#i just really wanna see Tammy high off her ass

[puppmeo]

I think if the Usher family had just taken edibles together everything would've turned out fine

[yikesharringrove]

Hawkins High would have this reunion thing like all the kids who went there at the time would come like after 5 or 10 years to meet each other. So, what if Steve and Billy had something going on during highschool, but then Billy just left without saying a word to California, leaving Steve behind. They would meet each other there and Billy’s like more muscular and has a short beard. It gets Steve all hot just by looking at Billy, so they end up having sex 👀 (+ some angst too pls)

There’s smut

-

Steve tucked his shirt into his jeans.

He stared at himself in the mirror, sighing as he untucked it again.

He had gone through his whole suitcase at this point, trying to find something somewhat okay to wear.

He huffed as he took off his shirt.

“Can you chill?” Robin was sitting on her bed on the hotel. He had begged her to come with him, even though she had no interest in going to the reunion. “It’s not like anyone that matters will be there.”

“Really? You’re not hoping to see,” he put on a dreamy breathy voice. “Tammy Thompson?”

She threw a pillow at him.

“Guarantee you Tammy Thompson is doing better things than going to the fucking Hawkins High School reunion.”

“Well, whatever those better things are, it certainly isn’t fucking country music.” She threw another pillow at him. He tugged on a new shirt.

This one was nicer, fit a little better. He nodded once.

“Are you finally ready? It’s been hours Steve. The reunion’s probably over.” Steve threw the pillows back at her.

-

They checked in at the front table, getting their name tags and proceeding into the gym.

Steve made a beeline for the bar, getting two shots to loosen himself up. He got himself and Robin some drinks, and mingled.

He and Tommy had reconnected a few years ago, met up for coffee when Tommy was in Chicago one day.

He clapped Steve on the back when they hugged.

“You look good, man.”

“Hey, you too. Where’s Carol tonight?”

“Oh, she’s all sick.” Steve stared at him. He grinned. “She’s knocked up! We’re having a fucking baby. Can you believe that?” Steve hugged him again. “So, when are you two gettin’ hitched?”

Steve looked at Robin, and they both burst out laughing.

“Oh, we are not together!” Tommy furrowed his brows.

“Haven’t you two lived together since fucking high school?”

“I mean, on and off, mostly. But we’re, uh, not compatible.”

They had each moved in with significant others through the years, but when everything got messy, they ended up right back together.

-

The evening ended up being, pretty alright.

Robin rolled her eyes when Steve said that, but she didn’t complain, so Steve called it a win.

They were out on the dance floor, tearing it up like it was still ‘85.

Steve was laughing with some asshole he used to be on the swim team with when his locked on the gym doors.

His mouth went fucking dry.

Billy Hargrove was standing there, looking cool as ever, and hot as all fuck in a tight henley.

His hair was short, and he had a fucking beard.

Steve turned around, ordering himself two more shots.

Last time he saw Billy he was tugging on his jeans, was kissing Steve on the forehead and was tiptoeing downstairs, boots in his hand.

He left the next day.

Steve did not want to deal with this right now.

It had taken him years to move on from Billy, taken him fucking years of crying into his pillow and letting beefy blond guys fuck him in dirty bar bathrooms.

Four STD scares and a lot of wine later,he was over Billy. Completely and totally over him.

And here he was, looking at Steve and biting his bottom lip, and Steve was totally not over him.

Billy swaggered up to him, leaning against the bar, his shirt pulling across him pecs.

He was fucking jacked. Definitely bigger than he had been in high school.

He tossed a leather jacket down, ordering a scotch for himself.

“Long time no see, Stevie.” Steve slammed both his shots.

“Yeah. ‘Bout ten years, Hargrove.” He pushed off the bar.

He was itching for a smoke. Had quit about four years ago, but something about Billy brought back all those cravings, all those memories of sitting in bed, sharing a Marlboro even though Steve hated them, their fingers brushing on each pass.

He pushed out of the gym, leaning against the brick wall outside.

He scoffed at the alleyway where Nancy shattered his already broken heart.

“Steve,” Billy’s voice was soft.

“I don’t wanna hear it.” He refused to look at him.

“I just wanna talk.”

“Oh, so you finally learned how.” Billy huffed.

“I should’ve told you I was leaving.” Steve made a face at him.

“Oh, you should’ve?”

“Look, I’m sorry.”

“Great. Thanks.” He tapped his foot. “Jesus, you have a cigarette?” Billy rifled through his pockets.

And pulled out a pack of teal American Spirits.

“God. You’ve gone soft.” Billy shook his head, lighting two in his mouth, passing one to Steve. He had several piercings in each ear now.

“Trying to cut back.” Steve took the cigarette.

“I quit years ago.”

“Well, sorry to break your streak.”

“Something about you makes me need a fuckin’ cigarette.” He took a long drag. “You and smoking just go together in my brain I guess.”

“I was hittin’ it hard back then. Probably always just smelled like smoke.”

“I always liked the way you smelled.”

And maybe it was the shots Steve had knocked back, or the way Billy’s earrings glinting in the light, but Steve leaned in, taking a strong whiff of his collar.

“Still like it?” Billy was smirking at him.

“Liked it better with the Marbs.”

“Well, two packs a day was probably gonna make me keel over soon.” He smiled when Steve huffed a laugh. “So, how are you? What have you been up to?”

“Jesus, we really doin’ this?” Billy shrugged at him. “I’m good. I’m in Chicago now. I’m an E.R. nurse.” Billy smiled at him.

“Good for you.”

“What are you doing? Since we’re making weird small talk now.”

“Been here and there. Worked in garage for a while, waited tables. Stripped too. I’m an English teacher now, if you can believe it.”

“Oh, come on. You act like I don’t know you. I mean, fuck, how many times were you my own personal English teacher?” Billy looked down, ashing his cigarette.

“You’re actually why I decided to study it. I’m in a high school now.”

“Bet you’re the teacher everyone gets crushes on. Get love notes on your desk, and all that.” Billy laughed, rolling his eyes.

“Nah. I’m a little more tough lovin’ than that. Don’t take any shit.”

“You’re too soft for that. Don’t front.” Billy smiled, looking down at his feet.

“One a’ my kids has pretty bad dyslexia. Parents won’t do shit about it. Makes me think a’ you.”

“Shoulda seen me when I got to college. Diagnosed myself.”

“Nurse Harrington for the win, then.” Steve laughed, smoke pouring outta his mouth. He stubbed out his cigarette.

“Where are you living now?”

“Santa Monica.”

“Explains the tan.”

“C’mon, Baby. I’m always this golden.” He smirked, waggling his tongue at Steve.

And it was like being back in high school, with Billy teasing him on the basketball court.

And Steve didn’t think, just grabbed the lapels of his jacket, smashing their mouths together.

Billy leaned into it, holding Steve’s face between his palms, pushing him with his body against the wall.

His beard scratched against Steve’s skin, lit a fire in his gut.

“Where you stayin’ in town?”

“Shitty motel.”

“Take me.” Billy’s eyes were wide in the dark. He nodded vigorously.

Billy pulled him by the wrist to the parking lot, dragging him to his car.

The same car he had in high school.

The blue Camaro still smelled the same, and when Steve turned around, the backseat was still sporting that stain, a little white smudge of Billy’s cum that had dripped out of Steve.

He smiled to himself as Billy started the car.

He put one hand on Steve’s thigh as they roared through town, heading down the service road.

Billy pulled into the motel. Was back on Steve in a second.

Steve danced out of reach, slipping out of the car with a coy smile.

Billy shook his head as he unlocked the door.

He pushed Steve onto the bed, climbing on top of him.

They wasted no time, tearing at one another’s clothes.

Billy pulled off his shirt, and Steve stared, brushing his fingers over his chest piece, a deer with white roses tangled in it’s antlers.

“Pretty.” Billy smiled down at him as he traced it. It was black and white, hyper realistic.

Billy leaned over him, kissing at his neck, trailing down his collar bone.

“You think ahead? Condoms? Lube?” Billy looked up at him.

“Who do you think I am? Was fuckin’ praying you’d be at that thing.” He kissed down his body.

Steve worked one hand into his hair, holding on while Billy swallowed up his cock.

“Holy shit.” He tossed his head back, one of Billy’s hands coming up to hold his own.

It was so easy, falling back into their old ways.

Billy knew just how to play his body. He got him hard and leaking in a second, moved his tongue so well, sucking Steve down.

“So good at this. ‘d forgotten.” He hadn’t forgotten how good Billy made him feel, doesn’t think he ever could. Just tried to push that shit away until he didn’t spend all of his waking hours thinking about him.

Billy mouthed down his dick, moving to suck lightly on his balls, spreading Steve’s legs open, and licking over his hole.

He pushed his tongue inside of him, sucking on his rim.

His beard was rough against Steve;s inner thighs, but he kinda loved it. Didn’t even mind the lame little pornstache Billy had grown in the summer.

Steve squirmed.

He hadn’t been with anyone in a while, didn’t get a lot of time off from work to date and fuck.

“Billy, just fuck me.”

“Haven’t tasted your sweet little ass in years, Pretty Boy.“

“Yeah? And who’s fault is that.” Billy sat up, looking at Steve as sincerely as he could with spit down his chin.

“You know, I really am sorry about that.”

“Billy, let’s just, talk about this later, okay?” Billy chewed on his bottom lip. Steve pushed his head back down.

He didn’t want to think for a moment, didn’t want to think about benders and crying at Robin while he threw up tequila and rainbow pills.

He let Billy work him open with his tongue and two of his fingers, let him dig into his prostate and bring Steve right to the edge.

Billy pulled off him, digging in a suitcase for a stack of condoms, a few little packets of lube.

He crawled back on top of Steve, rolling on a condom.

Steve spread his legs, rubbing the side of his knee against Billy’s torso.

Billy lined up, and pushed inside.

They both moaned as he bottomed out, his hips pressing flush to Steve’s ass.

He pulled out, his cock heavy, stretching Steve wide.

He rolled his hips, propping himself up with both hands on either side of Steve’s head.

Steve wrapped his legs around his waist, so much thicker than he was in high school. He felt up Billy’s body, feeling hard muscle before wrapping his arms around his shoulders.

“Missed your pretty sounds.” He was back on Steve’s neck, sucking bruises into the skin. “No one has ever made me feel as fucking crazy as you.” And he began fucking into him faster, harder. “Can you still cum with nothin’ but a cock in your ass?”

“Yeah. Been a minute, but if you-” he cut himself off with a moan, back arching as Billy shifted, hitting that perfect little spot.

He was all breathy, his voice high in his throat, eyes wide.

Billy was smirking at him, had doubled down, started going harder, rougher.

“I’m gonna-” He didn’t finish his sentence before he was cumming, his whole body going tight.

It seemed like he was cumming for fuckin’ hours, eyes squeezing shut as he made a mess of himself.

Billy was painting when he floated back into his body, had spilled out into the condom.

He kissed Steve’s temple.

“Fuckin’ beautiful.”

Steve closed his eyes, pretended for a minute that Billy had never left.

“Why did you leave?”

Billy was quiet. Steve still had his eyes closed.

Billy warmth was gone, and Steve cracked one eye enough to see Billy’s retreating back. He went to the bathroom, and Steve could hear the faucett.

He came back, the condom disposed of, and a towel warm and wet for Steve.

He cleaned him up, just like he used to.

“My dad kicked me out. Didn’t have a whole lotta choice in the matter.”

They had been planning a summer together. Were planning on hanging out at the mall and going to the drive in, and being stupid dumb kids.

“You could’ve called.” or asked me to come with you.

“Figured it’d be best if we just went our separate ways. Clean break.” Steve went still.

He was up in a second, shoving his clothes back on.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Fuck you, Hargrove.” He didn’t look at Billy.

“Steve-”

“No. It was not a clean break. It was messy and shitty, and I was over you. It took me fucking years, but I did it.” He wiped at his eyes. “Can’t believe I was so stupid, let you back into my life. What the fuck was I thinking?”

He jammed his shoes on, marching to the door.

Billy hadn’t moved from his spot on the bed.

“Have a nice life, or whatever.”

He slammed the door behind him.

It took him seven minutes of walking, and eighteen minutes of sitting next to the road crying his eyes out before he shoved a few quarters into a payphone.

Robin was back at their hotel room. He knew she was mad at him for ditching her, but when she heard the tightness in his throat, she softened, agreeing to pick him up.

“I fucking hate myself.”

Steve had his head pressed against the window.

“Steve, it’s okay-”

“No, it’s not. It took me so long to move on, and now, now I’m right back at square one.”

“This isn’t square one. You’ve done this before, you can get through it again.”

“But at what cost? I should’ve told him to fuck off. Not given him the time of day.”

“You’d feel just as shitty if you had done that.”

And he knew she was right.

She was always right.

He settled lower into his seat, let her take him back to their hotel, to his neatly packed suitcase and plane tickets for the morning.

He tried pushing Billy out of his mind.

Already had plenty of practice.

And all he wanted was blue eyes and a cigarette.

[365days365movies]

March 2, 2021: The Last Unicorn (1982) (Part 1)

I, uh...I wanna talk about zoology.

It’s my profession of choice, although if I’m going to be specific, it’s ecology and ornithology, based on my Masters. But while my expertise is in birds, that doesn’t mean I have any particular preference. So, let’s talk mammals. Specifically, I’d like to talk about horses.

Horses are odd-toed ungulates (Order Perissodactyla) belonging to the family Equidae, with only one living genus (Equus), which includes donkeys, zebras, and a FUCK-ton of fossil progenitors. Not gonna go into horse evolution here, since it’s a vast topic on its own, but the group dates to about 54 million years ago, during the Eocene period.

There are specific features that define modern horses as horses, including a single hoofed toe for walking on, a body built for running with high stamina, and a large cecum in the intestines for breaking down fibrous and herbaceous material. It’s a group native to North America, Africa, and Asia, with the modern descended horse descended from a somewhat unknown ancestor in Central Asia.

They’re grazers rather than browsers, which many similar sized herbivores are. And, of course, they have a close relationship to humans throughout prehistory. Their main systems of defense against predators are the afore-mentioned running capabilities, a VICIOUS kick (especially horses like zebras), and a high-range of monocular vision due to the position of their HUGE eyes.

In terms of sexual selection, it’s essentially based on physical competition between the males in a population, which are usually formed into reproductive harems. That’s one male with multiple females that live within an established range. The females have their own dominance schemes, while groups of males exist in bachelor herds before establishing a harem of their own.

And those two paragraphs help explain why horses don’t grow horns.

Animals like this bighorn sheep, as well as antelopes with impala and gerenuk, perform intrasexual selection using their horns, the size of which determine the fitness of an individual male, with the fights settling any potential ties for watching females. And that’s the main reason why herbivorous mammals grow horns, and horses have come up with different social structures to compensate. But OK, couldn’t they just horns anyway? 

Remember the stomach I mentioned earlier? Here’s the thing; hindgut digestion, which is what horses do...not the most nutritionally efficient form of digestion. In order to maintain their running lifestyles, they invest all obtained energy and nutrients into building muscle and other important functions. Fact of the matter is, they just can’t devote enough energy and nutrients to the physiologically expensive act of owning a horn. They do have a close relative that does that, though. However, they’ve sacrificed their speed, intelligence, and even their eyesight for their horns, as well as beefing up their physical defense with thicker skin.

YUP! So why talk about this? I mean...you know why.

OK, so that had basically nothing to do with this movie, but a post like this has been building since I mentioned the gerenuk a little bit ago. Sorry, had to get it out. Anyway, yeah, unicorns are impossible, but they’re still a hallowed mythical creature. National animal of Scotland, one of the most prominent symbols of medieval mythology, a magic-using ethnic class in a mythical kingdom composed of a horse-based majority that also includes normal horses and pegasi...

You know, unicorns. So, I’m definitely interested in what would happen to make a unicorn, well...the last one. My bets are on something man-made, like deforestation or another for of habitat depletion. Could be poaching for the horn. After all, that’s what’s been driving rhinoceros species to near-extinction (or actual extinction in the case of the western black and northern white rhinos. RIP Sudan, you goddamn king).

But let’s find out rather than speculate! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

During medieval times, in a mystical wood called the Unicorn’s Forest, a hunter shows unease to his companion. In the forest, there are no seasons, and the beasts are protected from hunters, as long as there is one unicorn left if the forest. That last unicorn is...the Unicorn (Mia Farrow), who learns from the hunters that she must be the last of her kind.

The opening credits, which are a gorgeous animated medieval tapesty, are backed by the song “The Last Unicorn”, by America (damn, nice pull). Gives the whole thing a Renn Faire feel. Never been to a Renn Faire, but I’d love to go to one, honestly.

Anyway, the Unicorn is in doubt that there are no more of her kind in the world, as they live forever, and she would know if there are none left...right? However, they can also be killed and trapped, so...I mean, they might be dead, Unicorn. As she’s thinking on this, the most Rankin-Bass butterfly ever shows up singing a ballad of love. This is...the Butterfly (Robert Klein), a bard-erfly (see whay I did there) who won’t stop singing, despite the Unicorn’s pleas to tell her of other unicorns.

Butterflies, apparently, repeat to anything they hear around them Which involves like, a lot of non-medieval songs. There’s one about the A-train, apparently, which makes...just NO fucking sense. As the Unicorn also shows frustration at this anachronistic little bugger, he breaks his songs to tell her than the Unicorns have all been chased off by “the Red Bull.”

...I’m going to hold it off as long as I can, but the joke WILL come. It WILL come.

She wonders if she can truly leave the forest, then actually does so in order to find the other unicorns. She happens upon a farmer, who attempts to tame her, as he only sees her as a horse. Apparently, men can no longer see unicorns as they are, and usually only see them as white horses. So, there may be unicorns in the world after all!

Not sure why she doesn’t go back to her forest after realizing this, but...OK. She continues on, backed once again by a song performed by America, called “Man’s Road”. Real talk, I’m digging the music in here, which is my inner folk rock fan talking.

While she finds nothing on her journey, she’s instead found by Mother Fortuna (Angela Langsbury), a witch who runs a carnival that needs a new exhibition. With her comes Ruhk (Brother Theodore) and magician Schmendrick (Alan Arkin), the latter of whom actually can see the Unicorn as a Unicorn.

At the carnival, Schmendrick introduces hiself to the Unicorn, wanting to get her out of there. Meanwhile, an audience is fooled by Mother Fortuna’s illusory magic to see a manticore, satyr, and the Midgard Serpent, when in reality they are an elderly lion, ape with a twisted foot, and really sad snake. However, the Harpy that she has IS real, and a major threat to Fortuna were she to escape.

That night, Fortuna speaks to the Unicorn of the Red Bull, owned by a King Haggard. The Unicorn asks Fortuna to free both her and the Harpy, two signs of the same magical coin. Also...is this a kids’ movie? Kinda thought it was until I noticed that the Harpy has, well...pendulous breasts. Literally the best way I can describe them. Also, three of them, so...there’s that.

After she leaves, Schmendrick arrives to free the Unicorn with his magic...and he’s shit at it. Like, REALLY shit. But thankfully, he’s a decent pickpocket, and stole the cage keys from Ruhk. He lets the Unicorn free, and she in turn releases the other animal prisoners, Harpy included. Which is NOT great for Fortuna, who’s IMMEDIATELY killed.

The two leave together, and head on the Unicorn’s journey to find her own kind. She cannot grant Schmendrick his wish to become a true magician, but he still gives her information about this world, and King Haggard, who seems like bad news.

On the road, the two encounter a gang of thieves of the road, who work for Captain Cully (Keenan Wynn), a short and portly leader of bandits. His mistress is a woman named Molly Grue (Tammy Grimes), who’s endlessly frustrated by Cully’s regular failures. They befriend Schmendrick, who impresses them with illusions of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Although, it’s not his illusions, but those of the Unicorn, trying to help.

Doesn’t help that much, though, as the Robin Hood-hating Captain Cully ties him up to a tree after all of his men and Molly leave. A frustrated Schmendrick mutters a spell by mistake, and brings the tree to life.

And then my girlfriend fuckin’ broke. Here she is, below:

Ravishing. Yeah, she’s watching this too, and when the tree came up, her words were, and I quote:

...a smooth-talking horse, a three-tittied harpy, and a BOOBED TREE!

Boobed tree is an expression I will find a way to use in my life. Also, this is ABSOLUTELY not a kid’s movie, and that is one busty-ass tree. This tree, called...The Tree (Nellie Bellflower) is in love with Schmendrick, and is enraged by the appearance of the Unicorn. However, the Unicorn undoes Schmendrick’s magic, and puts the t-horny tree back to sleep.

The two encounter Molly Grue, who’s astonished to see a Unicorn. She cries, as she was been waiting to see one since she was a young maiden, but now she isn’t one anymore. Interesting implications there, but moving on. Molly wishes to join them, and while Schmendrick isn’t super down for that, she wins the Unicorn’s trust when she points out that they’ve been going in the wrong direction. Whoops.

OK, with that, let’s break for Part 2! See you there!

[amerrierworld]

Birthday Buzz

Ocean’s 8 - one shot

For anon :)

Summary: It’s your birthday and your fellow team of eight didn’t hesitate to go full out for the party. Especially not a certain blonde biker who’s had her eyes on you all night.

Characters: Lou x fem!reader, the Ocean’s gang

Word Count: 2,074

Warnings: swearing, fluff, drinking. also, uh, kinda nsfw ;) 

You could barely hear yourself think. The music was loud and your feet were killing you. You’d long discarded your heels, and you were sitting by the bar on one of the high stools to relieve the pain that was in your toes. 

Still, you were happy. You were sipping on a drink and watching as Tammy tried to showcase her classic ‘mom-moves’ on the dance floor as Daphne and Nineball cackled at the sight.

Your fellow heist ladies had all come together for your birthday, which made you over-joyed. Lou had made her club exclusive for one night, all for your birthday. The nine of you had partied, drank and danced long before anyone else was allowed to show up. 

There was a bag of presents safely behind the bar you hadn’t yet opened. As the night wore on, and the club opened to all extended friends and dates who had been invited, the space slowly filled up with dancers and drinkers. 

A live band was playing on stage instead of the usual DJ, and the decor had been changed for your birthday. Haphazard balloons were strewn about with your name written sloppily on a big banner. You wore a pin that said ‘BIRTHDAY GIRL’ in big swirly pink letters on your dark red dress and you had a tiara that the girls had given you as a joke. You danced around with it for a while before it flew from your messy hair and you hadn’t been able to find it since.

“Enjoying yourself?” You turned and saw Debbie Ocean standing next to you. You grinned widely at her and lifted up your glass in response. 

“Never better, Debs,” you shouted back over the music. “I can’t believe you all did this for me. Seriously.”

“Oh god, you’re not a sappy drunk, are you?”

You huffed and stared at her in disbelief. “Oh no, god no, I would absolutely never in a million years!”

Debbie laughed and came up to order a drink from the bartender.

“But like, actually though,” you continued. “This is too much!”

Debbie shrugged. “It was all Lou’s idea, really. She went to the moon and back to get you this whole evening. Had to bribe Tams to get a babysitter just to come out here, and promised Constance and Nine free dinner.”

You blushed and shook your head. “Really? God, I can’t believe she’d do that for me.”

“Yes you can,” Debbie retorted playfully. “We’ve all seen the way you guys look at each other, not to mention what you two get up to in the bedr-,”

“Fuck off, Ocean,” you growled, though your eyes were twinkling.

She smirked at you. “All I’m saying is, the ladies and I are just waiting for a proper wedding invitation, alright?”

With that, Debbie sauntered off in her blue party dress, giving you one last salute of her glass before disappearing into the crowd. 

You shook your head and scoffed at her figure walking away from you, finishing your drink before moving onto the dance floor again. 

-

Lou had been keeping an eye on you all night, making sure nothing was happening to you in case you drank too much, or exerted yourself on your special day. She was surprised how well you were holding up, considering she’d made sure you could barely walk by the time you had to get ready for the proper birthday party. 

You had insisted Lou didn’t get you anything for your birthday, and she seemingly obliged. The only birthday present she gave you was her hands and mouth before the party. Which she gave to you over and over again. But then again, she was a con, which made you believe that she probably wasn’t done with you yet.

Despite wanting to be by your side dancing and laughing, Lou had to keep her club in check as well. It was an unbreakable habit. Part of her felt guilty that she had to work to keep the party going, but also relieved because she knew the place like the back of her hand, meaning that your group could party in peace with people that they all knew instead of going around slummy bars in other parts of the city. 

It also meant that you had access to all the booze that Lou had to offer, since you were the birthday girl and she was the owner. 

Making sure that all invited guests had been checked off the list, Lou let herself breathe for a moment and follow you with her eyes. She was mesmerized by you, even as you were talking animatedly to Amita, hands flailing and cheeks flushed like you’d run a marathon. 

Her gaze raked over your figure, not a curve left unseen under the tight material of the dress you were wearing. It was a very good look on you, and Lou grinned at the memory of her convincing you to wear it tonight. 

She then set her shoulders and made her way into the crowd, determined to enjoy the rest of your special night by your side.

-

A warm hand came to wrap around your waist and you didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. You could recognize from the smell of leather and that distinct perfume who was pressing up against your back instantly, swaying to the music. 

“Having fun?” Lou purred in your ear. The music from the band seemed to slow into a comfortable swinging rhythm, and Lou took full advantage of it. 

“Mhm,” you grinned. “Best birthday ever.”

The lights were flashing neon where the dance floor was filled up, but it was still dark enough for Lou to unhurriedly press her lips underneath your ear. You sighed at the feeling and leaned further back. 

“I’m glad you like it,” Lou said. 

“I more than like it, Lou. I’m so happy right now I could die.”

“I hope you don’t mean that. I still had plans for when we got back to the loft.”

You snorted and turned in her arms to wrap your arms around her neck. “If you didn’t want me to die, you shouldn’t have said I had free range of your bar tonight.”

“Hm, I guess you’re right. No more booze for you tonight then, missy.”

You pouted dramatically and Lou laughed, her face lighting up in that way you loved so much. She was wearing a red velvet suit to match your dress, with rose gold jewelry adorning her neck as well as a silk black tie that tucked neatly into her cleavage, constantly drawing your eyes down. 

You lifted a hand to wrap around the tie and Lou’s eyes visibly darkened.

“I’ve always liked you in suits and ties,” you murmured.

“Oh yeah?” her voice was almost a growl. Her hands trailed daringly lower to rest on the curve of your hips, playing with the fabric of your dress.

“Yeah,” you said. “I might even wanna wear some of it sometime.”

Lou’s eyebrow quirked up. “And what’ll I wear then? While you’re prancing around in my wardrobe?”

You shrugged and flashed your teeth at her. “We can always go dress-shopping for you.”

Lou grinned back at you with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Never in a million years.”

You pouted again. “Not even for my birthday?”

“The only clothes involved with your birthday, young lady, are the ones that are going to end up on the floor,” Lou said, pulling you flush against her body with her lips trailing along your neck. Your knees trembled at the feeling.

“Let’s go back to my place, baby, before the others get there,” Lou murmured softly in your ear. “There’s still time to have a little more fun.”

“Hm, but we gotta get a cab and stuff,” you responded stupidly.

“I'm still sober, darling. I can drive us back,” Lou said. You looked in her eyes and saw the want in them, so you nodded, and hurried off to find your shoes before meeting Lou out front to get on her bike. 

-

Now that you were home, you moved to the kitchen to pour Lou and yourself a proper drink as you were sobering up by the minute, only to be stopped by two firm hands pressing you against the countertop, lips attacking your neck feverishly. 

You moaned at the feeling of Lou’s warm lips leaving a trail from your collarbone up to your mouth. She pulled away to press a firm leg in between yours and you gasped at the feeling. You grabbed her tie and pulled her closer, mashing you lips together until neither of you knew how to breathe anymore. 

“I want you,” you said softly. Lou’s hands trailed across your cheeks lovingly and she smiled at you, eyes crinkling behind her makeup. 

“But I already gave you so many birthday presents today, baby,” she argued, her Australian lilt coming in stronger now that she was aroused. You groaned in frustration and grabbed her ass, pulling Lou’s body fully against yours, grinding up against her. Lou’s jaw dropped in shock at the feeling and one hand came to tangle in your hair and pull, hard. 

It felt dirty, humping with your clothes on like this. But you were still a bit too buzzed and lovestruck to care. 

And horny. Don’t forget horny. 

Lou pulled away, breathless, her hair a mess. She took a gulp from the drinks you had poured before looking at you.

“Go upstairs, before the others get here. I want my way with you in peace and quiet,” she ordered. Your head swam with arousal whenever she took control over anything and you nodded meekly. 

“But who says that we were gonna be quiet, Miss Miller?” you said cheekily as you sprinted up the stairs. Lou wasn’t far behind, shedding her blazer and leaving it on the kitchen countertop as you opened the door to the bedroom. 

You stopped in your tracks.

Lou wasn’t usually one for romantic gestures, but you supposed it being your birthday, she decided to go full out. There were rosy lights lit up around the room and a bouquet of roses on the bedside table filling the room with sweet scents. On the bed were a selection of toys that you no doubt had a choice from. You blushed as you recognized some of the ones you had used only that morning. 

“Happy birthday, baby girl,” Lou murmured in your ear before appearing in front of you and capturing your mouth with hers. Her hand pressed something in yours and you looked down to see two tickets to a live show you’d been dying to see for weeks, wrapped in a neat little bow. Your mouth opened in shock and you looked up at Lou, who took the opportunity to kiss you again, pushing her tongue into your mouth. 

You’d have to thank her with words later, because no matter how special the gift was, your mind was somewhere completely different. Lou led you to the bed and pulled away to take a deep breath. 

“Take your pick,” she said, nodding to the collection on the bed. You’d already made up your mind, but to feign innocence, you glanced at the assortment. You were impressed; there were a couple of new ones you hadn’t seen before. 

But instead you met Lou’s eyes again and grinned before grabbing the black silk tie around her neck. Her eyes widened in surprise as you lifted and twisted it around so it was blocking her vision. 

She chuckled as you pulled at the knot, tightening the blindfold. You pushed her onto the bed, straddling her and kicking your heels off in the process.

As your hands began working on the buttons of her vest, hers blindly began working on the ties of your dress and you smirked as she cursed under her breath, failing miserably. Her ministrations were stopped when you attacked her neck by surprise, nipping and sucking. Hands trailed low before slipping under the waistband of her pants and Lou’s grip slackened in defeat. 

As soon as she gave in, and suddenly let you have control, you knew you’d won this round. You couldn’t help but smile a little at the sight of her as you worked to make her come undone.

A happy birthday indeed.

A/N: I said I’d give it a ‘few days’ but I couldn’t resist just posting it now, so here you go :3 the gays ask and so I deliver. Let me know what you think <3 

[quanticowrites]

Mr. Perfect in every way Part 2 (Quentin Carter x Reader)

•• This fic is currently over five pages long in my google docs, so needless to say it’s only gonna get longer. I am so proud of this thing! Wait until you read my little twist at the end of this part. Muhaha! >:) I hope you all enjoy! ••

The quiet of the waiting room did nothing to help your nerves. It was just knee surgery, nothing major. The doctors performed this kind of surgery all the time. Over 700,000 go through knee surgery every day, or at the very least that's what that website had said when you looked it up. “Here.” Pride came up and handed you a small cup of coffee. “You look like you need it.” You took it with a smile. He sat down beside you. “You know...you don't have to be here.” He started. “He's in good hands.” You swirled the coffee around before taking a large sip. “I can't stop feeling like this is my fault. I just want to make it up to him somehow.” “Well-” “Agent (y/n)?” A nurse motioned for you and Pride to come over to the nurse's station. She set down her clipboard and smiled. “Quentin is out of surgery and is back in his room. He should be waking up within the next hour.”

“Thank you.” You breathed and started to head to his room. Pride exchanged a few more words with the nurse before running to catch with you. “Gonna stay with Carter so you're here when he wakes up?” “Yeah.” He chuckled. “What? It's the least I can do.” He put his hand on your shoulder, making you stop and move to the side of the hallway. “(Y/n), we both know that's not the only reason.” You huffed before smiling. “You've been talking to Tammy?” “It’s a small office. Things echo.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “After watching Christopher and Sonja for those few years...I just don’t want what happened with them to happen to you if Quentin decides to move on.” Remembering Christopher’s reluctance to tell Sonja how he felt broke your heart. You and Tammy had tried so hard to make the perfect scenario for them to address the elephant in the room, but then Sonja had thrown a curveball and decided to join the FBI. You’d hated having to make the phone call to her when Christopher died. “Well,” Pride brought you out of your morbid thoughts. “I better be getting back to the office. Think about what I said.” You watched Pride walk down the hall before looking at where you needed to go. Do you tell him? The nurses were right, he woke up within the hour, but you were not prepared for how out of it he was going to be. He woke up laughing. Laughing! You’d never thought you’d live to see the day. He’s always so serious and cynical, except for the ever occasional moment he shows that he has a heart. “(Y/n)!” He practically screamed your name when he spotted you sitting in a chair across the room. You had to hold back your own laugh before putting a finger to your lips. “Other patients are trying to sleep!” He mimicked you before laying back down in the bed. “Ah, these drugs are GREAT!” You hated to admit it but drugged Quentin was fucking hilarious. You wanted to grab your cell phone and tape him so you could show everyone else but you didn't want Quentin hunting you down once he found out. You’d just have to settle for telling them. “You don’t still blame yourself, do you?” Quentin asked out of the blue, after looking between his fingers at the ceiling light above him. “Why are you asking when you know the answer?” “Come on, I had it coming. I was too busy thinking about how fast it would take to get to you if he went out the back.” You blinked. “Why were you thinking that?” He smiled. “Ain’t it obvious?” He grabbed the tv remote. “Hey! Wanna watch the pelicans game?” You frowned. You couldn’t tell him now. He was too high, and he’d probably forget it before long. “Sure. Do you need help turning the TV on?” You walked over as he seemed to be struggling. “No, I can turn the damn thing on.” He pressed the big red button on top. He blinked. “Why didn’t it work?” You pushed the button again to turn it off. “Because that was to call the nurse.” You confiscated the remote and turned on the tv and put it on the Pelicans game as he'd wanted. He instantly became entranced. You mouthed thank you up at the ceiling. You hadn’t realized that drugged Quentin, although very funny, would also be such a pain in the ass. God bless all the nurses that would have to deal with him over the next few days. Quentin made great progress in the few days he was in the hospital. After three days he could walk on his own with crutches and doing just fine. What kind of shocked you was that the hospital called you when Quentin was refusing to have the physical therapist come over to his apartment. He’d put you and Pride down as his emergency contacts. Pride had kind of volunteered you to go check on him. So here you were, standing outside his apartment door, hand centimeters away from knocking. “Come on, damn it.” You knocked. “If you’re the physical therapist I said I don’t need it!” You heard him call from inside. You turned the knob and pushed the door open and let yourself in. “It’s (Y/n).” You said back as you shut the door. “Before you ask, yes, Pride sent me to check up on you.” You walked down the hallway and turned into his living room. You found him rolling his eyes on his couch. “The hospital called didn’t they?” “Hey,” You threw your hands up. “You’re the one that put me down for the emergency contact.” You put your hands on your hips. “Well, since you made me drag myself all the way down here for no reason I might as well get some lunch delivered.” You pulled out your phone and dialed the physical therapist's office. “Do you want anything?” “Depends on where you’re ordering from.” “I’ll just order a pizza.” You went back out to Quentin’s kitchen before lowering your voice as the receptionist answered. The Physical therapist said she’d be there in half an hour. You waited with Quentin until the doorbell rang. You let her in and lead her to the living room. Quentin sat up and glared at you. “You little snitch.” You waved as you left and went back to the office. You should have known that upon your first step through the front door of the NCIS building you’d be bombarded with questions. “How’s Carter?” “Did you make him call the physical therapist?” You took a seat at your desk and smirked. “I faked him out. I told him I was ordering pizza but I really called the therapist. She’s with him now.” “Anything else?” “No,” You shot a look at Tammy. “Nothing else.” “Am I missing something?” Sebastian piped up. “NO.” “Yes.” Pride sighed. “In either case,” He chuckled. “I’m glad he’s got someone like you looking after him.” Hannah snorted. “Keep this up and you’ll be prepared for marriage.” You put your head in your hands. “Why do you all have to torture me?” After work, you stopped by Pride’s bar and grabbed take-out to bring to Quentin. You figured it would make up for tricking him earlier. You didn’t even bother knocking as you entered Quentin’s apartment. “I hope you’re hungry because I sure as hell ain’t finishing this gumbo by myself.” You closed the door and jumped at the random women standing in front of you, her arms crossed. “Who the hell are you?” You blinked. This was Quentin's apartment, right? Did you completely embarrass yourself by walking into one of his neighbors' apartments? You scowled. No, this was his apartment. “NCIS special agent (y/n), who are you?” “Audrey Spencer.” You gulped. It was Quentin’s ex, or so you had thought.

Tag list:  @stanathanxoox, @nikkiwierden , @malindacath , @havlindzk , @countrygal17a , @memyselfandmaddox , @octobersmog , @mizzezm , @diaryofafan17 , @emmitheacefangirl, @smolpersonbigworld, @a-sad-excuse-of-everything

[crue-sixx]

Don't Mess With The Babysitter

Title: Don't Mess With The Babysitter

Author: tiddly-winx

Fandom: The Dirt (Motley Crue Movie)

Summary:  You are the babysitter to Vince's son Neil.  You are one tough cookie.

Warnings: Swearing, mild violence, attempted kidnapping.

It did come as a surprise to see that your one time bully Vince Wharton asked you one day to babysit his new kid.  You had known that he'd knocked up your cousin Tammy, and after he knew you'd inevitably be part of his life since she was carrying his offspring, so he decided to ease up on the teasing.

The day you moved here from New York, you and Tammi were hanging out and he'd seen you two together and he made the comment of "So the two hookers are hanging out together now?"

Tammi brushed it off, she and Vince had been fucking a few times a week for the past month or so but you defended you and Tammi's honor with "Yeah the only way for YOU to get laid was if you paid somebody" and promptly flipped the bird.

"I'm in a band, baby" he laughed it off "getting laid is part of the deal!"

"When you get someone pregnant, I am going to laugh at you so hard, surfer boy" you hissed.  His cockiness was pissing you off and you had been shipped to this god forsaken place for being expelled from your New York school for fighting too much.  You knew just how to push his buttons, you've dealt with his type before.

"I know when to pull out" he retorted, then you looked over to Tammi, who's expression changed from nonchalant to embarrassment.

"Yeah well Tammi told me that you give whole new meanings to the terms 'dime stack' and 'quick shot'!"  his face dropped considerably and he glared at you.  If there's one thing Vince Wharton would not abide, is his manhood being questioned.  So in retaliation, he dropped his pants and underwear to disprove your claims.

"That's not very impressive" you said truthfully "I've seen bigger on the toddlers I used to babysit" you did have a side hustle back in NYC, that people could trust you with their kids.  You were one of the toughest girls in your school and the only way to get you to behave rationally was to give you something to take care of. 

"Oh it's on now, bitch!" he was running at you, but in his rage he'd forgotten that his pants were down, so he tripped and landed right on his dick.  He screamed in pain, his brunette hair in his face. 

"Put some ice on it, ya big baby" you walked over him, being sure to step on his back on the way.  He gave another weak grunt, Tammi rushing right behind you.

You glanced over at your cousin and asked "Something you want to tell me?" with an eyebrow raised.

She took a while to answer and when she finally did she said "I'm pregnant..." you stopped in the hallway horrified.

"Tammi!  Who's the father?!" you hissed quietly.

She grimaced, and that was all you needed to see "Oh dear god please tell me it's not that asshole's kid!"

"It is...he's the only guy I've been sleeping with lately..."

"How long have you known?" you asked when you calmed down.

"I took a pee test this morning... and I skipped morning classes to go to the clinic to find out for sure and how far I was along..."

"Well?"

"About two weeks, the doctor estimated.  I started noticing when I didn't get my period on time..."

"Does the rest of your family know?"

"Mom does" she looked down, ashamed at herself "she drove me to the clinic..."

"So how are you gonna tell him?"

"Will you help me?" she pleaded.

"Hell no" you stated "I didn't sleep with him, so that's not my job to tell him the good news" you weren't really too fond of Tammi, her being bitchy to you at times and sometimes even encouraging people to pick on you.

When the baby boy did come, he was named Neil Jason Wharton and he was cute as a button.  You didn't even have to threaten Vince to take care of his kid-he was already doing that on his own.  He was the singer in a band, and he was actually pretty good.  He had the voice and sex appeal that was needed to succeed but this was only a high school thing. 

Back to the present he awkwardly came up to you and asked  "Hey, I remember you saying you babysit sometimes.  Can you watch Neil this Friday?  I got a gig, my parents are out of town and Tammi's still  recovering from delivery..."

"Are you gonna pay me?" you said.

"Erm...we don't make much money from our gigs..."

"Then take the most unpopular dude in school and convince him to have a party at his house and when people show up, charge them a dollar at the door to watch you play.  You're hot- use your looks to get what you want.  Lord knows you don't have much in the brains department" you scoffed "but sure I'll watch him for the night.  I want $20 for my services"

"I'm not sure if you're a genius or a bitch..." your idea of charging kids at the door to see them play was a smash hit-the band bought home about $300 that night.  Neil was perfect for you, he was alert when you interacted with him and took to the bottle of Tammi's breast milk like a charm.

Vince came in stumbling early the next morning, drunk off his ass and high on something.  "Lemme take m'boy home..."

"No, Vince" you said getting between him and the baby.  "You're too fucked up to be going anywhere" he tossed the $20 in your direction and tried to push past you.

"Lemme git my son, dammit!" he yelled, Neil stirring in the portable crib Vince had given you when he dropped him off.

"You don't wanna do that, Vince" you warned him.  This would be the first and final warning.  "Try again and I'll knock you out".

He called your bluff and went to grab the baby, but you only did a single punch to his face and dropped him on his ass.  You sighed and called his parents.  "Mr. and Mrs. Wharton?  This is Y/N, Tammi's cousin.  Vince went to play a show at a party last night and left Neil with me to watch him and he came back fucked up and tried to take the baby by force, but I knocked him out.  Can you come get them please?"

Mr. Wharton sighed and said "Fuck...yeah we'll come get them.  Thanks for not letting him take Neil like that..."

"No problem" you said and ten minutes later they came and got the two, you helping put Vince in the car.

The next Monday at school, he came up to you with a blackened eye and asked "Was I fucked up on something and tried to take my kid by force?"

"Yep" you said unapologetic-ally.

"Did you give me this black eye?" he pointed to it.

"Yep" you answered again.

"Did you call my parents to come get us?"

"Yep"

He sighed, ashamed of himself at his foolish behavior "I'm sorry, Y/N...thanks for beating the shit out of me and protecting my kid..."

"No problem" you laughed "I got some enjoyment from it too" you made a fist and lightly touched his cheek playfully.  He laughed and returned the gesture.

Three years had passed and you were the go-to babysitter as a first option.  There was the rare occasion that you couldn't do it due to illness, but most of the time you loved having that little boy.  On one of their father/son outings Vince was teaching his son how to help him pick up chicks.  He'd run up to the ladies in tears, explaining that he was lost.  Then Vince would run up behind him looking scared and lovingly reprimand him with "You can't walk away from Daddy like that okay?"

You were in the park that day, just enjoying a picnic with your boyfriend Nikki, who wasn't turned off at all by your tough exterior.  In fact, it always got him horny and that led to amazing rough sex.  You all were out of high school at this point and had applied to university for the biology program-you wanted to become a pediatrician.   You gotten the acceptance letter yesterday so Nikki thought it would be a good idea to celebrate earlier in the daytime and then again at night in the bedroom.  You had moved in with him right after graduation.

You saw little Neil come running up to a good looking lady with the Lost Kitten routine.  You just rolled your eyes in disapproval and kept watching.  Nikki looked over to see what had your attention, then smiled at the sight of the little boy.  He had met the kid a few times and was very fond of him.  "Are they doing the Lost Kitten thing again?" he asked you.

"Probably" you said, but you didn't see Vince anywhere near him.  That was odd and when the lady took him by the hand and started leading him away.  "What the fuck?" you got up started walking towards them.  The woman saw you making a beeline in their direction and just picked him up and ran with him.

"Shit!" Nikki got up "what do we do?!"

"You go find Vince and call the cops!  I'll go after them!" you bolted in the direction where they went.  You had joined the track team later in the first year at high school and were one of the fastest runners, aside from that bitch Kendra who you swore up and down took steroids to make herself faster.

Vince was looking around the general vicinity when Nikki ran up to him, out of breath "Some...bitch...took...your kid..." he had his hands on his knees and was wheezing.

"What?!" Vince was now officially freaked out and got the information he needed out of Nikki and called the police.  You were quickly gaining ground, the wailing child looking back at you and reaching out to you.  Your legs and chest were aching, but you ignored them, like a cheetah ready to pounce you got close enough to grab the woman by the hair and pull her back.  

"Are you fuckin' crazy?!" you shouted to the woman as you ripped Neil away from her. 

She only screamed like a banshee and pulled all three of you into the street.  You were the first one to see the on coming car and you didn't have time to run so you just pushed Neil to the sidewalk and out of harms way.  The car hit both you and the woman, killing her instantly and you breaking several bones and losing consciousness.  The last thing you saw before everything went black was Nikki holding you in his lap and Vince holding his son away from view so he didn't have to see the bloody mess.

When you woke up, you felt two hands holding yours.  You groaned and stirred.  The movements jolted whoever was next to you awake and saying "Y/N?"  When your vision cleared it was Nikki and Vince.  Both of them looking exhausted, concerned and relieved to see you awake.  You had to take a few long moments to recall the last thing you remembered.  When it hit you, you looked between the two men.

"Where's Neil?!" you were getting yourself worked up, but Vince pushed you back down gently.

"He's with Tammi" he said "He's okay..." then he started sobbing, as if he couldn't believe it himself.  "Thank you...for saving my boy's life..."

"Don't mention it" you stroked his hair with your good hand, your other arm being in a cast.

Nikki brushed your face with his hands and he started crying too "They told us you had died in the operating room, but as soon as you heard Neil scream, your heart started pumping...that woman who took him...she was a child murderer..."

You tried to sit yourself up, but it was painful.  Both of them helped you sit up and get comfortable.  "How long was I out for?"

They both looked at each other, unsure weather or not to answer you, but decided that it would be pointless to lie "About three weeks..."

You eyes widened as you realized "Then I missed the orientation for school?"

"Yeah..." Nikki said "That's not important right now, you are" he bent down and kissed your lips softly "just focus on getting better..."

You had to spend a few days more for observation, you having visitors from Tammi's family, Vince's family tearfully thanking you for saving their loved one.  But the one you wanted to see the most came after they all had left.  Vince bought him in holding his hand and lifted him up onto your bed so he could cuddle with you.  The poor thing looked so tired and weary.  "Hey Squirt" you greeted, the pet name you had for him.

"Hey" he offered, before falling asleep in the crook of your arm.  Vince had smiled and said "He hasn't been sleeping too good since it happened...he said he felt safe with you..."

"That's okay" you nuzzled the top of his little head. 

"Is there anyway I can repay you?" Vince offered.

"No more of that damned Lost Kitten Routine" you said sternly "no more using your kid to pick up girls" he winced, knowing full well that if he didn't let his dick do the thinking for him, none of this would have happened.

"R-right" Nikki looked at him, the two having exchanged words about the situation right after it happened and they were going with you in the ambulance, the paramedics threatening to call the police to restrain them if they didn't calm down.

When you got back to the apartment that you shared with Vince and the drummer Tommy, Nikki helped you into bed and cuddled up next to you.  Neither one of you wanted to fuck, just having each other in close proximity was enough.  Soon you heard Nikki silently crying.  "Hey now..." you said, bringing your good hand to his face "what's up?"

"When they told us you had died..." he sniffled "I lost my damn mind.  I lunged at Vince and started choking him.  Tommy and three security guards had to get me off him..."

You lifted yourself up on your good elbow "What?"

"Damnit" he wiped away his snot and tears, pulling out a small ring box from the drawer.  "I was about to ask you to marry me before the shit hit the fan..." he opened it, and produced a small silver band with a tiny diamond.  "I'm total shit without you, Y/N...will you be Mrs. Sixx?"

You had to laugh at that "Since you so eloquently put it like that, yes, I'll marry you..." you shared a kiss, just a little bit of tongue action.  He slipped the ring on your finger, and kissed you again.

"Did you seriously use the word 'shit' in a marriage proposal?  you teased him.

"Hey you said yes" he teased right back "and when you're all better and out of the cast" he reached down and stroked your womanhood with his palm, making you moan softly "I'm gonna fuck you until I can't cum anymore~"

"You're a dirty fucker, you know that?"

"Damn straight."

[themoonismymuse]

boyfriend || part two

Part one || Part three

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Fem!Reader

Summary: now that you and Steve are over, someone else steps into the picture...

Word count: 2171

Warnings: cursing, angsttt, sad boi hour starts now :)

Song: boyfriend (with Social House) by Ariana Grande and Social House

A/N: this one is a little longer than part one because i combined part two and three! please enjoy!!

You are laying on Nancy’s bed, playing with her comforter. She invited you to stay over at her house, saying you needed a girls night. After taking a shower to get all the punch off of you, you had taken a spot on her bed to talk. “Why did he do it?” You ask, resisting the urge to cry. You had already done that at least three times since you left the party and didn’t want to do it again.

“Because he’s an idiot. See what happened when I left him? I’m so much better now,” Nancy says while she takes the pins out of her hair.

“But you had Jonathan to run to. I don’t have anyone.”

She looks at you. “You have me!”

You smile painfully. “Yeah, I guess so.”

She gives you a pitiful look and comes over to sit on the bed next to you. “Steve sucks. He can’t keep it in his pants.”

“It just hurts so bad. Why wasn’t I enough?”

Nancy wants so badly to make you feel better. An idea comes to mind, but she knows you’ll shoot it down. “What if we get you a rebound?”

“What? Like some guy for me to fuck and get over Steve?”

“Duh. It can be very helpful sometimes,” she smiles in a devilish way.

You sit up. “And who do you suggest for this endeavour?”

“Our own homegrown Billy Hargrove!” She announces this like he’s a prize you’ve just won on a gameshow.

You raise your eyebrows and laugh. “Are you being serious? Oh, no,” the smile slips from your lips. “You are being serious.”

She nods. “You’re hot, he’s hot. You’re sad, he’s probably sexually frustrated. It’s a perfect match.”

“How is he sexually frustrated? Literally every girl in Hawkins wants to screw him.”

She rolls her eyes like you’re missing the point. “Just trust me on this.”

“I am not having sex with him,” you cross your arms.

“You don’t have to have sex. Just show him off a little bit at school. Get Steve jealous.”

You think about it. “No.”

“Oh come on, Y/N! You need this right now!” She whines.

You lay back on the bed and get situated under the covers. “Still no.”

“Stop pretending to be asleep. I know you’re awake,” she says as you keep your eyes shut tightly.

You pretend to snore, but eventually do fall asleep. Nancy does the same, but her mind is filled with ideas to make you forget about Steve completely.

In the morning on Monday, you rub your eyes to try and take away any of the sleepiness. The sunlight is far too bright for December. Yesterday you had spent the day with Nancy, watching sad romantic comedies and eating until you felt like you were going to combust. Jonathan stopped by around three in the afternoon to pick up his brother, Will, but decided to stay and hang out for a while.

You dread going to school today. Everyone is going to look at you funny and it won’t feel the same without Steve’s arm around your shoulder. You sigh and get up. Your mother doesn’t know about your messy breakup, and you don’t intend to tell her until it’s impossible for her to not know. Hopefully that time will never come. You trudge down the stairs and your mother is sitting at the table, drinking coffee. “Steve called about twenty times yesterday.”

Ah, shit. Now you have to tell her. “What did you say to him?” You ask quietly.

“That you were at Nancy’s. Why?” She gives you a skeptical look. You know that she can see right through you.

You take a deep breath. “I broke up with Steve on Saturday.”

She looks at you sympathetically, but then stands up and briskly walks over to hug you. You burst into tears when she wraps her arms around you. “Let it out, baby. Let it out,” she whispers as she pats your hair down.

“He was kissing another girl,” you say through the tears.

“Shh… you don’t have to have any reason to dump his hair-gelled ass. I never liked him from the beginning, anyways.”

You laugh sadly and pull away. Mom hugs are always the best. “Thanks, Mom.”

She holds your head in her hands and wipes the tears away with her thumb. “Go get cleaned up, baby. You need to show him what he’s missing.”

You decide to walk to school today, the way there not being that long on a good day. Of course, this isn’t a great day, but maybe the fresh air will help clean out your lungs. At least you won’t have to see anyone’s faces on the bus.

As you near closer to the actual school, your pace slows and dread fills your body. This can’t get any worse, can it?

The high school is beside the middle school, so there are a few middle schoolers biking through the high school parking lot. You spot the redheaded girl who was at Nancy’s house when you were there on Sunday. You are able to recognize Mike, Lucas, Will, and Dustin besides Max. There’s another girl who came over to Nancy’s house when you were there, Elle. She is apparently homeschooled and very sheltered.

You walk up the hill to the parking lot and immediately regret coming to school today. The people who are hanging by their cars eye you, especially the girls. They seem triumphant, like they beat you for something you weren’t even competing for. You try to ignore the stares, but that becomes ten times harder once you enter the school. Your eyes find the ground as you walk past people, until you reach your locker. Luckily, you haven’t spotted Steve yet.

Unluckily, someone wrote on your locker in black lipstick: I guess the princess has fallen.

Your eyes widen and you try to scrub it off with the sleeve of your sweater. It won’t budge. “Fuck,” you whisper. At least there aren’t any obscene words. That would be so much worse.

“Need a little help?” A low voice asks from behind you.

You startle and turn quickly, your back hitting the lockers when you notice how close this person is to you. Billy Hargrove. “Not from you,” you snap.

You keep at it, rubbing the words aggressively with your sleeve. After a moment, you notice that he hasn’t left yet. “Can I help you?” You ask.

“No, I’m just enjoying the view.”

You groan and rest your forehead on the locker. “Great pick-up line. Really. Very original.”

“Hey, I heard you and Steve had a pretty horrific breakup at Tammy’s,” you open your locker as he says this, but quickly shut it.

You shut your eyes tightly to stop the memories flooding in. It’s easier to be angry than to show your real sadness. “So?”

“So,” he says, placing his arm on the locker over your shoulder so you can’t really move out of the way. “Can I take you out tonight?”

You roll your eyes and laugh a little. “Did Nancy put you up to this?”

“What?” he asks, looking surprised, but he covers it up quickly.

You narrow your eyes and reach up to move his arm out of the way. “I’m so sorry, but I’m going to have to say no. Must be a shocker since everyone always says yes.” As you walk away, Billy follows you, even though you thought you made it clear that you did not want to have anything to do with him.

“Come on, lighten up a bit,” he slides an arm around your waist, pulling you into his side. 

“Get off,” you push him to the side and readjust your jacket. You flatten your hair and walk briskly away from him, hoping to God that he doesn’t follow you. 

Billy watches you leave, a smile playing at his lips. He always loves a challenge… and you are going to be tricky to win over.

The rest of the day is tense, with people whispering about you, but also the fact that you hadn’t seen Steve all day. Not seeing Steve should’ve been a perk, right? Wrong. You were worrying if he was with some other girl or if he had taken your breakup terribly. Your worries slip from your mind when you see exactly who you don’t want to see in the hallway after last period. Steve Harrington.

With the same girl from the party.

Despite the fact that your heart had already been shattered into a thousand pieces, seeing him with her breaks those shatters into a million jagged pieces. He catches your eye and you see how little emotion is in his eyes. Just days before he seemed so happy. So loving.

Now there was nothing.

You feel the same emotion from the party and this morning when Billy spoke to you; anger. It boils the blood inside of you. He dares to come to school with that girl? You look around quickly for someone who you never thought you’d need until now.

“Hey, princess,” a voice says from behind you.

You turn around and are greeted by the one person you were looking for. You swallow your snappy response to that nickname and give him a forced smile. “Hi,” you say as though this is strictly a business matter. Which it is. Obviously. “So, do you wanna drive me home or not?

***

The ride home is quiet, except for constant questions from Max Mayfield, who is apparently Billy’s step-sister. “Why are you letting my asshole of a brother drive you home?”

“Because he offered,” you say shortly.

“Actually, you sort of offered yourself,” Billy intervenes, but is ignored.

Max rolls her eyes. “That’s so stupid. I’ve seen you around Mike’s house. You’re cool. Billy is not cool.”

You resist the urge to laugh at hurt look on Billy’s face. “I am cool. I am the epitome of cool. No one is cooler than me.”

“Y/N is. And you know it,” Max teases.

Billy scoffs, “Sure.”

You look out the passenger side window, watching the trees fly by you. Billy passes the street leading to your house. He had said that he knew where you lived when you told him your address. “Uh, my house is that way,” you point your thumb backwards.

“I know,” he says, staring at the road ahead of him.

When you reach what you presume to be Billy and Max’s house, Max hops out and says, “‘Bye, Y/N!”

You give her a friendly wave, then turn to look at Billy. “You are going to drop me off at my house and that’s it. No funny business.”

He looks over with an almost bored gaze. “Do you really think I’m going to try anything with your prudish self?”

You bite your tongue, keeping your sarcastic comments to yourself. Tomorrow Billy will have forgotten all about you, so there is really no point in arguing. “I just- I don’t want you to get any ideas.”

He laughs and smiles as he turns the car to go back towards your street. “Oh, trust me. I’m just being nice.”

“For what? Driving me home?”

“Duh. You practically forced me to take you.”

You cross your arms in shock. “I did not. You practically begged me to go with you this morning.”

His absolutely annoying smile hasn’t left him lips. “And I didn’t think people could change their minds so quickly.”

“Whatever,” you say, your lips forming a pout. “Also, how would you know if I’m a prude?”

He laughs. “It’s so obvious. You never do anything more with Harrington than little pecks on the lips. Why else would he cheat on you?”

Your eyes widen. “It’s none of your business what I do or don’t do with my boyfriend.”

“But he’s not your boyfriend anymore.”

Oh, now he’s just being a prick. “Could you stop being a pain in my ass and just drive me home already?”

“I’m trying to, princess. You’re just making it awfully difficult.”

“Don’t call me that.”

He glances over at you. “What? Princess?”

“Yeah. It’s stupid. And I’m not a princess.”

“You sure do act like one,” he mutters under his breath.

You ignore that comment and keep your gaze forward until he pulls up to your house. “Thanks for the ride,” you say lazily, pushing the door open.

“Your whole tactic worked really well, by the way. Steve’s face was priceless,” Billy says before you have the chance to shut your door.

“What?” You lean down to be eye level with him.

Billy smirks and rolls his eyes. “You only wanted a ride to make him jealous, right?”

“No,” you say defensively. “I just didn’t want to walk home in the cold.”

“Whatever you say, princess,” he looks forward again, still smiling annoyingly.

“God, you are such a know-it-all!” You accuse, practically slamming the door.

The window rolls down quickly and Billy says, “So I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning?”

A/N: yo so somehow i pretty much deleted this whole post and i had to add everything back to it again so sorry if there are any changes to anything! 

Part one || Part three

Masterlist

[lazywonderpsychic]

Just a little fanfic i wrote about shameless which to be honest, sucks ass so please dont hate me. I tried my best to write it but everyone knows how it is when your sleep deprived and have ideas (i hope)

Chapter 1 Lip's POV

She sat at the table playing with her food and I walked into the kitchen. Her hair was in a messy bun and her clothes were a mess. She hadn't slept in god knows how long and she had a lot of wear and tear on her body. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, the baby girl she held in her arms, fast asleep and she looked at the cup of coffee that I had set in front of her along with the plate of corn beef hash, eggs, and sausages. She looked up at me and smiled softly as I kissed her forehead, and sat across from her in the next seat.

"Happy birthday sweetie," I murmured softly and she began to cry.

"T-thank you. I'm sorry, I'm not normally like this, but she's been fussy and sick. And she's been awake all night and would not let me put her down without throwing a fit. You even remembered what kind of eggs I like."

"Of course I did. I also am making you lunch and dinner and we are gonna go lay upstairs, because Tammy's best friend has Fredrick and Fiona's gonna see if she can come over in a bit to help with this little munchkin and you can shower, change and Imma help you."

It was the first time I've seen her smile. Tammy and I had broken up, and yet we were somehow managing a good friendship. Annabelle had come into my life at a parenthood group for alcoholics and we slowly became more than friends. I had known her in high school but lost contact with her after she went to rehab to get the help that she needed. When she came back around, she was pregnant and in the group as I had entered.

Grabbing a brush from the downstairs bathroom, I began to brush her hair, as she chewed on a sausage. It was moments like this that made me appreciate her even more. Unlike me, she didn't have both parents in her life and was on and off with the milkovitches. She winced as I pulled a knot out of her hair and smiled reassuringly as I looked down at her. Wetting the brush, I tried making her hair not so puffed out, and pushed it back into a messy bun. V and Kev came in and smiled as they checked out the baby.

"What's her name?" Asked V softly.

"Siobhan Marie Gallager. She's almost four months old," she stroked her cheek and smiled at them.

"What, like those twilight saga movies?" Asked Kev in confusion and she rolled her eyes shaking her head as V took her temperature.

"She's getting better. Her temps down which is good. That baby medicine helped a lot."

"Thank you V, I'm sorry you had to come in the middle of the night," she smiled softly as she stared down at her daughter.

"Of course sweety. Honestly I didn't mind. I hate seeing you so frustrated and sleep deprived. Being a parent is hard but it's also worth it."

She looked up as the door slammed shut, Fiona walking in with bags. Debbie wasn't too far behind and she smiled down at the little one. Fiona dropped the bags on the counter, and knelt before them gushing at the little girl before her. She looked up at her and smiled happily.

"Siobhan is so beautiful! She has your eyes. Mickey would totally be wrapped around her finger if he was here!" She smiled at Fiona.

"How's Ian doing?" Asked Fiona as she stood up.

"Him and Mickey wanna kill each other and sound like old brods. They stabbed some old guy and when they did that the guard was pissed. This guy always does it, asks for someone to stab him to stop him from being released. Mickey's still pissed off at me though, because I didn't tell him about this little Gallagher," she sighed softly.

"Well like Ian said, Mickey's full of himself. He's too proud to admit that he made an adorable sweetheart from a one night stand," I looked at her as she gave everyone a worried look.

"I know it's just… With Svetlanna gone and what not, it just doesn't feel the same you know?"

The back door swung open and slammed shut as Siobhan began to cry and she sighed heavily in annoyance and glared at Frank. "Frank! Imma kill you! I just had the damn baby asleep and you woke her up you asshole!" Yelled Annabelle and got up, disappearing upstairs.

Fiona followed behind and I did the same, as she walked into my room trying to hush the baby, everyone else yelling at Frank. He was confused on what he did wrong (more like what he didn't do right) and was either drunk off his ass or high as fuck with his new best friend. She fed the little one and finally got her calm enough to burp her and lay her down.

"Fuuuuuuck!" She exclaimed and fell face down on the bed.

I chuckled softly as I laid beside her and she laid on her side. Fiona laid on the other side of her as we began to smoke a cigarette. She couldn't wait till she could get high again, but didn't wanna risk getting the baby depending on weed. Fiona had us laughing and she hugged Annabelle. It was nice having Fiona back again.

It wasn't often we got to laugh and joke around like this. "I love you guys, but god do I hate Frank. I don't know how you guys do it, I mean… I know my family is a bunch of shitheads and what not. Except my dead parents of course," she said taking a drag of the cigarette.

"Really? I thought you lived with them," I questioned.

"Nope, those are my foster parents. Bunch of drug addicted, alcoholic loving party goers. How do you think I got the scar on my spine? That's besides the point, my parents… My biological parents… Died when I was about fourteen, maybe fifteen. Besides, when you have street smarts, it goes a long way on the south side."

We sat in silence soon enough and slowly she fell asleep as Fiona got up and grabbed the sleeping baby from the bassinet and went downstairs. I fell asleep myself, as I held her close to me.

[eightmakar]

Rule Breaker | Four | S.M.

A Baseball!Shawn AU

Word Count: 6.4k

Warnings: a lot of date fluff, some cursing

Author’s Note: hi guys!!! thanks for all the wonderful feedback on this story!! i’m so happy you all love it so much! Previous parts in my masterlist! Tag list is open! Thank you @heavenly---holland for the moodboard and @the-claire-bitch-project for inspiration!

Shawn flopped down on Tessa’s bed.  “Why won’t you show me around town?” he asked exasperatedly.

Tessa straddled Shawn’s thighs.  He’d been in Brewster for two weeks and they hadn’t done much around town.  She had been very reluctant to take him around town with her.  It was a small town and she knew people talked, and she wanted to just enjoy being with Shawn.  She didn’t want to worry about what the town thought of her.

Tessa kissed him lightly on the lips, then rolled off of him so she laid next to him.  “I don’t want the town to talk. Trust me, they will. One time, I went out with one of my best friends from high school.  There was never anything romantic there, but the whole town knew we went to a movie together.  It was awful, Shawn.”

He pouted.  “But I wanna see where you grew up! I want to see the town!”

Tessa sighed.  “Maybe.”

“Where have you always wanted to go on a date, Tess?” He grabbed her hand.

Her cheeks flushed. “You’ll think I’m a nerd.”

Shawn looked at her.  “Tessa.  Where?”

She sighed again and gave in. “The Cape Cod Natural History Museum. They just built this new butterfly house.”

“Well, let’s go tomorrow, then,” Shawn said.

“Shawn--.”

“C’mon Tess! It’ll be fun! We’ve been doing this for what, two weeks now? I’m tired of being cooped up in here!” Shawn whined.  “Pretty pleeeeeeeease Tessa?”

Tessa looked at him. “Shawn, you’re the biggest child I’ve ever met.”

He rolled on top of her, pressing his forehead against hers.  “If I’m a good boy will you take me to get ice cream afterwards?”

She stared up into his eyes. “Maybe. I do love Kate’s.”

“So can we go? Please? I need to prove to my friends that you actually exist.”

Tessa flushed.  “You told your friends about me?”

Shawn sat back on his heels and Tessa’s legs.  “Well, yeah, of course I did.”

Tessa’s heart pounded.  “I told my friends about you, too,” she said quietly.

Shawn smiled softly, then bit his lip in nervousness.  “Tessa?”

“Yeah?”

“I like you.”

Tessa went cold. “You, uh, like me? I like you too, Shawn.”

“No, like,” Shawn said.  He shuffled around, picking up Tessa’s hands in his and interlocking their fingers together.  “I like you.  Like, I like you so much, Tess.  Like, I’ve never felt like this before.”

Tessa felt like she was going to burst.  “I like you so much too, Shawn.  You have no idea.”

He grinned. “Shit, really?”

“Shawn, I let you give me hickies before Whitecaps games.  Of course I like you.”

He laughed.  “Well, thank God for that.  I’ve been freaking out trying to tell you for days.”

Tessa should’ve felt wonderful.  She should’ve felt nice and warm and appreciated, but she just felt like she was going to throw up.  She needed to tell Shawn something.

“Shawn, I’m a virgin,” she blurted out.  “I mean, I’ve done stuff before, just not like, full-blown penetration sex.”

“And that changes this how?” Shawn asked.  

“A lot of guys make a big deal out of it,” Tessa said quickly.  “I just don’t want you to think less of me.”

“Why would I do that? It doesn’t matter to me.  You’re you and that’s what’s important, okay?” Shawn leaned down and pressed a sweet kiss on her forehead.  

She smiled. “That’s sappy as fuck, Mendes.”

“I don’t see you complaining about it,” he laughed.  He kissed the tip of her nose, then her lips.  “So can we please go out tomorrow? It’ll be fun! I promise if we see Kyle I’ll personally kick his ass,” he begged.

“Ugh,” Tessa sighed.  “You’re lucky you’re cute, Bubs. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at noon, we can get lunch, go to the museum, and get ice cream. Sound good?”

The biggest, most adorable, childish grin spread across Shawn’s face.  He grabbed her face and kissed all over it.

“You’re a big baby,” Tessa giggled.  

“Yeah? ‘Big baby’ is what you decided to go with?” Shawn teased. He kissed her again for good measure, then pressed his forehead and nose against Tessa’s. “I can’t wait to see Brewster from your perspective.”

At noon sharp the next day, Tessa pulled up to the Miller’s house in her Subaru Outback.  She had extra blankets in the back of her car; she’d planned a special surprise ending to her day with Shawn.

She got out of the car and started walking up towards the door, but it opened and Shawn waltzed out.  He saw her, smiled, and waved before speeding up down the sidewalk to her.

Shawn swept her up in a big hug when he reached her.  “I’m so excited!” he giggled as he squeezed her.

Tessa laughed.  “I am too! But remember, I know everyone in this town, so don’t do anything dumb.”

“Me? Dumb? Preposterous,” Shawn said with a smirk.  “I got you something.”

Tessa’s eyes brightened.  “You did?”

Shawn blushed.  “I borrowed Mrs. Miller’s car to go buy it,” he said. He handed her a small black box.

“Can you even legally drive in the United States?” Tessa asked, squinting at him suspiciously.

Shawn’s eyes went wide.  “Fuck.”

Tessa laughed musically, then pulled the top off of the box.  There was a small, rose gold butterfly on a delicate chain lying on a small cotton pillow.  She smiled.

“You sounded so excited about the butterflies,” Shawn said softly.

“Shawn, it’s beautiful!” Tessa exclaimed.  “Will you put it on for me?”

Shawn lit up.  “You like it?”

“Of course I do!” She pulled it out of the box and handed it to Shawn. It looked even smaller in Shawn’s enormous hands. Tessa turned around and moved her hair to the side so Shawn could drape the necklace around her neck and connect the hook.

She turned back around and showed Shawn.  He grinned. “It looks great on you!” he said happily.

“It’s beautiful! Thank you, Bubs,” Tessa said.  She kissed his cheek.  “You ready?”

“Let’s go,” he said, his grin widening.  He hurried around to the driver’s side of the car, opening it for Tessa.  She rolled her eyes, but smiled sweetly at him and climbed in the car.  He hurried back around the car and hopped in the passenger’s seat.

“I figured we’d go to JT’s,” she said as she backed out of the Miller’s driveway. “It’s a seafood place, and since it’s a nice day, we can sit outside and enjoy the weather.”

Shawn smiled.  “Sounds perfect to me.”

Tessa connected her phone to the auxiliary cord at a red light so she could play some music on the short drive to JT’s.   She clicked “Shuffle” at the top of her iPhone and heard the familiar bassline and drumstick riff of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.  She grinned and rolled the windows down as she began to sing.

Listen, baby

Ain't no mountain high

Ain't no valley low

Ain't no river wide enough, baby

Shawn came in on Tammi’s part, singing in a falsetto voice with Tessa.

If you need me, call me

No matter where you are

No matter how far (don't worry, baby)

Just call my name

I'll be there in a hurry

You don't have to worry

She stopped at another light and looked at Shawn.  He looked perfect sitting in her passenger seat, arm hanging out the window, singing his heart out with her.

Cause baby there

Ain't no mountain high enough

Ain't no valley low enough

Ain't no river wide enough

To keep me from getting to you, babe

He took over the next verse and Tessa dropped out.  He had a gorgeous voice, and she just wanted to listen to him serenade her.

Remember the day

I set you free

I told you you could always count on me, darling

From that day on, I made a vow

I'll be there when you want me

Some way, somehow

Tessa came in again on the chorus.

Cause baby there

Ain't no mountain high enough

Ain't no valley low enough

Ain't no river wide enough

To keep me from getting to you, babe

Tessa pulled up to JT’s as the song ended.  She laughed joyfully, so happy to have someone that would jam out in the car with her.  She hopped out of the car and walked around to Shawn’s side to join him, smiling brightly.

“What’s got you all giddy, hmm?” Shawn asked as Tessa interlocked their fingers.

“Being with you,” she said.  She looked up at him lovingly.  Shawn smiled, leaned down, and kissed her lips chastely.

“That’s the cheesiest thing you’ve ever told me,” he laughed.

“Get used to it, Bubs,” she laughed back.  Tessa’s stomach growled, so they walked towards the door of JT’s.

“What’s good here?” Shawn asked as they walked towards the counter.

“You can’t come to the Cape and not get seafood,” she said matter-of-factly.  “My favorite is the Fried Fish Sandwich.”

He craned his neck down to look at the menu.  “Is the fish and chips good?”

“Yeah!” Tessa exclaimed.  “That’s what Dad always gets.”

“Well, if it’s good enough for Coach Hale it’s good enough for me,” Shawn said with a soft smile.

Tessa rolled her eyes, then dragged Shawn up to the counter to order.

“Tessa!” the cashier, whose name tagged read “Michelle” said.  “How are ya?”

“I’m great!” Tessa said cheerfully.  “How about you?”

“Doing good!”

“How’s Jackson?” Tessa asked, letting go of Shawn’s hand and putting her arms on the table.

“He’s great! He grows way too fast, you know?” Michelle said.  “And who’s this with you?”

“This is Shawn, he’s playing for us this summer.” Tessa motioned to Shawn.

“Hey,” he said, offering Michelle his hand to shake.  “Nice to meet you.”

Michelle reached over the counter and shook his hand.  “You too, Shawn.  What can I get you guys?”

“The regular for me,” Tessa said, “and Dad’s regular for Shawn, please!”

Michelle put their order in and Tessa went to pay, but Shawn playfully bumped her with his hip.

“I got it, Tess,” he said, wallet in hand.

“Shawn,” she protested.

“Don’t even try, Tessa,” Shawn said, sticking his tongue out and handing his credit card to Michelle.

Tessa teasingly glared at him.  “Fine. But I’m getting our ice cream later. And I have a surprise tonight.”

Shawn took his card back from Michelle and signed the receipt, smiling at her.  “Thanks, Michelle,” he said, then turned to Tessa. “What kind of surprise?”

“That would ruin the surprise,” she sassed.  “Let’s sit outside, yeah?”

“Sounds good to me,” Shawn said.  He gently grabbed her hand again and the two of them wandered outside to find a table.

They sat down across from each other at their table.  The wind lightly blew, sending Shawn’s dark curls rustling, the noontime sunlight turning his eyes bright green.  Tessa took out her phone and took a picture of him as he rested his head in his hand on the table.  God, he was gorgeous.

“You look like a painting right now,” she said softly.

Shawn turned his head to her.  “You always look like a painting,” he countered.

“Why are you like this?” she asked, blushing. Whenever he complimented her, she felt like she was flying.

“I’m just telling the truth, Sunshine,” he said with a cheeky smile.

“‘Sunshine?’” she echoed.

“Yeah. You get Bubs, I get Sunshine.”

Tessa’s blush deepened. “That’s cute.”

“You’re cute,” he replied.

Tessa gave him a look.  A sassy comment came to her mind, but their food arrived.  

“Alright, the fish and chips?” the waiter asked.

“That’s me,” Shawn said, raising his hand a little bit.  The guy put his food down in front of him.

“And the Fried Fish Sandwich with cheese and onion rings,” the waiter said. He went to place the food in front of Tessa, then paused.  “Tessa?”

She looked up. Her ex-boyfriend, Brett, stood above her. Her body tensed. “Hi, Brett,” she responded tersely.  “Didn’t realize you still worked here.”

“Yeah, in the summertime when I’m home,” he said.  “How’ve you been?”

Shawn looked nervous. “Just fine, Brett. Just fine.”

Brett pressed his lips together.  “Alright, well, if you need anything let me know.” Brett walked away.  

Tessa jerked her thumb behind her.  “My ex.  He cheated on me. He went to college before I did, lied to everyone there and told them he was single.  He guilted a bunch of girls into sleeping with him and shit. One of my friends heard about it and told me.”

“Tess, I’m--.”

“Don’t even worry about it, Bubs. He’s irrelevant.” Tessa smiled, then pulled off the top bun of her sandwich.  She poured tartar sauce on it, then squished her bun back on. She picked it up and bit down, crunching into the fried fish.

Shawn pressed his lips together, then picked up a piece of his fried fish and dipped it in tartar sauce before taking a bit.

“Damn, this rivals actual British fish and chips,” he said, scarfing down the piece of the fish in his hand.  

“Yep, it’s the best in the world,” Tessa said, smiling.

Shawn devoured the rest of his fish and chips silently and happily. He finished his food just before Tessa, which impressed her, because she ate fast, especially when it was JT’s. He sat and waited for her until she was done.

“Alright, I approved of JT’s,” Shawn said with a laugh.

“Good,” Tessa laughed back.  They stood up, cleared their trash, and walked back to Tessa’s car.

Shawn went out of his way to open the driver’s side door for Tessa again, then jogged over to his door and clambered in.

They listened to the radio, Tessa softly humming to the songs. Shawn stared at her lovingly as she nodded her head to the beat of the song.  She pretended not to see him looking at her. Out of her peripheral vision, she could see him gazing at her with a soft smile on his face.

She pulled into the museum, shaking with nervous excitement.  Shawn leapt out of the car and sprinted over to her door, opening it for her with a flair of his hand.

“Shawn, you don’t have to do that,” Tessa said, rolling her eyes.

“Chivalry is not dead, Tessa,” he insisted.

“Alright, whatever you say, Bubs,” Tessa laughed.  She took his hand and led him towards the ticket booth.

“Hi, two adults, please,” Shawn said, jumping in front of Tessa to pay for her ticket. He grinned at her and handed his credit card to the attendant.

Tessa let go of his hand to cross her arms and stare at him.  “Why you gotta do that?”

He stuck his tongue out at her.  “We’ve always hung out at your place, so I feel like I owe you,” he explained with a shrug.  

Tessa squinted at him as he handed her ticket to her. “I suppose I’ll allow it.” She grabbed the ticket, then his hand again.  They walked together into the museum, Tessa bouncing with excitement.  

Shawn gazed at her as she dragged him through the museum, from exhibit to exhibit. He stared at her like he did in the car and she pretended not to notice. She jumped from sign to sign, breezing through the information.  Shawn was just along for the ride, happy to just be with Tessa.  He was so happy to see her enjoying herself, so happy to see her letting go.

The pair reached the Butterfly House. Tessa was shaking with excitement.

“We donated a bunch of money to help them build this,” she said as they entered.  “I love butterflies, so they were really excited to hear they were doing this.  Mom and Dad did it in my name.” She blushed.

“That’s so sweet of them!” he said with a soft smile.  “I picked a good necklace then, didn’t I?”

Tessa smiled brightly. “You read my mind, Bubs.”

Shawn opened the door for her, then joined her in the Butterfly House. The butterflies flew freely in their house, and as soon as Shawn and Tessa walked in, they flocked to them, as they were the only two people in there. It smelled like flowers, like the two of them were out in a wildflower field the middle of the woods.  The butterflies were so serene and calming; Tessa never wanted to leave, especially not since Shawn was with her.

It hadn’t been open long, but the last time Nate, Tessa’s brother, had been home, they’d gone together. Nate knew how much she loved butterflies, and he’d booked one of the feeding sessions for the two of them.  They didn’t have many butterflies then, but the two of them had a blast.

Tessa felt a small pang of nostalgia hit her as she looked around. There were so many more butterflies this time, but they still reminded her of how much she missed her brother.

Shawn squeezed her hand.  “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Last time I was here was my brother, so I just miss him.”

“Oh,” Shawn said, surprised. “We can go if you want, I--.”

“Shawn,” you said. “We aren’t leaving, this is perfect. They’re happy memories.  And this is just going to be another happy memory.”

Shawn smiled softly. “Good,” he whispered. He gently touched Tessa’s waist, staring at her lips.  Tessa smiled back at him, her hands finding his shoulders. She dragged her hands down his arms, then gently gripped his sides, tugging him into her. Shawn pressed his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes.

“You’re so beautiful, Tessa,” he whispered.

“Look who’s talking, handsome,” she whispered back. “Is that the only thing you like about me?”

“Oh, God, no,” Shawn said. “I could go on for days.”

“We’ve got time,” Tessa said. She wanted to hear what else he liked about her.

“Well,” Shawn began, “you’re the most intelligent person I’ve ever met. It’s incredible, the way your brain works. God, every time you speak it’s like, like, you know so much more than me but you somehow can relate everything back in ways I understand. I have no idea how you do it, but God, it’s amazing.”

Tessa’s face grew hot. No one ever said things like that to her in a romantic sense. She was blown away by Shawn’s openness, but her heart was full of all the things he was telling her.

“You’ve got the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met,” Shawn continued. “I’ve never met anyone so caring or kind to everyone. Except Kyle, of course.”

Tessa laughed. “I mean, the only person who could love him is his mom.”

Shawn threw his head back and laughed so hard tears came to his eyes. “Wow, Tess.”

“Shhh,” she hushed him, putting her finger over his lips. “You’ll disturb the butterflies.”

“If you wanna shut me up, you’ll have to use something better than your finger,” he teased.

Tessa stood up on her tiptoes and kissed Shawn sweetly. “Better?” she asked.

“Better,” Shawn replied, leaning down and kissing her again. He smiled against her lips.

A butterfly suddenly hit them both. Tessa pulled away, laughing, as several of the butterflies fluttered towards them. Tessa spun around to look at them.

One flew towards Tessa and landed in her hair. She turned to Shawn.

“I’m a magnet!” she giggled.

Shawn pulled out his phone to take a picture of her.  She continued to giggle as the butterflies sailed around her.  She held out one hand, and the butterfly on her head fluttered down to her hand.

Another butterfly landed on the tip of her nose.  Tessa squealed in delight. Shawn snapped more pictures, smiling at her.  “You’re a magnet, Tess.”

He continued to stare at her, watching her relish in the freedom and joy of the butterflies. He kept taking her picture, wanting to capture this moment forever.

“Tessa,” he said.  He put his phone back in his pocket.

She turned, her face hurting from smiling so much.  Shawn grabbed her gently by the hips, pulling her closer. He smiled down at her.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” he whispered. “Please?”

Tessa wanted to cry.  She went cold again, her hands shaking. “Of course,” she whispered back.

Shawn grinned, then wrapped his arms around Tessa, picked her up, and spun her around.  She giggled again. He put her down and they stared at each other.

“What other tattoos do you have, Shawn?” Tessa finally asked.

“Well,” he began, “you’ll tease me for this, but I have the number “8” on my finger. My birthday is August 8th, so it’s my lucky number. It’s why I’m number 8 in baseball.”

“Oh my god,” Tessa laughed.

“I also have an elephant on my other middle finger,” he said, showing her. “My mom has a matching one. She loves elephants.”

“What about the guitar? What’s the story behind that?”

“So for a while, I wanted to be a musician. I taught myself how to play guitar, and I still do like to play, on occasion. I found a really great, um, stress reliever, I guess I’d call it, in music. I found the base for it on Pinterest, but it’s a guitar in the shape of trees,” he pointed, “and then the end bit there is the skyline of Toronto. The middle part is the sound wave of my parents and my sister saying ‘I love you.’ It’s super personal and sentimental.”

“That’s beautiful,” Tessa said, tracing the tips of her fingers over it.  “Which one did you get first?”

“The guitar,” he answered immediately.  “I’m also the most proud of that one. I put a lot of thought into it. I like my tattoos to be super meaningful. I think they’re such a great way to express what’s important to you, you know?”

“Yeah,” Tessa said softly. “I know.”

“Would you ever get one?”

“A tattoo?”

“Yeah!”

“Hmm,” Tessa thought. “Maybe. Maybe I’ll get a butterfly.”

Shawn laughed. “Let’s get matching butterflies.”

“Bet,” Tessa said. “Let’s do it right now.”

“Whoa,” Shawn paused, eyes wide. “I, um, we haven’t, um--.”

“Don’t worry,” Tessa laughed. “I’m kidding. Maybe one day, but not today. Definitely not today.”

“Oh, thank God,” Shawn breathed. “I thought I was going to come up with some bullshit excuse as to why we couldn’t go get a tattoo right now.”

Tessa laughed. “I think my brother would kill me if I got a matching tattoo with a guy I just met. He’s been begging me to get matching ones since I turned eighteen.”

“What does he want you to get?”

“Something dumb, I don’t know. Like, a baseball I think? Or like, our parents’ initials or something. I can’t really remember, he changed it so often.”

“What, you wouldn’t get a baseball tattoo?” Shawn teased.

“Definitely not,” Tessa laughed. “Not a straight up baseball, but maybe something Whitecaps related, since I’ve grown up with them.”

“That’s cute,” Shawn said. “I really want more.”

“I want at least one,” Tessa said. “Like my kids initials, when I have them. I think that’s super cute.”

“I didn’t even think of that!” Shawn said. “I could dedicate my whole left arm to my kids’ initials and birthdays.”

“What’s the one body part you wouldn’t get tattooed?” Tessa asked with a smirk.

Shawn’s eyes went wide, then he looked down at his crotch. Tessa burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she had to hold onto Shawn so she didn’t fall over.

An older couple came into the Butterfly House while Tessa was still clinging to Shawn. They gave her a funny look as she cackled at Shawn.

“God, what’s wrong with you?” Shawn laughed. “We gotta get you outta here before those old people think you’re having a stroke or something.”

Tessa kept laughing. “You . . . just looked . . .” she got out before another fit of laughter overtook her.

“Alright, let’s go,” Shawn said. He picked her up easily, holding her bridal-style and walking out of the Butterfly House.

Tessa finally caught her breath. “That’s the best thing that happened all day,” she gasped, wiping tears from her eyes as Shawn let her down.

“Tess, I literally asked you to be my girlfriend.” Shawn was a little hurt.

“Yeah,” Tessa said. “But that was the most I’ve laughed in a long time.” Shawn pouted, so Tessa added, “C’mon, Bubs, I’ll get you something from the gift shop.”

Shawn immediately perked up, like he was a child. Tessa giggled again. “I hope they have a Grow-A-Dinosaur,” Shawn said in a child’s voice.

“Alright, you big baby,” Tessa said, grabbing his hand. “Whatever you want.”

Shawn grinned, then practically dragged Tessa into the gift shop. He wandered around slowly, Tessa in tow. She found exactly what she was looking for as they passed the jewelry.

“You should get this, Bubs!” she said excitedly. She reached for a woven bracelet with a green, ceramic butterfly in the middle of it. “Then we’ll match.”

“Lemme see it, Sunshine,” he said, holding out his hand.  Tessa placed the bracelet in his hand and he held it up to examine it. “I love it. Get it.”

“You’re letting me buy it?” Tessa teased, gaping wide as she took the bracelet from Shawn.  

“Only because you said you’d get me something,” he warned. “Don’t let this go to your head, Bubs.”

Tessa smiled, then purchased the bracelet for Shawn. He immediately put it on, smiling at the way it looked on his wrist.

“It’s wonderful,” he whispered. He looked at Tessa, leaned in, and kissed her sweetly. “Thanks, Sunshine.”

“Anytime, Bubs.” They walked towards the door hand in hand

“Ice cream?” he asked hopefully, opening and holding the door for Tessa.

“Ice cream,” Tessa agreed.  They walked back to her car together. Tessa dramatically opened the passenger’s side door for Shawn.

“Goddammit,” he whispered softly.  “You got me.”

Tessa smirked. “Gotcha.”

She walked around to her side of the car, climbed in, and cranked the car.  They held hands while she drove to Kate’s, enjoying the sea air and the warmth of the sun.  

Shawn looked at her about halfway there.  “Tessa?”

“Mmmhmm?”

“Do you like sports medicine?”

Tessa looked ahead of her.  “Yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“I guess. I picked it because it would get me the closest to the diamond for the rest of my life.”

“Why not coach?”

Tessa laughed.  “Bubs, you have no idea what I’d do to be a baseball coach.”

“Then why not do it?”

“Shawn, I’m a girl. I think both the majors and minors would fall to pieces.”

“So? There’s a female coach in the NFL now.”

“That’s the NFL. This is baseball.”

“You basically coach the Whitecaps,” Shawn pointed out.

“Yeah, I do, I guess.”

“How about this: What would be your absolute dream job?”

“General manager for an MLB team.”

“So there you go,” Shawn said. “Do that.”

“Maybe, Shawn,” Tessa said.  “Maybe.”

They sat in comfortable silence until Tessa pulled into Kate’s.  They climbed out of the car and quickly got their ice cream.

“You know where my favorite seat is?” Tessa asked.

“Where?” Shawn replied.

“The back of my car.”

He smiled, then followed her back to the car.  She opened the hatchback, revealing the myriad of pillows and blankets piled in. She handed Shawn her ice cream so she could crawl in, then held Shawn’s so he could join her.

“Comfy,” Shawn said, scooting close to Tessa.

“This is part of my surprise,” Tessa said shyly.

“Really?”

“There’s a drive-in movie tonight,” she confessed. She spooned some ice cream into her mouth.

“Oh shit,” Shawn said. “That’s one of my dream dates!”

Tessa smiled. “Today’s just been the day of dream dates.”

Shawn laid his head on Tessa’s shoulder.  “Thanks for showing me around, Tess,” he said softly.

She kissed the top of his head, then put her head against his.  “Thanks for putting up with me,” she replied just as softly.

“Whatcha mean by that, Sunshine?”

“I’ve never dated one of my dad’s players,” she started, “so I’m not sure how this is supposed to go.  I’m afraid I’ll be the talk of the town, that people will say I’ve finally broken down with this whole dating thing.  That’s why I just wanted to stay in my house and enjoy just being us together.”

“We can just be us anywhere, Tess,” Shawn said.  “It doesn’t matter where we are and it’s not anyone else’s business besides ours.”

Tessa sighed.  “I wish I’d met you years ago, Shawn Mendes.”

“Right back atcha, Tessa Hale.”

Tessa pulled up to the window at the drive-in.  It was just beginning to get dark, so the movie wasn’t going to start for another hour or so.

“Tessa!” the clerk greeted her.

“Hey Daniel!” she chirped. “It’s just the two of us in here.”

“That’ll be eighteen dollars,” Daniel replied.  Tessa handed him a twenty dollar bill and Daniel handed her two ones back.  “You know where to go. Enjoy the show!”

“Thanks!” Tessa pulled forward and drove to the third row of cars, pulling to the next row. She turned the radio to the correct channel, then turned the car off completely.  She got out of the car and wandered to the hatchback, lifting it open.

“Are the snacks worth it?” Shawn asked, craning his neck to look at the snack stand in the back of the grassy area the theater was situated in.

“Absolutely,” she said.  “They’re cheap and fantastic. I recommend the tater tots.”

“I’ll be back then!” Shawn called, then walked away.

Tessa clambered into the back of her car to rearrange the pillows and blankets. She knew Shawn’s legs would stick out of the hatchback, but they’d be very comfortable laying against the back seats of her car.  

Shawn came back about ten minutes later, holding a drink tray with two sodas and two cups of tater tots in one hand and two foil-wrapped circles in the other.

“Burger?” he asked, offering Tessa one.

“God, yes,” she said. She clambered to the door and took a burger. “What drinks did you get?”

“Coke for you and Powerade for me,” he said, handing her the tray so he could climb in the car.  He had to lay down with his legs sticking out just to be able to fit, while Tessa could sit cross-legged.

“Coach would be so proud,” Tessa teased.  “I, however, need caffeine.”

He grinned as he grabbed his Powerade and Tessa grabbed her Coke. They ate together, laughing and talking.

“I forgot to ask,” Shawn said when they finished. “What movie is showing?”

“It’s 80’s night,” Tessa said, swallowing a sip of her Coke. “Tonight is Dirty Dancing.”

“Never seen it,” Shawn said with a shrug.

Tessa gaped at him. “Seriously?”

Shawn raised his free arm, the one he wasn’t propping his head up with. “Guilty.”

“God, you’re lucky you’re cute,” Tessa said, shaking her head.

“What?” Shawn said defensively. “I’m about to watch it, am I not?”

Tessa squinted at him. “Fair point.”

“Attention customers: The movie will be starting in fifteen minutes. Concessions will close in ten. Please ensure your cars are ready with lights off.”

“Popcorn?” Shawn asked.

“I’ll get it!” Tessa said. She jumped out of the car as Shawn groaned.

“It’s not fair that you always buy our food!” he whined.

Tessa put her hands on her hips. “That’s a lie,” she said. “But it was my date idea so I’m paying. Next time is on you, mkay?”

“I guess,” Shawn sighed dramatically.

Tessa rolled her eyes, then walked up to the concessions stand. She bought the biggest bowl of popcorn she could, then walked back to her car and Shawn.

“Hold this, Bubs,” she said, handing the popcorn to Shawn. He held it so she could climb in the car.

Tessa curled up next to Shawn as the movie started, enjoying his calming presence and his body heat. He wrapped an arm around her protectively. He gently traced shapes on the strip of skin between her shirt and her jeans that revealed itself as her shirt rode up a little.

Shawn made sassy comments to Tessa throughout the movie.

“Why are they grinding like that? That’s not really fun for the guys.”

“What kind of parents name their kid ‘Baby?’”

“Do her parents just not realize she’s gone?”

“What--”

“Shawn,” Tessa finally said. “Please. Shut up and watch the movie.”

He grinned. “I just wanted your attention.”

“You’re that needy?” Tessa asked, looking up at him and kissing his jaw.

“Yep. I can’t help it.” Shawn batted his eyelashes innocently.

Tessa rolled her eyes. “Okay, big baby. If you stop talking, I’ll play with your hair the rest of the movie. Deal?”

Shawn smiled brightly. “Deal.”

Shawn laid in Tessa’s lap for the rest of the movie while Tessa lightly ran her fingers through his brunette curls. They were soft and beautiful, and Tessa could’ve stayed there the rest of the night just playing with Shawn’s hair.

The movie ended far too soon. Shawn had to clamber out of the car first just to provide Tessa with enough room to crawl out. Her feet hit the gravel and she stretched, causing her shirt to ride up again.

Shawn poked her stomach just above her belly button. “I approve of Dirty Dancing,” he said, walking around to the passenger’s side door of Tessa’s car.

“You actually shut up enough to understand what happened?” Tessa asked, shutting the hatchback, then walking to the driver’s side door.

Shawn scrunched his face at Tessa, then ducked into the car. Tessa hopped in and cranked her car, the familiar sound and feeling of the engine turning over comforting her to no ends. She put the car in “Drive” and grabbed Shawn’s hand.

Shawn plugged his phone up to Tessa’s speaker while they waited in line to get out of the theater. “What do you like to listen to?” he asked.

“I like everything. Except country music. If you play country music in this car, I’ll gut you and make you walk home,” Tessa threatened.

Shawn’s eyes went wide. “No country. Got it. You like Queen?”

Tessa snorted. “Do I like Queen? What kind of question is that? Everyone likes Queen!”

“I’ve met people who don’t like Queen,” he said as he selected “Radio Gaga” to play.

“Then you should immediately disconnect from them and never speak to them ever again. You can’t trust anyone who doesn’t like Queen,” Tessa said with a shrug.

Shawn laughed. “Anyone else you don’t trust?”

“Um, frat boys in khaki shorts and polos, sorority girls who wear wedges to football games, people who don’t let their dogs sleep on their beds, um, people who don’t like ranch dressing, hmm, people who don’t use their turn signals.”

Shawn laughed, gazing at Tessa. “You’re a mess.”

“I am, but I’m your mess now, Shawn.”

“How was your date yesterday?” Benjamin asked Tessa at warm-ups before the Whitecaps game against the Hyannis Harborhawks. He stood next to her as Sonny took batting practice. Benjamin was next, and Tessa was in her normal spot on the back of the cage.

Tessa blushed. “It was great. We had a really good time. Made it official, too, but we don’t need Kyle knowing that.”

“I’ve got it covered. Where’d y’all go? I want some good places to take Claire when she’s here.” Benjamin lifted his bat up in both hands, leaning back to stretch his shoulders with it.

“Shoulders sore?” she asked.

“A little, yeah,” he answered.

“Here,” Tessa said, hopping down. She took his bat and tossed it on the ground. She grabbed his arm and pulled it back, gently stretching his shoulder out. “Shawn and I went to the drive-in last night. If you’re looking for a great date, that’s definitely where you should take Claire.”

“You’re my hero,” he said. “She’s always wanted to go to a drive-in. I’ve got my truck here, too. Do they allow trucks?”

Tessa switched his arms. “Yep, but you have to park in the back so you don’t block the screen.”

“We can do that,” he agreed. “They sell concessions?”

“The best around. Shoulders feel better?” Tessa let go of his arm slowly.

He twisted his back to crack it, then swung his arms around. “Yeah, they do. You’re a miracle worker, Tessa.”

“It’s my job,” she said with a smile and a shrug.

Benjamin picked up his bat and took Sonny’s place in the batting cage. A group of guys came in from the infield, including Shawn and Kyle.

“Hey, Tessa,” Shawn called as he went towards the dugout.

“Mmhmm?” She looked over at him.

“I think I tweaked my wrist, can you check it out?” he asked.

“What’d you do?” she asked, walking over to grab her backpack of medical supplies.

“Um,” Shawn paused sheepishly, “I, uh, tried to barehand a ball and it was too fast. It just, uh, knocked my wrist back.”

Tessa rolled her eyes, but still told him, “Alright, c’mere.”

“Thanks,” Shawn said, shuffling over to her.

“Sit,” she commanded.

“Yes ma’am,” Shawn said. Tessa rolled her eyes again.

“So, right hand?” she asked.

“Yep, it just bent back when the ball hit me and it hurts like a bitch.”

Tessa took his wrist in her hands. She felt the bone, trying to make sure it wasn’t broken. He didn’t mention a pop, but she wanted to make sure it wasn’t just in case. She gently massaged the muscles, causing Shawn to wince.

“I think it’s just a sprain,” she said. “This is why you have a glove, Mendes. Catch the ball in the glove and you won’t hurt yourself.”

Tessa reached in her bag and pulled out her pre-wrap and athletic tape. She positioned his arm out straight, then wrapped it with her teal pre-wrap.  It was a basic circular wrap, just to stabilize his wrist without restricting it too much.  She wrapped the pre-wrap in a circular motion with the tape.

“That feel okay?” Tessa asked Shawn.

He moved his wrist around, flinching a little at the motion. “Yeah, not too tight,” he replied. “Still hurts, though.”

“I can’t make the pain go away, sorry, Bubs,” she said softly. She ruffled his hair. “You’re good to go, you’ve got batting practice next.”

“Thanks, Tess,” he said. He squeezed her forearm with his newly-taped hand.

“No problem,” she smiled. “Remember that foot thing I told you about, and straighten up your stance, okay?”

“Got it, Coach,” Shawn said louder. He stood up, grabbed his helmet, and walked over to take his batting practice before the next game.

What are y’all excited to see in the upcoming chapters? What is your favorite thing about Tessa? Give me some feedback!

Tags:

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[anastasiaskarsgard]

X marks the spot

Part 5

Mark POV

Midsummer

Warning: little bit of cussing and bullying behavior.

A/n: if you need the earlier chapters search #xmarksthespot2k19. This is the story of Mark after high school. Lots of other people from movie mentioned. Is he a good guy after all, or do old habits rear their ugly head?

I just fucked Brooke. I just fucked Brooke. Oh my fuck.

I looked down at Brooke’s peaceful face, and naked body, and could feel myself getting hard again. She’s so fucking hot. And I fucked her.

It’s not just sex tho. I’ve fucked tons of broads, but this felt different. I could lay here forever with only Brooke, and be so happy.

What the fuck am I going to do? How do I make her my girlfriend? Will she be my girlfriend? The thought of her with another guy makes me see red. I gotta make it just us.

Even when things were perfect with Lily, it was never about us; it was about everyone. The parties, the drama, going out, getting wasted, fighting and fucking, but never really about us.

At least not for me.

The only time I ever wanted to be stuck with just lily was when we were going to fuck around, but after that, we’d return to our friends. We never hung out as just the two of us. We never had conversations really, unless they were arguments.

I probably could of handled Lily better, but fuck her for real. Not only was she cheating on me, with some guy twice her age, she let him watch us fuck! Oh and let’s not forget that the guy was married AND she was friends with the family.

When Sarah sent me the text conversations between Lily and Nick, and pointed out the dates and times, I felt like I was gonna be sick. I mean she was with me most of them. All those phone calls from “her mom”, or multiple bathroom breaks were just her being a whore. I can’t believe I went down on her. I fucking hate that bitch.

I really like Brooke though. I don’t want her to know about all that bs. There’s enough bs with Sarah, I don’t want her finding shit about Lily. She already said she looked at Twitter.

I grabbed my phone and went on every account that video was posted and I deleted it. I even went through and deleted anything about it. Any comments, jokes, etc. were deleted. Just as I felt secure I’d gotten all of it, Brooke started to talk in her sleep.

“But I want berry waffles...” she mumbled. “You look like a turkey man.”

I can’t stand how fucking cute she is. I feel totally like a psycho right now, but I’m obsessed with everything about her. The way she laughs and smiles. Her long hair, long legs and cute feet. How she covers her mouth when she eats, and even how she acts when she’s drunk. And oh my fuck, the sounds she makes when I fuck her. I cannot think about that or I’m gonna have to wake her up.

Its rather funny that I’ve never really tried to keep a girl around. I usually try to get rid of them, but here I was freaking myself out over this one. I closed my eyes and finally let sleep take me, sure I’d wake up if she tried to get up. I feel so good with her in my arms. It’s been a long time since I could say, I’m happy. As I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t stop smiling.

—————————————————-

When I woke up, it was dark, and I was alone. I leaped out of bed, threw shorts on, and went to find Brooke.

I couldn’t believe how panicked I was she had gotten away from me. I thought I would wake up when I felt her move but I must of been more tired than I thought.

I look in the bathroom, living room and kitchen but no Brooke. I feel a lump in my throat and wanna punch somebody in the face. I am not about to cry over some bitch.

But that’s just it, Brooke isn’t some bitch. I sank in my recliner and put my head in my hands. I had to get ahold of myself. I was being ridiculous.

I tried to calm myself before I walked back into my bedroom. Wow. The one time I wanted a girl to stay, she snuck out.

I missed her already. Who did she think she was? I checked my phone, and there were tons of messages from everybody under the sun. Everyone but Brooke.

Apparently there was a rager at Diamonds place. He and Bex split up, so he was trying to be straight again, which seemed pointless to me. Honestly, it made no difference to me who he fucked. I hit him up on FaceTime, and it was in full swing, so I decided to stop by to distract myself from obsessing over Brooke.

I threw on clothes and headed over to Diamonds house. There was a black Prius idling out front with no one in it, but when I walked around the front, there was an Uber sticker, so I just disregarded it and went inside.

It was packed with people, and there were several girls id gotten with before giving me the eye. Sorry ladies, not interested. My baby is probably at home taking a bath or telling her best girlfriend about me. I need to just feel confident in myself.

It’s not like she’s out partying which made me realize that I was. I will just have a beer and go home and call her. I said what’s up to a few people, and I made my way over to the bar. Then I stopped so abruptly, the kid behind me slammed into me.

”wow bro, my bad!” he exclaimed, eyes wide hoping I wasn't pissed.

”No worries player.” I said distractedly.

Brooke was standing there next to some girl I’d never seen, talking to some fucking douchebag. It took every bit of self-control I had, not to make a scene. I wanted to beat his ass, and grab her by her fucking hair and drag her out of there.

Who the fuck does she think she is? Fucks me and then sneaks out to a fucking party? I was so mad; I could barely see straight. Mad doesn’t even come close to what the fuck I’m feeling. She wants to play games? We shall see.

I spotted three girls to my right, that were pointing at me and giggling. They were not as hot as Brooke, but they'd work. I smiled, and they all laughed and whispered to one another as I walked over. Easy prey.

“Hey, I’m Mark,” I flirted, winking at them.

“We know who you are!” The short blonde one said. “I’m Tammy, and this is My cousin Kelly, and this is her exchange student Kimmy, from Japan. She wants to know how tall you are.”

“I’m 6’4.” I said standing up straight.

They all squeaked, and giggled, showering praise on me till their demeanor suddenly changed. I looked at where they were glaring and turned around to find Brooke.

“Hi, Mark. I thought you’d be too tired to come out. Who are your friends?” She asked all cutesy. I’m not gonna give in to her. She needs to be put in her fucking place. Fuck me and leave? No.

“Oh hey girls, this is one of my clients, Brooke. I just helped her with a home renovation to get her house sold. If any of you ladies need any help around the house or yard, gimme a call.” I said as flirty as I could manage and winked at them, as I breezed past Brooke, on the way to the bar. Brooke didnt follow me; she was still talking to the girls, who were now being 100 times nicer since they thought I had just blown her off. I kept track of her in the corner of my eye, and noticed she looked at me a lot. She wasn’t smooth at all.

I finished my beer, and decided to slip out and give Brooke a taste of her own medicine. As much as I wanted to guard her and hold her in my arms all night, I had to play it cool. I have never had a problem getting a girl, and I’m not starting now with the one I give a fuck about.

To be safe, I went and found the douchebag Brooke was talking to earlier. He was still standing with the same, strange girl.

“Hey bud, can I talk to you real quick?”

He looked nervously at the girl and then back to me before asking if there was a problem.

“Oh no! We’re buddies I thought, I just wanted to talk to ya about something, a lady shouldn’t hear.” I lied, winking at the girl who started blushing and looking at her feet. How does Brooke know these lame ass nerds?

“Ok, I’ll be right back, Jane. After you, my man.” He chirped.

I walked out in the garage and as soon as the door closed, I turned and grabbed the guy by his shirt, getting mere inches from his face.

“Wow, bro! What’s up I thought we were cool!” The guy said shakily, as he looked at all the exits and back to me.

“Well, that all depends on you Bro. How do you know Brooke?” I growled.

“She’s Janes friend, I could get you an introduction if you want. She’s not seeing anyone.”

I punched the wall next to the guys head, putting a hole in the drywall and shocking both of us with the sudden outburst of rage. This guy was fucking terrified, so I took it down a notch, loosened my grip and asked, “She said that?” I was trying to hide how much this revelation hurt me.

“She said she needs to drop some fuckboy that she’s getting too caught up with and needs a nice guy. I can tell her you’re nice.” He volunteered.

I released him and took a step back. So she thought I was a fucking fuckboy? But a fuckboy that she is getting caught up with... hmm. Shit, I could work with that.

“Brooke is mine, got it?”

He nodded his head overzealously. “I get it, bro, hands off.”

“I gotta leave, but I’m trusting you to make sure no dudes get too friendly with her. If you see anyone talking to her, pull them aside and let them know Mark is already in that, and I don’t fucking share. And don’t do anything stupid like tell the girls, cuz I’d like to like you, and not break your fucking face.”

“Got it! Loud and clear!” He said with his eyes wide, and sweat dripping down his forehead.

“Good. I’m leaving, but I always got eyes on so don’t fuck this up.” I patted him on the back a bit too hard and exited out the garage side door.

The Prius was still out front idling. In my younger days, I’d have jacked it and done stupid shit in it till the wheels fell off, but I was past that.

Suddenly, It occurred to me that one of the people with Brooke must be her Uber Driver. I checked to make sure no one was out front, and I walked over to the driver door took its keys. I double checked no one was paying attention and slipped the keys in my pocket, before jumping in my truck and driving off.

It only took 10 minutes for the text to come

Brooke: Wow thanks for saying goodbye asshole

Me: I didn’t think you cared

Brooke: what the fuck is that supposed to mean???

Me: well you didn’t say bye at my house, so I just thought that’s how you do things.

Brooke: I’m not going to do this with you Mark

Me: do what?

Me: hello?

Me: earth to Brooke

Me:...

Shit, I didn’t see this coming. Was she really going to ignore me? Like hell she was. I flipped my truck around and raced back to Diamonds, just in time to see Jane crying by her Prius. Brooke was comforting her and she looked so fucking hot. All my lousy mood disappeared, and now I just wanted to be her knight in shining armor.

I pulled up to them and rolled down my window.

“What’s going on guys?” I asked.

“Someone stole the keys to her car, and her spare set is all the way across town at her house, but no one is sober or willing to take her to get them.” Brooke steamed.

“Well, lucky for you, your knight in shining armor got his cigarettes and is back to drive you, ladies, wherever you need to go,” I smiled.

Brooke’s face lit up, and she led Jane in my truck bouncy and happy. They fucked with my radio, and squealed and giggled about a bunch of shit I didn’t care about, but I WAS happy she was with me and I got to be the hero. (Even though I caused the problem, and had the keys in my pocket.)

“Mark, I want to apologize to you,” Jane said out of nowhere.

“Why? you don’t live that far.”

“Actually I told Brooke to be cautious about you, because you’re a selfish womanizer, and every girl that gives you the time of day, gets her heart broken. Now maybe it’s all bad reputation, because I mean, you helped her with the house, saved her earlier today, and now you’re saving us!”

I looked at Brooke, and her eyes were wide as she turned eight shades of red. Was she embarrassed by me?

“Well I just have a bad rep, I’m not that cool. I just have made the error of trusting girls, that had their fun with me, and then told everyone about it, or even lie about it. At the end of the day though, I’m just chilling by myself.” I was really gonna lay it on thick with these two.

“I can see that now. Rumors are so unfair, and I wanna tell you to give him a chance now Brooke.” She said, taking both of Brooke’s hands in hers.

Brooke smiled at Jane. Jane was my new favorite person.

I pulled up to Janes’ and she hopped out and ran in, while we waited in the car.

“So you’re ashamed of me?” I couldn’t hold it in, I had to ask her.

She was fidgeting, and staring at her lap. I couldn’t see what was up with her face since her curtain of hair was blocking it. I waited for a response, but when nothing came, I unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her, pulling her onto my lap. She didn’t even try to fight me, just let me drag her over. She still wasn’t looking at me, so I tipped her chin up to meet her eyes.

“Hey,” I said.

She tried to look away, but I didn’t let her.

“If you need to take things slow and just wanna be my friend that’s ok. I am gonna be here for you, no matter what.”

“I like you too much Mark, and I’m not a fuck buddy type.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I knew Brooke was a good girl. I didn’t know what to say, so I just hugged her and kissed her hair. I didn’t think it was possible to love her more, but I felt so much for this girl right now, I thought I’d burst. She fucking liked me too.

“Thank you,” I said finally.

“For what dork?” She giggled.

“For taking me seriously. For giving me a chance to be your boyfriend.”

“ I think friendship is what we should focus on now, and maybe relationship someday.”

Although her words hurt, she was mine and if she wanted to call it friends, fine. We could label it whatever she wanted.

“Friends that maybe kiss sometimes?” I asked, gently kissing her lips and then pressing my forehead to hers.

“And other stuff,” she said as she rubbed against me. “Seems you’re kinda excited to see me.”

“Well ya, you’re on my lap. What do you expect?” I could feel myself blushing. She made me so nervous, it’s crazy. I’m not shy, but with her...

“Wanna come over to my place tonight?” She asked as she bit that damn bottom lip.

“Absolutely.”

Jane got back in the truck, “good job Brooke! I’m so happy you’re giving him a shot.”

Jane is my new best friend.

The girls sang along and had a blast on the way back to the car. I ran in and got them drinks at a convenience store, so I could throw away janes keys before Brooke finds them.

We dropped off Jane and headed to Brooke’s apartment, and I was so happy it was disgusting. In the back of my mind, there was this voice telling me I had to do whatever I had to, to keep her. She was gorgeous, and I couldn’t be the only one that noticed.

This was very confusing and stressful. I’d never fucking cared if I ever saw a girl again, so I didn’t put much thought into making them stick around. This was new for me, and to be honest, I wasn’t fucking enjoying it. Relationships, feelings, and girls are all just nightmares, but it was too late. I might even already love her, and there was no talking me out of it.

Not even when I was doing the talking.

[brattywriters-anonymous]

A Rose In Harlem

OC x Erik Story

Based on Teyana Taylor’s VII & KTSE

@chaneajoyyy

Warnings: Implied smut! Language, Angst.

X: Show & Prove

The morning of the show

Syd woke up from what she felt was a dream. It had been the most sleep she’s gotten all week, a solid six hours. She checked her phone, 7:10 AM. She remembered tapping out and closing her eyes around 1:30 AM. What seemed to slip her mind was Sin being next to her. She jolted up at his beautiful naked frame. He was still sleeping, his hair fell every which way. She smiled to herself remembering his kisses sporadically falling across her collarbone and chest as their bodies moved in unison. She glazed her fingertips where his lips once were and smiled even harder. Her phone going off snapped her out of the daydream.

“Hello?” “Syeda! What time are you gonna head out for the show? The venue is gonna be available for us at seven.” “I’ll be there then, Ayana.” Yasin must’ve been a light sleeper because her loud whisper woke him up. He rose with a deep loud groan while he yawned, in which Yani heard loud and clear. “Gi--Girl! You got sum?! You and plumber bae got it in last night!?” “Shut up Yani! Shhhh!” “Nuh uh! Syeda Mariposa! I heard his fine ass! I know we been stressed out and shit too! And I know you bitch! You gave it up!” Yani gave Syd a round of applause, “I was beginning to wonder wtf was wrong with you. It’s almost been a year since you got them walls beat!” Syd brushed past Yasin with a smile and closed the bathroom door behind her, “It’s only been nine months. If you must know, nosey. Yes, I did. and He’s not just plumber bae anymore. He’s my bae.”

“Yaaaassss Syd! I’m proud of you! Making strides in fashion and in love! I’m inspired, I may stop playing and give your mystery neighbor a call.” “Girl, he’s in Berlin. He said he’ll be back next week though, if you forreal.” Yani sighed, “Yeah, I’m forreal, mami. It’s about time I finally settle down too, and he’s nice.. I guess. I can try him out, see what he’s about. Plus, him not always being around is a plus because you know how I likes my space!” Syd giggled at her friend, “Yeah, don’t I!” “Yeah, yeah! Bitch, you don’t gotta be so inclined to agree.” “Bitch you not gon act like we didn’t try living together before I moved in here and you didn’t throw me out!” Yani’s tone changed to a matter of fact-like as she replies, “I didn’t throw you out! I simply gave you options for new places to live.” Syd sucked her teeth, “Bitch, you threw me out.” “Whatever! Let’s agree to disagree on the matter! Besides, you may wanna get some good morning dick because we got a long day ahead of us! Get some for me too while you at it! A bitch is in the office and I haven’t had none since before the holidays.” Syd cringed, “Ew. Girl Bye!”

--

Erik woke up to a warm feeling below him, as his eyes blinked open a few times he realized what was going on. “Oh shit! Good morning.” Gina decided to wake up her interest with some morning head. Her head was slowly bobbing up and against this pelvis until his member got hard and long enough that it activated her gag reflex. “Relax that throat baby.” She moans at his request and eased her way back down to his pelvis again, collecting more spit down his shaft. She placed one hand on him, maneuvering it up and down as she slurped him up like a melting cone on a July sunset as his head flew back on the arm of Zig’s couch. He gripped her by her hair and pulled her face up to his, their lips played against one another as she sank onto him.

“Good morning.” She finally replied to his previous greeting before kissing him again.

--

The evening soon approached as Syd hopped in the Uber XL with all of her clothing, accessories, and materials in tow. Yani was already at 583 Park Avenue, waiting for her to arrive. She’d been recieving texts and calls from all of the models, some invited guests, Myles, and Yasin even though he’d just left her sights hours before she departed from her house.

“Hey baby. I know your nerves are on ten! Just breathe! You got this. I’ll see you once it’s done.

-Sin”

Syd clutched at her heart in joy at her new boyfriend’s support. The uber driver stopped as close to the service entrance as he could, “Alright, we are here Miss Syd. You need any help?” “Uhhh...yes please? Thank you!” Allen, the driver, unloaded Syd’s belongings and escorted them into the venue. Yani came outside to help him as Syd’s attention fell immediately on set design. The contractors put down the black glitter floors already and Iyo was setting up his laptop to the projector. She slipped backstage to find her MUAs hooking everyone up as she saw the last model finally arriving to set.

Gina waltzed in the show as if she was the hottest thing since Takis, strutting like she’s on the runway backstage, and she was twenty minutes late. Not only that, but she showed up needing a visit to a hair stylist and makeup. “Syd, hey girl. Listen, I’m sorry I had a long day. Me and E..” “I’m sorry but, this has to do with the show..how, exactly?” Gina giggled, saying in a boastful tone, “Me and E lost track of time, that’s why I’m late.” Syd gave her a glance over and stopped as she looked back up at her, “Hm, so that’s why you let him tag you up on the night of my fashion show too?” The right side of Gina’s neck was riddled with dark hickeys. Syd was really disgusted at the display that stood in front of her.

Gina just smiled, “I’m sorry, I’m sure GiGi can cover it up.” Syd muttered, tight lipped, “She wouldn’t have to cover shit if you could’ve remembered you had a job to do tonight and it’s all about image.” Gina rolled her eyes, “So do you want me to see if she can do it or not? Ya know, you’ve been giving me shit since you met me.. You got a thing with Erik I don’t know about? That your man that showed up last night don’t know about?” Syd had it, she stepped up on Gina really slow, looked her square in her eye as she stated, “What you do with your personal time with Erik or anyone else is of no concern to me. However, when you come into the most important night of my life, and possibly yours if you pull this off, looking freshly fucked less than two hours before showtime..that is my concern. So what I need you to do is firstly, get up with Nina and Xierra, see if they can work a miracle with what’s on your head. I’LL have a talk with GiGi and see if she can cover your shit up. And trust me, after this show, you’ll be out of my hair.”

Gina scowled, “Okay. If you say so..boss.” and with that, she disappeared. Syd hasn’t been so mad in so long. Professionally speaking, she was mad at Gina. Personally speaking, she was conflicted. Her and Erik hadn’t spoken in weeks, so she knew she really technically couldn’t be mad at him for getting with Gina. Hell, she got with Yasin. Yes, it was unexpected, but damn. She just wasn’t expecting for Erik to get back like that. Syd shook off those personal feelings and thoughts, she immediately began to dress her models that were finished with makeup. Syd dressed her models one by one as they came out.

Von, Sam, Johan, Levi, Jade, Deanna, Phoe(nix), Sevin, Nina, Essence, Xierra, Leon, Warren, Cass, Omir, Cayson, Nadia, Zaniya, Jorge, King, Tammi, Quanna, Lyric, and Gina. 

Well, as Gina finally got up from Gigi performing makeup surgery to cover up her night before, Syd actually needed to cool herself down so Myles ended up dressing her. Gina was sizing him up as he was cascading the clothes on her, “Girl, I’d be barking up the wrong damn tree. This is strictly professional! Get the damn clothes on!”

Syd stepped out front where she caught a glance of Erik on the phone. She just leaned against the wall of the building, knowing it was facing East, she bowed her head and started her second prayer of the day. Her and Yasin did the first of the day together when they finally got out of bed. She hoped for a perfect, smooth show; for sound and production to go off without a hitch, and for her show to receive rave reviews. Her head rose and met Erik’s. “Wassup princess, you good?” The second thing Syd instantly took notice of was Erik’s matching hickeys on the left side of his neck. She hung her head back down, “Yeah. I’m good. Nervous that’s all.”

“You got this Syeda. Just breathe, relax. I think someone wants to congratulate you though..” She lifted her head and saw Ziggy with a huge bouquet of Sunflowers, Syeda’s favorite flower, and the hugest grin, “I heard my fly ass neighbor was gon kill her fashion show tonight!” Syd’s face lit up as she held on to Zig for dear life, “Greg! Ahhhhhhh! Thank you for coming! But how? I thought you were working?” He sighed, “Well, Tony wrapped early so I hopped on the first flight out. I couldn’t miss your big day if I didn’t have to!” Syd accepted her flowers, “My favorite!” “Only for you Miss Syd!” “Thank you so much Zig, I feel so much better! You can go ahead and grab a seat.

“Well, well! Looks like Someone beat me to the punch!” Syeda’s ears perked up at her man’s voice, she turned her attention to Yasin. He had on a black velvet two piece suit with a white button down, his hair in a high bun. Looking like he belonged on her runway tonight. Syd’s smile became impossibly wider, “Hey, you.” Yasin wrapped his arms around her and gave her multiple pecks on her lips. She momentarily forgot about the two men behind her. Erik loudly cleared his throat, stoically stalking them with a look of dislike, “Oh, my bad. I don’t think you two ever met, Yasin, this is Zigg, my neighbor. Zigg, this is my man Yasin.” “Ya man?” Erik questioned Syd in joking tone, Yasin replied, “Yeah, Erik, was it?” Erik stood opposite of Yasin, sizing him up, “Yup. That’s me.”

Yani was right on time, “Syd, I--” She quickly pieced together the scene she walked out to, “I need you inside. You need to get dressed and into makeup.” Syd grabbed Yasin’s hand as she instructed everyone to just grab a seat and the show would be starting in thirty minutes.

--

Syeda decided on her look for the night, her blazer dress was accompanied with her black turtle neck underneath and her boots. GiGi gave her a fire gold glitter eye shadow, snatched her face with a mean contour and golden highlighter, and set the look with the bold ombre burgundy to red lip. Syd decided to wear her hear in a slick curly ponytail with her signature two sideburn pieces, and of course, keeping true to where she came from, she bought a new set of heart shaped gold bamboo earrings with her entire name spelled out, matched with her necklace her father gave her. She stepped out of the green room to all of her models, Yani, and Myles. Everybody wooped for Syeda’s look for the night.

“Daaaaammmn Mami! You looking hot tonight! Muy Muy caliente!” “Gracias, Jorge!” She bowed to her homie and continued, “Ok everyone, this is it! It’s crunch time. Just to give you a little run down for the confirmed guest list; reps from Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Pink Pyramid, Hermes, plenty of my partners from undergrad have their own fashion lines, photographers looking for models, Ford Models, L.A. Models, and even more. Ya’ll dreams are right past that curtain. I need ya’ll personalities and confidence. Shine like the stars you are, Alright?” Everyone yelled, “Alright!” she continued, “Alright! To UPTXWN!”

--

The show was every single thing Syd prayed for. The models ATE. The crowd looked satisfied with the show. Byron snapped pictures of everyone walking up and down the runway, Syeda was a nervous wreck the entire show. Biting down on her nails holding on to her best friend’s hands for dear life when she wasn’t changing out her models with her. They finished all of the models final looks she stood behind Gina, as she was the last model to walk out before her. Gina sized her up and rolled her eyes, Syeda gave her a smug look as Yani caught it, she stated, “That bitch is dead to you after this, and if anyone in here asks about her to me, her ass is grass.” Syd just nodded. Every model walked onto the platform and a mic was handed to Yani as she announced her best friend, “And now, the creative behind the UPTXWN styling brand, Syeda Diaz!” 

The entire crowd rose in applause as each side of the platform was filled with all twenty-four models, twenty-three of which were following suit in applause. Gina just painted on a fake smile for the spectators. Syeda did her walkthrough and waved each way down the runway. She caught glimpses of all of the faces she’s seen while making a name for herself in the high fashion world as well as the faces of old classmates and her boyfriend. Her face went blank when she saw a face she’d never thought she’d see ever again, her ex boyfriend. Marcellus.

🌹

[sheeple]

Couple of nights

GIF NOT MINE. THIS IS ALL FICTION.

Genre(s): Fluff? / smut?  Group(s): EXO Pairing(s): Zhang Yixing x fem!reader Summary: When your friends’ flight gets delayed, you have to spend three nights with your best friend’s boyfriend, whom you also have a huge crush on, in a cottage in the middle of the forest. Warning(s): Really bad semi-smut? / mentions of cheating? / stupid ending / light daddy kink / I don’t know any pool terms so excuse me if I do it wrong [Masterlist]

“What do you mean you and the others can make it on time?”, you squeak into the phone. 

“I mean...”, a sigh leaves Tammy’s lips, “The flight is cancelled for today and won’t go for another three days.”

You groan and lean against the kitchen counter of the cabin. “What am I going to do without like... all of you?! I’m going to be alone for like a whole week─”

“Yixing’s gonna be there”, Tammy cuts your sentence.

Oh great, Yixing...

Zhang Yixing, the cute Chinese exchange student at my school. I’ve had like this enormous crush on him for the past year. Well... still have. But there is this problem. A huge problem. Yixing is Tammy’s boyfriend.

Yep, like an actual boy/girlfriend-relationship. They got together around three months ago with an amazing bang. Everyone was talking about how the hottest dude and the hottest girl got together and were caught in the hall, eating each other's faces. 

That just hurt your feelings. But you made the choice to shut up about your feelings and put them far away, far, far away. Because your friends’ feelings and happiness go above your own. 

“Hey, (y/n), are you still there?” 

You blink a couple times before humming. “Yeah... yeah.” 

“It is just going to be a couple of nights, (y/n), nothing big.” 

After talking for some more time, we end our conversation and you look around the cabin, soaking up the silence and peace before your heart can’t handle the overall feelings. 

You don’t know how you will survive the next days with Yixing, but you will. Somehow...

A knock on the kitchen door makes you shriek and look up, waking up from your daydream. You look to the side and see a smiling Yixing through the kitchen door window. 

He waves at me before you unlock the door, letting him in. He hugs you, what surprises you, before sliding his bag off his shoulder, placing it next to the counter. 

“How are you?”, he asks you while sliding off his jacket, laying it on the counter. 

You shrug. “Just fine, like normal I guess. You?” You grip the counter nervously as Yixing leans closer, listening to you. 

“Oh, I am doing great, you know. Where should you put my stuff?” He looks around, eyes wander through the kitchen. 

“Oh leave them in the hallway. I already chose a room, so feel free to seek a room of your liking.” 

Yixing looks surprised at your words. “What do you mean? Are the others not jet here?” 

You shake my head. “Nope. I just got a call from Tammy saying she and the others couldn’t make it for another week. Didn’t you got a call too?” 

He shakes his head looking down his hands. “No... Only a text.” Yixing grabs his phone and shows you the message. 

Tammy [12:23]: Can’t make it on time, see you 

You blink. “Oof. That’s... rough.” Tammy is never this short with her answers, not even when she’s angry. 

“Has something happened between you two?” You grab two cups out the cupboard and fill them with water, one for him one for yourself. 

He thanks you before sipping. Ignoring your question, he asks, “so... we’re alone for a whole week?” 

“At the most. Tammy said only a couple of night. We will manage, right?”

Yixing laughs. “Of course we will, two heads are smarter than one.” He holds up his hand and you laugh, giving him a high-five. 

And oh boy, you both were wrong. It is the third day here you haven’t done much than binge-watching Netflix shows and eat junk food. Not very healthy but who cares. 

“Let’s do something.”

You look up from the bowl with popcorn to Yixing with raised eyebrows. 

“I mean, look at us”, he laughs, “you have popcorn all over your face and my hair is standing all different directions.” 

An embarrassing snort leaves your mouth as you roll your eyes playfully. “You’re right, your hair is a huge mess.” 

Yixing chuckles, pushing your shoulder what makes you tumble off the couch and hit your head with a dull bonk. The whole falling and hitting your head makes you laugh and I end up having a giggle fit.

“Oh my God, are you okay?”, laughs Yixing and he leans over the couch, a goofy smile on his face. 

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry”, you chuckle while pushing yourself off the ground.

He helps you up and brushes off some dust of your shoulder.

“So what are we going to do? I saw that there was an entire gaming room upstairs with Xbox, pool table and so much more.”

Yixing lets you lead the way up two stairs into the gaming room. He looks around with amazement.

“How─ when did you find this?”

You shrug. “I got here early in the morning so I was discovering the house a bit before everyone came.”

He laughs, his fingers travelling over the green fabric of the pool table. 

“Wanna pool?”

You don’t know how, but we ended up playing truth or drink while pooling.

“Okay”, Yixing gulps down his shot glass with vodka, “my turn.” He grabs the next question and reads it out loud: “oh-oho this is a fun one. How many sex toys do you own?”

You let out a scoff, shooting a ball. “None.”

This time its Yixing who scoffs. “Oh come on! I don’t believe that. You’re a single girl in your twenties, right? Of course, you’re going to have sex toys.”

Instead of arguing, you just take a shot and grab the next card. “What’s your biggest turn-on?”

Yixing hums while taking a sip of water. “Daddy kink. Daddy kink for sure.”

Your eyes grow wide and hold up your hand, “Ey, same!”

You high-five and your cheeks begin to glow. Did you just confess your biggest kink to your crush? Oh my gosh.

“What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told a significant other?” 

“That I am willing to wait for her.”

You are shooked. “Wait... it wasn’t Tammy, wasn’t it?”

He looks away, ignoring Your question and you gasp.

“It was Tammy! But why? You guys are still together, right?”

“She didn’t tell you?” 

You shake your head, sipping your rum-cola, really interested in the story.

“Tammy broke up with me a month ago by text.”

You suck in all the air. “Oof. That is low, even for Tammy.”

Yixing hums. “Yup. She even told me she wanted to do it through Snapchat.” He grabs the bottle of vodka before almost drowning it for the half.

“No fucking way.” You fetch the bottle away for Yixing and drink from it yourself before placing it away.

“Yes, fucking way." 

A low growl leaves your lips as you bend over to hit a pool ball. “That bitch”, you grumble under my breath. 

“But I’m kinda happy she did it.” 

Your eyebrows perk. “You do? And that’s because?” Please don’t say you like someone else, please.

Suddenly, you feel Yixing moving behind you and something hard is poking your butt. You gasp and jump up.

He holds you still by wrapping an arm around your middle and a hand around your throat.

“Because I’ve had the most sinful thoughts about you for the last three weeks of the relationship. How I wanted to bend you over to fuck you in front of her. Adoring you with hickeys, showing everyone that your mine.”

Yixing’s lips touch your earlobe slightly when he whispers those words in your ear, making you shiver.

“Fuck”, you let out a throaty groan, “fuck, go on.” 

A dark chuckle leaves his lips. “You like that, don’t you? You like it when daddy chokes you from behind.” He pushes his boner against your butt. 

You arch your back, grinding into his hard member. He growls lowly and turns you around, grabbing you by the thighs and lifting you up the pool table. 

Your lips connect harshly and you rip each other's clothes off, want to feel skin to skin as quickly as possible. 

Yixing lifts you up by grabbing your tighs and he places you on top of the pool table, the game long forgotten. 

Your lips move from his lips to the corner of his mouth, down to his neck to leave little love marks. 

A shiver runs through his body and you smirk, sucking harder on different spots in his neck. 

After a while, you pull away and look with a satisfied smile to the dark spots that start to appear clearly in his neck. 

“You like that, don’t you, baby girl”, he growls lowly before doing the same to you but this time around your collarbone and down your cleavage. 

You moan and arch your back, pulling him closer to your body by his dark locks. “Daddy”, you breath out while closing your eyes. 

A grumble leaves his chest as he bites hard down on my collarbone. “Fuck, baby. You sure know how to make me hard.” 

“Then let me take care of it, Daddy.” You lick your lips while hopping off the pool table and falling on your knees, ready to undo his belt. 

But Yixing’s hand that wraps softly around your chin stops you from doing so. He lifts you up and throws you over his shoulder, marching to his bedroom while giving your ass a hard spank. 

“I only can wish to feel your pretty little mouth wrapped around my cock, but not tonight baby. Tonight is Daddy fucking you raw.”

He throws you onto his bed while crawling towards you. In your wildest imagination, you never had expected anything like this to happen. 

It’s morning and the sun peeks through the blinds. You groan and turn around, snuggling closer to Yixing’s naked chest. 

A soft chuckle rumbles through it as he strokes a strand of hair out of your face. 

“Good morning, love.” 

“Hi”, you smile cutely, “what time is it?” Your voice is raspy from sleep. 

Yixing lifts your chin to place a soft kiss on your lips. 

“Around eleven am. I’m going to make us some breakfast”, he says while lifting the covers to get out of bed. 

The cold air hits your legs, what gives you goosebumps and you pull Yixing back into the warm covers. 

“Breakfast can wait.” 

Yixing laughs and places his head on your chest, enjoying your arms around him and the silence of the cabin. 

“I can stay like this forever.”

You laugh and snuggle closer to him, engulfing his scent that is just around you everywhere. 

But, before you can answer, the silence of the cabin interrupted by voices and suitcases that fall harshly on the floor. 

You groan and rub your eyes. “I guess we need to get dressed.” 

Yixing places one short kiss on your lips before pulling you out of bed. “Let’s greed our friends.”

[bluboothalassophile]

Stories of the Batfamily + extended family/friend's attempts to get jason and raven together to the point that they have maybe? Group chats , monthly meetups or get togethers to devise plans of attack (matchmaking) without targeted people knowing to the point it turns into a batfamily bonding experience 👪✨ Although its clear that jason and raven are naturally going to be together on their own time when they are ready, i wanna see other methods the batfamily has used before jayrae happened

Hello,

This is sounding like fun antics, to which I should build on… I like the way you think. Expect more of the Batfamily shenanigans to ensue!

Keeping the Peace…

Bruce valiantly tried to stay OUT of meddling in hischildren’s lives. TRIED being the operative word here. There were waymore of them than him, and his wife did not help matters. Selina was easily thebiggest instigator of shenanigans in his house and had been since they werekids. So, aside from being out numbered and out gunned, he was trying harder atbeing a parent and not a meddler. Again, easier said than done.

No matter, Bruce was in a board meeting, with the heads hisnewest acquisition, Jetsons Aviation, which was currently the leadingcompletely earth-based company leading in space exploration. George Jetson andhis daughter Judy, with their lead engineer, Dominique Blake, sat there as theyfinished the contract signing. George was a rather plain, lean, redheaded man;his daughter, Judy had platinum blonde hair and looked about Tim’s age, andDominique Blake was a vivacious redhead. All three were sitting in apprehensionas the contract was handed to him to sign.

“Father!” a voice shouted, and Damian burst into the room. “Idemand that you help us!”

Cass, Tim and Stephanie all peaked around the corner andBruce sighed as he leaned in his seat.

“I told you he was in a meeting!” Tim hissed.

“I tried to stop the gremlin!” Stephanie snapped.

Cass beamed at him and Bruce smiled slightly at his daughteras Damian took up his line of sight. Damian puffed up his chest, put his handson his hips; everything about that just screamed Talia al Ghul as Damian glaredchallengingly at him.

“Damian,” Bruce sighed. “George Jetson, this is my son, Damian,Damian I am in an important meeting.” Bruce saw the bemused look on George’sface.

“This is more important,” Damian stated in a huff.

“Then it will wait, until after I’ve finished my meeting andI take you and your siblings to lunch to discuss this important topic,” Brucecountered.

Damian opened his mouth to protest.

“Bye dad!” Cass smiled as she grabbed the neck of Damian’s shirtand dragged him after her. Bruce sighed as he turned back to the trio who werelooking ready to burst into laughter. Signing the document they finished thediscussion of the merger, and Bruce asked Lucius to d an audit of the companybefore standing and assuring George that he would be back and would like totalk more about the funding needed for the company.

Bruce was bemused to be greeted by Tim, Tammy, Stephanie,Cass and Damian. Damian was scowling at having been dismissed, Tim had his handentwined with Tammy’s while Cass and Stephanie were both having a vibrant conversationabout… waffles?

“What was so important Damian?” Bruce asked as he and his kidsstarted down the street.

“I must insist we buy the Kiss Cam at the Play Offs game!” Damianstated.

“What?”

“He’s been on this since yesterday, sir,” Tammy said.

“And why do we need to buy the KissCam?” Bruce asked drylyas his son walked beside him.

“Jason is being an imbecile, I saw him with that Rose woman.It is not allowed,” Damian huffed. Bruce sighed then.

Jason was a complicated matter still, but it was mostlyamusing when Damian saw Jason with Rose. Which had happened after the weddingwhen Jason had crossed paths with Ravager. Bruce still remember cringing as thetwo toppled off WE Tower, and Jason kissed Rose until last moment when he escapedthe death fall, Rose a step behind him the entire time. That night Bruce andthe family had kind of gotten a front row seat without distractions or interferencewhat Rose and Jason were really like. And it had landed in one of Jason’s safehouses. Bruce remembered because he had come by the next morning mainly to makesure Jason was alive, only to find a naked, pissed off Rose chained to theheater as Jason ducked out the window to escape Rose’s wrath.

“Jason is free to do as he pleases,” Bruce reminded hischild.

“I told him that,” Tim piped up.

“The gremlin thinks we need to save Jason from Rose,” Stephaniegiggled.

“JayRae,” Cass chimed up. “Hot dogs,” Cass pointed at astreet vendor. Bruce pulled out his wallet and handed her the bills as shedragged Tim, Tammy and Stephanie after her for hot dogs.

“Jason is a moron,” Damian huffed sourly.

“Jason is also an adult free to make his own decisions,”Bruce reminded his son.

“Bad ones.”

“Damian,” Bruce sighed.

“You are concerned for our well being as your children, andas you are our father, even if Jason is a colossal imbecile. He can no longerbe trusted to make decisions about his love life,” Damian stated.

Okay, those were valid points, but the same could be saidabout Tim or Cass or Duke, and Bruce didn’t interfere with their lives. And hehad seen what meddling did with Barbara and Dick, so he didn’t see how thiscould even end well. However, Damian was persistent, and Jason was no doubt awareof Damian’s incessant pushing for him to get together with Raven, so Brucecould honestly see no harm in amusing Damian. Jason and Raven would sort it out.And it’d be a moment of peace.

“Fine.” Bruce submitted to keep a moment of peace. Hischildren were weird regarding Jason and Raven. But who was he to judge, so longas they weren’t at each other’s throats he’d let them set Jason up with Raven.Honestly, this was the most civil Tim and Damian had been since Damian’s arrival.

Internally Bruce pleaded for Raven and Jason’s forgivenessfor throwing them under the bus.

“You see reason, good.” Damian huffed.

Bruce saw peace. Not reason. But for now he would allow his sonthe delusion that he was in on these antics to keep the peace in his house. Solong as Selina didn’t get in the antics he couldn’t see the harm.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Jason sat up when he felt the hairs on the back of his neckstand up. He didn’t like that feeling, something was up…

“Jay get your paranoid ass down here! I need a shower andLian needs food!” Roy shouted.

“I’m coming! Calm your tits!” Jason shouted back as he stoodand jogged down the steps of his ware house to where Lian was fighting Roy tonot get in her high chair for the mushy greens.

“You take her, I have to be at the site in twenty,” Roy huffedshoving Lian at him before running off.

“You clearly annoyed your daddy, good girl, for that wegonna have peaches for lunch!” Jason smiled as Lian squealed in delight. Kidwas kind of growing on him.

[ad-drew]

The Shaman Society | An Excerpt, Part 7

And I’m back with another excerpt from my WIP! Second draft continues to come along well, as I’m a little more than 1/3 of the way through it now. Once I’ve finished this draft, I’m cnosidering opening it up for betareaders, if anyone’s interested. I’m not really sure where in the process you’re supposed to look for betareaders though, so maybe that’s too early?

In any case, enjoy the new excerpt, with Christine being way too kind for her own good, and Rei being super protective.

Tagging: @mania-junkie-writes​

If you want to be added to my humble tag list, just send me a message and I’ll be happy to do so!

---

After paying for the saddest meal of a single ham and cheese sandwich, a side of carrots and dip, and half a pint of milk, Rei carried her tray towards the back of the cafeteria. Goddamn, these lunches were getting worse. And for three bucks? Freaking highway robbery.

“Still can’t believe your cousin is a shaman too,” said Christine, pulling in stride next to her. She’d opted for the ever classic PB&J, and a side of celery. Chocolate milk, of course. “I guess she did sort of have an intimidating vibe, but who’d have guessed?”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Rei turned through the back row of tables towards the far corner of the cafeteria. “Not much better on the job, either. Still got a massive pole shoved up her ass.”

“Oh, I’m sure it’ll get better. You haven’t known each other long, is all. I mean, you’re family, right? You’ll work it out.” Christine paused, blinking towards the corner of the room. Behind the vending machines sat a small, lonely table, falling apart with several loose stools. Rei and Christine always sat there, if only because no one else ever did. At least, not since today. “Who’s that?”

Rei squinted at the figure. No telling whether it was a guy or girl, due to the overly large hoodie, with hood pulled tight around the head. The student sat hunched over a food tray, but wasn’t eating. Just staring, as though lost in thought. Or maybe there was some fascinating riddle buried in their sandwich.

Taking a few steps closer for a better angle, Rei tilted her head to see a few dangling strands of blonde hair falling from beneath the hood, along with a taped nasal splint over the figure’s nose. “The fuck? It’s Jessica.”

Christine let out a quiet gasp. “What on earth is she doing here?”

“Beats me. That’s our table.”

“I meant at school. I’d have thought she’d take a few days after what happened. Do we talk to her?”

Rei stiffened. “What? No. Why?”

“Uh, because she was attacked by monsters? Because she watched her friends die? Because she saw you in your shaman getup?” With each point Christine made, Rei’s grimace deepened. “Besides, she is at our table.”

“Alright, fine.” Rei huffed towards the table. And here she’d been hoping not to cause another scene on her first day back. “Just don’t go forgetting who we’re talking to.”

Jessica jumped so high when Rei and Christine sat down, she nearly fell out of her seat. When she steadied herself, she snapped a look back and forth between them with wild, bloodshot eyes. Rei stared in surprise. She’d only ever seen Jessica Palmer as the perfectly groomed pretty girl with flawless hair and preppy makeup. The girl sitting across from her was a disaster.

Jessica blinked through fresh tears, wet lines streaking into a sticky mess on her cheeks. She hadn’t put on makeup today, and if she’d showered this morning Rei couldn’t tell. Tight clumps of unbrushed hair hung like a sickly veil in front of her face. She peered out through the blonde strands, eyes puffy and soaked. Less Jessica Palmer, more Creepy Drowned Girl from The Ring.

“So…” Rei cleared her throat. “Why are you at our table?”

“Rei. Tact,” said Christine, with an exasperated glare. To Jessica, she added, “I’m so sorry for what happened, I mean it. Is there anything we can do to help?”

Rei grumbled, but remained silent. Damn it, Christine—way too caring for her own good.

Jessica’s entire body broke into a rapid stutter, fingers tapping incessantly across the tabletop. Words came out in cracked, breathless sentences. “I—I wasn’t sure… Didn’t know where else to—I can’t… I’m not…”

When Jessica’s voice fell into indistinct whispering, Christine offered a consoling nod. “It’s okay, take your time.”

Ever so slightly, the jittering in Jessica’s arms and legs lessened. Her voice remained a hoarse whisper. “They think I’m crazy. But I’m not—I need to know I’m not crazy. Please, tell me I’m not crazy.”

“Who thinks you’re crazy?” As if sensing the imminent snide comment, Christine shot another look towards Rei. Damn. Christine knew her too well.

Jessica gazed across the cafeteria towards a pair of tables near the center. A group of girls in short skirts and low cut tops sat at one. At the other, boys with neat haircuts and T-shirts two sizes too small, showing off their barely developed teen muscles. They laughed and joked, their overbearing voices carrying loudest over the mindless chatter of the cafeteria. The typical crowd Jessica usually ran with, outside of Tammy and Sarah. Bunch of popular pricks.

“When I told them what happened, they said I was—they said awful things. For getting Tammy and Sarah killed. Said I was making it up. Or high. Or…” She choked on a hiccup, grabbed at the sides of her head. “But I’m not! What I saw… It was real! Wasn’t it?”

Well, shit. Yesterday had screwed with Jessica something fierce. For good reason, maybe, but still—she was a wreck. And as cathartic as it was seeing Jessica wallow in some of her own medicine, given the circumstance, the whole thing left a bitter-sweet tang on the back of Rei’s tongue.

Keeping her voice low, Rei leaned in and said, “No, you’re not crazy, alright? Those monsters that attacked you, what you saw—it was real.”

Jessica sucked in a quivering breath, combined with what sounded like half a sob and half a laugh. Relief spread across her tear-streaked face, and with a nervous swallow she looked straight at Rei with all the wonder of a child discovering candy for the first time. “What was all that? The thing attacked that us, what you did—what you were wearing. And that weapon… You fought those monsters?”

Rei looked away. “It’s—it’s complicated. Nothing you need to worry about. Honestly, the less you know the better.”

“Oh. Right.” Jessica shrank into her seat, once again staring at her food. Her voice squeaked, barely audible over the chatter of the cafeteria. “You saved me. Both of you. I could have died like Tammy and Sarah, but you saved my life. After everything I’ve done to you, how awful I’ve been… Why?”

Christine balked, her brow lifting. “Look, I know we don’t get along, and yeah, you’ve been…not great to me. But it’s like we told you yesterday. That doesn’t mean we want you dead.”

Rei forced an angry snort through her nose. Staring Jessica dead in the eyes, she said, “If I’m being completely real, Jess, you’re a bitch. To me, to Christine, and anyone else who doesn’t fit your perfect little mold. If I never had to see you again it would be too soon.”

Christine’s mouth fell open, but Rei continued, “But you’re still a person, and my job is to protect people. Even the ones I hate. So yeah, I wasn’t gonna let you die, and I’m sorry I wasn’t in time to save your friends. But that doesn’t mean we’re suddenly on good terms, got it?”

“Rei!” Christine leaned in with a harsh whisper. “That was too far!”

“No, it’s fine,” said Jessica, shrinking deeper beneath her hood. “I deserved it. For what it’s worth, I won’t give you two anymore problems. I swear.”

Rei entered a silent argument with Christine, both shaking their heads at each other and whispering without words. She knew that look. Whatever Christine was thinking next, she wasn’t going to like it. Sure enough, Christine flat out ignored Rei’s insistent muttering, turning back to Jessica with the mother of all horrible ideas.

“So, we have a Physics test next week.” When Jessica looked at her, Christine smiled. “Maybe you’d want to come by my place later, and we can study? Might take your mind off things.”

Before Jessica could answer, Rei grabbed Christine’s hand and pulled her away from the table. “A word. Now.”

When they were out of earshot from the table, Christine yanked her hand away. “Rei, what’s the matter with you?”

“‘What’s the matter?’ Look, I get it. What happened to Jessica was awful, and you feel sorry for her, but come on! This is Jessica Palmer! The same girl who’s tormented you the past three years, even before you came out! And it only got worse after that, you remember?”

“Do I remember?” Christine’s brow fell low in a cold glare. “It’s been my life, Rei. That’s not something you forget. But that doesn’t mean I can’t show a little compassion. She’s clearly in a bad place, and I don’t see anyone else trying to help her. We’re the only other ones who even know what happened!”

“Okay, sure, show some compassion. Doesn’t mean you have to invite her over for a damn study party!”

“Look, it’s not like I’m trying to be besties with her or anything, and nobody knows the shit she’s done to me better than I do. Obviously. But it can’t hurt to show her some support, right?”

“Of course it can hurt. Because we know her. She’ll turn right back around and treat you like shit, the way she always does.”

Christine huffed through her nose and glanced towards the table. Jessica sat staring at her food tray, twiddling her fingers together. “Maybe, but people can change. If you give them the chance.”

With a frustrated groan, Rei pinched her fingers against her eyes. “Know what? Fine. You wanna go study with your arch-nemesis, have at it. I got other things to do tonight, anyway.”

[shona-sims-blog]

Other Side of the Game (An Urban Sims 4 Story)

Part 8 || Kali

 The ride to Griffey’s apartment didn’t take us long to get there. We could have easily ridden the subway, but Corianna said that she didn’t like public transportation much and wanted to get us an Uber instead. When we got out of the drivers car, she paid and I thanked him.

  “That’s Griffey’s new whip,” Corianna had said proudly pointing at a powder blue sports car as we walked pass a gated parking garage. It still had a paper tag for the license plate.

“It’s a nice car,” I thought aloud as I walked beside her. “What happened to the red one?” I asked out of curiosity. The last time that I saw Griffey, he had pulled up to the curb while we were walking from the grocery store and picked up Corianna to go shopping. Instead of the sports car, he had hopped out of a cherry red BMW and told Corianna to get in before they sped off. When she bailed I had been tasked with carrying ten shopping bags up eight flights of stairs alone, since the elevator was out of service that day.

“He wrecked it coming from Summer Jam, so he just got this one almost two weeks ago.” She shrugged. “It still smells like new car,” She laughed and continued. “It’s fast as hell too. Griff’ had let me drive it to the fashion district to pick up my Manolo boots. I did 140 going down the ave.” Corianna said casually as if that was a normal thing to do; she didn’t even have a valid driver’s license. We said nothing else for the rest of the short walk to Griffey’s apartment building. It was an easy silence since Corianna was scrolling through her Simstagram feed and I was enjoying the cool evening breeze.

  The night air was so fresh in this area unlike the smoggy pollution we breathed in daily on our side of town. This part of the city was located near the fresh water and closer to the docks where a lot of men were able to work as fishermen to provide for their families. If you journeyed pass the old fish canning factory, you could easily see the massive bridge that took you on a seven hour ride from San Myshuno to the city of Bridgeport.

  Some of the views on this side were undeniably mesmerizing and I could easily see why many of the city natives never had the desire to leave this vast metropolis. People often debated about which town was better or more beautiful, Bridgeport or San Myshuno, but you couldn’t have one without the other. The rich and famous celebrities that lived on the other side of big bridge needed the designers from The Fashion District to construct their beautiful clothes and the designers couldn’t create if they didn’t gain inspiration from the diverse street style of the trend-setting city natives. The immense array of fish that was caught by the fisherman in San Myshuno was delivered daily to the executive chefs all across Bridgeport. Along with fresh produce and other unique goods with flavors that only the Spice Market could offer.

  “Earth to Kali,” A manicured hand waved itself in front of my face. “We’re here ‘cuz,” Corianna’s voice disrupted my thoughts and brought me back to reality. As we turned the corner and approached Griffey’s apartment I could tell that the neighborhood was low income, but the buildings were made of quality brick and well-built which had made the structures last over time. They were much nicer than where we lived; the historic buildings would have been prime real estate if they weren’t located in the ghetto.

“I was just thinking,” I told her candidly.

“Girl, yo’ ass is always thinkin’ ‘bout something,” She laughed and pushed my shoulder, almost losing balance and tripping in her stilettos. “Aw! Shit! I almost fell on my behind. That’s what I get,” She adjusted her designer frames and bent sideways to check her white heels for scuff marks.

“Are you okay?” I asked in between bits of laughter, hoping that she hadn’t twisted her ankle.  She lifted her foot and wiggled it in a circular motion before we walked up the steps to the old apartment building.

“Yeah girl, I’m alright. You know I’m clumsy as hell,” She sighed and smiled widely at me. I had knots twisting in my stomach. I was extremely nervous to be around so many strangers, just because they were her friends that didn’t mean they would like me. “I told you ain’t nobody gon’ fuck with you girl. Quit being such a scaredy-cat, they’re cool.” Corianna said with a roll of her green eyes, it was as if she was reading my mind.

“Okay,” I let out the breath I had been holding and pulled a loose string that had been dangling from the hem of my shirt. “You’re right.” She made an “mmhm” sound agreeing with me. When we stepped into the elevator the metal doors shut and she punched the number four. From our view on the street, the apartment on the fourth floor had been the only one with the balcony light on.

  The elevator ride was quiet and brief, Corianna was back on her phone and I was trying to calm myself down, I held tightly onto the metal rail and took a deep breath.  It didn’t smell of filth, stale sweat, cigarettes or urine like the one in our building – which didn’t even work all of the time. When we got there, it wasn’t as nearly as many people as I had imagined it would be. There were only ten people and that included Corianna and I.

She introduced me to a few of the people there, including her friend Unique who I’d seen stop by her home before, but we had never been properly introduced before. She had the prettiest and darkest mocha skin that I’d ever seen. She told me that she had to talk to Unique about something and she’ll be right back. Even though I was in the living room with all these strangers, I still felt so alone and I started to feel anxiety flood my body. When some of the guys first attempted to include me in conversation I just felt awkward. But after a few laughs and realizing that they were just regular people, I started to feel a bit less tense and more comfortable until a question from Unique’s boyfriend caught me off-guard.

  “You look like you need to relax. Wanna buy some loud?” Geechie asked me and the other guys started laughing.

“I – I – umm, we – well,” I stuttered, but before I could respond Corianna spoke up on my behalf. I let out a sigh of relief and dropped my sweaty palms to my side from in front of my face.

“Boy, hell no she don’t.” She waived him off with a laugh saying, “That’s my lil’ cousin, from out of town. She don’t smoke that shit.” He furrowed his brows and cracked a chipped toothed smile before responding.

“Well what she smoke then? Mid?” The guy asked Corianna and laughed while looking me up and down.

“Nah, she don’t smoke at all! She a good girl, a’ight?” She rolled her eyes and he looked at her suspiciously before shrugging. I was hanging with her, different clothes, and new face or not. Corianna didn’t usually have people around her with the best of reputations and even though I probably was the only person here who wasn’t high that didn’t make me look any more of a “Good Girl” to them. 

  “You a’ight cuz?” Cori asked tapping my shoulder before narrowing her glassy eyes with concern. She had been smoking too.  

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I offered her a smile. “I really like the music, it’s great.” I honestly didn’t mind it. She returned the smile without hesitation.

“Good.” Was all she said before walking away. I appreciated her not attempting to pressure me into smoking as so-called friends attempted to peer pressure me into doing in the past. Admittedly, I was curious to know what all the hype was about, but after I saw Aunt Tammy put that switch to her only daughter for smoking when we were children I never had the desire to touch the herb. 

  Shortly after Corianna and Griffey started flirting in the living room and shared a few words the apartment started to clear out. Their funny friend Mohammad was the first to leave and soon everyone else began to follow. I had felt so much relief when everyone started to clear out of the apartment. I wondered how long it would be before we left for home too, it was getting late.

  In the midst of everyone’s departing chatter I silently escaped to the bathroom so I wouldn’t have to awkwardly say goodbye to anyone that I had met earlier. It was a lot cleaner than I thought it would be, there wasn’t dirty underwear kicked into a corner or ashes sprinkled on the floor and it was definitely larger than the bathroom we shared at Aunt Tammy’s house. I sat down on the toilet lid and watched a tiny spider crawl up the wall.

  “Hey there, are you alone too?” I whispered to the bug, wondering if he had a family of spiders hidden in a different part of Griffey’s apartment somewhere. Then I thought how ridiculous it was that I was talking to insects when I couldn’t even talk to people. I frowned at the memory of my mother reading Charlette’s Web to me as a child. I missed her voice so much, but I shook my head to pull me from my thoughts. I stood up from the toilet seat and walked to the sink.

  I couldn’t be sad right now, I was finally doing something normal and here I was hiding in a cold bathroom because I was too chicken to be social. I could even make friends with these people. My parents would be so disappointed at how I was coping with their loss. My dad was blunt and always spoke his mind. I could almost hear his gruff voice telling me to quit being a coward and show people my personality. I rinsed the rest of the soap off of my hands with cool water and decided I would say goodbye to at least one person.

  When I exited the bathroom, the living room was empty. Everyone was gone, not even Corianna and Griffey were present, and I was by myself. All of the nervousness and worry that had been present in my body had escaped, but couldn’t help to feel disappointed at the fact that I hadn’t left an impression on anyone. Suddenly I felt drained, it was well past my bedtime and the depression I started to feel wasn’t helping my energy restore.

I sat on the loveseat in the corner of the room, it was so soft and my eyelids were getting heavy. It wouldn’t hurt if I took a quick nap until Corianna and Griffey were finished with whatever they were doing. The suede like fabric on the couch smelled of smoke and cologne, it probably wasn’t the cleanest place to rest but my body was too tired to protest. I laid down and pulled my legs up on the couch before quickly dozing off to sleep.

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[amaraspen-blog]

Fireworks

Part Two

I woke up feeling better than I had yesterday. I guess I needed the extra sleep.  It was time to get moving so I could have everything at Tammi’s by noon. I wasn’t ready to get up and moving. If it wasn’t for all the food I had to bring, and knowing Tammi would drag me out of my house; I would gladly stay in my house. Today would be a perfect day for getting cozy in my bed and watching movies, alone. The kids were coming with me, but if I didn’t go they would easily make other plans.

I dragged myself from my bed before the thought had a chance to settle and entered the walk in closet. We were supposed to hit ninety six degrees. I needed something comfortable that would keep me as cool as possible. Shorts and a tee were appealing but I finally settled on a yellow floral sundress. The material was thin without being too see through. There were knee high slits on both sides to give me some movement from the form fitting garment. I opted for a quick shower. After lotioning my body with cocoa butter it was time to tackle my nest of hair. There were more than a few gray hairs but not more than that. I twisted the front crown back and pulled the rest into a low ponytail. I looked in the mirror and was pleased with the result. The yellow complimented my chocolate complexion. At almost fifty years old I looked good. I loved my size sixteen frame. A few extra pounds in the right places and little cushion where abs should be, but I earned it. Jordan loved my wide hips and thunder thighs. He spent many a night with his head resting on my lap while we watched TV. My facial features were accentuated by my ponytail. Large almond eyes and naturally curly lashes. Eyes the color of wet cinnamon. In this heat there was no need to put on any makeup other than lip gloss. I applied a wine gloss to my full lips. Satisfied with my appearance, I threw on sandals and was ready to go.  

“Are y’all almost ready?” I called out to my children. “Remember I need to have the food there before other guests arrive.”

“I’m almost ready, but Dany was hogging the bathroom this morning.”

“Hey perfection takes time.”

“Maybe you need more time then.” Brandon teased.

Malik strolled up looking like he walked out of an Old Navy ad. Button up linen shirt, khaki shorts and boat shoes. “Looks like you both need more time. I’m ready Mom.” My oldest baby wasn’t a baby anymore. His slim six foot four inch frame still towered mine at five nine. I could always count on him to be responsible. Sometimes to the point that I had to remind him to enjoy his youth. At twenty five he should be having fun. He had completed his bachelor’s degree, was working in IT earning a decent amount of money. He needed to be dating. It probably didn’t help that he lived at home. Don’t get me wrong, he could afford to have his own place but thought it was better to stay after Jordan passed.

“Malik, can you start loading the car for me?”

“No problem Mom.”

“Thanks honey.”

“No problem Mom.” Danyel mocked.

“Dany, worry more about being ready.” I cautioned.

“I’m just putting earrings on. I’m ready.” This girl had on cut off shorts, tank top, an oversized cardigan and gladiator flats. She was six feet and all legs. Not to mention a head full of wild shoulder length curls and a full face of makeup. Visually there was a lot going on. Looking at her you wouldn’t guess we were headed to a backyard barbeque.

Danyel was my free spirit. She was an art major in college. She was living the college experience and dating a lot more than I wanted her to. I had to remind myself to guide where I could and let her develop into the person she was meant to be. At one point she was talking about studying abroad next semester, but who knew if she was serious about it.

“Good, help your brother.”

“Brandon, are you ready?”

“Yes ma’am.” He shuffled his way out of the jungle he called a bedroom, almost tripping over a shoe. He wore his high school basketball jersey, black basketball shorts and slides.

“Do you ever wear anything that isn’t sports related?” Danyel judged, shaking her head is disgust.

“Hey, I like what I like.” Brandon shrugged and walked off. I truly hoped his sense of style would change in the future.

Thirty minutes later the car was packed and we were on the road. Tammi stayed about twenty minutes from me.

Tammi didn’t give us a chance to stop the car before she was walking outside.

“Bout time. I been waiting on you.”

“Malcolm, she been sippin already?”

“You know how she is.” We joked. Malcolm was the opposite of his wife. Tammi was the life of the party, and Malcolm a lot more mild mannered. They had been married almost as long as Jordan and I. Tammi and I met freshman year and had been inseparable ever since.  

We unloaded the car and started setting up the backyard. Spending the 4th of July had become tradition for us. We normally alternated locations, but I hadn’t really felt up to participating the last few years. I gazed at all the pictures hanging on Tammi’s walls. So many memories and good times. My thoughts drifted as I went down memory lane.

“Don’t think about it, Renee. This is supposed to be a party and you were happy when you got here.”

Sigh. “I know. It’s just…”

“It’s just nothing. It’s been 3 years, you deserve to live. He wouldn’t want to see you living like a hermit.”

I know it came from a place of love, but she didn’t understand. “You’re wrong Tam. Remember he used to joke about haunting me if I tried to move on.”  Oddly enough that memory brought a smile to my face.

Tammi laughed at the memory. “He sure did. Lucky for you I’m just trying to get you to be present and enjoy friends. It’s not like I’m setting up a booty call. Although I’m sure you could use someone to come dust off the cobwebs.”

“Don’t worry about my situation. I’m not hurting for anyone.”

“Not now, but one day. I’ll make sure I help you find the right duster.”

“What y’all over here cackling about?” Malcolm walked over, beer in hand beer in hand.

“Just talking about cleaning services baby.” Tammi leaned in to Malcolm and rested her head on his side when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

“Oh, I know a good one. Their prices are decent and they’re Black owned.”

We looked at each other and laughed.

“What am I missing?”

“Nothing, you know what kind of equipment they use?” We laughed even harder.

“See now I know you playing.”

We couldn’t even deny it, and poked more fun at Malcolm’s expense.

“I’m gonna go back to my grill, since y’all minds in the gutter.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

“I wouldn’t say a gutter, but definitely in the street.” That was Tammi.

Other guests arrived. The smell of barbeque saturated the air. Music was bumping through portable speakers. They played a nice mixture of the music I loved: Keith Sweat, New Edition, and Anita along with some new school the kids could vibe to. The atmosphere was right. I sat in my lawn chair sipping one of Malcolm’s spiked lemonades and enjoying the scenery when I overheard Malcolm and Tammi arguing.

“Woman, you don’t wanna see me on this table.” Malcolm exclaimed.

“Come on Cleetus, let’s do it. You bout to get embarrassed today.” Tammi looked my way. “C’mon Nee, let’s give this man spanking he deserves and shut him up.”

I stood and stretched out. “Now I came to chill, but if folks asking for it, I’ll gladly come tap that ass one time.”

“That’s what I’m talking bout!” Tammi hi-fived me from across the table.

“Ain’t nobody scared of Nee!”

“You still talking Malcolm? You don’t even have a partner!”

“Now I don’t know you, but it sounds like we’re gonna have to skip formalities and go straight to spanking.” I turned my mouth up to reply and paused at the Ralph Angel looking King standing before me. I don’t even know where he came from. He was about six feet and dipped in chocolate.

“You look a lil young for this table but I will gladly whoop you and send you crying back to your mama.”

“Boy I still see milk behind your ears.” Tammi snickered.

“Time to put up or shut up.” Malcolm announced while shuffling.

We talked shit and played spades until the men finally had to accept they weren’t ready for me and Tammi. We had been playing together for decades. Malcom and the newbie didn’t stand a chance.

“Y’all cheated, over there using secret gestures. I saw you.”

“Awwww, don’t be a sore loser. Take this spanking like a man.” Tammi laughed and slapped Malcolm on his butt.

I made my exit from the table to get a refill on my drink. Mid-pour Ralph Angel entered the kitchen.

“I guess I’ll have to brush up on my skills.”

“That would probably be the best thing for you.” I teased.

“I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself. I’m Daryn Thomas.” He extended his hand to mine.

“Renee Johnson.”

“Nice to meet you.” He smiled and I could see dimples just above his beard. Lord, this man couldn’t get any finer.

“How long have you know Malcolm and Tammi?”

“Probably longer than you’ve been alive.” I couldn’t help myself. Don’t get me wrong, Daryn was fine as hell but I meant it when I said he looked a little young. Definitely not as young as my children just younger than me. I didn’t want him to get the wrong impression.

“I highly doubt that. Did you too grow up together?”

“No we met in college.”

Daryn couldn’t hide his disbelief. “I’m sorry but I have to ask. How old are you?”

I chuckled “You know you aren’t supposed to ask a lady her age.”

“I know, but you don’t look that much older than me.”

“How old are you?” I asked to satisfy my curiosity.

“I’m thirty eight. I’ll be thirty nine in September.”

I just laughed. “I’m fifty.” I shook my head and started to walk away.

He placed his hand on mine, halting my progress.

“You don’t look it at all.” Daryn replied looking me up and down. I felt naked under his gaze.

“Thank you.” I stated pulling my hand back. I walked to the door to make my exit and end this conversation before anything else was said.

“Let me get that door for you.” I left and didn’t turn back. I could feel Daryn’s eyes still staring me down.