#miami 2024 saturday
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lewis hamilton arrives to the track on sprint day, may 4, 2024 đ· jared c. tilton / getty
#lewis hamilton#f1#formula 1#miami gp 2024#fic ref#fic ref 2024#miami#miami 2024#miami 2024 saturday
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george russell on the grid before the sprint race, miami - may 4, 2024 đ· sam bloxham / getty
#george russell#f1#formula 1#miami gp 2024#fic ref#fic ref 2024#miami#miami 2024#miami 2024 saturday
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via mercedesamgmotorsport's ig story - may 5, 2024
#mick schumacher#f1#formula 1#miami gp 2024#fic ref#fic ref 2024#miami#miami 2024#miami 2024 saturday
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National Learn To Swim Day
Teach your kids to swim, or sign up for lessons yourself. Itâs good  for your health, and may save your life or the life of another from  drowning someday.
Maybe humans canât fly like birds (yet!), but that doesnât mean that  walking is the only we can get aroundâwith just a little patience and a  little work, we can learn to swim like fish, too. Of course, you could  live without ever knowing how to swim, but who would want to?
Swimming offers so many benefits that itâs impossible to say that  your life would be just as good without itâit builds muscle strength and  endurance, improves circulation, helps maintain a healthy weight,  alleviates stress and improves both coordination and flexibility, to  name but a few.
Not to mention that knowing how to swim can easily save your life or allow you a person to save someoneâs life! Learn to Swim Day  was created to encourage people all over the world who donât know how  to swim, regardless of age, to finally acquire this incredibly  beneficial skill or simply improve on their existing skills.
National Learn To Swim Day is observed every year on the third  Saturday of May and is dedicated to educating children and adults about  the importance of learning to swim and general water safety. National  Learn To Swim Day is held before the start of summer, to ensure that  anyone who cannot swim prior to summer is encouraged to learn, making  for a safer summer of water fun.
While swimming is an activity enjoyed by people of all ages  throughout the year, summer is the time when there is the most risk of  drowning, with an increasing number of people taking to lakes, rivers,  and swimming pools to cool off in the heat. Because there are a number  of risks involved in swimming â and accidentally falling into the water  or getting out of your depth â learning to swim from a young age is  vital.
History of Learn to Swim Day
This little holiday was created in 2012 by âSwimwaysâ, now known as  âTeach Me To Swimâ. Its main goal was to provide the opportunity to  raise awareness about the importance of water safety as well as teach  both children and adults how to swim.
At first, it was just a small event, but soon people began to realize  just how important it was to have such a day, especially during the  month when many swimming pools open for the summer all over the U.S.A.
Soon, corporations such as Target and ToysâRâUs joined Swimways in  celebrating this day by offering promotions on swimwear and learn to  swim items, as well as helping to raise awareness about Learn to Swim  Day. Nowadays, it seems that more people take part every year, resulting  in thousands of people finally mastering this extremely useful skill.
Raising awareness about water safety
National Learn To Swim Day is the ideal opportunity to raise  awareness about the crucial importance of being able to swim and being  confident in and around water, particularly for young children. Learning  to swim is an invaluable life skill that could, one day, save a childâs  life, which is why raising awareness about learning to swim is so  vital.
Did you know that drowning is the second leading cause of accidental  death in children from one to 14-years-old? Thatâs why it is so  important that children of all ages learn to swim, hence the need for  National Learn To Swim Day and the importance of raising awareness  around this crucial health and safety topic.
Learning to swim can be a lot of fun, and can be practiced at any  age. There are classes for swimming designed for children as young as a  few weeks old that teach young babies and toddlers how to turn over into  the water onto their backs, should they accidentally fall into water  and are unable to get out, effectively saving their own lives.
As well as basic swimming lessons for children of all ages, there are  also a number of advanced swimming classes that are designed to improve  childrenâs swimming skills and increase their confidence.
There are also swimming classes designed to teach children and  teenagers vital lifeguarding and lifesaving skills, so should they ever  need to help another swimmer who is in trouble in the water, they are  able to do so in a safe and confident way.
How to celebrate Learn to Swim Day
As you may well have guessed, the best way to celebrate Learn to Swim  day would be to learn to swim. It is estimated that about half of all  Americans canât swim, so if you happen to be a part of this group, this  day is the perfect time to change your life for the better!
National Learn To Swim Day is all about encouraging people to learn  how to swim and to ensure that from a young age children are encouraged  to learn how to swim. National Learn To Swim Day also encourages parents  to book swimming lessons for their children, to help boost their water  confidence and ensure that they properly understand water safety and how  dangerous water can be.
Many swimming lesson companies offer deals and discounts as part of  the National Learn To Swim Day celebrations, encouraging parents to  enroll their children in classes that could one day save their lives.
Donât be shy, no matter how old you are, there and millions of other  people your age who canât swim, either. So get a bathing suit you feel  comfortable in, and make your way down to your nearest pool, and take a  few lessons. Learning the basics of swimming is generally considered  quite easy for most people.
If you donât want to take a class from an instructor, you could  always ask a friend or relative who swims well to teach you. However, it  is extremely important to exercise caution at all times, and take your  time practicing in shallow, relatively still water for quite some time  before venturing out into less safe territory.
And even when you do learn to swim well enough to feel comfortable in  the water, you should never take unnecessary risks, like swimming in  areas not monitored by lifeguards, disregarding warning signs, swimming  under the influence of alcohol, or diving without first checking the  water is at least 9-10 feet deep. You could also host a pool party or  make a deal with your children that you will find the time to go  swimming together at least once a week.
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#Albufeira#Spain#Calpe#Peñiscola#Portugal#I really love the first pic#Bellagio - Las Vegas Luxury Resort & Casino#USA#Loews Miami Beach#Panama City Beach#Gulf of Mexico#France#travel#Allure of the Seas#Magens Bay#Caribbean Sea#St. Thomas#Florida#original photography#landscape#seascape#cityscape#vacation#Gardon River#National Learn To Swim Day#18 May 2024#tourist attraction#NationalLearnToSwimDay#third Saturday in May#Atlantic Ocean
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LL Cool J ft. Rick Ross & Fat Joe - Saturday Night Special (Official Music Video)
#n.e.w.s. brand#n.e.w.s.#n.e.w.s#news brand 88#n.e.w.s.brand#steer your destiny#new york#ny#queens#florida#miami#gardens#saturday night special#88#2024#summer#summer '24#ll cool j#rick ross#fat joe#bronx#music#rap#hip hop#east coast#down south#entertainment#Youtube
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đđ„đ„ đđ đđš

Summary: Alana has lived ten different lives since she met the infamous Tribal Chief. And once again, she finds herself entering into another phase of her life where things are ending and she has to make room for whatâs to begin.
Warnings: NSFW // Smut // Profanity // Age gap // Angst // Themes of abortion // Mentions of disease // Adultery
Word count: 12.8k
Inspo: All We Do by Trey Songz
Disclaimer // Part Two // Biggest Fan Masterlist // Roman Reigns Masterlist // Join My Taglist
Saturday, April 27, 2024
âJesus, Anthony,â Demi cackles grabbing ahold of his wrist. âLeave some room for the damn orange juice.â
I shake my head at the champagne flute he has eighty percent full of the expensive house champagne. Saturday brunch at The Terrace and Outdoor Gardensâlocated in a very vibrant Manhattan. Outside feels like when Controlla dropped in 2016. The sun is unforgiving on my caramel skin, despite it only being the end of April. The table cloth is an unrealistic white, matching the aprons of the waiters strutting around, hands high with trays of fresh food. Laughter of the wealthy, glasses clinking, and the background noise of a hot and moving New York fill the atmosphere.Â
He purses his lips shaking her off. âIt's a lituation. My two favorite girls are officially graduating.â He continues to fill my glass and soon after Demiâs. He follows the same pattern, blessing each of our glasses with only a splash of orange juice from the decanter. âAnd honestlyâeven that was too much.â
A lot has changed since the semester started. My life looks completely different. Feels completely different. I am completely different. It's almost unbelievable what time can cycle in and out of your life. I feel like Iâve lived three different lives since this time last year.Â
The donation for my tuition was the seed planted that grew the forest. Now my reality is rooted and tangled in luxury I only used to dream of. The donations and compensation for my time and abruptly being tugged out of my life and into his, come more often than not now.Â
So much so, Demi and I were able to wish the studio apartment a long awaited farewell. Twenty-eight hundred dollar rent wouldâve made me choke on absolutely nothing just a few months ago. Now, it's the minor cost I pay to live comfortably, in our three bedroom condo planted in the heart of Manhattan.Â
The space was a bit much for just two girls, who were barely thereâby virtue of our packed schedules. So we took in a stray, as Demi would call him. Anthonyâor as he referred to himself as, our Fairy Gaymotherâwas the perfect fit to our complicated puzzle. A twenty-four year old alum to Columbia, and the childrenâs hospitalâs youngest surgical technicianâwho prides himself on dating the most giving and generous of foreign men, who only come to the city for business purposes.Â
Only three weeks shy of graduation, we decided to take a much earned breather. Celebrating on the rooftop of this hotel, with an overflow of mimosas, conversation about men and the things we hate about them, consuming food at the highest prices inflation can convey.Â
Dressed in all white, brown skins accentuated by the gold we decorate ourselves with, and champagne glasses held up to heaven.
âIâve watched you two bust your asses for four months now. So, this is well deserved. I am so proud of yâall. Cheers to being young, black and educated.â
âExactly,â Demi agrees.
âRaising the bar,â he continues. âAnd deleting that damn Canvas app⊠until med school.â A sharp clink of our glasses sounds off like a bold period to his cheers speech.Â
Bzzz! Bzzz!
I place the glass down after downing half of it, to replace it with my phone.
Your Tribal Chief wanted me to let you know youâre needed in Miami next weekend. Flight information has been emailed.Â
It's not even an inquiry anymore. They already know Iâll show.Â
Butterflies erupt in my diaphragm nevertheless at the realization that I havenât seen him since the beginning of the month. He was generous enough to provide Demi and I Wrestle-mania tickets. In the wake of our schedules, we were only able to attend night one.Â
Iâm sure he had desired to spend night two surrounded by family anyway. He took the pin and ended a legendary title reign. Heâs been the top guy for so longâIâm sure it took a piece of him regardless of the preparation for the shift behind the scenes.Â
Demi and I watched in horror from the condo. Mouths catching flies, even minutes after the fact. We had just been there. I had just been with him. He gave no signs of anticipated defeat. He wasnât moving like a man ready to step down from greatness. Or maybe he did. Maybe it was in between the lines of him practically demanding I be waiting for him in the trailer immediately after his match. Or the unsolicited aggression as he took me from the back. The unforgiving grip on my neck. The scandalous and countless slaps to my ass, followed by painful grips of flesh. The fine lines that garnished his nose as his upper lip curved into a snarl in between strokes. The sharp bites like a feral python in place of kisses.Â
Okay, thanks.
Call me if you have any questions. Iâd pack very light. Itâs scorching down here.
MiamiâŠa city in such close proximity to his home. His real life. A territory nether of us touch as if it's poison ivyâ opting to pretend it doesnât even exist. But we know. It's all in the way Iâm still only able to get in touch with Paul and not him. All in the days that pass between one getaway to the next. All in the routinely compensation for services. Itâs disguised as a helping hand, but I already know itâs hush money. Insurance. A pretty bow wrapped on a box that guarantees his secret stays exactly that.Â
This isnât the first time heâs flown me out. Our arrangement started as him just dipping into me every time he was on this end of the map. Now, wherever he is, is never too far to get me to.Â
The first time was in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Christmas was approaching. New York was covered and knee deep in snow. He was already in Wisconsin, preparing for Smackdown. Thursday, the night before, I received the regular text from Paul.
Locked away in another five star hotel, I waited all day for him. Watched the show air in real time as The Bloodline faced heat from none other than Mr. Voices In My Head himselfâRandy Orton. The wee hours of the night crept up on me as I laid stretched out on the plush, king-sized hotel bed. The clock read 1:41 a.m. when the subtle buzz of the room key granting access, reached my ears. Like a dog awaiting its ownerâs arrival, I shot up. Daddyâs home.
Lines of defeat and hard work all over his golden face. Rich beard, grayer than I had ever seen before. His bun, loose and not as pristine as usual. He was still the finest man I had ever laid eyes on. Every encounterâevery late night as he shed another layer of Roman off to reveal Joe, it only made my attraction to him spread like wildfire.Â
Still, always reeling myself back to the impenetrable truth, that this was just sex. An exchange. Bearing witness to the lessons of my business classesâ his market has a need and Iâm his supplier. I know my role. And for him I act it out with grace and confidence every time.
He removed his Nike hoodie and emptied everything from his sweatpantsâ pockets on top of the dresser. Again, twisting the black band off and burying it in the drawer with the rest of his guilt.
âI need a massage,â he declared with hands rested on his hips. The expression on his face and his tone suggested it was a question, but I knew better. I sat planted on my knees that sunk into the mattress, longer than I intended because the sincerity sparkling in his eyesâthe neediness shook me.Â
Hastily, I disappeared into the ensuite bathroom as he took my place on the edge of the bed. The complimentary lotion and some type of oil, is what I return with. Heâs shirtless laid out on his stomach. Eyes already shut in comfort.Â
Situating myself on his butt, I squeezed what I thought was a sufficient amount of lotion and scented oil into my palms. Rubbing it into my hands before sliding it evenly across his defined back in erratic patterns. Digging deep and showing supplemental love to every ridge and dip I find. I didnât think my small hands were making an impact until he released a deep breath paired with a moan.
âMmm.â The vibration transmitted from his core, to my hands flattened on his back, landing in my hot center. Iâm sure he could feel her heating upâbut nothing came of it.
That was how the night carried on. Me kneading and caressing his hard back and soft skin, until I heard the soft snores Iâm accustomed to dozing off to after a long night. We didnât do our usual. No sex. No head. No lingerie. No dirty talk. Just a much needed massage to a man who offers his life to his fans and the matâfollowed by sleep.
As expected, when the sun hit my face through the drapes, I found myself alone. No trace of him. Just the lingering and faint smell of his natural scent mixed with whatever he uses for his hair. And the note on the dresser. Same message every time.
Thanks for last night.
Followed by his name and the two Râs.
I learned quickly that this little arrangement between us was exactly as Paul described that first night. He was just in need of company. Comfort on the road. An outlet. Iâm here to help him unwind. Thatâs going to look different some nights. Some nights we fuck. Some nights he just wants to be held in complete and serene silence. Other nights I'm his personal masseuse. I know the declaration I made that night in the Hamptons, but I canât help but always wonder if heâs like this with the others. I deem it exhausting to be spread so thin, wearing different faces for all of us.
I keep those inquiries to myself now, though. The less I know, the better. The thicker the line between us, the better. For me and for him. Heâs living a double life as is. Iâm here to help ease the other one or onesâand pull him away from it all, even if just for a few days. Catching feelings defeats the purpose, not making me useful anymore. And Iâm not in the business of not being useful to him.
Yet and still, it nudges the back of my conscience how the inevitable split will come. I know this wonât last forever. It canât possibly. I do have my own life too. Maybe it didnât seem that way to him because every time he puts a Bat signal out, Iâm here at the ready.Â
I yearn to be someoneâs wife one dayâyearn for love. Motherhood possibly. I canât hang onto whatever this is forever. So yeahâthe thicker the line, the better. That way when we have to break, itâll be easyâŠRight?
âIâm actually a little tired of hearing about you and the Italian. All you two do is make love. Call me when yâall get into a scuffle or something.â Demi yawns.
âWell, someone has to share their mancapades. Youâve been single since Obama was in office.âHe flicks a long finger my way. âThis one here has a mystery sponsor she refuses to talk about.â
An unpremeditated grin adorns my me at the mention of him. Sponsor. I think I like that term better than Demiâs Sugar Chief.
âMmph,â She catches my smile. I wish sheâd get out of my head sometimes.
âI mean seriouslyâ what is the big deal with him? Iâm starting to think the man is famousâŠor married.â
Tight-lipped, I shrug, pulling my oversized Chanel shades over my faceâ to avoid lying straight to his. How has he hit in on the nail twice? Demi and I have been working like ants to keep Anthony at bay. Heâs always interrogative of the secret phone calls, random deposits and last minute trips. I can feel his discovery creeping up like a lion on the prowl.
âYou donât worry about my friend and her mystery man. Her services have been keeping us all fed.â She gestures to the contents of the table. I shake my head at her mocking Paul.
âYeah, well whatever the arrangement,â Anthony waves a hand. âNext time you see him, just whisper in his ear about me, would you?ïżœïżœ I raise a brow. âJust tell him you have a roommate thatâs on the hunt for a rich mantoy. And not one I have to hide.â
âMantoy?â Demiâs face scrunches up.
âYeah! I know baby boy has to have a cousin or something.â
âYeah.â Demi chuckles bringing the mimosa to her lips. âIt depends. You like seeing double?â I pinch her under the table, covering my laugh with my other hand.
âOh, no. Maybe he prefers they come solo,â I add. We erupt into a fit of laughter together. coaxing Anthonyâs wrinkly forehead as he looks between us bothâ smiling apprehensively.
âWait,â Demi holds a hand up, lip quivering from all the shenanigans. âTwilight. Were you into the vampire or the werewolf?â
âAlright!â I reach into my purse pressing my lips together, barricading any more giggles. I pull out six crisp hundred dollar bills and slide them to the middle of the table. âOn that note, Iâm gonna go. Itâs been real, gal and gay.â I raise up to kiss them both goodbye.
âYouâre insufferable,â I whisper into Demiâs ear after a kiss to her cheek.
âYou love me,â she replies lowly, flashing her teeth.
âWhisper in his ear!â Anthony reminds me before I reach the elevator that leads to the rest of the hotel.
âBelieve me I will!â
âThank you for your services,â Demi waves the hundred dollar bills in the air.
In the back of the Uber, I decide to check in with Paul.
âLana,â he greets me over the phone. My phone. Thats rightâweâve also wished the payphone a farewell.Â
âPaul,â I greet back with the phone smushing between my ear and shoulder to shuffle through my purse. âIâm just calling to make sure it's only for the weekend?â
âYes, the weekend is all he said.â
âGood.â Still with a million and one things in queue before graduation, I canât afford to go M.I.A for a whole week.
âAnd youâll be taking the jet again.â
âLovely. Nice doing business with you.â
âPleasure as always.â Ready to take the phone away from my ear to hang up, I hear my name again. âOhâand Lana?â
âYeah?â
âCongratulations.â For a man that presents himself as an evil, flip-flopping mastermind on screen, behind the scenes he sure is an empathetic softy.Â
âThank you.â
âI know the concept of graduation and the real world is quite scary, but trust me, before you know it youâll be thirty.â I cringe. âMarried, with babies, wishing you had these same problems instead.â
BabiesâŠbabies.
The energy in my walk-in closet was charged with nothing but irritation and the doom of dare I say itâjudgment. She sat on the white ottoman in the center as I moved aboutâsharply hanging shirts and folding jeans, that on a normal day, wouldâve sat in the hamper for weeks until I found the drive to deal with them. But it's not a normal day. Nothing is ever normal anymore.
It's one of those days thatâll stick with me. One of those days that Iâll think about on a random day when everything is seemingly fine. One of those days that if Iâm lucky, I'll never have ever again.
Sheâs not talking anymore since I revealed my verdict. Demi and silence didnât go together. It was an unlikely pair. One that gave you angstâa tornado in your stomach. Usually a context clue that something was deadly wrong. She didnât need to speak. Four years nowâliving together, learning each otherâloving each other. I already knew. I could already feel it.
The stinging sensation in my eyes expanded the longer she waited to speak. I knew it was coming, but the anticipation was useless. That lump in my throat grew, until swallowing brought physical pain.
ââI canât believe you wouldnât even just tell him.â
âWhat is there to tell? Huh?â My eyes widen at her even as she purposely avoided my heavy stare. âWhat am I supposed to do? Call Paul? And say what exactly?â I ridicule. âIt wonât change anything. What do you think will happen here?â
Iâd rather be anywhere else. Doing anything else. And talking about anything else. But I had been hiding already. I knew this was coming. The appointment was made days ago. And I had the nerve to walk around the condo, not even mentioning it. Leaving out whenever she came in. Eating in my room, instead of hers or the living room. Making it painfully obvious. There was nowhere else to go now.Â
âYou donât think he at least deserves to know?â
âThe appointment is already made. It's done.â
âIâm not saying you shouldnât do it. Thats not for me to say. Itâs your bodyââ
âSo, what are you saying?â
âItâs half apart of himââ
âIt,â I slapped the jeans in my hand against my thighs. âIs not anything. Okay? It is not even conscious. It has no cognitive abilities. It isnât even the size of my fist. It's a fucking tumorâ a parasite if anything.â I donât know what took over me. All of the stares, bullhorns, signs with messages of hate and condemnationâ the campaigns in the wake of all thats been going on with the laws surrounding itâ was all starting to consume me. A problem I never thought Iâd have to bear. But isnât that what we always think? A problem isnât really a problem, until it's our problem.
âAnd it's gonna ruin my life.â My voice cracks. âAnd his.â
I have things I want to doâ accomplishments untouched collecting dust on the shelf, that Iâd like to see through. This would put the ugliest blockade on that. Iâm an absolute mess. Nothing that permanent would even fit into my life.
âItâll change everything. This thing we have goingâit's gonna be over and done with. I know it.â
âThats what youâre scared of?â
The words get stuck in my throatâchoking me. It's not about this new life and I really wish it had been. Itâd be so much easier for me to just say I donât want the perks to stop. But it's not about that. I hate that it isnât. I hate that every time I wait in the five star hotel room, or his condo in Miamiâthat Iâve already forgotten about the lingerie, shoes, or bag heâs left on the bedâand my heart picks up speed when I see him walk through that door.Â
âI don't know.â I lie through my teeth.
âI don't think heâll respond the way you think he would.âÂ
âLet me guess,â I laugh mockingly. âHeâs gonna come with me?â I raise a brow. âCome hold my hand? Tuh!â I shove the stack of jeans into a slot on the wall. It wasnât fucking fitting, so I forced itâ not having the capacity to figure out anything as simple as folding and putting clothes away. My mind too cluttered for simple every day tasks. âI know I donât say whatâs going onâmainly because I canât. But youâre smart. You know exactly whatâs been going on. I show you the lingerieâthe shoesâmy account. You see it all.â
âYouâre a fool if you think it's still just sex, even nowââ
âDemi, I don't need to hear this right now. Donât you have to go to the hospital soon?â
âI told Miss Tonia I canât come in today.â
Of course. Shaking my head, I lose the grip on the jeans in my hands. They slipped as I held the back of my hand to my nose, to ease that tickle. It started as one tear. Then another from my other eye, even heavier than the first, joined the race to my chin. Before I knew it my shoulders were shaking violently, and my vision was blurred.
I felt small arms encompass me from behind. Face pressed against my back as I came undone in the middle of the closet. If anyone was to walk in, theyâd find two young girls, who had seen way too much, way too soon. Everything passing them by, but only one thing remainedâstable and unwavering like a coast redwood tree. Their friendship.
âRight,â I force a laugh. âI have to goâthank you.â Without giving him an opportunity to respond, I press the red button and slam the phone face down on the leather seat. Breathe, Lana.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Brows turning down and nose turning up from the smell of books, books and more booksâI stick a palm to my forehead, while jotting down the same notes repetitively in red pen. They say it helps to remember it this way.Â
The library is ironically empty, considering itâs finalâs week. On the top floor like always, I sit alone at the extensive shiny, dark-wood table. A single antique lamp in the center of it, giving life to this corner of the library.
I take my last final of undergrad tomorrow morning. Marking the official end of my best and worst chapter in life. College.Â
They give all the trainings and seminars before they send you off, but they never really prepare you for the end. All month long, thoughts of what happens next sneak up on me.Â
Where will I go? What will I do? Sure I have a plan, but if thereâs anything Iâve learned about life in twenty-two brisk yearsâit's that plans are just suggestions. Nothing is definite in this life. The curse and the gift.
My pen hits the thick college-ruled notebook, watching my phone buzz. A picture of a baby Lana being held by her five year old, toothless brother overrides my home screen.
âYes?âÂ
âYou knowârobbing banks even if you do it electronicallyâis still illegal.â
âThe word youâre looking for is scamming, dickhead. And what the hell are you talking about?â
âThere she is. Thatâs the Lana, I know. Not the one who buys me thirty-five hundred dollar paintings for my birthday.â
âSo, you did get it?â
âAlana.â
âWhat?â
He chuckles. âGirl, where did you get the money for this?â
âDoes it matter?â
âUhâ yeah, kind of? Especially since me and Chloe been throwing theories back and forth and all we could come up with was scamming or prostitution.â WellâŠheâs not completely out of range.
Something like a laugh escapes my throat. âHow is Chloe?â I haven't seen my brother or his long-term girlfriend since Christmas. He didnât show for the weekend I spent home on New Yearâs and untraditionally of me, I didnât come home for my birthday last month.Â
I miss him in only the way siblings can miss each other. We can spend an hour together, at the mostâlaughing and reminiscing about how we grew up and things we miss about itâbefore we start fussing about nothing and disagreeing about anything. Then, I need distance again and maybe Iâll miss him again in another two to three months.Â
âWe broke up.â
âWhat?!â I shriek and immediately swivel my head to find I am in fact not the only person on this floor. Shit. âWhat?â I press in a fierce whisper.
His boisterous laugh fills my left ear, influencing my shoulders to drop a little. I shake my headâpicking up the red pen I dropped again on the notebook. âIâm just fucking with you. Everythingâs good. Sheâs good.â
âI canât stand you. I donât know how she doesâwillingly.â
âDon't try to switch the subject up. The painting?â
âYou knowâusually when people receive a birthday giftâespecially a really expensive oneâthey say thank you.â
âIâm getting there. Iâm just trying to figure out first, what my little sister has been doing to afford said really expensive gift.â
âDid you like it?â I side step his curiosity the same way I do with my parents. I plumule them with questions of my own. Theyâre still asking with every phone call,âhow are you paying rent in a condo in Manhattan?â They bought the random donor for my bill. Everything else, they were absolutely not going for.
âYouâve never been this consistent with anything in your whole life.â It's not a secret that my brother is a nomad in careers. In high school, he fixated on basketball. In undergrad he wanted to get into tech. And now as an overgrown graduate, his new thing? Art. âWhoâs paying you?â I probe.
âI don't know what you talking aboutâŠâ I wait. âIt's mommy. She said sheâd pay my rent for the month if I got it out of you.â There we go. âShe told me about you moving out the condo and going to Miami for your birthday. I didnât believe her. Then I got the painting last week.â I exhale deeply. âSheâs really worried, Lana.â
âMommy starts her day worrying about something. How is me having money and living comfortably, cause for worry?â
âBecause just last year you were asking to hold two hundred dollars and sharing a studio. Come on now. And when we askâyou do this. Deflect.â
âMake something up. I donât know. Believe meâit's nothing to worry about.â
âI hope youâre leading with your head and not your heart.â
My face balls up. âYou sound like your father.â
âThatâs not goodâŠâ Heâs quiet for a beat. Probably thinking of another angle. He can poke and prod like the detectives Benson and Stabler. Iâm solid. He releases a breath through the phone. âLooks like Iâll be paying my own rent.â
âDamn.â It wasnât just about the NDA. It was the weight of the judgment I anticipate. Hell, I look at myself sideways some nights thinking about this life Iâve created thatâs sewn in lies and adultery.
âI saw your mans lost his title a while back. Shit crazy.â
I freeze upâpen stopping mid stroke at the mention of him. How does he find his way in every part of my life? âCrazy,â I agree with no inflation in my voice.
âYou still watch wrestling?â
âNot really,â I lie. âHaven't really had that much time to, anyway.â
âThat last lap is a bitch, ain't it?â
âShitting me?â He chuckles.
âDonât be expecting a thirty-five hundred dollar graduation gift. Itâll be more like thirty-five dollars. Seeing as I have to pay my own rent and stuff.â
âStill waiting on my thank you.â
âThank you, Lana. I really do appreciate it.â
âThere you go. Did that kill you?â
âWhereâd you get it?â
âI went to this art show in Brooklyn. I saw it and it immediately felt like you.â
âSo, this new Lana is paid and she has feelings? I donât know who he is, but send olâ boy my love and blessings.âÂ
Thursday, May 2, 2024
âCompletely bald?â
âCompletely bald.â Demi confirms. âWasnât a single hair left on that bitch. I almost asked him did he have business hours. My wax lady donât even get me right like that.â
I shake my head, continuing the assault on my MacBook keyboard, racing to the finish line of this paper before 11:59 strikes. The last lap, I remind myself. Curling further into the corner of the cream-colored couchâtoes sinking into the spongy cushionâI use Demi and Anthonyâs pubic hair exchange as background noise.
Unfortunately, for my best friend, sheâs experiencing another failed attempt of âgetting out there.â Everything was seamless with the younger twenty-one year old quarterback, who plays for St Johnâs an hour away from us. Closing in on two weeks of thoughtful dates and suggestive texts, she finally decided to see what he was talking about in the bedroom. To her dismay, she discovered a whole lot more than a horse. The horse was bald.
Demi and Anthony sit on the carpet below me by the coffee table. Their lax game of Go Fish on complete pause after her revelation to the group.
âWow.â Anthony puts his entire deck face down now, too invested in her dilemma. âNow, as a ponkâI prefer it. I didnât know straight men did that shit too?â
âNeither did I! I mean he pulled it out and wham! Like am I fucking a seven year old?â My unsolicited snort causes her to swivel in my direction. âHe couldâve at least left a little bit. A nice trim. I donât need the whole forest.â
âSo you like a little hair?â Anthony presses with dents in his brows. You wouldâve thought they were sharing how they like their steak to be cooked. âThats interesting. La, what about you?â
Demi leans back on both palms where she sitsâface fixing with amusement. âYeah, La. What about you?â
âThis mystery manâheâs older isnât he?â I nod. Nonverbal. âI feel like older men donât even bother with that type of stuff. They just let it do its thing.â
My Samoan giant definitely trims. My mind is overrun by the soapy smell as he forces me all the way down until my nose is buried in the black hairs. âTrim,â I reveal.Â
He gasps. âReally? Every thing I thought I knew is wrong.âÂ
Capping the last sentence on the screen with a period, I release the deepest sigh. Proofreading. Yeah, right. The graduation application has been accepted already. Clicking submit, I shove the pink device off my lap. âWell, was it big?â I break the silence.
âEh.â She waves a hand. âNow that mouth? Something completely different.â
Anthony swats her leg. âYou naughty girl. I thought yâall didnât do anything.â
âNo.â She beams. âI told you we didnât have sex.â
âDid you return the favor?â I ask.
âI wasnât putting my mouth anywhere near that hairless hotdog.â I feel a buzz underneath my outstretched leg. âBack to abstinence I go.âÂ
Without even knowing the contents of the message, a giddinessâgirl-like and daintyâpossesses me upon seeing the football and black heart emoji combo.Â
iâm outside
Like I saidâmy life looks completely different now.Â
âUh oh.â Anthony retrieves his deck from the carpet. âI know what that means.â
Biting my lip between a smileâ I stand, stepping into my Ugg slippers. âIâll be back.â I regret to inform.
âMmhmm.â Demi grins. âTell him I said hi.â
Down the building elevator and through the lobby, the pit in my stomach grows with every advancement. Exiting my building into the night air of Mayâsounds of sirens and music from cars speeding by are powerful. New York is a different animal when the temperature rises. I spot the matte black Mercedes AMG a few steps up the block. Lights still on with a familiar sultry R&B beat, muffled and pounding from it.Â
I knock on the tinted window, placing my hands in the pockets of my Spider hoodie. Seconds later the door is pushing open to reveal him.
Jaire Alexander. Twenty-seven year old cornerback for the Green Bay Packers. He sinks back into the leather seat, getting comfortable, marinating into all his five foot ten energy. The car smells brand new despite him having it for over a year now. Always carrying the energy of âchill, but still a big deal,â heâs dressed in a black Nike Tech, accompanied by something very sparkly on his wrist. His Creed cologne, overpowering the small space in the best way. A smoke signal to anyone near by, that a manâa well established oneâis in the midst.Â
I turn in my seat as we perform that same dance we do every time we see one another. Smiling like two teenagers who just passed the âdo you like me,â note in class. His dimple is soft, a contradiction to his sharp jawline. He reaches to turn the knob on the radioâlowering the comforting sounds of Dilema by Nelly and Kelly Rowland.
âWhat you smiling at?â My shoulders rise and fall as my cheeks grow tender. His low chuckle fills the car. âStill not a woman of many words?â
âStill trying to figure you out, is all.â
A drunk night in Miami for my twenty-second birthday, had me literally colliding into him. I shut him downâlike I do every man that crosses my path. But Jaire was consistent and charming as fuck. He was hard to sidestep and ignore. His laid back southern charm captivating me from the start.Â
It's unfortunate what lies behind the curtain. My life just doesnât call for whatever this is. It was a classic case of right person, wrong fucking time.
I really wish we had met at a different time. Under different circumstances. Maybe five years from nowâwhen Iâve exhausted all my use to him and heâs retired the ring, ready to live out the rest of his days with his football team of kids and the one that actually makes his heart beat like mine is right now.Â
âI could say the same thing about you.â He looks downâtongue sliding over his perfect top row of teeth. âWouldnât have to wonder no longer if youâd just let me take you out. A real date.â It's my turn to shy away from his intense stare. His pear-colored eyes with specks of brown, enough to make any woman fall to her knees. âDonât you think this car thing is getting a lilâ old?â
This is as far as weâve got. From Miami, to random phone calls and text messages, to unforeseen visits when his schedule permitsâlike right now. The most we do is talk about surface stuff. School. Major news. Our favorite things. How our day is going. Nothing too deep. Thatâs my doing. I donât want the strings to get too tight in the event I have to cut them altogether. The most intimate thing weâve done includes him taking my small hand into his large one as he compares the size.
âSoon,â I promise for the umpteenth time. I canât see a near future where this works with what else I have going on, but the way my soul relaxes when Iâm around him just wonât allow me to cut this off.Â
While in the spirit of disappointmentâI release a deep breath in preparation to keep it going. âIâm gonna be M.I.A again this weekend.â
His head rolls back until it hits the head rest. âYou killing me, Lana.â
âI knowâI know.â I shake my head, fixing my gaze out the windshield, watching a couple hand in hand pass by on the street. âIt's just the weekend.â
âAnd after that?â
My mouth opens and closes, because I have nothing for him. No plans. No good news. Just more words I canât say. More half stories mixed with half truths.
This isnât how any exchange between two potential lovers should start. A foundation built on lies, secrets, and deceit. Noâthats reserved for him. This⊠This is something completely different. Or at least thatâs how it feels. He feels good to me in a way that not just the other one doesnât, but in a way no man ever has. Itâs genuine. Itâs organic. Iâm myself. Heâs hisself. Thereâs no angstâ no looking over my shoulder. No confusion. No grey area with him. You know that feeling when you meet a man and you can just tell from the burn of your cheeks with every laugh, every word in that first exchangeâthat heâll be in your life for a very long time? The heatâthe jump in your heart when he says his name to you for the first time.
âBalls in your courtâŠalways has been.â
Friday, May 3, 2024
The cool water from his condoâs infinity pool is a soothing contrast to Miamiâs humidity. Even now, at eleven at night. Paul was right. If the emerging heat in New York is unforgiving, then the heat ensuing down here is just relentless.Â
The city is lit up below me. Lively and vibrantâleaving me to wonder what could be happening. I down the rest of the costly champagne he had waiting for me, wrapped in a pink bow on the bed. No note and of course he wasnât there with it. Iâm not sure of the occasion, but there never really is one when Iâm greeted with expensive gifts from him. Just candy to keep the baby quiet.
Iâm sure heâs oblivious or rather careless to my recent accomplishments.Â
My insides heat upâface growing hot as I grow restless. Champagne bottle half gone. I push myself over to the opposite side of the pool where heâs seated.Â
I waited all day as usual. Excitement diminishing when he finally entered just to be on a business call. What fucking business is there to discuss at eleven at night?
I missed himâor maybe the dick. Either way Iâm feigning for something thatâs lacking. I rest my chin on my forearmsâholding myself steady on the edge.Â
âThatâs what Iâm saying. If he wants moreâthe numbers have to go up.â He talks with a large hand. Legs spread apart, just begging for me to sit on him. Saying fuck the glassâI bring the bottle to my lips. A battery in my back to execute the plan in my head.
Reaching behind me, untying the knot of the colorful Pucci bikini top, I release the double Dâs that never fail to steal his attention. The material pops as it comes undone, resting in between my now exposed breast. Nipples a shade darker than my skin and hard as rocks due to the cold water and stretching arousal.Â
He didnât even need to do anything. Just thinking of him all dayâthe anticipation built since Paulâs text letting me know I would see him soonâwas enough to turn me on.Â
His bottom lip sinks into his mouth as he squints in my direction. Shuffling in the lounge chair with a strong hand running down his thigh.
âRight,â he agrees with the other party of his phone call with a flat tone. I bite my lip failing to hide my amusement. I push away from the ledge to dive back. The waterâcold and powerful swallowing me until I pop back to the surface. Fingertips wrinkly and chlorine invading my senses. Placing palms on the ledgeâ I push myself up and out. Breast bouncing freely with every step that leaves a trail of water on the stone flooring.Â
He hasnât blinked once. Eyes brightâthe lights from the city and pool reflecting off them. Fixating like a movie projector lens, recording my every move. I pay him and myself a favorâ untwisting the cap off with a loud pop and pouring a double shot of whatever brown liquid was housing the decanter he brought out with him and hadnât even touched. It runs smooth into the glassâmimicking the much broader sound of the poolâs filter.Â
I extend it to him. Tongue sliding over my teeth, watching him watch me. Instead of taking ahold of the glass itself, he wraps a large hand over mineâprompting me to pour the shot into his mouth. He doesnât even react to the alcohol.
In the spirit of temptation, I turn to plant myself on top of his inviting manspread. Shifting to the side so both my legs can drape over his toned thigh. Dripping wet from the swim I tookâheâs not even fazed. He just sinks deeper into the lounge creating more space for me to get comfortable.Â
âMmhm,â he hums in agreement. The strong and persistent voice echoing from the speaker of his phone, a straight cockblock.Â
Sliding a wet hand up his black shirt, I find the soft skin of his abdomen stretched over his rippling muscles. Acrylic black French tips dragging up and across. Then down, brushing over the tent begging for attention despite its ownerâs current distractions.
Rising to my knees, I maneuver one on the other side to straddle him. Making sure all of the heat from me brushes right up against the beast. All the while, leaning over to retrieve another shot from the decanter. This one is for me.Â
It hits me right in my chest and spreadsânot showing any mercy on the furnace that is already growing in pussy. Literally achingâ I shift in his lap, creating much needed friction. Taking his free hand in mine, guiding it to my slim stomach. His fingers spread, damn near covering my entire mid section. Eyes locking on me. I slide it up so heâs covering my entire left titty.Â
This is backfiring. Teasing him only makes me more antsy, feeling like a boiling pot of water with the lid shaking off.
His mouth widensâeyeballing the two thick fingers of his I slide all the way up to my warm mouth to suck.
âSounds goodâŠYupâalright. See you soon, man.â In a rush, his thumb is on the red button and he tosses the phone to the table, not even looking to ensure its landing. Before it even hits the table Iâm on him. Biting, licking, sucking everywhere thatâs available. Heâs no better. Gunning for my neck at the same time I angle to find his.Â
âWe donât know patience tonight?â He smiles through a kiss.Â
âI don't have any left,â I answer in between assaulting his mouth with licks. His smile deepens, advertising a single dimple peaking out from underneath the thick hairs on his cheek. Rough hands grip my face, stilling me. Everything pausing for a moment.
âHey,â he whispers.
âHi.â I greet backâa small giggle ensuing. All confidence burning out under his immediate attention now. But heâs on me and thereâs absolutely nowhere to hide.
Heâs slimmed down a lot these last couple of months. I donât know if it's intentional, but he looks damn good either way. Almost like his younger self when he used to run around with Seth and Dean. The ridges and valleys that map his bodyâfrom his arms, strong back and his coreâmore defined than ever. The grey in his beard a permeant staple now. Damn.
I look down between usâhis stare too intense. Iâll never get used to this. No amount of alcoholâno drug can suppress the young Lana gawking at the one and only, Roman Reigns.Â
My eyes make the trail back up to his. Smiling with his eyes and nothing else. âThere she is,â he whispers.
My heart thumps just a little harder. A little faster. Yielding to the courage of alcoholâslow and deliberateâI lean in again, but not to kiss his lips this time. Once over his forehead. Another over the crinkle in the corner of his left eye. The definition of his cheekbone. Then, finally I arrive at his mouth. He takes the initiative to slither his tongue inside, after a drawn out peck. Our breath picking up again as another power struggle ensues. My hand sneaks behind him to tug at the bun until it comes undone. My wild Samoan.Â
The kiss is sloppy and dizzying much like the alcohol is slowly but surely making me. So much so, I barely register the push of his hips, as he slides his shorts down just enough to release himself. The hand he has digging into my hip, unties one string on my bottoms, freeing me.Â
A sharp gasp pulls from me as I crane my neck up at the feel of himâwide and strong filling every inch of me.
âThis shitâŠâ The wind he releases from his nostrils is heavy against my neck, before he sinks his teeth into my throat.Â
I canât wait to adjust. I need it now. My hips wind up and down chasing that feeling thatâs closer than it usually is. Heat possesses me as I lean a hand back on his leg continuing to grind on him. Massive hands cover the entirety of my breasts, only heightening this euphoria.Â
âSo tight.â He strains with a locking jaw. The depth in his voice another brick stacking itself atop of my nagging climax.
His mouth falls open with shut eyes, relaxing as I do my thing. âOh my godâIâm gonna cum already.â I pant. Thigh muscles aching, breathless and grip on his leg slippingâbut I refuse to slow up. This shit just feels too good.
He grows unbelievably stiffer inside of me. My end so close if I reach out I can touch it. I whimper and nearly throw a fit when he rises all the way up, standing at full height with my legs wrapping around him.
Top row of pearly whites sinking into his plump bottom lip, while he lays me flat on the lounge chair. My frustration is snipped watching him lift his shirt up and off, exposing that masterpiece of a body. The ink on his arm jumping when he grips himself to sink back inside.Â
âUnnhh!â A muffling moan erupts at the feel of him bottoming out, but as quick as heâs in, heâs back out to slide his full length between my lips. I jump at the tingle on my bundle of nerves where his head grazes. âJoe, please,â I beg. Vacant of any shame. One hand tangled in my wet hair, the other cupping my breast. Both our stomachs rising and falling at the thrill weâve orchestrated.
My hole clenches around nothing and itâs enough to make me go mad like a woman possessed. Earning a full view of him and his naked glory will only make me spiral. I squirm against him and the soft cushion under me. Eyes inching down where he continues to rock on me and not inside of me.Â
I quite literally take matters into my own hands, reaching to bury him where I need. My breath coming out shaky. He goes as deep as humanly possibleâheavy hands on the back of my thighs, spreading me apart. My everything on display for him. Lips glistening under the moonlight, pink skin pulling him in, and even pinker nub distended completely.Â
His eyes switch back and forth over my face and my center. âTouch it for me,â he urges not slowing his strokes.Â
His obedient soldier. I reach a hand down, eyes closing, mouth in an âOâ shape. You would think Iâm back at the condo, locked in my room during that small window on Friday afternoons, where Anthony is still at the hospital and Demi is in her last class. It's like heâs not even here. Just a silent passenger in the vehicle as I drive myself to the big bang. That is until the weight of him is crushing me as he accelerates, capturing my mouth in an invasive kiss. The hairs of his full beard scraping my faceâa complete deviation from his delicate lips. I hum at the taste of him. Warm and commanding, just like the liquor he consumed. His tongue is everywhere. My neck, collarbone, shoulder, chest, nipples, the valley between themâuntil he finds his way back into my mouth. Warm, solid and wet.
He pulls back just enough to watch me. Brown pupils dancing over every inch of my face. Studying me. Every hit, loud and forceful. My whole body jerks with every entry up and down the long chair.Â
Eye to eyeâno words exchanging. No need for them. It's all seen and felt where we connect. The âiâve missed you,â being pummeled deep inside me. The âiâve missed you too,â tangled with my fingers in his fluffy mane, pulling his face as close as possible and making sure he stays here.
The orgasm comes like a meteor. Catastrophic. Once you realizing itâs comingâit's too late. It's already here. My own scream is cloudy in my ears as my whole world comes crashing down. His face is buried in my neck. My nails pressing into his scalp. Eyes pooling with tears of passion, pain and pleasure. The twinkling lights from Miami almost look like stars in the sky watching us.Â
If sex was the equivalent to wrestling, heâd hold every title in the WWE universe stacked on his shoulders. He leaves no stone unturned.
The come down is cut short as Iâm flipped on all fours. Full of him again. My back pressing to his front. His strong hand cupping my jaw. The other, squeezing the life out of my left tittyâtrapping me in his web of gentle dominance. He rocks into me. Slender nose pressing flush against the side of my face.
I take a hold of this wrist to get some type of grip on reality. I donât know what to center on. I feel him everywhere he can possibly be.
Wet curls clinging to my neck and faceâI gasp every time his hips snap against me. Huffs and pants in my ear, he breathes out like a dog. His tongue making shapes of every kind wherever it can reach.
In his strong embrace I feel untouchable. Nothing feels better than this.Â
âMine,â a gruff declaration. Ready to default it as a figment of my vibrant imaginationâenhanced by alcoholâ I hear it again with twice the aggression. âMine,â he growls directly in my ear, making it impossible to ignore. His shallow breaths and forceful thrusts picking up in unison. Knocking the very wind from my lungs. I'm helpless to think, respond, or react. Bagging his claim and wrapping it to save for later.
âWhere do you want it?â He begs to question low in my ear still. Iâm helpless. Mouth opening and then closing tight in a twisting pout at him hitting the spot still sensitive from my first release. âHuh?â His choppy strokes snap me to my sense. Please, not in me.
âMy mouth.â Looking up at him with pleading eyes, I urge again. âIn my mouth.â
Face contorting in pain almost, he fits in four good thrusts before pulling out. I scrape my knees rushing to them in front of him. He stands grand and tall like a statue. I take him in my hand to finish what Iâve started. His balls jumping with every jerk of my small fist. Underside of his thick tip pressing against my tongue that I hold out to catch what he offers me when it comes.Â
A much larger hand waves mine off his thickness so he can take over. His other hand gripping the top of my headâfisting a mess of wet curls, forcing my neck to crane harder as an intense wince escapes me. Still, I offer my mouthâwide and waiting at the ready. Eyes bouncing from his intense face to the head of his dick, so hard the tip is turning a pale color.
âGive it to me,â I plead. âPleaseâplease. I want it.â Knowing exactly what sends him over the edge, I request desperately like Iâm a woman in the dessert and he possesses the last ounce of water for miles.
âUghnn! Aw, fuckkk!â It comes out heavy. Spurts of thick white fluid in my mouth. Strays landing on my chin and my chest.Â
âMmm,â I hum in satisfaction listening to his guttural moans. Fixating on his stare locked in on me, as he doesnât let up his strokes until he squeezes the very last bit on my lips.Â
âDamn,â he mumblesâfine lines forming in between his brows. A smug look resides over my face, right before I gather the saltiness from my tongue, allowing it to drip down to my chin. âFilthy.â He shakes his head.Â
The night is long and busy. He makes up for the weeks spent apart, tenfold. Filling me in just one night, with enough to hold me over for another month without him, if I had to. From the lounge chair, to the pool, to the shower, to the bed. We break in the condo and make our mark the same way weâve done a hundred times before.Â
By the time we close our eyes, the Miami skyline was turning blue.
Itâs not long before I hear the shower running. Morningâs burnt orange rays nearly blinding me from the glass balcony door. I groan, burying my head under the stack of fluffy pillows to drift back into slumber.Â
Consciousness didnât see me again until a couple hours past noon. This is how it is when Iâm in his world. I sleep all day and come alive in the night time like a bat out of hell.
My body is aching, sore with all the evidence of merciless sex. Bruising on my hips, my neck and my knees. Tiny scratches in the most hidden places. I observe them all with a sadistic smile in the steam ridden mirror after a much needed shower.Â
He left a key fob on the nightstand. Iâm assuming it grants me access to the condo. Good. Theres no way Iâm staying in here all day again.
The elevator dings as I exit into the lobby on the first floor. Three chandeliers in the center, looking like the price of my tuition. Ceiling high to heaven covered with artwork I didnât even notice yesterday. I find myself staring up in awe and almost bumping into someone coming in my direction before I focus back on the task at hand.
I catch the eye of the young brunette behind the desk thatâs almost as tall as her.
âHello!â She acknowledges me cheerfully. I offer a closed mouth grin.
âHi. Do you a have a phone I could use?â
âEhâsure.â She sits on top of the counter a digital telephone that looks like it's never been touched, fresh out the box, with not a speck of dust on it.
âThanks. I wonât be long, I swear.â She nods and I make my way to the other wall near the steel elevators.
I dial the number I was forced to memorize by heart.Â
âHello?â
âItâs me.â
âOhâbitch don't scare me like that. I thought you were that Iota from sophomore year calling me from another unknown number.â I stifle a chuckle in the eerily quiet foyer, with at best, only four other people.
âWhatâs going on back there?â
âSame shitâdifferent day.â I return the stank face to an older lady eyeing my unkempt, âI just had sex,â hair paired with his t-shirt that only stops right below my butt. One raise of my arm and every one in this lobby would get a free show.Â
âAny calls?â
âMom called twice. I text her and said it's a really busy day at the hospital and Iâll call when I can.â
âGood girl,â I commend. Demi and I have a routine down pack. It's full proof and hasnât failed us yet.
âYour dad called. I sent him a question mark. He said nothingâjust wanted to check in on you. Uhhh⊠Mariah from your business policy class asked if you know anybody that takes good grad pics.â
âSend her the boy who took ours.â
âOn it. And Jaire called last nightâŠâ My eyes flutter closed, running my nails along my forehead. The line is grotesquely silent.Â
âWhat?â
âI didnât say anything.â
âExactly. When do you ever have nothing to say.â
I hear her huff. âWhat are you going to do about him? I donât think itâs right that you got him hanging on like thatââ
âHanging on like what? You think this is on purpose? I already told him he couldnât have came at a worse time.â
âSo, then where do you go from here? Cause every time he pulls up you go outside.â
âI don't know,â I snap in an undertone. We donât speak for a while. I marinate in this dilemma. I like Jaire. I meanâI really like Jaire. Heâs charming, respectful, funny and patient. Thereâs no guess work with himâno mystery. Heâs like a breath of fresh air in the line up of men who want nothing but to waste my youth and take what they can, while they can.Â
âI can tell that you like him, Lana.â
âI canât really do nothing about thatâ can I? What am I supposed to do? Tell him, âyeah I really like you and we can start dating as long as I can still fuck my Sugar Chief on the side and go missing for days at a time?ââ I smile coyly at the front desk lady, praying she didnât catch any of that before turning away from her.
âSomething has to give. You donât want this thing to last forever, do you?â If Iâm lucky, it will. But lucky, I have never been.
âIt canât.âÂ
âYou think Jaire will wait for you?â
âHonestly? No.â Great catches are hard to come by. I know in my heart theres another girl that actually deserves his time on her way to him. And when she crosses his pathâwhat would make him choose me over her? âSay I do cut this off. What does that mean for us? Me and you?â It's no secret that it's not just I who benefits from this arrangement. Demi and I barely lift a finger these days. The strife of living paycheck to paycheck has been wiped away thanks to the head of our table.
âI don't knowâŠIâve been meaning to bring that up. Likeâwhat if he wakes up next week and decides it done and over with? That he wants to be a family man for real? I know weâve been stacking the money we make from work and the hospitalâbut thatâs chump change. Weâd have to downgrade. Like a lot. Are we really ready for that?â
âCan we talk about this when I get back?â The high from the events of last night are slowly being seized by conceptions of the days to come.Â
Too often I find myself wishing I can just stay in his world, and my world be the distant secret. But the thought leaves as quickly as it comes. I shouldnât want that. I shouldnât want this set up. Sneaking in and out of cities, never seeing him in the light of day and fitting in calls from a condominiumâs front desk phone. The whole thing is like period sex. In the dark it feels good. Once you turn the lights on to get a clearer look at the mess youâve madeâmy god.
âOkayâIâll leave it alone. The moment. Weâre still in it. Worry about that shit another time.â
âRight. Well, I guess if you need me you can call this number back. Just ask for me. Iâll give the girl at the desk my name.â
âOkay. See you when you get back. I love you. Be safe.â
âI love you too.â
He returns earlier than he did the night before. So early, I was taking my routinely nap so Iâd have enough energy to tend to him when he comes. Iâm woken up by the softest kisses mixed with the coarseness of his facial hair. On my back en route to my ass. Iâm wiping the drool from my mouth and lifting my hips for him to slide my panties down. The appetizer to yet another long and restless night.Â
Finally, we make it to my favorite part.
âQuizlot and all that other shitâwe didnât have none of that when I was in school.â
âQuizlet,â I correct. Tracing the lines of the intricate artwork on his chest piece where my chin is resting.Â
âYeahâthat. I saw my daughter using that stuff and I couldnât believe it. Iâm likeâ youâre only in high school. Itâs only gonna get harder from here on out.â
âOh my god. What did y'all do if y'all didnât study?â I ride over the mention of his daughter like a bad pothole.
âThat depends. Now, if it was a big lecture hall?â He waves his large hand in the air. âJust send somebody in to take the test for you. I was a football playerâ I could do things like that.â He nods in contempt with a toothy grin, pulling an eye roll from me. Fucking athletes. âOr just go in and say a prayer. Hopefully my coach could work something out. Most of the times I really just had to study. Even for the electives I didnât give a shit about.â
âWow. Youâre like a fossil.â His sour face has my stomach aching with laughter.
âIâm the finest fossil you ever seen, babygirl.â
"I won't argue with you on that.â
âJust stay the course,â he continues with his original point. Taking me by surprise, he brought up graduation. I guess he does pay attention. âStay focused. Work hard. Iâm telling you, itâll pay off. Whatâs next? Medical school?â I hum and nod. âSurvival of the fittest, I hear.â
âThatâs what they say. When I do my residency, thatâs when they say Iâll know for sure if I really wanna be a doctor. Thatâs the real test. No more books. It's time for the real stuff.â
âMm. You can handle all thatâcutting people open and stuff?â
âWell, I wouldnât do that. The surgeon would. But Iâm pretty sure I wonât make it out of med school without cutting some stuff.â
The noise of Miami, cars blasting music as they ride by, horns honkingâfill the room distantly. I collect his chin hair between my index and middle finger, watching him. He really is beautiful from any angle.
He clears his throat. âDid you always want to go into oncology?â
His inquiry catches me off guard. My hand releases him as he angles his head to look down at me.Â
âUmâno actually. I wanted to be a make up artist like my mom. When I was like twelve or something like that.â I shake my head laughing. âShe didnât have the heart to tell me I was shit.â He flashes a smile. That thumb running familiar circles on my bare hip under the covers. âAnd thenââ My voice snags on apprehension. It's been years since Iâve talked about this. It's one of those things you bury inside. A block hidden all the way in the middle of a Jenga tower, that only if youâre skilled and worthy, Iâd let you pull out of me. A story I choose not to tell to anyone who wasnât there to live it with me.
âMy uhâmy dad was diagnosed with brain cancer. I was like fourteen when they sat me and my brother down to tell us. It was only stage two, but at that ageâthat didnât mean very much to me. All I heard was that my dadâs brain was killing him.â Heâs still as a statue. Gaze on me unwavering. âHeâs good now, but we had a rough couple of years before he got to that point. My whole family fell apart. They got divorced. My brother left for school. It justâŠdidnât feel good.â
âBut to answer your questionâI wanted to get into oncology because I thought, yeah my dad made it, but he was lucky. Mightâve lost some other things.â I shrug carelessly even though it haunts me and has shaped eighty five percent of the attitude Iâve morphed towards life. âBut he made it out with his life. Some other people arenât so lucky. SoâI thought I wanted to be one of the ones to change that. And I know Iâm just one person and thereâs been thousands of doctors before me. I probably wonât make much of a difference. I don't know.â I shrug again.
It's too quiet. The weight of his stare is heavy regardless of the fact that I canât see it. Iâm not looking at him so I can't gauge his thoughts. Heâs almost impossible to read anyway. I shouldâve just shut the fuck up. Made up some bullshit story about wanting to save strangers. My roots are way too deep for the shallowness of whatever we are to one another.Â
âThatâs beautiful,â he expresses in an octave as soft as the sheets we lay in. Bringing my heart rate back down to normal with the comfort and reassurance of his words. "So beautiful," he repeats. Pools of brown jumping around my whole face in a matter of seconds. His big thumb running over my cheek. A part of me, tangling in what he means to refer to as beautiful. Me or the confession?
Before I can think too deeply, his lips are on mine. Soft and deliberate. Not like all the other times. No, this kiss is a little different. It might be the shots we took earlier. Or just the fuzziness that comes with staying up at the wee hours back to back like this. I don't know and I donât really care in this moment. All I can seem to care for is the way his tongue glides over mine, igniting tiny fires all over me. The way his rough hand grips my chin to keep me in place. The look in his eyesâa look Iâve never seen before on him as he pulls away. And finally, the way he pulls me closer up under him before we close our eyes and choose our dreams over reality.Â
Sunday, May 5, 2024
âUhnâŠUhnâŠEhâŠUhn.â
Grunts and pants. Thats what pulls me from my slumber. I think I might be dreaming still. But the more cognizant I become, the louder they grow. My eyes shoot open. Big mistake. The shots taken the night before dig their nails into my head as I groggily lift up. âMmm.â I groan in pain.Â
Iâm floored as my attention is drawn to the source of all the ruckus. All manâbig, burly and covered in a sheen of sweatâhe pushes himself up and off the floor repeatedly. The digital clock beside me reads 11:03 A.M.
What the hell is he still doing here?
Mesmerizing. Watching his large frame break a sweat. Veins pumping. The muscles in his back prancing while the cuts in his arms pump to their full capacity. Hair hanging loosely around his broad shoulders. The rhythm of his deep pants waking up other parts of me before my brain can catch up.Â
Iâm stuck in place, refusing to move on the bed even as he rises from the floor to his full height. It's evident that we shock each other.
ââŠGood morning.â He speaks first.Â
His attentive gaze, a reminder that it is in fact morning and we sit in the light of day. I grow self-conscious with every second that passes, realizing what that must look like on me after a full night of drinking and fucking like a wild animal. I run a hand through my curls which are most likely wilder and out of place from air drying. I pull the sheet up tighter avoiding his stare.Â
âMorning.â I clear my throat.
My eyes follow his every movement as he retreats and returns with a water bottle to his mouth. Basketball shorts hanging low around his waist. He moves in my direction and holds the half empty water bottle out for me.
 I look at it then him, and back at it again. âThank you.âÂ
Heâs gone right after passing it to me. The shower runs from the conjoined bathroom. âYou getting in here?âÂ
We donât have sex. He barely touches me. Just washes himself. We do a funny routine of looking and then looking away once we realize the other is looking too. It's a weird kind of intimacy. Void of any sexual guise. Just two peopleâcomfortable enough in each otherâs presence, in each otherâs nakednessâshowering together.
It's about that time. Iâm zipping my carry on after gathering the last of the strays spread across his condo inside. I peak over where heâs sitting in the chaise lounge chair by the balcony door, fiddling with something in his hands. It's too small for me to see.
The room is decorated with silence. Not an awkward one. It's not comforting either. It's that same silence when everyone is packing the last night on vacation. All the memories from the days before spent drinking, partying and relaxing are on replay in your mind. All the things back at home waiting for you, flood your mind shortly after. Every one is sad to leave, but no one really says it because it obvious.
My mind drifts to the last time I saw him before this weekend. Wrestle-mania.Â
I don't know what comes over me. Standing by the bed just a few feet away from himâI blurt out the only words that I can think of.
âYouâre still my championâŠâ
Elbows resting on this knees he averts his gaze my way. Features twisting at first from my sudden outburst, but they soften after a beat.
He holds a big fist out. I donât even fight the lazy smile that tugs at the corners of my mouth. The coolest motherfucker in and outside of the ring.
I take the necessary steps toward him to connect my minute fist to his larger one. He turns his hand so his palm is face up to reveal what I saw him messing with earlier. A dainty silver bracelet, adorned with charms that practically wink at me when the vibrant lights we sit under touch it for just a second.
Raising my browsâhe mirrors my expression, holding his hand out further, initiating me to take it. Surely, not.
The stones dancing on the hanging âAâ charm are cold under my fingertips. Another charmâa graduation capâshines even brighter. Too bright to be anything other than diamonds. âI left your name downstairs.â
âFor what?â I question, still in awe of the fine piece of jewelry as I clasp it on.
âWhenever youâre in the city, youâll have a place to stay.â He explains holding out the key fob I used earlier to return to the room.Â
Twirling the key in between my fingers, I scan my brain for a reason not to accept the grand gesture, but I come up short. âTry not to have too much fun without me.â He adds, smirking.Â
âI can bring people?â
âLong as you follow the NDA, I donât see why not.â
âThank you, Joe.â
Iâve grown immune to receiving hand outs from him. But, this time feels different. The bracelet has meaning. The âAâ charm and graduation capâmaximizing a pivotal time stampâmakes it personal. It's not just a bag he thinks Iâll like. Not just a lingerie set with the intentions of taking it off. Noâthis is different. This is special.Â
Saturday, May 11, 2025
I think about that last day spent with him all week. On the entire jet ride back to New York. The car ride back to my own condo. It's the last thing on my mind before I go to sleep every night. I canât get that look he gave me as we laid in the bed, out of my head. It replays like a broken record.
Yet and still, it's not enough to ease the dilemma that was waiting for me back home.
The car thing is getting old⊠show me whatâs new
Thumbs doing a little dance over the lit screen, I reread the same message for the twentieth time.Â
Iâve decided to give Jaire a chance. After I walk across that stage in a week, Iâd be entering into a whole new chapterâa whole new space. A new Alana. Which means I have to make room for new things to fit. Only thing is, starting a chapter with Jaire and it actually meaning something, would require me to end the one with himâJoe. I must be insane. Just delusional. There is no chapter. There is no anything. Itâs just an excerpt.Â
All we do is fuck, drink and sleep. He upgrades my life whatever way he sees fit. Not out of the kindness of his heart, but to make this arrangement more feasible. He doesnât care about Alana. He doesnât see me. He just sees a girl that looks at him like the star he is, so sheâs willing to go the extra mile to stay in space with him. Well, not anymore.Â
That night I keep replaying is a figment of my wild imagination. Just a blimp in his, thatâs long forgotten. Fleeting. My life canât stop for him. Surely, his doesnât stop for me. Iâm twenty-two. My whole life ahead of me. I should be getting flown out to Miami to see Jaire. Partying the whole weekend, in someoneâs section not even dreaming of touching my own wallet. Throwing back shots and acting bad. Handing out my number like candy on Halloween. Not a care in the world. Doing what twenty-two year olds do. Reaping the benefits of youth while I still can. Not hiding out in hotel rooms, waiting for a man twice my age, grey in the beardâto come fuck me and dip in the morning before I even open my eyes and stretch. But damnâIâm going to wake up in cold sweats after dreaming about running my fingers through that beard while he sleeps. And damnâI am going to severely miss that dick like a man misses his family when he has to serve time.Â
Just as I get a rush of confidence to press send, Demiâs call delays me.Â
âYeah?â I answer.Â
âYou gotta come back to the condo. Now.â My fight or flight immediately kicks in. Demi didnât come into the hospital today because she didnât feel well. God, what the hell is wrong?
ââWhy? Whatâs going on?â I rise up from the nurseâs station briskly, making my way to get my stuff in the locker.
âSomethingâsâŠhere for you.â
âHuh?â I stop jogging.Â
âJust get here. You only have two hours left. Tell Miss Tonia youâll make it up tomorrow.â Click.
Upon arrival to my condominium, Iâm immediately bewildered at the scene unfolding through the window from the backseat of the Uber.
âThank you,â I tell the older man before hopping out, but not before inspecting the matte black Mercedes G Wagon parked right out front. A pink ribbon plants itself on the hood. Someone is definitely loved. Probably the girl that lives across from us. I think her boyfriend is an actor or some shit like that.Â
On the sidewalk, Demi, Anthony and a man Iâve never seen before meet me. âIs something wrong?â
âAre you Alana Floyd?â The man speaks first. I look past him before responding. Demi looks like sheâs seen a ghost and Anthony looks like he might jump out of his own flawless skin.
âI am,â I finally answer.
âDo you mind showing me some ID?â
A chuckle escapes me. A product of discomfort and pure fucking confusion. When I see that heâs still waiting, I fish for my ID in the LV Neverfull hanging on my shoulder. He takes it. I look behind me. Every pedestrian walking by, gawks at the truck just as I did when I pulled up.Â
âHere you go.â My head snaps back. He holds a clip board out. My ID and a pen sit on it. âJust need the signature at the bottom. Proof you received the delivery.â
âDelivery?â One brow shoots up.
âThe truck maâam.â
On cue, Anthony pops like a can of Pillsbury biscuits. âJoe!â He waves a card in the air, beaming down at me. âAha! So thatâs his name!â
Shaking her head, Demi snatches the card, offering it to me. I take it, not missing the smirk that tugs at her full lips.
Happy belated and congratulations. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
            â Your Champion, Joe
The card and everything else in my hand slipsâhitting the pavement silently. The blood in my veins run cold in the heat of May.Â
Someone mustâve hit the trunk button. And out falls the many pink roses that were stuck inside. Theyâre everywhere. Spilling from the truck. Onto the street. The sidewalk. Mimicking on the outside, exactly how whatever chakra is trapped in my heart is now overflowing and spilling out.Â
This. This is special.Â
A/N // in honor of Papa returning to work, i busted my ass tryna get this out lol. i wish i could post the warnings at the end lol theyâre literally spoilers!
- any thoughts about Alana? any changes you noticed in her or her relationships with the other characters?
- any thoughts on the appointment Lana had to make?
- i know i didnât reveal much about Jaireâs character, but that was on purpose. still, any thoughts about him?
- any thoughts on how Lana views whatâs going on between her and Joe? do we think he sees it the same way she describes in her head?
- the graduation/birthday gifts? access to the condo??
- like her brother said, is Lana leading with her heart or her head?
- and just cause iâm nosy⊠trim, hairy or bald? lol
i would really love feedback. as always, if you read it or even just a portion, i am forever grateful and appreciative.
part 4 Desires is already in the works. depending on how y'all react to this, y'all might just hate me for some of the things i'm about to do lol
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Full text of Heather Cox Richardson's latest essay:
February 1, 2025 (Saturday)
Throughout now-president Donald Trumpâs 2024 campaign, it was clear that his support was coming from three very different factions whose only shared ideology was a determination to destroy the federal government. Now we are watching them do it.
The group that serves President Donald Trump is gutting the government both to get revenge against those who tried to hold him accountable before the law and to make sure he and his cronies will never again have to worry about legality.
Last night, officials in the Trump administration purged the Federal Bureau of Investigation of all six of its top executives and, according to NBCâs Ken Dilanian, more than 20 heads of FBI field offices, including those in Washington, D.C., and Miami, where officials pursued cases against now-president Trump. Acting deputy attorney general Emil Bove, who represented Trump in a number of his criminal cases, asked acting FBI director Brian J. Driscoll Jr. for a list of FBI agents who had worked on January 6 cases to âdetermine whether any additional personnel actions are necessary.â
Clarissa-Jan Lim of MSNBC reported that Trump denied knowing about the dismissals but said the firings were âa good thingâ because â[t]hey were very corrupt people, very corrupt, and they hurt our country very badly with the weaponization.â
Officials also fired 25 to 30 federal prosecutors who had worked on cases involving the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and reassigned others. Bove ordered the firings. Career civil servants canât be fired without cause, and these purges come on top of the apparently illegal firing of 18 inspectors general across federal agencies and a purge of the Department of Justice of those who had worked on cases involving Trump.
Phil Williams of NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, Tennessee, reported on Friday that federal prosecutors were withdrawn from a criminal investigation of Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) for election fraud; Ogles recently filed a House resolution to enable Trump to run for a third term and another supporting Trumpâs designs on Greenland. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss an election fraud case against former representative Jeffrey Fortenberry (R-NE). Trump called Fortenberryâs case an illustration of âthe illegal Weaponization of our Justice System by the Radical Left Democrats.â
That impulse to protect Trump showed yesterday in what a local water manager said was an âextremely unprecedentedâ release of water from two dams in California apparently to provide evidence of his social media post that the U.S. military had gone into California and âTURNED ON THE WATER.â In fact, water was released from two reservoirs that hold water to supply farmland in the summer. They are about 500 miles (800 km) from Los Angeles, where the fires were earlier this year, and the water did not go to Southern California. âThis is going to hurt farmers,â a water manager said, âThis takes water out of the summer irrigation portfolio.â But Trump posted that if California officials had listened to him six years ago, there would have been no fires. Shashank Joshi of The Economist called it âreal âmad kingâ stuff.â
Trumpâs loyalists overlap with the MAGA crew that embraces Project 2025, a plan that mirrors the one used by Hungarian prime minister Viktor OrbĂĄn to overthrow democracy in Hungary. Operating from the position that modern democracy destroys a country by treating everyone equally before the law and welcoming immigrants, it calls for discrimination against women and gender, racial, and religious minorities; rejection of immigrants; and the imposition of religious laws to restore a white Christian patriarchy.
Former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson has been a vocal proponent of OrbĂĄnâs ideology, and J.D. Vance this week hired Carlsonâs son, 28-year-old Buckley, as his deputy press secretary. Although Trump claimed during the campaign he didn't know anything about Project 2025, Steve Contorno and Casey Tolan of CNN estimate that more than two thirds of Trumpâs executive orders mirror Project 2025.
You can see the influence of this faction in the indiscriminate immigration sweeps the administration has launched, Trumpâs announcement that he is opening a 30,000-bed migrant detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and officialsâ revocation of protection for more than 600,000 Venezuelans legally in the U.S. and possibly also for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans. You can see it in the administrationâs attempt to end the birthright citizenship written into the U.S. Constitution in 1868.
It shows in the new administration's persecution of transgender Americans, including Trumpâs executive order purging trans service members from the military, another limiting access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and yet another ordering trans federal prisoners to be medically detransitioned and then moved to facilities that correspond to their sex at birth, an outcome that a trans woman suing the administration calls âhumiliating, terrifying, and dangerous.â
The administration has ordered that federal employees must remove all pronouns from their email signatures and, as Jeremy Faust reported in Inside Medicine, that researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must scrub from their work any references to â[g]ender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female.â Faust notes that the requirements are vague and that because âmost manuscripts include demographic information about the populations or patients studied,â the order potentially affects âjust about any major studyâŠincluding studies on Covid-19, cancer, heart disease, or anything else.â
Those embracing this ideology are also isolationist. As soon as he took office, Trump imposed a freeze on foreign aid except for military aid to Israel and Egypt, abruptly cutting off about $60 billion in fundingâless than 1% of the U.S. budgetâto the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides humanitarian assistance to fight starvation and provide basic medical care for the globeâs most vulnerable and desperate populations. The outcry, both from those appalled that the U.S. would renege on its promises to provide food for children in war-torn countries and from those who recognize that the U.S. withdrawal from these popular programs would create a vacuum China is eager to fill, made Trumpâs new secretary of state, Marco Rubio, say that âhumanitarian programsâ would be exempted from the freeze, but that appears either untrue or so complicated to negotiate that programs are shutting down anyway.
Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) appears to be beside himself over this destruction. âLet me explain why the total destruction of USAIDâŠmatters so much,â he posted on social media. âChinaâwhere Musk makes his moneyâwants USAID destroyed. So does Russia. Trump and Musk are doing the bidding of Beijing and Moscow. Why?â âThe U.S. is in full retreat from the world,â he wrote, and there is â[n]o good reason for it. The immediate consequences of this are cataclysmic. Malnourished babies who depend on U.S. aid will die. Anti-terrorism programs will shut down and our most deadly enemies will get stronger. Diseases that threaten the U.S. will go unabated and reach our shores faster. And China will fill the void. As developing countries will now ONLY be able to rely on China for help, they will cut more deals with Beijing to give them control of ports, critical mineral deposits, etc. U.S. power will shrink. U.S. jobs will be lost.â Murphy speculated that âbillionaires like Musk who make $ in Chinaâ or âsomeone buying all that secret Trump meme coinâ would benefit from deliberately sabotaging eighty years of U.S. goodwill on the international stage.
And that brings us to the third faction: that of the tech bros, led by billionaire Elon Musk, who according to year-end Federal Election Commission filings spent more than $290 million supporting Trump and the Republicans in 2024. Musk appears to consider colonizing space imperative for the survival of humanity, and part of that goal requires slashing government regulations, as well as receiving government contracts that help to fund his space program.
Before he took office, Trump named Musk and another billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy, to an extra-governmental group called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but Musk has assumed full control of the group, whose mission is to cut the federal budget by as much as $2 trillion.
Musk is interested in the government for future contracts, although a report from January 30, when Muskâs Tesla company filed its annual financial report, showed that the company, which is valued at more than $1 trillion and which made $2.3 billion in 2024, paid $0 in federal income tax. Today, Muskâs X social media company became a form of state media when the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it would no longer email updates about this weekâs two plane crashesâone in Washington, D.C., and one in Philadelphiaâand that reporters would have to get their information through X.
Muskâs goal might well be the crux of the drastic cuts to federal aid, as well as the attempt last week from the Office of Management and Budget to âpauseâ federal funding and grants to make sure funding reflected Trumpâs goals. After a public outcry over the loss of payments to local law enforcement, Meals on Wheels for shut-ins, supplemental nutrition programs, and so on, the OMB rescinded its first memo, but then White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt immediately contradicted the new memo, saying the cuts were still in effect.
The chaos surrounding the cuts could have been designed to make it difficult for opponents to sue over them. This method of changing government priorities through âimpoundmentâ is illegal. Congressâwhich is the body that represents the American peopleâappropriates the money for programs, and the president takes an oath to execute the laws. After President Richard M. Nixon tried it, Congress passed a 1974 law making impoundment expressly illegal. But the on-again-off-again confusion appeared at first to stand a chance of stopping lawsuits. It didnât work: a federal judge halted the funding freeze, suggesting it was a blatant violation of the Constitution.
But then, yesterday, Elon Musk forced the resignation of David A. Lebryk, the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department. Lebryk had been at Treasury since 1989 and had risen to become the person in charge of the U.S. government payment system that disburses about $6 trillion a year through Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, contracts, grants, salaries for federal government workers, tax refunds, and so on, essentially managing the nationâs checkbook.
According to Jeff Stein, Isaac Arnsdorf, and Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post, Muskâs team wanted access to the payment system. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) demanded answers from Trumpâs new Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, warning that âthese payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy. I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems.â
Now, though, with Muskâs people at the computers that control the nationâs payment system, they can simply stop whatever payments they want to.
Wyden continued by reminding Bessent that the press has reported that Musk has previously been âdenied a high-level clearance to access the governmentâs most sensitive secrets. I am concerned that Muskâs enormous business operation in Chinaâa country whose intelligence agencies have stolen vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans, including U.S. government employee data by hacking U.S. government systemsâendangers U.S. cybersecurity and creates conflicts of interest that make his access to these systems a national security risk.â
This afternoon, Wyden posted that he has been told that Bessent has given the Department of Government Efficiency full access to the system. âSocial Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk's own companies. All of it.â
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo posted: âThis is more or less like taking the gold from Fort Knox and putting it in Elons basement. Anyone who gets a check from soc sec or anything else[,] he can cut it off or see all y[ou]r personal and financial data.â Pundit Stuart Stevens called it âthe most significant data leak in cyber history.â
All three of these factions are focused on destroying the federal government, which, after all, represents the American people through their elected representatives and spends their taxpayer money. Musk, who is an unelected adjunct to Trump, this evening gleefully referred to the civil servants in the government who work for the American people as âthe opposing team.â
But something jumps out from the chaos of the past two weeks. Instructions are vague, circumstances are chaotic, and itâs unclear who is making decisions. That confusion makes it hard to enforce laws or sue, although observers note that whatâs going on is âillegal and a breach of the constitutional order.â
Our federal government rests on the U.S. Constitution. The three different factions of Trump's MAGA Republicans agree that the government must be destroyed, and they are operating outside the constitutional order, not eager to win legal victories so much as determined to slash and burn down the government without them.
Today, senior Washington Post political reporter Aaron Blake noted that while it is traditional for cabinet nominees to pledge that they will refuse to honor illegal presidential orders, at least seven of Trumpâs nominees have sidestepped that question. Attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, director of national intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard, now-confirmed defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, small business administrator nominee Kelly Loeffler, Veterans Affairs secretary nominee Douglas A. Collins, and commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick all avoided the question by saying that Trump would never ask them to do anything illegal. FBI director nominee Kash Patel just said he would âalways obey the law.â
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The One Where We Hit Reset
Welcome to the masterlist for this phase of Amelie and Landoâs story, set in 2024âa year where theyâve finally found their way back to each other. After years of missed chances, misunderstandings, and unresolved feelings, they are now in a serious and committed relationship. This timeline explores their growth, both individually and together, as they navigate the challenges and joys of being in each otherâs lives again.
previous year / next year
Their journey hasnât been easyâfar from itâbut itâs exactly what makes this year so meaningful. Itâs a story of second chances, healing, and the realization that sometimes, the right person comes back at just the right time.
Thank you so much for reading and being a part of this journey! Your support and love for these two means everything to me, and I hope you enjoy watching them figure it all out (with plenty of laughs, love, and maybe a bit of drama along the way). đ
full masterlist // request over here!
electric nights
behind the scenes
northern scapes
caught in the silence
fractures in the glass
across the world, for us
between us
taking the leap
this love
fanboy - Eras Tour Melbourne
just us
the little prince
the sushi test - Bahrain Grand Prix
sneaking glances - Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
caught in th glow - Oscars
tease and temptation
behind the grin - Austalian Grand Prix
reckless realizations
through the storm - Japanese Grand Prix
when the lights fade - Coachella
shifting tides
before the goodbye
burning midnight - Chinese Grand Prix
orange chaos
the alchemy - Miami Grand Prix
golden hour - Met Gala
bed chem
out of the bag - Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
stages of success - Saturday Night Live
virtual connection
drunk words, sober hearts - Monaco Grand Prix
tension on the field
inked in love - Canadian Grand Prix
please please please
surprise in the spotlight - Governor's Ball
between the quite moments
rebuilding bridges
sweet distraction - Spanish Grand Prix
perfectly still
shattered moments - Austrian Grand Prix
balancing act
it's so romantic in paris - British Grand Prix
stage lights & stolen glances - Summertime Ball
echoes of sacrifice - Hungarian Grand Prix
drunk calls
shifting focus - Belgian Grand Prix
homecoming haven
sunsets & sparks
sun, fun and a whole lotta you
mullet madness - Outside Lands Festival
short n' sweet - Short n' Sweet Release Day
even miles apart - Dutch Grand Prix
surprise, baby
fuck papaya rules - Italian Grand Prix
unspoken tension
shattered sparks - Video Music Awards (VMAs)
unspoken words - Azerbaijan Grand Prix
electric feel - Singapore Grand Prix
showtime - Short n' Sweet Opening Night
call it what you want - Amelie's Birthday Special
center stage - Short n' Sweet New York City
quiet chaos
a call to connect
shit show - United States Grand Prix
a night to remeber - Mexico City Grand Prix
you are enough - Sao Paulo Grand Prix
tears of triumph - Grammy nominations
juno - Lando's Birthday Special
everything as it should be - Short n' Sweet Closing Night
under the neon lights - Las Vegas Grand Prix
thankful for you - Thanksgiving Special
quiet respite - Qatar Grand Prix
tangled in love
papaya on top - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
shining bright
feeling snowflakes
a symphony of lights
goodbye for now
just six more days
distant glow
through the screen
homecoming serenity
interrupted magic - Wicked World Premiere
buy me presents - Christmas Special
wake-up call
is it new year yet? - New Year's Special
#f1 fluff#lando norris#lando norris fluff#f1 fanfic#f1 x reader#lando norris fanfic#lando x reader#f1#f1 smau#formula 1#lando fluff#lando x you#f1 fic#formula 1 fanfic#formula one#singer#sabrina carpenter#lando norris x singer!#lando#lando norris x you#lando norris x reader#lando norris x y/n#lando norris x oc#lando x singer!#lando x y/n#f1 imagine#short n sweet#short n sweet tour#sabrinasource#sabrina carpenter edit
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logan sargeant | saturday | miami 2024
#logan sargeant#f1#miami gp 2024#qian jun/getty#*#oh my god#someone stop me#i need my internet access taken away
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Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024 âą 9 p.m. EST: The Phantom of the Opera (David Staller & Elizabeth Walsh, 1991)
It's been a loooong time since I streamed this one. It's the recording of a musical by Lawrence Rosen and Paul Schierhorn, performed for a live audience in Miami Beach. It's one of the few adaptations that gives us the Persian, and I'd classify this Phantom as one of the more extra ones, which is saying a lot.
As always, the stream will be on cy.tube and shy anons are welcome. For more info, please see the Saturday Streams FAQ! Link and password will be posted here at 8:45.
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lewis hamilton on the grid before the sprint race, miami - may 4, 2024
#lewis hamilton#f1#formula 1#miami gp 2024#fic ref#fic ref 2024#miami#miami 2024#miami 2024 saturday
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via f1mia's ig story - may 4, 2024
#george russell#lewis hamilton#f1#formula 1#miami gp 2024#fic ref#fic ref 2024#miami#miami 2024#miami 2024 saturday#with lewis
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mick schumacher during hot laps on sprint day, miami - may 4, 2024 đ· alessio morgese / afp
#mick schumacher#f1#formula 1#miami gp 2024#fic ref#fic ref 2024#miami#miami 2024#miami 2024 saturday
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ONESHOT: MERRILY ALONGâtennis! star x Paige
((Okay Iâve been writing on Wattpad and never thought to put my work on tumblr so here we go! Plz be gentle Iâm still new at this but I love manifesting life with P))
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After the 2024 WTA Finals(which you won) you were excited for a real break. Grant you it's less than a month, and most of that will be spent doing sponsorship work and photo shoots, but you still couldn't wait.
After winning the Finals, you hopped on a plane to Miami still wearing your photo shoot dress from winner's photos. You were so excited to be sleeping on your own bed and to see your family. Life could slow down at least a little before you were back on Tour.
You were given two weeks to truly rest and exercise like a normal person before training would start back. You planned to visit Paige, but her season at UCONN was really just beginning. The timing couldn't have been worse but you knew she felt most comfortable on the court, just like you.
Since college basketball was firing up, her name was beginning to really skyrocket in the press. And her partnerships were increasing too. With you as the highest paid athlete in women's sports and P as the highest paid CWBB player, you were unstoppable!
Her shoe with Nike just dropped and you genuinely cried the day every player for UCONN wore them at their game! You wish you could wear them for a day for support but New Balance is your shoe home. It's so surreal that P has a shoe while in college but you believe she's always meant to break records and set trends. You're just happy the world mainly agrees with you on that.
On December 21st, UCONN & USC play each other, at arguably the biggest game of the year. You knew you wanted to be there because everyone's eyes would be on Paige and JuJu, which could get stressful. Maybe having you there as moral support would make it a bit better . She's born for the world stage, but that doesn't mean you don't worry about her mental health.
You promised your team that you'd be back in Miami right after Christmas. They wanted you to play United Cup, especially since you didn't plan on defending the ASB Classic title , but you were prioritizing your relationship....for once.
This is Paige's (likely) last year in college and you want to be there for her. There's so many moments you both have to miss because of your athletic careers, and it's easy to feel disconnected when you're constantly in different time zones. Once she's in the WNBA, it'll hopefully be more flexible and you'll spend more time together.Â
But for now, you weren't going to miss big moments for a WTA250 or United Cup. Your team wasn't the happiest about your plans, and tried convincing you to change your mind. But it was already set: you'd fly to Storrs, CT that day and watch Paige. Then you'd both fly out to Minnesota to see her family for Christmas. Her next game is the 27th so you'll fly back to Miami while she goes back to school. Even a few days together has you anxious to remind her exactly why being long distance is worth it.
You haven't told her, but you've picked out the perfect presents for her dad, stepmom, and Drew. You've also found something for your perfect gf. Drew has a game of his own the very day after her game, so you guys will be jet-lagged but supporting him. You've met Paige's family a few times now but you still feel jittery before arriving. You don't know why because they're the nicest people, yet you always want to show you're a great girlfriend with good energy.
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You were still in Miami trying to pick out what you could wear to the game Saturday. It was Thursday night so you needed to start packing, especially since you wanted to pack light. Living life basically out of a suitcase made packing during the offseason a disgusting experience. The less you had to travel the better, yet it seemed you were never home for more than a few days. The life of a "celebrity" was taxing and companies knew offseason was a better time for your brand dealings. You wished you could do photo shoots from home but you try to remember how many people would KILL to be in your position.
For the game, you're thinking of a look you saw Bella Hadid wear a few years back. A green NorthFace jacket with black barrel jeans and black loafers. You'll definitely be wearing your glasses to the game for an even more comfortable experience. Then, for traveling to Minnesota and for Drew's game you'll wear an oversized grey New Balance sweatshirt with sweatpants and a camo hat. Cute-comfyâ your favorite!
You began folding the clothes not so neatly when your sister came in. She's back home from Tulane for the holidays and you're really going to miss her the few days you're gone. Having a younger sister is one of the best things in life and you miss when she's away for college. Although you guys text and call each other almost everyday it's different when she's in person.
"Whatcha doing??," Anna asked, using her best Isabella voice from Phineas and Ferb. "Packing for my trip and failing to fold my clothes neatly," you said. You're definitely going to need a steamer when you travel because your clothes are going to be wrinkled from this lazy folding.
"I wish I could come with you!" Anna said. And honestly, if it was just to watch the game, you'd for sure bring your sister along. But Christmas at the Bueckers' house is for their family only and you're just getting used to joining.
Most of the time, Paige visits your family because she loves the Miami weather and enjoys the area. It's difficult in Minnesota when it's cold more often than not and her family has normal jobs .
The Heller family feels like it orbits your tennis career, something you wish wasn't true but definitely is. Tennis is so demanding, even compared to other sports, and your family has sacrificed a lot for you to continue being a top player. Basketball is difficult and can be expensive, but college helps ease the journey a lot. While Paige is at UCONN her family still maintains a normal life. While for you, the matches and your traveling schedule can affect everything.
That's why this Christmas is so special. You have a few days to hang out casually before the holiday and really soak it what being a Bueckers is like. You'd never tell anyone right now, but you're hoping this is practice for the rest of your life. Although it's only been a year, you picture growing with Paige and starting a family of your own. You look at people like Stewie and can't help but hope to have a little family of your own someday. Being in good cahoots with her family right now is important and luckily, it's been great so far
âââââââââ
Friday passes quickly, thank God, because you leave for CT Saturday morning. The plane ride is a bit bumpy but it's the cold that stings the most. As soon as you step off the plane you're hit with the bite of a Connecticut winter. It felt weird boarding the plane in multiple layers but you're so happy you didn't dress Miami-Style for this trip.
Since it's the day of the game, Paige has practice most of the day. That means her good friend Kayla volunteers to pick you up, and you're very excited. As a fellow Black girl, you and Kayla get along too good. Each conversation leads to cackling and you even have a few inside jokes together. As much as KK and Ice are your girls, Kayla's super cool people. AND she's not on the team, so she can help with times like this!
You wait for your luggage and a teenager comes up asking for a picture. She seems shell-shocked from meeting you, something you never get used to. You're almost positive the picture will be on "Frances Heller" and "Paige Bueckers" fan accounts in the next hour. People will surely speculate but this is a big game, and who can blame you for wanting to see it in person?
You spot Kayla, or rather hear her music, right when you step outside the airport gate. She gets out to help with your luggage but you've only brought two carry-ons: your Glossier duffle and a New Balance black backpack. Like you said: packing light was key for this trip.
You guys catch up on all things life before pulling into the apartment complex Kayla and the girls live in. You go to text Paige you've made it but you see she's already texted that she's in practice, but can't wait to see you.
"She was obsessing over your location on the Find app," Kayla says. "She literally was refreshing it every second before they had practice even though SHE KNEW you were on the plane and undetectable."
Just hearing Paige's name makes your heart beat faster. It's corny, you know it is, but imagine being so in love with someone and NEVER getting to see them. You can literally count on your hands how often you and Paige see each other throughout the year and that's with big compromises in both schedules.
You go up to Kayla's apartment and patiently (very impatiently) wait for bball practice to be over. Since it's game day, there's one short-ish practice during the day and then real practice before game time. You mimic Paige and begin refreshing all the apps you guys communicate through: text, Snapchat, Find, anything to see whether she's out.
Eventually, her DND status on text goes away and Kayla has to watch you become an absolute fool as you wait for your girlfriend. Paige gets back and knocks on Kayla's door which you open with every cell in your body.
"FRANNY!" "SWEET P!" You two collide into one another with the same energy. The hug says: "I miss you, I love you, how are you?, all at once. It's like every event and moment that's been missed since the last time you've seen another culminated into a tight hug that lasts forever.
"I miss you so so so much Paige," you say, trying not to cry. You're not necessarily sad, just overwhelmed and relieved . You can feel in her hug that she must feel the same, and any insecurities from a long-distance relationship go away like a puff of smoke.
You go back to their apartment while Paige makes a quick snack. Once she's finished eating. She lets you know she misses you in another way. Thank goodness you can't detect blushing on your skin tone because you feel like you're about to burst into flames.
It's been SO LONG since you've been intimate with anything besides a silicone toy and you miss Paige's body. After her shower at the facilities, her hair is still wet and slightly curly. It's one of your favorite looks on her and doesn't help your desire to absolutely devour her.
She tries to casually insinuate your unexpected trip to the car but everyone knows what's going on. You'd rather have sweet moments in her bed, but it'd be unfair to her teammates/roommates. And you can't kick everyone out of the apartment either, totally not cool. So instead you head out to Paige's Grand Cherokee at an excited pace and allow her to drive you to the back of the parking lot.
It's still romantic with the snow falling and your tight space to work with. She turns on the warmers in the SUV and asks you to head to the backseats. Her playlist designed for these *moments* begins playing softly and you savor every minute in the backseat of her car....
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Once you guys finished (no pun intended) you head (maybe a bit puny) back upstairs. You try taming your hair and fixing your swollen lips as best you can. But let's face it, the women in this apartment are going to absolutely clown you both.
"Oh y'all back? It's been almost an hour! Where'd you say y'all was going again??" Kk, per usual, is the first person to say something. Everyone else smirks to one another and Jana even films to put on her private SC later.
"We was busy." That's all Paige says as she blushes, smirks, and daps up Ice and KK. Your eyes roll to the back of your head as she exemplifies pure fukboy energy. You so badly want to hate it but it's kinda hot...which she definitely knows because she continues smirking in your direction. You sit next to her and try to redirect the conversation to ANYTHING else but it takes a minute.
They're superstitious about talking about the game so it's talk about your stuff instead. You tell them your plans with Paige for the next few days and how preseason warmups are coming along. Before you know it, everyone's getting up because it's time for pregame. You give Paige a million kisses as she gets ready to leave and then wait around until it's time to get dressed and leave.
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You're not sure Paige would love your mode of transportation to the game but what else could you decide? Uber's are booked the entire way and the school shuttles are only for actual students. If you didn't have to show a school ID you would've hopped on or hoped a driver was being super nice but few have even passed. So instead, you're walking to the XL arena.
It's really not that far, so you don't mind the walk. Except for the fact that it's FREEZING. You can feel the inevitable sickness building in your body as you continue walking but that's what you do for love. You'd laugh at how ridiculous you feel, if you could feel your face.
Finally you get to the game and it's beyond packed. You knew it was a big game and sold out but it's bonkers trying to get inside. Even with a special pass you have to wait to get inside, letting the frost continue to harass you.
Once you make it inside you see a few girls get out their phones to video your entrance. It's weird, because you feel slightly conceded about it. But you also feel violated. And you never feel quite important enough to be taped walking into a gym. Yet here you are, and there's the phones capturing every moment.
You're not sitting courtside since that's reserved for paying members. Instead, you're a few rows up. Nothing crazy, but not on the ground. You realize how awkward you feel without somebody tagging along and wish you maybe would've brought your sister. Or even your twin Jack. But what would they do while you loved up on Paige all day?
So instead you got on your phone and waited for the starting lineup presentation. You filmed the whole thing and couldn't even hear the announcer say Paige's name because of the screams. It made you feel so special being Paige's girl when plenty of college girls, and adult women, fought for her attention. From shirts and fathead signs to homemade posters, it was obvious she grabbed people's attention.
From the moment the game began, UCONN had a difficult time. You didn't know why, but something just wasn't clicking that clearly worked better for USC. You really like JuJu Watkins and had a hard time rooting exclusively for UCONN, but your girl comes first.
After fighting tooth and nail they finally started coming back. With 8 seconds left, the game was only being won by two points . You knew how badly Paige wanted to win, with the country watching....if not the world. But sometimes, it's not just about who wants it. Being a super-senior meant Paige had some great highs and some lower-lows. This, would in fact, become a low.
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It was obvious how frustrated P was with herself. She was SO hard on herself, as most athletes are. But as the oldest on the team, she really felt like she was letting everyone down. You could see it in her demeanor and how she spoke to press. You only hoped she'd be able to see all the positives from the game and release herself from the pressure of it all. It's much easier than it looks though, you know from experience.
After speaking to Fox sports and Holly Rowe, Paige was making her way over to you. A literal LINE OF PEOPLE had formed while she was being interviewed who wanted to take pictures and get her autograph. You knew she wouldn't leave till everyone was satisfied, something you admired about her. Each person felt important in her eyes and she made sure to let them know. How lucky you were to be with someone so humble and kind to anyone.
She told the crowd to wait one sec as she walked over to your section. Now you really knew people would film this and talk about it for a while. But honestly , who cares. You were shocked she even saw you in the section because of how intense the game had been.
The security guard removed the tape so Paige could slip by and give you a big hug. You whispered in her ear that she was so amazing and you hoped she'd known how bright she shines on the court. She nodded but didn't seem affected by your words which kind of stung. You knew at least be a few hours had to pass before she was truly cheery again, right now was just a performance of her fans.
She asked you to wait around until they were leaving the arena and to join them on the team bus. You felt like this was a big overstep and didn't want to piss Geno off, especially after the loss. You made her promise it was fine and already approved before you agreed to join them on the bus.
The rest of the night was a blur until suddenly, you were laying on Paige's purple sheets with her head on your chest. You continued to stroke her head and tried falling asleep because your flight tomorrow was super early.
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At the airport, a few fans asked for pics with you and Paige. It was so funny how fans of Paige began "stanning" you like an extra piece to the Paige puzzle. At 5 in the AM you only could pray you didn't look awful in the fan photos since you knew that'd be on social media later. After taking pics you sat at the terminal and then boarded the plane. It really wasn't a bad experience, even with a connecting flight.
Paige's dad picked y'all up and you could tell she missed Minnesota. With the photoshoots and games and everything else she visited home less and less. When her dad got out of the car she turned into Baby P again, rushing to her dad's arms. It was so sweet and made you feel fuzzy that she collapsed in his hug. Maybe she was feeling better now!
Mr. Bueckers brought you into the hug and the three of you laughed as people watched. He was arguably the coolest guy in Minnesota besides Gov. Waltz. You guys left the airport and picked up Culver's on the way to Drew's game. Even with an early flight you guys were making it right on time.
Drew's game was so well and they won! Even better, Drew won MVP and got a comically large MVP chain to wear. You guys gassed him up hard and he blushed the entire time. It was cute seeing Paige loving on Drew like a child of her own. ...you really needed to stop thinking about Mommy P and focus lol.
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Once Christmas rolled around, you'd gotten comfortable at the Bueckers house. The past few days had been so chill yet never boring. And you didn't feel like you were walking on eggshells around the family.
You wore an Oxford shirt with a sweater vest over it tucked into a plaid mini skirt with black tights. You looked adorable, like a Christmas present.
Y'all went to church and then headed home to unwrap presents. Drew wanted to open presents before Mass but it was way too early for that.
You got Paige's parents a gift they'd told her about a while back, a bar cart and a Baristia machine to make cocktails. Drew got a new game for his PS5 and promised to play with you whenever you were in town.
For Paige, you got her a custom stack of cards with paintings of you guys on it. She always loved sentimental gifts more than expensive ones and she really liked this! You also gave her a Tiffany necklace similar to yours with F+P engraved inside. She put it on and never took it off, even to sleep.
ââââ
After a full day of festivities and meeting a few Bueckers you'd never met, it was time to go to bed. It was hard to fall asleep because tomorrow, you'd be on your way back to Miami and she'd be going back to UCONN. These few days were so good, you wish you could bottle them up for when you miss her most.
Right before you start falling asleep she tells you she has one more gift for you. She reaches in her bag and pulls out the most adorable stuffed bunny in a Christmas outfit. She gives you the bunny and tells you to press on her paw. When you do, Paige's voice starts to speak.
"Anytime you miss me, just press the paw, and I'll be right there!" She gives you the cutest little smile while she waits to see if you like her extra gift. "ALSO, I sprayed her clothes with some of my perfume, so hopefully she'll smell like me for a while too."
You try not to cry your eyes out at the audacity of your girlfriend to be so sweet. You never would've thought of such a unique and kind gift.
"Thank you so much Paige, I love it!" You see her relax a bit at her successful gift. "I can't believe you're real sometimes, you're too good to me!"
You don't meant to sound insecure or anything, but she shuts anything like that down. "I'm so happy we're together Franny, I'd go to the moon for you."
"Maybe even the North Pole?" You joke, since it's Christmas.
"I go to college in the middle of nowhere Connecticut Frances, that's basically the North Pole."
You two laugh and then settle into a comfortable sleeping pattern. You know tomorrow you'll have to say goodbye at least for 2-3 months. But right now, you can't think of a life without Paige Bueckers in it.
ââ-â€ïžâđ„ENDâ€ïžâđ„ââ-
đHappy Holidays!
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World Sand Dune Day
Vital natural barriers, these landforms protect coastlines, support diverse habitats, and maintain ecological balance in our environment.
Sand dunes are natural landscapes that can be found wherever loose sand is blown, most typically in deserts or on beaches. They serve as a habitat for many interesting and rare species of animals and plants, as well as acting as a place of recreation for people from local communities or further afield. But due to activities by humans as well as erosion, sand dunes in some places may be under threat.Â
The hope of World Sand Dune Day is to draw attention to these amazing natural features and encourage individuals, families and communities to get involved in caring for them in a protective, restorative way.
History of World Sand Dune Day
World Sand Dune Day was started in 2021 as a collaboration between two organizations, Dynamic Dunescapes and Sands of LIFE, both projects which are working to protect and restore coastal sand dune systems in the UK. In Ireland, the day is celebrated and supported by the organization called Clean Coasts. Other communities and organizations dedicated to sand dunes also celebrate this day in places all throughout the globe.
This event was founded with the purpose of highlighting the importance of sand dunes for their various ways they serve the ecosystems. This includes biodiversity, acting as a home to many different species of plants and animals, as well as serving as a barrier from waves and surges. In addition, World Sand Dune Day also highlights the recreation that sand dunes provide for humans.
How to Celebrate World Sand Dune Day
Consider some of these ideas for how to get started with celebrating World Sand Dune Day:
Attend World Sand Dune Day Events in the UK
The different organizations that support World Sand Dune Day will host various events and activities at different sites. The schedule changes each year and is based on location, but some activities might include explorations, tours, crafts for kids, spider hunts, butterfly walks, bird walks, orchid walks, art workshops for adults and so much more! Check out the activities calendar at your local sand dune for more information, or find event listings by location at the Dynamic Dunescapes website.Â
Visit a Sand Dune Area in the US
An excellent way to celebrate World Sand Dune Day might be to head over to the closest national park or other sand dune and pay a visit. While there, be sure to follow all of the safety and conservation rules, and also donât forget to clean up after yourself! Check out some of these popular sand dune destinations in the US:
Pacific City Sand Dunes in OregonÂ
Algodones Dunes and Imperial Sand Dunes in California
Jockeyâs Ridge State Park Sand Dunes in North Carolina
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park in MichiganÂ
Support a Sand Dune Charity
Those who arenât up for a visit to a sand dune park but would like to participate in the day can certainly make a difference by providing a donation to a worthy cause. Different charities have been started to protect the sand dunes in different states and countries around the world. Find out through an online search which one is local and then get connected!
Source
#Nares Mountain#Caribou Mountain#Carcross Desert#Yukon#travel#original photography#vacation#tourist attraction#landmark#landscape#summer 2023#nature#tree#countryside#Canada#the North#What are the hashtags?#ProtectOurDunes#WorldSandDuneDay#Last Saturday in June#29 June 2024#World Sand Dune Day#Sand Mountain#Nevada#Wadi Rum#Jordan#Miami Beach#Death Valley#Monument Valley#Arches National Park
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