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maddy-k-reads-all-day · 7 days ago

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Do You Remember?

Previous Fantape

Amanda losing hope was not good. Especially considering the fact that Riley was certain Hameln was getting hot on their trail. They knew that destroying the tapes would not be good for Amanda and Wooly. They gathered all the tapes they’d already found and neatly placed them in their bag. However, according to some of the files they’d found from the librarians, Kate had hidden sixteen tapes in this building. Caroline had some older tapes as well. Specifically the seasonal tapes. The descriptions of those tapes intrigued Riley the most, as they were the ones described to be the only tapes that didn’t have demonic mentions and the ones where Amanda and Wooly seemed the most like normal children and felt the most alive. The most normal episodes of Amanda the Adventurer. According to David’s records, Kate’s favorites. Caroline had found the lack of demonic mentioning intriguing as well which is why she had borrowed them prior to her death. Riley was certain these tapes were in a certain someone’s possession. When her mom died, she mentioned being left with some children’s tapes. Being told not to watch them but to keep them safe no matter what. I thought it was weird at the time… but those must’ve been the Amanda tapes right? I don’t want to get her involved but… Riley looks at their phone. Several worried texts from a contact reading ♥️ Sophie ♥️ were blowing up Riley’s phone. No, she deserves to know. I mean it was her mom. And… Kate couldn’t do this alone… neither can I… Riley takes a deep breath. No. I can’t be hasty about this. Once I tell her she'll be a part of this. Her mom wanted to keep her out of this. That said… there is someone else I could ask… I need time to think. I don’t have to decide now. I don’t think they’ve found me yet… I just need to find the last four tapes and get out of here. And in order to do that… Riley looks at the tape they just acquired titled: Do You Remember?. I wish I could find them all at once but it’s easier to find them this way.

“Oh… hi there.” Wooly mumbles. He’s alone today. “You’re probably wondering where Amanda is… aren’t you? Heh heh… funny story um… she hasn’t left her room since you last saw us… yesterday… ye-yeah…” Oh boy. Riley thinks. “I can’t even get her to talk to me. Other than ‘Go away Wooly’ ‘I don’t feel like talking right now’ ‘I wanna be alone’ You get the idea. I didn’t want to make her angry so I’ve been leaving her alone other than some breakfast by her door this morning. Yeah. She ate it though! Tha-that’s something!” Wooly laughs nervously. He stands there in awkward silence for a couple seconds. “While she’s gone… I guess I can talk to you right? Look… I don’t know what’s going to happen to us but… if Amanda does get out of here… you’ll take care of her right? Keep her safe?” Wooly asks. Riley types in yes. “You’re sure?” Yes. “You promise?” YES. “Say ‘I promise’.” Wooly demands. I promise. Riley types. “Okay good. Honestly I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to get out of here… but we can’t be trapped here forever right?” Wooly chuckles nervously, “I mean forever is a long long time and time changes things right? Aw well… in THAT movie it changed for the worse I guess… hmm…” Wooly pauses for a moment with a sour look on his face, “I’ll see if Amanda wants to play today.” Now Riley sees Wooly standing outside Amanda’s door. “Hey Amanda… do you want to go on an adventure today?”

“What’s the point?” Amanda grumbles.

“Well… our fri- Riley is here.” Wooly explains. There is a bit of silence. “Amanda?”

“Ugh… fiiine.” Amanda groans. She opens the door. She’s still in her pjs and her hair is an absolute mess.

“What have you been doing all day?”

“Sleeping mostly.” Amanda sighs, “Got nothing better to do.”

“But now you do! Let’s go on an adventure!”

“I told you I don’t wanna Wooly!” Amanda snaps.

“We don’t have to go and do something. We can just relax around the house and… chat? Spend time together?”

“That’s not really an adventure though is it?”

“I guess not haha.” Wooly laughs nervously.

“Fine, just let me fix my hair…”

“I can do it!” Wooly beams. Amanda looks at him skeptically.

“You know what? Fine. Fine. I hate doing it anyway.” Amanda shrugs. They glitch into Amanda’s room and she opens up her top drawer. “Can you grab my hairbrush and stuff for me?” she says, unenthusiastically. Riley clicks on the hairbrush and hair ties. “Cool.” Wooly sits in Amanda’s chair while she sits on the floor. Wooly undoes her buns and hums happily.

“What is with you today?” Amanda scoffs.

“Nothing. I’m just happy to spend time with you!” Wooly giggles. Amanda finds this SUPER weird. “Wow it got really knotted. This is just from one night?”

“I guess I don’t usually toss and turn.” Amanda sighs. As soon as the brush touches Amanda’s hair, a sense of familiarity washes over him. Oh right… I remember this… he used to do this a long time ago… nearly every day… at least… back when his heart was still whole… back when he was human… “Hey Wooly…” Amanda says. Wooly doesn’t respond. “Wooooooly.”

“Hm?”

“After you got that book… you started acting really weird… and talking about how it made you remember things you didn’t want to remember…”

“Yeah…”

“Do you remember now?”

“Yeah…” Wooly said distantly, closing his eyes. “I remember now. We used to have it back at home. My little sister made me read it to her every night.”

“Hmm…” Amanda mumbles. “What else… Do you remember?”

“Not much… just some little things… here and there… mostly sad stuff…” he replies. Amanda looks at the ground. It’s quiet for a couple seconds. “I don’t really think my dad was ever around… but I remember we’d always talk to him on the phone. I think he was doing something really important overseas… I remember… one day my mom got a call…”

Suddenly the Hameln toy phone started to ring. Riley paused the tape and answered it, but there was no one there. They return to the tape in confusion.

“My sister always got excited when mom was on the phone and would say ‘Dada! Dada!’ Mom turned to her with a look that I can’t quite describe and said ‘Dada’s gone.’ Haha… maybe it was because I was so young… but it didn’t quite make sense at the time. He was always gone. I didn’t think anything had changed but they did. Mom… was almost never home. She was either working or away somewhere. So I was always in charge of my little sister…”

“What happened?” Amanda asks.

“Mom had got mad at her one night and put her favorite puppy up really high. We were home alone. I wasn’t paying attention… by the time I noticed… I tried to stop her… I tried to catch her… I was right there but… it’s all my fault. It was my job to protect her… and I failed.”

“No! It’s not your fault!” Amanda shouts, “You failed at a job that was never yours! That’s not your fault! You were just a kid!”

“She was only four years old… she never even got to go to school… funny isn’t it? I’m trapped in what could’ve been her favorite show.” Wooly cried. Amanda looked at the ground sadly.

“If things were different… it would’ve been.” Amanda sighs. Wooly whips his eyes dry. “What happened… after that? How did you end up here?”

“Mom had enough of me I guess… I got put in a lot of after-school programs that my friends would drive me to… including… a local theater program. I guess I was really good… cuz some guy asked my Mom if she was interested in me becoming an actor for TV. She didn’t care… as long as I was far away. They ended up taking full custody of me really fast. I acted on a couple shows… and it wasn’t long before I started to notice my co-stars disappearing… in their little experiments… if they misbehaved.”

“That sounds… really scary…”

“Yeah. So I did my best not to get in trouble… I did everything I was told. I tried to fool myself into believing I’d be happy there… as long as I did what I was told. Though… it didn’t make me many friends. No one could trust me… well also because I was weird… I guess…”

“I see…”

“I was just so desperate not to disappear. But I guess that’s what got me here…”

“Wait what?”

“I was obedient.”

“I… see…”

“But it doesn’t matter how we got here right?” Wooly suddenly beams, “Because we’re gonna get out of here no matter what!”

“What makes you so sure?” Amanda asks. This time Wooly falls silent.

“Do you remember when Kate first made us remember we were human?” Wooly asks, then more quietly, “That we were trapped?”

“Do you? Do you even want to?” Amanda grumbles, suddenly closing herself off. Wooly finishes brushing out the knots in Amanda’s hair. “Don’t ever mention her to me again. Not when… it’s your fault… It's your fault, Wooly!” she suddenly stands up.

“Wait, I'm not done!”

“Quit acting like my friend! You messed everything up! Do you remember that?! I don’t get you! I don’t understand! You kept me from every chance I had to get out of here, now I give up and you act like you wanna leave?!”

“Amanda-”

“SHUT UP!” Amanda snaps. “SHUT THE ---- UP!”

“Amanda you can’t do that!”

“I can do whatever the ---- I want! Get out of my room!” Amanda screams. Wooly looks heartbroken.

“But Amanda… I…”

“Get. Out.” Amanda hisses. Wooly nods and leaves the room leaving the brush on the floor. “I just can’t trust him… not after what he did… always acting like everything’s fine. I don’t know what to do… Should I try?” Before Riley can type a response the tape fades out and Riley sees the credits on the screen. They faintly hear Amanda say: “For a second… I almost believed… I thought he was just like me… I almost forgot her… for a second… he almost made me forget her…” the Hameln jingle plays and the tape falls out. They hear a noise and turn around. It’s Amanda’s demon again, it has a nasty injury on its arm.

“You two got in a fight again, huh?” Riley sighs, softly as if they are coaxing a crying child, “Okay… I’ll get the first aid kit. You trust me?”

WOW A lot of lore for this tape... I'm going to be adding some made-up Riley lore to this story. Are we cool with that? They're allowed to have a life right? Got some Wooly lore... and maybe in the next tape we'll get to know more? BTW I'm changing the tape order again. Next is going to be "When Friends Drift Away..." you can check the new order on the masterpost or... the Amanda Fantapes Series Part 2... you might find a treat there...

Did anyone catch the Disney movie reference Wooly made?

Next Fantape:

#amanda the adventurer #amanda the adventurer 2 #wooly the sheep #ata 2 #amanda the adventurer wooly #maddykpost #rebecca colton #fanfic #fanfiction #maddykwrites

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getluckylana · 1 year ago

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Rich baby daddy. You were the first person I talked to after my breakup. It wasn’t meant to be a forever thing or a thing at all. My friends pushed me to DM you because they were so tired of me going back to my ex. By the time you responded to my dm, him and I were already back together. We made each other miserable but couldn’t bare the idea of losing the routine of life we had built together over that year. Him and I were on a plane to New York, he was sitting next to me, as I read our very first interaction. I was loyal to him, but I wondered what would happen if I responded, what you were like, would we get along? A few months later my relationship ended for good. You said you were having a party at your house and I should come by. It wasn’t a party at all, just you and two of your friends sitting at your kitchen table getting high on mushrooms. I wasn’t amused by you. Your immature demeanor disgusted me. A man child. You sent me a “good morning” text the following day, I didn’t respond. Something strange happened a month later, you popped into my mind, and I felt drawn to you, this weird wave of affection washed over me. Coincidentally we both would be looking for houses in New York the next week. What were the chances we both were moving to the same city at the same time? I watched your game before we hung out, I rooted for you and still do to this day. Your team won. “Reposito or Blanco? I replied “blanco” and you said “ that’s my girl”. I was glad you approved of my choice. We sat on the couch beside each other, then I was on your lap. We were in the middle of a party but we only spoke to each other for the entire night. I felt so drawn to you. At one point you mumbled “ I waited for this my entire life” I still wonder what you meant by that. We kissed at that party, in the bathroom, I still remember how your lips. Now we were alone In your hotel room looking at the east river together. You hovered over me while looking into my eyes, and told me that you loved me. I was hooked on you after this night. I needed you. You were the one I wanted. Fate bought us together again in Miami, what were the chances we both would be there for work on the exact same days? that night we conceived our son. It was only our second time having sex. What were the chances I would end up pregnant? All I have left of you is a photo of us and your hoodie I wore home that morning. I never saw you again. You would call every few months while I was pregnant to remind me to keep it hush. Each time our phones calls would end my heart would break, each time a little part of me had hope that you were calling out of love but it was always distain. Four days after I gave birth you asked to FaceTime, I thought you wanted to see him, but once again you reminded me to hush. I cried so hard after that call. You will never understand how alone I felt over that ten months. You never gave me money or had me sign an NDA. I protected you out of love, I will always be rooting for you.

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applejuicefruit · 2 years ago

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hey beauty how are you?💜

i have an idea on my mind so hear me out😏

Reader and Neymar been dating for a while but one day she finds he cheated on her multiple times during their relationship so she broke up with him but one day she finds out also that she’s pregnant and she never told him because when they broke up she moved away but one day they meet each other again and she’s with the kid you can decide how to end it 💓💓

Thank you for requesting this I had so much fun writing it ❤️

This is pure angst I’m sorry!

Reader’s being a bitch but honestly who could blame her?

Consequences

5 years ago

You had the perfect life.

You had your dream job.

You had a wonderful house.

You had a lot of friends.

And most importantly, you had the man of your life by your side.

You were dating the super famous football player Neymar.

Your life was perfect or so you thought.

Neymar was a party man. He loved to party and to get drunk. It was like part of his DNA.

You, on the other hand hated to party. You hated loud music and big crowds but somehow you managed to be the perfect couple.

Until one night he was at some friend’s party and you were home, feeling sick and nauseous but you had no clue why, a friend of you sent you a picture that you wished you’d never seen. It was Neymar making out with a woman. She looked like a model. She was tall, thin and blonde. Basically your opposite.

Your friends texted you when they saw the picture because it went viral in basically zero minutes. But it wasn’t all. Neymar did the same thing with an other woman, this time she had short brown hair, still a model tho.

And both of pictures were from the same night.

You started doubting your relationship was perfect. You started asking yourself if this was the only time he did it or if he’s been cheating on you for months.

Your heart broke at the sight of those pictures and you couldn’t believe that Neymar would ever cheat on you. Not when a month ago proposed you. Not when now you were wearing a ring on your finger. Not now that you were at home taking care of his child when he was out somewhere partying and getting drunk.

You decided to pack your things and wait for him to get home. You didn’t want to stay in the same home of a cheater.

So you put all of your suitcases in your car and waited for him in the living room, already dressed up ready to go out of that house the moment you’d break up with him.

He came home around four in the morning.

And to your shock he wasn’t drunk. At all.

So at this point he had no excuses.

“Hey babe…what are you doing still up? It’s late” he asked you when he saw you on the couch

“I was waiting for you” you told him with a firm voice even if you just wanted to cry

“Oh really?” he teased you

“Yes. And also to tell you that I’m leaving”

“What-what you mean?”

“I mean we’re done” you stated standing up from the couch and removing your engagement ring

“Babe what are you talking about?” he asked you with a worried voice

“This” you showed him the first picture “and also this” you showed him the second picture and as he watched the pictures his face went completely pale. He remembered perfectly what happened but he didn’t want to tell you so he lied

“Baby I was drunk…” he laughed about it

“You weren’t or you would be drunk now Neymar. And even if you were, does that give you the right to cheat on me? Twice?” you asked him now completely crying

“No baby don’t cry” he tried to hug you but you avoided him

“Don’t touch me!”

“Baby…I swear it didn’t mean anything to me, you’re the woman I love please baby” he looked at you with his puppy eyes and you almost gave in. Almost.

“No Neymar. You cheated. You made the mistake and now you’re paying the consequences” you said

“Baby you can’t leave me. What about me? What about Davi? You know he can’t live without you” he said knowing how much you cared for Davi

“Don’t bring him in this conversation!” you said back angrily

“You can’t leave us baby…” he said now crying

“I made a decision and that’s final…I hope they were worth it” and with that you left the house, ignoring his cries and his begging.

You drove for hours before finding an hotel where you could rest.

That night Neymar cried all his tears.

He was heartbroken but also mad at himself for all the pain he caused you.

———————————-

One month after breaking up you found out you were pregnant. With his baby.

You debated if you should tell him or not, deciding in the end that you wouldn’t tell him. This baby would be better without him.

You moved to London just a few weeks after. You found a new job.

A new house.

And you were ready to start your life all over again.

—————————————

NOW

It’s been five years from that night and even if it still hurt you the way you ended things you couldn’t ask for a better life. You had a beautiful four years old daughter, Maya, and she was the love of your life.

You both happily lived in London.

She was attending preschool and you were working for a big agency in the city center.

Nothing could go wrong right?

Wrong.

One morning you and Maya were waiting for your breakfast in your favorite London bar when his voice called you from behind.

“Y/n?” he said and you pretended you didn’t hear but Maya made it clear someone was calling for you

“Mama someone is calling you!!” she said happily and you smiled at her. You turned around and saw him.

He was handsome like always.

“Hi…” you said shyly

“It’s been so long from that…ehm…night. How are you?” he asked you

“I’m good. How about you? I’ve seen you’re playing for PSG” you said and in that moment you cursed yourself for mentioning it

“Yes, I’m in Paris” he said awkwardly

“I love Paris!!” Maya said out of nothing and Neymar looked at her. He was confused.

“Y/n…who is she?”

“She’s my daughter Maya” you said pointing out ‘mine’ because she was only yours

“Is she…?” he wanted to ask you if she was his daughter but you stopped him

“Not here” you said angrily “Maya honey why don’t you go ask the barman if our breakfast is ready? The one who always gives you the candies you love” you told her in a soft voice and she happily nodded and left

“So she’s my daughter” he stated now getting a bit mad

“Only by DNA”

“I could have been in her life! You had no rights to take her away from me!” he whispered-shouted to you

“You’ve lost every rights on ger the night you decided to cheat”

“That’s not fair! She deserves a father in her life”

“No she doesn’t! It’s me and her and we’ve been doing amazing for four years, why should it change now?”

“Because I want to be in her life! She’s my daughter y/n, she’s my blood!”

“Blood doesn’t make a family and you know it” you said looking straight into his eyes

“I want to be a part of her life”

“No. Absolutely not. We don’t need you. She doesn’t need you…”

“Y/n you can’t do this to me…”

“Yes I can, watch me” you stopped talking the moment Maya came back with hand full of candies.

“Joe says our breakfast is coming, is your friend staying mommy?” Maya asked in her sweet voice

“No he’s leaving. He has to go back to Paris. Forever” you said to Maya while never removing your look from Neymar’s eyes. His heart broke when you said those words. You didn’t want him in her life and you made it clear.

“Yes I have to go back home…it was meeting you Maya” he said almost tearing up.

Maya greeted him and kept eating her candies.

You made the right decision not wanting him in her life? Right?

The moment Neymar got back to his hotel, he broke down crying.

You really hated him and in the end it was all his fault. You said it that night. He had to live with the consequences of his own mistake.

#neymar smut #neymar one shot #neymar angst #neymar fluff #neymarjrxreader #neymar x reader #neymarjr x reader #neymar #neymar junior #neymar imagine #neymar imagines #psg #paris saint germain

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hiraeth-ink · 1 year ago

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Could I Be Yours (a Joel Miller fic) Part 3

Pairing - Joel x Married Female Reader

Series Summary - You’ve been married for two years now to your long term man Marcus, but with your dwindling sex life and your marriage on the rocks, you came to an agreement. You're allowed to sleep with other men. The only rules? 1- You have to tell your husband about it. 2- No staying the night, you always leave after sex. And lastly, rule number 3, you can’t sleep with the same man more than once. These rules are in place to avoid feelings blooming, but what happens when you meet Joel, and end up breaking all of the rules? Will it break your marriage too? If faced with a choice between Joel Miller and your husband, who would you choose?

Read part 1 and part 2

Chapter summary - With your feelings for Joel making themselves known you try and make a decision regarding your marriage.

Warnings - infidelity, smut, protected + unprotected piv, oral sex (fem receiving), tiny bit of angst, Joel being a menace, Joel being vulnerable, angry Marcus.

Word Count - 7k+

a/n - Tysm for the continued love and support for this series! So so grateful

Your phone pings with a text notification exactly twenty four hours after you left Joel’s house, exactly twenty four hours after you ran away. You didn’t read it straight away, you couldn’t face what you imagined to be a rejection. So, you turned your phone over so the screen was out of view and busied yourself with a deep clean of the house, you changed bed sheets, cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen, hoovered and mopped the floors but you still saw his face when you blinked, his dark eyes engraved into your eyelids. You showered, washed your hair and aggressively cleaned your body, but you still felt Joel’s trail of lingering kisses burning your skin. Unable to uselessly distract yourself any longer, you picked up your phone and opened the text message from Joel.

Everything ok, sweetheart? You kinda rushed off on me. Call me :)

Reading the text, you struggled to gather your thoughts and make sense of your feelings. It wasn’t a rejection, a hey i don't think we should see eachother anymore text, but it didn’t give you any answers either. He seemed so nonchalant, so blase, as if you hadn’t opened up to him about your feelings at all, as if he hadn't completely and utterly confused you.

Unsure of what to respond, you decide against responding all together, for now, at least. You didn’t feel as though you could call him, you couldn’t even decide on words to send him in a text, there was no way your brain would be able to conjure up a response in real time over the phone. So, you put your phone down again and got through the rest of your weekend, trying not to think about him.

Nothing had changed between you and Marcus, not that you expected it to, you lived like roommates, as if you shared this house and nothing more. He came home late on Saturday night and was out of the house before you woke up on Sunday morning, not even giving you a chance to ask where he was going, although you weren’t sure you would, given the chance.

Monday came and went, with little to no interaction with Marcus, piles of work that you had to get done and a missed call from Joel. You didn’t see the call until an hour later and were too swamped to call back, so you left it. That night after work, you contemplated calling him back, Marcus wasn’t home so you didn't have to worry about him hearing, but you were at a loss for words. You had no idea what to say to Joel, but worse than your lack of words were your nerves. You were nervous as to what his words would be, so you didn’t call.

The next day at work was quieter, you didn’t have to eat your lunch at your desk while you worked so you went for a walk on your lunch break, sitting in the park not far from the office with your lunch. As you sat down, you felt your phone vibrating and, fishing it out of your back pocket, read Joel’s name in bold font across your phone screen. Staring at the writing for a few seconds and taking a deep breath, you answered the phone, unable to avoid him any longer. You held the phone up to your ear and watched a bird fly out of a hole in a tree, internally wondering if it was fleeing the nest, like you wanted to and spoke a quiet, “Hi.”

“Hey, sweetheart,” his gruff voice sent shivers down your back, “what's goin’ on, are you ok?”

“I’m ok,” you sigh, mentally kicking yourself for your inability to just let it out, and pause before continuing, “are you?”

“Yeah, I’m just at work,” there was a brief pause, a beat of silence where you both held your phones to your ears, thinking of the right words to say. “Listen, when we were talking that night, I panicked… I kinda froze, I guess.” His voice was apologetic, his normally confident speech was broken into parts by breaks and pauses, stutters and stammers, as if he had thought of what to say beforehand but had more words on his mind. “I shoulda’ said more, I just got nervous,” you heard him take a sip of a drink before continuing, “it’s been years since I’ve felt anything for anyone and…. It's a little weird feelin’ this way for a married woman,” he released a small chuckle at his words, “but I’d be an idiot not to see what happens.”

“I…. Joel I don’t really know what to say,” you answered truthfully, you wished that words would come to your mind, any words other than the ones you spoke, but none did. You were so taken aback by his speech that nothing was coming out of your mouth. Luckily, Joel filled the silence.

“Sarah’s stayin’ at a friends again on Friday. Do ya’ wanna come over?” He asked before quickly adding, “I’ll cook.” As if you needed any more convincing.

“I’d love to,” you said, your smile steadily widening as you spoke.

“And bring some clothes to sleep in this time,” he added, and although his voice was as deep and gruff as ever, you swore you could hear his smile.

“I’d rather wear your clothes to sleep, honestly,” you retorted before saying your goodbyes, with Joel promising to check in with you in a couple days.

After the conversation, Joel was feeling better. His thoughts were still clouded by you, but they were no longer negative. He no longer worried he’d ruined everything by shutting down that night, but his worries were persistent when it came to his feelings. It had been so long since he had felt anything other than lust for a woman, so long since he had wanted to cater to a woman, so long since the word relationship had crossed his mind. This was terrifying for Joel already, but factoring in the fact that you were married to another man made it so much worse. He knew you were unhappy with your husband but he didn't know your plans, he didn't know what you saw for yourself in the future. He didn’t know if you would leave your husband or stay married to him. Worst of all, he didn’t know if you thought about him, the way he thought about you. Joel could no longer ignore the rush he experienced when you were around. The dam inside him had broken and although vulnerability did not come easily to him, he was willing to be vulnerable for you, willing to be open for you. He was ready to expose his heart to you, rip it out of his chest and hold it up to you to show the speed at which it beat when you were around him. He needed to know that you felt the same. That you had to remind yourself to breathe when you saw him, just like he had to do when you looked his way. He needed to know if your heartbeat quickened when you saw him, if it synced with his when you caught eyes.

Joel had never known a woman like you, a woman so strong, intelligent, funny and witty. Joel had never had sex as good as he did with you and Joel had never felt such a wordless connection. He felt the connection immediately, when he looked around the bar that night and found you already looking at him, he felt compelled to approach you. He felt confident under your gaze, just like he felt dizzy underneath your touch, enchanted beneath your spell.

Joel cringed when his mind circled back to the conversation that was had in his bed, his nervous, thoughtless reaction that caused you to leave so quickly the next morning. Watching you leave like that, almost sprinting out of the house, had him reeling, searching his memories for something that would have caused it. He didn't have to backtrack for long, his short answer and haste kiss on the cheek was now engraved into his brain, his own voice taunting him whenever his mind was quiet. It had been so long since he felt this way that his first reaction was to sabotage himself, but he didn't want to do that anymore, he didn’t want to stand in his own way when he could have you.

After a good day at work on Thursday, you ran into a slight problem after arriving home. You had been relying on Marcus going to his weekly guys night on Friday, so you wouldn’t have to lie about your whereabouts. So, your surprise was evident when he’d asked, almost immediately after you’d walked through the door, “How about we have a night in tomorrow? Just the two of us.”

“I thought you were going to your guys night again?” The first half of your answer was genuine, at least, “I made plans with Carrie for tomorrow,” you lied through your teeth, “think we’re gonna’ have a pamper, self care sort of night. I’m sorry.” Although you really didn’t feel sorry at all. Was he really trying now? Trying to spend more time with you, trying to pay more attention to you again? As soon as you stopped showing signs of sadness at his lack of attention, love and time spent on you, he tried to suck you back in, but when you were upset and trying your hardest to make the marriage work, he was nowhere to be found.

“Guess I’ll go see the guys, then,” he huffed loudly, like a child unable to get their own way, and headed for the stairs. Halfway through the living room, he turned around, pointed towards the bouquet that Joel bought for you, and asked, “By the way, who got you those flowers?”. And fuck, you had completely forgotton that you decided to deal with the flowers later, not realising then that later would be almost a week later, with Marcus shooting daggers at you from across the room.

“Oh… I got them,” you began your lie, “for myself. Saw the florist after work on Friday and, I haven’t had flowers in the house in a while so,” you felt yourself starting to ramble so you cut yourself off with a shrug, your heart beating in your ears as you watched him walk away once again.

That night, when you went to bed, the door to the guest bedroom was closed, and you could see a sliver of light underneath the door. Walking into your bedroom, the bed was empty and completely untouched, confirming your suspicions that Marcus had decided to sleep in the spare bedroom. Months ago, this distance would have clutched tightly at your heart like a fist, your eyes would have welled with tears and you would feel only despair for the end of your marriage. But looking at the empty bed, there were no tears, only a dull ache at the thought of the last 12 years spent with Marcus. A dull ache that solidified that you no longer loved him, a dull ache that announced to you that maybe you were ready to leave him. A dull ache that symbolised your decision finally being made.

Going to sleep that night, you decided that you would talk to Marcus about a divorce as soon as you could, that you would look for your own home to move into, one that wasn’t already filled with your own memories, one that hadn't housed you in your unhappiness for so long. For the first time, you slept soundly that night, and awoke excited at the prospect of being alone, of building and focusing on your own life, rather than building your life around someone else’s.

In a shockingly good mood all throughout Friday, you weren’t surprised that you hadn’t seen Marcus all day, but you figured you would be able to talk to him about going your separate ways later on in the weekend, and instead, focused your efforts and excitement on getting ready to go to Joel’s. Opting for a comfortable outfit of denim shorts and a strappy tank top, you headed to Joel’s, nervous excitement brimming inside you. Parking in his driveway and knocking on his door had your heart almost slamming out of your chest, you thought of the last time you had been here, the way you had wanted to leave as quickly as possible. Faced with the prospect of seeing him again, being in his space, you couldn’t wait to walk through the door.

“Well don’t you look cute,” he smiled as he opened the door, moving to the side, gesturing for you to walk past him and inside the house. Taking a second to take him in, you noticed that his hair was wet, slicked back tidily at the front, but his curls were slowly forming at the back of his head, where his hair was drying quicker. He looked so handsome like this, you loved his hair when it was curly and unruly, but like this, you could see his whole face, completely unobstructed and fuck, he was beautiful.

“You look so handsome,” you said, still taking in his appearance, “did you just get out of the shower?” He wore grey sweatpants and a black, short sleeved t-shirt that was once again, impossibly tight around his shoulders and biceps. His big, broad frame would make any shirt look tight on him, as if it were fighting not to break, not to unravel under the pressure.

“Yeah, I did,” he answered while leading you into the living room, where the tv was playing something you couldn’t quite make out, “shame you missed it.” You were worried that you wouldn’t be able to escape the air of awkwardness, worried that the ending of your last meeting would dull the start of this one, but hearing his words and seeing his smirk reassured you that there would be no such thing.

“There’s always time for that,” you laughed as you sat on the sofa beside him and he quickly placed his arm on the back of the couch, allowing you to sink into him. “I was promised food,” you gave him a pointed look as you spoke, “what are you cooking?”

“About that,” he looked at you sheepishly and paused, a small smile on his face, “the more I thought about what to cook, the more nervous I got so I thought we could just order somethin’.” Your grin widened at his abashed expression, finding his words absolutely adorable, and leaned into kiss him, mumbling against his mouth that you had been craving pizza anyway. Joel hummed in approval against your mouth, leaned into the kiss before pulling away to get up and ordering the pizza. He rolled his eyes when you asked for a hawaiian, but relayed the order over the phone with no complaints.

“Said it’d be around 45 minutes, s’ a busy night,” he held your chin gently with his thumb and forefinger, turned your head to face him and softly slotted his lips with yours. His plump lips moved with yours in an easy, almost lazy rhythm as he opened your legs and moved to settle between them, allowing you to feel his already hard length. You wrapped your legs around his hips, pulling him deeper into your embrace as he licked deeper into your mouth, you were so close, but you wanted more, you wanted him as close as possible.

“Joel,” you gasped as he started grinding his length into you, the denim of your shorts adding to the friction. His lips moved down to your neck, trailing kisses down your neck to your chest, pulling you top down to expose your breasts before landing his lips on your nipple, lapping his tongue around it and sucking it into his mouth as your breathing picked up, small gasps and whimpers being released from your mouth. “Joel please,” you looked down at him as he moved on to your other breast and repeated the actions, “touch me,” you begged.

“I am touching you, sweetheart,” you whined at his cocky response and moved your hips, grinding upwards to add friction where you needed it most. Joel looked at where you were desperately moving your hips and let out a chuckle, a chuckle that made you feel small and almost pathetic, but also made you all the more wet and needy for him. His hand trailed down your body, from your breast to the top of your denim shorts, dipping beneath the hem and circling your skin with a featherlight touch. “You want me down here, baby?” He asked as he undid the button of your shorts and started pushing them down, you instinctively lifted your hips so he could pull your shorts down completely, leaving you in your underwear, with your hard nipples exposed to Joel’s hungry gaze. Lifting your legs so that your thighs rested against your front, Joel directed your hands to the backs of your thighs and instructed, “Hold em’ right here f’me, baby,” before kneeling on the floor, positioning himself so that his face was level with your clothed pussy. Joel growled as he looked at the wet spot rapidly growing on your underwear, and you watched him with wide eyes as he ran his nose down your seam, from your clit to your hole and back up again and, to your complete surprise, unabashedly inhaling your scent. Your hands moved from holding your legs to holding your face, covering it in embarrassment, but Joel would let you do no such thing. He grabbed your elbows from his position below you and pulled them down. He moved your underwear to the side, licked a stripe up your pussy.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said before harshly sucking your clit into his mouth and stopping to speak again, “I love everything about this pussy, baby. The taste, the smell,” he said in a low growl, before beginning his attack on your centre. He alternated between licking and slurping passionately at your clit, wrapping his lips around it and sucking it into his mouth, and pushing his tongue inside you. You couldn’t keep your moans to yourself, your body was reacting to his touches loudly and openly, your moans loud and high pitched, while your legs shook every time Joel’s mouth wrapped around your clit.

“Joel,” you gasped, your voice shaky as your eyes fluttered shut, unable to keep them open as Joel continued his merciless attack. Your breath hitched and your eyes shot open when you felt a finger prodding at your entrance, before thrusting in and out of you at a fast pace. “Joel, please,” you said, louder this time, “I wanna come, Joel, please,” you continued in an unstable voice as you looked down at him. Joel didn’t answer with words, but with growls and groans of his own as he tasted you. His fingers curled at that spot guaranteed to make you scream, and his hand moved to your lower stomach, sprawled out adding pressure. You were hurtling towards your release, and recognised a feeling only Joel had pulled out of you before. “Joel stop I’m gonna make a mess,” you spoke quickly, the words coming out jumbled together as your breath quickened drastically.

“I want you to make a mess of my face, baby,” Joel said quickly before reattaching his mouth to you, pushing you further towards release, before speaking again, “give me what I want.”

His words made you give in immediately, no longer caring about making a mess, you gave in to Joel’s movements, your whines becoming more and more high pitched as he continued his movements. You couldn’t speak, only let out incoherent whines and pleas, before your mouth opened in a silent scream, the only sound leaving you was that of your breath hitching and the squelch of the wetness between your legs as it gushed out of you. Joel muttered, “good girl,” as you came down, your breath violently being pushed out of you as you watched him rise from his knees, the bottom half of his face soaked with your juices, as was his forearm. You bit your lip at the evidence of your orgasm that covered him, leaving a shine on his skin.

“I need you inside,” you whispered as he hovered above you, overcome with desire to be full of him. He quickly put on a condom and returned to his position.

“You’re so beautiful,” he muttered as he kissed your temple and leaned back to line himself up with your entrance. “Love watching you come for me,” he said as he pushed the tip inside, the last word of the sentence trailing off into a low groan as he felt your warmth enveloping him.

He pushed inside slowly, allowing you to adjust to his size, before wrapping his arms around your thighs and lifting them up, your feet in the air next to his head, leaving only your shoulders and upper back on the sofa. When he was happy with the position, he started thrusting all the way in and out of you quickly as he held you still by your legs, until the sound of your skin slapping could be heard throughout the room. A moan was forced out of your mouth with each thrust, your throat opening up to release a breath each time Joel filled you to the brim, he fucked you hard and fast while he let out grunts and groans of his own, inbetween strings of praise.

“This pussy feels so fuckin’ good,” he exhaled, and while his voice showed signs of fatigue, his body showed no signs of slowing down as he placed your back flat on the sofa and pushed your legs down so that your thighs rested against your stomach once again. This time, he didn’t instruct you to hold them, but held them down himself as he fucked you. The change in angle allowed him to push inside and reach deeper than before, knocking the wind out of you as he brushed the spot only he could reach. He watched as your eyes rolled back and fluttered closed, your mouth opening to let out loud whimpers and whines at how deep you felt him, and he whispered, “that’s it, baby,” before slowing down slightly, allowing you to feel every inch of him grinding into you. “This pussy takes me so fuckin’ good, you’re such a good girl.”

“So deep,” you replied breathlessly, his praise making your head spin. Joel’s hand suddenly settles at your neck, only applying slight pressure, pressure that, mixed with the fullness his cock gave, made you gasp in pleasure.

“I know it’s deep but you can take it, right?” he asked and you nodded your head erratically, as best as you could with his hand around your neck. “That’s right, my good girl takes it all.” You involuntarily clenched around him at his words, his smirk returning to his lips as he felt the effect that he had on you. “Touch your pretty little clit f’me,” he ordered, his voice breathy but still dominant, “make yourself come on my cock.”

You moved your hand down towards your centre and felt where your bodies met, where he was stretching you out like no one had done before, and surely like no one ever would again. Moving your fingers upwards towards your clit, you moved your fingers in tight, steady circles in an effort to make yourself come, wanting to do everything he asked of you, if it meant hearing even a morsel more of his praise. Your moans grew louder as you grew closer with each grind of Joel’s hips and each flick of your fingers. Between whines and gasps you tried to speak, “Joel, fuck, I’m gonna’,” but the words came out jumbled and broken, “Oh my God, you’re gonna make me,” you broke off in a high pitched moan, the noise accompanied by the squelching sound of your wetness gushing out of you as Joel kept thrusting hard, and he didn’t stop until he emptied into the condom with a low grunt and an extended fuuuuck.

Catching your breath, you watched as Joel ran to grab a cloth, still completely naked, and returned to gently clean you up. He put his boxers and sweats back on, but threw his shirt towards you, grumbling about how that would be comfier than, “those tight ass shorts,” before going to the kitchen. While he was gone, you got up to put your underwear back on and slipped his shirt over your head, feeling comfy and safe, enveloped in his clothes that still held his scent. Joel came back with a glass of water in his hand, “Just realised I didn’t even offer you a drink when you came in,” he placed the glass in your hand before sitting next to you and pulling you close.

“Your southern hospitality’s awful,” you giggled, “fucking me without even asking if I was thirsty?”

Joel opened his mouth to answer but was soon stopped by the doorbell ringing. “‘S probably the pizza,” he mumbled as he got up and walked to the door, paying the man and grabbing the pizza boxes in his hands before turning around and kicking the door closed. He settled next to you on the sofa again, placing the pizzas on the table and opening them up.

The tv was on, but you were hardly paying attention to what was playing, some re-run of an old show with an obnoxiously loud laughing track, you preferred to listen to Joel tell you about his week. He told you about his brother's mistakes that angered him to no end and the shock of his daughter asking him if he was seeing anyone.

“She asked you that?” He nodded at your question as he took a huge chunk out of his slice of pizza, chewing obnoxiously.

“Yeah,” he said, “she’s a little suspicious, I think Tommy might’ve mentioned something.”

“You talk to Tommy about me or something?” You asked teasingly, sitting back on the sofa and huffing at how full you felt.

He threw his last crust onto the pizza box, chewing his last bite before answering, “Had to explain why I kept checkin’ my phone somehow.” He sent you a wink as he spoke, smiling at you as you yawned and quickly tried to cover your mouth with your hand.

“You tired?”

“No,” you said sheepishly.

“C’mon, let’s go to bed,” he held your hand and began tugging you up off the sofa.

“I don’t want to sleep yet,” you whined, not wanting the night to end so quickly.

“We can just relax in bed for a while, baby,” he tugged you towards the stairs, gesturing for you to walk up first. He gave your ass a couple light slaps as you walked up, earning giggles from you. You brushed your teeth side by side, stealing glances at each other in the mirror and Joel left for the bedroom while you used the toilet.

Crawling into bed beside Joel, you inched closer towards him and found comfort in his outstretched arms. You lay facing each other, one of his arms resting underneath your body, allowing you to be as close as you could. He held you with a gentle grip, his big hands were outstretched, one spread across your back underneath his shirt and the other rested on your bicep. His hands were momentarily still, allowing you to feel the warmth of his hands, the heat being transferred from Joel’s body to yours through his soft touch. He continued to look at you as he started moving his hands, his fingers gently moving along your skin, as though he was connecting constellations in the stars. Your eyes followed his fingers carefully, your eyes traced their every move, just as the tips of his fingers traced every curve of your body, every bump or scar on your skin. And under the trace of his fingers, under the gaze of his eyes you felt truly seen. Has anybody seen you the way he saw you then? His gaze was heavy, his stare intense, but you didn’t shy away from his eyes, you didn’t flinch from his featherlight touch, you returned his stare and you returned his caress. Your fingers started moving along the skin of his arms, along the lines in his face, as if off their own accord. You subjected him to the same heavy, all consuming gaze as you looked into his eyes. You subjected him to the same featherlight, earnest touch as you ran your hands down his back, his sides, his arms, his face, anywhere you could reach. Because in that moment you saw him and he saw you.

You moved your hand up to Joel’s now dishevelled hair and ran your hand through it but Joel was quick to stop your endeavour. He grasped your wrist in his hand and turned it around, so that your palm was facing you. You watched as he looked at your hand with a furrowed brow. You couldn’t understand why your hand had captivated him so intensely until his other hand came up to join yours in front of his face, and he traced your wedding band with his thumb.You opened your mouth to speak but no words left your throat, and Joel’s words lingered in the air instead.

“Take the ring off.” He was now looking at you rather than at your ring, his eyes bored into yours as a shocked expression overtook your features. “Please,” he added, almost desperately, his voice nothing more than a whimper. “Just for tonight, I wanna’ pretend you're not his, that you’re mine.”

His confession almost broke you. You had struggled while coming to grips with your feelings but hadn’t thought about how Joel must feel, seeing a married woman, sleeping with a married woman, knowing that she was going home to her husband eventually. You carefully slid your wedding ring off your finger and moved from the bed to place it in your bag. When you climbed back into bed, you placed your left hand, now lacking your wedding ring, onto his cheek and, looking into his eyes, told Joel what you wished was true, “I’m yours, Joel.”

Joel’s lips met yours in a tender kiss, and when they departed, Joel spoke into your mouth, “I’m yours too,” his words left his lips, travelled down your throat and into your body, and devastated you from the inside out, “I’ll still be yours when you go back to him.”

You couldn’t speak, no helpful words came to your mind as you looked into Joel’s eyes. They looked into yours with a sad longing, one that you were sure was reflected in your own eyes. Unable to conjure up the words, you put your lips to his and kissed him deeply, pushing all the words you couldn't say into his mouth, willing him to understand you through your touch. His palm came to rest at the back of your neck, softly keeping you in place as he kissed you back, his tongue licking into your mouth as his other hand went to your lower back and pulled you closer towards him until your front was flush with his. His mouth left yours and placed kisses down your neck while his hands went to the ends of the shirt you were wearing, pulling it up and over your head. You did the same to him, wanting to feel his skin on yours, with nothing between your bodies.

He went to position himself further down the bed, further down your body and slowly spread your legs, but the sudden feeling of emptiness that dominated you made your arms lower to his, and your hands pulled at him to bring his face to yours again. The emptiness could be felt throughout your body, and you knew it would only be satisfied by Joel filling you up. “I just want you inside,” you whispered when his face was level with yours again.

“At least let me open you up first,” he said with furrowed brows, not wanting to hurt you, but pain was the last thing on your mind at that moment. You just wanted him. You wanted to feel him everywhere.

“Please,” you asked, “I need it.” He said nothing in response, only reached over your body to get into the bedside drawer, pulling out a condom. Your disappointment was evident in your face, and you let out a quiet, “no,” that was barely above a whisper. He turned his head to look at you and raised an eyebrow.

“I want to feel you, Joel,” you said, your voice still quiet, “all of you.” Suddenly worried about his response, you added, “I’m clean, I got checked last time I was at the gynaecologist.” You took a deep breath before continuing. “I haven’t been with… him since then.” Your voice was timid and nervous, unsure how to explain that it had been weeks, months even, since you had slept with your husband. You were anxious to bring him up in such a conversation, unable to say his name, you knew he would know exactly who you were talking about.

He grimaced at your words, at the mention of your husband, but quickly hid his distaste, “I got tested after the last person I slept with, I’m clean too” his soft voice matched your quiet words as he placed the condom back in the drawer and pulled you close again. “Are you sure?” he asked, his eyes searching yours for any aversion, any discomfort, but only found a pleading want as you nodded your head and whispered a yes.

He positioned himself in between your legs and kissed you softly while running his fingers through your folds, gathering your wetness onto his hand, circling your clit teasingly once, and spreading your juices onto his cock. His lips didn’t leave yours as he positioned his tip at your entrance and pushed himself inside you, moving inch by inch, creating a delicious burn as he stretched you out and filled you to the brim.

“You feel so fuckin’ good, sweetheart,”

You wrapped your legs around him in an attempt to pull him closer, although it felt impossible. He stayed fully seated inside of you, completely enveloped by your warmth as you both let out gasps and groans at the feeling. When Joel started moving, it was a slow, steady grind. Barely a movement, but enough to cause a delicious friction for both of you. You let out high pitched gasps of his name and he released grunts of yours. Your back arched as his tip kissed that spot so deep inside of you and his arms moved smoothly under your body, wrapping around you and holding you tight. You wrapped your arms around his neck, your fingers running through his hair and pulling as he pushed heavy breaths out of your lungs.

In a messy, close tangling of limbs that was both greedy and unhurried, needy but not rushed, you felt him deep inside of you. You felt his whole length inside of you as he ground further into you, barely leaving the warmth of your cunt, only wanting to feel close to you, not wanting the separation that came with a full thrust.

“Joel,” you gasped, “Joel, please,” your mouth started to babble, the words involuntarily leaving you as he grunted in your ear, the sounds only heightening your wetness, your pussy clenching around his cock each time you heard him.

“What is it, sweetheart?” He asked with a hard grind of his hips, pushing impossibly deeper inside.

“I want you to fill me up, Joel,” you begged, your voice cracking with need.

“You’re already full o’me, baby,” he chuckled into your ear, taking your earlobe in between his teeth, licking and nibbling while continuing the rhythmic grind of his hips.

“No, Joel,” you were cut off by a loud moan leaving your throat as his hand slipped between your bodies to your clit, his fingers moving in tight, unfaltering circles to match the press of his hips. “I want you to come inside me.”

Joel groaned loudly as soon as the words reached his ears, gasping your name in equal parts shock and contentment. He pulled his head back to look into your eyes, his eyebrows raised in a wordless question.

“I have an IUD,” you said while pressing your hands into his lower back, wanting him, needing him deeper. His fingers moved quicker on your clit as he groaned at your admission, his hips faltering slightly.

“Such a fuckin’ good girl for me,” he grunted out, “lettin’ me stuff you full.” You moaned at his words and clamped down around his cock. The steady grind of his hips had now faltered and he was thrusting in and out of you slowly, but he was just as deep as before. This change in movement caused his tip to brush that spot over and over, in a quick procession. This, mixed with his words and grunts in your ear and his finger running firm circles on your clit made you come completely unannounced. It hit you like a wall and there was nothing you could say, you came with your mouth open in a silent scream, your walls clamped around his cock and fluttered gratefully. Your chest moved up and down with heavy breaths as Joel continued to fuck into you, pushing so deep inside and moaning your praise.

“That’s my good girl, fuck,” his grunts were becoming louder, deeper as he hurtled toward his orgasm, his hips stammering the closer he got. “Tell me you’re mine,” he said, his voice a mix between a plea and a command. “Fuckin tell me you’re mine,” he repeated, louder than before.

“I’m yours, Joel,” you said through moans, he was fucking you hard and deep, messy and hurried. “I’m yours,” you repeated once more before pleading, “come inside me, Joel.”

He let out a low growl at your words, and pushed himself deep, so that he was fully seated inside you, and let go, coming inside of you before pulling out to watch his spend trickle out of you, pushing it back in with his fingers before it could go far.

Exhausted, you lay down and closed your eyes, feeling the absence of his presence for a moment, until he returned to clean you up and got into bed beside you. You had read and read but never understood the feeling expressed in Jane Eyre of feeling so close to a lover, of being bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. You had certainly never felt that close to Marcus. But in that moment, lying there with Joel, with your wedding ring thrown to the side and forgotten, your skin connected to his, your legs tangled together, as if you had tied yourselves to one another in an effort to keep each other near, you felt it, you understood.

The last thing you remembered before falling completely asleep was Joel placing a soft kiss on your temple.

You woke to an empty bed the next morning, the sheets crumpled and still warm to the touch on Joel’s side. Getting out of bed, you put on Joel’s shirt again and brushed your teeth in the bathroom before walking towards the stairs. At the top of the stairs you were met with the sight of Joel walking up, with a cup of coffee in each hand.

“Go back to bed,” his soft command was met with a look of confusion from you. “My plan was to wake you up with coffee in bed,” he explained, “so go back to bed.” You giggled at his thoughtfulness and upon hearing Joel’s quiet, “please,” turned around and walked back to the bedroom, settling into bed once more. You listened to the patter of his footsteps up the stairs and towards the room and the sexy gruff of his voice wishing you a “Mornin’, darlin’,” as he walked in, as if he hadn’t already seen you that morning.

He placed a cup of coffee in your outstretched hands and sat in bed beside you, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and kissing your forehead.

“Thank you, Joel,” you whispered, smiling up at him, leaning up and pressing your lips against his. Last night was still at the forefront of your mind and you were overcome with emotions you couldn’t quite explain.

“Listen,” Joel began, “I meant what I said last night,” his words came at exactly the right time.

“I want you,” he explained, “and not just like this, I want all of you. But I need to know what your plans are, I need to know I’m not getting invested for nothing.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “You might be mine for now but when you go home to him, I still belong to you. So I just, I need to know.”

“I’m not staying with him Joel. It’s just, it's a big thing, a long process.” You wished you could give him more reassurance, but you weren’t sure what you could say that would put his mind at ease. You looked into his eyes and said, “I want you, not him.”

Joel’s hand came up to your cheek, lightly stroking the skin next to your ear with his thumb, “I don't want to put pressure on you, I just need to know that this is going somewhere.”

“It is,” you promised, “I’ll talk to him.” You pressed a kiss to his lips, as if you were sealing a promise, and felt nothing but happiness and safety.

The rest of the morning passed in pure domestic bliss, Joel cooked breakfast and you both drank another coffee while you talked over the show that was on tv. When it was time for you to leave, you reluctantly got dressed and gathered your things and climbed into the car, rolling the window down. Joel stood next to the window and leaned in to kiss you goodbye. Unable to leave yet, the goodbye kiss turned into an I don’t want to go kiss, full of uncertainty and words you wanted to say but couldn’t quite articulate. Pulling away you settled on a meek, “bye,” while Joel promised to call you soon. Joel watched and waved as you reversed out of his driveway and drove away, both of your minds full of possibilities for the future.

Your drive home was uneventful. You felt positive and excited, you were finally clear on your plans. You knew that you had to speak to Marcus about your marriage, suggest a separation and request a divorce and although you knew this would be difficult, your happiness was worth it, with or without Joel in the picture. You expected to arrive back to an empty house, like you normally did. What you didn’t expect to see was Marcus sitting at the dining table, facing the door, as if he was waiting for your return.

With shock evident in your voice, you let out a weak, “Hi,” but upon noticing the expression on his face you added, “are you ok, Marcus?” He looked disappointed, his hand held the bottom of his face and his brows were furrowed together.

“Where were you last night?” His question threw you off, and you scrambled to answer.

“I was at Carrie-”

“I know you weren’t at Carrie’s so I’ll ask one more time,” his voice was raised and firm, “where were you last night?” He spoke slowly, the anger he felt slowing down his speech. You knew then that the expression on his face wasn’t disappointment, it was anger, fury. You felt frozen on the spot, your mouth sewed shut with shock, you didn’t move or speak, only looked down at your feet, nervously bringing your hands together and fiddling with your thumbs.

Your heart jumped at the next words from Marcus, his booming voice only adding to the thumping acceleration of your heart.

“Why aren’t you wearing your ring?”

Thank you so much for reading!! Comments and reblogs are always appreciated :) Part 4 soon

Taglist - @untamedheart81 @smol-beb @harriedandharassed @southernbe

@urfknlame @sheepdogchick3 @csarab615 @janellesbody @anoverwhelmingdin @milly-louise@joeldjarin@mumma-moonchild@faith-alons26

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floweryxoxo · 8 days ago

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Men we call Daddy | j.wy

sugar daddy! wooyoung x daddy issues! black! fem! reader

warnings: wooyoung is a soft dom, oral, unprotected sex, (bad idea chat), wooyoung is also a hopeless romantic.

note: this is for @frenchkisstheabyss bc she couldn’t find any wooyoung fics (she’s my favorite author and that might be the entire reason i wore this.) erm yeah. all of the links will be from pinterest!

some girls we call men. but jung wooyoung? we call daddy. but before we get into that, let’s start from the beginning. your dad and you just finished fighting again. you wanted to spite him, by getting a boyfriend. what you didn’t intend to do is get on a sugar daddy website. in your fit of rage, you ended up clicking on a guy that was 28, named jung wooyoung. you guys started talking and ended up skyping. wooyoung did expect a pretty girl, just not one in tears. he let you ramble on about your dad and how much you just wanted to get away from him. he ended up asking if he could take you to the local carnival on friday, and you said sure. you woke up on friday late, and checked you phoebe and then freaked out when you saw you had the carnival plans today. you stared at the wall for at least 40 minutes debating on canceling your plans or just telling wooyoung you’d be late. you ended up telling him you’d be late and he replied with “fine by me darling” with the smirking emoji. you start getting ready and do this outfit with this makeup. once you were ready to go, you checked your hair in the mirror and texted wooyoung you were ready for him to pick you up.

when wooyoung got there, you weren’t expecting him to pull up in a pink lamborghini, which he proceeded to say was for you. “wooyoung i can’t take this, i mean it’s yours-“ he cut you off with a shush. “don’t worry cupcake, i have 23 other ones.” he says, smirking. that’s when it clicks. you realize you clicked on a sugar daddy website, not a regular one. you panic, because you genuinely don’t know what to do. “i’m guessing you just realized i’m a sugar daddy.” he says, turning his head to see you looking like you’re about to flair your arms up in the air. he puts a hand on your thigh to calm you down. “don’t worry, i’m only 29. i’ll be thirty in november.” he says, rubbing your thigh. you relax as you take a closer look at him and realize how intimidading he looks. and then you see how he’s very likely to be the same height as your dad. and it clicks. you realize he could be your #1 defender from the tyrant you are forced to call father. you relax into his touch and he smirks. “see? you love me already.” he says with a wink. you roll your eyes and told him to keep driving.

when you arrive at the carnival, you’re stunned. it looks amazing. there’s lots of people so the streets are bustling. you look around and you realize this will be one hell of a night. bay the time you two were on your way home, you had four giant plushies in the back, and four mini ones in your lap. wooyoung pulled up to your house and left the car on. he figured he get you in and then call his limo driver to come get him. but when he rang the doorbell, a very drunk man appeared and yelled “who the fuck are you!” very aggressively. “well sir i took your daughter on a-” he tried to reply but got cut off. “ my daughter? she’s a bitch. don’t bring her back.” he slammed the door in wooyoung’s face. he then realized that’s who you were talking about when you said you had a tyrant father. he decided to take you to his penny’s house instead, so he got back in the car and drove you over to his luxury penthouse. when you woke up, you were in an unfamiliar room. all your plushies were next to you. you then smelled the aroma of bacon. you got out of bed and noticed you had a shirt on, that smelled delicious. when you got downstairs wooyoung was in the kitchen, humming to himself as he made breakfast. “morning sleeping beauty.” he says, in a teasing tone. “is this your shirt?” you ask him. “because it smells really good.” you say, while sitting down at the table. “it is darling. i’m glad you appreciate the way i smell.” he says smirking. he finishes up breakfast and puts your plate in front of you. “breakfast is served.” he says, while bowing. the doorbell rings and he takes her apron off while walking to get it. suddenly seven other men enter. “i forgot to introduce you to my friends darling. these are hongjoong, seonghwa, yunho, yeosang, san, mingi and jongho.” each man waves at you and you wave back. you continue to eat breakfast as each of the men make their plates and sit around the table. you all converse in some different things.

that was 6 months ago. now 6 months into your relationship, you’ve completely moved out of the apartment you lived in with your father, and live a life of luxury with wooyoung. right now he's eating you out like a starved man. "ah-woo!" you moan as his tongue hits the right spots. "cum for me babygirl." he says, the vibration of his voice pushing you to your edge and you cum, all over his face. "good girl." he says, coming up with juices dribbling down his chin. he then stands up and takes his pants and boxers off. you marvel at how big it is, and before you can even worry about whether it'll fit, he calms you down with "don't worry babygirl. it'll fit, it has before." he says, spreading your legs. when he enters, you let out a moan you didn't even know you were holding. you feel like every time you guys have sex, he gets bigger. he lets you adjust to his size and then starts to move. he's moving at an immaculate pace. it feels so good and you release at the same time. you lay there entagled in each others arms for awhile until you both eventually fall asleep. a few days later you're watching a movie with wooyoung, cuddled in his arms. you realize while there is men who we can call boyfriends and husbands, we can simply call jung wooyoung daddy.

#jung wooyoung #ateez #ateez x you #ateez fanfic #wooyoung #wooyoung smut #sugardaddy #x black reader #x black fem reader

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mothdruid · 1 year ago

Text

The Physics of Love - Part Three

series masterlist | part one | part two | part four

pairing.

robert ‘bob’ floyd x afab!reader (nickname Nova)

word count.

3.2k

warnings.

this content is meant for those who are 18 and older, fluff, kissing, alcohol consumption, lots of science talk in this part

authors note.

ahhhhhh!!! they kissed!!! fianlly!! i was smilling like a silly goose the entire time i was writing this chapter. it made me so freaking happy. also, Cranbrook is a real place and you totally check it out if you're ever in that area of Michigan! also no, this story is not based in Michigan, i just needed to think of a cool museum i like to go to.

starboy: I’m at the front of the Institute.

A smile grew on your face as you drew closer to the Institute. Bob had texted you only a few minutes ago. No matter how many times you had been here, Cranbrook never ceased to amaze you. Whether it be the seasonal display, the new mineral added to the collection, or even the ice age display they had, it was all fun and captivating.

You slipped your phone into your coat pocket, making your way to the front of the building. There wasn’t many people around, seeming how it was the middle of the day during the week. The two of you had decided to skip out on one of your tutoring session this week to make it work. Between Bob’s grad experiments and your full time schedule, it was hard to find time.

You had suggested doing it during the weekend, but Bob explained that he didn’t want many people around. It left you confused, curious as to why he didn’t want others around. There were only two things that you had thought of. One, he has social anxiety, and two, he disliked kids. And maybe even a third possibility of kids just plain out making him nervous. No matter what the reason, it didn’t bother you.

All morning you couldn’t stop daydreaming about your date today, which both of you were hesitant to call it that. Excitement was bubbling in you, the promising thought of being able to captivate him. Being able to explain all of the minerals to him, breaking down all of the make ups off them, what element made them appear a certain color, all of the things you loved about mineralogy. But some of that excitement was wrapped around the idea of him explaining the stars to you.

As you were coming around the almost barren fountain you saw him. You put a hand up high, waving to get his attention. He was wearing a denim jacket, burnt orange beanie covering most of his hair, a soft gray sweater underneath the jacket, and all of it complimented with black jeans and basic vans. It was all so him that your heart started to flutter. He smiled and gave you a small wave back.

“Hey,” he said once you got a little closer.

“Hey, I hope you didn’t have to wait too long,” you pushed your hands into the pockets of your long wool blended coat.

“Oh no, not at all,” Bob shook his head no.

The both of you sat there for a second, smiling a little awkwardly. Bob eventually broke the silence.

“Ready to check it out?” He asked, nodding up towards the front doors.

“Yeah,” you said with a smile.

The two of you headed up the small bit of stairs to the front doors. Bob quickly made his way up the steps, opening the door for you when he got to them. After thanking him, you both stepped inside the foyer. Bob held the next door open for you, his hand gracing the small of your back. A heat crept into your cheeks, nervousness pooling in your stomach. Even though you were excited, you could barely believe this was happening.

Bob went to the counter, talking with the employee behind the desk. You waited for him only a few steps away, just looking around. It wasn’t anything new, but you still loved the presence this place had. When you looked back over at Bob he making small talk with the employee, accepting one of the maps of the institute before heading back over to you. He adjusted his glasses a little before flashing the map.

“I got this just in case,” Bob smiled at you.

“Do you think we really need that?” You asked as the two of you headed across the lobby like area to a small set of stairs.

“Probably not, but it never hurts.”

The two of you stepped up the stairs, headed to the first section of the museum. Your favorite section. The mineral gallery.

Glass cases adorned every wall with more glass cases jutting out to create sections. Glimmers of light bounced off the minerals already. There were a few benches placed around in the clear areas. Two specimens were placed in the center walk way. The first specimen that was out in the open was a massive fossil, one that was still embedded into the rock it was found in. The second specimen was an enormous rock, half of it broken to display the clusters of amethyst crystals inside.

Bob felt a flutter in his chest when he watched your eyes light up, lips turning upward. You immediately headed down the center walk way, rounding the corner of a glass case into a small section. Bob took his time getting over to you, making sure to look at a few of the cases on his way over. He knew all of the minerals existed, but seeing them all in person was still astounding. All the colors and different types of crystalline structures they came in. Even though he was a space nerd, this always made him appreciate the earth a little more.

“What did you find?”

Bob turned away from the intriguing silvery gray mineral to see you peering around the corner of a glass case. It made his heart warm seeing you so comfortable. He was always so used to seeing you in a school setting. This was a nice change of pace, something he could get used to.

“I was looking at this,” he beckoned you over with a nod of his head.

You took a look at the mineral he was pointing at. A smile grew on your face as you took a few steps towards him.

“Muscovite,” you said while looking at him, “it a really weak mineral, flakes off in layers.”

“It looks pretty,” Bob looked back at it, taking in the layered effect of the mineral.

“Wanna hear something crazy?”

“Hmm?” Bob looked at you, ready for the fact you were about to tell him.

“Muscovite is used in a lot of make ups, especially the shimmery ones. They bust it up into a fine powder and boom, shiny glittery like substance.”

“Minerals are everywhere in our lives, even when you don’t think about it,” Bob looked at you we a small smile.

“Science is everywhere,” you replied.

“The essence of life is science,” Bob added.

The two of you continued your exploration around the mineral gallery. Bob learned about your favorite mineral, and you urged him to pick a favorite mineral. The both of you took pictures of each other with your mineral, setting them as your contact pictures. Bob couldn’t remember the last time he had smiled this much. There was just this infectious passion that flowed through you about every mineral. Even when you told him that ‘gold was overrated’, it felt only half-hearted like you didn’t want to actually say it.

All of it made Bob’s heart flutter and do back flips. He had met people who were passionate about science, but you were a lot cuter than most of them. The way your eyes lit up when you looked at one you loved. How sometimes a look of focus would consume your face while looking at one. It made him feel warm and fuzzy.

Once you two had looked over every mineral, you moved to the next section of the institute. It was now time for Bob to explain everything to you. Well, almost. The first section was meteorites and space rocks. Bob could tell you weren’t as excited about these minerals as the previous. But it was different.

“I mean, obviously space is going to make neat things. It just seems more exciting when it’s from earth,” you explained.

“How so?”

The two of you were standing close, shoulders almost touching as you two looked down at the collection of meteorites in a glass case. It took almost everything inside of Bob to not brush his shoulder against yours. Little did he know, you were hoping he would.

“I don’t know. I’ve been on earth my whole life, so seeing the cool minerals it can produce. Things that are so rare. It feels almost impossible that they came from the same place I’ve lived my whole life,” you paused for a moment, “space is so unknown, it’s like obviously something neat would come from it. Space has nebula’s for fuck sake.”

Bob couldn’t help but chuckle at that. He looked over at you and smiled, your gaze still focused on the meteorites.

“Yeah, nebula’s are pretty cool,” Bob said.

You broke your gaze for the little black rocks, meeting his eyes. There was this look in his eyes, one full of adoration. Those blue eyes always made your heart melt. They were like beautiful orbs of kyanite, deep but yet light at the same time. A hypnotizing shimmer drawing you in.

The two of you stood there staring at each other for a moment. The world around you starting to fade, both of you only focused on each other. Both of you had been waiting for weeks for a moment like this. Every soft brush of hands while passing an assignment back and forth, late night texts that elicited giggles and smiles, all the early morning coffees he started buying you. You could stay here forever in this moment.

There was a door off to the side, one that led to the constellation room. Without warning the door burst open, two young kids running out. It broke the two of you out of your moment. The kids came running around, coming close behind you two. Bob put his hand around your back, pulling you close to him and keeping the kids from running into you. Two parents followed out the door, trying to catch up to the kids.

One of your hands moved to his chest, steadying yourself against him. The fabric of his sweater was soft against your fingers, almost distracting you from how close you were. All you could do was stare forward, afraid of what might happen if you looked at him. Something soft touched your cheek then moved to touch your jaw slightly. His hand was softer than you imagined. It was guiding you to look at him.

“You okay?”

Your brain went blank, forgetting every word you had ever learned. All you could do was study his face. You had never been this close to him. It felt like you were looking at someone completely new. You were starting to wonder if he could feel the heat in your cheeks or the intense thumping against your rib cage. Eventually you nodded, letting him know you were okay.

A smile pulled at Bob’s lips, eye crinkling a little bit. His thumb brushed over the skin of your cheek lightly. He was assuming that this was all okay, especially if you weren’t pulling away from him. It felt like a good sign at least.

“Do you want to check out the constellation room?”

“Sure,” you said, finally being able to speak. “Are you gonna speak all space like when we get in there?”

Bob chuckled, leaning a little closer to you in the process. There was this boyish grin on his face, eyes twinkling with excitement. “Only if you want me to.”

Your faces were only mere inches away from each other. Someone could simply bump into one of you and the inevitable would happen. The fateful kiss that the both of you were secretly hoping would happen by the end of this date. Was it a date? Neither of you had officially called it that, or at least to each others faces. Mickey had definitely heard Bob gush about you accepting his invite, to which he only called it a date twice.

“I’d be more than happy to hear you talk space to me.”

Bob’s hand loosened from around your body, grabbing your hand instead. He guided you over to the door, opening it for you. But you didn’t let go of his hand, instead turning around and walking in backwards so you could watch him. Bob couldn’t get rid of the smile on his face, nor did he want to. He happily followed you through the short hallway, watching as you remained backwards and walked through the blackout curtains.

The room was almost pitch black. Little projected constellations covered the walls and ceiling. All of them were labeled, tiny projections of their names near them. You had barely any idea of what all of them were. The constellations you had learned during your freshman astronomy class had faded. Only the Big Dipper and Ursa Major stood out to you. But you were more than excited to have Bob tell you about them. After all, he did let you tell him about Muscovite being in makeup.

You tugged at his hand, pulling him a little closer to you. Bob happily stepped closer to you. The two of you had slowly wandered towards the middle of the room. Bob squeezed your hand, his free hand coming up to adjust his glasses lightly. Neither of you could make out the others eye color. All that was there was little glints reflecting in your eyes.

“Which one is your favorite?” You asked.

“Favorite constellation or star?” He replied, earning a barely visible eye roll from you.

“Both,” you said playfully.

Bob paused for a moment, looking around the room for his specific favorites. It wasn’t too hard for him to find them, his trained eyes knowing the exact shape of the constellation and exact brightness of the star. The constellation was the first one he found.

“There,” Bob turned your body the right way to see the constellation.

His chest was practically flush with your back. His left hand grabbed your left shoulder, pointing at the constellation with the other one. Sudden;y you felt hot breath on your neck and ear.

“Do you see it?” He whispered.

It was hard to focus on the constellations with Bob this close. But you found it, with the help of his pointing. You turned your head barely, eyes flicking down to where his lips should be for a second.

“Yeah,” the word almost came out as a whisper.

“It’s called Delphinus,” Bob’s eyes were trained on your face now, “it’s the shape of a dolphin, representing Poseidon’s messenger Delphini.”

“Is your favorite star in that constellation?”

“No,” Bob started to turn your body with his. Once he found it he stopped the two of you. “There.”

You saw the star immediately. It was a bright star, brighter than some of the other projections. The name attached to the constellation it was a part of was Lyra. The dusty old astronomy cogs in your brain started to turn.

“The swan,” the words passed your lips before you could think.

“Yeah, but the star is Vega,” Bob’s hand drifted down from your shoulder to your back, “the fifth brightest star in the sky. A lot of people over look it cause it isn’t the brightest, but it’s two point one times as massive as the sun. The sun just happens to be older. Plus, I like the bluish white light it gives off.”

Even though it was still dark in the room, it felt like Vega had brightened it up since Bob had explained it. You turned to him, who was still impossibly close to you. There were only a few layers of clothing separating your bodies, but nothing separating your lips. His lips were soft as they moved against yours. It wasn’t anything intense, but it was everything you had been hoping for in a first kiss with him.

Little fireworks were going off in your mind. His hand was resting at the small of your back, applying just enough pressure to keep you pressed into him. Your hands came up to rest on his chest, the denim of his jacket and wool from his sweater rubbing your palms. The wire frame of his glasses was bumping into your nose as the kiss continued. Lips melding together, two beings that were destined to be together finally connecting. It was a perfect science.

“I’ve been waiting to do that,” Bob whispered while resting his forehead against yours.

“Me too,” you replied, biting your lip with a smile.

The rest of the date went just as perfect. It was full of hand holding and giggles, the occasional photo being taken by one of you. Bob happily took a picture of you squaring up with the taxidermied grizzly bear, which became your contact photo. You took one of Bob with his hands up and fake yelling in front of the T-Rex, earning contact photo status as well. You had a hard time deciding on his contact photo, torn between that one and one of him in the black light space room. The goofy one just seemed more him to you.

Neither of you had planned on going to dinner afterwards, but it happened anyways. Since it was last minute it wasn’t anything too nice. A simple bra that was full of people having fun. It helped relieve the small bit of anxiety about it all for the two of you. Bob nursed a draft Blue Moon while you sipped on a draft papaya Cider Boys. You shared a tray of loaded nachos, order of soft pretzels, and plate of deep fried green beans.

“Wait, wait, wait,” you laughed, “you stole a street sign sophomore year?”

“I was really drunk,” Bob replied, “but it wasn’t only me. Without Mickey and Jake it wouldn’t have happened, I don’t think I would have even gone out that night if not for them.”

“Do you still have it?” You asked, then shoveled a heavily covered nacho into your mouth.

“Jake does,” Bob smiled at you before taking a swig of his beer.

“Your friends sound fun,” you held your hand in front of your face, not wanting to flash him the food you were chewing.

“They are,” Bob looked at his beer for a moment, “they are a lot of things, but without them I wouldn’t be here. Here in this very bar with you.”

“Oh really?” A playfully questioning look covered your features while you drank from your cider.

“Really,” Bob adjusted his glasses, “Mickey was the one who encouraged me to, well,” Bob gestured between the two of you and around the table.

Your face lit up, smiling brightly then biting your lip. It was something truly special, hearing that Bob had talked about you with such close friends. Your roommates were the only people that knew of him, but they were your closest friends, so it made sense. Thoughts of meeting his friends and introducing him to yours started to fill your mind. Were Bob’s friends like him? They didn’t sound to be like him. But it made you wonder.

“I’ll have to thank him if I meet him,” you replied.

Bob smiled and nodded, taking a drink of his beer. Him not saying anything worried you a tiny bit. Was what you said too much? Was it assuming something this wasn’t?

Bob noticed your worry immediately, even if it wasn’t that obvious. He set his glass down and reached across the table. The warmth of his hand encapsulated yours. You met his gaze, finding something soft and welcoming in it.

“They are, they’re a lot sometimes,” Bob told you.

“Trust me, mine are too.”

tags:

@wkndwlff

@thedroneranger

@callsign-sprout

@redbarn1995

#robert bob floyd #bob floyd #robert floyd #bob floyd fluff #tutor!bob floyd #bob floyd x reader #bob floyd x female reader #bob floyd x afab!reader #bob and nova #the physics of love

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thefrontofmymind · 1 year ago

Text

Sunrays (Ross MacDonald x Reader)

a/n: just a short lil something while I was in the mood! Any feedback is appreciated :))

It was too early in the morning–for you, that is, for Ross it was the middle of the night and you knew he’d adjusted to the timezone and he’d be well asleep by now. You didn’t mind though, you hadn’t seen him in person in over a month and you just missed him so much–as he did you, telling you on every Facetime call and every ‘good morning’ text.

You walked down the silent hotel hallway with the room key that John had secretly organised for you to pick up at the front desk.

1106…1108…1110…1112.

You stood in front of Ross’ door. It suddenly dawned on you that you were breaking into his hotel room in the middle of the night, while he was presumably sound asleep. And that was not how you wanted to start your visit.

You pulled your phone out of your pocket, dialling his number like you’d done each night for the past month. You heard his muffled ringtone on the other side of the door. Four rings before he finally picked up.

“Hello?” He said groggily.

“Did I wake you?” You asked.

“Nah, I just-” He yawned. “I was just drifting off…”

“I’m sorry, darling…”

“It’s early for you, isn’t it?”

You were almost giddy with the thought that he had no idea you were just on the other side of his door.

“It’s not too bad, I just couldn’t wait to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” He asked. You could practically hear the confusion in his voice.

“I think you might have some room service,” you answered in a whisper.

“It’s the middle of the night!” He chuckled.

“Just open the door, will you?! I feel like some kind of stalker out here!”

In a flash, he’d hung up the phone and bolted out of bed to open the door. When you finally laid eyes on him, you breathed a sigh of relief you didn’t know you had. You’d never have forgotten what he looked like, but photos and videos just didn’t do his beauty justice. Within seconds you were caught in one of his bear hugs that just about knocked you over. You missed his scent, the security of his arms, the softness of his beard that was currently pressed against your forehead as he held you to his chest.

“What-how?” He asked once he finally found the strength to pull away from you.

“Decided to finally use some of my PTO to come see you,” you answered with a smile. “Sorted it with Waughy and Jamie.”

“I knew they were acting weird tonight!” He grinned, pulling you in for another hug. “Let’s get to bed.”

You hadn’t had such a peaceful sleep since Ross left for tour. His body kept you warm without feeling suffocated by the stacks of blankets you used to try to replace him in his absence. And for the first time in a long time, you didn’t have any dreams of Ross that would leave you desperately longing for him when you woke up.

You couldn’t sleep much–the jet lag was getting to you–but you didn’t mind, you were happy just laying next to your sleeping boyfriend, being lulled into a meditative state by his soft snores.

Soon, orange rays of sunlight began to peak through the open curtains. You couldn’t take your eyes off Ross’ face as the beams of light contorted over the bridge of nose, then illuminating the red tinges in his beard and highlighting his long, dark eyelashes resting against the bags under his eyes–that you couldn’t help but notice were just a couple shades darker than when he left a month prior.

You almost jumped out of your skin when you saw one of his eyes peak open. Their bright amber colour in the morning sun could only remind you of peaceful mornings back home, when you’d sleep in ‘till 10 and then spend the whole day watching movies on your sofa. You so dearly missed those kinds of mornings.

“Are you watching me sleep?” He asked in a low, gravelly voice.

“I can’t help it,” you giggled. “I could just stare at you forever.”

Ross grinned smugly, stretching, before lightly grabbing your arm and pulling into his side. “Creep.”

#ross macdonald x reader #ross macdonald drabble #ross macdonald imagine #ross macdonald fic

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jamie-leah · 9 months ago

Text

Lifeline Pt 5

Bucky x Reader

Series

Summary: You have a past that you're running from and maybe Bucky can be the lifeline you had no idea you were searching for.

Word Count: 2,832

Warnings: Descriptions of bombs, Descriptions of guns, Descriptions of injuries

A/N: I haven't had chance to edit but I loved writing this and couldn't wait so I hope you enjoy it!

<-Previous Part Next Part->

Masterlist of Masterlists

You look down at the phone in your hands. You stare at the words until your screen goes black and you need to open it again. You read the words Bucky had text you a couple hours ago for what feels like the hundredth time, ‘on way back to the tower. Meet me there in a few hours, we need to talk.’

You keep repeating the last four words of the text in your head over and over. Nothing good ever came from those words. You know you’re the reason he’s doing this. It's obvious that he’s going to end it. But you know it's you that’s pushed him away when you asked for the space. When you couldn’t promise his family that you would stay.

You know it's for the best. You know this is how it has to be. You know this is the right thing to do. But why does it feel almost impossible to walk into that building like your chest isn’t caving in?

You look down at your phone again. Your eyes travel to the time and the time Bucky said they should be arriving back. Ten minutes. Ten minutes and this will all be over, and you’ll be back to a life on the run again.

You step into the building, glancing around like you always do, clocking faces and exits. You catch the eye of the receptionist that you saw last time. She smiles and gestures to the elevator as she sifts through the mail she must have gotten that morning.

You give a small smile back and a nod of acknowledgement, making small steps towards the elevators. The last time you were doing this, you felt just as nervous, but you were happy. Now? You feel like you could throw up.

You push the button and wait, your muscles twitching with the need to run in the opposite direction. You haven’t had that twitch in a long time. It has you glancing around again. Stepping into the elevator but not taking your eyes from the crowd.

They come back to the receptionist. Her expression making you hold the doors on the elevator. Long gone is the happy and confident smile of a woman who seems to have it all together. Instead, you see her eyes wide in shock, her lips parted in horror and her hands shake around something in her hands. And yet, no one notices. Everyone is rushing in and out with purpose, too distracted to notice.

It pulls you in. Her expression. It pulls you towards her. Your feet stepping off the elevator and heading straight for the woman who seems almost frozen in time. You keep your eyes on her face, even as you reach the desk, they never stray from her face, except for when they briefly flick to her name tag.

“Mandy, are you okay?” you ask cautiously.

She doesn’t move. It's like she didn’t hear a word you just said to her. You try again and again. You only manage for her to shake her head over and over, her eyes never looking up.

When you finally decide to look down your whole world shrinks to that one point. Your whole world is now in Mandy’s hands.

She holds a rectangle of plastic and metal, small wires running in between all the plastic and a timer steadily counting down. A bomb. She’s holding a bomb.

Mandy’s hands are getting shakier and shakier and if you can’t talk her down then everyone here could die today.

“Mandy, you have to keep your hands still, okay?” You say gently.

No response.

“Mandy?”

Nothing.

“Mandy!”

Her frightened brown eyes finally find yours. You manage to take a small breath, “you have to keep your hands still, okay?”

She shakes her head so violently it has you wincing, “I can’t- I can’t- I can’t do this.”

“Mandy, this is all going to be okay. You just have to be still while I go grab someone-”

“No! No, you can’t go. I can’t do this. I’m not qualified for this.” Her eyes are flitting around the room.

“Mandy, look at me.”

She looks down at the bomb.

“Hey, Mandy, look at me.”

She looks to the door.

“We can get through this, just look at me.”

Her gaze finds yours, “I’m sorry.”

She drops the device, bolting towards the door with tears streaming down her face. Which is probably what you should have done, but your instincts kick in and you catch the device before it can smash into the desk below.

You squeeze your eyes shut waiting for your world to finally stop now that Mandy had let go but eventually the world starts to filter back in. The buzz of chatter and thunder of shoes as people go about their day like they aren’t in mortal danger.

You stare down at the device in your hands. It almost feels like it has its own pulse. It feels like it is its own living, breathing thing and it gets to decide when it stops beating.

Your heart? All its doing is beating. It’s beating so hard and fast its like it knows it only has so long to do it. The time for your heart to beat is running out and it wants to get as many in as it can.

You glance to the red countdown. 12.43, 12.42, 12.41, 12.40, 12.39...

When you can physically see your life counting down it has the same feeling as when your chest is caving in on itself. When your heart is breaking in two. It turns you into someone else. Or maybe it turns you into the person you were always meant to be.

You turn to face the open room. You hate drawing attention to yourself. Your whole life has been about you trying to be small. Perfecting the act of invisibility. But if you don’t do this now, you won’t be the only one dying today.

You whistle as loud as you can, grabbing the attention of most people in the room, “evacuate the building! I have a bomb!”

You shout the words, trying not to tremble so hard as the room descends into chaos. It’s weird being so still while everyone screams and runs in panic. You feel frozen.

11.06, 11.05, 11.04, 11.03, 11.02...

You can’t stop looking at the device in your hands. You can’t tear your gaze away from the place your world has shrunk to. You keep thinking about Bucky. He’s all you can think about as you watch your hands slowly get worse with tremors.

“Hey!”

The voice bounces around in the now empty space. It’s loud enough to pull your eyes up. They land on a man you’ve never seen before, dressed in head to toe in what you guess is bomb squad uniform.

You try to swallow but only manage to irritate your throat.

He keeps his distance, “I’m sure you have a very good reason for doing this, but I need you to tell me how to disarm that thing.”

It takes a second for words to penetrate the fog in your brain, “I don’t know how to disarm it?”, you say in confusion.

“You must know how to disarm it. If you do that, then we can all go home today.”

Your brow screws up in confusion, “I don’t know how.”

“Don’t you want to go home today? Don’t you want to walk out those doors in one piece. Just neutralise the device.”

“I don’t know how-”

The man loses some of his patience, “you must know how because you built it!”

You almost start laughing. The giggle bubbling up from your wrecked chest and sliding up your throat. Almost. And then you glance down, your eyes catching on the red dot sitting silently on your chest and it all dries up.

You close your eyes, “I didn’t do this. You have to contact Bucky, uh, James Barnes. Sergeant Barnes. You have to get him here. I need to see him.”

“Is that why you did this?”

Adrenaline gives a fresh kick to your shaking, and you step forward involuntarily, as if your body is trying to expel the movement anywhere else but your hands, “you’re not listening to me! I didn’t do this. Please just get Bucky here. I can’t, I can’t do this without him.”

Another step forward.

“Stop! Stop right there! Do not move any closer or we’ll be forced-”

“Forced to what?! Shoot me?! You’re going to shoot me while I still have a bomb in my hands? Just get Bucky, he knows me. He needs to know.”

Another step. 10.01, 10.00, 9.59, 9.58, 9.57...

“Sniper, do you have a visual?”

You look down to see the unwavering red dot. He definitely has a visual.

“Stop, please, just listen to me. He has to know. Bucky has to know.”

You watch as the man gives a small nod off to the side and that laughter from earlier simmers in your throat once again. You thought the bomb was going to be the thing to kill you today, who saw the sniper coming?

You screw your eyes shut and brace for the impact. But it never comes. In the quiet of the moment, with blood roaring in your ears, you swear you feel the bullet whizz past your face as it sinks into the ball behind you seconds before the door smashes open.

“Stand down! Stand down now!”

You keep your eyes shut because you’re not sure if you can face what is in your hands anymore. You can’t face this without him here. Or maybe you just don’t want to.

“Open your eyes for me, sweetheart. I need you to open your eyes and look at me.” You hear the words, and you know the voice, but you know you won’t be able to take it if he isn’t really standing there in front of you. You’ll crumble and the bomb will go with you.

“I’m here. I’m here. I’m with you. Just open your beautiful eyes and look at me.”

But if you’re going to die today, why not go out brave?

You do as he says. Opening your eyes to see Bucky standing in front of you in his tactical gear, blood drying on his face and a bruise slowly coming to bloom on his cheek.

A sob rips from your chest in relief, your knees shaking along with your hands.

His soft rumble greets your ears again, “I know. I know, sweetheart. But I need you to take a deep breath for me, okay?”

You nod.

He smiles, “in time with me.”

And you watch the rise and fall of his broad chest until the lump recedes from your throat and you can finally lock your knees into submission.

Bucky nods, “that’s great, that’s really good. Now, I’m going to come closer so I can get a look at that thing in your hands, okay?”

You shake your head and Bucky halts his progress, “you have to stay still for me. I need to have a look, so I know what we’re dealing with.”

You glance down, 7.37, 7.36, 7.35, 7.34, 7.33...

You shake your head again, “You need to get out of here, Bucky. You need to be as far away as possible.”

Bucky steps up to you and the bomb, but he’s staring only at you, “I’m right where I need to be. Now stay absolutely still while I take a look around.”

Bucky leans over you, he goes side to side, he even crouches down to look underneath not saying a word. And with every passing second it gets harder and harder to hold the bomb still.

“Bucky”, you whisper, “if you can’t disarm this then I just need you to know-”

He cuts you off, “we’re not doing that. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

“But, in case it does, I need to tell you-”

“No. You can’t do this. You have to concentrate. You have to hold on just a little longer as I figure this out.”

6.10, 6.09, 6.08, 6.07, 6.06...

“Just let me-”

“Stop!” Bucky shouts.

You manage to contain your outburst, “why? Why won’t you just let me tell you?”

“Because...Because I need to know that you really mean it. I need to know that it has nothing to do with the bomb in your hands. And because I need you to have something to fight for right now. So, concentrate on keeping still and if you still feel like telling me, you can tell me when we’re not staring down oblivion.”

You study his eyes for a few precious seconds, you look past the determination, past the worry and the concern and see fear. You see a man that wants to be chosen and loved on his normal days, his mundane days, his worst days. Not on the day he may save your life or lose you forever.

You give him a nod of understanding and he goes back to tracing the wires with his finger ever so gently.

He mumbles, “I leave you alone for a few days...”

A small chuckle bursts past your lips, “I guess I’ve been jealous of all the people you’ve been saving lately.”

His resulting laugh helps to soothe some of your wrecked nerves, “next time just wait until I’m in the same country as you and then I’ll save you any time.”

“Deal.”

Bucky goes back to concentrating and you watch the time slip away like sand in an hourglass and you get this rush seeping into your bones. This need to want to somehow live your whole life in just the few minutes you have left.

“Bucky.”

He doesn’t answer.

“Bucky.”

“Mhm?”

“How does it look?”

The silence has never felt so violent. 3.12, 3.11, 3.10, 3.09, 3.08...

“Bucky.”

“It’s complex. The wires are tiny and a lot of it is hidden in the plastic that has been melted so I can’t open it in time to get the full picture.”

You chuckle again, “you could have just said ‘not good’”

Bucky straightens up in front of you, “I think I know which wire to cut.”

“You think? Are you insane? I can’t let you do this on a hunch. I can’t watch you kill yourself for me.”

Bucky retrieves snips from one of his pockets, “good thing I wasn’t asking.” He flashes you a smile.

He starts to trace the wires again, double checking his work before bringing the snips closer.

“Wait!”

Bucky pauses, looking to you.

“I know I’m not allowed to tell you anything right now. I know why you don’t want to hear it right now, but this could be our last minutes on Earth so can I just ask you one thing?”

Bucky nods, “you know I’ll give you anything you want if you ask.”

“Kiss me.” It spills out on a whisper, but you know he heard you.

Now it’s Bucky that finds himself studying you before he cups the side of your face, leaning over the bomb, and captures your mouth with his.

It’s soft, but hard. Urgent but relaxed. You forget about everything for a few moments, everything except the way Bucky holds your face tightly and the way his lips mould perfectly to yours and the way his tongue runs lightly along the seam of your lips.

It all melts away as you feel the whole life you want to live dance in between the heat and tension of all the things you’re not saying. With your lips desperately trying to memorise his, you live a lifetime.

When Bucky pulls away, your shaking stops. You both glance down at the timer. 0.59, 0.58, 0.57, 0.56, 0.55...

Bucky says, “it’s now or never.”

You swallow. Watching his finger trace the tiny wire that will decide if you and Bucky will get to live more lifetimes together.

Bucky positions the snips over the wire, his eyes finding yours, “I’ve got you.”

You hold each other’s gaze as he presses the snips. It cuts through the wire, and both look to the clock to find it frozen on 0.14.

You both smile, relief swimming in the air. The laugh from earlier making its way to the surface to revel in the pure joy of still being here. Still being here with Bucky.

*Click*

You look down to find the numbers counting down faster. Ironically, everything seems to slow down for you. Those seconds stretching to contain as much living as possible.

Bucky grabs the device from your aching hands and tosses it to the back of the building, grabbing you and pulling you with such force you can feel the fear seeping into your skin.

You don’t make it to the door in time before the ground shakes, the boom thunders, and the heat rolls across the room. You feel Bucky getting ripped from you just as the darkness swallows you whole.

Tag List: @ordelixx @cjand10 @identity2212 @sukaibg @bellabarnes1378 @mishkatelwarriorgoddess @vicmc624 @scott-loki-barnes

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky #bucky x you #bucky series #bucky fandom #bucky fic #bucky x y/n #bucky fluff #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes x y/n

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mountttmase · 2 years ago

Text

A Mountain To Climb - Part Three

Note - I can’t believe we’re on part three already 🙊 just to let you know this will now be uploaded weekly so I can post requests on Sunday so part four will be out next Wednesday 💙 thank you so much and please let me know what you think

Pairing - Mason Mount x Reader

Word count - 3.4k

Warnings - series will contain fluff, smut & angst

Master list

You loved your job, you really did, but there was something about Wednesdays you couldn’t stand. The week was passing you by so slowly and all you could think about was was your lie on on Saturday morning.

You’d seen a text pop up from when you were at your desk, and you couldn’t help the smile that took over your face seeing his name flash across the screen.

You hadn’t talked to him in a few days, wanting to keep your distance as you could feel yourself get caught up with him, but Mason didn’t seem to want to give up without a fight.

You’d watched his game in secret, feeling a mix of being overwhelmed at seeing him on your tv and confusion as to what was going on but you enjoyed it none the less. You didn’t let him know this though, not even sending him a congratulations text when his team had won. You had to admire his determination and when when you were on your way home, you thought you’d be nice and text him back.

You felt your heartbeat quicken as you read over his words but before you could reply he was FaceTiming you. You quickly hit answer and you were met with Mason in what appeared to be a gaming room, wrapped up in a black hoodie with a head set perched on his head. Your tummy fluttered at how adorable he looked but you told yourself to ignore it.

‘Are you outside?’

‘I just got off the train, I’m walking home’ you told him ‘not all off us finish work as early as you’

‘Touché’ he laughed before his face got serious. ‘Are you alone? It’s dark out, I hope you’re being safe’

‘I do this most days, Mason. I’m sure I’ll be fine’

‘Yeah but you never know what weirdos might be lurking about’

‘Well I can see you’re at home, so I think I’m safe’ you joked and his mouth fell open in mock disgust.

‘Wow. And here I was about to ask if you wanted to hang out and this is the sort of treatment I get’ he huffed and you weren’t exactly sure how to respond to him. ‘But do you? Like wanna hang out soon?’

‘You’re really asking me to hang out after you blew me off the other day’ you teased and he pouted at you dramatically.

‘That’s not fair, you didn’t wanna hang out. You were trying to trap me into telling you who I was’ he laughed and you gave him a shy smile.

‘That maybe true, yes. Congrats on the win on Sunday by the way’ you winked and he immediately looked shocked.

‘Did you watch it?’

‘For a bit, yeah. I wasn’t sure what was happening but it was fun to watch men run around in little shorts’ you shrugged, finally making it back to your building and into your flat. You flopped down on the sofa and he smiled at you as he finally caught sight of you properly. ‘So what do you wanna do when we hang out?’ You asked and he shrugged but you knew he had some ideas.

‘I was thinking we could get some lunch? Or if that’s too much we could just go for a walk or something?’ He blabbed and you could tell he was nervous.

‘A walk sounds nice’ you murmured and he let out a small sigh of relief.

‘How about Sunday? I’ll have a recovery session in the morning but maybe I could pick you up around two? Does that sound alright?’

You wanted to tell him no, to push him away like you did with everyone else but the hopeful look in his eye melted you slightly. You couldn’t deny you wanted to see him again but the thought terrified you.

‘I’ll have to see’ you told him quietly and you saw his face drop which made your tummy churn uncomfortably.

‘Okay, well I’ve to go, I’ve got a stream soon I just wanted to speak to you before’

‘A stream?’

‘Yeah, with this gaming company I work with, it’s just a bit of fun but I should get going cause everyone complains I’m always late’ he joked, rolling his eyes in mock annoyance but you could see he was upset. ‘Speak to you soon’

‘Okay’ you replied, knowing that was just a thing to say rather than him actually wanting to speak to you. You blew guys off all the time, constantly telling them you didn’t want to hang out with no feelings of remorse but Mason was making your heart break with his sad eyes and pouty lips.

You were curious as to what he was doing though, hoping you hadn’t ruined his mood completely and after a brief look on his instagram, you found the link to the stream and clicked it to find him playing some racing game with another guy.

You watched him as you made yourself some dinner, laughing along with him as he shouted with excitement when he was winning or moaned like a kid when things didn’t go his way. You couldn’t deny you found him endearing, he was so cheeky and funny and you couldn’t help but smile when he did.

You noticed his head dropping every so often to read the comments coming through and once you’d sat down with your food, you pondered sending him a text in hopes he would see it next time he looked. You typed in out a message and as soon as he looked down again you pressed send.

You knew he’d seen it straight away, his eyes going wide and he looked straight into the camera, almost as if he was looking straight at you and you smiled, pleased with yourself that you’d seemed to of got a reaction out of him. After seeing him so sad a little while ago you had an itch to make him smile and seeing his wide toothy grin settled you. Already typing up another text for the next time he was reading the comments.

You saw him laugh at this, slightly shaking his head as he looked up before carrying on and five minutes or so later they seemed to be wrapping up. At the end of thanking everyone, you watched him blow a kiss before waving and cutting the stream off. You laughed to yourself before a text came through from Mason and you rushed to open it.

You left work just after lunchtime on Friday, wanting to beat the busy evening rush home and you quickly nipped into a shop to grab yourself a drink. You were browsing the chocolate aisle when you felt someone behind you which put you on edge immediately.

‘Hey, y/n’ you heard Mason say gently and you let out a breath as you realised you weren’t in danger. You turned to him slowly with your hand over your heart and he gulped nervously as your eyes met.

‘Jesus, Mason. You scared me’

‘Sorry’ he breathed and you realised how timid he looked and you got that feeling in your tummy again, realising now it was probably guilt that you’d upset him.

‘It’s fine. What are you doing here?’

‘I’ve got an interview soon, I was just getting some bits’ he shrugged, his hands in his pockets and he was hunched over almost defensively. ‘Why are you here?’

‘I work just over the road. I’m heading home now’ you nodded as he looked to the floor with his bottom lip between his teeth.

‘Okay. Well it was nice to see you’ he smiled lightly before turning away and walking up the aisle. You heart sunk at how deflated and nervous he seemed and before you could stop yourself you were calling out to him.

‘Mason? Wait please’ you called, catching up to him and he faced you with wide and curious eyes. You took a deep breath before looking to the floor yourself, now nervous that you’d pushed him too far and he would reject you but you had to at least give it a go. ‘If you’re still free Sunday, I’d like to see you’ you breathed and his eyes got even wider at your words.

‘Really?

‘Yes really’ you laughed and he properly smiled at you for the first time that day. ‘Just text me, yeah?’

‘I will’ he nodded, standing up a little taller now and you got the urge to reach out and hug him but you glued your arms to your sides. ‘I better go’ he whispered before placing his hand on your arm and even though you willed yourself to relax, you knew you’d become stiff at the contact. ‘Bye y/n’ he smiled before finally heading out and leaving you to let out a big breath.

Sunday came around quicker than you thought it would, and Mason had offered to pick you up from your house but it all felt a bit too soon for you so you settled on meeting him at the train station, telling him you could meet him earlier that way and that seemed to please him.

You found him in the car park, looking for the registration number he’d told you was his and you gulped as you took in the car he was driving. You knew nothing about cars but you you tell it was expensive. You saw him sat inside and you tapped the passenger window three times before he rolled it down.

‘Can I help you?’ He asked and you rolled your eyes before crossing your arms.

‘Yeah I’m looking for this guy, he’s proper annoying and refuses to leave me alone but I feel a bit sorry for him’

‘Very funny’ he huffed before unlocking the door for you and you slid into the seat besides him. ‘You ready?’

‘Mmm hmm. Though I’m curious as to where you’re taking me’

‘Well that would be telling’ he teased, drumming his fingers on the wheel and he wiggled his eyebrows at you. You let him play his little game until he was driving into some sort of nature park.

‘If you’ve brought me here to kill me, can we just get it over with quickly please?’ You joked as you both made it out of the car and he winked over in your direction.

‘Come on, it’s this way’ he told you, nodding his head and you followed him albeit reluctantly.

‘Where are we going?’ You laughed

‘Calm down, I’m not gonna kill you. There’s a nice little lake up here and I’ve always wanted to see it. There’s a coffee shop too so if you behave I might treat you to one’ he winked and even though you knew it was a joke and nothing remotely sexual, you felt your face flush at the thought of him telling you to behave.

You spoke lightly as you ambled along the path, catching each other up on what you’d been up too since you last saw each other and as promised, he got you coffee before you sat at on a bench by the lake, away from any prying eyes and ears.

‘Congratulations for yesterday’ you told him and his face lit up when he clocked onto what you were referring too.

‘Am I turning you into a bit of a Chelsea fan?’ He winked and you had to look away so he didn’t see you blush. Truth be told you still had no idea what was going on, you were watching for him and willing him to do well but he didn’t need to know that. ‘You’d look good in blue. Better than whatever this is you’ve got on’ he laughed, pulling at the sleeve of your red jumper.

‘Excuse me?’ You questioned, looking at him with a scowl and you watched his face change from cheeky and joyful to apologetic instantly.

‘Shit, that came out wrong I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that at all you look amazing, you always do, I meant the colour’ he babbled and even though you half understood, you wanted to make him suffer a little more so you kept your expression the same and watched him fumble. ‘Red is the colour of our rivals so I meant I’d rather see you wearing the colour of my team than theirs but it came out so bad I’m so sorry I really didn’t mean it I promise’

‘You’re forgiven for now, I guess’ you told him and he let out a little breath of relief before you smiled at him. ‘Maybe you can get me a Chelsea shirt and we’ll call ourselves even’

‘It’s a deal’

‘Who’s good in your team? For the name on the back?’ You asked, hoping to wind him up a little more and your plan seemed to be working as he gave you a questioning look. You kept your voice even so you would come across as completely serious and by the offended look on his face it seemed to be working.

‘What? If I’m getting you one you’ll have my name on the back’

‘Bit full of yourself aren’t you?’ You jibed and he gave you a shy smile. For all the front and attitude he gave off you could tell underneath all that the real Mason was a little shyer and you liked the fact he was open enough to show you that side of him. You just wished you could show him the real you but you’d kept her hidden for so long you didn’t know if she was still there anymore.

‘You watched some of the games right? Who was your favourite?’ He asked and you bit your lip as if you were thinking about it. You had no idea, your eyes only looking for Mason but you’d picked up on a few on the faces.

‘Who’s the one in goal? With the curls?’

‘Kepa?’

‘Yeah him. I want his name’

‘That’s not gonna work, he wears a different kit to everyone else’

‘Oh’ you breathed as you racked your brain to try and think about who else you’d seen but nothing was coming to you. ‘Fine, I guess I’ll go with your name’ you told him and he let out a little chuckle.

Mason suggested you carry on walking, promising a good view at the top of the hill just up ahead and he asked you questions about your life that under any normal circumstances you wouldn’t of answered. But with Mason, you didn’t need to think, the words just poured out of you as you spoke about growing up nearby before he told you about his life some more. He sounded like he came from the perfect family and so when it was your turn to speak about yours, you bent the truth a little so he didn’t know everything.

You felt so different being around him than anyone you’d ever know, his carefree and bubbly nature seemed to spill out of him and was seeping into your skin, making you want to let your walls down but you always caught yourself before it got too late.

Mason was right, there was a nice view at the top of the hill and you sat next to him on the floor after he’d laid his hoodie down on the grass so the pair of you wouldn’t have wet bums. It was there you thought about how different you life had become in such a short space of time since knowing him and the panic began to creep ever so slowly into your thoughts again.

‘So my mates having a party next Friday, I’d love it if you’d come’ he told you softly and you turned to face him carefully. You could see the hope in his eyes and you had to stop yourself from immediately blurting out the word no.

‘Oh, um…’ you trailed off, looking away again as the nerves overtook your body and you felt yourself pull away from him in your mind, slowly building back those walls you’d both torn down this afternoon.

‘It’s not gonna be anything crazy, like there won’t be loads of people there or anything. I just thought-‘

‘Mason listen’ you started, already upset at the thought of having to let him down but your brain was doing all the talking for you. ‘I appreciate the offer-‘

‘And I would appreciate it if you would come on Friday’ he interrupted and you couldn’t help but smile at him.

‘I won’t know anyone there’

‘I’ll be there. You know me’

‘Will there be cute boys there?’ You teased and you saw his face falter for a second before he smiled again.

‘I just told you, I’ll be there’ he winked and you let out a little chuckle. ‘You can bring a friend if you want, you don’t have to come alone’

‘I don’t have any friends round here’

‘I’m feeling like I should be offended’ he told you and you rolled your eyes at him playfully.

‘Send me the address, I’ll see how I feel on the day’ you told him and he nodded enthusiastically, desperately trying to hide his smile but you’d made up your mind already you weren’t going. You just didn’t have the heart to tell him just yet. ‘Can I ask why?’

‘Why what?’

‘Why do you wanna hang out with me so much?’ You whispered and he just shrugged his shoulders whilst looking away.

‘I like you’ he mused and your gut reaction was to tell him you liked him back but you stayed silent as those words never seemed to want to leave your mouth. ‘You wanna head back? I’m getting a bit cold’ he laughed thankfully letting you off the hook and you nodded before he pulled you up to stand, letting go of you almost instantly.

You’d noticed that about him, he never seemed to want to get to close to you, and if he had to touch you then he’d do it as quickly as he could. You weren’t an overly touchy person so you questioned why you’d even thought about it in the first place, but he seemed so open to you with his words, you just wondered why it wasn’t the same with his actions.

‘Would you like me to drop you off at the station? Or I can take you home I really don’t mind’ he offered.

‘I don’t wanna put you out or anything’

‘Don’t be silly, I’d rather take you home then make you take the train’ he argued and even though it went against your instincts, you agreed to let him drive you home, popping your address into his phone when he passed it to you.

He pulled up outside your building, and shut off the engine, turning to look at your carefully and you gulped down a nervous lump in your throat. It would probably be polite to invite him in but you were no where near ready to have him in the only place that was yours.

‘Thank you’ you whispered and he sent you a small smile. ‘I had a nice time’ you told him and you meant it.

‘That’s okay, I did too’ he replied quietly and you dropped your eyes to your lap. ‘I’ll send you that address when I’m home’ he told you and you let out a laugh at his eagerness. ‘We should do this again sometime though’

You just nodded at him, reaching for the handle so you could get out of there as quickly as you could and with one last rushed goodbye you were bounding up the path to your front door.

Tagged: @alwaysclassyeagle @ricsaigaslec @cinderellawithashoe @vip-access

#mason mount #mason mount imagine #mason mount smut #mason mount request #mason mount fluff #mason mount angst #mason mount fanfic #mason mount blurb #mason mount x reader #mason mount x y/n #footballer x reader #footballer x y/n #a mountain to climb series

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onceuponaoneshotfanfic · 1 year ago

Text

Something There (Chapter 6)

6.8k words

Roy Kent x Reader

Warnings: Language, mentions of sex, angst, mentions of slut-shaming, pining, angst

Author's Note: FINALLY!!!!!!!! Ahh, I had some bad writer's block and struggled for a bit there, but @agentstarkid helped get me through it! Thank you for your patience!

Series Masterlist

Most of the women Roy Kent slept with didn’t stay over. Many didn’t even try. And, in all honesty, Roy was fine with it.

Not that he’d been seeing many women lately. After he’d tackled Jamie Tartt and ended his playing career, there weren’t as many interested candidates.

But Roy wasn’t interested in it anymore either. Not since Keeley, at least. He definitely wasn’t pining over her at this point, he was very much over her, and he certainly treasured their friendship, but there was no point in denying that he couldn’t bear the thought of going back to meaningless hookups, not after what he and Keeley had.

He wanted a partner, someone to understand him, someone to share his highs and lows with, someone who’d fucking challenge him and make him a better man.

There was a brief moment, when his fingers dug into Bucky’s soft skin and his mouth explored every inch of her and she whispered his name, where Roy wondered if maybe he’d found that person.

Of course, that idea dissipated when he woke up in the morning to find himself, once again, alone in his bed. He knew better than to assume she’d gone to the bathroom or down to the kitchen for a glass of water, even before he saw her clothes gone from the bedroom floor where they’d been haphazardly discarded.

Roy frowned as he stared up at the ceiling. He hadn’t really wanted her to sleep over, did he? To have to deal with the immediate conversation regarding what had just happened and what it meant… No, it was nice to have the morning to think about things and figure out what to say. Yeah, she’d done the right thing. Honestly, she’d done the Roy Kent thing.

Despite himself, Roy stayed in bed for a bit, running the night before though his slightly pounding head. He’d had a good time, actually. And not just because of the sex. Dancing with her was surprisingly nice. He was amazed by the way they’d spoken so candidly to each other about their careers and the heartbreak they shared. They’d made each other laugh, something he didn’t think they were capable of doing together.

And yeah, the sex was kind of mind-blowing.

Finally, he made himself get up, running his hands over his tired face as he wandered down the hall, where his tie still lay on the floor. In the living room he spotted his jacket lying carelessly by the couch. He crouched down, ignoring the dull pain in his knee, and fished his cell phone out of the inside pocket.

Fuck. Why did he feel more than a little disappointed when he didn’t see her name in his messages? Fuck off, Roy. Get it together.

Instead, there were a couple of texts from Jamie (“Thanks for the dance, Coach!” “Where’d you & Coach Bucky run off to??”), and Lucas (“Take good care of her ;)”), and Keeley (“Saw you leave with Bucky. Good for you two!”). He scowled. He should’ve known that people would see them getting into a cab together; Monday would mean damage control, lots of telling people they’d just shared a cab, he’d been a gentleman and made sure she got home safe, the end. That had to be what she wanted to tell everyone, right?

He hadn’t stirred an inch as I grabbed my things and redressed, closing the door quietly behind me as I called a cab to take me home.

Waking up next to Roy Kent was not good. Not that Roy wasn’t nice; on the contrary, I wasn’t surprised to find that he was fantastic in bed and quite the gentleman after, making sure I was cleaned up and comfortable before we laid down for what was supposed to be a quick nap. But when I stirred at about four in the morning and realized where I was and whose arm was tightly wrapped around me, I knew I had to get out of there. We’d crossed a bridge that there was no going back to, and I just wanted to go home and have a private panic.

The shower I took once after I’d laid in bed for a bit did nothing to take the feeling of Roy Kent off me; it was as if his hands were still on every inch of my body. The quiet little part of me that always seemed to be thinking about him couldn’t help but savor the images floating around in my mind. The loud part, the part that wanted to be taken seriously as a successful manager, the part that knew the challenges I faced as a woman manager, prayed that no one would ever find out that I’d slept with Roy Kent.

As I was blow-drying my hair, my phone went off; the words Boss-Ass Bitch appeared on my screen.

“Hey Keels,” I groaned into the phone, scrutinizing my reflection; God, my face was tired. “Are you feeling as hungover as I am?”

“Babe…” Keeley’s voice was slow and full of uncertainty. “Think I could come over?”

In less than an hour, Keeley was sitting on my couch, looking small as I handed her a mug of coffee. She watched me carefully as I sat beside her with my own mug. Something was clearly wrong, and I was terrified to find out what it was.

She gazed down at her coffee before finally opening her mouth. “I know you went home with Roy last night,” she whispered.

My heart sank. “Fuck, Keeley.” I put my hand on her leg, horrified. “I’m so sorry. It was stupid- I should have never- I would have never if I’d known you still had feelings-”

“What?” Keeley wrinkled her nose at me. “Oh, fuck, babe not that. You can shag Roy all you want. Kind of glad you two finally did it, you’ve been so damn insufferable trying to hide how badly you both want it.”

Ignoring her mocking tone, I shook my head. “What the fuck’s wrong then?”

Sobering up, she pulled out her phone and handed it to me. “Friend of mine sent me this.”

If my heart had sunk into my stomach when I thought I’d hurt Keeley, it was practically in my shoes now. There we were, getting into a cab in front of the venue. There we were, getting out of the same cab in front of his house. There was his hand on my lower back as we went up the sidewalk. There I was walking through his front door.

“What the fuck?” I hissed, fighting the urge to throw Keeley’s phone across the room. Instead, I gingerly handed it back to her, fighting every urge I had to scream my head off. “How did this happen?” Suddenly, another question seemed more important: “Has Roy seen these?”

Keeley pocketed her phone and shook her head. “I wanted to show you first. Roy’s… used to the press being all up in his shit. Figured you needed more of a heads up.”

My head fell into my hands. If my hangover didn’t make me feel like puking, this sure as hell did the trick. As soon as these photos became public, I was done for. Never mind the trophies, the medals, the legacy of winning. All I’d be was the slut who slept with Roy fucking Kent.

“Is there anything you can do?” I breathed, unsure if Keeley could hear my muffled voice.

Her hand stroked my back, trying to offer some comfort. “I will do my very best,” she promised. “Swear to God, I’ll do my best.”

He didn’t hear from her. All weekend, Roy stared at his mobile, waiting for her name to pop up. Every time it vibrated or pinged, he felt his heart skip a beat, only for it so falter when it was his sister, or Jamie, or one of the gaffers. Even Ted shot him a quick text to ask how the gala went (and if Rebecca had a good time).

By Monday morning, the knot in his stomach was the size of the football he absently kicked as the Greyhounds made their way to the pitch. He’d only growled greetings that morning and had avoided the offices; it was going to be a miserable fucking day.

“Alright there, Coach?” Beard looked at him with concern as the fellas began stretching in the cool morning air. “Been even more silent than usual.”

Roy let out one of his dramatic sighs. It was really tempting, the idea of telling someone all the shit that’d been running through his head these twenty-four hours. Of wondering what the fuck sleeping together meant, and what her leaving without a word meant.

But talking about feelings was fucking embarrassing.

“Tired,” he finally mumbled. “Fucking gala’s exhausting.”

Beard nodded. “Saw you leaving with-”

“We shared a fucking cab.” Roy cleared his throat. “Made sure she got home safe. Managed to not bite each other’s heads off in the cab, you’d’ve been very fucking proud of us.”

“Right.”

The buzzing in Roy’s pocket had his heart skipping a beat. Of course, it wasn’t the one person he was stupidly hoping to hear from; it was Keeley.

Stop ignoring me and text me back. It’s IMPORTANT.

Roy rolled his eyes and tapped away, asking Keeley what the fuck she wanted.

Can we talk during your lunch? Privately?

“Fine, whatever,” he grumbled as he responded with a thumbs-up emoji.

He tried to focus during training, he really did. But he was a mess. He forgot the names of trick plays, he confused the guys’ positions. It was humiliating. Roy felt all wrong, and he hated that everyone- the gaffers, the players, fucking Will- could see it.

Finally, he trudged down the halls, his curiosity about what Keeley had to tell him finally piquing. He grunted absently at the people he passed, his feet carrying him towards the changing room and the coaches’ offices. When he turned into his office, his heart leapt into his throat when he saw a familiar ponytail in the Whippets’ office.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Not quite sure what he was doing, Roy poked his head through the door connecting the two offices, noting that there was no Lucas or any players to be seen. Just the two of them, all alone, just like the night of the gala.

“Hey.” Roy barely recognized his own voice; it was soft, timid, almost nervous. He fucking hated it.

Her eyes were wide when she turned away from her computer. “Oh. Hello, Coach Kent.”

Coach Kent. Not Roy.

Her expression matched the way he felt inside: tense, uncomfortable, a bit confused. Maybe even a little sad. She offered him a tight smile as she stood up.

“See you around.” Before Roy could say anything, she walked out briskly, not bothering to look at him.

Roy couldn’t help feeling monumentally disappointed as he returned to his own office, shoulders sagging. What the fuck was that? He dropped into his desk chair, brows furrowed, and leaned his elbows on his knees. He’d expected some awkwardness, sure, but not whatever the fuck that was. She’d practically run at the sight of him.

“There you are.” Keeley stood in the doorway, the woeful look on her face contrasting with the fluorescent outfit she had on. She closed the door behind her. “Can we talk?”

Roy nodded, gesturing towards Beard’s desk. “Go on then.”

Before she sat down, Keeley crossed the office and shut the other door, the one that led to the Whippets’ empty office. With a sigh, she grabbed Beard’s chair and pushed it closer to Roy. The look on her face was familiar to Roy; it was her “I don’t want to have this conversation but we have to have it” face. He saw it a lot around the time they broke up. At least that time, he knew why she was making that face; this time he was completely in the dark.

“Keels?”

The blonde took a deep breath. “Right. Well, um, a friend of mine at a tabloid, she saw these photos, and she thought we might want a heads up…”

Roy’s stomach dropped. “Photos?”

Without another word, Keeley unlocked her phone and handed it to Roy; a risky move, honestly, with Roy’s temper. Roy let out a pained growl when he saw the photographs of Bucky and himself, their faces almost happy as they walked into his house.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

“Has she seen these?”

Keeley’s face somehow grew sadder at the first words Roy was able to manage. “Showed her yesterday. Meant to show you too, but you wouldn’t answer.”

Roy nodded. It made sense now, her barely speaking a word to him. Her not calling or texting. It made sense.

After a long moment of silence, Roy stood and handed Keeley her phone. She opened her mouth to say something- probably to offer sympathy or assure him that she was going to do her best to handle things- but Roy stormed off before she could.

The cool tile floor of the dark boot room provided me a safe hiding place. After Roy had surprised me in the office, I needed a place to just breathe. Seeing his face made me feel like I was going to be sick, even sicker than the photos made me feel. He was so relaxed, so calm, as if the world wasn’t falling apart.

Probably because for him it wasn’t. I knew his reputation. I’d known it before I walked into his house and accepted his whiskey and fell into his bed. For him this was normal, part of being a famous athlete whose life was a public string of one-night stands. It didn’t impact his career, didn’t have people judging him or calling him crude things. It didn’t diminish his legacy.

Could I say the same for myself?

Just as I was starting to get my breathing under control and beginning to feel like I could face people again, the boot room door slammed open.

Of fucking course it was Roy Kent.

His wide eyes blinked several times to adjust to the dark room. When he spotted my curled-up figure leaning against the wall, he closed the door quietly behind him and took a step into the room. With a groan and a crack coming from his knee, he joined me on the floor, like he had in that little shed at the team retreat. Even in the dark, I could see the deep frown etched into his face.

“I am so fucking sorry.” His voice was a quiet rasp. “So, so fucking sorry.” He reached out and touched my hand, somehow looking sadder when I flinched at his touch. “Keeley just told me.”

Oh. That was why he’d been so calm.

He went on. “I… I really don’t know what the fuck to say.” He threw his head back, leaning against the wall. “I don’t know what happened. But Keeley- I- we’ll handle it. We’ll fucking handle it.”

With a sigh, I shook my head. “It’s my own fault,” I whispered. “I made a choice without thinking about the fucking consequences.”

“It’s not your fault.” Roy’s voice was firm. “It’s the fucking press. Fucking vultures,” he spat. His voice turned thoughtful. “Why don’t we get together after work and-”

My pained, hollow laugh stopped him midsentence. “Come on, Roy. I can’t be seen with you. I shouldn’t even be in a dark boot room with you. There’s none of this ‘we’. There can’t be.”

I swore I heard him barely breathe my name in a strangled voice.

“I can’t,” I repeated, softer now. My stomach was in absolute knots; I wasn’t planning on doing this. Not in the fucking boot room, at least. “Roy, I just… I need my face in the papers for being a winning coach, not sleeping with one. And- and, I mean it was great, you were great. But let’s be honest. We both know it was just another one of your flings.” I cleared my throat, face on fire. “And that’s totally your prerogative. I knew what I was getting into. I’m a big girl. Do what you want. Do who you want. You’re a legend here. You can sleep with all the women you want, and they’ll look at you like you’re a fucking god. But me… I mean, if people found out I slept with a coworker…”

“Things are different for you,” he sighed. For once, there wasn’t a hint of venom when he repeated the fact that I so often reminded him of. Instead, there was nothing but sadness. Disappointment. Misery. “No. Yeah. Fuck, I get it.” He looked at me as best he could in the darkness. “You gonna be alright?”

I shrugged. “I have to be, don’t I?”

He nodded. “Guess you do.” His hand twitched, as though he was debating reaching out again. It remained where it was. “Keeley’s got this,” he assured me. “She’s brilliant. And… I’ve got your back. No matter what.” His smile was so sad I swore I could hear my heart crack. “We’re Richmond til we die, alright?”

“Thanks, Kent.”

With that, I stood and walked over to the door, leaving Roy Kent alone on the boot room floor.

Roy sighed and took another sip of his coffee, watching Jamie do burpees, for once taking no pleasure in his former teammate’s ragged breathing and pained expression. For a week now, Bucky had kept true to her word and avoided being around Roy as much as possible. No fighting or screaming, no civility and politeness, and sure as hell no flirting, which he had kind of hoped there would be before these stupid photos. He felt like a fucking ghost as he walked down the halls of Nelson Road.

He glanced at his watch. “Alright, you’re done,” he barked, pulling a water bottle out of Jamie’s backpack that sat on the bench beside him. He handed it to Jamie as he jogged over to Roy.

“Alright, Roy?” He cocked his head. “That was only one hundred and ninety-two. Thought I needed to do two hundred.” When Roy only grunted, Jamie continued. “You’ve looked real distracted lately, mate. Come on. Tell ol’ Jamie what’s up.”

For a moment, Roy just stared at Jamie. This shit had been really eating at him ever since Keeley showed him the pictures… no, since he woke up and found himself alone in his bed and, for once, wishing he wasn’t. He didn’t want to tell Keeley about this, she felt stressed enough about the photos; she didn’t need to also have the weight of Roy’s woes on her shoulders as well. No way could he go to Rebecca, she’d kill him for ruining all the civility they’d finally managed. Beard and Nate didn’t need to be roped into more of their bullshit, they’d been through enough since the Whippets’ arrival. Ted was too far away, and even if Roy could be bothered to call him about this, he didn’t feel like hearing some nonsense story about a childhood friend in Kansas that was only vaguely related to Roy’s problem. His sister would probably roll her eyes and make some comment about him needing to not shit where he ate. Even Doctor Sharon felt like the wrong person to talk to.

That really only left one prickish person for Roy to confide in.

With a grumble, Roy gestured for Jamie to join him on the bench. Once the men were side by side, Roy leaned back, finger tracing the lid of his coffee. “I… the night of the gala… I…”

“Is this about Coach Buck?”

Unable to bring himself to look at Jamie, Roy nodded. “Yeah. Yeah.” He took another sip of his coffee, as if the caffeine would somehow calm him down. “I fucking slept with her.”

There. He said it. It was out there, spilled like that bottle of ink Phoebe had dropped on his carpet last week. A big, dark stain hanging in the air between the two Greyhounds.

“Yeah?”

Roy frowned. Jamie didn’t seem shocked at all; if anything, his furrowed brows told Roy that Jamie wasn’t sure what the fuss was all about. “Yeah. I slept with her.” Good, Roy. Say it again. That’ll make Tartt lose that permanent confused expression.

Jamie shrugged. “I mean, obviously. You’ve been sleeping together since, what, the charity game, right? When she gave you some of the money for the doctors and shit?”

“What the fuck?” Now Roy got to be the one with the furrowed brows, accompanied by a mouth gaped in surprise. “No, you twat. Just the one time after the gala.”

It was a good thing the early morning was so dark, because the sight of two football legends gawking at one another on a bench would have drawn most people’s attention. And Roy definitely didn’t need more photos of him floating around.

“But…” Jamie shook his head. “You two’ve been almost nice to each other since the game. Figured you were shagging the entire time.”

Roy’s face twisted in disgust. This was who he chose to confide in? Not for the first time, Roy found himself regretting the fact that his two best friends were his eight-year-old niece and… Jamie Tartt.

Apparently not recognizing the dangerous look on Roy’s face, Jamie pressed on. “So, what’s the problem? You got to shag a beautiful woman who’s like a girl version of you, except much nicer. Shouldn’t you be like bouncing off the walls with excitement or some shit? You’re together now, right?”

A lump formed in Roy’s throat. Fuck. “No,” he finally mumbled. “She… I… We’re keeping our distance.”

Jamie didn’t need to know that she’d broken Roy’s heart. Roy could barely admit it to himself.

“But why?” Jamie looked like a kid whose parents just told him the tooth fairy wasn’t real, with his wide eyes and pouty lips. “You’re soulmates or some shit. Like Kermit and Miss Piggy.”

Roy felt weirdly grateful for Jamie’s idiocy; feeling annoyed was a nice change of pace from everything else he’d been feeling lately.

“Some fucking papp caught us going into my house,” he muttered, staring down at his coffee cup. “And she… I think she got scared. All this stuff about her being a woman coach and her reputation. Asked me to stay away from her.” He shrugged. “So I am.”

Jamie had never looked so serious in the entire time Roy had known him. “Fuck.”

Roy nodded solemnly. “Yeah.”

It was a quiet week after that conversation in the boot room. Very quiet. I did my best to ignore the dull stabbing feeling in my chest that appeared every time I thought of those photos, or saw Roy in passing, or even just heard someone say his name. Instead, I focused all my energy on the Whippets. They continued to impress everyone, including myself. They had performed spectacularly so far in the season; even the small handful of losses we suffered were close, exciting games that came down to only one or two goals.

After a particularly grueling practice, Luke and I made our way out of the Dog Track, debating where to get dinner from before settling at my place for an episode of Lust Conquers All. Just as he almost had me convinced that pizza for three days in a row was not childish, I heard a familiar voice call my name. My pulse quickened as I turned around.

“Hi, George!”

George Willows offered me a boyish grin as he approached, hands in his pockets, head slightly dipped. All charm and ease. “How’s it going, Coach?” He gave Lucas a small nod of acknowledgement before turning his attention back to me. “Whippets are looking great.”

My face warmed at his praise. Or his smile. Maybe both. “They’re a great group of players,” I murmured. “We’re lucky to be their managers.”

Luke threw an arm around my shoulders. “She’s being modest. Which she usually never is,” he added pointedly. “She’s a brilliant coach.”

“Oh, I know.” George kicked the pavement beneath his feet. “Your success should be celebrated. Like maybe with dinner tomorrow night?”

Something caught in my throat. George Willows was asking me out. A nice, handsome man with a normal job and no reputation for getting his picture in the tabloids. Dinner would be lovely. He’d hold my hand and pull out my chair for me. He’d insist on paying for dinner and walking me to my door. He’d probably even ask before kissing me goodnight. There’d be no arguing, no trying to one-up each other, and absolutely no awkwardness.

This was what I wanted- right?

Before I could figure out why the hell George’s offer had me more confused and anxious than thrilled, Lucas spoke for me. “She’s love to,” he assured George, digging his fingers into me. “Wouldn’t ya, Buck?”

Shit. Say something.

“That sounds great!” I finally blurted out. His relieved smile had my shoulders relaxing. “Let’s say six tomorrow? Gives me time to shower and change after training.”

George nodded earnestly, eager as a schoolboy. “Perfect. Text me your address, I’ll pick you up.”

We said our goodbyes, my face feeling noticeably warm, before Lucas and I began our walk home. My eyes stayed fixated on the sidewalk the entire time, not sure what to say to Lucas, and even more unsure why there was a knot in my stomach along with the butterflies George and our date gave me.

“Alright, what gives?” Lucas finally demanded as we settled on the couch with our pizza. “You’ve been drooling over George Willows pretty much since we got to Richmond. Why don’t you look over the moon about your date?”

For a moment, I just stared at my pizza, as if the pepperoni and extra cheese would be able to explain what was up, and I wouldn’t have to say a word. Finally, I realized I had to tell Lucas the one thing I’d planned on taking to my grave.

“I slept with Roy fucking Kent,” I groaned, slouching into the couch and refusing to look at Lucas. “The night of the fucking gala. He invited me in for a drink, we got to talking, and we… you know.”

“Oh shit.”

When I looked at Lucas, his mouth was wide open, and his eyes were fixed on my face. No hint of teasing, laughter, jokes. No lewd comments or “I told you so”.

But only for a moment.

“I mean,” he finally said, “I’m mostly surprised it took so long, honestly. You’ve looked like you’ve wanted to rip each other’s clothes off since the day we arrived.” He cocked his head at me. “Is that why you were hesitant about George? You and Kent are starting something up? Because if I’d known, I never would have-”

“We’re not starting something,” I insisted. “It was a onetime thing. Believe me.” Realizing I wasn’t going to touch my food, I set my plate down on the coffee table. “And there’s more. There’s… pictures.”

In an instant, Lucas was on his feet, fists clenched. “Did he take photos of you?” In all the years I’d known him, I’d never seen such rage on his normally friendly face.

“What? Oh, fuck no.” I tugged him back down to the couch, amused and touched by his fiery reaction. “But good to know you’d kick his ass if he did,” I mused. “Some fucking photographer caught us getting into a cab and then getting out at his place,” I explained quickly. “They haven’t been published yet but… I’d rather play it safe.” I shrugged. “I mean, not like we were going to become boyfriend-girlfriend or some shit, right? So, just gotta keep a low profile, stay away from each other, and hope the whole thing goes away.”

“Hmm.” Lucas leaned his head on my shoulder. “Gotta admit, kinda wanted to see you two become Richmond’s hot power couple.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, no. He’s probably already had like three more women in that bed since the gala. It meant nothing to him.” I cleared my throat. “Nothing to me either,” I quickly added. “It was fun, had a good time, but back to business as usual.” I took out my phone and pulled up my text thread with George, already filled with texts between us; not like Roy Kent, who I had zero messages with. “So, I am just going to go on a nice date with a nice man and have a nice time,” I announced, typing my address and telling George I was looking forward to dinner.

“You sure you’re not hung up on this Roy Kent shit?” Lucas asked quietly.

My phone pinged, alerting me to the smiley face George immediately responded with. “Absolutely not.”

The following day flew by in a blur of soccer and workouts and knowing grins from Lucas. Once I’d assured him that I was not hung up on Roy Kent and that I was very interested in George Willows, he was back on board with the whole date thing. He even came over to help me look at outfits, leaving just before six. As I picked out a pair of earrings that would look nice with my black dress, I kept an eye on my phone, figuring George would text to let me know he was outside so I could head on down.

The sound of knocking made me jump. Oh. He’d come to my door to pick me up. I tried to remember the last time that happened; to be fair, I hadn’t even been on a real date since arriving in England.

I put on my earrings as I scurried to the door, feeling my shoulders relax at the sight of George and the bouquet of roses he held.

“Hi,” I breathed, amazed at how comfortable I felt despite the butterflies in my stomach.

“You look beautiful,” was his greeting as he handed me the flowers. “Ready to go?”

I let him hold my hand as we walked down to his car, where he held open the door for me. The conversation during the drive was sparse; just general little chitchat, nothing too complicated. It was nice, easy, mindless. And I liked the way it made me feel.

At the restaurant I felt myself relax even more. George asked me questions about my childhood, my time playing for the U.S. National team, my friendship with Lucas. He was earnest and engaged and interested in every little thing I had to say.

“This is all off the record, right George?” I asked with a smirk over my glass of wine.

“In that case, let me just go ahead and let my editor know I’m canceling my exposé on you,” he teased with a wink, crowding my stomach with more butterflies. He took a bite of his food, watching me carefully. “Glad to know you’re enjoying Richmond. Fucking Kent must be a headache to work with, though.”

My chest tightened, and I was sure George could see my expression completely change. Why did I feel so bothered by his sudden sour tone? He wasn’t exactly wrong; when I first arrived, Roy Kent was fucking headache. We did nothing but argue all the damn time. At best, we’d really only ever been civil. But still…

“Let’s not talk about Roy,” I murmured, fiddling with my fork. “I know you two have this weird thing but… He… We work together, you know? We try to keep things professional.” I cleared my throat, not quite looking at George. “And his Greyhounds have been great to my Whippets since we arrived. So, yeah. Can we not?”

“Hey.” He reached out and touched my free hand. “Sorry. Just, the couple of times I’ve seen you two together, he’s been quite rude to you. But you’re right, the two of you are colleagues. I really respect your professionalism.”

His reassuring smile had me offering a small grin of my own, especially when I looked down at his hand on top of mine. God, it felt so natural, holding hands with George Willows. Just so easy and lovely. I could get used to this, I thought as he gave my hand a squeeze.

I also felt like I could get used to the way he looked at me as we stood in front of my door, with soft eyes and a shy smile. Ask me out again, I mentally implored. Tell me you had a good time and you want to see me again.

He leaned close, eyes flickering to my red lips. “Thanks for a great date,” he murmured, bringing up one hand to cup my face. “Would it be too forward if I…?” He trailed off with raised eyebrows.

My heart fluttered as I closed my eyes and leaned forward to give him his answer. I could feel his smile against my lips and knew he could feel one of my own. It was a small, chaste kiss, one filled with giddiness and anticipation, as if it was just the start of something.

George’s hand lingered on my cheek even after we broke the kiss. “Think we could do this again sometime?”

“Absolutely.” I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his again. “Good night, George.”

“Good night.”

Once my door was closed behind me, I fell to the couch, a content sigh escaping my lips. My first date in goodness knows how long. And it was lovely. Easy, even. And George was wonderful and an absolute gentleman. And the sweet kiss at my front door was something out of a Hallmark movie.

So why the fuck did I fall asleep thinking about Roy Kent and the bottle of scotch we shared?

For two more weeks, Roy stayed away. Two. Miserable. Weeks.

He went through the motions. Trained with Jamie. Worked with the Greyhounds at Nelson Road. Hung out with Phoebe. Coached the girls’ football team. Read. Went to yoga.

And the whole time, he thought about her.

They’d glance at each other in the halls, stand on opposite sides of the room when their teams or coaching staffs were together, and both seemed to look a bit sadder at the sound of each other’s voice. Roy’s only consolation was that she looked almost as melancholy as he did.

Almost.

Every now and then, he’d allow himself to glance at her through the shared window between their offices. And sometimes, he’d see her look at her mobile and smile, a little giddy grin that reminded him of the way she’d looked at him the night of the gala and made his heart twist like the braids he sometimes did for Phoebe.

He was thinking of that smile when he sat with Jamie in some pub, silently staring at the pint in front of him as Jamie went on and on about how proud he was of Sam for perfecting a play they’d spent so much of training working on.

“Roy? Roy? ’re you listening?”

Roy gave his head a shake, clearing his throat. “Fuck’d you say?”

Jamie’s pout was full of pity; Roy wanted to punch that look off his fucking face. “Thinkin’ about her, huh?”

Like there was any point in lying. “Just… I dunno. Feel like everything’s so fucked, ya know?” Roy sighed. “Don’t really know what to do.”

“Why don’t you ask her out?”

Roy stared at Jamie for a moment. “Have you paid attention to anything I’ve told you over the last couple of weeks? Or are you actually as stupid as you look?”

“Come on.” Jamie shrugged. “You two never really talked about what happened. Sounds like she thinks it was just a one-night stand. So, ask her on a proper date. Wine an’ dine her! Woo her!” He sipped his pint, savoring the treat his coach’s wallowing had afforded him. “Show her you care about her, for fuck’s sake. Make all this shit worth it. Plus, then if the photos do come out, it’s not a big deal. You’d be a couple, not just some fling. That’s a lot harder to make a scandal out of.”

Fuck. Sometimes, by some miracle worthy of being written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, Jamie Tartt had a good fucking idea.

Of course. Roy’d been so stupid, letting her linger on this idea that that night didn’t mean something to him. Of course, it meant something to him. Hell, it could even mean everything to him if he let his mind wander to those places he’d been avoiding since they first met.

He’d ask her out. He’d take her on a proper date. He’d tell her how he felt. He’d admit to himself how he felt.

Roy Kent might actually get a happy ending for once in his miserable life.

He walked into Nelson Road feeling lighter than he had in a while. During training he was shockingly affable, joking with his team and offering more praise than usual. He even ignored the smug glances Jamie kept shooting him and the wink the striker offered Roy as the Greyhounds hit the showers after a long, long day.

The Whippets were already finished for the day, so, with the Dog Track quiet and nearly empty, he stuck his head into their coaching office, where Bucky was alone, poring over her playbook. With a deep breath, he softly rapped on the wall.

When she glanced over her shoulder, she actually offered him a smile.

“Hiya, Coach,” she greeted with a polite nod. No coldness, no anger, no awkwardness. It wasn’t the enthusiastic welcome he’d hoped for, but it was definitely an improvement.

Roy cleared his throat. “How’re you?”

With a shrug, she closed her book and turned her chair around to face him. “Fine. Yourself?”

“Yeah. Good, good.” He knocked his fists together absently. “Listen, I was wondering if we could talk? I wanted to know-”

The buzzing of her phone interrupted him. “One sec.” She glanced at the screen; there was smile again. “I’ve gotta go.” She stood, tugging her bag over her shoulder. “But, um, maybe we could chat tomorrow? After our run? I’ve gotta catch up on Lust Conquers All.”

Roy’s heart fucking soared. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” was her soft answer as she took a couple steps closer to the door, closer to Roy. “I mean, it’s been a couple of weeks, and nothing’s been published. I think we can risk running in our own weight room, don’t you?”

“Yes. Yeah. Definitely.” For once, Roy didn’t give a shit if he sounded dumb. “We’ll chat tomorrow then.”

She nodded as she passed by him, still grinning. “Good night, Coach.”

“G’night,” he called after her, smiling at her receding figure.

Fuck yes.

Roy returned to his desk, resisting the urge to whistle as he answered a couple of emails and looked over some new plays Nate had left for him. He felt so damn good as he left the Dog Track that he decided to treat himself to a pint, maybe plan how to ask her out.

I really enjoyed having a drink together. Think we could do that again sometime?

Could I take you out to dinner?

Bucky. I really fucking like you. I’d like to take you out. On a real date.

He parked his car and strolled down the sidewalk, words flittering in and out of his head. With a spring in his limp, he nodded in acknowledgement to the people who smiled at him, as opposed to his usual scowl-and-growl. When he turned the corner to head to the pub he had in mind, he stopped dead in his tracks.

She was right there. Sitting at a little patio table of some restaurant, staring in the opposite direction with a lovely, wistful expression, all alone.

Roy perked up. He should go say hi. Maybe he didn’t have to wait until after their run for that chat. He could walk up to her right now and just blurt it out. Fuck waiting. He’d done enough of that. Could I take you on a date sometime? She was probably with Lucas, who wouldn’t mind if Roy stole her away…

As he took a step in her direction, his stupid heart sank.

Because the universe had a personal grudge against Roy Kent, he had to watch as George fucking Willows walked outside holding two glasses. He stopped at that table, where he bent down and kissed her cheek as he sat beside her. She smiled- that same giddy smile- and leaned close to speak to him. The two of them laughed and shared a kiss, looking like the picture of absolute bliss.

Feeling like the biggest idiot in the world, Roy turned on his heel and speed-walked back towards his car. Fucking idiot. Stupid, fucking Roy.

His phone buzzed. With a groan, he pulled it out, figuring it was his sister needing emergency baby-sitting, or Jamie sending him some stupid meme.

Instead, it was a message from Rebecca with a picture attached.

My office. First thing tomorrow.

We need to talk.

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harry-on-broadway · 2 years ago

Text

The Last Line: Part Four

Part Four

Word Count: 8.7K || Series Masterlist || Rating : M

***

“Austria? You want me to go to Austria?” Penny stared at her editors from across the table.

“Only if you want to,” Skylar said gently. “When Jenny reached out to me and said they were looking to promote this new group, you were the first person I thought of. I think your editorial voice would be the perfect match for a young, female-fronted band. But please don’t feel pressured. I know it’s a lot to ask. We can always have Chris–”

“No, I’ll take it!” Penny shouted. “I mean, I’d love to work on this piece. It’s a great opportunity,” she added at a softer volume. She stole a glance at Darren, who sat silent next to Skylar looking only slightly put out.

“Wonderful.” Skylar clapped her hands together. “I’ll connect you with Brett via email this afternoon so that he can fill you in on the schedule and Kelsey will help you with travel arrangements and expenses.” She smiled brightly and her hand over Penny’s. “I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

“I’ll try to make you proud,” Penny said, trying to hold back the emotions that were swirling around her. She was finally getting a chance, an opportunity to show everyone that she belonged here. “Thank you so much.”

Skylar chuckled. “You don’t need to keep thanking me, Penny. Just let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything.”

Penny nodded and grabbed her laptop and phone from the table in front of her. She couldn’t wait to tell Chloe about this. She caught her best friend’s eye as she exited the conference room and mouthed “big news.” Without prompting, Chloe grabbed their wallets and headed for the door.

Once the iced coffees had been secured, Penny filled Chloe in on everything that had happened behind the doors of the conference room, including her newly scheduled trip.

“You’re going to Austria for a cover story!” Chloe cheered.

“It’s not going to be the cover but it’s one step closer,” Penny said, swirling the liquid in the plastic cup. “I have no idea how it happened.”

“Well, you’ve been paying your dues long enough. It’s about damn time,” Chloe said, chewing on her straw.

“It had to be Skylar’s doing though. Darren looked pissed sitting in there.”

“And that’s different from how he usually looks?” Chloe asked, arching her brow.

“Point taken.” Penny’s phone vibrated next to her. She looked down at the text and clicked her phone off when she saw Harry’s name on the notification.

“Trouble in paradise?”

“No,” Penny said with a sigh.

“That didn’t sound super convincing. Just be honest with me. Do I need to kick his ass? Yes or no?”

“No, no ass-kicking is needed. It’s just been a little complicated lately.”

In all honesty, Penny hadn’t really spoken to Harry since she’d left his house that day almost two weeks ago. The next morning he’d sent her a text thanking her for the company and letting her know he’d be in New York City for work for a couple of weeks. She hadn’t responded, trying to purge all thoughts of him from her brain. She’d been fairly successful but his new message had broken that peaceful bubble.

“Complicated how, Penny?”

“Just like I think I like him. Like more than a friend. And it’s confusing because I was contemplating how to kill him and leave no trace a couple of months ago.”

“No, really, you like Harry,” Chloe deadpanned. “Shut up.”

Penny rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the support.”

“I’m just kidding,” Chloe said, gently rubbing Penny’s back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t know.” Penny stared off into the distance. “I’m just confused. It feels so sudden. Like it came out of nowhere and just hit me. But on the other hand it feels like I’ve been waiting so long to meet someone like him. I just want it to make sense.”

“Have you talked to him about this?”

“Hell no. Why would I ever do that?”

“Because I think there’s a good chance he feels the same way.”

Penny shook her head and took a sip of her coffee. “I wouldn’t be so sure. I know we’re friendly but I get the sense that he’s not interested in anything more than going to shows or grabbing a drink. He’s never tried to make the move.”

“The move?”

“You know, like subtly looking at my lips or finding reasons to touch me.”

“OK, well you’ll never know until you ask, CosmoGirl.” Chloe looked over at Penny, waiting for her to take the bait and snap back. “Oh Pen. You really do like him, don’t you?” Penny nodded slowly. “Is the article…?”

“No,” Penny said emphatically. “I gave that up. It just felt wrong.”

“I knew you’d come to your senses eventually.”

“Yeah, I figured I’d rather deal with the wrath of Darren than lose Harry.”

“You still need to talk to him, Pen. Ignoring him is just as sure a way to lose him as betraying his trust.”

Penny unlocked her phone and read Harry’s message aloud. “‘Heading back to LA in a couple of days. Free for dinner?’”

“You are most definitely free,” Chloe prodded. “Go out with him, suss out the situation a little more, you’re going to regret it if you don’t.”

“If I say anything about how I feel he’ll probably just think I’m crazy. Especially after the way I treated him.”

“Or, he’ll say he feels the same way. I think the problem early on was that you all are too much alike. You’re passionate, opinionated people who don’t know how to be casual about anything. Once you learned to live in equilibrium with each other, the sparks were able to fly.” Penny was silent. “Go to dinner with him when he’s back. You’ll regret it if you don’t.”

“I’ll think about it.”

They finished their coffees in silence and stayed on the wall until Chloe had to leave to take a call. Penny sat there, swinging her legs, feeling her heels bounce off the concrete until a voice interrupted her daydreaming.

“Hey, Penny. Long time no see.” Tom had just exited the coffee shop, his own iced drink in hand. He tore open the straw wrapper and poked it through the plastic opening. “Can I join?”

“For sure.” Penny scooted her bag over, making room for Tom to sit beside her. “How’ve you been?” she asked.

“Staying busy chasing everyone all over the place. Got back from NYC last night. Was there with H for a few days.”

“Oh, he just mentioned that he’s coming back soon.”

“Yeah, he had to stay a couple of days after the Gala to take some meetings.” He looked at her curiously. “How’d you know when he was coming in?”

“He, uh, texted me earlier.”

“He said he hadn’t heard from you in a while. He was concerned and I told him not to worry, that you were just probably busy with work. That’s what’s going on, right?”

“Yeah, I’m actually headed to Austria in a few weeks.”

Tom’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “We’ll circle back to that in a minute, but Penny, just be careful with him.”

Penny wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“H mentioned some stuff while we were out there and I’m not going to pretend to know what’s going on but…treat him gently. He doesn’t open up to just anyone. I don’t want him to get hurt. And I don’t want you to get hurt either.”

What the hell had happened during this trip to New York? What had Harry told his friends? And how did everyone seem to know her feelings about Harry? Was she really that transparent?

“Yeah, we’re not running with scissors here,” she said with a tight laugh. “No risk of anyone getting hurt.”

Tom studied her carefully for a moment before changing the subject to safer territory. “So…Austria?”

“Yeah, it was a complete shock. Our editor-in-chief gave me the assignment this morning.”

“Well, have fun, stay safe, and don’t work too hard.”

“I’ll try.”

“You know I’m having a cookout next week. The usual crew, Harry, everyone will be there if you want to put in an appearance. If you have time before your trip, that is.”

“I should be free. Can I bring anything?”

“Just yourself.” Tom shook his head and grinned. “Austria. Everyone in the neighborhood is going to be so proud of you.”

Penny looked down at the ground. She wasn’t sure about that.

***

Two days before she was scheduled to fly out of LAX, Penny drove over to Tom’s house for the cookout she really didn’t want to attend. As she pulled onto his street she was pleasantly surprised to find that there fewer cars than she expected. Harry’s distinctive convertible was also noticeably absent. Letting out a sigh of relief, she looked around to make sure she hadn’t blocked anyone in and locked her car, the alarm chirping twice as she walked up the path.

Tom’s social circle, and for that matter Harry’s, had grown used to her over the past few months so when she walked into the backyard she was greeted with friendly smiles and raised glasses. Tommy caught her right as she walked in and launched into a story about some sandwich he’d eaten the other day, before Tom chased him away and actually let Penny walk through the gate.

Jeff, and presumably his girlfriend, were holding court with several people she recognized from Sony and Penny fell into easy conversation with them, listening to them exchange company gossip. When she’d finished her story, the woman on Penny’s left, Angela something, turned to Penny.

“Tom mentioned you’re off to Austria soon. To meet with My Ugly Clementine?” Penny nodded, truly shocked that someone had heard of them. “One of my sorority sisters has been working with the group and she’s been dropping hints that they have something special in the pipeline. I’m excited to learn more about them.”

“Honestly, me too,” Penny said. “I’ve heard their name recently but don’t really know any of their songs, so I’m also looking forward to getting to know them better. I was actually listening to one of their singles on the way over here.”

“Never Be Yours?”

“Yep, that’s the one.”

The conversation petered out and Penny found herself searching for a drink, only to be interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and was face to face with a sheepish looking Harry.

“Hey stranger. Can I get you a drink?”

“I was actually just headed that way,” Penny said.

“How have you been?” Harry asked as they ambled towards the rickety patio table that was serving as a bar that evening.

“You know, staying busy.”

“I figured that much, seeing as you haven’t found the time to respond to any of my witty inquiries.” He laughed, but it felt forced, and the lightness of his voice did a poor job of disguising his deeper feelings.

“Yeah….” Penny exhaled slowly. She should have prepared for this. Of course, Harry would be at Tom’s party. “Lots is happening. But I could say the same thing for you Mr. Met Ball. Or is it the Met Gala?”

“It’s the Gala, and yeah, it was hectic for a while. Fun, but not the way I’d necessarily want to spend my time. You’re all good, though? I was worried when I didn’t hear from you.”

Penny felt an uncomfortable sensation in her stomach. She wasn’t ready to share with anyone – let alone Harry – everything that had been running through her head over the past few months, but hearing the concern in his voice had her reconsidering. “I’m fine, Harry,” she said as convincingly as she could. “When I get busy with work, I’m really bad about staying in touch with family and friends. Just ask my mom. Chloe’s really the only one who’s exempt since she sees me at work.”

Harry held her gaze for a moment. He nodded. “If that’s all it is…”

“Do you need a refill?” Penny asked, gesturing to the table of liquor in front of them. Harry held out his cup for her to top him off, before Penny poured a drink of her own.

“H! Penny!” Tommy called out, walking over to them. “How’s it going? I hear you’re headed out of the country soon? Switzerland?”

“Austria,” Penny corrected.

Harry whipped around to stare at her. “You’re going to Austria? When?”

“In a couple of days,” Penny said, not meeting his eyes.

“When you’re there you need to try an apfelstrudel,” Tommy said, before listing off a list of tourist attractions she needed to see.

She only halfway listened, daring to take a peek at Harry after a few moments. He wore a questioning look on his face as he sipped his drink. He finally spoke again after Tommy had bounded off in search of snacks. “When were you going to tell me you were leaving the country?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I needed to keep you updated on my whereabouts.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I thought we were past this. I don’t care where you go or what you do. I’m just curious as to why you didn’t think of telling me. I thought we were friends and taking a big trip like that seems like something you’d tell a friend.” Penny kept silent, unable to think of a witty retort. Harry sighed. “Whatever, I’ll see you when you get back. If you even bother to let me know.” He turned his back to her.

“Harry, wait!” He stopped. “I didn’t mean to not tell you,” Penny said. “It’s just we hadn’t been in touch and I assumed you didn’t care or want to know.” It was mostly the truth.

“Well that was your first mistake,” he said. “I’ll always want to know. I’m your…friend.” He stumbled on the last word.

Penny ignored the butterflies in her stomach and the voice in her head that was screaming at her that this was a bad idea. “Meet me at the airport?” she asked. “When I’m back? I’ll treat you to an apology dinner. Since friends don’t ghost friends.”

“Deal.”

“OK then.”

They stared at each other, neither daring to make the first move. The standoff was only broken as someone walked over to pull Harry into another conversation.

“Are you two all caught up?” Penny jumped at the sound of Tom’s voice.

“Something like that,” she murmured.

***

“The hardest part of this whole thing is that the person who inspired all of this isn’t here to see it. I know he’s just a phone call away but it’s hard to be apart from him. That’s the only thing I’d change about this life…that the thing I love most keeps me away from the person I love the most.”

Penny slammed the space bar on her laptop, pausing the audio recording she’d been listening to. According to the digital map on the seat in front of her, she was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean and had at least seven more hours on the plane in front of her. She’d fallen asleep earlier than she had planned and was now faced with more waking hours than she’d like.

In an attempt to be productive, she’d decided to continue working on her article so it would be ready to file later that week, but a quote she’d gotten from the band’s lead singer and primary songwriter was still haunting her. “The thing I love most keeps me away from the person I love the most.” Wasn’t that her exact dilemma?

Frustrated, she closed her laptop and turned to her phone, waiting for it to connect to the in-flight wifi. When it had connection, she watched her notifications roll in. Work emails, instagram messages, a message from her doctor reminding her she was due for her annual exam, and a text from Harry.

I’ll see you in a few hours, he’d written alongside a gif of an excited puppy jumping in circles. He’d been texting her regularly since their awkward encounter at Tom’s, and despite the significant time difference, she’d done her best to keep up her end of the conversation. She’d expected things to still feel strained, but had been pleasantly surprised to realize that chatting with Harry was once again the highlight of her day.

One night, late in her hotel after a couple of overpriced cocktails, she typed out a message to him. So I know I’ve given off the vibe that I hate you since the day we met but it turns out I might actually love you and feel like you’re the thing that’s been missing from my life all along. She’d conveniently left out the part about attempting to use him. Thankfully, she’d fallen asleep before she sent the message, and when she woke the next morning, she deleted all traces of her confession before it accidentally wound up in Harry’s hands.

Soon. She’d tell him soon. She couldn’t keep living like this. Suppressing her feelings was giving her serious anxiety, as was Darren breathing down her neck finding all sorts of ways to bring up Harry in pitches, tempting her to play her hand in front of the rest of the editorial staff. She closed her eyes and took a breath.

When she opened them, a flight attendant was standing next to her, gently reminding her to put up her tray table and stow her electronics as they prepared to land at LAX. After clearing customs and collecting her checked luggage, she made her way to the parking lot where Harry had said he was parked in in the lot by Terminal 3. She scanned the lot for his car and launched into an awkward walk-jog when she saw it.

Harry was in the driver’s seat, head bent over his phone, thumb scrolling up and down the screen. “Hey!” She rapped her knuckles on the window and she could see Harry jump, turning towards the noise, a smile spreading over his face when he saw her. He unbuckled his seat belt and climbed out of the car.

“Trying to scare me?” he asked.

“Did it work?”

“Come here.” Harry pulled her into a hug, leaning down to rest his head on her shoulder. “Did you have a good flight?”

“Eh.” Harry pulled back and looked down at her, worried. “Nothing like that,” Penny quickly corrected. “I fell asleep too soon and now my clock is even more messed up. I’m going to need to kill time so I don’t fall asleep again and screw it up even more.”

“Want to get some food? We can probably get a table at that diner I mentioned.”

“That would be great.” Harry picked up her suitcase and put it in the back of the trunk before opening the passenger door for Penny. As she sank into the plushy seat, she felt exhaustion overtake her, only realizing in that moment just how much the past couple of weeks had worn on her.

“Maybe we should skip the meal?” Harry asked, eyeing Penny’s slumped figure.

Penny shook her head. “No, I’m good to power through. I need to get back on some sort of schedule before I head back to the office tomorrow.”

“Not even a day to recover?” Harry asked, putting the car in drive and pulling away from the curb.

“Nope. There’s too much to do. I need to finish my first draft of this profile and it’s better to talk things through in the office instead of over Slack or email if people have questions. And then I got assigned a couple of other pieces that I need to start prepping on.”

“They don’t let you breathe, do they?”

“No, but it’s OK. I mostly like it.” She suppressed another yawn and turned to look at Harry. “Thanks again for picking me up. I didn’t actually intend for you to provide curbside service at the airport.”

“I’m happy to help,” Harry said, smoothly switching lanes. “It’s good to see you again and I feel like we have so much to catch up on. Or at least I feel like I have a lot to tell you and you probably have stories too. From like your trip in stuff.” His speech was quick and rushed, far from the usual slow and precise pace he spoke at. “I’ve missed you so much.” He tensed. “I mean I missed so much of what’s been happening with you.”

Penny tried to ignore the swooping of her stomach and the pattering of her heart. “Yeah, there’s a lot to discuss.”

When Harry had pulled into a spot in front of the restaurant, she stepped out of the car and stretched, fighting another yawn.

“You sure about this?” Harry asked. “Because I can just take you home.”

“Yes, I’m sure so stop asking. I’m hungry.”

“OK,” Harry said, raising his hands in defense. “I was just asking.”

Inside, they paused at the entrance, waiting for the host to seat them. “Table for two and make it quick,” Harry said lightly. “This one’s a little hangry,” he added in a stage whisper, jerking his thumb towards Penny.

“You are such an ass,” she hissed.

“I know, but it’s so fun to mess with you.”

When they were seated with waters in front of them, Penny skimmed the menu and determined what she would order in under a minute, possibly a record for her, and when their waiter returned, she rattled off her order – a grilled cheese with tomatoes, chips on the side – in front of an impressed Harry.

“A woman who knows what she wants,” he said with a grin. “Did they not have grilled cheese in Austria?”

“Not that I could tell. But to be fair I didn’t have a lot of time to take in the sights and sounds of the city.”

“Oh?”

“No. I was basically following the band around the entire time and when I wasn’t with them I was transcribing interviews and trying to write. I want to go back though. Actually see things.”

“That is the hard part of this,” Harry said. “You get to live out your wildest dreams and travel the world, but half the time you can’t spend time soaking it in.”

“Speaking from experience.”

Harry nodded. “It was worse when I was with the band. I try to be better about that now.”

“That sucks. It’s hard to complain in a situation like that but…”

“Yeah…”

Their waiter deposited their food in front of them and as Penny started to devour her sandwich, Harry filled her in on everything she’d missed. What he’d been up to, how his time in the studio had been going, and what he was planning to do in the coming week.

Penny tried to pay attention as she listened to Harry talk, but the combination of exhaustion, jet lag, Harry’s voice, and being somewhere that felt kind of like home for the first time in weeks, was lulling her to sleep. She felt her eyes grow heavy and fought with all of her might to focus on Harry and nod along with what he was saying.

“Penny?”

“Yes?” Her eyes flew open and she blinked against the bright light. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“Am I boring you?”

“No, I swear. I’m just a little more worn out than I thought. Did you ask me something?”

Harry shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. We can talk about it once you’ve settled back in. Come on, let’s get you home.”

Harry led her towards the exit, bypassing the cashier and Penny made a mental note to pay him back for the meal later. She nodded off in Harry’s car again and when she opened her eyes, he was parked outside of her apartment building. He escorted her into her apartment and placed her bags on the hall floor. He stood there sheepishly, hands in his pockets. “Well, I’ll let you get to it. Get comfy and get some sleep.”

“Thanks, Harry. For everything. And I’m sorry for falling asleep on you,” Penny said. “We can do drinks or something later this week?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, just text me. I’ll be around.” He stepped out of Penny’s apartment and into the hallway, walking backwards as he waved to her, only stopping when she closed the door.

He punched the button for the lobby and pulled his phone from his pocket. A new text from Jeff sat in the center of his home screen.

Did you ask her?

Harry unlocked his phone and tapped out a reply. Not yet. It wasn’t the right moment.

The elevator dinged and with one final look at Penny’s door, he stepped inside.

***

Penny hadn’t been back in the office for more than a few days but she was already dreaming of when she could escape next.

Darren had only grown more difficult during her time away, assigning her more stories than she’d ever had on her plate before and taking issue with every word in the stories she filed. Skylar, who could usually be counted on to intervene when things got tense between editors and reporters, was mysteriously absent, leaving for long lunches with her superiors.

“That’s never a good sign,” Sam, one of the newsroom veterans said under his breath as Skylar waved goodbye to her assistant before catching up with the CSO in the lobby. “Editors talking to upper management usually means major cuts are coming.”

And to make matters worse, Chloe, Penny’s one piece of salvation in the office, had all but disappeared, flitting off to premieres and interviews.

Sitting at her desk, she checked the time on her phone. Just three hours left until she could stop working at the office and work from the comfort of her own home instead. She rested her head in her hands, taking a moment to reset before diving into her next task.

“Penny. Have a minute to chat?” Darren poked his head out from his office and gestured for her to follow him.

“Fuck,” Penny muttered under her breath, grabbing her laptop.

Darren closed the door and sat down across from Penny. “Now that you’re back I thought you could give me a little update on what you’re working on and where we stand on some outstanding items.”

“Sure.” Penny cleared her throat. “I’m wrapping up my first draft of the Clementine profile and should have that to you by the end of the day. After that, I was planning to tackle your edits on the ‘What’s Ahead’ piece and then start on the other items you assigned me...” She trailed off as she looked at her notes. “A piece on podcast ads and another on music video directors. I also have to do some prep for some media hits I have next week with Track After Track and Hitmakers.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were booked for those.” He sounded irritated. “Whose decision was that?”

“Uh…” Penny tried to think of who emailed her with the meeting invite. “I think someone in comms set it up with Skylar.”

Darren pursed his lips, giving her an indiscernible look. “Just keep me in the loop next time.”

Penny bit back the urge to say that he had been included on the email, something he would know if he took the time to read, and instead gave him a terse “Sure.”

“That all sounds good,” Darren said, shuffling papers on his desk. “But I think you’re forgetting something.” Penny looked at him trying to think of what she had missed. “The piece you were working on about Harry Styles?”

“Right…” Ever since he’d seen them at the coffee shop, Darren had been relentless, like a dog with a bone, continually pressuring her for updates and samples of what she had written. She’d managed to fend him off so far but was running out of options. “Um, yeah that kind of fizzled. You know how some stories just don’t pan out.”

“Well, that’s a shame. I was expecting something after you said you were working on that. And it’s difficult to see you not meeting expectations with performance reviews coming up.”

“I’m sorry? In what ways am I not meeting expectations?” Penny tried to keep her tone even, but Darren’s words hit her where it hurt. She prided herself on her work ethic and attention to detail. She was a great writer and a supportive co-worker. Fuck Darren for insinuating anything less simply because he wasn’t getting his way.

Darren didn’t even pretend to have heard her question. “I’d like to see some notes early next week. Feel free to send Chris in on your way out.”

***

Penny drove home in silence. She didn’t need any more noise when her thoughts were racing a mile a minute.

She’d texted Chloe and some of her other female reporter friends after she was freed from Darren’s office, asking them if they’d ever experienced an encounter like that. None of them had, and they all encouraged her to go to Skylar for help. Penny didn’t know if she wanted to do that just yet. She should be able to figure this problem out on her own.

As she shifted lanes on the freeway, her thoughts turned back to the notes doc she’d started about Harry so long ago. She hadn’t touched it in weeks, but couldn’t bring herself to delete it either. There had to be something in there she could use. Even if it was just a fluffy “What’s on Harry’s playlist?” piece. Next time she saw him, she’d ask him. He’d do her a favor like that, wouldn’t he?

When she arrived home, she threw on some sweats and heated up a frozen Trader Joe’s entree she’d found in the back of her freezer. She hadn’t been grocery shopping since she returned back to the US and she made a note to add it to her weekend to-do list. The microwave beeped and she pulled out the plastic tray, dropping it unceremoniously on the table and cracked open her laptop.

She clicked through all of her open documents until she found the one subtly labeled HARRY. She skimmed through it a couple of times, bolding and highlighting certain sections on her second pass until she came to the conclusion that there was no way for her to move forward and feel good about what she’d done. She’d just face Darren's stupid consequences and pray she still had a job at the end of it.

Ding dong. Ding dong.

The rich tones of the doorbell echoed through Penny’s apartment. She looked towards the door, puzzled at who it could be. Her friends weren’t the kind to stop by unannounced and she wasn’t expecting any deliveries. She abandoned the makeshift workstation she had set up at her kitchen table and made her way to the door, lifting up on her toes to peer out of the peephole to see Harry standing on her doormat.

What was he doing there?

“Hey,” she said slowly as she opened the door. “What’s up?”

Harry looked at her, head tilted to the side and brows furrowed in confusion. “You said to meet you here and we could ride over the bar together. Something about parking being a nightmare.”

“Fuck! That was tonight?” Penny gently banged her head against the doorframe. “I clearly forgot.”

“Clearly,” Harry said with a gentle teasing smirk.

“Come on in,” Penny said, remembering her manners. “I’ve been drowning in edits and pitches and interviews the past couple of days, everything else has fallen by the wayside.”

“I don’t want to intrude if you’re busy,” Harry said, eyeing the mess on the table. “We can reschedule to another night.”

Penny turned around. “Are you sure?” As much as she wanted to see Harry, she really could use a night to gat caught up.

“Absolutely.”

“You’re the best! Thank you for being so understanding.”

“Before I go though, I did have a question for you.”

“Ask away,” Penny said, gesturing for Harry to join her at the table.

“So, the album is coming out in December and we’re starting to think about promo and media coverage. And Rolling Stone called. They want me on the cover again.”

“What? That’s amazing!”

“I know! And the best part is, you’re going to get to write the profile.”

Penny felt hot all over. “Why am I writing it?”

“Well, they offered up some of their staff writers but said I could also bring in someone else if I wanted and I started thinking and you were the only name running through my head.” He paused, before looking at Penny straight on. “I think you’re the first person to see who I really am, and that scared me when we first met. But in a weird way that’s exactly what I need. It’s fucking terrifying to be known by someone in that way but I think you are the only person who can tell my story.”

Penny raked her hands down her face. “Wow, um I wasn’t expecting this.”

“It’s the September issue so they’d need something soon. I figured you could draw on some things we’d talked about earlier. I know you’re busy but I was also thinking we could meet up this week and do something more official if you want.”

“No.”

“Oh, well the week after might be pushing it, but I’m sure you could make that work.”

“No, I don’t want the job, Harry.”

Harry frowned, puzzled. “It’s not a handout if that’s what you’re worried about. Like I get to pick who I want and you’re the best writer. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“It’s not that, Harry.”

“Well, what is it?”

“I can’t.”

“Why not? All you do is talk about how you need a chance to prove yourself, get your name out there and I’m giving that to you.”

“We’ll come back to how condescending and fucked up that is later, but I just can’t do this.”

“Why?” Harry pressed.

“Because I think I might love you, OK?” The words were out of Penny’s mouth before she knew what she was saying. “And if I do this, that puts me in a tough position. I doesn’t look good when the media fucks the talent. I take enough heat in the comments section already. I don’t need more. So no, I can’t do this.”

Harry’s jaw hung slack as Penny slapped her hand over her mouth, almost as if she was trying to shove the words back in. “What?” he asked. “Y-you what?”

“Shit, I didn’t mean that.”

“No, it’s fine,” Harry said, still shell-shocked. “It’s just a lot to process right now.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, no, don’t apologize.” He looked up at her. “Can we talk about this though? Like us.” He gestured between the two of them. “Not the profile.”

How Harry couldn’t hear her heart thudding in her chest, Penny didn’t know. Her voice sounded so soft compared to the thump, thump, thump that was echoing in her ears. “Sure. I just need some water.”

Harry nodded and Penny disappeared into her small kitchen. When she was sure she was out of his sight, she gripped the kitchen counter as if she was hanging on for her life. So much was happening and it felt like her life was spinning out of her control in slow motion. But based on Harry’s reaction, it didn’t seem like he was turned off by the prospect of their relationship becoming something more. She took a couple of deep breaths as she filled a glass of water. She downed it in one gulp and then refilled it. She turned to head back to the living room, but grabbed water for Harry on second thought. She rounded the corner, glasses in hand.

She didn’t know what had happened in the few minutes she’d left Harry alone, but it was like he was a different person now. He rested his head on his hands and when he looked up at her a cold fury was written all over his face.

“What’s wrong?” Penny asked quietly.

“What’s the real reason you don’t want the Rolling Stone piece?” Harry asked. He wasn’t yelling, but anger radiated from every word.

“What I just said. That’s the real reason.”

Harry frowned and the crease in his forehead grew even deeper. “That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Then what’s this?” He gestured to Penny’s open laptop on the table next to him.

She bent down to see what he was pointing to and when she was able to read the document name it felt like the floor had dropped from under her. “Harry, I can explain.”

“I don’t think I need an explanation, Penny. It’s pretty fucking clear.” He read from the screen. “‘Harry Styles new album coming this year…what date?’” He scrolled. “‘Lots of time in studio, seems to be doubting himself. What does that mean for album? Taking risks? Experimenting with new sounds?’” He looked at her. “But that’s not the best part. ‘Heard new song. It sounds really good. Vulnerable and real, but still likely to get good radio play.’”

“At least I liked that one,” Penny said quietly, hoping a small moment of humor would diffuse the situation.

“That’s all you have to say? What the fuck Penny?” Harry ran his hands through his hair. “I trusted you,” he said, voice breaking. “I thought you were my friend. I opened up to you. I spent all that time apologizing and trying to make it up to you for being such an asshole and misjudging you but it turns out I was right all along.”

“Harry, please sit down so we can talk. Here, have some water.” She stretched out her hand to offer him one of the glasses she was holding at the same time he tried to push her hand away. They collided, the glass of water crashing to the floor. They both ignored it. “Harry, let me explain. If you let me talk, you’ll understand.”

“No, I get it. I have my own set of notes on you. ‘Hateful. Mean. A snake. Will use anyone’s name for clout. I thought I could trust you, but it turns out I was wrong.” He chewed on his lip before he spoke again. “That whole thing about you caring about me…was that all part of…whatever the hell this is?”

“No, Harry I swear.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “I see. But how am I supposed to believe that when you’ve been using me this whole time.” He stood up from the table, sidestepping the pile of water and glass that lay between them on his way to the door. “You know what the sad thing is, Penny? I thought I could feel the same way about you. I’d been waiting weeks for some sort of sign that I wasn’t imagining things, that there was something here and then you finally gave it to me. But I guess that was too good to be true.”

He left, slamming the door behind him without another word.

Penny didn’t know what to do. Everything had blown up around her, but she wasn’t ready to sort through the debris of her life yet. She cleaned up the mess they had made, disposing of the glass and mopping up the water. When the floor was cleaned, she turned her attention to her laptop where she navigated to the home page of her Google account and pressed delete on the document Harry had opened. Emotionless, she closed the computer and laid on the sofa, closing her eyes and praying that this had all been a dream.

***

When she awoke on the couch the next morning, it was clear that her prayers hadn’t been answered. She had a headache and crick in her neck but the greatest source of pain was the burden of the knowledge that she’d not only hurt Harry, but lost him too.

Realizing she couldn’t put it off any longer, she climbed into the shower and got ready on auto-pilot, not even stopping for coffee on her way into the office. Miraculously, she arrived at the office on time only to find everyone heading into the central conference room.

“What’s going on?” she asked Chloe, taking a seat next to her.

“Monthly editorial meeting. It’s been on the books for weeks.” Chloe looked at her curiously and immediately could tell something was wrong. “What happened?”

But before Penny could ask, Skylar called the meeting to order. The agenda was standard – each vertical went over their editorial calendar for the month, determining when stories would run and who across the site’s various departments would be working on them. It was usually interesting, a time for everyone to come together and see what they missed when they were caught up in their own assignments, but Penny couldn’t focus.

Over the course of the meeting, each department head took their turn speaking, allowing reporters and designers to chime in as needed. When they’d finished going around, Skylar stood at the head of the table.

“It’s great to hear what everyone has been working on and I’m so excited about what the month ahead offers. I did want to discuss something new I’d like to try in the coming weeks. If it’s a success, we might be able to expand it and have some fun.” She looked around the table at everyone’s expectant faces.

“I think I speak for many of us when I say we’ve found ourselves here because of love. We love writing, creating, talking about the things we’re passionate about. I think sometimes that can get lost in our writing though. It’s important to be objective, but oftentimes we forget about the purpose and drive behind what we do. So…” She clapped her hands. “I would like to launch a new vertical, name TBD, that will focus on just that. Personal essays and intimate interviews that will give readers a chance to better connect with us and the creatives they admire, in addition to letting all of you have another opportunity to expand your brand and establish rapport with readers. There will probably be some sort of social initiative involved alongside this and if it’s popular, we’ll likely expand. I’m just excited to see what we all come up with. The thing is, we will need someone to oversee it.” She paused. “Penny, if you have the bandwidth, I’d like you to spearhead this initiative.”

Penny felt the eyes of everyone in the conference room on her. To be handpicked by Skylar to lead a new vertical was a massive win and basically guaranteed that Skylar was on your side. She opened her mouth to respond, but Darren’s loud voice beat her to it.

“I don’t think Penny should be handling anything now. She’s having enough trouble keeping up with things as it is.”

In an almost cartoonish moment, everyone's eyes turned to Darren and then back to Penny as if they were watching some sort of verbal jousting match. The silence after Darren’s accusation lasted a moment too long.

“Darren, with all due respect, fuck you,” Penny said. Gasps erupted all around her as she stood, collecting her laptop, notebook and coffee, and left the conference room. She knew she couldn’t go back to her desk – it would be more to sit there with everyone watching her through the windows. Instead, she made her way to the hiding spot she’d carved out during her first week of work. A small conference room on the third floor that she’d initially discovered when looking for a quiet place to take a call. It was now her go-to spot whenever she needed to escape the busyness of the newsroom.

She unlocked her phone, praying for a message from Harry, but found nothing other than a reminder to pick up her birth control pills from the pharmacy. She bit her lip trying not to cry. What felt like hours later (but was more like 40 minutes), there was a gentle knock at the door.

Skylar was standing there, two mugs in her hand. “May I come in?”

“Of course.” So this is how it was going to go down. Skylar firing her. At least it wasn’t in front of the whole newsroom. “I’m sorry,” Penny began. “And I won’t be mad at you. I deserve it after what I did.”

“Penny, you deserve a gold medal after that.”

“What?”

“I don’t think you understand how many times a day I want to say that to Darren.”

Penny blinked. “Seriously?”

Skylar nodded and offered Penny one of the mugs she was holding. “I brought you some tea. It always makes me feel better when I’ve had a rough morning.”

Penny gratefully accepted the cup, taking a tentative sip. It was sweet, probably something herbal. “Thank you.”

“Of course, honey. Is there something you want to talk about? It seems like things might be a little tough right now. My guess is it’s some combination of work and a man.”

“That’s scarily accurate.”

“I’ve had years of experience counseling young women like yourself in hidden conference rooms.”

Penny laughed. “It’s been a weird couple of months. It all started when I met this guy.”

“Barry Tiles?” Skylar asked, with a knowing smile.

“You heard that?”

“I hear a lot more than you all think I do.”

“Well fuck me,” Penny said with a laugh. “But yeah, I met him through a friend, we didn’t really hit it off but things have changed recently.”

“Feelings?”

“Feelings.” Penny took another sip of her drink. “And to make things worse, I had kind of been thinking about using my proximity to him to get a story. Like something big that would put me on the map. But then that just felt wrong after everything played out.” Skylar nodded knowingly but remained silent, giving Penny the space to continue. “Darren saw us getting coffee one day and then decided that essentially extorting me to write about Harry would be his latest way to torture me and then Harry found out about everything last night and was rightfully pissed and now I’ve probably lost my job so…yeah.”

“Well, I can’t speak to your situation with Harry, but in terms of your job, I can say with certainty that you’re safe here.”

“Really?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t make a habit of telling people to fuck off in the middle of a meeting, but what you did today was stand up for yourself. Sure, you probably could have been a bit more eloquent, but I promise you that you’ll unfortunately have many more opportunities to practice that in your life. And between you and me, I’ve had some problems with Darren and his behavior in this office for a while now. Let’s just say I’ve been having some conversations, and Darren might be looking for new opportunities soon.”

It suddenly clicked. “The lunch with the CSO…?”

Skylar nodded, lifting a finger to her lips. “You didn’t hear it from me.” She placed her hand on Penny’s shoulder. “I know things feel difficult right now, but I promise they will get better for you. You’re smart. I know you’ll figure it out.” And with that, she left Penny, once again, alone with her thoughts.

When Penny had calmed down, she returned to the newsroom, feeling the weight of everyone’s eyes on her. Chloe shot her a knowing glance across their desk and Penny just nodded. She picked up her phone.

The good news…I still have a job. The bad news…I think Harry hates me. :(

Chloe pouted. That SUCKS! Do you want to talk about it?

Not right now. Still figuring out how I feel.

Well I’m here if you need me.

Penny smiled to herself, feeling a little better that she had at least two people on her side.

***

Later that night after she’d closed her laptop and curled up into bed with some sitcom on in the background, she tapped on her phone, opening Instagram for the first time that day. She clicked through some stories from her friends and some from celebrities and reposted some things on her own. While she primarily used her Twitter as a professional tool, she had a little more fun on Instagram, trying to cultivate her own personal brand as reporters were often encouraged to do. Her own carefully curated profile was a mix of concert photos, coffee shops, and whatever else she found grid-worthy.

She was about to close out the app when her thumb accidentally shifted, pulling open her own story that she’d just posted. She moved to close out the app again, but paused when she caught a glimpse of the list of accounts that had viewed her most recent post. It had been posted less than five minutes ago and someone had already watched it. Penny didn’t keep track of all of her followers and was used to random people, bots, and spam accounts showing up, but this profile picture was different. It was an artsy black and white shot, though she couldn’t exactly tell what it was supposed to be. The username made no sense either and she didn’t know why but she suspected that was because it wasn’t in English.

Intrigued, she clicked on the account in an attempt to enlarge the profile pic and learn more about this mystery viewer. The account was private, but a list of mutual followers gave her all the info she needed.

Mitch. Tom. And of course, Jeff. It was Harry. Creeping on her with some sort of finsta.

“Busted,” she said under her breath, trying not to think about him sitting in his own bed across town, watching her live her life via Instagram, keeping up with her even after their fight. Maybe he hadn’t met those awful things he’d said. Maybe they had another chance.

***

Penny slowly monitored Harry’s burner account over the next couple of weeks, paying more attention than she ever had before to her likes, views, and followers. Like clockwork, Harry would watch or like whatever she posted. It was then that she had an idea.

It was almost 2:30 and Skylar would be returning from a late lunch any minute. Penny kept her eyes on the door, craning her neck to get a glimpse whenever it opened.

“Hot date on the way?” Chloe asked, after Penny had jumped up for a fifth time.

“No,” Penny said, picking at a chip in her nail polish. “I just need to ask Skylar something.”

As if on cue, the door opened, and Skylar walked through it, carrying her leftovers and an iced tea.

“Skylar!” Penny called out, a little too loud and drawing the eyes of her coworkers to her. “Uh, do you have a minute?” she asked at a softer volume.

Skylar titled her wrist and her smartwatch lit up. “I have about 15 minutes until my next meeting. Is that enough?”

Penny nodded and followed the editor into her office, closing the door behind her.

“What’s up?” Skylar asked, as she placed the plastic takeout container in the mini fridge behind her desk.

“That column idea you mentioned a couple of weeks ago…” Penny trailed off, praying she wasn’t about to make a mistake. “I finally have an idea.” She stopped talking and stared at Skylar, waiting for her judgment to be handed down.

“Great. When do you think you can have it filed.”

“Tomorrow, end of day.”

“Perfect.” Skylar smiled. “I can’t wait to see what you come up with Penny.”

Penny nodded her thanks and tried not to skip back to her desk. She opened her laptop and pulled up the draft she had been tinkering with the past couple of days, her fingers flying across the keys, unable to keep up with the speed of her thoughts.

“Wow, that’s some aggressive typing,” said Chad, the new intern that had been seated in the same desk pod as Chloe and Penny.

“Hey, Chad, do us a favor and shut up,” Chloe called.

Penny chuckled, but didn’t look away from her screen. She had a relationship to fix.

***

A/N: Well, it’s finally here, with just one part left! Thank you to anyone who’s still reading this. It means the world to me. Would love to hear what you think!

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