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atlafan · 5 years ago

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Take it Slow - Part Seven

a/n: okay this is my first shot at a harry:y/n fic, and it will be multiple parts. y/n had a bad experience with an ex over a year ago, and finally accepts her coworker and good friend Niall’s invitation to go on a blind date with his friend Harry.

(Dialogue heavy part. Also, I plan to make a masterpost with a link in my description so all the parts are easy to find in one place, and I can keep adding to it.)

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six

Harry spent most of the day with you Sunday, and went back to his place a little before dinner time. You woke up early Monday so you could get your workout in at home, and showered. Feeling fresh, you were thankful you had plenty of slacks to wear for the week. You hated wearing skirts or dresses on your period. You couldn’t wait to see Niall to ask him about Sarah.

You stop at the coffee shop and grab yours and Niall’s coffees. You get up to your office, and go right to his. He’s just settling in, and smiles at you.

“Hey there, lady killer.” You said handing him his coffee.

“Shh.” He looks around and closes his door. “Did she tell you anything?”

“She said she had a great time with you. Have you texted or called?”

“We’ve texted. I could kill you for not setting me up sooner.”

“I could say the same thing to you about Harry.”

“Fine, we’re even.”

“Besides, she was in between guys, I didn’t even know she was available. She raved about you, so I hope you guys see where it goes.”

“I’m hoping to see her Tuesday after work for a movie.”

“Oh, nice.” You smile at your friend. “You know if it goes well, the four of us could go on double dates, how much fun would that be?”

“Not so much.” Your face falls.

“Why not? I feel like we never hang out anymore.”

“Well, you’ve been busy, which is perfectly fine. And, I don’t really like double dates with Harry. I feel like I have to compete with him or something.” He shrugs, sipping his coffee.

“Compete with what?”

“I don’t know, everyone finds him so charming.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. Sarah may decide the only thing she likes about you is your tongue.” You tease. Niall nearly chokes on his hot drink.

“She, she told you?”

“Only a couple of details.” You lie, you didn’t want to embarrass him. “It was all good things though, she was very impressed.”

“I honestly have to thank Harry for help in that department.”

“So I’ve learned.” You say blushing.

“Hold on a second.” He sits down next to you in the chairs across from desk. “Did you two get a little frisky this weekend?”

“Maybe a little.” You play with the top of your coffee lid.

“How do you feel?”

“Safe.” You lock eyes with him. “I only let him do…that. I didn’t let him use his hands or anything.”

“What made you want to do it?”

“Honestly, I was curious.” You shrug. “And I was just feeling really close to him. He, um, asked me to be his girlfriend.” Niall jumps up with a huge smile on his face.

“That just made my whole morning!”

“You don’t think it’s too soon to be official?”

“Not at all, in fact, Harry hasn’t had an actual girlfriend in like two years. He really does like you, (y/n).” You can’t help but giggle at his praise. “You haven’t changed your relationship status.” He says checking Facebook.

“I honestly hadn’t thought of it since he doesn’t have a Facebook.” You say getting up. “I’ll ask him if he minds if I change it.”

“Why would he mind?”

“I don’t know, then it’ll like really be official. Everyone will know I’m seeing someone. I don’t know if I’m ready for my parents and siblings to be up my ass.”

“Fair point. Okay, I’ll tell you what, things go well with Sarah, and all four of us can hang out some time.”

“I would love that.”

You go to your office, and get some work done. Lunch rolls around quick. Before you can go meet Niall you see a name on your phone. It’s Kate.

“Hello?”

“Hey, (y/n).”

“Um, what’s up?”

“Nothing, just saw the pictures Rachel posted of the three of you. Thanks for the invite.”

“You wouldn’t have come anyways.”

“So, it’s still nice to be included.”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who made the plans, so take it up with them.”

“You’re my best friend, you should’ve texted me.”

“Kate, I’m at work.”

“You’re on your lunch break.” There’s an awkward pause. “Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone new?”

“Because it’s still really new.”

“Still, I hate hearing things from other people about you.”

“Who told you?”

“Rachel. She said some guy showed up to the club, and his friend took Sarah home or something. Apparently he’s super-hot.”

“You’ve met Niall before. Remember? He came with me to your wedding?”

“No, I mean the guy you brought.”

“His name is Harry.”

“Harry what?”

“Don’t bother looking him up, he doesn’t have a Facebook, and his Instagram doesn’t have any pictures of him.”

“Great, so you’re seeing a serial killer.”

“You could be happy for me. He’s really into me.”

“I just think you need to be more cautious.”

“I am. We haven’t done anything…serious.”

“Define serious.”

“I don’t owe you any explanations.” Usually, you and your friends were very open about sex, but lately it was hard to talk to Kate about these things.

“(y/n), you were practically ra-“ You cut her off before she could finish the word.

“Stop it! Harry is nothing like Jake!” Niall walks into your office horrified. You wave him in, and put your finger up to signal you’re almost done. “Kate, I’m not doing this with you right now.”

“Fine. Look, Kevin and I are spending the weekend in the city, and we were wondering if you’d wanna hang out. Maybe the four of us can do a double date.”

“You know, it would be nice if just us girls could get together. You never come here alone.”

“You know how Kev is.”

“Possessive, controlling.”

“Enough. Do you want to see each other or not?”

“Of course I do. I’ll see what Harry’s up to. When did you want to get together?”

“Friday night? Dinner at our spot?”

“Alright, I’ll text you later, I need to go eat.” You hang up in a huff and nearly throw your phone across the room, but you stop yourself. You look at Niall.

“Was that Kate?”

“Yeah! God, she is so fucking infuriating. She has no problem making me feel bad about my past, but the second I call her out on something.” You try to steady tour breathing. “And now I have to see her this weekend.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I miss her, Niall. She used to be so much fun.”

“Well, if you bring Harry, just be prepared, he’s not going to let someone speak to you like that.”

“Great, dinner and a show.”

You show up to Harry’s after the gym. You drive there sort of on autopilot. You let him know you’re outside, and he buzzes you in. You have an open sweatshirt on over a sports bra. Your hair is up in a messy bun, and you’re wearing cropped leggings. You only went to lift weights since you got your cardio in this morning.

“This is a nice surprise.” He says kissing you on the cheek. He makes you stand in front of him to get a good look at you. “Sexy outfit.” Your cheeks flush. “Want something to eat? I was just making dinner.”

“I don’t want to impose, love.”

“S’not an imposition.” He smiles. “ I always make extra.” You walk over to the stove to see what he’s making. “Nothing special, just roasted chickpeas to top my salad.”

“It smells delicious. I’ll have a little.”

“Good, go sit.” He makes a plate for you, and sits down at the table with you. “So, what do I owe this honor on a school night?” You giggle.

“Well, I got a call from my friend Kate today.”

“The one you miss who’s married?”

“Correct.” He nods. “Her and Kevin, her husband, are coming into town this weekend, and she wanted to know if we’d have dinner with them.”

“We huh?”

“Mhm.”

“I didn’t even have a chance to tell her about you. Rachel told her I was seeing someone.”

“What night?”

“Friday.” He takes out his phone and checks his calendar. “Um, yeah that works. I have to work late that night, so if they’re okay with an eight o’clock dinner…”

“That would work well I think. I’m sure they’ll hit traffic. The place we’re going is kind of swanky, so you may want to bring a change of dress clothes with you to work.”

“Alright.”

“Is this okay with you? If you don’t feel comfortable-“ He puts a hand over yours.

“I would love nothing more than to meet more of your friends. Plus, she seems important to you.” He shrugs.

“I have another question?”

“Shoot.”

“So, we’re together.”

“Correct.”

“And typically, when two people make things official, it’s customary for them to change their status online, to let others know they are no longer available.”

“Are you asking me if it’s okay to change your Facebook status?” You smile nervously and he starts laughing. “Go ahead, baby. I mean, s’not like you can tag me in it, so it’ll just say you’re in a relationship.”

“I know, it seems silly. But now that Kate knows, and Sarah and Rachel…I mean, god I haven’t even told my mom.” He furrows his eyebrows at you.

“So wait to change then.” He takes his phone out. He goes into Instagram, and you get a ping on your phone. “style2294 has requested to follow you?” You smile at him.

“That’s my private Instagram. Told ya it wasn’t really under my name.”

“Very cryptic that you left it as style and not styles. Is that your birthday?” You ask, accepting the request, and follow him back. He accepts.

“Yup.”

“That’s around my half birthday.”

“Wait, don’t tell me.” He thinks for a moment. “August?”

“Bingo.”

“What’s the date?”

“The fourth, ’95.”

“So you like just turned twenty-four only a couple months ago. You young thing.” He teases.

“Oh stop, you’re literally a year and half older than me.” You go to scroll through his pictures, but he stops you.

“Wait to do that until we’re not together, please, some of those pictures are old, and embarrassing.”

“Alright.” You stop to think about your own photos. “I have some embarrassing ones too.”

“I’ll bet.”

“So, Friday, you’re sure?”

“Positive.” He takes both of your empty plates and places them in the sink. “Now then, come here so I can kiss ya.”

You go over to him, and he holds you in his arms, and kisses your cheecks, nose, forehead, and jawline. His hands move down to your bum, and you jump back with a squeak.

“Still got my period.” He gives you a funny look.

“So that means I can’t squeeze that glorious-“ You put your hand over his mouth.

“Please, I’m begging, don’t finish that sentence.” You say looking up at him with big eyes. He smirks at you. “What?”

“Lil horny are we?”

“Harry!”

“You are, aren’t you?”

“It’s not funny!”

“I’m not laughing!”

“Your smile says it all.” You cross your arms over your tender breasts. “It’s the hormones.”

“Sure it is. How were your cramps today?”

“Much better. What you saw yesterday was an anomaly.” You look down at your watch. “I should probably head home now.”

“I’m going to be really busy this week. With the weather still nice, and the leaves just turning, I’ve racked up some freelance stuff. I don’t want you to think I’m ignorin’ ya or anything.” You give me a hug and rest your head on his chest.

“Thank you for letting me know.” You kiss him on the cheek. As you’re about to break the hug he pulls you in, and kisses you on the mouth.

“Didn’t think I’d let ya leave with just a peck on the cheek?”

“What was I thinking?” You kiss him again. “Thanks for dinner.” You say on your way out.

Your period ends Thursday, thank god. Kate texts you saying that eight is perfectly fine for dinner Friday. You and Niall find yourself chatting before you leave for work Friday.

“You never told me how the movie with Sarah went.”

“We never made it to the movie.” He winks at you.

“You dirty dog.” You tease.

“So, tonight is your big double date?”

“Yup, I gotta go home and change.”

“Where are you guys going again? That Italian place?”

“Yeah, it’s really nice. Kate and I used to save up our money once a month to go there when we were in college.”

“Well, I hope it all goes smoothly. I know Harry will be there, but if you need anything, I’m there for you.”

“Thank you, I appreciate that. I’m seeing Sarah and Rachel with Kate and Kevin tomorrow.”

“Yeah, Sarah told me. I’m seeing her tonight.”

“Dirty, dirty dog.”

You go home, and freshen up. You pull out a red dress. It has a high neckline, but hugs tight around your thighs, accentuating your bum. You know Harry will love it, and Kate won’t be able to say anything because your chest is covered. The back is open, so you opt to not wear a bra. Instead you just tape yourself up. The material is thick enough that you can’t see your piercings through it. You curl your hair and brush it out to create your waves. You put on some red strappy heels, and uber to the restaurant. You want to be able to leave with Harry in his car later.

Kate and Kevin are standing in the lobby of the restaurant, it’s ten of eight. You two smile at each other and take each other in for a big hug. You give Kevin a much smaller embrace.

“You look amazing!” Kate beams at you. “That gym membership is doing wonders for you.”

“The best part is my company pays for it. I think laying off the meat has helped too. I mostly am forced to eat fruit and veggies.” You hear Kevin scoff.

“I still can’t believe you’re a vegetarian. It’s like you crossed over to the darkside.” You flip him off, and he rolls his eyes.

“Harry’s a vegan, and I don’t want you making fun of him.”

“What the hell is he supposed to eat here then?”

“He’ll get some gluten free pasta and a salad or something.” You shrug.

“Where is he anyways?” Kate asks.

“It’s only eight now. He said he might run late, he had a really busy work week.”

“What does he do?” Kevin asks.

“He’s a photographer, a highly sought after one at that.” The two look at each other. “He works for a magazine, and does some freelancing on the side.” You take your phone out to show them his professional Instagram.

“Wow, these are actually really good.” Kate says.

“Don’t sound so surprised. Niall wouldn’t have set me up with some idiot.”

“Oh, you two met on a blind date?” Kevin asks. “Kate didn’t tell me the story.”

“That’s because she didn’t tell me the story.”

“Well, you can both hear it soon, when he gets here.”

“I hope it is soon, I don’t want them to give our table up.” Kate says harshly.

You feel a gust of wind, and turn around. Suddenly everything feels like slow motion. Harry walks in with damp hair, accentuating his natural curls. He’s wearing a light blue suit and a white dress shirt. He has brown dress shoes on. He looks heavenly.

“That’s him.” You say to Kate before walking over to greet him. He takes you in his arms, and kisses the top of your head.

“So sorry I’m wait, love, I had to have a shower. I was rolling in dirt all day.” He looks over at Kate and Kevin whose mouths are hanging open. “Hi, I’m Harry.” He sticks his hand out and they each take a turn shaking it. They both furrow their brows at his nails. He must have gotten them done this week because they were now a pastel pink and blue. His forefinger and middle finger were both pink on one hand and the rest blue. The opposite hand had the same, but opposite. He notices them notice. “Right, shall we?”

You all go to the hostess, and she seats you. Harry pulls your chair out for you, and helps you in. He takes his suit jacket off, and puts it over the chair. Kevin and Kate just sit down. You put your hand on Harry’s leg and give him a gentle squeeze.

“It’s great to meet you, Harry.” Kate finally says.

“Likewise.” A waiter comes over before anything else can be said.

“Hi folks, I’m Matt, and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start you all off with a drink?”

“Vodka tonic for me please.” You say.

“Lime?”

“Yes, please.”

“I’ll have a glass of pinot noir.” Kate says. You frown for a second. She’s drinking, which means she’s still not pregnant.

“I’ll have a corona.” Kevin says.

“I’ll, um, have a gin and tonic.” Harry says.

“Perfect, be back with those in a few.”

Harry squints at the menu trying to see what he can actually eat. Another server brings over some bread and butter, and fills the water glasses. Harry leans into you.

“You look lovely, by the way.” You giggle.

“Thank you.”

“What are you going to eat?”

“Not sure yet. Maybe some ravioli?”

“So, Harry, (y/n), tells us you’re a vegan?” Kevin asks.

“Um, yeah.”

“If we had known we could have gone somewhere else.” Kate says, trying to make you look bad.

“It’s really no problem. There’s actually a lot I can have. They have zucchini noodles it seems. I’ll probably have that.”

“Don’t you feel hungry all the time without the protein?” Kevin asks.

“Not really, I eat a lot of nuts and beans.”

The waiter comes over with the drinks. He notices Harry’s nails.

“Oh, sir, I don’t mean to sound weird, but I love your nails.”

“Oh, thanks mate.” Harry smiles up at the young boy.

“So, um, did we have a chance to look over the menu?” Everyone nods. “Great, miss?” He nods to you.

“Can I please have the cheese ravioli, and can I have a side of whatever today’s vegetable is?”

“Of course. Sir?”

“I’ll have these zoodles with the roasted vegetables on top. No sauce, please.”

Kevin orders steak tips of course, which nearly makes you gag. Kate orders the raviolis as well. The two of them dig into the bread, and you also have a piece.

“Since the waiter brought it up, can I ask why you paint your nails?” Kevin asks. You want to kick him under the table, but glare at him instead.

“Just something I do for fun.” Harry shrugs. “I’m sure as an oral surgeon, you’re probably not allowed to have yours painted.”

“Even if I could, I wouldn’t. It’s a little girly.”

“Kevin.” You say, warning.

“S’alright.” Harry says. “I know it looks a little weird. But, I don’t necessarily think it’s girly. I like having clean nails. Why should women be the only people allowed to have a manicure?” He sips his drink.

“You can get a manicure without getting your nails painted.” Kate interjects.

“What’s the fun in that?” Kate looks down at his hands.

“The rings are nice.” She says.

“Thanks.”

“Is that an anchor on your wrist?” Kevin asks.

“Yup.” Harry rolls his sleeve a bit so they can better see it. “Can’t remember when exactly I got it, but it was a while ago.” Kate sees the cross on his hand.

“(y/n) is Jewish, you know?” Harry raises an eyebrow at her, then looks at you. “We all are, that’s how we became friends at school.”

“I didn’t know that.” He says looking at you, and smiles. “Guess the mezuzah in your front hall makes more sense now.”

“You didn’t tell him?”

“It didn’t come up, Kate.”

“Alright, so, how exactly did you two meet?” Kevin interjects.

“We have a mutual friend that set us up.” Harry rests a hand on your thigh.

“Niall, right?” Kate asks. “He came to our wedding with (y/n).”

“Yup, Niall. He and I were mates in school, and he works with (y/n), obviously.”

“What did you do for a first date?” Kevin asks.

“We went to dinner at that tapas place.” You say, smiling at the memory. “And then after that we just kept seeing each other.” You lean close to him.

The food runner brings all of your plates over. You stare at the steak tips. They smell heavenly, but as soon as you see the juices drip down Kevin’s knife, you find yourself standing up.

“You alright?” Harry asks, slightly standing.

“Yeah, just, um, excuse me, I need to use the ladies room.”

“I’ll go with you.” Kate says standing up.

You two rush to the bathroom, and you splash a little cold water on your face.

“What’s wrong?” She rubs your now clammy back.

“Nothing, I thought I was going to puke. He had to order steak tips?”

“I thought you weren’t an ethical vegetarian.”

“I’m not, Kate, but jesus, I can’t help being absolutely disgusted.”

“Is this because Jake ate steak on your first date? Is it triggering?”

“No! You mentioning his fucking name is triggering.” You turn to face her. “You both could also stop grilling Harry so much. He’s really sweet and you both are judging him. Nail polish on men is becoming more and more popular, it’s really not that fucking weird.” She sighs.

“You’re right, we’ve been rude. I’ll settle down a little. Just please come back and try not to look at his food.”

While you both are in the bathroom, Harry and Kevin wait to eat.

“I hope she’s alright.” Harry keeps his eyes locked on the direction you ran in.

“She’s fine. So, how long have you two been seeing each other?”

“It’s been a month this weekend, actually.”

“I think that’s the longest she’s ever seen someone.” He laughs. “She was pretty wild in college.”

“Who wasn’t?” Harry shrugs off the statement, taking a sip of his drink. He sighs in relief when he sees you walking back to the table, and stands up. Kevin stays seated. “Alright?” He says sitting back down as you do.

“Yeah, just needed to powder my nose.” You keep your eyes locked on your food. Everyone digs in to their own.

“(y/n), I was thinking we could all go back to your place tonight after dinner.” Kate says. “That way we can keep getting to know each other.” She says with a smile.

“Um, sure, we could do that.” You look up at Harry who is giving Kate a funny look. “Does that work for you?”

“Sure does.” He smiles at you.

The waiter comes over and asks if anyone wants dessert, you all say no, and he leaves the check. Harry and Kevin reach for it at the same time.

“Your money’s no good here.” Kevin says. “We asked you both here.” You guess all men have this rule.

“I insist, at least let me split it with you.”

“Sure, we can split it.” They each put their credit cards in, and the wait come by and grabs it. He brings it back in no time, they both sign the slips. Harry leaves some extra cash on the table.

“Where’d you park, love?” He asks putting his jacket on.

“Oh, I didn’t drive here, I took an uber. I figured I’d just leave with you.” You shrug. He smiles and kisses you on the cheek. “Right, so we’ll just meet you guys at her place?”

“Sounds good, see you soon.” Kate says.

You and Harry don’t say much on the car ride to your place. Once you’re inside, you quickly tidy up. He sighs.

“What?” You ask, as you run around.

“Kinda rude to invite herself here, don’t you think?”

“That’s Kate.” You pull up a playlist on your Spotify, and connect it to your Bluetooth. “It’s a late 2000s playlist, should help lighten the mood.” You say, taking your heels off. “They won’t stay long anyways.”

“Kevin is, interesting.”

“He used to be more fun too.”

“He mentioned you used to be wild.” Harry puts his hands on your waist. His touch burns into you. “This is a really nice dress.”

“Thank you, and he’s just talking smack. I did used to party probably a little too much. But who doesn’t when they’re in college?”

“That’s what I said.” The buzzer goes off, and you buzz them in.

“Harry, could you open that bottle of wine for me please?” You ask pointing to the one in the kitchen, as you go to open the door.

“I love what you’ve done with the place.” Kate beams at you. “You really should be an interior decorator.”

“Oh stop, you know my Nannie picked everything out.”

“Nannie?” Harry asks.

“My grandmother, I call her Nannie.” You say giving him a peck on the cheek. “You guys want some wine?” You take out four glasses.

“Yes, please.” Kate says. You pour the wine into the glasses.

Kate and Kevin sit on the couch. Harry sits in the large chair adjacent to the couch, and you sit on the arm rest of the chair. He takes his arm, and moves you to sit on his lap. You giggle, and make yourself comfortable.

“So, how did you all meet?” Harry asks.

“Oh god, well (y/n) and I met at an activities fair. We both were looking for a film club.” Kate says. “I think you and Rachel were roommates freshman year right?”

“Yup. Then we met Sarah at that Jewish students meeting, that school had a club for everything. You and I roomed together sophomore year.”

“Awe that was such a good year. Then the four of us lived together our last two years. We met Kev our junior year.”

“And when did you two start dating?”

“Mid-way through our senior year.” She squeezes his hand. Kevin smiles at Kate.

“Yup, and then I stole her away.”

“That’s an understatement.” You say, sipping your wine.

“Excuse me?” Kevin says.

“Nothing, we just barely saw Kate after. You two stopped hanging out with us.” You shrug.

“We were busy.” Kevin says with a smirk.

“Kev, please, don’t flatter yourself.” Kate says, teasing. “You know we had a lot of classes together second semester, we were studying together a lot.”

“You practically moved out of our apartment.” Harry taps his hand on your thigh to the beat of the song playing, and you lean back further into him.

“I’m surprised you didn’t notice, with how little you slept there.” You shoot daggers at her. “And at least I was staying with the same person every night, not just throwing it around for anyone who would take it.” She takes a large sip of her wine.

“That’s because you got all of that out of your system your freshman year, remember?”

“I do remember, I remember you saying how jealous you were of me.”

“Little did I know there wasn’t much to be jealous of. You’re still bitter that Eric stopped seeing you because he wanted to see me.” You take an even bigger sip of your wine.

“Really? You’re bringing up Eric?”

“You started it.”

“Well, at least I never got an STD!” You stand up and so does Kate. The guys just look at the two of you.

“Kate! For the last time, I did not get scabies from sleeping with someone!”

“Oh no? Then you how else do you get scabies?”

“I don’t know, but I didn’t sleep with any dirty guys.”

“Are you sure? Sophomore year you fucked anything with a dick! And you wanna know why we stopped hanging out with the three of you that last year? I told Kev how you felt about him, and he didn’t want to be around you anymore.”

“How I felt about him?” You point at Kevin. “I didn’t have feelings for Kevin, fuck Kevin.”

“Yes you did, you told Sarah that you wanted to fuck him, and you knew I liked him!”

“Well good fucking thing you married him, Kate! And I never told Sarah that, I never wanted to fuck your fucking boyfriend.”

“Then why would she have told me you did?”

“She was probably talking about Kevin from the track team. Did she tell you when she was drunk? She probably got confused. And just like always, instead of you just talking to me about an issue, you let it blow up for no fucking reason.”

“What do you mean like always?”

“You always make mountains out of mole hills, and you always think you know better than everyone else. Guess what, just because you’re married doesn’t make you any better than me.”

“There it is, you’re jealous that I’m living the life that you want.”

“What is there to be jealous of? You never have any fun, Kevin never fucking lets you go out!”

“Stop it.”

“You’re afraid of him, right? You’re afraid he’ll leave you? Personally, I think you could’ve done a lot better than him, but you needed the security right? You’re lonely, and you get mad at us for actually having lives. I didn’t tell you to run off with him, and buy a big fucking house. No one had a gun to your head, you made your choices.”

“Would you shut up!? You’re making me sound like I’m this idiot that can’t make a life for myself. Kevin and I love each other, and you’re just jealous of that because you can’t stand to see a married couple happy.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Ever since your parents separated you haven’t been able to stand the thought of marriage! I think you’re mad at yourself, you’re a slut, just like your mom!” You’re about to raise your hand to Kate, but Harry grabs your wrist.

“Alright”, he turns the music off. “I think that’s about enough of that.”

“Who are you?” She says to him.

“Kate, he’s right, you went too far.” Kevin says standing up.

“I won’t sit here and listen to you talk to my girlfriend like that.”

“Girlfriend? You two just started seeing each other!” She looks at you. “You said you were going to take it slow this time.”

“I did, we are!”

“Then how is he already your boyfriend, Jesus Christ, you are so fucking stupid! You trust people way too easily.” She shakes her head at you. Your blood is boiling, and you go to lunge at her, but Harry wraps his arms around you and holds you back. “Go ahead, let her hit me, it’s what she wants.”

“I think it’s time for you both to leave.” Harry says, still holding onto your shaking body. You steady your breathing, and tap his hands.

“You know something Kate, I know what you’re really mad about.” You smirk.

“What’s that?”

“You’re not actually angry with me, you’re angry at the fact that you married a guy that hasn’t been able to make you orgasm since you met.”

“Woah, what?” Kevin interjects. Kate’s mouth falls open.

“Speechless? That’s a first.”

You don’t register what’s happening until you feel Kate’s hand connect with your cheek. Harry steps in front of you.

“You need to get the fuck out now.” He says to her with dark eyes. You’re holding you’re stinging cheek.

“Have fun with your fru fru boyfriend, and his photos and his painted nails. Let’s see how long this one lasts.”

You don’t say anything, Harry follows them out. He comes back to you, tears streaming down your cheeks. You can barely breathe, your mascara starts to sting your eyes, and you can feel your cheek swelling. Harry crosses the room, he goes to touch you, but you flinch away from him.

“I’m so sorry all that happened. I should have interjected sooner, but it just seemed like you two needed to get something out.”

“It’s not your fault.” You say with a crack in your voice. “She’s just a bitch, and I should have stopped talking to her a long fucking time ago.” You press your fingers slowly to your cheek. “Fuck.”

“Let me get you some ice, go sit on the couch.” You do as he says. He pulls some ice out of your freezer and puts it in a baggy, then wraps it in a towel. He sits next you, and lightly dabs your face.

“Thanks.” You sniffle.

“She’s not worth your tears, love.” He takes his thumb and wipes just under your good eye. You lean into his touch.

“Baby?”

“Mm?”

“Will you please take me to bed?” He smiles and nods.

He scoops you up in his arms, and carries you to your room. He gently sets you down on the bed. He goes over to your bureau, and pulls out a t-shirt and shorts for you.

“I’m just gonna go down to my car. I, uh, packed an overnight bag just in case.” You nod.

You go into the bathroom, and wash your face, your cheek is still sore, but it shouldn’t leave a mark. You didn’t want anyone thinking Harry hit you. You change, and grab your phone. You sit down at your desk, and you call Rachel, knowing Sarah is with Niall.

“Hey girl.” She says to you.

“Kate fucking slapped me.”

“What?!”

“That bitch fucking slapped me!” Harry walks into your room, and starts to change in front of you. You can’t help but watch while you talk to your friend.

“Why? What happened?”

“She started a fight with me…I know I added fuel the fire, but she called myself and my mom a whore, so I blurted out that Kevin can’t fuck her right, and she slapped me.”

“Jesus, and she did this in front of Harry?”

“Of course she did!”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it just stings a little, she slapped me with one of her rings on.”

“Well, you know how she likes it rough.” You and Rachel burst out laughing.

“Oh yeah, she a freak.” You stifle your laughter, as Harry gives you a very confused look. He looks heavenly in his grey sweat pants.

“So, I’m assuming we’re not all hanging out tomorrow?”

“I’m not seeing her again.”

“Alright, maybe Sarah and I could come by to see you then. You know Kate is going to twist this whole thing around. I’m glad you called to tell me first.”

“Me too. It’s sad how much she’s changed.”

“I think if she just left Kevin she would be so much happier. They’re not a good match.”

“We tried to tell her, Rach.”

“But mother knows best.” Rachel groans. “Is Harry still with you?”

“Mhm.”

“Alright, then go be with your man. I’ll text you tomorrow to see when we should come by. Probably in the afternoon. Sarah is with your friend again tonight.”

“Oh, I know. And sounds good, talk to you tomorrow.” You hang up the phone, and look at the man sitting at the edge of the bed.

“What was so funny?”

“Nothing, Rachel just reminded me of something that Kate likes.” You shrug. You stand up and walk over to him until you’re standing between his legs.

“Do you wanna just go to bed? I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“Yeah, would you cuddle me?”

“Do you even need to ask?”

You both get cozy under the covers, and he spoons you nice and close to him. You wiggle your bum against him a couple of time, and he adjusts himself.

“If you keep moving against me like that, we’re going to have a problem.” He says into your ear. He starts laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I just can’t believe she slapped you.” You start laughing with him.

“She’s an idiot.” He hugs you closer to him, and nestles in your hair. You both slowly drift off into sleep.

Early that morning, you hear your name being called by a familiar voice. Harry jolts awake and you look at each other.

“How many friends of yours have a key to this apartment?” He asks getting up.

“Too many.” You hide under the covers. “Make her go away.” He gets up, and leaves the room.

Kate looks much different from last night. She’s in sweats, her hair in a messy bun, and no makeup. She looks up at Harry. Her eyes are swollen and red, probably from crying. He crosses his arms when he looks back at her.

“I really don’t think she wants to see you.”

“I just need to talk with her privately. I need to apologize, I can’t lose her.”

“Seems like you lost her a long time ago.” She sighs and stands up. She starts to walk to toward your room, but he stands in her way.

“Move.”

“No.”

“You don’t get to decide who she speaks to.”

“You’re right, but she did ask me to make you leave. And you should probably leave that key on the counter on your way out.” Kate brushes past Harry, and she bursts into your room. She closes the door quickly behind him and she locks it.

“Harry!”

“She locked the door!” He yells. You get out of bed, and stand with your arms crossed.

“I have some explaining to do. I acted like a psycho last night.” You roll your eyes at her. “I suppose I was just taking all of my frustrations out on you.”

“Like you always do. I can’t be your punching bag.”

“I know that. I’m so sorry. Kevin and I stopped trying to get pregnant, and I haven’t wanted him to touch me. I may have lied about him not being okay with me coming to visit you guys.”

“What do you mean?” You both sit on the bed.

“Well, I made it all up. The truth was, it hurt to hang out. I was jealous of your lives. My parents pressured me into staying with him, and I stupidly listened. I love him, I do, but there’s no passion. Not like there was. We’re, um, going to separate for a while.” She chokes back a few tears. “I don’t expect you to feel bad for me, because honestly I deserve everything bad that has happened to me.”

“You don’t deserve to be unhappy, Kate.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve been having an affair for the last month. I told Kevin last night.”

“Oh my god, with who?”

“One of his colleagues.” She says looking down. “I was always attracted to him, and one night we met up and just fucked, all night. It was incredible. He, um, likes the same things that I do.” Her cheeks grow red.

“Where are you gonna go?”

“Kev’s gonna sublet an apartment closer to the hospital so I can stay in the house. At least until we figure everything out. We’re probably going to get divorced.”

“What did he say when you told him about the affair?”

“Well, he asked why I would do that. And he asked how he could better satisfy me, and I told him what I was into, and he said he just didn’t feel comfortable with it, and I told him I knew that. He knows it was just a sex thing. We’re both still so young, and we don’t want to waste anymore of each other’s time.”

“What will you do?”

“Well, I’m almost done with my master’s degree, and once I have that I’ll start making more money so I’ll be able to move out. He said once I’m a month into my raise we’ll put the house on the market.”

“You figured all of this out last night?”

“Yeah, we were up all night talking. God, my parents are going to be pissed.”

“It’s not their life, Kate.”

“I know. Listen, I am so sorry I said that stuff about your mom, I never should have gone there.”

“I’m not going to say it’s okay, because it’s not.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to move on from this?”

“You assaulted me.”

“I really shouldn’t drink anymore. I’m sorry.”

“I’m going to need some time. I know I said some hurtful things to you too.”

“I told Rachel and Sarah what happened in a group text.”

“I called Rachel last night.”

“I cancelled our plans today. Kev is waiting in the car downstairs, I just wanted the chance to explain.”

“I appreciate you being honest.” You reach out and hug her. “I need some time to cool down from all this.”

“Okay.” She breaks your hug and stands up. “When will we talk next?”

“When I feel ready, I’ll call.” She nods. “Kate, I still care a lot about you, and I want to be there for you. But…”

“I made this mess, it’s time I cleaned it up.” She opens the door. Harry is leaning against the hall closet. “Thanks warden.” She says to him. She looks back at you, and then to him. “Treat her right, she’s special.” Kate leaves the apartment, and leaves the key on the counter like Harry said. Harry sits on the bed next to you.

“Good talk?”

“Sort of. Her and Kevin are going to separate. She’s been having an affair with another doctor for over a month.”

“I heard a little, why exactly did she stray from Kevin?”

“Kate, how do I put this, she likes to be a little rough when she has sex.”

“She likes to be rough, or she likes when someone is rough with her?”

“The second one. We all know about it, and promised not to say anything. At first she said she was just into like being tied up, you know little fantasies, but she’s into some really dark shit. Not to kink shame.” You say in defense. “People like what they like.”

“Define dark shit.”

“God, don’t make me say it.” You say a little embarrassed.

“What is it, a daddy kink?”

“Yeah, but like it’s more than that. She likes when a guy is like really dominant, like scary dominant. Like one time she came back from hooking up with this guy, and she showed us her butt and it was beat red, like it left this giant bruise. I guess he spanked her like ten times in a row or something. And then she told us that he like choked her and would spit in her mouth.” It sends a shiver up your spine. “Gross.”

“And Kevin wasn’t willing to do any of that with her?”

“Not really. He was scared of hurting her, which I completely understand. Ugh, this whole conversation has turned my stomach. Could you imagine spitting your own come into someone’s mouth?”

“Wait what?” He bursts out laughing.

“Some guy came inside of her, went down on her, licked it up, and spit it into her mouth and made her swallow it.”

“And she liked that?”

“Loved it!” You start laughing. “I really shouldn’t laugh, it’s not her fault she’s into that sorta thing. She just discovered it.”

“At first I thought you were just grossed out at like regular spitting, but I can see how that would gross you out. Even I wouldn’t do that.”

“What are you saying exactly?”

“Regular spit isn’t gross, you’re already swapping spit as it is.” He shrugs. You put a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m only going to say this once. Please, do not ever spit into my mouth.” He chuckles.

“You got it.” Your phone starts to buzz, it’s Sarah.

“(y/n), are you okay????”

“Yeah, Sarah, I’m fine.”

“I felt so bad, Rachel told me everything and I didn’t get Kate’s texts until a little while ago. Do you want us to come over?”

“No, I think I’d like to just hang out with Harry today. I’ve had my fill of girl time, but I’ll check in with you guys tomorrow.”

“Alright, sweetie. Talk soon.” You hang up, and fling your back on the bed and groan.

“I just want to turn my brain off!” You look at him, he’s smiling at you. “What?”

“You wanna spend the day with Harry huh?”

“Sorry, do you have other things you need to do?” You say apologetically.

“Nope, I just thought it was sweet.” He climbs on top of you, and you wrap your legs around him. “Let me distract you for a little while.” He says into your neck, and he starts to kiss you slowly.

“I really should take a shower.” He sighs, and gets off of you. You get up, and look at him confused. “Well?”

“Well what?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you going to join me?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I wanna be close with you.”

“You realize I’ll be naked, and you haven’t seen me yet.”

“But I’ve felt you. And who says I would even look?” You say playfully. “C’mon, come shower with me.”

He doesn’t hesitate, and gets up, following you into the bathroom.

#harry styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles fic #harry styles x reader #harry styles y/n #harry styles y/n fic #harry styles fluff #harry styles fluff fic #take it slow #photographer!harry

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digitallykaro · 3 years ago

Text

WHY ONLINE BUSINESS IS A GOOD TO GO OPTION?

Have you ever invested in an online business before? Are you thinking of starting a new business using online platform? Are you perplexed in opting one of the best one between the online form and traditional form of business startup?

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The only thing that you have to focus on is marketing and advertising on level that it increases the sales of the company and acquire new customers. Your only cost will be expended in the marketing and advertising.

4. Blogging:

You can create your own site and start this business without spending a single penny. You might think that blogging is all about writing, but its not so. Writing is just a part of blogging. You can post photos, videos, repost links, articles, posts and many other things, to start your own blog. This one of the best options nowadays to start a new business.

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Is there a day when you not open YouTube for searching any random video? Obviously not. We are bound to these apps now in our day-to-day life. You can billions on YouTube if you get a good reach of audience by your content. You can utilize any of our talent on this platform.

You just need to follow a proven strategy for maximizing views of multiple videos on a regular basis. You have to provide engaging and useful content to the targeted audience. It will help in building large enough followers and companies will start offering you payment for promoting their products or mention their services in your videos.

If you got yourself connected to any of these business ideas then without having any second thought just give it a chance. There is nothing worth having without taking risks in your life. These business ideas will not leave you bankrupt and under debt. It just needs your talent, consistent effort and determination. It is never too late to give your ideas wings to fly. I assure, you won’t fail.

WEBSITE - Digitally Karo

Email - [email protected]

Contact No.- +91 907 324 1473

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twiddlebirdlet · 4 years ago

Note

That person who leaked the possibility of Chris private IG if that’s his was the same person who wouldn’t stop posting ask about how we might get pictures later today

A selection of more anons I’ve received, but not all:

“The fact that the insta the anon was talking about follows the public profiles of people that Chris and been “linked” to shows that it’s probably fake. Not to mention there is a twitter and insta with the name of his old Facebook”

“I also think it’s fake... for example remember when people found out that his public one was originally ********3030? Now there are multiple profiles on insta with that name. Literally anyone can grab on to something of the past of his made public and roll with it. People troll and cause drama all the time. Also if his friends don’t follow it like who are the 23 followers. Just so weird, they can’t even view it if they don’t follow and it’s private. “

“Do you think that IG page is really his or you think it’s could be some random person account “

“That person/anonymous on the other blog was nuts like the definition of a troll posting cryptic things about private parties, implying photos will be dropped, he wasn’t alone at home. Like weird things if you were close would only know and why would you vindictively post that. Aka trolling. “

“Do you believe that insta is really Chris?”

“But none of the usual suspects and even family follow that account so it doesn't make any sense. The name was also hijacked on Twitter a long time ago where a fan was pretending to be him. “

“He already has a twitter acct, a FB private acct, an instagram public acct. Adding a private instagram acct to the mix seems too much work for someone that is not that into SM and technology.”

“I'm really going to need a little more than anons telling me it's real without even a tiny bit of proof other than me supposedly having to take their word for it.”

“So all of his BFFs and family members don't follow the account. That even includes Guillermo. And supposedly a bunch of people knew it was him and didn't bother taking screencaps or posting about it? This fandom isn't exactly known for keeping things private on his behalf.”

“I'm not proud but years ago I made a fake insta using the name of a friend of a famous sportman in my country. Like that, it was stupid I know. But I made a success of add his friends, his girlfriend who were in private, they accepted my demand. I deleted immediately. That this private ig follows Val, his sister, the Canadian doesn't mean it's really his. Maybe it's but his sister could accept it without thinking it's not him. “

“That supposed IG leak today, agree that it looks like trolling. One, the issue with the reuse of the name associated with the previously hacked private FB (when did that happen? 2010? Later? Plenty of time for him to pick new mom de crime.) Two, the followers to following was something like 23 to 94. If it actually belonged to him, I would think the ratio would be 1:1, as all his followed accounts would follow back. Third, the blog where it was anon’ed has been troll city of late.”

“"That insta is real"- going to need a little more than that to believe it lol”

“Could it be possible that someone is trolling with that insta account? For starters, it has only like 23 followers. And following women who have been discussed in fandom recently. Plus, he follows then but they don't even follow him back? It doesn't add up. “

“I find it too much of a coincidence that on the same day Seb is seen with a young gf that rumors circulate of Chris being seen with a young gf - what's going on here? And why would Chris have an IG under his old FB name? “

“That anon who posted the supposed ig promised pictures by the end of the day. Where are these pictures? 😂”

********************

I agree with most of the anons here, in that the whole thing is dubious as hell, and it’s a TROLL.

1) Why would he name the account the same as his old Facebook one that was hacked and exposed? That’s stupid. It’s way easy to come up with a unique name to use if you’re just going to ghost with it.

2) Why would he make it public if it’s his ghost account? That’s also just dumb. If it’s going to sneak around and not be discovered, making it private is a no-brainer. It’s less likely to be exposed that way.

Finally, many of us tumblr blogs got hit with the same anon that was declaring it was his private IG, even though most of his friends were NOT following it (and they never could give me the names of any that were - I checked, and none of his known friends were following it), and also saying he had a “sugar baby” girlfriend, etc.

Again, no evidence of ANY of that. The whole thing looks like a lot of trolling from what I’ve seen so far.

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nightbloomsresorthotel · 4 years ago

Text

Desert Rose Metaphysical: Incense, Tarot, and Crystals!

A story about a skeptical cashier who just wants to eat her lunch and a delivery person who claims to have lost their head, with a dash of magic and some ASL!

Genre: Fantasy, Word Count: 1,571. Enjoy Reading!

“Okay, so I have three sage bundles, 2 packs of palo santo, and a seven day candle. 15.37,” Mara told the blue haired teen. She paid with card and left, leaving the store empty save for Mara. Her customer service smile quickly disappeared, replaced by a yawn. Finally, she was alone, blessedly alone for 45 minutes. Enough time to scroll through her apps a bit before ordering lunch.

All the witches these days had colorful hair. This month’s trend seemed to be some variation of blue. She wondered what platform it was they gathered on, how they decided what color to dye their hair that week. Every time she searched “witch”, “witchcraft”, “spells” on Instagram or Facebook, she never saw a customer she recognized. How many witches in one city could there be? She desperately wanted to find whatever subreddit it was they all posted on.

She took a large breath, breathing in all the smells that culminated in the shop, filled her lungs with the aroma. She loved the smell of incense burning, loved that she came home with the soft smoke of it wafting off of her. But magic? Spells? Maaaybe she could get behind energy and vibrations in rose quartz crystal, but chanting to the air or the moon wasn’t going to pay the bills, or make someone love you more, or help your rheumatoid arthritis. Then again, she believed in a floating man up in the sky, so who was she to judge, really?

Mara’s thumb wandered over the FoodPals app, and she ended up ordering a Teryaki bowl, even though she had perfectly good leftovers in the backroom. She flipped the sign on the door and locked it. With not much else to do she walked around, tidying up bottles of rosemary oil, making sure the malachite and jade hadn’t been mixed up again in the rock box. It was never really untidy in here— business was alright, but it was February. Only candles were flying off the shelves, probably for all the love ritual baths that everyone was taking. The shop saw a lot of Aphrodite patrons this month.

The tea section was her second favorite, after the incense and oils. Last payday she treated herself to the “DREAMER” tea, made with mugwort and chamomile and a host of fancy herbs she’d never had in tea before. Just a little treat- it was one of the more expensive products in the store, and the little voice in her head was singing treat yourself. Supposedly, it would help the drinker sleep. She did feel tired while sipping it, but it was mainly chamomile. A simple cup of tea wasn’t enough to convince her yet.

She had her nose in a loose leaf tin labeled “HEART MENDER” when a knock on the glass spooked her. Oh right, her delivery. She opened to door and came face to face with a bright purple motorcycle helmet. The person wearing it held up a white take out bag.

“Oh, you’re from FoodPals?” Mara asked.

The helmet nodded. In the other hand, they held a portable credit card terminal. They lightly nudged it towards Mara. Oh, that’s right. She didn’t want to pay on the app.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry— I left my card in the back. Come on in, I’ll go get it,” she said.

The helmet looked around, but said nothing.

“Can you see under there? You can take your helmet off, if you want.”

But they just shook their head and Mara began to wonder if locking herself in with a delivery person, a stranger, wasn’t a great idea. It was probably, fine right? All they were holding was the bag and terminal.

The helmet seemed to be staring at Mara’s chest. They set the bag and terminal on the counter, and pointed to her pin that read I know ASL. How Can I Help?

“You know ASL?” they asked in sign.

Oh! That was a relief. “Yes,” she signed back, “I do. Is this better?”

“I can hear you,” they said, and Mara saw that their nails were also bright purple. Matchy matchy. “But I have to sign. Go ahead and get your card, now that I’m here, I have a question?” Mara assumed this was the correct inflection— the delivery person seemed to be substituting a tilt of the head for the usual raised eyebrows that indicated a “questioning” tone. “If you don’t mind answering on your lunch. I’d really appreciate it.”

“Sure,” she shrugged, answering back with her voice. She didn’t really want to be working on her lunch, but if it was just one question… this person couldn’t linger long. It looked like they had more deliveries on the back of their bike. Mara came back quickly with her card, swiped for her meal, and dug in behind the counter, opening up each styrofoam tub with a little sigh. It smelled delicious. She took a large gulp of her coke before giving her attention back to the delivery person.

“So,” she said between bites, “What’s your question? Actually, can I ask why you won’t take off your helmet? I’d be able to understand you a little better if I could see your face.”

“I want to,” they said, “but I can’t. I got cursed by a witch. My head is lost somewhere. That’s why i’m signing— no mouth. I thought, since you work at this shop, you could help me?”

“Mmhmm,” Mara said, “I know a bit about hexes. Not a lot of people go around cursing though, and I definitely haven’t heard of a curse that makes you lose your head. You mean you’ve been feeling anxious? Out of sorts? Mercury retrograde, maybe?”

“No,” they said, “ I…” their hands hovered in the air, thinking. “I literally lost my head.”

Mara’s spoon nudged her chicken. “What, like, there’s nothing under there?”

“Yes! I need help. I need to break it, the curse, or find my head,” they said, their motions becoming more frantic. “I’ve been like this since the beginning of February, and I’ve had to keep this stupid helmet on all the time! I mean, it was my fault, and I get it, I learned my lesson, but I want my head back.” The helmet tipped forward a bit, and was righted quickly.

Mara sighed. She’d had a few prank calls come in to the shop before, stupid teenagers or kids, but this was dragging on. This person had to be at least eighteen if not older. Way too old to be pranking people, especially while they were working. If Mara wasn’t so tired, she’d have been pissed at this person for wasting her lunch time.

“Alright,” Mara said, “I don’t appreciate being made fun of. Even if I did believe you, I’m pretty positive there’s no curse for making people’s heads disappear. I have sage, teas that help you sleep, and essential oils on these lovely reclaimed wooden shelves. Thanks for my lunch, but if you wanna buy something, you’re gonna have to come back in an hour when my breaks over.”

Mara went to the door and waited, holding it open. Reluctantly, the delivery person walked through the door. “Sorry to bother,” they said.

Mara wasn’t sure what came over her, but she felt bad for this person— and the “lost head” joke sparked a memory. “Listen,” she said, “I don’t know if you’re trying to test my childhood fairytale knowledge or what, but a lost head sounds more like fey. You know, faeries? I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. Go prank someone else, huh?”

“Really? Fey?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Thank you!”

Mara swung the door shut and locked it again, checked that it was locked. Well. That wasn’t as bad as halloween. Teenagers asking her questions about ouija boards, magic wands, all around wasting her time. She jabbed at her rice, deciding it needed more soy sauce.

The roar of the motorcycle was strangely absent. She peeked out the window, and was right— the delivery person was leaning against the motorcycle, looking at something on their phone. A strong gust of wind blew then, knocking over sandwich signs and trash from the street. It also managed to tip over the bike, followed by it’s rider. Straining to see, Mara stood on her tiptoes. It lay on it’s side, wheels up, and all Mara could see of the delivery person was a pair of shoes, and an errant shoulder. Mara tried to follow that shoulder up, up, but the bike obscured too much. And the helmet, which was lying about a foot away had fallen off! Before Mara could even think about going outside, the delivery person snatched it with quick hands, and stuck it back on.

Mara would have forgotten about it. She wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But the way that shoulder was positioned… Mara was dead sure that she should have been able to see their head, even if the bike was in the way.

She should have been able to see a head, but she didn’t. She couldn’t.

Mara worried her lip. In twenty minutes now, her break would be over, and she hadn’t even gotten to her desert yet. She watched the delivery person start up their bike, kick up the stand, and drive away. She’d have to ask her boss about “lost head” curses tomorrow.

~~~

Thanks for reading! If you like this story, feel free to check out my other stories like Jupiter’s Curse or The Market Value of Holy Water is Exactly One Glazed Donut ! Also, if you’d like to support a POC writer, my Patreon and Kofi are linked in my bio~ I’m also on instagram @ jonnyblackwrites, where I write poetry!

#fiction #original fiction #short story #fantasy #fantasy short story #short stories #poc writer #poc author #writers of tumblr #asl #asl short story #asl character #short fic #jonnyblackwrites #short story sunday #spilled ink #metaphysical store #writeblr

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essaysbyciara · 5 years ago

Text

Thy Neighbor II: Lovin’ The Crew [Chapters 14 + 15]

[Prologue] [Chapters 1 + 2] [Chapters 3 + 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapters 7 + 8] [Chapters 9 + 10] [Chapters 11 + 12] [Chapter 13]

Peace, family!

Heads up: these chapters are somewhat long. Winston finally gets some attention! As always, thank you for the reads, likes, comments, messages and positive energy. Definitely wrapping this thing on up soon and that damn Yahya story too lol.

Peace and love!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Hey, Ciara. It’s Winston…

She knows who you are already…

Hey, Ciara! Thinking about our car ride the other night, just wanted to …

Sounds like you’re asking her out again…

Hey, Ci!

Ci?!

Hey! Made a playlist of those songs we talked about the other night. Wanted to share. Praying for you during this midterm season.

Of course I’ll say I’m praying for her. That’s safe.

All Winston knows since his divorce is playing it safe.

Married at 24, he didn’t know much of anything else. Freshly married, Winston was on his way to finishing his Masters and thinking about his Doctorate. His wife was on her way to medical school with the goal of becoming a research pathologist. In fact, they pathed their entire lives. Degrees by 27. One child by 30, another by 32 and a move to the West Coast. They both wanted the sun that avoided them since birth.

But in the midst of following the game plan, they forgot about their true dreams. Medical school was the dream of her parents; she wanted to study music and dramatic arts, having done a play or two in college. He wanted to travel around the world as a missionary. They both felt tied down by the dreams of other people. They wanted off the path they created for themselves.

So they went rogue. She quit medical school and enrolled at Tisch School of the Arts. He started applying to missions and was accepted to travel to East Africa, to learn from the Ethopian Orthodox community. They were happy, their dreams were no longer deferred but as Winston planned his trip, he wanted his wife to join alongside him. Why do this alone? But that would stop her dream and with both of them unable to compromise, Winston left her to go fulfill what he felt was the mission of his life.

Skype and texts could only do so much. She fell in love with a fellow student. He started an emotional affair with another missionary. Winston was warned of such a thing before he left, thinking he’d never fall for that type. When he found himself upset that his missionary “friend” didn’t text him “good morning”, he knew himself to be caught up.

But when Winston returned home, he killed his affair. She hadn’t. He saw the Facebook messages, found some of her distraction’s clothes inside of their house. A condom in the trash can. He was done.

He blamed himself for pushing an agenda to be free, to break from the plan they had for themselves. He quit missionary work and enrolled back into NYU to finish his Masters. She, however, continued in the arts program and right next to her lover. She wouldn’t concede. Her dream was worth it. So Winston thought the marriage wasn’t worth it and he filed for divorce.

Since then, he’s dated but failed, always attracted to women who would fit inside of this perfect picture of his life. Medical students, PhD students; he tried to find someone that could replace his ex-wife. But then he had fears of his future wife living out her dreams only to find something -- and someone --- better. He felt disposable, like once she would find something new and better, she’d leave.

Ciara fits the narrative with her dreams of a Doctorate and her determination to change the world. However there is something about her dreams of finding the freedom in her faith, for pushing individuality, for being her despite the culture’s insistence that her freebird self was the problem that attracted him to her even more. She thinks about shaking the tables. She isn’t about straight and narrow, she is about doing what her heart feels is right. And she found peace in her heart within her studies, something Winston wish he felt.

And her hips swayed like the ocean when she walked, which Winston felt crash into his body every time he caught a glimpse of her walking throughout campus. Ciara stoked this lustful fire inside of Winston that he hadn’t felt in years. At first he believed all of his feelings to be wrong, writing Matthew 15:19 inside of his journal when some nights were rougher than others.

Winston saved all of his cursing for when Ciara left his car, letting out moan-laced expletives as he watched her walk up the steps into her apartment building. He wanted her in all the right and wrong ways, readjusting himself in the driver’s seat to allow some room for the growth he couldn’t control.

But after a cold shower and his bedtime devotional, his nerves -- and body parts -- calmed down. He gave himself some grace and prayed that night to not let those emotions motivate his actions. He’s seen many of his friends use the opportunity for sex as a reason to act like “good guys.”

Y’lan’s story was warning enough.

But to Winston, she’s unattainable. When he heard Y’lan say that he dated Ciara, he figured himself to be out of the game. Guys like Y’lan are cool and of the culture. They don’t look like church boys. They have one foot in the church and one in the streets. Winston was, in all ways, a nerd. A Bible-reading, Jesus-loving nerd. Ciara doesn’t go for those, he thought.

Sitting in U City Coffee, awaiting Y’lan’s arrival, Ciara doesn’t know what to think anymore. Her ice coffee dilutes as she ignores her caffeinated pick me up by scrolling through Trevante’s instagram to see if she can find “Meganne The Intern”. Ever since that night, Ciara can’t help but think that Trevante is continuing to sex another woman into a mess just like her.

Puzzle pieces start to come together in her mind: no wonder Tre held out for so long, becoming super affectionate and protective once they started having sex. She always knew deep-down that Trevante wouldn’t be able to handle her celibacy. Naivete increases thinking that a man who couldn’t keep his apartment empty if his life depended on it would be able to do such a thing for little ol’ her.

“Hey, Ciara. Sorry I’m late.” Ciara breaks her search to look up at Y’lan almost out of breath in her sight.

“Hey! It’s okay. You breathing hard like you ran here.”

“Yeah, my bad. Just played a quick pick up game with some kids. They damn near ran me off the court. I lost track of time.” Y’lan’s body ripples under his grey Nike sweatsuit. He’s not dressed for a meeting and Ciara’s growing sexual angst does not care one bit.

As Ciara walks up to the counter to buy a bottle of water for Y’lan, Y’lan works through his plot to confront Ciara about Trevante. Y’lan’s anger seethed from his pores listening to Trevante talk about Ciara as his future, as a woman that he’d want to settle down with. There is nothing settling about Trevante, Y’lan realizes. Having seen Tre at his worst at bars and hangouts, he knows him to be far from ready. Ciara would be up against the worst of them with Trevante. Y’lan doesn’t want her to get hurt. Again.

Ciara comes back with her aqueous libation for Y’lan. Sitting down in front of her laptop, she looks down to see a message from Winston. Her curiosity overflows until Y’lan breaks her concentration with a question.

“Before we get to this, can I ask you a question?”

Ciara knows exactly what’s about to happen.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

She knew this day was coming. Ciara stops mid-sip, her chest growing hotter by the millisecond. Dreading what’s about to happen, she feels the mercy in Y’lan asking about it first.

“What’s up, Y’lan?”

“So what’s up with you and Trevante?”

Ciara becomes unnerved at the lightweight aggressive way Y’lan asks his question. Y’lan didn’t enter the conversation gracefully and Ciara can tell that he has no plans on letting up. She adjusts her body in her chair, tilting her head to the left as her eyes squint toward Y’lan, trying to make sense of his tone.

“We’ve been kicking it for a minute. What’s good?” Ciara matches his energy and Y’lan feels the shift.

“Hey, I’m not trying to hem you up. I’m sorry if I came off that way. I just went to go see him a few days ago and he told me about y’all, that’s all.”

Ciara wonders if Y’lan told Trevante about their past. She suddenly feels every pipe within her burst. “Word? Cool.”

Ciara’s pretend nonchalance bothers Y’lan. Maybe she doesn’t care that Y’lan cares. Maybe Trevante found out in between then and now so her inaction to gain a reaction is valid. He decides to go for round two. He needs to know for sure.

“Does he know about us?”

“No disrespect, Y’lan, but you should be the last person to be checking me about what I do.”

Y’lan nods his head to fight the anger growing inside of him. “I’m not trying to be disrespectful, Ci. I promise you. I just … you do know that’s my friend, right? When we linked up to talk about it, it didn’t seem like he knew. And I didn’t want to be the one to tell him because, real talk, that ain’t my job.”

“I agree with you.” Maybe Ciara is done putting up a fight, he thinks. “I’ll tell him.”

“Bet, cool. Like I said, I ain’t mean to make it this big. I just...”

“Does it bother you, Y’lan?”

Y’lan’s mind claims that he’s protecting Ciara from inevitable heartbreak. Y’lan heart knows that he wishes he and Ciara could try once more to get it right. As the battle rages on between his heart and mind, Ciara’s pettiness rages inside of her body. Whatever emotions she possesses about her past with Y’lan are ready to be unleashed. She’s waiting for Y’lan to say just the right words.

“That y’all are together? Nah, not really.”

“You sure? Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying to you, Ci.”

“I mean, you did lie to my fucking face for a smooth year so I don’t know…”

Y’lan walked himself right into that response. He braces for the rest of what Ciara has coming his way.

“Yo, Ci. Don’t do that. I told you…”

“Told me what? You didn’t tell me anything. I found out after the fact that you didn’t want me. You showed me, you couldn’t tell me.”

“How can you say that I didn’t want you?”

“You left!” Ciara’s tears puddle inside of her eyes as she tries to hold back the scream that undercurrents her words. She exhales, closing her laptop with swift aggression. Y’lan’s body sinks into his chair, his mind taking a few more seconds to ponder what to say next.

“I know I can never really earn your trust after that, I know. I’m sorry. You met the worse iteration of me. I’m now a better person.”

“You know, I hate that shit. Why did I have to be a casualty of your growth as a person? I didn’t sign up to be a “lesson learned”, Y’lan. I wanted to be yours.”

“Do you still want to be?”

Ciara and Y’lan both pause at the question that escapes Y’lan’s lips before it could be stopped.

“Y’lan, I can’t… I’m not doing this with you.” Ciara shoves her laptop into her bag. Shuffling to find her keys, she looks down at her phone to see a text from Trevante.

Can I see you tonight before you leave for your trip?

Y’lan has his answer.

Taglist: @doublesidedscoobysnacks @diva-princess-on-fleek @voyagetoadinas9 @walkrightuptothesun @wvsspoppin @dreamlovealways @rockwit609 @thegayaxeman @joyfulwombatdreamermaker @blackpinup22 @hookedtoherfire @kris-did-it @l-auteuse @styleismyaddiction

#trevante rhodes x fanfiction #trevante rhodes #y'lan noel #winston duke #thy neighbor #fanfic

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crowkingwrites · 6 years ago

Text

Username: InfernalHeir

Pairing: Ramsay Bolton X Reader

For this one, I decided to combine two fic requests.

Words: 3474 // Ao3 Link //Game of Thrones Masterlist

You pressed ‘post’ on your most recent blogpost detailing yet another day in the thoughts of your mind. Of course, not many people would read about another female college student, but you had your followers. Some were your friends who enjoyed your writing, others were book nerds, but you loved them all.

One person would always comment and like your posts, but you never knew who. You asked your friends, but all of them claimed it wasn’t them. You clicked on the profile only to learn that this user had no posts of their own. Only their username: InfernalHeir.

Some days the user bothered you. Asking personal questions you’d rather not answer. Other times InfernalHeir would be sweet. Complimenting your writing, intelligence, and kindness. Still, you’d wondered who it was.

*Ding! Ding!*

A notification on your phone went off, and there it was. ‘InfernalHeir has liked your post’. You shrugged it off and turned in for the night. You had an early exam in the morning in American Western History. Some students preferred to stay up late, but you enjoyed your early bedtime. You curled up with another book and a cup of warm tea.

The next morning, you walked out of your first class feeling slightly defeated. A fast-talking, excited blonde walked alongside you.

“Can you believe that? Another Disney Channel star going into rehab,” she shook her head and stared at her phone. “That’s sad. That says something about Disney. Geez. What do you wanna do for lunch?”

“Gabe?” you replied.

“Oh right! Gabe! I almost forgot,” she said. “This is why I have you. I swear to god I wouldn’t survive without you. I’ll text Gabe back. Think he’ll meet us in the dining hall?”

Hillary was the type of friend who went out and partied every weekend. She was also the friend who had too many friends on facebook. Most people envied you for being her very best friend. Hillary stuck to you like Shaggy stuck to sandwiches. She was your only true friend, and you loved her dearly.

“So, Gabe texted us back. He’s down with the dining hall. But, he’s not alone. He’s got people with him. Including Tony,” Hillary wiggled her eyebrows. Your face started to turn red. You tried to hide yourself in your books. “You gotta talk to him!”

“I don’t know,” your voice trailed off.

“Oh come on! He totally likes you!” Hillary kept talking. “And you guys would be such a cute couple! Seriously! Like think of every bookish, quiet girl, right? And then think about like every athletic dude, right? Like you guys are Hollywood-movie-dream couple, ok? You have to talk to him!”

“You really think he likes me?” you said with a little bit of confidence.

“Honey! It’s so obvi!” Hillary threw her hands in the air. “He smiles at you all the time. He always likes your pics on Instagram. Like do you need any other sign?”

You smiled to yourself as you both walked through the doors of the dining hall. You saw Gabe from a mile away. His purple afro stood out against everyone else in the room. He wore a shirt stained with all different colors of paint. The college basketball team surrounded him and Tony. Tony stuffed his mouth full of spaghetti and meatballs.

“Gabe!” Hillary shouted out. A smile came to Gabe’s face.

“There’s my big girl! What’s up, mama?!” Gabe laughed and embraced Hillary. She giggled.

“You gotta stop callin’ me mama!”

“I’ll stop calling you mama when you stop cookin’ like my Mama, alright?” Gabe flirted with her. “What’s up, Y/N?”

You smiled and nodded at Gabe. Hillary tried to drg you to parties all of the time. She simply couldn’t understand why you hated people. People were great! Gabe would stick up for you when you ran out of excuses for Hillary. He knew you were only just shy. Gabe nodded back at you.

“Y/N!” Tony shouted for you. He patted a seat next to him. You glanced back at Hillary who pushed you Tony’s way. You happily took your seat next to him. Tony smelled of the woods at midday and apples baking into a pie. Every time you sat close to him, you wished you could give him a long hug.

“Hi,” you managed to say.

“Hey you,” Tony nudged you. “How are you today?” You felt butterflies in your tummy. Their wings tickled your insides. It brought a big smile to your face.

“I’m good,” you smiled.

“Good. Good,” Tony nodded, smiling back. Every day it was like this. A smile here. A question there. Your shyness prevented you from doing any actual talking to Tony. He made you nervous. If you messed up in front of him, you’d fear you would never show your face in front of him again. Days like this made you feel helpless in every sense.

You started to write your daily blog post for the night. A familiar song came on your Spotify, and you smiled because the timing was too perfect.

Hi everyone!

I can’t help myself anymore. If I don’t put this into writing, I might explode! There’s this guy I can’t stop thinking about. He’s tall and sweet and every time I see him I wanna just collapse into his arms and never leave. I feel so ~helpless~ (Ah! AH! Hamilton reference anyone??) And its sooooooooooooooooooo perfect that Taylor Swift started to play. Now, I’m listening to You Belong With Me, and fuck! These feels guys!! I really think we belong together so much. Its just I cant fucking talk to him. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh kill me.

If anyone out there can tell the girls who reads too much how to actually flirt with another dude please help.

You pressed ‘post’ and your thoughts went live to the Internet. It wasn’t long after until you started to get comments from people.

LilyRose29: Try talking about movies! Guys always have movies they wanna talk about.

Potterhead4Ever: Slide into his Dmsssssss

HilsBils: I swear to God!!!!!!!!!! If you don’t talk to tomorrow I’m telling on you.

You chuckled at Hillary’s comment. She loved drama and you bet she wasn’t kidding either. You made a mental note that Hillary would put you and Tony together somehow and force you to say something other than ‘I’m good’. You refreshed the page to find a new comment at the bottom.

InfernalHeir: If he’s jock, he only wants to fuck you and leave you. He doesn’t deserve you.

Your stomach turned a bit at the hateful comment. It was comments like this that made you wonder who the frick this user was. They will say awful things like this, but then compliment you as if you were some perfect coffee shop girl au. You hated it, but it made you think. Tony was on the college basketball team. He was a jock, and they had a certain reputation.

The next day, you took a trip to the bookstore. Every Saturday, you slowly wandered around a bookstore and let yourself drink in the different worlds and discoveries and lives and deaths of everything and everyone. It was your time to yourself and you loved every second of it. You let your coffee warm your hands as you skimmed through cooking books.

You heard a book drop nearby and you jerked your head around to see. Picking up the book was a familiar face. His messy brown hair and startling stare stuck out. Ramsay Bolton. Hillary told you some odd things about him. How he would talk about himself, yet no one seemed to know anything concrete about him. How rich his family was. Hillary had secretly confessed that she thought he would shoot up the place if anyone ever said ‘no’ to him.

He looked your way as he picked up the book, and stayed there when the book returned to the shelf. Ramsay didn’t move. Feeling something off, you left the bookstore early.

The next week was filled with even more butterflies from Tony. Both of you texted back and forth. Mostly gifs and memes, but you texted him. He even studied with you! It wasn’t until Friday when you and Tony were left alone at a party when he asked you out. You immediately squealed and told the Internet what happened. You felt like your heart beat a thousand times over. Saturday came again, and you did your ritual.

The bookstore smelled of candles burning and musty air. It made you wonder if anyone has made a candle that smelled of old books yet. You bumped into someone in front of you. Before you could mumble your apology, you noticed the same blue eyes from the Saturday before.

“Good morning, Y/N,” Ramsay said. His intense stare caught you frozen. “What do you have there?”

“Two books,” you said quickly. You glanced at the exit. It wasn’t too far.

“About what?” Ramsay tried to get a closer look by coming closer to you.

“Nothing important,” you darted towards the door before e could say anything else. Of course, you told Hillary the whole thing.

“No way!” she said, pinning her hair up from tonight’s party. “You gotta stay away from him. He gives me the creeps.”

Tony held your hand at the party, but he didn’t ask you to dance. Both of you were in agreement that you were both bad dancers.

“Hey, uh, can I get you a drink?” he asked you. You nodded enthusiastically. When Tony left you sitting by yourself, someone else took his spot.

“Is he bothering you?” Ramsay asked. Shocked that he was here at the party, you cowered away from him. He got closer to you. “I mean it. Is he bothering you?”

“No,” you said. You looked away from him, hoping he would leave.

“You can tell me.” Ramsay didn’t take the physical hint from you. “I can make him leave if you want me to.”

“Hey!” you both heard. Tony held two drinks in his hand and glared at Ramsay. “The fuck you doing?”

Ramsay stood up slowly. You watched them stare each other down until Ramsay slowly walked away from you. You took the drink from Tony as he walked you away into a more private space.

“You good? Did he bother you?” Tony asked you. His eyebrows knitted while he waited for your response.

“Yeah. I don’t really like him,” you told him in confidence.

“Yeah. No one does,” Tony continued. “You tell me if he bother you again, ok? I got you, babygirl.” You smiled at his new nickname for you. Babygirl. You repeated it in your head over and over. When you logged into your blog again, you found a private message.

InfernalHeir: you've got a smile that could light up this whole town // I know you better then that Hey what you doing with a boy like that.

You closed your laptop as you mouthed some curse words. Lyrics from You Belong With Me. Who was InfernalHeir and how did they know you and Tony were together tonight?

You tried not to put any energy into the idea. Or anything that InfernalHeir did, but this was getting personal. You sat in the library with Tony. Each of you worked on your own essay. Well, at least you did. Tony scrolled from meme to meme to meme. You typed away on a paper until you got an airdrop notification.

‘Item from “InfernalHeir”

You opened it up to see another set of lyrics from Taylor Swift’s song. Along with a more personal message.

I know your favorite songs And you tell me about your dreams I think I know where you belong I think I know it's with me

Think Tony knows you? He doesn’t know you like I do.

InfernalHeir knew who Tony was. You looked around the library and saw other students just studying or pretending to study like Tony was. You slammed your laptop and started to pack your things.

“Hey, hey, hey! What’s wrong, babygirl?” Tony asked, slowing you down. You bit your lip.

“You’re gonna think its stupid.” You responded to him. You didn’t like feeling vulnerable like this.

“Try me,” Tony said. You told him the story of InfernalHeir and their comments, including the most recent one now. Tony hugged you tight.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “That’s messed up. That’s really messed up. There’s no way you have enemies. You’re too quiet for that. Can you think of anyone who doesn’t like you?”

You shook your head. You had very limited friends. You wouldn’t do or say anything too terrible about anybody. Tony assured you it was only some internet troll who got off on doing stuff like this to people. Both of you decided to do dinner by yourselves, leaving the usual friend group behind.

Tony and you giggled and flirted in each other’s company at a 50’s themed diner. You shared a cookies and cream milkshake as you threw fries at one another. He held your hand more and escorted you back to his car where both of you saw his front tire punctured and flatted. A quickly written note was attached to the knife in the tire.

“Memorizing you is as easy as knowing all the words to your old favorite song.”

“Oh fuck no!” Tony became livid. “This is enough. This is seriously fucking enough. This dude is done.”

“Wait, how do you know it’s a guy?” you asked.

“Oh, I bet I fucking know which one too,” Tony scrolled through his phone. You wanted to ask tony what he meant, but you heard Gabe on the other end of the line. Each of them cussed and revved each other up. Next thing you knew, Tony threw back two vodka shots before getting into a car with Gabe and their drug dealer.

“What’s going on?” you asked, more worried than ever. “What did you mean you knew who InfernalHeir was?”

“Hey, don’t worry babygirl,” Tony winked. “He won’t be bothering you anymore after this. I promise.” His warm lips collided with yours and you felt the world melting slowly away like your favorite candle. The car sped away and you silently hoped everything was OK.

The weekend passed without anything from Tony or InfernalHeir. It bothered you, but it also brought you relief. You laughed to yourself remembering a certain wizard’s words: ‘You’re gonna suffer, but you’re gonna be happy about it.’ Ronald Weasley’s words couldn’t be truer. You paced in your room Monday night. You texted Tony and posted another blog post and waited to see who would respond first.

You stared at your computer for a while until you heard your phone text song go off. You felt a sense of relief. You knew tony would text you back. He was right. InfernalHeir wouldn’t bother you again. You unlocked your phone and saw that the newest text was not sent from Tony.

Unknown: You didn’t think it would be that easy to be rid of me, did you?

A dreadful feeling settled in your heart. You knew it was InfernalHeir. It had to be. You turned off your phone and fell asleep. Tomorrow was a new day. Nothing to worry about. Tomorrow would be fine.

First, you heard Tony was in the hospital. Then, Gabe refusing to tell Hillary where he was last Saturday. More unknown texts were sent to your phone.

You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me. You belong with me.

It made your stomach turn. You started to feel trapped. You hadn’t made a single post in three days. Your irl friends understood why. Internet fans asked if you were okay.

Potterhead4Ever: are you okay?

CaptainCronch: Sending good vibes and hugs!

But, someone else texted your phone. The one person that kept on terrorizing you. You saw the unknown number and their text.

Why did you stop posting? Was it something I did?

The anger built up in you like nothing else. You weren’t the type that was easy to anger, but you had enough. Your fingers typed faster than they ever did before. You could feel color rushing your face as you pressed send to InfernalHeir. He responded back immediately.

Unknown: What if we meet? I can explain everything.

You: Why should I give you that chance?

Unknown: Because I love you.

The four words shocked you. It chilled the room and made your heart beat faster than it ever did before. No one ever told you that. You never had a boyfriend. You’ve kissed boys, but never a boyfriend. Your thumbs hovered over your keyboard. Your head seemed like television static. Everything was fuzzy and not a single coherent thought was there. Luckily for you, InfernalHeir texted you first.

Unknown: Please say yes. I don’t want to do anything bad to you. If you don’t say yes, I’m gonna have to resort to desperate measures. Please don’t make me go that far. Look outside. I left you something.

You dropped your phone on your bed. You slowly made your way to the door and opened it. The creaking noises disturbed the stillness of the college dorm room corridor. On your door, there was a single rose. The thorns were not removed and another note was attached to it. In a quick scrawl of handwriting, you read the note.

Every single day Every word you say Every game you play Every night you stay I'll be watching you

You must have been fucking crazy. You considered putting yourself into therapy as you passed the psychology section in the bookstore. It was the only place that made you feel safe enough to meet someone here. Hillary texted you that she and Gabe got into another fight. She wondered what you knew about that particular Saturday night. As much as you wanted to tell your best friend the truth, you had to find a way to cover for Gabe.

You: I promise you he wasn’t with any girls. Him and the guys did something. It had nothing to do with girls.

When you looked up from your phone, you saw Ramsay Bolton approaching you. You felt your heart racing as if your body was telling you to run. He closed the space between you.

“Hello there, babygirl,” he smiled at you. You looked past him.

“Not now, please. I’m meeting someone here,” you said. Ramsay tucked his finger beneath your chin and moved your attention to him.

“I know.” He said. The sudden realization hit you hard.

“You’re InfernalHeir?” you asked. He nodded with a smirk.

“I am.”

You felt your anger and confusion bubbling up inside of you. You wanted to take your nails and scratch his face out. You wanted to ask him why. You wanted to hug him for all of the kind things he would say about you. You wanted to slap him.

“Why?” was all that came out of you. “Why me?”

“I have done some awful things to your boyfriend and you ask me why?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” you said. Ramsay cocked his eyebrow.

“Oh,” he reacted with a smile on his face. “Tony’s not your boyfriend.”

“No.”

“But you do want one though.”

“What?”

“I’ve read all your posts. Your thoughts. Your dreams. Your silly little heart wants someone to love. My silly little heart wants yours.”

“You think I want you?” Your anger took over your mind. “After everything you’ve said? After everything you’ve done? Tony’s in the hospital!”

“And to think he did that for a girl who doesn’t consider him to be her boyfriend,” Ramsay smirked. He backed you into the wall. His arm blocked you from the exit door. “I’ve heard your cries for love. I can answer them. I can cherish you and love you for all of my days.”

“And if I don’t let you?”

“Then, I’ll take you if I have to. I won’t let anyone else have you. I can’t let that happen, babygirl,” Ramsay’s smile cut you more than it calmed you. Ramsay tilted your head up as his lips brushed yours. You felt something inside of you burn. You moved along with the kiss and deepened it. Ramsay’s passion met yours as he held you there. His fingers entangled in your hair. When Ramsay finally broke the kiss, he took a breath and his eyes dilated when he looked ta you again. “I love you so much. Don’t make me hurt you.”

Ultimate Tag List (People who wished to be tagged in EVERY work I post.)

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shabazsullivan-blog · 5 years ago

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sunaprincess7 · 6 years ago

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Isn’t it neat?

Hi everyone,

Another fic here - I know the James/Lily - Eric/Ariel thing has been done before but this is my take on it. Sorry if ‘you're all mermaid-ed out! Very little plot to this thing but I hope you all enjoy anyways :)

Summary: Lily Evans has been playing Ariel the mermaid at Disney World Orlando for six months. She's about to meet her new Prince Eric.

Rated T for language (also so much fluff and cheese you might perish!)

Fanfic link

AO3 link

“Does anyone have any primer?” Lily yelled to the dressing room behind her, “I’m out of my FX.”

“Here,” Mary yelled back amongst the throng of girls, chucking Lily her Smashbox version over the heads of Emmeline and Dorcas who both ducked.

“This’ll work?” Lily confirmed doubtfully, knowing that she didn’t really have any other option as she squirted the clear gel into her palm.

“Nothing is going to work in this heat, Lil,” Mary replied, now slathering her face with foundation. “But it’ll stay on for at least 6 hours. Then you might need to reapply.”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, I hate this fucking dress,” Marlene, who was by far the most ready of any of them, moaned as she tugged the bright yellow taffeta monstrosity up around her hips.

“Hey, at least yours hasn’t got sleeves,” Dorcas retorted, from next to Lily, still in the process of pinning an auburn wig with pigtails onto her head.

“Oh please, you practically begged McGonagall to give you Anna!” Marlene replied, now pulling the dress up around her arms.

“It was winter then!” Dorcas said miserably, grabbing a matte mauve lipstick out of her makeup bag.

“Can we all just be happy that none of us is Minnie?” Mary inserted, in between violently attacking her face with a beauty blender.

The group of girls murmured in approval.

“Technically, you should be the happiest out of everyone, Lil,” Emmeline said, running a brush through her black wig as she puffed up the bun. “Sometimes they let you go out in a bikini.”

“Hey, none of you have ever worn that tail,” Lily replied, as she leaned into the mirror to draw on her eyebrows. “It’s heavy as hell. It might be worse than the dress. And they haven’t let me wear it in ages.”

“I think they figured out you were making all the dads a little too happy in that purple excuse for a bra,” Mary said lowly, causing their whole dressing room to laugh.

“Men are such trash,” Emmeline added.

“Speaking of trash, aren’t you meeting your new Eric today?” Marlene asked as she pulled white elbow gloves up over her arms.

“Later on tonight,” Lily said, “after the parade. And if he’s anything like the previous one, I think I might quit.”

Lily’s previous Eric had been the epitome of trash and was exactly who Marlene was referring to when she’d asked the question. Dave, or Prince Fuckboy as he was better known to the group, had spent his entire 6 months with the cast showing up late, being rude and, worst of all, sleeping his way through the Princess lineup.

After sleeping with Marlene, he’d made his way around Elsa, Tinkerbell and Jasmine, which was the unfortunate reason Bertha, Florence and Emma no longer sat with the rest of the girls. That drama had continued for at least a month until Prince Fuckboy realised everyone hated him and had quit.

“Apparently he’s a friend of Hook’s,” Dorcas told them.

“Hook?” Emmeline, who was the most recent addition to the cast, asked. “I don’t think I’ve met him.”

“Sirius Black,” Dorcas replied, as Lily smiled to herself, knowing that Dorcas’s usual rant about Sirius was coming. “And you don’t want to meet him. He’s totally method,” she continued, placing an unusual amount of disdain on the word method, “and speaks in a ridiculous English accent the entire time he’s here, even on breaks, and challenges everyone to duels all day. Fucking idiot.”

Lily couldn’t help but giggle. She was actually rather fond of Sirius’s approach to his work and suspected it had nothing to do with his devotion to acting but rather because he loved pretending to be a pirate all day.

“He is a fucking idiot and you know it,” Dorcas said to Lily when she saw her laughing.

“Well, at least he’s not another Prince Fuckboy,” Lily said, adding a slick of bright red lipstick before spritzing her whole face with setting spray. “And you have to admit, he’s a very good Hook.”

“As long as he hasn’t brought us another Dave to be Eric, we’ll be best friends,” Marlene smiled grimly. “How the hell am I the only one ready?” She asked forcefully, gloved hands on her hips.

“Because you don’t have to colour in your eyebrows to match your wig,” Lily replied, grabbing her long, curly ginger hair and twisting it onto her head.

“I can’t believe they still haven’t asked you to be Merida yet,” Mary observed, now pulling on Tiana’s light green velvet dress.

“Yeah, well in the nineties mermaids existed but not actual ginger people, apparently,” Lily said as she positioned the long red wig onto her head with ease. “That mermaid must’ve had some amazing hair dye down in Atlantis.”

“Hey, black people didn’t exist until 2010 apparently,” Mary added, fixing her own wig on. “And now there’s one black princess, there’ll obviously never be another one ever again.”

“Obviously,” Emmeline agreed, rolling her eyes. “Right, time to tie on this fucking awful sash,” she said before standing and moving to the costume rail, leaving Dorcas and Lily sitting at the mirrors.

“I’m still waiting on the animated world to admit lesbians exist,” Dorcas said to Lily with a wry shrug. “And don’t tell the boss, but I play everyday like I’m in love with Emma,” she winked, referring to their cast mate who played Jasmine.

“Amazing,” Lily laughed, looking around the dressing table for her aqua headpiece. “Does Emma know this?”

“Oh, she knows I think she’s hot as hell.”

Finished with her makeup and hair, Lily stood up to go and find her human dress, which was an unsightly aquamarine colour to match her headpiece.

“Are they ever going to let you back in the tail?” Dorcas asked, moving with Lily to grab her purple cape.

“They’re still working on the Grotto since the break-in,” Lily said, shuffling into her dress. “I think it’ll be open again in a few weeks.”

When she had first started at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Lily’s main role had been to sit in Ariel’s grotto and do meet and greets. She had her own float in the daily parade and occasionally appeared as a human walking around the park (when she was told to) or at Cinderella’s restaurant, but for the most part, wearing the tail in the grotto was her main duty. Then, around a month ago, some boys had broken in to the park, and wrecked her grotto, as well as a number of other attractions. Lily had been in human form ever since, which was killing her, because Ariel’s human dress was puffy, heavy and sweltering in the Orlando heat.

Not that she complained too much. She loved being Ariel and was delighted to be cast as her when she’d first started six months ago. A small part of Lily lived in perpetual fear of being recast. Which was ridiculous because it would definitely happen at some point and they were all warned not to get too attached to any particular character.

Lily had done her best to adhere to this warning but she’d adored Ariel as a child and as she’d gotten older, Ariel had remained her favourite Disney princess. And judging by the response she got from the little kids who came to the park, Ariel was still a very popular princess, even eighteen years after she’d first appeared in animated form.

In truth, Lily had loved every minute of working at Disney. The only bad time had been the appearance of Dave.

“I know I hate this dress,” Lily said quietly to Dorcas, “but I can live with it. I’m not sure I could live with another Dave.”

“Look, I know Black is an idiot, but I doubt he’s friends with jerks,” Dorcas reassured her pragmatically, checking her appearance in the mirror. “Are you nervous about meeting him? Don’t be nervous.”

“Well you spend a lot of time with your prince,” Lily observed, fixing the wig down over her dress. “And the kids freak out when they see you together so obviously McGonagall is always sending you out together. It’d be nice to be paired with someone you can stand. I mean, you get on with Dirk, right?”

“Yeah,” Dorcas responded, “I don’t think he knows I’m gay cause he’s always flirting with me, but we get on fine.”

“Poor Dirk.”

“I’ve seen his sister on Facebook, she’s cute” Dorcas said with a grin. “Maybe he’ll introduce us.”

“Girls!” They heard McGonagall call from the hallway, “it’s 8.55”

“Coming!” Lily called back, jumping up and down a few times to settle her skirt.

“Right,” Dorcas said with a swish of her cloak, “Time to be asked if I want to build a snowman ten thousand times.”

Letting her voice drift higher and adding in her signature Ariel warble, Lily followed Dorcas out of the dressing room, “you’re such a guppy, Anna,” she replied, saying goodbye to Lily Evans as she transformed into the little mermaid just as she reached the bright sunshine of the park.

---------------------------

“I am fucking exhausted,” Marlene breathed, stripping off her gloves as they all trailed into the dressing room at 10pm that night. “And I hate teenaged boys.”

“Yeah, I saw some guys bothering you,” Mary replied, throwing herself down into her dressing room chair.

“Trying to get me to break character. Assholes. They were trying to film the whole thing and put it on Instagram,” Marlene spat.

“What were they doing?”

“Oh, the usual shit. Calling me a furry lover. I ignored them.”

“Good for you,” Lily said, inwardly wondering how soon she could get the metric tonne of foundation she had on off her face.

“At least you didn’t get dole whip spilled all over you,” Emmeline moaned, already taking off Mulan’s dress. “Costume are going to kill me. This is the fourth time in two weeks I’ve needed a new dress.”

“Ariel!” Sounded McGonagall’s voice from outside.

“I think she means me,” Lily whispered to them all with a wink as she slipped off her chair. Wincing as her weary feet touched the floor, Lily made her way to the hall.

When she entered the hallway, Lily saw McGonagall standing with her cherished clipboard and right beside her, a man who was undoubtedly Prince Eric.

All of the guys who played Princes at the park were good looking but Lily felt her stomach clench as she took in her new work husband. She could see why they had cast him as Eric. His black hair was thick and windswept and curled in at the edges of his lightly tanned skin. There was no way he’d be wearing a wig. As his eyes fell on her, he greeted her with a show stopping smile, and Lily couldn’t help but notice his strong jaw and gorgeous hazel eyes.

“James, this is Lily, or Ariel to you,” McGonagall said to the boy, now scribbling on the board. James opened his mouth to say something but their boss got there first, “you can smile, dance, hold hands whilst still and give her a two second hug,” she continued, briskly ticking the board as she listed each item, “but no kissing. At all. Ever.”

“Okay,” James nodded steadily, looking at McGonagall with slight apprehension.

“Make sure he doesn’t get lost,” she said to Lily abruptly before striding away.

“Is she always that scary?” He whispered, leaning into Lily as they both watched Minerva leave.

“I’m afraid so,” Lily told him with a weak smile, “she’s in charge of rules and makes sure we all follow them.”

“And we’re married, right?”

“Yes,” Lily nodded, trying not to stare at him too much.

“Wow. Can’t even kiss my wife. What a bummer,” James said with a deep sigh, causing Lily to laugh.

“Disney is strictly a PG place,” she said, “but waltzing is good fun. The kids love it.”

“They showed me during training,” James replied. “It took me a while to get it but I don’t think I’ll embarrass you.”

Lily laughed again as she leaned against the wall, “I’m a walking, talking fish woman. I doubt you are going to be what embarrasses me,” she smiled, trying not to blush when his eyes did a quick sweep of her outfit. “So, did McGonagall show you around?”

“I came down for the parade,” he responded, pushing his hands into his jeans as Lily noticed his sinewy tanned arms. He was going to look good in Eric’s white shirt. “It was great. You were great.”

“Thanks,” she said, “it’s pretty easy without Eric to be honest. I just sit there and smile and wave.”

“And with Eric?”

“Well, that’s when the hugging and the dancing and the hand-holding comes in,” Lily continued, giving him a little grin. “But it’s a 30 minute parade so trying to keep that going is difficult.”

“Especially when you hate your Eric, right?”

Lily blanched a little as James smiled guilty at her, “Sirius told me about the guy I’m replacing.”

“Yeah, well, he was a jackass,” Lily admitted, swishing her dress about a little. “And what’s worse, he made it really awkward for everyone here. We were all glad when he left.”

“Okay, well I promise to be absolutely nothing like him and then you won’t mind dancing with me for half an hour,” he suggested, his eyes twinkling as Lily’s stomach jumped again.

“Deal,” she agreed, hoping to sound as normal as possible. “So, when do you start?”

“Next week,” James told her happily, “they’re just sorting my contacts and then I’m good to go.”

“Cool,” Lily said, “well, it was really nice meeting you. I’m going to go take off this powder puff before I faint,” she closed, giving him another smile before she turned towards the dressing room door.

“Wait,” James called, stalling her in her step.

“Yeah?”

“You’re my Princess, right?” Lily laughed lightly as James blushed and corrected himself, “I mean, you’re who I’ll be working with? Going forward?”

“Yeah,” She replied, hearing a little shyness creep into her voice, “as long as I don’t get recast, I’m your Princess.”

-----------------------------

James, as it turned out, was an absolute dream to work with.

On Monday morning, he was there waiting for her as soon as she stepped out of the dressing room. In his white flowing shirt, red cumber-band, turned up trousers, boots and blue contacts, he looked both exactly like Eric and unreasonably hot.

They spent the whole day together and as predicted, all the kids adored both of them together. They both signed hundreds of autographs and took hundreds of photos and selfies, and when the parade started at nine o’clock, they had their first dance.

It wasn’t without a hitch, as they both stepped on each other’s toes several times but as long as their smiles stayed on, no one in the audience noticed.

“So, how’d I do?” James asked her, as they moved backstage and walked towards her dressing room.

“Really good,” Lily said a little breathlessly, noticing that they were still walking arm in arm, as though they were out in public.

“Sorry about the feet,” he whispered into her ear as they passed a stream of characters all hurrying to their dressing rooms.

“That’s okay,” she giggled, giving his arm a squeeze, “I stepped on your toes too.”

“Yeah but I’m a lot heavier than you are!”

“We’ll get better with practice,” Lily told him. “Oh and one other thing, next time a kid asks you about Sebastian or Flounder, technically you never met them, so next time just say they’re ‘friends of Ariel’.”

“Right,” James nodded, “and Sebastian is the lobster, yeah?”

Lily stopped walking and her hand fell away from his arm, “crab,” she corrected bluntly. “Sebastian is a crab.”

“Sure,” he smiled uneasily, letting his hands fall to his side. “A crab.”

Feeling very suspicious, Lily eyed James closely.

“They did teach you about Sebastian during training?”

“Yeah, they did, it’s just…”

“It’s just what?” She asked, feeling her eyes narrow.

“Well, it’s kind of hard to remember when…” he trailed off, not really looking at her.

“When?” Lily prompted.

“When you haven’t really seen what he looks like,” James finally said lowly, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“What?” She yelped, so loudly that Donald Duck and Goofy stopped to eye the two of them before moving on. “You haven’t seen The Little Mermaid? James, that’s like day one!”

“It was day five,” he disagreed weakly, obviously nervous due to her reaction. “I was ill so they said I could just watch it at home.”

“And?”

“And…I sort of…never did,” he admitted with a small shrug as Lily cursed him for being so attractive. It would be so much easier to be annoyed with him if she could stop staring at his gorgeous face.

“James, if McGonagall finds out you’ve never seen it, she will lose it!” Lily warned him, not wanting to picture the monumental explosion that would occur if that happened. What was worse: he’d probably get fired and then they’d need another new Eric and Lily couldn’t take the suspense of waiting to meet another new Prince. Plus, she was sort of growing fond of this one.

“Yeah, I got that impression when I met her.”

“I mean, you don’t even know how we met!” She persisted, shoving his shoulder lightly.

“I’m guessing in the sea?” He joked feebly, as Lily rolled her eyes.

“Unacceptable,” Lily said, folding her arms. “I am not letting you get fired over this.”

“Would you miss me, Princess?” James grinned, eyes sparkling.

“If you get fired they might bring Dave back,” Lily observed grimly, ignoring the flutter in her stomach that appeared when he obviously flirted with her, “and then I’d have to quit.”

“Okay, I will watch the movie…” James appeased her, shaking his head.

“Oh, you will watch that movie,” Lily ground out, stepping closer to him. “My number is on the staff call sheet. Text me your address. Next Sunday, I’m coming over and by the end of the day you will know the names, hair and fin colours of all my six sisters!”

------------------------

Of course, Lily hadn’t expected the teasing she ended up receiving from her fellow Princesses when she told them her weekend plans, which was probably quite naïve.

“You’re dating your Prince,” Marlene had giggled, Friday evening as they all de-wigged.

“I am not,” Lily protested ignoring their sceptical smirks. “I’m saving his job. And my sanity. Also, McGonagall changed the rules after Dave. No dating Princes! Remember?”

“Please,” Emmeline interjected dryly, “as if you haven’t noticed how hot he is.”

“Everyone has,” Mary said, saving Lily the trouble of dodging the question. “Did you see Bertha all over him in the canteen this afternoon?” She asked the group, as Lily felt her stomach twist unpleasantly. She hadn’t noticed that, being too preoccupied with the book she usually read at lunch.

“Yup,” Dorcas stated blithely, pulling off her wig to reveal flowing blonde hair with a fuchsia streak through it. “If he’s not careful, this is going to turn out to be another Prince Fuckboy sitch.”

“James is not Dave,” Lily inserted forcefully, taking off Ariel’s necklace and throwing it onto the counter. “He’s not going to behave like that.”

Embarrassed as she saw the girls exchanging knowing looks due to her outburst, Lily fixed an unconvincing smile onto her face. “He knows all about Dave and the drama and he’s aware of how horrible that all was,” she said calmly, “I doubt he’ll put us all through that again.”

Sensing an end to the conversation, Lily continued to unpin her wig, enjoying the wonderful feeling of removing the pins from her head. She undressed quickly and changed into her street uniform, before making her way to the door, saying goodbye to them all as she went.

“Well, we’re all here arguing over him,” she heard Emmeline say lowly to Marlene as she exited, “it sure feels like another Fuckboy situation.”

--------------------------------

Emmeline’s words from Friday night were still ringing in her ears as she walked to James’s apartment on Sunday afternoon. And of course, now she knew about Bertha, she had watched her all day Saturday doing the best she could to get James’s attention.

It shouldn’t have annoyed Lily and it was ridiculous that she felt in any way possessive of James. But watching Bertha flirt, smile and laugh her way through lunch with him stoked an ugly feeling in Lily that she soon recognised as jealousy.

Knowing that she needed to quell this before she herself was the instigator of drama, Lily resolved not to admire James anymore. In fact, as she crossed the street to the grey wooded building that she thought was where he lived, Lily decided that she would not in any way fancy James and Bertha could have him if she liked.

Climbing the stairs and ringing the bell, Lily was happy in her determination…until James opened the door.

He was wearing glasses.

Fuck.

He had never worn glasses before. A bit like every other piece of clothing he decided to wear, the glasses looked unfairly good on him. She didn’t know what it was about them, but they finished his face beautifully – just in the way that she could picture taking them off to get a better look at his eyes. Maybe during a time when they were standing closer together. With as much energy as she could muster, Lily pushed this thought out of her head. She wasn’t allowed to date her cast mate.

Lily was about to apologise for standing awkwardly in silence in his doorway when she noticed that James seemed to be experiencing the same vocal block too, his eyes fixed on her.

“What?” She asked nervously, knowing that this wasn’t the most polite or graceful way to break the silence but she was desperate so it would have to do.

James swallowed, “oh, um…it’s nothing…it’s just…”

“Just?”

“Eh, your hair…and your, um…eyes,” he proceeded brokenly, his right hand slipping into his hair as Lily wondered what it would be like to run her fingers through it, “I’ve never seen you without…”

He trailed off again, his eyes doing another sweep of her face as Lily reminded herself to breathe.

“I can’t believe they make you wear a wig and contacts,” he finally managed after another swallow.

“Well, you know,” Lily shrugged, feeling her cheeks turn red, “I have to look like her,” she said, holding up the DVD box with Ariel on the front. “Ready for your homework?”

With a jerky smile, James brought her into his flat, closing the door after her.

“You know, I had to borrow a DVD player from my mom,” James said as he followed her into the living room.

“Well that’s your fault for getting rid of an essential piece of technology,” Lily scolded him, dropping her bag beside the couch before sitting down.

“Pfft,” James snorted, taking the DVD off her, “we definitely could’ve just streamed it.”

“My fair merlady,” Lily heard a booming voice echo from behind her, “welcome to our most humble abode.”

“Sirius,” Lily grinned, hoping off the couch and running around to greet him, as Sirius performed a deep bow before grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it.

“Captain Hook, Princess,” Sirius corrected politely in his flawless English accent.

“We spent an hour deciding if he could speak to you normally,” James said from behind them, not sounding impressed.

“You should not complain,” Sirius responded with an edge to his voice, “remember, it was I who provided the popped corn.”

“Are you joining us, Captain?” Lily asked.

“Alas, no,” Sirius replied, as James let out a ‘thank god’ over their shoulders. “I am expecting a duel with that wretched boy Pan this week and so must practice my fencing.”

“He’s going to the gym,” James translated as Lily heard the opening tones of the movie echo from the tv.

“Adieu, my dear,” Sirius called as he strode out of the apartment, gym bag in hand.

“I couldn’t live without him, but if I could, I would’ve killed him by now,” James said without prompting as Lily joined him on the couch.

“Shhhhh,” Lily hissed, poking him in the elbow, as the Disney castle appeared on the screen. “I can promise you there will be a quiz after this.”

James surprised Lily by being fairly quiet throughout the opening scenes of the movie, save for the occasional comment: “her father’s a dick,”… “he definitely looks like a lobster,” and various other observations which made her laugh.

“He’s a crab and you best remember that,” she warned.

“As if it matters…”

“Shhhh,” she quieted him again, knowing what was coming as Ariel swam towards the surface and fireworks exploded from the ship. “Oh my god,” she breathed as Eric came into view, his dog Max bounding around the deck. “This is the best part of the movie.”

“You think he’s attractive?” James asked, sounding unimpressed and she could tell he was watching her.

“Eh…yeah, I’m not blind,” Lily answered emphatically

“I suppose he’s alright…for a cartoon,” James retorted and she couldn’t help but smile at his miffed tone.

“Disney have a really random record of drawing ridiculously hot people,” she told him, still enjoying the view of Eric. “Besides, you should take it as a compliment,” she added thoughtlessly, cringing when she realised what she had said.

“Oh, so, because you think he’s hot that must mean you think I am?” James replied, sounding remarkably happier as he turned his whole body to her.

Trying to regain her composure, Lily shrugged, “Eric is generally regarded as one of the better looking Disney Princes…by everyone.”

With a brief grin, James felt silent and turned back to the movie.

“He’s clearly a shit sailor if his ship is sinking.”

“He’s a Prince and there was a storm…what do you want him to do?”

They watched in silence until the moment when Ariel had rescued Eric and was trying to revive him on the shore. As she sang to him, Lily unconsciously started to sing along quietly, as she had been doing ever since she had first watched the movie.

To her left, she heard a soft noise which broke her out of her daydream.

“Sorry,” she said, looking over to James to see him watching her again. “Old habit.”

“Don’t be,” he replied kindly, a crooked smile about his mouth, “you can sing.”

“Thanks,” she said awkwardly, not really knowing what to say.

“Why don’t you sing at work?”

“We’re not allowed,” Lily advised, “we’re specifically told not to sing. Did you pay attention at all during training?”

With a guilty shrug, James replied, “I still don’t get why you can’t sing.”

“I guess they want the kids to hear the songs the way they remember them,” she went on, “which I understand. I know I play her but Jodi Benson will always be Ariel to me.”

“Oh, she’s going to do something stupid to be with the stupid hot Prince, isn’t she?” James winced now watching the movie again.

“Can you blame her?”

The movie continued and James revelled in his correct prediction, yelling loudly at Ariel not to sign Ursula’s contract much to Lily’s amusement.

“There is no way in hell that would be legally binding!”

Now feeling a bit bolder, Lily sang her way through the rest of the songs with James laughing along until they both fell quiet at ‘Kiss the Girl”.

“Noooooo!” James howled when Flotsam and Jetsam overturned the boat Eric and Ariel were sitting in. “Fuck those eels!”

Nearly crying with laughter, Lily patted him on the arm, “I hate those things,” she consoled.

“I have never been so annoyed,” he announced, glaring at the television screen. “Why didn’t they just kiss?!”

“We’re only just half way through the movie, they couldn’t kiss now.”

James sat and pouted unhappily as the movie went on, only making another noise when Vanessa – Ursula’s human alter ego – appeared, “hello,” he let out lowly, his eyebrows dancing, as she slinked onto the screen.

“Hey!” Lily cried, feeling an unwarranted level of outrage. “Don’t you ‘hello’ her! She’s evil! She’s trying to distract you from Ariel. You can’t find her attractive!”

“Oh, so you can think cartoon Eric is hot but I can’t think evil Ariel is?”

“Eric is hot but he’s not evil! If Eric had an evil twin, I wouldn’t be ‘hello-ing’ all over him!”

“Look, you can’t deny she’s good looking,” James placated her, gesturing to Vanessa on the screen as Lily harrumphed, “but will it make you feel better if I say she’s not a patch on Ariel?”

“All I am asking is that you show a little loyalty to your wife,” Lily said evenly. “That witch has her voice!”

“I cannot believe we are arguing over which cartoon is hotter.”

“Well, you work at Disney now, Potter. Get used to it.”

Again, they fell silent as the movie played on and they watched as Ursula was discovered, defeated and Eric and Ariel married in their happily ever after.

“You know, you’re right. I didn’t like Vanessa so much by the end,” James conceded lowly, stretching out now that the film was over.

“Told you,” Lily gloated. “And at least now, if McGonagall asks, you can honestly say you’ve watched it.”

“Very true,” he agreed, “and I now also know the names of all assorted sentient fish and crustaceans. Thanks for taking the time to make sure I don’t get fired,” he smiled earnestly.

“You’re welcome,” she replied, hoping to sound normal as her heart started to thud against her chest.

“Did you do this with Dave?” He asked, fixing her with a look that wasn’t helping Lily at all.

Lily laughed, “no,” she breathed. “But I’m sure Dave watched the movie during training.”

“Bad luck, Dave.”

Her stomach now tingling, Lily knew she had to remove herself from his couch before she found herself in a tricky position.

“I should go,” she smiled tightly, getting to her feet to remove the DVD.

“Okay,” James said, moving after her. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah,” she said, walking towards the door. “As long as you can recognise me.”

“As if I’d forget you, Princess,” he winked, making Lily curse herself for flirting with him when she had promised she wouldn’t. “Unless, Vanessa is there, of course.”

She had just enough time to yelp in outrage before he closed the door cackling.

------------------

Working with James was easy. Working with James whilst trying not to fancy him was not so easy.

“Even with the blue contacts in he looks good,” she overheard Mary observe.

“His real eyes are nicer though,” Emmeline replied and all the girls in their dressing room agreed.

“You’re being awfully quiet, Evans,” Marlene cut in, sweeping past Lily’s dressing space whilst Lily was unbuttoning her gown.

“I’m not being quiet, I’m trying to get out of this stupid dress so I can go home!” Lily stressed, inwardly knowing that the reason she was dying to go home was so she wouldn’t have to hear them talk about James.

“Oh, don’t be in such a huff!” Marlene retorted, turning Lily around to do her buttons for her. “No one here actually fancies him. Except you. And Bertha, of course.”

“I do not fancy him,” Lily replied, despising how childish and ridiculous she sounded. “I agree he has nice eyes, but he’s my cast mate and that’s all.”

“Poor James,” Marlene said, giggling along with the rest of the girls, “he’ll be devastated to hear that.”

“Oh, would you stop?” Lily hissed. “You’re just talking nonsense now!”

“You can’t see the way he looks at you up on that float, I can!”

“I don’t know if you’re aware, but being a good actor is one of the requirements to work here. As is keeping your mitts off your fellow employees!”

“Sorry to interrupt what is clearly an important conversation,” Dorcas cut in dryly, “but has McGonagall spoken to you all about this Buzzfeed thing?”

“Yes,” Mary replied as the rest of the group all echoed her. “It’s this Sunday, we’re bringing our own costumes but there’ll be hair and makeup there.”

“And why are we doing this again?”

“More advertising apparently,” Mary told her as she hung up her costume. “Buzzfeed are obsessed with the Princesses so they want some shoot to show us all off to their readers.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Dorcas droned, rolling her eyes. “All I needed was an excuse to spend another day dressed for the alpines.”

“Are the guys coming?” Emmeline asked, now styling her own hair.

“Yes, we are,” a voice sounded from outset the dressing room as they all jumped, “also, can I come in? I need to speak to Lily.”

Eyes widening when she realised it was James, Lily yelled back, “just a minute,” as she started to undress quickly. “If he heard what any of you said, I will put fairy dust in all of your wig caps,” she hissed quietly, eyeballing them all before pulling on her shorts and t-shirt.

“Drama queen,” Marlene shot back, striding to the dressing room door and pulling it open once Lily was dressed. “Enter at your own peril, Potter,” she greeted James, “everyone is feeling very Princessey today.

Ignoring Marlene, Lily walked towards James. “What?” She asked very abruptly, seizing up inwardly at her rudeness but she could feel the eyes of the rest of the group on them.

James watched her a bit uncertainly before beginning, “so, one day, I will manage this dance without injuring you,” he half-laughed, folding him arms, presumably from her forced coldness.

“It’s fine, James,” she sighed, not at him, but because of the total silence in the dressing room as they talked.

“Maybe you guys should practice,” Emmeline put in cheerfully and Marlene exchanged a grin with her.

Lily shot her a look.

“Actually, that was what I was going to suggest,” James replied awkwardly, hand in his hair. “Unless, you have somewhere to be?”

“She has nowhere to be,” Marlene smiled, walking back to her own table. “I know because we have big plans to go home and watch Queer Eye at mine.”

Knowing that she wasn’t getting out of this without a serious amount of effort and really not wanting to offend James anymore than she probably already had, Lily didn’t bother to object. And they did need to practice.

“Great,” James smiled, still sounding a little uncertain.

Walking towards him, Lily let her hands drift upwards, one to his shoulder and the other into his waiting hand.

“We don’t have to…here,” he said to her quietly, as his arm came around her waist.

“It’s fine,” Lily reassured again, giving him a tight smile. At least this way, her cast mates could see there wasn’t anything there.

But as he pulled her a little closer and their chests met, Lily felt her heart start to beat rapidly. Did he always hold her this closely?

“You move forward first,” she said lowly, stealing herself with the hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he confirmed, equally quiet.

After a short pause, Lily counted them in, her eyes on their feet.

They managed the first set of four…and then the second. And then the third. But then James stopped.

“You can do it fine in here,” she observed, giving him a small smile.

“Well, it’s not exactly parade conditions,” Dorcas pointed out.

“Would you…” James started, before stopping.

“What?”

“I need you to look at me,” he told her with a reluctant smile, “I think I’ve worked out that’s where the problem is.”

Lily felt, rather than saw, their audience exchange looks.

“Okay,” she agreed after a deep breath. And as she counted them in, she raised her eyes to lock on his.

After two moves, James stood on her left foot.

“Try again,” Lily said immediately, not wanting to give anyone a chance to comment.

She counted once more and they moved back, side, forward, side…She raised her eyes to his and immediately, James tripped.

“Shit, sorry,” he breathed, eyes and arms dropping away from her as his face coloured red.

“It’s okay,” Lily said kindly, unable to stop the butterflies swarming in her stomach.

“Evans is known for her amazing eyes,” Dorcas interjected pleasantly, “I wouldn’t beat yourself up, Potter.”

“Then how come it still happens when you’ve got contacts in?” James asked lightly, quietly enough that only he and Lily could hear. And then he gave her one of those smiles that made her all her limbs feel weak.

“I don’t have to look at you,” Lily offered as a solution.

James shook his head, “no, we’re in love,” he replied quickly before realisation crept onto his face and he laughed steadily amongst the titters in the room, “Eric and Ariel are in love,” he clarified modestly, not really looking at her. “When you’re in love, you look at each other.”

Their eyes met again.

“Exactly like that,” Marlene cut through and though Lily kept her eyes on James, she could tell her friend was grinning. “You guys are such great actors.”

Between that remark and the thudding of her heart, Lily had to move away.

“Maybe we can practice at lunch tomorrow,” she suggested, walking away from him.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “that sounds good. I won’t take up more of your time now.”

“Bye James,” Emmeline called and Lily heard the dressing room door close over her shoulder.

“Wow, Lil’,” Marlene started, “practice at lunchtime tomorrow. What a great way to stop Bertha from getting anywhere near him.”

Lily chucked her beauty blender at her.

-----------------------------

As it turned out, Lily did not see James at lunchtime the next day.

She had awoken in the middle of the night with a fever which, at the time she had related to the rather interesting dream he had been having about James. But, by the next morning, she had a permanent lump stuck in her throat, found it hard to swallow and felt weak and cold all over.

After she called in sick to McGonagall, she just about made it to the doctors without fainting. Upon hearing the hoarseness in her voice, it took the doctor all of three minutes to diagnose her with laryngitis.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if your voice goes completely,” was her final word as Lily traipsed out of the office. “Should be over in two weeks. Plenty of bed rest, lots of water and no talking, okay?”

It occurred to Lily as she made her way home that she probably still could go into work if she wanted. That’s what Sirius would do. If she was method, that’s what she’d do too.

Unfortunately, her fever and dizziness overtook her before she was able to even progress that thought and Lily was again lucky to make it to her bed in time to pass out for the rest of the day.

When she woke up again on Tuesday night, she found several messages on her phone from Marlene and Dorcas objecting to her sick day and demanding that she return to work tomorrow. Lily let them know she was ill and probably wouldn’t be in for the rest of the week before promptly falling asleep again.

It wasn’t until Sunday morning, when she had progressed to being able to make herself soup and toast, that Lily was reminded of the Buzzfeed article.

She was busy peering over the toaster wondering when it would pop, when her phone rang.

Answering it before remembering that she couldn’t talk, Lily jumped to hear James’s voice at the end of the line.

“Hello?” His voice echoed down the telephone, “hello? Lily? I’m not sure if this is a voicemail…”

Lily was contemplating hanging up and sending him a text to explain when James continued to talk.

“Marlene said you were sick…I’m sorry for ringing you when you’re not well but…well, we’re down at this Buzzfeed thing and McGonagall has assigned Bertha to be Ariel…”

Lily nearly dropped the phone.

“…and well…this is stupid…but it sort of feels like Vanessa is here instead of Ariel. And I remembered what you said about loyalty to my wife so…so I just wanted to say that. And to say it feels weird doing this without you.”

She held onto the counter, nearly breathless to hear what he would say next.

“Anyway, if you can get here…I know you’re sick so don’t if you can’t…but if you can, we could do the shoot with the real Ariel. So yeah. That’s all I wanted to say. Bye.”

By the time the toast had popped, Lily had brushed her hair, teeth and was downstairs waiting on her uber.

---------------------------------

“I thought you were sick!”

Marlene was the first to greet her after she had made it into the photo shoot.

She’d already had to use her phone to type out her issue for the security guard and doorman and so she just handed it to Marlene, note already open.

“You’ve lost your voice?’’

Lily nodded.

“Brilliant!” Marlene laughed, “do you need me to explain forks too?”

Lily glared at her until Marlene relented and took her by the arm.

“They were going to let Bertha do Ariel – of course she was dying to – but now you’re here, there’s no way they’ll go to the bother of changing her from Elsa to Ariel,” Marlene chatted as she guided Lily through the studio.

As they walked Lily observed Dorcas and Dirk, arm in arm in the setting of a snowy mountain.

“I’ll sort this with McGonagall,” Marlene continued as they walked to the make-up and hair area, “you just get ready. They’re doing you and James after B&B so you still have a while to go.”

Marlene brought her up to a man who was in the middle of styling Mary’s hair.

“This is Lily, Fabian,” she announced.

“Lily!” Mary greeted, sounding a bit giddy.

“She’s Ariel. She’s lost her voice,” Marlene said loudly, as Fabian and Mary regarded her with amazement.

“Oh my God,” Fabian said, his hands falling away from Mary’s hair. “Really?”

Lily nodded exaggeratedly, struggling not to roll her eyes.

“You’re not contagious are you?” Mary asked uncertainty, after her smile had faded.

“Benjy!” Fabian yelled, saving Lily the trouble of telling Mary she might be but she wasn’t going to let an infectious disease stop her from saving Ariel from Bertha. “Get over here!”

A skinny blond man in glasses sauntered over to the group, leaving behind the photographer he had been speaking with.

“Yeah?”

“This is Ariel,” Fabian informed him excitedly, clapping Lily on the shoulder.

“Nice to meet you,” Benjy said pleasantly, holding out his hand. “I’m Buzzfeed’s social editor.”

“Ben, she can’t answer you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“She’s lost her voice,” Fabian managed, practically buzzing with the news.

Suddenly Benji’s whole face changed, from slightly stressed young reporter to the same fevered astounded expression that Fabian was wearing.

“No shit,” he breathed, “really?”

Lily nodded.

“You can’t talk at all?”

Lily shook her head, feeling more and more sympathy with Ariel with each passing minute.

“Fucking brilliant,” Benji celebrated, grabbing her shoulders.

“You should film this,” Fabian announced, moving back to Mary and beginning to work on her hair again. “That would be amazing.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Benji agreed, “would you mind?”

“You should probably check with McGonagall first,” Marlene suggested, pointing at their manager who was giving directions to the photographer whilst Dorcas fanned herself.

“Sure, sure,” the journalist noted, not sounding too concerned, “will someone get her into her costume,” he called, as he strode back across the room. “I want to do this asap.”

Thinking that she might hurry the process along by putting on her own wig, Lily erased the note on her phone and simply typed out ‘wig?’ before showing it to Marlene.

“What does she want?” Fabian asked absentmindedly.

“She wants to know where her wig is,” Marlene answered, causing Fabian to swivel away from Mary again in outrage.

“They make you wear a wig?!”

After Fabian had recovered from realising Lily wasn’t allowed to have her natural hair, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I’m in charge of the shoot styling, and I say, you’re using your own hair.”

Not really in a position to argue, Lily had watched as they transformed her hair from a curly, frizzy nightmare to long, flowing and bouncing waves that fell perfectly around her face and over her shoulders. She’d never seen her hair look so good. And sure, it wasn’t Ariel’s colour, but it was close.

Whilst her hair was being transformed, another stylist had appeared to apply her make up. Lily was used to wearing Ariel’s make up but she wasn’t used to having it tweaked to suit her own eye colour. It was the smallest of changes to the eyeshadow but suddenly, the make up fit her perfectly. As she watched herself in the mirror, it was as though she was somewhere halfway between herself and her cartoon counterpart.

“You look amazing,” Fabian appraised, still playing with the ends of her hair. “I can’t wait to see you in the tail.”

Not having heard this news before, Lily’s whole face lit up – her eyebrows jumping into her hairline.

“She gets the wear the tail?” Dorcas yelped, appearing out of nowhere and into Lily’s mirror.

“Of course!” Fabian said, causing Dorcas to clap. “We’re doing the scene after Ariel rescues Eric and brings him to the beach. You can’t be a mermaid without your tail!”

Finally pleased with her hair, Fabian moved away to Emma with one final squeeze of Lily’s shoulders.

“James Potter is about to lose his damn mind,” Dorcas whispered into Lily’s ear as they both grinned.

With this thought ringing in her ears, Lily made her way to the costume section to look for her tail. Finding Ariel’s costume wasn’t hard and she found putting on the bra and top part of her tail like slipping into an old pair of pyjamas.

“Ariel! We’re ready for you.”

Hearing the photographer calling her, Lily managed to signal to Dorcas (now in her civilian clothes) and hand her the fin.

“Here, I’ll walk with you,” she said, taking Lily’s elbow to help her balance.

They moved slowly and steadily towards the main stage and in the distance, Lily saw James, in full costume, lying down on the set, eyes towards the ceiling.

Her heart gave a quick thump.

“You really like him,” Dorcas observed quietly, squeezing Lily’s arm. “Your whole breathing changed when you saw him,” she explained, after Lily gave her a questioning look.

Ignoring that, and not really caring that Dorcas was right, Lily continued to wiggle her way to the set.

“Ariel has arrived,” Dorcas announced to the room, shocking Lily and causing all the heads in the room to snap to her.

And just as James lifted his head to see her, suddenly Dorcas was nowhere to be found.

“Wow,” she heard him breathe as their eyes met and she saw the look of pure attraction come onto his face.

“She looks good, right Potter?” Dorcas called teasingly, and Lily quickly became aware that not only were they being watched, but Benji was currently filming with a handheld camera.

“I can’t believe I’m getting paid to do this,” James responded softly, his eyes never moving from hers as the room laughed.

“Oh my god, they’re not together, are they?”she heard Benji say to Dorcas.

“Okay, Ariel, if you could just lie down beside Eric,” the photographer cut in.

Feeling a little ridiculous as she wobbled over to James, Lily just about managed to get to her knees when James’s arms came up to her elbows to steady her. With effort, she placed her body in between his arm and his elbow, head hanging over his. “Hi,” he said lowly to her, in his own sweet tone and Lily could only smile. “Marlene tells me you’ve lost your voice?”

She nodded earnestly and he smiled in response, causing her to blush when he pushed one side of her hair over her shoulder.

“So…was that you on the phone earlier or...?”

Again, Lily nodded.

“Right,” James coughed, “sorry for calling. I just…”

Managing to interrupt him by shaking her head, Lily gave his forearm a quick squeeze.

“Anna, can you attach her tail?” The photographer asked Dorcas.

“I’m on it!”

“Right, so everyone knows the scene. Eric is passed out, Ariel, you’ve just saved him from death. He’s the most beautiful human you’ve ever seen and this is where you decide you’ll do whatever it takes to be with him.”

Lily nodded to acknowledge she’d heard as she held up her feet for Dorcas.

“Just smile, play with his hair…you know – the usual.”

With one final look, James let his head fall backwards and his eyes close.

“Music!” The photographer called and Lily heard the refrain of ‘Part of Your World’ sweep around the room.

Deciding that the only way to do this without her heart beating out of her chest was to be completely method, Lily did her best to pretend that no one else was in the room as her hands moved to James’s hair. The quirk of the left side of his mouth was the only sign on James’s face that she had touched him.

Smiling down at him, Lily flipped her tail and moved her fingers down past his eyebrow, over his cheekbone and down to his jaw, suppressing a full grin when James inhaled deeply.

In the distance, she could hear the sound of the camera clicking furiously.

“Okay, Eric, we’re going to try a few with you awake, so open your eyes.”

Lily’s breathing skipped when her eyes met James’s hazel ones and she almost forgot she was supposed to be acting.

“Heh,” the odd sound he made before swallowing thickly.

Lily looked at him quizzically.

“I’ve just remembered how we get your voice back,” he explained, eyes pouring into hers as the music swelled and his hand drifted into her hair.

She probably should have stopped him, given that they were surrounded by all of their work colleagues, but with absolutely no desire to, Lily’s eyes fluttered closed as their lips met.

He kissed her tenderly and so softly that Lily, wanting more of him, pressed herself down against him as James’s left arm encircled her waist. She revelled in the feeling of his lips against hers, her hair falling down around them and shading them from the eyes of the rest of the room.

It was only after silence rang out around them as the music stopped that they broke apart, eyes meeting each other again. Lily couldn’t help the small smile that crept onto her face when she saw the look James was giving her.

He had just swept her hair behind her ear, when a loud wolf-whistle echoed around the set.

“Well, did it work?” Marlene shrieked, removing her hands from her mouth.

With a quick glance at James, Lily tried to speak…and what came out was a garbled, hoarse cough and the most horrid sound she had ever made.

The entire room exploded in laughter, except for James who was still smiling up at her.

“Oh well,” he said quietly, nudging her nose with his, “guess we’ll just have to keep trying.”

And then Lily remembered that McGonagall was in the room. And oh fuck, James had just kissed her in front of her boss.

Gesturing for someone to come and take the tail and help her up, Lily tried to look everywhere but James whilst also avoiding McGonagall as well.

“I got you,” she heard Marlene say from behind her and soon after her feet were free. “Dressing room?” She asked urgently, as she helped Lily to her feet. “That was the hottest fucking kiss I have ever seen,” Marlene told her quietly, as they stumbled towards the back.

Lily had so many questions running through her head – mainly did McGonagall look like she was going to eat them alive – that she wasn’t able to focus on how great the kiss had been.

When they reached the backstage area, she lowered herself into her seat and tried not to panic.

“Look, don’t freak out,” Marlene reassured her, catching sight of Lily’s expression, “you can say you were just acting.”

Lily was about to respond when she saw James coming after them, jogging lightly.

“On a scale of one to ten, how stupid was that?” He asked, seemingly directing the query at Marlene but looking at Lily.

“Probably a ten,” Marlene answered.

“Can I have a minute to chat with Lily, please?”

“Nope, you’ll need me to translate.”

Lily squeezed her arm and Marlene sighed.

“Okay, fine, but I want all the details later, you hear?”

As Marlene left, Lily felt her heart start to beat rapidly again. Fuck, she liked this boy way too much. Enough that she was endangering her job just to kiss him.

“Okay, it kind of sucks that you can’t talk,” James started, pulling a seat around to face her, “because I can’t tell if you’re mad or not. Are you?”

Not able to stop a smile appearing at his nervous bashfulness, Lily shook her head.

“Good,” he breathed, breaking out into a grin, “because I’ve been thinking about kissing you for three weeks and I really want to do it again.”

Feeling the butterflies swooping around her stomach, Lily’s smile widened.

“I checked the staff rules a couple of weeks ago” James continued, letting his hand come out to fall onto hers, “and apparently, I can’t ask you out.”

Again, Lily nodded.

“So, basically what I wanted to check was if it would be coming on too strong to quit and then ask you out?”

“Yes, it would be, Potter,” a voice said as they both jumped. “I would have at least suggested starting some form of clandestine relationship before resorting to quitting,” Minerva said, glaring down at them both, “or I would have before you kissed Evans in front of the entire cast.”

“Eh, yeah, sorry about that…”

“And stop looking so worried, Evans,” she continued briskly, “no one is going to quit.”

“What?” James asked, his hand still firm on top of hers.

“The rule about dating was put in place after the Dave debacle,” McGonagall explained, “to deter similar behaviour and to prevent us losing half the cast. We’re not going to fire either of you for dating each other. Particularly, when you’ve been driving the entire Park insane with your ridiculous flirting.”

“We weren’t that ridiculous,” James said quietly, looking a bit peeved.

“I’m also assured by Benji that the footage of you both this afternoon is certain to go ‘totally viral’ – it would be illogical for Disney to fire it’s two most popular cast mates.”

“Right,” he noted, his eyes meeting Lily’s. “Does that mean we can kiss in the Park?”

“Not a chance, Potter,” Minerva replied, “you’ll have to help Evans get her voice back on your own time.” And with that, and a wink, she swept away, back towards the set where Jasmine was scolding Aladdin.

“Worth a shot,” James grinned, standing up. Eyes dancing, he leant forward and pressed a quick but meaningful kiss to her lips. “Well that seems to be that sorted,” he said against her lips, pulling back a little to let his forehead fall against hers, “so, what do you think, Evans? Go out with me?”

Still reeling from the surprise kiss, and with her hand clasping his, Lily smiled up at him.

“Yes.”

#jily #jily fanfiction #jily au #Ariel!lily #eric!james #Disney #the little mermaid

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gogoforbrains · 6 years ago

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6 Tips for Contacting Potential New Clients

After receiving a few e-mails and questions regarding how I format my introduction e-mails to potential new clients I figured it would be a good to format a blog post here that could be accessible to anyone who could benefit from it as opposed to just giving out my own templates. First, I think it’s important for anyone reading this to keep in mind that my persepctive on contatcing clients & venues may be different from others. The city in which my team is based, the areas we work in & where my own performance career came into being has a very limited nightlife scene with very little entertainment of the kind we would produce to begin with. So I essentially had to create a door where there wasn’t one.

I think it’s also important to mention that before you begin contacting venues and clients you DO YOUR RESEARCH. What entertainment companies are currently working in your area & what kinds of gigs are they booking? Do the venues you want to contact already contract with a competitive company? Once you begin cold calling yourself and putting in the work to book your events you’ll appreciate the work others have put in before you. Make sure you respect folks spaces, maintain good work ethics & relationships with other performers in your area, it can be a HUGE help in growing your own business. Reach out! Contact these folks when setting your own rates to make sure you are not undercutting established professionals in your area. All ships rise with the tide!

1. Create an Introductory E-mail: Locate the contact information for the venue/client you are attempting to contact. This first message should be short & direct. Introduce yourself & your company by name, include 1-2 short sentances about what it is you do, describing your brand, etc. If there is a specific event you are inquiring about be sure to mention it in this e-mail (I’ll usually add a link just so there is no confusion). I like to close this e-mail by encouraging the client to check out our presskit, website and social media account to get a better idea of what we do. In the past I sent a much longer messages to clients with a bio, etc and I quickly learned that people in the nightlife industry are very busy & if some one can’t glance at the e-mail and get a quick sense of why you are contacting them they are less likely to respond.

2. Now You Play The Waiting Game: In the interim I would suggest going onto social media and liking/adding/following the venue’s/client’s accounts. Like some of their photos, leave a comment or two show them some attention! This may draw them to your account and give you more visibility to the client THEN when you land in their inbox they’ll already have an idea of who you are. 3. You Got A Response! Now What? If the response is a positive one, here is where you can now go in and write a more descriptive e-mail detailing what your plans for the venue/client would be and answering any preliminary questions the client may have had in the response about rates, etc. If the response is negative you can accept it but move forward in a positive way. Thank the client for their time & response and let them know that should they ever have a need for this kind of entertainment you’d still love to work with them.

4. Crickets .... Okay, so you heard NOTHING, it’s driving you crazy & don’t know where to go next. First, take a deep breath - some folks you will never hear back from. It may not sound like a good habit & certainly does not work all of the time but persistance CAN pay off. We are in the age of social media so some folks are more responsive when contacted by via Facebook or even Instagram. You can use the same text from your Introductory e-mail to send to client’s via Facebook - for Instagram you will want to create an even shorter introduction 1-2 sentances with maybe a link to your presskit or most important social media platform.

5. Show Your Support: For those of us in communities with smaller nightlife scenes to break into it is really crucial to get out there and interact with the folks who are putting on the events you want to work at & going to them. Call it “networking.” I don’t mean show up at the club and bother the folk’s working there while they are on the job. Just go out, enjoy yourself and get your dance on for fun. If an oppertunity arises to interact with some one working there, all the better but do not force the interaction. Fun Fact: I got my very first go go dancing gig ever from a club night I used to go out to. My boss was opening a new venue he wanted to have dancers for and saw me bobbing around to 80s music on the floor and asked me to be their first dancer. I worked at this venue for 7 years.

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Follow Up: So it’s been 6 months since you sent that first e-mail and never heard back but you’ve still got your eye on this super-cool venue who has a great show for performers coming up. No harm in e-mailing this client again and reminding them you are there & eager to work together. With following up you should be able to tell by your potential client’s responses when that ship has sailed and you need to move on to something/someone else.

(Dollz Entertainment LLC hoop dancer Pixxie for “Moonlight Masquerade 2018)

In Closing ... Don’t give up! Building & creating a space for you & your performers can be daunting, tough and 9/10 filled with more No’s than Yeses. Yes, it will be hard but don’t let this deter you from your unltimate goals. Eventually, if you put in the work, you will find some one to say yes & with each of those oppertunities & experiences your know how & network will expand.

#gogo dancers #performers #gogo life #wegogo #dancers #gogo world #hoop dancers #building a team

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gaychoices-stories-you-pay · 7 years ago

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Insta-Wives? (Victoria x MC) pt. 2

Prompt from the amazing @aryn-choices : Prompt 303 from this list - “We have to pretend to be married.”

Pairing: Victoria x MC (Rory)

Word Count: 1173

Summary: Turns out drinking alcohol with someone you have repressed feelings for leads to bad decisions. Who knew?

Thanks so much for that overwhelming response to Part 1! Hope you enjoy Part 2!

Borrowed this text post

Part 1

“Mmm,” Victoria groans, rolling onto her other side. Her hand lands on an empty bed, but the sheets are still warm. Her eyes snap open with a frown. She takes in the baby blue sheets, the foreign walls, and her frown deepens. This isn’t her bedroom.

Sitting up, her eyes fall on the bedside table; more specifically, to a framed picture sitting on top of it. In it is a beautiful middle-aged woman standing next to...Rory?

Memories of the night before come flooding back to her and Victoria gasps, lifting the sheets to check - yep. No clothes.

The actress takes a moment to process the situation she’s found herself in before listening carefully for any signs of life in the apartment. When she hears dishes clinging followed by a whispered expletive, she sighs in relief and relaxes back against the pillows. So, she hasn’t been abandoned or kicked out - yet. That’s a good sign, right?

Sore in all the right places, she stretches before sliding out of bed and looking around the room for her clothes. She pulls on her underwear, but the rest of her clothes are nowhere to be seen. instead, she grabs Rory’s red flannel off the floor and shrugs to herself before putting it on, not bothering to button it.

She hesitates when she goes to open the door, taking a minute to breathe. She knew exactly what she was doing last night when she showed up here. The months that had passed since the premiere of Tender Nothings were...odd, to say the least. She got so used to seeing Rory all the time, even after they finished filming. Interviews, studio sessions, promos, there certainly wasn’t a shortage of things to do leading up to the premiere, and she was so used to the other woman's company, she actually found herself missing her - something she never thought would happen. Sure, she’d always enjoyed their flirtatious banter, but nothing ever came of it...

Until Victoria showed up at her door on a mission. Just because Victoria had accepted her feelings for her co-star didn’t mean she couldn’t have a little fun with it. And so, when Tender Nothings 2 was finally announced...well, she knew that if avoiding the woman wasn’t going to be an option, then at least they could reunite on her own terms. The alcohol certainly made things easier - in more ways than one, apparently.

She smirks to herself and pulls the door open with a confidence that she doesn’t really feel. Rory’s head snaps to her.

“Hey, Victori-ah, wow...” Rory’s mouth hangs open at the sight of Victoria in her shirt and little else. Victoria smirks harder and saunters towards her seductively. Rory just stands there frozen, mouth still agape, eyes falling to Victoria’s exposed upper body.

“What?” Victoria teases. “Something wrong?”

“Um,” Rory gulps and wets her lips before continuing. “Ch-Chazz is here.”

Victoria frowns and folds her arms in an attempt to hide her exposed skin, failing if the way Rory’s eyes widen is anything to go by. “Your agent?” Rory nods. “Rory, what the hell is your agent doing here?”

“A better question,” Chazz interrupts as he stomps into the kitchen angrily, “would be why the hell is your agent not here?” He quickly adverts his eyes so that Victoria can hastily button up the shirt.

She lets out a breathless laugh. “Um, okay, is someone gonna tell me what’s going on and why I need my agent right now?”

Chazz lets out a long-suffering sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Great, not you, too.” He looks back up and she can see the pure agony in his eyes. “Where’s your phone?” She points across the room to where her pants are strewn across the tv. “Perfect. Check it. I have to go make another call.” Muttering under his breath, he exits the apartment.

Victoria turns her attention back to her co-star. “What the hell was that about, Rory?” The woman in question refuses to meet her eyes. “Rory?”

Rory sighs and holds up her left hand, still adorned with the ring Victoria usually wears on her thumb. “How much do you remember from last night?”

“Rory, is that my ring? What the fu-”

“That is the most ridiculous story I have ever heard.”

Victoria and Rory are both sat on the couch, heads hung like kids being scolded as their agents tower over them.

“Jackie-”

“Don’t ‘Jackie’ me, Victoria Fontaine!” Victoria’s agent screeches. “I cannot believe you!”

Chazz glares at Rory silently, which is almost scarier than Jackie’s building hysteria.

“Look,” Rory speaks up, “Maybe-”

“Oh, no!” Jackie interjects. “You are the last person I want to hear from right now!”

“Hey!” Victoria snaps. “Don’t talk to her like that!” Rory gives her a grateful smile and her expression takes on a teasing edge. “That being said, personally, I blame you for this.”

Rory lets out an affronted gasp. “How is this my fault?”

“Because, otherwise it would be my fault, and that can’t be right,” Victoria smirks, knowing full well it was her alcohol and her ring that led them here.

Chazz clears his throat. “If you two are about done, we need to figure out how to we’re gonna play this off.”

Jackie snorts. “I wish it were that easy.” At the confused looks she gets, she continues on. “That Instagram post is linked to both your Twitter accounts, and you somehow decided it would be a good idea to make your ‘marriage’ Facebook official. You two already had a huge gay following before this. It’s only been up for ten hours now and it’s already gone viral! People are taking this seriously! #VictoryIsReal is trending on Twitter and Tumblr!”

Chazz taps his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm...well, at least your ship name doesn’t totally suck.”

“Chazz!” Rory shrieks. “Our ship name is the least of our worries right now! We aren’t even together, how can people actually believe we got married?” Rory turns to Victoria looking for backup, only for the older woman to refuse to meet her eyes. Rory frowns at her odd behavior but turns back to their agents. “I don’t understand why this is such a big deal.”

Jackie sighs, finally starting to calm down a bit. “Look. You guys are both out and proud bisexual actresses who are the stars of one of Hollywood’s biggest movies of the year. There are a lot of young girls out there who look up to you guys because of that and seeing you guys find happiness gives them hope. You can’t just be the assholes who put something like that out there because you were wasted and then take it back like it meant nothing.”

The room is silent for a moment before Victoria finally speaks up. “Oh my god, are you serious?” Jackie nods and Rory furrows her eyebrows at the two of them.

“What am I missing here?”

After sharing a long look with Jackie, Victoria sighs in defeat. “We have to pretend to be married.”

#victoria x mc #fanfic #victoria fontaine #playchoices #choices stories you play #prompt #part 2 #red carpet diaries #victoria choices #choices #please give me feedback

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orbemnews · 4 years ago

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Murder suspect seen with tiger in west Houston arrested on evading charges HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Authorities have arrested the man who was seen taking in a tiger that was spotted roaming loose in a Houston neighborhood on Sunday. That tiger has yet to be located. Multiple police sources identified the man as 28-year-old Victor Cuevas. Cuevas, who is currently out on bond on an unrelated murder charge, is known to possess several exotic animals. The search for Cuevas began Sunday after he evaded police. But on Monday, he was taken into custody to the Fort Bend County jail. He was supposed to turn himself in at 8:15 p.m. at the Harris County jail. Instead, Cuevas’ lawyer said Houston police picked him up at his mother’s house in Richmond and took him to the Fort Bend County jail. UPDATE #2: Victor Hugo Cuevas is in custody. The whereabouts of the tiger are not yet known. Anyone with information on the tiger is urged to contact HPD Major Offenders at 713-308-3100.#hounews https://t.co/TkaAtK45MC — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 11, 2021 Cuevas is charged with felony evading arrest after allegedly fleeing from HPD Monday. Cuevas’ lawyer, Michael Elliott, was furious as he talked to the media Monday night. “Fifteen minutes before he leaves to surrender, (HPD) go and arrest him, and the result is they get to keep him there for 10 days now,” said Elliott. Elliott said the tiger is not his client’s but that he knows the owner. He added that he and his client were apparently working with authorities to locate the tiger and the owner. WATCH: ‘It’s not his tiger’ Attorney of alleged tiger owner says “There’s a lot of misunderstandings and miscommunications and a lot of things put out there falsely that’s very troubling,” Elliott said. “First off, The Houston Police Department here. I know they’re trying to do their job. Everyone wants to know about the tiger and their safety. Make no mistake, there’s no crime of having a tiger in the state of Texas.” In the City of Houston, there is an ordinance that says you can’t have a tiger. But, as Elliott points out, it is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. On Sunday, Houston police responded to a call about a tiger in a neighbor’s front yard on Ivy Wall Drive, in the Highway 6 and Memorial area. When officers arrived, the alleged owner was loading up the tiger in his Jeep. “The owner put the tiger in a white SUV and drove off from the scene, there was a brief pursuit, and the man got away with the tiger,” said HPD Commander Ron Borza, who focuses on animal abuse cases for the department. “My main concern right now is focused on finding him, and finding the tiger, because what I don’t want him to do is harm the tiger. We have plenty of places where we can take the tiger and he can spend the rest of his life.” Video of the incident shows off-duty Waller County Sheriff’s Sergeant Wes Manion coming to the aid of his neighbors, and trying to keep the tiger at bay. Moments later, a man in a white shirt emerges from his house and grabs the tiger by what appears to be a collar. “An individual came out and said, ‘Don’t kill it, don’t kill it,'” recalled Manion, who also lives in the area. “I didn’t know who this individual was, told him to get in the house. He stated that was his tiger, and I instructed him to take his tiger back inside, which he did.” HPD believes the man in the white shirt was Cuevas, who later put the tiger in his white Jeep Cherokee and fled from the home at a high rate of speed. Our Animal Cruelty Unit, along with @BARC_Houston are currently investigating the incident in which a tiger was seen at 1103 Ivy Wall Drive about 8 p.m. on Sunday (May 9). The male owner was seen escorting the tiger to the residence then putting it into his vehicle. 1/3 — Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 10, 2021 Monday morning, both HPD’s Animal Cruelty Unit and Houston’s Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care (BARC) were investigating the incident. A sweep of the house yielded no additional animals. However, ABC13 reviewed multiple Instagram videos and pictures on Cuevas’ account which indicated he is no stranger to exotic animals. The videos show him playing with a baby bear, feeding it with a bottle, and giving the bear kisses in his home. There are also videos of at least two monkeys. Cuevas is seen taking one monkey with him while he was having dental work done, and taking another monkey to a convenience store, where the clerk was not pleased. In addition, several videos show Cuevas cuddling with a young tiger. Police say even though it is against city regulation to keep a tiger, this particular tiger does appear well fed. WATCH: HPD reveals the tiger’s owner has been out on bond in a murder case The murder charge tied to Cuevas involves an alleged shooting at a strip shopping center in Fort Bend County. According to records, Cuevas is accused of shooting and killing a man in July 2017 and is out on a $125,000 bond. ABC13 spoke with Cuevas’ attorney on the matter. He said his client is up to date on all court appearances as it relates to the murder charge. Meanwhile, back in the west Houston neighborhood, Cuevas and his girlfriend are described as living a quiet, fairly secluded life. “They didn’t bother anybody,” neighbor Jorge Ramos said. “They are very private, I have to say.” He said this is not the first time he’s seen a wild animal at the residence. WATCH: Neighbor once saw monkey at home where tiger was seen roaming “I did notice one time, and this is something interesting, that I was walking by my driveway. There was a capuchin monkey that showed up in the window,” Ramos recalled. “I figured, ‘OK, this is a small animal. It could be domesticated.’ But I never thought they would hold a tiger in their house.” Previous wild encounters in Houston While Houston for the most part may be a sprawling cosmopolitan city, we’ve had our fair share of tiger instances. In May 2019, a tiger was found caged in a southwest Houston garage. Houston police arrested the former owner, Brittany Garza, who at the time faced animal cruelty charges. She told ABC13 at the time that she had raised the tiger, whom she called “Rajah,” since he was a cub. But once Rajah started getting big, she knew it was time to find him a new place to live. Garza claimed two years ago that she had made arrangements with a sanctuary in College Station and put the animal inside a friend’s home until the transfer could be made. But someone else found the tiger in the garage before he could be moved. The tiger was eventually taken to Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch in Murchison, Texas, where he is said to be living the rest of his life. FROM MAY 2019: Tiger owner arrested for leaving wild cat caged at vacant Houston house Can you even own exotic animals in Texas or Houston city limits? We looked at this back in 2019 as well and found that, in Texas, owners of “dangerous wild animals” must register with their municipality or county animal office or sheriff. A dangerous animal includes a lion, tiger, ocelot, cougar, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, bobcat, lynx, serval, caracal, hyena, bear, coyote, jackal, baboon, chimpanzee, orangutan and gorilla. SEE ALSO: How did a cow end up on the East Freeway? However, municipalities can also ban ownership of these animals. And for anyone hoping to own a dangerous wild animal in Houston city limits, no can do. It is illegal. Violations are misdemeanors punishable by fines of $500 to $2,000. Texas’ exotic pet laws: The furry friends you can’t have in Houston You can read more about the laws pertaining to wild animals in Section IV of this website. You can also find more on dangerous wild animals from the Texas State Law Library. TIMELINE: Houston area exotic pet incidents since 1998 Animal encounters: That time a gator was on the Fred Hartman bridge Follow Courtney Fischer on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Follow Miya Shay on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Copyright © 2021 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments); if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '301587867451487'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link Orbem News #Arrested #CaughtOnCamera #caughtonvideo #Charges #evading #Houston #memorial #Murder #Suspect #Tiger #tigerfoundinhouston #tigerinhouston #tigerloose #tigerlooseinhouston #VictorCuevas #west #WestHouston #wildanimalshouston

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alanaknobel99 · 4 years ago

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Book Review: “How To Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy” by Jenny Odell

1. What is your favorite quote from the book and why do you find it meaningful?

“It's a bit like falling in love, that terrifying realization that your fate is linked to someone else's, that you are no longer your own. But isn't that closer to the truth anyway? Our Fates are linked, to each other, to the places where we are, and everyone and everything that lives in them how much more real my responsibility feels when I think about it this way! This is more than just an abstract understanding that our survival is threatened by global warming, or even a cerebal appreciation for other living beings and systems. Instead this is an urgent, personal recognition that my emotional and physical survival are bound up with these strangers not just now but for life.” (pg 183)

I know this is a long quote, but when I first read this passage my eyes filled with tears and I let out the most inspirational “wow.” I was just shocked when I read this, at this point in the book this quote made everything make sense. We are connected to each other and to this earth, and our survival is counting on that connection. However, we are so absorbed in the attention economy we forget what and who are around us. We need to fall in love with each other again rather than the people stuck on our little screens.

2. Why do you think this book, released by indie publishing house Melville Press, has become an unexpected bestseller in Corona Times?

What else do we have to do during quarantine than sit our phones? We are quite literally in a cage where the only thing we have is to lose ourselves in the attention economy. People forgot how to take walks outside, rather than go to the gym, or just sit on the porch and watch the kids play. I think why this book was so successful during Corona Times is because people needed a break, and this book was a guide to that break. There was a pause in life, and I don’t think anyone truly knew how to take that pause.

This past year has been a constant pressure cooker of the attention economy, and people needed to find a way to turn it off. While social media was a great way to connect us when no one could be together, we really had no escape. This book also came out at a time when a lot of people found it necessary to evaluate their life, and really look at themselves including what and who we surround ourselves with. The book, I believe, allowed people to open their eyes to seeing more than what was really there.

3. How does the attention economy benefit from our social media activity and media streaming consumption?

Refresh, Refresh, Refresh. That’s how the attention economy benefits from our social media activity. There are certain aesthetic choices that suck us into platforms like Instagram, or Facebook. The endless scrolling is what sucks you in as a consumer, and its main purpose is to keep you scrolling. There is always something new, and it never stops.

Our attention span as society has continued to dwindle down to the bare minimum. Musicals and plays used to be over 3 hours, and now they are compact into 90 minutes with a 15-minute intermission, to recharge your attention. With the advancement of technology, our attention span continues to decrease. So much that we can’t deal with the feeling of not knowing something. We have to take out our phones and ask Siri. Our phones and other devices have allowed us to develop these emotions that we don’t want to feel anymore, and the only way to avoid that is to continue our use.

4. How does this book relate to the topic of celebrity culture?

Celebrity culture is a huge part of the attention economy. A majority of the ‘news’ on my Facebook feed is about celebrities. Social media allows them to develop a brand, and it’s almost as if they are constantly selling to us. Also, social media breaks down this barrier between the celebrity and the audience where it makes us feel as though the celebrity is our friend. The closer that connection becomes the easier it is to get sucked into this cycle of celebrity culture that is produced on social media.

5. Do you take digital detox breaks? If yes, describe them. Have they been more challenging during the quarantine era? Why?

I don’t take digital detox breaks. For one, I just don’t think I could remember all of my passwords after.

All joking aside, for me I don’t know if they would work. I feel like no matter how long the break was, I would just go back, and perhaps it would be worse. What did I miss? Who messaged me? I’m not saying there aren’t benefits, but I try and find other times to avoid social media during the day. Maybe I’ll take one just for an experiment. However, I feel as though I would have to be alone. I don’t know how effective it would be because I have roommates, and watching someone else scroll all day wouldn’t give me the same benefits that I would expect to happen if I were alone.

6. Do you sleep with your phone or computer? Are you aware of impacts on your sleep cycles and relaxation caused by overnight proximity?

My phone is on my nightstand, plugged in, and on do not disturb at night and mostly throughout the day. Notification sounds just bother me, especially if I’m trying to concentrate on something else like homework or reading a book. However, I have many habits with my phone. Just like notification sounds, notification numbers bug me so much. If I see one I have to clear it, I like things to be clean on my phone. Usually when I’m stressed about something I will go on my phone to escape or avoid. I follow a lot of “aesthetically pleasing” accounts that I turn to in order to calm myself down when I get anxious. Scrolling through Pinterest always helps because I’ve tailored that to be aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. If I’m surrounded by a calm, good-looking space, it’s less likely I’ll be anxious, and that pertains to my phone as well.

That being said, I am trying to limit my phone usage. I’ve noticed I can’t watch television without scrolling on my phone. This is just bad for my eyes and everything else cause I’m staring at two screens. My biggest habits with my phone are in the morning and before I go to bed. I’m very into my routines, and this has just become part of it. I also look at my phone when I first wake up, and I scroll for about 30 minutes. Mainly, it’s just to clear all my notifications from overnight. Then at night, which is where I watch tv shows or Youtube, and then scroll on my phone before I go to bed. I’ve been trying to break this habit by reading before bed, which ultimately limits my watch time because if it’s past a certain hour, I just go to sleep. I’m very aware of my habits and am trying to change them, especially because of this book. But I don’t think it has an impact on my sleep cycle, if anything my phone relaxes me because I use it in a relaxing way, but that is also a problem within itself.

7. What is the role of nature in Odell's book, in particular the role of birds? (P.S. Did you know that birdwatching has become a HUGE pastime in the Covid era with a Snow Owl becoming a celebrity in NYC's Central Park? See NY Times (Links to an external site.) article on Birdwatching and another on the snowy owl (Links to an external site.))

The presence and care for nature in Odell’s book is what I mostly took away. We as a society are so absorbed within ourselves and advancement of technology that we have lost a state of consciousness with the very ground we walk upon. I watched a TED talk by Graham Hancock called “The War on Consciousness” (which was originally banned from TED due to it’s radical content) and he echo’s a lot of what Jenny Odell says. Humans have lost this connection to spirit, and if we don’t reconnect we may be holding ourselves back from further evolution. The way that Hancock suggests we grasp this reconnection is through the psychedelic drug of ayahuasca. There are a lot of parallels between these two because Odell suggests a lot that we need to render our attention, in order to open ourselves to more than what is considered surface level. If we allow ourselves to embrace a further, deeper state of consciousness we can reconnect with earth, and the nature that surrounds us in order to become a greater society.

We need to reintroduce ourselves to nature, rather than take it for granted, which is why I think something like birdwatching became a pastime activity during COVID. I also want to mention the attention that nature has been getting during COVID. I remember a couple weeks after the lockdown there were stories of how animals and wildlife were starting to come back to places they haven’t occupied in a long time because nature was somehow repairing itself. There are also a lot of before and after lockdown pictures of cities where you can see the difference in pollution form the sky color. I think a lot of people took that as a sign that we are the problem, and things need to start changing.

Here is the link to the TED Talk, I highly recommend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0c5nIvJH7w

8. Experiment: Leave your phone at home for one hour to talk a walk in your neighborhood. Write down your observations when you return and draw a map of your path. What did you observe? Take a photo of your map to include in your book review. Did the experience provide any revelations? Were you anxious, relieved, inspired? Did you notice anything you'd never seen before?

I love taking walks, it’s been a daily activity for me since Corona Times have begun. I usually just plug my headphones in and listen to music, but I don’t really look at my phone when I’m walking. My phone is also a safety net for me, so walking without it made me a little more anxious than comfortable.

I live kinda close to a park in New York, but it’s a bit of a trek to get to. Usually I speed through my neighborhood in order to get to the quite area when the park begins, but not this time. I took more of a casual stroll through my neighborhood, still the same route. There was a lot of traffic noise, music from people’s speakers at storefronts, groups of people talking in Spanish. I always walk by a pet store to stare at the puppies in the window. Once I got to the park there is always this sense of relief, and it was still there even without my phone. The wind was brushing through the trees, footsteps of people running, birds chirping. There was a lot that I noticed, I sometimes forgot my phone wasn’t there and I could just be present.

9. What does Odell mean by 'doing nothing?' Are we capable of doing nothing?

The very last line of her book when she describes her encounter with the pelicans was, “The answer was nothing. Just watch.” We need to be able to disconnect, and we have lost that ability to disconnect ourselves from the attention economy. We live in a society that tells us we can’t do nothing, because you can’t survive that way. To take time to breathe, relax, connect with nature is looked at as selfish rather than necessary. The question of if we are capable of doing nothing is simple, of course we are capable. However, are we willing?

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annashipper · 7 years ago

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dailymail(.)co(.)uk/femail/article-4787644/Once-skinny-Trinny-long-way-buttoned-up. Hi Anna, don't know if you've seen this and don't know if you care, but what do you think of this write up by the mail? Pushing the family narrative again?

Hi Nonny and thank you for the LINK! I care! A LOT! :D

So... PR has now replaced baity unverified twitter sightings with baity unverified Fail sightings. And the Fail, being the beacon of hard hitting journalism that it is, actually went ahead and published. COOL!

I have questions. So many questions:

Did Seb run into the Dismals himself and they refused to take a selfie with him, or did someone call this in?

Was it uncle Harvey?

Was it Karon?

Was it Weirdo?

Was it Ben?

Why are there no twitter sightings, no facebook sightings, no instagram sightings (no linkedin sightings even) of Ben and Weirdo walking through leafy Hampstead enjoying their ice creams? Was Seb the only one that saw them? Does this mean he’s one of the few true believers?

Were there Trees Of Proofiness(TM)? Or at least Leafs Of Proofiness(TM)? This was in “leafy Hampstead Heath” after all.

Was there a tandem bike involved, or was it just tandem-bike-less ice cream scoffing? I’m asking for a friend. Her name is Ballsy.

Isn’t Seb aware of the fact that Ben is not self-styled anymore? Did he miss the coverage of Baity Joe’s store opening from the Fail four months ago? LINK

Does the lack of pictures mean PR have finally realised Weirdo can’t be trusted not to smile straight at the paparazzi during pap walks?

Does the lack of pictures mean Weirdo is on holidays and couldn’t be bothered to fly into the UK for crystal clear sneaky pics at the festival or a pap walk in leafy Hampstead?

Does PR not realise this sighting on the Fail would be a great opportunity for them to leak at least one clear picture of Weirdo at the Wilderness Festival?

Couldn’t Weirdo get a new pair of sandals to sell?

Why weren’t any of the pillows with Ben and Weirdo at leafy Hampstead

Doesn’t Pilo deserve ice cream?

Doesn’t Pilo 2.0 deserve sunlight?

And of course that brings me to a whole other list of questions which I’m not gonna ask. Instead, I’ll draw a parallel and allow everyone to come up with their own questions.

According to the Fail, Pilo 2.0 was born on March 3rd. That makes him 5 months and 11 days old. By the time Pilo was 5 months old, we’d already had:

A “sneaky” pic of Ben pushing a hermetically sealed pram through leafy Hampstead on Father’s Day (when Pilo was 21 days old)

A pap walk on Pilo’s christening (when Pilo was 3 months 13 days old)

A pap walk through leafy Hampstead of Ben and Weirdo running errands with Pilo (when Pilo was 3 months and 18 days old)

Dearest Intern, tell Karon to tell Ben to tell whoever is coming up with ideas to prove Pilo 2.0 is real that they’re slacking.

Also, thank Seb for starting my day off with a giggle! :D

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pllsetskyonice · 7 years ago

Text

@yuriplisetsky is a size queen

Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky

2,900 words

“What are you talking about?”

“Your Twitter? Your thread that spends about ten tweets waxing poetry about the size of my dick? Everyone’s talking about it, the fans are going crazy, I had Victor ringing me up half an hour ago to ask if it was true and if I really had deflowered Russia’s Fairy like that, and I just – what the hell were you thinking, Yuri?”

In which Yuri gets drunk and Tweets some things he probably shouldn't have.

AO3 link

So @94mercy made this post that headcanoned that Yuri gets drunk one night and talks about the size of Otabek’s dick on social media, and I immediately knew I had to write it. Otherwise known as me just wanting to join in with all the hung!Otabek content that’s been coming out of this fandom in recent weeks.

(Also tagging @daddybek because that’s where this all started back in February)

They’ve been dating for a few months when it happens.

Yuri goes round to Mila’s for a few drinks after practice one day, and they steadily make their way through a bottle of vodka, laughing and talking about their respective partners. The music is loud and Yuri feels all loose and giggly as he reaches for his phone, taking selfies and documenting their escapades on Snapchat. He’s never been this drunk before, so drunk he’s not even sure what order his memories from the last few hours go in, so drunk that he can barely stand, so drunk that the room is spinning.

He sits down and opens Twitter, starting to type. He doesn’t even think about what he’s Tweeting, just starts a thread and keeps on going until he gets it all off his chest. Mila is grabbing at his hands and pulling him up so they can dance together again, and Yuri’s phone lies on the couch, forgotten.

So he doesn’t see what he’s done until morning.

It’s the sound of his phone vibrating loudly on the bedside table that wakes him up. He’s in Mila’s spare bedroom, a small sized room with what feels like the most uncomfortable bed he’s ever slept on, but it evidently didn’t bother him at whatever time he collapsed onto last night. At least he made it into bed, he supposes. That’s an achievement, even if he’s still wearing yesterday’s clothes.

He grabs at his phone, squinting at the screen. It reads 6 AM, and is somehow fully charged, even though he has doesn’t remember plugging it in last night. It’s far too early. Yuri wants nothing more at this particular moment in time than to roll over and go back to sleep to avoid dealing with this hangover from hell, but it’s Otabek that’s calling him, so he supposes that he’d better answer.

“Hello?” he says, his voice sounding all croaky as he unplugs his phone and rolls back onto his back. There’s light streaming in through a gap in the curtains, and Yuri would get up and close them properly, but they’re too far away to deal with right now. Instead, he opts for the easier option: pulling his blankets over his head.

“Yuri, what the fuck?” Otabek asks on the other end of the line. Even in this still half drunk, hungover state, Yuri can tell that this is Not Good. “What were you thinking?”

“What are you talking about?” Yuri replies. He wonders if it’s about his and Mila’s Snapchat stories, but from what he can remember there’s nothing too outrageous on them, just some really bad singing in questionable English to pop songs neither of them like.

Yuri fumbles with his phone, opening Twitter with his phone call with Otabek still active in the background. He doesn’t even need to go onto his profile to see it, it’s all over his timeline. “Oh, shit,” he swears as he scrolls through the Tweets. “I don’t even remember posting any of this. I was so drunk, Beka. So drunk. I’m sorry.”