#so she can go to her concert instead of summer school like she wanted

[yesyourstalker]

Makeup artist:.......... Are you nervous?

Baja: a little bit.... This isn't like in front of a studio audience right

Makeup artist: No sweetie, it's just a one-on-one interview.

Baja: that's good. Who are we interviewing?

Makeup artist: You're going to have to ask the show-runner, Mickey.

Mickey: let's go. Let's go. Let's go what takes so long putting powder on a face. He has perfect skin anyway. We had to get him to the dressing room. We start filming in a couple minutes

Makeup artist: I'm finished. Just need to map down some scales and he's...... All done. You're free to go sweetie

Baja: thank you

Mickey: So you must be then host of the show. Sorry I wasn't able to meet you sooner. I was on vacation. Oshi told me you're a really good candidate for this show. You seem to be competent you know your way around music....*sip* ..... Coffee?

Baja: I don't really drink that much coffee. I like tea though

Mickey: Green tea! *Snap*. .*snap*

Assistant: your green tea

Baja: thank you

Mickey: Well I know one thing for sure. She was right about the pretty face. Now as you get dressed head to the studio so we start filming promotional material Ramon should be there with you. After your interview which will count as the pilot

Tammy: Mickey listen I really think you should reconsider about not casting me for the show

Mickey: No....*sip*

Tammy: but I really think you should I mean I can at least be co-host. I'm great to be around! Tell him, baba

Baja: it's Baja

Mickey: No, we need to bring up the sea slug viewership

Tammy: I can be the second co-host

Mickey:....*sigh*...... Tammy listen to me. You didn't get the job all right. You just don't fit the criteria we need for this show and this channel. But hey you have other opportunities for other networks alright. You're pretty, you're bubbly and you have a nice rack. You can get a job anywhere with those qualities around here.... You're just not going to find it at this station

Tammy: but-

Mickey: goooooood byyyyyyyyyyyyyeeee Tammy!!

Security guard: Right this way ma'am

Tammy: Mickey!!! I'll have your fucking job!!

Mickey: we'll see you next week Tammy we're filming the season finale

Baja: she seemed pretty upset

Mickey: eh she'll get over it ... She's been in a couple of shows here and there on the network. She plays Kate the baby sitter on 'dock and dingy' ......*sip* ..... She'll be fine. Here Is your dressing room your clothes should be folded

Baja: alright... and I just head to set after

Mickey: yep your's and Ramon's chairs will be the brown arm chairs. The musician or celebrity will be sitting on the loveseat and will perform on the stage behind you

Baja: they're going to perform?

Mickey: yeah.. yeah they're starting their Solo career

_______________________________________________

Ramon: hey... You look good. They spruced up your wardrobe too

Baja: yeah. I wonder if we're able to take this home with us

Ramon: probably. I think it'd be easier just to keep in our dressing rooms for now. Keep our work clothes separate from our regular clothes. Feels like bad energy to mix them together.

Baja: how so?

Ramon: I mean this nice brand name stuff fancy designs, colors and a hefty price on it. It's nice but it isn't really me. It's what the studio and the producers want me to be and I rather keep that at work when. I go home I wear my regular off-brand jeans, my 8-year-old sweater and a pair of kicks with a hole in it. That's me. That's who I am. A regular person, I'm not above anyone and I don't want to feel like I am. Get what I'm saying

Baja: yeah... I get it. You don't want the job to change you

Ramon: exactly

Mickey: All right! Hitch you got the shot?

Hitch: Yeah I got it. We can use this for commercials

Baja: you were filming?

Mickey: Yeah yeah no worries. We just wanted to film you guys interacting. We didn't tell you cuz we wanted to look natural.

Hitch: we didn't have any mics on so we couldn't hear what you were saying so don't worry about it. I'm the director by the way names Hitch. Nice to meet you..

Baja: hello

Ramon: hey

Mickey: alright so we're going to start filming the show in 30 minutes. Kikura is their dressing room.

Ramon: Kikura from C-side?

Mickey: yeah

Kikura: sorry I'm late.. I tend to procrastinate when I'm getting ready for these types of things...... Not a good excuse but... yeah

Mick: Well that's perfectly fine. We'll be filming in a couple minutes this is Ramon and this is Baja. They're going to be the ones interviewing you

Kikura: hey

Hitch: while we wait for that, let's do some more advertisements

______________________________________________

Assistant: alright..... Advertisement 2 take one...[clap]

Baja: Hi my name is baja and I'm the new host of the inklab's new show 'music at midnight'.... Me and my new co-host Ramon

Ramon: sup

Baja: we're going to be interviewing musicians from all walks of life

Ramon: and different genres.

Baja: We're going to have nice conversations getting to know them, telling us some really cool stories.

Ramon: a show airs Thursdays at 11:30 p.m. can't wait to see you there!

Hitch: CUT!.... Great! We're going to do some more editing and maybe some reshoots on that but here is your intro You're going to do this during every episode you introduce yourself. You tell them what show they're watching and then you tell the current news what's going on in the music world..... You're also going to have to do that when you start writing articles for the blog, but we'll get to that later. ... Here's the monologue script. If you want to go off script feel free... Go over it, memorize We'll film in 15...... Oshi! Good to see you..*mwah mwah* how are you baby

Oshi: Hitch! Hope everything is going well I just wanted to check in on everyone

Hitch: yes... You're going to start filming soon so have a seat....(Pat...Pat)

Oshi: alright..... I'm getting a call.....*ugh*..............[inhale].....[exhale]...... Hi Shimi! How are you doing dear?... Are you having fun on the farm? I saw some pictures warabie posted on squidder. You look cute riding the tracker hehhe....... Well you only have one week left honey..... yes I've enjoyed my break..... The church? If that works for you honey I guess it gives you a purpose.........*sigh*...(Eye roll)....acting is also your purpose I know...how's warabie is he having fun?......well tell him to try to enjoy himself..............yes ...... alright good bye hun.............

_______________________________________________

Shimi: hm.....

Merv: Shimi it's your turn to take the manatees out to graze, take your son with you. Noiji start up the tractor I need you to harvest the octoberries, ikkan pack up squidmelons and head into town. Koi would you help me harvest some of the squid lemons

Koi-koi: I'd love to

Merv: Cirrina sweetheart you said you're going into the city for a school project?

Cirrina: Yeah just for 2 hours. When I get back I'll feed the krill and clean out their coop

Merv: All right, be safe

Shimi: warabie help me load up the manatees

Warabie: yeah..... What were you calling Mom about?

Shimi: It's none of your concern she didn't let me talk anyway............

Warabie:... All right, the manatees are in (bump...bump).....

Shimi: alright...................

Warabie:............so what's mom up to at home?

Shimi: she's working on project O.E.T network

Warabie: that's nice she's been working on that for years

Shimi: *humpf*.... We've been working on for years.... Typical of her to go behind my back and do things without my permission or opinion

Warabie:...... Oooookkkaaay...........hm.................hey mahi

_______________________________________________

Mahi: hey dude

Warabie: what's going on at home?

Mahi: nothing much. Baja got a new job...... stop!........ Yeah, he's going to be on TV now. That's pretty neat

Warabie: tv?!

Mahi: some talk show.... Midnight music...... Music at midnight something.....neta stop spawn camping!

Neta: I'm not spawn camping

Warabie: he got the job!? How did he get the job?!

Mahi: I don't know, I really haven't had time to talk to him. He's been in and out of the apartment for like days now..... cod damn it!.... Let me leave the base at least...... fuck!

Neta:hehehehehehehe... I'm sorry .hehehe

Mahi: sorry... Neta's being an asshole...uhhhhh...Baja honestly hasn't been here and when he is here he's just there to get dressed and then leave.

Warabie:*sigh*....... good for him... Guess he's going to be the new breadwinner

Mahi: hey so when are you coming home?

Warabie: end of the week I should be home

Mahi: great apartments too quiet and-Neta!

Neta: what?! What am I doing wrong? I'm just playing the game. It's not my fault you always end up in my range of sight. Get good at the game

Mahi:*huff*... Can you come home faster? I miss you

Warabie: aww I miss you too mahi.. I honestly want to go home too. This place sucks ......I'm tired of scooping Manatee shit and hauling crates of squidmatoes

Neta: ask him the question

Mahi: *ugh*........are you able to bring home fresh produce and milk

Warabie: I....... I'm going to have to ask ikkan's dad that

Shimi: we're here unload the manatees

Warabie: I got to go.... text you later..........

Mahi: bye..... I'm not playing with you anymore! I'm done with this game....

Neta: One more round. I want to get a gold badge on this weapon I'm two games away. You can be on my team this time

_______________________________________________

Cirrina: .......this must be the address..........(Knock knock)

Bayou: Cirrina! You showed up!

Cirrina: yeah....hehehe sorry if I'm a little early ...

Bayou: no worries. Come in, come in you can use your shoes on the shelf right here. So what do you want to know about krillarney?

Cirrina: I'm just you know the origins and the history of krillarney...... You lived on the surface for most of your life, right? Is that true for most octolings here?

Bayou: yeah... Most of us here spent their whole lives on the surface though there are some who moved here who previously lived underground

Cirrina: Interesting......so... And did your family move here?

Bayou:...... I think you might get more information from my nan.... Nana!!....... You remember my Nana. from church?

Nana: yes!? Bayou? What is it love?.....oh... Dear the little girl from church. Nice to see you again sweetie

Cirrina: hello..

Bayou: Nan do you mind if she asks you a few questions?

Nana: I have no problems sweetie

Cirrina: It's just a couple questions .. . I'm doing a five-page essay on octarian history in other countries

Nana: wasn't that nice? Well what do you want to know dear?

Cirrina: uhhhh .... When did you move here

Nana: oh I have no idea sweetie It's been years...... The war started when I was around......10 of 11 years old. I lived with my two sisters in a small village My mother was a School teacher and my father passed away years ago.

Cirrina: *writing*

Nana at the time my village was not affected by the high tides but it was targeted with conflict over land and resources. Next thing you know, I was being drafted for the war along with my two sisters. They just turned 13. They never held a weapon before. My mother couldn't even imagine them going to war, it was only after the first bomb we decided to leave. We had to leave quickly so we weren't able to bring a lot. All we had to pack was whatever we could fit in our backpacks. I packed two dresses, pair of pants, three shirts and one skirt. I also packed my Adva doll she's the only toy I played with for years.

Cirrina: *writing*

Nana: My mother was good friends with a man who moved to our village before the war happened. He was a nice inkling man Mr. Doal he offered to help us leave. His son got drafted and passed away early in the midst of combat. He told us about a developing sovereign country called krillarney that was currently taking in anyone and everyone across the world who wanted to get away from the war

Cirrina: *write*..... So how did you get to krillarney

Nana: we were informed that there were fairies and ships offering to help people leave. We set our trip in the middle of the night and met up with Mr. Dole and other people who wanted to leave as well. The walk was 3 hours straight. No brakes, no rest until we made it to the coast and we got onto a ship. It was a squid beak ship if I remember, The S. S. Escargot. We sailed for a week to krillarney making several stops picking others in similar situations.

Cirrina: was it just inkfish who were escaping?

Nana: oh no there were so many people from so many walks of life on the ship. Urchins, fish, cephalopods, Crustaceans. So many were affected by this war. I remember seeing some still wearing their military uniforms. It was their only chance to leave and they took it

Cirrina: when you got to krillarney what was it like? Was different from how it is today.

Nana: Well I can tell you one thing we didn't have these malls, outlets or a nice studio apartment like I have now hehehe. .... When I first got here My mother could only afford a nice small house with two bedrooms. Our neighbor was young octoling and his wife was a bass. They were enlisted in the military for years. When the war started they were completely against it. They were planning on having kids at the time they couldn't do that if they were at war. Unfortunately they weren't able to have kids but they watched me and my sister so many times that they kind of saw us as their kids hehehe

Cirrina: *writing*...... Do you ever think about your old village? What happened to it?

Nana:............. Well....um..... Like I said at the time the high tides didn't affect my home but.............. Soon enough it was............. Everything was wiped out and everyone......... From what I know now....... The water levels have subsided and it is inhabitable but............ I just never went back. Everything I know about that place is gone. My home my toys.....some of my old friends

Cirrina:.... I'm sorry.......

Nana: it's alright love

Cirrina: ....... I think I asked enough questions

Nana: are you sure? I could tell you more

Cirrina: oh that's ok really.... I have enough to write my paper. I have to get home to do my chores

Bayou: alright..... Do you want me to walk you to the fairy dock?

Cirrina: (blush).... well........ok...

Bayou: great..... I'll be right back Nana

Nana: Come back safe

Cirrina:..........................

Bayou:...........................

Cirrina:..................

Bayou:..............you know we have tons of historical sites here if you ever want to check them out..... Add some photos for extra credit

Cirrina: that would be nice but I really need to get home

Bayou: we don't have to do it today.

Cirrina: I leave at the end of the week

Bayou: Well you can plan something for this week maybe Tomorrow maybe?....

Cirrina: I can see.... Yeah I think tomorrow would be good yeah..

Bayou: All right so why don't we meet up here again at 2:00 and I can take you to the lighthouse, The bridge of new beginnings and I can even take you to the museum

Cirrina: Great! It's a date! I mean....uh... No! It's not a date..... it's a day out....an outing yeah it's it's it's an outing we're going out......for the day! We're going out for the day

Bayou:..heheheheheh... Here's my number....... I'll text you tomorrow. See ya Cirrina!

Cirrina: bye..hehehehehe........*sigh*..........

_______________________________________________

Assistant director: 'music at midnight'.... Introduction take three!.....(CLAP)

Hitch:go!

Baja: welcome, welcome! Welcome my name is Baja! And this is my co-host Ramon

Ramon: hey!

Baja: I'm very excited to say that this is the first episode of our very new show called 'music at midnight'. What is music at midnight? Well as the names in the title says we're going to be talking about music and it's going to be airing during midnight.

Roman: yep so while we sit here and talk and do interviews. You're going to be sitting on your couch or in your bed and your nice warm jammies.....

Baja: I wish we could wear pajamas

Ramon: Right? We should ask the exacts for a pajama day

Baja: hahahaha...(CLAP)..... All right, let's get started.... Today's music news....... But before we do that, who's who's with us today

Ramon: today we have Kikura sitting in our guest seat

Kikura: hey everyone

Baja: so we Kikura here today and there the guitarist for the band c-side and she's a part of another group riot act.....now Kikura is it true that riot act actually came before the band C-side?

Kikura: uh....oh my cod.......uh wow..... Yeah actually that is true. It did come before C-side... Technically yes but at the time it was not called riot act.... It was actually called 'no boys allowed' uhhehe.... We were in high school that was our original band.... We were in an all-girls school. We were just a couple of weird kids just screwing around... We were all in theater together and we used to hang out under the bleachers and I don't remember who mentioned it but one of us said "wouldn't be funny if we started a band and we had no idea how to play the instruments"....and heh That's how it really started

Baja: it started out as a bit?

Kikura: Yeah it started out as a bit. We started to borrow instruments from The music room and we started to play, used to write music together like we had our own group chat and everything ... It started to get serious during second year of school. It started out as a joke and then just kind of started to really get into it and we really just stopped seeing it as a joke and started seeing it as more of a hobby and soon after we started to book gigs, shows and sets in people's basements. It just kind of took off after that.

Ramon: so what made you join C-side?

Kikura: so C-side started after I met Beika it was a small underground club. He recognized me from my band and he was really excited to see me! He told me that he was a bass player and his old roommate was a drummer and they needed a guitar player. He had a couple songs that he's written and he wanted my opinion on it. He wanted to see if I was able to do a demo track for him.

Baja: *nods*

Kikura: a couple weeks of talking I went to the studio and I met Uotora... He's such a sweetheart oh my cod.... We did rewrites and we wrote some more music. We did some test tracks and 5 hours later I was officially a part of the band...

Baja: what was your first concert like.... You played in sesame hall as the opener for wet floor

Kikura: I was surprisingly calm during the whole show. Really thought I was going to panic and freeze up because this is the first actual concert like a concert concert like it wasn't just a group of people hehehe in a backyard. I remember the crowd wasn't that enthusiastic when we came up but after playing 'click bate' people really just started to really get into it and we just formed a fan base after that.

Ramon: are you still a part of that band? After you released your new album with riot act

Kikura: oh yeah definitely. I'm still a part of the band I'm not going anywhere. This ain't that kind of band. Do we treat each other with respect...hehehe...hm... But no this is just a side project. We all just started talking again and it's just a passion project we're just doing really

Baja: and speaking of passion projects, let's get to the news....Nami one of the members of beloved yet controversial bands front roe has enough that branching off and starting a solo career. Today on Inkstagram she announced that she's working on a new album and writing her own songs she even took a selfie of herself in the studio showing in the recording booth.

Ramon: I think nami's very underrated in the band. It's good to see she's getting out there

Kikura: I'm so happy that she is. I only met her two times. It was during the black square music festival and the seashore awards she is so nice, she's so kind and so pretty. We were talking and I brought up keeping my music in a notebook and she did the same thing too. She has several notebooks of music that she really wants to make but it doesn't really fit the sound of 'squid squad'..... Well I guess it's front roe now but she's kept those book for years... I truly hope she's putting those to good use

Baja: You know this actually isn't her first solo work. She worked on a soundtrack for 'high-rise falling 4'. It was a video game for the gamer boy x system.

Kikura: really?

Raman: Yeah I know that she composed background music for the menu and she also made The third boss Battle song. Man If they ever make the movie of high-rise falling

Baja: they are never going to make that movie.... It's always in production hell for years now

Kikura: I've only played the second and third game in that series, but I heard the movie is going to be starting off with The fifth installment and going backwards which doesn't make any sense

Hitch: what is high-rise falling? I don't know what that is. What are they talking about?

Oshi: It's just a game that these kids play. The audience will know what they're talking about

Ramon: they should bring her back for the movie. It would be really cool if she remixed her original tracks. I love that for him. I'm happy that she's making music. I'm really excited..... What else we have for the news

Baja: SashiMori are no longer doing fall tours or winter tours like they used to

Raman: oh?

Baja: So one of the members, Paul. He's no longer able to travel because he has school so they're going to have to do summer tours

Ramon: that makes sense.... I remember their last tour was during fall during spook fest. Everyone dressed up in costumes and during their last set, people were giving out candy.... Folks was handed a bucket before they got into the arena. it was good candy too like people were getting full size candy bars..... What type of candy do you like? I like gum.... You could never go wrong with gum..... Good flavor, good texture... And you can blow bubbles with it. What about you?

Baja: I enjoy chocolate... I love a good piece of chocolate..... Especially if it has a filling in it like marshmallow or something.....Kikura?

Kikura: I would say I'm a hard candy type of person.... I enjoy jawbreakers

Baja: really

Kikura: Yes, it lasts longer than most candies and..... Besides lollipops It is the only candy that is socially acceptable to take out of your mouth

Hitch: do we have any chocolate sponsors?

Oshi: no but I can get with the marketing team and see what we can do

[one hour of banter later]

Baja: Well folks that's our show! Thank you for being here for our first ever episode. The riot act album will be released on the 22 so make sure you check your local stores for it....now enjoy one of their debut songs 'No planned survivors'

[riot act performing in the back ground]

Mickey: what are the viewerships right now?

Assistant: Right now the viewerships are sitting at 89.4 million...and online..... only 20k views... But that number might rise in the next week

Mickey: [inhale].....[exhale]...... What do you estimate the viewership for ink lab plus?

Assistant: Well..... Judging from the viewership on TV and the viewership on the app we might be able to gain..................... 100 million first episode maybe even more...

Executive: I don't understand it! they talked about video games and then candy, went on a tangent about handbags and backpacks. How is this popular?! This is supposed to be about music and celebrities.

Oshi: Kids today aren't really all that interested in celebrities showing off their fancy cars, expensive clothes and lifestyle. They're bored at that and so are the newer artists. They just want to know who they are as a person....if knowing about their favorite candy and opinions on games keeps them engaged and interested in their music and our show I see no problem with it

Mickey: hmmmm.....

Hitch: I think we might need a meeting for this. I have an idea

Oshi: what's the idea

Hitch: we haven't had that much traction on the app for a while. instead of making a recorded video the next time we film we do a live stream and have the audience involved with the conversation

Mickey: I like that. Keeps the audience engaged and keeps the viewerships high. it saves money on editing

Hitch:......... These kids are going to make us a lot of money

_______________________________________________

Neta had 12 kills in one match and 6 of them were mahi

lmao fish was fighting for their life @fish-at-fish-fish-resort

[mecachrome]

notes from nicole piastri's interview on red flags pod

oscar started playing monopoly and chess when he was 4-5 but he was too good at chess (relative to nicole) that she boycotted it

nicole opened her twitter account because oscar wasn't replying to her at boarding school and she needed a place to chastise him ("can you not answer... i KNOW you're on your phone") (it worked because he started replying to her there)

instead of unflappable she calls him "conservative"

even during christmas and birthdays he was never super excited, one time they went with a group of 5 mums and 5 kids to a hi-5 concert (popular australian kids' musical group) and while all the kids were "going nuts" oscar just sat there "focused the whole time" and didn't smile or move lmfao. they were like 3 years old

didn't know what she was doing with oscar as a baby because he was her first child and her mothers' group was her only reference and they went "isn't the best part of the day when you wake up and go to their crib and they smile at you?" and she was like ??? because oscar would wake up and just SCREAM every single day needing to be out of there immediately and she thought that was just normal... then she had the girls and went "ahhhh... so that's what they're talking about"

when he was younger than 2 he needed them to read car magazines to him and was already obsessed with all things automotive and while they were driving would just name off and point out car brands by their badges

for a long period of time he behaved like he was a car and would "spin" his wheels and pretend to accelerate and run like a car lol

did a big burnout the first time he was on a bike (it had training wheels but he still learned very early)

as a mum she wishes he'd chosen golf or tennis since it's much safer than f1 and sometimes people tell her that she technically had a say in that when he was a kid and she said "but i didn't! it was just in him!!!"

won an academic award when he was 13 and she was president of the parents' community so she presented it to him, normally these events are super formal and you simply shake hands but she gave him a big kiss and instead of acting embarrassed or spluttering he looked at the crowd, nodded silently, and walked off

came back for the summer a few years ago and they were biking on the beach together when she had to brake hard to avoid a kid and went over, when she recovered and got back on he went "are you all right?" very deadpan but after they got home they checked his heart rate monitor and saw that he was totally steady the whole time except for when she crashed and his heart rate went through the roof, told him "ah so you do have a heart... we just don't see it"

"there's no sibling that can piss him off?" "well he's a boy with three girls so he just doesn't go there because he's never going to win"

met lily in person for the first time when he came home for the melbourne grand prix (was still alpine reserve), at midnight oscar was like "hey mum you know the dts film crew are coming tomorrow morning right?" and she was like WHAT... and he was like yeah it'll be chill they just want to film us having breakfast like a normal family or whatever and she was like Mate you haven't lived here for 5 years now do you know what breakfast looks like. it looks like your sisters storming downstairs and grabbing an inappropriate breakfast and storming out the door giving me the finger!!! and then the next morning lily comes down and nicole is like "oh is oscar up?" and lily is like no... i think he's still in bed... (many such cases) and then mae refused to be in it so she got dressed and ran off to school 2 hours early to escape them. and then the mclaren fiasco happened and the whole thing got cut out of dts anyway

when she said "oh my god you met matt damon!" he was just like (shrugs) "yeah... yeah..."

they communicate by facetiming and he's Always lying in bed. one time in bahrain he was leaning back on an ornate tapestry and she asked what hotel he was staying at and he was like oh i'm at the royal palace i'm like a guest of the crown prince. she freaked out and was like "oh my god!!! get your head off the tapestry!!!" and he just looked back like ? no it's fine it looks pretty old lol

called her to tell her that he signed his f1 contract and when he said mclaren she Realized and was like oh no i love daniel!! and he straight up deadpanned "yeah everyone loves daniel. that's going to be a problem..." and said verbatim "of all the f1 drivers ever daniel is the worst one to be replacing"

one time in f4 chris couldn't go to a race and billy monger had just had his crash so she flew to the uk for the weekend to support him and when she was driving him back to boarding school she was happy because she had 2 hours to spend with him and she wasn't sure when she'd see him again but instead he slept the whole way through and the moment they got back to school he went "ahhhh... home sweet home" and she wanted to slap him lmfao

first day of primary school when he was 5 years old he said he didn't need her to walk him to school and she was like "well i actually do mate" so he forced her to walk behind him the whole way and the moment they got there he turned to her and went "all right i'm here you can go now" 😭

the chinese & italian & yugoslavian is on chris's side of the family while nicole's is scottish & irish ("that's where the pasty skin comes from")

red flags pod sent her a shirt with oscar's face composed of His Tweet and she showed it to him and he immediately said he wanted it

he gave her a small warning before he posted the tweet but it was just like "mum so this is going to happen just don't worry about it. it's all under control. it'll be fine" and was very calm the whole time

"we just had to trust that his personality would come through at some point, because the way he came across was not at all what he's like. people will work out who the real you is so just continue to do what you do" 🥺

all of the kids were obsessed with Cars (2006)

likes his mum's golden syrup dumplings and grandmother's rumballs

AT THE SINGAPORE GP IN 2023 HATTIE DISAPPEARED FOR HOURS TO GO SEE A K-POP CONCERT 😭😭😭😭 i think it was p1h lmfao (nicole was asked for her favorite group and went "i have no idea. five boys") ((it's txt)) meanwhile oscar is only into house music and she thinks everything he plays is the same song

did pilates when he went home but never with her and thinks it's a lot harder than it looks

takes him minimum 24 hours to respond to anything she sends

she had an exact conversation with oscar where she asked who he wanted to be teammates with and he said "well if i go up against lando i don't even have to get close the first year because everyone knows how good he is" 😭

oscar you are so you 🧡

[wordstome]

What are the dads’ favorite bonding activities with their kids? 🥺

hello friend!!

Price: I like to imagine Price's girls are engaged in all sorts of extracurricular activities from ballet to the school play. I think his favorite bonding activity with them would be taking them out to eat after a recital or a performance. Just his little ladies and some good old greasy spoon diner food: what else could a man want? And you know that when the girls grow up, those nights are going to be some of their fondest childhood memories.

Ghost: Caden is a parallel play kind of kid. He's quietly doing his little crayon drawings next to Simon watching a tv show. I could also see them bonding when Simon takes Caden out to run errands with him, groceries and stuff. Caden gets a bit of socialization, and Simon is there if he gets overwhelmed and needs a bit of comfort. It really brings them together: the kid knows that no matter how distant his dad can be, he can always rely on Simon.

Soap: JOCK ALERT. His favorite bonding activity is taking his kids to the park. Impromptu soccer games, roleplaying on the playground equipment, buying them ice cream on a hot summer day. When Elodie's older, she stops going, preferring to hang out with friends or do her own thing. But I can see wayyyy in the future when she's an adult, she'll have a lot of nostalgia for those days and will love going on walks with her dad.

Gaz: Kyle is a planned activities kind of man, a very take the kids to Disney World and make lifetime memories sorta guy. Every summer the family gets an airbnb by the lake, and every winter they're off at a ski lodge. (Here's to that delicious, delicious dual income household.) Violet and Elliott are always the kids blowing into the first day of class full of stories about all the fun stuff they got up to over the summer.

König: Dress-up. Come on, you knew this was coming. He's so girldad. Ava can't keep her hands out of her dad's luscious locks, and loves making him paper crowns because of his callsign (he definitely speaks German with her at home so she knows what it means). He also buys Ava those big plastic playsets that are a grocery checkout or a little kitchen and roleplays little scenarios with her. Ava's a militant chef, by the way. She would make a great line cook.

Horangi: Concerts with his daughter, Ryujin. Probably a few raves, as well. Ryujin's a punk rock and indie scene kinda gal, but she'll listen to anything, and has a few favorite kpop groups whose concerts she's dragged Hong-jin to. He's a diehard Once (fan of the girl group Twice) himself. They've also definitely gotten a few tattoos/piercings together, which would be an odd thing to do with your dad if Ryujin's dad were not so cool.

Keegan: Same as Johnny, except instead of taking his kids to safe parks and soccer fields, he takes them into the woods. Camping, fishing, teaching them a bunch of useful skills. It's such a "things your divorced dad does with you when he doesn't know what else to do for the weekend you're staying with him" activity, but Jason and Cecelia have never had someone do those things with them before, so they're having a good time. Other than that, laser tag and airsoft is a big one. Keegan was hesitant to get them into stuff like that, but they've always been curious about his military career and things just sort of escalated from there. I saw this tiktok of a cosplayer in a Logan mask captioned "when you're playing airsoft with your 15-year spec ops dad" and it's the cosplayer plastering themselves against a wall in terror: that's Keegan's kids. He's not going to hold back when he plays, and they don't want him to.

[0nlythrowharrybeaux]

Wonderful World - Part 18

This is a huge fluff bomb for the most part. There are tiny little angsty bits but they get resolved quickly. THINGS ARE TURNING AROUND!

Series Masterlist

Warnings: mentions of underage drinking, mentions and use of alcohol/drugs, mentions of sex - that's all I can think of??

WC: 18.6k

Diana had dropped Celeste off and went off to run errands since Harry had planned for a longer session since Celeste hadn’t spoken to him practically all summer and she was starting school shortly. Harry was having a lovely time during his lunch appointment with Celeste. They had made things a bit more informal as they were sitting on the couch cushions on the floor and using the coffee table for their spread. They had been talking throughout the time, mostly about Celeste’s time at summer camp, but Harry soon noticed that she was keeping some stuff to herself, which he didn’t mind at all, but it did make him wonder what exactly she was not wanting him to know. But other than that she seemed to be doing really well after matters with the bullying were resolved and that she’d gotten her break from school. Currently they were in stitches as she kept trying to use her chopsticks to pick up a dumpling.

“I can’t do it!” She laughed.

“OK, look at how I’m holding mine…” he said and she groaned before trying to copy what he was doing, “Good, there you go. Now just grab the dumpling…Good! Yes!” He stated in excitement as she started to bring it up to her mouth but then it slipped out of her grip and bounced off the coffee table and onto the ground.

“Misty, no!” Celeste gasped as she just saw her little paw dart out from under the table and pull the dumpling out of her reach. “Sorry, she’s so fast.” Celeste apologized.

“S’alright, I think one won’t do her any harm.” He assured her with a smile and Celeste just put down the chopsticks and grabbed her fork again. “So are you excited to start sophomore year?” He asked and she nodded.

“Yeah, I think it’ll be a lot better. I’m excited about it a bit more now.” She shared as she stabbed through another dumpling.

“Any particular reason why?” He asked as she bit her lip.

“I ummm…I have a boyfriend now.” She said and Harry’s eyebrows arched up in surprise at this news. 

He wanted to ask her who it was. Was is that guy that had made her feel sad at the concert? How long had they known each other? How old was he? Had he had other girlfriends before? And why did those relationships end? Was he a good kid or was he a trouble maker? What was his family like? Did he have good relationships with his parents and secure attachments to them? Or was his family messy and neglectful, meaning he would need to work harder to have healthy relationships with others? And more importantly, after everything she’d endured the year before, could she handle a romantic relationship right now? What if it went wrong? What if he hurt her? There were just so many things that were going through his mind and it was so much that he had no idea how parents could just watch their children grow up!

“Oh…” he finally said, “Ummm…does your mom know?” He asked instead, just bringing all of his thoughts to a screeching halt. He had no business fretting about Celeste like this, but she meant a lot to him. He loved her to pieces and he just wanted what was best for her.

“Yup.” She said simply and he hummed. He wondered if Diana did any vetting of this kid before giving her approval.

“Does she really?” He asked, trying to mask his doubt in her response.

“Yeah, we even had a…talk about what things I should…know.” She said before cringing and then put her fork down.

“Well that’s good…ummm…are there any goals you have for the year?”

“Ummm…I want straight A’s this semester. I want to be involved in a school production, and…I don’t know of anything else, just those two for now.” She said with a smile.

“OK, well I think now with less stress on your plate you should be able to do just that this year. You’re so smart and capable and I know you work so hard.”

“I do get nervous that I might get anxiety again and like…mess things up.”

“Well feeling anxious is quite normal.” Harry assured, “And you know what to do about it now, don’t you?”

“Kind of…” she said and he smiled.

“Kind of?!” He asked incredulously, “I think you’ve got mastery over your anxiety. I think my only little nugget of wisdom for you is that just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you have to.”

“What do you mean?” She asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“I mean just that. Like sometimes you won’t want to deal with your anxiety or stress in a “mature way”.” He explained with air quotations, “Sometimes you might just want to let yourself wallow and do nothing about it, and that’s totally fine. Your negative emotions should be expressed too, obviously not in a way that is hurtful to yourself or others. But if it’s too much and you don’t want to or can’t figure out why it’s happening then you call me. Or talk to you friends or your mum. But just know that just because you have the skillset it doesn’t mean that you no longer need any help, basically.” 

“Oh, OK.” She smiled. Her fall semester was starting the next week and she was just a little bit unsure of the logistics of everything with Ben, that’s really what was on her mind. “Ummm Dr. Styles…I think I’m a bit concerned about how…things will change with Ben being my…boyfriend now. Like, what if everything changes?”

“Well I think there will definitely be changes, but that’s something to discuss with Ben. Obviously, your priorities can change with a partner. It’s natural to want to spend more time with him and try and merge your circles. But just because you’re with someone doesn’t mean that you need to do everything with them. And more importantly, it’s important to remember not to trade your own identity and life for a partner, you can do your lives together. For example, if it’s important for you to have time with your friends then let him know that. Find a balance with him about how you guys want to move forward.” Harry said and Celeste nodded.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” She smiled before reaching for another dumpling, “And what if…what if he doesn’t want that?” 

“Well communicate and see if there’s a way to compromise. But if that’s still not enough then I’d say that you need to consider what’s more important at that point.” He said sincerely and she frowned. “Is it important to you to have a boyfriend?” Harry asked and she shrugged.

“I mean, I do like it.” She said simply, “But this is really the first time anyone I’ve liked has liked me back and…I guess, I’m scared that if I mess it up that…maybe I might not find that again?”

“Well, it’s always gonna feel that way if a relationship ends, whether it’s your first or your twentieth. Losing someone you care for and love that deeply is never going to be easy. But ultimately, relationships are about putting your genuine self out there to be loved, so don’t put so much pressure on yourself to be perfect or to make it perfect. Again this is your first relationship with another person, you’re bound to make mistakes and to go about things the wrong way, you’re still learning how you love and care and support someone in this role, you know? And Ben knows that too, right?” He asked and she nodded, “I’m sure he’s not perfect either. Nothin truly is but so long as you both communicate and continue to respect and care for each other how you do now, things should be just fine no matter what happens.” He assured her and she exhaled nervously and nodded.

“OK.” She hummed with a small smile.

It was nearing their time when Harry started wrapping up the session and technically her treatment plan for her depression and anxiety. He was pleased to confirm that she had met her goals, she was symptom free now, and overall that meant that he had done what he had set out to do with her. He then started asking her about what classes she was taking, what her schedule would be looking like and ultimately, what did she want out of therapy - if she even wanted to continue working with him at this point in time. They had now resumed their regular seating positions, he in his chair and she on the couch.

“So from what I’m hearing, we’ve accomplished what we wanted to accomplish with your treatment plan. But moving forward do you want to do the bi-weekly appointments, like you had said earlier this summer? Or are you perhaps considering another option?” He asked as he glanced up to her and she nibbled on her bottom lip pensively.

In truth, Celeste felt really good for the first time in a while. She felt that personally she was doing well, her friendships were solid, her relationship with her mom was also on steady ground. She knew that she’d be performing a lot better in school without the pressure of the bullying, and her anxiety had diminished tremendously when things with Megan improved. She didn’t feel like there was anything for her to work on right now. However, she didn’t want to lose Dr. Styles. She wondered if being a child of divorce felt how she was feeling. Where most of the time she was with her mom, and she loved her mom, but when she got to see Dr. Styles it was usually the highlight of her week. He wasn’t just her therapist, at least not in her eyes, he was almost like family in her eyes and she didn’t want to see him only when she needed mental health support. She wanted him to be around for her life in general! She would be eternally grateful for all the ways in which he helped her overcome her depression and anxiety, for the way he cared and protected her, for the way he went out of his way for her. But then she felt selfish, because if someone else needed him more than she did now it wasn’t right to take up his time. But the idea of someone else taking her place also made her sad because to her, he wasn’t just another therapist.

“I ummm…” she paused, “I don’t know…” She sighed nervously. She didn’t expect to start tearing up but she did and Harry pouted as she reached for a spare napkin to dab under her eyes. “I’m sure there are other people who need you even more than I do-”

“I’m not worried about other people now, just you and your therapeutic journey.” He said and she sniffled.

“That’s why I’m…I don’t think I need therapy anymore, but I’ll still need you.” She explained with tearful eyes and Harry’s eyes softened as they met hers, “Like you’re part of my family. I know that might be weird and not technically allowed, but like I don’t have the same support system that other people do.” She shared, “I just need you because then it feels like…my life is normal, you know?” She spoke before sputtering on a cry and Harry tutted.

“Oh petal, don’t cry.” He comforted her as he stood and she made space for him not he coach before he sat and hugged around her shoulders as she leaned into his side. “Who’s to say what’s normal and what’s not, anyway?” He asked rhetorically and she sniffled.

“Technically you, since that’s basically your job.” She responded and he chuckled a bit. 

“You’re not wrong about that.” He reasoned and she smiled despite the tears streaming down her face, “I ummm…I have something I’ve been thinking of telling you as well.” He said nervously.

“Is it bad?” She whispered, not daring to pull away to look at him.

“No and yes.” He said as he fixed his gaze on the wall in front of him. “We don’t have to talk about this now, I know that we’re coming up on our time, but I promise you it’s more good than bad.” He said and she pulled away now and looked into his eyes.

“Can you just tell me now? Otherwise I’m gonna be worrying about it until we see each other again.” She chuckled nervously and he nodded and cleared his throat as she pulled back further to be able to properly look at him.

“Yeah petal, of course.” He said and she just looked at him expectantly as he gathered his thoughts a bit. “I ummm…I went to visit my family this summer-”

“In England?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, “And ummm…I was talking to my mum about work and clients and I mentioned you to her. And everything that you’ve been going through and I ummm.” He sighed, “I think I knew before then that I care about you differently than my other clients. I mean, I am invested and I want what’s best for you and I worry about you and I want to help out more because I see how your mum does it all on her own and like…I think she’s doing the absolutely best job a parent could ever do. But it makes me feel like I should do more for you, but that’s not really…my job.” He said and she frowned a bit as he said this.

“Ugh, what I mean is that I ummm…I-i have grown to…ummm, t-to love you like…my own.” He said with a furrow in his eyebrows and her eyes started welling up again, “I too think of you as family, like a daughter I guess. I mean, I think that’s what this feels like.” He said and her eyes softened as they met his nervous ones. 

“You do?” She asked in quiet surprise and Harry nodded his head.

“Yeah. When we see each other for our appointments I almost feel like it’s my visitation time, like it’s my turn to spend time with you.” He explained with a small, nervous smile, “I can’t wait to see you and hear what’s new with you. Hoping that you’re doing well. Worried that someone else might hurt you or give you a hard time about something. I’m always worried about you to some extent and just the fact that I now care for you in this way has made it difficult to…to be objective.” He explained.

“And what about this is bad news?” She questioned through a sniffle and he chuckled at her question before clearing his throat.

“The bad news is that in seeing you in this new light, I wouldn’t really make a great therapist to you.” He explained and she wiped under her eyes as her pooled up tears started to streak down her cheeks.

“Oh.” 

“Yeah. I mean, I’ll always be here for you if you want to talk. Or if you or your mum need help with anything, or a ride, $20, a DoorDash? Absolutely anything at all, I’ll be here for you. But it’s just getting hard for me to be a therapist to you when I want to act like a… parent to you, you know?”

“Well what about if you get married and have your own kids?” She asked and he shook his head.

“I don’t- well, I never really wanted kids of my own. That hadn’t really been something that I planned for. I mean, the fact that I’ve started to care for you in a paternal way was even a surprise to me! So I’m not entirely sure how to navigate it just yet.” He explained, “But I mean, I just think that I could…be around more, like Henry and Grace? Like if your mum is swamped and needs someone to pick you up from school or if you have an event or a dance, or just a bad day, I find myself wanting to know those things as they happen and be there for you in real time, you know?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean…You know, I’m always asking my mom to invite you to stuff, but she’s always reminding me that technically you shouldn’t do those things for me and it does make me sad when you can’t or say no.” she confessed and he nodded in understanding.

“She’s right. But I’m sorry because this is very unfair of me to do to you, Celeste. I’m sorry if I ever made you question my care for you because of things like that. I tried to…to be objective, to keep the emotional distance, but you mean a lot to me and I’ve been trying to be objective and do what’s best for you. That’s my main goal, is to do what’s best. If that means ending our therapeutic relationship, then I can even help your mum find you another therapist! Or if you’d prefer that I continue to work with you like this then maybe some time apart would be best. Just t-to help me get back in the right headspace to help you as a therapist. Or I don’t know, I’ll think of something if that’s what you want.” He suggested, “I just want you to know that I only want to do right by you.” He explained and she nodded.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. Does it matter more to you that I’m present in your life outside of therapy? Or is this what you prefer?” He asked.

“Both?” She chuckled through a sniffle. Her shoulders shrugged and he smiled as he reached for the tissue box and handed it to her.

“You’ve got some snot just-”

“Ugh, gross.” She huffed before taking one and quickly blowing her nose as he chuckled at her response.

“Again, I’m sorry for just springing this on you. Would it help t-to take some time to think about how we should proceed?” He asked and she nodded immediately.

“Yeah. Some time to think about it would be nice.” She concurred and he nodded.

“OK. And you take as much time as you need, yeah? I’ll keep your slot blocked off until you’re ready.” He assured her and she smiled as she crumbled up the tissue in her hand.

“Thank you.” She said with gratitude and he smiled.

“Course, just want what’s best for you, petal.”

“I know.” She smiled, “Ummm, c-can I hug you again?” She asked and he nodded and opened up his arms as she surged forward to hug him once more. “I…love you too, Harry.” She hummed softly and his whole heart instantly warmed. “Thank you so much for helping me. I couldn’t have made it through without you.” She sighed.

“I’m happy I could help.” He assured her and let go when there was a soft knock on his office door. He stood up and went over, opening it up to see Diana.

“Your 2pm is here.” She said to him and his eyes widened a bit.

“Oh, thank you for the warning!” He said and then she moved aside to let him peek into the waiting room, “Paul, sorry. I’ll be just a few more minutes.” He said to the man and he just smiled and nodded. “Can you ummm, help me clean up, I need to use the bathroom.” He said softly to Diana.

“Sure.” She agreed and grabbed her purse and Harry rushed into the bathroom. She saw Celeste dabbing at her eyes with a tissue before she went to toss it in the trash. “Are you alright, cariño?” Diana asked her and she just smiled and nodded.

“Just had a heart-to-heart.” She sniffled.

“Oh, OK.” Diana smiled, “His next patient is here, we should hurry to clean up a bit.”

“Right!” She said and finishing packing up the bit of left overs into one box and then the trash into one of the bags that the food had been delivered in. It was just a moment before Harry emerged with damp hands.

“Thank you so much for helping tidy up.” He said to them gratefully and they both nodded.

“Oh, let me pay you-”

“It’s alright, this one’s on the house.” He assured Diana and she looked at him skeptically, “I’m sure. We’re all good.” He confirmed.

“Oh OK, well thank you. Did you guys figure out a new schedule?” She asked as she turned to Celeste.

“I’m gonna let him know.” Celeste said to Diana, who then turned to Harry and he nodded with a smile.

“Yeah. I’m gonna keep her regular slot blocked off and when she needs to come in just call or make your appointment online.” He said.

“Sounds good. Thank you again, Dr. Styles.” Diana said and Harry nodded firmly.

“My pleasure. And please, take the left overs with you.” He said to Celeste.

“Are you sure?” Celeste asked and he nodded.

“Yeah, of course! The dumplings were for you.” He assured and she grabbed the bag happily. Diana then grabbed the trash bag to toss in the big bin in the hallway before he walked them over to the other door that led to the hallway, “Alright, ladies.” He said as they stepped out, “Get home safe.” He said to Diana who just offered a small nod and then he turned to smile at Celeste.

She couldn’t help it as she shoved the bag into Diana’s hands and just hurried forward and hugged around Harry’s torso once again. Harry chuckled and hugged around her shoulders in response. His eyes fluttered up to Diana’s who quickly looked away when their eyes met. It was almost too much to see him being affectionate with Celeste. It was great to see but it also made her feel a bit sad. It was too easy to just imagine these sweet and affectionate scenarios being so commonplace in their lives, but it just wasn’t a real possibility.

“We’ll talk soon.” He assured Celeste quietly.

“Yeah.” she whispered and nodded against his chest before letting go.

“Bye.” He waved as they made their way down the hall.s

The car ride was quiet, Celeste seemed very pensive, but not sad. It wasn’t at all what Diana was expecting after what seemed like a “goodbye” at Harry’s office. She wanted to ask what they had talked about or what they had agreed upon, but she knew better than to pry. Obviously, Celeste had been doing far better than before, so she knew that Celeste probably would’t need therapy at the same frequency as before, but it was clear that she wanted to keep working with Harry as needed. Diana was glad though, that out of everyone she looked into they ended up with Harry. It gave her an increasing sense of comfort to know that the person who was helping her daughter, the literal sunshine of her life, on such a personal level loved and cared about her as if she were his own. Maybe she couldn’t have him in the ways she wanted, but at the very least Celeste had him in her life and that was good enough for Diana. 

*********

The next few weeks before Celeste was back in school flew by. Since Diana taught in the summer she was going to have pretty lax fall semester. So in between prepping for her two classes she, Celeste, and Grace dedicated time do some back to school shopping. It was something they had done together since Celeste started Kindergarten. Things were vastly different now. And while Diana was aware that time flew by and that inevitably, Celeste would grow up, she found it a bit of an emotional experience to be in the Ulta as Grace helped her choose a perfume because now that she had a boyfriend, she wanted to smell extra nice.

“-just keep it away from your lady bits because it will burn. Badly.” Grace said and Celeste looked at her quite judgmentally.

“Yeah, duh. Who would even think to do that?”

“Look, when we were younger no one had candid conversations about those kinds of things with us. Even some girls now might not have anyone to have those conversations with them.” Grace defended, “So many women might still do a lot of really…harmful things to themselves in the name of being more “feminine”. But it seems your mom has done a good job of warning you about those things.” Grace said with a smile and Diana chuckled.

“Yeah, definitely. No one should go through all the weird things we went through as adolescents.” Diana agreed as she picked up a bottle of some new Dior perfume to spray on a test strip and immediately grimaced as she gave it a whiff. 

They searched around for some hair products Celeste wanted to try and once they finished, were soon grabbing some dinner together. Celeste inhaled her food and was talking to Grace about Ben and her plans for the school year. She was basically back to her old self, she seemed more confident, and prepared for whatever might come her way. Diana was so proud of her, she had said it to her many times, and she was glad to hear Grace reiterating to her how she too was proud of how far she’d come over the last year.

“I know my mom was like…nerdy in high school.” Celeste said and Diana scoffed, “You said you were!” She defended, “But what were you like, Grace?” She asked.

“I was actually very popular. I was on the tennis team and we were very good.” She shared. “But I was a nice popular girl. I was a thespian too…and part of the debate team…” She shared, “Oh, and ASB VP junior year, and president my senior year…it was as fun time.” She mused with nostalgia, “Obviously, prioritize school. But remember to enjoy this time and make all of the memories you can. You’re only 15 once.” Grace said with a smile.

**********

On Monday morning Diana had made Celeste a breakfast sandwich and an iced earl grey tea so that she could eat on the way to school. She looked so cute in her new outfit and Diana was so excited to see her daughter like this, feeling gorgeous, confident, and capable. That’s all she could really hope for her. It was a new school year with new possibilities for both of them. All there was to do now was to seize those opportunities as they came.

“Are you excited? Nervous? Calm?” Diana asked as they drove to her school.

“More excited. I feel like it’s going to be a really good year.” Celeste shared before having another bite of her sandwich.

“Good. Did your uncle text you?”

“Yeah. Sent me $200 too.” She smiled excitedly.

“Well, just be smart with it, OK?”

“Yeah, I will…” she hummed lowly, “Oh, I know that technically you don’t start teaching until next week, but is it OK with you if Ruben drives me home after school on the days that I have activities after school? He’s on the football team and has to stay a bit later for practice and Ben is just always waiting around for him alone.” She said and Diana bit her lip.

“I’ll think about it.” Diana decided and Celeste huffed.

“Mom…” she whined.

“He’s 17, mamita. I’m not saying no, I just need to give it some thought.”

“Ben said he’s a good driver…”

“I’m no saying he isn’t, but he’s a teenager and driving can be dangerous even if you’re being cautious-”

“Oh my god, mom, it’s just like a 15 minute drive! Nothing’s going to happen to me!” She insisted, her body was now turned towards Diana’s as they were stopped at a traffic light.

“You don’t know that! And young men just tend to be the most reckless drivers-”

“I’m not going to die like Wes did!” Celeste’s voiced her frustration loudly and Diana’s heart immediately sunk and her stomach knotted up, her good mood completely faded in an instant. She exhaled shakily and Celeste was completely frozen upon realizing what she had just said.

“We’re done having this conversation, Celeste.” Diana said softly.

“Mom-” Diana cut her off as she turned on the radio and immediately turned it up. It was comically ironic how “Perfect Day” by Hoku filled the space. Celeste frowned when she saw Diana swallow thickly and a few tears slid down her cheek as they started driving again.

Celeste had no idea what to even do next, she was just staring at her mom. Waiting, hoping that she would blow up on her because she deserved it. But she stayed quiet the rest of the time until they were coming up to the drop off point. When the car came to a stop her mom was just quietly staring out the windshield.

“Alright, ummmm, have a good first day.” Her mom said quietly and she had no idea what to do, she was still just starting at her in shock.

“Mom-”

“Go on then…” she cut her off once more.

“Mom, please-”

“I don’t want to talk to you right now. Get out, please.” More of her tears started to fall and Celeste felt like absolute shit.

“But-”

“Get. Out.” Her mom punctuated, “I’ll be fine.” She mumbled and she just hurried out of the car.

***********

As soon as she pulled out of the school parking lot Diana started to sob. What Celeste had said to her was absolutely cruel. She felt so sick to her stomach. She knew how teens could be and she had to keep her cool. Though personally, she had never been that gutsy with her parents, she’d thought plenty of awful things some times. And she was thinking awful things now, but she was an adult now and she needed to get out of the situation before she blew up horribly on Celeste and said something to ruin her first day at school. She had to pull over from how hard she was crying, but better to let it all out than keep it bottled up inside. 

When she got home she did a bit of laundry and tidied up around the house, just trying to work away the frustration and that lump that was apparently lodged in her throat now. Afterwards she just plopped herself in bed and scrolled through her phone silently until she decided to reach out to Josh, he had teenagers, maybe he could help her figure out how to deal with this situation with Celeste. He was quick to reply and let her know that he was free the next day and they planned to meet up at Cafe Flores at 9am. After coffee Diana could go into the office and work on her assignments for a bit.

She lazed around for a large part of the afternoon and then made some dinner before leaving around 4:30 to get Celeste, the first day of band was always longer as they got the new members set up and discussed the repertoire for that semester. She waited in the parking lot for a bit before she saw Celeste coming out with Ben at her side. They stopped at the gate and Diana glanced away when she saw Celeste looking around before Ben leaned in to kiss her cheek quickly before he hugged her tight. Moments later the passenger door was opening up and she glanced over to see Celeste looking at her reluctantly.

“Hey, how was it?” She asked softly.

“Ummm…good. Really good.” Celeste responded. Diana could feel the apprehension rolling off of Celeste in waves as she settled into the front seat.

“That’s good.” She hummed and then took off. Once again, it was quiet between them. As much as Diana wanted to say something, if she spoke she would cry, so she just decided to stay in her head and focus on the road. They made it home and as soon as they got inside Diana felt more calm, but she still needed some space.

“Ummm, dinner’s on the stove.” Diana said to Celeste.

“Mom, I’m really sorry for what I said today it was horrible.” Celeste blurted out and Diana sighed.

“I know you are. I do forgive you, I just ummm…I’m still upset though.” She explained and Celeste frowned.

“But mom-”

“You really hurt my feelings, mamita. I love you, but I just…I need a little space to get over it, OK? I’m not mad at you anymore, just need some space.” She assured before heading back to her bedroom. She stripped down, had a shower, and then soaked in the bathtub until the water was getting a little too cold to relish any longer. She had just finished rinsing the bath bomb off when there were some knocks on her bathroom door. “Yeah?”

“I made you some of that chamomile tea you like.” Celeste said through the door and Diana smiled to herself. She quickly put on her bathrobe and opened the door to see Celeste setting the mug down on a coaster on her bedside table. She turned quickly upon hearing the door open, “I’m really sorry for what I said, mom.” She apologized again as she hurried over and Diana nodded.

“I know you are. C’mere.” She sighed and Celeste smiled as she settled into her arms. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Celeste sighed, “I just…got mad at you for…not letting me catch rides with Ruben-”

“I didn’t say no, Celeste. Just that I need to think about it. I don’t know him all that well, I’m sure he’s a great kid, but I just need to trust him a bit more to let you in a car with him without any adult supervision.”

“He’s turning 18 in November…” she whined.

“Look, I get that you want a bit more freedom now that you’re…growing up, but I’m still responsible for you. If something ever happens to you based on a decision I made it’s going to eat me alive. I called Josh today and we’re going to meet up for coffee tomorrow. Just want to see what he thinks because if something ever happens, their family would also be implicated and I just need to make sure that Ben’s parents are also OK with Ruben driving other people around. OK?”

“OK…” Celeste agreed. 

“And look, as you get a bit older we might…clash a bit more. There are going to be things that you might want that I might not be on board with. And even if we disagree or fight, I will always do my very best to keep my anger or frustration in check. I will try to be patient and understanding and even when we fight, just try to remember that I love you and just want to do what’s best for you. You’re everything to me, mamita. I’m just trying to do my best.” Diana said and Celeste just nodded.

“I know.” She said quietly, “I decided that I’m trying out for the fall musical.” She shared and Diana pulled back with a smile.

“Really? What musical are you guys going to do?” She asked.

“The Wizard of Oz.”

“Oh! What part are you trying out for?”

“I want Dorothy, but I don’t know…Maybe Glinda or the Scarecrow.”

“Well, if you want to be Dorothy, audition for Dorothy. Don’t settle.”

“You really think I can do it?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard you sing! You know…I’m a bit of a singer myself. I haven’t played piano in ages, but I’d be happy to get a keyboard or something and help you prepare audition pieces if you want? We can spend a bit more time together like that?”

“Really?”

“Yeah! It’d be fun!”

“OK.” She agreed.

“When are auditions?”

“In one month. We’re making the sets first. Mr. Greene wants to see how we collaborate with each other or something like that, first.”

“Well sometimes when people get the lead roles they get a little…prissy. It happened to Carly DeWitt during our production of Legally Blonde my junior year. She started being mean to everyone and bossing everyone around, everyone hated her by the end of the semester. Not even her friends wanted to talk to her because she just felt like she was better than everyone and wouldn’t help around the production. So I think Mr. Greene is on to something.” Diana said and after catching up a bit about Celeste’s day while she brushed her hair out they each went to bed. 

*********

After dropping off Celeste at school the following morning, Diana made her way to Cafe Flores to meet Josh. She parked in the faculty lot by her building and then made the ten minute walk through campus to the cafe. It was still a bit busy despite the lack of student presence, it did get a lot worse during the school year. She greeted the staff over the counter and took a seat, waiting for him to show up and just a few minutes later he was coming in through the door and she stood.

“Hey, how are you?” Josh greeted her warmly with a hug and friendly smile.

“Good. And you?” She asked.

“Pretty good as well. Have you ordered?”

“No, I was waiting for you.” She informed and so with that they went up to place their orders before taking a seat. 

They first caught up a bit and finally she brought up the reason why she had asked to meet him. Diana took a sip of her coffee before clearing her throat.

“So I wanted to talk to you about something.” She said and he nodded, “Yesterday, Celeste and I got into a bit of an argument…” she explained and he hummed, “Well, more like she got mad at me because she wanted my permission to let Ruben drive her home on the days he has football practice so that Ben doesn’t have to wait for him on his own.” She explained, “And ummm, I told her I’d think about it. Then she…was like ‘nothing’s gonna happen to me’ and I just told her that she didn’t know that and then she…she got upset and said that it’s not like she would die like…her dad did.” Diana said more quietly and Josh frowned.

“Oh my god…I’m so sorry.” He said and she shrugged.

“Obviously, it hurt my feelings…but ummm, my concerns do stem from that. He was…18, had his whole life ahead of him and a drunk driver ran a red and…that was it. So anyway, I’m a bit reluctant and I guess I just wanted to know i-if I’m being irrational about it?”

“Absolutely not! Besides, he’s not allowed to drive anyone apart from Ben until he turns 18 because he got two speeding tickets this summer.” Josh shared. “And after what you’ve been through I don’t want to put you in a situation that will make you concerned over your daughter’s wellbeing. Also, Ben really likes her and well, he’s always been a bit more of a geek and has struggled a bit in making friends and fitting in well. Luckily, we’ve been able to curve any bullying because Ruben is such a conventional teenage guy and no one messes with Ben because of it, but ummm, I’m really proud of him for going for it with Celeste. He’s felt more confident and he looks really happy and ummm, I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. Maybe we can revisit this when Ben get’s his license next year, but I think for the time being it’d be best to not.”

“OK, well thank you for being honest with me about this.”

“I’m just annoyed now that my little shits were planning a coup…It’s not like Ben doesn’t know about the conditions we gave Ruben.” He said and Diana chuckled.

“They’re teenagers…they can be sneaky.”

“I know but…ugh, now I know how my parents must have felt.” He chuckled and Diana did as well. “Were you a trouble maker too?” He questioned with a teasing smirk.

“Actually no. I was a choir geek, didn’t even have a boyfriend until Wes…he was my first and last boyfriend.” She said and he frowned a bit.

“You’ve been alone this whole. Fucking. Time?” He questioned and Diana shrugged.

“It’s not like I haven’t tried.” She said, “And the one time I did think that maybe…I could be with someone Celeste flipped her shit.” She said, “Thought I was going to forget about her…so that ended and then ummm…I just…chose her. Well, I don’t know what I’m complaining about when you’ve sacrificed so much yourself.” She shook her head.

“Don’t minimize what you’re going through.” He said reaching for her hand and squeezed it, Diana smiled, “Yeah, it’s different than what I’ve been through, but it’s still hard. And at the end of the day that’s what parenthood is. The ultimate sacrifice. It’s never about you ever again. Even when they’re gone they’ll still have your whole heart and I mean, it’s not like you even have a choice you know. It’s going to be them.Every. Single. Fucking. Time.” he said softly.

*********

Harry had an adjunct faculty meeting at the Mental Health & Behavioral Intervention department. It was something they did every year to provide updates on university policies, courses, staffing, and to set up direct deposit for paying the adjunct professors. Misty had been sick to her stomach so he had taken her to the ER vet and lost some sleep since he was monitoring her overnight, so Harry was exhausted. Thankfully, the vet called in the morning and let him know that it seemed like she ate some bug that she shouldn’t have and she’d be just fine. He was relieved to learn that she was going to be just fine, but he needed a bit of a boost to make it through this three hour meeting at the university, so he decided to make a quick stop at Cafe Flores. 

He stopped at the window by the door, he just wanted a peek inside to see if there was a long line since he had less than ten minutes to get to the meeting. However, his stomach sank and his mood crashed as his eyes were drawn to see some handsome, large, buff man holding Diana’s hand across the small table. They were smiling at each other and seemed to be talking rather intimately. It hurt and made him so mad. Despite that, he lingered there for a few moments. He watched them being so open, laughing, talking…he wondered if she was even hurting over him anymore? He still was. And sure, he had buried that deep down to be able to function properly, to be able to stop wallowing all the fucking time, but it still hurt.

“Excuse me, are you going in?” A woman said from behind him and he spun around quickly.

“Ummm, no. Sorry.” He mumble before walking off. He sped off, heart and thoughts racing as all of these questions ran through his head. He felt like a strop-py child because he had no reason to be this upset, but the fact that he was told him that he just needed distance. More of it. He was glad now that he had told Celeste how he felt about her because he knew she would take her time to make the best choice and the longer she took, the better.

**********

Diana knew Celeste would be annoyed when she broke the news to her about Ruben not being able to drive her, but it had to be done. So on the way to pick her up from school she stopped by to pick up pizza from a place Celeste really liked and then went to grab her.

“Ooh, smells good!” Celeste hummed as she made her way into the car.

“Great! It’s my consolation prize because I have some disappointing news for you.” She said and Celeste pouted as she buckled up.

“Ughh, what now?” She asked with a frown as Diana started to drive away.

“Well, I met with Josh to see what he thought about Ruben giving you rides and he informed me that he got 2 speeding tickets over the summer so he’s not allowed to be driving anyone but Ben to and from school.” Diana said and Celeste looked away. “You knew?” Diana asked, sparing her a quick glance.

“OK, yes…but I didn’t think it would be a big deal! It’s on the way so we figured he wasn’t technically doing anything wrong since we’re on the way to their mom’s.”

“Teenagers…” Diana huffed with a roll of her eyes.

“You’re not mad?”

“Of course I am! But it’s not happening now that Josh knows, so there’s no point in getting upset at you.” She shrugged and Celeste huffed. “Sorry. But I will reconsider when Ben gets his license next year.”

“How do you know that?” She asked, turning to her quickly.

“Josh told me.” She smiled.

“I never should’ve let you guys meet…” Celeste grumbled playfully.

… OCTOBER …

This first week of October was very eventful for both Celeste and Diana. Celeste had Homecoming and was also going to hear back about the auditions for the winter musical. She and Diana had been rehearsing several songs to prepare her and she sounded phenomenal with each one. Diana had been having a rough start to her semester, she had a handful of the guys from the basketball team in her class on Latin American culture and they were very disruptive. Even after nearly a month of having them and trying to engage with them, they were just dicks and extremely disrespectful and so unserious. She had just finished grading one of their assignments where this particular student had put in absolutely no effort into the easiest thing and she was so annoyed. She was reaching her breaking point and had no idea how she would be able to handle this for the entire semester. Thankfully, her alarm went off, alerting her that it was time to pick up Celeste. She was so happy it was and started to wrap up before heading out. She was also picking up Ben today, he was going to come over and do homework at their place and then Ruben would pick him up after practice, this was a good alternative that Josh and Elena had agreed upon after talking to their boys.

“Hey guys, how were your days?” Diana greeted them.

“I got a call back for Dorothy!” Celeste said excitedly as she slid into the back seat to be able to sit with Ben.

“Yeah? Congrats!” Diana said excitedly. She could definitely use some good news after the day she’d had.

“She sounded so good in her audition last week!” Ben said as he slid into the car as well.

“Hey, Ben!” Diana greeted.

“Hi.” He smiled timidly before scooting to the center seat to be by Celeste. 

“When’s the callback?”

“At the end of the week! They want us to sing Over the Rainbow.” 

“Oh! Good thing we’ve been practicing it, you sound incredible.” Diana said and Celeste grinned.

“Really?”

“Yeah, Judy Garland would be impressed.” She assured. 

The drive home was filled with chatter about that and about the Homecoming carnival that was on Saturday night. As soon as they got home, Celeste and Ben started doing their homework in the dining room and Diana soon joined them to finish grading her assignments. It was around 5:30 when dinner arrived and Ruben was on his way. They had enough food, so Diana just texted Elena and Josh that the boys were eating dinner at hers before they headed home. It was that time of the week where there was an overlap in their shifts, so the boys would technically be alone at Elena’s place.  It made her feel better to know that they were with someone for a bit, she knew they were likely used to it, but if she could prevent them from being alone for just a bit more she’d do it.

“Thank you so much for dinner, Miss Beltran.” Ruben said as he placed his dishes in the sink as she put on the kettle for her evening tea.

“Yeah, of course. You boys have my number, if you ever want to come over just let me know.” She assured. A few moments later they were heading home. 

*********

Finally, it was Friday and Diana was pulling up to Celeste’s school. She only waited a few minutes in the lot before she, Geri, Ozzy, and Ben were all running up to the car.

“Mom, mom, mom!” Celeste was basically bursting with joy as she threw the car door open.

“What?” Diana asked with a bright smile.

“I got it! I got the lead!” She shouted excitedly and Diana gasped and hurried out of the car to Celeste and hugged and jumped up and down, cheering excitedly for a few moments with her.

“I’m so proud of you!” Diana praised as she pulled back from their hug.

“I may have been a little overexcited and asked everyone over for dinner.” She said with a nervous smile, “They’re gonna get picked up from our house at 8?”

“Yeah, alright.” Diana said.

“OK guys! Get in!” Celeste announced and her little crew started piling into the car. Diana stopped at the store for some salad and sodas and as soon as they got home she ordered some pizzas while the kids went to TV room.

“I’ve texted Grace and Harry too.” Celeste said to Diana as she came into the kitchen.

“Oh, great!”

“Yeah. Can I get 1 sprite and 3 Dr. Pepper’s?” Celeste asked and Diana went into the fridge to grab the soda cans for her before handing them over. After a few minutes Celeste came back. “Grace said she and Henry can be here around 6:30 and Harry has plans.” She said and Diana turned around.

“Harry, huh?” Diana questioned and Celeste smiled.

“Yeah. Ummm, he said he sees me like family, like a daughter, and that he…loves me.” She said and Diana’s brows arched up in surprise at the news that he actually told her. “That’s why I was crying after we met. It made me really happy to hear that. And ummm, we talked about…him not being my therapist anymore so that he could…be here for things like this all the time.” Celeste said, “I told him I wanted to think about it for a bit.”

“So is this you choosing?”

“I talked to him about trying out for the musical in session, I felt it was pretty neutral to invite him to this so that I can…give it more thought.”

“Yeah, I think it is.”

“Would you like it if he was around more?” Celeste asked.

“Ummm, I wouldn’t mind it. I like Harry, he’s really great.” Diana said and Celeste nodded.

“I think so too.” She smiled.

*********

Harry had continued his routine of drowning himself in work and ignoring everything negative that was accumulating. He had hung out with Henry and Grace a few times. He had even contemplated going to Celeste’s impromptu celebration for landing the lead role in the school musical a few weeks ago, but he couldn’t bring himself to. He wanted to be in Celeste’s life, he had missed not hearing from her. But he understood she needed to take her time and her cautious manner was actually a blessing in disguise as he nursed his broken heart with pot and hookups when he got really sad. 

He was in that irritated at love phase and having to sit in front of Henry and Grace while they made eyes at each other was torture. They were quite perfect for each other and Harry loved how they loved each other…he knew that he and Diana would look at each other just like that if given the chance.

“Harry, we’re having a Halloween party this Saturday and you must come.” Grace said,

“I don’t know…”

“H, you’ve been getting out of plenty of shit, but not this. C’mon it’ll be fun. You could dress up and just not be your miserable self for a while.” Henry said and Harry chuckled.

“Yeah, alright.” He agreed.

*********** 

Diana was a tad worried as she helped Celeste get on her Eleven makeup for her costume. She had her first high school Halloween party and Diana was nervous for where the night could take her and her friends. After Ruben started hanging out with them more, some of the senior girls befriended her and invited her to this party.

“Celeste, there will be alcohol and drugs somewhere at this party and I-”

“Oh my god, mom…I’m not gonna do that!”

“Well-”

“I’m too scared!” Celeste scoffed and Diana smiled.

“Yeah, it’s scary.”

“Does it even taste good or does it all taste like that wine?” She asked and Diana giggled.

“Not exactly like that, but that bitter after taste, that’s all about the same.”

“Not worth it in my opinion.” She mumbled and Diana chuckled.

“Well, make sure that at least one of you is sober so that you make good choices.” She said and Celeste nodded. “Please be very careful. Do I need to call Elena to confirm she’s going to pick you guys up?”

“Oh no, Ben told me she had a night shift so she’s just getting caught up on her sleep. But she’s driving us there and back.” Celeste confirmed.

“Oh OK. God I don’t know how they do it…such long hours.”

“I know… so are you going to Grace’s party?”

“I think so. I had a long week, should get some fun in.”

“Yeah, you deserve it.” Celeste said and Diana smiled.

“I don’t even know what to dress up as.”

“Just choose a movie character. I’m sure you have something in your closet.”

“Yeah.” Diana said with a smile. At 6:30pm Diana was dropping Celeste off at Elena’s place. She was in the shower at the time, but Diana wasn’t too worried about having a chat with her as she was in a rush to get back home and figure out a costume. “Celeste, 12:30pm, OK? If you’re going to be late, please call.” She said and Celeste nodded. With that curfew confirmed she headed home and focused on finding her outfit for the night.

After digging around, Diana pulled out her most generic professor-aesthetic pieces and paired them together before opting to put on her glasses instead of her contacts and just go as a “sexy professor”. She wasn’t really in a mood to drink, but she’d go and try and have a night to loosen up. She had a light dinner and then drove over to Grace’s place. There was some traffic so it was a bit after 8:30 when she finally arrived. Grace’s town home was quite full with people. Grace very easily made friends, but now she was learning that Henry also had loads of friends. She had been introduced to coworkers of theirs and had entertained small talk and flirtations from a few people as she just lingered in the kitchen until she started to get a bit overwhelmed by one of the men chatting her up.

“Sorry to interrupt, I just really need to use the restroom.” She said to him.

“Oh yeah, go for it! Sorry, just talking your ear off…” he smiled, “I’ll look for you after.” He said and she just smiled and slipped away.

**********

Harry wasn’t huge on dressing up for Halloween, so he hadn’t the slightest idea what to go as to Grace’s mandatory dress-up Halloween party. After much googling he threw on his sweater vest and some slacks with his glasses - he could pull off a look that was very similar to Guillermo De La Cruz from What We Do In The Shadows. He had eaten an edible right after he had his dinner and then an uber was driving him to Grace’s. When he arrived he saw a couple of Henry’s friends who he’d met before and of course, he’d seen Diana from afar, she was just lingering around the kitchen but not drinking from what he could tell. He was able to avoid the kitchen as other people kept offering to bring him drinks, all while he lingered in the shadows watching attentively as person after person tried their best with her. She played coy…he knew she did, but seeing it, he couldn’t help but smile. No wonder he’d fallen victim to her, she was so effortless and gorgeous. But he could see her growing weary of these efforts and finally excused herself. He followed her with his eyes as she made her way out of the kitchen and down the hall to the front door. He lost her when a group of people crossed and so he decided to follow her against his better judgment.

“Hey H, where are you off to?” Henry asked as he brushed past him.

“Oh, just outside for a bit. S’stuffy in here.”

“Oh for sure! When you’re back in find me, we’ll do a shot, yeah?” Henry requested with a lazy smile.

“Why don’t we just do it now?” He suggested with a drunken grin.

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Henry cheered and he rounded up a few more people before they were all knocking back a shot followed by a jello shot as a chaser. After that chaotic minute Harry was weaving his way through the bodies and out into the cold night. The weed in his system plus the couple alcoholic drinks he’d had while being here for a good hour were catching up to him. He felt like he was viewing the world in HD, his eyesight felt sharper somehow. His cheeks were warm and his consciousness was just a bit removed from him. As soon as he made it out he looked around and saw a small group of people talking and smoking up on the small lawn and when he looked ahead he saw a figure on the swings at the little playground across the street from Grace’s. It was just the back of her, but he knew it was Diana. He wanted to leave her alone, but his heart was begging him to walk in that direction. As if she were some magnetic force that he was inevitably drawn to. He knew better than to confront her in his current state, but despite that nagging little voice in his head begging him to have some self-control, or some dignity…Harry made his way over and when he got close he saw her straighten up a bit.

“Hi.” He spoke first and she turned her body a bit to see him coming around the swing set.

“Hey, Harry.” She smiled at him, “Are we dressed as the same thing?” She asked with an amused grin.

“I don’t know? I’m supposed to be Guillermo from What We Do In The Shadows.” He explained as he glanced down at his sweater vest and she studied him just a bit. 

The weather was still so pleasant in LA despite it closing in on November. That’s what he loved about this place. He could always count on it to be comfortable and perfect, even when the weather was “off”. Everything about LA was placid. The people, everyone always minding their own business. The traffic even had its pattern, he considered himself a local now, so he knew what hours to travel at to navigate it with less inconveniences. The culture - art, music, food, nature, all of it was rich and perfect. You could have anything you wanted in this state; it was heaven on earth to him! And well, then there was Diana…he couldn’t picture this city without her benevolence and beauty anymore. She gave this whole place a new shine that he hadn’t experienced before and he was addicted to it.

“Oh, I do see that!” She concurred after she had looked over his outfit in the cold light from the lamps surrounding the small playground.

“Exactly!” He smiled. “So who are you supposed to be?” He questioned and she shook her head with a timid smile.

“A sexy professor.” She mumbled lowly in slight embarrassment. She was avoiding his gaze and focusing on her shoes as she admitted this to him.

“Oh, so just yourself then?” He flirted, “Very clever.” He slightly slurred.

"Poor planning on my part.” She said, “You’re already drunk?” She questioned.

“I’m a little bit crossed.” He confessed and she hummed, “Wait…if you assumed we came as the same thing are you saying I’m a sexy professor?” He grinned smugly and she giggled.

“I guess, I am.” She shrugged and he smiled a bit cockily to himself, “Yeah.” She then confirmed with a giggle.

“Are you not drinking?”

“No. Celeste went to her first high school party. She made friends with some seniors through Ben’s brother. Ben is her boyfriend, by the way!” She said and Harry chuckled.

“Oh my god, I know! She told me she has a boyfriend now…wild.”

“Yeah…well, she’s off doing that and I know she’s a good kid, but I’m just a little too preoccupied to drink. Like if anything happens I just want to be able to get to her if need be.”

“Yeah, that’s actually really smart.” He said and she nodded. “Speaking of significant others… I saw you a few months ago, you know?” He brought up stupidly. Because maybe she and Celeste had made a deal, that if Celeste could date, Diana could now too and it would explain what he saw at the cafe all those months ago.

“You did? And you didn’t say hi?” She asked in mock offense.

“You were…a bit preoccupied.” He said and she furrowed her brows pensively,  “You were on a date?” He reminded and she looked even more confused, “I saw you literally holding hands with some obscenely hot, beefy guy across a table.” He said, trying to keep down that accusatory lilt that as fighting to become more obvious in his tone. But Diana seemed too confused to notice as she racked her brain trying to figure out what he was talking about because nothing was coming to mind.

“Are you sure it was me?” She asked and he smiled sardonically.

“Of course! I knew you were you just now by looking at the back of you!” He said and she smiled.

“Well none of that rings a bell so I think your eyes are failing you, Harry.” She teased playfully and when she glanced back up at him she saw his face was set in a rather serious expression.

“I can’t move on, you know? I’m not as…detached as you are.” He said and here eyebrows furrowed again.

“Detached? I don’t think I’ve been detached with you.” She responded, trying to keep the defensive tone at bay as he looked at her incredulously.

“Whatever you say…” he huffed, “So your new boyfriend-”

“Oh my god…” she groaned, “I don’t have a boyfriend!” She said with slight irritation. His false nonchalance about this was getting under her skin faster than it normally would. Mostly because she had made her feelings for him so fucking clear the last time they saw each other. Sure, it was months ago, but she put her whole heart out on the line for him. So that he would stop doubting and see that she loved him just as much as he loved her. 

“Love, s’alright…” he shrugged, “You can be honest with me. I-I can take it.” He slightly slurred and she rolled her eyes.

“Clearly not.” She said lowly and he smirked as he reached for the chain of the swing and she glanced up at him.

“So you’re admitting it. He’s your boyfriend.”

“Jesus, Harry-”

“I just need to know so that I can move on! Or just tell me that we’re never going to happen so that I can-”

“Harry, jealousy is not a good look on you.” She huffed as she scowled up at him.

“M’not jealous. I just need to know…so that I can move on without feeling bad-”

“Oh please, don’t feel bad for me! If you want to date, date! We tried, Harry and we both agreed it wasn’t going to work! I’m not expecting you to just dwell on what could’ve been forever-”

“OK, don’t flatter yourself…” he smirked and she scoffed and shot up from the swing and started walking away. Harry frowned as she hurried off, “Di!” He shouted after her, “Diana!” He called once more, slightly jogging after her before things started to get a little too spin-ny for him and he stopped.

“I’m not doing this with you. You’re being an ass!” She called back as she continued to stalk off towards the house. 

Diana didn’t even spare a glance back at Harry, she was so annoyed at him. Why couldn’t they just have a normal time without this always being a topic. As much as she wanted to be friends with him maybe she wouldn’t be able to if he couldn’t just deal with his feelings. She was hurting too, she missed him, she felt badly about the possibilities of what they could’ve been. She was dealing with it all the time, but she loved him too much to put him at risk and if he couldn’t see that and was just being a selfish prick about it, then she wanted nothing to do with him outside of their official business with Celeste. She just wanted to go home. So as she squeezed past a few people she was determined to find Grace and get her to open up her bedroom so she could grab her bag and get going. She didn’t need this.

*********

“Fuck.” Harry plopped down on the swing Diana had been on. The seat still warm from her body. It made him sad to think that this was as close as he could get to her warmth again. He kept doing stupid shit to drive the wedge between them even further. Maybe it was self sabotage because there was no way he could be on good terms with her without continuing to pine after her. 

Harry genuinely hadn’t felt this way before in his life. He felt incomplete without Diana and Celeste. It was sick, the game the universe was playing his with heart. He loved them too much for his own good…it was tearing him apart. He was talking himself into clearing his brain fog a bit to properly apologize before she left when his phone started ringing in his pocket. He sighed, wondering who could be calling at near midnight, when he pulled it out he saw Celeste’s name on his screen and quickly answered.

“Hello?” He spoke into the receiver. All he could hear was heavy panting for a few seconds on the line before it crackled a bit and he immediately started to freak out as he thought the worse. What if she was in danger? Or having sex with this new boyfriend of hers? She was 15! He started to get angry and scared at what could be happening, “Celeste? Celeste! What he hell are you doing, Celeste?!” He shouted into the receiver, practically shaking in anticipation of hearing her excuse for this. He was seeing red. If anyone hurt her, he would surely be out for blood and no one in the world would be able to stop him from-

“Harry?” She finally spoke, still sounding out of breath and then he heard some laughter and muddled voices in the background, “Are you there?” She asked and the line crackled again.

“Yeah, I’m here. Where are you? What’s going on? Are you alright?” His anger dissolved as soon as he heard the fear in her voice.

“Someone called the cops on the party I came to! My mom gave me permission by the way.” She said quickly and he let out the biggest sigh of relief upon hearing this, “And we just…we ran like half a mile to not get caught and I don’t have great cell service in this area so we can’t get an uber and they’re all like 40 minutes away and my curfew is at 12:30! Ruben had too much to drink and either way he’s parked out by the house where the cops are and we can’t go back there! We need you to please come pick us up!” she was rambling, sounding panicked as she divulged all this information about how she’d gotten into this situation.

“Oh god…ummm…I didn’t drive here, petal.”

“What about Grace or Henry? Can you borrow their car or can one of them come for us?” She asked.

“I’m not sober enough to drive and they’re worse than me. Your mum hasn’t had anything to drink-”

“No! Not my mom, Harry. Anyone but my mom! She’s going to kill me!” She panicked.

“Celeste, listen to me, I-I’ll talk her down. I’ll be the buffer, yeah?”

“You don’t understand, if she comes to pick us up we’re all screwed!” She groaned into the phone.

“I-if you did something wrong, sooner or later you’ll have to face the music. Better to be honest about it than try to finesse your way out of it. I will talk to her, OK?”

“Harry, I…I broke a lot of rules tonight. One really, really big one!” She confessed worriedly.

“We’ve all been there, yeah? It’ll be fine, OK? A-are you drunk?” He had to ask.

“No, I tried a bit but I didn’t like it.” She confessed lowly and he smiled, “I just pretended.” She said and he chuckled.

“That’s fine you do what makes you comfortable. Now in the meantime, send me your exact location and I’ll go find your mum. I’ll text you when we’re heading over, OK?”

“OK.” She said quietly and after reassuring her few more times they hung up. 

Harry was combing through Grace’s house for Diana and finally, he caught a glimpse of her making her way towards the front door and he rushed through the people in his way.

“Diana!” He called after her. He saw her glance back before she rolled her eyes at him and kept moving more swiftly than before. “Fuck, please excuse me!” He groaned as he forced his way between a group who insisted on talking right by the exit of the house. They all protested as he broke through their little circle and jogged out after her. “Diana, wait!” He shouted as he tried to catch up with her and she came to a screeching halt before turning around, causing him to stumble as he stopped right before he crashed into her.

“What do you want?!” She questioned him with so much irritation that his mind blanked for a second. When everything caught up to him again a second later he sighed.

“Celeste just called me.” Her irritation morphed into concern immediately, “The cops crashed the party and she’s freaking out.” He said and she immediately reached for her purse and frowned when she saw there wasn’t a text or missed call from her or anyone actually.

“Ummm…Ben’s mom is picking them up-”

“Well she called to ask me to pick them up because someone’s too drunk to drive and the car is out by the house and they can’t go back there so they’re stranded-”

“Was it Ruben?” She asked and Harry nodded and he saw her jaw tense, “I’m going to kill her.” She said with frustration as she dug around for her keys.

“I’m gonna have to report that to CPS.” He joked with a grin and she took a break from her searching to glare at him.

“Not the time, Harry.” She seethed.

“Sorry. I know…ummm, she sent me her location.”

“Just text it to me.”

“I’m coming with you.” He said and she shook her head.

“No offense, but I don’t want to be anywhere near you right now. I just need to get to my kid and make sure she’s alright-”

“She’s safe, OK? She didn’t drink, she just made a mistake.”

“This is more than that. She lied to me! She knows she’s not allowed to ride around with Ruben! And he’s not allowed to be driving anyone other than Ben because-”

“OK, deep breaths.” He said reaching for her shoulders and she pushed his arms away.

“Don’t tell me to take deep fucking breaths! I have every right to be angry at her! We had the worst fucking fight over this when school started! And-”

“Diana, I’m sorry but just listen.” He interrupted and she sighed, “Look, she did what she did, we can’t change that now.” He shook his head, “She did the right thing though, she called us for help-”

“She called you because she knows she’d be in trouble if I found out.” She said to him.

“OK, but aren’t you glad that they had the sense to not escape in their car with a drunk driver?” He said and she sighed and shook her head.

“Still, Harry-”

“You have every right to be upset, but that’s not going to fix anything right now. Let’s just go get her, OK? Let’s get her back home and deal with it then.” He appealed. “I’ll come to be a buffer and besides I’m over this party.” He said and she sighed. “You can vent to me the whole way, catch me up on what I don’t know.” He said and she bit her lip pensively for a moment.

“Fine. But I’m dealing with this my way. OK?”

“Yeah, she’s…she’s your daughter.” He said and she nodded.

“C’mon then.” She said lowly before they headed off to their car.

Harry texted Celeste that they were on their way. It was nearly a half an hour drive, the home they had gone to was in hidden hills, quite far from where Diana thought the party was, which was another added layer to the issue. She explained the argument she and Celeste had about Ruben giving her rides and what she had said to her. Harry looked a bit shocked at that and Diana explained how angry and hurt she was about it, even after they had fixed things, she still felt hurt about it when she’d give it some thought.

“Well anyway…the day after that I had made plans to talk with Ben’s dad about this to see if they were even comfortable with having Ruben giving rides out to anyone other than Ben and his girlfriend. Like just for insurance purposes! He’s not even 18 yet, you know?” She explained and Harry nodded as they continued making their way down the 101 North. It felt reminiscent of their failed first date, they were taking the same freeway anyway, “So we went out for some coffee,” upon hearing her say this he started to feel like an idiot, “and he explained that Ruben got two speeding tickets over the summer so he wasn’t allowed to drive anyone but Ben and they would reconsider after his 18th birthday and-”

“Ummm did you…happen to get coffee at Cafe Flores?” He interrupted and she spared him a quick glance.

“That’s the only place I get coffee, Harry.” She said and then he sighed and shook his head in total embarrassment. Even his ears were getting hot as the realization came over him over what he had actually been witnessing. But he wasn’t the only one having realizations over this, when Diana gasped, he knew that she had figured it out, “Wait…is that what you saw?” She asked and he just stayed quiet. “You saw Josh holding my hand over the table while we talked?” She questioned and he was trying to figure out a way in which he could play down the way he’d practically gone off on her earlier in the night, “So you’ve been mad at me this entire time over something you assumed was a date?” She questioned, she glanced over to him, completely amused at this revelation. 

“What else was I supposed to think as you looked at each other like that and held hands?” He finally said. When he glanced over to her she was smiling a bit, “Don’t laugh at me…”

“I’m not. I’m just remembering that I was…talking about you when that happened. We were talking about how I’ve been doing this on my own and Celeste’s apprehension with me dating. And I had just said that I had met someone who I wanted to be with, but it got complicated with Celeste and we had to just not.” She explained and he frowned a bit, “He’s gay.” She said and Harry felt like an even bigger idiot now. 

“And who’s the asshole now…” he mumbled and she sighed.

“You’re not an asshole.” She said, “Well maybe sometimes. But, if I recall correctly I was feeling stupid for complaining about my love life because Josh and his partner, Vincent’s families are homophobic. Ben and Ruben’s mom, Elena, is basically his cover for it.”

“Oh…that’s so awful.” He said and she nodded.

“Yeah. She knows, they were together for ages. Agreed to have a family together because they both wanted that and they would just do their own thing. But then he met Vincent and they started their own life. They’re great coparents, the kids love them all and it’s going really well for them. But anyway, I was just saying how my troubles in love seemed so minimal compared to what he had to go through and how he couldn’t even be this authentic self with his family and that’s when he grabbed my hand and told me to not minimize my struggles in love and assured me that he understood what it was to just sacrifice everything for your kids.”

“Wow…he sounds like a really lovely man.”

“He is. He really is, we became friends really quickly.” She said and he hummed.

“I’m sorry.” He said to her and she just smiled at him before turning her vision back to road. “Really, I am. I feel like I’m always making a total ass of myself around you and it always comes back to haunt me.”

“Just stop jumping to conclusions, Harry.” She said and he sighed.

“Yeah…I should. I just…genuinely can’t wrap my head around how good we would be together and the fact that we can’t have that…”

“I told you that I love you, Harry. I’m not just going to move on from that after a few months. It took a lot for me to just be that vulnerable about my feelings and my wants with you…sometimes I regret it. I feel like if I hadn’t said it, it might be easier to get over, you know? But I said it. I spoke the words and it felt…way too real after that. I was so depressed I was bedridden, Harry.” She said and he frowned as he glanced towards her, not even thinking twice about wiping a tear as it slipped down her cheek.

“I’m really sorry, Di. I am…I’m such a fucking dick.” He said softly and she sighed.

“It’s…fine.” She said softly and he chuckled and shook his head.

“It’s not. I don’t know how to fucking act with you. Like a fucking child.”

“Just a bit.” She said with a smile and he returned her gesture.

“I get now why you’re so angry. This is a lot…in a way your biggest fear.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. I had no idea this was even going to be an issue until it was. Like she’s growing up and I’m losing control, I’m losing my say in her life bit by bit and I don’t think I can handle that!” She said and he nodded in understanding.

“I ummm…” he chuckled breathily before he spoke up, “I thought she had butt-dialed me during sex or something when she called because all I could hear was heavy breathing and-”

“No!” Diana groaned as she shook her head and Harry chuckled.

“I was livid.” Harry said with a shake of his hed, “God, I’d never been more ready to tear someone’s head off…” he chuckled. “The sigh of relief I exhaled when she said she had run half a mile to get away from the cops…”

“I mean, that’s still rather awful…” she said.

“Somehow that’s better than her hooking up with someone.” He said and Diana chuckled.

“Yeah, a bit…"

"Talk about feeling like you completely lost the reigns.” He said and she laughed.

“Yeah, I’m not sure that feeling ever goes away.” She said and he smiled.

“I don’t see how it would.” He concurred.

“She told me a few weeks ago about what you talked about last time.” She said and he turned to her.

“I hope that was OK. I just…I hate pretending like I don’t love her for the sake of work.” He said, “I wanted her to understand why I…continued to put distance in between us, you know?” 

“Yeah, I get it. I’m not sure if she’s still thinking about it or if she’s just been distracted with everything she has going on right now. But I mean…I think subconsciously she is choosing to have you in her life as a friend or family or whatever, rather than the limited version of you she gets in therapy.”

“Yeah, I think that would be more meaningful for her too. And ummm…I think I’m kind of done trying to find a way to…to make us work.” He said and she felt her heart twist with hurt and her stomach sink, “Wait, I’m drunk, that came out very different than what I was trying to say in my head.” He chuckled, “Like, obviously, I’m in love with you. But I feel like every time we try it just blows up in our faces, you know?”

“Yeah.” She agreed.

“So my strategy is just that I’m just going to let it be. I can only believe that we’re supposed to be together; it just makes sense. When it’ll happen? I don’t know… and I don’t care. But it will and I’m just going to let it happen in its own time.” He said and Diana felt relief as he said that.

“I think we are too. Supposed to be together.” She confirmed with a smile. “But what if that’s until Celeste is in college?” She asked him and he shrugged nonchalantly.

“Eh, what’s another 2 years?”

“Oh my god…that’s right! Just 2 years.” She said in shock and he smiled.

“Right?!” He chuckled in just as much disbelief, “I mean, there’s no rush though. The only thing that I feel would put any time constraints on us would be if you wanted to have more kids, but I mean, you don’t. I don’t. So we could even wait to be snowbirds together if that’s how you wanted it.” He said and she laughed.

“Definitely don’t want to wait that long to have my love life sorted out.” She giggled and he did as well.

“So ummm…friends?” He asked as he turned to her and she spared him a quick glance with a smile.

“Yeah. Friends.” She confirmed before turning back to the road, “Who are in love with each other.” She added.

“Yeah, tons of friends are in love with each other and they just…exist together without making a mess. We can do it.” He concluded and she smiled.

“We can. We’re adults. We can hang!” She said and he laughed and nodded.

“Yeah, we can.” He agreed. “So, as your friend…how is this situation with Celeste going to play out?” He asked and Diana shook her head.

“I have no idea. God, I hate that she lies though!” Diana groaned as she started to exit the freeway. “Like how can I…take care of her or trust her when she’s lying to me? You know?” He nodded in understanding as she looked both ways before peeling to the right per the directions his phone was giving, “She’s young, I know she wants to try different things and enjoy her youth, but if she does something she’s not supposed to do right now then obviously she’s going to get in trouble over it…like it’s part of the whole thing!”

“That’s what I told her on the phone. I mean, she was begging me to find another way to help her out that didn’t involve you. But I explained to her that sooner or later anything you do wrong just…comes to light and that it’s better to just face it head on than to try and pretend like nothing ever happened and get out of it somehow. I know that she’s smart and that she’s capable of making good decisions, I mean clearly.” He said and she nodded, “But you also need to be accountable for your not so good decisions.”

“Exactly.” She said and he smiled.

“So maybe tell her like that. And…I mean, you’re grounding her for a bit, I presume?”

“Oh definitely.” Diana chuckled as they came to another stop at a traffic light.

“How long we talking here?”

“Like…2 weeks?” She said as she glanced to him.

“That doesn’t seem like long enough…It’s just 2 weeks. Maybe a month?”

“But you said she didn’t drink. She just…lied about the ride thing.”

“True…” he mused pensively. 

“Am I making this bigger than it actually is?” She now questioned all of her anger.

“I don’t know…I mean, she lied about something that you’d both already agreed upon. She understands your reasonings and agreed to follow your rules…” he said and she sighed, “How do people do this? What is she even going to get out of a grounding? Like what privileges are being revoked?” He asked her and she sputtered out a laugh.

“I don’t know! I’ve never had to ground her before!” She exclaimed before they both started laughing for a bit.

“Well who is putting these ideas in her head? Is it the boyfriend? Because if so-”

“I don’t want to do that to her…take away someone meaningful to her? My parents did it to me. I mean, I hadn’t done anything wrong, it was just their…racism, but it’s just wrong in my eyes. To take away someone’s love and support from another person, that’s not a privilege.” She said to him and he smiled.

“Yeah, you’re right. Scratch that.” Harry said, “God, this is way too hard.”

“It so is!”

“Imagine how parents who have kids who are consistently challenging their rules? Like you run out of things to ground them over right? Like…how?”

“I guess so? But I’m thinking No hanging out outside of school stuff and no allowance for two weeks. Can’t take her phone or laptop, she’ll need those.”

“Right…” Harry chuckled, “You’ve done really well with her, Di. I mean, I think it’d be good to figure out why she felt like she needed to lie about this?” He said and she hummed. “Sure, I’ve been out of the loop for a bit, but from what I’ve seen you’ve always shown her that you’re willing to listen first, so there’s no reason for her to lie. Most people lie to avoid some sort of negative consequence. She could just be…scared of what you might do if she breaks a rule. And just the fact that she’s breaking the rule is so scary to her?” He tried to think of some motive.

“Yeah, like she immediately lies instead of trying to argue for a compromise to a rule that maybe she doesn’t agree with. Like this thing about Ruben not being able to drive her.”

“Right. Like it’s a big deal for you and it could be that this is more of a rule for your own peace of mind, you know? And she might feel like it’s not as serious as you might think it is.”

“Yeah, and I recognize that it is more for me. But his parents have also put up a boundary about him driving others around, so even if I agreed to let him give her rides, he still can’t until his parents say it’s OK.” She explained, “Which they haven’t so…”

“Yeah, so come at it from that perspective. Try and figure out why she thinks it’s not a fair rule, you know?” He suggested.

“Yeah, OK.” She hummed as they go a bit closer, “Thank you, Harry.”

“Of course.” He smiled, “You’re gonna make a left up here and they should be…oh, there they are.” He chuckled as he saw the four kids sitting on the sidewalk looking absolutely cold and miserable. “Maybe this was punishment enough.” He mused and she chuckled as she made a u-turn to come up beside them. As soon as they realized it was her they stood up.

“Sorry guys, it’s gonna be a tight fit.” Diana said as Celeste opened up the back door.

“S’alright we’ll fit.” Heather, Ruben’s girlfriend assured her, “I can just sit on your lap, babe. That way we can buckle up.” They heard her say to Ruben who agreed as Celeste slid in first and then Ben in the middle. As Heather and Ruben got situated Celeste glanced over to Harry, he turned to say to her and Ben, she looked so anxious and scared. They all were, it was eerily quiet as they made their way back home. It was so awkward that Diana ended up handing her phone to Harry so that he could pick some music to play on the drive. But eventually Ruben fell asleep, he was the one that was a bit trashed. And everyone else seemed to be sober.

“Guys, we’re almost home. Does anyone need any food?” Diana asked. Heather begged them to please stop by the in-n-out and she ordered herself and Ruben some food, everyone else was fine. And after that little detour they were coming to slow stop in front of Elena’s house.

“Do you need me to take you home, Heather?”

“No, it’s alright. My sister should be here in a few minutes.” She said to Diana.

“OK.” She smiled and they started getting out of the car. 

“M’gonna use the bathroom. Can’t hold it!” Celeste said before getting out of her side and hurrying off to the dark house with Ben. Diana put the car in park, waiting and watching as Heather and Ruben split up their food. Not even a minute later another car was coming up the street and Heather kissed Ruben before waving goodbye to her and Harry before she got in the car and they took off. Then Ruben came over and Diana scrolled her window down.

“Miss Beltran, I’m so sorry for this. I wasn’t planning on drinking since I’m in the middle of season, but we were playing this game and-”

“It happens, Ruben. You guys did the right thing calling for help.” She assured and he nodded.

“Ummm, also I wasn’t going to drive. But my mom had to cover a shift at the last minute and made an exception to let me drive just this once. I didn’t know that Celeste didn’t mention that to you when she found out. Not to place any blame on her, but if I had known that she was nervous to tell you that I would’ve made sure that my mom talked to you before she left for work. I swear, that’s how it all went down, I just don’t want her to get in trouble.” He said.

“Thanks for explaining, Ruben. I’m just glad that you’re all safe.” She said and he smiled and said goodnight before heading inside. Just seconds later Celeste and Ben were coming back outside. He walked her up to the car and opened the door for her and hugged her before letting her slip inside.

“Thank you for coming to get us ,Miss Beltran. I’m really sorry about this whole thing.” He said nervously. Even the fact that he was calling Diana “Miss Beltran” was an indicator that he was beyond nervous. He’d stopped calling her that for a while now.

“That’s alright, Ben.” She assured with a smile and he just gave one last wave and a goodnight to the three of them before he hurried inside and Celeste just exhaled shakily. “Ummm, off to yours?” Diana asked Harry.

“Yeah, we can go through a back way from this street.”

“Oh, OK. Just tell me where to go.” She said and he guided her though until they were pulling up to his house. “Well ladies, thank you.” He said and Diana smiled.

“Yeah, of course.” She hummed and he stepped out and dug around his pockets before frowning, “What’s wrong?”

“I left my keys and wallet in Grace’s room.” He groaned as he felt around his pockets again just in case.

“Oh, well we have a guest bedroom. You can crash and we can get your stuff tomorrow, yeah?”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You’re not.” She assured him. “Is that OK with you Celeste?” Diana asked, glancing back to her and she looked up to her from her phone and then to Harry.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” She smiled.

“Hop in then.” Diana smiled at him and he settled back into the car and they made their way back to their house. 

As soon as they made it in Diana told Celeste that she wanted to have a talk with her and to just get ready for bed. Diana was searching for some clothes Harry could borrow to sleep in and well, she did find some that would fit. She showed him to the guest bathroom  upstairs so that he could change and wash up, she left him an extra toothbrush as well and she busied herself with turning down the bed in the guest room and bringing him an extra blanket in case he got a little cold. Harry came into the room right as she was setting the extra blanket down on the corner of the bed.

“Oh, just in case you get cold or something.”

“Perfect, thanks.”

“Can I get you any water?”

“I can get it. I’ll take a bit so you can have that chat with Celeste.” He said and she smiled.

“OK, thanks. And thank you again for everything tonight.”

“I hope it made up for me being a jealous prick.” He said softly and she giggled.

“Yeah, definitely did.” She nodded and he smiled.

“Good. OK, I’ll ummm disappear. Text me when you’re done, yeah?” She nodded and he made his way down stairs as Diana took a few steps over to Celeste’s door and knocked.

“Come in!” She called and Diana stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind her. Celeste was already on her bed, holding one of her decorative pillows in her lap, picking at the woven in beading anxiously.

“Hey, you alright?” Diana asked as she took a seat beside her and Celeste nodded and cast her eyes down. “What’s going on?” She asked her softly and Celeste sighed, “Why did you lie to me about Elena driving you guys?”

“She got called in last minute and told Ruben he could take us-”

“I know, Ruben told me while you were inside. But why didn’t you text me just to let me know there was a change in plans?” She asked

“I don’t know…I got nervous that you would change your mind about me being able to go to the party. Or say he couldn’t drive us in case he got drunk or something-”

“Which he did.” Diana said and Celeste frowned. 

“Ben said he doesn’t really drink at parties, this was the first time he drank like this.” She explained.

“So before the cops showed up what was your plan to get home safely by curfew?” Diana asked and Celeste sighed.

“I…I don’t know.” She confessed. 

“Mamita, lying about things like this is the worst thing you could do. Something as simple as a party can go terribly wrong and put you in situations that could compromise your safety. And not just yours, Ben’s, Ruben’s, Heather’s, and any of your other friends!” Diana explained, trying her best to keep her emotions regulated. She could see the tears forming in Celeste’s eyes and the anxiety radiating off of her was palpable. “Sometimes, telling the truth can be scary, but has there ever been a time where you have…tried to communicate something to me and I’ve just…dismissed you?” She asked and Celeste took a moment to think before she shook her head.

“I don’t think so.” She said softly.

“OK, so what makes you think or feel like I wouldn’t listen to you when it comes to stuff like this?” She asked, “I mean, I said yes to this party that was just for upperclassmen, didn’t I?” Diana asked and Celeste nodded. “Then trust me. Communicate with me, mamita! I just want what’s best for you and your friends. And I’m sure their parents feel the exact same way.” She said and Celeste sniffled as her tears finally started to fall. “Hey, don’t cry.” She said reaching for her hand. 

“I’m sorry.” She sniffled.

“I know you are. And look, the thing with Ruben, I mean…it’s his parents’ rule that he can’t be driving anyone around right now. I know that I…have a very specific fear about this and I need to learn to overcome that, especially as you get older and gain more independence, but that’s their rule. And if they made an exception then all you needed to do was let me know. Exceptions can happen. And I’ve gotten to know Ruben a bit more and he’s very responsible and sweet, I would’ve been OK with it just for tonight and probably figured out a plan B with you guys beforehand in case he drank too much. Especially knowing that his parents aren’t available.” She explained and Celeste nodded. “But despite the turn of events I’m glad you guys are all safe and sound and I’m glad you called Harry.” She said and Celeste smiled.

“He told me to own up.” She giggled through her sniffle and Diana smiled.

“Yeah, it’s important to own up when you’ve made a mistake. You’re really good at that, and I admire you for it. And yeah, it can be scary and difficult sometimes, but there’s nothing more important than being accountable for your choices and actions. And I hope that in the future you choose to be more honest with me when you’re in trouble. I mean, I don’t think that any of my rules are…unreasonable, but if you feel like something I’ve set up feels that way then please let me know. We can talk about it, come to an agreement perhaps, and other times I might just tell you that I’m not changing my mind and you’ll just have to accept that sometimes.”

“I know.” She mumbled.

“And look, I know that Ben is a great young man, and in having this relationship with him you’ll want more space and privacy. But I’ve noticed that after being with him you’ve started to lie more or to omit information and that’s not OK, Celeste. I don’t want to ever tell you that you can’t spend time with someone that’s important to you. That wouldn’t be right of me and besides, you’d just sneak around and it’ll be a mess! But I want you to understand that more freedom means more responsibility. If you want more space, more independence, more privacy, more of my trust, you need to show me that you are capable of being responsible. I know you already are with everything you have going on, but this is another layer to it. And the layers of things you’re responsible for will keep increasing until you’re a full-fledged adult and can call your own shots. It’s my job as your parent, to ensure that you have the ability to take ownership of your life and this is part of that. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“So, I…don’t really know how to punish you because, I’ve never had to do this before…” Diana said and Celeste chuckled, “I’ve decided you’re grounded for two weeks. So no stuff outside of school and no allowance. I think that’s rather fair.” Diana said and Celeste frowned but kept quiet and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s fair.” She finally said. “Does that mean we can’t give Ben rides home from school when Ruben has practice?”

“Well that just messes with his schedule too, so he can still come over, but weekends you’ll be home with me. Doing… things. Chores.”

OK.” She agreed, “If I’m really good can we cut down the time?”

“No. You should be grateful it’s two weeks, Harry said a month.” Diana informed and Celeste’s eyes went wide.

“A month?!” She scoffed.

“Well, he doesn’t have kids so…he doesn’t know how hard it’d be to have a teenager on house arrest for a month.” She said and Celeste giggled.

“Yeah, two weeks is fine. I’m happy with two weeks.” She said quickly and Diana chuckled.

“I love you. Always.”

“I love you too. I’m sorry for lying.”

“Just don’t do it again.” She said and Celeste nodded, “Did you at least have fun at the party?”

“Yeah…I mean, one of the girls had me try her drink and it was…so gross. So I just made a fake one since they wanted to play beer pong.” She confessed and Diana smiled, “I was surprisingly good at that. A lot of the games were fun.” She said and Diana nodded. “But ummm…I’m a bit traumatized now…like I know I might look athletic but I’m not. And if every party is going to get crashed by cops I’d rather not go again until I’m fit enough to run half a mile uphill to hide from the cops.” She chuckled and Diana laughed along with her.

“Yeah, parties weren’t my thing. It was very messy…only started to go spring semester with your dad. He made it fun though, people wouldn’t force me to drink or do anything I didn’t want because of him. But ummm, yeah s’just something to get used to! And well, if you try again and absolutely hate it, you really don’t have to go to parties.” Diana said and Celeste nodded.

“Right.” She agreed. With that she got into bed and Diana made her way out of the bedroom and downstairs to grab her own glass of water before heading back up to her room.

When she got down there Harry was sitting at the kitchen island, scrolling through his phone with a bowl of food before him. She smiled at the sight. She imagined this is what he would look like after a long day of work when he just needed to have a chat about something that had happened with a client or in class. They could sit and talk, vent, discuss…whatever he needed. And she could just see herself gently scratching his back and listening attentively to everything he had to say. She’d finally have the chance to be there for him, the way he had been for her. When Harry noticed her lingering by the entrance of the kitchen smiling at him, he glanced over.

“Sorry, made myself at home. Got the munchies, should’ve taken advantage of our In-n-Out pit stop.” He admitted and she smiled.

“That’s alright.”

“It’s good, whatever this is.” He said as he looked down at the bowl and she walked over and peeked down at it.

“Oh, tallarines verdes.” She smiled.

“Mexican food?”

“Peruvian. Basically Peruvian pesto.”

“Yeah, it’s fucking delicious. I might finish it. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, of course. Celeste clearly didn’t like ‘em as much as you did, so please.” She insisted, “Should I get ‘em out?”

“Please. How’d it go?” He asked as she pulled the container from the fridge.

“Really good. I even pulled out something about how I understand that she wants more independence and privacy now that she has her little boyfriend, but in order for me to give her more of that she needs to prove to me that she’s responsible enough for more freedom. Just…pulled that out of thin air!” Diana said as she just stuck the Tupperware in the microwave.

“Oh…that’s really fucking good. I’m gonna use that.” He said and she giggled. “Good improv.”

“That’s literally parenting, all improv. Like you read all these books and understand all these theories and approaches but you just end up doing your own thing. Every child is just so different, you know?” She said and he hummed. “I may have… thrown you and your punishment suggestion under the bus to make the two weeks grounding sound less daunting. So sorry in advance.” She said and he chuckled.

“That’s fine. You needed the win.” He hummed and she smiled. When the microwave beeped she grabbed the container and just dropped the rest of the noodles into his bowl. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, of course.” She hummed before heading over to wash it.

“I’ve got that, don’t worry.” Harry said immediately when he realized she was cleaning up after him.

“Oh no, it’s OK.” She assured and quickly washed it before serving herself her tall glass of water. “Alright, just call me or knock on the door if you need anything, OK?”

“OK. Thank you. Good night.”

“Night!” She smiled and headed up stairs.

**********

Y/N had slept better than she had in a long time, she woke up feeling like everything was alright. And it was, with Celeste and with Harry. She felt like she’d done a great job of communicating her needs and had been heard and things could only get better from there. And as she laid in bed, contemplating when to get up she realized that she smelled something delicious and immediately went to wash up before throwing on her robe and getting into her slippers to head down stairs. The more steps she descended the clearer she could hear him singing along to the music he was playing from his phone, currently that was “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr. She smiled as she came into the kitchen to see him drizzling some pancake mix onto the hot griddle.

“Morning!” She said and he jumped a bit in surprise.

“Jesus!” He gasped and she laughed.

“Sorry.” She apologized through her smile and he just chuckled and turned his eyes back down to the stove.

“Sure you are…”

“What’s all this?”

“I just wanted to do something nice for you guys.” He said and she smiled.

“You’re too sweet, thank you. It smells amazing.” She hummed.

“Thank you.” He smiled.

And yes, it did smell amazing, Celeste had woken up just moments after her mom. She figured she was making breakfast, but then remembered that she typically slept in on Sundays and that Harry had stayed over…meaning he was probably the one cooking up whatever delicious scent was wafting up from the kitchen. So she sprung out of bed and washed up before quietly making her way down the steps. The closer down she got the clearer the music he was playing became and the chatter between him and her mom. She stayed around the corner to eavesdrop just a bit and she was thanking him for talking her down from losing her shit on her last night. Celeste smiled because he had promised her that he would talk it out with her mom and he had done just that.

“Oh my god, I love this song!” Her mom suddenly groaned.

“Me too! You’ve seen “My Best Friend’s Wedding”, right?” He asked and she scoffed.

“Of course! I’ve seen every Julia Roberts film. She’s literally the perfect woman.”

“Right! Fucking breathtaking…” he mumbled and then they started singing.

The moment I wake up before I put on my makeup (makeup) - I say a little prayer for you.

And while combing my hair now and wondering what dress to wear now (wear now) - I saw a little prayer for you…

Suddenly she heard her mom squeal and she snuck a little peak to see Harry grab her and spin her around before he just started dancing with her as they sang loudly to the chorus.

Forever, forever you’ll stay in my heart and I will love you.

Forever and ever we never will part. Oh, how I love you.

Together, together that’s how it must be to live without you would only mean heartbreak for me! 

“Oh my god, don’t drop me!” She laughed as he dipped her low.

“I would never!” He chuckled, “You trust me with your child but not with your life?” He asked playfully.

“Oh, my life is on the line?” She questioned and he chuckled and then helped her straighten out as they laughed.

Celeste found herself smiling from ear to ear as she watched them continue singing into the second verse. Harry was using the spatula in his hand as a mic as he sang to her mom and she just looked at him in amusement.

“Your pancake is burning.” She said to him and he turned around quickly and saw it smoking more than normal and hurried to flip it over as she laughed a bit. 

Celeste snuck back around the corner, trying to keep herself composed before making her entrance. Her mom was asking him if he wanted some coffee to which he said yes, but they continued singing as they did their own tasks. Celeste could feel her heart racing in her chest at what she’d just seen. She didn’t expect to feel as happy about that as she had…but it was sweet. And maybe if Harry was around more they could all have more moments like this together. What if Harry started to like her mom and then…well, if it worked out she could have two parents who obviously loved her and cared about her. They were two good looking people…they would make a cute couple, wouldn’t they? And who better to date her mom than someone that she knew wouldn’t try to just take her from her. Harry knew her concerns about her mom dating, so he would be mindful of those things…and just like that she had decided that it was time to fire Harry as her therapist.

---- TAG LIST ----

@sunshinemoonsposts@anotherdudetteinthisworld @matildasatellite @sad-avocado@sunflovverharry @cherrysulewski @daphnesutton @gurugirl @jessitpwk@permanentllyharry @here4thefanfics @slutfortigertattoo @reveriehs @angelbabyyy99 @freedomfireflies @behindmygreyeyes

[eddiemadmunson]

I see you now

I wrote this little thing back in the summer when I was obssessed with Eddie, so I decided to post it here on my blog 😁 If you are here just for my House of the Dragon fics, please ignore this 😅

Paring: Eddie Munson x Henderson fem!reader

Warnings: nothing, little bit of cursing I guess

“Dustin, honey, wait a minute. Come here and take this PJ sandwiches I made for you and your friends from the club!!!” your mum yelled at your little brother and you just rolled your eyes. You were already running late and your mum was making it worse. “Hellfire isn’t that type of club where you can bring PJ sandwiches, mum!” Dustin yelled from upstairs and started running down the stairs towards you. "It's a cult, isn't it, Dustin," your mother gasped, she always managed to come up with the absolute worst-case scenarios. It was Friday evening and you were driving your brother to his D&D session with Eddie Munson and his Hellfire club. You also promised Robin and Steve to go with them to the Cinema. “Mum seriously, it's not a cult and you need to stop it with the sandwiches!” Dustin yelled and rolled his eyes when he passed by you towards the kitchen to stop your mother. You started tapping your foot nervously, checking your watch for the tenth time this evening. “Dustin, hurry up,” you urged him. You wanted to go inside with him for few minutes in hope to see Eddie. Yeah, you had this big high school crush on Eddie fucking Munson! It was kind of embarrasing, really. You fancied that boy more than it was healthy. You admired him, the whole school called him freak and he didn’t mind at all. He was who he was, and he wasn’t ashamed of it and he didn’t give a fuck, what these asshole at school thought about him. He had his band, his Hellfire club and he didn’t need anyone else's approval. You really admired that. You, just like Eddie, was a big metalhead, you loved Iron Maiden, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Antrax, you had their posters all over your room, you listened to their music every day, but you were too scared to admit it in front of your classmates and friends. They would never understand it. You also loved horror movies, tattoos and badass things, but you have never admited it out loud at school, afraid that people would judge you for liking stuff like that. You loved Eddie because he was everything you wanted to be. You always dreamed of the day when you would ask him out to see a new horror movie with you or to go to an Iron Maiden concert with you. Standing in the crowd with Eddie hugging you from behind, humming the lyrics into your ear, kissing you between the songs, wrapping you in his arms and never letting you go. You started having this concert fantasy again while waiting for Dustin and you totally lost track of time, when Dustin waved his hand in front of your face. “Ewww Y/N, I really hope that you are not daydreaming about Steve right now, with this lovesick expression on your face,” Dustin snickered and nudged you towards the door. “What the fuck, Dustin! How many times do I have to tell you, that I am not into Steve, he is my friend,” you said and rolled your eyes. Dustin wasn’t stupid, he knew, that you have a thing for one of his friends, but it wasn’t Steve. You two finally got into your small car and you drove him to his D&D session. You entered the creepy house and you looked around hopefully to see Eddie, but he was nowhere to be find. You sighed and said hi to everyone. “Hi, Y/N” Mike said cheerfuly and grinned at you. “Don’t you want to play with us,” he added quickly and looked at you with hope in his eyes. He might be dating Eleven and being totally in love with her, but he also has had this sweet crush on you since he was little boy and he was always happy to see you and spend time with you. ‘ “No, Mike, I am sorry. I can’t, I promised Steve and Robin, to go to Cinema with them,” you smiled kindly at him. “Its too bad, Erica is grounded and we desperately need someone to play instead of her,” he added. “Yeah, sorry kiddo, I really can’t, actually I am already late, I am supposed to pick up Steve at seven,” you answered and wanted to check your watch again, when a denim clad arm wrapped around your shoulders and you felt your heart skip a beat. “Didn’t you hear the lady, Mike?! She can’t play with us, she has a date with Steve The Hair Harrington,” Eddie said with a smirk plastered on his face. “It’s not a date!” you protested quickly, your cheeks turning red. “It’s just a movie, and Robin is going with us,” you quickly added. You really didn’t want for Eddie to think that you are dating Steve. “So, what kind of movie are you going to watch?” Eddie asked you, his hand still wrapped around your shoulders, his brown doe eyes looking right into your soul. “A-a-aliens,” you stattered, feeling super nervous being so close to him. “Hmmm, interesting choice, I thought that you would say Pretty in Pink,” he smirked. “It’s a date,” he added triumphally and took a step away from you. “It’s not a date!” you said stubbornly, getting slightly annoyed with him. “Oh, princess, trust me, when guy picks a movie like this, it’s a date,” he smirked wickedly and you almost melted at the pet name. “It’s a perfect opportunity,” he continued and started circling around you like a shark around his prey. “It’s a horror movie, it’s full of scary and jumpy scenes. The girl will be scared and grab boys hand, hide her face into his shoulder,” he winked at you, and all you could think about was how many girls he already tricked like this, so they ended in his bed and it made you really jealous. “And if the boy is with the girl alone at home, she might climb up on to his lap, feeling more secure there. She will hide her face into his chest, not watching that movie anymore, and the boy will be such a gentleman and he would try to distract her by kissing her,” Eddie continued, his big warm eyes scanning your face, clearly enjoying your discomfort and the fact that your cheeks started to be as red as tomato. “And it could possibly lead to big makeout session or maybe even sex. So trust me, princess, when guy picks a movie like this, his intentions are not innocent,” he finished his speech, standing right in front of you, making you look up, since he was slightly taller than you. You wanted to slap him for making you blush like a little girl in front of your brother and his friends and on the other hand you wanted to grab his T-shirt and pull him closer and kiss him like there is no tomorrow. You did nether of these things, you grabbed the courage and took a step closer to him, making him raise his eyebrows questinably. “You know, Munson. The problem is, that Steve did not pick this movie. I did. Steve and Robin don’t know what movie we are about to watch, they probably think that I pick Top Gun,” you smirked when you saw the confused look on Eddie’s face. “I pick it, because I loved the first movie. I saw it at least 15 times, Dustin can confirm that. I am not easily scared, I don’t jump up at scary scenes, and I will definitely not grab Steve's hand for protection. He is scaredy-cat, he will probably run away from the cinema after 30 minutes. The moment when the first Alien falls from the ceiling, he will run away screaming, same for Robin. I will probably stay there all alone, enjoying the movie, while they will be dissing my taste in movies behind the corner in the café bar. So once again, loud and clear, Munson, it’s not a date, are we clear?!!!“ you yelled, stabbing your finger into Eddie’s chest. “You are wrong princess, it is a date,” he said again with a smug smile. “Everybody out,” he screamed maniacally, surprising you and all of his D&D friends. “Because fuck Harrington, and fuck Robin, they can go together to see Pretty in Pink. You are going to see Aliens with me, Princess!” he added, looking deeply into your eyes, finally seeing you, the girl who was hiding behind the fake facade. “And you can hold my hand or sit on my lap even if you are not scared of the Aliens,” he whispered into your ear, so only you could hear him, making you shiver with anticipation. “Hey, Eddie,” Dustin yelled from the doorstep. “She is also this huge Maiden fan,” he winked and run away after Mike and Lucas. “Well, well, well, princess. Full of surprises I see,” he gave you a heated look. “Tell me you can play a quitar and I am a goner,” he pushed you gently to the wall, caging you into his arms. “No, I can’t,” you admited and he noded, not expecting anything else. “But, you can teach me,” you added shyly looking at him through you eyelashes. “Oh princess, I can’t wait to teach you a lot of things,” Eddie purred into your ear, his voice full of tempting promises.

[margotbasonphotography]

I took a break from photography to focus on summer

Monday, August 19, 2024

For the first half of summer, I was stressed. I wasn’t photographing shows and people as much as I was during my winter and spring terms at school- even less than I did back in my hometown before I started art school. Was this all a farce? Am I so burnt out on photography this early in my career that I have no urge to take my camera anywhere? I have photographed two shows, my horror portraits, and a project as a favor for a classmate since the summer months have started. Am I losing my love for the game? But then I remembered the mantras I’ve been trying to rewire my brain with since I began sharing my work online: The art I make is for me first. It should make me happy to make art. 

Flight attendants teach us to put our air mask on before we help someone else put theirs on. I need to make myself happy before I make for others. 

I was at a show with a friend last week and she asked me if I brought my camera. I told her I haven’t photographed a lot of the shows I’ve been to recently. I didn’t need to.We had a wonderful conversation about how you can love something while still stepping away from it. I originally felt like I needed to give an excuse as to why I haven’t been taking my camera with me, but in reality there’s no need. No one asked me to photograph any of these, and I didn’t want to ask it of myself. I love photographing live music, but I also love just going to see it too. Sometimes it’s nice to plant your feet in one place and entrance yourself for a 30 minute set instead of running around the whole time. The cool thing about concerts is that there are so many ways to contribute to the space and the community, and sometimes that’s just being a body in front of the stage. 

The first few weeks of my impromptu hiatus were stressful- I did shoot two shows; one that I loved and one that I hated. The first one I shot and edited back to back because I was stressed about getting my photos to the bands and on my Instagram in time. The second one I sent out to the bands, but I didn’t post. I took a little extra time editing for the sake of editing. I get so caught up in creation for a purpose other than just the sake of creating. So, I took this summer to do things for the sake of doing them. I went to shows just to see music. And went on walks for the sake of feeling the sun on my skin. I need to remember that as much as I love my camera, there is a life without it. I can look at sunsets without thinking of the best ISO that would capture it.

I think it’s a good lesson in work-life balance. I love photography enough that I want to make it my work, so that means I need to make a life outside of it. I am teaching myself that the twinge of guilt I feel when I walk into a show isn’t needed; I’m just as important to that space with or without a camera. I don’t have to be MargotBasonPhotography all the time, for Margot is just as important to the world.

[paigesprojectpan]

Here's Why You Shouldn't Give Me A Scholarship

You shouldn’t give me a scholarship because I have withdrawn from three courses so far in my college career. Because I chose to take seven dual-enrollment courses instead of eight in high school. Because I have severe imposter syndrome within my chosen major. Because I already have a 40,000 scholarship. Because my parents work hard and make good choices with their money. Because I am white. Because I am not going into healthcare or music, engineering, coding, or even dance. I don’t deserve a scholarship because I procrastinate and then have missing assignments and because my room is messy.

I could think of a million more reasons why you shouldn't give me a scholarship. I don’t set aside time for assignments, I do not apply often to scholarships or internships. I am not in more than two clubs on campus. But I am a summer camp counselor. I have been for five years. I pick up shifts at Steam Anchor Coffee Co. where I work. I have always picked up extra shifts. And it has never been for money. It is because I liked my job. I like working with kids. I like to write, but not when someone else tells me what to write, where I can take evidence from, how long the piece has to be, and when I have to have it complete. I like to learn, but when I find things interesting. 

I am more in the Chemistry Teacher Education major for teaching than chemistry. And as I have said, ‘if not me then who?’ If I don’t pick up this shift and help someone else out, then who will. Because the group chats are most often silent. The National Science Foundation created a nation-wide scholarship for university juniors and seniors studying to become teachers in the STEM subjects. At my school there are 3 math majors, 2 bio, and 1 chem. Me. There are no physics teachers. I was not even a junior when I received my scholarship. I was a sophomore with junior hours thanks to the 7 dual-enrollment courses in high school.

My mom is going to be so mad at me because I had to withdraw from both of my summer classes. I did not make a lick of time for either of them in the first week. And, well, it set me up for failure. Late work gets zero’s in the gradebook so I would have an ‘F’. But instead I choose ‘W’. I have withdrawn from a class before. I withdrew from a psychology course my second semester of freshman year at Clinton Community College. I was registered for 5, 16-week classes and I looked at the workload after syllabus week and said, “Nope.” I got 100% tuition reimbursement though since I withdrew during the first week.

This is starting to sound like a sob-story and I hate it.

I am thinking of completely leaving college altogether. But I do not want to be considered a drop-out. I want to get a degree in something since I am already here. But, when I come home for summer I am blinded with the amount of people that go straight into the workforce or military after high school. Or they stopped after receiving an associate’s or a certificate or license. I am not sure I am cut out for the length of time it will take me to finish my bachelor’s in Chemistry Teacher Education (especially since I withdrew from two classes this summer).

I really liked geology, but I am not sure I liked it enough to do a whole major in it. I have said this about concerts as well. I like Taylor Swift, but I’m not sure I like her enough to go sit through 3 hours of her.

Am I screwed? No one is going to give a summer job to someone wanting to start in mid-June and leaving and mid-August. No one is going to give a scholarship to someone who would rather see a ‘W’ on her college record than an ‘F’. No one is going to give a scholarship to someone who procrastinates so bad she just doesn’t do her assignments. No one is going to give a scholarship to a hypocrite.

[the1975attheirverybest]

yoo this isnt super 1975 related but i remember watching clips of matty sorta "lecturing"?? (idk if u can call it that) the audience about how too many people r fainting in the pit, and that if the person next to u needs help dont call him, pull em out. etc etc and when i first saw him say this i was like "hes right but hes being a bit mean about it"

well i took my lil sister and her friends to a gracie abrams concert last Friday and like FIVE people fainted????? and i heard a similar amount of people fainted the day after. it was RIDICULOUS. i dont wanna be mean cause the audience felt pretty young (like high school, early uni age) but like ..... everytime something happened in the pit they called to gracie for help???? and in the words of matty healy, wtf is the performer gonna do?

idk kudos to gracie ig cause she stopped the show multiple times but like.... is this the new norm?? this is only my second time in the pit post-lockdown so it might just be gracies demographic??

idk i just wanna know if this is smth other people r observing

i will never call matty a meanie ever again

Yeah, I mean, I think, to a certain extent, it’s not super new? Diehard fans have always had this as an issue because going above and beyond for your fav artist has always been a thing. Not to age myself here, but this used be mainly a festival issue. Cuz like it’s mainly people standing and they’re packed together like sardines. Especially in the summer. With the heat and dehydration and all. Even Matty recalls doing this for green day. Like remember when he would talk about being in the front row and specifically planning to get onstage with green day at age 13 and stuff? And how the day of the GCSE results, instead of worrying about grades he was more concerned with the festival attendance hahaha. So, like, I think he’s seen the consequences enough times and doesn’t want his band to be the reason someone gets hurt. Like their love for the band causing them to be harmed would be so shit.

As for the mean-ness thing….part of it is his personality I think but also in his defense, people need it sometimes. Even I do it in big classrooms where I have like 50-70 students. I’ll be asking them to swap papers together and give each other feedback. Or maybe get into groups and stuff. But even after I assign everyone a role, they just sit and stare at me. Saying “okay guys let’s go ahead and do it” doesn’t work. I end up clapping my hands violently and being like “what are you asleep in your chairs? Let’s fuckin MOVE MOVE MOVE” that’s when they’re like “oh. Right ok this is happening.” Lmaoo. So like he’s just cutting to the chase cuz time is of the essence. Both in terms of the show but also you don’t want someone to dedicate to death while youre tryna be sweet and kind to people.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Memory in Children: Mechanical Choices (Sagrada Reset 3) - Chapter 1: The beginning of a summer (Asai Kei, post-Reset)

[INDEX]

To Asai Kei, this was the second April 28th, Wednesday.

After classes were over, Kei immediately left his classroom, clutching his English dictionary.

Before the Reset, Kei wasted some time in his classroom before going to the rooftop. But this time, things were different. He sprinted to class 2-1. Nakano Tomoki's, Souma Sumire's, and Haruki Misora's class.

He had things he wanted to verify before meeting Haruki.

Why was Haruki in the place he was called for instead of Souma? Why did time rewind when Haruki said "Reset"? How much of these events were orchestrated by Souma?

On the other side of the hallway, Tomoki appeared out of the destination room.

"Yo, Kei."

"Hey. You can borrow this."

Kei pressed the English dictionary against his chest.

"Hm? A dictionary?"

"Yeah, you'll use it in the club."

"Oh, true. How did you know?"

(Because you asked for it before the time rewind. But I'm not gonna bother explaining all that.)

"It's a long story. By the way, is Souma still in the room?"

"Oh, found her. Want me to call her?"

"No, it's fine."

Her being there was all Kei needed. The room had two doors, but standing in the hallway, both were within his view. With his eyes on the doors, Kei passed the time chatting with Tomoki.

They talked about the Broadcast Club, about music, and about movies they liked.

Suddenly, a voice echoed inside his head. A voice identical to Tomoki's voice, but not talking about movies like he was.

ーKei, I got a favor to ask. Can you wait for me in your classroom?

The exact same words he heard pre-Reset.

Same as always. Kei already knew from experience that whenever time rewound, Tomoki's activated ability would take effect again. Case and point, the voice that reached him on the first April 28th reached him again on the second.

"Tomoki. Did you use your ability to send a voice to this moment?", Kei asked just to make double sure.

He wrung his neck with doubt.

"No. Why?"

"Nothing major."

(A Reset doesn't erase Tomoki's ability. When multiple abilities with contradictory effects activate, only the ability with the highest intensity takes effect. So Tomoki's ability to send a message to a determined hour has a higher intensity than Haruki's Reset? At the very least, I can be confident my Memory Retention intensity is higher. That's how I can remember events erased by the Reset. And I can't be only with higher intensity than her. What's the Bureau's opinion on this? It's kinda like a glitch in her ability, so couldn't this cause a dangerous situation? I wanna know the details of how Reset works. How can I gain more info on the ability?)

While he was deep in thought, Souma Sumire appeared out of the Class 2-1 door. She walked away, showing no signs of having noticed him.

Souma was his greatest priority at the moment.

"Sorry, Tomoki. I got something to do now."

"Oh, sure. It's almost time for me to go to the club."

Kei quickly waved goodbye to Tomoki and walked after Souma. He kept his distance, concealing the sound of his footsteps as he pursued Souma Sumire.

She proceeded through the hallways with no brakes or detours. She was heading to the eastern school building. A place with no crowd, home to special classrooms, like the cooking room and the art room.

With fewer people around, he's grown more conscious of his footsteps. He wanted to learn Souma's goal if possible, but it might have become difficult to do it unnoticed.

Souma climbed the stairs at the end of the hallway. Kei sneaked close to the stairs. He could hear the Concert Band Club rehearsing in one of the music rooms on the first floor.

When he turned to look into the new hallway after climbing the stairs, he unexpectedly made eye contact with Souma. She was standing immediately in front of him with a smile.

"Good afternoon, Asai."

(Sigh, she heard the footsteps. When did she notice it?)

"What are you doing here, Souma?"

"Class representative duties."

"Here?"

(What could she be doing in the middle of a regular hallway?)

Souma quickly nodded.

"The place doesn't matter. It can be anywhere but the southern building rooftop."

"What's the meaning of sending me this?"

Kei pulled out of his pocket the letter found in his shoe locker. A white envelope with a heart sticker. But the heart was ripped in half.

"Cute, isn't it? Did it get you excited?"

"Only until I read your name."

"It took me quite a lot of searching to find an envelope size that perfectly fits your shoe locker."

"I don't know enough about envelopes to comment. But I think it's really mean to invite someone to a place and not go there."

Souma smiled softly.

"Sorry. But I really wanted you to be alone with a certain girl."

"That's your class representative duty?"

"Yup. Although half done for my own benefit."

He understood nothing.

"Is Haruki the person you want me to meet?", he asked.

She responded with a short nod, barely moving her thin chin.

"Exactly. How did you know?"

"It's a long story."

He had no intention of informing her that time had rewound 24 hours. He couldn't tell if Souma knew about Haruki's ability.

"And what makes introducing Haruki to me be part of your job as representative?", Kei asked.

"She doesn't have many close friends.", she beamed a smiled.

"And?"

"I thought that if I introduced you to Haruki, you two could be friends. Let's go to the southern building rooftop.", said Souma before she started walking.

Kei walked next to her and sighed.

"I don't see how that's a job for a class representative."

"Really? I think being concerned about everyone's relationships is a pretty essential part of the job."

"I'm not from your class. If you wanna make friends for Haruki, you should make do with the people in your class, methinks."

"Impossible."

With no change to her smile or the tone of her voice, Souma made a statement in absolute terms.

"Not many people have the potential to become her friend. No one in my class can. In that case, what can I do but choose from other classes?"

"Class 2-1 has Tomoki. Nakano Tomoki. He's a lot better at making friends than I am."

"Maybe for normal girls. But for Haruki, he's a no-go. She's a very strange girl."

"And what about you, Souma?"

"Me?"

"You can be Haruki's friend."

"That'd be difficult. I'll try, but I think I'm another no-go. The two of us are very incompatible. We're like a cat and a crow fighting over the last bit of water in the desert.", Souma maintained her indistinct smile. "I'm sure we won't become friends."

Those words were unexpected to him. He couldn't tell why. He didn't know Souma well enough to have a read on her. But nonetheless, this felt unexpected. "We won't become friends". Words of reluctance.

The two take a turn to the hallway on the way out of the eastern school building.

"Ok, I get it that Haruki is the type that can't make friends easily. But why did you choose me for it?", Kei asked.

"Because you two are very compatible."

"What makes you think so?"

"I mean, you two are so similar."

The same thing Tomoki told him. Kei frowned and asked.

"What about us is similar?"

"Your values, presence, character, philosophies. Something vague in between those things. You two are like water and ice, but not exactly. Perhaps like air and vacuum, perhaps like faith and law. Oh, right. Like gravity and gravitation—that's the best comparison."

He understood nothing.

"I don't know about the other examples, but I don't think air and vacuum have anything in common."

"You think so? If I put air and vacuum in transparent boxes, they'd look the same to me though."

"You're not speaking in terms of essence. Air and vacuum are far more different than a crescent moon and a banana."

"So you do get what I meant. One's essence is not like the other's. But when put into proximity, they naturally mingle. Like how air expands to occupy all of the vacuum."

Kei shook his head.

"You got nothing concrete to say."

"Ok, let me dumb it down for you—"

Tomoki's answer to the same topic was "You two don’t pour your heart into most things you do."

"The way you two take life so seriously is identical.", Souma said with a warm smile and a cold voice.

Her assessment could be taken as the opposite of Tomoki's.

"Asai, if you wanna be Haruki's friend, you have my support."

"I don't see any meaning in befriending her."

"I do. I see a huge meaning in you two being together. See—", Souma leaned to Kei's ear and whispered. "Do you want me to tell you what Haruki's ability does?"

His heart beat faster. How much did Souma Sumire know? It felt like she knew everything.

"You know her ability?"

"Yup."

"How?"

Souma changed smiles. She now had a mean-spirited smile, not too dissimilar to the Chesire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

"When I'm in the right place and the right mindset, I get any information I want. It's automatic."

(That answered nothing.)

Before he could point that out, she returned to a previous topic.

"Hey, Asai, what's the difference between gravity and gravitation?"

"Gravitation is the force we receive from other masses. Gravity is the total force you get when you add other forces, like centrifugal and whatnot, to gravitation."

For example, everything on Earth is affected by the planet's gravitation, and gravity is the force of this gravitation combined with the centrifugal force of Earth's rotation.

Souma nodded.

"Haruki is like gravitation. One pure force. And you add a different vector of force to her. In other words, you're gravity."

"I'll agree that she's the pure one."

"But you're the greater force. Although your force is diminished by as much your vector conflicts with hers."

The two made it through the hallway to the other building and started climbing the stairs.

The tallest place in the southern building. Souma opened the door to the rooftop.

The wind blew with a loud noise.

The girl's long hair was fluttering in their direction.

(Was she watching the crying girl? Like how she was doing before the time rewind, when she whispered "Reset" with so much apparent resignation?)

As Haruki turned around, her face was expressionless, in what seemed to be a total rejection of emotion.

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

Sunlight was warm in the second half of April, but the wind still blew slightly cold.

Souma Sumire sat on a corner of the rooftop, looking at the sky.

"Let's talk.", she said.

"Talk about what?", Kei asked after sighing.

"About anything. For example, I'm sorta against how the year is divided into 4 seasons."

Kei leaned on the handrail.

"But the seasons have benefits. Like how you can blame the heat of August on the Summer."

"I'm not rejecting Summer. Look, April is almost over. No blossoms left in the cherry tree, see? I can feel the end of Spring in that. But Summer is still far away."

Souma looked at Haruki and asked.

"Hey, what's the next season going to be?"

Haruki slowly blinked and then answered promptly.

"Next weekend will be the first day of Summer."

Souma smiled.

"Really? Summer is much closer than I thought."

And then she looked at the sky again.

Kei casually turned his eyes in the same direction.

The southern sky at the end of April. The gap between Spring and Summer. The sky was in the process of shifting from the pale blue of Spring, the color of zero gravity, to the deep blue of Summer, a color that draws all in with strong gravitation.

The pale of spring felt still far more prominent than the deep. His impression was that Summer was a lot more distant than the weekend.

"Then let's spend the days of this upcoming Summer here.", Souma Sumire said. "We'll get together on this rooftop all the time and exchange words to get to know each other."

Kei tilted his head.

"Is there any purpose to this?"

Kei pretended to not care but was deep in thought.

Souma was proposal was appealing. If Haruki had the ability to rewind time, he'd love to be on close terms with her.

But on the other hand, he couldn't tell what Souma was thinking. It was hard to believe that she was simply trying to make friends for Haruki because she was her class representative.

"Purpose.", after repeating Kei's word, she smiled. "Each of us can just find one on our own, no need to follow what others say here. We'll simply meet and talk. Just rest our wings together like sparrows roosting on the same power line."

"I hate acting without an objective."

"Ok. I'll shoehorn in some random purpose for you."

After pausing for a brief moment of thought, she spoke.

With a calm voice, raising her delicate chin to look at the southern sky.

"Suppose one of us is an android."

"An android?"

"Yes. An artificial something created to resemble a human being. Practically indistinguishable from a person. You could hold their hand, kiss them, examine their blood, and wouldn't be able to tell they were artificial. Only by measuring their degree of empathy that you can finally begin to surmise they're not human. Wasn't there a novel like this?"

Kei sighed and answered.

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — Written by Philip K. Dick in 1968."

"Yeah. The android from this story. Suppose that android is among us."

The elaborate androids you see in sci-fi novels don't exist.

"And what's the purpose of this supposition?"

"A simple question—Who is the android?"

"You think that's a meaningful question?"

"Absolutely. Who is the android? Under what grounds will you argue your answer? The initial purpose of our encounters will be to get the three together to think things thoroughly until we produce an answer."

Kei shrugged.

"Just examine their spine. You can identify androids like that in Electric Sheep."

"Are you forgetting what 'suppose' means? All of us are normal human beings. We'll think under the assumption one is an android, and guess who it is. Then, at the end of summer, we'll compare our answers."

Android.

The first one that word brought to mind was Haruki.

A girl with no expression and no hints of free will. Kei knew barely anything about her. But to him, it seemed like she always operated in accordance with a program. Like an artificial construct.

Haruki Misora was still standing a few steps away from Kei and Souma. Souma was calling the three of them to meet regularly, and yet she was positioned like an unrelated third party.

(Is this Souma's way of commanding me to think about Haruki?)

They would see each other every day and further their understanding of Haruki Misora. He could agree these acts had a purpose.

He could benefit from having a good read on her—the one with the ability to rewind time.

"Haruki, do you agree?", Souma asked.

Haruki tilted her head slightly.

"I never read the book."

"You should. I'll lend it to you tomorrow."

"Understood."

The sun started setting before they knew it.

"Let us meet here again when summer begins.", said Souma under the light of sunset.

[sweetestberryofthebunch]

you infected me with rosejan thoughts!!! do you have any hcs maybe?

Sweet Darling, anything for you!

Now they start out as sandbox friends. Jan is four when six years old Rosé moves into the pretty old house down the street with the giant apple tree in the garden. She became Rosé‘s first friend in America.

Picnics under said apple tree, as well as the one time Rosé had to prove she can climb it all the way in less then a minute, falling down and breaking her arm for the first time. Jan sat with her in the emergency room and held her good hand the entire time as she got her cast. Of course, she also got to be the first to sign it, even though Rosé had to help with some of the letters.

When Jan gets into school, Rosé picks her up from home to walk to the bus together every morning and drops her off after school every afternoon. It becomes a tradition for years to come.

They stay friends throughout all of school, even though they mostly see each other outside of it. Rosé‘s dad throws out her old bed, putting the frame under the ever growing apple tree to sit on. In summer, they are even allowed to carry a mattress out there and sleep in the garden.

Throughout middle school, when Jan struggles to find friends at the new school and suddenly people are mean and make fun of her, she holds her hand the entire way.

It sucks so much, Rosé hates Jan‘s classmates, she hates that they make her cry and feel insecure about herself when she is so wonderful in her eyes. Knowing she can’t beat them up like she wants to, she instead makes sure they see her with Jan, know that Jan is friends with a high schooler and should be left alone. It mostly works, but Jan still struggles throughout middle school.

Rosé tries her best to make their time together even better then, to make Jan forget about how much she dreads school. She takes her to their first concert, first vacation without parents, picks Jan up first thing when she gets her drivers license, driving around all night blasting their favourite songs.

Jan definitely felt her heart sink at least twice at Rosé’s enthusiastic driving style.

In high school, Rosé starts to kiss boys and Jan doesn’t like it. Rosé gets her first boyfriend and Jan dislikes it even more, but keeps quiet for her best friends sake, listening to everything the older one tells her about kissing and dating, bravely ignoring the sting in her chest.

When Rosé catches her boyfriend kiss Symone just weeks after they got together, it’s Jan who comes to pick her up in the middle of the night, who holds her as she cries and caresses her hair. It’s Jan who listens to her sobbing and later angry fussing, telling her that boys suck and she should never let one close to her. Jan promises she won’t.

When Rosé gets her first tattoo it’s Jan who holds her hand, letting her play with her fingers as she bites her tongue in pain, just like she did ten years ago.

When Rosé‘s prom approaches, she insists that Jan should come as her plus one. They go all out with their outfits, wearing matching gowns in lavender and pale pink.

They spend the night attached at the hip, drinking, dancing and feeding each other snacks from the buffet.

The night ends with the two of them settled on the bed under the apple tree, giggling and laughing as the sun creeps up. It’s chilly, so Jan snuggles up to Rosé, who wraps her arms around her like it’s second nature.

There, they kiss for the first time, their cheeks red from white wine and the stinging cold, Jan laying on her back with her arms wrapped around Rosé‘s neck, and it’s then that she finally understands why she never cared about boys.

They stay there until it dawns, limbs and gowns tangled into each other, exchanging soft kisses until Rosé has to giggle, sneaking them up to her room before her parents find them outside.

During the summer break, they take Rosé‘s dad‘s old truck and take a trip along the west coast, wasting away their time at the beach, drinking, writing songs, kissing.

Rosé becomes Jan‘s first everything, they share their first time in the back of the truck as it’s parked by a deserted beach, somewhere in California, the whispering ocean in their ears as Rosé makes Jan see stars.

They return home and start dating officially by the end of summer. Rosé’s parents are a little surprised, but both their parents are more than happy since each girl is basically already family.

When Rosé leaves for college, she promises to wait for Jan, and they make plans to start a band together as soon as Jan graduates.

They’re young and in love and each other’s best friend, and that’s what all their best songs are about.

[whatname0523]

How is C liking being back at work these days? And how is T managing at home with a toddler and a baby? 🥰 I guess P’s getting ready for back to school!

Well, her first day back, she was going to drive herself, but cried over breakfast so T and the boys ended up bringing her to work instead, and meeting her for lunch as a surprise.

She's settling back in well though. It was just a tough transition day back, but her coworkers were so happy to see her and see the boys when they dropped her off. I don't think T got out of there until well after 9, after making the rounds with the boys to say hi to everyone while C got to work in her office.

The lunch surprise made C so happy and made her realize she can have that a lot of the time if she wants it, and she isn't going to miss out on their whole lives just by going to work during the day. She was being a bit dramatic :)

She took a couple days off last week though, C, PJ and Lana went to LA for the Taylor Swift concert :) so they just got back on Sunday. The girls had a blast! It was a good way to bring their summer to a close soon. Now they just have to get back to school shopping done and our girl will be ready for 8th!!! grade.

[rappaccini]

earth-65 timeline thoughts

gwen kills peter at the prom, which would've taken place in may 2013 or 2014. even though the fact sheets say gwen was a senior when the janes were founded, and gwen's betty's ex-roommate in what's clearly a dorm-style living situation, her aging's slowed later on, so it looks like it was the junior prom and gwen's taking a gap year after her senior year instead of being a college dropout. also it appears that harry never finished school and went straight to the military instead of attending his senior year, or he's a year older than gwen. and the mary janes are... somehow already a band when gwen's a junior during her first week as spider-woman. the early days continuity's a mess. ugh. anyway. the one thing we know for sure is peter dies in may.

gwen's first issue takes place in about april 2015, about 2 years after she gets her powers and kills peter. gwen then spends a "few months" trapped in another dimension after the spiderverse event before she finally makes it home in time for most wanted.

issue 6 gives us something to go off: murdock's concert ticket is timestamped. the concert takes place on june 6 2015... even though for some reason the girls are dressed like it's winter and talk about being too broke to afford winter hats.

the goblin arc takes place during summer. the group mention as much. gwen works at the dollar dog during this time, for about a month.

clone conspiracy has to have happened around here, and gwen was in 616 for a few weeks.

when weapon of choice kicks off, it's autumn.

issue #13 takes place on halloween.

issue #14 takes place on thanksgiving.

issue #15 takes place around christmas.

sitting in a tree is clearly a valentine's event, but so much shit happens near the end of the latour run that it's got take place in january. also gwen's being referred to by bendis as 18, which she isn't.

gwen goes on the run with harry for at least a week in "predators" (long enough to get a tan), is rampaging as venom for maybe a month in "gwenom" and the night before her arrest it's snowing. so at the latest, it's late february 2016.

gwen's trial takes six months, so she's convicted and sent to prison in august 2016.

gwen is released in august 2017, exactly 365 days after her incarceration.

the mcguire run kicks off 52 days after gwen's release. after being stranded for a few days in 3109 during a spiderverse event, gwen heads to a community college's registrar's office while school appears to be in session, so it's late september at the earliest.

gwen goes to school long enough to establish a routine, so that's at minimum a month before she's exiled, which would mean that happens in october 2017 at the earliest. also somehow she's subject to cradle laws, so she's 20 at the oldest. even though it's been over 2 years since she was 19 at the start of the latour run. oh well. i guess gwen's been retconned to 18 at the start, turning 19 before she's convicted, and then 20 while she's in jail. and that peter dies much closer to gwen's first adventures as spider-woman.

big ??? about king in black, last remains, the shathra possession or gwenverse.

shadow clones confirms that gwen's been working at the smoothie shack for three months, so gwen's returned to her home dimension (which happens at some point between gvc and the shathra event) for that length of time, minimum. no snow on the ground, so it can't be winter.

and since gwen's annual takes place during the school year, it must be spring 2018. anyway whether the comics admit it or not gwen's 21 by now. the latest gwen's birthday can possibly be is april, to make her 18/newly 19 at the start of her chronology.

since gwen's not in college during the events of smash, i'm guessing it's spring break or summer 2018. or she's skipping. and that takes about a month because gwen's tour would've lasted about a week, plus a few more to make emjarnage's meltdowns a familiar routine. also, gwen and the girls drink what looks like alcohol during this event, so she's gotta be 21.

and sgtgs/the philips run picks up five days into gwen's second exile to 616. so one week after gwen's promising to be there for her friends, she's gone again. and is being called a teenager. and doesn't seem to be in college. best case scenario she's cutting class or it's just summer break.

so overall the latour run condenses to just under one year, add one year for her prison time, and the mcguire run plus the minis taking about an academic year and you get: gwen’s been a hero for five years, and it’s been three since the start of her chronology.

[briamichellewrites]

48

Apples and avocados. That was Bria’s favorite saying. It meant ‘same thing but different.’ Mara had become good at translating what she said from all the time she spent with her. They were invited to come over to Muto and Donna’s for dinner. Jason would be there, along with his boyfriend, Jack. She was very excited about going because she loved her in-laws. They were family members to her.

Before leaving, her bag was packed with a diaper, wipes, an extra pair of clothing, a mat that folded up, her feeding tube supplies, medications, and a prepackaged meal. Her blanket was on her lap because it was cold outside. Jason was updated about her medical problems before they arrived. He remembered she needed a feeding tube and had epilepsy. Did she ever get another diagnosis?

No, Mike was going to make an appointment with a neurologist when he got home. Hopefully, they will be able to give them a diagnosis. Having the diagnosis would help them understand more clearly about her condition and outlook in the future. They knew things were going to get worse but they wanted to know the progression, so they could have a better idea of how to help her. What was her condition like now? She quietly told him about her needing diapers.

She was extremely embarrassed about it, so he was asked not to say anything to her or anyone else about it. He promised because he respected her too much. She was his little sister who just happened to be married to his brother. He would never do anything to hurt her or Mike.

Before dinner, they hung out together in the living room. Jason and Jack were very interested in how her monitor worked. Mara went through how it worked while pointing everything out. It was very sophisticated, but very easy for her to use. Instead of using a touchscreen, she used her eyes. She pointed at the little camera on top of the monitor.

“When she’s using the chat box, she just has to go to the letter she wants to use. If she was spelling out her name, she would go B-R-I-A. When she got to each letter, she blinked. She then goes over here to the ‘send’ button and the computer reads it. It then uses a program to translate her text into speech. She is very fast with it and she likes to amaze me with what she can do. Oh, there is also an option for her to switch from English to French.”

“That is so cool! Is it easier than the touchscreen you were using before?”

“Yes, it is better because I cannot move my arms anymore, so typing is very difficult. This is a lot easier. I can only move my eyes and my hands. Though, Joe says I have a very readable face.”

They laughed. She did. Did she get to go see Mike the other day? Yes, she did. She and Abbie went to the concert. They did not tell them they were coming because she wanted it to be a surprise. Were they surprised? Yes, very. They laughed. It was a very fun time. She liked watching them because she was very proud of them.

After the concert, they hung out in their dressing room until it was time to go. Brad let her use an extra pair of headphones during the show to protect her hearing. They brought her on stage for the last song. That was the coolest part of all. She was so tired when they got home but it took her a while to fall asleep because she was so hyped up. What did she do to fall asleep? She watched a calming movie. What movie? Titanic.

“I fell asleep when Jack saw Rose for the first time. I have that movie almost memorized. When did that movie come out? 1997?”

“Yeah, I think it did.”

“I remember when that movie came out because all the girls at school were talking about it.”

“How old were you”, Jack asked.

“I was sixteen years old. I think it came out in the summer, but I am not sure if I remember correctly. I might have seen it in the summer.”

They couldn’t remember, either. She guessed she was either fifteen or sixteen years old because she was born in January. Was she going to zoom around after dinner? Maybe. She might have to wait until she got home. During dinner, they continued engaging her in conversation while she used her feeding tube. Muto jokingly asked her which was better: feeding tube food or regular food.

Regular food. Did it taste the same? Apples and avocados. Jason asked what that meant, so Donna translated. It meant the same but different like how apples and avocados were both fruit but were different in taste. That made sense. They found out that Mike wanted a dog. He had been talking about it for months. What kind of dog did he want? He wanted a French bulldog. What did she think? She told him that whatever dog he got had to get along with cats.

She was thinking of surprising him with a puppy when he got home. That was a great idea. Mara suggested asking Abbie about going to the shelter. She was going to do that. They all promised to keep it a secret. They knew the dog would be well-loved and taken care of.

Especially considering how well they took care of her cats. Jack asked how many cats she had. Three. Tiny and Garfield were both eight years old. Rascal was two. The older two pretended she didn’t exist until they wanted food or attention. They laughed. Rascal was a teenager. Sometimes he liked them, sometimes he just wanted to cause trouble.

That sounded like a cat. When the bag was empty, Mara disconnected everything and closed her port. She then brought it over to the sink. Donna got up to see if she needed any help. She did need to have her diaper changed after eating.

Donna helped Mara with that. They spread out the mat and put a towel underneath her head. Donna held her hand and talked with her to provide a distraction because they both knew how much she hated it. Bria focused her attention on her. Thankfully, she didn’t need to change her pants. Her diaper wasn’t too dirty, which made changing it easier. After it was over, they helped her back into her wheelchair. That’s it? They laughed. Mara went over to wash her hands in the sink.

“Yeah. That wasn’t too bad. When we get home, all you have to do is get your pajamas on. What do you think about that?”

“I have come full circle. We should probably get back before Muto interrogates Jack.”

“You have been in this family a long time, Bria. You know us well”, Donna said.

Muto acted offended when he heard what she said about him. That’s not true! Haha. That as all she said. Jason laughed. If Mike was there, he would have thought it was hilarious! Before leaving, she and Mara said goodbye and thank you to them. It was almost eight thirty, so she needed to get home. It had been a very fun evening. It reminded them of why they loved Bria as an in-law. After closing the door, they went back to the living room.

@zoeykaytesmom @feelingsofaithless @alina-dixon @fiickle-nia

[ledenews]

Ann Marie McConaghy: Meet 'Smiley' the Villain Slayer

She requested a new question because, she claimed, she doesn’t have an “all-time favorite fictional villain.” Now, seriously, who doesn’t dig a good villain to send a healthy chill up the spine? Like Hannibal Lecter and his Chianti slurp? Darth Vader and his menacing march? Ya know, like Jason, Michael, Freddy, Voldemort, The Joker, and Agent Smith? No thanks, said Ann Marie McConaghy. Nope. And another question, please. OK, sure. Hmm. Perhaps the villain inquiry was too dark and somehow negative, especially for a young lady known in some circles as “Smiley Ann.” So, instead, let’s take a “180” and go the other way. Superheroes. Yeah. Certainly, this St. Clairsville resident has a favorite caped crusader, right? McConaghy, who works full time for WTOV9, sure does and her answer will not surprise. She is, after all, the same entrepreneur who made a big splash this past summer with her vintage Volkswagen, baby blue Photo Van. It was enjoyed at weddings and concerts and birthdays and graduation parties, and there’s the “Drive Miss Daisy,” “Give It Some Gas,” and “Pedal to the Metal” packages to consider. That’s right, it’s cute because it’s supposed to be. Cute sells because it makes people smile and laugh and take fun photos over and over again. And guess what? Villains don’t do that. Duh. Ann Marie McConaughy had an idea and made it come true this past summer. Why the Volkswagen Van? Well, a couple of reasons. First, I have always loved them. I think they are the coolest vehicles ever. I don’t know why they would have stopped producing them. Second reason, it’s a classic! Everyone loves it. I don’t think I have met one person that wasn’t in awe of it. I just love hearing the stories that people have about them … “My parents used to pile us in the van and we would go to the beach,” or “My band and I drove one of these cross country in the late 70’s.” I think the memories it brings back for people is something really special. You know, when I started Smiley Ann’s Photo Van, I thought it would only appeal to adults, but boy was I wrong! Kids LOVE it! I can’t tell you have many events I have been to where the parents had to bribe their kids to leave the Van. People of all ages really just love it and that makes me really happy. Do you believe the relationship between Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift is a real relationship or something cooked by publicists? I do believe it is real. People are saying that the NFL is paying Taylor Swift a ridiculous amount of money to “fake” date Travis Kelce, but she is already the most successful entertainer in the world and doesn’t need the money. They are both so happy. The way they look at each other, the way he holds her hand, the fact that he wants to help her get out or the car instead of her security … they are either in love or really good actors. McConaghy worked on the vintage Volkswagen with her father. What is it about getting involved with local politics that you like the most? I have helped my aunt, Mayor Kathryn Thalman of St. Clairsville, through both campaigns and I really came to see how much of a difference someone can make, especially at the local level. St. Clairsville is thriving and has a very bright future thanks to my aunt and her team. When someone asks you about your high school, what do you tell them? I thank my parents all the time for sending me to Linsly. I loved it. It helped prepare me academically for college, and it made me a well-rounded student.  Every teacher there was invested in my success. I also developed a very strong sense of confidence in my abilities. I so appreciate everything that that school did to make me the person I am today. The Photo Van has been rented for all different sorts of events, including weddings and birthday parties. Who is your all-time favorite superhero, and why? I would have to say Wonder Woman! She gives not only girls, but boys and girls a great role model, and she’s all about justice and truth. Read the full article

[louisloulouie]

Just getting stuff off my chest, don’t mind me ☠️

As someone who’s entire life has been family oriented, I feel like my family life is in shambles.

I used to go to my home country at least once a year to see all of my family. Ever since I was 9 years old, I would go for EVERY Christmas, and sometimes I’d go in the summer too. I’d see all my aunts and uncles and grandparents and my 50+ cousins.

Over the past few years, they’ve all left the country because it’s so dangerous, and now they’re spread over dozens of countries all over the world and we no longer celebrate holidays together. Everyone used to live in the same neighborhood, they were all literally a one minute walk away, and now they don’t even all live in the same hemisphere. Now it’s feuds upon feuds, and relationships torn to shreds, and drama surfacing, and betrayals, and arguments about property and inheritance in our home country.

After that, I would go just to visit my grandma because she was the only family I had left there. Stupid fucking covid made me not see her for Christmas 2020 or 2021. I went two years without seeing her for the first time in my life since I was a child. Last year she passed away and going to her funeral is probably the last time I will ever visit my home country again. After January 2020, the only time I saw her was on her death bed and she didn’t even know I was there. And all her death led to was more arguments and inheritance fights. A death has never affected me the way hers has, and I have thought about her every. Single. Day. I have never cried over someone’s death so much or for so many days, or have it still make me cry over a year later. And it’s so hard to think about never seeing her again.

My brother and his family moving in with me and my parents has been the MOST stressful part of my life, but now they’re planning to move across the country to the west coast and I feel like I’ll never see my little nieces again. Which I know is irrational, but I have seen these girls every single day of their lives since they were born, and thinking about spending months away from them is awful. I can’t bare the thought of missing them grow up, of missing milestones, of playing and reading with them. I dreamed about being the aunt that would drop them off and pick them up from school every day while their parents worked. Of taking them to movies and concerts and anything that their parents might not have time to do with them.

I just wanted them to move to a different house or another New England state, but now they’re going to the complete opposite coast and I’m going to have to take a plane and vacation time to see them, instead of just having them a car ride away.

My parents have been discussing retiring in two years and moving back to our home country. And despite my grandma’s death making me think I’d never visit the country again, sure I could do it now to visit my parents. But I’ve lived with them my whole life and unfortunately I’ve been incredibles babied by them. I spend more time with them than my friends. I plan AROUND the weekends for friends because that’s the time my dad and I can hang out. And the thought of living alone is so terrifying.

Anyways it doesn’t help that I just found out two weeks ago that the one brother who might stay in New England with me is actually my half brother. It doesn’t change anything and I don’t feel any different, but it’s still weird to think about. Just another thing to add to my family life.

Idk, it just feels like every single aspect of my family is falling apart when we all used to be so tight-knit.

[missyflamingo]

A Few Questions Before You Go - an original flash fiction

The way the sunlight glints off of that shiny chrome grill is blinding. It makes you squint at the metal closing in towards your face, slowed by time beginning to crawl. It’s so close, you can feel its heat warming your skin. There’s less than a second before a moment of explosive exhilaration, followed closely by wet pavement and a yawning stretch of the purest silence. You know this. But before all of that, you still have a few questions:

What will your parents be doing when the police ring the doorbell? 

What will Charlie say when Yu-Jun asks why you’re not answering your phone?

Why did you agree to go to lunch with them today? Was it really worth dying for?

Were Frosted Flakes and a blueberry bagel with peanut butter really the best final meal? It wasn’t fancy, but it was yours; that must have its own meaning, right? You hope it does.

What about that Vamps concert next week? They never come to Canada!

Why does it hurt to realize that The Vamps won’t know you died?

Why did you go to bed early last night? It was a pleasantly warm summer night. You could’ve spent it in a bar eating wings and drinking juleps with Yu-Jun, or in a park picking midnight flowers while you sing Bon Iver, or laying down on Keaton’s rooftop, staring at the few stars that can be seen in the city.

How did you go seven thousand nights never seeing the Milky Way? 

Will they mention you by name in the news tonight, or only as “girl, 19”? Will you make the news? Are you as unique as Mumma said you were?

What will your funeral look like? Where will it be? You know they’ll choose a church but you hope they won’t. Would your work friends show up? Mrs. Stone from high school? Your ex, that bitch?

Is it worth it to spend your energy still hating her at this point? Yes, it definitely is.

Did Yu-Jun ever want to kiss you back?

How long will it take for people to forget you without any siblings or kids to talk about you? Is this why people want kids?

Will you live on in your things instead? Will Mumma keep the necklace you’re wearing right now? You carved it yourself; maybe when she holds it, it’ll be like holding your hand again. 

What will you come back as? You hope it’s a Sessile Oak, a hail of your soul’s home soil. You hope you’ll grow in the Maplewood Flats so Dad will visit you every Saturday. You hope he’ll still go when you’re not playing guessing games in the car with him. 

Do you have any regrets? You didn’t live long enough to get any. That’s not so bad.

Rubber tires screech against asphalt in vain. You have no answers. You can already smell the cedarwood on the other side.

You’re happy to die on a sunny day.