the sugar cookies and food they had made for Vanessa’s mom coming tomorrow. But they could deal with that later. Right now, they were too loved up to care.

#rpdr fanfiction #branjie #brooke lynn hytes #vanessa vanjie mateo #christmas fic #christmas #lesbian au #kiki #you're all I want for christmas #submission

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weknowgirl · 6 years ago

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Sobbing at aquaria getting a pixie cut for remy 😭 great question anon. Here’s mine; what happens if the girls dad shows up to find bri and aquaria and the kids at the house together and starts acting all agro to them?

okay so!! my concept of maya and remy’s dad is sorta fuzzy, but i ended up really solidifying his character through this ask. i wanna clear up that he’s not an abuser or a huge dick or anything, just kind of an idiot straight man. without further ado, here’s a lot of stuff about the girls’ dad:

What had attracted Brianna to Jacob was that he was just like any other guy. Meaning, he was exactly the kind of man her mom had always wanted her to end up with: a nice Jewish boy, a doctor with a steady income, and with no family history of mental health issues. He checked all the boxes! Score! So, she let him take her on a few dates, and a few turned into many, and by the end of it all, they were great friends. The kind of friends who kissed each other and maybe a little more and eventually got married. The ceremony was very beautiful and very normal and as fate would have it, her wedding night was the night she got pregnant with Remy.

Their home life was pretty regular, too. All in all, Jacob enjoyed being a father and Brianna loved being a mother and she thought that was all it would take to hold their little family together. She loved putting Remy in little dresses (which, by the time she was able to speak, turned into little overalls instead) and hoisting her up on her lap during children’s services on Shabbos. She loved watching her kick off her little sneakers to go roughhouse with the boys in the sandbox, gracefully ignoring Jacob’s proud comments about how much their little girl already loved boys.

Maya was a surprise, but a happy one. She instantly got all the dresses and princess books and little tutus that Remy had discarded over the years, and she loved them. By the time Maya could be trusted to play with toys without sticking them in her mouth, Remy was heavily into her LEGO phase. Soon, the living room was full of baby pink sets of blocks built high up as far as Maya could reach, and Remy’s true-to-life red and brown block walls protected her sister’s pretty castles.

After Maya had consumed every second-hand item in the house, the novelty of being a father of two had worn off for Jacob. It’s not that he wasn’t happy: just that he had been putting off admitting to himself, and to Brianna, that caring for two kids was a lot, even if he was only doing it part-time. So rather than letting anyone know, he threw himself into his work. He stayed late hours at the hospital almost daily and started working weekends. He justified it to himself and to Brianna as him providing for his family, providing for the extra mouth they needed to feed.

Brianna grew very weary very quickly of keeping up a full-time job and taking on nearly all the kids’ responsibilities, so eventually she ended up quitting her job entirely and just being a full-time mom. Turns out, this cheesy kind of family lifestyle was very much for her. She loved getting to spend the extra time with the girls, but she didn’t like not being able to see Jacob as often as she used to. And she didn’t like that he was missing their children growing up.

It was little things that upset her at first. He didn’t take out the dishes because he was fixing someone’s file, or he left his band-aids out where Maya could get into them and Brianna came home to find her covered in princess bandages. But then, it started being big things too. He had to work an emergency shift at the hospital and missed half of Remy’s sixth birthday party. He “forgot” to go to Maya’s first dance recital, but Brianna checked his calendar and it happened to also be the date of an office party.

This went on for a long while before eventually, they sat down together and figured out a deal. They would separate, Brianna would live in an apartment across the city with the kids, Jacob would keep the house, keep working, and pay for both. Brianna would take a part-time job since Maya was entering preschool, and he would could visit her and the kids on weekends and holidays. Soon, they figured, they’d both miss what they once had and get back together. That didn’t happen. After a year, they divorced and Brianna hightailed it out of Seattle.

By then, the girls had been used to not seeing much of their father, so they didn’t really miss him when they moved away. He still flew in and visited on occasion, sometimes for a birthday, sometimes for a holiday, sometimes just because, and always by surprise. Which led to Brianna, walking hand-in-hand with Aquaria, finding Jacob in her front yard, sipping a beer and waiting for her. “So’s this my replacement, or just a friend?”

Brianna felt her face grow hot as she looked at her ex-husband. “A friend,” she stammered, just as Aquaria replied, “Your replacement.” An elbow jabbed lightly into Aquaria’s side and suddenly she was laughing like she’d just told the funniest joke in the world. “Just kidding? I’m a friend,” Aquaria said stiffly. When Jacob went back to his beer, Brianna pulled her aside and explained herself. “That’s my ex-husband. He doesn’t know I’m gay. He can’t know.”

Except of course he‘s going to find out because, surprise! He announces that he’s here for a full week to spend Hannukah as a family. Maya comes into the house, leaps into his arms and laughs as he spins her around and kisses her all over. Remy walks in the door after practice, immediately catches her father’s eye and their jaws drop at the same time. “Dad??” she asks, at the same time as he exclaims, “What did you do with your hair??”

He appears pretty cool with it on the outside but after they all spend dinner as a family, he asks Brianna about it. “So is our kid, like, a lesbian?” Brianna just shrugs. “I haven’t asked her. I figure she’ll let me know when she’s ready to, if she is.” He still looks incredibly confused. For the next five nights, he lets out a few teasing comments about the hair. It’s all good-natured, but Remy still fights back tears every time because all she can think about is those kids at school and Aquaria (who of course is invited to all holiday dinners) squeezes her hand under the table for the whole meal.

And then it’s the last night of Hanukkah. Jacob is all set to leave the next morning, and the girls have gone to bed. Brianna and Aquaria haven’t had time to themselves all week long so they’re dying to be alone. They creep out to the backyard together and step into the pool still completely dressed and just cuddle up close and eventually they’re kissing. They go on for a few minutes until they‘re interrupted by a low voice from the patio. “Just a friend, huh?”

It turns into a huge fight between them. Aquaria goes home to let them talk privately, and they sit out on the patio and have a couple of drinks to ease the tension. Brianna is trying to keep her voice level as she explains that yes, okay, she’s been dating Aquaria for a little while and she didn’t want him to freak out about it when he got here so she lied and said she was just a friend. He asks if he‘s really getting replaced, just like that. Brianna gently reminds him that it’s been almost three years now. She still likes him but she’s moved on from their marriage.

Too many drinks have been had. Too many years have passed between them. Eventually, voices are raised and accusations are thrown. “All I’ve done is try to keep this family together, and all you’ve ever wanted to do was leave it!” And then Brianna is crying which makes Jacob cry as he retorts, “Maybe it’s better that I left! At least I didn’t turn our little girl into a fucking dyke!” and he regrets it as soon as it’s out of his mouth but it’s too late because Brianna slams the door and leaves him on the lawn and stuffs all his things into his duffel and carries it out to him and slams the door again.

As the moon rises above them and she opens the doors to let him through, Brianna watches through blurred vision as Jacob rolls his duffel across the silent house, leaving through the front door this time, loading up his rental car and driving away without another word. She closes and locks the front door after him, curls up into a ball, sobs for a while, and dials Aquaria’s number. Upstairs, a very, very awake Remy cries herself to sleep.

#i’m!! so!! sad!!#anon #asks #neighbor au #d slur #homophobia mention #craquaria #kind of #WHY DO YOU ALL LIKE ANGST IM CRYING IN THE CLUB

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