#like i made like 80 phone calls on saturday!! that was fine!! but god having three tasks has really taken me out at the knees

[appleciders]

if i agree to do an office job in the next two years someone please knock me over the head tintin style

[nowimyurdaisy]

Cool For The Summer?

pairing: billy hargrove x reader

warnings: asshole billy? spelling errors?

summary: to him it was a summer fling the kind you see on tv, except unknown to billy you had developed feelings and so had he.

a/n: the ending kinda sucks, sorry. this is my first billy fic, be nice pls. can’t wait to write post part 2! enjoy <3

masterlist

-✧⬝✧⬝✧⬝✧⬝✧- 

It was a summer fling, the kind you see on tv. 

The day you two met was when you went to the Hawkins Community Pool, you were there babysitting your little sister and her friends. You were sunbathing, your usual routine. When he saw you, in your black bikini top and pink bikini bottoms, he thought you had THE bikini bod. He had to refrain himself from moaning, gosh you looked so damn hot, 

When you got up to go to the vending machine, Billy intercepted you, “hey babe” was all he said two words, that made you roll your eyes but also weak in the knees.” 

Hi, how can I help you?” you ask, making a grimace. 

“I just wanna know your name doll, is that a crime?” Billy asked, smirking.

“y/n, y/n y/l/n” your lips curved into a small smile as you spoke, “and why must you know?”

“No reason babe, i’ll see you around” and with that Billy smirked, turned around and walked away. Leaving you to watch that fine ass move back toward the stand. 

The next time you saw Billy was only a few days later, your parents insisted you take your little sister to the pool with her friends again. You wore a yellow bikini this time. When Billy saw you again, he remembered how lucky he is, your body had been on his mind since last saturday, and honestly his body was on your mind too. This time Billy wasn;t gonna waste anymore time. When he came down from his shift he headed straight to you, walked past all the drooling moms, honestly it's disgusting they are all married, they need to get their heads out of the gutter, that's what you always thought at least. “Hey doll” Billy greeted you on this very hot afternoon.

“You know, now that you know my name, you could at least call me it” you stated.

“Why would I take all the fun out of it, seeing you all flustered?” Billy sat down hand grazing up your thigh now. You were speechless. “You look extra hot today sweetheart” Billy loved seeing you get all flustered as he tried new (seducing) nicknames on you. “You, me dinner tonight, my place” he whispered in your ear, then slipped his phone number into your hand. And left, leaving you more flustered than normal, today just got even hotter. 

It was around 7 o'clock, you were getting ready to head over to billy’s. Your radio playing faintly in the background “Don’t. Don't you want me? You know i can't believe it when i hear that you won't see me dont dont you want me? You know I don't believe you when you say you don’t need me” you hummed along. You curled the tips of your hair, put on a nice shade of raspberry pink lipstick, then put on a slim crop top, fishnets & booty shorts, and sandals (it was the 80s what could you say, fashion was terrible). Tha\en finished your makeup, grabbed your purse and ran out the door. 

When you arrived at his house, you knocked once then twice then he answered. “Hey doll”

“Hi billy” you said flustered already, god this was gonna be a long night.

“Damn sexy stuff, imma have some fun with you.” he opened the door wider, “ come in” you walked in inside. His bare chest on full display, a button up shirt loosely fit around his shape, and jeans on the bottom, and lets not forget about that chain he was wearing. Billy then showed you to his room.  “So what's for dinner?” you asked. 

“You” he responded simply. He got out some beer, and then he picked you up and spun you around, you squealed “Billy”. That was the last thing you remember from that night. 

You woke in unknown sheets, in someone else’s bed, you rolled over and saw a peacefully sleeping billy, ‘holy shit did you really just sleep with billy fucking hargrove’!!?? It all felt like a dream but here you are in his bed, wait, NAKED! Holy- this really is real! 

“Morning sweetheart” Billy mumbled, god his morning voice sounded like a dream, and then he turned over and draped his arm across your bare stomach. 

After that morning you didn't hear from Billy much, you did go to the pool a few more times, but you guessed you must have just missed his shift. The moms always looked at you like you were the disgusting one for sleeping with Billy, while they eye ogled him all day every day. YOu always just gave them the side eye. YOu would not be known as ‘y/n the slut’. And then out of the blue, you get a call from Billy asking if he could come over, and of course you said yes. Then one thing led to another and you woke up next a naked billy, in your bed this time, with a purple hickey on your neck and it felt like a dream once again. 

From then on, every time you went to the pool, Billy would drag you away, and kiss you, and make you feel weak in the knees, leaving hickeys in the most visible places. But leaving you a mess just the same, saying such sweet things, things every girl wants to hear, and then leaving you alone in the morning. Once when you asked why you weren't public, why he didn't want to show you off. He simply replied “I can keep a secret, can you?” and with that we never talked of the subject again. 

After feeling used over and over again, after late night conversations and sex, then the next day seeing him flirt with some new girl, and not even spare you a glance. You were done with it. You slowly started ghosting him, there was only a couple weeks left of summer, you could just not go to the pool, and it would be easy to avoid him at school, you thought. Unluckily for you, Billy noticed this change.

One day he confronted you, he saw you at the pool that day, and he pulled you aside. You reluctantly listened to him. “y/n” he started, anger laced in his voice, “where the hell have you been?!”

“I don't know” you shrugged, avoiding eye contact.

“I don't know!?! How could you not know?! You’ve been ghosting me!!” Billy shouted louder this time. 

“I'm tired of feeling used all the time!” you yelled, and turned away. Billy grabbed your wrist, you flicked his grasp away, and walked off without another glance.

⚘like you said it was just a summer fling⚘

-✧⬝✧⬝✧⬝✧⬝✧-

if you wanna be tagged in more billy and/or stranger things fics: taglist

[highpope]

Silver Keys - Ch. One

JJ Maybank x oc / Soulmate AU / Topper x oc

warnings: none, if there are any let me know!

Word Count: 2k ish

Notes: Hi guys, sorry this is so long overdue. I was fighting with this one. But i really wanted to update this story. It’s not my fave but that’s okay. ** As always, reblogs and feedback is welcome and appreciated. 

Masterlist - READ PROLOGUE FIRST :))

June sat at the piano she got for her 16th birthday. She had been saving up for years and finally had enough money for a keyboard. It wasn’t the same as the beautiful grand piano at her instructors, but it did the job. June nervously watched the clock tick down to midnight and tried to focus on the song she was trying to learn. If she came into lessons next week without having learned at least half of it she wouldn’t be on track to play at the recital in a few weeks. It was a big deal to her parents, and June too. The recital was on the mainland with tons of different kids from the surrounding areas. June had never gotten an opportunity to play and she wasn’t about to let worrying about her potential soulmate stop her. 

She took a deep breath and began to play. As the minutes turned to seconds, June was gracefully gliding her fingers up and down the keyboard, trying to make sense of the melodies, allowing the notes to soak into the room. 

On the morning of her birthday, June walked down the stairs into the kitchen to see a note and a box of donuts. It was Saturday, meaning both her parents were working and Olivia, her sister, was going to be sleeping the day away. June grabbed a powder sugar donut from the box and read the note: 

Happy Birthday, Love! We can’t wait to celebrate with you tonight. 

Have fun today, Mom and Dad

She smiles and folds the note up. June was just about to grab another donut when the doorbell rang. She looked at the time, 9:30. There’s no way any family member would be stopping by and Olivia’s friends wouldn’t show up unannounced. June opens the door to reveal JJ dressed in shorts and a light long sleeve t-shirt. 

“Happy birthday Ju Ju!” JJ exclaims.

June rolled her eyes, “God, please don’t call me that.” She opened the door wide to let him in. The nickname originated from June’s younger sister. They were five years apart and she couldn’t properly say June’s name for quite a while. So from ages 5 to 8, she was Ju Ju. 

“Nah, I think 18 is the year we bring it back,” JJ said, slinging his arm around her shoulders. 

“Absolutely not,” June says, tapping his cheek lightly, “Thanks though.” He smiles as she jumps up onto one of the stools in the kitchen, “what’s up?”

“You, miss birthday girl, have very important places to be. Go get dressed.” 

“Where exactly do I have to be?” 

“Well, first, Kie’s and then,” JJ motions like he is zipping his lips and throwing the key away. June narrows her eyes causing him to throw up his hands in defense. 

“Okay, fine, but don’t eat my donuts!” June runs up the stairs and begins to get ready. She decides on a blue tube top, shorts, and a white cropped jacket. She runs a brush through her hair and packs her swimsuit and a few other things in a drawstring before going down the hallway to leave a note for her sister. She tells her where she’s going to be and to call when she gets up. 

JJ and her drive to Kiara’a in his truck, the windows down and the radio stuck on the same channel it’s been on since he got it. They’ve learned to tolerate it. JJ was so proud of the truck when he first showed the pogues. He had gotten a busted down pickup from some guy on the island and fixed it up pretty much by himself. The rest of them promised to never make fun of it. 

“Happy Birthday!” The pogues yell when June opens the door. She can’t contain her laughter. Everyone is wearing pink sparkly party hats. Kie instantly comes over to her, throwing her arms around her neck, “baby is eighteen!” June squeezes back and accepts a hat identical to the rest and hands one to JJ who shuts the door behind them. 

“Looking good, boys.” June laughs at Pope and John B posing in their hats. 

“It’s the required attire didn’t you hear?” John B asks, kissing the top of June's head and Pope slinging an arm around her shoulders. They lead her through the kitchen and the sliding door to the outdoor patio. The lounge chairs are set up along with string lights and a birthday banner. It was perfect. The whole thing, being with her favorite people, the perfect weather. 

“You guys didn’t have to do all of this.” 

“But you deserve it. You’re always the first to do anything for the rest of us,” Pope says. 

“He’s right, Juney,” Kie says, smiling. 

“You’re a bunch of saps,” JJ says plopping into a chair. 

After spending the morning and early afternoon hanging out in Kie’s backyard, the five piled into the van and headed down to the beach. The boys were in the water before June could even set her stuff down. It was arguably not warm enough to swim, but that didn’t stop them. Kie and June decided to layout, occasionally sneaking a few drinks from the water bottle filled with alcohol. 

“So how are you feeling about the whole soulmate thing?” Kie asks, bumping her shoulder against June’s. 

To be honest, June had forgotten all about it. She could barely sleep last night she was so nervous, but now that it could happen whenever, she felt much better.

“Honestly okay.” She admitted.

“Do you think you already know who it is?”

“I mean that happens more often than not, right? Just look at our parents.” Kie’s parents had known each other in high school, having grown up on the island, but didn’t know they were soulmates until later down the line. That happens all the time. Whether or not it’s just coincidence or really is fate, June hadn’t decided yet. 

“I guess you’re right.” She paused before speaking again, “I don’t think I want to already know them. I don’t want to marry someone we went to high school with and be stuck here only for our kids to end up the same way.” Seeing Kiara open up like this made June wonder about her own future. 

“Don’t worry Kie, you’re gonna go somewhere cool like Australia and stop the wildfires and clean the oceans and fall in love with some really hot girl and leave us all behind forever.” 

She moved her sunglasses off her face to hold back her hair, “I could never leave you, but you really think so?”

“Of course. You’re going places. John B, JJ, and I are gonna be stuck here smelling like fish bait until we’re 80.” June gags.

Kiara laughs, making a disgusted face, “what about Pope?” 

“Nah, he’s too good for this place.” They both laugh so hard they don’t even notice the boys had made their way back to where they were laying.

“What’s so funny?” John B asks, shaking out his hair.

“Nothing,” Kie says with a smile on her lips. The boys share a knowing look before dropping it altogether. That’s when June’s phone chimes with a message from her sister. 

Mom said to make sure you were home soon for tonight. We’re almost all set up here.

I guess Aunt Morrane is coming:/

“No,” June groans at the last of Olivia’s message. 

“What’s wrong?” JJ asks, sitting down next to her. 

“My Aunt is coming to dinner tonight.”

“The horror!” John B mocks. 

“Stop! I’m serious. She’s a nutcase.” June replies, throwing a towel at his face. He catches it in one swift motion. 

“Ju it’s gonna be fine.” JJ said reassuringly, “I’ll drop you back off.” 

The pogues only stayed a little while longer before packing up their stuff into the van and parting ways once back at Kiara’s. 

“I won’t have any fun without you,” Kie begged before June got into the truck. 

“You’re gonna be fine.” The rest of the group was going to the first official kegger of the summer. June always missed it. She was sure she would hear all about it tomorrow when she would stop by the chateau with a bunch of water and ibuprofen in the morning to make sure they were all breathing. 

“Hey, thanks, J,” June says when JJ had pulled up in front of her house. 

“No problem,” he starts. June reaches for the door handle, “actually, I got you something.” 

Surprised, June says “You didn’t have to get me anything.” 

He waves her off and reaches into the glove compartment, pulling out a bracelet, “uh. It’s not wrapped or anything.” 

June examines the bracelet, it was a brown braided string with a single pearl threaded in the middle. 

“I love it.” 

“Really?” JJ asks, scrunching up his nose, “because it’s okay if you don’t I just thought-”

“No, no I do. Thank you,” June says and reaches up to kiss his cheek. Just then there is a loud pounding coming from the passenger side window, causing June to startle and drop the bracelet. Both June and JJ lean in to grab it off the floor of the car and smack heads. “Shit, sorry”

“Ow!” 

JJ finally grabs the bracelet and hands it back to her before they are both faced with Aunt Morrane opening the door and practically dragging her out of the truck. 

“You know,” her aunt starts, “darling, everyone is waiting inside.” 

“I’ll just be one second, I promise.” She says flashing a smile to her aunt and pleading eyes to JJ. He tries to hide his laughter. 

Aunt Morrane locks arms with June and begins walking up to their sidewalk, quite literally dragging her by her feet, and begins talking about this show she was watching.

“Happy Birthday, Ju Ju!” JJ yells from the truck. June tries to flip him off as discreetly as possible with her aunt still gripping on to her. 

At the door, her mother engulfs her into a hug, “Happy 18th, love.” 

“Thank you, mama.” 

“Was that JJ? You know he could've come in. We have enough food.”

“It’s okay, Mama, he had plans.” That satisfied her enough as she went to close the door and straight back into the kitchen. June took off her shoes and that’s when she heard it. It only lasted a minute and she couldn’t recite it if she was asked, but it was there. Faint, but clear. Just how Pope had described it. Just how everyone had described it. Her soulmate. 

taglist: @allycat449-blog @ifilwtmfc (hi im sorry I forgot to tag yall) 

** if you want to be added to the taglist let me know!!

[javierpenaspinkshirt]

Dear Diary

Javi x Diarist - One Shot

Warnings: brief mention of some NSFW activities, mentions of tight jeans, some Carrillo thirst because I’m only human.

Words: 2.7k.

Summary: writing in her diary, the Diarist documents her first few weeks at her new job and her first encounters of Javi.

Day one - Monday

Dear Diary,

Today was the first day of my new job! Mom said I should keep a diary so I can look back when I’ve been in the job awhile and see how much I’ve progressed. To be honest with you, Diary, I feel a bit daft writing in you… but hey ho! Maybe you’ll be fun to look back on?

Anyway! Today was the first day of my new life in Bogotá! I’m a secretary for the DEA at the American Embassy in the city – the building is a bit posh! The university isn’t too far away so I can easily get to my evening classes (studying History with Spanish) and even though I’m classed as a ‘mature’ student (mature! HAH!) I’m hoping I’ll make friends both at class and at work… maybe someone with a car so they can drive me, teehee!

It’s a group of five girls working as secretaries for the DEA. We have a good age range and I sit sort of in the middle of the group age-wise I think. They’re all really lovely, there’s two other Americans and two Colombians so a cool culture mix. Hopefully they all like me!

I didn’t do much work today, just shadowing the others and walking round to meet everyone. The agents all seem to keep to themselves. There’s two Americans down the hall from my desk – I didn’t catch their names (whoops) but apparently they’re the two I’ll spend the most time working with. I should introduce myself properly tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to my first Tuesday on the job!

Day two - Tuesday

Dear Diary,

Today was day two. It was good, there’s a lot of information to learn and it’s especially difficult to flick between English and Spanish in my brain… But I guess I’m new to all this and I’ll get the hang of it! One of the other secretaries – Erica – has promised to speak to me mostly in Spanish so I can get into the habit of speaking like a local, I thought that was sweet of her!

But that wasn’t the most interesting thing to happen today, Diary, oh no no! Today I met Javier and Steve. They’re the two Americans I’ll be working for mostly. Steve is nice, barely speaks any Spanish which I can tell frustrates him and Javier, but just like me he’ll get there! I think I might end up his interpreter… but he seems kind and he is really into the job! He’s got a wife and they haven’t lived in Bogotá all that long either so we have that in common! Well… the being new here… not the wife bit(!)

And then there’s Javier, who all the other secretaries call Javi… so I guess I will too. I can tell he’s going to be trouble. He came up to my desk after lunch just to tell me that he liked my blouse and that the color suited me! I have to admit he is very handsome… But he strikes me as the ‘would ruin your life for a shag’ type? That might be harsh and he does seem nice. The others all say he’s lovely and is a man you can depend on but he is a dreadful flirt!

I wish I’d had something smart to say back to him as he stood in front of my desk telling me he liked my blouse but honestly, Diary, I think I just whimpered?? I was so taken aback by it! If there’s a next time I’ll have to be smarter!

Day 3 - Wednesday

Dear Diary,

This morning Javi bought me a coffee and brought it to my desk. He actually apologised for trying to flirt with me yesterday! He was very sweet actually. He said he wanted to make sure we got off on the right foot so wanted to apologise if he made me uncomfortable! I told him he didn’t I was just surprised he would even notice me! He was very sweet and said something like ‘I’d have to be blind not to notice you’… wait was he flirting with me again??

Diary, I am going to have to get better at this!

Day 4 - Thursday

Dear Diary,

I think we have a situation. I think I might have a teeny little crush on Javi. I mean, I am certainly not the only one! All the girls seem to melt slightly when he talks to them… Except Coleen actually… somehow she’s immune to his charms… Maybe she’ll teach me?

I caught myself actually waiting for him to come over to me today because I was looking forward to chatting to him. He always seems to make time to chat to us all and sees us as actual people… a lot more than most of the other staff.

He does wear some insanely tight jeans though. It's like it's 1985 and he thinks he's Axl Rose! But Javi does look good in them... like really good… Oh dear… I think I fancy a government agent. Who have I become??

Day 5 - Friday

Dear Diary,

That was my first week! Done and dusted! I think it was good! Everyone has been so kind and supportive and Erica has even invited me out for drinks tomorrow night with some of her friends! I cant wait!

School is going well too, I had my first classes this week and I think I’m going to be okay! The subject material isn’t going to be easy, but we like a challenge don’t we, Diary?

Now back to the important stuff – Javi’s outfit of the day. I was sat at my desk making some phone calls when Javi walks passed in a pair of those damn jeans and a red shirt. He caught my eye as he walked passed and gave me a smile and – I shit you not – my brain kicked in to gear and I said:

‘Nice shirt, the colour suits you’ and I was so cool and casual with a little smirk on my face, Diary I have never played anything so cool in my life. I got a chuckle from him and a wink and I swear down I would have taken my panties off right then and there.

Diary, my mom can never read you.

Day 6 - Saturday

Dear Diary,

It’s pretty late as a write this but that’s because I’ve been out with Erica and her friends! A couple of the other girls from work joined us as well so it was a lot of fun! We just went to a bar and had a few drinks and a giggle.

Erica did tell me she noticed me “making eyes” at Javi in the week though and I must’ve turned as red as the strawberry daiquiri I was drinking because she laughed at me. She told me he is, to quote her, ‘a bit of a slut’ and that most of the girls in the city know him in the biblical sense... I don’t think that put me off? I mean it’s the 80’s, do we still shame people for having sex? And to be fair, here I am making heart eyes at a man I’ve known for a matter of days. So no, Diary, I don’t judge him for that.

But I also don’t think I’m going to pursue him? I’m certainly not looking for a boyfriend. Although as I write this down I kind of figure he’s not after a commitment either? I mean I don’t know him that well but what kind of man shamelessly flirts with the new secretary on her first day if he isn’t looking for some fun? Maybe that’s what I’m looking for?

Diary, no more daiquiris for me!

Day 7 – Sunday

Dear Diary,

I went shopping today. Not the boring food type of shopping, clothes shopping! It was a lot of fun actually! I got to explore the city a bit and although it has a reputation (and my mom would kill me if she knew) I actually felt fine walking around on my own! I was in the busy shopping streets mind and it was daylight, but I really think this city could feel like home!

I bought a couple of pairs of jeans because mine are old and raggedy and I got some new shirts and tops for work, but the buy of the day – a pencil skirt that makes my butt look like I’ve done a 100 squats a day since the day I was born. I mean, not to blow my own horn, but I look GOOD in it!

I’m going to wear it to work one day… And yes Diary, I know I might be playing with fire, but a little fun never hurt anyone?

Day 8 - Monday

Dear Diary,

I wore the skirt.

Oh my! The girls all gave me compliments on my ass and legs (which lets be honest is better than any compliment from any man!) so that was great!

I’ll be honest though, by the end of the day I wanted to rip it off myself… I had severely underestimated how difficult sitting in a pencil skirt for 8 hours would be. Lesson learned!

I did see Javi though. He didn’t say anything but I was stood up as he walked passed and his eyes were stuck on me for so long Steve had to practically drag him up the stairs. Diary, I was very pleased with myself!

Day 9 - Tuesday

Dear Diary,

I don’t know what it is about the American Embassy but somehow the building attracts the most beautiful men.

Today, Diary, I met Colonel Horacio Carrillo and believe me I have never seen such a MAN! He must be 90% shoulder and 10% snark because Diary he is built like a wall and has a mouth sharp enough to even shut up Javier Peña! Not that I was listening in, I was collecting some papers in their office as the Colonel was talking to Javi and Steve.

Steve introduced me to the Colonel and he shook my hand (Diary, his hand was the SIZE OF MY HEAD)… he was wearing a wedding ring though. I’m no home wrecker… but my god is he beautiful!

I did catch Javi’s eye before I left their office though and I’m sure I’m not making it up when I say there was a flash of jealousy. I thought I was being crazy and arrogant to think that but no, I’m sure! The Colonel was very polite to me, very courteous, and were he not a married man I would have wished I was wearing my new skirt again. Diary, I can not stress enough the thickness of this man’s arms.

Anyway, despite definitely having the hots for the Colonel, I think I’d still rather go out with Javi. If we put the whole Carrillo-is-married thing aside, I just think Javi is more my kind of guy? Up for a laugh, not too serious, likes a drink and likes a smoke... very pretty!

I think we’d have a lot of fun if we went out. I’m beginning to wonder if he thinks the same?

Day 10 - Wednesday

Dear Diary,

Today the five of us girls went out for lunch. It was great! They showed me their favourite café, great for people watching but far enough from the embassy that we weren’t just looking at officials in suits! Great food too, I really do love this city!

I was sat with Coleen at lunch and she told me Javi had caught her after I’d left work for class and asked her about me. Apparently he asked if I was single!! Coleen told him she didn’t know because she didn’t want to drop me in it if I wasn’t interested in him (bless you, Coleen!) but I definitely am interested! Diary, when she told me he’d asked about me my heart raced! Like I’m some kind of school girl!

I really do like him and I’d like to get to know him better. But I think I’ll give it some more time maybe?

Day 11 - Thursday

Dear Diary,

I spent the whole day look at Javier Peña and his black fucking shirt. Oh my god, Diary! I am in too deep. He walked passed my desk while I was on the phone today and I stopped listening completely so I could concentrate on his butt.

It is becoming a problem.

So I have resolved to do something about it. I have decided that I’m going to ask him out for a drink tomorrow night after work. Fingers crossed for me!

Day 12 - Friday

Dear Diary,

Well… it’s sort of actually Saturday… I didn’t have time to write in you yesterday, Diary because… well because I didn’t come home last night (!)

Let me explain the events of last night:

When I got to work yesterday morning Javi was sat at my desk. He was wearing that damn leather jacket that, for no reason at all other than its his, I find incredibly sexy and was waiting for me. He said good morning to me then got up to let me sit down.

He watched me as I took stuff out of my bag and settled in before, seemingly out of nowhere, he asked me if I wanted to go for a drink with him after work!

Diary, I was so uncool. I was like one of those nodding dogs people have in their car or on their desk.

He laughed and said he’d come by my desk to get me when we were done. I spent the entire day obsessing about whether it was a date or just a friendly drink? Erica was sure it was a date, so sure in fact she made me borrow her red lipstick and made me promise to wear it.

I did wear it. And was I glad I did!

He complimented me on it when he came by my desk to get me. As we left the building he put his arm out for me and we linked arms and walked down the street and Diary it was the easiest, loveliest conversation I’ve ever had! He made me feel so at ease straight away, it was sort of like I’d known him for ages?

We actually ended up at the same bar I’d been to the weekend before… so I was back on the daiquiris!

We talked for ages, right up until closing but it was still like there was so much more to say! When we eventually got turfed out of the bar we ended up walking the streets, arm in arm again, laughing and chatting. Diary, it was lovely!

Turns out he only lives a few blocks away from my place but his is closer to the bar. We stopped at his door and he invited me up. I’ll be honest, I hesitated… but I was wearing his leather jacket (he’d let me wear it for the walk home) and he’d been such a gentleman, well I couldn’t resist the smile on his face!

So I ended up sat on his sofa as he told me about work and fixed me a whiskey… I don’t know what possessed me but when he came over to give me my glass I stood up and kissed him!

Diary, you know me, I’ve never been particularly forward! I blame those daiquiris… but oh no, it didn’t end at a kiss.

Before I knew it we were pulling each other's clothes off (I didn't even mind that he ripped one of my new tops)! I don't know if it's because he's well practised or he's just one of those guys that knows what he's doing... but lord did he know what he was doing!

Before I knew it he had me on my back on his sofa, screaming his name and Diary… well what can I say… I’ve had to write this all down quickly because I’ve just come home to shower and get a change of clothes before he comes to pick me up. That’s right, we’re going out again tonight!!

Diary, don’t wait up!

[popculturebuffet]

Close Enough Reviews: The Canine Guy

We’ve finally reached the end.. hopefully not of the season and there are hints that there’s a little more to come so fingers crossed, but of the massive bomb. 12 episodes, with three thankfully done already. 1 day. Doors open let’s go after the blurb and the cut.  Josh and Alex have a falling out over a yearly tradition that leads to Josh befreinding a talking dog raised on Jim Carrey movies, while Bridgette drags Emily to a cabin in the woods, wooo ooo, to try and get their music duo back on top and run into musical legend and living god Weird Al Yankovic. Dare to be stupid under the cut. 

Like many episodes of this show, and what i’ve said is a strength this episode is two plots tha tsomehow end up smashing into each other but unlike the rest it’s 22 minutes. The show was, unsuprisingly originally convinced this way, as recently revealed by JG himself during the show’s premiere day reddit ama, but the execs later decided to simply cut most of hte episodes down to 11 minutes to improve hte pacing, which as we’ve seen clearly worked . But this one DOES make full use of it’s 22 minutes and does make me hope if hte show gets a season 2 they feel free to ping pong a bit. So with that settled, let’s dive in.  Our A-Plot starts with a flashback showing Josh and Alex’s yearly tradition: Going to midevil times together, due to having seen it in the cable guy, even qouting it and other jim carrey movies as the two were super fans. This continues fine into college but by last year alex just.. isn’t as into it. IT’s a sacred friend ritural and all but Alex is just getting bored.  Things come to a head in the present where, when Alex tries to just flat out get out of it, as he has press agents looking at his viking novel he’s been working on who might actually publish it and as his characeter profile, if not the series makes clear, just like josh and emily’s own dreams this is his. It’s resonable, they could just resschedule.. but Josh feels betrayed lashes out, Alex calls medivial times stupid and historiclaly inaccurate (even if he loves fecatia dippers with tomato soup ), and Josh storms off. Josh wallows, and finds the mead tastes like horse piss (Which leads to an utterly great and gross gag when it turns out ita ctually is, the guy serving it says “He’s on to us”) And switches to brownies using the same horse. Sometimes a grossout gag can work.  However Josh soon finds a new buddy in a talking dog named dog guy who was tourtred by and is running from the scientest who created him for reasons we’ll get to in the climax. And since the dog was also raised on jim carrey movies, and gets josh’s refrences and love of htem, the two quickly bond. Alex is pissed and jealous, somehow more than with his own ex wife, to see this despite trying to clear his schedule to make things up to josh, as he’s still a good guy and can realize he was wrong, and has his meetings, which are boring or frustrating, whie also stalking JOsh and Dog boy. Alex in a fit of rage at seeing dog boy seemingly tear up his manuscript calls the scientest, who popped by earlier looking for him.. only to find out that he just tore up the ending because he felt , as ac ollege graduate no less, that it could be a franchise and the two become friend. WHile Josha nd Alex fight over him Dog GUy’s creator kidnap him and the two head off, their freindship exploding over josh calling the cops and the two both wanting the dog to be their new best friend as well as the whole medievil times thing. Meanwhile Pearles tracking dog guy’s creator, because as she explains to ready cold cases are her majong and lets Candace be the corrput denzel washington type which unlike the previous pearle bit has REALLY not aged well for a number of reasons, but none I can blame the show itself for. 

Alex and Josh head after dog boy and find that the crazy lady who made him is making animal films (It was tourture because she’s bad at it and she was still genuinely abusive) and seeing dog guy as a failure wants to chop up his balls (after using 80 diffrent terms with alex scremaing “Just say balls), to make new dog guys.  Meanwhile in the B plot we first see Bridg and Emily’s comedy rock act which is genuinely funny but fails to impiress with Bridgette having grown frustrated over emily’s focus on candace, in a nice parallel.It also shows that for all her social mediaing and partying, Bridgette DOES take her music seriously but it hasn’t been able to progress without her musical partner.Emily waffles on joining her for a cabin retreatto work on it, with bridgette evne assuming with a fake emily she made out of pillows that emily would bring candace but nope: Candace is left with pearle and josh is busy with a dog so Emily is free. Things still don’t go well: Emily still won’t focus and is on her phone constantly, and emilys defense of “well you were on your phone at your wedding” when BRidgette calls her on it falls flat in a nice moment when bridgette points out she’s divorced. It’s also a nice moment of self relfeciton that shows Bridgette has learned from “Robot Tutor” and accepted her part in her marriage falling apart. The two fight until an angel appearls: Weird Al Yankovic! Like I hoped it really is him! Not that it’s HARD to get him to do voice work, he’s done quite a bit and he’s always happy to pitch in for another comedian, as Red Letter Media recently pointed out he’s kind of the bridge to all eras of comedies as he never really went away. When the two ask which is better: using your family or shutting it out, he admits there’s no perfect way to write a song or no one right way you just do your best.. and in his case stab yourself iwth a narwhal tusk and pray to a demonci god. Then one of the crazy lady’s animals attacks, we get another trailer homage and as they approach our herooines both apologize, Emily admitting Bridg is like her sister and in a funny but still sweet moment BRidgette admits she’s like a half sister... and only dosen’t say the full sister because she has a sister and dosen’t throw that around lightly, but the sentiments the smae. But the animals are recalled to deal with Josh and Alex, so while Emily and Bridgette follow them we get our climax.  Alex and Josh naturally crumble under hteir new foes, but both , like their spouse and ex spouse, reconnect over their mutual love of dog boy and apologize for their behavior to one another, sharing one last dumb and dumber most annoying sound in the world.. which ends up being the key to defeating the animals with Pearle soon swooping in to arrest dog boy’s creator.. for unpaid parking tickcet,s a good gag. She’s in jail, Dog Boy is free and the whole madness and talking dog has given Bridgette and Emily a new song. Our friends are all best pals again, Dog Boy spends time with bost his best friends before nleaving to start his own theater and work on his acting career, so he could show up again and I really hope he does. That last part was revealed via a hilarious where are they now that shows where all the animals oepn up and we close, hopefuly not on the series but on this day Final THoughts; This was a really good one. While admitelly havn’t not watched any pf the classic jim carrey films in years, though I own dumb and dumber I just haven’t gotten around to rewatching it, it was a nice throughline and the kind of specific nostaliga this show is great at. It was also nice to see a conflict where alex is being througly resonable to start and shows that beneath his nutty exterior (he also assumes the scinetests plan is at first to make furries even sexier (his note, add more nips)) is a guy who like his friends has a dream. We see the same with Bridgette who most of the time is’nt on give a fuck mode but here we see there is something besides her friends and ex husband she cares about: her music. It’’s a nice roll reversal to see BRIDGETTE, be the one to take something seriously and Emily to be the one who can’t commit to it and it takes compromise and both realizing they need each other to work. IT’s a nice examination of the shows core freindships that also has a wonderful talking dog and of course weird fucking al being amazing as allways. A stellar close out to this swarm of episodes and hopefully not hte series.  I”ll give my thoughts on the season as a whole later if this turns out to be the season and in a few weeks if not, but for now I finsihed this matharthon and i’m glad: Close enough is a damn good show that while having some more eh episodes, has a good strong emotional core, a great cast, great humor and is creative as hell while improving on the genre and even it’s predecessor. Just a delight to watch. I have regular coverage of Amphibia and Owl House coming up saturday, and hopefully close enough will continue each week, but if not until we meet agian later days. I’m going to go lie down. WOO. 

[hugsandharrifield]

Harrifield Modern Day College AU Ficlet #4

Stars in the Sky - Steve X Dwight Modern Day College AU ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve and Dwight walked out of the theater among the crowd of people Dwight pretty animated and babbling about the movie they had just watched and it's cinematography. " The camera work was so amazing, it's too bad the story itself was kind of mediocre." Dwight sighed wistfully. "I will say that there were some good scares there though." "Really?" Steve said playfully  " I wouldn't have known by the way you grabbed onto my arm." Dwight brought his hand to the back of his head and looked embarrassed. " Sorry, I kind of get drawn into movies like that." Steve drifted towards Dwight and lightly shouldered him in the side. "I'm teasing you man! Feel free to grab onto me anytime you want." Steve grinned evilly. The young astronomy student looked nervous but immediately shot his hand out and grabbed Steve's as they continued on towards Dwight's automobile which they had decided to take together. Steve's smile broadened and his thumb rubbed the palm of Dwight's hand softly. "So it's just a little before ten and it's a Saturday night. Do you want to just go home?" Steve smiled as they reached the car. Dwight looked thoughtful "I have an idea. If you don't mind a little drive." he ventured. "What were you thinking?" Steve said as he looked at his phone. "Would you be interested in looking at the ssstars with me... " Dwight stuttered a little looking very nervous. Steve looked into the night sky seeing that there were no clouds did see that the sky did seem to perfect for that. "That sounds like it could be nice but why do we have to drive anywhere?" "We are way too close to the city the lights are way too bright. Trust me on this."  Dwight seemed pretty sure of himself. "Sure what the heck, why not." Steve nodded as he reluctantly let go of Dwight's hand so he could get into the car. Dwight had this giddy look on his face and jumped into the driver's seat. Steve popped into passengers side and leaned back on the plush seat putting on his seat belt. Dwight fiddled with the radio and turned it on. Immediately some 80's power ballad started to play.  "Sorry, I'm a total dork, we can change the station if you want." "Nah man I kind of love 80's music." Steve shrugged. "Cool" Dwight said as he fiddled with his phone getting some directions. After a few seconds they were off, Dwight mostly paying attention to the roads. But he and Steve still were chatting about various subjects. Dwight's right hand straying over to Steve occasionally when he didn't need to concentrate too hard. It was a pleasant drive with pleasant company, time seemed to go by pretty fast and then Steve noticed that they had found themselves on a  gravel road. Steve looked shocked "Where are we?" "We are about 45 minutes north of the campus. I wanted to get away from the light pollution" Dwight explained. “There is a side street over here I'm gonna pull over.” They came to a stop and Dwight popped out of the car and popped open his trunk. Steve got out too and looked up. "Oh my god!" He looked at the night sky there were so many more stars than the ones he had seen while they were in the parking lot of the theater. "It's amazing isn't it?" Dwight called from behind the trunk door. Steve wandered over wanting to know what Dwight was doing.Dwight had pulled out a case and opened it. Inside was what looked like a reasonably spendy looking telescope. "Just a sec i'll get it set up." He looked so proud. "You just have a telescope in your car ready to go?" Steve teased. "Umm I have several telescopes but yeah usually one stays in the car."  Dwight laughed looking a bit sheepish. "I mean you’re an Astronomy Major I guess that should make sense."  Steve leaned his back against the car and stared into the night sky. The air was cool as it was only late spring, and a light wind was blowing.  He looked around at the area along the gravel roads, their were fields of corn so they must have been in farmland. "Got it set up." Steve looked over at Dwight who was waving his hand at Steve to join him. "How much did that cost you?" Steve ventured "You know you probably don't want to think about it." Dwight laughed as he adjusted some dials and looked through the eyepiece. "Here I thought you might find this cool." Dwight indicated that Steve should come over and look through the eyepiece. Steve came over and bent down just slightly. His eyes focused for a second and there in front of him was clearly Saturn. It was a little less colorful than he imagined but there it was. It was so weird seeing it for real, for the first time ever. He hadn't ever looked through a telescope before and the really amazing thing was how it had depth to it. Like obviously it should but he was so used to looking at pictures that the idea that it was actually round and actually three dimensional just it really hit him. Cause you could clearly see that through the telescope. And the rings they just popped out, it was so cool. “Wow that's so weird! I just I never thought i'd be seeing it like this."   Dwight came up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder.  "Is this your first time seeing it?" He said curiously "Yeah it's like really crazy, I know this sounds stupid, but it all of the sudden seems way more real now."  Steve pulled back and leaned up against Dwight and shivered a bit. " No I totally get it, i remember when I first saw another planet through a telescope when I was younger. It's one thing seeing it in books but it's so different when you see it with your own eyes. Makes you kind of feel small." Dwight sounded wistful " Are you cold?"  He notices Steve shivering. Steve looked embarrassed "A little. I don't have as many layers as you have on." He laughed.  "I have a blanket in the car give me a second." Dwight rushed over and opened his trunk again and pulled out a fleece blanket. He quickly returned and draped the blanket over Steve's shoulders and wrapped it around him. Steve felt immediately warmer "Thanks." He looked over at Dwight and saw him flush a bit.   Steve laughed "What's wrong?" "It's... I just want to kiss you again..." Dwight stuttered out. Steve got a wry look on his face. "Well are you going to make me wait all night?" Suddenly Dwight got a very serious look on his face and he grabbed the sides of blanket that had slid down Steve's back and pulled Steve forward their lips crashing together. Dwight's lips were so soft and sweet but also very aggressive. His hands slid under the blanket and around Steve one drifted to the back of Steve's head the other to his lower back.  A small moan escaped Steve and Dwight took immediate advantage by nipping lightly on Steve's lower lip. There it was, Dwight's tongue dancing against his own. Dwight's mouth tasted strongly of the minty strips that he had told Steve about earlier that day when they had lunch, it left a cool tingly feeling in his mouth. The blanket fell to the ground as the two jostled around. Dwight pulled back "Sorry i'll just grab...". he made a motion to bend down to grab the blanket. Steve scowled and yanked on the front of Dwight's shirt. "I didn't give you permission to stop."  He pulled the geek back in and immediately his mouth was open tongues fighting for dominance. Dwight's hand had threaded through his hair lightly tugging, and  his other hand had drifted all the way down just under the bottom part of his belt resting it just on the top of Steve's rear. Steve felt a light tug as Dwight indicated that he wanted Steve to move. Steve's feet were tangled in the blanket though so he was having a difficult time. Dwight laughed and stopped kissing him for a second. "That needs to be taken care of or this will get awkward." Steve pretended to be miffed but let Dwight bend down to pick it up. Dwight rolled it up and grabbed Steve's hand and tugged on it dragging him closer to the car. "Just a sec." He let go of Steve's hand and draped the blanket on the front of the vehicle. He pulled on Steve's belt maneuvering him and then grabbed Steve by the waist with a loud grunt yanked the man up and sat him down on the hood. "Whoa man!" Steve laughed "Don't  hurt yourself I'm only like a quarter of an inch shorter than you. " Dwight did take a second to pause. "I'm fine" He laughed and he pushed forward lips connecting, hands wandering, skin touching. Steve had been friends with Dwight for months but had never seen him so in charge.  His tongue had started to explore Steve's neck and god did that feel good. He felt Dwight lean farther in and their hips were right on top of each other. Then the movement began and their waists started to grind against each other as Steve felt his pants tighten intensely. This is so good, like really really good, but he needs Dwight to slow down. "Hey hey..."  he pushes lightly on Dwight's chest. Dwight pulls back immediately. "Sorry... I ... Sorry... I just didn't think that me and you would ever be doing this." he laughed  "i'm getting a little over enthusiastic, sorry sorry." He looks so red and flushed. "Hey it's okay man." Steve patted on the hood of the car.  "Sit down... Lets talk for a second." Dwight joined him on the roof of the car never taking his eyes off Steve having a dopey cute grin on his face.   Steve started . "So..... Definitely going on another date I guess." "YES!... I mean if you want to." Dwight tried to play it cool but failed miserably. Steve couldn't help but laugh " I don't think you have to worry, i feel like I've become absolutely on board with this kissing a guy thing." "I was so sure, that you wouldn't ever actually be interested. " Dwight babbled " Super hot frat guy? Ladies man? I mean I've thought you were so cool and laid back, but I didn't want to say anything about liking you cause I didn't want you to think I was a creeper. And then the other night I was worried that you'd be mad cause you were tipsy." " Why would I be mad?  I'm the one who decided to kiss you. Honestly, you know it probably would have never crossed my mind. But your mouth was clearly running off because of the booze, and when I went in for that kiss... Well let's just say ...Boom fireworks!" Steve laid back and stared into the sky "It's so nice being with you out here the sky is so beautiful." He felt Dwight lie down next to him as he too stared into the sky. They sat in silence just looking at the jeweled expanse in awe for a while. And then slowly Steve turned his head and Dwight tilted his too when he felt the movement as they looked at each other. Steve took one of his hands and ruffled Dwight's hair. "You know... The stars are amazing but your eyes are so gorgeous." Steve breathed.   Dwight flushed super red "Oh god!" He play punched Steve on the shoulder. "You’re horrible." "It's true though." Steve laughed as he playfully punched him back. Steve made the first move this time as he drifted in closer for another electric shock as their lips met again.  It was short but very satisfying. "Okay okay. We should go before this gets out of hand." Dwight laughed.  "You've never been with a guy, I am not going to push you to hard or fast." Steve gave a look like he was pouting but nodded in agreement. "I mean I guess we should save some things for a few dates in." Dwight popped off the hood of the car and started walking towards his telescope. "Could you grab the blanket?" "I got it." Steve slid off the car and grabbed the blanket folding it up.  Tonight had been amazing, it was like floating on clouds. Steve hoped there would be more nights like this.

[fxkthatdairy]

The Principal’s Office Part Three ~ Grayson Dolan

Overview: (Y/F/N) (Y/L/N) was the new 5th grade history teacher at The Dolan’s Private academy in New Jersey. She moved from across the country to teach at the school. On the first day, an unexpected visitor stops by her classroom to check in on her. What happened when they fall head over heels for each other? Check out to see.

Warnings: Angst, slight mentions of alcoholism

(Y/N) thought long and hard with her decision and finally responded:

Hey Grayson, of course I’d love to attend dinner with you this Saturday. I’d love to know more about you as well.

She laid in her bed waiting for his response like a high school girl who had just texted her crush that was on the football team. Her phone buzzed: One new message from Grayson Dolan.

Wonderful! I’ll pick you up around 7 Saturday night. I can’t wait, Goodnight (Y/N) see you tomorrow at work :).

(Y/N) plugged her phone in and placed it on the floor beside her bed, which reminded her that she desperately needed to go furniture and grocery shopping. She laid in her bed with her thoughts running rapidly through her head; Was this ethical? What would her mother think? What would her fellow employees think? She didn’t know what would happen but she shut off her thoughts when she finally managed to drift to sleep.

The rest of the week seemed to go by in a blur and now it was Friday afternoon and the school day had just ended. Her first week as a teacher had been beyond her expectations and she was in love with her new job and her students seemed to love her. She was packing everything that she needed to take home for the weekend which was a lot. She had the children take a quiz to see what they already knew and she had planned to take them home to grade them. So on top of her purse, she carried her suitcase that had her papers in. She shut her class door and locked it and when she turned around she care in contact with a sturdy chest.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” She apologized to Grayson who she had just accidentally ran into.

“It’s fine. Here let me help you to your car. It’s late and dark outside and I don’t trust some of the people that walk around here.” He said and took her suitcase from her hands and carried it out with her following behind him. He walked her to her car and she opened her trunk from her key fob. She didn’t realize how late it was until she checked her watch. It was 6:30 and school got out 2 hours ago. The sun had set and the parking lot was extremely dark and it seemed that Grayson and her self were the last two people there.

“Thank you so much for walking me out to my car and helping with my suitcase. Have a great night Grayson. I’ll see you tomorrow.” (Y/N) said with a smile as she got in her car. She waved at Grayson as she passed his truck in the parking lot. She got home and took a shower. She then sat up her computer on her island and began furniture shopping online. She purchased a leather “L” shaped couch, a recliner, a TV stand with a cabinet attached, she bought a dining room table with chairs, she also bought a TV stand for her room and some dressers and night stands. She knew the money wasn’t a problem, her father had left a shit ton of money in her name and that was the only god thing he ever did in her life. The man who was her father had left her mother shortly after (Y/N) was born entering periodically throughout (Y/N) life. He was an extreme alcoholic who beat his wife and disregarded his children. The bastard died last year after being shot by some man that her dad pissed off. Her father had left her brother, her sister, and her almost 5 million dollars,a piece, what he called an apology for his past mistakes. Nothing would ever make up for the trouble her father put her family through.

After (Y/N) ordered her furniture, she ordered a pizza to be delivered to her house for dinner. She also did a load of laundry and cleaned up her floors a little bit. The pizza man delivered the pizza and (Y/N) are it before taking a relaxing shower. She shaved her legs and washed her hair and body before getting out. She braided her hair, through on a silk teddy night gown and applied lotion to her legs. She plugged her phone in and laid down. She sat up her laptop and watched Dirty Dancing before falling asleep. She couldn’t wait until her TV stand came in and she could watch the actual TV.

(Y/N) woke up around 9:00 the next morning. It felt relaxing not having to get up at 5:30 to get ready for work. She got up and slid on a pair of sweatpants and a loose fitting t-shirt. She slide on a pair of white converses and grabbed her purse. She decided she was going to head to the store to finally get her some groceries so that her breakfast, lunch, and dinner wouldn’t have to come from a fast food restaurant. She got in her car and drove to the nearest market. She grabbed a variety of foods from vegetables, fruits, meats, breakfast foods, some ice creams, personal items such as tampons, pads, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, hair sprays, she also bought a new plant that was on clearance. It was a little cactus that reminded her of home. Once she paid and put the groceries in the car she headed to the Hearst Dunkin Donuts and got herself an iced coffee and a bag of sprinkled donut holes. She then headed home and unloaded her groceries, putting them in the correct place. By the time she was done putting away all of her groceries, it was only 12:00. She decided to take a quick hour nap, watch a few quick episodes of her favorite show and by the time she watched the last episode it was 5:00, so she decided to start getting ready for her dinner date. She plugged her phone in to charge and hooked up her phone to her Bluetooth speaker to listen to music as she got ready. She unbraided her hair and she styled it into a cute curly ponytail and hair sprayed it done. She did a little makeup not too much because she didn’t want to look fake on her date. The makeup she did wear was a very sheer foundation, she filled in her brows, highlighted her face, did a simple nude eyeshadow look, winged liner, mascara, and a pretty nude pink lip shade. She then searched her closet looking for the perfect outfit. She settled for a black off the shoulder top and a pair of dark jeans with a pair of black heel. She but on some simple jewelry and by the time she was done it was 6:45.

She had 15 minutes left before Grayson said he was going to be here so she made sure she had her purse and phone. It was 6:55 when her door bell rang and she answered the door. Grayson stood there with a bouquet of a mixture of sunflowers and roses. They were her favorites. He was wearing a white button up with some dark jeans and a leather jacket.

“I brought you some flowers. I saw them in some of you pictures and assumed they were your favorites. I hope you like them.” He said and handed them to you.

“I absolutely love them. They remind me of home. Thank you so much. Let me put them in a vase real quick. Come on in. Sorry it’s still empty. I just bought some new furniture.” (Y/N) said and walked into her kitchen to grab a vase. She placed the flowers in the vase and added some water in the vase and placed them in the middle of the kitchen island.

“They look absolutely beautiful. Thank you again.” She said as she grabbed her purse.

“You’re welcome. Let’s head there do we can get our reservations.” He said and took her hand. She locked the door of her house before walking with Grayson to his car. His car was beautiful actually. It wasn’t the normal truck he drove around. It was a baby blue Porche. Grayson held her hand all the way to the car and he opened the door for her and waited for to get in and shut her door. He got in on the drivers side and buckled in and started the car. (Y/N) buckled in and placed her purse in the floor board and crossed her legs. In the background faintly played some Kid Cudi music.

“You’re a fan of Cudi too?” She asked as she looked out the window.

“Yeah, I’ve liked his music since I was a teen. I didn’t expect you to like Cudi.” He said with a smile. Damn his dream girl really was real.

“He’s one of the few artists of today’s music that I’ll listen too. Other than that it’s all 80’s music for me.” She said with a laugh and smile. She could picture hours worth of conversations between the two. She didn’t even realize that they had pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. Grayson parked the car and ran around to open the door for her. She got out and grabbed her purse. Grayson linked hands with her and walked into the restaurant.

“Welcome to Juliane’s, how can I help you.” The waitress asked as the two of them came in.

“Reservations for Dolan please.” Grayson said and the lady nodded and grabbed two menus and silverware and led us to the back where there was a nicely set up booth. (Y/N) sat on one side and Grayson sat on the other.

“May I get you two anything to drink?” She asked.

“Do you drink wine? If so what kind?” Grayson asked (Y/N) quickly.

“A little bit and red wine.” She said.

“Two glasses of your finest red wine please?” He asked and the lady nodded and went to get the drinks. (Y/N) looked through the menu and found what she wanted.

“So tell me more about yourself (Y/N). You have my undivided attention.” He said and sipped on his wine.

“Well I was born and raised in a small town in Oklahoma. I have an older sister named Jaclyn and an older brother named Trenton. I’m the baby of my family, when growing up it was just my mom, my sibling and I. As a child, I was always fascinated by history and had my mom make road trips through historical towns so that I could read and learn. I went to college at Oklahoma University on a full scholarship ride. I have two tattoos: one on my back and that’s a sunflower and I have a butterfly on my ribs. My favorite color is yellow and I have a fascination with everything 70’s,80’s, and 90’s. That’s about the general outline on myself. What about you Grayson?” She said with a smile.

“Well I was born and raised here in New Jersey. I have a twin brother named Ethan and an older sister named Cameron. My father and my mother raised us and my father passed away a few years ago to cancer and left my brother and I in charge of the schools. My brother took the high school and I took up the other. My sister has an art degree and sometimes comes and teaches at the school but she has her own studio downtown. My mother is a hair stylist. I’m allergic to almost every single animal except birds, fish, and some reptiles. I have too many tattoos to count and my favorite color is green. If you don’t mind me asking, where is your dad?” He said.

“I’m sorry about your dad. My dad was murdered last year but I didn’t know him very well. He wasn’t really in my life and when he was it was good.” She said. The lady came and took their orders and they continued looking.

“Are you in any relationship?” He asked curiously.

“Nope and never have been. It’s always been education with me.” She said and sipped on her wine.

“I haven’t been in one for a while. I told myself that I was going to wait till I found the perfect one for me.” He said. What she didn’t know was the Grayson thought that was her. The waitress brought there food back and they made small talk while eating. When it came time for them to get ready to leave (Y/N) began pulling out her wallet to pay. Before she could even get her card Grayson had already given the lady his card.

“Don’t worry about it (Y/n). It’s my treat.” He said with his breathtaking smile.

“Thank you so much tonight. I’ve really enjoyed this.” She said with a smile as the lady brought back Grayson’s card. (Y/N) and Grayson grabbed their things and got up and left. As they were sitting in the car Grayson asked, “Do you mind if I take you somewhere? It’s a surprise so you have to trust me.”

“I trust you Grayson. I have nothing else to do tonight, I’m all yours.” She said with a smile. Twenty minutes later they pulled into an empty parking lot near the beach. There was a long boardwalk with a gorgeous lighthouse at the end of the boardwalk. He opened the door for her and took her hand. By now the sun had set and the wind started picking up and she shivered. Grayson slipped off his jacket and placed it on her arms.

“Thank you.” She said and he took her hand and began waking down the boardwalk. The waves crashed against the shore and it sounded beautiful. The lights along the boardwalk were gorgeous. They walked to the end of the boardwalk and she leaned against the rail staring out into the ocean.

“It’s beautiful here.” She said with a smile.

“You’re even more beautiful.” Grayson said with a smile and turned her around to face him. His hands were rested gently on her waist and he leaned down and gently kissed her. Her heart and stomach exploded in butterflies. He pulled back and spoke, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over m-“ before he could finish his sentence she kissed him to shut him up.

“Don’t apologize Grayson. I enjoyed it. I enjoy you. You make me feel like I’m a new person.” She said with a smile and placed her hand on his chest.

“Good because I’m not letting you go. You’re my one I just know it.” He said with a smile and leaned down to kiss her again.

Grayson walked her back to his car and decided to take her home since it was now almost 10:00. He walked her up to her front door.

“I’ll see you when your furniture comes in so that I can help. I’ll also bring my brother so you can meet him and he can help. I enjoyed tonight (Y/N). I can’t wait till our next date out.” He said with a smile and leaned down and pecked her lips.

“Thank you for tonight Grayson. I enjoyed it too. I’ll text you tomorrow when the items get shipped in. Text me when you get home please so that I know you made it home safe please.” She said as he pulled away. She took off his jacket and handed it back so that he wasn’t cold. She pecked his lips one last time and shut the door. As soon as the door shut and he was in his car, she freaked out. Her boss was in love with her and she was in love with him. He KISSED her. She was so whipped over him it wasn’t funny. She hopes this doesn’t affect her job and that she isn’t going to be judged even though there are going to be those people she didn’t care at the moment. She walked to her bathroom and wiped her makeup off and washed her face as well as brushed her teeth. She changed into her pajamas and brushed out her hair. She laid down in bed and waited for Grayson to text her that he was home safe and then as soon as he texted her that she fell asleep reliving her night over and over in her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is part three 😊 I was able to write this today because I was trapped in a car for 8 hours and had time to write. I hope you guys enjoy and part four will be out in a few days 🙂 if you guys have any requests, concepts, or blurbs you are welcome to send them to me. Also if you would like to be added to the tag list let me know 😊💛

Tags: @pineappledols @frickin-bats @graysavant @sweet-dolans

[diner-drama]

Cuddle Buddies (1/?)

"Cuddle Buddies: professional platonic cuddling therapy services for the busy modern professional" are an entirely legitimate organization serving the touch-starved. Look, it's just been a long time since Steve's been in a relationship, and a guy has needs, you know? Sometimes after a long day of being a strong, hard-nosed solicitor, weathering insults and attacks from the opposing counsel and your own coworkers, you just want to have someone stroke your hair and tell you you're good. Bucky loves his job as a professional cuddler, providing non-romantic physical touch to people that need it, and when his new client turns out to be a pint-sized spitfire with a smile to die for, that's just a bonus.

Also on ao3.

"Rumlow, if I wake up tomorrow to find out that you've thrown my client on an airplane and deported her in the middle of the night I will have your ass in front of the bar association before you can blink," barked Steve into the phone held between his ear and shoulder, trying to get his keys out of his pocket one-handed. "You really think they're going to let this slide after last time?"

He paused for a second as the person on the other end of the line made a few abortive attempts at a response, then cut him off. "I'm turning off my phone now. If you still want to talk in the morning after considering my offer you can call me then, but if you pull any of your bullshit in the meantime, I will fucking ruin you."

Steve hung up the call with a flourish and shouldered his front door open, throwing his phone into a basket on an occasional table before closing the door behind him and leaning against it, rubbing his eyes exhaustedly. Being a hard-ass human rights lawyer was all very well and good during the work day, but by the time he got home Steve was more than ready to shed his tough persona and let himself be soft.

The suit jacket was the first to go, shrugged off his slim shoulders and slipped onto a hanger. Then, his smart, shiny shoes were slipped off and replaced with warm, thick socks. He swapped his starched shirt for an old, lived-in hoodie, and his neatly pressed slacks for sweatpants. His black briefcase found a home in the spare room he used as an office, and he shut the door after it, mentally shutting away his work life. He ran his hand through his smartly-combed hair to muss it up and rolled his shoulders back, taking a few deep breaths and letting the stress of his day roll off him.

He wandered around the living room, picking up a blanket from the steamer trunk by the window, drawing the curtains, and switching on the electric fireplace which filled the space with warmth and low, flickering light. He picked up his personal phone from the coffee table and sent a quick text to Sam to let him know he made it home safely, sent a thumbs up to Darcy in response to a terrible meme she'd sent him, and briefly considered video calling Peggy before remembering that she was in a conference in Singapore.

He flopped down onto the couch and wrapped himself up tight in the blanket, enjoying its weight on his shoulders. Opening his laptop, he coughed in embarrassment when the tab that he'd opened in a fit of loneliness last night popped up. "Cuddle Buddies: professional platonic cuddling therapy services for the busy modern professional" seemed to be an entirely legitimate organization serving the touch-starved, and they had excellent reviews.

Look, it's just been a long time since Steve's been in a relationship, and a guy has needs, you know? Sometimes after a long day of being a strong, hard-nosed solicitor, weathering insults and attacks from the opposing counsel and your own coworkers, you just want to have someone stroke your hair and tell you you're good. Steve did his best to keep his work and home lives separate, but lately it was getting difficult to switch off from his worries when he was lying in bed at night, going over details from his cases while he tossed and turned on his pillows.

He scrolled through the information on the website one more time, thinking about how it might feel to invite a stranger into his home to cuddle him. Would it be uncomfortable? Would they think he was pathetic?

Putting aside the laptop for a minute, he ambled back into the kitchen to re-heat some shepherd's pie and put on the kettle for a cup of tea, climbing on a step stool to reach the mugs. His fingers and toes still a little chilly from the crisp autumn evening outside, he decided to fill up a hot water bottle, tucking it carefully into its fluffy case and holding it under his arm as he brought his dinner and drink back to the table. After a couple of bites of the pie, he pulled out a neat little wicker basket from under the table and took out his evening medications. Tapping the pills into his hand, he swallowed them with a gulp of tea and took a couple of huffs of his steroid inhaler for good measure, before getting back to his meal.

Steve may have lost the genetic lottery when it came to his height and his abysmal health, but the gods had seen fit to bless him with more than his share of sheer, bloody-minded scrappiness, which he felt more than made up for it.

Once he'd cleared the plate away and made himself a second cuppa, he opened up a book on his e-reader and held the comforting, warm weight of the hot water bottle to his chest, wondering idly, not for the first time, whether he should get a cat. He was a couple of chapters into a mediocre romance novel when he started tapping his fingers, thinking.

After a brief moment of indecision, he grabbed the laptop with renewed certainty and began to type a request into the website.

Bucky was just waving goodbye to Nat as he walked away from their session when his phone chimed, alerting him that there was a new customer inquiry that the agency wanted him to look at.

Maria: 28 yo man in Red Hook interested in trying cuddle therapy to help with work stress. Would prefer male therapist. Due to asthma, no cologne or scented products, and non-smokers only.

He smiled, and shot off a quick affirmative response. Maria often sent him their new clients - there was something about him that reassured people if they felt a little unsure about the services. Bucky was perfectly happy with his chosen profession - non-romantic physical touch was, in his opinion, essential for a happy life, and he got to provide it to people that needed it. Bucky liked to observe people and through his job he'd met a wide array of curious characters, so the work was never boring.

Also, the pay was amazing and Alpine would only eat the expensive cat food, so there was that.

He continued on his journey, enjoying the changing leaves on the trees around him and the chill in the air. Just as he was about to step onto the subway, his phone buzzed again, and after he found a seat he saw that Maria had sent him the phone number for his new client. He sent off his standard greeting straight away, eager to get his schedule firmed up.

Bucky: Hi Steve, this is Bucky from the Cuddle Buddies agency. When works for you for our first meeting? Looking forward to working with you!

Steve: Thanks for getting back to me. Saturday evening would be best for my schedule. Can I pay the $80 fee via bank transfer? -Steven Grant Rogers, Shield Solicitors

The response came immediately, and was far more businesslike than his usual interactions with clients. Still, Bucky could be businesslike. He even owned a tie.

Bucky: You sure can - the agency should send you out a contract tonight with the bank details. I can do Saturday at 7 if that suits.

Steve: Saturday at 7 sounds fine. What are the terms of the contract?

Of course, Mr. Lawyer Man wanted to know about the contract.

Bucky: It lays out what to expect in our interactions - we provide purely non-sexual services - as well as how to deal with cancellations, how we protect your privacy, and the billing structure.

Steve: Thank you. I look forward to meeting you on Saturday.

Bucky shook his head, wondering how this stuffy, formal guy was going to act during their cuddle session.

Steve didn't have the opportunity to start feeling anxious about his cuddle appointment because the negotiations with the lawyers at the ICE detention center took up every moment of his time. He was wrapping up his conversation with a client via email in his home office when his alarm chimed to let him know that he had half an hour until Bucky arrived.

After stretching his arms over his head, wincing at the tightness of his shoulders after slouching all day, he stripped out of the pajamas he was still wearing and indulged in a long, hot shower, scrubbing away his stress and emerging pink-cheeked and fluffy-haired. In his bedroom, he changed into a soft blue flannel shirt and a pair of pants that looked like slacks but felt like sweatpants, and another pair of his warm, fuzzy socks.

Pacing around his living room, his nerves ramping up, he selected a different blanket to leave ready on the couch and checked twice on his selection of teas. He had just put the kettle on to boil when the buzzer sounded.

On opening the door, he was immediately reassured to see that Bucky had a friendly, engaging grin, and was wearing a soft, knitted sweater. He held out a hand to shake and then immediately felt like an idiot, but Bucky just grasped Steve's cold hand with his warm one and squeezed it.

"Hi, you must be Steve," said Bucky with a pleasant Brooklyn drawl. Without being asked, he pulled a Cuddle Buddies ID card out of his pocket and handed it over to Steve, who checked the details on it and handed it back.

"Nice to meet you," said Steve stiffly. "Please, come on in. I'm just making a cup of mint tea, do you want one?"

"That'd be perfect, Steve. Mind if I take my shoes off?"

"Go ahead," replied Steve with a thin smile, attending to the whistling kettle.

"Thanks," said Bucky when he accepted his cup of tea. Steve couldn't help but notice that Bucky was wearing mis-matched but co-ordinating socks, one with red stars on a white background, and the other with white stars on a red background. He ushered Bucky to take a seat on the couch and sat in the armchair opposite. Bucky's posture was loose and open, but Steve was sitting bolt upright and jiggling his leg nervously. Fortunately, Bucky chose to take the lead in the conversation.

"So, I usually start first sessions with clients by talking about what your goals are for therapy," he began with a reassuring smile. "For example, some clients are looking to feel more comfortable with physical touch, some want to get over a breakup, or reduce stress, and some are just looking for companionship."

"I guess the companionship and stress things," said Steve after thinking for a moment. "My job takes a lot out of me, so I don't really have the time to pursue a relationship, but I do miss that human touch."

Bucky smiled gently, as though what Steve had said wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "What do you do?"

"I'm a lawyer, I mostly represent people who are in danger of deportation," said Steve automatically.

"That sounds rewarding," replied Bucky encouragingly.

"It is," agreed Steve, "but it's incredibly draining. I have to be so hard and tough all the time. Sometimes I think it would be nice to just be..." He tailed off, unsure how to finish his sentence.

"Soft?" supplied Bucky.

Steve smiled, feeling more comfortable despite his misgivings. "Yeah."

"Thank you for being so open with me, Steve," said Bucky, reaching over to squeeze Steve's knee. "If you don't have a particular preference for how we start, how about you join me on the couch and I put my arms around you. Does that sound good?"

Suddenly shy, Steve nodded and moved to sit next to Bucky, who immediately wrapped his big arms around Steve's shoulders and pulled Steve into his broad chest. As requested, Bucky wasn't wearing any fragrance, but he still smelled good, like fresh laundry and crisp autumn air, with an undercurrent of clean skin.

As he relaxed into Bucky's embrace, Steve tried to remember the last time he'd been held so gently. He was a regular recipient of Sam's big bear hugs and Darcy's chest-crushing squeezes, but he hadn't had a long-term romantic partner since law school, and his career didn't leave him a lot of free time to look for one.

"How does that feel?" asked Bucky in a low, soothing voice, gently rubbing at Steve's shoulder.

"Really good," breathed Steve.

"I'm glad," said Bucky gently. "How about I lie down on my back here and you snuggle up to my chest?"

Steve nodded his assent and Bucky released him slowly, and then rolled over to lie along the couch, opening up his arms so that Steve could slot himself in to rest his head on Bucky's warm chest. The knit of his sweater was soft against Steve's face, and one of Bucky's big hands came up to cup the back of Steve's head, rubbing small circles at the base of his skull with his fingertips.

"Thanks for not wearing cologne," said Steve, sounding muffled.

"Pal, I think you sneezing in my face would be worse for me than for you," laughed Bucky, the sound rumbling through his chest.

"It's not my sexiest move," agreed Steve, burrowing deeper into the soft warmth of Bucky's body.

Steve hadn't expected that conversation would carry on easily while they were cuddling - he predicted awkward silences and a feeling of general embarrassment - but they continued chatting while Bucky carded his fingers through Steve's hair, and he felt himself dropping deeper and deeper into a calm state of relaxation.

"So why'd you become a lawyer?" asked Bucky in a low voice, barely breaking into the spell he was casting over Steve.

"Ma came over here from Ireland to work as a nurse," replied Steve drowsily, "and when my pa died, she ran into some trouble with some of her immigration paperwork. There was a lawyer who worked pro bono to stop her from getting deported... the guy really changed our lives."

"So now you help other people the same way."

"I try to. How'd you get into professional cuddling?"

"After I got out of the army, I used to go for counseling sessions at the VA. Took a couple of years, but eventually I started on a course to be a counselor myself. A lot of those guys are so touch-starved, you know? My friend got the idea to start up a cuddling service and I jumped at the chance. It's been my full-time job for three years now."

Digesting this information, Steve was silent for a moment. He wouldn't have pegged Bucky as a soldier given how open and relaxed he was, but Sam didn't seem like an air force pilot, so you never knew. He cast around for a follow-up question. "Are there a lot of cuddling agencies in the world?" he settled on eventually.

"Oh yeah, it's a real growth industry. There's even a book called the Cuddle Sutra."

Steve scoffed. "You're kidding me, people write books about this stuff?"

Bucky cuffed him gently on the back of the head. "Shut up, punk. That's my profession you're besmirching."

"Are you allowed to tell your clients to shut up?" smirked Steve, never happier than when he was being a little shit.

"Only if they're being a punk," grumbled Bucky, wrapping an arm around the back of Steve's shoulders to pull him closer.

Over the course of the next forty five minutes, Steve learned more about Bucky's family, his asshole cat, his collection of semi-dead succulent plants, and his opinions on the present administration of the country. Bucky managed to wheedle Steve into talking about the bullying he faced at work, the stress of not having as many resources as he needed to help everyone he worked with - and he very nearly managed to get him to disclose his mother's recipe for shepherd's pie, and was only stopped by the threat that the ghost of Sarah Rogers would haunt him until he died.

Between the cozy warmth of Bucky's body, the soothing cadence of his voice, and the way his minty breath ghosted over Steve's forehead when he chuckled, Steve was pretty much in heaven, wrapped up in comfort. When Bucky's phone started to vibrate in his pocket, they both let out a little noise of annoyance.

"'Fraid that's my alarm. How'd you enjoy your first session?" asked Bucky, still stroking lines down Steve's back.

Steve hummed contentedly. "Worth every penny," he replied, sitting up and stretching his arms over his head.

"I'm really glad," said Bucky sincerely, squeezing his shoulder before standing up and heading towards his shoes. "Same time next week?"

"That'd be perfect. Thanks, Bucky. For everything."

"No problem," he replied with a genuine grin, fishing his phone out of his pocket. "Now I'd better call Maria before she gets the cops after me to make sure I haven't been murdered in a back alley somewhere."

"I'm glad they care so much about your safety."

"I love my job," laughed Bucky as he let himself out the front door, waving goodbye to Steve as he put the phone to his ear.

Steve spent some time smiling and waving like a goof until Bucky rounded the corner, at which point he finally shook himself awake and shut and locked his door. It was only eight PM but after a few nights of fractured sleep he was ready to follow his relaxed, sleepy feeling straight to bed.

After he pottered around the room, straightening up and putting things away, he brushed his teeth and jumped onto his big, comfortable bed, where he rolled himself up in his comforter like a burrito. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

[elenatria]

How to turn a London Con trip into a “Chernobyl” trip.

I’m home so I can finally make this post.

Where to start.

Okay-

Let’s start with “Chernobyl”. It happened a few months ago, fell on our heads like a nuclear bomb. We all loved the protagonists but Viktor Charkov, the KGB chairman, is also a memorable, creepy, hateful character who got under our skin with the cold truth of his words, the harsh reality of his behaviour. He was too real, too pragmatic to be ignored. From stories I’ve been told in person, he’s no different than the executive arms of tyrants we had here not more than forty years ago. He exists. People like him live among us.

As for the actor himself, so strange. See, there is no mention of Alan Williams’ age on IMDB or Wikipedia and that’s enough to show that, apart from his theatre, TV and film work, little is known about him. Where to find him, contact him, he’s too old to care about social media and apparently he never was too sought out, not with a “face like a bagful of donuts” as he jokes.

But I was thrilled. I wrote the first chapter of “A single bullet” after watching “Chernobyl” and I just had to show it to this elusive low-profile thespian who inspired me. Because... I don’t know, because. Just to say “Thanks for doing a magnificent job. Thanks for helping me understand evil.”

So I tried contacting his agent. I gave her my name and nationality. I thought I’d just send her the link and forget about it.

Apparently, she forgot about it too because I never heard from her.

After a month London Con was upon us, but what to do in the evenings? Plays of course. I booked a ticket for “The woman in black” and “The Hunt” with Tobias Menzies. Then I searched and searched for Alan Williams plays but, to my dismay, he had finished playing Ivan Romanovich Chebutykin in “Three sisters” at the beginning of June and his new play, “Faith, hope and charity”, wouldn’t premiere before September. Just my luck to be in London in between the two plays. No stage door queue, no autographs.

After spending a full Saturday at London Con and Sunday at the British Museum, Monday had to be a day of leisure. A free concert at St Martin-in-the-Fields before lunch was all I was capable of attending, drag my steps towards the closest bus stop that would drop me off… wherever. I didn’t care.

But then I decided to read my post from the previous day about managing to buy a ticket for “The girl on the train” at the very last minute and meeting Alex Ferns, the naked miner. The unexpected ticket, the unexpected hug.

Now how difficult would it be to meet an actor who is NOT doing a play at the moment?

Very very difficult, confirmed one voice.

He’s rehearsing for ‘Faith, hope and charity’, isn’t he? disagreed another. He must be. It’s almost August and the play opens in September. He’s at work right now. He must be!!!

I googled and googled for almost an hour. I found that “Faith, hope and charity” would be staged at the Dorfman theatre near Waterloo station so I called the stage door. I explained to the receptionist that I did not know Mr Williams in person but I was visiting London for only a few days, was a big fan of his work in “Chernobyl” and I would really love to greet him. The man on the phone was very helpful revealing that this was their first day of rehearsing (the incredible coincidence!) and they had started only… an hour ago. He asked my name and I said “Well… you can say Eleni”, I mean, who needs my complicated surname, right? The guy said he’d save my number and let Mr Williams know.

Oh god.

But I couldn’t just sit there waiting for a call, I’d never get that call, come on.

So I rushed to the Dorfman Theatre. I was breaking my brain trying to figure out how I could get the Charkov chapter of “A single bullet” printed in a district with no stationary shops whatsoever. I was hoping I could… shove it into his face I don’t know, and later imagine he’d be reading it. He didn’t really have to read it, just nod condescendingly and lie that he would, and that would be enough to put a smile on my face. Just like all those toys and drawings people give to celebs at cons that end up in the hands of volunteers, assistants or charities, if not in the trash.

When I got there I talked to a different receptionist, a very professional, very unhelpful young man. For safety reasons he wasn’t supposed to disclose neither the time they’d finish nor the time of recess. For safety reasons I had to go through Mr Williams’ agent to get to him. Outrageous, the woman didn’t even forward my story to him, let alone give me permission to meet him. I was hopeless, I was being turned down. I was being an idiot.

“But they must have a lunch break, right??” I insisted. “Can’t I just wait outside?”

That guy was a goddamn sphinx, and the helpful guy was still talking on the phone or to some lady there, I don’t remember, so I couldn’t reach out to him. Suddenly I felt unnecessarily needy as if I was sitting on the subway floor, shaking my hat to passers-by, clinging my few coins. How humiliating.

With heavy steps I exited the theatre. Why is it so complicated, why do I need someone else’s “permission”? I’m not a child. I looked around, it was a sunny day, people were sitting in coffee tables out in the patio. Some tables were empty but I didn’t care, I just sat on a column by the entrance, far enough to not be seen by the receptionists and feel like shit for lingering, close enough to catch anyone exiting.

For an hour and a half I crouched over my phone trying to figure out how to contact the agent without sounding too stalkery. I called the agency but the girl on the phone gave me the same email address where I had sent my fic. Fine. I changed the wording of my message again and again so as not to sound too needy or creepy even if I knew it wouldn’t work.

I knew I had missed my concert for no reason and I would soon have to leave because who doesn’t like giving up? It’s better to give up than stress over something that’s never gonna happen. It always is.

I was seconds away from clicking “send” and making a fool of myself to the agent for a second time when I thought I saw someone, a towering presence stopping a few meters away, looking over, hesitating, waiting.

I raised my head.

There he was, three-dimensional, bathed in sunlight. Not an image in my head anymore.

Believe me when I say that I was staring at Gandalf, Santa Claus, the Grail Knight from “Indiana Jones”, the Big Bad Wolf.

I honestly don’t know what I was staring at.

But there he was, in all his elderly silver-bearded glory. A myth in my mind, in the flesh. How did he know I was there? I didn’t tell anyone. I was supposed to be hiding.

After nanoseconds of deer-like stun I did the polite thing and jumped on my feet, ready for a handshake. I mean, I had to stand up, right? He had come out just for me.

Shit. What had I done? The nerve.

The first thing I remember noticing when I got closer were his faded blue eyes with a distinguishable light-shaded rim circling the iris. The rest was just word vomit, how we all love him on tumblr, write fics, make memes etc.

Memes?

I described to him the “Try me, bitch” edit we all love, courtesy of @two-screaming-rats.

He didn’t get it at first, then he laughed so HARD, so damn hard. You guys have to see Charkov laughing his heart out.

He said he only had a few minutes before he had to go back to the rehearsal so I decided to start the conversation with the Charkov fanfics. He was quick to apologize for not answering my email. “I’m sorry but… but I honestly don’t know what to say when someone sends me a story,” he admitted humbly. “I read all of them but… I mean I’ve been sent stories based on my characters before but I really wouldn’t know what to say.”

Okay first of all, he read my story. I don’t know if he read it a month ago when I sent it or minutes before he exited the theatre to greet me but he did.

Secondly, there are more stories about his characters? WHERE.

“I’m not a writer anyway,” I said apologetically.

The unexpected reassurance. “But you are.”

I guess one doesn’t have to be The Writer™, they just have to write. What a way to be courteous to a fan though.

Then I mentioned how we love Charkov’s trademark, his glasses, how we’re frantically looking for ‘80s-looking glasses, how we obsess over specific frames and brands.

“They’re not a brand,” he clarified, “they were specifically made for me, they’re an exact replica of Viktor Chebrikov’s glasses. Just like our clothes that were made by seamstresses who worked during that era.”

Naturally I praised the production’s attention to detail that has us ranting, how beautiful and “European” it all looked, how true the script was to Lyudmila’s story as it was described in Svetlana Alexievich’ “Chernobyl prayer”. I talked about my thoughts when I first heard there would be a “Chernobyl” TV series: the Americans made a TV show based on events that affected Europe, now that’s a new one. He mentioned Russian media admitting that they should have made that show, not the Americans. I agreed but also added “That’s the thing, it may be beautifully made, it may be the truth, but it’s still propaganda. Just because it’s true, just because the Soviet government did all those horrible things, that doesn’t mean that the show is not serving someone’s agenda.” He disagreed saying that the Soviet people were shown in a good light for their bravery and sacrifice. Well, we knew that, didn’t we.

I said how impressed I was by his portrayal of Charkov because we were told about people like him by dictatorship victims at school. People who had been tortured in the ‘70s came to us, talking about their time in underground cells, in the hands of sadists like Charkov. I told him about my uncle who was arrested and executed by the Nazis for distributing left-wing leaflets, about my grandmother who had to escape to the mountains during the civil war that followed the German occupation because she was a communist. I explained how real it felt to me, his last scene with Legasov in the kitchen. How bleak and horribly accurate.

He mentioned “You’re one of us, Legasov”. To him Charkov was just doing his job, working for the greater good and he agreed with the quote in my fic, that Charkov “couldn’t wait to retire”.

He then joked about Charkov being blasé after the committee meeting, “Meh, I’m done with arresting people, I let others do it for me”.

I assure you all those questions were answered in a couple of minutes, and I was certain our meeting was about to come to an end.

But then… he gestured toward an empty table.

Don’t let an aged man standing, was my spontaneous thought. I was reminded of my father.

Then I realized. He gestured toward an empty table.

Table. The two of us. On a sunny day.

Time, he was offering me his time.

And… oh my god, this was practically an interview, why was I not recording this, he was answering my questions so effortlessly.

No. That would be rude, that would be greedy.

Just relax and enjoy the moment and try to remember fucking everything.

I asked him what his inspiration for Charkov was, if he based his portrayal on other actors or historical figures. He paused to think and explained that the script was very strict anyway, very defined. However he did mention  Charkov’s line, “I know you’ve heard the stories about us. When I hear them, even I am shocked” and how that reflected Stalin’s hypocritical quote, “What do I know, I’m just a peasant”.

His favourite line was “Trust but verify, and the Americans think that Ronald Reagan thought that up”.

“Is that really an old Russian proverb…?” I wondered.

“I… don’t know!” he laughed.

During the rest of the conversation he mentioned his friend whose job was to translate the Pravda, and his years in Canada where he met Czech-Greeks, namely Greek communists who were driven away by our right-wing government after the Second World War. Even the Soviets didn’t want them so they were sent to the Czech Republic and ended up in Canada. These people belonged nowhere.

I didn’t know that, and he didn’t know about Vladimir Gubarev, the writer of the play “Sarcophagus” and science editor of the Pravda who was the recipient of Legasov’s tapes. I quoted him saying “Why call the protagonist Legasov since that’s not how Legasov was, they could have used a character who’s a scientist and give him any other name.” Like Ulana, I added, who’s a composite character, or Chebrikov/Charkov, mostly fictional.

Our conversation was coming to an end; he asked me what plays I saw in London and he smiled when I mentioned Alex Ferns in “The girl on the train”.

It was truly overwhelming; I was torn between being swept away by the moment, focusing on nothing but the faded blue of his eyes, bathing in the calm rhythm of his voice, and actually paying attention to what he was saying. Only once did my eyes dart at his left hand spotting the unusually thick golden ring on his finger. When one’s mind plays tricks the best way to discipline is a glimpse at The Ring because if he didn’t have nearly my father’s years I’d probably be having a horribly inappropriate crush.

“Time to go,” he apologized.

We took a couple of photos and I pulled out Svetlana Alexievich’ book, asking for an autograph.

“Where should I sign?” he asked.

“Wherever you want.”

He flipped through the pages noticing my page markers, notes and underlinings. “What are these for?”

“Just… just notes. Do you want my—” I suggested grabbing my big-ass permanent marker.

Without a word he gave a knowing smile and, like an experienced conjurer, he pulled out of his jacket an elegant little sharpie. Delicate pens for delicate words.

I didn’t dare read what he wrote to me then, I could only make out his name through that intelligible doctor-like writing. Surely my name wasn’t there because I hadn’t introduced myself. Still, I thanked him from the bottom of my heart.

Time to go.

We shook hands and I said how honoured I was that he had spent time with me. I tried not to stare as he disappeared into the theatre but before I left I ran into the foyer, quickly thanked the receptionist to whom I had talked on the phone and stormed out of the building with that huge wave of adrenaline pumping violently in my ears.

As I crossed the street I was grinning like an idiot. I knew I had to stop right there and write down everything before I forgot - but it was pointless. I’m not a recorder to have to write down everything the minute it happens. It’s enough to remember the pale rimming of his eyes.

Now, two days after meeting him, I’m still torn between pride and embarrassment. What the hell was I thinking? Doesn’t a man deserve to work in peace?

But as I’m writing this and attaching his signature on the first page of “Chernobyl prayer” I dare for the first time read what he wrote to me.

Pleasure to meet you.

People say they have religious moments when meeting their favourite celebs.

Mine was poetic.

What a darling, darling man.

[awkward-toshinori]

Hey Yo, can I get all 200 asks for the ask meme thing? Please and thank you!

Absolutely

200: My crush’s name is:

Horia

199: I was born in:

Romania

198: I am really:

friendly and trustworthy

197: My cellphone company is:

Digi

196: My eye color is:

Aqua Blue

195: My shoe size is:

7,5

194: My ring size is:

20?? hell if i know tbh

193: My height is:

5′7

192: I am allergic to:

nothing

191: My 1st car was:

I can’t drive yet!!

190: My 1st job was:

No jobs yikes :c

189: Last book you read:

Sword of Destiny!!

188: My bed is:

messy and full of plushies

187: My pet:

no pets but ahh  my baby plant

186: My best friend:

I’ve got tons of them and I’m pretty sure they know themselves

185: My favorite shampoo is:

ah I don’t really have any preferences

184: Xbox or ps3:

*big gasp* ps3

183: Piggy banks are:

They’re superb but I would feel so bad about wrecking one

182: In my pockets:

Glasses tissues

181: On my calendar:

uh there’s nothing noted yet

180: Marriage is:

Something quiet amazing and lovely, at least from my point

179: Spongebob can:

aww man I don’t watch spongebob

178: My mom:

is shorther than me, that’s for sure

177: The last three songs I bought were?

I didn’t buy any songs but I did buy albums and the last three I bought I suppose were Aenima by tool, Portrait of An American Familly by Marilyn Manson and Slipknot by Slipknot, I think

176: Last YouTube video watched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q9UafsiQ6k

175: How many cousins do you have?

2 or 3 I think

174: Do you have any siblings?

Yes, one

173: Are your parents divorced?

nope

172: Are you taller than your mom?

yes B)

171: Do you play an instrument?

Not yet but I’m planning on getting a bass so

170: What did you do yesterday?

I went to a cool concert

169: Love at first sight:

not rlly

168: Luck:

nope

167: Fate:

also no

166: Yourself:

no *oops doopsie I’m sorry*

165: Aliens:

yes

164: Heaven:

nah

163: Hell:

no

162: God:

nopety

161: Horoscopes:

not really

160: Soul mates:

hmm  a bit

159: Ghosts:

no

158: Gay Marriage:

157: War:

not really

156: Orbs:

not really  :/

155: Magic:

no but I find it interesting154: Hugs or Kisses:

hugs

153: Drunk or High:

I personally wouldn’t go for any of those but drunk ig

152: Phone or Online:

online

151: Red heads or Black haired:

black haired

150: Blondes or Brunettes:

ah, blondes

149: Hot or cold:

cold

148: Summer or winter:

winter

147: Autumn or Spring:

spring

146: Chocolate or vanilla:

vanilla

145: Night or Day:

night

144: Oranges or Apples:

oranges

143: Curly or Straight hair:

straight

142: McDonalds or Burger King:

McDonalds

141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate:

White Chocolate

140: Mac or PC:

PC

139: Flip flops or high heals:

flip flops

138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor:

sweet and poor tbh

137: Coke or Pepsi:

coke

136: Hillary or Obama:

Obama??!!

135: Burried or cremated:

cremated

134: Singing or Dancing:

singing

133: Coach or Chanel:

coach

132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks:

I uh, none

131: Small town or Big city:

big city

130: Wal-Mart or Target:

I had never went to one though Wal-Mart

129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler:

Adam Sandler

128: Manicure or Pedicure:

Manicure

127: East Coast or West Coast:

East Coast

126: Your Birthday or Christmas:

Christmas

125: Chocolate or Flowers:

flowers

124: Disney or Six Flags:

disney

123: Yankees or Red Sox:

Yankees

122: War:

I uh personally don’t agree with them and uh dunno

121: George Bush:

Don’t have one yet

120: Gay Marriage:

I find it lovely but too sad it’s not legal here so

119: The presidential election:

Quiet stinky as in no good choices

118: Abortion:

See this topic rips itself in two, if it’s intentionally done I personally think it’s the worst thing to do but that someone can do whatever they want, it’s their body after all, though if it happens and it’s not intended just, big sad react

117: MySpace:

I don’t have an opinion on it

116: Reality TV:

I don’t really watch it nor like it

115: Parents:

I would’ve appreciated if my parents showed me more support and love but not that I have anything against our type of relationship at the moment so

114: Back stabbers:

I totally not like them so I choose to cut contact with them 

113: Ebay:

It’s fine till now

112: Facebook:

I’m not a big fan of Facebook

111: Work:

If it’s something I love, it makes me feel good but if it’s not it kind of brings a feeling of uneasy and frustration to me

110: My Neighbors:

They’re chill, the baby and the puppy are my favorites 

109: Gas Prices:

kinda shitty here

108: Designer Clothes:

They can design what they want however they want, this is not really a topic of interest for me

107: College:

I can’t wait to get to it ngl

106: Sports:

Not one of my interests but they do look fun

105: My family:

I tolerate them easily but yeah I love them

104: The future:

Other than that I’m scared as hell regarding the future? nah

103: Hugged someone:

Eh!! Today!!

102: Last time you ate:

7 hours ago??

101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile:

Oh last week I think

100: Cried in front of someone:

U H, yesterday

99: Went to a movie theater:

last thursday

98: Took a vacation:

last Christmas

97: Swam in a pool:

last summer

96: Changed a diaper:

never tbh

95: Got my nails done:

OH, it’s been ages since I’ve done that

94: Went to a wedding:

4 years ago

93: Broke a bone:

never nyehehe B)

92: Got a peircing:

I don’t have any but planning on getting some

91: Broke the law:

never

90: Texted: 

minutes ago

89: Who makes you laugh the most:

tbh, my friends

88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is:

my stuff but mostly my baby plant

87: The last movie I saw:

Captain MArvel

86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most:

finishing high school

85: The thing im not looking forward to:

Missing upcoming opportunities

84: People call me:

Satana(I have the perferct explanation)

83: The most difficult thing to do is:

talk in servers or groups tbh

82: I have gotten a speeding ticket:

Oh I’d feel terrible and embarassed tbh

81: My zodiac sign is:

LEo

80: The first person i talked to today was:

my boyfriend

79: First time you had a crush:

in 5th grade

78: The one person who i can’t hide things from:

My boyfriend.. because he knows when something’s up with me or if something’s not good

77: Last time someone said something you were thinking:

hmmm weeks ago I think

76: Right now I am talking to:

@angelwings-234

75: What are you going to do when you grow up:

be a programmer 

74: I have/will get a job:

I hope to get one as a programmer in the future (though hell If I know what exactly yet)

73: Tomorrow:

I’ll probably hope for school to end faster just so I can nap

72: Today:

I haven’t done much tbh

71: Next Summer:

Will be so busy and I’m so not up to it

70: Next Weekend:

I’ll be going to a cool ass contest

69: I have these pets:

I have a baby plant!!!

68: The worst sound in the world:

static noise

67: The person that makes me cry the most is:

myself?? sounds a bit edgy

66: People that make you happy:

all the close friends in my life and some artists along with stuff I enjoy a lot

65: Last time I cried:

yesterday

64: My friends are:

There are too many to list them but luv them all

63: My computer is:

full of games that I’m probably not going to finish in the following 2 months

62: My School:

kinda sucks when it comes to students

61: My Car:

does not exist yet

60: I lose all respect for people who:

who are rude and big mean bags of shit?? I could detail this but dunno

59: The movie I cried at was:

Interstellar 

58: Your hair color is:

blonde

57: TV shows you watch:

SOA, Gotham when my bf watches it and I don’t really like TV shows though I have some on my waiting list

56: Favorite web site:

https://www.pbinfo.ro/

55: Your dream vacation:

just, somewhere around a forest, it’d be quiet lovely ngl

54: The worst pain I was ever in was:

tooth pain

53: How do you like your steak cooked:

a bit raw tbh

52: My room is:

ass messy as me

51: My favorite celebrity is:

uhhh Corey Taylor

50: Where would you like to be:

Right now?? At my bf, if it wouldn’t bother him..

49: Do you want children:

ABsolutely

48: Ever been in love:

still am ig

47: Who’s your best friend:

I have too many but love them all so much

46: More guy friends or girl friends:

I have more guy friends apparently 

45: One thing that makes you feel great is:

achieving something

44: One person that you wish you could see right now:

All of my best-friends tbh

43: Do you have a 5 year plan:

I do

42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die:

Not yet and I doubt I’d do it

41: Have you pre-named your children:

me and my bf came up with some names but who knows

40: Last person I got mad at:

My bf i think

39: I would like to move to:

another city in my country, a much bigger one

38: I wish I was a professional:

artist

37: Candy:

Haribo

36: Vehicle:

Renault or Dacia

35: President:

don’t really have one

34: State visited:

I haven’t been to any at all

33: Cellphone provider:

Digi

32: Athlete:

I don;t have one yikes

31: Actor:

Hmm Benicio Del Toro

30: Actress:

I like some but I don’t have a favorite one

29: Singer:

Peter Steele, his voice is simply, lovely

28: Band:

Ohhh anon Tool and Cargo atm

27: Clothing store:

I don’t have a fav one

26: Grocery store:

any??

25: TV show:

Sons Of Anarchy

24: Movie:

The Alien trilogy

23: Website:

Twitter I think

22: Animal:

Cat

21: Theme park:

I don’t really have one

20: Holiday:

Christmas

19: Sport to watch:

ski jumping

18: Sport to play:

Volleyball I think

17: Magazine:

Don’t have one

16: Book:

The Shinning

15: Day of the week:

Saturdays

14: Beach:

Don’t really like beaches

13: Concert attended:

Truda’s concert for moment but I suppose Disturbing’s going ro replace it or maybe Cannibal Corpse, who knows

12: Thing to cook:

Pudding

11: Food:

Noodles or cremeschnitte

10: Restaurant:

One called Anna

9: Radio station:

don’t have one

8: Yankee candle scent:

dreamy summer nights

7: Perfume:

men’s one are my favorite, gotta admit it

6: Flower:

ORchids

5: Color:

purple and black

4: Talk show host:

don’t have one

3: Comedian:

A romanian one, can’t remember his name

2: Dog breed:

German Shepherd, American Eskimo, Border Collie, Golden Retriever, Siberian HUsky there are too many I can’t choose only one

1: Did you answer all these truthfully?

yes I did it oh god

[forkanna]

[AO3 LINK] [EF LINK]

"Wow, this place has really gone to the dogs."

Anna and Doc were walking up the steps toward the front doors of Dell Valley High. She really felt silly in the Sears getup Doc had hastily helped her procure: a faded denim miniskirt with fishnet stockings, and the gaudiest top she'd ever seen in real life. A parroting of actual 80s style as interpreted by greedy outlet stores.

For some reason, "Time Warp" started playing in the back of her head.

"Remember, we're not here to sightsee," Doc hissed, trying to stuff more of his hair up into the porkpie hat he thought was 'inconspicuous'. "We have barely over one week in which to figure this out. One week in which to cement the romantic bond between your parents before sending you back home. The lightning will strike the clocktower at precisely 10:04 PM next Saturday, and that is our only window of opportunity to harness its power to-"

"Yeah, yeah," she hissed as they wandered through the halls. It looked so grimy and dingy. After a moment, it dawned on her that it was because of the renovations in 2009; before that, evidently, it had been even worse. Of course it looked bad. "If we don't catch the lightning bolt, I'm stuck here forever, or until you can grab us some plutonium. I got it."

"Good. And I would rather not try for plan B, as I'm fairly certain it would bankrupt me and land me in a federal prison. Now… let me know the moment you see either your mother or your father."

Just then, the bell rang, and Anna backed up to the wall and tried to look busy. It was hard without a mobile phone to check incessantly; she didn't know what to do with her hands. She glanced up out of the corner of her eye until she spotted a familiar face, then groaned.

"There's Dad, alright."

Said "dad" was currently stumbling down the hallway, an armful of books clutched against his chest. Following closely, several boys, all of whom seemed to be… kicking him? As soon as he turned around to have a go at them, it became obvious why: he had a huge 'kick me' sign on his back. Anna couldn't entirely suppress a groan. That actually happened to real people? He had yet to notice her – he was trying to stop the boys, and failing spectacularly. One well-placed kick to his behind had him sprawling across the floor. He stood up as quick as he could, trying to yell at the boys to pick up his books, when a very familiar face stepped into view.

"Mr Weselton?" Anna whispered, more to herself than anyone. "Wow, has he always had that godawful toupee?"

The whole scene was equal parts pathetic and terrifying. No wonder it had taken a car accident for her parents to get together; pity, it seemed, was a fairly strong motivator. Finally – as soon as Mr Weselton had stalked off to harass some other unsuspecting student – she left Doc with a shrug and went over to help him up.

"Kristoff, heeeeey!" she said in a cheery voice, helping to gather his books and papers. She tried not to snort when she saw the words 'Trapper Keeper' on his binder, but then put that out of her mind for the moment.

"O-oh, it's you. What do you want?"

Again, she marveled that he could wind up with any woman, much less Elsa Baines. "What do I- hey, listen, I just wanna follow up on how you're doing. You know, after I saved you from the car?"

No harm in a little guilt. And it did the trick; he dipped his head in shame. "S-sorry about that. What I was doing… I m-mean, you probably want an explan-"

"Birdwatching, right? You had those binoculars." It was the excuse her parents always gave for his behaviour, which she now knew was a total lie. But she did her best to mask her feelings of disgust. "Accidents happen all the time, my friend."

"Right." He smiled very slightly. This was probably the first time any girl had done anything besides curl her lip at him and call him a nerd. "Anyway, I'm doing okay. How about you? I saw you got hit by that car, I w-wanted to help, but… I don't know, that man was so angry…"

"Yeah, no problem, er… dude." He gave a hesitant smile. Maybe this slang thing wasn't as hard as she thought. "Actually, about that. So, the guy who hit me, turns out his daughter goes here. Elsa Baines? And we got chatting, as y'know, us crazy kids do, and she mentioned like… seeing you around the 'hood. I'm just on my way to see her, you should come introduce yourself."

Whoa, reign it in, Anna. But fortunately he hadn't seemed to notice her terrible attempt at adapting and blending in. Instead, the color drained from his face. "You're not gonna tell her about the- the birdwatching, are you? Honest, I just like looking at her – not like that! I didn't- I fell because I didn't expect… to see all that. You know. I swear I've never looked in a window and seen…"

When he literally got too flustered to speak any further, Anna put her hand on his shoulder. "I won't tell if you don't," she said, fixing him with a steady gaze. "But maybe… don't do it again?"

He nodded sharply. "Done. Never happen again."

Well, that wasn't so hard. Anna wasn't sure if it was because Kristoff was trying to be noble or whether he was so wussy that he'd agree to anything; either way, it had the desired effect. Turning on her heel, she began walking down the hallway.

Every parent-teacher interview had begun with a 'sightseeing tour' to her parent's lockers. At the time, Anna had hated it, though now she was grateful because she at least remembered the vague area where her mother's was located. Kristoff was quiet for the most part, but when they neared Elsa and her small group of friends, he suddenly became quite nervous. She felt him tug on her elbow, bringing them both to a stop halfway down the hallway. She hadn't noticed them, and Anna doubted she would if they remained there.

"Is she really… interested in me?" he asked, wide eyes looking at Anna. Not a bad looking guy despite his clothes and haircut. If he had a makeover and a stronger personality, she had no misconceptions that he might be able to get a girl.

She had just started to form an answer, "Of course, you're a catch!" on her lips, when she was interrupted before she could begin. As it turned out, she had been wrong about how inconspicuous they were.

"Tori?!" Elsa cried, eyes lighting up and a wide smile on her face. She took a step forward, seemed to realise how obvious it was, and then took a step backwards to compensate. "Hey, how are you this morning? How's your head?"

A reddish hue had already begun to seep into her skin. It was adorable, and it was plain to see that Elsa was the worst closeted queer person Anna had ever laid eyes on. Her heart fell a little as she imagined what small, insignificant thing she would do that might eventually clue her parents in and begin the homophobic rants that all but beat the rainbows out of her. Stupid 80s and their backwards way of thinking.

"Doing great, great. No pain. Anyway… um, this is Kristoff. The boy I saved?"

"Hey," he said, though that seemed to be all he could get out.

What if she split the difference? Tried to tell a little of the truth without revealing the worst parts. "He was birdwatching, but… I got it out of him that the reason he was by your house is because he keeps trying to work up the courage to… well, y'know."

But Elsa didn't know. Or it seemed like she didn't care, because instead of glancing at him, she walked forward to reach up and gently touch Anna's bruise. "You're sure you're okay, Tori? It's looking a little black and blue now…"

Suppressing a shiver, Anna stepped backward with a shaky laugh. "Y-yeah, fine! So, um… about Kristoff-"

"I was just telling Ariel and Jasmine about you," Elsa went on as if there had been no interruption, barely gesturing to each girl as she introduced them. The ginger with the huge blue eyes kept glancing between her friend and the newcomer, equal parts mistrustful and curious. "How brave you were, and how cool you looked. What was that shirt you were wearing? It had, like, guns and roses on it. Pretty rad."

"O-oh, it's a band." At the last second, she caught herself – how old was GNR? "Up- up and coming. Seriously, they're going to be the next big thing."

This was not going at all how she wanted. The way Elsa was smiling made it apparent that it was going the way she wanted it to, though. Crud. Anna glanced over Elsa's shoulder, looking at her friends. The ginger – Ariel, she thought – was brushing a thin comb through her hair. The other was buffing her fingernails and glancing over at Elsa impatiently.

Come to think of it, Elsa hadn't really mentioned her friends last night, which got Anna curious. Leaning forward, voice lowering to a whisper, she asked, "Do your friends… know?"

Elsa didn't seem to understand at first; when it finally clicked, she looked like she was about to have a heart attack. She finally looked at Kristoff of her own accord, desperate for a distraction; he was looking at his shoes and trying to make himself seem smaller than he was – a feat in itself.

She didn't even need to answer, because that was telling enough. It was probably stupid to remind Elsa of her burgeoning sexuality, because she looked like she wanted to step even closer.

"Of course they know about you." Oh God. "I was telling them how my dad hit you with his car –

how brave it was for you to save your friend Christopher from the car."

"Kristoff," Kristoff interjected, head lifting for a second. Elsa completely ignored him.

"Right, Kristoff," Anna said. Back on task. "He really wanted to get to know you, but wasn't sure how. Because obviously, you look so hella rad." Seeing their blank faces, she went on, "Rad. Just rad. Sorry."

At that point, Elsa finally looked at him for longer than a half-second, but unfortunately he had chosen that moment to glance over his shoulder at a noise that had come from down that hallway. Like a scared little mouse. 'Great going, Dad,' she thought with a wince.

"Well, it's good to meet him. And to see you, Victoria. I really… I want us to hang out more."

"Great! Then we'll hang out more! Right, Ariel, Jasmine? Kris?"

The girls nodded immediately, but she had to nudge her father before he started and yelped, "SURE! S-sure, yeah, it sounds great. I'd love to, um, out-hang."

Just at that moment, the bell rang. Elsa's friends gave her a nudge, but moved past her. Kristoff was already at the other end of the hallway before it had even finished ringing. This was going to be harder than she thought.

Turning away, she was only a little surprised to see Elsa still standing there. She hadn't noticed at first, but Elsa probably looked even better than yesterday. So much denim – but she wore it well.

"Uh, aren't you gonna be late for class?"

Instead of answering, Elsa bit her lip. Her eyes were wide, and her fingers twitched like she wanted something but was too scared to ask. It only took Anna a moment to figure out what: when she opened her arms a little, uncertain, it took Elsa less than that to throw herself into the hug.

As terrible an idea as it seemed, Anna couldn't bring herself to cut it short. Not when she'd been craving such a thing from her mother for so many years: genuine love and affection. Denying her would only mean denying herself.

"I'm so happy you're here," Elsa breathed. "I was afraid that after last night, you'd… y'know?"

"I would what?" Maybe Anna didn't want to know; the idea hurt. That she would abandon Elsa after finding out that she was queer. But maybe Elsa had been through that once before.

"Never mind," Elsa whispered, pulling back and squeezing her hands. "Um, I'd better get to class; I'd cut, but Weselton always jumps out from behind a rock to catch us. Like our own personal Snidley Whiplash."

Though she had no idea who that was, Anna nodded and patted her upper arm. "Sure, yeah. See you after class?"

"Yeah, of course." Elsa hesitated, then leapt forward to ghost her lips over Anna's cheek. "And thanks, for um… for keeping my little secret."

"Our little secret," Anna corrected automatically, before realising that she maybe shouldn't do that. But it was too late; Elsa was already skipping off to class, jean jacket and braid bouncing in her wake. Anna just stared after her, all the way until she disappeared around the corner.

She also shrieked when Doc came up behind her. She'd completely forgotten that he even existed. He ignored her shriek, naturally.

"Astounding," he was saying. "Your mother didn't even spare him a glance. And that look in her eyes… well, the very fact that no one has figured out her sensibilities is an utter mystery."

"Oh god Doc, what are we gonna do?"

But for that question, neither had a suitable answer. They began making their slow way out of the school, brainstorming aloud to each other.

"What do kids even do in the Eighties? That uh… hoop with the stick? Jumping jacks?"

"Please, Future Girl," Doc said. "Those were out of style before even I was a boy. No, we need something…intimate. A social event with no expectations. One where they can get to know each other and have a good time at a somewhat leisurely pace. Currently your mother has no emotional opinion about your father. That needs to change."

"Well, I did say we should all hang out. Maybe go to the mall? And that way, I can start kind of, um, pushing them together." Never mind that she felt guilty about doing that now. Clearly, Elsa was more interested in women, and even if she were going to go for a guy, Kristoff was a terrible candidate.

"That will work for a start." Sighing, he patted her shoulder. "This situation is an unprecedented conundrum, and I don't envy you. But this is of paramount importance. I want you to stay here and keep an eye on those two, while I go back to the lab and work on the DeLorean's starter. I can't take it to an actual DMC dealership with all those components on it, so I'll be doing the work myself, and I'm a scientist, not a mechanic."

Nodding, she turned back toward the school. "Good luck, Doc. I'm… well, I'll do what I can with what I got, I guess. Just hope this doesn't explode in my face."

                                                 ~ o ~

For the rest of the day, Anna skulked around Dell Valley High, trying to figure out how to do anything to influence the outcome of her parents' relationship. Nothing doing. While in classes, she couldn't even get in there without arousing the suspicion of the teachers, so she was restricted to time between classes, and lunch.

During lunch was when she ran into the biggest, meatiest roadblock of all: Hans.

She was sitting across from Kristoff, picking off his fries and trying to convince him to make the first move in inviting the girls to 'chill out'.

"I dunno. I want to but- well what if they say no?" he asked. "I couldn't take that kind of rejection…"

Anna could understand that – it was why, despite the fact that she knew Jennifer was into her, she hadn't been able to work up the courage to actually ask her out. Still, him mousing around wasn't going to get them anywhere, and she only had a week to keep herself from vanishing.

"Trust me," Anna began. "Once she gets to know you, it'll be true love! But you gotta stop wimping out."

"I know, I know. I just can't help it. Anyway, I'm pretty sure she's interested in someone else."

Anna's blood ran cold. How could he know? Did someone tell him? Clearing her throat, she asked in a very small, obviously fearful voice, "…Who?"

"Hah, who else?" He lifted a hand, still staring at his notebook, and pointed at her – no, wait. Somewhere behind her. "Hans."

When Anna glanced over her shoulder, she saw Hans was indeed chatting up Elsa. Not that Elsa was the least bit interested. She actually looked incredibly annoyed, if her scowl and hunched shoulders meant anything. For now, it was just talking, but she already knew that Hans wasn't above getting a little physical.

"Read some social cues, buddy," she told Kristoff flatly. "She'd rather kick him under a bus than go out with him."

"That's not really my, um, field of expertise," he went on as he bent low over his notebook, scratching out a line and beginning to write something above it.

"God, what are you doing that's so much more important than your dream girl?" Snatching the notebook, she squinted at it…

And her jaw dropped in shock. All she had to do was read the line 'She put down the laser rifle and reached for his fur-clad hand' before she got the picture – which was just as well, because then the notebook was being snatched right back out of her hand.

"HEY! That's n-not something I let just anybody read, you know!"

"Kristoff… wow, you write fanfiction?"

But the term seemed to catch him off guard – which was at least enough to cut through his flash of anger. Pushing his greasy locks out of his eyes, he asked, "Fan… what? Do you mean, um, fantasy fiction? I'm more of a science fiction guy… b-but anyway, sorry, I'm just not ready to let anybody read this stuff."

That was interesting. Mainly because her father had literally never said a single word about writing. All her entire life, he only complained about work, doted on his alcoholic wife, and chatted about TV or movies. Other subjects were much more incidental, and never once included that he had a love of the written word; sure, he read, but he never talked about what he read… and Anna hadn't been interested, anyway.

Maybe the rift between her and her parents wasn't entirely their fault.

"Oh. Well, um… I'm sorry. But hey, maybe you could come back to your furry boy and his laser-chick after we take care of Baines over there, right?"

"I don't know why you care so much," he sighed. But then he frowned over her shoulder. "And anyway, it seems to be going fine between them."

Of course, that was the moment that Elsa's voice rang clear through the cafeteria, "Get lost, Hans!"

He didn't. If anything, he got closer. The whole room had become quiet – not silent, but the noise was low enough that now Anna could actually hear what he was saying.

"Aww, c'mon babe. You don't want the school thinking you're a dyke, do you?"

That got her. Anna could see Elsa crumple. Her heart still swelled with pride when Elsa still stood up for herself, despite how much the words had cut her down.

"I said no, Hans. Now get. Lost."

Clearly, he wasn't taking the hint. "Listen you little–"

Anna moved. Hans was even more of a gross pig here than he was in the future and he was not getting away with it; she would have done the same for any woman, even if they weren't as important to her as her mother was. Jumping up, she stalked over to them. Elsa noticed her first, a smile replacing the frown. "Tori!"

"Alright, Fuckboy McDouche," Anna began. Of course that was when Hans noticed her. Standing to his full height, he made for an impressively intimidating feature.

"What did you call me?"

"You heard me!" Then she noticed everyone surrounding them shared his look of confusion. Oh, right; era-appropriate lingo. "Um jerk-face. Yeah! She said to leave her alone, you jerk!"

Oh crud. He took a step forward, hand curling into a fist in front of her. Then, without any obvious reason why he should, he stopped.

"Excuse me?" Mr Weselton had his arms over his chest, bad toupee still wobbling even though he had come to a stop. "Am I to understand that you have reached a new low, even for you, Tannen? Winding up to punch a girl half your size?"

Hans switched gears immediately, smiling that slippery, conniving smile of his as he patted Anna on the shoulder. "Sorry, Teach. I was merely going to remind this girl that she shouldn't call people names. Part of my civic duty."

"If you've ever actually stayed awake through a civics class, Tannen, I'll eat my boots. Now, release the girl before you wind up in detention."

She almost hoped he would do it. Hoped he would punch her, and then end up in detention – or even better, give her an excuse to punch him back. All those years, listening to him make lewd comments about her mother, watching him push her father around…

"Right, right." He leaned in just a little more, saying through gritted teeth, "Sorry." Then he was turning and striding away, his trio of idiot friends cackling and pounding him on the back.

"Tori…" Even as the crowd was breaking up, as Weselton was stalking after them, all Anna could see was Elsa, rising from the bench and away from her two friends, who were staring at Anna as if she had literally stepped out of a Jet Li movie. Or was it Bruce Lee in the 80s?

"H-hey, don't mention it," Anna muttered as Elsa grasped both of her hands. Then a spark of an idea came to her; embellishing the truth slightly. "Actually, it was Kristoff who noticed first. I'd never have seen it happening if he wasn't so worried about you."

However, on the subject of her father, all Elsa had to say was, "Who?"

THAT didn't bode well.

"Oh, y'know, Kristoff…" Her voice trailed off when she turned back and Kristoff…wasn't there anymore. He had beaten a hasty retreat when he could see a fight was about to break out. And Elsa was distracted, anyway.

"That was really brave of you, Tori. No one's ever stood up to Hans before!"

"Well maybe they should. He's only gonna get worse, right?"

Neither had a chance to say anything more because Elsa's friends swiftly came up to them. One of them offered Anna a smile and gushed, "Dude, that was pretty wicked!" It was small consolation when Anna's plans to get her parents making babies kept failing, but hey – at least she wasn't unpopular in the 80s. That had to stand for something. What was the term? She wasn't a square.

"Thanks, babes," she said, cocking her head and pointing a fingergun at them like an overconfident dudebro. They laughed, which seemed to be a good sign. "We're all hanging out tonight, right? At… Twin Pines Mall?"

"For sure!" Elsa spoke for them. As if they would argue with her, given the interest of the other two girls and their clearly 'beta' mentality. Her mom was the leader of the pack, alright.

"Sweet!" Another weird silence. "Sweet… of you to agree! With me! Right?"

Luckily, one of Elsa's friends jumped in. "We could see that new Death Wish, or the new Freddy sequel?"

"To Live and Die in L.A.!" the other friend whined. They all rolled their eyes; apparently, this had been discussed before and nobody else was interested.

"Yeah, sure! Why not?" Anna knew absolutely nothing about any of those. Why were all the 80s movies so violent-sounding? Shaking that off, she pulled Elsa aside to talk to her alone.

"Hey… listen. I know this might be a little weird…"

"What?"

"Kristoff." When Elsa only frowned, she went on, "He's kinda nervous around you, because he likes you so much. So just… I know it might be a lot to ask-"

"Don't bite his head off?" she guessed with a slight smirk. When Anna shrugged, Elsa nodded. "Okay, okay. I'll try to be nice to the nerd burger, but I can't pretend that you're not a lot more… tubular."

"O-oh." Oh wow. Even Punz had never been so forward – and that wasn't even really all that forward anyway!

But the worst part was, Anna couldn't blame Elsa. Not about the liking her part, shocking as it was, but about the not-liking-Kristoff part. As sad as it was, she was starting to see why her family hadn't felt like one for a long time. Why maybe her mother didn't seem to like her children, let alone herself. The jigsaw pieces were falling into place: Grandma Baines, the accident, the lack of options…

If Anna had grown up in 1980s instead of the 2000s, she'd probably try and 'pray the gay away', too. Settle for the first guy who came along who wasn't Hans. Elsa's only choice had been to conceal her feelings and play the role of the straight woman she most certainly was not. Forever.

"Elsa," Anna said, voice barely a whisper. She noticed Elsa's friends lean in a little closer, so taking a risk, she grabbed Elsa's hand, leading her even further away. This wasn't going to be easy… "Look, you can't say things like that, okay?"

Elsa's whole face fell at that simple sentence. "I don't- what?"

Sighing, Anna gritted her teeth and looked away. This situation was so impossible! Here was Anna, a pretty girl straight out of her queer mother's fantasy. How could she encourage Elsa to be herself while keeping herself out of reach?

Fortunately for her, she was saved from trying to speak when the bell rang – she'd never been so grateful for a lunch break to be over.

"I um, I have phys ed," Elsa offered, when Anna didn't say anything. Her head was bowed, and she tried to push past Anna- but her conscience wouldn't let her allow that.

"Elsa, wait." She did stop, and Anna let out a sigh. "I do care about you. This is just really… sudden. Like I said, I have a girl back home, and… and I don't know. But you're definitely a hella- I mean, a wicked… rad… cool girl. Okay?"

Finally, Elsa looked up. She offered a tight smile, but at least it was a smile. "Don't worry. I'll totally be fine. I'll uh, I'll see you at the mall?" she asked softly.

There was such hope in her voice. And- well, it couldn't make it worse, could it?

"Sure," Anna said with a beaming grin she didn't fully feel. "I'll be there."

Smile relaxing slightly, her future mother touched her wrist in an affectionate gesture, and headed off to the gym. Leaving her future daughter wanting to pull her own hair out.

                                                To Be Continued…

[abyss-mal-blog1]

current mind-space//word vomit

it’s amazing how much can change in a few days, but it hasn’t been a week since my finals ended and i already felt so different. i have been doing f45 everyday this week (if not then some kind of workout, but i’ve really been into that recently). i am feeling so much better now without deadlines, sometimes i don’t know if i function better under pressure or not. i guess not, but then it’s amazing how much i can do and achieve under pressure. i need the right amount of pressure, and this semester it has been a little difficult for me to get around that. 

last friday was kinda my last day of finals, i just had an essay to submit, and i am disappointed in myself and my work ethic because i submitted it at 9pm, went to my cousin’s (disappointing) party, and then professor emailed me to say that she cannot read Pages format (seriously smh @ my tardiness!!!), only got back at 1am that night and sent my mediocre essay. i am a little sad about it because i know that is not my 100%. idk why but college so far has just been a series of 80% effort. this paper was an interesting one, on airbnb, on the sharing economy, it’s a performance studies paper where i analyze the hospitality platform in terms of host-user relationship, parasitism and (attempted) to talk about free online labor. it is a little too late now but i kinda want to work on it again and like, submit for feedback. maybe ill ask taylor. 

last saturday was kinda meh, i agreed to go to a *social* kinda event at a bar/club at chelsea, held for Asian-ivy-alumni-people that yanlin invited me too. it was at up&up and honestly a little...i didn’t enjoy it at all. the music sucked, the people were either too dorky or gross or old or weird, and the whole time i just kept saying to myself, “never again”. they said it was open bar but they only served absolut, which was shit. and then my friend’s two friends were...i feel sorry that this was their first clubbing experience. at the beginning my reaction was look at all these ivy alumni! get hitched with one of them for ~da connectsx~ (and nothing else) but no kidding i was actually interested in talking to them just to get to know what people who graduated from ivies are up to, and what are they doing at such events...and are they actually enjoying themselves because it was really kinda gross. met my friend’s friend who seemed like a really smart engineer (he asked for my number the next day lol), and a german dude at the bar who didn’t want to get me a drink. all i needed that night was a drink.....(i’m glad i didn’t drink tho because recently drinking has made me feel all kinds of bad)  we had ramen after at ramen-ya (most probably the worst ramen and charsiew i’ve had but what can we do at 3am and my friend wanted noodle and soup...)

on sunday i KNow i should have left my house earlier to workout but i didn’t. i was angry at myself that i didn’t. instead, i stayed at home and emotion-ate. i must have eaten more green bean soup than my stomach would have liked. what else...avocado? i remember..two bananas? god. this was the day i felt like i was n’s boyfriend because i had to do what she wanted to do. i know i had agreed on going, but at that point i really wanted to go thrifting or something. i mean when i got to central park it was fine and things were good but the whole day just felt like i was kinda pulled into doing something that wasn’t my first choice of plans, not that i didn’t enjoy myself lying under the sun at the park. it just felt like i was accompanying someone. i was half an hour late to meet her as well, and half heartedly got a burrito-wrap at newsbar. if you think about it it is really kinda funny, we’re just buying food and taking the subway to this grass patch 50 blocks away. we didn’t walk much, we literally only stayed at a little grassy slope overlooking the baseball pitch. anyway we went to a dance class after (the class was an hour long but i felt like n had asked me about when and what time we should book the classes for more than an hour by text so i just got really sick of it) i rushed home and got dinner with my uncle who’s in town for my cousin’s graduation. i was surprised that he chose the same japanese restaurant again, after dissing it half a year ago we ate here. the omakase was crazy and it cost 230 per person. (for the most expensive set) it was also kinda dumb because you aren’t allowed to order a different omakase set from anyone else - everyone on the table has to order the same - because of “timing”. i wonder if this is how it is in japanese omakase etiquette, but in any case it really earned them a hefty amount because my uncle decided to get 230 for all of us. qiyang didn’t like and said qiqi had bad taste, hahaha. the food wasn’t bad, i mean it’s japanese fusion, but the prices were way too steep for the taste. anyway enough about the food, during the dinner i think we talked about many things though. i kinda wanted to talk to my uncle individually because i think he is the only one who knows about ah gong, but he was sick, and i could tell he was exhausted. my aunt got a little impatient because i didn’t arrange plans to take their furniture and they were going to throw all of them away and it was actually the first time i’ve seen her get so worked up - but at the same time trying to control her emotions - because she was talking to me. i could tell she was annoyed though but i tried not to take it personally, and arranged it tomorrow. 

arranging the moving stuff was kinda last minute, i was walking to the library for work one day and i saw a truck that said MakeSpace. i assumed it was a kind of moving company and so i looked them up. they seemed to be pretty okay in terms of their services and so i decided to try them out. confirmation and setting up an appointment went pretty smoothly, except for the part where the guy i think his name was joseph, asked me to give my credit card details over the phone. idk why i did that! i stopped though, and asked him why, to which he replied he wanted to key in with the coupon code. this service has so much gimmicks within the first 2-3 minutes on the phone he was already telling me about how the first pick up is free, and that he will deduct 100$ off the first month...when people give you discounts too easily it just feels like a ploy and a thing they give to everyone, it’s not anything special and it’s probably calculated inside whatever we have to pay. anyway, i was just thinking it would be cheaper (assuming the maximum that i would have to pay is ~$500, as i confirmed with them on the phone yesterday), it’d still be cheaper than starting an apartment lease now and going through the trouble of finding two subletters. 

well. idk, it’s also easy to have things all moved in, i have to find a place to store my perishables!

moving is so much work, and storing things. this reminds me of my paper on airbnb and about the digital nomad lifestyle. it is interesting though, that this is what it has become. but the homogenized aesthetic is something i really cannot stand, in airbnb, in coffeeshops around the world..i am sure you know what i’m talking about. a new york times writer did something about this - he termed it “Airspace” - and apparently it originated from Brooklyn. I guess that’s where the art/avant-garde stuff started. well. keep a look out im gonna write a blogpost about that 

moving on 

nat came to sleepover on sunday night and a few days after because the school kicks you out of the dorms you pay so much for right after your final ends. i forgot if we did something fun but i probably just fell asleep. 

on monday i think i went to f45 and did cardio at Dumbo with Gi. he seems like a pretty nice trainer, the first time i went it was him and another girl Bertha (i think my first f45 was last tuesday) and i felt like i had two personal trainers with me - Gi was cheering me on and Bertha was doing it with me. it felt like such a good workout, one of the best ive had in a while. then work, where i arranged the movers stuff. i also realized i bought the wrong date for my flight ticket as my friends and had to buy one more...............

tuesday was the same f45 in the morning, and the bobst after. didn’t really get much work done at bobst. oh i also viewed a 3BR flex at 160. hella expensive and small, and dates didn’t work out anyway. also the broker who brought us to view the apartment was a very nice tall french man and his name was jean-francois which i couldn’t pronounce and asked nat but still called him jean as in jeen instead of john. this is why i have to learn french. you’re embarrassing. i also went to the itp/ima spring show with shubham which was super cool. there were many cool ideas, and i just wonder if i could create something like that. i didn’t get to see all of the exhibits which i regret, but i remember a few notable projects. one was an installation made with keyboards that randomly clicks, but when you hold your phone up it’ll stop. it’s made using 3d gestures. there’s also one at a gallery for surveillance, this team had a thing they call facebox, and it’s literally a box, that when you open it has a webcam that would capture your face, find you on facebook, and print out an invoice/receipt on how much you have earned for this giant tech company.  what else...an AR project that when you scan a food,  it shows you where the food comes from. nat said that she would love it if menus have something they could scan and then have pictures appear in ~holographic~ format, or maybe in the nearer future something on your phone that shows you a picture of the picture of the food. but isn’t it a surprise tho? sometimes the fun’s in the surprise, you read the description, you know what are the foods you’ll eat, leaving room to imagine or be surprised by how the chef puts it together! anyway, went for dinner with nat and jenny - got vegan shwarma (definitely wasn’t worth $14) and went to get crepes with will after. 

wednesday we were gonna go to the dmv but we weren’t prepared. nat also needed to get her passport and she was lazy. wow the number of times i mentioned her, it feels like she’s my boyfriend at this point. talked to famz, sister, and beatrix. am currently considering if i should even go to beijing or just go straight home. fuck. went to bobst for work but no one was there i was just really sleepy. viewed an apartment at 55 morton (it’s a nice quiet residential street that seems to be tucked away from the loud cars and bars and people) then i went to f45 again-varsity!!! cardio!!!, walked across brooklyn bridge (a little regret although i wanted to walk, but my bag was heavy and there were too many tourists to brisk walk) 

also the reason for this is that after my soba/miso/salad/shrimp dinner last night i was just watching a bunch of netflix shows and it was probably the caffeine from puerto rican roasting company - the barista made me a chai cappuccino with almond milk (3 SHOTS!!!)

me and nat couldn’t sleep, i really think i slept for an hour. i watched so many different shows, yoko and john’s documentary, while we were young, anthony bourdain, i was seriously flipping through all the shows and alternating between amazonprme and youtube and netflix and i even tried watching peaceful cuisine and making the brightness lower and had the sleep mode on and wow i just couldn’t sleep

so yeah the birth of this word vomit 

i am going to create more things

[ahmuteun]

All of them :D

1. You woke up naked next to the last person you texted, what would you say?

Well, that would be my little and I love her but nahh

2. What’s going on between you and the last person you kissed?

That’s a great question, I have no fucking clue lmfao

3. If your boyfriend or girlfriend was into drugs, would you care?

I mean if they had an addiction then yes cause that’s rlly bad

4. Is your last name longer than six letters?

Nope

5. Was your last kiss drunk or sober?

Sober

6. Have you ever wanted to have someone but you messed it up?

No?

7. What does your last received text say?

“Nope, you only told me about the one”

8. How many times have you kissed the last person you kissed?

Wayyyy too many

9. Where was your last kiss at?

………  his bed LOL whoops

10. When is the last time you saw your sister?

August 10th

11. What do you drink in the morning?

Water, maybe tea if I’m feeling it

12. Where did you sleep last night?

Mah bed

13. Do you think relationships are hard?

I am the worst person to ask about this LOL

14. If you could go back and change something in the past 5 months, would you?

I mean maybe some small, stupid, insignificant thing that I did 

15. You’re locked in a room with the last person you kissed, any problem?

Lmfao I mean it would be fine but he’s fuckin stupid and would say/ do a lot of stupid shit 

16. Would you rather it be sunny or rainy?

Sunny

17. Do you know anyone with the same middle name as you?

Nope, I don’t know anyone in the world who has that name lol

18. Are you wearing jeans,sweatpants,or pajama pants?

I’m not wearing any pants cause I’m in bed LOL

19. Do you think you will be in a relationship 3 years from now?

Naaahhhhhhh I doubt it

20. Does anyone like you?

Highly doubtful, no matter what some people say

21. Have you ever kissed someone with a name that starts with an S?

Unfortunately 

22. Is the last person you kissed gay?

Nah, he says he is as a joke but that’s it

23. Is there a person you CANNOT stand?

I mean kind of but I deal with it just cause I have to

24. Have you ever considered getting a tattoo?

Yep LOL

25. In the past week have you cried?

Nah, I haven’t cried in months

26. What breed was the last dog you saw?

Uuuuhhhhhh I can’t remember but he’s smol and white and cute

Unless I saw a rando dog on the street and forgot about it which I think I did 

27. Do you dry off in the shower or out of the shower?

In

28. Have you ever kissed a football player?

Ummmmm I don’t think so??

29. Do you think you’re old?

Nah, I’m still young 

30. Do you like text messaging?

Meh I’m neutral to it

31. What type of day are you having?

Unproductive but not awful cause I got to hang with my best buds

32. Have you ever thought about getting your nose pierced?

Maybe for like one hot second but that’s it

33. Do you prefer warm or cold weather?

If it’s warm and not sweltering hot then tha’ts fine but I like fall/ spring weather

34. Is there a person of the opposite sex who means a lot to you?

Yeah, of course

35. Would you prefer a relationship or a fling?

I don’t know what I want anymore dfsohafohifadsf fuck

36. Are you a simple or complicated person?

I’m generally a simple person 

37. What song are you listening to?

The h3 podcast 

38. When you say you’re sorry do you mean it?

 Yeah, unless it’s very clearly a joke or something but when I apologise I mean it

39. Is there a girl that knows everything or almost everything about you?

Yep and I love them with all my heart 

40. What made you start liking the person you like now?

 We aren’t talking about this garbage rn lmfao

41. When did you last receive a text message?

 Like 10 seconds ago LOL

42. What is wrong with you right now?

 A lot of things 

43. How well do you know the last female you texted?

 Pretty well, we’re very close 

44. Does anyone disgust you?

 Uhhhh idk I don’t think so??

45. Would you date someone right now if they asked?

 Let’s not get into this cause I don’t fuckin know lmfao

46. Are you in a good mood right now?

 Yeah I’m fine 

47. Who was the last person you talked to in person?

 My roommate

48. What color shirt are you wearing?

 Navy

49. Has someone recently told you something you didn’t want to hear?

No I don’t think so,  I mean H told me that she knows something that I should know but it’s not her place to say but I didn’t want to hear it anyways  

50. Anyone you’re giving up on?

 Uuuhhhhh no?? I mean maybe?? I guess it depends on what is meant by “giving up on” 

51. Do you hate the person you fell hardest for?

Nah

52. Have you ever thought about giving up on someone but couldn’t?

 Ummmm, no?? Idk

53. Do you like rain?

Yes and no, like it’s nice cause of the smell and ambiance but my bookbag gets soaked, my shoes and socks get wet, plus it gets cold

54. Do you care if your boyfriend/girlfriend drinks?

 I don’t have one but I drink so no, but like the drugs if it’s an addiction/ problem then yeah I care. I mean as long as they’re safe and not dying then it’s fine

55. Have you ever liked somebody and never told them?

I mean when I was younger, yeah

56. Do you like to cuddle?

 Yeah, cuddles are great

57. Are you shy?

Depends

58. Do you get along with girls?

Yeah but most of my mates are guys

59. Have you dated the person you texted last?

NOPE thank fuck

60. What do you carry with you at all times?

My phone, lipstick or lip balm, my wallet, and my keys

61. If you were paid 1 million dollars to spend the night in a supposed haunted house, would you?

Oh for sure, without a fucking doubt

62. Do you think you can last in a relationship for five months?

I don’t think I’m gonna be in a relationship for a very long time if at all so I don’t fucking know. But if the relationship has run its course before the five month mark then it’s time to call it quits

63. Think back to October, were you in a relationship?

Nope

64. The person you like kisses you on the forehead, do you find this cute?

 I mean idk if it’s cute, but it’s nice

Actually yeah I take that back, it is cute

65. Did anything “cute” happen in the last week?

I mean I saw some cute dogs, but if u mean like romantically cute then nah

Well my roommate set up a romantic night for her and her bf and that was cute, it was gross but also cute

66. How old are the last three people you kissed?

22, 22, and 21

67. Would you rather pay to get your nails done or do them yourself?    

Neither cause I have better things to do than paint my nails lmao

68. Which do you like better- Zebra print or leopard print?    

Neither lol

69. Do you have any stickers on your car?    

Nope cause I don’t like stickers on my car, magnets sure, but not stickers

70. Would you rather listen to Luke Bryan or Lil Wayne?    

Lil wayne, easy

71. Blackberry, Anroid, or iPhone?    

 ANDROID!!

72. When’s the last time you had pizza from Pizza Hut?    

Saturday lol, my roommate and her bf bought some and let me have some

73. Do you like diet soda?    

 I’m not really a soda person so nah

74. What color are the walls in your room?    

White

75. Are you 16 or older?    

Yep, thank god

76. Do you watch Pretty Little Liars?    

Nah

77. Do you have a job?    

Yep

78. What are your initials?    

CS

79. Did you ever have braces?    

Yep, I hated it but I guess it’s good that I had them

80. Are you from the south?  

With all technicalities, I’m not really sure where I’m from but it definitely isn’t the south lol

81. What does your last status on facebook say?    

Idk I never post to facebook, I think it was one of those friendship memories things

82. Do you still talk to the first person you ever kissed?  

Nope LOL 

83. Are you closer to your mom or your dad?    

My mom, without a doubt

84. Have you ever done cheerleading or gymnastics?    

I did gymnastics for a hot second when I was little

85. What’s the last movie you saw in theaters?    

Uuuhhhhh ant man and the wasp maybe????

86. Do you smoke?    

Nah

87. Would you rather wear heels or flip flops?    

Depends on the event/ what I’m wearing but heels lol

88. Is your phone touch screen?    

Yep

89. Do you normally wear your hair straight or curly?    

Natural, so wavyish???

90. Have you ever snuck out of your house?    

Nah

91. Would you rather swim in a river, lake, or pool?    

Pool cause no sand LOL

92. Have you ever made out in a car?    

....... yes

93. …Had sex in a car?    

........ let’s not

94. Are you single or in a relationship?    

s i n g l e

95. What were you doing last night at midnight?    

Walking back to my apartment 

96. When’s the last time you saw fireworks?    

Yesterday 

97. Do you like the camera on your phone?    

It’s alright, better than my last phone

98. Have you ever had a friend with benefits?    

LOL o boy, yeah I have  

99. Have you ever passed out from drinking?    

I mean, I’ve fallen asleep cause drinking made me tired but I don’t know if that qualifies as passing out

100. Are you friends with people on facebook that you actually hate?    

I don’t hate anyone so no

101. Have you ever had a pregnancy scare?    

No and let’s hope it stays that way

102. Name your favorite Kesha song:    

Idk man, probably one of her older songs from middle school or something 

103. Do you have any tan lines right now?    

YES 

My mates say that I don’t but I do, it’s slight but it’s there

104. Would you ever wear cowboy boots with shorts?    

I’d rather eat glass than wear cowboy boots 

[thinkingoutlouddblog]

My Fake Boyfriend - part one

Pairing: Harry Styles x reader

Summary: You refuse to go on a date with Harry, but when you tell your ex that you will be attending his engagement party with your new boyfriend by your side, you may just need him.

A/N: send me a message or an ask if you would like a part two to this! If no one wants it then I won’t be prioritising it in my ‘to write’ list.

He was late, you thought as you glanced at the analogue face of your watch.

You immediately cursed yourself for thinking such a thing. For him to be late, there had to be a prearranged meeting where a time was set for him to arrive. Just because he came into your store at 11 o’clock sharp every Saturday morning for the past month didn’t mean he was obligated to come today. Besides, you shouldn’t care. No. You didn’t care.

It was a quiet time of day in the cupcake patisserie. It gave you plenty of time to prepare all of the cupcake orders you had later in the day. You were just pulling a tray of red velvet cupcakes out of the oven for an order to be ready at midday when you heard the familiar twinkle of the door chime. It took all the self-control you had not to whip around and check to see if it was who you thought it was. If it was him, you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

You took your time sliding the tray onto the cooling rack and taking off your oven mitts before turning to greet your customer. You fought the smile that threatened to creep its way onto your face and chiselled your face into a mask of nonchalance as you took him in.

Harry leant his forearms on the counter, a smirk on his face and amusement in his eyes. While dressed in one of his much more casual outfits, you were sure that the brown knit sweater he adorned was worth more than all your clothes combined. A moment of silence passed between the two of you before Harry spoke. “Mornin’ love. Sorry I’m late, I got caught up in a meeting.”

“Late?” you asked, as though you hadn’t thought that. “Who are you again?” you asked, as though everyone in the Western world didn’t know who he was. You knew this boy’s status and you refused to allow him to believe you cared in the slightest. Which you didn’t. Your growing attraction to him had nothing to do with that.

“Very funny. Can I have my regular please?”

You rolled your eyes at him but turned to get his salted caramel cupcake, the same one he had been ordering all month. “I don’t understand why you refuse to try any of the other cupcakes. You do know we do 15 other types and they are all mouthwatering, right?”

“Ever heard of the saying ‘don’t fix it if it ain’t broke’?” he raised an eyebrow at you teasingly, causing an unexpected tug at your chest.

He is Harry Styles, you reminded yourself. Just because you have some of his interest now doesn’t mean anything. It won’t be long before he finds someone else to entertain himself with.

You cleared your throat as you handed over the cupcake, a twenty dollar note already sitting next to the till. You kept a collected expression despite the heat you felt rush to your cheeks as your fingers brushed against his. You knew he wouldn’t accept it, but you tried to give him the change anyway. The two of you had already had multiple debates on whether he gave such an excessive amount of money out of kindness or snobbishness. Despite the fights you picked, you knew it really was to be kind.

You would never tell him that of course.

With a hard glare and a few stern words from Harry, you were coerced into keeping the money. While you would always try to give it back, you really were grateful for any extra money that came your way. You needed every extra penny that you got to not only to support yourself but to pay for your education. And it sure didn’t come cheap.

As soon as the matter was settled, Harry was shoving the cupcake into his mouth. Your eyes were instantly drawn to the spot of caramel frosting on his perfectly pink lips. There was that tug at your chest again.

After a moment, he chewed and swallowed his first bite. “Oh my god. Not only do you look like an angel, you also make heavenly cupcakes,” he spoke in awe.

“How long have you been thinking of that one?” you snorted. “Terrible lines like that may make other girls weak in the knees because you were in a boy band once upon a time-”

“It was barely over two years ago!”

“-but I will not swoon over your tragic attempts at flirting.”

He shoved the last of the cupcake into his mouth. “For someone who makes something so sweet,” he spoke with his mouth full, “you sure are sour.”

“Why thank you,” you allowed yourself to smile at him for the first time that morning. He shook his head at your antics but returned your smile anyway.

For a few minutes, you worked in silence as Harry licked the frosting off his fingers. That is until he brought up the thing you were hoping to avoid talking about.

“Have you thought any more about my offer?” he asked.

“Harry, my answer is not going to change.”

He had been joking for weeks about taking you on a date, making it easy for you to evade the subject. But when he actually asked to take you out to dinner last Saturday, you were able to avoid the topic no longer.

“You know I don’t hear no from a lot of girls,” he only half-joked.

“Which is why I’m saying it,” you smiled at him mockingly as you continued to frost.

“Aha! So you’re saying no not because you don’t want to go out with me but because you want to try and reduce my ego,” he smiled triumphantly. This boy really would not let this go. If he was anyone else, this probably would have made your skin crawl. You did not like boys who couldn’t take no for an answer. But with Harry, you knew he really meant nothing by it. He respected your decision to say no, he just knew he could tease you for it.

“Please. I’m saying no because I clearly have better taste in men than 80% of the female population.”

Even as you teased him, he refused to break his relaxed demeanour. His smile only grew with each sarcastic comment you threw his way. Your words held no real sting, they only served to increase his amusement.

“Well, if you won’t let me take you out at least let me give you my number.”

His words immediately caused a sigh to slip from your lips. “Harry, I don’t think-”

“I swear I don’t want to give it to you to try and weasel my way into a date with you.” A white lie never hurt anyone. “I just want to hang out sometime. As friends. When you aren’t working. Besides, clearly I need a friend like you to keep me humble.”

You put your piping bag down on the bench and looked up at Harry’s face, smiling at you faux innocently. You contemplated his words for a moment. Though it did go against your better judgement, you really did like Harry. Your logical thinking about his fame was quickly overruled by your desire to spend more time with him.

“Fine,” you sighed overdramatically as though this was a great burden and not something you actually truly wanted. “But no more crappy attempts at flirting. Okay?’

Harry put his hands up as though in surrender. “You have my word.”

You pulled your phone out of your pocket and handed it over to Harry with a slight shake of your head. In the time he took to type his number into your phone, you allowed yourself to properly look at him. It really was a shame that he was who he was. Had he just been an average, witty, gorgeous guy you would have accepted his offer in a heartbeat. It wasn’t every day that guys like that strolled into your store and took an interest in you. But he wasn’t just an average guy. So you couldn’t. And yet you still found yourself with your gaze focused on his lips.

He looked up from your phone and met your gaze, noticing the focus of your stare. A grin spread across his face, knowing he had caught you out. However, he made no comment and handed your phone back to you in silence.

“I’ll see you around, Y/N,” he threw you one more smirk before turning on his heel and walking towards the door.

“But I didn’t give you my number,” you called after him, already cursing yourself for how pathetic you sounded.

“Then don’t forget to use mine,” he called back without turning back to face you.

And with another chime from the door, he was gone.

Five hours later, you were still contemplating what to do with Harry’s number. You had just finished your shift and you were in no hurry to get back to your apartment. Getting back to your apartment meant having to make a start on your study for the day. While you were a hard-working student, you were by no means motivated to do assignments after a long day of work.

You pulled your phone out of your pocket for the tenth time since walking out of the cupcake patisserie. The contact ‘H’ with a heart emoji was already burning a hole in your phone. You couldn’t use it. You should just delete it now. Refuse to allow yourself to be tempted. But you wanted to be tempted. You wanted to lose self-control and call him.

You were so wrapped up in your thoughts looking down at your phone, you didn’t notice the familiar face quickly approaching you as you walked down the street. In fact, you would have walked straight past him if he didn’t call your name.

“Y/N!” Your head snapped up as you immediately recognised the voice.

You stopped in your tracks but the figure continued walking towards you. Your throat tightened as his steps came to a halt in front of you.

“Jack,” you said, the shock of seeing your ex-boyfriend for the first time since your break up six months ago evident in your voice.

It had been a messy breakup. While you were long since over him, the insecurities caused by his words still lingered. You could still hear him, clear as day, telling you he didn’t love you anymore. That you weren’t making him happy anymore.

For months you obsessed over what you could have done to make him feel that way. Were you too clingy? Not loving enough? Was it the way you looked? The way you dressed? Had he grown tired of your sarcastic disposition that he had initially found so endearing?

In the end, you realised it didn’t matter. The two of you weren’t right for each other, it was simple as that.

“Wow, it's um. It’s been a while,” Jack spoke first.

“Yeah. I guess it has.”

Your conversation came to a standstill as quickly as it had started. The two of you smiled at each other politely, discomfort clear in both of your eyes.

“It’s funny that I’ve run into you actually,” he began to attempt to strike up a conversation once again. “I was actually asking Elise this morning about how I would get in contact with you.”

Elise was the mutual friend who had introduced the two of you in your early days at university. The three of you had become a really tightknit group when you and Jack were still just friends. But she was always more his friend than yours so when the two of you broke up it wasn’t just him you lost contact with.

“Why’s that?” You tilted your head in curiosity.

“I don’t know, it’s just- We were such good friends before we were… anything else. I’m sad that we lost that when we broke up. I miss my friend,” he sighed.

Well maybe you should have thought of that before you dumped me and gave me the vaguest explanation known to man, you wanted to say. Instead, you just said nothing and waited for him to continue.

“So I thought I would reach out to you. And I thought, what better way to do that than invite her to my engagement party?”

Engagement?

The two of you had been broken up for six months. How on Earth had he gotten himself a fiancee in that time? You hadn’t even found yourself a boyfriend. All you had to show for a love life was a few shitty blind dates.

“Oh my god.” If you weren’t in shock before, you certainly were now. “You’re engaged!” you attempted to fake excitement for him.

“That’s amazing!” You wrapped your arms around him and pulled him into a hug, hoping this would prove to him that you really were happy for him. Even if you weren’t.

You were quick to pull away, not wanting to linger in the embrace any longer than necessary.

“What about yourself? Is there anyone special I should know about?” He smiled at you the same way he did in your first year of university. But instead of warming your heart, his words brought heat to your cheeks.

Though you had never been embarrassed before now, you couldn’t feel more ashamed of your single status than you did at this moment. You quickly realised you had remained silent too long and began to panic.

“Me? I, um. There might be. I mean it’s nothing too serious. Yet. But, yeah,” you stumbled over your words.

“Well, feel free to bring him. That is if you want to come.”

“Of course! We’ll be there.” Surely he had to see that your enthusiasm was anything but real.

“Great! I’ll get Elise to text you the details. I’d better get going but I guess I’ll see you there,” he smiled. He stood there for a second, clearly unsure as to whether or not he should hug you goodbye.

You made the decision for him and made a step around him. “Yeah, see you there,” you said as you began to walk away.

What had you gotten yourself into now?

“Hello?”

“I have a favour to ask of you.”

“Aha. I knew you would call me. Are you finally coming to your senses and taking me up on my offer?”

“I need you to be my fake boyfriend.”

my masterlist // send me a request!

[crown-and-stallion]

 tagged by @frogyell and @not-your-fancy-butler

1. last drink: water

2. last phone call: my dad

3. last text message: my sister

4. last song you listened to: Vasily from the 2016 BBC War and Peace soundtrack (I know, weird, but I listen to soundtrack music when I do art and I was sculpting)

5. time you cried: hm I was having an argument like a week and a half ago and it got really heated?

6. dated someone twice? no

7. kissed someone and regretted it? nah

8. been cheated on? No actually

9. lost someone special? yes

10. been depressed? Once for like two weeks last december

11. gotten drunk and thrown up? No sounds awful

fave colors

12. Mossy green

13. ultramarine

14. The orange color of molten metal. Does it have a specific name??

in the last year have you…

15. made new friends? yes

16. fallen out of love? Well i havent even been in love this past year, so….

17. laughed until you cried? Oh yes

18. found out someone was talking about you? yeah but I still don’t know all the details.

19. met someone who changed you? Yeah i think so

20. found out who your friends are? Oh hell yes

21. kissed someone on your facebook friends list? no

general

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know irl? Don’t have a facebook

23. do you have any pets? Yes a cat!

24. do you want to change your name? No i really like my name actually.

25. what did you do for your last birthday? I went paddle boarding, ate a lot of seafood and watched game of thrones with my sister and a friend.

26. what time did you wake up today? 6:40

27. what were you doing at midnight last night? sleepin’

28. what is something you cant wait for? Next saturday so i can see the baby goats and watch episode three of Blue Planet II

30. what are you listening to right now? Uh nothing really organized. My taste in music is always all over the place

31. have you ever talked to a person named tom? yes

32. something thats getting on your nerves? My contacts. I got a new prescription this year and they're still annoying.

33. most visited website: probably gmail because i write a lot

34. hair color: Dark blond

35. long or short hair: real long

36. do you have a crush on someone: nah

37. what do you like about yourself: i like to think i’m pretty and I’m decent at art. I’m good at sculpting. I know a lot about animals.

38. want any piercings? I’ve never really felt strongly about piercings. Maybe i’ll get my ears pierced someday?

39. blood type: i honestly have no idea

40. nicknames: i don’t really have any nicknames

41. relationship status: single

42. zodiac: leo

43. pronouns: she/her

44. fave tv shows: B99, Game of Thrones. I  also watch a bunch of miniseries, like War and Peace, Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II and the like.

45. tattoos: None yet, but I think I’d like one or two someday.

46. right or left handed: right

47. ever had surgery: yes

48. piercings: none

49. sport: field hockey, fencing. I do kickboxing from time to time too.

50. vacation: I’d love to visit the hebrides in scotland, but my favorite place i’ve been so far was wither bermuda or corolla in the outer banks.

51. trainers: huh?

52. eating: l just ate a bunch of chocolate truffles that @vernalpool left on my porch

53. drinking: i love hot chocolate

54. im about to watch: hmmmm i have no clue

55. waiting for: august 29th

56. want: a new backpack so i can finally put all my fuckin patches and buttons on something

57. get married: someday

58. career: something with animals or something with movies. Probably something with animals though

59. hugs or kisses: both! both! both!

60. lips or eyes: eyes usually

61. shorter or taller: around my height or short is good

62. older or younger: my age

63. nice arms or stomach: tummy!

64. hookup or relationship: relationship

65. troublemaker or hesitant: depends

have you ever

66. kissed a stranger: nope

67. drank hard liquor: yes

68. lost glasses: no actually

69. turned someone down: no

70. sex on first date: no

71. broken someones heart: I don’t think so?

72. had your heart broken: mm hmm

73. been arrested: no

74. cried when someone died: yeah

75. fallen for a friend: thank god no i have NOT

do you believe in

76. yourself: yes!

77. Miracles: yeah i guess

78. love at first sight: lust, perhaps. Love takes time.

79. santa claus: no

80. kiss on a first date: yeah sure sounds fine

81. angels: still deciding on thay one

82. best friend’s name: sophia

83. eye colour: blue grey

84. fave movie: lord of the rings return of the king

85. fave actor: idk there's a lot of talented people out there

i honestly have no idea who to tag so i’m just not gonna do it

[yuniesan]

Girl Meets Season 5 - Episode 1 – Girl Meets Artemis

Synopsis: What can you expect when you’re finishing high school? For Riley her entire world will turn upside down and picking up the pieces will bring her and her friends closer together.

A/N: Because the first entry in this Season 5 fic just had to be the fluffiest thing in the world! Enjoy!

Episode 1 – Girl Meets Artemis

It had been an eventful first day of school for Riley, well not as crazy as getting Saturday detention like the year before, but still eventful. Except it wasn’t school that was on her mind as she walked home after going to the library to return a book she had borrowed over the summer. What was on her mind was the soft barking sounds of the small puppy in her hands, as it wiggled under her sweater. She hadn’t needed the sweater during the day since it had been a cool 80 degrees outside, because summer never really ends in New York until late October some years. Yet her father had insisted after seeing her shirt that day, short sleeves weren’t a crime to her and it had been a hot day, but the closer she and Lucas got the more paranoid her father became. She wouldn’t be surprised if he made her wear turtlenecks by the end of the week, even though the weather wasn’t going to let up at all.

Cheerleading practice had been short that afternoon, but Lucas had to stay behind for practice leaving her to walk home alone, her sweater tied to her backpack because of her father and the weather making her sweat like crazy. Of course that sweater had come in handy when she had heard the first yipping sound from the puppy. She had only planned on feeding it a bit of her beef jerky, and some water but that’s not how it worked out.

So now her sweater held a small little ball of fur, completely covered in mud, who had been tormented by a couple of middle school students as she was walking home. They had been throwing water balloons at the poor thing before one of the boys had dumped a fist full of mud on the dog. Riley had seen it play out before rushing across the street to save the dog, only to get hit by a water balloon as she rushed off with the dog in her hands. The water on her back had been refreshing, but she didn’t enjoy it at all, she was angry that they had seen fit to torment a small animal.

She wondered how Lucas would have reacted if he had seen what had happened, she knew he loved dogs but he also cared about her and having those boys throw something at her, well she knew that he would have attacked those kids. Texas Lucas was not someone to mess with especially when it came to the girl he loved and small defenseless animals.

As she reached her house she was suddenly reminded of one small problem, and that was the fact that her building didn’t allow animals. She didn’t understand why, especially since most of the other buildings in the area allowed people to have pets but now she held the small bundle and wondered if she would be able to get it pass her parents before they realized what she had with her. Instead of climbing through the front door she went to the ladder and climbed up through the bay window, the puppy nestled in her backpack for the journey, with enough open so that the poor thing could get some air.

Her room lights had been off and she was glad that Maya hadn’t been there waiting for her because Riley wasn’t sure what she would do if Maya had scared her. Once inside she settled the puppy on the corner of her room near her closet and watched the baby as it slept. Riley hadn’t checked to see if it was a boy or girl but it didn’t matter she was in love with the little thing and she wasn’t sure if she would ever want to let it go.

Riley had gone down to the kitchen to get some water and food that she could give the dog and noticed that no one was around, and the lights were off. A note on the door of the fridge told her that her father had to stay behind at school for a meeting and that Auggie had gone with her mother to the café with Ava.

“I could have gone through the front door,” she said to herself.

Instead of dwelling on what could have been, she grabbed everything and went off to her room settling a bowl of water and bite size pieces of turkey next to the makeshift bed. The pup woke up at the smell of food and started chomping down on the food making Riley smile as she watched it take small bites. Once the puppy was done she grabbed the baby, because of course it was her baby now, and took it to the bathroom for a quick bath, using her strawberry shampoo. That’s when she saw that the puppy was completely white, she wasn’t sure on the breed, and she would have to ask Lucas about that but Riley though it was the purest baby she could have ever found, when she was almost done washing the dog she saw that it was a girl which only made her smile even more.

“You’re so cute aren’t you,” Riley cooed at the puppy. “I’m going to call you Artemis, because she was a goddess and so are you, my cute little goddess.”

Riley dried the dog and put some newspaper down in the corner so that if the pup had to go to the bathroom she could do it on the newspaper. Instead Artemis fell asleep on Riley’s sweater and all Riley could do was sit there and watch. After a while she started on her homework until she heard her family coming home. She quickly put her books away and went to meet them so that she wouldn’t be found out.

“Hey Riley guess what?” her brother said rushing towards her. “Ava and I are trying out for the school play this year.”

“We’re going to be married on stage,” Ava said smiling as she twirled her hair around her finger.

“No they’re not,” her mother said as she walked in through the door, Riley rushed over to grab the bags from her mother’s hands.

“What play is it Auggie?” Riley asked curious as to why they were going to let a couple of kids play husband and wife on stage.

“Alice in Wonderland,” Auggie said smiling. “I’m trying out for the Mad Hatter.”

“Ava, who are you trying out for?” Riley said as she walked across the living room.

“I’m going to be Alice and I’m going to marry the Hatter,” Ava said making Riley snort.

“Ava sweetie I told you that’s not how the play goes,” her mother said.

“Fine,” Ava said before walking to the fridge and taking out a fruit and cheese platter and eating the cheese.

Riley could swear that the little girl lived at her house more than she lived in her own, but it didn’t matter as long as her brother was happy. Her mother started on dinner as Riley finished putting away the groceries.

“Riley should we expect Maya or Lucas for dinner today?” her mother asked and at that moment Riley realized that she had never asked. Normally she messaged them the minute she got home but she had forgotten to even go to the café for their traditional study session.

Rushing off Riley went looking for her phone only to open the door to her room to see Maya climbing in through the bay window.

“Riles, why haven’t you answered any of our messages?” Maya said as Farkle followed her into the room Smackle not far behind, followed by Zay and Cassie, and Lucas came in last.

“We’ve been worried sick,” Farkle said as Lucas walked over to where Riley stood.

“Oops,” Riley said shrugging her shoulders. “I sort of forgot.”

“Right, you never forget and we left together,” Cassie said as she sat on Riley’s bed. “By the way, why did we just climb in through the window?”

“I’ve been asking that for years,” Zay said sitting next to Cassie.

Riley couldn’t help but smile every time she saw the pair together, they had grown closer over the summer. Zay helped Cassie babysit her brothers, and they had dinner at each other’s houses twice a week. They had become an adorable couple and she was happy that Zay was happy.

“That doesn’t matter, it’s tradition,” Maya said.

Lucas had stood next to Riley but didn’t do anything because his eyes were trained on the small white ball of fluff on the floor.

“Riley when did you get a dog?” he said which caused everyone to turn to see what he was looking at.

“I kind of… sort of… found him on the way to the café and instead of going to meet you I brought her home with me,” Riley said smiling at everyone.

“Your building doesn’t allow pets,” Farkle said as Riley scooped up Artemis.

“I know but some kids were being mean to her and I couldn’t leave her behind, plus Artemis is mine and I love her.”

“She named it and now it’s going to be bound to her,” Smackle said looking between the dog and Riley.

“This is going to be a problem,” Maya said looking around the room. “Riley, sunshine you can’t keep it.”

“But I want her so much, she’s my baby,” Riley said as Artemis let out a yip. “See she knows it too.”

Riley sat at the bay window next to Maya and played with Artemis’s hair, the group was surprised that Lucas hadn’t said anything but when Riley looked at her boyfriend he was looking at the dog with the sweetest look on his face, so she held out Artemis so he could pet her.

“See Lucas likes her,” she said looking at her friends.

“Lucas falls in love with every animal he sees, the man cannot be trusted,” Zay said so Riley held Artemis out to him. It took him less than ten seconds before his eyes began to glow. “Apparently I can’t be trusted either.”

“An animal cannot have that much power over a person, it’s scientifically impossible,” Smackle said so of course Riley turned the full force of the puppy on her. “Apparently science can be proven wrong… honeybuckets I want one.”

Riley watched as Farkle pulled his girlfriend away from the puppy smiling as she tried to gain control of her senses.

“Riley, it’s time for dinner,” she heard her father say two seconds before the door swung open. “What is that… that thing in your hands?”

“Well…” she said before Auggie and Ava burst into the room and zeroed in on the ball of fur in her hands.

“Oh my god,” her brother squealed before launching himself towards Artemis. “Can we keep it?”

“No, no no no no,” her father said before screaming, “Topanga.”

It took her mother five seconds before she walked in through Riley’s bedroom door and see what was happening. Her mother’s eyes zeroed in on the puppy before she walked over and picked up Artemis out of Riley’s hands. That’s all it took before her mother started cooing at the puppy and petting her hair.

“Topanga,” her father said. “The lease says.”

“No it doesn’t, I didn’t tell you earlier but the owners sold the building, I got the letter this morning, and the new owner doesn’t care about pets,” her mother said as her lawyer mode came out. “I double checked the lease agreement to make sure that they weren’t going to raise the rent above a fair value, but since it was just finalized two weeks ago I was thinking of surprising you all with a puppy… Riley just beat me to it apparently.”

“Where was I when all of this was happening?” her father said looking around the room. “And when did we gain so many kids?”

“The kids have been here for years… well except Cassie but she’s ours now,” her mother said as she made kissy noises at Artemis. “And I tried to tell you about the lease, but Shawn showed up and you rushed over and hugged him even though he lives nearby with Maya and Katy, but somehow it’s useless to try and tell you anything when he’s around.”

“So wait does that mean we can keep Artemis?” Riley said looking at her mother smiling.

“Yes Riley we can, and nice name, it reminds me of when I was your age,” her mother said smiling. “But you can’t take her with you to college, and you have to walk her every day.”

“Can I help too,” Auggie said jumping up and down.

“Yes Auggie you can, this is going to be our family pet, so it’s up to you and your sister to take good care of her,” her mother said.

Riley watched her father looking around the room murmuring something about kids, and his wife and how he has no control over anything. Until he zeroed in on Lucas. “You.”

“Daddy Lucas didn’t even do anything,” Riley said rolling her eyes.

“No everything is because of him, he wants to be a veterinarian so of course there’s a dog in our house, he smiles and you melt, he’s the cause of all of my problems.”

“Oh boy here we go,” Maya said smiling before jumping onto the Bay Window. “Matthews versus Friar, round 105.”

“No daddy,” Riley said before her father launched himself towards Lucas who was already out the window. Her father grabbed Lucas’s shoe and yanked it off, but Riley grabbed the shoe and glared at her father before handing the shoe back to Lucas.

“Thanks Riley,” he said before he quickly kissed her on the lips and ran off.

“Friar,” her father yelled but since Lucas was on the baseball team, and the basketball team, he was already down the ladder before her father could even attempt to climb out the window.

The rest of her friends laughed as they watched but Riley was just tired and she wanted her baby Artemis.

See you tomorrow, Lucas send in a message with a small purple heart at the end.

That night Artemis slept in Riley’s room, and alternated between her and Auggie’s room throughout the week. Riley was happy because they had a puppy, but also because their family had gotten a little bit bigger.