#i've been thinking about it none stop since last wednesday so at this point i think i just need to do it

[thesmokinpossum]

I kinda really want to make a little plushie based on this schema of a human being my medieval philosophy prof did last week...

[sunnyie-eve]

17 | Under Arrest

Series: Valentine Addams | Wednesday

Paring: (Xavier Thorpe x OFC Addams! Tyler Galpin x OFC Addams!)

Word Count: 2283

Warnings: none

16. Rave'N | 18. Birthday, Yes

All week I've been considered about Eugene in the hospital but I knew he would be okay. I saw it so I had to keep reminding myself and his moms about my powers. This weekend was parent's weekend so I was kinda looking forward to seeing everyone. "There they are." Our father tries hugging Wednesday as we walk over to them. 

"Hi, Father." I give him a hug then our mother then Pugsley. Wednesday goes on to tell them about Thing then they ask her how's it been. 

"Since you've abandoned me here with Valentine, I've been hunted, haunted, and a target of an attempted murder." She tells them. "

Ah, Nevermore. I love you so." Our father smiles.

Weems ends up taking Wednesday and our parents to her office to talk so I spend time with Pugsley outside. "How has it been here for you?" He asks as we sit at a table. 

"Good, until Wednesday showed up dragging me into finding a monster with her." I laugh, "I think you would like it here honestly. You'd make friends easily. I'm surprised I have friends." I tell him. 

"You have actual friends? You?"

"Yep. Enid over there is a werewolf. Yoko my roommate is a vampire. Eugene is in the hospital recovering from an attack. Ajax is a gorgon so his hair is snakes. Kent and Divina are sirens. Xavier is up there watching us, he still haven't apologized for being a jerk last weekend. And Tyler is in town working at the Weathervane right now."

"I can't believe you have friends. What happened to people suck and you will never have friends again since you can't trust anyone?" He tilts his head. 

"As you can tell I've changed some being here. Which still sorta scares me because I'm not used to it." 

"Well hearing what mom says about you and what you tell her... I like this new Valentine as well. I mean you're still the same person deep down just with new updates." He laughs. 

"I've missed you." I lean across the table to mess up his hair.

-

When the three come back we're told we have to do family therapy while their here. I was not looking forward to that the entire drive into town. In Dr. Kinbott office it was awkward as we all just sat there in silence. "So, who wants to start?" She asks us. 

After some few words from our parents and brother Wednesday stands up with the police file Tyler gave us. "Who was Garrett Gates, and why are you accused of murdering him?" She gets straight to to point. 

"Those charges were dropped. Your father is an innocent man." Our mother tells her. "Local sheriff doesn't seem too convinced." She tells her.

"Wednesday, stop." I give her a look because I felt like family therapy wasn't the best place to bring it up because it wasn't Kinbott's business to know all of this to me. 

"Your sister is right. This is neither the time nor the place." Our mother stands up. "Actually, this is exactly the place. These sessions are-," 

Our mother cuts her off, "Doctor. This does not concern you. And I refuse to debate a decades old witch hunt with you right now." They end up glaring at each other making Wednesday tell her she will find out on her own.

"What did happen that night?" I ask my father as mother walks back to us as Wednesday walked away. 

"We will not discuss it right now. It was in the past and your father did nothing wrong." My mother tells me. 

"We have a right to know still. The sheriff doesn't like us because of whatever happened and won't listen to us when we talk about the monster." I tell her. 

"Someday but not now." She tells me.

"I'm going to see Tyler. I'll see you at school." I walk away from them wishing they would just tell us to get this over with.

"Family therapy?" Tyler sits across from me giving me a drink. 

"Didn't go well, of course. Wednesday showed them the police report and demanded to know why our father was accused of murder. Our mother wanted no talk of it whatsoever." I rest my chin in my hand. 

"At least they still went in a therapy session with you two. My father just isn't comfortable talking family stuff to a complete stranger." He huffs. 

"Does he think it's easy for us to sit there and talk about our crap?" I scoff. 

"That's exactly what I told him." He looks up at the ceiling signing. 

"I like it here at Nevermore but lately I use want to escape from everything and everyone. Go somewhere where I don't have to deal with people, feelings, anything..." I sigh doing the same and close my eyes. 

"I know exactly what you mean."

"Let's just drive until we can't drive anymore." I joke making him chuckle. 

"I'm all in but I still don't get off for a few more hours." He plays along. 

"Damn, just ditch. I mean we're running away."

"Well, we need money to run away. You don't have a job so I have to provide for us to do so." He makes me laugh more. 

"I can rob a bank and get away with it. I've done it before." I tell him and he didn't know if I was lying or telling the truth.

 "Really or?" He looks at me. 

"Shh." I put my finger over my mouth.

"Sadly, we're stuck here. Well, I am. You get to leave when school is over." He looks out the window. 

"You could always come visit me. I could have Lurch come get you." I suggest. 

"You want me to come visit during the summer?" He looks at me. 

"Why not?" I smile. 

"I'll think about it. I gotta get back to work." He gets up. 

"I should head back to school anyways." I get up as well.

-

Back at school when we were all eating except Wednesday because she was still annoyed with our parents. "Can I ask what this is about, Sheriff?" I hear Weems and look over to see him and other officers. 

"Mom..." I look at her as Galpin walks towards us. 

"Gomez Addams." He calls out dad's name. 

"How can I help you, Sheriff?" Father stands up. 

"You're under arrest for the murder of Garrett Gates." He tells him making us all stand up. 

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." He hands cuffs him walking him off.

While Wednesday goes to visit our father I stay with our mother. "Wednesday told me she saw you laying a rose on Garrett Gates grave earlier today. Who was he? And what happened?" I ask her hoping she would be honest with me. 

"Garrett was infatuated with me. Took my kindness for interest. His infatuation turned into obsession and he started stalking me. The police didn't believe us because his family were the oldest and richest here. His grandfather was an outcast hater. He was furious that I had accused his only son." She explains to me looking at the floor. "What happened?" I ask her. "It was the night of the Rave'N Dance. Your father and I stepped out. Garrett had broken into the school. You could see in his eyes he had murderous intent. I told your father to run away but Garrett wouldn't stop chasing him. They had a sword fight out in the rain were construction was being done. It was all self defense, he was unstoppable but the thing is... your father didn't kill him, I jumped in to save your father." She explains to me.

"He took to blame to protect you because he loved you..." I say and she had tears in her eyes. 

"Of course he did. I always knew this would come back and haunt us." She sighs. 

"I can't believe Sheriff Galpin arrested father. I know as soon as Tyler says something about it his father will just give him shit for being my friend." I sigh as well. 

"Do you like this boy?" She changes the topic. 

"I still don't fully know feelings... and I've developed new ones I've never felt before until I met him. He makes me feel so many things and it makes me feel like I'm losing my mind." I explain to her making her smile. 

"That means you really like this boy, dear."

"I know but... I'm not supposed to feel things like this. Since I started here at Nevermore, I've changed mother. I care more about some people, I've opened up to others, I sorta care about how others see me, and like being around friends." I make her chuckle.

"You're not changing that much dear. You just feel comfortable here and that's what I was hoping for." She pets the top of my head.

I was spending time with Pugsley when Wednesday told us she needed to borrow me for a bit. She tells me we're going to dig up Garrett Gates then adds the other details to why we needed to dig him up. 

"This reminds me of when you two got your first grave-digging kit. Wednesday, you were so happy you nearly smiled. And Valentine it was the first time you ever smiled." Our mother tells us as we dig. 

"Are you sure don't want to join?" Wednesday stops to look at her. 

"Uh...mmm... No, that's okay, darling. I don't want to spoil your fun." Our mother looks at her nails before we reach the box. 

"Moment of truth." I move for Wednesday to open the coffin.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" An officer walks over to us. "Guess there's gonna be an Addams family reunion in lockup tonight. You're all under arrest." She tells us so we put our hands up. 

In lockup our parents wouldn't get off each other. "I've seen jackals with more self-control than you two. Neither one of you are strong enough to serve hard time. And thanks to me, you won't have to." Wednesday tells them and I go take a seat. 

We learned Garrett Gates was dying from Nightshade poisoning before our mother stabbed him. As Wednesday goes to get the finger from our mother as she was kissing father she has a vision. 

"What did you see?" I ask her. 

"The night Garrett died, he had a bail of nightshade poison that broke in his pocket. He wasn't just trying to kill father. He was going to use the nightshade poison to murder the entire school." She tells us.

-

The next morning we go see the mayor to get him to clear the charges and tell him we know he covered up the truth about how Garrett died. After we got our deal Wednesday and our mother talk about her visions so I just listen standing to the side. 

"Our psychic ability resides on the spectrum of who we are. Given my disposition, my visions tend to be positive. That makes me a Dove." She explains to her. 

"And for someone like me? Who sees the world through a darker lens?"

"You're a Raven. Your visions are more potent, more powerful. But without the proper training, they can lead to madness. If I could help you, I would, Wednesday. But we're not trained by the living. Somebody from our bloodline reaches out from the beyond to help us when we're ready." Our mother lets her know.

"Goody has. I've seen her before." Wednesday tells her. 

"Be careful, Wednesday. Goody was a witch of great strength, but her vengeance pushed her too far, and even she couldn't save herself." Mother adds. 

"How are yours?" She turns to me. 

"Mixed, good ones and bad ones." I let her know making her seem slightly worried since I was between two.

I leave the two and go wait for father to be released. "My little fallen angel." He smiles as he comes out with Sheriff Galpin. 

"Sorry about all of this." He tells my father. 

"I don't hold grudges, only blood debts." Father tells him. 

"He's not lying. I did the same thing from the age six to ten." I nudge my father with my elbow. 

"Your daughter and my son have become... close." He tells my father looking at me. 

"I pity any boy who gets caught in her viper's gaze, but he must be a good egg. She wouldn't tolerate anything less." My father smiles at me. 

"He has his mom to thank for that." Sheriff sighs. 

"Tyler's great... He's the first person I opened up to and felt comfortable around." I smile at both of them. 

"You have a great daughter..." They shake hands before the sheriff walks off.

"Dad. I've missed you so much!" Pugsley hugs him as we join the rest of the family and have a group hug but Wednesday just stands there with her arms to her side. 

Back at school parents weekend comes to an end and we say our goodbyes. "Don't be scared of changing because you're still you, darling. And don't be afraid of your feelings. I understand some are very new for you but you'll get them. Don't be afraid to act on them... especially romantic ones." My mother kisses the top of my head going to talk to Wednesday.

"Look at this." Wednesday comes over to me when our parents left. 

[angelasscribbles]

WIP Wednesday 11/10/21

Ok, I feel like I haven't posted in awhile. Work has been kicking my butt plus three kids playing sports. But I have been working on this and that, here and there. I'm about to update my master list again because every time I try to write a one shot, it gets away from me and becomes a full on series. 🙈

I swear, scenes just write themselves in my head sometimes while I'm driving or walking. I get them into a word doc as quickly as I can. Here are a few excerpts to hopefully keep everyone interested.

Excerpt 1 is from my next chapter of Complicated. Chapter 16, as yet untitled:

“Yes, love.” He pulled her hands up to his mouth to drop kisses along the backs of them, “I figured it out last night and this morning he confirmed it.”

“Oh no! Liam, I’m so sorry! I never meant for anything to happen! I didn’t even know, I mean, I wasn’t aware, at first, not back then, I never gave him any-“ She pulled her hands out of his and stood up in distress.

“Shhhh. I know, I know.” He murmured soothingly as he stood and reached for her hands again. “He explained all of that. I know that his feelings were one sided. At least, they were, until recently. Am I right? You have developed feelings for him?”

She looked at him for a moment, waiting for him to be angry, to yell at her, to accuse her of being faithless, but he did none of those things. Instead, he looked so sad and forlorn that her heart hurt, and tears started to pool in her eyes. Before she could stop them, they spilled over, streaking down her cheeks as a giant, shuddering sob shook her entire body.

Excerpt 2 is the third installment, after Surrender and What Happens Next. Since this is the third chapter, I can no longer consider it a one-shot, so I will be creating a master list for it, the series will be titled Forbidden Passion:

“Are we ever going to talk about whatever this is?” Drake gestured between them.

“Why? What’s the point?”

They were laying on the chaise lounge in the secret room, naked and spent. Drake was stretched out on his back, one arm behind his head, the other stroking her hair. Riley was laying with her head on his chest, her fingers drawing lines up and down his torso.

“Why?” He stared down at her incredulously.

Riley lifted her head and stared back, defiantly, “Yeah, why?”

“Riley, you cheated on your husband, I betrayed my best friend! You don’t think that merits a discussion?”

Excerpt 3 is another piece that will launch a new series. After writing Movie Night in Valtoria and The Hotel Mix Up, I've decided to write a nonchronological series about Drake, Riley and Liam in a happily ever after polyamorous triad. This series is titled Hinge and will come with an authors note on polyamory and some other stuff that's being incorporated. This chapter takes place in TRH book 1 when they visit Drake's family in Texas:

Drake sucked in a deep breath and started, “So, sometimes, in Cordonia, married people have a sort of agreement, an arrangement-“

“Yes, I very well know what a Cordonian arrangement is, I lived there, remember?” She gave him a sharp look.

“Right. Sorry. I wasn’t sure-“

“Your father and I had one.” She stated matter of factly.

“What?!” Drake’s mouth fell open as he gaped at her.

“Oh, don’t stare at me like a beached fish, we’re all adults here. His work kept him away, a lot. We both got lonely. Ours was a very practical arrangement, we still loved each other very much.”

“I…wow.” Drake was still in shock.

“What does that have to do with the ring though?” She asked.

Excerpt 4 is from the same series, Hinge and takes place between TRH 3 and TRF. Or, I guess, actually at the end of TRH 3 during the time jumps. I'm working on a little Thanksgiving get together for the gang:

They found Drake on the grounds with Maxwell, helping crown princess Eleanor feed the peacocks. They were hers, after all, a gift from her uncle Max on her recent second birthday. Liam watched as his daughter laughed gleefully in Drakes arms, flinging feed into the air, and giggling when it scattered on the ground and the peafowl scurried around competing for a taste of it.

“Good job baby girl!” Drake encouraged her.

“Yeah, go Ellie!” Max laughed, “She’s loves them! I knew she would!”

Drake chuckled good naturedly, “You mean you love them, and you knew you have similar tastes as the two-year-old. Of course, she loves them, but she also likes shoving beans up her nose and drinking bathwater so…….”

“Disparage all you want, but Ellie knows what’s cool, right kid?”

Eleanor suddenly spotted Liam and kicked out of Drake’s arms to run to him squealing in delight, “Daddy!”

Drake lowered her to ground quickly but gently, careful not to release his grip too soon but fast enough to prevent her from tumbling out of his arms before he could set her down. He laughed softly as he watched her race into Liam’s arms. He hadn’t thought it was possible to love anyone as much as he loved Riley, but then Ellie had been born and proven him wrong. It didn’t matter to him whose DNA she had. In fact, even had he not been in love with her mother, he always would have loved any child of Liam’s because he loved Liam. The moment she had been placed in his arms for the first time and he had gazed down at her tiny face, he knew he would gladly die for her.

[jenodunno]

Studying

a/n: aish i’m sorry i haven’t written in a while, i have no excuses for myself other that i had no inspiration to write. Anyways i hope you enjoy this cute little story of Jaemin tutoring you hehe

pairing: Jaemin x Reader

warnings: none ?

"How can you even get good grades in this class" You sigh looking at your boyfriend's test paper that the teacher just handed out.

"I don't know," He shrugs looking over at the grade on your paper "But I do know I'm better at it then you" He lets out a small laugh

"Instead of laughing you should be a good boyfriend and help me" You sulk, laying your head on your desk.

Let's just say Human Anatomy isn't the class you do best nor do you even like it, but the sadly you still need to pass the class to no disappoint your parents.

"Of course I'll help you out, love," He smiles looking at you before petting your head "I'll come over after school, like that we can get started"

"Wait, what ? Now ?" You asked in disbelief "I know I asked for help but not right away I want to rest my brain a little"

"Yah...no, the faster we study the faster you'll understand what's going on and anyways the next test is schedule for next week so it's best if you start now, love." He says letting out a small laugh at the end when you sighed once again for like the one hundredth time.

"Fine" You mumble burying your face in your hands.

-

Wednesday at your place, (A week till the test)

"Wait" Jaemin says trying to hold back his laughter while looking at the test you received back from your teacher yesterday because he's a great boyfriend and doesn't want to laugh at your failure "You're really going to tell me you don't know where the esophagus is,"

"No, I know where it is, It's just that-"

"Then why did you put throat instead,"

"Because technically-"

"No baby no, technically it isn't our throat"

“Well technically yes because when we eat food goes down in it-“

“I can tell this is going to be long” He sighs chuckling

“Heyy don’t laugh at me !” You huffed, pushing him lightly “can we take a break we've been reviewing for hours" You sighed

"It's only been 30 minutes, my love," Jaemin says and looks at you with an 'are you serious' face "And I pretty sure we'll need more than that if you don't know where the esophagus is" He chuckles

"You're really not going to let me go for that one" You say getting up off the floor

"Nope" He smiles at you, before kissing you on the nose.

-

Thursday at Jaemin's place, (6 days till the test)

"Maybe you'll focus more at my place" Jaemin mumbles opening the front door for the both of you.

"What's that suppose to mean" You say looking up at him

"I mean that, maybe studying in another environment that's not your usual one might help you focus more" He explains

"I practically live here with you, Jae" You looked at him laughing a little

“Yeah yeah whatever, come on” He laughs stepping a side a little letting you go in first before closing the door behind himself.

After getting settled on the kitchen counter with all the school work laid out in front of you guys and Jaemin to your left you try to pay attention. In the end you actually are paying attention to what Jaemin is showing and explaining to you, maybe he was right earlier....

"So as long as you can try to remember this graphic by heart you'll at least get a 10 out 35 on the test" He says trying to make you feel better

"Yah but that isn't enough," You blow out a breath

"I know it isn't, love, but that's still better than the grades you got yesterday, and anyways I'll try my best to help you" He says grabbing your hand into his own "Anyways let's focus on this chapter, most of the vocabulary and work that'll be on the test is in this chapter, okay ?" He says softly looking at you and when you nod at him he starts explaining.

After 2 hours of studying flying by, you both decide to take a break.

“You know I hope you focused more on what I was explaining to you and not my face.” He smirks before drink out of his water bottle

“W-what do you mean,?!” You answered back in a flustered state “I was paying attention to you.”

“Yeah to me or to what I was explaining,” He chuckles before raising an eyebrow at you “because to me it seemed like you were paying more to me, as in my face and not the work.”

"T-that's not true," You defended

"Come on just admit to it and I'll give you a kiss" He once again lifts the corner of his lips forming a smirk

"J-jaemin !"

-

Saturday at Jaemin's place, (4 days till the test)

You don't know if Jaemin is actually a really good tutor or he is a good tutor because suddenly you can understand things you didn't think you could or at least you think so. I guess you could say you were lucky to have him.

"Are you guys really studying on a Saturday ?" Jeno says walking in Jaemin's house as if it's his own with a basketball in his hands

"Hmm, Oh yeah I'm helping my princess over here not fail for our next test" Jaemin hums a response to Jeno barely acknowledging his presence "Anyways, do you understand the graphics over here, It's explaining how the fluids in-"

"What's up fuckers" Donghyuck says bursting into the living room with a football soccer ball in his hand "Jeez it's literally the weekend and you both are in here studying, tsk, you know it feels really good outside ?" He smirks at you, dropping his weight on the couch "I would say the weather is about 28 degrees with a few clouds and the wind is-"

"You know it's better to stay in here than to be outside with your presences," You playfully glare at him

"Oh come on, stop acting like you hate me when you don't" He laughs before throwing the ball his holding in the air before catching it again.

"Stop being lame Donghyuck," Jeno chimes in "Anyways come on Jaems, It won't kill to take a little break and have fun, right Y/N ?"

"Okay, okay fine how about about we take a small break," Jaemin says getting up before smiling at how happy you looked

Let's just say it wasn't a small break you both took.....

-

Tuesday afternoon in the library (The day before the test)

"I'll never understand why it's so important to learn this, I honestly don't care about the human anatomy and how it works," You whine pushing your folder away from you

"You know your only learning about this because you chose this course" Jaemin says letting out a small laugh at your defeat

"Yeah well I only chose the scientific course because I wanted to have Laboratory but even that is hard and boring, I should have chosen the literature course like that I would of gotten art and I'm pretty sure that is much more fun and less hard than this human body thing. And also I wouldn't be alone because Renjun is there" You ramble out.

Jaemin pauses looking at you, then looking at all the school work flared out in front of you both before letting out a small sigh with a light laugh at the end.

"Look baby, I'm going to be honest with you. I know we've been studying for this test since last week but going the way we are going and the fact that the test is tomorrow, you're going to fail this test, I love you, but there's nothing we can do about it now" Jaemin says looking over at you before you let your head fall on the table with a bang gaining peoples attention. Jaemin just smiles at them before bringing his attention back to you caressing your back

"I knew it, I'm going to fail again and like you said there's nothing we can do" You mumble out lowly with a sigh following at the end

Jaemin doesn't respond but just sits there and comforts you.

-

Wednesday, ( test day )

The moment the teacher handed out the test papers, you knew you were doomed. On the first page you barely understood anything and the second page even less, though on the third page there was the graph that you studied so hard to remember, which you shockingly did. While filling out the graph you started remembering a few things Jaemin had taught you a few days prior.

30 minutes passed by pretty fast before you heard your teacher's timer going off "Okay times up, everyone pens down" He then proceeded to collect everyone's papers before going back to his desk to grade them leaving the class to do whatever.

"So how do you think you did ?" Jaemin says looking over at you, who was staring at the bracelet you were wearing

"Hm ? Oh umm well honestly I'm pretty confident, after I completed the graph suddenly things you had explained came into my head and I feel like I got a lot of things correct !" You say cheerfully. You honestly do think you did pretty well, all the answers suddenly came into your head at one pointed so yeah you are confident in yourself.

"I'm glad to hear that you're confident, It puts me at ease knowing I tutored you well" He smile at you like always

"Of course you did, you're a pretty good tutor y'know now I understand why Jisung always comes to you for help" You laugh softly

-

"Good morning everyone, i hope that today has been a pretty decent day for you all" Your teacher speaks out to the class walking in front of his desk. "Now before you ask yes I've graded yesterdays test, I will now hand them out" Your teacher announces.

"Yay finally, I could barely sleep last night because of this." You giggled cheerfully

Your teacher finally reaches yours and Jaemin's desk handing out your papers. When giving Jaemin his paper, you didn't miss your teacher giving him a small pat on his shoulder before giving you your paper with a small smile on his face. Giving him a small smile back you checked out your grade on the top right of the paper. The moment your eyes landing on your grade, you practically had stars popping out out of them.

With a little squeal of happiness you turn your paper around to show it to your lover with a huge grin on your face.

"Look !" You beamed happily at your boyfriend "Ahh thank you so much" Leaning in giving him a hug

"You're welcome my love," He chuckles looking down at you on his chest, reaching to pat your head "But you do know that having a 14/30 doesn't exactly mean you passed"

But you were quick to look at him and shush him with a finger to your lips "Don't ruin it for me, it's the highest grade I've gotten in this class" As your face changed from having a playful pout on it to having a smile letting a few giggles escape from your lips.

[myhockeyworld87]

Ruined - Jamie Benn - Part 4

Word Count: 8,133

POV: Jamie and then switches to reader

Warnings: Language, small amount of smut so we will say NSFW

Notes: This is hell long, I’m sorry. I don’t normally write chapter/parts this long, so don’t get used to it, because I’m sure it won’t last...haha! At any rate here we go with Part 4. As always I love your feedback, both good and bad, so hit me with it. Happy Reading! Also (Y/NN) = Your Nickname (Y/LN) = Your Last Name

Ruined Masterlist

 JAMIE POV

 Five days, that's how long it was until you saw (Y/N) again. Well, it was four days, sixteen hours, twenty-two minutes, and forty-two seconds, give or take a second or two. And why did you know the exact time, only because you'd been counting the hours since she left Jordie and Jessi's house. The dinner party had gone great, at least you thought it had, but then you hadn't seen her since then; not even a glimpse of her outside in the backyard or pulling into the driveway. It was maddening or maybe it was just you slowly going insane as every little noise outside had you wandering over to the window to check and see if it was her. It hadn't taken much to convince your brother to throw a dinner party on short notice, in an excuse so you could see (Y/N), but now that you had, there was just this overwhelming need to see more and more of her.

 Now, here you were, just four days, sixteen hours, twenty-four minutes, and sixteen seconds from seeing her again. She was to be at the practice center at four-thirty today, so that someone, that someone being you, of course, could show her around the facility. You stood back a bit, staring at the entrance doors just waiting for her to walk in. And then she did. She looked radiant. Dressed in a simple navy pantsuit with a pair of high heels that clicked across the floor, she made her way to the front desk. Instead of rushing out to greet her, you headed back to the locker room, where you knew the receptionist would usher her back to you.

 Your palms were sweating and suddenly you felt unsure of yourself. What if she was only playing nice at Jordie's and really didn't want to be around you? But that didn't explain how she'd laughed and reminisced with you about different things. That laugh, you knew it was a genuine one, for you heard it so many times in your dreams you had it memorized. God, you hoped you could make her laugh like that again today.

 You could hear her heels on the floor, so you busied yourself with one of your sticks retaping the blade, even though it didn't need it. "The team captain is in there, Miss. If you need anything just let me know." You heard the door open and then turned around.

 "Jamie?"

 "Oh hey (Y/NN)," you tried to sound casual as if her simply being in the same room as you didn't send your heart beating into overdrive.

 "I guess I didn't realize you were the team's captain."

 "Yeah, have been for a few years now." Your heart sank a bit in the knowledge that she hadn't really followed your career except to know where you were, so she could avoid you.

 "Well that's…," she stumbled on her words which was unusual for her and you wondered if she was as affected by you as you were by her, or if it was just her disdain for you, and that she hated to give you any amount of praise. "That's really amazing. Your coaches and team must really hold you in high regard."

 "I'd like to think so." You finally abandoned the stick that didn't need taping, leaning it against the wall before turning your attention back to (Y/N). "Anyhow, I guess I'm your tour guide today." She gave a weak smile and a simple head nod, which was not encouraging to say the least. "So, how about we get started? If you want you can leave your stuff in here, no one will bother it." She'd been carrying her medical bag and a few other things, but she handed them over to you and you set them in your stall. "Well, as you can see this is our practice locker room, pretty basic. I thought we'd start with a tour of the entire place before I show you the training room."

 The two of you headed down the hallway and back out to the lobby. "Obviously, you came in this way, but I'll show you the entrance you can use in the future. We're pretty much contained to this side of the building as you can see, but when practices are open, people can come and watch." You showed her the rink, from seat level, then headed back out. "This is the club lounge, if there's ever an event here where we aren't skating we use one of the boxes up there. You're more than welcome to as well."

 "I have to say this is kind of elaborate for a practice rink."

 "A bit."

 "I was expecting metal bleachers and…well, I don't know. I feel like this is more like the arena and then a practice rink."

 You chuckled, for you kind of thought the same thing, the first time you came here. Now you barely even noticed it. "Well, the boards are the same as the AAC, but other than that it's very different."

 "AAC?"

 "American Airlines Center," you hadn't realized you shortened the name. "Sorry about that. I think we're scheduled to tour that on Wednesday." It gave you another opportunity to be with her.

 "Yes, I have that on my calendar, but was going to see if we could change that." You supposed there was your answer about her wanting to be in the same room as you. "Dr. Ellis has a patient that needs a knee arthroplasty and he asked if I'd show him the technique I've been using. Less evasive and I'm having great success with cutting the healing time by half." Oh, so it was a medical thing, whatever an arthroplasty was. "If we could push it back a bit that would be great, if not maybe we could look at another time."

 "I'll work around your schedule, it's not a problem." If it meant spending more time with her you'd go to any lengths that you had to.

 "Thanks, if we could maybe make for like three in the afternoon instead of noon that will give me plenty of time because I have a feeling, he'll want me to sit in on his other two surgeries he has scheduled that day."

 "Not a problem." You took out your phone and made the change in your calendar. Thankfully, you didn't really have anything after practice that day but giving her the tour. "Shall we continue then?" She smiled, and it made your heart feel light. You took her to the offices next. "Down this hallway is pretty much everyone that works for the Stars; PR, accounting, our GM, our owner. You'll pretty much find them here." You stopped in front of a door and then opened it up. "This office is for you." It had a great view, well as much of a view as any of them had, but it really was a nice place for her to work.

 "Umm…this won't do."

 You blinked at her a couple times, there was really nothing wrong with the room. Everything in there was modern with state-of-the-art equipment. "What's wrong with it?" The words came out a little harsher than you intended but you really couldn't see her problem.

 "Well for starters, we're on the what, the third floor? And I believe the locker room and training room are on the first." You gave a confused look as this was Dr. Lundin's old office and he never been concerned about it being where it was. "It's just if I'm going to be working on you…well not you, but any of you. I need to be near you. I can be at ice level during practices, but if I'm treating you, my office should be closer to the ice." Well, you couldn't really argue with that. "Also, there's no exam table in here. I get that I'll be doing most things in your training room, but there may be times when I'll need you to stop in to look over something, or what if one of you need to see me about something private."

 She had a point, though none of you had ever really gone to Dr. Lundin like that. Come to think of it, he wasn't really around that much. He more or less made recommendations on where you should go if you had a problem. He wasn't necessarily the doctor to fix you. Seems like (Y/N) planned on being more hands-on, and you were ok with that. "You make a good point. Give me a second." You stepped out of the room and called the Jim Nill, the general manager. You weren't sure he was the man to go to, but you knew he'd be there in the building at least and could possibly offer a solution. It was a short phone call, as you expressed (Y/N)'s concerns. Jim was happy to help and said that he'd get someone on moving her downstairs to one of the spare rooms that housed equipment at the moment. "All set. They're going to move you down next to the training room. It might take a few days to get in the stuff you want, but if you make a list, we'll leave it at the front desk and make sure it gets taken care of."

 "Thank you, Jamie. I really appreciate you doing that."

 Her praise was like music to your ears, you could remember the days when you'd have a good game and she would go on and on about how well you played and you'd literally soak up every word that came out of her mouth. "No problem, guess we should head down there then." You showed her the room, which she seemed pleased with, then took her over to the training room. A couple of the trainers were still in there from practice, so you introduced her to them.

 "I hate to be a pain in the ass but would any of you mind if I changed the set up here. I don't want to step on anyone's toes. I just see a few things that could make this more efficient."

 "Sure, go ahead," Dave, the head trainer told her.

 "So, see these units right here. They would work so much better if you had them in between the training tables. That way two guys can be on the machine at the same time."

 "Oh, I see what you're saying." They went to move the equipment, it looked heavy so you helped as well. (Y/N) was opening up cabinets and taking things out, then moving them to other ones.

 "Is the AAC," she looked over as you to confirm she'd said that right. "Setup like this as well."

 "Pretty much," Dave told her.

 "Could we make these changes there as well?" They seemed to be a bit annoyed, but she wasn't deterred. "Bear with me for a moment. Say Jamie has a cut to his eye that needs to be stitched." She looked at you to play the part.

 "Ow my eye," your acting was horrible and they all laughed.

 "When he comes into the room, we take him right to the nearest table, which is here." You sat down where she gestured. "It's obvious, he needs stitches, but the medical cabinet is all the way over on the other side of the room, and by the time we get there, look for what we need then come back we've waist two minutes of playing time and we don't even have a single stitch that we need in." She was making a lot of sense. "If we had our sterile supplies here, and then individually marked and put in like this." She rearranged the cabinet as she talked. "Then when Jame comes in with the cut. We can assess it and stitch him up in no time."

 "Makes sense," Dave agreed. "I'll get to work on changing the AAC as well." He and the other trainer were done for the day and said their goodbyes before heading out.

 "Hey Jame," you noticed she'd started using your nickname and you weren't upset about it. "Could you move this table over to here?"

 "No problem."

 "Is something wrong?"

 Quite the opposite actually, you thought today was going pretty well. "Um, no why?"

 "You're favoring your right shoulder. I saw you do it earlier."

 "Oh, I think I just slept wrong on it or something." Well tossed and turned on it was more like it, as thoughts of her pervaded your mind.

 "Sit." It was a command and one that you were not to argue with. She came up behind you then, her hands going on your shoulders, kneading and massaging your shoulders and for a moment it felt like heaven, just having her hands on you again. Then she pushed down hard on a particular spot and you winced. "Tender?"

 "A bit."

 She came around in front of you and stepped in between your legs. "This might hurt a little." Hurt? God, she was killing you at the moment, as her body was almost pressed intimately up against yours. You willed your growing erection to calmed down, but apparently, it had a mind of its own. She moved your arm in a weird position, then pressed down almost under your armpit but not quite. (Y/N) was right, it did hurt a tiny bit, and you grunted at the pain. "Sorry." She went back to kneading your muscles, while you caught the scent of her perfume, or maybe it was just her, either way, it intoxicated you. You closed your eyes inhaling deeply, willing your body under control. You'd give anything at that moment to just wrap her in your arms and press her lips to yours. Would her lips be as sweet as they once were? Would she kiss you back with the same abandonment as she had that first time so long ago? There were so many questions swirling in your head, and you wanted to know the answers, but it was too soon. If you attempted any of this now, you'd take the chance of losing her for good and it was not a risk you were willing to make. All too soon for your liking, she stepped back. "Does that feel any better?"

 You rotated your shoulder and neck a few times. "Yeah, it actually feels amazing."

 "Excellent," a huge satisfied grin on her face, which only made you smile back. You felt it then, a shift in the air, almost as if her heart was giving way to you in some small manner. Maybe it was just you, but there was something in the way that her eyes held yours, the way they softened as she gazed at you. You remembered that look, had only dreamt of seeing it in her eyes again but now here you were, afraid to blink for if you did it would break the spell. Her watch chimed then, like the clock striking midnight in a fairytale. "I really should be going," she told you, and just like Cinderella, she was running away only this time you knew she wouldn't get far. "So, Wednesday, then right?"

 "Yeah, three o'clock."

 "Ok, I'll see you then."

 "Hey (Y/NN)," she turned back around. "Since we're heading downtown, why don't I just drive us both down. I'll show you the shortcut." She seemed to mull that over a bit.

 "Sounds good." She made a move to leave again, only this time, she stopped herself. "Thank you for today Jame. I really appreciate you showing me around."

 She called you Jame again, another step in the right direction. "Anytime, (Y/NN)." You sighed happily as she walked out of the training room. You were one step closer to winning the girl of your dreams back.

  READER'S POV

 What was wrong with you? You seriously needed to get ahold of yourself. That moment in the training room could not happen again. For god's sake, your watch had to chime to tell you to breathe, because you were pretty sure you'd stopped. There had been something in Jamie's eyes. Those big beautiful brown ones of his, that you could spend hours looking into. People always said the eyes were like windows into your soul, and if that were true you saw your own reflected in Jamie's. The shocking thing was, it didn't frighten you like it should. There was this small part of you that wanted to fall headfirst straight into him, but you couldn't. This time it wasn't just your reputation as being easy riding on the line. It would be your reputation as a doctor and a professional as well, and that was something you would not let him ruin.

 You turned over yet again in what felt like the most enormous bed at the moment. You couldn't seem to get comfortable and sleep was evading you, as thoughts of Jamie filled your head. Every time you closed your eyes there he was, smiling as he took another bite of cake in his mouth, laughing when you least expected it. It was all quite maddening and thrilling at the same time. This time you sat up in bed. Grabbing your iPad, you opened your one guilty pleasure and started reading the romance novel you'd started on the plane here. You hadn't picked it up, since the day you saw Jamie. It would provide the perfect distraction from him.

 You were about three chapters in when things started to turn a bit steamy, and as you read each line you found your hands wandering over your body. Your hands snuck up your shirt, wishing that it was our hero's gliding over your breasts the way he caressed the main characters. As the dialogue went on, you got more and more turned on, until you abandon the book for your own pleasure. Closing your eyes, you pictured the protagonist with his dark locks, kissing his way down your body. Your hands would thread into his hair, as he kissed above your panty line, before slowly shimming them down your legs. It was almost as if you could feel his warm breath against your thigh making you shiver. You let your fingers mimic his, as they slid between your folds, your pussy already wet with desire for him. He softly kisses you there then, his beard somewhat scratchy against your sensitive skin, but it was a feeling you yearned for. His long fingers would slip inside, moving in and out of you slowly at first driving you mad. Your hips flexed up, as you gave over to the fantasy, craving the faceless man's touch. You could see the muscles of his back stretch across his skin and you longed to rake your nailed down them as he thrust his cock inside you, though it was his torturous fingers driving you wild at the moment. You were close now, just teetering on the edge with the need to cum.  Rubbing your clit with your other hand, you thrust your fingers in out of you in a motion that you knew would take you to the heights you sought. Only your mind told you it was his fingers, his tattooed arm, his wicked tongue that was taking you there. Eyes closing tighter, as you fully emersed yourself in the fantasy, you felt the orgasm begin to build. Your legs started to tremble and your breathing was erratic, and then it hit and you were screaming out his name. "YES…JAMIE…YES!" Your eyes flew open, at the sound of his name echoing off the bedroom walls. It was Jamie you were picturing the entire time. He was the man giving you such exquisite pleasure. The realization had you spinning and throwing the covers over your head, too bad you couldn't hide from yourself. How were you ever going to face him in a couple days?

 Sleep was something that evaded you that night and the next, well not entirely you did get a few hours here and there. The only problem was Jamie seemed to creep into your dreams as well. There were ones where the two of you were laughing and joking and having the most amazing time, and ones that had you calling out his name in pleasure again as well. But the ones that got to you the most, were where he was with Caitlyn. They would be holding hands or kissing right in front of you. You'd wake up so angry that you wanted to punch something or someone, namely Caitlyn. It had you questioning why though. If you didn't have feelings for Jamie, then why were you so angry at some college girl who threw herself at him. The deeper you dug into that, the more you didn't like the answer, for it meant there was still something there between you.

 Thankfully, Wednesday came and so did your teaching surgeries, which meant you had something else to think about other than Jamie Benn. It was an early morning as most days in the operating room were, so at five, you grabbed a coffee and headed to the hospital. As you suspected, Dr. Ellis had you tag along on his other three knee arthroplasties, which meant you were walking out of the OR just before noon. If you timed it right, you could grab a quick bite to eat before going over charts and then be at Jamie's before three to tour the AAC.

 "I've got to say your method in that replacement was impeccable," Dr. Ellis told you as you headed down the hallway to the doctor's lounge.

 "Thanks, it took a little time for me to get things right, but as I said when you take that ligament…"

 "Dr. Ellis, you're needed in the ER for a consult; car versus pedestrian," the nurse told him, and immediately your heart sank. You always hated seeing these kinds of accidents come through the hospital. "It's a twelve-year-old, his leg is in bad shape. I'm not sure it can be saved."

 "Dr. (Y/LN), would you join me?"

 "Of course." The two of you quickened your pace as you rushed to the wounded child. "I thought you said this wasn't a trauma hospital?"

 "It's not. I'm not sure how this case got here."

 The moment you got to the ER, you didn't have to be directed as to where to go. Doctors and nurses rushed in and out of the room at a frenzied pace. It had honestly been a good year since you'd done any extensive trauma work, but the adrenaline came rushing back through your veins with a force of a good slap shot. When you entered the room, it was worse than you expected, you'd only seen one other case that was this bad. You rattled off a flurry of questions, to those around you, trying to assess the damage. "I think we're going to have to amputate," the chief emergency physician said.

 "Only as a last resort." You looked at Dr. Ellis. "If you're willing, I'd like to try and save this child's leg, but we need to get him in the OR now."

 Not even a second ticked by, before he said, "You heard her people, let's move." Everyone started rushing to get him prepped for surgery.

 "I'll need your assistance," you told him as the two of you made your way back, nurses following close behind.

 "Of course, anything you need."

 "Oh, I need someone to call Jamie Benn." Dr. Ellis gave you a funny expression. "He was to show me around the arena today in a couple hours. I need to push that back." He nodded to the nurse who jotted down the information before the two of you went to scrub up.

 The surgery was grueling, your feet hurt and your back ached from standing in the OR for over twelve hours, but it was worth it. You were able to save young Noah's leg. And while most of those that had joined you in the operating room were headed out for drinks, which they wanted you to join, you were putting back on the dress that you'd chosen this morning to wear for your tour with Jamie. Admittedly, you may have decided on it because it showed a little more cleavage than usual and that it was Jamie's favorite color, but right now you'd give anything to not have to wear it for another couple of hours as you walked around an arena trying to remember where the entrance and exit were. Though still you, glided it over your body and headed out the door.

 You thought about pulling into your driveway, but decide to go straight to Jamie's instead. Your feet already hurt from standing all day, and the heels that you'd brought earlier now felt like they were twenty inches high instead of the three that they were. No point in walking extra steps from your place to his. You rang the doorbell and almost immediately Jamie answered. "You look…"

 "Like hell." You finished for him as he stepped aside you let you inside his house and even through your exhaustion you realized this was the first time you were seeing the inside of his home.

 "I wasn't going to say that."

 "Oh, well I feel like it," you added. "But anyhow, are you ready to go?" You were standing in the entranceway taking everything in, the vaulted ceilings, the winding staircase, even the glass doors were things that you'd talked about with him when you were younger. It was almost a carbon copy of your dream home that you two talked about.

 "Um…well, I kind of didn't think you'd be up for it tonight."

 "Oh, thank god."

 He chuckled as you sagged in relief of knowing that you wouldn't have to put another ten thousand steps in. "I have an alternative if that's alright." You had no idea what he could be thinking, but anything other than a thirty to forty-minute drive downtown would be better. Just then your stomach growled, the sound seemed to fill the room and Jamie's eyebrow shot up.

 "Sorry, I haven't eaten since six this morning."

 "Well, then I think you're going to like my idea. Follow me." He headed into the open concept, kitchen, and living room, which was decorated all in white. "I kind of figured you'd be hungry, so I cooked us dinner. You still like salmon, right?"

 "Love it." You couldn't believe that he went to all this trouble. You could see the table set perfectly, and that he had a couple pots on the stove, which smelled divine. "This is so much better than the drive-thru I was going to beg you to go to."

 "Fast food, really? Come on (Y/NN) I would've sworn you'd go for pizza at least."

 "I mean well, obviously, but when you're crunched on time."

 "So, does this mean you're staying for dinner?" It wasn't in your original plans, but he'd gone to all this trouble, and well, you did have to eat.

 "I'd love to."

 "Great, I just need to get the grill going. How about a glass of wine while we wait?" You nodded, after the day you had, wine sounded perfect. "Red or white."

 "A dry white since we're having fish." His walk-in wine cellar was to die for and filled from head to toe, you couldn't help sneaking a peek behind him. "I didn't realize you were a wine drinker."

 He shrugged, the movement careless and carefree. "From time to time, I enjoy a glass. It's always better to share it with someone though." God, you'd said the exact words almost a hundred times. You loved your wine, but it was almost self-indulgent to just open a bottle and drink it yourself, so you rarely did it. He chose one, then came back out to the kitchen to uncork it. "I almost hate to ask, but how did the surgery go?"

 "It was long, but we ended up saving Noah's leg."

 "Oh my god, that's amazing."

 "Well, I don't know…"

 He didn't let you finish, just scooped you up in a hug. One that literally lifted you off the ground. It took your breath away not only from the shock of it but because of the way it made you feel. There were so many times you'd completed something successful in the OR only to come home to an empty house and no one to share it with, sure you had your family to call, who were always thrilled, but this, this was different. It was someone sharing in your joy and happiness, and you could feel it in the way that he held you that he was just as excited as you were. All too soon he put you down as if he realized he'd overstepped his bounds. "Sorry," Jamie told you taking a step back, yet still wearing a huge grin. "But you freaking saved a kid's leg. Like who does that." Again, he didn't give you time to answer. "You're truly amazing, (Y/N)."

 A blush rose to your cheeks at his compliments or maybe it was from the way he held you and you longed to feel his arms back around you. Either way, the room suddenly got a bit warm. "Thank you."

 He poured you both a glass of wine, then lifted his. "To the most amazing doctor. Dallas is lucky to have you." You clinked your glass with his then took a sip of the crisp chardonnay.

 "This is good," you sighed as you took another drink. "Would it be terribly rude of me, if I took these shoes off? My feet are killing me."

 "God no, make yourself at home," he chuckled.

 "What I should really do is run home and change into some sweats. If only my feet didn't hurt so bad."

 "You can wear mine."

 "Oh no, I couldn't." Because really, you couldn't wear his sweats, that would just be going too far.

 "Please, you used to do it all the time." Ok well, he had you there. "I think you had more of my sweatshirts than I did at one point."

 "Hey, I couldn't help it, they were just so….cozy." He laughed again and you found yourself joining in.

 "Well, you're more than welcome to steal some. It's not like I don't have a ton from the organization. Which reminds me, I'll make sure they send you over some stuff."

 "Oh, that would be nice."

 "Until then just go put mine on. You know you'll be more comfortable." He was right, but it felt a little awkward and you hoped he wouldn't read into it.

 "You're sure?" He gave you that look, the one that told you if you didn't get your ass into his sweats, he might kick it, and you had to laugh. "Ok, ok." It kind of felt like old times, only without all the bad stuff that happened, and god help you; you liked it.

 "Upstairs go to the left. They are in my closet on the right-hand side. Bottoms are in the third drawer and the sweatshirts are hanging up. I'm going to go throw the salmon on."

 He headed out to the grill, and you made your way upstairs. The bedroom had pristine white walls, like the majority of the house. A massive four-poster king-size bed was done in shades of gray; it reminded of you the bed you shared long ago once. You shook yourself, as memories of that first time with Jamie came flooding back. There was no point in dwelling on that; you told yourself as you made your way into the huge walk-in closet. It was neatly arranged and you had to wonder if it was Jamie being meticulous or if he had a housekeeper that did all this for him. A shelf on the left side caught your eye. There were photos there nestled with his colognes. A picture of when he was drafted sat there, along with one from when he won his gold medal playing for Team Canada. At that moment, you realized you'd missed so much of his life. All these major life-changing events, that had things gone differently, you would've been part of, or at least you told yourself you would've. You sighed, feeling a heaviness in your chest that you didn't want to explore at the moment.

 Turning to the right, you went to grab the sweats like you were supposed to instead of digging around in Jamie's closet. You found them easily then moved down to grab a sweatshirt off the rack. You didn't really pay too much attention, just grabbed a Stars hoodie then started to head toward the bathroom to change. Again, photos caught your eye. These more personal. There was one of him with his mom and dad, that brought a smile to your face. You'd always loved his parents. Another was him with Jordie and Jenny, and still another with just him and Jenny's daughter. It was the one next to that, that made your breath hitch and your heart beat faster. It was a picture of the two of you, one of your favorites from Canada Day. You'd been out at the lake house with his family, and someone had candidly captured the two of you just staring happily into each other's eyes, a smile playing across both your faces. You remembered the moment like it was yesterday. That he would still have this picture was just….well, it was a lot to digest. You'd burned yours in a moment of anger weeks after what had happened, but Jamie, well apparently he kept his and still had it on display. What did this mean? Did he still have feelings for you? Did he still love you? Moreover, how did you feel about him now, after all this time? There were so many questions in your head, it was making you dizzy.

 You rushed into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on your face. Part of you wanted to run the two houses down to your home and lock the door behind you, but that would solve nothing. So instead, you inhaled deeply, getting control of your emotions just as you would before you entered the operating room. There was nothing between you and Jamie anymore, the two of you were just…well, you were trying to be friends, that's all this was. You quickly changed into his clothes, throwing your dress across the huge soaking tub, then you plopped your hair on top of your head in a messy bun. It was only then that you looked at yourself in the mirror. It was a reflection of your teenage self, the one that loved Jamie with her whole heart, but you weren't that girl. You were older and wiser, and you were not about to let your heart get trampled on by one Jamie Benn again. Squaring your shoulders, you headed back downstairs, where you'd pretend as if you hadn't seen the picture of the two of you that set your heart aflutter.

 When you entered the kitchen, Jamie's jaw dropped and you knew he was seeing that same version of your teenage self that you saw moments ago, though he recovered quickly. "You look more…comfortable."

 "I am. Thanks again for letting me borrow these." You decided to not mention, how they made you look, or feel for that matter. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

 "I've got it pretty much under control. Just prop up your feet, it'll be ready in a few."

 "It smells delicious."

 "Thanks."

 "When did you learn how to cook? Because from what I remember, you could barely boil water." It was true, he was never that great in the kitchen, but from the aroma, his skills had definitely improved.

 "Well, when you're on your own as long as I've been, you learn quick." He finished mixing, what looked like some sort of sauce before drizzling it over the asparagus that he'd broiled. "Besides, I can't burn off a large pizza the way I used. If I indulged in that every night, I'd have even more of a dad bod than I do now."

 "Oh stop, you do not have a dad bod. Trust me I've seen plenty of those and you're not it." With his toned arms and legs, he seemed more in shape than when he was sixteen years old. Well at least more defined. In fact, just looking at his thighs brought all sorts of wild fantasies to your mind. Oh my god, you needed to stop thinking of Jamie like this or there was going to be another sleepless night in your future.

 "Thanks," he answered back to your compliment. "Though I will never live down the nickname Chubbs."

 You laughed, like full-on belly laugh. "Oh my god, tell me that did not follow you around."

 "With Jordie on the same team," he said while rolling his eyes and joining in your laughter. "Of course, it did. It's fine though, actually, it'd be weird if people didn't call me that."

 "I'll have to remember that, Chubbs." He raised his eyebrow at you before stepping out to grab the salmon. This really was nice, the two of you just laughing and joking, maybe you could be friends after all.

 "Your dinner, madam," he said as he placed what looked like something out of a five-star restaurant in front of you, before sitting down in the chair beside you.

 "Wow, this looks amazing."

 "Well, it's not the celebration dinner you deserve for saving a kid's leg, but it will have to do." He raised his glass again towards you. "To an amazing doctor." He needed to stop making these toasts to you, as they made you blush every time.

 The conversation at dinner flowed easily, like two old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages, instead of two exes. You reminisced about old times and caught up on gossip from back home. It was all really refreshing, and you realized that you'd worried about moving to Dallas for no reason at all. You helped him clean up the dishes, then you both moved into the living room to finish up the bottle of wine. "I was thinking," Jamie told you. "I drew out the AAC a bit, that way if you're schedule gets too packed, you'd have somewhat of a map to get you around."

 There he went again, being all kind and sweet. A complete contrast to the man that you'd hated for the past fourteen years. "That's really nice of you. Let's have a look." He laid it out on the table and started to explain what parking garage to use and where that entrance would put you once you were inside. He was about midway through when the knot in your neck from surgery today, decided to stiffen a bit. You tilted your head to the right, then to the left; in an attempt to work it out.

 "Little stiff?"

 "Yeah, sometimes long hours in the OR, make my neck not want to hold my head up anymore."

 He chuckled then moved back against the side of the couch so that he could rub your shoulders. "Here let me."

 "You know, I'm supposed to be the one helping you out, not the other way around."

 "Yeah, well humor me." You turned, giving him your back. His hands were gentle as they kneaded the muscles there and you had to admit it felt really good. You could feel yourself relaxing back against him. "Scoot up for a second." You did as he asked and then he swung his one leg up so that you were now seated in between his legs, then he went back to working on your muscles. "Better?"

 "Mmm," you sighed out and let your eyes drift shut. It had been a long time since anyone had taken care of you the way that Jamie had tonight; cooking you dinner first and now this. He gently nudged you back against him, as your body grew heavy. Slowly, you drifted off to sleep. What you didn't know, was how Jamie settled you fully against his body, then grabbed the blanket that was strewn across the back of the couch to cover you up. Nor did you know how he pressed a kiss to your head, as his arms slid around your waist. He knew that he should probably wake you up, but he couldn't resist the opportunity to hold you in his arms even if it was for just a little bit. Jamie told himself that he'd just lay with you here for a little bit, let you rest for just a few minutes, but what he didn't plan on was falling asleep with you.

 You weren't sure what woke you, maybe it was the light snoring in your ear, but you found it hard to rouse yourself out of slumber. You were just too comfortable, too cozy, too content, to want to wake up. There was just this safe and secure feeling that you had that just kept lulling you back to sleep. But slowly, you came alive. You blinked a few times, trying to figure out where you were. This wasn't anything new, when you were an intern, you'd wake up all over the hospital depending upon where you fell asleep, and moving to Dallas you still weren't used to your new home, but nothing here looked at all familiar. It was then that you noticed, someone's arms around your midsection, and that you were sleeping on said person's chest. A light bulb went off in your head, and you realized that person was Jamie. Obviously, you'd fallen asleep at some point, you just didn't know why Jamie hadn't woken you up. Instead, he chose to fall asleep as well.

 You should be in a panic, but for some reason, your not. It just all feels so…right. Only it shouldn't feel that way at all. You shouldn't want his arms wrapped around you like they are, and you shouldn't like the gentle rise and fall of his chest as you lay against him, and you definitely shouldn't have your fingers interlaced with his, but you do. You actually could stay like this…well if you're being honest…forever, and that scares the living hell out of you. It's then you decide you have to get out there and you start to untangle your limbs from him. The movement waking Jamie. "Mmhmm," he hums sleepily and for some reason, your heart flutters at the sound. His hands tighten around your waist and you don't cringe like you should, but if you stay here any longer, you don't know what will happen.

 "Jamie," you whisper. "Jame."

 His eyes peek open as you turn and look at him. There's a slow smile that comes to his lips, that just sends heat to your core. Fuck, you need to get out of here. Then realization dawns on him, "Oh shit, I must have fallen asleep." He's scrambling now and so are you. "I'm sorry….I only meant to let you sleep for a bit." Oh, so he didn't mean to hold you all night and make you feel cherished? Why does your heart sink at that knowledge?

 "It's ok, but I should really be going." You're a little stiff as you get up off the couch and look around the kitchen for your purse, noticing that it's five in the morning. "I need to get ready for rounds at the hospital."

 His hands go to the back of his neck, then comes around the rake down the front of his face. "I'm really sorry…"

 "Jamie, it's fine. I'm the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have fallen asleep on you like that." You slip back into your heels then head towards the front door. "Thank you again for dinner."

 "Anytime," he mumbles and there's this look of confusion on his face. You can't decide if it's about waking up with you in his arms or if he's still not fully awake yet, but you're not going to ask, as you open the door and slip out. "Hey (Y/NN)." You turn back around the minute you hear his voice. "I'll call you," he tells you, and damnit if your heart isn't beating faster again, like your fifteen and the prospect of this hot hockey player calling you is just doing weird things to your insides that medical science can't explain. "About rescheduling the tour."

 "Right, the tour," you muttered and suddenly, it's not as romantic as it all seemed a moment ago. "Yeah, we definitely need to do that. Thanks again." You shut the car door so fast and drive the two houses down, which looks completely stupid, as Jamie stands on his front porch watching you, making sure you get inside ok.

 What the hell just happened? It's the only question you can think of as you drag yourself up to the ensuite in your bedroom, so you can wash your face. You grab a cloth and turn the water on, your mind trying to digest the last ten minutes. You just spent the night with Jamie Benn, and you're not mad about it. You're not mad about it at all and that's frightening. A week ago, you didn't want to be in the same room with him for five minutes. Now, you were laughing over dinner and falling asleep in his arms. Jesus, what were you thinking? You look up at yourself in the mirror and all you can see is his damn hoodie and sweats on you. You take a deep breath, trying to calm yourself, but instead, all you can do is smell him. He's on your clothes, well of course he is, they're his, you idiot. You swear when you pull your hair all the way down from its even messier bun that your hair smells of him too. And when you close your eyes you can feel him; his arms wrapped around you holding you close, and damn if you don't want that again.

 "NO," you yell out to yourself in the mirror. "No, no, no." He's not good for you. He'll break your heart. Your mind knows all these things and still, your heart is trying to open the door and let him in. This can't happen, you need a plan. No, what you need is someone to remind you how he broke your heart.

 You pick up your phone and dial your best friend, Emma. She'd been with you through the whole breakup with Jamie and remained by your side through every dumb mistake you made afterward. Emma had even moved to the east coast, when you went to John Hopkins, though she'd met the love of her life there and was now engaged. You knew it was early, but you also knew that your best friend would answer the phone if it was you who was calling. "Hello, sunshine," she answered all cheerful and it only put you in a fouler mood.

 "Really? How are you this happy in the morning?"

 "You know I've always been a morning person. Now, please tell me what happened with Jamie."

 "How do you know something happened with him?" It was truly baffling how she could just read you like an open book.

 "Why else would you call me at six-thirty in the morning? Tell me he's not breaking your heart already?"

 "It's worse." You pause trying to figure out the best way to tell her. "I think I'm falling for him again."

 "Get out!" She shouted at you through the telephone. "It's been like what ten days?"

 "God, when you put it like that, it sounds insane."

 "It's not insane (Y/N)." At least Emma didn't think you were crazy for possibly falling back in love with Jamie. "You two have history, like big-time history, and that just doesn't go away overnight. The question is what do you want to do about it?"

 "I don't know, Em." It was true, you were so conflicted about whether you should just shut Jamie out completely, or open your heart just one more time. You were hoping your best friend could shed some light on the situation.

 "Well, then I think I have your solution." You waited patiently for her to tell you what it was. "You know what they say, in order to get over someone, you need to get under someone." Had you heard her right, did she really just tell you to go out and have sex with someone random?  

.

[datleggy]

I realize we are in the middle of a pandemic and possibly the worst thing to ever happen collectively to humanity, and that you're probably feeling as emotionally drained as I am... But I've reread your Buck Volunteer AU like 16 times in the past 3 months. It makes me happy. I realize writing might not make you happy right now, or give you energy or be on your mind. But reading is keeping me sane. So thank you for that little universe. I'll be here when you feel up to adding to it. ♡♡

these last few months have been pretty awful at every turn and have kinda made it almost impossible to write the way i’m used to (writing is like my lil escape from reality most of the time tbh) and this message made me really happy, i really appreciate this, so thanku. <3

and also, here are two lil random additions i’ve been v sporadically working on for the volunteer buck au?

and ima go ahead and tag the ppl i promised to tag(i hope i got everyone!)? i hope ya’ll don’t mind they’re unfinished snippets?

tag list: @ironbuckley @chrrlees @disgruntled-pelicant @nighting-gale17 @daughter-of-infinity @romeoandjulietyouwish @badbitchjackson @chitownwolf @lamalefix @moira3000 @heather-likes2review @demonwithasideoffries @pan-buck @fyeahhipsterdoctor @daylightisviolent @themoonyloveenvy @randomlyordinarlyed @jillibob44

SNIPPET 1.

Buck sneezes into his elbow, groaning miserably as he throws another load of laundry into the washing machine. He's been grappling with a cold for the past couple of days, and though as someone who works almost none stop, Buck should be relieved to finally have a few sick days off from work, the reality of it is, he's going a little stir crazy at home all by himself.

His studio apartment's never been as thoroughly clean as it is now, though, so Buck isn't too mad about the undesignated time off.

One minute Buck is putting his last quarter into the machine and the next he's lying sideways on the floor and there's a ringing in his ears and smoke filling up the laundromat, people screaming and scattering and dazed. Buck sits up carefully, confused until he sees the giant truck that smashed straight in through the giant glass windows.

He manages to stand up, ignoring the way the room starts to spin, and takes assessment of the situation, something he's learned to do while volunteering for the 118. It's a Wednesday afternoon so thankfully there weren't too many people inside doing laundry today, but those who were are all down, though some more out of shock than actual physical injury.

"Call 9-1-1!" Buck tells the laundromat employee, who's standing behind the counter, unharmed but horrified at the sudden destruction, and she nods hastily, getting out her cell. There aren't too many badly injured people, and those that are able, are helping those who aren't, so Buck limps over to the vehicle to check on the driver. He's a male in his thirties most likely, and by the empty beer cans on the bed of the truck it's obvious the driver's intoxicated.

He's passed out at the wheel, blood smearing his face from a laceration at the top of his forehead, but his pulse is strong and steady and nothing appears to be broken, upon Buck's initial examination.

There's a wailing to his left so, having confirmed the man will live to see his day in trial, Buck rushes to help. There's a woman on her knees, sobbing, with a little boy in her arms--he can't be older than Christopher. "Ma'am," Buck gets down next to her so that they're at eye level.

The woman clings to her child, shaking her head adamantly.

"I'm a doctor, I just want to check to see if your son's ok. Please." Buck exhales, relieved, when his words reassure the mother and she hesitantly lets go. He's breathing, but it's labored and from the sounds of it and all the fresh bruising on the boys' sternum, most likely he's got a collapsed lung. Buck looks to the employee who's still on the phone with 9-1-1 and asks for an ETA on an ambulance.

"The operator says two minutes!"

Buck curses faintly. He doesn't know if the kid has that long. As if to prove his theory, the boy stops breathing altogether, his skin turning a terrifying hue of blue. His mother's screaming now, completely inconsolable and a hushed crowd is starting to form outside of the laundromat.

The paramedics hop out of their rig but until firefighters get to the scene there's just no way they can get in without risking injury to themselves, since the car is blocking their way and has started to smoke fumes.

"Everybody please remain calm. The fire department's only five minutes out." they assure everyone. Weber and Jones; Buck knows them from working at the hospital and waves to get their attention. "Doc?!" Weber exclaims, when she spots him among the injured.

"This kid's got a tension pneumothorax, he's not gonna last five minutes without medical intervention. I need one of you to pass me a 16 gauge bore needle through the opening there so I can do a decompression!"

"You got it!"

The boys mother is close to hyperventilating at this point.

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

SNIPPET 2.

It's been a tough week--though that might be an understatement--and a part of Buck wants to stay wrapped up in a pile of one too many quilts and blankets, in the dark, watching bad romcoms and never leave his apartment ever again. But he's been so busy at work Buck hasn't had a single moment to text anyone from the 118, and he thinks maybe being around them might make him feel a little less like the world has come to an abrupt halt. He also hasn’t eaten anything besides instant ramen in over a week, and that can’t be good.

They’re in the middle of a card game when Buck shows up and Eddie begs him to join in. "It's way too easy taking Chim's money." he sighs. "I need a challenge."

Chimney gawks at him. "Big words from the man who was literally whining like a baby not five minutes ago. He was all, 'Oh I hope Buck comes in today. Buck didn't answer any of my texts this week. Do you think he's ok? Should I call him? Would that be too much?'" he pokes fun, only stopping when Hen flicks the back of his ear.

“Play nice.” she says. She sits down in the chair next to Buck and nudges his shoulder playfully. “Eddie wasn’t the only one worried, by the way. You suck at texting but I usually get at least a ‘K’ back--long week?”

Buck leans forward in his seat, elbows perched up on the table. “Yeah. Something like that.”

Bobby, who’s in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone, overhears the ongoing conversation and tilts his head in concern. The kid sounds wrecked.

“Sometimes it helps to talk about it.” Hen prods gently.

Buck chews on his bottom lip, nervous. He didn’t come here to unload his problems on his friends.

“You can talk to us.” Eddie says, reaching across the table to give his hand a quick squeeze. “You listen to my problems all the time--hell, I called you last week on your lunch break to yell about some asshole who cut me off in traffic.”

That manages to get a small smile out of Buck. “Ok, ok, I--” he takes a deep breath before starting. “I messed up.” he scrubs a hand over his face. Why hadn’t he seen it?

[bethhxrmon]

do flowers exist at night? -chapter seven

Chapter Seven: Hands Clean

Pairing: Steve Harrington x OC

Chapter Summary: After the initial shock of the events surrounding Halloween and the days after, Steve and Annie both start to realize they may be wrong about how to cope. Their friendship also manages to strengthen in the process

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of trauma, might be filler but I call it the beginnings of pining soooo

A/N: Hope you guys really liked this chapter because I thought it was a decent break from all that angst I lumped on pretty early into the fic. It would be fantastic if you guys could let me know your thoughts, I live for it! Anyways, you can find all the other chapters here!

~*~*~*~

Admittedly, Steve could have handled himself alone in the house long enough for Annie to go to school. However, when she pretended to be both her mom and his, he didn't stop her. Not until he was okay enough to drive.

How school would work was a question both of them asked. Steve's bruises were faded enough for Annie to try and cover them up with makeup. That was what she used almost too much of on the cut on her cheek. Sure, she could hide it with her hair, she already did that, but it wasn't enough for her. Nothing was really enough.

Being near Steve wasn't enough to stop her from reliving everything in her head. Besides, she eventually had to go back to her own house. It was safe and she was sure that Steve could use some alone time. Though, she couldn't stand the quiet of her house.

None of that stopped Steve from picking her up on a chilly Wednesday in November. Frost crunched under her boots instead of leaves. It was clear that nothing was going to stop time from passing. She wished it would pause just so she could catch up, but she wasn't sure that would be enough either.

Going back to school gave Annie the same twisted feeling in her gut as her first day. Maybe they found someone else to poke fun at or to joke with. She didn't have anything to defend herself with. Her switchblade was somewhere in the Byers’ house, but she hadn't asked anyone where it went.

"You ready?" Steve asked, looking at her.

Annie took a deep breath and nodded, "It's just school."

They both knew it was more than that. After a few days of hanging out, it became pretty clear when Annie decided to put on a front. Her back would straighten up a little bit too much and she would appear to tense up all over. It wasn't something Steve pointed out, and Annie assumed that he, of all people, would understand.

She could only imagine what seeing Nancy with another guy would be like for him. Though, a part of her wished that a broken heart was all she had to walk into. Seeing Billy was a reality she knew that she would just have to face. However, she tried to avoid it.

Since Steve was feeling better, she knew that she couldn't convince him to stay back. And maybe doing this with a friend would be easier for her. She wiped sweaty palms on her jeans before getting out of Steve's car.

It was going to be okay. That was what she kept telling herself on a loop. Just eight hours, seven if she took out lunch, and then she could go right back home. She could lose herself in a book or maybe try to catch up on some sleep she could never get enough of.

People stopped staring at Steve, and Annie wished that being shorter than him meant that she was safe too. Except it didn't. Nothing changed. There were stares boring into her as she walked to her first class. She didn't bother with her locker. That was something which obviously hadn't changed. Giving other students the satisfaction of walking up to it every day was the last thing she wanted to do.

There was a rumor going on about how Billy slept with her. It wasn't followed nearly as closely as everything with Steve a few days ago. Still, all of that led her to looking forward to lunch.

Sitting in the cafeteria was not an option. The first day back, they both sat in his car. They tried a few more places. By the end of the week, they were sitting in the auditorium. There was something about eating on a stage that calmed Annie a little and Steve was just glad it was empty.

"So what's going on there?" he asked, nodding at her copy of War and Peace.

Annie looked up at him, "Well... how do I explain this... there's this Pierre guy, and he kinda tied a bear to someone."

"What?!"

"In his defense, he was drunk?" she offered, laughing a bit.

Steve shook his head, "Didn't realize books like that were so interesting."

"You're kidding!"

"Every time I try the words don't really make sense or I get distracted by something else."

She nodded, "I get it. I mean, I'm sure you had a lot of other stuff going on."

"Not really. Come on, you lived in Seattle and New York. That's gotta be way more interesting. No wonder you didn't wanna talk to anyone," he chuckled.

"I didn't avoid everyone because I was trying to be pretentious. I gave up. There's a difference."

"What? How? You... you seemed pretty okay."

Annie sighed, "Well, you should've figured out I'm a fair actress by now. It wasn't like I had a say in whether or not I moved. I had to go with my mom or my dad, and well, my mom was the only decent option."

"Well, you can't say you don't have any friends now," Steve said, nudging her a bit.

Annie smiled a bit, "You've got me there."

"Could you read that part, though? With the bear?" he asked, "It just sounds like you're screwing with me."

She nodded, "Gladly, and I can tell you that I'm not screwing with you."

As Annie read the passage out loud, she couldn't help getting into it. Not wanting any of the details to seem boring, she tried her hardest to make all the characters sound different. Not that she would have needed to do that to keep Steve's attention. He looked at her so intently as she read. Of course, it wasn't anything she noticed since she was too caught up in what she was doing.

Lunch was the only real time Annie and Steve got a break from the school. Though, the only people who really cared about what they did were Tommy, Carol, and Billy. The perfect trio to constantly leave Annie feeling like she was going to vomit. 

Annie had to stop carrying her books around in her hands. That was something she learned when her copy of War and Peace got snatched from her hands. Tommy didn't have the strength to rip apart the hardcover book, but she didn't want to take any chances either.

"So is it true you fucked Hargrove?" Tommy asked, cornering her in the hall when she was a bit slow to get out of the school.

"No, I think that was you," she said, trying to think of a quick getaway.

Steve sauntered up to both of them, "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, just having a chat with your psychobitch slut of a girlfriend," Tommy replied.

Steve nodded, "Right, I think you're done having a chat."

"No, I'm pretty sure I was just getting started," Tommy insisted, starting to get closer to Steve.

Annie was quick to move away from Tommy and grab Steve by the wrist, "You know what? I think we're done here."

She led Steve out of the school, promptly letting go of his jacket. Something told her that wouldn't be the last time they had to deal with something like that. It was the weekend again, though, and Annie was relieved that she hadn't completely fallen apart while at school. Getting through a full week sounded like it was out of the question.

However, that wasn't on either of their minds when they were sitting in Steve's room again that Saturday. She looked through his closet and sighed.

"Is it that bad?" Steve asked, sprawled across the bed.

Annie tossed a shirt to the side, "I just didn't know anyone could own this many polos. How were you so popular again?"

"Hey! It's because I'm good with the ladies, duh," he said, "What're we listening to right now?"

She found yet another polo and turned to face him, "West Side Story, the most heartbreaking musical I've ever heard in my life."

"I don't get it."

"Well it'd make more sense if we watched it. They're meant to be watched, but I don't have it and Family Video had it rented out already," she tossed aside the eighth polo, "I don’t get why you have so many polos."

He shrugged, "My mom told me they looked good on me and Nancy never minded."

"Well... I don't mind it, just... have you ever thought about what you like?"

"A little? No one really asks me, though."

Annie sat on the edge of the bed, "Do you like having all those polos?"

"Not really... I don't care, though. Same thing with the room," he shook his head, "Do you even know what you like?"

She thought a moment before speaking, "It took a while, but yeah. I don't have anything in my closet that I don't like."

That was a lie. What she wore that night with the demodogs was something she hated now. A part of her wanted to burn it, but she used to love that flannel. But now, it reminded her of everything so much. Mainly what happened with Billy. Shouldn't she have gotten over that by now? She didn't talk to anyone about it after she broke down that one time. A part of her wasn't sure if Steve even remembered.

As helpful as he had been that night and the day after, she knew he wasn't at his best. It was a relief that he was, for the most part, okay in the first place. 

"How do you do that?"

She shrugged, "You try different stuff until you find what you like. And you'll know when you like something, trust me."

They stayed in silence for a little while, just listening as "America" played in the background. By all rights, Annie should have just been at her house. Her mom would be home tomorrow, but until then she didn't want to be alone in her house if she could help it. Though, she tried to stay the night at her own house.

Never mind how it had barely been a week and the only thing keeping her from losing it was that her cat would curl up in the middle of her bed with her. She didn't know how to go about talking about it. Though, if he wasn't going to comment on how she probably wasn't sleeping or eating much, then that was fine by her.

"So... what did happen with your parents, anyway?" he asked, "I mean, I get the cheating part, but my parents are still together and my dad’s not much better."

Annie stayed quiet for a few minutes as she tried to think about how to explain herself, "They tried making it work. We moved across the country so that could happen. My dad got a guy for a TA and everything. Still, they kept fighting and they wouldn't stop, and I was getting sick of it. I'm sure the neighbors were too, and I tried to get their attention. The only way I could do that was by talking about hurling myself off the roof of the apartment building."

"Shit... did you um... were you-"

"I didn't mean it, I was just frustrated," she said, thinking that was true, "But they agreed to go to family counseling. It just brought up all the problems my parents had and taught me that I was way more screwed up than I thought. We only went twice before my parents decided on the divorce."

Steve sat up, "That sounds awful."

"Yeah, it kinda was at the time... but my mom's doing the best she can and I appreciate that," she let out a long sigh.

He shook his head, "You shouldn't have had to do all that just for them to listen, though."

"Tell me about it."

"Hey, I know I'm not perfect, but you can talk to me about this stuff. Not that you have to tell me anything unless you really want to, but I just know that not talking about it ended up hurting Nancy a lot," he looked at his hands.

She nodded, "I know- but did it occur to you that I don't wanna talk about it? It's already bad enough just thinking about everything, talking about it? Forget it."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't know what you're normally like since we kinda met a couple days before everything went to shit but," he sighed, thinking of the right words, "But you don't seem right."

"And maybe I'm not, but that's not your problem. That's mine. Let me deal with that on my own time. It's a lot easier to just make fun of how preppy you are."

"Hey!" he tossed a pillow at her.

Annie laughed, feeling the pillow hit her side, "What? I'm right!"

Really, talking about anything else was easier. It wasn't that she wanted to make Steve worry about her, but she couldn't help reacting to everything the way she did. Besides, Annie knew that he wasn't reacting the best to it either. Though, there was a lot more than just demodogs that he had to go through. Losing the girl he still seemed to love had to take a lot out of him.

On the outside, it probably looked like she simply stuck around out of pity or for some form of social protection. Maybe there was some truth in that, but she genuinely thought that Steve was fun to hang out with. He was funny and kinder than he gave himself credit for. Obviously there was a part of her that knew if she didn't stick around with at least someone, she would end up being more of a victim to ridicule than she already was.

All of that pissed her off more than she cared to admit. A part of her really did wish Billy Hargrove were dead. The way he would look at her made her want to run to the bathroom and throw up for hours. What if she had actually tried to cut his throat? No, they would be in a bigger mess than they were already. There was no need to add murder to the mix.

She wanted him dead in almost the same way she wanted her dad dead when she found out he was cheating on her mom. It wasn't something she actually wanted to happen. Death was so final yet uncertain. Saying that she wished that she wanted someone to still be alive but never come near her in any way, shape, or form was a bit long-winded and less catchy. That was more accurate to what she wanted.

"I know you don't like it when people touch you," Steve said, changing the subject back.

Annie shrugged, "Is that such a bad thing?"

"No, but... but you're really specific with it. I don't need to know why, I just need to know what you're okay with. We're friends, I need you to at least explain that."

"Um... I mean, I don't know totally, it depends," she paused, "Like, being snuck up on? That's a huge no-go, obviously. I mean, it's not that I hate touch or anything, I just- I prefer to be the one touching someone else. Or if it's, like, one of the kids, that I have a way to get out of it easily. It's mostly with people I'm uncomfortable with. Like you, at first, but it just- it depends, I'm not sure how else to tell you."

He nodded, "That's fine, I just don't wanna end up hurting you on accident or, like, one of the kids or something."

"Well, since you asked me something super personal... do you think you're getting over Nancy at all?" she asked, moving so she was criss-cross on the bed.

Steve frowned, "I guess? Seeing her and Jonathan together sucks a bit less every day. It's only been a week, though. And I'm not dumb, I know she's liked him for a while. I just didn't want to admit it to myself. After what I did last year when I saw them sitting together, I didn't wanna be the asshole jumping to conclusions again. I thought if she didn't love me that she would say it when she was sober. I put in so much effort for her and she didn't even care."

Neither of them brought up how obvious it was that Nancy and Jonathan probably did something when they were off getting some Murray Bauman guy to help them. Annie wasn't going to say anything if Steve wasn't. A part of her thought he knew, but she didn't want to hurt him even more if he hadn't put it together.

"You know she didn't leave you because you were a shitty boyfriend, right?"

"Now that's bullshit."

Annie tossed the pillow in her lap right at Steve's face, "No, you're gonna listen to me. The only one who's bullshit here is Nancy. If she didn't love you, then she should've said so. You were obviously a great boyfriend. You went to her dead best friend's parents' house when you didn't even know them. And you let her go, if you were a shitty boyfriend, you wouldn't have done any of those things."

"That's nice, but I called her a slut and I didn't even really like her much at first."

"If all that bothered her, she could have stayed broken up with you after everything a year ago," she pointed out, "You made up for all that. Not everyone does, and you obviously love her."

They both sat there, not saying anything. Instead, they both just let the music play in the background. Annie knew that she didn't have feelings for Steve. For all the bad luck she had with guys, they were too good of friends for her to mess that up. Because of that, she couldn't let him get over Nancy on his own. And she knew that for as moody as Steve would get at times, he would have told her if he didn't want her around.

Taglist (lmk if you wanna be on it!): @dungeons-and-demodogs​ @nxncywheeler​ @ilovebucketbarnes​

[soldierallen]

Married 9

Summary: you're in love with Sebastian and you're one of his three best friends however he finds a women he loves and marries her.

Disclaimer: I have a Thanksgiving chapter that will be out a week after Thanksgiving YIKES I didn't time this right am sorry! Anyways heres the next chapter.

Warnings: none, probably some cursing, and arguing but that's usually what happens in this story, mentions of sex.

Part 8:

Three days, no phone call or text since the wedding from him Henry's been very supportive of the whole thing he said I look better and to be honest I feel better.. I wonder how sebastian's doing I think I should give him a call

"Stop I know what your thinking about" Henry said looking out the window eating food at my office this time, "what am I thinking about" she stabbed her food with a fork not really interested in eating lately, she did that often nothing filled the void nor food or sex nothing.

"You want to call him" he looked at his food and back at her and she stared at him from across the table "Henry" "no y/n! It's not your job!" He explained

"But if I want to pursue a relationship it should be-"

"Two sided?, well explain to me since the past three days has he called?" He threw a napkin onto the table waiting for her answer "no.."

"Texted?, a dm on Instagram? Maybe even a Facebook message?" She stayed silent "he never calls" he got up putting his hand on her shoulder "give up" he finally let the words out of his mouth, wanting to stay them for so long.

Give Up, give up the fight for a love that doesn't exist for a love that can't truly be fixed because it's one sided. She stood up "I know.." she had to stop feeling sorry for herself it's been years I think it's time to really give up for real this time, Henry was right and she knew he was it was just hard to actually stop everything and end it, a 14 year relationship down the drain..all because of a stupid wedding!

"I have to go, please don't call him"

She nodded her head knowing it was wrong knowing it needed to end once and for all.. he kissed her forehead "I'll see you tomorrow okay?" "Okay, uh text me when you get home so I know you're okay" he smiled with a small nod and went on his way, she saw Robert her boss about to knock on her door when she went to it opening it "Mr Downey how are you" she smiled, he gave her a nice smile back "hey were having a going away party for Martin, do you want to come? It's gonna be at my place" "I don't know I'm not feeling to well-" "y/n, please come" she felt bad to say no she just didn't feel like going she never felt like doing anything anymore.

She made an excuse, not really interested in going to a party she wasn't in the mood taking a nice wall home when she stumbled upon a bar... going in for a few drinks and a date possibly

×

She unlocked her door with the spare key that everybody used checking her mail taking the few pieces that she had in there, carrying them up the stairs she opened, reading some and finally getting to her door someone was laying by her apartment door she looked carefully

"sebastian?" He was asleep? Was he here all night?.. he slightly opened his eyes she unlocked her door "unfuckingbeilevable" she twisted the door knob letting herself in, he always has to fuck it up? I had one good night with some guy and he had to be at my house that morning?

"Y/n what time is it?" He said with a yawn stretching his body coming into her house "it's 6am on a Wednesday, what the hell are you doing here?" she slammed her door shut she had nothing to say to him, she started stripping off her clothes "I know your mad-"

"Mad? Oh mad is an understatement!, I'm fucking furious" her blouse on the floor, her heels off she was left in a bra and a skirt she went into her bedroom sebastian watched from her door

"I know I'm sorry for everything for messing up your life for everything it's my fault and I know I didn't know you wanted me" he lied, he tried so hard to not lie to her but it just slipped out

"Just because you had a bad childhood doesn't mean you could act like a prick whenever you want, you hurt people seb and for some odd reason you always choose me" She took off her skirt changing into sweatpants and a t shirt, she wasn't done with the argument that she felt erupting in her stomach

"I spent my whole life waiting for you, maybe one day he'll break up with Maggie and see I'm the one who truly cares for him, maybe one day he'll break up Ally and want me maybe one day he'll leave his cheating fiancé for me, Robbie amell had to stop the wedding and not the man who claimed he wanted me"

she left her bedroom facing him for the first time in a few minutes he was in her living room sitting on the couch his hands folded together his head down, once she walked into the room his head shot up

"If he didn't make his big fucking entrance I was doing it, I was going go take you by the hand and fucking leave y/n do you know how much it killed me?" He said pointing to himself "to see you leave with Henry that night when I knew I was suppose to leave with you that night I've never been so jealous of Henry in my whole life that he got to take you home"

"You should be jealous of Henry he's been there for me, and you aren't you never are and you know what -" he cut me off

"I love you I love you so fucking much that i spent years watching shit boyfriends break your heart and the next day I wanted to beat the shit out of them for breaking your heart, making you feel unimportant you've always meant the most to me don't you even think for a minute I stopped caring I never did and I never will you're a part of me y/n." His voice was loud at first and than became so soft, she loved him, however she couldn't take hurting anymore and take Henry's words 'Give up'

She folded her arms over each other on her chest looking across at him he was farther away he kept walking one step closer trying to reach her

"I love you, how many times am I going to say it I've never loved any other women the way I love you the connection is so core deep I feel it I feel the electricity running through my veins just hearing you speak, give me one more shot we need this one time" he grabbed her hand putting it on his heart "I want you"

"i think i should let us go for real this time, take these pictures down throw away the vase give you back your shit and take you out of my life, all you've ever done to me was make me feel I was never good enough like I never had a place in your life, yeah I never felt left out of your life but there was never a place for me in the beginning"

"I'm not leaving until we fix this I don't want to fight with you I want to resolve this" he said he was calmer than before, she let out a shaky breath not even knowing what to say what's gonna fix this? Absolutely nothing.

There was a knock on the door, she looked at sebastian and he nodded at her to open the door

"You never called me last night when I texted you I got worried" Henry said, his deamour turned as soon as he saw sebastian, he got a protective look on his face and a stare that meant what is he doing here, kinda like a "did you call?" And she nodded no

"I'll tell you everything later." She tried to calm down however she was getting more nervous having both men in the same room with each other when Henry was angry at sebastian for ghosting her

"No he needs to go" Henry walked Into the house "I came to apolgize what are you two fucking behind my back" sebastian said it startled the both of them

"guys please don't do this" she tried to be calm and then that's when the two started bickering she tried to make them both stop and they wouldn't what would throw them off?

"IM PREGNANT" both men stopped and looked at her with wide eyes "I'm not pregnant but you both need to fucking stop arguing I'm tired of arguing" she said

"We're gonna act like adults and settle this" she went into her kitchen and pulled out a quarter in her cookie jar, she never put cookies in it only change and buttons? Why did she have so many buttons.

"Alright heads or tails" she said

"Tails" sebastian said

"Yeah because you're a rat" Henry said

"Henry" she said in a voice that only a mother would use

"Okay" he backed off, she flipped the coin and it landed on heads

"Henry make your argument no interruptions." She sat down on her couch right next to sebastian ready to listen to Henry's argument.

"You've used us, played us, and haven't supported any of us in the things were doing." Henry said, he nodded

"You know y/n's getting really close to being chief executive?, you know Anthony's daugther is the best player on her team? did you know that Chris and jennie are planning to have kids soon? Not after the wedding but right now as we speak" Henry was trying to calm his self to actually say everything he's wanted to say since months

"You're not in our lives anymore and you expect everyone to forgive you because we "know" you? I can't do it anymore, sebastian I'm a 25 year old man that can't handle bullshit excuses anymore" he air quoted "know" because well we don't know him anymore, the person we knew left? He isn't himself he knows and hes trying to fix it sebastian let a breath to say something when Henry stopped him with a hand "I waited for months, for an apology from you for the shit you put me through the invitations and the writing speeches and and just everything.. I got a phone call that night from you asking if you should apologize to y/n" she knew, she knew everything Henry was going to say he was right.

"Didn't you know in your right God damn mind that she was the FIRST person you should've called to apolgize to, and you didn't you asked ME didn't apolgize to me but asked me if you should apologize?" Henry was getting angry "Henry" she put a warm comforting hand on his bicep

"I have so much to say and I'm just so in my head" he sat down on the couch opposite of them and y/n went over to him she put her head on his shoulder "it's okay" she rubbed his arm "say it with love in your voice and not anger, you love him I do to" she said in a low voice

"I know what I did I don't expect anyone to forgive me I'm trying" Sebastian tried to sympathize looking at the both of them "make your argument" y/n said, Henry was getting super stressed out laying back and looking towards sebastian "don't lie or make any shit excuses I'll know" Henry said he took his hand and rubbed his forehead ready to hear sebastian.

"You're an asshole did I lie there?" Sebastian said Henry threw a pillow at him forcefully "start talking dickhead" sebastian's reflexes moving fast enough for him not to get hit and he smiled, he sild the silver ring off his right hand holding it in their eye view "if you never gave me this ring I don't think I would of ever realized how much you all mean to me, Henry specifically without you I wouldn't of gotten through this year without all of you including Chris and Anthony who aren't here on a Wednesday at 7am in y/n's apartment" he shallowed thickly watching the two people he cared about stare at him in depth having all ears & eyes on him.

"Henry I'm sorry I am, i promise to be in everyone's lives again and fix all of our relationships it may take months maybe even years but I'll try my best, i'll really try for all four of you" he sild the ring back on his finger "I want you both to forgive it will take time I know I just need reassurance that you both will forgive me one day" here it was sebastian. Finally got to core of all of our problems

Apologizes.

I don't think anyone ever understands what it takes to apolgize to someone you love, time out of your day to apolgize to the people who love you & support you all the time it takes courage because you know you were the wrong one the one who started it the one who made these situations he knows and hes genuinely sorry I don't think the two could ask for more from him

"We'll think about it" Henry said as a joke still holding onto y/n's thigh, sebastian wasn't too fond of that he shallowed thickly joining in conversation with the two but he just couldn't keep his eyes off Henry's movements with her she was this person Henry had to touch and protect it felt so different for him because Henry was never this close with y/n before, it was a lot of flirting & playing around Henry always had girlfriends and this is the longest Henry's been single for a while....is he falling for her two? His brain starting a wildfire in his mind.

An hour passed of talking together, sebastian went home leaving Henry and y/n alone, sebastian didn't even know how to feel hes trying to mend his relationships with everyone but he thinks he's now losing his chance with y/n because of Henry he asked once and he didn't get an answer, he wasn't going to ask a second time, life was weighing on him once again maybe it's over for real this time he felt it he kind of knew it to.

"What am I gonna do" she looked at the television from across her home, Henry laid his head in her lap her hands mindlessly touching his hair, he loved the feeling "Thanksgiving is coming, is he the person you want to take?"

Her mind leaving her no choice but to not answer.

×

Tagged @hiddlestonstansworld @lovely-geek @imcalledflorence @misz-adrii @escapistdreamer-wishfulthinker @someplxce @cuddlesforlashton @coffeebooksandfandomsohmy @weasley16 @ilovethewayyourheartbeats @vogueworthy-barnes @xeniarocks @thisismysecrethappyplace @racheo91 @gravedollie666 @inlovewith3 // if anyone wants to be untagged or tagged please leave a message ty♡ also I do not own any gifs or images of any kind.

[d-noona]

MAKE OVER

Chapter 8: Saturday Night

Jung Hoseok x Reader

Reader as Kang Hyeonji

SUMMARY: When Kang Hyeonji transformed herself into a striking redhead, the entire male population of Seoul stood up and took notice. But her make over was for Jung Hoseok’s benefit alone. He began to show interest in the new look but not in the way she wanted. Suddenly he was over-protective, perhaps a little jealous. It seemed that the idea of having a relationship with her couldn’t be further from his mind. The girl however wants more. So it was time for an ultimatum. If Hoseok didn’t want Hyeonji to lose her virginity to another admirer, he had no option but to make love to her himself.

Hyeonji could not concentrate on her work. How could she, with Choon Hee besieging her with suggestions from the moment she arrived at work on Monday morning and spied the newly made-over Hyeonji.

Choon Hee's main advice was directed at Hyeonji's choice of clothing for the big night. The trouble was, she changed her mind every day. On Monday she insisted Hyeonji buy black. Lace, preferably. Black lace was so-o-o sexy!

Hyeonji didn't think she could carry off black lace and told Choon Hee as much. So on Tuesday Han Byeol came to the office and butted heads with Choon Hee, they now moved into getting Hyeonji a red satin...before they realised red would clash horribly with Hyeonji's new hair color.

From Wednesday to Friday the girls went through every possible color in the rainbow, plus every possible style from strapless and sexy to tight and slinky, then finally to white and virginal.

This last, desperate idea was an attempt at reverse psychology, since Tinashe would never dress in such fashion. Hyeonji was glad to leave work on Friday afternoon, having informed her avid friends thay she would simply buy something that suited and flattered her. Choon Hee had pulled a face before pressing the solemn promise from Hyeonji that she would finally wear the perfume she and Han Byeol got for her on her birthday.

"And buy yourself some drop earrings," had been Han Byeol's last hurrah. "I was watching this body language expert on television the other day and he said dangling earrings projected highly sexual messages on some subtly primitive basis. Apparently there's this tribe in Africa where women stretch their earlobes with heavy rings and weights. The ones with the longest earlobes are considered the sexiest, so the longer the earrings the better."

Choon Hee laughed out loud yet nodded to have Hyeonji wear some drop earrings for more appeal. Hyeonji had sighed and agreed to wear long, dangling earrings as well as the perfume.

Saturday dawned slightly overcast but the sun came out during Hyeonji's short train trip up to the shopping center. The forecast that morning had predicted twenty-eight degrees, average for their small little town in March. Fortunately, the humidity was low so Hyeonji would mot have to worry about perspiration ruining whatever dress she bought.

She arrived just as the shops opened, her mother's gift of five hundred and forty-five dollars tucked safely in her purse. Four hours later her mission was finally accomplished, and her purse was pretty empty. Hyeonji could hardly contain her excitement on the train ride home, hugging the parcels on her lap.

She would never have thought she could look so good, or sexy. Of course, it was to be seen what Hoseok would think of her, but she could never reproach herself for not pulling out all the stops. She hurried home from the station, puffing a little as she struggled up hill with her bags. It was one thirty and Hoseok's car was nowhere in sight. His mother was, though, Mrs Jung waving from where she was attending to her pot-plants on the front porch.

"Been shopping for tonight dear?" She called out, her smile bright just like her son. Hyeonji was grateful to stop for a minute. "Yes, Mrs Jung. I've been very extravagant," she confessed rather breathlessly. "New dress. New shoes. New everything, actually."

"Oh you must come in and show me. I'd love to see them," says Mrs Jung. Hyeonji hesitated, then glanced back down the hill. She didn't want to be caught by Hoseok coming home. She didn't want him to see her today until she was ready.

"Don't worry," Mrs Jung said "Hobi's not due. He has to work all day today. He just rang to say he'd get ready down and arrive straight to your place. Come in. You can have a cool drink while you're at it. You look hot."

Hyeonji was hot, but it wan't from the shopping. Suddenly, tonight was all too real. It was also her last chance. If nothing came tonight with Hoseok then she would give up all hope. Total failure was less than a few hours away.

"What lovely dress!" Mrs Jung exclaimed when Hyeonji drew the silk bit of nothing out of the bag. Mrs Jung held up the clothing "Oh yes, that's just the thing." She chuckled delightedly.

"You're certainly going to make that boy of mine sit up and take notice in that dress, aren't you my dear?" Hyeonji's eyes rounded at Hoseok's mother, who gave her a softly knowing smile in return. "You think I haven't guessed all these years that you're in love with my son?"

"I...I..."

"You don't have to say a thing. Just listen. Hoseok does not love Tinashe. She is, however, a beautiful and clever girl who panders to his not inconsiderable ego and knows exactly how to handle him." Hyeonji was all ears as Hoseok's mother went on. She'd been riveted from the moment Mrs Jung had said Hoseok didn't love Tinashe.

"I know my son very well, Hyeonji. I know his strengths and weaknesses. Basically, he is a good, kind, loving boy, but he has an obsessive workaholic personality with a one-track mind. I'm sure you've seen evidence of this yourself. I used to have to set an alarm clock next to his computer to get him to school reasonably on time. When he becomes absorbed in a project nothing can distract him, not even his male needs, which I might add are as strong as any other normal red-blooded man's."

This wasn't any news to Hyeonji. She'd seen the trail of girlfriends, all of them not exactly the types you just talked to on a date.

"You think Hoseok has only ever been attracted to the most beautiful girls," his mother went on. "That he's like a moth drawn only to the brightest of flames."

"Well, his girlfriends have all been stunners, Mrs Jung." Hyeonji pointed out.

"True. So I suppose if I said it was their personalities which won him you would be sceptical?" Mrs Jung chuckled.

Hyeonji laughed.

"I understand your cynicism. Nevertheless, what I am saying is true. The only girls who've attracted Hobi have been the ones who had enough confidence in themselves to break through his absent-minded nature and force him to notice them. I have no doubt most of them approached him first, made none too subtle passes and flirted with him outrageously in order to win him away from his other, all-consuming passion."

"Naturally, the only girls who have such a degree of confidence are usually very beautiful ones which gives them that added edge. Once they have Hoseok's attention, they have the equipment to ensnare his sexual desire as well. Even so, he usually tires of them rather quickly. Either that or they themselves become frustrated with his tendency to forget dates, and they leave the relationship of their own accord."

Hyeonji intensely listening and nodding to every word Mrs Jung had to tell her, felt like having a fairy god mother by her side.

"Tinashe, however, has hung in there. I think she must be very good in bed. I also think she knows Hoseok's net worth and wants to hitch her wagon to a star. I suspect this so-called trial separation is suppose to frustrate Hoseok enough for him to agree to marry her. I don't know if it will work. I sincerely hope not, because she does not love my son and it will make him miserable in the end. He doesn't believe in divorce, you see. Hoseok needs someone who truly loves and understands him. In short , Hyeonji, he needs you."

Hyeonji was speechless.

"You have the perfect opportunity to put a spanner in Tinashe's work tonight, my dear," Mrs Jung continued in a conspiratorial voice. "But you must be bold. And daring. Make him notice you, in more ways than one. Flirt with him. Let him know you want him. You do want him don't you?"

All Hyeonji could do was nod.

"Then go after him, with as much cunning and ruthless as Tinashe did. In short SEDUCE him."

Seduce him?

Hyeonji went home with those daunting words ringing in her ears. How did an inexperienced virgin seduce a man like Jung Hoseok? According to his own mother, he'd had coubtless sexy, beautiful women do just that and do it superbly! What chance did she, Kang Hyeonji, have?

Made-over she might be, but that was only a skin-deep transformation. Inside, she was still a quiet, reserved kind of girl. Basically, she was not bold. Or daring.

Okay, so she'd spoken up for herself a few times recently, but only in private and with people she knew well. The thought of openly flirting with Hobi in a very public place at a well-attended formal dinner sent frenetic butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

At six-thirty she still found those butterflies still in full flight. Yet her reflection in the dressing-table mirror went some way boosting that confidence Hoseok's mother had insisted she find. Outrageously long, the green crystal drops hung nearly to her shoulders, swaying seductively whenever she moved. They've been worth every cent of the fifty dollars they'd cost.

"Oh Hyeonji, you look gorgeous."

Hyeonji swung around at her mother's voice, the A-line skirt of her dark green silk dress flaring out before settling into more discreet folds against her thighs. Not that a skirt that short could ever be discreet. It ended a good five inches above her knees. When combined with the four-inch heels of her strappy, bronze-colored Jimmy Choo's shoes she looked all leg.

"Do you think so, Mom?" Hyeonji was desperate of reassurance, her own eyes not to be trusted. Zil's admiring gaze traveled from her daughter's shimmering hair, down to her perfectly made-up face, past the flamboyant earrings and finally to the little sexy dress which showed off Hyeonji's recently reshaped curves to perfection.

The low, scooped neckline hinted at a very adequate and perfectly natural cleavage, the tight bodice nipped-in waistline showing that Hyeonji could rival Scarlett Johanssen in the hourglass figure department, and with out the help of a corset.

"Turn around," her mother said. "Let me see the back again."

Hyeonji did so a little tentatively. She knew the lace-up back was daring, exposing a deep section of creamy flesh right down her back to her waist. This was part of the style of course, but it precluded the wearing of bra, even a strapless one. The only underwear Hyeonji had on, in fact, was an expensive set of lace silk panties.

Hyeonji turned back to find her mother frowning slightly. "What's wrong?" She asked, panicking. "Do you think the neckline is too bare? Should I wear a necklace instead of these earrings?"

Zil smiled reassuringly. "Not at all. Those earrings are perfect. No. I was just hoping everything turns out right for you tonight."

Hyeonji scooped in a steadying breath. "I do too..."

Zil came forward to take her daughter's hands in hers. "Whatever happens, you look absolutely beautiful."

"Thank you Mom." Hyeonji smiled at her mother fondly.

"You smell lovely too. What's that perfume you're wearing?" Zil tilts her head in curiosity. "It's the one Choon Hee and Han Byeol have me for my birthday. It's called....SEDUCTRESS."

Zil's eyebrows shot up. Mother and daughter looked at each other, then laughed. "Let's hope it has a secret ingredient," Hyeonji said, shaking her head ruefully, "because I think I'm going to need it."

"You'll do fine my love. Just be your sweet lovely self and Hoseok will be enchanted." Now Hyeonji felt confused. She had Hoseok's mother telling her to be a vamp, her own advising the natural approach she had an awful feeling neither would work. The only time she'd had a real response from Hobi was when he'd been jealous of Mr X.

Maybe that was the way to go. Mr X had been very useful so far...Hyeonji had been speculating on how shw could use Mr X to further advantage tonight when the doorbell rang. Her stomach immediately crampedm oh, dear heaven.

"That will be Hoseok," her mother whispered. "I won't come to the door. Say I'm in the bath or something. If he has those papers for me, just put them on the hall table. Oh and don't worry about how late ypu get home. I won't. In fact i won't worry too much if you don't come home at all."

Hyeonji's hazel brown eyes rounded at this amazingly broad-minded mother she'd suddenly acquired. "Mum," she said. "I'm shocked but I love you for being so understabding. Still, I think you'll find I'll be home soon after midnight like a good little Cinderella."

"I don't know about that," Zil said wryly with another glance at her striking-looking daughter. "Now off you go," she added when the doorbell rang the second time.

Hyeonji picked up the bronze clutch purse which matched her shoes and made her way carefully downstairs, taking her time lest she trip over in her new high heels. Be confident, she kept telling herself as she approached the front door. And bold. And daring.

Schooling her face into a cool smile, she swung open the door, prepare to accept Hoseok's surprised admiration as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Unfortunately, she hadn't prepared herself for being confronted with Hoseok standing there looking blistering handsome in a superbly tailored black dinner suit.

Most men looked good when dressed in a tux.

Hoseok however was breath taking.

She stood there in speechless admiration of his beauty and missed his initial reaction to her own appearance by the time she recovered sufficiently to look into his eyes he was shaking his head at her with a mildly rueful reproach.

"I can see this is going to be a long and difficult night."

Hyeonji was taken aback. Did he like the way she looked or not? "What do you mean?"

"You know very well what I meant you minx, my God, are you wearing any underwear at all under that excuse of a dress?" Hoseok says.

Hyeonji blushed and bristled at the same time "I'm only following your suggestions. You told me you don't like women who wear pants."

His shocked brown eyes zoomed to where the hem of her skirt ended at mid-thigh. Hyeonji rolled her own eyes. "That's not what I meant. I do have pantyhose on with built in panties," she said dryly. "I was talking about my wearing a dress and not pants suit."

"Oh, that's a dress you're almost wearing, is it? I thought it was a left-over from a lingerie party." Hoseok added furiously.

"Very funny. Truly, Hobi, you're acting like some over-protective big brother, though I don't know why. You never have before." Hyeonji getting all frustrated as Hoseok answers back. "Well you've never looked like THIS before."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?" She replied. "It could be a damned problem." Says Hoseok.

"I don't see how," she said airily. But she wasn't as thick as she was making out, and the reality of Hoseok's brooding reactions thrilled her to bits. He was perturbed by how she looked. And really jealous of any other man she might attract tonight.

His own mother's words popped into her mind. "Go after him, with as much cunning and ruthless as Tinashe did..."

"So," Hyeonji went on, twirling around and mercilessly pretending she had no idea of the effect the back of the dress would have on him. "Will I knock 'em dead at dinner?"

"I don't know about the others," he growled, grabbing her wrist to stop her from twirling around again "but I'm in my grave already."

She feigned a flustered frown. "But I'm not talking about you, Hobi. I was thinking of all those successful and possibly available businessmen at this dinner night."

Hoseok glared at her. "So that's why you changed your mind about partnering me tonight? Because you want to parade yourself for other men's eyes, like you're in some kind of meat market?"

"Well...I wouldn't put it quite crudely. And I'm really only interested in ONE man's eyes." Hyeonji only meant she wasn't the sort of girl who played the field, but immediately Hoseok took it the wrong way.

"One man?" He frowned, then scowled. "Oh my God. Don't tell me your infernal Mr X is going to be in this bloody dinner tonight!" He bit out.

Hyeonji tried not to color guiltily, but failed. For the first, the use of Mr X had backfired on her. "Damn it Hyeonji!" Hoseok exploded. "You should have told me."

"Why? Would you have refused to take me if I'd said he was going to be there?" She asked, even while her mind raced Mr X simply had to be disposed of once and for all, she decided he'd been very useful up till now, but suddenly he was beginning to get in the way.

Hoseok opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut again. "It's and irrelevant question anyway," Hyeonji went on swiftly. "Because Mr X is NOT going to be there. Mr X has been wiped from the planet from this moment onward. I've decided to take your advice Hobi, and move on. This is me moving on. Now, do you think WE might move on and get going? Or do you want to be late and make a grand entrance?"

"With moving-on-Hyeonji by my side?" He mocked. "Heck, no. I'd prefer to slink in the back door."

"There's no pleasing you tonight, is there?" She snapped as she stepped outside and banged the door shut behind her. "I only did everything you told me to do. I happen to think I look very nice."

Hoseok gripped her nearest elbow and began urging her along the path. It set her crystal earrings swinging, along with her unfettered breasts. She kept her eyes straight ahead but had a feeling Hobi was staring daggers at her highly mobile bust. She hadn't realized till that moment what substantial movement did to bra less breasts. Ones of her size, that was.

"Nice is a very ineffectual word to describe how you look tonight" Hoseok muttered. Hyeonji extracted her arm from his grip once they reached the passenger door of his car. "So how would you describe how I look?" She challenged.

His brown eyes blazed as he yanked open the door and waved her inside. Not a word passed his lips while she lowered herself into the seat, but his eyes spoke volumes when they dropped to take note of the way her skirt rode up dangerously high when she sat down.

"Provocative" he snarled at last, then banged the door shut.

"Good" she snapped back, once he'd settle himself behind the wheel. "That's exactly the look i was looking for tonight."

Hyeonji dropped her purse into her lap, noting with some dismay that the smallish bag covered almost half of the minuscule skirt. Had she gone too far with the dress? She wanted to attract Hoseok, not revolt him. She'd had no idea he could be such a prude. He certainly wasn't around Tinashe. Good God, some of the gear that girl wore was downright disgusting.

Still...at least she did have his attention that was something. Pulling the seat belt out, she was in the process of buckling herself into place when Hoseok's hand shot out and gripped her chin she gasped when he wrenched her face around this way, then gasped again when his mouth was suddenly covering hers.

His lips pressed down hard, insistent in their demand for surrender she yielded more from shock than any immediate passion. Her lips fell apart again his tongue plunged deep into her mouth. Her whimpering moan seemed to snap him back to the reality pf his quite savage kiss, for his head whipped back abruptly, his eyes widening. She just stared at him, the back of her left hand coming up to cover her still stunned mouth.

He groaned and shook his head, clearly appalled at himself. "I'm sorry Hyeonji. I don't know what got into me." Hyeonji didn't believe him. He knew darned well why he'd done what he'd done. By adopting ignorance of his very male actions he was throwing the ball in her court. How she acted now would set the tone for the whole evening.

Her hand trembling slightly, she removed it from her mouth and reached out towards him, letting it come to a shaky rest against his cheek. She twisted and leaned towards him till her mouth was only inches away from his. "I'm not," she whispered, and made the momentous decision to close those inches.

His shock was even greater than hers had been. For a few excruciating moments his mouth froze under kiss. Hyeonji hesitated herself. Good God, if he wrenched his mouth away, what would she do? Impossible to laugh it off. She would utterly be crushed.

Don't be tentative, came the voice of desperation. Be bold! Be daring!

She lifted her mouth from his and smiled. "What's the matter, Hobi? Haven't you been kissed back by a girl before?"

He didn't say a word, just kept staring at her as if she were a stranger. Sighing, she dropped her hand away from his face and settled herself back in the passenger seat. If nothing else, she'd taken the initiative and salvaged her pride.

"It's not that," he growled as he fired the engine. "Let's be honest, Hyeonji. It's not me you really want to be kissing anyway is it? Look I won't say you're not a temptation, looking as you look tonight. But might I also remind you that I'm supposed to be getting back with my girlfriend tomorrow? I don't like complications in my life, and if I don't watch you might become a complication. So let's just keep our old status quo going, if you don't mind. We're good friends. Nothing more. I'm sorry I kissed you just now. I promise you it won't happen again."

Hyeonji bit her bottom lip and turned her face away to stare through the passenger window. Her immediate response to Hoseok's words was to sink back into herself and oblivion. Underneath, she'd expected failure, hadn't she? Game, set and match to Tinashe.

But is seemed her new appearance had imbued her with more confidence in herself that she would ever have believed. Or maybe it was everyone else's confidence in her. Whatever, her mind gradually turned more positive, clinging to the fact that Hoseok hadn't mentioned Tinashe as his first excuse for backing away. His initial withdrawal had been because he thought she didn't really want to be kissing him. He mistakenly thought he was just a substitute for Mr X.

Hyeonji's frustration was acute. She heartily wished she'd never invented Hoseok's mysterious alter ego. She toyed with telling Hoseok the truth during the tensely silent drive down to the event. That he was Mr X, that she was crazy about him and would do anything for him.

But by the time Hoseok turned into the club car park ten short minutes later she'd abandoned that idea. It smacked too much desperation and would send any man running the opposite direction. No, her mission tonight was to seduce Hoseok, not openly declare her undying devotion.

Tomorrow several hours away and she aimed to make the most of them. Now, what worked best for her this past week or so?

Jealousy...

Not over Mr X this time, she decided. Over some other man. Hyeonji hoped and prayed there would be a suitable candidate at this dinner tonight, and that he would find her as provocative as Hoseok had...

Chapter 09

Masterlist

[callmemrscurtis]

Beautiful, you have no idea how long I've wanted this

Requested by: anon (thank you for waiting, love)

 Prompt: "You're so beautiful", "You have no idea what you do to me", "I've wanted this for so long" 

 Word count: 2542 (it’s a lot longer than I expected it to be)

 Warnings: Cursing, Cringe prompt-mashup title,  

 Dallas Winston. I've heard a few things, been warned, told not to get involved with him. Now, sometimes I let other people's opinions get in the way and others? Well, other times I prove them wrong. Lucky me, I took my chances with him and it got me to this point. 

Dally caught up to me on the street. I was speed-walking trying to get somewhere, anywhere but near him. I know, I'm not sounding so lucky right now but just hear me out. 

 He reached for my arm and I immediately pulled away from his grasp, "Don't touch me!" 

 "Y/n, just...let me explain!" We had both started off yelling. It was a fight, making a scene. 

 "I don't want to hear what you have to say, Dallas. Move on." 

 "I'm sorry, y/n. I screwed up but you've got it all wrong." I sighed heavily and turned around fighting the urge to scream. 

 I closed my eyes, attempting to calm down. "You have thirty seconds." 

 "I need two minutes." He looked desperate but I didn't care. 

 "You better cram all that into the remaining twenty-five seconds." He went to grab my hand and I pulled it away. 

 "But." 

 He was pleading, "Twenty-three." 

 "Fair enough." He licked his lips and looked up at me. Dally took a deep breath wasting two more seconds of his precious time. He usually talks pretty slow so I didn't expect him to get through very much. "Look, what you saw back there. That wasn't me. I- I didn't know you were coming-" 

 That made me angry, real angry. "So that's an excuse to criticize me in front of your friends? Tell them about my insecurities? Things I told you in the privacy of-" I took a deep breath because I felt the tears burn my eyes and the back of my throat felt strained. I heard the change in my voice. "You know what, forget it. You'd never understand. You're never going to change."

 "Y/n-" 

 "No! Tonight was a mistake. Being with you was a mistake, a huge one. We're done." I started walking away. 

 "Let me finish, doll face!" I whipped my head around for one last response. 

"Your time is up." With that, I stormed off. He didn't come after me and I didn't look back. I thought was the end I really, really did.

For a while I just stopped hanging out with the guys. Then, I ran into Two-Bit at the store and he told me Dally hadn't been coming over either and I was always welcome. It's not that I thought that they'd hate me because Dallas had introduced them to me while we were dating because that's not what I thought. I knew the boys were my friends too I just didn't want Dallas to be around and to make things awkward or for him to try to get me back. The truth is, I missed him but there was no doubt in my mind that I deserved better than for Dallas Winston to tell others my dirty laundry. Especially when he only felt remorse when because he got caught. 

 I was looking through the beauty section of the drugstore when Two-Bit approached me. "Hey, y/n." I turned around after making a few scrunched up facial expressions. 

 I opened my mouth to say something but I couldn't so I dropped the foundation I was l looking at and gently pushed past him. Instantly, I regretted it but I had no clue what to say so I kept walking. 

 "Hey, wait." He gently placed his arm on my shoulder. "It's okay. I'm not here to talk about Dallyas. I wanted to tell you we think you to come around sometime." He let out a small, quiet laugh. "Turns out ol', Dally had the same idea. Haven't seen him in weeks." 

 I stared at him with a hopeless look, "Hey, listen. It was real nice talkin' to ya but I gotta get running. I have um-" to think of a lie that he'll believe. “Practice.”

  "No ya don't, y/n. I know you. Tennis on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from four-thirty to six and on Tuesday and Saturday you have soccer practice from three thirty to seven because you didn't have time to take an extra day so you stay an extra hour and fourth five minutes after all the other girl and after tennis Monday and Friday you go straight to play practice." I was stunned I didn't know he memorized my schedule especially not the reason why I stay late some days. 

 "Yeah. I know...it's been that way since I was eleven." I thought I had won.

 "Darlin', you must be mistaken. Today is Thursday. Your day off, the one your mom forced you to take because she doesn't want you to strain yourself. It's not in the middle of the week to destroy the active mindset but just late enough that you don't tire out on Friday." There was no point in lying anymore. 

 I shook my head, disappointed I tried to lie to Two-bit. Of course he'd see right through me we're so close, "Two-" I turned around and hugged him as hard as I could. 

 He hugged me back, "I missed you." 

 "I missed you too." I said pretty much in tears. 

 He pulled back, holding my shoulders. "Come over tonight?"

 "Deal." He pulled me back into a hug and then walked me home. 

 I walked up onto the porch of the Curtis house. I didn't knock, nobody ever does. The boys all got up and hugged me, told me they missed me and that they were so excited to have me back. I smiled, thanked them and told them I missed them too. It felt good to see everyone. All was right with the world. 

 That all came crashing down when Dallas walked around the corner, arms open with a smile on his face. "Hey, baby. Good to have you back." He rose his eyebrows "Come here." 

 I backed up to the screen door horrified that they managed to trick me. I knew I should've trusted my instincts when I second-guessed showing up. "No, I-I don't want to talk to you." I stumbled around turning to the door. "I can't believe you guys lied to me. Two-bit lied to me."

 Steve jumped forward, "Aw, Come on, y/n...it's not like that." 

 "No, I think it is. I'm just gonna go home. I'll see you guys later." I didn't have any intentions of coming back I felt betrayed. 

 I pushed the door out with all the boys protesting, "I'll walk you." It was Dallas.

 "No! I mean...no that's fine it's not gonna be dark for an hour I'll get home in six or seven minutes I'll manage." That's when I noticed how concerned all the boys were. 

 "It's been weeks, we need to talk... clear things up, doll. Go back to the way things used to be." Dally walked toward me but I just pushed the door again. 

When Darry spoke up, "Lay off her, Dal." 

 "Yeah. Come on, I'll walk you." Soda gave me a weak smile. I felt better, accepting his offer. 

 As we walked, Sodapop tried his best to stay off the topic of Dallas but he failed. I tried to not get mad at him because his heart was in the right place. "Look, Dally's awful sorry you heard what you heard but the truth is you just came at the wrong time."

 "Look, its really sweet you're looking out for your friend but I'm not up for this conversation. Dally really hurt my feelings and I can't get over that. It's incredibly insulting that you're on his side but the gang is the gang I get it. The boys always come first.

 Soda put his arm out in front of me and turned to face me, "Y/n, you really do have it all wrong." 

 “Ya know, I’m getting awful tired of people telling me that.” He tried to speak but I kept talking. "I'm sorry...I have it wrong? I have it wrong? Really?" I shook my head, I was offended that he was trying to convince me that all the shit I heard Dally talking didn't mean anything. 

 "Yes. This entire thing is a huge mix it and I love you and Dally way too much to see your relationship end on a misunderstanding." 

 "Misunderstanding, huh? Explain it to me then. I want to understand." No, I didn't plan on timing him.

 "I'd love to, doll but it's not my place. Only Dallas can tell you." 

 "YOU'RE WALKING ME HOME! I don't want to talk to Dallas, he said everything he had to say and I don't have anything else to say to him so just... drop it. Okay?"

 "Please. Give him another chance." Sodapop begging me to do something? Now, that's interesting. Normally girls are begging him to give them a chance.

 "Fine but if and when it inevitably crashes and burns, you owe me a sundae."

 "YES!" He threw his fist in the air. "And it's a promise." We shook on it and turned around. Just a few minutes later I was on the same walk with Dallas. 

 "I'm giving you this second chance so don't ruin it." He nodded. 

 A smile spread across his face, I motioned for him to talk. "What? No time limit?" He laughed. 

 I took a few quick steps with my hands up in the air "You know what-" He ran after me.

 "Hey, hey, hey! Where ya going?" What did he expect? 

 "I'm giving up, Winston." He took a deep breath. 

 "Alright, alright. When you came around that day...the boys brought up concerns that had." I was confused.

 "Concerns? What concerns?"

 "...about us." Oh, great he was spilling all my secrets I was mortified. Every single thing I had ever told him was running through my mind, every secret was on the line.

 "It's not up to the boys to tell you how they don't think I'm right for you and it's never up to you to share personal information. If they don't like me, why don't they say it to my face instead of acting like we're best buddies?" I sighed. 

 "Y/n, they-"

 "And if we're such good friends why can't they come talk to me? You guys all just talk shit about me behind my back, huh? Is that it?" I wanted to cry.

 "Y/n!"

 I screamed in the middle of the street, "You can go tell Two-Bit I don't need his pity friendship. He doesn't give a damn about me. None of you do!" 

 "Y/N!" 

 "WHAT DO YOU WANT, DALLAS?" 

 "THEY WANTED TO TELL ME THEY WERE CONCERNED ABOUT HOW I WAS ACTING." He had both hands pointed to his chest. "Okay? Not you."

 I didn't know what to say, "Oh." He shrugged. 

 "I love you, I don't want to fight. We were talking about that night I came home drunk and the next day you were super pissed because I didn't call you."

 "I was only so mad because I'm always terrified that something is going to happen to you. I know you say you can take care of yourself but you're not exactly a saint." Dally looked down at me, eyebrows raised. 

 "Yeah...I know. I told them what happened and they all yelled at me for doing that. Two-bit gave me the scolding of my life and it didn't help when I told them I said to you 'don't be so emotional, you always do this'. Johnny went crazy over that and Soda nearly chocked me when I said I didn't understand why you got offended."

 "Well, you made me feel like you said I was stupid for caring." We started walking again I hadn't noticed we stopped. 

 "I know and they tried to explain that to me. You tried to explain that to me. I really do love you, y/n. I'm glad you're giving me a second chance. I swear you really did just catch me at a bad time." He opened his arms for a hug. 

 I didn't hesitate. "I'm sorry, Dallas." I mumbled into his chest.

"I'm sorry too, y/n. I should've fought harder to get you back but ya know somethin'?"

 I didn't know what to expect, "What?"

 "You're so beautiful...especially when you're angry." We both laughed. "And I'm glad to have you back, doll." 

 "It's been three weeks at most, relax." He turned to me and gave me a really intense stare. "Woah, darling. You are a beauty." He actually sang the word beauty.

"Shut up." I pushed his shoulder, turning away to blush in secret.

 "Are you blushing? That's adorable. I've been waiting a really long time to kiss you again." He didn't wait for me to respond he just kissed me. He had this sudden burst of energy after that, his eyes lit up. "Oh wow, I've wanted this for a really long time. 

 "My love, we've kissed a million times before it's not very new." He moved his head to the side and made a funny face. "What the hell are you doing?" 

 "I love you so much. Where have you been all my life? I'm gonna come back and pick you up later." We were still two blocks from my house. 

 "What are you talking about? This isn't my house." He turned his head and smiled. 

 "Look, its killing me. I gotta let tell you that you have absolutely no idea what you do to me."

 "We've been together for a while I-" I looked at Dally one more time. "What are you-" I looked behind me then back to Dallas. "Are you kidding me?" I saw a Cadillac with a for sale by owner poster on it.

 "You know I've been wanting one of these for a really long time." That whole time he was talking to the damn car. I giggled and punched his shoulder playfully.

 "You had me going. I guess I'm walking the rest of the way by myself while you flirt with the car and offer to buy it drinks." 

He laughed and rolled his eyes. "I'll at least exchange numbers with HER first. Seriously, rude. Oh, and I'll at least go on a couple dates first... the bar scene is sooo overdone." He took out his phone wrote down the number they left. 

 "You're not actually going to buy that car are you?" 

 "Yes, I am. If I stole it the fuzz would take it away and hey, today we're walking tomorrow we're driving." 

 "It's a five minute walk and you always go back to the boy's house when you drop me off." 

 Picture the whiniest voice ever. Now, read this dialogue, "Why can't I just treat myself? I work so hard I just wanted one thing to make me feel pretty and loved." That's what Dallas sounded like.

[polkadotsockz]

I don't know why, but I've always liked these.

100 Things About Me 

1. What is your full name? Kimberly 

2. How old are you? 23 

3. When is your birthday? 12/12 

4. What is your zodiac sign? The charming and witty, Sagittarius 

5. What is your favorite color? Blacker than my soul 

6. What’s your lucky number? 12 (look at my birthday!) 

7. Do you have any pets? Two wonderful cats, Fuu (Fuu Kitty) and Archer (Archie) 

8. Where are you from? Connecticut 

9. How tall are you? 5′8" 

10. How many pairs of shoes do you own? Like 10, but I wear 3-4 of them regularly 

11. What did you last have for breakfast? Scrambled eggs and cold brew coffee

12. What was your last dream about? The last one I remember having was one in which I was in my high school cafeteria. For some reason everyone in my high school was invited to this wedding (don't know whose), and we all decided to get dressed at school. Now mind you, this took place in my high school but in the present day, meaning we were all adults. When I looked around, guys and girls were putting on their outfits, doing their hair, and doing their makeup. All the parents were there getting ready too. I remember getting upset because my parents brought the wrong dress for me. They brought the dress I wore to my cousin's wedding a few years ago, which is a beautiful dark blue gown. I was upset because I was afraid the dress would rip because of all the weight I've gained. (The dress actually did rip in real life when I wore it to my step-aunt's wedding a couple of months ago; causing me to have to borrow someone’s dress for the rest of the night). So after some complaining, I convinced them to stop back at home so I could get a different dress, and that's when I woke up. 

 13. What is the best thing about you? I always try to see the best in everyone, even if they've done me wrong. 

 14. Put shuffle on your iPod, what were the first 5 songs? 

      1. Part II - Paramore 

      2. ARTPOP - Lady Gaga 

      3. Dancing in Circles - Lady Gaga (really?! 2 in a row?) 

      4. But It's Better if You Do - Panic! At the Disco 

      5. Comedy of Errors- Alesana 

15. Favorite song? It typically depends on my mood, but the one that is most constant is “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. It’s pretty much the perfect song because a. it’s fun to sing along to, b. it’s fun to dance to, c. it has beautiful lyrics with a powerful message about self-love and self-acceptance, especially for the LGBT community.

16. Favorite TV show? Game of Thrones, by fucking far!

17. Favorite movie? the Harry Potter series

18. Do you miss anyone right now? I miss my Sammy and I miss my friends who I don’t see nearly enough

19. Do you want children? I think so, but I have promised myself that I won’t have kids unless and until I work out my anxiety issues because I don’t want to pass this along to yet another generation in my family.

20. Do you want a church wedding? Nah, I’d probably burst into flames up at the altar.

21. Are you religious? Nah, I like Satan jokes too much.

22. Have you ever been to the hospital? The last time I remember going was when I was 6 and needed 10 stitches on my head.

23. Have you ever met any celebrities? Sadly, no. I hold out hope that I’ll meet Lady Gaga. 

24. Baths or showers? Both! I only really like baths when I have a bath bomb/bubble bar, though!

25. What color socks are you wearing? None. 

26. Have you ever been famous? Nah, I don’t have the charisma or personality to handle that much attention.

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity? Nah, I like my privacy tbh.

28. What type of music do you like? Lady Gaga, Paramore, emo/screamo that I’ve been listening to since middle/high school, occasional radio hits

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping? No :/ I totally should have when I was home alone when I lived at my parents’.

30. How many pillows do you sleep with? Two! My favorite is when I can lay my head on one, and hug the other one.

31. What position do you usually sleep in? I usually sleep on my side (fetal position)

32. How big is your house? Our apartment is a decently sized one-bedroom

33. What do you typically have for breakfast? Eggs or rolled oats with fruit

34. Have you ever fired a gun? Nope!

35. Have you ever tried archery? No, but it sounds cool

36. Who is your celebrity crush? Lady Gaga cuz she’s actually perfect

37. Who do you look up to? Lady Gaga, because she isn’t afraid to be who she is and inspires others love and accept themselves. She is an extremely talented and accomplished musician, but retains such a humility and love for her fans. So basically, as I said before, she’s perfect.

 38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep? 22 hours. When I was a high school senior, I got hooked on World of Warcraft, and I would do raids until 2 am (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays), and then wake up for school at 5 am. Thursdays were the worst. 

39. Do you have any scars? On my forehead from the 10 stitches I got as a child, and a few on my face from the chicken pox.

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer? I don’t believe so.

41. Are you a good liar? I’m good at white lies (“I love that new haircut!”) but suck at lying about things that actually matter because I’m really bad at hiding my feelings.

42. Are you a good judge of character? For the most part. 

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own? I like to pretend I can do a British accent, but it’s not all that.

44. Do you have a strong accent? Nah lol, just standard New England.

45. What is your favorite accent? British, Irish, Australian

46. Name all the countries you’ve been to? Not as many as I’d like! I have only been to Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and I took a cruise as a kid that stopped in Aruba, St. Martin, and St. Thomas. So basically, I’ve been around the Carribean.

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing? I don’t know, haha. I’m too broke for expensive clothes, I’m a grad student.

 48. Can you curl your tongue? Kind of.

49. Are you an innie or an outie? Innie!

50. Left or right handed? Right, my left hand is useless

51. Are you scared of spiders? Yes, I hate all of them.

52. Favorite food? You can never go wrong with pizza

53. Favorite foreign food? Thai food is heaven.

54. Are you a clean or messy person? I can be messy with clothes, but for the most part, I’m a neat freak. I get anxiety if things are too dirty around the house.

55. Most used phrase?  “I’m too tired for life......”

56. Most used word? “Fuck”

 57. How long does it take for you to get ready? Probably like 30-45 minutes on average. I varies depending on how long my shower is, how much make up I’m trying to wear, what I’m doing to my hair, and if shaving my legs is part of the process. 

58. Do you have much of an ego? Most of the time I tend to be very hard on myself, so I’m gonna say no.

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops? Don’t eat many lollipops nowadays, but suck!

60. Do you talk to yourself? All the time! I’m a great conversationalist.

61. Do you sing to yourself? All the time! Every car ride is a concert just for me.

62. Are you a good singer? I’m not too shabby. 

63. Biggest Fear? Failure, rejection, judgement.

64. Are you a gossip? I can be. I enjoy talking about others, but many times it’s not in a negative way. For example, if I’m worried about someone who isn’t really saying much to me, I may ask another friend what’s going on with them because I’m concerned...not cuz I’m trying to talk shit. I guess I should get better at direct communication, tho.

 65. Favorite character in anything? Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones, ASOIAF

66. Do you like long or short hair? I like both, but I’m digging my ultra long hair right now cuz I had short hair for so long!

67. Can you name all 50 states of America? Probably, just don’t ask me where they all are on the map.

 68. Favorite school subject? English/literature all the way!

69. Extrovert or Introvert? Too introverted to handle.

70. Favorite hobbies? Reading, writing, watching movies/shows, make-up, spending time with my boyfriend and friends

71. What makes you nervous? Everything social, judgement, presenting in front of people, making decisions.

72. Are you scared of the dark? I used to be, but now I like it. 

 73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes? Not really. I used to correct peoples’ grammar/spelling mistakes, but then I realized what an ass I was being. I only really point out mistakes if I think the mistakes will negatively impact the person.

74. Are you ticklish? Yes, extremely and everywhere.

75. Have you ever started a rumor? I don’t think so.

 76. Have you ever been in a position of authority? I guess I’m in a position of power/authority in my career. I never know what to do with that power, though.

77. Have you ever drank underage? Of course. 

78. Have you ever done drugs? I’ve dabbled in a few things. Weed is the only consistent one, and it’s hardly a “drug.” I’ve never done anything seriously addictive/dangerous like heroine or meth or something.

79. Who was your first real crush? This kid in my second grade class. He didn’t like me though cuz he was popular, and I was very unpopular.

80. How many piercings do you have? 5 - lobes, industrial bar, nostril, and navel. I want so so so many more though.

81. Can you roll your Rs? Spanish is my second language, so claro que sí!

82. How fast can you type? Pretty damn fast, actually.

83. How fast can you run? Fast if it’s for a very short distance. I have very little endurance, though.

84. What color is your hair? Naturally, I’m a milk chocolate brown. Right now, I’ve got about 2-3 inches my roots grown out, and the rest is a fading purple.

85. What color are your eyes? Dark brown.

86. What are you allergic to? Just pollen.

87. Do you keep a journal? I’ve always been bad at keeping up with journals. I wish I could find some old ones with my poetry.

88. What do your parents do? Dad: owns a little grocery store, Mom: works at a bank, Stepdad: works at an investment bank (stocks and such)

 89. Do you like your age? It’s okay. I’m getting old, though.

90. What makes you angry? Ignorance/ hatred: racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, etc. It honestly makes no sense to me how people can’t just love and accept one another and mind their own damn business.

91. Do you like your own name? I think it’s a nice name.

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they? I’ve had many thoughts throughout the years. I’ve always been partial to gender neutral names like Alex, Riley, Andy, etc.

93. Do you want a boy or a girl for a child? One of each would work.

94. If you had to have someone narrate the story of your life to you when you died, who would it be? This is an odd question, honestly, I’m not sure.

 95. What’s the best thing you’ve ever won? I don’t really win things.

96. How did you get your name? My mom and dad were thinking “Nelly” but then my grandma’s best friend talked them into “Kimberly.” I feel that this is more fitting. 

97. Out of the original 151 which is your favorite Pokémon? I didn’t watch Pokemon.

98. What browser do you use? Safari cuz I’m a Mac.

99. Color of your bedspread? I think it’s purple right now.

100. Color of your room? White cuz I rent and can’t paint the walls