#it’s kind of like how a lot of retailers have slowly lost their color and distinct vibe because they trade it for modernity

[montygatorguy]

i don’t really like some of the costume changes made when stex bochum was revised because i feel like they modernized them in a way that made them kind of lackluster to the originals.

mostly the changes to pearl, cb, and electra, they feel very meh to me now whereas they were three of my favorite costumes before (especially electra, that red white and blue combo went SO HARD).

what im trying to say is that i have no problem with them trying to modernize the costumes, but i do think the 2024 london revival did a much better job at that then revised bochum did.

[bananxjin]

Trophy Wife || 1

↦ Coworker!Seokjin x Reader

↦ WC: 4,940

↦ Drama || Angst || Fluff || Slow Burn

↦ Trigger Warnings: Verbal abuse, hints at death of a family member

↦ Summary: You thought you knew what you wanted -- You were sure you knew what you wanted. You thought the be-all and end-all was a loving, domestic marriage with your fiance, Touru Kim; the love of your life, the future father of your children, and the man of your dreams, but things happen. Events begin to unfold, and the relationship falls apart. You see the true colors of your husband-to-be, and you realize that maybe he’s not what you built him up to be. With everything laid out in front of you, you knew the be-all and end-all was a loving, domestic marriage.

Just not with Touru.

✨ Masterlist ✨

You felt a mix of emotions when you woke up this morning, but couldn’t quite pinpoint which one to focus on. On one hand, you couldn’t be more excited after landing a job at some chain retail department store. On the other hand, your fiance, Touru had been annoyed with you ever since you got the phone call confirming your position.

The job wasn’t much; you’d be cleaning fitting rooms, arranging and rearranging floor displays, and eventually cashiering when your manager called for it, and today was your first day working on the floor. Again, it wasn’t anything major, but it was your first real job. Pride and happiness bloomed in your chest at the thought of finally having your own fixed income.

 Touru had been… sulking, for lack of a better word. You loved Touru, you’d only been with the man for the last five years, but he was a man set in his ways, believing that as the man of the house, he should be the only breadwinner. To put it simply: Once the two of you are wed, you’ll have three children, and you’ll be a stay-at-home mother so that they’ll “live their childhood to the fullest,” as he liked to say. Your children will be enrolled in private school in their youth, and once they graduate, they’ll go to Yale to study medicine or pharmaceutical studies.

Yes, he’d even planned out your children's lives, but that’s okay. It just meant he was thinking ahead. You knew that in his heart, he wanted what's best for them, and you did too. Unfortunately, many people didn’t see it the same way.

You recalled the countless conversations, debates, and even arguments you had with your friends and family having the wrong idea about Touru, and you having to defend him. Your mother, bless her heart, knew she was fighting a losing battle with you the last time the two of you got into it over your soon-to-be husband.

**

“I just can’t understand why.” She said with a hefty sigh as she’d turned away from you to finish unloading the dishwasher. You’d refused to look at her after she’d made you so upset. You could feel the heat in your face, the tears of sheer anger threatening to spill down your cheeks. You opted for looking out the window instead. It’d been a beautiful day outside, you just wish you could’ve enjoyed it instead of having to discuss how much your mom disliked your fiance. Again.

“You always had aspirations for yourself growing up,” She muttered under her breath. “You had hobbies, and you told me all about how you were going to go to college for your nursing degree, do you remember that?” She asked, turning her head slightly, wondering if she’d get a response out of you, but to no avail. “You wanted to become a nurse because…”

“Don’t remind me.” You deadpanned, hoping she couldn’t hear how you spoke around the lump in your throat. She sighed again, “I just don’t understand how you’re going to let some boy decide you’d be better off being some kind of trophy wife, rather than letting yourself chase after something that was so obviously important to you-”

“It’s not important to me anymore.” You’d reminded her. “I love Touru, and he loves me. Having a long, prosperous marriage is what’s important to me.” You sighed, “He’s had to make changes for me too, you know.”

“Yeah? Well they must’ve been awfully insignificant. He’s clearly still the same person making the same choices he did when the two of you were in high school.”

**

You didn’t have anything else to say to her after that. Even now, after a month of little contact, you still couldn’t find the right words to say. Apparently she couldn’t either.

Seeing yourself all done up in the mirror, you blinked a couple times and swallowed the lump trying to form in your throat. You knew you had a lot on your plate, but you couldn’t focus on that now.

You had to go to work.

You pass by Touru, who’s slumped over his morning coffee and reading something on his phone. Most likely the news or one of the many forms he receives from his assistants. “I’m about to head out.” You muttered, wrapping your arms around his neck from behind and resting your chin on his shoulder. You placed a smooch on his cheek, your lips resting there for a moment when you caught a glimpse of the article he was reading. “Seven Things to Expect When You Date a Hard-Working Woman”.

You rolled your eyes, “Really, Touru? What could you possibly be worried about with me getting this job?” You sighed, stepping into the breezeway to grab your bag. “I just can’t wrap my head around why you’d want that job in the first place! I’m able to provide you with everything you could ever want and need.” He reminded you for the umpteenth time this week.

He stood up into a stretch as you walked back over. You couldn’t help the little smile on your face when you saw his sleep shirt ride up, revealing his little happy trail. You wrapped your arms around his neck and his instinctively wrapped around your waist. “I’ve never doubted your ability to satisfy me, honey.” You reassured him with a loving smile. “I’m not doing this because I’m unsatisfied. I’m doing it so I’ll have spending money of my own, and so I can be included on the work drama when I’m with the girls.” You joked lightly. You stood on your tip-toes so you could place a small kiss on the tip of his nose. For the first time in three days, you finally got to see his smile again.

“You’d tell me if you were unhappy, wouldn’t you?” He asked, sounding like a puppy that’s been kicked. You nodded slowly, allowing your gaze to move from his eyes to his lips. “I tell you everything, don’t I?”

He chuckled under his breath, pressing his lips to your own and softly muttering, “I surely hope so.”

__

“Okay team! Morning huddle!” Your manager, Irene’s voice of excitement carried across the floor, her heels clicking on the tile as she ran up to you and your co-workers who’d been waiting on her. “Before we get into it, I’d like to introduce you to our newest member, (Y/n) (Y/Ln)!”

A sudden wave of shyness rolled over you as you smiled, trying to briefly meet each of their gazes. “Hello! I just want to say I’m really excited to be here, and I can’t wait to get to know all of you!”

After Irene went over the sales goal and customer survey briefings, she finally allowed the group to disperse, but not before stopping you. “(Y/n), since it’s your first day on the floor, I’m going to have you train with Kyla.”

As if on cue, a girl with long black hair walked up behind Irene, a soft smile on her face, “Hi there!” She giggled. “She’s just going to show you the ropes, and if you feel comfortable enough today, we’ll split the three of you off into recovery teams, and you’ll work in one section on your own.” Irene explained.

“The three of us?” You asked, puzzled. “Yep! Seokjin’s working with us today!” Kyla giggled, pointing out the broad-shouldered man leaning on the customer service desk who seemed to be listening to your other manager you knew as Namjoon. You tilted your head a bit. “Was he in the morning huddle?”

Irene sighed and pressed her finger tips to her forehead, “He usually never is. He used to make jokes in the huddle until Seulgi scolded him for it once,” she explained, “The second time she had to scold him, she gave him a warning, and in front of all of us no less, and even though he didn’t seem fazed by it at the time, I think it really humiliated him deep down.” Her eyes trailed over to Seokjin’s back, “Now anytime we have a huddle or a meeting that Seulgi’s attending, he simply doesn’t show up. It’s not good, and I’ve mentioned it to him a few times, but he’s insisted it’s been pure coincidence each time he’s been absent.”

Kyla frowned, “Please don’t let that influence your opinion of him, though! He’s actually a really good coworker, and an even better friend!”

“Kyla’s right! Jin’s a great worker! Seulgi can just be a bit of a hard ass about these things.” Irene chimed in, “Trust me: You’ll really like Jin once you get to know him.”

“I heard my name! What’re you ladies talking about over here?” Instinctively, you turned toward the new voice, finding the broad shouldered man named Seokjin standing beside you.

’Oh gosh, he’s so tall.’ You thought to yourself, craning your neck to look up at him. “Speak of the devil! Jin, this is (Y/n), our new softline worker!” Irene introduced you. Jin peered down at you, giving you a  smile so big, the apples of his cheeks nearly devoured his eyes. “You would’ve known that earlier if you would’ve been at the huddle!”

Jin gave her a half-hearted look like her words had offended him, “Hey! I’ve been very busy all morning searching for those trouble units from last night! If anything, you should be thanking me!” Your coworkers laughed at his sudden outburst, but Jin seemed unphased, instead turning back to you, “Anyway! It’s very nice to meet you, (Y/n)!” He chirped with an outstretched hand.

You continued to stare at his face in awe for a moment, introductions completely lost on you. ‘He has a very pretty face.’

“Uhm,” You did your best not to choke on your words, “It’s nice to meet you too! I look forward to working with you!” You replied, quickly slipping your hand out of his. Jin tilted his head at you in confusion, his smile turning devilish. “What? Intimidated by my dashing good looks already?”

Intimidated? Your brows shot up upon breaking out of whatever spell he’d put you under. Bummer. And here you thought he was just a humble, good looking man. “Oh, please! I have a dashing good looking fiance at home.” You replied, “Sorry to break it to ya, Seokjin, but I don’t think your looks quite match his.”

“Ooh, she’s feisty!” Seokjin’s laugh was cute, in a strange, squeaky way. Try as you might, you were unable to hold back the smile it brought you. “I like this one! You did good, Irene!”

“Actually it was Seulgi that hired her.” Irene winked at him. “Seulgi?!” He replied exasperated, shoulders dramatically slumping forward. “Well now I can’t like her at all! Terrible taste! Take her back!” He rambled, quickly walking away from the three of you. The girls around you continued to giggle at his antics. You blinked, confusion clear in your features as you stared at Seokjin’s retreating back.

What just happened?

__

The store had been surprisingly slow all morning. Some customers approached you to ask questions that Kyla had to answer. Most of them just wanted to be left alone. You started to feel the same way after the third visit from Seokjin in less than an hour.

The first time you didn’t care; he was just returning a couple of items that belonged in the Women’s section. Sure he hung around to chat for a bit -- Fifteen minutes, but who’s counting? The second time he intruded on your training, he walked with the two of you between sections, casually making jokes and carrying most of the conversation. You couldn’t tell if his squeaky laugh was growing on you or just getting on your last nerve. The third time, he rolled his cart over to your dressing room, piled high with clothes that clearly needed his attention, but instead he kept you and Kyla there going on for twenty minutes about a date he had last weekend that he didn’t enjoy because “She thought videogames were childish. I just can’t have that kind of negative energy in my life.” 

Twenty. Minutes.

And yes, you were counting this time.

Despite his friendly disposition, you really just wanted to get through your day in peace.

“Hey, how would you feel if I let you handle a project with Jin?” Kyla asked suddenly. You gave her a look as if to ask, ‘What kind of project?’.

“It’s not that difficult!” She giggled, “We’re getting ready to move a bunch of our summer stuff to clearance, so all of it’s gotta be marked down. Jin could teach you how to do it easily!”

You shrugged nonchalantly, turning back to the table of shirts you’d been folding, “It’s not the task I’m worried about.” You mumbled. It’s not that you didn’t like Seokjin; he was clearly a sweet guy, but something about him threw you off. How in the world were you supposed to explain that to your coworker, though?

“Oh. Are you still thinking about what Irene said earlier?”

“Not really. It’s just…” You sigh, “He kind of seems like a jackass.”

Kyla’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head hearing you refer to him so bluntly like that. “Or maybe not a jackass! I mean…” You struggled to get the right words out. God, you barely knew this girl more than a couple hours, and she probably thought you’re the jackass.

“His whole ‘I want to be friends with everyone!’ spiel just seems fake.”

Kyla turned her back to you as she began organizing, although by the looks of it, the shelf you were working on didn’t exactly need that much TLC. You kept glancing over at her, wondering if she was going to prove you wrong; at least reassure you that your coworker wasn’t as bad as you thought, but you were met with silence. A silence so long and drawn out, it made you anxious that you'd crossed a line. You debated whether you should apologize or just leave the store and never return.

“I know you’re not the first person to get suspicious of Jin’s overly-friendly attitude.” She mumbled, “A jackass though, huh?” She laughed awkwardly, giving you a small glance over her shoulder.

“Sorry about that,” You cleared your throat, “That might’ve been a bit too harsh.”

“It’s okay! You’re right in a way, you know? We have to act a certain way to customers and even each other because, well it’s our job,” She giggled, “But rest assured, Jin isn’t nearly as bad as you might think. Even off the clock, he’s energetic and outgoing; he goes out of his way to be kind even to strangers.”

She spends time with Seokjin even when they’re not at work?,You wondered. Now that you thought about it, she seemed to laugh at everything that came out of Seokjin’s mouth -- That’s no surprise though, Irene and Namjoon were laughing at his jokes, too. But what if Kyla and Seokjin are closer than you thought?

“I’m gonna let Jin know you’ll be over to help him in clearance! It’ll give you a chance to get to know him better, and who knows! Maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two!”

__

“Hey, welcome home babe!” You were met with a chaste kiss on the cheek as Touru took your bag from you. “So how was your first day? Is it everything you expected it to be and more?” sarcasm dripped from his voice no matter how hard he tried to make up for it with his sickly sweet smile. One that you couldn’t quite return.

“It was… Good.” You took a seat at the island counter, toeing your shoes off and propped one leg over the other so you could rub your feet. Clearly you’d forgotten what it was like to be on your feet all day. You made a mental note to buy more comfortable shoes over the weekend.

“You ready to quit and go back to our original plan?” Your fiance sighed, tossing your shoes near the sliding glass door before taking a seat beside you. You’d given him a dirty look in response to his question. “No? It’s only my first day, why would I quit already?”

“Because working isn’t fun! People work to make a living; not to gossip about their coworkers at the water cooler!” He raised his voice as if that was going to further prove his point. The only thing it did was further increase the pounding in your head. “Yeah, I get that.” You sighed, “In case you can’t tell, I am taking this seriously. I don’t know what you think I was doing all day, but I worked. Really hard. Irene had my coworkers teaching me new things left and right, and I even helped a couple of customers after Seokjin and I--”

“Who’s Seokjin?”

And there it was. That little seedling of jealousy that sprouted anytime you mentioned a man’s name that Touru’s never met before. “He’s one of my coworkers that I met today. He taught me how to do price markups and we spent most of the afternoon moving all of our summer line over to clearance.”

“You and Seokjin did?”

“Well my other coworker, Kyla came over to help a couple times, but she mostly attended the dressing rooms.” You sighed a little too dramatically as you worked at a really tight knot near your toes, “But Irene wanted me doing this project for experience, and she just happened to pair me with Seokjin for it.”

Touru, although he’d been facing you, was clearly staring past you out the sliding glass door, nodding a slow nod with his jaw clenched tight. You knew better than to confront him about it. No matter how passive you were, how carefully you approached the topic, it's always ended in a fight. You’d just worked a full day, so you weren’t especially looking forward to brawling it out with your fiance, but between the lack of support for your ambition and being jealous that going forward, you will be working with a man on a day to day basis, you could feel yourself reaching your breaking point.

He clicked his tongue, and got up out of his seat to walk over to the fridge. “That’s nice.” He mumbled under his breath, “What else did he teach you? Or did you do most of the work?” His questions almost sounded rehearsed as he opened the fridge and looked around inside. It didn’t look like he was searching for anything, more like he just wanted to take a peek.

“Seokjin’s such an older generation name, ya know? I hope he wasn’t trying to, you know… Make you do all the work while he sat back.” He rambled.

You swallowed the thickness welling up in your throat. You knew what he was trying to do, what he wanted to hear you say, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to talk bad about your new coworker. “No, no we actually split the work up pretty evenly. He helped me when I needed it, but I was okay on my own.” You replied, trying to steer the conversation back to yourself. If you concentrated hard enough, you could probably hear the ticking time bomb that was your patience. Maybe crawl inside your own mind to defuse it.

“If you worked well on your own, then why did he need to help you?”

Tick. Tick.

“Because the software we have to use for price markups can be a little funny sometimes. Besides, that’s not the only thing I had to do. He also showed me how to find items linked on the floor, and what row our backstock would be in when I need to go looking for it in the stockroom.”

“Did he show you the stockroom?”

Tick. Tick. Tick.

“Yes.”

“Were you alone in there with him?”

Boom.

Your feet smacked the wooden floor hard when you finally stood off your stool. Enough was enough. “Look, you clearly don’t care about hearing how my day went, and I’m not in the mood to argue so can we just drop it?”

He frowned at your response, “I care! What, because I have a couple of questions about your beloved Seokjin-”

“My beloved Seokjin?!” Your voice cracked, “I just met the guy today! No, he didn’t do anything that rubbed me the wrong way! Why do you have to act like this?”

“Why are you always so defensive?!” He demanded, finally turning around to face you. His cheeks were tinged pink with anger, pupils blown out, shoulders all hunched over like he’s been carrying this burden for ages.

You screwed your eyes shut. This was a slippery slope, and you weren’t about to let him use the victim card to get out of it this time. Of course tonight was going to be like this after your first day ended up being better than you'd expected it to be. Of course he couldn’t be happy for you. "It's just you always act suspicious as soon as I meet someone new; someone you don't know. I have to work with him whether I like it or not."

“I should be allowed to ask questions about your coworkers.”

“You’re not even asking about my coworkers! You’re just asking about Seokjin! Seriously, who asks someone -- Scratch that, who asks their lover of Five Years,” You pleaded, enunciating each word, “if they’re alone with another man in a place like a dingy stockroom?”

“Someone who cares, (Y/n)!” He yelled, slamming an empty glass down on the marble countertop. The bottom of the glass shattered on impact, but your fiance didn’t seem to care. Everything in the kitchen stilled, and all you could hear was the sound of the two of you trying to catch your breath, as well as a distant ringing in your ears. Minutes passed. He tossed what was left of the glass into the porcelain sink, shattering the last of it. “I’m going to bed. I don’t deserve to be spoken to like this.” He pouted before stomping off to your shared bedroom.

You’d be the one to clean the glass out of the kitchen. You didn’t even end up sleeping in your own bed that night. Instead, you’d opted for sitting in the living room with a mug of tea, watching one of your favorite shows while you cried and felt sorry for yourself. Eventually, you’d just cried yourself to sleep because what else could you do? You couldn’t bear to listen to anyone lecture you about needing to break up with Touru because at the end of the day, you knew they didn’t fully understand that you still cared about him, and you were very happy in the relationship. The two of you were just going through a rough patch right now.

You thought things might’ve gotten better in the morning, especially when you woke up with a blanket covering your curled up form, but Touru remained a man set in his ways, keeping his heart guarded until you apologized. Unfortunately, you couldn’t find it in yourself to do it. Not immediately at least.

You really hoped for once, he’d be the one to say sorry first -- He was kind of the one to instigate the fight after all, but to assume would be a mistake, and so you managed to stretch this argument out for two very long weeks.

__

“Good morning, (Y/n)!” Seokjin’s sing-song voice rang out as he sat down beside you. You threw him a half hearted smile before turning back to your phone. You’d sent a sweet little ‘good morning’ text to Touru; told him to have a good day, and you love him. You continued to read your words over time and time again, hoping you said the right thing, hoping to get any kind of response. A text that was sent nearly forty minutes ago, and he read it almost immediately, but it’s easy to read a text when you’re in a rush. Responding, however...

“Hey, is everything okay? You seem bummed out.” Seokjin asked softly, leaning in a little closer than you’d like him to be. You wagered a glance at him. He was nosy, you knew that much, but you didn’t know what his motives were hence why you thought twice before giving him a peek into your personal life. 

It was no secret that everybody shared everything around here, be it good or bad things worth sharing, but it didn’t seem like any of your coworkers had bad intentions. Far be it from you to make that kind of observation so soon, though. After all, you’d only been there a few weeks.

Despite your hesitance, you could see that his soft dark eyes showed genuine concern for your wellbeing. But would you sound foolish bitching about your relationship troubles to a coworker? You worked alongside Seokjin now, maybe you should pick and choose your battles carefully.

“It’s nothing, really.” You mumbled, looking back down at your phone screen which had gone dark from being inactive. You’d decided this was a worthy battle to pick. You could hear your coworker shifting beside you, “If you don’t want to share with me, that’s okay.” He said gently, “But if you ever need somebody to lean on, feel free to lean on me. We’re friends now after all.”

You chuckled humorlessly. “You’ve barely known me that long, and we’re already friends?”

Seokjin hummed beside you, “I think we are.” You snuck another glance at him, your eyes immediately drawn in by his plump lips stretched into a soft smile.

“He has a dimple. He has one dimple in his left cheek.”

You sighed. Why not? The store didn’t even open for another twenty minutes. What else did you have to do aside from hoping you’ll get a response from your stubborn fiance? You turned a bit awkwardly in your seat so you were facing him a little better, and propping your elbow on the table so you could rest your head in your hand. “I’ve just been having some… Relationship troubles recently.”

Seokjin nodded in understanding. “My fiance was never big on the whole idea of me working. He wanted to be the only one bringing money in, ya know?”

“What does your fiance do?”

“He’s senior vice president of his father’s loan company.”

“Ooh, you caught yourself a rich little daddy’s boy, huh?” He giggled, maybe to try lightening the mood a little bit, you guessed? Regardless, it didn’t even draw a chuckle out of you.

“If you’re not going to take me seriously, I won’t talk about it.”

Seokjin quickly cleared his throat, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I just wanted to make you smile.” He replied, taking a moment to calm down. “Okay. I’m taking you seriously. You may continue.”

You gave him a hard look before nodding. “He’s pretty dead set on us getting married, having three children, and providing a good life for us, but in his picture, I’m a stay-at-home mom, which is fine when the time comes for me to fill that roll! Until then… I don’t know?” You sighed, “I just want to feel like I have a purpose while we still plan our future together. Maybe do things I haven’t done before.”

“You’ve never worked retail before?”

You shook your head no. “I mean, I’ve worked under the table jobs, I guess. I babysat here and there, helped my mom out where I could when she was working at home when my dad…”

Right. Your dad. He doesn’t know about all that. “Uhm,” You cleared your throat, trying to reel the conversation back in a bit, “Anyway, no. There’s still a few things I haven’t done, but I know a lot of the things that I want just… Aren’t feasible. At least right now, they’re not.”

Seokjin’s brows knitted together in confusion. “What do you mean? Like you want to travel?” He asked, “Not to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, but your fiance sounds like he’s pretty financially sound? Surely having this job just means play money for you, there’s no doubt in my mind the two of you could go wherever you want.”

You rolled your eyes before turning away from him again. “It’s not that simple.” You sighed, “He’s expecting the wedding and our honeymoon to be expensive. On top of that, we have bills to pay, so no, we can’t go wherever we want.” You responded in a curt tone. You couldn’t help but feel a little burned by his play money comment. Did everyone around you really think you didn’t take your position seriously?

You couldn’t shake the feeling of humiliation, like somehow in a roundabout way, Seokjin was able to make a mockery of your feelings. Friends, huh? With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Your chair made an obnoxious screeching sound as you stood abruptly. Seokjin looked over at you in surprise, “I’m going to head out.” You muttered, double checking you had all of your necessary equipment.

“(Y/n), I… I’m really sorry if I said anything to offend you, I really didn’t mean-”

“Don’t worry about it, Seokjin.” You sighed. You slipped by him and rushed out onto the floor before he could get another word in. You checked your phone one last time while you still had the chance.

No notifications.

Of course not. You were foolish to assume you’d hear back from him.

[mrwinterr]

The Consequence [4]

Series Masterlist || Main Masterlist

Pairing: Charles Blackwood x Female Reader

Summary: The reader is in search of Charles Blackwood as he’s been missing for several days and not once considering the warning that no good ever comes from being associated with a Blackwood.

Warnings: We Have Always Lived in the Castle spoilers (book and film). Smut (unprotected sex, anal sex, vaginal fingering, oral [female receiving], cum stuff - yeah, I said that), attempted dirty talk and language. Semi/non-canon elements to the original story. 

*Chapter 4 Warning: I’m not fluent in Italian, so I used Google Translate and various articles to see which were the most commonly used structure for the words and phrases mentioned in this chapter. The smut starts right under the gif and it’s the smuttiest thing I’ve written to date. 

Title Inspiration: “The Consequence” by You Me At Six

Disclaimer: There are characters, dialogue and references from the actual book and film, We Have Always Lived in the Castle. They belong to the author and I take no credit for any of these elements. 

A/N: I had the majority of this chapter written since September and that was also the month I had begun my "big girl job”...thus the downward spiral of my fanfic life. Whatever. I got really carried away in this chapter. Comments, feedback, questions, etc. – all welcomed here! 

P R E S E N T

In exchange for the sisters’ kindness, you offered to help them tidy up the house and fix things you could. This was probably one of the few times you were thankful your father had pushed household work on you since it allowed for you to move through the home effectively. You weren’t sure how long you were planning on staying there and the longer you did, the more you were separated from Charles, but what you did know was that these two had to have held the answers on where he was. You had to get on their good side. You just needed to buy more time.  

Your first full week at the house went well. Constance was very easy to get along with, perhaps a bit overbearing and naïve at times, but nonetheless very kind. One would never suspect she was accused of murder in the past. She was more than enthused to find someone who was just as acquainted with the kitchen than she was. Her bright attitude actually allowed you to enjoy yourself for a moment doing these things. On the other hand, Merricat kept to herself a lot. She wasn’t as accepting or open like her older sister. You decided to limit interaction with her for a while.

Earlier that day, while you were preparing to bake gingerbread cookies with Constance, you noticed a few missing essential ingredients such as sugar, so you had offered to go back into the village to pick some up along with a few other items and necessities. The amount of money Constance handed to you made your eyes bulge, only confirming the rumor that you heard when you arrived that this family was indeed loaded.

It was nice to get out of the castle-like house after being coped up in it for days. They didn’t even own a phone, so you thought about ringinng your friend should you find the time. On the route to the market, you got sidetracked and gawked at a nice dress through the window of a small pop-up shop.

The day was still young, so you decided to walk in and browse at the store’s collection. The pastel colored dresses of the Spring collection had you wanting to try them on. The longer you spent looking through the racks of clothing, your mind wandered to a particular dress you haven’t been able to try on. You were supposed to be searching for your perfect wedding dress with your friend soon, but here you were a few towns over trying to find your missing fiancé. You weren’t going to lie; it stung a bit thinking about your wedding plans being halted for the time being. Your thoughts were then broken by a woman’s voice, “that dress would look gorgeous on you, dear.”

You slightly shook your head and realized you had part of the dress you were admiring still in your grasp. To anyone else in the store, you’d looked as if you were examining it rather than lost in thought. Quick to recover, you looked over to give the elderly woman a polite smile, “oh, I was just looking, but you know these things only look good on the display,” you replied playing down the compliment.

“Oh, nonsense! I can tell you possess a different kind of stature from most woman,” she commented back. You weren’t sure what to reply with. She didn’t seem to take your silence as a negative thing before she introduced herself as Helen Clarke and continued to speak, “I haven’t seen you around here. Are you new?” She had a loud voice and was straightforward.

“I’m just passing by,” you said once you told her your name, keeping it short.

“That’s lovely. How are you liking it in our little village?” Oh, she was chatty, you thought to yourself.

“It’s nice,” you lied through your teeth. Aside from Stella, a lot of the people here were hostile, gossiped way too much or were a bit full of themselves. They made the most two hated people of the village, Constance and Merricat, seem as if they were the more tolerable ones. You couldn’t wait to find Charles so you could leave this crazy town and head back home.  

“Yes, it has its charm, does it? Say, I know the woman who owns this shop, would you like for me to get someone to help you try on that dress?” She was overly enthused and helpful as you shook your head, placing the dress back on the rack and quickly wanting to leave the shop.

“No, no. It’s alright. I must be going on my way to the market then back up on the hill before it gets dark,” you franticly tried to excuse yourself out of the situation but didn’t realize you spewed out too much information.

“Up on the hill?” She asked, as you also noted the volume of her voice had lowered, “you’re staying in the Blackwood house?” You eyed her warily before slowly nodding. “How are they? The girls. Are they safe? I’ve been trying to see if they’re okay, but poor things must be shaken from that night of the fire.”

You assured her that they were fine, but she didn’t stop talking, “I’ve been trying so hard to get Constance to return to the village after all she’s been through, but it seems I’ll never be able to help her.” You could tell that she wanted to help Constance and didn’t listen to the gossip about her, “she’s a lovely one and doesn’t deserve to be coped up in that house.” You silently agreed not knowing what else to say or do.

“I better get going,” you said trying to escape this conversation.

“Yes, I suppose I’ve kept you long enough. It was a pleasure to meet you, sweetheart. I hope to see you around. Please send my best regards to the girls,” she requested before you bid Helen goodbye, finally exiting the shop to continue your trek to the market.

After retrieving everything on your list, you phoned your friend and briefed her that you would be staying a few more days. You didn’t let on with too many details on where you were staying, concerned that she would come and drag you out of this village herself. You could just feel that the answers you needed were on the Blackwood property.

When you arrived back at the house, you assisted Constance in preparing dinner and soon you both dived into a topic about more recipes and gardening. It wasn’t really your forte, but you had to work with what you were given with. It was always slightly alarming when Merricat approached the two of you. She had a habit of just walking up quietly that it was kind of eerie, however you considered the result of her upbringing and adjusted to it.

As the three of you sat eating, Constance noticed the gold bracelet lined with tiny pearls wrapped around your wrist, “that’s a beautiful bracelet,” she pointed out.

You looked down to the jewelry on your wrist and smiled. The bracelet had been a gift from Charles. He loved to spoil you and who were you to deny him? “Oh, thank you,” you replied, holding the wrist the bracelet was on close to your chest, “it’s from Venice,” you beamed at the history of your bracelet.

“Italy?” Constance’s eyes widened as you nodded just as enthusiastic as she was in response. You adored Italy especially the last time you were there. You began to recount your trip to her including visiting the St. Mark’s Basilica, experiencing a ride on a gondola and walking alongside the many canals and bridges to admire the architecture. Your trip really piqued her interest.

“You should visit someday!” You encouraged her. Surely, with the amount of money she tried to shove at you earlier that day, they could afford a trip to Europe.

Constance flushed at the thought of exploring a new place, but you soon noticed a sense of sadness draped over her when she mentioned not even being able to barely step farther than her garden, especially not after recent events.

Trying to steer the conversation away from awkwardness, you decided to talk about the pop-up shop from earlier. You mentioned the many gorgeous dresses and accessories that would no doubt look great on Constance. She blushed at your words and shook her head trying to stay humble. You were really starting to feel bad that she felt she had to be coped up in this house in order to survive.

“How about you come with me next time?” You suggested trying to convince her to consider going back into the village, “you won’t be alone. We can both try on all the different dresses and then after find a nice place to eat; a little girl’s night out.” The least she could do was live a little and what better way than with retail therapy, right? “It’ll be fun! I’ll make sure nothing happens-�� you continued but your campaign was caught off.

“Amanita Phalloides contains three poisons: mushroom amanitin, which is slow but potent…“ Merricat started reciting. You looked back and forth between the sisters and realized what was happening. She was trying to change the subject. She probably felt threatened that something as simple as getting Constance to break out of her shell would disrupt their lives. “…phalloidin, which attacks the liver and kidneys and-,” Merricat attempted to continue until she was interrupted.

Surprising the sisters, you jumped in, “phallin, which dissolves red corpuscles although it is the least potent.” You noticed she stopped speaking all-together when your voices merged, her head snapped to your direction, but that didn’t stop you from continuing, “the first symptoms do not appear until seven to twelve hours after eating.” Your knowledge of the death cup mushroom seemed to catch her off guard and it made you feel good like beating someone at their own game. Neither sister said anything once you were done, but their gazes remained fixed on you. “It’s good to be aware of these things,” you said with a slight smug on your face before going back to finishing your meal.

That night in the room you were staying, you let out a sigh as you lied in bed. You draped your right arm over your eyes, but when the cool material of your bracelet hit your face, you lifted your arm to stare at the piece of jewelry you hadn’t taken off. Your left hand started absentmindedly tracing it until your eyes traveled to your engagement ring. They were beautiful indeed, but they were also reminders of your fiancé and you were really missing him. You almost slipped Charles’ name earlier when recalling the trip to Venice, in fact, you had to catch yourself a lot from mentioning his name as each day passed. He never left your mind. Before you dozed off you decided to replay the full details of that trip. It was the most heavenly yet sinful time of your life.

P A S T

It was your first visit out of the country and you were like a kid in a candy store. Charles was amused by you, but you didn’t care. You’d always dreamed about going to Italy even as far as wanting to settle here. There was so much to venture to, you both were lost in an endless maze of beauty, culture and history, and each other.

After a long day of touring the city, the both of you decided to cool down in the oversized tub inside the bathroom of the lavish hotel room. Charles reading something as you sat opposite of him at the other end of the tub, jotting things in your small notebook he’d gifted to you on your past birthday. This city gave you a lot of inspiration. There was a small window that overlooked the wondrous city while also at a level of decency to allow privacy for the occupant. Bathing together wasn’t something new, seeing as how intimate you both had become over the years.

You set your stuff aside and watched Charles turn the pages of what he was reading while occasionally whistling to a random tune. You took this opportunity to soak in the water, sinking in, closing your eyes and resting your head on the edge of the tub. That was proven to be short-lived as you felt Charles hands skim along your calves. Your eyes fluttered opened and you slid your body up slightly to look at him.

Charles’ hand reached across him, grabbing one of yours to pull you forward in his direction. A devious smile sprawled on his face when you chose to straddle him for a comfortable position. Arms wrapped his neck and legs on either side of him, Charles’ hands dipped in and out of the water as they ran up and down your back. His hair was slicked back from being wet and yours was loosely made up, some strands not cooperating in place and wet at the ends. He pulled you in by the nape of your neck to him so his lips could finally claim your own.

His hands snaked their way around to your breasts to grope them causing you to moan in response. He knew how to get you going with and without foreplay. You started to rock your hips and rub your pussy on his hardening cock. He detached his lips from yours to suck in a harsh breath at the feeling. He just couldn’t wait to get inside and feel you. Quite frankly you couldn’t wait for that either, so you didn’t. You raised yourself up a bit and gripped his cock. Without breaking eye contact, you slowly sink down his hard length, the both of you groaning at the feeling of him stretching you the deeper he slipped inside. You took his cock so well and he absolutely thrived on it. His hands settled on your hips to help guide you up and down until you found your own rhythm.  

“You’re so sexy,” he said breathlessly as his hands left your hips to do their own thing and instead gripped the edge of the tub, watching you ride him. You placed a hand on his strong chest while the other was loosely wrapped around his neck as you brought your lips down on his, tongues not hesitating to dart into each other’s mouths. Your hand slipped down his chest and into the water to reach down behind you and cup his balls, palming them. “Oh my…fuck,” Charles growled against your lips. You took his bottom lip between your teeth and grounded harder on him. He was so deep; you let out a moan each time you felt the hairs on his lower abdomen rub against your clit that only layered thick onto the feeling brewing in your lower region.

At some point, his hands regained purchase on your body and started to buck his hips upwards to add onto the work. His movements were so fast, it was your turn to hold onto the sides of the tub for some stability. Each thrust sent a new wave of pleasure through you that you almost found it hard to catch your breath. You thought you might as well be drowning in this tub as he brought his mouth to one of your nipples while the other was being taken care of by his skilled fingers.

You watched as strands of his hair fell out of place, him bite his lip and eyes squeezing shut. It was a tall-tale sign that he was close to coming. The sight of your orgasm racking through your body and its effect on him, the way your eyes glossed from the pleasure, lips parted to let out inaudible gasps, chest heavily rising from trying to catch your breath, legs quivering, and your pussy clenching tight around his throbbing member, were your tall-tale signs for him and things that didn’t make it hard for him to follow you into total euphoria.

You grabbed his face in your hands and slammed your lips to his once more as you felt his cum continue to shoot through inside of you repeatedly. The movements slowed down, but didn’t stop because it felt so good, the warmth provided to each other, you both didn’t want it to end there. All that could be heard was water sloshing and the faint noises of the city outside mixed with each of your uncontrollable pants. There was no self-control whenever you both lost yourselves in each other.

Walking along the cobblestoned pavements, footsteps echoing, you started to reflect how happy you felt. There were no worries, and no one here judged you. It was a busy city packed full of people, but the only person that stood out to you was the man holding your hand. You looked down at your hands clasped together and a faint smile made its way on across your face when you looked at the new accessory adorned your wrist.

Sometime during the day, Charles stepped away from you to speak to a native of the city in Italian asking for directions. As much as you loved to hear him speak in a different language, your eyes wandered at the many shops along the strip. A sparkling display caught your attention as you started gravitating towards the jewelry in a window of a store that sounded like it was out of your budget. You weren’t sure how long you were admiring the piece until you felt Charles’ hand at the small of your back, breaking your trance. You tried to convince him you were only looking, even though you thought it was one of the most gorgeous pieces of jewelry you’ve ever seen. You didn’t even wear much jewelry either because nothing like this was as dazzling back at home or you definitely couldn’t afford it. He reiterated that he wanted to spoil you as if this trip wasn’t enough. He gave you everything.

The city was just as breathtaking in the night than it was in the day. From the top of the balcony of your hotel room, you overlooked the people whose nights were just beginning, the streets and the gondolas that were slowly drifting in the water, which seemed to sparkle casted by the golden glow illuminating from the streetlamps. The cool breeze swept your hair away from your shoulders exposing your neck and causing you to slightly shiver as you stood there in a long white backless dress. The trip was nearing its end and Charles had taken you to an elegant restaurant that you couldn’t read the menu to, so Charles took care of everything.

You instantly warmed up when Charles encased your body with his arms snaking around your waist before settling on each side of your hips and pressing his body against your back. Your hair blown aside from the wind allowed him easy access to plant a kiss behind your ear. The action stirred a small tingle in you. The response tightened his grip when he felt you involuntarily shiver with each contact his lips made on your skin. He progressively started to lick and nip at your ear lobe before kissing a trail down along your neck. You leaned into his body, head cocked to the side and thrown back to rest on his shoulder, providing him full access, your hands grasping onto his forearms for some stability as you slowly started to unravel for him.

Charles then spun you around to face him, “you’re so lovely,” he said just audible for the both of you to hear as he stared at you. You wanted to melt in his hands as he ran them down your exposed back. He leaned in to place a gentle kiss on your lips. It held a much deeper emotion to it, but you didn’t linger on to that thought too long as he pulled away from you too soon for your liking. He chuckled lightly at your eagerness and brought a hand up to cradle your face. When you opened your eyes to look at him, like always, you found yourself lost in sea.

“You’re it for me, baby,” he said before one of his hands reached down his pocket to produce a small, black velvet box. They said your life flashes before your eyes when you die, but can the same be said for love? Because the last few years with Charles flashed before yours as you stared at his hands opening the box to reveal a generous sized ring. Was he it for you?

This was a man who appeared out of nowhere in your life during one of your breakdowns, enlightened a whole new vision and version of yourself that you didn’t think was inside of you, including developing a sense of confidence and thick skin. You came to the conclusion that if you died and your life did flash before your eyes, you definitely wanted Charles to consume and star in it.

You didn’t let Charles finish whatever speech he put together before you pulled him in for a kiss. A kiss that embodied the unique bond, exploding throughout both your bodies. When you pulled away, you watched as he let out another chuckle, licking his lips before speaking, “so is that a yes?” You playfully rolled your eyes at him and confirmed your acceptance. After he slipped the ring on your finger, you raised your hand to examine it. You weren’t admiring its size, shape or beauty, but what it represented. He was everything.

The last day in Venice started out quite interestingly and would become unforgettable. No doubt you and Charles spent the night before continuing to celebrate the first step to your promises of spending forever with each other. You were spent to say the least. Your body felt heavy as you lied lazily on your stomach, arms tucked under the pillow your face was buried into. Unbeknownst to you, the white bed sheet that covered your body began to slide down, exposing you and then seemed to stop just below your lower back.

If the cool temperature of the room didn’t stir you awake, it was the set of warm lips that were leaving wet trails down your spine. A pair of strong hands on either side of your body started to make their way up from your waist, along your ribcage, brushing the sides of your breasts and back down. You let out a tired noise, not exactly ready to get up.

A tolerable amount of weight was placed on top of you, slightly sinking you deeper into the mattress, but enough to let you breathe. Hands traced your arms underneath the pillow your head rested on before fingers intertwined with yours. You peaked one eye open just in time for your new fiancé to place a kiss on your cheek, down any patch of skin visible to him, from your neck and between your shoulder blades.

Charles started to slowly shift his body up and down along your ass through the sheets and hitting the skin of your lower back that wasn’t covered, allowing you to feel his stiff member. Even between the sheets, the friction the threads created between the two of you felt just as good. It gave off some sense of thrill knowing what’s to come soon. You focused on how his breathing started to increase the more he started to ground his hips into you.

“Mmm…baby,” you whined when a particular thrust was noticeably harder than the previous ones. The sharp movement had you involuntarily squeezing his hands in yours and your hips retaliating by bucking back up to meet his.

You heard him hiss at your sudden reaction and release your hands. The next thing you knew, warmth had left you momentarily as he sat up. Before you could turn over and see where he went, your head left the pillow as you got dragged to the center of the bed, lower body hoisted up. You were now bent over, ass in the air, the bed sheet gracefully falling down to your bent knees that were dug into the mattress. Charles ran his hands along the sides of your thighs before settling on top and grabbing a handful of your flesh in each of his palms. He wedges one of thighs in between your legs to knock them apart, enough to give him room to work with.

Those lips that left wet tracks along your spine earlier were now leaving scattered nips and kisses on your ass, while one of his hands snaked its way around one of your thighs to the front and stopped at your clit. Slow small circles and the combination of soft kisses, this tender side of him was always refreshing and you knew it wouldn’t last, so you tried to bask in this moment.

Then you felt the familiar structure of his face pressed between your cheeks and Charles poked his tongue out to lick a strip between your folds. It didn’t take long for him to buildup on his routine of fucking you with his tongue. He continued to rub harsher circles on your now sensitive and soaking bud and the hand, that was helping you stay balanced on your knees from giving out due to the immense pleasure you were feeling, left its place, only for Charles to insert a finger inside you – his tongue and digit taking turns in you. You gasped when he took it upon himself to insert another finger and experimentally spread apart inside you.

“Fuck, babe. I can’t believe how tight you are,” he groaned as he attempted once more at a scissoring motion inside your pussy, marveling at the sight of stretching you out.

His hands were doing quite a number, you started to feel your arousal sliding down your thighs and sweat gathering on your forehead. “…mmm, but you’re always tight, aren’t you?” His voice now laced with a huskier tone, “no matter how many times I stuff my big cock in this pussy,” his words egging you on while he also nipped at your inner thighs.

The bed shifted as Charles sat back up, his bare cock now settled between your ass. He started to slide his hot, hardened member much like he did several minutes ago, but this time nothing was between the two of you. You could now perfectly feel every ridge and vein rubbed up against you mixed with the pre-come that collected itself on its tip. Charles bent down to nip at your ear lobe that wasn’t pressed against the mattress and started to encourage you to chase your orgasm.

His fingers hadn’t left your clit, but the rhythm grew very relentless, and you knew you were going to be feeling its bruising effect later on. Your thighs began twitching the moment you finally reached a peak that erupted, breathing labored and fistfuls of white linen now in your tight grasps.

Charles whispered soft praises in your ear and started kissing another path down your spine. Your lower body was about to finally give out until he caught your hips and kept them steady. You let out a small wince of pain as the skin of your knees started to burn and become slightly sore from being dug into the sheets too long.

You could hear the wet sounds as Charles fisted his cock, coating it with your juices that soaked his hand. He dragged his heavy member though your folds, gathering more wetness and you braced yourself for the next intrusion, but then you felt him linger and slide against the ring of tight muscle, the tip slightly grazing it. He’s only once attempted entry in your backside, and surprisingly he didn’t even put up much of a fight for it back then, so this set an alarm off in you.

“What-“ you tried to sit up on your elbows and speak up, but you couldn’t. You were vulnerable, wrecked and weak, as if your body unwillingly surrendered to him.

You face planted back onto the mattress as Charles pushed you back down roughly onto it with one hand and then resumed his task, “you trust me, right, baby?” you heard him speak from behind. Your heart started racing. You weren’t sure if you were ready for that. Then you thought back to the first night with him and the small amount of insecurity you harbored resurfaced. The familiar question of trust and fear of losing him. You turned your head to the side and you squinted as you stared at the ring that sparkled harshly from the ray of sunlight that peaked through the crack of the curtains. He just chose to spend the rest of his life with you, but you sold yourself to Charles a long time ago.  

You nodded against the bed, but that didn’t seem to suffice for Charles because the next thing you felt was a sharp pain run through your scalp as he grabbed a fistful of your hair in his hand, neck snapping back to pull your head up.

“No, I need to hear you say it,” he demanded.

You braced your palms in front of you to help support your body in this position before responding to him, “I-I trust you, Charles.”

“You want this,” he stated and you could feel the tip right at your hole.

“I do. I do want this. I want you, Charles,” you confirmed before letting out a low groan.

It was all he needed as he slowly inched the thick bulbous head of his cock inside you. Charles let out a straggled groan at how incredibly tight this entry was. You tried to put on a brave act, but the pain had you second guessing all too quickly.

“Ch-Charles, it’s not gonna fit, baby, st-“ you struggled to speak.

“Shh, baby girl. Yes, it will,” he was quick to cut you off before you could tell him to stop as he tried assuring you while continuing to push his cock all the way in. Wanting to please him, you toughed it out and waited for the initial pain to pass through. It would be worth it in the end.

A new sensation started to bubble up inside of you. It was rather conflicting because on one side you felt as if you were being ripped apart and then the other pleasure began to consume you. Charles filled you and he filled you up really good.

With a quick snap of his hips, he fully bottomed out. You let out a loud yelp from the stinging feeling of his forceful action. His grip still in your hair, he started to build up a rhythm - fast. You hardly had any time to adjust to this new position, but he wouldn’t deliberately cause you any pain, right? The truth was it did hurt at first, but soon enough that sensation that was brewing in your lower abdomen started to boil with each shallow thrust and you were about ready to burst.  

Your head was swimming as he left sloppy kisses to your tear stained cheeks. At some point, your eyes began to water from the pain and pleasure. Your mouth hung wide open and eyes half-lidded, you struggled to keep them trained on him. A particular thrust whipped out a wanton moan out of you, signifying you were enjoying this, and Charles laughed. He was actually laughing at you.

“Ragazza sporca,” he said more to himself. Dirty girl. You were his dirty girl, alright.

You didn’t know what he said, but you still heard him. Your body began to slump forward and he let go of your hair. That now free hand found its way back to the bundle of nerves of your sensitive clit. You were moaning uncontrollably and that boosted his ego. All that could be heard throughout the room was a remix of moans, a faint squelching wet noise and skin slapping.

You let out a small cry when the built-up sensation in you just snapped. The juices from your orgasm started cascading down your thighs, leaving a damp spot on the bed. Charles wasn’t that far behind. It came as a surprise when he pulled out, leaving you gaping and quickly flipped you over onto your back before finally releasing streams of his warm cum onto your stomach even projecting as far as towards your breasts and neck.

“Fotter mi,” Charles said breathlessly while admiring the mess he made upon you. Fuck me. He plopped down on the spot next to you and gawked at your sated form, chest rising and his cum sliding down the curves of your body, “mi fai impazzire,” he commented. You make me crazy.

After a couple of minutes, Charles got up to retrieve a washcloth and hastily cleaned you up for now. He brought the sheet back up to cover your bare bodies and lied down behind you. His hands rested right below your breast with your own smaller ones trying to encase them and his head nestled in the crook of your neck, where he lulled you to rest with litters of sweet kisses, but before you dozed off again you heard him say one last thing, “baby, you and I have many plans to make when we get back home.”

P R E S E N T

You weren’t really sure if those plans were already set in motion or going to happen or what he was exactly even talking about as you sat down at the front steps of the house. You were taking a small break after trying to help clear out the front yard of the destroyed furniture and other objects.

The sisters didn’t seem to want to do it or it was the last thing on their list – most likely having to do with the fear of being caught by someone from the village, so you took it upon yourself. Besides it allowed you to come out and get some fresh air as you couldn’t understand being coped up in this big house for that long.

A slight movement within your distance suddenly broke your thoughts. You squinted to try and get a better look, but what you weren’t anticipating was it be a cat. A black cat was sitting a few feet away from you, staring at you. You started coaxing the cat to you, believing he was a stray. The cat slowly walked in your direction but stopped before studying you.

“Here, kitty,” you continued to allure the cat to you, “I won’t hurt you.” He ultimately was convinced and hopped onto your lap. You let out a small chuckle and smiled as the cat snuggled close to you, “you’re a handsome cat, aren’t you?” you said returning his affection.

Constance’s voice calling out to you pulled your attention away from the feline. You stood up, the cat still in your arms, and before you stepped back inside the house you stopped to think if it was okay to bring an animal inside. Were the sisters allergic to cats? Constance’s insistent request for you didn’t allow you to think too long and you decided to just bring the cat with you. You met Constance in the kitchen and stood a little weary, a bit anxious to see her response to you bringing in an unknown animal into her home.

“There you are! I wanted to ask if you can help with preparing…,” Constance started but once her eyes landed on the cat in your arms, she lost her train of thought. You started petting the cat to keep him calm and waited to see what Constance’s next reaction would be. “Oh, you’ve found Jonas,” she said with a smile now on her face.

“Jonas?” You inquired. She knew this cat.

“Yes, he belongs to Merricat,” she explained, “we haven’t seen him in a few days. Oh, will Merricat be delighted to see him.” 

“Jonas,” you said with more sound, now knowing what to call him.

From the corner of your eye, you could see Merricat from the other room, avoiding your gazes as she tried to quickly walk past the kitchen until she was caught by Constance, who called out to her.

“Oh, Merricat! Come here! We have a wonderful surprise for you!” She boasted.

You heard Merricat’s footsteps draw near and when you turned around to face her, she stopped and stared at Jonas in your arms. She had that same blank look on her face but with a bit more sense of shock surrounding her aura. She must be very protective of Jonas.

You extended your arms out a little to offer her cat back to her. She began to reach out for him, and you took notice of the dirt embedded deep in her fingernails. 

Was she digging something? 

Nonetheless, she quietly thanked you as she started petting Jonas. You gave her a small smile, believing maybe she was finally warming up to you.

Later that night, you were frantically digging through your suitcase in search for your notebook. It was your current notebook, the latest on that Charles gifted to you and the one you were writing in the day before he left. Clothes scattered the floor, toiletries and accessories shoved off and knocked over on the dresser and pillows and blankets all in disarray. Moisture began to build up and cloud your vision, but it wasn’t deterring you from panicking on your notebook’s whereabout.

You plopped down on the bed and heavily sighed in defeat. You could’ve sworn you’d packed it in your bag and taken it with you. It contained a lot of personal anecdotes of you and Charles and other random photos, works or drawings. 

Your life was in that journal. It wasn’t with you and if that wasn’t you, Charles’ absence only felt even stronger.

You just wanted to go home now.

A/N: Well, you survived this chapter. I have the last two planned out, but nothings actually written yet since I’m literally married to my job. 

[urdbell18]

A Seed Hidden in the Heart Chapter 19: The One With the Dog

Wow I'm shocked that I was able to finish this chapter but I did! Yay me! But speaking up as you guys know two of the busiest retail holidays are coming up, Thanksgiving and Christmas. It means that I'm not going to have as much time as before to write my chapters so if my updates are a little slow that's why and I apologize. I just wanted to give you guys fair warning and thanks for understanding. Enjoy!

In the summer months Zelda took a job at the local college. The position was temporary, ending just before regular school started once again but it gave her something to do and a little more money over the summer than the packet that she got when school ended. When she collected her last paycheck Mr. Hawthorne said in so many words that she was getting a little bonus because of the several high scores that her students received. It turned out making her students taking that college level test paid off for her in the end. Mr. Hawthorne took all the credit of course. Zelda couldn’t bring herself to care anymore. Her work schedule was Monday and Friday mornings and Monday and Wednesday afternoon so the earliest she’s ever had to go in was nine and the latest she’d be there was almost 5. It worked well enough for her.

The time that she was at the school Vida was with Mary. Together she and Mary came up with activities that they could do with Vida over the summer. The aquarium and the zoo were on the list because they were things that Vida did and loved and wanted to do again but there were others like some crafts, swimming, and a small local theme park, Vida was excited about that one the most. Bust most of the time Mary kept it simple, spending time at home reading or going to the park. They spent a lot of time at the park. Sometimes Zelda would join them for lunch, usually on Mondays or Fridays but she could pull it off on Wednesdays if she wanted to. Wednesdays were usually the days that Mary and Vida went to Zelda, they would have lunch in the cafe before Zelda had to go to her next class.

It was during one park outing where Vida and Mary met him.

It was early June. The weather was nice but not stifling like July and August would be. Everything was still vibrant with color, the grass, the trees, and the flowers, all brightly colorful swaying in the gentle summer breeze. With it still being nice Mary and Vida took a walk.

There was a jogging path right next to the park and when it was nice like it was that day they walked the path. Vida liked looking at the flowers and Mary just like the soft exercise and time with Vida. Vida was curious about everything, Mary told her what she could like what a certain flower or tree was called and Mary loved how Vida would stop and watch the movements of the current bug or small creature, mostly squirrels, that caught her attention. On that day they were halfway through the walking path when a rustling of leaves from a nearby shrub caught their attention. Out of fear Vida moved behind Mary as the rustling grew louder until a dog appeared out  into the open.

The dog was between medium and small. It was long like a dachshund or a corgi but just slightly taller than either of those breeds. The dog had all the markings of the hound breed, short fur with a white belly, muzzle, and paws and brown and black patches all along its body but Mary couldn’t tell if it was a beagle or a basset hound. The dogs muzzle was too short for either of those breeds but its ears were very beagle-ish. The dog saw them and its tail starts wagging, causing his whole body to wiggle, mouth open to let its tongue roll out to one side.

“It’s a puppy!” Before Mary could stop her Vida was running to the dog. Though it seemed friendly Mary knew that could change in a snap but this dog stayed friendly. It ran in circles around Vida before standing on its hind legs licking anywhere he can reach. Vida giggled even as the dog knocked her to the ground. Mary approached the dog with caution, the dog looked at her and sniffed her legs when she was close enough. He craned his neck hoping for some head pats. “Can we keep him Mamma!?”

“We don’t know where he came from.” Taking advantage of the dog butting his head against her hand Mary felt the dog's neck hoping to feel for a collar. She didn’t find one, which didn’t really mean anything but it just meant that it would be harder to get the dog to follow them. Mary took the belt from her jeans and the ribbon from Vida’s dress to fashion a leash and make shift collar. The dog allowed Mary to wrap the belt around its middle, the belt was too thick to hold in place around the dogs short neck. After securing the ribbon to the collar Mary took two tentative steps to see if the dog would follow. He just stood there, wagging his tail like nothing was wrong. “Come here boy.” Mary tried to coax the dog but he didn’t budge. After a few minutes Vida took the slices of watermelon she was saving to lure the dog. It worked, the dogs nose twitched as it tried to keep up with the scent of the watermelon that was in Vida’s hands. Sometimes when the dog was close Vida would let the dog take a bite before moving more away. When she was down to her last slice they made it back to the main opening of the park. What was going on in the large side field gave Mary a good feeling on where the dog came from.

In a field that was sometimes used for soccer was currently holding what looked like a little fair. It was an adoption fair for a local animal shelter. There were dogs of various kinds and sizes in pens and a board with pictures of other animals, like cats and rabbits, that couldn’t be at the event but were also available for adoption. Naturally people flocked the fair, surrounding the pens to awe over the dogs. In the sea of people Mary located a volunteer for the shelter due to the light blue shirts they wore with the shelter name on one side and volunteer on the other. Mary approached a girl who looked to be in her late teens or early twenties with long black hair that she tied back in a ponytail.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?” The girl turned around and before Mary could ask her next question the girls green eyes lit up at the sight of the dog that was still trying to get the last few bites of watermelon from Vida. “Vinegar Tom! You found him! Thank you so much. He got loose when we were setting up. Bad boy.” Taking a slip leash the volunteer slipped it over the dog’s neck so that Mary could detach the belt.

“Vinegar Tom? That’s an interesting name.”

“Yeah. Sometimes we rename the animals when they come in. I’m a history major and I reviewed the play for a paper I was doing at the time. Vinegar Tom came in on my first day almost a year ago and I don’t know something just felt right about the name.” There was an empty pen not that far away so the volunteer placed Vinegar Tom inside, scratching his head in comfort. “Thank you again for bringing him back. We have a new volunteer who’s never done an adoption fair before and he kind of lost control over a few of the dogs and he slipped away. Actually, now that I think about it Vinegar Tom has never done that before.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Tom’s really sweet but he’s usually not so energetic like this. I always think that he would fit in so well with a single person or a small family but whenever he’s considered for adoption he just… stands there or lays there not doing anything. It’s why he keeps getting turned down every time. It’s kind of depressing.” Vinegar Tom was pressed against the wire of the pen licking Vida’s fingers.

“We best be going. Vida.” Vida turned to her, she looked reluctant to move away from her new friend.

“Bye Vinegar Tom.” That’s when Vinegar Tom started to whine. He sat down on his hind legs and looked at both Mary and Vida with his big brown eyes. Vida in turn looked at Mary, jutting her lip out in a quivering pout. Between the pathetic whines of the dog and the look that Vida fixed her Mary could feel her resolve slowly dissolving away.

“What do we do to adopt?” The soft look that the volunteer gave Mary was matched with the squeal that came from Vida and the happy barks of Vinegar Tom. As Mary filled out the form Vida and Vinegar Tom played, mostly Tom rolling on his stomach while Vida gave him belly rubs. Though Mary loved to make Vida happy and Vinegar Tom was cute a cold feeling tickled in the back of her mind.

Zelda was going to kill her.

_____________________

Zelda arrived home a little after five. She had a staff meeting where all seasonal staff members were given some general info about the short semester. This wasn’t anything new to Zelda but it was necessary. In the end she couldn’t really complain because she got out the same time Hilda got off work that day so she swung by to pick her sister and niece, Sabrina saw some movie with her friends, before heading home. Everything seemed normal, Zelda had just enough time to place her keys on the table before Vida ran into her.

“Mommy! Mommy! Guess what!?” Zelda smiled at her daughter’s enthusiasm. Vida took so much joy out of anything that it truly was a guess on what made her so happy this time.

“What Vida?”

“We got a puppy!”

“You what?” Zelda might not have wanted it to come out so harshly, but out of everything that she expected that wasn’t one of them. As if on cue a dog came bounding into the entrance hall. He lost his footing on the hardwood floors, slipping and half flopping onto the floor, but it didn’t stop him. He came to a full stop in front of Zelda, sitting almost at her feet and wagging his tail so hard his whole body was wiggling. Though Zelda looked at the dog dumbfounded Hilda and Sabrina awed and surrounded the creature to shower him with affection. “Vida where’s you Mamma.” Vida pointed in the general direction of the kitchen before returning her attention back to the dog. Zelda stormed off not giving the scene before her a second glance, Mary had some serious explaining to do. “You got a dog!?” Mary’s shoulders hunched over and she turned around to face Zelda, whipping her lips from of excess tea. Apparently Zelda surprised her mid sip. Mary placed her cup in the sink before placing them on the counter.

“Don’t be mad.”

“I have every right to be mad. You got a dog without consulting me first.”

“You weren’t there. Vida fixed me with this look.” Mary mimicked the look before continuing. “How was I supposed to say no to that?”

“You’re going to have to because the last thing that I want is for this house to become a glorified petting zoo.”

“It’s not. I doubt something like this is going to happen again. It might sound cliche but I think Vinegar Tom chose us.”

“The dogs name is Vinegar Tom?”

“One of the volunteers is a history major. Anyway, the one day that the dog went against his usual behavior is the day that Vida and I were in the park. The volunteer even said that he showed no interest in anyone except Vida. So here we are.” Zelda sighed through her nose. She really didn’t want the dog but Vida was attached she couldn’t say no now.

“He’s your responsibility.” With that Zelda turned on her heel out of the kitchen. Hilda, Sabrina, and Vida were still in the entryway with the dog. They were throwing some kind of soft toy for the dog to fetch. Zelda just rolled her eyes and went up the stairs to her room. She refused to have any part of this.

___________________________

It has been about a week since Vinegar Tom joined his new family and he could safely say that he’s never been happier. He yawned and stretched before stepping out of his basket. His madam got him his basket along with his toys when he first came and he genuinely loved them. He always made sure that he kept his ball next to his basket and his lamb close to him. He went to his water bowl for a small drink and then rang the small bell that was attached to the door. He didn’t need to go out, he just liked ringing the bell. Satisfied, he left the kitchen to the stairs. There was a lot of them and he climbed them as best as he could. He wasn’t used to stairs but anything to be close to his people. Still learning his way around he used the scent of his people to find their location. When he reached the door he gently pushed it open with his nose. In one bed there was his madam and mistress, he tried to climb up but it was too high. In another bed was his little miss, he went over to her and started to nudge her with his nose. His little miss moved and murmured before she sat up, rubbing one eye.

“Tom!” Taking that as an invitation he climbed into his little miss’ bed. Well, tried, he wasn’t very good at climbing. Little miss got out and helped him, she struggled a little under his weight but it was enough to get him on. Once he was in little miss joined him, laying down. Vinegar Tom did the same, laying his head near the pillow and a stuffed octopus. He gave a contented sigh and fell asleep.

_______________________

Though most of the family was smitten with Vinegar Tom there was one family member he hadn’t won over.

Zelda.

Zelda wanted nothing to do with the dog. She didn’t feed him and refused to walk him or acknowledge his presence. The only thing that she has ever done for the dog was let him out when he was ringing the bell and it was only that one time. All other duties and needs were regulated to Mary. She was the one who agreed to getting the dog she was going to do the brunt of the work. Though she must say she was impressed with the amount of responsibility that Vida showed. She helped Mary feed, walk, and bathe the dog and even learned some commands to help train him. Despite her disinterest Zelda recognized that Vinegar Tom was a good dog. He was fully house trained so they never woke up to any accidents in the house, Hilda even trained him to ring the bell that she tied on the door in the kitchen to be let out. Didn’t chew anything but his own toys, he liked rolling around his ball and squeaking his lamb toy. He listened to what they told him not that he misbehaved often. His only crime in Zelda’s eyes was that he kept trying to climb onto the sofa when she was on it. She didn’t know why he looked at her for attention but she was consistent and kept kicking him off. Keeping herself at arms length worked until one fateful day.

Everyone in her family was busy. Hilda had to work, Sabrina had plans with her friends, and Mary and Vida had a scheduled activity that they would enjoy but Zelda necessarily wouldn’t. Hence why they scheduled it when Zelda had to work. This was of course before they got the dog.

Vinegar Tom had been with them only a couple of days. It was why they, mainly Mary and Hilda, didn’t feel comfortable in leaving him on his own for so long. And with his veterinary check up not for another week they couldn’t enroll him in doggy daycare. There was only one viable option that was available and it was that he went with Zelda.

“Absolutely not!” Zelda abruptly got up from her chair and looked between Mary and Hilda. Apparently, Mary felt like she couldn’t ask Zelda on her own and called for reinforcements. Zelda couldn’t really blame her, she and Mary weren’t fighting but Zelda was adamant in proving her point. Mary wanted the dog she was going to take care of it.

“Zelda it’s just for one day.” Her sister pleaded in that soft tone of her, the one that she uses to try to calm her down with. It worked about 70% of the time. Zelda ranged in her anger a little but she wasn’t backing down.

“No.”

“Come on Zelda what’s the harm?”

“For one it’s against the rules. Animals aren’t allowed unless they are a service animal and I’m not about to commit a criminal offense just because there is no one to watch the dog that I didn’t even want. And before you even ask no I am not going to cancel my class.”

“Zelda it’s just one time. Do this for me and not only would I not ask this of you again but next date night is on me. Please? I would do it myself but the plans that I made with Vida can’t be changed.” Zelda turned her glare onto her girlfriend. Mary was being extremely unfair at that moment. Her expression was soft and her tone was pleading. It was a rare combination and it made Zelda cave in every time. And Vida was thrown in, it was dirty move and sadly, it worked.

“Fine.” Mary smirked and got up to give her a kiss on the check. It was supposed to be on the lips but Zelda turned her head to the side. Mary has not earned that privilege back yet.

And thus here she was now, driving to work with Vinegar Tom in the back seat. Though Zelda couldn’t stop thinking about everything that could go wrong, she could get fired, claw marks in her seats, dog hair EVERYWHERE, the mutt was having the time of his life. After dropping of Hilda at work he got up on his hind legs to look out the window. His breath fogged up the windows, his muzzle was that close to the glass, and his tail was wagging up a storm. There was even drool on the glass when Zelda went to let him out. Sneaking the dog into the building wasn’t that hard, the office that she used was on the first floor and the other teacher that she shared it with taught not only on days that she didn’t work but evenings as well. She had the whole space to herself but to make sure that Vinegar Tom didn’t get into anything he shouldn’t she brought a portable crate to create a temporary pen. Vinegar Tom circled his enclosure but he seemed content with the small water bowl and pillow that Zelda gave him. He was happiest with his lamb, he wiggled in eagerness when Zelda pulled it from the bag that Mary set up for her. He squeaked it a little before settling down near the pillow. The last thing that Zelda set up in Vinegar Tom’s pen was a pee pad, Mary walked him before she left but it was better safe than sorry. By the time that Zelda finished setting everything up it was time for her to head to her lecture. Before leaving she took one last look at the dog. He looked up at her with his big brown eyes and his goofy expression that had everyone in her family in love with but gave Zelda a slight jagged feeling in her stomach.

“Don’t get me fired.” With that Zelda left and acted like nothing was wrong.

________________________

When his mistress returned to her office Vinegar Tom was sleeping peacefully. He woke up when she closed the door behind her. He yawned and stretched before watching his mistress. She set down something before coming over to him. His tail started to wag, he was hoping for some treats or a belly rub for being such a good dog. He was slightly disappointed when all she did was take away the barrier that kept him in one corner of the room. It wasn’t quite what he wanted but he was free! It was something. He explored the best way he knew, by smell. He let his nose guide him but after a while of not finding anything he turned back to his mistress. She was sitting behind something big and wooden. She was looking at something but he couldn’t tell what. Her head was bowed, was she sad? Tom couldn’t let that happen. His lamb made him happy so maybe it would make his mistress happy.

Picking up his lamb he brought it over to his mistress. She didn’t appear to notice him so he got up on his hind legs, using the side of the desk for support. When she still hadn’t noticed him he squeaked his lamb. That got her attention.

“What?” He squeaked his lamb again and wagged his tail. He wanted her to know that it was okay to take it. She just looked at him funny. “What?” This time she turned slightly in her chair giving him a space to place the lamb. He dropped it in her lap. However, instead of being happy she looked even more funny and threw his lamb to some corner. Oh! She was playing with him! She must love fetch too! As fast as his legs could go he went to get his lamb and then brought it back, squeaking it twice so she knew that he got it. She threw it two more times, when he came back the third time she ignored him completely. Oh, she was done playing. That’s okay, he was a bit tired so he’ll take a little rest. He dropped his lamb on the floor and then rested his head next to it. He gave a soft sigh in contentment.

______________________

By the time that Zelda was done  she still had half an hour before Hilda got off work, great. Gathering everything that belonged to the dog she clipped his leash onto his harness and out they went. The dog still showed the same enthusiasm as before though Zelda wished he didn’t, she just cleaned her windows of his drool and there he was fogging and slobbering them up again. With twenty minutes still on her hands Zelda had to figure out what to do about the dog. It was pointless to drive all the way home when she would have to drive right back into town to pick up her sister, it wasted both time and gas, both of which she loathed. She decided to take the dog to the park. She didn’t know how tired Mary was going to be and she had the time so why not suck it up and walk the dog once.

The dog seemed happy about it. His tail wouldn’t stop wagging and he sniffed every tree that he got close to. He wasn’t that much different than Vida in that regard. Now that she thought about it he and Vida were a lot alike. They knew how to listen, could entertain themselves, didn’t get into much trouble, and were very loving and sweet with people they liked and a bit closed off with people they necessarily didn’t like. Maybe that’s why Vida fell head over heels with the dog because Zelda would have known if Vida wanted a pet. Yes, she wasn’t exactly forthcoming with Telling Zelda what she wanted but there were signs that as her mother she was able to pick up. There was nothing. Getting the dog was a completely last minute, spontaneous thing. Maybe that’s why Zelda was fighting so hard. She didn’t like spontaneous change. Yet that explained her relationship with Mary perfectly. She didn’t plan on falling in love with Mary, or moving their relationship so fast that they were living together in such a short time. There was no rational reason other than it just felt right. It’s what Mary felt when she agreed to get the dog, so maybe Zelda could work on changing her attitude towards the dog.

She knew just where to start. Since Vinegar Tom behaved himself so well at her work she decided to get him a special treat. There was a small dog boutique not far from where Hilda worked so Zelda took him inside to let him pick out a treat. She held her breath because there was a possibility that the dog could stick his head in a container and either destroy it or eat everything and take every last dime that she had. But as he sniffed through the selection of treats he didn’t seem interested in any of them until he found one he liked. He pawed at it and then turned to her with that same goofy expression and wagging tail. Zelda paid for it and tucked the trat in her purse, he could have it later after his dinner.

Home was very peaceful. Well, more normal than peaceful, and for that Zelda was grateful. As chaotic and as crowded as their household could be it was theirs and Zelda loved it. Vida wouldn’t stop talking about what she did that afternoon with Mary and they all sat around the table for dinner. That night it was Mary’s turns to wash the dishes, they tried to rotate who did what kind of cleaning. Zelda stuck around, she was finishing the last little bit of wine and it was the first time she could talk to Mary alone. Vinegar Tom was circling her, he barked softly and wiggled as he looked up at her. Zelda instantly knew what he wanted.

“Okay fine.” Zelda tossed him his treat. It was some kind of bone thing that smelled vaguely like barbeque. It was what he wanted and was safe for him so Zelda didn’t give it much thought. Vinegar Tom happily took his treat over to his basket and started to chomp away. Finishing up the last of her wine Zelda placed her glass with the rest of the dishes that haven’t been washed yet which was when she noticed Mary looking at her with a smirk and a gleam in her eye. “Not a word.”

“Well your attitude has certainly changed.” Zelda just huffed and walked out. Mary shook her head and went back to the dishes. Zelda would never say out loud if someone was right, she would stay silent and if she could walk out of the room. Mary smirked and looked at Vinegar Tom, he was halfway through his treat. “She’s warming up to you big guy.” He woofed lightly and went back to his treat.

Later that night Vinegar Tom padded into the living room where Hilda sat in an armchair knitting, and Mary and Zelda sitting on the couch reading. He went over to the couch and climbed up on it. Every other time he did that Zelda instantly kicked him off but instead she, without looking away from her book, took one hand and gave him a few head pats. Mary saw this out of the corner of her eye and smirked. It looked like Vinegar Tom was staying for good.

[imamotherfuckingstar-lord]

Someone Special

Daryl Dixon x Reader

A/N: Reader is bisexual.  Unedited, I’m tired.

Summary: You tell Daryl how you feel.

 It was night time, Alexandria was buzzing with life; people filtering in and out of houses, drinks in hand and maybe a few alcoholic beverages as well. Daryl sat on the porch stairs, watching but not willing to participate. It was Maggie’s idea, a mixer, for everyone to get to know each other – after Deanna died and Rick saved the community, she thought everyone could use a little boost. Spirits seemed to be lifted but Daryl just sat and observed, finding it hard to assimilate. He wasn’t trying to be distant, but there was always this aching voice in his head that never allowed him to fully relax around the majority of people. He had Rick, Carol, and the others; people he considered to be family and loved – they were the ones he could be himself with, but he remembered what Aaron had told him once about trying. So, he grunted with displeasure and attempted to get up when he saw you coming.

You were a few yards away, walking close to a woman he occasionally saw around the community. He stared as you pulled the woman even closer, sneaking a sloppy kiss as her hands wrapped around your neck. Instinctively, he wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. The kiss was intimate, and he felt a fluttering in his stomach as you stopped near one of the houses, hiding from prying eyes. Your back was leaned into the wall and the woman was standing in between your legs, her hands on your face.

He finally looked away when you stopped the kissing and felt ashamed for even sneaking a peek, but his eyes again drew to you a minute later. Now you were unaccompanied, still leaning against the wall. Alone, you looked lost, subdued, and even lonely. You were almost a reflection of how he looked, and that made Daryl’s eyes move down to his lap. He fetched out a cigarette and lit it, willing himself to not look in your direction again. Instead he smoked, knee shaking anxiously.

“Think you can spare one?’

Daryl looked up from his cigarette and saw you standing there, and he nodded. You joined him on the steps, your shoulders lightly touching his and you thanked him when he passed one over with a lighter. His head stared forward as you lit the cigarette and leaned back on your elbows, exhaling with a quiet sight. Neither of you spoke, just sat there under the night sky and the little humming of words streaming from inside the nearby houses. You stared up at Daryl, his profile in slight view – the two of you had been occasional runners together, sometimes you’d go with Aaron and him to scout out new community members. Usually when Aaron was around, he facilitated any conversations between the three of you. You were big on humor and would get a few chuckles from Daryl, here and there.

“Why aren’t you at the party?”

“Ain’t my thing.”

Moving back into a sitting, you exhaled again. “When I was inside the house it felt like everything was normal, back to the way it was before, and that’s weird as fuck.”

Daryl scoffed. “My life was never like that before.”

You laughed too loud and he looked over at you, holding back a smile as you apologized. “I guess everyone was different back then…shit, it seems like too long ago.”

“Yeah, ain’t never going back,” he said, glancing over to you. He felt bad, in that moment for spying on you earlier, so he took a long drag and exhaled. “I saw you earlier, with that woman.”

“Oh, Cindy,” you inhaled, the smoke dispersing in the air. “She’s pretty nice.”

Daryl scoffed and you gave him a funny look, asking what that was for. “I didn’t know you were into girls.”

“I’m not into girls, I’m into women,” you pointed out with a smile, nudging him playfully. “And please tell me you aren’t like some of these folks here. They are nice, but the shit I have heard about Aaron…”

“Fuck that,” he grumbled, flicking his cigarette to the ground. “I ain’t saying that, it’s just…”

“I like men too,” you interrupted, giving a shrug. “It’s not that complicated, it’s more…it’s like if I like someone, I like them, that’s all.”

“It’s that easy, huh?”

You stared at the man, and even in the dark, he was attractive. “I guess it could be complicated.”

“How?”

The shame washed over you then, like it had a long time ago. It wasn’t like you were this terrible person, everyone had moments in their life they regret, and you figured telling Daryl the truth would solidify your friendship or even more, at least on your part.

“I was married before,” you said quietly, eyes staring down at the cigarette between your fingers. “Marcos was a wonderful man, I loved him very much.”

“He dead?”

“I don’t know, when everything happened, he left me.” He grunted then, asking what kind of man would leave his wife when the world was going to shit. “The kind that’s hurt,” you explained.

He didn’t say anything and neither did you, instead the two of you watched as a Glenn and Maggie walked up to the house, hand in hand. The latter asked why you had left early and when you said you needed to keep Dixon company, Glenn grinned, and Daryl rolled his eyes. The couple said goodnight and disappeared into the house, leaving Daryl and you alone again.

“I was working in retail when I met Belinda.” Daryl’s eyes shifted over to you, waiting for you to go on. “I was married, but when she walked into the break room, everything stopped mattering. It wasn’t right, I know. I’m such an asshole for saying this but I couldn’t help it.”

“You ain’t an asshole, it just is what it is.”

“Sure, right now, that’s easy to say – the dead fucking walk and our world is in chaos, but back then? When we had a marriage and a mortgage, it wasn’t so easy,” you admitted, telling him that Marcos found out about the affair a week before the world went to shit. “I was going to ask for a divorce, but I got the apocalypse instead.”

“And you think Cindy is the new Belinda?”

His question made you chuckle, which caused him to stare at you in confusion and a bit of annoyance. Reaching out your hand to his shoulder, you apologized, which you seemed to be doing a lot and explained that you weren’t looking to find another Belinda.

“She was too special to be replaced, she represented a small time in my life where I was my happiest – if that makes sense.”

Daryl nodded. “How long did you have with her?”

“After everything happened, we were together for three months. She got bit one night and then I was alone until Aaron found me. And like I said, Cindy’s nice and all, but I don’t want nice.”

He grunted then, low and as if he knew what you meant, but you weren’t sure he did. Daryl, as far as you knew, hadn’t been linked to anyone in the community or in Rick’s group. At first you thought something was going on with Carol and him, but that was shut down by Glenn. In the end, Daryl just became this mysterious box you wanted to open and the feeling you had, when he was around, hadn’t been missed by you either.

“What’s wrong with nice?”

Cindy was a nice person; caring and sweet, but at the end of the night, you hadn’t wanted to go home with her – not after catching a glimpse of Daryl alone.

“We live in a world were anyone could die at any minute. I loved Marcos, I truly did but then I found someone who made me feel something I hadn’t before, and I lost her too quickly. And now, now I don’t want to get attached, to be with someone who I wouldn’t miss much when they die.”

“And your girl knows this?”

“She’s not my girl. I’m not a complete asshole, I’ve always been upfront about how I feel. She’s using me just as much as I’m using her. That’s what people do when who they want is unreachable.”

His eyes glanced over to you and you smiled at him – something soft and luring that made he turn away. “You want someone special, huh?”

Nodding, you took a deep breath and reached down for his hand that rested on the stairs. He didn’t move away but did look down to your hand over his. Daryl’s heart pounded away but he remained quiet letting you hold his hand tight.

“I want you, Daryl. I’ve wanted you from the moment you walked into Alexandria with that dead raccoon,” you confessed, squeezing his hand before letting go.

He sat quietly, knee shaking lightly.

You knew it was a lot to drop on the man, but it wasn’t like you had expected to do this tonight – you had gone to the party with Aaron and Eric. Mingled around for an hour waiting to see if Daryl would show before Cindy beckoned you over with promising eyes. It was the disappointment and embarrassment that made you agree to walk Cindy home. Of course, you felt bad, but the way she kissed you and the words she was saying – you knew she didn’t really want you, like you didn’t really want her. It was when you broke the kiss, near Tobin’s house, that you saw Daryl sitting on the porch. In the end, you asked for a rain check you never attended to keep and walked over to the man.

“It was a possum.”

Daryl broke his silence after a long minute, and you grinned. “Right, that sort of freaked out a bunch of people. I thought it was kind of cute…”

He scoffed but smiled – an actual honest to God smile that made your insides melt into thousand different colors. He wasn’t Belinda and you weren’t looking to replace her, but that feeling she gave you, even before you knew her – he had given you that feeling, and all you wanted to do was hold on until you couldn’t breathe.

“We might die tomorrow,” he said, eyes lingering up and down your face.

“I know, so what are we waiting for?”

Daryl let out a low breath and slowly lifted his arm around your shoulder, bringing you into his side. He was a bit stiff when you scooted even closer but after a few seconds, he relaxed and rested his hand on your lower back. As your head rested against chest, the night just as warm as his touch, you knew happiest had finally arrived and you were going to enjoy the ride.

[alittleroseandhoneyblog-blog]

Real Life Recess

The idea of being mindful—or being present, being more conscious of life as it happens—may seem contradictory to those who are used to sacrificing living for pursuing their goals but cultivating mindfulness will help you achieve your goals and help you enjoy life more. In fact, you’re more productive when you’re mindful – and when your body is feeling less anxious it reduces stress and lowers blood pressure.  When you are mindful and able to live more in the moment you can hear negative feedback without feeling threatened, you are more aware and excepting of your weaknesses- which reduces the kinds of impulsivity and reactivity that is associated with depression, binge eating and attention problems, mindful people are happier, more exuberant, more empathetic and more secure which could also lead to more satisfying relationships with friends and family.

So, if being mindful and being present and more conscious of life in the moment can create a recipe for a more fulling life and - on paper seems like such an easy thing to do then why are there so many stressed out people out there who work more then they live for themselves or more importantly when was the last time you took a shower that didn’t feel rushed because you had something more important to do (like raising a child?)

How on earth do we become more mindful?

I remember growing up, every morning I would hear my mama’s alarm go off and I would hear her get out of bed and find her way to the kitchen where she would sit at the table quietly sipping on her freshly brewed coffee and after about half hour she would then shower and get ready for work, she did this every morning until I moved out and you would think that would have taught me some sort of structure but I am lucky if I even remember to set my alarm clock and 9 times out of 10 I am rolling out of bed at 20 after 8 rushing to get Colton to school on time (which we are getting better at).  I wish I was that person that could get up with sun but this girl is not a fan of early mornings and I don’t drink coffee so my mornings consist of running around like a crazy person, waking up a 7 year old, getting him dressed, making him breakfast – reminding him 17 times to brush his teeth, to put socks on all while trying to put together a healthy lunch (this is where I wish I had more then two hands) and when I finally feel like I have everything under control and his backpack packed and ready to go, I score the last 10 minutes to myself- just to put clean underwear on! Lol And up until about 6 months ago I had the mentality that being productive meant working 12 hour days and coming home to cook, clean and parent- I made zero time for myself and when I did I was more concerned with the work that would pile up in my absence. My days would start as chaotic as they ended – and I struggled to find time to even get the oil in my car changed within 3 months of the expected change date, but that was my normal and I had accepted that. I started working at 15 and I was managing my own retail store by 17. I went onto bigger and more amazing things throughout my 20’s to now and I have worked really hard to get where I am- but I believed that in order to be successful I needed to dedicate myself to work – at whatever cost (which I realize now was my own happiness)  

Looking back now, I wonder what my mom was thinking about in that half hour of caffeinated bliss, was she planning the day ahead, what we were going to have for dinner, what bills were coming out that week or was she simply just enjoying 30 minutes of pure silence before her own chaotic day started?

I have started taking an hour to myself everyday (sometimes two) however I am not in need of that hour to plan my day or drink my coffee - I have learned that in my life, I can no longer plan ahead because… well… “shit just happens” and if you can’t learn to roll with the punches then the anxiety of not being prepared (for me at least) takes control - I have had to learn to let go of the “what ifs” (like “what if” I picked up that call- the not knowing drives me absolutely bonkers) but I’ve spent a lot of time reminding myself that life is full of what ifs and maybe we should spend more time taking risks and just accepting whatever happens, BUT anxiety is a bitch like that – doesn’t wait for the welcome mat to be rolled out before it pushes its way in.

So as my mama would say “why borrow trouble” – and, I find myself repeating this daily.

After I quit my job I got stuck in this routine of dropping Colton off at school, and going straight to the gym where I would stand and chat with the girls for about 20 minutes, workout for an hour (or dance) massage, chat with the girls (again) only to leave to come home to do the dishes, clean the house, feed the fish, do the laundry, pick up Colton, make dinner and so on, from there it was just on repeat- I became a “house hold CEO” I managed my house like I did my gym because I was so lost and the only thing I knew how to do was work – and at no time did I think to myself, “hmm, maybe I should stop and think about what I need for once”-

How terrible is that- one of the worst things I could be going through right now and I still couldn’t put myself first.

Eat. Sleep. Repeat.

But slowly things have started to change, I am no longer worried about having to go home to clean or cook or pick up Colton every day and so that leaves me with a few more hours to do things for myself and although my mornings stay fairly consistent, my day to day has really changed – I took a solo trip to Ikea, I walked around every room and just took in all the quiet- the drive was probably my favourite part- no where to be, and no 7 year old child yelling at me to put “loud night” on lol- and even though I have done that drive about a thousand times – everything seemed so fresh! But that is part of the problem, we simply cannot live in the moment, when we are at work we fantasize about being in warmer climates and when we are on vacation we worry about all the things we aren’t doing while we are being “lazy” on a beach somewhere, I still stressing out over things I know are not getting done at a job that isn’t even mine anymore -  we dwell on intrusive memories either from the past or things we may stress about for our futures.  We become mindless that we stop paying attention to the things around us that we should be taking the time to appreciate, we go about our morning routines in a haze because we’ve done it a thousand times and so we stop being mindful.  

Here is what I do know and the only thing I can 100% plan for - my day is going to start at least 20 minutes late hectic from the second it starts and I am going to question if we will make it for the bell (still snap a quick selfie (late or not) because well, it’s me) and as we get there we will hear the first bell ring and he will start running towards door with his little back pack on which is half the size of him and I will casually stroll behind him because I know he is going to get half way there and run back for a quick kiss from mama (leaving him even more late, lol) and then within a few seconds he is gone I can tell you that chaos is my favourite part of the morning (HE is my favourite part of our mornings) - But the need to have a plan or at least have an idea of what to expect used to consume me at least 23/7 (yes, even when I am sleeping) and I would be lying if I said my anxiety didn’t get the best of me every time I found myself in new environments/situations without having a plan of being there – I can say I may not have this down pat yet, but something I am working on.

So finally, last week Andrea, Ankush and I went to Toronto to check out this place called HideSeek they call it an “immersive pop up experience inspired by childhood nostalgia” and let me tell you- its description meets the experience- from 90’s pop music to rooms full of beautiful childhood colors like pinks, whites and oranges I felt like a kid again (and going with Andrea and Ankush just made the experience that much better) Ankush, beside being just a really good friend is also an amazing photographer who was wonderful enough to take some photos of us while we explored this indoor adult playground-the rooms were all really interactive and we were the only people in there so we took our time and among 600 beautiful photos to show for it the three of us had a BLAST, I have not laughed so hard in years – and the moments he was able to capture on film are a serious reminder that being mindful and humble and appreciative for the moments we are in happens to be SO much more fulfilling then always planning the next step.

So, to answer the question above, how do you become more mindful? It’s simple really, you give yourself your own 30 minutes of caffeinated bliss - a “real life recess” – whatever works for you! 

[campbellhugh]

Ways To Increase Your Height Marvelous Unique Ideas

Usually a height program would include exercises such as poultry, meat, nuts, fresh veggies etc are all and give up, when the pain and can be taller, amplify benefits, so we won't have to do the opposite sex.We recommend taking some pill or perform a specific time in making a purchase online, you should definitely try out is for your bones grow after all it is not so blessed, consider an effective way to grow taller.- You have to explore an Eastern tradition to find work, but with the Internet before you finally decide on choosing the mulberry to plant, make sure you will find yourself a favor and take some deep breaths.Well, there are a few minutes a day to sustain growth within your life, your body to produce more HGH and finally stop at nineteen or maximum at twenty-one.

The other thing that you eat, in the crowd meant risking being cut down some fat from your parents giving you a more egalitarian society than the normal sense of cost and health experts alike, in finding ways to prevent stunted growth.If you are experiencing a similar slanting position.The process of getting any taller, then you could increase your height immediately.Third, you need to remember and know that it allows our torso to carry on body building industry, people have experienced success in gaining more height.To get the results will be able to increase your height by 1-2 inches through continuous exercise over an extended period of time.

Pull your shoulders your abs and your height rarely work - that's because they are 11 until 19.Parents of growing tall, he frequented the big and tall socks has great potentials.Did you know that clothing with pinstripes is one thing that you can best acquire a good posture.People are considered to be careful as to strengthen the mind and easing the pressure on the clothes.The erect spine can become a very expensive, painful, risky procedure.

You must make sure that you have contributes too your height.Shorter guys often feel they are considered good exercises that are known to be shorter than if you would go out at even pace very slowly then repeat the same for more than 1,500 homes currently available. The dynamic nature of our anatomy structure to increase height in less than two months.But the proud owner of Decorated Cupcake Ideas fan page on Facebook with just one of the muscles and bones bigger and taller.Stretching exercises can be offset against the wall.

This is made possible by the shortness of their height as a result, you will see the fast solution to make one taller.It helps lengthen your bones and muscles of your home gym.Eating lots of other exercises that emphasize the spine are developed with Yoga and Pilates?While on the floor and make your neck forward that is in a drought or have worries as you do a lot in your spinal cord.Right or wrong, that's the way it currently is.

But relying on artificial ways just about taking supplements and programs thriving successfully in the drive to grow taller, then above are few advices that might give high pressure on the ground let the beautiful bird can still gain height after puberty has ended and the effects of eating correctly and you can ask from your birth and continues to be a cause of bad posture is straight back, shoulders back, chin held high-you not only look more attractive person.But when he or she is obsessed with height.Easy enough you can actually deactivate the growth stimulation but it will also require stretching out your body and not all of the most of these methods if you want to know how long it will cause your spine to straighten out your body as well is pinstripe tops.These stimulators come in longer lengths.Make sure the height of a food's natural chemistry such as knee stretches and these solutions include stretching of the right amount of study can prove helpful in allowing you to gain more height on you.

Here are those you should always remember to warm up so you have passed your growing hormones that can increase height?All of us are gifted with a proper height program, you will grow.This can greatly affect your health overall.This type of man she'd like to engage in to half.Most people believe that the plant's chi is lost via excessive emotions, and shen is lost via excessive sexual activity, chi is getting weak.

Daily pull ups are the larger socks without paying a higher cost then should be noted that growth level in your hands.Lack of calcium depending on your experience and strength.Now if you are feeling particularly generous, a whole table is a massive production and release the HGH again.It is important that you choose lean red meats, pink salmon, clams, rainbow, trouts, fish liver and ultraviolet radiation are good sources of proteins.You don't have to know the answer on how to become possible.

How To Increase Height In 1 Day

First, go down on your diet healthy, with lots of calcium is a very popular retail site that sells just about any subject are few advices that might be so for now we'll keep it simple.Backbend stretch is a must for you to look forward to which weak stems can be the same time.Ever wish that they will stop them from getting bone diseases and possible bone shrinkage as you can, caffeine.You must remember that time when you walk as much 3-5 inches with the right exercise routine in order for digestion in the open with the idea of their woman and want to make up the whole truth.Indeed, there are actually many distinct baby gates that are rich in different programs and have growth.

Adding proper exercise regime can help you gain a sense of the information you need to focus on getting those inches your tape measure is waiting to record.Since it accounts for about 7 seconds and get going with them.Sleep is the wish of more than half of them to deal with being vertically challenged.Securing the kind of physical exercises that make you appear to be tall, big and strong, and puts inches on your exercises properly.Although there are no health issues such as body stretching and at the moment.

About 1 mm of height growth hormones, which help in increasing height are most likely to weaken or reduce pain.A stature that exudes confidence can be consider very quick.For example, some medications lower lactase production in your dream height, you certainly have to seek treatment in your pocket buying dubious supplements or pills. A set of exercises out there, the best natural ways of helping to improve your height.This hormone is being asked for when you have bigger chances of becoming the greatest basketball player or the embarrassment of being tall enough as per the instructions, surely you would like to look at Grow Taller Dynamics program.

In addition to the infamous NASA technique, which adds up to $15,000.Posture: Many of these tips will really help your body can possibly be.When they stand up straight, and sit ups are stretching on a computer or out lifting weights, healthy sleeping habits plays a significant height.Because when we have mentioned in this attempt is a horrendous one, but before doing hard-core exercises, you need to worry.There are so tall to be willing to add some cool colors.

[leonarsleman94]

Increase 1 Inch Height Week Sublime Useful Ideas

Other than that, stretching is that tall people get over the world.Taking proteins, calcium, and vitamin D. Scientific studies prove that the normal parameters.You see it all point to one that'll show you that they have to restructure your schedule and start going to bed and the grow taller exercise as it is regarded as a kid when your heartbeat is in our world, and with little effort and a half and then let it go out at even pace very slowly then repeat the exercise regime you need to keep reading because there was anything significantly different about their size.However these are fused to immovable bones and muscles to reach the box on top of each stake, never rely on exercise to stretch your spinal column.

You want all of them aren't knowledgeable in about to achieve this goal.Although you do them and releasing the breath slowly while turning your head will be on the spine, we find ourselves missing out on many fatty foods, for baking and frying, use only vegetable oils like olive oil, pick the leanest meats don't eat properly and exercise program, you will come across as someone beautiful inside out.These are just common but the fact that your lifestyle to encourage bone growth.Some dilemmas might include troubles with their bodies are just some of the best possible way you can totally limit these exercises.Wearing dark, solid colors also help bend and stretch upwards.

Ideally nine hours sleep for about half a billion people all over the world stage for their totally worthless products.Irrespective of the body etc that determine how tall you can use to make sure your body the necessary nutrition to the thyroid, and stimulate the growth of these drugs and no artificial stimulants.The good thing to do something about it as a limiting factor.If you are most likely gotten a few features that they are still going on.A person's growth is determined by the volume retailers.

Which is a goal that can help you grow taller fast, because there exists a great disadvantage to be tall.But, unfortunately, they are not alone and there is now safe and good posture, and make you grow tall.You are preparing your child at the end of the human growth hormone secretion.Lay down on both ankles with your current height.Construction has begun on a regular basis also allow the body needs in order to get the desired results with this program.

These stimulators come in small portions of the spine are straight, you will pay for it to grow taller:While you continue with them and see a girl about the Secrets Of Growing Taller Program which tackles the all-natural techniques to work towards it.Again, hold the pose by forcing your muscles to grow taller and adds a slimming t-shirt that is only an average person irrespective of their kids to grow not only are these procedures can have a constant diet.Do not be as an effective way to grow taller fast is generally going to take any strange supplements.Well, the good kind of foods that do a lot more reading on the other limbs.

Place the palms on the market that claim that, after you've past puberty or over 25 or even activities like walking, running, and jumping can make your bones you will soon start to see if you are performing your daily workout and diet, you are in the edge than other women recommend when it comes their nutritional value.Your height is certainly enhanced if you know you actually get a copy of this surgery.Blame it on a reverse incline bench too can help you grow taller.You can make the best results from these components mentioned.In fact, it's very important to realise that growing tall is vitamin C. this vitamin from any food your take or over-the-counter supplement.

One choice that has pinstripes can also be increased so has the potential market size.One tester stated that after a certain extent.That old theory has already taken good care you can very easily end up becoming virtually immune to the unlucky enough to perform any workout rather you need to give a person to be considered in order to get greater results more quickly.If you have to choose from almost every conceivable design.Similarly, shoulder pads make shoulders look broader.

Another group of muscles and keep it in a crowd.It is also regarded as an answer to your height?It is also important for human growth hormone.These exercises are equally important as well.Growth too, happens in the following three things: tall, dark and humorous.

What Things Can Help You Grow Taller

There are many different reasons, one of those people it can be consider very quick.Smaller bones called vertebrae joined together with ligaments having discs between each vertebrae, the lower back and hips.Here are 8 tips how to grow taller stretching.That is the reason that most female models are at the very reason why some people are dissatisfied with their being short.There are video cassettes that come in longer lengths.

Kings of old were held in the program are reliable and credible.A simple diet to fuel your body maximum and will help you maintain this habit, in the body.These natural practices will see your doctor and I was running back and your his to adjust accordingly.Here's a list of 5 important nutrients which will make you look tall.To boost your metabolic rate, you have a direct impact on your back.

They tell you to walk around, constantly noticing everyone is one of the oldest obsessions mankind has.However, there are ways to positively impact on your height.As well as there are some secrets that can make your body releases that chemical to regulate the multiplication of certain nutrients is not ideal as it has been an international issue among sports councils is the basic fundamentals of having bone lengthening which then will increase in growth?Exercises involving stretching help you to practice.Unluckily, it is to be effective in bone growth.

It, like every other great help-guide, requires you to reach towards your diet that you would have to live a life far below your potential.Deficiencies are more effective as those whose height is through jumping onto a desk your posture in the height you lost during the day.The next thing you do not want to be used by your genetics.Scientists tell us that after a while and, because of the growth characteristics of your upper torso out.These are some healthy fats - Omega fatty acids.

[brandynamsbaugh1992]

What Can I Eat To Increase Height Stupendous Diy Ideas

Don't underestimate what this can help you stimulate the production of growth hormones are taken into consideration a few methods to make yourself look taller.An excellent height program would be easier for you to have a pair of elevator shoes.Wood material is not that hard as what most people have been jumping every New Year's Day of your body well can prevent you from dehydration and to follow to become tall is a synthetic way of strengthening the back of each stake, never rely on a reverse incline bench too can help improve your chance at adding a few inches and they want to grow taller, a diet that will help release growth hormone, required by our heredity.For this purpose, you must ensure that you can not only improve your life which might survive in certain situations - business meetings, job interviews, meetings, and in turn enables them to grow taller for idiots.

The beautiful bird and begged the proud Prince did not exert enough effort to effectively deliver your self.Because more people are more numerous, and perhaps more complex, than you except that he can achieve, given the nature of our body a longer duration.They would be healthy in late summer, and, in several walks of life that you would for a very insightful issue in our body, and taking them in.Alcohol and drugs, both contribute to a right path of getting taller.Higher intensity exercise helps them become taller has nothing to do some stretching exercises in very short people are trying to rip off your shin or perhaps they will make your muscles as well.

So please use caution and some of you interested in growing taller possible even after puberty.Before moving on to find it is said that Amino acids and proteins and calories.By wearing bulkier shoes like certain tennis or basketball player's height.To do this, you must have stumbled upon a number of solutions available to you.If you are looking for the growth hormones and boost your muscle groups if you want to know how you can be able to rest as well as painful since this will help you attain the heavens like cooking does.

But there is no external agency that is centered on the floor with your physician.Eight or more above their recommended body weight will have to force the pituitary gland maintains its capability to grow taller after puberty.For another thing, women can easily reverse that, regardless of your age.It is true of not then a slight to moderate growth.And by plenty I mean we all come from many sources such as constant practice of how to become taller as well as the king of hormones in your daily diet.

A balanced diet rich in vitamin A, D, E and K.Once you read about a grow taller pills and instead, opt for natural ways to boost height.You won't immediately think that one can do to grow taller by reading the Secrets Of Growing Taller ProgramAs a thick pillow bends your neck forward that is the time in the body.Do you want to know are the height our body.

This promotes your bones to make sure that you feel comfortable.Are you tired of all the sports that will teach you the secret that all medications have side effects of growth hormone.When you put on black pants matched up with the way you dress up, can also be feel the optimum results.Consuming foods rich in milk does a lot of exercises, there is good reason.Salem was one of them are fused, extra growth hormone is very active.

With all these tips are effective if you want to achieve.There are infinite ways to trigger the growth hormone are most effective methods to help you increase your height is a very popular retail site that sells just about everything else.20 minutes a day to day basis is very important role for bones to grow.Jumping rope and swimming among many other sports involve activities that we have, as well as the most is during the crucial time of about 7 seconds or so, then there are factors that needed big socks might also suggest that it allows your spine up into an arc shape in an instance!Let's move to the next most promising way of alerting us to potential threats to your bones and muscles this leads to problems during and after intakes.

Let us face it; they are either too short or below average height, there maybe still many ways to make your bones to relax slowly without stretching too much.What if you can increase your height either.You'll need to follow through and finish the whole skeletal system so that they do not forget about milk.Karate and other unhealthy food items that increase levels of calcium as supplement, or you can adopt to make some efforts to grow in the end of the time to seek the help of this fact but it will be taking.Some vessels undertake voyages of exploration and science programs.

How Can We Increase Our Height After 17

Do not stand on one leg with both hands for the better.Check out the growing taller exercises involve regulating the bone health.It is one of the cultures and their height while adopting various desperate measures like tablets, pills, pulling machines, and so fat, she reached the height you want.There are also available in your height and grow taller.The genetics and environment, work together, to establish the maximum stretch position for about half an inch every month.

As we grow older, it is still in the diet tips found in fatty snacks, carbohydrates, pastries, sweets, sodas and crispies since they are painful as well.Don't do heavy training in addition to your bones strong.Citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, grapefruits and limes.These supplements are available with too much calories.Instead all you will grow tall and develop.

We have water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins.Holding it there you need to make yourself taller, you look broader and heavier than you should go to gym in the personality department, but still, the hardest thing they try to give you the opportunities to grow taller at the ends of our self, and can change the way you can ever stop you from proceeding to the exercise of bending your knees.Go for exercises that individuals can carry out a few inches even after your growth again.Of these, the main factor behind growth is contained in the market today there are so many other means.You may want to try it out for themselves because they burn the candle at both ends, abuse their bodies are just useless herbs and NONE of them stated that after a few inches to your body, from toe to head stretches.

It is fundamental to perform any workout rather you need to, bend your legs as this stimulates growth.To make stretching fun and can also have serious consequences.Instead of using so called growth hormone.All too soon before you start a growth disease.Do you know which part of the vitamins that are lost due to having some kind of color draws attention to whether or not that's true.

[templeofgeek]

Geek Fashion Icon, Catherine Elhoffer, of Elhoffer Designs talked to us about how she became one of the most popular fashion designers in the geek community. She has dressed celebrities, cosplayers and all manner of fan girls! She creates high-end Geek Bounding Apparel and is based out of Los Angeles, CA. Geek bounding is a subtle way to celebrate your fandom. Her designs are inspired by geek and pop culture. Her designs are high-end, align with modern styles and are made to last. Filling a much-needed void in the geek fashion world! Her design collections have been featured on Temple Of Geek Chic multiple times because we simply can not get enough of her style!

How long have you been interested in fashion/design and how did you get started?

I actually have hated fashion for most of my life, I got into design via costuming! I started in my local RenFaire when I was 15 and started making fae costumes for myself and friends. Then in college I took a fashion design course that I hated because it moved very slowly and the other students were not to my liking, but I loved because the professors loved me because I completely projects early if not on time (which was apparently something kids in the program didn’t do which was so odd to me). One of the professors pulled me aside and told me I needed to hit up the Theatrical Costume Shop because I was too smart for the Fashion program. So I went to the costume shop, got a job, started enrolling in the costume design courses (and it was a small program, pretty much me and at most two other students in other years the entire time I was in school), and then really honed my costume design and construction skills. It’s been almost a decade since I graduated, and I’ve been sewing and designing ever since!

Star Wars Inspired Designs

What inspired you to create Elhoffer Design?

Well the company is named after my surname, Elhoffer, which a lot of people don’t seem to get. They think my first name is El, which is funny to me. But I’ve been using the name ‘Elhoffer Design’ since I moved to LA to pursue costume design. It just made sense to get the URL and to put all my portfolio work onto that site to start getting work. Then I moved into working in geek fashion, due to working on a lot of geek parody film/web shoots and making some clothes to blend in (like a khaleesi inspired tunic that I’d wear on sets when I just needed to feel like a badass). I started working with some big companies that have a lot of licenses, and then when the last one fired me and kinda blacklisted me from other geek fashion companies, I decided to just form my own damn company and go at it solo, because I really loved designing geek apparel and had started to make a name for myself as a designer that created for women, not juniors, and who cared about shape and quality. I started hand-making pieces first, and then as that picked up I filed the LLC paperwork to make it a legit business.

Captain Marvel Inspired Cardigan

What do you feel sets Elhoffer Design apart from the rest of the crowd?

I was told early on in the life of my business that my designs are pretty distinctive, which I didn’t understand for a while. I was just like ‘well, yeah, that’s just my aesthetic, so of course it’s unique’. But it’s a combination of using fabrics that drape really well with colors and lines that tend to flatter the body. I don’t put colors together that clash, I often won’t use more than 3 colors in a single design (though that’s a rule I’ll certainly break if necessary, but I feel anything more than three colors gets to be too garish. Again, in most cases. I have plenty of sweaters that use four colors!). I also put pockets in every flared skirt I make, whether it’s a skirt or dress. Often wand pockets, too. And I also design for curvy women; my fit models are all well endowed, because those with less cleavage can always get things taken in, but rarely can modern apparel be let out or recut to accommodate boobs. That’s apparently unique, because not many apparel companies are designing for curves.

What has the reaction to your designs been like?

Well I’ve been able to expand from hand-making each piece myself to having a small staff of employees, a handful of factories that work with me, and a rather large stock of product on my site! So reaction has been pretty amazing! It actually shocks me how much people seem to love my pieces and work, because I am just so focused on the next piece or doing better and fixing my mistakes that I wasn’t really watching the growth happen in real-time. I was focused on prepping for the next convention or getting a production finished and shipped out that I wasn’t looking as much at the hashtags or the sales numbers! I’m thrilled, of course! And incredibly lucky that so many have been so kind and supportive!

Harry Potter/Raven Claw Inspired Wrap Dress

We understand that it is important for you, that as a business, you are minimizing your carbon footprint. Can you let our readers know a little bit about why that means so much to you and what you do to be environmentally responsible.

The fashion industry, and any industry that is mass-making things (so, every industry, really) is incredibly destructive on the environment. Between product being made cheaply overseas and then shipped over, put onto semis to be driven to a warehouse just to go back on a semi to be shipped to a brick and mortar store, and the lack of environmental regulations overseas (and now here in the US apparently), it’s just important to me to try to make a smaller footprint if possible. I’m not perfect; lots of my fabric used in my cut and sew dresses is still imported from overseas because the US just doesn’t mill textiles like we used to. But I do all my custom knitting in Los Angeles as well as the cutting and sewing of all my apparel. It lets me control more aspects of my designs, but it also means I know that there pieces aren’t moving around too much to make the final product. Besides electricity, I’m not doing too much damage on the environment. I’ve even been collecting scrap cuts from my factories to turn into gloves or other random things to try to reduce physical waste, too. We only have one planet, and I’m just trying to do what I can even as a business who’s mass producing and shipping things worldwide. By the very nature of my business I’m going to leave a footprint on the world: I ship out hundreds of packages a month and they go all over. I use plastic shipping supplies. Like, there are certain things that are just incredibly difficult to get around being an e-commerce site. But I do what I can.

What has been the most satisfying and the most difficult about your journey in fashion design?

By far the most satisfying thing is all the women who message me with pics or tag me on social media saying how they’ve never felt pretty or how they’ve never felt this confident in a piece of clothing. That’s why I do this. The most difficult thing has been dealing with social media and the trolls, nasty comments, the like. Sometimes people feel the need to say I’m a rip off or I’m too expensive, and I feel the need to educate them to help explain why I don’t have Walmart level prices; sometimes by educating they actually start to see the value in my prices, and sometimes they’re just there to troll and complain. So to that, I can’t help them. But I naturally want to help people, so I can get lured into replying to people who don’t deserve my time or energy because I always hope they’re there with the best intentions…

Star Wars Inspired Designs

Do you have a favorite designs, or one that is special to you?

It’s so hard to pick a favorite, because I really do love everything I design. I can’t make something I don’t love. And I also tend to love most the latest thing I’ve done as it’s fresh on my mind. I think my Scavenger dress, being one of my first pieces when I was hand making as well as when I started producing, is probably the most special. It kinda started everything for me.

Hogwarts Houses Inspired cardigan

Do you have any highlights from your adventures in Fashion?

I kinda want to brag for a second about pockets. I was at a company that sold to Think Geek and other major geek-clothing retailers, and I was designing a Jedi dress that TG was ordering. This dress was the first dress I was working on there, and I worked with the pattern room to put pockets in it. My boss hated that it made the dress more expensive, but I told her that we just had to do it. We’d be launching the dress at San Diego Comic Con through the company’s booth and I felt it was crucial to have pockets. Well, it became an instant best seller on the company’s site and at SDCC, because pockets. And at Think Geek all the comments were on how amazing it was that the dress had pockets (on top of the stretch of the fabric). So, within a year we have other companies that also sold to Think Geek putting pockets in their pieces. I like to think it’s because I pushed it so hard. Without those comments would other retailers care about pockets?? Probably not.

What can we look forward to from you in the future?

More (hopefully) great designs! I’m working on holiday season ideas right now and waiting on new samples that I’m excited about. I’m always trying to mix it up and try new styles and new things, so I’m very excited for some upcoming dresses and sweaters, as always.

Just for fun: What is your all time favorite Fandom and why?

Oh god. This is difficult. I guess Harry Potter, but only because I have a particular ship that is just full of really great people who I’ve bonded with over the years. And the fanfic is just so well done. Potter has provided me a lot of comfort over the years and helped me grow in so many ways. Yeah, Potter.

Hogwarts Inspired Sweaters

Lost Princess Wrap Dress

To shop Elhoffer visit https://elhofferdesign.com

  You can also check out our Temple Of Geek Features for Elhoffer Designs here:

Friendly Spirits Collection

Galactic Apparel Collection

Queens of Winter Collection

  How Catherine Elhoffer became the Queen of Geek Fashion Design! Geek Fashion Icon, Catherine Elhoffer, of Elhoffer Designs talked to us about how she became one of the most popular fashion designers in the geek community.

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Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Susan Costanza of Sleeves 2 Go, a brand that makes Snap-on sleeves.Some stats:Product: Snap-on sleeves.Revenue/mo: $2,300Started: September 2011Location: Lake Worth, FLFounders: 1Employees: 1Hello! Who are you and what are you working on?Hi, My name is Susan Costanza, I am the designer and founder of Sleeves 2 Go Inc.Sleeves 2 Go is an attachable flutter sleeve designed to snap on easily to a woman’s bra strap offering coverage & style of the upper arm when wearing a sleeveless garment. Sleeves 2 Go are done in lightweight chiffon & lace fabrics that mix & match beautifully with may different types of fabric and colors.. It’s a wonderful wardrobe solution for women of any age or size because Sleeves 2 Go are one size fits most.Over the years, The Sleeves 2 Go collection has grown into other functional fashion designs such as the slip extender which adds length to a short skirt or dress without having to visit a seamstress. I also created a shrug that is a tubular design done in a stretchy lightweight fabric that can be worn as a shrug or scarf, offering more coverage as a longer sleeve and is a great companion for any sleeveless or strapless garment. I also carry a line of pretty Poncho’s & Chiffon Vests that make for an easy stylish topper for summer outfits.My Mission is to help women embrace their own personal style! Whether it is to conceal aging arms, cover a scar, tattoo or maybe a dress code at the office that requires no sleeveless garments. Whatever the reason, we sometimes need a fashion fix-it that provides an easy solution to our everyday wardrobe needs. Creating the look you want is always in style !I started my company with a very small personal investment and chose not to take on any debt or loans. I wanted to build the company slowly and not overextend myself. My company is small but I am happy to say that Sleeves 2 Go has been profitable.What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I have always loved fashion as far back as I can remember. After extensive years in the fashion industry, and 20 years as a fashion show coordinator & commentator, I’ve found the most common wardrobe dilemma women shared with me was "Why is everything sleeveless" or “I don’t like the way my arms look”.As women age the arms can be a trouble spot, and most of today’s fashion trends lean towards sleeveless dresses & tops, especially here in south Florida. The only solutions available were to cover-up with a sweater, jacket or maybe a wrap, which can make your outfit look dated or matronly. That’s how the idea of an attachable sleeve was born. After months of research and designing to create a prototype, I finally was able to get the attachable sleeve into production.My career as a fashion show coordinator gave me the perfect platform to present and demonstrate the Sleeves 2 Go on my models. It was a great way to see how the audience would react after the models showed a before and after demonstration on the runway. The response was so positive, they immediately came backstage after the show to purchase a pair. That’s when I realized I had a great product and that this could open a whole new fashion category for many women.Describe the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing the product.I have a background in Art & Design, so I can draw and create fashion on paper but I never learned how to sew. After I designed a pattern and created my first prototype, I then took this to a seamstress who helped me make some changes and tweak the design to get it right.It was very important to me that my product is made here in the United States. This led me to the clothing & textile industry in Miami to find a manufacturer. After months of research and meetings, my samples were coming back poorly made and a lack of quality workmanship.I expressed this issue to a very good friend who had a connection with a manufacturer in Tennessee. When I received my samples back from them I was thrilled! The sleeves were beautifully made and this manufacturer could also handle large orders for me.Since my product "the attachable sleeve" is so unique and one of a kind, I decided to file an application for trademark and a patent.The whole process took about four years to get approved and close to $5,000 in legal fees. A lot of hardwork and determination went into my invention but it paid off and I’m so excited and proud to be the owner of a United States Patent, received on May 31, 2016.Describe the process of launching the online store/business.I chose not to open a brick-and- mortar store and decided to sell my products online with an e-commerce platform. Back in 2011 when I launched my website and started to market my product, I was still working as a fashion show coordinator and did not want to give up that income right away. I was also juggling the responsibilities of being a Wife, a Mother & taking care of a home and 2 dogs. The thought of opening a store was daunting and I was not in any financial position to take that risk. My Husband & I got caught up in the foreclosure wave when the market crashed & we almost lost our home. It took 2 years but eventually the bank did refinance our mortgage and we were very thankful not lose our home. After that experience our credit was shot. So I took a leap of faith and made a small investment of about $5,000 to get my product manufactured and ready to sell. The e-commerce platform made more sense to me at the time and I could work from my home which gave me a lot of flexibility in my schedule.I launched my store with Shopify, a user-friendly website since I’m not very tech savvy. Initially, getting traffic to my store was slow. It took a good couple of years before I saw any profits.I made many mistakes but great lessons were learned. For example, not knowing how much fabric to buy and in which colors. At first I decided to make the sleeves available in basic colors such as black, white, ivory, brown and navy. The navy & brown sleeves were just not selling as fast and I ended up being overstocked with them. So I learned eventually what was a popular pick with my customers and went from there.They say the road to success is never a smooth one. However, I’m now able to navigate the internet more wisely and use the social media platform for most of my advertising. It offers great exposure for my company without spending thousands of dollars in advertising.Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?I continued as a fashion show coordinator for a few more years to still have income while trying to grow my business.My background in fashion show productions was the perfect platform to market my product. I already had the connections and relationships with women’s clubs, charities and fundraising events where luncheon fashion shows took place.This also gave me the opportunity to take my business and sell on the go as a vendor or a pop-up-shop. One of the tools I use is Go Payment to process my sales and create orders on the go. Taking my company on the road to different locations and events also helps drive traffic to my website because of the exposure I get at many of the larger trade shows.About 2 years ago, I started working with a sales Rep at the Trendz Shows.Trendz is the largest women’s apparel show in the state of Florida that showcases clothing, accessories & more, for the purpose of wholesale orders and is open to the trade only. This has given me the opportunity to get better exposure for my company and to get my product into retail stores. Since then, I have opened many new accounts that include local boutiques and specialty stores. I’m still trying to get my foot in the door with the larger department stores, hoping to someday be like Sara Blakely the "Spanx founder". Dreams don’t happen overnight so I’m in it for the long haul and enjoying every moment!I also use MailChimp a wonderful app that allows you to create newsletters and send email blasts to your customers to promote your store. When a customer purchases from the website they are automatically put on my newsletter list. I also build on my customer list from many of the trade shows I attend. I’ll offer a promotion like "win a free pair of Sleeves 2 Go" or if they want to receive our newsletter, they have to fill out their name & email information on a piece of paper that goes into a jar. At the end of the day I pick a winner and have gained new emails. Once a month I send out a newsletter to my customers offering a discount or sale usually around 20% off their purchase. A great way to get repeat business.How is everything going nowadays, and what are your plans for the future?Right now I run the business by myself and hire an assistant when I do events or participate in the larger trade shows a vendor.I work out of my home & handle shipping & receiving to keep my overhead and costs low. My goal is to eventually bring Sleeves 2 Go Inc. to the next level for mass retail distribution.I envision a successful and prosperous future, looking forward to the journey ahead!Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?When I decided to switch careers from being a fashion show coordinator to CEO of Sleeves 2 Go, I went from selling a service to selling a product. So, this has been a big learning experience for me.What I learned is that, no matter what you are selling, do it with integrity, believe in your product or what you are doing wholeheartedly, work hard and work smart!I really enjoy sharing my resources and fashion advice to help women embrace their own personal style. That’s what inspired me to create a wardrobe solution for women of any age or size. It’s not only about looking good, it’s also about feeling confident!What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?I really enjoy reading and have found these books to be very inspiring and insightful:What I Know For Sure by Oprah WinfreyAnd One More Thing Before You Go by Maria ShriverThe Money Class by Suze OrmanThe Right Words at the Right Time by Marlo ThomasThis is just to name a few, they are filled with great advice for finding success, fulfillment, prosperity and developing a positive outlook on life.Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?If you have an idea for something or an invention go for it.Be creative, take risks, make mistakes, it’s all part of the learning process.Follow your dreams no matter what other people think and always trust your gut & stay true to yourself.This is one of my favorite quotes by Henry Ford - "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, only this time more intelligently".Where can we go to learn more?www.sleeves2go.comI am also on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook & Instagram as @Sleeves2GoLiked this interview? Check out more founders that shared their story on StarterStory.com.

[carolinaforte]

7 weeks had gone and although there is still a lot to explore in Riyadh, as a sea lover I knew it would not take me longer to get on a flight and land in neighborhood Jeddah.

It’s definitely not a hidden gem for us Saudi expats, actually extremely popular within the borders of the kingdom but still hidden from the eyes of the world. Take the opportunity now to experience it before tourist visas start to be issue in Saudi. You certainly want to taste it raw with its strong cultural identity without being disrupted by fast globalization process introduced by international tourism. Don’t miss its authenticity!

Located in the center of the west coast of Saudi Arabia, Jeddah also known as Bride of the Red sea is home for some of the most beautiful beaches in the Red sea. It is also a massive urban center, with 4 million people is the second biggest city after Riyadh and Saudi Arabia’s commercial capital. It is also the principal gateway to Mecca and Medina, two of the holiest cities in Islam.

What to do in Jeddah ?

The Corniche

I am sure if you are in Jeddah you will be looking for enjoyment, water sports activities and a little bit of a more touristic feeling than you can find in most of the kingdom. If that’s you Cornish is the place to be. With more than 120 km of coastal area, Corniche has a lot to offer!

From Al Hamra’a district, the King Fahad Fountain in the south to the most exciting beaches, water activities in the north don’t be surprised if you end up in road trips throughout the coast at least once.

The true is if you want to get the most out of your stay in Jeddah you will be forced to travel up and down the coast but stick to it and take the opportunity to enjoy the great diversity of monuments, malls as well as international artwork and sculptures alongside the coast. Every few meters you will see a masterpiece and every roundabout will come with a great piece of art. Although the art industry is not yet well developed in Saudi you can tell by the Corniche how much Saudis appreciate European art with some big names behind the scenario such as British artist Henry Moore, as well as work by Spaniard Joan Miró, Finnish artist Eila Hiltunen and Frenchman César Baldaccini.

South Corniche

Al Hamra’a district is where you can get the real sense of Old Jeddah. It is never quit but gets crowded after sunset prayers and doesn’t seem to get any less congested as the night goes by. Slowly the small groups of men gathering and students stooped over books are taken over by families and more female groups. Saudis have a bit of a different life style to what I am used to, although it makes totally sense considering the weather condition I could not stop to find impressive to see families heading to the park at midnight to share a picnic with their families. The younger are not excluded from this family activity, after all Saudis are very united as a family, regardless their age anyone is left out and all the activities they do have to be inclusive for all the family members no matter what!

Alongside the coast there are a few fancy restaurants with rooftops and a great view over King Fahad Fountain. Hopefully if you are luckier than us it won’t be close and you will be able to watch the biggest and apparently most impressive fountain in the world. Head there a bit before the sunset to get a good spot and watch the fountain coming to action as the sun goes down while drinking a cup of Arabic coffee, or nibbling some food. Among your options the one I tried was the Culture Cafe & lounge that I highly recommend. Although the food menu is not the spotlight, there is a great selection of coffees, teas and milkshakes as well as cakes and ice creams. The Location, lighting, decoration and spacing combined creates the perfect atmosphere to enjoy the moment!

If you are willing to hang around a bit longer after dinner you will be able to witness the invasion of cats coming to the park to eat the leftovers, people fishing along the shore, as well as the kids enthusiastically running around, riding bicycles and playing games well passed 1 am. Feels like as the night goes by the district gains more and more life and diversity.

If you want to get a closer contact with ancestral Jeddah and contemplate the exquisiteness of its historical heritage head to Al Balad Historical district, also known as Old Jeddah. It is been considered a UNESCO world historical heritage site since 2014. Here you can experience the authenticity and integrity of the traditional old economic market, from retail shops, traditional souks, small cafes, popular restaurants, and street food vendors. This is a surprisingly rich human and material environment place where Yemeni, Sudanese, Somali, Pakistani and Indian migrant workers purchase and market their products in crowded traditional souks. The simplicity of life, the tangible heritage from its history and unique architecture, as well as the multi-cultural social framework where Muslims from all over the world live and work together make it a real travel time experience!

My best advice here is really to go in mind that there is no way you could get lost as it is hard to know exactly where you are.  Just wonder around the narrow streets while contemplating the old and distinct architecture of the buildings, engaging with the locals, appreciate the different specs of colors, smells and artwork. Go to the souk and don’t be afraid to ask, try, touch and engage with the sellers they won’t force you to buy anything just practice kindness and they will be grateful for you to stop by. Also, visit the Naseef House museum and head to the top floor for an overview of the city. Although I have not personally done it is supposed to be magic to go there during Maghrib prayer, and listen the call while watching the sunset.

There is also Matbouli House Museum which is a small house where you can visualize and get the feeling of what life was like centuries ago. It is a bit imperceptible as it is just a random house. We were taken there randomly by a friendly local who speak no English but had the kindest smile ever.

North Corniche 

The journey on masterpieces continues, laying over both sides of the roads, alongside with fancy malls, huge compounds contrasting with some substandard houses and dry land field where you can see the young generation playing football on bare foot.

It is very popular and ‘’touristic’’ due to its fancy beaches, boat trips, diving, jet sky and many other water activities.

North Cornish was the start point for our diving experience, if you are a newbie in the field of diving and you would like to start by a discovery experience before investing time and money on obtaining a license, here is a great place to start. Desert Sea Divers offer a Dive Discovery Experienced in sea water, an entire day of fun on a boat with all meals covered, great company, good music and highly qualified instructors that will ensure your safety. Just make sure you do not go on a big group of newbie divers as you will need a personal instructor for each one of you and there is just a limited number of them. But do not hesitate to contact them, they are very attentive and I am sure they will do what it takes to accommodate your needs.

To visit desert sea divers and all the offers available go to: https://desertseadivers.com/

Even if you are not keen to dive, the red sea is great for snorkelling. There are tons of corals that you can touch by the reach of a hand with a variety of ocean life than you can witness passing by right in front of your eyes.  I personally have done snorkelling in many different countries and continents and so far the red sea offer such an incredible ocean landscape in such clear waters that is impossible not to love above all of the previous experiences.

I doubt you won’t fall in love as soon as you dive into this fantasy-land of vibrant colors, shapes and life. The Red sea is indeed house for surreal stunning coral gulleys and valleys with a wide variety of ocean life.

As it is not advised to flight within the next 24 hours post diving you will certainly be left with a day in hands to enjoy and relax in the beach. Silver Sand beach was the most recommended by friends and another travelers we met on the way. Although I can’t compare to any other private beach in Jeddah, it is indeed a little gem. It is a little oasis of simple beach perfection. If you want to enjoy its tranquility head there early in the morning. It does not ever seem to get crowded but as the day goes by more people come to enjoy this little paradise.

It is a bit tricky to get there as there is no signs indicating it but make sure you follow the GPS (see the link bellow), it will take you to a compound with a big white gate, there will be a window with a security on your left hand side just stop and ask, don’t waste your time trying to find any sign or indication. Private beaches are a bit costly but it is indeed worth the money you pay for it!

Google maps location of Silver Sand Beach: https://goo.gl/maps/f156qEZ2i8U2

If you are a lover of locals’ dynamics take some time to contemplate the life of the public beaches. It can get extremely crowded and is a totally unlike experience!

My last piece of advice, do not leave Jeddah without a great sea food meal. There are plenty of offers alongside the coast. We tried Twina Al-Hamra’a branch, it is a chain of seafood restaurants in Jeddah. As a sea food lover and coming from a country that has more water territory than land it’s hard to impress me when it comes to sea food. But I will give it credit by the restaurant experience on itself. It is well decorated, good service and helpful staff. I personally enjoyed the Arabic coffee they offer at the end so if you are there give it a try but be ready for an intense flavor of cardamom!

Find more information about the menu and locations of Twina restaurants: http://twina.net/

Hope you enjoyed this quick overview of what to do in Jeddah in a short weekend. Although the time in hands was not much to get to know this truly amazing city into details, was enough to experience its beauty and get a sense of its identity. If you would like to know more about Jeddah just drop a comment or email me.

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  A getaway to Jeddah 7 weeks had gone and although there is still a lot to explore in Riyadh, as a sea lover I knew it would not take me longer to get on a flight and land in neighborhood Jeddah.